"I Should have trusted my Gut instincts earlier." I did hold on to conventional Breeds of Livestock far too long, I remember in converting to Organics spending TOO MUCH money buying Top conventional Romney rams from all round NZ, none were any help for producing good organic sheep. There wasn't any organic stud stock available in the 1980's. We found older rare breeds such as the Wiltshire & White Headed Marsh sheep & Highland Cattle were MUCH more suited to Organics here. I could see they were performing well. They are strong breeds and haven't lost their natural immunity through overuse and dependance on drenches, dips and vaccines. Once we had made the change to Organically bred Highland Cattle, Wiltshires & White Headed Marsh Sheep we found the worm, lice & disease problems we thought we had disappeared with sending away/breeding out the conventional breeds (romney,hereford etc). We have found Stud Sires need to be strong old breeds, bred organically to be any real use on an Organic farm. Over the years the farm has evolved into an organic stud operation. Since March 1989 no chemicals, drenches, dips or vaccines have been used on our farm so we have had time to breed many generations of strong organic stud stock blood lines. "Organicstud." is our stud prefix. I enjoy breeding stud stock & seeing the improvements I can make in my stock. I have run many recorded sheep studs starting in 1980 with the Mangapiri Romney stud. With going organic my breeding emphasis changed to breeding organic rams for vitality and natural immunity to disease and parasites. After trying 10 breeds of sheep over the years (including Romneys, Finns, Lincolns, Romlincs, Perendales, Texels & other meat breeds) our favourite is the Wiltshire. We established our flock of Wiltshires in 1987 after seeing them in England in 1985. Wiltshires are a very old, productive, hardy, easycare meat breed that grow very little or no wool (mainly sheds what fleece it has in spring/summer). The breed is noted for its genetic resistance to parasites, high fertility & fine texture lamb Meat. We are developing a new strain of Wiltshire that have never been shorn and stay bald looking all year round. We are building up this new strain of these bald types & changing our commercial ewes over to Wiltshire, as Organic Wool has not really caught on (there have been moments when we thought it would), but now I believe wool prices have been far too low for far too long. Is it still worth producing wool when you consider all the costs and work involved? (shearing sheds, dagging, shearing, woolpacs, power, cast sheep etc.) Many commercial and organic farmers are changing to Woolless sheep. "The bald Organic Wiltshire is a Great low input, easy care breed, there's no drench, dip, dagging or shearing costs, you just put the ram out and then send their meaty lambs to the works." I believe this breed has helped more farmers convert easily to organics in NZ than any other breed. Our Romney stud was phased out in 1996, also our Romlinc, Finn & Texel studs were phased out as the Wiltshires & White Headed Marsh breeds had proved the best Organic Breeds for us. We still have a small Lincoln Stud & the White Headed Marsh Stud we established here in 1990. This breed originated in the North sea Marshes of West Germany. its beginnings can be traced back to the mid 1800's when North German Marsh sheep, the local Milk sheep and the Cotswold were crossbred (they are no relation to the Romney Marsh) . They were imported into NZ from Denmark by Lamb XL. White Headed Marsh are one of the main breeds in Denmark and North Germany where they live outside in very wet and cold conditions. They are highly regarded in Europe for their Hardy natural immunity to parasites, easy-care lambing & excellent meat & wool. We have Also built up the Western Highland Stud that we established in 1987 to the largest Highland Herd in New Zealand. Highlands are a hardy hairy horny® Cattle breed suited to organic farming. We breed All our own Organic Rams and Bulls and sell organicstud stock all over NZ. Wev'e also exported Highlands to Japan. organicstud demand was originally just from other Organic farmers converting & a few conventional farmers that had stuck with us when we went organic. now much of the demand comes from large organic farms & also conventional farms interested in getting away from using chemicals drench & Dip. they are looking at organics, reducing costs and improving the natural immunity & hardiness in their stock. Many farmers are buying Wiltshires as they want to stop shearing. Sheep farming costs are far too high. One way to reduce some of these ongoing costs is to use rams that have been bred without high rearing inputs & benefit from the hereditary advantage eventually achieved in your own flock. Over the last decade drench resistance has become a real problem for conventional sheep farmers dependent on chemicals. Similar problems are happening with pesticides & dips. Residues are too high for many markets. Most stud breeders still drench, dip, vaccinate & pamper animals with poor immunity to parasites & disease. This inferior stock is often used as studs but would not thrive without chemicals & has made many common breeds unsuitable for Organic farming. Surely its time to reject the chemicals, look to the basic cause of parasites and disease and move to Organic methods of control, such as breeding the natural immunity back into our stock like they used to have before the chemicals & Drench arrived about 57 years ago. NO chemicals, drench, dip, vaccines or artificial fertilisers used on our Mangapiri Downs organicstud farm® since March 1989. That's over 17 years of completely chemical free breeding, so you can benefit from generations of organic sheep stud breeding. "Its very satisfying producing the types of hardy organic Rams, Ewes and Lambs I would have liked to have been able to buy when I started converting the farm to organics." I have worked with many breeds of sheep over the years and am particularly pleased with two breeds. The White headed Marsh which has helped us with many Organic qualities such as high natural immunity and fertility and fast growth rates to achieve a large lean sheep with fine wool. However our favourite breed is the Wiltshire "the perfect Organic terminal sire and woolless breed" for rapid growth, natural immunity to parasites, no dags, high fertility, less sheepwork and exceptional lamb flavour and texture. We have organic rams from these two Sheep breeds available in January, their individual details are in this catalogue, Also details on our Highland Cattle. please email tim@organic-rams.co.nz or phone 03 2255283, for more info or to book some in, or to view them. "organicstud" WILTSHIRES (established. 1987) "organicstud" WHITE HEADED MARSH (established.1990) "WESTERN" SCOTTISH HIGHLAND STUD. HARDY HAIRY HORNY® "MANGAPIRI" ROMNEYS ( est. 1980 ) Phased out "WESTERN" TEXELS ( est. 1991 ) Phased out "PROGRESSIVE" ROMLINCS ( est. 1985 ) Phased out "PROGRESSIVE" FINNS Stud flock 3 (est. 1990 ) Phased out "PROGRESSIVE" LINCOLNS Stud flock No. 329 (est. 1985) still here email tim@organic-rams.co.nz phone 03 2255283  This entire website is © Copyright Tim and Helen Gow 1999---2009....... All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Authors. All images in this website are protected by copyright and may not be used by anyone for any purpose, except with the prior written consent of Tim & Helen Gow. Disclaimer While every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this website is accurate. T & H Gow do not accept liability for any errors, omissions, misstatements, negligent or otherwise contained in this website. Nor do T & H Gow accept any liability for the results of any actions taken or not taken upon the basis of the information in this website. Those acting upon information and any recommendations contained in this website do so entirely at their own risk. mailto:tim@organic-rams.co.nz?subject=Organic-RamsWILTSHIRE_SHEEP.htmlWILTSHIRE_SHEEP.htmlMARSH_SHEEP.htmlMARSH_SHEEP.htmlHIGHLAND_CATTLE.htmlmailto:tim@organic-rams.co.nz?subject=Organic-RamsWILTSHIRE_SHEEP.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6

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Tim Gow

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Tim Gow

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