Vetmarker Makes Lamb Management Easier at Romani Farms
23 January 2025
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By Aimee Johnston
Ross Richards has been sheep farming for over 40 years. Since his days as a young shepherd, he must have used about everything there is to use in the sheep pen or out in the paddocks. These days he’s more particular though. That’s because Romani Farms, the farm he started in the Taumarunui with his wife, is focused on breeding sheep with shorter tails and a better temperament. It’s a niche operation, requiring a more advanced solution, which is why Ross uses the Te Pari VetMarker with the Weigh Attachment and Te Pari Docking Iron. It’s a case of ‘what gets measured gets managed’, and Ross is managing to achieve on-going improvements.
Romani Farms covers 240 hectares effective, with a further 400 leased. It’s nice country, but the winters are tough and summers are increasingly unreliable. The operation is split between 60% sheep and 40% cattle. “Winters can be challenging and some of that’s driven by the stud” explains Ross. “We’ll have 14 or 18 mating mobs over tupping. That can make it quite hard to feed through into the winter.”
There’s around 3000 ewes, 1000 of which are recorded, split across two flocks - Romani Coopworth and a shedding flock mostly made up of Wiltshire. Lambing starts in mid-August and docking takes place from mid-September. This is done in smaller mobs so they stay mothered up. Ross says “There’s about 200% being born, so there are a lot of twins and quite a few triplets. They’re often lambing at a stocking rate of 50 or 60 ewes to the hectare.”
The usual docking procedure at Romani Farms sees all the lambs drafted off in one go. There’s two woolsheds in the covered yards, which is where the Te Pari Vetmarker has been adjusted to suit the working height of Ross’s team and is ready to go. Ross has a Tru Test indicator set up on the Weigh Attachment, so they can scan the lamb’s tag and Ross measures the length of the lambs tail using a ruler attached to the stick reader. “I enter the lambs identification, the length of the tail, whether it’s a male or a female, and the live weight,” says Ross.
The Vetmarker Weigh Attachment seamlessly incorporates weighing into the process, making it quick and easy for Ross to track vital information for his flock. “It’s really good getting a weight as close to birth as we can - that just helps with our growth indexes,” explains Ross. With the Weigh Attachment load cells connected to the Tru-Test Indicator (it’s also compatible with other indicators), Ross is provided with all the information he needs to identify poor performers and health issues, so action can be taken early.
Next, the lambs go down the chute and the ewe lambs are earmarked. The design of the Vetmarker itself is different from others, with no gaps between the rollers so smaller lambs aren’t at risk of getting their legs caught. The chute can also be adjusted with the guide rails able to be raised or lowered, keeping lambs safely in place in the deep v configuration.
One of the big benefits of the Vetmarker is there’s only one upright, allowing more working space and meaning there’s nothing for lambs to push off of when being loaded. Ross has a team along his chute and they can all go about their tasks without having to ‘work around the chute’. This is because we designed the Vetmarker to be easy to use, not just functional. It makes a huge difference.
“We do a scabby mouth vaccine and then chop the tails off,” states Ross. “The automatic sprayer, as we release the lambs from the Vetmarker, applies some fly spray to their bums and away they go.” That automatic sprayer reduces the need for another operator on the chute and by tipping the lambs back onto their feet, it helps keep the wound clean and free of bacteria. It’s also easier on the operator, as the spring powered lever tension on the tilt lever can be adjusted. That’s a difference that can certainly be felt and is appreciated at the end of a long day.
The docking iron Ross uses has seen over a decade worth of use now: “It works really well and is still going strong.” The reason why is that Te Pari Docking Irons, like all our gear, are built to last. The scissor action docking iron is easy to use, cutting and cauterizing the tail on one operation, and the copper searing head keeps hot to minimise blood loss. We know parts will eventually wear out, but even then, there is no need to get a whole new iron as we stock individual components, right down to replacement handle grips.
Ross hasn’t had his Vetmarker as long as that docking iron (maybe 8 years) but it’s working out just as well. “The Te Pari Vetmarker has been really helpful in enabling us to collect data at tailing time quickly and easily. The scales are accurate and everything works well. I’d recommend it to any farmer that was wanting to speed up their tailing process and wanting to capture data at tailing time.”
We’d agree with that.
