With a solid first season behind him, and the second in full flow, Rhys Darby is in a position to reflect on the sheep milking venture he started from scratch in 2019.

Rhys and his brother Phil are the third generation farming at Kauri Moor Farms, Huntly. They are equity partners with their parents, Bruce and Kay Darby.

Rhys runs a 600 cow dairy operation and a 900 sheep dairy operation, with Phil running a 400 cow dairy operation, and Bruce and Kay working across all aspects of the farm.

Eight full time staff work with several casual lamb and calf rearers, and relief milkers.

'We all have our designated farm areas within the 700 hectares total, but we work together for the greater good of the whole farm,” Rhys says.

Activities such as growing feed on farm, distribution of all solid and liquid effluent, fence maintenance, tractor work and fertilising are viewed holistically and they all muck in as one to achieve them.

Flexible boundaries allow the best grazing to be used for dairy animals, and the poorer quality to the drystock.

The sheep pasture contains 30 per cent chicory, as does their silage. Brought in maize grain is fed through the shed.

'We allow for around 150 kilograms of maize, and 100 kilograms of silage, per ewe per year.

The larger family farm and its financial stability has enabled the sheep operation to be explored with less pressure on it. Rhys describes it as a learning curve but credits the 'impeccable support and knowledge base” of their dairy company, Spring Sheep Milk Co., for navigating the first season.

Rhys Darby in the 42-bail sheep milking parlour at Kauri Moor Farms. Photo: Catherine Fry.

Working with dairy sheep

Initially Rhys had 600 ewes on the 42-hectare sheep dairy platform, but has already increased to 900 with no issues on the same land.

'Sheep definitely have a lower environmental footprint than cows. There's less ammonia, less urea, and less nitrogen leaching.”

Milking is cleaner, with very little effluent produced in the yards and shed, and animal health is noticeably better, with much less mastitis.

With the ability to directly compare cows to sheep on the one farm, Rhys sees the cows making 1500 to 1600 kg/ms per hectare (averaging at 600 kg/ms per cow), and the sheep producing 1250 kg/ms per hectare (averaging at 50 kg/ms per ewe).

The A2, low lactose sheep milk has twice the fat and protein content to cow's milk and is processed into high end infant formula.

Rhys uses Spring Sheep Milk Co. Zealandia breed sheep and describes them as the equivalent of kiwi cross cattle.

'They are a cross between the East Friesian, which are known for milk volume and multiple lambs, and the Lacaune, a hardier animal for New Zealand conditions.”

The dairy cows calve in the autumn, and spring is dedicated to the lambing.

They milk from August 1 through until May. Spring Sheep Zealandia rams go in for eight weeks in late February, with one ram for every 40 ewes.

The 900 ewes, half milking sheep and half hoggets, run as one flock and all the rams go in.

'Across all the ewes we had a one to two per cent empty rate, and around 15 to 20 per cent in the hoggets.”

The mixed age ewes scanned at 200 per cent and over the whole flock, they scanned at 160 per cent.

'Our multiple births were mainly twins, but some triplets, and even quads.”

2021 replacement lambs reared in the lambing shed until they are about six weeks old. Photo: Catherine Fry.

Labour intensive lambs

Lambs stay with their mothers for 48 hours for the colostrum, and are then removed to the lambing sheds.

'Lamb rearing is a whole new mind-set. We use calf bedding in the pens, but soon learned that we could only put 40 in a pen otherwise the ammonia build-up leads to conditions such as scabby mouth and pink eye. Hygiene has to be really good.”

Lamb rearing is labour intensive, but Rhys feels this will reduce as they learn more.

Neutered male lambs need to leave the farm once they've had colostrum from the flock. They were given away in the first season as Rhys tested the waters for demand.

'I wanted to get people involved before pricing them. I believe there's a great opportunity to rear this breed for meat on a large scale.”

Replacement female lambs remain in the shed for a minimum of six weeks, until they weigh 16 to 18kg. After the initial colostrum, they are fed powdered milk adlib. Automatic feeder machines mix and warm milk and supply as the demand dictates, with no set feeding times.

Lambs are fed adlib from autofeeders on the outside of the pens. Photo: Catherine Fry.

'Lambs self-wean, and you can go cold turkey with them as their rumens are developed. They can go straight onto meal and pasture.”

Having future proofed the sheep milking shed for 1200 sheep, Rhys is looking to expand to that capacity, without necessarily increasing his dairy platform.