Munlochy Alpacas - Other stuff

The Wiltshire Poll, or Wiltipoll, is a recently developed sheep from Australia which was produced by crossing Poll Dorset ewes with Wiltshire Horn rams, then backcrossing to Wiltshire Horns. They were first imported into New Zealand in 1972. Their short white fleece is shed annually, from spring to

summer and is of no commercial value, although birds do seem to like to use it for nesting material. The main advantage of the wool shedding Wiltipoll is that they direct their resources towards the production of meat and milk instead of wool. They require no shearing or crutching and because of their natural resistance to internal parasites, the need for drenching is reduced or eliminated. Other positive attributes include fly and lice resistance, hard black hooves which are foot-rot resistant, high fertility and ease of lambing. Indeed, they are the ideal low maintenance sheep for lifestyle farmers.

A strong foraging ability and long legs make this breed particularly well suited to roaming over wide areas, and they do well in dry climates as well as on poor pastures with little shade. The Rare Breeds Conservation Society lists their status as “rare” as there are only a few thousand animals in New Zealand, but now some commercial breeders have

realised their potential as a meat breed. However, for these breeders, total shedding is of secondary importance to meat production .

The Munlochy Flock
Our involvement with the breed is relatively recent. We experienced extreme difficulty with sourcing pure bred animals, so we opted to buy a small mob of three-quarter cross ewe hoggets and a 100% shedding pure bred ram (called Eric). Eric has now been joined by Colin, another 100% shedding pure bred ram and our flock of breeding ewes currently stands at about 60 which does not include

this year’s drop. We have a variety of shedders amongst the ewes but are beginning to see an increase in the number of those that are 100% bald or virtually so.

We have been breeding these sheep now for three years and in that time have experienced no birthing problems whatsoever and many of the ewes have produced twins. Our increasing stock of sheep has led to additional pressure on our pasture so we have recently gone into partnership with Jan and Kieran Power who have a small farm in Palmerston, Otago and it is there that most of the flock are grazed.