New Zealand’s sheep numbers continue to decline, currently at a rate of over 4,000 per day. As one of the country’s leading sheep breeding operations, Wairere is embracing a shift towards lesser or no-wooled sheep. Its ‘Wairere nudies’ breeding programme – sheep that have a natural hair coat and don’t grow wool as traditionally expected – could paradoxically help stabilise wool prices for traditional farmers, says Wairere’s business manager, Simon Buckley. “I think New Zealanders will have to get used to looking at sheep that don’t grow wool. The look of sheep will change considerably over the coming decade,” he says.
The initiative began when Wairere’s European joint venture partner noticed increasing interest in self-shedding sheep. The company responded by transferring bare sheep embryos from the UK into recipient ewes and inseminating Wairere ewes with bare sheep semen, using a mix of facial eczema resilient, Tufguy (interbred Texel/Romney) and bare point Romney ewes. Simon says this genetic refresh is significant, as most of New Zealand’s shedding sheep descend from just a small number of ewes and rams imported from Australia in the 1970s and 1980s.
Even within its traditional woolly sheep breeding programme, it has been working to reduce what Simon calls “nuisance wool” – areas that never produce high-value wool, such as around the belly and breech. “Reducing workload has always been a central objective for Wairere. Sheep farming is labour-intensive, and we need to reduce workload to increase profitability and improve lifestyle,” says Simon. “All of our sheep now get bare scored, and we select sires that reduce the amount of wool sheep grow in those difficult places.”
“Our strategy is that the future of New Zealand sheep farming might not be a choice between wool or no wool, but rather a complementary approach where both have their place.”
Operating from its 1,200-hectare hill country property in the Wairarapa, rising to 532 metres above sea level, the challenging environment provides an ideal testing ground for breeding hardy sheep. Simon says that Wairere is continuing its focus on providing genetics to farmers who want to continue to produce good-quality wool.
“Wairere is a long-term, large-scale and influential sheep genetics supplier to the New Zealand market. We have been innovative and successful in providing genetics that have had a significant impact on the national flock. Our focus has always been on making sheep farming more profitable with less work. We’ve been innovative and seen waves of change in the sheep breeding sector worldwide. Our strategy is that the future of New Zealand sheep farming might not be a choice between wool or no wool, but rather a complementary approach where both have their place.”
Simon remains optimistic about wool’s prospects, particularly in emerging markets: “I think there will be an upturn, and wool will return to a better level of profitability. But there is always substitution. We have to find those high-value niches our wool can satisfy. It doesn’t have to be a bulk commodity. Internationally strong wool production has been in decline for a while, and lowered supply should help the price.”
“However, we don’t want to count on that as a long-term solution. Innovations in the use of our crossbred wool and wool products will help considerably, and there are currently things happening in that space. For example, the deconstruction of wool, where it can be converted to powder form and can be used in multiple ways, such as printers’ ink, health supplements and cosmetics. I’ve got a saying, ‘history doesn’t pay the bills.’ Having a good vision for the future will help with that, and at Wairere, that’s what we are focused on.”
© Waterford Press Ltd 2025 – Independent Print Media New Zealand
