Third time lucky as farmer lifts his game

Peter Strawbridge says a farmer can have the best genetics in the world but still has to farm and feed correctly for animals to reach their full potential. Photo / Supplied

Hard work and determination has paid off for Bay of Plenty farmer and Waikite Station manager Peter Strawbridge.

He has won two top awards at the 2015 Beef + Lamb Zealand Sheep Industry Awards for the SIL-ACE Terminal Sire for Lamb Growth Award and the overall Terminal Sire Gold award for Lamb Growth and Yield.

Mr Strawbridge said what made it all the more rewarding was finally winning after being nominated in the competition three times.

His determination to keep going and his competitive nature was what kept him focused on striving to achieve excellence.

"It might have taken us three years to win, but we were determined to keep improving.

"I knew we were continually improving year-on-year and to finally deliver the top results shows we are starting to make a difference."

Mr Strawbridge has been managing the 1000ha Landcorp property Waikite Station for three years. The station, in the Waikite Valley between Taupo and Rotorua, runs two sheep flocks, Focus Genetics Huirimu Lamb Supreme and Waikite Texel, as well as a commercial sheep flock and a Simmental cattle stud.

Coming from a commercial farming background, Mr Strawbridge said he had seen the significant benefits sheep genetics could help make to a business through producing top-yielding lambs which increased farm returns.

"The initial investment might seem expensive but the long-term rewards and benefits, financially and to the flock are huge." The lead geneticist of the Focus Genetics Terminal Sheep Programme, Natalie Pickering, said Landcorp first started with the Lamb Supreme programme 25 years ago which was established by one of New Zealand's leading geneticists Geoff Nicol.

Mr Strawbridge said while a farmer could have the best genetics in the world, they still had to farm and feed correctly for the animals to reach their potential.

"We monitor, measure, benchmark and work with people and experts in the field like Focus Genetics, who are always open to new ideas which we trial and test first, including technologies as they have become available, such as CT scanning and ultrasound."

Mr Strawbridge began as a shepherd on Kereru Station before moving to Tutira, and then to Pukekohe to a Hereford stud before moving to Tolaga Bay where he managed Tutamoe Station for Landcorp Farming.