NEW ZEALAND FINN CROSSES - -  PHOTO BY GRANT BLACKBURN

During a trip to New Zealand November 99 I was fortunate enough to link up with some Finnsheep producers there.   One farm I visited was that of Ian Stewart's just outside Fielding in the Manawatu District.  He farms sheep (3,200) for the commercial lamb market using traditional English breeds as well as producing seed stock to support the commercial lamb market. Ian is using the Finn/Romney cross ram to increase productivity.  By introducing the Finn prolific characteristic he is assured of almost 100% twins or triplets at every lambing. His aim is to produce more with the same head of breeding sheep and increasing lambing percentage is the simple way to do this. The Finn/Romney rams are a lucrative business. Ian told me he had sold over 1200 that year for $400/head (USD$200) and what you see in the photo were all that he had left, less than 200.