Bruce and Rachael Nimon with an Arapawa lamb fleece. Photo/ Rose Harding.
Bruce and Rachael Nimon with an Arapawa lamb fleece. Photo/ Rose Harding.
A desire to do something different with their land led to the sight of small brown sheep on the hills of Matapiro, west of Hastings.
When Bruce and Rachael Nimon bought the former Forde home near the Matapiro homestead eight years ago they wanted to do something different.
After lots of Googling and reading blogs the Arapawa sheep, a rare breed, struck a chord with them.
Now on their 25ha they have 120 ewes with some rams with their distinctive horns.
Arapawa sheep have an interesting history. Their exact origins are obscure. There are some suggestions that they were dropped on to the island in the Marlborough Sounds by passing Spanish galleons in the 1500s,
However, it is more likely they were dropped there in 1867 as food for shipwrecked sailors. They joined the goats left there in 1777 by Captain James Cook.
The sheep have genes in common with the merino but have evolved into a distinct breed.
In the early 2000s the Department of Conservation wanted the introduced mammals gone from the island and embarked on a culling programme.
However, a determined effort saw enough of the animals rescued to establish breeding populations on the mainland.
The Nimons bought theirs sight unseen through the Rare Breeds Association and called their business Endsleigh Arapawas.
Bruce and Rachael Nimon with an Arapawa lamb fleece. Photo/ Rose Harding.
"Some of them were good and some were dreadful," Bruce says.
From there they have built up their numbers and diversified to make some income by producing prime crossbred lambs.
They use a Cheviot ram to provide those lambs.
Because the Arapawa is a small breed the lambs need to be small at birth, which comes from the Cheviot.
However, the Arapawa still has the temperament of a feral breed which, when combined with the notoriously flighty Cheviot, means the lambing beat is "done with binoculars" and no dogs are used in mustering them.
"We keep yarding to a minimum.
"We don't aim for lots of twins. We want a good single lamb we can finish to a good weight."
The meat is low fat and sweet but the fat is more yellow than traditional breeds.
The Nimons have a reserve of pure Arapawa rams for when they want to breed more of them for sale or to lift their numbers.
Bruce taught himself to shear the sheep to save money. The wool of the island sheep is distinctive. It varies from 18 to 20 microns to coarse.
It is also very light, making it ideal for fabric production. It felts particularly well and spins into a light yarn. The Nimons are also experimenting with weaving it into various fabrics.
Although the sheep are easy care they receive the usual sheep care of vaccinations and drenching. Looking after them is worked around the fact that Bruce and Rachael both have fulltime jobs off their farm.
The Arapawa's tight wool provides some protection against fly strike and they don't have foot problems; something likely to have been bred out of them on the island.
They will sell rams to anyone wanting to start their own flock but are most interested in improving their flock.
