Scientists Are Breeding Low-Emission Sheep
“In a bid to tackle climate change, scientists have teamed up with New Zealand farmers to try and make sheep a little less gassy,” writes Joe Pinkstone in an article for the
Tag Archives: Sheep
Mesmerising Drone Footage of New Zealand Sheep
An aerial photographer and qualified pilot has captured some truly mesmerising footage of hundreds of sheep being herded in New Zealand as reported in The Daily Mail. The video shows hordes of sheep…
New Zealand Sheep Farms Adapt to Changing Demands
The changing face of sheep farming in New Zealand, with a focus on sheep meat exports over the traditional wool harvest, is mapped in an extensive New York Times feature by journalist Mike Ives. “About…
Scientists Closing to Breeding Eco-friendly Sheep
Scientists at New Zealand’s AgResearch and the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute have moved a step closer to developing a breed of sheep that belches less methane as part of a quest…
Research Flock Saudi Arabia Bound
New Zealand will export a research flock of sheep to Saudi Arabia this year under a breeding project aimed at bolstering the kingdom’s livestock supplies, according to the National. Pregnant ewes and lamb will…
ASB Bank – A boy and His sheep
ASB teaches Kiwi kids a fun way to become more cash clever in this 2011 ad about a boy saving up for a Nintendo DS and the obstacles he…
Greener Pastures
Retailers in Britain should sell New Zealand-produced lamb if they want to help protect the environment, experts claim in a report called ‘Climate Change and Food Systems’. The suggestion, likely to outrage British farmers,…
Case of the Disappearing Stock
“One would never think that sheep could be an endangered animal, at least not in New Zealand,” Global E & C Solutions Marketing’s senior director Manju Bansal writes for Forbes. “Over the last few…
Wimbledon Of Shearing
The 4600 sheep picked for the 2012 World Sheep Shearing Competition in Masterton, and the national Golden Shears championships, were pampered this week, with top clippers from around the globe competing for a top…
Wooly Olympic Potential
New Zealand Federated Farmers says sheep shearing has the potential to become an Olympic demonstration sport. The “time has come to elevate shearing’s sporting status to the ultimate world stage,” the organisation said. New…
Tolkien Tourism In Matamata
The Lord of the Rings franchise is partially responsible for a tourism windfall in New Zealand with global visitor numbers up 40 per cent since 2000. At least five official LOTR-themed tour companies are in operation….
Ace Pilot and Farmer
Former Sergeant-Pilot Geoffrey Bryson Fisken, the British Commonwealth’s No. 1 fighter pilot in the Pacific during WW2, has died at age 96 in Rotorua. He had spent much of his postwar years as a…
Escaping the Clippers Forever
New Zealand’s celebrity merino Shrek — who evaded muster on Bendigo Station for six years and carried 27kg of fleece — has been put down at the age of 16. Shrek gained international fame…
Masters of Mustering
“There are only two breeds of sheep in the world,” Jim Murray of Glenmore Station at Lake Tekapo once told Irish writer and photographer Jamie Ball, who is based in Christchurch. “Merinos,…
Legendary Friendly
“We here in the ‘west island’ like to cling to that old cliché of New Zealanders being slightly simple sheep-botherers, so it’s a bit of a shock when you get there and realise how…
Battle of Wool
Te Kuiti’s David Fagan, 48, and Cam Ferguson, 26, from Waipawa have won the teams machine shearing title at the 14th Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Wales, with Ferguson taking out…
Extreme Shearing
Shearing sheep in New Zealand is included in Time magazine’s list of ’25 (More) Authentic Asian Experiences’. “Schweebing and Zorbing not your thing? While many pumped-up tourists go to New Zealand to…
Miniature Lawn Mowers
Winemaker Peter Yealands hopes to avoid having to use his tractor to mow the grass around his 10,000 hectare vineyard, so he’s looking to the miniature sheep babydoll to do the job, potentially saving…
Bet on the Baa Blacks
The town of Methven (population 1200) recently hosted a sheep-race, which saw two teams of eight “professionally trained” sheep speed round the local pub and over barrels at speeds of over 40kmp/h. Organiser and…
Dogs Sacked
British supermarket Tesco has ordered its largest suppliers in New Zealand, Silver Fern Farms in Fairton, Canterbury to stop using dogs to herd sheep into the abattoir. Tesco wants the shepherds to wave their…
Tips for the Irish
Irish sheep farmers are looking to their New Zealand counterparts for advice on how to make more money tending their flocks. Lincoln University’s Dr John Hickford spoke at two conferences in Kilkenny and Athlone…
Order of Merit for Lomu and Fagan
Two NZ sports greats were made members of the New Zealand Order of Merit at this year’s investiture ceremony. All Black legend Jonah Lomu and sheep shearing champion David Fagan (pictured) both received…
Burning Down the House?
NZ’s early prosperity was said to have been borne on the sheep’s back – now they’re threatening to power us into the 21st Century: NZ’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority has hit upon a novel way of powering…
Fagan Wields His Golden Shears
Legendary NZ shearer David Fagan earned his fifth world title before a crowd of 3,000 at Scotland’s MacRobert Theatre. Fagan’s de-fleecing of 20 sheep in 14 minutes 51 seconds reportedly created “a crescendo of noise and fervour…
An End to Sheep Jokes?
NZ’s sheep population is at an all-time low, plummeting from 70 million in 1982 to less than 40 million. Cows and fruit – particularly wine grapes – have gradually replaced the woolly icons as more lucrative…
Off the Sheep’s Back?
The BBC looks at the changing iconic status and importance of the sheep to the New Zealand economy. Sheep numbers have fallen from 70 million to 40 million in the last two decades and farmers are…
Kiwis: Our Sheep Don’t Stink
The No.8 gene gets Wired for the 21st Century: “With about 45 million sheep and only 5 million people, New Zealanders hear their fair share of sheep jokes. When it comes to biotechnology and sheep, however,…
Click Go the Sheilas
Kiwi shearer Kylie Hamilton, “not really a very hefty bird,” but “with a good chassis under her” matches the men in her gang sheep for sheep – one of the first women in enter this very…
Do They Have Sheep There?
Scotland’s national collection of New Zealand Olearia attract visitors to Inverewe Gardens on the shores of Lake Ewe.
Bad Bird
“Even in New Zealand there are sheep farmers that lose stock to wildlife, namely the Kea, a large native and protected parrot. It may seem incredible, but it’s true.”
Beating the Sheep
New Zealand’s legendary 20:1 sheep to human ratio is in decline, expected to fall to 10:1 by 2005.
Shear Mind-power
New Zealander Rodney Sutton holds three major shearing records. He credits his success to understanding “what nervous lambs do under pressure”.
Pharming Drugs
“Pharming” is the name for growing drugs in transgenic animals, like PPL’s New Zealand sheep.
Woolly Coincidence
Was it morphic resonance that caused New Zealand sheep to start rolling across cattle girds at the same time as their Welsh cousins? Could a similar force be affecting sisterly novelists?
The End of an Aussie Icon: Hats off to NZ Scientists
“It just may spell the end of the world’s ugliest headgear: that staple of the Australian tourist shop regular, the cork-fringed hat.” Two researchers from Massey University have developed a technique that kills female fruit flies in…
Human Gene in Kiwi Sheep
We get enough flak for our supposed close relationship with sheep, but this is ridiculous. Thousands of sheep are walking around with a gene inside them which, it turns out, came from a blood sample donated…
Sheep Joke
Alliance MP Grant Gillon faces being baa-ed from parliament after making a wise-crack (more commonly used by Australians) about the relationship between sheep and opposition politicians. The remark was made during a debate on the experimental use…
Want Twins? Ewe May be in Luck
New Zealand scientists at the AgResearch Institute have found a gene responsible for twins in sheep, a discovery that could lead to understanding human fertility treatments and contraceptives, as well as increased agricultural production. Sue Galloway…
Godfrey Bowen
With a history steeped in agriculture it is natural that New Zealand’s farmers, shepherds and shearers have become known throughout the world for their skill and toughness. Many have travelled, to teach and work…
Greenhouse Gassed – CO2 Emissions Spell Indigestion for Food Chains
Sheep in New Zealand may teach scientists how livestock will fare as the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere goes up. White poles ringing the pasture continuously pump CO2 into the air.
Speed Baa-rrier
Shaun the New Zealand Drysdale is doing community work in England’s Lake District – he attracts motorists’ attention, slowing them down for a second glance.
