Waidale Romneys

The Waidale Romney stud was started by my father, Bill Williams in 1964 by purchasing 30 Beechwood ewes from Tug Burrows. Over the next few years a few more ewes were purchased from Tug.
In 1966 an additional 40 ewes were puchased from J.C McLauchlan.
In the 1970's ewes were purchased from BJ Gregan, GM Rogers and Tug Burrows.
In 1984 following a horrendous flood in Marlborough that nearly left my parents broke, it also wiped out almost all of our 2ths of that year. Owing to such losses, many other breeders generously gave my father anything from 2 to 10 ewes that year to assist with the loss of these 2ths.
Early on my father generally stuck to buying Beechwood Romney rams.
My father would always be open minded enough to buy a ram of any breeders, if he considered it was good enough, not always paying a fortune.
We were also involved in some high spending syndicates:A Merrydowns Romney ram was purchased for $30000, a Claymoor Romney ram for $30000 and some others for not as much. Some of these high price rams bred well, some not so well, but that is stud breeding.
In the last 15 years or so, there has been greater emphasis on using homebred sires, and buying one or two rams in a year. It is probably over this period that we have made accelerated genetic gains, which suggests that what we have been doing has been paying off. The use of homebred Romney sires ensures that we have a uniform product.
Owing to 40 years of breeding which has resulted in a top flock of Romneys that have top genetics, I now use primarily homebred rams and only buy one ram each year, if I see a ram that may assist my breeding programme.

Waidale Southdowns

Coming soon

Waidale South Suffolks

Coming soon

Whydid Lincolns

My parents started with Linoclns in 1965 in share arrangement, and then later started their own stud, they called them Whydid, as quite simply they said "Whydid we breed the bastards"

Our lincolns are Large, comparatively long-bodied and heavily built. A hardy breed, able to withstand cold, wet harsh conditions.

Dual purpose. Mainly used for cross-breeding to give increased wool weights.

Lincolns are slow to mature to adults and with purebreds you need to feed them well to 2ths. I do not mate ewe hoggets because of this. However at the opposite end you get more years out of them, the only breed to live longer is the merino

Much of the information in the following table is generic guidelines for the breed

*Bodyweight*	*Wool*
*Ewes:* 55-70 kg *Rams:* 80-110 kg	Long, coarse, strong and lustrous. A heavy fleece which opens freely with distinctive broad, flat, well-crimped, firm-handling locks. Fibre diameter: 37-41+ microns. Staple length: 175-200 mm Fleece weight: Range 9-12 kg Uses: Products requiring high tensile strength, good lustre, and a soft handle. Specialised uses include upholstery yarns, hand-knitted carpet yarns, speciality knitting yarns, wigmaking and roller lapping. May be used as at substitute for or blended with mohair.
*Meat*
Lean carcase with long, meaty leg of mutton. With purebreds you need to tell the drafter to pick them up as they are suprisingly heavy.


*Numbers*
6,000 perhaps