Ida Valley is a 12,500ha property situated in Central Otago, New Zealand. It is a true fine wool landscape, from vast rocky outcrops on the hill country to the valley floor — once an ancient lake-bed and now partly irrigated flat land.   

John Paterson began at Ida Valley in 1963 with half-breed ewes, until he began introducing Polwarth rams into his breeding program in the 1980s. He focused on a plain-bodied, well-wooled sheep that could handle the tough summer dry and benefit from the irrigated flats of grass or lucerne.

A lot of work was done with footrot in the 1990s through Lincoln University, and with genetics used from medium-micron rams that had been proven at the time.

Callum & Dayna took over in 2010 and the introduction of pivot Irrigation increased the need to continue with the footrot resistance work, which led to neXtgen Agri being involved in the breeding plan.

The breeding focus of the stud was concentrated on the newly introduced footrot EbV along with carcass and wool traits - a quantum leap forward for many studs using the newly developed Australian Estimated Breeding Value (ASBV) which enabled the unseen potential in breeding stock that had been masked by the unknown factors of climatic conditions, rear type, and dam’s age.

The stud was quick to join the newly formed Southern Cross breeding group — the next step for sourcing new, proven rams that could take the 21-micron stud to new levels.   

Ida Valley now produces some of the most footrot resistant ¼ breed rams available in New Zealand, with a focus on retaining the plain-bodied, heavy wool cutting and carcass attributes that have made Ida Valley rams desirable in the last decade.