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Mt Cass Wiltshire Sheep

"The sheep don’t need to be shorn, crutched or dipped for fly strike"

Mt Cass Wiltshires was developed on Mt Cass Station in Waipara, North Canterbury. We purchased our first Wiltshire ewe lambs, along with Wiltshire Rams to begin crossing shedding over the existing, mid-micron ewe flock. We then bred out to a flock of 8400 shedding ewes, while at the same time developing the Mt Cass Wiltshire stud as there was an increasing demand for quality shedding genetics in NZ.

More recently we have refined the Stud and relocated our operation where we continue to focus on producing a structurally sound, shedding sheep with good shiftability to NZ’s many farming environments. While they do not produce wool, Mt Cass Wiltshires are good meat producers with lambs consistently yielding at 50% throughout the season.

Our Breeding Strategy

Mt Cass Wiltshires have inherent internal parasite tolerance and come into their own in the farms low-input organic system. Mt Cass Wiltshires don’t need to be shorn, crutched or dipped for fly strike. This results in significant savings on shearing, labor and agrichemical costs.

Structural Soundness

Mt Cass Wiltshires have consistently been selected to be structurally sound with a zero tolerance for poor feet and/or conformation. With the shift in stud location, we see the hard, rocky ground as a good testing place for our feet going forward.

Easy Care Lambing

Our ewes and hoggets are lambed extensively without intervention on our North Canterbury hill country station. This low interference lambing system has enabled us to select for lambing ease, lamb vigor and ultimately lamb and ewe survival. Mt Cass Wiltshires wean 135-145% off the hill country.

Low Drench Requirement

Our ewes are farmed organically on our North Canterbury hill country property. Testing our genetics in an organic system since 2009 has meant that only the animals with the natural tolerance for these conditions have performed and survived in our system. This gives us confidence in the product we are presenting.

Growth Rate

We have a number of ewes and rams which carry the ‘Myomax’ Gene. Carriers of this gene have shown a genetic weight gain advantage with carriers averaging 1.1kg heavier at weaning, and 1-2kg heavier at 12 months of age (Ewe – Ram Hoggets Respectively).

Reduced Workload

Our aim is to produce a sheep with a low labor requirement, producing sheep which don’t need to be crutched, shorn or dipped and have very minimal drenching requirement. We aim to have sound feet and we test our genetics in our 8000 ewe Organic flock.

Selecting Wiltshires Since 2009

We have been breeding and selecting Wiltshires at Mt Cass since 2009. We have selected our ewes and rams to have full shedding fleeces, minimal drenching requirement and have a strict cull policy for any animal with poor feet.

Mt Cass Wiltshire sheep for sale in North Canterbury, New Zealand

Breeding Objectives

Mt Cass and its organic system is an ideal testing ground for genetics.

Our aim is to develop a sheep that:

  • Is easy care
  • Does not need to be Shorn, Dipped or Crutched
  • Has internal parasite resilience
  • Has easy care lambing
  • Will wean 3 lambs in her first 2 years
  • Have sound feet
  • Performs in an organic system
  • Weans 70% of Liveweight
  • Rears 150%

Upcoming Mt Cass
Wiltshire Sales & Open Days

CONTACT US

19 NOV
2025

Elite Ram Pre-sale Viewing Day
A chance to view catalogued rams before the sale
Address: 157 Georges Road, Waipara
Viewing from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – 19th November 2025

24 NOV
2025

Mt Cass Wiltshires Elite Ram Sale
60 2th Rams available at Auction
Address: 27 Darnley Road, Glasnevin
Viewing from 11:00 am
Auction starts at 1:00 pm

Future Focus

Facial Eczema Tolerance

In 2021 Mt Cass Wiltshires began progeny testing our rams for facial eczema tolerance. We see this a step in the right direction to ensuring we are producing a Ram that will tolerate the conditions from the top of the north to the bottom of the south. As this project continues, we will be sharing our results.

Internal Parasite Resilience

We have anecdotal evidence of the way our stock perform in an organic system as to their tolerance to internal parasites. Going forward we are committed to measuring wormFEC and quantifying our level of resilience.

AI Introduction Of Exlana (UK) Genetics

We are using AI to introduce genetics from Exlana stud in the United Kingdom. We see their traits for fecundity and internal parasite resistance as a valuable synergy for our existing genetic offering. Exlana are recognized worldwide for their low input sheep genetics.

We Are Focused On

  • Having even better fertility
  • SIL performance recording
  • Joining industry good research trials
  • Measuring methane output
  • Bringing NZ a low input sheep that performs wherever you live