Forty years at Wairere Romneys with Simon Buckley

Head Shepherd · Jun 7, 2026 · 1h

Few people have had a front-row seat to the genetic improvement of New Zealand sheep quite like our guest this week, Simon Buckley.After growing up in Whangārei and starting his farming career at Castlepoint Station, Simon joined Wairere Romneys and has never left. Four decades later, he has helped one of New Zealand's most influential sheep breeding programmes through the transition from visual selection and paper records to EID, genomics and data-driven breeding.In this episode, Simon chats with Mark to discuss the history of Wairere and the long-term thinking required to make meaningful…