Planning underway for the winter months

As I write this, we’re heading into Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Annual Meeting where farmers have had the opportunity to vote on nine remits.

by Kate Acland

Director, Beef+ Lamb New Zealand

There is clearly some unrest and questions out there from farmers and we’re clear, as a board and organisation, that regardless of the outcomes of these remits, we need to better connect with our levy payers, listen to and discuss their concerns and ensure we’re supporting them effectively.

We’ll take some time after the Annual Meeting to reflect on what we’ve heard and you can expect to hear more from us in the coming weeks.

On farm, autumn is always a busy time for us. We’ve had a particularly kind summer in Mt Somers after a fairly slow spring. Moisture levels are good, but soil temperatures are rapidly dropping and we’re seeing a decline in pasture growth rates.

Our focus is now on pushing that feed forward into autumn and condition scoring and sorting the ewes in the lead up to mating. This allows us to really focus on prioritising feed into the tail-end ewes.

We’re also in full planning mode for winter and thinking about our processes around winter feeding. We grow around 100ha of crop for both sheep and cattle, so intensively grazed forage crops are an important part of our farm system.

If you do require a resource consent to graze your crops this winter, remember the deadline is 1 May. B+LNZ has some great information on its website about what meets the permitted activity criteria as well as guidelines around applying for a resource consent.

Regardless of whether you’re operating under a resource consent or not, having all the planning in place and documented is essential. Again, there is a wealth of information and resources on the B+LNZ website to make winter planning and identification of critical source areas easy.

The sector has had glowing reports from Regional Councils about the huge improve- ment in wintering practices in recent years, so let’s keep up the good work.

Although we’ve had a relatively kind summer weather wise, financial pressures are hitting home for many of us as margins are squeezed. The key is to focus on what we can control. We can’t control the weather or the interest rates, but we can focus on productivity.

This means ensuring our sheep are in the best possible condition prior to mating and carrying out feed budgets to identify and fill any feed deficits going into winter.

Before we all transition stock on feed crops and start feeding out, take the opportunity to get off farm while you can. All too soon we will be into winter, and it can get too difficult to get away for more than a couple of hours.

It has been heartening to see the support given to farmers affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.

The kindness shown to us after the 2021 floods helped us get through a very difficult time. It is never too late to show support for our farming colleagues, even small gestures can make a big difference.

The value of the work done by the Federated Farmers-led Farmy Army cannot be overstated. Having a team coming in to help repair fences and infrastructure and make fast visual progress makes a world of difference to farmers who can at least begin to see a path forward through the devastation.

‘The key is to focus on what we can control. We can’t control the weather or the interest rates, but we can focus on productivity.