53 minute read
Over the fence
by AgriHQ
Where great dairy becomes great cheese.
The grass is definitely greener on the other side of the fence where a Waikato cheesemaker sources top-quality milk for her top-quality cheese.
It takes top-shelf milk to make awardwinning cheese, and Over the Moon Dairy founder Sue Arthur knows exactly where to find it – over the fence.
She sources milk for her cheeses from her neighbours, the Ebeling family, who she knows have happy, healthy and wellfed cows.
The South Waikato cheesemaker can judge that for herself when she sometimes sees the Ebelings’ 450-cow herd from her window when they graze the paddock next to her home.
Rather than just take milk from a milk tanker, Sue values having a deeper connection to where the milk is sourced.
“I want to have relationships with farmers who really do a great job on their farms with their soils and their animals, and that’s part of the success story with having a relationship with the Ebeling family,” Sue says.
Over the years, she has won multiple awards and medals for her cheese, and she credits that success with having such wonderful milk.
“We’ve won well over 150 medals and trophies for our cheeses in the 13 years that we have been in business,” she says.
In 2018, Over the Moon Dairy was named New Zealand’s best cheese for its black truffle brie at an international cheese competition, and at year’s NZ competition in Hamilton, it won eight medals, six of which were silvers.
“They are still making great milk and we’re still making great cheese. It’s a great partnership,” she says
Sue has lived on the same road as the Ebeling family for 33 years, initially farming the land with her former
Continued page 22
FARM FACTS
• Owners: Pieter and Johanna
Ebeling • Lessees: Bram and Olivia Ebeling • Location: Lichfield, South Waikato • Farm size: 140ha • Herd size: 440 Friesian cows • Production 2020-21: 215,000kg MS (home farm) • Target 2021-22: 215,000kg MS
Sue began making cheese at home in 2000 using a mail-order kit to see if she liked making it. Sue in the Over the Moon factory at Putaruru.
husband by employing sharemilkers over the first four years.
She kept the house and a small lifestyle block when that relationship ended and eventually the rest of the farm was sold to the Ebelings. Later, when she needed a new milk supplier, she knew the Ebelings were interested.
“We made an arrangement and they have been supplying us with cow milk ever since,” she says.
“We do use other milks as well, but mostly use cow milk. We had a delivery this morning and they’re making it into cheese today. It’s a great relationship.”
Prior to that, she sourced her milk from several local farmers.
She began making cheese at home in 2000 using a mail-order kit, starting with feta, harder cheese and camembert.
“I started doing that because I’m a failed science student and I wanted to see if I liked making cheese,” she says.
In the early days of making cheese, she collected the milk in a 10-litre bucket from the Ebelings’ vat occasionally on a Saturday and returned to her kitchen to begin the cheesemaking process.
Her first cheese was a feta and once it was ready, took some to Pieter “Pete” Ebeling to try.
“I thought he would be tickled pink to see what I had done with their milk,” she says.
“He scooped it up with his fingers and ate it with a big grin on his face. It was lovely to see that.
“Every time I made cheese, I gave Pete a little bit to show him what could be done and maybe that’s where the idea came from, that they would like to supply us when we started our production.”
Son Bram Ebeling says the relationship with Sue went back 25 years when his parents bought her farm.
“To see someone make a product like that out of your milk is quite satisfying, and it’s awesome cheese – we just love it,” Bram says.
She kept making the cheese out of her home for the next three to four years before setting up a factory in Putaruru, employing three staff and produced their first cheese on January 26, 2008.
Then in March, she opened her first shop in the town. A second store in Cambridge was opened in December 2015.
The growth of the business means more milk, taking 3500l/week from the Ebelings vat in a ute equipped with 500 and 1000l containers two to three days a week.
The business makes 35 different types of cheese at the factory in Putaruru, supplying dozens of stores across NZ.
The rest of the farm’s milk goes to Fonterra.
Bram says it also gives him and his parents a thrill to see the product on their local store shelf.
He submits a report to them once a month, outlining what the cows have been fed to maintain that level of transparency.
Sue and her cheesemakers make about 30 tonnes of cheese a year. But it is just a drop in the bucket compared to Fonterra’s output at its cheesemaking plant at nearby Lichfield, which takes about 45-60 minutes to make the same amount.
Their method of cheesemaking has not changed.
They work with the cheese and the curd throughout the whole process using open vats and all cheese is handmade.
Around 85% of their cheese is made
Bram feeds moozlee to the youngstock.
from cows’ milk with the rest made using sheep, goats or buffalo milk, depending on demand.
“It’s been a really rewarding thing to be doing, cheesemaking. It’s so different to the jobs I had before at the council and in travel – doing something with your hands and having that lovely feedback from customers is what keeps me going,” Sue says.
Bram says making great milk comes down to providing great feed and ensuring there are no hungry cows.
The family owns two farms near Lichfield and both run similar high-input systems. The home farm is 140ha, while the second nearby farm Paskamp, which is run by a manager, is 160ha and milks 550 cows.
Their close proximity to Tokoroa means he can take advantage of the town’s labour force for staff, as both farms are within commuting distance.
The system choice and use of supplements on the home farm comes out of necessity. Much of the property sits on rolling hills and these paddocks would produce no more than 10t of dry matter per hectare at its peak.
As a result, he buys in maize, grass silage, palm kernel (PKE), canola and tapioca as feed, and 25% of the farm is used to grow fodder beet, turnips and maize.
He is also trialling using bread and sweetcorn food waste as a food source.
Grass still comes first and he utilises as much of the pasture as possible, despite the inputs to feed the herd.
“I try not to waste a blade of grass on the farm, so the stocking rate is relatively high,” Bram says.
“They’re never hungry. If they’re hungry, I’ve done something wrong.”
Sue Arthur
Continued page 24
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The Ebeling family bought Sue’s farm 25 years ago. Bram Ebeling with his father Pieter who was the initial taste tester for the cheeses Sue made from their milk.
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In the 2020-21 season he and wife Olivia leased the farm off his parents Pieter and Johanna after buying the herd off them and prior to that, he managed the farm for 11 years.
It operates a split-calving system, with 80 of the herd calving in autumn. Calving begins on March 10 so he can supply winter milk to Fonterra.
Homegrown feed is critical across the business to keep their costs of production down.
Those expenses fell from $5.56/kg MS in the 2018-19 season to $5.32/kg MS last season, with the goal of reducing that even further to $4.30 in the future.
In the past, these expenses have been high, and Bram says this reflected the fact that the operation supported two generations of the family.
“There will be an instant reduction with the change with Olly (Olivia) and myself owning the cows and leasing the farm,” he says.
Around 90% of their maize is grown over their two farms across 50ha (16ha on the home farm), with the rest brought in. They also buy 200t of grass silage, which is stored in the 600t silage pit.
The farm operates a split-calving system with 80 of the herd calving in autumn, which begins on March 10 so they can supply winter milk. Bram with the calves.
The business makes 35 different types of cheese at the factory in Putaruru, supplying dozens of stores across NZ.
Over the Moon Dairy employs three staff in its factory at Putaruru. Team members with some of the cheese.
“They always get maize, whether it’s 1kg during the spring pasture flush or 5kg in the autumn for the winter milking cows,” he says.
During the spring, he still feeds PKE and tapioca and reduces the maize intake to account for the grass growth.
In summer they use turnips as a feed crop and fodder beet throughout winter when pasture growth is low. The cropping rotation on the home farm starts with fodder beet during summer through to June and July, before oats are planted to soak up the nutrients left by the cows.
About 7-8t/ha is grown and harvested for silage before it is sprayed out in spring and sown back into turnips for the following summer. Following that, it is planted with an annual ryegrass then maize.
He then decides whether to revert to fodder beet or into an annual ryegrass, depending on the location and performance of the paddock.
“It’s quite a vigorous two-year process, but we grow a hell of a lot of feed over a two-year period,” he says.
That feed is fed out in their 500-cow capacity covered feedpad. Its capacity is larger than the herd size, but seeing the cows having the space to eat, without pushing against each other and causing injury, made up for it.
The structure is in its second year of use and replaced a 20-year-old feedpad that was no longer fit for purpose with the growth in cow numbers.
The feedpad has also been massive for feed utilisation. They invested in a mixer wagon to reduce wastage when transporting feed from the silage pit to the feedpad.
They use a blade attachment on a tractor to push the feed up to the edges so the cows can eat it.
“It’s hard to quantify, but if we don’t
Continued page 26
Sue and one of her cheesemakers in the storeroom.
waste it, it’s going down their throats,” he says.
It has also reduced their empty rate.
“We can walk in here and the heifers are having a real good munch.”
It also had great welfare benefits, providing the cows with shade in the summer.
“In the summertime at 12.30pm they come in here. All they do in the paddock in summer is panting and they’re wasting energy trying to get cold, and they can come in here and have a munch,” he says.
The five-degree temperature reduction the cover provides makes a huge difference.
“If they’re not wasting energy trying to keep cool, it’s going on their bum and into the vat,” he says.
The feedpad is flood washed every day using recycled water coming from the 34-aside herringbone dairy shed.
It is separated with the liquid topping up the flood wash and the solids stored in the effluent pond.
The roof stops rainwater mixing with the effluent, resulting in the need for him to pump it out. Eventually, when the budget allows, he plans to collect that rainwater and recycle it into the farm system.
“It’s a really efficient way of doing things,” he says.
That effluent is sprayed out onto the maize paddocks periodically from AprilSeptember after the maize is harvested as a base fertiliser for next season’s crop.
The rest of the farm has effluent fertiliser applied over spring to March.
This reduces the amount of chemical fertiliser he needs for crops. In the 2019-20 season, he used 127kg N on the milking platform, not the crops.
Bram says any perception that this system comes at the cost of environmental sustainability are wrong.
“People can say the high inputs and the high amount of cropping isn’t being sustainable and having a low environmental footprint, but most of our planting is direct drilled. Even our maize is strip tilled and there’s no cultivation,” he says.
He says their system works. It preserves the soil carbon and with 70ha of the farm being sprayed out with effluent from the cows as fertiliser, little imported nitrogen is used on the dairy platform, apart from urea in the spring when it is too wet to be spread out.
He also wants to increase that effluent area to 80ha, as his budget allows.
The farm’s purchased N surplus was 144kg/ha last season from 127kg/ha applied.
The family has also extensively planted the Ngutuwera Stream riverbank with kahikatea trees over the years.
“I’ve been planting that since I was a boy, and we’re still topping that up now,” he says.
“It’s a great feel-good thing. We were doing that before you had to do it, and now everyone’s doing it and I think that’s a positive thing.
“In regard to the sustainable stuff, it’s something we’ve always wanted to be, regardless of supplying Sue. What we do here, we do it because we want to do it and we want to do it right.”
The herd are mostly Friesian genetics, with a limited amount of Jersey genetics to prevent the cows from growing too large because the cows must be robust enough to be able to walk on the farm’s hilly terrain.
“We need a cow that’s strong enough to climb those hills, not too big and wants to eat and stay up there and not wait at the gate wanting the lollies on the feedpad,” he says.
He 100% AIs the herd using CRV genetics with the spring calvers being mated for nine weeks and the autumn calvers for six weeks.
They use short gestation Belgian Blue semen on some of the herd to get better value for his heifer dairy-beef calves as part of the autumn calving mob.
The autumn-born calves go to the grazier in August, while 70-80% of the spring-born young cattle are sent to a grazier off-farm in December. Smaller
“To see someone make a product like that out of your milk is quite satisfying, and it’s awesome cheese – we just love it.” Bram Ebeling
cattle are kept on the farm and go to the grazier in May once the rising two-yearold heifers come back to the farm.
He has pushed back his spring calving date from July 7 in previous years to August, to take advantage of winter milking. The spring calving cows are dried off on June 25, while the autumn herd keeps the milk flowing.
He has also invested in Allflex cow collars to monitor heat detection, which he says have been hugely beneficial in front footing health issues among the herd.
Paskamp’s close proximity allows for easy integration between the two farms and he runs them as essentially one unit, but with two cow sheds.
Unlike the home farm where the cows are run as one herd, the cows at Paskamp are run in two herds out of necessity.
A staphylococcus aureus infection on the farm means he split the cows into a ‘clean’ mob and an infected mob, which is milked last to prevent crosscontamination.
Eventually, he plans to run the herd as a spring calving and autumn calving mob once those staphylococcusinfected cows are culled over the next few years.
They also run beef cattle on a 10ha block connected to the home farm.
He says he is always trying to improve the farm’s performance and lower its farm working expenses, and thinks there is some way to go before he would consider the farm in the top 10% of the country.
“But we’re masters of our own destiny too. We own the cows and we can crack into this,” he says.
The herd munches on maize, which is fed out in the covered feedpad.
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Brothers share top award
By Gerald Piddock
Immigrant workers was the theme at this year’s Dairy Industry Awards, where two of the national titles were awarded to migrants.
Hard work and setting realistic achievable goals have enabled two brothers to reach the pinnacle of achievement at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA).
Manoj Kumar and Sumit Kamboj from Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa were named the 2021 New Zealand Share
Farmers of the Year at this year’s Awards in Hamilton.
Kumar and Kamboj are 50:50 sharemilkers on Andrew and Monika
Arbuthnott, Geoff Arends and Ester
Romp’s 285ha, 460-cow Eketahuna property.
“To be honest, we worked so hard to make it happen, including the hard work of our team and all of the support from the people we had all around us,”
Kamboj said at the awards ceremony.
They were very grateful to their farm owners for giving them the sharemilking opportunity.
“I would really like to thank all of our friends and family for their support and I would also like to thank our family back home,” he says, adding that he’s praying for the “speedy recovery from covid-19 in India and looked forward to the day when everyone could be reunited with their families”.
The brothers won three merit awards at the awards evening in Hamilton for leadership, farm safety, health and biosecurity and for business performance.
They were particularly proud of winning the business performance award.
“We were holding our breath when that was announced,” Kamboj said.
“We worked hard for that and a special thanks to our bank managers and our accountant.”
The brothers say their financial planning came down to goal setting.
“Know where you want to be – set up reasonable goals and no bad debt. We do lots of sensitivity analyses,” he says.
Kumar says they also set up options for the unexpected.
He says it was not possible to make the same sort of progression in India that they have made in NZ.
The winning pair say entering the
Sharemilking brothers from Eketahuna, Sumit Kamboj and Manoj Kumar are this year’s New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year. They say they worked hard to get to where they are.
Waikato farm assistant Ruth Connolly was named the Dairy Trainee of the Year and thanked her employers for making her dreams a reality.
awards programme created an excellent network within the industry and valuable feedback from judges.
“We overcame the lack of a network by engaging more and more in dairy industry events,” he says.
“The New Zealand dairy farming system is totally different from back home in India and it really appeals to us.
“It’s very rewarding as we can see the improvements we make on-farm and there is a culture unlike any other industry.”
Looking ahead, they hope to step into an equity partnership or farm ownership in the next two to three years.
“It’s not just success for ourselves. We want to nurture the environment and keep it safe for future generations. That’s success to us,” Kumar says.
Waikato’s Christopher Vila described winning the Dairy Manager of the Year title as “the stuff of my dreams”.
“I feel so overwhelmed and overjoyed that my dream has become a reality,” Vila says.
He too says participating in the 2021 NZDIA was the best opportunity he had given himself to progress himself further in the industry.
“I would like to dedicate this achievement to each and every person who dared to dream something great and strive hard to take each step no matter how small it may seem,” he says.
Vila manages the 104ha JA BE Turnwald Family Trust farm at Ohaupo, milking 341 cows, where he lives with wife Jonah and daughter Lily.
He thanked the Turnwalds for their support, saying “we feel especially grateful that you have treated us not just as an employee but as part of your wonderful family”.
Ruth Connolly, also from Waikato, was
Farm manager Christopher Vila, who manages a 104ha farm at Ohaupo milking 341 cows, is the 2021 Dairy Manager of the Year. He says his win was a dream come true.
Continued page 30
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Continued from page 29
announced the 2021 Dairy Trainee of the Year.
Connolly says when she won the Waikato Dairy Trainee title, she never imagined she would go on to win the national title.
“It feels very difficult to comprehend,” Connolly, who is a farm assistant on Rukuhia Holdings Ltd’s 260ha property at Ohaupo, milking 800 cows, says, thanking her employers for making her dreams into a reality.
She also thanked the other regional trainee winners and said it’s “incredible to realise that in every region I have someone who I can call a friend and someone I can call on when I need help and advice”.
The runners-up in the Share Farmer of the Year were Waikato sharemilkers and equity partners Reuben and Deb Connolly and Central Plateau equity partners Andrea and Blair Muggeridge placed third.
The Dairy Manager runner-up was Hayden Goodall from Bay of Plenty, followed by Diego Raul Gomez Salinas from Taranaki.
Bay of Plenty 2IC Dayna Rowe was Dairy Trainee of the Year runner-up and third placegetter was farm assistant Mattes Groenendijk from Canterbury/North Otago.
A strong message across the first, second and third placegetters in the Share Farmer contest was that there are still progression pathways in the industry.
“The message I often hear is that there aren’t any progression pathways, it’s too hard,” competition judge John Numan says.
“These people are achieving it because they have the right attitude that encourages their employers to promote and back them in their business.”
“There are four things you need to progress, and I call it the four A’s. Attention to detail, ability to save, ambition and attitude.
“If you’ve got those things, and the respect of the owner, you’ll go far.” n
Well-deserved recognition
By Gerald Piddock
ASouth Waikato farming couple and a dairy industry stalwart have been recognised for their contributions to the primary sector at this year’s New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA).
Pete Morgan and Ann Bouma are this year’s Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award winners, while Morrinsville farmer Jeff Bolstad was presented with a Lifetime Contribution Award at the awards ceremony in Hamilton.
The Responsible Dairy Award was introduced by the NZDIA and Fonterra to recognise dairy farmers who demonstrate leadership in their approach to sustainability and who are respected by their fellow farmers and their community for their attitude and role in sustainable dairying.
In winning the award, Morgan and Bouma were presented with the John Wilson Memorial Trophy.
Award judge Charlotte Rutherford of Fonterra says there were three outstanding finalists in Pete and Ann, Chris and Desiree Giles and Philip and Donna Cram.
“For an award that is choosing ambassadors for the dairy industry, we couldn’t have been more spoiled for choice,” Rutherford says.
“Each and every one of them had strong links to the local and dairy community. It was encouraging and inspiring to see.
“Judging was quite challenging and we have looked at the industrywide picture, as they could all be ambassadors.”
The judges described Morgan and Bouma as being very well-rounded, with a high-level of current knowledge, especially around climate change, their emissions profile and tracking that over time.
Pete and Ann farm at Pokuru in South Waikato, milking 625 cows across two dairy sheds on 265ha. They came to the dairy industry from careers in researching and as a veterinarian, looking for a lifestyle they wanted for themselves and their family.
“We found a home and a great adventure, a sound wealth path and became part of a community devoted to caring for each other, the land and animals to produce quality food to feed the world,” the winning duo says.
The judges noted that Pete and Ann know things will change and want to be prepared to change and that moral concern is shifting.
The pair are also enthusiastic and open to change.
“They look at what they do, analyse it and will do it differently if needed,” Rutherford says.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell congratulated the couple and also
Dairy industry stalwart Jeff Bolstad was awarded the Lifetime Contribution to NZDIA Award in recognition for his long service and contribution to the dairy industry awards and wider agriculture sector.
Miles Hurrell
recognised the other finalists for the award.
“These farmers are driving positive change in our industry and are great role models, producing milk that is backed by the quality and sustainability credentials that customers now expect and need,” Hurrell says.
“People want to know that their milk is coming from farmers that care for the environment, animals, people and communities. Pete and Ann, along with the other finalists, are great examples of this in action.”
Jeff Bolstad’s Lifetime Contribution Award was presented to him by NZDIA Trust chairperson Natasha Tere in recognition for his long service and contribution to the dairy industry awards and wider agriculture sector.
Tere says it was the first time such an award had been presented.
“It’s a prestigious honour that is awarded to an individual that has provided exceptional service to the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards,” Tere says.
“We have chosen Jeff as he has been a bonding strength behind our organisation. He is a quiet achiever who has guided and mentored many entrants over the years.”
Bolstad is a former Federated Farmers Sharemilkers’ section chairperson and NZDIA executive member.
Tere described him as a guiding light, a father figure and confidante to many while on their awards journey.
“Jeff has no ego, just a pure love and passion for aspiring dairy farmers. He has dedicated so much time and energy to the awards programme over the years, through his involvement on the exec and behind the scenes guiding, encouraging and mentoring,” she says.
Upon receiving the award, Bolstad said “you get out what you put in”, when it came to serving the sector. n
South Waikato farmers Pete Morgan and Anne Bouma are this year’s Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award winners.
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Since getting her driver’s licence through a Mid Canterbury scheme, migrant worker Shonal Sharma has found independence and a job. Shonal with her mentor Mandy Burrows.
Taking the wheel
By Samantha Tennent
For many migrants the logistical challenges of rural living are even harder when they do not have a driver’s licence. And often they do not have family or social networks for support to learn how to drive. But a Mid Canterbury Rural Driver
Licencing Scheme has been helping migrants gain independence by getting their licence.
The programme developed between the Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust and Safer Mid Canterbury recently secured funding and received $20,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to continue to support the community.
“My life has changed so much since getting my licence,” Shonal Sharma, a graduate of the programme, explains.
“We moved to New Zealand four years ago and I was relying on my husband to transport me and our children around, which was hard as he was busy with work.”
The family are on a dairy farm in
Rakaia. The school bus stop is a short drive, but Sharma struggled to find ways to get around. Since getting her licence she has gained employment with Synlait, including extra shifts when they need cover.
“I’ve been able to attend events at school like assembly and hot food days, and I can take my children to explore surrounding areas. I am so grateful to Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust and Safer Mid Canterbury for providing the scheme,” she says.
The scheme was suffering funding pressure but the recent cash injection from MPI will ensure the programme can continue to support migrants living in rural Mid Canterbury.
“We were facing the prospect of having to reduce the number of people we help gain licences each year due to reduced funding as a result of covid-19. MPI’s support will ensure we can keep operating,” programme coordinator Wendy Hewitt says.
“Not having a driver’s licence in a rural or regional area can make it impossible for a person to find work and earn an income.”
Under the programme, up to 24 mainly migrant women who live on rural properties or in small towns will be enrolled in a road code course to gain a learner’s licence. Once people have passed their learner’s test, they are paired with a volunteer driving mentor to begin working towards their restricted licence.
The scheme has already helped 32 people to obtain a restricted or full licence, of which 25 have since gained employment.
“There are other benefits too, such as forming new friendships, joining clubs, and boosting confidence and selfesteem,” Hewitt says.
The scheme provides transport to class, childcare for participants’ children while they’re learning, and up to four professional driving lessons. MPI’s funding will enable the scheme to continue providing its skill-building programme in the 2021-22 financial year.
“It can be incredibly difficult living in a rural area without a driver’s licence. Calling an Uber or a taxi isn’t an option. It can also be more isolating if you’re new to a district. Being unable to travel limits people’s ability to socialise, make friends and integrate into the community,” MPI’s director of rural communities and farming support, Nick Story says.
MPI was allocated $1.1 million over three years to deliver extra wellbeing and support services to complement those provided by Rural Support Trusts. n
A rewarding career
By Ross Nolly
Changing careers can be daunting, but one sharemilker’s 12-year dairying journey has earned her award-winning bragging rights.
Working as a travel agent in Auckland, Belinda Price would spend ages following a long line of cars on her daily commute along the motorway while dreaming about farflung places.
At the time, she never imagined that one day she would be swapping her car, high heels and business attire for a motorbike, overalls and gumboots to follow cows instead. Nor did she imagine that one day she would be named as the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
After entering the industry 12 years ago through a sharemilking contract, Belinda and her husband Ben now own a dairy farm in Taranaki and have sharemilked 650 cows in Nukumaru for the past seven years, where she is responsible for the day-to-day running, calf-rearing, human resources and administration for their two businesses.
“I was first nominated for the award by my mother-in-law and I told Ben ‘that’s ridiculous, nobody will take me seriously.’ I then received a nomination from Katrina Knowles. I thought ‘I’ve now got two nominations and it would be rude if I didn’t enter’. It was acknowledging that that they must have seen some real good in me,” Price says.
“I put my name forward just to see what would eventuate, never dreaming that I’d become a finalist. It was pretty mind-blowing to receive the call that I was one of the final three.”
When her name was announced as the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year her first thought was “holy heck”.
She says she typically doesn’t prepare speeches and she “never expected to win”.
“In this case I decided that I‘d better be prepared, just in case. I thanked those that nominated me, Fonterra, the Dairy Women’s Network and acknowledged the incredibly impressive finalists,” she says.
“I also had to thank Ben. Because along with his own battles, he encourages me and never lets me give up. I could never have achieved what I have without his encouragement.”
As the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year, she receives a scholarship of up to $20,000 to undertake a development programme, professional and business coaching, a learning experience or a combination of all three.
“I’ve been over analysing the scholarship. I’m the tenth woman to win this award and it’s amazing to look back at the calibre of women who’ve received it. I want to take my time and think about it so I can do it justice. It will definitely involve people and helping people in some capacity,” she says.
She is a firm believer that farmers shouldn’t just stay in their farm “bubble”, they should “put themselves out there”, which in turn builds business networks and just as importantly, social networks.
“I’m a Rural Support Trust facilitator and have grown up around mental illness. Farmers need to build connections and talk to people.
Taranaki dairy farmer Belinda Price is the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Photo: Supplied
Belinda Price worked as a travel agent in Auckland before meeting and marrying her dairy farming husband Ben. Photo: Ross Nolly
Are your soils too tight, too loose, or just right?
When soil is too tight, it blocks water and nutrients from flowing down to the plants. If soil is too loose, most of the water and nutrients pass through without being absorbed. Either way, plant and soil health are compromised, which will flow through to the compromised health of your animals.
Too much Magnesium (TIGHT) Too much Calcium (LOOSE) You’re spending money on water and nutrients, but if your soil structure is wrong then these are not being held and used efficiently.
Why is balancing Magnesium/Calcium the key?
Calcium loosens soil a while Magnesium tightens it. If your soil has the correct levels of both, many of your soil problems will be alleviated.
Why is Dolomite the best source of Mg/Ca?
Dolomite is a 59% calcium 39% magnesium carbonate, a natural rock deposit found only in Mount Burnett, Golden Bay. What makes Dolomite ideal for grass growth is its releaseon-plant-demand characteristics. By secreting an acid, plants turn Dolomite on and off like a tap, which allows them to dictate Mg/Ca release rates as needed.
Benefits of Dolomite
• More vigorous clover and plant growth • Improved worm and microbial activity • Less reliance on Nitrogen • Less cases of milk fever and staggers. Plants can turn Dolomite Mg/ Ca on and off as needed.
Ca/Mg is balanced
Drought-proofing
Over time, correct calcium/magnesium applications combined with a biological farming approach will substantially drought proof your soil through increased organic matter and improve soil health.
Contact Golden Bay
Call 03 525 9843 or email sales@goldenbaydolomite.co.nz
Belinda Price and sons Tobi and Hayden, who enjoy getting out and helping on the farm. Photo: Ross Nolly
Everybody is going through issues or will go through them – it’s a journey of life.
“Life has ups and downs and roundabouts. Sometimes you feel like tearing your hair out, and at other times you cry in the shower for two-days on end. That’s our life, so don’t shut yourself off. Everyone is going to have a bad time at some stage,” she says.
She also says problems arise, it’s the nature of farming and life and firmly believes that there’s a solution for every problem.
“There may be multiple solutions, but you must select the one that’s right for the particular business or person, and coach them to find the solution using their own initiative,” she says.
Price comes from a rural background. Her father was a Northland fencing and shearing contractor and her parents also dairy farmed for a time.
Her parents later leased the farm and purchased a fish and chip shop and she helped in the shop for the princely sum of $2 a day. By the time she was 15 years old she decided to go next door to the Four Square and earn $5 an hour, which enabled her to pay her way through university.
She then completed a Certificate in Travel Studies and worked in a travel agency role in Takapuna for four years. In 2000, she met Ben after attending her nana’s funeral in Taranaki.
“My mother was from Taranaki and our mothers used to work in the sewing factory together before they each got married,” she recalls.
“Ben and I had a long distance relationship for two years while he farmed in Taranaki and I worked in Takapuna at the travel agency.”
As a travel agent, she booked holidays for clients in some of the most exotic places in the world, including the Galapagos Islands, weddings in the Pacific and South America.
“One of the most interesting places I booked would be Bethlehem, so a client could do the pilgrimage and see the sacred sights. I also had clients who did missionary/charity work in Africa. Those were really awesome trips to do for people,” she says.
“It was so nice being able to send people away for all sorts of reasons and I still see many of my clients now as a lot of them were retired farmers or in the agriculture sector.”
During that time she and Ben were married, and he took a farming job in Manurewa that required her to make the daily commute to Takapuna.
When Ben began a farm managing job in central Taranaki she transferred to New Plymouth and continued booking exotic holidays for clients until they started their family.
“I knew Ben’s ultimate goal was farm ownership. I undertook an agribusiness diploma to learn how to be a farmer, and for the next few years I undertook most of the administration work. During that period we went to a progression group that was held on the farm we now own,” she says.
“My course tutor owned that farm and also judged us for the Dairy Industry Awards. When the farm became available, she called us and asked if we’d like to talk to them about purchasing the farm.”
The couple first entered the Dairy Industry Awards in 2013 where they placed third in the Share Farmer of the Year category.
In 2016 they entered again and won. At the time, they were also named as the Supreme winners of the 2016 Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
“Our road was the Horizon region boundary, so we won two awards in two regions. Everything just kind of grew from there really. Entering awards gives you the confidence to sell yourself, and to analyse and hone your farming skills,” she says.
She has since completed the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, is a member of Environment Leaders Taranaki and the Step Change Pilot Programme. She also demonstrates a passion for people with her roles in coaching and mentorship, including PrimaryITO, DairyNZ’s Dairy Connect Programme and Rural Support.
“I’m undertaking the Agri-Women’s Development programme alongside 15 amazing women. I love being inspired. I get inspired by building networks and contacts. If I need help in a particular area, I know who to go to. Or I’ll ask the
person who will find out for me,” she says.
Not one to blow her own trumpet, she simply says “I just do what I do”.
“I was shoulder-tapped for most of the roles I’ve taken on. I do it because I love it. It gives me a buzz and it’s what drives me. It’s never about money, it’s about helping people achieve their goals. If I can do that, then I know I’ve done something good,” she says.
She enjoys challenges and is an active relaxer. She is a “connector” whose mind is constantly full of ideas, connecting.
“Everyone’s got a journey, but not everyone is ready to begin their journey. I try to pick people and give them opportunities that they’re ready for,” she says.
“It’s about knowing the person you’re dealing with. I’m intrigued by the psychology around why people choose a particular direction.”
The input from women in the farming industry is now widely recognised, especially so in the dairy sector. As a judge at this year’s Taranaki NZDIA preliminary share farmer round, she noticed how the individual members of each couple had their own farm tasks, guided by their goals and journey.
She has observed the growing number of women coming through the dairy system. They come from all walks of life and even though many had never cupped a cow, they’re now working their way through the industry.
“I simply ask people to tell me what they want to achieve and I’ll help them. Anyone wanting to enter the industry only has to ask a farmer. Most farmers would welcome you and show you their farm and cows, and probably give you some training,” she says.
“Go door knocking because there are many jobs in the dairy industry. You can progress through the industry and then the world’s your oyster.”
Price always strives to do beneficial work and would like to continue that journey through coaching and mentoring. She is fascinated by the mental health aspect of farming and it’s a space where she knows that her input will be beneficial.
Winning the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year is proof that the work she has been doing has proved helpful to others.
“Winning the title has given me the opportunity to sit down and reflect on what I do, how I’ve grown, and what I’ve achieved. It’s pretty eye-opening when you stop and look back. I’m definitely not the woman I was when I first came into farming,” she says.
“You must remember where you’ve come from and appreciate that you’ve been given opportunities. I always want to know that I’m doing something worthwhile and to go forth and have a voice.
“Oh, and I definitely prefer to travel behind cows instead of cars on the motorway. I do my best thinking when I’m getting the cows in and you don’t have to worry about all the crazy drivers.” n
Belinda and her husband own a farm in Taranaki and sharemilk 650 cows on a Nukumaru farm. She is responsible for the day-to-day running, calf-rearing, human resources and administration for their two businesses. Photo: Ross Nolly
“We expect to milk double the number of cows, with the same number of staff“.
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Canterbury farmer and DairyNZ solutions and development specialist Vanessa Bates is starting a coaching business to help rural women with self-development.
An empowering venture
By Samantha Tennent
Gaining confidence in herself has led to a Canterbury farmer to set up a programme to help and empower other rural women to realise the value they bring to the table.
After coming through her own discovery journey, Vanessa Bates has a burning desire to inspire and empower other rural women. She has taken the punt and drawn on savings to invest in herself to develop her coaching skills.
“About 18 months ago, I was in an extremely low spot,” Bates says.
“I was feeling overwhelmed trying to balance work, the farm and life in general. And felt I was failing miserably at all three.”
She knew there had to be a better way to balance life, doing something she loved, looking after herself and having the time and energy to be involved in the farm.
“I jumped on a coaching call and through that I allowed myself to realise I wanted to support others, I wanted to coach and empower them,” she says.
But she was battling her own mindset of societal expectations.
“It’s drummed into us to have a worthy job and work a 40-hour week to set yourself up,” she says.
“I also had a lot of self-doubt and fear that I wasn’t good enough. Who was I to follow my passion and try to do my own thing and who would want to be coached by me?
“Then some changes happened at work and I realised you never know when life is going to throw a curveball at you, so if not now, when?”
She has taken the plunge, stepping into a new venture she calls Vanessa Robinson Coaching, while she is getting the concept off the ground. She wants to share her skills and inspire and empower other rural women through personal coaching.
As a young female, originally from Auckland and straight out of university, she felt the challenge of earning her stripes in the agricultural sector firsthand when she started her career. Her first role was as a farm solutions manager with LIC.
“I was concerned how farmers would respond to a young female from the city coming in and trying to help them run their business,” she explains.
But it did not take her long to build a rapport and gain confidence in herself and earn the trust of clients. She also
earned more credibility from getting involved in farming herself with her husband Martin.
“Once I built relationships and people realised I could add value, things were going good. And then when I got my skin in the game with Martin and his family farm, I felt like it totally changed,” she recalls.
After a few years when self-doubt crept back in, she found support through a training opportunity.
“I attended a professional development day through Young Farmers. It was with Corene Walker from a business called Inzide Edge. The teachings really resonated with me, so I took part in another course through Corene,” she says.
“It was all about personal development and self-love and self-care, which was what I needed at that time. And the group coaching call from that course was where I realised this was what I wanted to do.”
Over the past 18 months, she has been working with Corene and her team and has been involved in facilitating one of their courses in Canterbury targeting farmers, called InsideOUT Learning.
“It’s helped me get a foot in the door to get some exposure in that world and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s helped me refine what I want to do, which is working with rural women,” she says.
“Women are a big part of the farming business and I want to help them see the value they can bring. I also want to help them identify any values or passions that they have outside of the farm that they want to pursue and help them to understand that they can do that as well.”
Speaking from her own experiences, she describes how women can attach themselves to their roles, such as wife or mother, but in reality can offer a lot more.
“It surrounds mindset and identifying actions they can take to value themselves more and realise their true potential,” she says.
She has been completing a programme through Briony McKenzie at Untapped called Coach the Coach. It is like a business accelerator that will help her develop the coaching concept.
She has been busy designing an initial
Continued page 40
Vanessa and husband Martin are contract milkers on a 100ha farm at Burnhan, milking 400 cows. They are buying the herd to sharemilk on the farm next season.
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Vanessa wore cowboy boots on her wedding day, to show she had left her big city life behind her. Photo: Sarah Clements Photography.
six-week programme to be delivered online to rural women. It will be a mix of group calls with module work to do between the calls and focus on building attendees’ self-value.
As a long-term goal, she wants to grow the concept, give it a business name, and future-proof herself alongside the farming business she has with Martin.
“I like having something that is my own, but I also want to be fully available when the farm needs me. I am keen to have my own venture that I can scale up or down depending on what else is going on,” she says.
The Bates contract milk 400 Jerseycross cows in Burnham, Canterbury. They are buying the herd to sharemilk on the farm next season. The farm is 100 hectares, with irrigation and a 40ha support block three kilometers down the road. They operate a System 2-3 and are solely spring calving.
She met Martin through Young Farmers not long after she had moved to Canterbury for the job with LIC after university.
“I had no attachment to anywhere so was flexible where I could go and moving to Canterbury turned out to be the best decision of my life,” she says.
She grew up in Auckland but had family who were farming and remembers spending school holidays playing with calves. When she was trying to pick her year 13 subjects she completed the careers quiz online after advice from a careers advisor at school. Based on her answers, the quiz promoted agriculture as a serious option and memories from her childhood came flooding back.
“I thought of all those memories from when I was younger and it all made sense,” she says.
“I like animals, I like being outside, I knew I didn’t want to be in a role where I’d be stuck inside at a computer from nine till five, so I felt like agriculture would allow me to blend it all.”
She completed a Bachelor in Agricultural Science at Massey University, followed by a Masters in Science, majoring in AgriScience. Her project surrounded the effects of cold stress on the reproductive performance of dairy cattle.
While studying, she won a scholarship from CRV, which included a trip to Holland to explore their facilities and learn about farming in the Netherlands. She also completed the final semester of her undergraduate study in Canada through an exchange programme.
“I learnt a lot in my travels, especially in Holland. We have good technology in New Zealand, like embryo transfer work, but it’s not as visible as it was over there. I really enjoyed seeing it all in action,” she says.
Her role with LIC involved supporting farmers to achieve their herd improvement goals, surrounding breeding and reproduction. During that time she completed the Coast to Coast, which required an extensive commitment to training, keeping her busy round the clock.
It was also while she was working for LIC that she moved from Rolleston onto the farm with Martin as they took up contract milking. But after a few years, she felt ready to do something different.
She found an exciting opportunity with DairyNZ, where she is a solutions and development specialist.
A big part of her role is translating science and research into things farmers can apply on-farm.
“My role at DairyNZ allows me to bridge the gap between science and extension by developing tools, resources and content for farmers when new research becomes available,” she says.
“There is a lot of variety in my role. I work on a range of projects and it allows for a balance between office and fieldwork, which is great.”
She is still keen on her extracurricular activities, completing the Queenstown marathon in 2018. And she has been heavily involved in Young Farmers for several years where has held various roles, including chairperson of the Tasman region.
When covid hit and restrictions imposed, she and a committed team paused their preparations to host the FMG Young Farmer of the Year in Christchurch. With restrictions now lifted, the 2021 event will take place next month.
“It has been a long time coming, but it’s finally on the doorstep and the flurry of hard work will all fall into place. We are really looking forward to it,” she says.
Among everything else she has on her plate, Vanessa and Martin got married in April. She wore cowboy boots under her dress, proving she has come a long way from the Auckland city life she grew up in.
Although life has been busy and she has been juggling several things at once, she credits the great support she has received from DairyNZ and they are supportive of her new venture.
“They have been allowing me to reduce my hours over calving to do the calf-rearing at home. I’m really lucky they see the value I can bring, and are willing to work with me as I develop my coaching concept,” she says.
She anticipates numerous challenges while she is getting established, primarily her own mindset, as she knows that can be the biggest challenge for many people. And she expects the initial hard work to build the foundations and navigate the unknown landscape.
“I need to remember to celebrate the little things and look back at how far I’ve come as I progress,” she says.
“You’ve got to go after the things you want in life, and helping other people is exactly what I want to do.” n Despite juggling several jobs at once, Vanessa still finds the time to do what she enjoys and is an active member of Tasman Young Farmers, and completed the Queenstown marathon in 2018.
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Winter care essentials
Dawn Dalley
DairyNZ senior scientist
Looking after our cows is at the heart of dairy farming. During winter, monitoring and assessing our animals’ behaviour is even more crucial.
I work with a lot of farmers who are reassessing and fine-tuning their winter grazing practices this year to improve the outcomes for their cows, staff and the environment.
There are a few things to consider to ensure you are implementing good management practice to support your animals’ health and comfort this winter.
Monitoring
Daily monitoring of the animals, weather and paddock conditions is an essential part of winter care.
There are specific things you can look out for to understand your cows’ behaviour. • Look for ‘lying bowls’, the marks cows leave in the soft crumbly soil, as this indicates that animals have been lying there. • Observing the amount of mud on your cows also indicates current farm conditions. If their flank area is covered in mud, this may suggest they’ve been lying on an unsuitable surface and alternatives are needed.
Lying time
It is recommended that cows lie for at least eight hours per day to maintain their health and wellbeing. We have observed these needs are often met, but some animals do not achieve this throughout winter.
Research has shown that during and on the day after rainfall events, some animals might not sit down for up to 24 hours due to sodden soil conditions with significant water pooling. Once the weather improved, they spent more time lying down, to compensate.
To prevent this, it is essential to ensure animals always have a suitable lying surface.
Providing a comfortable lying surface
To support our animals to get their required lying time, here are a few suggestions: • Move the break fence regularly to provide fresh ground. • Strategically graze the paddock, avoiding wet areas. • Protect the area closest to the feeding face by grazing animals into the prevailing weather conditions. • Save drier areas, especially any with shelter, for contingency planning around adverse events. During wet conditions allow cows access to ground behind the back fence if that ground is suitable for lying. • Keep supplement feed and troughs near the feeding face, not in any swales or hollows, which may create excess mud.
Farmers are encouraged to have a contingency plan in place now, to be prepared for adverse weather conditions throughout winter.
Identifying suitable lying areas
Knowing that we need to provide cows with DairyNZ
with a comfortable lying surface is one thing, but how do you know what that looks like?
Cows prefer ground which is ‘crumbly’. This means if you picked up a handful of soil, you could clump it together, but your hands would still be relatively clean from mud.
To assess this on-farm, an easy way is the gumboot score. If you put your gumboot into the ground, observe the pooling of water in the print.
If it quickly fills up with water or the soil oozes into the footprint, then the ground is too wet for a cow to find comfortable. What you want to see is a boot imprint with no liquid pooling.
Wet mud and surface pooling of water will have a negative impact on lying time, so a suitable lying area must be provided, especially if weather conditions do not improve within 24 hours. This could include implementing your contingency plan, such as using breaks near hedges or using a laneway for short periods.
Farmers are encouraged to have a contingency plan in place now, to be prepared for adverse weather conditions throughout winter. n
