Special Feature – The right balance

THE RIGHT BALANCE

| From left to right: Sam, William (holding Baxter), Jane, Robert, Samuel Matthews and Nick. Samuel is working with the Brown family over the summer to gain farm experience.

Farming for the future, while acknowledging the past, has seen an eastern Taranaki family recognised for their top farming and environmental practices.

Robert and Jane Brown have been farming at Mangamingi for the past 34 years. Operating as Rukumoana Farms, the operation supports 11 family members with Robert and Jane’s three sons, their wives and four grandchildren on the properties. While they now own 1,263ha spanning three locations at Mangamingi, Rawhitiroa and Huinga, there have been a series of historical sales and purchases to get them where they are today.

The pioneer of Rukumoana

Robert’s legacy with his home property began back in the 1800s when his great-grandfather, also Robert but known as Bobby, left his family farm and blazed a trail through virgin bush to Mangamingi. Bobby settled at Rukumoana, purchasing 776 acres in 1891 and another 864 acres in 1906. In 1919 Bobby sold both blocks and moved to a small property near Wanganui — only to return 4 years later to buy the two properties back again. The blocks were run by Bobby’s sons, Percy (Robert’s grandfather) and Gilbert, who farmed in partnership until 1925 when Percy purchased the Mangamingi farm. The farm was handed down to Percy’s son Peter (Robert’s father) and is now owned by Robert and Jane. Robert was always going to be a farmer. From high school he returned home to the Mangamingi farm and spent the next 12 years shearing both locally and overseas — and working on the farm. He and Jane married in 1984 and with three keen farming sons arriving, it was obvious they were going to need a bit more land. Land sales and subdivisions over the decades had seen the original farm boundaries change but the couple managed to add to their original 350ha by purchasing a boundary block. They went on to buy a 96ha run-off and a 524ha farm about half an hour’s drive from their home property. Robert said from a profitability perspective the original 350ha was fairly marginal in just sheep and beef.

“We needed to get bigger to generate more income and with all the boys keen on farming we knew one farm was not going to be enough and we needed more land. “We set out to grow our land holding and now have more than three times what we began with.”

A special breed

Across the properties the Browns now fatten close to 600 cattle, bulls and steers, plus 150 dairy grazers which provides cash flow.

Last year they wintered around 5,000 ewes and mated 700 hoggets, producing 8,000 lambs on the ground — a ewe lambing percentage of 148 percent. Close to 6,500 lambs were fattened and 1,500 were kept as hogget replacements. Robert says as breeds and farming practices have changed over the years the family has moved with the times. A development in the flock has been around facial eczema tolerance. The Browns have traditionally used Wairere Rams from the Wairarapa and are finding success with the Wairere Challenger Cross. “We haven’t lost the quality of the Romney breed and the Wairere Challenger genetics have added an improved facial eczema tolerance. “The result is a very athletic breed that can jump a fence from a standing position — they don’t need a run up,” Robert says.

Big steps for a small footprint

The Browns describe their farming style as always having been environmentally focussed with a long-term commitment to environmental stewardship. Robert says it is important to them to leave a positive legacy and they balance producing quality stock with improving the farm's environmental footprint.

| Sam directs a mob through the yard.

| William (pictured) supports younger brother Sam with their direct drilling contracting business.

To help offset greenhouse gas emissions, 72ha of trees have been planted under the Afforestation Grant Scheme (the scheme was replaced by the One Billion Trees Fund in December 2018). The planting comprises 56ha of pine trees with the balance in mānuka and retired native bush. “The pines offset the carbon and assist with erosion and we have beehives so the mānuka helps there, it’s just better land use and more sustainable.” Three wetland areas have been fenced off and numerous native plants put in. Poplar poles are used for erosion control and shade and predators are actively managed. Riparian planting and planting of the steeper areas to assist with erosion control has also taken place. Robert says the land contour is a mixture of flat to rolling with some fairly steep hills. “We keep cattle numbers limited on the hills to preserve the land and fertiliser is applied for maintenance only.” At the Huinga farm they have completed around 2km of nine-wire fencing to fence off areas of wetlands and mānuka with totara plantings also planned. The work has been funded by the Taranaki Regional Council who Robert says they have a good working relationship with. The family is also involved in the Halo Project, which inspires and works with communities to enhance, protect and connect with the landscape and supports the Brown’s commitment to biodiversity. The Brown’s forward-thinking environmental approach has also been teamed with an off-farm income stream. Youngest son Sam, with support from his brother William, runs a direct drilling contract business used to plant fattening crops which they utilise on their own properties and other local farms.

| Improved facial eczema tolerance for the Romney flock has come from the change to Wairere Challenger rams over the last 10 years.

| The carefully planned infrastructure on Rukumoana allows for a smooth flow of animals across the property. | (Above) Robert observes his fattening crops. Direct drilling the crop has meant that the soil has been conserved. (Below) Cattle numbers are limited on the hills to preserve the land.

“The no-tillage approach helps conserve the soil and because there is no cultivation the structure of the land is preserved. “The drilling gets the boys off the farm and provides extra income.”

Innovation and infrastructure

Innovation has always been a cornerstone for the Browns. Robert says he has always been keen to try something new and this is reflected in the gravity fed and solar water systems they have established. The home farm has a gravity feed to most of the troughs. A tank situated at the top of a hill is high enough to gravity feed the house, with a pump only used to add extra pressure. The water feed also supports troughs up to 2km in the other direction. The Browns are working to duplicate the system at their Huinga block, using a solar system which pumps the water from a creek and then 60m uphill to a tank. This then gravity feeds troughs on the flats. “We use solar panels to run a solar pump, which is ideal as it pumps more water when there is more sunlight, which is when the stock demand is the highest. It is so much cheaper than electricity and more reliable and in the case of the Huinga property we couldn’t get electricity there anyway. “The boys give us the incentive to keep up with innovation, we bounce ideas off each other. New ideas keep everyone keen, it’s a change and not just the same old thing.” A priority on efficiency has also driven infrastructure, with a lane set-up across the Mangamingi property making stock movement as easy as possible. Robert says the home farm lends itself to the laneway which has grown to about 3km, making it easy to put stock on the lane which feeds out to paddocks. “We are starting to replicate this system at Huinga as it makes it so quick and simple to bring stock in and out.”

Recognition and rewards

Last year, the Brown family were the supreme winners of the Taranaki Ballance Farm Environment Award, with the cohesive family unit recognised for their innovation, environmental management and infrastructure. Entering the Ballance Farm Environment Awards gave the family a chance to acknowledge the hard work that has gone into the farm by past and present generations. Robert says the family didn’t change the way they operated to enter the awards. “The judges just must like the way we do things.”

| Better land use through retiring native bush and planting pines have earned Browns the sustainability tick.

Run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust, the awards champion sustainable farming and growing through a programme that selects one regional supreme winner from each of the 11 regions involved. As well as receiving the 2020 Supreme Regional Award, Rukumoana Farms was also awarded the Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm Award, Norwood Agri-Business Management Award, Synlait Climate Stewardship Award, WaterForce Wise with Water Award and the Taranaki Regional Council Sustainability Award. Judges were impressed with the Browns’ willingness to try new things in innovative ways and the solid infrastructure base that made the properties easy to manage. The Ballance Awards judges noted the family operation plays to the strengths of all family members and there is also an excellent ability to spread risk while managing cashflow. The Browns’ formal succession plan as well as their involvement with the community were also highlighted, with judges describing the family as demonstrating a genuine passion for their farm and industry.

The next steps

Planning for a smooth future succession is important to Robert and Jane. Son Nick, 32, is married to Sophie and they have two children, Sebastian and Lachlan. Plans are already afoot for Nick to take over the Huinga farm while William, 30, who is married to Kate and has two children, Henry and Ella, will farm the home block. Both boys will lease the farms and buy the stock. Next in line is youngest son Sam, 26 who will remain working in the family business while they consolidate and build equity to eventually buy an additional property. “Ultimately the goal is for each boy to have his own farm and run that independently. It is better to keep them separate so they are not reliant on each other but can still work together and help each other out. “It can get really messy if you don’t plan for succession now. The idea is to put a plan in place so we can be looked after off farm but still be involved. “We are pretty proud. Our grandchildren are the sixth generation on this land. It has not always been easy to achieve what we have from a financial point of view and we need to look after ourselves too, but we are doing our damnedest,” Robert says.

| Jane and Robert Brown are very proud of what they've achieved on-farm, although it hasn't been easy.