BACKING FARMERS
AUGUST 2020
Sibling POWER Wairarapa’s Pascoe and Henry Reynolds are running a slick, dryland, mixed-cropping operation p60
Succession Who’s in control? Country-Wide
August 2020
Animal health Reducing lamb wastage 1
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August 2020
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Wisdom and wit
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fter I graduated from Lincoln College in the 1980s as a 23-year-old, I came home to share what I thought was wisdom. I started telling my father, a farmer of 30 years experience, how he should farm. One day he smiled and quietly said, “a little bit of knowledge is dangerous”. I was just starting to gather wisdom which can only come from a lifetime of experiences not a qualification and few years in a job. It comes from a lifetime of trying new things, making mistakes, being hit by the unexpected and learning from them. When Judith Collins was elected the National Party leader, she brought with her wisdom gained from 18 years in Parliament, a successful career as a lawyer and from growing up on a dairy farm. She also brought wit, evident from her first press conference where she oozed confidence and humour. Asked what immediate changes needed to be made, she replied obviously the posters. She had more hair than Todd Muller. Contacts and friends who have worked under her say she is caring and personable. When my friend’s daughter was sexually harassed in Parliament it was Collins, who was a minister at the time, who quickly sorted it out with professionalism and sensitivity. Those I know who have worked with her when she was a minister, say she is personable, intelligent, hard working and strong on the detail. National always had a good team, but lacked a striker. Bridges took a lot of shots at goal but seemed to spray them wide of the mark with the public. Did National MPs overreact to a couple of lousy polls for Bridges immediately after the Covid-19 lockdown? Nobody would have polled well then against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Muller was rushed in as a right foot striker, but he had two left feet and hardly touched the ball. Collins started scoring goals as soon as she took over as leader. We are told she doesn’t belong to a faction within the National Party. She is driven by her convictions, not right-wing or blue-green ideology.
Collins wouldn’t have bothered to reprimand Paul Goldsmith for telling Ardern to stick to her knitting as Nikki Kay did. Collins is her own boss and there because the party needs her. She comes across as a natural leader, not a manufactured one. What you see is what you get. She speaks clearly and concisely. She is extremely calm. She can answer questions on the spot without delay. Notice how she hardly moves when speaking. Her views on climate change will resonate with many especially farmers. She will not beggar the country in order to virtue signal to the world. So will repeal of the RMA. Commentators warned that Collins won’t have a long honeymoon with the media. She never got one. In the first interviews the leftwing biased urban media climbed into Collins and her deputy Gerry Brownlie. Both handled the questions masterfully, though Collins used humour as well. When queried about her nickname Crusher, Collins replied it was the media who gave it to her, but thought it would be a good one for her team. She wasn’t just answering questions. She was also sending a message to voters. Collins praised Ardern but warned she wouldn’t tolerate any of her nonsense. It created the image of a school ma’am and a school girl. The big question is will Collins and National have enough time to convince the majority of voters National should be in Government? It is a great shame that Muller took 53 days to resign. But as we’ve seen from the Andrew Falloon and Iain Lees-Galloway resignations, a day is a long time in Parliament, let alone a week.
Terry Brosnahan Got any feedback? Contact the editor: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272 @CountryWideEd
Congratulations to the winners of our June subscriber giveaway. • Winner of the new subscriber offer - Four Seasons Dung Beetle package, valued at $6900 - Tanya Bell, Shag Valley Station. • Winner of the existing subscriber offer - Single species Dung Beetle package, valued at $2300 - Linda Ellison, Te Puke. Thanks to Dung Beetle Innovations www.dungbeetles.co.nz
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Country-Wide is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740 General enquiries: Toll free 0800 2AG SUB (0800 224 782) www.nzfarmlife.co.nz
EDITOR: Terry Brosnahan | 03 471 5272 | 027 249 0200 terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz PUBLISHER: Tony Leggett | 06 280 3162 | 0274 746 093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz
A HISS, NOT A ROAR MORE p55
SUB EDITOR: Andy Maciver | 06 280 3166 andy.maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Emily Rees | 06 280 3167 emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz Jo Hannam jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz SOCIAL MEDIA: Charlie Pearson | 06 280 3169 WRITERS: Andrew Swallow 021 745 183 Anne Hardie 03 540 3635 Lynda Gray 03 448 6222 Robert Pattison 027 889 8444 Sandra Taylor 021 151 8685 Cheyenne Nicholson 021 044 1335 James Hoban 027 251 1986 Russell Priest 06 328 9852 Jo Cuttance 03 976 5599 Rebecca Harper 06 376 2884 PARTNERSHIP MANAGERS: Janine Aish | Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty 027 890 0015 | janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett | Lower North Island 027 474 6093 | tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson | South Island 027 289 2326 | david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz SUBSCRIPTIONS: nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop | 0800 224 782 subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Printed by Ovato Print NZ Ltd, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 1179-9854 (Print) ISSN 2253-2307 (Online)
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Contents BOUNDARIES 8 9
True value of history Lobby group pushes on
HOME BLOCK 10 11 12 13 14 15
Blair Drysdale recommends taking time to see the country Andrew Steven encounters rain, deer and culture Stuart Chambers finds a constant in farming Nick Loughnan is feeling loved again Lincoln student Penny Grigg describes study in lockdown Suzie Corboy makes the most of daylight hours
BUSINESS 16 18 19 20 22 24 26 29 30
Drought: Countering feed shortages Wrapped up and heading north Wool advocates on fire Onfarm inflation kept low Family succession: Who’s in control? Succession: Don’t get set up to fail M bovis: Seeking accountability, not sympathy NZ flavoured earth and health index needed Wool: Know thy enemy
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August 2020
Know thy enemy
MORE p30
MANAGING DEER TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT MORE p50
LIVESTOCK 32 38 40 47 48
Numbers drive the business Juggling ewe feed pre-lamb Hill fit at Awapiri Stock Check: Efficient not intensive farming Animal health: Reducing lamb wastage
DEER FARMER COVID-19 COOKING SHOW A HIT MORE p72
50 55 58 59
Managing deer to protect environment Guided hunting: A hiss, not a roar Test gains for Wapiti breeder Powerful tool in parasite war
CROP AND FORAGE OUR COVER:
60 Two heads are better than one
Wairarapa brothers Pascoe and Henry Reynolds are an energetic partnership. They have brought a fresh perspective to running their generations-old family farm. More p60.
ENVIRONMENT
Photo: Brad Hanson
YOUNG COUNTRY
NEXT ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 2020
68 Wintering: Southland farmers get a bad rap 71 Freshwater: Proposals may cripple farm business
72 Social media: Drought support 74 Achieving Zanda goal 75 Winner goes south
COMMUNITY The annual special report on how to grow and utilise crops. • Carbon forestry: Counting the cost of whole farm plantings. • Direct drills: Finding the perfect machine to handle a widerange of conditions. • Beet harvesting: A couple running a mixed farming operation and a substantial contracting business.
76 Farmhouse Covid-19 cooking show a hit 80 Stressed? What you can do
SOLUTIONS 81 A selenium shot that lasts
TIME TO SHARE 82 Country-Wide readers’ photos from life on the farm
Country-Wide
August 2020
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BOUNDARIES
The value of history BY: VICTORIA O’SULLIVAN
T JOKE
Albert Einstein was on a speaker’s circuit and found himself eagerly longing to get back to his lab work. One night as they were driving to yet another dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur that he was tired of speechmaking. “I have an idea, boss,” his chauffeur said. “I’ve heard you give this speech so many times. I’ll bet I could give it for you, and how many times have we heard people say we look alike?” Einstein laughed loudly and said, “Genius idea. Let’s do it.” Arriving at the dinner Einstein donned the chauffeur’s cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein’s speech and even answered a few questions expertly. Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing often to show the audience he was nobody’s fool. The chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, “Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me.”
wo brothers who have their eyes firmly on the future, won’t easily forget the past. Henry and Pascoe Reynolds are carrying on the family legacy, farming a 155-year-old farm at Carterton, in the Wairarapa. They lease the 380 hectare dryland farm from their parents Jim and Lois. The brothers run a slick cereal, seed, forage and sheep trading business. The farm today is a testament to ancestors who first settled the property in 1865. Previous generations have been careful to preserve the historic value in the farm buildings and homestead in which Henry and his family live. After suffering many headaches from the five-foot-high doorways, Pascoe describes the old infrastructure as “bittersweet”. “You’ve definitely got some awesome historic stuff but on the other hand sometimes you just want to pull it down and start again.” They’ve lifted, re-piled and re-roofed the woolshed. The covered yards, originally built by Pascoe’s grandfather, with covered night pens were replaced. “I just got the tractor and drove straight through them because they didn’t have enough historic value!” says Pascoe with a laugh. On the shearing shed wall, Mayfield’s wool clip through the 1880s is recorded. It shows the impact of a rabbit plague that nearly broke the back of early sheep farming. With modern technology on hand, the brothers agree it’s sobering to reflect on their ancestors’ toil. Dig deep enough into the heavy clay soils and there’s evidence of cultivation from a horsedrawn mouldboard plough. In addition, there are more kilometres of clay tile drainage under the ground than fences on top.
›› For more see p60
COCKIES’ CLUB If you’re a Taranaki farmer who enjoys going to the footy, the new Cockies Club could be for you. The Taranaki Rugby initiative has been established to support rugby, in partnership with local farmers. Taranaki Rugby has teamed up with ANZCO, Silver Fern Farms, AFFCO and UBP to create the ‘Cockies Club’. The scheme is designed to connect with Taranaki farmers who can donate a minimum of eight bobby calves, two lambs or one cull cow. While harnessing the generosity of farmers to help fund rugby, in return, farmers would be provided with hospitality and a great day off farm. The main objective of the Cockies Club is to grow rugby and enrich lives. To join the Cockies Club contact Chris Gawler: chris@ trfu.co.nz
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UH-OH, the adults are back
Country-Wide
August 2020
NO WOOLLY THINKING!
DOZING OFF
LOBBY GROUP PUSHES ON BY: REBECCA HARPER A lobby group committed to raising awareness about the blanket planting of pines on productive farmland says it is still going strong more than a year on. Andy Scott, spokesperson for 50 Shades of Green, said the group felt progress had been made before Covid-19 put the brakes on. Prior to lockdown, the group had been invited to a meeting with forestry and agriculture leaders within Government. He said the Government had made signals they would amend the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation. Lockdown happened and then time ran out. As far as the Government goes, now nothing will happen until February or March. Scott said the group had received some donations and had money to spend on marketing. It had a helicopter in the sky all day recently taking photos and video of what has been planted. “It’s quite astounding how much land has gone. If they keep going the way they are, there will be over one million hectares that go into forestry.” The focus is now on raising awareness and the target urban people who are not aware of the situation and how much it will cost them. Billboards in Auckland have been effective and a video is being made.
FUNDRAISER RECIPE A Waikato rural community is driving a cookbook as the fundraiser to save its local hall. Organiser Hayley Muller and seven Puahue locals have published the Around Our Table cookbook, with the aim of raising $100,000 to rebuild their hall. The Puahue School roll can’t fit into the hall and it’s in need of repairs. She says the project was ambitious with a few hiccups along the way. The call went out to the predominantly dairy farming community for recipes, and the response was huge. “We were very fortunate that parents involved had skills in graphic design and photography.” To ensure profitability local businesses were approached to sponsor an advert, with the combined income paying for the printing cost of $2000. Hayley is also happy to share the recipe for creating a successful cookbook. Price $50 www.aroundthetable.co.nz with free shipping.
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August 2020
Over the three weeks ending July 14, the Deer Industry held a virtual conference, rolling out three short sessions every Tuesday. It included some great content but why-ohwhy did it have to run in what speakers at traditional, face-to-face conferences call “the graveyard slot” – straight after lunch? After a morning outside on the farm it’s a fair bet many who logged in would have found themselves nodding. Luckily it can all be revisited online. See deernz. org/2020conference
Who’s got a clever business idea to share with everyone on new , innovative ways to boost dem and for our strong wool growers? Kiwis are renowned for their innovative streak, so get the grey matter going and let the team at Country-Wide have your idea s. We’ll collate them and share the best with you through the magazine. Email tony.leggett@ nzfarmlife.co.nz
WOOL PETITION Have you signed Otago farmer Amy Blaikie’s Parliamentary petition requesting public buildings and Kiwibuild homes be wool insulated? www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/ document/PET_99224/petitionof-amy-blaikie-new-zealand-woolproducts-used Closes July 31.
VOTE GOOD NEWS NAIT TOO SLOW Got cattle or deer on your farm? Then by July 31 you should have declared to Ospri numbers of sheep, pigs, goats, alpacas, emus, llamas and ostriches too. Ospri says it is essential for managing diseases that can jump species, such as foot and mouth disease (FMD), which begs the question why it only applies to farmers with NAIT animals (cattle or deer). The economic cost of Covid-19 to New Zealand would pale in significance compared to a widespread FMD outbreak. Eight years since NAIT went live, 11 since its launch, and two years since a root and branch review, it seems NAIT still has a very long way to go. Here’s praying Ospri gets there before FMD gets here.
Overwhelming grower support for Federated Farmers to continue to administer the non-proprietary and uncertified Herbage Seeds Levy Order for another six years is good for farming. This safeguards the future supply of grasses such as Moata, Tama and Nui, and some older red and white clovers. Granted, the productivity of most modern branded cultivars kicks these old stalwarts into touch, but it’s good to have a choice and they prevent seedhouses hiking prices of the latest lines too high.
BRAGGING RIGHTS Northern hemisphere wheat growers will have been googling with envy recently to learn how Eric Watson from Wakanui, near Ashburton beat his own world wheat yield record by nearly 4%. Agronomically that’s an amazing result, especially as Guinness World Record rules require the crop and paddock to be registered for record attempts long before it’s clear the crop could be good. He beat an Englishman in 2017 to take the record for the first time in 2017. But such achievements are not just about bragging rights. They attract global expertise and technology to our shores which might otherwise pass us by. Well done Eric.
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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN Left: Not Fiji, but not bad…
Time to see the country Covided-out of a Fiji holiday, Blair Drysdale and family left their Northern Southland farm to glory in the scenes available closer to home.
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ike a lot of other people this year our winter holiday got the chop no thanks of course to Covid-19. So, our family trip to Fiji for eight days looked a hell of a lot different to the way it should have. Our ship now was a six-berth Maui campervan instead of an A320, which I managed to captain faultlessly for the entire journey, while Jody took the role of first officer/navigator in her stride and performed it in an extremely professional manner. The three minors back in cattle class, however, did not have a hostess to provide any food or drinks whatsoever, let alone tend to the overhead locker that flew open effortlessly every time I banked to the left. It was self-service back there. After picking up our campervan in Queenstown we headed for the West Coast and one of the first things I noticed was the people in campervans coming towards us waving with extreme excitement. I took this as some form of acknowledgement to all other Kiwis that were taking the opportunity to get
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mobile and see New Zealand. I rightly took this on board and waved to every other campervan coming towards us for the entire trip with most people being reciprocal. To cut a long story short our route took us up the West Coast, over the Lewis Pass and back down the middle to Queenstown enjoying nights in Haast, Greymouth, Hanmer Springs, Rangiora, Tekapo and Twizel with absolutely stunning weather for the entire journey. And by crikey we live in a beautiful BALFOUR country, especially the West Coast with the faultless weather we had over there. One of my favourite spots which I drove the family down to is a wee place called Neils Beach which lies in Jacksons Bay, a hidden gem 30 minutes’ drive south of Haast. There is a cracker wee eatery down there too called the Cray Pot with the freshest seafood you will find and stunning views to match. It is well worth the drive. One sight I really wanted the kids to see was the glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef
as it was a highlight of a trip just like this that I did with my parents as a kid. But with them both having receded so much over the last 30 years and not being able to walk close to them now because of health and safety, a treat was in store for the kids. A 20-minute helicopter flight with a landing at the top of Franz Josef for a wander around to enjoy the most stunning and pristine bit of scenery (the pilot shaking his head at the sight of Fletcher in shorts). It is the only way now to really see them in all their beauty and which the kids would now highly recommend but weren’t so keen to pay for! On reflection now, I think we get a bit of tunnel vision sometimes when it comes to holidays thinking we need to head offshore when there is so much of our own country to see. We have seen most nooks and crannies of the South Island now and our attention will definitely turn to the North Island in the very near future as there’s a lot of that we haven’t seen, most of it in fact. The farm doesn’t run itself that well when there’s stock to shift and feed daily during winter. This was left in the trusty hands of dad and Sincy, a bloody good mate of mine. So, of course as Murphy does, he turns up the day we left and delivered some 130odd millimetres of rain, sleet and snow leaving not a paddock that wasn’t inundated with water and making stock management a bit more challenging. I should add that this is the third year running this has happened causing me to carry a bit of guilt and making it slightly harder to relax, but the place was in good hands and I shouldn’t have worried as everything was hunky dory on our return. Thankfully the water has all dried up and the stock are enjoying some frosty weather and utilising the feed very well once again, the hoggets here on grazing are bucking and skipping around the paddocks like young lambs in the spring, all of which is just around the corner. Anyway, get out and see NZ, people, as there’s never been a better time to do it than now.
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August 2020
HOME BLOCK | COLUMN
The deer have become so quiet they are hard work to push around the yards. Sheep, by contrast, are getting ever more crazy and a danger to humans in the yards.
Rain, deer and culture Low rainfall, escaping deer and the culture of agriculture have got Andrew Steven thinking.
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t is a bold or foolish person who commits weather predictions to print. Timaru has received 157mm of rain up to July 7 when the average year-to-date rainfall is 276mm. Either we can expect a lot more in the second half of the year or we are tracking for a low-rainfall year. I watch the seven o’clock weather regularly with interest and I see a pattern of high pressure systems that are well south. I don’t see much to make me confident about rain prospects so I am planning on being behind on rain going through spring. We haven’t had the difficulties Hawke’s Bay has experienced but we have been hand-feeding, juggling and contemplating feed strategies for long enough to be well over it. We have sold off lambs that we bought in earlier with an eye on a looming feed crunch about early August. A desire to cut spending to the
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August 2020
minimum had me examining the need to pregnancy scan ewes. How did we get on before we had the technology? With feed so tight this is not the year to find out. We did scan, with a disappointing result. Our most recent stuff-up worth reporting occurred while trying to yard weaner deer, under time pressure, for the first time without their mothers. There were 200 in the mob and their behaviour was no worse than normal. They formed a huddle against a fence that is external and does not normally get pressured. I expected them to pop out, which they would have with a little more patience. Instead they surged, flattening the fence, and half escaped into a gorse-filled gully. This is like watching a slow motion train wreck – you know what is about to happen, you know it is your own fault,
and it is too late to prevent it. We cut a fence in a good spot and very quietly worked the escapees up to the cut. Half went through the gap, the other half spooked and scattered. At this point we went home for a coffee and called for a helicopter. Our local pilot is highly skilled and had the rest back in no time. The breeding potential of a hind is not high, and it is all backwards from there. We are losing quite a few pregnancies between scanning and fawning. There are losses from accidents, and weaners are quite keen to die for any reason. We really should try a bit harder but the main attraction of deer is not doing much with them. Still, they are magnificent animals and good to work with. Over time, our deer have become very quiet to handle to the extent that they are hard work to push around the yards. Sheep, by contrast, are getting ever more crazy and present a danger to humans when in the yards. In the wake of the Covid-19 many commentators have called for a transformation in how economies are run. They point to the need to look after people and the planet as paramount. In this vein, the “Meat the Need” programme is an excellent initiative to help people. I think many farmers would be appalled that in this land of plenty we have hungry people. Another transformation that you might care to think about is how the term Agri-culture had the culture removed and became agri-business. The language of agribusiness – EBIT, KPI, ROIC, gross margin – all ROSEWILL very interesting… if you are an accountant. Surely the term “agriculture” must embrace a whole lot more. It is what supports seven billion people. Agribusiness is a narrow term associated with greedy banks. At your next discussion group meeting you could explore some “culture” terms – agro-ecology, ecosystem services, externalities, diversity, neoliberal economics, farmer wellbeing. The third transformation that has not been properly discussed is how New Zealand capitalist enterprise has suddenly transformed itself into a government beneficiary.
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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN
Horses working on the farm in the late 1940s.
Farming’s constant Stuart Chambers surveys farming over seven decades and realises that some things never change. AUCKLAND
I
n the 70 years I have been watching and commenting on the rural scene there have been several noticeable constants. The cow and the sheep have been the backbone of agriculture in New Zealand, and grass and clover pasture has been their food. Animals have lived outside all year round and harvested their own food. There have been slight diversions from this pattern and changes in the mechanics but, basically, livestock farmers pull on their boots and go out into the weather as they have always done. The only difference might be that now some are almost confined to the kitchen table surrounded by paper. I first became aware of the farming world from an upbringing in Auckland in a neighbourhood where each house had a big spread and gardening was the weekend activity. Our garden totalled over three acres and ran six ewes and often a horse. There were a couple of orchards, a vegetable garden, a fowl run with 30 hens and a pigeon loft. Poultry meat and occasional pigeon meat supplemented the diet. The sheep were there as lawnmowers and the few fleeces or lambs sold were bonuses. The sheep added soul to the overall scene and
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presented young minds with a close-up view of a possible future occupation. For me this led on to an uncle’s Waikato farm where 150 cows were milked by three people, and 2000 ewes were farmed by Eddie, Mac, Fred and Johnnie – a team of very capable Maori men who taught me most of what I was to learn about the actual physical work done on farms. It started with horses pulling sledges, stumping peat swamps, sowing fertiliser, sweeping hay and constant harrowing. This farm grew good rye and clover pasture and it fed hay in late winter as it still does today. From there I moved on to Massey College where, again, the rye and clover pasture was emphasised. Nitrogen was the key element for ryegrass growth and this came from clover, and clover was encouraged by phosphate with the occasional touch of molybdenum. We were also taught that farming was not simply a lifestyle, it was a full-on occupation. The Massey experience included practical work on a sheep farm in the far south where, again, sheep grazed rye and clover pasture, but here crops were a big part of the sheep and cattle winter diet.
Armed with this basic knowledge I managed to buy an undeveloped farm near the Hauraki Plains. It was too steep for dairying so sheep were the only alternative. I changed it from manuka scrub, with the help of a loan from the Marginal Lands Board, to once again ryegrass and clover pasture, which the livestock fed on. The sheds, yards and fences were built basically as taught to me by Eddie, Mac, Fred and Johnnie. The land was topdressed by plane, stock were rotated, and wether lambs were sold prior to the pasture going to stalk. Angus cows were run to clean up pastures remembering, as we were taught, that they were both complementary and supplementary to sheep farming. This simple operation still applies to much of the sheep country today but as a lifestyle it has moved on. As a representative of the QE II Trust back in the 80s I met sheep farmers distressed by the fact that the occupation they had once enjoyed could no longer be sustained. The main reason for this was the wool price. Wool had traditionally been about 50% of a sheep farmer’s income, and this had largely gone. Some had found their way out of this dilemma by selling land for pine trees and this has continued until the present, albeit with some complaint. Others had subdivided their land to clear mortgages, and cattle numbers had increased at a cost. Also, many wives had found work away from the farm. My wife went out to work very early in the piece and we also set up a viable tourist activity, which we carried on for many years. This I supplemented further by writing a nature column for the then prestigious NZ Farmer, and later with work in Tanzania and Fiji. For all its ups and downs, though, sheep farming persists. It basically still operates as it did 70 years ago feeding rye and clover pasture to livestock, which harvest it themselves. It still follows many of the teachings of Eddie, Mac, Fred and Johnnie. It is still based on tradition. Looking back, dairying has survived better. It has evolved into a highly organised operation, but nevertheless its cattle still feed on rye and clover pastures, albeit with some additions, and its farmers still pull on their boots and go outside to manage it.
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August 2020
HOME BLOCK | COLUMN
As the international tourism industry has totally collapsed, the spotlight is falling on farmers.
We are loved again After a lifetime in farming, Nick Loughnan looks forward to being wanted again.
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n our time of farming, Faith and I have known the ups and downs of affairs - not those that involve other people's hearts. We've been together for 45 years. No, these affairs at their peak were about being needed and valued to the point of privilege, just because of what we do. We're farmers. At the start of our career, we certainly belonged to a privileged bunch. Deciding we wanted to own our own farm, but with neither of us having chosen parents who already had one, we had to start from scratch. Yet there were great incentives for us in our early 20s to get the breaks. Governments had, for decades through different schemes, been developing extensive tracts of marginal land, subdividing these into smaller 'economic' units, complete with new dwellings, sheds, yards and fences, and then balloting them off. With a minimal deposit, and qualifications of experience and/or relevant educational attainments, aspiring young farming couples like us could enter for the lucky draws. And the necessary financial backing also came from another government entity – the Rural Bank, dedicated to providing capital at discounted rates to the farming sector. This was the decade of the 1970s, where financial incentives through cheap loans, tax breaks and subsidies drove programmes such as Land Development
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Encouragement Loans, Livestock Incentive Schemes, and SMPs (supplementary minimum ALEXANDRA prices) which were an embarrassingly huge handout. The tax breaks then available on livestock values quickly saw an extraordinary surge in deer fencing. Even city dwellers with a tax problem could see it vanish simply by buying a few deer with the over-generous standard value writedowns on offer. The politicians' affair with farmers ended with an abrupt and extremely painful divorce as Roger Douglas introduced his 'free market reforms' in the mid 80s. The Rural Bank's loan book was sold off, subsidies were removed overnight, livestock standard values were revised and interest rates soared to near 20%. It was a savage separation for the farming sector from a once-generous state partnership. Many farms were no longer able to afford their 'married couple' help, and rural school rolls dropped as these families drifted out of the districts. Schools, services and stores closed, land, stock values and farm incomes plummeted, and a wave of tragic farmer suicides affected many communities. Rural New Zealand had not seen this separation coming and it was traumatic. Yet these times gave birth to some
extraordinary gains. By necessity, farmers had to survive and efficiencies had to improve. Production increases across all classes of livestock resulted, from lambing percentages, growth rates and carcass conformation to velvet production, with the science of genetic improvement through breeding value databases underscoring the gains. The results in NZ are impressive when viewed against the massive taxpayer subsidies that most northern hemisphere farmers still receive to maintain production, let alone allow them to just remain solvent. European farm holdings are typically small by comparison, and their subsidies have stifled the innovation that has occurred here over the last 30 years. But the pendulum is swinging back with our Government courting farmers again. As the international tourism industry has totally collapsed, and our team of five million no longer has the other inbound touring team of four million to help us pay our bills, the spotlight is falling on farmers. We are loved – we are valued – almost all is forgiven. Please, just ramp things up again guys. We will help you with irrigation projects, we will send new jobseekers your way, quite possibly with financial inducements to take them on. We might even forget about the livestock methane thing for a while. But serious credit must be given where it is due. This global health crisis has been handled here in a way that has the rest of the world singularly impressed. The Mycoplasma bovis battle too has been largely won, and there is an intriguing link. A recent visitor to our farm was an epidemiologist who was working on the bovis eradication project. He claimed the tracing systems developed for infected cattle enabled rapid secondment of experienced people to assist with setting up the Covid-19 tracing systems. It is great how Kiwis can adapt. We still have an extraordinarily challenging time ahead of us as a nation, and it looks as though as farmers, we are going to get some high-level encouragement to help agriculture help the country. I'm beginning to feel quite heady already...
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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN
Getting up in the early hours, feeding out or mustering with a final rush to get back home for 9am lectures.
Locked down for study Penny Grigg was looking forward to her first year of study at Lincoln University - then Covid-19 came calling with its associated lockdown.
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s a first-year student at Lincoln University, my 2020 was supposed to consist of trips to the pub and other late nights trying to finish assignments. The first half of the semester followed this pattern with the O’Week toga party and sessions at the Yaldie. They squeezed in our LINC101 visits to dairy and cropping farms. The Future Leaders Programme got underway with guest speakers, leadership training and community service. But the last couple of days before midterm break, the campus was a different place. Students were leaving in the early hours to beat the lockdown deadline and scrambling to book flights. Halls were emptying out and we had to sit apart in the dining hall. Friends on the World Hereford tour came back from Otago, went to the pub for the weekend to catch up with friends, then found they needed to go into selfisolation in their rooms. I drove back to our sheep and beef
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farm in Marlborough, took over the dining table and competed for WiFi with two siblings who were also trying to study. I completed the first semester with online lectures, labs, tutorials and exams, all done over the laptop. I don’t think many of us would like to repeat it. Lecturers did their best but not many students had the confidence to get a good debate going over Zoom. Like so many of my other rural friends, trying to balance farm work and uni study was tricky. During level four we harvested 12 hectares of grapevines, but we all watched over the fence this year. No trips in the harvester and we couldn’t even give hot pies to the gondola drivers. The harvester driver and gondola drivers all had to move in together, keeping clear of their families and other harvesting teams. There was a relief that the harvest could go ahead because without it
Marlborough would have been crippled. Feeding out during the drought became less of a burden for Dad when there were teenagers to do it instead. For the duration of lockdown our household routine followed the same, constant pattern. Getting up in the early hours, feeding out or mustering with a final rush to get back home for 9am lectures. Days bled into weeks. The sheepdogs and horses got fitter. Balage got more expensive. The cottage was painted. I got really sick of Covid-19 updates. The lack of social interaction definitely threw a spanner in the social life but family BLENHEIM time was good. I don’t think I have ever seen our glass recycling bin so full. The Future Leader Scholarship Programme carried on and it was really great to catch up with the other students every week. We had quizzes and chats, which were a link to the outside world. My cousin Luci has come to live with us for the vineyard pruning season because her trip to Ecuador for her gap year was cut short. Another friend who is supposed to be in Madagascar is loading shelves at Bunnings. A few Diploma student friends are thinking about not going back this year, and doing the course in 2021 as it’s only one year. They want to make the most of it socially. But the free diploma offered by Lincoln for Semester Two may change their minds.
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August 2020
HOME BLOCK | COLUMN
For once in the year, sheep are less work than cattle.
Making the most of daylight hours Suzie Corboy relishes the growing number of daylight hours, despite the mud and dampness, as we head towards spring.
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e are past the winter solstice, although this does not usually relate to having passed the worst of the winter weather. We had very pleasant May weather in the Owaka Valley but June and July have been back to normal. Not cold, like I remember cold in Scotland, but damp and muddy. On a side note, where I grew up in the north of Scotland, on the shortest day the official sunrise is 9.05am and the sun sets at 3.22pm – only six hours of daylight. This is reversed in mid summer, with more than 18 hours between sunrise and sunset. I was born in the winter: maybe this explains why I never grew very tall – not enough daylight, just like plants (and weeds) don’t grow without sunlight. It is great to be living in New Zealand, especially when we see how out of control Covid-19 has been in the United Kingdom and many other countries. We never seem to have enough
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daylight hours in winter to get everything done on the farm. Sometimes that is not helped by delaying going out in the morning although the thought is usually worse than the reality. That is why we buy good quality wet weather gear. If you are cold or wet, then you are not wearing enough, or good enough, clothing. Well, that is what I get told by Paul if I ever complain! OWAKA We also, possibly, are unrealistic about how much maintenance and new permanent fencing we can get done over winter. Just getting all the animals fed is a project by itself sometimes. We have six mobs of cattle on feed crops behind break fences, which all get moved daily, as well as three mobs of ewes on swedes. However, the ewes get breaks that last a few days so, for once in the year, sheep are less work than cattle. Of course, we could have larger mobs of cattle and fewer fences to shift but there is less wastage if we keep mobs to a
maximum of about 75. It means we only have to shift the fence a small number of metres so they trample less feed, especially on wet days. All this daily work leaves very little opportunity for time off farm in the winter, especially for Paul. I leave him to do the hard work at least 25% of the time while I go to my job as an ambulance officer. When we do have somewhere to go, such as a field day, an appointment or maybe a social occasion (I am being optimistic about the last one), there needs to be prior planning and hopefully no breakouts from behind electric fences. It is unbelievable what a tangled mess a mob of ewes can make of an electric fence in a swede paddock – not a two minute fix-up – and on our hills you usually need to go home to get a dog as you can’t just ride around them on a four-wheeler to put them back where they belong (not unless you have a death wish) as much of it is not rideable especially when covered in big swede bulbs. The crops were all sown by helicopter and have varying steepness or rock obstacles. Both Paul and I are getting too old, or sensible, to run around the hill to muster them back in. Why feed a dog and run yourself? Anyway, I left this column until the last day, as usual, so I must get back to work to make the most of those daylight hours. Let’s look on the bright side – winter will be over soon and it will be lambing and calving time again.
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BUSINESS | SUPPORT
Countering feed shortages Southern farmers have co-ordinated an aid project to help drought-hit Hawke’s Bay colleagues. BY: SANDRA TAYLOR
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ith many parts of the country facing significant feed deficits, a coordinated effort is in place to keep industry abreast of the situation and provide support to affected farmers. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Dairy NZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Federated Farmers, DeerNZ, the Rural Support Trust and farm consultancy firm AgFirst have all joined forces to put comprehensive and coordinated feed planning and support services in place. At the beginning of July, farmers representing 50,000 hectares of sheep and beef farmland had accessed these services. Waikato-based AgFirst farm consultant James Allen has been charged with the job of putting together a national feed survey, gathering regional data including average
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pasture covers, pasture growth rates and supplementary feed supplies. The first of these reports was put together in early February and they are now being compiled fortnightly. They help MPI drive a co-ordinated response to the feed shortages and feed information back to farmers and their communities. At the start of July the regions with the greatest drought-related feed deficits continued to be Hawke’s Bay with an estimated deficit of 150,000 tonnes drymatter, Northland, and the top of the South Island. James says Southland has its own set of problems with very wet weather over summer affecting feed crop yields. Going into calving, dairy farms on the Hauraki Plains were well below target pasture covers, while at the start of July, sheep and beef farmers in Hawke’s Bay were sitting on average pasture covers of 12-1300kg drymatter/ha. Further south
in Marlborough, pasture covers were averaging 1500kg DM/ha, which were well below target for that time of the year. James says as well as buying in feed, farmers had been using every tool in the toolbox such as de-stocking, nitrogen application and prioritising stock classes. “They’ve had to use every tool in the toolbox for this one.” James says there were still reserves of straw and grain available in Canterbury but there is some price resistance to these feeds, and while palm kernel is also readily available there are issues with it because sheep don’t like it and many farms don’t have the infrastructure or terrain to make feeding this novel feed feasible. “Nationally, there is enough feed, including palm kernel, but we are seeing some resistance around pricing to get it to the right place.” There were some initiatives under way
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to subsidise the cost of transporting feed around the country. James says there had been some concern about palm kernel supplies, with importers requiring market certainty before loading ships, but this had been resolved and the feed was still available. Heading into the coldest months, James says most commercial farmers in the worst affected areas have destocked but it will be at least eight weeks before farmers are through the worst of this situation. The number of levers they can pull has been reduced with cold weather ruling out nitrogen applications, and farmers will be set-stocking for lambing over the coming weeks, making feeding out difficult. James says there are no regions with true surpluses to absorb trading stock but Taranaki and Central and South Waikato have all fared reasonably well over the past few months. King Country has sufficient feed to get through winter while Wairarapa and Manawatu are just hanging in there. Further south, farmers in South Canterbury and Otago are also in a good position with adequate feed supplies. He says a lot depends on how the winter pans out and very cold weather could cause even more problems for farmers in those drought-affected regions. In spring, there will be regions with surpluses and many farmers who have de-stocked, even those in the Hawke’s Bay, will be looking to rebuild stock numbers. This brings its own set of challenges as
Bales of South Canterbury feed are gathered ready for sending to Hawke’s Bay farmers.
farmers strive to maximise profitability on the back of a tough year while rebuilding their businesses. As part of the feed planning response, AgFirst farm consultants have been writing and regularly updating case studies on sheep and beef farms in
Northland, Hawke’s Bay, Southland and North Canterbury. These case studies follow the farmers and their management strategies as they deal with significant feed shortages. They can be found on the Beef + Lamb New Zealand website.
Feed for fellow farmers South Canterbury farmers, with the support of local contractors, cartage operators, and KiwiRail, donated and delivered about 800 big bales of feed to their drought-stretched counterparts in Hawke’s Bay over the past couple of months. “Besides the farmers who donated the feed, the other champions have been the local transporters and contractors who carted and re-wrapped the bales. They’ve all just been bloody amazing,”
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co-ordinator Nicky Hyslop told CountryWide. Donations ranged from a few bales to whole unit loads and included some top quality balage made from pre-closing cuts off ryegrass seed paddocks. The feed was mustered and re-wrapped in three lots, at Waimate Showgrounds, then Temuka Saleyards, and finally at Fairlie, with Toll carting it in curtain-side containers to a rail siding in Timaru for KiwiRail to haul north.
Hyslop said a reminder of how Hawke’s Bay farmers had helped South Canterbury in its big snow of 1992, including her own family on Clayton Station, prompted her to pick up the phone and see what they could do now to return the favour. “I thought: ‘we’ve had an okay season, surely there’s something we can do?’ But I’m just the one that picked up the phone: it’s been an absolute team effort.”
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BUSINESS | FEED
Wrapped up and heading north BY: ANDREW SWALLOW
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anterbury farmers, with the support of local contractors, cartage operators, and KiwiRail, donated and delivered about 2000 big bales of feed to their drought-stretched counterparts in Hawke’s Bay over the past couple of months. “Besides the farmers who donated the feed, the other champions have been the local transports and contractors who carted and re-wrapped the bales. They’ve all just been bloody amazing,” farmer and Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) director Nicky Hyslop told Country-Wide. Hyslop got the ball rolling in South Canterbury with farms across the region donating anything from a few bales to whole unit loads, mostly of balage. Local cartage and contractor companies mustered and re-wrapped the feed at three depots – Waimate Showgrounds, Temuka Saleyards, and Fairlie Showgrounds – before Toll carted it to a rail siding for KiwiRail to haul north. Meanwhile in Mid Canterbury, dairy farmers Ben and Mary-Anne Stock put the word out in that region and ended up with about 1100 bales donated, roughly
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half balage and half ryegrass straw, which was consolidated at Quigley Contracting’s yard in Ashburton before transferring to trains. Bell Gunson of East Coast Rural Support Trust has been administering distribution as the feed arrives in Hawke’s Bay. “We’re incredibly grateful for every bale, whatever it might be: round, square, balage or straw, wrapped or not,” she told Country-Wide. Hundreds of farms had received allocations, with recipients “triaged” based on declarations made to the B+LNZ 0800 hotline or reports of probable animal or social welfare issues to the Rural Support Trust. “We’re being as fair as we possibly can be,” Gunson said. Hyslop said a reminder of how Hawke’s Bay farmers had helped South Canterbury in its big snow of 1992, including her parents on Clayton Station, prompted her to see what they could do now to return the favour. “I thought: ‘we’ve had an okay season, surely there’s something we can do?’ But I’m just the one that picked up the phone: it’s been an absolute team effort.” Gunson noted the South Island donations follow similarly generous help
Re-wrapped and ready to go: donated balage and ryegrass straw being prepared and loaded at Temuka for delivery to Hawke’s Bay.
from some North Island regions earlier in the autumn. “We’re still getting some trucks coming from the Wairarapa but I wouldn’t expect much more North Island feed because the drought’s been so widespread.” Recent rains had turned the grey-brown landscape green but feed would remain desperately short until spring growth really kicked in, she added.
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BUSINESS | REPORT
Left: The Wool Industry Project Action Group report for crossbred had cost $500,000 and taken two-and-a-half years to tell the industry what it already knew needed doing, Devold general manager Craig Smith says.
Wool advocates on fire BY: ANDREW SWALLOW
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f you ever go to Timaru, check out Hector Black’s Bar. It was the quirky venue for an unusual gathering of wool industry enthusiasts and the general public last month, kicked off by landlord Tim Black, also of local wool brokers Black & Associates. “Every week we have a guest speaker and I’ve been under some pressure to do something on the wool industry because, frankly, it’s at a state of crisis,” he said, introducing the night, then calling up a patron wearing a synthetic beanie and setting fire to it before attempting to do the same to a wool one he replaced it with. Chair of the National Council of New Zealand Wool Interests and Devold Wool Direct’s general manager, Craig Smith, also took the podium. With 34 years’ experience working his way through every stage of the wool trade, Smith said wool’s problem was “we’ve stopped telling people about it”. He was disappointed the just-released Wool Industry Project Action Group Report* had taken half a million dollars
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and two-and-a-half years to do little more than tell the industry what it already knew needed doing. And while the report recommended taking a leaf out of fine wool’s book, he warned all wasn’t well there either with prices down up to $10/kg recently.
“Damian O’Connor had no idea of the price difference.” Government needed to walk its talk on sustainability and back the industry with action, such as furnishing and insulating public buildings and state houses with wool instead of synthetics. “Damian O’Connor had no idea of the price difference,” he said, adding that arguments that wool was too expensive didn’t hold because wool’s benefits of warmth, moisture wicking, fire resistance, and biodegradability far outweighed any premium at installation. Imported synthetic carpets should be taxed, and everyone should put a
wool blanket on their kids’ beds for fire protection, he added. “It’s not the flames (of burning synthetics) that will kill you: it’s the fumes.” Smith was speaking after local fireman Bevan Finlay ran a graphic BBC Three video (search YouTube) showing the slow smoulder of a fire in a wool-furnished bedroom compared with a rapid inferno with a synthetic bedroom suite. A foam-filled couch was like having “a 20-litre jerry-can of petrol” in your room, and a polystyrene-filled bean bag was the equivalent of three litres of petrol, Finlay said. Asked how Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) could help get that fire risk message out, he said FENZ couldn’t put its brand behind products but it could present the facts about how things burn. Local farmer Miles Anderson, who recently stepped down after three years as Federated Farmers’ National Meat and Fibre chairman, told the meeting Feds had been “given the go-around” by Government every time they called for Government to deliver on election promises to back wool. “We’ve also struggled to get Government recognition that wool’s a carbon sink. You can get carbon credits for trees, so why not for wool?” Carbon sequestered in wool used for furnishings would remain there for decades, possibly centuries, yet much of the wood that came from carbon-credit forestry went into boxing and pallets and would be burnt within a year of felling, he argued. Anderson also called for cataloguing and centralising of historic wool research to make it more accessible, and training to address growing skill shortages in the industry beyond the farm gate. While there was “no silver bullet” to the sector’s woes, educating the next generation of consumers was key. “And as farmers, the first thing we all must do is buy wool products.” *Vision and action for New Zealand’s wool sector. Download from mpi.govt.nz
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BUSINESS | EXPENDITURE
Onfarm inflation kept low BY: JOANNA CUTTANCE
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ow interest rates are the major factor why sheep and beef onfarm inflation was low in the year to March 2020 at 0.4%, according to a Beef + Lamb New Zealand Economic Service sheep and beef onfarm inflation report. Economic service chief economist Andrew Burtt said on balance the interest rate had rolled on to a lower rate and just about everything else had tended to go up. Between March 2019 and March 2020, the overall price for Interest expenditure decreased by 7.2%. This was due to lower interest rates. This compared to the previous year of a 0.1% increase. Low interest rates are important. Interest expenditure accounts for 14% of total farm expenditure and is the only expense that has significantly decreased for farmers in recent years, Burtt said. “Even excluding interest, onfarm inflation was 1.5% - meaning it was already lower than the 2018-2019 season,” he said. Low inflation meant farmers were
better placed, and costs were not eroding the value of their returns. Now, with much smaller changes in inflation it was a more positive time for the industry when compared to the high-inflation times of the past. In the 1970s, during the oil shocks period inflation was over 15%, and then over 20% in the 1980s. Inflation became lower in the 1990s and has been low since. Generally, if inflation is under control it provides more stability for farmers, Burtt said. However, the amount of pressure does depend on how much debt farmers have and how highly leveraged they were. Onfarm inflation is different to total farm expenditure. Onfarm inflation identified the changes in individual prices whereas farm expenditure takes into account the individual spending amounts within farming operations. Farm businesses have two types of costs, non-tradeable costs, which have to be bought, for example rates; and tradeable costs, which was something farmers could buy less of, for example fertiliser. Released each year, the sheep and beef
Much smaller changes in inflation are easier to manage, compared to the volatile inflation rates in the 1970s and 80s. 25
Percentage change
20
15
10
5
0
1972-73 1974-75 1976-77 1978-79 1980-81 1982-83 1984-85 1986-87 1988-89 1990-91 1992-93 1994-95 1996-97 1998-99 2000-01 2002-03 2004-05 2006-07 2008-09 2010-11 2012-13 2014-15 2016-17 2018-19
-5
Source: Beef + Lamb New Zealand Economic Service | Statistics New Zealand
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onfarm report identified annual changes in prices of goods and services bought NZ sheep and beef farms. The overall onfarm inflation rate was determined by weighting the changes in prices for individual input categories by their proportion of total farm expenditure. Of the 16 categories of inputs, prices increased for 12 and decreased for four – fertiliser, lime and seeds at -0.3%, fuel at -0.4%, electricity -0.1% and interest -7.2%. The greatest increase of price was for Insurance, up 5%, followed by repairs, maintenance and vehicles, which increased 4.2% compared to 1.4% increase for the previous 12-month period. Shearing costs rose by 1.4%. Wool continues to be a low commodity product compared to the shearing costs and many farmers are lengthening the time between shearing, Burtt said. Fertiliser, lime and seeds dropped -0.3%, this was a reflection of the co-operatives competing on a global market. Animal health and rates both increased by 3.7% each. Wages, depreciation, and feed and grazing the only other categories to rise by one percent or more at 1.3%, 1.4% and 1% respectively. Both weed and pest control, and cartage rose 0.6%, and the other categories to rise were administration 0.9% and rent 0.4%. The prices identified in the report had not been affected by Covid-19 because it covered the year to March 2020. Burtt said there was huge uncertainty from the pandemic everywhere, and it was too early to know what the impact would be on onfarm inflation. A debated area was whether environmental costs should be included in the Sheep and Beef On-Farm Inflation report. Burtt said there many discussions were being held about what was an environmental cost, was it paying for trees? Labour for planting and care? Many farmers felt they were working for no cost and no credit. Maybe it was part of a farm input cost and getting some recognition, he said. • The full report is available on the B+LNZ website.
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BUSINESS | PLANNING
Family succession: Who’s in control? BY: PETER FLANNERY
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ack in 2015 I wrote a paper entitled “Four Pillars of Family Succession”. The four pillars are: · Build a strong business first · Fair comes before equal · Communication · Ownership and Control I could talk at length on all four but I want to focus this discussion on the 4th pillar, Ownership and Control. If you want to read the full paper, Google “Four Pillars of Family Succession.” So you have undergone a process of discussing succession with the family, everyone has agreed what is fair, and the business is financially sound enough to allow the plan to be put in place. Cool. But you are not out of the woods yet. There is
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one more hurdle or constraint to overcome – and one, I think, a lot of families do not pay enough attention to – and it is often the cause of failure and bitter resentment. That is “control”. Passing over ownership, or at least a share of ownership, is often not that difficult. Lawyers and accountants can sort all of that out for you. There can be trusts and companies and shareholders agreements all cleverly drafted by the best minds in the business. But passing over control is a different story altogether. It is not necessarily a legal process but more a state of mind. If there is a clean break between mum and dad and the successor, there is normally no issue. But if there is shared control, i.e. partnership, then things can go awry very quickly and often through no one’s fault.
Think about it for a bit, and to avoid being sexist I will refer to “owner” and “successor”. The successor comes home to the farm and doesn’t know a lot. They draw on the knowledge and experience of the owner. They learn quickly much to the delight of the owner, who is brimming with pride. They also get their knowledge from other sources and develop ideas and styles of their own. They grow in confidence and soon want to know “the final plan”. They are brought into partnership with shared ownership and control. If there is a 25-year age gap, for example when the owner is 55 years old, the successor is 30 and already a very capable farmer and possibly already has their own successor on the ground. Meanwhile, the owner, who has had full control for the last 30 years, isn’t ready for sharing control – not because they
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don’t trust the successor but just because they are not used to doing it. Sadly, the older we get, the less adaptable and more stubborn we can become. Meanwhile the successor becomes increasingly frustrated. While the owner is becoming less adaptable, the successor grows more and more impatient with age.
Work out what fair is through talking, listening and understanding. With their own successor already starting to show signs of interest, and with the owner still firmly in control, the successor starts to feel like Prince Charles. There will most probably be huge respect for each other and normally enjoy each other’s company because, after all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But they start to butt heads. Unfortunately, a power struggle can develop and, depending on who you listen to, the owner is a stubborn old bastard
and the successor is a spoilt, selfish prat. More often than not neither is true. In reality, the successor will be very grateful for the opportunity they have been given and the owner will be grateful that someone from the family wants to pick up the baton. It is just that no thought was given to the passing of control and how that will need to change over time. Where it is done well it can be a roaring success – the owner a proud mentor with a gentle, nudging hand, and the successor a respectful and grateful recipient. In any succession plan there are significant constraints, but they can be overcome or, at worst if they can’t, at least front up to them. Those that build a strong business will have more options than those who don’t. Work out what fair is through talking, listening and understanding. When you have achieved all of that, there needs to be a transition of not only ownership but also of control. Admittedly it can be challenging. However, if succession is important to you and your family you need to address it. Apart from death and taxes
there are two things in this world that I know for certain – gather round and listen closely. First, I cannot predict the future. I thought I could, but I was wrong. Second, I have found that if you ignore a significant problem for long enough it will not go away. So before you enter into a partnership with a family member, understand the dangers of control or lack thereof. Regardless of whether you are an owner or a successor, do some honest self analysis. How am I going to cope if I don’t have full control? At the outset that will be fine, but what about in five years? It will not resolve itself, so have full and frank discussions at the start and constantly review the situation. If it is becoming an issue it needs to be addressed before the “horse of reason has bolted”. The last thing you want is a family rift. The solution probably lies within. • Peter Flannery is an agribusiness consultant for Farm Plan, Invercargill.
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BUSINESS | PLANNING
Keeping it in the family.
Succession: Don’t get set up to fail BY: CAMPBELL WOOD
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uccession’ is a massive beast, and is certainly not a one-sizefits-all type of solution. It needs to be personalised to each and every different business. The key thing to remember is there needs to be a sustainable business beforehand to enable the succession discussion to take place. If we don’t have a financially stable business in the beginning, nothing is going to work in the long term. The second thing is, there needs to be a viable business post-succession, or it is being set up to fail. Everybody involved needs to be very clear on what the expectations are, and what needs to happen before succession can take place. Honest and open conversations need to be held early, to set expectations. Generally, it is a family situation, and our opinion is the next generation need to be exposed to the farm operating performance early on in the piece. Why we think this is important is because the children need
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to understand what the reality of the farm business looks like. This then turns the conversation to what they are wanting to do. If one or more of the kids want an opportunity to have a go on the home farm, they need to know that they need to go and accumulate as much cash/capital as possible elsewhere, before returning home. This means they are going to have to be willing to make some sacrifices in lifestyle in order to achieve their goal. Why they need to bring something home to the table is to make the transaction more achievable, as in most cases, Mum and Dad need a house offfarm to go to live in. Some choose to build onfarm, or the incoming capital can be used to repay bank debt, to reduce interest costs which will help pay for mum and dads living costs as they go into retirement. Too often we see a son/daughter going home and working on the home farm for a number of years, never actually seeing what the numbers are in behind the
scenes, getting paid an average wage, but not saving any of this money, presuming they will ‘get’ the farm one day and it will all just magically happen. What happens if the farm has been going backwards for a number of years? A bank is not going to lend money to a business that has been going backwards, especially for an off-farm asset for mum and dad to go and live in that doesn’t actually aid the bottom line surplus of the business. Another key reason why the next generation need to come home with something to their name is so they can show good money habits to the family giving them the opportunity and the financiers (sometimes is the bank, sometimes is the family). If someone can come home with a sum of money (the sum needed will depend on each different business’s needs), it gives everyone comfort that the incoming generation has developed a good work ethic and understands the value of money, something that seems to have been lost in a lot of cases nowadays. The other benefit of getting the incoming generation involved early, is if the business isn’t sustainable, it allows for a robust discussion to be had around how do we get the business into a sustainable position, and if we can’t, what are our options? If we act early and be proactive, it leads to better decisions and outcomes for all involved. Remembering that at the end of the day, you want to all be able to sit around the table at Christmas time together. None of these conversations are easy, especially when it is family involved, but that is where you need to be relying on your rural professionals help, as they do not have the emotions involved that family members do. And this is where your professionals need to be honest with you, it may not be what you want to hear, but it may be what you need to hear. Once again, if discussions are had with all parties early enough, then decisions can be made and the necessary changes implemented. Whereas if it is too late in the piece, the outcome may not be what was desired. • Campbell Wood is a partner at Agrifocus who are accountants and farm financial advisers, based in Southland and Otago.
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Reduce clostridial loss Clostridial disease is complex, protecting stock doesn’t need to be Farms across NZ lose stock to clostridial disease. Some lose a few, some a few more than they would like. A couple of lambs or calves, an inlamb ewe or two, or maybe even some cattle. Reducing clostridial loss starts with protection.
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ONLY AVAILABLE AT YOUR VET Ceva Animal Health (NZ) Limited. P: 09 972 2853 E: info.nz@ceva.com Coglavax8 ACVM No. 7528 1. JS Munday,H Bentall,D Aberdein,M Navarro,FA Uzal &S Brown, Death of a neonatal lamb due to Clostridium perfringens type B in New Zealand, New Zealand Veterinary Journal 2020. 2. West, Dave M., Bruere, A. Neil and Ridley, Anne L. The Sheep, Health, Disease and Production. Auckland: Massey University Press, 4 th ed., 2018. Print.
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BUSINESS | M BOVIS
Seeking accountability, not sympathy BY: ANNABELLE LATZ
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orth Canterbury beef farmers Stu Loe and Andy Gardner are not seeking sympathy, but they do want to highlight the inadequacies around the Mycoplasma bovis testing systems. Stu farms beef and dairy beef heifers and steers, Andy finishes Friesian bulls, and they have each had two encounters with M bovis on their farms. They say the timeline around results and methods of slaughtering and remuneration left them frustrated. Andy received a call in May 2018 from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) that he had “animals of interest” on his farm that required testing. A representative from AsureQuality visited the farm and ran blood tests on a sample of 120 of the herd and nasal swabbed 80% of that sample. Andy was complimentary of the work carried out.
He learned there were a dozen bulls to be slaughtered, which he accepted and received remuneration for, but it was the timeframe and administration around this whole process that caused the frustration. “The laboratories couldn’t keep up with the testing demand and we had to wait five weeks for a result. In the meantime, the animals were in lockdown.” After five weeks, Andy learned that one “animal of interest” was to be slaughtered to confirm whether or not his farm had an M bovis case. He said another area lacking in this whole process was ensuring there was the necessary killing space at the meat works. “We were participants carrying out this system. It should have been easy, but it wasn’t.” The weeks went by, the beast remained, and the clarity around whether or not his farm had a case of M bovis was no clearer. He was told by MPI the reason for the holdup was that there was neither the transport nor the facility available to get the bull slaughtered.
It took three months from receiving notification of slaughter to the bull being slaughtered, and it would have been longer if Andy had not instigated action. “The human cost of that is immense. It starts to weigh you down.”
THEY, NOT MPI, HAD IT SHOT In the end Andy got sick of waiting, so he asked for the animal to be shot on his farm. “That was a way to put a line under it and move on. It shouldn’t have happened this way.” This took three requests, after which his case manager from AsureQuality visited his farm, was present for the slaughtering of the 15-month-old Friesian R2 bull, and then carried out the testing on the tonsils. The test result came back negative - Andy had no cases of M bovis on his farm. “But they shouldn’t have animals of interest waiting around for that long.” His second taste of this system was in October 2019, after a line of 42 bulls he bought from Geraldine were animals of interest.
The timeline around results and methods of slaughtering and remuneration has been frustrating.
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They were isolated from his other bulls the entire time, and after a month’s wait for the results he was informed by MPI they were to be slaughtered. “The issue around this was the compensation,” Andy says, explaining what happened that summer. In order for the notice of direction (NOD) to be lifted, a census had to be carried out where all the bulls on his farm had to have their tags read and recorded. Meanwhile he had learned he was able to claim reimbursement for hired labour, bikes, dogs, and yards wear and tear. But he was also not able to invoice for his own time, or lost opportunity costs as a result of his being pulled away from other farm work. “They don’t build goodwill.” It was a fairly big job getting in 617 animals, especially in the height of summer as it was pencilled in for mid-January 2020. The process took two days but he was only able to claim for one day, which he only learned about when he put through his claims and this particular one day was rejected. “I should have employed two guys, they expect me to work for nothing.” It’s the gap between who makes the rules and who has to follow them that is a major problem. “How can you make such an arbitrary rule from Wellington? I think there is a massive disconnect in Wellington between what they think happens and what actually happens…there shouldn’t be a blanket approach.” Although very frustrated, Andy weighed it up with the news he received 12 days later that there were no positive tests, which meant he could sell what he wanted to. He wanted to put it all behind him. “It was all bloody unpleasant. I just wanted to make it go away, to put a line under it and put it behind me.”
JUST A FARM OF INTEREST Stu learned he had 21 animals of interest in April 2019, and the AsureQuality team visited his farm to run blood samples on his herd of 250. A couple of weeks later the test results showed 21 had to be slaughtered for further testing, but all results showed up as negative. “We realised we were just farms of interest, we didn’t have it.”
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Mycoplasma bovis update This happened in June, As at 15 July 2020 the slaughter price falling just short of the value 250 total Confirmed 150 Con rmed property type price so MPI made up the Properties to date difference. 137 6 Stu was complimentary 100 of Rural Support, an 58 55 organisation installed 50 within the programme to be a sounding board 0 Dairy Beef Other 244 and support system for farmers. Active Active Con rmed Properties 3 North Island Cleared Con rmed Properties Confirmed “They gave me a ring, 3 South Island Properties they were just good to 54 Notice of Direction vent to if nothing else.” properties Total 69 North Island To relieve himself of the 181 Active Surveillance Confirmed 181 South Island properties NOD, Stu was required to Properties do a whole-herd census. What else has changed? He was expecting the all clear, but in fact a further 1,849 10 this week Properties with NOD revoked 12 had to be slaughtered. 87 this week 157,854 Cattle have been culled Again, no positive cases. Stu said difficulty lay 7,414 this week Tests completed 1,517,203 in the fact not all meat Compensation update works were set up with the testing infrastructure $166 million $0.9mil this week Paid in total to accept animals related 2,024 Claims paid and completed 40 this week to M bovis. So this small number was sent to a dog 23 this week 125 Claims currently being processed food company in Timaru in September, which didn’t pay Stu itself because the animals external labour he used for the M bovis were deemed “worthless.” testing requirements. Although he wasn’t out of pocket “We are just highlighting the fact it because he received reimbursement, he was a shit situation, made worse by shit later learned the meat was processed and administration. It’s okay for the younger sold as pet food. dairy farmers who are more used to dealing He said more research needs to be done with government departments, but for the on these details, given we’re all taxpayers. sheep and beef farmers this can be really “So some people are doing really well out difficult.” of this. And money is just being thrown Overall, progress towards eradicating M around.” bovis is tracking well, according to M bovis And he only found this out because he Programme Director Stuart Anderson. had to chase MPI for the tracing paperwork He says the first few years were tough so the animals could be taken off his farm and hard going, but case numbers are system. steadily dropping ahead of bulk tank milk “They couldn’t tell me what animals had starting up again in spring, along with gone there, because their NAIT tags hadn’t calving. been checked against what went onto the Recent months have created big truck when I wanted them.” challenges with the drought and then The confusion was a concern. Covid-19. “These were animals of interest, the He said the programme’s model of ultimate test was failed by the place MPI identifying the farms, contacting the asked me to send them to.” farmers, testing and providing support is a Between his two cases life was still busy ‘step by step’ process, and they are always on the farm with lambing and all the day looking at ways to improve their systems. to day happenings of farm life. “We have all learned a lot, and we always To mitigate this frustration, Stu was able welcome feedback. There is still more to do, to be reimbursed for his time and any we need to keep pushing on.” 27
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BUSINESS | NUTRITION
NZ flavoured earth and health index needed BY: ANNA CAMPBELL
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estaurants and fine dining all over the world are being hammered by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is not great for five-star quality venison sales. Consumers are going back to basics, they are also buying health-foods - kiwifruit and Manuka honey are selling well, and deer velvet is weathering the storm. The Covid-19 pandemic will force us to have a hard look at how we prepare, position and market our food products but how do we cut through some of the seemingly illogical thought out there? Some years ago, New Zealand products were under fire in the United Kingdom because of the food miles it took to get those products from NZ farms to their supermarket shelves. At an intuitive level, it made sense - why should a consumer buy food that had travelled half-way around the world, when they could buy locally sourced food? Human intuition however, didn’t take into account that many NZ food products, such as lamb, which is grown on grass rather than housed, is produced, processed and shipped in such an efficient manner that it has a lower carbon footprint than locally grown product. In fact, the carbon footprint of NZ lamb is more than four times lower than the United Kingdom equivalent (https://researcharchive.lincoln. ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10182/4317/food_ miles.pdf). Measuring sustainability is complex, so too is measuring the nutritional value of food, yet we are bombarded regularly with new products that make claims around both sustainability and nutritional value which are plausible but are not
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It takes five litres of water to grow one almond.
necessarily evidence-based. I am a big fan of trying new products, a marketer’s dream my husband tells me. I have several types of “milk” on the go and I am not alone. According to the New Zealand Consumer organisation “last year, we spent more than $52 million on almond, coconut, oat, rice and soy milk in supermarkets alone, an increase of $12m in two years…almond and coconut milk sales have been the biggest movers, with sales increasing nearly 60%.” Most of us understand that cows’ milk is a good source of liquid nutrition containing protein, vitamin B12, vitamin D and calcium. The Ministry of Health’s healthy eating guidelines recommend we consume two servings of milk or milk products every day. What do we know about plant-based milks compared with cows’ milk? According to a recent study published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology (Vanga and Raghavan, 2018), none of the plant milk products stack-up nutritionally compared with cow’s milk. Soy milk comes the closest, but almond, rice and coconut milks all lack protein and the essential nutrients important for overall health. Companies can add essential nutrients but are they in a bioavailable form that your body can absorb? What about sustainability? It’s hard to imagine cows’ milk coming out on top on this one - water or carbon footprint wise, but as I said earlier, intuition doesn’t always prove right. I didn’t find a direct scientific comparison, but plantbased milks have their environmental challenges too. The almond-milk industry in California, where more than 80% of the world’s almond crop is grown, has
come under considerable attack for its extensive use of water, especially during times of high drought in the region https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ shortcuts/2015/oct/21/almond-milk-quitegood-for-you-very-bad-for-the-planet. Apparently, it takes five litres of water to grow one almond, and in California, much of that water has been pumped from deep aquifers causing concern around subsidence of land. Fundamentally and no matter how we measure it, there is a world-wide movement towards more sustainably (or regeneratively) produced, nutritional food. There are some great NZ think-tanks coming up with strategies around our sustainability positioning, but I hear very little about nutrition. Given venison is probably the most nutritious (iron, protein, vitamin B, low saturated fats) animal protein in the world – in a world that wants health – this feels like a big miss. What about a world leading food index which incorporates our sustainability and nutritional metrics – an “earth and health index” with a NZ flavour - I would love to hear your suggested names for that! And why do we focus so hard on our individual industries when we should be combining products, kiwifruit and venison, kanuka oil and velvet. Why not also build a NZ e-commerce platform for going direct to consumers which small and large companies can have access to – supermarkets are yesterday’s business model. NZ agriculture - when the going gets tough, the tough get innovating… • Anna Campbell is managing director of AbacusBio a Dunedin based agri-technology company.
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BUSINESS | COMPETITION
Nylon, polyester, polypropylene and acrylic all start life as crude oil.
Know thy enemy It seems paradoxical that wool has so many beneficial properties yet is a “hard sell”. Nicola Dennis takes a close look at the strengths and drawbacks of wool and its competitors.
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ith shearing costs surpassing wool returns, the conventional ewe is now shorn for the good of her health rather than for profit. Wool is natural, sustainable, fire resistant, moisture wicking, biodegradable, non-toxic, it keeps you warm, it keeps you cool, it’s everything the customer says they want, and yet selling wool is a hard racket. If it is any consolation to crossbred wool growers I anticipate that fake meat manufacturers and many passengers on the virtue-signalling ship will find themselves in a similar situation. For every customer there are the things they want and there are the things they actually buy when it comes to opening their wallets. Everyone wants free-range eggs until they realise they could have caged eggs for a fraction of the price. Similarly, in a world where one red “Make America Great Again” hat can indelibly label you as racist, people outwardly revere the VW Beetle – a vehicle commissioned by Adolf Hitler himself. Humans are complex and you don’t get as far as you might think when trying to work out what makes them tick. Instead, let’s eye up wool’s competitors.
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THE HYDROCARBON FIBRES Nylon, polyester, polypropylene and acrylic – these all start their life as crude oil although modern polyester products might also be made from recycled beverage bottles since humankind has amassed such a collection of these. You will find these mimicking wool in carpets, upholstery, yarn, and apparel. In fact they will also be alongside wool in woollen products keeping the cost down and the durability up. To be fair, merino wool is starting to disrupt some of these hydrocarbon fibres on their home turf by sneaking into footwear and face masks. Coarse wool doesn’t get much of a look in, however, even for making surfboards. There is a growing concentration of microplastics in the sea, for which the hydrocarbon fibre family is copping the blame. The theory here is that fibres shed during textile laundering are making their way, via the wastewater system, to the sea. There is a danger that these microplastics will build up in the aquatic food chain and cause real harm. Wool fibres do not pose this risk but, in all fairness, it would be even better if we stopped putting our sewage in the sea.
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PTT/TRIEXTA Polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) or Triexta are the formal names for the carpet fibre that we know as “Rhino smartstrand”. It’s the carpet that you can keep a rhinoceros on and still get your tenancy bond back. For those of us with small children, that was all we needed to hear. PTT can be made from corn syrup and turpentine, which are both plant based although, according to the manufacturer, only 37% of the fibre is made from renewable sources at this point. Unlike wool, PTT is not biodegradable. PTT is cheaper to produce and reportedly just as durable as nylon (a fibre that was the gold standard for durability). However, PTT has not been around long enough to live up to its claims around longevity. But then again, you can keep zoo animals on it.
RAYON/VISCOSE Rayon and viscose are derived from cellulose, usually extracted from wood. Wood pulp is put through a 17-step chemical process to make the silky smooth fibres. The rayon itself is basically pure cellulose but along the way carbon disulfide is used, which has been implicated in degrading the health of the workers in the rayon factories and nearby waterways. Before we get on our high horses we wool lovers might also want to have a think about how our favourite natural fibre comes to be presented in such an array of bright colours and what that process might be doing to overseas workers and waterways. It is entirely possible to dye wool and produce rayon safely but a lack of wastewater treatment and worker rights is a concern across the whole textile industry. Rayon/viscose is biodegradable and used to make apparel, carpets, and home decor that designers love and professional cleaners hate.
COTTON Cotton (along with linen and jute) is a plant-based fibre. As with wool, humans have a long history with cotton so, naturally, it was one of the plants that was very briefly grown on the far side of the moon as part of the Chinese lunar exploration programme. Being a plant, cotton is renewable and biodegradable. Cotton gets a bad rap for being a waterintensive crop, apparently using 8000L
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Coarse wool doesn’t get much of a look in, however, even for making surfboards. for a pair of jeans. Beef producers will recognise the kind of accounting taking place here – the majority of US cotton farms are not actually irrigated. There are also concerns about the use of insecticide and forced labour in cotton production throughout the world. Cotton, and to a lesser extent linen, compete with wool for use in curtains and clothing.
THE OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES Sheep don’t have the monopoly on animal fibre. The fleeces from alpacas, opossums, rabbits (angora), and goats (cashmere and mohair) are all brimming with natural warmth. These are at the fine end of the micron scale so are competing with merino wool rather than the coarser crossbred wool. Owing to production scale, Merino gives all of these a run for their money, price wise.
GLASS/MINERAL WOOL Wool has natural fire retardant properties that make it good for residential building products. Sheep rarely catch fire, but do you know what else rarely catches fire? The rocks that the “mineral wool” insulation (e.g. Pink Batts) are made out of. Pink Batts look weird but are essentially glass. Most of it is even recycled glass. Wool can be used for insulation and, unlike apparel etc., this is a job for strong coarse wool. Wool requires some treatment to hold its shape and make it pest proof for insulation. Often this requires the addition of recycled polyester, which is part of the crude oil family of fibres. Material cost is an important factor for insulation. With recycled glass trading for mere cents per kilogram, even recycled coarse wool oddments are at the pricey end of this market.
KEVLAR Firefighters used to wear wool – in fact it is still out there on the backs of rural firefighters. However, if you are running into a burning building then flame resistance is only one consideration. Heat protection, puncture resistance, and weight are also very important. As far as I can see, kevlar has pushed wool out of the mix.
Kevlar is synonymous with bullet proof vests and is often coupled with flameretardant-treated cotton to make protective clothing. Kevlar is part of the hydrocarbon fibre crew and is derived from crude oil.
VITAMIN D First things first, vitamin D is not a textile. But vitamin D supplements are an important product of the wool clip. Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, is in very few foods. With plenty of people spending their time indoors far, far away from the equator, vitamin D deficiency is common. Severe vitamin D deficiency causes rickets and milder forms of vitamin D deficiency correlate with almost every health issue under the sun. The most effective form of vitamin D is vitamin D3 which is made from lanolin, pressed from wool during wool scouring. Alternatives to wool-based vitamin D supplements, which are generally only sought by vegans, are synthetic vitamin D2 which is less effective. Or, vitamin D3 made from lichen which can’t compete with lanolin based vitamin D3 for cost. So that roughly sums up the contenders that wool is fighting against. However, at the risk of seeming defeatist, I want to point out that customers could do with some relationship counselling with wool. Cheaper wool blends of scratchy sweaters and school uniforms have ruined many a youngsters perception of “real” wool in the same way that warm school milk deterred a generation from dairy products. This is an important point for those campaigning the government to use more wool. If you remember fidgeting your way through class mat time with the harsh loops of an industrial carpet eating into your shins and buttocks like a bed of nails then you can understand the allure of an oh-so-soft Rhino smartstrand carpet that doesn’t remind you of the time when you were powerless and small. The call for the government to “do something about wool” is ringing. If they “do something” it will be done to a budget. This could result in another generation being exposed to the worst experiences that wool has to offer. • Nicola Dennis is an agricultural analyst and scientist.
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LIVESTOCK | ONFARM
Numbers drive the business Mike Bland reports on a farmer rejuvenating his bull beef business by benchmarking and focusing on production per hectare.
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att Buckley’s participation in a farmer group dedicated to benchmarking led to a major shift in how he and wife Olivia run their bull beef operation. Gone are the days when the King Country business would try to pump out bulls at the heaviest weights possible. Now the focus is on wintering lighter bulls at a higher liveweight per hectare, feeding
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them well, and finishing them at lighter weights. The Buckleys have also changed the timing of bull purchases from spring to autumn and lifted winter liveweight by over 30%. Matt Buckley says benchmarking has given them the confidence to make big changes “because now we are driven by the numbers”. He says the new focus on per hectare production rather than per head will put
the business on track to achieve a target of 400kg/ha of net product (meat and wool) by 2021-22. This year he expects production to reach 345kg/ha – a big lift on the 260kg net product/ha generated in previous years. For the 2020-21 season he is forecasting another 25-30kg/ha lift as the benefits of capital fertiliser, increased subdivision, and the change in buying policy continue to accrue. Matt and Olivia own the company Eight
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Above: Matt Buckley oversees a 2500ha sheep, beef and dairy business near Te Kuiti. Left: The bull beef operation has undergone significant change in the last two years.
FARM FACTS: • Farming 2500ha effective (includes some leased land) • Running sheep, beef and dairy • Finishing 1600 (mainly Friesian) bulls annually • 5000 ewes and 1500 hoggets • 770 cows milked at peak
Mile Farms, a 2500ha (effective) operation that spans four farms in the Waitomo district – 620ha Waipa, 580ha Rangitoto, 480ha Waihanga, and 820ha Spring Valley. Olivia works off-farm as a vet for four days a week but plays a significant role in the farm’s animal health programme. “She’s also very good with the ‘people’ side of the business, so she handles much
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of the health and safety and employment work too,” Matt says. He oversees the operation from home base at Spring Valley, situated at the Eight Mile Junction, south of Te Kuiti. About half of Spring Valley WAITOMO has been converted into a dairy unit that milks 770 cows at the peak. Sheep, beef cattle, and dairy heifers are run on the remaining 400ha. A manager is employed to run the dairy unit, and two stock managers look after three of the sheep and beef blocks – Steve Knight on Waipa and Nigel Bird on the Rangitoto and Waihanga farms. General shepherd Mark George assists on Rangitoto and Waihanga, and the Buckleys recently employed Robbie Duffin to help Matt with stock management on Spring Valley.
Each of the sheep and beef blocks winter a set number of stock. After winter, stock can be transferred from block to block if necessary. The bulk of the contour on the four properties is flat to rolling and the balance is medium hill. Spring Valley was originally settled by Matt’s grandparents who bought 316ha in 1954. Matt’s parents Rob and Marg expanded the farming operation and Matt and Olivia managed the farm in partnership with them from the early 2000s. They recently purchased the business from Rob and Marg who have retired to a small block on the outskirts of Te Kuiti.
›› Pushing the bull beef system p34 33
Pushing the bull beef system Eight Mile Farms finishes 1600 30-month bulls and 250 steers annually, and it’s this side of the business that has undergone the most radical change in recent years. Matt says rejuvenating the bull beef business gave him the challenge he was looking for. “Since buying out Mum and Dad we’d been doing a lot of thinking about consolidation and how we could push our existing operation harder. We’ve got very good stock managers on board and that put us in a position to make some big changes to our system.” Encouraged by Olivia and Rob, Matt participated in a Rabobank business
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development course in Australia about five years ago, which gave him “a lot of good ideas”. “It taught me that I needed to lift my head up from the day-to-day running of the farm and focus more on the business as a whole. Farmers rely on the international market, so we have little control over the price we receive for our product. Instead we’ve got to take charge of the things we can influence.” But it was the AgFirst Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) Action Group that provided the impetus to transform the bull beef system. Facilitated by AgFirst consultant Steven Howarth, the King
Country group was formed three years ago with a focus on benchmarking using Farmax. Matt says his experience with the group, which includes members representing nine farm businesses, has been profound. He enjoys the way members freely share information and bounce ideas off each other. And Farmax has become a powerful tool for his business. All aspects of the operation, including pasture growth, soil fertility, and animal liveweight, are monitored and recorded in the programme. “The more you put into it, the more you get out.”
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Left: Matt Buckley says benchmarking has given them the confidence to make big changes. Below: Eight Mile Farm finishes about 1600 30-month bulls at 320350kgCW.
Based on information provided by the group and Farmax, changes made to the bull beef system include capital fertiliser applications, increased subdivision, and an extended winter round length. Bulls are farmed on about 800ha across the four farms, and the bull country is permanently fenced into 1.5 to 2.0ha paddocks. Temporary fencing has been used to subdivide the bull blocks further. “Thousands upon thousands of polyrods” have been used to cut these paddocks into four for winter grazing. Traditionally, about 25units/ha of Phosphate have been applied to maintain P levels but this has been lifted to 40units/ ha. With around 1200 tonnes of fertiliser applied annually over the last two years, Olsen P levels are expected to reach 30-33
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Eight Mile Farms Ltd Net product kg/ha (Meat and wool)
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
263
282
324
345
375 (target)
on the bull country. Increased fertiliser application and extra subdivision has enabled the winter grazing round to be extended from 60 days up to 80-90 days. Winter stocking rates have also increased. “On some of the better country we have increased our wintering liveweight/ha from 750kg to 1000kg. So we are carrying more lighter-weight bulls and that gives us the mouths we need to utilise the spring flush.” Matt says winter liveweight could
potentially increase to 1200kg/ha in future. Finishing weights and killing dates have also changed. Thirty-month bulls that were killed at 360-380kg carcaseweight (CW) are now finished at 320-350kg CW. “Instead of sending them off between November and the end of January they now go mid-December to late February.” Nitrogen is used to boost pasture covers at crucial times with about 28-30units/ha applied in Spring and Autumn. Matt says the aim is to get pre-winter pasture cover up to 3500kg DM/ha by
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May 1. Paddocks with 30-month bulls are grazed to a residual of 1200-1300kg DM, and the 20-month bulls, which are wintered at about 800kg LW/ha, come out at around 1500kg DM/ha. By late October pasture growth rates can be hitting 45-50kg/ha/day, so the extra bulls are crucial for pasture control. “The goal is to match the bull unit’s feed demand with pasture growth rates in spring.” As a result of changes to their buying policy the Buckleys are no longer dependent on spring livestock markets. R2 bulls are now purchased at around 400kg in autumn. About 250 bull calves are supplied by the dairy unit on Spring Valley and the rest of the mainly Friesian bulls come from anywhere in the North Island. “Two years ago we were buying about 85% of our bulls in spring,” says Matt. “Last year we didn’t buy one. Now we buy when we need to and not when we have to.” Buying bulls in autumn is a significant advantage. “It means we can buy bulls to fit our
pre-grazing winter covers. We are now in charge of when we buy our stock and we can do it to fit the farm’s pasture supply curve. If we had been buying bulls in spring this season we would have been caught out badly by this year’s drought.” Traditionally, R2 bulls were wintered in mobs of about 70 but this was reduced to 55-60 last season. Matt says mob size can be a “contentious” topic for bull farmers and he gets a few raised eyebrows when he mentions his. “A lot of people will say that mob size should be about 20-30 right throughout but I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that a smaller mob means more production out the gate.” While a bigger mob can mean more niggle, Matt says a significant advantage of the larger mob size is a lower labour requirement and cost. “If we were running smaller mobs in winter we would need an extra labour unit.” Mob size is scaled back to 25-30 in late August/early September.
ONCE-BRED HEIFERS ON THE RISE This year the operation will also kill 60 heifers, with plans to increase this to 200 next season. “We are moving into once-bred heifers because their production in relation to drymatter consumption is very attractive,” Matt says. He estimates once-bred heifers will produce a return of 15-18c/kg DM consumed, while the bulls generate 20-21c/kg DM. The steers, which are often run with the ewes and used for pasture control, contribute about 10-13c/kg DM.
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Top: A high performance sheep flock is an integral part of the operation. Above, left: Dairy heifers graze on Spring Valley Farm, half of which has been converted to a dairy unit. Above, right: Temporary fencing has been used to improve subdivision and extend the grazing round on the bull beef country.
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Sheep could be the next focus Along with bulls, steers and heifers, Eight Mile Farms also winters about 5000 Kelso ewes and 1500 hoggets. Matt says high-performance sheep are an integral part of the operation. Mixed-aged ewes pregnancy scan at over 180% (triplets not scanned) and dock at around 145%, with most lambs finished at 17-17.5kg CW by late March. “The plan is to finish all lambs but we don’t always achieve that. Last year we had to sell about 10% store.” Matt says ewes generate a return of about 18-19c/kg DM. While this is less than the bulls he says it doesn’t take into account the value of sheep as a grazing management tool on the tougher contour. “It’s all about matching stock class to the land type. The sheep have to perform, and they do.”
Once the bull beef unit is firing on all cylinders, Matt says the next logical step would be to take a good look at the sheep system “and see if we can push that a bit harder too.” He says the changes made over the last two years have been exciting. “It’s given me the biggest challenge since I started farming in the mid-1990s. It’s great to partner with key staff and other support people who want to move forward with you.” If the 400kg/ha of net product is achieved it will push the business into the top quartile for production when compared with farms of similar class. “But that’s not really what it’s about. The goal is to achieve a balance between production and making sure our people and our stock are well looked after.”
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LIVESTOCK | PRE-LAMB FEEDING
Juggling ewe feed pre-lamb BY: JOANNA GRIGG
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ive poor condition multiple-bearing ewes and the earliest lambers the best and the most feed. If August is tight for feed, rank stock according to risk of metabolic issues and feed the highest risk class. These are the messages from Massey University’s Professor Paul Kenyon, on the best use of what are likely to be low feed supplies. Late pregnancy is too late to alter lamb birth weights significantly. Any attempt to increase them through high levels of ewe feeding in late pregnancy is limited by placental development. Placenta size was set by day 100. For these reasons, feeding in late pregnancy is all about setting up for maximum lactation and avoiding metabolic issues like sleepy sickness. Speaking at a Taranaki Farming for Profit
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day via podcast, Kenyon said farmers should manage stock to avoid ups and downs in feeding levels. Stress to the ewe must be avoided, so aim for minimal yarding time and easy-paced mustering. Avoid any break in eating and moving stock during bad weather. Kenyon suggests that farmers still to pregnancy scan should consider hiring an extra person to condition score ewes as they are walked up into the cradle. Identifying the poorest 20%-30% of ewes, and marking them, is more important than worrying about exact scores. These ewes are typically less than 2.5 out of 5 in condition score. “Just raddle these really skinny ewes with another colour from that for dry or multiples, take them out and give them the most and best feed.” At any point post-scanning, an option is to put the poorer condition singles in with the early multiples and feed preferentially.
This cuts down on mob numbers. The trend seen in early-mated mobs, tupped in drought affected areas during 2020, has been for fewer ewes than the expected 80% to conceive in the first cycle. Some mobs had only 30% conceive in the first cycle, with most in the second. Splitting the poorer condition twinning mob again, into first cycle and second/ third cycles, gives more intake options. The early ewes could be given the priority feed while the later ewes could be held on lower covers for a few extra days. Kenyon calculates that at scanning, some ewes may be 100 days pregnant and some may be only 50 days pregnant. This is with three breeding cycles. “Why feed them the same?” The lates can be held on lower covers as it’s likely that, when they are set-stocked, spring covers will be much higher and grass growing anyway, he said. “I don’t mean having 10 mobs to
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manage pre-lambing but early multiple ewes should, at least, be out on their own.” Kenyon said the energy requirements to lift a ewe from 2.0 to 2.5 condition score requires 75 megajoules (MJ) of energy above maintenance, but to lift from 3.0 to 3.5 takes 240 MJ of energy above maintenance. As a result, adding condition to poorer-condition ewes is the most efficient use of feed. Plan to give the best paddocks for lamb survival to multiples. Kenyon said tailing tallies collected over the years will quickly show the number of tails per block compared with what was set stocked in there initially. “Which blocks are worst for survival? Avoid these for multiples.” Once paddocks are over 30 degrees gradient, the chance of ewe and multiple lamb separation in the first 24 hours increases greatly, he said. To slow the decline in lactation volume, ewes should be lambed on pasture covers over 1200kg DM/ha, and covers should not drop below this. Peak lactation is two weeks post lambing. The onset of lactation and colostrum production are affected by ewe nutrition in late pregnancy. Total milk production is influenced by feeding during late pregnancy and lactation as well as body condition.
ALLOCATING TWIN TUCKER The first autumn for Tom Cranswick was a baptism of fire with a drought at Winterhome, the sheep and beef farm he manages in south Marlborough. Despite the feed shortage January to March, the pregnancy scanning percentage has been maintained in the crossbred ewes at a pleasing 175%. The dry rate for the mixed age ewes was 1.8%, and 7% of the ewes are expecting triplets. Two-tooths scanned 173%. Ewe condition was boosted by preferentially feeding 650 lighter ewes with peas from January through to tupping in March. These ewes, below condition score 2.5, were taken out of the main mob in January. Another portion of the mixed-age ewe flock (between condition score 2.5 and 3.0) went onto rape crops four days before joining with the ram in late March. They were left alone, stress free, for 24 days. This
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Above: Mixed age Winterhome ewes in early July. All ewes were body condition scored in January and the lightest 650 given a boost of protein via peas, and the mid-condition ewes time on rape over tupping.
PRE-LAMB FEED STRATEGIES • Use scanning results to create preferential feeding mobs • Pull out light tail-end first cycle single ewes (after scanning) and preferentially feed with first cycle multiples • If feed is tight before set stocking, allocate shorter pasture to the best-conditioned ewes lambing a single in the second cycle. They will lamb later, potentially as feed is growing faster. • Use winter rotation to set up good covers for lambing i.e. those paddocks that multiples will lamb in should not be grazed before set stocking • Avoid sudden changes in feeding (use break fences to control).
rape crop was sown early December as a provision for tupping feed. To reduce the call on feed, cows were weaned at the beginning of March and calves were weaned onto balage and sold two weeks early. Half the hoggets were sent away on grazing and not put to the ram,
while the remainder were also run dry. Now, with 175% lambs on board the ewes, Tom has the challenge of feeding them through to lambing. Growth has recovered, helped along with additions of phosphate, sulphur and nitrogen. The plan is to graze multiple-bearing ewes on rape and on saved pasture to meet maintenance. Mob size will be kept under 600 to reduce competition for feed. The poorer-condition multiples will be mobbed together and go in front of the singles and cows. Tom said because the condition score range across the flock is quite a tight bell curve without a big group of light, singlebearing ewes, the singles will be all treated the same. They will follow up after the twins, cleaning up pasture. “Ewes always have enough milk for a single, even under condition score three.” Ram harnesses were used and, in combination with foetal aging, this will allow twinning ewes to be grouped into early, mid and late mobs. “Aging is extremely useful when it comes to allocating feeding.” Lambing starts August 20, and more ewes conceived in the middle of the 2.5 cycles this year.
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LIVESTOCK | ONFARM
Awapiri wethers are walked 25km to the limestone Swale Country, against the Inland Kaikoura Range, and set-stocked for six months. These low input sheep gross $84/head, get only four weeks of attention each year and a diet of unimproved pasture.
Hill fit at Awapiri Keeping themselves and their livestock fit for purpose are key features of Eric and Sally Smith’s management of their Awatere Valley sheep station, as Joanna Grigg found out.
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ric and Sally Smith should have been mountain biking through outer Mongolia. Instead of mustering alongside nomadic tribes and helping break in Mongolian horses, the Marlborough couple has been kept at home by Covid-19. You could say that work on their Awatere Valley station, Awapiri, is actually not that different to their proposed holiday. The Smiths use mountain bikes and horses to get around the 7000 hectares
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although it’s definitely steeper than the Mongolian steppes. Horses take gear to the back-country huts and are used to bring the wether mob to and from the Chalk Range. The Swale Hut is a step up from a Mongolian ger perhaps, with timber walls and a log fire. And you are more likely to get served rum or tea than mare’s milk at Awapiri. While Mongolia is on ice, the Smiths continue to focus their energy towards home. They have combined their farming
and sporting passions in a very successful way. They regularly mountain bike as a way to check stock and they have marked out tracks for visiting tourists, who enjoy the scenery and exercise for a small fee. Being fit and active is a huge part of the Smiths’ life, with Sally starting mountain bike racing in her thirties and Eric mountain running from a similar age. He’s a more recent convert to mountain biking, to preserve his knees.
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FARM FACTS • 7000 hectares, from Awatere River to Chalk Range • Almost all pastoral lease (350ha freehold) • 4700 Merinos with 50% wethers, cutting 6.6kg wool • Eric and Sally Smith prefer to walk, bike or ride. Vehicle costs only $11,000/year • 56% income from wool, on ten year contract.
AWATERE VALLEY
Good fitness is a base requirement to handle the farming jobs with the 5000 plus stock units spread over a long narrow strip stretching 25km and climbing from 350-1500m. The Smiths do all the crutching, sheep handling and mustering themselves, spending only $4000 a year on extra labour. Vehicle costs, including fuel, were only $11,000 in 2019 and the station has four horses and two mountain bikes. Why use a truck when you can bike, walk or ride? This low-cost farming model is a necessity when income is largely from one source, Eric says. It’s lower risk. “We are quite happy to be this way, with lower inputs.” The farm business has Merinos at its heart. The flock generates 87% of farm income (56% wool and 31% meat). Half of the flock are wethers (1750 mixed age) and they are extremely cost effective in terms of labour. In 2019 they clipped 6.4kg of wool and grossed $84.80 per head on average. Eric calculates they only get four weeks of labour input a year. They graze 5000ha enclosed within the natural boundary of the Medway River and the Swale (Chalk Range). Half of it is covered with native shrubs, trees, or bluffs and there are no fences. The cash put into the pastoral lease land is minimal. No fertiliser is spread here and wethers get one anthelmintic capsule and feet checked annually. Eric says they don’t clip as much as the 1800 ewes, which manage 6.65kg/head, but ewes get better pasture. The annual draft wethers weighed 70kg, which has increased since anthelmintic capsules have been used. A Johnes vaccination programme was started two years ago on the advice of locals and the Smiths’ vet. “We have suspected a touch of Johne’s since we came here.” The ewes returned $82.50/head at an average wool price of $12.50/kg greasy, sold on contract. This includes oddments and crutchings. Surplus lambs are sold as light stores at weaning or taken through winter to be heavy stores. At 101% lambing (including two-tooths) there are about 700 surplus lambs each year. The stud flock weaned 119% from a 127% scanning in 2019. The couple ran some figures on converting the whole flock to wethers. This would have been slightly less
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Top: Eric and Sally Smith on the best bit of land on Awapiri Station, in rape and moata for Merino hoggets. These 30ha have seen the biggest investment in seed and fences. The 7000ha of high country is steep and unashamedly traditional in its management. Above: Swale Hut, built by Eric and Sally in 2014, with the Chalk Range country.
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Above: It wasn’t expected, but Sally and Eric’s step into owning Awapiri eight years ago has allowed them to move on from farm management, making their own calls on merino breeding.
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profitable and riskier due to the buy-in price for Merino wether lambs. “Plus buying in wethers means we lose our own breeding for footrot resistance, which we’ve worked so hard on,” Eric says. They have moved away from grazing replacement hoggets on vineyards as it was costing $12,000 a year, excluding labour, and they wanted to put the money into improving the arable land at home. This has been done with five paddocks subdivided into nine, allowing better rotational grazing. Sally says twin survival improved from 115% to 140% after lambing twinning ewes on the hills rather than the improved pasture flats. She puts this down to stock density and tussock cover, which is a more natural habitat for a Merino. “This is what we saw happen at Mt Arrowsmith.” “We keep the flats for grazing pre lamb or for young stock.” Scanning of commercial ewes is done purely for management purposes. When wethers are mustered for shearing in late October they have to come through some lambing blocks to get home. The Smiths
scan out the first cycle lambers and lamb them in these blocks, so they know when they have finished lambing. This allows them to safely clear them out of the way. One of the joys of owning a long narrow property with access issues. They didn’t do this their first year at the station and had to wait for lambing to finish in mid-November before they could go and muster wethers for shearing. Scanning out the earlies also gives flexibility at tailing time. They can begin tailing the early mob while the lates are still lambing. If the weather is rough around pre-lamb shearing, the ewes closer to lambing can take priority. The 140 mixed-age Angus and Angus/ Hereford cows and heifers are there to stomp on sprayed scrub to keep tracks and scrub faces open, improving access for sheep. Progeny are sold as weaners and make a handy $75,000. The pack track from the Awatere to the Chalk Range was cut in the 1920s and is single file in places. “It would have been a massive undertaking and is an amazing piece of work, which we take great care to preserve.”
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Fit for the home farm Awapiri’s ram breeding programme is self serving in that it aims to create the best ram for use over Awapiri ewes. Eric Smith describes this perfect sheep as medium framed, not too rangy as they have to walk a long way, and with really robust feet in the presence of footrot. As a helpful bonus the Smiths have a committed group of farmers who also seek this type of sheep. “About 25 rams are sold a year and this helps pay for the EID and foot scoring costs,” Eric said. The Smiths say they can see the difference in their flock after years of using the Lincoln University foot scoring test coupled with an annual inspection of foot structure using a Hecton sheep handler. All stud sheep retained have better than 3/3 scores. Any flock ewe with scald or footrot has a blacktag and goes to a terminal sire ram. “We wouldn’t change from the Lincoln Footscore as it’s working,” Eric said. “With genetics and management we’ve brought footrot to manageable levels. It doesn’t mean we won’t get footrot but it’s all so much easier.” This autumn only 20 sheep were pulled out with footrot. Awapiri have supplied the NZ Merino Company (mainly the Icebreaker contracts) since 2012 and are signed to a 10-year contract. What they like about the contract is that the bulk of the fleece makes the contract price, including the backs, giving a higher overall per-fleece price. Sally is a qualified wool classer and oversees the clip preparation. “We only have to lightly skirt and take out any scrubby backs.” “There is flexibility around volume and we get paid four weeks after delivery,” Sally says. “While last year’s contract price may have been below market, it’s above this year.” They like being part of the ZQ assurance programme as it proves their welfare standards. HawkeEye is used to map the farm and record inputs and they are working on a Farm Environmental Plan. Chris Bowman, of Australia, has been classing Awapiri sheep for seven years. The Smiths credit him for introducing greater length (with a shot of Wanganella genetics) via AI in 2014. This has been followed up with Glenmore rams, Tekapo, introduced three years ago adding medium frame genetics with attractive wool style. The Smiths are committed to following Chris’s advice. “Why get a classer in if you don’t listen to their advice?” The Smiths took sheep to the Wanaka A&P Show this year and they did well. “We created a lot of interest by doing this,” Eric says. “I think our good placing opened a lot of eyes to what we’ve done here, as the flock was perhaps seen as oldfashioned and blocky types, but it’s changed now.”
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Top: Awapiri have supplied the NZ Merino Company (mainly the Icebreaker contracts) since 2012. Middle: Sally and Eric have had eight years shaping this latest crop of rams bred at Awapiri. Above: A snug new house at Awapiri was needed after age and earthquakes caught up with the old homestead.
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Above: Bev Black, seated, watches Steve Satterthwaite judge Awapiri rams held by her daughter Sally, and Eric Smith, at the Marlborough A&P Show.
Home to the Awatere Sally and Eric were farm managers at Arrowsmith for 10 years before the option came to return to Sally’s home station, Awapiri. For two of those years they found themselves running 14,500 stock units on Arrowsmith on their own – just two labourers. “We learnt what we were capable of but this sort of intensity doesn’t do you any good in the long term. We were a bit broken and family time suffered,” Sally says. The move home to the Awatere was tough at the time following the death of Sally’s father Graham, a well-respected Merino breeder. When Sally’s brother decided to step away from the Station soon after, it came as a surprise. Sally and
Eric came up with a succession option that they presented to the family, and the family agreed to it. They stepped into ownership and the debt that came with it. “It seemed logical after starting out as shepherds at Blairich, then Fairlie, then Grays Hills and working up to farm managers, to then step into full ownership,” Eric says. Eric started out at Erewhon and met Sally there, and they started married life at Blairich. It was 16 months from when Graham died that Sally and Eric took over. Duncan ran Awapiri during that time, with casual staff to help. Sally acknowledges her mother Bev for her financial support.
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Above: Bike signs mark the way for visiting mountain bikers. The Awapiri Mountain Bike tourism venture is more about getting urban people on farm and testing the tourism waters rather than big dollars at this stage. Top, right: Flynn’s hut, 14.5km from the homestead and at the end of the 4WD track. The hut was renovated by the regular pig hunting visitors and the Smiths appreciate hunters who give back to them. They got free doctors’ visits for years from their hunter-doctor! Above, right: A young biker at the Awapiri Open Day.
“We are very grateful to her, and it was great she had her own house just down the road already.” “We didn’t really expect this move to happen.” Sally said that what she learnt from it is to chat with the family regarding how everyone is feeling about their situation. “With teenagers moving into their twenties and beyond, keep revisiting farm succession and keep wills and documents up to date. Talk every year and adjust things as the next generation changes.” The couple’s children, Alex and Eve, have both been of huge help when they could. Alex has recently started a fencing contracting business in Cheviot, while Eve is a personal trainer in Rangiora. Initially the business was just about keeping heads above water, Eric said. With improved wool returns the scrub spray programme has been extended and fertiliser has been applied for the first time (lime pellets over 300 hectares). “There was no point applying fertiliser
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just to grow scrub,” Eric said. The front country pH is around 5.8 but deficient in sulphur. Crucial to keeping Awapiri running as a farm is being able to clear indigenous regrowth, especially on tracks and accessways. At one stage consent to remove scrub from an access way, for wethers to get to the Chalk Range, was being challenged by DOC. “Not being allowed to keep it clear would have meant we couldn’t gain access to our summer grazing country.” “There is a lot at stake with indigenous clearance rules changing,” said Eric. Awapiri and Camden were bought by Graham and Bev Black and Frank Prouting in 1966, and then amicably split between the families. Awapiri ended up with a vast chunk of manuka/kanuka/mountain beech country but probably had a win in getting the limestone chalk country of The Swale. This sits against the Coverham part of Bluff Station and has heavier soils with good fertility and legumes.
CATERING FOR MOUNTAIN BIKERS The Smiths have run seven open days for mountain bikers since August 2019. The bikers that make the hours’ drive up from Blenheim are let loose on 32km of tracks. It’s affordable for the average family (a $20 fee) and allows urbanites to learn more about high country farming. Sally has catered for overnight stays in the hut, carting gear out, and serving up Merino chops and wild venison for dinner. The move to a full-blown tourism venture would require a concession from the Department of Conservation and more paperwork and costs. For this reason, the Smiths are reluctant to make the move.
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LIVESTOCK | STOCK CHECK
Southland hill country: Destined for trees?
Efficient not intensive farming BY: TREVOR COOK
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anting to throw something at the television in response to what is coming out of it is a safe way to protest, albeit totally ineffective. Face-toface with the deliverer of such a potent message I am highly unlikely to throw something at them. When I watched a very “unjoyful” ecologist tell the world that the biggest environmental threat to New Zealand was intensive farming, I was looking for something to throw. Even though he was then forced to concede that the lockdown had improved the environment, which strongly suggested that there were other powerful factors involved, the first statement remained as the so-called statement of fact. Maybe none of those intensive farmers travelled to town during the lockdown and so pollution was reduced. I will not counter that assertion of what is the biggest environmental threat with other facts here except to say that solutions will not come from that sort of statement. To simmer me down, just two days later I was treated to an experience that can only be shared and appreciated by a small portion of the community. I was in extensive, fairly steep hill country in
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northern Southland looking at two mobs of ewes on a planned 70-day rotation up to pregnancy scanning. There were about 4000 in one mob and 4500 in the other. Seeing them spread out over the hills, the clearly and nicely eaten block that they had come from, and the good pasture cover ahead, was just mouthwatering. To say that it was planned means knowing that it had not been left to chance that there was enough feed available. Feed budgeting on this sort of country is not that precise but sure is better than hoping. To put icing on the cake I watched a mob of about 200 escaped ewes being returned to where they should have been. The shepherd I was with did that using amazing dog control skills that just left me in awe. It was a she, which made it seem even more special, though admitting that is not PC. The whole experience was of a very specialised execution of highly complex processes, from grazing planning to stock handling. Where else could you see that? My enthusiasm or excitement was tempered when I found out later that half of those hills were destined for pine trees. Change is inevitable, but ill-conceived change is hard to accept. The quantity of pasture ahead of those ewes was in part due to plenty of moisture. The seasons had progressed as usual other
than perhaps too much rain, unlike much further north where exactly the opposite has been the norm for many months. Prolonged dry followed by rain always triggers the unexpected. Nitrate poisoning in cattle in late June, for example, and not just the odd one but lots. Rising three-year cattle with clinical Ostertagia was also unexpected – in fact, there were unusual worm outbreaks across the board. Is that because of unusual worm behaviour triggered by their having to survive the dry, or is it grazing animals being unusually susceptible? Trace element levels notoriously shift out of their normal seasonal ranges following such weather. Macro element levels also change. These are not likely to threaten health until close to lambing or calving – nothing can be taken for granted in farming. When unusual things happen, like a never expected prolonged dry, having a plan B should be a reflex response. The regions that live with uncomfortable dry spells tend to know what to do, but this summer has hit regions that normally never get as dry as those that are used to it. Responses might have been slower and not enough but now, into the winter, some serious threats could be looming. Late pregnant ewes carrying multiples are at high risk of dying if not fed enough. As well, they are very susceptible to worms. Hungry beef cows close to calving can succumb to metabolic problems. Breeding stock are the ones that are most vulnerable to any extremes. I have never done as many feed budgets as I have this autumn and winter. Trying to make something from nothing is not easy. Nevertheless, just rationalising where it is all at and making some plans, even if still a long way from being adequate, can make a difference. With our school children being told how devastating farming is to the world, the tree takeover continuing unabated, and planned implementation of very restrictive and expensive but unproven fresh water management rules in some areas, could make it very depressing. But focusing on making farming systems more efficient will always put those systems in a much better place to counter these challenges. Efficiency is closely linked to profitability. What that looks like is another discussion.
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LIVESTOCK | ANIMAL HEALTH
Get multiple bearing ewes done first with more time before they are due to lamb, 3-4 weeks out is significantly better than 1-2.
Reducing lamb wastage BY: BEN ALLOTT
N
ot only are reduced wastage rates an area of potential productivity gains but also animal wastage has been identified as an animal welfare concern and a reputational risk for the red meat industry in New Zealand. This article explores some of the key contributing factors that influence the loss of lambs between scanning and tailing.
EWE BODY CONDITION SCORE (BCS) Ensuring all ewes reach BCS of 3 should be a priority. There are numerous benefits in terms of fertility if ewes reach a BCS of 3 before tupping, and in terms of lamb survival if ewes maintain this condition until lambing. • Lamb survival decreases by 5% for every half of BCS lost in the four weeks prior to lambing • Lamb survival decreases by 5% for every half of BCS below 3 at lambing There are few benefits to increasing
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BCS above 3 and so to achieve the most efficient use of feed the priority is to lift the BCS of light ewes.
SHEARING A number of trials show that on average, as long as ewes are well fed in the immediate post-shearing period, lamb birth weights increase by about 0.2-0.4kg and multiple lamb survival increases when ewes are shorn between days 70-110 of pregnancy. Shearing later than this (pre-lamb shearing) reduces any positive effects and importantly increases the risk to the ewe of excessive weight loss and metabolic diseases.
FEEDING EWES IN LATE PREGNANCY Underfeeding of multiple bearing ewes in the last month of pregnancy is common. The impact of such underfeeding contributes to increased lamb wastage through a number of mechanisms, including: • The birth of smaller lambs with reduced brown fat (energy) stores. Lambs born
at less than 4kg have poor survival outcomes. • Reduced colostrum volume and quality. • Poor maternal instinct and impaired lamb bonding = mismothering. • Decreased lamb vitality and impaired ability to regulate body temperature in cold conditions. • Increased birthing difficulties.
LATE PREGNANCY STRESS Sudden changes in feed type and feed quality can result in reduced feed intake and increase the risk of metabolic disease if this occurs very close to lambing. Time spent off feed for pre-lamb treatments – multiple bearing lambs are very sensitive to the effects of withholding feed. Timing of pre-lamb treatments – get multiple bearing ewes done first with more time before they are due to lamb, 3-4 weeks out is significantly better than 1-2. Pre-lamb musters and yarding should be well planned to minimise the disturbance to feed intake.
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Many ewes are pushed significant distances after pre-lamb treatments to be set stocked. If the walk is going to be a long one break it up over several days and plan for feed along the way, especially important for twins.
GENETICS Newborn lambs from some breeds, and from some genetic lines within breeds, are more vigorous at birth. Mothering ability of ewes is also influenced by genetics. Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) does have a lamb survival index where the variation due to genes acting in the lamb (“lamb vigour”) and those acting in the ewe (“mothering ability”) are estimated.
TRACE ELEMENTS/VITAMINS The important ones here are selenium (Se), iodine and vitamin E. • Selenium - Severe deficiency can result in premature death of lambs. • Iodine - Low iodine levels result in lambs that have reduced ability to regulate their body temperature. Lambs born from iodine deficient ewes are less vigorous, slow, and succumb more easily, particularly in adverse weather events.
• Vitamin E - Low vitamin E is similar in effect to low Se levels – it affects heart muscle and results in less vigorous lambs and/or premature death.
DISEASES The most important ones directly impacting on lamb survival are: • Toxoplasmosis • Campylobacteriosis • Clostridial diseases • Salmonella brandenburg All farms should have an animal health plan that includes vaccination against Toxo, Campy, and clostridial disease.
PHYSICAL FACTORS/SHELTER Some paddocks always have better lamb survival than others. With multiple lambs consistently having higher wastage than singles it is well worth putting multiple bearing ewes into these better paddocks and singles into the others. Usually, steeper paddocks have a higher death rate in twins because if lambs separate, e.g. one lamb slips down the hill, the ewe has to choose which lamb to mother and the second lamb may be unable to follow. The provision of shelter,
particularly low shelter that protects from wind at the lamb’s level, is important, especially during adverse weather events. Incorporating toi-tois, flaxes, and tussocks into shelterbelts or planting shelterbelts in species with dense low branches (e.g. Leyland cypresses, Western red cedar, and pittosporums) can provide very effective shelter. Old pines and macrocarpas provide relatively poor shelter and in many cases create large bare dirt areas beneath them that result in unhygienic conditions through lambing.
EWE MASTITIS Recent work published by Kate Griffiths has highlighted this huge area for improvement. Where ewes are not routinely uddered, missed udder disease can result in significant lamb deaths from starvation. On post-mortem of the dead lamb it will be impossible to tell the difference between mis-mothered lambs and starvation due to ewe mastitis. Uddering should be carried out on ewes at least a month after weaning because a significant amount of mastitis can occur after weaning, and milk still in the udder in unweaned ewes makes detection earlier more difficult.
EWE DEATHS The death of the ewe before, at, or soon after lambing is invariably going to result in the lamb’s death as well. Important contributing causes of ewe deaths to explore further can often be grouped into: • Metabolic disease – milk fever and sleepy sickness, particularly in multiple bearing ewes that experience a nutritional stressor • Cast ewes • Bearings • Chronic disease e.g. Johne’s • Aged flocks with insufficient culling policies
WHERE TO START? • Record your current wastage rates and benchmark these against high performing farmers in your district • Perform autopsies on dead newborn lambs to identify the key reasons you experience wastage. • Spend the next year questioning vets and other farmers, and get your discussion group to focus on this topic.
Some paddocks always have better lamb survival than others.
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• Ben Allott is a North Canterbury veterinarian.
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DEER | ONFARM
Hinds on Glengarry in June.
Managing deer to protect environment New water quality regulations may have unintended consequences on a deer farm that has already improved its environmental footprint, as Anne Hardie reports.
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aterways entering Tony and Sarah Peacock’s deer farm at Maruia from the neighbouring bush-clad conservation land have more sediment and hence higher phosphate levels than when they leave the other side of the farm. It’s just one of the findings in the early stages of an AgResearch project on water quality on their farm. The Peacocks put their hand up to be part of the five-year
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survey, which is being carried out on hillcountry deer farms, because they wanted to know what was happening on the farm environmentally and, if there were problems, to deal with them specifically with the best solution. “If I am creating a problem I will fix it but I don’t see the necessity of spending thousands of dollars fencing areas off if I’m not the problem,” Tony says. “If I can build wetlands at the bottom of those streams, am I improving the water more than fencing those streams?”
By gathering actual data he hopes they will end up with better water outcomes and save money. Low-lying wet areas on the valley floor make up some of 40ha identified by the local council as significant wetlands on the farm, and the Peacocks have already fenced several of those areas. Fencing protects them from stock damage, but Tony says it also filters runoff from paddocks on the river terraces and slopes rising up to Victoria Forest Park that surrounds the deer farm. He’s hoping the water testing will prove those fenced
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wetlands will negate the need to fence 22km of side streams and ditches on the hills. The couple farms three separate blocks near Maruia, between Murchison and Lewis Pass; a secluded location across the river where the family has farmed for three generations. For 10 years Tony continued the family dairy farm, milking 120 cows and running beef cattle until the late 90s when the high returns and lifestyle being enjoyed in the deer industry convinced him to hang up the cups in the dairy for the last time. He admits he misses the cows but not the tie of milking twice a day as it was back then. They farmed in partnership with his parents, Judy and his late father Mike, transforming the home dairy farm, nearby runoff on the river terrace, plus a developing hill block up a neighbouring valley, Glengarry, into a diverse deer operation. Today they run about 820 Red hinds on Glengarry with all the progeny sold as weaners. On the more productive former dairy farm and runoff is a mob of 35 English Red hinds for velvet progeny plus a mob of 23 Elk hinds to breed the stags for the Red hinds on Glengarry. Alongside the hinds on these blocks are 60 mixed-age Red stags for velvet and 60 mixed-age Elk stags. To add more diversity into the business they buy in about 60 weaned bull calves each year, which are a mix of Hereford and Jersey that can be sold to dairy farmers as two year olds, some as yearlings, and any left over to the works. A few beef cattle to finish are thrown into the mix for pasture management as well as another income stream, plus about 80 Wiltshire ewes that were originally added to clean up laneways but now also prove worthwhile for weed control on the grass wetlands at Glengarry. The block sits at the end of the shingle road where it has about 250ha deer fenced, with a mix of reasonable river terraces and slopes, rough gullies, and a valley floor dissected by water courses. Tony is still working out how to farm the valley floor under the planned rules and regulations as it has less than 10 degrees in slope, which means every stream and ditch will need to be fenced. It may make it too challenging to farm, which will remove a large area of the farming operation. The irony of that
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Tony Peacock feeds out fodder beet to the stags in winter.
scenario, he says, is that the entire block is lightly stocked because it is still being developed yet may end up being farmed more intensely above the valley floor to remain profitable, which will then put more pressure on the environment. “There’s no point being environmentally proactive and then thrashing what we have left.” In their bid to be environmentally sustainable and remain profitable the Peacocks are just finalising the finer details of a Land and Environment Plan (LEP), working with the Tasman District Council, NZ Landcare Trust, and Ravensdown. From that they have a nutrient budget, whole farm soil tests, critical source areas such as stock crossing points, and a detailed map that includes every grass wetland on the farm.
Apart from providing a clearer picture of the farm, including the good practices they already have in place and the areas that still need improvement, it has given them a living document that tracks their progress. Long before the plan or any proposed legislation, the environment has been a key aspect of the family farming business. Groves of native trees have remained for three generations in paddocks including 30ha of native bush on good flat land. Every year now they are fencing off more bush areas or wetlands on Glengarry in a bid to stay ahead of the game and avoid legislation wielding a big stick at them. Tony describes it as a balancing act that has yet to be fully understood by those governing legislation.
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Tony looks into Glengarry’s valley with its many streams.
KEY POINTS: • Farming 430ha in three blocks at Maruia • Winter 1100 deer, 120 mixed-age cattle, 80 sheep • Terminal sires over Red deer with replacement hinds bought in • 40ha significant wetlands • Part of a project on water quality.
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Water quality data gap While the LEP has proved a valuable tool it also raised more questions such as the lack of data about the water quality. The research being carried out by AgResearch is aimed at providing that much-needed data for the Peacocks and other hill-country deer farmers, hopefully to guide environmental work. Most of the projects’ deer farms are in the high country whereas the Peacocks is low-lying and bush-bound with a 2m rainfall. They are just entering their third year with the five-year survey of water quality in creeks and streams and it will take the full five years to see trends and a true picture of the impact of deer farming. Every creek, waterway, and wetland has been mapped and rated for biodiversity and damage. Then every six months an AgResearch team spends time on the farm collecting water samples from 14 sites along the length of streams to measure where nutrients increase or decrease along its course. The condition of stream banks is also monitored. As well as AgResearch taking water samples, Tony takes monthly samples from the main stream
where it leaves the farm. All samples are tested for suspended sediments, phosphorus, and nitrogen as well as E coli. On Glengarry, streams begin in beech forest above the farm and flow down rough gullies and into the main stream through the valley floor. Those rough gullies with the remnants of bush are places deer like to camp, which AgResearch project leader Bryan Thompson says leads to sediment, E coli, and nitrates ending up in streams. Farmers could fence them off but he says it’s not as simple as that. Farmers would then need to ensure stock had adequate shade and shelter on other land, plus it could lead to higher intensity on the remaining land, which could create other problems. Because the Peacocks stock lightly on Glengarry nitrates aren’t a problem in the streams, and sampling to date shows phosphorus isn’t either as there is more in the streams entering the farm from the bush than there is leaving the farm. That is because the grassland area through the farm filters it, he says.
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Top: Glengarry borders Victoria Forest Park. Above: A late fawn still with the mob in winter. Above, right: Tony Peacock at the Glengarry block.
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Weaner policy suits Terminal sires are run with the Red hinds on Glengarry and the progeny are sold as weaners with replacement hinds bought in. It’s a policy that suits the Peacock’s management structure and means they don’t have to carry 400 weaners through lean winters or run a separate herd. “Winter is our hard time for stocking rate, and if I kept 400 fawns I’d have to get rid of the same number of stock units somewhere else.” About 26 Elk stags are put with the hinds each year at a ratio of 1:30, with fawning usually about 90%. Tony scans the pregnant hinds every second year as the other year is TB testing and he prefers to get them into the yards as little as possible. The first draft of weaners off mum in early March is usually between 400 and 500, which get magnesium in their drench before they are on a truck to a regular buyer near Rakaia. One millilitre of magnesium per 10kg means they are relaxed when they get to their new home rather than pacing fences. Another 200 are weaned in May, drenched, and on the truck to Rakaia. That leaves 40 to 50 fawns that either missed the muster or are too small and will be sent to the
works the following February. In the past three years Tony’s Red hind replacements have been Eastern Red genetics from Jonny Harwood in Golden Bay, which he buys as weaners. Last year’s fawns were the first with the new genetics so it is early days to judge them yet but he’s hoping they will result in a better fawn on the ground and faster growth rates. “They’re a bigger deer that are supposed to cycle earlier and fawn earlier but until I try it I don’t know.” He knows what the Eastern Red genetics can achieve on other properties, but they will have to prove themselves on Glengarry. The first draft of weaners in March averaged about 65kg and the second draft in May 68kg. For the past four years the Peacocks have been growing raphno brassica to put some weight on before weaning. Between eight and 12ha are sown each year on the easier slopes of Glengarry, and the hinds with their fawns move into those paddocks
›› Continues p54 53
Above: Tony talks with Bryan Thompson from AgResearch above a wetland.
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in February. They’re out at the beginning of March, which gives the paddocks time to grow for winter when bull calves are break fed on the crops. Stock are given good-sized breaks on the crop and are not on for long to minimise pugging. In early summer those paddocks are resown with a deer mix that includes two types of grasses, two to three clovers, chicory, and plantain. Regenerative agriculture is the next thing Tony wants to explore. Instead of two paddocks of raphno he plans to plant one crop of raphno and another multi species so that one crop can benefit the other. The problem, though, is that regenerative agriculture is still an unknown on different farms, so Tony is expecting it to be a case of trial and error to see if it is worthwhile. As well as reassessing his cropping regime, he is also looking at changing his fertiliser use to better suit the environment. To date the farm has received autumn applications of superphosphate and he is now considering lime-based fertilisers. “There’s a time and a place for all fertilisers. I’ve used liquid before and biological fertilisers on crops rather than chemical based and had good results. And some fish-based fertilisers for bug control because they don’t like the fish oil as much. I’m
open to testing fertilisers.” On the home block he grows 4ha of fodder beet for the stags and bulls and he has had good results using brassica fertilisers on those crops. He lifts part of the crop daily through winter and feeds it out from a silage wagon to the stags, which enables him to achieve about 90% utilisation. The young bulls are break fed their portion of the crop. This season the crop went in the ground in December rather than November because of wet weather, but a good autumn kicked it off and in June it measured 24t/ha. In the Elk mob, any beast that shows aggression or is flighty is noted and if it is noted a second time it’s culled. “It’s an ongoing thing because every time you change your stag, the potential for one X chromosome and one Y chromosome to not get on is there. Or it could be one interaction with an animal and they remember it. They’re a smart animal.” He buys in one or two new Elk stags each year to run with up to 25 Elk hinds, and breeds his own Elk stags for the Glengarry Red hinds. Meanwhile there is the velveting mob of stags that are culled on weight and temperament each year. The entire mob of mixed-age Red stags averaged 6.2kg for the first cut.
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DEER | GUIDED HUNTING
A hiss, not a roar The Covid-19 lockdown has kept international hunters at home and meant a very lean season for their NZ guides, as Annabelle Latz reports.
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he stags were roaring, yet not a hunter was to be seen. Owing to Covid-19 lockdown rules there were no trophy hunters gathering from around New Zealand or abroad to enjoy the roar this year. Instead, hunting guides were left with empty appointment books, hunters stayed home, and stags remained untouched. John Royle of Canterbury Tahr Hunter Guide NZ has been guiding for more than 12 years and this was the first time ever he’s been ground to a halt during the roar, his most lucrative season with full appointment books. He has lost potentially three months’ business. “It’s the same with every hunting guide, and it’s going to be pretty limited basically until the borders open.” He hunts mainly on Crown land and his clients come predominantly from Norway, Spain, New Caledonia, Australia, and France (he used some of his spare time during lockdown to learn French). “All my clients have rebooked for next year, they all still want to come to New Zealand, which is great.” He says most of the guiding companies are like this. “This is a real positive for the industry.” Another positive for the industry is that antlers will have more points next season. “Yes it’s a bad thing for this year but a great thing for next year.” John is an arborist so counted himself lucky he did not rely solely on his guiding business for income, and has a few clients booked hunting
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Top: John Royle of Canterbury Tahr Hunter Guide says all his clients who couldn’t make it for the roar this year have re-booked for next year. Middle: John Royle (left) says not all guides can adjust their prices to attract more Kiwi hunters this year. Above: James Cagney is based at Lake Coleridge, and guides mainly international hunters.
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Top: John Royle says when his international clients come to hunt, they spend a lot of money in New Zealand. Above, left: At Mungunui Hunting lodge near Waitomo in the King Country, Mat Hall had to write off the 2020 season. Above, right: Mat Hall had no clients like this during lockdown, he kept himself busy with maintenance work and making antler chandeliers.
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tahr and chamois in spring. Although John will not be adjusting his prices this year he predicted that some high-end guides, but not all, will adjust their rates for the New Zealand market, especially those who almost solely operate in the American market. “The guides will respond to the market.” The flow-on business effects from the downturn in guided hunting were also harmful to the New Zealand economy. “When my clients come to hunt, they also spend a lot of money in New Zealand.” At Mungunui Hunting lodge, near Waitomo in the King Country, Mat Hall had to write off the 2020 season. Most guides had only just started their season with international clients when lockdown hit, and Mat says the 48 hours notice was very stressful in revising their schedules for the future. “Even during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis we didn’t have it as brutal as this.” He says many hunting businesses aimed at
international hunters will be under extreme financial pressure now. “The subsidy that was first given to tourist operators is a token acknowledgment of a cost to run a business that’s had nearly all its income wiped out for the year.” Mat makes antler chandeliers as an offshoot of his operation and has expanded his business to domestic hunts. He acknowledges it takes time to be known and set up for this, with most operators offering trophies such as big red stags, fallow bucks, and bull tahr that would not usually be booked by New Zealanders. He was busy checking boundaries, general maintenance, and working alongside police catching poachers in late April right up to the last day of alert level 4 of the lockdown. He is optimistic about the future for his business, which he established in 2001, but believes the lockdown on the world economy will possibly affect hunters booked for next season.
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Above: Showing the way: James Cagney of NZPHGA says the hunting industry needs the 2021 roar to happen.
“You have just got to make the most out of the situation and carry on the best you can.” New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association president James Cagney says having no roar this year and a drastically shortened hunting season has been a huge setback for the industry with no international visitors. “The value is in excess of $50 million annually. The losses for 2020, at a guess, will probably be around 80-90%.” “American hunters account for 81%, Australian hunters make up 5%. The international market makes up around 99% of our industry’s client base.” James is based at Lake Coleridge and hunts on private high country stations and Crown land, and guided three international hunts this season before lockdown. “We don’t have a peak summer season, our peak season is autumn, but we were dead from mid-March.” Adjusting prices to encourage domestic
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hunters for the rest of the year will be an option for only some of the guides such as the ones like James who provide free-range hunting, although even they have fixed costs like lease agreements they must meet. Although this will help, it will not replace the loss of business. The high-end hunting lodges that cater for wealthy American hunters will have a harder time bringing prices down, with high overheads they cannot offset such as trophy stags on properties and the upkeep of their properties. “The nature of the guided hunting business, particularly with the high end, is very front loaded with marketing at the US show circuit in the Northern Hemisphere winter, property leases, and buying stags. We will just have to hold tight until the borders open up. We need hunters coming across the border, and without them the majority of hunters can’t operate.” Stags will be in hard antler through the
rut, and heading into winter will need extra feed if they’re not to lose condition. Moving stags to other properties with more feed may be a consideration but poses its own difficulties such as TB testing, tracing through the NAIT system, and having secure laneways and farm facilities to enable transportation. “The big question now is what is their value. They can be used again next year but may not have the same value.” There is also a question mark around next season happening, although many clients have rebooked for 2021. “We are watching closely – that is going to be the real cruncher for us.” James says the most important factor to remember is that tour operators are rural people, farmers, and hunters so they are resilient. Now could be a great opportunity for New Zealand hunters to consider taking domestic guided hunts, which can be done through the New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association.
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DEER | RESEARCH
Parasitism in deer remains a critical issue in the industry because there are so many unknowns.
Test gains for Wapiti breeder BY: VICTORIA O’SULLIVAN
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outhland deer farmer and veterinarian Dave Lawrence of Tikana Wapiti was one of the first breeders to get on board with CARLA testing. A self-professed ‘parasite nerd’, he was excited about the potential impact of the testing from the start. He says parasitism in deer remains a critical issue in the industry because there are so many unknowns. “If there’s something in an animal that can attach to a parasite and prevent further development once it’s ingested, it’s got to be a good thing.” He started testing his fawns 10 years ago but says the introduction of an EBV for the test in 2016 was when they really gained traction. Initial testing in 2010 showed only 10% of their fawns were in the medium-high category for CARLA antibodies. This year
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their fawns tested at 75%. He says they have doubled the herd average for the test since 2016. “That’s why it’s so exciting. If you are using DEERselect and EBVs, it gives you the power to up the ante.” This year he’s stretched his drenching interval from four to six weeks. His liveweight results have been as good, if not better than previous years. “There’s been no negative impact, so that’s progress in the right direction.” Extending drench intervals also contributes to achieving refugia on pastures by keeping parasites susceptible to drenching alive on pastures and slowing the build-up of resistant parasites. “It’s a double whammy of not only reducing the amount of drench, but the less time you expose a worm to a drench the less chance of developing resistance.” Trait heritability is another positive for the industry. Buying terminal or maternal replacement sires high in the antigen
means progeny will instantly inherit this as part of their genetic makeup. “The latest [research] says not only is it a good idea to use a high CARLA sire, but you can test your own replacement hinds when they are 10 months old.” He says selecting replacements high in the antigen will increase the whole herd level on the hind side. At a commonly used 20% replacement rate this benefit will be achieved in a five-year period. He believes it’s a realistic option for all farmers to use as a tool. “It’s not only something for breeders to get into, it’s got some real scope for commercial farmers as well.” He says combining good grazing practices, sensible drenching, timing and tools like dung beetles could have a real impact on the future of parasite control. “I accept that we can’t stop drenching, but it’s inevitable that when we develop a high level of CARLA within our herds, we will be able to reduce our reliance on it. The process of collecting samples and sending them for analysis is a simple procedure. A cotton swab is put in the mouth of the animal for 5-10 seconds to get a good coating of saliva, then enclosed in a vial and sent for testing. “It takes a bit of time to do all the animals individually, but you only have to do it once and you’ve got a result that is potentially quite powerful,” he says.
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Powerful tool in parasite war
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t may be just a small saliva sample on a cotton roll, but the CARLA test is offering a powerful tool for deer farmers in the parasite management space. CARLA, which stands for carbohydrate larval antigen, is the first tool available to deer breeders which allows selection for favourable immune responses to gastrointestinal parasites and lungworm - two of the biggest disease challenges in yearling deer. AgResearch Farm Systems Scientist Jamie Ward presented his final research findings on the test at the 2020 Deer Industry New Zealand Conference in June. He noted that the testing offered a way to do things differently in the parasite control space, all while incorporating animal welfare benefits and increased production gains for farmers. He said the antigen is a positive trait with no downside and all upside. To have the science prove it and be confident was a good step for the industry. A breeding value for the test has been made available so breeders or farmers can use the information to make selections or buying decisions. Ward hopes that over time, active animal selection for higher CARLA estimated breeding values (EBVs) will provide opportunity to reduce the reliance on drench, particularly when used in conjunction with other management practices for parasite control. Shifting to herds of deer with higher genetic merit for the antigen will increase the resilience of deer farm systems by producing animals that are more resistant to parasite challenges. A reduction in drench reliance could have positive flow-on effects into the marketplace, where consumers indicated a preference for ‘low chemical input’ products. “It’s good to have this to demonstrate the industry is serious about addressing issues that could arise or already do arise in the marketplace.” Ward said animals that are more genetically resistant to parasites helped offer some peace of mind if mistakes were made with parasite management on-farm. “If someone forgets to drench for a week then you are not going to end up with a whole lot of weaners really sick with lungworm because someone made an error.” CARLA has a heritability of 0.45, meaning that good genetic progress can be made if selected for. No adverse effects on other estimated breeding values (EBVs) were observed and testing costs $10 per animal. Ward encourages breeders and farmers to consider including the test in their breeding objectives or breeding plans as it offers a way to genetically increase the parasite resistance of their animals. He said it was not a silver bullet to stop drenching tomorrow, but farmers can positively change their herd to reduce drenching requirements over time.
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Looking for improved genetics in your deer herd? Let a series of six podcasts called “Keen on Genes” take you through the story of deer genetics and how important deer genetics are to future productivity and profitability on your farm. • • • • •
Episode 1 – Genetics 101 Episode 2 – How BVs work and translate to value in dollars and cents Episode 3 – Terminal or maternal sire genetics? Episode 4 – Breeding objectives on the farm Episode 5 – What customers want
•
Episode 6 – Mythbusting.
Podcast audio: www.deernz.org/media/podcasts/keen-genes Podcast videos: www.deernz.org/media/video-gallery/ keen-genes-videos
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Henry (left) and Pascoe Reynolds have built a flexible farm system suited to their individual strengths.
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CROP & FORAGE | ONFARM
Two heads better than one Wairarapa brothers Pascoe and Henry Reynolds have brought a fresh perspective to running their generations-old family farm. Victoria O’Sullivan finds out what makes this energetic partnership tick. Photos Brad Hanson.
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he old saying goes that two heads are better than one, and for Carterton farmers Pascoe and Henry Reynolds, it holds true. As the fifth generation on their 380 hectare dryland farm, Henry (30) runs the arable operation while Pascoe (41) trades stock. Trading as Mayfield Brothers Partnership, they lease the farm from their parents Jim and Lois. They’ve worked hard over the past five years to introduce synergies into the operation with positive benefits for both the arable and trading operations, from refining the stock types to engineering the perfect cover cropping mix. After a career in the building industry Pascoe returned to the farm from Wellington eight years ago with his family. He and wife Anna have two sons, Hugh (8) and Guy (6). Henry studied agriculture at Lincoln University before working for an arable farmer in South Canterbury. He and wife Katie came back five years ago, and have two sons, Felix (5) and Silas (1). Prior to Henry’s return the farm was finishing 6000 lambs, running a small breeding operation and cropping up to 140ha. But Pascoe found the wet July lambing miserable and the high incidence of bearings in the ewes disheartening. Despite trying new ideas to reduce the bearings and improve the health of the ewes, his heart wasn’t in it. Then Henry arrived home brimming with ideas, and it was the catalyst for change. “All of a sudden it made all the big things easier,” Pascoe says.
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Building on his arable experience Henry floated cropping the entire 380ha. This gave Pascoe a framework to build the lamb trading around. “Cropping took away all the grey area,” Pascoe says. “All of a sudden for the turnips I knew I had six tonnes/ha on the ground instead of ‘I hope I’ve got plantain of 3t/ha come February’.” They have a style of open, forthright dialogue that allows for idea sharing. Henry describes Pascoe as the “enthusiastic ideas man” but Pascoe says Henry’s the one who turns ideas into action. In fact, they could each be described as the yin to each other’s yang. “I’d probably turn over all the stones before I leave a conversation but to take it to the next level you need Henry. That’s why we work well together.” And there is no shortage of ideas when it comes to the business. “My brother is very similar to my mother, there is a lot of enthusiasm,” Henry says of Pascoe. “It’s hard to get away from . . . you’ve just got to run with it!” When Covid-19 emerged at the start of the year they both had reservations about their level of exposure. They mulled over solutions for their respective areas. With the lamb kill capacity hampered, Pascoe secured 1100 grazing hoggets that offered an income equivalent to lambs while Henry offloaded 450t of barley. “We talk, go off and do our own thing then come back and double check with each other,” Pascoe says. “It’s a better
approach to business with two heads in the game.” The arable operation takes priority as it’s necessary for the summer income. Income normally splits about 65:35 in favour of arable. In the past this gap has narrowed to 55:45. That season, Pascoe netted just under $600,000 for 10,500 lambs at an average of $57 per head. That included buying in a few ewes, fattening them for a week and sending them off. “That’s why I say I’m a trader, not a finisher. If I see a good margin, I’ll buy stock and just keep flicking it on.” There’s always an element of healthy competition involved, Pascoe says. “We are both alpha males but I try to hold back pushing my end too far because it could be to the detriment of the arable side.” That doesn’t stop them chasing each other for land in their respective busy seasons. During the summer Pascoe will offer scenarios up if he thinks he can make more money with stock, or vice-versa for Henry’s cropping programme in winter. “It’s good to knock heads a bit and come up with the best situation for the farm.” Henry says that getting the CARTERTON books done and wages paid by a third party is an important part of keeping things healthy. “We don’t ever want the situation where it’s like ‘he made a mistake’ or ‘why is he taking more drawings than me?’. . . It doesn’t work well. Having someone else do the books takes that chance away.”
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The farm looks out to the Tararua Ranges.
Maintaining the diversity Each season all 380ha of the farm are covered by the tractor and cross-slot drill, which they have just updated to a 6m drill and quad track for the coming season. Last year, 550ha effective was cropped in the form of greenfeed, cover crop or cereals. In the autumn the whole farm gets replanted. One third is sown in cereals (malting barley and oats) along with ryegrass and red clover crops, which are to be grazed through winter and harvested for seed. Spring plantings include malting and feed barley, milling wheat, mustard,
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buckwheat and sunflowers along with rape and turnips for forage. Malting barley for beer production has been grown for 15 years and is a rotation staple. The variety they grow is Chill, which is sent to the Malteurop facility in Marton for processing. Buckwheat and sunflowers are two of their niche crops. “Everyone sparks up when you mention those but we make no money from them!” Henry says with a laugh. Henry’s son Felix was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance so they began
buying buckwheat porridge for him from the United States. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat nor is it a grass. It’s more closely related to sorrel or rhubarb. They started with 1.6ha of buckwheat as a trial and now grow 7ha, which they market themselves. They took it to a local pizza maker who milled it and used it in pizza bases. “People like it because it’s an ancient grain,” says Henry. Bringing in a stonemill is something Henry may follow up in future. “We are definitely quite passionate about seeing
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Above: The brothers can go from running stock to cropping land quickly and efficiently.
things through – there’s a satisfaction in growing something and seeing the end product.” Peas have been a contentious crop in the Wairarapa on account of the pea weevil. The Reynolds have traditionally grown 3050ha, and with yields up to 4.5t/ha their arable margin took a hit with the ban. Now that the weevil is eradicated Henry’s looking forward to getting peas back in. “It’s an awesome crop, you get a good return and the pea straw is fantastic.” During the ban Henry became part of an alternative crop strategy group that looked at crops to fill the void left by peas. They trialled durum wheat and sunflowers,
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keeping the latter in rotation as they’ve found a market for their hybrid oil variety in rabbit food. About 100ha of the crops they grow are certified, including oats, red clover, ryegrass and rapeseed. Henry gets a buzz out of knowing the seed he’s produced is being grown by other farmers. It was when drilling a paddock of rapeseed for a neighbour that he realised the seed was some he had produced in 2018. “There’s a real pride that goes along with what you do,” Henry says. “It’s great when you can share that pride and others recognise the heart that went into it.”
KEY POINTS: • 380ha cereal, seed, forage and sheep trading • All of it is drilled each season • Last year 550ha effective cropped • Fatten up to 10,000 lambs/ year on contract • Versatility to finish at 18kg or 25kg. • Residue breakdown humming
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Top left: Henry and son Felix. Top right: Cover crop grazing has resulted in impressive lamb growth rates. Above: The farm is cropped in greenfeed, cover crop and cereals.
The golden breakdown ratio Managing crop residues and cover cropping is an area of continuous improvement for the brothers. Five years ago they found their oat stubble wasn’t breaking down as expected despite being chopped up. This made crop establishment difficult. They tried burning but Henry says it just didn’t fit with their ethos. “You are forever learning about the damage you are potentially doing,” he says. “We got a lot more weeds at establishment and I was thinking to myself… this isn’t good, what do we need to change?” Pascoe attended a cross-slot conference
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where he was introduced to the carbonnitrogen (C:N) ratio. To get their residue breakdown humming, the C:N ratio needed to be 25:1. Combine the high ratio cereal stubble (80:1) with clovers, herbs and legumes (anywhere from 8:1 to 15:1) and it’s the balanced diet the soil microbes need to work their magic. To find their holy grail seed mix they went back to basics. On the stock side, Pascoe needed better winter growth and a higher sward to prevent a worm burden. They were also keen to increase beneficial insect numbers, manage herbicide
resistance and build nitrogen in the soil for the crops that followed. “We didn’t just put 30 species into the ground to see what works best,” Pascoe says. “We started off somewhat educated in what we were doing by focusing on the goals we wanted to achieve at the other end.” Italian ryegrass provided the quality bulk, rapeseed brought early bulk and diversity, annual clovers fixed N and improved soil structure, phacelia attracted beneficial insects while plantain has long been a favourite for the brothers as they
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like the fibrous root system and find their barley yields improve when they follow it in rotation. Summer forage crops include rape and turnips planted with crimson and balansa clovers, plantain, phacelia and sheep’s burnet. They’ve also experimented with biannual forage legume sulla, which has high levels of condensed tannins for animal health benefits. Once the turnips are grazed, a good rain sees the herbs and clover come away again. “We find it improves animal health but also gives the stock a choice.” Following their cover cropping regime faecal egg numbers have decreased and growth rates have improved. They weighed stock every 30 days and at one point recorded 450gm/day in the winter. “It was mind boggling,” Henry says. They continue to tweak their mixes and next season will aim to add an extra tonne of dry matter to their first graze in the autumn. Since introducing cover cropping they’ve been able to direct drill a red clover certified seed line into a fully chopped oat paddock. “That’s how far things have come – we are now establishing certified seed in those conditions and feeling confident doing it,” Henry says. “You couldn’t do that four years ago.” Maintaining the quality of the heavy clay soils has taken years of work. Not only is there substantial drainage throughout the farm, direct drilling has been used for close to 25 years. All cereal residue is chopped, which directly feeds back into the soil, while the impact of continued direct drilling has been incredible for the soil structure. “You dig a hole anywhere and you’ll find bucketloads of worms. It’s unbelievable,” he says. Another benefit of direct drilling is the ability to go from grazing stock to a crop in a few days. “It keeps the system flexible.”. Soil testing is carried out every second year across the farm if ground conditions are favourable. Lime is applied to keep the pH at 6, while phosphate and potassium are drilled with the crops. Olsen P is kept at mid to high 20s, and incorporating the straw residue back into the soil is beneficial for the potassium levels. Heavier stock and high stocking rates can jeopardise the soil structure, so they’ve adopted a no-cattle policy. “I like cattle, they hit spring and they get a new coat and the blossom out into these big bulls with these big necks on them and they look grouse, but it’s just not the right soil,” Pascoe says.
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Above: After 25 years of direct drilling, Henry says the heavy soils have become more forgiving.
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Keeping opportunities open
Top: Henry loves the challenge of growing different crops. Above: Come harvest time it’s all hands on deck.
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Pascoe fattens up to 10,000 lambs a year on contract for AFFCO. He looks for a true Romney as it gives him versatility to finish it at 18kg or take through to 25kg. “You’ve got scale and the bigger frame helps with how much they put on per day.” He sources lambs from the saleyard and through a local agent. Ultimately, his goal is to present the best article he can to the processor, trading his way there if necessary. He’s careful to avoid the overfat lamb the abattoirs don’t want. “I would rather have a nice lamb I can present and argue price with them.” When they began trading, they drenched every 28 days. Henry hated drenching and always used to question it. This got Pascoe thinking about whether it was necessary. They’ve since moved to Zolvix as a quarantine drench. “Why bring them in to jam a drench gun down their throats if they don’t need it? It stresses the animal and you’ve potentially lost 220gms a day at $3/kgLW. It doesn’t make financial sense.” The winter lambs are gone by October and the cropping season begins. By November, the only animals onfarm are working dogs and two rams in case they want to bring ewes into the system. Pascoe uses the turnip yield to gauge his stocking rate, then brings lambs back onto the farm in January. This frees him up to help Henry harvest and gives the pastures a break from stock, which he says is a key part of their worm strategy. Lambs graze the turnips and rape then are killed by early April to avoid autumn thrift and to further minimise the worm burden. Lambs are back on-farm in May and graze through the winter on the rocket fuel cover crops, ryegrass and red clover seedlines. Pascoe says the growth rates have been hard to believe at times, and it’s not unusual to have them gaining 250g/day regardless of the weather. “It’s high-performing stuff, the animals are clean, they don’t have that worm burden and they just absolutely smoke all the way through the winter.” He works on lighter stocking rates as he feels this brings out the best in the animals. “It’s the old school saying - the only thing that stops a sheep gaining weight is another sheep,” he says. “To put on weight, you need to be comfortable in your own paddock and just eat.” He says he trialled some lambs on the cover crop at 10su/ ha, something he got a fair bit of stick for from his mates. They challenged him that he’d never make money at that rate, but he begs to differ. “If you’ve got lambs stocked at 20su/ha doing 110 grams per day and I’ve got them at 10su/ha and they are punching [at] 350400gms a day. . . I’m doing better and I’m leaving my soil in a better state because I’m not compacting it with a lot of feet.”
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Top: From left: Silas (1), Katie, Felix (5) and Henry Reynolds with Pascoe, Hugh (8), Guy (6) and Anna Reynolds. Above, left: Pascoe says lower stocking rates allow animals to reach their potential. Above, right: Working dogs and rams are the only animals on farm in early summer.
INCOME RATIO About 65:35 in favour of arable. In the past this gap has narrowed to 55:45. That season, Pascoe netted just under $600,000 for 10,500 lambs at an average of $57/head.
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The path to succession Both credit their father Jim’s ability to let go of the farm and encourage them to forge their own path as instrumental in running their operation. “He gave us the opportunity to make mistakes - but on the back of that he’d ask questions, so we didn’t make them,” says Pascoe. Jim’s experience has proved invaluable many times over when it comes to decision-making. “If you have a thought, he will listen to it and say, ‘mate you forgot about this’,” Pascoe says. “It’s always the hidden stuff that you don’t think of.” He says that while the farm is not amazing in terms of soil, the hard work their father put in has meant they could come in and concentrate on their vision for their respective areas. “Dad never took his finger off the pulse.
Every fence is straight, every gate swings and everything was tidy going in,” Pascoe says. While they get contractors in to do their spraying, they do all the fertiliser spreading themselves. They are careful to ensure that when they get professionals in, they can concentrate on the high-value work to be done. All the ‘boy’s jobs’ are taken care of by Pascoe and Henry. On account of their solid relationship, expansion for the brothers is a possibility. In the meantime, they’ll keep challenging, innovating and remain open minded. “It’s been an incredible ride over the past five years,” Henry says. “Whatever we do from here will be both of us together,” Pascoe says. “It’s a good mix and it rolls well.”
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ENVIRONMENT | WINTERING
Southland farmers get a bad rap There’s more to wintering stock in Southland than meets the eye, says a farmer who views “bagging” of Southland farmers as inaccurate and unfair. Jo Cuttance relays her message.
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hen it comes to winter grazing practices – if farmers can’t see past the headlines and the photos, how can we expect townies to? This question was posed by Southland farmer Bernadette Hunt. Bernadette, who farms a 650-hectare mixed operation just north of Gore, Southland, also responded to negative comments made by farmers in other parts of New Zealand about Southland winter farming practices, which she had seen in social media or news article comments. “We’re really proud of what we do, (and we) try to do it right…It cuts really deep to hear and read comments from farmers in other parts of the country bagging farmers in Southland,” she said. Like all farmers, the primary focus was to take good care of their stock and their land, she said.
Winter crop grazing was an essential part of farming in parts of this country, and Bernadette wanted the perception problem addressed.
THE PROBLEM WITH WINTER GRAZING PHOTOS The photos below show the same paddock and same mob of cattle but taken 10 minutes apart by Bernadette. One of the photos made the paddock look “pretty average”: in the other, the paddock looked fine. She said when photos are published, the photographer worked the angles to tell the story they wanted to portray. “The cattle help out by being naturally nosey, especially because people usually feed them. So, if you stand by a puddle or a muddy corner, the cows will come to you and pose while you take a photo!” she said. This was how Southland farmers ended up with images that looked terrible.
Alistair and Bernadette Hunt farm a 650ha mixed operation near Gore.
WINTER GRAZING IN SOUTHLAND Southland winters produced virtually no grass growth. What did grow was poor quality because of frosts, freezing temperatures and few sunshine hours. Winter grass did not maintain stock condition. Outside of northern Southland and river flats the ground gets waterlogged, resulting in heavy stock turning any paddock into mud in a day or two. Brassicas and beet retained condition in poor weather. Farmers utilised the growing season to grow crops that held their condition throughout winter and could provide large amounts of feed on a small area, limiting the extent of damage in poor weather. The method of feeding a crop began at the start of winter. The crop was measured to assess how many kilos there were in total. Samples were taken and dried and a calculation made to determine how much
Above: Two photos taken 10 minutes apart - the same paddock and the same mob,
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dry matter there was. This ensured farmers knew the amount of dry matter they were feeding in one day. With stock on crop, the animals were given a measured area of forage in a controlled manner along with supplementary feed to balance the diet.
GOOD WINTERING PRACTICE Good wintering balances: • animal health • environmental impact • regulatory compliance • topsoil protection • overall farming system • cost for owner and grazier. Poor wintering comes at a cost: • to the environment • to stock • to the farmer.
THE SUN DOES NOT ALWAYS SHINE The photos on the right show a lovely winter day in Southland. Twenty-four hours later the same paddocks, same stock, but after the rain. Bernadette said it does not take much to create puddles but when the sun returns they dry up pretty quickly in many situations. “But it certainly doesn’t look pretty,” she said. Bernadette asked, “Are we suddenly maltreating stock though?” The stock are still fed really well, they had full bellies, and when no people stood nearby to attract them to the puddles they (the stock) went off to the drier parts of the paddock to sit and chew their cud if they wanted to. “Sure, it isn’t pleasant, but they’re absolutely not being maltreated,” Bernadette said. If a paddock is set up well, sheltered, with plenty of available feed which stands up out of the snow, stock are often best staying in that paddock.
BERNADETTE’S FARMING OPERATION Try to do it right and look for ways to improve – this is the basis for Bernadette and husband Alistair’s farming operation. Bernadette and Alistair have a 650ha farm near Gore in Southland. They moved to the area 13 years ago, have high debt and are unable to spend the money for everything they would like to do. The couple took over the farm in April
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Top photos shows a lovely winter day in Southland. Twenty-four hours later (above) the same paddocks, same stock, but after the rain.
with winter crops already established. At that time their understanding of winter grazing was to ensure animals were fully fed and maintained condition. They fed the stock every day, got them through the winter and were happy to have got the job done. Later, new freshwater legislation started to gain prominence and the focus of conversation became the environment. Bernadette said everyone was now aware of the risks of winter grazing and what can and should be done to mitigate those risks. Always, though, the first focus of wintering grazing was to care for the animals. Now in the foreground of the conversation was sentience, Bernadette said. “Farmers were shocked to be accused of not looking after their animals”. Bernadette said obviously there were some days that were less than ideal and they could not stop animals getting wet.
But what they could do was ensure their stock were well equipped to withstand the poor days.
PADDOCK SELECTION Winter grazing for the Hunts began with paddock selection with winter crops being part of a bigger farming system. Crops formed part of a rotation to enable renewal of grass while managing pests. Thirteen years ago, paddock selection was almost entirely based on which paddock needed regrassing next. Now selection was more considered. With no flat paddocks they could not avoid slope, but paddocks where the risks associated with slope could not be well managed in the winter were no longer considered for winter crops. Winter paddock management is considered before paddocks are sprayed.
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If a paddock is set up well, sheltered, with plenty of feed which stands up out of the snow, stock are often best staying in that paddock.
NITRATE CHALLENGE The Hunts select paddocks on slopes or heavier soils following the science of physiographics, which indicates the risk to water quality from a specific area of land. The Hunt’s farm is on one of the physiographic types most suited to winter grazing, with lignite below the surface. This means nitrates are far less likely to leach to waterways. A block the Hunts lease might look more suitable for winter grazing because it was flat, stony below the surface with little mud, and looked more pleasant to passersby. But the Hunts know there would be a significant nitrate challenge from wintering on that land so it was not a good option. The risk to water on their rolling farm was sediment loss, which could be effectively mitigated.
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Prior to spraying, the Hunts decide where to leave rank grass to capture sediment runoff. They use different methods depending on the paddock. In one paddock they had fenced off a 5m uncultivated strip. In another they felt grazing would be hard to manage with a fenced off area so they ensured the next paddock was left ungrazed with rank grass for the outflowing water to move through before exiting the property. Location of water, shelter, direction of weather, matching of stock class to paddock, and cultivation method and direction were all things that were manipulated to mitigate sediment loss from crop paddocks. Bernadette said farmers needed to be allowed to make the right decisions for both animal welfare and the environment in their own farming situations. The MPI and the regional council, along with some other groups, had the luxury of focusing on one or the other, resulting in their often oversimplifying the solutions. The discussion about a “dry” laying area was a concern. In some paddocks their stock liked to move a long way back from their food to choose a favourite spot to lie down. If they were back fenced they could not do that. In other paddocks stock had no desire to move back, so back fencing made sense. Adverse winter weather events were expected and planned for.
“Our usual practice was to plan well so that they would be well looked after on that (crop) paddock in bad weather,” Bernadette said. Increasingly, they fed without taking the tractor out of the shed to cause more damage. If you had set the paddock up well with plenty of available feed – feed which stood up out of the snow, unlike grass – had the ability to increase feed, had chosen a location that allowed stock to cope with the weather, and had mitigated sediment loss, why would you move them off in a bad weather event? “In all honesty, only because it might make those who don’t understand feel better!” she said. In most cases it was not better for the stock or the environment to shift them. It was not easy to move stock away from their feed. There would be extra soil damage, mud in the gateways, lameness problems, the impact on the next paddock – the list goes on, she said. The Hunts have a small wintering shed and love it. Bernadette said it was a great way to winter stock, and Alister would love to double its size but wintering sheds were not the panacea for winter cropping problems and, if not managed well, the outcomes in sheds can be terrible. There were also some market contracts that did not allow their use because of New Zealand’s “grass-fed” story.
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ENVIRONMENT | FRESHWATER
Proposals may cripple farm business BY: SANDRA TAYLOR
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farm development dream in one of the more beautiful spots in New Zealand has turned sour thanks to this Government’s environmental policies. The couple, who have asked not to be named, are experienced farmers who bought one of their region’s most undeveloped farms with an eye to realising its productive potential while protecting and enhancing the extensive bush, waterways and wetlands that made the property so appealing. “If we had known Minister Parker was going to sideswipe us with draconian environmental regulations we would never have bought the farm.” They point out that most established farmers have been carrying out environmental protection and enhancement work for years. However, their farm has had absolutely no work done and they were starting from a zero base in terms of fences, fertiliser and basic infrastructure let alone environmental work. While this work was a significant part of their long-term plan (one half of the farming partnership has a background in conservation) they cannot short-cut
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this work without crippling themselves financially. Within their farm they have 15km of river boundary that would require fencing under the proposed Essential Freshwater legislation, along with 12 registered wetlands, the largest of which is eight hectares. Their terrain means the fencing is not an easy job - if not impossible in areas of bedrock - and while they are investing heavily in farm fences, including fencing off about half the river, they have been able to do this only by sourcing secondhand materials. “We are the greenest farmers I know but what Minister Parker is asking for cannot be done here. I cannot see any flexibility for places like ours.” To comply with the proposed regulations within the given timeframe they would need to hire a fencing contractor at a cost of around $1.1 million. This is money they simply do not have and are unlikely to have floating around in the near future. “To meet his deadline, we would have to get a contractor, but the way drystock farming is going at the moment it is just not affordable.” The proposed Indigenous Biodiversity policy is another concern for the couple because in applying for the loan to buy the farm they factored in extra income
generated from the development of two scrubby blocks, one of 20ha and one of 12ha. Under this policy, they may not be able to carry out this development. “Is the bank going to come along and say this farm is no longer viable?” They also have a multitude of bush blocks on their property, which could be labelled as significant natural areas at some stage. “We are fearful that our potential grazing area could be cut in half.” While they decided to try and work alongside their regional council and have their wetland boundaries ground-truthed, the experience did not go well and found they were facing more hurdles. “We were hoping they would work in with us – no wonder farmers get frustrated.” The couple is fearful that the legislation will put the onus on regional councils and watchdog groups to police environmental regulations. “Who is going to watch the watchers in all of this?” What they would like to see is Government policy that encourages and supports environmental protection undertaken within the context of the farm business. They stress that all farmers should be doing their bit, but people in their situation should be given some flexibility given they are starting from a zero base. “All we can do is keep fencing monthby-month so we can prove, every year, that we are steadily progressing.” They say it would bankrupt them to meet the proposed deadlines. “The government needs to be realistic, and farmers need to be realistic too and open the way for conversations.” They would like to see allowances for individual case-by-case situations. They feel the proposed regulations are so draconian and so strongly legislative that they have taken the human factor out of the law. “We need to have the human put back and have compassion for situations like ours that are difficult.” The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 will be released shortly and will come into effect later this year. More than 2000 farmers submitted on the proposed policy.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
DROUGHT SUPPORT When Covid-19 killed her tourism job, teenager Poppy Renton went home to the family farm in Maraekakaho. Realising that Hawke’s Bay farmers were struggling in the drought she set up a Facebook page that soon had thousands of members. Story and photos by Rebecca Harper.
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P
oppy Renton had a few goals when she started the Hawke’s Bay Drought Facebook page, begrudgingly, at the request of her mum Kate. Her initial aim was 250 members, thinking she would be amazed if she got 500, and over the moon if she could save a life. She wanted to go nationwide and get the country to come together to help each other out. All of these things she can put a tick beside. The final goal, getting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to acknowledge the hard work that has gone on in Hawke’s Bay, is still on the list. Initially, Poppy wasn’t even convinced that farmers would use the page – little did she know. The Hawke’s Bay Drought page now has 5500 members. She has been told that her actions have saved lives. She still struggles to find the words to explain how something with that much gravity makes her feel. Poppy, 19, finished school last year and, eager to be out in the world and earning money, scored a job as a lodge assistant at Alpine Hunting Lodge, near Taihape. “We have wild deer here on the farm and I’ve always loved hunting. Because we were in such an isolated bubble up there we had no idea how bad it (Covid-19) would be. I came home and realised how serious it was and that I’d need a new job by the end of it.” Clients at the lodge are mostly American, and most believe it will be at least 18 months before tourists from America can come back. “Covid killed it overnight, basically. I don’t think they will have a season next year either.” When she arrived home to the family farm – she’s the sixth generation of her family on the land in this area – she entered lockdown with her parents and sister. “I saw Mum and Dad struggling with the drought. In lockdown the stress levels were high having three redheads in the family – it doesn’t really mix well. Your poor mum, is what everyone says.” Kate suggested they should start a Facebook page for farmers, a place to
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Left: Teenager Poppy Renton started a Facebook page, Hawke’s Bay Drought, to help support farmers. Right: Poppy Renton feeds out to her weaners and pony on her family’s Maraekakaho farm.
share their concerns, ask for advice and lighten the load. Poppy was initially dismissive. “I said don’t be stupid, farmers don’t use Facebook. She got a bit sassy with me and then went to feed the ewes. When she came back I said ‘fine, I’ve done it for you, I’ve set the page up, but no one will follow’.” While heading out to shift some in-calf cows that afternoon her phone started going crazy – 200 people had already joined the page. She hoped the page would be a safe platform for farmers to share advice and ask questions about getting through the drought, just like they would be able to do in person or at the pub in a non-lockdown situation. “For example, we were feeding out palm kernel here for the first time and Dad wanted to know things like the transition time for stock, how much to feed out, what to feed out with it. The page was a place to share ideas and help each other.” As well as those actually in Hawke’s Bay living and breathing the drought, it turned out to be a useful way for family members and farmers in other areas to show their support and stay informed about the situation. “Dad’s twin sisters are in Auckland and they got on the page because they were interested. They kept asking if it had rained, but didn’t want to ask the wrong question at such a stressful time.” The page became a way for people to connect, offloading excess stock and sourcing feed, and feedback Poppy has received means she knows it helped some people get through. A stock agent came on board to help with offloading stock, and the Rural Support Trust played a huge role in co-ordinating feed supplied or donated and matching it with the demand. Most recently, South Island farmers are sending 1000 bales to Hawke’s Bay and KiwiRail has donated the transport of the feed.
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The page became a way for people to connect, offloading excess stock and sourcing feed, and feedback Poppy has received means she knows it helped some people get through. At the moment the lounge room at the Renton family home is littered with boxes of branded Hawke’s Bay Drought crew necks and rugby jerseys. Poppy is taking orders and distributing the clothes, with proceeds going to the Rural Support Trust. Her aim was 100 orders and she currently has 115, with $5750 raised for the Trust. The Hawke’s Bay Drought page has become a full-time job for Poppy, but she needs a real job – one that actually pays. “I’ve had four job offers but they’re all shepherding roles. I want to do something in agriculture, but more in an office, like a sales or rep job. “Farming is my passion, it’s in our blood. I love animals and I’m also a big people person. I’d love to be able to care for animals but also be around people in an office situation. That would be the best of both worlds. I would love to marry a farmer and carry on farming this land in our family, but I don’t want to be a farmer.”
With plenty of media attention, Poppy finds the response a little overwhelming. “It’s a bit of a blur and very overwhelming. Everyone keeps saying to Mum and Dad ‘you must be so proud’. But all I did was set up a Facebook page. It was the farmers who came together to support each other.” One thing Poppy has realised is that the rural community is like a big family and, when the chips are down, they all pull together to support one another. “This has brought people together and given people hope and support. I can’t find the right words when people ask how it feels when you find out you have saved lives. It’s like when your tractor is stuck in the mud, you ask a mate to pull you out. When you are depressed and stuck in the mud, you can ask a mate to pull you out. “It does give you a warm fuzzy feeling, like you have done something right. When you get overloaded by it all, you realise you are making a difference.”
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ACHIEVING
ZANDA GOAL
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BY: ANNE HARDIE
ack Raharuhi has had a meteoric rise through the dairy industry since he started out as a wayward school kid and today he’s back in schools, changing the public perception of dairying. The 28 year old won the 2020 Zanda McDonald Award in March which recognises young Kiwis and Australians making a difference in agriculture. His win follows previous awards including the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer of the Year Award in 2016 and then the Dairy Manager of the Year for the West Coast-Top of the South in 2017. Starting out as a troublesome 15 year old that his father dragged out of school for a job on a dairy farm, Jack has risen to dairy operations manager of Pamu Farms near Westport. Here he oversees three dairy farms milking a total of 3,500 cows plus its machinery business which together employ 21 full-time staff. He also has a leadership role in health, safety and wellbeing, plus training and development, for Pamu’s 10 dairy farms on the coast. One of his goals is to attract locals and to do that he heads back to school, coordinating the Gateway Programme through Buller High School to provide work experience for students, plus talking to sustainability classes and getting them on the farms to provide a more balanced view of what is being done at farm level. He says it is the responsibility of the farming industry to get out there and change public perception by showcasing what is being done on farms, as well as encouraging career
Jack Raharuhi with some of his team, Matt Cunneen (left) and Brodie Powell (right).
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pathways into the agriculture sector. Collaboration between all agriculture sectors to engage with schools could have more success across New Zealand, he says. In the past couple of years there has been six Gateway students working on Pamu’s West Coast farms and three of those have stayed in the industry, while all bar three of the Buller farm’s 21 staff are locals. Jack’s predicting the emphasis on employing local staff will lead to better staff retention, though it is still early days to judge the success of the policy. “I think it’s important we continue this journey because people from outside the West Coast find it hard to adapt to the community and isolation of the area and some do struggle to farm here.” As well as encouraging locals into dairying, he is working at providing more support for the apprentices and 2ICs on the farm by running discussion groups to prepare them for the next step up the ladder. For the past two years he has been running the 2IC discussion groups from Pamu’s 10 West Coast dairy farms, giving them the skills to become farm managers. The discussion groups rotate monthly around the 10 farms where they can analyse each farm on its targets, issues and general performance. “What I’ve seen is the 2IC skill set across the country has deteriorated over the years and my passion is to improve that,” he says. “Our farm managers are taking on a lot now in terms of responsibility on farm. The more they take on, the less time they have to spend with their staff. As a country, we’re losing that valuable time they spend with their staff.” He’s a big fan for entering awards and encourages staff to get involved to clarify their goals, benchmark themselves against others in the industry and be inspired by others with similar goals. “You meet so many like-minded people and being around a group of people who want the same thing drives more success. You get a true gauge of whether your goal setting is true and when you are around those people you lift your game.”
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WINNER
GOES SOUTH BY: CHEYENNE NICHOLSON
Liam Quirk winning the 2019 Allflex intermediate ambassador title.
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ovid-19 may have cancelled this year’s Hoof and Hook competition but last year’s winner is still eager for more in 2021. Rathkeale College, Masterton student Liam Quirk won the 2019 Allflex intermediate ambassador title. Liam, who grew up in the Wairarapa, headed down to the South Island to experience the industry as part of his ambassadorship. He spent four days at Timperlea Angus in Oxford and had the opportunity to visit Hakatere Station and found it spectacular. The 40,000ha farm had a mix of everything from flats to retired hills. He also went to a Hereford stud nearby and helped break in some heifers. Liam also visited the Xcell Breeding Centre where he saw how semen straws are manufactured right from selecting worthy bulls to putting the straws in liquid nitrogen. Liam’s parents have worked in various management roles on farms but his interest in agriculture really started at College when he took up agriculture as a school subject. With encouragement from his agriculture teacher, Coadette Low, he decided to enter the Hoof and Hook competition. Last year was his first time competing. He was helped and encouraged by Peter and Sue McWilliam alongside Richie and Lauren Cameron. “Peter and I started breaking steers in late February, which was interesting as I’d never seen anything like it but it was also a really rewarding process.” Last year Liam was part of the successful Rathkeale College team that took out the Generation Angus NZ Education team award. Historically, many participants have come from stud farms but now the event is seeing a surge in involvement of secondary school students with an interest in the rural sector. The event now has a schools participation programme that allows youth to participate in the modules and get a taste of what the competition is all
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about without having to lead and present a steer. “The most challenging part was getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new.” Liam said this was followed by the most rewarding part - when the cattle were ready to go. “Before the leading we were all nervous about what would happen and whether the steer would get stage fright and either go wild or not do anything.” Liam said the atmosphere was calmed down by having peers there. Winning the Intermediate Ambassador title was a bit unexpected, he says. Being his first time in the show ring he was out to have a good time, soak up the atmosphere of the event and put his newly learnt stockmanship skills to the test. “The best part of the weekend was leading the cattle as that was what we’d been working towards. This year we’ve got a good group of experienced and first timers for the competition, who are all keen to compete and take part in the interviews for this year’s ambassador opportunity.”
FOSTERING TALENT The Hook and Hoof competition is run by Future Beef New Zealand (FBNZ) which is a not-for-profit organisation first launched in 2006. It has been created to inspire and encourage youth from all walks of life to discover and learn about the opportunities within the NZ beef industry. Its goal is to foster the talent and celebrate the success of the industry’s future farmers, leaders, and agri-professionals. Competition is aimed at 8-24 year olds. Organised by FBNZ’s volunteer committee, the competition is focused on educating, developing skills, and passing on knowledge to the competitors. The weekend-long event has competitors involved in paraders classes, stock judging, team building activities, and a wide variety of hands-on educational modules.
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COMMUNITY | CELEBRITY CHEF
Farmhouse Covid-19 cooking show a hit Celebrity chef and cookbook author Nadia Lim has traded city life for the Central Otago countryside. She talks to Sally Rae about her new life and latest projects.
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hen Nadia Lim was 12, her dream was to marry celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and have a television programme with him called Food in the Nude. Snaring the UK’s Naked Chef might not have quite worked out – husband Carlos Bagrie quips she “got an upgrade” – but she secured her own celebrity chef status. And that was further cemented during Covid-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown when the 34-year-old endeared herself to the nation creating pantry staple recipes from the kitchen of her farmhouse, near Arrowtown, for televised cooking show Nadia’s Comfort Kitchen. It was as real as you could get; the
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Nadia endeared herself to the nation during lockdown with her cooking show.
show was filmed by Bagrie mostly on his cellphone, with a camera used only for the “hero shots” of food. “There was nobody else; no set, no make-up artist or director. Hence there were quite a few bad hair days on the show,” Lim said, laughing. Bagrie – who has made the shift from marketing to man of the land – was still harvesting barley, so from driving the combine harvester it was a “mad rush” into the kitchen to film and then back out to the paddock. Then there was the added complication of having two young children under foot – sons Bodhi (4) who demonstrated exceptional egg-cracking prowess – and River (1½). Lim reckons there was “a lot of
screaming and fighting and bashing each other” edited from the footage, yet the reality of lockdown family life – replicated in homes throughout the country – appealed to audiences. “People seemed to love the fact it was just real. It was just us.” She was “blown away” by the response, particularly the countless messages from people who were not used to cooking discovering “a love and joy” for it. “Getting the whole nation to cook was a real silver lining for lockdown,” she said.
PROFITS TO CHARITY Keen for that cooking to continue she saw it as an opportunity to raise money for Covid-19-affected charities, compiling the recipes from the show into a cookbook,
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Comfort Kitchen Cookbook, with all profits going to Women’s Refuge and Youthline. Pre-orders were very strong with more than $100,000 profit raised within the first 24 hours of launching. Final figures put the fundraising effort over $400,000. As Bagrie reshot a photograph for the book earlier this month – in between crutching lambs – builders worked on the couple’s house, and a cameraman set up to film a commercial in her kitchen, the down-to-earth and incredibly likeable Lim apologised saying it was not always like that. But, as she says, the couple’s years “seem to be packed full of lots of different random things”. Lim first rocketed into the public eye when she won the second series of MasterChef New Zealand in 2011. It was a “pretty terrifying” experience for the selfdescribed introvert, and her lip initially would quiver when a camera focused on her. But her dream, since she was 12, had always been to write her own cookbook and teach people how to cook delicious, nutritious food and so she applied for MasterChef because one of the prizes was a published cookbook. She had written her own as a child with some “pretty horrendous” recipes in it, including the first entry of a chilli and lavender milkshake. Her mother, Julie, was an “average cook” – “she won’t mind me saying that” – but her late father, Ken, had a natural flair although he didn’t cook often. “I think I inherited the knack from him. I think Bodhi is going to have it too. I really just taught myself.” Her father was very strict on academia. “I basically had to go to uni; there wasn’t really any other choice”. She studied nutrition and dietetics.
MET A FARM BOY She met Bagrie 16 years ago at Dunedin’s Captain Cook tavern during Orientation Week. “Across the dance floor, no kidding,” she recalls. On their second or third date, Southland-raised Bagrie, who was studying marketing and psychology, told her he would return to the land to farm one day and, if they ended up together, would she be OK with that? She responded affirmatively, asking if he would be OK with her being a celebrity chef. Following the MasterChef success, during which time Lim was working
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Top: Nadia’s cooking show during lockdown got Kiwis to cook and enjoy it. Above: Bagrie and Nadia outside their farmhouse. She is a passionate advocate for NZ farming and says everyone needs farmers “three times a day”.
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for the Auckland District Health Board as a clinical dietitian, both she and Bagrie quit their jobs. They had bought their first home, had a mortgage and “just did whatever we could”, Bagrie says, leading to what he describes as some “hilarious jobs”. Their first catering job almost burnt down what was probably a $10million home on Auckland’s waterfront when the pan, containing fatty duck, burst into flames. There was a catering assignment for a “roofers shout” for 20 people on a launch in the Bay of Islands. The couple stayed up until 4am cooking and preparing food and were picked up by helicopter at 7am. Preparing the food in the tiny galley, Lim suddenly did not feel well and spent the rest of the trip in the bathroom, relaying instructions to her husband. Then there was a cooking demonstration at a kindergarten – the teacher was a big fan of Lim’s – and the couple turned up to find nearly a dozen 2- and 3-year-olds sitting on the floor, and several parents looking on awkwardly. The demonstration was done on one of the toddler-sized tables, next to the unfortunate-smelling children’s toilet, while Bagrie was out the back doing the dishes “crying into the tea towel”. From that point on, they decided they needed a product they could take to market. “We couldn’t replicate Nadia,” Bagrie says.
MY FOOD BAG
Top: Bagrie can go from crutching lambs to reshooting a photograph for the book. Above: Nadia’s dream since she was 12, had always been to write her own cookbook and teach people how to cook delicious, nutritious food.
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My Food Bag was founded eight years ago by Bagrie and Lim, Cecilia and James Robinson and former Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung. The meal kit home delivery service was an entirely new concept for New Zealand and Lim admits it had its doubters, including family members. But those behind it knew it was a great idea; for Lim, seeing clients one-on-one as a dietitian there was often a missing link between telling someone what they should be doing and them putting it into action. When it came to food, that missing link was often cooking and she saw that My Food Bag could help fill the gap. While they knew it would do well, Lim acknowledges it kept exceeding expectations as it continued to grow and evolve. Since its launch it has delivered 70million meals to Kiwi families. Bagrie describes it as “a real New Zealand business success story” in the top few of the country’s startups. Originally, Lim was the only recipe developer but now the test kitchen was about 20-strong and there was a database of about 12,000 recipes. Lim still developed some recipes and, while not so operational as in the past, she was in touch with the My Food Bag team at least a few times a week and involved with brainstorming ideas. She always had her eyes on trends and what was coming up in the food sector. Her catchphrase is Nude Food and she has three key principles around that – ignore fads, trends and diets; stick to real food from the ground, sea and sky; and that the best person to know what is best for your
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Even a Masterchef gets tired of cooking and baked beans with a poached egg will suffice, even takeaways.
Her catchphrase is Nude Food and she has three key principles around that – ignore fads, trends and diets; stick to real food from the ground, sea and sky; and that the best person to know what is best for your body is you – "trust your gut, literally". body is you – “trust your gut, literally”. There’s a prominent Nude Food sign in the kitchen of the family’s 160-yearold farmhouse, the hub of the sheep and cropping operation in a region where Bagrie has strong roots. His great-grandfather Joseph Bagrie farmed Queenstown Hill followed by his grandfather, and his father, John, grew up there before moving to a farm in Southland. His own goal was always to move back to the region and to go farming. The house was previously “pretty much derelict”, with rats’ nests in the walls, and he got the house renovations under way, initially not letting Lim see it because he was worried she would say they would not be able to live in it. He had been in the South for a few months before she moved down just before Christmas last year. There was no floor in the kitchen, just dirt and broken floorboards, no oven or dining table,
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doors weren’t in, and there was open wiring. Even Bagrie concedes it was “pretty rough”. There were big holes outside, she feared the children could fall into “and be lost forever” and, while admitting she was “pretty easygoing”, Lim left “just for a bit” until the renovations were a little further down the track. Ask her if she misses city life and the answer is an emphatic “no way. I always knew I was going to end up here so I was prepared for it.” She is a passionate advocate for New Zealand farmers, saying everyone needs farmers “three times a day”. New Zealand was best placed in the world to be the leader in sustainable and ethical farming. Bagrie agrees, saying New Zealand produced amazing products whether agricultural, horticultural or fish. He was proud of the farming community who were world leaders in many respects. Aiming to strike a balance between a
better end product, higher profitability and lower environmental impacts, the couple had big plans including diversification. Farming, like other businesses, was facing major change over coming decades and those that kept doing what they always did would get what they always had got, he said. Lim was enjoying the “amazing free outdoor supermarket” the farm afforded as she sliced wild pork sausages on to pizzas. Rabbit was also a regular item on their menu, along with homegrown vegetables. On the calendar in the kitchen is a date marked for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards – she was supposed to be in Paris this month for them – which awarded her latest Vegful runner-up for best vegetarian cookbook, adding to her string of successful cookbooks. Covid-19 stopped that, and an outing for the dress she bought for $50 from the Dancing With The Stars costume sale – she competed in the show last year. Asked if she ever got tired of cooking, she says: “doesn’t everyone?”. Baked beans on toast, with a poached egg, were known to be served up in the MasterChef winner’s kitchen. “Or just takeaways”. • Courtesy of the Otago Daily Times.
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COMMUNITY | MENTAL HEALTH
Stressed? What you can do BY: KEN GEENTY
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he old adage that “90% of what we worry about never happens” often rings true! The new stresses with Covid-19 have been a wakeup call for us all. Foremost are the health and economic pressures bringing new worries and challenges. So it is timely and prudent, particularly in this changing world, to revisit overall stress management with your farming business. It’s a fact of life that farming comes with long hours and a heap of hard work but a lifestyle few would swap. The 24/7 nature of the business has many challenges. Most cope well with the likes of adverse weather and tough political or economic constraints but sometimes new and unexpected challenges loom, causing extra stress. Some say increasing farming stresses began to bite with “Rogernomics” in the 1980s bringing new farmer pressures with declining government support. In those days farmers didn’t talk about their difficulties but tended rather to “man on”, often letting the stress build up. In recognition of a growing problem, the last decade or so has seen increasing encouragement to talk about hardship. Early support work came from the likes of Horowhenua farmer the late Collis Blake, and more recently high-profile sportsmen like All Blacks Richard Loe, Sir John Kirwan, and Sam Whitelock have chipped in. Help is also available from rural professionals along with some 14 farmer-based Rural Support Trusts covering most farming areas of New Zealand. The emphasis is on talking about your problems or issues, and involving your spouse or partner and family members in discussions and decisions around solutions. Sometimes advice is simply to contact appropriate professionals for help, be it technical, financial, legal, or socially oriented. Occasionally, involvement is ongoing and more of a counselling nature.
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Participation in organised events such as farm discussion groups, CIRCLES OF CONTROL & field days, and conferences is a good learning opportunity but CONCERN FOR FARMERS not everyone’s cup of tea. Often the most valuable part is the informal interaction or “chewing CONTROL SCENARIO A the fat” with other farmers and In control – professionals. There are alternative confident & productive ways of seeking such interaction CONCERN with the likes of local sporting and social gatherings, preferably involving the whole family. With the Coronavirus pandemic, and probably more such episodes in the future, added to global CONTROL warming and environmental SCENARIO B deterioration farmers face increasing Overwhelmed with potential stress. The often repressive concerns - possible regulations emerging from these CONCERN stress & depression natural events are sometimes hard for farmers to stomach. Many argue they are harshly treated despite their unfailing care for the environment and responsibility for the stewardship of their land. With appropriate guidance and support In order to be prepared for the a farmer can shift along the continuum unknown, some risk management from Scenario B to A. In summary some planning is invaluable. Consultation with of the key steps required for this shift a professional is recommended and time include: spent on this exercise can avoid much • Talking to spouses/partners, farming heartache further down the track. associates, and support people/groups An important message for farmers is to • Seeking help from appropriate rural remember that underpinning your striving professionals for improved stress management are some • Making time for leisure and relaxation fundamentals around control and concern. • Planning risk management to cope with It’s a matter of either being confident unforeseen: and in control of your life and farming • extreme weather events business or tending rather to be weighed • changing economic and political down or overburdened with concerns. conditions The often-used concept of “circles of • a social environment leading to control and concern” in the diagram isolation/loneliness illustrates the issues. • health pandemics such as Covid-19. Scenario A represents a farmer with a Not worrying about what you can’t successful farm business and rewarding control – using risk management. lifestyle. On the other hand scenario B, All this boils down to having a good which fortunately depicts only a minority, life balance, minimising stress, and represents a farmer at the other extreme experiencing profitable and rewarding overwhelmed with concerns to the point farming. The old adage that “90% of what where this sometimes leads to increased we worry about never happens” often stress and, ultimately, depression. rings true.
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SOLUTIONS | ANIMAL HEALTH
A selenium shot that lasts
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eveloped using world first technology and trialled extensively in New Zealand, Smartshot has provided New Zealand farmers with flexible and long-acting vitamin B12 and selenium injections for 20 years. Commonly used in lambs at docking/ tailing, Smartshot consistently maintains adequate vitamin B12 and selenium levels for up to six months with a single injection compared with water-soluble B12 products, which have to be given every four weeks. Because the injections last longer there’s less stress on lambs, reduced labour for farmers, and sustained vitamin B12 and selenium levels for consistent and maximised growth rates.
Every day that lambs have less-thanadequate levels can result in compromised growth rates, leading to reduced profit. Gains as little as five grams a day can provide a return on investment in Smartshot, meaning even flocks with a marginal deficiency could benefit. Dr John Smart, Senior Veterinarian at Clutha Vets, has recommended Smartshot to his sheep farming clients since its inception, as a tool to prevent cobalt deficiency in lambs long-term. “The biggest advantage of Smartshot is the flexibility it gives farmers. Depending on the dose administered, Smartshot’s duration can be from a minimum of three months with a 0.5ml dose through to the entire cobalt deficient period (six to seven months) with a 1ml dose. There are
other farmers who adopt a halfway house approach and use a 0.75ml dose. As I said - flexibility! “Regarding its actual effectiveness in keeping cobalt/B12 levels in the adequate range, I cannot recall any liver testing that revealed marginal or deficient levels when testing was carried out during its prescribed payout period.” • For more on Smartshot ask your vet or visit www.smartshot.co.nz
Spreading with SAM
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oombridge and Alexander have introduced their new SAM computer-controlled spreader. It features Topcon technology which is ISOBUS-compatible, intuitive to use and customisable. The monitoring system in SAM spreaders is fast, accurate and user-friendly. It gives precise control when spreading fertiliser or manure, and it applies the correct rate regardless of changes in forward speed or product density. As an ISOBUS system, it can coordinate with any compliant tractor. Or it can be used with its own large colour touchscreen display. The computer operates a hydraulically driven floor-belt. Any SAM spreader can be specified with a computer control system to replace the standard ground drive at the time of build. The screen requires a few quick inputs from you - fertiliser density,
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spread width and spread rate. Advantages include: • Application rates are set using the touchscreen inside the cab. • Spreaders can travel very slowly while spreading at a very high rate (eg: when spreading shavings in sheds). • Load cell integration gives pinpoint precision. Measuring the weight of product in the spreader on the go, then automatically adjusting the floor speed to achieve correct application rates. The accuracy of the spreading rate is as high as 99% of the target rate. • Border control (reduces the spinner speed on one side of the spreader, which decreases the spread width when spreading along boundaries and waterways. No double applications). • It is easy to extract information and
provide maps for reporting and proof of placement. • The system is customisable. You can choose if you want to add items such as load cells, an X25 Screen & GPS aerial (for proof of placement and field mapping of your jobs). Contact SAM Machinery if you want to chat about the options or visit your local dealer www.sammachinery.co.nz
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PHOTO COMPETITION | ENTRIES
Top left: Bulls in the Te Anau Basin at Kakapo Farms – Leeann & Kerry Porteous. Top right: 18-month-old Sophie Foley sleeping on the job while feeding the pigs with Mum and Dad – Emma Foley, Tikokino. Above: Stockyards on a farm at Middlemarch, Central Otago, make use of convenient rock formations – Corban Blampied. Centre, left: Sophie Foley on her first pig hunt in Central Hawke’s Bay with Grandad Owen – Emma Foley, Tikokino.
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Top left: Toby (9), Logan (8) and Josh (6) out doing the farm work and enjoying the views of the Takitimu Mountains – Leeann & Kerry Porteous. Top right: Next generation of helpers, the Heale family farm sheep and beef in the hill country of Taumarunui – Nikki Heale. Above, right: Yarding a mob of ewes right next to the beach at Haupouri Station, Hawke’s Bay – Sharee Henman. Above, left: Izaac (5) riding his pony Summer – Sharee Henman. Centre, left: Leon does not use a dog to shift sheep, he just calls his girls home! – Marion Black.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Country-Wide photo competition. Two winners will receive a twin-pack of Mudhouse wine. Three merit prize winners will receive a Gallagher electric fence tester.
This months’ winners Emma Foley Tikokino, Central Hawke’s Bay Leeann & Kerry Porteous Te Anau, Southland MERIT PRIZES Nikki Heale Taumarunui Marion Black Western Southland Sharee Henman Twin Bridges, Manawatu
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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF BREEDING EXCELLENCE Delivering guaranteed performance, innovation, connectedness & scale.
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GLENITI ROMNEYS Bill & David Hume P: 06 307 7895 | 027 6898 934 E: sonya-david@xtra.co.nz
MOTU-NUI RAMS Jason Le Grove P: 06 372 3841 | 027 326 7734 W: www.motu-nuirams.co.nz
GRASSENDALE GENETICS George & Luce Williams P: 06 372 6671 027 RAMSHOP W: www.grassendale.nz
TE WHANGAI ROMNEYS Hamish & Harry de Lautour P: 06 261 3826 M: 027 447 2815 W: www.tewhangai.co.nz
MELDRUM ROMNEYS John, Carol & Steph Wingate P: 06 375 0602 E: jandcwingate@xtra.co.nz
TURANGANUI ROMNEYS Mike Warren P: 06 307 7841 | 027 446 5312 E: warren.m@xtra.co.nz
WAI-ITI RAMS Zandy & Caroline Wallace P: 06 372 2551 M: 022 658 0680 W: www.waiitirams.co.nz WAIRERE Derek Daniell P: 0800 WAIRERE M: 021 751 163 W: www.wairererams.co.nz
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