Country-Wide August 2021

BACKING FARMERS

Isolation

buzz

Shepherd Mikaere Matthews works on Taranaki’s remote Makowhai Station, a sheep and beef farm, and the hub of a major honey operation, p38

IRRIGATION SPECIAL: Schemes, consents and new technology

GREEN MONEY: Banks sustainable finance offers

$12.00 incl gst

AUGUST 2021

Country-Wide

August 2021

1

Every farm is unique, even if they’re neighbours.

That’s why you need a vaccination programme that fits your farm’s unique requirements.

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August 2021

NILVAX® and MULTINE®.

Two tried and proven vaccine options for pre-lamb and beyond.

The only specialised 5-in-1 pre-lamb vaccine that provides up to 4 months protection for lambs.

New Zealand’s leading 5-in-1 vaccine range with multiple options for supplementation1.

From pasture management to managing pests and disease, every sheep farm is unique.

So when it comes to vaccination, you need a programme that fits your way of getting things done.

NILVAX is the only pre-lamb vaccine that provides up to 4 months protection for lambs. This gives you the flexibility to vaccinate your ewes earlier to avoid sleepy sickness*, or vaccinate your lambs later due to the longer duration of protection provided via their mother’s colostrum.

MULTINE gives you multiple options for supplementation of Vitamin B12 or selenium in combination with New Zealand farmers favourite 5-in-1. This means you can get everything you need and nothing you don’t.

NILVAX and MULTINE. Two tried and proven pre-lamb vaccine options made right here in New Zealand, that give you flexibility and effectiveness for your farm.

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August 2021

ACVM No’s A3977, A934, A935, A11311, A11766. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz NZ-NLV-210500001 NZ/NLX/0518/0003e © 2021 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved. 1. Baron Audit Data. March 2021. *Vaccinating ewes earlier at pre-lamb helps avoid stress associated with yarding which has been identified as a predisposing factor for sleepy sickness. Beef + Lamb NZ. Metabolic Diseases in Ewes Fact Sheet July 2019.

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BACKING FARMERS

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BACKING FARMERS

STAYING

ON TOP Hawke’s Bay’s David and Lidewij Black are achieving good results by doing the basics well, p48

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August 2021

EDITORS NOTE Opinion

Frustration boils over

A

NGRY FARMERS ARE COMING TO town to protest at the Government’s costly, unjust and unworkable regulations but they won’t be alone.

Urban kiwis are also upset as they learn the truth about the Government.

That it is not governing for the good of the country but to ideological agendas.

As we went to print, Groundswell’s protests had yet to take place. Not good timing for us but maybe perfect for farming as urban dissent is growing. There will be a lot of empathy for farmers from townies.

The proposed ute tax, hate speech laws and separating the country along race lines hasn’t gone down well. They are seen as unfair and an attack on freedom of speech. This Government has done more to set back race regulations than any other in recent times.

Urban voters are being hit by a legislative blitzkrieg from the Government. Similar to the one launched on farmers, it bombarded the farming community with bill after bill which many farmers spent a lot of time submitting on, submissions which were largely ignored. The Government was determined to pass laws which interfered with their rights to farm.

Now it is happening in urban New Zealand as Jacinda Ardern is cashing in on it’s political capital, something John Key never did.

Kiwis are also starting to realise the Government may be the most culturally diverse, but doesn’t have skills to run the country. Ministers have poor CVs, the Finance Minister Grant Robertson doesn’t have an economic or financial degree. He does have an arts degree. Ludicrous and offensive projects such as building a $686m cyclebridge in Auckland. Or giving nearly $3m from the proceeds of crime to the Mongrel Mob to run a drug rehab programme which included digging over the leader’s garden.

Police top brass in Wellington supported the programme. Cops at the coalface were horrified.

They now wonder why they bothered to confiscate the money in the first place. Comedian and mental health advocate Mike King spoke out against it. The money could have gone to his Gumboots Friday which raises funds for counselling.

The Government’s offer of $2.5b to councils to take control of water infrastructure is nationalisation.

Taxpayers money used to bribe councils to hand over control of water assets paid by ratepayers (taxpayers).

The Government has also proven to have been inept at handling the migrant workers issue when staff are desperately needed on farms and in other sectors. Why is an ex-journalist (Kris Faafoi) the justice and immigration minister?

With a lack of capable ministers, unaccountable bureaucrats are running the country.

All this would be comical if not so serious.

By the time this magazine is delivered to your mailbox, the country’s debt will be more than 36% of GDP, $120 billion. The debt is growing at $84 million a day or $3.5m/hour.

NZ has had debt before but taxpayers money was well-spent restructuring the economy and building infrastructure for future growth of GDP. • The Media Council’s ruling on Landcare Research and regen ag stories p31.

Terry Brosnahan

Got any feedback?

Contact the editor: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272 @CountryWideEd

Next issue: September 2021

• Crop & Forage special: Plugging the feed gap with good management and science.

• Cover crops: Crops which can reduce leaching by up to 50% in intensively grazed winter forage feed.

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August 2021

• Predicting growth: A formula that predicts daily how long pastures will keep growing in spring without rain.

• Northland survival test: A farmer who believes if his sheep can survive in Northland, they can survive anywhere.

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Contents

38

COVER STORY Isolation breeds resilience at Makowhai Station in Taranaki.

32

BACKING STRONG WOOL Kiwi retailer wants to play its part in reviving NZ’s strong wool industry.

70

8 BOUNDARIES

15 Blair Drysdale pushes back at

wintering practice activists

HOME BLOCK

IRRIGATION SPECIAL

11 Charlotte Rietveld feels there is

no going back with the

Government’s changes

17 After a recent field day, Mark

Guscott is asking if farmers value

their time

The first of a twopart series looking at individual and community irrigation schemes.

12 Suzi Corboy’s silver wedding

anniversary plans didn’t quite

go to plan

80 THE POWERS THAT BEE

6

13 Cromwell’s Andrew Bendall gives

an insight into life on the

Falkland Islands

BUSINESS 18 Farmers need to take note

of ethical investing because

banks are 22 Banks are offering sustainably

linked loans to farmers

14 Nick Loughnan examines regen

ag practices

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August 2021

BUSINESS 26 Decision time: Feed your ewes or

finish the lambs?

28 Don’t be alarmed by volatile beef

finishing margins

Country-Wide is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740

31 Innovation: Pine nuts a winner 32 Big Save Furniture backs strong

wool for its carpets

LIVESTOCK 38 Cover story: Isolation breeds resilience 49 Stock check: Ewes need to have flex 50 Growing for scale at Mangaotaki farm 56 Managing a tight spring with sheep 58 Learning something new with beef breeding

28

BEEF FINISHING MARGINS

Tom Ward looks at the volatile beef margins.

62 Why a farm gets so many bull calves

DEER

71 Going deeper underground

Jo Hannam 06 280 3168

74 Amuri plan growth 76 Keeping your consent

80 The powers that bee 83 Peter Arthur shares his love for trees

YOUNG COUNTRY 84 Appreciating it all

Publisher Tony Leggett 06 280 3162 | 0274 746 093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz

Design and production Lead design: Emily Rees 06 280 3167 emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz

IRRIGATION SPECIAL

ENVIRONMENT

Editor Terry Brosnahan 03 471 5272 | 027 249 0200 terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz

Sub editor Hamish Barwick 06 280 3166 hamish.barwick@nzfarmlife.co.nz

66 Accounting for GHG emissions at

Matawai Deer Park

79 Water wrangles hinder

General enquiries: Toll free 0800 2AG SUB (0800 224 782) www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

50

GROWING FOR SCALE

A couple in the King Country are cashing in on their farm expansion.

86 City boy finds love of farming

Writers Anne Hardie 03 540 3635 Lynda Gray 03 448 6222 Robert Pattison 027 889 8444 Sandra Taylor 021 151 8685 James Hoban 027 251 1986 Russell Priest 06 328 9852 Jo Cuttance 03 976 5599 Joanna Grigg 027 275 4031 Partnership Managers Janine Aish | Auckland, Waikato, BOP 027 890 0015 janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett Lower North Island, South Island 027 474 6093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz

COMMUNITY 88 Consider the cloud option

Subscriptions nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop | 0800 224 782 subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz

89 SOLUTIONS 90 FARMING IN FOCUS

Printed by Ovato Print NZ Ltd, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 1179-9854 (Print) ISSN 2253-2307 (Online)

OUR COVER Shepherd Mikaere Matthews leads a horse as it is moved off Makowhai Station near Ngamatapouri, Taranaki. More p38.

Photo: Brad Hanson.

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August 2021

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@CountryWideNZ

ACCOUNTING FOR GHG EMISSIONS A Gisborne deer farmer has crunched the numbers on his GHG emissions.

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BOUNDARIES

GENDER BENDERS Confused about the ever-evolving gender diverse world in which we live?

You will be after reading through a 10 page Terminology Handout, produced by InsideOUT, explaining 49 sex, gender and sexuality terms with relevance to the Rainbow community.

‘Aromantic’, ‘Demisexual’, ‘Cisnormativity’, ‘Gender Dysphoria’, Interphobia, ‘Misgender, and ‘Microaggressions’ all have lengthy and bewildering descriptions but are apparently must-haves in a PC word tin.

However, the Rainbow word of the year has to be ‘genderfluid’: ‘a person whose gender identity is not fixed and may change over time. They may feel like a mix of both man and woman and may feel more masculine on some days and more feminine on others, or a combination of both or neither…’

Who knew?

Surfing for Farmers gets the nod SURFING FOR FARMERS WON THE TEAMS AWARD AT the recent Primary Industry Awards reflecting the commitment of so many volunteers who have made the initiative a success.

In receiving the award, founder Stephen Thomson spoke of the impact Surfing for Farmers is having on rural communities and individuals.

He spoke about the positive feedback he is receiving from farmers about the difference an evening out surfing is making to the mental well-being of them and their families.

The award judges said that helping farmers get out on the ocean is a way to leave the stress of their busy roles behind them for a few hours.

Stephen, a keen surfer, farmer and rural real estate agent, started Surfing for Farmers three years ago in Gisborne.

He was determined to give local farmers the opportunity to get off-farm once a week and experience feelings of well-being.

There is a lot of discussion about mental health in the rural sector, but this is not being matched by action or programmes which take farmers away from the farm and put them in a completely different yet supportive environment.

In that first year, up to 50 farmers, their staff and families were gathering every week over summer to try their hand at surfing and get together away from their farm environments.

Surfing for Farmers has since grown to other regions and in summer 2021/22, will be operating at 19 locations from Invercargill to Whangarei. All gear, lessons and BBQ is provided. Farmers of all ages are encouraged to come along, get out in the water and have fun.

Run by volunteers “on the smell of an oily rag”, Surfing for Farmers has provided over 4128 farmers with the opportunity to get out on the water and give surfing a go.

Bayleys, Ballance Agrinutrients, Rabobank and Jarden got behind the initiative as sponsors to help provide the gear and lessons.

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Above: Farmers get primed for a surf at Gore Bay, Cheviot

JOKE

A cowboy rode into town and stopped at a saloon for a drink. The locals had a habit of picking on strangers, which he was. He finished his drink and left the saloon only to find his horse had been stolen.

He marched back into the bar, flipped his gun into the air, caught it above his head – all without even looking – and fired a shot into the ceiling. The room went silent, “which one of you sidewinders stole my horse?!” he yelled with forcefulness... No one answered.

“Alright, I’m gonna have another beer, and if my horse ain’t back outside by the time I finish, I’m gonna do what I dun in Texas! And I don’t like to have to do what I dun in Texas!”

Some of the locals shifted restlessly. The man, true to his word, had another beer, walked outside, and his horse had been returned to the post. Satisfied, he saddled up and started to ride out of town. The bartender wandered out of the bar and asked, “Say partner, before you go... what happened in Texas?”

The cowboy turned back and said, “I had to walk home.”

Country-Wide

August 2021

WHEN IT BEGAN Science started in the 1600s to enable learned gentlemen to investigate the natural and physical world through observation and rational thought, freed from religious, political or cultural interference.

• Next issue: What is a scientist?

INSECTS ARE OUR FRIENDS Earlier this year Milton preschoolers met some of the two million bugs which reside at Earthlore, in The Catlins.

Inspector Gordon Thompson, pictured, who was appointed by Her Royal Highness, The Queen Bee, to run the special insect squad, showed the group of four-yearolds around the private garden which was dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates.

Gordon and his wife Janine explained to the children how important insects were to the ecosystem and suggested resisting the urge to squash them. The youngsters explored the garden searching under rocks, logs and specially built insect houses looking for spiders, wetas, beetles and every other kind of insect. They then watched the Great Magical Flea Circus Orlando puppet show which highlighted a number of the feats accomplished by the superstars of the insect world.

DID YOU

KNOW ?

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ODYSSEY AWAITS Masterton-based farm consultant Sam Vivian-Greer is about to pack his bags and head off around New Zealand and parts of Australia on his own personal development odyssey.

As the NZ winner of this year’s Zanda McDonald Award, Sam heads off this month (August) around the country to meet industry leaders and farmers who will share their experiences with the 32-year-old.

In November, assuming no travel restrictions, he will likely join 2020 ‘Zanda’ winner, Jack Rahuriri, to share in a similar tour across the Tasman. The Covid-19 border closures prevented Jack from going last year.

The coveted award is presented by the Platinum Primary Producers (PPP).

To win the award, Sam and three other finalists were put through their paces during a rigorous series of interviews and presentations.

The other finalists were Genevieve Steven, consultant 26, KPMG in Ashburton; Jenna Smith, 34, chief executive of Pouarua Farms and Becks Smith, 33, veterinarian at VetEnt in Ranfurly.

Sam receives $10,000 towards further education, plus the opportunity to network with leaders. He will travel to diverse and remote farming operations on both sides of the Tasman.

• Read more p86

Sleeping for 30 minutes stretches for usually less than 5 hours per day in total, giraffes need very little sleep. Supposedly because they would be a very tempting, giant snack, for any predators that found them lying on the ground.

Consistent with this theory, wild elephants sleep for two hours a night. Whereas captive elephants snooze 4-6 hours.

August 2021

Richard Dawkins.

INDOOR-TRIPLET FARM WINS Marlborough’s Dawkins family have won the local sheep and beef farmer of the year competition.

Richard and Jess, together with his parents Chris and Julia, have an intensive sheep and cattle operation, shed-lamb triplet ewes and average an impressive 166% lambing (MA ewes) with very high survival (14.5% lamb loss including triplets). Income streams include forestry (15% planted in a range of species), firewood, Pyramid Apiaries and a 100-hectare vineyard.

The runner-up by only a couple of points was Middlehurst Station owned by Willie and Susan Macdonald. This 16,550ha station in the Awatere Valley, together with the Cheviot finishing block, winters 16,200 stock units of Merinos and cattle. Lambing percentage is typically 125-128% and ewes clip 7kg of wool.

Competition chair Simon Harvey said the scores were very close, with both properties excelling across the categories of animal performance, land management, financial, social/community and business management.

Both had very high animal performance and excellent expense to income ratio. A field-day will be held at the winner’s farm in spring.

INTEREST HIGH IN CADET SCHEME The Smedley Open Days in June saw 110 potential applicants visit the Hawke’s Bay Station. This was up from 85 last year. Rob Evans, farm manager, said there was more interest in the two-year farm cadetship programme from the South Island this year, with 13 registered. Only 13 trainees are accepted into the programme each year.

The 5554 hectare property (gifted to the Crown in 1919) runs beef cattle, sheep, deer and has a small dairy shed, timber mill, onsite builder and mechanic.

Tuition and accommodation costs are free: all funded from farm income off 30,000 stock units.

Evans said the business has put a healthy budget on the table for next year, despite a dry start.

9

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Talk to your vet about everything you need to know about NZ’s copper deficiency and the best way to manage it for long term gains.

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Level 3, 2 Osterley Way, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand. COPAJECT® is a registered trademark of the Boehringer Ingelheim Group.

Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No. A011573. © Copyright 2021 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited.

All rights reserved. NZ-MSP-0001-2021.

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August 2021

HOME BLOCK

Rakaia Gorge

Protesting the political ‘pivot’ LEAVE FARMERS ALONE

Charlotte Rietveld is feeling bewildered by the Government’s changes but realises there is no going back.

HUG A FARMER

F

ANCY US COMING OUT IN PROTEST. THE silent majority, who play by the rules and don’t wish to make a fuss. The beloved rural Karens and stale, pale males. The tax paying backbone that keeps on keeping on. All fearing death by a thousand autonomy-robbing cuts. Pushed so far we’ve finally realised it’s time to shift into low range and dig in.

Nurses, teachers, port and freezing workers? They’ve got protesting down pat. But farmers out there brandishing baling twine as the mud tyres squeak past Four Square? Now I’ve really lived.

However, let’s not confuse what is being protested.

I suspect I was not alone in feeling 90 years old when realising with alarm I was “hm m”-ing in agreement with Winston’s latest popular but pitiful attack on everything. Oh, how I miss the snappy ol’ silver fox.

It was classic Winston and so like Trump, whose harnessing of the US Rust Belt’s dissatisfaction makes more and more sense. Welcome to the world of being a low-value voting group. Labour has little to lose from farmers - we are political capital to be burned at the altar of philosophical change. And right now NZ is in a phase of phenomenally fast change.

Like so many, I hate change. But cringe all you like, NZ has very trendily ‘pivoted’. Jacinda is flatfooting fifth gear with autonomous vehicle-gas in the tank. We are now all about indigenous prioritisation, climate changing environmental evangelism, worshipping well-being, gender diversity, equality everything, cancelling anything, Te Reo Maori everywhere and hate-speech nowhere. Practicality has been trumped by awareness; the majority-rules approach of the past is making way for a more compromising society keenly aware of the vulnerable.

Rest assured you are not alone in feeling drained and bewildered by all this. It strains eyes and ears so much I no longer even begrudge our household’s preschooler-owing inability to tune in to radio or TV. Like it I do not, but I am well aware fundamental change is happening for good reason.

Much like my Winston-hmming, the political rightwing will make headway ridiculing this ideological transformation. But no future government will be able

Country-Wide

August 2021

SCRAP THE UTE TAX

“...farmers out there brandishing baling twine as the mud tyres squeak past Four Square? Now I’ve really lived.”

EQUAL RIGHTS P

TI RAC

AWA

CAL

ITY

ES REN

S

FOR

DOGS

to back-peddle on this, our culture is evolving. And it needs to. There has been too much pressure building, too many people are struggling. Struggling not just financially, they feel unrecognised, trapped enabling other people’s lives, with very limited options for their own. The corrective trajectory is undeniably daunting but the ‘road to Zimbabwe’ that Winston once warned of is ideally being averted not advanced. This is a revolution to avoid a revolution.

The key thing for me is differentiating this culture shift from the socialist shafting agriculture is receiving. Neither rests easy with me, but while the cultural changes will eventually be a win for our country, the rural regulatory barrage could go either way.

It’s clear increasing oversight is here to stay and in accepting this, I welcome rural rules. Farming regulations can be held as a badge of environmental honour, useful for both promotion and protection.

But hard and fast rural regulations being formulated on the fly are well worthy of protest. All too many policies appear based on slanted science, with imminent deadlines despite impossible alternatives.

It’s all stick with not a carrot to be seen.

While unworkable rural regulations are on the protest placards, I suspect it is the combination of these changes that is aggravating farmers into action. A steady stream of environmental policies has coincided with a blistering shift in societal culture.

The result is farmers feeling utterly indignant. The hard daily graft to get this country to the prosperous place it is now is being ignored, instead we are the privileged who have ruined the environment. All prior onfarm environmental efforts have been belittled, hastily replaced with voter-pleasing short-sighted showmanship. If we want to be heard and make headway for our farming future, it is this and this alone that we need to be protesting.

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HOME BLOCK

Owaka

A woman’s best laid plans Suzi Corboy and her husband Peter recently made plans to mark their silver wedding anniversary away from Owaka Valley. Sadly it didn’t quite go to plan.

O “Don’t be like Suzie and Paul, have time off farm yourselves this winter.”

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VER HALF WAY THROUGH 2021 already, and it has been a year of celebrating milestones on both sides of the family. Our parents have reached 70, 80 and 85 years of age, Paul’s parents were married 60 years ago and we recently celebrated 25 years of marriage.

Paul and I are very poor at making time for ourselves, and very rarely take a day off together to go and do something non-farming related, which I am not proud to admit. Our excuse is usually we have too much to do on the farm, or if we do have most of a day off we stay at home as we are too tired to go anywhere. I know that the most important thing on the farm is ourselves, and we need to look after our mental and physical health, but, like so many farmers, we don’t put enough importance on making this happen.

Anyway, back to our silver wedding anniversary in June. We had made plans, fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever way you look at it, these were only vague plans. Rush around in the morning shifting break fences for cattle on swedes, maybe give the ewes another break on swedes, the fences would be up so a quick job, then drive to Dunedin (about an hour and a half away), having lunch on the way or when we got there depending on timing.

The afternoon would be the movies, botanic gardens, museum or whatever we wanted to do, then dinner and home. We did consider staying the night in Dunedin, but decided our own bed was probably more comfortable, and we would have to be up early to get home to feed animals anyway.

Like all great plans, nothing went right. I, for some stupid reason, agreed to do an extra day of work at my ambulance job on the day prior to our anniversary, and that day turned out to be the worst weather of the winter so far. Hail, sleet and snow lying all over the farm by evening. Paul didn’t manage to get as much done as he planned, so before we even got up things didn’t look promising for a day away. The reality was we worked on the farm all the day of our anniversary, not getting in until after dark. As a compromise we went out for a lovely dinner to Kaka Point. Maybe next year? 25

Suzi and Peter Corboy recently celebrated 25 years of marriage.

plus one. Unfortunately this epitomises our 25 years of farming, putting the farm before ourselves far too often, successful farmers, but worn out physically and mentally before we actually enjoy the money we have made.

It has not been the easiest year to farm in the Owaka Valley. I don’t remember summer, so I presume it didn’t arrive. Autumn was dry, so we had very little grass going into winter, then the wet weather arrived in June when we were trying to transition cattle onto swede crops. This equals mud, unhappy farmers seeing their animals in mud and getting stuck trying to put straw into bale feeders using the motorbike trailer. Consequently, I got four new tyres on my four wheeler last week.

The problems I wrote about in my last article with getting cattle killed from March onwards didn’t help with grass covers going into winter. It was a slow process, with long waits for processing space, but eventually we got them all killed, with a sudden rush at the end, getting space for 68 in one week.

Thankfully, we have some of our best ever swede crops this year. We now have about 2000 ewes and 450 cattle on swedes, and 500 ewe hoggets on grass, all behind break fences, so with daily shifts for the cattle fences and ewes on three to four day shifts we have lots of temporary fencing to do for the next two months. Sheep scanning will be done by the time this is published, and there is no shortage of maintenance work needed on the farm. So we won’t be having many of those days off together in the next few months either. Don’t be like Suzie and Paul, have time off farm yourselves this winter.

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August 2021

HOME BLOCK

Falkland Islands

First impressions of the Falkland Islands What’s it like living on the Falkland Islands?

Cromwell’s Andrew Bendall gives an overview.

Andrew Bendall with a 1982 gun from the Falklands War.

W

HAT'S THE CLOSEST COMPARISON to New Zealand farm land? Take the military bases at Waiouru in the middle of winter and you have somewhere close. That said, my partner Rhonda and I arrived here at the end of February 2020 to a relatively warm summer.

The makeup of the Stanley township construction is a mix of both pre and post 1982 conflict with Argentina. The town is scattered with memories of this period around every corner and vantage point.

Of the 3500 people that occupy the Falklands, 1200 of those are military personnel based at the Mount Pleasant Complex (also the main airport), a British military base built after the 1982 conflict.

This is an hour’s drive from the only town and the capital of the Falklands called Stanley which is based around a port. As well as Falkland Islanders, the population is made up of people originating from the UK, South Africa, South America, Philippines, St Helena, Australia and NZ. Stanley, which is going through a growth phase, has two schools, (junior and secondary, students travel overseas, primarily to the UK to attend further education, college/university). There are two supermarkets and three Four Square equivalent shops, however the shops are not so much specialty shops but general stores and you'll often be surprised what you'll find stacked next door to each other. For example, in ‘Southern Imports’ you'll get Tim Tams, baked beans, NZ shearing gear, gumboots, food, household appliances, cosmetics etc all within a small old shed-like building. You can either pay cash, cheque or if you have neither of those, you just ask for a white slip, add your bank account and they present that to the bank.

Most stores shut at lunch time and can quite often have irregular hours.

The easiest way to describe the Falklands is like stepping back in time (in a good way) to the late 1980s but where you have cellphones and computers. My work computer is still a desktop, where files are stored on a Y drive so others within the office can access necessary files. The hours

Country-Wide

August 2021

FALKLAND ISLANDS Location: 483km from Sth America 3500 residents Geography Total land area: 12,173km2 (for comparison NZ’s Northland region is 13,789km2).

Two main islands plus 778 smaller islands.

Topographically generally flat to rolling.

Highest point is 705 metres.

Climate Annual rainfall: 400-800mm Temperature range: −5deg C in July to 24deg C in January.

Annual average: 5.6°C Average wind speed: 16kn (30km/h) Soils Organic (peaty) soils pH (water) 4.2-4.8 Low in N,P and Ca Stock Sheep: 480,000 (Merino composite) Cattle: 3000 (Angus, Hereford, Murray Grey) Wool: 1,800,000kg greasy (16.8-32.2 um, average 23.8um) Meat production: 50,000 sheep, 800 cattle.

81 farms totalling 1,139,797ha 36 farms on East Falkland 34 farms on West Falkland 11 farms on Outer Islands

of work are 8am-4.30pm with everyone going home for lunch. Roads around town are asphalt and the road to the airport at Mount Pleasant is asphalt most of the way, the last of the gravel is being resealed at present. The speed limit is 40mph (64kph) on the open road and 25mph (40kph) in town. There’s no need to hold a license on the West and outer islands. Vehicles have to be registered but do not need to hold a WOF. Apart from around Stanley, roads are a post 1982 addition.

The Government is run by a group of eight politicians called Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA's) very similar to a local council set up. These MLA’s are headed by an attorney general.

One thing Falkland Islanders can do is drink, serviced by eight pubs scattered around the small town. Alcohol in general is ridiculously cheap. £3 (NZ$5.90) for a pint of craft beer, less than £1 (NZ$1.97) for something I may have drunk 30 years ago. A couple of taxi cars transport folk about all the time with a standard £4 (NZ$7.87) charge wherever you go. The local service station has hours from 8am-6pm, sells a range of food, alcohol and the only ATM on the island.

Like all small towns everywhere the local weekly paper, the Penguin News gives a very detailed account of what’s going on. It’s best you don’t have reason to be listed under the court section!

Something very unusual for me was going to the doctors for a simple prescription and after consultation and getting my Statins, there was no charge. This is the same if you have to go to the dentist. Taxes being put to good use!

Fresh fruit and veggies are not only sparse but very expensive with many people probably relying on frozen and tinned food. You also take a new perspective on what you consider “out of date”.

However meat is almost too cheap and is the same price per kilo all year round. The beef, if from the right farm, is of very good quality.

The Falkland Islands is a great place with amazing people and has been an incredibly safe place to live, especially during a time of restricted travel and flexibility.

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HOME BLOCK

Alexandra

The court of public opinion Nick Loughnan examines the regenerative craze.

R “It’s hard to argue with public sentiment, and groundswells of opinion can be fed with fuel from unlikely sources.”

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EGENERATIVE. IT HAS BECOME OUR new buzzword. Everybody has heard it, lots of people are saying it, and quite a few are even trying it.

Our e-vehicles have had it for a while now with their regenerative braking systems. The otherwise wasted energy from a car rolling downhill is cleverly harnessed through a generator to recharge the battery.

And farmers have got drawn into regenerative farming practices. McCains, the multinational potato chip giant, has fed on this interest with the recent announcement that their potatoes will soon only be sourced from ‘regenerative’ growers.

Regenerative braking is easy to explain, but none of us, including McCains, has been able to precisely define just what regenerative spuds are. But that is now beside the point. The court of public opinion has spoken, and McCains has decided that early adoption is a smart commercial decision.

It’s hard to argue with public sentiment, and groundswells of opinion can be fed with fuel from unlikely sources.

New Zealand once had a highly profitable possum skin industry up until a major stutter in the mid-1980s. Thousands of us were out there trapping or poisoning these lowly IQed but highly environmentally destructive pests, when the world’s attention was suddenly diverted to half a dozen international supermodels posing for the cameras in just their own skins. They were drawing attention to the slaughter of wild animals required for producing fashionable clothing. ‘40 dumb animals to make a fur coat - one dumb animal to wear it’ was their slogan. These stunts certainly caught the eyes of the world’s male population. But they also decimated the worldwide fur industry.

Our possum hunters found new things to do, and we had to start using other stuff to control possums in our bush.

It can require both stealth and big budgets to alter public opinion. The American tobacco industry successfully managed it briefly when faced with mounting pressure from the scientific community on the links between smoking and lung cancer. The industry hired a handful of ‘top’

medical people, specifically to discredit the weight of scientific evidence around cancers from smoking by presenting their own alternative ‘research’. For a decade, it paid off. The public became confused and tobacco sales levels kept growing. Some in the US have recently revived that art of manipulating the minds of the masses.

Now our tourism sector, not wanting to miss out, has just launched into a Government-funded talk fest titled ‘Regenerative Tourism’. Their brief is to create a ‘roadmap’ for what tourism in NZ needs to look like post Covid.

So just what will they decide on how to ‘regenerate’ when NZ has managed surprisingly well economically without the millions who had been flying in here each year, often for just a few days of instagramming? When such a large proportion of them had been paying for their full tour itinerary before they even jumped on a plane to get here, then hired a vehicle from a foreignowned rental car company, and stayed in a hotel that was part of another foreign-owned hotel chain, what had we actually gained from the deal?

It seems that we were supplying the infrastructure and providing the scenery for these millions of visitors, yet were not getting a lot back in exchange, if our latest positive gross domestic product figures are the yardstick.

And the Covid-19 pause has surely given our atmosphere a hugely regenerative reprieve from tourism’s aviation gas emissions – the brightest silver lining to the whole pandemic.

However, back to the farm. We can’t deny that the customer is right. Consumers hold the power.

They are the arbiters on how relevant regenerative farming will become, especially if they pay a premium for such produce. And if we can fit with their regenerative definitions, then what’s not to like about it?

Just let me get my farm environment plan out the door, my greenhouse gas emissions sorted, carbon neutrality calculated, livestock exclusion zones fenced, my submission on the new regional water plan completed, my irrigation dam compliance report finished, and the winter grazing consent application signed off first.

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HOME BLOCK

Balfour

Standing up for wintering practices Recent photos of wintering practices in Southland has Blair Drysdale responding to the trial by media.

Blair’s crops in Southland during winter.

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N GENERAL IT’S THE SAME GROUP OF people wanting dairy cows inside, who also campaign for pigs and hens to be outside.

Winter certainly has its challenges but it’s a very reliable season as it’s just damned cold every day and that suits me just fine. As farmers though, and especially those with breeding livestock, we like all the inclement weather with its southerly snowstorms to arrive now and not in spring.

The challenges are very real given we’re having a wetter than average winter which on the back of a dry autumn meant winter crops are below average, putting pressure on livestock and farmer. Throw in some sneaky covert photography of stock on winter crops that get plastered over social and mainstream media by a few environmental activists and it is a pressure cooker situation for some farmers. The reality is that if they were genuinely concerned about animal welfare MPI would be their first port of call.

While there is certainly a small number of laggards out there that fail to recognise both the environmental and social ramifications of their poor wintering practices, largely wintering practices have improved dramatically over the past few years and these activists are blowing a small problem out of proportion, victimising the farmers whose standards are high in the process. One such activist funded by Greenpeace, travels south from Auckland preceding forecast weather events that suit his cause, with his able camera in hand.

Now don’t get me wrong here, some of what we have been seeing is far from acceptable and needs to stop for all our benefit. But the problem with the photos is the angle of which they’re taken to suit a certain story and are a misleading snapshot in time.

Narrow focused shots of small parts of the paddock and livestock, that don’t by any means show the full grazing situation or the strategies in place to mitigate environmental impacts. Add in the fact that some of these photos are taken illegally with a drone over private property during weather events that they’ve

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“The oftensuggested remedy of indoor wintering isn’t an affordable or sometimes practical option for most farmers ...”

been waiting for, that have no balance or show the full context of the wider view of the paddock means the credibility of their tactics is called into question.

In Southland, we need to grow and graze winter crops to provide the required quantity and quality of feed to get stock through the winter. These feed crops along with supplementary feed is the predominant form of livestock wintering down here and while it isn’t always ideal in inclement weather, it is absolutely necessary to maintain adequate livestock condition and health levels. The often-suggested remedy of indoor wintering isn’t an affordable or sometimes practical option for most farmers. Let’s not forget that in general it’s the same group of people wanting dairy cows inside, who also campaign for pigs and hens to be outside. We will never win these battles, their goal is to end all livestock farming and nothing else.

There is no doubt that we need to keep improving how we graze animals during the winter, and we absolutely will do so. But constant worry about who might be peering over the fence with a camera in hand and the ever-present trial by media is wearing some farmers down mentally and it’s a very genuine issue right now. However, the issue of mental health was disgustingly brushed aside by activist Angus Robson on The Country with Jamie MacKay as if it were some sort of political play and that the issue wasn’t actually real. Farmers for generations have been very stoic people, but when they’re saying enough is enough and it gets brushed off on a national radio show by the lead activist involved in this campaign it says a hell of a lot about his character and has angered farmers greatly.

We need to help the bottom five percent improve, not hang them out to dry or push them under the media bus, a rising tide lifts all boats. Keep on doing what you do out there, continually improve and keep a supportive eye on your farming neighbours and your mates. We are largely very good at feeding 40 million people, and we should be bloody proud of that.

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IT’S TIME TO STEP UP FROM 5 IN 1 TO COGLAVAX8 VACCINE The health and welfare of our animals is really important to us, so we use products that achieve results Hayden Ashby

Livestock Operations Manager, Brownrigg Agriculture

STEP UP TO 8 IN 1 PROTECTION When you’re running big numbers of sheep and cattle… there’s one number you want to keep really low. And that’s unnecessary losses from Clostridial disease.

That’s why Brownrigg Agriculture have stepped up from 5 in 1 to Coglavax8 vaccine to protect against 8 Clostridial diseases present in New Zealand.

CEV0001 CW FP

O N LY AVA I L A B L E F R O M Y O U R V E T

coglavax8.co.nz Ceva Animal Health (NZ) Limited. P: 09 972 2853 ACVM No. 7528 References: 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, 4th ed., 2018. Print.

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HOME BLOCK

Carterton

Value your time After a recent field day, Mark Guscott is asking the question: Do farmers value their time?

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O YOU VALUE YOUR TIME? IN MY experience there are heaps of farmers who don’t. I went to a field day to learn from a cocky who was doing a good job of wintering cattle. He fed them a lot of balage and hay and was asked, “how does that amount of feeding-out stack up financially?”.

He replied that it didn’t cost him anything as the grass grew for free and he owned his own baler! Well, the language in my mind was colourful and I straight away lost concentration. This was unfortunate on my part as he was doing a good job overall. I guess his rationale was that once the payments on the baler were finished then it didn’t owe him anything. Fair call, but what about the diesel for the tractor, the person driving that tractor or the maintenance on the baler?

The point is that what we do every day is important and worthwhile. We should value what we do. The cocky was doing a good job but he needed to account for the wage or drawings that he feeds his family with. There are some that would say that any profit made is payment, but when the coffers are empty at the end of the year, it wouldn’t be very encouraging to think ‘I’ve worked hard all year for nothing’. What we do to look after our land, our animals and our people is bloody important. While sometimes it might not feel like it, there are a lot of people out there who value what we do.

I usually think June is the worst month as the days are getting shorter, the mud is building up around the gateways and spring seems like a long way away. However, this June and June 2020 were warm with excellent pasture growth - if this is global warming, sign me up!

With July came winter – we had some hard frosts last week but we’re well set up for the spring and our ewes are due to be spread out for lambing soon.

First lambs should start appearing during the first week of August – hopefully not at the same time as a nasty southerly. As a winter lamb finisher, it's exciting times watching the schedules going crazy.

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“...while sometimes it might not feel like it, there are a lot of people out there who value what we do.

Thankfully we have managed to get our numbers up to our normal level as the autumn was a bit tricky. It felt a bit expensive buying lambs well north of $150 but we’ll hopefully hit $200 for the lambs that are going tomorrow, so I’m feeling pretty positive about life at the moment, I hope you are too.

The kids have just started school holidays and we’ve got a long list of jobs on the fridge for them to do. Nothing has been ticked off as yet. Susannah and I seem to be battling against technology constantly at the moment – it’s a real fight. Suz and I versus YouTube, Minecraft and the kids. The problem is the kids are quite smart and can argue the point well so I often just grumble something like “because I said so” loudly. Hopefully they grow up to be well-adjusted adults. My daughter Liv is making a cake at the moment so maybe I should stop being a grumpy bastard.

Remember your value, keep the long gumboots handy for a bit longer and good luck for the rest of winter.

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BUSINESS

Investing

SUSTAINABLE FINANCE THE FASHION Rather than saying ‘so what’ to ethical investing, farmers need to be aware that banks will be taking this into account when assessing their business. Phil Edmonds outlines what sustainable finance means for the agriculture industry.

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ver the past few months a growing list of New Zealand investment funds have announced changes to their strategies, with dedicated shifts towards socially and environmentally responsible investing. Among others, Mercer declared in April it would be divesting shares in companies including those involved in the most carbon intensive industries. At the same time the tool Mindful Money was being promoted to allow anyone to generate details on the ethical nature of their Kiwisaver investment, identifying those funding the bad stuff, including environmental violations.

Having scanned this passage and found no reference to agriculture, farmers might say ‘so what’. But the banks are also in this camp, which should give cause to read on. In the process of documenting the impact on the environment from their own investments, banks could well start to stare at farming-related assets that show fewer signs of holding their value, and more signs of damaging the banks reputation.

The NZ banks won’t be giving up on agriculture as a result of its environmental risks anytime soon. In fact, they are proactively developing a framework that will enable farmers to attract what has become known as sustainable finance. But the move to transparent investment reporting to meet the demands of ethical investors and now the Government means the writing is on the wall for

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those doing it the old way.

The emergence of a more globally active ethical investor community can’t be blamed on Covid-19 (believe it or not) but it certainly has become more visible over the past year, tied inevitably, to the growing groundswell of concern about climate change.

The picture of an ethical investor might well conjure up an individual with some disposable spare change buying a handful of shares in a company making sleeping bags out of old socks, rather than Rio Tinto. Don’t be fooled. Ethical investing is no longer discretionary. It is fast becoming conventional business practice.

A Rabobank paper published in late 2020 titled Cashing in on Sustainable Agriculture noted that large financial institutions are increasingly looking beyond traditional investment metrics to determine their viability, “and as a result are starting to actively divest investments that present a high sustainability-related risk.”

Businesses required to make climate change disclosures

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The private sector may have started this but regulation is on the way to support it. In mid-April the NZ Government introduced legislation that will require the financial sector to disclose the impacts of climate change on their business and explain how they will manage climate-related risks and opportunities. The Financial Sector (climate-related disclosure and other matters) Amendment Bill will make climate-related disclosures mandatory for about 200 organisations, including most listed issuers, large registered banks, licensed insurers and managers of investment schemes.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw said climate change would have a profound impact on businesses all over NZ. There are activities and assets these businesses were involved in that would not hold their value in a low carbon world.

“Simply because they emit too much climate pollution and contribute to the climate crisis.”

How might banks react with their carbon emitting rural portfolios in mind?

Two options: 1. Walk away from agriculture? No way.

2. Proactively help farmers (and in doing so, themselves) secure the value of their assets.

With so much skin in the game, banks have already been acting on option two by delivering targeted lending products to farmers wanting to make their farm operations more environmentally robust. As an example, ASB has a rural environmental compliance loan available designed specifically to help farmers manage their environmental compliance costs and get sustainability projects started such as effluent

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Until recently, agriculture has not been on the radar of sustainable financiers.

system upgrades, fencing off waterways or riparian planting. The loan can be up to $200,000 and repaid over five years with a ‘low’ interest rate. ANZ has a similar offering – a low interest environment loan for improving environmental and economic sustainability, carrying out conservation projects and meeting local environmental bylaws. This loan can be for up to $300,000 and as with the ASB offer, repaid over five years.

This has proved to be an important first step but is largely business-as-usual lending, with these loans aimed at farmers who need a leg up to meet compliance. It is not sustainable finance, which involves funding a farming operation that will deliver changes beyond normal regulatory requirements, and crucially, is measured to help banks answer the Government’s soonto-be mandatory reporting requirements, and attract ethical investors.

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Structural barriers So far, the growth in sustainable finance for the agriculture sector has been thwarted by structural barriers that have not been a problem in other sectors. For energy and transport for example, sustainable finance is well advanced as investors can clearly recognise tangible, defined and measurable outcomes (renewable energy, electric cars etc). For agriculture, outcomes have so far proved difficult to define without clear measurement techniques and an understanding of the impact agricultural practices have on the environment.

For example, there are as yet no proven tools available to report onfarm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to provide viable evidence of any impact. The absence of this technology makes it harder for investors to understand how their funding will make a tangible difference. And of course, agriculture has been out of the limelight

(globally, if not in NZ) when it comes to an understanding of the big steps that need to be made in order to arrest climate change.

Until recently, agriculture has not been on the radar of sustainable financiers.

In NZ, a start has been made – albeit in front of, rather than behind the farmgate.

In 2019 ANZ signed a four-year partnership with Synlait to fund its sustainability agenda with a discounted interest rate based on its performance across a score of environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures (including land use, biodiversity, human capital, business ethics) that were to be independently assessed as part of the company’s own sustainability reporting.

In March this year, BNZ announced it had formed a partnership with Southern Pastures, which owns 20 dairy farms in Waikato and Canterbury, to deliver water and biodiversity benefits. Southern Pastures performance would be judged

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under an independently certified 10-star values programme that stipulates strict environmental, climatic, animal and human welfare requirements.

The latter initiative does involve action behind the farmgate, but the scale of the project has justified the use of an established measurement programme.

Defining sustainable agriculture Help is on the way to address the measurement challenge for all farmers with the development of a NZ taxonomy (set of base measurements) to define sustainable agriculture, and in so doing provide a more attractive proposition for potential investors.

Such a taxonomy already exists in Europe and requires landowners to show they are both meeting the minimum requirements (known as ‘do no significant harm’ safeguards) as well as demonstrating the substantial avoidance or reduction of GHG emissions from production practices.

The NZ version will be adopting a similar methodology as the European Union taxonomy, but our way of pastoral farming is different and that needs to be taken into account.

In a recent NZX-hosted explainer on sustainable finance, BNZ head of natural capital Dana Muir said New Zealand had an unusual set of skills and practices that were very different from the rest of the world.

“We need to acknowledge that from a finance point of view if we are going to bring out any tool to support farmers as they go through this process.”

A leadership group including ASB, ANZ, Westpac, BNZ, Rabobank and MPI is working with the Ministry for the Environment to achieve international recognition for a standard for use by the finance sector in considering agriculture lending and investment. The Sustainable Agriculture Finance Initiative (SAFI) will be aligned with emerging international frameworks (including the EU taxonomy and climate bonds standard) and importantly, existing sustainability standards used by NZ growers and farmers.

Rabobank’s Blake Holgate said the framework or structure would be based on standards farmers have to meet. But climate adaptation measurement would be aligned to NZ and consistent with the work being undertaken by He Waka Eke Noa (primary sector climate action partnership). A lot had been done to bring the standard into line with work already underway, whether it was at milk processor level or standards set under the Farm Assurance Plus verification programme.

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“The industry doesn’t want a whole lot of new standards they need to comply with.”

Details on the framework will be released in the near future, but ahead of those details, farmers can expect to be able to consider two different means of evidencing environmental progress – either through a successful project outcome, or by showing the adoption of good practice.

Blake said the latter would recognise farmers who have been doing the right thing. “...it gets harder to show outcomes the more you achieve reductions.

“For those starting from scratch it will be easier to focus on reductions.”

So in a nutshell that’s the theory. Back to the practice – does this emergence of sustainable finance mean it is going to become the norm, where all rural lending will be tagged to measure environmental improvement?

Not necessarily but inevitably yes, might be an honest appraisal.

“The NZ banks won’t be giving up on agriculture as a result of its environmental risks anytime soon.

In fact, they are proactively developing a framework that will enable farmers to attract what has become known as sustainable finance.”

Carrot + stick When announcing the partnership with Southern Pastures, BNZ chief executive Angela Mentis said they would increasingly seek to use environmental, social and governance (ESG)-linked lending with NZ farmers, agribusinesses and other sectors to help meet the country’s climate change obligations.

ANZ rural economist Susan Kilsby said whether it was banking or the price paid a farmer for milk or meat, those who were doing a good job and farming in an environmentally sustainable way would be rewarded.

“For those who are not, it will get tougher and tougher from all angles – not just regulatory.

“There will be more differentials in pricing – eventually to the interest rate you get charged.”

If this sounds threatening, it is not the message that the banks are wanting to send. They see the emergence of sustainable finance as a huge opportunity for NZ’s primary sector.

Holgate says he’s not aware of any other country that is developing these initiatives for sole operators behind the farmgate. There are examples overseas where processors are being rewarded, but nowhere else to any significant extent are farmers being given this direct opportunity to benefit financially from their work to operate more environmentally.

• First published in NZ Dairy Exporter, May 2021.

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BUSINESS

Investing

Bank goes green with lending Financial institutions are bringing sustainable finance to the market in an effort to be a part of the solution, Penny Clark-Hall reports.

F

armers, who have been carrying the financial weight of sustainable farming, will no longer have to go it alone.

Banks are offering sustainably linked loans (SLL) to farmers who are investing in their natural capital.

While BNZ is the first bank to get a sustainability-linked loan product to farmers, SLLs have already been on offer to other industries within New Zealand for a few years. ANZ was the first to offer

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one to Synlait back in 2018 and has also announced NZ’s largest ($100 million) to Kathmandu this month, while Westpac entered into a $50m SLL with Contact Energy last year.

It should also be noted that ASB recently began offering loans for the purpose of investing in on-farm sustainability, but these are not SLLs. BNZ and Southern Pastures have piloted the first loan of its kind on-farm.

The bank’s head of natural capital,

Dana Muir said the loans are designed to incentivise and reward sustainable farming practices.

“BNZ took the global concept of sustainably linked loans and looked at a range of different sectors across the bank to see if there was an opportunity to use them as a tool to help drive change.”

She said the bank realised in agribusiness this was the perfect opportunity for it to support farmers to drive environmental social governance (ESG) change within their

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Southern Pastures executive chairman Prem Maan.

Southern Pastures in the Waikato. The dairy company piloted a Sustainably Linked Loan (SIL) with BNZ.

businesses. So staff had spent the past 18 months thinking about how it would look and feel, due to the ever changing nature of farming’s biological systems.

She said BNZ wanted to partner with farmers that are putting in place ambitious goals in their business.

“They are effectively de-risking their business and creating a future-fit business.”

Muir said farming was experiencing a once in a generation change.

“So, it is only fair that we look at ours.”

The bank wants an integration of the environment and business plan, because the environmental risks are business risks.

“When we bring that into a banking context, we’re now getting more specific about considering ESG factors when investing in and supporting businesses.”

The point of difference with its SLL is that they are unconstrained financial products that link ESG ambitions to the price of the business’s debt. They also follow internationally recognised frameworks, unlike other “green” labels which don’t have a formally recognised structure behind them. By setting some pre-agreed ambitious targets and some measurable key performance indicators (KPI) farmers are rewarded by maintaining access to cheaper debt (lower interest rates) for new or existing projects.

Sustainable finance in practice

“If you fall back beyond where you started from there would be the mirror opposite pricing impact.”

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Southern Pastures was chosen to pilot the SLL due to its record of transparency in sustainability initiatives. They rolled their existing $50m of syndicated debt into a SLL and the parties pre-agreed three ambitious and measurable environmental targets with trackable KPIs along the way.

“We were really lucky because we knew they had a lot of recording already around the types of goals they were trying to achieve, which made it easier to come up with their KPIs,” Muir said.

Southern Pastures, which owns Lewis

Road Creamery, seems an obvious choice for its ability to show the value and impact of SLL at scale. Also it shows how innovative finance can complement a farm-system focused on values and the end consumer.

The fund owns 20 farms in Waikato and Canterbury, and produces milk under an independently certified 10 Star Certified Values Programme. It stipulates strict environmental, climatic, animal and human welfare requirements. Its Waikato farms also include the largest organic farm in the country.

The targets chosen by Southern Pastures could have been social or governance related.

However they chose to focus on sustainability targets of biodiversity, water quality improvements and greenhouse gas reductions as these were the most material to their business.

Southern Pastures and Lewis Road Creamery executive chairman Prem Maan said BNZ’s loan is an effective way to reward farmers for such good behaviour.

He said a big issue facing farm owners was capital spent on improving the environmental sustainability of the farm, its natural capital, was generally lost. This was because farm values are based primarily on what the neighbouring farms sold for and what an average efficient farm would produce. If a farmer spent $100,000 on native and riparian plantings or shelterbelts, then that value would not be reflected in the farm’s balance sheet.

“The farmer will not be able to borrow against it in the future.”

While the SLL is used for Southern Pasture’s farming operations’ and usual business plans, it is worth noting that their “business as usual” plans include about $6 million a year on environmental social governance related expenditures. How this is used is reported on in their annual ESG report, which is made public via their website. He explains that the benefits of the SLL outweigh the increased reporting requirements.

Maan said there were two main benefits.

The first is a decrease in the credit margin as the bank recognises businesses who are at the forefront of practising environmental sustainability represent a lower risk profile. The second was it assists in getting the message across that BNZ and other farmers were doing the right things for environmental sustainability. That dairying can be a force for positive change. The only disadvantage was that there is some added reporting and compliance work.

AsureQuality audits the farms each year to

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BANK LOANS FOR A LEG UP BY: LYNDA GRAY

Some of Southern Pastures’ milk products.

track their performance against the SLL targets, with the costs borne by Southern Pastures.

Maan said the SLL was beneficial even after paying for the costs of the audit.

“For us, it will be a part and parcel of our normal operations as this loan was an extension and recognition of our business as usual practices.

“We are already on the path that BNZ feels comfortable with.”

Muir assured farmers that the cost of the audits will ‘wash its own face’ and said this was a new way of looking at finance.

She said farmers had been receptive to it. Some said it was about time a bank was able to offer an incentive-based product.

“We’re aware it’s a new tool so we’ve been trying to warm the market, but farmers have been positive and they’re excited to have the opportunity to partner with the bank.

She said the key question asked was, could this be for every farmer? The mum and dad?

She said the answer is yes.

“We just really need to see that level of sustainability maturity from them and that they are ready to take this step.”

Once the ESG targets have been agreed to by the bank, how the farmer goes about meeting those targets is totally up to them. The bank simply needs to see assurance that their targets are reducing over time to reach the overall goal. The reward? Incremental pricing benefits along the way and an overall pre-agreed pricing benefit at the end if they achieve their targets “Effectively, there is a portion of your cost of lending that is yours to win or

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lose based on whether you achieve those ESG targets or not.

“If you fall back beyond where you started from there would be the mirror opposite pricing impact.”

Global picture BNZ has a goal by 2050 to have done $10 billion dollars of sustainable finance and they’re starting with their leading farmers who are doing more than just environmental and social compliance work. The hope is that other ambitious farmers will see it benefiting the first group and they’ll work towards joining.

To be environmentally sustainable requires capital. A group called The Aotearoa Circle recognised this and established a working group to identify how to support this thinking for the rural sector. The co-operation and leadership of this working group SAFI (Sustainable Agriculture Finance Initiative) has allowed for the opportunity for NZ’s food and fibre sector to capitalise on sustainable finance.

SAFI, which is made up of ASB, ANZ, Westpac, BNZ, Rabobank, Ernst Young and MPI representatives, is working to align sustainability standards used by NZ growers and farmers with emerging international frameworks and global standards (including the EU taxonomy and climate bonds standard).

Muir said SAFI had drafted standards for the NZ agricultural finance sector.

They align with global sustainable agricultural finance standards. That’s important because NZ’s finance sector would be able to enter the global market aligned to the same standards for SAFI.

ANZ HAS DRAWN DOWN MORE THAN $100 million in environmental compliance type loans over the last seven years.

Farmers can borrow up to $300,000 paid back over five years at a concessionary rate. The loan can be used to invest in infrastructure to help mitigate or manage environmental risk such as water quality monitoring; paying for the services of a qualified environmental adviser to prepare a farm environment plan; riparian fencing and planting; water and energy conservation farm projects; or investing in new land based ventures to create a more diverse farming system.

ANZ South Island regional manager Mark Grenside, says a pasture and production loan up to a maximum of $100,000, also paid back over five years at a concessionary rate could also fit under the environmental sustainability umbrella.

“The efficiency of how grass is established, how it grows and how it is used and harvested is critical to sustainability.”

He says the loans are part of ANZ’s wider mandate of supporting NZ households, business and financial practices that improve environmental sustainability. The development of these farm-related loan products will continue and evolve.

“The push is from our overseas markets and consumers. It won’t stop and their expectations of what environmental sustainability looks like will change over time.

Farmers will need time and support to adapt their systems and to transition and in a lot of cases they’ll need to access capital to do that.”

ASB offers a similar low interest loan to help farmers make a positive difference to the environment.

ASB general manager for rural, Ben Speedy says significant progress is being made, however “we know compliance and environmental concerns continue to keep farmers up at night.”

The bank’s goal is to get $100 million of farm sustainability projects underway in the next five years.

He says the bank is keen to back a range of projects such as solar panels powering milking sheds, precision fertiliser application to reduce emissions, and biodiversity restoration.

The bank’s farming customers have already invested millions of dollars in environmental upgrades.

“We want to give more of a leg up, to help create a more sustainable rural sector.”

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August 2021

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25

BUSINESS

Management

If finishing lambs compete with breeding ewes then a farmer might be forgoing a benefit of at least 60c/kg DM.

Feed ewes or finish lambs?

BY: KERRY DWYER

L

amb prices are looking to peak at $9/kg carcaseweight in the next few months. If you have some of these to sell it makes a reasonable trade. The question arises whether it is better to feed your breeding ewes more or to finish some lambs, assuming you have both options available.

Store lamb prices have risen as the schedule prices have lifted, so that an autumn lamb trade may have yielded 25c/ kg DM profit margin while lambs bought now will yield just over 30c/kg DM margin if sold at peak price.

Industry available figures suggest that average breeding ewe systems generate a return of about 15c/kg DM over the whole year while the top performing flocks can

26

generate over 20c/kg DM. Part of what makes the difference between the two groups is getting it right for their ewes over late pregnancy and lactation periods. If the choice is to compromise the ewes in order to finish more lambs in late winter then you will compromise your bank balance.

Industry and research figures available show the financial benefits for improved feeding ewes over the year are: • Lifting ewe body condition score (BCS) by one before mating = 40c/kg DM • Lifting ewe BCS from 2.5 to 3 pre-lambing = 60c/kg DM or $25/ewe • Optimum feeding for a month pre & post lambing = $1.50/kg DM • Lifting lamb survival by 2% = $5/ewe mated • Lifting lamb weaning weight by 2kg = $7/ ewe mated

These are all substantial returns to be made, the best marginal return available to sheep farmers. As an example, if you have a 2000 ewe breeding flock and think there is enough surplus feed to buy 500 finishing lambs in early July, to sell prime late September. The finishing lambs will eat about 1.5kg DM/ha/day, at a margin of 30c/ kg DM and the profit will be $21,000.

That sounds like good business.

If you put that 70,000kg DM into your 2000 ewes, at a margin of 60c/kg DM, as listed above, the return is double that of the finishing lambs, yielding $42,000 profit. Using that 70,000kg DM for the ewe flock, over the same time frame as the lamb finishing option increases their intakes by 0.4kg DM/ewe/day, which is about what it takes to get from the average performing flock to the top tier.

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August 2021

How does the additional feed to the ewes increase their production?

Body condition score Ewes with a higher BCS give birth to heavier lambs, which have better vigour and survival at birth. Research says every 0.5 BCS less than 3 at lambing gives 5% less lamb survival. And ewes that lose 0.5 BCS in late pregnancy show 5% less lamb survival. Some of that is due to ewes losing bodyweight releasing fat byproducts into their system that lower lamb vigour. Because triplet-bearing ewes cannot eat enough to maintain their system, that weight loss effect on their lambs compounds with their smaller lamb birth weight.

Lamb weaning weight (LWW) has been measured to decrease by 6% for ewes that are at BCS2 at lambing, as against BCS3.

That equates to more than 2kg liveweight per lamb, at over $3/kg for store lambs that is substantial. And LWW is 6% lower for every ½ BCS drop in late pregnancy.

Ewes giving birth to twin lambs need to gain about 15kg during pregnancy, 70% of that occurring in the last trimester. If they don’t get fed well they will drop BCS.

Ewe lactation About half ewe milk production occurs in the first four weeks of lactation. The peak is a result of BCS and feed intake. If the peak milk production is high they might keep milking well, if the peak is low they will taper off fast.

Since sheep’s milk has a feed value of around 4.5MJME/litre, ewes need to eat over 3kg DM/day to feed twin lambs, and maintain themselves, or about 30kg of wet grass. If pasture cover is low they just cannot do that.

Measurements show ewes at BCS 2.5 produce half the colostrum of ewes at BCS 3.5. That impacts lamb survival.

Pasture cover All research shows that lower pasture covers at lambing result in ewes dropping BCS, resulting in lower lactation and lower lamb weaning weights.

An average pasture cover of 800kgDM/ha will grow about 50% less grass than a cover of 1200kg DM/ha. So low pasture cover means less feed intake that day, and for many days after.

Getting your timing of set stocking for lambing right is critical, to ensure both adequate cover at that time and adequate pasture growth rates thereafter.

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August 2021

Finishing lambs late winter looks attractive price-wise but costs have risen.

“If the choice is to compromise the ewes in order to finish more lambs in late winter then you will compromise your bank balance”.

Lamb weaning weight Lamb growth rates pre-weaning are measured in LWW. A difference of 100g/day pre-weaning shows up as about 10kg LWW difference. The biggest driver of LWW is ewe milk production.

Increasing LWW means more lambs available to sell prime at weaning, or more weight to sell store, either way it is more money in the bank. One kilo of store lamb is maybe $3 banked. If finishing your own lambs, then a 1kg LWW increase means another 5% lambs sold prime at weaning.

If the average weaning weight lifts from 35kg to 36kg, there will be more lambs sold prime because the top end moves from say 45kg to 46kg.

It means less lambs to feed after weaning.

It means heavier ewe lambs which reach targets earlier and produce more.

weaned, so to get optimum growth rates they need high quality feed going into their small rumen. Legumes and herbs are best, or leafy grasses. The balancing act for pasture management is to maintain adequate quality available as grasses start to show stalk and seed head. Holding pasture cover down keeps seed head eaten, but offers lower available intakes, compromising LWW. The balancing act is to set a lambing date and stocking rate to maintain pasture quality, without compromising ewe BCS and LWW.

Summary

Pasture quality

Lamb finishing in late winter/spring looks to be giving a solid margin of about 30c/kg DM, but this has been limited by store lamb prices lifting as schedule and contract prices have risen for those lambs.

If finishing lambs compete with breeding ewes then you might be forgoing a benefit of at least 60c/kg DM for putting the additional feed into the breeding ewes, especially over the months pre and post lambing. In the scenario above, putting another 0.4kg DM/day into your ewes over the last two months of pregnancy and the first month of lactation is about what it takes to get it to top production instead of average. You get one chance every year to get the right balance of ewe BCS, pasture cover and pasture growth rates.

After peak lactation lambs increase their pasture intake as their rumen develops.

They are transitional ruminants until

• Kerry Dwyer is a North Otago farmer and farm consultant.

27

BUSINESS

Margins

Finishing margins – don’t panic BY: TOM WARD

B

eef margins have been exceedingly volatile over the last 12 months, testing the patience of some, and leading others to pinch themselves, hardly believing their luck. The Farmax gross margin (GM) in Figure 1 summarises the 2020 autumn-winter trade.

The astronomic margins for those able to buy cheap weaner steers in autumn 2020, and sell those cattle last spring were the result of a lack of feed due to drought, plus drought and Covid-19 induced delays in slaughter (causing killable cattle to be retained onfarm and delaying the buying of replacements). It is not my intention to predict these margins occurring again, however there are some issues worth considering.

One, if you are a breeder, set up to sell weaners, should you consider wintering those weaners? Second, if you are a trader, unable to sell the fat cattle you have carried for 8-12 months, when could you have sold those cattle – what were your options?

Third, having “earnt” the GM of 50c/kg DM from the weaner steers bought autumn 2020, should you retain them over the 2020/21 summer?

28

The key to finishing is to keep very close to the markets and look after your pastures.

Figure 1: Gross Margin for Weaner Steers (buy weaner 2020, sell as yearling).

July 2019-June 2020

Number

kg/head

$/kg

$/head

$ Total

100

288

3.75

1080.05

108,005

100

200

2.90

580.00

58,000

Store sales Stock Revenue

Works sales Less purchases

0

Total

50,005

Change in capital value

Stock

52.4

0

Total revenue

Expenses

c/kg DM

50,005 Animal Health Total

Interest on capital Total variable Expenses

Gross Margin

For the breeder considering wintering weaners he normally sells, there was plenty of complexity, risk and uncertainty. With the farm under pressure, livestock needed to be prioritised and decisions made for each class whether to under feed, graze off, sell, supplement from reserves, or buy in supplement. The weaner deer breeders faced the same dilemma. The GM from selling beef weaners in autumn 2020 is shown in Figure 2.

50

7.44

52.4

372 372 1773 2145

2.2

$47,859

50.2

Some facts are known: • The sale price if the weaners are sold.

• The likely winter growth rate of the weaners.

• That there is likely to be a pent up demand for yearling steers in the spring.

• As the GM (Figure 3) shows, the return from wintering the surplus heifer calves and all the weaner steers was still 50 cents/kg DM.

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August 2021

Figure 2: Gross Margin for Breeding cows (sell weaners 2020).

July 2019-June 2020

Stock Revenue

Number

kg/head

$/kg

$/head

$ Total

Store sales

72

213

3.00

639.10

46,015

Works sales

13

225.4

2.96

667.06

8672

1

644.3

12.42

8000.00

8000

Less purchases Total

46,687

Change in capital value

Expenses

8.1

10,900

Total revenue Stock

c/kg DM

57,587 Animal Health

166

11.74

Total

10.0

1949 1949

Interest on capital

8548

Total variable Expenses Gross Margin

10,497

1.8

47,090

8.2

c/kg DM

Figure 3: Gross Margin for Wintering Weaners July 2019-June 2020 Store sales Stock

Revenue

Number

kg/head

$/kg

$/head

$ Total

64

307.9

3.75

1154.70

73,901

Works sales

0

Less purchases

0

Total

73,901

Internal sales 64

215.9

2.57

554.56

Change in capital value

35,492 0

Total revenue Stock

101.1

0

Less internal purchases

Expenses

38,408 Animal Health

32

8.21

Total

52.6

264 264

Interest on capital

1076

Total variable Expenses Gross Margin

1340

1.8

37,069

50.7

$ Total

c/kg DM

Figure 4: Gross Margin for Weaner Steers (sell late winter, buy weaners) July 2019-June 2020

Number

kg/head

$/kg

$/head

Store sales Stock Revenue

0

Works sales

100

260

5.50

1429.96

Less purchases

100

200

3.74

748.00

Total

74,800 20.8

0

Total revenue Stock

142,996

68,196

Change in capital value

Expenses

68,196 Animal Health

125

7.77

Total

20.8

970 970

Interest on capital

5644

Total variable Expenses Gross Margin

6614

2.0

61,582

18.8

c/kg DM

Figure 5: Gross Margin for Weaner Steers (sell late summer, buy weaners) 2 July 2019-June 2020 Store sales Stock Revenue

Number

kg/head

$/kg

$/head

$ Total

100

421.0

2.84

1197.55

119,755

100

200.0

3.74

748.00

74,800

Works sales Less purchases

0

Total

44,955

Change in capital value

Expenses

Interest on capital Total variable Expenses

Gross Margin

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August 2021

22.3

0

Total revenue Stock

“...the key to finishing is to keep very close to the markets and look after your pastures.”

44,955 Animal Health Total

83

7.67

639 639 3503 4142

2.1

40,813

20.2

Opportunity cost (Figure 3) There is always an opportunity cost, one of those being the effect on a breeding ewe operation if ewes are underfed during the winter. Estimated benefit of breeding ewes retaining or achieving a 3.0 body condition score (BCS), at a $2.50/kg liveweight store lamb price, is north of $1.00/kg DM. This is clearly the priority class of stock.

However the cost of grazing hoggets off, (and this feed was available in Canterbury), at $3/hd/week, was only 22 cents/kg DM. This compares to silage at a minimum 30c/kg DM (probably 50 cents), barley at 40c/kg DM, and palm kernel at 30 cents.

Cow grazing, if you could get it, would be profitable at 30c/kg DM. One client grew an oat crop, which was utilised by breeding ewes in August, for 20c/kg DM. Obviously, there will be topography issues around these options and some of the above would not be profitable with high levels of wastage (the 2020 winter was exceedingly mild). If in good order at weaning, cows could be squeezed over early winter to create extra available feed.

Second, the trader who did not sell his cattle (bought as weaners in April 2019) as 15 month animals, in the face of a developing drought, might have maintained his 18-20c/kg DM margin (see Figure’s 4 and 5) but it cost him a lot of feed (for 100 cattle about 120t DM) and he was unable to buy the cheap weaners.

Figures 4 and 5 The point here is not only about getting closer to the cattle markets, it is also about how a farm should be managed. Treating the pasture like a crop, and destocking before pasture covers become short, will result in better pasture growth rates because the pasture plant is not exhausted.

Thirdly, the farmer who has planned to buy the weaner steers in autumn 2020, also had decisions to make. We have seen the huge margin the 2020 drought/Covid-19 event delivered, however the farmer needed to consider whether there was any additional profit from carrying the steers into the summer.

Continues

››

29

Figure 6 shows an average gross margin of 28.6c/kg DM (from autumn purchase to sale in January). More importantly, the additional total GM from the 100 steers is $10,000, after consuming an additional 82t DM, returning 12 cents/kg from that dry matter.

Figure 6: Gross Margin for Weaner Steers (buy weaners, sell Jan 2021) July 2019-June 2020

Stock Revenue

Lamb trading Lamb trading is an example where, in a brief interlude from an otherwise dry summer, a good margin can be made from trading.

A South Canterbury farmer bought lambs in early January after our “late spring” (November) gave the district some feed.

The farmer was heavily de-stocked coming out of the winter because he sold older bulls during the late winter due to low grass growth rates. The November-December rain resulted in good pasture and rape growth rates of quality feed. At the same time others were spending time on the mower, trying to retain quality, trying to finish the last of their homebred lambs.

For this farmer, things did not appear to go very well, with the weather staying dry, contrary to what he hoped would happen.

However, the Merino-cross lambs, stuck in a back paddock on rough cocksfoot with

Number

kg/head

$/kg

$/head

$ Total

100

421.0

2.84

1197.55

119,755

100

200.0

2.90

580.00

58,000

Store sales Works sales Less purchases

0

Total

61,755

Change in capital value

Expenses

30.6

0

Total revenue Stock

c/kg DM

61,755 Animal Health

83

Total

30.6

639 639

Interest on capital

3503

Total variable Expenses Gross Margin

a bit of shade and good water, came out 90 days later for a $33/head margin, 36c/ kg DM gross margin, and 14:1 conversion rate. Good trading. With a growth rate of 120gm/day the farmer couldn’t finish the lambs but utilised the winter lamb market to sell the lambs. To be fair, this trade was on a very small quantity and the lambs were small so the maintenance load on the farm and the lambs was low. The weather, although very dry, was still mostly warm and easy on animals.

Which returns me to a familiar theme:

7.67

4142

2.1

57,613

28.6

don’t get hung up with fattening. If you’re breeding in a summer dry environment, consider how consistent are the pasture growth rates and soil temperature until mid December, and how inconsistent thereafter.

Finally, the key to finishing is to keep very close to the markets and look after your pastures. You need to enjoy it, and embrace the challenge – otherwise do dairy grazing.

• Tom Ward is a South Canterbury farm consultant.

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30 *Based on label claims and dosage, and supporting published literature.

smartshot.co.nz August 2021

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BUSINESS

Innovation

Pine nuts a winner

P

ine nuts taste super sprinkled over a lamb salad.

As a tree, the stone pine holds huge potential to be a dryland legend – integrating with stock, controlling erosion on tough hot sites, plus producing an income. Marlborough produces 2% of the world's pine nut supply. It’s the highest value nut in the world - a small sack is worth $3000 and a typical grain hopper $70,000. However, producing them takes investment and patience.

Entrepreneurs Andy and Barbara Wiltshire, together with Lee Paterson, have carved a completely new industry for NZ, planting 550 hectares of Pinus pinea in eastern Marlborough and the Wairau Valley.

Through trial and error (initially a converted cement mixer) then expensive Spanish

The Pinoli Premium Pine Nuts for sale with product samples. This photo shows the packaging.

equipment, they have created a state-of-theart factory to extract the precious nut from a stubborn cone and shell.

Their company Pinoli Premium Pine Nuts won the business innovation section of the Marlborough Environment Awards 2021.

Speaking at the winner’s field day,Wiltshire said his trees yield well above those in Europe. Each tree grows 50 to 60 cones and each holds about 180 seeds. It takes six years to grow a crop and the trees can produce beyond 100 years. Some in Rome are 400 years old.

What excites him about the tree is that it loves hard dry sites, it doesn’t need pesticide or herbicide, doesn’t spread as a wilding pine and each stage of the pruning and extraction produces useful co-products for mulch and biofuel.

“They don’t acidify soils and roots grow six metres down.”

The total world crop is 25 tonnes and Pinoli produces three tonnes. Wiltshire would love more product and would like to see stone pines eligible for the ETS. They are classified as orchard trees so are ineligible.

Media Council upholds Landcare Research complaint THE MEDIA COUNCIL HAS RULED the editorial and an article, published in the April issue of Country-Wide, misrepresented research conducted and were unfair.

Both pieces followed the publication of a Landcare Research discussion paper Regenerative Agriculture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Both were critical of the paper. The complaint lodged by Landcare Research was upheld.

The editorial referred to poor research saying “Reputable scientists say [the white paper] is nonsense based on poor research.

The paper admits to five hours of searching Google. It is full of anecdotes, opinions and incorrect facts”. The article also referred to the five-hour Google search, as if this shallow search of Google was being relied on as research for scientific findings.

In fact, the reference in the white paper to Google was to demonstrate what was found during a 5 hour period using Google Scholar, Web of Science and Google searches. It was to show how little information about RA was out there in comparison to what could be found out

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August 2021

about mainstream farming.

The Media Council in a ruling release today said “To implicitly denigrate the content of the paper in this way as bogus research work containing scientific conclusions based on Google clicks was seriously misleading to readers of the article and unfair to the white paper’s contributors.”

The article also made allegations over the funding for the research paper against Dr Gwen Grelet and the other authors, essentially that Dr Grelet and other authors were in the pay of an organisation supportive of regenerative agriculture and not supportive of traditional agriculture.

In the article headed “Scientists Lash Out at RA White Paper”, it is effectively alleged that it is likely Dr Grelet has received $8,000 for a contribution supportive of regenerative agriculture.

Money has been used to “buy support”.

These serious allegations were not put to Dr Grelet before publication.

The Council noted that it was legitimate for a magazine to make enquiries into the

funding of a research paper. However, if attacks against named professional persons are to be made, where their independence and professional integrity is questioned, they should be given a reasonable opportunity to respond to such personal allegations before they are published.

The Council also noted it was not engaging in the merits of the debate about regenerative agriculture as against traditional agriculture. It did not think that Country-Wide magazine was obliged to engage with Landcare before publishing scientific criticism of the white paper.

Critiques of scientific publications are an entirely proper undertaking.

However, summaries of the criticised works must be accurate, and not significantly misrepresent the nature of the research carried out. The complained-of articles did misrepresent the research, and in a damaging way, which was unfair to the report writers and would have misled its own readers.

• The full ruling is at www.mediacouncil.org.nz

31

Kiwi retailer Big Save Furniture wants to play its part in reviving the New Zealand strong wool industry.

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WOOL

BACKING STRONG WOOL A casual chat over a few beers at Akitio Beach with a local farmer about the dire state of the New Zealand wool industry was the catalyst for iconic Kiwi company Big Save Furniture’s foray into strong wool. Rebecca Greaves reports.

Photos: Big Save Furniture

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August 2021

A

commitment to pay its farmer suppliers $4.50 for strong wool is just part of Big Save’s pledge to play its part in reviving the NZ strong wool industry. The company has plans to incorporate wool into a range of its products, and hopes the move may spark other retailers to consider doing the same.

Big Save is the country’s largest privately owned furniture and bed retailer. The family owned and operated business opened its first store in 1973 and has 25 stores nationwide. Sustainability is now the driving force for Big Save, ensuring a strong commitment to the future (both that of the company, and the planet).

Big Save’s national buyer, Dan Norman, says the move towards more sustainable products, like wool, has stemmed from two things.

The first was the customer response to Seaqual, an initiative that turns discarded plastic in our oceans into an upcycled marine plastic yarn. Big Save incorporated this high quality Seaqual yarn into several of their new beds.

“It has a fantastic story driven by the layer of fabric we are using, made from upcycled plastic. The plastic is upcycled into pea-sized ball bearings, and can then be used in all sorts of textile products. Seaqual is one of the world’s most known and innovative sustainable brands, helping

to fight marine plastic pollution. Many wellknown global brands use Seaqual in their products and we are very proud to bring it to NZ.” Norman says they were blown away by the uptake, and have observed a shift towards conscious buying. By this, he means people using their money to make an active decision to choose products that are sustainable, and therefore kinder to the environment.

Secondly, the owners of Big Save have a relationship with the Ramsden family, who farm at Akitio. They were talking about the fact that shearing sheep had become more costly than the price achieved from selling the wool.

“It had become a cost, driven by the welfare of the animal. In talking to Hugh (Ramsden) and others, we soon realised that this was a real problem for NZ farmers and their families.”

Norman had no prior knowledge of the wool industry but assumed Merino, which has been well promoted and incorporated into clothing particularly, covered all of the wool in NZ. He soon learned strong wool forms a massive part of the country’s wool clip, and that prices were at rock bottom.

Norman wondered what Big Save could do to help, and decided it was time for Big Save to go back in history and start using more natural and sustainable products again, while at the same time helping the NZ farmer, and play their part in impacting the strong wool price.

It’s been a boots and all approach for the Kiwi retailer, which is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to embracing wool.

Making it viable for everyone He says they have had some meetings with Wool Works (Napier based woolscour. There are a lot of great ideas in the wool industry, a lot of push, but they needed interest at the retail level.

“We thought, we can use wool in our furniture – let’s just figure out how.”

It was important that incorporating wool was viable, for both the farmer and the company.

“We asked, what do we need to pay the farmer so he can shear his sheep so it’s not a deficit?

Norman asked how they could reduce the

33

The Akitio lounge suite was launched just before Christmas last year.

supply chain, have the product scoured and manufactured, and then looked at what the market price would be for the product, and it worked.

It was a quick turnaround, from the initial conversations in June last year to launching the Akitio lounge suite just before Christmas. Working with Auckland manufacturer EJP they have created a range of wool options for the lounge suite, from the foam cushions wrapped in wool to choosing to have the entire suite covered in 100% wool fabric.

Norman says sustainable products have a real place in the market and wool ticks many boxes.

“Everything we discovered about wool was a massive benefit to furniture .”

It was biodegradable, hypoallergenic, fire retardant, the list goes on. The piece of furniture has to be good, and it does work.

“The wool has a great impact on the product and a great story as well.”

The company has plans to introduce wool into more products, while keeping the supply chain tight and drawing a line in the sand for the buying price at the farm gate.

A new wool bedding range is due in store in coming months, which features wool insulation layers, and they are investigating foot stools and floor cushions too.

“It’s about tweaking the furniture, taking something out and putting something wool in. We’re looking at how we can change our whole range to incorporate wool, so it becomes standard.

How can they make an impact on the strong wool price?

“We’re always trying to come back to that.”

34

Norman says this move has been driven by the Big Save family. It was a family and company decision and everyone has bought into it.

Commitment to farmer suppliers While Big Save is a large retailer, it can’t take the country’s entire strong wool clip.

Unsurprisingly, there is no shortage of farmers who are keen to supply them.

Their commitment to farmer suppliers is $4.50/kg of strong wool.

“If that goes up, great. “ Norman says they talked to people to gauge if that is a fair price, while allowing us to make a sustainable product.

“We wanted to put a number on it, and we’re proud of it.”

Working with the group of local farmers who initially highlighted the wool problem to them, Big Save is utilising their wool clip.

Norman says they have enough wool to work on the products in the pipeline until the end of the year.

Working directly with the farmers adds the element of single-source traceability, being able to market a product and pinpoint exactly where the wool came from.

He believes farmers are interested in where their wool goes once it leaves the farm, and what it’s used for, too.

“We are lucky there’s lots of people putting their hand up and wanting to be part of it. We have forecast what we will need, and know where that will come from.”

He says Big Save isn’t the only retailer working the wool space, but it is great to get positive feedback and support from the farming community.

Above: Big Save has committed to paying its farmer suppliers $4.50/kg for any strong wool. Left: Dan Norman, National Buyer for Big Save Furniture.

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August 2021

“We asked, what do we need to pay the farmer so he can shear his sheep so it’s not a deficit?”

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August 2021

He hopes the quantity of wool they use will increase over time, and says they want to be more than a small drop in the ocean. He hopes Big Save’s actions may act as a catalyst for other businesses who are interested in using wool, too.

“Having the farming community aware there are big retailers trying to make an impact and utilise wool in a positive way to impact that wool price, that might help farmers stick with wool and that’s a message we’d love to get out there. We will get there with the volume (of wool), but it’s a process.”

Norman qualifies that the wool project is still in its infancy, but so far the response

from consumers has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Our New Zealand made wool lounge suites are cranking.”

He says people ask for them by name, which is exciting for them to see the awareness of their wool furniture range, and that there is demand out there for quality NZ-made furniture. Consumer decisions are now looking at many different factors when making a furniture buying decision, especially looking at how sustainable a product is, and how it impacts at home and far away. From our local community to the world, we all have to do our bit.

“A lot of people talk about doing

35

something. We wanted to do something, and do it quickly. We want to keep the momentum up and get products out there, not just talk about it.”

Becoming farmers too

The company says it has noticed a consumer trend towards conscious buying, particularly how sustainable a product is.

36

Not content with just incorporating wool into its products, the family has gone a step further, getting some skin in the game.

Big Save bought four farms in the last year, all located in Akitio, southern Hawke’s Bay, totalling about 3000 hectares.

The farms are focused on sheep and beef farming.

Norman says part of their buying decision-making process when researching to buy farms was they believe in learning and being involved in any business units from the ground up.

“There is no point in us telling farmers what to do, or what we need, if we’re coming from an uneducated position.”

They believe with the right use of technology and the right mix of traditional farming methods, the strong wool industry

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will prosper and wool will return to being a high yielding income stream for farms.

Norman says buying its own farms shows the company is totally committed to what it is doing with NZ strong wool.

Campaign for Wool (CFW) chairman and farmer, Tom O’Sullivan says getting commercial entities on board is the key to reviving the dying strong wool industry and Big Save is a shining light, The CFW is a global trust, launched in 2010, with a mandate of education and awareness. O’Sullivan says CFW has been in talks with Big Save for about eight months, supporting and promoting what they are doing, and providing any help possible to smooth the way.

He says Big Save is an early adopter.

It has gone in boots and all, which is pretty courageous. It’s a good signal that a proactive, successful company is getting into strong wool.

He hopes it will be followed by a number of other companies.

“If that’s true, and I believe it is, the

Left: Farmer supplier Hugh Ramsden and Big Save Furniture’s Lily Salter on farm.

“Our New Zealand made wool lounge suites are cranking.” future for wool is bright.”

O’Sullivan says CFW is talking to other retailers who are interested in incorporating wool into their products too.

He says there is a great opportunity to recapture market share for carpets and rugs (strong wool has sunk to about 10% of the market) and points to Bremworth, who announced last year it would ditch synthetic fibres in favour of pure wool carpets. However, what is really needed is a suite of strong wool products for the home and office environment.

He says commercial entities are the key and give him hope.

We back everyone, but those bigger entities are the ones who could really move the dial and move volume.”

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Despite many farmers writing wool off as a lost cause, O’Sullivan says he actually feels optimistic because the industry has reached such a do or die point that action will be forced.

Last year on O’Sullivan’s farm it was nearly $27,000 net cost to shear the sheep.

He says if something isn’t done there’s the potential that wool could be lost to forestry, other changing land use or shedding sheep.

“Farmers are not going to carry on with this for much longer because we’re all losing a lot of money.”

Like Norman, O’Sullivan agrees climate change and the ground swell from consumers can play into wool’s hands.

“Globally, people want to know what’s in their products – wool is perfect.”

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COVER STORY

I S O L A T I O N B R E E D S R E S I L I E N C E

Makowhai Station near Ngamatapouri, Taranaki, is the hub of the Matthews’ Settlers Honey empire but the focus is on improving the profitability of its beef and sheep operations.

Story: Russell Priest Photos: Brad Hanson

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R

emote Makowhai Station near Ngamatapouri at the top of the Waitotara Valley in southern Taranaki could be described as the closest thing to a South Island high country station in the North Island.

At the end of the longest no exit road in NZ that winds its way through some exceptionally rugged country while following the Waitotara River, Makowhai rises from the valley floor to a sub-alpine environment nearly 600m above sea level.

Stock on the station need to be tough to survive. They compete for the predominantly native pastures with fallow deer and feral pigs. In the warmer months they are challenged by flies, internal parasites and facial eczema.

Makowhai is also the hub of the Matthews’ Settlers Honey empire established in 2012 by Henry Matthews as

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a diversification on his 10,200ha station.

It was to take advantage of the nectar and pollen produced by the large areas of manuka and natives. Extracting nectar mainly from flowers of kamahi, rewarewa, rata and manuka, Settlers Honey’s bees produce a blend of honey known as native bush honey as well as high grade manuka honey for medicinal use.

The station has honey marshalling and storage facilities, and its own honey extraction plant (which also extracts honey for other beekeepers). The business employs 50 staff, many of whom are keen rugby players who play for the local Ngamatapouri rugby club. The facilities also boast a gym to keep both staff and the boss (Henry), who at the age of 47 is a keen and active rugby player, fit for both rugby and the physically demanding beekeeping job.

Settlers Honey hives are found on both the west and east coasts of the North Island as far north as Opotiki.

North Taranaki born 33-year-old rugby enthusiast Zane Neill manages the 5200ha effective station with assistance from two full-time shepherds (Hsher Hutchings and Mikaere Matthews) and a block manager (Hamish Harper) on three finishing farms near Stratford. Zane whose previous job was stock manager on Nukuhakari Station on the west coast of southern King Country and who has always worked on large stations admits the ruggedness of the country on Makowhai, its microclimate favouring flies, worms and facial eczema and its high rainfall certainly tests his management skills. But he has nothing but praise for his boss, Henry Matthews and his management style.

“He just leaves me to farm it as if it were my own,” Zane said. “I don’t get much sleep working 100 hours most weeks but I love it.”

Zane is buzzing with excitement over his new challenge and relishes the management

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Above: Makowhai Station is near Ngamatapouri at the top of the Waitotara Valley in Taranaki. Right: Makowhai Station manager Zane Neill.

freedom Henry has given him. The station has historically operated with a low cost structure generating average levels of production. He believes it has considerable untapped potential and intends to release this by targeting high return areas of expenditure.

“One could really turn this place on its head by throwing some money at it. That’s why I’m here I suppose.”

Because of its remoteness it’s hard to get shepherds to work up the valley and partly explains why the operation is significantly understaffed. While Zane admits he would like to have three more shepherds he does have ready access to excellent casual workers when required.

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Makowhai’s 1500ha home block with 10% of its area cultivable is where most of the lamb finishing occurs. It is where the 900 six-year, 1300 B-flock and 900 fiveyear ewes are lambed and the first calving heifers are calved. Further up the hill, at its summit and separated from the home block by a significant area of native bush, is a large 2100ha pastoral basin with a remote woolshed at the extreme end about 7km from the main woolshed. This is home to most of the Romney replacement-generating flock and Angus cow herd. At just under 600m asl, it is subject to some relatively cool temperatures and even the odd dusting of snow in contrast to the at times tropical environment in the Waitotara Valley.

FARM FACTS • 10,200ha (5200ha in grass) Makowhai Station.

• Owned by Henry Matthews and family.

• An extensive sheep and beef WAITOTARA breeding and finishing business.

• Also features a major honey producing business (Settlers Honey).

• Produces high-grade Manuka and native bush honey.

Continues

››

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The rough 4000ha block down the road is divided into just five paddocks and runs 3500 Perendale ewes. Three recently acquired farms totalling 600ha near Stratford will be used for finishing weaners from the home block and 640 trading cattle.

They used to sell the best weaner steers and retaining the lesser ones which meant the latter had to remain on the station for at least three winters before being finished.

This proved to be unviable.

Focus quality over quantity During the last three years under Zane’s management Makowhai has experienced some significant changes. New cattle and sheep genetics have been introduced to focus more on quality rather than quantity.

With the three Stratford finishing blocks added to the business, Kane’s cattle focus has turned to breeding cattle for the AngusPure programme.

“AngusPure’s the first beef people go for in the supermarket and it’s not because there’s anything wrong with beef from other breeds. It’s all about marketing.”

With the cow herd when he took over lacking the quality he was looking for Zane entered the market and bought some quality Angus bulls costing between $5000-$6000

“It’s a bit of a balancing act and I tend to lean more towards the breeding side and let the finishing side take care of itself.”

Settlers Honey bees produce native bush honey as well as high grade manuka honey for medicinal use. Photos supplied.

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and 109 purebred Angus in-calf heifers at $1350 from the Hayward’s Twin Oak Angus stud at Te Akau. The latter were bought to speed up the herd upgrading process.

“There’s no reason why we can’t achieve what the more intensive stations are doing with the right genetics.”

The bulls were bought from the Angus Studs of the Laing family (Sudeley) at Little River and the Bailey family (Waitangi) from Northland. With firm ideas about the type of Angus he wants to breed, Zane looks for bulls that are more compact and deep bodied as opposed to more rangy types.

“You can’t get too carried away with size on this country ‘cos those tall rangy types just won’t hack it.”

When considering the genetics Zane admits on the one hand he is looking for a bull that will sire progeny with rapid growth to 18 months with good finishing

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Rugby league and union fans (left to right) Mikaere Matthews (shepherd), Zane Neill (manager) and Hsher Hutchings (shepherd).

characteristics. At the same time it must produce females that will get in calf easily and deliver a good calf without assistance each year for a number of years. Often all these characteristics are difficult to find in a single bull.

‘It’s a bit of a balancing act and I tend to lean more towards the breeding side and let the finishing side take care of itself.”

To make it easier making genetic selections, Zane uses the Angus selfreplacing index to rank bulls on their ability to generate profit in a self-replacing herd, where finishing of all male and some female progeny is practised.

Weaners will no longer be sold under the new regime with the steer calves being wintered twice on the Stratford blocks before being finished for the programme.

The 640 trading cattle will be taken through one winter.

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”We may even leave 50 of the better male calves entire and sell them as service bulls into the dairy industry.”

Zane also believes the bulls can act as a safety valve if feed gets short as they can be killed at any time once they reach 300kg LW. Makowhai’s MA cows start calving among ewes and lambs in early November (bull-out date January 20 for three cycles) onto the spring flush after spending the winter set stocked among the ewes over the steep hill country at a combined stocking rate of 6su/ ha.

“Cows thrive on the roughage and do a good job cleaning up.”

Cows losing their footing on the steep hills is not generally a problem however Zane does admit he avoids running cows in certain paddocks which historically have been cow killers.

The first-calving R3 heifers get it easy being set stocked for winter on the more gentle-contoured country at the front of the station where they also calve among ewes and lambs.

“We keep them handy so that we can keep an eye on them but we’ve only ever had to calve one. Calving cows is the last thing you want to be doing at this time of the year when there’s heaps of other stuff to do.”

Zane’s philosophical about the herd’s calving performance which sits at about 80% (10% dries and 10% calf losses) and admits it’s not easy on steep hill country keeping the calf losses down.

“We lose a few on the hills but that’s the way it is on steep hill country.”

Dry and wet-dry cows are culled. Cow numbers will increase from 400 to 450 next year. Remaining on the hills until early

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Opposite page: Zane Neill is working 100 hours a week but loves his role. Left: The last of the finishing lambs.

Below: Angus cows and calves before weaning.

STOCK • Running 10,700 ewes, 1600 ewe hoggets, 340 rams.

• 400 breeding cows, 160 R2 heifers, 320 R1 heifers and steers, 640 trading cattle and 15 bulls.

April the cows and calves are mustered down onto the easier country where weaning takes place. Average weaning weight for the calves is 190kg.

The steer and bull calves will now be trucked off to the Stratford finishing blocks at weaning, Heifer calves will be weaned onto the easier country on the home block before being break fed on brassicas (last year regrowth Raphno) supplemented with hay and balage from the end of June until the second week August.

Replacement heifers are selected on temperament, soundness, size and appearance (phenotype).

“They must look as though they are capable of producing a good calf.”

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Trialling new sheep genetics The 10,700 ewe flock increasing to at least 11,000 next year is the powerhouse of the business and has to overcome some significant challenges like facial eczema (FE) and flystrike.

Consisting of 5000 Romney ewes, 3500 Perendale ewes, 1300 B-flock ewes and 900 six-year ewes the flock produces about 13,000 lambs. About 5000 of which are finished on the station, 1100 are sold at foot with their mothers and the rest are sold store.

Milk lambs are normally killed at 18kg with later lambs weighing between 1717.5kg.

“We’ll kill them down to 15kg if the

pressure comes on or if the money is right.”

Zane’s objective is to finish as many lambs as possible on the station explaining that this gives him the opportunity to get some valuable feedback on the lambs being produced.

When possible ewes are flushed after spending the summer rotating over the hill country.

“One of the advantages of having large paddocks out the back is that a mob can stay in one paddock for up to two weeks without having to be shifted.”

Ewes are stagger mated to even out the peak workload at docking allowing staff to catch their breath and get other important jobs done like sowing finishing crops.

First to be mated are the 900 6yr ewes and 1300 B-flock ewes on March 5 to Polsons’ Lamb Supreme terminal sires. The station used these for the first time last year (another one of Zane’s initiatives).

“I select long rams with plenty of meat and good early growth.”

Scanning 145% and docking 125% some of the early-lambing 6-yr ewes provide much needed early cash flow for the business. Those with twin lambs are sold in early September as ewes with lambs at foot and have averaged $110 all counted the last two seasons. Those ewes with singles are retained and killed along with most of their lambs in mid/end November.

Progeny from the B-flock ewes which include wet dries from the two main breeding flocks are finished on the station.

If any of these ewes are wet-dry again they are culled.

On March 20, the 900 five-year Romney ewes are mated to Romney rams on the home block and the 3500 Perendale ewes on the 4000ha block down the road go to Perendale rams towards the end of March.

Finally the main Romney breeding flock of 4100 ewes are mated on April 4. Mating

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takes place on the 2100ha basin block (later country) at the back of the main farm.

Another of Kane’s initiatives last year was to trial a different source of Romney genetics having previously bought them from Trevor Johnson (Paparata Romneys).

Ross and Wendy Humphries Brookfield Romney rams were used with immediate success (a 7% scanning improvement).

Kane has also bought a small flock of stud Romdale ewes with a view to breeding rams to improve mobility on the hills.

Eczema tolerance and fecundity are the two most important genetic traits Zane looks for in selecting the Romney rams while phenotypically they must be structurally sound with a moderate frame and strong constitution.

Ram-to-ewe ratios are 1 to 110 topped up with selected ram lambs giving an overall ratio of 1 to 80. Rams stay out for three cycles. Ewes are scanned and any dries are

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culled. Last year the maternal ewes scanned 133% and docked 120% however the terrain they are lambed on is far steeper than that lambed on by the five and six-year and B-flock ewes. Lambs from the latter three groups of ewes are docked in the yards at the main woolshed using a laneway system for ease of stock movement to and from their paddocks.

Docking in the basin block where paddock size averages over 100ha generally takes a week to complete with the docking team being accommodated in the shearers’ quarters at the back woolshed for the duration.

“It’s a big week and the boys and dogs are buggered at the end of it but we have a lot of fun.”

Terminal male lambs are left entire while Romney and Perendale ram lambs are turned into cryptorchids.

Being an extensive operation means

set stocking is the norm rather than the exception. Ewes are set stocked over the winter at 6su/ha (includes cows) but this is dependent upon the presence of feral animals and the weather.

“It’s hard to keep track of the grass but you do what you can. It’s not unusual to count 30-40 fallow deer in a paddock you’ve set stocked with 100 ewes.”

Pre-lamb shearing starts in early June.

Ewes are set stocked for lambing in early July after receiving a Centrax drench capsule (abamectin + albendazole) and a Clomax liver fluke and Barbers pole drench.

Perendale ewes get shorn at the end of November, ewes on the home block and out the back in December together with their lambs (to avoid bidibidi) while lambs on the home block are shorn in January. The total shearing bill is $170,000.

Freshly weaned and shorn lambs from the basin (back) block present the shepherds

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“It’s not unusual to count 30-40 fAllow deer in a paddock you’ve set-stocked with 100 ewes.”

with a taxing challenge as they are moved forward to the home block. This entails going through a significant area of native bush which separates the two blocks via a steep, narrow and at times slippery track. Lambs often scatter into the bush although most of them are recovered at a later date.

Ewe lambs spend two drench cycles (52 days) on the home block before being returned to the basin block where they remain for as long as the feed holds up. Being such a large operation gives Kane the scope to move stock to where the feed is. For instance it owns a 1200ha block (lease expires June 20, 2021) behind the Whangamomona pub with a woolshed where potentially the ewe lambs can be relocated.

Weight and price rundown

Left: Large areas of hill country are burnt to remove unwanted vegetation.

Below: Ready to work.

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Steers are finished at 510-520kg. About 220 steers are sold store at 420-440kg. The bull calves are used as a trigger option so any over 320kg are killed. Lambs off mum are killed at 18kg CW plus and then during the season over 17kg (42kg plus LW). Twin six-year old ewes are sold lamb-at-foot early on in the season depending on the market. They are kept if under $100. They normally get anywhere between $110-120, good early income. The fertiliser budget is next to none with no capital going on. Fertiliser is only used in cropping that’s why there’s a lot of summer crops.

Animal health is the biggest outlay at about $100,000 plus. Farm working expenses are about $90,000 including dog food etc.

Crops vital for lamb-finishing Crops of raphanobrassica (10.5ha) and chicory and clover (25ha) are a vital part of the lambfinishing programme. Sown for the first time last year the raphno was grazed five times while finishing 1000 lambs. In mid-April it was shut up and fertilised with 200kg/ha DAP producing 9500kg DM regrowth by the end of June. This provided valuable winter feed for the R1 heifers. This year’s crop was not a great success being swamped with weeds because it was too wet to get the tractor onto the paddock to spray it.

Stands of chicory and clover last for two years before being returned to young grass.

Soils in the Waitotara Valley are a mixture of older sedimentary (sandstone and mudstone) and more recent volcanic. The latter are perched on the easier country where they have not been subjected to the same degree of erosion caused by the 2000mm annual rainfall.

During the 2004 floods the valley suffered severe erosion closing the road for several months.

“If it’s dry on Makowhai it’s definitely a drought everywhere else.”

Fog often settles in the floor of the valley making it difficult to get sheep dry and frosts of -4 degrees C have been recorded.

Flies are an ever-present threat during the warmer months in the station’s extremely humid environment so sheep have to be dipped 4-5 times during a season to prevent flystrike.

Makowhai has a poor history of fertiliser application with none having been applied to the hills since Kane has been there. This is one area Zane intends to address and is working with his fertiliser rep to establish a fertiliser programme which he hopes will be approved.

Farms up the Waitotara Valley including Makowhai have a tradition of dealing with regrowth vegetation (mainly Manuka) and native grasses on extensive hill country by spraying off large areas in the late spring. A chopper is used and the burning is in January/ February when conditions are favourable. A chopper is generally used again to ignite and back burn the sprayed area and also to apply seed and fertiliser to the burnt area. Micro NP 4-30 fertiliser at 12.5kg/ha is applied along with a seed mix of ryegrass, cocksfoot, red, white and sub clover.

The cost of this exercise is in excess of $500/ha and has to be repeated about every seven years. Native grasses start returning to the treated area after about three years but considering the basin area on Makowhai where this practice is used hasn’t seen fertiliser for 30 years it is not surprising.

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LIVESTOCK

Stock check

decisions that have long term negative consequences. Even if the investment in those products will give a very uncertain economic return.

This whole topic was prominent at a veterinarian’s conference this month. It was my first attendance at such for many years and I heard more about this onslaught of multiple drench resistance. A big topic for another day. Two presentations caught my interest because of what I see as some of the challenges ahead for livestock farmers.

Animal care standard

Not shearing ewes in the winter can have some major animal welfare consequences.

Ewes need to have flex BY: TREVOR COOK

I

was having a long conversation with a hill country farmer recently and challenged him on his plan to treat his whole flock with one of the persistent acting anthelmintics.

Which one was yet to be decided on.

A capsule or an injection? I asked how he was off for feed and he replied, very comfortable. So the likelihood of running out was low. How did the ewes look, I asked. Great. They have just scanned 182%, the highest for many years. What was concerning me was that I knew that the farm had a reasonably high level of drench resistance. Triples were the only option left outside the new actives. I tactfully tried to suggest that maybe he did not need to treat the whole flock. They probably did not need it, and such an action would take the farm just one more step towards more resistance.

The reply caught me out when he said that the neighbouring farm had just been sold into trees. He expected his farm to be in the not too distant future so why worry about a worsening drench resistance status?

I suggested that this wholesale conversion of good farms into tree farming might not last and his ultimate buyer could be another farmer. That buyer might not pay as much if the drench resistance status was bad. Not that many, if any, farm sales have been

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upset by the buyer knowing of the poor resistance status. What surprised me was the defeatist sentiment.

Surely the growing evidence that trees are not going to save the world, and the latest utterance from the IPCC reiterating that methane is not the devil that it is being portrayed as, and lowering it at the expense of food production was never their advice, why are we still being incentivised to put in 1000’s of hectares of more trees.

In the whole argument, the loss of export earnings from that conversion is not even mentioned.

“The prospect of more or bigger lambs, and so more value, is driving decisions that have long term negative consequences.”

It is interesting though that the decision by the farmer above to use those prelamb products is an increasingly common one now that such good lamb prices are being predicted. The prospect of more or bigger lambs, and so more value, is driving

In one of these presentations the concept of sentience was described and was one that I had heard little about before. Sentience is the capacity to be aware of feelings and sensations, and its relevance here was its application to animals. The implication was that future animal welfare codes will or could take more account of animal “feelings”. I can see this with my dogs but am not sure how I would apply that to my cattle. Please and thank you might be on the cards in the yards. The expectation of higher animal welfare standards in our livestock is happening, whether it is more shade or making them happier.

Another presentation was from our leading animal care society which is promoting an animal care standard that a farm could be certified to have. Most of it was common sense and is what farmers do to keep their animals safe. A requirement that has surfaced before and is applied in other parts of the world is about stock going to the closest slaughter facility. It is a logistical nightmare but some niche meat marketers have used this as one of their points of difference.

However, the animal care standard also contained requirements that showed a lack of knowledge. To maintain the body condition of our breeding females in the upper quintile forgets that they are ruminants and one of the important changes that they use to survive is to flex their condition. Which means some time outside of that quintile. To feed them to not have this flex is unprofitable and makes them less robust. Similarly, not shearing ewes in the winter can have some major animal welfare consequences. It can be done safely. To have credibility such standards need to be based on science and practical experience.

The challenges accumulate but the focus needs to remain on making our farms efficient, productive and profitable. They give the buffer.

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LIVESTOCK

Onfarm

Growing for scale After years of development, Shaun and Kate Carter are cashing in on the expansion at their Mangaotaki farm in the King Country. Mike Bland reports.

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A

fter 10 years of expansion and development on their King Country farm, Shaun and Kate Carter are beginning to reap the benefits of increased scale.

The Carters farm 950ha (effective) across five blocks of owned and leased land, including the 471ha home farm at Mangaotaki, west of Piopio, and 275ha on Tikitiki Road, 12km southeast of Piopio.

The three lease blocks, totalling 188ha, are situated near Mangaotaki.

Shaun says the operation’s expansion over the past 10 years was part of a longterm plan.

Scale and diversity allows the operation to capitalise on good years and balance

out bad ones, he says.

While he is not writing off buying any more land, he says future investments are more likely to be off-farm for diversification reasons.

The past few years of farming have been challenging due to dry summers.

Shaun also suffered a couple of injuries, including a ruptured Achilles tendon which left him in a moon boot for months.

“But the growth in scale has given us the ability to step away from daily farm jobs. I’m still learning to let go of stuff, but I was at the point where I wanted to spend more time with the kids and the injury taught me that with the systems we have in place now, I can get away from the

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Above: Shaun and Kate Carter. Left: With ewes in excellent condition during autumn, the Carters are expecting a great lambing result this season if weather conditions are favourable.

FARM FACTS • Piopio, King Country • Farming 1000ha, 950ha effective • Mangaotaki farm, 503ha • Tikitiki farm, 300ha • Leasing 188ha effective • Wintering 11,000 stock units • Finishing bulls, heifers and lambs • Development funded from cashflow

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farm and it can be managed without me.”

Originally 260ha, the Mangaotaki farm was settled by Shaun’s grandfather, a returned serviceman, in 1943. Shaun’s parents John and Jude started taking over ownership in the 1970s and added more land to the farm. It now comprises 137ha of flat to easy country, 300ha medium hill and 42ha steep hill.

Wintering sheep and beef The operation winters about 11,000 stock units, including 5000 mixed-age ewes and two-tooths plus 138 Angus and South Devon cows. The farming partnership finishes lambs, bulls, steers, and heifers and, up until last year, also grazed dairy heifers.

At its peak the dairy grazing operation

reached 380 heifers, but numbers gradually dropped as the Carters built up their own capital stock.

Shaun says the dairy heifers provided good cashflow but their status as priority stock meant sheep performance suffered, especially after a run of dry summers.

Dairy grazers were replaced by extra bulls and steers and, more recently, once-bred beef heifers.

In 2020/21 the business finished 530 bulls, about 80 of which came from the Carter’s beef herd. The rest were Friesian bulls bought as 100kg weaners.

Most are farmed on the Mangaotaki and Tikitiki blocks, which are better suited to intensive grazing.

About 30% of the Friesians bought last season were autumn-born but this will increase to about 70% this season.

Kate says while autumn-born Friesians are more expensive, they are a better fit for the farm’s feed curve.

About 80% of R2 bulls are sold before January 20 at 270-280kg carcaseweight (CW).

This season the Carters also carried 65 steers. Thirty were sold in January at 14-months of age as conditions started to

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dry out. The rest will be finished at 280320kg CW by the end of December.

Steer numbers will increase to 165 this year. Steer margins have been variable in recent years but Kate says they offer more flexibility than bulls.

“It’s easy to sell steers if feed gets short.

They are also ideal for cleaning up pasture.”

The Mangaotaki farm is neighboured by a stud farm and dairying, so the Carters try to keep bulls away from the boundaries, grazing steers, cows or sheep there instead.

It’s split into almost 200 paddocks with reticulated water to each paddock.

Shaun says a significant investment has been made in subdivision, water reticulation and farm access over the past 10 years. A new all-weather airstrip was constructed after the Covid-19 lockdown and a set of cattleyards is due for completion in June.

About 15ha of pines has been harvested in recent years. These trees have generated strong returns and some home-milled timber will be used in the construction of the yards.

“In hindsight, we should have planted 50ha but the land is too good for pine

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“It’s easy to sell steers if feed gets short. They are also ideal for cleaning up pasture.” plantation trees now,” says Shaun.

The Carters continue to retire and plant wetland and non-productive areas.

Their efforts to improve sustainability earned them the Beef + Lamb NZ livestock award in the 2017 Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards. In 2018 they also picked up the Silver Fern Farms’ Pasture To Plate award for the Western North Island.

Building drought resilience A once-bred heifer policy is a new venture for the business and part of a strategy to cope with drier summers. Shaun says after last year’s drought, the third dry summer in a row, he and Kate asked AgFirst consultant Bob Thomson to come up with some policy suggestions “that didn’t involve loading the farm up with 1000 bulls.”

Funded from cashflow Shaun farmed in partnership with his parents John and Jude in 2003. He and Australian-born Kate, a veterinarian, now own the home farm and all stock and plant. They also own a half share of the Tikitiki farm, with the other half owned by John and Jude.

The Carter Farming Partnership bought

the Tikitiki farm in 2005 and purchased another 100ha of adjoining land in 2018.

The 2005 purchase was part of an expansion plan begun after Shaun’s return. A farming career had always been a priority for the former rural banker and he considered it a privilege to manage the family farm.

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August 2021

Opposite page: Shaun and Kate with sons (from left) Lachie, Mac and Leo. Left: The Carters have grown their family farming business to 950ha effective.

Shaun liked the idea of once-bred heifers.

“I’m always keen to try new stuff, and we’d been doing it by default anyway because we’ve usually mated more heifers than we need.”

Last year 101 heifers, including 35 bought-in Hereford-Friesians, were synchronised and artificially inseminated with semen from leading Angus sires.

Shaun says AI gave them access to top genetics “without having to carry thousands of dollar’s worth of breeding bulls on the farm”.

Heifers were mated at a minimum of

“My goal was to be farming by the time I was 30 and Plan A was to accumulate as much personal wealth as possible. I didn’t want to come back and contribute nothing.”

His experience in rural banking also reinforced the importance of keeping debt at a manageable level. While expanding

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August 2021

340kg liveweight (LW) but only 44% successfully conceived to the fixed-term artificial insemination. Natural mating helped bring the in-calf rate up to 7374%, but Shaun says the results were disappointing given that the heifers were in great condition when they went to AI. He says there was no noticeable difference between the conception rates in the Angus, South Devon or Hereford-Friesian heifers.

“Normally we get 96% conception from our naturally mated heifers. For the past six years we’ve been using a double prostaglandin programme just before

the operation was important for its future viability, he says this could only be done if the debt loading could be comfortably carried by two families.

Since 2009 all development work has been funded from cashflow.

Kate’s veterinary work provides valuable off-farm income and she balances this with

mating to shorten calving spread.”

Kate says they were hoping for a 50-60% conception rate from fixed-term AI. She says heifer mating can be tricky because heifers are typically only in-heat for 12 hours. Other factors such as weather conditions and semen survivability can also affect successful conception.

“Next year we will try better with heat detection and give heifers a double prostaglandin shot eleven days apart to stimulate the bulk of the mob to cycle.”

Kate says AI has definite advantages for heifer mating.

Continues

››

the raising of their three boys - Lachie, 11, Leo, 10, and Mac, 9. Shaun’s father John, a keen flier who keeps his own plane on the farm, still works on the Mangaotaki block.

The Carters also employ two full-time staff – Nigel Keightley, who is responsible for the Tikitiki farm, and Lochie Griffin, who works alongside Shaun on Mangaotaki.

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August 2021

“It gives you the ability to select low-birth weight, fast-growth rate sires that are ideal for a once-bred heifer system.”

This season they plan to mate about 140 heifers, hoping to calve about 120.

Breeding cow numbers will be reduced and about 94 mixed-age cows will go to the bull. Shaun says the aim is to stabilise numbers at about 90 cows, aged R3 and up.

The breeding herd produces good calves, and the cows have played a key role in improving feed quality. But now that the farm is fully developed, other stock classes are more profitable.

“The cows have done their job breaking in gorse country on the lease blocks, so we will increase heifer numbers instead.”

Cattle country on the Mangaotaki and Tikitiki farms is split into 2ha paddocks using 4-wire electric fences.

“Four-wire fences give us more flexibility than a single wire,” says Shaun.

“It means we graze those paddocks with sheep, or mad station-bred steers if we need to.”

Kate says 4-wire fencing also gives better protection to the areas of native bush and wetland that have been retired.

Left: Shaun’s father John Carter still works on the farm. Below: These Friesian bulls are recent arrivals.

About 70% of bought-in bulls will be autumn-born this year.

Sheep to drop as cattle increase The Carters run a 50:50 sheep to cattle ratio but Shaun says sheep numbers are likely to reduce in future as cattle numbers rise. This will bring the ratio closer to 40:60.

Sheep have generated good returns over the past 10 years but Kate says costs associated with running sheep are higher due to animal health, shearing and labour requirements.

Ewes are a composite of Coopworth and Romney, and the number mated to terminal rams increased last year. About 1430 terminal-mated ewes were carried on the Tikitiki farm and 300 on Mangaotaki, which is home to the maternal flock of about 2100 mixed-age ewes.

Scanning consistently sits at 180 to 185%, and Shaun says they are targeting 190%.

Last year Mangaotaki ewes lambed at 148% (ewes to ram) and the Tikitiki ewes at 144%. About 1170 ewe hoggets were retained and 880 were mated at over 40kg, lambing at 100%.

With excellent feed cover on the Mangaotaki farm this autumn, Shaun is hoping to hit the 190% scanning target, which might equate to a lambing of over 150% for mixed-age ewes.

“That would be a great result, but it’s very weather dependent. I don’t think we’d want

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to push scanning any higher than 190%.”

Lambing on Tikitiki starts in mid-August and on the home farm two weeks later.

“We try to get weaning out of the way before Christmas because everything tends to shut down after that.”

Ten years ago the Carters were struggling to get 800 lambs away before Christmas but in recent years they have managed to finish 1500. The first draft of terminal lambs leaves the farm at about 17.6kg CW and surplus maternal lambs at 16.8kg CW. Shaun says lamb weights have become more consistent as genetics have improved.

Ewe condition going into winter has also lifted now that the dairy heifers have gone. The increased scale of the operation has allowed two-tooth ewes to be farmed separately from the main flock and very few weigh less than 65kg at mating.

Lambs are finished on a 12-15ha chicory crop and Kate says the crop “saved our bacon” over the past two years.

Lambs achieve growth rates of 250-300grams/day during the four weeks

they are on the crop.

“They love going into the chicory,” Shaun says.

“Taking land out for cropping is also a good way for us to control some of our spring surplus.”

Paradise ducks can be a problem, though, as they like the chicory as much as the lambs do. Shaun says a flock of 200 ducks can reduce a paddock to shoots in a matter of days.

“We send the boys down to scare them off, and we try to avoid planting the chicory anywhere near waterways.”

Poor wool returns are another factor driving the decision to reduce sheep numbers, but the Carters haven’t given up hope of a wool comeback. They won’t be switching to shedding breeds “unless they are proven in the region”.

Shaun says a lot of effort has gone into breeding for factors like facial eczema tolerance, carcase yield and feet, so any breed changes would have to be very carefully considered.

55

LIVESTOCK

Animal health

Managing a tight spring BY: BEN ALLOTT

I

n Canterbury, we had a tough autumn. The long summer carried through into a dry autumn with very little growth. Conditions remained warm but no moisture arrived to drive a flush of pasture growth nor to help drive winter crop yields. Rain didn’t arrive until temperatures were too cold to support much growth and then we received more rain in one weekend than we had in the last six months combined. On many farms, supplementary feed stocks have been heavily plundered through the winter and low pasture covers leading into the spring are concerning many.

We receive clear messaging about the link between pasture cover and animal

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performance e.g. don’t graze twin lambing ewes below 1200kg DM/ha. While these statements provide important ‘rules of thumb’, what I have found is that we have not cemented in our heads the far more important cost of low covers – that being it causes low pasture growth rates.

I don’t have a peer-reviewed reference for the graph shown, I got it from a local farm consultant presentation, but the story it tells holds up to what I have seen in the field. When pasture cover sits at 1500kg DM/ha it will grow as fast as the temperature, soil fertility, and soil moisture allow. When pasture cover drops to 1000kg DM/ha the rate under the exact same conditions is now less than 80% of maximum, and it rapidly drops off a cliff at covers below this.

The point of me raising this is to

highlight that eating into a pasture cover hole not only results in lower animal intakes but more importantly it limits your ability to recover in the spring because pasture growth rate remains so depressed that you cannot grow out of the deficit.

Every strategy you implement in a tight spring must focus on maintaining adequate pasture cover on the ground to allow your farm to grow once the conditions allow.

This may seem funny coming from a vet but the most important factor in making the most of the spring ahead of you is to focus on keeping pasture cover in a zone for high growth potential. In many cases this will see stock held on feed allocations that restrict their intake below what is known to be optimum. However, if you eat everything now you will have nothing to feed later and no growth to recover with.

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Interventions

“Every strategy you implement in a tight spring must focus on maintaining adequate pasture cover.”

• Explore buying in supplementary feed.

The type is going to depend on the infrastructure you have in place to store and feed it out, as well as your strategy on how you are going to use it. This bought in feed will be most effective if it is used in a way that builds pasture cover and increases pasture growth rates. Use supplements to feed-pad dry stock, or to keep pregnant animals on winter feed for as long as possible. Keep animals off pasture to allow it to build cover.

• Tighten allocations (get good, personalised advice here). Pregnant cows can often tolerate losing condition through the winter and dry stock can afford to have low growth rates until a feed surplus is achieved. While there will be a production cost, pregnant ewes can be tightened up to a point without causing catastrophe. You cannot afford to compromise in-lamb hoggets.

• Split ewes into lambing groups based on expected lambing. Hold later lambing ewes on tighter rations for longer. Ram harnesses at tupping, aged scanning, or bagging off are all available to help you

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Eating into a pasture cover hole not only lowers animal intakes but limits ability to recover in the spring.

with this although the opportunity may be largely gone already this season.

• Nitrogen fertiliser – discuss the likely cost-effectiveness of late winter nitrogen applications with your fertiliser adviser ASAP and develop a plan for getting the biggest bang for buck. Target early country aggressively to drive some pasture growth ahead of lambing ewes.

Ammonium sulphate is often discussed as a preferred nitrogen source at this time of year due to several factors: • Alongside nitrogen, ammonium sulphate also provides a solid hit of soluble sulphur at a time of year when sulphur deficiency is often limiting to pasture growth.

• Applying nitrogen as ammonium provides a plant-available form of nitrogen that will drive pasture growth at lower temperatures and therefore earlier in the season.

Rotational grazing My favourite tool is saved for last – rotational grazing of ewes with lambs at foot. This strategy applies to paddock country. It works best when paddocks are small and when ewes are going to lamb in a tight group so you can minimise the time they are set-stocked for lambing. In a tight year set-stock for as short a time as possible.

Four paddocks make one rotation cell.

Three to four days before starting the rotation empty one paddock and spread these ewes around the other three in the cell. This three to four day spell allows a

% of maximal growth rate achieved vs residual pasture mass (kg DM/ha) % of maximal pasture growth

There are a number of interventions that have probably already been made. I will quickly list some of them but no doubt most of you will have already explored these and either acted early or found the door closed on this strategy.

• Update the feed budget. Work out how big the hole is. Work out how much each stock class is consuming and how much feed they will need through the spring. Rank your stock classes in order of priority.

• Decrease stocking rate – look down the priority list and aggressively explore other options for lower priority stock. If you haven’t done so already, get your stock agent on the phone and look at options to exit or graze out – one-year ewes, inlamb hoggets, winter lambs, trade cattle.

You know better than me the challenges with finding a new home for stock at this time of year.

100 80 60 40 20 0 500

1000

1500

2000

Residual pasture mass (kg DM/ha)

% Max

pick to start in the first paddock. Start the rotation on this fresh pick and initially move ewes to a new paddock every second day. As cover builds start to extend the rotation out to continue building higher covers. Supplement can be fed out to help better feed ewes and to allow a longer rotation initially. For the first week or two you will feel it is pointless, it feels like you are shifting ewes on to nothing, and the ewes will tell you that as well. However, remind yourself every day that the ewes would be no better fed set-stocked but that every shift is allowing pasture to recover, allowing a higher residual to develop, and this will support faster pasture growth rates and an early recovery.

• Ben Allott is a North Canterbury veterinarian.

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LIVESTOCK

Profile

Rob and Jo Schrafft with some of their prize bulls in the background.

Learning something new Kaitaia couple Rob and Jo Schrafft say they are “juniors” at beef breeding but are determined to achieve better results through improved genetics. Glenys Christian reports.

R

ob and Jo Schrafft happily describe themselves as only learners at the farming game.

But the Kaitaia couple are already receiving top prices for their weaners and have big plans to further lift production of quality stock through improved genetics and pasture management.

Their calves were sold at the Tuakau saleyards south of Auckland in 2019 a

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drought year. They topped the weaner fairs late March, 2020 at Peria, inland from Kaitaia. Their heifers went to the Broadwood weaner sale. The bulls averaged 324kg and heifers 282kg. They retained their good weights through the summer due to good feeding.

Rob previously had a 100ha farm close to the Kaitaia town boundary towards Ahipara where he ran breeding cows and Charolais bulls, getting a taste of the farming life.

“I enjoyed that and so did my kids,” he said.

Three years ago he bought 75ha of land which he’d ridden through to a friend’s farm on the same road as his father’s. The appeal was instant not only for him but also his children and Jo, who lived only 1.5 kilometres away, but who he’d never met previously as a youngster.

“One of Rob’s best friends used to come to the farm to help me with the horses

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but he never did,” she said.

Jo’s parents, who were teachers, moved from Te Hapua in the Far North when she was six years old to their gorse-covered 130ha just three farms away, complete with a derelict house. The land was gradually cleared, bush areas put into Queen Elizabeth II Trust covenants and they ran a Red Poll stud, along with her mother, Gena, breeding and breaking in horses for local and overseas buyers. Sadly, she died in a tractor accident on the farm last year.

About 65 purebred Red Poll cows with calves are run, with some being registered.

While Rob and Jo’s first farm together wasn’t their first choice of property they started building a new home after approaching the owners of a neighbouring farm about the chances of buying land they’d owned for over 50 years.

“I wanted something that ticked all the boxes and this farm did that for me,” Rob said.

“But when I rang they said they didn’t want to sell. I thought I’d never be a farmer of any substance.”

On their new farm there was only a set of cattle yards, no fencing and a lot of bush areas complete with wild pigs that Rob and his son, Jayden, enjoy hunting together.

“Our plan was to run a few cows to pay the bills,” he said.

But three quarters of the way through building their new house their neighbours called, reversing their previous decision and asking if they would still like to buy their farm.

Red Poll heifers.

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The Schraffts are running 220 Angus, Red Poll and black whiteface cows incalf to Simmental bulls with 25 Red Poll heifers incalf to Red Poll bulls.

“Once you think you know everything it’s time to sell up and leave.”

“We asked each other how we could make it work,” he said.

The answer they came up with was to lease the 145ha, of which 90 percent is effective, for a year then settle with their funds boosted by income from cattle they grazed over that period.

“It was a busy 12 months,” Rob said.

Major development work was needed and Rob said there was a “massive” amount of fencing to do on the home farm and they had to put in 11 new dams.

On their new block there was an old milking shed but no water supply to troughs which were at least 40 years old.

Also a lot of electric fencing needed to be repaired.

Rob borrowed Jo’s father, Robin’s, fencing tools to get on with the first job enabling them to lease out some of the land so its kikuyu pastures could be grazed down for the first four months. That was the start of their close friendship with local Carrfields stock agent, Reuben Wright, who they found to be a wealth of advice and information on breeding. He was also able to help with the buying of their first 40 black whiteface breeding cows that they took through their first summer on the farm three years ago. Their herd started calving starting in July and lasting for eight weeks it felt more like 10 months, Rob said.

“It was a stressful time.”

Continues

››

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FARM FACTS • Rob and Jo Schrafft • Situated 5km south of Kaitaia in the Far North • 220ha running 220 Angus, Red Poll and black whiteface cows incalf to Simmental bulls with 25 Red Poll heifers incalf to Red Poll bull • Top prices achieved at the March Peria Weaner Fair • 12ha of chicory grown as insurance against summer drought • Extensive development work continuing on fencing, drainage and tracks • An additional 130ha running 65 Red Poll cows and calves along with 20 horses that Jo looks after at her parents’ farm just down the road from their own properties.

Fortunately Jo was able to be on hand more frequently, switching between the farms and matching up cows and their calves when needed.

Shift to Simmental bulls They then decided on Reuben’s advice to make the move to use Simmental bulls bought in from Wairoa’s Kerrah Simmentals over their Angus and black whitefaced cows last year, which they say was a big success.

“They’re very docile and we’re looking for ease of calving and good weaning weights,” Rob said.

Their plan is to do a lot more with buying in good genetics and that has kicked off this year with 25 of their Red Poll heifers in-calf to Red Poll bulls from Jo’s parents’ farm and 10 of their second-calvers going to Simmental bulls. She believes the Red Poll breed is misunderstood.

She says they are hardy cows and do well on the hill country.

“And we want to get the growth of the Simmentals in their progeny.”

In total they’ll calve 245 cows from July.

The cows are rotated around the farm in mobs of 60 with their good temperament due to them being handled just about every day. Rob is big on making sure they’re fed well especially when the bulls are out and credits this policy with the result of having only three empties this season. The calves are reared on their mothers with weighing on new scales carried out regularly. Some trading cattle are also bought in to graze for about four to five months.

“Running cows and calves is a big job which we underrated at the time,” Rob said.

“You do need good money or else you’d fatten them.”

About 12ha of chicory has been grown for the last two years with its drought resistance proving a winner. There’s 2000 small bales of hay made on the property along with 150 big bales of silage, with the latter used mainly for summer feed.

“It kept the calves in good nick and meant we didn’t stress over summer,” Rob said.

“We have dry summers and they’re getting drier. Last year was tough.”

Animal health has to be kept a close eye on with ticks being an issue and regular drenching and copper required. Their continuing improvement of the farm’s infrastructure includes planning for plenty of water and shade in all paddocks. They aim to keep their stocking rate on the lower side to keep herd health up whilst making further per animal production gains.

The Schraffts mulch their kikuyu predominant pastures after spreading annual grass seed on about half the farm where the cows will then graze. They own all their own gear but use contractors to ensure they’re surrounding themselves with good people and jobs get done when required.

There’s a range of soils on the farm from clay on the hills with a lot of limestone outcrops, to more fertile river flats. Soil tests have been carried out annually by Ballance with 40 tonnes of sulphur super going

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on. Some nitrogen will go on over winter, applied by a spreader towed behind their farm bike. The pH is from 5.9 to 6.5 and Olsen P 42.

Hard yakka Rob grew up just down the road from where they now farm, south of Kaitaia. As a boy he rode horses over much of the land they now own. He helped out on his father’s leased block of land, always enjoying working with animals. And his father, Robert senior, who still lives in the family home nearby, was quick to pass on his fencing skills to his son.

“I did all the hard jobs,” Rob said.

That involved splitting totara posts with an axe, reusing them as battens to save money where they could. Once his father added a piece of metal into the handle of the spade being used by his son in order to be able to hear when he’d stopped digging fence post holes rather than having to keep a close eye on him all the time.

Rob left school at 15 and started work at Carter Holt Harvey, moving up through a number of roles in the building industry.

He lived in Auckland for a while but, missing home, returned to Kaitaia and set up Northland Timber Company over 20 years ago. It supplies milled radiata pine for both the domestic and export markets, with overseas sales growing to such an extent that Rob was spending two weeks of every month away overseas on sales trips, regularly packing in seven meetings in three days while visiting Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and the South Pacific.

“I was a real control freak,” he said.

“The margins were so fine that if there was a mistake made it needed to be mine and I was happy with that responsibility.

Dad always said that if you look after the pennies the dollars will look after themselves.”

Eventing rider As a young girl Jo became an eventing rider, and in her early 20s took horses to the UK to compete in the off-season here as well as training horses to the top level of eventing and delivering them to international customers.

“It was lucrative but it was a lot of travelling,” she said.

She took part in trans-Tasman events representing NZ when she was younger and achieved her ambition by being named as a reserve for the Olympic Eventing team.

“To get to the Olympics was my main focus,” she said.

But deciding she needed a better balance

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Left: Jo Schrafft competing at the Clevedon Dressage competition in 2019 in South Auckland.

Below: One of the Schraffts’ rising four year old black white face cows with a Simmental calf.

in her life she opted not to compete in eventing any more but is still involved in dressage and show jumping.

“I’m learning about high level pure dressage too which is a real challenge,” she said.

“I just don’t enjoy competing so much.”

She has 18 horses still on her parents’ farm which she manages, along with two belonging to Holly, Rob’s daughter.

Head out on the highway Rob is quick to admit that time management is perhaps his biggest hurdle, when it comes to finding time for his business, the farm and his family.

“You need to take some time for yourself,” he said.

“When you’re out hunting there’s no phone ringing, emails or texts.”

A ride on his Harley Davidson motorcycle also allows him to get away from an issue to find the insight needed to come back and tackle it.

“We’re striving to become better farmers every year,” he said.

He says they are “juniors” at farming.

They are taking a snippet from what everyone says to make good decisions.

“Your questions are never too ignorant.

“Once you think you know everything it’s time to sell up and leave.”

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LIVESTOCK

Breeding

If a cow had a bull calf in one year, she was more likely to have one again next year.

Why a farm gets so many bull calves BY: RHIANNON HANDCOCK

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C

attle usually have one calf in each pregnancy, so is it the flip of a coin as to whether a cow produces a heifer or a bull calf? Or is there something else going on?

Let’s take a closer look into heifer-to-bull ratios to investigate why we sometimes get so many bull calves.

To do this we have combined the results of multiple studies to give a good overview on why some herds or years there are more bull or heifer calves.

Key points: • The sex of the previous calf was related to the new calf • Cows that had higher body condition score (BCS) at calving were more likely to have a heifer in their next calving • Cows may be more likely to have bull calves if the weather is better at mating Firstly, what determines if a calf is a bull or a heifer?

A cow will pass on one X chromosome to the calf. A bull will pass on either one X or one Y chromosome to the calf. This means that the calf will either have XX (two X chromosomes) or XY (one X and one Y chromosome). An XX calf is a heifer and an XY calf is a bull.

Usually a bull’s semen will be made up of X and Y. So there is a 50% chance of an XX (heifer calf) and a XY (bull calf).

There are a few factors related to influencing the sex of the calf.

These include: • Random chance • Sex of the previous calf • BCS • Climate.

Random chance Now if you have been farming for any amount of time you will know that it is not always half heifers and half bulls. Some years you will get more heifers than bulls or vice-versa.

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One of these reasons is simply random chance. If cow A is having a heifer, she doesn’t tell cow B to have a bull to keep the numbers even. Sometimes both cow A and cow B have heifers and other times they both have bulls. We can calculate the chance that these events happen. From these two cows as: • The chance of two heifers is 25% and 50%, (50% a heifer x 50% a heifer) • Chance of two bulls 25% (50% a bull x 50% a bull) • The chance of one heifer and one bull is 50% (50% a bull x 50% a heifer plus 50% a heifer x 50% a bull).

Now let’s take this to the herd level. If we have a 500 cow dairy farm we would expect that we would have 250 heifers and 250 bulls. But we might have 249 heifers

Figure 1

LESS

150

200

250

300

Number of heifer calves

is a very small chance that a farm will have 400 bulls and only 100 heifers (80% bulls, 20% heifers) or even 500 bulls and zero heifers.

For the first study (Roche et al. 2006) the number of bulls born was 52% and heifers was 48%. This is close to 50:50, but slightly favours bull calves. Taken over a 400 cow herd this would mean 208 bulls born and 192 heifers born (if we assume no twins).

The average percentage of bulls born is the secondary sex ratio (SSR), whereas the average percentage of bulls conceived is the primary sex ratio (PSR). It is very difficult to estimate the PSR, so the SSR is much more commonly recorded and reported.

Sex of the previous calf The authors found that if a cow had a bull calf in one year, she was more likely to have a bull calf the next year. Potentially there may be something going on in the cow that makes her more likely to either conceive a bull calf or to carry a bull calf to term.

BCS

250 heifers

MORE

Number of herds

“Potentially there may be something going on in the cow that makes her more likely to either conceive a bull calf or make her more likely to carry a bull calf to term.”

and 251 bulls or 248 and 252. Again we can calculate the chance of any of these combinations occurring. When we do this, we get a good picture of how many heifers we expect in a 500 cow herd.

Figure 1 is 1000 dairy farms with 500 cows each. The tip of the graph shows that most farms will have near 250 heifers. In fact we would expect 377 out of the 1000 farms to have between 245 and 255 heifer calves born. We would also expect that 311 lucky farms to have more than 255 heifers and 311 unlucky farms to have less than 245 heifers. Again this is random chance, and is similar to rolling a dice.

Based on this example, nearly all the farms will have between 216 and 284 heifers born in one year which works out between 43% and 57% heifers born. However, there

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Another factor identified was BCS at the previous calving. The cows with higher BCS at the previous calving were more likely to have heifer calves. Another study using the same dataset (Roche et al. 2006) put this down to cows with a high BCS at calving being more likely to experience a large drop in condition from calving to mating. This is compared with cows with a lower BCS at calving. Therefore it seemed more likely that it was the change in BCS from calving to conception that was affecting the chance of having a heifer or a bull calf.

There is a hypothesis called the “TriversWillard hypothesis”, that in mammals, the condition of the female around conception affects the probability of having a male or female offspring. Cows with greater BCS near mating would be more likely to have bull calves and cows. Those with a lower BCS at mating would be more likely to have heifer calves. This second study found a bull calf was more likely to be born from a cow that did not lose any BCS between calving and mating when compared with cows that lost BCS.

Climate Climate factors, such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, sunlight hours, and evaporation rate, were averaged for the week before conception for each cow.

Continues

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Figure 2 1.250 1.200 Odds Ratio

The graph (Figure 2) illustrates what is called the “odds ratio” for each of the climate factors. It shows that if the pink circle is higher than 1 (above the dashed line) then the factor was associated with more bull calves being born. If the pink circle is lower than 1 the factor was associated with more heifers born. If the pink circle was very near to 1 (the dashed line) then the factor had little to no association with a bull or heifer calf being born.

Figure 2 shows that a bull calf was more likely to be born following higher daily maximum or minimum temperature and greater evaporation about the time of mating.

Although the circles themselves are higher than 1 for sunlight hours and radiation, the error bars (pink lines on the graph) cover both above and below the dashed line. This means that with more sunlight hours or radiation, there was no change in the chance of the cow having a bull or a heifer calf.

Rainfall ranged from zero to 55 mm/ day and was grouped into 11 categories.

The authors found no association between rainfall the week before conception and the ratio of heifers to bulls born.

Potential reasons why cows may be more likely to have bull calves when the weather is better may go back to the “TriversWillard hypothesis” we mentioned before.

In spring, having higher daily temperatures (both the daily high and daily low) would be conditions that are favourable for good grass growth. So having good grass growth would lead to cows potentially being better fed leading to an increased chance of bull calves.

However, neither of these studies specifically measured and tested the grass growth in relation to having more bulls or heifer calves born, although it sounds like a sensible explanation.

Both of the studies were in dairy cattle, it is likely that there are similar influences on the sex of the calf in beef cattle as well, however I couldn’t find much when I searched the studies.

1.150 1.100 1.050 1.000 0.950 Max temp Min temp

Relative humidity

August 2021

Radiation Evaporation

The studies were in dairy cattle, but likely to be similar for beef cattle.

There were also factors identified that had little to no effect on the sex of the calf.

These included: • Breed of the cow • The year of conception • Lactation number (or parity) at conception It appears there are some cow and

Full Papers: Study 1: Roche, J. R., Lee, J. M., & Berry, D. P. (2006). Climatic factors and secondary sex ratio in dairy cows. Journal of dairy science, 89(8), 3221-3227.

Study 2: Roche, J. R., Lee, J. M., & Berry, D. P. (2006). Pre-conception energy balance and secondary sex ratio—partial support for the Trivers-Willard hypothesis in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, 89(6), 2119-2125.

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Sunlight hours

weather related things which influence the birth of a bull or heifer calf.

I don’t think these results are enough to make any changes to your farm system in a way to favour more heifer calves though.

Perhaps it is just to keep in mind at calving time if there is a big run of bull calves.

Something that can be done to change the percentage of heifer calves born would be to use sexed semen.

LIC has also written a post on a similar topic, and done a fun YouTube video.

• Published with permission from The AgriSciencer Visit the AgriSciencer website for full article - www.agrisciencer.com

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ETS

Accounting for GHG emissions Gisborne deer farmer and chartered accountant Charles Rau has crunched the numbers on GHG emissions at Matawai Deer Park. Lynda Gray reports.

Photos by Louise Savage.

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he estimated GHG emissions from the 995 deer at Matawai Deer Park are 557,200kg CO2e (carbon equivalents).

That’s according to the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) Excel GHG worksheet Charles Rau used to calculate the amount from deer, sheep and beef run on 810ha on the East Cape in the Raukumara Range between Gisborne and Opotiki.

Charles is a chartered accountant at BDO Gisborne with a special interest in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) consulting to over 100 clients nationwide. He’s also a committee member of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand Rural Advisory Group which is paying close attention to the developing GHG regulatory requirements from He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN).

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The HWEN target of having all farmers know their GHG emission number by the end of 2022 is very ambitious, Charles says.

However, he believes that farmers need to get on board and do it, if they don’t, they risk having the Government force farming into the ETS. “The end of 2022 will be here in no time so we have to get moving because the risk is that we’ll be priced and measured (for emissions) under the ETS which would be a disastrous outcome. The ETS is priced at the processor level and for fossil fuel based industries not methane and nitrous oxide based industries such as agriculture.”

He’s taken the lead by completing the GHG exercise, in the hope of getting other farmers to follow suit.

“I know from working with farmers that providing ‘proof of concept’ is very important and seeing is believing.”

The MfE worksheet* measures estimated CO2, CH4 and N2O and CO2 -e (carbon equivalents) emissions. The inputs are simple and basic: number of stock (by type), kilograms of nitrogen fertiliser and lime/dolomite applied, and hectares of planted and natural forest area.

Underpinning the livestock calculations are estimated CO2 -e emissions of 573kg (deer), 1452kg (beef cattle), and 307kg for sheep.

The MPI worksheet produces blunt figures given that the classes of livestock such as weaners, hinds under the deer category can’t be defined. However, it was an easy starting point for Charles who says that the soon to be launched Beef + Lamb New Zealand calculator will take into account the different levels of emissions between age classes of livestock and movements of trading stock.

On the Rau’s farm there is 36ha

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Opposite page: Matawai Deer Park farmer Charles Rau with some of the plants ready for planting. Above: The Raus have increased the number of velvet stags. Below: Native shrubs ready for planting.

of natural and planted forest which sequestered an estimated 257,037kg CO2 -e. This amount comfortably offsets the 161,907kg CO2 -e. This figure is 5% of total onfarm GHG emissions which will be the levied percentage when the scheme is introduced in 2025.

The Raus are in the process of planting 10,000 native trees over 4ha on their deer farm. Riparian and wetland areas are getting planted with native species, and a steep erosion-prone block with poplar and willows underplanted with natives.

“The hardwoods (poplar and willow) will provide ground stability and sequester more carbon. They have a short lifespan so we have planted natives underneath and the area will eventually revert to native forest.”

He hopes other farmers will get trees in the ground before 2025, taking into

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account the most suitable species and sequestration options.

“B+LNZ are confident that most red meat farmers will be able to offset GHG emissions but now is an ideal opportunity to plan (for) new tree plantings.”

Catchment Funding The 4ha of new plantings are a win-win for the Raus, helping to stabilise erosion prone country while sequestering carbon to offset GHG emissions.

All of the tree planting, spraying and fencing costs were covered by a $1.4 million grant from the Te Uru Rakau erosion control fund to the Motu Catchment group, which includes the Raus and another 19 farming families.

“By fencing off streams and dams we had to put in a five kilometre reticulated water system at our own cost."

Continues

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What future do you want for rural communities?

Help us continue to fight against the conversion of productive sheep and beef farms into carbon farming. We can’t plant our way out of this!

Donate today at www.50shadesofgreen.co.nz

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L-R Charles Rau, Brendan Blight, Laurence Rau, and Alex Ferris.

The catchment group paid a local rural environmental specialist Lilian Harley of Allegrow to prepare the grant which included a catchment-wide erosion control, tree planting and fencing plan, and ecological assessment.

“Making a catchment grant application and engaging a professional to prepare the grant made it easy for us and the other farmers and it’s the approach I’d definitely recommend,” Charles says.

The only expense for the Raus was a new five kilometre reticulated water system.

“That was our own cost but I’m comfortable that over time it will pay for itself.”

Pioneer deer farmers The Rau family has a long connection with deer. Charles’ parents Laurence and Liz started farming deer soon after moving to Puketia Station on the East Cape in the late 1970s. Puketia now runs 12,000 stock units and is farmed by Charles’ brother Malcolm and sister-in-law Caroline.

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“I know from working with farmers that providing ‘proof of concept’ is very important and seeing is believing.”

Matawai Deer Park is a separate farm to Puketia. Charles and wife Jane bought the 254ha property off Laurence and Liz in 2007 and in 2014 bought another 148ha neighbouring farm plus another 37ha in Gisborne in 2015 to make a commercially viable deer farm.

The Raus have increased the velvet herd number over the last four years from 150 to 400.

“Velvet is a passion for us and we’re lucky that Dad invested in good clean velvet genetics. We want to increase the velvet herd to 500 and at the same time reduce the number of breeding hinds.”

The average velvet weight of 6kg has

dropped back with the increase in younger stags but Charles is confident of increasing that as the average age of stags increases and with some feeding changes.

“Our difficult time feed-wise is from August and September which is when we want to be pumping more feed into the stags. Haylage and nuts are fed but they’re also looking for higher protein feed options.”

In addition to Matawai Deer Park, the Raus have a nearby 405ha lease block where they run 1500 Romdale ewes, a small flock of stud ewes, and 100 Hereford breeding cows. They breed and buy in mostly Hereford bull calves which are grown out to supply the dairy service industry. The deer arm and lease block collectively run 8000 stock units managed by Alex Ferris and shepherd Brandon Bligh, with regular help from Laurence, and Charles at the weekends. * environment.govt.nz/publications/measuringemissions-emission-factors-workbook-2020/

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IRRIGATION

IRRIGATION S P E C I A L

The first of a two-part series looking at individual and community irrigation schemes. The benefits and problems, handling consents and new technology.

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Going underground Dripper irrigation below the surface has proven a viable option in dry years for Rangiora-based sheep and beef farmers Russell and Rose Rudd. Joanna Grigg reports.

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ou can’t see it but it’s seeping water into the roots of pastures.

Sub-surface irrigation involves burying a dripline in strips underground. Russell Rudd was familiar with the idea of dripper irrigation, having these flexible pipes strung along a wire through his Marlborough vineyard.

So when it came to irrigating a 11.5ha pasture block on his Rangiora farm, he decided to install it, buried 300mm below the surface and 1m apart.

“I was confident (the) dripline works as I’ve had it for years in the grapes.”

Russell and Rose Rudd farm 600 ha alongside the Ashley River, typically wintering 2000 ewes, 350 hinds, 200 cows and finishing all stock.

They have consent to take 1800 cumecs of water from the Ashley River but only when it flows over six cumecs. This is not often, so they usually have only 40% of this allocation. Using sub-surface irrigation, they have found they can cut back the irrigation requirement/ha by 30% over a typical summer. It was installed two years ago. The Netafim DripNet has 50cm dripper spacings and delivers 1.6mm/ha/hour of irrigation water.

Over two very dry years the block has grown a “waist high” crop of peas/oats for silage, winter oats, permanent pasture mix of plantain/chicory and other mixed species.

It can be cultivated (using equipment with good depth control) without fear of ripping up the buried lines. Russell expects

40 years out of the investment.

“This is far longer than vineyard dripline out in the sun, with hares and machinery knocks.”

He considers the $11,000/ha installation cost well worth it. Pivots are about $5000/ ha or more.

“There is no cheap option for water and this suits the block.”

Lines were mole-ploughed in 1m apart and heavy rolled to close up the rip lines.

Russell thinks 800cm spacing would be better so the wet areas join more quickly.

“We could see some ripples across the crop but regular irrigation soon had the whole area damp.”

Russell said that the block leant itself to underground irrigation. It had a 20m climb up to the start, rising another 20m to the top of the block. The Rudds had an existing mainline going to 50ha of hard hose gun irrigation, which the dripline could join to.

The soil was clay loam with a good top soil; soft and easy to rip. Issues have been seen with very stony vineyard blocks where dripline can be crushed.

“In hindsight I should have deep cultivated the whole block, rather than just deep ripped in water lines, as water tended to sit in the ripped lines in the first few months.”

“It’s moved out now though, through capillary action.”

He also suggests not installing underground irrigation when the soil is wet, as slumping can happen at the hard pipe trench join, where it was dug then filled in.

This can cause kinks in the dripline.

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1. Dripline has been installed at 30cm and sits just on the transition point between the soils A and B horizons. The dripline is Netafim DripNet PC 22250 1L/hr at 50cm dripper spacings.

It is designed to deliver 1.6mm per hectare per hour of irrigation water. 2. Pressure reducing control valves with vacuum breakers. Control valves connect to automation systems to deliver precision irrigation. 3. Submain connections to dripline laterals using Qflex risers. 4. There is very little ground disturbance after the dripline has been installed.

This paddock was then rolled with a 10 tonne roller to close up the rip line.

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Dripline on spools about to be moleploughed in, to create an underground network of dripline irrigation for pasture.

Pasture, crops come alive While Russell can’t see the water flowing, he enjoys watching the pasture and crops come up.

“It is so easy to run – just set it up on a timer, flush the end valves monthly and walk away.”

“You will see a leak with water pooling or running down a slope, so you dig it, join and cover.”

The area is currently planted in permanent chicory/plantain pasture for lambing and lamb finishing, and half in winter barley.

Soil Matters founder, Rob Flynn, provides fertiliser and soil advice to the Rudds. He said that farmers must farm differently with subsurface to get the best results.

Rotational grazing, rather than set-stocking, is important to allow the plant to grow a decent root system, down to 300mm.

He suggests sowing a species with a deeper tap root like chicory or plantain first, to crack the sub-surface to help water move and to prevent the soil closing up.

“You can stitch into it afterwards with cocksfoot, prairie, broomes and legumes, especially red clover with a deeper root than white.”

“Buried irrigation gives you the opportunity to create a different soil

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biomass under the ground, not just on the top.”

Fertigation with nitrogen or biological stimulants directly to the roots is an option, particularly for cash crops, he said. Farmers need to look after the soil condition by applying some fertilisers to the top. To see a video of the Rudd’s subsurface installation, see thinkwatercanterbury.co.nz/servicesand-solutions/irrigation/sub-surface-dripirrigation

Sub-surface enviro benefits The underground dripline system has been deep in vineyards for 40 years.

Mark Allen, viticulture advisor, is a big fan and said it can be removed, making recycling of the dripline possible.

“You don’t need to leave the plastic in there”.

In Hawkes Bay during 1986 he oversaw the removal of dripline buried 200mm deep.

They did this by wrenching the end up, tying it to a strainer post, then pulling it up to the surface using a wheel rim turning behind a tractor. The dripline was in perfect working order so was reburied deeper.

Dripline in pasture would be easier to remove, he said, as it could be straddled, with a ripper going over it to loosen it before being pulled up. He suggests using a

three-point link wrencher. There are custom made machines for the job in the USA. Water savings and better longevity are key reasons why growers are looking at retrofitting with sub-surface irrigation. Pernod Ricard has installed underground irrigation to around 60 hectares (ha) in Marlborough.

Forty percent less water is used compared to over-ground drippers. At one 44ha site, this was 10 million litres of water saved in one year. Dripline should last beyond 40 years.

Chris Ireland, previously of Netafim and long-time viticulturist, describes himself as a “evangelical enthusiast for sub-surface irrigation”.

“There are so many pluses for animal systems too.”

It was Chris who invited Russell Rudd to a field day on subsurface irrigation and piqued his interest. Legislators seem to be slow to see the potential from an environmental and efficiency point of view, he said, but many farmers do.

“My phone has been running hot after the Grape Day field day that covered the topic.”

“Carrfields installed it into a three-yearold lucerne block with no issues from damage to the crowns.

The farmer fertigates soluble phosphorus fertiliser directly to the roots. It really gets

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you to start thinking outside the square in terms of meeting the fertility requirements of plants by fertigation, he said.

In his role with Netafim he oversaw installation in the corners of a centre pivot dairy block, where the pivot ran at night and the subsurface trickled during the wind and heat of the day.

“It worked for every crop they tried – fodder beet, kale, peas and pasture and carried R2 cattle.”

“It reduced the amount of sediment run off, and I believe it has the potential to reduce nitrate run-off although the research is mainly in Australia to date.”

“Because soluble nitrogen goes in underground there is less volatilisation too.”

About sub-surface • Copper in dripper valves repels roots • Best run daily to keep soil wicking; small amounts often • Water savings means more land can be watered • Pleasing to the eye (not the visual interruption of pivot, gun or fixed) • Lower insurance cost as away from wind/snow damage • Can do stones or gravels but depends on spacing of dripline and what you grow on it • Higher capital cost (about $11,000/ha)

Over two very dry years the block has grown a 'waist high' crop of peas/oats for silage, winter oats, permanent pasture mix of plantain/chicory and other mixed species.

Farmers can expect plants to get 80-85% use of water spread via a pivot at maximum efficiency. It’s 95% for water via subsurface, he said.

Naysayers may question dripline integrity under wet soils. Chris said the drip line can handle 3 to 3.5 bar of pressure.

“Water pressure on the inside makes the dripline round and holds the shape round.”

“I’ve seen photos of silage wagons bogged on a corn paddock which shifted a dripline but it didn’t stop it working.”

Root intrusion is prevented by the pressure compensating dripline having diaphragm retainers with a copper product inserted. Copper has antibacterial properties

so roots don’t like to grow nearby. An antisyphon valve closes the dripper to prevent water suck-back and dirt blockages.

Chris said that like all irrigation, the water must be filtered. Typically, 120 micron disc filters are installed to do this. Unlike vineyard driplines that have a flushing tap per row, pasture driplines feed to a shared pipe which is then flushed via a tap. The number of flushes depends on water quality.

“Water from a silty Awatere may require monthly flushes during a season but bore water probably once every two years.”

He’s a huge fan, “people wonder why my front lawn is so green without hoses going.

It’s all underground.

• Wicking of water across the profile depends on soil type and best suited to loamy/clay soils.

• Ticks environmental boxes e.g. reduces sediment loss, targeted N • Can irrigate in heat of day • Irrigation can occur much closer to cutting/harvest dates since the surface can remain dry for machinery • Energy savings: drip irrigation works on low pressure • Options to recycle dairy water through system.

Installing subsurface Sam Broomhill, managing director, Think Water Leeston, has seen increased interest in installing subsurface irrigation in pasture.

Think Water has installed 60 hectares on sheep, beef and cropping farms, with one site on a dairy run-off block.

“It is for a niche market and specific to particular soils and farm type.”

He doesn’t recommend it for free draining or stony soils, as it relies on the capillary action to move water upwards through the soil. He also believes it is best suited to owner-operators, as it requires a higher technical understanding to managing sediment build up in the lines.

One-meter spacings are the most cost effective, he said.

The Victoria State Government factsheet on sub-surface irrigation said if soils are sandy and require a dripline to be less than 800mm apart, then the viability of the system should be questioned.

Andros Engineering offers a custommade machine to install sub-surface and they are available via Carrfields. While sub-surface can be shaped to awkward blocks, having square or rectangle blocks will reduce costs. Think of the Marlborough grapevine grid. Pressure compensating emitters may help if lateral dripper tape distances are excessive (longer than 300 to 400 metres).

Left: This Rangiora block benefited from deep rooting chicory and red clover to help stop soil rips closing up. Rotational grazing gives the shallower-rooted plants time to develop a good fibrous root system.

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Amuri plan growth North Canterbury’s Amuri Irrigation Company is working with its farmer shareholders to help them respond to Government regulations around water usage. Joanna Grigg reports.

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en years ago monitoring within irrigation schemes was minimal.

Now, data gathering is a significant part of the budget and crucial to scheme endurance.

Andrew Barton, CEO, Amuri Irrigation Company (AIC), said irrigation schemes probably knew their catchment better than their local council does.

AIC, in North Canterbury, monitors wells, surface water quality, creek flow as well as recording stocking rate and fertiliser applications. While it is costly, Barton said having the data was very helpful for planning within the scheme, as well as preparing for consent renewals and expansions.

“It’s become a highly regulated matter.”

The AIC holds consents on behalf of its farmer shareholders. The 28,000 hectare (ha) scheme has a balance of land uses within its catchment; 60% is dairy on the

basin land, and sheep and beef on the edge of the hills. The company was created when farmer-users bought three separate irrigation schemes from the Crown. The schemes were converted to a more efficient pipe network and extended in 2017.

Round two plans for expansion include adding 4000ha of irrigation of cropping and sheep and beef farms south of Hurunui. The operating consents are held.

Construction consents are in process.

A 10 million cubic metre storage pond is planned in case river environmental flows (minimum flows) are increased.

Design work and environmental assessments are underway and consultation with the community will start within months.

Consent to generate energy using hydropower through the existing scheme infrastructure is being sought. Ngai Tahu Farming is the largest shareholder and they have a trial apple orchard.

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Left: The Pahau River won the Cawthron Most Improved River Award 2017.

Farmers within the Amuri Irrigation Company scheme converted to spray irrigation, or caught and relocated run off, as well as planting riparian areas and fencing off waterways.

Below: Irrigation in action in the 28,000 hectare Amuri Irrigation Company scheme.

Barton said the National Environmental Standard did make further irrigation schemes for ruminants challenging.

“Having some horticulture or viticulture makes it easier to get further irrigation over the line due to lower nutrient losses.”

Barton said monitoring had the dual purpose of demonstrating environmental compliance and informing farmers.

All shareholders were part of the AIC Environmental Collective (started in 2013) and had farm environmental plans (FEP) audited by certified auditors The Agribusiness Group.

The annual report to Environment Canterbury (ECan) includes FEP Score card results per farm (A, B, C, D) across things like soil, water use, effluent for dairy farms, riparian management.

“Our strategy is to be ahead of regulation, so we can have a crack at doing it on the farm early, allowing us to submit on proposed regulation with experience.”

He said wintering had been a focus and they put out guidelines for it and had winter audits well before NES came in.

AIC uses GIS to manage its data along with ECan data (gathered by ECan). To date the data is shared with shareholders only.

“We are applying for funding to get more information on how catchments are working and how to improve them.”

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“At this stage we want to keep the emphasis on water quality with our farmers and shareholders,” Barton said.

“It is very helpful, as we can see some creeks have only one milligram of nitrogen – which is all okay, while some down the road are higher and this is where we need to focus.”

Sub-catchment groups AIC is now establishing sub-catchment groups, where there are smaller numbers of farmers working together. There are some non-scheme irrigators within the AIC Environmental Collective. Amuri Irrigation has a contract with them and they have similar FEP requirements which have to be met. This allows all irrigated farmers in the same catchment to be working together to improve water quality, whether they are shareholders or not.

He said they are applying for funding to get more information on how catchments were working and how to improve them.

The Pahau River (within the scheme) won the Cawthron Most Improved River Award in 2017. This river had E.Coli and phosphorus issues due to border-dyke irrigation overflowing at times.

“Farmers solved the problem by converting to spray irrigation, or catching and relocating run off as well as riparian planting and fencing off waterways.”

There has been a 15.6% year on year trend reduction in E. Coli levels at monitoring sites along the Pahau River.

In the future regulation picture, Barton said the “aspirational limit” of 2.4ppm nitrate-nitrogen set in the NES may present some challenges. It is unclear at this stage how it will play out when the Hurunui Waiau River Regional Plan is reviewed.

“Is it every little drain or main rivers, and main tributaries?”

Barton said some are over and under this level.

"Farmers can’t deal with meeting this alone with present levels of technology and we are working hard to support them in their continued efforts to improve water quality.”

The new N fertiliser limit of 190kg has been discussed at recent shareholder meetings.

Barton said it would mean changes for some, but plenty are already operating around this number. Every farmer has assessed their fertiliser and those who were above 190 kg made reductions last year and we are confident farmers will meet the limit this year, he said.

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Keeping your consent Responding to concerns about irrigation in Canterbury is all part of the job for MHV Water chief executive Mel Brooks. Joanna Grigg reports.

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HV Water had plenty of farmer ‘bodies on the line’ during the renewal of the irrigation scheme’s discharge permit. At stake were 200 farm businesses across 50,000 hectares covering a large chunk of Mid-Canterbury.

The two- and a-bit year process (started 2017 and issued April 2021) was set against a backdrop of rising antagonism to irrigation. There was the 2017 halt on proposed schemes by the Labourled Government and a petition signed by 70,000 concerned with leachates associated with irrigation.

The consent was granted with a strict set of requirements, including reductions to nutrient leaching of 36% by 2035.

MHV chief executive Melanie Brooks said the experience has shown her that building partnerships is critical. The consent renewal was ‘limited notified’, meaning only Te Runanga o Arowhenua had the opportunity to submit. Just prior to the issuing of the consent, criticism of the Environment Canterbury process and MVH practices made headlines. MHV didn’t get the chance to talk with the person raising the concerns prior to the media storm.

“I think it would have been quite a different story that went to print,” Brooks said. Brooks said since then, she had contacted him.

“We’ve had a number of interesting conversations and I understand his concerns and perspective. We have far more in common than we have in dispute.”

Following this experience, MHV has contacted a number of NGOs (including Forest & Bird) to search for common ground, to establish MHV’s vision and objectives, she said.

When it comes to advice to other irrigation scheme management, she recommends connecting with mana whenua (authority over tribal land) prior to starting any consenting process.

“Te Runanga o Arowhenua are mana whenua for our area and their perspective, knowledge and guidance has been hugely valuable in drafting our environmental management strategy and policies.”

She respects the way they have worked with them to help improve their practices and incorporate Maori knowledge.

“When their kaumatua (elders) speak, I listen.

We don’t always agree on everything, and that is okay.”

Regulatory relationships with regional councils are also critically important, she said.

Keeping in touch with farmer shareholders is pivotal to reaching environmental goals. MHV holds consents directly, on behalf of users and manages the catchment nitrogen load limit.

Shareholders must get MHV consent to make changes to their farming operation (e.g., stocking rate, irrigated area, winter grazing area). This is in writing via a farm activity variation application.

Shed meetings are held to share information and get a feel for what are the roadblocks.

“Our role is also to resolve some of those challenges where possible.”

Part of the MHV Water scheme in Mid-Canterbury

WINTERING SWITCH MAY TRIGGER CONSENT Trying to reduce nutrient leaching by dropping cow stocking rate and wintering all dairy cows on-farm might actually be hard to achieve under the National Environmental Standards (NES). Having cows home on winter crops would require a separate consent.

Broad brush legislation changes can have unintended consequences, says Mel

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Brooks, MHV chief executive.

“A farmer who wants to change to a self-contained dairy system and drop their stocking rate may find the consenting hurdles too great.”

She has found discussions with the implementation team at the Ministry for the Environment to be constructive and effective, however, which she said

is a real positive.

Where the rubber hits the road is the Regional Councils implementation of NES provisions. As gatekeepers the onus is on them to ensure they are interpreting the legislation in a balanced and pragmatic way, she said.

“The NES intensification clauses are not covered by our consent at this stage.”

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Nutrient loss levels The reality is that the screws are coming down hard on nutrient loss levels. Showing an ability to move users towards a new and restrictive target will be a benchmark that irrigation schemes will be judged on at their next round of consents.

The target is 6.9mg/L of nitrate-nitrogen in shallow ground water by 2035 (Plan change 2, Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan for lower Hekao/Hinds plains). This means farmers in the area need to reduce nitrate losses by 35%, with a staged decrease over time. The trend since testing started in 2016 has been a reduction in median nitrate concentration to 7.6.

MHV’s annual testing shows a wide range at sites and recommends results be interpreted long term.

Pushing expectations even lower is the national bottom line for rivers in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater

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Management 2020. This is set at 2.4mg nitrate-nitrogen/litre (annual median) and 3.5mg as the annual 95th percentile (in other words the higher end). Regional councils are charged with engaging with communities and tangata whenua to determine how Te Mana o te Wai (importance of water) applies to water bodies and freshwater ecosystems in the region.

However, there is a hierarchy of obligations that puts the health and well-being of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems ahead of the health needs of people (such as drinking water) followed lastly by the ability of people to provide for their social, economic, and cultural wellbeing. Farming is in the latter.

A vehicle to get farmers to change is the farm environment plan (FEP). MHV have required audited FEP’s for the last six years and use it as an “opportunity to refine”.

“The FEP’s get completed with one of our team and we take the opportunity to talk more broadly about the key risks within their farm system and mitigations that their team are considering.”

Managers and 2ICs are encouraged to join these meetings, she said, which has been effective in changing on farm practices for the better. Brooks said a collective approach is the most effective way to improve water quality. The Motueka integrated catchment management project demonstrated this, she said.

“Plus it shares costs, you get consistency across the community, and our farmers receive support, on what they need to do and by when. She said this is especially important in the regulatory environment.

Gathering water data and sharing it has been a recent feature of irrigation schemes. MHV has a groundwater

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IRRIGATION

sampling programme that covers an area of over 100,000ha. They offer free nitrate nitrogen testing and support for managed aquifer recharge and stormwater management.

Load and compliance at MHV are measured using The Matrix. Brooks describes The Matrix as a model to calculate the nitrogen load for the scheme, based on irrigation type, land use type and soil type for the baseline period (2009-13). It is overlaid with the FEP audit grade. The scheme charges an environmental rate of $8.50/ha of land within the FEP, to pay for services, monitoring, advocacy and audits.

MHV engaged Irrigo as an independent external service to run the audits.

Workflow management (and potentially PR damaging stuff-ups with water flows) is managed through Assura.

This software was created in Canterbury and described by Brookes as an awesome tool that works really well, especially for schemes with scale.

Gary Kelliher.

Water wrangles hinder BY: LYNDA GRAY

D

on’t waste time trying to be inclusive because it only polarises the community.

That’s the view of Gary Kelliher after 10 years of pushing to progress plans for irrigation in Central Otago’s Manuherikia Catchment.

He started the discussions about water management options of the catchment and has been involved ever since initially as a farmer irrigator, and more recently an Otago Regional Council (ORC) councillor.

But he’s highly critical of the ORC which he believes has ignored water user proposals for improved water storage and irrigation.

This is despite numerous science-backed reports that show the plans meet the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM).

“It’s taken 10 years and we’re no further ahead and that’s a reflection of the council and some of the parties involved who have entrenched views despite the science.”

The latest road block is community consultation around the minimum river flow level needed to meet ecosystem health, recreational and irrigator aspirations. The voluntary minimum flow, measured at the camping ground near Alexandra, is 900 litres a second (l/s). Irrigators have recommended a minimum flow of 1100l/s.

“It’s the option that meets the NPSFM, is survival for irrigators but ensures the river’s health, without economic suicide.”

But that recommendation was left out

of the consultation document with the options released for consideration ranging from 1200-3000 l/s. There’s been a couple of highly charged consultation meetings about the options with little sign of consensus between interest groups. “I’m angry that the council to which I am elected, the environmental groups and the community are at odds yet again and no closer together in an understanding of each other in what is an appropriate minimum flow.”

Another complication and conundrum are deemed permits, also known as Mining Privileges because they date back to gold mining days. Water-take in most of the catchment is ruled by deemed permits which will expire in October this year. The ORC notified in March 2020 proposals for the renewing of these as part of Plan Change 7 (PC7), recommending shortterm permits until the Land & Water Plan becomes operational at the end of 2025. The proposals have not been well received by irrigators. In April submissions were “called in” by the Minister for the Environment, at the request of the ORC.The submission hearing process and final decision now rests with the Environment Court. The hearings, staggered from February until the start of July, took a total of 38 days. Water users have collectively spent about $500,000 in legal consultant fees in arguing the case for longer term permits, Kelliher says.

He’s hoping that science and facts will win through and shape some sensible outcomes based on reality and achievability.

MANUHERIKIA CATCHMENT The Manuherikia catchment encompasses the Manuherikia and Ida Valleys. It covers about 3000 square kilometres of which 60,000ha are suitable for irrigation.

About half of that area is fully or partially irrigated.

Plans for updating water storage and irrigation were part of a wider river management strategy driven by the Manuherikia strategy water catchment group (MSWCG) formed in 2011. The group included local landowners and irrigation companies, environmental and conservation groups, iwi, district and regional councils, and local business people.

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MSWCG commissioned numerous studies and reports to scope the best way of meeting community aspirations and the likely impending regulation around future water permits and plans.

Kelliher says about $2 million was spent on reports, a “significant amount”, paid by irrigators. Pre-feasibility and feasibility reports backed by more than 40 scientific and technical reports, recommended raising Falls Dam, the key water storage body, by six metres. The upgrade would irrigate an estimated extra 12,500ha and cost $60 - $70 million. In 2016 MSWCG canvassed farmer support, securing about $750,000, half the $1.5million needed

for the pre-construction phase. MCWSG hoped that Crown Irrigation Investments would fund the other half, but that never happened.

By this time MCWSG had fulfilled its brief and was replaced in 2019 by a limited liability company Manuherikia River Limited (MRL). Its goal was to amalgamate the six existing irrigation companies in the catchment and continue investigating options for the upgrade of Falls Dam and associated environmental enhancement. However, MRL put plans on hold later that year, blaming the ORC for uncertainty over Central Otago water issues.

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THE POWERS THAT BEE The commercial bee industry is worth $5 billion to the New Zealand economy. Ken Geenty examines the opportunity for farmers.

ENVIRONMENT

A honey worker checks commercial hives. Photo: The NZ Honey Story.

M

ost people associate bees with delicious melted honey on hot toast or a warm milk and honey bedtime drink, perhaps with a tot of brandy.

Or sometimes through an unfortunate memory of a painful bee sting. But many don’t know the critical ecological and commercial roles of bees in plant pollination, particularly on orchards, farms, and in native bush areas.

They are essential for the existence of many flowering plants through fertilisation by cross-pollination.

The mind-blowing reality is that without bees some of our plant and animal-based primary industries would be seriously compromised and plant biodiversity restricted. In fact, through pollination, it’s been said bees are ultimately responsible for about a third of the food we eat.

There are over 16,000 species of bees worldwide where there are insect-pollinated flowering plants. Those bees of most interest to us are the 7-12 species of western honeybees. These bees feed on the plant’s floral nectar for energy which is stored as honey and harvest pollen for their dietary protein. It is during the latter that the all-important process of plant pollination

occurs. The hairs on the bee’s body are ideal for transporting pollen from the male anthers of flowers to the female stigma for fertilisation.

Lower impact means of pollination include other insects, some birds and wind.

But honey bees are definitely king.

Declines in wild bee populations have increased the value and necessity of pollination by commercially managed hives of honeybees.

Declines in wild bee populations have increased the value and necessity of pollination by commercially managed hives of honeybees. Hence beekeeping or apiculture has in recent decades expanded because of synergies with farming creating income opportunities, particularly in recent times with promoted health benefits of manuka honey.

The bee industry established a voluntary organisation called Apiculture New Zealand (APiNZ) in 2016 with a representative board of directors selected from beekeeping and

market sectors. The management team was led by chief executive Karin Kos. After this was seen growth in honey exports from a value of $330m in 2017 to $500m by 2020.

The key focus of APiNZ is through seven flexible regional hubs, and associated clubs, with some 2500 commercial and hobby members linked through various apiculture related activities. The main roles of APiNZ are summarised by the words – leading, informing, strengthening, supporting.

More information is available on the Apiculture New Zealand website.

Profits are becoming tighter Ricki Leahy from the Buller district is an APiNZ board member and a commercial beekeeper with a business based in Murchison. He outlined key aspects of the industry as having some 850,000 registered beehives and 9500 beekeepers nationwide.

They are mainly operating cooperatively with farmers, orchardists and the Department of Conservation forming an industry worth over $5 billion to primary sector food production.

Commercial beekeepers value their cooperative relationship with landowners generally cemented through land use agreements. Informal arrangements often

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suffice with the beekeeper ‘keeping the landowner in honey’. This is offset by the landowner understanding the immeasurable benefits of bees through pollination of flowering pasture plants and trees. The location of beehives on farms is important with preferably a sheltered sunny spot, good access and away from nearby farming activities. Security against theft and safety of the bees from natural events such as flooding, are also important.

Profit margins for beekeepers are becoming tighter.

Even premium clover and manuka brands of honey have seen price declines in recent years and marketing difficulties due to Covid restrictions have hindered industry development and profitability.

As well as providing honey for sale, bees pollinate key agricultural and horticultural plants like berry, stone and pip fruit and on farms specialist small seed crops, trees and pastoral legumes. The latter harness atmospheric and soil nitrogen which is important for healthy and protein rich pastures which boost animal production.

A nasty predator of bees are wasps which nationwide have a spectacularly high biomass, claimed to be larger than that of possums. If not controlled wasps can kill out hives rapidly, generally starting with weaker hives.

Another major cause of bee mortality are Varroa mites which must be constantly controlled by all beekeepers using an array of integrated pest management methods.

Because of Varroa and decimation of the wild bee population, almost all honeybees are from commercially managed hives where there are three types:

FEMALE WORKERS – the pollinators and nectar gatherers. They fly enormous distances collecting nectar and pollen. Life span is a few weeks to six months and there are about 40,000 in a hive.

Worker

MALE DRONES – fewer in numbers. They don’t leave with the females looking for nectar – they stay behind in the hive to mate with the queen. They can’t sting and live for about 55 days THE QUEEN – nucleus of the hive and twice as big as the others. She can lay up to 1500 eggs a day to establish her colony.

Drone

If each hive has on average about 50,000 bees, then NZ has around 40 billion bees.

Worker bees collect nectar from flowers using their long tongue, or proboscis, and store it in their second stomach or ‘honey sac’ where it is turned into honey.

Each bee produces about one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime. A hive, including what the bees need to eat for themselves, can in total make up to 150kg of honey a year. Because honey naturally contains antibacterial hydrogen peroxide it can be stored for long periods without deteriorating.

• See Makowhai Station’s honey business p38.

Queen

Below: Commercial hives on a farm adjacent to manuka and native bush.

of a teaspoon

1/12th

150

is what a worker bee will produce in her lifetime.

million years is the amount of time bees have been producing honey

flowers

50-100

4

million flowers need to be visited to produce 1kg of honey

28.6

2

kg per year is the average per hive yield of honey over the last 10 years

km away is the distance from which bees can detect nectar by using their antennae

$506

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are visited by a honey bee on one flight from the hive

million was the value of honey exports from NZ for the year to 21 March 2021. (Source Ministry for Primary Industries).

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ENVIRONMENT

Specimen trees

Sharing his love of trees

Peter Arthur (78) has been planting trees on his farm, including 400 magnolias, for the past 50 years and writes about his passion.

Sheep graze amongst the magnolia trees.

L

IKE MY FOX TERRIER, HENRIETTA, I love digging holes and planting colourful trees.

My 240ha farm, 55km west of Hastings on the Gentle Annie Road to Taihape has been in the family since 1880. Various forebears planted pine shelter belts, eucalyptus for firewood and timber, lombardy poplars as live fence posts, willows, acacia dealbata as firewood, and one row of English oaks along the edge of a steep gorge. That was it.

After leaving school, I worked for two years as a newspaper reporter and made a lot of money on the side, writing scurrilous articles for Truth.

In 1967 I hitch-hiked from Melbourne to Darwin, then across Asia to England and returned to the farm in 1970, working for my father who loved trout fishing and sports cars. For him it was three days a week farming, and four days fishing or the car races. Farming was profitable at the time. As I was buying into the farm I was only getting paid $22 a week. So I went shearing, scrub cutting, shooting and selling a lot of deer in the farm gorges.

My late wife, Diane, was a keen gardener and when she was visiting nurseries I started buying a few trees, just to find out what could grow here.

I joined NZ Farm Forestry Association and NZ Tree Crops and got properly bitten by the tree planting bug. Agroforestry, widely spaced pines with pasture underneath, was all the rage at the time and it was later proved not to work. I thought there must be better trees than radiata for doing this, so the hunt began, and still continues. The best seems to be Norfolk Island pine, a relation of the kauri. It grows straight all by itself (apical dominance where the main stem of the plant dominates), produces good finishing timber, casts light shade, but can be frost tender when young.

I’ve only got about seven planted in different spots.

I latched on to a Tauranga nurseryman, John Stuart Menzies who was growing African trees for export to Africa and Australia. He sent me his

catalogue, and although I had quite a good range of tree reference books, I couldn't find mention of any of the trees on his list. He told me to get Trees of Southern Africa by Coates and Palgrave, and gave me the address of the South African publisher.

There was no internet, email or credit cards in those days, but after about a three month wait, 10 copies arrived and I sold nine to various tree planting acquaintances.

Touchwood Books As Diane and I were attending all sorts of horticultural and gardening shows I realised there was a market for specialised gardening and tree books, which were not to be found in NZ bookshops. So, I set up Touchwood Books. It was to be a small mail order business that I could attend to on the kitchen table at night, and I could take books to the various shows we were attending. This was in 1987 when the share market crashed, and just like now, everyone cancelled their overseas trips and started spending money on their gardens.

Touchwood Books, at its peak had 25 outlets throughout NZ selling our books, and a shop in High Street, Auckland.

Luckily I had already done quite a lot of tree planting on the farm, trying all sorts of species like atlas and deodar cedars, various oaks, a few magnolias, elms, limes, ash, sweet chestnuts, walnuts and various other ornamental trees. I say luckily because Touchwood Books took off and I didn’t have much time for tree planting, or running the farm properly.

I employed Martin Jones as farm manager and left it up to him to straighten out the horrible mess I had been making on the farm. Apart from several years when he went scampi fishing, he has been here ever since, and has been leasing the farm for the past 20 years. He made a lot of money on the scampi boat and set up two businesses, Kaweka Contracting with the late David Ward of Waiwhare, and A and M Excavating with David’s brother Andrew.

With easy access to gear from both businesses, Martin totally transformed the farm with new pastures, new fences, new tracks and culverts, and new dams.

In 2012 we sold Touchwood Books and I was able to concentrate on trees, using mostly oaks and Wellingtonias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) to replace pine shelter belts, London planes as stock shade and about 400 deciduous magnolias. Between the two of us, Martin and I are making this farm look a picture and a very nice place to be.

• More from Peter in future issues including photos of his trees in spring.

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Merinos crossing the Acheron River at Muller Station, Marlborough.

Appreciating it all The Satterthwaites of Marlborough recently mustered their Merino flock together for the first time as a family.

Story and photos by Annabelle Latz.

T

his year’s autumn muster was one for the history books for the Satterthwaite family at Muller Station in Marlborough.

Parents Mary and Steve and their two children Alice and Ben were for the first time ever as a family, bringing the 4500 Merino ewes out of the Acheron Valley and into the Awatere Valley for the winter months.

The 1800 two-tooths had been mustered in earlier, due to the drought.

In years gone by, boarding school, university and work commitments or living

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abroad has meant one of the children has always been preoccupied during this iconic week of the annual farming calendar.

Alice, 24, has taken the reins of head shepherd for the time being, and with mentoring from Steve will move into the role of stock manager.

Her plan is to learn as much as she can, before handing the tuition reins over to her little brother Ben, 21, while she heads away for a stint to learn some more skills either in another part of New Zealand or overseas.

“I haven’t done the North Island yet, and it’s something I want to do to gain more

Alice Satterthwaite.

knowledge in different areas. The idea is to come back home eventually.”

Ben is enjoying time back home on Muller Station, having recently finished his studies at Lincoln University. He’s soon heading north to Gisborne to learn the ways of East Coast station life.

Alice is thoroughly enjoying stepping up in the responsibility ranks at Muller Station, especially on the autumn muster with the

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whole family and their two permanent shepherds involved.

“It’s the highlight of the year, the tradition of being out here doing it, enjoying both the physical and mental challenge.”

Organising the team and the beats on the muster provided Alice an opportunity to muster some country for the first time.

“It’s great to gain some experience and knowledge from dad, so one day when he’s not here I can run the camp myself.”

Alice has always known the farming sector is her career calling, and although at boarding school in Christchurch she enjoyed team sports during the week, nothing jeopardised her ability to head home for as many weekends as she could to lend a hand on the farm.

After school she headed to Clayton Station in Fairlie, South Canterbury for a year.

This was followed by stints abroad including working on a cattle station in Derby, Western Australia which she “absolutely loved,” time on sheep studs in South Australia and New South Wales, back to the South Island for two seasons on Muzzle Station, Kaikoura Ranges, and time in England working on an estate in Hambleden, Henley on Thames, an hour south-west of London.

High country isolation Alice has always enjoyed her stints back home on Muller Station, the world of high country isolation with her team of dogs marking her favourite place.

“I love the feeling of just being out there, in what seems like some pretty untouched uninhabited country, almost getting the sensation that you are the only one who has been there.”

Sheep genetics is of huge interest to Alice, and she was very involved in the Marlborough two-tooth competition earlier this year, which Muller Station won.

Muscle and fat makeup and conformation are a continual focus in the breeding operation at Muller Station.

Alice said selecting objectively measured genetics at both a commercial and stud level has made significant progress in sheep performance and health, therefore helping to boost the bottom line.

“The incorporation of ASBV’s (Australian sheep breeding values) along with selecting for phenotype has really boosted muscle and fat and therefore fertility and do-ability across the stud and commercial flocks,

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Ben, Steve, Alice and Mary Satterthwaite.

without compromising on wool quality and quantity.”

At the competition, Alice spent some time with Dr Mark Ferguson, the man behind neXtgen Agri and the podcast Head Shepherd. His ethos is one that resonates with Alice; ‘Farming in our hearts, science in our heads.’

She says some people don’t know what to do with breeding values and how to incorporate them into their breeding operation to make their sheep more profitable. NeXtgen has created a platform whereby people of all backgrounds can make use of the team's objective knowledge.

“It’s great to gain some experience and knowledge from dad, so one day when he’s not here I can run the camp myself.”

Muller Station is a neXtgen client, and they work closely with Will Gibson who helps to class the sheep and analyse the data side of the stud flock.

Alice said this data is invaluable, as individual sheep are assessed on both phenotype and genotype along with their maternal history. All the scanning material, complete breeding history, number of lambs weaned, (bred vs weaned, which helps with decisions about what to keep), and

estimated breeding values are all gathered.

“We class the hoggets before we class the ewes, so we can see whether it’s a good lamb or not, was it the right sire, was it a lazy mother, and assess the weaning weight.”

The Merino industry is one that Alice says is an exciting one to be part of, with lots of space for the future especially in the areas of sustainability and the environmental enhancement.

“I think it’s a pretty safe industry to back; who knows what we will be using Merino wool for in 10 years’ time?”

The approach to Merino farming is much like the approach to anything someone has a desire and passion for.

“If you have a keen interest, and a bit of a ticker behind you, just go for it.”

Alice’s mum Mary said the love Alice has for farming life has been obvious since she was in a pram.

During one autumn muster many years ago, Alice rode her pony Pepper all the way through to Munroe Hut, but riding any further was deemed too much for the infant.

“She wasn’t allowed to ride through the Munroe Saddle, so she cried all the way home. I remember she used to sit on Steve’s pommel, she was basically born on a horse.”

Despite the challenges of high country life, whether it be the weather or the market trends, it’s the sense of achievement after a good day on the hills that will always drive Alice to be where she is ultimately happiest.

“It’s when you’re out on the hill and you come in … and feel truly lucky to be here, sitting on the veranda with a beer in your hand.”

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City boy finds love of farming A self-confessed townie who learnt about farming at Mount Albert Grammar’s micro-farm, Sam VivianGreer has found his niche in the agricultural world.

Tony Leggett reports.

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S

am Vivian-Greer’s career in farm consultancy began with six weeks working from the garage of his home in Masterton. It was an inauspicious start in a new role, but he had signed to work for local farm consultancy BakerAg just as the Covid-19 lockdown hit the country in March 2020.

The 32-year-old admits accepting the position was a deliberate shift away from his shining career as a rising star in the farm manager world. But it also reflected a change in his earlier long-term goal of farm ownership - a dream he nurtured over many years after developing a taste for farming at high school in the heart of Auckland city.

He attended Mount Albert Grammar which has a fully operational, microfarm on 4ha adjacent to its classrooms so students gain from a mix of classroom theory and practical tuition.

The city boy admits he had to ask his mother what agriculture was when it was offered as a Year 10 option.

“I guess I got a nose into it (farming) and loved it. I liked it because I learned the theory and then saw it in practice.

I’ve always been an outdoors person and I was lucky that numbers and science have always come pretty easily to me,” he says.

He topped his class group in Year 11 and then topped the school in Agriculture in Years 12 and 13.

Several school mates told him later how surprised they were when he chose to pursue a farming career. “In the background, I had lost my father at age 10 and although I had great memories of him, it also made me realise how short life can be. I learned to do what you enjoy doing and be committed.”

He was fortunate to get an interview for Smedley Cadet School at Tikokino in Hawke’s Bay but missed out on the

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“I’ve always been an outdoors person and I was lucky that numbers and science have always come pretty easily to me.”

Finalists of the NZ 2021 Zanda McDonald Award: Becks Smith, Sam VivianGreer (winner), Jenna Smith and Genevieve Steven.

June that year and spent my first paycheck on a good jacket – it was freezing!” he says.

He has high praise for owner Derek Daniell and general manager Simon Buckley and says the two-and-a-half years he spent at the “University of Wairere” proved invaluable to setting up his career.

“Derek and Simon were incredible.

They grew me and pushed me. I really appreciated them giving me a chance.”

In the decade that followed, Sam took on increasing responsibility, firstly as a block manager for three years at Pamu (Landcorp) in Northland before returning to the Wairarapa to be with his now wife Claire, to senior management roles at the Matthew family’s Waiorongomai farm and Matt and Lynley Wyeth’s property Maranui.

Again, Sam has nothing but praise for the support and development opportunities he was given at all three farms. While working for the Matthews, he also began part-time study for a degree in agribusiness and his future goal shifted towards away from farm management to a career in the wider sector.

“The realisation that I could manage a larger, nicer property than I could ever own had begun to dawn on me.”

That was a turning point and he began to consider his next move into a consultancy role or, if that wasn’t possible, rural banking.

Study year following year’s intake. Instead he headed to Taratahi Agricultural Training Institute just outside Masterton.

“Coming from an urban background, I always felt I had to work harder to keep up with farm kids because they always had a big head start on the practical side, like knowing where to stand when you’re mustering a paddock or working stock in the yards.”

But it established a good work ethic and a desire to match his farming family mates with a mix of practical and academic learning.

Scholarship winner He won a scholarship from the Daniell family’s Wairere Station for his second year at Taratahi and was relieved to join the team as a junior shepherd on the property north east of Masterton.

“I applied for the scholarship because it came with a guaranteed job. I started in

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Frustrated at progress towards completing his degree, he decided to put in an intensive year of study through most of 2019.

“It was an awesome year. I studied at night and spent the day with my young family (a two-year-old and a three-monthold) during the day. I managed to complete 15 papers in 12 months so it was pretty intense.”

During his final year working for the Wyeths in early 2019, he won the Emerging Red Meat Leader award, a new category within the Wairarapa Farm Business of the Year competition. The coveted award is aimed at block or stock managers to encourage them into taking the next step into farm management and is sponsored by the local branch of real estate firm NZR. He had regular interaction with local farm consultancy BakerAg in his earlier roles and was also on the local Farming for Profit committee which involved contact with the business.

After an initial chat with one of the company’s directors and senior consultant Chris Garland on the night of the Emerging Red Meat Leader award announcement, he maintained regular contact through his year of study before accepting an offer and starting just as the lockdown hit.

He’s grateful for the opportunity BakerAg has provided and the varied work. He’s recently been spending a lot of time working on secondment to Te Tumu Paeroa, the Maori Trustee, which administers thousands of hectares of Maori-owned land in New Zealand overseeing the operation of several properties and providing lease agreement advice.

Sam say forming a partnership with farming clients to help them through change, embrace new challenges and operate profitably but sustainably, is rewarding,

Attracting new talent A personal goal is to play his part in attracting new, talented people into the wider agriculture industry.

“We need to change the mindset of some farmers to help them provide the mentoring and support their staff need to take on more responsibility and get the most out of them.”

He feels his urban-rural background helps him bring a fresh view when challenges or opportunities are debated.

“I understand any change in policy onfarm will impact many aspects of the farm business. My urban perspective, rural experience and now stepping into consultancy, means I see things differently to many of my peers.”

“Farmers have great stories to tell but most of them are not naturals in the spotlight. They just need to be brave, stand up and tell their story.”

He regularly sees examples of excellence being criticised and says the ‘tall poppy’ syndrome is alive in the farming sector.

“I know you have to be brave to step into the limelight, but if we can get over that tall poppy syndrome, then farming can get the chip off its shoulder and we can celebrate what we do, tell our great stories and get everyone engaged.”

“The whole industry is crying out for people at all levels. That’s why we need to tell all our great stories so people understand how attractive it is to be a part of it.”

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COMMUNITY

Technology

an Android phone.

Syncing contacts between my iPhone and computer also became unreliable. I’d add them in one place, and they wouldn’t appear in another. Finally, when I got my new computer, I realised I’d been adding them to Outlook on my computer and to iCloud on my phone.

Choosing which contacts source to use Now I have both the computer and my phone contacts set to iCloud. That means when I update on one device, within seconds it updates on the other device. Next time I move computers the process will be pretty painless – as long as I remember to set up the contacts’ source properly to iCloud in Outlook. Again, you can choose whatever platform suits your setup – a quick Google search will explain how to set up different options.

Next up was email. I had used POP3 email, which means email is downloaded to your computer and is not kept in the cloud.

Setting up email as IMAP

Consider the cloud option BY: KIRSTIN MILLS

I PUT OFF BUYING A NEW LAPTOP because in the past it has been such a chore to transfer everything. However, recently I was amazed at how easy cloud computing made the process.

If you’re not already using the cloud , which is remote storage rather than storing things on your computer, you might want to consider it.

For example, take my calendar. This used to reside in Outlook on my computer and any time I moved computers I had to export the calendar and import it again, often losing my customisations. I would sync the calendar on my computer with my iPhone, but the syncing was unreliable and would always sync all-day appointments to the wrong day.

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Choosing which calendar to use So, I switched to using an Outlook calendar, using my Microsoft Office 365 subscription.

The beauty of this is that whether I update the calendar on my phone, in the Outlook software on my laptop or on Outlook.com through an internet browser, it updates everything immediately and all-day appointments stay on the correct day.

When I changed computers, once I entered my Microsoft account details, my calendar magically appeared, without having to import or export anything. There are many options for calendars. I would recommend you search online to find out what would work best for you. For example, Google Calendar might be a better option for you if you are a Gmail user and/or have

The standard now though is IMAP, where emails are kept in the cloud and if you make changes on one device (eg delete an email or create a folder), it’s synced across all devices and the cloud. It better reflects that we access email across a range of devices. So when I changed to my new computer, I put in my details, using IMAP, and emails and folders appeared (allowing for download time of course).

Music is another big part of my computer set-up. With more than 3000 songs in my iTunes library, it used to take ages to transfer manually. Nowadays, I use Spotify and again, as soon as I entered my details, my playlists appeared. If you have a download option for Spotify on your computer, it will take some time for songs to download, but it will do it in the background rather than you having to manually do anything.

For some time now I’ve had subscription software: Office 365 for all my Microsoft software and Adobe Creative Suite for my photography and design software. Whereas once I would have had to hunt out discs to set up the software, it’s now a matter of entering my details and hitting download for the software I want.

I still keep my documents and photos locally, but if you use cloud storage through the likes of OneDrive, Google Docs, Dropbox or other providers, the transfer process would be even easier. Maybe next time...

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SOLUTIONS

A long lasting shot ARE YOU SUPPLEMENTING YOUR lambs with vitamin B12 or selenium this season?

Young lambs are susceptible to deficiency and have the highest B12 requirement of any stock class, at the same time of the year that cobalt levels are lowest in their diet. Every day that lambs are below adequate in their vitamin B12 levels results in compromised growth rates, meaning reduced profit for your farming operation.

Developed by AgResearch and trialled in NZ, Smartshot B12 products maintain B12 and selenium levels for over three months or over six months (depending on dose rate) with a single injection, compared with short-acting B12 products which have to be injected every four weeks to maintain levels above adequate1.

Andy McLachlan of Brooklands Station, Tararua, was previously using short-acting B12 solutions before being recommended to Smartshot.

Andy McLachlan of Brooklands Station, Tararua, administering vitamin B12 to his flock.

He says it only requires one dose.

“Last weaning I noticed a significant rise in weight gain between two different animal categories. The ones that got Smartshot were healthier and happier, at least a kilo ahead of the rest of them. A kilo liveweight gain makes a big difference in the long run.”

As recommended by Beef + Lamb NZ, lambs should be treated with B12 at docking/ tailing time. AgResearch trials demonstrate

greater liveweight gains in animals treated at docking/tailing.

Gains of as little as 5g/day can provide a return on investment from Smartshot, meaning even flocks with marginal deficiency could benefit.

More: Ask your vet or visit smartshot. co.nz • Supplied by Virbac.

Less pain and stress for lambs NUMNUTS, A TAIL DOCKING AND castration device for lambs, was on show at the Innovation Hub at Fieldays.

It’s marketed by Timaru company, Agilis, after having a long route to market with scientific studies beginning in the United Kingdom 25 years ago on how to reduce the pain of this procedure.

However, as it wasn’t commercially viable it was mothballed until 2009 when more attention was paid to product design.Three years later, Meat and Livestock Australia got involved along with Australian Wool Innovation then CSIRO and in 2014 a patent was filed.

Commercial trials were carried out on 15,000 lambs before it was launched across the Tasman in 2019.

The two-stage injector means once the operator has applied an elastrator ring over the animal’s tail and scrotum they push

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a button to inject an accurate dose of the fast-acting local anaesthetic, NumOcaine.

Once the needle is correctly engaged it’s able to be dispensed, so there’s no risk of this happening prematurely. There’s less pain and less stress on lambs which sees them able to be mothered up more rapidly and moved back to the paddock.

The device is ergonomically designed and engineered to be robust and accident proof so it can last for over 100,000 ring applications.

It costs about $350 with a 100 millilitre bottle of NumOcaine giving about 65 1.5ml doses at a cost of $1 a lamb. It comes with 12 high quality, stainless steel needles, with replacement recommended after every second bottle of the anaesthetic, or 130 doses.

• Find out more: numnuts.store

Ben Lee from Agilis with the Numnuts device at Fieldays.

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FARMING IN FOCUS

Top left: The Rau’s dogs with some of their stags. Top right: Laurence Rau from Matawai Deer Park started farming deer back in late 1970s. Centre left: An example of the strong wool that Big Save is using in its furniture. Above left: Freshly shorn sheep at Akitio. Above right: A flock of sheep await the shearer at Akitio.

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Top left: Makowhai Station shepherd Mikaere Matthews loading a horse onto a float to be moved off-farm. Top right: The young heading and Huntaway dogs trained by the Smedley Station cadets. Centre left: Alice Satterthwaite looks for stray ewes, an important part of any autumn muster. Centre: Columnist Blair Drysdale’s family helping in the crops. Centre right: Happy 60th Birthday Ed, keep up the good work. Above left: Muddy fun for the Carter boys. Above right: Makowhai Station manager Zane Neill overlooking part of the remote country.

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HONEST, HARDWORKING, NZ MADE LEGENDS

Like the Huntaway, the ‘Weekender’ travel bag from Honest Wolf is another kiwi legend.

Made entirely using NZ wool and leather.

Our next generation BIONIC® PLUS is also entirely NZ made and, as a combination worming capsule over 100 days, brings you ultimate peace of mind for your ewes and their lambs.

This exclusive offer pairing Honest Wolf and BIONIC PLUS reinforces our belief in supporting NZ farmers. So, talk with your vet clinic about BIONIC PLUS and how to get your FREE * Honest Wolf ‘Weekender’ travel bag.

A NZ MADE SUCCESS STORY BIONIC PLUS & HONEST WOLF. The inspiration for the Honest Wolf bag was to showcase NZ wool to the world. Watch the story behind Honest Wolf and the part BIONIC played in producing Honest Wolf’s hardwearing wool.

WATCH THE VIDEO AT: futureproducers.co.nz

*Only while stocks last. Promotion runs from 1st May to 30th September 2021.

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Ensure young stock become future high producers through improved health, growth and energy at:

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PROUDLY AVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCAL PARTICIPATING VETERINARY CLINIC Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited. Level 3, 2 Osterley Way, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand. BIONIC® is a registered trademark of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH, used under license. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No. A011825. See product label for full claim details and directions for use. © Copyright 2021 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited.

All rights reserved. NZ-OVI-0021-2021.

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