Country-Wide February, 2018

GROWING NZ FARMING

Making up for

LOST TIME Central Otago farm manager Mark Booth started sheep and beef farming three years ago but is tearing into it. p66

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Country-Wide February 2018

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Marketing farmers

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very three years my extended family gather just after Boxing Day at a camp near Pleasant Point in South Canterbury. My cousins and their families add up to a fair swag of people, many who live in the cities. A Brosnahan tradition is to go eeling, a highlight of the three days, especially the ones from the city.

Health and safety is strictly observed, and torches issued.

The older children (some now adults) know the drill and hype the younger ones up with stories of old Taniwha, a huge eel that will take children if they wander away on their own.

We used to spear the eels, one per spear, but they were wasted. Anyone can spear an eel but try catching one with a net. The antics of the adult males gave the children as much pleasure as seeing the eels.

This all takes place in a wee stream fed by the Opihi. I’ve always meant to find out the farmer’s name and thank him, as he allows access across his paddock.

Several city people I met over the Christmas break remarked how the fishing on the Opihi was world class.

An English chap comes out each year to fish it. They thought Fish & Game had done a great job of looking after the river. I had to correct them and say it was

largely due to farmers, private enterprise and ratepayers’ money which built the Opuha Dam and breathed new life into the river. They spent millions to ensure good minimum flows. More than half the water stored in the dam maintains those flows.

The dam has given protection against devastating floods and droughts. It has fed irrigation schemes and brought economic prosperity to the region.

What a shame the Ruataniwha dam wasn’t built and more regions haven’t invested in irrigation schemes. How short-sighted of the Government to scrap the Crown’s irrigation fund.

There is the potential in New Zealand to irrigate another 420,000 hectares with stored water. Opponents say it leads to intensification and harms the environment, but greater prosperity can improve it. You have to be in the black to be green.

NZ Ag Inc needs to market farmers better through urban and social media. Shout about the economic, environmental and social good farmers create. Give credit where credit is due.

Terry Brosnahan

Got any feedback? Contact the editor direct: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272.

NEXT ISSUE • FERTILISER: Where will the fertiliser industry be in 20 years? Will farmers need permits to apply it? We take a look at trends, latest science and the outlook on all things fertiliser.

• ANIMAL WELFARE: New standards, what they mean and how are they going to impact farmers? Country-Wide investigates.

• PREPARING FOR WINTER: How-to’s and advice on preparing your pastures and crops for winter. @CountryWideNZ @CountryWideNZ

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More: p24

BOUNDARIES Down-to-earth growing scheme.

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When the kid came along.

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HOME BLOCK George Scott: Working in an idyllic location.

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Suzie Corboy: Farming in the new normal.

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Micha Johansen: More beef for those hills.

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Andrew Bendall: What’s 2018 going to bring?

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Paul Burt: Life with a 400ha backyard.

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John Horrocks: A great summer down south.

15

Kirstin Engelbrecht: Don’t lie awake worrying.

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NOTEBOOK

What’s on when and who’s doing what.

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FACTS

Weather deciding farmers’ fortunes.

BUSINESS Marketing your own produce: 20

Meat like it used to be.

Capturing the excitement

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24

Horned, hairy and meaty

Contents

Genomics affordable and powerful.

26

Road rules not worth breaking.

28

Ag census misleading.

30

A place for surplus cash.

Latecomers make giant strides.

Deer Farmer Editor: Lynda Gray, ph 03 448 6222, lyndagray@xtra.co.nz Sub Editor: Andy Maciver, ph 06 280 3166, andy.maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Managing Editor: Tony Leggett, ph 06 280 3162 mob 0274 746 093, tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz

Account Managers: Warren McDonald, National Sales Manager, ph 06 323 0143,

Editor: Terry Brosnahan, ph 03 471 5272; mob 027 249 0200; terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Lloyd Davy, Auckland/Northland, ph 027 474 6091, Janine Gray, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, ph 0274 746 094, Donna Hirst, Lower North Island & international, ph 06 323 0739, Aleisha Serong, South Island, ph 027 474 6091, Shirley Howard, real estate, ph 06 323 0760, Debbie Brown, classifieds & employment, ph 06 323 0765, Nigel Ramsden, Livestock, ph 06 323 0761 Subscriptions: nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop ph 0800 224 782 or subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Printed by PMP Print, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 1179-9854 (Print)

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Country-Wide February 2018

More: p37 Out of season lambing worth a revisit?

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Seasonality struggle with STAR system.

42

Genetalk: The mating game.

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Stock check: Debating the rights and wrongs.

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FORAGE

COMMUNITY 70

Coming full circle.

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Value of the humble legume.

48

Plantain’s healing powers.

Gorse loses battle with Italian ryegrass.

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ARABLE ARIA field day: Sealed silos preferred pest solution.

More: p32

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Following the tracks.

PLANT AND MACHINERY

FORAGE GUIDE Alternative forage guide.

SOLUTIONS Empowering growth through governance.

ESTATE North Otago: Family selling Altavady.

Forage harvesters: Claas Jaguar 970.

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Southland: Terrace finishing near Fiordland.

Sheds: Put a roof on it.

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Snapshot: When a sale goes wrong.

Water: A mixed year of regulation.

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Plans – Not going with the flow.

Codes to let you keep in contact.

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FARMING IN FOCUS More photos from this month’s Country-Wide.

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59 62

OUR COVER

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After university and a spell in Australia, Mark Booth has come home to the Central Otago family farm.

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YOUNG COUNTRY

Better late than never on the family farm.

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Bark-off: The importance of three Ps.

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Country-Wide February 2018

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Southland: Well-presented near Wyndham.

TECHNOLOGY Using Google to improve the workplace.

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Once was a weed.

Farm forestry: Turning obligations into profits.

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ENVIRONMENT

Your farm, from space.

Forage harvesters: Fendt Katana 85.

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More: p66

Photo: John Cosgrove

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BOUNDARIES | RIPARIAN PLANTING

Down-to-earth growing scheme

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seed of an idea has grown into a community 25,000-plus riparian plant growing story, driven by the Pomahaka Water Care group.

Since 2014 the group has been educating farmers and promoting practical ways of enhancing water quality in the south and west Otago catchments and the latest initiative is the planting of riparian plants along farm waterways. But how to meet potential demand for riparian species such as Carex secta, flax, toetoe, broadleaf and pittosporum was the problem, group chairman and Kelso dairy farmer Lloyd McCall says. Growing them locally seemed a good idea but exactly how was the unknown that sent him to the door of Chris Hughes of Blue Mountain Nurseries in Tapanui.

“I told them I had a crazy idea of possibly growing 100,000 riparian plants. They looked at me and said ‘oh yeah’ and brought me back down to earth.”

However, the nursery and McCall hatched a plan to fund the idea. After calculating a selling price of $5 a plant, farmers were approached for orders and an upfront payment of $2 a plant to cover the set-up costs of seed, pots and seed-raising mix. Another $2 was budgeted for pricking out and potting up and that’s been taken up by the West Otago swimming club which are busy trying to raise money for a new pool.

Recently Blue Mountain College students potted up plants on behalf of the swimming club as part of a community involvement day. The remaining $1 per plant will be allocated to another community group for another plant-raising task.

“In the future we’ll get more groups involved because we see this being an ongoing thing.”

The 25,000 plants from the first order will be ready for planting in autumn 2019 by which time another order of riparian seedlings will be pricked out and growing.

Pete Davies, Blue Mountain College deputy principal with students helping out with Pomahaka Water Care group seedlings.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Instrumental in the project is Blue Mountain Nurseries, which have provided expertise and growing space, but so too has the support and involvement of the wider community, Lloyd says.

“It’s really cool because it’s a rural and urban thing and the school kids have helped and are learning a lot along the way as well.”

lyndagray@xtra.co.nz

To FAR from forestry Scion general manager forest science, Dr Alison Stewart, becomes chief executive at the Foundation for Arable Research later this month, replacing Nick Pyke who, after 22 years in the role, announced he would step down last year.

FAR chairman David Birkett lauds Stewart’s science, marketing and commercial record and welcomes her bioprotection involvement.

“If we start to lose some agrichemicals that could become really important to us.”

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Country-Wide February 2018

BOUNDARIES | OUTTAKES

When the kid came along 2IC rules Cheyenne and Drew with their winning cow and calf combination at the ‘Best of Beef’ show held at Central Districts Field days.

Although breeding, winning major show prizes with their Simmentals, selling meat through supermarkets and sending live animals to Japan have been highlights of their farming career Lauril and Drew Stein say their biggest joy came from a bitesize package.

In 1992 Lauril and Drew’s granddaughter came to live with them fulltime in the Wairarapa.

Having had the last of their two kids flee the nest many years earlier it was an adjustment having a toddler around again. In their 50s at the time Drew was still working fulltime in a fast-paced job which meant lots of overseas travel. Lauril managed the day-to-day operations of the farm for the most part, with the help of farm workers so having a toddler to wrangle probably wasn’t ideal.

At the tender age of about three, Cheyenne in all her toddler wisdom decided it was a great idea to walk

into a pen of rising two-year-old Simmental bulls. The bulls, apparently somewhat stunned and curious to this tiny human in their space stood rock still just looking at her. After the initial moment of panic, Lauril calmly called Cheyenne over to her. Needless to say, there was swift punishment for this dangerous stunt, but the experience only proved to strengthen her resolve and love of animals. From then on creative strategies had to be put in place to keep Cheyenne in one spot, one included setting her up in one of the large dog kennel runs with blankets, cookies and toys.

But despite all the challenges, they say they wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Cheyenne is the light of their lives and now fast becoming a leading light in ag journalism as deputy editor of Country-Wide.

Read more about the Steins p24

Bravo Bob

Congratulations and commiserations to Bob Mehrtens, New Zealand’s representative in the World Ploughing Contest in Kenya in early December.

He placed second in the reversible class, a great achievement, but no doubt he’ll be gutted to have missed out on first to Ireland’s John Whelan.

Meanwhile Ian Woolley, from Blenheim, finished a commendable seventh in the conventional class which was won by Gene Gruber, of the United States.

Country-Wide February 2018

In the lead up to Christmas, Canterbury enjoyed some typical summer heat with days up to the mid-30C range. On one of these, farmers with a private beach were sweltering in the woolshed crutching. Another local farmer who had arranged to visit the beach with his young family passed though in the early afternoon and checked in with the owners. He was quickly given flack by the 2IC who is in his mid-70s and reportedly seldom short of a reply. The conversation went close to the following: “It’s all very well for some people heading to the beach while the rest of us are slaving away in the heat.”

“We were in the yards this morning and the dogs are buggered.”

“Get some new ones then.”

“The kids are buggered too.”

“Get some new ones of them too.”

“The breeding’s the trouble.”

“Just sing out if you need a hand.”

The little things

A South Canterbury farmer was extremely proud of a stock water pump installed in the lead-up to Christmas. He managed to get it in place and running before his son headed away on holiday.

When the son was nearly due home he was told by his father that one of the most urgent jobs upon his return would be to check the pump because a part appeared loose and it was not running properly – something had apparently fallen off and was missing.

When the son returned they headed for the pump together with some urgency and a Google image of what the suspicious area on the pump should look like. This confirmed no parts were missing.

The father was ready to phone the distributor and was already working out how they would carry the pump back out before he decided on a whim that he’d better rule out a fuel shortage before getting too carried away. After three days not running, the pump roared into life with a top-up of diesel, much to the relief and embarrassment of those involved.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Work in an idyllic location George showing tourists a stoat.

They caught five last season.

George Scott Wanaka

F

or the past few years I have been driving four-wheel-drive tours over West Wanaka Station for a company called Ridgeline Adventures. West Wanaka is a high country station in a magnificent location, with the natural boundaries of the Matukituki River, Lake Wanaka and the Buchanan mountains.

This has been a wonderful part-time retirement job.

Ridgeline owner Mark Orbell started the business 10 years ago and it has slowly grown to be one of Wanaka’s premier tourist attractions.

After a lifetime of farming with the responsibilities that entails, it has been great to have a job where when I finish for the day I have no planning or bookwork to think about. However, old habits die hard and I still find myself thinking about what value I can add to the tours, and how I can give the clients a better experience.

While driving I meet people from all walks of life. I have guided a past Mayor of Beijing, a helicopter pilot

The farm has some pet sheep which tourists can feed and touch.

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from the Vietnam War, and Miss Universe Indonesia, with whom I did a promotional film shoot.

Many visitors have difficulty believing that one family can own such a large farm in such a location. They often look at the views in silence, just trying to comprehend where they are, and what they are seeing.

They love seeing the breeding hinds up on the high country, where they are effectively running wild.

I often ask “Do you like the views from my office?” and they usually reply “They are better than the views of the car park that I see” or “Can I come and work here?” It is very easy for New Zealanders to take for granted such a beautiful place as Wanaka.

At the beginning of a typical tour, I talk about the size of the farm, and the numbers of sheep, deer and cattle.

Further on we pass the river flats, and then drive up into the high country, with its vast native pastures. I tell them how the farm is run, and the work involved in its operation.

As a farmer myself I can describe how the different aspects of the enterprise complement one another. For me it is really interesting how much some people want to know, and the depth of their questions, particularly regarding the animals.

It is the sheep, deer and cattle they really enjoy seeing, and hearing about.

The fact that this is just a normal working farm, and the animals are not part of some sideshow, is important to them.

However, we do have some pet sheep, which they can feed and touch.

Tourists enjoy hearing about shearing, and the other seasonal farm operations.

Many want to know where the animals are housed during the night and in winter. On the other hand, they think it is great that they live outside. They love seeing the breeding hinds up on the high country, where they are effectively running wild. People are also intrigued about the stoat trapping programme, carried out by Ridgeline.

I often ask if they have eaten lamb while in NZ. They are very complementary about lamb and how much they have enjoyed eating it.

When talking about cattle, I only have to mention “Angus” and I can almost sense their mouths watering. The Angus marketers have done an excellent job making their breed known worldwide.

Fewer visitors have tried venison, but those who have, really enjoyed it. It is a shame it is not more common on NZ restaurant menus. I have made a point of becoming familiar with what is available in the different restaurants in Wanaka, so can make recommendations.

The tourists who come on a Ridgeline trip have a very positive impression of NZ farming, and our products. They are all potential buyers when they go home.

A good impression of NZ farming may make the difference between buying a product from NZ, or another country.

We have to farm in an environmentally and sustainable way, and for some farmers that may mean changing their farming practices. One bad photo or experience can do considerable damage to NZ’s image.

West Wanaka Station is very well farmed, and I thank the Cochrane family for allowing tourists to see a true working operation. It gives me pride to show visitors around such an idyllic high country station which produces premium products.

Country-Wide February 2018

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Farming in what may be the new normal

Suzie Corboy Catlins, South Otago

Happy New Year to you all. For any readers that don’t know me I was asked to re-introduce myself. I am a small, but feisty Scottish woman, married to Paul, a sometimes grumpy man, but my best friend and partner in a 495-hectare sheep and beef farm in the Owaka Valley.

We farm about 2000 ewes, 500 in-lamb hoggets and 100 once-mated heifers, and fatten the steers from these heifers, and keep the heifer calves to mate at 14 months. The farm is rolling to steep and the steep ground is very rocky.

Like most farmers around the country it has been an abnormal season, but the “experts” seem to be saying this may become the new normal.

We had very good spring grass growth, with heat not commonly expected in the Catlins at this time of year. This was followed by a dry spell, not drought, but dry enough to brown off the rocky areas and significantly reduce grass growth.

As I write this, in the first week of January, we have had more than 30mm of rain in the past three days, and many areas in the north have had flooding, so by the time you read this the whole season may have turned around, or we could be back to dry again.

When I asked Paul for inspiration this morning for a topic to write about,

Country-Wide February 2018

he said the difficulty of managing too much early feed, then not enough, without making supplementary feed. I replied “are you complaining about my management” to which I was told “no, just your lack of management”.

As a result, he is out mustering ewes and lambs for weaning tomorrow, in the wind and occasional heavy rain, and I am writing this in the comfort of the house. I accept that a small area of the farm has too much grass and quality has dropped, but when the ewes are weaned the heifers and calves will go on to the hill and enjoy this long grass, and a big mob of weaned ewes can follow and all will be okay. Or so I have told him. Hope I am right.

Despite his complaints the twinbearing ewes coming off the hill are looking good and we are confident we will get a reasonable number to the works – not the 50% we would like to achieve, but hopefully 25-30%. We weaned the triplets a few days ago, the lambs averaged 28kg and those we killed 16.4kg. That was from ewes that tailed about 210%.

We have never aimed for high lamb carcase weights, preferring to go for an earlier kill date, all carcases over 14.5kg, with an average close to 17kg. We will sell stores if we need to. With this target we have better opportunity to ensure the ewes are fed sufficiently over summer to reach a good mating condition, and we carry enough grass through to winter, as we feed no supplementary feed over the winter, apart from bought-in straw for yearling cattle on fodder beet. Most of the ewes are on swedes and kale for 60-70 days after mating.

For those that remember my target from last column of 100% lambs tailed to hoggets mated, we never even got close, with a result of about 83%. Bugger, we have told ourselves we can’t stop farming

until we achieve this. Will have to keep farming for a while yet.

We have not had a proper holiday for a number of years, but did manage three nights away over Christmas to stay with my parents in Petone. They are great cooks, and still like the Scottish traditional turkey and stuffing, ham and roast vegetables, along with some salad as it is summer. Followed by a range of rich, fattening desserts.

Despite his complaints the twinbearing ewes coming off the hill are looking good and we are confident we will get a reasonable number to the works.

We were very well fed and even came home with a small chilly bin of leftovers.

The weather was wet, which upset mum as they had had a record dry spell, and she wanted to eat outside, but didn’t bother me as I just ate, drank and slept, with very little guilt about never leaving the house, except to buy our Christmas present in the Boxing Day sale. Typical Scottish thrift, much cheaper that way.

Unfortunately, at this time of year we haven’t much time for sitting around, and it is back to work now, weaning lambs, mouthing and uddering ewes and back into lamb drafting in a few weeks’ time.

It is an ongoing job keeping the fences stock-proof, as many were built a number of years ago, with rabbit netting and four or five wires. We are working on upgrading them, adding more wires and a warratah between the concrete posts to strengthen the fence.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

More beef for those hills

Micha Johansen Eketahuna

The results of one of Micha’s experiments.

The biggest benefit of being a farmowning dairy farmer, is the chance to run a few breeding experiments. It also helps to have a range of hills, so you can run your failures on them as future beef. Let’s just say this season has me fast running out of hills.

We should probably preface this column with, poor TJ. TJ would like to have reared about 25 replacement calves, 10-ish Friesian bulls, and maybe 15 beef crosses. By the time the 2017 calving season was finished I had 72. Well TJ had 72, as I am now working full time off farm, leaving him doing most of the grunt work.

I have fed the calves every morning before work, so he was only left with afternoon feeds. As at the start of January, we are still feeding 22 calves, having only just reduced them to once a day. To think our bank manager nervously laughed in June, when I told him I’d be feeding calves until Christmas. They will be weaned over the next week. I promise.

The season’s biggest failure was my Jersey bull experiment. For years I have wracked my brain trying to work out what to do with Jersey bull calves.

Everything I research tends to end in a financially pointless, dead end, so I thought, heck, I’ll keep about five and trial sell them as weaners.

My “about five” Jersey bulls blossomed into about eight, as a few heifers actually turned out to be, ahem, bulls. Then, with being able to buy yearling Jersey bulls for $750, I was pretty sure there was next to no market for our weaners, so my solution has been to steer them and run them on the hills. Running Jersey steers has become my new thing. They won’t be stroppy, and they should have a lighter

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footprint on our heavy clay. We will see how this experiment pans out.

Friesian bull weaners, were, once again, fetching a nice price. The first five we sold went for $495, and our final four, at the last sale of the year, went for $535.

I had been hoping for around the $450 mark, due to it not only being the last sale, but the fact everyone was starting to get quite dry, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I’m guessing our Angus bull worked under cover of darkness, as we have ended up with about 18 little black, and ginger (Jersey), beauties.

The other highlight of calving was seeing the results of having trialled a lowbirthweight Angus to tail the herd last season. TJ told me not to get my hopes up, we’d be lucky to get eight Angus calves. From what he’d seen, the Jersey bull had been busy, the Angus, not so much.

I’m guessing our Angus bull worked under cover of darkness, as we have ended up with about 18 little black, and ginger (Jersey), beauties. The best thing was that we had no calving issues, so we have used two Angus bulls for tailing the herd this season. We will hopefully sell the bull weaners, and the heifers will either be sold, or run on the hills.

The use of one Angus bull, one Jersey

bull did throw a few issues our way, with it being hard to tell some of the Friesiancross Jerseys apart from the Angus cross. Poor little suckers had their heads squeezed every feed time, with me trying to identify horns or no horns. With one is he? isn’t he? calf we finally identified horns about four weeks in so, yep, he’ll be steered and run on the hills along with my other whoopsies.

Sadly, we only ended up with two Hereford crosses, Doris and Violet, named after two great aunts. Violet, we suspect, was courtesy of the neighbour’s bull visit this time last year. Doris may be too.

What happened with the 10 AB semen straws is anyone’s guess.

I am looking forward to having Doris and Violet in the milking herd in two years’ time. We have Miss Penelope Boo in the shed this season, and she’s going great guns, which has got my next inhead experiment under way, to get a few (maybe up to half) beef dairy crosses into the milking herd. A versatile cow who provides both milk, and 3/4 beef 1/4 dairy calves, thus further reducing our bobby calf numbers. I can hear you all now. That TJ is a lucky, lucky man.

• Trent (TJ) and Micha Johansen farm 63 hectares, at Eketahuna. They milk 140, predominantly Jersey cows, on a OAD system, and have six beefies for the steeper paddocks. They hope to eventually farm beef cattle, most likely Angus, and one of them would love to have some sheep, despite all and sundry telling Micha she doesn’t want them. They are in their second season on the property, having purchased it in 2016, their first foray in farm ownership.

Country-Wide February 2018

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

What’s 2018 going to bring? exceptionally well, this too had Stock class Opening Open Closing been sprayed, something you do # LW # around here pre-Christmas with MA ewes 587 70 587 caution with so many vineyards in Ewe Hoggets 291 65 291 close proximity.

New grass (Shogun hybrid HNZ MA Rams 110 95 110 ryegrass, Weka white clover, Tuscan HNZ Ram hoggets 1,264 80 1,264 red clover) was going gang busters LDTL Wether/Ewe 1,139 36 1,139 on its second graze after having its lambs weed spray. Some supplements had Total Sheep 3,391 3,391 been purchased and first cuts of balage due late December.

Grazing R1yr heifers 309 410 309 Irrigation is only as good as Cromwell, Central Otago Grazing Heifer calves 326 130 325 your water source and storage R2yr steers 35 580 35 capabilities, our source for a third Wagyu Steer/Heifer 269 130 269 of the farm is from the mighty Christmas has been and gone without calves Clutha River, so 100% reliable and much fanfare, we had a service on available. The other two thirds, Christmas eve at our local Lowburn R2yr bulls 5 580 5 comes from snow and rainfall, Church, followed by a walk/run up Roy’s R1yr bulls 339 470 339 historical data showed we should Peak in Wanaka on Christmas morning Bull calves 510 145 510 get both in late spring, early then family for late lunch.

Total Cattle 1,793 1,792 summer. When full we have very It seemed to be a good year to stay good storage capacity with two fairly handy to home, with a few stock Total 5,184 5,183 dams and constant flow into these water issues showing potential just before dams topping them up. the crazy festive week began and water These dams have normally been storage at far from comfortable levels, Stock Units 7548.6 7546.6 overflowing at this time of the relatively high stocking rates and an Stock Units/ Ha 13.4 13.4 year giving us four to five weeks’ exceptionally busy main road dividing So what is the plan I hear you say? irrigation if we received no rainfall. the farm.

• R2 cattle are booked to go early January However, with a January-December So for peace of mind that stock had • 18-month bulls contracted to go rainfall of only 457mm, 15% lower than water, irrigators were doing what they February, may go early rather than late normal, our dams are not full. should, with no stock being accessible at lighter weights My issue being (also tarred with the to the road and knowing that we were • Re evaluate budgeted bull exit weights “glass three-quarters full” syndrome) I taking a week off in January to Paratua, • Ewes will be culled and have the culls have the farm stocked thinking at worst Northland, it was to be a stay-at-home booked to be killed we are good for 80% water reliability. fortnight.

• two-tooth rams (breeding rams So there has been quite a bit of Mid December we were feeling quite for Headwaters) will be gone early shuffling of stock and changing of plans smug, well below average rainfall but February, however they are replaced by and re-changing of plans over the festive had great soil moisture with 24/7 2000 hoggets in April. period. Prioritising of different stock irrigation since mid-October. Fodder • 400 calves will go on 15ha Interval rape classes yet again, re-adjusting exit weights beet crops were in a month earlier than (40-50 days grazing) and budgets accordingly, getting hold last year, had been sprayed and received • R2 dairy will be pregnancy tested as of non phone-answering agents who their first dressing of fertiliser. Summer soon as practical are away and probably don’t have space crop of Interval rape was in and doing • Will re-evaluate whether external lambs anyway given how dry the rest of will be finished on chicory or do calves the country is as well.

Wagyu calves, arrived go on to it.

There are always positives, late December.

We have ordered more balage as I have though. Stock are in great a feeling I’ll have to be feeding R2 heifers condition and making decisions supplements in March. is quick and easy when your Other than that, it’s business as usual, a consultants are away until January busy year ahead for Rhonda and me with 8. some winter travel planned, plenty of Well we have 740 hectares, non-ag but onfarm projects going on.

320ha under irrigation and As I await the predicted thunderstorms possibly too much stock on. The to arrive, which at this stage are non-irrigated area has the breeding going around us, you all will have to ewes grazing it, with limited feed wait till the autumn to see how things but great scenery. That’s their gig panned out. till autumn.

Andrew Bendall

Country-Wide February 2018

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Life with a 400hectare backyard under my control healthy and profitable has required as broad a range of skills and abilities as any medium-size enterprise would demand. The physical nature suits me but we would have been sold up long ago if the brain wasn’t engaged as well.

Paul Burt

Matata, Bay of Plenty “Have you got a life outside of the farm?” he asked with what I took to be a hint of pity in his voice. It was one of those holiday conversations. You know the type, with someone you have just met who after five minutes has already drawn conclusions about how dull your existence might be at the end of a gravel road with slow internet and no cell phone coverage.

I could be completely wrong, of course, but I genuinely think many people have no idea what a farmer’s day or week or year may entail. They imagine repetition and boredom. Dirt and sweat, discomfort, forever toiling but never quite making it. Diligent, good people, on the whole, but not having the smarts to succeed in a more-intellectually demanding environment.

If my casual acquaintance had watched Country Calendar this past series there is no way he could have come to those conclusions and my imaginings are merely a dated stereotype.

I have never been bored as a farmer.

Keeping the animals and the hectares

14

I’ve never been big on crowds, but I like to keep in touch with Tom, Dick and Harry the oldfashioned way.

Farmers are constantly evaluating the mix of variables that puts money in the bank. In 27 years I have lost count of the tweaks and changes we have made to farm policy to keep ahead of costs and crank out more profit. Risk profiles and financial arrangements need monitoring and adjustment in a business where constant cash flow pressure is the norm.

Expansion to gain greater economy of scale means investment in over-priced land with operating returns rarely above the cost of money. Individually there is no strategy we can implement to convince our customers to pay more.

Making a profit as a price taker is a tough game.

The next totally logical question is why do we do it? The one answer you won’t get is “for the money”. While it is true that at the end of a lifetime’s successful farming a substantial asset has usually been accumulated it has normally been

proceeded by many years of frugality.

Personally, I couldn’t live without a 400-hectare backyard. Work and life are so intertwined as to be indivisible but each adds to rather than takes away from the other.

The hills, the bush, the views, the solitude, all act as a tonic far more effective than anything your doctor could prescribe. Every breath offers the taste of good health and sanity. It’s something I will never tire of.

My chatting partner, probably worried about the solitude bit, suggested I was in danger of social stagnation. That may be so but it’s my choice. I’ve never been big on crowds, but I like to keep in touch with Tom, Dick and Harry the old-fashioned way. Besides, Terry lets me write these columns and as long as I don’t fall into the trap of believing my own bull s*%t I hope he will continue to do so.

It’s not all work and no play, however, and as we live within a bait’s cast of the vast blue Pacific there is ample opportunity to go fishing. I’ve been three times in the last five years and it really takes it out of me. From the time I realised I couldn’t breathe underwater, the sea and me have been a shaky combination.

Water skiing (indulged in only once) taught me that if you travel at speed on water and don’t stay upright it will force its way much further than is comfortable up every orifice. Without fail the sea delights in receiving my breakfast but I do enjoy fresh fish, so I persevere.

My friend Jet Boat John has worked out a plan to help me get my dinner without losing my lunch and it’s really good. If there is high pressure and a southerly flow the sea will be dead flat and he will ring to say be down at the local river mouth in 15 minutes.

Over the bar and out to 18 metres depth requires another five minutes with the roaring V8 and if the fish are biting we are in business.

I can be home with the bounty and back to work within a couple of hours, rather than the conventional trip that takes all day and by comparison would make being keel-hauled feel pleasurable.

The first time we deployed this plan the day was perfect, but eventually the bites slowed and we decided to move.

When the key was turned instead of the reassuring throb of the motor there was a whirr… clunk. More key turning resulted in more whirr clunking.

It was serious enough to need a rescue so Jet Boat John called up Jet Boat Jim and after three hours of bobbing about on an increasingly choppy sea a bigger V8 pulled up alongside.

›› Story Continued pg 15 Country-Wide February 2018

A great summer down south time, it was cold – probably 12˚C, windy and wet. There was hardly any clover growth, swedes barely struck and lamb growth was poor. These are extremes of weather I never experienced during the 1990s.

John Horrocks

Merino Downs, West Otago I am a little fearful of admitting we are at present on the cusp of a brilliant spring and summer season. It’s tempting fate by saying this and already I’m reminded of three awful days during an otherwiseperfect lambing in which we had 60mm of rain and lost our share of lambs.

In 25 years of farming at Merino Downs, I cannot recall a late spring or summer anywhere near as good as this year. Mind you, the past five years have been dreadful – non-existent spring – short summers and more wind than you can bear.

Going hand-in-hand with the good weather, lamb and ewe prices have been good enough to allow the prospect of a decent profit after some terrible years for sheep farmers. At $7/kilo for lamb, it looks like there was light at the end of the tunnel for anyone who stoically remained in the sheep farming game.

Despite my exuberance with this spring and summer, it is tinged with a large dose of caution.

It is very hot (almost too hot for down south) and to keep moisture levels up, we need more than 25mm of rain a week which is not quite happening. Then there is the contrast with last year where at this

Prospects for this season as portrayed by meat industry leaders suggested prices well below what we are receiving.

How can this be?

If the weather is a concern, so is the overall shape of the sheep industry.

Prospects for this season as portrayed by meat industry leaders suggested prices well below what we are receiving. How can this be? Why can they not predict ewe prices will be $5/kg in November and lambs $7/kg in December?

It is also disappointing to see lamb and mutton schedule prices commenced their slide in December.

Is it because all meat processors are full and it’s an easy way to make a quick buck? There has been no corresponding decline in the beef and venison schedules.

I recall somewhere that the new Government is going to reappraise the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) to gauge its effectiveness. I have never been in favour of this $70 million project. Why does the sheep industry blow

money on schemes that don’t generate extra income for the long term?

I think back to the McKinsey Report on the Wool Industry which not only cost plenty but wrongly concluded there was no future for mid-micron wool compared to strong wool. I can’t think of one thing that has benefitted my farming business arising from the RMPP. Its attempt to lift the performance of those farmers into the top 20% is naïve. Sheep production numbers and the overall state of the present sheep industry is testament to its failure.

Why couldn’t this money be spent on raising sheep returns from overseas sales? This is the fundamental stumbling block in the industry. Instead, we seem to have a lot of energy and hangers-on committed to some moral endeavour to see 80% of sheep farmers raise their game without any commitment from the industry to likewise raise its game and guarantee higher returns for both the short and long term.

Tomorrow ewe shearing commences.

For once any disruptions caused by inclement weather will be welcome.

›› Story Continued...

A tow line was hitched and (much to my horror) John said goodbye in a tone that suggested it could be our last contact.

He climbed in to act as pilot aboard Jim’s boat. My younger brother Tony (talked into a quick trip) and I looked at each other, took off our gumboots, and put on an extra life jacket each. The big boat roared and stretched the tow rope as tight as a snapper’s umbilicus. Our dead craft shot out of its wallow with more elastic energy than a bungy punter.

Jim was using all of his horsepower to give us a ride to remember. The bar

Country-Wide February 2018

appeared before us and from the sea side looked like the aquatic version of the gates of hell. My backside was clenched so tightly that even If I had fallen overboard no water would have entered my body.

Jim turned to power through the channel and at the end of the rope our boat swung the arc of a slalom skier and shot the gap at what seemed like 100 miles an hour, its occupants whiteknuckled and helpless. We survived to tell the tale and the fish was some of the best I’ve tasted.

• Paul and Louise Burt farm in partnership with his brother John and his wife Linda, 900ha of Bay of Plenty hill country.

• They run 2700 Coopworth ewes, 700 hoggets, 270 beef breeding cows and 950 dairy grazers. Radiata forestry is an increasingly important part of their operation.

• From the original 420ha bought in 1990 they have increased the size of the business by long-term leasing with the aim of eventually creating a viable business for each family.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Don’t lie awake worrying

Kirstin Engelbrecht Palmerston, Otago

It has been a dry start to the year here in East Otago. We are not on our own with many areas the same making for decisions to be made.

Simon and I are in our 12th year here at Stoneburn and continue to enjoy it.

After a good scanning the rest of the winter seemed pretty good, we struggled to get winter feed crops eaten and had a good early spring growth period. The first calvers had the vet visit a couple of times which we expected and lambing weather was kind.

Earlier in the year Simon agreed to provide breeding ewes for a Southdown ram progeny trial. Ram breeders arrived and we put the 20 ram lambs from throughout the country to work over our four-year-old line of ewes. We also AI some ewes to help benchmark the results.

Lambing went well and they are now weaned and have travelled to Chris Medlicott at Waimate to be grown on until their slaughter in February. They will all be scanned and other data gathered on top of the information gathered from here and Chris’s. It will be interesting to see the finalised results.

We weaned before Christmas and sold fats, stores and works ewes with only about 1000 works lambs remaining.

With hindsight it has been a reasonable decision as we are still looking for a good rain.

Over the years Simon has decided that you need to make a decision and get on with it rather than lie awake worrying either way. If we do get large amounts of rain then there are always options for utilising any growth.

Shearing has been going on the last few days. We started with the ewe lambs and money for this wool looks the most promising at present. The main line of

16

ewes will no doubt be pleased to have the weight off on these hot days.

Our drench resistance test results were consistent with four years ago so we won’t need to do one for a while.

We tape-drenched the lambs on their mothers and again at weaning as we believe it is most beneficial.

The ‘Understanding Your Farming Business’ course run through the AgriWomen’s Development Trust was inspiring. It covered stock reconciliation, budgets for feed and finance, KPIs and benchmarking and more. The facilitators were memorable and outstanding individuals.

I gained a lot and highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance to attend. It is free as the trust has gained sponsorship through the Red Meat Profit Partnership and you will have fun too. We had a baby come to ours and our age group ranged from young starting-out-farming to nearly retiring. All sized farms and types too.

Preparing for our youngest to start boarding school, which I am sure he will love, has been on my mind as well. It means our typical day will start to look a bit different this year. I’ll miss him but it’s not all about me. Two of our children are going into year 11 and 13 in Dunedin this year and our eldest is in his last year at Lincoln University finishing a BCom. So you would think I would be skipping with joy entering this phase of our lives, telling everyone that my trophy wife days have finally begun, and I am but I can’t believe how fast it has come.

When your children are small everyone goes on to you about “making the most of it” but you’re just so tired sometimes that you find yourself answering these well-meaning people in your head with

something along the lines of “I can’t wait!” Of course, though, these wise older people were right and I say it to young families now like a painful aunt. I feel I made the most of it when they were little, going to school events, making blanket forts in the lounge and barely doing any housework, yet I love where we are as a family now too.

I hope people managed to get a break away or are going shortly. Even though children don’t make the greatest holiday companions at times they gain memories they’ll have for a lifetime and whether you take them or not it shows them that it’s important to take time out from work for your mental and physical health.

It doesn’t have to be far or expensive either. As it’s a busy time and hard to get people to cover we have been going to the Dunback Domain by the Shag River for a few years now and have a lot of fun.

It’s easy for the parents too because we can whip home to run dogs, shift stock, shower (and power nap) which results in the children feeling like they’ve had an adventure and there are no traffic problems or ques around Dunback either.

It’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with and that is certainly true of our happy crew.

Quick facts: Kirstin and Simon Engelbrecht farm sheep and beef in the Palmerston district, Otago. They have four children: Oscar 20, Sam 17, Anna 15, and Charles 13.

• Farm area: 824ha (611ha Stoneburn, 185 Goodwood, 28ha lease block).

• Running 7500 stock units.

• Annual rainfall: 736mm • Elevation: 450 metres above sea level.

Kirstin and Simon Engelbrecht, with their children Anna and Charles back in 2014 when they won the New Zealand Ewe hogget competition.

Country-Wide February 2018

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Country-Wide February 2018

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NOTEBOOK | EVENTS

Vintage Harvest Rally

Light show

Organised by the Wairarapa Vintage Machinery Club, see rare, private collections of machinery in action in farming demonstrations.

Get up close to machines restored by hand to original working condition. Clareville Showgrounds, February 3 and 4.

TSB Festival of Lights, Pukekura Park, New Plymouth to February 5. www.festivaloflights.nz

More? wairarapanz.com/harvestrally

People Expo

Find solutions for your business and share with like-minded and motivated farming colleagues what works and what doesn’t, along with new and novel ideas and practical tips and tricks, Awapuni Function Centre, Palmerston North, February 22. Sponsored by Beef+Lamb NZ and DairyNZ.

www.beeflambnz.com/events/ people-expo-lower-north-island

Your Farming Business (UYFB) programmes are now open with the first courses beginning on February 7 at Wanaka.

•

•

www.awdt.org.nz/programmes/ understanding-your-farming-business/ •

Dub fest

Hurunui Races

•

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• Salmonella Dub celebrate 25 years in Kiwi music with the return of Tiki Taane at Owen Delany Park, Taupo, February 3.

www.fuzen.co.nz

•

• Hurunui Race and Gala day, at Hurunui Racecourse, Hawarden, February 10.

www.facebook.com/hurunuiraces

A&P Shows

•

Sup up

North West Wine, Beer and Food Festival, featuring Fly My Pretties, Julia Deans and Alae, The Hunting Lodge, Waimauku, West Auckland, February 10. https://goo.gl/AfdxUX

• • •

•

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Engaging women Increase your confidence and skills in farm business management with this series of free workshops run by the Agri-Women’s Development Trust.

Registrations for the 2018 Understanding

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Kaitaia Show, February 24 30B SH1, Kaitaia. www.kaitaiashow.nz North Hokianga A&P Show, February 17, Broadwood Road, Broadwood. nthhokiangaaandp@hotmail.com North Kaipara Show, February 3, Paparoa Showgrounds. www.paparoashow.org.nz Northern Wairoa A&P Show, February 10, Arapohue Showgrounds. www.arapohueshow.weebly.com Helensville A&P Show, February 24, Helensville Showgrounds. www.helensvilleshowgrounds.co.nz Franklin A&P Show, February 17, 18, Pukekohe Showgrounds.

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www.pukekoheshowgrounds.co.nz Katikati A&P Show, February 4, Major St, Katikati. katikati.aandp.assn@gmail.com Te Puke A&P Show, February 10, Showgrounds, Paengaroa. kimcawte@gmail.com Waimarino A&P Show, February 17, 18, 26 SH4, Raetihi. www.waimarinoshow.wix.com/ waimarino-show Dannevirke A&P Show, February 4, High St, Dannevirke. www.dannevirkeaandp.co.nz Masterton A&P Show, February 16, 17, Solway Showgrounds, Masterton. www.solwayshowgrounds.co.nz Inangahua A&P Show, February 3, Racecourse, Reefton. inangahua. show@gmail.com Kaikoura A&P Show, February 24, South Bay Domain, Kaikoura. www.kaikouraaandp@hotmail.co.nz Murchison A&P Show, February 17, Recreation Reserve, Murchison. murchison.ap.show@gmail.com South Westland Show, February 25, Whataroa Domain. www.swapshow.co.nz.

Central Otago A&P Show, February 3, Alton St, Omakau. coap@xtra.co.nz Gore A&P Show, February 3, Bury St, Gore. www.goreapshowgrounds.co.nz Maniototo A&P Show, February 21, Maniototo Park, Ranfurly. diandnev@kinect.co.nz Mt Benger A&P Show, February 23, 24, Roxburgh Sports Grounds. www.mtbengershow.com North Otago A&P Show, February 23, 24, Ettrick St, Oamaru. www.northotagoshow.co.nz Palmerston/Waihemo Show, February 3, 4, Gilligan St, Palmerston. contact@palmerstonwaihemo.nz Waiau A&P Show, February 10, Tuatapere. waiaushow@xtra.co.nz

Country-Wide February 2018

FACTS

Exposed to the elements: North Island lambs December 2017: $2.30-$2.55/kg LW. January 2018: $3.00/kg LW.

Weather deciding farmers’ fortunes North Island s tore lamb price

AGRIHQ ANALYST

4.0

$/kgLW

3.5

Reece Brick

T

his summer has provided the perfect example of just how much Mother Nature can dictate success in the red meat industry.

One of the wettest springs in recent history quickly transitioned into a very dry start to summer, catching many off-guard and creating a period of volatility. However, most sheep and beef farmers appear to have made it this far relatively unscathed.

Store markets are always heavily exposed to the elements, and this was glaringly obvious when it came to North Island store lambs in the back-end of 2017. At one point these were selling at just $2.30-$2.55/kg liveweight in the saleyards, a measly 32-36% of what schedules were offering at the time.

At the flick of a switch the rain

3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5

Oct

Dec

Feb

5-­yr ave

2016-­17

arrived, and it’s all reversed itself. At the time of writing store lambs were back above $3.00/kg LW in both islands and climbing by the week. A continuation of this trend is likely, though dry conditions in the lower South Island could flatten that market.

A similar situation arose in store cattle.

Yearling steers were doing well to make more than $3.00/kg LW in the latter half of December, but are now edging back above $3.20/kg LW in the North Island.

Processors also had to contend with rapidly shifting kill dynamics. Cattle farmers pulled the pin on killable stock

North Island bull s laughter price

$/kgCW

6.0

5.5

5.0

4.5

Oct

Dec 5-­yr ave

Country-Wide February 2018

Feb 2016-­17

Apr

Jun 2017-­18

Aug

Apr

Jun 2017-­18

Aug

Oct

Source: AgriHQ

on a large scale in December.

Indications suggest this December’s kill was the largest on record. Processors cut slaughter prices back by 20-40c/kg carcaseweight in response. Schedules are likely to hold stable in the short-term, however, as supplies become harder to source and the United States beef market continues to stay healthy. The rising exchange rate could put a spanner in the works, however.

Lambs and mutton throughput also rose, but poor growing conditions did slow the flood of stock heading to slaughter. Schedules have edged lower as is typical for this point in the season.

The outlook for both lamb and mutton is positive for the coming weeks.

Processors will be competing to procure lambs for the chilled Easter trade, while autumn mutton contracts have been put forward 50c/kg above the already exceptional schedules. Information from overseas markets indicates there’ll be no let-up in interest for NZ lamb cuts.

Oct

Source: AgriHQ

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BUSINESS | MARKETING YOUR OWN PRODUCE Steve and Pip Olds.

Meat like it used to be In a new series, Country-Wide writers look at farmers who are or have tried marketing their own produce.

Rebecca Harper Giving the customer what they want is important for Eketahuna Country Meats - so when customers at the Wellington markets asked for goat, they got it.

Steve and Pip Olds own and operate Eketahuna Country Meats, which featured in Country-Wide in 2015.

Since then, the business has grown by leaps and bounds, in part helped recently by the Country Calendar effect.

The couple supply meat direct from their 134-hectare Eketahuna farm to customers, selling at four markets in Wellington every weekend, as well as online.

The idea of selling meat from your own farm directly to the consumer may sound simple, but the reality is somewhat different. After six years of hard slog and significant financial pressure, the business is just starting to

20

generate enough turnover to show a profit. As well as running the farm and the meat business, the couple juggle three young children and Steve’s day job as a stock agent for PGG Wrightson.

It’s not uncommon for Pip to put in 80 hours a week handling customer contact and orders.

In November 2016 they were able to hire a fulltime butcher.

“We didn’t quite have enough hours for him, but we carried the cost as we were building the business. He was who we wanted and we knew we had to take a leap and employ someone fulltime to ensure we didn’t run into labour problems,” Steve says.

Having their own butcher, rather than toll processing, guarantees consistency and quality of the butchery work.

Long-term, Steve would love to be able to buy a more economic-sized farm, giving them the scale to farm and sell all the meat off it.

Working seven days a week for the

last two years means work/life balance is somewhat lacking and Pip hopes to reach the point where they can employ more staff and step away from the business.

They recently took on a second butcher and she can see the light at the end of the tunnel. “The business was going really well before Country Calendar and then it just took off.”

The exposure from their appearance on Country Calendar, screened first on September 3, 2017, gave them access to a wider audience around the country.

“We have doubled our turnover year-on-year, but starting from a really low base. It sounds a lot, but the issues we face are the same as a big meat company, in terms of shifting the whole animal,” Steve says.

“It’s taken a lot longer, been more expensive and harder than we thought it would be.”

Utilising the whole animal has been one of the biggest challenges.

Country-Wide February 2018

“We could sell French racks and scotch fillets until the cows come home, but there’s a lot of diced beef, sausages and mince we are left with.”

They have adapted their business significantly over time. “We started out selling whole lambs and half bodies of beef, but people didn’t want to buy in that form. Our business now is totally different, we do small packs. People don’t want to buy in bulk, they don’t have the space or money.”

Their product offering includes lamb, beef, pork sourced from Freedom Farms, wild venison and wild goat.

Beef is hung for two-three weeks, which dehydrates it and gives it more flavour, and lamb is aged as well. Their sausages are full of meat and the mince isn’t full of water.

Quite simply, it’s meat how it used to be. They can guarantee full traceability, grass-fed animals, with no hormones or antibiotics.

“We’ll give anything a go. People at the markets were asking for goat and we got a good response. If people want it you give them what they want. If they wanted ostrich we’d go and find them - if they bought enough.”

They didn’t undertake market research, but listened to what their customers told them.

“We had a gut feel and kept changing stuff until it worked. It’s always gut feeling, I think you can over-analyse and get nothing done,” Steve says.

“You are a great one for leaping in,” Pip returns.

This is one leap that is starting to pay dividends, and the Olds had the guts to take on something many farmers would put in the too-hard basket.

“It’s expensive - the plant, machinery and chillers cost a lot more than we anticipated. We were naïve enough to think we would just sell our own meat.

We got in deep enough, we just worked bloody hard to make it work.”

But make it work they have, and Pip

A scene from the Country Calendar segment featuring the Olds’ Eketahuna Country Meats operation.

credits their teamwork. “We keep each other motivated and supported. We’ve both got the same end goal, to make it work, so we keep going.”

“When you get good feedback from people that gives you a pick-me-up. There are a lot of people who appreciate what we are doing. It is incredibly hard, not just for me, Pip would be doing 80 hours a week, all unpaid. We can’t afford to take anything out of the business yet but we know we’re on the right track and deep down it will be a good business that’s sustainable and will help us achieve our goals,” Steve says.

What they’ve learned: • “The meat industry is very complex and the margins we perceive to be there are not. We were like any farmer, looking at the price in the supermarket and thinking, someone must be making money.

• “Customer service is key - keep the people coming back.

• “We have to sell all of it. A lamb leg is a lamb leg, you can’t change it. We’re

Steve and Pip Olds with their children Jimmy, Guy and Izzy. The Olds started Eketahuna Country Meats six years ago, selling meat from their farm direct to consumers. Photo: Supplied

Country-Wide February 2018

limited with what we’ve got and our only mechanism for selling is price - it’s hard to keep the margins up. You break a body down and you have to shift it all.

• “Keep it simple - do X amount and do it well.”

Here’s the deal Eketahuna’s website offers a range of deals including its grand pack. For a $145 the buyers get delivered to their door: • 1kg of Angus topside beef • 2x500g packs Premium Angus mince • 500g packs of Angus diced beef • A 650g pack of Angus beef sausages • A 550g pack of flavoured sausages • 2 packs of lamb shanks (four in total) • 1kg of lamb leg chops • North Island delivery charges: There is a subsidised delivery charge of $5 for all orders over $90 in the Wairarapa, Manawatu Wanganui, Kapiti regions. $10 charge for orders under $90. Rest of North Island, $8 for orders over $90, $10 for orders $90 and below. Orders over $200 are freight free • South Island delivery: Orders under $100, $40; orders $100-$200, $36; $200-$350, $30 and $15 for orders over $350

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BUSINESS | MARKETING YOUR OWN PRODUCE

Capturing the excitement

Sheep milk cheese made in a family-run operation.

Trevor Cook I had the pleasure before Christmas to meet with a family who milk their sheep and turn that milk into cheese.

Most of that is sold from their own shop, serviced by them.

My observation was that it was very successful in terms of production, and I have to assume it was profitable.

Regardless of the latter being high or low, their commitment to their product and their customers was very evident and their enjoyment in doing all of this was there to experience.

This type of farming must be the ultimate in being in control, being linked to the market and having ownership of the whole value chain.

Others with similar farming models have been profiled in recent times, pig production being one in particular, and all those I have seen revolve around a family business and rely on a personal connection to the customer.

Clearly particular skills are needed to successfully operate such a business, but the rewards must be massive. While it is no different in concept from a wood craftsman who whittles out gadgets he sells at the local craft market every week, for these farming-based ones production depends on animals.

This brings a whole element of uncertainty, much more than a wood shortage which can be filled by cutting down another tree.

Of course, if the brand spec of those wooden gadgets is that they are made from only home-grown mature totara trees then some of that same uncertainty exists. For these farming value chains, being home-grown is a key element of the brand.

There are a few challenges to these farming ventures, not the least being often exposed to a single market.

A drying up of attendances at local

22

markets could really impact on pork or gadget sales. There is usually a very limited marketing budget so establishing alternative outlets could be financially crippling. But the two big challenges must be ensuring consistency of supply and the pathway to growth.

For all our farming supply or value chains, consistency of supply is vital, but having a large number of suppliers brings a buffer to that variability. The real smart chain operators will manage those suppliers so as to have even less variability.

Growing an owner-operator value chain must always be in the minds of these families – growing just to increase income or growing to lift the robustness of the production component.

For a single producer chain consistency of supply that buffer does not exist. The variability is managed by the amount of sales, in which case income is varied.

Growing an owner-operator value chain must always be in the minds of these families – growing just to increase income or growing to lift the robustness of the production component. Or

maybe lifting production to justify a fulltime retail outlet.

Growth can come from just producing more of what is produced.

This retains the home-grown component. Enlisting outside producers must always be tempting, but runs the risk of less control over quality and devaluing the home-grown brand.

Growth requires more resources, increased management skills and of course usually requires funding. What these small-time family based systems have is entrepreneurism, which often attracts solutions to those other challenges.

All animal farming systems suffer from the challenge of consistency of supply, purely because of the impact on profitability rather than a market impact. Farm profitability is the outcome of the amount of product sold, the price for that product, the cost of production and the consistency of that outcome.

We readily blame weather and markets as the major causes of variability. Both we supposedly cannot control. The reality though is that when we look at the farmers producing in the top quartile, the consistency of profit is a feature. This is underpinned by a lower variability in production than those in lower quartiles.

My observation is that these farmers react early to unplanned weather (feed) events and their feed budget.

Being able to look ahead is the key to managing uncertain feed supply and using a feed budget is a proven tool

Country-Wide February 2018

A drying up of attendances at local markets could really impact on pork or gadget sales.

to enable this. Not that a feed budget programme can predict what pasture growth rates will be in six months’ time, but accumulated data enables regular updating of the supply and demand equation to be more valid.

A simple supply/demand calculation as part of standard daily management is the most elementary form of feed budgeting which can really help with

making early decisions. Unfortunately, most farmers have virtually no control over the price they receive for their product other than manipulating the time of sale.

Market signals are talked about a lot, but the reality for most is that these have little impact on farm behaviour.

A few companies are effectively linking the producers to the market and

in some cases are extracting an abovemarket price.

Such linkages are rare but surely it is where we must be. Capturing at least some of the excitement present in the family-based and owned value chains should be possible.

• Trevor Cook is a Feilding veterinarian and farm discussion facilitator.

There’s no good time to have toxoplasmosis and campylobacteriosis. But there’s a really good time to vaccinate.

CONTROL THE RISK OF TOXOPLASMA

CONTROL THE RISK OF CAMPYLOBACTER

When you think abortion storms, you probably think toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma is everywhere and any ewe that contracts it may abort. But campylobacter also causes abortion, is nearly as prevalent and equally as deadly. Campylobacter can cost you 20-30% of your lambs. There are two diseases that cause abortion storms and preventing them takes two vaccines. So talk to your vet about how the Toxovax® + Campyvax4® combination gives you the best protection against abortion storms.

02083 MSD SPV 011

MADE FOR NEW ZEALAND. AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER VETERINARY AUTHORISATION. ACVM No: A4769 A9535. ®Registered trademark.

Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz. NZ/SPV/1117/0008a

Country-Wide February 2018

23

Kate Morgan of Trossachs (pictured with calf) was a bossy cow full of character.

Horned, hairy and meaty Lauril and Drew Stein’s names were synonymous with the Highland cattle and Simmental breeds in New Zealand from the 1980s to the late 2000s. They talked to Country-Wide deputy-editor and granddaughter Cheyenne Nicholson about one of their most ambitious ventures – to sell Highland beef through supermarkets. Photos: Brad Hansen In the early 1980s Lauril and Drew Stein bought 24 hectares of bare land.

Drew was then a senior executive with the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ), chairman of one of their major subsidiaries and chairman of CEPSI (The Asian and Chinese electricity industry association). He and his wife Lauril were keen to put down some roots after decades of moving all around the world for Drew’s work with the Mobil Corporation.

From the hustle and bustle of

Laird meeting his father Jamie.

the United States to the cold of the Netherlands and even to the plains of Zambia, they chose the humble town of Carterton to settle.

Establishment of the farm took years.

From putting in fencing, building sheds, cattleyards and the main house.

During this time, they established their Simmental stud ‘Trossachs Simmentals’.

In the mid 1980s Drew bought Lauril three registered Highland cattle, two heifers and a bull.

“I bought them for Lauril as an

anniversary present.”

At the time, there was no breed society or herd register for Highlands in NZ, so they were registered with the Highland Cattle Society in Scotland.

All three animals could be traced back to the Queen’s Balmoral fold, as herds of Highlanders are known.

The Highlands were a good diversification for their Simmental stud and over the years the Highland fold grew.

Lauril says they took their bull

DAD, IS THAT YOU? For the duration of their farming career the Steins enjoyed much success in the showring with their Simmentals and Highlands.

They owned the first Highland ever to win the coveted Meat and Wool Cup not once but multiple times. They made headlines around the world for proving paternity of one of their top bulls Laird of Trossachs through DNA testing.

Laird’s paternity needed to be proved before he could be registered.

The only problem being his sire, Jaime of Huntroyd, was dead.

Luckily, Lauril and Drew had kept Jamie’s head and had it stuffed and mounted.

Rotorua based company SignaGen were enlisted to do the DNA test. They had never tried to analyse tissue from a preserved animal before. It was a success and proved Jamie to be Laird’s sire. A photo of Laird meeting the stuffed head of his sire Jamie was in papers around the world.

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Lauril and Drew Stein.

SCOTLAND MEETS JAPAN In the early 1990s Lauril Stein was approached by a stock agent who had the deal of the century for her.

“I’d lie if I told you his name now, but he had a client in Japan who wanted live Highlands to breed from. Another breeder from the South Island and I were approached for the deal,” Lauril says.

The Japanese buyer was keen to cross Highlands with Japanese wagyus.

The stock agent came, and selected animals based on the client’s requirements and took care of the entire deal from start to finish.

Once selected the animals were sent to Auckland for quarantine and clipped before they went on the plane for the long-haul flight to Japan.

“They clipped them to make sure they didn’t overheat on the plane going over. All I had to do was sign the paperwork and put them on the truck.”

The one-off deal was lucrative. Although Lauril and the other breeder swore they would never tell anyone what they got paid, it was roughly three times what they would have got for selling the animals in the New Zealand market.

“It was a big thing as they were at that time the only Highlands to be exported from New Zealand.”

Lauril made newspaper headlines and shed a few tears at sending some of her beloved Highlands to another country.

Lochinvar to the Waiararapa A&P show and got a semijoking remark from a judge.

“That the Steins had been smart to bring along a fluffy mascot to the showring to cheer on their Simmental cattle.”

Highlands are well known for their tasty meat. The meat is naturally high in iron, highly marbled and low in fat. Despite the premium qualities of the meat there was no recognition of this when it came to sending animals to the works.

“We decided that the only way to gain a premium that we felt the beef demanded was to process and sell it ourselves,” Drew says.

Unlike the United Kingdom where farm shops are plentiful, the regulations in NZ made the economics of the venture pointless for them.

Initially they wanted to open a farm shop on their home farm in Carterton. Farm shops were abundant in Europe but here the red tape and regulations weren’t worth it for the Steins.

“In my opinion it’s something that we really need to look at in NZ to enable more farmers to open up farm shops.”

So, it was back to the drawing board. The idea of approaching supermarkets and selling meat through them was the next move. Drew and Lauril took in two partners and formed Highland Beef NZ Ltd. “We took in partners to make sure we had a substantive herd to draw from so we were able to meet the carcase orders.”

They first approached their local New World in Carterton to find out how they could go about selling Highland beef through the supermarket.

After six months of meetings an agreement was made.

Carterton New World agreed to an eight-week trial which commenced on January 27, 2003.

“We were initially wanting to use a local professional butcher

Country-Wide February 2018

to undertake the slaughter and butcher of the meat but part of the agreement with New World was that we used Preston Taylor works in Ngauranga Gorge with the carcases shipped to the New World butcher shop to make the cuts. Effectively all we had to do was the marketing side.”

Carcases went through stringent quality testing and had to be traceable from the time the animal left the farm to the time it arrived at the supermarket all packaged up.

“The trial weekly carcase order doubled, then tripled within the space of a few weeks. Customers were responding well to Highland beef and the demand really started to ramp up.”

A top restaurant in Wellington became a regular buyer of Highland beef and even compiled a special menu. Four weeks into the trial, rather than waiting for the trial to finish New World gave Highland Beef NZ approved supplier status, permitting the company to supply any New World throughout the country.

The start-up costs of getting Highland beef in supermarkets was hefty, although Lauril and Drew have long-since forgotten the figures they say after a time it became quite profitable with about a 30% premium being made selling through supermarkets.

“We had Highland beef in a number of New World supermarkets throughout the lower North Island and Hawke’s Bay regions. The supple line economics had to be refined and changes made to operational processes and procedures to enhance overall performance of the slaughter to delivery chain.”

›› Continues 26 25

BUSINESS | GENOMICS

For $2500-3500 any farmer can test enough animals in a flock to get an accurate genomic prediction of generic merit. Here, Andrew Tripp and Luke Proctor DNA test sheep on Southland’s Nithdale Station.

Genomics affordable and powerful Bruce McCorkindale Before the arrival of genomics, assessing the genetic merit of animals required a combination of multi-generational pedigree information and accurate performance recording, with analysis using statistical tools and scientifically validated calculations.

›› from 26 This meant finding more animals to meet the demand. The company would purchase Highland heifers from other breeders in the region.

All animals destined for supermarket shelves were kept on a specially leased block of land to keep them separate from the partners’ individual folds. At any one time they had a guaranteed 12-week supply. Despite consumer demand, issues started to arise that would ultimately make the venture no longer viable.

“We started having issues sending horned animals to the works. They were only taking horned animals on certain days of the month. They had had issues in the past with horned animals doing some serious damage to the abattoir so were naturally a bit cautious.”

This prompted a decision to dehorn all the animals that were destined for supermarket shelves. Then animal welfare issues arose with dehorning animals.

Highlands’ horns are both distinctive and an integral part to their anatomy being an inbuilt cooling system via heavy blood flows through the horns.

“Instead of dehorning them ourselves we had to get the vet in to do it to make the process easier on the animal, which was an added cost to the whole operation and basically took up all the margins that we made.”

Sourcing animals then became a difficult 26

The output is then combined with economic information, to produce economic indexes and estimated breeding values. All this now comes together in the new New Zealand terminal and maternal worth indices.

This process has always been the home of the NZ stud breeding industry assisted by their various breed societies, bureaus, genetic advisers and, of critical

task. Part of their supply agreement with New World was that meat would be from animals of pureblood or P2 status.

“Highlands are graded according to the percent of pure Highland genetics they carry. You’ve got full bloods, P2, P1, A, B, C – when you get to C, you have a pretty watered-down version of a Highland.”

The Highland industry at the time was blossoming with an increased interest in the breed for commercial and lifestyle purposes. People were loath to sell their purebred animals for meat.

“We made the choice to shut everything down. Other regulations came in that hit us hard, I can’t remember now what they were, but it became more economical and easier to send them to the works even though we weren’t getting a premium for the quality meat. It was really the regulations and dehorning that stuffed it a bit. Everything finished in about 2006.”

Over this time Highlands had taken over their farm as their main breeding focus. They had gradually sold off many of their base Simmental herd to make room for more Highlands. At the height of their success with Highlands they gave what remained of their Simmental stud to their granddaughter Cheyenne who started her own stud ‘Tamara Simmentals’ at the age of 15. The Steins sold their entire Highland fold to another breeder in 2008.

importance, the SIL database managed by Beef + Lamb NZ Genetics.

Over the last couple of decades, a new era of assessment has been developing.

Initially DNA testing was used as a way of establishing parentage, but this capability has moved on greatly. There’s been a huge increase in what it can do and a huge decrease in the cost of doing it.

What the researchers have been ›› 27

Taking a trip down memory lane.

A FINGER IN MANY PIES To further promote the breed and help other breeders in the early 2000s Lauril and Drew started producing their own magazine. The Highland Fold News was created to give breeders and prospective breeders more information on the breed, tips and tricks of breeding and management of Highlands.

With an array of stories from around the world, onfarm profiles and in-depth stories on things like electric fencing set ups to animal health matters the magazine had a lot to offer – especially with articles titled “the saga of the shitty arse”.

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working on is matching patterns in the DNA which consistently match aspects of performance. This is genomics. It is not a replacement for the diligent recording work of dedicated breeders, but it does offer a new way to screen animals for desirable traits. An animal can be genomically tested very young, well before it has had any chance to exhibit the trait you are wanting to look for.

So, what has this got to do with commercial sheep farmers? How can you turn this information into additional income?

‘An animal can be genomically tested very young, well before it has had any chance to exhibit the trait you are wanting to look for.’

By using genomics to unleash greater performance potential in your flock or herd by knowing what genetic factors need to change.

The cost per test has come down to $43 per animal. This means that for a cost of about $2500-3500 any farmer can test enough animals in a flock to get an accurate genomic prediction of generic merit. This includes genetic merit for all sub-indices a farmer may be particularly interested in such as fertility, survival, growth rate, parasite resistance etc.

The result will produce an estimate of how your flock scores for maternal worth compared to the wider industry, and, if you test across different age groups you will also be able to see some degree of genetic trend occurring in your flock.

While the overall index might be important it is the sub-indices which make it up which could be of most interest to commercial farmers – this is where you can tweak things to align with individual property and farmer objectives.

How does your flock compare to the NZ average? Are you making progress in the areas you want to, using the rams you have been buying? Could you make better progress and income by improved ram selection from your existing breeder or should you consider changing breeders?

Two main things limit your sheep flock performance – first is your management which includes all aspects of feeding and disease control and working to the strengths and weaknesses of your property, and, secondly is the genetic potential of your animals. The first of these must contend with all the challenges nature provides – but why not take control of making sure the second factor is not limiting?

A serious amount of money is available to farmers from tapping in to the best genetics they can access. AbacusBio completed an analysis and report to investigate this using a combination of superior maternal and terminal sires for a 3000-ewe flock. The flock was already producing at a level well above average.

Various combinations produced gains of $40,000-$65,000/year (a full copy of this report is available from the Wharetoa genetics website) The actual gains depend on what your starting point is and how well you can harness the potential. The gains don’t come from one thing – they come from accumulated gains over many factors such as: more lambs born, higher lamb survival, heavier weaning weights from both ewe effects and lamb effects, higher post-weaning growth rates, higher meat yielding carcases, earlier sales of lambs creating more autumn feed for other stock, fewer light store sales in difficult seasons.

When an overall index is put together it is a summation of positive and negative factors – for example, more lambs, more growth, more meat etc are all positive.

The additional feed eaten by larger animals is valued and this is a negative offset. The balance of these varies between animals which is highlighted in

their differences in merit score.

The advantage of being able to look into the sub-indices is you can select animals that are best-suited to your property – the more your property differs from average, the more value this is likely to be. The tools to conduct a genomics test were developed in NZ by Beef + Land Genetics and the distribution and sales of the service are conducted by Zoetis.

There is potentially another way to achieve a similar picture of your flock genetic merit by conducting an analysis of the rams you have been buying over the past few years. You need to be able to supply your ram tag numbers, the flock they came from, and the breeder needs to have been using SIL. It is then possible to produce a summary of the genetic merit of your ram team – effectively these have been driving the merit of your flock.

How does their merit stack up? Have you been buying rams with the right genetic credentials for what you want to improve?

A farmer workshop has been designed to help you work through this. If you haven’t got this ram information, then for the cost of a couple of rams the genomics testing option is your best bet.

Farming, like pretty much all other businesses, is about achieving profitability by constantly pushing the margins, picking up additional revenue at less cost. Understanding your genetic resources and customising your genetic selection is a major tool in your process of continuous improvement.

Big ewes better in dry In another study AbacusBio completed for Beef + Lamb Genetics combinations of ewe size and number of lambs born were investigated to see what produced the best result in a summer dry environment or a summer not-dry environment.

To cut a long story short the summer dry scenario favoured a large sheep with high lambing % and weaning high weaning weight lambs. In a region with reliable summer growth it is more economic to run higher numbers of more moderate size ewes and be able to finish all the lambs.

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Farmer could use genomics to unleash greater performance potential in your flock or herd by knowing what genetic factors need to change.

27

BUSINESS | TRANSPORT

Road rules NOT worth breaking Andrew Swallow

Generally, contractors’ compliance is much better than farmers’ because the Rural Contractors Federation is good at supplying its members information.’

28

Even if it’s only occasionally that you take a tractor or other farm vehicle on the road, it’s not worth risking breaking the rules, the Police Commercial Vehicle Safety Team say.

Not only could you cop a minimum fine of $370 and enforced downtime due to your vehicle being put out of service on the spot: in the event of an accident you could be liable for damages, Rangiora-based sergeant Mike Moloney says.

“Police urge all operators of agricultural vehicles to know and understand the rules that apply to their particular vehicles. The obligation is on the operator, which includes both the driver and the person that directed the driver to use the vehicle, to ensure that the vehicle and attached implements are compliant with the rule.”

Maloney’s reference to ‘the rule’ is the Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Dimension and Mass 2016 (VDAM 2016).

“The rule is the minimum standard required for operating oversized vehicles on the road and police will place vehicles out of service if they are non-compliant and may issue an infringement notice as well,” he warns.

NZTA has a guide on how the rule applies to agricultural vehicles on its website (see panel).

“It has all the information. For most vehicles the requirements aren’t really that onerous,” Maloney says.

In his 39 years of experience, lack of registration is one of the most frequent offences with agricultural vehicles, followed by failure to have the correct flags and/or hazard panels/

NZTA Guide The New Zealand Transport Agency website (www.nzta.govt.nz) has a summary of the VDAM rules as they apply to agricultural vehicles and implements. Click on “vehicles”, then “vehicle types” and scroll down to “agricultural vehicles and forklifts” and/or “Quad bikes & ATVs”. There’s also a link to download the comprehensive Agricultural Vehicles Guide which was updated in February 2017.

Country-Wide February 2018

flashing roof beacons on equipment wider than 2.55 metres.

“In daylight, an operator with a vehicle width of 2.55m to 3.1m can use a flashing roof beacon to indicate excess width or use hazard warning flags or panels. If flags are used then they do need to be bright greenyellow, not faded to off-white in the sun, and they need to be the correct size: 300 x 400mm. Headlights must also be on low beam.”

Beacons only remove the need for flags or panels on tractors, not implements, he adds.

“So if any implement exceeds 2.55m it must have hazard warning flags or panels fitted.”

Farmers or contractors doing a bit of work for the neighbours or nipping along the road to get to another paddock or block are the worst offenders, he adds.

“Generally, contractors’ compliance is much better than farmers’ because the Rural Contractors Federation is good at supplying its members information.”

While Federated Farmers’ representatives attempt to do the same its membership is far from 100% and even if farmers are members, some don’t see the rules as so important because they don’t think their business depends on it. However, one serious crash could put the whole business at risk, he warns.

“There have been several highprofile cases over the past 10 years or so where over-dimension vehicles

have been found to be non-compliant.

Being found to be non-compliant can have implications for the operator that may result in criminal liability depending on the circumstances.”

Safety chains capable of taking the weight of the implement must be fitted when there’s only one linkage point, and drawbar drop pins must fill 75% of the largest hole in the drawbar and be secured with a locking mechanism such as a lynch pin. “An old bolt isn’t acceptable.”

A common problem is people thinking machines which are equipped to be road legal in the United Kingdom and Europe are also road legal here, Maloney adds.

Frequently they’re not. For example, the red and silver warning panels many imports come in with are not acceptable here.

“The importers and distributors of such machinery also have an obligation to ensure that the equipment they supply is road legal in NZ,” he says.

Keeping an eye, on what’s behind you and pulling over at every opportunity to let faster vehicles pass is also important. “There have been crashes caused by motorist frustration.”

He warns against relying on fellow farmers’ or other operators’ advice on what’s legal or not here because there is “so much mis-information out there.” One newspaper article can’t cover all the detail either, so read the NZTA guide for yourself, he stresses,

Road rules key points • More than 2.55 metres wide? VDAM rules apply.

• 2.55m-3.1m wide: rotary flashing beacon or flags or panels with dipped lights by day; reflective panels or beacon by night.

• Lights required on rear of trailers or implements.

• Safety chain required unless more than one linkage point.

• Drawbar pins must fill 75% or more of hole.

• Lack of registration most common offence.

• Pilot vehicle and WOF required only if >40kmh at 2.55-3.7m wide.

Download and read NZTA Agricultural Vehicles Guide: www.nzta.govt.nz/ assets/resources/agri-vehicles-guide/Agricultural-vehicles-guide.pdf

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No excuse these days Recent reforms to the road rules and how they apply to agricultural vehicles means there’s little excuse for failing to comply with the core requirements, says Mid Canterbury farmer and former contractor David Clark.

As Arable Industry Group member and Mid Canterbury Provincial Vice President of Federated Farmers’, he’s been heavily involved with shaping changes to the rules, including raising the speed threshold for some of the more onerous requirements to 40kmh.

“The (NZTA) Agricultural Vehicle Guide covers everything you need to know to comply with the law and it is written in clear and simple English. Up to 40kmh it is very easy to comply,” he says.

For example, there are no log book requirements, and a combined weight of up to 25t can be driven on a Class One licence.

Tractors need to be registered, but do not need a warrant or certificate of fitness and there’s no need to register trailers or implements provided that 40kmh threshold’s not exceeded.

Clark says another major concession granted in the review of VDAM rules (see main story) is a flashing beacon being all that’s required on tractors between 2.5m and 3m, instead of hazard panels or flags.

“A flashing light is easy to put on the roof and for $100 I don’t think there’s any excuse not to have one.”

For tractors registered after 2012 they’re mandatory anyway, he notes.

Safety chain requirements can usually be met simply enough with a chain looped through the drawbar and shackled onto the tractor.

“There’s no excuse for going up the road without one.”

Clark says all the rules are designed to meet three key premises: that the vehicle is visible to other road users; that it can stop in a safe distance; that it will stay coupled to anything its towing and stay in its lane.

If a farm vehicle is well lit, has a safety chain and looks safe, then the CVST will generally leave you alone, but if you fail that ‘look safe’ test then you’re going to end up on the side of the road and they will check everything, he warns.

“It’s best not to give the CVST a reason to pull you over really.”

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BUSINESS | LIVESTOCK NUMBERS

Ag census misleading Tim Fulton

Statistics NZ says the count equated to 5.7 sheep for every person; well down on 22 sheep per head in 1982.

The official agricultural production Burtt says focusing on total flock census tells only part of the New Zealand numbers could be misleading because sheep story, Beef + Lamb Economic per-head productivity was much higher Service chief economist Andrew Burtt than the early 1980s, when the country says. had 70 million sheep.

The survey of livestock numbers “Mathematically it’s correct but it showed the national sheep flock dropped doesn’t tell you much.”

1% in the past year to 27.5 million. The New Zealanders needed good insight census included rams, wethers, ewes and to bridge a lack of understanding about ewe hoggets not put to the ram. The farming and to overcome the urban rural count was similar to Beef + Lamb’s which divide, he says. More than 52,000 farmers reported 27.34m sheep at June 2017. provided information for the census, which Statistics NZ and the Ministry for Primary Industries do every five years. Smaller surveys are Year to 30 June run in intervening years.

Lambs Lambs born to Total lambs In August 2017, the born to ewe ewes Economic Service released its hoggets Stock Number Survey report, Series ref: SAEPZZZ SAEQZZZ SAEKZZZ which is based on a survey AGRA of about 1000 farmers in the 2002 1,139,700 31,507,700 32,647,400 Sheep and Beef Farm Survey framework. The hogget tally 2003 1,056,700 32,190,400 33,247,100 bounced from a low of 1.4m 2004 1,071,900 30,782,000 31,853,900 in 2008, to more than 2m 2005 1,345,900 31,879,900 33,225,800 between 2010-12 and a drop to 1.69m in 2016. Numbers 2006 1,558,300 32,251,600 33,809,900 rose again in the past year to 2007 1,448,100 31,557,400 33,005,500 1.75m.

2008 1,092,600 29,927,600 31,020,200 Peaks and troughs in 2009 671,700 27,216,600 27,888,300 hogget lambing didn’t necessarily indicate farmer 2010 836,400 27,315,700 28,152,100 profitability or confidence 2011 874,100 24,093,300 24,967,400 because every farm had 2012 1,067,300 24,886,800 25,954,200 different circumstances, Burtt says. Recent factors 2013 1,280,400 24,686,400 25,966,800 included the “long tail” of 2014 978,400 23,998,300 24,976,600 facial eczema in the upper 2015 1,030,900 24,802,100 25,833,000 North Island and the effect 2016 961,500 23,608,900 24,570,300 of drought in the east of the South Island.

2017 1,083,600 22,882,700 23,966,300 BLNZ’s checked its P P P numbers against the census and meat company slaughter Notes about table: figures when it released In 2002, 2007, and 2012 an agricultural census was conreports like last November’s ducted. Estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. lamb forecast.

There was doubt about Symbol: P provisional Source: Stats NZ the data’s value to meat processors, Burtt says.

Number of lambs marked or tailed

30

Facial eczema and drought impacted on hogget lambing.

“As soon as the stats came out, they were asking us how this would affect meat production for the next year at least.”

Beef cattle rose by 2% to 3.6m, the census found. The latest B+LNZ stock number survey estimated a 2.8% increase in total beef cattle – to 3.63m –at June 30, 2017, and explained the changes within and between regions and classes of cattle.

B+LNZ’s estimate was 26,000 head (or 0.7%) different from the official (provisional) figure from Statistics New Zealand.

The total beef cattle number released

by Statistics NZ increased on the previous year due to a 3.4% lift in beef cows and heifers from 953,600 to 986,300.

B+LNZ estimated the number of beef breeding cows was static, while the Agricultural Production Census showed an increase, which contributed to the overall increase in beef cattle.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t had time to reconcile where the differences are, which we’ll do in the new year. All that said, our estimate being out by 0.7% is pretty good,” Burtt says.

The census showed total farmed deer numbers increased to 849,500 in the year to June 30, 2017, up from 834,600 in 2016.

The last time the total deer tally increased in these statistics was 2004.

Deer Industry New Zealand chief executive Dan Coup noted a lower demand for drystock grazing by dairy farmers, consistently high profitability of both venison and velvet production. A focus on improved deer farm productivity under the Passion2Profit Programme also lifted velvet herd numbers, he says.

Dairy cattle numbers dropped 2% to 6.5m. The number has been relatively unchanged since 2012 after increasing more than 2m (or 20%) between 2007 and 2012.

Total dairy cattle were at their highest in 2014 – at 6.7m.

DairyNZ’s own survey counted 4.8m millking cows. The North Island had 73% of NZ’s dairy herds but the South Island produced 43% of the milksolids.

Country-Wide February 2018

A side-line contracting business has the added advantage of providing machinery that could be put to good use on the farm.

BUSINESS | INVESTMENTS

A place for surplus cash Should I be looking at off-farm investments?

The answer depends on the person’s appetite for risk and their individual circumstances Central Otago accountant Cam Dykes of ICL Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors says.

“Since the GFC interest rates have reduced and look like staying that way for the foreseeable future so that will give some the confidence to borrow and invest,” he says.

But for young farmers with surplus cash – and significant debt – the best wealth-creation route is to either invest in onfarm development or pay off debt.

“Although banks will negotiate interest-only terms they have become more focussed on principal repayment and really that needs to be high on the priority list.”

If debt repayment was not a priority the question was where should money be invested to reap the greatest return.

“It could be that further development of your own farm is the smartest investment, given the still-rising values of land, but that really depends on the stage of development you’re at.”

Rental properties are one possible offfarm diversification. Yields have reduced in recent years due to the low interest rate environment and they are now costlier to get into since imposition of the loan-to-value (LVR) ratio regulations last year raising the minimum deposit from 20% to 40%.

A side-line contracting business is another way of generating offfarm income and has the added advantage of providing machinery that could be put to good use on the farm.

But for someone in a farm manager or 2IC role, a rental property is an income generating asset that could be funded by the money saved on accommodation, which is usually supplied as part of a manager’s salary package.

A side-line contracting business is

Cut short Missing from David and Jackie Stodart’s story in the January 2018 issue (The Deer Farmer, P42 ‘Making the little things count’) were the deer performance and KPI figures which clearly show the steady gains being made. Since joining the Southland Elk & Wapiti Advance Party in 2015, a series of small changes have improved deer performance. These include mating an increased proportion of hinds to wapiti sires, reducing hind numbers, bringing forward the weaning date from March 20 to March 10, and break rather than block feeding of weaners on winter crop.

Country-Wide February 2018

another way of generating off-farm income and has the added advantage of providing machinery that could be put to good use on the farm.

“Not everyone is in the position to do it but if you have the time and inclination it’s one way of generating extra cash flow.”

Investing in commercial properties through private equity syndicates is another option, but as with rental properties yields have edged back over the last two to three years.

“In somewhere like Queenstown for example the yield will be only 3-4% but the capital gain when it’s sold will be a lot greater.”

Syndicates are an alternative to individual ownership of a commercial property but the availability of a secondary market (a likely buyer) and therefore liquidity needs to be carefully considered.

His final words of warning are that although diversification is a good idea it needed to be done in consultation with professionals who had the right skills.

lyndagray@xtra.co.nz

Deer performance and KPIs 2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

83

84

88

% kill pre-Xmas

21%

37%

Carcase weight ave

55kg

53.5kg*

Scanning (first fawners only)

Deer income/ha Fawning (hinds mated to fawns weaned)

$1572

$2094 (est)

87 - 94%

Velvet weight ave (MA & 2YO) *Reduced weight reflects the decision to reduce target slaughter weight to ensure all yearlings are offloaded by the end of March.

31

LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

Latecomers make giant strides An older couple, who bought their first farm 20 years ago, have turned it into a highly productive unit, are showing no signs of slowing down. Russell Priest reports. Photos by Sarah Ivey

A

t 64, John Journeaux may not be a spring chicken but he displays the enthusiasm towards farming of a man half his age.

Latecomers to farm ownership, John and his wife Donna, 57, have seized the opportunity of owning their own farm and turned a rundown unit into a highly productive one by combining astute management with new technology.

John and Donna bought Tuahu, a 417-hectare-farm, 11km southwest of Raetihi in the Mangaeturoa Valley in 1997, not far from where he was managing Waipuna Station.

Tuahu was run down so had a knock-down price, enabling them to finally reach farm ownership after 24 years of working for others.

John recalls the internal fences were so derelict stock could roam freely over the whole farm and sheep and cattle yards so dilapidated truck drivers had refused to load stock from them.

“The truckies did it for me because they knew I would improve them,” John says.

“We even had our children standing in holes in the yards to dissuade animals from escaping.”

John’s first priority was to address the fencing and fertiliser deficiencies, closely followed by the genetics of the resident sheep. Olsen phosphate levels had stabilised at 3-4, pH levels were satisfactory at around 5.7, and

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John Journeaux on his sheep and beef farm near Raetihi, Ruapehu.

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R2 empty crossbred heifers on John and Donna Journeaux’s 660ha farm, 11km west of Raetihi.

sulphur levels were marginal. Having bought the farm as a going concern, the Journeauxs had inherited a sheep flock that delivered an 83% lambing in their first year of ownership with the best lambs killed at 14.2kg and the rest sold as stores at $21.

“The lambing percentage was that bad I can’t recall there being any twins,” John says.

Fortunately, their lease block near Tuahu was carrying a MANGAETUROA VALLEY relatively high-performing Romney flock so the resident flock was quickly replaced with female progeny from these ewes and some bought-in females.

The resident Hereford Angus-cross cow herd was performing at a relatively higher level than the sheep.

doing this on steep hills with pockets of easier contour using Angus Friesian cows mated to Simmental bulls. A relatively high calving percentage in such a challenging environment with a cross not renowned for its hardiness is a testament to John’s management skills.

“We lose up to 5% of cows through misadventure in the winter,” John says.

“They either fall over bluffs, into under runners or lose their footing on the slippery slopes and tumble to their death.”

Metabolic problems, particularly magnesium staggers, are a constant threat during calving. The latter is

managed using licks and salt blocks supplemented with applications of magnesium oxide to saved pasture.

Replacement Angus Friesian heifer calves sourced for many years from Taranaki ensure a continuous supply of quality females.

Arriving at 120-130kg in December, these are fed the best quality grass/clover available over the ensuing summer when feed quality can be an issue. All (25-30) are mated at 15 months to an easycalving Angus bull from Mount Linton Station from late in December.

Up to 10% are empty and a similar percentage is assisted at calving. Average mating weights are generally around 330kg.

›› Once-bred system mastered p34 Half Simmental, quarter Angus, quarter Friesian calves.

KEEN TO LEARN NEW TRICKS Twenty years after farm acquisition the Journeauxs have added a neighbouring farm of 243ha to the original unit, have increased the lambing percentage to about 140, and the calving percentage now sits in the early nineties.

A willingness to embrace new technologies, along with the application of skilled management practices in what is an extremely demanding environment, has seen their farming business prosper.

In 2005, their business was exposed to the scrutiny of the world when chosen as a Beef+Lamb New Zealand Beef Focus Farm. Of particular interest was their high-performing cow herd and once-bred heifer system.

Unlike many farmers running a dairy beef cross cow herd, the Journeauxs were

Country-Wide February 2018

33

Once-bred system mastered A once-bred heifer system has been practised successfully for many years.

“It took me a year or two to master the concept,” John says.

“Success came when I realised the critical component was a good conditioned heifer at calving time – you are always playing catch-up otherwise.”

In 2006, BVD was unknowingly introduced into the herd via heifers bought from more than one source for the once-bred system. At least one of the bought-in heifers must have been a persistent infector as BVD was spread throughout the amalgamated mob resulting in a devastatingly low calving percentage.

Now, once-bred heifers are all homebred and are out of the Angus Friesian cows by a Simmental bull or out of the first-calving Angus Friesian heifers by an Angus bull. Their selection is based almost entirely on attaining a mating weight of 330kg. An easy-calving Angus bull is used for mating. Wintering more once-bred heifers is one of John’s aims, though there is not the scope to do this at present.

Tethered calves are fostered on to a Hereford Friesian cow.

“Success came when I realised the critical component was a good conditioned heifer at calving time - you are always playing catch-up otherwise.”

Heifer calving begins about a week earlier than the MA cows in spite of a similar bull-out date – the heifer bulls deliver shorter gestation lengths. Body weights pre-calving are about 450kg.

Cows and heifers are set-stocked for calving on to pasture shut up early in September. Cows are spread among the ewes and lambs when this pasture is finished; heifers with calves are moved to easier country.

Weaning early in April of the once-bred heifers gives John six to eight weeks to lift their condition enough to kill them at an average weight of 260kg in May/June.

All once-bred heifers go back to the bull giving John a second option of selling them in-calf if the market is strong. He has no difficulty rebreeding his first calvers.

34

Angus Friesian the preferred option The cow herd is predominantly Angus Friesian and John has several compelling reasons for selecting this cross as opposed to the more popular Hereford Friesian.

First, they are all polled, resulting in about 66% of the calves being polled. The incidence of mastitis is lower and the cows are generally smaller and theoretically more efficient and better-suited to the steep contour.

“We leave the bull out for six weeks; however, after only three-and-a-half weeks we’ve only got a few to calve so I’m almost tempted to bring it back to four weeks.”

Simmental bull selection is based on moderate growth, calving ease, soundness and conformation.

All male calves are steered and sold in forward store condition at 18 months at 440450kg liveweight (LW). Surplus heifers are taken through two winters having to “work” during the second before being killed in the spring.

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First calving two-yearold heifers with calves.

KEY FACTS

• Sheep and beef breeding and finishing • Owners late-comers to farm ownership • Lambing risen 83% to 140% • Return on capital: 4.72% • Economic Farm Surplus: $49/su • Altitude 460m-914m asl • Olsen-Ps 16-35, pH 5.7.

STOCK NUMBERS

• 2850 ewes • 750 ewe hoggets (222 in-lamb) • 50 rams • 100 Angus Friesian-cross breeding cows • 25 in-calf R2 heifers • 27 in-calf R2 once-bred heifers • 10 R3 empty heifers • 35 empty R2 heifers • 83 R1 heifers • 5 R2 steers • 60 R1 steers • 6 bulls

that conceive early, flock fertility and fecundity will be improved.

A “B” mob of ewes (about 150), being low-conditioned ewes that have not responded to elevated feed levels after weaning, is mated to Suftex rams on April 20 also. If their condition score does not improve over the next nine months they go to the works.

A draft of lambs is taken from the main mob of ewes early in the New Year, with further drafts taken throughout the summer. Average lamb weight is about 18.5kg. A final clean-up of the ram lambs occurs in March when 600 lambs are sold store at 36kg LW. Ewe hoggets over 40kg are mated to Suftex rams from May 6, delivering close to 100% lambing without a lambing beat.

This year 250 went to the ram with 222 getting in-lamb. A draft of hogget lambs is taken at weaning. Last year the lambs averaged 18kg. Dry replacement hoggets serve as a buffer mob, as do the R2 empty heifers. This year they proved their worth when a severe porina infestation significantly reduced the amount of feed available during the winter/early spring.

When buying rams John focuses on fertility and overall growth.

Besides being an astute farmer, John is a keen dog trialist. He has won a NZ Huntaway title and has been in both Huntaway and Heading title run-offs.

He is also a member of the Western North Island ward of the Beef+Lamb New Zealand Farmers Council where he develops some of his knowledge of new technologies.

Focus on triplets’ potential The Journeaux ewe flock has made giant strides since 1997.

The 2850 Romney breeding ewes (150 B-flock ewes) produce an average 140% lambing, although in the past three years uncharacteristic droughts have reduced this to a low of 133%. Weather in the form of droughts and storms at lambing time is a major determinant of lambing percentage, while facial eczema has been experienced recently also.

With an increasing occurrence of

triplets John has decided he needs to capture more of their potential so intends to lamb them separately on plantain and clover pastures in the future. Suftex rams are mated to the five-year ewes from April 1 to produce early lambs (drafted before Christmas) and an early works premium for the ewes.

Two-tooths and MA ewes go to Romney rams on April 20 for 25 days, followed

by Suftex tail-up rams. John believes that by retaining ewe lambs from ewes

Romney ewe with her twin Romney lambs.

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›› Reducing the wind run p36

35

A telecommunications access road forms a convenient farm lane.

R2 empty heifer with typical steep country in the background.

Serviced road a huge asset One of the more appealing features of the farm when the Journeauxs first viewed it was a 4.5km metal road running from their rural road to the highest point of the farm.

This is maintained by Spark but used by other telecommunication companies as well to access their towers. This all-weather road forms part of a major laneway servicing the northern-most end of the farm and providing access to one of the six sets of satellite yards.

The availability of power at the telecommunication towers has given the Journeauxs the opportunity to install a small water pump to access a major source of reliable spring water from a dam near the towers. Water is pumped to two 30,000-litre storage tanks sited about 914m above sea level and gravity fed over the entire farm giving trough access to stock in most paddocks. Few stock now need access to natural water courses, so the Journeauxs, working in partnership with Horizons District Council, have been able to fence off several waterways – many of which were a hazard to stock – and plant the areas in native vegetation.

The watering system was part of an economic evaluation of 11 hillcountry water schemes done recently by two AgFirst consultants – Phil Journeaux (John’s brother) and Erica van Reenen. They concluded the payback period on the Journeaux’s scheme would be 4½ years with a return on capital of 22%

Reducing the wind run Farming family John is the oldest of a family of seven boys born and raised in the small rural town of Raetihi, under the shadow of Mt Ruapehu. His father was an electrician and his mother hailed from farming stock. Six of the seven boys, one of whom is well-known AgFirst consultant Phil Journeaux, continue to have an interest in farming.

John attended Massey University early in the 1970s with the intention of becoming a vet. Firstyear university distractions and the desire to return to the land saw him leave after one year and take up shepherding and managerial roles on farms in the central North Island.

36

Much of the farm lies to the west, but at an altitude of between 460m and 914m it is high and exposed, particularly to hypothermic southerly and sou’easterly winds.

One of John’s next projects is to establish some shelter belts to reduce the wind run. At least two snowfalls are experienced a year – the worst, in August 2002, killed 800 lambs.

A soil profile on the farm About 30% of the contour could be described as easy and the rest steep. The soils are of volcanic origin overlaying sedimentary material. The Olsen-P levels have been lifted to 16 on the steep hills and up to 35 on the easier contoured paddocks. Baleage can be made on some of these areas.

The pH sits at 5.7 and sulphur levels need regular attention.

Normally the farm receives an annual dressing of superphosphate, but this year 275kg/ha of sulphur super is being applied.

MORE PICS P83 Country-Wide February 2018

LIVESTOCK | BREEDING

BREEDING RAMS FOR

hard hill country

Ross Humphrey, rethinking ram breeding strategy. Photos: Aaron Davies.

Tony Leggett When Manawatu farmers Ross and Wendy Humphrey look north or east from their farmhouse kitchen window across their free-draining rolling hills, they no longer see sheep as far as the eye can see.

Instead they see beef cattle being carried through winter on feed crops and baleage, ready to be traded once the first signs of spring appear. It’s a far cry from the heady days of the early part of the previous century when the road from Cheltenham to Kimbolton was known as ‘Ram Alley’ and it was wall-to-wall sheep farms.

Adjusting to the risk of being marginalised as a ram breeder by the rising demand for rams that were being promoted as superior because they are bred and run on much harder country, the Humphreys decided it was time to re-think their own ram breeding strategy.

Rather than linger on the flatter, easier country that has been home to his family for nearly four decades, Ross started looking for an alternative home for his 1000 stud Romney ewes.

After a few phone calls he found a couple with the right farming skills in Mike and Vicky Cottrell from north of Taihape, Rangitikei.

“They farm two blocks of native hill

Country-Wide February 2018

country. The ewes have been up there now for more than 10 years and it is working well for both ourselves and the Cottrells,” Ross says.

The ewes are owned by the Humphreys and the Cottrells manage all the lambing and recording required. In return, they retain all the progeny with an agreed pricing model for the sale of the ram and ewe lamb progeny back to the Humphreys.

“The arrangement works well for both

parties. Mike didn’t want any rams or ewe hoggets on the place, so we take our rams up to the farm for mating and pick them up when that’s completed.”

Mating runs for 28 days and the ewes are later scanned by experienced scanner Chris Spark who also ages the fetuses into seven-day lambing periods so Mike and his team can manage the lamb tagging and weighing in smaller groups.

›› p38 37

Twin and triplet-scanned ewes are set-stocked together. Any singles are separated and lambed as one mob.

“Mike has several sets of satellite yards on the tops of ridges so he and his staff can quickly bring in three or four ewes that have lambed, identify which lambs belong to which ewe and tag them accordingly.”

Technology has taken away a lot of the hard work that ram breeders and shepherds used to endure with recording in notebooks in the field.

“We use a palm pilot these days, it’s almost error-free and we hardly ever have to read a tag at mating time.”

After many years of progeny trials, the Humphreys are big supporters of electronic identification.

“We’re using Allflex Rapid Tags and they are an awesome tag, they stay in and we just don’t lose them like the old ones.”

The pin on each tag holds the EID component which is read by their weigh scales or other equipment used for recording.

Tag losses are usually less than 1%.

If a tag is lost once it’s loaded into the electronic file that stays with each lamb, the scales stop and won’t release the lamb until it is re-tagged and manually released.

Ewes and their progeny are culled visually in early March and then on data collected from lambing and weight gain records in mid-March when they are shifted home to Kiwitea.

Ram Alley stalwart - Ross Humphrey with some of his stud Romney rams.

38

Once home, the ram hoggets are put on grass for six weeks to “see what really grows”. From May to August, the better performers are grazed off the farm, at David and Helen Worsfold’s hill country farm at nearby Waiata.

‘The arrangement works well for both parties. Mike didn’t want any rams or ewe hoggets on the place, so we take our rams up to the farm for mating and pick them up when that’s completed.’

“It’s steeper hill country and the intention is to put them under pressure to see how they grow.”

Any cull ram hoggets are finished to high weights at home and slaughtered. The ewe hoggets come home in March and are mated, lamb at home and then head back to Taihape at Christmas.

Ross says his ram sale numbers are rising in spite of the continued decline in the national ewe flock. He has a base of large-scale and smaller clients. Last spring’s two-tooth ram sales also required some last-minute juggling after the unexpected return of one client with a large order.

The Humphreys and son Damian run an intensive beef finishing operation built on wintering 1100 cattle.

They admit it is challenging finding the quality of cattle they are after in good sized lines.

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Skin depth a sign of survivability Seven years ago, Kiwitea farmer and stud sheep breeder Ross Humphrey had a “light bulb” moment. His mind just clicked on to wondering if there was a relationship between skin depth and heat loss in lambs.

He wondered if there was much variation in skin depth and wondered if thin-skinned lambs were more likely to succumb in wet cold weather.

He is the first to admit he’s had a lot of “crazy ideas” over his lifetime in farming.

So he was surprised at the reaction from Massey University sheep breeding expert Professor Hugh Blair when he asked about the relationship between skin depth and heat loss in sheep.

When a literature review shed little light on the relationship, the pair decided to dig a little deeper and test the theory – do thicker-skin sheep lose less body heat?

“I’m so grateful to Massey, and particularly Hugh (Blair) who got stuck in on the research and made it all happen.”

After the literature revealed no significant earlier research to build on, they set out to find how to measure skin depth. It had to be reliable, repeatable and not too costly.

They ruled out using callipers after finding that skin compresses, creating too much variability in the measurements.

A scanning device, similar to a pregnancy scanner’s machine, proved to be the best option. They settled on the loin area after experimenting with other spots, including the ears which many farmers believe influence skin depth.

“With a loin, the fat on the outside of the meat is white and the meat is clearly distinguishable because it is a contrasting dark colour on the scanner, so it was possible to measure the depth of the skin with certainty and repeatability.”

The research team at Massey University comprising PhD student Masoud Soltanighombavani, Dr Rao Dukkipati and Professor Blair was also able to validate the measurements using small punch holes or biopsies which were taken from a test mob and evaluated under a microscope for comparison against the scanning information.

The results showed a variation in skin depth from 1.5mm to 3mm. Later work confirmed skin depth is mildly heritable.

Calling on earlier research that showed

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Skin deep – Professor Hugh Blair’s team’s research showed thicker-skinned lambs retained body heat much better. a new-born lamb keeps itself warm in its first few hours after birth by burning a small but high-energy type of ‘brown’ fat, before gaining energy from the milk it receives from suckling its mother, Massey tested the connection between skin depth and heat loss and heat production by subjecting new-born lambs to very cool temperatures using a metabolic test.

The lambs were each identified based on skin depth and placed inside a cooling chamber. Each lamb was sprayed with water before entering the chamber to simulate a cold, wintery rain storm event.

Lamb heat loss was recorded using an infrared camera which detects heat being emitted from the surface of the skin. The amount of heat produced was measured through the amount of oxygen consumed by each lamb.

“The results showed that the thickerskinned lambs hold their body heat much better than thinner skin lambs and that they generate less heat.”

For Ross, that ‘light bulb’ moment of farmer logic had proved to be spot on.

For the past seven years, he’s used skin depth as one of his selection criteria when culling ewe hoggets. He also applies the same criteria to his stud ram selections, along with the type and genetic index criteria that he’s aiming for.

“I believe it is just another trait to add to the mix. It’s got real potential I reckon for the terminal sires used in cross-breeding where the focus is more on weight gain and days to slaughter, rather than type, so you could elevate skin depth in your selections to gain on lamb survival.”

The investment so far in research at

their farm has all come out of the Humphreys’ own pockets. Massey has funded the intensive lamb research.

“We wanted to keep it to ourselves until we had it validated. We did approach the Callaghan Fund for assistance, but missed out.”

A probable next step for Massey could be to develop a gene marker for skin depth, so it could be determined through analysis of a tissue sample from a sheep. In addition, Massey will continue to investigate whether there are any unintended consequences of selecting for thicker skin.

Meantime, the Humphreys will continue to include skin depth as a key criterion in their ram selections, providing their ram clients, particularly those on colder higher country, with progeny capable of better withstanding harsh weather around lambing time.

“There’s so much that can contribute to the death of a lamb soon after birth but this has to help our clients,” he says.

A “nice outcome” would be the development of a gene marker for animal welfare. An ideal outcome would be to see skin depth built into the Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) maternal worth index.

“Even if we could get 5% more lambs to survive, farmers win and the entire industry would benefit,” he says.

He estimates his flock is at least five or possibly six years ahead of his stud breeding peers on skin depth. The Humphreys say they have not detected any negative impact on performance since elevating skin depth in their selection criteria.

39

LIVESTOCK | LAMBING SYSTEMS

Out of season lambing worth a revisit?

Google “Out of season lambing” and you’ll find plenty of advice from around the world on the breeds, inputs, and pros and cons of the practice. That’s the easy part. Try to find a New Zealander doing it and things get a whole lot harder. Andrew Swallow reports Despite independent analysis showing a 29% boost in gross margin/hectare from a three-in-two-year lambing system compared to a conventional annual drop it seems few, if any, farms adopted the system.

What’s more, margin gain was at a time when average price achieved for a 17kg carcase was around $60, so every extra dollar was dearly needed to help cover overheads. The 29% figure comes from an Alliance trial run 2002 to 2004 on Peter Ponsonby’s Douglas Downs property at Tuapeka West, Otago, but there were other studies at the time which made similar predictions.

Independent consultant Graham Butcher crunched the numbers for the 150 Dorset Down ewe trial, then extrapolated them to a 500-ewe flock and ran a Farmax model based on them.

Thirteen years later, reflecting on the work, he says he believes lack of uptake is due to farmers’ understandable nervousness about making what is effectively a complete system change.

For a start, a breed that will conceive regardless of day length is needed.

“Merinos, Dorset Horn, Poll Dorsets will all do it, but if you’ve got to rely on CIDRs (Controlled Internal Drug Release) then it’s just not worth it.”

Stockpol and Farmax calculations show

stocking rate should be cut about 14% and supplement feeding increased 14%.

Lambs born in the autumn lambing will probably need to be sold store and extra nitrogen fertiliser may be needed to provide high quality feed going into autumn lambings and winter lactations.

“Some crop may be needed too but you need to do your sums carefully to make sure you’ve got enough of it but not too much either. At Peter’s ewes milked very well off good quality silage. Even the lambs were eating it.”

Having two mobs on the system one phase out of sync, in the same way as an alternate eight-month shearing system works, will help smooth feed demand and cashflow but increase management complexity.

EID tagging, a tool which was in its infancy at the time of the Douglas Downs trial, would make keeping track of ewes’ performance on such a system much easier today, notes Butcher.

With lambs at $100/head instead of $60 he anticipates similar modelling of the system today would show an even greater gross margin advantage than 29%.

“If you’re considering it you need to sit down with a pencil and paper and work through when you’ll mate, when you’ll lamb, and all the things you’ve got to change because of that. It’s not

Farmax Gross Margin model – 2005 figures 3-in-2 lambing (500 ewes)

Annual lambing (579 ewes)

Gross income/year

$67,355

$55,426

Silage

$10,800

$3,600

Nitrogen

$1,350

Nil

Animal health

$6,005

$3630

Shearing

$3,777

$2,214

Interest on stock capital

$11,516

$6,770

Total variables/year

$16,724

$16,214

Gross margin

$50,631

$39,212

Gross margin/ha

$1,125

$871

Source: Graham Butcher, Rural Solutions’ report for Alliance, 2005. Model based on pasture growth peak of 62kgDM/day, winter growth of <10kgDM/day. Lambing at 120% in autumn, 130% in Dec/ Jan, 140% spring (both annual and 3-in2 flocks). Average lamb price 3-in-2 lambing $60.95, annual lambing $58.73.

40

You’d get a good price one year, then not the next, Peter Ponsonby says.

a system you want to attempt if you’re approaching retirement.”

However, Butcher believes more farms are capable of running such systems now.

“I don’t think the industry was ready for it in 2005.”

Ponsonby says processors’ failure to offer certainty of premiums for out-ofseason supply was also a key reason why few farms adopted the system.

“You’d get a good price one year, then not the next. There was no consistency,” he says.

“They’d also pay just as much for old-season lamb, or rather hogget, as they would for autumn-born new season primes.”

Despite that, he’d found lambing his Dorset Horn and Poll Dorset ewes every eight months highly profitable, even in Otago.

“At the time of the trial it was more profitable than dairy.”

More forage crop options and everimproving establishment techniques, not to mention more and more farms with access to some irrigation, makes providing high-quality feed to late pregnancy and lactating ewes at times other than spring is more easily achieved today, he says.

“It’s not hard to provide out of season feed these days.”

Murray Rohloff, who was in business with Ponsonby importing Ile de France and Charolais genetics, echoes that and believes the time’s right to revisit out-ofseason systems.

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“Adult sheep only need maintenance feed for two-thirds of the year. There’s no way they should be on high-quality feed during that time.”

Lambing more frequently, particularly in the STAR system (see panel, p43) or an alternate eight-month system, means there will be ewes and lambs available to optimise returns from high-quality feed year round.

Alternatively, out-of-season lambs can be sold store at times when prices are often at their best, especially as there are a growing number of farms that have set themselves up as specialist finishers with few, if any, breeding stock, Rohloff says.

Several other projects around the time of the Ponsonby/Alliance trial had modelled a 30% or more increase in gross margin from such systems, he notes.

“That’s not to be sneezed at. I believe out of season breeding is one way sheep farmers can make a quantum leap in profitability, much greater than from doing things like hogget mating which doesn’t actually add a great deal for most people.”

However, he doesn’t advocate a whole flock, overnight switch to multiple lambing systems.

“I think you need to grow into it because you’ve got to divorce yourself

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Matt Ponsonby and Murray Rohloff with Ile de France sheep.

from traditional thinking and learnings and take a fresh look at the seasonal supply of feed on your farm and the demand from the flock.”

He too says using stock that will naturally breed out of season is key, otherwise the workload and cost of procedures and interventions to induce oestrus erodes most of the margin.

“And it’s not just a ewe thing. The rams need to breed out of season too.”

RESEARCH RECOLLECTION Annie O’Connell, now of Beef + Lamb Genetics, says research by colleagues at AgResearch Invermay in the early to mid-2000s, and from Massey University,

showed 60-67% conception rates could be

achieved out of season by synchronising normally seasonal breeding Romney ewes but the cost of hormone injections or melatonin implants made the practice marginal economically.

“We did find ewes from traditional breeds which had ‘break-through’ cycles out of season without treatment but it seemed they weren’t able to pass this ability onto their progeny - though only a few progeny were followed,” she says.

There was also some work with naturally aseasonal sheep, such as the Ile de France and the South African Merino, to find DNA markers that could then be searched for in traditional breeds, but without much success.

Whether such work will be revisited will depend on interest from breeders and the wider industry, she says.

In the meantime, a good way to screen for naturally aseasonal or early-cycling ewes would be to run teasers with harnesses on with hoggets in spring and early summer. Conversion to dairying in the mid-2000s of land deemed capable of supporting ewes lambing three times in two years is another reason there has been little commercial uptake of the concept, she believes.

›› The Star system p42

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LIVESTOCK | OUT OF SEASON LAMBING

A ewe with lambs on Craig Hickson’s Anawai Station.

Seasonality struggle with STAR system One New Zealand farmer and meat processor who has tried to make the Star system work here is Craig Hickson.

He was, and still is concerned that improved lamb finishing across NZ will reduce the number of winter and early spring finished lambs, making year-round supply from NZ increasingly difficult.

Besides, growing lambs slowly from a traditional spring lambing for winter or early spring finishing is inefficient. Could a year-round lambing system provide those winter lambs more cost effectively, was his thinking.

However, after more than 10 years trying to make the three-mob year-

Craig Hickson.

More about Romanovs Russian breed the Romanov is perhaps the ultimate sheep for aseasonal breeding.

According to the North American Romanov Sheep Association, ewes return to oestrus 30 to 40 days after lambing regardless of day length and have a slightly shorter average gestation of 144 days, making two crops of lambs/year possible. Ewes are prolific and produce enough milk to rear triplets and quads. Sexual maturity occurs at as little as three-four months.

These maternal traits are inherited in crosses with terminal meat sires such that halfbred or quarterbreds lamb at 200-300% and exhibit out-of-season breeding “in all but the hottest months of the year”, NARSA says.

The breed is primarily a meat-type, with extremely lean carcases that dress at 5060% and “sell well as 60-80lb (27-36kg) lambs for the ethnic market”. Wool is grey, containing black guard hairs which are not easily removed. It can be used for rugs, mats and wall hangings, the association says.

More? See www.narsa-us.com

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round lambing system work on his farm at Havelock North, it’s still only at a pilot stage, with a former employee of Hickson’s continuing the initiative on his family’s farm near Waipukurau.

“Progress has been slower than we anticipated,” Hickson says.

The main reason is heritability of the ability to conceive independent of daylength, a trait exhibited by only a few breeds globally, appears to be low.

“We’ve tested Ile de France, Dorper and Dorsets – polled, horn and down. Dorset appears the most promising,” he says, noting Dorpers originate from a Persian x Dorset Horn cross.

He rules out using hormone treatments such as CIDRs to induce out-of-season ovulation, a system shown to be feasible

by Massey University in the 2000s, on the grounds there is a trend in high-value markets – “which is where we need to be aiming with our lamb” – against such interventions.

Hickson notes there is one breed that’s renowned for its year-round fertility and fecundity, the Romanov (see panel), however, as far as he’s aware there are none in NZ or Australia.

As for the practicality of the Star system, he says the most important thing is being prepared to meet a more-or-less flat demand for feed yearround, and having the organisation and infrastructure to manage three mobs of ewes with five dockings, weanings and matings per year.

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STAR system The STAR accelerated lambing system was developed by Brian Magee and Doug Hogue at Cornell University, United States, in the 1980s and early 1990s. Cornell says the system is an easy way to provide lambs for year-round marketing and to increase production per ewe.

The year is divided into five 73-day blocks, and flocks are managed in three groups: breeding/pregnant ewes and rams; lambing/lactating ewes with lambs; growing lambs inc replacements. Mating is limited to 30 days, or preferably 21 days, at the start of each 73-day period.

Ewes due to lamb are moved into the lambing/lactating mob at the end of each 73-day period. STAR isn’t an acronym but describes the pentagram shape the five-timesper-year ewe movements make within a 365-day circular

“These systems will gain real impetus once the value for winter lamb really compensates for the extra work and feed required.

At this stage I would describe it as a hobby of mine and I wouldn’t advocate it to other farmers, not unless you’ve got a clearly defined outlet for it.”

Sam Clark and veterinarian wife Cookie have been working with Hickson on the Star system since 2015 and recently transferred the flock to Sam’s family farm near Waipukurau.

“The biggest thing is to get them in lamb from the September mating which is the most ‘out of season’,” he says.

“The first year we got 8% in lamb, which I thought was terrible but Cookie said that’s great: we’ve got 24 sheep that are capable of getting in lamb in September!”

The following year’s September mating saw only 8% of mixed age ewes get in lamb again.

“But 24% of the hoggets got in lamb.

They were put to hogget rams out of the previous year’s September mating – the hope being those rams would be carrying genetics likely to produce ewes capable of breeding at any time of year.

The increased scanning results gave us confidence that the genetics in the rams may play their part.”

Having whittled the mixed-age ewe flock down to 300 “elite” out-of-season breeders from 600 taken on from Hickson, they’re now back up to 400, thanks to increased performance in the September mating.

September 2017’s mating produced the best scanning yet, at 116% in the MA ewes and 33% in the hoggets.

The hoggets were flushed on a clover/

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grass system, run with a teaser and were 50kg or more liveweight with a body condition score of 4+ at mating, again to September-conceived ram hoggets.

Meanwhile, the MA ewes had been flushed with barley and also run with teasers.

“Teasers had been used regularly in the past but the flushing on barley was new as [other] feed available for flushing was minimal.”

‘These systems will gain real impetus once the value for winter lamb really compensates for the extra work and feed required.’

Scanning results from the other four mating periods, in February, May, July and December, have all been around 130%, a “good result” considering the ram goes in just a week after weaning lambs of 43- to 73-days-old off the ewes.

The 130% scanning result is on par with the Clark’s existing flock of 1500 spring-lambing Romneys which he took on in the past year.

“That should probably be more like 150% on our country,” he admits, reflecting on the rolling to easy hill contour of the 400-hectare family farm, which also carries 100 beef cows and finishers.

The Star-system mobs are looked after more than the commercial ewes as they are kept at condition score 3-4 all year round in order for them to have the best chance at conceiving at every point on the star.

“This means their higher feed intake needs to be met and the smaller, easier paddocks allocated to them with the commercial stock only coming through to clean up,” Clark says.

While the workload of the Star system’s definitely higher at present, much of that’s because of the recording and selection they’re doing to improve aseasonal breeding ability.

“Once the genotype for the all-yearround breeding is determined it becomes much simpler and cost-effective.”

However, having talked to Massey University’s Paul Kenyon and Dorian Garrick, he speculates the Star system may never be used commercially in NZ, other than as a way to select animals that can conceive all year round.

“Once we have these animals selected we could use them commercially to better match feed demand to seasonal feed supply. With more frequent summer dry conditions it may make sense for some farmers to tup ewes in spring to produce lambs in early autumn which would then be finished in winter.”

Running spring and autumn lambing flocks on a farm could help spread risk, and tap into peak winter schedules. Clark says he doesn’t believe such a system would cost significantly more, though a lower stocking rate may be necessary to finish lambs in winter.

“Currently the added cost in the Star system is purely around research and development.”

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LIVESTOCK | GENETALK

The mating game Nicola Dennis Last year I did a bad job of mating selection with my stock. Distracted by a small child and all that comes with keeping small children alive, my mating allocation (which would usually involve poring over a variety of Excel spreadsheets) boiled down to using the sires that were athletic enough to take the initiative to go find the ladies by themselves.

It is embarrassing to admit, but when I looked out into the paddock (procrastinating about opening my spreadsheets), there were already a couple of likely looking lads in there. I was tired, so I took the “pray and walk away” approach. I put a few extra sires in the paddock, for good luck, and hoped they would somehow magically assign themselves according to performance and relatedness.

Incidentally, this year’s offspring show no signs of being mutants which reminds me of that old joke “if it works call it linebreeding, if it doesn’t, call it inbreeding”. However, there is a very good chance that they are not as good as they could have been, had I put some extra effort in.

I am just a lowly hobby farmer. I reserve the right to make stupid decisions every now and then, but how many proper farmers can honestly say mating allocation is the highlight of the farming calendar? Good matings essentially boil down to three elements; you need to have: the right sires and dams, for the right price, in the right paddock. How many are really hitting the trifecta?

It is tricky. One problem is that there is a bit of a trade-off between genetic merit and genetic diversity. The thing about great animals is they have a tendency to be quite related to each other. You can arrange a series of “royal weddings” between your very best sires and dams, but then you risk contending with unfavourable effects from inbreeding.

The most dramatic effect of inbreeding is the accumulation of undesirable recessive genes which can increase in inbred populations (eg: Queen Victoria’s mutation for haemophilia might have been an anomaly within the royal family if her descendants had not interbred so

44

Nicola Dennis – You can arrange a series of “royal weddings” between your very best sires and dams, but then you risk contending with unfavourable effects from inbreeding.

prolifically). Less-dramatic effects such as inbreeding depression (the opposite of hybrid vigour) can lead to poorer performance and are a little harder to recognise.

So, ideally, we should not put closely related males and females in the same paddock. But, it can be mind-boggling to work out how closely related two animals actually are. It is easy enough to avoid parent-offspring matings or brother-sister matings – even the royal family worked that one out.

There is a bit of a trade-off between genetic merit and genetic diversity. The thing about great animals is they have a tendency to be quite related to each other.

Assigning mating by age (ie: putting all the young replacements with the freshly purchased sires) and crossbreeding are two low-tech but highly effective approaches for avoiding close family incest. But, if you want to prevent the kissing cousins from accumulating, it usually takes a bit more work than this.

It requires some dedicated recording and/ or genotyping to nut out the ancestry of each animal.

After that there is some number crunching of the pedigree to calculate

how much inbreeding has already occurred and how much inbreeding is acceptable for future generations.

There is usually always some degree of inbreeding, I mean linebreeding, occurring because there is not an endless supply of family lines. The idea is to maximise the overall genetic potential of the offspring while keeping inbreeding to an acceptable level.

This, like most genetic problems, descends into complex maths equations when there are a lot of animals to consider. Some genetics providers and databases, particularly for large animals, will do the hard maths for you and offer reports on inbreeding or alerts if matings are arranged between animals that are too closely related.

If these services are not available for you, fear not! Your friendly genetics consultant (hint, hint) can also optimise mating allocation using software programmes such as AniMate.

Pondering inbreeding and co-ancestry coefficients is generally the domain of stud breeders, but genetic diversity is something we can all think about.

Whether you are a commercial farmer wondering if you would do better sourcing sires from another breeder (or another breed entirely). Or, if like me, you are too cheap to discard a perfectly good recycled Romeo or a homebred Harry just because he has a few relatives onfarm.

• Nicola Dennis is a consultant for AbacusbBio in Dunedin.

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LIVESTOCK | STOCK CHECK

Debating the

Across the world there is a vast range in animal welfare standards.

RIGHTS and WRONGS STOCK CHECK Trevor Cook Some people are in real trouble if it is shown that plants have a conciseness in the same way animals do. In which case for these people, preserving the sanctity of all life will lead to their demise.

Outside that extreme is the non-animal protein threat, which is driven by a number of beliefs such as being healthier, less harm to the planet and being kind to animals.

While the first two are debatable, there is no question that animals are killed so we can eat them. This has been the case for millennia and is despised by some people because it is a behaviour that is interpreted to mean that we are superior.

But did our ancestors 5000 years ago make a conscious decision to kill a deer because of a sense of superiority, or because this was a great food source?

The world is well represented by food chains with a single top-end point. In the mammalian world, such end points other than humans are sharks and lions for example.

There can be no logical end to any discussion about the right of humans to eat animals. If we believe humans have a soul and animals do not then we could be said to be superior, and hence justify killing animals to eat. But with the concept of a soul being a debatable assertion, eating animals is a natural endpoint of a food chain, the likes of which exist all over the animal kingdom.

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This is a convoluted way of getting to the topic of animal welfare because for vegans that stand is mostly on welfare grounds. Haggling over what constitutes free range in chickens or pigs while most pet dogs in New Zealand are better housed and fed than many underprivileged people shows how siloed we become when affluence allows us to be emotionally choosy.

Being kind to animals is a concept that has progressed mostly over recent time.

What is acceptable changes as society changes. Across the world there is a vast range in animal welfare standards. Who is to say which is right, but each society sets its own standards.

Like never before, globalisation has resulted in much more common standards around the world.

Some international trade of meat and milk is linked to an animal welfare standard. In my own profession, what was acceptable when I first graduated for some actions is certainly not now. I feel very uncomfortable now with some of what was allowed 40 years ago, but back then it was acceptable. Animal welfare standards are society-driven just like the welfare standards we apply to our citizens.

At a practical level, how we treat animals is under scrutiny like never before and in general this is a good thing. For pet owners this is seldom an issue because these animals generally get extremely well treated. For farmed animals it becomes a lot more murky because what constitutes good welfare is so emotive.

In the United Kingdom I have seen lambs that have never been outside and are in barns, appearing very settled, clean and certainly healthy looking. But in other barns it has been crowded and smelly, yet when based on what many see

as the ultimate reflection of good welfare, the weight gains are similar.

In our own backyard I have argued for a long time that our lambs are free range and fully pasture-reared, which is a real plus for their welfare.

Yet there are times when, for example, lambs are in yards on a very hot day which can look far from being in the interests of their welfare.

The standards around deer velvet removal, dehorning of cattle and transportation for example along with the banning of tail docking dairy cows and early induction of calving are all aimed at lifting the welfare of these animals, and justifiably so.

How we treat animals is under scrutiny like never before and in general this is a good thing.

These standards have got stronger over recent years because people across society considered that what was deemed okay before was no longer. Also, some markets for our products demanded a welfare standard to be in the product specs along with the food safety and quality.

We must live in harmony with animals, both in our care and wild. But as before, the term harmony is an emotive one so there is no right or wrong. Nevertheless, I believe that across the NZ farming world there is a very strong sense of that need for a standard of care which meets a collective understanding of harmony.

Our approach to animal welfare is the window of what we do to engender that harmony.

We cannot let the transgressors be the view through that window.

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FORAGE

Value of the humble legume Cheyenne Nicholson

L

ifting the legume content of hill pastures has been of great interest to the sheep and beef sector in past years. The purpose of this is to lift pasture quality and improve livestock performance and biological nitrogen (N) fixation to increase pasture growth.

Little nitrogenous fertiliser is used on hill country pastures so farmers are heavily dependent on legumes for N required to sustain production.

The value of legumes in the diet comes from two sources: higher energy content of legumes (12 megajoules metabolizable energy (ME)/kg drymatter) compared to other pasture species and from increased efficiency of ME for growth. This then influences drymatter intake.

targeted at specific land management units. Three levels of legume (low, base and high) in a mixed pasture were modelled. The model predicts increasing the legume proportion increases farm profitability, although not in a linear manner.

The research farm in Whanganui was a hill country sheep and beef farm. The farm consists of 508 hectares split into four land management units (210,179, 90 and 31 ha) producing on average 12.5, 7.9, 5.2 and 10.2 tonnes DM/ha/year, respectively. The study concluded ‘there is clearly value to the farm of increasing legume proportion in the sward’ – a sentiment that has been shown in the past. The analysis identified that between $800 and $1600/ha is returned from increased levels of legumes depending on the current level of legume and the pasture production.

Extension of this analysis to other locations should be done cautiously as the proportions of different land classes that make up a farm will define the value of additional legumes.

The analysis has a few shortfalls with many assumptions, however, it’s concluded that although the absolute values may change they are unlikely to change the result.

“As expected, increasing the amount of legume in the pasture and therefore in the diet of the animal leads to both a change in the farm system and a change in farm profitability.”

Areas of the greatest potential return were those in the parts of the farm that had the greatest pasture production.

‘The value of legumes to a Whanganui hill country farm’ research report is available in full at www.grassland.org.nz

‘As expected, increasing the amount of legume in the pasture and therefore in the diet of the animal leads to both a change in the farm system and a change in farm profitability.’

With N still the macro-nutrient that is most limiting pasture growth on sheep and beef farms, lifting the growth and vigour of the legume percentage in pasture seems to be a cost-effective way of lifting pasture quality and quantity.

The question remains – what is the economic return?

Research presented at the 2017 Grassland conference looked at and answered just that.

The objective of the study was to model, using AgInform, the value to a hill country farm of differing proportions of legumes in a mixed pasture species.

The AgInform model was used in this study as it has the capacity to predict the expected returns for the whole farm business from investments 46

Legume pasture on steep hill country.

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Maximising drymatter yield

Pasture mix containing plantain and clover.

Ewes on lucerne.

In New Zealand, seed mixtures of grasses, clovers and herbs are available for farmers wanting to renew pastures.

A key consideration in the formulation of mixtures is deciding on which species to include for particular conditions.

A mixture experiment was conducted to identify optimal pasture seed mixtures that maximised drymatter yield under irrigated, sheep-grazed conditions in midCanterbury.

Nineteen seed mixtures were created using a simplex design from a pool of four species: perennial ryegrass, plantain, white clover and red clover.

In pasture mixes, the initial expectation is for species to contribute to the pasture response as much as their monoculture performance scaled by Country-Wide February 2018

their relative proportion in the mixture, i.e: the more of one you put in the greater effect it will have over the others.

However, the performance of a mixture can differ from what’s expected. From the individual species’ performance due to interspecific reactions this difference between actual performance of a mix and expected performance is the diversity effect. Interspecific interactions can be synergistic or antagonistic in their effect on pasture responses.

Synergetic interactions are usually the result of differences in resource use between species and facilitation, such as the way clovers can favour companion grass or herbs.

Antagonistic interactions have a negative effect on pasture response.

Interactions may involve two or more species and several positive and negative interactions all at the same time.

The strength of an interaction may also depend on the relative abundance of the species involved. These concepts have been applied to quantify the yield and weed suppression of multispecies grasslands and to formulate optimal pasture and turf grass seed mixes.

The objective of this study was to identify an optimal seed mixture that

maximises pasture DM production and quantify the extent of indemnity and diversity effects operating in mixes.

Nineteen seed mixtures were created using a simplex design from a pool of four species: perennial ryegrass, plantain, white clover and red clover. Seed mixes were drilled into plots in March 2015 and the yield from sowing to May 2017 was modelled.

The study revealed strong and different pairwise interactions between species in pasture mixes that resulted in increased annual yields (diversity effects) during the first two years after sowing.

Both ryegrass and plantain interacted more strongly with red clover than white clover.

There were additional yield benefits achieved from the combination of ryegrass, plantain and red clover.

The optimal seed mixture that maximised yield cover the first two years was identified as 0.25 ryegrass, 0.28 plantain and 0.47 red clover which equals seed rates of 7.5kg ryegrass, 6.3 kg plantain and 8.2 kg red clover/ha. ’Identification of pasture mixtures that maximise dry matter yield’ research report is available in full at: www.grassland.org.nz 47

FORAGE | NITRATE LEACHING

Quinten Green, Te Whenua Hou dairy support farm manager, left, and Shane Kelly – Ecotain will play a big role on the support farms.

Plantain’s healing powers Anne Lee When agronomists presented information on plantain to Manawhenua of Ngai Tahu Farming’s Te Whenua Hou property they were re-introducing a wellknown plant.

Plantain has been used in traditional medicine for humans and now it seems it may have protective and healing qualities for the land too.

Ngai Tahu Farming general manager of dairying Shane Kelly says the Eyrewell farms north of Christchurch that make up Te Whenua Hou are expanding their use of forages coming out of the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) project on to all of its dairy platforms and support land.

The scale of Te Whenua Hou, with its seven (soon to be eight) dairy platforms, five support blocks and five beef finishing blocks totalling 6757 hectares make that expansion a significant exercise.

The dairy support farms total about 1300ha and will now go through a cropping rotation that will include up to four years of Ecotain plantain and Italian ryegrass.

The paddocks that have gone into fodder beet this season will be followed by a catch crop of oats that will have one cut of silage taken before the area is then sown into kale or spring-sown barley.

On paddocks where the fodder beet is still being grazed into early spring the barley will be sown directly without the catch crop.

For paddocks sown into kale another 48

catch crop of oats is likely to follow if time allows before the Ecotain mix is established.

For paddocks sown in barley the Ecotain mix will be established after the grain is harvested.

Shane says the farms’ management has worked with Agricom to set up the rotation on its support blocks that replaces a typical permanent pasture mix with the Ecotain plantain and Italian ryegrass. This is in an effort to bring down potential nitrogen leaching while keeping the economics about par with what they’ve done before.

‘We’ll be watching to see how it goes through the hotter period.’

“We know we’re probably going to have to oversow the Ecotain mix after a couple of years to thicken it up and we’re prepared for that,” Shane says.

Even if the programme means a little more cost it should result in greater drymatter production overall which will help with the economics.

But Shane says the ability to bring about better environmental outcomes makes it well worthwhile.

Toitu Te Marae o Tane, Toitu Te Marae o

Tangaroa, Toitu Te Iwi – Land sustained, water sustained, people sustained isn’t just a motto.

“It’s how we farm,” Shane says.

“The wintering blocks are areas where the potential for leaching is greatest and if we can get a 20-30% reduction there then that makes the whole operation more sustainable,” he says.

While the support blocks are well irrigated he will be watching mid-summer growth of the Ecotain mix.

“We’ll be watching to see how it goes through the hotter period. It’s a bit of a test for it.

“We’ll be reviewing the whole programme as we go to make sure it’s all performing as it should, taking into account that there will be seasonal variations in yields.

On the dairy platforms the Ecotain plantains have already been used on dryland corners and dryland calf paddocks.

Calves have done well on it as part of their diets through to weaning. It’s palatable and getting calves to weaning weights has taken a similar amount of time as when they were on all grass.

In some of the paddocks during the conversion process Ecotain plantains have been sown into the pasture mix but at low rates of 1-2kg/ha.

The oldest paddocks on Te Whenua Hou are just six years old and Shane says the plan to get more Ecotain plantain into the pastures is to incorporate it into any oversowing at a seeding rate of 4kg/ ha.

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FORAGE | ITALIAN RYEGRASS

Gorse loses battle with Italian ryegrass Sandra Taylor Italian ryegrass is proving to be an effective and environmentally friendly gorse control agent on a trial site on Christchurch’s Port Hills.

Set up in the wake of last year’s fire, the Lincoln University-trial is looking at using various gorse-control methods including chemical treatments and the use of competing vegetation to suppress and ultimately kill gorse seedlings.

Professor Derrick Moot is overseeing the trial work in a gully close to where the fire began.

The blaze destroyed vegetation and left the way clear for weed species, such as gorse and thistles to populate the scorched earth.

With the help of an agricultural science honours student, Derrick is gaining an understanding of post-fire plant recovery and ways weeds can be controlled before they become the predominant vegetation.

Initial results indicate Italian ryegrass, over-sown on to the charred ground just weeks after the fire, has been very effective at suppressing gorse while generating a large bank of stock feed.

He says immediately after the fire there were up to 650 gorse seedlings per square metre on the 40-hectare trial site, but the fast-growing Italian ryegrass had out-competed the gorse, depriving the seedlings of nutrients, water and light.

“The gorse seedlings are dying because they are not getting enough

“We’re also actively renewing 10% of the pastures on some of the dairy farms where we can see paddocks that need it and we’ve made the call to do two years of oversowing on others.

“That will allow us to do about 100ha/ year on those oversown farms. We’re expecting that will give us additional feed on those farms and we’ll be better placed to take 10% out and do a full renewal programme.”

Seeding rates for the renewal programme will be 4kg/ha of plantain in a mix that will total about 26kg/ha while the oversown mix will be about 11kg/ha.

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light and the key to outcompeting gorse is to deny the seedlings light.”

This management strategy buys the landowners time so they are able to replace burnt infrastructure and graze the area with stock, or plant it with desirable species.

He estimates the Italian ryegrass has suppressed 100% of the seedlings where it established well and this is over about 80-90% of the gully area.

In a farm situation, the balance can be controlled by spot-spraying with a suitable herbicide.

The Italian ryegrass seed was flown on to the area using a drone at 10kg/ ha and while it was initially slow to strike, it grew through the winter and early spring when the gorse was not growing. By the middle of October, the Italian ryegrass was about 40cm tall and has yielded about eight tonnes/ ha, effectively suppressing gorse while helping protect and stabilise bare ground.

Derrick says in a farm situation Italian ryegrass could be a valuable tool in helping suppress gorse in the wake of a burn-off. While stock will graze soft gorse-seedlings, significant grazing pressure needs to be placed on the block for control to be effective.

The trial work has enabled the landowner to re-fence the area and cattle are now grazing the standing feed.

The grazing will reduce the herbage and has therefore reduced the fire risk that is developing again on the laxly and ungrazed areas of the Port Hills.

“It’s far easier to establish in a renewal programme because you get the opportunity to spray out all the weeds and the plantain gets enough light to get away.

“It’s more difficult to stitch it in to an existing sward. We’ve direct-drilled it on our Paritea farm as part of the FRNL project and we’ve found it can take a bit more time before you see it coming through.”

Prior to drilling it’s important to s pot spray for any weeds because plantain is susceptible to broadleaf weed sprays.

“You can’t go into a paddock where

The Italian ryegrass grew a bulk of feed while suppressing gorse seedings. This gave the landowner opportunity to rebuild infrastructure to allow grazing.

Looking for gorse seedlings under the Italian ryegrass.

Deprived of light and nutrients gorse seedlings wither and die.

plantain’s established and boom spray – you’re going to have to spot spray so if you have weed problems that’s going to be an issue.”

Shane’s experience grazing plantain is that at responds well in a typical ryegrass grazing round but it doesn’t like to be pugged.

It may affect platemeter readings if there’s a high percentage in the sward but with observation and watching cow behaviour and what’s going in the vat the effect can be accounted for by altering allocations.

More on plantain p60 49

ARABLE | STORAGE HYGIENE

Fumigation of grain bulks reduces agrichemical residue and resistance risks, Australian specialist Peter Botta says.

Australia isn’t practical, hence historical reliance on chemicals.

He urged growers to “get schooled up” on what pests were present in and around their stores, and their neighbours’ stores, and what their customers’ tolerances for pests were.

‘I’m strongly in favour of fumigants and gas-tight storage. To me it’s a no-brainer that any new storage you buy should be gas-tight.’

Sealed silos preferred pest solution Andrew Swallow Fumigants are best for control of grain storage pests so all new silos should be gas-proof and retro-sealing old ones considered, a leading Australian grain storage specialist says.

Peter Botta’s comments to the Foundation for Arable Research’s ARIA field day in December come in the wake of a survey which found evidence of insect infestation in 77% of New Zealand stores sampled (County-Wide, December 2017).

“In the paddock growers’ attention to detail is fantastic, but for some reason once the crop comes into the shed, bunker or silo, they tend to sit back and forget about it. You can’t do that,” Botta stressed.

“We need to make sure we actively manage storage so it works for us.”

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He advocates an integrated approach of good pre-harvest hygiene, followed by cooling and, if necessary, treatment.

“If you rely on just one thing with storage, like in cropping, it’s probably not going to work that long for you,” he warned, alluding to widespread insecticide resistance in Australian grain pest populations, and anecdotal evidence of resistance here.

“Hygiene is absolutely critical in managing storage insects. In many cases hygiene, monitoring and cooling will be enough to get you to delivery to the end user.”

Cooling reduces the rate any pests present will breed, and mould growth, but to eliminate an infestation by cooling, grain has to be held below 5C for several weeks.

That’s possible in winter in Canada and northern United States but in NZ and

For example, dairy farmers may prefer grain with an occasional insect to grain routinely treated with insecticide.

If used, insecticides must be thoroughly mixed through grain which could be hard to achieve, he added.

“It’s another reason why I’m strongly in favour of fumigants and gas-tight storage. To me it’s a no-brainer that any new storage you buy should be gastight.”

Botta says gas-tight silos typically cost A$5-10 per tonne of grain stored more than those which weren’t.

Retro-sealing is possible but silos not designed as sealed units wouldn’t necessarily have the structural strength to prevent seals breaking as they swelled and contracted when they are filled and emptied.

Stores should be monitored fortnightly post-harvest into autumn. Once cool and stable, that could be extended to monthly.

“Look in the head space – that’s where problems are most likely to be.”

Probe traps could help identify developing pest problems sooner.

Aeration volumes needed to match grain depth to achieve cooling throughout the bulk and avoid shifting moisture from lower layers to higher layers where condensation could make matters worse, rather than better.

Country-Wide February 2018

Market mindset for future crops

FAR’s Matilda Gunnarson with a buckwheat plot in the Future Foods project.

The hunt is on for alternative, highervalue crops and marketing mechanisms to ensure more of that value is returned to the grower.

Introducing the Food Products for the Future project at the ARIA field day, FAR chief executive Nick Pyke said the aim is to work from market needs back to crops, and vice versa.

“We need to think collectively so we’re not rewarded for what goes out the gate but for what the customer wants.”

Plant proteins as alternatives to meat, for example in the Impossible Burger or, closer to home, Sunfed’s peabased ‘chicken-free chicken’ might be opportunities but equally they could become “just another commodity crop,” he warned.

“We need to think collectively so we’re not rewarded for what goes out the gate but for what the customer wants.”

New Zealand could capitalise better on its considerable competitive advantages of ample water, undegraded and fertile soils, kind climate, political stability and grower skills, he said.

“We do have some really strong

attributes and we need to build on those better than we do now.”

The project’s is one of four FAR’s justlanded MPI Sustainable Farming Funds for (see panel).

It includes trials with three novel wheats, peas, lentils and buckwheat at Chertsey, sunflowers at Lincoln and Dorie, and several other species at two North Island sites: one in Wairarapa, the other at FAR’s Northern Crop Research Site, Waikato.

“Buckwheat’s not actually a wheat but is closely related to cornbind,” FAR’s Matilda Gunnarson told the Aria field day. “The flour is gluten free, which is

One of four SFF projects approved FAR’s landed $550,000 in the latest round of MPI Sustainable Farming Fund grants, to be split between four projects.

Besides the Food Products for the Future (see main story) project, which gets $178,240 of SFF funds, Good Management Practices for Cropping Setbacks will get $95,600 to investigate setback widths from waterways on crop farms and how to best manage them.

Ramularia: Minimising the threat to barley crops, receives $199,600 to develop joint agronomic and chemical control options for the barley disease while Environmental benefits of arable feeds will use $72,000 to investigate how grain and silage crops could reduce nitrogen loss in dairy systems.

Country-Wide February 2018

another trend and one of the reasons it’s in the trial.”

Red lentils and peas are in for their protein possibilities, and in the case of the lentils, soil restorative qualities.

The wheats are purple, durum and spelt.

Despite the name of the project, crops for pharmaceutical or nutraceutical markets could also be part of the sector’s future, Pyke said.

In a parallel session at the field day, Pyke’s Australia-based colleague Nick Poole suggested higher returns from more diverse crops would be one of the likely drivers of future crop rotations. However, such diversification wouldn’t be for everyone.

“Alternatively, you might seek more profit from commodity type rotations.”

Whichever path growers followed, across the industry experience suggested dramatic changes in what’s grown over the next decade are unlikely.

Maintaining a “restorative” grass phase, integrating cropping with livestock systems to capture and use otherwise environmentally damaging nutrients, and using diversity to delay agrichemical resistance problems would be important.

“Maintaining soil fertility as fertiliser prices increase in future is going to be king.”

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ARABLE | CONTROLLED TRAFFIC

Following the tracks Controlled traffic farming isn’t for everyone but there are some very valuable principles within the approach. Nick Fone talks to one Bedfordshire grower who has seen his system evolve over the last 12 years into a practical proposition.

While striving to limit the travel of machinery across arable acreages is a very worthy cause, it’s not always that practical.

True controlled traffic farming (CTF) zealots will tell you that every piece of kit must travel in the same wheelings yearafter-year. But the reality is that for most farming businesses that’s not simply not do-able.

Having converted to full-on CTF some 12 years ago, Bedfordshire contract farming specialist Robert Barnes has moderated his approach over the last

decade, retaining an emphasis on minimising the passage of equipment over his customers’ ground but with a more pragmatic attitude to exactly how that’s implemented.

“With the arrival of ultra-accurate Trimble RTK steering, in 2005 we made the leap from a very conventional broadacre non-inversion tillage system - Simba Solo, Vaderstad TopDown, Rapid drill, etc - to a fairly extreme CTF set-up.

‘Although we were still constrained by the 11.98m cut width of the Claas header, with an eye to the future we decided to make our home-built Dale a true 12m machine.’

Loading the hopper.

“Claas had just brought out its 10.5-metre cutterbar so we took the plunge and went for a 40m boom on our Bateman. We stretched an eight-metre Vaderstad Seedhawk tine-drill to 10m and invested in a 16t Horsch chaser-bin.

With all that we were able to stick to 10m repeatable wheelings, year-on-year.”

The following four seasons proved the concept was work-able and, unlike other growers making the switch, Barnes saw no drop off in crop performance through the transition. Buoyed by the success of 52

Farm facts LE Barnes and Son, near Bedford Farmed area 2020ha and 810ha of contract combining.

• Cropping: Winter wheat 1416ha, oilseed rape 607ha, winter barley 405ha, spring barley 81ha, spring beans 202ha . Remainder peas, linseed and quinoa.

• Soils: Boulder clays through to light sand.

• Machinery: Tractors - Fendt 936, 828, 3 x 724s, a MB Unimog and a JCB Fastrac • Loaders - Claas Scorpion 7040 & 7055 • Sprayers - Horsch Leeb PT 280 and Bateman RB55 • Combines - 2 x Claas Lexion 780 TT • Drills - 12m John Dale Eco-Drill (farm fabricated), 6m John Deere 750A, 6m Vaderstad Rapid and 6m Claydon T6 • Staff: Robert Barnes, Stuart Beardsell and three others full-time plus another seven at harvest.

the approach and the massive savings in establishment costs thanks to the simultaneous switch to no-till drilling, he decided it was well worth investing in further.

By this stage Claas had brought out a 12m header (which actually cut a 11.98m swath) and with the business’ two Lexion 600s due for renewal, Barnes opted to widen working widths.

The 40m boom on the Bateman RB55 had 2m lopped off each end to take it to 36m and to suit the unorthodox cutter bar size the end nozzles were shut down for a span that matched three 11.66m bouts.

Of course, moving to such a wide bed Country-Wide February 2018

Kicking up dust, the Fendt-towed John Deere 750A drill at work in the fields of Bedfordshire.

Robert Barnes.

width made the choice of drills fairly limited. There wasn’t much scope to further extend the Seedhawk’s wingspan but keen to continue with a knifecoultered tine-type drill, Barnes contacted John Dale to enquire about the firm’s EcoDrill.

At the time the company didn’t build a 12m toolbar but that didn’t put him off.

Convinced it was possible, he contacted ex-Simba engineering wizard Philip

Wright who came up with a double-fold design that would work. At the time Barnes had Harper engineering graduate Shane McGuiness working for him in the farm workshop and, following Wright’s CAD drawings, he put together a frame that would match the new system’s pass-to-pass widths. Using Dale’s EcoDrill coulters, seed-cart and metering units, a 12m working prototype emerged into the sunlight and that season quickly

Adding to the mix For six years the Dale was responsible for all the crop establishment on the Barnes’ own land and the lion’s share of the business’ remaining drilling (alongside a 6m Vaderstad Rapid cultivator drill and a Claydon 6T strip-till drill). But with varying conditions depending on the season, Barnes could see the benefit of adding an altogether different drill into the mix.

“We’d proved pretty convincingly that we could make a tine-type drill work on most of our ground most of the time.

“But we needed more versatility - a disc-drill would mean we’d have all bases covered. Last winter we’d made the decision to swap the combines once again and so for last harvest we’d be getting a true 12m cut from the headers.

That opened us up to get back to a proper 12m system.

“We decided on a 6m John Deere 750A. Clearly if it was to do a significant area we’d be breaking the CTF taboo of running between the 12m wheelings.

But I felt that was a compromise worth having and it did such a good job that it did virtually all the work last autumn nearly 600ha.”

Country-Wide February 2018

There were other compromises with the revised Roxhill reduced traffic system too. Despite ordering Lexion 780s with new 12m headers, Branes didn’t opt for the extended folding discharge auger that would enable unloading to occur on the adjacent harvester run.

“I didn’t want the extra mechanical complexity or expense of the wraparound spout. I can put up with the chaser bin running with just one wheel in the previous bout for the couple of minutes it takes to unload. For me CTF has to be practically workable otherwise it simply doesn’t happen.

“We’re also breaking the rules when it comes to repeated wheelings year-onyear. The 6m Deere means we now have the excuse to side-shift the combines’ bouts to match the drill if we need to spread the chaff burden. CTF extremists would say that was the wrong thing to do but with contract farming customers to keep happy we’ve got to be realistic about how things look.”

With the drills sorted you’d be forgiven for thinking things might stay the same at Roxhill. But Barnes isn’t one to sit still.

With it looking likely that the John Deere

proved itself with very few modifications required.

“Although we were still constrained by the 11.98m cut width of the Claas header, with an eye to the future we decided to make our home-built Dale a true 12m machine.

“In work we simply blocked two outlets off at the distribution head and lifted the outer coulters on each side out of work. It worked perfectly.”

and the Dale will share the workload for the foreseeable future, there are plans afoot to modify the home-built 12m seeder.

First alteration under consideration is to halve the number of coulters, widening row widths to 25cm. This would enable the existing hopper to be split allowing one metering system to be used for fertiliser and the other for seed. With more and more cover crops being planted, the wider row spacing would improve the Dale’s versatility and massively cut the horsepower required to pull it. Currently a 360hp Fendt 936 is the tractor of choice - it’s hoped that a 240hp 724 could be employed in its place burning significantly less diesel.

“Real world CTF is all about understanding where the traffic runs so you can identify where problems occur and deal with them accordingly. As an example, we’ve had combines dropping rows of chaff that could cause serious headaches if they were repeated year-onyear. Being able to shift sideways by half a run each season we’re not compounding the problem.

“We’re no longer running a true CTF set-up - ours is now a much more practical, flexible approach that we can adapt as different conditions present themselves.”

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PLANT & MACHINERY | FORAGE HARVESTERS

Family shows its colours Following on from our December 2017 issue, British machinery writer Nick Fone continues to check out the forage harvester options.

T

he Bartlett family have a long history with Claas forageharvesters but three years ago there was a change in colourscheme for the Dorset-based contracting business.

About 20 years ago the firm was running two Jaguar 695 Megas, which were then followed by a series of 860s, 900s and eventually a 970 in 2012.

“We saw a big step up when we went to the 900s and an even bigger one when we swapped for the 970 – it had a monstrous appetite,” Robert Bartlett, pictured, explains.

But their silage workload has continually grown and they need a second chopper with a 12-row maize header for the 2015 season. They priced up another 970 as well as equivalent Krone and Fendt machines.

They all had their strengths but ultimately it came down to the fact that the Fendt had a full five-year warranty, had a guaranteed buy-back price to swap in three or five years and was so much significantly cheaper.

“It was too good a deal to turn down and we placed an order for the first Katana 85 to come to the UK.” In that first year they had tremendous problems with the Katana blocking up in grass due to a lack of blow.

“But we were backed up fantastically well and were always provided with a stand-by machine.

“The problem was eventually solved by simply swapping to a larger pulley on the accelerator drive which immediately solved the issue.”

Although crop flow was sorted, he says being one of the first batch of Fendt foragers off the firm’s production line, it

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was dogged by other reliability issues, primarily electronic and sensor problems.

So at the end of its first season the first 85 was swapped for another.

“We set off into firstcut 2016 with high hopes but our second Katana had some fairly serious teething troubles, once again with electronic issues. Fendt provided a back-up machine and sorted the problems. This year the 85 has been entirely trouble-free.

“In fact, it’s been absolutely brilliant, especially in heavy lumpy crops of grass.”

Robert says the redesigned accelerator drive and repositioned blades have made a huge difference to the point where there have been places where they’ve had to pull out with the Jag 970 because it was struggling so much and put the Katana in its place. As regards output, in average first-cut grass with no bottlenecks the Fendt will comfortably cover 70-80 hectares in a 12-15 hour day.

“It’s what you’d expect from any 850hp machine. Our Claas 970 won’t cover as many acres but it’s got 100hp less under the hood.”

Fuel-wise the Katana averaged 22-24-litres/ha in maize this season.

WHAT HE WOULD CHANGE Robert says the biggest issue with the Fendt forager design is that it’s not operator-friendly to maintain. Having to pull the entire feed-roller housing off the front to get to the cylinder and blades is a real pain.

That said, there is a big advantage in having six feed-rollers – precompression in lumpy crops means

VITAL STATS Fendt Katana 85

• 2016 model on 600 engine hours • 850hp, 21-litre MTU V12 • 3m grass pick-up and 12-row maize header (both Kemper) • 800mm wide, 20-knife chopping cylinder • Six feed-rollers material flow at the front end is very smooth.

“It’s a shame it’s not the same story coming out the top. The spout needs a total redesign. Not only does it need to be wider and deeper, it needs to be a smoother curve so that the flow of material exiting the chute is completely uninterrupted.”

“The corn cracker is fantastically easy to pull in and out of work hydraulically but the job it does isn’t always the best. I’m not sure if that’s down to the V-profile processor or whether the pressure in the hydraulic tensioners isn’t strong enough when you’ve got lots of crop going through.”

Would he have another Fendt forager?

“I’d have my reservations until changes have been made to the spout and frontend access.

They are looking at replacing the 2012 Jaguar 970. They have a number of customers interested in the idea of Shredlage. If they’re prepared to pay a premium for the service and the product it produces then they may head go back to Claas, depending on price.

Also after having a John Deere 8800 on demo, it is also in the running. It’s a new machine with some decent ideas but it couldn’t get anywhere close to the 850hp Katana’s output.

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PLANT & MACHINERY | FORAGE HARVESTERS

Efficiency gains massive The Jaguar 970 slices into a maize crop.

Based in the heart of Shropshire dairy country, the Richards family has run Claas Jaguars for more than two decades.

Today a six-year-old 870 works alongside a 2017 970 equipped with a Shredlage crop processor. It replaced a three-yearold 950 with a standard corn cracker.

“Every year we seem to end up taking on more customers so we needed the extra capacity of the 970 to get round them all,” Adam Richards explains.

The latest Jaguar has given massive efficiency gains, he says. Despite being much more powerful than their previous chopper, “the new 970 isn’t using any more diesel in a day and we’re covering at least 10-15% more ground so our fuel use per acre is significantly down”.

A typical 12-14-hour day in first-cut grass will see the new forager comfortably clearing 100 hectares and with goodsized fields that can climb to 135ha. In a similar timeframe with a 10-row Orbis maize header hitched on the 970 can chop 32-40ha.

One of the biggest limiting factors to the 950 was crop intake with the old PU 300HD pick-up. The latest version is a totally different beast with a beefed-up driveline, improved ground following and refined electronics.

“The new grass pick-up is a 100%

VITAL STATS Claas Jaguar 970

• 2017 model on 670 engine hours (520 cylinder hours) • 775hp, 16.16-litre MAN V8 • 3m grass pick-up and 10-row Orbis maize header • 750mm wide, 24-knife chopping cylinder • Four feed-rollers.

Country-Wide February 2018

improvement on what we had before.”

They no longer have slip clutch problems.

Adam says the contouring is better too.

The way the floating frame deals with uneven ground is very impressive and the electronic pressure sensing system seems so much better.

‘The new grass pick-up is a 100% improvement on what we had before.’

Another big change has been the switch from old-school coil springs to a hydraulic system to provide precompression on the feed rollers. It means there’s now consistent pressure in lumpy, sugary grass resulting in a smoother, more even crop flow right through the machine. That’s helped by a new hydrostatic driveline for the header that means its speed can be varied independently of the feed-rollers.

Although this can be set and adjusted by the driver, generally it’s set in auto mode and left to work things out for itself.

The combination of the new pickup, variable speed header drive and hydraulic feed roller tensioning means there’s an even loading from feed-rollers to the accelerator so the engine is not constantly surging. “The result is that we can push on and get the job done quicker so we’re more efficient and the forager is earning more money for every hour that it’s out.”

This improvement in crop flow has, alongside some clever computer wizardry, had a drastic effect on the forager’s fuel use. By shutting fuelling down in light crops or even in patches where the header’s not completely full, the Dynamic Power set-up is definitely reducing diesel usage, he says.

When it comes to crop processing, the Richards opted for a Shredlage corn cracker. With interlocking V-profile, sawtooth rollers running at different speeds, chop lengths in maize can be extended and the stems shredded lengthways, increasing the surface area of the chopped material and the digestibility of long-chop fibre in the rumen.

They had a lot of positive feedback from dairy farmers with Shredlage.

They’ve got the benefit of the long fibre but don’t suffer the reduced intakes you get with chopped straw. And, of course, there’s not the extra cost of grinding it.

The forager is also put to use later in the season on a more unusual task. Fitted with a reception hopper in place of a header, the 970 is put to work crimping grain maize. Pulverising everything particularly thoroughly, the new cracker is felt to be doing an even better job than the plain roller version that went before, chomping its way through 25-30 tonnes of grain an hour. The result is a product viewed as ‘rocket-fuel for cows’ in the Richards’ customers’ eyes.

Being able to adjust the cracker on the move is a big bonus for Adam. The other operator-friendly function that he particularly appreciates is the cameraguided trailer auto-fill function.

In 670 hours’ work the new chopper hasn’t had a single issue, that’s felt to be particularly impressive given how much has changed on this latest machine and the level of technological sophistication.

WHAT HE WOULD CHANGE Improve access for lifting the crop processor in and out improved.

Their 870 was easier with being able to lift it straight up through the top grille.

On the 970 it’s a much trickier job to do coming out through the side.

The curved rear windows are brilliant for visibility, without wipers they’re difficult to keep clean.

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PLANT & MACHINERY | IMPLEMENT SHEDS

o r o f a o t n it u P Tim McVeagh You’ve never got enough shed space, if the popularity of shed providers’ sites at field days is any indication.

Whether it’s for housing machinery and farm supplies, providing a workshop, animal shelter, or a combination of these, there are options aplenty. So before consulting sales staff, it’s a good idea to define the intended uses and go armed with some specific ideas. Here are some the things to consider.

Site: Topography: Flat ground is generally preferable, although a sloping site may be chosen to allow a landing for loading and unloading trucks and trailers.

Ground conditions: A naturally dry area with firm footing is preferable.

Vehicular access: Access for farm and contractors’ vehicles as needed.

Proximity to other buildings: Complimentary buildings, like machinery storage and workshop are best under one roof if possible, but nearby if not.

Farmers may decide to go it alone with the building. But the farm shed business is a competitive one, so it would be wise to compare this with kitset and contract builds.

Services: Single or three-phase power, water, and compressed air may be needed, so proximity of these is important.

Regulations: The site must meet local authority regulations with respect to boundaries and topography.

Further Extension: It may be wise to site the shed to allow for further extensions.

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Half round sheds like this three-bay model by O’Neill Engineering cost 20 to 25% less than similar-sized sheds from the same company. They can be supplied in kit set or erected, and can include a lean to for either or both sides.

(Photo supplied by O’Neill Engineering).

Building layout and dimensions: Floor plan: Most farm sheds have a rectangular floor plan, and consist of a series of bays with poles and rafters, or steel portal frames, supporting them.

The open side can be between the bays, or at right angles across the supporting structure.

Dimensions: The subsequent addition of more sheds at many farms suggests that the bigger, the better. Bay widths vary from three metres to at least 12m.

With steel portals, spans and therefore openings of up to 30m are possible.

Orientation: Consider wind, sun, and vehicular access.

Height: If the shed is principally a calf shed which will also be used to store other gear, a high building is not so much a priority. At the other extreme, if material like urea is to be tipped into the shed from a truck, allowance must be made for this. If a mezzanine floor is to be included, this should also be allowed for.

Enclosed areas: Workshops and some storage areas will be fully enclosed with a roller and possibly a personnel access door.

Dangerous goods area: The storage of agrichemicals and other dangerous goods must meet HSNO and local council regulations. Details can be found at www.saferfarms.org.nz/guides/stayingsafe-in-and-around-farm-dairies/#s3-8-28chemical-storage Further extension: This might be considered too when planning the layout of the shed.

Calf sheds: The best advice on calf shed design includes recommendations for layout, drainage, and ventilation which may not comply with common implement shed design and construction.

However, many successful calfrearing operations are carried out in sheds designed principally as implement sheds.

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Structure and Materials: Gable/Lean-to/Half round: Compared to lean-to roofs, gable roofs are generally more expensive, can provide better weather protection, and to many are better aesthetically. Where snow loading is a consideration, an increased pitch is desirable and more practical with a gable roof. Lean-to roofs are often extended out the front of the shed to provide extra protection from the elements.

Half round sheds produced by O’Neill Engineering are priced 20 to 25% less than the traditional gable sheds produced by the same company, so constitute about 80% of their shed work. The standard widths are 5m and 8.5m, with bay widths of 3m or 3.6m depending on the wind loading. Each 8.5 x 3.6m bay holds about 120 cubic metres. This can be increased with straight sides which increase the building height. They can be erected by O’Neills in a couple of days, or can be delivered in kitset form.

A lean-to can be added to the side, where farmers usually store mineral pallets and similar materials. They can also have side openings with or without roller doors.

Timber or Steel: Implement sheds are either all-timber, (pole frame); allsteel, (portal frame); or a combination.

There are arguments put forward from both the steel and timber camps, including: • Where iron cladding is fixed to steel purlins and dwangs, the result can be a noisy shed compared to one where the iron is fixed to timber. The noise is a ringing and is significant for enclosed buildings like workshops.

• Timber is more versatile for most farmers when it comes to fixing shelving, work benches, and wiring.

• Timber is a better insulator, and minimises condensation.

• Where the floor of a shed will be wet, structural steel should be mounted above the floor on a nib wall to prevent rusting.

• Unless machined, timber poles are

This shed is typical of farm implement sheds structurally, but includes a workshop, urea bay, calf pens, and a calf load-out pen. Being multi-purpose, some compromise is needed in design and construction.

often not a consistent diameter, making it more difficult to get walls true and straight.

• Steel portals can allow greater spans than timber rafters and trusses.

• Kitset steel sheds have components which are pre-cut to length with structural bolt holes pre-punched for accuracy.

• Steel is environmentally friendly due to its recycling potential.

• The depth of steel rafters and purlins spanning the same distance as timber members will be less, so there can be erection and space advantages.

Timber quality: Poles should be tanalised H5, Framing timber should be tanalised H3, and pre-dried as it is then lighter and straighter.

Structural steel: The columns and rafters of steel portals may be joined by either welding to form a rigid portal, bracketing using TEK screws, or by bolting flanges on each. Structural steel is best hot-dip galvanised.

Braces: There may be knee braces where the walls and roof meet, or apex braces below the apex of a gable roof.

These take up some space which is more significant when storing hay near the roof.

Cladding: Claddings commonly used include long-run Zincalume, galvanised iron and Colorsteel. Galvanised iron is preferable in animal contact areas like calf shed walls, and costs little more than Zincalume. Expect to pay about 40% more for Colorsteel. Clear cladding

can be used to increase natural light but generally isn’t as durable as iron cladding.

Iron cladding comes in thicknesses of 0.4 and 0.55mm with the heavier one allowing wider purlin spacing.

Floor: While many implement sheds will have a dirt floor, a reinforced concrete floor, laid, will add about $80 to $130/sq m.

Bird proofing: This is important for many farmers to prevent fouling off everything in the shed, and is achieved by eliminating anywhere a bird can sit by the construction method and components used.

Water collection: Guttering, down pipes, and plumbing to water tanks should be allowed for.

Construction methods: Kitset/DIY/Contract: Farmers may decide to go it alone with the building. But the farm shed business is a competitive one, so it would be wise to compare this with kitset and contract builds.

Having building materials like poles and framing timber on hand is an incentive to DIY. Having to provide structural details for a building consent may be a disincentive.

Kitset and contract builds will include plans which meet the building consent requirements, and contractors will usually satisfy the local authority from consent application to site inspections and the final Code of Compliance Certificate once the building is completed.

Kitset details should be specific in what materials are provided, which usually excludes concrete and related materials.

Price: The flyers relating to farm sheds that appear in our mailboxes frequently give an indication of price. The cost of site preparation, building consent, hiring of machinery like cranes and transport of materials must be factored in.

Sheds open to the prevailing wind are particularly susceptible to uplift resulting in loss of the roof. But even fully enclosed sheds like this one is the Horowhenua can succumb in a gale. Weather events that result in this sort of damage may seem rare, but it only takes one to make a mess.

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Follow-up: A good build should not need much in the way of follow-up, but the reputation of any contractors providing sheds is worth checking out.

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ENVIRONMENT | WATER

A mixed year of regulation After a flurry of activity on water and plans around the country last year Country-Wide writers give a timely update.

Keri Johnston As we enter 2018, and all that comes with a new year commencing, it is timely to look back on 2017 and update where things have got to from a regulatory perspective.

CANTERBURY Environment Canterbury (ECan) introduced Good Management Practices (GMP) into its Land and Water Plan framework in 2017. This is known as Plan Change 5. Plan Change 5 also introduced the Waitaki-specific nutrient management rules. The decisions on the plan were appealed by a number of parties, particularly in relation to how the irrigation and fertiliser GMPs were being treated in the Farm Portal (the online tool developed to determine exactly what GMP is at a farm level). Appeals are still to be resolved, therefore it is likely to be mid-2018 before this plan is made operative.

Plan Change 2, specific to the Hinds Plains region, is also still under appeal, however, Plan Change 3, specific to the South Canterbury Coastal Streams area, had all its appeals resolved in November 2017, and is now fully operative.

ECan has also been doing a big push in the areas where a consent to farm is required, to encourage those who need one to go through the process. There has been a good response to this (contrary to the opinion of Dr Mike Joy) as the process is new to many, and requires professional help and a change in mindset for many.

OTAGO Otago’s nutrient management rules are now two years away from kicking in (the date is April 1, 2020). Otago Regional Council has been encouraging farmers to get their Overseer done. They have also taken the initiative in the more sensitive catchments such as the Kakanui, and have provided resources and funding to assist with this.

SOUTHLAND Southland’s Land and Water Plan is nearing the completion of hearings.

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Council gave its reply report and recommendations (a summary of all the information and submissions presented to the hearings panel, and answers to all questions from the panel during the hearing) in November 2017. Watch this space.

HORIZONS Horizons One Plan struck a major hurdle in early 2017, with the Environment Court deciding that the way the council was implementing its plan was not what the plan actually said.

This has left the council with a plan that effectively doesn’t practically work as it was written, and wondering what to do now. Implementing the plan as written creates a massive cost to farmers and other consent holders, and doesn’t necessarily achieve the desired water quality outcomes. Given this, in August 2017, the council voted to investigate a partial plan change. However, this will not be a quick or easy process as it is both a legal and public process.

HAWKES BAY Irrigators in the Tukituki catchment were left high and dry (literally) after the Ruataniwha Dam project was put on the shelf indefinitely. The Tukutuki River minimum flow is still going up, and without the dam to augment and flush the river, the increase in minimum flow will mean the possibility of severe restrictions for irrigators in this catchment. Effectively, the rise in minimum flow was coupled with the dam, but the impacts of de-coupling are now about to be realised.

GISBORNE Gisborne’s Freshwater Plan decision was released in August 2017, and was subsequently appealed. The appeals are still to be worked through and there is no timeframe at this stage on when appeals are likely to be resolved. Gisborne’s Freshwater Plan was actually pretty kind from a nutrient management perspective when compared to Canterbury for example. There is no requirement for on farm limits using Overseer, and they have adopted a Farm Environment Plan

approach to managing water quality.

However, it does have some issues with water quantity. As horticulture, and kiwifruit in particular, look set to increase, those looking in the Gisborne area for plots to develop are soon realising that there is basically no water available for allocation unless you are prepared to take high flow water and store it. Therefore, this is limiting the potential for the Gisborne region.

OVERALL As well as all that is going on the regions, we have a new Government that looks set to wind up funding irrigation scheme development, has already taken a stand on climate change, and will undoubtedly want to stamp its feet on the water issues. This year could be interesting.

• Keri Johnston is a natural resources engineer with Irricon Resource Solutions, Timaru.

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ENVIRONMENT | LAND AND WATER PLANS

Not going with the flow Environment Southland’s proposed land and water plan has been criticised as being too prescriptive. It would be better if farmers completed a land environment plan as John Somerville did for his family’s Pine Bush farm.

Lynda Gray the results were simply a was an ongoing mission. snapshot. John took on At a field day two years board this advice but reago he was complimented tested late last year (2017)

by Landcare Trust and to see how things had Environment Southland changed. The readings this for contaminant-reducing time were in the 400-range mitigations. But for John which, given the shallow and the positive actions and barely flowing nature of the affirmations appeared to streams, was an acceptable be at odds with January result.

2016 water quality test John Somerville.

“It seems that with the results that revealed a natural decrease in water jump in E.coli levels to 500 flow (over summer) in our shallow MPN/100ml, almost twice the ANZAC streams E.coli levels creep up anyway.” guideline.

He continues to roll out the LEP It seemed the many measures completed at the end of 2014 adding implemented such as the 20 kilometres another couple of kilometres of riparian of riparian fencing, careful timing fencing, and some more filter zones and minimal dressings of nitrogen, over the last 18 months. As in the past off-paddock wintering, tree planting fertiliser and nitrogen applications around critical source areas and filter are guided by soil tests. Each year zones had counted for nothing. four paddocks are tested, including At the time an Environment two which are tested three years in Southland sustainability officer succession. Nitrogen and maintenance discouraged him from rushing out to fertiliser of mostly serpentine is applied re-test water quality emphasising that in March when it’s less likely to leach through the soil. Based on last year’s results he targeted the sidelands rather than the hill tops. The obvious downside of that approach was possible run-off, illustrating the continual tradeoff in trying to balance economic and John is a member of the newly formed deer industry Southland Environmental environmental sustainability.

Advance Party. The handful of members, most from eastern Southland, were keen to He has no specific mitigation projects find ways of monitoring and enhancing waterway health beyond riparian fencing and and plans for 2018. water quality testing.

“I’ll plant more trees but really it’s Facilitator Jane Chrystal said a macroinvertebrate survey was one approach being just being aware of weak points so it investigated. The number and change in the various macroinvertebrate species such will just be tweaking what we’ve got.” as snails, worms and insect larvae was an indicator of a waterway’s health.

Submission hearings on the plan “It’s early days yet but we’re interested in finding out more about the science behind finished in mid-November, and a it.” decision on the submissions is expected A big issue for deer farmers, and one that members would be looking at ways to in early 2018. minimise, was sediment loss to waterways created by deer in wallows, John says.

Environment Southland’s proposed land and water plan is okay in principle but impractical in many respects, deer farmer John Somerville says.

He was one of about 900 submitters on the plan and his main concerns are the prescriptive nature and the impracticality of implementing some of the recommendations. He generally agreed with what the council was trying to achieve but believed that a “pass or fail” and dictating what could and couldn’t be done according to numbers, slopes and suchlike was unrealistic.

“I think farmers have got to be encouraged to use their initiative and understand their own farm environment, and take responsibility for their actions.”

From his own experience, completing a land environment plan (LEP) had been a good way of achieving that understanding.

Meanwhile, back on the family’s farm at Pine Bush reducing contaminant loss

Deer farmer environment group

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ENVIRONMENT | N REDUCTION

Once was a weed Certain varieties of plantain are showing promise in limiting nitrogen leaching. Anne Lee reports.

Humble plantain is emerging as a potential “multi-tool” in the small but slowly growing toolbox farmers have for cutting nitrate leaching.

Once considered a weed, there’s now growing confidence the innocuous little broadleaf has several ways it can help reduce nitrogen losses under the allimportant urine patch.

While it’s been known that some plantain varieties lower the concentration of nitrogen in the urine of animals grazing on it, exciting new findings show the urine from animals grazing certain plantains may include a natural nitrification inhibitor too.

That means the urea present in the urine is turned to nitrate more slowly therefore limiting the potential for leaching. There’s also research to suggest compounds in the plant itself may slow the nitrification process in the soil.

Agricom is the proprietary seller of Tonic and Agritonic plantains and in September it launched a new brand both plantains will now be marketed under.

Ecotain is the trademarked brand under which any of Agricom’s plantain cultivars will be marketed if they have proven environmental properties that can help dilute, reduce, delay and restrict nitrate leaching.

Unlike ryegrass plantain doesn’t lose quality when it’s seeding.

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Agricom science leader Glenn Judson says recent findings from the Greener Pastures project, funded by the Callaghan Innovation Fund, are exciting because it’s now apparent the Ecotains have more than one path to help limit nitrate leaching.

“The beauty of what’s been found is that there are four mechanisms at play and that means we can have greater confidence that Ecotains are going to be effective across a range of situations – soil types, locations and climates,” he says.

“This plant has been used as a forage in pasture mixes for 20 years but we’re now looking at it through a different lens.

“We’re almost kicking ourselves because all of these functional properties have been sitting there in some of the plantain cultivars and we didn’t know it.”

The variation in functional activity across cultivars is why the Ecotain brand has been developed.

“We were surprised that not all plantains have these environmental benefits which means we’re going to have to be careful with breeding programmes to make sure the effects are there,” Glenn says.

While the Ecotain brand gives a frontend marketing platform the science behind the claims is robust and ground-

Looking at plantain through a different lens.

The low growing point means it can cope with typical dairy grazing round lengths.

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Ecotain plantains have four pathways to help reduce nitrate leaching.

breaking with new findings opening up an exciting range of opportunities.

A 130-page booklet that includes the full versions of 14 published scientific papers has been produced in support of the Ecotain plantains’ abilities.

Some of the science has come from the two research programmes, Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) and Greener Pastures. Both are running in parallel as scientists work urgently to find new tools to help farmers meet fastapproaching regulatory deadlines.

In Canterbury, many dairy farmers are facing rules that will require them to cut nitrate leaching by 30% or more within the next five years.

The FRNL project has been led by DairyNZ with funding from the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

It was its precursor, the Pasture21 project, where the first hints of plantain’s abilities were found as researchers looked at diverse pastures that included plantain, chicory, red clover and lucerne.

That study aimed at lowering dairying’s environmental footprint without compromising productivity.

Through the follow-on FRNL project and the Greener Pastures project plantain has emerged as a significant player.

Although many plantains are winterdormant, Ecotains are winter-active growing in the cooler, riskier times of the year for leaching.

FRNL studies and others have found milk production is not reduced by grazing pastures with high levels of plantain or even pure plantain swards and in some cases milk production was increased.

From a farm systems point of view FRNL work has looked at just how much

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plantain or more specifically Ecotain needs to be in the sward before nitrate leaching reductions would be significant.

“Because it’s not included in Overseer yet it’s difficult to say and will depend on reduction targets but, based on the studies so far it looks like about 30%, or maybe slightly less, gives a functional decrease.

‘I don’t think Ecotain is going to be the one silver bullet here, but I think we are on to something that’s relatively simple to use and could have pretty big implications’

“To get this percentage in the pasture is going to require some focus on agronomy and seeding rates,” Glenn says.

Typically, it’s been included in a pasture mix at 1-2kg/ha but indications are that’s going to have to lift to 4-5kg/ ha.

The plant also doesn’t persist like ryegrass and is likely to have to be stitched in after the second or third year to maintain a higher percentage.

That will have some financial implications but for farmers faced with meeting stringent nitrate leaching reductions and the prospect of being non-compliant with their consents to farm, a level of cost may be acceptable, particularly if milk production levels can be maintained.

“I think what we’re going to see is that if farmers want to use Ecotain as a tool it’s going to become part of an integrated system.

“Maybe we’re going to look at our pastures more like a crop and we’ll see people planning out a paddock for seven years. Some farmers are going to get good at forage rotations,” he says.

Glenn says Ecotain should can be grazed just like ryegrass and will cope with most round lengths farmers would generally use throughout the season (as its growing point is below that of ryegrass – out).

“It’s not like chicory and doesn’t like to be carried through to big covers.”

Having Ecotain included in Overseer is a priority and Glenn says work was continuing to get data in front of the Overseer management team (it has had a presentation on it).

Part of the ongoing FRNL work is to gather data to present to the Overseer science group.

FRNL also has a group of monitor farms – farmers using the forages from the project in their commercial operations.

That’s provided a feedback loop enabling the scientists to hear first-hand what difficulties farmers might have in adopting the science and what they need more information on.

This season more of those famers are integrating higher volumes of plantain into their systems.

“I don’t think Ecotain is going to be the one silver bullet here, but I think we are on to something that’s relatively simple to use and could have pretty big implications,” Glenn says.

•

This article was first published in NZ Dairy Exporter, November 2017.

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ENVIRONMENT | FARM FORESTRY

Turning obligations into profits Denis Hocking This month I am returning to an issue I have covered several times over the years – the potential for farm afforestation to provide credible offsets for onfarm greenhouse gas emissions.

The unusual weather of this summer, especially the apparently unprecedented heat and dry of November and December, has probably persuaded a few more doubters that yes, the climate is changing, and the promise of more extreme weather is becoming ever more credible. I am guessing the pressure on livestock farmers to rein in their greenhouse gas emissions will grow. Not that our urban brethren can condemn farmers too loudly, while agricultural emissions have risen 15% since 1990, with emission intensity dropping 20%, road transport emissions have rocketed up 71% and industry emissions 45%.

However, methane and nitrous oxide, mainly but not exclusively from agriculture, still account for more than 50% of New Zealand’s emissions, and they are too big to ignore. In most developed countries they are minor and can be ignored – in Britain they are 8%.

Inevitably, more of our customers are likely to be thinking about these issues and the Government seems keen to bring agriculture into the ETS. They are only talking 5% of emissions but I doubt it will stop there.

Rather than being negative, I look on off-setting agricultural emissions as more opportunity than unjustified imposition.

Needless to add, I am thinking of forestry off-sets and although you cannot off-set for ever, you can buy time and a lot of time. Figures from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s (PCE), report on agricultural emissions suggest carbon stored in my trees, covering 45% of the property, equates to about 100 years of total off-set for my livestock operation. And this is just an incidental environmental service from the more-profitable part of my operation.

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This figure is maybe a little high for me but it is based on the report’s 600 tonnes/ ha carbon dioxide equivalent average for commercial forestry and total emissions of about 0.4t CO2 equivalent for each sheep and close to two tonnes for beef cattle. Of course, there is a hitch to my offsets – 70% is pre-1990 forest and if we conform to the Kyoto Protocol rules would not be eligible for off-setting.

I am not sure we are still conforming to KP rules because each new emission target announcement seems to have a different starting point. Still, the 30% of post-1989 forestry could cover my emissions for some time, several centuries at 5%.

It has been widely suggested there are about a million hectares of marginal pastoral land that needs “woody vegetative cover” for soil conservation reasons, a figure that seems to have originated with LandCare Research and has been used by the PCE and Scion reports.

about an extra billion trees action might be in the offing. And there is probably room for more forestry beyond this one million hectares. My sand country is not included in that million but on at least half of it forestry is more profitable than livestock. In theory this could all be achieved through the Emission Trading Scheme, but I have my doubts. For starters the “point of obligation” – where do you actually collect the credits or cash – will the first big problem with agriculture.

I would suggest we think about a strictly agricultural scheme with capital flowing from intensive farming areas to regenerate and plant marginal land as specific agricultural offset areas.

Part could be commercial forestry, which should pay quite well, and no doubt there would be expectations of Government support. It could well be a useful marketing ploy too – NZ the only country that offsets its agricultural emissions.

While agricultural emissions have risen 15% since 1990, with emission intensity dropping 20%, road transport emissions have rocketed up 71% and industry emissions 45%.

The PCE report calculations conclude that if the million hectares was allowed to regenerate into native forest it could offset 17% of agriculture’s emissions for 50 years, and rather less thereafter.

If it was all established as commercial pine forest, it could offset 81% of total agricultural emissions but only for 20 years. I think this latter figure is a bit conservative as you can lift the average carbon storage significantly by extending the length of the rotation beyond the assumed 28 years, and without seriously compromising the IRR. Real life is likely to be a complicated mix, but with a Government talking

This option can’t last forever but it could buy a lot of time, several decades, for higher-tech options to be developed.

Simply, I see it as the most profitable way of solving our greenhouse gas problems.

For anyone interested I would strongly recommend the PCE’s October 2016 report, “Climate Change and Agriculture: understanding the biological greenhouse gases”. It is a much more thorough report than anything from the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium, which has useful information on methane inhibition possibilities, but has never recognised the tree option.

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TECHNOLOGY | RESEARCH

Using Google to improve the workplace Alan Royal Our first thought when we hear the word ‘Google’ is that it is primarily a search engine. Digging a little deeper, we realise that Google opens up a wide range of tools such as Gmail, Drive, Photos, YouTube, Chrome, Calendar, Maps and Google Voice to name but a few.

Go to goo.gl/oOqAn to see a full list of 70+ Google tools that allow you to get answers, watch, listen, and play, use devices made by Google, stay connected across screens, stay in touch, organise your stuff and work smarter. Okay, we know about a lot of these.

There is another aspect of Googles work that is less well known. The site re:Work at goo.gl/eDrzar is a collection of practices, research, and ideas from Google and others to help you put your people first.

The site is organised around ways you can make an impact in your workplace.

Each subject contains tools and insights for addressing specific challenges. These include how to: • Set goals to align efforts, communicate objectives, and measure process.

• Make better hiring decisions through job descriptions, structured interviewing, hiring committees, and more.

• Empower your employees to grow and develop by making learning part of everyone’s job.

• Identify what makes a great manager and offer feedback and development opportunities.

• Make informed, objective people decisions using science and data.

• Examine team effectiveness and how to foster psychological safety.

• Reduce the influence of unconscious bias by educating, measuring, and holding everyone accountable.

The site has a set of guides at goo.gl/pVsCrV on practices, research, and tools from Google to improve your people processes.

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What drew my attention to this site was their recent work on effective teams.

The study was called Project Aristotle. A rather lengthy New York Times article on the project can be read at goo.gl/Mt54P4.

Google spent two years studying 180 teams. The most successful ones shared the five traits described at goo.gl/Z2ehnP. The outstanding new feature exposed by the project related to what was described as ‘psychological safety’.

Basically, this means “can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?”

What the project showed was “that we are all reluctant to engage in behaviours that could negatively influence how others perceive our competence, awareness, and positivity.

Although this kind of self-protection is a natural strategy in the workplace, it is detrimental to effective teamwork. On the other side, the safer team members feel with one another, the more likely they are to admit mistakes, to partner, and to take on new roles. And it affects pretty much every important dimension we look at for employees. Individuals on teams with higher psychological

safety are less likely to leave, they’re more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas from their teammates, they bring in more revenue, and they’re rated as effective twice as often by executives.”

This guide goo.gl/Bo1BFo shows how to model and reinforce psychological safety on your teams. It offers tips to help create teams where everyone can contribute.

The TED talk ‘Building a psychologically safe workplace’ at goo. gl/qWLahb offers three simple things individuals can do to foster team psychological safety, namely framing the work as a learning problem; acknowledging your own fallibility; modelling curiosity and asking lots of questions.

Finally (from Google) We should all expect more from work. People spend more hours working than anything else. But for too many, work isn’t fulfilling, inspiring, or anything more than a means to an end.

• A hard copy of this article, complete with the hyperlinks, can be had by contacting Alan Royal at alanroyalnz@gmail.com

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TECHNOLOGY | SECURITY

Codes to let you keep in contact Kirstin Mills Imagine trying to log in to your Gmail or other email provider account only to find you are locked out. Or imagine someone has taken over your social media account and is asking your friends for money.

There is a way to help prevent your accounts being compromised: two-factor authentication (or verification). You may have already come across it if you use internet banking to transfer funds to someone’s account; your bank texts you to check this is what you really want to do before the transaction goes through.

It is a safeguard to double check that you really do want to send $10,000 to that Nigerian prince so you can get your hands on that $2 million inheritance.

While two-factor authentication is not completely fool proof, it does mean that if someone gets your user name and password they have to work extra hard to access your account and chances are they will go after easier prey.

Whenever you log on from a new device (or do something like try to change a password), you will need to enter a code first, which can come via text to your phone or an app or from a list of codes you have previously downloaded.

The problem with two-factor authentication is the hassle of entering the code. You might not have your phone with you and if you lose your phone and don’t have any other device it’s quite a rigmarole to get everything sorted again.

You have to weigh that up against the huge hassle of being locked out of your accounts, however.

Beware temptation of the millions from Nigeria.

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You can usually approve certain devices so you will not have to enter a code every time you log in – just when you are using a new device or browser or making changes to important things like passwords.

The process to enable two-factor

verification is different for every service but is usually quite simple to set up – and a quick web search for your provider can tell you how to do it. Here’s an example of how it works with LinkedIn. In the security settings, turn on “Two-step verification”.

You will receive a text with the code and you enter it into the code field.

LinkedIn lets you know its two-step verification has been set up.

The next time you try to log in from a new device, LinkedIn will send you a verification code, which you enter into the code field.

By ticking “Recognize this device in the future” you will not have to enter a code again when logging in from the same device/browser.

While the authentication message can come to you via text, there are a few other options.

Some services, like Facebook, let you use a previously opened session

on one device to approve a new session on another.

Free Authenticator apps (Google and Microsoft both offer them) generate timesensitive codes you can use for various services. The codes only work for 30 seconds (a clock icon counts down how long you have left to use them) and then re-generate.

Another method is to use codes a service generates for you at the time you turn on two-factor authentication. You can print out these codes and keep them somewhere safe and use them if the other two methods don’t work. You can only use each code once and all codes will stop working if you generate some more.

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WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER

BARK OFF: Purpose, precision and positive p69

Home to the family farm

After university and working in Australia, Mark Booth is back farming with his dad in Central Otago. p66 Country-Wide February 2018

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Better late than never After university and a spell in Australia, Mark Booth has come home to the Central Otago family farming operation. Terry Brosnahan reports. Photos: John Cosgrove

M

ark Booth came to sheep farming later than most but is quickly making up for lost time.

Armed with a degree which was good for designing new fridges, but not farming, he started working full-time on the family farm five years ago.

The 610-hectare sheep and beef farm is at Moa Flat in Central Otago.

‘Dad’s old school and never done a feed budget – he works it out in his head.’

Mark, 31, works in well with his dad Fred Booth. Fred is reasonably well-known in southern parts as he is the owner of the 82ha at Waimumu near Gore where the Southern Field Day Highlander vs Crusader rugby match is held every two years.

Mark gives his job title as anything from gofer to farm manager. As he has been out of sheep and beef farming for some time, he’s filling in gaps with courses through the Primary ITO covering topics such as livestock feeding level 3. He is working towards a diploma of agricultural business management and finance.

“I needed to learn anything and everything because I have been away so long.”

Keen to be farming: Mark Booth on his family farm at Moa Flat near Ettrick, Central Otago.

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MOA FLAT

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The world is Fred’s oyster

Fred loves oysters.

The home farm at Moa Flat near Ettrick is 610ha.

Fred’s passed on his wisdom but Mark’s hungry for more.

“Dad’s old school and never done a feed budget – he works it out in his head.”

Both feed and finance budgeting are weakness Mark is working on.

Last year he was also a participant on

Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Future Farmer programme which opened his eyes to the information available about all aspects of farming and the potential of superior genetics.

Mark grew up on the farm and after graduating from Otago University in

Land beats houses Fred bought the 82ha at Waimumu in 1989 as insurance against a major drought which was crippling the Moa Flat farm.

“I was on my way to buy two houses as off-farm investment, but changed my mind.”

At the time it was still a cropping area “with grain as far as the eye could see”, but that was about to change.

He had tried to buy a bigger block but Tasman Agriculture was buying up all the available land for dairy farming.

Fred had only been to the farm once before in the early 1980s to visit the Southern Field Days which he has continued with. His plan was to keep it for a few years until the home farm recovered as it was a “wet hole”, but it turned out to be a great investment. They have used it to finish lambs and calves, improve two-tooth ewes and the ewe hoggets are wintered there.

“It worked well as we don’t have to feed sheep in the winter.”

Ewe lambs go down there about a week after shearing and stay for 12 months.

There were 1200 lambs, 550 hoggets, 65 mixed R1 and R2 calves on the block in early January. Normally lambs are finished to 40kg weights.

They spray off a paddock each year and put it straight back into grass.

When field days hosted the inaugural Crusaders and Highlanders pre-season rugby game in February 2016, Fred generously gave them land to develop a playing field. Locals say Fred initially thought it meant just fencing off the area to keep stock and the crowd back. It meant forgoing a significant piece of land while the field was developed.

After the field was sown in the autumn of 2015 it poured with rain for days.

They couldn’t get back on it until October and were racing against the clock.

A contractor drilling the rest of the paddock for pasture got sick of going around the future rugby field and just drove through it. It was probably the first time the rugby players encountered a field with plantain in it.

2009 with a Batchelor of Consumer and Applied Science he lived in Wellington for eight months trying unsuccessfully to find a job.

His brother Adam talked him into going to Australia to work on a cereal cropping farm, where Mark ended up driving tractors in Western Australia. He worked on a 15,000ha farm at Nungarin in the wheatbelt, 300km east of Perth, halfway to Kalgoorlie.

Initially he flew between the two countries for the seasonal work, then lived in Perth for three years farming and doing other various jobs. After five years it was time to come

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Fred is looking forward to retirement-as long as he has enough money for oysters.

He loves them and used to buy them by the sack-full.

Before PPCS owned its own meat plants it toll killed and Fred used to go to Bluff to watch his lambs killed.

He would return with a sack of oysters. As the lambs were drafted

by Southland Farmers, through PPCS and killed at Alliance, Fred ended with shares in all three.

Fred doesn’t like computers nor knows how to use one. He does like to travel and went on a wool study tour of China in 2012. There he learned why the farmgate wool price was poor and unlikely to recover.

“They won’t pay a cent more than they have to.”

Fred took over the farm from his father in 1969.

At the time the Government had stacks of money and gave every farmer who qualified $1000 each to invest in their farm, he says. As Fred had just taken over he didn’t qualify and a lot of farmers he knew invested in boats and caravans.

›› Continues to p68 67

home. Near the end of his Aussie stint he had been flying home again for seasonal work on the farm.

“I decided I liked sheep and beef farming and enjoyed the lifestyle.”

Mark is the second youngest of eight children and has three brothers. Fred, 81, was married twice. Only Mark and a sister are involved in farming. He lives with his partner Tracey Grant in town, Ettrick, 2.5km away.

Last year be bought store lambs off Fred and fattened them on the Waimumu block. The grazing was free but he paid for everything else. One of the goals he wrote down on the Future Farmer programme

Sorting through the flock for cull ewes.

Above: Mark(31) works in well with his dad, Fred(81).

was to lease the two family farms within five years. The goal has come early as they work through the detail of Mark taking on the lease this year.

The Booths are running 2300 Romney ewes, 550 hoggets and 50 breeding cows. They also buy in and fatten calves. The lambing percentage is 127% across everything.

Longevity is good in the flock as ewes average seven years.

An animal is only as good as its teeth.

Their ewes’ teeth wear well because they are not eating winter crops. The older ewes are put to a Dorset Down ram and two-tooth ewes are put to an easy-lambing Southdown ram. It is a low-cost operation though they have never quantified it.

They use contractors but do a lot of work themselves with a little help from family and friends.

About 70ha of the home farm is flat of which 9ha is lucerne made for baleage.

Usually they get two cuts followed by two grazings. No other supplements are needed.

Another 12ha grows turnips and chou mainly for cattle, but last year it fed lambs and calves.

Mark is always keen to be involved in the community, played rugby and is a member of the local fire brigade. He was secretary of the Teviot Valley Young Farmers Club for two years.

“Now I’m a supporter helping the new secretary, helping with fundraising and events and get rewarded with the odd beer or two.”

He is also secretary of the local Millers Flat Rodeo Club.

Even though he has never participated in the sport, friends coaxed him into going to a meeting and given his YFC experience, was asked to take on the job.

Love affair The Booths have a soft spot for the Subaru Brumby.

They own five for farm use and Fred swears by them as they are cheaper and safer than side-by-sides or ATVs, and better.

“They go anywhere and you don’t get wet.”

The last he bought at an auction in Millers Flat. It had no clutch so he told the local cop to clear the area as he would drive it up over the flower bed and down the road to the garage. Fred roared off but unfortunately as he approached a single lane bridge a car was coming towards him and he had to stop.

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If they respect you, your dog always tries to please.

BARK-OFF Words by Lloyd Smith

The importance of three Ps

B

ack in the good old days when I was playing serious rugby, and at the time it was pretty serious, my coach used to constantly remind me of the three Ps that were important to any good player. These I can remember vividly as Position, Possession and Pace.

These obviously do not apply to dogs but I do advocate there are three Ps that are the basis to successfully training and working dogs, and if all three can be achieved then you will have a dog capable of a very high standard of stock work. These three Ps are Purpose, Precision and Positive. They complement each other and depend on each other to achieve the best results.

Purpose: I would not waste my time training a dog that did not apply itself well and work with purpose. The purpose being to get the job done effectively and efficiently.

A dog with a half-hearted attitude will let you down and chuck it in when the going gets tough.

This aspect is directly related to the desire mentioned in last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article where the dog must exhibit a genuine desire to work stock and if it also demonstrates a desire to please then that is a real positive. Also, you as the trainer have a purpose in mind and that is to train that dog to realise its potential and to be the best it can be.

Precision: When you are training what you are attempting to achieve is sufficient

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control of your dog to allow you to direct it to precisely the right position to get the stock to respond in the appropriate manner. If you cannot achieve this then you will struggle to maintain a desirable level of control over the stock you are working and you will have to settle for something less than ideal.

This aspect of working stock also questions your ability as a good stockperson as you have to assess where that required position precisely is then complement this by training your dog accordingly. A lot know where the dog should be but lack the control to place it there.

Stock can be pretty astute at assessing the make-up of a dog and if they sense a weakness they can be quick to exploit it, especially mature stock.

Positive: The third P is for positive which becomes relevant once your dog is in precisely the right place. You can then follow it up with a positive move to gain the best result. This is applicable to both heading dogs and huntaways as if the dog does not make a positive and purposeful move they can be

quite ineffective at shifting stock.

Stock can be pretty astute at assessing the make-up of a dog and if they sense a weakness they can be quick to exploit it, especially mature stock. A good positive, tactful move demonstrates to the stock that the dog has that necessary purpose in mind and is prepared to get the job done. I am not talking about a blunt, abrasive move as this can intimidate and frighten which leads to unnecessary complications and often a subsequent re-gathering of the stock.

If you have a good relationship with your dog and they respect you then as a rule they always try to please which is more than can be said sometimes for the stock you are working.

Take care not to blame the dog for complications that arise through no wrongdoing on their part. Blame and abuse cause the dog to lose confidence and respect, which is contrary to what you are trying to achieve.

So long as the dog works with purpose and shows good intent it is up to you as the trainer to teach it the rest.

When training and working dogs I am always conscious of the above-mentioned aspects and whenever and wherever possible encourage and reward purposeful and positive moves. Building confidence plays a big part as a confident dog will back itself and be prepared to give it a go whereas a dog that lacks confidence will be hesitant and apprehensive which will be reflected in its approach to working stock.

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COMMUNITY | VILLAGE CAFE

Auckland couple Juanita Garden and Mike Tan have re-opened the Faigan’s Café and Store in Millers Flat.

Coming

FULL CIRCLE Words and photos by John Cosgrove The historic Faigan’s Café and Store in Millers Flat has recently reopened and one of the partners has come full circle.

Seeking an adventure together, Auckland couple Juanita Garden and Mike Tan undertook the daunting challenge of repurposing the recently vacated building.

Juanita says running a cafe is a good lifestyle and a stunning place to live with a tight community.

“We wanted to start something new that would grow over time into becoming a vital hub for the community.”

However, it’s not a totally new beginning for Juanita. She grew up on nearby 2500-hectare Avenel Station.

It was run by her parents Eoin and Noeline Garden who are now in partnership with her brother Austin and his wife, Victoria. Eoin is a former chairman of Silver Fern Farms.

Juanita left to go to university and after a long career as a teacher in London and Auckland she decided to move back to Millers Flat two years ago with husband Mike, a former NZ Navy Warrant Officer.

Since 1882, Faigan’s Four Square had been owned by four generations of the Faigan family before being run by a community trust for the past 35 years.

The trust was keen for someone to continue its operation and to maintain its role as a community facility, so they called for tenders in May 2016.

Mike and Juanita saw an opportunity and quickly tabled their business plan along with several other parties to the trust.

The couple successfully pitched their ideas for a

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Family link Avenal, the hill to high country station, has been in the Garden family since the 1960s when Eoin, in partnership with his brother Pat and Juanita’s grandfather bought the property to run sheep, cattle and deer.

Her farther Eoin, and his brothers Pat and Alan farmed the hills overlooking Millers Flat. Now all have retired to the township, were they can get up in morning and look out their windows to check on their sons now running the family farms and then wander down to Faigan’s for a coffee and discuss how well the boys are farming.

The old store’s old stock has come in useful for memorabilia displays.

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community hub which added to the local business infrastructure while maintaining the historical connections Faigan’s store has had with the Millers Flat and Teviot communities.

At the end of June 2016, they got the go-ahead, bought the building and started the long process of bringing the building up to code and changing its purpose.

They were able to recycle many of the old stock wooden boxes, shop equipment and store shelves as decorations on the walls.

Even the table number card holders are made of local apricot wood.

She says in the old days they recycled many building materials, so they found that the Rimu ceiling joists and flooring boards still have bits of the original concrete on them when they were used initially as boxing for the foundations.

“Dad and Mike spent many hours removing the joists and floor planks, denailing them and turning them into the highly polished tables we now use in the dining area.”

On the trail Most of the township of Millers Flat (population about 300) is located just across the heritage-listed 119-year-old Millers Flat bridge on the northern bank of the Clutha River, 17 kilometres south of Roxburgh.

The Dunedin to Queenstown SH8 highway passes close by on the south bank and in recent years the development of the 73km-long Clutha Gold cycle trail has sparked renewed interest in the southern end of the Teviot Valley.

More Pictures from Faigan’s Café and Store, P82.

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The ‘new’ Faigan’s store and café opened in May 2017 and Juanita admits it was a tough couple of months initially, learning what the market required in area.

“It was pretty quiet here over those first winter months, but the locals soon got to know about us as a café, a community meeting and function centre and we soon started hosting business meetings and events.”

Word quickly got around and before long cyclists traversing the Clutha gold trail and motorists soon discovered Faigan’s blend of café and welcome rest stop just a couple of seconds off State Highway 8.

“As we are almost half way between Dunedin and Queenstown we now get many drivers calling in for a welcome break from the long drive.”

Juanita says their varied lunch menu is now a major drawcard with its variety of bakery items, local pulled-beef meat dishes, venison pies and salads.

Mike, who spent 21 years with the Navy, says he was looking for something different to do.

“We had been coming here on holidays since we met seven years ago, and I fell in love with the place, the tranquil setting and relaxed lifestyle plus its fishing and hunting all appealed to me.”

Juanita added they are very happy the community has got right behind them and it’s wonderful to be back in a small community where everybody knows you.

“You don’t bump into people in the same way as you do in Auckland, people here always have time to stop and say hello and pause for a chat,” she says.

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ALTERNATIVE FORAGE GUIDE Species

Cultivar

Sowing rate (kg/ha)

Environment

Grazing

Comments

Cocksfoot

Athos

3-6

Tolerant of dry and less fertile Sheep and beef. Excellent soil. tolerance to set-stocking or rotational grazing.

A modern cocksfoot with palatable, green leaves and improved winter growth.

Festulolium

Perun

25

South Island, higher altitude of North Island.

Lamb finishing and growing cattle.

Meadow fescue genetics, excellent stock performance and climatic tolerances.

Festulolium

Perseus

25

Most environments in New Zealand.

High performance sheep and beef.

A new cultivar with even later heading date for ultimate finishing quality. Available with Edge endopyyte.

Red Clover

Ceibo

6-12

Most environments in New Zealand.

All animal types, including finishing, easy to manage.

Fine, palatable leaves and very late heading date. Dense ground cover for improved persistence, grass grub tolerant. Available with Protek endophyte.

Tall fescue

Tower

25

Alternative where perennial ryegrass struggles to grow.

Close grazing.

Fine, palatable leaves and very late heading date. Dense ground cover for improved persistence.

Timothy

Summergraze

2-3

Southern and inland South Island.

All animal classes, prefers rotational grazing.

Large-leaf with high production and compatibility with ryegrass.

Timothy

Dolina

2-3

Southern and inland South Island.

All animal classes, prefers rotational grazing.

Dense and spreading with good persistence under grazing.

White clover

Riesling

4

Most environments in New Zealand.

Suitable for mixed grazing.

A medium-large leaf variety with reliable performance for mixed grazing.

White clover

Klondike

4

Most environments in New Zealand.

Dairy and beef, silage.

A large-leaf variety suited to high performance cattle grazing.

Brome grasses

Atom Prairie grass

25-30

Does not tolerate waterlogging, pugging or soil acidity.

Short or long-rotation option.

Winter growth similar to short-rotation ryegrass.

Summer heat tolerant. Good potential to allow high legume and herb content. No endophyte.

Brome grasses

Gala Grazing Brome

25-30

Rapid autumn recovery works Good grazing tolerance. well for farms in the dry eastern regions.

Persistent, dense tillered, endophyte-free dryland species. Good winter and early spring growth.

Chicory

Choice

6-8 (pure stand), 4-6 (clover mix), 1-3 (pasture mix)

Environment and grazing management will influence life of crop.

Ideal for finishing or milking pastures, suits rotational grazing.

NZ bred. High-quality, mineral-rich forage with large leaves and erect growth habit.

Cocksfoot

Savvy

3kg (mixed sward) 6-8kg (pure sward with dryland clovers)

Best suited to areas with 600mm rainfall.

Tolerates hard sheep grazing.

Bred for a lift in seasonal growth over traditional cocksfoot, with high autumn and winter production.

Tall fescue

Easton Max P

20-25

Suitable for hot summers.

Rotational grazing or set stocking once established.

High spring and summer production. Good insect and disease tolerance. Available with Max P novel endophyte.

Lotus

Trojan Lotus pedunculatus

1-5 (depending on conditions)

Suitable for laxly grazed pastures in wet, acidic and low fertility soils.

Break-in tool in development high country, agri-forestry, and forestry re-vegetation.

Rhizome forming legume, tolerates periods of water-logging. Not competitive in grass pasture mixes in fertile conditions.

Torlesse

10-15 (pure sward)

Suitable for all regions in NZ.

Suitable for grazing, hay or silage.

NZ bred winter-dormant dual-purpose lucerne.

DLF Seeds

Agricom

Lucerne

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Plantain

Tonic

8-14kg (pure Adapts to a range of soil sward + clovers), types and rainfall zones.

2-3 (brassica mix), 1-3 (grass mix)

Tolerates frequent rotational grazing.

Broad-leaved, coarse-rooted grazing herb. Erect growth habit, excellent year-round production.

Easy and fast to establish.

Plantain

Agritonic

8-14 (pure sward + clovers)

Adapts to a range of soil types and rainfall zones.

Tolerates frequent rotational grazing.

Broad-leaved, coarse-rooted grazing herb. Erect growth habit, excellent year-round production.

Easy and fast to establish.

Red clover

Reaper

10 sown alone

Adapts to many environments. Does best on well-drained soil.

Suitable for lambing to weaning feed, lamb finishing, silage.

High yielding, early flowering type with excellent early spring growth. Upright growth with medium/large leaf size.

Red clover

Relish

12kg (pure stand), 4-6 (grass or brassica mix)

Adapts to many environments. Does best on well-drained soil.

Can be set-stocked early High yielding with major improvements in spring, then ideally persistence. Suitable for lambing to weaning rotationally grazed as soon as feed, lamb finishing, silage production or mixed possible. pastures.

Red clover

Sensation

12kg (pure stand), 4-6 (grass or brassica mix)

Adapts to many environments. Does best on well-drained soil.

Suitable for lambing to weaning feed, lamb finishing, silage.

High yielding, early flowering type with excellent early spring growth. Upright growth with medium/large leaf size.

White clover

Mainstay

3-5 (often 2 leaf sizes are mixed to provide greater tolerance)

Recovers well after dry summers.

Rotational grazing and cattle grazing systems.

Large-leaf, high yielding white clover. High stolon density for leaf size.

White clover

Tribute

2-5 (often 2 leaf sizes are mixed as with Mainstay)

Can be blended to grow in all areas.

Suits set stocking and rotational grazing.

Medium to large-leaf versatile white clover, with high stolon density Ideal base clover in all pasture mixes.

White clover

Nomad

2-5 (often 2 leaf sizes are mixed as with Mainstay)

Suits drier regions.

Persistent under hard grazing. Small to medium leaf white clover. Bred for increased stolon recovery.

Balansa clover

Viper

4-6 (mixed sward)

Suited to >600mm rainfall Rotational grazing once on light soils, and 550mm on established. heavy soils. Tolerates a range of pH.

Self-regenerating annual clover. Semi-erect, hollow stemmed species. Strategically spring sown with red clover, brassica or whole crop cereal silage.

Persian clover

Lightning

6 -10 (pure stand), 3-6 (pasture mix with annual ryegrass or cereal)

Suited to more than 600mm annual rainfall and clay soils.

Produces best in higher pH soils (5.5 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 7).

Grazing rotations similar to other herb and red clover stands.

Self-regenerating annual clover. Autumn sown for high spring yields. Can be strategically spring sown with red clover, brassica or whole crop cereal silage.

Hardy Perennial Clover

Strawberry

3-5

Tolerant to a wide range of soil types and climates

Best suited to rotational graz- A very persistent legume with a greater tolering but can tolerate periods of ance of difficult soils and climates than white set stocking once established clover

Sub clover

Coolamon

10-12 (primary legume), 6 (pasture mix)

Suitable for east coast dryland environments. Best adapted to moderately acid, well-drained soils.

Suited to a range of stock classes. Suits relatively soft grazing management during the first spring.

Mid-season flowering, moderate hardseeded.

Good winter activity, excellent spring growth through to mid-November with rainfall.

Cropmark seeds Chicory

Chico

6-8 alone, 1-2 mix Best shallow sown and when soil conditions are warm.

Ideal specialist summer crop.

A cool season-active chicory with very high summer yield potential. Fast establishment.

Cocksfoot

Vision

4-8 alone 1-2 mix

Best in drier, moderate fertility and free draining soils.

Suits rotational grazing or set stocking.

A high yielding general purpose cultivar. Good winter activity and mid-season flowering.

Improved disease resistance.

Cocksfoot

Kainui

4-8 alone 1-2 mix

Strong root development for summer dry tolerance.

Suits rotational grazing or set stocking.

Bred for high yields and good compatibility within pasture mixes. Kainui has high tiller density, and soft ryegrass-like leaves, with very good disease resistance.

Red clover

Reaper

10 sown alone

Good summer growth.

Suited to all farm types.

Bred for persistence and grazing tolerance.

Source of quality feed over summer/autumn.

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Species

Cultivar

Sowing rate (kg/ha)

Environment

Grazing

Comments

White clover

Mantra

4-6

Most environments in New All livestock classes under rotaZealand. tional grazing or set stocking

A large-leafed variety which competes well in swards, is high yielding, has very good persistence and disease tolerance.

White clover

Grasslands Demand

4-6

Performs well under cool moist conditions.

General purpose type for dairy, sheep, cattle and deer.

Persistent, medium leafed variety with good spring to summer yield. Has good tolerance of most leaf diseases. High levels of nitrogen fixation.

Brome grasses

Bareno

25-32

For summer-dry freedraining soils.

For dryland sheep and beef systems.

A standout, persistent pasture, palatable, high yielding and legume friendly.

Chicory

501 Chicory

8-10

Sow when spring soil temp A high quality mulitgraze sumabove 12 degrees. mer crop option.

Agriseeds

Cocksfoot

Safin

8-10 in a cocksfoot-based Suits dryland farming pasture. 3 in a pasture systems. mix

Red clover

Tuscan

4 in pasture mix

White clover

Kotare

White clover White clover

Establishes rapidly, has excellent DM yield with excellent insect tolerance. Sow as summer crop alone or in mix with Tuscan red clover.

Lambing and calving.

Superfine cocksfoot, significantly finer leaved than Ella. High total DM yield, significantly better early spring growth.

Good summer growth.

Suited to all farm types.

Bred for persistence and grazing tolerance.

Source of quality feed over summer/autumn.

2-4 in pasture mix

Excellent warm season yield.

Dairy and beef grazing systems.

Large leaf very high yielding clover. High stolon growing point density to give better tolerance to insects and pugging.

Weka

2-4 in pasture mix

Grows all year round.

Suitable for all grazing systems.

A medium-large leaved cultivar with a high stolon density, providing high DM yields.

Apex

2-4 in pasture mix

Adapted to summer dry conditions.

Suits wide range of grazing systems.

Persistent, high yielding clover. High density, very good drought tolerance, resistance to leaf rust, pepper spot and clover rot.

Puna II

5-7

Spring sowing best. Soil temp 12 degrees.

Rotational grazing.

NZ bred true perennial cultivar with semi-erect behaviour for better utilisation.

Cool season dormant but high growth rates from spring to autumn.

Cocksfoot

Grasslands Tekapo

2-8

Low to medium fertile soil. Early grazing should be frequent An early flowering cocksfoot, less dominating and light. than other fine-leaf cultivars allowing for a higher clover content within the sward.

Tall Fescue

Quantum II

22-32

Very spring and summer active.

Short, sharp grazing is best.

Improved leaf softness, low aftermath heading and very good disease resistance.

Lucerne

Stamina 5

10-14

Semi winter dormant.

Suitable for grazing or hay.

High yielding especially in dryland situations.

Extremely persistent.

Lucerne

Kaituna

12-14

Semi winter dormant.

Suitable for medium-heavy grazing and hay.

NZ bred cultivar. Fine high quality stems.

Highly resistant to common pests and diseases, outstanding persistence.

White clover

Legacy

4-6

Yields well in high N fertiliser systems.

Ideally suited to rotational grazing systems.

Large leaf white clover, latest generation yields strengthen over time.

White clover

Quartz

4-6

Versatility to cope with a range of conditions.

Broadly adaptable. Will perform well under rotational grazing by sheep, cattle and deer.

High yielding and versatile, with excellent persistence.

White clover

Hilltop

4-6

Broad adaptability to various environments.

Best suited for set stocked or rotational sheep grazing, but can also be grazed by cattle or deer.

Persistent and ideally suited for hill and high country grazing systems.

PGG Wrightson Seeds Chicory

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Subterranean clover

Bindoon

4-6

Suited to summer dry areas with well drained soils.

Should not be heavily grazed during the early stages of development, however once mature, stocking rates can be increased.

Highly productive, early to mid-season subterranean clover.

High energy forage, suited to all stock types’

Proven animal health benefits, increased animal production.

Suited to a range of stock classes and systems

Robust fine leaved and upright cocksfoot.

New breeding helps ensure palatability and productivity.

Seed Force Chicory

SF Punter

1-2 in grass seed pasture Very strong summer and mix. 4-6 alone as a spe- autumn growth. cialist crop with clovers.

Cocksfoot

SF Greenly ll

6-10 as main grass component of mix, 2-5 as secondary grass component in perennial mixes

Tall fescue

SF Finesse Q

20-30 as main grass component in mixes

Lucerne

SF Force 4

8-12 of freshly inoculated Excellent cold and drought seed. Up to 6 in mixes. tolerance.

Suited to high production grazing and/or cutting systems’

Winter activity rating of 4. Multi-stemmed plants with an upright growth habit. High numbers of leaves along its stems.

Lucerne

SF Force 7

8-12 of freshly inoculated Ideal where producers Developed for grazing and perseed. Up to 6 in mixes. have a high proportion of sistence under set stocking. winter dormant varieties or areas where a semidormant variety is suitable.

Winter activity rating of 7 suited to grazing and/or cutting systems.

Plantain

SF Boston

1-4 in a pasture mix or sow with clovers as a specialist crop.

Suited to a range of environments and systems

Proven results nationwide, Well suited to any stock type. in a range of environments.

Responds quickly after summer dry conditions.

High yielding, densely tillered, soft-leaf fescue with semi-late heading.

Suitable for both rotational grazing and set stocking.

Later flowering, so significantly extend productive growth in summer.

Red clover

SF Rossi

3-5 in grass seed pasture Tap root helps ensure mix. summer production.

Suits all stock types.

Bred for persistence & disease tolerance.

Its high quality ensures maximum animal performance.

White clover

SF Quest

2-4 in grass seed pasture Good frost tolerance. mix.

Adaptability to a range of conditions with good frost tolerance

Multi-purpose clover bred for clover root weevil tolerance. High stolon density ensures good persistence.

Subterranean clover

SF Rosabrook

10 or 5 + 5 SF Narrikup Mid maturity and an ideal in perennial pasture replacement for any RLEM mixes. susceptible variety

Graze until flowering then reduce stocking rate to promote seed set

Include in any dryland pasture mix. Ideal companion for SF Greenly II cocksfoot.

Subterranean clover

SF Narrikup

Late maturity and an ideal replacement for any RLEM susceptible variety.

Graze until flowering then reduce stocking rate to promote seed set.

Tolerance to Red Legged Earth Mite (RLEM), is an ideal companion for SF Rosabrook sub clover.

10 or 5 + 5 SF Rosabrook in perennial pasture mixes.

Genetic Technology Lucerne

55Q27

12-18

Winter dormant

Suitable for grazing, hay and silage

Winter hardiness with excellent disease resistance. Nitragin Plus seed coating ensures excellent seedling establishment and nodulation

Lucerne

55V50

12-18

Winter dormant

Suitable for grazing, hay and silage

Fast recovery after cutting with superior feed quality. Nitragin Plus seed coating ensures excellent seedling establishment and nodulation.

Sorghum x Sudan

Bettagraze

25-45

Summer active. Soil temp 18 degrees and rising.

Suitable for grazing, hay and silage

Rapid early growth and quick recovery after grazing or cutting. Fine stems and disease –free leaves.

Sudan x Sudan Grass

SSS

15-25

Summer active. Soil temp 18 degrees and rising.

Suitable for grazing, hay and silage

Superfine steams and a prolific tillering habit.

Highly palatable: Leaves are superfine and super sweet.

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SOLUTIONS | EDUCATION

Empowering growth through governance When you think of growing your business, you probably think of investing in new equipment, increasing profits, or expanding staff – but in most cases, these are the outcomes of growth, not the momentum that starts it.

The most sustainable growth starts in the place where you form strategies and make decisions. If your board isn’t well-rooted in the way it makes decisions, even the best growth initiatives will eventually fall flat.

Learning how to practice effective governance will help you build predictable, sustainable performance while you grow your business. That’s the goal of Business Torque System’s Rural Governance Development Programme (RGDP).

Sponsored by DairyNZ and in operation since 2013, RGDP has sparked measurable improvement in the governance capability of rural boards throughout New Zealand.

Facilitator, Peter Allen, takes a unique approach to governance learning that has proven to be incredibly effective. He believes in tailored learning, learning by

doing, and measuring progress over time.

His programme puts theory into practice by taking the time to analyse and address the real-life challenges that participants bring to the table.

The principles of governance covered in the programme include acting with a purpose in mind, working with people, decision-making, risk management, and compliance – proven building blocks for effective governance that enables growth.

A better understanding of these topics will empower owners, directors, and

managers in your business to make better decisions, fulfill their purpose, and build sustainable performance.

Whether you’re trying to increase the effectiveness of your board, transitioning the ownership or management of your business, or just wanting to expand your understanding of how governance can improve the way you do business, RGDP can help.

To find out about programmes running near you in 2018, visit: www.businesstorque.co.nz

Dispenser suits run-offs and dry stock Farmers with run-offs or dry stock now have an efficient and easy option for treating mineral deficiencies in their animals, with PETA Dispensers’ latest innovation.

PETA Dispensers have been used to successfully treat bloat, facial eczema and mineral deficiencies in livestock through their drinking trough water since 1974, after being developed at Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre.

HEAVY DUTY LOGSPLITTERS FOR FARM, HIRE & COMMERCIAL USE ! ! ! ! !

MAKE A PROFIT FROM SELLING FIREWOOD HIGH PERFORMANCE 2 YEAR WARRANTY QUICK CYCLE TIMES UNMATCHED SAFETY INNOVATION

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SUPERAXE WS3150 SHOWN HERE

The innovation has continued with the latest release of the 48-Hour Multi-Purpose Dispenser. Earlier models of dispensers were available as 12-hour or 24-hour units, which has mostly been used for milking cows because farmers see their livestock every day.

The 48-hour dispenser is made possible by the patented 48 Hour Bead Jet technology and is designed for use on run-offs or with dry stock where farmers do not see their animals every day.

The dispenser minimises labour and is highly convenient. A farmer simply calculates the dose for the number of animals in the paddock, drops the dispenser into the trough and over a 48-hour period the minerals or supplements are dispersed.

This ensures animals are dosed on a per-animal-per-day-basis, which is important for optimal health in livestock.

“The 48 Hour Bead Jet took a lot of development, but has huge benefits for farmers with runoffs and drystock,” Peter Phillips of PETA Dispensers says. The 48-Hour Bead Jet technology comes in two models – the 48-Hour Multi-Purpose Dispenser and the 48-Hour Zinc Dispenser. It is available in New Zealand from rural supplies stores and veterinarians, and is also exported.

More? visit www.peta.co.nz

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Your farm,

from space Anne Lee For those old enough to remember when man first stepped on to the moon the idea you’d be setting up your week’s grazing plan and allocating paddocks based on a picture from space is something of a sci fi wonder.

But it’s a reality and for a price, farmers – initially in parts of Canterbury but soon to be nationwide – can expect to get an email once a week with an image taken by satellites hurtling around Earth and passing over New Zealand every day.

Along with the inbox image will be a feed wedge, graphically displaying pasture cover in kilograms of drymatter (DM)/ha from highest to lowest with paddocks identified along the bottom axis.

There will also be a list of paddocks, each with its average cover.

The satellite image of the farm is useful with a level of detail that shows variability within a paddock.

Standing for satellite pasture and cover evaluation, the new SPACE service offered by LIC has been able to correlate the images measured by the satellites with drymatter covers by calibrating the images with data from actual drymatter yield information and the clever use of algorithms.

In the past the ability to get useful information has been confounded by cloud cover and the frequency of cloudy days.

But as the number of satellites circling Earth has increased LIC has now been able to source information from satellites passing over the country every day. Based on weather information LIC expects farmers can expect to have data every 7-10 days even in winter.

South Island Dairy Development Centre executive director Ron Pellow says the Lincoln University Dairy Farm LUDF has been part of trialling the new technology comparing the weekly farm walk data collected using the rising plate meter with reports from the satellite.

“It’s increasingly representing the data as we’ve collected it,” he says.

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Ron Pellow: A useful level of detail.

Link for price table and map of available areas and pic of satellite www.lic.co.nz/lic_SPACE.cfm

The satellite image of the farm is useful with a level of detail that shows variability within a paddock.

Just as the platemeter data gives an average cover for a paddock so too does the SPACE report but the image shows just how variable the covers might be within that paddock.

Given LUDF has issues at some times with what the platemeter is telling the farm management team compared with what the cows are telling them, Pellow says the SPACE report also needs to be looked at as a tool.

For LUDF having the weekly information from the SPACE report isn’t likely to mean an end to the farm walks members of the farming public are free to join each week, Pellow says.

“But we may stop plating the whole farm on those walks in the future and use that farm walk as a way to analyse the information form SPACE, validate it and have a discussion about what we’re going to do based on the information.

“It will be less about collecting the data and more about interpreting it and making decisions.”

Pellow says the consistency of the information would be of benefit to those farms where they struggle to have the same person plating the farm each week or if they struggle for time to walk the whole farm frequently enough.

For those with MINDA Land and Feed the information is also loaded automatically into the programme and for those with other pasture management software the data comes in a way that farmers can easily manually upload it into any programme.

Initially SPACE is being offered to farmers within two 1000 square km areas – one around Dunsandel and one around Hinds but the expectation is it will be rolled out across the country as soon as possible.

Until January 22 the service is being offered free to farmers in the two areas to allow them to trial it.

From January 22 the costs will vary according to the area of the farm with a 100-150-hectare farm able to subscribe to the service for $2250/year or $187.50 a month. For a 301-400ha farm the cost is $3000/year or $250/month.

•

First published in the NZ Dairy Exporter, Good Science Special Report, January 2018.

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ESTATE | NORTH OTAGO

Family selling Altavady

A

nyone who has ever driven the highway between Duntroon and Oamaru in North Otago will have seen Altavady written across a hillside in a giant topiary

sculpture.

The iconic property covers 623 hectares around that landmark which was first planted by Ted Aubrey in 1931, not long after the family bought the farm. Three generations of the family have owned Altavady which has traditionally been a sheep and beef farm and in the past nine years has been leased by a local, proactive dairy farmer to provide grazing and supplements for large herds.

Rolling downs provide good drainage during winter for a multitude of land use options, from traditional livestock farming of sheep and beef, to bull finishing, dairy heifer grazing and winter cow grazing.

After 89 years, the family is selling the historic Altavady which is described as an outstanding hill country grazing, finishing and arable property that ticks all the boxes. For starters, it is located in the highly sought-after and desirable district of Papakaio, only 22km from Oamaru in one direction and handy to the recreational lakes of Aviemore and Benmore in the other direction.

The large dairying region of the Lower Waitaki is adjacent to Altavady and that provides diverse farming options of providing feed, grazing and even the option of dairy conversion on a large

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area of the farm. Rolling downs provide good drainage during winter for a multitude of land use options, from traditional livestock farming of sheep and beef, to bull finishing, dairy heifer grazing and winter cow grazing.

Fine, sandy loam soils have proven productive for stock finishing, cropping, feed crops and dairy support and the response to irrigation is dramatic with yields up to 20 tonnes drymatter/ha a possibility. A comprehensive irrigation system covers 176ha of the farm using three separate systems.

In the past nine years leased to a dairy farmer, Altavady has grown fodder beet and kale for winter feed, made silage and carried between 6500 and 7000 stock units.

Significant capital improvements over the years has resulted in 95 paddocks with a well-planned lane system allowing ease of stock movements. The fully reticulated stock water system receives an allocation of 81,600l/day which is delivered into six large storage tanks before heading to troughs in all paddocks. A concrete fertiliser bin sits beside the centrally located internal airstrip and buildings on the farm include a four-bay workshop and a four-stand woolshed with covered yards.

Dave Finlay from PGG Wrightson Real Estate says the overall balance of the farm is one of its special features, with large areas of flat-to-easy rolling country and also dryland areas that create the opportunity to grow additional crops at low cost, to supplement the reliable irrigation production system.

Extensive woodlots of pinus radiata have been planted on 41ha, ranging from six to 35 years and well maintained in that time to offer an additional source of

income at maturity in the near future.

Finlay says forestry could be increased with no effect on other farming options and good access tracks are already in place.

At the heart of Altavady is the gracious homestead set in a garden sanctuary of roses, rhododendrons, specimen trees and expansive lawns. The home has four spacious bedrooms and billiard room, was completely renovated in 2007 and features natural wood floors, a stackedstone fireplace, a spacious scullery and a large stone breakfast bar.

The name Altavady – pronounced All-Ta-Vaddy – was an area around the town of Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland which was the home of the farm’s original owners, Samuel Wilson and his brother John, before they settled in New Zealand in the 1860s.

Altavady with its three freehold titles of 497.8ha, 89.8ha and 35.9ha has a deadline sale date of February 28 and Finlay says the vendors are motivated to sell and meet the market so they can pursue other opportunities.

To view the property, visit www. pggwre.co.nz OAM27146 and for further information contact Dave Finlay on 03 433 1340 or 027 433 5210.

Country-Wide February 2018

ESTATE | SOUTHLAND

Well-presented near Wyndham After 65 years farming near Wyndham in Southland, the McArthur family has created a highly productive 489-hectare finishing property that achieves more than 150% lambing at docking and lambs average 18.7kg when they head out the gate.

The well-presented farm with its rolling downs, reliable location and three homes is for sale at $6.55 million.

In the past, the farm has finished 170 cattle purchased as 100kg calves with steers killed at 270kg and heifers 240kg after one winter. But Howard and Janet McArthur quit them this year to concentrate on sheep and now carry 4350 mixed-age ewes through winter as well as 1010 hoggets. Lambing begins on September 5 and they are all finished and sold by the end of May. Howard’s parents bought the home block 65 years ago and when he began leasing if from the family trust, he bought the neighbouring block to add more scale and has continued to subdivide paddocks and fine tune the property to make it an easy-to-manage property.

“The first thing I did when I bought the neighbour’s place was put the covered yards on. You’re working with stock all the time, so you have to be comfortable.”

Those covered yards are attached to the four-stand woolshed with its raised board to handle the Coopworth flock the McArthurs have bred over the years.

About 550 cull ewes are sent to the works before Christmas so there’s fewer mouths to feed and by the following winter there’s crops in the ground to break feed

Country-Wide February 2018

to the hoggets and single-lambing ewes.

A typical crop mix is 2.5ha of choumoellier, 4.5ha of kale and 8.5ha of swedes on contour that allows just about the entire farm to be cultivated. These days, balage amounts to about 350 bales and last year the McArthurs sold about 100 of those, whereas the five haysheds distributed around the farm hark back to the days they made 12,000 conventional bales.

‘The first thing I did when I bought the neighbour’s place was put the covered yards on. You’re working with stock all the time, so you have to be comfortable.’

A reliable rainfall is an important factor for the property to finish stock through summer and autumn, as well as the fertile soils and together, provide opportunities for further options, including dairy grazing.

Today, the farm is subdivided into 100 paddocks as well as four holding paddocks with a natural water supply to most of them. A further 21ha planted in pinus radiata ranging from five to 30 years are included in the sale price.

One full-time employee works and lives on the farm in one of the three homes that were all built in the 50s and 60s

and Howard says they are all good, solid houses of brick and roughcast combined, or brick.

Andrew Patterson from PGG Wrightson Real Estate describes the farm as a highproduction, high-performance property at a size to suit a family operation.

“It’s ideal for a family business where parents can include their children in the business and there’s opportunities to purchase additional land around it.

“It’s been conscientiously farmed, so all the gates swing and the fences are all good. It’s mostly down country so you can get a tractor around most of it to cultivate it.”

Added to those attributes are improvements including the covered yards for 1200 woolly ewes beside the main woolshed. Another woolshed with four stands has a night pen for another 200 ewes and two sets of outside sheep yards give further scope for handling stock. The main cattle yard has room for 170 18-month cattle, with a smaller set providing options. Apart from the numerous hay barns, the farm has ample sheds for implements, storage and workshops.

Location is an important aspect of the property, not just because it is a reliable farming locality, but also handily positioned at 20km from Wyndham and 50km from both Gore and Invercargill.

To view the farm, visit www.pggwre.co.nz ID INV27210 and for further information contact Andrew Patterson on 027 434 7636 or Jim Fortune on 027 594 8346.

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ESTATE | SOUTHLAND

Terrace finishing near Fiordland An elevated terrace a few kilometres from Te Anau creates huge potential for a 195-hectare property that is predominantly used as a sheep finishing unit and could be developed into lifestyle blocks with the appropriate consents to make the most of its mix of lake and mountain views.

‘It’s such a lovely location and the elevation gives it an expansive outlook, with an added dimension rather than just its farming value.’

Now for sale, the property is just 8km from Te Anau where it sits amid rural land as well as quality lifestyle blocks and from its terrace position captures views of Lake Te Anau and the mountains of Fiordland National Park.

The farm was originally a Lands and Survey settlement block and today it winters about 2000 breeding ewes and up to 30 cattle, including about 150 stock units per annum that it gains from the use of a neighbouring property.

This season it finished 2427 lambs that

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averaged 18.81kg and sold 691 ewe lambs, with the balance sold undrafted.

Dallas Lucas from Southern Wide Real Estate says location is the key factor for the farm which will appeal to investors looking at the farming capabilities as well as its potential as lifestyle blocks.

“It’s such a lovely location and the elevation gives it an expansive outlook, with an added dimension rather than just its farming value.”

In the meantime, it achieves good production as a stand-alone farm on a good mix of loam and stony silt loam soils beneath 130ha of flats that run to rolling contour, with an area of sharp, hummocky ridges.

This is all subdivided into 47 wellfenced main paddocks with quality pastures from a regular regrassing programme.

As well as the modest three-bedroom 1960s bungalow, the farm has a fourstand woolshed and attached covered yards for 700 woollies, plus enough sheds for implements, workshop and supplements.

The farm will be auctioned on February 21. To view it, visit www.southernwide. co.nz SWI1939 and for further information contact Dallas Lucas on 027 4325 774 or Michelle Lucas on 027 5640 737.

Country-Wide February 2018

ESTATE | SNAPSHOT

When a sale

goes wrong

Near settlement date the owners heard rumours that the lessee was not paying their bills and noticed most of the stock, had been moved off the farm.

Joanna Cuttance A couple, who had an unconditional offer on their farm, learned the hard way that an unconditional offer is not all it seems.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, told their story to Country-Wide so others would not make the mistakes they made.

The 40.5-hectare dairy heifer grazing block, with a two-yearold architecturally designed, three-bedroomed house, was signed up through a real estate agent for $1.3 million.

The unconditional offer was accepted with a long settlement date of 14 months. For the 12 months to settlement the purchaser leased the farm. The lease agreement was paid at what the interest was on $1.3m at the time, which was eight years ago. This covered the mortgage payments for the sellers. The lessee/buyer also moved into the house.

The sellers paid for a credit check on the buyer and this came back clear.

Their first mistake was accepting a minimal deposit of $25,000. This deposit did not cover the real estate agent’s commission. The sellers added about $3000 to this deposit which went towards covering the real estate agent’s commission.

The lessee began converting the farm into a milking unit, modifying a shed into a small dairy shed and making other modifications to the infrastructure.

Near settlement date the owners heard rumours that the lessee was not paying their bills and noticed most of the stock, had been moved off the farm. However, they were reassured by their lawyer that an unconditional sale and purchase agreement had been signed and therefore should go through.

On settlement day, there was no money and the buyer made no contact. The buyer, after being contacted by a lawyer, negotiated a four-week extension to the settlement date and continuation of the lease for that time. Settlement day came and again no money.

The owners now had problems. The sale had fallen through, the buyer was living in their house, with no inclination of leaving and avoiding all contact and there was machinery, plant and stock left on the farm. Adding to the distress was the time that had to be waited before their lawyers could act. The real estate agent was made aware of what was happening but refused to become involved or to give back any of the deposit.

Bailiffs were needed to eject the buyer from the house three weeks later. A lot of plant and machinery was left behind. This plant and machinery was later found not to have been paid for and was retrieved by the companies who had sold it.

Twelve months later the farm and house, which had been sub-divided off, was sold for $960,000. The difference in price reflected the damage the original purchaser had done to the sheds, fences, cattleyards and the destruction of the central race caused by it being used as a stand-off area for the dairy cows in the wet. The owners looked into suing the original buyer for the difference in price. This was unachievable because the buyers had not written their name on the sale and purchase agreement but rather the name of a limited liability company, of which they were the sole director. This company had no assets,

Country-Wide February 2018

which could be sued against. This couple had to take the loss, including receiving none of the deposit because the real estate agent had this.

Lessons learned • • • •

Demand a full deposit Commission only paid on settlement – otherwise do not give the agent the listing Ensure there is a person’s name on the sale and purchase agreement – so there is someone to sue Credit checks are not a reliable check on a person’s financial status.

SOUTHERN WIDE REAL ESTATE FORTHCOMING AUCTION - TE ANAU

PUBLIC AUCTION 2PM, 28 FEBRUARY 2018, 195.72 HA FH FARMING AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY, 8KM TO TE ANAU

• The farm is very tidy and has good quality pastures and generally well maintained fences.

• The standard of buildings and facilities is adequate although there are no cattle yards.

• Predominantly utilised as a sheep fattening unit with a small number of fattening cattle. As a guide 2,427 lambs fattened at 17.81 kilogram average and 691 ewes at 29.62 kilogram average. The balance of lambs sold undrafted. Lambing 150.8%.

• Its location in Sinclair Road is very handy to all facilities and services and provides an option of closer subdivision subject to obtaining the necessary consents.

• Offers prior to the auction will be considered. Possession 30 March 2018 or earlier by mutual agreement.

Web Ref SWI1939

DALLAS LUCAS

MICHELLE LUCAS

p 03 231 3014 m 0274 325 774 e dallas.lucas@swre.co.nz

p 03 218 2795 m 0275 640 737 e michelle.lucas@swre.co.nz

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FARMING IN FOCUS More photos from this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Country-Wide.

Water scheme storage dam and pump house.

They shall not pass.

Romney ewe hogget suckling Suftex lamb.

John Journeaux

Satellite yards and woolshed.

Simmental and Angus bulls

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Country-Wide February 2018

A man and his dog Fred Booth.

Ross Humphrey, rethinking ram breeding strategy.

Pressing matters.

An 11 year old Cheyenne getting her bullcalf Maxwell ready for the showring at the 2001 Beef Expo.

Drewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office is a treasure trove of memories of their farming career.

Drew and his bull Palini were a tough combination to beat in the showring.

Lauril and Jamie

Country-Wide February 2018

Lauril with the first packs of meat that were produced and put on New World supermarket shelves.

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