BUSINESS
REFLECTIVE FARMING
REGENERATES Canterbury’s Inverary Station has scrutinised its beef and sheep business with outstanding results. Sandra Taylor reports.
J
ohn Chapman calls it reflective farming. The process examines every aspect of his hill country farming business, pulling it apart bit-by-bit to find the key to enabling the farm to reach its productive potential. “If we look at our farms carefully enough, they have a lot that they are willing to tell us.” John and his wife Anne farm Inverary Station, a 4250ha sheep and beef hill country property behind Mt Somers. Farm managers Bert and Kate Oliver are soon to join them in an equity partnership. The farm, which runs to 1500 metres above sea level, carries 5500 ewes and 1600 hoggets, 800 breeding cows and 450 yearlings wintered. Inverary is part of Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Hill Country Future’s programme which looks at future-proofing the profitability, sustainability and well-being of NZ’s hill country farmers, farm systems, environment and rural communities. Several years ago, an irrigated flat land farm which had been used for wintering and finishing stock bred on Inverary, was sold and while this allowed further investment in Inverary, it also meant the hill country farm had to take over the role of finishing and wintering. Not being a fine-wool property, income is entirely dependent on maximising the production of saleable meat.
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Selling light weaned store lambs in mid-summer was never going to be a viable alternative, John says, but lifting the productivity of the ewe flock was proving difficult with a relatively limited area of improved pasture. There was debate about reducing ewe numbers, but the decision was made to retain existing ewe numbers and press ahead with an accelerated pasture development programme. “It seemed that our problem was not about having enough feed, but more about not having the right type of feed at the right time.” “Reducing ewes was unlikely to improve that, in fact it could compound the issue.” They decided to undertake an in-depth review of the property and livestock, looking at ways to drive productivity and profitability by taking a step-back and casting a critical eye on every aspect of the business. John admits he was fortunate to be able to take the time to do this in-depth analysis with Bert taking care of the day-to-day management.
SWOT analysis He started with a SWOT analysis on every facet of the business, examining stock policies, tenure, fertiliser, finances, pastures and forages and other variables. “We really examined the property from the bottom up.” As long-term members of the StockCare
livestock monitoring programme, which includes condition scoring breeding stock eight times a year, they had good knowledge of livestock performance. But their understanding of pasture production was nowhere near complete. Because they wanted to use Farmax in their decision-making, they needed reliable pasture growth figures and that meant measuring it themselves. About half of the property is extensive steep, low fertility, limited production high country, the balance includes cultivated river flats, glacial terraces and a mixture of improved and unimproved hill country. John put out 35 pasture cages in representative areas of all these land classes and different pasture types. Over three years, pasture cuts were taken every six weeks, except over winter. These were weighed and dried at Lincoln University. This information allowed John to develop a pasture growth profile across the entire property.
A seasonal balancing act For most NZ hill country, balancing feed supply with stock demand is a challenge, but particularly so in moist, cold South Island hill country and high-country environments. John says the pasture recording programme highlighted the stark contrast between browntop-dominant hill country pastures and high fertility paddock areas in
Country-Wide
October 2021
