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Maintain plantain – a no-brainer Pastures containing up to 30% plantain have shown promise in reducing N losses. Jackie Harrigan has the story. Photos by Brad Hanson. 34
aced with cow numbers dropping from 250 to 160, or spending huge amounts on a barn to get cows off their Norsewood pastures, Jamie and Natalie Arrandale are pinning their hopes on the Tararua plantain project to help them bring down nitrogen (N) losses and meet Horizons Regional Council’s N loss targets. Jamie and Natalie have farmed in the Upper Norsewood area since buying the farm in 1992, shifting down from the Waihi Beach area in the quest to get into ownership of their own farm. “It was a big change going from white sands (on the Waihi Beach) to the snow.” (Norsewood gets snow at least once each winter.) With an attractive backdrop of the Ruahine Ranges just up the road, the 95ha farm has the charm of an ever-changing play of light on the bush, but the trio of high altitude (360m above sea level) with high rainfall and a free-draining soil type makes it difficult to meet the strict N loss targets demanded by its placement in the sensitive catchment of the Upper Manawatu River. Now, with their son Hayden coming on to the farm as contract milker, Jamie and Natalie are nervous of any changes that would compromise the profitability of the enterprise, or give a hit to the capital value of the farm as they look ahead to issues of farm succession and retirement in the future. From 2014 through to 2018 they have been a case study for Massey University third-year farm management students, and their chosen topic of investigation has been meeting the Horizons’ nutrient budget requirements. While the students were diligent about coming up with mitigations for the Arrandale’s N loss problems, none of the options came without a huge price tag (the wintering barn) or a terminal hit to profitability (reducing cow numbers to 160). While the bordering Mangatiwainui River has been fenced off ever since the Arrandales purchased the farm, upgrading their effluent system to have 100 days storage has been put on hold until the regional council has decided what they want them to do to become consented.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
