CALL OF THE LAND While Kieran McCahon didn’t win the FMG Young Farmer of the year competition, he scored with the crowd taking out the People’s Choice award. By Delwyn Dickey.
T
he call of the land that you grew up on and family ties to that area can be pretty strong. After time spent setting himself up for a career in agricultural science and agribusiness management, testing himself as a finalist at the FMG Young Farmer of the year competition, and a couple of lockdowns, Kieran McCahon has decided the rugged landscape of Northland’s Pouto Peninsula is where his heart is. The family farm rolling down to the wild west coast has a hold on him he doesn’t want to break. It was a unique place to grow up, he says, a 750-hectare playground. With a beach that could have six-metre swells and then once a year be as flat as a lake. But in spite of the magic of the place Kieran was aware it was a tough place for his parents Allister and Maree to farm at times. “We were basically farming an ancient sandhill so was one of the first to get dry,” he says. Farm management practices often reflected that. They run 1000 cows on 400ha of the farm. They also ran dairy beef and raised their own bulls to go with the herd and sell a few store. “The beef offers the ability to destock in summer,” Kieran says. Heifers were milked once a day over 82
mating and again from December onwards, which was always a strategy to manage pasture. Managing pasture and concerns over persistence during the hotter months has also seen Dad Allister involved with Northland diversified forages group for many years. This has seen them move away from ryegrass pasture. While they undersow annual ryegrass on a lot of the farm, ryegrass is no longer the primary component of a sward. Cocksfoot and Persian clover now make up a much bigger portion of the mixes. Other farm environment work saw Allister and Maree take out the Environment Award in Kaipara District’s 2020 Citizen & Environmental Awards. Initially Kieran, the lad with the curious nature and analytical mind, decided civil engineering was for him. But an open day at the University of Auckland where he encountered a “three-way motorway” through the middle of the university and the realization he would be based in the city for the rest of his days if he took that path, had him reassessing his plans. With his older sister Nikita, having just started at Lincoln University he started looking at careers in agriculture outside of just being based on the farm. Armed with a DairyNZ undergraduate
scholarship, Kieran headed off to a future in agricultural science - his way to make a difference in the agricultural sector. A masters in management majoring in agribusiness, again with support from DairyNZ, at Waikato University followed, with his thesis done at the Northern Agricultural Research Farm (NARF) near Dargaville writing up a trial they’d been running on farm systems over the previous three years. With his masters under his belt Kieran settled in with DairyNZ’s Hamilton office. When the first Covid-19 lockdown came around, he was able to work from home in Hamilton. He started to think about his long-term future. The idea of doing a PhD in farm systems and the exciting directions this could lead – becoming a leading agricultural dairy farm systems scientist appealed to him. But he also began to feel the tug of his rugged Kaipara home. The farm and family ties pulled on him. Whatever he did he decided his future was in Northland. Though challenging at times, working from home during lockdown had shown Kieran he could still deliver in his role while working remotely. He asked to be transferred to DairyNZ’s Northland office and to work from the Pouto farm. In February he settled in for a spell. But it was far from a relaxed
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2021
