Business rural

Spring 2013

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‘Ambitious approach’ to farm investment A new model of farm investment aims to empower rural investors to become actively involved in farming. Story: page 3.

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‘I’ll just refine around the edges’

‘Let’s finish it with conviction’

‘Fascinating fungi’ fussy

Complete soil mapping services for variable fertiliser applications and variable irrigation.

To farm smarter and lift your operations overall performance, ring Bruce Hore on 03 318 0133 or 027 576 0303 www.agriganics.com

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RURAL PEOPLE: Bob & Julie Christie

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Sustainability – no compromise for the future Kelly Deeks Dairy farmers Bob and Julie Christie’s sustainablefarming efforts extend beyond looking after the environment to considering the consequences of their operation on the human resources they use and the community they farm in.

The Christies have been equity managers of a 293-hectare, 800-cow operation at Waianiwa, north-west of Invercargill, in Southland, since it was converted 13 years ago.

Bob Christie says sustainability rests on the principle that we meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs.

“People think about the environment, but sustainability is also about human and social responsibility,” he says.

“We need to look after nature, but we need to look after human resources as well. We always need to always be asking ourselves what the

consequences of our farming processes are on the community and the environment.”

The Christies provide training for their staff to ensure they are following the basic steps correctly.

“Where the irrigator is has to be signed off to say it has been checked and set up correctly,” he says. “We have weekly meetings where we talk about the jobs from the previous week and the jobs coming up.

“Part of those meetings is about health and safety; any issues are brought up and our door is always open. As far as farming goes, there should be no surprises.”

Christie says his priority with staff is that they all return home safe and well at the end of each day.

He aims to employ people who aspire to succeed in the dairy industry, and talks with them about their long and short-term goals.

“Our objective isn’t to keep our staff for a long time. We want to see them progress through the dairy industry.”

“We do what we can to help them succeed,

PHOTOS Above: Bob Christie and staff member Emanuel Chabon, with the 90-day effluent storage pond. Lower left: The pond itself. sending them to AGITO and the South Island Dairy Event, and training them in house. We also have a Dairy New Zealand demo farm just down the road, so we often go down there and check it out.”

His production goal for the farm’s 264 effective hectares is 300,000 kilograms of milksolids at a cost of $4 per kilo of milksolids, or less. Last season he achieved this production at a cost of $3.99/kg milksolids.

He says part of his low-cost system rests on the fact that he is careful not to buy into technologies that might provide some profitability, but which don’t really fit in with his lifestyle choices.

“We don’t have a lot of technology. We have automatic cup removers and that’s as far as it goes. We do zero-based budgeting and ask every time.’Do we need this or not?’. We have to question every level of expense, and that’s part of how we get our costs so low.”

The Christies were finalists in the 2012 Ballance Farm Environment Awards. The judges noted that the running of the property was very dependent on efficient teamwork, and said they were impressed with the lengths the couple had gone to achieve this, while, at the same time, nurturing their staff to move closer to their personal goals.

Ray McCallum Contracting

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‘Ambitious approach’ to farm investment

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A new model of farm investment aims to empower rural investors to become actively involved in farming. Story: page 3.

12

34

56

‘I’ll just refine around the edges’

‘Let’s finish it with conviction’

‘Fascinating fungi’ fussy

Complete soil mapping services for variable fertiliser applications and variable irrigation.

To farm smarter and lift your operations overall performance, ring Bruce Hore on 03 318 0133 or 027 576 0303 www.agriganics.com

RURAL PEOPLE: New Generation Farms

Business Rural / Spring 2013

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PHOTOS Left: Island Cliff Dairy Ltd farm worker Morgan Calbone (left) and sharemilker Hamish Wade exemplify the philosophy Blair Hamilton is promoting through New Generation Farms Ltd. The North Otago dairy farm has been developed along the lines that investors without farming knowhow should stick to governance and stay out of the on-farm decision-making, and that nextgeneration young talent be nurtured and given opportunities.

Below: A different sort of young dairy talent does what youth does – tests the boundaries on Island Cliff.

‘Ambitious new approach’ Plan aims to keep farming in farm investment, give young talent a go Sue Russell An ambitious new approach to farming investment and farm ownership has been developed by a North Otago company. It’s a model of farm ownership that strives to empower rural investors to become actively involved in farming, says Blair Hamilton, managing director of New Generation Farms Ltd (which is wholly owned by 3D Rural Group).

Those involved in the initiative have come to understand that if New Zealand farming is to remain competitive internationally with larger operations, more intensive farming practices and corporate ownership models aplenty, this is the perfect time to view investment in a new way.

Hamilton says the philosophy is bound around a set of core principles that turn the conventional control-based model of ownership on its head towards systems that empower governance.

“We see, time and time again, that when ownership is coupled with control and power is vested in those not actively involved in the farming experience, there is often an unhealthy and inhibiting disconnect. The farm manager becomes frustrated and the farm under-achieves.”

The driving impulse behind New Generation Farms is developing a new approach to farm ownership by viewing capitalism compassionately, and supporting people and the farm to develop and realise their full potential.

The model is centred around having a core of current farming operators in any pool of investors.

Because investment and operations are separated, the person operating the farm can change, accountability can be created, opportunities open up for young farming talent to be developed, and long-term sustainability is provided, says Hamilton.

He is adamant that for the primary sector to

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RURAL PEOPLE: Brendon & Gail Woods

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Brendon and Gail Woods, and Jim Gibbs (Lincoln University) share their fodder beet knowledge at a Dairy New Zealand field day amidst the Woods’s crop.

Farmer rates fodder beet Fodder beet has been a huge step forward for us

Karen Phelps Brendon and Gail Woods believe fodder beet has the potential to transform dairy farms. The Canterbury farmers are keen advocates of a crop many farmers are hesitant to try. They have had such success with it they are keen to promote the benefits to other farmers: “It’s the best thing I’ve come across in all my years of dairy farming,” says Brendon Woods.

“I believe it’s got huge potential to make quite an impact on the dairy industry.”

Their focus on per-cow performance led them to trial fodder beet nine years ago, and it has not been without its challenges. Woods says that when he started using fodder beet, there was nowhere to go for information.

When cows started getting milk-fever-type

because of the quality of the feed and the volumes we can grow compared with more traditional feeds such as kale or other brassicas. symptoms – with some dying – the experts were baffled. He now knows the reason – compared with more traditional dairy grazing crops, his fodder beet doesn’t have sufficient phosphate available in the plant for the animals’ needs.

He remedies this by using a transition period to introduce the crop to his herd, coupled with supplementation with di-calcium phosphate. He recommends a 14-day transition period, starting

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with feeding each cow three kilograms or less of fodder beet per day, then increasing this by a kilogram every second day until the desired level is reached.

During the winter period he feeds his herd a total of 12kg of fodder beet a day – the total daily feed ration is 15-16kg. The herd feeds on the crop in the paddock.

“Fodder beet has been a huge step forward for us because of the quality of the feed and the volumes we can grow compared with more traditional feeds such as kale or other brassicas,” says Woods.

“It gives us really good ability to get weight on the animals quickly during this key period, and we aim to increase cow condition score by one or more.”

Woods points out that while his soils seem to grow fodder beet that is deficient in phosphate, this is not necessarily the case on every farm.

He recommends soil testing before starting with fodder beet. and seeking expert advice.

He says there are several other things farmers should consider about fodder beet.

It’s more difficult to grow than maize or kale, and has to be treated similarly to a vegetable.

Precise sowing is vital, and it requires fertiliser with phosphate and lime. Weed control is important until row cover is achieved.

Because it is more expensive to establish than kale or other brassicas, a high yield is essential.

Woods has been getting 30 tonnes per hectare, which stacks up well with a good kale crop (which might grow 15 tonnes).

But it is fodder beet’s superior feed quality that really gets him excited. A derivative of sugar beet, fodder beet has a high sugar content with 12 metabolisable energy (ME), whereas a goodyielding kale crop might sit around 10.5-11 ME. Woods also grows Seed Force NZ’s Suga and Lifta varieties for harvesting as these produce fodder beet of a uniform size that can be harvested by machine.

This fodder beet is fed to the herd as a supplement in late lactation, in the manner that maize silage is used on pasture. The crop can be harvested in early to mid-April.

Brendon Woods is experimenting with how long fodder beet can effectively be kept.

“Around five to six months is no problem, but this season I am trying to push that out a bit to see if we can hold it until the new year when feed can often be in short supply.

“This year we found a bonus with fodder beet – in times of extreme weather (such as heavy rain or snow), the harvested crop was an invaluable feed source for the cows as it could be carried and fed to them. They were able to consume the fodder beet with minimal waste.”

Woods believes that because fodder beet has had a bad press, farmers are still hesitant to give it a go. He admits it’s a crop you have to get right,

Proud to Support Brendon Woods

RURAL PEOPLE: Brendon & Gail Woods/New Generation Farms

Business Rural / Spring 2013

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‘Ambitious new approach’ to investment • From page 3 continue to thrive, opportunities need to be created for young, talented, next-generation farmers to come into the investment structure and not be pushed out by the larger and more powerful investment lobby.

“It’s about working within a co-operative model, valuing it, and knowing that productivity is greater when everyone is working from their strengths, with less emphasis on a power-based hierarchical approach.”

Hamilton says New Generation Farms is keen to hear from people attracted by the idea of a new relationship to investing in farming.

3D Rural Group has two other rural-service companies under its umbrella – agricultural contracting company Plateau Works, and farmingmachinery support and advice company Landplan.

Plateau Works’ arsenal of machines includes scrapers, bulldozers, diggers, graders, trucks and a variety of attachments.

Its business extends through a raft of agricultural-contracting services, particulary cultivation, grass harvesting and spraying. And it has a crop adviser, who advises on soil science and health, pest-control management, and dealing with soil diseases.

The business also handles on-farm, large-scale earthworks and construction projects, farm-

water management and irrigation projects. The company can handle the initial scope, through the assessment, design and consent, to the build.

Experienced operational staff are backed by threedimensional design software and GPS technology.

‘best thing’ If you follow the recipe,

or the results can be disappointing. But he says the knowledge is now available, and it’s not difficult to get it right.

Since 2010, Brendon and Gail Woods have been working with Jim Gibbs, of Lincoln University, in a large Dairy New Zealand research project on fodder beet and its application for dairy farmers. This work has included agronomy expertise from Seed Force NZ. “Farmers like the tried and true methods, so it can be hard to get them to try something new,” says Brendon Woods. “There have been some horror stories out there from people who have gone in blind, but if you follow the recipe, you can feed fodder beet safely without any issues.”

The return on investment can be significant.

Woods estimates fodder beet costs 7-10 cents per kilogram of dry matter, compared with 15-20 cents for kale this year and 30-35 cents for maize silage.

“But the quality of the feed is the key as far as I’m concerned. The more quality feed you can get into the cows, the more milk is produced.

“The crop doesn’t seem to be variable and it’s very reliable. It will even grow 20 tonnes per hectare

you can feed fodder beet safely without any issues. in dryland conditions, so your farm doesn’t need to be irrigated to get good results. As an all-rounder, it measures up very well to anything you might compare it with.”

The Woodses were part of a DairyNZ field day on the their grazier’s block where their fodder beet is grown.

“It has been a process to identify and solve the problems we’ve had with fodder beet, but we seem to have found a recipe that works extremely well,” says Brendon.

“We’re keen to share it with other farmers so that they can have the same benefits we’ve been experiencing.”

Woodses milk 1000-plus cows Raised on a dairy farm, Brendon Woods completed a motor mechanic apprenticeship before going back to work on the family farm. From 1980-1993 he and wife Gail sharemilked the farm, raising cows numbers from 100 to 240, supplying town milk.

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RURAL PEOPLE: Haglea

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Genetic investment long-term Jo Bailey Daniel Schat hopes a mid-winter trip to the United States will lead to genetic improvements of his holstein friesian dairy herd.

The Central Canterbury farmer and his wife, Amanda, holidayed in Los Angeles and Las Vegas before Daniel flew to Portland for a week-long study trip, and then on to Chicago to view the daughters of several American bulls in which he is interested.

“We put a lot of time and effort into breeding good medium-sized cows, and use a bit of American genetics through Worldwide Sires,” says Daniel Schat. “It was great to get over there and see some American cows first-hand.”

He says the common misconception that all American cows are “big giant animals that are fed inside” is not true.

“All the properties I visited in the States have grass-based systems and there are the same variances in cow size we have here.”

The Schats are lower-order sharemilkers at Haglea Farm, a 224-hectare (effective) dairy unit owned by Daniel’s parents, Harry and Gail Schat.

They peak-milk around 800 cows.

Their intensive breeding programme includes bringing in some “top cows” from around the country, then doing embryo transfer work on them to breed “more good cows”.

“It costs a bit of money, but we hope it will pay dividends in the long run,” says Daniel Schat.

“We’d love to see the Haglea prefix on AI bulls.”

The Schat family has farmed the property at Te Pirita, about 16 kilometres from Rakaia, since moving from Springston for the 1997-98 season.

After managing the property in the 2001-02 season, Daniel headed to Europe for his OE, returning in time for the start of the 2004-05 season.

• To page 7

Farming and rural life has been a huge change for Amanda Schat (pictured with husband Daniel and their daughter, Alexis), but the former Melbourne ‘city girl’ is getting used to it and more involved.

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RURAL PEOPLE: Haglea/Te Wae Wae Dairy

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Water accord at core of new strategy New Zealand dairy farming groups have set an ambitious agenda to sustain industry development and address community and international expectations for improved onfarm environmental practices.

One of the first actions of the Making Dairy Farming Malcolm Bailey Work for Everyone strategy is a water accord with commitments and targets on freshwater.

The strategy, developed by Dairy New Zealand, the Dairy Companies Association, Federated Farmers’ dairy section and the Dairy Women’s Network, sets out 10 objectives. These cover environmental stewardship and use of natural resources, on-farm work environment, attracting talented people to the industry, and research to develop innovative technologies.

DCANZ chairman Malcolm Bailey says the new water accord sets national environmental benchmarks, including stock exclusion from waterways and riparian, effluent, nutrient and water use management. It also sets outs new industry standards for conversions of land to dairying.

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We’re more like England Kelly Deeks Dairy farming in New Zealand is slowly becoming more like it is in England as farmers here become more aware of their environmental impact and embrace things such as wintering barns, says an English-cum-Kiwi farm manager.

“We’re still about 20 years behind the United Kingdom in this regard, but we are becoming more aware of the impact farming has on the environment,” says Daniel Brooks, who has been in New Zealand for 16 years.

“When I first came over here, we were irrigating the effluent all year round; now we have to have holding ponds and restricted application rates.”

In his three seasons as manager of Te Wae Wae Dairies, a Farmright-owned farm at Tuatapere, in Western Southland, he has seen production increase by nearly 25%.

Daniel and Johanne Brooks emigrated to New Zealand from England in 1997 and jumped on the dairy-industry career ladder.

He had studied at agricultural college in the United Kingdom and had worked on farms there

before looking for an opportunity to travel and gain work experience overseas.

He got a job as a farm assistant on a Southland farm, and they haven’t looked back. After a year, he was a herd manager; after four years, he was contract milking.

The couple contract-milked for eight years until Daniel realised he had worked for two years without a day off. It was time to reconsider his career.

“We were doing well contract milking, but we were there every day and, after a while, you get sick of being there all the time,” he says.

“Rather than going towards sharemilking, we decided to go in the opposite direction to management, and be able to enjoy our job. I love farming, from maintenance to milking.”

He says it was a good decision and, despite pressure within the industry to stay on the career ladder, he is happy to be a farm manager.

Brooks is running two separate units at Te Wae Wae Dairies – a 400-hectare block with a 54-bail rotary shed and five staff, milking 1100 cows, and a 200ha block with a 44-a-side herringbone shed and three staff, milking 550 cows.

When he came to the Tuatapere farm, it was a

bit short-staffed. He hired a couple of people he had worked with.

“We run a very relaxed farm, and we’re all part of a team. If someone breaks something, we all broke it. I employ people who work well under that sort of system. They are the kind of people I need around me, I don’t want to be telling them what to do all the time. They get plenty of rope.”

Brooks and his staff have managed to push production from 430,000kgs of milksolids in their first season to 480,000kg in their second season, and around 530,000kg last season.

“We had an outstanding spring last season and we really have to give the spring credit for a great season,” he says.

That apart, he says what he is doing isn’t exactly special: “The farm wasn’t run right before we got here; we have just been getting the basics right and we’ve seen the results.”

Like most of the country, Western Southland suffered from lack of rain in the first half of this year.

The dry summer affected the Tuatapere farm, with no good rain for four to months from the beginning of January, and then only half the overall rainfall of the previous two seasons.

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The Schats milk their cows (around 800 at peak) through a 50-bail rotary shed using the MilkHub system. ‘For commercial farmers not interested in herd testing, I think MilkHub’s a really good investment,’ says Daniel Schat. ‘Ranking cows through herd testing four times a year can be a bit hit and miss, depending on whether you strike the cow on a good or bad day.’

500kg/cow target in sight • From page 6 He started as a 17%, lower-order sharemilker five seasons ago; in the coming season he will move up from 27% to a 50:50 position.

Until recently the property was fully selfcontained and included a 131ha run-off, five minutes away. However, this has now been converted – Daniel’s brother, Michael, wintered around 610 cows in his first season there.

Production has been consistently good on the home farm – around 470-475 kilograms of milksoilds per cow.

Daniel is aiming for 500kg per cow, and thinks this is achievable with the addition of a new centrepivot to irrigate the top half of the farm.

“The farm is a long rectangular shape, 3km long and 800 metres wide, with the top end at a higher altitude,” he says. “We’ve always struggled to get enough irrigation pressure to reach this area of the property, but we’re hoping the pivot will allow us to grow a lot more grass up there.”

An irrigation pump blowing up on Boxing Day didn’t help matters last season.

“We were able to irrigate at only 50% capacity for about a month. It took a long time for the pastures to recover and the cows didn’t go as well.

We had to cull around a month earlier than normal.”

With the irrigation issues sorted and a focus on bringing down his empty rate, Daniel is looking forward to a more consistent 2013-14 season.

“We hope we’ve got a few issues ironed out now and we’ll get a better run.”

The Schats milk through a 50-bail rotary cowshed with the MilkHub system.

“For commercial farmers not interested in herd testing, I think it’s a really good investment, as ranking cows through herd testing four times a year

can be a bit hit and miss, depending on whether you strike the cow on a good or bad day.

“With MilkHub’s daily averages. it’s possible to cull out the bottom producers without ever having to herd test.”

He is assisted on the property by three full-time staff, and values the input of farm consultant Jonathan Davis, who brings a “different perspective” to the operation.

Daniel’s wife, Amanda, a former ‘city girl’ from Melbourne who used to work in high-end cosmetics, is busy with the couple’s two-year-old daughter, Alexis, and has started to help with calf rearing.

“Farming is a huge change for Amanda, but she’s getting used to it now and is more involved.”

Daniel is a former chairman of the Tasman Young Farmers group and, now that he is “too old” for that, has progressed to the organising committee for the South Island Agricultural Field Days.

“It’s great to do something off farm – to work with a good bunch of people and give something back to the industry.”

The intensive breeding programme includes bringing in some ‘top cows’, then doing embryo transfer work on them to breed ‘more good cows’.

Proud to support Te Waewae Dairy

8

RURAL PEOPLE: Kevin Ferris/Kerry, Annette & Ryan Walker

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Size makes united front the only option Neil Grant New Zealand’s position as a small player in a big international dairy market concerns farmer and Fonterra Shareholders’ Council member Kevin Ferris.

“Our competition is overseas,” he says.

“We’re too small to have two businesses the same size as Fonterra in New Zealand competing with each other. If we don’t keep New Zealand as a major player in international trading, we’ll be big losers.”

Ferris says his Shareholders’ Council work cuts into his on-farm time, but he finds it rewarding.

“If you are going to do it, you need to learn about Fonterra and the industry so that you can benefit the farmers you represent. You also need to be more conscious of what you do on your own farm and show leadership so as to be an example.”

He believes the council has helped the board and shareholders make Fonterra a better company. He hears of companies wanting to get closer to their customers or shareholders, and thinks the Fonterra model is a good example of how to do that.

Kevin Ferris’s home base is in Te Awamutu, in the Waikato, but his dairying vision is much wider.

Two of his sons, John and Nick, manage family farms in the Waikato and Southland. The Southland farm, at Dipton West, has undergone a major redevelopment.

What had been one large farm has been split into two. A new shed has been built. Each farm has

John (left) and Kevin Ferris thrash out a dairy-farming issue.

1100 cows split into two herds. The units are pretty much mirror images of each other as far as sheds, paddocks and how they operate are concerned “They are run as one entity,” Kevin Ferris says, “but they are integrated. The staff are allocated to one farm or the other, but any of them can go to the other farm and there are no issues,” The arrangement gives staffing roster flexibility, but the major advantage the change has brought about is the reduction in cow walking times Ferris says they have no difficulty getting good

Our competition is overseas...If we don’t keep New Zealand as a major player in international trading, we’ll be big losers.

staff, and he believes this is largely because staff do not spend long hours in the sheds.

Automation means one person can run the shed from a central keyboard console. There is no need to go and turn taps on or off; the effluent disposal is centrally controlled; if supplement feeding is required for animal health or condition, it is arranged; drafting and washing systems are automated.

The farms have no irrigation.

“You need to have management systems aligned with grass growth,” Ferris reckons. This takes care of seasonal changes, although some supplement may be required in extreme circumstances.

The pasture was established when the main farm was set up. Pasture renewal is not on the agenda.

“We manage the pasture so that it never needs

renewing by fertilising and how you graze it. Renewal means losing grass. If you have to renew it, you are in the coffin before it comes right.”

He says he looks after the farms’ capital works and administration of systems to “ensure everyone gets the operations right”.

“We have scale, so we can build the infrastructure to get compliance and make sure the farms look aesthetically and operationally acceptable to the public.”

Effluent disposal is a case in point. You can make it easy or difficult to operate, he says.

“The bells and whistles lower the risk and amount of time people spend. If you follow Dairy New Zealand codes, you come out with something good that gives you a return on investment, and is people friendly. If you do the minimum, it becomes a chore for people.”

Red tape threatens the ‘little farmers’ Kelly Deeks As the owner of a smaller dairy farm, Kerry Walker worries about increasing levels of bureaucracy, regulation and red tape.

“I agree with the regulations in principle –. it’s important to do all the things like fencing waterways and controlling nitrogen leaching.

“But as there’s no recompense for the cost, it squeezes the profit and can make smaller farms uneconomic,” says Walker. He, wife Annette and son Ryan own a 48-hectare dairy farm at Te Horo, on the Kapiti Coast.

This is one of the reasons we’re seeing a lot more 500-plus-cow farms, and the average age of farm-owners being pushed up, he says.

“The little farmers can’t afford the cost of putting in a new effluent system, for example.

And compliance costs are a barrier to new entrants being attracted to the industry, as they can’t afford to buy and run the farms.

“Soon, the only people who will be able to afford to buy a dairy farm will be people from overseas. That’s the way its trending; people won’t be able to move up the ranks as I did.”

Running a low-input system is an important factor on Walker’s farm. He works hard on pasture management to avoid becoming reliant on external inputs.

The property, which was originally one of his father’s farms, is the only dairy farm Kerry Walker has worked on in New Zealand.

After university and a stint working overseas, he returned home in 1983 and worked his way up the ranks as farm worker, contract milker and 50:50 sharemilker in the family set-up. He bought the 48-ha property in 1987.

In the next few years the farm doubled in size as Walker bought four more blocks around the edges. He is now running about 250 cows.

Kerry Walker and best friend. He says that while it’s important to do things such as fencing waterways and controlling nitrogen leaching, there is no recompense. The cost squeezes profit and can make smaller farms uneconomic.

Having been paying off debt as quickly as possible for the past few years, his emphasis is on reducing costs.

This comes down to better pasture management and ensuring he is running the right number of cows for the area, he says.

This means making small changes to herd numbers when necessary – last season, for instance, he dropped herd numbers by just 15 cows, milking 235 and making sure they were all fully fed all the time.

He has also improved his in-calf rate after having had trouble with his empty rates the previous season.

“It just happened out of the blue and doubled in one year,” he says.

“We’ve had a lot of liaison with the vets, and we’ve made sure we’ve got all the staff up to speed with heat detection. Last season, we scanned the cows early – in November – so that if there was a problem we could do

something about it as soon as possible.”

Despite the higher empty rate, Walker achieved his second-best production season in 2011-12, He says 2012-13 was second best again. His best production was in a “brilliant season” 10 years ago, and he has been unable to match it

Soon, the only people who will be able to afford to buy a dairy farm will be people from overseas...People won’t be able to move up the ranks as I did.’

RURAL PEOPLE: Ben Morrow

Business Rural / Spring 2013

9

Dryland mix spans five generations Neil Grant Anyone inclined to believing in UFOs could be forgiven for thinking the myriad cairns scattered across the countryside, near the foothills and east of the Rangitata River, were signs of some extra terrestrial invasion.

Sad to say, they are collections of boulders allowing farmers to cultivate their paddocks. The Morrows’ farm, at Montalto, near Mayfield, has its share of them.

It’s a dryland farm, despite the nearby RangitataRakaia Diversion Race. It’s ancient riverbed, very stony, and Ben Morrow says it has made cultivation a challenge.

“I’m interested in no-tillage systems, so we got a Cross Slot drill. It helps us avoid stones, and is actually burying the stones again. It’s producing fantastic results.

“The cost of drilling is getting less every year because there is less damage to the drill. We are starting to see yields on the rise.

“Moisture retention is important to us. Organic matter is building up with less soil disturbance. We

think we save 50 to 100ml of water in the soil per year. It’s amazing to see the top three or four inches with worms, and even some huge native worms, by not doing tillage.”

The Morrows run a mixed farm, combining dairy grazing, arable farming, and growing ewes, bulls and cows. They have 1600 ewes and 800 two-tooths, all coopworths. Lambing has been a consistent 150% over the last eight years.

Eight hundred and fifty hoggets are wintered offfarm nearer the coast where it is warmer. A hundred beef cows do the tidying up for winter and summer pasture management. There are 50 beef heifers and 50 bulls, mostly herefords. This year they had 50 jersey bulls as well. They find the cows suit them better, so are looking to sell the bulls off.

They winter 2500 cows, some from Synlait, on the farm. Three hundred or so friesian bulls are bred to lease to Synlait farmers as ‘follow-up’ bulls.

They go off in November and are back in January or February, and are then sold off to be killed.

“Dad has always been big in bulls,” Ben Morrow says. “We were using a techno system. It ran well, but it was difficult to make hay and silage, and run anything else as well. If it was just bulls it would be

fine, but when we started leasing out bulls, we were cleaned out by December, and would have had to bring stock in to tidy up, so it was not working so well for us.”

(Techno grazing is a low tech system where the farm is divided into small cells, often by temporary fences, which are intensively grazed. It has been shown to have advantages in dairy, beef and sheep pastoral farming.)

A hundred and eighty of the Morrows’ 930 hectares are in arable cropping. This land is first sown in kale, and they keep 30ha of production for themselves. Fifty hectares are then sown in spring barley, then in winter barley, and then it reverts to grass again. They now have their own combine harvester, and find that doing the work themselves means it gets done when they want to do it, and has economic advantages.

Five farmers bring their cows to feed on the crops, mostly on a per-week basis where the Morrows do all the work, but some on a perkilogram-dry-matter basis, and some as standing crop where the farmers do the work.

In addition, there is 96ha of land that Ben bought from his parents, Mark and Nicky. It is run as a no-tillage, dairy grazing, arable unit, rotating spring barley, winter barley, kale and short-rotation grass.

It’s a complex farm system, but it works for the Morrows. The farm has been in the family’s hands since the 1880s, and Ben Morrow’s “wee baby boy” is the sixth generation on this piece of land.

When the interview took place, the forecast was for the big June snow dump – another complicating factor: But, as Ben Morrow said: “The stock have got shelter. We’ve given hay to each mob, so they’ll be well fed tonight. If they’re full to start off with, it makes a big difference.”

PHOTOS Above: Ben Morrow and ‘his wee baby boy’, the sixth generation of the family on this piece of land.

Lower left: The Morrows’ Cross Slot drill in action. Ben Morrow says it helps them avoid stones (in fact, it buries them), produces ‘fantastic results’, yields are starting to rise, and the cost of drilling is getting less every year because there is less damage to the drill.

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RURAL PEOPLE: Clyde & Rachael McIntosh

10

Business Rural / Spring 2013

‘Mixed’ farming yields success Karen Phelps

A combination of biological and traditional farming methods is bringing noticeable improvements to the farming system at the McIntosh family’s Riverbrae Dairy Farm Ltd property in Canterbury.

Clyde and Rachael McIntosh, who run the farm at Springston, just south of Christchurch, say it hasn’t been a planned approach.

However, they have been attempting to use fewer synthetic fertilisers and try more natural methods on the 300-hectare farm and 324ha runoff block.

They have sprayed fish oil and lime, and a trace element mix with a bit of phosphate, onto the paddocks with nitrogen three times a year. Urea usage has dropped from around 100 kilograms per hectare to around 40kg/ha.

They say the health of the their herd of 700 For the last 15 years the McIntoshs have FAX 983 5550 pedigree holstein frieisians has improved, too. The proved that the two systems can work well(03) together cows get in calf easier, and somatic cell counts PO Box 37346, Christchurch 8245 112 Wrights Rd,exported Addington40-50 a year to China. They get a to maximise cow health and production.

Dept: 03 983 5502 art@waterfordpress.co.nz premium for their stock in the Asian market have dropped dramatically. Four seasons Says Clyde: “It’sArtan approach that’sEmail: evolved, RURALago SOUTH because the Chinese demand fully recorded holstein the cell count was 250,000–300,000; it now sits and we’ve got good results from doing it.”

Gavin Palmer RE: Woods AT:200,000 Spreading ISSUE: RSfriesian 02 stock. between 150,000 and duringCanterbury the season.

A newBrendon 60-bail rotary shedFeature was completed in The Riverbrae Holstein Friesian Stud was formed Aast winter they artificially inseminated cows May, replacing a 40 bail rotary. A Waikato Milking SLE E: for $448.00+GST DATE: COLOUR: 26-06-13 four weeks and got enough calvingFull the following Systems plant and anARTIST: automatedLiki meal-feeding SGN: in 1940 by Clyde’s grandfather, Bob McIntosh. The stud uses mainly overseas genetics from Semex autumn to carry them through for the winter-milk system make the new shed a one-person operation y advert changes or corrections contact: Sarah McQuilkin 5560 New Zealand and World Wide Sires. A few heifers contract period.

They winter-milk 360-400 cows.please at milking time. The bigger shed will also allow03 the 983 are offered each year at the Canterbury holstein “Before, we used to mate for seven to eight couple to increase the milking herd to 1000 cows. friesian sale. weeks to get the same results,” says Clyde In addition 100ha that, traditionally, had been McIntosh. “I’m not saying the biological approach used for hay and silage will now be incorporated was the entire reason, but it definitely helped.” into the milking platform.

Young stock are drenched with fish oil to McIntosh says the new shed’s feedpad is EASE REPLY BY to prevent intestinal stimulate the gut function proving its worth as the farm is on Temuka and worms. Pour-on chemical drenches are used to Wakanui silt loam. The heavy soil is prone to control lice. wetness, which has made pugging an issue during Clyde and Rachael McIntosh do not see wetter months with the larger holstein friesians. their system as a choice between organic or The farm averages 527 kilograms of milksolids ................................... conventional farming. They believe they have per cow; the aim is to increase this to 580-600kg.

PHOTOS Left: The Riverbrae Dairy Farm pedigree holstein friesian herd leaves the dairy shed.

Below: The sun provides a backdrop to dairy-shed yard.

The McIntosh family has been farming for five generations. The Springston block was bought by Clyde’s parents, Keith and the late Dianna McIntosh, in 1976.

After finishing school in 1996, Clyde worked and milked cows on the family farm, and pursued his sporting interest.

He and Rachael have two young children: Maggie, who is two and a half, and five-month-old Olive.

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RURAL PEOPLE: Tahora Farms

Business Rural / Spring 2013

11

PHOTOS Left: Tahora Goldwyn Toni-RT receives the plaudits from the Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales after her latest supreme champion success at the Canterbury A & P Show.

Lower left: Dean Geddes rates Tahora Goldwyn Toni-ET as ‘probably the best cow we’ve ever bred’.

Goldwyn Toni earns royal assent Karen Phelps When breeder Dean Geddes’ champion cow, Tahora Goldwyn Toni-ET, won the Supreme Champion holstein friesian dairy-cow award at last year’s Canterbury A & P Show, she celebrated by hobnobbing with royalty.

“Prince Charles saw her when he visited the show, rubbed her on the head and said she’s a lovely cow,” says Geddes.

“I don’t know if he knows much about cows, but he’s right: good conformation, feminine and with a perfect udder. She’s probably the best cow we’ve ever bred.”

Tahora Farms has won the award many times, but it was a first for to have a ribbon presented by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Geddes says he will treasure this for the rest of his life.

And Geddes – well known for his opposition

to the breeding worth (BW) ranking system after he took a nine-year-long court case against the Livestocj Improvement Corporation claiming the system devalued his cows – couldn’t resist a dig after his win.

“Tahora Goldwyn Toni-ET would probably be a cull cow in the BW system,” he says.

Geddes, who focuses strongly on conformation, longevity, fertility and production an his breeding qualities, says he is also not a strong believer in an all-grass system.

“In an all-grass system, cows are consuming a lot of water to get enough dry matter. Our herd production average is two to three times better than the national average, but we don’t feed them two to three times as much.”

Tahora Stud was founded in 1963 by Dean’s parents, Jim and Judith Geddes. They based the stud on the breeding philosophy and success of Judith’s late grandfather, L.H.Leslie, and her late father, Merton Leslie. L.H.Leslie bred registered

friesians from 1925 to 1938; during that time he showed or bred six Canterbury champion cows as well as the 1934 Royal Show champion cow, Pareora Ethel Burkeje.

Dean Geddes, who took over the stud in 1991, believes it is essential for anyone wanting to breed top cows to work on their farm.

He and his wife, Joanna, calve and milk around 320 cows, run all their own replacements and heifer calves, and about 50 bulls.

“You have to work with cows in a hands-on way to breed cows,” he says.

It’s subtle things like milking speed, use of feed, their legs and feet, how well they walk. If you are working with cows all the time, you notice things.”

Geddes maintains there are three ingredients to breeding a great cow: passion, dedication and money. He places a lot of emphasis on investing

in the best genetics he can lay his hands on, and he reckons it shows.

He has a half-share in an Australian cow, Pooley Bridge Titanic Alicia, the granddaughter of Shoremar S Alicia, one of the first Excellent 97 cows in Canada. He also has a quarter-share in another Australian cow, Blue Chip Goldwyn Paradise, which won junior, intermediate and senior titles in three consecutive years at the International Dairy Week in Australia. He has also invested in a third share in a sister to Blue Chip Goldwyn Paradise.

Geddes combines a high producing dairy unit and pedigree holstein stud with a polo-playing and breeding operation.

He farms a 180-hectare home block at Greenpark, just south of Christchurch, and has a 37ha run-off at Rolleston. Their polo-pony breeding involves around 20 horses.

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RURAL PEOPLE: Randall & Allison Aspinall

Business Rural / Spring 2013

PHOTOS Left: Randall Aspinall strides out alongside the Matukituki River on Mt Aspiring Station.

Below: You don’t see this scene on New Zealand roads very often any more....man, dogs and sheep find their way through the Matukituki Valley.

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‘I think I’ll just refine it around the edges’ Neil Grant Sometimes things need changing because, almost unnoticed, the world has changed. But sometimes things shouldn’t change, because whatever the rest of the world is doing, the situation here is still much the same.

The latter scenario is the view Randall Aspinall takes with running Mt Aspiring Station.

Aspinalls have farmed this high-country run since 1920. Randall took over three years ago from his father and mother, John and Sue, who retired to Wanaka.

“Dad still came up about four or five days a week, bar the wet, shitty days,” says Randall Aspinall. “I was in charge if it was not important, or Dad didn’t disagree. We were both pretty good about things. We didn’t disagree over a lot, and didn’t change a lot unless there were genuine reasons to do so.”

Then John died in November 2011.

“I miss having his experience – him knowing

what works or doesn’t work. You gain experience by listening to someone with experience.”

Experience like knowing just when and where to take the Landcruiser into the Matukituki River, and when you should stay where you are. (After the Land Cruiser had been in the river for several days, it was sufficiently bashed about that the insurance company scrapped it, even though it did start.)

So, although his father’s guidance is no longer on hand, Aspinall is grateful he has some pretty good farmers down the road who are good to discuss things with, and he can use their experience.

Mt Aspiring’s tenure review programme took nine years to complete, and was settled before John died.

Randall Aspinall dispels the notion that the review would lead to changes in management systems. While they lost higher blocks, much of that land was ungrazable. In the long run, though,

• To page 13

RURAL PEOPLE: Alistair & Josanne Megaw

Business Rural / Spring 2013

13

The environment is boss • From page 12

Sunday drive, high-country style...Randall and Allison Aspinall, and their one-year-old son at the new homstead at Mt Aspiring Station..

he reckons they will have lost 500 to 1000 stock units’ worth of grazing “I feel we can pick that up through further development and refining of farming practices. I would have done that anyway, regardless of the review.

“I probably farm to the environment we live in, using a system that best suits that environment.

I will take advantage of market fluctuations on a small scale, but avoid large changes based on outside influences. Some farmers have land suited to taking trading opportunities. Where we are, the environment, distance [trucking costs], and long winters mean I keep things simple.”

This does expose the station to market fluctuations, but he thinks the business can withstand them because the 50:50 balance of sheep and cattle provides a good evening out.

Aspinall grew up on the station, then left to go to university and later work as a farm consultant.

His returning to Mt Aspiring was always part of his parents’ plan for succession.

He brought his “city girl” wife, Allison, with him, and they now have a one-year-old son. He reckons Allison has fitted well into the new environment,

“interacting with everything that goes on here”.

The isolation that was so much a part of life for her predecessors is now hardly a problem. She is a physiotherapist, and works in Wanaka a couple of days a week. The 35-minute drive to town is generally less stressful, and certainly much more attractive, than what many of the commuting citydwellers face each day.

“Wanaka is a pretty good town, and there are really good valley people up here of a similar age,” says Randall.

Conscious of his lack of experience in running the station, which is passed through by so many people each day, Randall Aspinall clearly misses his father’s wisdom, calmness, and sense of security in his own views.

Perhaps enough of those qualities have rubbed off on him; perhaps the glory and constancy of the alpine environment have influenced him to be cautious.

“On a more intensive farm, you can predict a lot of stuff,” he reflects. “Here, the variation in climate and topography makes it hard to predict how major changes would pan out. I think I’ll just refine it around the edges.”

John Aspinall would probably be pleased to hear that.

Dairying ‘pioneers’ recognised Jo Bailey West Otago farmers Alistair and Josanne Megaw were one of two recipients of a 2012 New Zealand Grasslands Trust Farming Award in recognition of their farming practices and contribution to the dairy industry.

The awards are made annually by the trust to two enterprises within its designated annual conference region.

Nominees are judged on criteria such as: excellence in grassland farming; innovation, including the effective use of grassland technology; sustainable management; willingness to pass on good grassland farming skills to others.

“It was a great thrill to win the award,” says Alistair Megaw. “We had an inkling we might be in with a chance when the organisers told us we’d better turn up to the presentation.”

An awards media release says the couple are “well known pioneers” in the dairy industry in West Otago, with Alistair recognised as a leader who can be credited with helping many people during their conversion process and day-to-day management of their properties.

“We’re always happy to give people advice, whether they are other dairy farmers in the region, or our own staff wanting to progress in the industry,” Alistair Megaw adds.

The Megaws moved south from Waikato in 1993 when dairying began to expand in West Otago. They

The high-input system does cost us a bit of extra money, but the payoff is in the increase in per-cow and perhectare production and a decrease in the empty rate. started with a low-input, all-grass system on their 215-hectare (effective) dairy unit at Crookston, but, in the last few years, have moved to a high-input system.

Their self-contained operation includes a nearby 200ha run-off for silage and rearing young stock.

In 2008 they built a 560-stall wintering barn to combat the harsh winters, and in 2011 added a 64bail rotary cowshed that incorporates some of the latest technology, including Milkaware plant and an AFI herd-management system from Israel.

The Megaws, who will calve around 580 cows this spring, milk right through the winter. The cows are dry for only around 60 days a year.

From around May 10 the cows are usually out on the grass during the day and housed in the wintering shed at night. However, because of this year’s dry summer, they went in a couple of weeks earlier.

“By feeding silage in-shed and putting the cows out on to one paddock for a day instead of two, we’ve been able to double our round length,” says Alistair Megaw “This is giving the grass time to grow as it was

almost chewed right out with the dry weather,” he says From around late May/early June, the cows are in the shed full-time until close to calving, when they start having spells back out on the grass.

Megaw says the wintering system protects the pasture and avoids waste of supplementary feed.

Despite the dry summer, which also forced culling to be done earlier, and extra feed costs in autumn, 2012-13 was still good production-wise, he says.

“The high-input system does cost us a bit of

extra money, but the payoff is there in the increase in per-cow and per-hectare production, and a decrease in the empty rate, which used to be high on our old all-grass system.”

He says the cows are now well adjusted to spending several months a year in the barn, and his three staff have got used to the different way of handling the cows inside.

“You do have to be a bit quieter around them.”

A focus on cow comfort is also important: “We’ve put in good sized bails and good mattresses. The cows are pretty content.”

Alistair Megaw says they are happy to consolidate after a period of intensive development on the farm.

“The latter end of this season has been particularly trying, but we’re very pleased with the way both sheds are operating.

“We will continue to be focused on increasing cow numbers and maintaining production levels.”

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14

RURAL PEOPLE: North Otago Irrigaton Company

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Irrigation flow ‘steady’ in N Jo Bailey Steady progress is being made on the stage-two expansion of the North Otago Irrigation Scheme.

The first stage, commissioned in 2006, delivered 4 cumecs of reliable and pressurised water from the Waitaki River to around 10,000 hectares of farmland in the region.

At that time, stage two of the scheme, which would provide a further 4 cumecs of water to an additional 10,000 hectares, was expected to follow quickly. However the global financial crisis put the breaks on the development, says North Otago Irrigation Company chief executive Robyn Wells.

“Rather than developing the stage two expansion all at once, we decided to complete smaller extension projects within the expansion,” she says.

Three of these are now finished – Paradise Gully in 2009, Duntroon in 2010-11, and the Tilverstowe extension project, which was commissioned in January this year. A 315-share extension at Five Forks is also planned for this year.

Adding to its infrastructure in this way is

giving NOIC some momentum before tackling its next major extension, a 6000 to 7000-share development at Kakanui Valley, says Wells.

“The progression of this extension is dependent on the uptake from farmers, and we are fully aware of what a big business and personal decision it is for them,” she says.

The company has held consultation meetings and field days, and last year distributed a booklet to Kakanui farmers to help them decide whether or not to invest in irrigation. The booklet highlighted many of the things they should consider, says Wells.

It included: a SWOT analysis of their properties; succession plans; the risks and opportunities of irrigation; how they would use the water; how many shares they might need.

“The booklet also included a farm financial model they could work through,” says Wells.

“We’ll be going back to these farmers within the next few months to find out if there is any further information they require before reaching a decision on whether or not to take the next step.”

Once shareholders buy their shares, they pay annual charges for water supplied and operational

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Netcon – powering farming Netcon understands farming.

These three words are being given new meaning in a cauldron of South Island dairying, the Central South Island, as one of the country’s largest irrigation projects heads towards completion.

Earthworks have almost been completed on the massive Rangitata South Irrigation Scheme at Arundel. Downstream holding ponds and the resulting dairying installations have involved the Central South Island’s experienced lines, substation, and electrical infrastructure company Netcon in one of its larger substation and lines projects to benefit agriculture and dairying across the district.

Waimate businessman Gary Rooney’s $82 million Arundel scheme has been the catalyst for Netcon’s installation of a new 15 MVa transformer at the Rangitata Substation on the corner of Old Main South Road and McClelland Road as well as new switchgear that upgraded the handling capacity from 15 MVA to 30 MVA; the installation of a new 33 kV incomer from the new Canal Road Switching Station, and the installation of new 11 kV switchgear and feeder lines from the upgraded substation. Some of these lines will power the Fitzgerald Road irrigation ponds and nearby new dairying installations using a network of 440v three-phase transformers. The Fitzgerald Road ponds, one of the downstream irrigation projects directly the result of the Arundel installation, are 4 km to the west of the Rangitata substation.

plants, homes, farm buildings, heavy duty workshops, worker cottages as well as subdivisions,” he said.

“Adding in massive projects like the Fitzgerald Road and Arundel ponds and being part of the power installations that will drive the flood gates and monitoring systems makes us the farming power installers of choice,” Mr Peter said.

Netcon also maintains, repairs and alters both low and high voltage supplies, moving them underground from overhead and providing back-up systems to protect rural businesses for when natural disasters come calling, he said.

Kilometres of lines, and poles, and a network of transformers feeding from the Rangitata Substation will permit the installation of three new dairy sheds along Fitzgerald Road as well as several worker cottages, pivots, pumps and ponds.

Mr Peter said Netcon staff were available across the region for advice, pricing and general installations to power all farming needs in both single and three-phase including farm outbuildings and workshops.

Netcon offers a wide range of professional services to distribution lines companies, industry and consumers, including overhead, underground and earthing services.

“We have a long history of quality service and commitment to our customers,” Mr Peter said.

Netcon lines manager Philip Peter said the project showcased the depth and resources of Netcon, a dynamic company skilled in all aspects of on-farm power supply installations.

Netcon specialises in design, construction and maintenance for all electrical management and supply requirements. With a modern fleet, well-equipped workshops and staff who know their jobs, Netcon customers know they are receiving quality results.

“We can install and maintain power supply systems to new and existing dairy and irrigation

Netcon can be contacted at 31 Meadows Rd, Washdyke, Timaru, or by phone on (03) 683 9300.

Netcon understands farming.

As a dynamic on-farm power distribution and contracting company, Timarubased Netcon can install and maintain power supply systems to new and existing dairy and irrigation plants, homes, farm buildings, heavy duty workshops, worker cottages as well as subdivisions.

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RURAL PEOPLE: North Otago Irrigation Company

Business Rural / Spring 2013

15

Otago costs of maintenance, operation and administration of the irrigation scheme, which has been designed to provide 0.4 litres per second per share.

Farmers have the flexibility to spread the water further, depending on their land use, she says.

Several farmers are already spreading this out to one share per 1.2 or 1.3 hectares.

“The 11,330 shares in the scheme are currently irrigating 13,000 hectares split between 100 shareholders. We would expect the next 8000 to 9000 shares to irrigate a further 11-12,000ha through the addition of around another 100 shareholders.”

She says NOIC is working on design and plan changes in anticipation of the scheme’s next stage of development.

“Within our existing command area, there is already a lot of evidence of the positive impact irrigation can have, both for individual properties, and in terms of the wider economic impact to the region.”

Wells says NOIC’s vision is to distribute reliable and cost-effective water to the widest possible area of North Otago for the benefit of water users, the community and the environment.

“Along with economic sustainability, we believe that to retain access to water long term, the company must be a leader in sustainable irrigation development and become an environmental steward for future generations. A collaborative approach around environmental matters is a fundamental part of our business philosophy.”

NOIC and a group of around 15 North Otago farmers were instrumental in the re-activation of the North Otago Sustainable Land Management Society this year. The farmers were keen to address water quality issues in the area and to promote good pastoral-management practices. The group was last active in the early 2000s.

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16

RURAL PEOPLE: Andrew/Karen Ruddenklau/Aaron Wilson

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Sheep people quit ‘stagnant industry’ Kelly Deeks

Above: Andrew and Karen Ruddenklau saw dairying ‘going well’ for friends and neighbours who had made the switch from sheep, so decided to join them. Lower right: A view across the Ruddenklaus’ farm at Fortrose, east of Invercargill.

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After almost 90 years of family success and tradition in the sheep industry, its recent stagnant nature prompted Andrew and Karen Ruddenklau to convert their Southland farm to dairy two years ago.

About five years ago, he and his wife. Karen, were lamenting the state of the sheep industry, and decided to give it three more years to improve.

“It didn’t, so we decided to have a go at milking cows,” he says “I’ve got a friend who converted three years before us, and two neighbours who had converted. It was going well for them, so we decided to join them.”

Andrew has been on the Fortrose farm all his life. His grandfather bought the farm in 1924, then Andrew’s father took over. Father and son went into partnership in 1989, and Andrew has run the now 376-hectare farm himself since his father died in 1991.

Anyone converting a farm in Southland has a game of chance to play with the weather. The Ruddenklaus were no exception. Rain delayed some of the lane work and building of a dairy shed and a house to house new staff.

When they started their first season, Karen milked 27 cows in the woolshed with a milking

machine because the 54-bail rotary dairy shed wasn’t ready.

Eighty hectares of the farm was regrassed during the conversion, and the Ruddenklaus now regrass 10% to 15% every year.

In their first season they milked 550 cows, predominantly jerseys – the rolling country can get wet, so the smaller animals are a bit easier on pastures in wet conditions.

The Ruddenklaus employ two staff to run the farm; they provide the oversight it and fill in for staff holidays.

Farm manager Calum Andrews, who is highly experienced in the dairy industry and originally from the Fortrose area, has been a big help, says Andrew. Second-in-charge Jamie Sadler has been working on the farm since November when Ruddenklau took a step back.

With a wet spring and a dry summer, firstseason production was a bit below par at 188,500kilograms of milksolids. In the second season, they produced around 225,000kg.

The herd is wintered on a 93ha run-off block (owned by the Ruddenklaus and home to a staff member) down the road. The calves are also grazed here, and the heifers are grazed off farm.

This year the Ruddenklaus are wintering about 620 cows, and will milk 580 to 590 in the coming season.

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Former sheep farmer Aaron Wilson is still relishing the excitement of the dairy industry seven years after he and his family converted their farm at Balfour, in Southland.

The property, bought by Wilson Snr in 1970, was running sheep, beef, and a small number of deer until 2006. Aaron Wilson, who worked on the farm from leaving school in 1990, leased land from his father to run sheep. With the change to dairying, he went into partnership with his parents.

“That happened before there was a big lift in the payout, but we all wanted to carry on farming in this district rather than sell up to finance my parents’ retirement,” he says. “By converting to dairy, we were able to release some cash out of the equity in the land.”

He describes the conversion as “a real challenge and a good learning curve – “it re-energised us all”.

“Timing-wise we were probably on a par with what the professionals could have done. We still had lambs running around in March of the first year.

We started calving in the August, and there weren’t many fences left at that stage.”

Seven years on, the learning continues. Wilson

says there are many things he would bring back to the sheep industry – if that ever happened.

“It has been a real eye opener. It’s such an exciting industry. If you’ve got a question, it’s probably been asked before; the research has been done; everyone in the industry shares knowledge.

Yes, there are some big hours involved, but you have much more control over results than you do with sheep farming.”

Wilson is involved with local discussion groups and says he finds them really refreshing.

“There are some really good thinkers out there.

The cream of the crop go to these discussion groups and so much knowledge gets passed around.

“It’s a younger person’s industry with all the progression that can happen, so you are always rubbing shoulders with people who are really keen, and that helps to keep you vibrant.”

The Wilson farm has changed considerably in the last five years. Cashflow is now available to address infrastructure that lagged in the sheep-andbeef days when the family was barely making ends meet.

“It’s a lot easier to do it now,” Wilson says.

“We’ve re-fenced the whole farm and the run-off block, we’ve done drainage and built a house for

RURAL PEOPLE: Austin & Victoria Garden

Business Rural / Spring 2013

17

Austin Garden combines dairying (above), sheep and beef farming (right) and family (far right).

Home sweet home for Gardens Neil Grant

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The average cow size is now 510 kilograms liveweight. In their first season, they were getting 430kg milksolids per cow; now it’s 550kg.

“It’s mostly grass farming, but we feed a lot of supplement – palm kernel, barley, a little soy, and silage.”

In 2012, the Gardens moved back to Miller’s Flat, leaving the Heriot farm in the care of Anthony Bishell, the manager for the previous three years.

The 2500ha Miller’s Flat property ranges from 300 metres up to 1000 metres. The 4300 ewes are ‘greeline – a composite sheep of half coopworth, quarter texel, and quarter east friesian.

“Their lambing percentage and their milking ability [for feeding their lambs] are their greatest attributes. We get 130-140% lambing. We don’t do a lambing beat – they’re good mothers.”

The 250 cattle maintain pasture quality. They’re Earnscleugh composites – a cross of angus, simmental and gelbveigh, bred for hybrid vigour.

Eighty steer calves are sold each year at weaning.

The deer side of the farm has 700 hinds Between the two farms, with the mix of dairying,

seven-year dairying itch our staff and one for ourselves. We would never have achieved that in sheep farming. My parents have been able to take a step back without having to sell part of the farm, and they are both still involved in the business.”

Wilson runs a low-cost system and aims to get to the point where he doesn’t have to buy in supplementary feed.

“We’re trying to wean off palm kernel. Instead we’re harvesting fodder beet, which I feed mixed

with silage and hay in autumn and spring. This is the first year I haven’t imported feed, apart from 50 bales of hay I bought in. I should have bought a bit of palm kernel as we had to dry off early. I was worried about the winter crops and cow condition, and grass cover was really low.”

With cow condition improved and grass cover is back on track, he feels he can go into spring able to capitalise on the new season, and achieve that goal of being self contained.

Proud to be associated with Glenelg Balfour 3 Fairfield Street, PO Box 268, GORE | P: 03 208 9560 | F: 03 208 9189 | E: mallochs@esi.co.nz

sheep, beef and deer, there’s enough variety to take advantage of whatever is doing well at any one time – the old story of swings and roundabouts.

Garden’s father, uncle and grandfather bought the Miller’s Flat property 48 years ago. The two brothers divided it 24 years ago, and his father has been running his half until recently.

“My father is stepping aside now. He’s not too involved, but he’s always there for help and advice.”

As farming fathers often are.

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Austin Garden likes sheep and beef, and says he has an affinity for them. He also likes dairying – “because of the production involved, the health and nutrition side, and doing detailed feed budgets”.

It has taken a few years, but he seems to have sorted out how to accommodate all of the above.

He and Victoria are now back running sheep, beef and deer farm on the family farm he grew up on in the rolling hills north of Miller’s Flat on the Clutha River.

He also owns a dairy farm at Heriot, which is in the care of “a very good manager”. Garden goes every week or fortnight “to oversee things, or meet the consultant, or herd testing...but really I leave him to it”.

So, how did his full circle turn.

Eleven years ago, he moved from Miller’s Flat to a 270-hectare farm near Heriot where the Gardens had been finishing lambs, calves and weaner deer.

Victoria joined him there three years later.

For three years, they milked 1600 sheep to supply Blue River Dairy, a speciality sheep cheesery in Southland. Two years into the sheep-milking venture, they converted 200ha to dairying. For a year, they had both sheds operating.

The sheep were very labour intensive, and they soon realised that, given the time it would take to breed a flock with the right genetics and scale up, it made economic sense to convert the whole farm to cows.

They bought a good herd of 600 crossbred cows, and with a 54-bail rotary shed with Westfalia plant (including cup removers and milk meters), they built the herd to 830.

“The land at Heriot is very productive,” Garden says. “There are a lot of good dairy farms there.

The climate is good, and it grows good grass.”

Proud to be supporting Glenelg Balfour Ltd

Cargill Chambers Corner Kelvin & Spey Streets, Invercargill Phone: (03) 2140 777 Fax: (03) 2140 779

18

RURAL PEOPLE: Grant & Becca Isbister

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Grant Isbister with some of the Isa Holdings staff. From left, Jonathan Baird, Steve Dawson, Ray Jumar, Lyndon Cuaresma, Grant Isbister, Greg Isbister, Andrew O’Callaghan and Hannah Farmer.

‘It’s looking pretty positive’ You think you’re getting everything right when you’re

Jo Bailey An intensive development programme has culiminated in North Otago dairy farmers Grant and Becca Isbister running a sizeable, self-contained dairy operation.

In the coming season they will calve 2000 cows on a total of 1150 hectares (920ha owned and 240ha leased).

The cows will be milked through three sheds on two properties – a 520-cow, 160ha (effective) unit on the Waitaki Plains managed by lower-order sharemilker Blair Corson; and the 500ha (effective) home farm at Enfield, where a second shed (a 40-a-side herringbone) was added at the “top of the farm” a couple of years ago.

This season, this operation will be split into two, with long-standing employee Lyndon Cuaresma looking after 900 cows at “the bottom of the farm”, and new sharemilkers Andrew O’Callaghan and

converting, but it takes a couple of years to get everything working properly.

Lowri Thomas coming in to milk around 500 cows through the herringbone shed.

Grant Isbister is pleased with the herringbone shed which is “running well”.

However other aspects of the development have been more challenging.

“You think you’re getting everything right when you’re converting, but it takes a couple of years to get everything working properly.”

The conversion and intense development of the Enfield Farm has been his main focus for the last few years.

But with this property now well established,

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he has turned his attention back to the Waitaki Plains property where he has irrigation and effluent development works under way.

“At the moment we’re ripping out about 50ha of trees and old borderdyke irrigation, and putting a pivot on,” he says.

“We plan to develop another 35ha over there next year, which will make this unit around half borderdyke and half spray-irrigated.”

He hopes to gain an extra five effective hectares from the development, which has been partly driven by the plan A changes around water quality, which the Otago Regional Council is implementing.

“The spray will certainly help as we can’t achieve the nutrient loading the council is after with borderdyke irrigation. We’re hopeful that the development will also result in a lift in production to help pay for it.”

Isbister is also “slowly developing” a 179ha (130ha irrigated) block he bought 15 months ago.

This land is close to their Enfield property.

“I’m using this block as a run-off at the moment, but have already re-grassed the bottom half and developed lanes, fencing, waterways and a water system.

“I didn’t really intend to convert the property although it’s starting to get that look about it.”

However, despite the development works, he is still undecided about the property’s future.

“It’s handy to have as a run-off in the meantime and there’s always the option of selling it for someone else to fully convert.”

• To page 19

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RURAL PEOPLE: Jason & Amber Templeman

Business Rural / Spring 2013

19

Valuable year – despite drought Jason and Amber Templeman at a Marlborough Dairy Development Trust field day on their property last December. The children are (from left): Matt (then five months), Katie (18 months), Issac (two years) and Max (five months)

Kelly Deeks As a Marlborough Dairy Development Trust monitor farm, Jason and Amber Templeman have gained some valuable knowledge that last season helped them match their record production – despite drought.

The Templemans milk 405 cows on the farm they own at Linkwater, between Havelock and Picton.

The Marlborough Dairy Development Trust was established in June 2011 by local farmers, with the aim of addressing the need for more information on the district’s conditions.

Jason Templeman was the trust’s original, but because of three years of intensive child rearing (the Templemans have four children under three), he put family first and resigned.

However, the committee then decided that the Templeman property farm would be an ideal monitor farm for the area.

“We were already getting a lot of the information that was needed on grass growth rates and soil temperatures, and I was pretty motivated,” says Jason Templeman.

“I’m a young farmer, I’ve just turned 30 and we’re farm-owners. We are also open to a lot of new ideas.”

He has worked on the farm for the past 10 years, taking over from his father and initially getting stuck into development with new irrigation and a

lot of regrassing. In 2010-11 the couple bought the 60-hectare home platform from Jason’s parents, Robin and Sandy Templeman, who have left some equity in the farm and remain shareholders.

We’ve had less feed, but we’ve used it better and wasted less. We know how much feed is in each paddock every day and can ensure the cows are always being fully fed.

Herd manager Lyndon Cuaresma works at the Isbister run-off. A long-term employee, he will be responsible for looking after 900 cows in the coming season.

Nth Otago couple in positive mood • From page 18

As well as managing the couple’s sizeable operation, Grant Isbister can still be found in the milking shed most mornings.

Becca Isbister looks after the farm administration and the staff housing, and is kept busy with their two children, six-year-old Zoe and Samson, aged four.

The Isbister family has just moved into a new house built on a nearby 44ha block they bought around five years ago.

In the last 12 months some of the older staff houses on the property have also been given a “makeover”, he says.

With so much on the go it’s hard to believe Grant Isbister finds time for off-farm interests.

However, six months ago he joined the board of the North Otago Irrigation Company, “It’s great to have an outside interest, and the scheme is in an exciting phase with the upload of its stage 2 expansion.”

He is looking forward to a better season after last year’s spring flood and dry autumn when feed costs increased and production dropped by around 4% on the “dream season” of the previous year.

“We’ve got the right structure in place, the payout is good, interest rates are low, and fertiliser prices have come back slightly,” he says. “ It’s looking pretty positive all round.”

A 55ha lease block is also part of the milking platform, and two run-off blocks (50ha and 100ha) in Kenepuru Sound are used to graze young stock, winter cows, and make a bit of silage.

When Jason and Amber Templeman took over the farm, the herd was fully friesian.

“To Dad’s disgust I put jersey bulls over the biggest friesians to bring the herd size down,” says Jason. Lighter cows were more suited to the daily 3.5-kilometre walk from the back of the farm to the milking shed and did less damage to wet pasture.

The drought pinched last season, but with

around 90% of the property irrigated, the Templemans were a bit better off than other locals.

The irrigation was in use from November.

“Still, the irrigation on its own was really struggling in the heat,” says Jason. “The area irrigated by the k-line is growing a lot more than the dry land, but it grows really well only when it does rain. We got 50 milliltres of rain in the middle of March, which helped to crank things up.”

He culled a few cows in the middle of March instead of waiting until the end of April, and dried off about 10 cows that were lame or had high somaticcell counts.

“We winter off, but we still need reasonable covers as we don’t get a hell of a lot of growth in the winter,” he says. “We dred off at 2000 kilograms of dry matter.”

The Templemans had targeted production of 170,000 kilograms of milksolids, but pulled their goal back to 165,000kg.

“That’s what we did last year, and that was a record season,” he says.

He puts the production increase down to better use of feed through the intense pasture management associated with being a monitor farm.

“We’ve had less feed, but we’ve used it better and wasted less,” he says.

He also attributes credit for the gains to his herd manager, Michael Shearer, who “exercises brilliant attention to detail in the paddocks”.

“Every paddock is plate-metered and he always knows how much feed is in each paddock every day, and can ensure the cows are always being fully fed.”

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20

RURAL PEOPLE: Leo Pekar & Maricel Prado/Mawle Family

Business Rural / Spring 2013

More mowing – with attitude Karen Phelps Leo Pekar and Maricel Prado are planning to make some changes to their grazing policy this season on the back of good results achieved by the Lincoln University dairy farm.

By February 2013 season about 760 hectares of the university farm had been mown, compared with 235 hectares in the whole of the 2011-12 season.

Typically the couple have had a low stocking rate of 2.7 cows per hectare, combined with long rounds.

They farm on the foothills of Southland’s Hokonui Hills and say a low stocking rate has helped them deal with the unreliable grass growth the region is prone to because of dry spells and cold snaps. Their shortest round has been 30 days and their longest 120 days.

In the coming season they plan to reduce their shortest round to 25 days from late October and pre-graze mow more aggressively. Typically they have mown over their farm one and a half times each season, but, inspired by the Lincoln results, they are aiming for twice this year “We have been mowing pre-grazing for a while and it works well for us,” says Pekar. ”The cows eat more and get a boost on energy intake, which has helped production and reproduction.

Ailin Pekar finds the funny side as dad Leo turns the other cheek to a sloppy jersey.

“Mowing more aggressively this season should continue to release the sugars in the grass and make it easier for the cows to eat more. Grass quality should be better although we may have to feed a bit more supplement.”

Originally from Argentina, the couple came to New Zealand on holiday to try a farm-worker position for a friend on a farm at Winton. They had no previous dairying experience, although Pekar is a qualified vet. After two years they progressed to

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herd managers. They spent a couple of seasons working in Canterbury before missing Southland.

They have just completed their fifth season as lower-order sharemilkers on a 300ha (effective) farm near Gore for Coldstream Downs Ltd, which is owned by a syndicate. The farm peak-milks an 820-cow herd of predominantly crossbred cows, plus friesians and jerseys. The farm was converted around 10 years ago, and cows are milked through a 60-bail rotary shed.

The couple say they place increasing emphasis on sustainable farming and the environment is an important part of their decisions.

They have invested in drains and races, overhauled the effluent system (now one large 60day storage pond) and k-line irrigation. Fencing has been a priority on the farm’s one main waterway and many channels and ditches. Around 8% of the farm is re-grassed each year through summer turnips and winter crops.

Pekar says they really saw the benefit of the summer turnips during last season’s drought, and plan to increase their turnip area from 8ha to 15ha this season.

The farm experienced what he terms a “green drought”: grass did not dry, but growth slowed from mid-December.

They had to dry off cows early and increase supplement input. In February they were 5% ahead of their production target, but finished 8% down at 285,000 kilograms of milksolids. This season they are targeting 310,000kg.

They own 15% of the herd and plan to increase this and go 50:50 sharemilking or into an equity partnership next season.

The couple employs three full-time staff. Maricel does the bookwork and calving duties, while Leo is hands on each day on the farm. They have two children Ailin, nine, and Iara, five.

Rakaia Gorge scope ‘unlike what we had in England’ One of dairying’s biggest

Kelly Deeks The Mawle family is fast-tracking development on the family-owned Pinedale Farm property in the Rakaia Gorge. Parents John and Jean, and siblings Rob, Tom, and Ellie are all involved in the business.

The family emigrated from the United Kingdom from 2005-07, with Rob and Tom arriving in New Zealand first; they had already had two short stints working for Canterbury contractors.

Rob completed AgITO level four, and he and his wife found a job on a Winchmore dairy farm.

After a season they accepted the owner’s offer of a sharemilking position.

They started with 330 cows, then built numbers to 380 the following year when the farm changed from border dyke to spray irrigation. In their third season, the couple now 50:50 sharemilking, moved farms and upped cow numbers to 525.

John and Jean Mawle arrived in New Zealand in 2006, after selling their share-farming business in Bedfordshire, England.

“They spent about 18 months looking around for a suitable farm,” Rob Mawle says. “We had decided the Rakaia Gorge area was where we’d like to be... the topography, scenery, rainfall, and soil type offered scope unlike what we had in England.”

The family was looking to get into sheep and beef, or cropping, and found the perfect property after 18 months. They bought a beef and deer farm on Blackford Rd in 2007, running 2500 deer and 1000 head of angus beef cattle.

Rob and his wife continued sharemilking, but in 2008 headed to the family farm to help develop it, with the idea of converting to dairy.

advantages was that we could see changes on a daily basis.

“The return wasn’t there for beef and deer, and we also had the plus of accommodating four families on one block of land,” he says. “Dairy farming was something we could get our teeth into and make a go of.

“One of dairying’s biggest advantages compared to beef and deer was that we could see changes on a daily basis in the dairy shed, rather than having to wait for breeding results.”

Most of the regrassing was completed through the 2008-09 season, while the Mawles were still grazing beef and deer, and they made provision to build the shed.

“We did the foundations, but then we shelved the idea because the payout was no good,” says Rob Mawle. “The following season we carried on with the conversion, and built a 60-bail rotary dairy shed. In 2010 we milked 1100 cows.”

Cow numbers rose to 1380 in 2011-12, and last season the Mawles peak-milked 1650.

They plan to get to 2000 cows as soon as possible, build a second shed (Rob milking in one, Tom in the other), and then look for a run-off block down country to eliminate the need to winter cows on farm.

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RURAL PEOPLE: Ben & Renee Dampier-Crossley

Business Rural / Spring 2013

21

Pre-graze mowing part of bigger picture – researcher Although the results of the Lincoln University dairy farm’s pre-graze mowing strategy have been getting attention from farmers (such as the Pekars) keen to give it a try, South Island Dairying Development Centre executive director Ron Pellow urges caution.

Farmers should consider pre-graze mowing as just one element of their overall farm strategy, he says.

“In essence, pre-graze mowing is one of a number of tools we have used to increase cow energy-intake from pasture and thus increase milk production per cow and per hectare.

“Pre-graze mowing has to be part of a wellconsidered strategy to increase pasture intakes when surplus pasture is available and would otherwise be harvested as high-quality silage.”

Left: Maricel Prado and Leo Pekar with their daughters, nine-year-old Ailin (left) and five-yearold Iara.

Pellow says the pasture has to be of high quality all the way to the base. Similarly the mower should be good quality, well set up, and equipped with sharp blades.

“Topping and pre-graze mowing are not interchangeable terms,” he says “We have mown high-quality pasture immediately in front of the cows when a pasture surplus was expected from weekly pasture monitoring.

“In doing this, we have enabled the herd to consume more pasture in 24 hours than it would otherwise have done, while still maintaining a low and consistent grazing residual so that we will have high-quality pasture again at the next grazing.

“As a demonstration farm, we do not have a clear control to benchmark the effect of pre-graze mowing. Hence, it is one of the tools we have used that we believe has contributed to the results obtained.”

What goes up eventually comes down We are happy doing what we do as we are making a

Neil Grant There’s a certain irony in the work Ben DampierCrossley is doing on his 1000-hectare farm between Rotherham and Waiau, in North Canterbury.

When his father was running the farm, he put in border-dyke irrigation and turned the six-paddock farm he had inherited into 50 paddocks, which involved a fair bit of fencing.

Now he is helping his son take those fences out and level off the humps and hollows to make way for centre-pivots watering 5ha paddocks.

“It just seems like yesterday I was putting these bloody things up,” he said to his son as he ripped out more fence-posts.

The new system is a much more efficient user of the water the farm gets from the Waiau irrigation scheme, and assists some of the management changes taking place.

The Dampier-Crossley farm is one of the last remaining sheep-and-beef businesses in the area, which has seen a massive change to dairying. For a couple of his neighbours it is good that he still farms in the family tradition – they winter 1300 cows on his property while their own pasture recovers.

“I just sell them the dry matter in the paddock.

The owners do all the work. I’ve got enough stock

profit. I’d sooner be farming this way with very little debt (rather than converting to dairy). to look after myself,” says Ben Dampier-Crossley.

And indeed he has. He runs 2800 coopworth ewes, 1100 hoggets, and 100 breeding angus cows.

Lambing sits at 150%. It was higher when all the sheep were treated with Androvax. But the higher number of triplets and quadruplets were a bit of a nuisance, affecting the ability to get all the lambs away before the winter. Now, only the twotooths get the vaccine.

The Dampier-Crossleys also graze 400 friesian bulls as part of Silver Fern’s weight-gain scheme.

They come in in January at 100kg, and go out in May and June at 230kg. Two hundred and thirty steer calves, also for Silver Fern, and 250 calves for themselves add to the stock list.

The three centre-pivots already installed, plus the two to come, combine with the dairy grazing to build up the organic matter in the soil.

The animals feed on kale and straw, and their manure and the irrigation water gradually improve the soil on what is generally pretty stony country.

Moving them round the farm will eventually mean

that pasture can be direct-drilled for renewal.

Seventy hectares of kale and 40ha of barley followed by rape are grown on the property. The 180ha Ben’s father has nearer Rotherham is used for five-year-old ewes and calves.

At the northern end of the farm is 400ha of hill.

It has some natural water, but the intention is to pump water up it, too, to provide drinking water for breeding stock. At the moment, the breeding cows graze it, and most of the ewes lamb there.

Dampier-Crossley is one of four farmers who are partners in a local machinery group.

It has the machinery needed for cultivation, and

making silage and hay and so on. The farmers do their own tractor work for jobs such as feeding out, but call on the group’s manager to do the largescale stuff. Other farmers in the district can use it as well.

Depressed wool prices at the moment mean it is hardly worth the cost of shearing, but income from the lambs, and the other diverse activities on this farm, show that with a little imagination, and capitalising on changes in circumstances and technology, radical change is not always necessary.

For Ben and Renee Dampier-Crossley, being the fourth generation of the family to farm the property provides the incentive to maintain tradition. But it is not just nostalgia that keeps this farm working as it has done since 1914.

“We are happy doing what we do as long as we are making a profit,” says Ben. “I’d sooner be farming this way with very little debt [rather than converting to dairy.]”

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22

RURAL PEOPLE: Lyle & Robyn Green

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Lyle and Robyn Green have been living in South Canterbury for 13 years...long enough to know it’s winter when you get this view of the Southern Alps (left), and you have to battle a snowstorm to get around the farm (below). You also know it’s not always like this, as the shot (facing page, far right) of the Ikawai property the Greens sharemilk illustrates.

Unplanned trial for winter milk Karen Phelps Lyle and Robyn Green didn’t intend to winter-milk 300 heifers on their South Canterbury farm this year. But now they are, they’re very interested in how it works out.

It began when they bought 500 empty heifers, got 300 of them back in calf, and then had trouble selling them. The problem was that a number of Waimate farmers with winter-milk contracts with Fonterra sold them to farmers closer to the company’s Christchurch processing plant. This triggered a drop in demand for in-calf heifers in the South Canterbury/North Otago area.

“We’ll have less feed available in the spring, but we have access to feed if we need it,” says Lyle Green. “We will see how winter-milking pans out and what profit is to be made.”

The Greens have been 50:50 sharemilking the 400-hectare unit at Ikawai, on the Waitaki Plains, since 2000. They milk 1600 friesian cows through two rotary sheds (50-bail and 70-bail).

The whole dairy unit is irrigated with a mix of

border dyke and spray irrigation. The couple say they have good systems in place and steady staff, all from Nepal. One staff member has clocked up 13 years working on the farm, and another two staff have each done 10 years.

Production for the coming season, including winter milking, is predicted to be around 730,000 kilograms of milksolids, compared with 677,000kg for the 2012-13 season.

The Greens employ six full-time staff, and Robyn rears the calves and does the bookwork. They have two sons: Noel, 19, who is studying sports management and coaching; and Jack, 16, who is at Timaru Boys’ High School. Both help out on the farm in their school holidays.

Lyle and Robyn Green also own part of a 600ha support block and lease the remainder in partnership with the Lowes. This land, five kilometres from the dairy farm, is used for wintering and growing winter crops. The Greens make around 1000 tonnes of dry matter a year and grow around 50ha of kale on the run-off.

• To page 23

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RURAL PEOPLE: Ivan Roulston

Business Rural / Spring 2013

23

Farm ownership off the agenda • From page 22 They plan to develop their support block to its full potential. Around 150ha is irrigated and they have plans to extend this by 25ha with the 25 Morven Glenavy irrigation scheme shares they still haven’t made use of.

They have been working on this over winter with the aim of having it ready for spring.

However, owning a dairy farm has never been a goal for them.

“We started sharemilking 17 years ago and we think sharemilking is a good return on investment,” says Lyle Green.

“We’ve bought the run-off block and added value with irrigation and fencing. The pay cheque is the same if you are sharemilking or own the land,

so for us, sharemilking is the better option. We’re happy with where we’re at and there are always opportunities out there.”

The Ikawai property is owned by Cecil and Denise Lowe, for whom the Greens had 29% sharemilked in the Waikato from 1996 to 1999.

They began with 300 cows on the new conversion at Okoroire, between Matamata and Putaruru, but within a couple of years, had increased their herd to 570 cows.

Lyle Green comes from a farming background, and worked on the family and other farms in the Matamata area after leaving school.

In the late 1980s he left dairy farming for a few years to do his OE, then reared calves on contract and ran a contract-fencing business before returning to dairying.

Cows drafted in to pay rates Karen Phelps Ivan Roulston converted his sheep and beef farm to dairy 15 years ago after receiving a rates notice from the local council announcing a 40% increase.

“To pay it, I needed 500 extra lambs, which I couldn’t come by that quickly – sell up or convert,” he says.

Toropuke Farm, nine kilometres south of Heriot in West Otago, was bought by Ivan’s father, Bill, and his uncle, George. The original homestead dates back to the early 19th century.

Ivan went to work on the farm straight out of school, and he has never gone anywhere else to work.

The family farmed the 490-hectare Toropuke and an 890ha block at nearby Dusky Forest until 1978 when the farms were split up.

Ivan and his brother, Kenneth, then farmed Toropuke together until 1984 when Ivan went out alone on his half-share of 238ha. Through the acquisition of neighbouring land, he now farms 386ha.

He typically milks 650 crossbred cows through

Ivan Roulston believes in experimentation with grass species. He has a control paddock, last ploughed in 1923, which he uses to benchmark the newer species. a 50-bail rotary shed, although last season he milked only milked 635.

The main issue is the summer dry, which markedly affects the farm’s 160ha of river flats.

The self-draining soil is great in winter, but dries out quickly in summer. The farm has no water irrigation system, something in which Roulston is considering within the next five years.

So, the aim is to grow enough grass to carry the stock through summer, supplemented by 8-10ha of summer swedes. Roulston aims to make around 1500 tonnes of silage each season, and this usually sees him through – apart from last season when the drought hit after he’d used his swedes.

“We fed silage, went to 16-hour milkings, and dried off early. Next season will be okay because we managed to keep the cows in good condition.”

His system is pretty much self-sufficient and he winters all of his stock on farm. A travelling irrigator spreads effluent over 80-100ha of the farm, mainly on the river flats.

Toropuke is run by lower-order sharemilkers Gullermo and Christina Totentino, who employ three staff. Roulston takes care of on-farm maintenance, works the paddocks up for the winter crops, regrasses paddocks, sprays the fertiliser, and mows all the hay and silage.

He’s a believer in experimentation when it

comes to the grass species. He has a control paddock, last ploughed in 1923, which he uses to benchmark the newer grass species he is trialling.

Of the 10-plus species he has tried, he likes Aston Energy perennial ryegrass and Bronson fescue.

In mid-February 2013 he was on target to achieve 295,000 kilograms of milksolids, but the drought put a stop to that and he finished around 280,000 kg. In the coming season he aims to reach 295,000kg; in fact, he believes that with the right weather, the farm is capable of 300,000kg.

His next goal is retirement and he hopes one of his children will take over the farm.

Joseph, 24, is the most likely candidate as he is already working on another dairy farm. Bridget, 22, is at vet school in Palmerston North; Sasha, 20, is studying for a commerce degree at Otago University; and Zachary, 15, is at Otago Boys’ High School.

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24

ON FARM: Craig & Lynn Eggleston/Jeremy Smith

Business Rural / Spring 2013

‘Water-table problem’ drives management Neil Grant The flat land at Greenpark, near Lake Ellesmere, presents its own farming challenges. Only a few metres above sea level, the soil is a fine sandy silt that acts rather like typically heavy soils.

“We have a water-table problem here,” says dairy farmer Craig Eggleston. “Everything coming off the Canterbury Plains comes through us. It doesn’t take much for water to sit on the top.”

Among the challenges is effluent dispersal.

To have it absorbed by the soil and not lie on the surface, it must be sprayed on in small amounts, and the sprayer needs to be moved more frequently. Having a large effluent storage pond makes this easier.

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The soft soils make it necessary to winter the cows off the property. About a third of the herd goes to Hororata, and the rest to the prison farm at Paparua. This grazing is paid for on a per week basis. As cows come close to calving, they “dribble” back to the farm.

Part of the dry sandy ridge running around Greenpark goes through the Eggleston farm. It’s used as a natural feedpad when grass silage is being distributed to protect the main pasture areas.

The plan is to install proper feedpads, which will probably require adjustment to the effluent dispersal programme.

Eggleston and his wife, Lynn, came onto the farm in 1994 to help his uncle, who owned it then.

They later took it over and converted it back to dairy.

With much of the dairy infrastructure still in place, the conversion was not too major. Laneways were installed as the roads could no longer be used for walking the herd to the shed, and a little pasture renewal was needed.

Adjoining land was added to the farm five years ago to make the farm 340 hectares. The herd was increased, but the extra walking time made changing to once-a-day milking more sensible.

Two years ago, an extra dairy was recommissioned, so the farm is now run as two units. The new farm, which has a manager, has 350 cows, and milks twice a day. The home farm continues once a day milking with a herd of 750.

“It gives an opportunity for our two-year olds to have a bit easier life,” says Craig Eggleston.

“We have a higher retention rate with our heifers.

Our first-calvers calve a bit easier. We have a semi-flexible boundary, so, for instance, can put individual cows on twice-a-day if we want to.”

The managed farm has two people; the Egglestons and their daughter, Aimee, work the home farm.

Craig says he is always working on a plan: “There are efficiencies around irrigation and feeding. Cutting out wastage. Feeding out can be a problem, so those feedpads will be a help.”

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PHOTOS Craig and Lynn Eggleston’s four daughters are very much part of the farming operation.

Aimee (milking, right) is on the staff. Abbie and Jodie (treating a cow, below) work on the farm at weekends and in school holidays. “The family invovement is rewarding,’ says Craig.

Youth/experience mix seen National Certificate in Agriculture at Telford, then did seasonal work in both Australia and back at home. He drove tractors at planting time in Western Australia’s wheat belt, came back to the family farm in winter, then went back across the Tasman to do the harvesting.

The high wages and exchange rate were his stepping stone to building up a herd of his own.

Three years ago, his and Michelle’s combined herds formed the 600-cow base of what is now a 960-cow herd of mainly friesian and some friesiancross cows on the 255-hectare milking platform near Swannanoa, south-west of Rangiora.

The farm had been running 300 merino sheep until its conversion to dairy around 1998, when it was milking 500 cows. It has a basic cowshed and infrastructure, but that may change soon.

Neil Grant Sharemilking was a stepping stone straight into farm ownership in Jeremy Smith’s father’s era, but things have changed a bit.

“It’s harder to get into land ownership – you need scale, and scale comes at a price,” says Jeremy. “We’ve got to get more efficient and start making money out of milk, getting more money off the land. Dairying is not just a way of life that gives you an income now. You need to make a profit to advance.”

Smith and his partner, Michelle, are sharemilkers on the North Canterbury farm his father bought 10 years ago. When Jeremy Smith left school in Wairarapa in 2004, he moved to Balclutha, got his

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ON FARM: Davin & Rachel Heaps

Business Rural / Spring 2013

25

Couple reach herd goal six years on Kelly Deeks Six years of conversion and development have seen Davin and Rachel Heaps reach their goal of milking 450 cows on their Wyndham dairy farm.

Disillusioned with returns from the sheep industry, the Heapses converted the sheep farm they had bought in 2000 to dairy in 2007.

They milked 320 cows in their first season, producing 386 kilograms of milksolids per cow.

Two seasons later, as their management of pasture and stock improved, they were surprised to produce 445kgs milksolids per cow.

The improvements convinced them to expand and they set about incorporating 50 hectares from the run-off block (where they make balage and winter cows) into the milking platform (Taking it to 150ha) and increasing the herd to 420.

Last season they milked 430 cows, and they have increased that to 450 this season.

It’s so much easier and safer for the cows...it’s really great

Davin Heaps is happy with the way the farm came through last summer’s drought: “It didn’t get really dry until February. We pushed a bit of balage into the system and stayed milking twice a day until the middle of May. We ended up with 191,000kg milksolids, up from 168,000kg the year before.”

The improvements came from better body condition of the cows at calving time, and plenty of feed in front of them, he says.

“Our fodder beet winter crops yielded a lot better. One paddock had 17 tonnes, one had 30 tonnes. The year before, we didn’t get 12 tonnes between them.”

He puts this down to a post-planting drought, which caused stagnant germination. This season, with the crops already established, germination and results were good.

The Heapses also had an underpass built last summer – the best thing they’ve done, they say.

With more cows now grazing on the other side of the road from the dairy shed, they felt it was time to make it easier to bring them in for milking.

“It’s so much easier and safer for the cows,” says Davin. “Now we don’t have to hold them there on the other side of the road, it’s really great.”

Over winter he has been busy cutting tracks with his digger to enable milking off the higher country, and finishing off a remodelling of the old covered sheep yards into calf sheds.

PHOTOS Above: Farah (left), aged nine, and Edie, seven, Heaps help shift the breaks for the cows.

Below: Edie on her pet cow, No 28.

Lower left: The new underpass under construction. ‘The best thing we’ve ever done,’ say David and Rachel Heaps.

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as leverage to ownership The land is light, but the two centre-pivots, three Rotorainers and 20ha of k-lines are the key to much more intensive land use. Three leased blocks allow for wintering off, and also produce supplementary winter feed.

The long-term plan is to use profits to grow more feed for supplement, probably lucerne, and grass and maize silage. This will allow them to: lift production further, add more cows as increased feed allows; increase irrigation still further; add another cowshed; and eventually build herd homes to house the cows.

“We’re heavily involved with Dairy New Zealand, and go to their courses,” says Smith. “We use Dairybase, [a web-based package for recording and analysing financial and physical farm information], where we can measure ourselves. We’re big on

analysing everything and breaking down costs.

Michelle is very good at cash management and checking areas where things are costing or not costing, and where we can tweak.”

Smith’s father is not much involved in day-today stuff, but is very much involved part of the long-term planning.

“To take things to the next level, we’ve got to work it together,” says Jeremy. “My father has experience; and youth and experience are a great combination. You don’t get experience overnight, (although you often think you do.)

“We’ve done well to get to this point, but we need to be even more clever to achieve things.

The better we can run this business, the more opportunity we will have to get to land ownership.

It’s all about leverage.”

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26

ON FARM: Long Acres

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Interest grows bit by bit in ‘witchy-poo’ approach Sue Russell It seems that new challenges and doing things a little differently is all part and parcel of what makes Long Acres Farm half-owner/manager Gerald Spain tick.

The third-generation farm located, at Mokotua, not far from Invercargill, operates from a set of environmentally friendly policies and practices that Spain acknowledges separates it a bit from the bunch.

While the other owner, his brother Mark, is not actively involved in running the farm, he is supportive of the philosophy.

“I’m after a good healthy ability in the soil,” says Gerald Spain. “I recognise and work with the fact it has its own capacity to regenerate itself.

“With my background as an organic sheep farmer, I’m very respectful of nature’s own way of bringing balance to soil conditions and redressing deficiencies with the help of well thought out systems, sometimes regarded as unusual, that conventional farming practice would correct by adding standard fertilisers and other elements.”

He admits he has always been “big on biology”, and sees this as putting him in a good position to see the value of working naturally as much as possible.

He took over running the farm in 2008, when the first thing that happened was to convert from 5000 ewes to 1030 cows. He describes his cows as a whole mixed bag – one herd friesian, one jersey, and a heifer herd.

“When we decided to convert, I bought the herd in milk from John Washer, in Taranaki. Basically

we got them here in a couple of days and they went straight into the milking shed.”

Having done a conversion from scratch, Spain appreciates just how many risks and anomalies play into the process. His only advice to anyone thinking about conversion is to “really be on your case” while accepting there are some things you can’t control.

Gerald Spain checks a paddock for grass growth (above) and stacks bales of hay (left). ‘I don’t think the urban folk fully understand just how much a farm becomes part of you,’ he says.

“We pulled down all the sheep fencing and got prepared to put in new paddocks and lanes for the cows, only to find ourselves rained out of any chance to erect them before the herd arrived.

“Basically my herd all grazed together over one big paddock divided by a few temporary electric fences. But it worked out OK in the end.”

His sustainability bent extends to the care of stock. He respects it as a privilege to be working a lifestyle that involves managing his stock. He also takes the time to ensure his staff are not overstretched when it comes to work expectations and rostering.

“I’m thinking of my staff 10 years out from here, how they will be.”

Spain is part of a farm discussion group and says the other farmers call his approach to farming “witchy-poo stuff”. He’s not concerned by this because he says he has seen that, bit by bit, they’re getting more interested in his attitude and practices.

Just looking at the amount of clover he has in his grass has got others thinking there’s something to this biologically friendly mindset.

Urea is used very sparingly at Long Acres while nitrogen levels in the soil have remained good. He also gives his herd of 1137 milkers regular doses of apple-cider vinegar, garlic and honey, and had only cases of mastitis last spring.

• To page 27

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ON FARM: John Byrne

Business Rural / Spring 2013

27

‘It’d be nice to see the old girls tucked up’ FLOOD-PRONE FARMING

Karen Phelps The sight of their cows standing out in the paddock on a rainy day has prompted Takaka dairy farmers John Byrne and wife Deanna Pomeroy-Byrne to build a feed shed in the next two to three years.

“When it’s raining and we’re inside and warm, I think that as it’s the cows that have helped us to be in this position, it’d be nice to see the old girls tucked up inside too,” says Byrne.

He sees other benefits as well: the alleviation of pugging; less waste of supplement; the capability of wintering some of their 300 jersey-friesian-cross cows at home instead of all of them going off farm.

Byrne is the third generation of his family to farm the 86-hectare (effective) unit at Kotinga, five kilometres from Takaka. The property has been in the family for more than 100 years. Deanna Pomeroy-Byrne was also raised on a dairy farm.

After leaving school and working on the family farm, Byrne spent four years working in a kiwifruit orchard and then two years in Australia before returning with Pomeroy-Byrne in 1990 to work fulltime on the family farm.

He says he never wanted to be a dairy farmer.

THE GOOD We’re farming on river silt with three feet of good topsoil on most of the farm. It doesn’t get much better than that.

THE BAD We have to ensure we always have higher ground available where we can graze the cows if necessary.

Early-morning starts and high leveraging did not appeal to him. But once he came back to the farm, he fell in love with it.

“It’s the best thing I could have done; I absolutely love the challenge. Every day is different.”

Two years later the couple bought the herd and went 50:50 sharemilking. In 1998 they bought the farm.

The Anatoki River looks beautifully peaceful here, but both it and Takaka can rise very quickly when Tasman gets serious rain.

Farm ‘not just means of income’ • From page 26 Without getting too ‘new-agey’, Spain sees his relationship to Long Acres – which was broken in by his grandparents, then worked on by his father before he took over – as something sacred.

“I live on the farm, it’s my home. I don’t come and go from it, and I don’t see it just as a means of income,” he says, “I don’t think the urban folk fully understand just how much a farm becomes part of you. This is what sits behind my whole approach to managing and caring for it.”

Beyond the land and his relationship to it,

Gerald knows how important good staff are. He has developed a new staffing structure; one herd manager and four staff run the dairying side, while he, his fit and healthy father, Graeme (75 this year) and one other worker do the crops and everything else.

Gerald Spain’s plans are always changing. This year he intends to increase the herd size to 1160. which will enable him to continue moving towards the goal of a high-performance herd.

Having spent much of the last three and a half years re-grassing the farm, and doing the gravel holes and fencing, he is satisfied Long Acres is in good position to consolidate.

Gerald Spain... satisfied that Long Acres is in good position to consolidate.

Flooding – the result of the Anatoki and Takaka rivers meeting on the property – is the biggest challenge to management. When the Anatoki floods, only 20% of the farm may be accessible, and this can happen twice a year.

The floods don’t last long, but the possibility means the couple have to ensure they always have higher ground available where they can graze the cows if necessary.

Conversely, flooding is also one of the farm’s biggest advantages,.

Byrne explains: “We’re farming on river silt with three feet of good topsoil on most of the farm. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

The cows are milked through a 30-a-side herringbone shed. Around 10% of the farm is regrassed each year.

The farm is irrigated with k-line and Byrne is building an effluent storage tank, which will give him two months’ storage. This effluent will be spread with a travelling irrigator, and possibly k-line.

This will give him the ability to spread over the entire farm rather than just the present 35ha.

Byrne is interested in what the Lincoln University dairy farm has been achieving in terms of residuals, and is keen to see if he can adjust his system to push production.

“We have been grazing to residuals of 1500 and it seems as though we sometimes have to push the cows to eat the paddocks down to this level.

But Lincoln has been leaving 1600-1700 residual knowing it will be topped.

“By following Lincoln’s example, I think we could possibly get more production out of our cows without needing more supplement.”

The couple own a 7ha run-off, which they live on. They use the run-off and a leaded 14ha block to support the home farm They are also involved in an equity partnership on a 190ha, 600-cow farm at Takaka, with John as operations manager.

Last season the Byrnes’ herd produced 130,000 kilograms of milksolids on the home farm; this season they are targeting 135,000kg.

As John Byrne says, “You can always strive to do better.”

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28

ON FARM: Art Blom/Greig Moore

nside Rd, RD7 GO ndo RE We 97 in 77 a M ph 29 on

Business Rural / Spring 2013

High-flier refines art of consolidation Switzers Valley Transport Limited

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Kelly Deeks are proud to support...

The Southland Branch of Holstein Friesian New Zealand We wish you a successful Conference and welcome all your visitors high-input system on histo Southland

After six years of driving a three Northern Southland farms, Art Blom is scaling down his operation He has sold one farm, is leasing out another, and is taking the third, his home farm, back to a more pasture-based system with smaller cows.

Blom says he has pushed the boundaries for higher per-cow production, and got his mainly friesian cows producing well over 600 kilograms of milksolids each “Now we’re consolidating. We want a simpler system and to use our pasture better.

“We’re expecting the cows to produce less milk, and we’re going to have more crossbred cows and increase the stocking rate to maintain a good level of production.”

Blom says that in the 2012-13 season, he Rd, RD7 G onside fed 20-30% less supplement than inORthe previous end E 9 77 n W i a season.M 7 p 9 on “I2 have found out that the more supplementhyou e

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Art Blom believes his third wintering barn, now into its fifth winter, is a triumph for the value of experience.

He’s convinced the design changes and features he has built in have worked: ‘We notice that if we leave the door open, a lot of cows will stay inside, So, it’s pretty obvious they enjoy being in there.

03

feed, the harder it is to get the cows to eat grass.

I don’t want to go totally pasture-based, as to get Valley more days in Switzers milk, the cows willTransport always haveLtd to be fully fed. We will produce less milksolids at the end 20 2 5 nz 124 co. ide . fax rms 03 20 2 5120 email svt@fa

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of the season, but we will be running a far simpler system.”

He says the drought has affected his Lumsden home farm, where he had hardly any growth over the very dry summer. He estimates the drought cost him production of 7000-8000kg milksolids.

With a new consent on his herd size in place, Blom will increase cow numbers at Lumsden from 400 cows to 450 in the 2013-14 season.

With the lower-input system and smaller animals in the herd, he is aiming to produce well over 500kg milksolids per cow, and he is hoping to get to 550kg per cow.

During the 2012-13 season he also completed major drainage works on about 40% the 180hectare property, installing tile drains and mole ploughing to tidy up the farm.

His home-farm wintering barn is now into its fifth winter, and he believes it demonstrates the

value of experience. He had already put wintering barns on his other two farms, and a lot of thought and investigation went into deciding what type of wintering barn would best suit the home property.

“Cow comfort was a really big factor we wanted to improve on with this barn. We’ve got different bedding, different bail spacing, different ventilation, more space where the cows walk into the barn, and we’ve cut the concrete for better grip.”

The design changes have brought a lot of benefits, with fewer cows not handling the barn, fewer injuries, and an easier time adapting heifers to the system.

“They cows are a lot more comfortable, so there is a lot more lying-down time, and that’s a real biggie,” Blom says.

“We notice that if we leave the door open, a lot of cows will stay inside, So, it’s pretty obvious they enjoy being in there.”

Talk about it all happening To compound a tricky

Kelly Deeks The 2012-13 season started with a bit of excitement for shareholder and lower-order sharemilkers Greig and Rachel Moore. They took over a second farm, and they welcomed baby Ivy to the world.

The addition of the second farm at Maheno, just south of Oamaru, lifted their sharemilking business to nearly 1600 cows. They have been working at Maheno Farms since 2008, when the farm was a first-year conversion with 1000 cows.

The home farm (The Oaks) is now running 1200 cows, and the number two farm (The Willows) peak-milked 360 last season, and will increase to 390 cows this season.

The two farms are next door to one another, and have a total area of 437 hectares.

Moore put Mel Vidalon, one of his employees from The Oaks, in as manager on The Willows, which he is running with 1.5 labour units.

Ivy arrived on the first day of calving – five weeks early. To compound a tricky situation at home, the night the Moores were at Dunedin Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, the two farms were hit by the first flood in 50 years.

“Rachel and I spent the first two weeks of calving at Dunedin hospital,” says Greig Moore.

“Everyone here worked really well together and we

situation at home, the night the Moores were at Dunedin Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, the farms were hit by the first flood in 50 years. are very thankful. They had to deal with floods and calving and mud everywhere. The team we had on did a really good job.”

The flood put The Willows farm out of action until August 18, so the herd was calved, grazed, and milked on the bigger farm.

“We were using designated paddocks to calve on, and they got cut up really bad,” says Moore.

“We had to stand cows on the lanes and feed them on the lanes so that they wouldn’t trample it into the mud. We got a lot of lameness because of that, but

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Business Rural / Spring 2013

ON FARM: Ian Hamilton,Kelvin West & Rika Vermuelen

29

Happiness is...a cow producing more milk Karen Phelps If rain had come just one week earlier, lower-order sharemilkers Kelvin West and his fiancée, Rika Vermeulen, could have avoided milking once a day from March 11 to drying off the herd on May 25.

In addition, the couple had to cull 70 not-in-calf and low-producing cows a month early, and 80 rising-two-year-old heifers had to come to the farm earlier for grazing as their off-farm grazing had no grass because of the drought.

As a result they lost an estimated 10,000 kilograms in milksolids for the 2012-13 season.

The unit ended up with 130,700kg milksolids from 350 cows.

West and Vermeulen are in their second season as sharemilkers for Ian Hamilton on a 160-hectare unit milking 360 cows on a grass-only system (no supplements fed) at Kowhitirangi, just inland from Hokitika. West had previously worked on the unit for two years as a farm assistant.

This season they have an extra 10 cows and are aiming for 140,000kg milksolids. Grass quality will be the key to squeezing the extra production out of the system and making the target, says Hamilton.

“We’ll keep quality high by milking a few extra cows to keep grass at a good level and will mow behind the herd as needed,” he says.

at once couldn’t have cows calving in the mud.”

About 50ha of ruined paddocks were regrassed in October. It was a tough spring on both farms as the grass on the larger farm had been eaten a lot quicker because of close to 400 extra cows.

The heifers had lost a bit of condition but started putting it back on in spring with a bit of molasses, palm kernel, and barley in the shed.

Moore says he got what has probably been his best year of mating results – a 73% six-weeksin-calf rate on The Oaks, and about 70% on The WIllows. These results were achieved without CIDRing, which he decided not to do to cut costs.

Production finished around 420 kilograms of milksolids per cow on The Oaks and 440kg on The Willows.

Construction was also completed on a dam that had been begun in 2008, allowing the farms to get through the summer without any water restrictions.

All of The Oaks property is now irrigated, and a 190ha support block (whch Maheno Farms bought) next door to the home farm is irrigated by six centre-pivots out of the big dam.

“Inputs have been cut from 1.5 tonnes of dry matter per cow to 700kg of dry matter per cow just because we’re growing more grass,” Moore says.

“The run-off means we are also able to graze our young stock instead of grazing them out, and supply silage to the dairy farms. It all cuts back on costs.”

The general wintering is definitely easier with a barn. The cows keep condition better and need less feed. When they calve, they don’t need to make up lost weight.

As usual on the West Coast, weather is the biggest challenge – the farm receives around 4.5 metres of rain per year.

Grass needs to be monitored closely to avoid damage with on/off grazing. Two Herd Homes built five years ago are used to help achieve this. And, says says Hamilton, the wintering barns have made calving easier.

“We used to calve on stand-offs, and cows were sometimes giving birth into mud, resulting in fatalities each season. We used to lose around 40 calves in this way, but the wintering barn has reduced this figure to zero. It has been a good investment.”

But he emphasises that he didn’t buy the barn with the aim of saving money – he did it because he didn’t like seeing the cows standing miserably in the paddocks each winter. The cows definitely like getting out of the rain. And happy cows produce more milk.”

Wintering barns are becoming increasingly

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“The general wintering is definitely easier with a barn. The cows keep condition better and need less feed. Because they hold their condition a lot better, when they do calve, they don’t need to make up lost weight. So, the grass they eat can be turned into milk straight away and they produce well very quickly.”

Although Kelvin West and Rika Vermeulen look after the day-to-day running of the farm, Ian Hamilton does the tractor work and helps out when and where needed.

Hamilton, who has owned the Kowhitirangi

farm for 13 years, grew up on the other side of the Southern Alps in the Springston/Lincoln area. His father was a farm worker and the family moved around dairy farms.

After leaving school, Hamilton worked on a poultry farm until, in his early twenties, he jumped straight into lower-order sharemilking on a 120-cow farm at Springston. He moved around, working on units at Duvauchelle (Banks Peninsula), the Waita Valley and Whataroa (both on the West Coast) before buying his Kowhitirangi property.

He says his aim is to develop the business and perhaps buy another farm. But with a typical West Coast attitude, he is relaxed about the time frame.

“When it happens; it happens,” he says.

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30

ON FARM: Castlerock Dairies Ltd

Business Rural / Spring 2013

31

Business Rural / Spring 2013

New shed catalyst to raise the scale been under-stocked, limited by its 50-bail cowshed.

The addition of a just-completed 60-bail shed will allow the expansion to take place.

“My role is operations manager,” says Graham Holmesdale, also 780ha, is calving 2400 cows, McCullough. “I haven’t milked a cow for 20 years. which will increase to 2500 over the next two years.

We have a staff of 30. They deal just with cows and With the herd on Murray Hills, managed by the grass. We get contractors in to do everything else.”

McCulloughs’ son, Paul, the total number of cows So McCullough sums up the three-farm dairying being milked in three years’ time should be 6500. business he and wife Heather have built in Northern The aim is that each farm will produce a million Southland in the six or seven years since they kilograms of milksolids per year. migrated south from running a sheep, beef and dairy Dean McMillan, who has been a farm manager operation near Te Awamutu, in the Waikato. for the McCulloughs for many years, manages First, they bought an established dairy farm at Holmesdale. Jared Matthews, the farm manager on Castlerock, between Lumsden and Mossburn. They Castlerock, has been there for four seasons. have since bought two more farms, Murray Hills Being on the drier side of Southland makes and Holmesdale, in the locality and have leased a irrigation necessary. Castlerock and Holmesdale 1200-hectare run-off where they grow crops and will each has 70ha under pivot irrigation, and Murray winter cows when they increase herd numbers.

Hills 160ha.

Castlerock, which was 740ha and is now 780ha, The change to wintering their cows off the farm has been running 1400 cows; the plan is to increase will help with the expansion programme. Once the this to 2500 over the next three years. The farm had cows have gone, any required re-grassing can take

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stupid things.’ place, or the pasture can just be let recover.

Murray Hills is owned by a trust with Heather and Graham McCullough as trustees. The other farms are owned by Castlerock Dairies Ltd, which has Graham and Heather, Ian and Linda McCullough and their mother, June Matthews, as shareholders.

Graham, Heather and Ian McCullough (a doctor in Cambridge), are directors, and there is an independent chairman. Both Heather and Ian have a large involvement in the company.

Each farm (including the run-off) is run as a separate entity, as well as a company that each farm contributes to financially.

Many staff have come from overseas – the Philippines, Fiji, Europe – but increasing numbers of Kiwis are coming on board.

“Kiwis are realising the pay is quite good, that it’s

» Dairy servicing » Preventative maintenance » Machine testing & water pumps 24/7 ON CALL SERVICE PH: 027 448 7787 Castlerock Dairies Ltd staff get together in one of the sheds on the three farms involved in the Northern Southland dairying business. not a bad career,” says Graham McCullough. “We like to have our staff move up within the company.

They have to do ITO courses at all levels. We try to look after them and pay for their training.”

But it is not all hard work. It seems that any suitable opportunity for a ‘bit of a do’ is taken, so there are combined Christmas parties, drying-off parties, and trips away. The most recent involved 120 people celebrating the opening of the new cowshed.

Housing can be a problem in rural areas. There

are houses on the farms, others have been rented in Lumsden, and the company has just bought a block of four flats there. Married staff usually want a house; single staff can combine in a house, or live in one of the flats.

Graham McCullough reckons dealing with environmental issues is no problem if you are sensible: “Rules are rules. Some people do stupid things. We’ve just built a big effluent system designed for 2500 cows. If we have an issue, we just ring Environment Southland, and we always get a professional and considered response.”

Making the shift south has been good, he says.

But it has not been without its interesting moments.

“I like it here. The biggest thing was getting my head around cropping and winter crops. I’d had nothing to do with cropping, except for growing maize. Not winter crops, or the cost of establishing them and having the cows on them.”

All this has been part of a plan. They work to a five-year cycle, but are happy to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

“We’ve sold farms, and bought farms. Now we intend to consolidate. We’re not looking, but if things happen, we’ll deal with them. And things seem to happen all the time here.”

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Ross Bruggemann, Orica Agribusiness Market Specialist, is thrilled with the response from dairy farmers. “This system, coupled with premium product quality, is a fantastic offering which has been taken up by many farmers already”. “This is a real shift away from how business was done previously and I am delighted by the responses from farmers once they have the system in place. We are making a really positive difference to the way things are done on NZ dairy farms”.

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ON FARM: Stefan & Annalize du Plessis/Maarten Van Rossum

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Wintering barn proves worth Jo Bailey Stefan and Annalize du Plessis are pleased their dairy business has moved from a development to consolidation phase.

“We have no major new developments coming up and we’re happy with where things are at,” says Stefan du Plessis. “It’s a matter of working with our systems and fine-tuning them to be more efficient.”

They are 50:50 sharemilking 680 cows on a 240-hectare Dipton property owned by MOSA Farming Ltd, formed by Owen and Margaret Westlake, who have moved to Matamata, in the North Island. MOSA stands for Margaret, Owen, Stefan and Annalize.

“Owen and Margaret are great to deal with. Our current plan is to raise our stake in the business as much as we can in the three seasons we have left with them.”

Stefan du Plessis says his family is “pretty settled” on the north-west Southland property,

The entire shed was lined with rubber matting before last winter, which has improved animal health and comfort.

which has good-quality staff housing, and an excellent school nearby where their girls, aged 12, 10 and eight, go.

He is pleased with last season’s production – 318,000 kilograms of milksolids from 650 cows (490kg/cow) given the dry spring and summer.

“We had to go onto 16-hour milking at the end of February and followed this regime until the end of the season. This worked really well for us – we’re still up a percent on budgeted production.”

The cold snap in June had little effect thanks to the wintering barn, where the cows are kept sheltered, dry and fed from mid-May until calving.

“This is our third winter using the shed. We still get a small percentage of cows trying to sleep where they shouldn’t, but overall they have adapted well. The heifers take to it like a duck to water – they do very well inside.”

The entire shed was lined with rubber matting before last winter, which has improved animal health and comfort, he says.

“Lameness has been reduced as the matting is much better for them than standing on a concrete base. It has also helped our heifer training quite a bit.”

A “few skinnies and lame cows” are introduced to the shed in mid-May, but are still fed silage outside until early June. After that, all cows and incalf heifers are housed in the shed 24 hours a day until calving, when they go back outside to calve.

The barn has also increased the effective dairy area, an advantage du Plessis enhances through a monitored pasture-management programme.

“We are always fine-tuning our re-grassing

• • • • • •

Stefan du Plessis says the wintering barn has proved its value in its first three seasons. programme with the goal of growing as much quality grass and dry matter per hectare as possible,” he says.

An increase in effluent application and irrigation also saw the farm “hang on well” through the summer.

“We were able to use less urea and capital fertiliser but still grow more grass, so the system is working well.”

Three permanent staff assist du Plessis on the farm. They do all their own agricultural and cropping work, which includes growing summer turnips and 4ha of farm fodder beet that the

yearlings graze on each winter.

Annalize du Plessis looks after the farm administration, helps with calf rearing and relief milking, and at other times when she’s needed on the farm.

The couple, who arrived from South Africa in 2001 and won New Zealand Sharemilker of the Year in 2009-10, are content to continue to develop their business over the next three years in their current position.

“There is a still lot of opportunity to move ahead in the New Zealand dairy industry for people who are prepared to work hard at it,” says Stefan.

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More land, more cows... now for more production Kelly Deeks Maarten Van Rossum has moved to a larger farm with a larger herd this season, and is aiming to match or better its best production.

Van Rossum spent two years 50:50 sharemilking 420 cows on one of his mother’s farms, before entering a partnership with her last season.

This season he has moved to a 680-cow farm, also belonging to his mother. Nathan and Deborah Wilson, the farm’s previous sharemilkers, have bought their own farm and moved on.

“Nathan and Deborah left this farm in excellent condition, we couldn’t have asked for better people,” Van Rossum says. “Nathan improved production here over the last three years, and I want to step it up even more. His best year was 280,000

kilograms of milksolids, and I’m hoping to do the same or better.”

His mother’s smaller farm has been developed with a feedpad and an upgrade to the effluent system, and is now farmed by 50:50 sharemilkers Greg and Sonya Herbert, who are working with the Van Rossum family.

Maarten Van Rossum managed to better that farm’s best production by 22,000kg when he turned in 234,000kgs milksolids.

Now on a larger farm, with a 60-bail rotary dairy shed with automatic cup removers, he is able to milk a larger herd with two staff, the same number he employed on the smaller farm.

He is concentrating on improving the herd, having bought a few budget cows this season to take the numbers from 580 to 680.

• To page 33

ON FARM: Steve & Maylene Fenwick

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Repeat recipe works a treat without fertiliser Karen Phelps Steve and Maylene Fenwick have achieved enviable growth rates on the cropping block that supports their North Otago dairy farm.

Despite the drought last season they managed to grow 15.5 to 16 tonnes of kale on their 120-hectare run-off, when the average for the area is more like 6-7 tonnes. The previous year, they grew 19.5 tonnes.

Their secret? They grow the crops on the same block each year, keep a close eye on weed control, and break-feed. Their recipe has been so successful they haven’t needed to apply fertiliser to the block for the past eight years – and Olsen P levels have still risen from 8 to 30-plus in that time.

They finish grazing on the run-off by mid to late September, then replant in late November/early December.

“The cows come onto the block and eat the kale, then leave their effluent behind. The block selffertilises,” says Styeve Fenwick. “Essentially we’re not taking anything away from the land.”

The Fenwicks, who reduced their herd from 1900 to 1600 cows in 2011, say they feel it is more profitable to farm fewer cows on their own land. The lower stock numbers allow them to keep

The drought brought home the true value of water in North Otago...

Without irrigation rights here, you don’t own a dairy farm.

their finger on the pulse, as opposed to trying to manage a larger herd.

Their friesian and crossbred cows are milked through two 60-bail rotary cowsheds, one of which is fully automated. In spite of the drought, they achieved 670,000 kilograms of milksolids from 1600 cows last season. They are aiming for 690,000kg this season.

They say recent drought brought home the true value of water for those farming in North Otago.

They decided to relinquish their irrigation rights to the Maerewhenua River as, under the new Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Regional Plan, their reliability rate was set to drop to 40%.

They have chosen instead to be part of the Maerewhenua District Water Resource Company Ltd schemen (which will also take water from the Waitaki River) even though will cost them around $5000 a hectare to make the change.

“It’s 99% reliable with no restrictions,” says Steve. “With average rainfall of 450-550 millilitres of water per year, without irrigation rights here, you don’t own a dairy farm. Water is our bread and butter.”

Both Steve and Maylene were raised on dairy farms in the Waikato. At 19 Steve had his first 50:50 sharemilking position, milking 140 cows. In little more than a decade, the couple had stepped up to a 900-cow conversion at Te Kuiti, and built up cow numbers to 1500 over the next five years.

All 1500 cows were milked through a 44-a-side herringbone shed.

Their move into farm ownership came in 2001 when they bought 208ha of rolling hill country at Duntroon, in North Otago, and started milking 550 cows. Through land acquisitions they now farm 438ha. They are also in a 50:50 equity partnership with their neighbours, milking 700 cows on a separate 240ha property.

Their farm is supported by another run-off of 206ha that runs straight off the back of the dairy farm. This is used for running young stock and

growing silage. The Fenwicks have just re-fenced this block with GPS mapping, setting it up for a conversion.

It’s part of their succession plan as they have four children, at least three of whom are showing interest in a dairy career.

Sarah, 21, ihas working as a baker, while her partner, Tyrone Todd, who has been managing the Fenwicks’ farm. Sarah and Tyrone are going contract milking on another unit in the 2013-14 season.

Dean, 19, has just finished high school and is starting in a farm-hand position on a 1000-cow farm south of Dunsandel. Lisa, 17, is still at high school, and Laura, 14, calves cows already and is showing interest in the rural lifestyle.

33

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Above: Maarten Van Rossum with some his calves.

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people use the bull of the day, but I might use four different bulls in a day as I’m trying to improve the herd as quickly as possible.”

He sent his cows to Fortrose and Balfour for winter grazing, and he checks on them once a week.

“They shouldn’t lose any condition, I sent them away in good shape and the way it’s going, the graziers are building on what I’ve done.

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34

ON FARM: Braden & Rebecca De La Rue

Business Rural / Spring 2013

PHOTOS: Braden and Rebecca De La Rue at the farm’s effluent pond (left), in the winter feed with the cows (below) and in the dairy shed (facing page).

Let’s ‘finish it with conviction’ Kelly Deeks

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With a lesson learnt from poor grass growth and having to feed average quality silage last summer, Braden De La Rue begins this season with a plan to control his pastures.

He says this should help him achieve his target production and set a new farm record of 300,000 kilograms of milksolids.

De La Rue and his wife, Rebecca, are heading into their third season of lower-order sharemilking 660 cows on Joss and Katrina Mensen’s farm near Ashburton.

They came from a contract-milking position near Oamaru, where they were milking 500 cows. They felt it was time to develop their business and get experience working with more cows and more staff.

“We’ve got a three-year agreement here, and we want to finish it with conviction,” says Braden De La Rue. “Staff turnover has been good and, with the increase in production we’ve done, we’ve really proved ourselves. The experience is going to help us possibly double the number of staff in our next job.”

Braden De La Rue says he knows what to do reach his production target this season.

Rebecca is adding another skill element to their business by studying for the New Zealand Diploma in Business, and focusing on human resources.

“When we get bigger, Rebecca’s knowledge will help us to manage our staff,” Braden says.

“We are both upskilling to enable us to work on a larger farm.”

The De La Rues are milking an extra 20 cows from the previous sharemilker, and, with better pasture management and better use of feed, they managed to increase production from 228,000kg milksolids to 287,500kg in their first season on the 174-hectare farm.

Braden De La Rue says pasture is king, and he enjoys the challenge of using good

management techniques rather than high inputs or feeding grains to achieve at the same or higher level as his peers.

He says poorer growth and a faster round got on top of him in January, but, until then, he had been on track to beat his previous year’s production.

“It was a region-wide problem. We would ordinarily run a faster round for the high growth period we can expect under the pivots over the heat of summer, but the heat got too much, growth dropped off and we had to feed out for a couple of weeks.

“The quality was good, but the quantity just wasn’t there. The edge came off the cows and we never quite got it back. Instead of gaining, we took a loss.”

They finished the season with production of 285,000kg milksolids. He says he knows what to do to reach his 300,000kg target this season.

“We’ll drop the nitrogen back a bit and we’re going to top more than we did in the past. Sixty hectares of the farm were topped last season... we were trying to save money as we pay for the

• To page 35

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ON FARM: Paul & Jo Kuriger

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Driver’s seat makes massive difference Kelly Deeks After their first season dairy farming in an equity partnership with his parents and two other shareholder groups, Paul and Jo Kuriger have big plans for development on their Morven farm.

They also intend to increase the herd gradually as they go. They milked 575 cows last season and are wintering 620. They eventually hope to get up to a herd of 650.

Both of them have left their original careers and home districts. Paul was a draughtsman helping design buildings for Auckland’s Princes Wharf development, and Jo was a nurse in the neonatal unit at Waikato Hospital.

They spent a couple of years on Mike and Rosemary Kuriger’s North Taranaki dairy farm and enjoyed the experience so much they decided to look for a new opportunity that would allow them more responsibility.

They found one in Rakaia and moved south to an assistant-manager position. They then moved to a lower-order contract near Te Pirita for two seasons, and the following year, to Ashburton for a 50:50 sharemilking job. They stayed there for six years until the farm was sold.

“We knew of people who had looked at a corporate farm equity position owned by a big syndicate group,” Paul Kuriger says.

“We didn’t want to be a manager on someone else’s farm, we wanted to run our own ship. So we asked around and found some people who were looking at investing. It was then our job to find a farm we all liked.”

Being in the driver’s seat and having some ‘say’ in their business was what the Kurigers were looking for, and they eventually found the farm at Morven, in South Canterbury.

They felt they could make it a success.

“A few things were a bit run down, but we bought it knowing that, and I had the confidence that without any capital

One weakness I underestimated was the quality of the pastures. changes we could do better with just good management,” Paul Kuriger says.

The only upgrade completed last season was a new drafting gate. However, the Kurigers still managed to beat the previous year’s production by 20,000 kilograms of milksolids.

Over winter they have continued to work on re-fencing to improve the consistency of paddock sizes, and have made a star t on improving the irrigation system and the pastures.

The farm is all border-dyke irrigated, and the Kurigers’ first goal is to develop the top par t of the farm with a centre-pivot irrigator.

The plan is to add a second centre-pivot next winter to make the proper ty 100% sprayirrigated.

“One weakness I under-estimated at the star t of last season was the quality of the pastures,” Paul Kuriger says.

“Their quality is not great. The soil is clay-based and there hasn’t been a lot of regressing. As the pastures come in and the irrigation comes in, we will progressively lift our stocking rate.”

He thinks the farm can handle around 650 cows on a grass-based system; there is no grain-feeding system in the 43-a-side herringbone shed.

The learning curve continued at calving time last season, when the calfshed filled with water and the Kurigers lost a few calves.

“When we moved to the farm, we didn’t have the things set up the way we normally would,” says Jo Kuriger.

35

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“The calfshed we came from had everything you could want for calf-rearing, as we had spent six years setting it up. There are so many things I’ll do differently this season.”

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“One of the reasons we loved the farm is because the water supply here is so good,” Paul Kuriger says.

“A lot of people were facing restrictions around Ashbur ton over summer, but we were able to box on. This area is very underrated for its dairying capacity.”

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• From page 34

tightening up the calving spread by pulling the bulls out at 10 weeks. machinery and the fuel. This year we’re prepared He says he is prepared to accept a higher to top a bit more to control the growth and empty rate as he can rear an additional 5% quality, and let our rounds stay a bit longer.” replacement stock on a nearby farm the Mensens De La Rue has also been working on own and use for trading stock.

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36

ON FARM: Station Peak Dairy

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Snow news is good news Jo Bailey After a busy dairy season, Michael and Olivia Pavletich and their young family were soaking up the winter sun on the Gold Coast when they heard that the worst snow storm in 20 years was expected to hit their Waitaki Valley dairy farm.

“It wasn’t the best news to get while we were on holiday,” says Michael. “We monitored the situation with regular updates from Olivia’s parents who were housesitting for us, our 2IC, and a neighbour down the road.

“We never really thought about coming home as we knew the cows were in the right place on the farm, and we had faith in our very capable staff, who handled it with no issues.”

Their decision to stay in the warm paid off as, unlike many other South Island regions which had

big dumps of snow in the June polar blast, Station Peak Dairy came through relatively unscathed.

“We were lucky as we didn’t get too much snow on our 600 hectares of hill country where the cows were wintering. They weren’t too badly off as they had a big area to move around in and matagouri to snuggle under.”

Michael Pavletich is a fourth-generation farmer at Station Peak, which was converted from sheep and beef in 2006, and split into two entities in 2008.

He and Olivia run Station Peak Dairy Ltd, a 420ha (effective) dairy platform, and lease the remaining support block from his parents, Kieran and Julie Pavletich. This is farmed under Station Peak Ltd. “I manage the dairy farm and the run-off day to day, with Dad helping out as needed,” says Michael Pavletich. “ My brother, Matt, is also back working on the

Over 1.5 Million hectares irrigated by BAUER equipment in over 80 countries

Irrigation development on Station Peak in recent months has seen two centre-pivots and two linearlateral irrigators replace around 165 hectares of k-line. farm, mainly on the irrigation side of things and as a general farm hand.”

The operation is a real family affair, with Olivia Pavletich looking after the bookwork for Station Peak Dairy, and Julie Pavletich doing the administration for Station Peak Ltd. Another seven full-time staff work on the property, and Michael rarely milks these days.

“With an operation of this size, it’s better for me to concentrate on the bigger-picture stuff.”

A significant irrigation development on the run-off in recent months has seen around 165ha of k-line replaced with two centre-pivots and two linear-laterals.

“This development means we can milk more cows down this end of the property and have guaranteed silage and winter feed. We’ve been having to rely on some of the dairy platform to supply that silage, which is why we haven’t been able to stock it as highly as we’d like.”

He plans to milk around 1425 mainly crossbred cows this season in two herds through the property’s 60-bail rotary shed with Waikato plant.

“We’re ultimately working towards a pure crossbred herd and will continue to increase herd numbers, particularly at the top end.”

The Pavletichs have recently acquired a wholeherd DNA testing programme.

“All stock will be DNA-tested, which will give us a 100%-accurate, cow-to-calf match-up during calving and an accurate record of our stock. What you see on paper is what you get.”

Last season the herd achieved targeted

All stock will be DNAtested, which will give us a 100%-accurate, cowto-calf match-up during calving and an accurate record of our stock. What you see on paper is what you get. production of 450 kilograms of milksolids per cow.

“It was a goal we’d been working towards for some time. Now it’s a matter of maintaining production at this level as we raise cow numbers.”

Pavletich says the large property means they are able to stick with a mainly grass-based feeding regime, with barley and molasses fed at the shoulders of the season.

“We’ve got the scope, especially with 600ha of hill country. The cows go up there straight after dry-off and we leave them for as long as possible

• To page 37

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ON FARM: Rodney Dobson

Business Rural / Spring 2013

37

Rodney’s hobby pays its way Kelly Deeks Dairy farmers and pedigree jersey stud-owners Rodney and Jocelyn Dobson have reached the point where his “value added” (the stud) has transitioned from hobby to profitable venture. The herd’s breeding worth sits at 133, and will rise again this season with the introduction of around 100 heifers.

Dobson runs two farms at Gropers Bush, in Southland: he has a 50:50 sharemilker on one; his son, Mark, who is a shareholder, milks on the stud farm.

Dobson, who was brought up on a jersey farm, moved from the Waikato to Southland 21 years ago.

He bought a 182-hectare farm which, with various bits and pieces of land picked up, has grown to 333ha. He split the property into two farms in 2001.

“That was my last year milking. We then put contract milkers on both farms; last season we milked 495 cows at home and 520 cows on the sharemilking farm.”

Dobson sources semen from Livestock Improvement Corporation, Ambreed and Liberty Genetics, and does individual matings with nominated semen for each cow.

He has put emphasis on breeding good capacious cows with strong udder support.

“Our cows are producing at a pretty high level for jersey cows, and to put the amount of milk we expect from them into their udders, they’ve got to have good strong udders.

“Per cow last season, we ended up doing 445 kilograms of milksolids; the national average is about 364kg. My little jerseys probably average 400kg of bodyweight, so they’re doing better than 1kg milksolids per kilogram of bodyweight.”

The farm is comfortably stocked at 3.5 cows to the hectare.

My little jerseys probably average 400kg of bodyweight, so they’re doing better than 1kg milksolids per kilogram of bodyweight.

Dobson’s jersey stud has contract matings with LIC, Ambreed, and Liberty Genetics, and also flushes embryos – 26 cows with transferred embryos are ready to calve at the beginning of calving this season.

Dobson’s 42-year hobby is now making good profits from surplus cow sales and the annual bull sale held on farm.

“We keep about 50 of our best bull calves to sell as yearlings, and last year our bull sale averaged a little over $2000 a bull.

“We rear a bit over 200 heifer calves, sell about 50 at weaning, and another 50 as rising two-yearolds. The remainder go into the herd. We also sell a lot of our surplus cows out of the stud herd as budget cows.”

Over the past 10 years Dobson has been DNAtesting all the cows so that he is able to guarantee their parentage.

“That reassurance for our buyers is why we have successful bull sales,” he says. “People come to buy our bulls. They can run them with a line of heifers, then when the calves are born, they can DNA-test the calves and identify their mother and father.”

Dobson is busy off farm. His activity as a masters rower for Riverton Rowing Club, and his role as the Riverton councillor on the Southland District Council keep him out of the cowshed.

PHOTOS Top left: Ashvale KGB Homesick Ex4 9-9, one of Rodney Dobson’s top cows. Top right: The Dobsons rear 200-plus heifer calves, sell about 50 at weaning, and another 50 as raising two-year-olds, with the remained going into the herd. Lower left: A World Jersey Cattle Bureau group visits the Dobson stud. The WJCB is an international organisation made up of national jersey cattle associations, individuals and other organistations

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Snow news turns out good news • From page 36 before bringing them back down for calving.”

In the last couple of seasons the Pavletichs have also taken on outside grazers, 300 last winter and 100 this year, to ease cashflow.

“We’ve dropped numbers back a bit this year because we didn’t have quite as much winter feed on hand following the irrigation development.”

The “long and skinny” property is not without its

challenges, given that the milking platform is four kilometres from end to end.

“We have a dryland block of around 40ha at the very top end of the farm that is not accessible to stock. We put it into lucerne in the spring for silage instead.”

Overall, Pavletich is happy with Station Peak’s performance: “We’ve been through a fairly rapid period of development and it’s great to see these initiatives paying off.”

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38

ON FARM: Robert & Lesley Tennent

Business Rural / Spring 2013

The view across Robert and Lesley Tennent’s South Canterbury dairying property to the sea.

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Fonterra share deal leaves sour taste Neil Grant “We’re trying to make a profit here,” says Robert Tennent. “It’s easy to spend money and build up assets for a capital gain, but we’re trying to keep costs down and run profitably.”

Robert and Lesley Tennent’s farm is on State Highway One at Otaio, south of Timaru. With a milking platform of 420 hectares and two nearby run-offs totalling 140ha, they are milking 1600 friesian and friesian-cross cows – down 100 cows on last season.

“It’s an all-grass farm – no barley is used., “ says Robert Tennent. “We make our own silage, but we struggle to grow enough grass for silage

ourselves on our run-offs, and have had to buy some in.”

Reducing cow numbers will reduce that cost.

They get three cuts a year for silage: at Labour weekend, at the turn of the new year and in March.

Then the cows are wintered there, so that’s four crops a year.

This determination to run profitably received a knock with the 2012 receivership of New Zealand Dairies Ltd, the Russian company running the dairy factory at Studholme.

Controversially, Fonterra bought the plant, although it was said not to have been the highest bidder. Fonterra paid $48.5 million for a plant in which the Russians had invested $100m. Farmersuppliers were owed more than $26m for the

raw milk they had supplied. The silos the farmers owned were not part of the sale either.

The farmers had to supply Fonterra and become shareholders within the next six years, but they were not able to buy shares before the Trading Among Farmers (TAF) scheme was introduced, Tennent says.

“At the time, we were told various dubious reasons why it was outside Fonterra’s constitution; however, we have since discovered other farmers commencing supply were able to ‘share up’ after NZDL’s receivership.

“This has had a huge impact on the business, and, because of the high share price, we feel

• To page 39

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ON FARM: Mark & Lesley Tiller

Business Rural / Spring 2013

39

Environmental reputation wears thin • From page 38 farmers will be forced to look for alternative companies to supply as contracts expire. I am surprised the Fonterra board had not foreseen the impact TAF and a high share price would have on the future increase of supply on New Zealand milk.”

Shares are now selling for more than $8, having been around $5.50 in November 2012 “They’re punishing us, we know. They will have got the factory for nothing by the time we all buy shares. Other shareholders have done well out of the deal, but it has had a big impact on us.”

Still, as is the way of farmers, the Tennents box on.

The Tennent farm has two sheds, but is run as one unit. A lower-order sharemilker, Wayne Molloy, and the Tennents, and their son, Bruce, do the milking, calf-rearing, tractor work, irrigation and farm maintenance.

They have had a reputation as environmentalists, but Robert Tennent finds that title a bit hard to cope with now.

Despite the well-known field of daffodils on the main road, the fencing-off of waterways, culverts across the stream for the cows to walk on, and the newly built effluent ponds, he gets a bit twitchy about being forced by ‘greenies’ to do the sort of thing he reckons they were working on anyway.

“I’ve always grown our spuds in the paddock.

We’ve got only one pivot because I didn’t want to pull the trees out. We like it to be a nice place to be.”

Robert Tennent gets a bit twitchy about being forced by ‘greenies’ to do the sort of things he’s working on anyway.

One thing that irritates him is that the fencedoff streams now are turning into hemlock, gorse and willowed waterways because they no longer

Fenced-off streams are turning into hemlock, gorse and willowed waterways. He fears they will just get bunged up. He can’t see that that’s any sort of progress at all.

get farmed. He fears they will eventually just get bunged up, and can’t see that that’s any sort of progress at all.

“I can’t be bothered arguing with them, but often I don’t think they’re realistic. Regulations can become a pain.”

Breeding consists of artificial insemination with good bulls, and throwing out the poorer producing cows. A hereford bull “cleans up” after the main mating, and these calves are sold off, as long as they are of a good standard, at four days. There’s

a good market for them for other farmers to fatten.

Replacement calves and heifers go off the property after weaning to a nearby cropping farmer who grows them on for 18 months.

The property began as a sheep farm. After World War 2, Robert Tennent’s father converted it to dairying, and was the biggest supplier of town milk to Timaru. In 10 years he had paid it off, and converted it back to sheep. Now it’s dairying again.

Whatever the next stage, travellers will be hoping the daffodils keep on growing.

Couple plan a support ‘sideways’ move Karen Phelps After working in the dairy industry for more than 20 years Mark and Lesley Tiller’s next step could see them move ‘sideways’ in the industry as they get a step closer to farm ownership.

The couple are on the look-out for an opportunity to buy outright, or shares in, a support block.

“Our next goal is to get our own land for dairy heifer grazing, beef and sheep,” says Mark Tiller.

“But, with land prices the way they are, we are thinking this will probably be as part of an equity partnership initially, then perhaps we can buy it outright once we have built up enough equity. But we’ll see.”

The Tillers are shareholders in a FarmRight equity partnership on a dairy enterprise at Tapanui, north of Gore. They also manage the 680-hecatre property – 500ha of dairy unit and 140ha of land used as a run-off. The farm milks 1420 friesian, jersey and crossbred cows through a 54-bail rotary and a 34-a-side herring bone shed.

The fifth-year conversion farm is run as three blocks, each with a separate herd manager (all

from Nepal). One herd is made up of the cows capable of walking the furtherest, one of heifers and young cows, and one of jerseys. Two herds are run through the rotary shed, and the third through the herringbone.

The all-grass system places the farm firmly in the hands of the weather gods when it comes to production. Last season’s dry summer dragged targeted production down by 3% despite it being a record production year on the farm. The cows were dried off on May 11, around two weeks earlier than usual.

Having good supplies of silage in stock usually sees them through if the weather plays nice, says Mark Tiller. They make 600-700 tonnes of pit silage and 1000 bales of balage a year. Eight hundred and fifty cows are wintered on farm, and the rest off farm.

The staff – five full-time and four part-time – form a pretty stable workforce, says Tiller. There have been no staff changes in the last two years.

He generally oversees the operation and fills in as needed; Lesley is the chief calf-rearer and organises the young stock; a FarmRight adviser and financial manager come in once a month.

Last season the farm produced 471,000

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Mark Tiller was raised on a dairy farm at Tangowahine, Dargaville; when he left school, he headed to work on a farm south of Dargaville as a dairy assistant.

He managed a 380-cow unit at Ruawai for three years before taking on a lower-order sharemilking position for the Northern Wairoa Experimental Farm (now known as the Northland Agricultural Research Farm). He ran the 64ha, 200-cow farm single handedly for four years.

He then moved to Edendale, in Southland, for a year managing a 1100-cow farm before heading back to the family farm at Tangowahine, where he milked 360 cows. After six years there, it was south again to Woodlands, north of Invercargill, where he managed two 800-cow farms

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40

ON FARM: Rua Farming Company

Business Rural / Spring 2013

PHOTOS Re-grassing continues and border-dyke irrigation is being phased out at the Rua Farming Company’s dairy property in South Canterbury.

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Bye bye border dyke Kelly Deeks Record production has continued at Rua Farming Company’s Waimate dairy farm, with farm manager Mitchell Bragg confident of achieving a seventh record next season as more land is regrassed and 100% of the farm comes under spray irrigation.

Bragg, who is part of the Rua Farming Company equity partnership, is going into seventh season on the 960-cow farm.

The irrigation system has been under development as long as Bragg has been there.

The final 30% of the old border-dyke scheme has now replaced by spray irrigation.

“We’ve got better grass growth and we’re using the water and the nutrients a lot better,” says Bragg. “The spray irrigation is helping our nutrient budget, and the amount of nitrogen we’re leaching is a lot less under spray irrigation than border dyke.”

The irrigation-system development has seen a lot of trees removed from the property, and Bragg spent last winter planting 4000 new trees to replace them.

We haven’t increased for two years, and we’ll sit around 960 cows for another two years.

“It just improves the aesthetics of the farm,” he says. “I’m a North Islander and I miss the trees you see up there.”

He says he will plant a few more this winter.

He will also re-grass about 14% of the farm, starting with the old, uneven pastures that used to be under border-dyke irrigation.

“They are narrow borders and they never watered very well. Now they are under spray irrigation and it sprays 100% of the pasture.

We’ll be taking the borders out over the next year or two, flattening them out and regrassing.”

The farm’s newest pivot crosses the Waikakahi Stream, part of the Ministry for the Environment’s Clean Streams Accord. Bragg has a job this winter to construct 12 bridges over the stream to allow the new pivot to do a 360-degree turn instead of the 180-degree spin it can do at the moment.

“That is the last of the border-dyke land, and once these bridges are in, the spray irrigation will cover 100% of the farm,” he says.

Next season Bragg will slow down on farm development works, on which he has been “fairly busy” during his time with Rua. “A lot of the development has been done out of cashflow, and although the farm is not a new conversion, it has been treated like a new conversion.

“Every fence on the farm is six years old or younger, we’ve got new laneways, and we built a new effluent system two years ago.”

With the irrigation system now complete, Bragg hopes to increase the farm’s total production by 3% each season, aiming to

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improve per-cow production before he thinks about upping the stocking rate.

“If we increase the herd, we’re looking at more cows per staff member; at the moment, we’re milking 240 cows per staff member,” he says. “We haven’t increased for two years, and we’ll sit around 960 cows for another two years.”

The low cost system he runs sees him bring in about 312kgs of dry matter per cow per year, and the cows are producing about 375kgs milksolids.

Bragg will start next season with the same staff he has had for the past three years, which he says is worth a lot.

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Business Rural / Spring 2013

41

Many a reason leads to Gallipoli Yea, Anthony Haring’s pretty much your standard teenage boy. Hangs out with a set of headphones, slouches around, offers an occasional grunt. But there was nothing stereotypical about his response when his parents asked what he would like for his 18th birthday (which just happens to fall on April 26). “Anzac Day at Gallipoli,” said the lad from Western Australia.

“That was on the my bucket list. Just the excuse I needed, so here we are,” says Dad Neil Haring, who runs his own bullbar/nudgebar-manufacturing business in Perth and was entrepreneur of the year in the 2013 Australian business excellence awards.

Mum Kim and sister Caitlin came too, and Anthony invited grandmother Julia, who grabbed the opportunity to track down her Anzac uncle’s grave.

Gallipoli and the Anzac tradition have long tweaked Anthony’s interest. Partly because Anzac Day observance – and the respect, remembrance and emotion that goes with it – is built into the Haring family ethos and tradition; partly because of the family links to the world wars; partly through the Haring children’s involvement in scouts, brownies and guides.

His transformation during an afternoon tour of key Gallipoli sites a couple of days before Anzac Day was revelatory. Once he was on the ground and the Turkish guide and Gallipoli story captured his attention, Anthony’s apparent teenage ennui evaporated He was eager, all eyes and ears, as he listened, looked and learned – and helped Grandma find her uncle at the Australian memorial at Lone Pine.

Worth the trip? “Too right.” Up to what he had hoped? “Even better.” And there were still the dawn and Australian services in store.

The Harings’ story is both typical and atypical.

Typical because almost certainly every visitor to Gallipoli has a personal reason for going. Atypical because no matter how similar some of the reasons for going may appear, no two will be the same.

Each visitor’s Gallipoli rationale and experience is different, unique.

Peter Eggleton, from Christchurch, discovered his grandfather’s Gallipoli and World War 1 medals, and decided to see for himself. His sister, Ruth Spittle, who teaches at a Napier primary school, was able to go with him because Anzac Day this year fell within the term holidays.

England-born Peter Galloway now lives in Australia, but his father was a World War 2 bomber

Just two years out from its centenary, the 1915 Anzac invasion is beginning to be seen as a significant event on an international scale.

The Harings at the Australian memorial at Lone Pine...from left, Anthony, mum Kim, dad Neil, grandma Julia.

RuralSouth editor DION CROOKS spent Anzac Week on the ground in Gallipoli. His travel and accommodation were provided and organised courtesy of Innovative Travel Co Ltd: P.O. Box 21247, Christchurch 8013; Ph 03 3653910; toll-free 0508 100111; l free 0508 700700; email info@ innovativetravel.co.nz; website www.innovativetravel.co.nz. pilot and prisoner of war. An Anzac Day regular, he says the crucial element is remembrance and tribute to those who have fought. Paul Gurieff’s experience as a volunteer marshal last year inspired him to bring his family this year. Paul and Michelle, a young schoolteaching couple from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, have taken a year off to travel – Anzac Day was the first booking they made.

But a broader market is emerging for Gallipoli.

Just two years out from its centenary, the 1915 Anzac invasion is beginning to be seen as a significant, historical event on an international scale. This reaches beyond the direct Anzac connection to those interested in history, in world events, and those capable of taking an intelligent

interest in events and activities. Hence the presence of Americans, South Africans and Asians on preAnzac Day tours.

A South African couple heard about the Gallipoli story while in Istanbul five years ago. They didn’t have time to go then, but decided that if they were there again, they would. They were back for a conference this April, and spent a day on the peninsula.

This growing and broadening interest has led to more than 3 million people now visiting Gallipoli each year. A Gallipoli “industry” has developed.

Visits to Gallipoli and Anzac Day are significant contributors to the local economy.

The upsurge in visitor numbers to Gallipoli has

been largely fuelled by Turks. The Turks have their own monuments on the peninsula, and they hold their own commemorative services on Anzac Day alongside the Kiwis and Aussies. In fact, the New Zealand and Turkish monuments at Chunuk Bair are so close it’s not hard to mistake one for the other, and the Anzac services follow one another at sideby-side venues.

There’s talk that the hordes of “battlefield tourists” could overrun the commemorative nature of the peninsula. The accusation is also levelled that many of the New Zealanders and Australians who come for Anzac Day see it as nothing more than a rite of passage or another tourist event to tick off their list.

However, the example of this year’s dawn service suggests Anzac has a much deeper meaning for most who came. If there were people not affected by the gravitas of the occasion, they were certainly not evident – or they had been overtaken by the mood of the 5300 (the official count).

This view is supported by the research Gallipoli author John Basarin (a Turk who moved to live in Australia in 1966) did for his doctoral thesis in 2011.

His work showed the strongest motives for coming to Anzac Day at Gallipoli to be: showing gratitude for freedom now enjoyed; an act of remembrance; a commemoration service; affirming shared values. An overwhelming majority would tell others about it and recommend that others go. A big majority described the experience as emotional, and values such as self-fulfilment, warm relationships with others and a sense of belonging rated highly.

‘i felt that, however long I lived, no greater nor moving moment would befall me’ Dion Crooks Gallipoli tourism was born in 1961 when Australian writer Betty Roland stood on the peninsula alone on Anzac Day. Roland made the trip as part of a break from her long sojourn on the Greek island of Lesbos. She got to Turkey and hired a boat at Canakkale to take her across the Dardenelles to Gallipoli.

Her guide was Hector McMann, a former Black Watch and Gordon Highlanders soldier who at that time was the officer-in-charge of war graves on Gallipoli; she also had an interpreter, John, whose father was the head gardener on Gallipoli.

“I had carefully considered the clothes I should wear this Anzac Day,” she wrote in her book, Lesbos, the Pagan Island.

“In Australia it is a day of solemn dedication and I was going to the place where men had died, yet I could not bring myself to dress in black. The men who had died in 1915 had been little more than boys, and youth flowed hotly in their blood.

“They were not of the breed to relish mournful faces and funeral clothes, so I had packed my prettiest and most becoming dress and was grateful that the day was warm enough to wear it.

“I took special pains about my make-up, using lipstick and mascara, feeling sure that this was how they would have liked it, and I added perfume. I wished that I was younger (she was 58 at the time), but felt sure “the boys” would understand.”

She records their arrival at Lone Pine: “Mac got out and held the gate open for me.

‘This is Lone Pine’, he said. ‘I thought you’d like to come here first.’ I looked around. On every side the

In 1961 Betty Rowland described the cemetery at Anzac Cove as ‘perhaps the most moving place on Gallipoli’. silence and a brooding sense of loneliness. ‘Am I the only one to come here on this day ?’ I asked.

“Aye lass, you are,” said Mac. “The only one.” And then he turned away.”

They moved on to Anzac Cove: “We looked down on a small sandy bay, tranquil in the morning sunlight. ‘And there it is. That’s Anzac Cove itself,’ Mac told me quietly. A shallow beach between two points, not more than 10 yards deep, perhaps a quarter of a mile in length, empty and deserted now with the rusty remains of an old water-condenser lying on the sand.

Back in Australia, Roland wrote in the Australian Women’s Weekly of April 28, 1965 – the year that 86 of the original Anzacs returned to Gallipoli for the 50th anniversary – about her trip to Gallipoli.

Of leaving Canakkale: “I had come to Turkey

by a long and devious route, and there had been some discomforts, difficulties, even minor dangers.

But what of it? I had reached my goal and was on the threshold of one of the most deeply moving experiences of my life.”

And Lone Pine: “No one else was there. I was the sole representative of my country and the consciousness of this weighed heavily upon me, particularly as I walked through the low wooden gate that led me to the place where some of Australia’s most illustrious dead lay. How young they were. Scarcely one of them more than 25.

“After one has got over the first surge of emotion and the feeling of being near to tears, the brooding peace that lies like a benediction over all the dozen or so cemeteries on Gallipoli begins to manifest itself. There is an air timelessness.

“It was rare thing to be there alone, to walk among those quiet graves, to sense the melancholy and the strange, mystical atmosphere that broods in the silence and seems to to touch the soul. I trod softly and was grateful to the little Scottish captain for leaving me alone.”

Roland found Lone Pine, Chunuk Bair and Anzac Cove “the three most moving places on Gallipoli... and of these perhaps Anzac Cove stands foremost”.

“I gathered an armful of flowers – flag lilies, poppies, small white daisies and some yellow broom – and laid them on the stone of remembrance in one of the cemeteries. It was close to the sea, and here, I learnt later, is where the ‘Man with the Donkey’, Pte Simpson, lies buried... the man who went out at night with his patient little donkey and brought the wounded down to the dressing-station on the beach. On May 15, 1915, he was killed at the age of 22, yet in those few weeks he won a place in history and in the hearts of men.

“The sun was sinking into the Aegean as I stood in the silent cemetery. A Turkish general (on a tour of inspection), the Scottish captain, and John, the interpreter and son of the head gardener, were with me standing to attention. I felt that, however long I lived, no greater nor more moving moment would befall me.”

Betty Roland continued to write newspaper articles, books, radio and stage plays, children’s books and comic strips until she died, aged 93, in 1996.

Many thousands have followed her to Gallipoli.

While no two experiences will be exactly the same, very few of Roland’s Gallipoli successors would argue with her description.

42

SPECIAL REPORT

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Turks keen ‘to showpiece’ friendship Dion Crooks Will the Anzac Day-based commemoration at Gallipoli continue as time and generational sequence blunt the immediacy of the links? Will there be a bi-centenary commemoration in 2115?

Turkish/Australian Gallipoli expert John Basarin doesn’t pretend to know the ultimate answer, but he’s prepared to hazard a yes – on three grounds.

• Precedent “Big events in history continue to be commemorated. The British commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and the Turks commemorate the capture of Istanbul, or Constantinople as it was then (1453).

“I’m sure it will be, but in a different form. I’m sure that over another 100 years, many more and different relationships will develop between these three countries.

“In essence it will probably stay the same, but the format will probably be different...maybe people will be able to have ceremonies in their own home in an electronic world.”

• Politics “Gallipoli is important for Turkey not so much for its economic contribution to the country, but because of its symbolic significance.

“The Turkish government wants to showcase to the world the friendship that has come from this tragic campaign, how Turkey, Australia and New Zealand have become friends, and that this is a unique position.”

• Personal “This (2013) is the twelfth time I’ve been to Anzac Cove on Anzac Day. People keep asking me,’Aren’t you sick of it?’ No, I’m not because as a Turkish/Australian, I feel for the poor diggers landing at dawn not knowing what was ahead of them. On my other shoulder I feel for the Turkish soldiers waiting in trenches peering into dark sky and sea, and not knowing what’s coming. I feel for both of them every time I stand there. I still feel the same.

“I’ve had some sceptics tell me that they had such a moving experience they never expected...I’ve seen them cry about the futility. The loss of young lives they can’t comprehend.”

Meanwhile Basarin remains optimistic. He John Basarin: “This is the 12th time I’be been to Anzac Cove on Anzac Day. People keep asking me ‘Aren’t you sick of it?’ No, I’m not because as a Turkish/Australian, I feel for the poor diggers landing at dawn not knowing what was ahead of them. On my other shoulder I feel for the Turkish soldiers waiting in trenches peering into dark sky and sea, and not knowing what’s coming. for both sides every time I stand there. I still feel the same.’

Kiwis Brendon Russo and Helen Wright warm up for the dawn service at Gallipoli. Photo: John Ferguson. detects no waning of interest in Gallipoli. Indeed, he is highly encouraged by how, over the last 20-25 years, young Kiwis, Aussies and Turks alike have embraced the Gallipoli/Anzac Day. “Gallipoli was a seminal moment in history of all three countries, and any young person who asks the question will find immediately that Gallipoli has a special page. And I think this can only get better.”

Anzac Day 2013 certainly supports that view.

Basarin, who has authored six books on Gallipoli, completed his doctoral thesis (Battlefield Tourism – Anzac Day Commemorations at Gallipoli) in 2011.

His research, which involved interviewing 1000 Australians going to and from Gallipoli, that their strongest motives were to show gratitude for freedom they now enjoyed, to be part of an act of remembrance and a commemoration service, and to affirm shared values.

An overwhelming majority of those interviewed said they would tell others about it and recommend they go. A big majority described the experience as emotional, and values such as self-fulfilment, warm relationships with others and a sense of belonging rated highly.

Anzac Day Gallipoli 2013 mirrored those findings.

A good 90-95% of the 5300 (the official count) at the dawn service there would have been under 35. Their exemplary behaviour and demeanour right through the night, and willing participation in the service created an atmosphere that blended reverence and revelry, commemoration and celebration in exactly the right proportions.

Cruise offers ‘best of both worlds’ Taking your chances on scoring a pass in the ballot and getting yourself to the Anzac Day centenary commemorations at Gallipoli in 2015 may sound like a bit of a hassle. There’s one way, however, that you can make the process a real cruise.

A consortium of tour companies has come up with the Gallipoli Epic Cruise option. You can be in the Gallipoli area for the lead-up to Anzac Day, visit the sites, be part of the dawn service on Anzac Day – and do it all in comfort on board ship without excessive physical strain.

The New Zealand partner in the cruise is Innovative Travel Ltd, which has specialised for 23 years in “ancient kingdoms” holidays and travel to the Middle East/North Africa/Mediterranean region.

The company organised visits to the 90th and 95th commemorations at Gallipoli.

The group is organising a nine-day Gallipoli 2015 cruise (Istanbul to Istanbul from April 18-26).

Three years in the making, the cruise is the only Anzac centenary travel experience to be endorsed by the Australian Geographic Society, which has become an official expedition partner.

The journey will re-enact the Anzac troops’ voyage from the Greek island of Lemnos to Anzac Cove, explore the key Gallipoli sites, and culminate with the on-board dawn service beamed in live as the ship sits two kilometres off Anzac Cove. Other services will be held on board during the day. New

Zealand opera singer Dame Malvina Major has confirmed she will sing as part of the Anzac Day programme.

Four Gallipoli specialists each with a distinct area of expertise, will be on board through the tour to help build and round out the Gallipoli story.

They will cover perspectives such as military strategy, life in the front line for both Anzac and Turk, the abiding humanity that existed between the two foes, the Anzac diet, lost loves, humour, slang, the true origins of two-up, digger and cobber.

Gallipoli historian John Basarin, who will be one of the on-board experts, says that if you’re in the age group who require a bit of peace, quiet and comfort, and don’t want to be exposed to the elements, the cruise could do you very nicely.

“You can have all your comforts, you will be in the Dardenelles or off Anzac Cove, you will get a great view of the official dawn service as proceedings are beamed to the ship and shown on a large screen, and you can also have your own ceremony (three options) on board. You can have best of both worlds.”

He says he has come across one or two people who say they don’t want to come to Gallipoli in 2015 because it’ll be too much of an effort and too much hassle.

“But the centenary won’t come round more than once, it’ll be something to be able to tell your

grandchildren you were there on Anzac Day 2015.

It’s a seminal moment, like a birthday. We celebrate our birthdays – if I manage to have a 100th birthday, I’ll be very happy to be partying.”

The other on-board specialists will be: – Kevin Fewster, in his sixth year as director of the Royal Museums, Greenwich, in the United Kingdom; Previously director of museums in Australia where he taught histiory at tertiary level.

– Jim Molan, retired from 40 years in the Australian Army in July 2008 with the rank of major general. Broad range of roles in operations, training, staff and military diplomacy; Coalition’s chief of operations in Iraq in 2004.

– Carol Scott, a planner, builder and measurer of museums, with specialist expertise in the ancient city of Troy. Has worked with Te Papa (Wellington) and museums in Australia, England, Finland and Sweden.

• Cruise details/information: Innovative Travel Co Ltd: P.O.Box 21247, Christchurch 8013; Ph 03 3653910; toll-free 0508 100111; fax 03 3655755; toll free 0508 700700; email info@innovativetravel. co.nz; website www.innovativetravel.co.nz. Rural South editor Dion Crooks spent Anzac Week 2013 at Gallipoli. His travel and accommodation were provided and organised courtesy of Innovative Travel Co Ltd

This example strongly suggests that Anzac has deep meaning for most who came. True, some might have seen it as a rite of passage or another tourist event to tick off their list. But there was no evidence of this – which reinforces Basarin’s observation about sceptics being absorbed by the occasion, and its broader implications about the waste and futility of war.

With the surge of interest from Anzac youth, the development of battlefield tourism on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and the incorporation of Gallipoli study into Turkey’s national school curriculum, the quantity of human and vehicular traffic around Gallipoli has soared in the last 1015 years.

There's now a stipulation that every Turkish school student has to make at least one organised excursion to Gallipoli because of its significance as the birthplace of the republic. Many groups of Turkish university students were in evidence over this year's Anzac week – it took an hour and a half to empty close to 10,000 or so of them from the Turkish service at Chunuk Bair on Anzac Day. And there’s the emerging international market as the Galliploi invasion is increasingly recognised as a significant, historical event on an international scale. This reaches beyond the direct Anzac connection to all nationalities and people.

Clearly, as the direct family links to 1915 fade and loosen with time, the future of Anzac Day Gallipoli will lie with younger generations who will come because the place and the commemorations are part of their heritage, provoke thought and offer lessons.

The physical toll

The official count at this year’s dawn service on Gallipoli was 5300. They’re expecting 10,500 for the centenary commemoration in 2015 – 8000 Australians, 2000 New Zealanders and 500 officials.

At 5300, it was comfortable. Plenty of spare seats and space to stretch, plenty of room to move in or out through the rows, no long queues for food, toilets. No hassle.

At 10,500 – virtually double this year’s numbers – it will be “tight as”. No spare seats, no space to stretch, no room to move in and out, almost certainly lengthy queues. Plenty of hassle.

And that’s once you’ve got to Anzac Cove.

To get there, you go by bus, then walk the last stretch. They say it’s seven kilometres; it’s more like four, easy going along a shingle road. But for anyone with a disability, not in the best of nick, or not used to or up to such activity, it’s a hurdle.

Then, if you’re keen to go to the New Zealand service, you have to get yourself from sea level at Anzac Cove to Chunuk Bair, the command post on the highest point of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

There will be only way. Up, by track and then sealed road. You won’t be able to go by bus. It’s a steady climb...fine if you’re fit and able, but a challenging “fair old haul” for those who aren’t.

And there will a long, long wait for the buses to get you away from Chunuk Bair after the service.

This year, they were talking up to three hours.

Double the numbers in 2015...and guess how long.

RURAL SERVICES: Jamie Wratt Fencing Contractor

Business Rural / Spring 2013

43

PHOTOS Jamie Wratt says he enjoys fencing cattleyards and working on steep country: ‘They’re challenging and you often have to think outside the square.’ With the slowdown in dairying development work, his firm has been doing more in other sectors. And, equipped with a digger and truck, he says there’s not much in his field that he can’t tackle.

‘Hub’ centre of life and work Sue Russell Settled happily in what he declares is the undeniable “hub” of New Zealand – the village of St Andrews, 20 kiolmetres south of Timaru – fencing contractor Jamie Wratt has plenty of work to keep him busy.

He employs three full-time staff, plus a casual fencer. He says the size of the business is spot-on, keeping everyone employed through the year.

“My staff are good blokes, they know their job really well, and they treat the business like it’s

their’s. You couldn’t ask for better. Bruce has been working for me for six years. To be able to depend on them to do a top job is huge for me; good staff are the key to a business being successful.”

It also helps for a fencer to have a farming background, as Jamie has. An understanding of how stock behave and the impact they have on fences leads to a better job for the client.

Jamie Wratt Fencing concentrates its work around the local district. Most jobs are within a halfhour-drive radius from home.

Jamie Wratt enjoys fencing cattleyards as well

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are grazing dairy cattle and need to build yards and often lanes, and upgrade fences.

“We’re lucky we have always had other regular clients, and with a digger and truck as well, we can take on other work.”

When it comes to finding new staff, he tends not to advertise, and says he’s not always the best judge of CVs and the like.

“Last week a guy just drove up and asked if I had any work. He turned up next day at 7am and I could see you only had to explain things to him once. You can’t get that from an application.

Having confidence that your guys are going to understand exactly what’s needed is a big thing in this line of work.”

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as working on steep country: “They’re challenging and you often have to think outside the square.”

His wife, Helen, helps with the accounts, and weekends are kept free for time with their two children, nine-year-old Ben and eight- year-old Hayley, who go to the St Andrews School.

With a few years’ experience tucked under his belt, Wratt is fairly confident at quoting jobs.

“You get to know what you can achieve in a day when estimating time for a job. Actually, I don’t do a huge amount of pricing. People tend to ring up and we take it from there.”

It’s important, too, to keep standards up, as he puts it. Farmers will tell their neighbours when a job’s done well, or when it’s not.

The firm’s work has been more concentrated on sheep farms lately. He says there has been a slowdown in dairying development work, but there’s always the knock-on effect. Many mixed farmers

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44

RURAL SERVICES: Paul Smith Earthmoving

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Earthworks firm sets up Jo Bailey The rural sector is a rapidly growing market for Timaru-based contracting firm Paul Smith Earthmoving, which has established a special rural branch, based in Ashburton, to provide agricultural earthmoving services.

“We’re getting busier and busier,” says Ashburton manager Kerry Bartlett, who is known as ‘Jacko’ around Mid Canterbury. “The hardest thing

in the beginning was getting our name out there, but we’re flat out now.”

The Ashburton-based branch was formed around a year ago to specialise mainly in earthmoving and civil services for a range of rural projects, including dairy conversions, effluent and water storage.

It covers the greater Canterbury area – Mid, South and North Canterbury.

“We’ve got a number of effluent-pond projects on the go with everyone trying to comply with the

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“We have digger operators who specialise in tree removals and final trimming work, grader operators with expertise in lane works, trimming and irrigation works, a scraper operator who specialises in pond construction and general scraper earthworks, and several experienced dozer operators.”

Bartlett is a “born and bred” Ashburton local himself. He had more than 20 years’ experience in agricultural earthmoving, mainly in the Canterbury region, before taking on his new role.

“I’ve been involved in hundreds of dairy

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Environment Canterbury regulations,” says Kerry Bartlett.

“We’re also working on several dairy conversions, tree removal and contour works for irrigation projects, general track maintenance, stock underpasses, and a bit of work for irrigation companies.”

He says the company has handpicked a local staff of experienced operators, who between them have a broad range of expertise in agricultural earthmoving.

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RURAL SERVICES: Paul Smith Earthmoving

Business Rural / Spring 2013

45

specialist rural branch conversions, water storage and irrigation projects over the years,” he says.

“This experience means I’m often asked by farmers to advise them at the earliest stages of their project, from consultation to design and implementation of the project, to ensure they are heading in the right direction.”

He says the backing of the wider Paul Smith Earthmoving group allows the Ashburton branch to offer a full complement of civil and earthmoving services outside the rural sector.

“The company had already provided a significant amount of civil works to the Ashburton Business Park and other local projects before setting up the branch here.”

Bartlett says the company’s Ashburton fleet is being “continually upgraded”, and staff are using the latest laser level and GPS technology. They are also kept up to date with industry trends.

“Things are changing all the time, particularly around effluent storage. We are in regular talks with Dairy New Zealand, Fonterra and Environment Canterbury to keep a handle on new technologies and regulations affecting the industry.”

With the dairy industry buoyant across Canterbury, he expects the current workload to continue for some time.

“We’ll just keep doing what we do best – a good quality job with no short cuts.”

PHOTOS Examples of Paul Smith Earthworks projects: Facing page: The earth moves for the river at Lilybank.

Top: An effluent pond on a Canterbury dairy farm.

Above: A digger paves the way on a project in rural Canterbury.

Above, right: Track and renewal work on a Canterbury dairy farm.

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46

RURAL SERVICES: Paul Smith Earthmoving

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Plant grows to match activity Jo Bailey The Timaru and Christchurch branches of Paul Smith Earthmoving are continuing to grow alongside its rapidly expanding Ashburton operation.

“We are flat out across the board,” says director Tony Moir.

“The work is pretty evenly spread across our whole range of services, although the rural side of the business is certainly growing faster than some.

Drainage works, effluent projects and forestry maintenance are other significant parts of our current portfolio.”

He and fellow director Bruce Tinnelly bought the long-standing Timaru firm in 2002.

Its projects are currently split between civil, rural and domestic works, in addition to the ongoing recovery work in Christchurch.

In 2011 Paul Smith Earthmoving opened a Christchurch branch to service its earthquakerelated projects in the city. These include infrastructure repair works for SCIRT and civil works for construction companies such as Fletchers and Hawkins.

“We had always carried out a lot of work in Christchurch anyway, so our permanent presence there has been well received by the market,” says Moir.

Around 50 mainly local staff are employed at the company’s Blenheim Road site in Christchurch.

The Timaru operation is busy with plenty of subdivision, general building, farm projects and

capital works for Timaru District Council, says Moir.

It is a pre-approved contractor to both the Timaru and Ashburton district councils.

In 2005, Moir and Tinnelly formed a subsidiary, Paul Smith Aggregates, to specialise in crushing and screening aggregate, metal, crushing coal, ballast, topsoil and compost screening, blasting quarries for rock and recycling concrete.

“Since 2008 we’ve held a recycled crushed concrete contract with Transit New Zealand.

Following the earthquakes, we have stockpiled this product at our Wigram (Christchurch) yard for roading repairs and construction in Christchurch.”

The company has a significant amount of new plant, including trucks, diggers, and rollers, to keep up with this work.

“Another six new diggers in June alone,” says Moir. “The purchase of plant is ongoing as a consequence of the additional work.”

Tinnelly says the company has managed to add plenty of good operators to its staff in line with its growth, and says there is room for more expansion yet. ”We have the systems and plant in place to consider any potential opportunities that come along.”

PHOTOS Paul Smith Earthmoving’s work is split between rural, civil, domestic and Christchuirch earthquake recovery projects. Director Tony Moir says rural work, drainage, effluent projects and forestry maintenance are significant in the company’s current portfolio.

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RURAL SERVICES: Phoenix Aviation

Business Rural / Spring 2013

47

Success based on ‘fantastic clients’ Kelly Deeks Phoenix Aviation’s achievement In becoming New Zealand’s oldest surviving aerial topdressing company is a tribute to its fantastic clients, says the company’s operations manager.

“Some of our customers have been with us since the beginning,” says Barry Morton, who is also the firm’s Mossburn area pilot.

The agricultural-aviation firm, which has been in the air for more than 40 years, runs a fleet of Fletcher FU-24s from the Charlton Airfield, near Gore. It also has stationed aircraft in Alexandra, Balclutha and Mossburn, and a depot at Lumsden.

Morton says the company provides all agricultural-aviation services, with a specialisation in aerial topdressing and crop spraying.

Phoenix Aviation was formed in 1968, when the late Peter Browne had the opportunity to buy two Cessna Agwagons at a very reasonable price from wound-up company Rural Aviation.

Browne set about arranging for a syndicate of farmers and transport operators to buy these aircraft, and form a new company to run a commercial-aviation operation at Gore.

In December 1968, Phoenix Aviation rose from the ashes of Rural Aviation, like the phoenix of the Greek legend. The new company, which included farmer Bunty Grant and transport operator Bill Sutherland, bought five Cessna Agwagons and operated south of the Waitaki River.

The business flourished as farming boomed through the 1970s. A number of new pilots were trained, among them Barry Morton, chief pilot Brian Casey, who has been with the company for 40 years, and retired Balclutha pilot David Renton.

In 1971, Phoenix Aviation bought its first Fletcher 400; four more were acquired over the next 10 years.

The removal of farming subsidies (never restored) in the 1980s brought “a sharp drop in the money available for topdressing and aerial spraying”, says Morton. “Like other aviation companies at the time, Phoenix Aviation was obliged to cut back.”

As the rural economy improved, Phoenix

expanded again; in the 1990s, it bought Des Pirie Ltd (Balclutha), and Agair Aviation Ltd (Gore).

In 1996 Phoenix Aviation bought out Turbo Air Services, in Central Otago. The topdressing work in that region required turbo-prop aircraft; after trialling a Cresco 750hp turbo prop, Phoenix joined with two other operators to form Turbine Conversions Ltd. A type certification to convert Fletcher piston-driven aircraft to Czech Walter 550-horsepower turbo props was granted in 1998, and two aircraft have been converted.

“Development in the aerial-application industry never stops, with improvements taking place all the time,” Morton says.

“With the advent of the global positioning system (GPS), it was only natural that such a pinpoint-accurate device would be incorporated into our aircraft, supplying pilots with a guidance system second to none. The on-line map display of completed swaths makes aerial application more accurate than anyone had ever hoped for.”

In March 1995 Phoenix Aviation Maintenance Ltd was formed to maintain Phoenix Aviation’s aircraft. That company now also maintains aircraft for other commercial operators and aero clubs.

‘Development in the aerial-application industry never stops, with improvements taking place all the time,’ says Barry Morton, operations manager for Phoenix Aviation.

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48

RURAL SERVICES: South Otago Grain

Business Rural / Spring 2013

PHOTOS: South Otago Grain has been manufacturing and running its business from this base in Balcutha since the company was formed by local farmers in 1967. However, there have been some adjustments to the business mix over that time – essentially a reflection of the changes that have come as cows have increasingly shoved sheep and crops out of the region’s paddocks.

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Kelly Deeks The rapid advance of New Zealand dairying has had a major impact on the business of Balcutha-based South Otago Grain.

Today’s farming industry is a different thing from the days of 46 years ago when local farmers established the company as a grain-drying, storage and handling facility.

Soon after its inception, South Otago Grain began manufacturing stock food through the acquisition of another local business, Vital Stockfoods.

The company now supplies stockfood made from locally grown grain for sheep, cattle, pigs, poultry, dogs, deer, birds, rabbits, and horses.

General manager Mike Maley says the number of sheep farmed in New Zealand has halved since 1967 when the business was formed – and at least half of them have gone from South Otago.

“Dairy farmers feed a lot of grain, but they do have other options,” he says.

A lot of dairy farmers in the region now have their own grain crushers, while others grow their own grain.

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Farmers get only one chance to develop their animals and get them off to a good start in life – and that’s while they are young.

“If they do grow their own grain, or have contracts with grain growers, we can make that into a product for them.”

Maley says that with dairy conversions having taken over much of the South Otago region’s arable land, grain is becoming harder and harder to source.

However, South Otago Grain’s longevity and business history has enabled the company to forge and maintain good relationships with local cropfarmers.

“All of our grain is sourced locally, and we also use some soy meal, which we bring in from Christchurch.”

In 2000, the business upgraded its manufacturing plant to keep up with the increasing demand.

Maley says that at certain times of the year, stock foods need to be produced quickly, so all pellet processors, augers, and associated gear were replaced and upgraded.

“Instead of producing one tonne an hour, we can now produce five tonnes an hour. We had to speed up all of our machinery and add more storage to store the fresh product.

“Pellet ingredients are tested for their protein content before being used in a recipe, so that we can produce our products to the highest possible standard.”

Vital Stockfoods’ standard and high-protein calf pellets contain Bovatec for the control of coccidiosis and to improve liveweight gain.

The standard pellet provides a minimum protein of 15%, while the high-protein pellet provides a minimum protein of 18%, says Maley.

Vital Stockfoods also provides Vita-Corn Calf Rearer, its own formulated blend of high-protein calf pellets, crushed barley, maize, and molasses.

The corn mix is ideal for starting calves on to solid rations, says Maley.

“This is ideal when you are trying to get the animals to eat feed. Get them on to it while they’re young and get them growing.

“Farmers get only one chance to develop their animals and get them off to a good start in life – and that’s while they are young.”

Products can be made to individual farmers’ requirements, and South Otago Grain is happy to share its stockfeed knowledge and offer suggestions to its clients, he says.

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RURAL SERVICES: ConcretePower

Business Rural / Spring 2013

The ‘concrete’ word spreads round island Karen Phelps Word of mouth and reputation has helped ConcretePower to continued growth. The company, started 11 years ago by Daryl and Gail Power, offers all types of concrete and construction work to customers in the South Island.

The Rangiora-based company’s services include driveways, bridges and culverts, fence pillars, dairy sheds, herd homes, swimming pools, silage pits, fertiliser pits, effluent systems, foundations, homes and buildings. The firm can take care of all associated jobs.

“Our real strength is that we can do such a variety of work,” says Gail Power. “For example, decorative, structural and precast concretes. Our clients just have to come to us to get the job done.

Basically, anything and everything concrete, we do.”

The family-run business also employs daughter

Jess, 19, who works part-time in administration.

Gail handles the main administration role, as well as helping customers and co-ordinating jobs. Daryl is the man on site, project-managing each job, along with pricing and physically helping out on site.

As a family-operated business, ConcretePower puts family values, including trust and reliability, at the forefront, says Gail Power. Offering personal service is a major strength, something rural clients particularly appreciate.

She nominates expertise and Daryl’s near 25 years of industry experience as the main reasons for company growth.

“Daryl is very particular and focuses on quality workmanship. He supervises each project.”

Although the company can do most of the works itself, it also uses sub-contractors.

“We mainly source people from the local area and use sub-contractors we have had experience with or who we know. We also work with our clients‘ chosen contractors.”

ConcretePower can project-manage a contract, arranging plans, engineers and permits, excavation and preparation to supply and finish. It is also willing to work with other contractors or clients. and do just a segment of a contract.

It also sub-contracts to other companies, including Dormer Construction and Isaac Construction.

The company is also involved with rural clients on effluent pads, feedpads and dairy structures.

“Farmers want good workmanship and good advice as well as the job done on time,” says Gail Power.

“This is very important as often they might have to shut down a shed or move stock, and we are required to work around this.

“We are used to tight schedules and work with rural clients to get the job done as quickly as possible with the least hassle.”

She says the family aims to keep the company trucking along just as it is:

49

PHOTOS When ConcretePower talks about “all types” of work, it can mean (clockwise from top left), a feedpad, a farm bridge, or fencing around the house.

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50

RURAL SERVICES: Power Farming Timaru

Business Rural / Spring 2013

These new 4425 and 4750 mixer wagons from Canadian company Jaylor are scheduled to be on the floor of Power Farming Timaru’s showroom in Washdyke this year.

New machines on the horizon Jo Bailey Some of the latest farm machinery technology will be available from Power Farming Timaru by the end of the year, says dealer principal, Ross Dawbin.

The first of the new Deutz 7000 series tractors were released in March just before the South Island Field Days at Lincoln, and Dawbin says the new Deutz 5000 and 6000 series are expected here this year.

Dawbin says these models have been revamped with a new style of cab and transmission.

He says he also has several buyers awaiting the release of the Simba Great Plains four-metre and

eight-metre arable drills, which will complement the six-metre machine already offered by Power Farming Timaru.

“We first saw these machines in the United Kingdom in 2011 and they became available for market late last year.”

He says his firm has made the only sale of the six-metre, fully specced Simba Great Plains drill into New Zealand: “It is ideal for broad-acre operators and contractors, particularly in the South and MidCanterbury regions.”

Dawbin reports a lot of interest in the Jaylor range of mixer wagons from Canada since the announcement of the increase in the Fonterra payout.

“The enquiry level has risen dramatically and is translating into a lot of sales as dairy farmers see the benefits these machines can bring to their operation.”

“The mixer wagons provide consistent feed composition and delivery, which are recognised as key components for optimal animal health and maximising milk production and profitability.

“The cows get a more balanced diet, rather than just some of them picking the best parts out of the feed. There is also less wastage, as the wagons tend to be used in conjunction with feedpads.”

While the mixer wagons are not a cheap option, the benefits over time soon outweigh the initial investment, says Dawbin.

The Simba Great Plains arable drill is ideal for broad-acre operators and contractors, particularly in the South and Mid-Canterbury regions.

RURAL SERVICES: Power Farming Timaru

Business Rural / Spring 2013

51

PHOTOS Left: The 7250 was one of the new Deutz 7000 Series of tractors released in New Zealand in March. The 5000 and 6000 Series are expected in New Zealand this year.

Below: Power Farming Timaru’s Ross Dawbin says he has several buyers awaiting the release of the four-metre and eight-metre versions of the Simba Great Plains Centurion arable drill. He says his firm has made the only sale of the six-metre, fully specced model into New Zealand.

Dairy strength ‘good news for everyone’ Jo Bailey The strong dairy industry in the central South Island continues to be good news for Power Farming Timaru, says dealer principal Ross Dawbin.

“When the dairy boys are doing well, we find that everyone else tends to as well,” says Dawbin, who reports his businerss is trading strongly across all sectors.

He became branch manager at Power Farming Timaru in early 2007, then in April 2008, he and wife Jo took a 50% shareholding in the business.

In the last five years, the branch’s staff numbers have increased from 12 to 18, and sales figures have doubled, he says.

“A couple of our guys have been with the company more than 10 years and we have several between the six and eight-year mark. We also try to take on at least one new apprentice each year.”

Having access to quality international brands is a key to the company’s success, he says.

“We can pretty much source anything our clients want – from New Zealand-made products such as McIntosh silage wagons and bale feeders, to European brands, including Deutz tractors, Same tractors from Italy, McHale balers from Ireland, Schuitemaker loader wagons from Holland, and the Simba Great Plains brand of drilling and cultivation equipment.”

The company also turns over a significant

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“We always have a good selection of secondhand gear, and we employ a guy full-time to maintain and service it before it goes up for sale.”

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The branch has operated from its Washdyke showroom, warehouse and offices since 2004, and services a wide area from the Rangitata River south to Palmerston and into the Mackenzie Country.

“The growth of the business has certainly beaten our expectations, but we believe there is still potential to grow,” says Dawbin. “It is just a matter of us continuing to push forward and being on our game to make it happen.”

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52

RURAL PEOPLE: David & Tania Mudford/ Glassey Contracting

Couple buck the trend – thanks to timely rain Sue Russell One significant rainfall was enough for David and Tanya Mudford’s place to buck the trend of a drought-induced drop in productivity last season.

The Southland couple – who are going into their fifth season of sharemilking at Otahuti, 20 minutes from Invercargill – say this rain fell at just the right time to maintain pasture growth, cow condition and milk production.

The figures tell the story. The 820 cows on their flat to rolling 245 hectares, produced 318,000 kilograms of milksolids – up 20,000kg on the 298,000kg with the same-size herd the previous season.

It wasn’t all just down to that rain though, says David Mudford.

“We made the decision to cull quite a lot of high cell-count stock and the grass quality has also been getting better and better.”

He also has a history of excellent calving, which he puts down to the quality of the calfpad, which has its own nearby nursery shed.

The the herd has been dried off and has been winter-grazed at Luggate, near Wanaka. It’s the fifth year the farm’s four owners have chosen to send stock there, and the arrangement works well, he says.

“We buy the feed and also shift the stock around on the property. We take it in turns to spend a few days in a little house there; it doubles as a bit of a holiday for us as well as a change of scenery.”

As well as managing the farm and two full-time staff, David helps Tania with her bakery, internet

café, and out-catering business, which is based in the old Riverton Post Office the couple bought a year or so ago.

“Riverton’s become quite a popular spot with the locals, and the business is doing well, though it’s hard work. When I help out with the catering side sometimes, people don’t believe I have just finished milking a herd of cows.”

David describes of the farm’s owners as “just really supportive”. In April and October they descend from various parts of the country to walk and talk the farm with him, before setting the next budget and production goals.

The farm’s staff are connected to AgITO farm training, undertaking level two to four courses.

David Mudford is a great believer in the training system and gains a lot of satisfaction from seeing staff leave and progress in their farming careers.

“People need to go on from my farm with that learning and take up their own path toward farm management and sharemilking if that ‘s their aspiration/ The ITO training sets them up well for this journey.”

With the 54-bail rotary, in its fifth season on the farm, milking takes about two and a half hours. The shed has an automatic yard scraper and a green wash-system, along with automatic cup removers and teat sprayer.

David Mudford has also just gone back to claybird shooting, joining the Southland Gun Club at Otatara.

“It’s a sport I used to really enjoy, so it is good to be in a position to take it up again.”

The Mudfords have two children, 12-year-old Cody and seven-year-old Petra.

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Contracting Sue Russell Work patterns have changed for agricultural contractors, says Scott Glassey, who runs Canterbury-based Glassey Contracting Ltd. In the old days, farmers generally gave contractors plenty of ‘heads-up’ on work to be done, but that’s not the case so much anymore.

“These days the phone just goes. They want us to be there immediately and do the job, so we just take a deep breath in the busy times and do our best to get every job done to time..

These demands of being available at a moment’s notice make Scott Glassey very aware of the issue of balancing work and family time.

But, while the notice may be shorter, most of his firm’s work still comes by word of mouth, and much of it from farming clients who have been loyal to the company for many years.

“In the main season – September through to January – we’ll work seven days a week, but in autumn we try to avoid weekend work when possible. Having said that, I’m available to my loyal farmers who have used my services for years.”

On the profitability of contracting, he remains circumspect.

Farmers, he says, are a prudent lot. They know the value to them of the work they want done, and while costs continue to escalate for contractors, they cannot push all the charges connected with the

It would be good for the contracting industry as a whole to see dairy farmers getting a bigger milk payout. operation and upkeep of machinery through in the account to the farmer.

That’s something he accepts as a reality of working in the industry he’s chosen to be a part of for the past 30 or so years.

Making grass silage and harvesting maize remain the major parts of the company’s work, but its grader and construction roller get plenty of use doing farm-track maintenance and base construction for effluent ponds.

Scott Glassey and Mark Watkins, who operates the Jaguar 930 forage harvester, are partners in MG Silage, which is part of Glassey Contracting Ltd. Their home-base is at Tai Tapu, just south of Christchurch and theifr work is concentrated in the works through the area extending from Lake Ellesmere through the Selwyn district to Rakaia,.

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Business Rural / Spring 2013

RURAL PEOPLE: Berry & Rachel Neppelenbroek

53

joins the ‘instant’ world that cycle begins again is spent working on dairy farms, doing just about anything farmers want done. The work extends to lifestyle blocks, cleaning old drains and the like; there isn’t too much his equipment and staff can’t handle.

“We have whatever a dairy farmer needs,” says Glassey. “Tractors, mowers, manure spreaders, graders, diggers and construction rollers. While, harvesting silage, grass and maize is our mainstay, the business is full of diversity, which keeps us busy enough.”

As a matter of choice, he prefers to keep his workers together concentrated on the one job as much as possible.

“These days, with the large dairy units in the area and the compliances from Environment Canterbury bearing down, there’s a lot of work building new ponds or bringing ponds up to spec.

“The grader gets used in all sorts of ways... constructing tanker tracks, levelling off paddocks, constructing irrigation lines, building ponds.”

He hasn’t got carried away with earthquake related work in the district, though a few landowners have contacted him to do foundation work.

Instead he’s preferred to focus on his customer base and build on a solid reputation based on experiencem skills and equipment.

Still, he reflects, it would be good for the contracting industry as a whole to see dairy farmers getting a bigger milk payout.

But that’s another story.

PHOTOS Lower left: Glassey Contracting’s grader and construction roller are getting plenty of use ‘in all sorts of ways’, says Scott Glassey. Such as...on the construction and maintenance of farm and tanker tracks, the groundwork and building of effluent ponds, the levelling of paddocks, and the construction of irrigation lines.

Left: Glassey Contracting staff and equipment busy at what they do most – silage contracting. Scott Glassey and Mark Watkins, who operates the Jaguar 930 forage harvester (between the tractor and the truck), are partners in MG Silage, which is part of Glassey Contracting Ltd. Above right: This shot of a clean-up after tree-felling proves Scott Glassey’s claim that there’s isn’t much his equipment and staff can’t handle.

Everything questioned in drive for efficiency removers, which means only one staff member is needed at milking time.

They put in a concrete feedpad last spring and are building a new effluent system to replace the old In the past few years there has been a big sand-trap system, which had a small holding area. drive towards efficiency on Berry and Rachel They will have a settling pond and the capacity to Neppelenbroek’s farm at Rotherham, between store effluent for three to four months.

Culverden and Waiau in North Canterbury.

Effluent will be dispersed by a centre-pivot “We are aiming to become more efficient in irrigation system that allows them to spread over everything we do, from the feed we buy in, to the 160ha of the farm. cows, to the effluent,” says Berry.

“It will let us spread thinner and more Berry grew up on a farm in Holland and always strategically, giving us far more control,” says Berry wanted to be a farmer. After completing a threeNeppelenbroek. “We’re not aiming for more grass year agricultural qualification, he gained experience growth particularly, but it should mean we use less for a year on a farm in Canada, worked on the fertiliser.” family farm, and then travelled to New Zealand, The Neppelenbroeks France and Belgium, working in A new effluent winter-milk and feed more the industry. than a tonne of dry matter He returned to New Zealand per cow each season. They in 1994 when the farmer he system will let us say the new concrete pad had previously worked for was looking for a farm manager for spread thinner and will make a huge difference to feed efficiency. his dairy unit.

The farm is supported Berry worked on this 650-cow more strategically. by a 180ha run-off block 30 farm in North Otago for a year, kilometres away. Here, they then progressed to contract It should mean we grow supplement, and run milker. Next he sharemilked for young stock and dry cows. three years for Dairy Brands on Employing a contract milker use less fertiliser. a 500-cow unit before entering for the first time has allowed an equity partnership on a the Neppelenbroeks to take a 425-hectare unit milking 1600 step back from the dairying operation. cows.

The couple put this to good use taking a family He met wife Rachel, an accountant, and the trip to Europe with their children – Anna, 6, Joe, 4 pair moved to Rotherham in 2004 when they sold and Lily, 2. out of the equity partnership and bought their The Neppelenbroeks, who run their farming present farm – a 240ha unit where they now milk business under the name Bermar Holdings Ltd, 950 predominantly friesian cows through a 60-bail say they will now analyse whether or not their rotary shed. investments have been worthwhile. Their aim is to The shed, just four years old, is part of their reduce debt. drive towards efficiency. It has automatic cup

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54

RURAL PEOPLE: Nathan & Deborah Erskine

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Communication ‘the key’ Sue Russell Nathan Erskine maintains there are “no bad bits” when it comes to dairy farming; however, wife Deborah has a little bit more to say on the matter.

“The hours, and sometimes the weather, and at certain times of the year it is not that conducive to the family side and the sleep side. But you are your own boss, and that’s a great feeling,” she says.

The couple are in a 50:50 sharemilking role on a farm in East Chatton, not far from Gore, in Southland. They were previously lower-order sharemilking on the same property.

Describing the community as highly supportive, Deborah remembers that when they moved into the area, they were welcomed with cakes and fruit.

“The local people welcomed us with that realm old-school, warm feel.”

They are going into their third season on the farm. Last season it produced 365,000 kilograms of milksolids from 800 cows.

While the cow count is at maximum, the Erskines aim to increase the kilogram total this season by continuing to tweak farm-management practices.

“Last season we had a fantastic spring, an average October, and then we had the big dry, so we’re expecting to do better this year,” they say.

The couple’s son, Brayton, has just started at the local school which has three teachers and 54 children. It’s just five minutes down the road and Deborah says its reputation is top-notch, so much so that some children come out from Gore. Their pre-school daughter, Anya, is in home-based care three days a week, which allows Deborah time to work in the business.

She is also involved in the school as a parent, and the family is part of the Calvin Presbyterian Church, in Gore.

Their other big interest is the Sharemilker Focus Group they helped establish two years ago. The group – six couples with their children – meets when it can. There are no hard and fast rules – and certainly not during calving time.

The Erskines say all six couples are passionate

xxxxxx Deborah and Nathan Erskine on lower-order sharemilking: ‘We really cut our teeth and learnt a lot about dairy-farm and business management. about the dairy industry. And, as it happens, each of these couples has won an Southland or Otago Sharemilker of the Year or Manager of the Year award.

The first time they met, they hired a mini-van and visited one another’s farms to “orientate”.

They discovered that everyone does things slightly

The first time they met, the hired a mini-van and visited one another’s farms to ‘orientate’. They discovered that everyone does things slightly differently, and see this diversity as a strength of the group.

differently, and see this diversity as a strength of the group.

Owning their own farm outright is a personal goal of the Erskines, and as 50:50 sharemilkers, they’re well on their way.

“We were lower-order sharemilkers for three years on this same farm, and each year, we put a few more cows in the herd. All credit to the owners, John and Helen Kers, who have been supportive to us doing this along the way.

Lower-order sharemilking allowed the Erskines to gradually build up a full complement of all they need to run the operation.

“We really cut our teeth and learnt a lot about dairy-farm and business management,” says Nathan. “We have an excellent relationship with our previous lower-order-sharemilking employer,

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He describes the farm as a “pretty good piece of dirt”, with 270 effective hectares. The couple employ three full-time staff and a part-timer over calving.

Nathan has just joined the executive of the New Zealand Dairy Industries Awards, where his role will be the Dairy Trainee of the Year competition.

The Erskines were the conveners for the awards in Otago last year – “rewarding, hard work and a breeding ground for building strong networks”, says Nathan.

“It’s my way of giving back. Having worked my way right up through the ranks of the industry, I won’t ever forget where I started from.”

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RURAL PEOPLE: Meadow Mushrooms

Business Rural / Spring 2013

55

Nutritional study ‘startling’ Jo Bailey

PHOTOS Top: They may come in many forms and guises, but they’re all mushrooms.

Left: Packing-shed action as Meadow Mushrooms produce is processed for despatch.

Lower left: Mushrooms in the growing phase at Meadiow Mushrooms’ Hornby complex in Christchurch.. when the figures we have are fairly conservative.”

Meadow Mushrooms’ national sales manager, Yvonne Clyne, says the research results will shape the company’s marketing campaign over the next 12 months.

“We’ll continue with some of the quirky imagery we introduced in last year’s Year of the Mushroom campaign that included cartoon mushroom characters in a range of fun poses.

“However, the serious message will remain the

same – reminding consumers that mushrooms are very high in nutritional value, and providing them with simple and convenient ways to use mushrooms.”

The demand for fresh mushrooms continues to grow for the “extremely versatile” fungus, she says.

“They are delicious raw, cooked, crumbed, canned, sauced, or barbecued. Hits on our website recipes increase all the time as people look for new ways to try them.”

Wayne Collingwood agrees that their variety and ease of use makes mushrooms a popular, convenient choice – and, no, you don’t have to peel them.

“This seems to be a common misconception about mushrooms. However, our ranges and sizes of mushrooms are ready to use without peeling, fast to cook, and require very little preparation. With the added nutritional benefits, mushrooms really should be an important part of every Kiwi diet.”

C909sawinstone

A new study into the nutritional composition of mushrooms has revealed some startling results, says Wayne Collingwood, general manager operations at Meadow Mushrooms.

“We know from overseas studies that mushrooms are incredibly nutritious. But now that we have defined results from our own research, the degree of health benefits that can be gained from eating mushrooms is really starting to dawn on us.

It’s pretty exciting.”

The study, done in conjunction with Plant and Food Research at Lincoln University, revealed that mushrooms contain extremely high levels of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin B and the all-important selenium.

A serving of brown Portobello mushrooms delivers 102% of the estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intake of Biotin (vitamin B), with White Button mushrooms providing 81% of that.

Given New Zealand’s potential for selenium deficiency, it is also significant that White Button mushrooms provide 36% of our recommended daily intake of selenium, and Portobello mushrooms 33%, says Collingwood.

The study also revealed that mushrooms are a good source of other B vitamins, potassium, copper, phosphorous and the antioxidant ergothioneine, as well as being low in calories, fat and sodium.

Collingwood says mushrooms can be easy to overlook, but research is increasingly revealing why they are joining the ranks of so called “superfoods”.

“The research leader we worked with at Plant and Food said even she was surprised at how many vitamins and minerals mushrooms contained relative to other fruits and vegetables. It was exciting to get this sort of confirmation, particularly

56

RURAL PEOPLE: Meadow Mushrooms

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Wayne Collingwood: ‘I really enjoy the highly technical science of growing mushrooms....It’s a challenge to grow a good quality, high yielding crop – decisions have to be made every day.”

‘Fascinating fungi’ fussy over its specific Jo Bailey Watch a mushroom closely enough and it might just grow before your eyes. This is something I learned about the fascinating fungi on a visit to Meadow Mushrooms’ main operation in Hornby, on the outskirts of Christchurch.

The fact that mushrooms double in size every day was just one of the new bits of information I picked up on a tour around the site with Wayne Collingwood, general manager operations of New Zealand’s biggest commercial mushroom grower.

Collingwood took on the role about a year ago after a stint as store operations manager with

Ravensdown. He appears to have found his niche, if his enthusiasm for the humble mushroom is anything to go by.

“I really enjoy the highly technical science of growing mushrooms, which require very specific conditions,” he says. “It’s a challenge to grow a good quality, high yielding crop – decisions have to be made every day.”

It’s quite surreal to step inside one of Meadow Mushrooms’ older growing rooms where tray upon wooden tray of White Button mushrooms grow in substrate, a special compost the company makes itself.

The pickers have already harvested the mushrooms ready for packing or processsing this

day, and all but the smaller mushrooms remain, including the tiniest of fungi just starting to burst through the substrate.

However the start of the mushroom’s journey goes back to the laboratory where mycelium is used to inoculate grain that becomes the spawn from which the mushrooms are grown.

Wayne Collingwood says a shed with one lot of compost can produce up to three or more crops, or ‘flushes’.

He takes me to the other side of the plant, where a $45-million upgrade was completed a couple of years ago...including new growing rooms with the latest technology, new packing facilities, the latest in compost yards, and new staff facilities.

The high-tech growing rooms are based on a Dutch shelf system where the mushrooms are grown in six-high aluminium racking with completely automated climate and airflow control.

This has allowed the Meadow Mushrooms to make a significant increase in its production per square metre in the new rooms.

“We’ve got better and better at using the technology and we’re consistently growing goodquality mushrooms week in and week out now,” says Collingwood.

Meadow Mushrooms produces around 150 tonnes of mushrooms each week, with the fresh White Button mushrooms its market leader. They for a surprising three-quarters of all sales, ahead

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RURAL PEOPLE: Meadow Mushrooms

Business Rural / Spring 2013

57

‘Encouraging’ potential for by-product Jo Bailey

Above/lower right: Mushrooms require very specific growing conditions and can double in size by the day. New growing rooms equipped with the latest technology were part of a $45-million upgrade at Meadow Mushrooms’ Christchurch plant two years ago.

growing conditions of Portabellos (large open brown mushrooms) and Swiss Browns (brown buttons, or immature Portabellos).

The company employs around 500 staff across its entire operations – Hornby (where its main growing farm and head office are based); its original Prebbleton base; Miranda Laboratories, where spawn is produced; Emma Foods, where mushrooms are processed for canning; and Giggs Farm, at Norwood, where the essential compost is produced.

The mushrooms’ fast growth rate means they have to be hand-picked 364 days a year, with shifts operating around the clock most days.

“We don’t pick on Christmas Day which requires

a huge effort and three months of planning to make it happen,” says Collingwood. “If we get a big snow, it can be a real challenge for us to manage the growing rooms.”

Most of Meadow Mushrooms’ staff are in the harvesting and packing departments, where the product is weighed, packaged, vacuum-chilled and stored ready for despatch around the country.

The company’s full range of fresh product is sold domestically, with only a small percentage of its production exported.

Meadow Mushrooms also produces canned mushrooms in brine and a range of sauces, and frozen golden crumbed and garlic crumbed mushrooms.

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The company’s technical manager, Kiri Armstrong, says there have been “encouraging results” from evaluations of the potential benefits of its sterilised spent mushroom compost (SMC), which is left over from the mushroom growing process. The company is working on the project with Plant and Food Research, at Lincoln University.

“Our first trial crops with applications of SMC were harvested in March. The forage crops showed increased bio-mass, and there were indications of improved yield for grain crops which is really encouraging.”

SMC is made up of water, composted wheat straw, composted chicken litter, sphagnum peat, gypsum and lime. Tests show it contains up to 63% organic matter that offers benefits when returned to the soil, says Armstrong.

“Organic matter holds water and nutrients in the soil profile where needed and helps create a structure that roots can easily penetrate and grow through. SMC also contains a number of nutrients and trace elements you would typically find in fertiliser – some which are available immediately and others that are released over time.”

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It has also been found effective for disease suppression in some crops, particularly onions, cabbages, potatoes and tomatoes.

SMC is subjected to steam sterilisation at 65C for eight hours or more to free it of weed seeds, pests and diseases, says Armstrong.

“We are able to produce SMC of extremely reliable quality as the same ingredients are used every time and it is monitored closely to ensure consistency in nutrition and moisture levels.”

Transport costs mean it is not cost effective to distribute the product to farmers outside the wider Canterbury region.

Armstrong says it is being used by a “wellknown and respected arable farmer with a large Mid Canterbury operation”, and growers contracted to supply Meadow Mushrooms with the wheat and straw used to make the original compost.

“For the spent compost to potentially end up back in some of the same ground it originated from makes a unique story.”

Meadow Mushrooms is also exploring a Sustainable Farming Fund Project to expand its work with Plant and Food Research.

“We are excited by the results so far,” says Armstrong. “Soil is a living, dynamic thing full of microbes and we are only beginning to understand the roles these microbes play. However, our early findings indicate that SMC, which is so rich in organic matter, can produce increased crop yields with reduced fertiliser use.”

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RURAL PEOPLE: Peters Genetics/Terry & Sonseeahray Laugeson

Business Rural / Spring 2013

Sheep and cattle on same page Neil Grant While romneys continue to be the basis of Trevor and Karen Peters’ Central Otago breeding operation, crossbred rams are also developed to optimise the local environment, and angus cattle have provided a recent diversification to the programme.

There’s a strong similarity in the approach to breeding sheep and cattle , says studmaster Shane Carter, who also manages the Peters’ Teviot Valley Station, at Millers Flat.

The emphasis is on breeding mothers to produce the bulls or the rams their clients want, he says.

“We try to breed a dual-purpose bull that fits commercial farmers’ needs as finishing cattle, with plenty of muscle and good growth rates. Our concept is a ‘calving ease’ score. It’s easier for our clients when the EBV (estimated breeding value) brings both sides of parentage into each animal.”

A spring auction held on site sees a minimum of 30 bulls go under the hammer. This year’s sale is on September 27 “It’s a good challenge and very rewarding,” Carter says. “There’s nothing more pleasing than to see cattle go through all the stages from tagging at birth to walking around inside the ring.”

While the sheep-breeding philosophy is similar, they

are sold under a completely different system.

“Mothers must be performing to a high standard to make sure the rams will meet the same requirements.

We measure growth and pelt thickness at eye muscle scanning. Survivability is crucial – a thick pelt means a higher chance of a lamb’s surviving.

“Increased dairying has seen sheep having to move further back into the hills. We focus a lot more on putting them into country that encourages toughness. We put them under all sorts of pressure – terrain and climate.

Culling happens throughout the year until the time comes to sell.”

Rams are sold over a three-week period (from November 27 this year). Regular clients receive a newsletter showing available stock and the price bracket they have been graded into. An order form indicates the bracket in which the client bought the previous year, and invites them to place orders.

“When the forms come back, clients are allocated a day and time to come to the farm to make their selection,” says Carter. “About 300 clients come, 12 to 14 a day. New clients come into the system each year.

On average, 1000 rams are sold.”

Trevor Peters says the sale requires a lot of organisation. He and staff set up the following day’s sheep in a paddock each night. Catering is provided right through the day for buyers, adding a social aspect to the sales.

Organisation proves its worth in snow • From page 60 mating, and this is reflected in prices paid.

Each of the farms plays a role in the overall plan.

Trevor Peters’ sons, Clayton and Morgan, run two of the farms. Studmaster Shane Carter runs Teviot Valley Station, where Karen and Trevor live. This is the stud

farm, and has black-faced suffolk-texel ewes. Spylaw and Bullock Range both run commercial and stud ewes, hoggets and cattle. Mt Margaret is a finishing unit, and Attadale has texel-romneys and, now, merino-romneys.

It’s a large-scale, South Island stud breeding and commercial hill country farming operation – and all based on a $7000 legacy.

Karen and Trevor Peters...60,000 stock units across nearly 9000 hectares.

Awards...incentive, pride and a good night out Karen Phelps The Kaikoura Dairy Awards are not well publicised, but for local farmers they provide much needed encouragement to strive for higher goals.

Terry and Sonseeahray Laugesen, third placegetters in this year’s production category (the farm with the biggest increase in production as judged by Fonterra) say the awards help motivate them to try harder.

“Kaikoura is a pretty isolated place in some respects, so the awards give real pride in the local industry,” says Terry Laugesen.

“It’s a good way for farmers to catch up once a year, have a beer and a good feed. It gives a bit of local competition and lifts everyone in the area.”

The Laugesens won the 2009-10 Milk Quality Excellence Award and the Golden Cow Award for best stock health and well-being in 2011-12.

Sonseeahray Laugesen is one of the women volunteers who help to organise and run the awards each year, which are made possible by the support of local sponsors.

The Laugesens are fifth-generation farmers on a 185-hectare (effective) dairy unit five minutes north of Kaikoura. They peak-milk 620 jersey and jerseycross cows through a 45-a-side herringbone shed.

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Around two-thirds of the farm is owned by a family trust, and the other third by Laugrange Ltd, a company owned by Terry and his parents, Rupert and Heather.

Terry Laugesen spent around five years working on Canterbury farms to build up his experience of different farming systems before returning to the family farm, which he now manages with wife Sonseeahray.

The Laugesens milk once a day and aim to produce 1200 kilograms of milksolids per hectare, or 360 kg per cow (their cows average 400kg liveweight). In the last few seasons they have achieved 340kg milksolids per cow, but last season reached 353kg per cow, or 1183 kg per hectare.

“People think once-a-day milking is easy, but it’s not,” says Terry. “A once-a-day herd doesn’t have the same drive to eat as a twice-a-day herd, which makes them a lot fussier. If we feed them poorerquality feed, they just turn up their noses at it and stand in the paddock. So we have to be really on the ball with pasture management.”

They have re-grassed around 65% of the farm over the last five seasonsm and aim to keep regrassing around 10% a year.

Their next improvement could be water – the farm is not irrigated. Terry Laugeson has just become a member of the Environment Canterbury Water Kaikoura Zone Committee. He says it’s important local dairy farmers have a voice in decisions on water.

People think once-a-day milking is easy, but it’s not. A once-a-day herd doesn’t have the same drive to eat as a twice-aday herd, which makes them a lot fussier.

However, the Laugenons’ drive this year is expansion and building the family business. Since June 1, 2012, Laugrange Ltd has had a 50:50 sharemilking contract on a nearby 210ha (effective) property; they milk 700 cows there and this season have employed a manager to take on the day-to-day running.

In addition, in 2013-14, Laugrange is leasing a 90ha (effective) farm, also nearby, where the company will employ a herd manager to milk the 310 cows.

Terry and Sonseeahray Laugesen will no doubt be aiming for Kaikoura Dairy Awards accolades on these farms as well. As Terry says: “I think you can always do everything better.”

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Business Rural / Spring 2013

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60

RURAL PEOPLE: Peters Genetics

Business Rural / Spring 2013

An organised organisation proves worth Neil Grant When the June snow started falling in Otago, Trevor Peters was at a bull sale in Kaikoura. “I said, ‘Come on, we’re going home’,’’ he recalls.

“The snow was a metre and a half deep in places, but everything was safe. The big problem was getting the bulldozer out of it base; but we got it going, brought some stock in, and got feed to others. Another problem was drifts in one area: we couldn’t get to the sheep there for three days.

“We were organised. We did everything ourselves. We’ve got good men and good managers. The bulldozer did 38 kilometres on the Sunday and Monday.”

To get an idea of the scale of the operation, it helps to know that Trevor and Karen Peters have six properties – Teviot Valley Station running northeast into the hills from the Clutha River near Millers Flat; Clutha Downs, on the Clutha River south of Lawrence; Bullock Range, at Moa Flat; Spylaw, north of Heriot; Attadale, near Middlemarch; and Mt Margaret, near Waikaka.

As Trevor Peters tells the tale, it all sounds pretty ho hum. But anyone who has climbed a hill in new snow up past their knees knows it gets exhausting.

And anyone who has ever tried to lift a fully grown, well-fleeced sheep from one spot to another when it doesn’t think it wants to be shifted, knows that this, too, takes a bit of effort. Combine the two activities with lots of sheep and cattle in sub-zero temperatures, and it’s called snow raking. It is not for the faint hearted.

For several days, television and newspapers showed people engaged in this activity, hunters caught out by the storm, and others who had no electricity or access to the outside world.

Then there were the woolsheds, covered yards, farm sheds and building spouting damaged by the weight of snow. New Zealanders got an idea of the scale of the exercise that Peters talks of as if it were just another day in farming.

But you know the Peters family efforts could not have been the success they were without careful preparation, experience, and determination to keep the animals alive and well.

And you also know that, just quietly, Trevor Peters is proud of the organisation and the staff who made it successful.

The Peters farms total nearly 9000 hectares, from easy to rugged hill country, carrying 60,000 stock units. The business comprises commercial romney ewes, fully recorded ewes, stud rams,

PHOTOS – Above: The decline and fall of a Central Otago woolshed. The June snow takes its toll on the property run by Morgan Peters. Below: left, angus cattle trudge through the snow in search of food; right, the Peters crew digs themselves out and through the snow. The bulldozer covered 38 kilometres in two days.

Peters’ home-bred ‘hotshot’ terminal sires – a commercial cows, and angus stud cows. mix of suffolk, texel and dorset down that Peters Peters grew up on a farm near Waikaka. In experimented with to develop meat growth and 1974,with a $7000 investment he and his siblings yield. each got from their parents, he bought out the rest Essentially, the programme is breeding ewes of the family. The other farms have been acquired for ram production. However, the focus of the and built up, with each contributing in its own way programme has changed as the scale of dairying to the overall plan. has increased in the south. Where many rams used The farms have carried Wairere romneys since to be sold to Southland farmers, that market has 1986. In 1992, the big boost came when Wairere dried up and northern South Island farmers are now South became the southern arm of the Wairarapa much more the target. The traits that developed stud. This joint venture continued for 20 years until on these southern hills are being well received by Wairere’s Derek Daniel and the Peters agreed to go northern farmers, Peters says. their separate ways.

Diversification came when Peters bought the Peters Genetics was formed, still based on the Altonbrook and Mangarata angus studs and formed same romneys using the Wairarapa gene pool and continuing to add to the high-value genetic gain that Peters Angus. The principles that had been applied to sheep continue in the bull breeding programme. had been developed. The harsh winters, the rugged An innovation has been a change from selling environment, and the strict culling policy have bulls privately during winter to holding spring resulted in easy-care ewes that need no assistance auctions. The rationale is that although wintering at birthing, have good fertility, high lambing the bulls themselves is an extra cost, buyers are percentages, good survivability rates, and steady pleased to get animals in such good condition for weight gain.

The commercial ewes are mated to romney • To page 58 rams for one cycle, and then followed up with