Business Rural

Winter 2017

DOUBLE WHAMMY

www.waterfordpress.co.nz

Dolomite is hard to beat as a cost-effective source of magnesium and calcium, says Ross Wright, from Golden Bay Dolomite. It contains 59% calcium carbonate and 39% magnesium carbonate, so can help build both the magnesium and calcium basesaturation levels in soils, he says.

More detail on page 42.

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CONTENTS

Business Rural

10 Young farmer eyes big prize

Nigel Woodhead (pictured with wife Leanne) was twice runner-up before winning OtagoSouthland Young Farmer of the Year. Now he has his eyes on the national title in July.

16 Tania hopes awards will inspire

Tania Riddington scored a number of awards successes in this year’s Dairy Industry Awards, and she hopes other dairy women will take inspiration from those results...Tates am

30

22 Pasture a key part of farming puzzle

Pasture management occupies a lot of time and thought for Ian and Jeanette Ruddenklau as they strive for top lamb-weights on their Southland property.

Velvet touch reflect in sale stats

David and Lynley Stevens believe their near-40 years of dedication to breeding deer and their long-term faith in velvet were major factors in their Southland deer stud’s recprd sale..

49

62 If it’s rural, we will build it

Potato powerhouse

Raymond and Adrienne Bowan’s combination of growing potatoes on their farm and turning them into crisps in their factory has paid off well. They key component? Hard work.

Third-generation rural building company FarmBuild Ltd is now getting involved with agricultural building projects for the children and grandchildren of farmer-clients.

>> Index | 71

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RURAL PEOPLE » Jeff Farm

Business Rural

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Southland farm career-builder for the young Kim Newth

Jeff Farm, in Southland, has an unusual history. It was gifted to the Salvation Army in the 1950s as a vehicle for giving young people in need of a helping hand a start in agriculture.

The farm continues to fulfil that role by providing training opportunities.

Since the early 1980s the farm’s activities have been overseen by a management board, which has invested significantly in drainage works, on-farm road and track development, and improvements in buildings and stock.

Not only does the farm directly train young people, it also ploughs money back into a trust used to fund scholarships for young people to study agriculture at Lincoln University, at Lincoln’s Telford campus near Balclutha, and at Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre campuses.

Until recently, four young people were hosted at Jeff Farm for training over a two-year period.

However, as a result of an additional 420

Jeff Farm not only directly trains young people, but also ploughs money back into a trust used to fund scholarships for young people to study agriculture at Lincoln University, Telford Rural Polytechnic and Taratahi Agricultural College hectares acquired two years ago (bringing the total area of the property to 2424ha) Jeff Farm is now able to support six young people at a time in

• To page 5

Jeff Farm was gifted to the Salvation Army in the 1950s to give young people a helping hand to start in agriculture. John Chittock (on horse, above) and his wife, Liz, have managed the farm since 2001.

Kontracting Ltd 2 2

Proud to support Jeff Farm

03 203 7228 or 027 445 5813 ␣ 03 203 7208 k2kontracting@xtra.co.nz 32 Forth St, Mataura PO Box 113 Gore

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RURAL PEOPLE » Jeff Farm

Business Rural

Salvation Army farm valuable training

PHOTOS: Mustering by horse at Jeff Farm (above) and scanning some of the commercial flock (right).

Toughen Up!

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“These Wairere sheep are just amazing how they bounce back after a hard time.” ...a comment made by many happy Wairere clients.

Breeding on second class hill country at a high stocking rate has created tough sheep for tough conditions. And ewe hoggets have to get in lamb to be retained… early maturity, easy care.

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Wairere is proud to have supplied Sheep genetics to the Jeff Farm since 1991

RURAL PEOPLE » Jeff Farm

Business Rural

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ground for aspiring farmers • From page 3 training. As three graduate each year, another three new people are selected to begin training, so there is always a mix of experience on the farm.

“We try to match new arrivals with our secondyears so that it works like a buddy system,” says John Chittock, who with his wife, Liz, has been managing the farm since 2001. Liz does all of the farm’s office work and administration.

John’s background in southern agriculture is extensive and he also has years of experience as a rugby coach, working to bring out the best in young people.

“I’ve found that being in this role teaches patience. At the end of the day a lot of these kids come to the farm because they have grown out of school, or school has grown out of them. They’re often pretty green, but the ones we select are passionate about this opportunity.”

A farm open day is held annually (scheduled for Saturday, August 5 this year). From this, three are selected for the farm’s programme, which includes ITO primary training courses.

• To page 6

I’ve found that being in this role teaches patience. At the end of the day a lot of these kids come to the farm because they have grown out of school, or school has grown out of them.

They’re often pretty green, but the ones we select are passionate about this opportunity.

After an additional 420 hectares was acquired two years ago – bringing the total area to 2424 hectares – Jeff Farm is now able to support six young people at a time in training.

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RURAL PEOPLE » Jeff Farm

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‘We make it clear we’re not a babysitting service’ • From page 5 “We sit down and talk to them about how the farm works and what we expect of them,” says John. “ We make it pretty clear we’re not a baby sitting service.”

The Jeffs Farm property is between Mataura and Clinton, and conditions can be challenging, particularly in mid-winter.

“At the open day, we always say you can’t control the weather, so you need to make sure you have good wet-weather gear.”

Jeff Farm has 30,000 stock units, mostly sheep but also cattle and deer. The sheep are all commercial flocks, mated to Wairere Romney and Motu-Nui South rams. Over the years, the farm has achieved great results in Southland and West Otago ewe hogget competitions.

John says young people from the farm are sought after and are very employable. He and Liz are often invited to twenty-firsts, weddings and similar events by those grateful for their time on the farm.

“It is a big thrill for us to see how these kids grow, develop and go on to be very successful,” he says.

We sit down and talk to them about how the farm works and what we expect of them...It is a big thrill for us to see how these kids grow, develop and go on to be very successful.

Jeff Farm is located between Mataura and Clinton, with challenging conditions mid-winter.

John Chittock: ‘At the open day, we always say you can’t control the weather, so you need to make sure you have good wet-weather gear.’

Motu-nui South Romneys WYNDHAM, SOUTHLAND NEW ZEALAND

Proud to support Jeff Farms Genetics Programme Bruce, Carloynn, and Casey Robertson Ph 03-206 4894 or 021 388 372

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Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE Âť Jeff Farm

Business Rural

|7

Jeffs Farm carries 30,000 stock units, mostly sheep but also cattle and deer. The sheep are all commercial flocks, mated to Wairere Romney and Motu-Nui South rams.

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RURAL PEOPLE » Tracy Gage-Brown

Business Rural

Landcorp’s growing attention to environmental issues has been instrumental in the group setting up a dairy support unit at Cape Foulwind.

Support targets control, quality Karen Phelps A newly created Landcorp unit, named West Coast Dairy Support, is being used to support surrounding Landcorp-owned farms. The aim is to achieve more control over stock quality and ensure they are raised in line with Landcorp policies, says unit manager Tracy Gage-Brown.

“We’ve found that results from external dairy grazing can be unpredictable.” she says. “This way we can graze to Landcorp standards and grow good quality heifers resulting in high-producing cows.”

The three blocks of land that make up West Coast Dairy Support were sliced off Landcorp’s Cape Foulwind farm. The blocks are spread and it takes 45 minutes to drive from block-one to blockthree.

The initial plan was to use the blocks purely for

dairy support, but with break fencing and better pasture management, the pasture standard has risen and the land is now also used for finishing cattle.

Landcorp has around 750 calves (up to yearling) and 750 rising two-year-old (R2) heifers on these blocks, and is grazing 800 cows from three Westport Landcorp dairy units. They will finish around 800 friesian R2 bulls and 600 steers from the end of July to May next year.

Tracy, who has worked for Landcorp for nine years on Rangitaiki Station and angus stud Rotomahana, is charged with getting the new blocks on track and improving the heifers. She admits that moving to West Coast Dairy Support has been challenging but rewarding.

“There was hardly any infrastructure, so we’ve started from scratch,” she says.

• To page 9

SUTHERLAND T Y R E S

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RURAL PEOPLE » Phil Musson

Business Rural

|9

Phil contemplates fine balance Sue Russell Phil Musson’s return to the family dairy farm makes him the fourth generation of his clan to work on the 115-elffective-hectare unit south of Lincoln, in Central Canterbury.

These days the farm, which is home to a herd of 380 friesian-cross cows, is equipped with infrastructure to meet the stringent, environmental compliances that apply in the region.

“We have a lot of drains on the farm with heavy soils and a fair amount of peat, so the soil can become quite sticky,” says Phil. “Having capacity in various ways to stand the herd off the paddocks has significantly reduced nitrate loss.

“Our biggest issue is going to be phosphate losses, though having the barn is helping that by reducing pasture damage.”

The farm has a large free-stall barn, which he says they are using less and less because soil quality has improved and paddocks can cope better with rain.

“Pugging used to be a big problem, but that is a thing of the past now.”

Phil recalls that when the idea was raised, he was absolutely against building some form of sheltered barn to house the herd, idea. He believed he had to be objective and prove how having this housing option would improve the farm’s overall performance.

When spoken to in May, he was confident of achieving at least 175,000 kilograms of milksolids for the 1016-17 year, though the long-term goal is 210,000kg.

He says the 20-a-side herringbone serves the farm adequately. Asked whether consideration would be given to building a new dairy shed, he says priorities right now are about reducing debt.

Pasture nutrition is supplemented with silage and a relatively small amount of palm kernel. His experiences to date have not produced very positive results from introducing fodder beet.

“Our biggest challenge is to try to produce a bit more per cow in terms of production, and the way to do this is through endeavouring to keep the diet throughout the season similar to the spring flush so that we can peak better.”

Plans are to milk until the end of June this year. Longer term, the five to 10-year plan is to consistently produce upward of 210,000kg from the same-size herd.

Lincoln dairy farmer Phil Musson invested in a sheltering barn to bolster the long-term sustainability and productivity of his fourth-generation family farm.

When the barn, which is positioned close to the milking shed was built, it enabled an 80-cow increase in herd numbers.

He says building the barn was about longterm sustainability in a way that would combine a positive growth in production, a reduction in the farm’s impact on the environment and no significant, additional production costs that would bobblae the bottom-line.

These days, the farm is surrounded by life-style blocks as the urban sprawl from Christchurch

gathers momentum, and his primary concern is continuing access to water.

“We know what our rainfall in the foothills is and we know that our irrigation should be linked to that,” he says.

“It’s about the uncertainties as to what caps Environment Canterbury will place on access to water.

“When it came to building the barn and introducing the cows to it, there was a great lack of information. Dairy New Zealand gave us a lot of help. I think that these days there’s a lot more information farmers can access.”

Cattle graze on one of Landcorp’s new support blocks at Cape Foulwind, just south of Westport.

Dairy converts to feed support • From page 8 The 326-hectare block (Dairy D) was originally developed out of swampland and was gearing up to be a dairy unit. Landcorp’s increasing attention to environmental issues resulted in the decision to abort the idea of a dairy farm.

The paddocks were 7ha in size, so Tracy has been putting up fencing so that the land can be grazed more efficiently. This has also assisted with pest control, particularly porina and manuka beetle, neither of which likes being trampled by 170-odd cows. Smaller paddock sizes also allow her to move animals often – essential in the wet West Coast weather and wet pastures. In winter paddock sizes are halved yet again to reduce pugging.

Most of the waterways have been fenced off and work is progressing on the rest. A purposebuilt yard for cattle will be constructed (at present a satellite yard is being used), with the intention of keeping both people and cows safer.

The 297ha block, known as Jackos, is right on the coast, with the Okari River running alongside.

Tracy has been erecting perimeter fencing and

working alongside Department of Conservation staff to plant and fence off areas for native species and birds.

Fescue grows well on the block and bulls finish well on it, she says.

“If you can grow fescue in quantity, the bulls will put on the weight – up to 2.5 kilograms per day. Fescue is a deep-rooting system which helps with erosion of the sandy soils. It also helps control manuka beetles as they have more difficulty accessing the deeper roots they like to eat.

The third block, 80ha in area, is Westport Airport lease land. Tracy says this is more challenging to manage as there are both people and airport staff to consider.

The block is used to grow silage for the dairy farms and to graze some R2 heifers in winter.

Tracy says the aviation-industry health and safety requirements are high, but Landcorp has similarly high requirements, so it’s a good fit.

“The West Coast is a beautiful place and I think the future will be to show you can farm in an environmentally sustainable way.”

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- Hamish Kilpartick Phone 021 491 406 Web www.scaifescanning.co.nz

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RURAL PEOPLE » Nigel & Leanne Woodhead

Business Rural

Young farmer eyes big prize Neil Grant The FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest tests competitors over a wide range of skills important for success in agriculture. Entrants from the 70 or so clubs around the country are whittled down in regional finals, the nervousness and excitement builds until the national final in July.

Nigel Woodhead, the 2017 Otago Southland winner, will be in that final. He came second in the regional final in the previous two years, and did not like that position one bit.

“I wanted to win it. I knew the other guys were sharp and I’d have to put the work in to beat them.

I got sick of coming second, so I put the work in to study and get prepared. I was pitted against the best.”

Work towards the national final has started already. Entrants have produced a community footprint presentation covering their own farm environment, family situation, and YFC and community involvement.

Then there’s the Agmardt Innovation project where they must come up with a service or product likely to add value to New Zealand agriculture. At the final there is a technical day, and the practical day.

“I do get nervous,” Nigel says, “ but I cope by

Above: Nigel and Leanne Woodhead. Below: Sheep graze on the Woodhead property, rolling hill country east of State Highway 1 between MIlton and Balclutha. doing more preparation so that then it’s all down to me. I try to embrace my nerves to my advantage.”

And he knows the others are all nervous too.

RONCOWIE

CONTRACTING • HAY BALEAGE

And he has been out running to get himself fit.

Nigel’s parents bought the farm in the rolling hills east of State Highway 1 between Milton and Balclutha in 1993. You can get a tractor over most

of its 400 hectares (320ha effective) and it is largely summer safe. It does dry out at times, such as last season, which they dealt with by selling a lot of lambs and bulls as stores.

“The sheep were pretty skinny and didn’t scan so well, so we did not get so many lambs last year.

It takes a long time to come out of a drought, but we’ve bounced back this year.”

They aim for 175 to 180 per cent scanning, and try to get 150-160% lambing. The flock is romney based with some composite. Wairere rams from the North Island are gradually cutting out the composite influence. They winter 2600 ewes and 750 hoggets.

Lambs are all finished on farm and killed through Silver Fern Farms.

Wool is not a major earner at the moment, but Nigel reckons it is still worth breeding for wool so as to be prepared for when prices pick up.

The beef side of the business involves buying in 60 four-day-old friesian calves in August, and rearing them in a shed for a month. They spend 4060 days of their first winter on a feedpad in a warm sheltered area, eating balage and hay.

Once soils dry out after winter, the bulls are fed fodder beet through spring to keep them off grass paddocks as long as possible during lambing.

When out on the paddocks, they are shifted twice a week otherwise they get bored and can damage

• To page 11

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RURAL PEOPLE » Matt & Amelia Weatherhead

Business Rural

Milkers host quake cows – and hit personal target

Matt and Ameria Weatherhead did their bid to help a dairy farmer hit by the Kaikoura earthquake – and hit their own production target.

Sue Russell Matt and Amelia Weatherhead added 100 cows to their herd last season, courtesy of the Kaoikoura earthquake. The cows, from a farm affected by the quake, were delivered, then grazed and milked, eventually returning home in mid-March.

The couple contract-milk 880 cows on a 219-hectare (effective) farm owned by Darryl Byrne and Louise Pickering at Culverden, in North Canterbury.

The property is stocked to four cows per hectare, and has an adjacent 440ha run-off.

When interviewd in early May, the Weatherheads were supplementing their cows’ diet with up to three kilograms of fodder beet per cow daily, along with about 2kg of palm kernel, 1kg of grain and 12kg of grass. The fodder beet is grown on 32ha of the farm and mostly used in the winter months.

Matt says the need for additional food was heightened because of the extra Kaikoura cows. It

was cost effective to milk them as palm kernel and grain cost 22-30 cents per kg/dry matter.

“Overall the weather has been good, but the wetter-than-usual autumn meant the grass grew lush and lacked sufficient dry matter to provide good nutrition, hence the need to compensate with grain and fodder beet.”

He was planning to dry off the herd at the end of May. At peak this season 970 cows were milked and he was confident of meeting the target of 422,000kg of milksolids – equivalent to 480kg per cow. The 100 Kaikoura cows had added 15,000kg MS, but he was still on target for 454,000kg MS for the season.

Matt and Amelia operate to a Dairy New Zealand system 4 feeding programme. Matt says their feeding relates to the payout.

“With a $6 pay-out, it makes sense to invest in additional feed. The income from the additional milksolids produced through the supplements

The elements fell into place • From page 10 equipment. All the bulls are off the farm by their second winter.

Friesians are chosen for their availability, low cost and ready sale through Silver Fern Farms.

Over the years, fencing has created an average paddock size of three and a half hectares. Because sheep are reluctant to graze lower slopes, many fences are at the tops of hills which forces the sheep down to feed without resorting to electric fences.

The smaller paddocks also assist in the pasturemanagement cycle of cropping swedes and fodder beet, then regrassing.

Nigel was five when the family came to the farm.

Holidays from boarding school saw him back there helping and learning. After gaining a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree from Lincoln, he worked as a field rep for Midland Seeds in Mid Canterbury, a job he loved.

Two years ago, he and his, now, wife, Leanne, felt they needed a change. Fortuitously a job as territory manager for Otago Southland YFC came available; Leanne got the job and Nigel’s parents were amenable to taking a step back from the farm.

The couple lease the farm from parents, who now live five minutes down the road, and own all the stock and plant.

“They both help out in an advisory role, and Mum does a lot of work for us. Dad was a pretty good farmer, so it would be silly of me to ignore that.”

While the farm is running well in its traditional manner, there is no complacency in Nigel’s plans.

Embracing new technology, especially what is wellproven, is firmly in his sights.

“Farm IQ-type data recording systems could streamline how we run, and make decision-making easier,” he says. “ We are part of the Clutha Development Trust and get two water tests per year.

Our farm is at the start of the watershed with two creeks. We can test the quality of the water leaving here, and know what we need to put in to place to mitigate things like e-coli, nitrogen or phosphorus run-off.

“At the moment, running the farm is pretty much just me. But I like being around people, so we might lease to increase the size of the business, and then I would have staff to work with.”

In the meantime, there is plenty to do preparing for that July final.

exceeds the cost of buying in. However, at a $3.90 payout, it is probably not so profitable.”

Assisting on the farm is a 2IC, plus three Filipinos acquired through an employment agency.

Some of the tough immigration rules governing work visas for migrant farm workers makes Matt think the system needs tweaking.

“I think it’s difficult for our immigrant workers with the uncertainty of knowing whether they can renew their visas or not,” says Matt.

“They are hard-working people who enjoy working on the land. It would be much better if once you have been approved to work here, you could be assured of future work visas being available.

We’ve invested in them by supporting their Ag ITO training. “ Amelia, who works as an accountant for Alexanders, a Christchurch-based company specialising in accountancy and advice for agribusiness, works two days from home.

The herd is milked through a 60-bail Read rotary with Protrac and heat camera. The plant is in its eighth season and has a 700-cow capacity yard.

The shed is positioned in the middle of the farm with eight laneways leading from it – the furthest the herd has to walk is 800-900 metres.

The couple’s initial one-year contract has been renewed for two more years. They own 300 cows, which are leased to dairy farms in the South Island.

When asked advice for those entering dairy farming, Matt says important steps to consider begin with training through AGITO or university.

“If I hadn’t gone to uni, I think it would have taken me twice as long to have progressed to where I am now.”

You should also have a variety of mentors and surround yourself with top business advisers, he says.

“It is important to sit around the table regularly with your bank manager and accountant.”

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| 11

12 |

RURAL PEOPLE » Closeburn Station

Business Rural

Japan, suits, fine wool – a perfect fit Russell Fredric Merino wool garments are highly desirable fashion products around the world, but the business of breeding and farming merino sheep is not for the faint hearted, says Closeburn Station owner Tony Clarke.

“It’s not an easy game to play. The corriedales are far, far easier to look after.

However the rewards of producing super-fine merino to meet a niche market in Japan have been well worthwhile, he says.

“It’s a passion to produce that quality of wool. It is such an unbelievably good product.”

Tony and his wife, Rebecca Clarke, who run and own Closeburn Station, in the Maniototo, have been supplying merino wool directly to Japanese suitmaker Konaka for six years.

The journey to produce super-fine wool consistently has been long. It started in 1997 when Tony got serious about selecting the right genetics for wool that would meet the requirements for use in high-end garments.

With lamb prices depressed, his focus turned towards increasing the station’s merino flock

and its wool clip, while reducing the number of corriedales.

Some prices being paid for merino wool were “outrageously good”, he says. “It was a phenomenal amount of money at times for the finest wool. There wasn’t much of it, so people paid big money for it. But it was never sustainable.”

At the time the mix of sheep on the 3800-hectare Closeburn property, which carries 10,000 stock units, was 20 per cent merino and 80% corriedale; merinos now make up 55% of the flock.

To achieve Tony’s goal, the station’s merino wool had to drop five microns.

“When we started, the merinos were on 20 micron and about five kilos of wool.”

He fast-tracked genetic gains and after several years the station began consistently producing merino wool of 15 microns, while maintaining an average of 4.7kg of wool per sheep.

“We used artificial insemination and spent a lot of money on rams to put top genetics across our ewes to get what we wanted. We are using only the best of the best rams across our ewes.”

• To page 13

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Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » James & Sandra Andrew

| 13

Firm advocate for once-a-day Russell Fredric The Caroline Valley is a picturesque neck of the woods in Northern Southland – and home to 800 cows on James and Sandra Andrew’s 248-hectare farm.

The valley has its own micro-climate which, because of the way weather is funnelled up the valley by surrounding topography, brings more rain and snow than other parts of summer-dry Northern Southland, says James Andrew.

Despite this, 145ha of the farm is under irrigation to compensate for the dry months, with a 45-day water-storage pond sourced indirectly from the nearby Oreti River in winter.

The herd is milked through a relatively uncommon 20-a-side, twin-pit herringbone shed, which allows 40 cows to be milked at once.

“Because the pits are short, as opposed to long herringbone sheds, the cows come and go quickly,” says James. “The shed is similar in speed to a rotary and considerably lower in cost to build.”

It was built about eight or nine years ago, and there have been minimal repairs: “It’s a personal choice. I think it’s great wee shed.”

The Andrews employ three full-time staff. The farm operation is centred around once-a-day milking, with the herd split equally between morning and afternoon milking.

“We normally milk the older cows in the morning and the younger cows in the afternoon; that’s pretty good use of labour as well,” says James.

“I have always firmly believed, after the early once-a-day Taranaki trials, that there’s no financial advantage in milking twice a day. I believe there’s

a lot less stress involved in once-a-day for people, for the cows, for the environment, and the whole operation.”

Lower feed inputs and cows in better condition during winter are also a huge advantages, as well empty rates that are two to three per cent lower, he says.

The jersey herd is being transitioned to crossbred because he believes they are better suited for once-a-day milking and for Southland.

Last season’s total production was 273,000 kilograms opf milksolids, which averages out to 341kg per cow against farm working expenses budgeted at $3kg for the season.

James expects similar production for this

Affinity for Japanese culture • From page 12 Having achieved much of the gains needed, the station is now back to using natural mating.

However, producing a great product was not enough in itself, as the wool needed a market which is where a serendipity or two appeared after an early attempt to market Closeburn’s merino wool in Japan “failed dismally”.

The present supply agreement with Konaka came about after a stroke of good fortune in 2011 when, through a friend, Tony reconnected with PGG Wrightson business development manager Craig Smith.

“He introduced us to Konaka. They were sent a trial supply (of wool) in 2011 and we met them in 2012; that’s when we signed a memorandum of understanding. It has been great for us.”

The price Closeburn Station achieves for its Konaka wool is commercially sensitive, but is significantly higher than that paid on the open market because Konaka values the Closeburn product, Tony says.

Late last year clean super-fine merino wool fetched around $17 to $19 a kilogram at auction.

About 75% of the station’s merino wool clip presently goes to Konaka, and Tony continues to

season because of a summer of lower temperatures and less sunshine despite 20ha more grass. The farm is supported by a 78ha run-off in Eastern Southland.

The introduction of 20ha of fodder beet into the farm’s system for the first time last season has been a big boost, he says. The fodder crops are followed by fibrous oat crops to mop up nitrogen and potassium and provide winter balage.

“It has enabled us to winter all our cows on our platform, but it does require transitioning. There are a lot of animal health issues if you don’t get it right.”

Two seasons ago the Andrew farm was hit by a clover root weevil infestation, which affected many farms in the lower South Island. Biological control with a wasp was very effective but, disappointingly, the Andrews’ no-nitrogen policy had to be broken.

The past three years have been particularly

In another three or four years it will be to a stage where everything we grow can go to Konaka. work hard to achieve 15 microns across the whole flock.

“In another three or four years it will be to a stage where everything we grow can go to Konaka.”

The Clarkes are extremely grateful for Craig Smith’s work in facilitating Closeburn’s supply to Konaka, Japan’s third largest suit retailer, which has resulted in a simple, traceable supply chain from Maniototo to Yokohama.

The Clarke family’s connection with Konaka is much more than business. Tony, a karate fourth dan, black belt, has a strong affinity for Japanese culture; the Clarke and Konaka families have a close relationship, which is extremely special to both, with business and personal visits being reciprocated between New Zealand and Japan.

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Above: James and Sandra Andrew’s 45-day water-storage pond sourced from the reti River in winter. Below: The calves come out to play. tough, but by applying tight financial reins, they Andrews have been able to steer their business through and are now excited about the challenges.

“Our business is a lot stronger than it was three years ago, but the uncertainty about the world trade will create volatility and we need to be ready for it,” says James.

They look forward to contributing to Southland’s Land and Water Plan as there has been “huge, unchecked” land-use changes.

“We must protect and maintain valleys like Caroline Valley whilst providing food for the growing world populations using methods that are sustainable and profitable for us.”

14 |

RURAL PEOPLE » Arjan Van’t Klooster

Business Rural

High achiever on and off farm Richard Loader South Canterbury dairy farmer Arjan Van’t Klooster is quite a role model for young New Zealanders considering a career in the agricultural industry.

Now 25 years of age, he has worked solidly to achieve academically and in his farming career. He can now add 2017 winner of the Aorangi Regional FMG Young Farmers competition to his trophy cabinet.

After completing an agriculture and commerce degree at Lincoln University, he and his fiancée and business partner, Kelsi Chamberlain, returned to his parent’s 300-hectare farm at Glenavy and stepped into the position of lower-order sharemilkers.

“It was a helluva step going from a pen pusher to a sharemilker of 1200 cows, particularly managing eight staff,” says Arjan.

“It was a challenge initially, but I’ve grown into it. A key part is having daily meetings where we all discuss what’s going on.“ Three years into sharemilking an opportunity arose for Arjan’s dad to buy a neighbouring 164ha, low-input dairy unit. Arjan did the budget and the two of them went off to the bank.

“The bank manager turned to me and said ‘Why don’t you buy it?’. Initially I didn’t think she was serious because Kelsi and I were so early in our farming career.”

After redoing the budget and encouraged by his parents, Arjan and Kelsi became farm-owners 10 years earlier than they had planned on.

“The last five years has been an extraordinary challenge,” says Arjan. ”There has been a lot of farm development: replacing border dykes with pivot and k-line irrigators on both farms; replacing fencing and laneways. At times development has occurred just a day ahead of the cows going in.”

• To page 15

South Canterbury dairy farmer Arjan Van’t Klooster had his farming skills put to the test in this year’s Aorangi Regional Young Farmer of the Year competition. He passed with flying colours.

It was a helluva step going from a pen pusher to sharemilker of 1200 cows, particularly managing eight staff. It was a challenge initially, but I’ve grown into it.

A key part is having daily meetings where we all discuss what’s going on.

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Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » Graham Berry

| 15

The intake system and pipeline that takes the water to power the turbine on Franz Josef dairy farmer Graham Berry’s 55-kiloWatt, hydro-electric scheme.

Turbine teething troubles sorted Kelly Deeks Franz Josef dairy farmer Graham Berry has harnessed the power of a natural resource on his property and is now using it to run his farm, home, staff accommodation, and farmstay holiday home – and he still has some left over to sell back to the national grid.

Graham has owned his South Westland farm for 13 years. He has a milking platform of 145 hectares where he milks 270 cows, and leases an adjacent 12ha run-off block.

His power story began about seven years ago when he started thinking of using the creek at the back of his property to generate electricity. But it wasn’t until he found out about a South Canterbury farm running centre-pivots from its border-dyke irrigation system that he realised the true potential in his creek.

With self-sufficiency and clean, green image in mind, he set about designing and building a hydro-electric power scheme to generate about 55

kiloWatts of electricity per hour. Construction began with making a track through some “tigerous” jungle country, then putting an intake system through the creek to remove water while leaving enough for the creek and fish to flow freely.

He got the scheme running at the end of November 2015, then spent the next nine months ironing out teething issues.

These included the turbine-control screens displaying in Mandarin instead of English. When Mandarin speakers were unable to translate them, it was decided to replace the operating programme with an English version.

“That went well for the next three to four weeks, then we started having problems with vibrations.”.

“We’ve got an alarm system by our house with a flashing light that comes on if there’s an issue.

I woke up at 1.30am on Christmas Day and the light was flashing. I ran out the back and from 100 metres away, heard the turbine making a very awkward noise. It had blown all its bearings and put us out of action for a good while as everyone was on leave at that stage.”

After the Christmas break, he sent the turbine to Christchurch to get new bearings and to be recalibrated. But when it came back, it was still vibrating.

Graham was heading overseas and didn’t want to leave the system running when he wasn’t there, so he took it back to Christchurch for more recalibration.

When it came back, he had local engineer Wally Giles help reinstall it, and it was still vibrating.

“We took it to his workshop at Whataroa and everything seemed to be fine, but when we brought it back it was vibrating again,” Graham says.

“We found out that the holes where the turbine goes on to the generator weren’t aligned properly, and that every time it went around, the turbine was

being forced up and down and round and round.”

The answer was to create a universal join between the turbine and the generator to allow a small amount of movement. Ever since it has been running like clockwork.

The hydro-electric scheme has generated a lot of interest amongst farmers and others, and Graham has taken many phone calls about it.

He believes there should be more hydro-electric power generation on this scale, but stresses that individual farmers need to work out how viable it will be for ther specific situation and circumstances.

“You need some money in your back pocket and a lot of information before you start,” he says.

He plans to hold an open day for the farm and the scheme.

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Arjan van’t Kloosters and fiancee Kelsi Chamberlain try their hand at floral decoration.

National title in Arjan’s sights • From page 14

Loving a good challenge, entry into the Young Farmers’ competition was another opportunity for Arjan to test his skills and knowledge.

On the first of two days, competitors worked through a scenario-based exam on the first day that tested their knowledge of pasture management, crop rotation and pasture finishing operations.

The following day was spent on practical challenges testing every aspect of the agricultural industry including human resources, saddling horses and wrangling a steer, driving a combine harvester and shearing sheep.

“It’s a real learning experience,” says Arjan.

“You know, I’ve never shorn a sheep before in my life, nor driven a combine harvester.”

Hre says a major benefit of the competition is benchmarking and testing yourself against really talented individuals in all sectors of the agricultural industry and forming lasting friendships with them and the greater community.

The next challenge will be the nationals, They will be in Manawatu in early July, and Arjan is already focused on the event.

Giving back to an industry that has given him so much is now high on Arjan’s ‘to do’ list.

He is saddened that there is not the number of good people coming through the industry.

“At school agriculture wasn’t seen as an industry that academics go into. We need to attract really good young individuals to agriculture. “ I would like to shine a positive light and attract quality people to the agricultural industry.”

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16 |

RURAL PEOPLE » Tania Riddington/Hindon Farm

Business Rural

Tania hopes success will inspire Karen Phelps

Sharemilker Tania Riddington, runner-up in the 2017 Canterbury-North Otago Dairy Industry Awards, is completing her sixth season on a 450-cow farm at Culverden.

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Tania Riddington hopes her success in the 2017 Canterbury-North Otago Dairy Industry Awards will encourage other women already in the dairy industry or inspire women to give a dairy career a go.

Tania, 34, was runner-up in the CanterburyNorth Otago competition and secured three farmmerit awards – for health and safety, recording and productivity, and pasture performance.

Although she grew up on a dairy farm, she didn’t initially plan on a farming career, instead completing a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from Otago University.

She returned to the family farm in 2010 when her dad, Ken, wanted to convert it. She started sharemilking and has just completed her sixth season on the 450-cow, 160-hectare (130ha effective) property at Culverden.

Tania, a first-time entrant, says she entered the competition to challenge and to benchmark herself against others in the industry. She thinks her strengths – good record-keeping and planning – really came to the fore.

She has kept tidy records for each paddock – even before the farm was converted. Farm walks and re-grassing are also recorded, as well as crops grown as part of her re-grassing programme.

She believes this detailed information allows her to make better decisions, which is particularly important as the farm is pasture-focused and buys in only limited feed inputs. This season she re-grassed 20 per cent of the farm and is planting 11ha of kale and fodder beet combined.

She keeps good records of her breeding

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It’s a busy time of year for Blair Williams, manager of Hindon Farm, a Landcorp sheep, beef and deer unit in Central Otago, as he balances the farm’s capital stock with the complexities of its finishing operations.

Forty minutes from Dunedin, the farm sits on 1000 hectares of rolling land with deep tussock gullies running through the property.

It’s a pasture-based farming system with 30 hectares of plantain clover for finishing – Blair will increase that to 60ha next year. Summer dry, the farm is used for both finishing and breeding. The hope is that as the land dries off, the finished stock will be heading out the gate.

“One of our goals here is to breed and finish high-quality stock,” he says. “That involves a high level of pasture management and maintaining feed budgets.

“We use the FarmIQ system to record and integrate all animal, land and feed information. I also do a monthly pasture walk using a sward stick to measure grass, make rotation decisions, and do feed budgets.”

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Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » Tania Riddington/Hindon Farm

| 17

women programme. Her aim is for the predominantly friesian-cross herd to be in the top 10% for breeding and production worth figures. She aims for a low empty rate – typically 10-12%, but this year the whole district’s figures have been higher.

This season is the first time her six-week, in-calf rates haven’t been above 70%. She herd-tests four times a year.

Health and safety is also carefully recorded to ensure compliance.

She feels the competition has identified her communication skills with staff as something to work on. As well as instructing verbally, she is now writing things down so that there are fewer opportunities for misunderstandings.

Tania see her farm’s low-input system, where the focus is on profit not production, as a strength.

She aims for a sustainable farming business by not stocking highly, being pasture-based, reducing urea inputs as much as possible, and running a compliant effluent system.

Effluent is spread over around 30ha by travelling irrigator. but her target is to disperse through the centre-pivot over a greater area.

She is maintaining her target production of around 440 kilograms of milksolids per cow.

Her farming goals include farm ownership by 2027. She and partner Tim Murdoch, who works full-time in real estate, have recently bought a 120ha run-off block in partnership with Ken as an entry into land ownership.

“The competition has helped me to know definitely where I am heading and to have clearer plans and goals of how to get there. It is good to see so many women coming through the industry.

Women are very capable of running a dairy farm. hope my entering the awards will help to encourage others.”

Culverden sharemilker Tania Riddington is planting 11 hectares of fodder beat and kale this year in an effort to limit feed inputs bought in.

feed budgets the base Typically, the farm will lamb 4800 romney ewes and 1000 hoggets, winter 150 rising-two-year-old angus cattle, finish 250 calves from Landcorp’s Waipori station and 2000 weaner fawns from four surrounding Landcorp breeder farms.

Over summer, Hindon is home to 8000 lambs all of which will be finished on farm.

Blair describes the ewe flock as quite highperforming, consistently lambing 150 per cent to the ram.

“Last year they scanned 216% and lambed 161% to the ram. That’s our best year, and there wouldn’t be too many farms doing that.”

His challenge is to make sure the covers are right and the ewes are gaining the right weight for mating purposes.

This year Hindon will winter 13,000 stock units, so it’s quite an intensive operation. But the covers available for the capital stock govern that intensity.

“You have to look after your capital stock – your ewes and two-tooths. If they aren’t fed properly, you can’t bring stock in,” says Blair. “You don’t want to jeopardise next year’s production of capital stock with other stock coming in.”

From March till the end of May, deer start coming on to the farm for finishing. Once finished they will be collected locally by Duncan NZ in

Mosgiel, processed, and shipped overseas under Landcorp’s Pamu brand.

Of the 2000 weaner fawns transferred to Hindon in late April/May, a third will have been be pre-rut.

Post-rut weaners start to arrive in late May and early June.

Pre-rut weaning enables the hinds to put condition on very quickly, providing better cycling and conception during the roar. He says it will mean the weaners will have the opportunity to gain critical weight during the lead-up to winter, when growth becomes negligible, and hit Hindon’s 90-kilogram liveweight target.

Blair says autumn growth was very good, which resulted in good weight gains in the winter lead-up when they will be transferred in mobs of 300 to cropped paddocks.

“They’ll come off crop in August and hit the ground running,” says Blair. “Our target is to get half of the weaners up to weight and away in that spring market before Christmas. They will all be gone by March 2018.”

In his 17 years of farming Blair has amassed farm and stock management experience, culminating in his ability to navigate the complexities of farming a summer dry, breeding and finishing farm such as Hindon.

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18 |

RURAL PEOPLE » Matt Birchfield

Business Rural

High achiever on, off farm Richard Loader Farm manager Matt Birchfield is firmly at the helm steering his crew through a number of changes on Landcorp’s Bassett Road Dairy unit near Cape Foulwind, just south of Westport.

No stranger to change, he has a long dairy farming history around West Coast’s Grey Valley with some interesting roles outside the industry, including coalmining at Pike River and TB testing.

Matt is a high achiever. Just before landing his role with Landcorp in 2016, he won the West Coast/Top of the South Island Dairy Industry Farm Manager of the Year award.

He is currently ploughing through Primary ITO courses and will soon sit his level-four papers before moving to level five.

He is also only a few flying hours and two exams away from completing his helicopter licence, which he reckons will be useful for spraying operations on the farm.

“When I did my capital budget I did mention to the boss that we needed a helicopter to do the spraying – I’m not sure she was too keen.”

The 460-hesctare (effective) Bassett Road Dairy unit forms part of Landcorp’s Buller complex that includes five other dairy units.

It is currently milking 1030 cows through a 60-bail rotary shed, with production is sitting at 385 kilograms of milksolids per cow. The objective is to raise that to 400kg/cow next year by going to an in-shed feeding system.

We’re going to an in-shed system using pellets, delivering what the cow needs at various stages of lactation. We want to peak as quickly as we can, try to stop that drop off, slowly ease down and hold them at 1.8kgMS for about 6 weeks longer than we normally would..

“Landcorp has made the decision not to feed PKE from July 1,” says Matt. “We’re going to an inshed system using pellets, delivering what the cow needs at various stages of lactation.

“We want to peak as quickly as we can, try to stop that drop-off, slowly ease down, and hold them at 1.8kg milksolids for about six weeks longer than we normally would.”

Bassett Road will also be including winter

• To page 19

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RURAL PEOPLE » Simon & Miesha Lee

Business Rural

| 19

Quakes, cyclones hit hard Karen Phelps Mendip Hills Station was hit hard in the Kaikoura earthquakes with extensive damage to farm buildings and the land. It has been a rough time for those running the farm to get things back on track – a huge workload in addition to the normal farm work. Then the out-of-the-ordinary weather bombs and cyclones arrived.

“We’ve already cleaned up tracks twice and they’ve slipped again. We’re a bit nervous about what the winter will bring,” admits farm manager Simon Lee. The North Canterbury farm sits between the Waiau and Leader rivers; it’s a broad expanse of grassed flats, rolling hills and tussock high country.

The farm runs 40,000 deer, cattle and sheep and employs eight full-time staff.

Because of earthquake damage, the old homestead, where the farm-owners stay when visiting will need to be pulled down and replaced.

So will the deer shed.

Simon says every building on the farm, plus the stockyards, has had damage. Things have been patched up to be functional.

But it is damage to the land – which cannot be insured – that will be the most expensive to fix.

Erosion, landslips and cracks in the landscape will take time to rectify.

In the midst of all this Simon and Miesha found themselves a finalist in the South Island Farmer of the Year competition. The awards ceremony was the day after the Kaikoura earthquake. Simon had lost his speech on his earthquake-damaged laptop and roads were closed. Somehow they managed to make it to the big night and Simon winged it with a new speech. The couple took out the Human Resources Award. It turned out to be a much needed night of encouragement.

Simon and Miesha have been managing Mendip Hills.which has a history going back to 1861, for 10 years. Today the station occupies 6100 hectares

With the aim of improving the herd, Mendip Hills has been of Beef & Lamb New Zealand’s beef progeny test.

We’ve already cleaned up tracks twice and they’ve slipped again. We’re a bit nervous about what the winter will bring. and has an additional 180ha irrigated block at Spotswood, about 12 kilometres away just north of Cheviot, and another 150ha of irrigated land near Ashburton.

Mendip Hills runs 10,500 romney ewes and 6300 ewe and trading hoggets, and has 1120 breeding cows, including the rising-two-year-old heifers. The deer operation is made up of 1250 mixed-age, red hinds, 250 in-calf rising two-yearold hinds and 300 rising one-year-old hinds.

All the mixed-age cows are run together over winter, then separated into two herds, angus-cross and pure hereford, at calving and again before the bulls go out. Bulls are left out for 45 days, which helps to keep the calving pattern tight. Weaning is in the second week of April, and the mobs then join together.

With the aim of improving the herd, Mendip Hills has been part of Beef & Lamb New Zealand’s beef progeny test. Cows and heifers are DNAtested before being inseminated. Hereford bulls, both horned amd polled, are selected to fit with the breeding goals as well as targeting a high percentage of intramuscular fat in estimated breeding values.

It’s not just the farm that has been affected by earthquake damage. There’s also the damage to people. Simon, wife Miesha and their children – Zoe, 12, Jonty, 10, Harry, six, and Digby, one – were all asleep when the earthquake hit. They were initially trapped in the house, but eventually made it outside. The farm staff turned up shortly afterwards. Everyone slept outside that night.

Simon says everyone is coping well. He credits Federated Farmers as being lifesavers. The 0800 number set up by the federation has brought muchneeded volunteers to the farm to help with the extra workload.

“We’re still living out of boxes at our house until it’s fixed. We all have to pace ourselves – it won’t happen overnight and work will be ongoing for a couple of years to get the farm sorted.”

Bassett moves to winter milking • From page 18 milking in its farm system for the first time this year. About 450 empty cows from three other Buller complex farms will be winter-milked by Matt and his staff, though Matt says it’s likely 50 of those will be culled in the first week.

He will also select 250 of the best performers for three weeks of artificial insemination, followed by another three weeks with a bull put over them.

The plan is to shift to autumn calving next season.

But there are other benefits too.

Matt says that by milking through before culling, he can get more money for the cows when there is

low volume but higher demand at the works.

Moving to winter milking will also offset the cost of planting 7ha of fodder beet as a step toward self-sufficiency.

“The plan is to have 20ha of beet this coming season sao that we can keep the milking cows home for the winter instead of sending them off to the support farm for grazing,” he says. “That will mean a big saving in grazing costs, making this place more profitable.”

Matt is very proud of his three staff, which includes his partner, Kim Butcher. Without them, the challenge of first year winter milking would be very difficult.

Mendip Hills Station manager Simon Lee says land damage on the historic farm – erosion, landslips and cracks – will take time to rectify.

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RURAL PEOPLE » Trevor & Stacey Monson

Business Rural

Irish working holiday nears 20 years Richard Loader Trevor Monson is an Irishman who came to New Zealand on a three-month working holiday, and fell in love with the people, the country and grass based farming. He also fell in love with a Kiwi lass.

That was 1998; nigh on 20 years later he has never left.

From Boyle, County Roscommon, Trevor was undertaking a farming apprenticeship when his boss was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship to study dairy farming in New Zealand.

Initially left in charge of the farm in Ireland, Trevor was encouraged by his boss to travel to the antipodes and learn about New Zealand’s grassbased system. Learn he did; return home he did not.

“The thing that stands out for me, coming from Irish to New Zealand farming, is the low-cost management and New Zealand’s confidence in dairy farming. Positive and progressive farmers surround you and they are very easy to talk to.

That’s what drove me to stay in New Zealand.”

Trevor makes special mention of farmers like Sharon and Alistair Rayne, on whose Dunsandel farm he gained experience when he arrived in New Zealand.

“They’re very good low-cost farmers and all my farming comes back to how they managed grass,” says Trevor. “They’re responsible for where I am today, and good mentors of mine.”

Now an equity manager for Methven Dairies, a

Trevor Monson, equity manager for Methven Dairies with wife Stacey and children Aisling (left) and Noah.

398-hectare (effective), 1500-cow dairy conversion in Mid Canterbury with an office window facing the Southern Alps, Trevor’s journey has been one of continual development and learning.

The view from the office window...irrigator, trees, Mt Hutt.

The equity partnership was formed in 2011 when Trevor met John Wright, founder and general manager of Barrhill Chertsey Irrigation (BCI). John was planning to convert his arable farm to dairy following establishment of the BCI scheme in the Methven area and was looking for an equity partner to do it with.

Methven Motors was brought in as silent partner once the conversion was in its final stages of completion.

Trevor says the three-way partnership works extremely well.

“I’m the cow cockie—the farm’s operations manager,” says Trevor. ” John’s the business strategist rather than hands on the farm. But we’re always talking to one another.”

Trevor says the conversion went well and while there has been a hiatus on capital spending over the last couple of years, the cheque book is being reopened to finish development projects that were not a priority when the farm was initially converted.

Complimentary of the support that he’s had over the years, Trevor is also quick to back his seven staff.

“Cows are my love, my passion. But now staff have to be number one to have a successful business. You’ve got seven staff and seven different

personalities. Each personality has to be managed individually.”

The staff come from a diversity of countries (New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and the Philippines). Trevor says he recruits on personality – especially looking for communication and team skills, people who enjoy farm work, like training people and showing the skills they have.

He says all the staff did an eight-session FarmTune Lean Management course last year, and benefited from identifying the root cause of wastage and inefficiency while introducing better operational thinking, teamwork and communication.

“It’s had a really positive impact on our staff and performance,” Trevor says. “We had a discussion group here yesterday and that was a topic talked about. People are excited about it. There’s a cost, but not in the big picture.”

Trevor remains bullish about the dairy industry and the opportunities on offer. You make your own luck along the way, he says.

“We could have burnt ourselves out, but we stuck to our guns and got there. A lot of people get so close to achieving their goal, but burn out when another year and they could have been there. Work smarter is the solution. Be a people’s person. Work with positive people. Set a goal and make it work.”

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RURAL PEOPLE » Denise & Ivan Hopper

Business Rural

| 21

Robotic milking – it does compute Karen Phelps Southland farmers Denise and Ivan Hopper believe robotics could give them more options on their 340cow dairy farm at Morton Mains, near Invercargill.

“Financially, it might be better for us to consider a contract milker, but that wouldn’t address the key problems we typically have – finding the right staff and ensuring the farm is available for the future for our children,” says Denise.

The Hoppers says they came away from the Grasslands Robotics Convention, hosted by DeLaval in Tasmania, Australia, inspired by the potential benefits in using robotics on their unit.

Both Denise and Ivan grew up on dairy farms in the Waikato. They met when they were managing neighbouring units at Tahuna, near Morrinsville.

After marrying, the opportunity arose for them to lease the unit Denise was managing; they did this for three years alongside Ivan’s job with the aim of building capital to buy their first farm.

That was a 100ha property milking 230 cows just outside Morrinsville. They owned it for six years before Transpower decided to put larger pylons through the area, which prompted them to move to Southland in 2007 where land prices were cheaper land prices.

Their farm at Morton Mains is 126ha total/120ha effective and they milk a herd of friesian cows through a 30-a-side herringbone shed.

Denise says their biggest challenge has been getting cows in calf, which has partly prompted their interest in robotics and, in particular, the DeLaval Herd Navigator system which measures progesterone levels in the milk so that farmers can accurately pinpoint what stage of her reproductive cycle a cow is at. The system shows when the cow is on heat and when it needs to be inseminated within 48 hours.

Farmer Brian Yates peak-milks a herd of 165 cows at Karaka, south of Auckland, put the system in last September – the first in the southern hemisphere. He says he has already seen a 10 per cent improvement in in-calf rates, and the calving window is one week shorter.

This has got the Hoppers interested as Denise

PHOTOS: The Hopper family (from left), Denise and Ivan, with Shaun, Kelly Anne and Peter. The Hoppers milk 340 cows at Morton Mains, near Invercargill.

They also rear hereford bulls to sell as one-year-olds and hereford heifers to sell at 18 months. says they have had difficulty in pinpointing the reason their empty rates have been increasing (they currently sit at 17 per cent).

“There can be a lot of factors involved. We’ve had years of 4% empty rate, but it has been slowly rising. We are placing more emphasis on premating and using CIDRs earlier, but we don’t really like using them.”

Lifestyle is another factor in their interest in robotics – both have been milking for decades and say robotics would give them more freedom. Going to the conference has given them confidence to progress in that direction.

“We’ve been farming for a long time now and we’re confident in how we are farming,” says Denise. “Going to robotics is an unknown for us – not a lot of people in New Zealand are doing it. So, going to the conference and seeing what’s happening around the world has given us the confidence to go ahead as we will be investing so much money in the plant.”

Putting in an automatic calf-feeder a few years ago has given them a level of understanding of the benefits of such investment and how cows react to new technology. The calf-feeder has allowed them to rear hereford bulls to sell at a year old and hereford heifers to sell at 18 months. These

are in addition their own rising-two-year-old dairy replacements. They used to rear around 100 heifer calves, but now rear 240 all up.

The technology has paid for itself in just three years and they are now benefitting from the income, which is equivalent to an extra $1.50 per kilogram of milksolids. They see similar potential with robotics and expect it to result in a cash surplus.

The farm is assisted by two run-off blocks, totalling 129ha, which are used for wintering, rearing young stock, and growing supplement.

In 2015-16 the Hoppers herd produced 147,000kg milksolids. Last season they were up to around 155,000kg mark, which is their usual production figure.

Both Denise and Ivan are hands on, and they employ one full-time staff member. They have three children – Kelly Anne, 17, Peter, 14 and Shaun, 11.

All have different ideas about what they want to do when they leave school, but robotics will leave the door open if they decide to return to the family farm.

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22 |

Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » Ian & Jeanette Ruddenklau

Jeanette and Ian Ruddenklau with replacement ewe lambs on their Fortrose farm in Southland. The Ruddenklaus have a target mating weight of 50 kilogram.

Pasture management part of puzzle Russell Fredric Putting together the jigsaw of farming sheep has included a close focus on pasture management to achieve good lamb-weights for Fortrose farmer Ian Ruddenklau.

Ian and wife Jeanette own a 353-hectare/243ha effective generational property near Fortrose in south-eastern Southland. About 100ha of the farm is in native bush.

During the 1980s and early 1990s when sheep farming was in the grip of recession, the couple encouraged their four children (all now adults) to pursue other careers.

While being aware of grass quality and growth as a key, they see a more targeted approach to fertiliser application as also part of the puzzle.

“We’ve been using Tracmap for the last couple of years and we are (soil) testing every year so that we can keep a more accurate eye on the trends,” says Ian Ruddenklau.

“We are making better use of our fertiliser dollar.”

He says the farm’s management has also improved with the permanent subdivision of

As lambing nears 170 per cent, quads are becoming more common. paddocks to keep stock camp numbers down; paddock sizes are now a third of what they were when the Ruddenklaus took over the farm in 1990.

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“You can fence off the bottom parts of the paddock so that you can concentrate the stock there and boost the fertility on those lower points.”

The farm winters 2500 ewes and 740 replacement hoggets.

Lambing is typically 160 to 165 per cent compared with 140% in the 1990s when the farm ran a coopworth flock; hoggets usually lamb at

95%.

“It took some changing of breeds and some hybrid vigour and more attention to the replacement of ewe lambs to bring it up.”

After a long period of experimenting with a variety of genetics, the farm changed to TEFRom about six years ago. It’s a stabilised texel, east friesian, romney composite sourced from Twin Farm, near Gore.

“We felt like we needed a bit more constitution in the sheep and to maintain our hybrid vigour,” says

For business advice that creates results

We felt like we needed a bit more constitution in the sheep and to maintain our hybrid vigour. I think hybrid vigour is a bit underestimated.

Ian. “I think hybrid vigour is a bit under-estimated.”

The heavier birthweight of the TEFRom lambs, compared to those born 20 years ago, has contributed to better lamb survival during colder

• To page 23

Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » Carl & Tori Uren

| 23

Couple combine numbers with hard work Sue Russell Banks Peninsula farmer Carl Uren describes the path to farm ownership through leasing as “a bit of a long story”.

Six years ago Carl and wife Tory bought the 220-hectare Totara Point property in Le Bons Bay, on Banks Peninsula. They have since added 165ha and now have 385ha under their ownership.

Carl’s “long leasing story” began about 10 years ago when the couple leased 800ha in Pigeon Bay, then then another 400ha near Akaroa.” Then, in 2011, they leased a further 600ha in Le Bons Bay. “We bought our first block, the 220 hectares in Le Bons Bay, at the same time we leased that last (600ha) block,” says Carl The farm winters about 2500 cattle, 800 breeding ewes and 600 hoggets.

To facilitate the purchase of the 165ha block, the couple sold most of their capital stock at the time, but have replaced these with 900 cattle.

Grazing 1500 dairy heifers year round from May to May provides steady monthly cashflow which means there are no surprises when it comes to planning and budgeting.

“We know what all our set costs are,” says Carl. “Interest rates, lease payments and wages are locked in; it’s reasonably simple to work out if we can take on another block or buy another block.”

The grazing cost is calculated at $11 per cow a day with the expectation of their weight increasing by 650 grams a day.

“They come in at 200 kilograms and they go out at roughly 400kg to 420kg.”

The Urens’ path to ownership has involved setting goals that were challenging, but not unrealistic, says Carl

Frustrated by the lack of a merino-jersey option for their four children’s school uniforms, Carl and Tori Uren (left) set up their own project – Merino Wool for Schools. That was in 2012. After battling to stir interest amongst merino clothing companies, they found an enthusiastic partner in PGW Wool. They “got serious” a couple of years ago, and are now supplying more than 100 schools and a growing number of sports clubs and businesses.

“The whole idea of leasing was to build up some equity and build up a good cashflow business from leasing that could service debt on our own block.”

To achieve a profitable business capable of creating equity, good stock that could achieve the best possible prices needed to be a priority, says Carl.

And this needed to be backed by good, oldfashioned hard work.

“It’s all about getting started,” he says. “If you don’t get started, then you’ve got nothing to grow on.”

Surrounded by the sea, the volcanic cone of Banks Peninsula is dotted with bays around its edge. The climate is neither too hot nor too cold through the year.

The relatively even nature of the climate eliminates the need for break feeding or feeding out.

The Urens‘ blocks are about 30 minutes apart, and each hasits specific summer and winter climates. This offers an advantage for grazing stock as conditions change from one block to another.

Although there is the cost of transport, it is still “far cheaper” than buying in feed, which fits well with Carl’s philosophy of keeping the farming systems as simple as possible.

Responsibility for running a large, well spread farm business means attention to detail, particularly with livestock, is an ongoing focus for the couple.

This includes making sure stock are well fed and watered, are weighed regularly, and their health is closely monitored.

“Whether you think you are doing a good job or not, it will tell you on the scales,” says Carl. “It’s really important to weigh our young stock because it gives you information you don’t get when you are shifting them around from day to day.”

“It’s easy to let things slip when you have a large number of animals, so we are focused on doing the little things properly. These are what make the farm tick.”

Ensuring the farm’s four staff, whose roles include stock management, fencing and general farm work, are well supported and doing their jobs well is also an important part of the equation, he says.

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SKYFARMERS Sheep in for dipping on the 353-hectare Fortrose, Southland farm owned by Ian and Jeanette Ruddenklau. Foveaux Strait is in the background.

Cold summer hits lamb weights • From page 22 weather, particularly as the farm has a coastal influence.

A deceptively good spring in southern Southland had a sting in its tail and was followed by a cold, wet summer which resulted in poorer quality pasture and clover which “disappeared”.

“We had quite a struggle to get our lambs up to our target weight and in the end we had to lower our sights and sell (500) store lambs and kill at a lighter weight.”

“We aim to target our lamb (carcass) weights at 20 kilograms. This season we haven’t achieved that; it has been pretty tough.”

Ian enjoys being part of a local farm discussion group which usually meets once a month.

“It’s been invaluable, it really has. Twenty-odd years ago when our stock weights were a lot lighter, we encouraged and challenged each other. You didn’t want to be at the bottom, so you all tried extra hard to make progress and I think the whole group benefited.”

Farmers in the group are quite happy to share anything that might help others with any part of the farming puzzle.

“Everything plays a part,” he says. “The feeding and the breeding and the management all have to come together to get it right. We are always learning.”

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24 |

RURAL PEOPLE » McKenzie Family

Business Rural

McKenzie clan continues dairy dynasty Russell Fredric The story of Southland-based Oraka Farms begins with Gordon McKenzie as the family patriarch, who started with a run-off block of just 58 hectares in 1977.

Neighbouring properties and more run-offs have been bought as they have become available over several decades. Today, Oraka Farms comprises three conjoined dairy farms covering a total of 824ha (effective) at Oteramika/Kapuka, east of Invercargill. Each farm has its own milking shed.

A neighbouring property of 115ha, which included a 36-a-side herringbone shed, was added to the original 58ha in 1991. The partnership involved Gordon, his father and two brothers.

In 2007 a 162ha block was bought and a 64-bail rotary shed was built on it. In 2008 a further 134ha was added, and in the same year, 89ha was added to the original farm.

In 2012 another neighbouring block (140ha) was bought and a 60-bail rotary built. Another 121ha has been added in the 2016-17 season.

Seventy of the 824ha is used for winter crop and support for the dairy farms.

At one point, up to 830 cows were being milked through the original herringbone shed which had been expanded to 42-a-side.

Gordon has passed the baton on to sons Blair, Graeme and Brad, and now splits his time between the farm and his home at Lake Hayes, Arrowtown, He maintains a close interest in the business.

Blair and his wife, Brooke, work in the role of operations manager and are closely involved with staff.

Graeme handles the business administration and technical aspects such as environmental compliance, while Brad has just completed

Brooke McKenzie feeds the calves on one of the three dairy units that make up Oraka Farms. The operation will peak-milk 2390 cows this season. his second season managing one of the dairy units. The planned is for him to progress into a governance role.

“Dad has always been big on allowing us opportunity to do what we want to do,” Brad says.

• To page 25

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Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » Jake Garrett

| 25

Jake downsizes to help him take the step up Karen Phelps Jake Garrett has been enjoying his return to the family farm since deciding 12 months ago to take on management of the unit at Rockville, near Collingwood.

It has also given him opportunity to develop his own farming business and this seasons he’ll be buying the cows and leasing the farm off his parents, Steve and Jenny, who have owned the property since 1992.

Originally a 250-hectare unit, Stoneyfield Farm is now 100ha (effective) milking 300 kiwicross cows.

The decision to downsize was to enable Jake to buy into the business; he says reducing debt has been more profitable than running a large operation of 680 cows on 250ha.

Alongside the farm, he has started a seeddrilling contracting business (Stoneyfield Contracting), which works within a radius of around 30 kilometres. His plan is to generate additional cashflow and speed up progress by doing the contracting work on the family farm.

Jake grew up here and completed a year at Telford after leaving school. His main experience has been in contracting in Canterbury. When his parents talked about selling the farm, he decided to return to give farming a go.

His main thrust has been keeping costs under control with the lower payout. This has been made easier because most of the development work has been completed.

“It’s about finding that sweet spot where we can cut inputs but not lose too much production,” he says. “We used to feed more than a tonne of

PHOTOS: Jake Garrett took over the management of the family farm near Collingwood 12 months ago and plans to buy the cows and lease the farm next season. Originally 250 hectares, the unit is now 100ha milking 300 cows. Jake also runs his own contracting business, Stoneyfield Contracting.

Family out to raise herd quality • From page 24 “It’s a unique opportunity to have all three sons home. I think that’s what he’s probably most proud of – seeing all three of us working within the business.”

The dairy units are supported by three runoffs: Fortrose, 90ha, in Eastern Southland; Colac Bay 375ha; and Tuatapere 222ha (effective) in Western Southland. These are overseen by a run-off manager with the support of Gordon and Graeme.

For the coming season cow numbers for peak milking are aimed to be set at 2390, compared with 2180 for the past season.

Farm working expenses for the past season were $3.68 per kilograms of milksolids, including the run-offs but excluding interest and rent.

Oraka Farms employs 14 full-time staff, and brings in seasonal workers for calving during spring.

After running one of the dairy units, Blair and Brooke faced the challenge of transitioning from managing cows to managing staff.

“Staff is our number one priority because if we don’t have the right staff looking after the cows, then we don’t really have the cows to be looking after,” says Blair.

The scale of the operation means there are opportunities for staff to advance within the business, rather than having to move to gain more

experience. Having a happy work-force also means it is easier to attract staff as workers sometimes provide word-of-mouth recommendations to potential employees.

“We’ve got a good core group of staff that have been with us a long time,” says Blair. “They know the farm, the way we run our business and how we work.”

Although the business is one large unit on paper, the McKenzies have changed tack during the past two seasons – from running their cows as a single herd, to separating them into herds and allowing mangers to have responsibility for their own herd.

As well as creating a sense of ownership, this system creates incentives for managers and the ability to separate the performance of each unit, says Blair .

“They know that if they look after their cows and get them in the right condition for winter, then they are going to get good-condition cows back.”

Production for the past season was expected to tip 890,000 kilograms of milksolids, compared to 800,000kg in the 2015-16 season, from 2050 cows.

The McKenzies say they are now seeking to improve herd quality by more rigorous culling of lower performers, and maximising pasture growth by varying grass species and using higher-performing grasses based on advice from consultants.

supplement per cow and did about 500 kilograms of milksolids per cow. We now feed around 500kg of supplement (300kg of barley and 200 of silage) and produce around 470kg milksolids. This works better in the lower payout. We’ve dropped cow numbers back by about 60.”

The stocking rate is around three cows per hectare and there’s an 80ha run-off for grazing young stock and wintering. With the farm smaller, it’s easier to stay on top of these things, he says.

Effluent is spread over 45ha by a travelling irrigator; an above-ground tank gives a million litres of storage for 90 days; around 70ha is under k-line irrigation sourced from a boundary river.

The farm is part of the Aorere Catchment Project, a Sustainable Farming Fund project focused on understanding water-quality issues and the impact for wider catchment and farming sustainability. The project, which has been running since July 2006, was sparked by aquacultureindustry concerns following reduced harvest opportunities linked to declining water quality.

The New Zealand Landcare Trust worked with farmers to develop on-farm environmental plans, co-ordinate projects and act as a broker, facilitator and supporter to the farming community.

Results have included reduced run-off from dairy farms improving water quality. In September 2015 it won the NZ Riverprize. Jake is proud to be playing a part but says there’s more to be done.

Most of the farm waterways have been planted and he will complete this.

Balancing farm work (he works alone with occasional help from his parents, but plans to employ a full-time staff member this season) and a new contracting business is challenging, he says.

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26 |

RURAL PEOPLE » Neil & Lyn Campbell

Business Rural

Flexibility, innovation win top award Neil Grant Assuring profitability doesn’t only come from being bigger or more intensively stocked. Neil and Lyn Campbell took a different tack on their farm, and it earned them the 2016 South Island Farmer of the Year award.

They moved onto their 520 hectare farm in Middle Valley, among the rolling hills just east of Fairlie, in 1993. In 2003 they bought an adjoining 240ha, adding to the balance of summer and winter country. Originally, they had 25 paddocks. Now there are 130 or so. At 650ha effective, 20ha of

• To page 27

Fairlie farmer and South Island Farmer of the Year Neil Campbell uses hard data to determine the best use of land for crops or stock.

We have no fixed rules - we work with the environment rather than against it, and place high emphasis on what can earn us the most cents per kilogram of dry matter.

Business Rural

RURAL PEOPLE » Tim Watt

| 27

PHOTOS: Tim Watt is heading into his third season on Geoff Clark’s dairy farm at Hokonui. Photos show cows grazing (above left), the dairy shed (above right) and a farm track (below left).

Tim looks to take ‘step up’ in new role Sue Russell Tim Watt has enjoyed his two seasons on a farm owned by Geoff Clark, at Hokonui, 15 minutes Winton.

His production figures tell you how positive that experience has been. In the 2015-16 season the farm produced seven per cent more than in the season before, and last season it was up another 14%.

Tim says a reduction in the impact of clover weevil has made a significant contribution towards this growth. The farm has an effective milking platform of 320 hectares, and 845 cows were peakmilked last season.

While the ideal would be to winter the herd on farm, that is currently not possible in terms of

meeting nutritional needs. So, 200 cows are walked down the road to the run-off a few kilometres away.

Tim says Geoff Clark is excellent to work with and leaves him free to attend to the main dairy farm. They catch up a couple of times a week, and communication is massive, says Tim. “It’s widely known that Geoff has a track-record for the best staff retention of any farm in this district. He does all the winter-crop management, leaving me free to run the farm from the dairy shed – I firmly believe that’s the best place to manage a farm from.”

The farm employs two full-time staff and has a relief milker available to help at peak times.

The engine-house in terms of supplementing nutrition is the 100 tonnes of palm kernel supplied to the milking herd over the season.

Milk is produced out of what Tim terms a “really

good” 54-bail rotary, using Waikato equipment.

“Everything works really well, with Protrack and automatic cup removers. When the farm converted eight years ago, the process was done really thoroughly.”

In the 2014-15 season new heat-detecting technology was tested, and Tim was happy with the results. The farm ‘s in-calf rate was 73 per cent last season.

THis season Tim’s brother is coming onto the farm, which presents Tim with the opportunity for Tim to move to contract milking.

“It means a step up in terms of employing the staff, being responsible for upkeep of some of the equipment, and for all the cleaning products. My costs will be in the order of $170,000, so I have got this farm to cover myself. After that, the plan will be on to 50:50 sharemilking 600 cows.”

Outside the farm, his big passion is rugby. He’s a representative player, wearing the No. 8 jersey. He wants to continue his involvement in top-level play, and he says Geoff Clark’s “really positive support” has been pivotal to on the manager’s role.

In terms of breeding direction, Tim says that, given that the farm has some steep terrain, the aim is to develop a smaller blacker cow, “I would say we’re about halfway through breeding in the qualities we want in this herd.”

He has also learnt the value of ensuring that systems are in place for all farm procedures, including how to cope with the unexpected.

“It’s always about writing systems down for staff in the milking shed. The time I’ve invested in creating these has been very worthwhile. These check lists act as a constant reminder of what is good practice.”

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• From page 26 the rest has been set aside for native regeneration, 60ha is in exotic forest, and wilding pines are being steadily controlled. Larger trees have been felled to stop seed source, and smaller trees are then poisoned by helicopter It’s a dryland farm. Irrigation is impossible because of the topography and variation of height from 380 metres above sea level to 580 meters.

The small paddocks enable them to analyse data to determine the best use of land for crops or stock to be produced at the optimum time for maximum profit.

Crops, all for sale, are 80ha of wheat, barley, and oil seed rape. Specific crops are sown at specific times during narrow windows of opportunity to be harvested when feed demand will be short. For their own use, they grow 60ha of fodder crops of maize, turnips fodder beet and short rotation ryegrass.

Stock consist of 500 hinds committed to venison production, found mostly at higher altitudes. They fawn in November. Dairy support heifers, and bull beef make up the cattle component. The bull beef contribute to the farm’s flexibility. Six hundred coopdale ewes put to texel terminal sires supply Alliance Freezing Company.

“No two years are the same,” says Neil Campbell. “We have no fixed rules – we work with the environment rather than against it, and place high emphasis on what can earn us the most cents per kilogram of dry matter. That’s our starting point, and then we see how it will fit into our operation.

We are always looking for opportunities. If we can see a margin in it, we’ll trade it.

“We utilise the grass we grow. We have been focussing on legumes - red and white clover, and plantain. Rye grass is becoming less and less part of our sward.”

His attending the Kellogg Leadership Programme in 2007 allowed them to re-evaluate how to maximise their farming programme. They now heavily monitor what they do and collect all data so they can meet specific targets they have set, based on that.

Attention to farming business is not their only driver, though. For instance, as shown by their encouraging of native regeneration and removal of wildings, environmental stewardship is also important to the Campbells.

“We like diversified landscapes, and we enjoy what we do. As a business we think it is important to support local schools and sports clubs. Even though they are not now for our immediate needs, they are a vibrant part of the community, and ensure we can attract high calibre staff.”

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28 |

BREEDERS » Middlevale Stud

Business Rural

Doug and Josephine Dodds: ’Animals are only as good as your last two or three choices.’

Middlevale aims to produce all-rounders Kim Newth

Above: The herd wanders in for the afternoon milking. Lower right; Caldwell Contracting harvests barley for whole-crop silage.

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Selecting for solid performance across a range of traits is a proven formula for Doug and Josephine Dodds, owners of one of New Zealand’s oldest pedigree holstein friesian studs.

Middlevale Stud was established in 1921 by Doug’s grandfather and great uncle. Middlevale’s earliest cow family – the “B” family – dates back to when the first cow was registered in 1922.

Since then, there has been a steady weeding-out of unwanted traits, with more favourable traits being brought out.

“In saying that, though, animals are only as good as your last two or three choices and you can make wrong choices over time that will set things back,” Doug observes. “There’s nothing easy about it.”

On the plus side, access to information on traits such as fertility and somatic cell scores is unprecedented, especially when compared to what his grandfather had to work with.

“And the tools just keep getting better all the time.”

Today’s breeding worth (BW) values are based

on a range of traits. At Middlevale, the goal is to achieve consistency rather than star performance in one particular area.

“We have always looked for the all-round cow, rather say the absolute best protein-producer. When selecting sires, we’re looking for bulls that will improve across a range of traits, not just the best for just one trait.

“Protein is important, so is fertility. And there are some traits that don’t have much influence on BW that I also select for – conformation and capacity, the engine room of the cow, and udder traits.”

Doug compares ‘capacity’ to ‘strength and power’. “However, it is dairy strength that we’re aiming for – the ability to convert feed into milk solids.”

The stud has bred a number of AB bulls with sought-after dairy genetics for CRV Ambreed.

The operation consists of two small, dairy unit: the original home farm of Middlevale (117 hectares) with 220 cows alongside an 80ha block with 230 cows. Since buying the second block in 2003, they have been building the second herd.

“We’ve been taking animals from the home

• To page 29

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Business Rural

BREEDERS » Fernvale Genetics

| 29

Straight romneys rule the hills Russell Fredric Fernvale Genetics – a ram-breeding unit with romney, suffolk and romdale studs – has been run by four generations of the Brenssell family. The studs are part of a 9700-hectare, 42,000-stock unit property sprawling across West and Central Otago.

Lloyd Brenssell, his wife, Angela, and their three children live on Fernvale, a 760ha block mostly used as the stud’s base and as a finishing block The business includes four other blocks – Ettrick, Whitecomb Run, McKays Block, and the most recently added, the 2000ha Gem Lake Station 2000ha lease block.

The addition of Gem Lake is another step toward achieving the “holy grail” of a large-scale operation with tremendous diversity, says Lloyd Brenssell.

The significant area of hill country farmed by Fernvale Genetics calls for a hardy sheep that can perform under all conditions, and Brenssell romneys have done just this over decades.

“The romney has always been our bread and butter, and it will always be so,” Lloyd says.

The romney stud is the result of eight decades of breeding and genetic gains, and he describes it as the jewel in the crown of the business.

While he agrees perendales have their niche on hard country and Fernvale has many long-term romdale clients, he says purebred romneys have shown better overall performance at Fernvale.

“We are going back to straight romney out on our hill blocks. We are doing that because, as we develop that hill country, the ability of the romney to get that extra bit of production over the perendale has become quite evident to us.”

Because romneys are slightly heavier-boned and carry more wool than perendales, they finish better after being “pushed” in tough conditions, he says.

“We’ve been using the romdale cross up there for about 12 years and in the last four years, we’ve gone fully romney. We will keep doing that.”

Lloyd and Angela Brenssell are the fourth generation of the Brenssell family to run Fernvale.

PHOTOS Above: Lloyd and Angela Brenssell. Right: Romney ewes head home on Fernmsetad vale.

Below: The Ferndale homestead looks out across West and South Otago.

This year the farm will finish about 18,000 home-bred lambs. Lambing for the past season was 145 per cent, with an average carcass weight of 18 kilograms.

Close analysis of key indicators such as growth rates and meat yields has revealed a big gap between crossbreds and pure romneys, he says.

Over the last four to five years there has been a huge resurgence of demand for Fernvale’s romney rams, with farmers telling the same story – their composites performed well initially, but production has diminished over time.

Lloyd Brenssell’s advice is to “straighten the tree trunk” by reintroducing specific, dominant genes into flocks, because the genetics of the composites have become diluted over time.

“Nine times out of 10 simplicity will win the race.”

He sees the Gem Lake Station lease as an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will enhance the diversity of the overall business. The station, inland from Ettrick, is owned by the Norman family, with whom the Brenssells have a longstanding relationship.

Lloyd Brenssell says Fernvale’s size creates the

ability to use specific areas across various altitudes and climates for niche-stock platforms, such as breeding replacements, stud stock, and finishing for both sheep and cattle.

“It’s about making all the synergies work and using the way the climate is different on different blocks to get the best out of them.”

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Stud seeks to breed all-rounders • From page 28 farm and using them to populate next door as replacements,” says Doug. “Initially we had a 50:50 sharemilker who had his own cows. The difference between the two herds is now much smaller.”

By building the herd, they hope to also build efficiencies of scale into the overall operation. They have plans to replace Middlevale’s dated (1973), 16-bail, rotary shed and the 20-bail herringbone on the other unit with a new 54 to 60-bail rotary shed.

“The old rotary shed is getting pretty tired – it hasn’t missed a day since it was put up. A new shed would obviously be a lot more efficient and less labour intensive, but the timing of building is subject to a number of things, finance the biggest.”

Rather than chasing high production targets, Doug says they focus on a sustainable grass silage-based system. Thanks to a great spring and autumn last season, everything is well set up for this winter. Kale and swedes are grown as supplementary crops.

Both Doug and Josephine are actively involved day to day; Josephine does “quite a bit of milking and helps with stock work.” Their adult son is at university and weighing up career options.

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30 |

BREEDERS » Netherdale Elite Deer Stud

Business Rural

Velvet touch reflected in top Kim Newth They say good things take time and that’s especially true for a red-deer stud operation like Netherdale in Southland, where it takes three years for today’s progeny to grow into elite sires.

David and Lynley Stevens started their deer stud almost 40 years ago, when David introduced wild deer captured by helicopter on to the property, then run as a sheep farm. Gradually the sheep were replaced with deer, with the stud taking shape through the 1980s and 1990s.

Today it is recognised as one of New Zealand’s top red-deer studs, having been a consistent high performer in the National Velvet and Trophy Antler Awards, winning the three-year-old class many times with velvet.

What’s more, animals bought from the stud have also demonstrated excellent shifting ability and velvet weights, with past sires regularly winning or placing well in velvet competitions throughout New Zealand.

This year got off to an exceptionally good start at Netherdale, where records were broken at the stud’s 30th annual elite red-deer sale.

Lot 1 sold for $80,000, the best price ever achieved by the stud for a three-year-old elite sire.

The massive velvet produced by this sire – 10.5 kilograms SA2 – put him in a record-breaking class.

“He also had a very tidy head and that’s in line with what the industry is looking for,” David says.

For a long time, the industry was fixated on the trophy side of the equation and the velvet got extremely rough, but now the market is looking for very clean, uncomplicated heads.

That was certainly reinforced by the strength of our sale this year.

“For a long time, the industry was fixated on the trophy side of the equation and the velvet got extremely rough, but now the market is looking for very clean, uncomplicated heads. That was

• To page 31

PHOTOS: Netherdale Stud’s David and Lynley Stevens (top) were delighted with this year’s 30th annual sale with a record-breaking $80,000 paid for lot one (left), a three-year-old elite sire. And Harlem (above) is poised to become the stud’s next master sire.

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Business Rural

BREEDERS » Netherdale Elite Deer Stud

| 31

sale stats • From page 30 certainly reinforced by the strength of our sale this year.”

Lot 1 was sold to Palmerston deer farmer Greg Oliver – “though we have retained a minority share for semen purposes”.

The sire sale velvet average was just on 7kg, with the average sale price being just under $13,000, another record-setting achievement for the stud. Only one three-year sire was left at the end of the sale and he has since been sold.

Demand for semen from sires Henshaw and Harlem was also strong.

Around a third of buyers at this year’s sale were from the North Island, with Hawke’s Bay a particularly strong market: “Now that we’ve got a foothold in the North Island, it’s having a huge effect,” says David Stevens.

While most New Zealand deer-velvet exports used to be sold into Korea, China is now a very significant player too, he observes.

“They are very conscious of what we call ‘the

jelly tip’, or top of the head/crown of velvet and the tips of the tynes. They value the jelly tip highly. It is influenced by the time of cutting and the quality/ style of the velvet; this has dictated the velvet price over the past three or four years.”

The Netherdale Stud could not have asked for better weather in the year leading up to the sale, with excellent autumn and spring conditions, says David.

He believes the stud practice of running all stock in large mobs and not feeding PKE also contributed to the quality of this year’s exceptional line-up of elite sires, 13-month hinds and two-year-old velvet stags.

David says there is growing awareness of the role of young hinds as “the engine” of a stud or commercial herd. Netherdale records breeding values for its hinds, with quality velvet genetics increasingly sought after.

David and Lynley say their daughter, Tania, and her husband, Al, are integral to Netherdale’s success. Tania manages the stud’s online presence and Al looks after day-to-day management. Lynley manages the accounting, catering and selling complex management.

The Stevens see the stud’s prospects as very good. Bronx, son of current master sire and stud star Harlem, is poised to become the stud’s next main master sire over the next year or two.

“You don’t look back,” says David. “You’re always trying to do better than the previous year, every year.”

At this year’s annual sale the sire velvet average was seven kilograms, with the average sale price just under $13,000, a record for the stud.

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Positives All Round—Despite The Quake!

On farm Bull Sale at Taimate, Ward, Marlborough.

Monday 19 June Auction: 2:30pm View the Taimate bulls online: www.taimate.co.nz All enquiries phone Paul 0800 TAIMATE (0800 824 628) We are offering free flights if you are south of the slips. Please get in touch.

Paul and Nadine Hickman and family are looking forward to a successful sale this year with yet another line up of 50 top quality Taimate Angus Bulls.

2017 has brought positives all round. An Autumn like never before, stock prices like never before, and a really positive outlook for farming, all makes it easy to be in a good frame of mind.

just weaned our best ever crop of calves, and it is with great pleasure that I say that they have carried themselves though to R2’s and I still feel the same way about them even more so in fact.

It would be easy to sit here and say how badly off we’ve been dealt with by droughts and in particular the November Kaikoura earthquake really rocking us, but although they have impacted on us significantly I prefer to look upon them as yet another challenge to overcome. Yes, we still get a good shake a couple times a week, but as I keep telling the kids, “It’s character building”.

The team of bulls this year, as well as the R2 heifers are a great example of what we are trying to breed here. Lovely to handle, deep, thickset carcasses and with excellent, very balanced EBV’s.

I wrote last year that I believed we had

We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years investing in top genetics, bulls, semen, A.I programmes, that investment is paying dividends in the quality of stock you will see on display at Taimate.

Taimate bred calves continue to rock the

sale yards. The recent Marlborough High Country Calf Sale was topped by Taimate client Mt Carmel with $1280 for 276kg steers. Almost $100/hd better than other Angus steers of the same weight. Finishers are clearly prepared to pay extra for quality that’s in front of them - not just what the paperwork says.

I hope that the next 12 months is enjoyable and rewarding for you all in your farming endeavours. Kick it off by coming along to Taimate on June 19th, if not to buy a bull, at least to have a bloody good day out.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Paul Hickman | Taimate Angus

32 |

BREEDERS » Meadowslea Angus

Business Rural

In-calf commercial heifers sold for a New Zealand record $2600 a head at Meadowslea Angus’s recent sale of 120 stud and commercial females.

Stud owner ‘bullish’ about sale Russell Fredric Meadowslea Angus owner David Giddings could rightly claim to be feeling a little more bullish than usual ahead of the stud’s annual sale.

To be held on the Fairlie farm on June 23, the sale will be stud’s largest, and the bulls on offer are in “tremendous” condition, he says.

It follows the highly successful sale of 120

stud and commercial females in May in which a New Zealand record price of $2600 per head was achieved for a pen of 27 rising-two-year-old, in-calf commercial heifers.

“It was the first time we’ve sold stud females, and that’s the first of an annual sale we are going to have every year,” says David.

“That’s by far the highest price ever paid in New Zealand for commercial heifers. I think it endorses what we’re doing. People find it very difficult to buy

those sort of genetics in the females; they’re not normally for sale and people are prepared to pay a premium to get them.”

Meadowslea Angus cattle have benefited from 25 years of selecting animals that perform extremely well in the harsh South Island hill-country environment.

“Cows that can winter easily on the hill without supplements, stay in good order, calve easily and get back in calf every year for 10 years have been

the focus of our breeding programme,” says David.

Buyers will be able to select from some of the best angus genetics of their type available in Australasia at the bull sale, he says.

The advent of ultra-sound scanning of rib and rump fat has shown that Meadowslea’s cattle have positive-fat, estimated breeding values at the very top of the range in Australasia, he says.

• To page 33

Meadowslea Angus stud cattle thrive in the harsh South Island hill country.

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Business Rural

BREEDERS » Stuart Davidson

| 33

A lifetime’s work in the Waitaha Valley Karen Phelps Stuart Davidson has lived on the family farm since he was seven years old. Now, quite a few years down the track, he stands and proudly surveys the farm in the Waitaha Valley, near Ross on the West Coast, remembering all the development work the family has undertaken over many decades.

“The land was pretty rough, undeveloped and wet when we arrived here. We milked only 28 cows for a start,” he says. “With eight children, my parents had their work cut out for them, but they managed to do a lot of drainage work and I’ve carried it on.”

The original farm was bought in the mid-1950s, and in the late ‘60s, paddocks and roads were mapped out.

Drainage work carried out by the local catchment board kick-started things in the region and the Davidsons carried it on. Their herd grew to 85 and they built the 21-a-side herringbone shed through which the cows are still milked.

“We were advised to build it to capacity for 200 cows,” says Stu. “That was unheard of at the time, but we did it anyway.”

Stu, who took over the farm in 1971, remembers

shows cows twice a year – at the Westland and South Westland A & P shows.

“Seeing the progeny improve each year is what I love,” he says. “It’s a very important part of my life.”

Further development of the land is his other passion. Two creeks run through the farm and Stu has fenced off most of the waterways and formed seven settling ponds on the farm.

Although he admits that in his younger days he preferred shooting ducks to watching them, he now favours the latter pastime.

Donations from a local couple, Heemi and Pauline Te Rakau, who have a hobby native-flax collection, has assisted hugely and the farm now boasts more than 40 species of flax alone.

“I want to see our waterways kept clean.

Farmers have strict regulations around effluent and run-off, but OSPRI (Operational Solutions for Primary Industries) and DOC (the Department of Conservation) are dropping 1080, a deadly poison, all over the area.

“It’s killing native species, such as eels and birds, which are often left lying in waterways to rot for months. I’m also scared it will get into our waterways and then into the milk, and that will affect our exports.”

Last season the farm produced 75,000 kilograms of milksolids. Because of the wet season, the aim this year is 57,000kg, which will make it tough going financially.

But Stu Davidson is pragmatic – farming is full of ups and downs, he says, but it is the lifestyle he loves.

“Every cent has gone back into developing this farm. Being the second generation to develop this land is really satisfying. I’m happy living in the Waitaha Valley, it’s a peaceful community and I’m very lucky to have good neighbours.”

I want to see our waterways kept clean. Farmers have strict regulations around effluent and run-off but OSPRI (Operation Solutions for Primary Industries) and DOC (the Department of Conservation) are dropping 1080, a deadly poison, all over the area. It’s killing native species, such as eels and birds, which are often left lying in waterways to rot for months. I’m also scared it will get into our waterways and then into the milk, and that will affect our exports. that it was tough going initially, and times were lean.

He and his brother used to pack the car boot with gelignite and blow up stumps on the property.

Stu says everything was done safely, but it would certainly not be permissible these days.

Humping, hollowing and more drainage followed. The farm is now 120 hectares effective, plus 75ha of bushland on the hills. The farm milks a herd of 210 jerseys and supplies Westland Milk Products.

Last year at a payout of around $3.80 per

The majority of his herd is pedigree and this is his on-farm ‘hobby’: My theory is that if you’re going to milk cows twice a day, why not milk cows you enjoy working with and looking at? Fern Valley Jerseys cows are efficient and lighter on the wetter soils.

kilogram of milksolids, times were tough. The payout has now risen to $4.80, but it’s not time to celebrate yet, says Stu. The combination of a low payout and an extremely wet year (five metres of rain compared with the usual 3.7 metres) has posed challenges for the farm. Pasture damage has been extensive and Stu has re-grassed a staggering 50 per cent of the farm and heavy-rolled 80% of it.

Around 1.2 tonnes of seed has been planted, a mix of perennial ryegrasses, and white and red clover. The benefits should be apparent next season, he hopes.

The majority of his herd is pedigree and this is his on-farm “hobby”: “My theory is that if you’re going to milk cows twice a day, why not milk cows you enjoy working with and looking at?” he says.

The Fern Valley Jerseys stud was started by his parents, and Stu has carried on the tradition. He says the cows are efficient and lighter on the wetter soils.

He breeds for capacity, strength and good udders, and admits it will be a lifetime goal. He

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Meadowslea continues to select animals with more fat cover to get them through droughts or tough winters and get back in calf again, says owner David Giddings.

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Breeding values top of the range • From page 32 This bucks the trend of the last 25 years where rib fat, in particular, has been selectively reduced to meet consumer preferences, says David. However, this has a downside because rib fat is an indicator of cattle’s ability to carry condition.

“We’ve gone in a completely different direction to the bulk of the angus breeders because we’ve continued to select animals with more fat cover.

That has enabled them to get through these droughts or tough winters, and back in calf again.”

In 1996 the baseline measurement of average rib-fat estimated breeding value (EBV) in the Australasian angus herd was +0.4 millimetres, but by 2015 had reduced to zero; conversely the average rib-fat EBV in Meadowslea’s herd has increased to +1.6mm.

Scientific research in recent years has drawn a link between rib fat and fertility, David Giddings says.

Despite scanning technology and the plethora of breeding-values data now available, visual appraisal is still important in selecting cattle that will perform

in high country, he says.

Because of his approach to breeding, Meadowslea Angus cattle have retained many original angus key traits. They are selected for easy fleshing and a moderate frame with plenty of meat and adequate fat cover. They can survive and thrive in adverse conditions Emphasis is also placed on structural soundness, mobility, longevity, as well as good scrotals – a sign of positive fertility in bulls and the ability to produce daughters that will hit puberty early, calve early and re-breed early every year.

While it has been a good season with no drought as in the previous two years, the condition of the Meadowslea bulls on offer is largely the result of their genetics rather than environmental factors, he says.

“They’ve never been as good; they’ve got a lot of condition on them and they’re an easy-doing type that we are promoting.

“They put condition on very easy and very quickly. The average rib-fat EBVs of the bulls on offer is in the top 10 per cent of the breed in Australasia.”

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Business Rural

BREEDERS » Bruce Eade

‘Phenomenal day’ at the show Richard Loader “A phenomenal day at the show” is how champion ayrshire breeder Bruce Eade describes the ‘grand slam’ win he and the Eade family enjoyed at the South Otago A & P Show in December.

Their four-year-old ayrshire, Fairleigh Bur Peach, romped away with awards – champion South Island ayrshire cow; champion all-breeds; and, the crème da la crème, the supreme animal of the show.

The Eades’ success has much to do with their passion for dairy farming, their cows, and, in particular, the ayrshire breed.

The ayrshire breed has been a significant part of the Eades’ dairy herd since 1974 when they farmed 120 of them at Tisbury, between Invercargill and Bluff. Bruce’s father established his ayrshire stud in 1966.

The family and their ayrshires moved to Kelso, in West Otago, in 1995 when Bruce was 15. Apart from 18 months in Ireland where he worked on a potato and grain farm, this has been his home since.

Bruce and wife Tanya now farm in partnership with his parents, Ken and Nancy, on the 270-hectare (effective) property.

“Working closely together as a family, making decisions together, complementing one another’s skills, is why we all enjoy it so much,” he says.

“You have to enjoy what you do and not just do it because it’s your job.”

The milking herd of 520 cows is 50:50 ayrshire: holstein. Production has steadily improved each year for as long as Bruce can remember – around 235,000 kilograms of milksolids last season, after rearing 300 calves on wholemilk.

The addition of a 5100-square-metre, free-stall barn, along with changes to their farming system, has played a significant part in improvements in

The addition of a 5100-square-metre wintering barn and changes to the farming system has resulted in significant production gains for the Eade family partnership in Kelso, West Otago. Photos: Above –The wintering barn from the outside; below left, cows inside the barn; below right, the dairy shed. production improvement, says Bruce Eade.

West Otago winters can be harsh. At 180 metres above sea level, there are three ore four snowfalls over winter – anything from two inches and gone by the afternoon, to six inches and hanging around for several days.

“In September 2012 it snowed once a week for four weeks,” says Bruce. “Hard on the animals and hard on the land. The soils up here don’t handle the heavy stock in the winter-time – it just takes so long to recover. That’s what steered us in the direction of a free-stall barn.”

Half a dozen types of barn were investigated around the South Island and a plan was developed of what they wanted. They then obtained quotes from four contractors. There was $750,000

We try to provide the right conditions for our cows to reach their full potential. That’s what we farm for, and that really is our passion.

between what they paid and the highest quote, says Bruce.

“It pays to shop around and to get what you want. The cows are going to be in the barns for long periods. I’ve seen people with ‘off the shelf barns’ and there are things in them they hate. It’s very hard to change it later.”

From the May 1 the cows go into the barn for the evening after milking, spending the day out on the paddocks after the morning milking.

From May 15, or earlier depending on the weather, all 520 milking cows go inside full-time and won’t go back outdoors permanently till September. Rising-one-year-olds and rising-twoyear-olds are housed separately.

With the luxuries of a five-star ‘cowtel’, the barn is 140 metres long and 37m wide. A a large centrepassage allows the feeding-out of silage to each side of the central barrier.

The cows are free to graze on silage, drink from the many water troughs, walk up and down their side of the barrier while chewing their cuds, or rest and ruminate on four-inch foam, recycled car-

FARMERS

seat mattresses, all while listening to country and western’s greatest hits.

They can even choose to have a back-scratch and or their coat fluffed by the Delaval cow brushes.

Every third roofing sheet clear-light, so there is ample light flooding into the barn, says Bruce.

The flow-on benefits include 100 per cent feed use, more days in milk, improved animal health, a better calving environment, and, other than the occasional still birth, no calf losses. The pastures are also saved from pugging damage over autumn and spring.

Bruce says he gets the occasional non-positive comment from non-farming people on social media saying he doesn’t care about the welfare of his cows because they are kept inside for extended periods.

“It’s disheartening because I’m one of the most passionate people there is about cows—probably second only to my father. We try to provide the right conditions for our cows to reach their full potential.

That’s what we farm for, and that really is our passion.”

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BREEDERS » Beresford Simmentals

Business Rural

| 35

Simmental bulls, like these at Warren and Steph Burgess’ Beresford Stud, are the shining stars of the New Zealand beef industry, according to early result from Beef and Lamb NZ progeny tests.

Progeny test ‘significant’ for the breed Russell Fredric Simmental stud bulls have been revealed as a shining star of the New Zealand beef industry following preliminary results of a Beef and Lamb New Zealand progeny test.

The results of the test are good news for Catlins farmers Warren and Steph Burgess, who are passionate purveyors of simmental cattle.

The Burgesses own an 118- hectare (950ha effective) sheep-and-beef property on rolling to steep contour a few kilometres from the coast in the south-east of the South Island.

About 230ha of the property is a mixture of bush and scrub, pasture or bush burn – “It has been broken in out of native bush since it was purchased in the mid-1950s,” Warren Burgess says.

Beresford Simmental Stud was established in 1981.

The Catlins is known for its rugged bush-clad beauty and challenging winters, with grass growth typically not kicking in until late October. Because survivability and easy care are key simmental traits, they suit this environment, says Warren.

The Burgess’s simmental were originally

The message that simmental breeders want to get out to the beef industry is: Have a smaller, more efficient cow and use our simmental bulls across them and they will produce the best weaner, or yearling, or slaughterage animal you could wish for. crossed with hereford cows but have since been bred up to a purebred stud operation, with murray greys over yearling heifers complementing them for ease of calving. All cows are mated naturally; heifers first calve as two-year-olds to a simmental or a murray grey bull.

The focus is on breeding big, sound simmental sires to mate over beef herds, as well as breeding stud sires, says Warren. About 20 of the secondstring bulls are sold every November as yearlings to dairy farmers.

As beef cows are pushed into harder country, survivability becomes an important trait, he says.

“Our simmental are used predominantly over hereford and angus-cross cows to create first-

cross weaners or fattening cattle that can be carried thorough for fattening. They are well suited for marginal country.”

Warren Burgess says there is also increasing use of simmental sires in the dairy industry for beef calves.

When used as a terminal sire over traditional or dairy-cross beef cows, a simmental sire will breed progeny renowned for accelerated weight gain and claimed to finish heavier than other breeds at an earlier age.

When used as a maternal sire, the resulting simmental-cross females have high fertility, excellent milk and mothering ability, and the ability to boost the weight of their weaner progeny.

Simmental New Zealand councillor Gary McCorkindale says Beef and Lamb Genetics New Zealand’s beef progeny test has been significant for the breed.

Its goal is to determine how various types of bulls perform under comparable commercial conditions.

And it aims to put a dollar value on the worth of superior genetics, from both the perspective of breeding cow performance and finishing stock’s carcass attributes.

A key, early test result shows the calf-weaning weight estimate breeding value (EBV) will largely deliver what is expected, so selecting bulls with heavier 200-day-weight EBVs will result in heavier calves.

“Simmental have come out on top at yearling time,” Gary McCorkindale says.

The significance for the industry is that the test validates what geneticists have been saying for years and it is hoped more use will be put on using these numbers to make breeding decisions, he says “The message that simmental breeders want to get out to the beef industry is: Have a smaller, more efficient cow, use our simmental bulls across them and they will produce the best weaner, or yearling, or slaughter-age animal you could wish for.”

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36 |

Biological Farming » Te Mania Stud

Business Rural

Two reasons for a good old b Richard Loader Double celebrations are always good, and the Wilding family has very good reason to celebrate.

For the owners of the Te Mania Angus stud, the 50th on-farm bull sale – on June 21– will be a milestone in its own right and worth celebrating in style.

Throw in a court award confirming that ownership of Te Mania is firmly vested in the rightful hands of the Wilding family, and you have celebratory reason of angus proportions.

A now defunct joint venture with Singaporean shareholders formed in the 1990s resulted in contention about control of Te Mania that had to be resolved through a costly judicial process.

Tim Wilding, a third-generation Wilding, says with relief that the family business is back in the Wilding family’s control and the whole matter can be put behind them—albeit with suitable celebration.

“Having to deal with cultural and management differences in what has always been a family business environment has not been easy,” Tim says.

“The one big lesson learnt when entering into any type of joint-venture farming operation is to make sure that there’s a very clearly documented lease and shareholder understanding that’s watertight.”

Established in the early 1930s by Tim’s grandfather, the 750-hectare property sits along the Kaikoura coastline, overlooking the Kaikoura ranges, with the Conway River on its northern boundary.

Home to the largest on-farm bull sale in the country – last year Te Mania recorded the highest

• To page 38

Clem Chan and Andrew Johnston, from Luisetti Seeds, inspect a crop of persian clover at Te Mania.

Business Rural

Biological Farming Âť Te Mania Stud

bull-breeder’s celebration

Te Mania has developed a reputation for its angus cattle, and this year the stud is holding its 50th on-farm bull sale. A hundred and twenty rising-two-year-old bulls go under the hammer on June 21.

TE MANIA STUD

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BIOLOGICAL FARMING » Te Mania Stud

Business Rural

Biological approach over last 10 years crucial • From page 36 sale gross and price paid in 2016 for an angus bull in New Zealand at $35,000.

Tim’s eldest son, Will, has taken on the role of stock manager and will oversee sale proceedings this year.

At 26 years of age, he has already amassed significant farm and stock experience on large sheep-and-beef stations in the South Island and on farms in Canada.

He returned to the family business in 2014 when the farm manager, who was part of the joint venture, left when the dispute arose.

“The previous manager literally walked off with calving about to start and winter break-feeding of 700 calves behind a hot wire needing daily attention,” says Tim. “It was an extremely busy time of the year and Will was pretty much thrown in the deep end.”

Sale day – when 120 rising-two-year-old bulls go on the market – starts around 7am when the animals are brought into pens around the sale complex.

Some buyers will have arrived the previous day and stayed overnight, but most of the expected 300 -400 visitors start arriving mid-morning, reviewing stock from 9.30am.

A lot rests on this one day. It’s the farms primary source of income and the success of the sale has a significant effect on how much is available to spend for the following year.

A politician is likely to open proceedings – a tentative acceptance has been received.

The real buzz starts when the hammer is raised for the first time at 12.30pm; John McKone is the primary auctioneer. It’s an adrenalin-filled, quick-fire event – about a minute per bull.

Tim Wilding is hopeful all 120 bulls will find a home. Commercial bull-sale prices have been ranging anywhere from $3000 to $10,000, with an average of usually around $7000.

Protecting soil biology is always the main consideration...I think that protecting the life under the surface all contributes to the bigger environmental picture of clean water, less run-off.

Te Mania applies only Bio Cert fertiliser on its 750-hectare property on Conway Flat.

“It’s all about the quality and what their performance data says. We put a lot of emphasis on carcass data. We were one of the pioneers in recording the marbling, eye-muscle and meatquality traits in cattle.”

When the final hammer falls around 3pm, there will be time to relax, reflect on the day’s events, and rekindle friendships with like-minded people.

“We get so busy on the farm we don’t get a

chance to visit people as much as we would like to do,” says Will. “To have everyone here for that one day of the year is fantastic. It’s a great atmosphere and the one day when we can thank all our clients for their support as well.”

To mark the 50th anniversary, partners have been invited and around 500 people will be entertained with music, food and a few drinks to wash it all down.

Tim says a bit of a ‘Foodfest’ has been organised with a marquee, band, rotisserie spit, fresh kaimoana from Kaikoura, and no doubt plenty of Te Mania’s ribeye steaks.

All very fitting for a double celebration.

While the trademark sale is the culmination of the year’s hard work, Tim puts much of the farm’s success down to Te Mania’s transition to biological farming about 10 years ago.

It’s based on the principle of healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy animals. Tim says that other than very occasional use of acidic-based fertilisers in extreme circumstances, he has not used them for many years. “if we need to lift our phosphate levels, we use a product known as Viafos, which is an organic phosphate from Indonesia. Our soil consultant Rob Flynn, from Soil Matters, likes to use a balanced approach in how we treat our land. Protecting soil biology is always the main consideration when deciding what is needed.

“I think that protecting the life under the surface contributes to the bigger environmental picture of clean water, less run-off and things like that.”

50th

125

June 21st, 2017

Te Mania Angus Stud was one of the pioneers in recording marbling, eye muscle and meat quality traits in its cattle.

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BIOLOGICAL FARMING » Southern Humates

Business Rural

| 39

Healthy soil key to minimise leaching Kelly Deeks One very important part of the answer to clean, green, and productive dairy farming has been found at the bottom of a Southland lignite mine where Southern Humates has been producing a quality humate for both farming and stock health.

The farm’s managing director, Malcolm Sinclair, says his contracting company, Sinclair Contracting, has been running the lignite mine for 15 years, but demand for coal had dropped off because of individuals and businesses seeking to become more environmentally responsible.

Six years ago, he went to a course on biological farming run by former Lincoln University lecturer Andrew Young, which explained how the world is losing thousands of hectares of topsoil a year through unsustainable farming methods.

“He did some digging on farmers’ paddocks to show what should have been in the soil and what actually was,” says Malcolm.

“At that stage I became convinced some of the techniques being used by the farmers were not the best. That was the first time I heard about humates and what they do.”

Testing began in earnest, with samples sent to laboratories in New Zealand and overseas; the results showed that Sinclair Contracting’s old lignite mine contained a very good quality humate. Three years of independent scientific trials confirmed it.

Production at the mine bean about three years ago with a leased crushing and screening plant. It wasn’t long before demand increased and Southern Humates had to do better; Malcolm set up a plant at the mine and employed Chris Nel as sales and production manager.

Malcolm says the coup for him is turning something that was very environmentally harmful into something very environmentally helpful.

Chris says New Zealand and the rest of the world has a major issue with polluted waterways, and this brings a lot of pressure to farmers, particularly dairy farmers, to clean up their act.

“But the problem is not the dairying,” he says.

“The problem lies in the amount of fertiliser we’re putting down on the soils that is leaching into the waterways. We see biological farming as the answer.”

New Zealand farmers have increased the

The problem is not the dairying. The problem lies in the amount of fertiliser we’re putting down on the soils that is leaching into the waterways. amount of urea they are applying by 38 times in less than 35 years. It’s a staggering amount and it’s had tremendous detrimental effects, like the eutrophication of our waters. But it’s also killing the soil.

“You’ve got a green plant and it looks really good, but it’s packed with water and nitrogen.

There is a chemical imbalance in that grass which is converted to the cows, which aren’t getting a balanced feed. It all boils down to the fact the soil’s biology has been disturbed.”

Healthy soil has a one-to-one ratio of fungi to bacteria, and Chris says 90 per cent of New Zealand’s farm soils have way too many bacteria, and very little fungi. Humates stimulate fungal growth and fix the ratio so that all the protozoa, earthworms, and bugs in the soil can function properly.

“These bugs build a connection, an introduction between the fertiliser and the soil, making the nutrients available to the plants. Farmers are throwing heaps of superphosphate onto their farms, but in most cases it’s is already there – it just needs to be unlocked.”

The implication of this, he says, is the increased ability of the soil to hold on to the nutrients. This results in farmers requiring much less fertiliser, and much less fertiliser being leached into the waterways.

And, says Chris, because soil health determines plant health, which determines stock health, farmers who are trying to improve their stock health, or looking after their land for the next generation, or saving money on fertiliser, or showing the world they are doing their best to keep New Zealand clean and green, can benefit from organically certified humates.

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40 |

BIOLOGICAL FARMING » EMNZ

Business Rural

Biological stimulation enhances soil Richard Loader “Enhancing soil quality through biological stimulation leads to healthier plants, healthier animals and, ultimately, healthier food products,” says EMNZ’s Paul Daly.

The company works to develop microbial products for agriculture, horticulture, viticulture and home gardeners, he says. These work independently or in conjunction with both biological and chemical-based fertiliser systems.

Effective micro-organisms (EM) technology was developed in Japan in the 1980s and is now used in more than 140 countries.

Its introduction to New Zealand came via Mike Daly. While working for New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, he attended an international organics conference in Brazil in 1992.

He heard a presentation on EM by the Japanese professor who developed the product, recognised its potential, and was invited by the Japanese developers to run trials in New Zealand.

After several years of successful research and trials, he obtained the New Zealand licence to develop the products specifically for New Zealand conditions. EMNZ was established in 2001.

It began by focusing on the organic sector where the early acceptance was, but has become integrated with both biological and conventional systems in enhancing fertiliser performance. The overwhelming majority of EMNZ’s business is now in this area.

Manufactured on in a Christchurch factory, EM is a live microbial inoculant that uses locally sourced microorganisms. Nothing is brought in from overseas.

“Once the microbes are brewed in our Christchurch facility, they go straight to the farm and when applied, they are ready to get to work,” says Paul Daly.

EM is a combination of micro-organisms based on groupings of bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and yeast; within each grouping there are multiple species of microbes, he says.

“It has been put together based on the microbial components doing multiple actions with plants’ growing systems – breaking down organic matter, stimulating plant growth, and promoting disease protection. The initial focus on soil and plant improvement has evolved, to include diverse uses within the agricultural sector.”

EM has become an effective tool for farmers to use to enhance soil fertility and fertiliser performance, he says.

EM is a combination of micro-organisms and is an effective tool for farmers to enhance soil fertility and fertiliser performance, says EMNZ’s Paul Daly.

While farmers tend to look at what grows on top of the soil as part of their pasture management regime, most don’t consider what’s underneath

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– the chemical, physical and the biological side.

Fertiliser companies will do soil tests, so everyone is looking at the chemical side. They think about what the crop will be taking out and what the crop needs to grow.

“Only a portion will dig a sample to look at the physical structure of the soil. Only a very few will look at the biological side, which is interlinked with all of them,” says Paul.

Looking at the biological side in conjunction with the chemical side will, in turn, improve the physical state of the soil, mobilise soil nutrients, and make the plant a lot healthier.

“Getting the whole farming system right from the ground up can be a cost-saving method in the long run for farmers and makes everything work effectively.

“That’s where EM can help.”

Getting the whole farming system right from the ground up can be a cost saving method in the long run for farmers and makes everything work effectively.

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BIOLOGICAL FARMING » Soil Matters

Business Rural

| 41

Agriculture – ‘a biological, not a chemical system’ Richard Loader

PHOTOS: Soil Matters consultants Amy Duckworth (top) and Julie Stevenson (middle) analyse crops and pasture, while staff check a crop of kale (bottom).

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“By ignoring the importance of carbon and organic matter, we are farming to a full stop,” cautions Rob Flynn, managing director of North Canterbury -based biological soil consultancy Soil Matters.

“Everything we do to our soils makes a difference to the environment,” he says. “Soil Matters’ belief is that agriculture is a biological system and not a chemical one.”

Graduating from Lincoln University with a Diploma in Agriculture in 1979, Rob managed sheep and beef farms for 10 years before turning in a different direction and going commercial fishing.

His heart was always in farming though, and when an opportunity arose for him and long-time friend Tim Wilding, from Te Mania Angus Stud, to buy the Conway River Lime Company, he took it.

Questioning the use of acidic-based salt fertilisers while exploring the use of phosphorus, potassium and sulphur options, Rob established Soil Matters in 2004 with a vision to increase farmer awareness of soil management.

Soil Matters has steadily grown steadily to become a national consultancy employing six consultants, all graduates from the Lincoln or Massey universities and mostly majoring in soil science.

“I have one staff member focused on overseer and farm-environment plans, which is another service we provide, and I’ve just employed a consultant to specialise in the dairy industry,” he says.

Searching abroad for a source of biological fertiliser products led Rob to establish Viafos Importing Ltd, a company specialising in natural fertilisers and the importing arm of Soil Matters.

Viafos was set up to supply Soil Matters’ clients, but Rob says demand got so great distribution has expanded to include like-minded consultancies with a similar biological ethos to Soil Matters.

While all Viafos products are natural fertilisers and BioGro-certified, only about five per cent of his clients are BioGro-certified, says Rob. He sees this as more indicative of Soil Matters’ intent and the fact its biological products can be used in any situation.

“What differentiates Soil Matters is the products we use and the support we provide to farmers. I prefer to call us biological farmers. What we are trying to do is work with what we have in the soil, the biology in the soil, and increasing that.”

Working closely with farmers and, in some cases, their vets and mercantile reps, Soil Matters staff provide analysis of soil and herbage, and do a physical soil evaluation to identify reasons for poor soil and pasture performance.

“It’s about helping farmers understand their soil

What differentiates Soil Matters is the products we use and the support we provide to the farmer.

I prefer to call us biological farmers. What we are trying to do is work with what we have in the soil, the biology in the soil, and increasing that. deficiencies and the impact on their bottom lines, and identifying the best remedies, then costing them to develop a plan over time.”

Soil Matters seeks to create a base for good biology that, in turn, creates its own nitrogen, lessening the need for nitrogen inputs.

“Farmer education about soil management has increased dramatically over the last few years as has consumer awareness about what they eat. It’s no longer a case of ‘We live in New Zealand, so whatever we eat is great’.”

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42 |

BIOLOGICAL FARMING » Golden Bay Dolomite

Business Rural

Golden Bay Dolomite at source in rock form where it is loaded to be crushed, ground and then carted by bulk carrier to clients.

Dolomite packs magnesium punch Sue Russell There is more to dolomite than people think according to Ross Wright, of Golden Bay Dolomite.

While farmers have traditionally viewed dolomite as an expensive lime, Ross says Golden Bay dolomite is a cost-effective magnesium source. It contains 59 per cent calcium carbonate and 39% magnesium carbonate, which can efficiently build both magnesium and calcium base saturation levels in soils, he says.

“With dolomite, you get a lot of magnesium at a very cost-effective price.”

Dolomite helps to optimise soil structure as magnesium tightens the soil and calcium loosens it. says Ross.

“Ideal levels provide optimum pore space giving 25% air and 25% water within the soil profile. How much of these minerals to apply depends on the exchange capacity and soil type.

“A heavy, clay-type soil needs to be more open, so slightly higher calcium is needed and a reduction

Typically 66 per cent of Golden Bay Dolomite is ground to 150 microns, optimising plant availability. in magnesium, where a sandy soil by the coast needs the opposite.”

Ross says the target base-saturation level for

most New Zealand soils is 68% calcium and 12% magnesium, to give the right amount of air space, drainage, and water holding ability. However, many

New Zealand soils are well below these levels, and are under-performing.

This, along with correct nutrient levels like phosphate, sulphur, and potassium (to name a few), provide an ideal environment for soil biology to thrive.

“It is not about flooding the soil with any one element, but rather a balancing act of all essential minerals,” he says. “When prioritising your budget, look at the most limiting nutrient first, then the next limiting, and so on.”

Golden Bay dolomite is natural magnesium carbonate, non-leaching, and totally plant available, he says.

Magnesium is found at the centre of the plant’s chlorophyll molecule and is essential for plant photosynthesis. It is also a carrier of phosphorous which ensures a steady flow of P to the plant.

Each application of dolomite presents magnesium to stock through pasture, reducing animal metabolic problems and the need for costly and time-consuming, animal-health remedies.

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• To page 43

ON FARM » Duncan & Lyn Barr

Business Rural

| 43

Positives aplenty in wagyus Sue Russell When the economic reality of operating a dairy farm with seasons of lower pay-outs became more challenging, Duncan and Lyn Barr decided it was time to diversify and securing some fresh income streams.

The couple own a 180-hectare farm at Ealing, south of Ashburton in Mid Canterbury. They converted the farm to dairy five years ago and have a herd of 650 cows.

Their foray into diversification and getting out of the milking shed has been a wagyu cattle breeding and rearing venture.

Wagyu produce sought-after, rich, marbled meat. In Japan these highly valued cattle lead a life unheard of in New Zealand. They are penned in extremely confined enclosure and fed entirely on grain leavened with sake and beer to help digestion.

Connoisseurs can pay upward of $US200 for 100 grams of wagyu – the most expensive beef in the world.

Since 1992, the breed has had a small but growing presence in New Zealand, with genetics originally imported from Japan.

“I was always interested in the breed,” says Duncan Barr. “I started playing around with wagyu to get some good beefies and, since employing a contract milker to take over the dairy unit, Lyn and I have concentrated on the calf-rearing side of our business.”

Last season the Barrs reared upward of 300 calves to between 100 and 120 kilograms liveweight on part of their run-off, under contract for Rotorua-based Firstlight Foods, which oversees the worldwide marketing of wagyu meat. Firstlight Foods is 50 per cent owned by those under contract to finish off the cattle.

“Firstlight has looked at the whole value chain and controls the breeding, rearing, finishing and marketing of the beef,” says Duncan. “They also provide stability for farmers in contract to them by putting scheduled prices out 12 months in advance.

This offers certainty as a finisher.”

Interest has grown from the United States and European markets towards New Zealand-bred and reared wagyu because they are fed on grass-based systems all year. Cattle produced here have an average marbling score of 4.5 on a 9 point scale.

A benefit of breeding first-calving heifers from wagyu sires is the lower-birthweight calves produced.

Katie Barr feeding the calves on the 180ha farm at Ealing owned by her parents Duncan and Lyn. Duncan and Lyns daughter, Katie, has come in to the partnership with the calf-rearing arm of the Barrs’ business, and Duncan says it has been a really good transition.

“With this spring’s calves, Katie will have some ownership and incentive, It is a nice way to create a succession pathway.”

While there are still just a small number of breeders in New Zealand, Duncan says there are positive signs that the wagyu rearing and finishing industry will grow further. A strong business model guides the processes, from breeding through to harvesting.

“There’s the scale for it here and this year they will have their first kill-line here.”

He believes it’s a good thing to see some strengthening in the dairy sector, which has been under increasing pressure through not only having to adjust to low milk payout years but also to environmental demands and standards being levelled at dairy farmers generally.

“We’re investing more and more time and money into monitoring dispersal of fertilisers to ensure compliances are maintained,” he says.

“I’m working with a company to develop

irrigation scheduling, It will be a good day when the subjective nature of assessment of what dairy farmers are or are not doing for their environment is removed, and replaced by real data.”

To gain a perspective of just how radically farming has changed in Canterbury, Duncan says that 12 years ago, when the Barr family bought their present property, there were four or five dairy

“Farming, it’s what we do”

farms along the 12-kilometre stretch of road their farm is on. Now, there are only two farms that are not milking.

“That scale of change has got people upset, so it is important the industry responds by using technologies and systems that accrue really meaningful environmental data that will reflect back the real impact of dairying here.

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Dolomite packs magnesium punch • From page 42

soil test from Perry Laboratories to determine how much calcium and magnesium needs to be applied to each soil.

Ross says a key fact about Golden Bay Dolomite is the fine particle size, about a third finer than ag lime and therefore available quicker. Typically 66% of the product is ground to less than 150 microns to optimise plant availability.

“When pasture dusting with magnesium oxide is hard on gear, hard on those spreading it, and the cows don’t like eating it much.”

He says magnesium oxide will be in short supply this season, but an alternative is Golden Bay Dolomite Micro Fine – “more cost effective than traditional dusting products, and for postcalving, it provides calcium and magnesium in one application. It’s easy on equipment, easy on staff, and the cows eat it readily.”

Golden Dolomite supplies calcium 4 9carbonate, 837Bay 3243 | Email: newzealand@alltech.com essential to all soils. Liming increases calcium alone and therefore decreases the AlltechAP m/newzealand magnesium base-saturation percentage, causing health issues in soil and animals.

“Crop performance, pasture performance, and stock performance are always better if you’ve got at least 61% calcium, and heading towards that desired 68%,” Ross says.

“Calcium and magnesium combined are important for overall stock health. Milk fever and grass staggers are more of a problem at low calcium and magnesium levels. Adequate levels of magnesium in stock also has a calming effect on them, with less stress for all involved.”

Golden Bay Dolomite uses a Kinsey/Albrecht

For a number ofit’s years, Duncan has experienced “Farming, what weBarr do” underlying issues withOPTIGEN®II fertility in After Duncan Barr used Alltech forhis theherd. first time last using year “Farming, it’s what we do” and was pleased with the results.

OPTIGEN®II is now part of his Mycosorb®, he has seen significant improvement toolbox - a useful product to use times of the year.

Duncan Barr used Alltech OPTIGEN®II for the first timeat lastcertain year in mating performance thispartpast and was pleased with the results.

OPTIGEN®II is now of hisyear. – Duncan Barr toolbox - a useful product to use at certain times of the year.

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44 |

Business Rural

ON FARM » Simon Broekhuizen

Fire, fever, fall – season from hell Russell Fredric Fire, fever and a fall in production were some of the challenges faced last season by South Otago dairy farm operations manager Simon Broekhuizen.

Production finished about 25,000 kilograms of milksolids down on budget, there were animal health issues, difficulty in recruiting staff, and a fire in the shed. Not surprisingly, Simon is hoping for a better run in the coming season.

The 190-hectare (effective) Benhar property is one of two his parents, Guy and Ella Broekhuizen, own near Balcutha; the other, 23 kilometres away at Romohapa bordering the Catlins, was bought in 2005 as a 170ha (effective) run-off/support block.

Simon is married to Miriam, a qualified nurse; the couple have two children, Levi, aged three, and Hannah, nine months.

Production at Benhar is normally budgeted at a conservative 200,000kg milksolids, but finished close to 175,000kg last season; cow numbers were budgeted at 480 for peak milking, 30 cows below optimum.

“We’ve been dropping cow numbers for the last few years like many other farmers,” says Simon.

“Our highest stocking numbers were 630 for the same farm back in 2013.”

He believes a herd of about 510 would be the most efficient in terms of pasture management, supplementary feed, and production.

The 2016-17 low production was caused by several factors, including an incorrect estimate of the tally of cows wintered and a bout of milk fever in some of the herd.

Staff pressures were created by a shortage of skilled workers, particularly for the busy calving period; fortunately the Broekhuizens had assistance from several part-timers and a relative, Harmen Baas, from Holland.

The farm employs an assistant manager, who was taken on more recently, and a part-time relief milker.

To cap it all off, a fire caused by a milk warmer being left on saw a shed badly damaged and six calves lost.

“The rest were saved with a fast response of neighbours Mike and Mary Munro. It was the beginning of the season, so the shed wasn’t full yet.”

The shed is being renovated to accommodate an automatic calf-feeder.

Benhar was bought in 2006 and cows are milked through a 44-bail rotary shed with automatic cup removers. About half of the property is lowlying and its soil type makes pastures difficult to manage during wet conditions.

The Romohapa property, previously a sheep farm, was bought in February 2011. In contrast to Benhar, there are no flat areas and some steep gullies are still in native bush.

Replacement heifers are raised at Romohapa from weaning until calving, and all the cows are

wintered there. Winter crop (kale) is grown on 50ha and some feed is cut and carried to the milking platform.

Ella Broekhuizen oversees calf rearing, and enthusiastically endorses Queen of Calves finisher, adding it to the milk, She says it has helped tremendously with reducing scours, with rumen development and with reproduction.

Despite a season of misfortune, Simon Broekhuizen’s motivation to continue to improve the farm and make it more efficient has not changed, and the family is keeping a close eye on the monthly budget in liaison with the bank manager.

“I really enjoy working with the animals and I

We’ve already been dropping the cow numbers for the last few years like many other farmers. Our highest stocking numbers were 630 for the same farm back in 2013.

would like to become successful at the challenge it seems to be to employ and train people.”

“I like achieving success with the help of other people as well. I prefer not to achieve success alone although sometimes it seems that’s the easiest thing to do.”

PHOTOS: Top: Operations manager Simon Broekhuizen in the shed on his family’s 190-hectare Benhar farm near Balclutha.

Above: Break-feeding cattle on the family’s 170ha runoff/support block. at Romohapa, boprdering the Catlins.

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ON FARM » Riverland Dairies

Business Rural

| 45

The 640-hectare Riverlands farm at Hororata backs onto the Rakaia River and is spread over five terraces, It carries a herd of 1700 cows.

Weather bombs challenge for manager Karen Phelps The weather bombs this year have provided challenges for Riverlands, a 641-hectare property at Te Pirita, near Hororata, backing on to the Rakaia River.

The farm had 160mm of rain in April compared with 30mm in the previous April. Farm manager Simon Rooney, says protecting pastures was a priority and involved speeding rounds up slightly to keep cows moving.

The focus now is on condition-scoring cows with the aim of drying off as close as possible to a score of five.

The cows are divided into two mobs – the August-calvers on once-a-day milking, and the September-calvers on twice-a-day.

Riverlands, about to go into its ninth year of production, is part of Purata (formerly known as Synlait Farms). It is divided between 519ha of milking area and 92ha of dryland. The herd of 1700 crossbred cows is milked through two separate dairy sheds – a 54-bail rotary with a meal-feeding system and a 44-bail herringbone.

Simon continues to focus on small but important improvements. He considers the biggest gains will be made through improvements to water and grass. Water intake is from the Rakaia River and around 520ha of the farm is under irrigation via five centre-pivots and five Roto-Rainers.

Long term, he would like replace the RotoRainers with centre-pivots to irrigate the dryland paddocks. The irrigation system has been refined to

make it more user friendly – two more pumps allow the farm to run more Roto-Rainers at one time.

This year 20 per cent of the farm was regrassed to replace older pastures and transform under-performing paddocks. Fifty hectares of kale and 7ha of oats will be grown this season. Simon considers fodder beet expensive and tricky to grow, and representing greater risk. He is hoping the oats will make good use of dryland paddocks and give more flexibility than fodder beet as surplus can be mowed and baled.

Riverlands is spread over five of the Rakaia River’s northern terraces, which rise gently in height. In terms of logistics, this means cows cannot be moved as easily, so mobs tend to be kept on certain terraces.

One priority has been to get cows in calf by feeding them well, mainly on grass with grain as required.

Riverlands uses no interventions – cows either get into calf or they don’t. Simon gets them in the best condition he can and then it’s up to them.

Protrack allows him to feed cows appropriately.

Last season the six-week, in-calf rate was 73 per cent and the empty rate just 9%.

Purata, which took on its new name in February 2015, operates 13 farms on nearly 4000ha in Central Canterbury. Across the whole operation last season, 80-100 staff and around 13,000 cows produced 5.7 million kilograms of milksolids.

In the 2015-16 season 1591 Riverland cows averaged 383kg of milksolids.

The Purata farms are within 20 kilometres of Synait’s processing factory near Dunsandel.

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46 |

ON FARM » Pamu Farms

Business Rural

Target: Sustainable, high-value Karen Phelps Moving away from mass commodities and into higher-value, branded contracts is the future for Landcorp Farming, which has had a recent brand name change to Pamu (which means ‘to farm’ in Maori) to reflect the shift.

The Canterbury group comprising five dairy farms and a support block are already feeling the changes. Business Rural South speaks to farm business manager Brendon Stent.

Landcorp Farming’s Canterbury operation is a good snapshot of the company’s aim of producing highvalue, branded commodities. The operation – which milks a total of 5200 cows on 2400 hectares and supplies Synlait – is a predominantly grass-first system.

Landcorp aims to phase out palm kernel by the end of this year, a decision partly driven by environmental and biosecurity concerns but also in recognition of the importance of public and consumer perceptions, says farm business manager Brendon Stent.

“People decide what they will pay for a product, so public perception helps to add value. It’s part of the big picture of delivering a high-value-add product,” he says.

According to Brendon it wasn’t hard to get rid of palm kernel – the farms have already had one season of milking palm-kernel free. Barley and grass silage, with a bit of maize silage, are now the predominant supplements on the five farms that still use inputs.

The plan is to grow feed, predominantly fodder beet, on farm as much as possible, Farm systems have been adjusted to accommodate this and around 102ha of fodder beet is being grown across the platforms.

Two farms produce A2 milk, a higher-value product commanding a market premium. Three farms have achieved gold-plus status in Synlait’s Lead with Pride programme. The other farms are in the process of achieving certification.

The programme recognises and financially rewards suppliers who achieve best practice.

Brendon Stent says the programme involves auditing criteria such as milk quality, animal health

and welfare, social responsibility and environment, in an effort to guarantee the integrity of pure natural milk produced on certified farms. A six-cent, perkilogram milksolids is paid.

Technology plays a big part in supporting Landcorp’s bid for high-value commodities and minimised environmental impact, he says.

For example, the Canterbury farms use information gained from Aquaflex soil-moisture sensors in making decisions such as when to apply water and when to soil test to get the best use from fertiliser.

FarmIQ farm management software is used to record effluent and fertiliser applications and give proof of placement. The Canterbury units are also trying to reduce the number of bobby calves through their breeding programme.

Brendon Stent says Pamu reflects the intent of farming sustainably with good management practices to leave the land in a better state than when Landcorp started farming it.

Landcorp Farming’s Canterbury operation is milking 5200 cows on 2400ha with the focus on a predominantly grass first system. Three of the farms have achieved gold plus status in the Synlait Lead with Pride programme, which recognises and rewards suppliers who achieve dairy farming best practice.

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Business Rural

ON FARM » Waipori Station

| 47

Waipori Station occupies 12,000 hectares of rolling country ranging from 400 metres to 1000m above sea level, and carries 30,000 ewes and 2100 angus cows to calve.

‘Shake-up’ brings after-shocks Neil Grant The Lammerlaw and Lammermoor ranges lie east of the Clutha River. Their numerous twisting streams and rivers feed the Clutha, Taieri and Waipori rivers, creating landscapes epitomised in Marilyn Webb’s paintings.

In the early 20th century, gold miners dreamed of damming the Waipori. Eventually, the Dunedin City Council did so, creating Lake Mahinerangi which produced electricity rather than gold.

On either side of the lake, Waipori Station occupies 12,000 hectares of rolling country running from 400 to 1000 metres above sea level. This Landcorp farm, managed by Dave Vaughan and his wife, Hayley, employs 12 to 14 staff and runs 30,000 ewes and 2100 angus cows to calve.

Townies reckon every farmer has something to grizzle about. In Vaughan’s case, this would be snowfall.

In 2013, they got a metre dumped on them, trapping their stock. The upside was the “overwhelming response” from neighbours, anyone who had heavy equipment, and helicopter pilots.

They descended on Waipori in numbers.

Those who had gear drove or dropped those who had legs onto the places where trapped stock could follow beaten tracks to places where hay was dropped. A thaw after five days relieved the situation, but in that time, every sheep had lost six or seven kilograms.

“It cost us about $50,000,” Dave Vaughan recalls.

Raised on a dairy farm but helping on an uncle and aunt’s sheep and beef farm, he opted for the latter and has no intention of changing his mind.

When he came to Waipori five years ago, he felt it was running well, but nonetheless got some expertise to “turn it upside down and give it a shake” to see what to improve.

“We’ve changed some systems, stocking policy,

genetics, pasture, and crops. In the environment, we’ve formed a working party to look at the lake and wetlands. We’ve planted pine trees in the gullies for carbon credits and weed control.

“The farm is now cut into four blocks with a manager and one or two shepherds on each. This gives young people a chance to take ownership.

They’ve grown, and it’s benefited them and the farm. They can see a pathway forward to becoming a farm manager.”

Feeling that the perendales Waipori was running were not performing all that well, he bought 400 romney ewes from another Landcorp block. They were 2kg lighter than the perendales, but performed better by 30 per cent.

“That sold me. I started buying Focus Genetics romney rams. As soon as we get their progeny into the breeding flock, after two or three years we’ll see progress.”

As a “pet project” he has for three years been introducing plantain/clover in place of ryegrass/ clover. In the first year he trialled lambs and hoggets on a plantain/clover paddock next to others on the rye/clover.

“The hoggets were 10kg heavier and the lambs 5kg heavier than the ones on the grass.”

Although the plantain needs renewing after about three years compared to 10 years for grass, he reckons the last four or five years of grass were low-production anyway, so the numbers are stacking up.

Fertility transfer in the pasture on the hill country saw poorer quality pasture develop on the lower slopes and ridges: “They would be invaded by browntop. We’d get a big sward, but the stock wouldn’t go down there to feed, so they’d lose weight.”

To deal with this, he sprays low-rate glyphosate which bowls the browntop, and allows the ryegrass and clover to rejuvenate and flourish.

That ‘shake up’ five years ago seems to have been well worthwhile.

Waipori farm manager Dave Vaughan has started a new breeding regime, introducing romney ewes and rams into the predominantly perendale flock.

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48 |

Business Rural

ON FARM » Wilden Station

Wilden Station farm manager Peter Adam on the drafting gate at the West Otago farm. The sheep-and-beef farm runs 12,500 stock units.

Lambing eclipses targets at Wilden Karen Phelps Wilden Station’s lambing target was 135 per cent. It has already surpassed that this season with 140%.

In the past two years the farm, in the foothills of West Otago, has finished the most lambs it has ever achieved – 6800 last year and on target for 7500 this year.

Farm manager Peter Adam puts this down to a combination of a good season and work put into renewing pastures on a 1200-hectare run block 14 kilometres away, which is used to complement the 570ha home farm.

The original farm was bought in 2000 by John

Maisey and is now part of the Maisey Group of companies, which had its beginnings in Forlong & Maisey Ltd, founded in 1946.

As the only farm in the group, the project is a particular passion for John, says Peter.

The sheep-and-beef farm runs around 12,500 stock units – 7900 ewes, 2150 hoggets, 265 mixed-age cows and 60 rising-two-year-old heifers.

Around 220 rising-one-year-old heifers are wintered on fodder beet and kale.

The farm used to wean lambs and bring everything to the home farm, but for the last three seasons more have been grazed on the run block as pastures have improved.

The flock is split into two. One mob, around

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4500 this year, heads to the 1200ha block and will be put to a romney for breeding. The replacements come from this flock. This mob heads to the home farm only twice a year, for shearing.

Peter says twice-a-year shearing has worked well for the farm.

“The flock is more mobile and there is less vegetable matter in the wool. They are not getting cast as much now and we can keep them in better condition. The farm is presently producing a 37-39 micron wool,” he says.

The other mob is all terminal sires, and is put to a texel and suftex. This flock remains on the home farm.

The cows are mainly angus and angus-cross.

Wilden used to buy in all replacement heifers, but in the past two years has started to breed some itself.

Peter says this has given more control over quality and more certainty to this aspect of the operation. The farm sells the top 100 steer calves each year and finishes the rest, apart from selling some stores. Around 70 heifers were sold to breeders in China last year.

Around 60ha of the block has been re-grassed over the past three years. Crops of kale (25ha this year) and swede (5ha) are grown, then put into new grass. On the home farm, 8.5ha of fodder beet is being grown.

It’s only the second season of growing this crop and Peter says helping put the animals in better condition. Forty-two hectares of swedes are also being grown on the home farm this season.

The flock is more mobile and there is less vegetable matter in the wool. They are not getting cast as much now and we can keep them in better condition.

Roughly 30ha of new grass is sown on the home farm each year.

Development work has begun – a lot of fencing and sub-division has been has been done – on the block, the last to be developed. Twenty hectares is going into crop next year and then new pasture.

Wilden Station has historic buildings that date back to 1908. It continues to operate the original 10-stand woolshed. A book on the history of the station is being written and will be launched in August. Despite its history Peter says there is still room for improvement.

“Our focus at the moment is on improving what is already here. There are always things to do and to do better.”

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Business Rural

ON FARM » Fallgate Farm

| 49

Chipper crop from potato powerhouse Kim Newth Getting the potatoes just right for turning into chips is crucial at South Canterbury’s Fallgate Farm, which supplies the Heartland Potato Chips factory in Washdyke.

Raymond and Adrienne Bowan, who launched the family-owned Heartland factory in October 2010 following the withdrawal of Bluebird, took up Fallgate Farm in 1975. Raymond has devoted decades to trialling varieties and working to optimise ploughing, planting and growing techniques in search of the best possible potatoes.

Before launching their brand of crisps, the Bowan family supplied fish-and-chips shops and big-brand suppliers, including Watties, Bluebird and Mr Chips. As well as growing all they need for Heartland, they continue to supply potatoes for the domestic french-fry market.

Around 250 hectares of potatoes are planted every year; the land is managed through generous rotation practices. The main crop is lifted between March and June.

The best spuds for processing are neither too wet nor too dry, and have just the right solid content. Ray says this autumn’s haul has been good: “Very good quality in terms of solid content.

If you get that right, it means you get good recoveries in the factory, or more chips from each potato.”

The main issue has been finding enough days to lift spuds on the farm between rainy spells: “You can’t put them into storage if they have rain on them. They need to be dry.”

Five types of potato are grown for processing at the Heartland factory: “We grow different varieties for seasonal reasons; we have an early variety, then the main crop, and a late-stage variety.”

When the family decided to set up the factory, Raymond and Adrienne’s son, James, agreed to take over the running of the farm’s daily operations.

“The family has been very supportive and James was keen to take on the farm,” says Raymond. “He organises the men and decides which crops will go in. We get on really well.”

James is married to Jess and they have three children – Archie, 8, Maisy, 6 and Greta, 3.

This is a true family business. The Bowans’ daughter, Charlotte, is Heartland general manager and their other daughter, Kate, is on the board as an active shareholder.

Adrienne Bowen organises wages and accounts on the the farm and is involved in decision-making

• To page 51

PHOTOS: Top: Raymond and Adrienne Bowan, from Fallgate Farm, launched the family-owned Heartland Potato Chips factory in Washdyke. Above: Some of the five varieties of potato grown for processing.

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Business Rural

| 51

Heartland potato empire a real family affair • From page 49 at the factory, which employs a staff of 16.

As well as the 1300 hectares at Orari, the Fallgate Farm holding includes another 200ha at Coldstream. As well as potatoes, the Bowans grow wheat (400ha), barley (400ha) and grass seed (150ha). A crop of onions was also planted this year.

The family has a shareholding in the Farmers Mill at Washdyke, the only independent growerowned-and-operated flour producer in the country.

“Some of our wheat goes there and the rest of it goes out as feed,” says Ray. The Bowans also winter around 2500 dairy cows from neighbouring properties: “It works out well and the farmers are close enough they shift their own fences.”

Apart from more work needing to be done to simplify irrigation systems, Fallgate is running very well, he says.

Ray and Adrienne were Lincoln University’s South Island Farmer of the Year in 2011. Ray has been a director for Grainstor and Seedlands, and is an original member of the Rangitata South Irrigation Scheme.

He grew up in South Canterbury, the second son of a dairy farmer, and started handpicking potatoes as a teenager at a neighbour’s property during school holidays. By the time he was 18, he was

• To page 52

PHOTOS: Fallgate Farm’s Raymond Bowan has devoted decades to trialling varieties and working to optimise ploughing, planting and growing techniques to get the best possible quality potatoes.

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52 |

ON FARM » Fallgate Farm

Business Rural

Humble spud has been a lifelong passion • From page 51 supplying potatoes to the local fish-and-chips shop.

His passion for potatoes had well and truly taken root by the time he and Adrienne bought Fallgate Farm and set about developing the productive, freedraining land into the potato powerhouse that today sits at the heart of the potato-chip business.

Long gone are the days of handpicking bags of spuds (machinery has replaced many of the manual roles), but the home-grown commitment to quality remains the backbone of the business.

Heartland’s old-fashioned wave cuts have a loyal and strong following in the South Island, in particular. Along with flat-cuts, Heartland is now offering a premium range of kettle chips processed in a batch fryer. In March this year, Heartland was a finalist in the Outstanding New Zealand Food Producers’ Awards.

Raymond credits the company’s sales manager, Brian Kirby, who has been involved since the start, for helping to “open a lot of doors” for Heartland as it has grown and developed.

As well as being strong in the New Zealand market, the family firm also exports to Australia, Singapore and Fiji.

Long gone are the days of handpicking bags of spuds (machinery has replaced many manual roles), but the home-grown commitment to quality remains the backbone of the business

PHOTOS: Heartland’s old fashioned wave cut chips have a strong following in the South Island. Fallgate Farm’s productive and free draining paddocks worked into deep furrows ready for planting.

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Business Rural

RURAL SERVICES » DairyTech South

| 53

Southern firm specialises in dairy servicing Kelly Deeks Over the last seven years milking-machine-testing specialist DairyTech South has grown through good, old-fashioned service into a provider of testing, maintenance, and services for dairy sheds.

Shane Simpson started the business in 2010 after doing milk machine testing on a part time basis.

“Farmers kept asking us to do more and more, and it has spread like wildfire and surpassed my expectations,” he says.

“Southland farmers are traditionally very loyal, so it was tough to crack into the market at first.

We’ve found that through providing a good, honest service and doing a good job for everyone, one job leads to two, and two jobs lead to four.”

Shane has been assisted in managing the rapid growth of DairyTech South by “really good” staff, including office manager Trish, workshop foreman Ross, and four technicians in the workshop with a wide range of experience in all milking-machine makes and models. Over winter, DairyTech South will bring in four extra staff.

“We’ve got a very busy winter ahead of us and we’re being realistic with our programming as we don’t want to let farmers down at all.”

The firm also runs an after-hours service which Shane is incredibly proud of: “We offer a reliable and honest breakdown service at a very fair price, and we’ve got someone qualified and available 24/7 to get you up and running, and back milking the cows, fast.”

DairyTech South has expanded its services over the past couple of years into pumps and plumbing.

“We can do anything and everything from filtration to dosing,” Shane says.

“We keep a range of pumps in stock and regardless of the brand of pump, we can get parts

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Shane invites local farmers to visit DairyTech South’s showroom: “We’ve got a huge amount of parts available, and regardless of the make or model, if we don’t have it, we can get it.”

DairyTech South is the sole Southland and South Otago agent for Wetit teat spraying technology.

Shane says Wetit is a well-known New Zealand brand with a high-quality and robust system that works every time.

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Shane says the mechanical Read slide pulsator is simple, reliable, and designed to give years of trouble-free service.

At the 2016 Southern Field Days, DairyBuild South was launched, a new company which encompasses a group of like-minded businesses who specialise in their own field, to bring together a complete turn-key package for farmers looking to build a new dairy shed or wintering barn.

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With the milking-machine testing season on the horizon, DairyTech South has an offer for anyone booking in for a milking- machine test to enter a prize draw.

“We’ve got a water blaster and a Stihl chainsaw to give away to two lucky punters,” Shane says.

“We also wish all the very best to all dairy farmers for next season and hope they have an enjoyable and relaxing off season.”

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54 |

RURAL SERVICES » McCaw Seeds

Business Rural

The latest machinery and technology, like this Oliver automated gravity separator, has enabled Methven company McCaw Seeds to manage growing demand for its products.

Seed company sprouts wings Russell Fredric A ‘big gamble’ 30 years ago sprouted into a Canterbury business which continues to grow.

Since 1987 Methven-based McCaw Seeds has expanded its facilities so that it has the capacity to handle the seed it processes while meeting exacting requirements.

During the past three years the company has put $2 million into upgrading its storage and processing facilities, resulting in a quantum leap in its capacity.

Company director Peter McCaw outlines how the scale of the present business dwarfs its unsophisticated beginnings.

He bought the business, based on a former flaxmill site and running as a mobile operation with two truck-mounted cleaning units, during a time when the economy was in the doldrums following the sharemarket crash of 1987.

Storage capacity consisted of just 50 seedboxes. “It was a huge gamble buying into a

business at that time,” he says. Fortunately, the downturn worked in his favour in part as some large mercantile firms were rationalising or getting out of the industry.

As the business grew, its processing ability increased along with its storage capacity to 1000 seed-boxes and eight silos (each of 40-tonne equivalent wheat storage).

Since a major upgrade completed two years ago, seed-intake capacity has increased to a total of 46 silos and 1500 seed-boxes.

“It has been a steep change in the size of the business and the efficiency of it,” says Peter.

Key to the upgrade was the addition of a Cimbria Delta 107, which can process up to two tonnes of grass-seed an hour, to complement the company’s cleaning line of four Clipper machines.

This system provides the flexibility to process up to four crops simultaneously to meet deadlines, particularly during the intense harvest season.

A high-capacity, Buhler Sortex optical, colour separator was also installed; this ensures that even

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Business Rural

A major upgrade at McCaw Seeds has increased seed-intake capacity to 46 silos and 1500 seed-boxes.

as ‘big gamble’ pays off We have a good future for international vegetable-seed production. There is a big swing into it. the most difficult contaminants can be removed, adding value to seed-lines that would otherwise not have made the grade, says Peter McCaw. “We’ve also built a major extension on one building and a complete new one for storage of clean product prior to shipping.”

Two scalping plants and a range of crop-drying facilities are used to salvage problem seed-lines and provide uniform product for the seed cleaners.

Other specialist machinery includes spiral separators, pod-crushing rollers, a belt thresher, three gravity tables, two de-bearders, a beet decorticator, and seed blenders capable of batchblending up to 10 tonnes at a time.

Peter McCaw emphasises that McCaw Seeds does not own or trade any of the seed it cleans, and operates completely independently.

Canterbury is the largest seed-producing area in New Zealand “without a doubt”, he says. And the company’s largest client is the McCaw family’s 607-hectare farm, a separate entity which grows arable crops along with providing dairy support for young stock and wintering cows. It is also the site for 18 of the seed-company’s silos.

Grass-seed represents the greatest percentage of crop processed by McCaw Seeds, but vegetable seed production is increasing because of burgeoning demand for vegetable seed. It grows well in the region’s Mediterranean climate.

“We have a good future for international vegetable-seed production,” says Peter McCaw. “There is a big swing into it with companies all getting more and more involved. Our Canterbury climate is only duplicated in about three other places in the world,” With a lifetime of industry experience behind him, Peter McCaw is proud of the success of McCaw Seeds. “It’s a very viable company with a very good future and we have our share of the business around Mid Canterbury.”

| 55

56 |

RURAL SERVICES » Rural Transport

Business Rural

Waimate branch adds to reach Karen Phelps Rural Transport has opened a new branch in Waimate to meet the growth in the region, says the company’s general manager, Jim Crouchley.

“We see Waimate as a place that is going ahead with the development of irrigation schemes in the area...a place that will continue to increase production for cropping farmers, wool growers and the red meat industry. We also want to service dairy farming, which is already well established in the area.

“The location is also a good midway point between our Kurow branch and our Ashburton head office. We can provide plenty of support from our other branches. We believe it’s a good farming location with plenty of potential.”

The new branch, which occupies half an acre on the corner of William and Studholme streets, opened its doors last October. Three drivers, an office staff member and a branch manager/sales representative, Ross Gabites, are based there.

New equipment based in Waimate also includes a new four-wheel-drive fertiliser-spreader truck on wide, flotation tyres for low ground-compaction and to make hill-work easier and safer. This truck tows an automat trailer deliver loads of up to 20 tonnesplus at a time.

Also based in Waimate is: a bulk-blower truck and trailer for tipping work and blowing bulk product into silos; a grain vac for emptying silos, which complements the bulk operation; a new livestock truck-and-trailer built to the latest specifications with extra height in the pens for sheep and cattle cartage; and a loader. A six-bay fertiliser store is being built on the the branch premises to store product and deliver it locally.

JIm Crouchley says Rural Transport’s services include livestock and general cartage, and fertiliser spreading, along with silo storage, sourcing and transporting woodchips, shavings and sawdust for calf-pens, emptying farm silos, silo cleaning via a grain vac, and sales of coal.

Some branches also offer specialised services.

Kurow has with cement and shingle supplies and Ashburton has short-term and long-term storage of bulk or palletised products and managed warehousing, plus the mixing of bulk products such as fertiliser and stockfeed.

• To page 57

Equipment at Rural Transport’s new Waimate base includes a new four-wheel-drive fertiliser spreader truck with flotation tyres and an automat trailer capable of delivering loads of more than 20 tonnes.

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Business Rural

RURAL SERVICES » NZGFA

| 57

Groundspreaders get head round driver development Kelly Deeks The New Zealand Groundspread Fertilisers Association (NZGFA) advocates for the groundspreading, contracting, and general transport companies in the business which apply about 1.6 million tonnes of lime and fertilisers to New Zealand farmlands each year.

This huge effort is undertaken by about 281 companies, many of which are small businesses with one fertiliser spreader, while some companies run more than 50 spreaders. The total number of fertiliser spreaders in New Zealand is estimated at more than 600.

The membership of the association is 261, comprising active members, associates, and affiliates. The association runs seven autonomous branches representing the interests of those in the branch regions, and a national council charged with managing the affairs of the association at a national level.

NZGFA president Brent Scully says health and safety is a major concern in the New Zealand groundspread industry, with fertiliser spreading and hilly terrain being inherently dangerous, and a

moment’s inattention can lead to an accident.

The association has recently developed a comprehensive groundspreading health and safety manual, which is made available to members on line or in hard copy for a nominal cost.

“The manual will have to be updated on a regular basis to conform to regulatory changes, and as an attempt by the association to help our members in their statutory responsibility to run safe workplaces,” Brent says.

Driver training has long been a core activity for the association, and is closely integrated with the industry health and safety manual.

The association has developed two main training streams. The Hill Country Driver Training Manual recognises some parts of New Zealand are very steep, and as part of the association’s commitment to Spreadmark, it continues to offer driver training covering the use and practice of applying fertiliser to land.

“A training provider has been contracted to deliver a driver training guide which contains material that must be completed by the trainee in the workplace,” Brent says. “Trainees are brought together for a one-day course, and then more work is undertaken in the workplace with the employer signing off practical elements of the course.”

New Zealand Groundsread Fertilisers Association president Brent Scully says health and safety is a major concern in the groundspread industry.

Spreadmark, a voluntary code aimed at increasing the accuracy of fertiliser spreading throughout New Zealand, was originated by NZGFA more than 20 years ago. Spreading companies register in the scheme and undertake to pay a promotional levy.

All fertiliser spreaders are tested by running them across trays to ensure they are spreading within a coefficient variation of 25 per cent for super-phosphate and 15% for nitrogenous fertilisers.

Three-quarters of spreader drivers must be trained, and the spreading company is

independently audited every two years.

Brent Scully says the ongoing professional development of drivers is an industry imperative, and something the association, as the industry representative body, is uniquely qualified to undertake on behalf of members.

The 2017 NZGFA annual conference will be held from July 9 to July 11 at the Memorial Centre in Napier.

About 150 members and sponsors are expected to attend, and will spend time considering groundspreading industry methods and new technical developments in the industry.

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• Log Cartage • Gravel • Fertiliser Rural Transport offers farmers a full range of services including livestock and general cartage.

Industry, commerce on board too • From page 56 Across all branches Rural Transport operates 59 truck and trailer-units and employs 69 staff.

The company assists drivers in training for truck licences by operating class-two vehicles in three divisions so that new drivers have the ability to progress through the licensing system to a class 5 licence (truck and trailer).

In recent times, the company has employed a full time health and safety officer who also provides the in-house driver training.

Rural Transport is owned by a partnership of Philip Wareing Ltd and the Wilson Bulk Transport Charitable Trust. Rural Transport operates South

Island-wide with its clientele of mostly farmers.

However, in addition to its rural business, the company also services many clients in the industrial and commercial sector with curtainside, flat-deck and crane trucks.

Jim Crouchley says the company Rural Transport is proud of its history, the dedication of very loyal and capable staff, and the loyalty of its customers – many have used the company through successive ownership changes.

“The aim is always to be the best we can at what we do,” he says as he reflects on the company’s long-term success.

“We need to be as good as we possibly can with a policy of continual improvement.”

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58 |

RURAL SERVICES » Pankhurst Contracting/Ahaura Transport

Business Rural

‘Relatively small’ scale brings benefits to Sue Russell For the past 12 years Ben Pankhurst has been working alongside his father, David, who founded Pankhurst Contracting nearly 30 years ago. It’s work he finds busy, demanding, challenging and satisfying.

When BusinessRuralSouth spoke with Ben in mid-April, he was about to head to Australia to work in the grain industry from the end of April to the beginning of August – a traditionally quiet time for New Zealand contracting firms.

Back home the firm is attending to regular maintenance on the company tractors, cultivating and drilling gear, and baling equipment.

The fleet includes three Case tractors, a 4.5-metre, multi-disc cultivator, a specialised fodder-beet planter, a 4G roller-driller, and a 3-metre, custom direct drill. Adding to this list, a new Case bailer has just been purchased.

Based in the Greta Valley area, north of Christchurch between Amberley and Cheviot, Pankhurst Contracting provides a wide range of general agricultural services, including hay and balage medium squares, mowing, direct drilling and cultivation.”

Ben and David handle the bulk of the work, drafting in some help at the seasonal peaks.

“We get really busy from mid-September through to mid-December, firstly prepping for the spring crops, followed by planting fodder beet in

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October,” says Ben. “Fodder beet has become the latest crop of choice for many of our clients. From October to Christmas, we’re into hay and balage, then we start sowing in the autumn.”

Their work tends to be confined to within a 45-kilometres radius, an hour’s drive. When not out in the paddock, Ben spends time catching up with

clients, the vast majority of whom have been using Pankhurst Contracting for many years.

“We have had a few, new customers come along since we took up preparing the ground and sowing fodder beet. It’s a crop you need to take special care of with prepping the soil down to very fine.”

Transporter ‘slightly Russell Fredric Ahaura Transport managing director Russell Becker is giving qualified support to new regulations for transporting bobby calves.

The regulations, announced in June last year by primary industries minister Nathan Guy, are intended to strengthen the law around the management and treatment of bobby calves.

Most of the new regulations are due come into effect for the new calving season on August 1 this year.

Ahaura Transport is a family-owned business based in the Grey Valley on the West Coast.

The Coast’s long, narrow geography means clients can be anywhere from Karamea in the north to Fox Glacier in the south. As a result, the company has to be very aware of stocktransportation times.

Ahaura Transport also operates in other areas of the South Island.

During spring, the transportation of bobby calves forms a significant portion of the company’s work.

Russell Becker says his company already has good procedures in place, along with truck-drivers who are experienced in handling livestock and

We have to inspect each animal for its fitness for transportation; for dairy cows it involves bodyscoring them, and looking for any obvious signs (of animal health issues). It seems to have become quite draconian. farmer-clients who are conscientious with their animals.

“We want to do it properly,” he says.

However, the new regulations would come with the risk of putting his truck-drivers in the position of having to be quasi-MPI vets, he says.

The main points of the new rules are: • Young calves must be at least four days old

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RURAL SERVICES » Pankhurst Contracting/Ahaura Transport

| 59

clients Like any job, there are a few challenges with servicing the agriculture sector.

Top of the list is the hours you need to put in when demand from clients seems to come all at once. Attracting skilled operators is another.

“The government doesn’t class working on this machinery as skilled work, yet it is highly skilled.

We’re entrusting a machine that could be valued above $500,000 to a driver. I know a lot of larger contractors are struggling to get good drivers.”

Positives are enjoying working outdoors, which is a real plus for most drivers. he says.

“You have to be reasonably passionate as the technologies these days are very sophisticated. We have one tractor that is fully GPS auto steer.”

Rural Contractors New Zealand is lobbying the govenment over the shortage of skilled labour and its restrictions on accessing migrant workers.

Ben says a relatively small operation brings benefits for clients: “Issues are dealt with directly and managed quickly. We’re always working against time and weather conditions and I think our clients really appreciate that they are dealing with the boss.”

He says the company has a strong association with its local community, sponsoring school projects and the rugby club.

PHOTOS – Pankhurst Contracting on the job: opposite page, heavy discing on typical North Canterbury country; right upper, a Case Puma 155 tractor with an Allen custom direct drill; right lower, a Case Puma 210 tractor with a one-pass set-up of Xpress dics and roller drill.

nervous’ about new bobby-calf rules and physically fit before they are transported for sale or slaughter.

• A maximum duration of 12-hours journey time for young calves being transported for sale or slaughter.

• Transport of young calves by sea across Cook Strait is prohibited.

• The killing of any calves by the use of bluntforce trauma, except in an emergency. is prohibited.

• Young calves must be fed at least once in the 24 hours before slaughter and suitable shelter must be provided for them before and during transportation, and at points of sale or slaughter.

• Loading and unloading facilities must be provided and used when young calves are transported for sale and slaughter.

“We have to inspect each animal for its fitness for transportation,” says Russell. “For dairy cows, this involves body-scoring them, and looking for any obvious signs (of animal health issues). It seems to have become quite draconian.”

“We are getting slightly nervous about the whole situation. We are concerned that too much

responsibility for policing of the laws is being put on the drivers.”

He advises farmers in doubt about the health of any livestock to get a veterinarian to provide a certificate for fitness for transportation, which will provide a safeguard for both the farmer and transport operator.

Ahaura Transport’s drivers and farmer-clients have always been had an awareness about the requirements for transporting bobby calves – “in simple layman’s terms” without the need for regulation, he says.

“It has always been that animal welfare has been at heart. I haven’t got too many concerns about the people we pick up from. The majority of them are very aware of their responsibilities.”

However, he is reminding farmers they need to plan to have suitable bobby-calf facilities in place by August 1 this year.

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60 |

BUSINESS RURAL » Taege Engineering

Advertorial

Pioneer releases two new products Pioneer of New Zealand agriculture Taege Engineering has again developed some new innovations set to change the way farmers farm – powered disk openers and a new precision fertiliser spreader.

The new precision fertiliser spreader is Taege Engineering’s first foray into fertiliser spreaders in the past 20 years, since Keith built his first one 28 years ago.

He got to a point where he was so busy he couldn’t build fertiliser spreaders fast enough, but then pulled the pin on them in 1997 after a Japanese stock market crash practically wiped out his orders overnight. He had learned over eight years the testing of these machines for accuracy was ridiculously expensive, and since there was no Government research and development policy, he made the call to focus his developments other areas.

“20 years later we’re back to building fertiliser spreaders, but it’s something so different from what we would ever have expected

back then,” Keith says. “And it’s going to be accurate because of our metering system, which is designed to be accurate.”

The Taege precision fertiliser spreader accurately dispenses fertiliser over a set area, with even spread. Operated by air, it puts the fertiliser straight into the ground with GPS capability. Farmers know exactly what chemicals or fertilisers are going where, and the spreader is so accurate it can be used closer to waterways.

“Environmental councils will be seriously looking at it when it comes out in the marketplace,” Keith says. “Ballance AgriNutrients is keen on doing trials with it, and people with specialist crops are hearing about it, and keen to know more about how it could work for them.”

The accuracy of this fertiliser spreader and the reason Taege Engineering is back manufacturing fertiliser spreaders after 20 years is Taege’s unique computerised sponge metering system, designed

by Brian 18 years ago to provide

fast, easy, and accurate calibration without the risk of damage to seed.

Brian then had to come up with a new drill concept to suit his new metering system, which he did very successfully, without disc openers.

“Every tyne drill on the market had disc openers, but we managed to get around the New Zealand market and convince farmers they weren’t necessary for their applications,” Keith says. “However our distributor in Australia, Giltrap Engineering, wanted to increase the market into different areas over there and found it harder to convince large numbers of people. They asked us for a disc opener so they could prove to people they didn’t need it.”

Taege Engineering had to think outside the square for this one.

Taege’s drill was half the weight of others on the market, as it acts as a natural tiller and pushes the drill into the ground naturally.

Also with other drills doing six inch spacing, the Taege drill does 4.5 inch spacing. Having discs close together causes a matting

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REASON

A Ground Breaking Company Since 1923

problem, where residue is left on the ground and the seed is left on top of the residue.

A key difference to Taege’s new power discs is they are located on arms attached to the drawbar.

The arms pivot up and down to give depth control, and contain no more than six discs per shaft which allows discs to always follow the contours of the paddock, something discs on a solid beam can’t do.

Power discs on the front of a precision drill will eat up any residue and create a fine tilth for the placement of seed, cutting down on cultivation, with farmers leaving more trash and adding more carbon to the soil.

Taege’s powered disc openers have already taken out the AgriInnovation award at this year’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, and while the fertiliser spreader wasn’t finished then, it will be showcased at Mystery Creek Field Days in June.

RURAL SERVICES » Kiwi Seed Co

Business Rural

| 61

‘Tassie’ seed link boosts Kiwi choice Kelly Deeks A relationship between Marlborough dryland seed specialist Kiwi Seed Co and TasGlobal and Ardent Seeds in Tasmania has led to the introduction of grass and clover cultivar choices for New Zealand farmers.

“Thanks to our Tasmanian connection, Kiwi Seed now has the greatest selection of dryland pasture species in New Zealand, with more to come,” says managing director Bruce Clark.

Kiwi Seed markets and distributes the Australian company’s cultivars.

Tasmania is on the same latitude as Marlborough and has similar weather patterns. It experiences the same extremes of hot summers and cold winters.

“The cultivars that have come out of this research are extremely exciting,” says Bruce Clark.

“The root systems these species are displaying are extensive and supporting the plant through the most difficult, drought conditions.”

While perennial ryegrass has remained popular with farmers because of the availability of relatively cheap seed, and its ease of establishment and management, it has limitations under dryland conditions. These include poor persistence and low productivity during the hot summer months.

This led to a study to evaluate the persistence and production of other perennial pasture species collected from environments at similar latitude to Tasmania and New Zealand. The long-term goal was to provide farmers with alternative pasture species that were well adapted amd more persistent.

A project known as “The Herbage Development Programme” was initiated in 1992 and run for many years by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.

It was set in four stages – find plants of interest; screen plants of interest; select plants of interest; and develop plants of interest as commercial species and compare their productivity and persistence against other commercially available species.

Four grasses and five legumes have been selected from the programme to be commercialised. These species are in the early stages of seed production in New Zealand and Australia, and limited seed supplies are available from Kiwi Seed Marlborough.

These are Exceltas Coloured Brome, Uplands Cocksfoot, Megatas Cocksfoot, Arrotas Arrowleaf Clover, Lusa Persian Clover, Hytas Alsike Clover, and Rubitas Red Clover.

A paper on this subject was presented at the Grasslands Hill Country Symposium in Rotorua in April last year. A full report on the presentation is on the Kiwi Seed Co website – www.kiwiseed. co.nz).

PHOTOS: Above: W. Lissaman with Lusa persian clover in early November.

Right: Bruce Clark with the first clover harvest .

Thanks to our Tasmanian connection, Kiwi Seed now has the greatest selection of dryland pasture species in New Zealand, with more to come. The root systems these species are displaying are extensive and supporting the plant through the most difficult, drought conditions.

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62 |

RURAL SERVICES » FarmBuild Ltd

Business Rural

‘If it’s rural, we will build it’ Kelly Deeks Third-generation rural building company FarmBuild Ltd is now getting involved with agricultural building projects for the children and grandchildren of farmer-clients.

FarmBuild was formed in North Canterbury in 1939 by George Gregg, a farm-owner and builder who pioneered some of Canterbury’s rural housing, homesteads and woolsheds, many of them still standing.

He worked on high-country projects such as Muzzle Station, on the Clarence River, and through the back of Kaikoura, using packhorses and other methods to build in difficult terrain and isolated rural landscapes.

His son, Bruce Gregg, started his apprenticeship with his father at 15, building a house on Yaldhurst Rd in Christchurch.

Bruce’s speciality became woolsheds as he took over the business; his work has taken him to the Chatham Islands and rural New South Wales, in Australia.

Bruce’s son, Colin Gregg, also began his apprenticeship with his father as a teenager.

He learned a lot from Bruce, including how to arrive at a homestead, cut and mill trees in the morning, and have them in timber framing by the afternoon.

Colin has built on his family’s history, and now owns and runs two businesses from Christchurch – rural building specialist firm FarmBuild, and architectural housing company Gregg Builders.

Patrick McCarthy started as an apprentice working with Bruce and Colin in 2000, and in 2011, became a partner with Colin in FarmBuild. He is now managing director of FarmBuild South, which covers Central Otago and Southland.

The Lake Station Homestead

Agricultural Building Specialists Housing

Cattle Yards

Business Rural

Snowdon Woolshed

RURAL SERVICES » FarmBuild Ltd

| 63

‘We understand country life’ Our inter-generational repeat business over nearly eight decades is a testament to the quality of our work.

Patrick McCarthy started as an apprentice working with Bruce and Colin in 2000, and in 2011, became a partner with Colin in FarmBuild. He is now managing director of FarmBuild South, which covers Central Otago and Southland.

FarmBuild works across New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, and Australia.

“Our designs are proven and our workmanship has stood the test of time,” says Colin Gregg. “Our inter-generational repeat business

Ngai Tahu Cattleyards

over nearly eight decades is a testament to the quality of our work.”

He says the company’s owners are very much hands on: “While some building companies will use city foremen and contractors accustomed only to residential and commercial projects, everybody at FarmBuild is a rural-building specialist. We understand country life.”

FarmBuild designs take all facets of rural living and working into account, he says .The company’s designs have been developed through 77 years of input from farmers, their families, managers, stockmen and advisers.

Contact us today to discuss 0800 FARMBUILD your next rural project farmbuild.co.nz

Woolsheds

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Workshops

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64 |

Business Rural

RURAL SERVICES » Power Farming Timaru

‘Demos’ will show off new gear Karen Phelps New equipment is due to arrive at Power Farming Timaru in the next few months ready to be demonstrated to farmers in spring, says dealer principal Ross Dawbin.

“We plan to run an extensive demo programme so that people can see the gear in action,” he says.

In February Power Farming launched the new 6000, 7000 and 9000 series of German-made Deutz-Fahr tractors, which have new roboshift transmissions. These will be part of the demo programme.

Other new equipment to look out for includes a Kverneland six-metre U-Drill and Kverneland trailed and self-propelled sprayers for cropping farmers.

The firm also sells Kioti tractors, Merlo telehandlers, Jaylor mixer-wagons, McIntosh silage wagons and bale-feeders, Same tractors (from Italy) and Schuitemaker loader wagons (from Holland). The company also turns over a significant number of used tractors and farm machinery.

Ross says it has been a good start to the year.

With a lift in dairy prices, and sheep, beef and deer markets, farmers are starting to invest in new equipment again, he says. He has seen a significant increase already this year with the company workshop kept busy as farmers repair and service equipment.

A 13-metre x 20m extension to the workshop around two years ago has given four extra service bays and a grooming and assembly bay.

Everything, including the water blasting area, is fully under cover. Ross says this has enhanced the company’s capacity to service clients and support its field service vehicles, which do on-farm repairs.

The branch has operated from Washdyke showroom, warehouse and offices since 2004.

It services the area from the Rangitata River to Palmerston and inland to the Mackenzie Country.

Ross, an ex-mechanic who grew up on a farm, became branch manager in early 2007 after working many years for the company. In April 2008, he and wife Jo invested in a 50 per cent shareholding in the business. Power Farming Timaru employs 19 staff.

• To page 65

Proud to Support Power Farming Timaru

Power Farming Timaru dealer principal Ross Dawbin and wife Jo plan to run an extensive demonstration programme to showcase new equipment.

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Business Rural

RURAL SERVICES » Alex McDonald

| 65

No standing still in the potato business Kelly Deeks There’s no such thing as a humble potato for seed-potato supplier Alex McDonald Ltd. The firm is currently producing a whopping 72 commercial varieties – and has even more varieties under trial with its contracted seed-potato growers.

Managing director Kerry Hughes says the business, founded in 1941, continues to identify new and improved varieties.

“We also play a vital role in New Zealand’s potato-industry strategy to boost overall potato consumption and to increase profitability for growers.

“We and the industry recognise that new and improved varieties play a major part in achieving these goals.”

And Alex McDonald Ltd is a potato company.

“We do only potatoes,” says Kerry. “We don’t do anything else, and that makes us a specialist in our field.”

He has worked for the Christchurch-based family business for 21 years. The company has seed-growers in the area between Methven

and Darfield, a packhouse at Springston, and a laboratory and glasshouse facilities at Lincoln in a long-term joint venture with the Plant & Food Research Institute.

Kerry says new varieties are brought in from the northern hemisphere for various growers and various markets – the fresh market, the crisping market, and the french-fry market.

“We can’t bring potatoes into New Zealand, so they all have to come in as tissue culture in little test tubes. They have to pass Ministry of Primary Industries quarantine standards for pests and diseases, then they go to our lab at Lincoln. They are then multiplied to produce mini-tubers, which are multiplied again for the next two years before being passed on to our growers.”

By the time a potato ends up on the supermarket shelf, it is about six years old, he says.

The requirements for fresh, crisping, and frenchfry potatoes differ. Fresh potatoes need to look and taste good; crisping potatoes need to be round; and french-fry potatoes need to have good length and able to be stored long-term.

A continuing supply of new varieties is needed to keep up with the ever-changing demands of

Alex McDonald Ltd’s new potato planter clients driven by their need to have the right variety for the right type of food, he says.

For example, the fresh market’s requirements have changed while Kerry has been in the industry.

“The fresh market has been dominated by the nadine variety for its attractive appearance, excellent cooking quality, and suitability for washed prepacks. But now demand is changing to colour and taste, and we’re seeing a big movement towards yellow-fleshed varieties.”

While this demand is consumer-driven to some

extent, it is also spurred by the preferences of cooking shows and food writers.

Kerry says tastes are always changing, and suppliers need to keep up with trends in both domestic and overseas markets. Alex McDonald now has varieties containing 25 per cent less carbohydrates, he says.

The company continues to trial many varieties with clients: “We give them varieties to try, and they get them grown and put them through the factory to see how they look and taste.”

REWS

RANSPORT LTD

CARTAGE AND TRANSPORT OPERATORS

• • • •

Demo days planned for new gear • From page 64 Ross says Power Farming New Zealand is the biggest agricultural wholesaler in Australasia and he believes the backing and support of the Power Framing Group is a key advantage for his customers. For example, group technical service managers provide service back-up and assistance, service training and warranty administration to Power Farming Timaru staff. Technicians are available round the clock basis and six staff

based at head office have more than 150 years of combined experience.

“We also have access to all stock held in New Zealand or Australia – more than 100,000 line items electronically linked and spread across the Australasian warehouses.

“We service a good mix of farming sectors such as dairy, cropping, sheep and beef, deer and horticulture. Service is a key thing and, with my background as a mechanic, I know this must be an important focus.”

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Left: Pottles of tissue cultures are imported and planted in glasshouses to produce mini- tubers for planting in paddocks. Right: Potato varieties.

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66 |

RURAL SERVICES » Donald Engineering

Business Rural

PHOTOS: Left: Donald Engineering has worked from this purposebuilt premises just south of Edendale for the last five years.

Below: A Read dairy platform manufactured by Donald Engineering.

Shed specialist at end of chain Sue Russell Rob Donald says his Southland-based, rural engineering business’s volume of work is largely related to the dairy pay-outs.

“We are principally about installing Read-brand milking systems and ongoing maintenance on old dairy sheds,” says Rob, who came into the familyowned business eight years ago. “We’ve been Read agents these past five years.”

Rob’s father, Colin, started the Edendale-based business 35 years ago. In 2008 they went into formal partnership in the company.

In 1976, Donald Engineering, then led by Colin, built the first rotary milking shed in the area. It has have gone on to complete more than 500 rotary and herringbone sheds.

Early rotary sheds were much smaller than

We are principally about installing Read-brand milking systems and ongoing maintenance on old dairy sheds.

they are now. The company has since constructed platforms of up to 80 bails to cater for the much larger dairy units and herds in New Zealand and overseas.

The business currently employs 12 staff, with one of them dedicated to Read agency work.

However, Rob says he has observed that farmers

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these days are far more prudent with their spending and fewer brand-new milking sheds are being sought.

“Farmers quite rightly are getting many more quotes before they get work done. I spend 80 per cent of my time these days in the office and the remainder out on farms quoting.”

He says Donald Engineering’s long history as a supplier of engineering services to the rural sector brings a lot of repeat customers. The company’s Engineering’s longest serving staff member has been with the firm for 32 years...and counting.

The company builds milking sheds around the South Island; it takes one week for five staff to

construct a platform, and a further week for two staff to install the pipework and the yards.

Rob Donald says a significant amount of return platform work comes out of Read’s presence in the greater Canterbury region. Read Milking Systems, which is based in Canterbury, is also a familyowned business.

The Read rotary sheds can be constructed in kitset form. In 2014, Donald Engineering built three new rotaries for clients the United States...in Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. The sheds were sent to the United States in kitset form

• To page 67

Business Rural

RURAL SERVICES » Donald Engineering

Specialist, but not just the sheds • From page 66 As well as its dairy-shed building work, Donald Engineering has full, general-engineering workshop capability.

“We build alloy trailers, cattle and sheep ramps, which balances out the more pressured time when farmers who have dried their herds off want new dairy sheds built or regular maintenance done,” says Rob. Some additional work has come from the

Kaikoura region since the November earthquake, he says.

Five years ago Donald Engineering moved to a purpose-built building on State Highway 1 south of Edendale.

This facility is also home to a spare-parts division where customers can buy milking-system components, hoses and pipe fittings, drive-belts, fittings and bearings.

Rob Donald says the firm is a regular at the the South Island Field Days, which alternates between South;land and Canterbury. He says one of the key reasons he has a site at the South Island’s largest field days event is to catch up with farmers less stressful surroundings and circumstances.

“It’s a neutral space where you can have a good yarn and catch up.”

While Donald Engineering’s workshop and general business runs on a Monday-toFriday basis, Donald Engineering also has a seven-day, 24 hour callout service.

“It’s important to our clients and to us that we can attend to urgent issues as these happen,” says Rob. “It’s all part of the service we offer our farming clients.”

Left: An up-close view of the milking side of the rotary platform.

| 67

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www.wintonstockfeed.co.nz ADVERTORIAL » Nitrosol

Feed Your Pasture With Soil Not Oil!

Traditional fertiliser feeds the soil to feed the plants biologically. Life in the soil is the cornerstone of soil health and productivity.

Modern nitrogen fertiliser feeds the plants chemically; excess nitrogen depletes soil carbon, reduces soil life and damages soil structure.

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Going back to the past is the future.

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Profitability starts with the soil

More farmers are becoming aware that profitability starts with the soil, says Nitrosol national sales manager, Charlie Gray.

“This has become particularly apparent with issues surrounding water quality in New Zealand. The system is broken and needs to be fixed and this starts with the soil,” he says.

Charlie says that it is the life in soil that gives it the fertility. This includes earthworms, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, beetles, centipedes, to name but a few. “In a healthy soil these organisms work to break down organic matter on the surface creating humus, which adds to the soil’s volume and texture, thereby improving its structure and its fertility. This process releases locked up nutrients to better grow plants providing a balanced mix of nutrients, minerals and trace elements. The end result is the provision of healthier nutrition to the animals or humans that consume the plants as food,” he explains.

This is where Nitrosol can assist. The company’s range of products work to encourage soil life forms to thrive. The company’s key products are Nitrosol, MicroLime, Seaweed Flakes and Nitrosol Peptone Amino.

Nitrosol is made from either fish based or ovine blood and bone that contain calcium as well as a full range of plant available nutrients, minerals and trace elements.

“This feeds and nurtures plants while the organic content includes amino acids and carbohydrates that contribute to the development of the soil biology. This feeding of both plant and soil leads to better nutrient uptake by plants, raising brix levels and increasing productivity,” explains Charlie.

Peptone works similarly and is a certified organic 100% soluble powder made from porcine blood.

The product easily dissolves in water with no residues meaning that it can be used in fine spray equipment or fed to plants through irrigation systems using fine drippers with no danger of blockage. The ready availability of amino acids stimulates plants into a growth mode, says Charlie.

He says that farmers are finding the result of using the products includes improved crop yields and quality, improved health of their grazing animals and also reduction on the reliance of chemicals fertilisers.

Charlie says that by reducing use of chemicals fertilisers, as well as ensuring that the grass and crops cows are eating are nutrient rich with a balanced variety of minerals, it can also assist with leaching issues. The products are also cost effective compared with traditional alternatives: “They can even help to improve farm costs with better utilisation and efficiency of minerals as up to 95% of the nutrients applied as foliar can be utilised by plants compared with figures of around a third of this for conventional soil applied fertilisers,” says Charlie.

The evidence that Nitrosol works is not just anecdotal - Charlie says that Nitrosol was part of a comprehensive fertiliser trial conducted by the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture on behalf of Consumer Institute in 1992.

“One of twenty-five different fertilisers tested; liquid, slow-release and granular, Nitrosol was stated to be the top product and subsequently Nitrosol has been used as the ‘control’ in two further fertiliser trials conducted by Consumer and continued to produce outstanding results,” he says.

The Nitrosol range of products are naturally based and have been made and sold throughout New Zealand for over thirty years and has been distributed around the world for almost all of that time. Farmers can request an obligation free on farm soil health appraisal.

“Recently we have witnessed a paradigm shift in the mindset of many farmers towards taking greater care of their soil biology in the knowledge that it will also contribute to their improved profitability. Our products are instrumental in helping to improve soil biology fixing the system so they can farm sustainably for the long term.”

Business Rural

68 |

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Business Rural

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CANTERBURY - TRADE SERVICES & EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY AGRICULTURE

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Business Rural

RURAL SERVICES » Waimakariri Irrigation

Waimakariri Irrigation Linited (WIL) wants to get the right environmental practices in place on shareholding farms drawing water from the scheme. All shareholding farms will need to meet the requirements of industry-agreed good management practices by 2020. Photos: Paul Reese – environmental consultant.

Environmental practices central to irrigation Kim Newth Environmental stewardship is a key commitment of Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd, which manages an irrigation and stockwater system encompassing 1400 kilometres of water races and 22,000 hectares of irrigated land between the Waimakariri and Ashley rivers.

In the 2016-17 irrigation year, the aim has been to lift standards of environmental planning and practices on shareholding farms drawing water from the scheme.

All farms have now completed a farm environment plan (FEP) or small-block management plan, which are producing insights on farm practices and where there may be room for improvement.

“Our focus is on getting the right environmental farm practices in place,” says Waimakariri Irrigation general manager Brent Walton, noting that all shareholding farms will need to meet industry-agreed good management practices requirements by 2020. Renewal of the scheme’s discharge consent in 2020 will also be dependent on being able to demonstrate good environmental stewardship.

“We met our objective of all FEPs being done by the start of last September. There are 104 farms with full FEPs and the remainder have small-block management plans in place.”

All plans are due to be audited by September 2017; more than 70 per cent of the FEPs have been checked.

Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd manages an irrigation and stockwater system encompassing 1400 kilometres of water races and 22,000 hectares of land.

“The vast majority of people have been fantastic in terms of realising this is something they have got to do,” says the company’s environmental manager, Paul Reese, who has been managing the transition to FEPs. “It has been a real mind-shift. The biggest thing these plans have done is make shareholders aware and lay down the expectations of what’s coming.”

One area where there is scope for improvement is irrigation scheduling, says Brent Walton.

“Some people are watering when they don’t need to. That creates unnecessary nitrogen leaching

It has been a real mind-shift. The biggest thing these plans have done is make shareholders aware and lay down the expectations of what’s coming.

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and is a massive cost to the farmer. If you stop that happening, you not only save the farmer money but also reduce the environmental impact.”

Factors that ought to be taken into account when deciding whether or not to irrigate include soil-moisture levels and weather forecasts. Farmers are also being encouraged to check that irrigators are running properly and pump effluent-systems are working as designed.

“Simple things like making sure farm systems are up to scratch with maintenance can make a massive impact,” Brent observes.

Individual irrigators in the scheme are also responsible for accurate water flow metering. WIL is working closely with a consortium of information technology and environmental specialists to seek an economical “one-stop solution” for shareholders.

WIL is also seeking resource consent to build new water storage – the proposal is under appeal through the Environment Court.

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Farmers are acutely aware of the downstream impacts of too much irrigation, says Brent: “It is important for us to know what water is being used and where it is going so we can get a better understanding of what’s going on and come up with responses.”

In the Waimakariri zone, lowland streams are highly valued, but many suffer from elevated nitrate concentrations which, in some areas, are still rising.

“Other contaminants such as fine sediment, faecal bacteria, and growths of aquatic plants and algae reduce their habitats and use,” says Environment Canterbury’s principal water quality scientist, Adrian Meredith. Measures being identified to address these issues include ensuring good management practice by individual farmers and groups such as irrigation schemes he says.

Brent Walton says WIL is working hard to correct the flaws of past practice by actively supporting change.

Soluton To Your Hydraulic Problems P. 03 349 7188 www.alpinehydraulics.co.nz

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