NZ Dairy - Summer 2016 by Waterford Press Limited

Summer 2016

www.waterfordpress.co.nz

Forging ahead A new partnership between Mainland Engineering Dairy Systems and Reporoa Engineering promises to provide an improved level of service around an essential part of any dairy farm operation: The backing gate. Page 34

INSIDE

The Larmers up for the challenge - PAGE 7

Business grows despite downturn - PAGE 24

• Can apply raw effluent at application rates below 7mm/hour and application depths below 3mm • Combines reliable proven method of traveling with the performance of effluent raingun • Save time and money by covering more than double the area of traditional travelling irrigators

Doing the hard yards on the farm - PAGE 41

Keeping costs low a priority - PAGE 55

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DAIRY PEOPLE » AgFirst Engineering

NZ Dairy

AgFirst Engineering listens first Kelly Deeks One of New Zealand’s leading agricultural engineering technology companies AgFirst Engineering delivers innovative and customised engineering solutions, bringing new equipment, components, and practices to the agricultural sector designed to meet the challenges New Zealand farmers are facing today, and will face in the future. AgFirst Engineering’s specialist team of engineers have extensive experience in all facets of agricultural engineering design and implementation, from farm and rural community water reticulation, dairy effluent and wastewater treatment, agricultural and pastoral irrigation, frost protection, land drainage, and aquaculture systems design and construction. They all have rural experience, having either owned farms, come from a farming background, or have been directly involved in farming and horticultural operations. They understand the importance of cost, and the importance of achieving the required outcome. AgFirst Engineering director and agricultural engineering consultant Davieth Verheij says his company is always trying to improve things in order to differentiate itself from its competition, set itself ahead of the rest, and maximise value for its clients. “What’s already available isn’t going to fix the challenges New Zealand farmers are facing,” he says.

AgFirst Engineering is one of New Zealand’s leading agricultural engineering technology companies. This is an AgFirst Weta irrigator.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » AgFirst Engineering

“What we’ve been doing for the past 20 years doesn’t make farming better, or more sustainable.” He says when a farmer is looking for an engineering solution, he always asks why first. “I always listen to what my clients want, but I always want to know why they want it first,” he says. “Why they want it gets to the heart of what they need, and they end up with something that does what they want.” AgFirst Engineering’s biggest current challenge is the low milk pay out, and the availability of funds for farmers who are trying to justify every expenditure, as well as trying to do everything more efficiently. “The main thing we can advise in tight times is to keep the end in mind, and make sure everything you do isn’t going to cost more money later,” he says. “We’ve been to that many effluent or water systems where people are up to their fourth or fifth spend. If you don’t have the funds, but need a $300,000 system, let’s just do the first stage and come back to the second stage later. You don’t have to spend it all at once.” The focus for AgFirst Engineering is getting the right solution, designed in the best possible way, and backed up by intensive research and development. “We are producing systems that are sustainable for farmers. They are not just going to work today, they are going to work for many years,” Davieth says. “We always look at a lifetime of operation, so if you spend an extra $10,000 here which will save $50,000 over the next five years, farmers always go for it, and banks jump on board as well.” One of AgFirst Engineering’s growth

AgFirst Engineering also makes systems for the wine industry, like this viticulture frost protection pumping system.

areas at the moment is in data capture and monitoring. A partnership with telemetry company Harvest Electronics has recently been established and the two companies are working together on several projects. “They measure soil moisture content, flow rates of water, effluent application, and proof

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of placement, to name a few,” Davieth says. “We can capture this data and use it to make our systems more efficient. For example, effluent flow monitoring and GPS proof of placement alongside soil and effluent nutrient testing provides the tools required to ensure the nutrient value of the effluent is being maximised.”

He says data capture and monitoring could provide long term benefits to every farmer, if they had the capacity and also the drive to do it. “It’s a bit of a new age thing, but you will be surprised by the uptake of this technology by New Zealand dairy farmers. They, like us, are looking to move forward.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Anchor Jerseys

NZ Dairy

Aleasha Shaw farms Anchor Jerseys, a 110ha total/102ha effective , 520-cow jersey stud near Ohaupo, with her partner Adam Veart.

Fifth generation farming jerseys Karen Phelps

A move to autumn calving from split calving will help the Shaw family to better manage their farm and pedigree stud Anchor Jerseys, as well as result in cost savings, says Aleasha Shaw, who is the fifth generation to farm the unit located at Ohaupo. Aleasha’s mother, Judy, does the finances for the 110ha total/102ha effective, 520-cow farm and Aleasha and her partner Adam Veart take on the day-to-day running of the operation. Adam has worked on the farm for 14 years and took over his present role in 2011. The Shaws own an additional 28ha block 2km away that is used to support the farm and run young stock. The Shaws were calving three times annually - in August, November and March and Aleasha says changing to autumn calving means they will be able to downsize the herd slightly to 450-480 cows. The hope is that the move will not only make it easier for her and Adam to run the operation with the assistance of Judy but also

make it more profitable. She predicts the biggest challenge will be having all the cows on the milking platform each winter as they winter milk. The farm has a 50-bail rotary shed with automatic drafting with electronic ID. Aleasha says this creates work efficiencies enabling them to run the business with less labour units. Last season, the herd produced 206,000 kilograms of milk solids and this season the target is 215,000 – 220,000 kilograms. The family grows maize on their run off – this year around 14ha – and buy in around 100 tonnes as well to fully feed the herd. Around 6ha of turnips are grown on the milking platform to feed the milking cows as a summer crop. Effluent is spread with a travelling irrigator on about half the farm. The farm has a new 90-day storage pond. The whole herd is pedigree and Anchor Jerseys is more about passion than profit. Grandfather Don was instrumental in developing the stud. They use USA and Danish-sourced genetics to bring size into the herd. They don’t breed to sell with the resulting

animals mainly used on their own farm. They sell any surplus animals privately each year to interested parties. All of the family are very hands on. Aleasha milks and looks after young stock once they are weaned with Judy looking after the stock up until this point.

Adam completes jobs such as tractor work, feeding out, fencing and irrigation. Judy also assists Aleasha with looking after the heifers on their run off block and with looking after Adam and Aleasha’s blended family of four children: Sam, 11, Elouise, 4, Ashly, 4 and Nate, 2.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Bernie & Val Rye

Jersey lovers and good farm folk Sue Russell Having the opportunity to visit an established jersey stud for this journalist was too much of an opportunity to miss, so with gumboots in the back, NZ Dairy found its way to the lovely homestead of Bernie and Val Rye. The couple have been back in the district, roughly equidistant between Otorohanga and Te Awamutu, for four years but their association with the beautiful Maihihi area goes back much further. “We went sharemilking in Matamata for three years before moving back here to Te Kawa and going 50:50 sharemilking,” Bernie explains. This was followed by a stint dairy farming in the South Island. Son Craig and daughter-in-law Jamey also farmed 1000 cows near Winton and returned to Waikato farm at the end of May last year. When asked how the jersey stud operation works Bernie’s answer is as simple as it is true. “The farm just works like any other farm, you get your herd of 400 cows in calf. I always make sure I mate the herd to a bull that will leave a good size and good milk.” The farm has a gorgeous prospect. Looking out in all directions towards the north west are hills in the distant. Half the milking herd can be seen at the top of the far rise, near that boundary. Living and operating on a farm with a rolling landscape was something Val initially had some concerns about. “We were used to flat and I did wonder how it would be with the hills and getting about but it hasn’t been an issue at all. “When there’s rain the farm drains away well and what is lovely is the hillsides are always green,” Val says. Jersey’s are hungry beasts so to supplement the grass and occasional palm kernel fed through the 30 aside herringbone in-shed feeding system, the main-stay crop of chicory is growing in the fields surrounding the farm-house. Bernie describes chicory as a wonder food. “When you put your herd through a paddock to graze and then move them off to another area, within two weeks that original crop has grown back and can be regrazed, time and time again. Unlike turnips that get eaten through once,” he says. Beyond rearing pure bred jersey calves, capable of growing to 120 kg in four months, ready for sale, Bernie has long had a keen interest in showing and later judging jersey’s at district A & P shows and the like. He remembers when the show-circuit was a big part of the farming calendar.

Bernie Rye checks out the farm with his trusty companion, Pitts. Bernie farms at Te Kawa with his wife, Val. Photo: Sue Russell

“There are not the shows around like there used to be. Our first show in the season would be Waikato, the Rotorua, Te Awamutu and then the Otorohanga County Fair, then to the Te Kuiti A & P show, then we would finish up at the Auckland Easter Show. Now they’re just not there.” When asked why the demise, Val says it comes down to farmers being busy, with bigger herds. On the subject of shows, and specifically judging junior shows, Bernie says, with a degree of cynicism, that some of the rules he is required to defer to, simply don’t make sense. “When you go judging junior calf handling events the rules now state that the ‘clothing worn by the handler needs to be appropriate to the showing of dairy cattle’. Tell me how that makes a difference to the quality of the calf?” After a cuppa, it was outside to watch the weighing of bull calves. With trusty cattle dog

Pitts in tow, it didn’t take long for Bernie and Craig to weigh and separate 20 calves, each one weighing over 100 kg. For the sprightly jersey lover, who will soon celebrate seeing through 73 years, there’s no time to be idle for long as Bernie puts in a full days work, milking and doing farm chores,

alongside his son. “Val knows I’m not a towny sort of person. I’d much sooner walk on grass than tar seal. “The last time I had a check-up with the doctor he said I should just keep doing exactly what I do,” Bernie says with a twinkle in his eye.

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Brent Pocock

NZ Dairy

Driven by a desire to succeed Richard Loader Brent Pocock, operations manager for Braeside Dairy, is driven by a strong determination to succeed in the business world of farming. Set in the heart of Linton, Manawatu, Braeside Dairy is owned by Braeden and Caroline Whitelock and comprised of three adjoining farms covering 850ha; each with its own manager. “The land is exceptional,” says Brent. “It’s dead flat with the biggest hill being a rock on the ground.” Brent has worked for the Whitelocks for the last 18 years. Over that time he’s seen the business grow from two farms milking 500 cows to a large operation peak milking 2300 with 2400 being calved this year. Seeking a new challenge last year, Brent stepped aside from his position at Braeside and took up a contract/sharemilking position in the Waikato. However, earlier this year an opportunity arose for Brent and his family to return to Braeside. The prospect of further land, animal and infrastructure development at Braeside was compellingly alluring and in June they returned to the farm and the Manawatu that’s been Brent’s passion for almost 2 decades. “I would’ve been foolish not have jumped at the chance,” says Brent. “The owner and I compliment each other very well. We know each other, which makes life a hell of a lot easier.” Brent says that while he loves farming dairy animals, his drive in the industry is the business part of it—feed budgeting, financial accounts, return on equities and the cost of production. All of this has been self learned and by taking in valuable insight from those around him including the bank manager and accountant. “We have identified two key elements that drive this low input farm as a business structure: The total cost of production and that numbers gives us choices.”

Brent Pocock, left, operations manager for Braeside Dairy, is driven by a strong determination to succeed in the business world of farming.

For Brent and the team at Braeside this means developing their core business by breeding an elite group of animals, early calving, increasing lactation time and milk in the vat and making good decisions around the progeny. Early lactation has also meant getting as many cows in calf as early as possible. In October this year Braeside mated 2600 animals over a 9-day period. If 70% get in calf,

on average there will be 120 – 130 animals calving a day. Every heifer calf born from the predominantly friesian herd is DNA tested to 100% identify and record its ancestry. “Unless you can tell me with 100% certainty who the dam and sire of an animal are, you have no real idea of its BW & PW values—and those things are important to our business,” says Brent.

GRASS

MAIZE

While more replacement calves will be born than are needed, that every one of the progeny has been DNA tested at birth means that there is a very marketable product with high BW and PW values, enabling choices for revenue. “We are governed by so many things that are out of our control,” says Brent. “We need to focus our attention on those things that we can control. If we do that everything will fall into place.”

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Brett & Denise Larmer

Devon Taylor, Jamie Dazzler and Denise and Brett Larmer. The Larmers farm a 135ha effective dairy farm at 600m above sea level at Hikurangi, believed to be the second highest dairy farm in Northland

Larmers up for the challenge Russell Fredric Taking over a dilapidated dairy farm in Hikurangi three years ago presented a sink-orswim situation for Brett and Denise Larmer. While the couple, commonly known as Stretch and Din, can now look back with some satisfaction after turning the farm around in just two seasons, Brett Larmer outlines what they were faced with during their first weeks and months of ownership. Their 136 effective hectare property lies at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, believed to be the second highest dairy farm in Northland. Its altitude can bring some challenges being exposed in the winter but cooler in the summer which the cows seem to like. On the plus side it has volcanic soils and high rainfall. The farm peak milks 330 cows through a 36 a-side herringbone shed. “It was totally run down. The [soil] pH was 5.5, no fertiliser had been used for many years, no re-grassing had been done for years and the main home was falling down,” Brett Larmer says. “The bank manager suggested we have a demolition party.” “I actually wondered what we’d come to be honest.” With just six weeks to the start of the dairy season on June 1 that year, the house was repiled and renovated to make it fit to live in, while the farm received considerable attention to get it “half decent”. With the need to dramatically increase production, lime and fertiliser were applied, then the next step was to re-grass, fence paddocks and replace water lines.

Keith & Lyne Inverarity

The first year’s investment was $700,000, however this cost was mitigated by the low purchase price of the farm and by a milk solids payout of $8.60. “The first season the farm produced 115,000 kgMS. This current season we are 11% ahead and on target for 125,000 kgMS. With a very young herd of 2, 3 and 4 year olds, production will increase as the herd gets stronger and our re-grassing programme takes effect.” It was not until the end of the second season that the farm started to respond to the investment in fertiliser, lime and re-grassing. “We were just waiting for the farm to wake up really.” While production is trending up, farm working expenses have fallen from $6.60 in 2013/2014 to $4.40 in 2014/2015 and $3.80 this season. The area of Hikurangi where the farm is situated is a hidden gem at the end of a road, bordered by Russell State Forest to the north with sea views to the east, Brett Larmer says. Its total area of 212 hectares includes 76 hectares of native bush and about five hectares of wetland, recognised as regionally

significant. Despite the challenges, the Larmers’ faced they were never ones “to do things by halves” and failure was not an option. With fine-tuning of the farm’s operations and improvements ongoing, this season eliminating gorse and planting of the wetlands is a key focus. A young couple, Jamie Dazzler and Devon Taylor are employed on the farm, with the hope that they will become contract milkers in two seasons.

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DAIRY SERVICES » CT Contracting

NZ Dairy

New equipment expands services Russell Fredric Hawkes Bay business C T Contracting has added specialised spraying equipment to its line-up of agricultural equipment for sowing, spreading and ground work. Owned by Callum and Kelly Thomsen for the past four years, the Patoka business originally spawned from Callum’s family’s farm, particularly as sheep and beef farms were converted to dairy units. “Previous to that we actually ran the contracting business in conjunction with the farm; for 5 years or so it was part of the farm,” Callum Thomsen says. “We were doing our own ground work, essentially for our own farm, and then we started doing more and more so we bought bigger gear.” C T Contracting provides services which include cultivating, tillage, power harrowing, precision seed drilling, fodder beet planting and earthworks. Most of the terrain in the area is rolling hill country. Callum Thomsen says while the company has undertaken spraying such as crop, weed and pesticide spraying since it has operated on a stand-alone basis, he did not realise how large the volume of work would be. It is also specialised work requiring a certified and skilled operator. The high volume of work sometimes created conflicting demands on fine days when spraying had to take priority, but this challenge has now been resolved by bringing in a business partner, Wayne Cracknell, and establishing a new company C & T Spray. CT Contracting’s original spraying equipment has been replaced with new Amazon equipment in addition to leasing two John Deere 6210R tractors, one with dual tyres and the other with row-crop tyres which are ideal for spraying maize and fodder beet as well as spreading. C & T Spray has also purchased a precision spreader. The acquisition includes an Isobus unit, an in-tractor terminal which is an alternative to machine-specific terminals for controlling machines and implements. The user can carry out many ordinary tasks such as storing work data, troubleshooting, headland automation using GPS, shutting off individual rows on seed drills, adjusting seed rate and within-row seed spacing, shutting off fertiliser dosing or adjusting fertiliser rate. “The technology that’s in the spreader is quite amazing now.” “It’s been going well. I think the sprayer has already done over 2000 hectares in three to four months.” C T Contracting has two John Deere 7230 tractors, and a John Deere 8310, which is

mostly used for power harrowing, air seeding and rolling “all in one pass”; this equipment is supplemented by seasonally leased machines. The company also undertakes earthmoving work for which it uses a 20 tonne Hyundai digger and a D65 Komatsu bulldozer. Site work includes maintaining and developing new farm tracks and races, preparing ground for dairy sheds and feedpads along with digging new effluent ponds. The ability to carry out this type of work means gaps in the work flow which can occur during summer and winter can be filled. “We’ve built a lot of effluent ponds. We usually do that in the winter during the dairy farm’s off season when things are a bit quieter.”

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C T Contracting,owned by Callum and Kelly Thomsen, has two John Deere 7230 tractors, and a John Deere 8310, which is mostly used for power harrowing, air seeding and rolling “all in one pass”.

NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Cave Farms

Dry summers prompt changes Karen Phelps Long dry summers have prompted Bruce and Annette Cave to change their cow mating policy. As they winter milk, they usually have an autumn and a spring calving herd but this season all replacements for both herds will come from spring and from artificial insemination. “Because of the summers and our run off being sand country, which dries out quickly, having one lot of replacements takes the pressure off,” explains farm manager Gerard O’Donnell. It will also bring more options and flexibility to the system, he says. Workload could be reduced in the autumn with calves sold as four day olds or, depending on calf prices, they might decide it is more prudent to rear and sell them as weaners or even carry them on further on the run off. Gerard and wife Heni are rarities in the dairy industry having stayed on this farm for over 30 years. They say a combination of factors has made the job work well for them – they can be close to family and the farm has continued to grow bringing more challenges and opportunities for growth and progression. Gerard had just completed his Bachelor of Agriculture and was looking for a short term job to save some money to go on his OE when he saw the Caves’ advertisement.

He arrived at the farm and enjoyed it so much he’s never left. For the first 10 years it was sheep and beef and prior to converting he was asked if he wanted to continue his career milking cows. Initially he said no but after doing a budget he decided it would definitely fast track farm ownership so he took the plunge. In his first year he milked a herd of 250 but this has now grown to 1100 cows milked through a 54 bail rotary and a 40 aside herringbone shed. The O’Donnells also have their own farm, in an equity partnership south of Whanganui, milking 380 cows, as well as owning a 185ha run off block. The manager position on the Caves’ farm provides them with good cash flow, says Gerard. The Caves’ farm is on the coast near Whanganui and has achieved healthy production despite dairying on marginal ground. In fact, when Bruce and Annette decided to convert their drystock farm to dairy in order to increase profitability in 1992, Bruce says the neighbours thought they were mad. Light sandy soils make it difficult to consistently grow grass. Fortunately, Bruce grew up the farm and returned to work there after completing an Agricultural Science degree at Massey University. During his study, he completed practical work on a coastal sand dairy farm and says even though he didn’t realise it at the time the

experience stood him in good stead when he later made the decision to convert his family farm. The Caves have invested heavily in irrigation with four centre pivots irrigating 230ha of their 520ha milking platform, which helps them cope with farming on the marginal soils. Getting cows in-calf remains a challenge on the unit. With the low dairy payout combined with long dry summers, Gerard says cow condition has fallen back slightly and hopes that the new mating policy will also achieve gains in this

important area. A consultant helps to get the best out of the in-shed feed system and cows have been fed a maximum of one kilogram of palm kernel and two kilograms of barley per day. They grow barley on their 240ha run off and 10ha on the milking platform and Gerard says this has worked out better than growing maize because of inconsistent yields mostly due to moisture deficits. They are aiming to achieve 420,000 kilograms of milksolids this season – the same figure they achieved the previous season.

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Chad & Jan Winke

NZ Dairy

Take advantage of opportunities Richard Loader “It’s not enough just to have a goal,” says Chad Winke. “You also have to be flexible in the path you take and be ready to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.” Ten years ago, Chad and Jan Winke were sharemilking on a family farm in the US State of Iowa. The farm had got to the point where further investment was needed to make it more sustainable. When Jan, who works for GEA providing hitech support, was offered a training position in New Zealand the couple decided the time was right to look at a new direction. “We asked ourselves do we want to be 80year olds sitting in our rocking chairs, saying ‘I wonder what would have happened if we had tried that’?” says Chad. The Winkes arrived in New Zealand in 2008 and Chad took up an assistant manager’s position in a high-input farm near Matamata. After a year, Chad moved to Tirau as a herd manager for a low input 1000 cow unit. The job changed the following year to include staff rosters and work schedules. Enjoying the challenge of managing stock and people, Chad moved his family to a 630cow farm on the edge of Tirau where they stayed for two years. A year later an opportunity arose to move to their current farm as lower order sharemilkers for Grant Wills and Karen Preston’s Walton-based farm. When they arrived, 700 spring calvers were being milked off a 215ha effective platform. The herd is mostly made up of kiwi-cross. With the ultimate goal of owning their own farm, the Winkes were keen to increase their sharemilking equity by bringing their own stock onto the farm. They also saw an opportunity to move to autumn and spring calving. In April/May there was more grass growing than the cows could handle and the covers were too high going into spring calving. “We had utilization and quality issues, milk fever issues and all sorts of things,” says

Chad and Jan Winke, with their children Will, 14, Elena, 5 and Wyatt, 11 moved to NZ from Iowa, in the United States. in 2008 where they were sharemilking on a family farm.

Chad. Last year, they put a proposal to the owners that included land utilization changes with a small increase in the stocking rate and a move to split calving. “We ended up culling some spring calvers that were either too old or had high cell count cows. In the autumn we brought in 150 extra cows of our own,” says Chad. “We will now be peak milking at 750.” The autumn cows that Chad bought were all pregnant, enabling a shift to split calving.

This has changed the feed demand to better suit the pasture growth. There’s also a better labour spread at calving time. Purchasing cows pregnant to a Hereford bull also enabled the four-day-old calves to be sold for $200 each generating a reduction in debt.

Last year, the farm did about 300,000kgMS from 690 cows. This year Chad is projecting it to be 330,000kgMS. “Being focused is important,” says Chad, “but not so tightly that you overlook opportunities when they present themselves.”

Proud to work with Chad Winke

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Damian & Jane Roper

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A passion for farming & native bush Richard Loader A passion for farming, native bush and hard work was instilled in 11-year-old Damian Roper during holidays on his grandparents farm on the wild West Coast of the South Island in the 1970s. These days, Damian and his wife Jane own and operate their 150ha dairy unit in the small South Taranaki community of Alton. Although the couple has owned the farm for the last 10 years, they have only been permanently based there since June of this year. Prior to that, they were sharemilking in Waverley for several years and had sharemilkers on their farm. Damian milks 450 friesian/friesian cross cows and is on track to produce 230 – 235,000kgMS this year. “We have trimmed our feed inputs by almost two thirds due to reduced payouts. So we are very pleased to achieve 520ksMS per cow this year,” says Damian. “We also trimmed our stocking rate back by 25 cows; the ones who were there for a free feed.” Further efficiencies include the installation of a large concrete sided feedpad and the replacement of two milking sheds with a centrally located one. The new shed has reduced a lot of walking time. The feedpad has been key in protecting the pasture from damage and also minimizing feed wastage during the very wet spring. “If we were feeding maize out on the paddocks this time of year we would be losing between 35-50 percent on wet days. On the pads we lose between 2–4%,” says Damian. The couple’s real piece-de-resistance on their farm is their native bush rejuvenation and wetland development projects. “The farm came with 2.5 hectares of native bush on flat land. It had been left by the early settlors who first cleared the land as a reminder of what the area used to look like. In 2012, a tornado took out about 50% of the large native tree’s including tawas,” says Damian. The local council became involved and, seeing that the area has significant biodiversity value, established it as a Key Native Eco-

Damian Roper, far right, and his wife Jane, seen here with their family, operate a 150ha dairy unit in the small South Taranaki community of Alton.

System (KNE). They have provided a five-year plan involving bush enhancement, weed and pest monitoring and control and a small contribution to tree establishment in year 3. “We’ve found a couple of rear pre-historic peripatus slugs as well as NZ falcons, lots of wood pigeons and there’s signs of geckos,” says Damian. Next year, the bush, which has been named Roper’s Bush, will be given QEII National Trust status, ensuring its permanent protection. The Roper family has also developed a wetland area out of a non-productive steep sided gully. A lake has been formed, fenced

and surrounded by riparian planting and native trees. Rare bird are now appearing in the area and there are lots of water fowl including spoonbills, grey ducks, mallards, paradise ducks, Canadian geese and pukeko’s.

The bush and wetland area have been fun family projects that will have a lasting legacy. “We are very pleased with what we have achieved in the creation of the wetland and the development of a small historic piece of bush,” says Damian.

“We are very pleased with what we have achieved in the creation of the wetland and the development of a small historic piece of bush.”

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Codd Contracting

No sign of working slowing down Sue Russell David Codd and son Michael run a busy agricultural contracting business close to Napier with depots in Tutira and Putorino. While David acknowledges he is slowly starting to withdraw from full-time work, leaving the business eventually in Michael’s hand, there’s no sense that this is going to happen in the short-term. “We cover an extensive area from Wairoa right down to Napier in the Hawkes Bay and with the gear we have there is always work on. It’s demanding work when the season is full-on as we are constantly dealing with balancing demand from our customers with the uncertainty of the weather,” David says. Codd Contracting provides the full range of contracting services and operates seven Claas tractors, a 940 harvester and an 840 harvester for the grass. At the peak, a team of seven experienced drivers operate the gear, along with Michael and David, with David’s wife Linda and Michael’s wife Mechelle helping with the administration. “We have a lot of business given the gear we use and the large number of services we offer farmers. Because we’re known for delivering top quality we find ourselves getting more clients each year just by word of mouth.” There’s a steady rhythm and flow to the life of an agricultural contractor, starting in October with drilling, followed by baling and chopping grass in October and November. Then it’s on to bailage for dairy farmers, followed by processing maize in winter; in all the season extends over seven months. “We are on the machines seven days a week, 10 hours a day at the peak.” David’s been living the life of a contractor for so long that the alarm clock has become redundant with the body clock tuned to be wide awake at 5 am. “We would be one of the major players in the Hawkes Bay. One of the biggest challenges is in finding good drivers to operate the machines. Who sits on a tractor valued at well over $100,000 becomes critically

David Codd and son Michael run a busy agricultural contracting business close to Napier with depots in Tutira and Putorino.

important and we’re fortunate to have great drivers.” Changes in weather patterns have definitely had an impact David says. “Up country, it used to snow all winter. Now it is definitely a lot warmer and the grass is drying off much quicker. Years ago we only worked three months and there weren’t the weather forecasting technologies that now give us really accurate information.” Plans are this year to have a few days off for all the team over Christmas, though David

“It’s critical that our machinery is kept up to scratch. Health and Safety standards are very high in this industry. I have an obligation to ensure my team of drivers are in the safest possible situation when working on the land and that starts with maintenance.”

recalls baling on Christmas day more than once. Come April, the hectic pace of work has quietened and that’s when all the fleet undergoes maintenance. “It’s critical that our machinery is kept up to scratch. Health and Safety standards are very high in this industry. I have an obligation to ensure my team of drivers are in the safest possible situation when working on the land and that starts with maintenance,” David says.

When asked why he now uses Claas tractors and harvesters, he says it came down to the quality of service he receives from local supplier Glen Dear of Claas Harvest Centre Hawkes Bay. “They offer very good ongoing support and maintenance. They understand how important it is when the season gets underway and the weather is right that we can just get on and do the work. I attribute our success in part to the back-up we have.”

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Colin & Bernice Jensen

| 13

Colin and Bernice Jensen farm 375 cows on 288ha, and Berenice says the help from the Jensen family over the years has created economies of scale to allow them to take that next step.

Laying foundations for the future Kelly Deeks Colin and Berenice Jensen’s Manawatu dairy farm has been part of the family for 120 years this year, and the couple are hoping to help retain some of the history of the land after applying for a New Zealand Century Farms Award. Colin’s great grandfather Niels Jensen and his wife Leah bought the block called Sprove where the couple now live in 1896. “Part of the reason we wanted to apply

for the Century Farms Award was to have an archive of some of that information which can get lost and diluted as it passes through each generation,” says Berenice. One story springs immediately to mind – when Colin’s mum Colleen and dad Graham got engaged, he was asked how much he would spend on a ring. “He said ‘the price of 10 pigs’,” Berenice says. “Its little things like that that set the scene for future generations.” The Jensens have three children of their

“Part of the reason we wanted to apply for the Century Farms Award was to have an archive of some of that information which can get lost and diluted as it passes through each generation.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Colin & Bernice Jensen

NZ Dairy

Setting the scene for the future • From page 13 own, all in their 20s now, and over the years they have all come out on the farm with Colin and Berenice to help put. The family moved to the farm at Kimbolton in 1994, when a new piece of land was acquired and Colin helped to convert it from sheep and beef to dairy. They had one little toddler, Emma, and another one on the way. Colin was milking up in the village for his dad, and working on the conversion in the middle of the day. “I didn’t used to see him until 8 o clock at night,” Berenice says. “My father-in-law would pick up Emma for the morning, she was about 18 months old, and she would come for a ride to the farm and sit in the ute with him. That’s why our eldest has quite a relationship with her grandad and the farm.” In 2003, Colin and Berenice had the opportunity to enter into a family partnership to buy some land next door to Colin’s parents’ place, where they sharemilked 500 cows. In 2010, another block was purchased next to the original block and the land area went up to 220ha, then up to 280ha in 2013 when Colin and Berenice bought Sprove from Colin’s auntie. With a council lease block, the Jensens are now farming 375 cows on 288ha, and Berenice says the help from the Jensen family over the years has created economies of scale to allow them to take that next step. “Over the years, Colin’s family have supported us both as mentors as well as physically,” Berenice says. “Graham has supported us all the way and Colleen has been awesome.” Colin and Berenice work as a team, making most decisions about their business together, and enjoying the seasonal challenges and rewards farming brings. The successes are highlighted, no matter what they are. “For example, animal health. We have in the past had a lot of milk fever, and a couple of years ago we put in an in shed feeding system where we feed palm kernel, and we added a product called Mineral Boost which just about took out more than 75% of cases of milk fever.”

But some challenges are easier to fix than others. The Jensens current challenge is reproduction, with a 15% empty rate last year. As well as the nine and a half week mating compromising the empty rate, the Jensen

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NZ Dairy farm’s quick expansion over the past two years has meant carry over cows have been retained, and their fertility issues make them the herd’s problem animals. The Jensens are no longer keeping carry over cows, but that issue could take a while to resolve itself.

DAIRY PEOPLE » Colin & Bernice Jensen The couple are working on the genetics of the herd using both LIC and CRV semen, and they have a few animals on contract with both companies. “Our goal is to get a bull in the sire proving scheme,” Berenice says. “We’re pretty close, we got one in last year

but the bull calf got sick and didn’t reach the target weight.” Colin thrives on developing the farm and loves investing in plant and machinery. In 2003 he bought himself a digger which has given him the opportunity to do the work himself, when it needs doing.

| 15

A more recent investment is the Snap Chill pre milk cooling unit, which was necessary after going up in cow numbers. “We’ve got that box ticked,” Berenice says. He has also got the LIC Farm Keeper mapping programme, which has been invaluable when refencing and regrassing.

The Jensens are working on the genetics of the herd using both LIC and CRV semen, and they have a few animals on contract with both companies.

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Craig & Tania Rowe

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NZ Dairy

Tikorangi farmers Tania and Craig Rowe with sons Craig, sitting, and Dylan. Tikorangi’s volcanic soils provide great grass growing ground for Craig and Tania Rowe’s 130 hectare dairy platform.

Quality of grass a big focus Russell Fredric Tikorangi’s volcanic soils provide great grass growing ground for Craig and Tania Rowe’s 130 hectare dairy platform. The farm peak milks 385 fresian/fresian cross cows which are supported by a 40ha run-off used for calves, young stock and wintering along with growing maize and silage. Both Craig and Tania’s family help on the farm. Its soil is naturally high in fertility, freedraining and excellent for growing crops, coupled with a good climate and about 1500mm of annual rainfall, Craig Rowe says. However, the fly in the ointment this season for him and many of his fellow North Island

farmers was an inclement spring which challenged grass growth and pugged pastures, affecting harvesting for baleage and silage, with a flow-on anticipated next autumn and winter. “It will have an effect because we are going to be down in supplementary feed. “I would say it will be down at least 25 percent on baleage, probably more. There’s been a lot of pasture damage by milkers this year,” Craig Rowe says. Damage has been “concurrent” because of the lack of respite from rainfall and pastures not having time to dry out and recover. “It’s a compound issue, but what can you do? The weather’s the boss.” Two season’s ago it was a different story

“That’s going to ensure that we get good grass going into summer. It allows the grass to tiller-up and it also ensures that we’ve got no trash going into summer. It really does make a big difference.”

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NZ Dairy as the farm, regarded as summer dry, faced a drought. “Tikorangi can be quite dry and that can have a big influence. We have provision for dry weather by doing things on the farm that give a reasonable guarantee of getting through the summer.” This includes the provision of turnips to supplement grass. Despite the difficult spring, conditions had improved last month and Craig Rowe is hoping for a favourable summer this year to mitigate some of the potential losses next winter. A drop in milk production for the season to date means the farm is likely to struggle to meet a target total production of 180,000kgMS on the back of last season’s 183,000kgMS. During the past five years, Craig Rowe has focused on the quality of grass grown on the farm using the system where cows are put into paddocks when grass reaches the twoand-a-half leaf stage. “It ensures that the quality of grass is at the optimum. It looks after the plant reserves so you get a better recovery and I believe it helps when you go in to summer.” Pastures are grazed down to 1550kgDM/ha and, late October, pre-topped using a mower to ensure utilisation of feed and to maintain

DAIRY PEOPLE » Craig & Tania Rowe intake. “That’s going to ensure that we get good grass going into summer. It allows the grass to tiller-up and it also ensures that we’ve got no trash going into summer. It really does make a big difference.” He has focused on later flowering grasses, but has encountered persistence problems with species that contain the newer endophytes such as AR1, some of which had been “ especially dismal”, Craig Rowe says. While older pastures did not grow as much grass during spring, the grass has proven more resilient. “I’m going to pull back a bit on the later flowering grasses because it doesn’t grow as fast in the early spring. I feel that the standard flowering grasses will give us more growth early on.” While newer species were more palatable to stock, this could lead to them being overgrazed and the plant reserves becoming depleted, affecting persistence. Along with experimenting with different rye-grass species, Craig Rowe has grown plantain during the past three years with mixed success, has planted chicory in the past and is trialling one paddock of annual chicory this season.

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| 17

Craig Rowe with one the family’s pet cows.

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18 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Mike & Tracey O’Sullivan

NZ Dairy

New system helps with profitability Karen Phelps An upgraded effluent system on the property of Mike and Tracy O’Sullivan is helping the couple to improve their profitability, as well as environmental footprint. The couple, who farm a 90ha effective/93ha total unit milking a herd of 270 friesian and friesian cross cows at Toko, near Stratford, are now in their eleventh season on the unit. Last season, they put a pump and stirrer into the first pond of their two-pond system. They also now use a travelling irrigator to spread over 18ha of their farm whereas previously they were engaging contractors to empty out the first pond once a year. Mike says the changes should not only help them to grow more grass but also save on fertilizer on this block as well as farm more sustainably. It’s the latest in a series of improvements since the couple arrived at the farm in an equity partnership with Mike’s parents, Kevin and Liz, before purchasing it outright in 2012. Mike says the farm was in good condition when they arrived with Novaflo installed on many paddocks and they have simply sought to carry on with the development. They have drained and re-grassed 30ha, re-fencing it into 2ha paddocks for easier management. The farm is a mix of volcanic ash and kikorangi silt loam, the latter tending to hold moisture, which can be a problem over winter with a stocking rate of three cows per hectare. They have mitigated this by running two herds over the winter months with each cow allocated 24 square metres per day. Half the cows’ diet at this time is grass and the other half silage made on the farm. The O’Sullivans save the front breaks of the paddocks for the wetter days for ease of getting the cows off on to the feed pad and to reduce soil damage. The concrete feed pad is used for feeding five kilograms of silage per cow per day on wet days. Cows are on the paddocks for around four hours then on the feed pad at this time of year when wet. Mike says there are few issues with lame cows as the feed pad is spacious enough to hold the whole herd. Generally during spring the herd is on a 17 day round up to the beginning of January then increasing to 21 days. This means the O’Sullivans avoid topping and keep grass quality high. Around 110 tonnes of Prolick is fed through the shed during the milking season. Although it’s been the wettest spring they’ve experienced on the farm they are targeting 115,000 kilograms of milk solids up from 113,500 kilograms the year before and 120,000 kilograms the year before that. They supplemented the dairy payout with raising 103 heifer and bull calves this season,

The O’Sullivan family, from left, Sinead, eight, Mike, Keira two, Tracy and Caitlin, five. The O’Sullivan’s farm a 90ha dairy farm at Toko, near Strafford.

which were sold at weaning. The last three year average was 116,297 kilograms or 1292 kilograms per hectare with farm working expenses $2.13. Tracy grew up on a dairy farm and Mike’s family grazed dairy heifers. Mike completed a bachelor of applied science then worked for a year as a farm assistant before his parents purchased a 520 cow farm at Eltham where he and his brother, Simon progressed from lower order to 50:50 sharemilkers over five years. The couple is now focusing on paying down debt. The O’Sullivans are parents to Sinead, 8, Caitlin, 5 and Keira, 2 and say that work-life balance is important. They are involved in the local community, particularly the school and play centre their children attend. Mike likes to run and the local farmland surrounding their farm proved a good training ground as he recently completed the Auckland half marathon in 1.25 hours, and the whole family is members of the Stratford Runners and Walkers Club.

Sinead O’Sullivan setting up the batt latch gate release timer for the cows to walk to the shed by themselves.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY SERVICES » Wairarapa Rural Livestock

| 19

Staff a vital cog in ongoing success Russell Fredric Careful selection of staff is a key part Wairarapa Livestock Transport’s operation and ongoing success. The company, formerly David Pope Transport, was bought by directors Stu Taylor and his brother-in-law Henry Bunny with five truck and trailer units in 2010. Stu Taylor says while truck driving skills are important, it takes a “certain sort of guy to drive a livestock truck.” “Driving’s a part of it. The other part of it is, your handling of the livestock is a big thing. You’ve got to have patience, you’ve got to know how to drive off-road.” He acknowledges the job can be challenging because of the the nature of livestock, weather conditions and sometimes unsociable hours, but says experienced drivers are an extremely valuable asset to the company and its clients. The Masterton company employs 10 full-time drivers and operates eight truck and trailer units, with one truck based in Mangatainoka and two in Dannevirke, plus two light trucks. Wairarapa Livestock Transport’s fleet comprises four Freightliners, one Scania and three Kenworth’s, one of which is a new addition, but has an owner-driver. The typical cost of a new truck and five axle trailer is $700,000 plus depending on the specifications. The fleet uses E- Road real-time GPS tracking. In addition to showing a truck’s position, it purchases road users licences electronically and can be used for messaging. The system is especially useful for answering clients queries about the arrival time of a truck, or for managing back-loads. Most of the trucks are on contract maintenance which means their service plans are a known cost per kilometre. “That works out really well. You can budget on your maintenance for the month.” The two directors rotate driving and despatch responsibilities on a fortnightly basis. “It’s worked well because its given us the opportunity to get out and about with our clients and also work alongside our drivers. I especially look forward to getting out and doing my driving stint,” Stu Taylor says. “It’s part of the team culture, part of the company. We are one of the boys at the end of the day.” This year’s busy period was two to three weeks later than normal because of a lack of sunlight until late November which delayed lamb fattening. While grass growth was good in some areas, parts of Wairarapa still needed more rain following last year’s drought to fill

Masterton-based Wairarapa Livestrock Transport employs 10 full-time drivers and operates eight truck and trailer units, with one truck based in Mangatainoka and two in Dannevirke, plus two light trucks. irrigation and stock water supply dams. The company’s clients include meat processors who provide much of Wairarapa Livestock Transport’s seasonal workload. Since 2010 it has also grown its client base for store stock. “We’ve had to add more trucks to keep up with demand.” “We call drought our friend as a carrier because we are just absolutely flat out. It’s not good for farmers but [during a drought] we are absolutely under the pump trying to move stock out as quick as we can.” Wairarapa Livestock Transport generally covers from Wairarapa to Hawkes Bay, Rotorua and Taranaki, but transports farther afield, including to the South Island when needed.

“We call drought our friend as a carrier because we are just absolutely flat out. It’s not good for farmers but [during a drought] we are absolutely under the pump trying to move stock out as quick as we can.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Kenmare Dairy

20 |

NZ Dairy

Emma relishes the challenge Sue Russell

When Emma Gibb, manager of Kenmare Dairy, owned by Emlyn and Hilary Francis, first stepped on to the 630 hectare dairy unit near Culverden, North Canterbury, it was going to be for a short stay. “I was rearing the calves and supposed to stay for two months but soon realised I was drawn toward eventually managing a farm. I could see myself doing it well. Two months has turned in to 6 ½ years and I have been in the role of manager for two seasons now” Emma says. With both sides of her family traditionaly being involved in sheep and beef farming Emma found herself relishing the challenges of running a major dairy operation. She’s also given a great deal of thought to her future, having established her own business and well underway toward eventually owning a herd herself. Helping her on the farm is 2IC Wedsley Paiva and seven other staff. “When I have time off work Wedsley steps up. At busy times we also get casual farm workers from the backpackers who usually come for three months and then stay longer. People seem to stay here a long time as we have a great team environment that has been encouraged by farm owners, Emlyn and Hilary.” The farms milking platform varies from year to year being anywhere between 390 hectares to 450 hectares as the boundary between the runoff and milking platform can easily be moved to allow for winter crops. Emma says they were on the ‘lucky side’ of Culverden when she discusses the recent devastation of being so close to the earthquake epicentre as very little or no damage had occurred to the farm or surrounding farms close by. Farmers are strong on helping each other out when catastrophe strikes and in the case of this farm, a further 50 cows have been brought on from a farm unable to milk them due to earthquake damage.

When NZ Dairy spoke with Emma, the daily milking count stood at 1485 friesian-fresian/ cross cows, of which 62 are owned by Emma. Last season, 1530 cows produced on average 453 kg/ms amassing a total of 694,000 kg/ ms picked up in the tanker over that milking season. “With the lower payout, we looked at the whole business structure to find the best herd size for the economic conditions, hence the reduction this season, to reduce costs and operate more financially efficiently,” says Emma. The work-horse of the farm is an 80 bale rotary with automatic cup removers, in-shed feeding, teat sprayer, protrack system and a heat detecting camera which takes a photo of each cow every day. When it comes to rostering the team the cycle allows for each staff member to have four consecutive days off within a 21 day rotation. “We work eight days on then have two days off, followed by seven days on and four days off. It is really good to have that extra long break. When it’s calving though we all work six days on two days off.” While Emlyn and Hilary are not hands-on in a practicle sense, Emma meets with them once a week to discuss farm performance, health and safety and ground the schedule of tasks needed to be performed, then Emma meets with her staff. This allows the Francis’ to focus on the financial side of running their business. “We are quite top heavy in terms of experience. I believe in training everyone up because the more you train everyone the better it is for all.” For the second year in a row, Emma has entered the Dairy NZ Awards in the Managers section. She remembers last year’s awards process as being really informative and appreciated the feedback she received. Ultimately, Emma plans to own her own farm and with several happy seasons managing under her belt at Kenmare she would like to progress onto contract or sharemilking.

Emma Gibb, who manages Kenmare Dairy for Emlyn and Hilary Francis, near Culverden, relishes the challenge of running a major dairy operation.

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DAIRY SERVICES » Fabish & Jackson

| 21

Years of experience in shed building Kelly Deeks Taranaki building company Fabish and Jackson has dairy shed experience dating back to the invention of the rotary platform, when Steve Fabish and Trevor Jackson were building sheds with Merv Hicks. Today, Fabish and Jackson designs and builds its own Octa-Lock dairy parlour, an innovative and reputable design which has been modified and developed over the past 25 years to produce a high quality, functional, efficient, and cost effective dairy parlour. The Octa-Lock has allowed Fabish and

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Jackson to hold a high market share of dairy parlours being built in Taranaki, and the company has built sheds throughout New Zealand, as well as exporting sheds to Wales and Chile. Fabish and Jackson general manager Paul Askew says every farm and farmer has their own needs and wants, and the company never builds two sheds the same. “Different things are important to different farmers, and they all have different thoughts on how they do things,” he says.

• To page 22

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DAIRY SERVICES » Fabish & Jackson

NZ Dairy

Years of experience in shed building • From page 21 “We work with each farmer to give them what they want, and to accommodate the different farm layouts.” To date, the Octa-Locks built have housed turntables from 28 to 100 bales. Paul says the Octa-Lock design suits the installation requirements for a rotary milking platform. The roof structure is supported on eight poles and the walls are suspended between them with no footings required. “This makes installation of the drainage, water, and power more straightforward and cost effective,” he says. “The kit-set nature of construction allows us to do most of the construction off site, and the option to complete the roof structure before the floors, reducing possible delays due to bad weather.” Octa-Locks are built with laminated Glulam beams, a strong, structural timber beam with superior earthquake resilience, greater fire resistance than other building materials, and treated to resist fungi and insect attack. Fabish and Jackson has a team of highly trained staff manufacturing Glulam beams to any size and length, for both domestic and commercial use. The company produces all the beams required in the building of the company’s dairy parlours and its uniquely designed chicken sheds. Fabish and Jackson also runs its own pre-cast concrete yard, where a wide variety of concrete products have been designed and manufactured for more than 10 years. With two overhead gantries, Fabish and Jackson is able to efficiently handle large concrete projects.

Fabish and Jackson designs and builds its own Octa-Lock dairy parlour, an innovative and reputable design which has been modified and developed over the past 25 years

Effluent ponds are another large focus for Fabish and Jackson, with Paul saying the times are changing from what used to be required. “In Taranaki you used to just dig a hole in the ground and use that,” he says. “Now ponds need to be lined, and we do a lot of concrete lined ponds, which are easier to clean as they can be emptied right out and

cleaned out with a digger.” Changing times have also seen Taranaki farmers and Fabish and Jackson customers moving away from feed pads and towards inshed feeding, which offers the same savings of wastage and is easy enough to install in a rotary shed. Paul says the current low milk pay out has seen Fabish and Jackson go through its

toughest year for quite some time, and enquiry is just starting to pick up again now. “A lot of that new enquiry is coming from small farms combining and resulting in larger herds,” he says. “There are still a lot of smaller farms in North Taranaki, but in South Taranaki, the farms are a larger size, getting up to 600 to 800 cow herds.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Graeme Fox & Richard Pittam

| 23

Many breathing a sigh of relief Russell Fredric Dargaville lower order share-milker Richard Pittam is pleased, but guarded about Fonterra’s forecast farm-gate payout of $6 announced late November. “It’s quite a massive difference to our bottom line. What we would do probably is go back to hiring another labour unit like we are supposed to have,” Richard Pittam says. Like many farmers and share-milkers, he was forced to reduce his staff from two to one and cover the work as the dairy pay-out plummeted during the past two seasons. Farmers in this position have just had to “grind it out, otherwise you’ve got to bail out”, he says. For some, this has meant little or no time off. Richard Pittam milks 400 cows on a farm owned by his sister and her husband, brother-in-law Graeme Fox, through a 25 bale herringbone shed on 150ha effective. Career-wise, the Pittam’s do not have all their career eggs in one basket. Richard’s wife, Deb Pittam, is Northland District Health Board Midwifery director and service manager - maternity services and President of the New Zealand College of Midwives. She has invested heavily in her education and plans to study towards a doctorate next year. The Fox’s own another dairy farm along with a 400ha dry-stock and dairy support block; the three farms are operated as complementary units in terms of feed, winter grazing and calf rearing. Free draining semi-volcanic clay on largely flat contour provides “quite a nice soil type” on the farm Richard Pittam runs. Because it is about 1.5 kilometres from the coast in a straight line, it is exposed to the prevailing west and south-west winds which means pastures can dry out quickly in warm weather. The season has been “remarkably kind” so far despite being very wet at times. Total milks solids produced each year are typically in the range of 140,000kgMS. Split calving is practiced with about 130 born in April and the balance of 240 to 250 calved from the first week in August which is “a little bit of a carry-over from when we got a premium for winter milk.” The farm supplies Fonterra’s processing plant in Takanini, south Auckland, about 200 kilometres away. The low dairy pay-out during the past two seasons means there has been a high attrition of lower order share-milkers because many did not have enough income, or any equity in a herd to borrow against, until the pay-out

improved, Richard Pittam says. Some would have been able to negotiate another form of contract or transition to a waged position, but many would have made a pragmatic decision to leave. “They just bailed in droves last year, they left half-way through the season.” If the actual payout meets the $6 forecast, the focus will be to attend to deferred maintenance and improvements in the farm’s overall operation. “We’ve still put fertiliser on, but there’s a lot of guys that haven’t. A lot that took up the interest free loan with Fonterra will be paying that back so there won’t be a big jump.” “It’s only really going to be a consolidation phase. No-one’s going to really move mountains in the next 12 months. They’re just going to breath a big sigh of relief. They might hire another labour unit and they might have a holiday, but it won’t be an expensive one.”

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24 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Imeson Cutforth

NZ Dairy

Business grows despite downturn Karen Phelps Hikurangi-based sharemilkers Todd and Natasha Imeson have rapidly grown their business during the dairy downturn, seeing opportunities in the market where others saw doom and gloom. The pair has taken on a second 50:50 sharemilking position for farm owner Bruce Cutforth located 2km from the farm they have been sharemilking for him for the past two seasons. The new farm is 112ha effective/130ha total and milks a mixed bag herd of 280 cows through a 24 aside herringbone shed. The home farm is 145ha effective/153ha total and milks a herd of 435 cows through a 30 aside herringbone. Todd says the biggest challenge was sourcing staff and stock when Bruce took over the second farm on April 15. Fortunately, a relief milker they already employed wanted to step up to a full time position and the new farm provided the opportunity. They will now focus on improving their herd which they admit is a “liquorice allsorts”. “When this opportunity [to take on the second sharemilking position] came up we saw the opportunity to buy cows at a reduced price and with a two year contract we think we can make good gains on cow prices because the dairy industry can’t get any worse,” says Todd. “Our cost structure allowed us to at least break even and we had full backing from the bank as well.” Both the Imesons grew up on farms in Hikurangi. Todd completed a Bachelor of Science at Waikato then worked briefly as a Ravensdown rep before beginning his dairy career on farms in Hukerenui and Hikurangi. Natasha had a successful career as a vet nurse. Because the new farm is located a couple of kilometres away Todd is on his motorbike each day moving between the two units as needed. The home farm employs a second-incharge and Natasha fills in the gaps as well as taking care of calf rearing and bookwork. Farm equipment is also shared between both units. The focus is on growing cow numbers while keeping an eye to culling under performing stock. The farms split calve and the pair bought in empty cows and autumn calving cows to milk through winter. They have reared 105 replacements and are eventually aiming to milk 700 cows between both farms. To reduce empty rates they have used both tail paint and scratchies this year as opposed to just tail paint as they identified that they had

Natasha and Todd Imeson have taken on a second 50:50 sharemilking position for farm owner Bruce Imeson.

a high short return rate. This has enabled them to more accurately pinpoint the correct times to mate. This autumn the eight week empty rate was 23% and they would like to see this drop to 15%. They are also focusing on cow condition at dry off so the herd is ready to hit the ground running next season. They grow 16ha of chicory and 18ha of maize on the farms and buy in around 800 tonnes of palm kernel. This is fed on concrete feed pads. Todd cites Bruce as being a big part in their success – “he’s a good mentor, great to bounce ideas off” – and the aim is to own a farm of their own one day. Todd says they will only do this though if it makes good business sense and take the family, which includes son Lakelin, 3, forward into the future.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Scott & Nat Gillam

| 25

Good farm owners make difference Richard Loader “Having good farm owners can make such a difference to career development and progression,” says 50:50 sharemilkers Scott and Nat Gillam." Scott went farming 18 years ago straight from school and met Nat working on a neighbouring farm shortly afterwards. The couple have worked together ever since and have added 10-year-old Olivia and 7-year-old Billy to the family. Having worked on various farms in the Franklin area, the couple moved to their current farm in Onewhero, just south of Pukekohe, 10 years ago as lower order sharemilkers. The farm, owned by Peter van Vught, is 100ha of rolling to steep countryside that suits the herd of big holstein-friesians. Four years ago, Scott and Nat decided to take the next step up the farming ladder and go 50:50 sharemilking. With savings of $30,000, they approached the banks but were told that they would need at least another $100k of their own funds before the bank could come to the party. “Our accountant then pushed us in the direction of our boss to see what options were available to go 50:50,” says Scott. “We put a proposal to him and he was very happy to assist us. An agreement was drawn up that enabled us to purchase his stock with an option for him to buy the stock back if we wanted out.” Now in their 4th season as 50:50, the agreement has enabled Scott and Nat to increase their equity from $30k to $500k so far. They will be debt free within the next 2 – 3 years. This year’s production is tracking at 85,000kgMS, which is 10% down from Scott’s best achievement of 98,500kgMS. This is partly due to culling some of the older cows and not replacing them because the grass wasn’t there over the winter months. “With the reduced payout this year we didn’t buy urea or anything for the farm,” says Scott.

Scott and Nat Gillam, who 50:50 sharemilk in Onewhero, with their children Olivia, 10, and Bill, seven, and dog, Taz.

“So with a reduced production offset by reducing the herd from 220 to 200, and limiting farm expenditure, we will actually make money this year.” Scott and Nat lease a small run-off close to the farm where they run some Santa Gertrudis beef. “They are massive animals,” says Scott. “We currently have 5 pedigree breeding cows and their offspring and 5 breeding bulls. We

also have 20 crossbred 18 months olds and 30 crossbred weaners. The couple would like to build up sufficient equity to buy a 40ha property enabling them to develop their Santa Gertrudis stock further. With land prices in the area sitting at a million dollars for 40 hectares this remains a lofty aspiration but one they are determined to achieve.

Scott makes the point that while he hasn’t worked on many farms, he’s been lucky to have been on good farms with good bosses who have been key in his personal development and progress as a farmer. “We were lucky to find Peter to help us go sharemilking. Without him we would probably still be doing lower order and not getting very far,” says Scott.

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26 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » John & Mary Washer

NZ Dairy

Tapuae Country Estate is a unique concept that lets residents live in harmony with a working farm but without the work commitment associated with farming.

Leaving a lasting legacy behind Richard Loader

Tapuae Country Estate - nestled beneath Mount Taranaki with peaceful rolling hills overlooking the Tasman Sea, native forests, riparian plantings and bird song; a residential paradise amidst the sounds and smells of farming. Developed by entrepreneurial dairy farmers, John and Mary Washer, it’s a unique concept that enables residents to live in harmony with a working farm but without the work commitment associated with farming. While visiting England, John and Mary were intrigued with the way large country estates work with multiple residences dotted amongst the farmed pastures and livestock. While accepted practice in England, it was unheard of in New Zealand but the Washers were convinced it provided a better alternative to the standard 10-acre block sub-division on offer. “We wanted to develop something unique that gave a secure sense of community to people wanting a rural lifestyle but without the work involved,” says John. “We saw this as having real appeal to city professionals seeking undisturbed sanctuary from their daily grind. Tapuae provides a complete package of town, country and beach living all rolled into one.”

The development includes 30 free-hold residential 1-acre building platforms carefully placed for privacy and taking advantage of the natural landscape, features and view. The human inhabitants co-exist with livestock on the working farm where Hereford bulls are reared and drystock grazed. Infrastructure includes a community pavilion and tennis courts. By title, residents automatically receive a 1/30th share in the community amenities and farmland operation. The Washer’s vision has been shaped and molded by opportunities and circumstances over more than a decade. It is the couple’s greatest adventure together. There is a saying: ‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.’ That seems appropriate for the Washer’s approach to business and life. A 4th generation dairy farmer, John’s pioneering great grandfather sailed from England and began farming Jersey cows in the Auckland area. While successive generations faced the challenges of the Great Depression and World Wars, a common thread has always been finding opportunity and being ready to take it. Over a 30-year period, John and Mary built up an impressive portfolio of leased and purchased dairy farms around the country with various milking contracts, leasing land from Taihape to Otorohanga for grazing bulls on contract. It was while looking for more convenient grazing land to lease that the future Tapuae Estate

was found—almost a dint of accident. “We asked our stock agent to have a look around for us,” says John. “He came back with 250 acres of rolling to steep land on the outskirts of New Plymouth with a mile and a half of coastline. So we put all our young stock and bulls along with a manager on the land. That was the start of our ‘0800 Bull Hire’ business.” At the end of the three-year lease period, John was offered the opportunity to purchase the land. With its close proximity to New Plymouth and the hospital, rolling contours, accessible coastline, views of Sugar Loaf Islands and Mount Taranaki, the Washers and their bank managers quickly appreciated its value as premier housing. After continuing to farm the property for 3 years, John sold 50 acres to the Okurukuru Restaurant and Vinyard for half the original purchase price enabling debt to be retired. It also enabled development on the residential property to begin. Following careful consultation with Iwi, Landscape Architects and the Council, development commenced making use of existing tracks, preserved old Pa sites and gardens and a substantial planting regime of over 250,000 flaxes and native trees commenced. “This will be our legacy on earth,” says John. “With all the farms that we have broken in and developed, this is the property that we have put back to it’s pristine state. Mary and I are passionate about this development and proud of the results.”

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DAIRY SERVICES » John Austin Ltd

| 27

Still going strong after 37 years Russell Fredric

Waikato-based John Austin Ltd is one of the largest agricultural contracting firms in New Zealand. The scale of the 37-year-old company means some impressive numbers are generated from its operations; 800 clients are serviced by 45 staff, boosted to about 60 during peak season, with equipment including 33 tractors, four forage harvesters, two combine harvesters and 11 trucks in addition to a range of other equipment for spraying, cultivating, seed drilling and earthworks. Maize, grain and silage planting and harvesting forms the bulk of the company’s work-load. Although during the peak season the company faces a hefty fuel bill of more than $100,000 a month, this cost forms just 7 percent to 10% of the businesses turnover, John Austin says. He quips that ink is another product in high demand. “One thing the drivers always need is pens; they are always coming in wanting pens.” Because of its significant infrastructure and resources, clients of John Austin Ltd benefit from a long-established company which focuses on providing value, high quality workmanship and excellent service. With one depot strategically placed to service the Waikato, Matamata, Piako and King Country districts, staff are available any time to meet and discuss clients needs ; a secondary base is located in Ohakune. “We regularly invest in the latest technology, driving greater efficiency and accurate product delivery into clients’ pasture and crop management,” John Austin says. The company continuously seeks worldleading technology to improve the quality of its products and services, both to improve efficiency and develop new or improved methods. John Austin regularly travels overseas and maintains contact with researchers, leading farmers, and agricultural machinery companies worldwide. “Our staff combine to bring you many years of practical experience operating machinery in the various soil conditions and environments throughout the Waikato.” Among the company’s staff is an agronomist who provides cropping advice to farmers. “The practical knowledge of our staff, combined with our internal Field Operations Manuals and established technical and agronomic know-how ensure the delivery of maximum quality in all our operations.” These core values and commitment to

John Austin Ltd is one of the largest agricultural contracting firms in New Zealand.

total quality are part of John Austin Ltd’s ISO9001:2008 certification, a world renown standard to ensure the methodology and processes employed by a business are well designed, robust, relevant, and dependable. The certification provides an independent means to check that processes are clearly defined and regularly reviewed and updated. While technology such as GPS guidance and controllers for variable rate application of fertilisers, sprays and seeds have created significant advances, they are now the norm, with the benefit of providing greater efficiency and traceablity of application. All the company’s combine and forage harvesters have yield mapping technology, while the purchase last year of a John Deere HarvestLab allows the company to offer constituent sensing which helps to determine corn silage nutrient quality so farmers can

get the most out of their feed and ultimately increase production. Despite the various technologies making a big difference for both the company and its clients, weather is one thing John Austin has

no control over and this year’s Waikato spring has been extremely challenging. “It’s been very tough. It’s probably the wettest, latest start to the season that we’ve ever had in my 37 years.”

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28 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Michael & John Hammond/Craig Mann

Converting from beef to dairy proves worthwhile Petrina Wright As a way to bring a fourth generation family member on to the farm, father and son John and Michael Hammond have converted nearly two-thirds of Ruaview Farm in Ohakune from beef stud to dairy. The farm at the southern end of the Tongariro National Park has been in the family for about 100 years, Michael says. As a beef stud farm, it did not generate sufficient income to sustain them both, so they decided Michael would convert part of the farm to dairy and manage that side of the business, while his father would continue to manage the beef stud. “Mum and Dad wanted a passive income from the farm into their retirement. [Converting part of the farm to dairy] was an opportunity to bring my family into it without my parents stepping down.” Michael began the conversion of 100ha of the 140ha property to dairy in late 2013 and started 50:50 sharemilking nine months later in August the following year. “It was a pretty big ask by anyone’s standards, but we got there.” The two years since the conversion had been tough, he says. As his first year on the farm was the first year of the dairy industry downturn, he had been managing the conversion alongside the poor payout. To make ends meet, as well as working on the farm Michael has been driving tractors for a contractor for the past two years, something he would stop doing once the payout was better, he says. “It’s been a hard slog but I don’t regret it. The rewards will come.” Overall, the conversion had gone well with only a few challenges getting soil fertility up and bringing in new pasture, he says. “The biggest task is getting pastures renewed. The older pasture is not ideal to milk off.” The first season, the farm’s herd of 200

friesian cows produced about 76,000kg milk solids, increasing to 90,000kg milk solids last season. Michael says his aim for this season is to produce 95,000kgMS, increasing to about 110,000kgMS within the next two years and 120,000kgMS within five years. “I haven’t got a maximum.” The aim is to increase production per cow, he says. At present, the cows are producing about 460kgMS. “I am trying to get above 500kgMS per cow each year.” His focus at present is cropping, regrassing and calving. “Getting higher yielding pastures is the big target at the moment.” Every year Michael has turned 15% of the farm into crop and new pasture and says it will most likely be on-going. At present, he is growing summer turnips and oats, and kale for the autumn/winter period. Michael went to Telford Polytechnic in Balclutha after leaving school in the early 1990s to complete a one-year course in agriculture. After a stint milking cows on a farm near Rotorua, he went on to drive logging trucks for 13 years. He returned to the dairy industry about nine years ago on a variety of farms, working his way up from the bottom, as he puts it, to manager, to 50:50 sharemilking. “I got bored driving trucks and I was looking for an opportunity to come back on farm. “I have never looked back.”

“I got bored driving trucks and I was looking for an opportunity to come back on farm.”

NZ Dairy

Getting the job done when the client wants it done Richard Loader Craig Mann Agricultural has built up a strong following of loyal Northland clients over the last 30 years. A large part of that has been due to the affable nature of managing director Craig Mann and his ‘can do’ attitude that gets the job done when clients want it done. “We do all sorts of dairy contracting,” says Craig. “From baling silage, hay, boom spraying, power harrowing, cultivation and discing, ploughing, post driving, earthmoving, harvesting—you name it.” Growing up on a farm in the 1950’s/60s Craig recalls the days when haymaking was very much a social event. Homemade hot buttered scones, pikelets and lashings of raspberry jam washed down with sweet tea would greet the contractor gangs at the end of the day. “It was a social thing. We used to go out and pick up everybody’s hay and then everyone got fed. It was a community event,” says Craig. “Doesn’t really happen anymore.” We do live in a different age; a different approach to community, Craig says, and laments the days when it was easy enough to get a gang of ‘young ones’ to help cart hay. It's not so easy anymore. While still holding dear the relationships he has with his clients and suppliers, Craig has also changed his delivery of the services he provides. Some years ago, he can’t recall when exactly, he changed to a sub-contractor system. While minimising Craig’s capital exposure and staffing requirements, the change has direct benefits to his clients with their many and varied needs. “I have two father and son teams and one guy that floats. They all have their own gear and we work in together, with the team who has the right gear for the job being sub contracted out,” says Craig. The arrangement also benefits the sub

contractors. They have their own farms so the sub contracting work supplements their farm incomes, which has been very beneficial during the lower dairy payouts. It also means that they’re not totally reliant on sub contracting for income and that’s why the arrangement works very well. Being farmers themselves, they also have a strong appreciation of the clients needs. While always having been safety conscious, health and safety has become a major thing for the contracting industry in recent times. “We have to be very vigilant. Everybody has to be careful. We do not need an accident or anything happening,” says Craig. “You know, the farmers want manure spread and want you to go everywhere. But you can’t. I’m telling the guys to be conscious all the time. If you are not happy, don’t do it.” From a biosecurity perspective, Craig says that all the gear is hosed down after a job and before it leaves the site. Craig loves his work. He loves working with his clients and the ‘subbies’ and can’t imagine life any differently. “I’m 64 now and just have to keep working. I couldn’t handle retiring at 65 and sitting around the lounge all day,” says Craig.

“I have two father and son teams and one guy that floats. They all have their own gear and we work in together, with the team who has the right gear for the job being sub contracted out

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DAIRY PEOPLE » James Kinston

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Farm proof that hard work pays off Richard Loader “The biggest challenges facing farmers is proving to other groups that we care about staff, stock and the land,” says Waikato farmer James Kinston. “Some of us have made huge investments to move our industry forward.” James and partner Jennie Macky, along with Graeme and Margaret Shaw, operate their equity partnership of Braystones Ltd. “It’s a successful equity partnership built on the foundation of trust, honesty and respect for each others strengths and abilities,” says James. “We use farming methods that have high animal welfare standards, produce an efficient and profitable quantity of milk solids, minimising nutrient losses that are more profitably kept on farm.” Jennie, a kiwi veterinarian, had been working with foot and mouth in Cumbria UK in 2001 when she met James who was working on the family farm after completing a degreee in Agricultural Engineering. With a shared love of farming, the couple established a common goal to move to New Zealand, establish a dairy herd, and build a lifestyle for a strong family upbringing. By 2008 enough equity had been earned from 50/50 share milking to buy into Braystones. The 225ha effective farm is predominantly ash with rolling contour and sits 15k’s from Te Awamutu. “Until 2012 the system was level 2, but we needed to invest in the infrastructure to fight against mother nature’s challenges of drought and excess rain,” says James. Development included a 1200 plus cow feed pad, feed storage, fully lined 20,000m3 pond, and wash system. This allowed a higher stocking rate, super nutrient harvesting, 12 month effluent storage, and the ability to fertilize pasture when needed. A 2km 150mm umbilical system, with double nozzle spread plate allows access to 80% of the farm. Maize silage grown on a lease block, plus purchased maize and PKE make up 55% of the cows diet. The herd is a rolling average of 1000 cows with all replacments home till the 1st of February at 220kg. Production is 470MS/cow, 2000MS/Ha, 300 days in milk, average SCC 180, through a 50 bail Waikato rotary, with four full time employees plus one calf rearer for 12 weeks. “We changed supply to Open Country Dairy this season on a principal of historically relatively poor return on capital invested in a co-op,” says James. The shed has in-shed feeding for fast through-put, Teat-wand and ACR’s for single

Waikato farmers James Kinston and Jennie Macky, left, along with Graeme and Margaret Shaw, operate the equity partnership of Braystone Ltd.

person operation, and 30kW glycol pre-cooler for compliance. The system is set up so that 2 people can run the operation, outside calving and AB. “Our ethos is work hard, but also take time out and have off farm interests. We try to equip our staff with knowledge and ability and to treat their job as career development so they can move on to bigger challenges,” says James. James is passionate about the industry and believes that the farms output should be measured against tangible physical parameters rather than a computer model that has no connection to the way a farm is managed on a day to day basis. Jennie continues to operate as a large herd vet in the area.

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Jim Chambers

NZ Dairy

Diversification the key to success Karen Phelps Diversification both on and off farm has helped the Chambers family to continue to farm in an area of Northland increasingly crowded out by lifestyle blocks. “It wouldn’t be economic to farm here any more if you had to buy land,” says Jim Chambers ,who runs the unit owned by his parents Russell and Angela. “So we can’t buy more land to add into the unit as the price has been increased too much by lifestylers. "The only option to grow the business would be to sell up and buy somewhere else but we like living here. "We have to make long term decisions about whether we can farm here still in 10 or 20 years time. It’s about looking at the whole business including how we can best put marginal land to work for us.” And they are looking at some out of the box options such as working with bee keeping company Watson & Son and ManukaMed – a medical company dedicated to researching and developing products that utilize the unique properties in manuka honey. In the past it was not uncommon for the only payment to farmers to have hives on their farms was some pots of honey but Watson & Son pays the Chambers to put hives on their farm, making it a commercial proposition. This has led the Chambers to investigate the option of actively growing manuka on their property rather than just relying on wild plants. “Growing it as a crop will control the purity of the product and give better returns. It’s looking quite an exciting proposition. We already have a contract and we are looking to expand,” says Jim. It will give the family protection from the fluctuations of the dairy market. Jim’s parents have farmed in the region for 50 years. It was in 1993 they purchased this farm at Whangarei Heads. Originally 90ha through land acquisitions they now have a total of two dairy farms each 160ha, one milking 200 cows through an 18 aside herringbone and the other 360 cows through a 32 aside herringbone. Jim says they are still developing the land, which was originally an organic beef farm (they also rear 40-50 beefies to add to the mix of their dairy operation). They are working on gorse control and soil fertility. Significant subdivision, roads and races have been completed over the years. Jim says they are exploring the possibility of shutting the smaller shed down or putting the cows on once a day or milking them all through one shed. This will enable them to milk off their best land, combining the best of both farms. As another facet to their business they also

From left, Sean Chambers (leaning on the Ferguson), Kayl Jackson, Minsu Choi, Jim Chambers and Stephen Moore.

run a hay and silage contracting business. They used to spread but the growth of lifestyle blocks has made it uneconomic. “We’re isolated on this settlement with only 10 farms out here. If we continue to contract we have to change with the area – start offering small block services such as spraying or mulching or wind the contracting down a bit,” says Jim pragmatically. They utilise their machinery to clean up the paddocks of local lifestylers then use this as

supplement on their own farm. Last year, they brought home 500 round bales adding to 120 tonnes of pit silage from their own farms and a 150ha run off block. They focus on running a low-cost system, important due to farming in a coastal area where consistent production is difficult to achieve. With no irrigation the southwest winds that often hit the farm can dry it out quickly. In a good season, the farm can produce

105,000 kilogrammes of milk solids in the larger shed and 50,000 kilograms in the smaller one. They are aiming for this target this season. “The volatility of the dairy industry is huge and the amount of capital you have to hold in reserve to mitigate this is significant. The name of the game is diversification. "We’re always looking at ways to mitigate our risk and not putting all our eggs in one basket.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Kevin Ferris

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Waikato farmer Kevin Ferris, who is also a Fonterra shareholder councillor, advises that farmers hunker down and use the impending rise in the milk price to replace their working capital.

Hunkering down the right idea Kelly Deeks

Hunkering down is still the order of the day for New Zealand dairy farmers according to Waikato farmer and Fonterra shareholder councillor Kevin Ferris, as farmers use the impending raise in the milk price to replace their working capital and get back to a position where they can weather the next slump.

“Even though the milk price has gone up, we haven’t actually received it, and we’re still carrying the legacy of the financial impact from the low milk price until the fundamentals of our businesses regenerate themselves,” he says. “Only then can we reinvest capital back into our businesses, and that will have to be investment into systems and processes as

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Kevin Ferris

a response to compliance and consumer demand.” He says although the milk pay out has increased, the dairy industry is not out of the economic position it found itself in with the fall of the pay out. “It’s going to take a while to come out of that, and some will take longer than others. It will be farm systems with lower cost levels of production that reward the most.” With a lot of dairy farmers picking up some debt in the years with low milk pay outs, Kevin says they all need to make sure they don’t fall into long term core debt. “If they’ve used up all their working capital, that has to be replaced so there is the ability to absorb another shock which will come at some time in the future– it will always come in a commodity business.” He believes the industry could be building its working capital back up for three to five years. “If the pay out goes to $8 we can replace it straight away, if it stays in the high fives and sixes it’s going to be a lot harder to get it back. "We won’t see any immediate activity that the community is going to benefit from straight away, people buying new cars, new dishwashers, or extending their houses.” There could be some benefits to rural businesses once farmers are in a position to reinvest capital into their businesses, and environmental councils start to consolidate

the framework of how farmers can farm and to what intensity. “We need to get to understand what that’s going to be, as it looks significant, especially in the Waikato, where the nitrogen ceiling being proposed to put on Waikato farms this will mean it becomes challenging to change, or intensify, the farm for profitable productivity gain.” On Kevin’s own farms, a dairy farm at Te Awamutu, dry stock and support farms at Otarohanga and Southland, and a couple of equity partnerships and a sharemilking job also in Southland, he will be looking into upgrading culverts and races, some building maintenance, and perhaps improving calf rearing facilities. “For advice, farmers need to go to Dairy NZ,” Kevin says. “It’s about getting the knowledge and the systems and the process that’s important. Farmers haven’t had to fill out reports for third parties and that sort of thing like you do if you run a manufacturing business in an urban centre or in other sectors. Farmers have never had to do that in the past, so the administration side of it becomes that much more complex. And could offer some challenges.” He believes it requires quite a culture shift amongst farmers, because farms and farm systems will need to be underpinned more administratively than they have had to be in the past.

“For advice, farmers need to go to Dairy NZ. It’s about getting the knowledge and the systems and the process that’s important. For a long time farmers haven’t had to fill out reports for third parties and that sort of thing like you do if you run a manufacturing business in an urban centre. Farmers have never had to do that in the past, so the administration side of it becomes that much more complex.”

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NZ Dairy

With a lot of dairy farmers picking up some debt in the years with low milk pay outs, Kevin Ferris, right, says they all need to make sure they don’t fall into long term core debt.

NZ Dairy

DAIRY INDUSTRY» News

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Tracking tool delivers strong results A free online milk monitoring and prediction tool launched in June is already supporting milk production boosts of up to 18 percent. The online tool offered by dairy feeds company GrainCorp Feeds helps farmers make informed decisions that can help increase milk production and profitability. Tracker uses the latest in data analytics combining the information from feed used onfarm, milk volume, milk composition and milk quality, to set farm-specific production targets which are monitored online, in real time, for quick and accurate decision making. GrainCorp Feeds General Manager Daniel Calcinai says results are showing the tool is already adding value. “For example, so far this year Waikato farmers using Tracker are on average, almost 10% ahead of the average dairy farm, in terms of milk produced.” Mr Calcinai says “Overall, farms using Tracker are producing more than last season in what has been a challenging environment, with the average Waikato dairy farmer being 14% lower for October alone.” Hauraki Plains farmer Kyle Morrison says it’s the innovative approach to helping farmers that has impressed him. Mr Morrison has been using Tracker for several months and says his farm is significantly ahead of production compared with last year. He milks 400 cows on 160 effective hectares at Hikutaia, between Thames and Paeroa, and at the end of October his herd had produced 18% more milk than at the same time last year. “Keeping up to date with the latest technology is an important part of modern farming as you need to continually monitor your progress to make sure you are making the right decisions,” Mr Morrison says. Mr Calcinai says farming is no longer a consistent game, and each season can be vastly different to the previous year. “Measuring and monitoring are two of the most important things farmers can do. We take into account the farm system and always recommend utilising pasture first. Good pasture management, complemented with the right supplements at the right time, can help farmers achieve the return on investment they need.”

What is Tracker?

Tracker uses the latest in data analytics combined with information from feed used on-farm, milk volume, milk composition and milk quality, to set farm specific production targets which are monitored online, in real time, for quick and accurate decision making. It also provides a platform to provide live feedback on milk quality including somatic cell count and milk urea nitrogen levels. More advanced functions provide a feed planning and budgeting tool which helps track margins over the cost of feed and overall feed conversion efficiency. It was launched in June 2016 and is designed to help farmers make informed decisions to make the most of supplemental feeding It’s free to register a farm business and there’s free support from GrainCorp Feeds.

Hikutaia farmer Kyle Morrison has started using GrainCorp Feeds’ Tracker tool and milk production on his farm is already well up on last year.

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COVER STORY » Mainland Engineering

NZ Dairy

Mainland Engineering is a general engineering firm which provides a wide range of services to the dairy industry, including dairy shed structural steel works, dairy plant installation, dairy shed water systems.

New partnership forges ahead Russell Fredric A new partnership between two highly experienced and long-standing agricultural engineering firms promises to provide customers with an improved level of service around an essential part of any dairy farm operation – the backing gate. John Perrin is stepping back from the day to day running of his firm Reporoa Engineering, well known in the industry for its benchmark product the Reporoa High Lift Gate, which has been the market leader for

more than 20 years. The Central North Island dealer responsible for installing and maintaining Reporoa backing gates for the past five years is Mainland Engineering and Dairy Systems, and the two companies are now working out of the same premises in Taupo. “We’ve moved the manufacturing of Reporoa gates from Rotorua to our large engineering shop in Taupo,” says Mainland Engineering managing director Daniel Gorton. “Mainland Engineering brings to this partnership a huge amount of experience in engineering, and fitting, servicing, and

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NZ Dairy

COVER STORY » Mainland Engineering

repairing these gates. “Combined with our spacious and modern workshop, this gives us the ability to really provide our customers with a very good service.” Mainland Engineering is a general engineering firm which provides a wide range of services to the dairy industry, including dairy shed structural steel works, dairy plant installation, dairy shed water systems, automated in-shed meal feeding systems, yard construction, repairs, and consumable sales. Now partnering with Reporoa Engineering and taking over the manufacture of Reporoa backing gates, Daniel says Mainland Engineering will be able to spread its workload throughout the year. “We’ve generally done a lot of our business during the winter, then from August to December while our customers are busy milking, we will be able to get on to manufacturing backing gate components,” he says. The nationally recognised Reporoa High Lift Gate was the first solid, rectangular yard backing gate and it revolutionised yard management for many farmers throughout New Zealand and overseas. It ensures maximum cow flow through rectangular yards, and while it works well in larger yards, is perfect for yards with capacity for less than 300 cows. Agricultural innovation continued for Reporoa Engineering with the development and successful launch of the Herdflow Crowd Gate, a sophisticated and fully automated option for any size herd. Reporoa Engineering since adapted the technology developed for the Herdflow Crowd Gate and changed the Reporoa High Lift Gate from running in a channel to running on an “I” beam, eliminating the possibility of derailing. All the other successful features of the Reporoa High Lift Gate, such as the pulse forward auto stop, the manually operated Dungbuster wash system, pause when lowering, and high/low rail options, remain. John’s decision to contract out the manufacturing side and the management of his business to Mainland Engineering has come about during a very tough dairy season thanks to the low milk pay out, and also at a time when John was thinking about retirement anyway. “I wanted to step back, and the

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With more than 500 Reporoa backing gates already being used by dairy farmers around New Zealand, Mainland Engineering can retrofit them with the new “I” beam and drive system possibility of working with our largest and most competent installer provided a great opportunity to cut some costs by sharing premises with Mainland and to ease in to retirement. This partnership suit both of us very well and we believe our customers will also benefit by us being able to hold our costs and potentially provide faster and better service through the same dealer network.” says John Daniel says sales were very tight last year across the board, and now the pay out is increasing, Mainland Engineering is expecting

something of an influx of work to come in in the new year. With more than 500 Reporoa backing gates already being used by dairy farmers around New Zealand, Mainland Engineering can retrofit them with the new “I” beam and drive system for a little over half the cost of a

replacement gate. “We can give them a better performing gate with optional extra features including upgraded electronics featuring the new breech sensing technology and even a 4WD capability,” Daniel says. “We can provide options and solutions to fit any yard and budget.”

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36 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Milldale Farm

NZ Dairy

Focus on animals, pasture and Russell Fredric

Milldale Farm owners Graham and Glenys Bell are proud to have achieved Fonterra Grade Free status and low bulk milk somatic cell counts in their herd for many years. The Waikato couple have owned their present property for 12 years and peak milk 360 cows through a 26 a-side herringbone shed on 112 hectares effective. The Bells daughter and son-in-law work on the farm. Milldale’s herd has been reduced this season by 10 to 350, but despite a difficult spring production is expected to be on par to last seasons total of 147,000kgMS. Graham Bell explains a “shuffle around” two years ago involved selling a property over the road and buying a farm next door. The end result was an increase in size from 88ha to its present 114ha total. Situated in Te Aroha, Milldale is the fifth dairy farm the Bell’s have owned. It is largely self-contained, with grass supplemented by PKE, only when “forced to”, or occasionally silage, during dry or wet periods. Unlike many modern milking sheds, Milldale Farm has none of the high-end technology that is relatively common-place today.However, Graham does not see as this a disadvantage . “We put all of our interests into the animals, the breeding and pasture management and that’s our forte.” Graham Bell says. “So long as the sheds operating well, which it is we tend not to over commit with a lot of unnecessary extras”. For the Bells, doing the basics well across key areas includes highest possible production at lowest possible cost, elimination of waste, feeding cows well and achieving consistently low somatic cell counts across the entire herd. “We love our cows, the love for them is what drives us; for what we put into the cows they reward us back.” They were winners of Fonterra’s Gold Grade Free nation-wide award for the 2015/2016 season. To achieve Grade Free status, a farm must have supplied an entire season’s worth of

Milldale Farm’s herd comprises mainly kiwicross cows, plus some jerseys, and the Bells -peak milk 360 cows through a 26 a-side herringbone shed .

milk that has passed every milk quality test undertaken; gold awards go to those who have not received a grade (any demerits) for four years plus. Achieving a low count requires keeping stress to a minimum. “We have a very low [somatic] cell count herd and management [strategy]”. An elevated somatic cell count is an indicator of infection within a cows udder such as mastitis, bacterial infections or fungal

“Temperament plays a large part in our herd as all our family are involved with the cows. Size is especially important for the jerseys as they have to be large and strong enough to compete with the cross-breds.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Milldale Farm

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breeding, not technology

Waikato farmers Glenys and Graham Bell were winners of Fonterra’s Gold Grade Free nation-wide award for the 2015/2016 season. Their current farm, Milldale, is in Te Aroha.

infections. Somatic cell counts in bulk milk in excess of 400,000 cells per millilitre result in it being graded by Fonterra. By contrast, Milldale Farm has consistently supplied milk which has averaged about 30,000 cells per millilitre; last month the herd’s count was 16,000. If a spike occurs the offending cow or cows are removed and treated. Milldale Farm’s herd comprises mainly kiwicross cows, plus some jerseys. Seven of its bulls have qualified for LIC’s Sire Proven Scheme; one, a five year old jersey bull, is in LIC’s daughter-proven team. “They are very impressed with him, he comes from a bloodline of excellent cows. It takes an extremely good jersey cow to compete against the hybrid vigour of our cross-bred herd.” Graham agrees it’s an achievement to have

seven bulls from one farm accepted by LIC considering there are no unnatural processes used such as flushing and embryo transfers. “We are very proud of that. That’s what I do a lot of, is checking out our breeding and where I go with my programme. I find it interesting and I do spend a lot of time looking through catalogues and dealing direct to LIC about traits and any feed back.” Traits selected for include animals with good udders and overall conformation. “Temperament plays a large part in our herd as all our family are involved with the cows. “Size is especially important for the jerseys as they have to be large and strong enough to compete with the cross-breds. “Also we look at bulls with daughters that maintain good body condition score and still produce well through tough situations.”

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38 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Murray Free Contracting

NZ Dairy

With more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of agricultural harvesting, Murray Free Contracting is the expert to call when it comes to crops.

Wet spring brings struggles Kelly Deeks Manawatu contractor Murray Free is struggling with the wet this year, saying this has been the wettest spring he’s ever seen. “Normally I’d advise farmers to get the grass in before it gets too mature, but with the way the weather was during the best time to plant, we couldn’t do anything at all for 10 days,” he says. “We just had to wait for the right weather conditions.” His clients in Eketahuna and Pahiatua are also struggling with the wet and cold, as the season starts late and the area generally doesn’t get a whole season. “They struggle over there to get their crops in early,” he says. “By the time they get their maize out, winter has arrived and its too wet to regrass. The grass gets wet and struggles to get growing before winter.” Murray Free Contracting is the expert to call when it comes to crops. With more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of agricultural harvesting, Murray has run his own firm for the past five years, and offers a range of quality agricultural contracting services his clients can rely on. Harvesting is a speciality with all needs

catered for including baling hay, maize, grass, and crops. Murray Free Contracting offers competitively priced turn-key harvest packages for grass, maize, and whole crop harvested, stacked, and bagged. Murray uses the latest and most efficient technology in harvesting, stacking, and bagging, including the first Versa Bagger of its type brought into New Zealand. The Versa Bagger is a cost-effective mobile storage technology which allows the contractor to bag as much as they want, wherever they want. It eliminates traditional storage problems by packing feed into individual smooth, ultra-tight bags, contributing to nearly 0% spoilage. “We can efficiently pack all grass and crops, with no wastage and all in an environmentally friendly manner,” Murray says. He also runs a forage harvester, a McHale Fusion baler wrapper for round bales, a Claas baler for conventional bales, plough, and maize planter. Murray Free Contracting is growing 42 acres of maize this season on a lease block at Opiki, north of Shannon, to fill order and supply maize for silage. Murray started this

up last year with 30 acres, and has added an additional 12 acres of maize this season He’s hoping to get about 350 ton of dry matter out of the 42 acres by the middle of April, and this will all be distributed to local farmers to fill a big demand for maize silage for autumn/winter feed.

“There is also a big demand for conventional hay, and we’ve just about sold out of that already to our regular clients,” he says. “We do a bit of buying and selling of grass silage which mostly comes from the dairy units themselves and the run off blocks when the guys have surplus grass.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Neil & Glenda Gray

| 39

Focused on the long-term picture Kelly Deeks As the fourth generation of his family to be running his Turua dairy farm on the Hauraki Plains, Neil Gray is focused on long-term thinking and an efficient, sustainable system, just like the generations that came before him. Neil’s family first arrived on the farm in 1912, and started developing it out of kahikatea and flax swamp, into productive pasture. “With the weather we have just been through, we realised how much it’s keen to revert back to swamp,” Neil says. Neil and his wife Glenda are currently experiencing one of their most difficult seasons yet with their heavy marine clay soil struggling to cope with a large amount of rainfall. They put their 540 cows on to one a day milking in August to take the pressure off the paddocks, culled some late calvers and by September, were back on twice a day when the weather cleared up. October turned wet again, and mating began on October 10, with the Grays achieving their best ever three week submission rate of 93%. When grass was in peak demand, and when the Grays would normally be getting very good growth, the wet meant they were behind the pump so by November, with the cows looking a bit light and the pay out low, they made the decision to look after their pastures and their cows, and go back to once a day milking. The Grays are running 40ha less this season and 100 less cows after a lease block they had last season was sold. The herd is looking in really good shape now after the couple was able to get rid of a lot of older and late calving cows. Neil says in all his years of farming, it is probably the first block of neighbouring land he’s walked away from. “We put an offer in, but someone else wanted it more,” he says. “We’ve got good infrastructure here with a good shed, and

Neil and Glenda Gray taking time off the farm. Neil is the fourth generation of his family to be running his Turua dairy farm on the Hauraki Plains.

we’ve invested in a concrete standoff area. Downsizing has made the farming and the job a bit more enjoyable.” He says sustainability is why he and Glenda walked away from purchasing that 40ha block. “In the past three to four years we’re realised just how important sustainability is with the volatility of the pay out, and at the moment the magnitude of that volatility is huge. I’m not going to put at risk what we’ve already got.” A sustainable system is hugely important

to the Gray family, with the next generation of the family coming into the dairy industry as the couple’s middle daughter Teagan, 25, now working on the farm as a farm assistant for the first time. “Our kids have seen how the farm has been in the family for a long time, there is a big connection and a lot of history there which we are really proud and passionate about,” Neil says. “I am very lucky to have very supportive parents and previous generations of my family

who have thought about the land and looked after it for future generations. It’s in the nature of our family to be very supportive of our future generations and like those that farmed here before us, we continue to make sure we are running a good, efficient, sustainable unit with a farming system that is robust, looks after the land, and survives into the future.” He says history has shown the dairy industry will continue to change, and the family business needs to be able to adapt to any changes as they happen.

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40 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Neil & Glenda Gray

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Paul & Diana Capes

| 41

The Capes family, from left, Vincent, Diana, Paul and Annabelle. Paul and Diana converted half of his family’s 252ha effective sheep and beef farm to dairy in 1995.

Doing the hard yards on the farm Kelly Deeks Eketahuna dairy farmers Paul and Diana Capes might do things slightly differently if they converted another farm, with Paul saying he might have started out with higher quality cows, rather than buying anything with four legs and an udder. Paul and Diana converted half of his family’s 252ha effective sheep and beef farm to dairy in 1995. The sheep and beef farm had been raising heifer calves to sell back into the dairy industry, until Paul was away doing the Coast to Coast in February 1995, and started talking to people and reading news articles which said the sheep and beef industry was going down, if anywhere. “I rang my wife and suggested instead of selling our heifers, maybe we should milk them instead,” he says. “We were living on the fringe of the dairy area, all the farms around us were dairy farms. I went and asked my neighbour if we could milk through his shed for a fee, he agreed

and we initially had to do a conversion on half the farm. We had no fences, just pig tails and reels, and we had some tracks put in. By August, we were milking.” The Capes milked their cows through the neighbour’s shed until 2001. “I used to bring the cows in at 2am, and we had to be out of the shed by 6am. In the afternoon, we started milking at 1pm. We were doing long hours. We started off with 165 cows, and by the time we got our own shed, we had 365 cows.” The couple reared their own young stock to boost herd numbers, but also bought a jersey herd with replacement heifers and a lot of budget cows to get their numbers up and make it work. “In hindsight, that may not have been the best way to go, but with breeding, we have bred our way through it,” Paul says. “This is why I’ve become interested in breeding, and why I’m so particular about the

“I used to bring the cows in at 2am, and we had to be out of the shed by 6am. In the afternoon, we started milking at 1pm. We were doing long hours. We started off with 165 cows, and by the time we got our own shed, we had 365 cows.”

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42 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Paul & Diana Capes

NZ Dairy

Doing the hard yards on the family farm • From page 41 genetics in my herd, because I’ve seen the effect it has.” He says doing it again, he would make sure he got better quality cows, or start out with more heifers and better uddered cows so they didn’t have the problems his cows faced, having to walk a reasonable distance to the dairy shed. “I learned a lot in those years we spent over the road,” he says. He says the value of his farm has gone skyward since the conversion, but so has the couple’s debt. “The debt is the biggest thing that handicaps most farmers now, especially the ones that have converted in the same era that we did,” he says. “A lot of them are hamstrung by their debt, and the fact we haven’t seen as many high return years since 2000 as we have low return years, the bulk of them have been average to low. To run these systems and get into conversions in a big way does require a decent return. We put everything into it and to this day we still put everything into it.” Paul and Diana work full time on the farm with very little time off. With two herds and one shed, they also employ four staff. Coming from sheep and beef with no staff, this has been a struggle for Paul and Diana. “The average Kiwi worker is hard going,” Paul says. “We were pushing so hard at the start and a lot of the guys fell over. They brought alcohol and drug problems with them, some lied about their experience, and most just had a bad and lazy attitude.”

The Capes have learned from those experiences and now choose Filipino workers. To those who think the jobs should go to Kiwis, Paul says they have no idea that the bottom 4% of the Kiwi workforce is unemployable.

Parkville Dor Meme ET. Champion yearling heifer of the Carterton show. Annabelle Capes is on halter with judges Mr Sathely and Tracy Zimmerman.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Plantation Road Dairies

| 43

Innovation is the key, says farmer Richard Loader “Innovation is a key to cost savings and good environmental practices,” says Hawke’s Bay farmer Kevin Davidson. In an equity partnership, Kevin is the managing director of Plantation Road Dairies Ltd. The high-input 460ha farm is located in the small Central Hawke’s Bay district of Ongaonga. Another 600ha of support land is used for cropping and young stock. At peak, the farm milks 2200 friesian/ friesian cross cows producing 900,000kgMS per year from its Waikato 60-bay rotary shed. Kevin says that they are New Zealand’s largest single producing dairy farm from one cowshed. Fifty percent of the farm’s feed is grown on the support block and Kevin has invested heavily in plant and machinery to enable the harvesting to be done internally. With about 7000 tonne of dry matter coming through the gate each year, this has enabled significant cost savings. “We have progressively moved away from buying feed in the market place. We’re now in control of 95% of the feed and our ultimate goal is to eliminate feed that is purchased,” says Kevin. The farm employs 19 staff to carry out the broad range of farming operations from milking and calving, to crop cultivation and fertilizer application to the maintenance and repairs of the machinery. “It’s a very substantial operation and quite different from normal,” says Kevin. “All of this has come about through making substantial reductions to our feed costs.” Kevin’s next major project will be the development of a variable rate irrigation system. Combining existing pivots with data gathered from an electro-magnetic (EM) soil survey, the technology will allow better management of the water footprint from irrigation. The benefits of the technology will be

Hawke’s Bay farmer Kevin Davidson is the managing director of Plantation Road Dairies Ltd, which is a high-input 460ha farm located in hte district of Ongaonga.

reduced pumping costs, improved pasture yield and soil health and reduced nutrient leaching into ground water. It will also enable a reduction in fertilizer application. Impressed with the benefits, Kevin engaged Precision Agricultural to undertake the EM of his farm. A map with the farms different soil types and showing the moisture holding capacity of those soil types is now being developed. “On the soils that we farm on, while they all

might be stony, they all have different amounts of stone and soil. Within the same paddock you could easily get seven variations,” says Kevin. The next stage will be to break the farm up into 1ha zones of like-for-like soil and upload the data to satellite. The data will be used by the pivots, as well as the fertilizer truck. EM enables optimum fertilizer application to each soil type, avoiding over application. By

maintaining the moisture percentage at 65% to 85% of zone capacity, less to no leaching will result following rainfall events. “Mapping will allow us to customise the application of both water and fertilizer right across the farm as well as having it turn off for gateways, races and other non productive areas,” says Kevin. The next phase for Kevin is to make better use of biological fertilizer, which is typically 25 – 30% of the nitrogen of chemicals.

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44 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Trolove & Duggan

NZ Dairy

New shed results in improvements Karen Phelps A new cow shed built 18 months ago on the Opunake farm owned by Mark and Vicki Trolove has resulted in vast improvements, says contract milkers Carey and Hayley Duggan. The couple, who are just finishing their fourth season on the 215ha total/210ha effective farm, milk a herd of 620 predominantly friesian cows through the new 60-bail rotary shed with DeLaval plant including milk meters, drafting gates and inshed feeding system. “You do feel a bit jealous when you see other people milking through new sheds so getting one on this farm and playing with all the new technology was a bit like winning Lotto,” says Carey. Improvements so far have been happier cows that are pleased to go into the shed to be milked - with the enticement of the meal they are now fed each day. Milking times have halved meaning less fatigue for staff. Mastitis levels have plummeted through the closer management made possible by the additional technology dropping from a yearly average of 210,000 to 144,000. The shed was the result of growth of the unit over the past few years through an additional land purchase which saw cow numbers rise from the 420 the couple milked through a 32 bail rotary in their first season. When cow numbers got up to around 600, milkings started at 4.30am and took nearly four hours. This coming season they will focus on improvements to breeding and production culling more heavily to breed their herd to full utilise the meal they are now putting into the system taking their farm up to a system three unit. They are also cultivating their paddocks, growing a crop, turning the paddock over then making it mowable. Around 80 percent of the farm is flat with around 60% mowable, which they will continue to increase. Both the Duggans were townies growing up in New Plymouth before embarking on a dairy career. Carey initially worked in the hospitality industry but memories of getting up at dawn to help his grandfather feed out on their farm when he was younger saw him head into a farming career. The Duggans first job was as farm assistants on a 330 cow unit at Hawera where they stayed for a year. They then took on a similar position on a unit at Manutahi before progressing to second in charge on a 600 cow farm at Waitara. They were then managers on a 190 unit at Midhurst before moving to their present position. Carey takes on the day-to-day running of

New Dairy Sheds Implement Sheds Barns

Carey and Hayley Duggan on the farm with their children, from left, Sean, 10, Katie, 7 and Amelia, 5.

the farm with the help of Hayley. Hayley was a dancer before she joined Carey in a dairy career and while she enjoys the rural life she balance this by running her own successful off farm enterprises: two dance studios in Opunake and Stratford, and a craft business called It’s a Girl Thing where she makes and sells a variety of products. The couple’s three children – Sean, 10, Katie, 7 and Amelia, 5 – also enjoy dancing and Hayley says it’s a good creative and social outlet for the family to be able to take part in the dance studio classes and activities. The Duggans are presently seeking a new contract or sharemilking position to start next year. Although they would love to stay in , Carey says they are open to whatever opportunities may come their way.

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DAIRY SERVICES » Pumpn

| 45

Innovation at forefront for Pumpn Russell Fredric Otorahanga firm Pumpn specialises in dairy pumps, irrigation and effluent management with a strong focus on innovation. The company was started 12 years ago by Shane Phillips, who grew up on a local dairy farm. When he started the business, his original vision was to “maybe have a couple of staff” but the company has been in a perpetual cycle of growth and now employs about 18 staff. Much of Pumpn’s workload is driven by dairy farmers needing to upgrade or install effluent systems to meet regulatory requirements. “Each year we employ more staff to ease the load and get busier again so it ends up being a snowball effect,” Shane Phillips says. Shane Phillips’ background in engineering has led him to designing revolutionary products to fill gaps in the market; The Torpedo, G-Valve, Easy Skid, Vibe Panel and the Sp Stirrer have all been created to ensure Pumpn’s clients have the very best pumping and effluent systems on their farms. Years ago, the level of water reticulation and effluent management technology was very basic compared to today, he says. “Now farmers are more aware of efficiency and compliance, which is good, because its better for the environment.” The most significant contributor to Pumpn’s growth during the past 12 years has been management of dairy effluent, for which the company can design manufacture and install complete systems. A major trend in recent years has been a large increase in the use of feed pads and stand-off areas on dairy farms. “They are putting so much more pressure on effluent systems so it’s just changing the whole dynamics of effluent. Previously [cows] were grass pasture fed. Everyone with a feed pad requires effluent and rainwater management.” In order to keep up with the increased solids, weeping walls, which screen debris before effluent containment, are used. Weeping walls have many benefits, but can be troublesome and labour taxing when the screens blind off, not allowing any fluid to pass through the walls. “We recognised this was an area of frustration for farmers and created a simple and amazingly effective product, the Vibe Panel, a vibrating weeping wall.” With the Vibe Panel, which has been patented, the vibrations travel down the vertical panels to clear blocked slots in the screen which then causes the containment to

• To page 46

Pumpn specialises in dairy pumps, irrigation and effluent management with a strong focus on innovation.

Much of Pumpn’s workload is driven by dairy farmers needing to upgrade or install effluent systems to meet regulatory requirements.

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46 |

DAIRY SERVICES » Pumpn

NZ Dairy

Focus on innovation at forefront for Pumpn • From page 45

de-water. The vibration allows effluent to move easily through the slots and into containment ready to be irrigated to pasture. Customers who have had the Vibe Panel installed have been amazed by the quick results and are impressed by how much it

has lessened their work load, with the added benefit of capturing higher quality effluent. With fresh water also being a crucial part of any dairy farm operation, the company offers water reticulation services for dairy sheds and can provide a customised design for any need, as well as for pasture irrigation, stock water

systems and mineral injection systems. Pumpn’s extensive range of products and services combined with the skill-set of its staff means the year ahead does not show any sign of slowing down, particularly with some dairy farmers beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Robbie Sherriff

| 47

In praise of the humble dairy cow Richard Loader “Probably my biggest learning going straight into dairy farming was just how amazing cows are,” says Robbie Sherriff. “I think of all that a cow does physically. We calve it, we feed it, we milk the hell out it, and she never says no—she just keeps on coming to the shed.” Robbie, 34, is the operations manager for the family farming business, Huirimu Farms, in Te Awamutu. He has overall responsibility for the dairy operations and cropping. Following a two-year sojourn driving tractors in the UK, Robbie returned to the family sheep and beef farm in 2007. At the same time the family purchased the neighbour’s farm, with the intention of finishing 1000 bulls. Half way through that development, a decision was made to do a dairy conversion. The first milking season was 2008/2009 and that was Robbie’s first introduction to the world of milking cows. A farm manager was brought in the first year and advice was also sought from farm consultant, Parry Matthews, who had been involved in the conversion process. After the first year, the manager left and Robbie took over from him. “For me, it was quite daunting the first time I had to calve a cow and that sort of thing,” says Robbie. “I didn’t have a clue what I was doing but we learned a lot in that first year about what we wanted to do and how we would go about doing it.” With 886ha total, Robbie milks off a 300ha effective platform. The family also leases 270ha to finish beef on. Starting out with a smaller kiwi cross cow, Robbie has been breeding towards a more Friesian based herd. The farm currently peak milks 870 cows through a 50-bale DeLaval rotary shed and is on track to produce 500kgMS per cow this year. The shed’s a two-person operation with

Robbie Sherriff milks off a 300ha effective platform. The family also leases 270ha to finish beef on.

one person bringing the cows in and the other cupping. “When we set the shed up we put an Alpro system in enabling milk yields and deviations to be tracked for individuals cows, so we don’t have to herd test. Not being in the shed, I can get a better snapshot about what the cows are doing when ever I want,” says Robbie. “As a tool it’s invaluable really and I can do

all my culling straight off the data.” Robbie is now researching herd homes as a way of protecting pastures, minimizing feed wastage and mitigating against heat stress over January/February. “DairyNZ says that if you feed maize in the paddocks there will be 20 percent wastage. To us, that means 150 tonne of maize silage a year that we have grown and paid for is just

being tipped on the ground and wasted,” says Robbie. Robbie admits to being ‘absolutely passionate’ about what he does and the animals around him. He’s also very grateful to his parents. “I have been very lucky that mum and dad have given me an opportunity and to let me make my own mistakes as well,” says Robbie.

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48 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Tongariro Landcorp

NZ Dairy

Where the cows come first Karen Phelps It’s not uncommon at Landcorp’s Tongariro dairy unit for a bag of marshmallows to be taken to the cowshed to treat the calves or for the cows to line up for a scratch before they’ll agree to move into the milking shed. Some might call it mollycoddling but farm manager John Stephenson says cows are important. “The motto on this farm is cows come first. We remember that cows are part of the overall team because without them we don’t have anything,” he says. Located near Levin the 207ha effective farm milks a herd of 630 predominantly Kiwicross cows. It’s a reduction from the 680 cows the farm has milked in the past as Landcorp aims to phase out the use of palm kernel on its farms in response to the fact that it is a major cause of rainforest destruction. The farm makes around 72 tonnes of grass silage and imports around 300 tonnes. The farm will grow 14ha of maize this season and, depending on the yield, import some maize to supplement this. The herd is milked through a 50 bail rotary with MilkHub. The focus this season is on cow condition, getting and keeping cows in calf and further condensing the calving spread, which this season started 26 July and was finished by October 4. John says a greater emphasis will be placed on pasture monitoring with plate metering every 7-10 days. Cows will be fed according to the feed at hand but with 360 tonnes of grass silage waiting to be gobbled things are looking good. Around 30ha each year is part of the farm cropping programme to ensure good pastures. Last season, pastures were patchy due to root weevil issues the year before and flooding in the region followed by dry later in the year. John says this season has been a good one so far with massive grass growth leaving the main challenge as keeping up quality. A slight touch of theileria in six cows has kept the team vigilant, checking stock and drenching as necessary. There are two full

Chris, from Landcorp Tongariro, treats the calves with some marshmallows. Some of the Tongariro team, from left: John (in the cap), Abby, B, and Mark.

time staff members Mark Hoffman and Abby Corbett. A casual staff member Chris Harris and John’s wife Chobina also helps out when required. John, who left school at 15 to go milking and has worked in management positions on various farms in the Waikato, is in his second season managing Tongariro Dairy Unit Landcorp. Fortunately, he’s well used to earthquakes after working on a farm in the Bay of Plenty opposite White Island where he says he would see the cow shed rise and fall if an earthquake rolled in. Tongariro Dairy Unit Landcorp felt the effects of the Kaikoura shake and suffered some damage to back paddocks with huge cracks 2-3 metres wide and some liquefaction. John says a bulldozer to level out the ground should return things to normal. Last season, Tongariro Dairy Unit Landcorp

produced 262,000 kilograms of milk solids and is aiming for a similar target this season. John admits he has his favourite cows, which makes culling more difficult, so he makes sure his favourites are always good producers.

“If I haven’t been around for a couple of days because I’ve had time off there is one cow that won’t come into the yard until I’ve given her a scratch first. Even if there’s other jobs on the farm to do the cows always come first.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Grant & Charlotte Bennett

| 49

Shed fire forces farmer’s hand Russell Fredric Paihiatua farmers Grant and Charlotte Bennett were not planning to upgrade their 18 a-side herringbone milking shed for a few years. However, when in March this year a bird decided to make its straw home in the shed’s switch-board, the fire and the subsequent damage it caused to the shed forced the Bennett’s hand. Consequently, they and their two parttime staff are now milking from a flash new 40-a-side shed with all the mod-cons. The couple each have a Diploma in Agriculture and fast-tracked their way to a 50:50 share-milking position at Pirongia, near Te Awamutu, before buying their then 100ha farm near Paihiatua in 2013, which supported 260 cows at the time. Grant Bennett says their original goal was to own a farm by the time they were 30, however they achieved this two years earlier than planned; their ability to buy the farm was a combination of luck and timing due to high pay-outs, careful management and budgeting, he says. The couple took on the lease of 70ha with settlement in June this year and also bought a 40ha block which they formerly leased “across the road” in June. Following the fire, it was initially hoped the existing shed could be rebuilt, but this proved uneconomic. At the time of the fire, 340 cows were being milked, but these had to be dried off early. “We are surrounded by dry-stock farmers so there are no other cow sheds.” Adding to the challenge was insurance which only covered about 10% of the cost of building a new shed and a low pay-out which negated gross profit insurance. Discussion’s with the couple’s banker revealed the best option was to expand the farm’s herd to 520 cows to provide the cashflow for servicing the debt on the $800,000plus milking shed and its plant. The land which was bought and leased provides pasture support for the larger herd. “We always thought we would build a new shed, but it came three years sooner than we would like.” Another challenge was to have a milking shed built with very short notice ready for the new season. “We were unsure if we could build a cowshed before calving because of our climate here with high rainfall.” Fortunately, Foxton company Roaches Concrete Products, builder of Foxpac cow sheds stepped up; site work started midMarch and construction was completed in three months on July 25, five days after the usual calving and milking start date. The farm’s existing effluent pond was able

Charlotte and Grant Bennett, here with their two young children, farm near Paihiatua.

to be used with the addition of a 100 cubic metre sump. While the fire and its fall-out was stressful, Grant Bennett is taking a long-term view and agrees he and Charlotte will look back in the future and be glad about having a far better milking shed and the technology that comes with it. This includes automatic wash, cup removers, walk-over teat spray, automatic drafting and a Dungbuster automatic yard washing system. An in-shed feed system was also installed and proved an asset during the relentlessly wet winter and spring, while reducing wastage of supplementary feed in pastures. “It’s worth its weight in gold. The beauty about it is each animal gets its allocation.” The Bennett’s greatly appreciated the help they had from neighbours, friends and family following the fire and during the rebuild. Grant Bennett offers a final snippet of advice for fellow farmers. “Make sure you check your switch-board for birds. When you come back home with your family and see your cow-shed on fire it’s not a nice feeling.” Palmerston North Branch

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50 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Tony & Maureen Luckin

NZ Dairy

Jersey cows are in his blood Russell Fredric

The Taranaki farmer and owner of Leithlea Jerseys says jersey’s used to dominate dairy farming in New Zealand and is focused on breeding larger cows with capacity and greater milk production in order to maximise their commercial viability. “Jersey’s have been proven over the years to be the most efficient dairy cow per hectare; the conversion of feed to milk solids per hectare,” Tony Luckin says. Although jersey’s have lost some popularity in New Zealand, the population is increasing in most other countries that have them because trials have proven their efficiency, he says. They also have an excellent temperament, and because they are lighter framed, cause less pugging in wet conditions. “At the moment I’m trying to get my jersey cows to be bigger to produce more milk volume. To get that I’m sourcing bulls from all around the world. I don’t only stick to New Zealand genetics, I look world-wide for bulls that will suit. I’m always looking for something special.” In addition to breeding for size, another key trait he looks for is bulls which will produce cows with superior udders. Despite breeding for size, he acknowledges jerseys will never be as large as fresians or crossbreeds. “All I am trying to do is get them so they are becoming perhaps more competitive. Jersey’s ruled New Zealand a few years ago. I think we can get them back if we can just grow them a wee bit bigger for the milk.” His father was a jersey breeder and Tony has spent his life following in his foot-steps, subsequently becoming one of the foremost promoters of the breed in New Zealand, along with breeding an exceptional herd of his own, both of type and production. He showed cattle in the former Okato/Cape Egmont Jersey Club for 46 years, and in its latter years the North Taranaki on-farm show; he was a calf club judge for 50 years. “We’ve had the champion cow for the majority of those years.” Tony is presently a judge of jersey’s, a role which has opened doors both in New Zealand and internationally. “I’ve met a lot of good people from around the world and the Jersey cow has taken me there.” Last winter, Tony and his wife Maureen Luckin travelled to the home of the breed, Jersey Island in the English Channel, as well as Ireland, England and Scotland. He has also been to South Africa, the United States and Canada and travels to Australia most years. As well as judging, his trips have been to

Tony and Maureen Lukin are focused on breeding larger jerseys with capacity and greater milk production. Pictured is Dunwald Desire Rubie, a winning 9 year old in semex competion cow 2015

assess whether particular cows may have the genetics he is looking for. “I’ve met a lot of people from all round the world that are like-minded, so we have some good discussions. It’s good to see good cows from around the world. It’s opened my eyes.” He and fellow New Zealand judge, Lloyd Wilson, recently judged part of the Semex OnFarm Competition in Australia; the competition is the largest dairy livestock judging competition in Australia, attracting about 3,000 entries from 500 breeders each year. “It’s the first time they’ve had two New Zealand judges judge together in that competition.” The Luckin’s milk 230 cows on 82 hectares effective, supported by a 40ha run-off seven kilometres inland, at Okato. Last season, the farm produced 95,000kgMS which was lower than the normal amount of more than 100,00kgMS. Tony has worked full-time on the family farm since he left school in 1961; his son Jay and daughter-in-law Kelly are working partners in the farm.

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Tony and Maureen Luckin milk 230 cows on 82 hectares effective, supported by a 40ha runoff seven kilometres inland, at Okato.

NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Lance & Sarah Fenton

| 51

Swapping overalls for boots worth it Richard Loader Ten years ago, Lance Fenton swapped his fitter & welder’s overalls for gumboots and swandri to become a full time dairy farmer in the Taranaki. Lance had been engineering since leaving school and was looking for a change. Both he and his wife, Sarah, had been brought up on dairy farms and when an opportunity arose to work on Sarah’s parent’s farm in Midhust they jumped at it. “We worked here on the home farm for a couple of years before becoming lower order share milkers on another farm owned by Sarah’s parents. “We did that for 4 years before going into an equity partnership on the home farm,” says Lance. Having an engineering background has been an advantage to Lance, who says you often have to make repairs to farm machinery and as an engineer you are always problem solving. A herd of 460 friesian cross cows are milked off a 185ha effective milking platform of flat to rolling land with views of Mounts Taranaki and Ruapehu. Lance employs two full time farm workers to help on the farm with Sarah acting as relief milker as required. As well as caring for the couple’s three young daughters she also gets involved in rearing the calves. It’s been a particularly wet spring in the Taranaki, causing issues with pasture management. “The damage results from cows walking on the wet soft ground causing pugging, leaving the soil less productive. We’ll manage this later on by rolling the paddocks and spreading some seed around. We may have to direct drill in some cases,” says Lance. He estimates that there could be a loss of 20 percent or more of potential yield available during the summer months. “The wet conditions have also slowed the grass growth a bit. We can’t get fertilizer trucks on the paddocks because it’s been too

Lance and Sarah Fenton, who farm in the Taranaki, worked on the home farm for a few years before going into an equity partnership.

wet for that,” says Lance. This year, Lance cultivated a few paddocks and put some turnips down for summer feed. “We can go from being very wet to being very dry quite quickly. We’re in a pretty summer safe area but it still dries out a little bit,” say’s Lance. Lameness in the cows is another result of the wet ground conditions. Lance manages

this by ensuring that there are paddocks set aside close to the milking sheds to limit their walking. “They tend to come right otherwise you have to get them looked at. It’s just a matter of keeping them handy and looking after them,” says Lance. Lance belongs to a discussion group run by Dairy NZ that meets every 2 months on

someone’s farm. “We talk about issues that are relevant at the time. The big thing is to be able to share problems and hear how others deal with the same problems,” says Lance. Lance has absolutely no regrets about his career change. “We love the farm and the time we get to spend together as an extended family.”

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52 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Terry & Jenny Managh

NZ Dairy

Never too late to be challenged Richard Loader

At 66, Pahiatua dairy farmer Terry Managh says it’s never too late to start a new challenge. Needing something to do when he sold his electrical business in 2015 Terry decided that turning his hand to full time dairy farming would be the perfect retirement adventure. When an opportunity arose to purchase an 80ha dairy farm with run off just down the road Terry and his wife, Jenny, took it. “We were looking for 180 -200 cows and bought two jersey-friesian cross herds in Taranaki and Tokoroa. “We went for the highest possible BW’s and got above the NZ average. The thought was that if you started with something decent you had something to work with,” says Terry. For ease of manageability Terry is transitioning to straight jersey, though he accepts that they can take longer to rear as calves. Terry says that the farm had been leased for about 10 years prior to it being sold and it hadn’t been maintained as well as it might have been. The paddocks were poorly drained, electric fences were not operational and the soils had very high levels of phosphorus and potassium. “A lot of farmers would dream of having the P & K levels that we had but it brought issues with metabolic disorders that resulted in downer cows. I have mitigated the imbalance with magnesium,” says Terry. Terry also calves on the farm’s 20ha runoff as further mitigation against downer cows. “Last year, we lost 6 cows due to pasture problems on the farm with heaps of downer cows. “This year we have sorted out most of the issues and only lost one cow with one instance of downer,” says Terry. The land’s significant drainage problems have been progressively resolved with Novaflow drainage systems, mole ploughing and direct drilling seed. “I bought a flash seed drill last field day and we drilled a whole lot of new pasture resulting in significant improvements. It’s all about quality of the feed,” says Terry. With Terry’s electrical background he was able to quickly trace the cause of the electric fence breakdown to a creek running through the middle of the farm. That problem has been resolved enabling rotational grazing. “We are in our second season now and

Jenny and Terry Managh farm an 80ha dairy farm with run off in Pahiatua.

while the first was tough we are making real progress,” says Terry. “I’ve got a young farm worker milking the cows for me now. It’s working very well.” Last year, 10 percent of the farm was planted in feed crop. This year that will be replaced with a combination of fodder beet and turnips. When reflecting on his journey to date Terry says, “Never say die - you have to have something to get you out of bed for and I have to have something to do in retirement.” Terry and Jenny hadn’t taken a holiday in

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Al & Vicki McFetridge

| 53

Al McFetridge’s parents bought a rimu for Al and Vicki to plant on their new farm venture: It makred the McFetridge’s new beginnings.

Time right to control their destiny Kelly Deeks Taranaki dairy farmers Al and Vicki McFetridge have decided the time is right to give up their 200 cow 50:50 sharemilking job next season and move on to the 64ha farm they bought two years ago. They are into their sixth season on the

sharemilking job, which has helped them get into farm ownership, and now Al says it is time for the couple to be in control of their own destiny, manage their own costs and profit margin, and make decisions about their business from on farm. The farm Al and Vicki bought is an established dairy farm which has been owned by the same family for many years. It was

a no brainer for the couple with excellent fertility and an excellent location, close to New Plymouth and the schools the couple’s son and daughter attend. “I got a really good feeling about the place, it’s a really nice community,” Al says. They currently have a contract milker on their farm which is now milking 180 cows. “We wanted to keep our sharemilking job

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after buying our farm to allow us to build up our stock equity to be able to draw down a fair bit of debt and make the status quo work a lot easier for us with the low milk pay out,” he says. “We bought the farm on a low pay out, which we anticipated would pick up a lot

• To page 54

54 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Al & Vicki McFetridge/Richard & Sarah Paver

NZ Dairy

The time is right to control their destiny • From page 53 quicker. As it turned out, it didn’t. But now we feel the timing is right to make the move.” They have now accumulated a good number of cows which they will sell before moving. He says outside circumstances have forged a pathway for the couple which they are now going to embrace with both arms “We’re very excited to start a new life,” he says. “This is our first home we’ve owned, and we’re looking forward to having a place we can call home and to building a home for our family. One of the biggest things for us is our drive to make it our home.

The previous owners Geoff and Wendy wanted to see the farm go to a family that would make it a home, just like they had made it a home for their family.” Last season, the farm was running 200 cows and Al and Vicki put a fair bit of extra supplementary feed into the system. “This season it has been more about watching costs and improving efficiencies in animal health and in reproduction, using less CIDRs and having less deaths, while focusing on more production per cow and less per hectare. Next season, Al will run the farm by himself, while Vicki works off farm.

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With the lower dairy payout and most farm operating costs fixed, lower-order sharemilkers Richard and Sarah Paver were struggling a bit. But they were able to change their contract with farm-owner Rod Hayman to a contract-milking arrangement that has enabled them to keep operating. “We had had a good year two years prior, so we had some money to help us through,” says Richard. “We’ve been lucky because Rod has carried the re-grassing and fertilising schedules on. You’ve got to keep the foundation going to take advantage when things swing up again. We toned back a bit on supplement, but luckily we are nearly all grass feeding anyway. We have good irrigation, so we grew good grass.” Dairying was new to the Pavers when they arrived from Zimbabwe 14 years ago. Now in their fifth season on Springbank Farm, near Otaio in South Canterbury, Richard reckons they are ticking along pretty nicely. “We calved 820 cows this season. The herd is down to 780 now with natural fall-off. “We’ve reduced our vet costs by being a bit harsher with cows that get mastitis and using less anti-biotics. We give one or two treatments, then they are likely to be culled unless they are special cases. This is a family farm, so if a cow has character, we might keep her.” The herd continues to veer towards kiwicross. The farm’s topography is quite hilly, so biggerframed cows struggle a bit. Anyway, he prefers the look of the crosses. “We had a six-week, in-calf rate of 74 per cent, down from 84% the previous season. We’ve been

a bit more proactive with put ov-sunch programme this year. We tried short-gestation semen last mating, which gave us a decent break between articially inseminated and naturally bred cows. We’re continuing with 10-week mating this season. “We’re getting 450 kilograms of milksolids per cow, and we’re delighted with that. We hope to beat the previous year’s production each year, although this season the weather might influence that.” The farm has three full-time staff – a secondin-command who has been with the Pavers for five seasons and two dairy assistants. The most recent employee is an Indian who had been working in an orchard in the North Island, and came on board when a worker left. “He has been here only one month. He’s keen and reliable, which is 90% of the battle. He has a bit of trouble because we talk so fast, so we have to make sure he relays things back to us so that we know he has the gist. He’s a really nice guy.” The family is holidaying back in Zimbabwe this year, and he believes it will be good for the children, now at high school or university, to see family, and where they came from. The 2IC will look after the farm, with “Rod keeping an eye on things” while they are away. On their return, they will be busy – they have entered the dairy-industry awards, so will need to make sure the farm and the bookwork are all up to scratch for when the on-farm judges turn up. Contributing to their enjoyment of New Zealand life are the relationship they have with Rod Hayman, and the wide range of hunting possibilities in South Canterbury. Son Neil has taken up bow hunting, so he and his dad get away as often as possible, hunting wallabies to help cull them, and deer and thar to fill the larder. “If the cuts aren’t palatable, we make biltong, a South African delicacy. Well ... delicacy? I don’t know. That’s debatable, perhaps.”

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Above: Richard Paver with one of his ‘character cows’, Left: The herd heads in for milking.

NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Clarence & Elise Stolte

| 55

Clarence and Elise Stolte, who are 50:50 sharemilkers on two farms, with their young family, Olivia, Charlie, Adelaide and Huey

Keeping costs low a key strategy Russell Fredric Operating a simple farm system and keeping costs low are key strategies for Wairarapa share-milkers Clarence and Elise Stolte. While the mantra may sound familiar, the Stolte’s have proven they practice what they preach. They are 50:50 share-milkers on two farms; one, at Carterton is owned by Clarence’s parents Willem and Roelie Stolte and the second, NEER Enterprises, is north of Masterton. Elise Stolte comes from an accounting background; the couple have four young children.

Clarence Stolte largely works in a management role for the two farms which both have staff of 2.5 full-time equivalent including a manager on each, with Clarence contributing to labour where needed. One of the most important parts of his role is asking the right questions and ensuring open communication, he says. He has a Diploma in Agriculture and has worked in farm consultancy which helped gain a good understanding and knowledge of how farm systems could work to be profitable. The Stolte’s are high-achievers who have proven themselves not only ambitious, but results oriented.

“Once we’ve got that you’ve got the structure for your budget. After that we’ve got to look at few extras like what we could invest in to actually improve our productivity in a way that we’re actually going to get a really good return for what we put in.”

• To page 56

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE» Clarence & Elise Stolte

Keeping costs low a key strategy for Stolte’s • From page 55

Becoming 50/50 share-milkers on their first job involved taking on a $650,000 loan to purchase 500 cows with the aim of repaying the loan within five years. With astute management they paid it off in three years. While working as lower-order share-milkers in 2010, they were named Hawke’s BayWairarapa share-milkers of the year. In the 2014 Dairy Business of the Year awards, they won the Manawatu/Wairarapa Dairy Business of the Year award and also the national Medium/High Input Best Farm Business and, last year, Recognition of Excellence for consistent performance on the Stolte farm over two years. During the qualifying period for the award, the farm showed a return on capital of 12.1 percent, operating profit per hectare $ 7788, operating profit margin 60.2% and a cost of production per kgMS $3.13. This compares with the average New Zealand benchmark of ROC 8.2% , operating profit per hectare $4,603, OPM 41.3% and COP $4.72. Clarence Stolte says the farm is usually a low input system, but during the 2013/2014 seasons, supplementary feed was increased to compensate for drought. The Stolte farm milks 480 cows through a 28-a-side herringbone shed on a 165ha effective platform and a 140ha run-off, while the second farm milks 460 cows through a 50 bail rotary shed on a 135ha effective platform, supported by a 120ha run-off. This year stocking rates were slightly reduced due to two consecutive years of drought and a difficult autumn. Last season, the Stolte farm produced 190,000kgMS, but has targeted a normal 210,000kgMS this season, while NEER is aiming for 180,000kgMS following a low of 150,000kgMS last season “the worst year we’ve ever had”. Farm working expenses for the Stolte farm are presently $3.05 and $3.15 for NEER, which includes the lease costs of the run-offs. As well as managing costs a major focus of the farms is harvesting as much feed as efficiently as possible. Key to achieving a low-cost structure is budgeting from a clean slate each season, rather than using the previous season’s figures as a basis to start from, with the first question being “what do we need to farm”, then adding or eliminating costs based on the farms’ key needs. “Once we’ve got that you’ve got the structure for your budget. After that we’ve got to look at few extras like what we could invest in to actually improve our productivity in a way that we’re actually going to get a really good return for what we put in.”

Clarence and Elise Stolte have proven themselves not only ambitious, but results oriented.

The budget will also include items which are important, but can not be directly quantified, such as investment in staff training and social activities. The budgeting process can be difficult, which is the reason farmers need professional support and training, Clarence Stolte says. The time and effort the Stolte’s have spent budgeting and strategising after a long day’s work has ultimately led to creating a profitable system run by a team of good staff. “That’s when we did learn all these things, in the evenings and once we learnt that, that’s actually the thing that makes you money – the decisions you make.”

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Key to achieving a low-cost structure is budgeting from a clean slate each season, rather than using the previous season’s figures as a basis to start from, with the first question being “what do we need to farm”, then adding or eliminating costs based on the farms’ key needs.

NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Roger & Jane Hutchings

| 57

Roger and Jane Hutchings have taken over the operational reins of Roger’s parents Malcolm and Marilyn’s farm at Okaihau in the Bay of Islands.

A shining example of farming Richard Loader Productive and profitable - Lodore Farms is a shining example of balancing commercial success with environmental care. Malcolm and Marilyn Hutchings purchased the farm, which is located in the small community of Okaihau in the Bay of Islands, in the 1960’s. Son Roger and his wife Jane joined them in the late 80’s as sharemilkers, becoming shareholders in the 90’s with the amalgamation of a land parcel. While Roger’s parents are still actively involved on the farm, Roger and Jane have progressively taken over the operational reins, expanding the home farm to include two

adjoining farms. “The farm is 349ha total and 270ha effective; the difference being predominantly native bush and wetland which presents a wonderful habitat for kiwis,” says Roger. Following a tradition set by Roger’s grandparents and parents, Ayrshires are the predominant breed in a herd of 700 cows, making it one of the largest Ayrshire herds in the country. “They’re a very good mid sized cow. Not too big when the conditions are wet and they have plenty of strength,” says Roger. “A good temperament and production wise

• To page 58

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58 |

DAIRY PEOPLE» Roger & Jane Hutchings

NZ Dairy

Lodore Farms a shining example of balanced farming • From page 57 the ayrshires are matching my best friesians.” Production is on track for 400kgMS per cow, which Roger is very pleased with given that feed growth on the free-draining volcanic soil can be compromised due to extreme weather conditions. “We are a medium input farm,” says Roger. “We lease some land and grow some maize. We also grow chicory as our summer crop and buy in a bit of meal.” In 2014, the couple were the Northland Supreme Winners for the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The award recognized that the Hutchings Family had found a positive balance between the productivity/profitability of their commercial operation and sustainability in terms of their environment and community contributions. Roger says that they entered the competition primarily to portray a picture that commercial success can be achieved while also having a positive impact on the environment and community. A key element of the Hutchings’ success was their work in regard to the preservation

of the kiwis that inhabit the bush and the bush itself. After 12 sightings of kiwis in 2008/09, Roger and Jane rallied neighbours and formed the Puketotara Landcare Group with the objective of ensuring that the Kiwis didn’t just survive but flourished. “Over that time we have been involved in pest control and monitoring. We’ve got huge numbers of predators over the last 5 or 6 years that it has been going,” says Roger. “Every winter we monitor the kiwi calls, not just on our farm but in the local areas and

the number of kiwis that we are hearing is increasing.” The reduction of predators has also resulted in a renewed vibrancy and rejuvenation of the bush with many new kauri and rimu seedlings appearing under the forest canopy. “What we are doing with the kiwis was important in regard to winning the award but it wasn’t just that,” says Roger. “How we operate our farm, our staff relationships, community involvement and work/life balance all came into it.”

In 2014, the Hutchings were the Northland Supreme Winners for the Ballance Farm Environment Awards, recognised for finding a positive balance between the productivity/profitability of their commercial operation and sustainability in terms of their environment and community contributions. From left are, Malcolm, Jane, Roger and Marilyn.

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DAIRY PEOPLE » Highgate Farms

| 59

Farmer passionate about the land Russell Fredric Dannevirke farmer Phillip Hartridge is passionate about the land, the public image of dairy farming and caring for Highgate Farm that has been in his family since 1941. Three generations have now touched the custodian’s mantle, with the 4th changeover a work in progress. Phillip’s son, Daniel, has been on the farm since 1996 working his way through various management roles. “Daniel is pretty much the operations manager now while I concentrate on farm development along with providing mechanical support and ‘back-up man’ roles,” says Phillip. The farm has undergone huge development over the last 20 years or so but Phillip says that it’s now time to consolidate the business. Daniel has been working with a dairy farm consultant, accruing a number of benefits including ramping up production to 500kgMS per cow. “There is great advantage in utilizing other people’s skills. The consultant is seeing how things operate on other farms and brings that experience to his monthly consultation,” says Phillip. “Perhaps the biggest benefit has been to put an achievement program in place ensuring that seasonal time lines are met.” The 450ha total, low input farm is effectively divided in two by an airfield that runs straight down the middle; a quirk of history. The airfield is leased off the Tararua District Council and these days it’s used mainly by the local aero club, light planes and the occasional Hercules. “As an aerodrome leasee we grow crops around the margins and have responsibility for grooming of the strip,” says Phillip. In 2000, a second shed was built so that each side of the airfield had its own shed. The herd was then increased from 300 to 700. A few years ago Phillip and Daniel were faced with upgrading their effluent system. Being part of a community concerned about the environment they wanted to develop an effluent system that reflected those environmental concerns. The farm isn’t conducive to mainline irrigation sprinkler systems so the only way to

Phillip Hartridge, left, with his son Daniel and dog Foxy at the farm monument that dates back to 1855 and commemorates past farm owners and leaseholders. The monument is sited on the homestead site that was raised by fire in 1941.

deal with that was to take the effluent out in a large tanker on a daily basis. Both sheds gravitate and pump into a central 100 cubic metre concrete reservoir, which is then used to batch up a fertiliser solution and taken out to the paddocks. The transition gained the respect and support of the Regional Council, particularly as there is no risk of ground water contamination. Phillip has been the farms custodian for 40 years. In that time he has seen how the soils have improved from river metal to soil facilitating good humic content through a process of leveling shingle, planting grass and grazing. That has arisen through farming

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intensification. Over time, the soil greatly reduces nitrate leaching; something that Phillip says not a lot of people, particularly the non-farming public, understand.

“I’m very passionate about nutrient cycling and soil improvement and the environment over time. That’s why we embarked upon a system of biological farming here and keeping artificial fertilizers down,” says Phillip.

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60 |

DAIRY PEOPLE » Phil & Wendy Whitchurch

NZ Dairy

Reducing costs brings efficiencies Karen Phelps Wendy and Phil Whitechurch’s farm at Taupiri has become more efficient since the dairy downturn as the couple has sought to reduce costs, which has surprisingly resulted in increased production. The couple reduced cow numbers and is producing 45,000 kilograms more milk solids. “We have grown our cows to be bigger capacity animals, concentrating on cow quality by better feeding and culling. They eat more and produce more milk,” explains Phil. Phil grew up on a dairy farm at Tahuna. He did a double degree in social science and town planning. When his father, who owned a couple of farms at Tahuna, was experiencing staffing problems, Phil and Wendy, who were about to get married, returned to work on the family farm. After two years, they went 50:50 sharemilking. They had reared bull calves to earn the extra cash to buy their herd. After ten years of 50:50 sharemilking they purchased 40ha in Springdale near Te Aroha milking 140 cows for seven years while leasing one of the family farms where they put a 50:50 share-milker on. They also managed a dry-stock block at Hoe O Tainui for Phil’s father, where they ran young stock and lambed sheep. They sold Springdale and purchased a farm at Orini as well as purchasing the family farm at Tahuna. Four years later, they put a contract milker on the Tahuna unit, sold Orini and bought the farm next door which enabled Phil to get out of the shed as it was a better producing farm. It also enabled them to pay back debt and employ another staff member. Ten years in, they sold both the Tahuna and Orini farms to purchase the farm at Taupiri where they are in their eighth season. The Whitechurch’s operate a 152ha total/145ha effective unit milking 440 friesian and friesian cross cows through a 40 aside herringbone shed with in-shed feeding system. They have a concrete feed pad capable of holding 280 cows. The family grows around 80 percent of its supplementary feed on farm – 30ha of maize giving 800 tonnes of maize silage and they plant 13ha of summer crops, either chicory or sorghum. Phil says this has allowed them to know the cost of their supplementary feed better. This season they are focusing on better submission and conception rates by being particular about cow condition. They started the season by milking once a day for the first month to allow cows to recover from calving and have more energy before putting them on twice a day.

Mark Whitechurch, left, and Phil Whitechurch in front of maize they planted on their Taupiri farm.

Pasture is another focus and they are experimenting with different perennial rye grasses such as aber dart. Phil says the part fescue variety is deep rooting, which, particularly in the peat areas of the farm, should have benefits during summer. They are also building races to help reduce

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lameness using race rock, a zeolite material, in higher traffic areas on the farm. Phil says it has proved effective in reducing lameness and stabilising race material in one of the wettest winters they have experienced on the Taupiri farm. Son Mark and his wife Brandice are

contract milkers on the unit and the farm employs two other full time staff. Last season, the farm produced 210,000 kilograms of milk solids milking 420 cows and this season the target is 220,000 kilograms as they continue to improve production by improving cow quality.

NZ Dairy

DAIRY SERVICES » Machinery & equipment

| 61

NZ tractor sales remain buoyant Sales of tractors are remaining relatively buoyant, demonstrating a positive outlook in the primary industry, says NZ Tractor and Machinery Association President, Mark Hamilton-Manns. Figures compiled by the association show the total number of tractor sales year to date (end of September) was 2381 and this was on a par with the 2012 figure 2389. Hamilton-Manns said this demonstrated that, overall, New Zealand’s primary industry was stable and was weathering the past few years of volatility in the global dairy markets. Sales only declined slightly overall, by 6 per cent, on the same period in 2015. Several segments and regions saw increases such as the horticulture and viticulture industries in Northland, Auckland, the Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Nelson. While sales in the traditional dairy segment (100–120 horsepower tractors) had declined overall in the last year by 17.5%, dairy farmers were showing that they’re cautiously optimistic as many were still buying. The Central dairy district had showed a 15% increase while sales in Taranaki had dropped a mere 5%. “Farmers are still prepared to purchase if there is a strong return on investment. Repairs and maintenance costs are generally less on a new machine and often covered by warranty. Old machines can have a negative effect on farm productivity.” Farmers know that newer tractors are more fuel efficient and attract lower maintenance costs so buyers get a good return on investment with new machines. “We have noticed that dairy farmers looking around for the best service deals,

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be risky as there is no after-sale service and warranties can be void if locally-based replacement parts are used after sale. Specifications can also differ from those commonly used in New Zealand. Second-hand overseas tractors can also pose a biosecurity risk and require expensive cleaning. Hamilton-Manns also warned farmers against having Engine Control Unit (ECU) remapping performed on tractors, trucks or other self-propelled machinery in a misguided attempt to increase power and fuel economy. ECU remapping entails reprogramming the ECU software to change how it controls the engine. This can include removing any limits placed on it – such as engine speed, injection timing and fuel volume.

The association does not endorse the practices of any businesses offering ECU remapping as aftermarket modifications could result in failures to head gaskets, exhaust gas recirculation valves, exhaust gas aftertreatments and drive shafts. In addition, axle strength and braking capacity could be compromised. “Anyone thinking about having ECU remapping performed should consider these risks and what, if any redress, would be available to them if the machine subsequently fails. “Our advice to farmers will always be to buy locally and avoid remapping to enjoy longterm piece of mind and high quality service over any perceived short-term gains.”

NZ Tractor and Machinery Association President Mark Hamilton-Manns.

often delaying purchase for several months while they do. We’ve also seen a decrease in the ‘nice-to-have’ extras such as cabs.” Hamilton-Manns said tractor manufacturers were positive about the future as shown in the heavy investment in R&D to improve technology, reduce maintenance costs and meet emission standards. Manufacturers and retailers were also investing more in training, aftermarket support and parts supply. “Our advice to all farmers and consumers is to buy machinery from a recognised New Zealand dealer as you can be assured of access to parts and great service later.” Buying machines from overseas can

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The Shelbourne Reynolds Power Spread Pro, imported and distributed by Toplink Machinery, is a range of side-delivery spreaders designed to handle both slurry and solid manures. Toplink Machinery owner David Williams says the concept behind the machine’s development was to boost capacity and increase discharge rates to bring it in line with the output expected from similarly sized rear-discharge spreaders. All models, with capacities from 8m3 to 14.5m3, employ a large-diameter horizontal auger to convey material to the centrally positioned rotor which then powers it out to the right of the machine to create an even, 25m wide spread pattern. The use of vertical rather than sloping sides used in other brands, along with an agitator unit eliminates any tendency for material to bridge above the auger as the spreader empties. “Aware that extraneous material such as lengths of wood and large stones can ﬁnd their way into a spreader and cause blockages, Shelbourne has built in a raft of protection and clearance systems for the Powerspread Pro,” David says. “For starters, the main drive from the PTO has a shear-bolt protection and two further shear-bolts provide overload protection for the rotor and auger drive - both of which employ simple chain-and-sprocket drive systems. The paddles are attached to the rotor by a single bolt and, as a result, when an

obstacle is encountered, rotate backwards to prevent damage.” Should the system experience a blockage, access to the machine is made easy by raising the exit door slide to its full extent and in a class leading, industry first, being able to hydraulically lower the rotor to below floor level so the maximum accessible area becomes available. A reverse-drive facility is also fitted to the feeding auger as standard enabling the operator to reverse the central feed auger in the event of a blockage. For maintenance, a bank of greasing points is placed conveniently at the front of the spreader and supplies grease to all the main bearings. Chain tensioners ensure the two drive chains always run correctly. Running gear comprises large-diameter tyres on a single axle with an option for tandem axles with steering. Options extend to air brakes instead of hydraulic brakes and, for those needing to know precise application rates, weigh cells can be fitted. “The proof of the design is in the way manure is spread, and the speed at which it can be spread,” David says. On this score, the even pattern created is exemplary and the speed of operation more than equals that of similarly sized rear-discharge machines.” Shelbourne spreaders are available through Toplink Machinery’s nationwide network of dealers.

62 |

DAIRY SERVICES » Power Farming Wairarapa

NZ Dairy

New branch opens in the Wairarapa Karen Phelps Power Farming now has a dedicated branch in the Wairarapa meaning for the first-time customers in the region can have easy access to a full range service, says dealer principal Stephen Alford. The new branch is stocked up with tons of gear and equipment and Stephen says reception from the locals has been extremely positive and he is looking forward to getting to know both existing and new customers. Stephen operates this branch, as well as the Feilding branch in a joint venture with Power Farming Group owner Geoff Maber. Stephen started off working for Power Farming about ten years ago before buying into Power Farming Feilding around five years ago. Having spent his childhood on his family farm and with a background as a mechanic Stephen brings a wealth of expertise to Power Farming customers in the Wairarapa. He is joined in the branch by sales person Andy Wilson, who will be known to many locals already as he lives in the region and has worked in the industry for many years. Power Farming Wairarapa offers a full range of new tractors representing brands such as DeutzFahr, SAME, Kioti, Merlo Telehandlers and Versatile. It also offers new machinery sales including Kverneland and Greatplains cultivation, Jaylor feed mixers and Taarup and McHale grass machinery. There is an ever-changing range of used gear and a parts and service department. Services include on farm servicing, routine maintenance, welding, electrical repairs and diagnostics. Power Farming is the biggest agricultural wholesaler in Australasia. Stephen says a key advantage for Wairarapa customers is the backing and support of Power Farming Group. For example Power Farming Wairarapa’s full product

Power Farming now has a dedicated branch in the Wairarapa, meaning first-time customers in the region can have easy access to a full range service. range is supported by a strong team of technical service managers who provide service backup and assistance, service training and warranty administration. Technicians are available on a 24 hour / 7 days a week basis and are supported by six personnel based at the head office who offer over 150 years of knowledge and experience. “At Power Farming Wairarapa we also have access to all stock held in New Zealand or Australia

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with over 100,000 line items electronically linked and spread across the Australasian warehouses. This ensures our customers receive a speedy supply of parts,” says Stephen. He says this is backed by the highly skilled staff employed by both the Wairarapa and Feilding branches that can be utilized where most needed meaning faster and better service for customers in the Wairarapa than ever before. Stephen says Power Farming Wairarapa will

offer a personal one-on-one service to clients focusing on getting to know each customer individually and their specific needs. “We’re locally owned and operated so we know what’s happening in the region. It’s about finding out what our customers want and then delivering that to them along with our professional advice. “Our customers need to know we are there to service their needs both now and into the future and Power Farming is a name they can trust.”

Country people building for country people Taege Engineering has always had a close affinity with the farming community. It is a connection that stretches as far back as 1923 when Herbert Taege opened his blacksmith and repair shop. Nine decades later, Taege Engineering has evolved into a market-leading agricultural engineering company that specialises in providing innovative machinery solutions for New Zealand’s farmers and contractors. Having developed its own proven patented angle-mounted vibrating tyne and tungsten-faced tip system on all of its ground-engaging machines, Taege is confident that its agricultural equipment produces the best results in most conditions. Now owned and operated by Keith Taege, the company’s range of products includes specialised seeds drills for pasture renovation and cropping farms, cultivators, tyre rollers, post drivers and custom builds, with a range of upgrade options to suit any individual situation or terrain. Its employees are a dedicated and hard-working team of engineers and support staff in both Sheffield, Canterbury, and its Middleton assembly plant in Christchurch. Jody Horrell, of Cheviot, is a committed user of the Taege Engineering M3 Metering System. He uses it on his Taege drill which spans not only his family farm, but also in his contracting business. As a principal of Horrells Contracting, he employs the drilling system to sow seed on clients’ properties during spring and autumn, planting grass, grain, brassicas and other green feed. “I’ve dealt with Taege Engineering quite a bit over a period of time. This is the third drill I’ve bought from them and the second with this metering system on it,” he says. “It allows us to sow different combinations of seed, not only applying fertiliser but broadcasting clover and other small seeds to ensure we have thorough coverage. “The drill has two hoppers which respectively hold seed and fertiliser; then there’s the M3 Metering System hopper which can broadcast other seed or bait off the back of it. “It provides a lot more versatility and choice of options with what we’re doing. We’ve used it for over a year during spring and autumn and it produces excellent results with accurate even coverage. “It allows us to offer the farmer a range of ways to sow his crops. One of its advantages is that it is very easy to set up and calibrate. You don’t have to mix all the seed up in one box. Having the seed in different boxes gives you more options to suit a farmers requirements while giving an accurate account of seed used.” The distribution ratio is more balanced, providing a more efficient, more precise operation. Taege Engineering has a reputation for producing high-quality machinery which is built to last and holds its value, Horrell says. “Their service is outstanding and they are quick to respond. I remember one occasion when we rang them up after having an accident with a drill and they had a new one to us by the next morning,” he says. “With their research and development, they’re always looking to be ahead of the game. They listen to you if you suggest possible refinements a nd make little improvements when it is appropriate. Their product works very well and it is great for our business.”

NZ Dairy

DAIRY SERVICES » Agriline

| 63

Clean, chip beet for healthier cows Mike Hamlin, of agricultural machinery importer Agriline, urges farmers feeding fodder beet to clean and chip their beet for healthier cows and more production. “Experienced vets and nutritionists all over the world are saying beet needs to be cleaned,” he says. “Cows can eat about 1kg of dirt a day from eating grass. A practice in New Zealand with the grazing of beet is forcing cows to eat excessive dirt– the cows are getting anywhere from five to 10kgs of dirt per day, and this kills cows.” Studies show dirt reduces a cow’s ability to absorb copper in their diet, and strips essential nutrients out of their body. While the cleaning machine is more of a contractor’s machine, from the farmer’s point of view it removes stones and 90% of the dirt off the beet. The chipping machine however is perfect for use by a farmer. “Farmers feeding whole beet to their cows are creating a lot of wastage and missing out on weight gains and production gains,” Mike says. “A fodder beet can weigh up to 20kgs, it’s like us trying to eat a whole pumpkin without cutting it up. Farmers need to chip it down so the cow can lick it into her mouth and swallow it. The smaller the pieces, the faster her system can metabolise it, and the better the weight gain and production gain.” Agriline’s beet chippers come in a range of sizes with the smallest bucket chipping one ton of beet in just over 90 seconds, and the largest bucket chips three ton of beet in 90

seconds. “For those who believe grazing beet is the most economical way, the wastage in the field is enough to pay for the harvesting, cleaning, and chipping,” Mike says. “Harvesting and grazing cost about the same, but if you can feed your cows 30% more and not waste it, then you won’t have to plant as much, and a whole chain of events turn into a saving.”

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Mike’s other machinery line that has huge benefits to farmers are the Vigolo mulchers, and he takes an idea from Northland farmers who have been using mulchers to get rid of kikuyu grass. “It’s a nightmare grass uncontrolled, but if its mulched properly, it does have a high feed value,” Mike says. “If you mulch instead of using a mower the grass growth resulting from it has proved to be about 20% better than topping. Mulched

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grass feeds organisms in the soil and the regrowth is due to this, but toppings often sit on the top of grass left and don’t break down for a long time. Agriline has done a huge amount of background research to find the best possible mulcher, and now stocks the Vigolo, with a large diameter rotor, a high horsepower rating, a double row of chains, a triple flails, and heavy duty, built to last construction.

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NZ Dairy

64 |

COMPANY OVERVIEW

SILVAN SILV LVA LV VAN CORE VALUES V LUES VA Quality, ty reliability ty, r lia re i bility ia ty and ty and innovation innova v tion va

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These values determine how Silvan operates with commitment to the success of customers, partners, investors and employees. Silvan embraces change and growth, facing the challenges and opportunities of modern agriculture. More than 50 years later, Silvan are still leaders in the agricultural market and focused on creating a productive future. SILVAN SPRAYERS

Founded in 1962 by Michael Tricarico, Silvan is devoted to those connected to the land. The Silvan brand has always pioneered superior technology, durability and delivered dedicated support. Silvan and their “big red tanks” have become a constant in the Australian and New Zealand agricultural landscape.

Leader’s in the design of high and low volume horticultural sprayers, Silvan has evolved into the largest Australasian manufacturer of world-class crop protection sprayers and related machinery. Specialised equipment has been developed for crops including vegetables, grapes, apples, pears, citrus, bananas, olives, sugar cane and turf. SERVICE & SPARE PARTS Silvan understands that when a customer invests in equipment, they are looking for a product accompanied by prompt and reliable after-sales support. At Silvan, we pride ourselves on the quality of our products as well as our customer service and support.

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NZ Dairy

DAIRY SERVICES » Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions

| 65

Friendly, personalised service Richard Loader Providing friendly, personalized service is a key success factor for Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions, the South Taranaki based rural and dairy farm specialist. Based in Normanby, the business covers all of South & Central Taranaki, down to Waverley, coastal to Opunake, Stratford and all the places in between. Formed by registered electrician Chris Perrett in 2011, the business grew quickly resulting in important employment opportunities for the town. “Now we have four registered electricians; myself, Ian, Reece and Craig along with three apprentices; Jamie, Steven and Aimee. My wife, Sara is co-owner and Office Manager and we also have Stephanie who’s the office assistant,” says managing director Chris. Proud of his staff, Chris says they are well presented, honest, reliable and liaise well with customers. Chris has a loyal following of dairy farmers, some of whom have been with him for the last 18 years. That loyalty has been the result of 24/7 availability, ensuring that any interruptions to a farmer’s power supply and business continuity is minimized. “Working in with a farmer’s schedule, being available when required and having a good working relationship with farmers and other trades and suppliers has been a critical factor in our success,” says Chris. “I always make sure that we are working in with all the stakeholders to make things happen and flow continuously.” Chris relates the story where a customer had a milking shed fire that destroyed the milk room area. He was called at 4pm by the farmer and was at the shed by 5pm as the last hotspots were being dampened down. A plan was made to enable the electrical supply to be restored and the milking operation re-established for the morning. The grateful farmer wrote a lengthy letter of appreciation and is no doubt a customer for life. Chris says that having a good database of key contacts in other trades and services enables him to more effectively diagnose, problem solve and fix issues that have not previously arisen. Those contacts will invariably pick his brains too with the end consumer ultimately benefiting from robust networking. EIghteen months ago, Chris was concerned that the reduced dairy payouts might have impacted on his business but it hasn’t been the case. The firm is still doing breakdown and repair work and many farmers are putting new sheds

Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions covers all of South & Central Taranaki, down to Waverley, coastal to Opunake, Stratford and all the places in between.

in. “We do anything from a brand new wire up of a new dairy shed right down to replacing the light switch in the out house,” says Chris. “We do a lot of effluent systems, generator installations, lighting solutions for cow sheds

and peoples houses, water reticulations and automated dairy systems.” Chris says that shed automations are getting more prevalent. He has noticed that as they become more advanced they are also getting more economical and believes that

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they will soon be the norm for the industry. “We have grown from one to nine staff. I think we are big enough now. When you start getting too big you start losing that personal touch. That’s what I don’t want to lose,” says Chris.

66 |

DAIRY SERVICES » Taunt Contracting

NZ Dairy

Top quality work from Taunt Contracting Karen Phelps Taunt Contracting Ltd has established its reputation on offering clients an eclectic variety of services. It’s helped the company to not only survive but thrive for around 50 years and new services are still being added in response to customer demand, says company manager Barry Taunt. The latest is an agricultural chemical spraying service. A new Bertolini spray tank has been purchased and Barry has completed his qualification to become a registered chemical applicator. The company can not only apply chemicals but also nitrogen, seaweed and anything else customers require, says Barry. The service complements the others the company has been offering for a long time in the region, including pit silage, round and square baling and wrapping, drilling, fertiliser spreading, cultivation, earthmoving and bulk cartage. Taunt Contracting not only talks the talk it also walk the walk. The family based business is run from the Taunt family’s dairy grazing farm near Stratford. The 100ha farm runs between 120 beef cattle rearing them to R2 heifers, 120 weaner beefies, 50 May to May heifers and winters 300 dairy cows. Surplus grass grown on the farm is sold as supplement. Barry says this gives them a sound understanding of their customers’ needs. Barry’s father Les started contracting around 50 years ago, cutting hedges and carting metal out of the quarry located on the farm. Prior to that, Les’s own father had removed metal on a horse and cart. Today, Barry’s mother Lynn takes charge in the office with help from his sister Kelly. Two full time staff are employed and in the peak of the harvesting season up to eight additional is taken on to ease the pressure. Brother Glen runs the workshop and coordinates the quarry operation, which has a crushing plant, two diggers (12 tonne and 27 tonne) and a Hitachi loader. There are two trucks to cart the metal, which is sold for farm races. Barry says keeping up with the latest technology is an important aspect of the operation. For example,Taunt Contracting has one eight tonne fertiliser spreader, computerised with GPS for mapping and also applying at variable rates. A Vaderstad disc drill can apply up to four products in one pass and can also plant crops

Taunt Contracting Ltd has established its reputation on offering clients an eclectic variety of services.

including green feed maize. He says the company’s Pottinger Toro wagons are some of the best wagons on the market, with great features in speed, grass chop and load capacity. According to Mr Taunt, the company’s wide range of services has proved a winner with farmers. “Farming operations are bigger and busier

these days and the farmers have found that they can make one call to us to organise all their requirements rather than having to organise different contractors for things. Work is completed from Hawera to Inglewood.” Being farmers themselves, Barry says the family recognises the tough times many farmers are facing at present. “At Taunt Contracting we take great pride in

delivering top quality work to our customers, in this challenging environment. For that reason, we like to work closely with our customers to make sure their individual needs are met. “With farming becoming more intensive and feed needing to be of the highest quality, it is of great importance to us that our customers get the most for their money.”

Making the exceptional afforable Supplying the best in quality of products, service, systems and people 027 672 3143

A/H 06 765 7261

www.adanlarsenbuilders.co.nz / a.k.larsen@xtra.co.nz Adan Larsen Building Contractor Ltd • 382 Brookes Road, RD 21, Stratford

027 450 5254 sales@hydraulink.com www.hydraulink.com

NZ Dairy

DAIRY PEOPLE » Steve & Amber Brown

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Not frightened of giving it a go RIchard Loader “I’m proud that I’m not frightened to have a go,” says Northland farmer Steve Brown. “I believe in the collaborative approach to life and want everyone to do well.’ Growing up on a mixed sheep, beef and dairy farm, Steve left school and home at 16 to pursue a career in dairy farming. Over a 19-year period, Steve progressed from working for wages, to lower order and 50:50 sharemilking, the acquisition of his own farmland and ultimately working on his own farms. Starting with nothing, it’s a remarkable story of determination and focus that has lead Steve and his wife Amber to own three dairy farms in the Hikurangi area. “I was fortunate to have worked with progressive farmers,” says Steve. “The education, support and guidance I gained from them were invaluable.” It was guidance that saw Steve purchasing his own stock, leasing them to the farmers for additional income and gradually building up his herd to 250 cows. Later, when working 50/50 sharemilking, the farm owner acted as guarantor for a loan enabling Steve to buy farmland. In 2004, Steve, Amber and their three children made the move to their own farm in Whakapara. “The home farm is 170ha effective of flat to rolling land,” says Steve. “We purchased 100ha in 2000 and have been slowly adding to it. We are surrounded by lots of lifestyle and bigger blocks.” The couple owns two other dairy farms; each with sheds and contract milkers. The three farms are within 5k’s of each other enabling Steve to keep close operational oversight. 450 cross breed cows are milked off the home farm and this year Steve made the decision to milk once-a-day. Partly driven by lifestyle improvement, it’s also a strategy to improve the herd by

Steve Brown was approached by Fonterra to see if he would be part of the Living Waters programme, a joint venture between Fonterra and The Department of Conservation. Pictured is Steve Brown inspecting the kohuhu on his farm with Fonterra’s Tim Brandeburg.

reducing empty rates, retaining older and better performing cows, focusing on better breeding and being more selective. “I’m enjoying it,” says Steve. “The production’s not so good at the moment but hopefully we will come through it.” Once a giant wetland, the Hikurangi flood plain has been largely drained and developed for agriculture and lifestyle blocks. As such Steve’s farm is prone to partial flooding.

A couple of years ago, Steve was approached by Fonterra to see if he would be interested in being part of the Living Waters programme, a joint venture between Fonterra and the Department of Conservation. The programme is designed to improve biodiversity and water quality across New Zealand. A triangular section of land half the size of a rugby field was identified as a good location to create a blue print for what could be achieved

without too much cost in the Hikurangi area. It’s also visible from the roadside. “The district council, local Iwi and kids from Kamo High School have been involved. A few thousand trees and flaxes have been planted and we are already seeing a return of the birdlife,” says Steve. “I’m focused on new challenges. “I always have been. It’s what attracted me to farming right from the start; it’s not always about the money.”

“I’m focused on new challenges. I always have been. It’s what attracted me to farming right from the start; it’s not always about the money.”

120 Lower Dent St, Whangarei (Ph 09 438 3844) Proud to be supporting Steve & Amber Brown www.northlandfarm.co.nz 106 Jervois St, Dargaville (Ph 09 439 4005)

Providing sales, servicing and accessories for ATV, quad, motorcycles and side by side road and farm bikes.

Specialist in: Bulk Cartage, Livestock & Logging

0800 963 636

P: 09 438 1020 E: info@semenoffgroup.co.nz

Fertiliser • Palm Kernel • Sand • Scoria • Metal

www.rousemc.co.nz • 09 433 8471 Corner George & Kings Street, Hikurangi, 0251

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Trade page

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NORTHLAND TRADE SERVICES & EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY AUTOMOTIVE

ACCOUNTING

SERVICING FROM MAUNGATUROTO TO TE KAO FOR DIESEL DELIVERY 0800 111 666 GENERAL ENQUIRIES 09 622 2671 EMAIL US ON minitankers@z.co.nz

Modern, friendly & enthusiastic.

MOTORHOME CARS TRUCKS VANS 4x4

Rural & Farming Accounting, Small Businesses, Rental Property and Book Keeping Tony Noonan 021 279 5863 A/H 09 438 4485 E: tony@assertive.co.nz | 14 Kereru St, Maunu, Whangarei

09 434 7377 ␣ 021 344 839

office@accounta.co.nz AGRICULTURE

The Short Drop Ltd. Portable composting toilet Self contained unit No smell, cost effective Modular and practical ...an eco way to deal with poo!

Sowing mixtures to suit all pastures

106 Jervois St, Dargaville (Ph 09 439 4005) 120 Lower Dent St, Whangarei (Ph 09 438 3844)

Anita Grant • 027 462 1339

www.northlandfarm.co.nz

CONTRACTING

Full household wastewater systems also available: www.swwsnz.co.nz

compostingtoilet.co.nz FORESTRY

CONTRACTING CALL US TODAY FOR A FREE QUOTE

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING THE HARVEST OF ANY • Radiata • Poplar • Eucalyptus • Cypress • Cedars • Redwood • M/species Pine • All others We have markets for managed or unmanaged stands in all species listed. We can offer forest & woodlot owners a professional service with a variety of financial options, all guaranteed to vendors specifications.

“PLAN YOUR HARVEST NOW” Able Tasman Forestry Services | Toll Free 0800 655 657 Mt Maunganui 07 548 1506 | Email ableltd@clear.net.nz

REPAIR & MAINTENANCE

QUARRIES

• Crushed LIMESTONE Metal $8.00 • BROWN Rock $3.00 (all plus GST)

Jason Williamson • 09 439 4336 • 027 499 2530 Blair Williamson • 027 609 5157 Phil Williamson • 09 439 6104 • 027 477 0199

REPAIR & MAINTENANCE

Well Drilling • Horizontal Drilling Anchoring & Slip Drainage Specialists Retaining Walls Platipus Earth Anchoring Systems Water Bores

Ph 09 459 1350 Mobile: 021 399 967

Mowing · Hedges · Pruning · Rubbish Removal · Weed Spraying · Gardening Water-blasting · Fencing Services · Painting · Decorating · Colour Consultancy Kitchen Design · Custom Made Blinds · Building Repairs · Odd Jobs

For more information please visit www.odjobs.co.nz Gavin Walker

Mobile. 021 926 362 Ofﬁce. 09 972 88 78 Email. info@walkerpropertymaintenance.co.nz 458 Baylys Coast Road, RD7, Dargaville 0377

PEST CONTROLS

SOFT ON THE FEET, SOFT ON THE POCKET - RING US NOW BEFORE YOU’VE FORGOTTEN IT • Quarry Run LIMESTONE $6.00

Waimate North • 4059393 • aar@outlook.co.nz

Walker Property Maintenance Limited

ADVERTISING IS GREAT FOR BUSINESS! Get new clients with regular print media Phone: 03 983 5551 Fax: 03 983 5552

waterfordpress.co.nz

We can help by humanely and professionally removing them from your precious pasture and clean water ways. We obey all the sportsman shooting laws and have 25 years shooting experience. We supply everything and ask only for your permission to enter your land.

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Trade page

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TARANAKI TRADE SERVICES & EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY AUTOMOTIVE

CLEANING & WATERBLASTING

MOTORHOME CARS TRUCKS VANS 4x4 + GST + GST

AGRICULTURE

FORESTRY

Suppliers and installers of your dairy milk cooling needs, and compliant with MPTA farm machine check requirements

Maize & Grass Silage • Hay & Haylage Groundwork & Cropping Bulk Cartage & Track Maintenance ph. 06 763 8765 www.goodinag.co.nz Coastal based, servicing Taranaki wide

• Radiata • Poplar • Eucalyptus • Cypress • Cedars • Redwood • M/species Pine • All others We have markets for managed or unmanaged stands in all species listed. We can offer forest & woodlot owners a professional service with a variety of financial options, all guaranteed to vendors specifications.

“PLAN YOUR HARVEST NOW” Able Tasman Forestry Services | Toll Free 0800 655 657 Mt Maunganui 07 548 1506 | Email ableltd@clear.net.nz

31 Richmond Street, Inglewood, 4330 Email: info@northernfarmservices.co.nz

FIREWOOD

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING THE HARVEST OF ANY

HEALTH

We’re here for Taranaki’s hearing health

ANIMAL BEDDING Pick up by arrangement or delivered to your farm! Stand Off Pads Calf and Goat Sheds Wintering Barns — Untreated ground up waste wood — — Raw material stockpiled then ground to order — — Pick up or delivered to your farm — 10m and 65m³ truck loads — — 10m³, 20m³,

Call us to learn how we can help

06 755 2047

Take care of your hearing. Call us to book an assessment and experience the difference we can make! Phone 0800 751 000. 58 Fulford St, New Plymouth. Clinics also at Hawera and Stratford www.centralaudiology.co.nz

124 De Havilland Drive, Bell Block • office@woodwardsfirewood.co.nz

www.woodwardsfirewood.co.nz

LOCKSMITH

We offer a complete range of hearing services including: full diagnostic hearing evaluations; tinnitus assessments and therapy; high-quality hearing instruments to suit individual lifestyles and budgets. Established 18 years ago, our six wellrounded clinicians have varied backgrounds and audiological interests. Central Audiology Taranaki is whole-heartedly committed to Taranaki, and the only 100% locally-owned and operated independent audiology clinic in Taranaki.

PEST CONTROL

MOTOROA

LOCKS

• Farm & house security health checks • Security surveys • Security keying for commercial buildings • Safe supply and maintenance • Key cutting • Cutting unusual keys for vintage locks • Lockouts and 24/7 service

Taking care of your home, farm and vehicles

CONTACT TARANAKI FISH & GAME FOR ASSISTANCE TO MOVE THEM ON

5 Hine Street New Plymouth 4310 thegoodjobboys@gmail.com

• ADVICE ON OPTIONS AND TECHNIQUES • HIRE OF GAS GUNS • ISSUING OF ‘PERMITS TO DISTURB’ TO KEEP IT ALL LEGAL

Make Motoroa Locks your first call - 027 751 0900

New Plymouth Office Allen on (06) 757 9676 or 027 263 9152

Whanganui Office Jilli on (06) 345 4908

Profile your business with the NZ Dairy Publication

COMPANY: Te Rapa Tyres Centre

Trade page PRICE

70 |

$247.00 + GST

COLOUR

ATTN: Aaron Stevens

Full

STATUS

NEW AD

RE: Trade Waikato Feature

DATE AD MADE

DATE 12-05-16 AD CORRECTED

ISSUE: DNZ02 2016

20-05-16

ARTIST

Liki

NZ Dairy

For any advert changesTRADE or corrections please contact: Sarah McQuilkin 03 983 5560 WAIKATO SERVICES & EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY AUTOMOTIVE

BUTCHERY

MOTORHOME CARS TRUCKS VANS 4x4

AGRICULTURE

CONSTRUCTION

For all your lime and fertiliser needs Obligation Free Quotes Mob 027 487 8981 *Steve 07 827 3164 OR Mob 027 220 2010 *Grant 07 827 4857

RD4 Cambridge

New Zealand’s Best Source of Low Cadmium Non-water Soluble Phosphate Servicing Farmers New Zealand Wide

info@nelisfert.co.nz 0800 289337 www.nelisfert.co.nz

CONSTRUCTION

Light, Tough, Durable.

Suitable for all oxidation ponds, farming, municipal applications and large scale effluent processing

(and way more practical than a flamin’ wellside)

MANUFACTURING & CONSTRUCTION OF TOP QUALITY BARNS

“PLAN YOUR HARVEST NOW” Able Tasman Forestry Services | Toll Free 0800 655 657 Mt Maunganui 07 548 1506 | Email ableltd@clear.net.nz

REPAIR & MAINTENANCE

TRAINING & QUALIFICATION

NZ Dairy

Feature index

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BAY OF PLENTY TRADE SERVICES & EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY AUTOMOTIVE

CONSTRUCTION & MANUFACTURE

BEST FENCE. NO BULL. • Farm Gates & Fences • Residential Landscaping • Specialty Horse Fencing • Retaining Walls

MOTORHOME CARS TRUCKS VANS 4x4

• Custom Design Gates • Lifestyle Post & Rail • Post Ramming • Parks & Public Reserve Structures • Orchard Structures

Get in touch with Taurua Fencing for an efficient and affordable solution to your fencing needs today. Jason Bailey - 027 711 9865 Steph Brackstone - 027 362 3356

info@taurusfencing.co.nz | www.taurusfencing.co.nz

CONTRACTING

FORESTRY

REPAIR & MAINTENANCE

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING THE HARVEST OF ANY

• Earthmoving • Dairy grazing • Full cultivation • Mowing & raking • Baled Silage and Hay • Truck & trailer cartage • Maize planting & harvesting • Purchase and supply of stock feed • Grass silage (fine chop or loader wagon)

“PLAN YOUR HARVEST NOW”

027 3289765 • A/H 07 577 9006 seancuffcontracting@gmail.com

Able Tasman Forestry Services | Toll Free 0800 655 657 Mt Maunganui 07 548 1506 | Email ableltd@clear.net.nz

facebook.com/seancuffcontracting

FEATURE INDEX » AgFirst Engineering ..................................... 2-3

John Austin Ltd ................................................. 27

Al & Vicki McFetridge ............................. 53-54

John & Mary Washer ........................................ 26

Anchor Jerseys ............................................... 4

Kevin Ferris .................................................. 31-32

Bernie & Val Rye ............................................. 5

Lance & Sarah Fenton ...................................... 51

Brent Pocock ................................................... 6

Machinery & Equipment .............................. 61-62

Brett & Denise Larmer .................................... 7

Mainland Engineering Dairy Systems .............. 34-35

CT Contracting ................................................ 8

Mike & Tracey O’Sullivan .................................. 18

Cave Farms ..................................................... 9

Milldale Farm ............................................... 36-37

Chad Winkie .................................................. 10

Murray Free Contracting Ltd ............................. 38

Chris Perrett Electrical .................................. 65

Neil & Glenda Gray ...................................... 39-40

Clarence & Elise Stolte ........................... 55-56

Paul & Diana Capes ..................................... 41-42

Codd Contracting .......................................... 12

Phil & Wendy Whitechurch ............................... 60

Colin & Bernice Jensen ........................... 13-15

Plantation Road Dairy ....................................... 43

Craig & Tania Rowe ................................ 16-17

Pumpn .......................................................... 45-46

Craig Mann Agricultural Ltd .......................... 28

Robbie Sherriff .................................................. 47

CT Contracting ................................................ 8

Roger & Jane Hutchings .............................. 57-58

Damian & Jane Roper ................................... 11

Russell Chambers ............................................. 30

Kendale Dairy (Emma Gibb) .......................... 20

Scott & Nat Gillam ............................................ 25

Fabish & Jackson .................................... 21-22

Steve & Amber Brown ....................................... 67

Graeme Fox & Richard Pittam ...................... 23

Taunt Contracting Ltd ........................................ 66

Grant & Charlotte Bennett ............................. 49

Terry & Jenny Managh ...................................... 52

Highgate Farms ............................................. 59

Tongariro Landcorp ........................................... 48

Imeson Cutforth ............................................ 24

Tony & Maureen Luckin .................................... 50

James Kinston .............................................. 29

Trolove Duggan ................................................. 44

John & Michael Hammond ............................ 28

Wairarapa Rural Livestock ................................ 19

BUGGER IT’S METAL —I CAN’T GET IN!

I KNOW!

STOPS LEAVES, RATS & BIRDS 0800 333 101 ○ www.guttersolutionz.co.nz

Merry Christmas to Everyone John K Morris CEO of Agrissentials

Here is something to ponder about over Christmas. Would you believe that planting a third of your farm in shelter belts makes your farm more productive than farms of equivalent area where there are no trees at all (Canadian Research - check it out). These shelter belts trap carbon dioxide, the heaviest naturally occurring atmospheric gas, found mostly in the lowest levels of the atmosphere and an essential component of photosynthesis. Increased carbon dioxide under the right conditions will produce stronger photosynthesis and stronger plants. The life history of a tree is also the life history of water. Trees are the highest form of plant life; as human beings are of animals. Humans and trees are marvellously independent. Trees, through the process of photosynthesis, exhale the oxygen we need for survival and in return absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale. As with so many of nature’s

interdependencies, this is a symbiotic exchange, a co-operative transaction. Were there no trees and other vegetation there would be no animal, human or micro-organisms on our planet. Through our mindless deforestation we have already reduced the amount of oxygen and water available to us. With summer here, I will be sailing up to the Bay of Islands, out of Auckland. I do this every year. It’s a nice area to sail in. We sail past many small and larger islands which are under strict control of the ‘Department of Conversation’! These islands have good tree and plant cover. The bees and the micro-organisms have the ability to call moisture in. So, as a farmer, if you were to plant shelter belts around your farm, you will be encouraging moisture and microbial wealth within those sheltered areas which also work to decrease the wind on your farm. With the help of micro-organisms and worms the trees help to establish topsoil. In a spade spit of soil with 10

worms this would equate to 2.5 million worms per hectare, which produce 6 tonne of natural nitrogen per hectare per year through their casting all completely safe, environmentally friendly with the nitrogen stored safely in the soil, how cool is that, free, friendly nitrogen. The regional councils will be over the moon with that! The carbon tax is rearing its head once again, however. It is a two edge sword and for those farmers planting beneficial trees around their farm, this could evolve into another stream of income. In one of the articles I was reading recently, they mentioned two trees; Douglas Fir, which has beautiful strong grains and also Redwood, which is basically in the same ball park. The good thing about Redwood is when it is cut down it has 4–5 small leaders emerge from the trunk and with an established root system already in place, saves planting and speeds up the growth. Here at Agrissentials our whole focus is on the soil. Soil is the engine room of the farm. Our job is purely to

increase the mineral content of your soil and to increase the microbial wealth within your soil. The soil is the engine and the minerals are the fuel. However the minerals must be in a completely natural form. The micro-organisms convert the natural minerals into a plant available form, wrapping them in humus, so that they won’t leach from the soil. The plant roots draw up the minerals; these natural minerals are recognised at the cellular level of the plant, ensuring growth and vitality. The humus produced by the micro-organisms not only holds the minerals, but also water, increasing the water retention quality of the farms soil. This system of mineral transfer has been operating on the planet for the past 460 million years and that system, without interference, is still working on our planet today. So, go with the ultimate system, multi-mineral, microbial rich, certified, Organx™ fertilisers. You won’t ever look back!

Call the team today on 0800 THE KEY for a FREE INFO PACK, that’s 0800 843 539 to find out how we can partner with you to find a better way of farming. Alternatively you can contact your best on earth fertiliser representative. Northland - Mike Jujnovich on 021 669 059. Coromandel/North, Central & East Waikato - Chris Storm on 021 738 609. South/West Waikato - Ken Pitts on 027 5023. Taranaki - Kat Angelo on 021 873 304. Manawatu - Ben Tippens on 021 738 601. Ashburton - Char Bloomfield on 027 205 0874. Timaru - Murray Nichol on 027 655 4360. Mosgiel - Darryn Graves on 027 288 0140. Southland - Ailsa Broughton on 027 681 1100 to grab your special deal today.

Introducing Agrissentials Microbial Mascot

“Tommy Tardigrada” Representing front row material for good healthy soil! Tommy weighs in at approx .0005 of a gram, with an overall height of .5 of a millimetre, almost the size of a poppy seed. Tommy and his billions of “tardigrada” friends are at the “coal face” of soil enhancement, bringing life and vitality to the soil. The more diversity of micro-organisms you have in your soil the more production you will gain from your soil. www.agrissentials.com 0800 843 539

rok@agrissentials.com

Best on earth Organx™ fertilisers