Farm characteristics

Vegetation

Good pasture development on all of the flats and rolling hills with 16 hectares of winter crops grown comprising of a mix of fodder beet, swedes and kale. Medium hill country cover is mainly native pastures with some matagouri. Limited areas of weed that are regularly sprayed.

Paddock subdivision

Range of smaller more intensive paddocks on the flats increasing to larger block on the higher altitude country. Total of 33 paddocks which includes 6 larger paddocks on the hill.

Fertility

Regular annual applications of fertiliser (typically 300kg per ha of Super Ten 20S) to the flats/downs with additional fertiliser applied to newly sown paddocks. Note: 1 tonne per hectare of Lime was applied to the hill 7 years ago.

Nutrient management

Farm Environment Plan is in process. Overseer Report (version 6.2.3) shows N loss of 10 and P loss of 10.6 (kg/ ha/year).

Soils

The flatter areas of the farm are made up of a combination of the below soil types. (The Hill area and southern part of the farm is not currently mapped). Longridge – Shallow, poorly drained, silt Lintley – Shallow well drained, silt Pukemiku – Shallow, imperfectly drained silt Hokonui – moderately deep, poorly drained, silt over clay

Benrock – shallow, well drained silt (60/40 mix)

[Source of soil information: smap.landcareresearch.co.nz]

Contour

Good mix of flat to rolling hill, with medium hill to the rear of the property.