SHAREHOLDER FOCUS
Field day for environmental focus farm Hope Hill Farm, situated in the heart of the Waikato, lies to the east of Cambridge in the hills of Te Miro. This picturesque farm, comprising 265 effective hectares of mixed soil type (Otorohanga silt loam on the flats and rolling country and PeriaKakepuku hill soils), has been under the current ownership structure for the past 3 years. It is managed by Luke and Tracey Campion, who have an excellent working relationship with the Farmlands Hautapu store. Luke explains that their mission statement involves “increasing profit, whilst being environmentally conscious in a continuous, sustainable way”.
on age and size, are finished by December or May.
Currently, Hope Hill runs 400 R2 dairy grazers and 350 bull-beef through winter, with 290 R1 dairy heifers arriving at the beginning of December. The aim is to have bulls finished by the end of December and off the property to make room for the dairy weaners. The beef steers, depending
“We used turnips followed by forage rape this past summer. I favour rape as it yielded well and gave more flexibility and although we implemented a full insecticide programme on both turnips and rape, the rape held its quality better with production costs at 14 cents per kg dry matter.
Weed control, increased soil fertility and pasture species are under review and Luke says they have identified some user friendly contour land to plant 15ha of a summer crop to finish off the R2 dairy grazers, which also assists with eczema management. “Stock are break-fed on this from 1st February through until 1st April. Annual rye is planted on this same cropping area to give winter production. We are still evaluating what crops will work best for us, having used chicory in the summer of 2015 and brassicas in 2016,” he says.
“The insecticides used on the brassicas were insect species specific, lending themselves towards an Integrated Pest Monitoring (IPM) programme, which supports the green and friendly approach. Going forward, we are considering introducing fodder beet and sudan/sorghum as complementary to our cropping mix. Brett Turner, our Farmlands Technical Advisor, plays an important role in advising cropping and re-grassing options.” The beef and bull cattle are fattened on grass. The back boundary of 2.6km, being the highest elevation of the farm, borders the Mangakawa Bush Native Reserve, which acts as headwaters to the multitude of small waterways running through the farm, capturing the average rainfall of approximately 1,500mm per annum. There are also small pockets of bush within the property. Luke and the current owners realise the uniqueness of their property and had identified areas that they could
The yards and sheds at Hope Hill Farm.
6 | THE FARMLANDER
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