Country-Wide January 2019

GROWING NZ FARMING

THE DEER FARMER

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January 2019

Country-Wide

January 2018

Crop manager Nick Murdoch in maize grown under film on Willesden Farms in Canterbury. p44 1

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January 2018

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www.nzfarmlife.co.nz Country-Wide

January 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE

NEXT ISSUE Country-Wide February: • LANDCORP ANALYSIS: Scrutiny of the stateowned enterprise’s performance.

• PAY RATES: Compared to other industries farmers are finding it hard to recruit workers.

• TINIROTO STATION: A focus on maximising perhectare production while keeping a close eye on costs.

• ZERO CARBON ECONOMY: A Nuffield scholar explains why it isn’t physically possible by 2050.

• AWARD WINNING: Onfarm with a Hawke’s Bay couple who have been judged top crossbred wool growers.

Climate debate

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key role of a journalist is to provide information on an issue to readers and let them make their own decision about it.

So it was incredulous to read that Stuff would no longer consider “fiction” from climate change deniers.

When the climate change debate started to heat up, I like many people took only a passing interest. A lot of the information was in science speak about perceived consequences based on modelling far in the future. I tend to focus on the short term these days.

There was an apparent ground-swell supporting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which believes the world is doomed unless we change our ways.

So great was the onslaught of evidence supporting climate change dangers it became a sin to even dare suggest it might not be so dire. I’m not sure about the claim 97% of climate scientists support the IPCC as there still seem to be many questioning the IPCC’s findings.

We all took more of an interest when the New Zealand Government started pushing for a zero carbon economy by 2050 especially when an agricultural economist estimated the cost of doing so could be as high as a trillion dollars.

Well-known ag scientist Jock Allison is a

member of NZ Climate Science Coalition and calls himself a climate realist. He doesn’t believe we need to destroy our economy in a symbolic act of selfflagellation when NZ produces 0.17% of world emissions (see p24).

There are even those in the climate alarmist camp who don’t agree with their own team’s measures. People like Victoria University’s Climate Change Research Institute director David Frame who has been reported in the media as saying the focus should be on carbon not methane.

Columnist Jane Smith points out that with every 1% drop in GDP, NZ loses $800 million in tax and as a third world country, the focus will be on survival not innovation (p14).

Somehow the second-half of 2018 went quicker than expected. A lot of stories still left on the ’To do’ list, but there is always 2019. The main thing is to be around for 2019. I had another clear scan in October so while it is an arbitrary measure, if does give peace of mind for another six months.

So have a Merry Christmas, stay safe, and see you in 2019.

Terry Brosnahan

@CountryWideNZ @CountryWideNZ

Country-Wide

January 2018

Got any feedback? Contact the editor direct: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272.

Facebook.com/terry.brosnahan

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More: p69

BOUNDARIES Casting for recovery.

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It’s a man’s world.

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HOME BLOCK 10

Micha Johansen enjoys watching the grass grow.

Paul Burt reflects on the joys of discovery through reading. 11 12

Robert Hodgkins has a survival strategy for Brexit.

It’s been all go with changeable weather for Suzie Corboy. 13 14

Jane Smith writes a job description for new MPI head.

Andrew and Victoria Steven take a break from building new yards.

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NOTEBOOK 16

What’s on when and who’s doing what

FACTS

Reece Brick: Early store lamb sellers rake in cash.

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BUSINESS Manuka honey: Proceed with caution.

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Making manuka work.

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New grant covers 80% of manuka cost.

Beet more than just a crop.

Contents

KPIs: Consultants help drill down.

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KPIs: Hitting the targets.

KPIs: Flock revelations.

Branding: Delivering to the 2%.

Junior designer: Cassandra Cleland Production Planning: ph 06 280 3164

Editor: Terry Brosnahan, ph 03 471 5272; mob 027 249 0200; terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz

Reporters Andrew Swallow ph 021 745 183 Anne Hughes ph 07 863 3361; Lynda Gray ph 03 448 6222; Robert Pattison ph +64 27 889 8444; Sandra Taylor ph 021 151 8685; Tim McVeagh 06 329 4797; James Hoban ph 027 251 1986; Russell Priest ph 06 328 9852; Jo Cuttance ph 03 976 5599; Rebecca Harper ph 06 376 2884.

Social Media: Charlie Pearson, ph 06 280 3169

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KPIs: Joining the dots with deer.

Designer: Joanne Hannam, ph 06 280 3167

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KPIs: Value of KPIs limited.

Country-Wide is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740 General enquiries: Toll free 0800 2AG SUB (0800 224 782) www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

Deer Farmer Editor: Lynda Gray, ph 03 448 6222, lyndagray@xtra.co.nz

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Climate change: Doing nothing a good option.

Sub Editor: Andy Maciver, ph 06 280 3166, andy.maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz

Managing Editor: Tony Leggett, ph 06 280 3162 mob 0274 746 093, tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Partnerships Managers: Janine Aish, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, ph 027 890 0015 Janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett, Lower North Island, ph 027 474 6093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson, South Island, ph 027 289 2326 david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz Subscriptions: nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop ph 0800 224 782 or subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Printed by PMP Print, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 1179-9854 (Print)

ISSN 2253-2307 (Online)

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January 2018

More: p50

More: p40

DEER FARMER

Reaping rewards of EBVs.

Packing on the kilos at Braemar.

Velvet: Complying with the RCS. Environmental rewards with productivity.

Octogenarian not retiring.

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A grape life for dogs.

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Bark Off: Starting your young huntaway.

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COMMUNITY

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Travel: A Kiwi in Sri Lanka.

Farm stay pays its way.

LIVESTOCK Getting the ducks lined up at Lake Ellesmere.

Same day kill fits the bill.

Genetalk: Why parents count.

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Stock Check: Losing a sense of control.

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SOLUTIONS

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Data direct from the tag.

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Fuel for the working dog.

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Sheep and beef farm sales in holding pattern.

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FARMING IN FOCUS

Straw-burner dries the grain.

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ENVIRONMENT

David Dillon: Tree planting ‘just what I do’.

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Keri Johnston: Changing times for regional plans.

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Hunting: A taste of winter.

Denis Hocking: Farm forestry – Grab the opportunity.

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TECHNOLOGY

More photos from this month’s Country-Wide.

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OUR COVER Willesden Farms’ crop manager Nick Murdock among the maize grown on land beside Lake Ellesmere, south of Banks Peninsula.

Photo: Johnny Houston 66

Voice recognition: Talking to yourself.

January 2018

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Minda Hills: Rams for hill country.

PLANT AND MACHINERY

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ESTATE

Silage – inoculate or not?

Passwords: Securing your system.

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CROP AND FORAGE

YOUNG COUNTRY

More: p44

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BOUNDARIES | CANCER

F

Casting for recovery

ly fishing and breast cancer?

At Casting for Recovery, those are two things that their weekend retreats want to bring together. Women who have, or have had, breast cancer are encouraged to take part in a weekend of fun, relaxing and healing.

But why fly fishing? Retreat organiser, Sandra says: “the dynamics of fly fishing provide a healing connection to the natural world, relieving everyday stresses and promoting a sense of calm”.

Connection between participants is also valued, creating a space to talk and inspire one another.

Jo Jermyn-Benny, who went on one of the retreats says: “It was special being surrounded by women that had been through the same thing and bonding together was easy. The fishing was fun. It was a reminder that time in nature is a great healer.

“Whatever stage of life you’re in, when a woman (wife, mother, caregiver) experiences cancer (and for me it was when I had pre-schoolers), it is rare that you are the focus for the whole weekend, and everything is done for you. It was a truly healing time.”

Participants are taught, one-on-

one, the basics of fly casting within a beautiful natural setting (Wanaka, and Owen Ridge Lodge near Murchison) and it’s all at no cost to you.

• To learn more and to sign up, go to: www.castingforrecovery.org.nz • Facebook: Casting for Recovery New Zealand South Island

TEED-OFF A golfing-mad husband and his wife are on the ninth green when suddenly she collapses from a heart attack!

“Help me dear,” she groans to her husband.

The husband calls 111 on his cell phone, talks for a few minutes, picks up his putter and lines up his putt.

His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him.

“I’m dying here and you’re putting?”

“Don’t worry dear,” the husband says calmly, “they found a doctor on the second hole and he’s coming to help you.

“Well, how long will it take for him to get here?” she asks feebly.

“No time at all,” her husband says. “Everybody’s already agreed to let him play through.”

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Country-Wide

January 2018

BOUNDARIES

It’s a man’s world.

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n this, the 125th anniversary year of women’s suffrage in New Zealand it is almost novel to find a slice of New Zealand life that has changed little since those preemancipation days.

The onfarm ram sale is like stepping back to a time before #metoo, before women had infiltrated every aspect of corporate and political life and before unmarried mothers with new-borns were running the country.

Driving down the muddy road toward the sale, the smell of testosterone fills the air.

It is a display of masculinity where the finest in sheep-flesh stands on display, showing off what years of careful genetic select can achieve.

Then there are the agents attending to these fine specimens.

All men of course as obviously women would only sully the timehonoured ritual of drafting, sorting and handling these examples of ovine perfection.

Women do play a role. They cook and they serve the food. To be fair three fortunate women did the administration and book-keeping, supporting the auctioneers as they sought to wrangle every last dollar from the gallery of buyers.

During a break in proceedings a question about gender diversity within the livestock agent industry drew blank stares – a novel concept indeed. What would Kate Sheppard think?

WOOL AMBASSADOR A Dunedin art student has gone into bat for New Zealand’s crossbred wool industry.

In 2017, Hope Duncan (25) began researching the crossbred wool industry.

The art and wool technology diploma graduate created a small exhibition to draw attention to what she regards as a “phenomenal fibre, material and industry”.

She says it drew a lot of interest and some interesting conversations with vegans and PETA supporters. (more on Hope in the next issue of Young Country).

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January 2018

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Watching the grass grow With spring rain and the grass growing the cows are looking fat and shiny for Micha Johansen at Eketahuna.

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eason three onfarm, and we have finally hit a good one weather-wise. Calving was relatively dry and warm, so the calves got outside access a lot earlier than we ever have before, which cuts down on a lot of health issues.

As of the start of December we were down to just 22 calves being fed twice a day, with 60-odd other calves, in two mobs, weaned down to muesli. Our youngest calf, at time of writing, is Petra, at six weeks old.

Petra is out of Cleo, which, if you recall from my last column is a Hereford X who may, or may not, have been in-calf to the neighbour’s fence-jumping Friesian bull. So yes, she definitely was. And Petra gets added to my ever-growing collection of pet cattle, or as TJ knows them the ‘embarrassments’.

The rain has come at just the right time, meaning grass is growing the best it ever has in the last three years. We haven’t needed to feed any supplement to the milking cows, aside from a bit of hay and silage, and they are all looking fat and shiny, and hopefully their Angus boyfriends are getting the important job done.

We are using all Angus bulls, and no artificial insemination, for our mating plan, so pregnancy testing will be incredibly nerve-wracking, especially since it was my bright idea. If in-calf results are bad I will get the blame, and I will have actually earned being blamed, this time at least.

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Central Hawke’s Bay, where my parents have seven acres, didn’t have the same run of good weather we did. We had slightly overstocked their block with my eight R1 Jersey steers, and two Hereford cross heifers, and grass got a bit tight over winter and spring.

Mum and Dad saw them through with a cup of maize each per day, plus mineral licks, and hay. Dad also mowed one catcher full of grass a day, to feed them.

I don’t think any cattle EKETAHUNA beasts have ever had it so good, and no lawn has ever looked so odd.

When the rain came for everywhere, except for Mum and Dad’s place, we made the call to bring them all home, only to have Mum phone a few days later to say it was now raining, and the paddock was too wet to get a truck in. Sodding Murphy and his ruddy laws.

About a week later, the weather forecast was bad enough for PB, our contractor/ stock transporter to call in to see if we could pick the cattle up that day, as he wouldn’t be cutting any silage. A quick text to Mum confirmed the paddock should be dry enough for the truck, so in 30 minutes we were off.

Typically, as soon as we reached Waipukurau, the rain began. Fortunately it was only a few showers, so after a scone and piece of cake each, we went out to load up ‘my babies’. Despite numerous prompts, PB refused to tell me how pretty my boys were, but I think he was somewhat impressed with how well they went on to the truck, especially since he

Bee on bottlebrush.

was quite worried with them being pretty much pets, and thus quite likely to be difficult.

Despite me thinking it might have been a bit much stress on Mum and Dad, having all these animals, Dad called out, just as we were leaving, ‘we don’t want any more until after Christmas’, and here was me thinking of not delivering the next seven until March/April.

For me, the most exciting thing that has happened onfarm has been the introduction of two sets of beehives.

A couple of ‘young fullas’ called in, to see if we had anywhere onfarm that we would be happy to have some hives, and boy, do I. I have wanted bees for ages, I just didn’t know where to start, and we have such a big to-do list, getting bees was way down the bottom. So this is the best of both worlds, I get bees, and don’t have to do any of the work associated with them.

Winning.

I hope everyone has had a chance for a bit of a recharge over Christmas and New Year, bring it on 2019.

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January 2018

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

A place of reflection: The Burts’ sprawling garden where it’s easy to express themselves.

How a moth is drawn to a flame turning all this stuff I’ve collected over the years into something useful there will be a MATATA big bonfire when I’m gone.

Yarning before yard work. We have friends who have moved from their farms and the displacement after a life time’s he gets roasted. But it connection causes genuine emotional is not suicide, it’s the trauma. insignificant downside (to Spending the time to share that load is the species anyway) of an rewarding for all concerned. incredible biological device Louise and I feel very privileged that we which is even more amazing when you have the chance to take the time in the consider the size of a moth’s brain. last quarter of our lives to appreciate what By now I hope some of you are thinking has accrued over the first three quarters.

“Wow, there’s a bit of cover in his top This combined effort has created much paddock”. But sadly, such knowledge is not that we can enjoy – our children and the on call, it only passes through my head delight we take in the first born of a new depending on what I have been reading generation; each other and the bond that at the time. Reading is a much more makes it all possible; our home and a satisfying activity than watching video as sprawling garden where it’s easy to express you can control the pace and it gives full ourselves; a workplace like no other and an rein to your imagination. environment that provides richness and With youth long past, imagination balance in our lives. becomes a much more valuable possession.

Life revolves around family and the Being in the decade of life when most land. We have cared for it and it has people retire there are a few decisions to given us much pleasure with never a be made. Bearing in mind retirement kills desire to exchange it for money. I hope more people than hard work does, the circumstances allow us to hold that view ideal, I have decided, should be a 25-year until we shuffle off the board and down transition where work winds down and the chute for the final count out. leisure winds up until I am permanently An anonymous Native North American horizontal. has summed up our philosophy.

Reading instead of weeding. Mostly nonWhen the blood in your veins returns to fiction, the stories of other people’s lives the sea and the earth in your bones returns and experiences. to the ground.

There is always something to learn or be Perhaps then you will remember the amazed by. Workshop ahead of woolshed. land does not belong to you, it is you I’m a bit of a magpie and if I don’t start who belongs to the land.

Contemplating later life, Paul Burt reflects on the enjoys of learning through reading.

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ave you ever wondered about the seemingly suicidal habit of moths flying into a naked flame at night. It’s hardly a kamikaze mission as the flame is not affected and if you are a follower of Darwinism and the beautiful simplicity of natural selection, you would think it’s a recipe for, eventually, no more moths.

Greater minds than mine have worked out the answer. The phenomenon appears to be collateral damage of an adaptation that allows moths to navigate at night and hence escape all the daytime predators.

Not enough moths die by the flame to make a difference to the progression of the species.

Moths have compound eyes and evolved when the only light at night was the moon and the stars. Light rays coming from them are parallel because those planets are at optical infinity. The moth will steer his course at an exact angle to the parallel light rays reaching his eyes, and quite happily get to where he is going and back again.

This compass only works for distance light and parallel rays. By applying the only rule it knows to a close light source (eg: a candle with divergent light rays) the moth’s brain cannot reconfigure and

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January 2018

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

All we hear is the word ‘Brexit’ Fears of catastrophe or promises of a new utopia have United Kingdom farming in turmoil. Robert Hodgkins writes from Hertfordshire.

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s you can imagine in the United Kingdom at the moment everything’s pretty stuffed, you wouldn’t be able to watch a news channel or flick on the radio without hearing the “Brexit” word within 3-4 minutes. Social media timelines are full of people’s opinions about what the world is going to look like in a few months.

Various experts seem to be making good money either terrifying the public with tales of planes falling out of the sky (yes, really) medicine and food running out and power being switched off only days after we leave.

Britain turned into some medieval/ tribal society reminiscent of a Mad Max film. At the other end of the scale we are promised a trading utopia with a lighttouch government cheap food, cheap energy, cheap machinery/chemicals and roads paved with gold (I would settle for them just filling the bloody pot holes).

The truth probably sits somewhere in the middle. I have no doubt agriculture is in for a real rough ride, as such a small part of GDP we will be the first thrown under the bus to ensure as a country we have access to the rest of the world’s financial services.

I, for one, am quietly positive. Anyone looking at our subsidy system can’t help to see how broken it is, farmers being paid for simply owning land (not producing anything) while taking advantage of attractive tax breaks for

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passing on wealth (via farmland) has completely divorced land from its commercial value.

With so many vested interests in the status quo, this is a once-in-lifetime opportunity to break the system and let the chips fall where they may. Certainly we have been frantic this year in upping stock numbers to try and get to where we can achieve some real economies of scale.

The cost of production for a lamb this year should be £54 (NZ$99) although really we are running with a lack of labour – adding in a full-time shepherd will see COP rise to about £66 ($121).

Compared to you guys, I guess that would be average at best, when compared to the UK that is seriously impressive with COP of £80-£90 ($147-$165) being typical.

My survival strategy is fairly simple: let everyone else go bust and hopefully we can still be hanging on when the dust clears!

Being a new business, borrowing remains stubbornly high, the business is more geared than is sensible in uncertain times. We have moved most loans into fixed rate and over the next two years have put some real effort into early repayments.

All finance on machinery is fixed, the big variable rates would be on the overdraft – there is not a great deal we can do on that. It would be the major risk to the business if the bank decided to pull it.

Onfarm, the Myomax-carrying Nithdale rams have all been busy, so we’re really looking forward to the Wairere/Nithdale mix and to see what it does to our lambs’ classification at the works. Those females will form the nucleus of our flock and in turbulent times we really need them to perform. I am looking at the possibility of importing more next year to try and accelerate that process.

Winter has until now been very mild, ground water reserves are still massively down after this year’s drought.

Our region is about 730mm down.

Considering our annual rainfall is 600mm we have decided to be proactive and plan for reduced grass growth next year.

The main thrust is planting more plantain into the grass along with as much clover as we can. The plantain this year was amazing, that tap root meant it persisted and provided growth long after the grass had turned brown. Winter feed reserves are low but the mild winter has meant arable stubbles are green and lush so the Romneys are being fed barley/oats volunteers.

Scanning should be interesting. I fear a reduction from the flock average as they went into autumn lower in body condition than they should and there was no real chance to flush them.

With industry confidence rock bottom, depression – I believe – will be a big problem. It seems very few people have any confidence so it was good to see Kiwi Doug Avery give a series of talks in the UK about resilience. I am sure that will have done some good.

I guess the most important thing is we have to just keep going. As my father says, “no one makes money in stable markets.”

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January 2018

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

What happened to the lambs?

The ewe scanning was about normal for Suzie and Peter Corboy’s flock, but neither noted more than a few ewes aborting.

It’s been all go after a changeable season for Suzie Corboy on her Catlins farm.

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s I write this in early December it is hot, but November in South Otago was very changeable, typical spring weather. We had a few hot days, cold days where we lit the fire in the house, snow showers, windy days and flooding.

Grass growth has been very good, so there is no shortage for stock feed and management of pasture quality has been the hardest part.

At the start of November everything was looking so organised, and we expected to have all our grass, fodder beet and swedes in the ground by the end of the month.

Should have known that idea was too good to be true, we have none of them sown.

The delays have been due to contractors being unable to get on to wet ground, and us being unable to cultivate wet ground. The odd day it was dry it was too windy for spraying, helicopters and planes, all of which we were waiting for.

Not surprisingly contractors had long

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January 2018

lists of farmers waiting to get things done, so we had to wait in the line, knowing they were getting very frustrated too, and would get to us as soon as they could. It all tried to happen on the first Saturday of December, but unfortunately we couldn’t get it in the perfect order.

The bulky got the lime and super on, the truck sprayer got the crop ground sprayed off, but unfortunately the helicopter was unable to spray the hill ground before the plane flew the lime on to it, so we had to wait until we got sufficient rain as we were worried that the glyphosate OWAKA might be deactivated by the lime on the leaves.

The sheep have been even more frustrating than the cropping.

The ewe scanning was about normal for our flock, neither of us noted more than a few ewes aborting, the weather wasn’t excessively bad, but at tailing we began to realise we had a serious unknown problem, there just weren’t as

many live lambs as there should be.

I have been so pissed off I haven’t got my old diaries out to see when we last had such a low lambing percentage, but we are looking at our worst lambing in about 18 years. A bit of analysis of tailing figures suggests the worst problem was in the four-tooths, but we still need to look into it further with our vets.

We are assuming we had toxo or campy abortion, even though we have vaccinated all sheep for both for more than 20 years.

On a brighter note the hoggets produced their best-ever lambing, but that doesn’t make up for the approximately 300 lambs we won’t wean from the ewes. I have been heard to say I won’t stop farming until we wean over 100% in our hoggets (to the ram), and I have great awe for farmers who do this consistently, in large numbers and mating all hoggets on the farm as we do, as it is more difficult than it sounds.

We know there are still gains to be made in lamb survival from the twin hoggets, mainly through more sheltered paddocks and better feeding, but it is good to be heading in the right direction.

Hope you have all had a relaxing festive season, weaning and shearing are done, and fly strike is not driving you mad.

Perhaps you will be reading this by the lake or on the beach if the farm work is under control!

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

A challenging position

Farmers need some good leadership in the political arena as you never know whether it is going to be someone in red, green or blue that will sneak up from behind.

Otago farmer Jane Smith writes a job description for the next head of the Ministry for Primary Industries.

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ITUATION VACANT. Traditionally based in Wellington – although the successful candidate may be more effective being based in the regions where work gets done, not just workshopped. You will need to actually know something about farming (this is a new initiative) and perhaps even all facets of the primary industries.

In this role you will need to be accountable for guarding our borders from all manner of incursions, including free-loading tourists.

You will both inform and direct any glued together government of the day, no matter how insipid or incompetent they are – and regardless of whether they are waving a red, blue or rainbow flag.

When setting policies, the successful candidate will not be swayed by the interests of ill-informed oxygen thieves. This includes politicians that have never run a business in their life, anaemic university academics, taxpayer-funded lobby groups or Crown-owned farming entities that like to hit headlines with narrow-minded environmental views bordering on economic treason – including opinions on the merits of the nitrogen, water and capital gains tax trifecta.

The successful candidate will question why Shane Jones’ $3 billion lolly scramble is handing out cash to anything that looks like it might be a tree one day, while struggling to give any support for farmers battling wilding pine and

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wallaby infestations, often exacerbated by neighbouring neglected crown-owned reserves.

Must be prepared to listen and work with Federated Farmers and levyfunded bodies, and go to them first for consultation rather than forming another working group to kick the primary industry can down the road.

Needs the ability to look at water storage and irrigation as a win:win for both the environment and economy, and actively look at all opportunities for the Crown to co-invest in these, not just retreat to a downwards-facing yoga pose.

You will not only regulate primary industries but work alongside farmers and growers to expand New Zealand’s horizons FIVE FORKS, NORTH OTAGO and invest in innovation and technology that will keep us placed as the premium food bowl of the world. Any serious candidate will be aware all extreme animal rights activists have no idea about looking after production animals – and question why they want their chickens raised outdoors yet their cows raised indoors.

You will have the ability to see that a country that produces only 0.22% of the world’s carbon emissions should not place itself as the sacrificial martyr of climate change. You will understand that with every 1% drop in NZ’s GDP, $800 million less tax, and that when you become a third world country you cannot afford to pay for any environmental innovation beyond survival.

The successful candidate will

understand the consumer logic model utilised in global exports of raw materials – where the country of source is only liable under emissions obligations for product used in their own country. You will then confidently apply this rationale to NZ, and ask primary producers to assume liability for 10% of the emissions as 90% of the food we produce is consumed elsewhere.

The successful candidate will declare the mode of entry of Mycoplasma bovis before asking our levy bodies to fund $870m of incursion costs, especially without receiving a scrap of assurance this entry tap has actually been turned off.

You will need to be bold enough to admit it was most likely via a legitimate mode of entry, despite a potential risk of another large litigation challenge from farmers and growers.

Will be open to fronting up to the irony that you won’t allow pelleted forms of NZ sheep semen to be exported as it doesn’t meet world OIE standards, but are prepared to allow imports from exoticdisease ridden countries of a cheap, substandard form of semen into our borders as long as they tick a few of their own boxes first.

The successful candidate will stop imports of fresh pork into NZ, as they will understand and acknowledge the massive (and unnecessary) biosecurity risk to our economy and reputation this brings.

Should the successful candidate prove as competent in this position as head of the Ministry for Primary Industries, there is a very slight chance you could take on a much more complex and highly skilled role (which comes with markedly lower remuneration, tax and compliance from every direction, 24/7 working week, no travel allowance, bonus or perks) – running a farm.

Country-Wide

January 2018

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

New yards, tailing and a trip to Canada Andrew and Victoria Steven in British Columbia’s coastal mountain range.

While building a new set of sheep yards, Andrew Steven and his wife Victoria took a break in British Columbia.

T

he project absorbing most of my attention at present is the construction of new sheep yards. This is an opportunity to distil everything I have learned about sheep behaviour and create the ideal setup. A career highlight for a farmer.

It has absorbed a huge amount of time just spent thinking and laying out. There are many things to think about: where will the new woolshed be situated, where will the load-out be, how will the critical areas of weighing/handler work?

The area of suitably contoured land is limited. A contractor has done the post driving and the digger work and I am doing the rest and that means it is going to be a while before they are operational.

Despite the amount of thought put into the job, there are still some anxieties about whether the critical pens have been sized right. They have been concreted so we will have to try them out to be sure.

Vicky and I were doing some mundane sheep yard activity back in the autumn.

I straightened my back and announced

Country-Wide

January 2018

they have experienced high temperatures and low summer rainfall. They were in drought, a new experience for them.

Climate change is very much on their minds.

Jetting around the world seems a very common activity that this would be the year we would for middle-aged Kiwis and is a visit Canada and the decision was luxury that earlier generations confirmed by purchase of couldn’t enjoy. So I did give thought tickets. to my carbon footprint. With With the bulk of thousands of flights happening every tailing done, spring day, it is easy to comprehend TIMARU crops sown etc, the carbon footprint of so much we departed late activity.

September for three I hear that methane is a potent weeks in British Columbia. This was greenhouse gas, but I don’t really a trip to visit friends so we spent time on comprehend how such a natural process Vancouver Island and around the town of as rumination is so harmful. I am Terrace which is further north and within tempted to think that the whole story the coastal mountain range. about ruminant animals is not being None of these people were farming told. as we know it, but all had connections On our return from Canada, it looked to the land, hunting and gathering, like we were going to enjoy the best gardening and forest farming. There is spring ever. You all know what happened much to see of interest; mountains and to that. Conditions haven’t favoured forests on a large scale, wild beaches, lamb growth, our pea crops love sunshine stunning autumn colours, large rivers and the white clover seed crop has very and associated salmon runs, wildlife and few flowers. the First Nations cultures.

I have not sown a seed since British Columbia has experienced a bad September. The yearling deer seem to forest fire season, especially in the drier have gone a bit crazy and mustering interior regions. The coastal mountain results in various bad behaviours. range is west coast-type rainforest and Still, at least we are not in drought.

15

NOTEBOOK

WHANGAMOMONA REPUBLIC DAY

SHOWTIME New Zealand agriculture comes to town in January at the following regional A&P shows.

Kaikohe Agricultural, Pastoral and Horticultural Association, January 19, Ngawha Springs Road, Kaikohe. More? kaikohe.show@yahoo.co.nz Paeroa Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 12, Kerepehi Domain, Kerepehi.

More? paeroaaandp@hotmail.com Rotorua Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 26, Riverdale Park, Ngongotaha, Rotorua.

More? www.rotoruashow.co.nz Tauranga Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 13, Tauranga Racecourse, Tauranga.

More? nzonagh@xtra.co.nz Horowhenua Agricultural, Pastoral and Industrial Association, January 18-20, Showgrounds Event Park, Levin. More? www.levinapishow.co.nz Taihape Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 26, Memorial Park, Taihape. More? www. taihape.co.nz NZ National Horse and Pony Show, January 10-13, Hawkes Bay Showgrounds, Hastings.

More? www.nzhorseandponyshow.org.nz Wairoa Agricultural and Pastoral Society, January 18, 19, Ruataniwha Road, Wairoa.

More? www.wairoashow.co.nz Banks Peninsula Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 19, Christchurch-Akaroa Highway, Little River. More? littlerivershow.org.nz

NOTEBOOK 16

Celebrate the republic on the Forgotten Highway at Whangamomona on January 19.

Whangamomona Republic Day 2019

TURAKINA HIGHLAND GAMES Take part in New Zealand’s oldest Highland Games and one of the country’s oldest sporting events.

Turakina Domain, Turakina, Rangitikei, January 26.

Turakina Highland Games

Buller Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 12, Patterson Park Sports Complex, Westport. More? jknjkeenan@hotmail.com Duvauchelle Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 12, ChristchurchAkaroa Road, Duvauchelle. More? duvauchelleshow@gmail.com Golden Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 19, 20. Golden Bay Recreation Park, Takaka. More? goldenbayshow@gmail.com Westland (Hokitika) Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 26, Showgrounds, Hokitika. More? www.westlandapshow.co.nz Lake County Agricultural and Pastoral Society, January 12, Lake Hayes Showgrounds, Queenstown. More? www.lakehayesshow.com Otago/Taieri Agricultural and Pastoral Society (Royal Event – Equestrian & Dog Trials), January 26, 27, Gordon Road, Mosgiel. More? otagotaieri.ap@xtra.co.nz Winton Agricultural and Pastoral Association, January 19, Racecourse Road, Winton. More? www.wintonapshow.co.nz

If you have something you think might be suitable for the Notebook page please send an email or Word document (.doc) to Andy.Maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz along with any pictures as .jpg attachments.

Country-Wide

January 2018

FACTS

Early store lamb sellers rake in cash The country is still much greener than expected, and it’s given the store lamb market a cash injection. AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick writes.

I

t’s amazing what a bit of grass growth can do to stock markets. A little more than a month ago and everyone was talking about El Nino and how they might navigate an early summer drought. Fast-forward a few weeks and the entire country has more grass than they not what to do with – bringing with it silly season in the store markets.

The store trade is usually a zero-sum game (for every winner there’s a loser) and it’s clear that store lamb vendors have

topped the podium to date this season. In the four weeks to December 7 North Island store lambs averaged $105 or $3.90/kg through the Matawhero, Stortford Lodge and Feilding yards, raking in an extra 35% on last year for anyone opting to sell.

The same story applies in the South Island too – averaging $111 or $4.20/kg in the Temuka and Canterbury Park yards, up 35% too once weights are taken into account.

This is unbelievable territory to be in considering it was only three years ago

Average store lamb price (4 wks to early Dec)

120

$/hd

100 80 60 40

2010

2012 2014 2016 Lower North Island Canterbury

9.0

2018 Source: AgriHQ

NZ lamb slaughter price

$/kg CW

8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 Oct-­10

Oct-­12

Oct-­14

Oct-­16

Oct-­18 Source: AgriHQ

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January 2018

that $55 was a standard price for a store lamb.

One way to tell whether store lambs are “over-priced” or not is by putting them against schedule prices. In the yards lambs have averaged 48% of schedules vs. 4046% recorded in the previous six years, which says buyers are definitely paying above the odds.

Of course not everyone has cashed-in yet.

With this much grass around the other option is to just hold on to lambs in the pursuit of a few extra kilos and take a gamble on the bottom not falling out of prices, which could make for an interesting beginning to 2019. Luckily there’s not much pointing to any collapse in overseas markets like we saw in 201112, but what could be interesting is when lambs begin to hit processors.

If it begins to dry-off come January then all signs point to a glut in supplies to the works, which will pull schedules down whether export markets stay strong or otherwise.

Ewes can’t be forgotten about either.

Quite a few are weaning later this year, which will only pull more of these into kill weeks where lambs are given number one priority.

This probably all sounds a bit scary, but when you consider how high prices currently are, it’d take some monumental change for most lamb farmers to begin hurting. Not to mention there’s no guarantee it’ll dry off.

17

BUSINESS | MANUKA

Proceed with caution Manuka honey in stainless drums.

WORDS: LYNDA GRAY

T

he often-asked question from South Island farmers: “should I plant manuka for honey production” was the basis for beekeeper Steve Wootton’s 2018 Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme project.

Wootton is an apiary manager in Central Otago for Taylor Pass Honey, a Marlborough-based 11,000-hive business.

The intention of the project was to educate people about the manuka plant, overview the process and likely challenges for South Island landowners in establishing a plantation, and separate the hype from the reality of producing manuka honey.

His high-level conclusion based on available research and 17 years commercial apicultural involvement is that the unknowns outweigh the likely benefits and such a diversification should be treated with caution.

Honey fetching the highest price is produced from pure manuka nectar but it’s unknown if plantations of the plant in the South Island would yield pure product because of the shorter growing season and prevalence of competing plant species.

Manuka, he says, is not a honey bee’s first feeding preference and they’ll seek out easier nectar options instead which leads to lower value multi-floral rather than a mono-floral honey types. Trial plots are being planted and over time would answer other questions such as how long and how much does it cost to get a productive plantation up and running, and whether or not a high dihydroxyacetone (DHA) producing cultivar of New Zealand’s indigenous Leptospermum scoparium species will survive in the more extreme

18

southern conditions. DHA dictates the honey’s Unique Manuka Factor (UMF), or ability to inhibit bacterial growth.

The higher the UMF rating, the better the bacterial-fighting qualities and the higher the price. However, the composition of nectar and DHA produced within the L. scoparium species varies greatly according to region, but the exact reasons are unknown.

A Manuka Farming NZ (2018) financial model based on North Island growing conditions estimates establishment costs of $2539/ha, plus ongoing costs of $62/ ha (year 3-6), and $47/ha (year 7-20).

The estimated annual return over 20 years for manuka +15 honey is $1304/ ha. The model assumes a plantation of 100ha running 1.5 hives/ha, peak honey production of 40kg/hive, a constant gate price of $72.45/kg and total average manuka honey production of 4800kg a year.

The return sounds too good to be true and it probably is: manuka +15 is the “holy grail” of honey, only limited quantities are produced and he’s unaware of any commercial quantities in the South Island.

A more realistic and comparable South Island model would need to take into account the shorter growing season, longer establishment time, variable rainfall and harsher winter conditions. He estimates establishment could take up to eight years, and to full production possibly 12 years.

His recommendations to South Island farmers keen to diversify into manukabased land uses are to: • Treat the establishment of a plantation as a long-term investment.

• Plant manuka first and foremost for shelter, riparian protection and erosion control, and to offset carbon emissions.

• Partner with a competent and commercial-scale apiculturist to harvest nectar and produce honey.

PAYING THE RENT Should farmers expect payment from beekeepers for placement of hives for manuka honey production?

Yes, is the short answer, but be realistic in what to expect and never underestimate the value of having hives and bees on hand to pollinate clover, Wootton says.

Back in the day beekeepers had informal relationships with farmers, coming and going as they pleased in return for the occasional pottle of honey. But the advent and hype around manuka honey plus added health and safety requirements has led on to more formalised arrangements and expectations.

Negotiating a “sustainable” contract for manuka honey produced is becoming an accepted practice and requires an open and honest relationship between both parties.

Beekeepers want assured access to land close to manuka, and farmers who have or are planting want to know they are partnering with commercially competent honey producers. A good starting point is 10% of income for the lower quality manuka honey types up to 30% for the highest quality. So depending on the price, a hive producing about 40kg of manuka honey at $20$30/kg could be worth $80-$120 to a farmer.

Country-Wide

January 2018

BUSINESS | HONEY

Making manuka work WORDS: JOANNA GRIGG

U

sing a government grant helped make manuka a more affordable planting option for a Marlborough farmer.

David Dillon, sheep and beef farmer and farm forester, The Throne, Marlborough, used a $1300/hectare incentive through the Afforestation Grant Scheme to halve the cost of establishing a manuka stand.

This didn’t include the $15/metre fencing cost for one side of the 10ha block.

The One Billon Trees Fund, has even better grants available through Forestry New Zealand. Grants for manuka/kanuka are $1800/ha plus $500/ha top-up if erosion prone. The aim is for two-thirds of grant funds to go to native plantings.

Dillon says it was more luck than planning that led him to try a manuka plantation. At his daughter’s wedding he met Melita Honey general manager Richard Barley, who followed up the introduction with an offer to supply 8000 manuka stems.

“I was offered good-value manuka plants in 2016 and thought we would try them.”

The Throne has 40ha of Pinus radiata woodlots, 10ha of Quercus robur (English oak) for a parkland, 12ha of seven different eucalypts for timber research and aesthetics, 300 lime trees, 7000 cabbage trees and numerous wetland and shelter belt plantings for birds. Dillon’s father spent many years bulldozing gullies of manuka and kanuka but the next generation was open-minded about a return to manuka.

“There was a piece of land between the pine woodlot and the motocross

Country-Wide

January 2018

track, which was a poor growing area for sheep and prone to erosion.

“It is for this reason, plus its honey potential, that I planted it – rather than carbon credits income which is low with manuka.”

Barley is involved in all parts of the manuka-to-honey chain. He helps source manuka stems for farmers, oversees the company’s hives and manages the exporting of branded products. Melita sources some honey from Marlborough and Barley is keen to grow their presence in the area.

“About 90% of the honey we collect is manuka.”

He sees manuka as an option to provide a worthwhile return to farmers on poorer farm sites. Establishment costs are typically $2400/ha, including stems and planting, at a rate of 800 stems/ha. Earnings for the landholder from the block could be $160/ ha/year, based on a 50ha block with 100 hives (two hives/ha) and hive rental set at $80/hive/year.

This is a 6.6% return on planting investment, with the assumption that the farmer’s land was returning zero honey income prior to planting.

Fencing off the block was the most expensive investment, costing around $15/ metre.

“It is in a farmer’s interest to select a site that’s partly fenced off,” Dillon says.

Manuka thrives on north-facing, warm sites. The Throne manuka is a Hastings variety he considers similar enough to eastern Marlborough. Despite a dry spring in 2017, manuka survival has been excellent.

Crystals to absorb and hold moisture were added at planting. No fertiliser

Top left: Manuka on the ten hectare north-facing site at The Throne, Marlborough, is into its second season.

The block size is too small for singlesource (mono-floral) honey, but ticked the boxes for David Dillon for erosion control, honey income and the low maintenance costs Top right: David Dillon is enjoying the results of a lifetime of tree planting on The Throne.

went in the holes but the plots were sprayed pre-planting. Flowering this spring started in late October into December.

The Dillons are aware that to get monofloral manuka honey (straight manuka nectar), a far larger area of manuka is required. Recommendations in the Manuka and Kanuka Planting Guide, 2017, is for a minimum 50ha block.

This is because the manuka flower is not a bee’s preferred nectar source. It is only with a large enough area and careful management of other flowering vegetation nearby, that bees will be restricted to collecting manuka nectar to produce mono-flora honey. It is even more valuable if the manuka is selected for maximum Unique Manuka Factor. The Dillons’ is seven.

If mono-floral quality can’t be reached, due to competing nectar sources available at the same time, or the UMF is on the lower side, the honey still has other quality aspects that tick the boxes for exporters.

This makes it a sought-after nectar crop for beekeepers.

“Variety choice is really important; it must flower when your bees are active,” Barley says.

“There was a case of using Northland manuka in a lower North Island site but it flowers before the bees are active in the region.”

›› More on Dave Dillon and Manuka p60

19

BUSINESS | MANUKA HONEY

New grant covers 80% manuka cost WORDS: JOANNA GRIGG

T

he One Billion Trees grant for manuka/kanuka plantings goes a fair way to covering the costs of plantation manuka.

The December-released grants offer a $1800/hectare (ha) one-off grant for new manuka/kanuka plantings, with an extra $500/ha if on erosion-prone site. With an estimated costing of between $2200 to $2500/ha to establish manuka, this grant covers 82% to 100% of the establishment cost (the latter if on erosionprone land).

Stephen Lee, Manuka Farming NZ (MFNZ), describes the grants as a game changer for landowners.

“With establishment costs substantially or entirely covered by the One Billion Tree Fund, landowners would do well to focus on ways to maximise the returns from their plantation – now rather than later.

The day after their announcement he’d run the figures through his existing financial return analysis, which indicated the extent of this game change. It halves the payback period from Year 12 to Year six. This can be reduced even further as landowners can keep the carbon credits under these grants.

Secondly, the actual financial returns are significantly enhanced, he says.

He gives an example. On a 100-hectare site, without the grants, the cumulative returns to landowner in Year 10 would have been sitting at -$51,200. With the grants it sits at +$161,200.

“From a return per hectare to the landowner we would be looking at between 400 to 600 per hectare, depending

20

on the honey commercialisation option they have in place. This is especially attractive if the land is currently producing negligible returns or no returns at all.”

MFNZ’s financial modelling assumes a plantation that is professionally managed (i.e. not a plant and forget approach), one designed for optimum honey production and using hybrid manuka cultivars that have been specially bred for high grade manuka.

His 2018 financial model for plantation manuka puts establishment costs at $2200/ ha. Seedling and planting costs are assumed to be $1,700/ha, pre and post planting activities $250/ Stephen Lee, Manuka Farming NZ. ha and a further $250/ha for establishment management and quality control.

Ongoing costs are calculated at $55/ha/ year from year three to six. This drops to $35/ha from year seven to 20. It assumes full maturity by year seven, 1.0 hives/ha, UMF value 12 honey and 80% manuka honey in the mix. The price used for a kilo of manuka honey was $48/kg.

Pre-One Billion Trees, the best government offer was $1300/ha via the Afforestation Grant Scheme. Carbon sequestered during the first 10 years were assigned to the government (but the landowner gets these now).

Lee says many clients of Manuka Farming Ltd have held off ordering

manuka in anticipation of the One Billion Trees announcement, but interest has now, predictably, taken off. He expects some cultivars may be in short supply although the company tried to second guess demand last June, to have enough for planting 2019. Excluding orders from its regular clients, MFNZ expect to have sufficient seedlings available to other landowners for 1300ha.

Five cultivars are available commercially through Manuka Farming NZ with more underway. Research has shown that flowering time is related to genetics.

“Timing is a bit tricky as people should order their seedlings in December, map and prepare ground with tracks and fences January onwards and control weeds and goats, ready for planting from June.”

Lee said new clients of Manuka Farming NZ will be taken through a seven-step process when planning a managed manuka plantation.

“We will help with the application for this grant and other local government funding when establishing a plantation.

It’s all part of making it as easy as possible for the landowner”.

Manuka turns woody (senescence) by about 30 years and flower production reduces. To ensure the manuka can be replanted or replaced with another species, Lee recommends landowners apply for a Planted Indigenous Forest Certificate with MPI. Shareholders in Manuka Research Partnership Ltd are Arborex Industries, Comvita NZ, DC and CY Tweeddale Partnership, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Nukuhau Carbon, Landcorp and Te Tumu Paeroa.

Country-Wide

January 2018

BUSINESS | FODDER BEET

Beet more than just a crop WORDS: TOM WARD

I

could start with the words: “Fodder beet continues to be an interesting crop for finishing beef cattle,” however it’s not a crop, it’s a part of a system – one with three parts.

Those parts are high winter animal growth rates, high winter stocking rates, and high utilisation of, and response to, early summer pasture.

The overall plan is to grow as many kilograms of beef per hectare as fast as possible, minimising feeding for maintenance, minimising interest costs and optimising meat quality (marbling).

Once you have planned the programme out, a full-farm, or at least a partial farm budget covering all variable costs, must be completed and compared to the alternative programmes.

Part of the benefit of fodder beet is that it is a good feed well into spring, until sufficient pasture is available to seamlessly transition back to pasture.

Some of the fodder beet should therefore be a lifting variety, so that sufficient is planted to cover a slow spring, and if not needed, lifted and stored or sold. In addition, a very wet winter spell might require fodder beet be removed to a drier feeding site, eg: cattle can be fed at various (dry) sites around a farm with FB available in palm kernel trailers.

There is good research on growing fodder beet being done by scientists and by innovative farmers. We are seeing the need for and timing of, nitrogen, phosphate and potassium fertilisers critically reviewed. Also, there is much better understanding of herbicide, fungicide and pesticide applications.

Seeding methods and rates are being experimented with, and sowing dates. In many cases the costs of growing the fodder beet, especially in cents/kg drymatter, are reducing.

In summary, get a good farm adviser or farmer you respect to help with detailed advice.

Dairy farmers, in addition to wintering on fodder beet, or partly on fodder beet, are using the crop to milk on in May. Sheep farmers are wintering ewes and lambs on fodder beet, Grazing

Effective

Total

Area

Area

Area

Area (ha)

389

558

558

Potential Pasture Production (tDM/ ha)

7.29

5.08

5.08

Nitrogen Boost (tDM/ha)

0.65

0.45

0.45

Pasture Losses (tDM/ha)

2.7

1.88

1.88

Net Pasture Production (tDM/ha)

5.23

3.64

3.64

Feed Conserved (tDM/ha)

0.66

0.46

0.46

Grazing

Effective

Total

Area

Area

Area

Total Feed Eaten (tDM/ha)

11.96

8.34

8.34

Demand from Supplements (%)

60.5

60.5

60.5

Standardised Stocking Rate (SU/ha) 21.8

15.2

15.2

Live Wt. Wintered (1 Jul) (kg/ha)

2101

1464

1464

Net Product (kg/ha)

795

554

554

Feed Conversion Efficiency

15.1

15.1

15.1

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January 2018

even lambing on the crop. Breeding cows are being successfully calved on it, giving the cows excellent early lactation nutrition, and bulls of all descriptions are being grown out in late summer.

Nevertheless, there is some disappointment with fodder beet.

Many beef fatteners are frustrated with being unable to achieve 1kg liveweight/head/day. In my district a farmers group decided they had proved 1kg LW/head/day was not possible, at least in inland areas.

It is my view that in that study there was only one mob of cattle of sufficient quality, and which also received sufficient quantity of fodder beet, to potentially grow at 1kg LW/head/day.

The animal side of the fodder beet programme is just as important to the success of the system as the plant side. The drivers to maximise liveweight gain and minimise losses are: feeding, animal quality (genetics), age, size, health and environment temperature.

Feeding. It is worth restating that fodder beet is for fully feeding cattle. This is an animal safety issue as well as an animal production issue. You have not transitioned your cattle until they are eating at least 2% of their body weight, and as the animals’ liveweight increases they need more feed.

If you do not want to grow an animal, do not feed it fodder

›› continues p22

Onfarm

writer role

• NZ Farm Life Media is looking for contributing writers to work on a freelance basis for Country-Wide.

• We aim to identify best practice and excellence in farm • management and provide opportunities for our readers to learn and grow through reading about how top farmers are operating their businesses.

• We need writers happy to dig deeper into the farm systems and highlight new, innovative or best practice management • techniques along with financial and technical details.

• This is a role that would suit someone prepared to work a few hours a week from home with a background in farming, farm consultancy, finance, agronomy or fertiliser. Location is flexible.

• Payment based on rate per word supplied.

• Writing experience not essential. Training and guidance available.

Call y-Wide Countr Terry editor n on ha Brosna 0200 9 4 027 2 out n fi to d . e r mo

rm Z Fa

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Med

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21

Gross Margin for beef

Gross margin for beef

$/ha

$ Total

c/kg DM

beet, unless it is combined with other feeds. If you do want Revenue Beef Sales - Purchases 2068 1154217 to grow the animal, feed only fodder beet, plus maybe total beef 2068 1154217 25 1kg of pasture or silage for added protein. From an animal Crop and feed Surplus feeds 80 44750 viewpoint it is all about ease of consumption, so a variety which sits up out of the ground and is easy to kick over total feed 80 44750 0.9 and eat from the side is useful. total revenue 2149 1198967 25.1 Brigadier is excellent in this regard, and will still yield Expenses Crop and Feed conservation 50 27900 well.

Forage crops 411 229500 Animal genetics. The farmers doing the fodder beet Regrassing 145 81000 fattening programme very well all have very good animal Nitrogen 32 17852 genetics. These animals are either from a beef cattle stud, Total Crop and Feed 638 356252 or very closely related to, and purposely selected from, a beef cattle stud. While Jim Gibbs’ research was at a coastal Stock costs Animal Health 18 9961 Canterbury farm, nearly all the others are well inland.

Total Stock Costs 18 9961 Age. Clearly yearlings (R2 in the winter) have the potential Interest on Capital (livestock & feed) 160 89055 to grow faster because they are bigger and more mature, Total Variable Expenses 816 455267 9.5 but so do autumn-born steers (ie: one year old when they Gross 1333 743700 15.5 go on to a winter fodder beet programme).

Margin Size. Gibbs’ research showed the larger calves (300kg LW), as a mob, grew faster, $ Total $/ha $/SU Forecast Profit and Loss for beef but the group of smaller calves (240-260kg Revenue Beef Sales - Purchases 1154217 2068 136.5 LW) had many individuals which grew total 1154217 2068 136.5 equally as well.

Crop and feed Surplus feeds 44750 80 5.3 Health. Acidosis due to poor transitioning total 44750 80 5.3 onto FB has been well discussed, but what total revenue 1198967 2149 141.8 is less well known is that a recent study Expenses Wages Wages 70000 125 8.3

by Gibbs and Prendergast suggested that with ad-lib feeding rumen pH in fact rises.

Management Wage 70000 125 8.3 Clostridial disease is a risk so a 5:1 vaccine Stock Animal health 9961 18 1.2 should be used. Phosphorus can be a Feed/Crop/Grazing Conservation 27900 50 3.3 problem transitioning back to grass.

Forage Crops 229500 411 27.1 Environment temperature. No doubt Regrassing 81000 145 9.6 high winter liveweight gains are easier to Fertiliser Fertiliser (Excl. N & Lime) 50000 90 5.9 achieve on the coast, however a number of Nitrogen 17852 32 2.1 farmers in inland areas of the South Island are getting close to 1kg LW/head/day in Other Farm Working Weed & Pest Control 12000 22 1.4 winter.

Vehicle Expenses 20000 36 2.4 In the United States on grain, where Fuel 20000 36 2.4 feedlots are often in cold climates, high Repairs & Maintenance 50000 90 5.9 daily winter LW gains are achieved and in the same location, when the weather is Freight & Cartage 10000 18 1.2 poor, very low to minimal LW gains per Electricity 5000 9 0.6 day occur.

Other Expenses 5000 9 0.6 Averaging. Farmers need to look beyond Standing Charges Administration Expenses 20000 36 2.4 the average mob liveweight gain, to the performance of each animal. Some of the Insurance 20000 36 2.4 reasons for poor individual performance ACC Levies 10000 18 1.2 will be management-related, however over Rates 30000 54 3.5 time the manager will also identify the relative performance of different animals Total Farm Working Expense 758212 1359 89.6 from different breeders.

Depreciation 20000 36 2.4 The manager can then be more accurate Total Farm Expenses 778213 1395 92 with which animals are purchased, and Economic Farm Surplus (EFS) 420755 754 49.7 lift the average performance of a mob.

Farm Profit before Tax 420755 754 49.7 Alternatively, if the manager is forced to buy a mob despite not liking all the animals in that mob, or if some do not that the finisher understands the feeding and genetics of each calf transition adequately, the undesirable animals can be withdrawn being bought. or sold, the sooner the better. In addition, the growth rates, finishing characteristcs and efficiency of animals from the • Tom Ward is a farm consultant based in Ashburton. same breeder may vary. Ideally, we should not be buying cattle • For more financial tables with this article go to www.nzfarmlife. through the saleyards, but have a relationship with a breeder so co.nz/beet-more-than-just-a-crop

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January 2018

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23

BUSINESS | CLIMATE CHANGE

Doing nothing a good option WORDS: TERRY BROSNAHAN

M

ethane and nitrous oxide are not the villains when it comes to climate change and should be removed from New Zealand’s greenhouse gas inventory.

That’s the view of two scientists who have released a research paper reviewing the science on greenhouse gases (GHG).

Dr Thomas Sheahen and Dr Jock Allison argue water vapour and clouds are responsible for 80-90% of the GHG effect.

Water vapour and clouds from natural resources, not man-made are absorbing heat and warming the planet. Methane and nitrous oxides contribute very little to warming the planet. Carbon dioxide does have an impact but not to the extent the IPCC and supporting scientists claim.

Allison, is a consultant and former MAF director agricultural research for the southern South Island, Sheahen is chairman of the Science and

Environmental Policy project in Virginia, United States.

Professors Will Harper (US) and William van Wijngaarden (Canada) advised them on their paper. They say the evidence shows the contribution of methane and nitrous oxide to global emissions is negligible.

Allison is a member of the NZ Climate Science Coalition and calls himself a climate realist.

The New Zealand Government wants to move to a zero carbon economy by 2050. A bank report puts an early transition at a cumulative economic benefit of about $30 billion by 2050.

However, an AgFirst rural economist Phil Journeau told the NZ Farmers Weekly recently it will cost the economy more than a trillion dollars in GDP foregone over the 32 years. Two

FIGURE 1A : Incoming solar radiation (energy) in and infrared emissions out.

Sun

Solar radiation (in)

Infrared emissions (out)

Ea rth

HIGH FLYERS About 30,000 delegates from around the world attended the recent United Nations climate change conference. Apart from the cost of the conference, there was also the carbon emissions.

Using an online carbon emissions calculator, a return trip from Wellington to Warsaw is 35,900km or 6.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide per passenger. So taking an average of four tonnes CO2/person that is another 120,000t of carbon emissions pumped into the atmosphere. Aviation emissions is touted as one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions. About 20,000 commercial passenger planes are reported to be flying in the world which is expected to double by 2040. Global aviation emissions are expected to rise anywhere from 300-700%.

million hectares of pastoral land will be lost to trees under the Productivity Commission report proposals.

NZ’s share of global emissions is estimated to be about 0.17% of the world emissions and critics argue a carbon zero goal will make no difference.

Allison and Sheahen say methane and nitrous oxides are classified as half of NZ’s total emissions but are insignificant compared to carbon dioxide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accept water vapour is responsible for 70% of greenhouse gases, yet doesn’t include water vapour and only focuses on human emissions.

FIGURE 3: Relative contribution to the Anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect.

Tropospheric ozone 8% CFOs 12% Nitrous oxide 5% Methane 15% Carbon dioxide 60%

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January 2018

Figure 5: Climate M models predicted temperature compared to actual.

1.0

Global Bulk Atmospheric Temperature (surface-50k ft) 0.8

Average of 102 IPCC CMIP-5 Climate Model runs

0.6

o

C

The earth is warmed by incoming sunlight and cooled by outgoing infrared emissions at night (fig 1A). Heat from the surface is radiated back, absorbed by various greenhouse gases (mainly water vapour) and transported by convection and moist air to the upper troposphere (lowest part of the atmosphere) where clouds form.

The global warming potential (GWP) is a calculated ratio the IPCC uses to estimate the heat each greenhouse gas absorbs in the atmosphere. It is all brought back to carbon dioxide hence CO2 emissions which the UN says is a base of 1 and methane 21 and nitrous oxide 310.

Allison and Sheenan say GWP is a

0.4

0.2

0.0

Observations Circles - Avg 4 Balloon datasets Squares - Avg 3 Satellite datasets

CLIMATE CONTROL The Paris 2015 Climate Change agreement set a target of a global temperature not rising above 2C (for post-industrial times) and ultimately 1.5C. Allison says about 62% of world emissions are from developing countries and under Paris agreement they are allowed to keep developing.

Developed countries like NZ have 38% of the total emissions of which the US has 14.6%. This leaves the rest of the developed world with 23.4% to make contributions, to carry the cost of reducing emissions. China says it will double total emissions by 2030 (29.5%) India says it will triple emissions from 6.8% to 13.6 plus by 2030.

Other countries say they will increase by 10%.

“And the IPCC thinks they can control the climate.”

FIGURE 4: Breakdown of the “natural” greenhouse effect by contributing gas.

Other gases 28%

17% Clouds

55% Water vapour

As halocarbons are industrial gases they are not represented here. From an IPCC Report.

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January 2018

-0.2

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

concept developed by the IPCC and accepted by world governments as the basis for calculating greenhouse inventories.

Allison says methane and nitrous oxide can’t absorb the incoming heat from the sun at the wavelength it comes in on. Solar radiation (energy) comes in at 0.2 to 0.3 microns and goes out as thermal radiation at 3-70 microns. Heat is absorbed from the surface by the various greenhouse gases, mainly water vapour and to a lesser extent carbon dioxide.

Also the individual greenhouse gases – water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane are similar-size molecules with similar heat absorptive capacity. Allison says the atmosphere temperatures from 1998 to January 2016 have not increased, according to data from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, US (see Figure 5).

“It doesn’t look like much warming over nearly 20 years.”

He says the IPCC refuses to discuss the balloon and satellite data.

“They prefer to concentrate on the mostly corrupted land temperature records which satisfy their political masters.”

Allison says atmosphere measurements by satellite and weather balloons cover 90% of the world and doesn’t have the problem of urban heat islands – cities and airports where climate stations are based.

“Neither are satellite records adjusted in such a way as to artificially exacerbate warming.”

Allison says about one third of all the human emissions ever have been over the past two decades.

“You would expect the temperature to go through the roof.”

Allison says other developing countries are increasing their standard of living which is all about about cheap energy (not wind and solar which is less than 1.5% of world’s energy).

He recalls going to a scientific meeting in Auckland in 1979 where they were told world oil stocks would run out by 2000.

“The world is not going to run out of oil anytime soon.”

Australia is the biggest coal exporter in the world (36%) but politically they don’t want to burn coal for electricity.

“They are awash with energy options but many states ban fracking for gas and don’t want nuclear.

“They are crazy.”

So what should we be doing?

Allison says to watch what is happening.

“We should wait and see what happens as we are working on real data.”

He says nobody knows what will happen with the climate. We could get cooling.

“The IPCC and member governments are projecting through to 2100 and beyond, but what they are predicting is not happening.

“The predictions are based on computer models obviously not fit for purpose.”

Allison says climate change minister James Shaw believes a carbon zero economy is a huge economic opportunity for agriculture because people will pay major premiums for products.

“Good luck with that.”

• Read full report at https://tinyurl.com/ y9dkl4ox

25

BUSINESS | KPI

Consultants help drill down In the second part of a series, Country-Wide writers look at the use of key performance indicators to help improve farm businesses.

WORDS: JOANNA GRIGG

A

n agri-consultant likes the idea of farmers being able to use online calculators, to punch in their data to produce a key performance indicator result.

Macfarlane Rural Business Agriconsultant Jamie Gordon was involved with the RMPP working group at its infancy, to define the important key performance indicators (KPI).

“I also like the idea of agreed KPI for sheep and beef, as commonality means you can compare directly with others.”

“But it is using the information, to affect good change, that is important.”

Gordon said everyone has their own view of what is an important KPI, as it comes down to what you are trying to measure. He sees the consultant’s role as drilling down into what is behind the KPI result, for example the role of ewe body condition score in reproductive efficiency.

Consultants can help at the financial metric level, analysing how changing stock class make-up, business management and cost efficiencies, can all alter overall profitability. This involves understanding what KPIs have a major influence on the production and financial goals of the farm business.

Methods of collecting and bringing together data still need addressing, he says.

“We have segments of information but do not fully understand the whole picture. For example, we may know lamb growth rates for short intervals but do

26

We may know lamb growth rates for start intervals, but do we understand the annual productivity.

we understand the annual productivity of this enterprise.”

This leads to assumptions as to key production metrics, making it difficult to benchmark, he Kirsty Verhoek, BakerAg. says.

Kirsty Verhoek, BakerAg, works at the coal face of farm data collection. She oversees the firm’s financial analysis benchmark (FAB) database, which has collected production and financial records for almost 50 years.

She says clients see real value in time series analysis (looking at KPIs over time) so contribute every year.

“Some new clients that have signed up to benchmark their most recent financials, have then asked us to go back and benchmark past years.”

The main collection work occurs between July and December. Farmers are asked to complete a questionnaire and can opt to let BakerAg contact their accountant or access their farm financial software directly. One of the biggest challenges to accurate KPI is having an accurate stock reconciliation and classifying stock correctly within it. Sometimes detective work is required, Verhoek says.

“All stock age-up at the end of the financial year, regardless of when they are born, apart from mixed age cows and ewes, and sires. Getting your software to automatically age stock up is really useful.”

“We can show farmers how to get their stock reconciliation working in software like Cash Manager by using Google Hangouts, where we can share a computer screen and talk them through it.”

“It’s time well spent.”

Verhoek suggests farmers avoid using too many codes in their stock reconciliation and use the same code that the animal opened as at the beginning of the financial year. Double check when entering sales of lambs carried over balance date, that they are coded as hoggets and not lambs.

‘We have segments of information but do not fully understand the whole picture.’

The FAB benchmarking KPIs have been refined over the years, and include a comprehensive list of production, revenue, expense and farm profit results, both per stock unit and per hectare.

For clients who run annual Farmax records, the FAB programme can offer a deeper level of benchmarks around the efficiency of feed conversion, allocation of feed and efficiency measures, on a cents/ kg drymatter basis. Once the KPIs are calculated, benchmarking is done against similar farms (type and location). When there are not enough similar farms in the BakerAg database, a comparison is run against Beef & Lamb NZ Economic Service results, she says.

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BUSINESS | KPI

Hitting the targets

WORDS: LYNDA GRAY

T

he Red Meat Profit Partnership KPI and benchmarking resources are a step in the right direction, according to southern farm consultants.

“I think well calculated, benchmarked KPI are underutilised within the sheep and beef industry, representing a significant missed opportunity for growth. The RMPP efforts are a step in the right direction,” Agribusiness farm management consultant Dean Carson says.

He thinks many farmers don’t use them because of the complexity around calculation and interpretation.

“As an example, if you want to look at productivity per stock unit, what is a stock unit? There are many standards that can be applied but subjectivity can creep in and create doubt around the KPI value.”

The RMPP resource has a selection of important financial and production KPI. “They have selected indicators that minimise subjectivity and have strong benchmarks so once calculated farmers can compare themselves.”

The resources are well-designed, but it will take time and patience for farmers to calculate meaningful indicators, bearing in mind that “rubbish in, equals rubbish out”.

The resulting indicators should encourage farmers to critically assess their business which could lead to more questions and answers. For this reason, he says farmers should seek help from a rural professional to interpret what was influencing or driving the KPI. In his experience farmer awareness of KPI, their value and relevant benchmarks increased when they worked with a qualified third party.

“Those that use KPI extensively without the support of a rural professional

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January 2018

would be in the minority, in my view.”

AbacusBio consultant Simon Glennie says the RMPP resource has been wellthought out because it includes a range of KPI that are powerful and could make a real difference and ranged from the easyto-calculate to the more complex.

There’s the potential to get more technical but complexity and the terminology is what turns farmers off.

“I think that’s why KPI have got a bad name because the terminology sounds like corporate speak and a lot of farmers don’t want to spend time in front of a computer working them out.”

But it needn’t be an overly complicated concept or process. In very simple terms a KPI is a production or financially based target which could be lambing percentage, tailing percentage, net surplus, gross income/ha. These were all easily measured and if recorded consistently over time gave a good measure of progress and success.

KPI are not for everyone and it is a pointless exercise if a farmer isn’t prepared to follow up by making change.

“Older farmers with low debt levels who are comfortable with how they’re performing might say ‘what’s the point’ and I completely understand that, but the younger generation with more debt might use KPIs to help focus their priorities and effort.”

Invercargill-based Farm Plan consultant Peter Flannery, says the most important points to take on board from the KPI and benchmarking resources are to: compare apples with apples; keep accurate records; start with what you already record; and focus on what you can most influence, He warns against the temptation to get fixated on a single benchmark or KPI. “You need to keep the big picture in mind and I think that’s often where farmers get stuck.”

A big picture goal might be to increase

return on equity (ROE) but then it’s a matter of working back through the relevant KPIs that will help drive that.

ROE or return on assets are examples of KPIs that measure success; the second type of KPI are those that drive or influence success. They are production-based, and in Flannery’s opinion, the most important.

“If you ask the question, ‘what drives ROE?’ it will most likely stem back to income, which in turn is strongly influenced by production. You can influence production, but you have minimal influence on the prices you receive.”

He uses as an example lambing percentage.

“It’s a KPI everyone knows, but what actually drives lambing percentage?”

The weight and condition of ewes at tupping is a key influence, so the recording of ewe weights is the logical starting point.

If that highlights below-par growth the next step is to look at ways of getting ewes to heavier weights by autumn.

He says that means having them fullygrown as two-tooths, so the next question is how does a farmer do that? which leads on to feeding and using the right genetics.

The key point is to ask who, why, when and how questions and to keep moving back to the lowest influencer.

“Once you get that right, then move back up through the influencing chain.”

But just measuring and recording won’t change anything.

Flannery says farmers need to analyse and make decisions based on what their data is telling them.

“Remember, none of this is physically hard work.”

He says it doesn’t matter whether someone is young and enthusiastic or aged and lame.

“This is about being smarter, and paying attention to detail.”

27

BUSINESS | KPI

Value of KPIs limited WORDS: SANDRA TAYLOR

F

or North Canterbury farmer Scott Hassell Key Performance Indicators are of some value for benchmarking in their deer operation but are not used for any other stock classes.

Scott and his wife Jo run a sheep, beef and deer operation in the Scargill Valley with most of the emphasis being on the deer side of the business.

Like all finishers, Scott receives a Deerpro report with a breakdown of his processing data. This is benchmarked so it gives him an idea of where they sit against other finishers across the country.

Scott says these numbers are of some value, they need to be taken in the context of their business which is actively growing hind numbers – aiming for over

1000 hinds – while striving to maintain productivity.

“I’m more interested in getting the balance right with stocking rates while continuing to get the performance we have been getting.”

While their breeding and finishing operation is consistently among the top performing in the Deerpro system, Scott is the first to admit no two farms are the same, so they are not comparing apples with apples.

While, for Scott, he is constantly monitoring calving performance, weaning weights and finishing dates, his numbers can’t really be compared with a farmer down the road who is running a similar operation but has more animals on a smaller area but with irrigation.

Similarly, deer herd performance on North Canterbury farms can’t really

Scott Hassell: no two farms are the same.

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January 2018

be compared with those in Otago or Southland.

Scott is justifiably proud of the fact that they are killing animals earlier than most finishers, but he points out that a focus on weaning weights can’t be at the expensive of hind performance and scanning rates.

While they are scanning 93-97% and weaning 89-93%, it is about looking at performance across the board – weaning weights, growth rates and finishing dates as well as breeding performance within their own business.

Central Canterbury farmer and farm consultant Kerry Harmer runs Castle Ridge Station in the Ashburton Gorge along with her husband Paul.

Kerry says other than the basic performance indicators off the accounts and the bank, they don’t use KPIs in their business, because like Scott, they would not be comparing apples with apples.

“We struggle to fit the box for most groups, too extensive for finishing and too intensive for true high-country stations – the per-hectare figures would just not be right.”

Kerry says they tend to just work on numbers and weights for calves, lambs and wool, and the basics such as gross farm income and farm working expenses.

Similarly, North Canterbury farmer Michael Northcote says they do use KPIs in their business but in a limited way.

While they use production KPIs – namely lambing percentages and weaning weights – it is the financial analysis that they get back from the accountant at the end of each financial year that is of most interest to them.

He says this gives them production data was well as their financial information and they specifically look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) and farm working expenses and compare those to previous years. If costs are getting up, he says, they need to decide whether they take measures to cut costs or increase production and how they are going to do that.

Michael, who is part of wider family business which includes two separate farming operations, says they don’t benchmark their businesses against others because each farm is different with different complexities, stocking rates, livestock classes and management systems.

He says they aware of what other people are doing in terms of production, but they don’t compare their business with others, rather they look at what they are achieving every year and compare those numbers with previous years.

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BUSINESS | KPI

Joining the dots WORDS: LYNDA GRAY

T

he deer industry has defined key KPI according to the specific aspects of reproduction, venison finishing, breeding replacements and velvet production.

Farmers can benchmark their own performance against these KPI by downloading production recording spreadsheets from www.deernz.org/ deerhub.

The tools and spreadsheets are all part of the Primary Growth Partnership co-funded Passion2Profit (P2P) strategy aimed at helping farmers improve their profitability. But whether they use them is hard to gauge, Canterbury farm advisor and Advance Party facilitator Wayne Allan says.

He was part of a deer industry group that devised the KPI which was difficult enough given that everyone was “wired differently” as to what they thought the key measures of deer farming productivity and efficiency should be.

The next step of getting farmers to use the resources appears to be a step too far for most.

“What I’ve found is similar to my experience of other groups. They like the idea and concept but actually getting them to gather the information and use it is difficult.”

He likens it to having all the dots but never actually joining them together to get a meaningful picture.

Deer Industry New Zealand’s Innes Moffat says the topic of KPI is discussed often and at length.

“We think there is growing enthusiasm for monitoring and as an industry we are coming up with standardised definitions for KPI.” But trying to standardise definitions is one of the problems, a good example being weaning rate. It’s one of the biggest drivers in the deer industry but getting everyone to agree on the definition – the percentage of all mated hinds (+/pregnant hinds bought/sold) presenting

Wayne Allan

live fawns on March 1 – took lots of consultation.

Rather than establish national benchmarks or KPI, the deer industry is instead encouraging individual farmers or farmer groups to self-monitor annually, and use that information to improve performance. The Southland Originals Advance party is taking this approach with the group of nine in the throes of recording information to come up with a gross margin for hind production based on cents/kg/drymatter (DM)/consumed.

It’s a basic, simple measure but a starting point, group chairman and Manapouri deer, sheep and beef farmer Andy Denis says.

“We’re looking purely at the direct costs of running a hind such as spending on animal health, scanning, supplementary feeding and Tb testing.”

Coming up with a measure for comparison was difficult given that most members integrate their deer with sheep and/or cattle. Another complicating factor was the diversity of the deer enterprises ranging from breeding and weaner finishing, breeding for the store market, velvet, and stud breeding.

“We decided the only way to meaningfully compare was to look at cents/kg/DM/consumed by a hind. It won’t show the full picture but it’s a start and each year we’ll be able to look back and compare progress, and over time build up what we’re monitoring.”

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BUSINESS | KPI

Flock revelations WORDS: JOANNA GRIGG

B

ert Oliver considers the extra time to monitor ewe flock performance completely worth the effort.

“It helped us identify an issue we had with reproduction in our ewes.”

As farm manager at Inverary Station, Mt Somers, he oversees 5500 Romdale ewes and 1400 hoggets. The property has subscribed to StockCare for 15 years, monitoring and analysing flock performance, with the help of Chris Mulvaney, veterinarian and consultant.

Monitoring ewe weight, body condition, scanning, survival rates and weaning percentage, has built up a picture of ewe performance. It has also identified what key performance indicators are important to meeting overall targets.

As part of the analysis in 2010, four years of data on ewe condition score and weight was matched to scanning and lambing percentage. It revealed reproductive issues.

“We sorted the reproductive issues based on actual data, not a hunch.”

Now, analysis has moved on to understanding and improving ewe feeding.

Important performance indicators for

Oliver are ewe condition score a month before, just prior to mating and post mating.

“We condition score a lot and draft ewes up based on this about three times a year, for preferential feeding.”

Setting and knowing the vital condition score target for ewes means he is comfortable putting ewes out to the back country, where they are liable to lose some weight. He will condition score on return and lift the lighter ones.

“It also gives us the confidence to carry on and use feed to finish lambs.”

Having a consultant ringing you up and visiting, to help you analyse the results, is crucial to the success of StockCare or any monitoring system, Oliver says.

“They make you accountable.”

Over the years the collection of data has moved from paper sheets faxed into the office, to emailing files direct from scale software or phone software to head office.

“Now we have the protocols set-up, our head shepherd Rory can do it too.”

Ewes do not have individual EID. Mulvaney says StockCare is all about what’s happening with the mobs throughout the year, by condition scoring and weighing a sample of 50. The data is analysed to show how each mob has been managed since the last event. This

guides decisions on how to manage the mob until the next event.

“Twelve years on and I know no other way, I’m always monitoring now and have good systems in place to do it,” Oliver says “I have targets in my head where I want to be, such as sixty-five kilo tupping weights, and I can virtually predict scanning based on ewe weight.”

Oliver encourages other farmers to try StockCare although he acknowledges you need to be disciplined with recording, be able to set goals with your flock and for your business. The farm has a set KPI around kg of lamb weaned per ewe mated and Oliver said they compare performance year on year.

“This is probably more important than comparing to others.”

His next step is using StockCare to drill down into their lamb finishing system.

This means collecting more weights postweaning and using kill sheet information, he says.

“Then we can start comparing the profitability of running alternative stock classes, as we will be sure of growth rates.”

Mulvaney says Inverary has been developing new systems where lambs are being weaned very early (about 70 days), so their weaning weight is relatively low.

“Despite that, they have been able to set their own KPIs for all the key drivers of weight of lamb weaned per ewe mated.”

Left: Average increase in weight of lamb weaned per ewe mated compared to their starting year, for StockCare farmers.

Compared to the first year, farms in their second year increased weight by 2.4kg and in their fifth year the increase was 5.3kg.

StockCare started as a pilot programme over 48 farms, funded by Meat & Wool Innovation and the farmers. Now, as a commercial entity, it is about helping farmers collect relevant information and using it to analyse performance and implement change.

Supplied: Chris Mulvaney.

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31

BUSINESS | BRANDING

Delivering to the 2% WORDS: JO CUTTANCE

W

hat do consumers salivate over - a cow in the paddock or a succulent steak with a red wine sauce and spinach? So why are farmers focused on the cow and not the dish?

It’s time to reverse the thinking.

Traditionally farmers have focused on stock and crops, but to keep up with what global citizens are wanting, farmers need to reverse their thinking and concentrate on the end product. Then work from the fork back to the pasture.

Brand strategist Brian Richards from Richards Partners says the future of the sector lies in growing and delivering guiltfree food and beverages, which exceed consumer expectations, solve problems they face and ultimately enhance their lives.

“There is a global citizen like me in every part of the world. They need that dairy protein drink to offset their stressful lives.

A grass-fed hormone free beef sirloin at their business lunch.

“Some gold kiwifruit to relax their nervous colons. Premium New Zealand deer velvet to help them in the bedroom, the list of opportunities is endless,” Brian told the 2018 Federated Farmers Conference.

Rather than trying to feed 60 million people a complete diet, the NZ primary sector should deliver a status product to 2% of 1.5 billion people.

This is achievable but not within current models. NZ already produces the volume but price points are too low. Our products are too generic and lack competitive edge.

“We sell too much milk and not enough nutrition, too much meat and not enough cuisine,” Brian said.

Clever branding alone was not going to improve the sector’s future wealth. It had to be an industry-wide change of mindset

32

Brian Richards: Farmers need to concentrate on the end product.

to create great products and sell less for more.

Visionary leaders and strategists were needed to find and exploit the opportunities being created in the Western world’s food revolution.

At conference, Brian acknowledged Federated Farmers’ advocacy but said they also needed to be strategic for the future of farming. If strategists became involved they could bring an understanding of value, and the food chain, to farmers.

Strategists could express what needed to be done. Federated Farmers was focused on sheep and beef, and cropping in relation to feeding stock. This focus was not on food, but on the hoof. Food was going from the farm to the fork, and the reverse was needed - fork back to the farm.

Federated Farmers, along with other rural organisations, were informative but defended their corners rather than working to understand other people’s corners, he said. There needed to be more co-operation and inclusion within the sector, including with horticulture and viticulture. By working together and acknowledging the wide skillsets required which included, food technicians, scientists, marketers and farmers, sustainability of the primary

sector could be ensured. Many products were not shelf or table-ready. They needed to be nicely packaged and presented with a story. There needed to be specifically designed tertiary programmes teaching people how to deliver this.

A new, recognisable brand for NZ’s primary products was also needed. If it was good enough for film makers to get a $600 million subsidy and tourism promotion $130m, then the Government should be able to fund an overall brand for the primary sector, particularly considering how much the sector contributes to GDP. There needed to be something similar to tourism’s 100% Pure New Zealand campaign.

A recognisable backdrop brand behind agribusiness products would provide an extra 15% value to farmers. Regional provenance stories could be showcased with photos and tales of the area, not only reinforcing NZ’s agribusiness but also encouraging people to visit.

Farmers needed to farm with environmental sustainability and be rewarded for doing so, premiums for behaving in better ways to build the price point. Meat companies needed to work together, not price collaboration, but behave in certain ways by being honourable with how they perform offshore.

Knowledge needed to be shared. It did not make sense for NZ lamb to be sitting a few metres away from NZ salmon in an offshore supermarket and none of the resources of getting it there shared.

The primary sector needed to recognise the way forward was by sharing resources and lifting all primary sector products to premium status, while pushing for tertiary institutions to develop specific programmes on international food and beverage marketing to provide experts in the evolving markets NZ products should be sold in.

Failure to change will make NZ primary products completely irrelevant to the customers with the money.

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Reaping the rewards

Packing on the kilos at Braemar Independent agent p43 Country-Wide

January 2018

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DEER | ONFARM

Ready to shift: in late September these weaners were due to go onto plantain or grass.

Reaping rewards of EBVs Mid Canterbury’s Mike Salvesen sang the praises of the national stag performance recording database, Deer Select, during this year’s industry conference in Timaru.

Andrew Swallow caught up with him on his farm near Mt Somers.

I

f you’re not buying sires on BV [breeding value], then how do you know what you’ve got?”

That was the question Mid Canterbury farmer Mike Salvesen put to delegates at the Deer Industry Conference in Timaru during the winter.

At home on Wakare, he’s been using sires selected on BV since 2010 and is confident he’s getting value for money, with weaners finished earlier and heavier.

What’s more, the gains accumulate year on year as positive stag traits are transferred to the herd in replacement hinds.

His 1000 hinds are a mix of English and Eastern genetics, bred using stags from Peel Forest, Deer Improvement, and LandCorp.

Of the seven BVs available in Deer Select, he particularly looks at weaning weight, weight at 12 months, and eye muscle area (EMA).

“That’s quite important. It’s quite closely

34

related to kill-out percentage and meat yield.”

The herd’s been increased from 350 in 2010 following a strategic decision to go out of sheep, other than occasional lamb finishing, and focus on venison and beef production.

“We do have 50 velveting stags but those are bought in.”

Building up the hind herd using top stags means the genetics are now among the best in the country for venison production and each new stag with better BVs for weaning weight or EMA for example, nudges performance forward again.

“We’re finding we’re getting absolutely repeatable results,” he told the Deer Industry Conference, adding that for those with herds that are industry average, or worse, buying high performing genetics for the first time will deliver a leap in performance, so arguably the stags are even

FARM FACTS • 1460ha split 400ha front country, 1000ha hill.

• 450-850m altitude near Mt Somers, Canterbury.

• Deer: 1000 Eastern/English hinds; 50 velvet stags; 25 breeding and terminal stags.

All weaners finished on farm Oct-March.

• Cattle: 500 Angus & Hereford cows; progeny finished or sold for dairy mating.

• Beet & kale wintering; plantain & clover summer finishing. more valuable. He breeds replacements from younger hinds using Eastern Red stags from Deer Improvement to maximise the rate of genetic gain with about 400 older hinds put to Peel Forest’s specialist

Country-Wide

January 2018

DEVELOPMENTS IN DEER SELECT A new BV available for breeders to use this year is a score for stags’ immune response to gastro-intestinal parasites, as measured by the CARLA saliva test, DINZ’s Deer Select manager Sharon McIntyre says.

hybrid terminal sires, B11s.

Overall stag-to-hind ratio is 1:40 with the B11s at a slightly lower ratio (ie: fewer hinds per stag) and the reds at a slightly higher ratio. In-fawn rate for mixedage hinds is 97% and 90% for R2s, and improving. Overall fawning percentage is 95%.

Weaning is pre-rut with weaners put back on hill blocks while hinds are put with stags on flatter front country.

‘We don’t have enough flat to run the hinds with fawns at rut so we use the smaller hill blocks to put the weaners on.’

“We don’t have enough flat to run the hinds with fawns at rut so we use the smaller hill blocks to put the weaners on.”

Weaning weights have gone from an average 48kg in 2011 to 58kg today. In five years Salvesen’s target is to get that up to 65kg, using genetics and better feeding at critical times.

After the rut weaners are brought in, weighed, the best put on fodder beet for the winter and the rest on grass and baleage. They’re put over the scales again

Feeding focus: better nutrition at key times is part of Mike Salvesen’s strategy to capitalise on high performance genetics.

in August for drenching and drafting into weight and breed lines, and again in October when a first draft is taken at 105kg liveweight. About 20% typically go in that first draft.

In most years – last year was an exception – he reckons it’s impossible to put enough weight on weaners after that first draft to beat the weekly drops in schedule so his strategy is to hold off until just before Christmas to take a second draft, going down to 95kg LWT. That clears at least another 30% with the proportion taken at that second draft increasing year on year, leaving fewer going into the summer with its challenges of feed quality and possible drought.

Those left after the second draft are cleared over summer and early autumn to achieve an average kill date of January 1 at a carcaseweight of 55kg.

“We try to avoid any second winters.

They achieve most of their growth potential in that first spring and then that’s it.”

Despite the genetics, Salvesen says his deer unit is not yet “hugely high performance.”

“We know what we need to improve: management capability!”

EBV v actual at Wakare

›› paying dividends p36

Stag W12EBV*

Actual June 1 progeny weight

Average kill date

25

75

25 Oct

15

60

1 Dec

*12-month weight EBV. Source: Mike Salvesen, DINZ conference, Timaru, May 2018.

Country-Wide

January 2018

However, she stresses it is a “research” BV at this stage because AgResearch’s work to confirm the impact of CARLA on parasitism in deer is ongoing. Nine studs have been submitting data on it but stag buyers will need to make their own enquiries as to whether a stud breeder has used this service and if so, what results are, as it will not appear in the EBVs listed online at deernz.org/deerhub. Coming into this year’s sale season, 25 studs had stags listed on the Deer Select area of deerhub.

Besides the seven EBVs for each sire available online, two $-value indices are displayed: terminal and replacement hind/early-kill venison.

The indices combine multiple trait scores for a stag, weighted according to the objective, and converted into a $-value using an AgResearch farm model. The model uses 2009 costings and prices so will be updated next year.

A couple of longer-term developments are a meat module and a new across breed growth module which will improve the accuracy of current EBVs and make across breed comparisons valid. A new maternal breeding value for fertility is also being investigated.

Achieving across herd and breed evaluation is technically difficult, time consuming and costly requiring extensive use of AI to establish genetic links between red and wapiti herds so that herd and breed effects can be distinguished, points out McIntyre.

It’s even more challenging and time consuming with maternal and reproductive traits as good numbers of daughters per sire have to be retained and their reproductive performance recorded.

“The advantage is all [resulting] breeding values and indexes are comparable regardless of breed making it easier for commercial deer farmers.”

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High EBVs on board: Mike Salvesen says stags have consistently delivered what the EBVs promised.

As president of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers he currently counts himself as half a labour unit on the farm, which employs two others, but this year, due to the demands of Mycoplasma bovis, he’s been onfarm even less than that.

“My son says I’m only a part-timer!”

Greater attention to detail in a range of areas, particularly critical feed times for both hinds and fawns, is where there’s an opportunity to do better, he believes. For example, plantain and clover pastures, the first of which were established last year, should improve summer feed quality and quantity when grass growth drops off.

Venison and beef focus paying dividends Mike and Nicky Salvesen bought Wakare in 2008 having farmed near Mt Somers village prior to that after arriving from the borders of Scotland in 2003.

Initially they ran sheep, cattle and deer,

carrying on an extensive development programme subdividing blocks and paddocks and fencing off watercourses which had been started by previous owners Richie and Felicity Morrow.

“Good infrastructure’s crucial: it’s just as important on a farm as it is in a city. It saves you time and money,” Mike says.

The property is 1460 hectares including 400ha of flat-to-gently sloping paddocks and 1000ha of downs and hill rising to 850m above sea-level. The homestead, in the northeast corner of the property, is at 500m.

In 2010 they decided to drop sheep, the proceeds from the sale of 2000 Perendale ewes helping fund further deer fencing with a view to expanding the deer herd to 1000. The other core stock are breeding cows, about 500 of them, mostly Angus with a smaller mob of Herefords.

“We generally keep them separate.”

Cows are calved on the hill and heifers on lower country. All heifers must get in-

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calf to calve at two or they’re gone. Over the average lifetime of a cow, that makes them twice as productive as those first calved at three, points out Salvesen.

“The life expectancy of a beef cow is not as great as some people think. You drop some every year for various reasons and by the time they are six there are only half of them left.”

Taking six years as the average age of leaving the herd, that means a cow calved as a two-year-old will produce four calves, to a three-year-old first calvers’ three.

Factor in the extra cost of feeding a large, empty heifer for another year and the returns are “simple maths,” says Salvesen, who questions why anyone would use genetics from a stud herd that doesn’t calve two-year-olds.

Half of the yearling bulls from the Angus herd are sold to the dairy industry in October with the balance sold for slaughter at 300kg Cwt, with an average kill date pre-winter for bulls. Some steers are taken through a second winter and finished at slightly heavier weights, while heifers surplus to replacement requirements are finished at about 260kgCwt. As with stags, Salvesen’s strategy is to seek the best genetics in bought-in sires, buying from “the top index herds in the North and South Island.”

Austin’s Ultrasound is used to scan all young stock for eye-muscle area and intramuscular fat to check on the performance of bulls, and help pick replacement heifers and the best bulls as weight alone can be a misleading measure of carcase value, he’s found.

Growth rates of all stock are checked with regular, EID facilitated weigh-ins.

Country-Wide

January 2018

DEER | ONFARM

Packing on the kilos With quality feed the Mackenzies’ Braemar Station deer operation has boosted carcaseweights for improved returns. Lynda Gray reports.

F

eeding out hay for weaners to hunker down on during the 2013 winter was a deer farming low point at Braemar Station in the Mackenzie Basin.

“It was tough, we were feeding out silage to eat and hay for them to sleep on because of the snow and cold,” Hamish Mackenzie says.

The Mackenzies hadn’t planned on wintering 575 weaners but were forced into it when the 296 home-bred stag fawns didn’t sell at the autumn weaner sales.

They made it through with lots of hay and silage but the winter from hell started them questioning the best system for deer at Braemar Station which up until then had been a low-input system based on the breeding and selling of Red weaners for finishing at autumn sales.

The topic came under the spotlight in spring 2013 at a deer industry field day at Braemar Station Country-Wide (February 2014) where farm consultant Nicky Hyslop presented three different scenarios to grow more kilos of deer in a low-cost high country system. The first option was to stick with the status-quo but lift fawning percentage by 5% and weaning weight

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January 2018

by 5kg; the second to winter and finish weaners to 56kg carcaseweight (CW) and drop the number of breeding hinds; and the third to buy replacement in-fawn hinds to side-step the problem of feeding young stock in the long winter/short spring-summer high country environment.

Hyslop calculated that weaner finishing produced a slightly better gross margin than the other two options but the Mackenzies weren’t convinced it was the right path for them due to the cost of wintering and pressure to get them finished by Christmas.

Instead they decided to improve on what they were doing by lifting hind performance through a mix of feeding and genetics.

“The big thing has been feeding hinds better in the lead-up to mating, and developing more hill country in the deer block so hinds have better-quality feed over lactation. Really it’s been a combination of many things,” Hamish says.

Since 2013, another 81ha of the 595ha of deer-fenced hill country has been developed from browntop-dominant pasture. It’s taken two or three years of

KEY DEER FARMING CHANGES • A more than doubling in deer gross farm income/ha • An 11% improvement in fawning (hinds mated/fawns weaned) • An 11kg increase in weaning weights • A 50% increase in hind herd.

• Weaner finishing relationship with Fairlie farmer since 2014 • Mating of all R2 hinds, those not retained are sold in-fawn.

• More development within 485ha deer fenced area, plus deer fencing of another 50ha

spray and ryecorn to transition to shortterm high sugar grasses such as Aber Dart, as well as Shogun Italian ryegrass (see Country-Wide October 2018).

The increased area of good bulk and quality feed keeps hinds on a rising plane of feed when needed most, particularly

›› Enviro winners p38 37

Left: Julia and Hamish Mackenzie have more than doubled Deer GFI/ha since 2013.

Far Left: Kate Mackenzie and Joe the pony, with Winston the goat named after the Deputy Prime Minister.

over lactation and in the lead up to mating.

They wean according to the feed situation.

“When we have quality feed on hand for hinds we’re able to wean later and get the extra weight on fawns,” Hamish says Last year weaning was in mid-May – the latest ever. The risk from pushing it out was the effect it would have on hind conception rates but scanning results were not significantly different.

“We had 4% dry across everything, whereas we’d usually have 2%.”

The big payback was a 15kg average increase in fawn liveweight which, based on a $7.50kg/LW was worth an extra $112.50 per head.

Stock Units

2013

2018

Deer

2331

3010

Sheep

6144

6785

Cattle

2074

2215

Farm Income breakdown

2013

2018

Sheep

50%

37%

Deer

20%

25%

Cattle

20%

15%

Accommodation

10%

23%

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Deer Performance

2013

2017

Hinds mated

630

950

Fawning %

82

93

Weaning weight

54

65

Deer gross farm income/ha

$243

$506

At weaning this year 280 stag fawns went to Fairlie farmer Steve Adams for finishing. This is the fourth year Braemer weaners have been onsold for finishing at a mutually agreed price based on a stock agent and market value assessment.

On the genetics front Forrester sires from Peel Forest Estate are used to produce a hardy breeding hind. The hind herd is increasing and will be capped about 900, including R2 replacements.

In hindsight, pushing for more from Braemar’s deer has been the right one, although it was a risk given the $6.50/ kg venison schedule at the time. Both Hamish and Julia remember DINZ chairman Andy Macfarlane’s woolshed talk at their 2013 field day trying to buoy farmers flagging confidence with the suggestion that a $10-plus schedule was an achievable goal, a prediction that was met with yeah-right mumbles from farmers.

The Mackenzies weren’t totally convinced by Macfarlane but decided to push deer productivity believing that they had more potential to boost the overall farm business.

“We could see that we could make big improvements with the deer, rather than sheep or cattle, through genetics and feeding,” Julia says.

The changes and gains made over the past four years have coincided perfectly with the $10-plus schedule that Macfarlane predicted. The Mackenzies credit the change in deer farming fortunes in part to the luck of exchange rates but

also industry action that has encouraged farmers to stick with and invest in deer farming.

Enviro winners Hamish and Julia are the 2018 winners of the NZDFA Next Generation Award, recognising sustainable farming practices and production. Their approach is to do the best they can to enhance the farming environment using best farming practices and keeping up to date with the latest knowledge.

A farm environment plan is keeping them on track.

“As we’ve developed we’ve fenced out waterways and sensitive areas.”

A mix of native riparian planting, fencing and sediment traps are being used across the farm to mitigate run-off and protect at-risk areas of land.

Julia has taken on an off-farm environmental role, becoming chair of the Mackenzie Country Trust in November 2017. The trust, established in 2016, has the goal of protecting biodiversity and landscapes in collaboration with local stakeholders including farmers, irrigators, tourist operators and conservationists.

There are conflicting viewpoints, making the role challenging at times.

Farming in particular has come under attack in the area due to media coverage earlier in the year. The challenge for farmers in what is an extraordinary tussock, lake and stream landscape is to come up with strategies to keep farming environmentally and financially sustainable.

More on Braemar p75 Country-Wide

January 2018

DEER | VELVETING

It doesn’t have to be complicated Words by: Lynda Gray

G

et a floor plan. That’s the advice of John Tacon to deer farmers gearing up for the coming velvet season and compliance with the Regulation Control Scheme for Deer Velvet Harvest (RCS) legislation introduced in August last year.

But one aspect overlooked by many is a quick reference floorplan identifying the “clean zones”, the areas in which velvet harvesting, handling and storage take place,” DINZ quality manager, John Tacon says.

“It doesn’t have to be complicated and could be on an A4 sheet of paper but you have to have one.”

Another misunderstanding was that the RCS applied only to NVSB-accredited farmers, but this was not the case.

The RCS came into force amid some resistance and misunderstanding on what was and wasn’t required in velveting sheds but farmers have found the requirements not as restrictive as feared.

‘With the prices being paid there’s no excuse for not investing some of that money back to upgrade sheds.’

Now you can instantly calculate deer feed requirements and compare the cost of nutrition on your device. www.deernz.org/deerapp If you know the cost of different feed options, enter them into the feed cost comparer to calculate the cost of the protein and energy your deer require for optimal growth.

Download the deerapp from www.deernz.org/deerapp to iPhone, iPad or Android phone.

The deerapp also includes the feed intake and feed allocation calculators developed

by Dr David Stevens and Marie Casey.

More calculators will be added.

The scheme was developed after separate audits by MPI and delegates from China’s velvet industry in late 2016. This led to an MPI directive for a more-defined regulatory system around the harvesting of velvet. The focus areas are hygiene, clean zones, freezing of product, record-keeping and transport.

“It’s entry-level stuff as the Animal Products Act goes so we’re fortunate in that regard,” Tacon says.

The RCS was introduced with a “soft landing” last year with the objective of making sure everyone knew their obligations and if not meeting them were well on the way to doing so.

As part of the RCS 300 sheds are audited for compliance each year Last season 163 passed inspection, 123 had work to be done and completed by an agreed date, and 14 declined to have an audit.

“We’ll give those who didn’t want to be audited another chance… but if you choose not to do anything you need to think very carefully about signing a VSD (velvet status declaration form) because it’s a legally binding document.”

The Deer Farmers Association was supportive of the RCS. “We urge farmers to get their sheds up to compliance standard,” DFA national president John Somerville says.

“Velvet is an important part of the industry and with the prices being paid there’s no excuse for not investing some of that money back to upgrade sheds.”

Country-Wide

January 2018

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DEER | ONFARM

Driving productivity with environmental rewards Better genetics and better feeding are just some of the aspects that have helped a Hawke’s Bay farming couple almost double their farm income over five years, Lynda Gray reports.

T

aking it easy is clearly not an option for Grant and Sally Charteris. The awardwinning farming couple has almost doubled Gross Farm Income within five years by constantly searching out and following through with management to drive productivity and protect their challenging hill environment.

When Country-Wide first profiled Grant and Sally (November 2012) GFI/ha was $1300, it’s now a tad under $2500, and the EFS in excess of $1000/ha.

“We’ve had the best onfarm profit by a long shot this year and it’s due to a lot of things,” Grant says.

On the deer side of the farm business better genetics and better feeding have helped turn out more velvet and heavier weaners earlier to lift gross farm income.

Over the past five years the two-year-old

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FARM FACTS • Grant and Sally Charteris and children Harry (4) and Lottie (2) • Forest Farm, Tikokino, Central Hawke’s Bay • Rolling to steep country, 548metres asl • 327ha (315ha effective)

average velvet weight has increased from 2.5kg to 3.3kg, and the average velvet weight for replacement two-year-old velvet stags has lifted from 2.8kg to 3.8kg.

“I’d love to keep it above 4kg so we’re continually shifting the goal posts.”

There’s been a change in liveweightgaining feeds for the deer system, with all stock classes taking priority at different stages of the season.

In 2012 plantain and plantain clover mixes were shaping up to be a good option for velvetting stags and lifting hind liveweights in the lead up to mating. But after a couple of years its unsuitability in the system, and the mis-match between plantain growth and feed demand became obvious.

“We weren’t getting longevity from it and found that when we needed it most we couldn’t put the grazing pressure on it and by the time it was in full growth mode we had split the stags into smaller velvetting mobs so didn’t have big enough mobs to graze it to its potential.”

The herb was replaced by tetraploid hybrid ryegrass Shogun four years ago.

Pure and clover-mix pastures have been established and are grazed by velvetting stags when they move off winter crops.

“It’s high octane and we’re confident we can get three to four years out of it.”

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January 2018

No bull Bull beef cattle have also exited the Forest Farm system, replaced by 60 Hereford breeding cows.

Up to 200 yearling beef and/or Friesian bulls were traded over a year, achieving a margin of about $600. They were bought in small groups from Stortford Lodge and boxed off into weight-range groups, and the top weights taken off in groups of five or six.

The bulls were sprinkled in with the deer and helped control pasture quality for lactating hinds.

They were also a flexible stock class, easily sold if feed conditions got tight, and provided a consistent income stream. But for all that they weren’t the best fit for the hill environment.

“They were damaging our lighter country and busting the gates and in the dry years we were always aware of having to save feed to fatten them so it was just too hard. The cows mean I can farm deer the way I want to.

They clean up and groom the pasture without causing damage on our lighter country and they don’t bust gates. It’s a simpler and more efficient system and means we can concentrate more on the deer.”

A new income stream is an onfarm sire stag sale. At the first sale last year 16 threeyear-old dual-purpose velvet maternal stags went under the hammer and all were sold.

This year 12-15 will be on offer.

“It will depend on what comes through, but I’d rather keep the numbers down and the quality high.”

Grant Charteris: All stock classes take priority at different stages of the season.

Water works A $100,000 upgrade of Forest Farm’s stock water system in 2017 has been a costly but essential risk mitigation project. The catalyst was one of the driest summers ever forcing the Charteris’ to off-farm graze their spikers and sell all cattle either to the works or store.

“We had rough feed, but water was scarce. Our springs were drying up and the dams were drying up and I was having to make decisions on decisions. It was a really tough time.”

They bit the bullet and embarked on a system upgrade, drilling a 100-metredeep bore from which water is pumped up to the top of the farm to tanks, then adding two kilometres of feeder lines to connect into the old gravity system. A Wifi monitoring system gives Grant constant and remote control.

Country-Wide

January 2018

›› Right balance p42 41

THE RIGHT BALANCE Balancing production, profit and environmental sustainability is a continual work in progress for Grant and Sally.

“I want to keep production performance on an increasing trajectory but at the same time enhance our farming environment. I think that most farmers want to invest in environmental sustainability, but you have to have the production and profitability to do it.”

Every year $30,000-$40,000 is earmarked for environmental enhancement. Last year the money went on the fencing and planting of 3,500 native plants as part of a waterway restoration project.

As well as fencing and plantings, the grazing and establishment of crops is carefully managed to minimise run-off and soil damage.

“Phosphorus run-off is the big issue and we take different approaches to managing it depending on the area.”

In the hill country generous buffer zones are left at the bottom of the hill, and set stocking rather than strip-grazing is practiced. Designated crop paddocks are well away from waterways to reduce the risk of run-off.

“I can keep an eye on it from wherever.

It’s been a real game-changer because the previous system was so manual and handson because of the petrol pumps.”

When installation of the new water scheme was in full swing, it started to rain and led on to an excellent autumn. But regardless, Grant says the upgrade was a necessary and smart farm management move.

Another near-new farm improvement are the deer and cattle yards built in 2015.

Grant more or less designed the yards, although he’s grateful for the suggestion he took on board from a member of the deer industry Advance Party to which he belongs.

“He suggested adding in an extra laneway and it changed the whole dynamics of how the yards worked. The whole yard system would be a lot less effective without it.”

Plans to roof part of the yards were ditched when Grant discovered that a resource consent was needed because the

42

structure was 18 metres – two metres closer than permissible – to the road boundary.

Hereford breeding cows have replaced bullbreed in the farm’s system.

For industry good

Grant continues to pursue off-farm deer industry involvement with as much enthusiasm as his on-farm projects. The employment of Liam James in 2015 has helped free up the time to devote to industry representation. He holds a position on the DFA executive council and is a champion for the Next Generation and Production Improvement Programme (PIP) initiatives.

“I love it because it adds a different element and it gives me a completely different perspective and outlook.”

The deer industry’s approach has been to front-foot issues, good examples being the development of effective paddock to plate, and environmental codes of practice.

“We want to be the industry recognised as having LEP’s and effective codes of practice because from a global perspective it means a lot.”

But at the same time he’s mindful of the need to grow the industry, but not at all costs, so the next generation - including his children Harry and Lottie - have the opportunity of pursuing an attractive land use opportunity.

“If we keep taking a proactive approach there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be the case.”

Country-Wide

January 2018

DEER | KPI

Octogenarian not retiring WORDS: LYNDA GRAY

B

ob Dunn is an endangered species: an independent deer agent.

Bob happened into his specialist role soon after moving from Wellington to Waikato in 1985. He was in search of a quieter life and keen to go deer farming, something he had pursued on a part-time basis around the running of a large-scale earthmoving contracting business.

Despite the less-than-favourable farming climate, given Roger Douglas was in the throes of designing and rolling out Rogernomics, the family bought and moved to a 40ha block at Matangi, near Hamilton. In the months leading up to possession Bob splashed out on 150 hinds at $4500 a head to double his breeding herd, and also deer fenced part of the block.

However, a change in the livestock taxation scheme hit deer farmers such as Bob particularly hard. Until then deer were valued according to a standard amount of about $200 and the difference between this and the market value – often in excess of $3000 – was a tax-deductible expense.

It made the investment in deer farming highly attractive to cashed-up ‘Queen Street’ farmers. But Douglas replaced the standard values with a market value

Country-Wide

January 2018

average system which in simple terms ended up taxing deer farmers on unrealised profits. Eventually this scheme was amended to a fairer cost-based system but in the interim farmers were landed with massive tax bills; in Bob’s case $100,000.

“I got the tax bill at the end of March 1986. I knew what was coming up after Douglas made his announcement about deer livestock tax changes in December 1985, so I had started working closely with my accountant.”

“I transported well over 500,000 deer and am proud of the fact that over 26 years I only had five deaths.”

It was a huge financial hit which sent Bob in search of off-farm employment.

“We just needed to earn extra money to help us survive.”

That led to assisting vets with deer Tb testing and vaccinating which started hooking Bob in to the growing network of deer farmers, many of whom would become clients as he branched out into more deer-related services. He started procuring deer for Rotorua-based Mair Venison on an informal basis, coordinating

regular loads of Waikato weaners to make the 100km trip worthwhile. He was offered a job as a Mair agent but turned it down until Michael Rice (Mair chief executive) in 1989 sent him a cheque in the mail and congratulated him on becoming the Waikato procurement agent.

That role led to a deer transport diversification, a logical development given that he was procuring and buying for clients up to 12,000 deer a year. He established Bob Dunn Transport a single truck and trailer covering the top half of the North Island.

“I transported well over 500,000 deer and am proud of the fact that over 26 years I only had five deaths.”

Velvet buying is another service. It grew from his coordination for several years of the local Deer Farmers Association velvet pool. When the pool offering outgrew the local facilities and was transferred to Wrightsons in Hastings he started a pool for smaller scale deer farmers based in his workshop with a sizeable walk-in freezer. Eventually he side-lined the pool arrangement and became a road buyer, most recently for CK Imports.

His grass-roots contribution to deer farming earned him in 1997 the industryrecognised Matuschka Award.

In 2003 Bob sold the farm, and it’s a move he’s never regretted.

“We came to the Waikato for an easier life but that didn’t happen, and it became a struggle because of Roger Douglas. But I became lonely on the farm which was one of the reasons for starting a transport business and the rest followed.”

Although an octogenarian there are no plans to retire, instead he’ll keep doing what makes him happy.

“I’ve really liked being able to help the new deer farming guys and being an agent, so it all sort of fell into place.”

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LIVESTOCK | ONFARM Matt Iremonger with crop manager Nick Murdoch.

Getting the ducks lined up

I

An amalgamated farming operation of 5000 hectares on the south side of Banks Peninsula is under constant scrutiny from potential customers.

Sandra Taylor reports. Photos by Johnny Houston.

f lining-up ducks wasn’t in Matt Iremonger’s job description it should have been.

Juggling the management of a range of farm environments with stock, crops and the imperative to generate a return on a significant investment in irrigation is, Matt says, a bit like playing chess in the dark with one arm tied behind his back - and he obviously loves it.

Added to the complexity is the location of the multi-farm operation Matt manages alongside his wife Katy. Sitting either side of State Highway 75, the route to Akaroa, means the business is under scrutiny from tourists, local day-trippers and holidaymakers all of whom Matt views as customers - or potential customers - and treat accordingly.

“Everyone that drives past is potentially

44

a customer so we want our staff to be friendly and courteous and ensure that every interaction is a positive one,” Matt says.

Matt and Katy came to Willesden Farms - which is the consolidation of eight separate farms - 18 months ago when the farming business, owned by Brent and Belinda Thomas and Brent’s father David was entering a period of consolidation.

Development of an irrigation system which waters 460 hectares of the 5000ha business had been completed at a cost of about $8000/ha (including fencing and water systems as well as the irrigation infrastructure) so there was an imperative to start generating a return on this significant capital investment.

This meant every animal and every crop needed to be performing well and taking a new-broom approach, Matt and Brent

culled all but the best performing ewes and cows and used these animals as a platform upon which to build their future sheep and beef herds.

One of the idiosyncrasies of their business is the high beef-to-sheep ratio with 1500 cows calving last spring, although 600 are Mt Linton cows run in a share-farming arrangement with Willesden.

Matt says they run a high proportion of cattle because they have the large-scale infrastructure to cope with cattle and the geographical spread of the farms is better suited to cattle which are less labourintensive than sheep.

A recently installed large-scale reticulated water system on the hill country has also opened up more country for cattle, particularly over summer.

Ultimately, they would like to run 2000

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January 2018

breeding cows and 10,000 ewes (6200 ewes and 3500 hoggets went to the ram this year) and this year aim to mate 1900 breeding cows, both naturally and through artificial insemination and embryo transfers.

Breeding cows also suit some of their later hill country - where pasture growth doesn’t really start until late spring.

Rainfall and terrain both vary significantly within a short area over the Willesden business, with rainfall ranging from 550-1100mm while the farm runs from sea level to above 850 metres.

Matt says one of the real strengths of the business is that throughout the year, there is always grass growing on some part of the farm.

A recently acquired block between Lake Ellesmere and the Pacific Ocean is what Matt refers to as Goldilocks land - it’s not too hot nor too cold. This Spit country is a frost-free environment and while it feels exposed, there is little wind and the soils are a mix of heavy and warm, easydraining, giving them a range of options for both livestock and crops.

The farm has consents to irrigate 300ha of this Spit country and 130ha will be up and running in later December, with the balance going in early 2019.

All stock bred on the farm is finished within the business and to drive both productivity and profitability in their ewe flock they have introduced Texel genetics by using a RomTex ram. They have used these genetics for the past two years and will use a composite ram over the progeny.

They will then stabilise the breed, potentially using a straight Romney. To speed the flock-building process they have bought in ewe lambs as Matt says they need to build ewe numbers in order to get good numbers of lambs in spring to feed into the irrigated part of the farm.

Matt and Katy have a policy of aiming to wean lambs early - at between 70 and

Rachel Neal.

80 days - and these lambs are run straight on to irrigated leafy turnip feed crops. They have tried growing chicory but this feed is also sought after by the many thousands of Canada Geese that live on nearby Lake Ellesmere.

Early weaning means the lambs are not competing with their mothers for highquality feed and it also allows the ewes to regain body condition before going back out to the ram in autumn.

With the feed available under irrigation they aim to grow the lambs to 19-20kg carcaseweight.

Almost all the lambs are contracted, more for security of income rather than extracting premiums. As Matt says, it is the number of lambs they sell each year that is a critical driver of income in their business.

This year the ewes scanned 181% and tailed 148% a pleasing result from a flock in a rebuilding phase.

›› Cattle premiums target p46

Development work on paddocks bordering Lake Ellesmere.

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January 2018

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CATTLE PREMIUMS TARGETED

there is little wastage. Matt says it is still a cost but not a huge cost and they are growing well.

“If we didn’t have that land, we would have them sold and processed before their second winter.”

Like the sheep, the cattle are weaned relatively early and run on to the irrigated

forages and pastures. Because of this two-year finishing policy, they pay less attention to weaning weights and when selecting genetics, they are looking at 600day growth rates as they want those heavy carcases. Intra-muscular fat is also a critical trait as they want to produce grass-fed beef that gives the customer a great eating

There’s no good time to have toxoplasmosis and campylobacteriosis. But there’s a really good time to vaccinate.

CONTROL THE RISK OF TOXOPLASMA

CONTROL THE RISK OF CAMPYLOBACTER

When you think abortion storms, you probably think toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma is everywhere and any ewe that contracts it may abort.

But campylobacter also causes abortion, is nearly as prevalent and equally as deadly. Campylobacter can cost you 20-30% of your lambs.

There are two diseases that cause abortion storms and preventing them takes two vaccines. So talk to your vet about how the Toxovax® + Campyvax4® combination gives you the best protection against abortion storms.

MADE FOR NEW ZEALAND. AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER VETERINARY AUTHORISATION. ACVM No: A4769, A9535. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz NZ/SPV/1117/0008a © 2018 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved.

46Phone:

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January 2018

02165_MSD_TOXO/CAMPY_01

The Willesden cattle operation targets the premium end of the market aiming for heavy carcases of 350kg and good marbling. Genetic selection and management are geared to hitting premium targets and this includes a policy of carrying finishing cattle through a second winter to achieve them.

“We also think there is a big opportunity to try and produce a product when there is less supply volume,” Matt says.

He sees their real strength is their ability to winter cattle at low cost - thanks to the acquisition of the warm, free-draining Spit country. This means cattle are on forage crops -fodder beet and kale - that are dry and warm and the frost-free environment makes for high feed utilisation and a reduced need for supplement.

“The new block means we can winter cattle more efficiently.”

They require less feed to maintain and

Lambs being loaded onto a truck.

experience for which they are willing to pay a premium.

They use a Charolais terminal sire, but are working with Te Mania Angus stud in their artificial breeding programme and this includes transplanting embryos from Te Mania cows. While the hill country is ideal for the breeding cows for much of the year, the valleys can get very wet and cold and Matt says they will look to get cows off this country over winter and run them on the Spit country.

Environmentally, this is a sound management strategy as getting cows off the wet hill stops pugging and is better for animal welfare. Importantly it also stops sediment, nutrient and phosphate losses, critical when farming so close to the environmentally fragile Lake Ellesmere.

It also makes financial sense and Matt says they need to protect their greatest asset which is their soil.

Removing cattle from the hill at various times spells the land and gives pasture covers an opportunity to build for calving and lambing.

While the Spit country sits adjacent to Lake Ellesmere, the nature of the soils - warm and dry pea gravel - and the drainage system means nutrient losses are minimal and what there is moves out toward the ocean rather than into the lake.

As part of their irrigation consent on this Spit country, nutrient losses cannot exceed 15kg nitrogen/ha and Matt is confident they will easily operate within this given the scope of land and the pastures and crops being grown.

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›› Growing maize under film p48 January 2018

IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT While the capital cost of the irrigation on Willesden has been large, it is a low-cost system because the water is virtually at ground level, so pumping costs are minimal. While the wells have been drilled to a reasonable depth, the water surges so it is only being pumped from a maximum of five metres.

Prices for lamb and beef mean they are able to generate a return on the investment in irrigation but Matt is honest when he says he cannot guarantee this will always be the case. But the mix of crops and a drive to produce product at the premium end of the market coupled with low cost wintering systems he believes, makes for a sound business case.

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GROWING MAIZE UNDER FILM The irrigation development and acquisition of the Spit has opened a range of opportunities for growing both forage and cash crops which includes high-value specialist seed crops.

Half of the Spit country has heavy soils, ideal for cash crops, while the balance is the pea gravel soils which are ideal for wintering stock. Matt says these soils look like they wouldn’t grow anything, but in reality, they are highly fertile, rich in nitrogen, phosphate, sulphur, lime and have a high pH. This year they are growing radish and pak choi seeds alongside barley which will be taken to either silage or grain depending on the crop and potatoes, which are grown in partnership with a potato grower.

But one the more exciting crops they are trialling on the Spit this year is maize.

This is the first year they have grown maize, which will be used for silage, and half is being grown under film while the other half is grown conventionally.

Nick Murdoch is agronomy manager on Willesden and has worked on the farm for eight years, holding various roles within the business.

He does all the tractor work and drills all but the specialist crops, namely maize, fodder beet and seed crops.

He is as pleased as Matt is with the maize

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crop, particularly that in late November it was deemed the most-advanced maize crop in the South Island, according to a Pioneer agronomist.

The maize under film (manufactured from maize residue) was sown on September 10 and will be ready to harvest in February allowing Nick to get another crop in the ground in autumn.

The conventional crop was sown on

October 5 and will be harvested in late March or April.

Under film, the maize cost $1400/ha to establish while the conventional crop cost $1100/ha. Matt and Nick believe the $300/ ha difference will be more than made up by their ability to get a crop in the ground in autumn giving them a greater perhectare return over a 12-month period.

The film is biodegradable and breaks

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January 2018

Willesden staff member Tyler Good.

down at a rate that allows the maize seedling to push through once it has good root establishment.

Canada geese are the limiting factor when it comes to crop selection. Rather than try and scare them off or eradicate them, they grow crops they won’t eat and these fortunately include fodder beet and brassicas. The geese won’t bother maize because they can’t land in it.

This year Willesden has 300ha in pasja for finishing lambs and growing out young stock.

Matt says the reason for such a big area under crop is an aggressive pasture renewal policy on the irrigated land. Thistles have been an issue so Matt and Nick are focusing on cleaning up weeds and building fertility before sowing legumerich permanent pastures.

In the yards, a shepherd prepares lambs for transpot.

THE PEOPLE FACTOR Alongside Matt and Katy, Willesden employs six full-time staff and one Lincoln University student in summer and Matt sees the team as critical to the farm’s success.

“We’re fortunate to have great staff.

“Unless we have the right people, we just couldn’t get the right results.”

Block managers are given responsibility for different blocks on the farm and Nick Russell is responsible for all the finishing stock.

Young staff are given a paddock every year and they have to make all the decisions (in consultation with Matt) about management and inputs. Matt says

this gives the staff a broad range of farm management skills. Formal staff meetings are held bi-monthly, but informal gatherings happen most Fridays at 5pm, when staff get together for a well-earned beer and reflection on the week.

Willesden Farms is made up of eight different farms, formerly small family sheep and beef operations. Matt says the block manager system tries to replicate that in a different form within the Willesden operation. It gives the managers significant individual responsibility for running their blocks while benefiting from the economies of scale under the Willesden umbrella.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT The Willesden business began with the Thomas family buying 40ha in Prices Valley in 1975. Since then acquisitions have grown the business to what it is today, but from those early days protecting and enhancing their environment has been part and parcel of land ownership.

Brent Thomas’s mother was instrumental in putting a QE11 covenant on a stand of native bush and over the years the family has planted thousands of native plants working alongside the regional and city council, Department of Conservation and the local rununga, with whom they have a strong relationship.

Similarly, Matt talks a lot about environmental management and sees that it is intrinsically linked to financial management. He says environment enhancement adds to the capital value of the land and just as importantly, good environment management protects the soil, water and nutrient resources that are fundamental to their farming business.

Nutrient budgets and farm environment plans have been drawn up as part of their consenting process and are seen as a farm management tool.

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January 2018

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LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

Same day fits the bill A Manawatu sheep and beef farming couple who recently bought their third farm give Jill Galloway their farming operation recipe. Photos Ross Nolly

M

ark and Ollie Duffy are big fans of same-day killing.

That and consistent grading is the main reason they have sent most of their lambs to the ANZCO plant in Marton for the past 10 years.

“ANZCO always seems up there with its pricing. The same-day kill helps with a higher dressing out percentage.”

Mark says lambs last year, 2017/18, with a March balance date averaged $121.

“But since March this year, we have killed 2400 and averaged $165.”

The couple are running Romneys with Suffolk/Texel cross rams across 1800 ewes in the terminal sire mob.

Depending on the season, their lambs kill at about 19kg carcaseweight (CW) in spring and hit 21-22kg by autumn. About 3000 lambs will have been processed during this period, all fattened on grass and a chicory crop.

Mark is enjoying the high lamb prices.

He sold 480 in early August and got $183 for them.

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“That cheers you up.”

He’s making the most of the higher prices but he’s not getting carried away.

“You’d be mad to put it in the budget for next year.”

The animal liveweight is 620kg/ha and Mark says it is hard to come up with a meat weight per hectare as the Duffys have been in expansion mode for the past three years. Mark says all lambs were weighed before being sent to the meat plant and bulls were weighed as well.

He says the draft off the mother was 35kg, rising to 40kg for summer lambs, then rising again to 48kg for autumn/ winter if the season allowed for that.

Five years ago, Mark and Ollie were farming in partnership with both his parents, Lloyd and Fiona. Three years ago, he and Ollie bought his parents out of the home farm at Ararata, near Hawera.

Ollie grew up on a farm, and Mark’s family had been near Hawera 39 years.

“I always loved helping on the farm.

I did a BBS in agribusiness at Massey University.

“The original family block was only

KEY POINTS • Same-day kill, consistent grading vital • 1080 hectares (1000ha effective) in three farms • One near Hawera of 450ha and two near Dannevirke of 620ha • 10% is cultivatable, the rest hill country • All farms run as one operation • Debt servicing 25% of gross farm income • 620kg liveweight/ha at August 1.

230ha then we leased some land.”

He did casual work, shearing and reared calves for a few years to build equity to buy the block next door.

“I probably should have used the degree a bit more wisely, but it wouldn’t have been so much fun.”

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Mark and Ollie Duffy bought his parents out of the home farm at Ararata, near Hawera three years ago.

Spread gives insurance The Duffys work the farm in Ararata near Hawera, with the help and support of Mark’s father, Lloyd.

His parents still live just up the road on 20ha.

They have a manager, Reed Connors on the Dannevirke farms and Mark goes over every three weeks which is a three-hour trip.

“Being off the place keeps him fresh,” Ollie says.

At both farms there are a total of 4100 ewes, 680 ewe hoggets and 440 of which are in lamb. They also run 730 cattle and rear 200 calves for bull beef.

Almost everything is finished to a slaughter weight, although some bulls are sold as dairy service bulls.

The ewes scan 175 to 190% depending on the season and hoggets about 85 to 90%.

They dock about 140% in the ewes.

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Hoggets which don’t get in lamb are retained.

Mark and Ollie say lambing dates are complicated, with two dates for lambing in Dannevirke and two at the home farm.

Spreading the lambing is some insurance against the weather.

A few lambs are weaned straight off mum and sent for slaughter.

They get one cut of about 800 lambs off the Dannevirke operation and a handful goes from Ararata, but most are weaned in December and are trickled to the meat plant from there through to winter.

They buy most of their rams from ARDG (Advanced Romney Designer Genetics) from Craig and Tina Alexander in the Waikato.

They like the fact that rams are challenged for facial eczema.

“We need rams with FE resistance. It’s a big issue here in Taranaki and getting worse each year,” Mark says.

They also buy Romney rams from Manawatu’s Forbes Cameron for the Dannevirke farm and say the lambs seem to have good survivability.

Mark and Ollie believe Cameron’s rams seem to produce fewer triplets.

“Twins are okay, but I am not keen on triplets.”

About 100 triplet-bearing ewes are at the Dannevirke farm with a similar number on the Taranaki farms.

He says some ewes can rear three, but it takes a very good ewe to manage that.

“I tried lots of recipes to get them to survive.”

Ewes carrying twins or triplets are preferentially fed. All ewes at Ararata go on

STOCK Total for three farms: • 4100 ewes, 680 hoggets,730 cattle • 200 Friesian bull calves to be reared • All stock finished ready for slaughter • Cull lambs/hoggets av21.8kg • Ewes scanning at 176% and 130-140% docked swedes for a period of winter. At Ararata, soils are volcanic and hill country – Dannevirke is hill country too, but the soil is limestone.

Ollie says the home farm at Hawera, is long and disjointed and that presents problems. The good paddocks are out the back of this farm.

“We could calve cows out there. But checking on them twice a day, would take ages.”

They leave the ewes to lamb, and don’t do a lambing beat.

“I glance, notice and deal with any ewes that are cast, or have a bearing. You have to be careful not to save one lamb, and mismother others and kill three,” Mark says.

They had 41ha of crops going into mainly chicory, 6ha of kale, 3.5ha of fodder beet and 7ha of hill country going into swedes, sown by helicopter.

The farm makes about 60 big bales of silage plus it buys 50 big bales of hay and makes about 400 small bales of hay.

›› Mix gives options p52

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WORKING THE HUNTAWAYS An eye dog pup plays with their Jack Russell, Mitchell around the back porch.

It might be a dog trial star of the future.

Mark’s passion may be the farm, but he loves dog trialling.

He is very successful and his dogs are totally under control. They are jumping out of their skin, as he works them on in-lamb ewes.

He says there is not enough work for them at this time of year (winter).

“There is probably enough work in the whole North Island during winter for two huntaways in total.”

When it comes to dog trialling, his huntaways are winners and he has won two North Island titles.

His top dogs are Vella and Shield. They were bred by a neighbour, the late Graeme Dickson, a dog trial man of note.

They now breed their own pups and trialists give each other pups.

Mark and Ollie Duffy and their huntaways.

Mix gives options Cattle are an important part of the operation.

There are 170 cows, 250 two-year-old bulls, plus younger bulls and heifers.

Most of the cows are Hereford with some Angus cross and Charolais. They kill two-thirds of the offspring of the Charolais cross at 18 months Reed Connors’ partner, Sherie is rearing 200 Friesian bull calves.

Mark says they calve earlier in Taranaki, so a truck has taken calves over to Dannevirke.

The plan is to raise the Friesian bulls to slaughter weights.

Ollie says it is good to have a mix of sheep and cattle of different ages and at different stages. They have different feed needs at different times.

“It gives us options.”

Mark says the older bulls are the slack in the system. If it is very wet, or dry, they can go to slaughter and take some pressure off the farming system.

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“In a good year bulls don’t go until November. In a bad year that could be January.” But the 250 two-year-old bulls provide the flexibility and can be killed at any stage.

Ollie says when the grass grows in spring on the Hawera farm it bolts away.

“We grow a massive amount of grass which goes from winter rates of about 10kg of DM/ha to about 70 or 80,” Mark says.

The Olsen P levels are 20-27 for the hill county, and 40 on the flats at the Hawera farm. But Mark says it is lower at the Dannevirke farms.

“We did put 900kg of super on in the first 12 months, which would have given it a kick in the guts.”

Now they are using DAP in autumn on all blocks as well as some nitrogen/sulphur on easy country in spring.

“Rainfall is about 1200-1400mm on both Hawera and Dannevirke.”

He says Taranaki is FE and internal parasite central, while the Dannevirke farms are at a higher altitude and less likely to have such issues.

He doesn’t faecal egg count and goes on eye instead.

“I spread the drenches out for ewe lambs as much as I can, but in the higher country, Dannevirke, we need fewer drenches.”

He drenches the lambs every four weeks.

“All ewes in-lamb to a terminal ram get a bionic capsule, as do any in–lamb hoggets.

Any lighter or younger ewes might get a drench pre-tupping but that is it.’

Mark has been farming for more than 20 years, Ollie for 15 years and both love it.

Mark finds time to coach rugby at the school their two children Ben (12) and Casey (9) attend.

Ollie says the children collect possums for pocket money. Ben always gets his sister Casey to carry them home. “She’s a tomboy and is not scared of anything.”

It has been hard for his parents, selling the farm to Mark.

Mark says Dad is 74 now, but he keeps an eye on the stock and the fences. He still has a real interest.

“It is always tough handing on a farm.”

When it comes to the future, they want to consolidate, with three different farms on the go, they are still learning what might be best.

They have a big mortgage and interest is 25% of their gross farm income.

“It is amazing how that motivates us,” Ollie says.

They also like to benchmark themselves against top farmers through discussion groups.

The couple work hard but also take much-needed time out.

They would like to spend more time with the children in the next few years.

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LIVESTOCK | GENE TALK

The alphabet behind Crispr Cas Geneticist Sharl Liebergreen describes a gene editing technology that potentially avoids the genetic modification issues of years gone by.

G

ene editing, Crispr Cas, genetic modification, genetic engineering, genetic selection. Just some of the terms, old and new, that support the idea of exploiting changes in an organism’s DNA to make it better, worse, or just be different for some purpose. By no means is this list exhaustive.

There are many terms, which is why the heightened discussion currently in the DNA space can be rather confusing.

It’s Crispr Cas (a gene editing technology) that has kicked off the new discussion after its discovery a few years ago. Research organisations, governments and corporates globally are all very excited about the possibility of a new food revolution that avoids GMO issues of decades gone by.

If the approach to manipulating DNA using modern methods, can be better managed and described to the masses globally, maybe this time round, there will be a shot at using it.

In New Zealand, but also the United States, Australia and many other countries, there is a new wave of conversation about the merits of editing DNA. This could be for the benefit of growing more food, dealing with pests and diseases, catering to specific dietary needs or constraints, and perhaps even supporting sustainability issues and the environment.

The trick though is the conversation and making sure consumers especially, understand what’s different this time.

Without the understanding, we might have to wait another half century.

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But what is gene editing?

Imagine a rope. The rope starts at your front door and goes out into space, around the moon and back again. Then imagine that the rope has a whole lot of knots along it, spaced about every 25cm or so.

This rope is like DNA and each of the knots represents one of the 3 billion letters of code that makes up DNA. A knot can only be one of four letters, A, C, T or G so if you were to try to read it, it would not be a good book, but within each cell of our body the four letters of code make a lot of sense and it makes each of us, us.

But why the big bums? Well, it’s because of their DNA and more importantly its due to one… just one of those knots in the DNA rope.

That one small, specific change (or mutation) means it just grows more muscle, on its bum!

In the world of sheep, there is a really cool breed called Texel and just one of the great things about Texel are their naturally big bums. Some NZ sheep breeders imported a few Texel in the 1980s especially for their big bums and the impact that could have on lamb carcaseweights, meat yield and of course, the $$ return to farmers from processors

for more meaty lambs. In hindsight, it was a pretty clever move as Texel has influenced the terminal and maternal sides of our sheep industry a lot.

But why the big bums? Well, it’s because of their DNA and more importantly its due to one… just one of those knots in the DNA rope. That one small, specific change (or mutation) means it just grows more muscle, on its bum!

Gene editing is a lot like that. It’s an edit, a very small, known change to the genome of an organism at potentially only 1 out of 3 billion base pairs, or knots. Because we know exactly where the mutation is in Texel sheep DNA, we could change or edit the genome of other sheep DNA at exactly the same position and get the same increase in lamb carcaseweights, meat yield and $$ return.

I wonder what farmers would think of having more meaty lambs from other breeds? I think we know the answer. Texel have been crossed with many other breeds in NZ by breeders who had the foresight to do so and farmers have enjoyed the return from processors offering yield-based payments. But that has taken decades. The question before NZ is, can we afford to innovate at the same modest rate, or do we investigate technologies like Crispr Cas and innovate in only years, not decades.

Or do we forgo gene editing technologies and finally differentiate our primary industry away from commodity products, really leveraging our pasture-fed and raised, GMO-free position to consumers who are looking for something different?

Big question.

Therefore, the road shows, workshops and radio interviews in abundance at the moment helping consumers and farmers alike understand what the terms mean, how they are used and what the implications might be. Personally, I don’t think it’s a particularly scary issue, but then again, I like sheep with big bums.

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LIVESTOCK | STOCK CHECK

Losing a sense of control Weather extremes can test a farmer’s feeling of being in control, veterinarian Trevor Cook writes.

B

eing in control is a feature of most successful farming businesses. The mantra of the winner of last year’s Wairarapa Farming Business of Year was to control what he could control and not worry about the rest.

Some weather extremes though really test any feeling of being in control. Last year in many places the spring just never got going. The consequence was ewes underfed at peak lactation so their lambs never got the start to make the most of the late spring feed. Low weaning weights was the cost.

This year massive amounts of rain took out lots of lambs. In both cases having ewes in good condition at lambing should have been the point of control but on most farms that buffer was imperceptible. Just waiting for what the weather delivers is hardly being in control when we look at it from a conventional approach. Perhaps being more interventionist would ensure more control and maybe could be the norm if prices were much higher and/or animal welfare concerns demanded it.

On an East Coast farm recently the day started with a quick demand/supply calculation and it looked tight. Demand we could work out but the supply took some guessing. The manager prepared us for low pasture covers and underfed ewes.

On driving through ewes and lambs the covers were very low, which suggested our calculations had been spot

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on. The surprise though was that the ewes had condition and the lambs were magnificent. There had been feed earlier, so the ewes got good peak lactation support. It seems probable that supply was just matching demand and the quality was very high.

It was interesting that the manager had been captured by the short covers and dry which had overshadowed him seeing the good stock. I did feel sorry for the cows though. Rain since will have played into his hands, coaxing the crops to grow and pastures to lift. Quality for the summer is now secured.

Just as weather can rob us of control, product prices must bring on the same sentiment. While lamb prices are very nice they hardly reached those heights as the result of some smart actions farmers took. Equally so if they are half that next year. Supporting a farmer-driven move to rationalise the meat industry a few years ago might have wrestled some control back, but not enough to make a difference.

Any sense of being in control must surely disappear when a philosophical target of being carbon zero by 2050 drives an irrational drive to plant a billion trees. It sounds good and it sounds non-threatening to our livestock, but when linked to a carbon trade it triggers some different investor behaviours. This despite our Minister of Agriculture telling us that the trees are not intended to go on to better farmland.

Investors into trees are purchasing good farm land because the trees grow

faster and are easier to harvest. It is not apparent that any thought has gone into the impact on rural communities, let alone our day-to-day exports.

When these trees are all in the interests of soaking up carbon to counter our emissions of C02 and methane, any sense of control is extinguished.

This because of the widespread belief, supported by science, that methane is either a self-containing greenhouse gas or even is not a greenhouse gas at all. Even scientific suggestion that CO2 is not the global warming villain that it is accused of being makes for uncomfortable adherence to compliance.

Or at least to the doctrine.

This all triggers thoughts about the long-term picture of farming. It will look different but just how? The impacts will be community demands, consumer demands, political decisions, demographics and climate, to name but a few.

To help meet those challenges is a bundle of technologies to aid in better decision-making on farm. Some of these technologies are already being used and others are in the pipeline.

These pipeline ones are Virtual fencing, aerial soil testing, satellite pasture scoring and drone shepherding for example. Unfortunately, those politically driven challenges could be immune to technologies, but meeting those other challenges certainly can be helped.

Some could accuse me of being a hypocrite in that I have often said that we do not need new technologies to lift production on farms. We just need to apply more of what we already have.

That is still the case in my opinion, but the challenges ahead are not about just increasing production. They are much about being smarter in the way that we farm.

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CROPS & FORAGE | SILAGE-MAKING

Silage - inoculate or not?

The use of inoculants in making pasture and maize silage is not standard practice in New Zealand, while some trial work suggests that perhaps it might be. Tim McVeagh reports.

W

ith a lot of pasture silage already in and more to go; and maize silage to be harvested in the new year, a look at silage inoculants is worthwhile.

Silage inoculants come in the form of a spray or granules containing bacteria known to improve the fermentation

process of silage making. They may also contain enzymes.

There are inoculants specific for pasture or maize, and some which are suitable for both. They are added to silage at harvest, prior to ensiling.

The bacteria include homolactic and heterolactic species. Homolactic bacteria like Lactobacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium enhance fermentation by accelerating lactic acid

HOW DO THEY WORK? The silage fermentation process involves the conversion of water-soluble carbohydrates, (sugars) to acid by bacteria which are found on the pasture or crop, and this lowers the silage pH, preserving it. The efficiency in converting sugar to lactic acid, (the acid associated with better-quality silage), varies between bacterial species and how they dominate the microbial population in the stack.

The fermentation process can be accelerated and enhanced by adding a silage inoculant which contains high numbers of specific strains of specific bacterial species which produce lactic acid efficiently. These take over from the naturally occurring bacteria, to produce efficient quality fermentation.

The end result of faster, more efficient fermentation is better silage quality (noticeable as better smell), reduced loss of energy and higher dry matter recovery.

“Pioneer have over 10,000 lactic acid bacteria strains. All of the strains sold are isolated from Pioneer’s own bacteria collection, and they are all patented,” Genetic Technologies Ltd’s Forage and Nutrition Specialist Raewyn Densley says.

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production, which reduces protein degradation and inhibits the growth of undesirables like enterobacteria and clostridias. But they are not good at enhancing the aerobic stability (shelf life) of the silage.

Lactobacillus buchneri is a heterolactic bacteria and it is useful in silage making because it keeps silage cool after opening the stack. In storage, it converts lactic acid to acetic acid inhibiting yeast growth.

Yeasts cause silage to heat and they make the pH go up.

A low pH is what silage-making is about so increasing the pH is like “opening the door” for spoilage organisms e.g. mould growth. So L. buchneri effectively reduces microorganism that cause heating spoilage losses.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS: The potential benefits associated with silage made with inoculants, compared with untreated silage are: • Higher dry matter recovery, (quantity of silage out as a proportion of silage in) through less spoilage and shrinkage.

• Better silage quality; more lactic acid, less butyric acid, less ammonia (= less protein degraded), lower pH

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• Better digestibility through higher feed energy levels.

• Inoculants containing Lactobacillus buchneri have aerobic stability benefits, so the shelf life is prolonged during storage and feed out, and silage may be fed out a day prior to feeding without excessive heating.

• Less silage degradation by mould and yeast growth.

• Faster fermentation allows earlier feeding out after ensiling. With maize silage for example, silage inoculated with some products can be fed out three days after ensiling, while seven days is the accepted minimum time without an inoculant.

Silage without inoculant which is opened soon after ensiling tends to deteriorate more readily as it doesn’t have the same levels of acid to protect it.

The end result is an increase in quantity and quality of silage.

Pioneer’s website includes a “Pasture Inoculant Profit Calculator”, comparing a cost/benefit analysis for pasture silage treated with their 1127 inoculant, and an untreated control.

For every 10 wet tonnes of silage, the inoculant cost will be $37.70. Assumptions made include, for untreated and treated silage respectively: • drymatter recovery of 92.9 and 95.8%; and so feedable silage of 9.3 and 9.6 tonnes.

• milk produced per tonne of silage fed of 279 and 309; and so total milk produced 2,592 and 2,960 litres.

At 8.9% milk solids and a return of $6.75/kg of milk solids, this represents a difference of $208.70.

Deducting the $37.70 inoculant cost means there is a difference of $171, representing a return of $4.55 for every $1 invested.

Farmers cannot evaluate silage inoculants. Countries including the United Kingdom and Germany have a forage additive approval scheme, which approves inoculants on the basis of fermentation quality, aerobic stability, effluent run-off, and animal performance.

New Zealand has no such scheme. So the recommendations for inoculant selection are: • The most important consideration should be to cite trial results which show the benefits of products being considered. Independent data would be even better but is scarce. From sound trial results, a cost benefit analysis for a particular situation may be provided by the company, indicating the anticipated

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ABOVE: Monitoring and control of inoculant dispensing is from the harvester cab, with a pressure gauge also visible from the cabin. BELOW: Pioneer supply their Appli-Pro SLV (Super Low Volume) dispensers to contractors and farmers to ensure inoculant benefits are achieved. This unit holds enough inoculant for 250 tonnes of silage.

increase in milk production in volume and dollar terms, the cost associated with this, and so the return on investment of the inoculant.

• A lack of trial data to support a particular product does not give the purchaser confidence in the product. Claims made by one company based on the research of another company whose product has

the same bacteria name are not valid, as the strains of bacteria may be quite different. There are inoculants which have been tested and found to have limited benefits.

• Guaranteed minimum application rate of 100,000 live colony forming units (CFU) per gram of fresh forage. This is the industry standard.

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The inoculant is diluted and emptied into the dispenser tank prior to harvesting.

A WAR IN THE STACK

“There’s a war going on in the silage stack, and we must put in sufficient inoculant bacteria to outcompete the naturally occurring ones,” Densley says.

“The suppliers of the inoculant must have a quality plan in place to ensure that problems like dead bacteria, do not occur.”

ISO accreditation is one check a farmer can make to give confidence in a product.

Pioneer have such quality procedures in place which include retrieving unused inoculant for testing and disposal if need be.

• Suitable for maize, pasture silage, or other crop? While multi-crop products are available, those specific to pasture or a particular crop are often found to be a better product, as the strains of bacteria have been specifically selected as the most suitable.

• If improved aerobic stability is required, look for a product with L. buchneri. This bacterium is especially beneficial where there is a wide stack face, and a slow feed out rate.

The application method should also be considered, as bacteria don’t move far from where they are placed. Inoculant suppliers may lease, loan, or sell inoculant dispensers to farmers and contractors.

• Competent service and technical backup from the company providing the product.

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There are no organic-approved inoculants on the NZ market, as the moisture scavengers included in inoculants do not meet the organic requirements.

• Life of the mixed product. This can avoid waste of surplus ready-to-use product or if there is a breakdown, or more silage is to be made in the near future.

Refrigeration may be essential.

• Shelf Life. This may be increased by refrigeration, or it may be essential.

• Granular or Liquid? In terms of effectiveness, there is little difference between liquid and granular inoculants, although some research suggests the liquid inoculants perform better where silage is dry. The application system available may dictate which of these options is chosen. Pioneer can supply their Appli-Pro SLV dispenser, and Grevillia-Ag can supply an “Air-Tech” ULV applicator.

• Water application rate. Water must be clean to avoid blockages, so a low dilution rate can be an advantage. The capacity to carry larger volumes of water on balers is limited, and carrying lower volumes of water, particularly on rolling country, is safer.

• Dye, to allow inoculant level to be easily seen in tanks.

• Price: This must be weighed up against the benefits, as a cheap product with little benefit is an expensive option.

• Active ingredients. Knowing the active bacteria in a product is of limited value as there are a range of strains of bacteria within each species, and their effect on silage fermentation varies widely.

Where a contractor supplies the inoculant, farmers should check the product to be used, that it is backed by trial data and that it meets his other requirements as indicated above.

As inoculants contain live bacteria, it is important to follow all instructions regarding storage, use, tank mix life, shelf life, as well as general guidelines such as water quality.

Silage inoculants make good silage better, and nothing can make poor silage into good quality silage. So inoculants are not a remedy for poor silage practices. At best an inoculant may make silage considered not suitable for ensiling, okay to ensile.

“Although there is scientific evidence that silage inoculants can improve silage quality, improve animal performance and keep silage cool, they do not always work,” NutriAssist Nutrition Consultant Dr. Jakob Kleinmans says. “The type of bacteria used, the presence of live organisms at harvest, application techniques and the type of forage they are added to, will determine product efficacy”.

Silage quality testing is carried out by companies like Hill Laboratories and Analytical Research Laboratories.

NZ PRODUCTS: • Silage inoculants are supplied in New Zealand by: • Grevillia-Ag; grevilliaag.com.au • Lallemand Animal Nutritionvitecnutrition.co.nz • Naturefarmnaturefarm.co.nz • Nutritechnutritech.co.nz • Pioneerpioneer.co.nz • PPP pppindustries.co.nz • Rainbow and Brownrainbowbrown.co.nz

• A detailed explanation of silage inoculants, “A review of silage inoculants in the New Zealand market,” by Dr. Jakob Kleinmans, is well worth reading, and can be accessed by searching for silage inoculants at www.far.org.nz.

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PLANT & MACHINERY | GRAIN DRYER

Straw-burner dries the grain Building your own biomass-fuelled grain drying set-up might sound like a daunting task but it needn’t be. Nick Fone visits one British grower with his own simple and straightforward DIYdesigned drying outfit.

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f you grow arable crops in England’s West Country you’ve got to accept you’ll rarely be harvesting grain in the dry. Having a decent drying setup is essential but it’s not cheap and fuel costs erode ever-decreasing margins.

But what if someone actually paid you to dry your grain? When it was introduced in late 2011, effectively the British government’s Renewable Heat Incentive offered that.

Savvy farmers keen to make the most of that opportunity jumped at the chance but many were confounded by an almost complete absence of off-the-shelf biomass dryers.

In 2012 Robin Blatchford, a beef and arable producer on the Wiltshire-Dorset border found himself in exactly that situation and set out to put together his own set-up.

With the two four-string bales in the chamber, it’s a case of getting them lit and shutting the door quickly to avoid the strings popping.

“To cope with our increasingly late, wet harvests combines were getting bigger and bringing the corn in faster,” he says.

“But the drying side of things got left behind. We had a 30-year-old Alvan Blanch continuous flow dryer that didn’t stand a chance of keeping up with the combine and so inevitably we’d end up with heaps of wet grain backed up waiting to go into store.

“Always running the store myself, I had become sensitised to the dust and one year I ended up getting quite ill as a result. I decided enough was enough and resolved to build a proper ventilated floor store with the ability to draw moisture out of wet grain.”

Wanting to make the most of the opportunities the RHI presented, he looked into the options for biomass burners capable of doing the job as well as

CROP CONUNDRUM Initially Blatchford tried burning a range of different materials in the Farm 2000 boiler but has concluded wheat straw is the best bet.

“We tried old damp bales of wheat to begin with but they smoked terribly and produced no heat so we quickly learnt that the drier the straw was, the better. We tried some miscanthus too and the heat output was phenomenal but it tended to smoke,” he says.

“Rape straw was another option but invariably it gets cut green and has to be left to dry out before baling.

“Next we tried linseed – the energy value was huge (like napalm) but the burn cycle was completely uncontrollable – it would flare up to the point where it would run out of oxygen. Then it would start to pull air back down the flue and belch back out huge black clouds of smoke - it looked like cross between a steam train and a tractor puller. And, when I opened the inspection door to see what was going on, a 6ft flame shot out, singing my eyebrows – a good lesson never to store straw near the burner.”

“So we settled back on wheat straw. Often we’ll RoundUp the field we plan to bale for the boiler so that we know it’ll be properly dead and dry.”

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replacing the old oil-fired heating systems in the main farm house and a cottage in the yard. Blatchford was also keen on using a home-grown fuel source to gain some control of farm energy bills.

Initially woodchip was the preferred fuel but it quickly became apparent that the farm’s woodland wasn’t big enough to produce the volumes required. In addition, woodchip boilers were ruled out because of the high numbers of moving parts. So he turned instead to the idea of burning home-grown straw.

It’s not rocket science. You burn straw in a steel box with a water jacket around it. This hot water is passed through a big radiator that heats the air going into the grain store to dry the grain.’

SIMPLICITY “It’s not rocket science. You burn straw in a steel box with a water jacket around it. This hot water is passed through a big radiator that heats the air going into the grain store to dry the grain. We looked around and after talking to several people running straw boilers, I was convinced by their simplicity and reliability – there were a number out there over 30 years old and still running.”

“There seemed to be three options – Dragon Heat, Glen Farrow and Farm 2000.

We settled on the latter because of its capacity and simplicity.”

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FARM FACTS • Peckons Hill Farms, near Shaftesbury, Dorset • Farmed area 396ha • Cropping Winter wheat 113ha, OSR 57ha, spring barley 57ha, winter beans 57ha, organic wheat 6ha plus 107ha of organic grass, ELS and HLS areas • Stock: 60-cow suckler herd with followers kept through to heavy store weight • Machinery Tractors - Fendt 720 and 722, JD 6420-S • Loader - Caterpillar TH406 • Combine - JD 9780i CTS with 25ft) header • Sprayer - JD 732 with 24m booms • Baler - Welger D4000 (2001) • Dryer - 1200t ventilated floor store with Farm 2000 straw-burner • Staff: Robin Blatchford plus one full time and one part time

At the time RHI payments were based on the scale of the system – 8.7p/kW/hr for anything up to 199kW and 5.2p/kW/ hr for anything above that. Having plans in place for a 1200-tonne floor store, the calculated heat output of the suggested gas space heaters needed to be something close to 300kW to dry wet corn at a reasonable pace. A lesser burner would still do the job albeit at a slower pace. Although tempted by the higher payments for smaller boilers, he opted instead for a 294kW Farm 2000 BB254H/2 boiler that qualified for the less lucrative payments.

“We had more flexibility for the future in being able to burn any size bale and also because it would need stoking less often, less hassle. Critically when we really needed it we would have the heat capacity to dry big tonnages of damp grain at a decent rate.”

“I felt we needed a bit of hand-holding.

At the time there seemed to be very few people to do that. Farm 2000 did not come out on farm but had an excellent manual to help guide you through the boiler installation and were very helpful on the telephone.”

While the various boiler manufacturers could offer plenty of advice and expertise in plumbing their burners into traditional heating systems, no-one was able to supply me with the full package to dry grain.”

So he designed his own system. Two key elements needed sorting – a heat exchanger and some means of storing heat. He first used Farm 2000’s pipework plan and had a heating design engineer calculate frictional losses and flow rates and make some decisions on pump choice – double-headed Grundfos units.

Then, having taken advice from a heat exchanger manufacturer on flow rates and temperature drop (300 litres per min with a 10C temp drop through three-inch

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The standard Farm 2000 burner fan was switched for a bigger unit to generate a cleaner burn.

pipe) and Lincs-based fan manufacturer Pellcroft on the airflow required for the floor store, he was able to calculate the size of heat exchanger required. Heat and Cooling Solutions in Southampton double checked the figures and suggested a large, single core radiator would be the best way to avoid restricting airflow, assuming a 10C drop in the water entering and exiting the heat exchanger. For about £1300 ($NZ2400), a monstrous 2.4m x 3.6m heat exchanger was fitted in an opening on one side of the heavily sound-baffled blockhouse hosting the two Typhoon fans.

Next it was the heat store. Farm 2000 had suggested the biggest insulated water tank available to give plenty of buffering capacity and avoid the need to keep the burner running 24 hours a day.

CONTAINER TANKS Flicking through the back of UK Farmers Weekly Blatchford spotted an advert with 26,000-litre stainless steel ISO-container tanks for sale. So for about £5000, one was installed in the biomass boiler shed alongside the new grain store with various three-inch tappings welded into it. To keep the water warm a 100-150mm coating of spray-on foam was applied for about £700.

It was then a case of plumbing it all in.

A conventional grain-store-style switch panel is used to manually activate the

pumps while Farm 2000 supplied a simple boiler control panel, triggering the single door-mounted fan to fire up as required and the air diverter valve to send air to either the top or bottom of the combustion chamber depending on the stage of the burn cycle.

“When we first set it going I was impressed that everything worked as well together as it did,” he says.

“But I didn’t feel the burner was running as it should so I decided to turbo-charge it and set a pedestal fan running in front of the intake for the factory-fitted unit.

Immediately we got a cleaner burn. After a discussion with Farm 2000 they helpfully suggested a much bigger 2.2kW fan unit and new burner control box as well, which I believe is now standard for this size boiler.”

Five years down the line the system has run pretty much faultlessly. The old 13-tonne/hour Alvan Blanch dryer was retained in case it was needed but that hasn’t proved to be the case so it’s now for sale.

“We burn two four-string D4000 bales per burn over about 4-5 hours. The only limiting factor in how often we burn is that you do not really want the embers from the previous burn to melt the strings and pop the next bales you put in before the door is shut or it gets quite exciting.

We do have a large hose by the door for these eventualities but have not had to use it yet. The heat output from each burn cycle is generally between 800-1000kW, equating to an RHI payment of about £26 per bale.

HEATING BILL In a typical year, with 2000 tonnes of grain to dry, the farm will generally get through 230 bales. Putting the value of the straw at £10/bale at harvest, without taking RHIs into account, the fuel bill is about half what the old dryer used to cost.

On top of that there’s the heating bill for the house and cottage.

“I did suggest to my wife we could take it out and have a normal cooker but was told it would be cheaper to run than a divorce…”

The total investment in the system came to just shy of £100,000 but with the RHIs alone bringing in around £10,000/year, not to mention the cut-price fuel bills, it’s not hard to see the value of the set-up.

“If I was to do the same thing again the only thing I might change would be the size of the heat store to give us flexibility to hold more heat to use as required.”

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ENVIRONMENT | MANUKA

Tree planting ‘just what I do’ A passion for planting trees on the family farm has evolved to include manuka and other honey species for a Marlborough farmer. Joanna Grigg reports.

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avid Dillon planted his first tree in his school holidays aged 10. From then on treeplanting has become an ingrained annual event on the farm; like shearing or lambing, and it’s reaping benefits.

The 1500 hectares of the Marlborough hill country property The Throne, are treated as an extension of the homestead garden. David and Sue Dillon select areas and tree species to plant each year; driven by aesthetics as much as the need for woodlot income, nectar, shade and shelter for stock.

The results are stunning. Sweeps of shelter belts frame pastoral views. After the drive up the Waihopai, through a vineyard monoculture, it is an oasis of leafy green.

“After travelling to Europe in 1968 I felt New Zealand farmland seemed naked and bare in comparison,” David says.

Pinus radiata woodlots totalling 40ha are farmed in rotation, on areas close to existing farm tracks.

The pines are in the Emissions Trading Scheme and are replanted to avoid carbon liabilities.

“For profit you grow Pinus radiata as the

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David Dillon, with Mike Aviss, Marlborough District Council, discuss a Significant Natural Area wetland planting at The Thone.

Chinese are familiar with it and it’s fast; it’s the sauvignon blanc of the forestry industry.”

In 2010, Paul Millen, forestry consultant, encouraged the Dillons to trial seven different eucalypts for naturally produced durable hardwood posts, as part of the NZ Dryland Forestry Initiative. Plantings now cover 10ha of a very cold hard

ridge, with the most successful varieties being cultivated for commercial blocks. A favourite is E. niten as it is a fast-growing tree, although they are quite site-specific, Dillon says. This winter more eucalypts have gone into a flat roadside paddock.

David was chair of the Marlborough Tree Growers Association and is supportive of forestry trials. They are happy to look long term when investing in woodlots. A 7ha westerly face, has been planted in the oak Quercus Robur for a woodland feature and timber for the next generation.

The farm has a forested gully holding a large and important population of the endangered Marlborough endemic tree, northern pink broom, which has been fenced to exclude stock. The Throne has five other Significant Natural Areas (SNA), including a significant flax wetland. With assistance from the Marlborough SNA Project, it has been fenced, cleared out of most weeds and planted in 2000 native trees. This includes 500 kahikatea (white pine), totara and cabbage trees.

In 2017, 300 lime trees (Tilia platyphllos) were planted for nectar for bees. Other favoured species include Cupressus leylandii, Tasmanian blackwoods and Alders in a mixed-species shelter belt and

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ABOUT MANUKA • Grows from lowland to 1800m • North-facing, warm site best • Selective breeding underway e.g. for plants high in dihydroxyacetone (DHA) levels in the nectar. This contributes to favoured high Methyl Glyoxl (MGO) in honey.

• For mono-floral honey, a large north or east-facing plantation site, with warm weather over flowering is best. Under 50ha is considered a small plantation and runs the risk of dilution from other more favoured-by-bees nectar sources. Isolated plantings is best to restrict bees.

• Typically three metres tall at four years old.

• Has a life span of 30 to 60 years and is often overtaken by other native forest species, as seedlings don’t like shade. Trimming will keep manuka in juvenile stage.

• Manuka supports a wide range of biodiversity.

• For more, see The Manuka and Kanuka Plantation Guide, April 2017, NZ.

Hannah Dillon is continuing with the treeplanting philosophy at The Throne, with manuka plantings around her yoga shed.

Eucalyptus oblique (Australian oak) at the edge of pine forests.

More than 4000 magpies have been trapped, as native birds are highly valued.

“I love song birds but like to keep magpie numbers down.”

In 2016 a 10ha manuka stand was planted on a very hard, dry, north face, at 800 stems/ha, which is considered a lighter stocking rate. Manuka was chosen because they knew it would suit the dry site, provide erosion control and add a nectar source for bees. The resulting honey is likely to be multi-floral, sourced from a combination of sources flowering at the same time, including white clover.

Farmers interested in a higher-value manuka crop should avoid planting a new site near a large source of non-manuka nectar. Planting rates can be up to 2500

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stems/ha for more gentle contoured land.

For a weed-infested former pine block, it may need two blanket weed sprays over a nine to 12-month period, before planting into manuka. The Dillon block only needed spot spraying for grass control.

The Afforestation Grant Scheme was used to help pay the costs of establishing the Dillon block. The first 10 years of carbon sequestration credits are claimed by the government. This 31 tonnes/ ha is worth about $744/ha. A hectare of indigenous forest over 35 years is expected to sequester carbon stock of around 286 tonnes, Pinus radiata 825t (Marlborough/ Nelson) and exotic hardwoods 729t/ha (Post-1989 Look-Up Tables, 2015). Manuka lifespan is only 30 to 60 years. Options to increase longevity of manuka is to trim it (and use the trimmings for oil). This keeps it in a juvenile state.

The Dillons’ daughter, Hannah, has organised for a local beekeeper to access the farm for an annual rental.

“We made a new relationship with a local beekeeper, who is a lot more transparent with payments than our previous arrangement.

“My advice to farmers entering a relationship with a bee company is to ensure they have good ethics and want to work long-term.”

Many trees are at the height where fences can be removed and grazed around by cattle and sheep. With the younger generation on the farm, David relies on son Tom to run the sheep and cattle side of things, freeing him up for tree maintenance. He spends time every day on tree work.

“It makes my day so enjoyable.

“When you have drought and bad prices, you will always see your trees growing each year which brings huge satisfaction.”

Government tree planting campaigns could learn a lot from The Throne. Trees are not planted as a monoculture, the species range is varied and harvesting is staged with short, medium to long-term maturing trees. Trees are planted for shade and shelter, erosion control, aesthetics, biodiversity, bird song, improving water quality, nectar for honey and wood returns, not solely to sequester carbon - if at all. Trees help screen the motocross track and contain dust. Stock welfare has been improved with the integration of woodlots and grazing. Business opportunities now exist, with the next generation exploring tourism options, that take advantage of the setting.

“We are looking at health-based retreat options; obviously quite an investment,” Hannah says.

“Potential of the area is huge, it’s very exciting.

“Ambience is becoming more valued and we are very fortunate to have it here.”

A second manuka planting sits around Hannah’s picturesque yoga shed, sited on a plateau edge.

While mainly for aesthetics, the 1000 UMF five manuka saplings will also be used for honey production. They were also planted with crystals to hold moisture but polythene was laid around the trees to reduce grass competition and is working well. David Dillon also rates pea straw as an excellent mulch, as it lasts such a long time.

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ENVIRONMENT | REGULATION

Changing plans

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Each region is developing its own distinctive set of rules on water and its quality. Resource engineer Keri Johnston reports on what’s been developed so far.

egionally, the development and implementation of rules relating to water quantity and water quality are moving at different paces and are all at different stages in the process. Below is an overview of where some of the larger regions are currently at.

You will note as you read this that each region has been unique in its approach to rule-setting. Some would argue this is because each region is unique and has its own issues (and I don’t disagree), but perhaps the scale of the disparity we are seeing is not needed.

The Government has indicated it will attempt to come up with high-level guidelines or a framework to try and reduce the large variation we see, but this does have to be balanced with the need to address the issues at a local level.

Watch this space.

CANTERBURY Canterbury is well-advanced in the development and implementation of its rule frameworks, and in 2017 Environment Canterbury (ECan) introduced Good Management Practices (GMP) into its Land and Water Plan framework, known as Plan Change 5.

Plan Change 5 also introduced the Waitaki-specific nutrient management rules. The decisions on the plan were appealed by a number of parties, particularly in relation to how the irrigation and fertiliser GMPs were being treated in the Farm Portal (the online tool 62

developed to determine exactly what GMP is at a farm level). The appeals have now all been resolved and it is anticipated that Plan Change 5 will be made operative early in 2019.

Plan Change 1, specific to the Selwyn-Te Waihora area, Plan Change 2, specific to the Hinds Plains region, and Plan Change 3, specific to the South Canterbury Coastal Streams area, are all now fully operative.

These are known as sub-regional chapters and the rules in these plans override the rules in the main Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan.

The next phase of sub-regional plan development is underway with the Waimakariri and Orari-Temuka-OpihiPareora zones both in the initial planning stages. The indication to date is that the

sub-regional chapters for these zones will be notified in mid-2019.

ECan has also been doing a big push in the areas where a consent to farm is required, to encourage those who need one to go through the process. There has been a good response to this as the process is new to many and requires professional help and a change in mindset for some.

OTAGO Otago’s nutrient management rules are now about 18 months from kicking in (April 1, 2020). Otago Regional Council has been encouraging farmers to get their Overseer done. They have also taken the initiative in the more-sensitive catchments such as the Kakanui and have provided resources and funding to assist with this.

Otago’s rule framework is an attempt at taking a more permissive approach (ie: you do not need consent provided you meet certain conditions), however, one of the conditions is a fixed nitrogen loss rate calculated using Overseer, and since the plans inception, Overseer has changed many times, and for a large number of Otago farmers, this has put them further from the permitted line, and will make compliance with the rules problematic.

There is talk that all of Otago’s plans are needing to be updated as they don’t comply with the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, so this will be a space to watch.

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GISBORNE

SOUTHLAND

HAWKE’S BAY

Decisions on Southland’s Land and Water Plan were released in April 2018, and it was subsequently appealed.

The council is expecting appeals to be resolved at some stage in 2019, so an operative plan is still some way off.

Southland’s rule framework split the region into physiographic zones based on water origin, soil type, geology and topography. This meant each zone was essentially classified by risk to contaminant build up, run off and leaching potential. The plan also targeted further land use intensification including dairy conversions, intensive winter grazing and also cultivation of land on steeper land.

Irrigators in the Tukituki catchment are left high and dry (literally) after the Ruataniwha Dam project was put on the shelf indefinitely.

The Tukutuki River minimum flow is still going up, and without the dam to augment and flush the river, the increase in minimum flow will mean the possibility of severe restrictions for irrigators in this catchment.

Effectively, the raise in minimum flow was coupled with the dam, but the impacts of de-coupling are now being realised.

There is also the Tutaekuri, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro and Karamu (TANK) catchments in Hawke’s Bay, neighbours of the Tukituki catchment. A project on these catchments began in 2012 with the creation of a stakeholder group consisting of 30+ members.

In August 2018, the draft TANK plan was presented to the council’s regional planning committee for the first time.

Ironically, the TANK catchments are facing very similar issues to the Tukituki catchment, and as the implications of the failure of the dam come to light, perhaps the council would be wise to look at all of these catchments together and how water might best get to where it is needed.

HORIZONS Horizons One Plan struck a major hurdle in early 2017, with the Environment Court deciding that the way in which the council was implementing its plan was not what the plan actually said.

This has left the council with a plan that effectively doesn’t practically work as it was written and wondering what to do now. Implementing the plan as written creates a massive cost to farmers and other consent holders and doesn’t necessarily achieve the desired water quality outcomes.

Given this, in August 2017, the council voted to investigate a partial plan change.

However, this will not be a quick or easy process as it is both a legal and public process. The aim was to have this plan change notified by the end of 2018. Still nothing yet, and 2018 is disappearing before our eyes.

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Gisborne’s Freshwater Plan decision was released in August 2017 and was subsequently appealed. The appeals are still to be worked through and there is no timeframe at this stage on when appeals are likely to be resolved.

Gisborne’s Freshwater Plan was actually pretty kind from a nutrient management perspective when compared to Canterbury, for example. There is no requirement for onfarm limits using Overseer, and they have adopted a Farm Environment Plan approach to managing water quality.

However, it does have some issues with water quantity. As horticulture, and kiwifruit in particular, look set to increase, those looking in the Gisborne area for plots to develop are soon realising that there is basically no water available for allocation unless you are prepared to take high flow water and store it. Therefore, this is limiting the potential for the Gisborne region.

WAIKATO Plan Change 1 to the Waikato Regional Plan for the Waikato and Waipa river catchments hit a snag when it was first notified in 2016 with one of the local runanga claiming it had not been consulted with in the manner required by the Resource Management Act 1991.

Variation 1 to Plan Change 1 was notified in April 2018 following the consultation process with iwi. The plan change, and its variation set out to reduce the amount of contaminants entering these rivers with the goal of making the Waikato River swimmable and viable for food gathering along its entire length. Hearings are due to commence in

February 2019.

Keri Johnston is a natural resources engineer with Irricon Resource Solutions.

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ENVIRONMENT | HUNTING

A taste of winter South Island-based Peter Snowden, a long-time hunter and tramper, shares some of his more recent experiences.

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he hunter network provided encouraging reports about the conservation land in Canterbury we were to hunt, suggesting it held reasonable numbers of red deer and pigs. We were a pair of optimistic hunters, but it was late June, the land high and exposed.

There was a river to cross and a mixed weather forecast. Time to see some new winter landscape, stretch the legs and replenish the freezer.

I was delayed by a day in reaching the hunting area. Geoff, my hunting partner had put in a long hard day in the hill country in my absence.

His reward was a hind and yearling stalked and shot on a sunny face from across a gully at about 200 metres. This had taken three hours walk from the truck and an even longer return haul arriving at the vehicle in the dark cold winter evening. He had noted some promising gullies and deer sign and during his return sighted a small mob of pigs on an open face. The hunter network intelligence was proving reliable.

Next morning, we set off in overcast skies to relocate the pigs and check out a couple of gullies. The first obstacle was a thigh-deep mighty cold river.

The prospect of a June day with cold, wet feet compelled us to lug waders to the river bank to change into before crossing, so we then had dry boots to put on once safely across. The waders were a godsend.

We travelled up the valley through patches of red and snow tussock. With a cold southerly behind us, it felt good to be moving and the blood flowing.

Well up the valley we glassed six pigs up on a face close to where they had been the previous evening.

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It would be difficult to get upwind of them without them seeing us or close to them without them catching our scent. Not ideal! It was a case of get in quick and low in the hope the scent did not travel up to them.

They became agitated just as we lined up on them. A young black boar was shot on the move but we failed to secure more than one animal. As we dressed the pig, chilly showers began to cut across the landscape and it was time to return to the truck.

The next morning blue sky had replaced grey, the chill wind had shifted to the west.

The shot that failed to drop that pig brought two others out on the move, one a young boar which was stopped dead at more than 250m as it paused on its escape route.

On with the waders and up the valley to hunt the gullies and travel the spurs and ridges.

Working our way up a key ridge we were disappointed the fresh sign we saw did not bring a deer sighting, it was certainly country scripted for deer.

Early afternoon we were descending a ridge and glassing into a patch of heavy flax and scrub, a grey pig grazed in and out of view below us.

The shot that failed to drop that pig brought two others out on the move, one a young boar which was stopped dead at more than 250m as it paused on its escape route. The other, a light-coloured sow of about 32kg took two shots to halt.

An hour later our return journey was diverted by seven pigs grazing near a creek about 350m away. The wind favoured our approach. We descended quickly and targets were selected from about 50m. A brindle boar of about 36kg and four, 11kg eaters joined the harvest.

With too much to carry we left meat high on a prominent rock with a plan to return the following day.

The pillow cases we carried as meat sacks were stuffed full into our groaning day packs. We crossed the river by headlamp, happy to climb into the truck shortly afterwards.

Three centimetres of snow fell overnight.

The temperature gauge in the vehicle indicated -4C outside. The morning landscape looked raw as we put on waders to cross the river to collect the remaining meat.

The temperature meant that any more than a few minutes pause was uncomfortably cold especially as sweat chilled quickly on your body. Despite this we halted to snap photos of a sparrow hawk perched calmly nearby.

The harsh June environment had yielded eight pigs and two deer and gave us a real taste of winter!

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ENVIRONMENT | FARM FORESTRY

Grab the opportunity A sheep and beef operation with a forestry component is generally in a much better position than one without any forestry, Denis Hocking writes.

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here has been some predictable push back against the Government’s forestry encouragement largesse from sheep and beef lobby over the last month or so – predictable, but not, I fear, well-thought through or entirely justified.

The Government’s enthusiasm for more forestry was strengthened by the Productivity Commission’s report on a zero-carbon future released in September which recommended 1-2 million hectares of sheep and beef country should be transferred to forestry.

This led to comments from, Feds., B+LNZ and some politicians to the effect that this is war on sheep and beef farming, such as National’s Nathan Guy saying “policy… risks gutting rural communities of people, jobs and services” (Farmers Weekly 26/11/18).

I have heard Nathan express very different views in front of a forestry audience, but then, that is politics, I guess. Needless to say, I have a somewhat different view, based on the premise that a sheep and beef operation with a forestry component is generally in a better, or much better, position than one without any forestry.

Yes you can foul up forestry operations – poor siting, costly access, difficult logging, lack of scale, etc. but I know plenty of farm foresters reporting very good returns. My most recent harvest returned about 10 times what I could have netted from sheep and beef on some very bony sand dunes.

I covered a lot of this ground in my October column, but some things may need regular repetition. What can I say about some of the arguments raised?

Gutting a region of people, jobs and services? I would suggest a well-managed forestry block can be as, or more labourintensive than sheep and beef and there is no reason why farm staff can’t do many of the jobs. However, we will need a change in attitude back to training institutions.

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I also doubt there will be mass lay-offs of vets or fertiliser spreaders if the forestry is well planned. There is no need to imitate corporate forestry, but we probably need to recognise that long range commuting seems to be more common with farm labour generally.

Establishing a forestry sideline certainly shouldn’t be a financial burden on landowners with Government subsidies and/or carbon to cover early costs.

I managed to go from 30 hectares of forestry to 110 without any subsidies and in the pre-carbon era, and still believe it was the best investment I ever made.

Perhaps that is one of the causes of the gripes – do farmers feel insulted by being offered subsidies?

Do sheep and beef farmers deserve special treatment for some hallowed position they occupy in the economy?

Well maybe, but forestry does produce twice the export earnings per hectare of sheep and beef. (Total export earnings divided by land in production forestry or sheep and beef grazing). From the economy’s perspective more forestry is probably a good thing, especially with more value-adding.

Have sheep and beef farmers already done their bit for greenhouse gas emissions? A valid argument, and no

denying CO2 is now the growth problem, but should methane be relegated to a minor concern with atmospheric methane levels continuing to increase at an alarming rate.

Forestry can certainly offset emissions and buy time – potentially a lot of time.

Again, I will quote my own case – 45% of my property in production forestry should be storing around 40,000 tonnes of CO2 which equates to about 100 years’ total emissions for my 1800 or so stock units.

At the same time it provides most of the profit.

I think the anti-forestry sentiment runs deeper than any of these arguments, though. Some may recall the 1977 Wairoa appeal which in the words of a senior Forest Service officer “effectively place(d) forestry in a position subordinate to pastoral farming”.

It reflected the feelings of farmers in Wairoa, and many other counties at the time. But then Rogernomics arrived in the 1980s when log prices were actually pretty good and forestry could have been a saviour for many farmers. Instead they had to sell out to Roger Dickie and see boundary-to-boundary forestry – rather less than optimal land use.

My guess is it will never be easier to get into forestry, so go for it.

It will never be easier to get into forestry.

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TECHNOLOGY | VOICE RECOGNITION

Talking to yourself

Voice commands can be valuable tools with mobile phones. Alan Royal makes some suggestions.

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may be getting old but I do not (I hope) talk to my self! I do talk to my devices though, to get information or have the device do something.

Please excuse me for writing this article if you have one of those flashy utes with a built-in phone connection.

Recently I travelled up country to some remote places. Rather than rely on hard copy maps I used Google maps all the way.

I loaded the map I wanted, on to my Android phone, by holding down the home button and requesting instructions e.g. ‘how do I get, by driving, from x to y’.

Immediately, a slightly nasal voice (which you get used to, or in some cases you can change), started to give me very specific instructions, in real time, starting from location ‘x’, on how to get to location ‘y’.

Occasionally, I chose to ignore the instructions about where to turn left or right. The phone narrator, politely,

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without criticising, redirected me back to the correct route. Such is the (everimproving) technology we rely on today.

I must also add that my touch-free phone internet connection meets mobile phone traffic rules, as you just listen, with only an occasional glance at the phone.

The above is just one use of voice commands on devices.

Rather than bore you with a list of potential commands you can use, type the keywords ‘voice commands’ in Google search (or use the hold-down home button process) into your Android phone (similar commands can be used for Apple products). Here bit.ly/voiceuse is a starter page you can get.

A powerful use of your device’s voice control is in typing.

I am not a touch typist. I compensate by, for example, in Google Docs, using the free Voice typing command found under

Tools in the ribbon. If you are a shortcut fiend you can call up the command, once in your Google document, by using Control+Shift+S. Editing help for Google voice typing is excellent and found at bit. ly/drivevoicetype. I have used, over the years, several paid-for voice command programmes. Google Voice typing ranks well in comparison.

Some examples of voice commands you use on your phone may help you to remember what you can do.

If you hold down the Home button to get the voice command and say ‘reminder grog’ the screen voice will ask you when you want to be reminded of both a time and a place to get your grog – a most important use for your phone!

You can ask the app to make a phone call by just saying ‘make a phone call to xxxxx (providing xxxxx is in your contact list).

You can ask the voice command to tell you a joke (they are a bit corny sometimes) on the spur of the moment, for example, ask it for marriage jokes and a site list will appear.

• A hard copy of this article is available by emailing Alan Royal at alanroyalnz@gmail.com.

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TECHNOLOGY | PASSWORDS

Securing your systems A combination of letters, symbols and numbers in a random combination makes passwords much harder to crack. Kirstin Mills reports.

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After a few panels illustrating someone’s complex password the cartoonist comments that after 20 years: “we’ve successfully trained everyone to use passwords that are hard for humans to remember but easy for computers to guess”.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIS) is a United States body that regulates federal agencies in the US and is worth listening to. It updated its guidelines around digital authentication in 2017, but not everyone has caught up.

NIST still advises against using words, repetitive or sequential characters like 1234 or aaaaa, or context-specific words like your username.

But it advises against companies insisting on complicated composition rules for passwords. As Xkcd said all those years ago – complex requirements only make passwords more difficult for the user. You may feel secure using symbols or numbers in the place of letters or starting with a capital letter and adding a question mark or a number at the end, but cracking software recognises these tricks and can crack such passwords.

However, if you use a combination of letters, symbols and numbers in a random combination then that is much harder to crack, particularly if it is long – the longer the better (NIST recommends at least 64 characters!). But this takes us back to the Xkcd issue – how do you remember a random string of characters? How would you go at remembering sabgsacg&gtut or hdmofic2vua?

Well there are two answers. One is to make them look random, but not be random to you.

If you are a Shakespeare fan it might not be too hard to remember “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and

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some have greatness thrust upon them”.

This Twelfth Night quote is the basis of the first password above – using the first letter of each word and an ampersand for “and”. The second password is a Simon and Garfunkel lyric, with “2” substituting for “to”: Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to visit you again.”

You should never re-use a password – if one source is compromised, all your logins could be accessed. Despite this many people use the same password over and over. The solution? Subtly change your master password depending on what it is for. Let’s say you have gone for the Simon and Garfunkel quote for your password.

To use it on Amazon, just add the “A” and “n” from the start and end of “Amazon” to the start and end of your password.

So “hdmofic2vua”on Amazon becomes

“Ahdmofic2vuan”. That way if your Amazon password is ever cracked it won’t affect your Dropbox password because that will be “Dhdmofic2vuax”.

You may fret that you will forget the relevant quote. A password manager may work for you. I’m not talking about using your browser to remember passwords (I do not recommend that). I’m talking about special software that uses encryption to store your passwords.

To access it all you have to do is remember your master password (some also use PINs or fingerprint readers) and it remembers everything else. I use Norton Password Manager (part of my security software) but there are many out there.

Just make sure you use a reputable one: Dashlane, Sticky Password and RoboForm are three that are highly thought of.

Another option is to simply write your master password down. Obviously don’t leave it taped to your computer screen or in your laptop case – keep it somewhere safe and maybe disguise it among other writing. At least you’ll be able to refer to it if you need to.

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January 2018

WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER

BARK OFF

Starting your young huntaway

Dog Trialing Freddy Gane’s family grow grapes in Marlborough’s ‘Golden Mile’, where he’s also able to work his team of dogs.

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DOG TRIALING

Freddy Gane works his team of dogs on the home vineyard, and gets up into the hills as much as he can.

A grape life for dogs

Marlborough’s Gane family grow grapes in the ‘Golden Mile’, winter grazing bought-in lambs among the vines, allowing Freddy Gane to pursue his passion of dog trialling. Annabelle Latz reports.

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bout 150 years ago, Marlborough’s Gane family grew cereal and vegetable crops and farmed sheep.

Now they grow grapes and finish 3000 trading lambs over the winter on Park Farm, north of Blenheim.

Freddy Gane, 26, says the vines of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir are for the family owned Nautilus and Babich companies who they’ve always grown for.

“Originally we were told we were too wet to plant grapes here, and now we’re part of the Golden Mile of vineyards.”

The Golden Mile has become 10 miles long, and “everyone likes to think they’re in it”, he says with a chuckle.

Freddy, who now manages Park Farm for his parents, was born after the Rogernomics years,

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which meant the end of subsidies and some very tough times.

His ancestor Samuel Gane set up shop here in 1867, moving over from Somerset, England.

The Ganes were farming sheep and crops before changing to grapes and kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit didn’t last long, but the vines took off.

“Sauvignon Blanc is king. But we’ve always been keen on different varieties. We’ve got 20ha of Pinot Noir which is great for Rose.”

They run a few sheep, and each autumn Freddy will buy in nearly 3000 lambs for winter.

Close to the Wairau River, the 90ha farm sits mostly on silt loam and is very fertile.

“We wouldn’t be farming here without two things, grapes and water. Irrigation saved us in those tough years and we are very fortunate to have the Wairau River which catches most of the West Coast rain but flows to us in the

east. Grapes have taken us from an undersized cropping farm to a vineyard with some scale.”

Freddy enjoys working with the perennial crop these days, and last year he had a bit of a ‘wow’ moment when spraying the low-growing clover in the rows of vines.

“I thought to myself, for over 50 years they’d been trying to grow the clover, and now we’re trying to spray it. It seemed counterproductive.”

He figured that by allowing the clover to grow through the spring and seed, it would eventually out-compete the annual weeds, so no herbicides would be required.

“I would like to get away from herbicides if we can, and fortunately we are in an industry where that is possible. Cropping like we used to just wouldn’t work if you couldn’t use herbicides, so viticulture is one of the few

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industries where we can remain profitable without them.”

When he’s not busy co-ordinating pruning over winter, Freddy is busy grazing his mobs on various vineyard blocks around the region, as well as keeping up with the usual jobs that go with sheep farming like shearing, drenching and vaccinating.

This grazing system works well. Sheep owners pay a small fee to the landowner, and get constant fresh grass.

“One of the tricks is always being available to shift something, to work in around pruning and things,” Freddy says, explaining that break fences may have to come down at short notice so gangs of workers can access the rows.

“Most of us are from sheep-farming backgrounds or one generation removed, we’ve still got the woolshed and yards here at Park Farm,” he says, adding that he always likes to pick up the handpiece and shear as many of them himself as he can.

Having sheep also fits in well with Freddy’s main passion, dog trialling.

“There is little else I’d rather do than beat the sun to the top of the hill in the morning and begin a muster.”

He has six dogs, and often an extra pup or two waiting for a shot at one of the mainstay positions on his team.

So life has to be organised; Freddy juggling work life and dogs, while his wife Nikita, 27, is heavily into her adventure racing and multi sport when she’s not on the vineyard, running the books, or busy with their two pre-schoolers Jonty and Katie.

“Working for ourselves is the best part.

Every day is a work day, potentially, and we take time off when the farm allows,” he says.

He tends to stick to dog roll and mutton for daily feeding.

“I have tried all the major brands of kibble, and even at one stage made a spreadsheet comparing protein, fat and main ingredients. I do use Black Hawk Puppy for the pups because

‘We wouldn’t be farming here without two things, grapes and water.

Irrigation saved us in those tough years and we are very fortunate to have the Wairau River which catches most of the West Coast rain but flows to us in the east. Grapes have taken us from an undersized cropping farm to a vineyard with some scale.’ it is deemed higher quality and the small biscuits are easy for young dogs to eat and digest. No expense will be spared for that first part of their development as young dogs.”

Training and exercise regimes vary throughout the year, casual mustering taking a back burner during the summer months as the harvest approaches.

“But they do have the impending dog trial season to look forward to. They are run every day and each trained in the training paddock or taken to a hill somewhere to train with friends.”

Heading dogs are pretty easy to train, but Huntaways need sheep work every day.

“I’ve had to find a breed of Huntaway that’s

easier to handle and train, but they still need to have plenty of stoke for the trial course.”

A working dog’s condition will fluctuate during the year, in line with the workload.

“We all know a fit farm dog will often show its back two ribs and after a big day’s work they often show all their ribs, but that’s okay – eventually condition will be put back on.

“Our working dogs are the top athletes of the dog world, in all ultimate athletes you will see a few ribs. I hasten to add, though, for bitches conceiving and whelping pups and for pups in their own right, being a bit fat is a good thing.”

The monthly worming of dogs, investing in quality kennelling systems, using dog coats during the winter, and breeding specifically for certain terrains and environments has marked big progresses for dog owners.

“We have the best working dogs in the world, that hasn’t happened by accident.

Overall, I think there is a good general standard that most of us intuitively stick to. We care for our dogs on the basis that they do their job. It’s thankless really, but they love it, and that’s what I would want more people to realise.”

Freddy thanks his dad Murray for the way he’s tracking.

“I’ve learned a lot from him, he’s always encouraging me to think for myself and make decisions based on what will stand me in good stead for the future, not just the immediate.”

Freddy Gane works his team of dogs on the home vineyard, daughter Katie in tow.

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BARK OFF

Starting your young huntaway After concluding heading training last month Lloyd Smith outlines the methods and techniques he uses to train his huntaways.

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e are into yet another New Year. When you get to my age you wonder just where the years go and there certainly doesn’t seem to be 365 days in them anymore. An appropriate analogy is “Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end the faster it comes around”.

Anyway I hope all had an enjoyable and relaxing time over the break.

At the beginning of heading dog training I covered some aspects relative to the puppy stage that are important and prepare your pup for training. The same criteria are relevant to huntaways and only requires a different approach once they demonstrate a genuine desire to work stock.

There is no given age when this will happen and all you can do is offer them the opportunity, preferably on quiet sheep and in a restricted area where you can monitor and discourage any unruly behaviour. In the sheep yards, when other huntaways are working, is usually a good time to assess their readiness to work as there is usually a bit of action and excitement happening.

This early stage of training a huntaway can

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be difficult to monitor as they are normally pretty energetic and exuberant creatures and you want them to be on a hot summer’s day punching stock, but that can create a bit of stress at this stage. Good compliance to the “Wayleggo” command and recognition and response to “tone of the voice” are essential.

When starting a young huntaway I do not

KEY POINTS • Allow your dog to start where ever they are most comfortable • A good level of confidence is desirable before commencing training on sheep • The Noise Factor – Encourage and monitor • Promote good shepherding skills • Prepare your dog to be confident and composed in the pressure zone

try to dictate where it takes up position. If the dog prefers to work on the other side of the sheep to me I am happy with that and in fact encourage it. But if they insist on chasing sheep away from me I start them there and deal with it differently.

Basically, wherever the young dog is the most comfortable (except in the middle of the sheep) is the best place to build confidence and allow them to express themselves If you attempt to force them into positions and situations where they do not want to be, and they express discomfort, they will lose confidence and show a reluctance to work.

The obvious difference between training a heading dog and a huntaway is noise. A bark is a huntaway’s biggest asset and is something the trainer needs to be conscious of and monitor during training.

A confident huntaway will give noise freely and enthusiastically but if you lower their confidence to a level they are not happy with they will become reluctant or even refuse to bark.

If my young huntaway is happy to work on the other side of sheep, and most of them are, that is where I get it started, allowing it to exhibit what natural skills it has and in the process trying to promote good shepherding skills working the sheep cleanly yet with purpose. One aspect when training a huntaway trainers need to be aware of is what I call the pressure zone. This is the space between the trainer and the sheep. This is the most difficult area to get accuracy in when training your young dog.

If a dog is going to feel under pressure it is when you stand it out in front of you and try to control its movements. Some dogs just hate being there. I prefer to start my young huntaways on the other side of the sheep where the pressure zone is not an issue. When the dog demonstrates it has a good level of confidence I then pick my time to introduce it to training in front of me.

To prepare my young dog for training in this area I start at the puppy stage standing them out in front of me and handling them on their back area with the intention of reassuring and relaxing them. Once I am satisfied they are comfortable there I introduce a Face-Up command so I can get them to face away from me and eventually turn away from any given point.

The more relaxed and comfortable you can have your young huntaway when it is standing out in front of you the fewer problems you will have when it comes time to train in this area on sheep. It is all about preparing your dog to take this step when it becomes relevant during training and recognising when they have the confidence and composure to cope with the pressure involved.

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COMMUNITY | TRAVEL – SRI LANKA

Anuradhapura

Kandy Colombo

One of the many dagobas in Anuradhapura.

Don’t like cricket, I love it Country-Wide editor Terry Brosnahan took a break from a Kiwi winter in the sun of Sri Lanka.

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hy Sri Lanka?

We wanted some sun in late July, had been to other Asian countries, and wanted something different plus we had friends who had lived there.

We had heard and read there was so much to see in a small, over-populated island. Sri Lanka is the size of Tasmania with the population of Australia. The beaches were supposed to be fantastic, loads of wildlife, it was once a British colony so English is widely spoken and you can get a good cup of tea.

We were armed with the latest guide book which I was supposed to have read before leaving. I was fervently flicking through it on the plane flight over and

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gained a general idea where we should go.

Intrepid included plane flights there and back, two nights in Singapore and two nights in Colombo. After that nothing was booked.

In Singapore we stayed in Village Hotel Bugis which was average. The room was small for a family of four, had a bed missing and too close to a mosque. Why do they have to start wailing at 5.20am?

One of the first things needed after landing in Colombo was a SIM card.

Mobile data was 70% cheaper than New Zealand. Friends of a family member living in Colombo had arranged for their driver to pick us up from the airport and on the way we stopped to buy a SIM card.

It took a lot longer than expected as the roadside stall operator was multi-tasking

and dealing with up to six customers at a time. Foreigners’ passports are recorded for security reasons.

We had two nights booked at the Havelock Place Bungalow, which in hindsight set up our trip.

Our plan was to head north from Colombo to the ruins of ancient cities at Anuradhapura then down to Kandy, pop over to Arugam Bay in the east to relax in a hammock for a few days. Then head south.

Public transport to Anuradhapura didn’t look a good option so the Bungalow’s manager Seema Bharadia, organised a driver Sanath Bandard from Kangaroo cabs.

Seema is married to a Sri Lankan, grew up in Britain and has Indian and Italian parents.

She was very humorous and gave good

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tips on where to go in Colombo.

The Pettah market was chaotic and interesting, but the range of goods weren’t as wide as other Asian countries or the prices as cheap. Adidas shoes were about 3500 rupees (NZ$28) and watches 250-1000 rupees. One minute we were struggling through people in the market, the next we were through a door and ended up in a Catholic church with a mass going on.

Sri Lankan males are mad on cricket so it pays to fake interest in the game especially when haggling for a bargain. They knew more about NZ players than we did and were repeatedly asking why Brendon McCullum retired. “He was much too young”.

Rugby is also a popular sport with more than 100,000 registered players and club games can draw 40-50,000 spectators.

The Havelock Place Bungalows is a charming old colonial building and quiet.

We only had a small pool there and the travel book mentioned paying about $30 to swim in hotel pools. The recommended Mt Lavinia was grand, but too crowded.

So after driving all over Colombo we ended up reluctantly paying $90 at the Cinnamon Lakeside which turned out to be nothing special.

Taxis are relatively cheap 900 rupees (NZ$7) from Mt Lavinia to the Fort. They also have their version of Uber, Pick Me which works well and cheaper.

The national museum was interesting but far too static to keep teenagers and adults captivated. We did learn Sri Lankans were big on irrigation as far back as 1000 years ago. Their king, Parakrambahu the Great, (1123-1186) oversaw the development of extensive irrigation systems. He was quoted as saying: “Let not a single drop enter the sea without being used by man.”

Sanath drove us up to Anuradhapura and we based ourselves in a guesthouse in Sigiriya. It was good to have a car as the ancient city sites are spread out. Sigiriya (means Lion Rock) was once the capital of King Kasyapa (477-495 AD) who built his palace on top of a dramatic 200-metre-high rocky outcrop. A highlight of Sri Lanka was walking/climbing the narrow stairs to the top of the Lion Rock and looking out over the surrounding gardens, some of the oldest in the world. It wasn’t cheap, US$105 for a family of four. It’s best to go early as it gets busy and hot.

The nearby cave temples at Dambulla are worth a look but make sure you start at the right side of the hill. We walked all the

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way up only to be told the ticket office was down the other side. It moved from the carpark due a dispute between two sects of monks over ownership.

After two days in Sigiriya we left for Kandy and visited the Pinnawala elephant orphanage enroute. Not sure if it was worth paying $25/adult seeing the elephants bathing down by the river as the best part was free, when they return to the orphanage.

Their route was along a street in the town and it is impressive standing in shop doorway watching a herd of elephants run past. A shop owner stood in front of stand full of Pringle chips otherwise the elephants would nick them.

Top: Climbing up the Lions Rock, Sigiriya.

Middle: The Red Masjid mosque in Colombo.

Bottom: Make way, elephants coming through in Pinnawala.

Next issue: An unforgettable train experience, turtles and Galle.

HEALTH COVER One of the hardest tasks of the trip was getting insurance for a pre-existing medical condition.

Insurance should have come before the plane tickets but we were led to believe it wouldn’t be a problem.

After being refused by half a dozen companies I decided to take the risk and just go. If I had another brain tumour overseas I wouldn’t have been able to fly home and have no insurance cover for a pre-existing condition.

Fortunately, as a result of a chance meeting the week before leaving, I gained cover through Health and Travel in Hamilton.

They covered me with Anon, $286 for a maximum of 21 days medical and evacuation.

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January 2018

COMMUNITY | ACCOMMODATION

Farm stay pays its way

ONE WOMAN’S FARM LIFE

WORDS: LYNDA GRAY

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raemar Station has become a popular first-night stop off for Alps 2 Ocean trail cyclists. As the 300km trail from near Mt Cook to Oamaru has gained in popularity so too has demand for Braemar’s self-catering accommodation which has expanded to sleep up to 38 people.

Peak occupancy is from February to April when the cycleway is at its busiest. Over a year, cyclists comprise about 25% of guests with the bulk either tour groups or free, independent travellers.

The running of the farm accommodation is left to Julia and Tegan Pay, partner of Braemar’s shepherd Jack Torrie, who works full-time from October until May. Julia’s advice to others considering diversification into farm tourism or accommodation is to research the gaps in the market and then decided how or where you want to fit in.

“Don’t try and be something you are not. Tourists want genuine experiences so try and offer these as that will be your point of difference.”

Also, hosts need to understand the

commitment and realise that guests often expect their needs to be met immediately.

She says hosts need to make themselves available as they are dealing with people and the human contact is what makes the experience special.

“Remember it is all about people, people, people and they are far more difficult than animals.”

Julia says it’s also important for hosts to share with guests their farming stories and special part of the world.

Where to next with the farm accommodation is being considered.

There’s potential to further increase income by adding more accommodation and perhaps value-added pursuits such as walking and cycle track but in the meantime Julia’s happy to consolidate on what they’ve got.

“The aim is to provide accommodation and an experience with appeal to a wide range of people. It’s a cool place with special views and we want to keep it as a middle of the road rather than high end accommodation option.”

• See pg 37 “Packing on the Kilos”

Tales of life on the farm WORDS: PAUL BURT South Coast Productions has announced their next venture is to record and relate the farming stories that are such a part of New Zealand’s rural heritage.

Some folk tell their own stories and Mark Warren is one of these people with his book “Many a Muddy Morning”. It is a farming story but enlivened with exploits and escapades stemming from Mark’s lifelong fascination with wheels and engines.

He had used his passion and experience to prop up farm incomes with money earned as a four-wheel-drive professional and competitor in many forms of off-road vehicle challenge.

His farming career may or may not have developed such were his other interests

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January 2018

but in the early 1980s at age 24 and armed with a Dip Ag from Lincoln he got the chance to manage the family farm in Hawke’s Bay, the 1300-hectare Waipari Station.

The farm was run down and undercapitalised and it is a measure of Mark and his team’s ability that in only 10 years he was a contender for the Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the year competition. He won the title in 1991.

His management style challenged convention and he quickly worked out the way forward was to capitalise on the farm’s strengths and work with the climate and environment. It will help to have some diesel in your veins to enjoy the full story of a man who took on a tough job during one of the most challenging periods that NZ hill country farming has endured.

Reviewed by Gertje Petersen Rural women have always been an integral part of farming communities, both as homemakers that made it possible for their husbands and sons to push themselves to their limits, and as primary producers themselves.

“Harvest” by Christine Carrell is a thoughtful portrayal of a young woman experiencing the changing social landscape between the 1930s and 70s, of the struggles of farmers in remote communities, and of the profound love and appreciation for the land that drives them.

The story of Rose McLeod makes no attempt to romanticise the history of New Zealand famers. It addresses difficult aspects such as the government’s handling of returning soldiers and the conflicts around unmarried mothers, but it also never veers away from the connection Rose grows to feel to the land through her love for her husband. It is the transgenerational nature of this relationship that still drives farmers today that makes this book relevant to today’s audience.

All in all a good read.

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SOLUTIONS | FE TOLERANCE

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Rams for hill country

reeding rams with greater tolerance to facial eczema is a high priority for Minda Hills Genetics owners Mark and Lorraine Illston.

FE is likely to be rife this season given the warm, moist conditions and good grass growth.

One thing Mark says they won’t do is sell to farmers in the worst areas for facial eczema (FE) because they haven’t got enough tolerance through the flock.

They run a fully recorded flock of 2100 ewes and hoggets on 320 hectare of medium hill country at 560-metre above sea level at Mataroa, north-west of Taihape.

They have sold most of their 200 twotooth rams for this year to a growing base of mostly hill country clients.

Over the past decade they have developed a Perendale-based flock, blended with Texel and Finn. Their aim was to create a “powerful and profitable crossbred package” from the combination of meat yield from Texel and reproduction traits from the Finn, over the hardy Perendale.

They have been facial eczema testing 3050 sires used in their elite flock for several years.

“It was our veterinarian Trevor Cook who suggested that we should be working on FE tolerance and I’m pleased we have based on feedback from our clients and the increase in risk that many farmers now face,” Mark says.

“We have to be five years ahead of our clients when it comes to ram breeding.

We are aiming to provide our clients

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with rams that produce progeny with high survivability, meat yield and growth potential, and they must stand out as a uniform line in the sale yards,” Mark says.

They have been using FE-tolerant Romney sires from Auckland Romney Development Group member Bob Steed in their elite flock for the past four years to speed the gains in resistance within their ram offering each year.

With experienced stud sheep flock manager Dave Kitney, the Illstons have put conformation, particularly strength of bone, feet and wool type, ahead of where any sheep sits in the flock’s SIL rankings from a culling perspective.

Meat yield data is gathered from the slaughter of ewe or ram lambs culled before being selected as replacements or for sale as rams to clients. They had previously incorporated high-yielding elite sires from Chris and Jane Earl at Longdowns Stud, at Scargill in North Canterbury.

Fleece weights are collected but not included in the selection of ewe hogget replacements at this stage. Their aim is to produce an even Perendale-type fleece that only needs shearing once a year.

Mark says rather than focusing on a single line of genetics within his flock, he prefers to have progeny to offer clients from up to eight different elite sire lines used in a mating.

They are targeting about 180% scanning in the Minda Hills flock. “That’s about optimal for us to minimise triplets and maximise twins,” Lorraine says.

Minda Hills is heavily subdivided into 80 paddocks with trough water in every paddock, thanks to an exceptionally reliable dam which feeds the entire farm.

Its ash and loam soils, typical of the district, underpin performance.

Ewes are set stocked before the end of August when some of the northerly facing country is starting to grow grass again after winter. The intensity of subdivision means every ewe is single sire mated so there is no doubt over the parentage of the lamb when tagging at birth.

Mark and Lorraine share all the farm work. Their approach at lambing time is more observe and only intervene if there is a real problem.

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January 2018

SOLUTIONS | RAM SALES

Data direct from the tag

R

am breeder Jason Le Grove has achieved an industry first – presenting individual ram data to buyers on a giant television screen in the pen as they go through their selections.

His Motu-nui stud is based at Whareama, east of Masterton on challenging coastal Wairarapa hill country, and sells around 800 Romney, Romney cross and terminal options to clients from right across the country.

Ahead of the latest ram selling season, he teamed up with Daniel Aldworth from ear tag technology provider Shearwell, to link up all the components so buyers could have an electronic ear tag read in the pen, then see all its individual data displayed almost immediately on the big screen overlooking the pen.

The television is screen-shared with his Tru-test XR5000 data device which is linked to Motu-nui’s database system held on a laptop in the office above the yards.

For buyers and the team at Motu-nui, it

means significantly quicker turnaround on selections and 100% accuracy on the data.

Both benefits are rated highly by Jason and the feedback from buyers has been very positive.

“We’re putting up 40-50 rams in front of buyers who would previously have spent an hour or more going through them all, reading tags but needing to either view the data on the XR5000 or off a data sheet print out in the pen before they could rank their selections,” Jason says.

“We’re eliminating any human error now as well, because it’s totally driven from tag to reader through to our database,” he says.

As clients book in to visit the stud to make their selections, Jason sorts his ram mobs in advance index groups for each buyer, knowing what each buyer typically is after.

He’s incorporated a panel reader into his drafting race, so the mob profile is automatically captured, ready to be called on and displayed on the television, as buyers make their selections.

Ram buyer Dean Duffy checks the TV screen displaying information on two rams he has selected.

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January 2018

“So, from one push on the tag reader button, a buyer can see all the data on an individual ram right above the pen,” he says.

Apart from the ram’s identifying number, the television displays rank in each stud flock based on the widely used Sheep Improvement Limited combined ‘worth’ ranking criteria, and estimated breeding values for number of lambs born, survival at birth, weaning weight, liveweight at eight months, actual weaning weight, fleece weight, sire and dam identification and sire of dam.

Once the rams are selected by each buyer, it is also possible to scan them again and create the invoice, so it can be sent later either by email or post.

This latest breakthrough to display ram data in the pen demonstrates Jason’s desire to push the boundaries within the stud.

He’s always been keen to incorporate new technologies, especially since the original Motu-nui records database system was created by local farm consultant Sam Orsborn about 12 years ago.

For ram buyers Dean and Sue Duffy, the display system proved ideal for seeing the data on each ram offered in their selection group.

“It’s new to us but worked well. No risk of miss-reading a tag so that’s an advantage,” Dean says.

They made the decision to move away from just buying more Romney rams from the stud, to buying their first RomneyTexel cross rams, after reflecting on the weaker wool prices and improved lamb returns.

“We’re keen to see what the Texel genes will do for carcase weights and quality, and hoping that we see a few less dags too,” he says.

They run 2400 ewes and 100 cows on their 485ha (effective) property at Rongomai, north-east of Eketahuna.

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SOLUTIONS | EQUIPMENT

Versatile sheep handler

Fuel for the working dog

P

oor nutrition in working dogs could be jeopardising profits for farmers, according to the head of one of New Zealand’s most respected pet care companies. Masterpet chief executive, Dr Sean Duggan says NZ’s working dogs can run up to a half-marathon on any given day and add a huge amount of value to a farm.

“The other side to this is that bad nutrition can leave a working dog unable to perform to its potential and can mean loss of productivity, increased costs and reduced profits.”

“In our experience, we estimate one in four dogs on NZ farms is under performing due to bad nutrition. With so much depending on working dogs, NZ’s farmers can’t afford for their dogs to be unpredictable.”

Duggan says Black Hawk Working Dog

premium food is specifically formulated for NZ working dogs.

“Through Black Hawk, we are building The Real Food Movement for dogs and challenging all owners to feed real ingredients.”

The endurance formula behind Black Hawk Working Dog is high in quality protein (32%), with lamb and beef as the main ingredients, and quality fats (22%), designed to promote strong lean muscles and ensure a sustainable release of energy throughout the dog’s working day.

“We believe every ingredient matters to the work rate and returns from a working dog. Working dogs have very different requirements compared to pet dogs; they’re a lot more active, for a lot longer during the day.”

Black Hawk’s Working Dog food is available in rural veterinary clinics around the country.

Lincoln manuals updated

N

ew updates have just been released for the highly respected Lincoln University Farm Technical Manual and Farm Financial Budget Manual.

The Farm Financial Budget Manual (Volume 40) offers a detailed breakdown of the latest farming costs and prices to assist with financial planning, and enterprise analysis of different enterprises – from livestock to crops and horticultural options.

The comprehensive technical information in the Farm Technical Manual (Volume 24) has been gathered from many sources and covers all the

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expected farm enterprise options, including the management of livestock, crops, soils, fertilisers and pasture for all farming types.

New subscribers can choose an annual subscription of $135 (including GST) which provides a hard copy of one of the manuals, plus an online version and any updates generated during the annual subscription period. Farmers wanting just the hard-copy version will pay $115 or the online option at $100.

To order online, visit aginfo.lincoln. ac.nz, or to arrange your subscription by email, send your request to aginfo@lincoln.ac.nz or call 0800 10 60 10 (NZ only) or +64 3 423 0266 (overseas callers).

M

any New Zealand sheep farmers will already be very familiar with Hecton Products.

Their popular Hecton Sheep Handler has a proven reputation as the “fastest and most efficient crutching machine on the market” and has been the first choice of NZ sheep farmers and crutching contractors for just on 40 years.

Hecton Products have continually added to their product range over the years to include a wide range of sheep handling products such as mobile loading ramps, road and ATV trailers, ewe lifters, lamb warmers, anti-backing wings and loads more. New to the product range is the Hecton Stock Worker and Dagging Race.

This is a very versatile handling unit that is easily transported and installed into permanent or temporary sheep yarding.

The Hecton Stock Worker uses the same Overbar and T bar locking system as the Sheep Handler and is quite simply a pulling motion to clamp and hold the sheep in place while performing various tasks. Release the T Bar and the animal is free to go. The clamp frame is reversible for left or right-handed users and they also offer a left or right-handed dagging race which includes two anti-backing wings to increase stock flow.

Drenching and drafting ewes and lambs can be easily done through the unit at the same time without adjustment and with the addition of weighing equipment this is a perfect system for monitoring lamb weights and drafting finished lambs.

Nigel King of Southland has been using the Stock Worker for the past 12 months and very impressed with his. “It’s awesome, easy to use, stress-free on ewes, lambs and humans. You name it, it can do it. I’ve used it for Weighing, mouthing, uddering, drenching, ear tagging and given them a cheeky wee crutch at the same time” www.hecton.co.nz or call (03) 215 8558.

Country-Wide

January 2018

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Take in the views from the paddock gate.

Listen to Jamie, Rowena & Sam for the lay of the land every weekday from 12-1pm.

Find your frequency at thecountry.co.nz/frequencies

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January 2018

ESTATE | MARKET VIEW

Sheep and beef farm sales in holding pattern An easing beef market and similar expectations for lamb, plus lower confidence and the lack of overseas buyers has seen the market for such farms stall. Anne Hardie reports.

D

espite the high number of quality sheep and beef properties on the market through spring, the number of transactions has been lower and values have not increased in line with improved returns.

Colliers International associate director Tim Banks attributes it to lower farmer confidence, the lack of overseas buyers for larger properties which has historically created liquidity in the market, plus banks requiring farmers to consolidate their positions before expanding.

Back in June, the price for sheep and beef properties was expected to rise due to higher lamb, cull ewe and beef prices, he says. Though sheep returns have remained firm, beef has eased and he says some commentators expected lamb to ease also.

“For anyone buying a farm today, the higher cost of capital stock is a factor which could be tempering demand alongside fewer farm sales and less liquidity in the market.”

According to Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s statistics, Southland topped the property market for sheep and beef farms of more than 100 hectares for the year to October. Over the 12 months to October, Southland’s median price per hectare was $13,600/ha, down slightly from $15,100/ha the previous year. Waikato’s sheep and beef properties rose in price from an annual median of $10,700 in October 2017 to $12,400/ha, while Canterbury slipped back from $13,700/ha to $11,900/ha.

Hawke’s Bay rose slightly to $10,500/ha, just above Otago at $10,200/ha, Northland at $8640/ha, Manawatu-Wanganui at $7230/ha and Gisborne at $5970/ha.

The median number of days to sell sheep and beef farms varied from 57 days in the Waikato to 131 days in Northland.

Though sheep and beef property prices may not have lifted in line with returns, there may be signs the cost of leasing property is on the rise. Banks refers to a smaller Central Canterbury property irrigated by Central Plains that was on the market in November with the possibility of leasing back to the owner at a rate of 4%, which is higher than long-term lease rates typically between 2-3%.

Also on the market for potential sheep and beef farming are marginal dairying areas which he says are being marketed for alternative land uses such as beef finishing. It follows the financial and environmental pressures on dairying returns due to lower productivity or high-cost structures due to steeper terrain or highcost irrigation water. In the arable sector also, high returns have not led to an increase in land values and Banks says a recent sale in mid Canterbury suggested the market may have eased slightly.

“Arable returns have improved with prices for feed grain underpinned by demand from dairy farmers who are now required

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January 2018

to feed less palm kernel and a local milling wheat contract from Countdown. While returns have improved, we haven’t observed any increase in values.”

A well-defined relationship exists between key block attributes and the prices achieved for arable and mixed cropping land, with buyers paying the highest prices for properties with quality soils combined with a relatively low-cost, reliable irrigation water resource providing enough water. Other factors such as irrigation type or shape of the block and proximity to main centres also drives demand.

Most of the arable properties are sold in Canterbury, where REINZ shows the annual median price per hectare by the end of September was $38,300/ha, down from $47,500/ha for the previous year to September.

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FARMING IN FOCUS

More photos from this month’s Country-Wide.

Canada

Willesden’s finishing stock manager Nick Russell Yearling heifers- cattle make up the majority of stock units on Willesden

Dogs on Willesden

Bees finding that a cardboard box can make a great hive on Willesden farm.

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January 2018

Canada

Generous spray circles for trees on David Dillon’s Marlborough farm.

Looking out over the surrounding gardens at Sigiriya, the oldest in Asia.

Elephants enjoying their morning bath at Pinnawala.

Manuka protected with posts on David Dillon’s farm.

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January 2018

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January 2018