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JASON & CATHERINE McGRORY/TIM & JANE FLEMING
NZ Dairy / Summer 2012
Couple get serious this time Karen Phelps After debuting in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards last year, Jason and Catherine McGrory are entering again this year. “Norsewood is a social place and there are a lot of ex-winners here, so everyone was talking about it; that made us want to enter,” says Jason McGrory. “We found the feedback really valuable. We learned heaps about our business and our strengths and weaknesses.” The couple made the top five in their region and won the pasture management award. This year, they say, they’re out to win. They have been working on gaining a better understanding of the financial side of their business and have done a Mark and Measure course. The McGrorys are very involved in their local community and are part of a local dairy discussion group. Jason plans to join the fire brigade to keep challenging himself.
The McGrory family practises sitting on the fence. From left, Catherine, Kaleb, Jason, Cohen, Jackson.
Both them are townies, born and bred in New Plymouth. After school Jason headed straight to Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre and, after a six-
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month dairy course, did part of a season on a dairy farm at Opunake. The couple then took a farmhand position on a 300-cow farm at Waitara; they stayed there for nine years, working their way to lowerorder sharemilking for owners Dave and Jane Shaw. Next came three seasons as lower-order sharemilkers on a 350-cow farm at Inglewood. They are now in their third season in a 50:50 sharemilking position with 200 cows on a 70-hectare (effective) farm at Norsewood for Neil and Pat Malcolm. The farm has a friesian herd milked through a 16-a-side herringbone shed, and is supported by three blocks, totalling 55ha. The McGrorys also lease 26ha where they will raise 33 rising one-year-old heifers and 10 mixedage cows they bought to get in calf, then sell for cashflow. The Horizon Regional Council's controversial One Plan environmental management proposal, which could affect their farm if it goes ahead, has seen the couple place even greater emphasis this season on nitrogen management. They and the farm-owners are establishing
protocols to reduce nitrogen use and improve their use of effluent. They currently spread effluent over 12ha of the farm, but are looking at the possibility of investing in a slurry tanker to transport and disperse effluent to the other side of the farm (across a road). This would give them an around 30ha that could be spread with effluent. The McGrorys employ no staff. Jason does the day-to-day farmwork; Catherine takes care of calf feeding and fills in where and when needed. They have three children: Cohen, 6, Jackson, 5 and Kaleb, 3½. The McGrorys say their relationship with Neil and Pat Malcolm is close – above and beyond the normal sharemilker-owner relationship. “They are more like grandparents to our kids,” says Jason. “Pat has babysat and picked the kids up from school, even cooked us dinner sometimes when we’re busy.” Below: Catherine and Jason McGrory share some time out from dairying with their three children/
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There's no right or wrong way in farming, believes Tim Fleming, who farms near the Cape Egmont lighthouse in Taranaki. “You take an interest in what others are doing, then adapt it to suit yourself,” he says. “One of my neighbours is into organic farming. It wouldn't do for me, but it works for him. So good luck to him.” Members of the family have farmed in the area for several generations since arriving from Ireland. In recent years Fleming has acquired three farms to attach to the one he grew up on. The four farms are now run as one unit of two blocks, each with its own dairy. It's remarkable country. Largely flat and initially swampy, it is notable for its large mounds; remnants, according to Massey University earth science professor Vince Neall, of a huge landslide 23,000 years ago when a volcanic cone collapsed. It makes farming interesting; you have to ride round or over the top to make sure you’ve got all
your cows. The swamps have been drained, and the dark volcanic soils are fertile, holding moisture well. There has been a sharemilker, then a manager, running the smaller block on Cape Road, but now, both are managed by Fleming with four staff. One staff member spends most of his time on the smaller block, but everyone pretty much does whatever needs to be done wherever it needs to be done. “The system is working well. They are good staff,” says Fleming. “Everyone gets paid well. One guy has been with us four years, one for three. The young fellow's mother was with us for four years; now he's working for me. They have 11 days on, and three days off. There is always one person off.” Cape Road has 180 cows, mostly friesian or friesian/ayrshire cross. They were bought with the farm from Fleming's cousin. On Lower Parihaka Road, the 390 cows are mostly jersey, continuing the family tradition. The herds are run together until calving. One shed does the milking until the milking herd gets