Doing the right thing on hill-country property
Entry-level shepherds are getting the experience they need at Landcorp’s Waitere Station. visited to find out more.
It’s a process of military precision – complete with gumboots, high-viz vests and car seats – to start a farm tour with four-year-old triplets Zara, Lily and Henry.
That’s after they have posed with the new huntaway puppies, driven the pint-sized tractor around the front lawn and helped to mix and then demolish a homemade chocolate cake.
They’re part of the new team at Landcorp’s Pamu Farms Waitere Station in Hawke’s Bay, which has been managed by their parents, Nick and Amy Peacock, for the past year.
With the Mohaka River accounting for three-quarters of its boundary, the 2450 hectare Waitere Station is a steep hillcountry sheep and beef-breeding property in the Waitara Valley between Te Pohue and Tutira. It is surrounded by commercial forestry and a kiwi conservation park.
As well as wanting to increase production and improve the biodiversity of the property, the couple want to make it a stepping stone for young shepherds. Since taking over the reins, Nick has restructured the staffing at Waitere to include two entry-level junior shepherds and a general hand.
‘‘A lot of ads ask for two years of experience and a team of dogs but how do they get those without someone giving them a chance? It’s not a good reflection on the industry if we don’t have the time to stop and teach them.’’
They were inundated with applications and could have given the job away many times to some great people, Amy says. Her previous career with Primary ITO sets them up well for teaching their first two shepherds – Harry Symes, 19, and Harry Gibbs, 20, – who are completing New Zealand Apprenticeships in Agriculture Level 4 while on the job.
‘‘As a mum, I’d like their mums to know someone is looking out for them. It’s about the pastoral side of it as well. They’re not just our staff. They’re part of the team and our door is always open.’’
As well as looking after the triplets, Amy is employed as a farm administration officer, which frees up Nick’s time for teaching as well.
‘‘I had told them to let me know if they thought any heifers needed help,’’ Nick says. ‘‘They helped one to calve this morning. It only took me 10 minutes to show them how to deal with it and what they’re looking for if there will be any problems.
‘‘Our use of software and feed budgeting, utilising programmes such as Farmax and FarmIQ, gives them a good skill base. Landcorp is big on growing those skills and on furthering personal development.’’
Health and safety is also an important part of how they farm, Nick says.
‘‘We want these guys to be great risk assessors and great employees for someone else. I had to learn to make myself do the right thing. For them wearing helmets, for example, is just what you do.’’
The station’s general hand, Riki McKenzie has been working on the property for 15 years and is also a great asset.
‘‘He knows the property. You know jobs are going to get done and he has great skills to pass on to the young guys as well.’’
Nick grew up on a family farm near Waipukurau and went to Silverstream College in Wellington before doing a Diploma in Agriculture at Massey University. His first job was junior shepherd at Ngamatea near Taihape then senior shepherd at both Glenary Station and Nokomai Station in northern Southland.
Amy grew up on a lifestyle block at Fairlie.
‘‘That’s partly where my passion came for teaching young people. It never crossed my mind when I was at school that agriculture has such massive opportunities. It’s not just shepherding – there are so many different pathways.’’
While Nick was travelling overseas, working on farms in the UK and Australia, Amy was working on a dairy farm on the West Coast.
With Nick now stock manager at another family farm in Dannevirke, Amy studied to be a vet nurse at Massey University and secured a job at Vet Services in Dannevirke. But succession plans didn’t work out for the couple so they made a conscious decision to go the corporate route, Amy says. They moved to a management position on a 10,000 stock unit farm owned by the Anewa Trust, inland from Wairoa.
‘‘We had staff for the first time and a farm that needed a lot of development,’’ Nick says.
‘‘We were there for six years and it certainly challenged us. We grew ourselves and we grew the business,’’ says Amy, who was also working for Primary ITO covering the East Coast.
The couple moved to the Wi Pere Trust’s Otara block near Gisborne with 30,000 stock units and seven staff before moving into the Landcorp fold last year.
‘‘Landcorp matched our morals and the way we wanted to farm,’’ Nick says. ‘‘They put the environment first and think the same way we do about health and safety.’’
‘‘We want to farm in an environmentally sustainable manner,’’ Amy adds.
About 70 per cent of Waitere’s boundary is the Mohaka River, which has all been fenced and planted. Other waterways have been fenced and allowed to regenerate naturally. There are several QEII National Trust reserves in less financially-viable areas of the farm. There are pine, manuka and ground-durable eucalyptus plantations and 300 poplar and willow poles are planted each year for erosion control and stock shade.
Both Nick and Amy would like to see more trees planted on Waitere, particularly given its harsh winters and hot, dry summers. They say the farm’s land and environment plan is a living document they will be able to put their mark on.
Fortunately they have a great working relationship with their business manager, Greg Tattersfield.
‘‘He is fantastic. He sees his role as supporting, coaching and mentoring rather than dictating,’’ Amy says.
Nick says he’s keen to be at the forefront of new farming systems for hill country farms.
‘‘Landcorp wants to be carbon neutral by 2025. Pine trees are returning a 7 per cent ebit but sheep and beef would be lucky to be 3 or 4 per cent. We have to farm the right way to prove sheep and beef is the way forward.
‘‘We have to make sure we’re producing heavy lambs for finishing. Everything has to be top spec for us to justify our position. The investment has already been made in the genetics so when we feed the girls they really hum.’’
Waitere’s customers are other Landcorp properties – supplying replacement ewe lambs and heifers for other breeding properties and lambs for finishing properties.
‘‘You could put bulls all over this land and make more money but it would destroy the environment. We have the best class of stock for this farm longterm.’’
Waitere puts 11,000 romney
We want to farm in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Amy Peacock
ewes to the ram. All male lambs are sold store at weaning at a target weight of 30 kilograms.
‘‘We have to run a 90-day weaning policy because our pumice country dries out in a week once summer hits.’’
Ewe replacements are sold through February/March then concentration goes back into the ewes to make mating weight. The ewes scanned an average of 207 per cent this season – including 2400 triplets. ‘‘You can’t sell scanning percentage though. It’s all about live lambs going out the gate at good weights.’’
Docking numbers are still to come. ‘‘Lambing started on September 10 about the same time as a snow and hail storm went through,’’ he says. ‘‘We’re 580 metres above sea level here and can easily have four seasons in one day. But the weather’s not an excuse. It’s important to have the ewes in good nick to produce good, heavy lambs that will survive and wean well. Same with the cows.’’
The farm calves 850 angus cows (including yearling heifers). The first calvers are mated on November 20 and the mixed-aged cows on December 20, Nick says.
All steer calves and cull heifers are sold at weaning, which is usually March, but was done in February this year because of the season. ‘‘We’re a breeding property so we have no outlet valve in a dry summer. We’re committed to those breeding stock. We have short shoulder seasons so we need to maximise the growth we get in spring and autumn. That’s where feed planning and budgeting is critical and we aim for a 90-day winter rotation of big mobs.’’
The Peacocks have only been at Waitere for a year and say they’re looking forward to seeing another full season. The property ‘‘ticks a lot of boxes’’ for them but they’re always looking ahead. ‘‘Land ownership would probably still be the end goal but that might come through equity or leasing. We would always consider options open to us,’’ Nick says. ‘‘Equally, we also want to wake up to do what we love and be able to look our kids in the eye in the future and say we did the right thing,’’ Amy adds.