Sustainable focus for finalists
The finalists in the 2018 Taranaki Ballance Farm Environment Awards are as diverse as the landscapes they work on.
Daryl and Karyn Johnson, Hans and Stephanie Michel, Grant, Dinny and Leedom Gibbs and Andrew and Gayleen MacLean are in the running for the awards, to be announced in New Plymouth on Thursday.
The Johnsons milk 450 friesian-cross cows on their 200-hectare dairy unit at Pukengahu, east of Stratford, with 10ha of poorer quality sidlings used for grazing beef stock.
The system 2-3 operation, Dakm Farms, is partly bordered by the Patea River, with the entire four kilometre river boundary fenced and a riparian management plan in place.
The couple are passionate about minimising waste, with chemical containers recycled, wire wound up, posts pulled and reused, water troughs relocated and sheds disassembled and rebuilt. ‘‘This year our old herringbone shed that has been used as a bobby shed for the last 15 years was reguttered and all the pipe work and gates rewelded and utilised to revamp the calf rearing facilities,’’ they said.
Hans and Stephanie Michel’s 240ha Tarata property, Tersana Farm, is run as breeding, grazing and fattening operation with a focus on breeding Wiltshire sheep, lambing 700 ewes and hoggets.
The Michels also run 140 dairy grazers on the property, with 50 carry over cows, 21 beef cattle and their offspring used mainly for pasture management.
To combat erosion and protect waterways on the rolling to steep hill country farm, the couple have fenced several areas, including two wetlands.
‘‘We are trying to avoid erosion by matching stock classes to terrain, for example only buy jersey-holstein cows because they are lighter,’’ they said.
There is an ongoing goat, cat, pig and possum control programme and weeds (thistles and ragwort) are managed by spot spraying/weed wiper. Gorse is targeted by aerial application.
For Leedom, Grant and Dinny Gibbs of the Gibbs G Trust, the goal is simple – to run a profitable enterprise that is also sustainable.
All streams, drains and rivers on the 122ha dairy unit at Manaia are fenced and riparian planting is under way. Soil testing is carried out every two years and fertiliser requirements are discussed with a Ballance representative each spring and reviewed as the season progresses.
Although the farm has a consent for an effluent consent for a three pond oxidation system to discharge to water, contractors are instead used to spread the effluent to land.
The coastal property has two central pivot irrigators that cover 59ha and take out of the Waiokura Stream.
‘‘We had to drain a wetland in order to contour land for the irrigator so offset this by establishing a new wetland on a part of the farm that is not irrigated,’’ they said.
Sharemilkers Andrew and Gayleen MacLean peak-milked 260 cows last season on 125ha of flat land at Newall, inland from Okato.
The couple grow about 14.5 tonnes of dry matter per hectare on the property and aim to harvest
85-90 per cent of feed grown, topping up with supplement ‘‘as nature dictates’’.
‘‘Our main aim is to do at least
400kg milk solids per cow, grow as much grass as possible and harvest it,’’ they said.
In the past 10 years, they have drained and regrassed a third of the farm, fenced all waterways and almost completed their riparian planting projects.
They aim to minimise chemical use by spot spraying and grubbing and ensure used drums are triple rinsed and recycled. There is no effluent storage, with a travelling irrigator used instead.
The farm environment awards, first held in Taranaki in 2014, promote best-practice land management by showcasing the work of people farming in a way that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. Open to all farmers within the Taranaki Regional Council boundaries, the contest is facilitated by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust.
❚ Tickets for the awards dinner, to be held at the Devon Hotel on March 22, are available online at nzfeatrust.org.nz or by contacting Claire Hunn on 027 254 9548.