Sharemilkers go the extra yard
Ben and Tanya Davie are farming to future-proof their operation, writes Rob Tipa.
Clydevale sharemilkers Ben and Tanya Davie have a tight relationship with the owners of the 720-cow Hejlea dairy farm they manage in South Otago and a special family connection to the property.
The couple won the dairy farm award and the quality water management award at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin. Judges commented on the Davies’ excellent rapport with farm owners Raymond and Claire Sutherland, their staff and their involvement in the Clydevale community.
The Sutherlands converted the property to dairying seven years ago and Ben and Tanya are in their sixth season there as lower order sharemilkers. The Davies, who have a young family of four children, are well established as sharemilkers and have a good grounding in the dairy industry from working on smaller farms at Taieri. They moved south looking for more opportunity to expand their experience with a bigger milking herd.
‘‘Raymond and Claire have done an excellent job of converting [the farm],’’ Ben says. ‘‘It’s just our job to get the production going and we’ve done that.’’
The farm produced 280,000 kilograms of milksolids in its first year after conversion. Ben and Tanya have lifted production to a three-year rolling average of 320,000kg/MS and are on target to hit 340,000kg/MS this year, a reflection of an exceptional growing season. The couple value an open relationship with the owners based on mutual trust, respect and regular contact.
‘‘We have the freedom to farm the way we want to farm, but we are on the same page with the owners on how we do that. We have great respect for what [the Sutherlands] have achieved and how they operate. My job as a sharemilker is to keep them fully informed about what is happening, whether it is cows, the budget, climate or anything.’’
Hejlea is a 320-hectare milking platform (280ha effective) on rolling hill country bordering the Pomahaka River. The cows are wintered off the farm and young stock are reared on a 250ha run-off block at Hillend on the other side of the Clutha River, where they also make all the farm’s silage.
‘‘It means we’ve got total control of all our young stock and all our wintering,’’ Ben says. ‘‘We take all the cows over there and they put on as much weight as possible so they come back here in excellent health and body condition score so they are ready to rock and roll and do their best for us.’’
The judges also noted the Davies’ robust animal health and feeding strategies, strong focus on trace element requirements and their industry recognised attention to detail in milk quality.
‘‘If your cows aren’t fed well and your animal health is not good, you’re not going to get the production we get off the cows,’’ Ben says.
‘‘Our cows will do at least 475kg a cow this year when the average is probably about 380kg.’’
The Davies have a real sense of pride in looking after a tidy, wellmaintained dairy farm and in the performance and health of their milking herd. ’’The cowshed’s always spotless and that’s a credit to the staff that we’ve got,’’ Ben says. ‘‘If someone’s going to invest $1.3 million in building a shed it needs to be looked after and treated with the utmost respect.’’
Ben’s connection to Hejlea goes back to his own childhood, when he enjoyed family holidays on the farm with his parents, friends of the previous owners before it was sold and converted to dairying.
When the farm was sold, a group of Ben’s family and friends returned to Hejlea every year through an agreement with the new owners to continue duck shooting on a farm pond for five years.
On the fifth year of that agreement, he was introduced to the Sutherlands through his bank and ended up sharemilking there. The Davies were especially pleased to win the quality water management award which recognised their approach to protecting drainage and waterways on the farm and their involvement in monitoring the quality of water run-off into the Pomahaka River.
All the waterways on Hejlea were fenced off by the Sutherlands when they did the original farm conversion, and Ben believes there are not a lot of changes required for the farm to meet the Otago Regional Council’s strict new water quality standards when they become mandatory in 2020.
One farm boundary borders the Pomahaka River, but much of that boundary is well established in over 20ha of farm forestry, 15 to 20-year-old trees that effectively act as a buffer zone separating stock from the river.
The Davies pride themselves on their environmental management of the property and are actively involved with the Pomahaka Water Care Group, which won a national award for its community approach to improving water quality in West Otago. The couple are working with the group to create wetlands and sediment traps on waterways draining into the river.
Ben says regular monitoring of water quality has given them a good insight into what is happening on the farm and confirmed they are on track to meet ORC standards in two-and-a-half-years’ time. ‘‘Better to make these small changes now than being forced to make them in 2020,’’ he says.
He believes the biggest challenge facing every dairy farmer will be to continue farming after 2020 with increasing public pressures over water quality, fertiliser use and stocking rates.
‘‘The more work we do now, the better informed we’ll be come 2020 to be able to farm efficiently and profitably,’’ he says.