‘Rocket fuel’ a powerful tool for Onuku farmlands
The North Island Ahuwhenua Trophy finalist field day was a huge success, reports Fritha Tagg.
The Onuku Ma¯ori Lands Trust has the Mt Tarawera eruption of 1886 to thank for the ‘‘rocket fuel’’ its farms’ soils grow.
The six-hour eruption, which wiped out six Ma¯ori villages, killed 120 people and destroyed the famous silica hot springs known as the Pink and White Terraces, spread Tarawera ash and rubble and Rotomahana mud over surrounding farmland.
Onuku’s Boundary Rd farm, 30 kilometres from Rotorua, is today reaping the benefits.
Trustee and farm committee member Barnett Vercoe told farmers at a field day on the dairy farm the soil produced ‘‘rocket fuel, great grass and that is evident in the resulting milk production’’.
The farm is a finalist in the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition, the most prestigious award for Ma¯ori agriculture, and its 220 cows produce about 90,000 kilograms of milk solids a year, averaging 1214kg a hectare.
Three busloads of enthusiastic people visited the 72ha farm near Lake Rotomahana, which was bought from Rotorua District Council in 2004. It is part of a much larger picture.
Onuku Ma¯ori Lands Trust has a total of 2430ha, comprising four dairy farms, 926ha of drystock, 135ha forestry and, most important to the trust, 742ha of retired, fenced and planted land.
The trust is also diversifying, with a growing honey-exporting business from a manuka plantation and is establishing a sheep milking herd.
The land was managed by the Department of Lands and Survey and handed back to Nga¯ti Rangitihi in 1982 when the Onuku Ma¯ori Lands Trust was formed.
It had been run as one big drystock farming operation, but one of the goals of the trust was to diversify into dairy farming.
Boundary Rd was in a rundown state and required plenty of work to be brought up to standard.
The farm is 90 per cent pasturebased and uses Farmax and Overseer to aid management decisions.
A recent strategy is a move from sharemilking to herd ownership and the trust now owns herds on Dairy 2 and Boundary Rd Farms.
As part of this strategy the Boundary Rd farm is used as a training ground for young Onuku owners to create a pathway to Onuku’s larger dairy farms.
Boundary Rd manager Alan Rondon is of Nga¯ti Rangitihi descent, and his grand uncle was one of the original trustees of Onuku. Rondon originally worked for Onuku on Dairy 1 as second-incharge to the sharemilker.
The farm has a strong environmental focus, with Onuku being part of Project Rerewhakaaitu, a voluntary local farming initiative to protect local waterways and lakes.
Management focus is on reduction in nitrogen and phosphate losses and the highest possible animal welfare standards.
‘‘This is a very proactive farming community here,’’ says Vercoe to field day visitors.
‘‘Several years ago this community decided to become more proactive about the protection of the lakes in this area. They have always front-footed the issue.
‘‘If we are part of the problem then we need to be part of the solution,’’ he said.
‘‘We take the view that the lakes are ours. We play in them we swim in them, they are ours and we need to look after them.’’
Agfirst Peter Livingstone, who has been involved with the trust for almost 10 years, says the farm owners had set targets and compared the performance of the farms with other properties.
‘‘This farm has a manager on it. It is important to acknowledge the sharemilkers who were on this farm before this season as they did a great job on the property.
‘‘We are hoping to carry on their good work and to improve it.
‘‘We set ourselves some targets. We benchmark data from the Whakatane-Galatea area and when we compare to others in the area we compare very well.’’
Stocking rates and grazing management systems are designed to optimise feed quality, he says.
The dairy farm is largely a grass-based System 3 operation, but a tonne of dry matter per cows is also bought in.
‘‘We are not massive users of [palm kernel - about 90 tonnes in spring] and we buy in feed in from our drystock farm and other trust farms in the area.
‘‘This farm is quite an amazing little unit because it just keeps growing.
‘‘We don’t do any re-grassing, the pasture is very strong – has had a history of strong nutrient input – and we are currently on a mission to try to minimise our nutrient losses.’’
Only 90-110kg of nitrogen was used each year.
Rondon describes it as a ‘‘nice flat to rolling farm and easy to manage’’.
He says about 150 cows are sent off-farm for winter grazing.
‘‘I try to stick to the spring rotation as best I can.
‘‘This year was pretty difficult but we managed it OK because we had plenty of silage bales to get through those wet months.’’
The goal was to keep improving productivity and a breeding programme was being developed to lift breeding indexes as quickly as possible over the next three years.
‘‘Calves are reared on-farm and then go off to the drystock herd.
‘‘We want these heifers to come back at 85-95 per cent of the mature cow liveweight.
‘‘We are pretty hot on our cell count grading – we have only had two grades in the past six years.’’
Agfirst also provides a monthly plan and a hotline for immediate contact for any issues.
The trust farm is one of two finalists in the Ahuwhenua awards.
Judges say the trust has demonstrated a strong sense of responsibility to its people.
‘‘They bring a range of skills to the business and make good use of external advice to help achieve their goals.’’
The pathway the trust was using to bring their people forward to take up senior roles would help get the right person into the right position at the right time.
The Boundary Rd farm showed good levels of profitability with consistent levels of production and reduction of expenditure, the judges said.
The trust had a strong awareness of the environmental issues within the lake catchment areas and how this impacted on the farm.
They also noted the trustees’ proactive attitude towards environmental plans and attention to detail regarding land retirement and preservation of the lake edges.
Presentations during the day also touched on the farms’ financial structure, governance and strategy concluded.
Trust chairwoman Moyra Bramley says the trust achieved what it wanted to do during the field day.
‘‘It was good to share what we have been doing with so many people, so they understand what we are aiming at.
‘‘It is also an acknowledgement of what has been done.
‘‘Whether we win or not it doesn’t matter, the whole process of the competition gives us the incentive to excel,’’ she says.
Ahuwhenua management committee chairman Kingi Smiler says people from throughout the central North Island were able to get a first-hand look at the workings and achievements of the trust during the field day.
‘‘They ran a great event and showcased the high standards of farming that are being achieved by Ma¯ori.’’
He says the competition is about identifying role model farms and Onuku’s Boundary Rd Farm certainly fitted that criteria.
‘‘Ma¯ori agribusiness is in very good shape.
‘‘The Ahuwhenua Trophy has been a major factor in lifting the profile and perception of Ma¯ori agribusiness.’’
The winner will be announced in Christchurch on May 25.