Tararua finalists for farm awards
This year's contenders for the Ballance Farm Environment Awards have been selected — a lineup of innovative farmers and growers from around Aotearoa.
Almost 50 properties are eligible for this year's awards that celebrate good farm practices which promote sustainable land management.
Tararua has finalists who go to the Awards Dinner on March 19 at the Awapuni Racecourse.
They are Mark Johnson and Rebecca Jeffery who farm Ruahine Range Views located at the foothills of the Ruahine Ranges with the Tamaki River running through it which is home to native fish and trout.
After three years of hard work, this couple has completely transformed their property — a tribute to their passion for farming and their commitment to environmental excellence.
As their vision for the property takes shape, substantial improvements have been made in the short time they have owned the farm.
As well as owning a 306ha dry stock farm, they purchased two dairy farms in the 2016/17 season.
The dairy farms have been merged into one self-contained unit and now farm 350 dairy cows over 131ha, with a further 80ha adjacent to boost the summer milking platform. The property is 208ha effective (225 total) and is comprised of the home block (115ha effective) and the 93ha block across the road which is connected by a new underpass.
The farm peak milks 350 FriesianJersey cows, with calving starting on July 25. They are milked twice daily until production is less than 2kgMS/cow and days are getting hot, then the herd will go once-a-day milking for the rest of the season.
Production in the 2018-19 year was 154,100kgMS in total or 475kgMS per cow (4 per cent ahead of the previous season). The stocking rate is quite low at around 1.7 cows per effective hectare. Supplementary feed includes pasture silage (mainly made on the runoff), inshed feeding of NRM pellets and Palm Kernel Expeller (PKE) fed in paddock.
The judges said Mark and Rebecca should be proud of their achievements since their first milking season in 2017. Since then, they have increased the size of the milking platform and cow numbers, and are already milking their own replacement heifers.
The farm has a low stock rate and high production — about 1.7 cows per hectare — and the judges noted that milk production per cow is well above average for the area.
Equally important is the fact that the cows are happy and healthy.
Significant time and investment has gone into improving infrastructure and water provisions — all with future environmental requirements in mind.
For example, the new effluent storage system has more capacity than required, and the infrastructure has enabled significant expansion of the effluent irrigation area. Other improvements include a new cowshed, underpass, fertiliser bunker and silage pit.
The biodiversity of the property has also undergone a transformation, including the planting of 5000 pines and 700 natives over the past two years, the creation of four wetlands, monthly possum control and the installation of kilometres of fencing along creeks.
The judges said the couple's hard work was easy to see on the property, including water races that are in good condition, excellent grazing management and the fencing of waterways.
Who will be this year's winner? Will the Tararua take it out for the fourth year in a row?