From sustainability focus
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monthly cashflow, the heifers are suited to the half of farm on the verge of the Eltham swamp.
“It gets quite wet over the winter months but it’s fantastic summer country, so we tend to put the dairy heifers on there because they’re light footed when they come in May and the country dries out in summer as they grow bigger. They thrive out there and have the least impact on the environment.”
They have a straightforward sheep policy with half the ewes going to a terminal sire poll dorset ram and the other half to romney rams to provide replacements. The other lambs are finished on a mix of grass and chicory.
Finishing cattle offer flexibility depending on the season, with about 50 cattle in one-year and R2 age groups and sold at two years.
Several sustainability initiatives are underway, including the management of plant and pasture, animal health, and native planting. There are strong focuses on soil management, minimising waste, staff welfare, and enhanced biosecurity and biodiversity.
“We allocate money to projects each year; we just try to do a bit every year. We still have a couple of waterways that we haven’t completed, that we’ll do in the next couple of years.”
They’re currently doing the second half of a boundary fence alongside a main waterway through the farm, working in partnership with the Taranaki Regional Council to get rid of the willows.
Another policy change in the past decade, mainly for soil management, has been to fence the hill paddocks separately to the flat paddocks, so sheep can run on the slopes with the cattle kept on the flats. Where possible, direct drilling is chosen over cultivation for the chicory and regrassing.
The Turners won the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm and Taranaki Regional Council Sustainability awards.
Organic dairy farmers Rachael and Kenneth Short, Shortland Farm, won the Bayleys People in Primary Sector, DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship, and WaterForce Wise with Water awards.
The Hill Laboratories AgriScience Award and Massey University Innovation Award went to Jono and Amy Ardern, Auroa, and the Norwood Agri-Business Management Award to Kieran and Olivia Clough, Wilaily.