Programme praised for doubling profits

BY MARK HOTTON

About a year ago, three Southland families ended their three-year stint as monitor farmers. In a three-part series, Mark Hotton finds out how those involved found the scrutiny and what benefits the programme brought them.

Kaiwera farmer Robert Young is effusive in his praise of the monitor farm programme that he was involved with for three years.

"It was superb. I'd do it again tomorrow.

"When it finished, there was a big sigh of relief of not being in the fish bowl and we were quite happy to not have any of that stuff happen for a little bit."

But with the benefit of time, he and wife Stacey realised they had got a "huge amount" out of the Meat & Wool New Zealand scheme, Mr Young said.

"It improved our farming out of sight and was worth a lot of money to us."

Their profit more than doubled, Mr Young said.

The growth did not just come from a rise in lamb prices – returns were up in the third year even if the lamb price from the first year was used – but from a significant rethink on farm systems and diversifying where the farm income came from.

Many monitor farms had focused on lifting production levels to generate more income, but the Youngs wanted to lift the farm's profitability by finding other ways of making money from their 460ha.

"I knew I'd got into a rut doing the same thing year in, year out, so that's why I put my name forward.

"I knew I couldn't keep doing the same thing year after year and expect the same result," he said.

Production was a factor in boosting profit, but a change in the mix of products and the way they farmed helping achieve the most benefits.

Better pasture management did bring production gains, and to a lesser extent a shift in breed from romney to grow bulk ewes, a romney-texel-poll dorset cross.

The shift in breed was starting to pay dividends now but it was looking beyond his traditional land- use mix that made the biggest difference.

The lambing percentage did not lift dramatically, with salmonella brandenburg a problem last year, but average growth rates improved.

Even though they were killing at the same time, average weights had lifted from 16-17.5kg to 17.5-18.5kg, Mr Young said.

They had been understocked and were letting the spring and early-summer grass get too long and lose quality.

By getting on top of that feed, they were able to produce better feed through the rest of the summer and that helped keep lamb growth rates up, he said.

Better management of pastures meant more feed could be taken out for baleage or silage and more paddocks put aside for swedes and barley, which gave them more options.

Setting aside those paddocks lifted the stocking rate per hectare yet, despite the extra pressure, growth rates still rose.

They had also stopped getting in weaner calves in autumn and carrying them through for a year. Instead, the feed they would have consumed has been used to winter dairy cows for 10 weeks.

"That still left the rest of the year with an opportunity to make more money out of that feed," Mr Young said.

"We found we were able to make more money out of wintering dairy cows than we could out of taking calves through."

Diversifying in a considered and well-managed way was the legacy of the monitor farm programme and essential for lifting profits.

"There's still quite a lot of money to be made from sheep, but sheep just by themselves can be hard."

Mr Young realised he would need to be open to changes at the start of the three-year programme, and has continued to look for other opportunities.

"While our systems work at the moment, we'll have to keep changing because there's no guarantee what works now will work in five years."

One of the biggest benefits of the programme had been the involvement of the steering committee that worked like a board of directors, he said.

It was small group that had members with diverse backgrounds – dairy, crops or trading – and everyone brought something to the table, Mr Young said.

"That's probably the bit I miss the most." 

ROBERT and STACEY YOUNG'S FARM
Location: Kaiwera, 15km east of Gore
Size: 460ha total, 425ha effective
Stock level: 3400 ewes, 1000 hoggets, 50-100 R2 beef cattle (still to be bought), 25ha swedes for cows. Average rainfall:1100mm

- © Fairfax NZ News