A South Waikato hapu’s high care and high efficiency farming model on one of its landholdings has seen it recognised as a finalist in this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy.
Wairarapa Moana’s ki Pouakani Incorporation’s (WMI) Farm 4 uses inputs strategically as well as measuring and managing its pasture covers in a challenging environment to consistently see it placed in the top 10% of benchmarked dairy farms in the Taupō region.
WMI consists of 12 dairy units across 4300 hectares, plus three dairy support units comprising 1900ha and two forestry blocks totalling 6100ha. It aims to produce 5 million kilograms of milksolids from its 12,000-cow herd and is the largest supplier to milk processor Miraka.
Its Farm 4 is run by five staff and has a milking platform of 309ha milking 980 cows and producing 416,000kg MS in 2023.
It recently hosted around 300 people at a field day. As part of the competition, each finalist stages a field day at their farm to give people the chance to see their property and hear about how it has made it through to the finals of this prestigious competition.
The competition is in its 91st year with the country’s top Māori dairy farmers being judged this year; the competition alternates between dairy, beef and horticulture each year.
Wairarapa Moana are a previous winner of the trophy, having won it when it was a sheep and beef farm in 2005.
Its tribal affiliations is Ngāti Kahungungu ki Wairarapa me Rangitāne o Wairarapa and has 4000 owners.
It is governed by a five-member board chaired by Kingi Smiler.
Ahuwhenua Trophy judge Gill Haenga said WMI was chosen because it had a clear vision and values around nurturing its people and place and its future as an industry leader.
“The operation here at Farm 4 is a great example of what can be done on challenging land while maintaining profit and a low environmental footprint.”
It has a strong, detailed strategic plan that is underpinned by a strong vision and principles that reflect a drive for excellence.
The judges were impressed by WMI’s financial results and its ongoing focus on reducing its farm working expenses, Haenga said.
“One thing that really stood out for me was its focus on people – the kaupapa they have around looking after their people, which is supported by having a strong health and safety framework and HR strategies in place to support staff retention.”
WMI general manager of finance Brett Bennett said they benchmark their farm and financial data against DairyBase regional data for Taupō as well as internally among their own farms.
One of their key focuses is to produce the highest sustainable returns possible. Its kilograms of milk solids per hectare for last season was at 1371kg MS – 30-40% above the Taupō benchmark.
Its operating costs lifted from $4.62/kg MS in 2021 to $5.25/kg MS in 2022-2023, but are still well below the regional benchmark of $6.82/kg MS.
This drives WMI’s operating profit margin of 41.6% against the Taupō benchmark of 24.7%, he said.
“Farm 4 operates in the top 10% for the Taupō benchmark catchment.”
About one-third (100ha) of Farm 4 is irrigated and WMI’s consent allows it to take water from October to April.
It produces an extra 2-3 tonnes of dry matter and gives them confidence of their system in drier years. In wetter years the extra half a stock unit ensures the extra pasture grown is properly used.
The farm’s ability to grow and harvest more pasture has been key to hitting that target, he said.
The amount of pasture harvested sits at around 2.5t above the Waikato region benchmark.
Its fertiliser, repairs and maintenance and grazing costs are also lower than the regional average, he said.
It is not a flat dairy farm, with half of it in rolling to steep paddocks and pumice soils.
Environmental scientist and WMI farm adviser Lachie Grant said Farm 4’s staff intensely monitor the pastures using visual soil assessments and plate metering. He said the depth of topsoil on top of the pumice soils has increased since the farm was converted to dairying.
“We know that dairying is a stable option on here, it’s a really good story for dairying on Dairy [Farm] 4. What we are doing is sustainable.”
Soil scientist and fellow WMI adviser Gavin Sheath said much of WMI’s environmental strategy is based on future-proofing it so it meets its environmental obligations under whatever is the final form of Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change 1.
That plan change is currently in front of the Environment Court.
Farm 4’s biggest contamination risk is from nitrogen because of the free-draining soils and high rainfall, Sheath said.
It halted winter cropping in 2016 and any cultivation is done by direct drilling only, to reduce leaching.
N fertiliser usage was also reduced from 200kg a year to an average of 115kg. Prior to 2016, its N leaching according to Overseer was around 68kg.
“Currently we estimate this sits at around 46kg of N,” he said.
IFarm manager Kim Turner said they plate meter every 10 days with the information stored in P Plus pasture management software. That information is then used to make grazing management decisions.
“With the information from P Plus and my observations I can allocate my feed correctly.
“Anything over 2800kg DM we close up and conserve for silage and everything we make for silage on Farm 4 stays on Farm 4.”
They also plate meter paddocks before sending in the cows to ensure cover lengths are correct and before they leave to ensure they have hit the residual target.
Ninety percent of the herd’s diet is pasture-based, including silage, and palm kernel is used to fill any gaps.
Turner is a firm believer that good grazing practices improve the pasture harvested.
This year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy winner will be announced on May 17.
