Business Rural Autumn 2021

52 | DAIRY » Ad Hendriks Cycle trail on farm leads to increased scrutiny Russell Fredric Photos: Community planting besides a stream on Ad Hendriks’ Geraldine farm; checking on cow health during a farm walk. - STOCK - BULK - GENERAL FREIGHT - BLOWER TRUCK - FERTILISER SPREADING - SHINGLE SUPPLIES - PUBLIC WEIGHBRIDGE - RAVENSDOWN STORE MAYFIELD - RAVENSDOWN CONSIGNMENT STORE ORARI Ph: (03) 303 6102 - 0800 687 267 (0800 mtrans) | Email: office@mtrans.nz Post: 74 MAYFIELD KLONDYKE ROAD, MAYFIELD, ASHBURTON 7778 | WWW.MAYFIELDTRANSPORT.NZ Proud to support Ads & Anita Hendriks Proud to support Ad & Anita by o ering tailor-made feed solutions 0800 COW FEED | www.dairybusiness.co.nz | orders@dairybusiness.co.nz The Farmers Choice F ederated Farmers South Canterbury dairy representative Ad Hendriks likens farming close to the tourist town of Geraldine to operating in a fishbowl. Having a cycle track also running through part of his dairy farm near Geraldine further puts the prop- erty under the microscope, with the consequence of complaints having been made to various agencies. The three complaints made by members of the public last year were not upheld. Ironically in one complaint, not only were the Hendriks’ exonerated regarding an alleged Covid-19 lockdown breach, but the cycling complainant who trespassed to take video was apparently himself charged for breaching the lockdown. Ad farms his 250 hectare property with his wife Anita, milking 800 cows through a 54 bale rotary shed. “There’s a few eyes wanting to see things (ap- parently) not right on our property. People are edu- cating themselves on Facebook nowadays so they have every knowledge in the world to comment and to make accusations,” Ad says. “It is a bit of a challenge. It would be nice for people to come and see us if they feel there is a problem.” Another complainant made an accusation that the Hendriks cows were skinny, but the herd had been body condition scored both a week prior in October at 4.5 and subsequent to the complaint a Ministry for Primary Industries officer commented on the good condition of the cows. While annoying, Ad takes these complaints on the chin, especially with having more pressing issues to deal with such as a perplexingly high empty rate of 20% this year and concerns around the new fresh water rules. So far a full answer to the empty rate has evaded Ad, and especially with cows numbers already reduced by 100, he is unsure whether it is related to diet, milking pressure or other factors such as a shorter overall mating period. The herd is artificially inseminated, but two bulls are made available to the two herds to highlight uninseminated cows during the last six weeks of the AI period. Like many farmers currently, Ad is also perplexed about aspects of the fresh water reforms under the umbrella of the National Policy Statement for Fresh- water Management (NPS), National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES) and stock exclusion regulations. The Government was now having to back-track on significant aspects of the reforms due to their unworkability and cost of implementation, not only to farmers, but also the Government itself in cases where it is a farm landowner, Ad says. “They didn’t do due diligence on the economic and social consequences.” He cited Ashburton District Council’s December 2020 report on the reforms which conservatively estimates that collectively, farm profitability across the district will decline $57.9 million, or 83 per cent per year, while farm expenditure will also decline by $139.9 million, or 23 per cent. The report also identified that adequate time is paramount in helping farms to evolve and deliver sustainable change.