66 | Mt Pisa Station’s sweet partnership The farm has been in the family since 1924 and runs 200 breeding cows, 45 replacement heifers and six bulls. Karen Phelps The focus at Mt Pisa Station has been on improving hill country since 80ha of its irrigated land was planted in cherries as part of partnership Deep Creek Fruit Ltd. Mt Pisa’s Station’s investment in the partnership was the land and in order to retain stock numbers it necessitated improving the farm’s remaining hill country blocks. Shane McMillan, who owns Mt Pisa Station with his parents Murray and Jackie, says that in the past two years around six to seven kilometres of subdivision fencing has been put in on the hill country as well as a programme of burning, fertiliser application and over sowing. “We looked at doing irrigation to replace the land lost to the cherry orchard development but the costs didn’t stack up and would have changed the dynamics of the place drastically. For example we would have had to do more trading stock to make it work and add an extra labour unit,” explains Shane. Pasture renewal has been a big focus on the farm in general and each year a portion of the farm is sprayed out, cleared with a bulldozer by Murray and direct drilled. It is then planted on a three-year cycle of ryecorn before being sown in lucerne and cocksfoot. The farm has been in the family since 1924 and runs 200 breeding cows, 45 replacement heifers and six bulls. The focus for the beef side of the business has been to cull heavily to form a good line up of Herefords, eliminating a few crosses left over from earlier times. The farm’s focus though is its merino flock of 5700 ewes with 3500 hoggets carried through the winter. Around 1400 ewe hoggets are retained as replacements. Shane has moved to put a black face Suffolk ram over 2000 of his older merino ewes finding it a good breed for the farm with lambs showing a lot of vigour when they’re born and putting weight on quickly. Superfine poll merino rams are purchased from Nine Mile Poll Merino. Over the years Mt Pisa Station has achieved an ewe flock average micron of 17.6 while the hogget micron average is 15-16. Now it is just a matter of maintaining the gains made, says Shane. Scanning percentages are also good, 140-46% over the whole flock. Shane says in the past the farm has suffered from reasonably MEAT & WOOL » Mt Pisa Station heavy loses due to having to lamb, in some cases, quite high up the hill – 4000 feet above sea level. He has alleviated this through fencing subdivision to keep lambing mobs as low as possible. Investment in fencing has also been made in rabbit proof fencing as part of a carefully calculated rabbit eradication program, which has been highly successful. A rabbiter is employed for three weeks of the month, doing a little general farm work as well, and Shane says that in a three -week period the rabbiter wouldn’t shoot 100 rabbits, with most of those killed coming from neighbouring nonfarming properties. John 027 273 2480 Johnny 027 696 6758 www.contraxcentral.co.nz Landscaping • Horticulture • Viticulture • Land Development • Irrigation • Transport • Roading • Water • Mole Ploughing • Land Clearing KEEPING IT LOCAL since the early 1900’s C R O M T R A N S R • Bulk Cartage • Stock Cartage • ural Supplies • Fertiliser Spreading •Wool Cartage 147 McNulty Road, Cromwell Freephone: 0800 10 10 56 Ph: 03 445 0824 Fax: 03 445 0864 Employing local people, serving local clients, supporting local businesses and sponsors of local clubs and events
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=