52 | Supreme award winners Andy and Gemma Andy and Gemma won the Regional Supreme Award at this year’s Greater Wellington Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Kim Newth BALLANCE AWARDS » Motumatai Pastorals Proudly supporting Motumatai Pastorals ORDISH & STEVENS Piwakawaka Plants NZ NATIVES Proud to support Motumatai Pastoral Ltd 027 238 4960 Wairarapa, Masterton, New Zealand piwakawakaplants@gmail.com First time entrants at the Greater Wellington Ballance Farm Environment Awards, Andy and Gemma Phillips of Motumatai, are proud to have won the Regional Supreme Award, along with the Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm Award, and the NZFET Climate Recognition Award. Over the past seven years, the couple have planted around 70,000 native plants at Motumatai, which has been in Gemma’s family since 1914. She and Andy began farming there in 2009 and, since purchasing the farm in 2017, have continued working hard to lift livestock production while also improving the property’s natural environment with planting, pest control, and fencing to protect waterways and existing bush. Teaming up with two other local families, the couple established a commercial native plant nursery in 2021 (Piwakawaka Plants), with many of those trees being planted at Motumatai. They have also enhanced their lease blocks with native planting. As well, Andy and Gemma are actively involved with the local catchment area and Andy has been recently appointed as chair of the Wainuioru Community River Care Group. “It felt like the right time for us to enter these awards,” says Andy. “To be recognised with those two awards for people and livestock was an especially proud moment for us and for our three full-time staff – tractor driver Murray Hutchinson, stock manager Simon Bunny and operations manager Terence McGruddy - who are a key part of our operation too. “We target good people and want them to be successful in their own right, so we are open for them to go and do training if they need to and we’re also actively trying to help build their equity through different vehicles on the farm.” At Motumatai, the farm focus is on sustainably lifting production in a balanced way. Soils and pastures are carefully managed using high performing forage crops and grasses. The sheep and beef breeding and finishing operation runs about 500 cattle and just under 6500 sheep. “We have our own ram stud that we’re a partner in, Wairarapa Texel Developments. Use of genetics has been a big game changer for us, for livestock production. Our sheep are all terminals: we buy replacements back from another farmer who has got a big maternal flock; he uses our maternal Texel rams and we buy his surplus back. It allows us to focus on terminal genetics. It means we’re able to grow them faster and kill early before the summer dry sets in.” In the local catchment area, Andy says the Wainuioru Community River Care Group is into its fourth year of an improvement project, supported by the One Billion Trees programme and Jobs for Nature. “We came in under budget so will be running that project for six months longer than originally intended, finishing in October. Over the past four years, we have been monitoring water quality while also carrying out erosion control and doing a lot of planting. In that time, we have planted close to 240,000 native plants in our catchment. Our waterways were previously choked with willow, but we have now cleared crack willow out of the main channels. We have done a lot of pest control work too.” BFEA Compact Brand Guidelines V1.0 FEB 2022
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=