| 29 “We are getting less rain but when it does come, it is much more intense. And it’s coming in the winter when we don’t want it.” RURAL PEOPLE » Limestone Downs Station A long association with Massey University Limestone Downs Station is one of the largest sheep, beef, and dairy farms in the Waikato. Kelly Deeks In support of the furtherance of agriculture, Limestone Downs Station and the C. Alma Baker Trust fund research projects and postgraduate scholarships through a long association with Massey University, using profits from the farm and the farm itself to trial research projects in a commercial setting. Limestone Downs Station is one of the largest sheep, beef, and dairy farms in the Waikato, and it has earned distinction in recent years as the set of Weathertop Hollow in the Lord of the Rings movies. The coastal property of 3219ha was purchased in 1926 by Charles Alma Baker, and under the C. Alma Baker Trust, now provides a valuable platform for important agricultural research. Limestone Downs general manager Paul Mahoney says the dairy conversion completed in 2013 was done very well, with a rotary shed and feed pad, however the dairy enterprise did not get off to a fine start. “In the first year, a third of the herd was hit with the tick-borne parasite, theileria,” he says. “It was a devastating blow for the new conversion, but Massey University got straight on to researching the ticks and the disease, and they’ve made a bit of headway with it since.” A tick control treatment was administered, as well as blood transfusions and eventually a vaccine, and new cases stopped after a month. Other research programmes include a dairybeef trial in conjunction with Massey University and Beef + Lamb NZ, to explore the use of strategically selected beef bulls as follow up bulls in a dairy system as New Zealand dairy farmers looked to add value and remove bobby calves from their systems. High genetic merit Angus and For all your Excavating requirements give Steven a call today! 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Based on this information, the farm has now not sent bobby calves for four years, and is using beef bulls over the heifers to make calving easier, and producing a better quality and ultimately an increased economic return on animals. Paul is undertaking trial work of his own on the farm and one recent trial has seen him switching out some of his ryegrasses which weren’t growing too well, and opting for an Italian ryegrass that is growing better and lasting longer as it roots deeper into the ground instead of shallow rooting. “And in the harsh summers we are getting, it doesn’t get knocked around so much. It’s a bit like our fescue we have been growing for three or four years, and that has grown really well for us and we currently have 50ha planted.” Last season Paul went from miking twice a day to once a day, and this season has changed to three milkings in two days. Production is up 36% on last season, but down 1500kga milksolids on the season before. “If I get a few extra days in milk at the end of the season, I’ll be able to make it back up,” he says. “But what is the weather going to do?” Not an easy question to answer. Paul says his average annual rainfall is 1250mls, but this year from December 21 to May 22 he had 163mls, and from May 22 to now has had 800mls. “We are getting less rain but when it does come, it is much more intense. And it’s coming in the winter when we don’t want it.” To work around the weather this season, Limestone Downs has planted an additional 10ha of maize in poorer growing areas give the soil a boost while providing more summer feed. “It’s all about utilising what you’ve got and making the best of it without messing up the farm.”
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