34 | Good results from farm partnership The modern woolshed holds 2500 ewes. On the beef side of the operation, the Cathcarts have 300 cows to calf topped up by buying in weaners, mostly Angus. Kim Newth RURAL PEOPLE » Neville Cathcart Sheep and beef farmers Neville and Trudy Cathcart are delighted to be sharing their Huntly West farm operation with Mark Yearbury and Charlotte Foley. “We know Mark well – he came and worked here as a young fellow when we first bought the Tapp farm 16 years ago,” says Neville. “As I knew little about sheep, I needed that right person. Mark went to Pukekawa Primary School with our four sons and now he’s back as a financial stock manager to run Limestone Valley Bluffs, bringing experience and energy to the job. He does the day-to-day stock management, so I can try and pull back to become the gofer for him and Charlotte helping with stock work and doing the tractor work.” The Cathcarts moved from Pukekawa to this farm in 2006. A total of 930ha is on limestone country, with the operation also including an additional 160ha lease block. They farm some 11,000 stock units altogether. “Around 3500 ewes go to the ram, of which 1200 go to the terminal. The rest is a Romney flock though Mark likes to put a Coopworth ram over them. On the beef side, we have 300 cows to calf and we top that up by buying in weaners, mostly Angus.” As is the case for farms up and down the country, rising costs for everything from fertiliser to sprays is of concern but Neville says they are fortunate to be farming on land with a good history. The front half of the farm used to have a coal mining operation that generated funds for farm investment. It means fertiliser has been well-applied over preceding decades and the farm is also well set up in other respects. “Our modern woolshed, which holds 2500 ewes, is one of the best in the country; it’s pretty flash!” Neville says lambing has gone very well this season, starting with the terminal ewes on 10th July, with the main flock following at the start of August. The only issue was with some late facial eczema affecting a small number of ewes. “From what I’ve heard, that seems to have been causing a few problems through the whole North Island.” The terminal lambs are generally off the farm by the first week of November, sold as store lambs. The older terminal ewes are then sent to the works in the lead-up to Christmas, generating good cashflow at the end of the year. “We have a couple of hundred weaners or yearlings going into the grass market October/ November too.” Dry summers in the Waikato followed by very late autumns can be challenging. Neville observes that the late autumns have their upsides from a pasture quality perspective. Before farming sheep and beef in Huntly, Neville was a third-generation dairy farmer in Pukekawa. In his experience, the limestone country in Huntly West seems to pull through droughts comparatively well. The farm also has a deep lake which irrigates 45 hectares. This is a great asset in the dry summers. Alongside the sheep and beef farm, Neville helps run a part-time private civil contracting operation so has a well-equipped small fleet of tractors, trailers, scoops and drivers to get the jobs completed as efficiently as possible. TE AKAU TRANSPORT LTD 07 825 4805 / 07 826 3666 office@teakautransport.nz LIVESTOCK - FERTILISER AGLIME - METAL - ANIMAL FEED SUPPLIED & DELIVERED PROUD TO WORK ALONGSIDE NEVILLE & TRUDY CATHCART 0800 100 747 WWW.INTA-AG.CO.NZ
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=