| 19 Diversification the name of the game Located in the Ashley / Clinton area in Central Hawke’s Bay, the 480ha farm has a stud called Millstone Red Devons. Karen Phelps RURAL PEOPLE » Ben Gordon Since purchasing a farm three years ago the Gordon family has been busy improving the unit as well as diversifying the family business. Located in the Ashley/Clinton area in Central Hawke’s Bay, the 480ha farm has a stud called Millstone Red Devons comprising 100 cows. Around 40 R2 registered bulls are sold each year, some as beef bulls and the rest to the dairy industry, and 30 stud heifers are sold as yearlings. The business also comprises a sheep operation of 1500 mixed age ewes. Using a Wairere Texel Romney cross results in a good meaty sheep with less wool. Around 75% are sent to the works and the rest to store. Approximately 500 hoggets are mated to South Down rams and the dry hoggets are wintered in the gorges. Heughan and Carol Gordon own the farm and son Ben is the stock manager. Heughan and Ben take on the day-to-day work on the farm. Carol, daughter Tess and Ben’s partner Amanda all run a café in town called Stella’s that the family purchased last year to further diversify their business. Another form of diversification has been planting poplars with the plan to register them with the Emissions Trading Scheme. The only problem is a shortage of poplars at the moment as everyone is trying to do the same thing, says Ben. “We are aiming to put in around 300 a year for a few years, putting them in the gullies. They will add shade for animal health as well.” Another focus is increasing lambing percentages: “We bought a lot of in-lamb single ewes when we bought the farm in 2020. At the moment our lambing percentages are around 130% and we are aiming to get them to 150% by selection and culling,” explains Ben. The family is also focusing on adding more fencing and improving the fencing that exists on the farm. It’s something Ben’s had plenty of practice at – he did his OE on a ranch in Canada, which saw him help build 40kms of barbed wire fencing. Ben is also a dab hand at contracting work and completes this for both the family farm and for a neighbour who has a dairy farm. The same neighbour also sells Ben some Red Devon dairy cross calves and Ben produces around 80 calves each year to sell at 100kgs providing extra cash flow. Over the years the family has had sheep and beef farms in Rangitikei, Tararua and Hawke’s Bay and it is Ben who will most likely carry on the family business one day. After school Ben did a year on the home farm then completed a farming qualification at Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre. He worked in various shepherd positions on other farms before the family purchased their current farm. Ben is also the Young Farmers rep for Federated Farmers for Hawke’s Bay: “The aim is to gain more knowledge and help pass that on to other farmers. More people should get involved with Federated Farmers because the more people, the more say we have.” Selected for growth rate and calving ease, EBV’s available 30 recorded bulls for private sale Contact: HG & CL Gordon 368 Boyle Rd, Ashley Clinton, Waipukurau Ph: 027 874 6195 hcgordon@xtra.co.nz Millstone Red Devons
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