46 | Couple digging deep With a wet winter on top of cyclone damage and weak lamb prices, it has been a tough year for Hawke’s Bay farmers Brad and Annie Knight. Photos: Knight By Light Kim Newth Hawke’s Bay farmers Brad and Annie Knight rate this year as one of their most challenging to date, with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle, endless rain and low livestock prices piling pressure on the region’s sheep and beef sector. The couple, who are ANZCO Foods Suppliers, have a large-scale, intensive lamb and bull finishing operation, with their 600-hectare family farm being a mix of lease land and their own land. Based at Crownthorpe in Hawke’s Bay, they run a 100% grass fed regime with tightly controlled grazing. Last year, they finished 10,000 lambs and aim to have all lambs gone by the first week of November. Their techno bull finishing system is fast finishing too, with all 2yo bulls sold prime before Christmas. Brad describes the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on their farm as moderate, with the brunt of the damage on tracks, culverts and fences. Damage to local bridges also disrupted road access. “The livestock trucks and the fertiliser trucks have had to go the long way round. You do your best but sometimes you don’t know which way you can go either.” With a wet winter on top of the cyclone damage, access across the farm has been difficult. Drive shafts and axles on quad bikes have snapped repeatedly, bringing mounting repair costs. At the same time, weak lamb prices are creating a tough revenue outlook. Brad says they aim for an average carcass weight of 22.5kg. Trying to push that higher is not an option from an efficiency perspective. RURAL PEOPLE » Plains Agri: Brad and Annie Knight “Yet to be honest we can’t fix this situation by lifting throughput as the store lamb price is so high.” While the farm’s bulls are fairly resilient, Brad says their average weight in mid-August was 20kg lower than in mid-August last year. “On one bull block, that’s $25,000 down right there on carcass weight.” Cold frosts in August were very welcome, drawing moisture out and starting to dry out the land. Brad says calm spring weather with a light sprinkling of rain is what everyone is hoping for now. Pursuing a 100% grassfed approach is making a lot of sense right now, with inflation adding pressures on farm budgets. “We endeavour not to do any feeding out, supplement-wise, but our hay barns are always full of hay to hedge against a dry late summer or autumn when we are buying bulls.” Their farms operate an intensive cell-grazing system based on subdividing land into manageable paddocks and using wire fences to enable further subdivision. “It means you can control intake a lot better and utilise the whole farm.” On the bull block, the rotation length increases as grass growth slows and then gets shorter with the approach of spring, ranging from 96 days down to 12 days. “Once the grass takes off, it’s like opening the flood gates on stock growth too!” Brad and Annie recently signed up for the NZFAP Plus Programme, which demonstrates their commitment to farming sustainably and ethically. “We were one of the early adopters of that because we knew it was the right thingto do. The Plus Programme is like an industry gold standard.” Proud to support Plains Agri We can help you with: Direct drilling Conventional drilling Rotary hoeing Agricultural spraying Discing Ploughing Roller Drilling Rolling Ripping Tyne cultivate Power harrowing Plus plenty more agricultural services Phone Roger to discuss your requirements: P: 021 245 1472 E: hunterag@xtra.co.nz For all your agricultural cultivation and spraying requirements Proud to support Plains Agri www.foleystransport.co.nz 0800 385 4248 dairy Proud to support Plains Agri
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