| 29 RURAL PEOPLE » Cheddar Valley Farm / Glen Nui Station Looking after pasture Scrubland to success Cam with feeding calves. Glen Nui Station. Virginia Wright Karen Phelps For years the manuka scrub on Jackie and Matthew Francis’ farm was unproductive land. Then one day a phone call turned it into a money making venture. The Francis family’s Glen Nui Station, a 2042-hectare sheep and beef farm located in Taranaki’s Mangamingi Valley, has been transforming its fortunes over the past decade by embracing an unexpected agricultural pursuit: beekeeping. The couple has been leasing parts of their land to bee companies for ten years now, capitalizing on the manuka scrub that blankets much of their property. “If farmers are approached by bee companies, I would recommend going forward with it as it’s a great sundry income for the business,” says Jackie. “It’s been hugely lucrative for us and allowed us to speed up development of the property and business.” What began with a simple lease agreement has since progressed to a more lucrative arrangement. “We signed into a five-year contract with a 30% return,” says Jackie. “We’re three years into it. Prior to that, we were running a two-year contract with a set rate.” As only around 380ha of the land can be grazed the Francis family has the ability to run large numbers of hives. With around 700 hives placed on the farm during the peak manuka flowering season the hives are generally only on the farm for six weeks, normally mid-December to end of January. While the financial benefits are clear, integrating beekeeping into their existing farming operations has required careful planning and communication. “It’s quite intensive with two farming practices working together,” says Jackie. “Communication is key.” The Francis family has developed systems to manage the influx of beekeepers and their equipment. “We have set up a flag system,” explains Jackie. “When we wake up in the morning and see a flag, we know they are on the property. When they leave, they have to sign out and take the flag down, so we always know when there are people on our farm.” This cooperation extends to hive placement as well. “We know the property better than they do,” Jackie points out. damage is to shift calving back by a week explains Tom. “Hopefully we’ll have a stronger pasture base which will recover a lot faster and we won’t be calving through the peak rainfall period either.” While the flat paddocks which comprise half the farm are responsible for most of their milk production, the quarter of the hill not in reserve falls into the farm’s normal grazing rotation and is increasingly useful. The grass has gradually become more accessible thanks to three years of moving fencelines to better suit the way cows move and graze on hills. It’s quite different to the way the deer graze and move. “Cows tend to walk sideways across hills whereas deer come up and down more easily. We shifted the fences to allow for that and put in tracks to allow the cows to get into some areas more easily,” says Tom The rising quality of the Cheddar Valley Farm’s dairy herd reflects well on Tom’s initiatives. His first calves are now 3yr olds and their improvement is noticeable both in terms of their confirmation and their milk production. Tom’s expecting the improvement to continue with the BW of this season’s calves having already increased from last year’s 200 to just under 300, while the 3 yr olds average 220. Nevertheless he makes no assumptions about the future. His partner Jamie Brosnahan who works in Human Resources in nearby Whakatane has recently joined him on the farm. Together they’re working on a new business plan to sell bottled milk as they look at ways to diversify and create new income streams. “They might do it via Google Maps, but we can often suggest better places.” However, Jackie is quick to note that the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. “It’s been a learning curve for us,” she admits. “There have sometimes been complications and breakdowns in communication.”Despite these hurdles, the benefits have far outweighed the drawbacks for Glen Nui Station. The additional income from honey production has allowed the Francis family to accelerate their farm development plans while maintaining their traditional sheep and beef operations. Matthew and Jackie, in partnership with their children Jack and Anna-Victoria, continue to run a substantial livestock operation. This year, they put 2050 Romdale ewes to the ram, with 600 replacements coming in behind. They also maintain a herd of 120 breeding cows and heifers, predominantly with an Angus sire. Jackie thinks the success of Glen Nui’s venture into honey production highlights the potential for other farmers with similar land resources. “If a farmer wants to put hives on their property, they should talk to more than one beekeeper as what is offered to farmers can vary a lot. The beekeepers need your land, so make it work for you.” Stainless steel – fabrication and welding Design Supply Install Steve King 027 4095 0054 Will King 027 615 7922 Robbie Hall 027 807 1312 * Ef uent & irrigation * Feed systems * Frost protection * Animal health * Detergent * Rubberware & Consumable * Trenching service c1107kwKing Milking & water systems specialists since 1988 King Farm Services Ltd Main Street, Edgecumbe Ph 07 304 9640 anytime For the last three years Tom Houston has been 50/50 share-milking the dairy farm he’s been managing for his parents Jim and Gill for the last five. Cheddar Valley Farm is a 73-hectare dairy farm, with a 65-hectare milking platform. Running along the edge of the Ohiwa Harbour the land is fairly evenly split between reclaimed marshland and really steep hill country, and managing rainfall is a normal part of farming life even in a good year like they’ve just had. “We’ve had less rain and I’ve got an a/ plan for good weather and a b/ plan for when it turns and parts of the farm become ungrazeable, even if they’re ready, for at least 48 hours until they dry out. What I’ve learnt is that the damage done by grazing those paddocks after heavy rainfall takes about two years to fully recover and grow the same amount of grass.” Tom’s approach to the farm focuses on looking after the pasture and building its survivability. He always keeps a quarter of the hill part of the farm in reserve so that there’s two to three days worth of hill paddocks to go to if required. “It’s like having a stand-off pad but using the hills instead because we haven’t got one,” says Tom. Although there’s no official data to call on plan b/ seems to be working according to what Tom has observed, with the damage usually caused annually on the flat paddocks through calving reduced from 40% to less than 20%. Their next step to further mitigate pasture FERAL GOAT MUSTERING SHEARING • FENCING • GOAT BUYERS P. 027 326 3994 027 446 0443 19a King Edward St, Eltham o ce@gernhoefercontracting.co.nz At Lloyd Gernhoefer agricultural contracting, we o er you a wide range of Agricultural services. Call Lloyd now for your 2024/2025 season requirements.
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