| 13 Ongoing commitment to improving the farm In 2023, the farm completed a major upgrade with the installation of a flood-wash system for the 600-cow concrete feed pad. Nicki Woodlock Jesse and Sharon Bagley are share farmers at Tupehau, operating as 50/50 equity sharemilkers while also contracting milk to the partnership. They milk 1,150 Kiwi-Cross cows, with total stock numbers reaching 1,800 including young stock. Tupehau Dairy, is a Te Waka Pupuri Putea Trust-owned property near Kaitaia, New Zealand, and is managed by Te Rarawa. Its operations and ongoing development are guided with support from industry mentors and advisers, including DairyNZ. The farm team includes three full-time staff on the dairy platform, a full-time team member on the support block, along with Jesse and Sharon. As part of their ongoing commitment to improving the farm, the Bagley’s undertook a 2022 project to retire 20 hectares of unproductive land, replanting the area with natives including tea tree, cabbage trees, flax, manuka, and kanuka. In 2023, the farm completed a major upgrade with the installation of a flood-wash system for the 600-cow concrete feed pad. Using green water, around 50,000 litres of recycled effluent are used to clean the pad. A slope screen separator was also added, separating solids from liquids, alongside the construction of a 600 m3 bunker (20 x 10 x 3 metres) to store effluent solids. Manure collected in the bunker is applied to maize crops, reducing fertiliser costs and improving nutrient recycling on the farm. At the same time, new stock yards were also built. In 2024, the farm’s feed storage bunkers were extended for the second time, following an earlier expansion in 2022. The latest upgrade increased capacity from 1,100 m² of concrete to around 2,000 m², and a new calf shed was also built alongside the project. These improvements now allow the farm to store more feed in one central location and feed leachates are contained to the effluent system. The Bagley’s are now exploring new technology options for the farm, considering systems such as CowManager, Allflex SenseHub dairy monitoring collars, Halter collars, and GEA CowScout collars, as well as auto-drafting gates from a range of manufacturers. The farm owners are looking to install an autodrafting gate to boost efficiency when managing stock. RURAL PEOPLE » Jesse and Sharon Bagley With this technology, a cow’s number can be entered into the system, and as she passes through, the gate automatically drafts her into a separate pen. They are considering auto-drafting gates that operate using electronic identification (EID) tags, and others that work in conjunction with collars. Currently, the brand that ticks all of the boxes for the Bagley’s for both monitoring smart collars and auto-drafting gates is Allflex. They favour Allflex for its cost-effectiveness, user-friendly app, and seamless integration with Minda - where all of the farm animal records are stored. Using Allflex also eliminates the need to enter data twice, saving time and reducing administrative work. Jesse says: “We don’t want to pay for data that we’re not going to use. It has useful data that we’ll use. We also don’t want to create more work for ourselves”. The Bagley’s are in no rush, wanting to ensure any new purchase is the right decision. All farm technology requires alignment and agreement from the Iwi, with the board making the final decision for the gate and the 50/50 equity partnership decision for the wearables. For accounting services call us on 0800 438 393 or visit www.sumpters.co.nz Tax Compliance Corporate Governance Maori Organisation and Iwi Services Specialised Advisory Services FarmAccounting and Agribusiness Commercial Property Management Proud to support Jesse & Sharon Bagley P.G. Smith Ltd. TOPDRESSING Topdressing Orchard Spreading Fertiliser & Lime Helensville 09 420 7079 Wellsford 09 423 8372 Whangarei 09 437 1116 Kaikohe / Kerikeri 09 405 2229 Kaitaia 09 408 6666 Email: of ce@pgsmithltd.co.nz Proud to support Jesse and Sharon Bagley Sharon and Jesse Bagley are share farmers at Tupehau, operating as 50/50 equity sharemilkers while also contracting milk to the partnership.
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