Business Rural North Winter 2021

| 37 Healthy soils, healthy pastures ... healthy animals Virginia Wright RURAL PEOPLE » Profile Farms: Sam le Cren S am le Cren is farm manager of the Takapoto Angus part of Takapoto Estate which, as the name suggests, is an Angus stud and beef rearing farm. It’s owned by the Plaw family; the wider holding includes a vineyard, extensive parklands and an equestrian complex but while Sam manages the agronomy side of the horses his role focuses on the farm business, which he’s been running for the last four years. The land holdings are a little complex but in es- sence Takapoto Estate owns 220 hectares of easy rolling through to medium hill country of which 130 is farmed, and they lease an additional 290 hec- tares five minutes down the road from the original farm on the edge of Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge. Sam’s focus for the Angus stud is clear: they want to achieve the greatest return from their ani- mals in the shortest time which means looking for positive growth and carcass traits. This, alongside more traditional Angus breeding traits such as phenotype, fertility, docility and maternal attributes is what they select for, while at the same time remaining true to New Zealand’s grass fed roots. “That is the key to it,” Sam explains, “and we’re biological farmers. The term that’s being used these days is regenerative farming, but we’ve been biologically farming for over ten years.” The simplest way to describe what that means is that the soil biology is the foundation of the whole farming system. “We concentrate on having healthy soil which then goes into healthy pastures and healthy animals and ultimately healthy people. We don’t put any nitrogen fertilizer on, we keep chemical use to an absolute minimum,” says Sam, “and we use holistic grazing management which involves shifting our animals regularly onto fresh grass on a very long rotation. This helps the plants to recover quickly. We also utilize multi-species crops and pastures to create diversity and resilience.”The addition of the lease farm two years ago has allowed Sam to start building more flexibility into their structure. They now run 140 recorded Angus cows and 60 commercial cows up from a total of 160 cows pre- viously. With the lease farm came 750 dairy grazers which have now been reduced to 550 and Sam’s intention is to increase their trading stock numbers. “The idea is to buy back our own genetics from our bull clients to finish under the Takapoto brand. Apart from pure financial gains it means we’ve got more flexibility and we can reduce our stock numbers more easily if we hit adverse events, such as drought, which seems to happen more often these days.” The increase in Tekapoto’s stud cow numbers means more progeny to choose from when it comes to their on-farm bull sale, which Sam believes needs to have at least 40 animals available for pur- chase to be viable. He likes to select those from 60 to 65 bulls and those not sold are finished on farm then sold either locally or for export beef. Sam’s business plan includes having a separate income stream to bolster their stud earnings. The bull market is competitive, the work is demanding, and geographically they’re a long way from the sort of hill country that’s closely associated with bull sales - whether it’s the King Country, the East Coast or the depths of the South Island. Given his location a significant number of his bull clients are dairy farmers. Maximising the potential of the land he’s farming means Sam’s focus with the stud is bulls that have very good carcass traits as well as the ability to for- age on the hills, quality breeding capacity and ease of calving that might characterise a more traditional approach. “The breeding side is still very important Multi-species crop and pastures create diversity and resilience. EXPERT RIPARIAN PLANTING & WEED SPRAYING SERVICES IN WAIKATO Whether you want to get rid of weeds or restore a streamside, Cambrilea can help. We provide contract weed spraying services for farms, public land or conservation areas in the Waikato and surrounding regions such as Auckland. On top of that, you can also call on us for your stream restoration project, as we provide full riparian planting services. 07 827 6868 or 021 833 221 charlie@cambrilea.co.nz www.cambrileaweedspraying.co.nz 24 Years Weedspraying Experience Our mix provides bee feed 10 months of the year and qualifies for Carbon Credits Prespray/Supply & Plant all from our own Cambridge-based nursery Handgun/Spot Spraying targeted method uses 10% chemicals vs. Blanket Spraying 027 2880980 • Semen Collection • Fertility Testing • Disease Testing ViaBull Ltd but we’re focusing on meat quality alongside that. “ “At the end of the day all of us are breeding for meat in the long term, it’s just that we’re really focused on animals that are most profitable for the commercial farmer who wants to finish their stock. “We’re looking for animals that thrive on more intensive land use and that can compete with dairy grazing and straight out finishing farms.” What that means in a nutshell is that Takapoto Angus and many other more performance oriented breeders are aiming to breed animals that grow faster, and that therefore don’t have to be taken through a second winter to be ready for market. To this end Sam has joined with 24 other like-minded Angus breeders forming a group called AngusPro who are working towards common goals. Sam’s goal for Takapoto Angus specifically is to be marketing and selling their own top quality Angus beef within the next few years. “Hopefully some of our business will be work- ing alongside a local butcher. They will buy their animals off us and we’ll market our beef under a combined label in the first instance, then look to market our beef more widely.” Their advertising slogan is “Just Better Beef” and as far as Sam’s concerned what that means is that they’re looking to offer the best beef eating experience possible. Sam le Cren, farm manager at Takapoto Angus. Sam’s goal is to be marketing and selling their own top quality Angus beef within the next few years. • Aerial Spraying • Forestry • Topdressing • Bulk Lime • Seeding / Cropping Call us 07 873 6695 | www.helia1.co.nz Agricultural and Commercial Helicopter Services