6 | RURAL PEOPLE » Ben and Karen Herrick Conventional farming a thing of the past Soil tests on the Herrick farm show that the fertility levels in the soils have actually risen because of organic farming methods. Ben and Karen Herrick (bottom) with family Ella (11), Jono (13) and Pippa (9). Richard Loader Wairarapa dairy farmers, Ben and Karen Herrick are in the business of farming organically and say they would never go back to conventional farming methods. Finalists in the region’s 2020 Balance Farm Environment awards, the couple own and operate Kowhai Bush Organics – Dairy, and farm 85 hectares effective just south of Carterton with the Waiohine River on its boundary. A hectare block of native bush has been fenced off and at the bottom end of the farm there are a lot of kowhai trees, along with plum trees that may be the remnant of a one hundred year old orchard on the land. Ben says the fruit is now a favourite of the 210 cows that are milked once-a-day all year round. Ben and Karen have also converted a nearby 54-hectare lease block to organic over the last few years, and utilise that farm to grow hay and balage, winter their cows and graze young stock. The couple have been fully organic certified by AsureQuality for four years now, with certification taking a three-year period. “I had stopped using synthetic fertiliser and moved to a fertiliser through Quantum Laboratories that only had two chemical components. So that didn’t require too much of a change to make it fully organic,” says Ben. “The other thing was even though we made good milk production and our costs were very low you still hit those low payout times in conventional farming, where you weren’t making any money or repaying debt – you were just breaking even. Supplying organic milk provided a good, stable payout, which enabled us to get ahead.” Ben says the main change on farm was not being able to use chemical weed sprays, antibiotics on the cows, or chemical drenches on the young stock. “That was a little bit of a worry. But since going organic we’ve learned other remedies which work just as good, though we do quite a bit of grubbing for thistles. But animal health, we’re getting the homeopathic remedies in the cows and they work really well. “I have found a good herbal drench that works really well in the stock. Since going organic we’ve learned so much about farming, and it has really changed our mindset about soil, soil health and different species of grasses, herbs, longer rounds, and higher residuals. The land is responding so well.” Verdi NZ, which helps farmers manage carbon sequestration, recently visited the Herrick’s farm and took deep soil tests. Ben says they were impressed to find grass roots down to a metre, putting that down to the organic farming methods. In fact, we don’t apply fertiliser of any kind anymore, apart from a bit of lime, and we have grown more grass than we’ve ever grown. Soil tests show that the fertility levels in the soils have actually risen because of the organic way we are farming. “I do enjoy farming. We’ve developed a very simple system of farming now, with the organics and a low stocking rate. We’re not pushing the farm or the animals hard any more. The payout of organic milk is really good and consistent, and we’re making good farm profit that we are using to pay down debt.” 07 858 4233 farmservices.nz homeopathicfarmservices info@farmservices.nz homeopathicfarmservices TALK TO THE EXPERTS FOR FARMING SUPPORT COME AND SEE US AT FIELDAYS SITE PB50 HOMEOPATHIC FARM SERVICES
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