76 | Reducing on-farm inputs creating savings Maketawa Stream, home to whio and with recent kiwi activity in the fenced off margins, covenanted with QE11. Rosa Watson ON FARM » Nine Streams Farm Reducing inputs and focussing on soil health and biodiversity on their Taranaki property bordering Te Papakura o Taranaki maunga has helped Vanessa and Mathew Vujcich weather the storms of cost increases. The couple run 220 dairy beef cross steers over the summer across the 96.5ha (63.3ha effective) Inglewood property, reducing this to about 85 over winter. They continue their previous focus on water quality, and continue fencing and planting on the property to improve water quality, increase biodiversity and provide shade and shelter for stock. Vanessa says much of the fencing taking place is realigning and increasing setbacks on drains and on waterways. “It’s an initiative to start to enhance biodiversity corridors. Those waterways that come directly off the (neighbouring) national park are what we’re really focussing on this year. “Often, we’ve also got wetted areas through the middle of paddocks. So, it’s how to realign those fences to take those areas when replacing old fencelines.” This year they will have help planting more natives from a local iwi group that they have built a relationship with. Another focus is on providing shade and shelter for the animals. They were the winners of the Taranaki NZFET Biodiversity Award at Ballance Farm Environment Awards last year. “Particularly for us being, as elevated as we are. We’re over 470 metres high here and we have very high rainfall,” Mat says. “We’re starting see production benefits now that we’re providing shelter in paddocks that were previously a lot more exposed.” The couple deliberately de-stock over the winter to protect soil health and reduce soil compaction. Mat says keeping inputs low has help reduce the impact of cost increases. “We aren’t huge scale, but we still feel the impact of price increases for inputs. You’ve just got to look at those and decide whether you need to do something to reduce those costs. “We’re really pleased that we moved away from some of the more conventional way of doing things. The use of seaweed and fish-based bio-stimulants rather than conventional fertilisers is an example of this approach. “That’s actually helped weather those input cost increases. We only see positive out of that approach.” It has also reduced animal health costs, with diversity in the pasture providing a more balanced diet for stock. 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We need to keep moving forward with these things and it makes a big difference to your cost of living.” He hopes to soon see more options around electric farm vehicles like the side-by-sides, tractors and utes. “There’s a little bit in the farm vehicle side, but there still needs to be a lot more out there to give a bit more competitive pricing. We hope that there will be increased demand, and a range of fit-forpurpose vehicles will become available.” The couple have an “open gate” policy to their farming operation, including hosting international scholar. “They’re trying to get little takeaways so they can take it back and they can work on with their local communities to improve outcomes for them,” Mat says. “We just like sharing. For us, it’s interesting. We get to talk to some interesting people.” Inglewood High School also brings a group of students each year to carry out work around water quality. Plus, there are regular volunteers that services pest traps for the Department of Conservation on the maunga. “That’s very regular - quite a good group of people that come through.” They also have a close relationship with the QEII National Trust, with five covenants put in place since 2018. “Their involvement has allowed us to make a lot more progress faster on our fencing and biodiversity protection work.” Vanessa says they are always looking for opportunities. “What’s the next thing to do and what else can we do to improve what we’re doing? It’s a journey for us. “We don’t have all the answers. And we’re just trying to chart our way and learn from what we do and learn from others as well.”
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