Business Rural Spring 2021

28 | Forestry and honey The next generation of shearing learning the ropes at Mendip Hills (top). Station mustering for second weaning. Virginia Wright MEAT & WOOL » Mendip Hills: Simon Lee Earthmoving and Farm Maintenance Done Right 30 years of local knowledge and experience makes us the right people to talk to when it comes to earthmoving and farm maintenance. We explore every angle of a project upfront to ensure it runs smoothly and efficiently. For us, being the best isn’t about getting a job done fastest, or cheapest, it’s about getting it Done Right. Find out how we will get your project Done Right at tarbotton.co.nz S imon Lee came to Mendip Hills about 15 years ago when he took the job of farm manager. Owned by the Black family since 1954, Mendip Hills is a mix of grassy flats, rolling hills and tussock high country in North Canterbury between the Waiau and Leader rivers. Of the 6100 hectares on the home farm 1500 are deemed native hill country and they’re the natural habitat of the deer that have been an important part of the farming business since they arrived on farm not long before the Lees. “It’s an interesting property because it has so many different land types,” says Simon. “The native hill country suits venison production and it’s part of the 1500 hectares of manuka and native bush that prompted us to start producing manuka honey about six years ago as well.” Honey production and forestry operate alongside a farming system that is approximately 15% deer, 40% cattle and 45% sheep. The whole set up is designed to maximize usage of Mendip Hills’ land classes with their different growing seasons, as well as spread both the risk and the workload thanks to the three species’ differing and complementary lactation seasons. The cattle precede the sheep followed by the deer, with the deer’s lactation a good match for their habitat. “They’re fawning early November,” says Simon, “which suits the grass production peak for that country, which is unimproved native hill country that ranges from 400 metres above sea- level to around 600.” Alongside the 2000 deer Mendip Hills runs 10,000 ewes, and 2880 hoggets. They lamb all their hoggets and sell around 60% prime lambs and 40% store lambs. They have around 2800 cattle of which 1140 are Hereford breeding cows and of those, 530 cows a year have, for the last six years, been part of a progeny test run by Beef and Lamb NZ. Mendip Hills is one of four farms around the country that AI’d a total of around 1500 cows with different sires for five years under the guidance of, and with funding from. NZ Beef and Lamb. “We put in a truckload of our time,” says Simon, “which we saw as our way of giving back to the industry. We’re back to natural breeding but we’re still weighing cows and entering data and so on. I learnt a lot about different genetics and what they can do for your beef herd that I wouldn’t know about otherwise, and we refined that for what we’re looking for here. ” The extensive data from the cows and all their progeny, recorded over their lifetimes, is the basis for the EBV’s that farmers rely on when they’re selecting the genetics they want to put into their herds. From the Lees’ point of view the maternal genet- ics are the key. “Although you have to balance that with the right genetics for the cattle beast of course,” says Simon. “What I learnt was that going too far on one thing can really upset the balance on another thing. So breeding for high growth males might mean the fe- male side of things suffers, so they might be weak or constitutionally poor, or things like that. From our farmers’ point of view we’re looking for a good, medium growth, well structured, well constituted, “We’re back to natural breeding but we’re still weighing cows and entering data and so on. I learnt a lot about different genetics and what they can do for your beef herd that I wouldn’t know about otherwise, and we refined that for what we’re looking for here. ” 393 Scargill Valley Road, Greta Valley E: andersonearthmoving@farmside.co.nz A/hrs 03 314 3376 Grant Anderson P: 0274 174 805 Forestry & Farm Roading | Transporter Farm Track Cleaning | Land Clearing River Protec�on | Stock Water Ponds Fence Lines | Shingle & Spreading CARRIERS OF LIVESTOCK, GENERAL FREIGHT, BULK & FERTILISER CHEVIOT TRANSPORT 2017 LTD 99 Ward Rd, Cheviot 7310 P: 03 319 8644 A/H: 0276 776 787