30 | From challenging landscape to thriving farm Steer calves at weaning. Karen Phelps For nearly two decades Chris Thomson and his family have been at the helm of Lambhill Station, a sprawling 4,550-hectare property nestled in the steep hills of the Taieri Gorge. Since taking over management 18 years ago, Chris, along with his wife Lucy and children Archie (18) and Zara (20) have transformed the challenging landscape into a thriving farm. Lambhill Station runs 11,000 ewes and 800 cows, including 150 in-calf R2 heifers. The property also supports over 500 mixed-sex calves and 2,800 ewe hoggets, of which 2,000 were mated this season. The Thomsons’ management style is pragmatic and focused on continuous improvement. “We don’t do anything too fancy here,” Chris says. “We’re continually trying to improve pastures, to grow as much feed as we can in a difficult environment. We’re always looking at improving the quality of our capital stock and feeding is a big part of that. We’re increasing pasture production on the good hill country by lifting fertility and subdivision. There has been a lot of development in the past 20 years and we’re trying to consolidate that.” The focus on animal performance is equally strong. MEAT & WOOL » Lambhill-Hindon “We are at 90% calving rate and would like to get that up into the mid-90s,” Chris says. “We consistently do around 130% in terms of lambing percentages and would like to increase that a bit too.” With altitudes ranging from 180m to 700m above sea level and frequent winter snowfalls, the Thomsons face unique challenges. Given the harsh environment, Lambhill operates primarily as a store stock producer. “We sell all our stock as store here, so it’s about getting it to as good a weight as we can prior to sale date. Lambhill Station has repeat buyers for its steers, heifers and lambs. It’s important to have good relationships with finishers. For example we have a regular buyer for our lambs, Craig Jane at Moa Flat. Most years we send them to him around 30-32kgs liveweight. He’s bought close to 12,000 lambs off us this year.” One key management strategy is early weaning. “We wean all the calves and lambs early – prior to Christmas for the lambs and calves by 20th February,” Chris explains. “This approach allows for better weight management of ewes and cows during the potentially dry months of January and February.” Chris’s approach to breeding focuses on producing animals well suited to the challenging environment. “We look for a moderate-sized animal, rather than high growth rates, that has good maternal traits and will produce a store animal the finishers want,” he explains. The station’s short growing season necessitates a significant winter crop program. Turnips on 250 hectares and second-crop kale drive a re-grassing initiative on the 1,100 hectares of cultivable land. An additional 500 of hill country hectares has been developed, effectively doubling pasture production to 10,000-11,000kg of dry matter per hectare per year. “Grass is hard enough to grow even in an average year here without trying to turn it into maintenance feed for winter. So we don’t make any silage or baleage here. Crops fit our system better as we can generally grow the crops cheaper than if we were to make the same amount with dry matter silage or baleage.” Chris re-grasses about 15% of the paddocks each year: “I know the value of young grass and it works in well with the cropping as we get a lift in fertility and pasture production.” Chris runs the farm with the assistance of stock manager Keith Shaw and a tractor driver / handyman. Lucy does the accounts. “It’s a great farm and we manage it for some good people,” says Chris. “There are still plenty of opportunities here, which we are able to explore, in terms of development and improving production.” EwanAllan HondaMosgiel 119 Dukes Road North, Mosgiel 03 486 1222 | 027 250 7512 dave@ewanallan.co.nz www.ewanallan.nz Pleased tosupport LambHill Station Phone James 03 614 7080 or Donald 021 187 8186 963 Cleland Road, Pleasant Point www.sternangus.co.nz Yearling sale, 9 October 2024
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