| 33 More holidays and less stress helps Once the sheep are shorn, they go onto swedes, with baleage introduced as the crop is eaten down. Karen Phelps For Mimihau farmer Warren Ayers making farming simpler has resulted in more holidays and less stress. “Farming is now much easier. We’ve had a holiday in Rarotonga and a motorhome that’s done 7500kms in the past year,” he says with a laugh. Over the past two years he has planted around 100 hectares of the farm’s difficult south-facing paddocks in pine trees under a carbon lease agreement and another 100ha has been sold or otherwise removed from the farming operation. The changes have reduced the effective farm area to 670ha, with the wider property now totalling about 770ha including the forestry blocks. The changes have also seen the farm move away from winter grazing dairy cows and reduce its sheep numbers. Today the business is store-based, RURAL PEOPLE » Kamahi Perendale with Warren selling rather than buying store stock. The farm now runs about 3300 ewes and 120 beef cows, selling the calves at weaning, with around 110 calves sold each year. Around 25 per cent of lambs born are killed at weaning and the majority of the remainder are sold as store lambs. Smaller lambs under 27kg are retained on the farm and sold as forward stores in early April. The two stock classes complement each other. The farm now grows about 65ha of winter crop, around 20ha less than it did previously. Its wintering system is deliberately straightforward. Ewe hoggets are given a paddock of kale, with the beef cows moving in behind them to clean up what remains. Once the sheep are shorn, they go onto swedes, with baleage introduced as the crop is eaten down. The system means there is relatively little need to continually put up and move electric fencing, reducing both labour and management. Warren and his partner Di Bishop now run the farm largely themselves, supported by casual workers when required. “Finding reliable staff had become increasingly difficult,” says Warren, “making a simpler system attractive for this reason as well.” Warren’s Kamahi Perendale Stud has remained stable during all the changes. It forms part of the commercial flock, rather than being operated separately, with about 250 stud ewes. The stud, established in 1972, continues to focus on genetics that deliver growth, meat yield and sustainability. Warren favours Perendales for their hardiness, easy-care characteristics, survivability and mothering ability. He is also considering returning to fleece and micron measurement in hoggets next year after several years without it, as the higher value of wool had previously made the information less useful. The farm has about 50ha in QEII Covenant with another year of the general farm fencing programme planned before Warren and Di begin fenc- “The farm previously benefited from dairy grazing, which helped fund upgrades to machinery and tractors.” 770ha Rolling Hill Country in Southern Southland: 3300 ewes & 120 Angus Cows All stud sheep are farmed under natural, commercial conditions SIL Recorded Flock No. 272 SIL No. 142 Warren Ayers - Phone: 027 226 4290 413 Waiarikiki - Mimihau Road, Wyndham. ing further blocks off themselves. For Warren, the changes are ultimately about more than farm efficiency. “Doing things simpler means not so much stress and pressure,” he says. Asked if he had any regrets about farming more intensively for so long Warren says it’s enabled him to get to where he is today: “For example the farm previously benefited from dairy grazing, which helped fund upgrades to machinery and tractors. Those investments have now provided a useful foundation for the more streamlined operation.” GUT ENHANCER RELEASE THEIR POTENTIAL! LAMB BOOSTER IT’S TIME TO GET YOUR DOCKING & WEANING NUTRITION SORTED! LARGE INTESTINE SMALL INTESTINE ABOMASUM OMASUM RUMEN Gut health is not important, it’s everything! The liver is the engine that drives growth LAMB - MONOGASTRIC SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO
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