Business Rural Winter 2021

38 | ‘Good fattening paddocks’ key asset Russell Fredric W endonside farm owner Mike Thompson and his stock co-manager Evan Ferris have had a great ride with Limousin during the past decade, but running a consistently successful com- mercial operation is at the heart of the business. While the pair have won many top prizes in the Otago Southland Beef Carcass competition, the well-awarded 30 Limousin cattle on Mike’s 340 hectare sheep and beef finishing farm are more of a hobby. Annually the farm supports 1000 ewes, 1600 lambs and 400 cross-bred cattle, plus the small Limousin herd. Beef is supplied to ANZCO and attracts a pre- mium by qualifying for the supply of prime beef, subject to having a carcass weight of no more than 350 kilograms, to ANZCO’s Aleph market which supplies a Japanese restaurant chain. Each spring about 300 good quality yearling steers – Charolais, Simmental, Angus crosses typi- cally weighing 350kg to 400kg – are bought in for fattening, along with 1500 store lambs. The yearling steers are wintered in an 1875 square metre shed where they are fed a 50/50 mix of lucerne and whole crop wheat silage over 100 days from the end of May each season which enables them to gain 1.5kg to 1.8kg per day. The shed is divided into three sections and features a 10m wide exterior concrete strip with a feeding trough along its full length. This strip has the advantage that nearly half of the effluent produced is outside the shed. Gates that can keep the cattle either inside or outside the shed facilitates the efficient removal of solid waste. Like the cattle, all the replacement ewes are bought on price and condition rather than the breed, although the present flock has a Wairere Romney base, Evan says. “There’s nothing specific, we just go with what- ever is happening at the time. In the last two years we went to clearing sales and bought well-priced composite ewes.” This approach allows Evan and Mike buy at the best possible prices and feed the stock well to maximise the return on the lambs on the bought-in ewes. MEAT & WOOL » Evan Ferris & Mike Thompson • LIVESTOCK • BULK GENERAL CARTAGE • GORE DAILY FREIGHT • EXCAVATING • FERTILISER CARTAGE & SPREADING PROUD TO SUPPORT EVAN FERRIS AND MIKE THOMPSON RIVERSDALE - BALFOUR | Phone (03) 202 4044 Murray Maslin Director Phone: 03 202 4000 Fax: 03 202 4001 Cell: 027 433 0431 Email: accounts@svt.co.nz 29 Main Wendonside Rd, RD7 GORE 9777 L o c a l l y o w n e d , L o c a l l y O p e r a t e d , L o c a l l y T r u s t e d “We’ve got good fattening paddocks, red and white clover to fatten them, so the lambs go well to the works so we get good weights and prices at the end of the day. We also sow (mostly) rape and pasja in the hill paddocks over the summer.” This strategy certainly pays dividends where it counts, with a lambing percentage to the ram usually in the 160% range and processed carcass weights at an enviable 20kg to 22kg. Pasja has the advantage of being available to the lambs at 50 days as opposed to rape being ready at 85 days from sowing which is particularly helpful during a wet spring. Of the farm’s 340ha, about 245ha is rolling hill country. The region has a long-standing gold mining his- tory; parts of the farm’s hills still bear the scars of being blasted with sluice guns 100 years ago, with tailings and old mining equipment still scattered around the farm. More recently a large area near Waikaia township was commercially mined from 2013 to 2019 with 75,000 ounces of gold extracted. Ewes on fodderbeet at Mike Thompson’s Wendonside sheep and beef finishing property. Rising two-year-old steers feeding at trough. Remnants of early gold mining on the property. Waipounamu&WaimeaContractingLtd Waipounamu and Waimea Contracting specialise in all aspects of Haymaking, Baleage and Silage, Agricultural Services, Earthmoving & Drainage, General Cartage o ice@sansonag.co.nz 03 202 5737 A G R I C U L T U R A L , S I L A G E , B A L I N G & T O T A L F A R M S E R V I C E S