| 41 Bare Hill Farming make use of drones Bare Hill Farm spans 2,000ha (800ha effective) running 7,900 sheep and beef stock units alongside a small amount of forestry. Karen Phelps MEAT & WOOL » Bare Hill Farming Revolutionise your soil health and see greater results across the farm. For everything your farm needs and nothing it doesn’t, make the call today! Phone 021 779 919 for a free on farm consultation (South Island only) Proud to work with BARE HILL FARMING + Freight & GST. $892 PER/TON SOLID, NOT LIQUID WINTER SPECIAL Includes: • Biological NPKS for improved grass and crop growth. • Biocide for control of pests like grass grub and porina. • BioSeaweed for animal and soil health. • Biologically sourced nutrients for chemical-free, more sustainable farming. BIOFISH™ A superior solid fert to raise your bottom line. ™ The use of a drone has allowed Nick and Alexis Wadworth from Bare Hill Farming to do some of their work without needing to travel all over their farm. They use it to shift cows on rough blocks and to check ewes at lambing time. The latter saves them around four hours a day at this busy time of year as they can check 1000 ewes in 30 minutes. It’s just one example of the efficiency that won the couple the Norwood Farming Efficiency Award at the 2023 Southland Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Bare Hill Farm spans 2,000ha (800ha effective) running 7,900 sheep and beef stock units alongside a small amount of forestry. The Wadworths say they had no option but to be efficient with the two of them running the whole property alone until recently. One of their core farm values is kaizen, a Japanese term meaning continuous improvement and efficiency. For the first time entrants this made winning the Norwood Farming Efficiency Award all the sweeter. They say that a drive for efficiency has not only been good for the farm but also for their bank balance. Bare Hill Farm is Nick’s family farm where he grew up. He worked an engineer and also completed a Diploma in Agriculture and in Farm Management at Lincoln University. He then worked on a few different types of farms in New Zealand and overseas to gain experience. The couple met at Lincoln University where Alexis was doing a Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture). She then headed into rural banking. The pair started leasing Bare Hill Farming in 2016 before purchasing it in 2020. Daughter Addison is the 6th generation now farming the land alongside them. Being heavily involved in the community has always been important for the Wadworths which has seen Nick running the local discussion group and Alexis chairing the local catchment group. Through this and other industry initiatives their property has often been used to experiment with various farming methods including trialling different crop establishment methods. For example they are direct drilling a mixed species crop and use indicator crops such as buckwheat, which will grow in several days of being sown. The pests then attack this and leave before their main crop grows. “We don’t have pests attacking our main crops any more. They don’t bother the mixed crops because of the diversity and the beneficial insects that are encouraged and keep everything at bay. A healthy plant will also keep the bad bugs away,” explains Nick. They have also changed their process around glyphosate and do a light rate spray 12-24 hours before direct drilling into the paddock. This means the ground is always covered and allows the plants to germinate while the spray takes effect. Multiple legume species within the crops, which fix nitrogen into the soil, allow them to reduce fertiliser applications in the next season. The cropping program continues to evolve and they are currently trialling flushing and mating sheep on crop, which is an opportunity to build grass covers ahead for winter and keep stock off crop in winter. They are also transitioning from Romdale to Wiltshire sheep to try and reduce shearing and other wool costs and further increase efficiency and have a split calving beef herd, calving in spring and autumn, which allows for better pasture utilisation, helping to keep quality and also providing a second opportunity through the year for cows to graze the rough blocks. They have a sophisticated rubbish recycling programme that includes removing the contents of an old dump site and recycling farm and household rubbish. “We have an area at the back of implement shed for each house on the farm to empty plastic tins and glass into,” explains Alexis. “We take a load into the recycling centre once a year. Each house has a drum for burnable rubbish. Vaccine pouches are returned to the vet’s recycling system and scrap metal recycled. Green waste goes into the dump via composting bins or is fed as scraps for chooks or we make compost that heads to the vege garden.” Future plans include managing and protecting existing native bush areas. They have done an ecological survey and are looking at protecting 200ha. Opportunities to earn carbon credits on native bush are also being reviewed. Pest control will come first though, managing deer and pig populations, and controling surrounding areas of gorse and broom.
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