6 | RURAL PEOPLE » Hokotehi Moriori Trust Exceptional spring a bonus on island Russell Fredric An exceptional spring on the Chatham Islands has Hokotehi Moriori Trust farm and forest manager Levi Lanauze smiling. Favourable weather and the lack of late winter storms resulted in 13% more lambs, a drop of 143% compared to 130% for the previous year in what is a very challenging farm system. Levi offers a single word answer about the significance of the result. “Outstanding.” “But you do have to look at it in two ways; as outstanding as it was, with the shipping service that we have here, if there’s too many lambs, you’ll struggle to get rid of them.” The trust’s farming operation comprises two stations; Kaingaroa Station covering 4800 hectares on the northeast of Rekohu was bought in 2004 and is supported by 1000 acres which is a fattening and finishing block at Henga. Henga is also used to hold stock before they are shipped, and it is the shipping schedule that dictates much of the farms’ system, while in the absence of the ability to use artificial fertiliser, the quality of the genetics plays a big part in both the sheep and cattle. The commercial flock of 4400 breeding ewes are pure Romney, while South Suffolk rams are put over them to produce terminal lambs which comprise about 20% of the flock. Sheep genetics are sourced from Orari Gorge Romneys and the South Suffolks from Claire Garrett, Springston. “Obviously a fertile ewe has helped us in the lambing percentage, but also by buying low dagscore rams in a high feed growing year, the ewes have managed to stay quite clean so that’s kept animal welfare costs down. “The big thing with farming here on the Chatham’s is you want a stock unit that carries its weight because you need an animal that will travel well on the boat, but also kill well at the works, a short stocky animal.” The genetics of the trust’s 190 breeding cows and six bulls are sourced from Orari Gorge Herefords and more recently Okawa Herefords genetics have been added to broaden the base. “We had a good strong calving; I think we had 2.5% empty rate; again, I think it’s just that we’ve spent the money on good quality bulls and with the right management we’re starting to reap the benefits.” The beef system is based on selling the progeny as weaners at 200kg to 250kg because these achieve the best price per kilo and are the optimum weight for shipping while steers and non-replacement heifers are typically shipped during winter. The necessity to plan so completely around the shipping schedules requires constant thought to be given to this and, with other curved balls to factor in such as the ship being taken out for three months for a survey, farming on the mainland would be a dream by comparison, Levi says. Outside the stock operation, there is a strong focus on tree and shrub planting under the government’s One Billion Trees programme. So far 280 hectares of the trust’s land has been set aside for planting, on which 210,000 seedlings will be planted over five years, comprising 42ha of macrocarpa and the balance natives. “It’s a $3.5 million project; it’s supporting the community. The island has got nine micro nurseries and the farm has also started its own nursery.” “The project is all about community growth, so part of it was to hire and train someone to run the nursery so at then end of the project we are fully set up to continue on and start another one.” The commercial flock of 4400 breeding ewes are pure Romney, while South Suffolk rams are put over them to produce terminal lambs which comprise about 20% of the flock. So far 280 hectares of the trust’s land has been set aside for planting, on which 210,000 seedlings will be planted over five years. Robert and Alex Peacock | Tel: 03 692 2893 | Email: robert@orarigorge.co.nz Graham and Rosa Peacock | Tel: 03 692 2853 | Email: rosa@orarigorge.co.nz ORARI GORGE STATION, TRIPP SETTLEMENT ROAD, GERALDINE, SOUTH CANTERBURY 7991, NEW ZEALAND SOME OF THE BEST MARBLING IN THE COUNTRY BALANCED TRAITS = MAXIMUM PROFITABILITY • FERTILITY • STRUCTURE • BREEDPLAN RECORDED • CARCASS SCANNED • TB STATUS C10 • SERVICE & SEMEN TESTED • BVD TESTED & VACCINATED • ALL BULLS HYPOTRICHOSIS FREE VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME WWW.ORARIGORGE.CO.NZ Orari Gorge Station is proud to supply the Hokotehi Moriori Trust with top Hereford and Romney genetics. Orari Gorge Station breeds high performance but low input Romney, RomTex, SufTex sheep, and Hereford cattle. Selecting for resistance and resilience to worms and less dags resulting in less work and more profit. ORARI GORGE STATION Formerly known as Nithdale Herefords • Established 1947 NZ Owned & Operated. Est 1988 Gary Batchelor - 027 489 32 65 Proudly supporting Hokotehi Moriori Trust
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