| 39 nzdairy Partnership bags top environment award DAIRY PEOPLE » Poplar Partnership Russell Fredric Poplar Partnership, a large and complex dairy and beef business covering 1719 hectares near Foxton, was the 2023 New Zealand Farm Environment Trust Horizons regional supreme winner. The partnership includes two self-contained dairy units, owned by John and Karen McErlean and John’s brother Peter, peak milking 2750 cows, with other family members providing labour and various expertise. Peter, John and Karen won an impressive string of awards comprising the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award, Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award, Hill Laboratories Agri-Science Award, Norwood Farming Efficiency Award, Rabobank Agri-Business Management Award. Poplar Partnership was formed as a collaboration between John, Karen and Peter in 2002, partly because of the difficulty in retaining staff. The two dairy platforms comprise 693ha effective on Poplar Road east of Foxton, overseen by Peter,and 237ha on Lake Road run by contract milker Yhan Franks. These platforms are supported by blocks totalling 789 hectares for growing young stock and supplementary feed which John has responsibility for. John and Karen started with just 43ha in 1983. Seven years ago, the McErlean family also created a separate business, 164 Partnership,comprising Poplar Partnership and eight staff, that owns a 97ha farm. The business was formed to create a sense of ownership among the staff, and particularly to incentivise their retention while discouraging poaching by other farm owners. The farms are entirely self-contained for their day-to-day operations and management, as well as for all supplementary feed and crops, machineryincluding servicing and maintenance, and seasonal operations which overall requires a large pool of staff. Karen oversees the farms’ milk harvesting team, calf rearing and administration while daughter Cara, a veterinary nurse, also helps with administration and calf rearing as well as breeding and animal health. Son David runs the rotary cowshed while nephew Paul runs the colostrum operation and penicillin shed. Poplar Partnership also includes a modest beef operation. Total annual production from its two dairy units is just on 1.2 million kg/MS which partly includes A2 milk, plus 100,000kgMS from 164 Partnership, from a split calving system. “Every year we try to do something that either makes life easier or improves things. We’ve been tree planting for about eight years now. Every block of land we have has a pond of some description on it and they’ve all been planted for the environmental benefits.” About 1500 native trees have also been planted each year, mainly along waterways and drains, but going forwardthe focus will change to providing more shade and shelter for stock. The family are keen to continue developing the wetlands and have also been working with Horizons to protect two native giant snail colonies,in addition to increasing their habitat on one of the support blocks, along with exploring the possibility of adding vegetable crops to the farm operation. “We have also been strongly focused on precision application of fertiliser and doing lots of soil tests to make sure we are not putting on too much. We’ve got a really good [fertiliser company] rep who has really helped with that.” All ponds on the farm have been planted out for environmental benefits. Proudly supporting Karen How & McErlean Farms The multi-award winning Poplar Partnership team.
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