62 | nzdairy Extreme weather ‘biggest challenge’ Sue Russell Christine Stevens and Chris Haworth own four dairy farms and lease a 300ha dry stock unit in the Bay of Plenty. Three farms are located near each other in Kaharoa, Rotorua while the fourth dairy farm is at Okoroire, between Matamata and Tirau. This is the second time NZ Dairy has had the opportunity to talk with the couple about their farming business and Chris gives a considered update as to what has been front of mind most recently. “I guess the biggest challenge for us last year was the climate and its impact on the farms. We ended up getting 4.8m of rain over the season. While we didn’t get the really nasty stuff we were still managing some extreme weather that caused at least $100,000 worth of damage,” Chris explains. The main impacts were in infrastructure around races and culverts. One culvert simply couldn’t cope with the amount of rain and cost $30,000 to replace with a more robust structure, able to cope with any future extreme weather events. “That alone had an impact on staff, stock, and production. While the significant rainfall brought damage, it did afford the opportunity to see what level it rose to at peak and enabled the couple to build back resilience should those levels be attained again.” Chris says experiencing these environmental challenges can lead to issues for farmers not only dealing with the damage but also affecting mental health. “With such a large enterprise, up to 17 staff are employed across the farms, we have layered our management with an operations manager plus farm managers responsible for each property.” Sons James and Matthew are currently pursuing careers outside the farm but are strongly connected to the business and help in various ways. In all, 2000 dairy cows are spread across the four dairy units. The leased dry stock unit has its own manager and approximately 1000 stock of varying ages. The land is not only home to the young stock and wintering cows but is also a source of feed in the form of supplements grown. That farm is 7km from the 3 dairy units at Kaharoa.There are also two other smaller leased blocks. There’s every likelihood that the total dairy herd number will decrease slightly as cow quality improves, cow size diminishes and milk is produced more efficiently. “We’ve started to get a fairly heavy cow so we are looking at that live-weight figure closely and Tawa Ridge Farm’s Chris Haworth (top) and Christine Stevens. Staff gather at smoko. The large business employs 17 staff over four farms. DAIRY PEOPLE » Tawa Ridge Farm making breeding decisions that will result in a lighter animal. We are also looking at improving the productive capacity within the herd with a more intense focus on lameness, mastitis and other herd diseases such as Johne’s. I’m happy with the situation of the herd and would like our staff to milk a constantly improving cow.” Control of Johne’s disease involves halting the transmission of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis in the herd. This is achieved by testing the herd and removing infected animals from the herd before their condition and production deteriorates as there is no cure. Asked what other developments are ahead Chris says a couple of effluent upgrades are planned within the next two years to future-proof compliance. “We also have ongoing work with our farm’s houses and buildings as they are an integral part of the asset. It all has to be factored into the operations budget.” As the couple progress through their farming journey attention is being given to ensuring the right people and structures are in place so they can move out of management and more into governance of the business, something Chris says they are looking forward to. “I guess its called ‘retirement’ but we will always stay involved in the business. We enjoy farming and being part of a great industry. It is a privilege to be where we are, I still enjoy working and learning new things so I will keep involved as long as I am able,” Chris says. Inevitably decisions around what becomes of the business need to be considered and planned for and Chris says the farms will hopefully stay as a family business providing opportunity for subsequent generations. “It’s our job to make sure the business is healthy, strong and progressive.” He is also of the opinion that all farmers need to keep a huge amount of pressure on all the businesses they are supplier shareholders and customer shareholders for (such as fert companies, dairy companies, meat companies, breeding companies). “This also applies to those we pay levies to such as B&L NZ and Dairy NZ. The unfortunate part is that we are so busy running our own companies, meeting compliance requirements, coping with the environmental challenges, supporting our staff etc that it is difficult to find the time to do that. We have so much capital invested on and off farm and it really needs to work hard for us to ensure the future prosperity of the farming sectors.” 07 348 3628 | 19White St, Rotorua | www.abcmilkingsolutions.co.nz “We need to deliver a business meeting the needs of all the stakeholders;the family, the staff, the suppliers of services that keep our business going and to the people that collect, process and deliver our products to the market place. “After 40 years we also need the freedom to have the choice of how much time we allocate to our business.” Meal Feeds - Molasses Liquid Feeding Improving Peoples Life Styles Corohawk Proud to be Suppliers of Automated Feeding Systems for Tawa Ridge Farms e: jamie@corohawk.co.nz www.corohawk.co.nz 0800 763 555
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