4 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Adrian and Pauline Ball Environment awards have opened doors Richard Loader Recognition through the Ballance Farm Environment awards has opened doors to influential industry positions for a Waikato farmer, creating opportunities to advance sustainability both on his own property and across New Zealand’s agricultural sector. “I’m becoming very aware of where the industry is sitting in terms of markets internationally and the opportunities for all our ag sectors. I think New Zealand is positioned very well with our natural resources and environmental stewardship to tell a great story on the world stage,” says Adrian Ball. Adrian owns Dennley Farms in Tirau with wife Pauline and the couple won the 2019 Ballance Farm Environment Awards, becoming the new National Ambassadors for Sustainable Farming and Growing and the recipients of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy. This success has led to Adrian’s appointment on the Fonterra Sustainability Advisory panel, alongside directorships at Silverfern Farms Co-operative and Woolworks NZ. He says these positions enable him to provide critique on environmental and sustainable strategies, alongside the governance responsibilities across multiple agricultural sectors. Dennley Farms is a 196-hectare property, which comprises a dairy operation milking 270-280 Holstein Friesian cows and a beef finishing unit fattening approximately 150 animals annually from their own dairy herd in a closed system for Silverfern Farms. The beef operation operates with a low stocking rate of three animals per hectare and is completely off-grid, using solar power, a deep well water supply and solar electric fencing. The property, which runs alongside the Waihou River, features fencing setbacks of over 20 metres to allow for revegetation of the riverbanks. The Ball’s business philosophy is encapsulated in their tagline ‘creating value inside the farm gate’, which extends across environmental, social and economic aspects. Their integrated approach includes autumn calving and winter milking to obtain price premiums, growing high-quality forage crops to reducing the more unsustainable imported feed, and utilising a covered feed pad that both controls nutrient loss and maximises supplement efficiency. Adrian says beef integration lets them breed dairy replacements out of their best cows while innovations around sexed semen and genomics let us have better cows across the herd and produce more with less feed inputs. “This is also a massive environmental win by producing more milk and meat with less feed with fewer animals.” Adrian’s broader industry involvement allows him to promote nature-positive farming approaches that emphasise biodiversity, riparian planting and freshwater management. He has observed tangible results on his own property, with different species emerging in waterways and soils as a result of providing habitats that support biodiversity. The couple’s commitment to sustainability has driven them to be involved with the Blake Aspire Programme for five years hosting young environmentally minded year 13 students from all over New Zealand on scholarship to help them understand farming better. “It’s been great educating and watching these groups seeing New Zealand farming as a solution to a global climate crisis rather than thinking it is the problem.” They are also NZFAP Plus gold certified, positioning them to capitalise on emerging market opportunities, alongside five consecutive years of Te Tihi status in Fonterra’s Co-op difference program. “We are really starting to see the value coming back to us for our investment made over the last ten years,” explains Adrian, noting that companies like Nestlé and Mars have recently announced they will pay premiums to the most efficient farmers. “We are certainly full throttle on efficiency - how we can produce more with less - it will be a combination of genetics, feed quality and feed conversion efficiency while reducing the more unsustainable feed inputs.” Adrian says that looking back he can see how the Adrian and Pauline are also NZFAP Plus gold certified, positioning them to capitalise on emerging market opportunities. Dennley Farms award winning ef uent system is another example of a system being successful as a direct result of the collaboration between the farmer and the Yardmaster Design Team to match the right pumps & equipment for the job. A PARTNERSHIP THAT WORKS www.yardmaster.co.nz 1 Waihou St, Matamata 3440 Phone: 07 888 8224 REID & HARRISON 2019 Supreme National Award Winner Visit the Yardmaster System Design page to view the Dennley Farms System Case Study CS:BAL01 Y O U R D A I R Y S P E C I A L I S T S Milking Systems | Machine Testing | Water & EffluentFarm Consumables Maintenance EngineeringDrafting & Automation | Spa & Pool Chemicals 10 Waharoa Road West, Matamata | info@betamilking.co.nz Ziggy 021 394 555 Chrissy 0275 394 555 www.betamilking.co.nz Ballance Farm Environment awards helped them better understand their business allowing them to make great progress in the years since the awards. “I am continually inspired by the Ballance Farm Environment Awards entrants and winners, they are continually pushing the barriers of change with new systems, innovations and ways of thinking. They do an outstanding job for New Zealand.”
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