| 37 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Hillcrest Culverden Farms Ltd Tough times before irrigation arrived Karen Phelps Water is an essential ingredient to farm in Culverden and that’s why local farmer David Croft is passionate about being involved with the Amuri Irrigation Company. He’s been involved for over a decade and much of that time he has been chairman of the board providing strategic direction and strategy and ensuring these things are implemented. “I have a vested interest in the community and the environment we live in. We couldn’t farm successfully here without that water. It was pretty tough going in my father’s day. The joke was that before irrigation came to the district even the rabbits had to bring their lunch to Culverden,” he says. David grew up on the home farm. His father had shifted to the area in1962 purchasing an 180ha dryland farm. In the 70s a block next door was purchased in in the 80s David shifted back home after ten years spent driving heavy earthmoving machinery. He and wife Voray bought a neighbouring farm. In the 90s another farm was added to the family business and just purchased another one had been bought giving a total of 1200ha. It was in 1992 that the rst block of land was converted to dairy. It was at this time that David took over the farms, buying out a sibling. In 2001 another of the farms was converted to dairy. Today David and Voray farm a 280ha dairy farm milking 800 predominantly Friesian cows that son Robert manages. The farm has a 50-bail rotary shed with Protrack and the cows wear collars. The second dairy unit totals 170ha and has a 50:50 sharemilker milking a herd of 600 predominantly Friesian cows. It has a 36 aside herringbone shed with Protrack. Last season the farms produced 680,000kgs/MS and this year the target is similar. The business also includes rearing around 650 calves of which 200 are used for replacements and the rest raised as bee es. The farms are part of the Amuri Irrigation Scheme, which sees around 550ha irrigated with pivot and xed grid. There is around 120ha that isn’t grazed and that the family is replanting. David says that the biggest challenge is keeping up with regulatory change and working out how to adapt to the tight timeframes. Nitrogen recording was a good recent example. Daughter Catherine in the calf shed. “We have to submit records to ECan but we didn’t know how the information had to be submitted. They extended the deadline which gave us a month to do it, dif cult in the middle of calving.” He acknowledges that a lot of the problems, such as water quality, have taken generations to create and isn’t going to be an easy and quick x in a lot of cases. The family is focusing on doing what it does better to have less environmental impact each year. Technology is playing a part including variable rate irrigation to minimise leaching. HALO and Nairn Electrical have recently installed hardware and software to improve ef uent irrigation. “We have under slung ef uent dispersal on two centre pivot irrigators. We can now achieve good proof of placement and generate reports and reliably turn the guns on and off. There is an alert to tell us if anything needs attention.” The whole family is involved in the business. Our Services Include: • Architectural Homes • New Housing • Renovations • Alterations • Light Commercial Builds • Concrete Placing • Decks and Landscaping Earl Builders email: kelly@earlbuilders.co.nz mobile: 027 6609 555 And pretty much everything in-between. Andrew Dalzell 0274 833 938 03 315 8312 dalcol@xtra.co.nz “Coldstream”197 Culverden Rd, Culverden 7392, New Zealand LEESTON: (03) 324 3752 NORTH CANTERBURY: (03) 313 6104 Proud to support Hillcrest Culverden Farms Ltd David does tractor and development work and lls in as needed. Voray does a lot of the calf rearing and bookwork. Daughter Catherine also works full time on the farms. David and Voray, who live on the home farm, are currently building a new home on the run off to remove themselves from the hustle and bustle of the dairy farm with a view to succession planning. P (03) 315 8132 M 0274 836 268 SW BROOM C O N T R A C T I N G 309 CASCADE ROAD, CULVERDEN
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