44 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Frano & Kylie Volckman Weather bombs spark plans for composting barn Sue Russell Talking with Karamea dairy farmer Frano Volckman four years after the last conversation provides the ideal opportunity to catch up on developments in the intervening years. He, and wife Kylie have been busy growing a family and continuing to develop their farming business. With four girls aged from ve years to ve months, life is full-on. Their eldest daughter attends the Karamea Area School, some 20km away. Beyond the farm-gate Frano also commits time and energy into farming governance as Dairy Chair for West Coast Federated Farmers. “I’ve been in that role now two and a half yearsyears. Here in the West Coast one of our concerns is land stewardship and reclassi cation of land and the impact that will have on some farmers.” Frano says Federated Farmers is keen to collaborate well with local Iwi, in order to nd solutions which support farmers on land identi ed for reclassi cation. Milk production has increased signi cantly on their family-owned farm of 240ha effective. Frano says the increase is down to improving pasture production and supplementary feeding. There is also a 160 ha run-off 3 km from the home farm. Frano and Kylie are equity partners with Frano’s parents. Frano’s sister and brother-in-law operate another family farm over the Little Wanganui River. Investing in ways to improve production levels has been a key focus. “We had the whole farm soil tested and corrected any de cits and we’ve done a lot of re-grassing. We’re also doing more weed control and a lot of under sowing. We also have about 10% of the farm cultivated to supply additional crops to the herd.” Feeding the cows well remains a priority as those efforts are converted into more milk solids. Providing more feed especially through winter has helped to improve over all condition going into calving. Additional feed is supplied through to Christmas at which point PK and DGG mix resumes as the basic supplements on offer. Working day to day with Frano are three full-time staff. Weather-wise Frano says he has had to contend with some fairly extreme weather conditions; winter was very challenging, with consistently wet conditions underfoot. “It was pretty hard on the cows. Fortunately since the weather-bomb though calving has been quite good.” A composting barn will be a new development on the farm. A composting barn uses ‘good bugs’ in an aerobic system to compost the ef uent, keeping the bedding dry and supporting cow health. Once the bedding is removed it becomes a nutrient-rich fertiliser to apply on the farm. “We’re looking at mostly likely using a combination of wood chips and sawdust on the oor. The barn will be large enough to winter 650 cows Geoff Volckman (top) cleaning up the paddocks to be cultivated on the Karamea farm. Georgie Volckman with pet calf and mum Kylie. CALL COLIN REDPATH, DEALER PRINCIPAL TODAY 145 WOODSTOCK RIMU ROAD HOKITIKA Ph: 03 280 9643 | Mobile: 021 755 818 www.westandfarmservices.co.nz 2022 Suzuki LT-A400 Kingquad. In Stock. $12,173 + GST Tow-Eze Farm Trailer. Rugged Polythylene Plastic. $2,295.00 + GST 2022 Suzuki LT-A500X Kingquad. In Stock. $14,347 + GST (03) 528 9992 239 High Street, Motueka sales@murraythornmotorcycles.co.nz www.murraythornmotorcycles.co.nz Proud to support Frano Volckman with each cow having 9m2 space. It will be a real learning curve for us.” Supplementing farm income is a secondary business, a small contracting service Frano offers to local farmers. “We offer baling and drilling services and it’s a good little side-business to the farm.” Farm succession is also a topic currently being discussed within the family. Frano is one of ve children and he says the time being put into working through to outcomes that will keep everyone happy, is time well-spent. Meanwhile, Frano says he is pleased with how the herd and farm have come through some fairly challenging times and is optimistic their farming business has a good future ahead.
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