| 93 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Ben Worker & Jaime McCrostie Team has halved the amount of bought in feed Karen Phelps Operations manager for Eastbourne Dairy Farm, Grant Williams, says that encouraging sharemilkers to enter the Ballance Farm Environment Awards has been an important way to work towards farming better. “It’s easy to get insular when you’re farming so to have another set of eyes across the farm to challenge you to do things even better is invaluable,” he says. Previous sharemilkers Ben Worker and Jamie McCrostie were nalists in the 2022 awards and took out the WaterForce Wise with Water Award. Key changes they made to the farming system was to move away from winter cropping and start a drainage and re-grassing plan. In addition they created buffers along waterways through riparian planting. Grant says old clay drain necessitated a completely new drainage system. Coupled with closer attention to pasture management it has seen the farm drop bought in feed from one tonne per animal to half that amount making a signi cant difference to farm pro tability while production has remained steady. Based at Flints Bush, 25 minutes west of Invercargill, Eastbourne Dairy Farm is managed by Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd and owned by shareholders. Eastbourne Dairy Farm is 164ha effective/238ha total and milks a herd of 490 crossbred cows. A 70ha run off is used for running young stock. All cows are grazed off farm for 8-10 weeks over winter. “Our biggest challenge is the cost of grazing and the cost of compliance that goes with it,” says Grant. “It’s getting dif cult to nd grazing and that’s driving up the cost – it’s a simple case of supply and demand. So we have to think outside the square in Southland as to how to manage our cows during that winter period.” He says a lot of focus is getting put into Eastbourne Dairy Farm to ensure environmental compliance so the farm is sustainable long term. A cost bene t analysis is currently being undertaken around a wintering barn so the farm is self-contained. Grant says that aim to do this with all of the farms in the group, which includes two more dairy Gurpreet Mahal, Carlin Ginns, Daniel Cockery, Marley Cockery, Andrea Koenen and Mannix Cockery. farms in Southland – a 770 cow near Gore in eastern Southland and a 950 cows farm just out of Mossburn. There are also two dairy farms located in the North Island. The production target this season for Eastbourne Dairy Farm is 235,000kgsMS. Grant says new lower order sharemilkers Daniel Cockery and Andrea Koenen will carry on where Ben and Jamie left off. “We’ve worked really hard with the farm to get things in a good state. Ben and Jamie did a really good job. The new lower order sharemilkers are carrying on where they left off and getting to know the lay of the land. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel; it’s just about continuing to make small improvements.” DOUG HORRELL CONTRACTING PHONE DOUG MOBILE: 0274 331 335 DAIRY SHED SPECIALISTS OF THE SOUTH DEDICATED TO HELPING INCREASE EFFICIENCY PRODUCTION PROFITS BUILDING BUSINESS CONFIDENCE
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