10 | nzdairy Building a strong sharefarmer committee Karen Phelps As the new Sharemilker Section Chair for the Taranaki Branch of Federated Farmers Katie Morrison’s main goal is to building a strong sharefarmer committee with big reach Taranaki wide. “We need to get a good understanding of what’s happening across the province, which can then be fed back to the Taranaki executive and ultimately national Federated Farmers. It’s all about connection, reaching out and asking people to get involved. Federated Farmers is the only farmer led advocacy organisation in the industry so by having a strong grassroots base this makes the whole organisation stronger. The more voices we can have the better.” Katie and husband Chad are in their second season of 50:50 sharemilking for the Moller family in Oakura, ten minutes from New Plymouth. The 85ha effective/100ha total farm milks a Kiwi Cross herd of 280 cows, up from 260 the previous season. Chad works on the farm on a day-to-day basis with Katie filling in as needed and taking a more active role during calving and mating. She is also studying full time and in the process of completing a Business Degree with a double major in economics and finance with Massey University Distance Learning. “I’ve always been interested in that sort of thing and wanted to stretch my brain. It’s also beneficial for running the farming business,” she says. The couple has been busy making changes to the farming system including taking the herd to twice a day milking and balancing inputs and outputs to maximise profit per hectare. Equilibrium for the couple also includes family life, animal welfare and environmental impacts. They have changed the feed system and halved the palm kernel input, taking the operation to a grass-focused system. “It’s about trying to fully feed the cows as much as we can on grass and buying in a bit of maize silage as needed. With good pasture management and a good season we made 200 tonnes of silage last season,” she says. Katie and Chad have two children – Eva, 10, and Oliver, 7. DAIRY PEOPLE » Katie & Chad Morrison S A G Contracting Earthworks, Drainage and Metal Supplies. Proud to support Katie & Chad Morrison Phone Steve Gibson 027 475 2006 www.westownagriculture.co.nz 06 753 6611 180 Cowling Rd | New Plymouth Proud to Support Katie & Chad Morrison WESTOWN AGRICULTURE While around 100 tonnes of maize was bought in last season this coming season they will drop this out of the system due to it not being profitable to use. The farm is supported by approximately 60ha of run off support blocks located nearby where they grow silage and other supplement. The extra land is also helping them to reduce bobby calf numbers and diversify their business. They have put Charolais and Hereford over the bottom percentage of cows they don’t want to breed from so they can rear beef calves. They will rear around 40 this year, with the aim to gradually increase numbers, raising them to two year olds. Katie and Chad have two children – Eva, 10, and Oliver, 7. Katie says its been a big achievement for the family becoming sharemilkers: “It feels like we’ve been working so long with the focus of buying our own herd and now we’ve got it it’s like - now what? We will pay down as much debt as possible to give us the freedom to grab opportunities as they come up and our overall goal is to lease our own farm then buy our own farm.”
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