34 | nzdairy DAIRY AWARDS » Red Bluff Farms Ray of sunshine in tough wet season Winning the 2023 Northland Share Farmer of the Year award was an unexpected ray of sunshine in the twilight of a difficult season for Matthew and Kortne Snedden. Despite a track record between them of achieving recognition in two previous Dairy Industry Awards, the couple did not rate themselves a strong prospect to scoop the top award. “We were a little bit surprised to be perfectly honest. We had a few awards that we were targeting but we didn’t think we would win it overall.” The judges thought differently, bestowing Matthew and Kortne with five awards: DairyNZ People &Culture, Ecolab Farm Dairy Hygiene, Federated Farmers Leadership, Honda Farm Safety, Health & amp; Biosecurity and the Meridian Environmental Sustainability award. “For us the awards are mostly about benchmarking and very much the networking side of it. We are in a stage of growth of the business so the ability to network and get your name out there is fairly important. “You do a lot more in-depth analysis when you do something like this, as opposed to when you sit down every month or two and go through the budgets. You can figure out what your strengths really are more solidly when you present it to somebody else.” Kortne is a teacher and the farm’s calf rearer as well as being mother to the couple’s two preschool children. Located in Kerikeri, they are in their Third season 50/50 sharemilking for Kevin and Gillian Baxter. The farms 180ha dairy platform peak milks 550 cows which are spring calved and has a small support block attached. They also lease a 150 hectare effective dairy grazing block nearby. The past season has been anything but normal, Matthew says. Last year just over 2,700mm of rain fell on the farm compared to the 10 year average of 1500mm annually, this year 800mm as fallen in just three months from January to March. The farm did not suffer to badly in Cyclone Gabrielle, although there was a lot of tree damage, and with the contour rolling to steep, flooding was not an issue, however it is a very wet farm that needs substantial drainage in some paddocks. The persistent rainfall and lack of sunny days has been difficult not only for humans. “The cows just looked tired all season. It’s kind of got to ourselves and the staff a bit as well, not having the sun.” The wet weather has contributed to lameness as well as creating a challenge in controlling kikuyu, even in paddocks that have been recently renovated. Despite this, there have still been some Russell Fredric highlights. “Mating performance was good, but we put a lot of focus on that.” POST PEELINGS | WOODCHIP | SAW DUST | PALM KERNEL FERTILISER DELIVERIES | SILO DELIVERIES • Round & Square Hay and Silage • Cultivation, Cropping & Drilling • Maize Planting & Harvesting • Bulk Haulage • Conventional Hay • Weighbridge Services • Lime and Fert Spreading • Digger Hire Ryan and the team at RTA Contracting are proud to support Red Bluff Farms 160 Hariru Rd, Ohaeawai RD2 Kaikohe office@tractorthomas.co.nz 021 813 421 The farm did not suffer too badly in Cyclone Gabrielle, although there was a lot of tree damage.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=