| 5 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Peter O’Connor: Lyndhurst Farm Farm manager Peter O’Connor (pictured) will be competing against younger brother Nick in the Farmer of the Year final. Brothers face off in Farmer of Year award Karen Phelps Aorangi FMG Farmer of the Year Award winner 25 year old Peter O’Connor has more incentive than most to take out the final in July: he will be competing against his younger brother Nick. “He qualified before me so I was quite relieved when I managed to qualify. I wouldn’t have heard the end of it if I didn’t make it through to the finals,” says Peter with a laugh. Peter has made it through to the regional final three times before so it was a real achievement to finally win. He studied for the competition quick fire quiz but as a lot of the events are unknown until the day he winged the rest. The range of agricultural-based challenges this year included getting dressed in overalls and gumboots, untangling a reel, reassembling a Milwaukee chainsaw, weighing vegetables, chopping wood and tossing a gumboot. Peter says playing hockey this season along with working on farm kept him fit enough to successfully compete. Peter is the farm manager of Lyndhurst Farm, located ten minutes from Methven. The 110ha effective dairy unit runs 400 mixed breed herd cows. It’s a system three farm with cows wintered off farm on neighbouring cropping farms. It’s only Peter’s first season on the farm and he’s hit the ground running. He grew up on the family dairy farm at Westport before heading to Lincoln University and completing a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree. Following that he spent a summer silage contracting for Central Feeds in Temuka then went straight into a second in charge position on a 900 cow farm at Mayfield before heading to Lyndhurst. He focuses on doing the basics well: pasture management to grow quality grass and making sure cows are fully fed to maximise production. The farm is currently installing a new effluent system to meet Synlait’s Lead with Pride requirements. “It will give us more storage capacity and let up apply effluent more strategically at better times.” Peter is targeting 450kgsMS per cow this season feeding 650kgs of supplement per cow. He is aiming for 480kgsMS next season. His next goal is managing a bigger farm or contract milking. He plans do a bit of travel at some stage as a working holiday. He’s already completed a harvest in Australia and has an uncle in the UK with a dairy farm who he might give a hand to experience a different system. His ultimate aim is dairy farm ownership whether that is the family farm at Westport run by his parents Johno and Kate or something else. The family farm is 450ha and milks 600 cows. His parents also have a second farm milking 280 cows on 170ha and rear young stock on various lease blocks. Nick, 20, is currently is at Lincoln University. But for now Peter’s eye is firmly on the prize of taking out the Farmer of the Year final. “I see it as a challenge and the competition is held in very high regard. I want to be competing at the top level and I’ve never been one to leave things half done.” WELL DONE LYNDHURST DAIRY FARM PROUD TO STAND BY OUR FARMERS vetlife.co.nz PAA0016 The preferred milking systems partner for Dairy Farmers Ph 0800 577 583 | www.morrisonagri.co.nz Proud to support Lyndhurst Farm
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=