44 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Mitchell Dairy Farms Time for a breather after 30 years of slog Karen Phelps 2023 Regional Supreme Award winners of the East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards Greg and Gail Mitchell of Mitchell Dairy Farms are looking forward to starting to take a step back from the day-to-day running of their business. A manager, Leighton Swan, has just started on their 460ha effective farm at Patoka called High Road that milks 1550 cows. This will leave the Mitchells in charge of a 300ha effective farm 10 kilometres away called Kaweka Farm, which milks 900 cows. It is owned in an equity sharemilking partnership with Josh and Tineke Dear who own half the cows. They will also be taking care of a new 230ha support block located in Patoka. “The past year has been hectic. That’s putting it mildly,” says Greg acknowledging that the three land holdings have kept them busy. “It will be good getting an experienced manager with fresh eyes on the High Road farm and us getting back to a normal working week.” Leighton was found via word of mouth from the farm advisor who had been working with Leighton on another farm. Leighton was looking for a new challenge so the farm advisor thought he would be a good fit for High Road. The Mitchells says that running such a sizable business has been possible partly due to their great team and technology with Protrack and automatic drafting and Allflex collars used on both farms. They have already invested significant time and resources into their new support block, which will support High Road, already putting in a new water system, re-fencing and planting 20% in winter crop. It will be used as a heifer and calf grazing block and they will finish any beef calves they can’t sell as four day olds, probably around 50-100 each year. They have also been busy planting after securing 75% funding through Hawkes Bay Regional Council as part of its erosion control plan to plant 9ha of the support block with natives equating to around 14,000 trees. The couple places great importance on balancing profitability with caring for the environment. Every paddock is soil testing every three years and specific fertiliser brews are applied to ensure the right nutrient balance. A new effluent system is five times the size required by their consent allowing them to irrigate 120ha. There are two 25m weeping walls and a 25 million litre pond allowing them to store water and use it over summer months. All waterways have been fenced and they have planted 10,000 native trees every year for past five years. Ineffective areas on the farm have been fenced off and retired totalling 15ha between the two farms. Cyclone Gabrielle affected their farm and they had no power for a couple of weeks and had to use a temporary bridge until the new one was built a couple of months later. They have repaired damaged culverts and fences and things are back to normal. Now their manager has started they have one thing on their minds: a much needed holiday. “It’s been 30 years hard slog so it’s exciting to get to this point and transition off the farm and hand over the reigns a bit,” says Greg.“The plan is to go to the beach and turn the phone off.” “It’s been 30 years hard slog so it’s exciting to get to this point and transition off the farm and hand over the reigns a bit. The plan is to go to the beach and turn the phone off.” Greg and Gail Mitchell, 2023 Regional Supreme winners of the East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards, are looking forward to a well-earned holiday.
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