48 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Jamie and Julia Lyons Pushing for efficiency in Pokeno Randall Johnston Pokeno -based dairy farmer Jamie Lyons is passionate about regenerative farming and is trying a few new things out this season. Fonterra-supplier Jamie farms 270ha on a mix of river flats and rolling to steep hill country, with 220 Kiwi Cross dairy cows on a 90ha platform, with 60 replacements and he rears his own beef replacements from the herd (80 R1 and 80R2’s). He also does 50 autumn-born calves and trades them. The remaining 180 hectares is run as a sheep and beef unit -support block for dairy grazing, while allowing them to grow more feed. The focus for Jamie is on production per animal, rather than running a high stocking rate and keeping inputs as low as possible, while fine-tuning a low stress system for the animals. “Were happy with how the autumn season has been, we are setting things up well for winter,” he says. As the fourth generation on the family block, Jamie took over the farm in 2003 from his mother after her 60th birthday, after returning from his OE. “We converted this 90ha from dry stock into dairy in 2007 and bought an adjoining property to compliment it as well,” he explains. While there has been no land expansion since then, Jamie is looking for a run-off solution at the moment to give him some extra capacity. “We grow about 7ha of maize on the platform. This year we had a 25-tonne crop, but ideally we will be able to get a bit of land so that we can take that part of the operation off farm and trailer it in.” “We grow all our own feed on farm including maize and summer turnips, and we have sheep on the farm as well.” Lambing 300 ewes and wintering PO Box 18, TUAKAU 2342 Phone 09 236 8693 Mobile 0274 968 800 Fax 09 236 8647 Email accounts@collettelectrical.co.nz www.collettelectrical.co.nz Aaron Collett REGISTERED ELECTRICIAN INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS 1,000 lambs, finishing them through the winter keeps the team fairly busy - in addition to the dairy side of the business. “This is our second year using contract milker Casey Mieklejohn, who has been great. She was our 2IC initially, so it’s been a good natural progression for her and us really. It’s just allowed me to get out of the shed and off the farm to spend more time with the kids and be involved with their sports and school. Supported by his wife Julia AKA Lu (who is the local GP), the couple are parents to Oliver, 12, William, 10, and Isabelle, 8. One of Jamie’s major interests is in the environmental aspects of farming and doing things as sustainably as possible. A solar powered water-feed and heating system they installed for the milking shed 10 years ago is still helping to keep operating costs much lower than they would be otherwise, and Jamie is always trying to learn as much as he can in the environmental space. Last year he installed a 26 kilowatt solar panel on the roof of the dairy shed, which has reduced his power bill by 40 per cent. One of Jamie’s major interests is in the environmental aspects of farming and doing things as sustainably as possible.
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