| 65 nzdairy BALANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS » Wainono Dairy Richard Green, Dianne Herron, Georgie Wright and John Wright with the Ballance awards. The farm produce 450 wagyu calves to be sold at 100kgs each year to reduce bobby calf numbers. Enhancing the farm environment a priority Karen Phelps John Wright of Wainono Dairy says the business was entered into the Ballance Farm Environment Awards for the Canterbury region because he had his “arm twisted up the back” by various reps that encouraged him to enter. John is equity partner in the business with Richard Green and runs the day-to-day operations with Richard taking on the financial aspects of the farm. They became equity partners in 2006 and converted the Fairlie farm to dairy, which today is comprised of a 730ha dairy platform and 640ha dairy farm, supported by a total run-off area of 491ha and some lease land. In the 2022/23 year the farm produced about 785,000kg of milk solids and this season just gone 806,636kgsMS – the fourth highest ever. John, who hails from a sheep and beef background, says he has never milked a cow in his life but has good people working for the business. Daughter Georgina manages the smaller unit milking 750 cows and lower order sharemilker Hamish Johnson milks1080 cows on the larger unit. Around 90% of income from dairy and 10% from beef with the farm produce 450 wagyu calves to be sold at 100kgs each year to reduce bobby calf numbers. Wainono Dairy won the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award and DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award. “We map most of the land under our five centre pivots to put the right amount of water on the right soil types and have reduced water use by onequarter,” says John. “The farm has a wide range of soil types on from stone to heavy peat.We soil test every paddock every second year to know what nutrients are required etc and mainly direct drill. We move the stock around depending on the weather to protect the land.” John says that enhancing the environment is a priority and there has been extensive planting of waterways and other areas with around 50ha retired. They aim to plant around 5000 mainly native plants each year and work in this area is on going. The farm has three nitrate sensors that measure the nitrate levels in these waterways continuously. “I can look on the computer and know exactly what the level of nitrates is in these waterways at any time. We also test other streams on the farm monthly. “We’ve been doing this for a few years now and were pleased to confirm that our nitrate levels are well within the limits across the farm.” He says it’s also allowed them to identify that one of the highest levels is coming onto the farm from the top boundary where the Fairlie effluent ponds and township lies. “We’re not sure where these levels are coming onto the farm yet so we’re still working on that.” There has been extensive planting of waterways and other areas with around 50ha retired. Proud to support Wainono Dairy Keepingyougrowing since1989 Irrigation Systems Effluent Systems Pumping Systems Electrical Specialists Talk to the leaders in water technology 0800 2 RAINER | rainer.co.nz AORANGI VETERINARY SERVICES Y E A R S Proud to be loyal members of the Wainono Dairy team. 03 685 8407 aorangivet.co.nz Prompt , Rel iable & Fr iendly Ser vice. For that ext ra socket to ful l instal lat ion & ever ything in between ELECTR I C 1998 Call Owen Hunter - Ph: 03 685 8596 83 Main Street, Fairlie Mob: 0274 388 332 e: aorangielectric@gmail.com Electrical Contractors Association of NZ MASTER ELECTRICIANS It was noted by judges that Richard and John are not afraid to try new things, including trialling hops and investigating solar power options. “Solar power stacks up reasonably well but at this stage we are not going ahead with it due to cashflow. If we had the spare cash it would be a no brainer.” 01 BFEA Compact Brand Guidelines V1.0 FEB 2022
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