| 67 nzdairy BALANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS » Emerald Hills Greg and Claire Collins’ management of their Northland farm, Emerald Hills, was rewarded with a brace of awards at the Northland Balance Farm Environment Awards. The couple won DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship and New Zealand Farm Environment Trust Climate Recognition awards. Profitable and an environmental gem Russell Fredric Greg and Claire Collins’ Northland property, Emerald Hills, is living proof a dairy farm can be both highly profitable and an environmental gem. Their astute management of their 80 hectare / 60 hectare effective farm was aptly rewarded in this year’s Northland Balance Farm Environment Awards with the DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship and New Zealand Farm Environment Trust Climate Recognition awards. Emerald Hills lies on gentle rolling contour a few kilometres from the west coast at a similar latitude to Whangarei. Its 140 cross-bred cows are milked through a simple 16 a-side herringbone shed. The couple have owned the property for 10 years. “It’s been a labour of love.” Greg says. “We were pretty stoked to pick up a couple of the awards.” “Particularly with the sustainability and stewardship award, that was a big one for us; that probably meant the most. That encompasses everything that we feel about farming. We’ve always felt that there is room for dairy farming and the environment, that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.” The farm is adjacent to Trounson Kauri Park and has about 20 hectares fenced off and in protected native bush. “We are a recognised corridor for the travel of kiwis between Trounson park and the Whatoro conservancy so it was pretty important that we, a) maintain that and, b) enhance that where we can.” About a third of the farm borders the Mangatu Stream. A gully running through the middle of the farm has been the focus of fencing, planting and retiring steeper sidlings. Planted areas includes the swamps as well as steeper slopes leading into waterways, while the cow races which are on hillsides, have sediment traps at the bottom where they flatten above the stream. The farm has light, free draining volcanic soils that, if not looked after “disappear on you pretty quick”, but will grow a lot of grass with sufficient water. “Looking after them means only working ground in the spring if necessary, no ground’s worked up in the autumn, all the regrassing is done by direct drilling.” Significantly, the farm has not had ryegrass during the past seven years; its pastures are all in cocksfoot which is proving to be much more resilient during Northland’s usually dry summers. With higher metabolisable energy than ryegrass, the cocksfoot has well and truly proven its worth for its feed value along with lasting for several more seasons before paddocks need rejuvenating,while it is the perfect companion to the plantain that is over-sown into the established sward. Milking has been once-a-day for the past seven seasons but annual production has not suffered, proving better than the twice-a-day annual record before the change was made. Surprisingly, it has been a record season on Emerald Hills, even in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. Although a small farm by today’s standards, it punches above its weight financially. Some of its metrics are impressive; the 2022/23 farm working expenses were $5.62 per kgMS while the profit per hectare of $3697, compared to the Dairybase Northland average of $1711,makes it one of the most profitable dairy farms in the region, Greg says. This profitability has allowed the Collins’ to sign up for a larger farm which will better serve the family’s future succession plans and they look forward to replicating their success on a larger scale. 01 BFEA Compact Brand Guidelines V1.0 FEB 2022 Specialist Rural Accountants Xero and Figured experts Part of your horticultural/agricultural team. Proud to work with Emerald Hills Ltd Stem Specialist Rural Accountants 123 Jellicoe St, Te Puke 3119, PH 07 573 5569 We don’t operate like other accounting practices – we’re a bit more flexible, a whole lot friendlier, a bit more responsive! We want to take away your pain when dealing with your books – that’s what makes dealing with us a breeze! Let’s get growing together! We’re specialists in growing rural business Office 09 433 1733 Eden 021 0842 6587 Warren 027 391 4777 vcon.o ce@gmail.com HAY•SILAGE•SPRAYING•CULTIVATION SEEDING•FEED SALES•FENCING MAZE HARVESTING & PLANTING
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