12 | nzdairy DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS » Green Grass Farming Ltd Hard earned success at DIA Awards Randall Johnston Ryan & Scott Anderson supported by Kate Anderson of Green Grass Farming have won Share Farmer of the Year Award for the Taranaki Region at the 2025 NZ Dairy Industry Awards. “It was pretty awesome to come away with the win and we weren’t expecting it. We won six awards in a row, we honestly couldn’t believe it,” she says. “We won the Pasture Management Award and the judges really commended our efforts in that space, which was a huge achievement for us. We farm for profit not production so that’s what all our decisions are based on and we are focused on getting the best pasture harvests we can.” They also won the Livestock Award. “They made really encouraging comments on our breeding and record keeping and the training we give all our staff, which was great feedback to get.” Their mating performance was also praised at the event. This season the team, which now includes 8 full-time staff, pregnancy tested 1176 cows and only had 42 emptys. “We ranged from 78 -81% per cent six week in calf rates, which is quite a bit higher than the national averages this year so far and had a 1.8% empty rate on one farm and 3.6% across the total business.” The only awards they didn’t win were the Emerging Talent Award, the Financial Management Award or the People and Culture Award. Kate entered in the Dairy Trainee Award category about a decade ago, but hasn’t competed since and her brothers and share-milking partners Scott and Ryan Anderson had never entered any farming competitions at all. The trio formed a company and now 50-50 share-milk three dairy farms that are all on the same road (each about five kilometres apart), about 45 kilometres West of Stratford - between Mount Taranaki and the coast. One is 150ha (360 cows peak milking increasing to 410 cows next season), another is 172ha (peak milk 430 cows) where they have contract-milkers in their 12th season and the third is 150ha (450 cows at peak). Jerseys are the dominant genetics across all farms but there are some Jersey-Kiwi-Cross in the mix as well on one farm. “This is our third season all working together 50-50. I’ve been on the farm for 10 seasons now and Scott and Ryan are both on their 7th season,” Kate explains. Targeting 430,000 milk solids across their whole business, the team is so far on track to meet this, despite very dry conditions in early autumn on the 450 cow property; thankfully they saw it coming and locked in a good price for palm kernel feed late last year. They will be extending the effluent area on this farm this year too. The team also rotated stock from one farm to another, so they could also benefit from areas with more grass. They typically milk twice a day all Kate entered in the Dairy Trainee Award category about a decade ago, but hasn’t competed since. season. Their system is pasture based, only buying in feed to fill deficits on an as needed basis. “We work with Coastal Vets for our animal heath, LIC for breeding, Velocite our accountants for all things business & strategy and quite closely with our farm consultant Michael Joyce, who also worked with our parents Donald and Maree Anderson for a very long time.” With a whole swag of awards giving further encouragement, the future looks bright indeed for this highly-driven and capable generation of Andersons, setting a great example with their high standard of dairy farming in the Taranaki. Maize and Grass Silage • Hay and Haylage Bulk Cartage and Quarry Metal Groundwork and Cropping On Farm Jobs • 3 ton and 16 ton Diggers ACHIEVE GREATER OUTCOMES WITH OUR SUSTAINABLE FARM LOAN Eligibility criteria and lending criteria, terms, conditions and fees apply. A fee from our independent verifier AsureQuality will apply. Westpac New Zealand Limited. With our new whole of farm Sustainable Farm Loan you can accelerate on farm sustainability. Find out more: westpac.co.nz/sustainable-farm Proud to support Green Grass Farming Ltd Is your business performing as well as it could be? www.velocite.co.nz We can help Learn more at
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=