| 13 nzdairy DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS » Hillier - Wadham Just his third year in the role and thriving Hugh de Lacy Running a low-cost operation with no boughtin feed has earned Chris Hillier the title of Wairarapa / Hawke’s Bay Sharefarmer of the year in just his third year in the role. Chris is a contract share-milker for Bev and Neil Wadham on their 69ha farm near Carterton in the Wairarapa, running a herd of 220 that are a mixture of Jerseys, Friesians and crossbreds which this year will produce close to 90,000kg of milk solids supplied to Fonterra. The farm is flat to rolling in contour, but quite stony. The last time the Wadham farm grew winter feed crops was several years ago, but Chris says the focus now is keeping costs down across the board. That means that the herd is wintered on baleage grown on the farm, with no imports of palm kernel or other externally produced feeds. The farm is serviced by a fixed sprinkler irrigation system with water from the Waingawa River, but Chris says its production is still somewhat dependent on the weather. “When the weather’s kind to us, as it has been this year, our production gets up towards the 90,000kg mark, but in a bad season it drops back towards 80,000kg. “We calve in spring and generally start milking towards the end of July, continuing through to the end of May, but that’s dependent on the weather. “If the cows start to get a bit light, we stop milking – it’s all about maintaining the cows in the best possible condition,” he says. Chris is from an Auckland City background, but was introduced to dairying by friends of friends who managed a farm, and he spent his school holidays working there. “I just liked the sense of freedom that working on a farm gives you, so it was a natural thing to go into after school. “Initially I started out at Massey University doing the Bachelor course in Applied Science, and then I went over to work in Ireland for a year on a farm near Limerick. “When I came home I went straight to work on a dairy farm here,” he says. Now 38, he met his wife Amy, a school-teacher, and the couple has an 18-month-old daughter, and Amy continues to teach part-time. Together they’re planning ride the share-farming train into full farm ownership, though Chris says that could still be a few years off yet. Chris is a contract share-milker for Bev and Neil Wadham on their 69ha farm near Carterton. Winning the Wairarapa-Hawke’s bay Sharemilker of the Year Award brought the couple $7500 in prizes, mostly in the form of credit in the sponsors’ businesses, such as $1500 in services from the Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC). Other sponsors include the Auckland Savings Bank, CowManager, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda and tyre-maker Trelleborg, backed by industry partners Dairy NZ and MediaWorks. The awards divide the country up into 11 different regions with six categories, the latter including, as well as Sharemilker of the Year, awards for best dairy manager and best trainee, the Responsible Dairying Award, the Alumni of the Year and the First Farm Award. Proudly supporting Hillier - Wadham ORDISH & STEVENS Agricultural Contractors Call Arron Cook on 027 498 7104 Proud to support Hillier - Wadham
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