30 | nzdairy DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS » Te Kahika - Stephenson Top accolade really means a lot to Grace Randall Johnston Grace Te Kahika, farm manager for her parents Jeff and Anne Stephenson on a 76ha property 10 kilometers south of Dannevirke, has edged out the competition to be named Farm Manager of the Year for the Wairarapa-Hawkes Bay region in March. “I went with my husband and it was a nice wee surprise. I was thinking I might pick up a merit award or two,” she says. She won the Dairy Trainee Award for the Wairarapa-Hawkes Bay region about 10 years ago, but had not entered any farming competitions since. “Manager is a big step up compared to what I was doing back then. I thought I would at least know the structure of the awards, but after the first round of judging I realized it was a different ball game,” Grace explains. A sole charge position; Grace calved 191 KiwiCross cows this year on the once-a-day milking operation. Last year they did 61,000 milk solids per year – this year the target is 65,000. The herd has decreased over the last decade from 220 to about 190. “I have a relief-milker Chelsea who works in town as a welder and comes in every second weekend, but other than that – it’s all on me really.” The herd size has reduced slightly this year from a peak of 220 cows. “We are now going for quality over quantity, to get the good cows producing milk and not the ones that are letting the team down. We are really focusing on high producing cows that are converting that feed into milk and that comes down to lactation worth and production worth and breeding worth of the cows. Every season for the last three seasons (since she started managing the property) Grace has been dropping out the bottom 5 per cent of producers, that’s also helps to decrease the environmental impact on the farm as well. Before that, she was a stay at home mum on the sheep and beef farm that her husband was managing, and she is loving being back in the dairy game. “I do it because I absolutely love the cows. Just the genetics and the potential of the herd is just amazing, especially in the last year or so with the way we have changed up our breeding. We do all AI now, no bulls and we just have a quick and compact six week calving. It’s pretty hard and fast but is working really well for us so far.” They use LIC for most of their breeding and they come on farm to do the AI. “I grew up on this farm so I know it very well but the awards made me step back and look at what I’m doing on here and really look closely into whether it makes any sense or not. It’s very easy to plod along season after season doing the same thing, but you have to explain and prove to the judges that there is good reasoning being that.” Three ha of chicory has been planted this season, which is big shift for a farm that has had no cropping to speak of for the last 2 decades and grace has also planted 6ha of oats for the winter. “We don’t have the option of grazing of this winter so we needed to re-jig things to prepare for that.” With their first foray into cropping, a slightly reduced herd and this huge award under her belt, Grace is well positioned to reach her on farm goals in the years ahead. Grace calved 191 Kiwi-Cross cows this year on the once-a-day milking operation. Scott Simmons Owner/Operator Ph 021 202 7674 Aerodrome Rd, Dannevirke scott.simmons@outlook.co.nz Services: Cultivation, Direct Drilling Round and Square Balage, TubeWrapping Round, Square and Conventional Hay Anne Buddle
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