| 57 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Bryce McKenzie Passion to protect the country’s waterways Tracey Edwardes Being both lifetime farmer and keen trout fisherman, has piqued Bryce McKenzie’s passion to protect the country’s waterways. Bryce was born and bred on McKenzie Downs near Pomahaka. His son Jared now runs the 338ha dairy farm, leasing it with brother Warrack off the family trust. While Warrack also 50/50 share-milks nearby. The brothers have their own company, a block of land, and over 1200 cows between them. “I rear the calves with Jared’s partner, Jess, and hop on the tractor through until Christmas preparing winter crops, and working last year’s crops back into grass - and general fix-it, fetch and carry jobs,” he says. He is a founding member the Pomahaka Water Care Group, which is presently setting up a community area for native Galaxias fish, with protective plantings. The 72-year-old is also very involved as co-founder of the pressure group Groundswell NZ. “We are launching a campaign trying to get New Zealand to pull out of the Paris Agreement, because our good farmland getting covered in pine trees, is part of it. We believe we shouldn’t be in it, as it’s costing New Zealand billions, and if we don’t meet our targets, it’ll cost even more. Our campaign started at National Fieldays and we’ll have billboards running the length of New Zealand on State Highway One, and other spots. A lot of people are wanting to put billboards up. Pines are ruining out waterways. You don’t get any life under a pine plantation - it just nukes everything. Once harvested, and nothing left to hold the soil in place, there’s massive erosion, as everything runs off into the waterways in an extreme rain event. A lot of the country, especially up North, cut native foliage to plant pines, just for the carbon credits. It just seems wrong.” He says with any water care operation, everyone can make a difference with how they operate everyday, to mitigate as much damage as possible to the waterways they are connected with. it would make a massive difference to the state of our waterways, and has done. “It’s just continuously being conscious of the the many ways we can farm everyday. It’s ongoing. You never stop caring. “When shifting stock, will they be near a waterway, or likely to enter or damage it? If moving machinery or working ground, what’s the a chance of run off from a downpour? Are buffer zones in to catch it? Are there good buffer zones for winter grazing, and are crops fed right so leftover crops catch run-off sediments? Bryce McKenzie says with any water care operation, everyone can make a difference with how they operate everyday, to mitigate as much damage as possible. When working with stock, think about limiting ground damage, to reduce sediment run-off. “We’ve done a lot of riparian planting here. We also put in a large calving pad, dug in with pipes under it, gravel and sawdust, for all our cows to calve. Anything coming off is pumped to a pond, then spread out. As the ground dries, it’s pumped back onto the farm. Drainage pipes catch everything on the pad. More farms are now using them.” The 700 cows milked in the 54-bale rotary shed produced 320,000kg milk solids this year. Bryce says his work on the farm is either guy time or not at all - with more time on Groundswell than 0800 SGTDAN (748326) Gorton Street, GORE Ph: 208 3965 E: admin@sgtdan.co.nz PH: 027 810 1818 | shaejohnstone@outlook.co.nz Maitland Contracting Ltd • Agricultural Work • Baleage Hay Straw • • Call Willy: 027 630 9032 Email: maitlandcontractingltd@gmail.com anything else. And of course there’s fishing. “But for me, the greatest thing is being able to farm with my sons - that’s everybody’s dream. I love it. It’s great not having to worry about making decisions on the farm. I don’t mind them being the boss!”
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