Carry capacity boosted in the King Country

Date: 2010-07-20 | Category: Sheep & Beef News

William Oliver describes his family’s King Country farm as “a work in progress”.

Waerenga, a 774ha sheep, beef and deer unit, is part of a family operation that runs more than 100,000 stock units on 10,340ha.

At a Meat & Wool NZ field day late in March he discussed the extensive regrassing and cropping programme being used to boost productivity on “Waerenga”, a 774ha sheep, beef and deer farm at Rangitoto, east of Te Kuiti.

William and his wife, Karen, have farmed Waerenga for 15 years, leasing it from the Oliver Family Trust. This trust runs 106,000 stock units on 9000ha of owned land (spanning seven farms) and 1340ha of Maori lease land.

Outlining the history of Waerenga, William said the farm was covered entirely in native bush when first settled by Cantabrian Alex Sutherland in 1912. The Sutherlands began clearing the bush, bringing in the first sheep by train from Taihape in 1913.

In 1966 the Sutherlands sold the farm to William Oliver’s grandparents, Ian and Grace, and his uncle and aunt, Duff and Julie. The Olivers sold the farm in 1976 but the Oliver Family Trust bought it back again at auction in 1995 and amalgamated it with a neighbouring farm.

When William and Karen took over the 730ha effective farm in 1995 it was wintering 6500 stock units, and P levels ranged from four to 20. Scrub was regenerating in some areas and the infrastructure was “below average”. Swinging gates were a rarity, the water supply was broken down and few of the farm’s 60 paddocks were actually stock proof.

Today, the rolling to medium hill contour winters an average of 9500 stock units, and P levels range from 16 to 34. New subdivision has increased the number of paddocks to 140 and two-thirds of the farm is on reticulated water.

William, who runs the farm with the help of two full-time staff – Mike Ferrier and William “Buggs” Matatahi – said the significant improvement in the farm’s carrying capacity, soil fertility and infrastructure was part of a planned programme. “We set personal, physical and financial goals.”

He said physical goals were those factors that directly affected animal production, including fertility, water and feed quality.

Cattle numbers are also set to rise as another Oliver farm is destocked for carbon forest planting.

“We prioritise on a weekly basis and get the right animals in the right place. Cropping and infrastructure improvement is done at a rate that fits our financial means.”

About 2-5km of new fencing is erected annually and 20-30ha is put into swedes as part of a cropping and regrassing programme (see other story). Another 180ha will be brought into the cropping rotation and 80ha of this will be refenced and watered.

William said the key to the farms’ stock policy was to always remain flexible. “This gives us the ability to investigate and take advantage of opportunities, never getting into the position of being at the markets’ mercy.”

The number of sheep, deer and beef cattle farmed can vary considerably from year to year, depending on feed and market conditions.

This year the farm will winter around 2500 Landmark-Perendale ewes. These ewes are sourced as four and five-year-olds from another Oliver farm, “Motere”, near Taupo, and mated to Landcorp Supreme terminal sires.

All lambs are finished, typically at an average of around 17.5kg carcaseweight (CW) but the farm struggled to reach this weight this season.

“Lamb prices have been the second to best we’ve ever had, but in terms of production we have not achieved normal weights and sale dates because of last year’s dry.”
William said the lambing date was put back five weeks (to mid- September) last year, due to the hangover effects of the drought. Ewes were in lighter condition through early pregnancy and fewer lambs were finished before Christmas.

The lambing date is set according to feed conditions and the winter stocking rate. This year lambing will start in mid-August and lambs will be killed from late November to late April.

Some winter lambs will also be bought, but again this number can vary considerably “depending on climate and opportunity”.

William said trade lambs provided flexibility. Last year 2900 were bought and finished. By late April this year the farm had 400 winter lambs on board and the plan is to take about 1000 lambs into winter. These lambs will be finished by late in October.

Cattle numbers also vary from year to year. Two years ago the Olivers sold all their beef cows and are now moving to a bull-steer mix. “We are doing this because 100% bulls are hard on the farm and staff, and also to achieve better pasture management.”

This year the farm will carry around 400 cattle, including 166 R1 spring-bought bulls and 130 R2 bulls, along with 100 steers and 10 heifers. Last year the farm carried 585 cattle but William said the drop in numbers this year would soon be made up for by animals coming from Motere, where a carbon forest is being planted.

Bulls are finished at around 340kg CW at 24-months and steers will be finished at 350-360kg CW at 24-30-months.

William said the farm was well-suited to cattle production and the cattle policy was kept flexible “to take advantage of the markets”. Deer numbers have increased in the past 10 months. The Olivers recently bought another 200 red hinds and stags and this year the farm is carrying 700 mixed-age hinds, 205R2 hinds, 310 weaner hinds, 325 weaner stags, 50 spikers and 33 mixed-age stags.

William said Waerenga traditionally used Wapiti-cross stags, with the progeny sold as weaners at 58kg. The farm had now moved to reds “for reproductive fertility gain” and the aim was to sell as many weaners as possible before December. Weaners are killed from mid-September through to late October and only the lighter animals are carried into summer.

William said it took longer to reach the 58kg target this year because of the dry last year.
“This season the money is good and the climate is good, although there is still a slight hangover from last year.”

While the Olivers try to maintain flexibility with the deer policy, William said the fact the farm was carrying so many deer at present – with 930 hinds going to the stag – could limit opportunities. More deer fencing will be erected in future “as that gives us the option to run more deer”.

He said running three types of stock (sheep, beef and deer) created synergy because these stock types complemented each other.

Published courtesy of Country-Wide May 2010

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