Ngāi Tahu Farming Limited Field Day
MEDIA RELEASE
9 March 2016
Large turn-out for first Ahuwhenua Trophy Field Day
Upwards of 300 people turned out for the first of the field days being staged by the three finalists for the 2016 Ahuwhenua Trophy BNZ Māori Excellence in Farming Award for Dairy. The field day was held at Ngāi Tahu Farming Limited’s farms Te Ahu Pātiki and Maungatere which are located near the Canterbury township of Oxford. The two farms are in the area known as Te Whenua Hou which was originally a New Zealand Forest Service radiata pine plantation commonly known as Eyrewell Forest. Visitors heard presentations from key Ngāi Tahu managers and staff and also had the opportunity to see some parts of the farming operation.
The Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee Chairman, Kingi Smiler says the event was a very special one in terms of the 83 year history of the trophy. “It’s the first time we have had dairy finalists from the South Island. As well as Ngāi Tahu we have got the Rakaia Incorporation from Ashburton, so it’s a proud moment for everyone,” he says. Kingi Smiler says Māori farming has been growing stronger and Ngāi Tahu Farming is a good example of that. He says their development near Oxford where their farms are located consist of 7,000 ha of what was once forestry land. “They started development in 2012 and have made amazing progress over three or four years developing the pastures and irrigating the land. Their farms are already performing at a high level and I have no doubt it will get stronger and stronger.
Ngāi Tahu demonstrated great professionalism and a clear vision with cultural values that guide how they do all their business” he says Kingi Smiler says Ngāi Tahu have put a huge amount of work into making sure their farming operation is sustainable. He says their use of lysimeters to get hard data on environmental issues will ensure that will have a resilient business over the decades to come. Kingi Smiler says all the finalists in the competition this year have a common goal in developing sustainable farming operations.
The other two field days are being held at Tewi Trust’s farm near Tirau this Friday 11th March and next Wednesday, March 16th the Proprietors of Rakaia Incorporation will host a field day in their property near Ashburton. The winner of the Award will be announced at a function in Hamilton on Friday 20th May.
For more information contact Peter Burke, 021 224 2184.
Our thanks to our valued Ahuwhenua Trophy sponsors: BNZ, DairyNZ, Ministry for Primary Industries, Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Tumu Paeroa, Fonterra, Primary ITO, AgResearch, PGG Wrightson, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, LIC, Federation of Māori Authorities, AFFCO, Allflex, BDO, Polaris, Ecolab, Landcorp, Tohu Wine and WorkSafe. A big thanks also to sponsors of the Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award: Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Tumu Paeroa, Primary ITO and Allflex.
About Ngāi Tahu Farming Limited
Ngāi Tahu’s dairy farming operation currently consists of seven dairy units – of which Te Ahu Pātiki and Maungatere are located side by side near the Canterbury township of Oxford. The area is known as Te Whenua Hou and was originally a New Zealand Forest Service radiata pine plantation commonly known as Eyrewell Forest. Ngāi Tahu made the decision to convert forestry to dairying to get the best economic return and to develop wider opportunities for whānau.
The first farm came on line in the 2012/13 season. Full development of Te Whenua Hou will see 13 dairy farms and seven dairy support farms across the property. All the land is flat and most of the milking platforms of both farms are irrigated by water from the Waimakariri River.
The milking platform at Te Ahu Pātiki is 355 ha and runs 1,251 Kiwi cross high BW cows that last season produced 468,747 kgMS. The slightly smaller farm Maungatere has a 290 ha milking platform on which 979 Kiwi cross high BW cows which produced 413,058 kgMS last season. There are also a number of dairy support blocks owned by Ngāi Tahu where stock from these farms are sent in the autumn. Being new farms, the soil is still quite sterile and there is a focus on increasing the organic matter in the ground to build up fertility.
Both farms have 64 bail rotary sheds and include a lot of modern technology and inside automation designed to improve the efficiency and minimise the environmental footprint. The pivot irrigation systems that have been installed on both farms have a ‘variable rate’ feature. This is a form of precision agriculture that allows water to be used more efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way. The system can be calibrated to only apply water to areas that need it and to avoid applying it to already wet or sensitive areas.
One of the features of the Ngāi Tahu operation is the strong focus on ensuring a low environmental footprint. An example of a strategy currently being implemented is to reduce the amount of supplementary feed being used and to focus on better utilisation of pasture. This will help improve profitability, especially during the current downturn in the dairy industry. They say they are not just trying to meet consent conditions but to be ahead of that and show a genuine commitment to kaitiakitanga and iwi values.
About five staff are employed on each of the two dairy farms, but on its overall dairy farming operation Ngāi Tahu employs about 70 staff. It also helps run a highly successful and popular training programme called Whenua Kura designed to give young Māori from Ngāi Tahu and other iwi the skills to make a career working on their farms and in the wider agri sector.
Media contact: Shane Kelly, GM – Dairy, 027 224 2990, 03 366 4344.
