The trust owns 57ha, but has expanded the milking platform to 177ha by leasing 12 non-contiguous blocks from local whanau trusts and now milks 570 Friesian/Jersey cows. It’s one of three finalists in the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition battling for the BNZ Maori Excellence in Farming Award.
The judges said leasing land was an innovative model that the trust had operated successfully to grow its dairy business.
The trust is relatively new to dairy farming. It credits a $24 million deal from Mighty River Power as its ticket into the industry, after the electricity company paid them in 2003 to investigate geothermal fields on its land at Kawerau.
With some of the profit, the trust bought Himiona Farm in 2007, just down the road from Te Teko township, and directly opposite Kokohinau Marae.
The purchase was significant to the trust and its owners as part of its commitment to re-acquire original land, but the size of the farm made it almost uneconomic. The trust leased an extra 4ha in the first season, expanding its milking platform to 61ha and milked 198 cows.
It was a challenging start to the dairy industry with the 2007-08 drought and the dramatic drop in payout the following season. During the first three seasons the cows produced just 258kg milksolids (MS)/cow, 227kg MS/cow and 281kg MS/cow.
But the trust persevered, built a new 40-aside herringbone dairy and expanded the milking platform to 114ha in 2009-10. In the same season, the farm was upgraded to a System 3 and production per cow has gradually improved with the herd on target to produce 400kg MS/cow this season.
Pasture growth has increased from 11 tonnes drymatter (DM)/ha/year to 13t DM/ha/year and the herd’s average days in milk has increased from 220 to 270, which has helped spike production.
Investing in large infrastructure on a 57ha dairy block and relying on leased land could be seen as risky, but it ensured they were great caretakers of the land, trust chairman Tiaki Hunia said.
“It’s a privilege to lease the land off our people, so if we don’t do a good job, then we shouldn’t have that privilege.”
The arrangement requires excellent communication and variable-order sharemilker Jason Wakefield has to negotiate with neighbouring farmers on a daily basis to walk cows to the farm dairy. In previous seasons, 35% of the herd was milked once-a-day to alleviate these logistics, but the entire herd had been milked twice-a-day this season. Jason break-feeds the cows until the end of milking, when he can walk the cows in one mob through neighbouring blocks.
Farming opposite the local marae under the watchful eye of its land owners, environmental sustainability and nutrient management is a priority for the trust and they are mindful of best practice.
The silt loam soil is prone to pugging, so up to 85% of the herd is grazed off for seven weeks during winter.
Nitrogen use has been significantly reduced from above 150kg N/ha/year to 100kg N/ha/year and the trust’s target is to reduce nitrogen leaching to less than 35-40kg N/ha.
The trust now uses composted and organic products, including chicken manure as fertiliser, and a new effluent pond built this autumn will increase storage. The dairy effluent area will be increased from 20ha to 32ha next season.
Putauaki Trust plans to increase its milking platform to 213ha and milk 700 cows at Himiona Farm within the next five years. It’s also investing in a $5m dairy conversion of 100ha on its land at Kawerau next year.
The winner of the Ahuwhenua Trophy will be announced in Tauranga on June 13.
Key points
Owner: Putauaki Trust
Chairman: Tiaki Hunia
Variable-order sharemilker: Jason Wakefield
Farm consultant: AgFirst’s Peter Livingston
Area: 177ha (57ha owned, 120ha leased)
Cows: 570 Friesian/Jersey cross
2013-14 target production: 228,000kg milksolids (MS)
Farm dairy: 40-aside herringbone
Operating expenses: $3.30/kg MS
Operating profit: $2043/ha
Six-week in-calf rate: 78%.
