He attended the Dairy Environment Leaders Forum which he says now allows him to network with a range of farmers on environmental issues.
Two years ago he was invited by the Northland Regional Council to be one of two farmer members of its Doubtless Bay Catchment Group.
The family have continued with the fencing and planting programme on the dairy farm which he describes as being rundown and non-compliant when it was bought 10 years ago.
“It’s about mitigating environmental risks” he says.
“My traditional thought would have been to drain the swamps but now I would protect them because of my change in mindset.”
He and wife Liz had been dairy farming near Dargaville, running two dairy farms of 120ha and 90ha which between them ran 500 cows with peak production of 200,000kg milksolids (MS). Neither of their sons was interested in dairying, so they sold up and moved to Northland’s East Coast.
In 2005 they purchased the farm at Oruaiti near Mangonui.
Clive, who has a management degree and had been working in Western Australia, returned home from a sailing adventure, and the family partnership was established. While he and wife Jorja were running up to 1000 dairy beef bulls on the 420ha farm, creating a Techno beef farming system, Murray and Liz settled in on what is now the larger farm’s dairy support block at Waipapa, near Kerikeri.
During this time, Clive and his staff member fenced off the swamp and bush areas, and the Oruaiti River which flows for several kilometres along the farm boundary and which the livestock had previously had access to.
They began planting some of these areas and the project was assisted by funding from the Northland Regional Council’s riparian fencing and planting scheme. Jorja submitted a plan to the council who funded materials and plants for the project.
They realised within the first five years that Clive and Jorja were not gaining enough traction in building equity, and considered a return to dairying. In the Waikato drought of 2007-08, Northland escaped relatively lightly and they reasoned they should be able to make good returns on 400 empty cows bought in from further south. They leased a 400ha block from local iwi for the year to cater for grazing for the cows before deciding their future lay back with dairying, and continued farming bulls on the home farm while the necessary infrastructure was developed.
To convert the farm back to dairying, first they refitted the old dairy, extending it from a 30 to 40-aside herringbone and upgraded the effluent system from the two existing ponds to six ponds, all gravity fed. These ponds handle the effluent produced with a 120-day storage capacity. The Waldens use an effluent tanker to spread effluent on 70ha of the farm.
A Protrack system with automatic cup removers was installed at the start of the second season and a standing pad with a bark surface which can hold the whole herd was built alongside the existing concrete feedpad. The herd is fed palm kernel but this has been kept to a minimum this season because of reasonable rainfall, the drop in payout and Fonterra’s initiative to reduce palm kernel use.
They carry out as much pasture renovation as possible each year, using annual ryegrass such as Tama on the cropping areas or perennials, such as Trojan, for the regrassing areas.
“We address some of the better paddocks so we can grow more grass and also work on the tail,” Murray says.
They’ve grown chicory for the last two years, with 15ha in the ground this year. About 3ha that didn’t take properly was successfully resown with millet. They also make grass silage onfarm when surplus feed allows paddocks to be taken out of the rotation.
Two years ago they moved to once-a-day (OAD) milking to be able to milk off more of the farm. Overall milk production increased and costs have been reduced. Clive and Jorja have swung back from Friesians to more crossbred cows which they believe are better suited to this type of management.
Initially 200 higher-performing spring-calving cows were left on twice-a-day milking.
“It was harder to convince me to change because it was against my traditional mindset. But you have to be open-minded for succession. Clive challenges me and once we got over the old bull-young bull scenario we settled into a good relationship,” he laughs.
The subsequent move to OAD year-round for all the herd has meant with this season’s lower payout they’ve reduced staff to two full-timers and Murray spending more time with the young stock and visiting the farm weekly to help out when necessary.
They still rear a few bulls, putting several calves on some cows and taking them through to 100kg liveweight depending on the market, and keeping a group for natural mating after AI finishes.
They’ve carried out extensive replacement of stock water and fences. Planting flax and other natives inside the fenced areas has been ongoing when time allows. This has been done from seedlings from various sources and seeds propagated by Jorja’s parents, Mary and John Ralph, as well as flax clumps, which don’t need release spraying, cut up with a sharp spade and planted in winter. In paddocks where there are springs, bull rushes are left to regenerate where in the past Murray would have had very different plans.
“I would have sprayed and drained them as was the accepted farming practice in my era”.
They have also moved boulders into gullies on some of the higher paddocks which had little or no feed value.
“These paddocks were basically waste but now the good areas are included in the rotation and rocky areas play a part in helping to improve the water quality in the lower reaches of the streams by reducing sediment losses at source.”
The existing races were formed with river shingle.
“I always thought it would be a dream to be able to get shingle out of a river and on to races,” Murray says.
“But when it is a reality, you realise how hard it is on the cows’ feet and vehicle tyres.”
They have now been resurfaced with shale from local quarries and more culverts have been installed to divert water off the races.
The river can flood during heavy rains, and although it seldom comes over the banks, occasionally it will block the bridge approaching the farm, but rises and recedes rapidly. Clive keeps in touch with Fonterra regarding tanker collection schedule at these times.
Native raupo is growing strongly, which Murray says wouldn’t happen if there was too much of a water quality issue. Flaxes and grasses on the fringes also help with filtering water and minimising nutrient and silt losses before it enters the waterways.
With the Oruaiti River being tidal well up into where it flows along the farm boundary Murray is proud to report there are still whitebait to be caught where willows shade the water. There’s also been a large number of tui around this year with flaxes flowering prolifically.
Regenerating tea tree is increasing laneway bank stability, and this has been assisted by trimming off the branches of seed heads then pinning down cut branches to the banks. There are beehives on one area of the farm with beekeepers wanting more access to the valuable manuka areas.
“But you have to balance that up with the disturbance to the stock.”
The secret of success
The Doubtless Bay Catchment Working Group, one of five in Northland, was set up and funded two years ago by the Northland Regional Council. Murray believes it’s one of the successes that has come from dairying’s environmental initiatives and considers the industry is well-served with a very supportive team from both DairyNZ and Fonterra.
“It’s a collaborative process,” he says.
The aim was to help the council set its targets when it came to improving freshwater and Murray says he’s happy to be involved with a mandate from local farmers.
“I accept there are other points of view,” he says.
“There are hard-nosed farmers who say they can’t do this and hard-nosed greenies. We’re not always going to agree but we can understand each other’s point of view and work towards a common goal.”
When he first came to the group there were some facts regarding freshwater quality which weren’t available with the benchmarks the council was using.
But it’s now doing more testing with new sediment-tracking technology, making it easier to establish exactly where any problems might be happening rather than guessing, which might have happened in the past.
“Farmers can support other farmers and get people to come and talk with them without being regulatory,” he says.
“DairyNZ has five of the best water scientists in the country who are able to provide assistance and talk to our meetings. We emphasise that this is not a finger-pointing exercise, it’s an understanding process.”
A meeting which was held in the area recently had Fonterra and DairyNZ representatives attend and a 100% turnout of local dairy farmers.
“One farmer told me he had learnt and understood much more from this meeting than he had for a long time,” Murray says.
During summer he says it seems that half of Auckland descends on the east coast of Northland while the other half heads to the Coromandel Penninsula.
“The pressure is on the local council’s infrastructure which has to cope with extra sewerage. Extra stormwater at these times adds even more pressure.
“Farmers don’t need to be made to feel guilty but they do need to face up to the issues and be part of the collaborative effort to improve water quality. They need to have an input into the regional council’s water management regulatory setting process which is required by central Government. This is where our DairyNZ support team is most valuable.”
He says it’s a very different scenario now to the days when small dairy farms would let their wastewater drain into nearby creeks, and he has praise for larger, intensive operations, saying he believes they’re dealing well with the issues they face.
When it comes to their farm, Murray is quick to point out the amenity value that good environmental management has enhanced, with wakeboarding and kayaking on the river, duck shooting and whitebaiting in season and a spot of snapper fishing in its tidal reaches.
“It’s a lovely interesting farm with a never-ending scope for improvement.”
Finding flaxes
Murray Walden has thought outside the square when it comes to finding flaxes to plant on his farm.
“In Kerikeri there are developments where there was overplanting several years ago,” he says.
“So they need to be thinned or pruned.”
He put out the word that any plant material removed would be useful for his riparian planting programme and was invited by some of the business owners to help himself.
“It took a little bit of effort,” he admits.
A horsefloat was used to transport loads of flaxes from town to around the farm to be planted while Jorja’s father, John Ralph, created a nursery for his seedlings at the back of the dairy.
“It’s a good spot for a nursery as they are easily watered with the wash-down hose.”
