Nathan and Kate Williams, with an arable, sheep and beef finishing business just outside Masterton, won the Greater Wellington region supreme award on April 11.
Peter and Nicola Carver, operating a drystock and recent dairy conversion on Holmleigh, 515ha, at Ohangai, west of Hawera, won the Taranaki supreme award on April 12.
Both couples will join the other nine regional winners for the 2017 National Sustainability Showcase and to contest for the Gordon Stephenson Trophy in Invercargill on May 31.
The Williams have 335ha either side of the road to Castlepoint, just out of Masterton, on which half of farm income comes from livestock and the other half from cropping.
Main crops in recent years have been ryegrass and red clover for seed, barley and peas. About 35ha is cut for silage each year and turnips are an autumn feed crop for lambs. Each winter they take in hoggets to graze until late spring.
Between 3000 and 6000 lambs are continually bought and finished throughout autumn, winter and spring. They buy in 180-240 weaner cattle each autumn, which they aim to finish by the following May thus ensuring soil compaction is avoided with the heavier animals gone before winter.
The awards judges said Otahuao Farm was an “exceptional example of dryland farming”.
Operating with obvious consideration for the long-term viability of both their farming business and the environment, the Carvers have a sheep and beef breeding and finishing unit complemented by a 95ha dairy platform they developed to start milking in the 2014-15 season.
They milked 260 cows at the peak of this season. About 4500 units of drystock are wintered with a 50:50 sheep-to-beef ratio.
The awards judges described Holmleigh as a tidy, functional farm and highlighted excellent thinking and execution of environmental planning throughout the farm for the long-term sustainability of the land.
Previous reports of the other nine regional winners were published in [ITALICS]Farmers Weekly[END] on March 27 and April 17.
