Measured strategy underpins success

Janine and Ken Hames run 3000 Friesian bulls on Ewenny Farms, a 341ha drystock farm at Paparoa, 40 minutes southwest of Whangarei.

Strategic planning is a big part of developing and managing their business: repaying debt, improving the land and creating a legacy for future generations are medium and long-term considerations. When they bought the 226ha (eff) home block in 1998 they made an overall development plan for capital investment, stock classes, stocking rates and matters affecting marketing decisions.

With moderate-to-low hills and a Waiotira clay loam, base slips and pugging were two especially big concerns. This eventually led to a shift in marketing policies and stock classes carried on the farm, Hames says.

They first ran 1500 ewes and Friesian bulls, then switched entirely to Friesian bulls after getting better returns from beef.

At first they bought bulls as weaners in late spring, carrying them through to carcase weights of 260kg. But the land was unable to stand the pressure of bulls in their final winter, causing pugging which limited production in subsequent seasons.

The couple revised their system: instead of buying in animals in late May, they bought in June-August when they were lighter, to cut the impact on the farm during winter. Though this risked slower growth rates, it allowed the farm to increase turnover and improve flexibility, improving overall profitability.

The shift was largely in line with a more structured treatment of the farm, Hames says. Instead of treating the farm as a whole, they have established ‘land management units’ across the property, determining how each sector of the farm needs to be treated. Worked out in a way similar to the calculation of variable spreading rates, land management units are bigger blocks of land treated differently depending on the season.

Hames took a highlighter to a farm map, ‘formalising’ something done intuitively by many farmers. He says this helps them plan for stock use across the farm, resulting in measurements which take into account the true economics of their stocking rates.

The property is broken into four intensive beef blocks, each seperated into 1.1 ha ‘cells’. This allows running lighter stock classes, because it makes possible a faster stock turnover with less land resources.

Stock water is the biggest issue for the property, Hames says.    The Paparoa district is well known for being susceptible to dry conditions in summer and their 341ha drystock property is no exception. 

Building dams – they now have three – has hugely increased water storage capacity, but Hames still takes no chances, carefully monitoring water usage and ensuring stocking rates are lightest in December-March.

He watches for leaks with two $300 water meters, which he says soon paid for themselves considering the volume of water that can be wasted. 

“In January, 450 bulls were drinking 13,000L/day; if it went up to 21,000L I knew I had a leak or a broken ballcock,” he explains. “If you haven’t got water running into your farm you can’t farm.”

While water shortages are the main environmental problem in summer, in winter they must cope with pugging and slipping.

The farm sits on a mixture of Waiotira clay and Waiotira gravelly clay and Hames says hills can be especially sensitive after big rainfall.

They continue planting poplars on hills, which thrive provided stock are kept away from new plantings; and they have planted 25ha in pines in partnership with one of Ken’s family who invested in the establishment and maintains the plantation. 

All parties hope the returns from the trees will fund their retirement. “I didn’t have the capital when I was young so it was a way of getting the trees established,” Hames says.

An important goal is to build something to leave for their children to take on. And though many farming couples find their children don’t want to take on the burden of a farm, Hames says his daughter, though young, is showing a definite interest.