Subdivision and round length prove successful for drystock farmers

The Morrisons grow 600-700 bulls on their 390ha (eff) farm 5km northeast of Kaitaia, a property he has seen grow from scratch. 

When he and his father Jim bought the 345ha property in late 1978 it had no infrastructure. A half-round hayshed was built in the first week, in which they lived for 12 months until a site was chosen and a house built. During the first 16 months they also erected 4km of fencing and cattle yards, developed land, farmed 100 Murray Grey and Angus Cows, raised their progeny and bought in steers. 

George then left on OE and Jim continued with fencing and development, including a water system. George returned in 1988 with his wife Peggy and took over managing the farm completely in 1990.  

By then there were 28 paddocks from 5-25ha and they continued with Jim’s practice of selling bulls from the Murray Grey stud to dairy farmers and carrying progeny through as steers and heifers for hooking for a short period.

The couple switched from a stud to a marketing farm after their accountant’s budget showed an income of $100,000 and costs of $100,000.

They initially used South Devon genetics to produce cross bred steers. While various permutations were tried, including Charolais, Maine Anjou and Simmental bulls over Friesian Hereford cows, the couple left the bulls after finding that a rig running with steers continuously outperformed the steers he was running with. In 1995 they bought an adjoining 97ha block.

In 2007 the breeding herd was sold and they turned all their attention to bull farming. 

Set stocking policy was trialed in 2009 – wintering two-three bulls per paddock, then in the spring bringing bulls back together in mobs of 20-25 and farming through till the autumn for hooking. This was a good lifestyle policy over the winter months but they felt there were better options. 

The following year 8-15 bulls per mob were left together and farmed on a three-day rotation, each mob having their own set number of paddocks depending on mob size, paddock size and grass quality.  

This system meant some mobs were on as little as a nine-day rotation if they had three paddocks, to an 18-day round if they had six paddocks.  

This system was used for three years, but they often faced feed holes as pasture was grazed too low and didn’t get enough time to recover from the previous grazing. 

Then George bought Peggy 60 Kiwitech reels and 500 Kiwitech standards for her birthday in 2013 and the couple started running an intensive beef system, carrying 25-30 head per mob, giving them 10 paddocks per mob and shifting them every second day. 

Using the sticks and strings gave the new operation a lot more flexibility: the 10 paddocks could be broken into three breaks per paddock giving a 60 day rotation, or half giving a 40 day rotation, or left whole for a 20 day rotation.

The Morrisons now buy bulls at 300-400kgLW in December-May, grow them through the winter and start hooking December-May the following year when they reach target weights of 600-750kgLW.

Their farm is now divided into 220 paddocks and they carry 22 mobs during the winter. Late autumn is the pressure time when setting the mobs up for the winter rotation: paddocks are recovering from mowing, bull mobs need to be fitted into the rotations and the whole system must be synchronised so the mobs are kept away from each other in the following months.

Apart from these few weeks, during the rest of the year the operation has allowed the couple to marry production with lifestyle and environmental goals. 

Performance is better, the farm going from 460 R2 bulls to an average of 607 R2 bulls since winter 2013. 

While some of the field day attendees who walked the property said feed levels could comfortably handle a lot more mouths, the Morrisons are very aware of winter weather pressures and choose to farm accordingly. They also say farming is as much about the lifestyle and environmental stewardship as about profit.

Wanting to give an opportunity in farming to the next generation, they have employed a worker during the last couple of seasons: the capable Shay Carey now fills the role of stockman.

Taking on a fulltime worker caused them to see that though they knew how the farm operated and worked best, they had written down little about this, a hindrance to a newcomer adapting to the operation. “We started out writing down our core farm values, put down headings about everything we needed and went from there.”

Now they have a four-page document covering everything about the farm including expected behavior, safety and rules.

The document was recognised by health and safety experts at the field day as offering a lot of the basis of a good contract, and one that would put the couple in good stead with Worksafe.  

They identify this as a ‘living’ document and after monthly meetings it can be changed/updated as necessary.