Supported by the Sustainable Farming Fund
Hawkes Bay Advance Party seventh onfarm meeting
Wednesday 19 November 2014
George Williams and Laura Billings
“Te Maire”
679 Matheson Road, Tikokino
Agenda:
Start with lunch at the homestead (provided, as usual). Four wheel drives will
suffice as the farm is well laned and tracked.
12.45: Introductions and plan for the day Amy Wills is attending and delegating Tony
Pearse to attend the same-day event at Invermay
1.00: Tour of Te Maire- start at deer shed then look at both deer farm areas and
new shed site plan.
3.00: Return to homestead, smoko and group discussion for Te Maire deer.
Consider financial data presentation format provided by George.
We need to also discuss a suitable date for the final 2014 group meeting at
Charteris’ which will need to be in the first week of December
Also need to discuss questions for Sharon McIntyre regarding issues the
group would like answered around breeding values and genetic improvement.
Sharon would like to be able to provide answers to specific questions when
she visits. See previous email circulated.
Te Maire stock numbers for winter 2014:
Stock class
Total area
Effective area
Deer fenced area
Effective deer fenced
area
Te Maire
1188 ha
970 ha
410 ha
400 ha
su
MA hinds (in fawn)
R2 hinds RWS
R1 hinds
R1 stags
R2 stags
R2 stags venison
R3 stags
MA stags
Sire stags
deer
200
93
130
126
97
2.4
1.9
1.7
1.7
2.5
2.5
3.2
3.5
3.5
MA cows
R1 Heifers
R2 heifers
R2 bulls
R2 steers
R3 steers
cattle
565
1127
192
MA and 2T ewes (rwr)
Lambs and hoggets
Rams
sheep
490
20
7
517
Total
3568
81
264
11
996
170
Total su
13287 su
13.7 su/eff ha
6.4 deer su/deer ha
5.5
4.5
5.5
5.5
5.5
5.5
2055
480
177
221
214
243
259
924
39
2557
3108
5072
1056
935
10171
1.1
0.7
0.8
539
14
6
559
13287
NB: stock units based on DINZ for European red deer and on BLNZ
information for sheep and cattle
Our Background
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1998 leased 500ha of Te Maire, leaving 140ha to be farmed by my father for
his breeding hinds.
May 2000 lost my father in a motorbike accident on the farm. Managed the
rest of the family farm, including Paretai (300ha flat farm on the Tikokino
straight). At the time Paretai was running 1000 velveting Stags. I sold the
majority of the stags (kept my father’s favourites and the breeding hinds)
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November 2000 leased all of the family farm: Te Maire 640ha and Paretai
300ha
2002 Purchased 280ha of Te Maire (south side of Matheson Road)
2006 family sold Paretai
2006 purchased the rest of Te Maire (360ha)
June 2006 started leasing Spencer MacDonald's farm next door to Te Maire
(320ha) and a 40ha flat farm on Matheson Road
2012 purchased MacDonald Farm
2012 purchased Homeview, a 74ha flat and run down farm on Matheson
Road, next to the 40ha lease farm (Margy's)
2014 Purchased Homebush, a 120ha farm next to Te Maire. Also run down!
June 2014 moved farming operation from the Trust to the company "Temco
Ag Ltd"
Today we are farming 1188ha (970ha effective) made up of...
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370ha flat of which 340ha can be cash cropped
600ha medium Hills
80ha pine trees
50ha QEII fenced off native bush
55ha fenced off native bush
33ha scattered Totara trees
Our Team
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George- manager
Laura- looks after George, Tessa, and Chalky! Does the book keeping.
Amy- responsible for stock movements and rotations.
Dan- full time tractor driver/general farm maintenance and also helps with
stock when needed.
Stock policy
Cattle
Since 2011 we have had a change from finishing bulls to dairy heifer grazing.
Transition was slow and painful, running friesian bulls and heifer graziers at the
same time is not ideal!! But it meant we spread our risk of selling out of our cattle
over two years. All heifers are contract grazed on a weight gain basis. Grazing is
great for cash flow, not so good for pasture management. Rarely do you have a mob
you can use to clean up a paddock.
Winter cow grazing on crop, good cash flow and works well with cash cropping.
Also carry 170 R2 steers June till December to help combat the lack of grazing
pressure in the spring.
Deer
The deer have become a personal passion of mine. Only started to enjoy farming
them in the mid 2000's!! Bred solely for velvet- venison is more of a by-product.
The deer are proving to be a good mix of stock to have with the heifer grazing. MA
hinds and stags do a great job of cleaning up after the heifers at certain times of the
year.
The plan at this stage is to continue to grow the velvet herd. We have been breeding
up our velvet herd since 2002 and are fortunate to have timed it well with an older
herd and high prices in the last few years. Breeding all our own stags to get to this
stage was slow and not so profitable!
This year we are averaging:
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5.9kg for MA stags 5yr+.
4.6kg for 4yr olds
3.8kg for 3yr olds
Wilkins Farming (WFL) Stud Stock. Since 2010 we have been the home of WFLs
North Island Stag Sale. Mike Wilkins sends around 25 stags to us in early August
and it is our responsibility to feed them as well as possible and prepare them for the
on farm sale in December. We are paid a management fee for doing so and get the
velvet.
Sheep
Sheep are basically for grazing laneways and steep gullies etc.
Cropping 2014-2015
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80ha malting barley
14ha feed barley
65ha process peas contracted to McCains
80ha winter feed crops (kale and swedes, Goliath, oats and kale)
36ha autumn feed
180ha new grass per annum
We do our own cultivation and baling. Harvesting done by contractor.
Identified issues for Te Maire...
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Improving velvet production through DNA or use of a spotting scope- cost/benefit
and use of data
Financial comparisons and analysis- EFS summary and budgets will be
presented
Identified group member issues at 2013 meeting...
Ru, Hugh, Ben:
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Completed AP on-farm meeting 10 April 2014
Identifying late born small fawns to their dams so dams can be culled
Adding terminal sires into the breeding programme
Improved weaner growth rates
Use of crops for R1 deer in particular
Developing a firm long term direction- venison and/or velvet?
Grant, George and Matt:
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Improving velvet production through DNA or use of a spotting scopecost/benefit and use of data
John, Marie and Daniel:
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Loss of weight for velvet stags over rut
Drought and the effect on lactating hinds
Pasture persistence- grass grub, drought and persistence in general
Utilisation of recorded information for selection and sale- how much is too
much?
Irrigation possibilities and future farming policy
Selection of outside genetics . Currently using Deer Improvement semen for
AI. What are appropriate genetics to build on current performance and will
they perform?
Matt and Paula:
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Completed AP on-farm meeting 31 July
Better lactation performance from hinds- wean better weaners
Improve weaner weight gain in autumn
Start a velvet stag herd
Karen and Richard:
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Completed AP on-farm meeting 4 September
Feeding two year olds at pinch periods and effects on lifetime performance
Improving velvet production through DNA or use of a spotting scopecost/benefit and use of data
Weight loss in stags over autumn- management (feed, space) or science
Karen:
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Completed AP on-farm meeting 22 October
Completed AP on-farm meeting 22 October
Improved weaner weights and continually improved velvet production
Riparian retirement- costs and practicalities
Evan and Linda:
Completed AP on-farm meeting 2 July 2014
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“Blank canvas”- any input on development plans welcome
Want to hold hind numbers but develop a plan to utilise the extra deer fenced
area- velvet, improved feeding
 Do things “better”- feeding, genetics source and pairing up hinds/fawns
 How to best tap into potential genetic gains