Chris Gardner

Taylor Lincoln loves working on Reon and Wendy Verry’s King Country farm.

“It’s really good here,” said Lincoln, 19, of Maihihi, near Ōtorohanga.

“I’m learning different stuff about sheep and beef farming every day without heaps of pressure. No two days are the same.”

The former Te Awamutu College pupil joined the Verry farm, south of Te Kūiti, last year as a Growing Future Farmers student. She will complete her time with the Verrys later this year.

“We are trying to give back to the wider industry,” Reon said. “This is a pathway for people to get into farming.”

Lincoln is the fourth Growing Future Farmers student to benefit from living and working at Verry Farming Ltd alongside the Verrys and their staff, following in the footsteps of Teagan O’Shea, Tegan Sutton and Jodie Piggott.

The Verrys have been sheep and beef farming their own private 1900-hectare piece of paradise since 2007.

They employ farm managers Rameka Edwards and Tom Fuller and shepherds Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer of the Year finalist Grace Watson and Ethan Poppelwell.

The Verrys are King Country farmers through and through.

Reon was raised on a farm on Waipuna Road near Waitomo, while Wendy is from just over the hill.

“We started with a massive drought, the biggest since the 1970s, and have just leaned our business to not assuming it’s going to rain,” he said.

“Farms used to get advertised as ‘summer safe’.”

“I have not seen that on farm adverts for a long time,” Wendy said.

They farm about 5800 ewes, 1800 hoggets, 1000 bulls, 160 cows, 150 steers, and 550 dairy grazers.

The farm is in recovery mode following last summer’s drought.

“We had a feeling it was going to be dry and learned to make decisions early,” she said.

“We had to bring in 90 tonnes of palm kernel to feed our dairy heifers. We’ve not bought any for three years.”

They also planted 20 hectares in drought-resistant chicory to provide high quality feed for livestock.

“I feel like we have been on life support the whole year,” he said.

Before this month’s heavy falls, the farm has received a little over 200 mm of rain this year, around 100 mm of that in April, less than half the 430 mm of rain it usually receives by May.

Some parts of the farm have fared worse than others.

“If you have got steep north facing slopes, then you are buggered,” Reon said.

Many ponds and drains were still without water, but the feed situation had improved with Aprils rain.

“The pain has been eased by un-drought like meat prices, “he said,

Lack of rain meant lack of grass and the Verrys sending lambs to the saleyards much earlier in the season than usual.

“Half of the lambs have gone store,” he said.

“We’ve sold no store lambs for the last two years. As far as droughts go, this has been a good one, it improved prices. Our lambs have gone to Hawke’s Bay and mid-Canterbury. Store lamb prices were better than works lamb prices last year when there was a widespread drought in the rest of the country. There’s a bit of recovery in the wind. What did not come together for us last year came together this year.”

As immediate past chair of King Country River Care, Reon is passionate about improving water quality.

The organisation gained $1.4 million funding from the government one-billion trees campaign for riparian planting on multiple farms in the catchment.

It’s a project that has set those farms up well for achieving the goals of improving freshwater quality set out in the Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change One.

“Farms need good water. Everyone needs good water,” he said

Since 2014, he has worked with other farmers – such as Graham Pinnell and Graeme Gleeson – to represent the sector’s concerns on the workability of the plan to the council.

He is awaiting the outcome of an Environment Court appeal with anticipation.

“The regional council needs to have a lot of tools to be able to make that easy for farmers,” he said.

These should include tools to calculate total and winter stock units, waterway identification at farm level, slope calculator at farm level to 10 or 15 degrees and a flow chart to help farmers identify their activity level.

“Also required will be a hefty dose of pragmatism from the council... we need to be involved with any farmer meetings to re-socialise Plan Change One, ´ he said in his annual report to Waikato Federated Farmers.

“The longer all this regulation takes to land the better off farmers are. It gives us more time to prepare, inject some commonsense to make rules practical and if you know nothing about it, enjoy farming in ignorant bliss.”

No two days are the same

The price received for weaner cattle on Tiroa Station has soared under the tenure of manager Wayne Fraser.

Fraser has managed the Mangaokewa Road property near Benneydale on behalf of the Tiroa E Trust and Te Hape B trust for 14 years.

He has seen weaner cattle prices continue to rise since he switched to exclusively using bulls from Rock-End Herefords in the nearby Paraheka Valley, in what he calls the “back blocks” of Aria, put over their traditional Angus herd.

“We were getting $500 to $700 per head. Now we are getting more than $1000 per head. A strong market helps, but if you haven’t done your homework looking for those areas that can improve your bottom line you miss out.”

The station winters 36,000 stock units on 3170 hectares. When Fraser started at the station on a farm cadet scheme in 1983 the farm wintered 70 percent sheep and 30 percent Angus cattle. He’s changed that balance to 35 per cent Hereford-Angus-cross cattle and he is looking to increase that ratio to a 60-40 per cent sheep to cattle ratio.

“That means fewer sheep, improving the condition of the available grass feed, and more cattle bred from Hereford bulls over the Angus herd.”

About a quarter of the cattle on the station now have Hereford genetics.

Wayne puts the massive leap in profitability mostly down to the genetics from Rock–End’s Hereford bulls over the traditional Angus herd.

“We get good muscle and bone structure in our weaners, and that has improved over time,” he said. “A big plus is good temperament.”

Words like “do-ability” and “constitution” spring to mind when describing the station’s moderate-framed, masculine-looking Hereford bulls. They arrive at Tiroa Station in prime condition, having been raised and grazed on the steep back blocks of the Aria hills.

“They come off quite hard country down there,” Fraser said. “It is very steep, compared with the station, which is a lot flatter than rolling country.”

He credited his six staff for their animal management skills on the mixture of flat to rolling land and hill country.

“We use the Hereford bulls to put across our older cows and tail off with the first-year calves.”

Bull ratio is one bull to 30 to the heifers and one bull to 40 to the older cows.

“Calving ease is an important thing for us. As soon as they hit the ground they are up and running. That is a big plus.”

While the Tiroa Station terrain is softer than the Rock-End Herefords farm at Aria, winters on the station are usually longer and harder.

“We are about a month to six weeks behind everyone else, and it does get cold up here,” Fraser said.

“The calves are all grass-fed, once weaned and they have settled down they head on to some decent quality pasture. Then in June and July they go behind a wire on winter crop swede and kale and become noticeably quiet with us shifting the wire daily.”

All male perogy are sold either to neighbouring finishing blocks under the Tiroa Te Hape umbrella or sold to the store market.

Female progeny is retained and grown out, as replacements heifers and the surplus are retained and finished

Wayne is thankful to PGG Wrightson stock agent Bill Harrison for introducing him to Pete and Kirsty McCormick and helping improve farm profitability.

“Billy does a lot behind the scenes, and helps to promote the Hereford breed,” Fraser said. “He introduced us to Pete about 10 years ago and it just started from there. They have done the job for us and kept our quality up.”

Fraser likened farming to a fairground rollercoaster ride with its peaks and troughs, and said it is important to stay on the horse to avoid disaster.

“Like most farms, you have just got to ride the wave and not make too many changes.”

“Not so long-ago farmers were ditching breeding cows for finishing stock like bulls and steers because they were uneconomical. What they failed to see is all the good work a cow can do when we have a season when the grass is growing crazy, and the old cow will turn it into gold for your young stock. They never give the old cow credit for her true value with a good calve to boot.”

Homework pay off

King Country River Care chair Reon Verry says farmers needs to be seen as stakeholders by Waikato Regional Council.

Verry, also Waikato Federated Farmers Meat and Wool chair who farms south of Te Kūiti, contributed to a debate at this month’s Waikato Federated Farmers executive meeting on how the relationship between the regional council and farmers could be better.

“We need to be seen as a stakeholder,” he said.

“It’s not just regional council, it’s all district councils,” North Waikato Federated branch chair Chris Woolerton said.

Woolerton started the debate by bringing a remit before the executive asking for the organisation to instigate a joint management agreement with the council to ensure that the agricultural sector’s voice was fully heard.

Woolerton said farmers wanted a better relationship with the council.

“They are not getting traction, they are getting bypassed, they are not talking to them,” he said.

Federated Farmers is expecting the outcome of its appeal against the council’s wide-sweeping set of rules for agricultural land use next month.

“May will see an interim Plan Change One decision which will find the Waikato Regional Council scrambling to get their house in order,” Verry said.

“It will take months for the decision to register with most farmers, if at all, and then there may be some angst.

“I’m not sure there will be anything finalised this year as far as actions from farmers are concerned.”

Plan Change One sought to improve freshwater quality in the Waikato and Waipā River catchments. It will apply to around 10,000 properties and a land area of 1.1 million hectares within the two catchments. The plan change is a requirement from a Parliamentary Act and River Iwi Treaty Settlement.

Federated Farmers appealed against which waterbodies stock need to be excluded from, setback distances, how critical source areas are identified and managed, and how often fertiliser spreaders need to be calibrated.



Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes said Woolerton’s draft was applicable to all regional councils.

Verry also wanted to know what Woolerton meant by a joint management agreement.

Vice president Phil Sherwood said Woolerton was really after a memorandum of understanding and asked for the remit to be redrafted and brought back to the provincial annual general meeting.

Sherwood also floated the idea of preparing a remit on pest boards.

“I am going to keep on about pest boards, as we have got so many of them,” he said.

“We need to put some thought into a remit for pest control, trying to get some efficiency. The regional council, Department of Conservation and Operational Solutions for Primary Industries (Ospri) all work up to their little boundary and then stop.”

Waikato Federated Farmers vice president and Ōhaupō dairy farmer Andrew Reymer’s remit requesting Federated Farmers be given a seat on the Ospri board recently failed.

Reymer asked Ospri to explain a $16.6 million write-off related to the failure of a major software project in January.

Ospri’s Informations Systems Strategic Programme was meant to add functionality to the MyOspri portal, integrating new National Animal Identification and Tracing (Nait) functionality.

They need us, say Feds

Stu Kneebone

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) recently approved a submission on the government’s proposed new wastewater environmental performance standards that are intended to be rolled out across New Zealand.

Taumata Arowai is the water services regulator for NZ and is managing this consultation process on behalf of the government. Taumata Arowai was established by the government following the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak in 2016.

District and city councils throughout NZ have consents to discharge treated wastewater and stormwater.

Regional councils are the authorities responsible for the consenting of wastewater and stormwater discharges. Regional councils and their communities have the authority to set limits for discharges to land and water via consent conditions that reflect the values of the local community and the values and attributes of the receiving environment.

However, this change proposes changes that affect how wastewater standards are made and implemented. The amendments direct councils to implement any requirements imposed as part of a wastewater standard in a new consent, and concerningly, they mean that regional councils cannot include any conditions in a consent which are more or less restrictive than the new standards dictate.

Regional councils will still be the regulator but will have very little say on behalf of their communities on what these new standards are. Of real concern is that many of the existing consented municipal wastewater discharges in the Waikato have contaminant discharge standards that are of higher quality than what these new proposed standards will require.

Meaning that implementation of these new standards would see an increase in contaminants being discharged into the environment, effectively undoing significant work and investment that has been made by councils and their communities upgrading their wastewater treatment plants across the region.

This also will have the effect of undoing the work that other sectors such as farming have been doing with riparian planting and other measures to improve water quality.

Meaning if we are to continue on our journey of improving water quality across the region, other sectors such as farming will have to take up the slack.

A good example of this is the Lake Taupō Protection Project that was initiated to maintain the water quality in Lake Taupō. It imposed very restrictive requirements on farmers in the Taupō catchment, requiring them to reduce their stocking rates and associated production in order that a 20 per cent reduction in nitrogen discharge from both farming and industry could be made. Those reductions are now locked in place for 999 years.

To assist those farmers in making that transition, every ratepayer in the Waikato region contributed approximately $10/ratepayer/annum for 15 years; $81 million of public money was invested. These standards will in effect undo all of that work and investment. WRC has submitted strongly that it does not support what is proposed and explained why.

And for those interested, the Ministry for the Environment recently released its three yearly state of the environment report.

While the report contains some positive stories, it also highlights some concerning issues with regards to our environment, and the risks that these issues present to the quality of life for future generations.

Water quality at risk

When Jeff Woolford broke a wrist after going over the handlebars of his farm bike last year, his partner Lara Sutton stepped into his gumboots.

“I would not have survived without her,” Woolford said. “It’s been pretty hard over the last eight months.

“Lara has really held the farm, her career, and everything together.”

Sutton, who was this month named one of three finalists in the 2025 Dairy Woman of the Year Award, ended up doing more on their State Highway One farm as Woolford healed.

“I was quite lucky to spend more time with the kids,” Woolford said.

Woolford had his hands full with Georgia, seven, and Logan, five, while Sutton focused on balancing milking 290ha Jersey cows on 100 hectares with her role as DairyNZ strategy and commercial partnership manager.

Working for the good of the dairy industry with the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, the Dairy Women’s Network and Federated Farmers is all in a day’s work.

“It was definitely busy from July until December,” Sutton said.

The pressure came off as the farm moved to once-a-day milking in mid-December, and Woolford’s injury healed about two months ago.

Sutton also managed to find time to complete the 10-month Escalator programme through the AgriWomen’s Development Trust. The programme includes modules on understanding self, governance, leadership, communication and future direction.

The farm produced about 96,000 kilograms of milksolids this season, down about four per cent on its average 100,000 production thanks to the drought.

This is the couple’s fourth as a predominantly Jersey herd-owning sharemilkers on the138-hectare dairy farm midway between Piarere and Tīrau.

“We have been all grass with hay,” Sutton said.

“This season we needed to buy in some palm kernel to fill the gap.”

“The farm owners have put in a shed feeder, which will change things a little bit.”

“We are also heading toward a cross bred herd to be able to cut down on bobby calves.”

Crossbreeding dairy cows with beef bulls can significantly reduce the number of bobby calves. By crossbreeding, these calves can be raised for beef production, which increases their market value and provides an alternative to early processing.

Woolford hails from Tuakau and began his working life as a farmhand on a farm near Pirongia.

Sutton comes from Te Kowhai and grew up in Hauturu near Kāwhia in the King Country and then Hamilton.

They both spent the 2009-10 season milking at Te Kawa in the King Country.

“Jeff and I are a real partnership, and we talk about every decision on farm,” she said. “I genuinely love working with Jeff.”

“It’s definitely a family business,” he said.

“I was very surprised and extremely humbled,” said Sutton of her placing as a finalist in the Dairy Woman of the Year competition

Sutton was nominated by a friend, and nearly didn’t complete the application form because she did not feel worthy.

Dairy Women’s Network trustee and award judge Jenna Smith said: “Lara left the judges with a clear sense of her ability to connect then lead. Her demonstrated ability to continue to challenge herself, has seen her seize opportunity and develop significant process and progress in the dairy industry.”

Lara to the rescue

Pirongia’s Jo Sheridan is one of three finalists in the national Dairy Woman of the Year Award and is passionate about education both on the farm, and in the classroom.

She is currently demonstration manager at Owl Farm at St Peter’s School in Cambridge where she has been educating people about the dairy industry.

“It’s been a really humbling process,” Sheridan said.

Sheridan, husband Carl and their two sons Sam and Jake have been involved at Pirongia School since 2013. She served on the board from 2019 until she joined the Te Awamutu College board three years ago.

Before she left the Pirongia board, she urged parents to get involved.

“To be accountable for student achievements means that as board members we are constantly growing and developing our skills and keeping up to date with information to make informed decisions,” she said.

Her nomination as one of three finalists in the dairy award is recognition for her part in future focus farming.

“It is a really rewarding thing to be recognised for, as it has been a great part of my life for 24 years.”

[caption id="attachment_21562" align="aligncenter" width="1800"]

Future Focus Farming is an initiative designed to help farming businesses plan. It emphasises collaboration between spouses, siblings, or business associates to co-design a shared vision for their farm's future. The programme includes setting goals, creating action plans, and identifying key financial and performance indicators.

Sheridan has welcomed around 2000 visitors on to the 140ha Owl Farm each year for the past six years; 40 per cent of who have never been on a dairy farm before.

Her focus is on sustainable practices, farmer education and youth engagement which aims to inspire the next generation of farmers.

Small moments of connection with visitors who suddenly feel connection with the land or farm animals is what gets Sheridan out of bed.

“Their eyes light up,” she said.

The farm held its annual open day earlier this month and Sheridan and her team saw 900 visitors over four hours.

“I love everything about this job.”

Born and raised in South Taranaki, Sheridan moved to Pirongia in 2001 when she became a DairyNZ consulting officer, later serving as DairyNZ regional leader for the Waikato.

Sheridan’s nomination for Dairy Woman of the Year recognises her passion for education, community engagement and sustainability.

Sheridan is one of two Waikato dairy farmers up for the award, the other being Lara Sutton who farms between Tīrau and Piarere off State Highway One.



 

Jo in line for award

Staff Reporter

A finalist for this year’s Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award, Te Kūiti’s Grace Watson (Whakatohea) has been working as a shepherd general for Verry Farming on King Country’s Puketitiri Station.

The award recognises rising stars in the pastoral and horticulture sectors. Judge, Sam Vivian-Greer of Te Tumu Paeroa says it is great to see another excellent cohort of aspiring Māori farming leaders emerge.

“Māori agribusiness is growing exponentially and it needs people with the skills, experience and leadership qualities to take it forward,” he said. “We are seeing young Māori who have been winners and finalists take on leadership roles in the primary sector.”

Originally from Rerewhakaaitu, near Mt Tarawera, Grace, 24, comes from solid farming stock. Since taking on her role at Puketitiri Station in July, she says she has enjoyed the challenges of a busy farm working with sheep and cattle.

Grace’s fellow finalists are Coby Warmington, Te Tai Tokerau, and Puhirere Tau from Puatai Station, Tolaga Bay.

The winners will be announced in June in Palmerston North.

Spotlight on Grace

Jon Rawlinson

Diane Sharpe is as keen as ever to pitch in and lend a hand at Fieldays - 35 years on.

While Fieldays is calling for more volunteers, organisers need not send an invitation to Diane – she will be there, yet again.

“It’s nice being part of Fieldays because everybody gets to know one another, when we come together once a year, and I’ve felt as though I’ve been doing some good.”

Diane, who lives in Cambridge, is no stranger to public service.

She served on the Waipā District Council for almost 30 years. However, her involvement with Fieldays dates back even further, since the event moved from Te Rapa in Hamilton to Rukuhia in 1970.

She began by helping to “feed the troops” at what would become New Zealand’s largest agricultural event.

“I was with Rural Women NZ – which was the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers – who organised the catering. We made all the pies and sandwiches to feed the volunteers,” she said.

“When the event grew too big, about 10 years ago, Rural Women stopped doing the catering. Since then, I’ve been selling programmes and helped as an on-site liaison, making sure all the exhibitors are happy with their sites.”

Prior to retiring and moving to Leamington’s Lauriston Park, Diane was a dairy farmer at a property on Sharpe Road, Rukuhia from 1962. As June is the off season for milking, it’s the perfect time of year to attract volunteers.

More than 150 ‘non-milkers’ are still needed for this year’s event at Mystery Creek Events Centre.

Volunteers remain vital, says Taryn Storey from the NZ National Fieldays Society.

“Fieldays was started by volunteers in 1969 and they are part of the fabric of the event,” she says.

“Volunteering provides a unique opportunity to not only contribute to a world-class event but also gain valuable experience and make lifelong connections.”

Volunteer Diane will be there

DairyNZ board chair Tracy Brown says the organisation got it wrong when it asked farmers to choose one of two levy rises.

Asking farmers whether they wished to maintain current science and research, at between 4.4 cents and 4.6 cents per kg of milk solids, or expand investment in science and research, at 4.7 cents to 5 cents, had created some confusion and angst, Brown said.

“In hindsight we should have had a third option to make that clearer,” Brown said.

Brown, who is also a Waikato dairy farmer, told The News the organisation had not raised its levy from 3.6 cents per kg of milk solids since 2009.

The options consulted on will increase the milksolids levy payment by at least $800 per 100,000 kilograms of milk solids and be as much as $1400 per 100,000 kilograms of milksolids.

“If they were to choose 3.6 cents, they are choosing to further downsize DairyNZ, and stop doing a lot more work,” Brown said.

DairyNZ budgeted for $67,790 of levy income in 2025, and a total revenue of $81,773. Expenditure is budgeted at $85,252.

Government funding had decreased from about $14 million to about $4 million in the last decade, Brown said.

Te Awamutu dairy farmer and DairyNZ board member Chris Lewis said dairy farmers were able to comment on the options as they voted.

“We have had 10 or 12 consultation meetings on this, and I have been to about half, and it was not a very good turnout,” he said.

He had reviewed around 1500 pieces of feedback.

Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes said DairyNZ had made “a bad assumption” that dairy farmers accepted that DairyNZ needs an increase in levy.

There was no “no increase option” nand suggested the decision makers were “dancing with the fairies”.

Ōhaupō dairy farmer and Waikato Federated Farmers vice president Andrew Reymer agreed.

“While they have lots of justification for putting the levy up, they have a declining milk pool, and it makes sense. But if the farmers are not feeling the love on the ground, then it’s a hard sell. People are saying Dairy who? I don’t think there’s a lot of support to put the levy up.”

'Wrong' call on levies

Dairy farming in drought conditions is a fine balance between making the most of a good milk price and setting up for next season, says Share farming Consultants founder Louise Gibson.

“Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know what to do or if it feels a bit overwhelming,” Gibson said.

The secret is dispensing with emotions and making data-led decisions.

Gibson recommended starting by getting a herd body condition score done by an accredited scorer listed on the DairyNZ website.

“This will give you the information to determine milking regime, cow intake, and start your feed budget,” she said.

Then work out how much feed you have on hand and create a feed budget.

“Most farmers will need to put a hard line in the sand around not losing any further condition and start looking at how to preserve lactation,” Gibson said.

This may lead to a change in milking regime, introducing other products to the herd’s diet and sending away cull cows.

“There are a lot of areas who are looking for in milk cows so you may get a good price for them still,” Gibson said.

Farmers should then calculate the financial balance between extending lactation and banking some autumn milk production.

“If you do think you have a good case for making this work, do your budgets and cashflows and sit down with your bank as soon as possible to discuss this,” Gibson said.

Farmers should keep reviewing their plan.

“A plan made now may not be a suitable plan in a months’ time,” Gibson cautioned.

“We have no idea when it might start raining so be flexible and don’t be afraid to ask for expert help.

Fellow consultant Ashlea Kowalski said on-hand feed became a real concern as the drought tightened its grip and farmers, sharemilkers and contract milkers needed to be having conversations about feed.

“As we fast approach the new dairy season, is there going to be the feed on-hand you put in the agreements for current but also if you have new sharemilkers or contract milkers coming onboard for the new season?”

“The conversations need to happen now, and allow input from both parties, which needs to address how you are going to remedy the shortfall of feed, and outlining who is responsible for this,” Kowalski said.

“Is it financially beneficial for both parties to purchase extra feed in now, and lock in additional feed for the upcoming season?

“It all comes down to having those conversations.”

Farming through a drought

Natasha Cave is encouraging drought-stricken King Country sheep and beef farmers to take a mental health day and join the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Farmer Council at the Out of the Gate event in Rotorua.

Cave, a member of the council and co-manager of the 396ha Rotowai Farms at Mokauiti near Aria with her husband Alan, said the free March 26 event was a great opportunity to get off the farm and focus on people and productivity.

“Given the last 18 months we have been through financially, and we are now in a really dry period that’s not that great, it’s a good opportunity to get out and talk to some other farmers,” Cave said.

The scorching weather is bound to be a topic of conversation.

Cave’s farm has had a fraction of the rain it usually receives this year.

In January only 37.5 mm of rain fell, compared to 185 millimetres in 2024, followed by 23.5 millimetres in February, compared to 52 millimetres in 2024, and March doesn’t look like it will deliver the 131 millimetres It received last year.

“It’s the lowest we have seen it in a long time,” Cave said.

February’s thunderstorms skirted the farm.

“Water is probably tighter than feed, although if we don’t get rain soon, feed will become a big issue,” she said.

Cave said there was not any feed suitable left for finishing animals.

“We have just off loaded as much noncapital stock as possible. We are acutely aware it is getting late, and we are running out of days to get our pasture covers where they need to be for winter and want to protect next year’s production as much as possible.

“It becomes very hard to cart water in if you have got a lot of cattle. We need to be more aware of how our climate is changing.

“The King Country traditionally used to be summer safe with fairly reliable rainfall over the summer, not having that super dry period, so now we are having to make sure we have got good water systems in place. That’s going to come into play more.”

Cave, who received the inaugural 2025 Beef and Lamb New Zealand Leadership Advancement Scholarship in November as part of the organisation’s people and capability workstream, is planning to increase the farm’s head of cattle and add more water tanks to support that plan in increasingly dry summers.

Beef and Lamb New Zealand general manager of extension Justine Kidd said Out of the Gate would provide the information, tools, and fresh perspectives on navigating challenges and opportunities.

It will feature interactive workshops, diving into topics like on-farm productivity, leadership, team building, and diversification

Speakers include meat market expert Simon Quilty, economist Shamubeel Eaqub and motivator David Letele.

Time to get out the gate

When constructing anything, a little Leveridge seldom goes amiss. However, with little margin for error, both speed and skill are also required when making a play for competitive fencing’s highest honours.

“You need a bit of both,” Te Kūiti’s Martin Leveridge says.

“If you’re really quick, you can get away with doing a slightly rougher job, but the guys competing now are just so damn good that they can finish first and have the best work as well.”

He was hardly fenced in by his previous career path, but since taking on a new trade with fellow King Country countryman, Troy Brooky, Leveridge has made every post a winner, or near enough.

“I was in engineering for 10 years, doing a lot of structural stuff, cowsheds and whatnot, but I needed a bit of a break. It was supposed to be a bit of a holiday but once I started fencing, I never stopped.”

Taking up with Brooky, an old school friend, Leveridge served an apprenticeship before starting his own business. He has also competed in the Golden Pliers and, in partnership with Brooky, the pairs event, Silver Spades.

While there are other fencing competitions, including a speed fencing event at the annual Rural Games, Fieldays at Mystery Creek hosts the best in the business.

This year, both men will be going for gold, individually, and seeking silver as a duo. Both have appeared in finals for the Bill Schuler Award, intended for up-and-comers and competitors still relatively new to fencing.

Brooky, who has a few more years on the line under his belt, finished fifth in 2022, second in 2023 and fourth in the Bill Schuler competition last year. But Leveridge holds bragging rights in this respect.

“I made the Golden Pliers final once, finishing eighth in 2022, but before that I won the Bill Schuler two years in a row. As far as winning Golden Pliers this year, I wouldn’t say I have a good chance, but I do have a good chance of making the final.”

The pair were sixth last year in the Silver Spades event.

“We’ve definitely got a good shot of winning or at least being right up there in the doubles as we’ve had some good results in the past couple of years,” Leveridge says. “We have a good system together – I do my job, he does his and we both work instinctively.”

Competitive fencing has produced many legends. Martin Leveridge and Troy Brooky have a very long row to hoe if they’re ever to eclipse the record of King Country great, Wayne Newdick.

“Wayne, he’s a bloody good bugger,” Martin says. “He’s into judging now but he had an awesome record.”

In addition to a Golden Pliers win, the Taumarunui titan dominated the Silver Spades with 10 wins from 2001-2011, mostly in partnership with Hawke’s Bay’s Paul Van Beers. Newdick’s achievements were recognised with a Lifetime Legacy Award at last year’s Rural Sports Awards.

Even though some of the old guard has stepped aside, Leveridge and Brooky still have highly skilled father and son duo, Shane and Tony Bouskill (Hawke’s Bay), and Jeff Joines (Kāpiti) to compete with.

In addition, Gisborne’s Cory Twigley and Tim Garrick finished first and third in last year’s Golden Pliers while teaming up to secure the Silver Spades.

“I’d say Tim and Tony would be my top two picks for the Golden Pliers. Those guys will be tough so it’s going to be a hard push,” Leveridge says. “But we’ve had some bloody good results in the doubles in competitions over the last couple of years, so there’s no reason why we can’t reach the top spots.”

While a farmer won’t thank a fencer if his cows are in the corn, for example, Leveridge says the judges at Fieldays are much harsher critics when getting down to brass tacks. And yet, the judges’ pedantry has helped him develop his skills professionally.

“As long as a fence looks good and it’s doing its job, most farmers aren’t going to go start picking that you’re out by millimetres and that kind of thing,” he adds.

“Competing has been a huge help. We know what judges are looking for and then we put those skills into our everyday work.”

Martin's an ace of spades

Farmer confidence has flipped to its highest level in a decade, according to the latest Federated Farmer survey, having flopped from the worst it has ever been.

But the results of the latest national farm confidence survey had the feeling of a false summer, to Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes.

“While I agree with the general survey results, there is nothing internationally to suggest that we are in a period of prolonged economic and political stability,” he said.

“Nor are farmers making a profit. Many more will be able to pay their bills but in actual fact they are still mining their balance sheets, which is a very serious non sustainable predicament for New Zealand.”

Farmer confidence in economic conditions surged from -66 per cent in July 2024 to a net positive score of two per cent in January 2025. It was the largest one-off improvement since the question was introduced to the survey in 2016.

A net 23 per cent of farmers expect better economic conditions over the next year - the highest confidence level since January 2014.

There has also been a sharp lift in profitability, with 54 per cent of farmers now reporting making a profit – equating to double the number in the last survey six months ago.

Federated Farmers national president Wayne Langford, who only last year led the Restoring Farmer Confidence tour with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, said he had noticed a significant shift in the mood of rural New Zealand.

“The last few years have been bloody tough for a lot of our farming families, with falling incomes, rising interest rates and unpaid bills starting to pile up on the kitchen bench.

“At the same time, we’ve also been struggling with an incredibly challenging regulatory environment and farming rules that haven’t always been practical, affordable or fair.

“These survey results paint a clear picture of a sector finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as some of that weight is lifted.”

The survey results show regulation and compliance costs remains the greatest concern for farmers, followed by interest rates and banks, and input costs.

The survey shows farmers’ highest priorities for the government are the economy and business environment, fiscal policy, and reducing regulatory burdens.

“If the government are serious about their ambitious growth agenda and doubling exports over the next decade, this is where they need to be focusing their energy,” Langford said.

“For farmers to have the confidence to invest in our businesses, employ more staff, and grow our economy, we need to have confidence in our direction of travel as a nation too.

“As a country, we’re never going be able to regulate our way to prosperity, but with the right policy settings, we might just be able to farm our way there.”

A question of farmer confidence

Zac van Dorsten is the 2025 Waikato Dairy Manager of the Year.

Van Dorsten, 27, manages Tony and Louise Collingwood’s 455-cow 165ha farm at Scown Road, Ōtorohanga.

Van Dorsten, who is from Te Awamutu and attended Hamilton Boys’ High School, won $10,523 in prizes at last week’s Dairy Industry Awards after coming third in last year’s competition.

The Collingwoods encouraged Van Dorsten to enter the awards and take courses to continue his professional development.

“There’s also an emphasis on innovation and technology which makes our day-to-day operations easier and minimises work hours,” he said.

He is thrilled to be moving to a contract milking position next season that aligns with his financial, personal and farming goals.

“The New Zealand dairy industry has unique progression opportunities and I’m excited to continue my journey to farm ownership,” says van Dorsten.

“The industry is evolving, and I want to be part of that as we expand and become more innovative to suit the overseas market.”

Ōtorohanga farm manager Oliver Vincent was runner-up in the dairy manager category, bringing home $6,299 in prizes.

Vincent, who attended Te Awamutu College, works on his parents Garry and Angela Vincent’s Haurua Road 260-cow 100ha farm, is passionate about the dairy industry.

“My life is farming. It’s all I really do, or think about,” said the 26-year-old.

They’ve had a tough season, thanks to the drought.

“It’s really not good out here,” he said.

Many had become complacent after two wet summers.

But supplements is the answer.

“With a $10 payout we can chuck a bit more feed in and make it work, but not for too long,” he said. “We are not going to be able to grow any grass for another five or six weeks.”

Vincent is expecting to dry off his herd about three weeks early, as he prepares to go sharemilking on his parents’ farm next season.

He’s looking to enter the share milker category in a few years.

Vincent is thankful the awards introduced him to a wide range of people who he would never have previously met.

“This is how I like to live, and the awards process allowed me to do this with other entrants, judges and sponsors. It also challenged my understanding of my role, the business I work in and our industry and is a great platform for me to learn more in these areas.”

Pirongia farm manager Benjamin Schilt placed third and won $4,554 in prizes. He works on Chris, Emma, John and Anne Poole’s 180ha, 401-cow farm at Pirongia.

It's top prize for Zac

Rotomate sheep and beef farmer Mat Sherriff says pond levels have dropped about one metre on his farm.

When you can see the mountains it’s going to rain, when you can’t see the mountains, it’s raining.

“It’s going to rain,” says Mat Sherriff hopefully.

From high on his wife’s family’s drought stricken Rotomate sheep and beef farm, a short drive from Piopio town, Sherriff can see across the Central Plateau to the mountains at Tongariro National Park and down the coast to Mount Taranaki.

It’s a crystal-clear day, without a cloud in the sky.

The sun is shining, the temperatures are in the mid-twenties, and Rotomate hasn’t had any rain to speak off since before Christmas.

“This is excessively dry,” Sherriff said. “My biggest problem is water.”

One of Sherriff’s principal water sources on the 350ha block he leases across the road is drying up.

All up, Sherriff and his dentist wife Kim Tatham, runs an 1150ha farm, 870ha of it effective with the test as retired bush.

“It’s not looking too good,” he said. “Last week I was panicking quite a bit about the water, but we have made a few plans since then,” he said.

“We have dug a new hole, created a new stock water pond, and got new pumps and pipe to fill another pond who’s level has dropped about one metre.”

It’s cost the farm about $15,000, but it has given Sherriff more certainty in less certain times.

“We feel like we are pretty lucky when we drive around the country.”

He’s a regular visitor to the Waipā district, where he has family and Hamilton city, where his children attend school. Max, 15, is at St Paull’s Collegiate, while Zoe, 13, is at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls. He has seen far drier conditions to the north.

“We are getting a share of grass, we are pretty good at managing that,” he said.

Sherriff, who has been farming Rotomate since 2012, having moved  from Taupō, is planning to introduce break-feeding with silage, allowing livestock a small area to graze each day.

Other farmers used to describe the King Country as summer safe, farming parlance for guaranteed enough rain in the summer to grow good crops and livestock, but this sentiment is a thing of the past.

“We have had more dry summers than we have had wet summers,” he said. “Last year was the second driest summer in 30 years.”

In 2024 the farm received 1733 millimetres of rain compared to 1650 millimetres in 2005 – it usually receives about two metres.

“Stock manager Darren McNabb came up from Cheviot so is used to the dry,” Sherriff said. “He spent all last year telling me how wet it was.”

Regardless of McNabb’s views, it’s all about pivoting to being better prepared for ongoing dry conditions in the summers.

“We feel like we are getting the hang of managing them. Our stock is in really good condition,” Sherriff said.

Instead of finishing cattle at 550kg, they are being finished about one month early at 500kg.

Sherriff and Tatham also run a corporate retreat on the farm, and up to 12 guests stay at a time in quarters once used to home Sir Peter Jackson’s cast and crew filming The Hobbit. Parts of the farm appear in a few seconds long sequence about three quarters of an hour into the first film: An Unexpected Journey.

High...and dry

It would be reasonable to assume that any chap named nicknamed ‘Digger’ would be more inclined to value silver spades rather than golden shears. However, this shearing veteran explains to Jon Rawlinson, in competition or in the shed it pays to dig deep.

In addition to his day job, grinding it out in many a shearing shed, Richard ‘Digger’ Balme from Ōtorohanga is gearing up for another crack at competitive shearing’s highest honour.

At 60, he has stocked his trophy cabinet with world championships, world records and more, but one accolade has been elusive.

It could be a case of 10th time’s the charm for Balme at the Golden Shears starting next week but, as he concedes, youth could trump experience.

“I’ve had numerous wins with some of my biggest overseas – I won the Bath and West Golden Shears and the Corwen Shears [Wales], but the New Zealand Golden Shears is the Wimbledon of shearing.

“I think I’m getting too old to be right at the top level, but I’ll give it my best shot.

“I’ve made nine finals with my best coming second to David Fagan. Just making the finals is always big.”

Considering Sir David Fagan has 16 Golden Shears Open titles (a record to rival the All Blacks’), second is pretty impressive.

Southland’s Leon Samuels is the defending champ, and an eight-time winner, Rowland Smith (Hawke’s Bay), will be back after missing the 2024 event through injury. Balme also rates another.

“David Buick (Pongaroa) would have to be right up there. I think Rowley’s not quite where he wants to be at the moment, but he’s more than capable of making the finals again too.”

Beyond the Golden Shears, the NZ Shearing Champs in Te Kūiti (March 27-29) beckons.

However, Balme is also one of 10 top shearers invited to compete at the Rural Games in Feilding (March 7-9) where speed shearing is the name of the game.

Like a cricket test match, the golden Shears is the true test shearing, you want to shear as clean and as fast as you can, Balme says.

“…Speed shearing is more like T20 cricket, it’s real entertainment for the spectators and it’s over in a short time – you might only get to shear one sheep in the heat and then, if you’re lucky enough to make the final, you might get another.

“I made [a Rural Games] final once. If I can make it into the top four again this time, it’d be pretty good.”

Balme says another King Country competitor to watch at the Rural Games is Jack Fagan – he recently nipped across the ditch to claim the Oberon Quickshear title in a blistering 19.78 seconds.

“Jack’s cutting his own path, more in the speed shear, and he’s doing well in competitions.”

Another go for Digger

Farmers have only weeks to wait to learn the extent of a Waikato Regional Council water quality plan change on their operations.

As they wait for the final version of Plan Change One to fall out of the Environment Court process, following appeals from key primary industry players, council chair Pamela Storey and Federated Farmers Waikato president Keith Holmes are recommending the industry be prepared for change.

The Environment Court is expected to release its decision on Plan Change One before the end of March after the regional council was challenged by key primary industry players.

Plan Change One proposes a wide-sweeping set of rules for agricultural land use to improve freshwater quality in the Waikato and Waipā River catchments.

It will apply to around 10,000 properties and a land area of 1.1 million hectares within the two catchments.

“Waikato Regional Council has heard from stakeholders that a roadmap is needed for how farmers and growers will be supported to implement Plan Change One,” said Storey.

“It’s impossible to predict what the Environment Court might decide, but farmers and growers in the Waikato and Waipā river catchments have been aware that new rules are coming.”

Storey is married to a fourth generation Waikato dairy farmer Ian. She is also a former member of the Dairy Women’s Network Trust Board.

“While it’s not easy to do when we don’t yet know what Plan Change One will look like, our stakeholders are fully engaged with our Primary Industry Engagement team,” she said.

“As part of this, staff are also looking at systems to support landowners to meet their Plan Change One obligation. Farmers, growers, and regional sector representatives are actively involved to help us ensure these systems meet their needs.

“They’ve been doing a great job already to actively implement good farming practices which are at the heart of farm environment plans.”

Farm environment plans help manage environmental risks and improve profitability and long-term viability.

“They look at the farm and farm system, identify work which have already been completed and plan any environmental work which needs to be undertaken in the future to protect land and water quality.

“They’re designed to be a living document – that means they can be updated as the business or other factors change.”

Holmes said while a lot was still uncertain farmers could start thinking about their record keeping assisting with preparing farm plans and demonstrating all the work, they’re already doing to lighten their environmental footprint.

“The rule making process began in 2012 and Federated Farmers has been involved at every stage, appealing to the Environment Court many proposed policies and rules on the basis they didn’t make sense on-farm,” said Holmes.

Examples of issues Federated Farmers appealed include which waterbodies stock need to be excluded from, setback distances, how critical source areas are identified and managed, and how often fertiliser spreaders need to be calibrated.

“Along with other parties, we’ve been on a long journey of council hearings, mediations and, more recently, Environment Court hearings,” he said.

“This has been an incredibly drawn-out, expensive and uncertain process for everyone involved, including Federated Farmers.”

The aim was to reduce the cost to farmers and bureaucracy.

“Time and money are better spent on environmental mitigations than expensive consenting processes,” he said.

“We’re crossing our fingers that the end might now be in sight and that the final wording of Plan Change One works for the environment and is also sensible, practical and affordable for our productive sector.”

The Environment Court is working through some technical issues that Holmes hoped would be resolved in the next month or so.

“Federated Farmers’ efforts to propose pragmatic solutions for unworkable parts of the plan have made a significant difference,” Holmes said. “A lot is still uncertain.”

Original proposals included that farmers might not be allowed to cultivate within five metres of a water body, and there were significant limitations on when and how much nitrogen fertiliser could be applied.

“There’s a lot at stake, not just for the viability of local farms and the Waikato economy. The outcome will matter for all farmers around New Zealand as what happens here could set a precedent that will impact other regions.

Other councils are watching on to see the outcome of this, so what happens here could have flow-on effects to other farmers around the country.”

The Environment Court ruling is not the final word on the subject.

The repeal of the Resource Management Act before the next election will have implications for these rules.

“It is still unclear exactly how a new Resource Management Act may affect the Plan Change One rules,” Holmes said.

“Federated Farmers is highly engaged in the process to replace the Resource Management Act, and we will continue to update farmers on implications for local rules as more information comes to light.”

DairyNZ was another organisation to appeal against the plan change.

General Manager of farm solutions and policy David Burger said DairyNZ had invested significant resource into the plan change for more than a decade.

The organisation wishes to achieve workable evidence-based solutions for farmers while delivering on the outcomes sought through the vision and strategy for the Waikato Waipa catchment (Te Ture Whaimana).

“DairyNZ has concerns with the decisions version which places unnecessary costs and compliance on dairy farmers through resource consents and reporting requirements,” Burger said.

“DairyNZ’s evidence provided aims to reduce the unnecessary cost on farmers whilst still delivering on the outcomes sought.

“DairyNZ recognises that there are around 2000 dairy farms impacted by Plan Change One and although the decision is not yet made, we are working with dairy companies and Waikato Regional Council to support farmers through the process.”

Once a decision is made, DairyNZ will communicate it to farmers, and support farmers with education, awareness, and technical science support for those impacted.

Farmers wait for plan change ruling

Five young New Zealanders have been selected for the Meat Industry Association scholarship programme for 2025.

The new scholars, undergraduate students from Dunedin, Blenheim, Milton, Cambridge and Opotiki, have joined the programme alongside 10 returning scholars.

They are Georgia Te Raki, from Dunedin, Riley King, Blenheim, Katie Hollands, Cambridge, Nicole Petersen, Ōpōtiki and Zoe McElrea from Milton.

The association provides scholarships of $5000 a year for undergraduates and $10,000 for post-graduate students. All are tertiary students, studying a subject relevant to the red meat processing industry and planning a career in the sector beyond the farm gate.

Participants in this year’s new scholar intake are pursuing subjects including commerce, environmental science, law, agribusiness and food marketing and international agribusiness.

Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the will be of great value in future careers in the sector.

“In order to grow the sector, we need to continue to recruit ambitious and highly skilled people,” she said.

The scholars also benefit from the organisation’s mentoring programme and participation in a range of industry events and networking opportunities.

Meat Industry announces scholarship winners

Mary Anne Gill

Waipā District Council is poised to change its District Plan to accommodate the burgeoning kiwifruit and horticulture industry.

The proposed changes include reducing road and internal boundary setbacks for protective structures over fruit from 15 metres to six metres, allowing transparent cloth as a colour option for the structures, and replacing shelterbelt shading rules with new height and road setback measurements.

The changes were prompted by the influx of kiwifruit growers into the district over the past three years, who established unconsented kiwifruit shelter structures.

Ōhaupō life styler Nick Jennings settled with the council last year after mediation when he filed papers with the Environment Court over the council’s decision to let his neighbour in Parallel Road establish a kiwifruit operation.

He argued that the expansion of the kiwifruit orchard around three sides of his rural property blocked his views and ruined his rural outlook. Similar issues have arisen elsewhere in the district on land previously used for farming.

Policy planner Alice Morris presented the proposed changes at an elected members’ workshop last week.

Work on the plan change began last year and resulted in feedback from more than 70 individuals and groups. Planners reviewed shelterbelt planting rules, rural zone boundary setbacks, building coverage rules, and colour standards for shade cloth structures. They considered the impact of shelterbelts on neighbouring properties, road safety, and road maintenance.

Morris emphasised the importance of enabling the “full use” of rural land for primary production while balancing the need to maintain outlooks, views, appearances, and cultural values.

Deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk said she hoped the suggested changes would be well communicated as after the original publicity two years ago, it had disappeared from people’s radars.

The issue has been tracked during that time by Good Local Media.

Mayor Susan O’Regan said the work had been tricky because it needed to balance all the competing values. Some of the setbacks had been “outrageous” so it was pleasing to see some compromise among submitters. “But (Waipā) is nevertheless a rural food producing zone.”

The plan will now be finalised and sent to iwi authorities before its adoption mid-year by the Strategic Planning and Policy committee.

Orchard rule change

Waikato Regional Council recently confirmed its proposed Annual Plan budget.

Thanks to a lot of good work by our chief executive and his staff, careful consideration by councillors and following a series of workshops with councillors last year, we collectively managed to reduce the rates increase proposed in the Long Term Plan from 8.6 percent down to a proposed 5.9 per cent.

The proposals associated with this change will be consulted on in April.

One key issue that I do want to highlight is the changes we are making to the way public transport is managed and funded.

Regional councils are responsible for the planning, management and provision of public transport in the region.

Traditionally this has often meant that district and city councils have collected the rates funding for public transport in their area or district and handed this over to the regional Council to operate the service.

This has invariably meant it was a complicated system with a range of different approaches in terms of how the rates portion to fund public transport was collected.

This also made it challenging to plan transport across the region, and didn’t contribute to providing an ideal network of services throughout the Waikato.

In an effort to improve things, the regional council resolved via the recent Long Term Plan consultation process to take over the rating to fund public transport across the region.

As a reminder, there are essentially three components that make up the public transport funding system.

One is the fare component paid by the actual bus users. The remaining portion (which is effectively the main component) is 51 per cent funded by the government’s National Land Transport Fund (road users) and the remaining 49 per cent is funded by councils (ratepayers).

The rates component has traditionally been collected differently (for example, general rates, targeted rates or per-property charges) depending on the approach of the particular council.

With the regional council taking over the rating across the region for public transport, a decision has to be made as to how we do this. Last year the council spent some time engaging with other councils across the region to understand their views.

Following this consultation, we are proposing to rate for public transport across the Waikato via a per-property charge applied to all ratepayers across whole region.

There is also an option for a capital value charge to apply for Hamilton City ratepayers.

This per-property charge will be different, depending on which part of the region you are in, given this affects your likelihood and ability to use public transport.

This does mean that areas with no bus services do pay something, recognising that public transport does take cars off the road, and thus does provide some benefits for everyone.

In addition to this, New Zealand Transport Agency has directed that councils are expectedto increase the private share component (bus fares) of public transport funding.

In response to this, the council is proposing to increase public transport fares by 11.4 per cent from July 1 to reflect inflationary increases in public transport operating costs and to meet the government targets.

Fares will then increase by 10 per cent a year in the four subsequent years.

Formal consultation on these options will be undertaken in March or April of this year, providing an opportunity for public feedback to council.

We will be looking to adopt the 2025/26 annual plan budget in May.

Paying for public transport

Waikato Regional Council has stuck to its planned budget for 2025-26, while increasing the amount available for community transport and supporting regional economic development.

The decisions were made at last week’s council meeting to set a draft annual plan budget of $152.793 million total rates revenue.

The proposed rates increase has gone from 8.6 per cent signalled through last year’s long term plan down to a proposed 5.9 per cent.

“There’s a number of new and emerging factors which required us to take a close look at how we deliver our work in the next year,” said chair Pamela Storey.

“Government funding through the national land transport plan has shifted the cost burden for public transport services, there’ve been rapid changes in the official cash rate, the freshwater farm plans rollout has been paused, and we’ve secured funding for some of the council’s work through the Before the Deluge programme.

“Collaboration is critically important for this region to be able to achieve our economic growth aspirations.

To enable this, we have financed a two-year transition plan to support economic development and ensure a coordinated, regional approach for the Waikato,” she said.

The council is proposing to increase public transport fares by 11.4 per cent from July and by 10 per cent a year for four years.

Councillors discussed how a prior year surplus of $4.1 million could be used.

While using it to offset rates in 2025-26 would reduce the rates payable for that year, it would mean rate increases in the following year would be higher than signalled through the long term plan.

Councillors will consider this matter further during deliberations in May, before they set the final budget and rates revenue.

Council reveals budget plans

Hugh Jackson is back in the running for the FMG Young Farmer of the Year title after securing victory in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Regional Final.

The 27-year-old based in Hamilton claimed the top spot on Saturday after a day of intense competition at Waerenga School, east of Te Kauwhata, tackling a series of practical and theoretical challenges.

The win qualifies him for his second Grand Final appearance – he finished third overall in 2023.

The FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition celebrates top talent in New Zealand’s food and fibre sector. Now in its 57th year, it boasts an overall winner’s prize pool of more than $90,000.

“I’m stoked to get another shot at Grand Final. Getting back there is never guaranteed, and I’m looking forward to giving it everything,” says Jackson.

“The Waikato Bay of Plenty is a tough region to compete in, so I knew I had to put in plenty of prep to give myself a decent shot. I was hoping for the win, but nothing was guaranteed with the strong competition I had.”

“This is probably my last crack at the big dance, so it’s now or never to give it everything. I’m definitely not heading to the Grand Final to come second!”

Participants entered one of three categories based on age, ranging from the AgriKidsNZ competition for primary school pupils, the Junior Young Farmer of the Year for High School Students, and the Young Farmer of the Year category, where eight contestants battled it out for the top spot.

They included Laura Davis, who grew up on a farm in Piopio, and now works with Beef and Lamb New Zealand as an Extension Manager and is based in Hamilton.

Jackson edged his way to victory by clocking up the most points on the day, defeating fellow Hamilton Young Farmers member Stephen Brunskill. Will Evans from Piarere Young Farmers secured the final spot on the podium.

“There were a few modules where I learned heaps, changing a bearing on a tyre was something I’d never done before and struggled with, but now I know how,” Jackson said.

“The New Holland module was also a challenge for me, getting the settings set up correctly on the tractor was something new to me and I needed some guidance to complete the module.”



The AgriKidsNZ competition was won by Heidi Morris, Angus Gregory, Harrison Gregory from Elstow-Waihou School emerged as the region’s victors. Jacob Bolt, Isaac Wilson, John Woodward, from Otewa School and Homeschooled, placed second, just ahead of Brearna Bolt, Sam Bluett, Jack Woodward, also from Otewa School and Homeschooled.

Ben Ede and Stephen Ede from Cambridge High School took out the title of Waikato Bay of Plenty Junior Young Farmers of the Year, ahead of Grace Dawson and Evelyn Ruegger from Matamata College.

Along with Jackson, the top AgriKidsNZ and FMG Junior teams will now compete in July’s Grand Final in Invercargill.

Jackson back in farmers' final

Richard Steele

At heart, most of us landowners, set out to be good guardians of the land, and as the old and well-worn cliche goes, we set out to leave the land in better shape than it was in, when we started out our farming journey on it.

I’d say most of us succeed. Speaking for ourselves, conservation of the land rates as highly as making a profit from farming the land, and as we have a lot of country that is really too steep, and or too unstable to farm sustainably, maintaining that innate conservation ethic serves up its own share of troubles.

With the advantage of 100 years of hindsight, I believe in New Zealand, we have broken in, or developed, five per cent too much land, but in our class of country, that figure, could easily be higher. As much as 75 per cent too much.

We have hills with bluffs on them, that we can’t fence out for stock safety.

We have hills that erode at a far greater rate than nearby bush covered national park, a fair bit of our easier land is slowly slumping, with massive deep seated earth movements, that have been going on continuously since the land came out of the sea six million years ago, just before we came here and took up a mortgage.

So we fence off the creeks to keep the stock out where we can, we let the steepest hills revert to Manuka, which has been good for honey production, we have planted thousands of poplar and willow trees to stabilise hills, and to arrest stream bed erosion, and we have fenced off old wetlands, innocently developed by unknowing previous owners, to let those wetlands do their thing by, cleaning up the water, and by increasing the bio diversity.

All good stuff, so what’s the problem?

Bloody blackberry, that’s what. The very birds we have set out to improve the lives of, have become conspirators against us by spreading something that nothing other than goats eat, and goats and conservation don’t work together either.

There is blackberry now in every area we have ever retired, and what to do with it is the question that’s on everybody’s lips.

There is no natural predator, we can’t blanket spray, without taking out everything we have planted, or has thrived in the reversion process, and the spot spraying we are doing is too little and not yet enough.

An introduced weevil or pathogen could do it, if it killed the blackberry, without taking out all the related plants.

Well beyond my pay grade to understand.

Lastly, this thought.

If God were good, why do his people’s, need lightning rods on top of steeples?

A sting in nature's tail

Michael Catley

When we talk about drenching and being ‘wormwise’, we are talking about roundworms of the intestine affecting productivity - liver fluke, lungworm and tapeworm are kept as another topic.

Most species of worms are specific to the species of animal - sheep worms affect sheep (and goats), cattle worms affect cattle. The main problem is the affects they have on the true stomach (abomasum) and the small intestines.

The exception is some Trichostrongylus species that can be found in both cattle and sheep and significantly affect productivity.

The lifecycle of roundworms is not particularly complex. Adult worms live in the animal; worm eggs are deposited on pasture in poo; eggs develop into larvae in poo and migrate to pasture, where they develop to an L3 infective stage.

L3 infective larvae are ingested by livestock and develop into adults inside the animal. The female adult worm then mates inside the animal and produces eggs in about 21 days.

Development from an egg to infective L3 larvae can take from one to 10 weeks depending on environmental conditions; 20-25 degrees Celsius with moisture is required. Variability from these conditions will slow development or cause destruction of eggs/L1/L2 larvae.

L3 infective larvae are the exception and can survive for long periods on pasture. In cool environments, this can be up to a year or longer. In dry environments, this can be as little as 2-3 months (surviving on their own reserves).

Therefore, we sometimes steer away from the 28-day drenching intervals, with delayed development and life cycle in the larvae (but followed up with FEC monitoring). Different grazing patterns also affect the infection cycle, with lax grazing reducing the intake of infective larvae from pasture. Typically, it takes 21 days from when a sheep ingests a worm larvae to when worm eggs appear in dung samples (the prepatent period).

Seasonal patterns of worm burdens generally follow a consistent pattern, with an early peak in spring and a later larger peak in autumn.

Wintering numbers, stocking rates and feed levels at calving/lambing can affect the trends in this curve, with higher counts when nutrition is suboptimal (associated with a pre-partum rise in egg counts) and reaching peak lactation.

Most contamination contribution comes from young stock, particularly those less than 12 months (that season’s lambs or dairy beef mainly).

Understandably, the peak occurs in autumn due to the number of young stock under the age of 12 months, the seasonal conditions, preventative drenching programmes and cross-grazing policies.

The impact of worms - part two

Ian Brennan is proud to call himself a “tree pervert”.

Brennan has spent 18 years planting continuous cover native forestry on his hill country farm on Maungakawa Road, Te Miro near Cambridge after he witnessed the impact of soil erosion first hand.

“A big lump of earth came tumbling down past me,” he told fellow farmers at a field day held earlier this month.

“I thought, have we bought a lemon?”

Brennan swapped a 22-year career in software development for farming in December 2005.

“I just wanted my working life to be something I enjoyed,” he said.

Since then, Brennan has planted about 90,000 native trees in about 38 hectares on the 85 hectares farm he owns with his wife Equine Energetics owner Trisha Wren.

His first thought, after seeing soil erosion in action, was to begin planting parts of the farm out in natives.

He turned to kauri, kahikatea, rimu and totara. But where should he stop?

“I have just said anything that’s too steep to drive on can go back to forestry,” he said. “I will just farm what’s left.”

Farm, as in use what’s left for grazing a couple of hundred cattle.

“I went and bought some budget plants. Half of them died including kauri,” he said.

There’s been plenty of trial and error, with Brennan constantly reviewing what species to plant where.

“I replaced the kauri with totara… if I was to start again I would just plant totara.”

“If you just want to plant bush, a nursery crop is a good idea.”

It’s a solitary job. His days consist of either planting new trees or pruning the forest.

“I listen to podcasts all day, or I get into the groove.”

He enjoys The Great Simplification exploring “the systems science underpinning the human predicament” with Nate Hagens, 1980s music and Taylor Swift.

Of the 38 hectares of mostly steep gullies planted on the farm, 33 have been planted since 2016.

“We hit our stride with planting at a time when Waikato Regional Council, Waikato River Authority and Trees That Count all had funding available but there was a dearth of landowners looking to plant permanent forests - especially native forest,” Brennan said.

“When One Billion Trees was announced, we were already geared up to take advantage of that as well.”

He’s benefited from thousands of dollars of grants.

“We are planting entire gullies for catchment protection.”

The farm has six streams flowing into the Waikato catchment and one into the Piako catchment.

“Our point of difference is that we are planting all the main native timber species and managing them silviculturally to create a high-quality timber resource for future generations.”

The majority species is totara, with splashes of rimu, kauri, kahikatea, puriri, tanekaha, matai, rewarewa and taraire. In recent years Brennan has used manuka and kanuka almost exclusively as nurse species to shade and protect the main crop.  

“In the early years we used a wide variety of colonisers as nurse crop including tarata, kohuhu, karamu, lacebark, five finger, ribbonwood and wineberry.  

“We found all of these species are too vigorous and quickly overtop the totara, stunting the tree and damaging the growing tips, making them sprout multiple leaders.

“This requires more silvicultural intervention, specifically form pruning to remove duplicate leaders in order to produce a single, straight log.”

Brennan has planted totara with the intention of creating a timber resource for future generations without a nurse crop as he has found that the nurse crop requires a lot of maintenance after five or six years.

“I find totara planted on its own, just like any other forestry species, is the best option. This is likely to be the case also with kauri and rewarewa.

“Puriri and tanekaha definitely benefit from being planted among an established nurse crop.

“The jury is still out on the other species with regard to using a nurse.

“If you simply want to plant a block of bush, then nurse crops are a potentially cost-effective way to get early canopy closure and thereby foreshorten the period during which you will need to walk through the planting and spray woody weeds like blackberry and inkweed.”

“New Zealanders have got this idea that every native tree is sacred, but the forest is the eco-system.

“As far as I know, we are the first people in New Zealand that has a covenant that allows harvest of a per centage of the trees.”

But Brennan’s goal is to grow a crop that can be sustainably harvested.

“Nobody has all the answers,” he said. “There are no right answers to any of this. We are still in the experimental stage on a lot of things.”

Brennan relies on the hunter community to keep the fallow deer population down forest damage to a minimum.

“My wife is a vegetarian, and I am a de facto vegetarian, and I have never been a hunter,” he said.

Brennan is playing the long game.

He realises that he will never benefit from the harvest, neither will whoever he sells his farm to when the times comes.

“I don’t have to do it all,” he said.

“The forest will continue to grow for hundreds of years.

“The next person can do some, if they want to be a tree pervert like me.”

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