Two years ago, Waingaro farmers Jon and Fiona Sherlock were questioning the viability of their sheep and beef business. Struggling with a lack of profitability and the erosion of equity, the couple were left questioning how and why they were farming their 660ha hill country property.
While they had been making incremental gains in their on-farm production, it just wasn't cutting it financially and they realised they needed a big step-change to turn the business around.
This step change was the installation of a R1 cattle operation on their hill country.
While initially reluctant to intensify their hill country, conversations with local consultants, farmers and a visit to a Beef + lamb New Zealand Monitor Farm encouraged Jon and Fiona to see their hill country in a different light and opened their eyes to the opportunities available to them to produce more kilograms of product per hectare.
In 2024, the sticks and string went up on the hillside and the couple fenced a 17.5ha trial area into cells. These were stocked with 60 R1 bulls (weighing around 210kg) at 3.5 head/ha or 16.2 stock units/ha.
On 1 May 2024, pasture covers on the beef system were 2500kg DM/ha and the bulls were on a 75-day round length. In comparison, the paddock next door was set stocked with ewes and a few bigger finishing cattle at 9 stock units/ha.
The difference through winter was marked, with the pastures in the cattle unit bouncing back and any open ground was quickly covered by recovering pasture.
By the end of winter, Jon and Fiona were sold on the intensive cattle grazing system and felt confident that this was the step-change they needed to turn the business around.
"The control you have over your pasture is where you win, animals are moving onto a new area every two to three days, and the ground and pasture behind them has 75 days before the stock come back around again,” says Fiona.
The system also allowed them to exclude stock from their waterways which they had previously been unable to do.
Last year, Jon and Fiona were named as one of three farming families to win a year’s worth of free Halter cow collars. The couple believe collar technology will be a game changer for cattle farming on hill country.
Next steps
Looking forward, Jon and Fiona have big plans to develop more of their hill country, introducing more cattle systems with the use of Halter.
Their long-term vision for their hill country includes exotic shade trees and further planting to add to the reverting scrub areas in the steeper parts of the gullies. Expanding on these areas and excluding the steeper parts of the hill country with planting means this land can generate carbon credits, an opportunity which Jon and Fiona both think is underutilised by hill country farmers.
"Exotic trees aren't the enemy, whole farm monocultures are, planting trees in your harder areas and earning money from it while still farming the more productive areas of your farm is a win-win, trees may be the way we fight whole farm plantings,” says Fiona.
B+LNZ will follow Jon and Fiona's journey and keep sharing their story.
If you have questions and are interested in their next steps, please email local Extension Manager Laura Davis.