Awatere Station adopts all-grass system

Awatere Station has adopted an all-grass wintering system and moved away from growing traditional winter crops. Diane Bishop reports

James Anderson is not an organic or holistic farmer, nor is he into regenerative farming.

‘‘I don’t even know what regenerative means – don’t confuse me with that,’’ James said.

He and wife Denise have adopted an all-grass wintering system on Awatere Station which has lifted stock performance, improved the environment and significantly reduced tractor hours.

‘‘For years we grew swedes and kale, but we find the stock do a lot better on good quality grass.

‘‘But there’s no right or wrong way,’’ James said.

Awatere Station on Winding Creek Road, near Waikaia township, is a rolling to steep hill country property comprising nearly 3000 hectares.

It carries almost 20,000 sheep and beef stock units and includes more than 400ha of trees, native

bush and other significant areas.

The Andersons bought half of Awatere, which was previously owned by Denise’s parents, in 1993 and the balance in 1999.

‘‘We came here with a motorbike, a tractor and a topper, and that was it.’’

The Andersons operate a lowcost, simple but profitable farming system.

They recently held an all-grass

wintering field day on their property, hosted by Beef + Lamb New Zealand.

Awatere runs 9900 Perendale cross ewes, 2700 replacement ewe lambs and 500 Hereford breeding cows, including 100 rising twoyear heifers, and their progeny.

The ewe flock was currently lambing around 140 per cent.

Awatere, which means gentle flowing streams, ranges in altitude from 300m to 800m.

The Andersons have carried out a large-scale development programme over the past 30 years which has included cultivating more than 300ha from oversown hill blocks and gorse areas.

They have also subdivided and boundary fenced more than 25km, fenced off some waterways, and recently installed a new water system, complete with

dosatrons.

James said they decided to move to an all-grass wintering programme about six years ago when their calves struggled on turnips.

‘‘The calves didn’t look good, and the turnips were rolling into the creek. We had a lot of sediment loss and animal welfare was becoming an issue,’’ Anderson said.

The Andersons now extensively set stock their calves on the cultivated paddocks while the ewes are regularly shifted around the hill blocks and paddocks. They aim to leave residuals of about 1000kg of dry matter a hectare.

‘‘That doesn’t always work if you have snow or wet weather,’’ James said.

September and October are critical months for pasture growth so the Andersons aim to look after the pastures over the winter and live by the mantra ‘‘grass grows grass’’.

They have several lambing dates which spreads their risk in the event of a storm.

The Andersons grow about 35ha of ryecorn and short rotation ryegrass which provides good high-quality winter feed for the ewes.

It also fits in with their extensive pasture renewal programme.

The Andersons use a Taege

direct drill for regrassing, which James describes as ‘‘basic technology’’, but it does the job.

‘‘Big is not always better – it has to be fit for purpose on our hills.’’

Since moving from cultivation to direct drilling, they have reduced their tractor hours from around 700 to 500 hours a year.

The Andersons prefer to lease tractors rather than purchase them.

‘‘I’d rather put money into fertiliser than tractors, it’s just the way I’m wired.’’

He urged other farmers to invest in good grass seed and not skimp on fertiliser.

‘‘We’re grass farmers, not soil farmers. If we cut out fertiliser we’re doomed – New Zealand is not a fertile country.’’

The beef cows also play an important role in maintaining pasture quality at Awatere, particularly on the oversown hill blocks.

‘‘They are secondary to the sheep, but the cows are a great management tool,’’ James said.

In their first five years at Awatere the Andersons did no cultivation and James said it was his best five years farming. ‘‘Nothing broke down.’’ Growing winter crop had put huge cost and environmental

pressure on farmers, he said.

‘‘I would rather spend money on fertiliser and good grass seed.’’

The Andersons fertiliser costs for the past two years have averaged $35 a stock unit.

Weeds are an ongoing problem on Awatere and the Andersons have spent about $1.6m on weed control since 1999.

‘‘Californian thistles are a huge problem, so we do lots of topping,’’ James said.

In the early years about 2500 goats were farmed for gorse, broome and thistle control.

In 2017 the Andersons bought Craigie Hill farm, a 250ha

property at Wendon, which complements Awatere.

However, high levels of repairs and maintenance have been required and were still ongoing.

The Andersons transfer about 1500 lambs internally to Craigie Hill at weaning. Last season they finished more than 7800 lambs at 18kg carcass weight.

AbacusBio farm consultant Simon Glennie said the field day was not about promoting all-grass wintering or ‘‘bagging’’ swedes, but providing farmers with an alternative option to winter their stock.