Hill Country Futures e-newsletter

December 2022

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Hill Country Futures quarterly e-newsletter. We want to update you on the progress of key projects and initiatives across the programme. Please share this e-newsletter with family, friends, fellow farmers and others who may be interested. We’d also love to hear from you! You can read previous e-newsletters here.

About the programme

Hill Country Futures is a Partnership Programme co-funded by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Seed Force New Zealand. The programme, due to wrap up at the end of 2022, is focused on future-proofing the profitability, sustainability and well-being of New Zealand’s hill country farmers, farm systems and rural communities. For more information, please visit: www.hillcountryfutures.co.nz

Resilient forages for the future

Our farmers farm diverse hill country landscapes across New Zealand. Selecting plants that meet a number of criteria — ease of establishment, animal productivity, environmental challenges — is important. Farmers need data, field trials and modelling to help them make more informed decisions about what to plant and where to create a resilient hill country farming future.

NZ Grasslands Association conference

The team presented on a number of programme outputs at the recent NZ Grasslands Association conference in Invercargill last month. This conference was a great opportunity for researchers to showcase their HCF work.

AgYields – a national database for collation of past, present and future pasture and crop yield data (Moot et al., 2021).
Links to the AgYields National Database, Factsheet and AgYields database tutorial videos can be found here on the HCF website.
Nitrogen effects on species’ contributions to grazed pasture mixtures under nitrogen loss and application restrictions (Myint et al., 2021).
Refining foliage sampling protocols for white clover (Olykan et al., 2021).
Growth rates and persistence of annual and perennial clovers (Olykan et al., 2021).
Legumes are the key to increasing productivity at ‘Inverary’, a summer moist hill/high country farm in mid-Canterbury (Chapman et al., 2021).
Calculation of sheep and beef economic weightings for the seasonal dry matter production trait for use in a forage-cultivar selection decision-support tool (Ludemann 2020)

Online calculator being developed to help predict lucerne yields

The thermal time-based (TGM) model, developed to help farmers predict lucerne yields on north and south facing slopes on their farms, has been published. The team is now in the process of developing an online calculator for anyone to use.

Natives as alternative forages and their mātauranga

Dr James Millner (Massey University) and his team are evaluating the multiple potential uses of native shrubs on sheep/beef hill country farms, including:

Evaluating the Mātauranga Māori of native shrubs

Wairoa hill country farmers are being interviewed by PhD student Joan Ropiha about their views on the use of native shrubs on erosion-prone pastoral land. Several wānanga will also be held for marae communities about the mātauranga of shrubs and hill country vegetation. The work also includes monitoring the nutritive value of mature Papauma, Taupata and Māhoe as a potential supplementary fodder. Read more about Joan Ropiha and her research here.

Sheep preference for New Zealand native shrub species

This work involves assessing the acceptability of native shrub species to grazing livestock to determine if they could be used as a potential browsable feed option. The aim of this pilot study was to determine the intake rate and relative short-term preference of four New Zealand native shrub species when compared against conventional ryegrass pasture. The native shrub species examined were Karamū, Pāpāuma, Māhoe and Karo. Initial results suggest that forage preference was influenced by forage species, whereby Karo was the most preferred, followed by Karamū and Māhoe, with Pāpāuma (broadleaf) and finally ryegrass pasture being least preferred. However, further research is needed to determine how to sustainably incorporate these native species on-farm.

Resilient farmers for the future

Making decisions about plant selection to feed animals and enhance environmental stewardship is not done in isolation. Recognition and understanding of the drivers, challenges and opportunities presented to farmers directly influences how our farmers can achieve and maintain a resilient future.

Increasing farmer wellbeing and resilience

Hill country farmers are facing a myriad of pressures. FarmSalus was developed as an assessment tool for farmer wellbeing to address the current gap in resources available to rural professionals and facilitators working with farmer extension and/or farm planning. FarmSalus has been promoted and “tested” in meetings and workshops. Interest in this tool continues to gain momentum and the Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) is trialling the use of FarmSalus in two online courses.

Telling the stories of our farmers

Our farmers have important stories to tell that needs to be championed. We continue to share the stories of some of the farmers and researchers involved in the Hill Country Futures Partnership programme.

Matt and Wife Megan farm 420 hectares – 390 effective - at Ngatapa and were part of a farmer focus group which provided insights that helped shape the development FarmSalus. The Humphreys family’s roots run deep in the region. Matt is the fifth generation to farm Herefords and the fourth generation at their Wilencote stud - his ancestors started out at Strahallan Station in Gisborne. Wilencote is New Zealand’s oldest Polled Hereford stud – and the family introduced the hornless Hereford breed to New Zealand in the 1920s. Megan has an environmental consultancy background and Matt has wide-ranging experience in hill country farming. He spent 13 years shepherding on a number of sheep and beef stations in Gisborne and Taihape before moving back to Wilencote in 2021. The couple are proud of the farm’s history and passionate about the future of the sector — Read more here.

Gaining input from farmers was critical to the development of the Hill Country Futures Partnership programme - and Gisborne farmers Henry and Sofie Gaddum were glad to be able to help. The couple farm sheep, beef and deer at Kotare Station at Matawai, and were connectors to draw together a focus group to support work on the design of FarmSalus — Read more here.

Visit the ‘News & Views’ page on the Hill Country Futures webpage to read more about these stories and others.

Happy holidays everyone. Keep an eye on the B+LNZ e-diaries early next year for the release of our HCF podcast series. This series of 14 podcasts presented by HCF researchers will provide a wealth of information on the different aspects and achievements of the programme.

The Hill Country Futures Partnership programme is a five-year project co-funded by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Seed Force New Zealand. The programme is focused on future-proofing the profitability, sustainability and well-being of New Zealand’s hill country farmers, farm systems and rural communities. For more information, please visit: www.hillcountryfutures.co.nz

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