Paraninihi ki Waitotara is a Taranaki-based Māori incorporation that owns 20,000ha of productive Taranaki dairy land – 18,000ha of which is perpetually leased – and milks 7700 cows on 2500ha across 16 milking platforms and 10 drystock blocks of 1400ha that are mixed beef and dairy support.
Representing 9500 shareholders, PKW employs a range of sharemilkers and managers. It also owns a range of other business interests in crayfish, forestry and commercial property and diverse investment opportunities and has an intergenerational plan to buy back lease properties as they come up for sale.
With an intergenerational view, PKW plans for future generations and so upgrading the 159ha Supreme BFEA award-winning Farm No 2 in 2014 included building a 60-bail rotary dairy with in-dairy feeding and a new effluent system to cope with potential future expansion to 800 cows at peak of season.
At the same time the farm moved from a 50:50 sharemilking structure to management by Matt Kelbrick under supervision of Roger Landers, who oversees a portfolio of PKW properties.
Roger and Matt work well together – their relationship was forged in the fire of full-on development of a new dairy and effluent system, which Roger says was more like a whole-farm conversion.
“Things just kept popping up, even after we had finished the big stuff – it was really like doing a farm conversion.”
The Ohangai, South Taranaki farm was purchased back from lessees in 2002 and 50:50 sharemilked for 12 years before the decision was taken to do the upgrade. The 2014 season started off in the old dairy before they moved to the new dairy in early August. It has solar panels on the roof, recycled roof water and a green yardwash system from the upgraded effluent water.
PKW has a policy of recycling wherever possible, so they decommissioned the old ponds and stripped all the corrugated iron, metal, concrete and plant out of the dairy and reused what they could.
Solar panels with an import-export meter through Meridian were installed on the dairy roof, a system with an 8-10 year payback period and a project life of 25 years costing $80-$90,000 to set up.
“We are saving about $12,000 each year, about half of our costs,” Roger says.
The effluent system consists of a Bauer Solids separator feeding into a one million litre Hume tank which pumps out to the irrigator and into a greenwater holding tank, which is pumped up to the top of the yard for a floodwash once each day.
The floodwash saves millions of litres of fresh water each year and all the associated costs of water.
“When you look at the real cost of water – including pumping, treating and scarcity – and by comparing with another local water scheme which cost around $1/m3, the savings are significant,” Roger says. The effluent is used to irrigate 36ha. Technology is used to track the runs and a regular bucket test along with a DairyNZ app calculates the nutrient application.
A big investment in effluent infrastructure saves money on yard wash water and nutrient application.
Fertiliser savings run to about $7000 for nitrogen applied through effluent and $3000-$4000 for applied phosphate. The effluent block is left out of nitrogen
application over the rest of the farm, which is consented for 200 units and last season used 187 units. PKW policy is to not exceed 200 units a year.
“We are using the effluent as a resource rather than just cleaning it out of the ponds and now we are getting to the stage we can track the application of N, P and K, we can make sure we are fertilising efficiently.”
A third of the farm is irrigated and the system is simple to extend if necessary, when cow numbers are increased as opportunities arise to expand the farm.
Waterways on the farm have been refenced and existing wetlands planted, with additional wet parts of the farm fenced off for more wetland development.
The final piece of infrastructure is water reticulation, with a new pump installed and back-up storage and reserve tanks from the spring supply.
PKW’s commitment to long-term sustainability is shown with three other farms in the group having similar effluent systems and two farms with the same dairy and solar package so far. There’s a plan to continue upgrading all the infrastructure.
“We have plenty going on without expansion, because all these items are capital-hungry.”
The upgraded infrastructure under Matt and Roger’s management has paid off in productivity for Farm 2, with the duo managing to produce an extra 32,000kg milksolids (MS) in the 2014-15 season for a total of 145,067kg MS from 335 Friesian-cross cows.
Roger attributes the increase to a number of factors, including use of the in-dairy feeding system, and similar cow numbers but larger cows, Matt’s pasture management ability and great attention to detail, with the help of a feed reader mounted on the back of the quadbike.
Dropping cows to 325 in 2015-16 on a system 3 property resulted in meeting the season targets of 140,000kg MS and a per cow production of about 430kg MS/cow.
Continuing low payout for the new season has caused them to look closely at costs and try to improve efficiency and focus on profitability.
“This season is one of the most challenging in most living farmers’ memory – it’s like the Great Depression for these younger farmers,” Roger says.
“With another year of low payout, we are looking at every cost and asking – do you really need it this year?
“Every one of our farmers needs to get close to break even at $5/kg MS on the first draft of the budget (including interest and depreciation costs).”
The supervisors in the PKW group do monthly benchmarking across all the milking platforms and each farm has its own profit and loss report.
“We are getting staff to buy in to their budget – they need to understand the budget and the why behind it.”
Together Roger and Matt have come up with a plan for the season, saying everything has to drop back a little bit.
“Last year we fed 200 tonnes of PK but this season we are dropping out 80t and trying to do more on all-grass, along with 5ha of maize silage from the runoff,” Matt says.
Regular pasture renewal of 7.5-9ha through a summer turnip crop has put them in a good position of producing 16t DM/ha/year and Matt aims to hold production at 430kg MS/cow or 1300kg MS/ha.
This year they are deferring some of the cost of new grass by sowing oats for winter feed and then into chicory in October before going back into grass in April.
As cow numbers were dropping across the group and Matt had surplus heifers to go into the herd, Roger and he took the opportunity to sell off 230 cows from the herd as a job lot, and restock with 130 heifers, 48 older cows, 70 holdovers and another 75 cows from around the other PKW farms, so Matt has an added challenge this season.
“Last season we proved we could do the same production per cow with better grass management and this season we have a whole new group of cows so that is going to be a challenge – and I like to challenge myself,” he says.
Last season Matt had a full-time 2IC, his sister Bex, who has moved on to another job with PKW and has been replaced for the new season with Gavin Stratton, another PKW employee on nearby Farm 32, as a part-time 2IC. With a 60-bail rotary dairy with automatic cup removers, dropping to a part-timer was a financial decision to cut costs.
A Whakatipu, growth conversation
Kaitiakitanga, or guardianship, of the land, the water and the people to ensure the sustainability of the business is a major focus of PKW. Regular catch-ups and forums for farm staff have been established to ensure they are informed and supported in their work. All staff have a monthly whakatipu, or conversation, Roger says, covering off how their role is going, what they are proud of and how well they are contributing, and giving some feedback about their strengths and weaknesses, which helps to identify training opportunities.
Group training opportunities are run to upskill the 65 farm staff and sharemilkers, ranging from a one-hour health test checkup to ATV, tractor and chainsaw safety, along with chemical safety and first aid training.
The regular whakatipu is a great place to discuss any wellbeing or welfare concerns and PKW health and safety manager Bronwyn McFarlane is the go-to person to help with any issues.
The organisation also holds three-four kaimahi (staff) days each year on a marae, for PKW whanau, when all the farm staff and partners-shareholders are encouraged to attend and discuss current and pertinent issues.
An engagement hub also meets every two months with a cross-section of staff – two from the dairy farms, two from the office, one drystock farmer and two from the contract or herd-owning sharemilkers.
The forum is for staff to bring ideas forward about the business, being proactive around progression, policy and procedures.
“It’s important that everyone gets a chance to create or add value within the group, because we are all working together for the shareholders,” Roger says, adding it’s also great to attend the annual meeting and see exactly who they are all working for.
While PKW’s vision is “to be a successfully diversified Māori-owned and operated food production business providing sustainable profits to its investors and employment opportunities for its people”, the small size of the staff means the group needs to help the iwi progress through providing scholarships, dividends and business opportunities on or around its farms, not just jobs.
Matt has a long-term plan to progress to 50:50 sharemilking and is keen to move with his wife Claire and three children to contract milking in the next two-three years, saying he likes a challenge and doesn’t like to get too comfortable in the job.
And while the relationship between Matt and Roger is one the BFEA judges highlighted as an excellent partnership and a huge contributor to the overall productivity of the farm, Roger says he will have mixed feelings about Matt moving on.
“As a supervisor, we like to keep staff progressing within the group but it’s important to support them in their aspirations wherever they want to go.”
Farm facts:
PKW Farm 2
Ohangai, South Taranaki
Area: 159ha
Cows milked: 325
Rainfall: 1530mm
Target production: 140,000kg MS, 430kg MS/cow
