2003 Winners

2003 PPCS Best Livestock Award

Herstall and Alyson Ulrich, Rock Farm, Cave, South Canterbury

From a run-down, steep downs property to a highly productive sheep and beef unit, Herstall and Alyson Ulrich's Rock Farm near Cave, South Canterbury, is a vibrant example of the way farming has changed across three generations. The couple have farmed the 589 hectare farm since the early 1980s. Originally Rock Farm, named for the limestone rock overlooking the land, was part of the Rhodes Brothers' Levels Station.

"It was probably over-cropped during the Levels Station days, growing oats for the horses. but I think it's now a strongly producing unit. We have got irrigation on the other side of the Te Ngawai River, on our second property. "With irrigation, we finish bulls, 50% of which are gone by mid January, wean lambs and switch to finishing lambs through to the end of summer/autumn. Then it's back to bulls for winter," Herstall says.

With a minimum of 240 rising two-year bulls on an irrigated 56 ha in 13 different mobs, Herstall and his stock manager have used Harry Weir's Technosystems for the past nine years. In combination with this, for the past four years he has rotated bulls with lambs and live weight gains indicate that the approach is paying off, with 700 kg/ha meat production (net of live weight) today compared to 300-350 kg/ha nine years ago. The soil profile on the irrigated block now shows stones four or five inches below the topsoil where once they made a bumpy ride for Herstall as a boy in the farm truck.

On the dryland homeblock, soils are protected using a holistic system. "By leaving humus on the soil surface, the soils are protected from wind and sun and retain moisture." Earthworms are a strong sign of soil health.

For the past seven years the Ulrichs have used detailed soil monitoring tests on all their pastures. The cocktail prescription approach to topdressing has seen lambing go from 120% to 145% this season.

2003 Wrightson Habitat Improvement Award

Ian and Marion Dent, Orari Gorge Station, Geraldine

Ian Dent is in his 24th year as manager of the 4250 hectare Orari Gorge Station, near Geraldine, South Canterbury, an historic run taken up by Charles Tripp in the 1850s and still owned by his current descendants, Rosa and Graham Peacock.

The station is a mix of sheep, beef and deer on a mixture of tussock hill country, flats and steep downs. As well as Ian and his wife Marion, it employs four shepherds, a tractor driver, and homestead caretaker/gardener.

Plant pests are something Orari Gorge Station has dealt to from the beginning.
"Right from when Charles Tripp took this property up, he could see that gorse and broom were going to be a problem and there's been a policy of zero tolerance for them since that time," Ian says. He notes that a big bush of broom he destroyed 20 years ago annually sends up seedlings even though he has stopped broom flowering over that time.

Under Ian's stewardship, large areas of native bush have been fenced off and stock taken out and the steep downs have been regrassed using direct drilling rather than ploughing.
"We have fenced off 1,000 ha of our highest hill country for the hinds and they're up there 12 months of the year." This has led to improved tussock cover. Deer were introduced in 1989 and numbers have expanded in the last three or four years.

© 2009 Environment Canterbury