Ambitious Plans For Paua Station

Article Source: The Cattleman

Just south of Cape Reinga at the northern tip of New Zealand, the Aupori Peninsula runs between the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. The narrow strip of land is home to the Parengarenga Incorporation, a collective of small land owners who have put their land together to create a strong, productive and profitable enterprise.

The Incorporation comprises two lots of radiata on the coast around Te Kao, totalling l0,000ha, and 6000ha of farmland in two adjoining properties, Te Rangi and Paua Stations.

Weather on the spit is extreme with strong winds, localised storms, wet winters and hot summers. Reaping the potential of the virtually year-round growth is dependant on management of the native kikuyu, which can easily come to dominate the grass sward, going dormant in the cooler periods and leaving large areas of barren ground until it comes away again in the spring. The introduction of other grasses is paramount to agrarian success but avoiding the inevitable domination of kikuyu is possible only when grazing management is right on the mark.

Easy rolling and flat by contour, the 2430ha effective Paua Station is a diverse property that includes a finishing farm to complement the hill country. Soils run from sandy loam through to clay.

Under newly appointed manager Josh Williamson, supported by Incorporation chairman John Ellis and his Board, the station is embarking on a re-development programme to increase stock performance and returns to its many owners.

Both the Perendale X Romney sheep and Angus cows have performed to expectation in the past, however, with new management, expectations are higher. Improvements are targeted in increased production and performance, pasture improvement including re-grassing to high performance grasses where applicable, sub-division to smaller paddocks, additional water reticulation, greater use of measurement tools to assist day-to- day management, and the use of summer crops to maximise income opportunities.

The property currently runs 12,405 cattle and 8,428 sheep - in terms of stock units, a ratio of 60:40 cattle to sheep. There are six full-time staff: general manager, stock manager, stock shepherd, fencer and two general staff.

Phosphate levels over the property are very good (in excess of 27 and up to 39 in some areas). Sulphur is important in these sandy soils, affecting both grass and stock performance. Regular fertilising has led to good levels, allowing the 2011 fertiliser expenditure to be spent on lime at 3t/ha, which has successfully lifted the Ph to 6.0 over the entire property. Expectations of a lift in soil performance and subsequently stock performance are fair.

Past policy has been to finish all stock set-stocked on grass regardless of age. This has meant that lambs have been carried into and often through the winter, while cattle often haven’t left the property until they are 3yr olds. This has tended to put severe pressure on capital stock at critical times. Under Josh Williamson and stock manager Dean Henare-Toka, the focus has shifted to finishing stock earlier and gaining higher production from the capital stock.

The ‘winterless north’ is something of a misnomer for this narrow strip of New Zealand. Winds that can be hot and drying in the summer are replaced in winter by storms and heavy rain that leave the property extremely wet, particularly on the peat and clay country. Both ewes and cows must be run on the sand country.

Parasite problems are exacerbated by the lack of frosts. Liver fluke, ticks and fly-strike all need attention at given times of the season but it is the native kikuyu that dominates management policy, re- quiring special treatment to get the best performance out of the pastures.

Able to form a thick fibrous mat that is high in fibre and almost zero in feed value, left unchecked it will suppress all other grasses. On unkempt verges it can obliterate fences. To deal with it, Josh mob stocks the ewes and behind them the cows, through late summer and early autumn. They graze it right back, ripping the plants and allowing light to reach other species - both native and introduced ryegrasses and clovers - creating good feed for the winter and early spring.

With both re-grassing and the heavy ‘hoof and tooth’ treatment, the quality of the feed available is expected to improve markedly through the next five years. Just under three-quarters of the property is workable with tractors and the improvement programme includes drainage and fencing, re-grassing and the introduction of a targeted l20-l50ha of summer crops by 2014/2015.

The aim is for lambs to be off the property by late February and all finishing cattle by late March. This leaves quality feed to bring ewe hoggets up to weight (40kg) to go to the ram and yearling heifers up to weight to go to the bull, to calve as 2yr olds the following spring.

Sheep are currently performing to expectation, scanning in-lamb at 125% and weaning at around 115%. A lift in lambing percentage is a priority, along with hogget mating, once management is in place to get them to optimum weights. A ‘B’ flock of 1350 ewes is lambed earlier, in July/August, to Primera rams. Lambs are weaned late November, with all excess lambs off the property by the end of February.

Lifting cattle performance is where the significant challenges lie. A key priority is dealing with the current BVD problem in the cow herd, which affects overall performance as well as finishing weights. Other plans include increasing the 660 cows to 700 MA Angus cows. To improve herd genetics, 250 heifer replacements will be kept while the rest are finished to 220-245kg to go to the AngusPure quality meat programme.

At present all male calves are left entire. By 2015, three quarters of bred and bought-in male calves will be steered, finished to 290-320kg CW before the second winter and put through the AngusPure programme. Entire calves will be finished or sold as weaners, depending on the market. An additional 300-350 weaner bull calves will be purchased annually from neighbouring Te Rangi station, also part of the Parengarenga Incorporation, to be finished to 300-320kg CW.

Only Angus bulls will be used from this year on. To improve the selection of genetics at a reasonable price, yearling bulls are this year being used.

Josh, who grew up on an Angus stud in the Manawatu, will be paying particular attention to his annual selection of 35 bulls. Priorities for this include a strong maternal background and EBVs that show greater than average growth weights, carcase weight, indices that are above breed average and strong EMA figures.

Bulls go out at 1:50 on 30" October, and calving commences late July.

Calves are weaned in late January at 180 days of age. All calves are yard weaned with good water and high quality feed for 10-14 days. This allows the calves to fully develop their rumen, gets them used to people and ensures they are easier to handle in the future. From here they are split by gender into two mobs and started on a rotation on the better country. In time they will also have new grass and crops to get them growing at good weight gains through the mild winter.

Following weaning the cows are mobbed up behind the ewes to start their rotation through the paddocks to graze and break up the kikuyu and encourage the needed winter feed.

“Parengarenga Incorporation has set high production targets, with ambitious expansion plans for the re-development of infra-structure and pastures for Paua Station,” John Ellis comments. “Growth targets will be achieved through working in conjunction with Te Rangi Station, leaving Paua to concentrate on breeding and finishing high yielding, high quality stock.”

He is confident that the programme will ensure Parengarenga Incorporation will achieve sustainable financial growth for the long-term.