How focus on productivity put NZ livestock farmers ahead

A clear focus on productivity is placing Bart and Nuku Hadfield within the top 5% in New Zealand for financial performance on hard hill country.

Working with others to build equity and setting strict production targets has helped Bart and Nuku Hadfield buy their own 1,506ha farm and pay off one quarter of their mortgage in five years.

In 2001 Mrs Hadfield and her three siblings sold their 323ha family farm in Taranaki along with the Hadfield’s 445ha holding in Taihape to fund the lease of Mangaroa station and the bordering Ruakaka Station, northwest of Wairoa, and buy more stock for the 3,642ha properties.

“No one was getting ahead so we decided to sell up and pool our resources,” explains Mrs Hadfield.

The goal was to work together and increase equity so that everyone could buy their own farms. The four families farmed the two stations – two families on each – and equity was increased by keeping costs low, she adds.

See also: How share farming can help meet greening requirements

All shearing was done by her two brothers, brother in law and Mr Hadfield, everyone pulled together at docking and the stock from both stations was marketed as one group.

“Apart from that the day to day running of each station was up to the ones living there and both stations were run through one bank account, which kept things very simple.”

After just a year they purchased Mangaroa station and three years later they bought Ruakaka station.

Then after seven years they decided to purchase Mangaroa station outright.

By then the farm had doubled in value and while it meant the Hadfield’s 49% equity share had jumped to NZD4m (£1.74m) they still needed to find NZD4.2m (£1.83m) to pay out Mrs Hadfield’s siblings.

“We were back to the same scenario we were in originally but we could prove we could do it so the bank never queried it because they knew we could handle that risk.”

Today everyone owns their own farms and stock units have been increased from 7,000 to 37,000.

Mrs Hadfield says having a “clear vision” and strict controls was key to the partnership working.

“We all had run ins, but our strength was we learnt how to sort out conflict. If we had a disagreement we got it sorted.

“No one was allowed to use the farm account for personal use or get fuel out of the tank unless it was for farm vehicles.”

Since the purchase of Mangaroa the Hadfield’s have already paid off one quarter of their mortgage to the tune of NZD1.2m (£522,000).

“When it comes to paying off debt a lot of people think ‘we will just wait for the equity to increase’ but we have found paying debt off is a motivating factor for us as opposed to seeing it as a noose,” explains Mrs Hadfield.

Key to paying off debt has been increasing farm productivity and being extremely disciplined about spending money, they say.

Bart and Nuku Hadfield with children Lee, Ariana, Atawhai.

Sheep

Since taking over the station they have changed the sheep breed from a Perendale to Romney base and now run 6,062 ewes and a 1,952 hoggets.

Mr Hadfield credits the move with boosting their lambing percentage by 15%.

“[When we started] we had a strict budget we could spend on stock so we were limited to the type of ewe we could afford.

“For the first seven years our production was 125% lambing, but for the last six years we haven’t gone below 140%.”

Ewes are mated to Romney to provide replacements each year, five-year-old ewes are mated to a Sufftex terminal sire and hoggets over 40kg are also served to a Sufftex ram.

Rams are chosen within the top 5% for the New Zealand breeding sheep improvement limited index.

Everything is lambed unshepherded on hill country and yet last year they still achieved 140% lambing.

Ewes are shorn and set stocked before lambing.

“Being shorn encourages the ewes to seek shelter if the weather turns rough and therefore taking their lambs to shelter also,” adds Mrs Hadfield.

Lambing is staggered from August to September starting with the draft ewes, then a month later the mixed ewes before finishing with hoggets.

The first pick of 1,124 lambs are killed in November straight off their dams averaging 15.8kgs, followed by 5,000 between November and April averaging 16.5kg. Another 2,500 are sold as store from December through to April to free up pastures for tupping, says Mr Hadfield. Lambs are sold to Auckland Farmers Freezing Company and last year lamb sales averaged NZD80 a head (£30 a head).

Mr Hadfield says the genetic gain go “hand in hand” with pasture improvements and in the past five years they’ve managed to increase the amount of lambs finished by reseeding 71ha with clover and ryegrass and increasing soil fertility by applying super phosphate fertiliser.

Phosphate levels have been corrected from 25 to 40 on intensive land and up to 25 on hill country, according to Olsen phosphorus tests.

Cattle

The Hadfields also run 500 Aberdeen Angus cows and 200 heifers for replacements.

Calving starts in October and cows are set stocked amongst the lambing ewes. They achieve a calving percentage of 85% unaided.

Mr Hadfield says this is again largely down to genetics.

Aberdeen Angus bulls are purchased using estimated breeding values but also phenotype and particular focus is placed on low birth weights and high 200 weights to maximise weaning weights and survivability.

Steers are sold as weanlings between 240-300kg in the autumn averaging NZD600 (£260) while the heifers are taken through the winter and grazed on forage crops.

Replacements are selected and surplus is sold in the spring.

Profitability

Overall this is contributing to a pre-tax profit of NZD241.55/ha (£105/ha) – placing the Hadfield’s within the top 5% of financial performance in New Zealand.

The goal is to continue to build capital so they can buy a lowland farm to finish all progeny and complement their system.