Southland/South Otago Hill Country
Model Description
This model represents 750 farms in the moderately rolling clay downlands to steeper hill properties in South Otago and Southland. The farms are spread through the Clutha (44%), and Southland and Gore (56%) districts.
The properties tend to be the larger (over 3,500 su) sheep and beef units with a reliable summer rainfall. Winters can be wet and cool.
The farms have mostly cultivated pastures, with the balance in improved but steeper hill and tussock blocks. Pastures have been regularly and well fertilised.
The typical production system is breeding ewes, some hoggets lambing, and the majority of lambs finished, but some store lambs can be sold each year. There is a breeding cow herd with the best steer calves finished. There is also some trading of cattle.
Table 1: The Model in Summary |
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| Effective area: | 710 | ha | ||
| Stock wintered | ||||
| Breeding ewes | 3,931 | hd | Breeding cows | 88 hd |
| Replacement ewe If | 1,040 | hd | R1yr cattle | 72 hd |
| Other sheep | 64 | hd | R2yr cattle | 15 hd |
| Total stack, units wintered | 5,609 | su | Other cattle | 2 hd |
Table 2: Key Parameters |
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| 1998/99 | 1999/2000 | 2000/01f | |
| Area (ha effective) | 710 | 710 | 710 |
| Closing sheep stock units | 4,677 | 4,708 | 4,850 |
| Closing cattle stock units | 823 | 901 | 999 |
| Closing total stock units | 5,500 | 5,609 | 5,849 |
| Stocking rate (su/ha) | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.2 |
| Lambing % | 126 | 124 | 128 |
| Average lamb price ($/hi | 35.27 | 42.14 | 43.24 |
| Average wool price ($/kg) | 2.63 | 2.60 | 2.76 |
| Total wool produced (kg) | 22,743 | 22,802 | 23,838 |
| Wool (kg/su) | 4.75 | 4.76 | 4.95 |
| Average R2yr steer ($/hi | 558 | 841 | 763 |
| Average cull cow ($/hd) | 372 | 574 | 537 |
| Gross farm revenue ($) | 259,836 | 296,113 | 331,488 |
| Cash farm surplus ($) | 64,750 | 90,837 | 121,960 |
| Net trading profit ($) | 44,694 | 81,995 | 116,437 |
Key Points
- After the 1998/99 drought, a mild winter and early spring in 1999 lifted stock performance to produce a 124% lambing.
- Gross farm revenue of over $52/su in 1999/2000 was the highest for this model since monitoring started.
- Farmer morale is particularly buoyant after an upturn in meat prices and good growing conditions.
- The scale of these properties and the ability to have good cash results repeatedly has encouraged innovation and planning for farm succession.
Physical Factors
In March 1999, the drought broke and the recovery began. Significant growth over March and April followed. The winter was mild with few snow events, so stock losses were low and performance better than normal. This had a beneficial influence on subsequent lambing performance.
Strong spring pasture growth influenced subsequent management. The surpluses appeared earlier than normal and conservation of supplements this season has restored the previous season's depletion in reserves. One-and-a-half times the normal amount of hay, silage and balage was made. Those farms with higher proportions of cattle coped with the flush better but, generally, pasture quality deteriorated going into summer. Clover growth was poor.
From November pasture growth fell off quite dramatically for four to six weeks, due to cool conditions. Many farmers struggled to maintain pasture quality and quantity. Rainfall during February-April was below average. These factors combined to create a variety of feed positions in the autumn of 2000, with some areas in Northern Southland relatively dry.
Brassica yields going into the winter are good.
Scanning percentages were back by 3-5%, but a mild spring and excellent spring growth resulted in high lamb survival.
Lambing percentage was 124% for ewes. This was similar to 1998/99. Hoggets were also mated and gave a lambing percentage of 34% (lambs born to hoggets wintered).
Many farms in this model mated hoggets with varying degrees of success. This is a surprising feature for this class of farm. However, the financial strength and scale of these farming systems allows such innovations.
Those farms that finish lambs achieved better slaughter weights (15.5 kg plus) than the previous year. However, those farms that did not manage to contain the spring flush well suffered lower post weaning liveweight gains. Consequently, lambs took longer to reach slaughter weights.
Generally animal health was good on these properties.
Ewe deaths were higher on those properties with Salmonella brandenburg, which impacted on at least 5% of farms in this model. The lack of a fully effective vaccine left farmers with limited choices for control of the disease.
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