Jim and Lois Reynolds (owners) and Paul McGill, (manager) Mayfield, near Masterton, pmcgoo1 [at] hotmail [dot] com
Paul has been managing this farm for Jim and Lois for the past five years, but they are all involved in the decision-making.
They have 380ha of clay soil near Masterton, growing wheat, peas, ryegrass, white clover, sunflower, lupins, and canary seed. They also trade 5,500 lambs for finishing each winter and own a flock of 250 suffolk and dorper x sheep that graze the rye and clover until they are shut up for seed production. The dorper x require minimal shearing and can lamb out of season, which offers a premium for lambs sold on the shoulders of the production season.
Some cattle are grazed, but lambs are preferred as they reduce soil compaction issues and have a lower nutrient loading, thus reducing nutrient losses from the soils during winter.
The farm is not irrigated and water has to be managed carefully as the shallow silt loam over clay subsoil does not have a great water-holding capacity.
Paul has made a particular study of the energy inputs to the farm, both directly on the farm, and in the manufacture of the other inputs. This is driven by the knowledge that fuel prices can only rise, driven by long term oil depletion and by the costs of climate change emissions.
The energy inputs to cropping are: 50% from fertilizer; 24% from fuel for on-farm machinery; 10% to make the machinery; 7% for pesticides; and 5% for storing and processing the grain. Clearly, any efficiency gains in fertiliser use and tractor operations are worthwhile.
This analysis led Jim to adopt direct drilling as a sowing method in 1996, and purchase a cross-slot drill in 2003. This reduced fuel usage for each sowing from 60-70 litres diesel/ha to 15-25 litres, with the added benefit of being able to place the fertilizer directly with the seed. Lois and the children particularly noticed the time-saving which gave them more time as a family. Since 2004, Paul has been developing and integrating farm practices to enhance the advantages of the Cross Slot technology.
When the lambs come off the ryegrass pasture in September it is sprayed and direct drilled immediately with peas and NPK fertilizer. The peas are harvested in January/February and followed with wheat or barley which uses the nitrogen that the peas stored in the soil. Direct drilling reduces energy use, conserves moisture in the soil, preserves soil structure and encourages soil biology. Jim has also noticed a decrease in the range of pasture weeds since converting to direct drilling in 1996.
The winter wheat crop is also part of the water management strategy. Sown in Autumn it makes use of the winter rains to store all the moisture and nutrients it needs to form its seed by the time it starts to dry out in late spring. As the heat and the sunshine hours increase to form and ripen the seed heads the crop can do well even without further rain. Paul and Jim have the experience now to be able to survey a paddock of leafy wheat in spring and say, "that's an 8 tonne/ha crop even if we get no more rain".
A recent venture is into high sugar grasses (HSGs) which have been developed in order to make rumen digestion more efficient, with the added benefit of reducing methane emissions. Most grasses have a protein to carbohydrate ratio that is too high, leading to energy losses as ammonia and methane rather than meat and milk. The HSGs have 10-15% more water soluble carbohydrate. Paul has noticed that the stock graze more evenly and lower down so HSGs need to be sown alone with clovers, otherwise stock will select them out, leaving traditional grass types to dominate.
They have grown these over 40ha after harvesting seed from the initial 6ha trial field. This is one of the promising routes to reducing climate change impacts from farming, while benefiting from a higher feed conversion.
The key things that stand out on this farm are the shared vision between Jim, Lois and Paul, and the integrated thinking and practices. This has led to diversity and resilience in the farm system. Mayfield produces a diverse range of products, which include grass, clover and pea seed, wheat straw for the mushroom industry, pea straw for local gardens, bird and stock feeds, and lambs and cattle, all of which contribute to the success of the whole.
The control center of the farm is the dining room table in Jim and Lois's house. Here nutrient and energy inputs and exports are discussed, often aided by the use of computer models such as Overseer and the Cranfield energy model which Paul picked up during one of his research trips to the UK. Further energy developments are high on the list of topics at the table and include utilising pelletised crop wastes for energy, biochar, and biofuel from rape seed to run the tractors. Some of these may play a role on farm in the future.
The diversity and complexity inherent in this system make quantification of the benefits difficult, especially since the benefits accrue in the social, environmental and financial domains of the farmers' lives. Mayfield has been acknowledged with various awards including the BFEA Nutrient Management and Harvest Awards in 2007. In 2008, Mayfield was named the PPCS Wairarapa Farm Business of the Year. One of the factors the judges noted in their decision was that despite the three consecutive summer droughts, Mayfield has achieved good financial performances - something that Paul is proud of considering the challenging climatic seasons. Judges also commented on their community involvement and the valuable networks they have built up both in NZ and overseas.
In the future Paul, Jim and Lois hope that their integrated management system will extend to the region beyond their farm, so they are working more cooperatively with other farms on issues such as water management.
Congratulations Paul on your Nuffield Scholarship award! (www.nuffield.org.nz) Paul will use this scholarship to study a systems approach to farming with a focus on catchment strategies.
Update: read Paul's Nuffield Report on catchment management strategies here.
Listen to a conversation between this farmer and Jeanette
