And the winners are…
A rum stud and a top pastoral operation recently won lower North Island farmer of the year competitions.
A RAM STUD AND A TOP PASTORAL OPERATION recently won lower North Island farmer of the year competitions.
Wairere won the Wairarapa Sheep and Beef Farm Business of the Year award and the Strahan Land Company won the inaugural Central Districts Red Meat Farm Business of the Year award.
Wairere is a 1075-hectare hill country farm in the Bideford district near the Wairarapa coast.
Renowned as this country’s largest ram breeding operation, Wairere is owned and operated by the Daniell family, with a management team made up of Derek Daniell, Simon Buckley and Sam O’Fee.
Head judge Rob Thornicroft says Wairere is a profitable, efficient, innovative and sustainable farming system.
The competition is open to all sheep and beef farming businesses including stud operations with both sheep and bull studs having won past competitions.
He says they received a good number of entries for this year’s competition, but would not say how many.
Ian and Steph Strahan’s company farms 496ha split across two properties and finishes 1600 lambs and 1100 cattle. With the addition of dairy and hogget grazing, they generate 600kg CW/ha.
The couple are running a high-performing system in a sustainable manner with excellent knowledge of their environmental footprint. More on both winners in future issues.
