Mt Linton and Ceri Lewis

Tuesday 17th November. Ceri Lewis and Mt Linton Sheep Station. Where do start? I thought that I had a good insight into the scale of the farming operation and Ceri’s achievement, from Dai Jones’s S4C televisionprogram last year. However,what we experienced during our extensive tour of the farm, which is braided by 300km of gradable road, and covers in excess of 32,000 acres, (13,000 Ha+) was difficult to comprehend.

Over a period of four hours we drove continually around different areas of the farm taking in the scale of the operation. Ceri has split the station into separate blocks and delegated responsibility to various managers. This of course encourages competition and allows benchmarking of progress. Each block might hold 6000 ewes with their lambs at foot and one person was expected to be in sole charge of the work for most of the year, but getting collective assistance at dosing, tailing etc. Contractors are also used to shear, and we experienced a gang of men tail docking, orff vaccinating, dosing and ear marking while we were on one of the outlying hills. The speed of the operation was impressive, but some of the techniques used might be called into question under our welfare guidelines in Wales.

An aggressive program of land improvement is carried out on the natural hill country with about 1200 Ha being tackled every year. This involves a two year program of spraying, burning and planting roots undersown with short term grasses before the ground settles down into long term leys. Nearly all the work is done by helicopter. The significant investment allowes around 6000 extra ewes to be kept every 24 months!

Ceri and his genetics manager Hamish Bielski also form a formidable team with regard to the cattle and sheep genetic programs. Mount Linton is increasingly being seen as a key source of quality rams and bulls with clients throughout New Zealand returning on a regular basis. Three ‘Gogs’ were looking around the station with us, and I would not be surprised to see some Mt Linton sheep genetics in North Wales in the near future.

We left Ceri and his family late in the afternoon having had a fantastic insight into a large scale farming operation being run with vision, hard work and top level management.

Just some facts:

Area: 3850Ha Downs, 2450Ha Developed Hill Country, 4715Ha Oversown tussock country, 2050Ha Native Tussok Country, 300 Ha Radiata pine plantations.

Stock numbers wintered 2009: 43,000 Romney, Texel, and Perendale –cross ewes, 11,000 ewe lambs, 1900 Angus cows, and various other calves, bulls, finishing heofers which come to a grand total of 84,340 stock units. (A further 1200 recorded ewes make up the sheep genetics unit which is riun as atotally separate unit)

Sales in2009: 253,000kg of greasy wool, 59,000 finished lambs, 1680 head of cattle, 300 Texel and Suftex rams, and 300 Angus bulls.

Winter feed: 450Ha swedes, 360 Ha turnips as part of the 1st year development on reclaimed hill, and 300 Ha Moata on the second year of development. 1200t silage and 950 big bales of hay.

Dogs: 120 Huntaway and heading dogs requiring 40 carcasses/week as feed

Fencing: 1000km of fencing

Shelterbelts: 60km of planting

Annual Fertiliser: 2750t + lime.

The bottom of new Zealand!

Monday 16th November. A plant that can slaughter up to 28,000 lambs per day, and further process 85% of those carcases!! This is the reason we travelled to the Lorneville processing plant at Invercargill. (via the Presidential Route, Clinton – Gore) The plant is part of the Alliance Group, a large farmer owned, and operated co-operative which processes lamb, beef and venison. The plant’s throughput is impressive by any standards: Two shifts/24 hours, 4 chains/shift, up to 4000 carcases/chain. (varies according to the season)

We were met by the Plant Manager, Mr David Kean, who very kindly took it upon himself to dedicate the day to show us around the plant and introduce us to his various managers along the slaughtering and processing chain. David is a production guy who has moved progressively up the ladder at the plant over a number of years, and it was very noticeable the quiet respect he received from his colleagues as we toured the plant.

Ceri Lewis, the manager of Mount Linton station had driven up from Ohai to join us for the day. Ceri was one of my fellow students at the Welsh Agricultural College in the 80’s, but on finishing his education, very quickly moved to New Zealand, and is now the successful General Manager of Mount Linton. Ceri supplies around 4000 lambs per week into Lorneville at the height of the season. Many will have watched Dai Jones’s excellent program from the station last year on S4C, and we were looking forward to moving onto the farm after the abattoir visit.

I knew that Alliance supplied many of the leading retailers in the UK with lamb, and I was given a briefing by Gary Maclennan, Development Services Manager, who is responsible for farm assurance and supply chain development. It became very clear that foreign importers drive the agenda with regard to many of the aspects related to transparency and accountability within the supply chain. Gary’s role is to manage these demands, educate and enlighten foreign buyers on the farming systems within New Zealand, and encourage his lamb suppliers to embrace change when necessary to protect market access. A challenging role! I found the conversation transparent, and supported by documentation which I could take away and study at my leisure. I will need another suitcase to carry all the paper work I have collected home to Wales!

Only chain No1 was working on the day due to the early season, and it was noticeable that this senior chain had an equally ‘senior’ average age. I was told that some of the workers were in their late sixties and promotion to this line was nearly a case of ‘filling dead men’s shoes’ The development of robotic pullers at various stages of the carcass dressing had alleviated some of the hard work on the line, and allowed the senior workers to carry on into old age!

We were given a tour around the boning and processing halls, with each department manager taking their turn in briefing us about what was going on at each stage, as the carcass was turned into shoulder rolls for Japan, or racks of lamb for the European market. I am a great believer that every sheep farmer should visit his local processor to follow the lamb through from slaughter to the final cuts and packaging. It is a complex operation.

We finished the visit with a tour of the lairage, where 28,000 lambs could be held at any one time. I was taken through the traceability system that is employed on lamb arrival. Interesting…. The lambs were shampooed as they entered the lairage, and then water sprayed in a large round pen. The plant had done away with the swim bath which I saw in the Silver Fern Farms abattoir earlier on my trip. This washing process is justified on hygiene grounds, and the need to maximise shelf life in some of New Zealand’s far flung markets around the world, but other options are being considered. Some very well trained Huntaway dogs helped move the lambs once they were unloaded from the delivery trucks, and the abattoir staff expressed concern that some retailers had banned the use of dogs in lairage pens, which would cause difficulty in an operation of this magnitude. The dogs seemed to bark on command, shut up on command, and brought home to me how badly trained and controlled my huntaway is at home in Llandre!! Maybe the fault lies with the master.

An interesting day, in the company of some very professional operators . Next stop was Mount Linton, and we followed Ceri through hail, wind and rain to Ohai. Ceri and I were in different years in WAC and had not kept in touch following college but I was convinced that if I ever got to New Zealand, Mount Linton would definitely be one of my destinations. After a hair raising journey back to the station (Ceri cannot be aware of the 100 km speed limit), it was a quick turnaround and another 40km journey to watch Ceri and his much younger station staff take part in a seven a side touch rugby competition. Unfortunately they lost which led to a very quiet journey back to the Lewis home. Rugby is a religion in New Zealand and even the touch rugby competition was laced with quality play. Ceri was a class outside half in college, but when you reach the age where you play in the same team as your son, maybe you should realise your limitations! (Ceri!)

We finished the evening having dinner with Ceri and his family looking out at the famous Mount Linton sheep station stretching before us into the far distance where snowy topped mountains lined the horizon.

Warm welcome, cold mountain!

Sunday 15th November. We continued our journey south along the east coast of South Island to Hillcrest Farm, Wairuna near Clinton. We had met Rae Mitchell at the Christchurch Show where he was showing his Perendale sheep. When Rae realised we were heading south past his place to Invercargill, he warmly extended an invitation for us to visit his farm and stay the night. As we drove south that afternoon the outside temperature dropped considerably to around 7°C, and we got to understand the variance in climate within New Zealand!

Rae and his wife Roslyn run around 6000 ewes with the help of their son on 700Ha (+leased gound) of rolling flats extending to steep tussoky hills. They have about 320 ewes in the stud flock and sell around 130 Perendale rams each year. The farm is run very commercially and I was very struck with the results achieved by Rae in his sales of finished lambs, primarily to Alliance or Canterbury Meat Packers. His finished lamb results in terms of meat yield, cleanliness and hitting other desirable specifications were consistently in the top tier when he showed me his records.

The trip in his pick up around the steep hill side where his ewes lambed was memorable, not just for the quality of the ewes and lambs on show, but also the extreme steepness of the ground we travelled over! I am fairly used to steep ground on Llandre, but when Rae would casually say that the map in his head took him down a slope, you suddenly lost sight of the bonnet in front of you and I was reminded of certain roller coasters at Oakwood. What continues to amaze me on this study tour is the quality, and number of lambs reared by ewes in what are fairly demanding conditions in terms of climate and topography. The wind was so severe on the hillside that Sheila and I had a job of standing up, while a ewe and two lambs just looked on with amusement!

You occasionally come across people in life who fairly quickly impress you with their personal achievements. Rae would certainly be one of these people. He has with Roslyn built up a substantial farming business with careful financial management, prudent purchases of land and living within his means. He manages the farm with his youngest son Scott, while Brendan is involved in the hospitality business in Queenstown. The oldest son Paul, manages a flock of Merino ewes and wethers, on a remote area of land, which is accessed by boat from Queenstown. Merino wool is currently making a comeback due to branded clothes such as ‘Ice Breaker’ which are a big hit all over the world. We saw some incredible pictures of Paul and his dogs being airlifted by helicopter to the top of a steep ridge to start driving the ewes down for shearing. I have asked Roslyn to e mail some of the pictures so that I cam post them on the blog.

South Canterbury

Saturday afternoon 14th and Sunday morning 15th November. We had met Mike and Jan Studholme at the Christchurch Show and they had very kindly invited us to visit their South Canterbury farm and stay overnight. The drive down the Canterbury plains was, to say the least ,spectacular, with again the same story of the coast on our left, a fertile plain in the middle and snow capped mountains to our right. We saw many large dairy herds with extensive irrigation being practiced on most of the farms. The quality of the dairy farming in this region seemed to be generally superior in terms of cow condition and pasture quality in comparison to what we had experienced in the Waikato region of North Island.

After many hours of driving we arrived in Waimate, 50km south of Timaru and the family home of the fourth generation of Studholmes. Mike and his wife Jan were great hosts, entertaining us for supper with a home killed New Zealand wether lamb, and some fine wine to complement. Mike was very much aware of the family history and how the family home had been established by three brothers in 1851. The current farm acreage is 2500 stocking 2000 Perendale ewes and 350 breeding cattle. The annual rainfall is light at 22 inches and much of the lower ground is irrigated.

The farm was organic until recently, and Mike commented that going organic had greatly improved his awareness of the soil and general pasture management. He attributed flock and herd health to the diverse varieties of grasses present in his sward and good trace element management. The inability to control weeds under an organic system partly influenced the departure from that mode of farming. Mike had also been offered 1200 NZ$/hectare/year to lease his lower ground to some expanding dairy farmers, but enjoyed farming too much to take up the offer!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our brief stay at Te Waimate, and with Mike and Jan possibly travelling to the UK next year we might be able to feed them some good Welsh Lamb.

Mt Guardian Perendale Stud

Saturday morning 14th. Our first stop on our way south only took us a couple of miles down the road to the Mt Guardian Perendale Stud which is owned and run by Tim Anderson and his wife Sue. (Virginia’s sister) Tim is vice president of the Perendale Sheep Society and one of the leading lights of the Society in terms of stock and activity. The Perendale ewe is a medium sized sheep able to survive in a relatively harsh environment with minimum attention, but still produce lambs in excess of 16 kg deadweight and a lambing percentage of 150% +. The breed was developed by Geoffrey Sylvester Peren, from his work on the Cheviot-Romney Cross.

Tim and Sue run around 922 Ha of land with some additional leased ground. We found on our journey around the farm that the land extends from some rolling pastures overlooking the sea, to some extremely steep hillside, which certainly had us hanging onto our seats! The farm holds around 5000 ewes with approx 1200 within the DNA recorded stud flock. Tim sells around 500 yearling rams each year, and was in Sue’s bad books because he had been offered a substantial sum of money for his best ram at the Show the previous day, and turned the offer down! The same client had paid 22,000 NZ $ for a ram a few years ago.

Tim and Sue manage a very tight ship with the help of Henry, a young lad gaining experience on the farm, and the son of the farm which would be our next stop. The flock was lambed extensively with the minimum of fuss, and I was amazed to only see one lame ewe during our visit. What was also unusual to a Welsh farmer, was the amount of land reclamation that went on in areas that would be seen as environmentally sensitive in Wales. The challenge in New Zealand is to maximise the return from every acre and every stock unit with the minimum of input.

Sheila could not get over the grapefruit and lemon trees growing in Sue’s garden.

Goodbye to a friend (for now)

Saturday morning 14th November.We were ready to head south, and to some extent be left to our own devices. We could not have wished for a better host/minder/place name pronouncer, than Virginia Williams during our stay in New Zealand. She had been a key person in setting up our itinerary, and arranging all the meetings with industry, Government, and research institutions.

Virginia is highly respected within the animal welfare theatre in New Zealand and we wish her well with her many official roles. She and her husband Pat welcomed us warmly into their home and we very much hope to have the opportunity to return the hospitality in the near future.

Tourist driver!

Friday 13th November. A morning spent in Christchurch, where the wind created such a chill that it seemed that we were back in Wales going into winter rather than New Zealand going into Summer. Christchurch is New Zealand’s third largest city, and the capital of the Canterbury region, South Island. We were glad that we did not revisit the Show that morning as we heard that many people went home at 10 a.m. due to the strong and cold wind!

We were to head back north that afternoon as Virgina Wiliams had arranged a barbecue so that we could meet her farming neighbours. Passing a sign for Leithfield Beach I though it would be good to do try and get into the tourist mode and take a closer look at the coast line. Friday 13th , I am not superstitious, I even turn our rams out on October 13th , but it did not take me long to find out that a Ford falcon Automatic does not do well on sand!! Sheila swears to this day that there was a sign…DO NOT DRIVE ON THE SAND DUNES. Feeling a total idiot, I walked the long embarrassing track back to the local village for some help, and hopefully a rope and a 4 by 4 driven by an understanding Kiwi. I found not one, but three highly amused Kiwis who were quite used to helping what they called stupid townies off the beach. It took around an hour to get us out, two 4 by 4’s, with a lot of flying sand and picture taking by a ‘I told you so’ Sheila. I think the three Kiwis, who did not ask for any financial recompense got a good night out on the beer money I gladly gave them for their efforts. A very embarrassed Welsh man got on his way……………….

The evening was spent in the company of the local farmers and their families who lived around Pat and Virginia’s home. It was a great evening, with wonderful food and interesting company. Much of the talk was about lamb prices, the weather, rugby, the same things are a topic of conversation for farmers all over the world!

One interesting fact was that when the the local farmers were having trouble with wild pigs, they hired a helicopter with a marksman on board and shot 140 in one day.

Angus cattle, Powell cousin and Christchurch Show

Thursday 12th November. The land surrounding Pat and Virginia’s home is farmed by the Wilding family who run the Te Mania Angus stud. We were up early to be picked up by John Harrington, the farm’s General Manger and driving force behind the continual progression of the Te Mania herd. Te Mania was founded in 1928, and four generations of Wildings later, the stud has grown from four cows to 1070 registered females (cows and heifers). In 1971 a sister stud, Te Mania Australia was established by a close family member, and the Te Mania Angus stud, with 2600 fully performance recorded registered Angus females is probably the largest in Australasia.

The farm has an area of 5000 acres (⅔ owned, ⅓ leased) with land ranging from the wave breaking coast, to the rolling hills behind which went up to 500 feet above sea level. Rainfall is around 1000mm/annum, with irrigation possible on about 600 acres of the bottom ground. Three full time men and a student are employed with Tim Wilding, mainly working away from the farm developing the Te Mania brand and a fully integrated supply chain in conjunction with key processor and retailing partners.

The trip around the farm was inspirational from the quality of the pastures which are soil tested regularly to ensure that the phosphate, sulphur and pH levels are at their optimum, to the consistent quality of the cows and calves which were set stocked around the farm in groups of around 75 cows. John explained that the heifers undergo a synchronised mating program at around 13 to 14 months, and any animal that does not calve down at 2 years old is sent down the road. The same tight breeding policy is adopted for the cows and he currently had a couple of cows left to calve. Five or six had been assisted over the season and they would be culled as a matter of course.

The policy was to achieve a low calf birth weight, with a target weaning weight of 180Kg at four months old for the bull calves. Any male calves not getting near this target are castrated. The four hundred day target weight is 400 kg off grass. Beef genetics is certainly not one of my areas of expertise by any measure, and it was new to me that the scrotal size of a bull has a direct correlation to heifer puberty. The cattle are out all year round, but with a percentage of the farm put down to kale and whole crop silage each year to ensure a buffer feed if needed during a period grass shortage.

Health treatments are kept to a minimum, with drenches used rarely on heifers, (not on cows) and 10 in 1 vaccination with lepto and a lice pour on all the cattle. The farm veterinary surgeon visits the farm on a consultative basis once a month.

The bulls are sold either as yearlings (46 bulls @ 2800NZ$) or later at 22 months in the main stud sale. (113 bulls @ 6250NZ$) The Angus cattle I saw in Te Mania were of smaller stature than the ones I have seen in the UK but were ideally suited to the environment in which they are kept. John’S mission statement is ‘ to breed very sound, high fertile cattle with calving ease and high growth rate, and emphasis on carcass quality to assist our clients in meeting strict market specifications’ He was convinced that his current star bull Te Mania Infinity would do exactly this job and they would all be millionaires next year! John came over like many other beef and sheep breeders I have met, with a passion for his work and the balance of expert stockmanship and scientific knowledge to support his genetic improvement work on the Te Mania Angus breedline.

Next stop was the Christchurch A & P Show, two hours drive away from Conway Flat. We were to meet with Virginia’s sister, Sue Anderson at a petrol station for the entry and parking tickets. As soon as we got into the Show Ground one of the first people we met was David Morgan, husband to Sheila’s first cousin Janet! (Sheila has got 50+ first cousins so we are bound to meet one of them where ever we are in the world) They had emigrated as family a number of years ago to New Zealand and are running a large farming business just north of Christchurch. Arrangements were made to meet up with Janet, and the inevitable family reunion happened between the cousins while David gave me the lowdown on NZ farming from his perspective, having previously farmed in the highly regulated and subsidised UK environment. I soon gathered that New Zealand is not for the faint hearted if you wish to make your way up the farming ladder!

The rest of the day was spent wandering around the Show, talking with various companies and exhibitors. I had never seen a Merino sheep in all his woollen glory before, but what was striking was the number of sheep breeds present at the show in comparison to the Royal Welsh. Mr Gwynfor Richards would have had a much easier task of judging in Christchurch than he did with the 44 breeds present in the ring at Llanelwedd this Summer!!

The day finished with us being guests of the Perendale Sheep Society at an after Show barbecue. It was a great event where we met Tim Anderson, brother to Virginia who is the owner of the Mt Guardian Perendale Sheep Stud. By the end of the evening we had three farm walks sorted, and hosted accommodation all the way down to Invercargill!

Travelling South

Wednesday 11th November. Our time in North Island has come to an end and we caught the 8.30 a.m. ferry from Wellington to Picton, on the South Island. The distance between the two islands on the map is deceiving with regards to crossing time, because the ferry has to navigate south out of Wellington Harbour, before turning north west, and sailing across the Cook Strait towards North Island. A distance of 92Km and 3 hours sailing. The ferry holds about 1600 passengers, many of them young backpackers. We wondered if one of our girls might be doing this crossing in the next few years!

Our time in North Island has been short but we have made many new friends, seen some great sights and learnt a great deal about the opportunities and challenges of pastoral farming in the northern region of New Zealand.

Just after getting under way the ferry sails past Matiu/Somes Island, which we were told was used until fairly recently as an animal quarantine station. I have not come across any bio security measures or regulation on any dairy, beef and sheep farms that I visited in North Island, but once again I was reminded of the New Zealand Governments past, present and future policy on strict border controls to avoid the introduction of any disease that will threaten their agricultural industry. An interesting point is that nearly all of the mammals on New Zealand were introduced by man, even the rats came off the docking ships. Like Ireland, they do not have any moles, which made Sheila extremely envious, as she has been unsuccessfully been trying to catch moles on Llandre with traps for the past eighteen months without any success!
After sailing through various ‘sounds’ and ‘channels’ we arrived at Picton, picked up the hire car, (another Falcon) and started our drive towards Virginia’s home in Conway Flat on the North East Coast of South Island.

Our journey took us past a number of vineyards, which stretched out before us on the rolling plains. There were a number of windmill type structures in the middle of the vine fields, there to prevent any frost damage by creating air movement above the crop. Helicopters creating a downdraft were also used in some cases to create the same effect! We saw some famous brand names in Hawke’s Bay, and the same was the case (no pun intended) in this region, and we were tempted to stop at the Montana winery for some lunch. Being the driver, I could not join in with the wine tasting, but I think my passengers took full advantage of the situation!

As we travelled down the coast, stopping to take some pictures of the seals basking on rocks, we realised that the weather was deteriorating. We were planning to stop at the seaside town of Kaikoura, and take a three hour boat ride out to see the whales that are swimming in that area. Unfortunately with the temperature dropping to about 9° C, the wind chill making it feel even colder, and the waves looking pretty fierce we were disappointingly informed that all trips were cancelled. We had been told by many people back in Wales that this was to be a great experience, but we couldn’t do much about the weather.

We finished our first day in South Island being hosted by Virginia and her husband Pat. They have built a lovely wooden house in the middle of a beef and sheep farming plain, with snow capped mountains on one side and the sea on the other. Pat has the most difficult job of travelling the world and writing about his stays at some of the most luxurious hotels available to the discerning and well heeled traveller!

Meetings, meetings and even more meetings!

Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th November.
Meetings, meetings and even more meetings! The New Zealand Government, and the MAF Department specifically, had worked very diligently to put together a comprehensive program of meetings on my behalf. I was also looking forward to meeting Kirsty Grant, and Paula Lemow who had done most of the hard graft on the ground and to convey my appreciation in person. The highlight of the two days would be a conversation with Minister for Agriculture, The Honourable David Carter. I am not going to expand on these meetings, partly because there would be too much detail, but also because I am desperately trying to bring my blog up to date. I seem to be falling further behind all the time! So just a list, but suffice to say that the conversations with the various organisations and the Minister were amicable, informative, and illuminating. No one went to sleep during my presentation, not even Sheila which was also good for ones self esteem!

Monday:

Seminar and Presentation – FAWC, Past Present and Future

Meetings with:
· MAF Animal Welfare Team
· Tim Richie, CEO, Meat Industry Association
· Kevin Cresswell, Technical Executive, Meat Industry Association
· Ben O’Brian, General Manager, Meat and Wool NZ
· Jacinta Gould, Policy Officer, Economic Division, Foreign Affairs and Trade
· Richard Ivess, Senior Specialist, Trade Negotiations Division, Foreign Affairs and Trade
· The Honourable Minister David Carter, Minister of Agriculture.

Tuesday:

· Barry O’Neill, Deputy Director General MAFBNZ and Immediate Past President of the OIE
· Cheryl O’Connor, Programme Manager, Animal Welfare, MAF
· Interview with Neal Keating of Rural News
· Don Nicolson, President of Federated Farmers
· Tony Friedlander, CEO, Road Transport Forum NZ
· Richard Wild, President NZ Veterinary Association and Animal Welfare Specialist NZ Food Authority Verification Agency
· Julie Hood, CEO, NZ Veterinary Association

Two intensive days, with many questions answered, but with others appearing in my mind after the meetings, which now can be followed up by e mail due to the excellent contacts made over the two days.

All Blacks, Fire Alarms and Presenation

Sunday 8th November. We lost! We lost!! I had been imagining all week how I would deal with a Welsh win, which would seriously shock, devastate, and put my host nation on the back foot. Now I would have to take a dreadful ribbing at every turn especially as I was to enter a series of meetings in Wellington over the next two days. I think we played very well, but there is always that sense of inevitability that the All Blacks are going to triumph in the end. I missed my post match analysis with Nigel Dolaucothi, which usually happens on a Sunday morning following a game. At least the Australians beat our old friends the English!

We were staying at the Wellesley Hotel in Wellington, and as the game finished the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the hotel in rather a hurry, and not one but four fire engines turned up at the scene. An early morning evacuation is never welcomed by hotel guests, but on a Sunday…..I shall expand on that story after we have left New Zealand!
Unfortunately I spent most of the morning finalising my presentation to MAF officials, which I was to deliver on Monday morning. My subject would be Animal Welfare in Great Britain, Past, Present and Future. FAWC have just published a comprehensive report reflecting on the progress of animal welfare in GB post Brambell, and recommending the following conditions to be necessary to satisfy ethical consumers and also further improve farm animal welfare.

· The Government to act as the guardian of farm animal welfare
· Standards for a ‘good life’ defined by an independent body
· Minimum welfare standard defined by quality of life
· Stockmen to be educated and trained to a high standard about welfare
· Welfare assessment to be valid, feasible and rigorous with independent audit
· Due diligence in the food chain with marketing claims verified
· Citizens educated about food and farming from childhood
· Animal products to be labelled according to welfare provenance to provide consumer choice

I finally accepted after much thought that the best way to get over the All Black win against Wales was to put a big CONGRATULATIONS message into my second slide!

After lunch we had a lovely walk along the Wellington harbour front, taking in the freshness of the place with the sea on one side and the steep surrounding hills dotted with houses on the other. Entrepreneurship was in the air with the local fishermen selling their fish to the local consumer directly off their boats on the jetties. A bustling local market was the place to buy all your fruit and vegetables with the diverse growing capabilities of New Zealand coming to the fore. Sheep and dairy production is certainly not the only way forward for New Zealand agriculture.

God's Waiting Room

Saturday 7th November. In the morning we were given a tour of Waikanae, or as Leishcen called the town, "God’s waiting room", due to it being a place where people relocated to retire (very similar to Lampeter!) The town was saturated with a thriving cottage industry, of people selling home made crafts and art from their family homes. We called in at a few of these galleries and I had to constantly remind Sheila that our cases were already above the 30 kg weight limit. The town is on the south west coast of North Island, but the constant wind did not seem to deter the white bait fishermen we had a chat with on the beach, and were waiting for their catch to be brought in on the tide.

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand was our next stop. Wellington has a population of 400,000 (10% of the total) and is only second to Auckland in density. It is known also as NZ’s windiest city – explained by the wind being funnelled up through the Cook Strait, into the harbour, and then exaggerated by the multi storey buildings. We parted company with our V6 Ford Falcon hire car which had carried us comfortably down through North Island. I was not able to use the power that was obviously available, because of the strictly enforced 100km speed limit, and the tourist mode that you tend to adopt when travelling through beautiful countryside full of cows and sheep. It was even tooted a few times by impatient drivers and called a ‘nana driver’ by Mandi McCleod on Facebook. Who ever suggested that I was a fast driver back in Wales!

We arrived at the hotel in mid afternoon and after a walk around the harbour which was full of backpackers and sightseers, we gave in to the exhaustion after a pretty hectic week. We did of course remember to set the alarm clock for six next morning, and the big game to be held at the Millennium Stadium!

Film stars!

Friday 6th November. Up early to meet with the New Zealand film crew contracted by Ffermio (Welsh rural affairs program) to capture some video of our visit to Alistair Poulson’s farm. Ffermio had provided me with a script, which had been faxed to our Hotel in Dubai and the remit was to basically get six minutes of footage, which included conversation between myself and Alistair contrasting our farming systems, with some welfare pointers and backdrop shots of his sheep and the dramatic scenery.

Sounds simple! But, with no director present, the need to film for around four hours to get the required six minutes, a film crew made up of a camera man who had just survived three open heart surgery operations, but still felt that he should take some action shots from the open sun roof of his people carrier, and a soundman who epitomised the stereotypical, ageing, drum playing, but still cool surfing dude, who worked occasionally to finance his trips to the beach with his board. Get the picture! We had a lot of fun, Alistair and his sheep were very patient throughout and I think we landed up with something that the Ffermio editing team can work with…maybe. Sorry about the 17 takes of my closing piece to camera Mererid!

We left the farm in the early afternoon, having had a great time, made some new friends who we shall definitely keep in touch with, and a greater understanding of sheep farming in the North Island of New Zealand.

Our next stop was with Dr David Bayvel and his wife Leischen at Waikanae, just north of Wellington. David is Director of Animal Welfare within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and has been the key facilitator with regard to organising the study tour. David also holds a key position within the OIE in Paris and is very prominent within the animal welfare world. A veterinarian by profession and originally from Scotland, but some body who seems to have no problem in supporting the very successful All Black rugby team in his adopted country.

I made sure that we arrived at the agreed time because I had been told that one of David’s favourite sayings is "courteous with people, ruthless with time"Dinner was at a local restaurant, and we reflected with David and Leischen on the events of our first week in new Zealand. A week that had flown by due to the intensity of the program, but we had met some great people, had some great insights and collected through note taking, literature and digitally recorded interviews, valuable material for that report which shall have to be written at some stage!!

Farm Visit

Thursday p.m. 5th November. The drive from Palmerston North to Alistair and Bo Polson’s home in Manurewa took us once again through some beautiful and productive farming areas. I saw a farmer planting some corn in a field and took the opportunity to stop and have a chat. He was a young man who had returned to the mixed enterprise family farm, consisting of arable/beef/sheep and chickens. As with many other New Zealand farmers he had spent time abroad experiencing other cultures and farming systems. He had also picked up a wife from England on the way!

I found myself following a police car at one stage in the journey, and when he pulled into a passing place, I pulled in to park in front of him (role reversal!!) and took the opportunity to have a chat about the various offences he dealt with, and the degree of crime in New Zealand. After he had decided that I was not some nutter from Wales, he explained how drink and drugs issues were a major problem, with organised crime linked to the gang culture that exists in New Zealand encouraging the problem. An interesting observation he made, was that dealing with women who had an aggressive attitude, was becoming more of an issue than their male counterparts!

When we arrived at the Polson family home we were welcomed by Alistair, who came across as an easy going and agreeable Kiwi farmer. We were immediately struck by the new farm house which had without doubt a sense of style and presence! Alistair explained how in 2004 the valley had been struck by a violent flood, which destroyed the old farmhouse, drowned four thousand of his lambs, and from which the family had narrowly escaped drowning in the middle of the night in the family boat! The new farmhouse was rebuilt on a man made hill from the silt deposited in the nearby fields by the flood, and provided some security from a repeat experience. His brother Donald had a much closer escape during the flood. The boat which he was using to try and rescue some stock was overturned, and he and his shepherd found themselves stranded on some tree branches, cold and wet. Donald started to suffer from hypothermia, and was only kept alive until the rescue helicopter arrived, by the shepherd skinning a drowned sheep and wrapping him up in the instant sheep skin coat. Despite the severity of the flood and the consequential financial losses, no lives were lost which seemed a miracle as the story was told to us.

Once we had met Bo, had a refreshing cup of tea and found the washing machine to wash some of our clothes (inc my sheep sh***y trousers!) we went on a tour of the farm. The 1200 acre home farm would be the equivalent of our ‘Hendre’ and is made up of predominately flat ground at around 500 feet, rising to a 1000 feet on the surrounding hillside. Rainfall is in the region of 40"/annum with fairly free draining soils. Most of the paddocks were around 25 acres, stocking up to a 100 ewes with lambs at foot. The farm was down to medium term leys made up of productive rye grasses and clover. Reseeding was carried out by spraying the old pasture with roundup and direct drilling the leys.

Alistair explained that he had finished lambing in mid September and that the Primera cross Highlander lambs were about due for their first worming drench. No supplementary feeding was carried out with regards to the ewes, either pre or post lambing. The ewes and lambs looked to be in good condition and had been lambed with the minimum of fuss and intervention. The costs of production would probably be around 50% of our sheep systems in Wales, but they needed to be at that level due to the lack of financial support, exposure to market forces, and the fickle exchange rate. The strength of the dollar does not bode well for the NZ sheep industry in the coming season.

As with most sheep farms, there was the odd lame ewe, despite Alistair’s policy of culling any sheep that needed any intervention on lambing or health issues during the year. Coming from a highly regulated UK industry, it was astounding to hear that NZ sheep farmers are not obliged to keep a flock register, and are only accountable to the tax authorities in relation to stock valuations on their sheep numbers.

I thoroughly enjoyed the journey around the farm, having first hand experience of a large commercial operation, the insight into a ‘lightly’ regulated NZ sheep industry, and the financial pressures that are affecting NZ farmers due to the need to export their product within a volatile global economy. Much to learn about producing lamb within a totally different climate in relation to the weather, regulation, breeding, scale, marketing, and financial planning.

As expected my extended discussions with Alistair on many issues will provide vital information for my Nuffield Report.

Massey University and looking forward to a farm visit

Thursday 5th November. Massey University in Palmerston North and the Manawatu Campus is home to the only Vet School in New Zealand. I was in Massey to meet with Associate Professor Craig Johnson who is a world recognised authority on animal welfare issues and the title of his opening presentation was ‘Mechanisms of conscious awareness and pain perception in neonates’ In lay terms, Craig has done an incredible amount of work in determining when animals have a conscious perception of suffering around the time of birth, and the effects of stunning at slaughter in relation to pain and suffering. A detailed presentation of a complex issue with clear conclusions. Further presentations followed from a series of PhD students, on research projects connected to castration and tailing, stress levels in sheep and how the early exposure of an animal to a painful procedure can cause hyper sensitivity to further treatments in later life.

I had heard hat New Zealand punched above its weight in animal research, and I was shown evidence to this effect. Every agricultural industry needs this continuous development work going on in the background, to ensure a sustainable and profitable future. What also became evident was the collaboration that existed between New Zealand research establishments and ours in the UK. The visit was finished off with a tour of the research facility, including the impressive deer and equine centres.

It was time for our host for the last two days, Virginia Williams to leave us until we would get together again in Wellington on the 9th and we dropped her off at Palmerston North Airport. Virginia had been a wonderful host, guide and corrector of pronunciation of place names!

Next stop, Mangamahu in Wanganui, an hour drive north from Palmerston North. We were to be the guests of Alistair Polson and his wife Bo on their beef and sheep farm. What did I know about Alistair? He had sent me an e mail a few weeks earlier with a fair amount of detail and I was viewing this visit as one of the high points of my study tour.

Briefing provided; Alistair is a sheep and beef farmer married to Bo with three children at university. He has had a career in farmer representation including a term as the national president of Federated Farmers of NZ 1999-2001. He also served two terms on NAWAC the equivalent FAWC in the UK and the NZ Veterinary Council. In addition he has also been involved in Meat Company governance as a director of Waitotara Meat Company and also Silver Fern Farms. His farming operation consists of two sheep and beef farms with a 4ha Kiwifruit block.

The larger of the two blocks Manawaimai is 1400ha and carries 8000 ewes, 3600 hogget replacements and 350 Angus cows. This farm is almost entirely hill country and only a few older cows and a small number of surplus breeding ewes go directly to slaughter while the reminder are moved down the valley to Manurewa for finishing before slaughter.

The home block at Manurewa where Alistair and Bo have their home consists of 500ha, 250ha of which is flat ground and also home to the Kiwifruit operation. The farm winters 3750 ewes, 300 heifers and steers and over the course of the year would finish at least 10000 lambs at an average carcass weight of 18kg. In order to ensure timely lamb finishing, 40ha of fodder crops are cultivated over the summer for lamb grazing, and sheep meat sales are 80% of the farm’s income.

The two farms are fully integrated, with the older ewes being supplied to Manurewa and all replacements are bred at Manawaimai. The Rissington breedline has been used for a number of years and all Highlander ewes are mated to a Primera terminal sire. Alistair conveyed in his briefing e mail that he hoped to produce 16000 lambs this year. Last year he supplied approx 4000 Primera lambs to the M&S contract. He manages all this with himself, and one other member of staff at the home farm and two other members of staff at the hill farm!!! A Kiwi fruit manager looks after that specialist enterprise with casual labour employed docking, weaning etc.

I was also aware that Alistair was a Nuffield Scholar and would provide valuable input into my final scholarship report.

Mountain, Beach, and Processing Plant.

Wednesday 4th November. An early start with a breakfast meeting with Hilton Collier, Agricultural consultant and a member of NAWAC (FAWC’s equivalent in NZ). Hilton works very closely with a number of dairy clients, and was able to give us a very clear picture of how the volatility in the global prices of milk products is affecting farm incomes, farm planning, and consequently in some cases cow welfare.

The sequence has been:
Stable milk pricing – low cost and balanced pastoral and climate based system – significant milk price increases – farmer reacts to the market and increases herd size, establishes dairy farms on marginal land, moves into higher input systems to achieve higher yields – what goes up usually in my experience comes down – lower milk prices - economic pressure on farming systems leading to cut in inputs, and an effort to return to the low cost and balanced pastoral and climate based system! Result; low farmer morale, surplus dairy cows on the market, dairy cow welfare compromised. This leads onto one of the questions in my study, should animal welfare be left to market forces?

This was followed by a steep and winding drive up to the peak of Te Mata mountain, (a more extreme version of Tro’r Gwcw!) an incredible vantage point with views to the north of the incredibly fertile Hawke’s Bay Region, with its vineyards and fruit growing farms, and the beaches of the east coast that are famous for their surfing. The adventurous can also para glide off the mountain. Our travelling companion Virginia, unfortunately knew of someone who had met an untimely end when the paraglider failed to function properly and the 399m decent to the floor of the valley below led to the inevitable…..after some careful consideration we kept our feet on the ground!

Virginia then took us to meet her brother Mark Williams, and his wife Vicky whose retirement home was on the edge of Manga Kuri Beach. (Black Dog Beach) Mark had been a recognised breeder of Perindale sheep in his day and explained how progeny and performance recording had been key management tools in New Zealand for the past twenty years. John’s son is a successful graphic designer, and had no desire to farm, and therefore the family business had been sold a few years previously, with Mark and Vicky moving a few miles down to the beach for what seems an idyllic retirement lifestyle. The day is made up of fishing, tending an awesome vegetable garden, walking the black Labrador and keeping the mind active by being a member of numerous committees and charitable trusts.

Next stop was the Silver Fern Farms processing plant at Takapau. We were met by Plant Manager Stu Cruden, whose son is seen as the possible successor to Dan Carter in the All Blacks rugby team. Cruden Junior was the player of the tournament at the World Under 20’s tournament last year, which was followed by thankfully a successful fight against testicular cancer. An incredible story of overcoming adversity and returning to peak form in the current season. Stu was a quality rugby player in the day’s of Shaw, Mexted, Mourie and Co!

Having got the rugby bit over which seems to be the topic of conversation at the beginning of every meeting, we were introduced to the plant. Established in 1981, the plant covers an area of 561 acres, annually processing two million sheep and 85000 bobby calves. Their key UK customers are Marks ans Spencer, Tesco, and Asda with the main drivers for their assurance schemes being driven by these companies.

I was impressed by the overview briefing and plant access that I was given, with permission to take photographs at all stages of production. Mike Perry, the technical compliance manager gave us a comprehensive tour of the slaughter line, followed by the slatted and covered lairage with a capacity of 10400 sheep, overseen by two NZFSA VA staff (Vets). The main differences I observed in contrast to UK plants was the spray washing and/or plunge dipping of all the lambs on arrival, and the presence of lambs having no form of identification.

Halal slaughter was practiced with the stun to stun procedure in place, with five Halal slaughtermen on site. Further processing was carried out on site with 95% of carcases exported in boned or cut form, either chilled or frozen. Mike was very excited about the imminent commissioning of a robotic primal cutting machine which would greatly increase the efficiency of the boning hall.

I left the plant with some key observations on animal identification, slaughter practice, lairage procedures and the influence of foreign retailers on NZ farm assurance practices.
The day was finished off with a dinner meeting with Professor David Mellor of Massey University. David is recognised as one of the most respected animal welfare scientists in the world and I was exhausted by the end of our four hour long discussion, but proud to receive an e mail from him next morning expressing his appreciation of our polite but no holds barred dialogue.

I am starting to suspect that the itinerary my New Zealand friends have put together is designed to wear me down slowly, and into quiet submission. We shall see……!!!!!

Napier, Hawke's Bay

Tuesday November 3rd Our first stop of the day was to be Napier Airport where we were to meet up with Dr. Virginia Williams who had flown up from Wellington, and is to travel with us for the next few days. The journey from Lake Taupo to Napier took us up and over the Kaimanawa & Kaweka Ranges. We drove through miles of steep undulating land covered in tussock shrublands before we came onto a volcanic plateau, followed by a large plain on which is planted one of the largest man made forests in the Southern Hemisphere.

Driving down the other side saw us enter the famous wine producing region of Hawke’s Bay and Napier, where a severe earthquake killed over 200 people in 1931 and caused the earth to move and rise in a way that Hawke’s Bay airport is actually built on what was originally the sea bed!
Virginia was born in the Hawke’s Bay area and after picking her up at the airport, she was obviously comfortable in giving us directions to our first stop of the day, Rissington Genetics.

We were welcomed by John Absolom, the co founder of the company that I have an association with in the fact that they supply the breedlines for the M & S Prince’s Trust lamb group in Wales, which I facilitated a few years ago under the Agrisgop program. John was given the advice a few years ago, "the sooner you Kiwis stopped trying to make your Romney sheep do everything and concentrate on producing separate terminal and maternal lines, the faster your progress will be". Hence the development of the Primera, a terminal line and the Highlander, as a maternal line. Millions of dollars have been spent upon genetic improvement and the breedlines are now used world wide. Genetics and not cosmetics was certainly the message, and is an area for the Welsh sheep industry to ruminate upon!

John took time to show us around the 3000 acre family farm, now run by his son Ben. The farm stocked 300 suckler cows (70 Simmentals and 230 Stabilizers) and 1500 ewes (1000 Highlanders and 550 Primera multiplier flock) John took great pride in driving us up to the highest point on the farm and showing us the panoramic view of the Hawk’s bay area. We finished the visit having lunch at the family home, where his wife Star was a gracious host.

We then travelled onto Hastings to meet with Dr. Mark Fisher, a specialist in bioethics, who I was able to question on the role of society in animal welfare, and at whose door the cost of animal welfare should lie. At 4p.m. discussions came to an abrupt end, the beers were opened, and the whole office stopped work to watch the Melbourne Cup! Apparently the whole of New Zealand and Australia comes to a stop to watch this annual horse race.

The day was finished off with us being hosted for dinner by Steve Murphy, General Manager Operations for Silver Fern Farms. This large beef, lamb and deer processing company is structured as a farmer cooperative, and is therefore owned by about 20,000 farmer suppliers. Its head office is based in Dunedin, with support offices in Christchurch on the South Island and Hastings on the North Island. They operate 21 processing facilities throughout the country, employing more than 7,000 staff in the peak of the season. Steve explained how the processing sector has gone through a period of rationalisation in New Zealand with companies merging and plants having to be closed. The current exchange rate and the strength of the NZ dollar was a huge concern for a country that exports most of its lamb and price projections for the season were bleak. The possibility of lamb making 3.5 $/Kg dw with production costs at 4.2 $/Kg was not what his lamb suppliers wanted to hear.

Another day full of enjoyable and learning experiences.

Gallagher and AgResearch

Our fourth day in New Zealand began with a visit to one of the most successful family owned and run companies in New Zealand - Gallagher. The company is famous for its manufacture of electric fencing material, but have over the years expanded into the manufacture of EID recording equipment, plastics and fuel dispensing systems. The company was established in 1938 and is today run by the second generation of the family, Bill Gallagher. The company operates in 130 countries world wide and has a 100 million + NZ$ turnover. We were shown around the expansive Hamilton office and workshops , and were impressed with the ability of the company to develop, test and manufacture most of their products in house. We were also given a chance to view the latest EID equipment that the company has on offer, some of which will be used in the TAG project currently being rolled out in Wales.

After a quick working lunch at Gallagher we drove a few miles to the world renowned AgResearch facility at Ruakura, near Hamilton. AgResearch is a Crown Research Institute and probably the equivalent of our IBERS at Aberystwyth, and is at the forefront of biological science in New Zealand.

We were met by Dr. Jim Webster a senior research scientist and team leader at AgResearch, and after some introductory discussions I was privileged to deliver a presentation on the Welfare Challenges and Opportunities facing the Welsh sheep farmer. The audience was made up of research scientists, PhD students and animal welfare technicians. This led onto a robust discussion on animal welfare in terms of guardianship, link to economics, and the role of legislation and enforcement versus leaving welfare standards to market forces.

I also finally got to see some sheep as work is being done on condition scoring and they wished to compare my assessment criteria with their own. It was all fine until my smart light coloured trousers got covered in sheep sh**t and I had to face Sheila on my return to the main building.

A two hour drive from Hamilton to Lake Taupo took us through some very beautiful and hilly dairy country. Jim Webster has a wonderful chalet overlooking Taupo and offered to host us for the night in one of New Zealand’s most attractive locations. I was a bit worried when he told me that there was an active volcano a few miles away and the last eruption was five years ago!After an evening meal overlooking Lake Taupo, (the most delicious Hawk Bay beef steak) we retired to bed exhausted!

Jim’s residence which is available for rent……..www.belenus.co.uk

Waikato

We have just spent a couple of great days with Mandi McCleod a New Zealand scholar and her partner Ant Beetle on their 180 Ha dairy farm at Pirongia, Waikato. This area of undulating land is famous for its dairying, and following a very wet and cold Spring are now entering a better growing period in early Summer. Beetle is in a share milking partnership and has over the years increased his cow numbers to 650 milkers. (run in three seperate herds - Jersey, Friesian and Crossbred) The next step is getting the timing right as regards cashing in his cows and achieving the ultimate goal of purchasing his own dairy farm. He hopes to achieve this dream in the next twelve months and we wish him luck as the road has been long and hard from farm worker, farm manager, contract milker to his current position of share milker. We were impressed with the balance he was achieving in sound economics and excellent dairy husbandry and cow welfare. Of course behind every successful man there is a good woman……. …Mandi is a respected agricultural consultant in NZ and also specialises in succession planning. We are looking forward to hosting her in Wales in January.

A climate based system of dairying has many challenges, and without proper proactive management, may not be what is perceived throughout the world as an ideal extensive system of producing milk. As in the UK, economics and the increasing volatility in the cost of inputs such has fertiliser has increased the pressure within the dairy industry to intensify, expand and cut costs. (Plenty of material to discuss in my report!)

When we arrived at the farm we were fortunate to meet Mandi’s father, Bill McCleod who is the current Chairman of Ravensdown Fertiliser. This is a cooperative company that supplies 50% of the fertiliser to NZ farmers (1.081 million tonnes) with a turnover of 892 million NZ$. They made a profit last year before tax of 36 million NZ$, and returned 32 million NZ$ dollars to their farmer shareholders! The company has expanded into supplying lime, animal health products and an Australian division. A quiet and unassuming man,Bill put the obvious success of the farmer cooperative down to having an excellent CEO, and a challenging board that laid out a strong strategic plan based on shareholder return. Mandi later explained to me that her father had left school with no qualifications, built up a large dairy farm with his wife, reared five children and was now committed to turning Ravensdown into am influential and sustainable business within NZ agriculture.

A visit to the limestone caves at Waitomo, famous for their glow worms was the ideal end to our visit. I never thought that I would be fascinated with the life cycle of a worm, certainly not one that hangs from the roof and glows in the dark!

Seland Newydd o'r diwedd!

I thought that I had left form filling behind in Wales for a few weeks, but as we came in to land in Auckland the Emirates stewardess who had been serving us some lovely food and drink on the long flight handed us a landing form. It contained all sorts of questions on our recent contact with agriculture, farmed animals and the threat of immediate deportation or worse if we smuggled any food, or even woollen products into the country. A video on the screen in front of me reinforced the stringent rules by showing a large dog sniffing away at someone’s suitcases! Having ticked the box indicating that I was a farmer, I was relieved just to be asked a few basic questions on landing as to whether the shoes I was wearing were my working boots, and if I had a sheep hidden in my case. I had visions of a full body search or worse!

When 60% of your countries exports are from the agricultural industry, it is quite understandable for these measures to be taken. Unfortunately the same questions are not asked of foreign visitors on their arrival into the UK. The argument given of course when I push this issue with our Government is that New Zealand is served by two or three major airports, while the UK has many international airports with Heathrow by itself handling 58 million passengers per annum. Allowing for the obvious practical difficulties, if we are serious about animal health and welfare in the UK, a better solution needs to be found at our points of entry that at least will minimise the risk of compromise from abroad.

The short trip from the airport to the hotel in the middle of Auckland was eventful to say the least. Even with the assistance of a ‘sat nav’ we had to rely on the kindness of a white van driver to drive ahead of us, and lead us by the nose to the Hotel entrance. My sense of direction has never been good, and regrettably Sheila’s not much better!

On arrival at the hotel we immediately had a meeting with Jockey Jensen, Director of MAF Enforcement NZ. Jockey has a team of eight officers to cover all of NZ and follow up any issues on animal welfare. It was an illuminating and candid conversation with someone who is obviously at the coal face of welfare enforcement.

By this time we were not quite sure if it was morning, noon or night, and our first day in New Zealand was finished off with a meal at a restaurant overlooking beautiful Auckland harbour.