We farm with pragmatism, knowing the decisions we make today will impact tomorrow.
Productivity is maximised through careful stewardship of the land, excellent grass growth, care for our animals, and the prudent use of technology.
We're focused on maximising productivity, maintaining profitability, and offering solid returns to shareholders. Doing this requires a farming system which makes the best use of our experience, technology, and our knowledge of the local environment, ensuring each farm is fully optimised for repeat success.
At the same time as achieving real results today, we're farming for tomorrow. We know our actions impact future generations and this influences the methods we use and the decisions we take. Dairy farming will continue to play an important role in the New Zealand economy and how we farm will contribute to a positive future for us and other farmers.
The Environment & Sustainability
All farms are compliant with current consent conditions. All will be compliant with new consent conditions and meet the challenges of new standards. But it’s not just about that. It’s about doing more. Every individual farm has an Environment Plan and we’re establishing the key environmental numbers such as greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen surplus. Then we mitigate them using independent bodies to help us learn, understand and make improvements.
We strive to do the right thing and work with Environment Southland, Fonterra and others to ensure we stay well ahead of compliance. It’s an approach that we know is, and will, make a difference for the better.
Health & Safety
We care for our team and their families. That care goes beyond adherence to health and safety protocols, forming part of our culture. This means we provide all the training and resources needed for everyone to go home safely at the end of each day.
Team members are supported by an independent Health & Safety Manager who is charged with leading initiatives that directly benefit their wellbeing. Farming is well-known as a job where accidents happen and mental health can suffer. We want to challenge and change that preconception and will do so through action on-farm and off it.
Technology
Technology is used as an enabler, allowing us to improve performance, free-up time for other tasks, and reduce fertiliser use through a highly targeted application that's mapped and measured.
Using technology, we're able to improve pasture growth and maximise milk production, with better data helping us to make more informed decisions, reducing wastage, and better mitigating risk.
Animal Welfare
We've adopted the 5 domains for modern animal welfare practice, using the 5 Domains Model developed in New Zealand. This provides a greater focus on the mental state of an animal (how the animal 'feels') and acknowledges the welfare can be both positive and negative.
The 5 Domains are:
- Nutrition
- Environment
- Health
- Behaviour
- Mental State
