Day 14

 

The entrance of Temuka Sale barn our
 first visit of the day

We began our day doing something totally awesome! We traveled to the Temuka Sales facility and got to watch New Zealand livestock sales in action. We began the visit with an information session with both the operations manager as well as the head manager of the facility. He talked with us about how this company is a cooperative owned by the farmer shareholders. It has been really cool to learn that a large portion of companies that either assist in the selling or are the purchasers of agriculture products are owned by the farmers that produce them here in New Zealand. At the Stockyards, they sell approximately 70,000 cattle and 260,000 head of sheep annually. Totals of livestock net sales reach over $150 million NZ dollars on a yearly basis. Every Monday, they hold a regular sale for cattle and sheep. On our visit today, over 1,200 head of cattle and 6,000 head of sheep came to be sold. 

Members of the group overlooking
 the yards at the sale barn on
the catwalk

During the busy season, they will expand to two sales to specialize in specific runs of livestock such as feeder sales and breeding stock sales. As the largest live sale auction site in the South Island and being centrally located, they are quite busy and generate a lot of business. Most of the buyers we saw today were working on behalf of livestock agencies. Companies that will travel to farms and either purchase livestock, or represent the farmer as the stock go to the sale facility. Sometimes, it will even be the agencies buying livestock back again to resell to harvest companies. A few of those agents were milling around the facility, and we had a great time chatting with them! In the sale ring, cattle went through very similar to how most sale barns operate in America. The auctioneer would call out for bids after announcing the weight (in kilos) and description of the cattle in the ring. A few big differences in auctioneers was that they often rotated who was selling the livestock based on which livestock agency represented that stock. Additionally, their chant was not nearly as fast paced and rhythmic as many auctioneers closer to our home. 

As cattle pass through the yards heading towards
the ring, their EID tag is electronically read and
sent to the computer inside of this building

The sale ring inside Temuka Sales

The sheep yards were all of the sale sheep are kept

2 of the 4 Claas Lexions that are the
main fleet at Hewson Farms

After an awesome experience at the sale barn, we traveled to Hewson Farms near Ashburton. Primarily focused on producing arable crops to enter into food production, the Hewson family was able to show us many interesting things we hadn’t yet experienced in New Zealand. They took the time to walk us around their large-scale farming operation and show us a lot of the unique equipment that they use to harvest their crops and manage their lightly irrigated farm ground. 

A pile of onions that were just
recently harvested and are now
being stored until they
are exported.

Their farm was comprised of 500 hectares of potatoes and onions, and approximately 1,600 hectares of wheat, oats, ryegrass, peas, barley, and numerous brassica varieties of smaller quantities. It was fascinating to learn how much emphasis they placed on crop rotations. For instance, potatoes can only be grown in the same soil once every eight years in New Zealand. With numerous small grain varieties being mixed into the rotation, it allowed their intensive operation to remain diversified and thriving in production. 

Brown onions are the only variety
that Hewson Farms grows

This shed is used to dry multiple crops.
Currently is is storing onions that
will be shipped soon.

The coolest part of their operation for me was perhaps their usage of sheep. They purchase 14,000 head of feeder lambs every year to finish out on ryegrass, oats, and crop residue left in the soil, primarily during the winter months. These lambs allowed them to be profitable and active when few crops could be grown in the colder winter season. It was also interesting to learn about how they had to be very careful on their water usage, as New Zealand conservation keeps a close tally on how much water farmers use for irrigation in the country. They must manage the inputs of their operation very closely, otherwise it would be hard to remain profitable. We ended the day by making our way back to Christchurch where we will be staying for the night before we begin our journey home tomorrow. Overall, it was a fun day!

The group on top of all the potatoes inside one of Hewson Farms many potato sheds

Today’s blog is brought to you by Mitchell and Kallie