Ideal farm student

01-10-2008 | Not Specified

Stone stacked walls, an Australian colonial-style woolshed, and a stately double-storey homestead: Gladbrook Station oozes character and is steeped with history.

The property has been in Pip's mother's (Elizabeth) family for over 130 years. Gladbrook was one of several landholdings Pip's great-great grandfather Sir John Roberts, a former Dunedin mayor and vice chancellor of Otago university, owned in the Strath Taieri and Maniototo area.

Sir John's grandson Downes lived and farmed the property from the 1930s and on his retirement Pip's parents Elizabeth and Harry took over management.

Diversification into tourism in October 2006 was a natural progression given Gladbrook's character-plus homestead and close proximity to the start of the Otago Central Rail Trail.

During the peak tourist season - October until May - Elizabeth hosts guests in the homestead. The home and grounds are also available for special functions.

The ‘cook shop' and ‘single men's hut' have also been refurbished for self-contained accommodation.

Pip Wilkie clearly likes to be busy and presently juggles management of Gladbrook Station with relief teaching at Middlemarch primary school, coordinating accommodation for cyclists on the nearby Otago Central Rail Trail on behalf of a local bike retailer, and assisting when time permits with Gladbrook homestay guests.

But wearing many hats has not compromised her grasp on farm management and she credits her successful multi-tasking ability to organization.

"I'm a school teacher so I'm used to being organized."

The detail of the Gladbrook farm business, a SWOT analysis, the once over wintering (OOW) system, farm reports, animal health information and even shepherding tips are all meticulously filed in a couple of leverarch files and frequently referred to.

Pete Young describes Pip as the ideal farming student.

"She's open-minded and has no preconceived ideas about how things should be done."

The specifics of the OOW rotation vary
from property to property but the funda­mentals remain the same, says Central Otago farm consultant Pete Young.

The base requirement is knowledge of the property's growth pattern.

"You need to be in sync with the property you're farming and work around the seasonal constraints."

Planning of the rotation starts by establishing the ground available and desired length of the rotation.

The next step is to establish an optimum period for each shift with the aim being to maximize stock contentment and feed utilization to set up quality spring feed, while minimizing workload.

"In pregnant ewes the feeding balance is crucial so the lower quality pastures are best grazed first when the ewe's feed demand is less, progressively lifting the quality of pasture offered as their demand for feed increases."

He emphasises the importance of abstaining from a second grazing until after spring growth kicks in, usually when the soil temperature hits around 7degC.

"If you graze twice through the winter you'll still get half-an-inch grass growth after the first rotation from root reserves, but if you graze that you take away the (plant's) solar panel so it can't photosynthesise and you have to rely solely on soil temperature to start growth."

He estimates that the higher residual resulting from a OOW rotation can boost early spring growth by almost 50%.

"You can grow more grass in a year at absolutely no cost by leaving more residual...grass grows grass...It's a double benefit; stock can be more selective in their grazing, improving production and the rate of grass regrowth."

  Printable View