News & Events

27 Jul 10 - Landcorp Farms Decline in Value

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +1200

18 Jun 10 - Landcorp Award Winner

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:08:00 +1200

03 Mar 10 - Benefits from diversifed production

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +1300

15 Oct 09 - Landcorp Sires Spring 09 Newsletter

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +1300

15 Oct 09 - Steady progress in a tough year

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +1300

01 Aug 09 - Waihora Romneys Move to Goudies

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +1200

(L to R) Back: Dr Geoff Nicoll - Head of Genetics and Nutrition Unit, Ken Burt - Farm Manager (current), Glen Campin - Former Farm Manager of Kakaho Station (Lands and Survey Dept), Duncan Annandale - Former Senior Operations Manager, Alan Still - National Business Manager, Rob Craig - Former technical advisor (Lands and Survey Dept), Nick Todd - Retired Regional Manager (North Island).

Front: Bernard Card - Retired General Manager, Maureen Alderton - Former data technician for breeding programmes, Dr Doug Lang - Former Director of Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station MAF, Dr Clive Dalton - Former scientist Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station MAF, David Marshall - Former District Supervisor (Rotorua) Lands and Survey Dept.

With the move of the Romney Breeding Programme to Goudies, we thought it would be appropriate to invite the Farm Managers and office staff involved in the programme from the early days to attend an informal day at the new Goudies complex in late April. We were lucky to have retired MAF scientists Drs Clive Dalton and Doug Lang attend - Doug, along with the late Graeme Hight, was the instigator of the initial idea of screening twinning 2th ewes from Lands and Survey Dept flocks. Incidentally, Roger Bedford's dad was closely involved in the process right at the start too - we're talking 1966!

The group heard a potted history of the programme from the 1970's through to the 2000's from a range of staff, including a letter from Peter Guy (the original programme Farm Manager). We were reminded of some of the mine fields we walked through when shifting from pen-and-paper to computer-based recording, courtesy of Maureen Alderton - one of our very first data technicians. Bernard Card summed up these reminiscences very well when he said that the success of the Romney breeding programme was due to the people involved - their vision in the early days, and their commitment to see it through and to make it work.

13 Jul 09 - Genetics Team Member Wins Two Awards

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Alice Allsop, our breeding programme data administrator, won two awards at the New Zealand Society of Animal Production's (NZSAP) Annual Conference held recently at Lincoln University. Alice was the winner of the NZSAP Jubilee University Award (Lincoln University) for academic achievement in animal production. She also won the prestigious NZSAP Young Member's Award for the best paper prepared and presented for the first time at a technical conference.

It goes without saying we're proud of our GNU "young member". Just as an aside, Alice is no stranger to being rewarded for hard work - she also earned a Meat and Wool NZ Scholarship, and one of the two Landcorp First Step Scholarships awarded to final year B.Agr. Sci degree students at Lincoln.

25 May 09 - Landcorp Moves to Faster Broadband

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 +1200

27 Feb 09 - Landcorp Sires Autumn 09 Newsletter

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +1300

01 Feb 09 - Landcorp Supports Farm Open Days

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Landcorp is supporting the Federated Farmers initiative to open farms for the public on the 1st of March. Three Landcorp properties will be open between 10 am and 3.00 pm at Kapiro in Northland, Kotuku on the West Coast and Molesworth Station.

To find out more about Federated Farmers Farm Day go to www.farmday.org.nz. Please tell your friends and family about the website and make sure you visit a Farm Day farm near you on 1 March 2009.

11 Sep 08 - Conservation Efforts Recognised

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1200

11th September 2008 - Department of Conservation, Southland Conservation Awards

The following is based on an article published in the Department of Conservation's programme for the Conservation Awards held at Invercargill on 11th September 2008.

"Landcorp may not always be the landowner and the current land use may not always remain the same, so the only constant is the land and if we protect it now, it's always protected".

Perhaps not the words you' expect to hear from the country's largest farmer! However, this statement sums up the approach Landcorp Farming Ltd has taken to protecting waterways and wetlands within many of its Southland farming operations.

Landcorp's approach has seen the forging of strong working relationships with the QEII National Trust, the Waiau Fisheries and Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Trust and the Department of Conservation over the past decade.

This has resulted in the protection of a significant number of waterways and wetland areas, on Landcorp farms, from future development. With many of these waterways being in head catchments, the benefits are significant, with fish, invertebrate and plant species all flourishing as a result of these initiatives.

"Recognising its corporate leadership role, but more importantly that it is part of a wider community for which water plays an increasingly important role, Landcorp Farming Ltd is to be congratulated on the extensive riparian protection programme it has undertaken."

In addition, the corridors and linkages that have resulted now provide public access to new areas and improved access to existing conservation areas, such as the Takitimu Mountains. The benefit of this is increased recreational opportunities to areas where access hasn't been readily available in the past.

"The rights of private landowners is recognised by the Department, so when any landowner is prepared to facilitate public access to an adjoining conservation area, this should be acknowledged and celebrated."

Our continuing efforts to contribute to the protection of the environment culminated in Landcorp being presented with the Corporate Conservation Award at the Department of Conservation's Conservation Awards held in Invercargill on 11th September 2008.

The conservation initiatives we have undertaken in Southland are being repeated at our farms across New Zealand and we continue to seek new opportunities to enhance the initiatives already in place.

Jun 08 - Young herd manager wins awards

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +1200

June 2008

A Landcorp herd manager, Julian Reti-Kaukau, has recently won the Waikato Farmers Trust Cup in the regional awards of the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation (Ag ITO) for achievement with his combined efforts on the job and on industry training courses. Twenty-one-year-old Julian has also picked up the Bisley Challenge Cup, awarded for achievement under the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme.

Julian is a herd manager on Landcorp's Pouarua dairy unit near Ngatea, on the Hauraki Plains. He has been studying for Ag ITO units since November 2007 with excellent progress since then to reach Level 4. Julian will soon press ahead with Level 5 pasture management and business management units, and has set himself a goal of becoming a finalist in the Young Farmer of the Year contest in three years' time.

On Pouarua, Julian has been recognised for excellent work when he stepped up to all farm duties last summer. Farm Manager Paul Mahoney had an early birth in his family and called on Julian to fill in on the property. Congratulations Julian!

14 Apr 08 - Deer lure an adventurous Kiwi home

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +1200

14th April 2008 - Country-Wide Southern | Sam Davidson.

Eyre Creek Station manager Nick Davison is no stranger to challenges.

Brought up on a sheep and beef farm in South Canterbury, he has had a varied and interesting background in agriculture.

In his early twenties he lived in Western Australia's sub-tropical Kimberley region for more than five years, designing, building and managing a live export feedlot depot for cattle bound to southeast Asia and the Middle East.

He has also spent time as a stockman on live export ships and as a ringer on a million-acre station in the remote West Australian outback.

But it was deer which attracted Nick to the Landcorp Farming-owned Eyre Creek in 2006.

He had limited experience with deer, spending the majority of his farming background in sheep and beef. But he found the challenge of working with the animals exciting and it is a decision that has not disappointed.

Eyre Creek runs 3500 hinds, including 500 replacement yearlings, on 1700ha of mainly medium to steep hill country.

Deer were introduced about seven years ago as part of Landcorp's diversification strategy into deer and dairy. The animals thrive on the rocky, matagouri-laden hills where they are set-stocked for fawning. Deer fencing covers the majority of the property, on about 1460ha.

The station also runs 400 Angus cows for pasture management and 1500 ewes, mainly for ragwort control.

And although Eyre Creek is one of Landcorp's smaller properties, the station still presents plenty of challenges.

This year the farm has experienced its fair share of the country's wide-spread drought and Nick, along with Landcorp, has implemented emergency strategies to cope with the hardened conditions.

With already expensive supplement feed costs skyrocketing, it has been increasingly important to plan for the upcoming winter period.

The station has been supplementing grain to its deer herd since January and has contracted its cattle to the neighbouring farm for grazing.

The financial cost of supplementing feed for such a long period is high and wasn't budgeted for. But the decision has meant the station has not had to dip into its winter silage reserves.

Eyre Creek has three self-feeding pads which Nick has implemented over the past 18 months. Each will feed 500 hinds over the winter.

The move was necessary to combat the time-consuming and dangerous job of feeding out on hill blocks in winter conditions.

With the new feedpads, Nick estimates tractor hours will be cut by five to six hours a day.

He hopes to introduce a further two pads by next summer, self-feeding a total of 2500 hinds the following winter.

He says the feedpads cut wastage by up to half, creating significant financial gains for the farm and also reducing the risk to staff.

I believe it is the way forward for Eyre Creek in terms of efficiency and safety.

The farm has been part of the Landcorp stable since 1987 when it was managed under the former Department of Lands and Survey and covered about 20,000ha.

Further parcels of land have been released over the years, including land returned to the Crown under the tenure review process and now managed by the Department of Conservation as the Eyre Mountains Conservation Park.

Today, there is a public easement running through the station which provides access to hunting, mountain biking, horse riding, four-wheel driving and tramping opportunities in the adjoining conservation park.

Eyre Creek runs predominantly Red deer with Wapiti stags used as terminal sires over a small cross-section of the herd.

The 97 stags on the property are farmed only as sires but still produce good quality velvet, returning the farm a healthy by-product. The average price of velvet reached more than $100/kg this year.

Nick has also brought

10 Apr 08 - High milk product prices lift revenue

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +1300

Tuesday April 01, 2008

Record high milk product prices helped lift revenue at state-owned enterprise Landcorp to $76.8 million for the half year to the end of December.
Revenue from milk rose to $39.5m in the six month period, from $21.6m in the corresponding period a year earlier when total revenue was $60m.
The company said it considered operating profit before tax to be the most meaningful measure of its profit under new international accounting standards. That figure was $9m for the latest year, up from a loss of $5m a year earlier.
The increase was due mainly to increased dairy income due to higher milk solid prices, and to the timing of profits in property development subsidiary Landcorp Estates.
Along with the high milk product prices, relatively stable international beef prices and a recovery in venison prices had largely offset relatively depressed returns for lamb and wool, and continuing effects of the high New Zealand dollar, Landcorp said.
Farm costs were under significant inflationary pressures, most notably from rising fuel and fertiliser costs. The effects of that were expected to become increasingly apparent during the second half.