Running the Farm

A septic tank is the main component in a small-scale sewage system that works with no connection to the main sewage pipes provided in most cities and small towns, and is common in New Zealand’s more remote areas. The term ‘septic’ refers to the anaerobic bacterial environment that develops in the tank as the waste discharged into it from the toilet and household sinks and basins decomposes.

A riparian strip is the piece of land alongside a river or stream. The name comes from the Latin word ‘ripa’, meaning a river bank, and it’s an important piece of land for lots of reasons. Caring for it well can improve water quality, help with soil conservation, minimise fertiliser runoff from pasture, and provide habitats for wildlife.

It’s an easy concept to think of the soil as a bank.  If you remove nutrients in products sold off the farm, then you need to replace them to keep a state of ‘nutrient balance’ in the bank.

There's nothing that fuels arguments between the proponents of 'chemical fertilisers' and supporters of 'biological farming, organic farming and biodynamics' farming, than the subject of Organic Matter.  Then when you include the word 'Humus' into the discussion, things can get really heated.

Despite NZ having a temperate climate with plenty of rainfall, water is still one of the most precious resources we have and we shouldn't take it for granted.
Many lifestyle farmers live with a restricted water supply including rural water schemes, trickle feed supply or roof water. For those of us who were brought up on seemingly unlimited town supply it can be a shock to even have to consider our water usage.

A very fast growing, though thankfully short lived tree - popping up on cliffs, banks, hillsides, slips and cuttings.  One of the few flowering trees around in winter, brush wattle is conspicuous now with greenish-yellow bottlebrush-like flowers. It is reasonably common in the North Island, though rarer in the south.

In this first on an in-depth series on understanding fertilser, Dr Clive Dalton looks at why there is so much confusion about what fertiliser is and what is does. He also gives a brief history of fertiliser.

It has been estimated that around 400,000 people in New Zealand rely on roof water and it's a fair assumption that many of them are lifestyle farmers. Living on roof water is natural and sustainable but there are issues to think about which don't affect people on town supply.

This smelly South American scrambler is happy sneaking its way through, under and over whatever plants and trees get in its way. It has brittle stems and hairy oval leaves that are wrinkled with toothed edges.  All parts of the plant are poisonous to stock.

Climbing fences is a bad habit - it damages or weakens them a little bit every time and will eventually compromise the integrity of the fenceline.

Running a few head of livestock is one of the reasons we choose to live on a lifestyle block.

"I'm about to build a 7 wire fence and don't know what the spacing between the wires should be".

AgResearch weed scientist Trevor James says he didn't know what he was looking at, at first. It was a photograph of velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), one of the worst weeds in America and possibly the world.  And it had just been found growing in the Waikato.

Fences don't last forever, at some point they'll need fixing or replacing.

At some point on your lifestyle block you'll need to join 2 wires together on a fence line.

Buying a tractor, whether it's new or used, is a big investment - in terms of what you'll pay to buy it or what you'll spend on maintaining it. Or both, in some cases. There are a huge range of options when you're contemplating a tractor for a lifestyle block, options that will be influenced by individual circumstances. If you have little experience with tractors, it's easy to get confused. The most important thing is to think the purchase through before rushing in and buying.

If you've got fences, you'll need gates.

This set of plans is for a simple set of yards, suitable for the average small lifestyle block.

If you are going to have livestock on your lifestyle block - you'll need pens or stockyards.

If you're building a fence the old fashioned way, you'll need to dig holes.

This article contains all the standard fencing measures you're ever likely to need.

There are many good reasons to store water. Many lifestyle farms have no access to town supply water and rely on bore or rainwater. Even if you do have access to town supply water, having a water tank for rainwater is a good idea. In some areas, having a water tank may be required when building a new house. Whatever the reason, make sure you buy the right tank for your situation.

The chainsaw is the most dangerous tool on the farm, and its potential for damage to life and limb is underestimated every day. Keep reminding yourself that the chain on a modern saw with it's murderous teeth travels at just over 100km/hr, so you don't have a hope of stopping it or lifting it out of the way before it has made a nice wide cut into you flesh and bone.  At this speed the chain can cut through a human limb in about a third of a second.

As an animal owner, you have certain legal responsibilities towards your animals, and these obligations are set out in the Animal Welfare Act 1999.  In summary, the Act requires you to provide all your animals’ needs, whether physical, health or behavioural.  It is an offence not to meet these needs “according to good practice and scientific knowledge”.  You must not ill-treat any animal so that it experiences unnecessary or unreasonable pain or suffering.

Fencing to subdivide a farm is a basic requirement to keep control of pasture growth.  This in turn controls stock performance.  Fencing is a major capital cost on the farm so must be planned and done well.  A quality well-planned programme will have minimal on-going maintenance costs.

For those people with a relatively small amount of land growing garlic may be worth considering.  Where I live, there are two stall holders at the local Farmers Markets selling garlic - both raw bulbs and smoked bulbs. It is popular with market goers - every year they sell out long before the next seasons crop has been harvested.

Meat sold in NZ and exported from NZ is subject to a number of standards under the Animal Products Act, which ensures that the meat is fit for human consumption. Farmers and other livestock owners often want to kill and eat their own livestock. As this homekilled meat is not subject to any standards, no guarantee can be given as to its fitness for human consumption. Therefore, homekill regulations are designed to prevent potentially unwholesome meat from being marketed.

If you have deer or cattle on your lifestyle block you need to make sure you meet Animal Health Board (AHB) regulations - even if you only have one or two animals. Bovine Tb is an infectious disease that infects mainly the throats and lungs of animals. It can be fatal and also poses a serious risk to New Zealand's meat and dairy trade. This article contains information on the Tb Programme and your responsibilities under it.

Killing possums and ferrets is a horrible job, and most of us hate it.  But it has to be done, especially if we have regenerating bush, or if our land falls within a TB control area.  We can use contractors to do the job, but we still have some choice about what method is used on our land.  Pest mammals are intelligent and sensitive creatures, so we should choose a humane method.

Animals that are not healthy are not productive, and they add cost to the business.  An animal health problem - whether it is acute or chronic is a good indicator that there is something wrong with overall farm management.  This needs investigation as it's not sustainable.  Check this by animal health costs per head of stock over the year, and when the peak costs arise.

Through the summer months the natural population of rats and mice rises as increasing quantities of food such as fruits, nuts and grains are available to them. Once autumn arrives, food sources dwindle and temperatures drop. Consequently rats and mice then begin to look for shelter and alternative food supplies. All too often they find both in our homes, sheds, chicken houses, stables and stores.

There are many species of fly in New Zealand. Most pose a threat to hygiene and are a nuisance to humans and animals. Flies are vectors of a large number of diseases including gastroenteritis, dysentery, typhoid, polio, salmonella and tuberculosis. Some, such as sandflies, are a direct irritant, biting humans and sometimes causing painful reactions.

Pasture grows well in New Zealand, and that's the key to our low-cost farm export business.  But pasture does not grow free of charge.  The cost of growing it is over 80% of the total cost of production.  So pasture must not be wasted and good pasture utilisation is a major goal of all grassland farmers.  Pastures are very variable - they are made up of grasses, clovers, weeds, bare ground and dung patches.

There is a wide range of pests in New Zealand that damage pasture.  Insect pests seem to come in cycles.  This is because there is a build up of diseases that kill them or reduce their population, and this takes time.  Insect pests that have arrived from overseas (eg clover weevil, bee varroa mite, painted apple moth) are a major hazard as they have no natural predators in New Zealand.

Wherever you have farm animals there will be effluent (faeces and urine).  Farm effluent carries the risk of diseases and can be spread this way.  Grazing stock will spread their effluent on the paddock, but it will be in highly concentrated areas.  Effluent collected in ponds or septic tanks has to be spread on the land, and this must be done correctly.

At last, gin traps have been banned.  Not only that but the larger 'leg-hold' traps that can trap their victims by soft parts of their body have been banned too.  These new regulations under the Animal Welfare Act are long overdue.  I believe that gin traps and the size 1½ plus leg-hold traps are often very cruel and they have caused millions of animals intense pain and suffering.  Not just pest animals either.  Many non-target species such as hedgehogs and even cats, dogs and birds are caught in leg-hold traps every year.

The answer to this question is usually a series of questions about the animal's liveweight, size, activity, physiological state (pregnant, lactating, etc) - all of which affect daily intake. Then of course there is the ambient temperature and humidity of the farm and the amount of shade on offer.  So all this makes you realise how dangerous an "average" figure is. But you need some kind of figure for planning water supply systems, so here are some that have been around for years.

Soil erosion is a natural process, where soils is stripped from the earth's surface and moved to another location. This can be caused by wind, water (rainfall, rivers or the sea) or ice. 

Good drainage is the basis of a healthy productive soil. 

Although blackberry is found in most districts of New Zealand it is mainly a problem weed in Northland, Central and Eastern districts of the North Island, Nelson and the West Coast.

A soft-wooded, bushy and leafy perennial that grows up to 2 metres tall or more. The flowers are green and are followed by dense cylindrical clusters of dark purple berries.

Scotch and nodding thistles are common in New Zealand pastures.

Hedge mustard is also sometimes referred to as wireweed or tumble weed.

A perennial thistle with far-creeping root system, each plant sending up many aerial shoots in the spring, which seed and die in the autumn.

Most pastures in New Zealand consist of mixtures of both grasses and clovers.

Oxeye daisy is a perennial weed commonly found in poor and wetter pastures – especially where there is pugging and is common on dairy pasture sidelings in the Waikato.

Stinking mayweed is an annual that grows up to 40cm high and flowers from December to March.  Flowers are white and yellow and 15-30mm across.

Everyone needs to do their bit to control wild ginger. The name wild ginger is applied to two species. The most common and most invasive of the two is the seed bearing kahili ginger, with the non-seeding yellow ginger being less common and also less invasive.

Topping two or three times a year, and a follow-up grazing, provides very good Californian thistle control.

Tutsan is a semi woody, semi evergreen, perennial shrub that grows upto 1.5m tall. 

Black nightshade is an annual to short-lived perennial plant that has white or mauve flowers followed by berries that are first green, but change to black as they ripen.

This vine from Asia first established in the wild in New Zealand as early as 1926.

When fencing, various materials and methods can be combined to provide a suitable fence for any situation.

Strainer posts are used at the beginning and end of the fence.

Keep domestic animals in. Separate different groups of animals.

The question we are asked the most is "where do I start?"

Lightning will damage your energizer if it strikes your electric fence.

It is low cost compared to conventional fencing. This is a major advantage where capital expenditure has to be controlled or reduced.

To denote the legal boundary of your property. This has large legal implications and a proper permanent boundary fence as defined under Fencing Law is required.

Ampere (A): Unit of current. Watts divided by voltage.

Its not the time to be complacent with your young trees especially in these warm conditions. Here’s a few tips:

Possums seriously damage our native forest. They eat the berries and flowers that are food for native birds. Birds’ eggs and chicks are also predated.

New Zealand has three introduced mustelid species.

Rabbits were introduced into New Zealand from Europe in the 1830's to 1850's to provide fur, meat and game.

Nitrogen acts as a growth promoter in plants.  It’s the easiest and usually the cheapest way to grow more feed.

When applying fertilisers such as superphosphate and basic slag this spring, remember to make sure animals don't ingest fertiliser with the pasture.

You’ve probably heard about endophyte in pasture grasses.  Nature has created some interesting partnerships - two are now good news for New Zealand livestock farmers.

Most farmers think they know how to manage pastures by moving stock around the paddocks, but there’s more to it than that. Pasture is the cheapest livestock feed - when it’s grazed.

The farm is constantly covered in tall grass, and weeds, especially docks and thistles, are always rampant. From a distance it looks like an over-mature hay paddock.

What to do with a feed surplus: Make hay, silage or “baleage” with pasture during the spring flush. Making hay in autumn is almost impossible, because shorter days are not hot enough for good drying.

This is the first in a series of four articles on pasture renovation by Dr Deric Charlton.

This is the third in a series of four articles on pasture renovation by Dr Deric Charlton.

This is the fourth in a series of four articles on pasture renovation by Dr Deric Charlton.

Willows are already well known for supplying timber that makes excellent cricket bats, and as a source of aspirin (along with poplars), but they are also very useful on the land.

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the use of cereals for supplementary grazing and silage for dairying.

When you plant poplar trees on a farm in New Zealand you add beauty, feed, shelter and possibly timber.

Chicory as forage is moderately persistent and has a strong deep taproot and a rosette of broad succulent leaves.

Famously known as the poison which killed Socrates, hemlock is alive and living in New Zealand, and is still capable of causing death or at least birth defects in pregnant animals which eat the foliage. 

Barley grass is one of nature’s survivors.  Not only does it grow where and when other grasses fail to thrive, but it has developed a flexible seeding technique which allows it to grow unnoticed until the day length, temperature and soil moisture level is suitable for seedhead development and dispersal.

Hedge mustard is a sneaky weed.  Initially it grows as a flattish rosette, and may, to the uninitiated, look like a dandelion.  But the indentations (or teeth) in the leaves go right to the stem with a slight gap between each, and the stems themselves turn purple from the centre outwards.

Cleavers is that maddening hairy/clingy weed which appears everywhere in early summer and climbs through, round and over grasses and low shrubs, trying to smother everything. Sometimes mistakenly called bidibidi (which is a NZ native with much larger hooked spheres as seedpods), the seeds, stems and round seed pods catch and cling to clothing and animal hair.

The paddock and roadside nasties are taking advantage of the advance of more spring like weather, and the base rosettes of several types of thistle are already appearing, particularly in bare spots.  So now is the time to attack before they shoot upwards.

“Write about fireweed” said a friend, “I’ve got it growing all over the place”. But ’fireweed’ is one of those all-embracing terms which attaches itself to different plants in different places.  And all these plants have one thing in common – they are the first to colonise soils exposed by forest fires or forest clearing.

These days, with the heavy emphasis on achieving maximum production from our pastures, the ‘preferred’ species are perennial ryegrasses and white clover.  Yorkshire Fog (or velvet grass as it is known in the US) is generally regarded as a ‘nuisance’ grass, almost classified as a weed.

With un-mown lawns and pasture sprinkled with the cheerful yellow flowers of dandelions and other ‘flatweeds’ at this time of year it seemed a good time to investigate the various different species to find their names and characteristics.

Thistles were already a problem in New Zealand by the 1850s. They were probably introduced accidentally by early farmers in seed mixtures, and are now a nation-wide problem. There are over a dozen species of thistles in New Zealand,

Stinking mayweed is an annual that grows up to 40cm high and flowers from December to March.  Flowers are white and yellow and 15-30mm across.  Leaves are feathery and dark green, grow up to 8cm long and are divided three times into awl shaped segments. 

Barley grass is one of nature’s survivors.  Not only does it grow where and when other grasses fail to thrive, but it has developed a flexible seeding technique which allows it to grow unnoticed until the day length, temperature and soil moisture level is suitable for seedhead development and dispersal.

Despite their alarming names these are two rather inoffensive weeds, more often found in gardens and crops rather than pasture as they prefer loose, fertile soils.

Although they have different scientific names they are both members of the Lamiaceae, and to the unitiated eye they can appear identical.

“Write about fireweed” said a friend, “I’ve got it growing all over the place”. But ’fireweed’ is one of those all-embracing terms which attaches itself to different plants in different places.  And all these plants have one thing in common – they are the first to colonise soils exposed by forest fires or forest clearing.

Ranging from low weeds to large bushes the nightshades all have one thing in common – they are definitely not for eating.   Of interest is the fact that, while we are likely to refer to the small varieties as ‘deadly nightshade’, that is actually a whole different species (Atropa bella-donna) which is extremely rare in New Zealand.

There are two native nightshades (Solanum aviculare and Solanum laciniatum) both known by their Maori name of ‘poroporo’.  Tall and spreading bushes with  long and heavily veined and hairless dark green leaves, green or purplish stems, trumpet shaped mauve flowers with yellow centres, and drooping single oval green berries which turn orange as they ripen.

Famously known as the poison which killed Socrates, hemlock is alive and living in New Zealand, and is still capable of causing death or at least birth defects in pregnant animals which eat the foliage. .  Regarded as  a noxious weed in many parts of NZ, if it appears on or around your land, it would pay to check its status with your local regional council.

A guest contribution and pearls of wisdom from Lois Mundell after a lifetime in the business.

Book in early and state clearly what you want the contractor to do. For example, do you want mowing and baling, or baling only, or the whole job done including putting it in your hayshed? Once in the system don't try to jump the queue. Contractors know that all their customers want their hay in "yesterday" so they can go to the beach for Christmas.

Feed budgets are needed to make sure there is enough feed on the farm to meet the needs of the stock.  Doing a budget gives you the confidence to know what's going on - and if you have a feed deficit coming up, you can see it in good time and are not caught out.  In a grazing situation, start a regular monthly feed budget in autumn from the date when the animal feed needs exceed pasture growth on your farm.  Stop when your feed supply exceeds the animal needs in spring.

Fertiliser is the most expensive input on most farms – so you can’t afford to make mistakes or get ripped off through ignorance.  Go to the appropriate place to get the soil test kit.  Soil testing labs, fertiliser companies or stock and station produce stores have them and so do some vet clinics. In the kit will be a set of plastic bags and instructions.  They will also give you a returnable soil auger.

It is important you have a thorough knowledge of the way your bike operates before you start riding it. When you are familiar with it, you are more likely to know when something is wrong and how to go about fixing it.

The following information should help you as a lifestyle block owner, to make an informed decision when purchasing a new or used ATV.

When planning a lifestyle change in 1992 Mark and Caroline Eastmond purchased a house and 20 acre paddock just outside Waiau township in North Canterbury.

There are a number of matters that an owner should consider and record when planning the development of his or her land. This is of particular importance if it is proposed to move into a commercial phase at some time in the future.

Feeding food waste that might contain meat to your pigs?  You must boil it for an hour first

There is a real risk that infected meat will be smuggled into this country and some of it fed to pigs, very possibly on a lifestyle farm.  So if you have a pig on your farm, please read the following – it’s very important.

Spurrey is an erect or sprawling annual plant that can grow very densely and effect crop establishment. This weed is commonly found in cultivated land, gardens, roadways, bare ground and sand dunes. It is sometimes referred to as Yarr.

A perennial that is often found in damp pastures. The flowers are purple and will appear in late summer (Jan-Mar)

Fathen is very common throughout New Zealand but is especially abundant in arable districts. Growing mainly in spring and summer, this erect weed can grow up to 2m tall.

Hemlock thrives in damp conditions and is commonly found throughout New Zealand in ditches and riverbeds as well as on banks and roadsides. This weed quickly establishes in waste areas where there is no other plant competition.

Gorse (Ulex europaeus) is a spine bearing, nitrogen fixing bush.  Originally from southern Europe, gorse is now easily New Zealand’s most widespread and problematic brushweed. 

Redroot is the name given to a group of 3 closely related Amaranthus species and a fourth species that is similar to redroot is Amaranthus viridis – purple amaranth.

Gorse (Ulex europaeus) is a spine bearing, nitrogen fixing bush.  Originally from southern Europe, gorse is now easily New Zealand’s most widespread and problematic brushweed. 

Although blackberry (Rubus fruiticosus complex) is found in most districts of New Zealand it is mainly a problem weed in Northland, Central and Eastern districts of the North Island, Nelson and the West Coast.

In a nutshell, the soil is the basis of all farm productivity. The soil is where you start planning your sustainability programme. New Zealand has a wide range of soil types (more than 1000), and it's important to know what kind of soil you have.

Soil health is not easy to define, but it is vital to the health of the plants that grow in it, and the animals that graze it. Many believe that it's also the basis of consumer health and welfare. The concept of a "living soil" is real and describes the large amount of micro organisms in the soil. For example there are 1600kg/ha of bacteria, 2000kg/ha of fungi and 800kg/ha of earthworms. Healthy soils are fertile and rich in organic matter and humus, have a good crumb structure and are porous.

It is good advice when looking at a new property to inspect the water supply before  you look at anything else.  Water is needed for domestic use, for livestock to drink, for yard washing and cleaning farm dairy equipment, and for irrigating pasture or crops. The requirements for all these uses are different.

This question is of greatest concern to small lifestyle farmers.  There is such a wide choice of species - some of which do not have their feeding needs well established. The interaction between species is important, especially in relation to internal parasites that can affect more than the one species. Then there is the question of what classes of stock to keep within each species. Fencing and water supply must be considered. Soil type and drainage is also an important point to consider.  Livestock do not like mud, especially those prone to feet problems like sheep and goats.

One good thing about a serious drought is that it makes people in both town and country realise that if it doesn't rain, how very vulnerable we humans are, especially farmers who rely on pastures to make a living. Suddenly people are realising that water is a lot more important than oil - and that it too has a cost.