Farmer doesn't bow to tough conditions

Reliable weather is often the biggest determinant to success in a pastoral farmers operation, but as all who farm know, weather vagaries can be very cruel and costly.

Doug Avery farms in one of the driest areas of NZ, but his success in molding his farming operation to the environment and the weather that feeds it, is inspirational.

His positive message and his farming success should be applauded and the messages he sells should help all pastoral farmers adapt their farm to the weather and to maximise profit out of it.

Doug Avery farms in some tough terrain and challenging weather – it gets so hot and dry, his neighbours grow salt reports Business Day. He has been through eight consecutive years of drought – "a humbling period of time" – with rainfall in 17 of the past 19 years below "our miserable annual average".No one could argue it would be difficult to farm when rainfall ranges between 330mm and 900mm. The Marlborough sheep and beef farmer could not be blamed if he had walked away. Instead, he is the most positive and optimistic farmer you are likely to meet.

He told his inspirational story at the Beef + Lamb New Zealand technology field day last week to encourage farmers to use technology and examine their practices. His farming business, rather than withering and dying like his grass during an intense summer, continues to expand. In 1972 he had 12,000 head of stock on 206ha. He's now expanded to 1550ha, with 225ha leased, carrying 11,000, but doing so sustainably. He admitted ongoing climate issues became a challenge, and by 1998 was questioning his commitment.

Mr Avery said at that time he met three ugly sisters: envy, anger and blame, but rather than linger and fail, he decided to change everything. He realised sustainability, which he admitted had not been important until he was in a position where everything was under threat, depended on three things - environmental, social and financial targets - that need to be equally achieved.

Acknowledging there was a need to develop a different farming system for his area was an important step. Among other things, he determined the system needed to be resilient in extreme weather and variability; be miserly with water and conserving energy; be highly profitable in a good year and not lose money in a bad year; and produce goods in high demand for good prices.

He looked at using the limited water with greater efficiency, introducing deeper rooting lucerne, which was more water efficient and had better-quality feed values, and also integrating prairie grass.He changed breeds to composite ewes because higher value crop needed higher octane stock.Lambs are usually gone by early December so the farm can shut down for summer.

While the first few years were a challenge as he adjusted to the changes, it has paid off. Lambing has lifted to 150 per cent, with scanning at 180 per cent – this year he expects 200 per cent scanning. Hogget scanning had been about 40 per cent but has lifted to 162 per cent, with a third of the hogget lambs away at weaning. He challenged farmers to consider what they did and why they did it, and to embrace technology."For us, if the tractor breaks down, it's not so bad. If the computers breaks down, it's a disaster," he said.