Inbound sales and onboarding specialist for FarmIQ, Irene Le Fleming, lives on a sheep and beef station near the idyllic small town of Kurow. Here’s her farming update as we move through a dry and chilly winter.
Winter is here, snowcapped hills and chilly winds cutting through us while moving break fences. Can’t lie – I’d rather be feeding out in a toasty warm tractor!
Here in South Canterbury the soil is soaking up the moisture and showing a green tinge as I drive around the farm. Having the diversity of living on a sheep and beef station while still being involved with the family dairy farms provides me insight into what is occurring on farm during winter.
As farmers, we remain busy over this period with feeding out and moving break fences, along with tagging in-calf dairy heifers, heading to selected bull sales, and sorting general farm repairs and maintenance.
Winter is when I update and reset for the new season on my farm and in FarmIQ: ensuring stock reconciliations are up to date, planning cropping rotations and fertiliser plans, and reviewing reports to make better informed decisions this season.
One report that was beneficial for the end of season reporting was the FarmIQ Nutrient Analysis Report, which provided a breakdown of all nutrients applied, including the nitrogen (N) total applied to the farm – very handy when it comes to reporting this for compliance.
Speaking of compliance and regulations, recently I attended a few different livestock and dairy related conferences and events around the country, and the main point I have taken away is New Zealand’s trade markets need to remain competitive, and that means being ‘clean, green, pasture fed, sustainable’. Agri-tech can provide solutions and make this simpler when it comes to recording and providing evidence of these clean, green efforts.
That’s enough of that chat though! It’s winter and the new farm season is well underway.
Remember to take a minute to yourself if you can; often farming can feel repetitive, with one season flowing into the next. An especially good time to have a rest day or two is before calving and lambing starts!
We live in a beautiful country, and we are often told to ‘get off farm’ for a break, but I know farming Kiwis – we’ll get off our own farm and go look at other farms, visiting farming friends and family. And that’s okay! We are who we are, just be proud! Farms are a stunning part of our beautiful country too.
