MCU14/0028 Appendix 1Techno-grazing

34                                         Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 63:   33–36     (2001)



that are currently being developed include integrating       sowing pastures with tall fescue-based seed mixtures.
breeding ewes and yearling bulls, deer finishing and         These have proved to be successful and respond really
organic bull beef production.                                well to the K-line irrigation, which he has more recently
     The system responds particularly well to tall-          installed.
growing pasture types and there is extensive experience          Mr Holden used to buy in weaners at 100 kg, sell
with traditional ryegrass pastures, and those based on       the best stock at 15 months and the remainder at 2
tall fescue, prairie grass, annual ryegrasses, lucerne       years. He ran his one-year bulls over winter on forage
and chicory. While the system is cheaper and more            oats at heavy stocking rates (17 bulls/ha), with a twice-
labour-efficient on flatter ground, it also works well in    daily chore of moving the electric fence 50 cm forward,
hill country, although care is needed with more sensitive    but the bulls dug up ground, broke fences and were
soil types on steeper land. Wet soils will be prone to       hard to manage.
treading damage under any form of management, but                He changed to TechnoGrazing 6 years ago and now
prudent TechnoGrazing is less damaging, hoof for hoof,       runs bulls at double the stocking rate, without crops or
than any other grazing system. As with any tool, its         conserved grass, but with half the work. Animal
effective use depends on correct and commonsense             production has also doubled, with daily liveweight
application. A common misconception, that it is very         gains of more than 2 kg/ha. In his worst year, he
specific and inflexible, is unfounded. TechnoGrazing         recorded 800 kg liveweight gain/ha, 45% better than
systems offer more grazing options and applications          in his previous system, and during his best year he
than any comparable grazing system. With regard to           recorded over 1600 kg liveweight gain/ha.
environmental consideration, TechnoGrazing has been
operated commercially at Mr Wier’s farm on the same          John Hudson, Gwavas Station, Tikikino, Hawke’s
pastures for over 20 years and has proved to be a            Bay
reliable, profitable and highly sustainable concept.         Mr Hudson farms 1120 ha at Gwavas, part of which
                                                             is managed under dryland TechnoGrazing. The first
Farmer experience                                            system was installed 10 years ago and it was the
                                                             first to be developed after Harry Wier’s own system.
Jamie Gunson, Tahunga, Onga Onga, Hawke’s Bay                Pasture pests, especially grass grub and the Tasmanian
This farm receives 875 mm rainfall (ranging from 550–        grass grub, can seriously deplete the Gwavas pastures,
1250 mm) and is summer-dry. Mr Jamie Gunson has              and ryegrass staggers affects livestock production
converted 620 ha of his property over the last 5 years       seasonally.
to dairy beef production using TechnoGrazing, with an             Since August 2000 Mr Hudson has run bulls at
overall aim of increasing profitability to consistently      4.14 per ha and gained returns exceeding $2000/ha
achieve more than 10% return on capital. He has 7750         from his system (Taylor 2001). His high-performing
pasture cells, all at 0.08 ha each, and has removed          bulls went onto the TechnoGrazing system in August
almost all his stock dams after installing micro-troughs     2000 at 402 kg and were slaughtered in mid-November
fed from a large dam nearby. All monitoring is               and early December. He expects to make an economic
undertaken by computer technology, with 70% of the           farm surplus of more than $1600/ha from his
bulls weighed regularly. Soil and pasture measurements       TechnoGrazing operation this year. Gwavas Station
are taken along the first lane of each TechnoGrazing         was recently used for a Sustainable Land Management
block. Mr Gunson has stopped feeding any supplements         project (Rhodes 1999), and TechnoGrazing was
and making hay or silage, as the all-grass system            approved as a sustainable land management system.
produces enough feed for his stock.
                                                             Angus Mabin, Taniwha, Highway 2, Waipukurau,
Duncan Holden, Forest Gate, State Highway 50,                Hawke’s Bay
Onga Onga, Hawke’s Bay                                       Mr Mabin farms 655 effective ha on the Takapau
Mr Holden runs dairy bulls, deer and sheep on 340 ha         Plains near Waipukurau, including 167 ha of rolling
at Forest Gate next to Jamie Gunson and 200 ha on a          hills. Mr Mabin began his first technosystem in
nearby block at Ashley Clinton (with 2000 mm annual          1997 and is now running dairy bulls on 578 ha; deer
rainfall). Mr Holden runs four bull technosystems, two       are managed conventionally on 77 ha. The farm used
on rolling hill pastures and two on flatland, with part-     to be subdivided into 6–10-ha paddocks, set-stocked
time assistance. Though the flat land is usually more        by beef cattle at 10–25 per mob (0.6–0.75/acre),
productive, one hill technosystem has produced more          and feed shortages occurred every winter. The system
– attributed to management decisions. In 1993 he began       required excessive labour and was encouraging weed
irrigating the flatland pastures with a gun system and       invasion, even in the browntop-dominant pastures.