In the nine years David Miller has farmed up the Opouri Valley, towards Tennyson Inlet in the Marlborough Sounds, he rightly believes he's an innovator. From introducing irrigation and using it to apply liquid fertiliser, to his assisting with the biological control of ragwort.
Originally from Picton, David and his wife Raewyn have developed the productive dairy unit, from what David decribed as a somewhat hill-billy property that was carrying 85 milking cows to a dairy herd he has since built up to 150. If he can find the stock, he plans to boost numbers by another twenty, considering 200 possible from their 100 hectare farm. An increase made possible by the installation of irrigation, and utilising it to apply liquid fertiliser, the benefits of which are clearly visible in his abundant lush pasture.
In March this year while waiting for rain, and paying the cost of dry matter to feed his crossbred stock, David decided to become proactive and approached Ross Jackett of Motueka about setting up an irrigation system. The package deal quoted included electricians for wiring, drillers for the well, the digging up and burying of cables, the piping and the sprinklers.
"I took a risk," David said, " and as the bank manager said, it's one of the best investments you'll ever do in your life - putting an irrigation system in. And I can see why now."
"They came out Monday lunchtime, five guys, started digging and by Friday an hour before dark, I walked over and flicked the switch and there was a sprinkler going in every paddock, 50 hectares. I was just blown away."
Designed using an aerial photograph, the centrally located bore allows pipelines to branch out in all directions. The water is pumped up from 38 ft by a 40 hp electric motor to connection points in each of the 35 paddocks with low density pipe supplying the movable sprinklers which have a 35-40 metre spread.
Very early on David asked if it would be possible to put fertiliser through the system. Despite some initial trepidation about blood and bone upsetting his stock he trialed Oceanic Nitrosol and he is exceptionally pleased with the results. "In five weeks the grass just kept growing, the clover especially, I couldn't believe it."
"As John Barnes the agent said, most people just see the growth on top, but you get a spade and dig you find the roots go down deeper and the worms come up - I've never seen so many worm casts coming up. The ground actually softens up, sponges up, there is definitely something in it," David said.
Traditional solid fertilisers will still be applied to his remaining unirrigated pasture as before, but as David explained there is now more life under the ground than on it. David has considered making his property organic at sometime in the future and is already incorporating biological controls. While pig hunting in the Sounds he found caterpillars on ragwort plants and after introducing them to his own property, has helped some of his neighbors decimate the weed in that area, and eliminating the need for spraying the pest plant. Expect more on that development later in the spring.
