Taking part in trials for the Hill Country Futures Partnership Programme has already been valuable for Matt Iremonger, general manager of Willesden Farm on Banks Peninsula.
“We have had some early results from the experiments on the development we have done on our hills and total dry matter and it was very interesting,” he said.
The Hill Country Futures Partnership programme is a five-year programme co-funded by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Seed Force New Zealand.
It incorporates traditional science research, farmer knowledge, social research, and citizen science and has a strong emphasis on forages and providing decision-making tools to help farmers select the best forage option for different land management units.
Willesden Farm is a 5500 hectare sheep and beef property.
About 1200 hectares is flat and cultivatable while the remainder is mostly moderate to steep hill country.
Two projects within the Hill Country Future Partnership programme are under way on the farm. One measures pasture growth at two locations, one an improved area with lucerne and the other an unimproved pasture of mainly weed grasses with a little ryegrass and white clover.
The other project is mapping micro-indicators, such as soil temperature and moisture, in the hill country landscapes.
“I think the challenges for hill country farmers are the same as they are for farmers whatever the land type in that there is an increasing focus on more efficient use of the resources we have and the need to use all inputs, fertiliser, chemicals and feed more efficiently,” Iremonger said.
“However, it is not easy for us hill country farmers to show how efficient we are because of the topography and difficulty of measuring.
The pasture measurements at Willesden Farm are being taken at two altitudes, 20 and 175 metres above sea level. At each altitude, there are paired enclosure cages on improved and unimproved pasture.
“As techniques of capturing data and information become more readily available, that will help to develop skill sets and information and data sets and support the ability to measure ourselves around best practice and returns on investment,” Iremonger said.

• By Pat Deavoll