John Legg
Lakeside Ayrshires, Leeston, Canterbury
The family purchased the farm in the 1940s although had been leasing it prior to that so they have been on the farm for around 100 years.
The farm is a closed system with Andrew and John on the dairy platform, responsible for the day-to-day operations, everything from milking, irrigation, tractor work, supplement feeding, calf rearing, maintenance, artificial insemination, irrigation etc
The Leggs were drawn to regenerative farming as it fitted with previous generations’ farming ethos, philosophies and values. It made sense to them. They have been building on the solid foundations established by those previous generations.
Having a soil consultant (Amy and then Chantelle along with Canaan from Agrownomics) has really helped to bounce ideas off, along with attending regen conferences and seminars. Reading books helps too.
Farming Practices
Mixed species pastures
Cover cropping
High stock density grazing
Longer recovery periods
Balancing soil CEC
Limiting the use of synthetic ferts
Minimum/no tillage,
Released dung beetles
Winter bale grazing.
They have used cover cropping in the past to address soil limitations such as compaction, phosphorus cycling etc.
They would plant a cover crop (sun flowers, oats, vetch, red clover, kale, triticale, maize, mustard, sheep’s burnet, all sorts of seeds) in late Nov and high density graze it in March with the R2s. Then stitch in grass post grazing ready for introduction back into the milking platform the following season.
The runoff is used to grow barley and wheat which is fed in shed throughout the season along with hay. Baleage production is done in the peak of the growing season to be fed in the shoulders of the season.
Extensive soil testing gives a guideline to where your soil in being limited and helps you track nutrients.
Using Halter
They are using Halter virtual fencing tool to increase number of shifts to 6 moves a day, tripling the stock density, and increasing recovery periods up to 6 days. In the peak of the growing period, they are implementing recovery periods of around 35days.
Halters APC tool and daily allocations have helped them draw comparisons to conventional farming practices, however, the tool isn’t quite adapted to mixed swards with daily DM allocations and growth rates varying. Annual DM harvesting sees them
harvesting around 9T DM /ha. They base decisions around visual assessments and rumination data as opposed to the in-built predictions of Halter.
Change/ Benefits
There has been an improvement in potassium levels since adopting high density grazing and an improvement in consistency of desirable plant species/growth rates across the paddock.
With respect to animal health, they have seen improvements in all areas – less lameness and mastitis, improved fertility and production. 86% of milk this season was at excellent level (under 150scc).
Environmental Stewardship
There has been extensive clearing of willows followed by native planting along the banks of Birdlings Brook and Harts creek. 1000s of native trees have been planted over the past 20 years. N losses from the farm systems are minimal.
Looking Forward
The next focus will be to increase production in the herd through individual cow performance to highlight the breed while maintaining the same level of inputs (water, supplement, fertiliser, etc)
Biggest Challenge
Going against the grain and sometimes feeling like you can’t relate to other farmers
Advice to others considering the transition
Don’t try to change everything at once, slowly adopt a practice and see the benefits before cementing it into your system.
Before looking at what inoculants and inputs or ‘silver bullets’ you can use, look at your management practices which are limiting your soil performance.
