Rocks and the difficulty of pasture growth

The pair have several successful dairy farms under their belt, large vege gardens, gift shops, a restaurant and a castle on the way.

Neil and Dot arrived on the North Otago Plains in 1982, faced with Spartan rocky soil that would break your wrist trying to drive a standard into it.

The two Northland dairy farmers had just bought and leased the first converted dairy farm on the North Otago plains, with dreams of drought-proofing their business. Arriving with their two boys to a farm barely fenced, with rocks the size of footballs and not a tree to be seen, they embarked on a 33 year journey that is truly inspiring.

Having never dealt with rocky ground before, Neil and Dot proceeded to build their soil organic matter through trial and error, with years of cow manure, straw and fertiliser.

"When we first arrived, there were rocks everywhere. I took Dot and the two kids down in the car with a trailer on the back and we spent the afternoon picking up rocks. We got about four trailer loads, but by smoko the boys had lost interest; we could see it was a hopeless endeavour," Neil says.

Dot describes the struggle they had with getting their head around using irrigation in the barren conditions, during the Rogernomic's era, as unforgiving.

"We had a dreadfully drying winds back then. Because there were no trees on the plains it blew the top soil away. If anyone ploughed, it ended up in the sea, so we had to learn how to irrigate fast, it was simply no water, no grass, no milk - no money."

"We hadn't used irrigation before, when the first bit of water came down the race we didn't know what to do with it. The rocks made it near impossible to get water out of the raceway, with no top soil it disappeared through the rock soak holes."

Neil says they were heavily reliant on what they learnt from the locals and describes the heavy rolling technique following irrigation as a pivotal moment for them early on.

"To be effective we learnt that you needed to heavy roll after irrigating, when the ground was softer so you could then push the rocks down. It took us years to get them all down, because we didn't learn about direct drilling until the farmers from the North Island arrived, so we kept ploughing the rocks back up."

"We were also wintering the cows to get the organic matter going which was hard because they'd flick the rocks back out with their feet. So it's taken us 10 heavy rolling's over the past 33 years to get them all down."

He added "enthusiasm got us into a lot of trouble, but it also got us out of a lot of trouble!"

Another way they broke the mould was with their fertiliser application. Starting with P levels at 10 and pH levels at 5.5, they took on advice from Ravensdown to up their superphosphate application from 50kg to 750kg per hectare as well as applying two tonnes of lime per hectare every four years.

"It made a hell of a difference, it was a game changer for us. We saw a lift in production in 12 months, nothing visually because it was such a Spartan environment but for that we just had to observe what was happening under the cow pat and wonder why it was doing so well then apply that over the whole paddock."

Over the next 10 years they went from an average of 600-900 kgs of milk solids per hectare (kgMS/ha) shooting up to 1300 by the mid-90s, doubling their production in 15 years.

"The wheel really turned for us when people started to spray with Roundup and drill with ryegrass and clovers. That made a 360 degree difference."

Dot adds, "Cow manure has been our best friend. Because of the cows, we've managed to build up a top soil with manure straw and silage and all those things that have been fed out. That's what got us through Rogernomics and where we are today."

The pair are now currently averaging P levels of 40 and a pH of 6 producing 285,000kgMS/ha and have no plans to slow down. While no longer putting in 100-hour weeks (while not far off) they're constantly looking to innovate and learn new ways of doing things utilising new technology (such as Ravensdown's Smart Maps) - a testament to how they built their Riverstone brand.

Neil sums their journey up pretty well in saying "this isn't a dress rehearsal. You've just got to take a few hits and keep going."

"Take every opportunity that comes your way. We are lucky to be alive!"

• Penny Clark-Hall is senior communications advisor at Ravensdown.