25 years on - where are they now?
To celebrate 25 years of the Hugh Williams Memorial Scholarship, Ravensdown caught up with past recipients to see where their careers have taken them, and what the future holds for the industry.
Run as one unit, the farms belong to his parents, covering 2300ha from pasture to tussock and into high alpine and mountain terrain.
Hurst is committed to developing the land and building stock numbers, to put him in a position where he and wife Jo can try to buy the business outright.
“You get out of your land what you put into it; you can’t cut corners,” he says.
Hurst’s sheep and beef operation runs 3300 Coopworth ewes, 900 hoggets and 300 angus beef cows; it finishes all the heifer calves and most of the lambs. He is also reclaiming about 10ha a year and continually re-fencing.
The harsh climate of the Mackenzie Country has him spending all summer preparing winter feed to get the animals through.
“Low soil fertility is a big problem in the Mackenzie Country: it has acidic soil so a lot of lime is required. We get good summer rainfall which is in our favour, however we’ve a lot of weeds.
But if you’ve done everything right, when the rain comes the crop will grow. To get the best silage stocks and crop growth we’re continually soil testing, to build up fertility.”
While his father always had a good handle on soil testing, Hurst has moved to develop the farm using SmartMaps and aerial technology bought from Ravensdown.
“We’ve come a long way in the last three years. This is only our fourth season on our own and we’re starting to get somewhere now. We’re running 400 more ewes and finishing more cattle with new pastures. The ewes are the best they’ve ever been this season due to high performing crops.”
Hurst has spent a lot on continually monitoring and assessing the business, which he says has paid dividends.
“I try to do everything properly. We don’t cut corners on cropping, fert, agri chemicals or seed. If I get a recommendation from Ravensdown I do it. We can’t afford to have a failed crop as we rely heavily on winter feed and we haven’t had one yet. Whatever it needs – direct drilling, spraying early, two sprays, urea – if it needs capital, it happens. It can be tempting to try to reduce costs by cutting corners on drops, but it doesn’t work and you end up paying for it.”
Hurst says a good example was last year, challenging for everyone because of dry windy conditions.
“But we had good crops and lambing and it ended up being a great season for us. The key is you get what you pay for. Ravensdown’s attention to detail and knowledge has headed off a few things by being onto it early. Twice last year bugs were moving in but Ravensdown’s seeds technical manager for the South Island, Lisa Chapman, made an early call and we pretty much saved the kale crop from nysius fly, which can decimate a paddock if you leave it.
“A month later Lisa and her colleague Andre Callaghan advised on putting on the urea at the right time and we ended up getting a prize in the winter feed competition for that same kale crop.”
Hurst says with just him on the farm, and a small amount of casual labour, it can be busy place.
“I can’t be everywhere all the time so I have to rely on good advice and product. You can’t afford to let your guard down when it comes to winter feed. It’s well worth doing it properly for tonnage.”
