Beef crash led to build-up of Murchison dairy herd

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 16

Beef crash led to build-up of Murchison dairy herd

The crash in beef prices in the mid 1970 s convinced Mr Ray Borcovsky to concentrate on dairying, an industry with a stable marketing organisation and a guaranteed price for producers. His herd of 380 cows in the Tutaki Valley is now one of the biggest in the Murchison district and has given him a solid platform on which to base his other fanning activities. This season he has employed a herd manager to handle the milking leaving Mr Borcovsky free to look after the sheep and beef cattle, and prepare for a start in deer farming. Dairying has a long history in the Tutaki Valley. Many of the small farms which resulted from the splitting up of a cattle station ran a few cows, but in the period 1950-60 there was a swing to sheep and cattle. However, as with other areas in Murchison some of these small farms have now been amalgamated into bigger units. Having decided to concentrate on dairying, Mr Borcovsky made full use of all the land on his farm suitable for dairy cows. Five years ago he bought a neighbouring property and cow numbers increased from 180 to 300. About 200 ha out of a total farm area of 2000 ha is suitable for dairying. When cow numbers have reached 400, he hopes to work on improving per cow production. At present production averages about 130 kg of milkfat per cow although 150 kg has been achieved. Mr Borcovsky runs 100 Friesian cross bulls of various ages and 600 to 800 Coopworth cross ewes. The sheep have not been intensively managed until this year because Mr Borcovsky was concentrating on building up the dairy side, but

now he hopes to improve sheep performance. As well, he intends to start deer farming on a small scale in partnership. The capital cost involved in deer farming is a limiting factor, so Mr Borcovsky has plans to fence off a small area and capture feral deer. This year is the first for some time that no deer have been caught by helicopter on the property; in some years up to 30 had been caught and sold and Mr Borcovsky thinks the remaining deer have become helicopter shy. As with other parts of New Zealand, there is a swing in the Murchison district towards Friesian cows because of the development of bull beef. These beef bulls do a good job in controlling second growth

on hill country, provided it is fenced. Mr Borcovsky said Murchison was a good dairying area, receiving a wellspread rainfall of about 1650 mm annually. The application of fertiliser resulted in good grass growth. Mr Borcovsky is deputychairman of the Waimea Dairy Co-operative Company which draws half of its milk supply from the Murchison district. A quarter of the supply comes from producers in the Waimea area and the balance is the surplus from town milk supplies in the Nelson province. There are 42 suppliers in Murchison with herds ranging from about 60 cows to 400. All the milk is processed at the co-operative’s Bright-

water factory into skim milk powder and butter milk powder using a spray process. The cream is processed into butter for sale on the local market. Yearly production at present is 1500 tonnes of creamery butter, 2300 tonnes of skim milk powder, 150 tonnes of buttermilk powder, and 110 tonnes of whey butter (made from whey cream supplied by the Kaikoura and Marlborough dairy factories). The factory also processes goats’ milk. At the peak of the season, in early November, the factory receives about 35,000 gallons of whole milk per day. The factory could handle an increase in throughput of a third. The present co-operative was formed on the amalgamation of the Murchison

and Waimea co-operatives in 1973. The Murchison district was converted to a whole-milk supply system and the local butter factory was later closed. In the 1950 s there were 115 cream suppliers to the Murchison factory. Milk is collected from farms under contract by Transport Nelson, Ltd. The tanker trailers are owned by the co-operative, but T.N.L. supplies the trucks. This means that the trucks can be used for other purposes such as logging during the off-season instead of being idle. As well as a new wood burner for supplying the factory with heat, the cooperative is spending about $lOO,OOO on improving the butter making side. This includes a continuous butter manufacturing machine.