Ruby Mulinder with husband Sean Nixon and children Conor, 4, and Flynn, 1. Photo / Maui Milk
Pigs and pines are giving Central Plateau farmers huge headaches.
Rotorua-Taupō Federated Farmers’ meat and wool chairwoman Ruby Mulinder said the wild pig population has exploded in the region.
Mobs of up to 50 have been seen on the 142ha property near Lake Taupō that she owns with husband Sean Nixon, with a local helicopter pilot reporting seeing groups of 100 regularly.
Mulinder said the pigs turn over soil, kill pastures and leave exposed soil vulnerable to runoff and nutrient leaching.
“Large feral pig populations are an environmental disaster around freshwater bodies,” she said.
Mulinder said the pigs are coming primarily from forestry blocks and Department of Conservation (DoC) land in the area.
Running breeding ewes, she is also concerned that the pigs can prey on lambs.
Control is in the hands of the private landowner at present, but Mulinder believed a “Taupō catchment strategy” was needed, involving Waikato Regional Council, DoC, forestry owners, farmers and Federated Farmers.
She said this issue would be commonplace throughout the country as large-scale conversions to forestry create breeding grounds for pests.
“Blanket afforestation has also become a predator to the [sheep and beef] sector.”
Legislation introduced by the Government last month limited how much farmland was converted to exotic forest and registered in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
However, Mulinder believes this was too little too late.
“The damage is done. Quality breeding land has already gone.”
Mulinder said landowners were swayed by ETS incentives, which created an “artificially inflated market”.
Those converting to full farm forestry have “sold out” and effectively limited farm ownership and growth opportunities for the next generation.
“Some of our best and most keen farmers can’t get their foot in the door,” said Mulinder.
“It’s a pretty scary picture in 20 to 30 years’ time.”
She said in the past two years, a huge amount of land has been planted as forestry.
“As a sector, we risk losing our critical mass, which in future could see it reach breaking point.
“Farmers get squeezed before anyone else.
“It’s ironic, as they are the most vital part of the equation.”
Mulinder was thankful that she and Sean ran a “flexible operation” – predominantly sheep, for meat and milk, plus a small herd of breeding and beef cattle.
A mix of activities on their relatively small holding has been vital in sustaining the operation, along with the couple’s off-farm careers as dairy professionals.
With Mulinder being a farm consultant and Sean a dairy processing design engineer, they set up Agri Concepts in 2018.
Mulinder’s work takes her as far afield as the Chatham Islands – her mother used to nurse there – where she is now leading a freshwater project with local sheep and beef farmers.
She grew up on a dry-stock farm in Central Hawke’s Bay, which her father managed.
Obtaining an agricultural science degree, Mulinder worked for Landcorp for five years, supporting dairy farm conversions, before she and Sean moved to the United Kingdom.
She found employment as a senior farm business manager overseeing 170 farmer supply contracts for cheddar cheesemakers in Devon, while Sean played rugby and worked for Tetra Pak.
On their return to New Zealand, Mulinder spent four years as a consultant with FarmWise.
Mulinder has been involved with Rotorua-Taupō Federated Farmers for three years, taking on the provincial meat and wool chair role and sitting on the national executive for the last two years.
In 2024, Mulinder was named Federated Farmers’ Meat and Wool Advocate of the Year.
Now in their fifth season on the edge of Lake Taupō, Mulinder and Sean milk 1000 sheep in a 30-a-side shed.
If returns hold, Mulinder said there are huge opportunities in the sheep-milking sector.
“Leaving the lambs on the ewe to rear and running a low-cost system has lots of potential compared to the high-cost, artificial rearing systems.”
Mulinder said they are still recovering from last summer’s devastating drought, which “toasted” the farm and put pressure on their finances.
“Input costs [buying in feed] went through the roof.”
Spring rain has helped rebuild the water table, but a cold August was tough on the flock, she said.
“It made lambing busy.”
Mulinder said 25-30% of the lambs are kept for replacements in the milking shed, with the balance sent directly to the freezing works or sold to other farmers to fatten before processing.
“We didn’t want to see lambs as a byproduct of the operation.
“We always wanted our business to value the lambs as well as milk.”
She said they would never be able to afford a large enough dry-stock block to be profitable, so they needed something highly productive on a small holding.
They are in just their first season, also running breeding cattle, aiming to build from 20 to 50 cows in the near future.
Heifers are kept for breeding stock, with “prime beef” heading to the dining table.