Ballance Farm Environment Awards: The good soil on farming with the environment

Lance and Wendy Main are thrilled to have won two category awards in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards last month. Photo/Supplied

Farming with the environment has paid off for Oxford dairy farmers Lance and Wendy Main.

The Mains are thrilled to have won two category awards, including the LIC Dairy Farm Award and the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award at the Canterbury region Ballance Farm Environment Awards last month.

''We were hoping for one award and we were delighted when we got two,'' Mr Main said.

''We had such good comments back about our livestock, so we thought we had a chance at getting the LIC award - it's something we have always focused on.''

Mr Main said winning the soil management award was a surprise, but it showed Mrs Main's efforts at brushing up on soil nutrients through PrimaryITO courses were paying off.

The judges praised the Mains for their ''outstanding farm and stock management'', ''excellent per cow production'', their ''extensive industry and community involvement'' and management practices aimed at protecting soil structure.

''I've got to say it's not a competition you can study for - either you farm with an environmental inclination or you don't, so the judges see you for what you are,'' Mr Main said.

''To be a dairy farmer and to win a couple of awards, it's quite gratifying because we get the hard end of the stick.''

However, Mr Main said plenty of dairy farmers tried to do the right thing by the environment, but the media tended to focus on ''the few rotten apples spoiling the basket''.

The Mains milked 534 cows at peak this season on their 256ha farm. Last season, the farm produced 520kg of milk solids per cow, or a total of 267,000kgMS.

Mr Main has also been part of the Waimakariri Zone Committee's farmers' liaison group, where the committee ''bounces ideas off us as a reality check to see if their thinking is going to be a realistic way of doing it''.

''It's very good as it helps us to understand the decisions and where land and water is going.

''I think the best management practice model that they are planning to run with is a good one, and if everyone attains it, we will be sweet.''

Mr Main said his farm had an annual rainfall of about 800mm, high compared with other parts of Canterbury, which meant less irrigation. He used about 3.2mm per day of irrigation on 166ha of the farm and managed it with moisture meters.