Dairy farming clearly the lifeblood of the Tararuas

A Fonterra milk tanker makes its way along Dannevirke's High St. Photo/Christine McKay

Residents of Tararua are red-blooded Kiwis, but the life-blood of our district runs white with dairying a major earner for our economy. And last week's news of Fonterra's lift in its 2016/17 milk price forecast by 75 cents to $6 a kilogram of milksolids adds to our region's economic wellbeing, along with improved returns recently to sheep and beef farmers.

Nationally the 75c increase equates to a $1.3 billion lift in the value of this season's milk production.

There are currently 292 dairy herds in the Tararua and 83 in Hawke's Bay and last season the Tararua had 105,000 cows supplying 38 million kg of milksolids, with 52,000 cows in Hawke's Bay supplying 20 million kg of milksolids, Tony Haslett, Fonterra's area manager for Hawke's Bay, said.

Seventy per cent of this milk was processed at Pahiatua's Mangamutu site, which last year underwent a $230m upgrade, including a new milkpowder plant (the third on site) and distribution store, bringing more jobs and a lift in house sales adding to the economic boost for the district.

"Last season's payout of $4.30/kg of milksolids, including dividends, equated to income from dairying of $163m into Tararua and $86m into Hawke's Bay," Mr Haslett told the Dannevirke News.

"In addition to this most dairy farms also earn revenue from cattle sales averaging $1.10/kg of milksolids equivalent in addition to their milk revenue."

However, production fell 5 per cent in both regions largely due to a 4 per cent drop in cow numbers and lower bought in feed inputs as a result of the low payout of $4.30kg of milksolids. But Fonterra's payout has averaged $6.20/kg over the past seven years
It is estimated 900 people are employed on Tararua dairy farms and 440 on Hawke's Bay farms.

"The industry average multiplier for downstream fulltime jobs [transport, processing, sales, contracting, servicing, banking etc] is five per farm so dairying is a great job creator," Mr Haslett said.

Calves from Tararua and Hawke's Bay dairy farms are also sought after by beef farmers throughout the East Coast and Manawatu who take them through to killable weights.

And the dairy industry also does its bit for our environment with all dairy farms monitored through the Fonterra nitrogen programme. All dairy farms in Tararua have been or are about to, progress through Horizons One Plan consenting process, while half the Hawke's Bay farms are involved in the Tukituki Plan Change 6 consenting regime.

The monitoring data in the target catchments for the nutrient management rules of Horizons One Plan in Tararua shows over the past 10 years total oxidised nitrogen (TON, a measure which includes nitrate in rivers) is improving at key monitoring sites around our district, Dr Nick Peet, Horizons group manager, strategy and regulation, said.

There has been significant and meaningful improvement over the past 10 years in the Manawatu River at Hopelands in Tararua and at three sites on the Mangatainoka River at Larsons Rd and at the State Highway 2 bridge at Tui Brewery between Woodville and Pahiatua.

Both TON and dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) show improvement in the Mangapapa priority sub-catchment near Woodville. This catchment was judged to be the second most improved catchment for soluble inorganic nitrogen in the country at the Morgan Foundation awards in 2015.

The significance of dairying to our economy was reflected during the dairy downturn over the past two seasons which contributed to a 20 per cent reduction in fulltime-equivalent positions both on and off farms across Tararua and Hawke's Bay, Mr Haslett said.

However, downstream the positive effects of our dairy industry has seen 90 per cent of Tararua and Hawke's Bay primary schools provided with Fonterra Milk in Schools each day and 33 of these schools also participate in the Breakfast in Schools programme sponsored by Fonterra, Sanitarium and the Ministry of Social Development.

Thirteen community groups within the region received funding last season through the Fonterra Grassroots programme for essentials such as defibrillators in schools and safety equipment for volunteer fire brigades.