Soldiers returning from World War 1 were settled on farms that were, in general, made up of 200ha of low-lying paddocks and an 800ha run block.
At a Meat and Wool New Zealand sheep and beef council field day on the Pannett Brothers farms last year, it became obvious the complementary nature of the two land classes was crucial to successfully farming an area which can get dry.
The Pannett family arrived in the valley in 1906 and today brothers John and Gray Pannett, and their respective wives Tina and Robyn, were the fifth generation to farm there.
Their farms, Hill Springs (John and Tina) and Lime Hills (Gray and Robyn), reflect that dual spread.
Agribusiness Editor Neal Wallace profiles the two farms.
Cattle play key role on property
Hill Springs might get dry, but John and Tina Pannett have options.
Access to higher rainfall mid- and high-altitude land and the prospect of adding an extra 40ha of irrigation to the 125ha already under water gave the family opportunities and scope.
Mr Pannett told about 100 people at a recent Meat and Wool New Zealand sheep and beef council field day at Millers Flat it was part of a wider strategy to finish more cattle, reduce spring yearling sales and give his cattle-breeding more long term direction.
Mr Pannett was in partnership with brother Gray up to 2003, when the farm was split.
He ended up with four blocks covering 3121ha, 800ha in the valley (100m above sea level), two mid-altitude blocks (650m asl) Kiribilli (466ha) and Three Brothers (296ha), and a 1559ha run block near Lake Onslow (600 to 1100m asl).
His home farm has an annual rainfall of just 550mm, rising to 650mm at mid altitude and 900mm on the run.
When the partnership was dissolved, he inherited, among other livestock, 200 run cows and 700 merino wethers.
That was changed, and today he operates a mixed cattle and lamb finishing operation but has several markets for the 340 calves reared each year.
About 100 were sold at the annual Mount Benger calf sale, (averaging 300kg liveweight), 50 Angus cross to the Five Star feedlot, (average 450kg liveweight), 70 retained to select 50 or so for herd replacements, some sold for breeding and the balance were finished to a carcass weight of 240kg to 250kg.
The cows were bred from a Hereford base with most going to an Angus bull and a Charolais bull used over the first-cross cows, utilising hybrid vigour for weight and growth gains.
He told the field day that today the herd was made up of 195 Hereford cows and 150 Hereford-Angus cross cows.
At weaning in mid to late April, calves from first calving cows were put on irrigated paddocks then wintered on crops and pasture.
Yearling cattle were kept on front blocks and shifted to achieve target growth rates of 400g a day so they reach a minimum mating weight of 320kg.
The first-calvers were mated for 42 days from December 5 to low birth-weight ranked Angus bulls.
Bulls went out to older cows from December 20.
When the summer dry starts to bite - usually in mid-January - they are moved to the run blocks.
From June to July, first-calving cows were run with ewes on winter rotation and then prior to calving they were put on a hill paddocks with poor quality feed to keep fit.
In the last weeks before calving they were brought down to the homestead, fed silage and calved cows regularly removed from the herd.
On his home block, Mr Pannett grew 30ha of swedes and turnips for his hoggets and calves, 10ha of a diploid Italian ryegrass and harvested 400 tonnes of silage to be fed to ewes, calves, hoggets and first-calvers.
This year, he also grew 12ha of barley.
Out on his mid-altitude Kiribilli block, he also grew 30ha of swedes and turnips for ewes post-shearing.
In spring, the home block carried twin-bearing ewes, wet and dry hoggets, yearling cattle, first calves and older cows, the Kiribilli and Three Brothers mid altitude blocks 150 cows and single-carrying ewes and the run block 55 Hereford cows.
The ewes are a traditional Romney base flock with another flock of Finn-Texel-Romney cross ewes.
The ewes typically scan about 170% and produce a 140% lamb drop.
Depending on the season, hoggets could also be mated - the last season it happened, 800 were mated at 43kg live weight.
About a third of lambs were sold prime to the works at weaning and the season average was 16.5kg.
The diverse landscape also provided options for the Pannetts.
After weaning, poorer quality ewes were kept on better pasture and better conditioned ewes on the run block.
Cows and calves were run on the three front blocks with the weaned lambs.
Looking ahead, Mr Pannett said he was considering options from the recent expansion of lamb supply contracts but was also assessing input costs against production potential of different land classes.
John and Tina Pannett
• Hill Springs, Millers Flat - 3121 ha
• Stock wintered 2008 (3.2 stock units a ha):
- 5100 ewes, 1250 hoggets
- 293 mixed aged cows
- 52 in-calf heifers177 steer and 166 heifer calves
- 35 rising two-year cattle12 bulls