Mr Borrie hosted more than 200 delegates from the New Zealand Grassland Association conference on his 882ha sheep and beef farm Mt Pleasant last week.
The theme of the conference was "Dust to Dollars", reflecting the change to North Otago with the arrival of large-scale irrigation schemes.
Mr Borrie and his wife Michelle bought Mt Pleasant in Maraeweka in 2017.
The family’s farming operation also includes lower order sharemilkers running about 3000 cows on four dairy farms and two dairy support units on the Waitaki Plains.
The latest property purchase was a bull beef finishing unit in South Otago.
When they bought Mt Pleasant, about 4000 stock units were being wintered, Mr Borrie said.
Nearly 7000 stock units were wintered on Mt Pleasant this year.
Development had been a focus since buying the property, he said.
"When we took over this place we put a 4km track up the middle of the farm, installed about 20km of fencing, put new cattle yards in and did up the houses.
"The biggest challenge here is the dry."
They bought 60 North Otago Irrigation Company shares and installed four pivot irrigators.
Mt Pleasant runs along the Kauru River and their consent allows them to take 38 litres a second from it until 2028.
Due to concerns their water take from the river could be reduced, they bought another 40 shares from the company recently to protect their business from any impact from the Otago Regional Council tightening rules.
The 100 shares gave them access to "100% reliable water" from Waitaki River.
Mt Pleasant had the potential to carry more stock units by growing better pasture and installing more irrigation.
Pasture renewal had been a major part of the development.
"Good young grass is key to keeping things profitable."
"We are going to put everything to a blackface ram and then we have options to sell for store and buy in two-tooths."
He praised managers Paul Murcott and Kate Macgregor for their work.
"Paul and Kate have done an awesome job of developing this place."
Employing the right people ensured quality could be maintained across the business.
Mr Murcott loved running sheep, which was why ewe numbers had remained steady on Mt Pleasant, Mr Borrie said.
"If it was my choice I would have fewer ewes and more cattle."
Beef bulls, a mix of Angus Friesian and Hereford Friesian, had been taken from his dairy platform and wintered on Mt Pleasant this year.
About 430 rising 1-year-old bulls calves were wintered on fodder beet and about 100 rising 2-year-old bulls were wintered on grass to reduce the chance of pugging.
All of those bulls had since been moved to the bull beef finishing unit in South Otago.
"It is all bulls down there and it is going to finish between 800 to 1000 bulls a year."
Reasons for buying a property in South Otago rather than North Otago included land being cheaper and it being cheaper to access water from the Clutha River.
"I’m only paying the pumping costs."
An aim was to reduce the number of bobby calves produced in his business by rearing 1800 calves.
"We have two big purpose-built sheds to cope with the calves. The big thing is to get down to next-to-no bobbies."
A motivation for reducing the bobby calf numbers was it being "a good, easy and cheap way to get into beef" and add to value to a commodity.
Now he runs a herd of beef heifers, a mix of Angus Friesian and Hereford Friesian, on Mt Pleasant.
The average weight of the heifers was about 280kg when the bull was put out.
All of the heifers would be calved on a dairy run-off in mid-July and returned to Mt Pleasant when feed was available in September.
Mr Borrie was calving the heifers early to give him options.
"If we get dry we can wean the calves and get rid of the heifers."
The bulls put over the dairy cows were from Fossil Creek Angus and Bluestone Hereford.
"I try and get good bulls so we have good growth rates for our beef."
A trial was launched this season to artificially inseminate his 600 dairy cows with the lowest breeding and production worth data with sexed Charolais bull semen.
His motivation for buying Mt Pleasant was to do something different from dairy farming.
"I’ve always wanted a sheep and beef farm and the timing was right so I put an offer in and got it."
Mr Borrie’s start in the industry included lower order sharemilking for his father, who was the guarantor of his first farm.
"I had a guarantor for four years and that was it — we kept buying farms, we could add value to."
In his career, he had bought 16 farms and now owns eight.
"My succession plan for my kids is to keep buying farms so there is heaps to go round."
Mt Pleasant
What: Inland rolling to hilly sheep and beef breeding and finishing property.
Owners: Rogan and Michelle Borrie.
Managers: Paul Murcott and Kate Macgregor.
Where: Maraeweka, about 20km southwest of Oamaru.
Size: 882ha.
Shape: Long and narrow, about 7km long.
Altitude: Between 130m and 520m above sea level.
Breeding ewes: 2900 including two-tooths.
Ewe replacements: 840.
Lambs finished: 4300.
Effective grazing pasture: 728ha.
Irrigation: 84ha pivot installed in 2018-19 season and 16ha K-line.
Cultivatable dryland: 400ha.
Tussock gullies: 228ha.
Pine trees: 25ha.
Riparian areas: About 110ha ungrazed.
