The trust has facilitated educational opportunities like ‘How to make your 1^st $100,000’ and ‘Healthy, Wealthy and Wise’ to manage risk and succession. The annual speaker series are designed to make you think with recent speakers being Paralympian Liam Malone & Farm 4 Life founder Tangaroa Walker.

The most well-known work of the P3 Trust is its Monitor Farms with five high-profit farms spread across the Hauraki Plains sharing their information through a weekly newsletter and a couple of fieldays during the year. The information reported is significant to all farmers wishing to optimise profit and move from a satisfactory operation to an optimal operation.

Weekly updates

The weekly P3 Monitor Farms newsletter provides regular updates of KPIs local farmers can benchmark against. Reporting includes financial performance and evaluating some of the more experimental, and potentially unfamiliar on-farm practices.

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Current P3 Monitor Farms – DairyBase KPI's

Farmer details

• Haurakian Charitable Trust (owners) with Dan Todd (contract milker)

  This 115ha effective flat farm on State Highway 25 near Waitakaruru lies on peat over clay soils.

  This is the Trust's third season owning the farm and Dan's second season contract milking with one full-time staff. The farm is supported by Dairy Direct (Stephen Loft) for farm planning.

  Their opening stocking rate is three crossbred cows/ha with the planned start of calving July 7th. All young stock graze off on a nearby runoff.

  They run a profitable and simple System 2 farm with PKE contracted to meet feed deficits during the season. 10-15% of their farm is planted in chicory each season for a low cost high protein feed over summer/autumn.

  Approx 150kgN/ha is used annually and effluent is stored in a cliptank with a 30ha application area.

• John and Ryan Burton

  The Burton's farm is 180ha effective, peak milking 585 mixed breed cows and lies south of Kerepehi and west of Netherton bordering the ‘peat dome’ with both clay & peat loam soils.

  Contract milker Ryan is an equity partner in the family farm along with his brother Alex and father John.

  The Burton’s run a system 4 operation with 21-30% of feed imported annually. Most of this is grass silage coming from their 55ha runoff a few kilometres down the road managed by John and a PKE meal blend fed inshed. The runoff also winters 200 late calving cows from dry off through to calving and all their replacement calves before going to grazing. They have recently purchased another 60ha runoff for takeover 1 May to allow all their replacement stock to be grazed in a closed system.

• John and Nikki Garrett (equity owners with Greg and Margaret Garrett)

  This 132ha effective farm is on the eastern side of the Piako River from Ngatea and winters just over 400 cows.

  

  The soil type is a Hopai Clay; typical of much of the Plains but perhaps not as heavy as some.

  John and Nikki who both grew up in the Hauraki district are equity owners with John’s parents of this monitor farm which they had previously sharemilked. John now supervises this farm with daily operations carried out by farm manager Reynan, a full time assistant and a floater for spring & relief work.

  The farm policy is fiercely centred on pasture management with some imported feed as a PKE meal blend fed inshed and maize and grass silage from a support block.

  John and Nikki are also 50:50 sharemilkers on a 146ha dairy farm near Turua where they live, and John also manages two support blocks.

• Hayden Brown and Sarah Mananui (50:50 Sharemilkers)

  This 200ha effective flat farm at Hikutaia comprises of 160ha Hauraki Clay and 40ha consolidated peat.

  

  Hayden and Sarah are in their third season as 50:50 sharemilkers on this Hikutaia farm owned by Bob and Jill Nichol. Hayden is supported by three full-time staff allowing three people to be on farm throughout the year while someone is on leave.

  Stocked at 2.9 crossbred cows/ha. All 120 calves stay on until June 1st when they swap with the R2 heifers out at grazing.

  They run a simple System 2 farm with PKE contracted to meet feed deficits before balance date and over the summer dry. Spring surpluses will be made into grass silage. 

  Sarah’s parents introduced Hayden to dairy farming employing them as managers then as contract milkers in the Te Aroha area while Hayden completed his Primary ITO Level 4 qualification. They then spent a year 50:50 sharemilking 220 cows before coming to this farm. Together they have a well-balanced passion for dairy farming with Hayden enjoying the pasture management side and what that brings to bottom line results while Sarah enjoys the animal contact and health side.

  Their motivations to become monitor farmers is to learn more and increase contact with other top farmers.

• Neil and Glenda Gray

  The Gray’s farm is 170ha effective at Ngatiapua Road near Turua and winters 540 cows.

  

  The soil type is at the wetter end of the spectrum of the Plains' predominantly Hauraki Silt Loam and Silt Clay.

  A large herd home facility assists with management during winter and spring but the management focus is on a pasture based system.

  Neil is the fourth generation Gray on the farm while Glenda hails from the Levin area. After completing a BAgScience degree at Massey University, Neil and Glenda also progressed through the 50:50 pathway to enable purchase of the then home farm, adding to this since to bring the farmed area up to what it is today.

  Neil and Glenda manage the fresh liquid milk (Buttercup Dairies) side of the business utilising identified A2 milk cows milked through a rededicated dairy near the Thames-Turua roadside.