The Woldwide farming Group operates five dairy farms plus support land in the Heddon bush area; about 18 km above Winton in Central Southland. In total about 3600 cows are milked on a predominantly pasture based system. The cows graze pasture from August until May. Woldwide One, Two and Three have free stall barns to house the cows during winter and on and Woldwide Four and Five the cows are wintered on brassica or fodder beet crops. We intend to have all cows wintered inside by 2020 and we anticipate further growth in our cow numbers in years to come.
In the Heddon bush area we have about 250 hectares of support land. This land is used for the cultivation of silage and winter crops. Pivotal in our operation is the transportation of slurry from the free stall barns back to the silage harvesting country. This keeps the costs of the silage low by reducing fertiliser costs and it enhances soil life and carbon sequestering. At Merrivale the group owns a runoff on more hilly country and it leases a further 350 hectares. The calves are taken over there once they weigh at least 85 kilos and are in Woldwide Runoff’s care until they are 22 months old.
The hills at Merrivale on Woldwide Runoff are planted out in GF 16 Radiata Pine. In total there is about 100 hectares of cultivation forest, varying in age from 15 to 30 years. We expect to start harvesting in 2018. A road has been constructed already to get the trees out. All the trees have been pruned and thinned and will supply the log market. Carbon sequestering has also been a strong argument when the decision was made to plant these forests. Besides the pine forest there is also 60 ha of Silver Beech.
Silver Beech is a tree native to the old Gondwanaland before the continents drifted apart. . This forest is maintained under a Sustainable Management Plan- any harvesting undertaken has to enhance the forest. It is quite exciting to be able to maintain this increasingly rare type of forest.