Sulzberger Farms Ltd, owned by Andrew and Sibylle Sulzberger, Andrew’s parents Brad and Christine, and Brad’s 98-year-old mother Eileen, was the supreme winner of the 2017 Dairy Business of the Year competition.
The family runs 320 cows on the 115-hectare (effective) farm northeast of New Plymouth and hosted about 100 farmers and rural professionals at an open day on Tuesday.
The farm is run as a System 2-3 depending on the season, and produced 1161 kilograms of milk solids per hectare and 400kg MS/cow in the 2015-16 season on which the awards were based.
More than 90 per cent of their herd’s diet is foraged, with 85.6 per cent pasture and a further 6.7 per cent home-produced forage.
They had a high pasture harvest at 12.6tDM/ha from dryland, a low cost of pasture consumed at $266/tDM and the lowest cost of forage consumed at $173/tDM.
Andrew is the fourth generation to work on the farm, which was almost lost in the Depression, and said looking after staff, particularly those starting out in the industry, was was crucial to running a profitable dairy business.
«Everyone makes mistakes when they’re starting and you need to be committed to getting them past that,» he said.
«People and how you communicate with them are very important. Your business can fall over if you’re not working towards the same goals.»
Profit is the main driver and the DBOY awards were an opportunity to benchmark their business against others, Andrew said.
«We would never know where we were at if we never measured it against anything.»
Of the national finalists for the DBOY title, Sulzberger Farms had the highest return on capital at 3.7 per cent, the highest operating profit at $2166/ha, and the highest operating profit margin at 35.9 per cent.
The business also had the lowest cost of production, the lowest operating expenses per kgMS at $3.34, and both the lowest core per cow costs at $432/cow and the lowest core per hectare cost at $577/ha.
While running a profitable business is the priority, the family is also focused on reducing the farm’s environmental impact, retiring many of the steeper areas of their land.
Riparian fencing began about 30 years ago and the whole farm has soil tested, allowing them to achieve optimum Olsen P and potassium levels in each paddock.
About $20,000 was invested in an effluent system which allows direct pumping onto paddocks from the shed and could also be used to pump from a backup pond if necessary.
Thirteen per cent of the farm is irrigated with effluent and maize is grown on the effluent block, taking up potassium and nitrogen which might make it below pasture root zone.
The paddocks grow a healthy crop, with the added bonus of reduced fertiliser costs, and the maize is fed out around the farm, further aiding nutrient distribution.
The Sulzbergers are committed to leaving their land in better condition than they found it and staff are made aware of their environmental goals, Andrew said.
«The whole dairy industry is getting hammered by everyone at the moment so we have to be seen to be doing out but and staying one step ahead,» he said.
«But you do it because it’s what you should be doing anyway, not just what you want to be seen to be doing.»
As well as the supreme award, Sulzberger Farms Ltd won the Business Resilience Award for the farm with the lowest cost of production per kilogram of milksolids ($2.50/kgMS), Best Taranaki Farm Performance Award and the award for Low Input Farm With the Best Financial Performance.