TOMORROWS FARMS TODAY PUBLIC FOCUS DAY 19 Feb 2013

10.00: START
Overview of TFT Group and preliminary observations of what a strong business looks like.
What separates stronger business from more vulnerable businesses..?
10.15: Overview of 2 years on Guyton Farm. Look at Infrastructure, Effluent, Cows, Wetland. +
Discussion in Paddock on related issues.
11.45: Leave Guytons Wetland on Homestead Road for Gibsons on Tutukau Road.
12.10: Lunch at Gibsons Courtesy of Rabobank.
12.50: Nicky Watt (Large Herd Sharemilker Canterbury) Knowing your farms performance.
Policy changes are moving across NZ. Canterbury is faced with change in near future. What
does this mean for business. What does a strong business look like in Canterbury + how do
farmers ensure resilience in the face of change?
1.15: Gibson Farm Overview + Cows, Effluent, LUC etc.
2.30: Finish + Cuppa.
Overview of TFT 2010-2012
Challenges
This is the second dry summer in 4-5 years. Unpredictability leads to Stress on farmers
High Debt and Deep Feed Deficits
Looming policy changes raising questions over what systems are best.
Our drivers of the previous 20 years, may need to change. (chasing Capital gains, more cows,
more production) IE is Growth or Resilience the pathway forward.
Opportunities
TFT has a great group of farmers
Transparency about all parts of the business is excellent. From that grows a new level of
support + knowledge.
The rain will return, but may be after quite a deep feed deficit for many.
This challenge will make us want to think about our overall farm system and its configuration
for the long term.
From this experience, we may learn to look at things differently.
Key Findings from TFT over past two years.
We have had last two years of analysis. Changes to the operating environment have been
in Milk Price of 20%
in patterns of seasonal pasture growth: a net difference of 2-3 T DM harvested on a range of
farms.
Average Pasture Harvested for Central Plateau was 10 T DM in 2010 and increased to 11.5 in 2012.
But the range of net difference was far greater over different farms. More vulnerable or marginal
soils showed a large difference.
Many farm systems have been configured for better years, and messages in the past has not always
taken into account soil, landscape and climate variation nor human capability.
Not all soils are equal. Pasture harvest for example ranges in your own locale are 8 T to 12 T on
dryland. Different Soils + Land Classes. Environmental risk is also variable on different soil types.
In business it is not the good years that make you, but rather the tough years that break you.
We need to think resilience, and understand how risk affects us as people.
Farming is a mix of three biological systems land, cows, people. We cannot ever hope to have
perfect control of all variables.
We have been fundamentally driven by the messaging of the last 20 years which was largely all
about growth at all costs. (Production more cows, debt, etc.)

Is it time for new thinking so we can approach the challenges on the front foot, so that we roll
with the punches a little better?
+/- Milk price of 20%
+/- Pasture Harvest of 20%
+/- looming policy change and operating environment (banks, regional council approaches)
+/- Human Capability
-/- Constrained resource availability (water, phosphates, stressed ecosystem services ie bees,
assimilative capacity of waterways etc.)
Continued pursuit of growth can result in us being more vulnerable to unpredicted challenges.



Tomorrows Farms Today 2013
Year 2: Resilient Businesses 2010-2012

Gibson Guyton A B C
Central
Plateau
Average
2012
PHYSICAL PARAMETERS
Cows per Milking Hectare 2.59 2.67 2.47 2.75 2.80 2.79
BWt per Milking Hectare 1,165 1,199 1,185 1,291 1,345 1,324
Milksolids per Cow 388 368 462 469 432 403
Milksolids per Milking Hectare 1,005 979 1,140 1,287 1,210 1,125
Kg home grown feed eaten
per cow/KG BWt
9.20 7.6 9.40 8.40 7.74 6.8
Pasture Dry Matter Harvested
(tDM/Ha)
11.7 9.9 11.7 11.1 11.1 11.0
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: Financial
Operating Profit per Hectare
3,210 2,753 3,087 3,312 2,645 1,885
Operating Profit per Cow
1,239 1,033 1,251 1,206 944 676
Return on Capital (ROC) at 4-
Yr Av Values @$6.08 kg MS
6.3% 5.9% 7.7% 7.9% 4.6% 4.6%
Return on Capital at $5.50kg
MS (ROC) at 4-Yr Av Values
5.1% 4.8% 6.2% 6.3% 3.6% 3.6%
Cost of Production per kg
Milksolids
$3.10 $3.58 $3.69 $3.77 $4.22 $4.57
Core per Cow Cost
$452 $588 $738 $571 $657 $593
Core per Hectare Cost
$964 $999 $1,217 $1,430 $1,527 $1,230
Core per Hectare Cost per tDM
Pasture Harvest
$82 $101 $104 $128 $138 $112
Cows per Full Time Staff
Equivalent
145 167 161 134 154 165
Pasture as % of Total
Consumed
88.7% 81.9% 90.1% 75.5% 80.5% 79.8%
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: Environmental
N Leaching kg/N/ha/yr
Overseer V 6
25 20 19 22 23 36
Nitrogen Conversion Efficiency
26% 27% 25% 29% 35% 30%
Environmental Scorecard
2.3 2.2 1.9 2.1 2.2 N/A
kg/N/ha/yr Applied
55 91 130 57 140 126.4