Take a scenic drive 10 minutes west of Masterton in Wairarapa and you'll be greeted with a rustic sign announcing Spring Valley farms. Deep in the Kaituna valley, it's the home of Matt and Lynley Wyeth and their two sons.
Spring Valley Enterprises farms roughly 10,000 sheep and another 4000 stock units made up of 300 Angus breeding cows. It sits on 1600 hectares of hard hill country with some decent quality flat lands. It consistently rates in the top 5 per cent of performers in the red meat industry, in part due to its early adoption of agri-tech.
The Wyeths employ a range of technology each with a specific, measurable outcome that allows them to make small tweaks, accumulatively, to save money.
For instance, they use a drone to keep fuel costs down and minimise animal disturbance, and a GPS system to determine the exact quantities needed for seasonal crop spraying, with zero waste.
Some tech benefits simply save time or energy, like their investment in a conveyor which allows multiple health treatments to be administered to an animal in one stop, without the need to physically restrain them, a process that used to be exhausting and time-consuming for staff.