James Edgar is very optimistic about the future of the farming sector. Photo / Supplied
James Edgar is very optimistic about the future of the farming sector. Photo / Supplied
James Edgar shakes his head in bewilderment as he realises seven and a-half years have flown by while he runs Wilden View farm in Moa Flat. It has been a whirlwind of big transactions and major decisions.
Since starting farming in his own right in 2012, Edgar has done the simple things well.
He has focused on high-quality genetics, capital soil improvements, superior pasture renewal and keeping a mindset that the rest "is just a luxury".
Farming was something he knew he always wanted to pursue. He went to Lincoln University and did "half a degree" before realising it was perhaps more productive to flag the study and get straight into full-time shepherding.
His first job was for Ross Naylor, in Omakau, followed by a stint at Barewood Station, near Middlemarch.
Returning to the family farm in Tapanui worked for a short while, before he and his father John saw the opportunity to purchase Wilden View.
The land is in a trust and James is a 95 per cent shareholder in stock and plant.
Starting out with 385ha and 2800 breeding ewes, James and John purchased a 96ha block of neighbouring land two years later and he then took on a five-year lease of another farm, adding an extra 550ha to the operation.
"Over the last seven years, the business has increased its capital breeding ewes to 7500. The status quo hasn't been the same for any two seasons" he said.
Genetics has been a major focus. He breeds his own replacements using Coopdale rams from Alistair and Lynn Cock's Braeburn stud and Texel Coopworth rams from Peter and Marion Black's Blackdale stud.
He likes the traits of hardiness and ability to forage of the Coopdale breed and the maternal milking and high yielding, tough lamb traits of the Texel Coopworth.
Terminal ewes are crossed with a Suffolk cross ram to achieve the hybrid vigour of high growth rates and high yields.
He said lambing percentages at tailing had averaged around 135 per cent.
"There's definitely room for improvement there, I'm getting my systems in place so I can really start to focus on that in the seasons to come".
The farm runs a ratio of 90 per cent sheep to 10 per cent beef. Bulls are bought in at around 100kg, wintered on crop and killed at average 290kg carcass weight.
He also farms a "handful" of red hinds, selling the progeny as weaners, and he also has commenced a plan to increase his breeding cow herd to around 60 "to complement the sheep numbers and clean up the roughage they leave behind".
Another area of major focus is the soil and the feed it can produce.
Each season, around 12 per cent of the farm's cultivatable ground spends a season in crop before being sown into new pastures and James has a firm philosophy on capital fertiliser inputs and high quality seed mixes.
"We get the testing right. We see what needs done and I don't hold back when it comes to spending in that area".
He works with Rob Wilson at Advanced Agriculture in this area and they have developed a seed mix with proven performance; 8kg white clover, 4kg of an Italian rye, 9kg of Nui and 9kg of "whatever else is recommended at that time".
Edgar said some of the "fancier" seed types did not do so well sometimes in the harsh southern climate "but I have those tougher mainstays in there, such as the Nui, which will always come through".
Texel Coopworth and Coopdale genetics play a major role in James Edgar's sheep farming operation. Photo / Supplied
With the heavy increase in workload in such a short time, he had taken on full-time shepherd Holly Kelly and he said he had kept his operation simplified to keep costs down, always ensuring the basics were done well.
This included running fewer classes of stock and changing from a fodder beet crop back to swedes.
"The thing with fodder beet is that you have got to get the timing and management dead right to get the best results" he said.
"The beauty of swedes is the flexibility of how it can be sown, with no tillage and a small turnaround time; a first spray in December, direct drill the seed a couple days after and a second spray four to six weeks later".
Some of the groundwork James will do himself and some will be contracted depending on the workload and result required.
Operating the business at 40 per cent farm working expense means the entire operation is a no-frills concept.
"I make do, I don't carry a lot of unnecessary gear and I manage the two farms using the one tractor. My concept is all very simplified so it works well even with the increasing numbers" he said.
Laneways have been added, yards are well-maintained and there is a quality team of dogs - all instrumental in ensuring jobs are efficient and streamlined.
The next project will be a new stock water reticulation scheme.
The existing one "has seen its day" and he is looking at spending the better part of $100,000 on the new system to future proof the farm and ensure it is compliant in what is becoming a new era; farming with different rules than in decades gone by.
He said the RMPP group he joined nearly two years ago has been extremely useful to him.
"I have always been really ambitious and this group is from all over Southland. It's been a great hands-on way to learn new things and see how different business models can work over a variety of land types.
"Ultimately, it's about being aware of opportunities and jumping when they present themselves. Farming is where I will remain focused. It's what I love and it's what I know I am good at" he said.
