Regenerative agriculture: Golden Bay dairy farm’s worm-rich soil improves cow health

Regenerative farming methods have helped to transform Wayne and Nicky Packard's paddocks. Photo / RNZ

By Cosmo Kentish-Barnes of RNZ for Country Life

There’s no looking back for a dairy farming couple who eliminated imported feed and synthetic fertilisers, including nitrogen, switching to more natural soil enrichment methods.

Golden Bay’s Wayne and Nicky Packard adopted the Albrecht-Kinsey fertiliser system 15 years ago and it’s taken that long to get the worm count in the soil back to where it should be.

Regular soil inspections have revealed a significant increase in worms.

Initially, worm counts were averaging two or three in a spade square.

After five years they found 15-20 worms in the same amount of soil and 15 years on, a spade square’s home to 50-60 worms.

The Albrecht, and later Kinsey, system of soil fertility management aims to correct and raise the overall soil fertility to improve and maintain yields and crop quality.

“We changed to that system because we felt it was going to be better for our soil and immediately found that things were improving,” Nicky said.

The switch meant ditching superphosphate or man-made fertilisers for natural mineral fertilisers.

Once on the biological path, the couple found cow health also improved.

“Our cows were happy and gradually getting healthier,” Nicky said.

“They just seemed to be getting more resistant to some of the issues that cows can have.

“The two biggest minerals we use are calcium and magnesium and they have to be balanced before anything else.

“Then after that we look at the more minor minerals, things like boron, selenium, sulphur.”

Every year soil samples from the farm are sent to the United States for testing.

Worms galore are at work. Photo / RNZ

The lab reports back with mineral levels in the soil.

“Then we apply fertiliser according to the levels of the minerals that are found.”

She said one year, the biggest block of land didn’t need any fertiliser because the soil was already balanced.

“We didn’t notice any difference in grass growth even though we hadn’t applied anything on to it.”

Regenerative farming methods have also helped to transform the paddocks.

Nicky and Wayne Packard run 210 cows on their Golden Bay property. Photo / RNZ

The Jersey herd, now on longer grazing rounds, munch away on a salad bowl of herbaceous goodness.

“So our pastures have about 12-15 species in them, sometimes up to 20.

“This means the grasses and herbs are all being able to provide a better microbiology in the soil.”

Despite being early adopters of the biological system and hosting several field days, Wayne reckons it’s still not common practice in the region.

The Packards have farmed at Rockhaven Farm in the Motupipi Catchment for six generations. Photo / RNZ

In terms of the system’s viability, local farmers sit on both sides of the fence.

“We’ve had people say ‘gosh it really works’, but you get the other people, too, that say your pastures are too long and rank and it doesn’t look good.”

Whatever people believed, financially the system was working and that was without buying in any palm kernel or meal, he said.

“So it’s grass, baleage or hay as their sole diet year in year out, and I think that’s how dairy farming should be.”

Nicky Packard says the herd "seemed to be getting more resistant to some of the issues that cows can have". Photo / RNZ

Besides having the dairy farm, the couple grow wheat for Bacca Bakery in Tākaka.

The bakers were keen to use local wheat for their sourdough bread, so Nicky and Wayne put their hands up and agreed to grow it.

They liked the “grown and made in the Bay” concept.

Once on the biological path, the couple found cow health also improved. Photo / RNZ

It’s grown on a hectare of land usually earmarked for grazing.

“We don’t spray it with anything.

“We just plough the soil and manage to grow about a 5-ton crop off a hectare using an old variety of wheat, which makes the best-tasting bread in New Zealand.”

The Packards have farmed at Rockhaven Farm in the Motupipi Catchment for six generations.

“My ancestors came out from England in 1849, bought the block of land off a Lands and Survey map.”

Wheat in the paddock and some bread from Bacca Bakery in Tākaka.

The dairy herd, numbering only seven, was the first to come to Golden Bay, Wayne said proudly.

For the past 30 years, Wayne and Nicky have owned the property where they run their 210 cows.

• Find out more about the Albrecht-Kinsey fertiliser system here.

– RNZ