caring for our place
Tamar Farm is very unique – a large parcel of land situated in a beautiful part of New Zealand, with a backdrop of the Southern Alps and river boundaries on two sides.
Our operation comprises beef, cropping, lamb finishing, three dairy units and dairy support. We are self-contained and rear all our calves and grow 90% of all feed that is required for our beef and dairy animals.
Tamar Farm’s operation comprises beef, cropping, lamb finishing, three dairy units and dairy support.
We plant 250 hectares of winter fodder crops which include fodder beet, swedes and kale. We also grow 60 hectares of lucerne, 20 hectares of barley and 35 hectares of maize. We grow and harvest all our silages. The remainder of the farm is in pasture.
1,250 hectares of the farm is irrigated with spray irrigation from schemes and our own on-farm storage ponds.
There are three dairy teams that milk and look after their respective dairy units. These teams are led by sharemilkers who are owner-operators and are excellent managers who employ skilled stock people. Sharemilking has been the backbone of the New Zealand dairy industry and a great way to progress into farm ownership. Richard and Chrissie are passionate about offering sharemilking to others as a pathway, since that is how they obtained farm ownership themselves.
Our Two Rivers team, who run the Wightmans and Strathclyde dairy units.
Our Te Mahanga dairy team.
The drystock team are also extremely experienced stock people and/or machinery operators. This team looks after all the beef cattle and dairy replacement heifers. They also maintain all the fencing and infrastructure of the entire farm, servicing all the vehicles, machinery, irrigators and doing all the cultivation and most of the seed planting and development work.
The beef herd of 300 Red Devon cows calve in the autumn, which balances our workload and feed requirements of the dairy herds, which calve in the spring. The dairy team rear the dairy replacement heifer calves to 100 kilograms, when they are moved to the drystock block. The drystock team rear all the dairy-beef-cross heifer calves, collecting them at four days old from the dairy farms.
The Tamar Farm drystock team.
All ongoing development on the farm is based around decisions to improve not just the ease of farming, but also to improve the aesthetic appearance. We plant a lot of trees each year and have installed water reticulation and have fenced off all waterways. We are continually looking to add new technology across all aspects of the operation to improve irrigation efficiencies, pasture monitoring, decrease our environmental footprint and to assist with animal health and welfare.
We’re proud that our ongoing commitment to improvement and sustainability has been recognised with several agriculture industry awards:
2002 Westpac Trust NZMP Farmer of the Year
Regional Winner
Canterbury & Nelson/Marlborough Region
National Finals Winner
Business Performance Award
2020 Ballance Farm Environment Awards
Regional Finalists
Canterbury Region
Winner
Agri-Business Management Award
sustainability
At Tamar Farm we are passionate about managing our land in an environmentally conscientious way for future generations.
The Tamar Farm team is passionate about managing our land in an environmentally conscientious way for future generations. We have recently been audited and certified for NZFAP (NZ Farm Assured Programme), which evaluates producers against standards of integrity, traceability, animal health and welfare, people, farm and natural resources and biosecurity.
Our work was also recognised in the 2020 Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards, where we were honoured with the Norwood Agri-business Management Award.
Our changes to the farm over the years include extensive tree planting and establishing a joint venture with bee apiaries to plant bee-friendly natives. Native birds thrive on our land, alongside wild pheasants, quail and peacocks.
With the land banded by two rivers, planting is also a strong focus for avoiding nutrient losses.
“We are completely self-contained here and that’s very valuable from an environmental and a biosecurity perspective,” says Richard.
“For us, farming sustainably is not just about how we manage the land. It’s about staffing, the health and wellbeing of our people and animals, the trees, the birds and creating the best environment for all of these.
“It’s also about making sure you are financially sustainable. Ensuring your business is profitable gives you the options to farm in the most sustainable ways.”
community
Our Tamar Farm team loves being part of the community of Mt Somers and wider Mid Canterbury, and we do what we can to support it.
We strongly believe in the importance of community.
Without donations and sponsorships, many of our local and wider community organisations would struggle to do what they do – provide important services, activities and opportunities for residents.
We at Tamar Farm are proud to support organisations including:
- Mt Somers Rugby
- Staveley Ice Rink
- Sharplin Falls Track rebuild
- South Canterbury Hunt Club
- Methven A & P Society
- Mayfield A & P Society
- Mayfield and Districts Lions Club
- Westpac Rescue Helicopter
- Hato Hone St John
Tamar Farm is proud to sponsor Mt Somers Rugby.
“Tamar Farm Red Devon beef is perfect, lightly-marbled meat that is juicy and tender. This is a reflection of Tamar Farm’s farming practices, caring for their grass-fed animals and keeping them in a happy, stress-free environment. That is what our customers love – they enjoy knowing where their beef is raised and that it’s treated with the knowledge and passion Richard and Chrissie Wright have for their animals.”
