PROUD COASTERS?
Well not exactly! Since we weren’t born and bred here, and neither was our mothers mother - as our mates like to remind us - we can’t call ourselves ‘Coasters’ but we sure as hell can call ourselves locals.
We love everything about the Coast, sometimes the rain can put a bit of a dampener on things if we had to be really honest. But there is nothing better than being hidden away on our side of the alps enjoying a little slice of paradise without too much political correctness!
No matter what, nature is at the forefront of whatever we do - how to protect it, how to enhance it and how to ensure it’s better for the future and our kids. It’s what we think about on a daily basis.
We love our small community at Moana, Lake Brunner. The people are what makes the Coast what it is. And the main reason why Your Farm exists is so that the ‘coasters’ - real or not - can enjoy full cream milk direct from our farm as if it was their own.
Our milk is just as nature intended. Nothing added and nothing taken out. Just good old-fashioned milk, still with the cream on top, in glass bottles like Grandma used to get. We think nature, and our cows, do a pretty good job so why tamper with it. All we do is pasteurize it so it is safe for you to drink and make it convenient to find in our local shops. You even get to bring your bottle back and just pay for the milk inside. What could be more perfect than that!
HEALTHY COWS. HEALTHY PRODUCT.
We’re big believers that healthy soils with diverse pastures create healthy stress-free animals that in turn create healthy products that we know you’ll love.
That’s why our cows are given the title ‘Cheeky Carbon Cowgirls’. They work hard, alongside us, using diverse pastures with natural grazing systems to put carbon back in our soil. In fact, we’re about to start testing soil carbon levels to see how well we and the cowgirls are doing. Early indications are giving us some hope that we can blow that whole carbon credits nonsense to smithereens!
By managing the farm as a whole we are seeing an increase in biodiversity with enriched soils, improved waterways, and an enhanced ecosystem. This and our passion for our animals is what gets us out of bed at the crack of dawn each morning with every day being a challenge for us to do better.
Our key focus is to ensure that our animals are well looked after. We start by following the five globally recognised gold standard freedoms in regards to animal welfare – freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury, and disease; freedom from fear and distress; and freedom to express normal and natural behavior.
To stand by this we are working to keep our calves with their Mums until they are weaned. Sometimes it doesn’t always work but we are striving to get this right to ensure that we can operate in the most ethical way possible.
LEt’s CUT TO THE SHIT
As you know it can get a little wet over this side of the alps so we have a large barn that keeps our cows warm and dry, especially during winter and at calving time.
Sawdust is put in the barn about a meter thick in the lounging area. This starts heating up after the cows go in and we add daily, either straw or any carbon products like cardboard or newspaper that the locals drop off, to keep the bedding clean and dry. This then heats to around 22ºC creating an ideal pad for the cows to sleep on. This additional warmth and comfort mean that our girls tend to eat less but still put on weight and at calving time it keeps their calves safe and warm on wet, cold nights.
It also keeps all our manure under one large area and generates the perfect start of our on-farm compost needs.
Once moved out of barn when the rainy season is over it’s turned twice and left for a further year to mature in another specially built barn. This dynamic living system is teaming with microbes that are applied to our paddocks for amazing results.
IT DOESN’t END WITH A GLASS OF MILK
There’s some big plans in the pipeline at Your Farm. Check out what other great products that will be available through Your Farm in the future:
YOUR FARM PASTURE-FED EGGS
We already have a small flock of laying hens that live in a purpose-built moveable hen house in our fresh pastures all year around that provide us with farm-fresh eggs that we only currently sell at the farm gate.
They do an amazing job, moving daily behind the cows to spread the manure and nutrients and clean up fly larvae.
Their diet is made up of grass grubs, grains, seeds, and any other bugs they can wrestle from the ground. No fancy foods bought in.
We’ve been told by a few of the locals and others that travel all the way over from Christchurch that our eggs are the next level in free-range. Big, bright yellow and with “flavour that’s out of this world”.
Well worth a try the next time you are passing through Moana. Just check at the farm gate - the kids should have done their job and kept it stocked up.
YOUR FARM ORCHARD
They say the West Coast is an amazing micro-climate and they couldn’t be more right!
To date we have planted well over 100 fruit trees – from heritage apple trees to plums, feijoas, mulberries, figs, pears, and various berry bushes too. We have also started growing pecans, hazelnuts, and big shellbark hickory in tree breaks.
The idea is around self-sufficiency. Given that the Coast can be isolated at times we want to be able to help our local community in times of need as well as offer people a wider range of farm-fresh food in the future. We also want our kids to be able to enjoy a piece of fruit off a tree that is healthy and resilient and doesn’t need pampering.
Every year we also plant around 200 specimen trees for all sorts of biodiversity needs – from firewood, bees and birds, and furniture all trees are grown with a future in mind.
YOUR FARM
FRESH MEAT
In addition to our laying hens we also raise meat bird chickens just like tegel but ours live out on our paddocks from day old.
Given the diverse range of pastures that we have we are finding that these guys love the freedom and food they find.
While currently not available commercially until we tick a few more boxes with MPI these birds are set to rival the traditional turkey when it comes to the Xmas roast. Big, juicy and succulent!
In addition to our dairy herd we have also started a mob of beefies. 100% grass-fed these cattle are bred for taste. We maintain a stress-free environment and optimum feed to achieve maximum marbling, colour and yield. These beefies are currently going through a strict quality testing regime which the kids and us are loving and will be ready for release at a similar time as the chickens.
