Colin and Stefan Mavor would not say it, but the way they run their North Otago farm could be a blueprint for the way livestock farmers have to operate in the future suggests the ODT. The 2008 Lincoln University Foundation Farmers of the Year, the father and son team run their Braemorn Farm very differently from when Colin Mavor started. In fact, Mr Mavor admits that if they had continued farming as they were when he started out, they would not be in business today. The award category they won was meat production and much of it was assessed on financial results from the past four to five years. The Mavors supply steers and prime lambs under contract which, while inconvenient (they had to draft stock between Christmas and New Year), it was rewarding financially. Every three weeks they have to supply 500 lambs and each month 100 cattle to meet contracts. Another significant change came with the introduction in 2003 of the Horse Gully Irrigation Scheme which provided water to irrigate 240ha, allowing them the flexibility and opportunity to become dedicated meat producers. That enabled them to triple their annual pasture growth from 5000kg-7000kg dry matter a ha to 15,000kg-17,000kg dry matter. To achieve that growth their k-line irrigation scheme has to be shifted twice a day, something Stefan Mavor said was not onerous when he saw the resulting grass growth.
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