Sunflower-growing and virtual fencing are just the beginning at Rachel Short's forward-looking organic dairy farm.
Sunflowers are a common treat for these organic Taranaki cows. Photo: Supplied
On her 180-hectare Taranaki property, Short follows the simple mantra that healthy soils lead to healthy animals.
All of the feed for the farm's 400 certified organic jersey cows and young stock - is grown on-site.
"We come from a traditional ryegrass clover base. We farmed pretty traditionally with pre and post-grazing residuals.
"We thought if you didn't eat your paddocks down to 1,500 residuals you were going to lose quality which was really true under Ryegrass and Clover systems.
"But adding in a whole lot of different species, we try and farm alongside nature. We're not so worried about decking the paddocks out or losing quality because you just don't.
"By leaving a bit more residual we find the paddocks can photosynthesis so much better."
The farm essentially corners Ōpunake in Taranaki. With ocean views parallel to Taranaki maunga, it's a quintessentially Taranaki property.
Those travelling along the nearby State Highway can sneak a peak at what Short calls her "salad bowl" paddock, which is home to all sorts of clovers, chicory, plantains, radishes and sunflowers.
"I suppose we used to think anything else was a weed, but now we look back and go 'how do us humans make those decisions?' because if the cows are eating it and they're happy... I'm just not quite sure."
The large multi-species pasture was sown late this year but has still flourished. Photo: Supplied
Short says the harvest of her salad bowl paddock is not just for eating.
"It's eating a third, trample a third, and leaving a third and letting that mulch down into the soils.
"The permanent pasture just comes out like rocket fuel and the soils, you just see the change in the soils, it's just like rocket fuel."
Short said the sunflower roots help to aerate the soils, which is all part of their soil conditioning.
She's recently had some help from a biological soils consultant on the self-contained farm, which was a massive learning curve.
Rachel Short in her "salad bowl" paddock. Photo: RNZ/Leah Tebbutt
Having relied previously on a fertiliser rep taking soil samples, Short now solely farms above ground.
"We've turned the whole farming system upside down and everything comes from below the soil.
"We're really seeing the biology starting to work. You can see how healthy the plants are, you can see how healthy the animals are.
"It's just farming as a whole ecosystem."
Rachel Short with one of her more affectionate cows, Cuddles. Photo: RNZ/Leah Tebbutt
Farming conventionally always felt to Short like a race to the bottom.
"We've consistently now got higher growth rates."
All the farm's waterways are planted and fenced off.
And Short recently acquired Halter collars, a system which fits individual cows with solar-powered collars.
The GPS-enabled device allows the cow's whereabouts and condition to be tracked with a simple app that helps farmers guide cows without fences, wires, motorbikes, gates, or dogs.
The purchase was an out-of-character impulse buy made after Short saw a demonstration at a Waikato farms field day.
The multi-species pasture is never eaten down to the bone. Photo: Supplied
Now Short is casting her eye to vertical fodder.
"We're going to do a whole lot of planting over the next few years that will work as vertical fodder, shade and shelter.
"At some point, us humans forgot that cows were supposed to browse on trees as well but there is so much goodness you can get out of trees."
With farming, Short isn't sure if the job is ever really "done".
"You think you have found your happy place and then you end up on a farm with halter collars. If someone told me five years ago I was going to have collars on my cows with virtual fences, I would've thought they were crazy ... We might not even know what's next yet."
