17 October 1995 Gummies Bush Couple Win Lincoln Sheep Farmer Of The Year Title

Nineteen years of farming at Gummies Bush near Riverton has taken Southland couple John and Joan Hopcroft to the title of Lincoln University Foundation Sheep Farmers of the Year and a $7500 overseas travel grant courtesy of the Primary Industry Bank of Australia.

The award was made at Lincoln today (17 October) from a field of five finalists at the conclusion of a rigorous judging process involving an on-property assessment of management and production practices and a public "farming philosophy" presentation at the University by each of the candidates.

The runners-up and recipients of awards of $3000 and $2000 respectively were Tim and Helen Ensor of Cheviot and Tom and Anne Costello of Hawarden.

The winner's property of 182 hectares is located on rolling country 8 kilometres from the southern coast of the South Island, near Riverton. It carries 2330 ewes, 650 hoggets and 30 rams and production averages around 100kgs of wool and 300kgs of meat per hectare are achieved.

For most of their time on the property the couple have had a straight Coopworth flock with careful selection of ewe lambs and rams for maximum performance, selecting only from twins and going for good appearance, fleeces weight and lean meat.

Within the past 18 months the couple have trialled Textel rams  and after a successful lambing season with them they have decided to go for a Texel Coopworth cross flock. Within five or six years the flock could be called "Texworths", they say.

If, in the meantime, they decide they don't like what they are producing they will still have enough of the base flock of Coopworths to breed back to, they say.

Establishing priorities on a day to day, month to month, year to year basis is at the heart of their farming philosophy.

"Feeding must take top priority because this has the most direct bearing on stock performance and farm profitability.

"Your stock is where your money comes from. Look after them and they will look after you," says John.

In addition to farming, Mr Hopcroft is occasionally called in as a part-time agricultural tutor at Southland Polytechnic, taking farm cadets for their course training.

In announcing the 1995 winner, Lincoln University Foundation Chairman John Nimmo praised the high standard of this year's entrants. In defining the difference between average farmers and top farmers he identified a number of critical success factors -

"Top farmers all do the basics very, very well and they do them on time. They feed their stock well and have excellent pasture management practices. They have first class stockmanship. They plan and set targets and they manage costs well but they don't stint on the essentials."

All of this year's finalists displayed these qualities, he said.

In addition to the Hopcrofts, Ensors and Costellos, others in the final were Donald and Wendy Wright of Waiau and the partnership of Gavin and Debbie Wilson and Robin and Pip Wilson of West Melton.

This year's Farmer of the Year Competition was the 13th run by the Foundation, which was established at the time of Lincoln's centennial in 1978 to mark 100 years of achievement by the institution.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.