Words and Images by Annie Studholme
Backed by 103 years in dairying and deep ties to the Staveley and Bushside communities near Methven, John Totty and his partner Kelly Litchfield are devoted to seeing Lawn Hayes continue for generations. The footprints of each generation have helped make the property what it is today. Still, while they’ve come in with fresh ideas and innovative approaches, the pride and promise of being a generational farmer are not lost on John.
John is the fourth generation to farm the 465-hectare property at Staveley and the fifth farming in mid-Canterbury. Though no one knows precisely where the name comes from, Lawn Hayes was given to the two neighbouring 45-acre blocks John’s great-grandfather, Charles Totty, purchased in Staveley in 1920, moving the family from Ashburton.
First settled around 1861 by Tripp and Acland and known then as Run 415, it was later taken up by Edward Reece, who sent Robert George Staveley there to manage the run - the village was named after him. The tiny settlement was once home to two lime kilns, a sawmill, and a creamery, which evolved into a cheese factory in 1916 and produced butter. It was one of the most successful early companies in the area before being taken over by the Ashburton Dairy Company in 1930 and subsequently closed in 1936.
Covered initially by dense native bush, by the time Charles bought the land, most of it had been cleared. He started milking 20 cows and ran a few pigs. Though the early settlers favoured Shorthorns, interest in Jerseys increased with the introduction of the creamery and cheese factory due to their high yield in butterfat.
And with it, started the Totty family’s long association with the Jersey breed. John’s grandfather, Eddie, was passionate about Jerseys. He took over the reins of Lawn Hayes in 1941, starting a Jersey stud in the early 1960s. He used to show cows at the Methven, Mayfield, Ashburton, Timaru, Geraldine and Temuka, and Canterbury A&P Shows.
Having started farming after leaving school at 16, John’s father Ian’s first farm was 452 acres, which he bought in 1969 at $105/acre, later selling it to buy into his father’s 700-acre block. Back then, Lawn Hayes was a traditional mixed farming operation, milking 200 cows and running dairy replacements, sheep, beef, and cropping. ‘Growing up, I considered myself as much a sheep farmer as a dairy farmer. At one stage, we ran 3000 ewes with 200 dairy cows, goats, and bull beef,’ explains John.
But with the swing to dairying in the 1990s, Ian saw massive potential for growth. In 1995, they purchased a neighbouring property (Bushside), sold nearly all of their sheep, and converted entirely to dairying the following year. They built a 20-a-side herringbone shed at Bushside, running alongside the 36-a-side herringbone on the home farm.
Initially, they ran a 280 Friesian herd at Bushside while continuing with 480 Jerseys on the home farm. Unlike many other dairy farmers, Ian also ran it as a self-contained unit, wintering their cows, rearing all young stock, and growing their own winter feed.
Ian was heavily involved in the community and a staunch supporter of co-ops. He was proud of the community in which he lived. Ian was the first chairman of the Foothills Young Farmers, followed by a stint as district chairman and two years on the National Executive. He was also heavily involved in Federated Farmers at a local and national level and a trustee of Methven Care aged care facility.
Following in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather John Mathieson, who set up the first cooperative dairy factory on the Otago Peninsula in 1871, Ian also spent more than a decade on the boards of Temuka and, later, Alpine Dairy Companies. He also served on the Board of Ruralco (then ATS) for nine years, making way for the Board’s first independently appointed Director. He was a long-term member, with his father (Eddie) among the first 500 to join the co-op.
John felt no pressure from his parents to go farming when he left school. Unsure where his future lay, he followed his sisters to Otago University and completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in finance to pursue a career as a stockbroker. ‘I had job offers after university but turned them down as I couldn’t see the benefit in taking the job and only been there a few years if I wanted to be back farming after five years and so some travel.’ So, he followed his passion for hunting, making a living guiding in New Zealand and overseas, as well as travelling.
‘I think they were genuinely surprised when I said I wanted to return to the farm. There was never any pressure to go farming, which, in a way, made me want to come back even more.’ Once John had declared his interest, his parents set in motion the necessary steps to facilitate a seamless succession.
Wanting to gain some experience at each of the steps on other farms before returning home to Lawn Hayes, John first took a dairy assistant job in Dunsandel in 2015, moving up to 2IC the following season. He had hoped to spend at least a year in a managerial role, but after his father’s death in 2017 following a farm-related accident, John came home and took over.
‘I had huge support for my mum, Kate, and three sisters to buy into the farm,’ says John. ‘They were unified in wanting to see me come home, and they all did what was needed to make it happen. Having the succession chats all the way through had made the difference. We had talked about it while Dad was still alive. Mum was probably the hardest to get across the line because she was worried about how much debt I was taking on at such a young age, but I felt the farm also had a lot of untapped potential. I believed there was still room for growth.’
John compensated for his perceived lack of knowledge by surrounding himself with top-tier advisors and utilising those around him. He was a key driver behind establishing the Foothills dairy farm discussion group.
He has made key changes since taking the reins to increase production, performance and efficiency while maintaining a low-cost, low-input system. Though his father had been a proponent of being self-reliant, rearing all their young stock, John opted to move the young stock off-farm in favour of milking an additional 200 cows, which took them to 1000 cows across the two sheds. ‘We weren’t doing young stock very well, and I thought it was better to focus on what we were doing well. It was far better to milk off the land than do young stock.’
However, the extra cows necessitated some other changes around the farm.’ We had to convert it to a full dairy platform, which meant re-fencing and re-laning four out of five blocks (80 per cent), making bigger paddocks and bigger laneways. All the lanes had been done for just 200 cows. There were all these tiny paddocks. It was a bit of a nightmare, really; nothing had been upgraded. It just didn’t work.’ At the same time, John also upgraded the old shed on Bushside to a 30-a-side herringbone and built two new staff houses.
When John took over, they were running a Friesian herd on Bushside and a Jersey herd on the home block, but it soon became apparent that the Jerseys were outperforming the Friesians in every way. Being a dryland farm, they are always at the mercy of what Mother Nature provides, from occasional severe droughts to winter snows. Its annual rainfall is around 1300mm. This is where the Jerseys come into their own, says John.
In his first year on Lawn Hayes, a severe drought forced them to go to once-a-day in December. ‘The Jerseys powered through and recovered very quickly, whereas the Friesians sulked. The Friesians are great when you are feeding them, but the Jerseys will hold production in the tough times.’
That, backed by almost 100 years of breeding, only served to reinforce John’s decision to move towards breeding back to a full Jersey herd. ‘They have been bred here too,’ says John. ‘That makes a difference. It’s a big part of it. Those who are struggling for any reason have been culled. Each year, we are only breeding from the top 60 per cent; that makes a big difference in genetic gain.’
They are fully self-sufficient now and run a closed herd. Each season, they’ve increased the herd’s Jersey content without sacrificing production. Today, the farm is more than 70 per cent Jersey genetics.
Having previously split the herds by breed, John has simplified the operation by swapping it to breeding worth. The top 60 per cent of the herd, including the heifers, are mated to AI for six weeks using Jersey sires, followed by four weeks of Jersey bulls, with Jersey bulls going straight out with the bottom 40 per cent. They don’t have Cow Manager or Halter, so it falls on John to pick the cows for AI.
At calving, all cows are calved through the shed on the home block. The Jersey’s calving ease was also a big plus. They have low assisted calving rates, get very few down cows, and are less prone to mastitis.
Going forward, as the dairy industry comes further into the spotlight, John could also see huge advantages in the Jersey’s lower environmental footprint, particularly around pugging and winter grazing. ‘We always try to have an eye on the future, and a lighter cow that has less impact on the soil structure could be crucial going forward.’
More recently, John has introduced flexible milking at Lawn Hayes, moving away from the traditional twice-a-day. Having heard Dr Paul Edwards at a field day, John joined five other farms in a DairyNZ and Lincoln University flexible milking research project, believing his predominantly Jersey herd would be well-suited. ‘Jerseys have around a 30-hour holding capacity versus a Friesian at around 20 hours, and this is a big advantage when using variable milking intervals,’ says John.
After experimenting with different milking schedules during the summer dry, they are now in their third season of milking 10 times in seven days, full season. A variation of 16-hour milkings, but at more convenient times for staff, they milk twice a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5.30 am and 2.30 pm and then at 8 am the rest of the week, meaning four sleep-ins a week! It works best for his herd, the farm’s dryland system, his team, and himself.
Initially, people thought there would be at least a 5 per cent drop in production, but that hadn’t resulted, says John. When he took over, they were producing around 270,000kg of milk solids, whereas, in their best season to date, they’d increased that to 395,000kg of milk solids at a lower cost.
John says they had also seen gains in improved animal health, better reproductive results, and staff retention. ‘The main bonus is the cows are in better condition. They spend more time in the paddock for socialising, eating, resting, and drinking. You can’t underestimate how important that is; some believe it’s even more important. We also get less lameness; it’s down by as much as 70 per cent.’
Since joining John at Lawn Hayes, Kelly has taken over doing the calves. Having grown up on a traditional Canterbury dairy farm (rotary shed and irrigation) at Bankside, Kelly relishes returning to the farm between working as a nurse three days a week. She loves the farming lifestyle, but with two brothers, there was no room for her to go full-time on the family farm. Now, she has the best of both worlds.
Through good management and great staff, John also gets to follow his other passions. He still goes hunting, trying to get at least six weeks each year. Like his father before him, he’s also devoted to his local community. Following in the footsteps of his mum and uncle, Alan Totty, he is also heavily involved with the Staveley Museum and the Staveley Hall Society, which runs the Staveley Ice and Curling Rink.
The tiny Staveley Museum displays a photographic collection that tells the story of the foothills area of Mid-Canterbury including timber milling, coal mining, limestone quarrying, farming, and family life. There is also an extensive geological display of the unique geology of Mount Somers and its environment. It is located in the old, relocated Springburn school building, opposite the Staveley Store. It’s open on Sundays from 1-3 pm.
‘My uncle, Alan Totty, runs it, and mum was already on the committee, so it made sense,’ says John. ‘I did history at university and love learning about the local history and reading about it.’ John is amongst a group of volunteers who staff it regularly. Most are of his father’s generation, which adds to the appeal. ‘It’s always interesting the people you meet. About 60 per cent of the people who visit have a connection to the local area or families.’ He is also in charge of maintenance.
John also did his part to help bring the new permanent ice rink to fruition, continuing the Totty family’s long association with the ice rink. It was John’s grandfather, Eddie Totty, who, along with Ted Burgess Snr, first proposed the idea of building an ice rink in Staveley back in 1949. Data was collected, and after two years, the site was chosen, and the Staveley Ice Rink Company was formed. One of the few natural ice rinks, it was officially opened in 1951.
For the past 30 years, the Staveley Hall Society has run it voluntarily, with people coming from far and wide. With warmer winters, though, the skating and curling season has been seriously reduced. Two years ago, a fundraising committee was set up to install a new refrigerated concrete pad, which only requires two inches of ice to safeguard its future. The project had to raise $1.3 million, but if the numbers this winter had been anything to go by, it has been an enormous success.
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