03-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Kale surplus takes top honour
A winter crop surplus, featuring award-winning kale, has Ben Peter searching for more mouths to eat it.
The kale paddock won best overall crop at the Central Otago Winterfeed Competition recently.
As it was the first time he had entered the competition, he was considering never entering again so he could maintain a perfect record.
"It might be the last time," he said.
Mr Peter was the production manager for Sustainable Prospects Ltd, dairy grazing, beef finishing and small seed cropping on 575ha flat-to-rolling farm in Springvale, north of Alexandra.
All of the 575ha was irrigated and included 210ha of winter crop, about 70% fodder beet and 30% kale.
With a surplus of winter feed, he was trying to find some stock to fill the gap. Hopefully a contract could be sorted to graze cattle or cattle could be bought to fatten, or it might be a combination of both.
But having too much feed going into winter was a better problem than not having enough.
"I don't want to waste it ... either because we don't have enough mouths to eat it," he said.
Cattle had been harder to secure this season, as many farmers were in the same boat and had plenty of feed available.
A crystal ball was needed when deciding on the amount of crops to plant in spring, he said.
To produce the prize-winning kale crop, SovGold seed was sown at the start of November.
The weather had played ball since the seed was sown.
Asked for the secret to grow a top kale crop, the soil quality was discounted.
"It is not our best dirt on the farm," he said.
The paddock had been producing crops for the past four years and went through a fairly intensive cropping rotation.
About 2000 dairy cows were arriving this week and would start grazing the kale.
Kale was used to transition cattle on to fodder beet.
Judge Richard Copland, of Poolburn, said the kale crop won the top prize because it was even, high-yielding, clean of weeds and bugs and fit-for-purpose.
Other kale crops entered in the competition were higher yielding, but they were so tall they would be harder to utilise, Mr Copland said.
The two-yearly competition had record entries of 93 crops.
More than $100,000 was raised and would be split between Otago Community Hospice, Poolburn School and Ōmakau School. Results
2025 Central Otago Winterfeed Competition results:
Best overall crop: Ben Peter.
Irrigated fodder beet: Chris and Jaimee Pemberton.
Irrigated kale: Ben and Anna Gillespie.
Dryland kale: Brad and Kirsten McEwen.
Irrigated swede: Elliott and Jardene Morgan.
Dryland swede: Tom Goble.
Irrigated rape: Evans Family.
Dryland rape: Glen and Renee Harrex.
Irrigated mixed crop: Mark and Vicki O'Neill.
Dryland mixed crop: Scott and Briar Milne.
Irrigated turnip: James and Chris Armstrong.
Biggest weed: The Rutherford family.
