Limited call out services for deer, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, poultry. We do not treat cats and dogs or other small pets at this stage but happy to have a look at refer to a small animal veterinarian of required. We can supply all over-the-counter products for pet owners at competitive prices and ALL prescription products for large animals after having seen and assessed the animal.

Animal health planning is about more than marking drenching dates on a calendar. Healthy animals are an outcome of good feeding, good genetics and good management along with a risk based plan to prevent the build up and spread of disease organisms. We look at animal health from the soil up, taking a whole system approach. We give you the knowledge and confidence to make your on-farm decisions that impact on animal health and also provide services to help with monitoring and intervention when it is required. What's in the package: A full day visit to talk to you about your goals, operation type, integration strategy and production goals. A risk assessment for potential animal health issues. A plan developed in collaboration with you to manage risks and prevent diseases impacting on production. Access to a database for recording your farm details and animal health plans and monitoring. Or we work with what you are currently using.

Stu has over 30 years’ experience in electrical design, installation, and repairs. He holds a current practising license. In his own words “I have worked on everything from Grans lights in her house to wiring cow sheds and generator powered wool sheds to overhead cranes and things that go boom if you look at them wrong” With a good solid grounding in all areas of electrical work, some of the works Stu has undertaken include. • Overhead line quoting and advise for upgrades • Industrial electrical installations and repairs (all three-phase wiring, motors, and controls and PLC wiring and fault finding) • Cow Shed installs and repairs (milking systems, backing gates and pulsars) • Generator installs • Domestic installs and wiring (putting in power points and lights to new house builds and switch boards upgrades) • Alarm installs (house and business) • Lighting upgrades (LED lights and solar security lighting)

Its been raining a lot! Fortunately on our sand country this is a blessing at this time of year. While many of my farming friends on heavier soils are having issues with crops drowing or not being able to get onto paddocks, here everything is really starting to take off. I pulled back the microclima to see how the cabbages and summer green broccoli are going and was pleasantly surprised. Minimal insect damage and has kept the rabbits at bay. I dont normally bother with summer brassicas because of insect challenges but thought i would give this a go. If we do get some crawlies or suckies i plan to use diatomaceous earth. As for these bug breeding sites - they are going to the goats We have had plenty of feeds of potatoes now. My favourite are the Desiree. Getting then early has meant no psyllid yet so tough wood that continues through to the main crop. Courgette plants are looking stunning and producing well after recovering from a late November frost. And we have started to harvest cucumbers too! Yum. They are soo much crisper and sweeter than the supermarket ones. I read the radishes planted around cucumber keep diseases at bay so trying that. The radishes are tending to bolt a bit though. Its just as well the chickens seem to like lettuce as we cant keep up with it Succession planting carrots is going OK. Not exceptionally well but I have always struggled with carrots. Im keeping the seeds under a double layer of microclima until fully germinated and watering daily. I am sure there are better ways. Hoping for a better crop of melons than last year and they seem to be off to a reasonable start. What happens from here with the heat loving plants will depend on what sort of summer we have. Speaking of heat, the windbreak is doing a good job around the tomato bed and once you get down at tomato level it really feels like a warm microclimate. Runner beans are flowering, tomatoes are taking off and starting to flower and even the capsicums are starting to come away in here. In the corn, peas and pumpkins patch, amaranth has taken over somewhat but the corn is starting to flower and develop ears, peas are nearly ready for harvest and pumpkin is flowering and fruiting Hope you enjoyed that little garden tour and maybe it has inspired you to get planting or keep going with what you are doing Until next week And watch out for my compost video in the making. Pania

Welcome to BASE Enterprises Subscribe to our newsletter Produce Store Services Projects Blog About BASE Enterprises ​ Pania and Stu run BASE Enterprises from home. Our primary goal is to live the best life we can and help others achieve a healthy lifestyle that is good for them and the planet. Pania is a registered veterinarian and avid gardener and learner. Stu is a registered electrician with a love of the stars. We offer a range of environmental and animal health services as well as selling fresh produce to the local community. Contact pania@baseenterprises.co.nz 027 718 1076 Submit Thanks for submitting!

Hill Country Project Effects of hill country paddock management on water, soil and pasture quality in the Horizons district Check back for more information soon Here you will find information and updates about this project Click on the links below to find out more ​ What is the purpose of the project? ​ Who is running the project? ​ What data will be collected? ​ Who will benefit from the project? ​ What is the timeframe? ​ How will the project be funded? ​ What is the criteria for being an eligible study site? ​ What does the study site owner have to do? ​ How can we find out the results? ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Events Check here for upcoming events Click here to get involved ​ As a study farm ​ As an interested farmer ​ As a sponsor ​ As a rural professional ​ As a community organisation ​ As a member of the public Get project updates If you have a question or suggestion please enter it here Submit Look out for updates in your email inbox What is the purpose of the project ​ The aim of our project is to bring people and science together to understand practices that result in healthy soils, plants, water, animals, people and finances on hill country farms. We are all connected through the food we eat, places we work and play, waterways and local businesses. Sustainably productive hill country and clean healthy water benefits everyone in our region. ​ Every day farmers make decisions about how they will manage their pastoral land from grazing days to fertiliser applications, grass grub control, aerial cropping, subdivision, spraying and sowing new pastures. We aim to investigate how these and other management practices and any changes in management impact on soil quality, pasture composition and production and water quality as it leaves the paddock runoff area. Some of the practices may be considered to be along the lines of regenerate agriculture so this will give us an opportunity to investigate whether regenerative agriculture principles can be applied to hill country in our region and what the benefits might be. Climate has the biggest impact on the land, so we also want to investigate this. The project is designed to run over 5 years with seasonal sampling so we can also investigate factors that might improve climate resilience on our hill country. ​ Most importantly we want to share the learning as we go by holding many field days and workshops and inviting participation in project planning and in hands-on sample collection and observations. We also want to collaborate closely with other projects past and present, especially those associated with hill country management in our region. For example, we have many catchment groups in the region and these groups are working on various projects. Councils are measuring the impacts of environmental protection works that have been done over the years, other groups are working on local environmental projects and there is a plethora of previous scientific research on hill country production that we should not forget about. Bringing this work together in a practical way is one of our goals. ​ This is an inclusive project involving farmers, rural professionals, regional council and community interest groups and the general public. We encourage you to have a say and get involved. Who is running the project? This project is a collaborative effort with the following organisations involved in project governance and in contributing to the science and extension programme. ​ ACRE Rangitikei Catchment group Manawatu Catchment group Horizons Regional Council Landcare Trust Deer industry New Zealand Fish and Game NZ Massey University Environment Network Manawatu ​ Project management including co-ordinating all of the above organisations is being done by BASE Enterprises Principle Project Manager: Pania Flint ​ This list of project partners and their roles is currently under development. Check back here for updates or if you or your organisation would like to get involved please get in touch What data will be collected? ​ The final project design will be based on input from interested parties and how we can integrate our project to compliment other work being done. ​ The unit of study is the paddock (see criteria below). At this stage we are looking at including 20 study sites from a range of farms, environments and terrains. ​ As a starting point we anticipate recording i that include ALL management practices on a paddock. nput variables ​ The that we aim to collect include: outcomes measurements visual, physical, biological and chemical analysis Soil growth, composition and chemical analysis, Pasture quality using stream health assessment, Schmak testing and chemical analysis. Water In addition we anticipate collecting some farm financial information and animal health and production where it can be related back to the paddock. This type of research is only worthwhile if the results are turned into actions through increased knowledge, confidence and positive changes in practice. To assess this we will also investigate by participants as a results of taking part in the project as either experimental farms, local farmers, rural professionals, advisors or members of the public. changes made ​ It is likely that collaborating projects will collect additional and more specific data from some sites Who will benefit from the project? ​ The benefits are potentially far-reaching: ​ For directly in the study they will have a large amount of data specific to their farm that will give them a really good insight into the health and productivity of their farm under certain management conditions. It will also allow the farmer to track the results of changes in management and compare to other farms in the project. Study site participants are likely to experience the greatest direct benefits. farmers participating ​ For : attending regular workshops and seeing the results on farms similar to theirs under everyday management practices will give them the confidence to take their own measurements and make management decisions to suit their land and their farming objectives. other farmers in the region ​ For , attending workshops and encouraging other farmers to do the same will help with better advice to farmers on best practice land management for both the environment and productivity council and land management advisors For : This project can guide on practices that help maintain water quality as it comes off pastoral hill country. anyone connected with the waterways ​ For : Protecting the investment in land and agriculture by identifying practices that improve production and environmental resilience will give better confidence in the financial sustainability of hill country farming rural support people and lending agencies For : This study may give further research evidence to guide your advise to farmers for nutrient and pasture management. fertiliser consultants and agronomists ​ For : More productive and resilient farms will generate better returns to farmers who can in-turn invest this back into the local economy. the local economy ​ : Demonstrating good management practices that care for the land can provide evidence to the government that hill country farmers are good land stewards who work to care for the environment while maintaining or improving productivity. For the hill country farmers ​ For : These results can be used to support their research and vice versa. other groups researching in this space What is the timeframe? ​ The timeframe is up for discussion. At this stage we are looking at a 5 year project with the first 6 months involving community consultation and fine-tuning the study design with input from interested parties. The plan is to have 6-monthly workshops throughout the 5 year study. Check back here later for updates on time frame. How will the project be funded? An application for funding will be submitted to MPI’s Sustainable Farming and Fibre Futures fund. Co-funding is required in order to receive MPI funding. Some of this can be in-kind contributions and a significant amount of cash will also be required. We are calling for expressions of interest to co-fund this project. Funders will be emailed updates and be invited to attend field days and workshops during the event. Funders will also be given the opportunity to present at workshops. Funders will not have rights to veto any results from being published or cause any bias in experimental design. Study Site Criteria ​ The unit of study is a paddock. To be included the paddock must: Be grazed by livestock Be at least 1ha in size Have an average slope of 15 degrees Have an associated waterway Be more or less securely fenced Be accessible for the research team ​ There may be other collaborating projects that farmers are interested in participating in What does a study site farmer have to do? As the farm owner or manager you will need to keep a record of all the management practices on the study paddock. This will include, but is not limited to: ​ All stock movements on and off the paddock including class of stock, number of head and estimated weight. Pre and post grazing pasture height All inputs including fertiliser, sprays, seed Any cropping, cutting for hay or any other aspects of this paddock that may affect the outcome. You will not have to collect any samples. Sampling will all be done by the research team. You will need to allow them access to the paddock to take samples at least 4 times per year. This will be done at a time that suits you so that it does not disrupt normal farming practices. We will provide you with a whiteboard for the paddock gate and/or a journal for keeping records and/or a phone app for recording paddock information. How can I find out the results? As there are no commercial sensitivities involved in this project and it will be publicly funded, all results will be readily available as they come to hand. We will load pages on this website and anyone who sponsors the project will receive email updates and invitations to attend field days and workshops where results will be discussed. ​ The project includes a number of where anyone can visit study sites and take part in soil, water and plant assessment. Information will also be presented at a stand at local events. field days ​ What is the results show something bad? We all want the same outcomes - sustainably productive land. If the results show up some issues then that will inform us of where to focus our attention for improvement. Decisions will be informed by science. We are going into this with an open mind and no preconceived ideals. As this is a publicly funded project without commercial interest, there is no bias to show any particular effects of management practices on outcomes. How is this project different from what is already being done? ​ There are a number of aspects that make this project unique. : Right from the outset, we have engaged with many different groups in the community to understand their values and consider these in the study design. We intend to engage with these groups throughout the project and be adaptable to changing needs and interests of the people. Everyone has ownership and a chance to play a part in the future management of hill country farms. We are all learning together and will do this using a range of different engagement strategies including field days, workshops, online material, presentations at conferences and information stands. Strong community input : As we progress through the programme we aim to bring in the resaerchers that are working on complimentary or more specific projects and relate these to the practical application on a complex farm system. Bringing other research together . To our knowledge, there are no current studies that are gathering a wide range of data on all aspects of management, climate and soil, pasture and water quality over a long time-scale under normal farm management practices. This allows a real-life view of what happens on commercial farms and provides a large amount of data to investigate associations between different variables. For example the impacts of grazing management on water runoff. The the relationship between soil organic matter and nutrient retention or loss to waterways. We can draw on the scientific resaerch from other groups to further understand our observations. A long term multivariable study at the paddock level

Our Chickens Rather than simply saying our chickens are free range we thought we would let you know exactly how we keep them. ​ All our chicks are sourced from a hatchery in Taranaki and arrive to us as day-old chicks. We purchase Ross Meat chicks for meat and Hyline Brown for eggs. ​ On arrival we place the chicks in an enclosed area with heat lamps and teach them to eat and drink from the feeders and waterers. What happens after that depends on the weather. In summer, the chicks go into their paddock from a few days old. A heat lamp may be used if the weather is cooler but if it is warm, the chick tuck up together at night inside their hutches and fossick about outside during the day. Typically our death rate is less than 1% through the chick rearing period. Meat chicks are kept in a paddock where they have access to grass , grubs, seeds and dust-baths. They live the life of a regular chicken. In fact seeing them fossick around, run after each other chasing a worm, flapping their wings and bathing in the sunshine, it is hard to imagine eating an animal that has never been outside. By the time they are 6 weeks old, the chicks are at least 2kg and ready to eat. Their active lifestyle, no lights and variable ambient temperatures means they grow a bit slower than indoor chooks but it also reduces leg joint and bone issues and increases the flavour. The meat has a slightly firmer texture with less fat than barn raised meat chooks. ​ As for the layers, they are slow growers and being smaller need a bit more TLC during the early weeks. Layer chicks are very active birds that need plenty of room to run about. They will be out in their paddock as soon as possible with access to their shelter and heat lamps if required. At 5 to 6 months, the young birds are at point of lay and will start to lay miniature eggs. Over the next few weeks, these gradually increase in size and consistency and we have our young layer hen. A lot of energy goes into producing eggs so layers have free access to specially formulated layer pellets at all times. In their paddock they have grass, weeds, bugs and grubs and they also get the odd scraps or vegetables from the garden. We rotate our chickens through pens that also function as vegetable growing areas and goat pens. Once the chicken have been on an area, there will not be any chickens there for at least 12 months. So the rotation might be grass - goats- grass regrowth - chickens - vegetable crops - cover crops - goats - grass/regrowth of crops - chickens. This prevents the build up of diseases and cycles nutrients for plant growth.