The farm was converted to sheep and beef by Jack Mark in 1964.<\/p>\n
It was converted back to a dairy unit by Peter and Megan in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a small one-person sheep and beef farm, and I love contact with people so it wasn\u2019t really working for me,\u201d Peter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe leased the farm out for eight years, and I enjoyed tutoring for Toi-Ohomai and Primary ITO.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immersed daily in dairy information, Peter felt that the farm needed to be made more viable.<\/p>\n
He decided on a dairy unit, with Jersey cows as they are lighter on the land and can manage a long walk to the shed.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting finance from the banks for the conversion proved difficult as everyone who came on site said it was too hilly.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chance conversation with a BNZ staff member who was selling Peter a motorbike led to the family acquiring finance.<\/p>\n
Milking started twice a day in the new 30 ASHB shed with 260 Jersey cows on the 100ha milking platform on the 170ha (127ha effective) property.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first year the payout was $3.90 per kg\/MS, and the second year it was $4.20 per kg\/MS, so the process to manageable debt and profit took a little longer than hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now around 275 Jersey cows are milked once a day and average 319kg\/MS per cow annually.<\/p>\n
A 60m x 30m composting barn that provides shelter and significantly reduces soil damage and nutrient leaching. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s lost in production, we gain in cow reproduction, condition score and worker wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work on the farm, Megan does the books and our daughter Niamh is the farm manager. Contractors do the extra jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Niamh joins the farm<\/p>\n
In 2019, Niamh Mark was working for AsureQuality after finishing a degree in agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came home to help dad after a staff member resigned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring Covid-19, I stayed on through all the lockdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cTowards the end of 2020 I met my now husband, Breno Codognolla, who works in the kiwifruit industry. We live on the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Niamh was in the running for the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards 2022 Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee Award and runner-up in the 2025 Bay of Plenty Farm Manager Award.<\/p>\n
During Niamh\u2019s time at the farm, the team have implemented new technology, including contracting in drone technology for precise weed control.<\/p>\n
Niamh has had success with equestrian eventing. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n
A virtual fencing system manages their grazing patterns and monitors cow health and behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re definitely getting more out of our pasture this way, pushing the cows further uphill into new areas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also reduced the workload by half a man-power.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judges praised the family\u2019s robust succession planning, saying it provided a transparent, long-term framework for family continuity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are moving the business structure from a partnership to a company to allow future generations to hold shares in Te Ranga Pamu.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sisters, Abi and Gwyneth, can all own shares.\u201d<\/p>\n
Environmental stewardship<\/p>\n
The steep terrain has prompted sophisticated management, including the recent installation of a 60m x 30m composting barn that provides shelter and significantly reduces the risk of soil damage and nutrient leaching.<\/p>\n
Solar panels on the cowshed roof reduce environmental impact. Sustainability is deeply integrated into the farm\u2019s structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past four years, we\u2019ve planted over 10,000 native trees on steep, unproductive land, aiming to create a vital wildlife corridor in conjunction with neighbours that could eventually link regional k\u014dkako breeding groups in Kaharoa and Otanewainuku Reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megan Richards, Niamh Mark and Peter Mark.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s commitment to biodiversity is backed by intensive pest control efforts for possum and rats across the property and neighbouring areas.<\/p>\n
Forty hectares of the farm were put under QEII protection in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n
A bush classroom has been developed on 0.8ha of native bush, complete with its own glowworm track, and is used by the local primary school.<\/p>\n
\u201cA grant-funded specialist environmental teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marks are involved with the Paraiti Catchment Care Group with other like-minded local landowners.<\/p>\n
Focusing initially on pest control and native tree planting, they received funding and assistance from BOP Regional Council and other environmental organisations.<\/p>\n
The judges said that Te Ranga Pamu dairy farm demonstrates how exemplary leadership can merge profitability with environmental stewardship, ensuring the land looks set to thrive for future generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The farm was converted to sheep and beef by Jack Mark in 1964. It was converted back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[287568,287567,95,10779,1561,1558,3093,1972,138,7224,2109,3233,78,32573,111,139,69,1118,287566,1562,6177,287565,12975,7811,8690,6202],"class_list":["post-584298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-287568","tag-60ha","tag-and","tag-awards","tag-bay","tag-been","tag-biodiversity","tag-block","tag-business","tag-dairy","tag-family","tag-farm","tag-in","tag-mark","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pamu","tag-plenty","tag-primary","tag-ranga","tag-sector","tag-since","tag-te","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}