They are concentrating on mainly wagyu and Angus genetics, Fisher said.<\/p>\n
Some of the vast property is also used for commercial cropping \u2013 pumpkins and liquorice. <\/p>\n
The 10-strong organic study tour was run by Buy Pure New Zealand and IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) Asia, a group that promotes regional organic markets.<\/p>\n
The tour<\/p>\n
Fisher learned about the tour from Brendan Hoare, managing director of Buy Pure New Zealand, who he knew had \u201creally good connections\u201d in China.<\/p>\n
Along with Shengmu farm, the tour took in a trade expo and supermarkets to see where Chinese organic products ultimately go on sale to the public.<\/p>\n
Organic steak in a Chinese supermarket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a huge difference in price compared with non-organic, but organic is a big seller,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are prepared to pay a premium.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said online sales were also a big focus, promoted through social media \u201cinfluencers\u201d.<\/p>\n
A four-hour flight from Shanghai, the Shengmu operation has a separate dairy company\u2019s factories nearby that process its organic and non-organic milk into mainly UHT, powder and some yoghurt.<\/p>\n
Fisher and the tour group visited one of the organic dairy units that the vast property is divided into.<\/p>\n
It milks 8500 cows in two 90-cow rotary bail units that sit side by side in a single shed.<\/p>\n
Continuous milking<\/p>\n
The farm runs Holstein-Friesians from Australian genetics, with cows milked three times a day and the milking units operating 24\/7.<\/p>\n
Cows average about 43 litres of milk\/cow\/day, which Fisher said was about double the New Zealand production.<\/p>\n
With nutritionists and veterinarians on-site, the milking cows are kept indoors all year round, with feed \u2013 lucerne and maize \u2013 cut and carried to them.<\/p>\n
A rotary milking shed on Shengmu organic dairy farm in China.<\/p>\n
The unit also included calf-rearing facilities.<\/p>\n
Herd houses are fully temperature-controlled, with desert temperatures dropping to -20C in winter and hitting 40C in summer.<\/p>\n
The unit the tour visited has a staff of 50, working in shifts.<\/p>\n
Cupping is done manually, but removal is automated.<\/p>\n
The farm runs off solar power, with most farm vehicles being electric.<\/p>\n
Through advanced technology and solid-liquid separation, Fisher said every ounce of manure was transformed into value, with compost rebuilding fragile soils and liquid nutrients delivered via precision irrigation straight to crops.<\/p>\n
\u201cMethane from waste powers operations, solar infrastructure fuels the farm, and machinery is shifting toward electrification, creating an efficient self-sustaining ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s designed for efficiency,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s self-contained and off the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n
A colourful building signifying Shengmu organic dairy farm in China.<\/p>\n
Sound planning<\/p>\n
Along with significant investment, he said plenty of thought and detail has been put into the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have shown the ability to scale up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand could learn a lot by that, just by getting on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fisher said in future years the owners want to double the size of the operation.<\/p>\n
The current property is extensively irrigated, with water primarily sourced from the nearby Yellow River.<\/p>\n
He said the desert development involved the planting of a billion trees and grasses, planted in grids to counter sand encroachment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s good soil under the sand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waikato organic dairy farmer Gavin Fisher was part of a study tour of China.<\/p>\n
Excess sand was sold off for roading in the development stage of the farm.<\/p>\n
All of China\u2019s dairy products are sold on the home market, with New Zealand continuing to be a major exporter there of both organic and non-organic dairy lines.<\/p>\n
Fisher said even with developments like Shengmu, New Zealand still had a competitive advantage in dairying through its favourable climatic conditions and associated outdoor production, and genetic engineering-free status.<\/p>\n
With long-time dairying industry connections, he said China had gained knowledge from New Zealand through expertise and innovation.<\/p>\n
Back home at Elstow, Fisher and his wife Sheryn run 165 cows, plus several deer and beef cattle, on a 74ha third-generation family farm \u2013 Mountain View Organics \u2013 which he has milked on for 46 years.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the Fishers have planted a diverse range of trees on the property \u2013 for shade, shelter and nutrient recycling \u2013 including fruit trees (feijoas and olives).<\/p>\n
They also have their own brand, Off the Planet Organics, selling free-range eggs and fruit produce locally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They are concentrating on mainly wagyu and Angus genetics, Fisher said. Some of the vast property is also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[301988,138,607,79504,7224,3233,12026,239840,26198,9851,301989,58202,111,139,69,26651,1109,12975,7812,29647,301987,1524],"class_list":["post-613274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-301988","tag-business","tag-china","tag-cows","tag-dairy","tag-farm","tag-farmer","tag-firsthand","tag-indoors","tag-longtime","tag-milked","tag-mindboggling","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-organic","tag-scale","tag-sector","tag-seen","tag-sees","tag-shengmu","tag-waikato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613274","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=613274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}