How Dean Martin turns grazing management into soil health

Dean Martin’s adaptive grazing management has had good results in encouraging soil organic matter growth and deeper rooting plants.

Sheep breed has also become a priority since shifting away from dairy grazing and incorporating Sheepmaster and shedding sheep breeds - both big changes that have made in recent years.

Watch the film to learn more about how Dean turns grazing management into soil health.

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“So 2006 was the last time we put fertiliser on the whole farm. [The livestock] still look as good as ever…I think they look better than ever!”

Dean Martin, Hawke’s Bay beef and sheep farmer

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Changing things up to focus on soil health

Dean and Antoinette Martin farm 244 hectares of sheep and beef on the Napier end of the Napier-Taupo Highway. “Glenlands farm” is 145 hectares effective in grass, and the rest in tree blocks and regenerating scrub. The farm has been in family ownership since 1970 but Dean’s grandfather worked on this property when he left school at 10 in the late 1920s, when it was part of the neighbouring property of the Alice Estate.

Dean took over management in 2006 focusing on soil health and grazing management. The improvements to soil and production are significant and demonstrate the value of rotational grazing, mob density and pasture recovery principles.

“So it sort of changed, it was a big catalyst for the change, grazing management at that stage. So 2006 was the last time we put fertiliser on the whole farm. They still look as good as ever, or I think they look better than ever.

“The big thing was just increasing those rotation lengths, letting the pastures grow longer and having that feed bank. Like basically trying to have enough grass sitting on the farm between Christmas and New Year to see me through to mid-March. Having the whole summer's worth of feed that I can ration out.”

Improving pasture composition, quality and grazing

“In the late 80s, my father had come to the conclusion that the soil health had deteriorated a bit through the fertiliser. So it's been a slow progression over time focusing on that soil health. And then I've just sort of built on that with adding that whole grazing dimension to it.

“So it's been a slow and gradual improvement to pasture composition and quality sort of thing over the years. Now we're concentrating on the shedding sheep part of the operation, incorporating sheep master and the Australian whites into a shedding sheep breed and concentrating on some, hopefully on some eating values there and really pushing that sort of side of the business.”

Deeper roots and deeper topsoil

“Ten years ago that soil B horizon was probably 20 to 30 centimetres further up the soil profile, and without as much of that black mixing going down through it. So the roots are getting down more and more, and getting more active and bringing more of that dark high carbon soil down into that mix deeper.

“It's empowering, because you feel like you're in control of the system again, and you're actually managing something. Because you're continuously observing what's happening and making adjustments to your system [based] on what's happening, as opposed to just doing what you've always done and taking whatever outcome you get.

“I always like to tell people that come onto the place that your place should be a reflection of your personality, because it should show through [in] your management.”

For more information, visit the Glenlands Farm website.

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