Christchurch Helicopters spraying Gorse and Blackberry. It's expensive, but it works.

Luke from Christchurch Helicopters is here spraying to help keep the Gorse and Blackberry under control.
#hughes #corteva #spraying
christchurchhelicopters.co.nz/
My Name is Alistair Bird and My wife Genna and I farm on 'The Grange" near Oxford, North Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand.
Join me as I document our daily life bringing you the highs and lows on a New Zealand Sheep and Beef farm.
Thanks so much for watching.
Kiwi Farmer shop Kiwi Farmer Clothing and Appeal kiwifarmer.myshopify.com
Te Pari Website: www.tepari.com
Farm IQ Website: www.farmiq.co.nz
Facebook: / thegrangenzbirds
Our on-farm accommodation is listed on Air BnB www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/20445220
Email: [e-mail]
Instagram: Alistair Bird (@kiwifarmernz) • Instagram photos and videos
Mail: 211 Ashley Gorge Road, Oxford, New Zealand. 7495

[@brendont1082]

Hi Allister bloody awesome video this one . Is crazy how the chemical is way more expensive then the helicopter. I see they are forecasting lamb prices to keep dropping for the next we while. Hope you and your family have a good nye tomorrow and look forward to more videos to come in the new year

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Brendon. Yea its not looking good.

[@ronaldlucas5360]

Enjoyed

[@regbyrne4237]

Happy new year mate 2 you and family.

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Reg.

[@garymadden2656]

Great video Alastair 👌

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks! 😁

[@rossholmes178]

Greetings from Australia...great vid mate, very interesting. Clearly not Lukes first day in a chopper - some pretty skillful flying done there...Best to all for 2023!

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Mate. Yep he's pretty good.

[@shaynelammas9413]

Yes Alistair it’s really expensive but we are lucky that local airport is close too the Farm just a Mile away.We have a flat paddock where can land and fill up the helicopter with Spray and fuel too. I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas and all the best for 2023 and have a happy new year too.l love your Videos about your farm tho always interesting and different and you are always very busy too as a farmer Alistair thank you ❤❤

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Shayne. Defiantly handy having good facilities close by. We had a quite but nice Christmas thanks. Hope 2023 goes well for you also.

[@thenewaquarist6318]

Wonderful video brother. Sorry for the late. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year in advance brother

[@kiwifarmernz]

Same to you Ram.

[@thenewaquarist6318]

@@kiwifarmernz love you brother

[@bobcatman3844]

Cool

[@johnjones3848]

Happy new year to you all in New Zealand 🇳🇿 from wet hill farm North Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.lamb prices disappointing in uk also this year and everything else going up.good video again and we use grazonpro to control gorse same time as spraying nettles in May/June 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🐂🐑👏👍

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks John, Grazon is also used here for gorse control. Hope your winter is going ok so far.

[@johnjordan4647]

Great video Alistair. How times have changed. On leaving school in the early seventies my first job was ground spraying gorse for local contractor. On one property which had some very steep country they got a helicopter in to apply 245T BUT instead of mixing it with water as we did when spraying from the ground they used diesel. The kill was 100% and nearly instantaneous. Very poor environmental controls in those days. All the best for 2023 and hope the lamb price goes north NOT SOUTH

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks John. That brew would work well but would be hard on the soil.

[@zanmanwoody]

Excellent vid. Use Tracmap in my contract spraying business as well, excellent tool.

[@kiwifarmernz]

It sure is a good tool.

[@chuckle30]

Hi just come across your channel very interesting to see how you farm in NZ from al welsh farmer gorse is is normally cut here with brush cutters never seen it sprayed before.

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks mate. Very common to spray over here. Especially on the steep country.

[@stephenhelps7409]

Hi Alastair, after farming and spraying gorse on Banks Peninsula for over 50 years l would now seriously look at letting gorse blocks on steep hills revert to bush and claim the carbon credits. 11:57

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks mate, we are looking at a minimum stocking rate of animals on the harder hill blocks, its under this it will get locked up or planted with trees.

[@honahwikeepa2115]

Gotta get a spray drone brother.

[@kiwifarmernz]

I would love one.

[@joshmccartney8542]

I've started watching your videos on line and think there great. What stock numbers do you run on your farm?

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Josh, 1400 ewes and 120 beef cows.

[@dafyddmason4559]

Blwyddyn newydd dda great video impressive scenery they've been keeping lamb price down last year and not looking good this year too how long does the spray last complete kill? that lad can fly 👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@kiwifarmernz]

Yep hes pretty good, It will kill the gorse dead, normally have to spray the regrowth in about 3 or 4 years.

[@dermotward6540]

Do you burn off the dead material afterwards or just allow it rot down?

[@kiwifarmernz]

Just let it rot down.

[@markmeredith5521]

My daughter just arrived in NZ yesterday.Did the settlers bring gorse out in the early days or was it always native? Hope you guys have a great new year.

[@caveweta]

Introduced. Sigh.

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Mark. You too. It was introduced to be used as a hedge to keep stock in. What is your daughter doing in NZ?

[@markmeredith5521]

@@kiwifarmernz Oh,so the Scottish settlers introduced the Aberdeen Angus,the Cheviot ewe,the bagpipe and then to make them feel more at home and to make sure the work wasn’t too easy brought out a couple of gorse bushes and a bag of thistle seeds.....🤓😂 My daughter is just over for 3 weeks travelling with a friend whose parents live in Wellington.They gave here a month off work. She’s on ‘Mission Impossible ‘or ‘How to make a profit in farming ‘as I call it 😀

[@LabiaLicker]

@@markmeredith5521 I can bring over some Lantana from straya to if you want

[@craigslattery934]

Nasty looking bush there mate

[@mattyallen3396]

If its continuously growing gorse, ever thought of planting it up?

[@kiwifarmernz]

Yep every day.

[@adrian2984]

Hope it works for you that much be hard to deal with.

[@kiwifarmernz]

It does work well, just have to do a bit every year.

[@bigears4014]

The seed from gorse is viable for 100 years , that's a long time , some run a goat or two with other stock as they will eat the upcoming plants

[@kiwifarmernz]

Fencing and good water supply then hard graze with ewes will also control the regrowth. The only way to truly get rid of gorse is to sell the farm.

[@mattyallen3396]

@@kiwifarmernz Trees

[@chuckle30]

Hell that sounds as bad as bloody dock seeds plough a field that didn't have any in and all of a sudden you have docks coming through with the new lay🙈

[@kiwifarmernz]

@@chuckle30 yep that would also be frustrating.

[@salmonhunter7414]

When would be the best time of year to spray?

[@kiwifarmernz]

When it is actively growing so September to December in our area. Then around March after a summer dry before it gets too cold in winter

[@justinhart8976]

Hi how much per hour does it work out to be trying to get a idea what is the hr price for the helicopter cheers

[@kiwifarmernz]

A couple of years ago it was $1750 per hour but now it's probably closer to $2000

[@fondyfondini7408]

What’s is the chemical app called you use. Here a Heli and plane ag pilot

[@kiwifarmernz]

Its Farm IQ, we use it for all of our recording on farm.

[@PikachooUpYou]

Can’t you put goats into those gorse areas to cut down on chemical use?

[@kiwifarmernz]

You could

[@rossholmes178]

Here in Australia, we've had very limited success with goats on gorse...they'll walk over broken glass to get to blackberry but not interested in gorse at all.

[@user-hx3me9et2r]

Why don’t you use an aircraft ? Ag Tractor/Ayers ?

[@kiwifarmernz]

Generally its because we are doing smaller areas with bush on the perimeter, what is a plane per ha?

[@ezipezy]

Does this heli blanket method get a full kill of the gorse?

[@kiwifarmernz]

If you spray with the best chemical and in the most favorable conditions possible then it works well.

[@avid6186]

​@@kiwifarmernz hello from northland. We've had the chopper in a couple of times now for gorse. We use metsulfuron (spelling?) and the chopper will give an excellent kill, probably better than you get doing it by hand as he sprays everything including little plants you don't even notice. But it's a very slow kill compared to tordon. You can't really tell what's been sprayed for a month, 6 months before you are saying that was a good kill. Having said that we consider it works better than tordon, eventually. Only problem is it doesn't work on wooly nightshade which is our other big problem here 😞

[@ozlakota1]

xag drones metsulphuron and pyclormn and use wetter and fulvic acid as a penatrant big choppers fly too high and too much drift we found in steep cpountry $600 a lift plus chemical at $800 gets expensive'

[@rodmackinnon8497]

Wicked video . . . I think you should get out of cattle and sheep and start farming tourists . . . fill them hills with chalets . . . 🤔

[@kiwifarmernz]

Thanks Rod.

[@user-hx3me9et2r]

Helicopters are way too expensive

[@user-hx3me9et2r]

Thank you, are you a farmer and do you use aircraft for agriculture-applications ?

[@user-hx3me9et2r]

Or like me …. Looking for a job 😁😁