For quick access to bulk calving product, milk replacer calf meal, pricing or information during the calving season, Onto Farm is your fastest channel.

Onto Farm is a team of trained customer service consultants put in place for the convenience of every PGG Wrightson account holder. They are armed with the latest pricing, information and industry contacts and work alongside the PGG Wrightson store network.

“We are a one-stop shop for animal nutrition, co-ordinating bulk orders and delivery. We have up-to-date pricing, know what is on special and can transact business immediately,” says Onto Farm Outbound Sales Team Leader, James Murphy.

“Making calving a bit easier is our current focus. We’re aware that it’s a busy time on farm and often product is needed ‘yesterday’,” explains James.

Calf Rearers Chris van der Aa and Leyton Gledhill have been regular customers of Onto Farm for the past year. Both appreciate the simplicity, convenience and reliability of the service.

Based on 28 ha at Te Miro, near Cambridge, Chris rears approximately 800 Wagyu calves in spring and another 400 in autumn. The calves arrive on farm at around 10 days old and Chris puts them straight onto MaxCare Premium Calf Milk Replacer (CMR) which they stay on until weaning at around 70 kg liveweight.

Chris cites his main challenges as maintaining good systems and routines for the calves along with a lack of mobile reception which means he’s not easily contactable. He needs to know that once an order is placed, he doesn’t have to follow up.

“Fortunately, getting supplies in for the calves is the least of my problems. Simply because Hamish Drennan (Key Account Manager) is so onto it,” Chris notes.

“We spend a bit of time at the start of last season planning rough volumes so Hamish knew what we would need and when. We then ordered between 3 and 10 tonnes at a time and expected delivery within a week.

It worked brilliantly so we’ll be working the same way this season,” says Chris. Chris adds that he works closely with Digby at PGG Wrightson, Cambridge. “There’s really good cross-over between Onto Farm and the store. The two different arms have a good overview of my operation. There was no confusion and I never had to chase anything up.”

Beef farmer Leyton has 135 ha at Tokomaru in the Manawatu. Formerly a dairy farmer, he’s been a PGG Wrightson customer for the last five years.

Leyton ventured into calf rearing for the first time last season, rearing 150 Friesian bulls in autumn and 350 Wagyus in spring. The calves arrive on farm at around four days old and are also reared on MaxCare Premium CMR, up to 75 to 80 kg weaning weight.

Rearing challenges for Leyton include wet weather conditions and a shortage of storage space. “During spring we order milk powder every couple of weeks,” says Leyton. “We simply don’t have space for more than that amount of stock. Using Onto Farm has been brilliant. I simply email, text or call Megan and I know the wheels are in motion. The simplicity of ordering is a huge benefit for me.”

Leyton has a good relationship with Richard at the Feilding store too.

“I talk to Onto Farm first,” he explains. “If they can’t get product to me, then Richard is my ‘go to’ and will drop it on farm for me. Onto Farm complements the store service so well that doing business with either one is seamless. It’s a really good set-up.”

Chris concurs, “Onto Farm is a one-stop-shop during calving. It makes my life easier and I think it has reduced admin time significantly too. One text and it’s done.”

PGG Wrightson’s Onto Farm team works from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Contact them for prices, information, on-farm delivery or to arrange a visit from your local PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative. Call 0800 ONTO FARM (0800 66 86 32) or email ontofarm@pggwrightson.co.nz.