The Glenomaru Valley deer farmers could have taken to the bush with chain saws, ignored the impact on water quality of their deer, and tried to make every square metre of the farm productive.
But they wanted to live in an environment of which they were proud and which was enjoyable, and that did not mean it had to be in conflict with production and the property's viability.
Mr Cochrane said 80% of the farm had a northerly aspect and had a mix of shelter and native bush, exotic tree plantations and steep gullies which lent itself to running deer.
Their efforts and approach have been recognised with the Cochranes being awarded the Elworthy Environmental Award, the premier prize at the 2008-09 Deer Industry Environmental Awards.
Rather than focus solely on maximising the productivity of their land, they have also looked to manipulate other aspects, such as having greater control of their returns by marketing their own product while also matching production and land classes.
For example, they have a rugged, isolated block which is ideal for first calving hinds.
Mr Cochrane's farm manager, Adam Whaanga, said he was still working out the best stock rates and how to integrate the various classes of land which was evenly split between flat paddocks and hill.
The general policy was to have low-density grazing during fawning, from October to January to alleviate stress and therefore fence pacing.
Stock management during weaning and the roar was aimed at reducing stress and therefore the impact on the environment.
Nanny hinds were selected to run with newly weaned fawns for several weeks after weaning, with the fawns put back into paddocks they had just come from.
They were fed barley and effort was made to ensure people and other deer were kept away.
Three weeks before weaning, fawns were tagged and drenched to minimise stress at weaning but also to reduce pacing.
During the roar, velveting stags were grazed at low stock rates on free-draining paddocks away from mobs of mating hinds and other velveting stag mobs.
The paddocks had plenty of cover to reduce the need for them to be shifted, which can cause fighting, and to lessen stress and the impact on the environment.
Stags were wintered on crop, but Mr Cochrane said crop paddocks chosen were well away from waterways.
If that was not possible, a buffer was left in vegetation adjacent to the waterway.
Mr Cochrane had goals which centred around the aim of farming with the least environmental impact, while maximising animal welfare and performance.
Specifically, those goals were to maintain and improve water quality; protect existing native bush; provide shelter for stock in all paddocks; create an aesthetically pleasing environment; and to achieve these goals in a timely manner while working within the confines of economic sustainability.
The area had a high rainfall and with many waterways flowing through the farm, Mr Cochrane said they were aware of their potential impact.
Since the farm was bought in 1998, 3.6km of waterways had been double fenced and vegetation planted and 18 ponds installed which also acted as sediment traps.
Testing proved the develop-ments had improved the quality of water.
In addition, about 36ha in two blocks of native bush had been fenced off and another small area of rare plants was in the process of being set aside as a QEII covenant.
Since 2001, they had deer fenced 375ha, installed 5.8km of lane and rocked 4km of lanes.
Deer were east European bloodlines with the focus on venison, but they also run 500 velveting stags.
Six hundred of the 1100 hinds were part of a DNA-based breeding programme to find those which produced high 12-month growth rates for venison.
This was part of a major push to improve the genetics, which had seen Mr Cochrane source the best stags he can afford to maximise the genetic performance of his stock.
"Simply, the ability to grow grass is a finite resource, so it is important to convert it as efficiently as possible with maximum growth or velvet growth rates."
While 80% of the stock was deer, sheep and cattle were used to control pasture which lessened the need to spray for weed control and also reduce the worm burden.
Hinds were wintered on a self-feed silage pad which was designed so runoff could not enter the waterway.
Mr Cochrane said that self-feed systems could impact on the soil structure in the paddock in which the pad was sited, but overall there was a net benefit to the amount of degradation to the rest of the farm and to the amount of winter supplement feed needed.
They had reduced the baleage requirement from 800 bales to 250.
Deer were kept in age-group mobs to allow a social structure to develop, which also reduced stress.
Fawns were wintered on the paddocks with the most shelter and fed barley.
Sheep were extensively grazed rather than break-fed and mixed-aged cows run at low stocking rates on hill blocks.
While cattle remained a key part of the business, Mr Cochrane said they caused environment issues - soil pugging and waterways - and he has changed his cattle policy to selling calves as weaners.
Drench efficacy tests were done regularly to ensure the drench families were still operative.
Mr Cochrane said he had been gradually reducing the use of nitrogen in the past two years, applying less than 5kg a ha of urea and only then strategically on crops.
Nutrient budgeting had halved the volume of fertiliser applied in the last year.
Biosecurity was a major issue and they carried out their own pest control for possums, hares and ferrets, operated a quarantine drench system and blood tested yearling hinds for johnnes.
In addition to efforts to improve farm productivity, Mr Cochrane had also taken steps to have greater control over his income by marketing his own venison under the Totara Hills brand and involvement in addressing issues to improve velvet returns.
Venison was exported, and sold locally at the Otago Farmers Market.