Friday, March 29, 2024

A walk in the park

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Specimen trees on clean pasture create a park-like scene on a Reefton farm that is described as one of the tidiest dairy farms on the West Coast, while also producing most of its supplements and wintering the cows.
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The 152 hectare farm five minutes north of Reefton is for sale at $4.2 million and milked 340 cows last season for 132,779kg milksolids. This year it has increased cow numbers to 365.
Located up a side road at Burkes Creek, the farm gets a steady rainfall of about 1800mm and a mild winter that enables it to winter the herd on the silt soils.
Greg Daly from Greg Daly Real Estate describes it as one of the tidiest farms on the West Coast. It sits in a desirable dairy location, with resource consent to irrigate.
Summer feed requirements are boosted by 6-9ha of turnips, while 15ha of swedes are planted to winter the cows, followed by wheat for pit silage that is fed out through winter and spring.
“With all the cropping that has been done, there’s been quite a rigorous regrassing programme,” Daly says. “They also make 600 bales of balage and about 70 large bales of hay, and the only supplement bought in is 170kg meal per cow that is fed in the dairy.”
A 32-aside herringbone dairy sits in the middle of the farm’s 50 paddocks and the longest walk for the cows is about 20 minutes. The dairy is fitted with Waikato plant and meal feeders, with a 450-cow yard leading into it and a 56 tonne silo beside it.
Effluent is collected in a 90-day storage pond, with storm diversion from the dairy, then pumped to a two-pod irrigation system over 36ha.
“It also has the resource consent to take water from the river for irrigation, so someone could crank it up and put water on.”
Sheds cater for calves, workshop, implements and hay, and there’s a gravel feedpad. The farm has been well-developed with little maintenance required, and ease of management means its owner-operators have been able to run the farm with one casual staff member.
“It’s got good improvements and two homes plus a big two-bedroom sleepout alongside the main house. The second house is rented and has its own title so could be sold. It’s in the right place to separate so wouldn’t affect the farm if it was sold.”
The sale includes 136,215 Westland Milk Products shares, while some of the crossbred cows will be available at valuation.
“It’s a farm that is probably as good as you will find on the coast and all the trees make it a very picturesque property.”
For further information contact Daly on 03 762 6463 or 0274 783 594.

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