Friday, March 29, 2024

Canterbury cashflow

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A 100ha dairy unit just 20 minutes from Christchurch Airport was converted four years ago to a high standard and benefits from the regular cashflow of winter milking.
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The flat, irrigated farm at Aylesbury is now for sale along with an option to buy the 530-cow herd that has a forecast production of 260,000kg milksolids (MS) this season. Last season it milked 600 cows for 296,000kg MS.

Matt Collier from Farmlands Real Estate says the key attributes of the farm are its proximity to Christchurch and its versatile, quality soils.

“Its versatile soils are demonstrated by the mixed cropping in the area and the other thing is the relatively low altitude.

“They’ve done an excellent job with the conversion, with double water troughs in every paddock, and the paddocks are pretty uniform in size with a good central lane through the farm.”

Twenty-four paddocks now subdivide the farm on Lismore soils which are a well-drained, shallow, silty loam. A 180-degree 659m centre pivot with a corner arm and end gun irrigates about 80% of the farm while fixed grid covers another 20ha. Two aqua-flex soil probes are also installed to monitor the irrigation. Water consents allow for 833,912 cubic metres to be used annually; up to 80 litres a second.

“Everything is pretty high-spec in the dairy, with a fantastic effluent system set up so you can put it through the fixed grid system and the centre pivots.”

The four-year-old 40-aside herringbone dairy has Read plant, automatic cup removers, automatic teat spray and sanitiser unit. It’s set up with Protrack Vector drafting system along with an extra under-cover artificial insemination race and a foot-trimming bail with scales included.

Flood-wash on the 600-cow yard sends effluent directly into a wedge and stone trap. From there it is gravity-fed into a 150,000 litre saucer with stirrers and pumped through a solids separator into a 2000 cu m effluent pond.

Next to the dairy is a 600-cow concrete feedpad measuring 50m by 17m and this has catered for the high-input system which includes fine-chop lucerne bought in from another property and maize silage that includes some grown on the farm. Last season the farm used 300 tonnes of lucerne silage, 650t of maize silage and 120t of palm kernel. The silage pit has been dug down 600mm and covered with hard fill to keep it clean and tidy.

For the past three seasons the farm has supplied Westland Milk Products, including winter milk. It is changing to Fonterra’s subsidiary My Milk with a 12-month contract beginning on June 1. Collier says that will enable it to winter-milk 110 cows.

“It’s good for cashflow and it’s definitely well and truly above the milk price at the moment.”

Apart from the winter-milk cows, the herd is wintered off the farm for eight weeks with a local grazier close enough to walk the cows.

Nearby leased blocks of land have worked well with the farm including one directly across the road.

A stock-droving consent is in place to take up to 600 cows directly across Aylesbury Road to the 40ha block which has irrigation supplied by the farm under its consents. Collier says it might be available for a new owner.

Another leased block of 28ha on the farm’s eastern boundary is used to graze R1 heifers. There are still three years to run on its contract, which could be transferred to a new owner,

Next to the main home is a three-bay implement shed with a lock-up area and concrete floor, and two calf-rearing sheds – one with five bays and the other four bays.

The main home was built at the time of the conversion and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, while a second home is a three-bedroom cottage that has been refurbished inside and rebricked outside.

A bonus on the farm is a telecommunications tower at the northern end of the property which has a rental of $727 a month paid to the farm owner.

The rateable value of the farm is $4.45 million and offers are invited for the deadline sale date of March 23. For further information contact Matt Collier on 027 2056 626, Kurt Snook on 027 2560 449 or Grant Mcllroy on 027 345 9262.

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