Saturday, March 30, 2024

Dress circle dairying

Avatar photo
In the heart of Waikato’s most productive land, Bellwood Farm is a 430 hectare dairy farm that has been developed over the past 20 years to milk 800 cows and become a much-admired property.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Located in the Hinuera Valley, 15 minutes from Matamata, the farm is for sale by negotiation and Peter Donnelly from PGG Wrightson said it was a rare chance to buy a well-presented large-scale dairy unit in heartland Waikato.

The picturesque farm has a dress circle address close to Matamata, Tirau and Cambridge and has been developed to a high standard with infrastructure set up to handle high stock numbers.

Spreading over flat land at the front of the farm, it flows into rolling hills and some medium hill country, with all of it sitting on strong, fertile Tirau ash soils. The ash lies over loam, providing high-quality drainage capabilities along with natural moisture retention that allows efficient use of phosphates and minerals to stimulate grass production.

Last season the farm achieved 256,401kg milksolids from 750 cows on a 300ha milking platform after a challenging season climatically and with young stock from a couple of dairy farms carried intermittently.

"It was an iconic drystock farm when the previous owners converted half to dairying. About seven years ago the present owner gradually extended the races and milked on more of the farm, though it's also well suited to being self-contained."

Last winter the Friesian herd was wintered on the farm for the first time, with supplements fed out on the 900-cow concrete feedpad with its concrete troughs.

"The strengths of the property are its location and its soil type which has the ability to carry good numbers without doing too much damage as the soils are very forgiving."

At the heart of the farm, with four main arterial routes leading to it, is the modern 40-bail rotary and right next to it is the large feedpad. The effluent system from both these facilities has been upgraded with a Reid and Harrison solids separator, allowing the remaining effluent to be pumped to hydrants in paddocks and a travelling irrigator.

Complementing the feed pad are two 250 tonne concrete-base silage bunkers to handle the 375t of maize silage made on runoffs, and up to 300t of grass silage.

Good-quality water is sourced from three bores and a feature of the property is a submersible bore at the dairy for its sole use, guaranteeing water and enabling easy management of water systems. The two other bores are strategically placed on either side of the farm and pump water to Manacon tanks before being gravity-fed around the farm.

An added bonus is the farm's own pumice quarry that provides an ideal surface on the races for both cows and vehicles.

The former four-stand woolshed and sheep yards are now set up to rear the 350 heifer calves kept each year as replacements, as the farm rears heifers for the vendor's other dairy farm as well. Other buildings include a five-bay implement shed with an enclosed lockup workshop, two half-round haysheds and a gable shed. A good set of load-out yards are set up close to the dairy for easy access.

Three homes complete the picture. The main homestead is a well-maintained, renovated villa that sits majestically on a site overlooking the property which has numerous plantings to provide a picturesque scene.

A three-bedroom brick home and a three-bedroom weatherboard, both with sleepouts, cater for staff.

"It's quite an attractive property with a bit of ambience and its location really is in the dress circle of Waikato as it's just 15 minutes from Matamata, 20 minutes from Cambridge and about 40 minutes from Hamilton."

The farm is for sale by negotiation. For more information on the farm contact Donnelly on 07 888 4572 or 021 449 559. It can be viewed at www.pggwre.co.nz.

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading