Thursday, March 28, 2024

Just add water

Avatar photo
Resource consents are already in place to take water from the Buller River for irrigation on the 126ha milking platform of a Murchison farm that has already achieved 1180kg milksolids (MS) a hectare without it.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

The farm just north of Murchison in the Top of the South is for sale by negotiation and covers an expansive 365ha that includes about 60ha of hill grazing and another 30ha of undeveloped scrub below native beech forest.
Along the valley floor is the milking platform that has been milking 380 crossbred cows with a target production of 155,000kg MS this season from twice-a-day milking. In the past the farm has operated on once-a-day milking, achieving 132,248kg MS last season, 144,319kg in 2013-14 and 148,456kg in 2012-13.
Farm owners Dave and Sue King have spent more than three decades milking cows and took on a contract milker last season, with retirement now enticing them away from the cows. In the eight years they have owned the farm they have regrassed it completely and began the process again after summer crops of turnip and chicory.
The latter crop is close enough to the dairy to be irrigated with effluent from an above-ground Tasman tank that holds a million litres. Effluent passes through a gravel trap to two drainage pads before flowing to an effluent sump and pumped to the tank. A Plucks agitator on a pontoon keeps solids in suspension before being pumped to maxi pods over 30ha.
Peter Evans from PGG Wrightson says the next step for a new owner wanting to lift production further will be irrigation, with consents already in place to take water direct from the nearby Buller River.
“It’s already doing quite good production and having a water right in place to add irrigation to the system is a big plus. All the consents and plans are in place and all it requires is someone with that extra capital to put it in. And it’s low-cost water.”
The farm sits a few kilometres from Murchison which has an area school and various services, while Nelson is one-and-a-half hours away and Richmond slightly closer. The main house on the farm has had a makeover since the Kings have owned it, including an outside deck area, while the second house is a tidy four-bedroom villa.
Infrastructure on the farm is all in good order, from the 24-aside herringbone dairy with new auto cup removers, new internal plant and new milk chiller, to the lane system through the centre of the milking platform that connects the 23 paddocks.
A bonus on the farm is a quarry managed by Fulton Hogan, which provides another source of income averaging $25,000 a year and last year $44,000.
“It’s fully managed under contract so they don’t have to worry about anything.”
The crossbred herd with a high proportion of Jersey bloodlines is also for sale at valuation. To view the farm visit www.pggwre.co.nz ID#NEL22176. For further information contact Evans on 03 543 8590 or 027 224 9798.

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading