Okaihau Pastoral Holdings is one of Northland's top-producing dairy farms and is now for sale by tender, with or without Fonterra shares and as a going concern if required, with an outstanding manager and staff willing to continue in their roles.
The farm is 10 minutes inland from Kerikeri on State Highway One at Okaihau, in Northland's green belt at 300m above sea level and with 2.4m of rain spread through the year.
Claude Shepherd from Barfoot and Thompson in Kerikeri said the combination of rainfall and easy rolling land meant the farm avoided both drought and flood often associated with the north, with a good depth of volcanic soil growing grass through winter to keep milking.
"It's on the Okaihau plateau and high enough altitude that it gets rain from all quarters. Yet you could have six inches of rain overnight and you wouldn't even know it because there's no ponding."
The farm has Canterbury conversion-style infrastructure including a 60-bail rotary built in 2002 and two 500-cow covered feed barns with water sluicing into the effluent pond.
"There's nothing like this in Northland for location, contour, soils, climate, and infrastructure."
About 380ha of the farm is effective while about 12ha is stony land yet to be developed and the remainder is waterways, buildings, and bush. On the 380ha it is milking 1200 cows and split-calving them so that 280-300 cows calve in autumn. The target this season is 465,000kg MS, though Shepherd said it was already close to 50% up on year-to-date at mid-September and was expected to easily pass the target.
"They milk about 20% through winter. Milk is processed at the Kauri plant which stays open through winter. That makes the farm a very strong cashflow business."
Everything else is wintered on adjoining leased blocks, where young stock also graze through the year and maize is grown. Until recently, the maize was grown on the milking platform and this is the first season 80ha will be grown on the leased blocks. Those leases will be transferable to a new owner.
Okaihau Pastoral Holdings is owned by a consortium and its chairman, Cam Holmes, said 30ha of chicory was being grown on the milking platform as part of a pasture renovation programme and for summer feed. Last year was the first time the farm had grown chicory and Holmes said it had proved successful.
The consortium took over the farm in 2007 and Holmes said it had been well developed with good laneways, an effluent system that had more than 100 days of storage, riparian strips planted along the edge of neighbouring Lake Omapere, and thousands of trees planted along fence lines to beautify the environment and provide shelter for stock.
"It's one of, if not the best farm in Northland as an overall asset.
"And there's still room for improvement just by the fact we're still learning how to get the best production out of a Northland farm. And there's room to expand the milking platform on to the leased blocks.
"The farm is quite unique because it has volcanic soils and very little kikuyu grass. Instead it has mostly perennial ryegrass and that just reflects the good soils we're on."
The farm has been run as a system 5, but under the direction of a consultant it now focuses on improving efficiencies. Last season the farm used 1700 tonnes drymatter (DM) of maize, 1300t DM palm kernel, and 250t DM of local kiwifruit and lemons. Only cartage costs apply to the fruit and Shepherd said the cows became quite addicted to it.
Quality infrastructure underpins the operation including the dairy, feed barns, and effluent system. The 60-bail rotary has Waikato plant, a fully automated feed system and electronic ID tag reading, Protrack, two large meal silos, and lunch-room facilities, with everything well laid out and tidy. The two covered feedpads cater for 500 cows each and are set up with water sluicing into the effluent pond.
This pond has more than 100 days of storage, with solids collected through two weeping walls and later spread with a muck spreader over paddocks, while effluent can be spread over 200ha.
A calf shed set up adjacent to the dairy has the capacity for 250 calves and Shepherd said it was one of the best he had ever seen.
As well as quality farm facilities, the farm has six houses, with an attractive five-year-old four-bedroom homestead, a four-bedroom manager's house next to the dairy, and four more staff houses. The farm has six full-time employees.
Holmes said one of the great appeals of the farm was its locality, being close to Kerikeri and the Bay of Islands, 10 minutes from Kerikeri airport, and not far from the Hokianga Harbour on the other coast a.
The herd of Friesian and Friesian-cross cows is available for sale and has a BW of 118 and PW of 159, with 79% recorded ancestry. The entire herd, including calves, has been DNA-verified.
Also available for purchase are 378,324 Fonterra shares. The farm is for sale by tender, closing November 5, and settlement will be June 2, 2015 or by mutual agreement. For further information contact Shepherd on 09 407 9321 or 0274 410 436. It can be viewed at www.barfoot.co.nz/527870.
