Lying close to the western end of Arthurs Pass in a traditional dairying valley, the farm is milking about 410 cows this season for a target of 140,000kg milksolids.
In the past it has milked 360 to 390 cows, but the regrassing benefits were starting to kick in and anyone taking over the farm now would reap the rewards of that work, Greg Daly of Greg Daly Real Estate said.
“There’s not a lot of development work to be done on the farm now. It’s just cow and grass management, so it’s a good investment opportunity for someone to buy and put staff on.”
Besides regrassing the majority of the farm in the past four years, meal feeders have been installed in the dairy, the yard has been extended to accommodate 450 cows, the effluent system has been upgraded and an underpass has been built under the road to access a 70ha block.
“It’s good country as it’s all river silt flats. October was pretty wet on the Coast and this farm came through it as good as any farm. It didn’t hinder it at all.”
A neighbouring 36ha block of land has been leased for wintering stock and Daly said the lease was available for a new owner.
Normally the crossbred herd is wintered on the farm, but last season’s drought meant silage was fed out early, so 120 cows were wintered off.
Between 500 and 550 tonnes of silage is made on the farm each year, with meal fed during the shoulders of the season. In the past, winter and summer crops have been sown and become part of the regrassing programme.
It now has 30ha of effluent K-line for irrigation which would help boost production, Daly said.
He described it as a good-shaped farm that was well raced between the 50 paddocks and the centrally located dairy, a 30-aside herringbone with its new meal feeding system as well as molasses. Beyond the dairy is a four-bay implement shed with workshop, a three-bay hayshed/calf shed and a woolshed/hayshed from its pre-dairying era.
The farm was converted to dairying about 15 years ago from a beef unit that earned a reputation for its quality of stock.
Location is one of the attractions of the Inchbonnie farm, Daly said, as it lies just over two hours from Christchurch through Arthurs Pass, making it easily accessible as an investment farm for someone adding to their portfolio. The work done in the past four years meant it could be an easily-managed farm with little further development needed, he said.
Added to that was a three-bedroom Summerhill stone house. The crossbred herd is available at valuation, along with 100 rising two-year-old heifers and 96 rising one-year-old heifers. Included in the sale price of $3.5 million are 129,200 Westland Milk Product shares. For further information contact Daly on 0274 783 594 or a/h 03 762 6463.
