The 198 hectare farm, 2km from Otautau and 40km from Invercargill, was stripped out and re-fenced at the time of its conversion, with a central race added and a new water system and shelter trees. Ideally positioned at the centre of the farm is the 60-bail rotary dairy with automatic cup removers, mastitis alerts, computer feeding, drafting and weighing, and a large rectangle yard with flood wash. A direct milk line runs to the new calf shed near the dairy, making it all very efficient and easy to run.
At the other end of the operation, the effluent is collected in a substantial settling pond before being gravity fed to a clay-lined pond and then fed out onto paddocks by underground pipes to hydrants.
Most of the farm is flat to gentle rolling contour that has been subdivided into 36 paddocks of mostly 5ha. Three troughs in each paddock are fed from bores. The farm has been extensively planted with a variety of plants and trees, including eucalyptus, poplars and willows, while a 3.9ha woodlot has 23-year-old pines pruned to about eight metres.
On average the farm produces 120 bales of balage each year from surplus feed with silage made on a lease block where the cows are calved. Last season the cows were fed palm kernel, grain and molasses, but this season numbers are reduced to 550 cows and the estimated production is 270,000kg MS.
Paula Laughton from Southern Wide Real Estate describes it as a “top farm in all respects”.
“It’s a very picturesque property in a great location. It’s well run by the equity managers and presentation is immaculate.”
The herd is also offered for sale and includes 400 mixed-age Friesian and Friesian-cross cows and 110 heifers.
Completing the farm is a brick and roughcast four-bedroom home and a tidy two-bedroom cottage.
The farm can be viewed at www.swre.co.nz ref SWI1524.
For further information contact Paula Laughton on 0275 331 268 or Philip Ryan on 0274 325 770.
