For the past nine years, the farm’s owners have used a grass-based system for the herd that milked 570 cows at the peak of last season to reach 218,236kg milksolids.
“The key to this farm is that it is very simple without high tech or high input,” Wayne Clarke from Southern Wide Real Estate said.
Located at Chatton, 17km from Gore, the farm spreads over flat to easy rolling country that has been split into 71 paddocks, with the 31ha support block over the road.
Cows are grazed elsewhere in winter and when they return they start out on the support block, grazing on rape and oat regrowth crops, while the springers are drafted out to graze on grass. For the balance of the year the support block is used for calf grazing and providing supplements for the dairy unit.
On a three-year average, supplements made on the support block and farm total 150 tonnes drymatter (DM) of silage, 250 bales balage and 70 bales of hay, with an additional 50t DM of silage bought in.
This spring the support block has 7.2ha of turnips planted for summer grazing and 14ha ex rape planted in new grass. It’s a block of land that Clarke said could easily be added to the milking platform to increase cow numbers.
Between the owners, who have carried out significant plantings around the farm including an oak-lined drive, and the “incredibly tidy” sharemilkers who were willing to stay on with a new owner, Clarke said the property had a well-loved feel to it.
“The grass alongside the tanker track is all mown – you can just walk in and know this farm has been loved.”
At the hub of the farm is the 40-aside herringbone dairy with NuPulse plant and a children’s play area to keep the little ones safe and occupied during milking. Beyond the dairy is a “seriously substantial” calf rearing shed, plus an extensive array of sheds and barns, including a workshop.
Effluent is dealt with via a Clean Green system which has a stone trap to two weeping walls, then to holding tanks with filters before being fed out onto paddocks via pods and irrigator. The system also has fresh water diversion installed.
Three houses on the property include the brick and roughcast four-bedroom homestead plus office, adding up to 411sqm, while a second home is nine years old with three bedrooms, and a third home has three bedrooms.
The farm is for sale at $8.62m plus GST (if any). For more information, contact Clarke on 03 218 2795 or 0274 325 768. It can be viewed on www.southernwide.co.nz.
