The only New Zealanders to supply the same dairy company continuously for 100 years are the Wilton family of Tatuanui, Waikato.
Four generations have milked cows to supply Tatua since it opened in 1914.
The co-op was established by Henry Herbert Wilton, known as Herbert, who was the second
generation born in this country. He moved north from Wairarapa in 1912 and bought 607ha at Tatuanui.
It was swampy land covered with ti-tree and flax and fragmented by gullies, which is hard to imagine when looking at the flat, prime Waikato dairy country today.
Herbert milked cows, but the biggest income initially came from sheep, a good earner because of high wool and meat prices.
But two years after he arrived at Tatuanui, Tatua was formed and dairying presented a new opportunity.
Herbert wasn’t one of the original seven co-founders who signed Tatua’s Deed of Incorporation in 1914, but was a supplier in the first year. When two directors left during the first season, he became a director and served on the board from 1914 to 1941, the first of three generations to serve on the board. Grandson David was a Tatua director from 1977 to 1997 and great-grandson Bruce has been a director since 2003.
Herbert owned one of the biggest land holdings in Tatuanui and milking 120 cows he quickly became one of Tatua’s biggest suppliers. He transported the milk to the factory by a horse-drawn wagon that carried 4000 pounds of milk. But two world wars and the Great Depression hit hard and Herbert was forced to sell land to service his mortgage. When he died he had 200ha remaining, which he left as separate blocks to his three children.
Jack Wilton took over running the family estate and milked 140 cows through a 12-bail walk-through dairy. He had to work hard to pay off death duties and could afford to buy only one of the 60ha blocks in 1967 with his son, Dick.
His eldest son David and wife Norma sharemilked for a few years on the estate, before they bought the other 60ha block in 1969. The third block was sold outside the family. When David and Norma started sharemilking Tatua provided cow finance loans and they borrowed £2000 to help buy 120 cows. It was a win-win system, because it helped farmers get finance and expanded the co-op’s milk supply quickly, David says.
The house where David was born in 1934, which was converted to a woolshed and is still used today.
A big factor in its favour was accessibility, David says, as he could walk into the factory to taste the cheese being made.
“You could talk to anybody about anything. It was a family business.”
In 1967 they paid $50,000 for the farm – “We paid as much for our new ute this year as we did for the farm”.
Looking back, he admires how hard his father, grandfather and great-grandfather worked to convert the land into productive dairying country.
“They had only horses and 25 horsepower tractors to clear the land. Now the land is broken in and we have 100hp tractors.”
Bruce and Roger Wilton now own the two farms with Bruce having bought an additional 40ha of the original farm. Between them they own 160ha of the 607ha farm their great-grandfather owned.
All four Wiltons, Bruce, Roger, Dick, and David, are adamant there never was, and never would be, any reason to leave Tatua. They felt privileged to have the opportunity to farm at Tatuanui and supply the company.
“There is limited supply of land supplying Tatua, so I feel pretty fortunate to have what we’ve got,” Bruce says.
The co-op had always been a tight-knit group, from directors and suppliers to staff and that was reflected throughout the local community.
“We know most of the staff. We are all in this together.”
Key points
Owners: Bruce and Margaret Wilton
Area: 100ha
Cows: 300 Friesian-cross
Production: 145,000kg milksolids (MS)
Supplement: 100t maize silage, 200t grain
Crops: 12ha chicory onfarm
Farm dairy: 18-aside herringbone.
Owners: Roger and Angela Wilton
Area: 60ha
Cows: 200 Friesian-cross
Production: 100,000kg MS
Supplement: 150t maize silage, 120t grain
Crops: 10ha chicory onfarm
Farm dairy: 20-aside herringbone.
