Friday, March 29, 2024

Water taxi arrives in North Otago

Avatar photo
It’s been a funny old year on Gareth and Sarah Isbister’s farm, Balruddery, near Five Forks.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Swamped by rain, the cattle farmers finished 2017 beside the Kakanui River with new irrigation and options.

The Isbisters are happy to have the extra water on hand after a difficult 12 months for an irrigation rollout in their area.

Their supplier, the farmer-owned North Otago Irrigation Company, was meant to be pumping high-pressure flow to downland farmers like them in late 2016. Joint faults in pipes put paid to that idea, costing shareholders as the contractor fixed its faulty workmanship.

Gareth Isbister, a company director since November 2017, said it was lucky it rained so much lately. There might have been more fresh faces on the board if it hadn’t, he joked.

More seriously, Isbister kept reminding himself of a friend’s advice that shareholders were only caretakers for future farmers. 

“It’s a taxi ride rather than owning the vehicle.”

Across the scheme’s command area there are more than 200km of pipes in the ground and 16 pump stations. That adds up to a $146 million investment and share capital of $51m.

The Isbisters paid $4250 a share, giving them enough irrigation for 200ha, just under half of their 440ha property. 

Isbister said it was quite expensive to join but that was simply a function of the cost of money. The company supplied a full range of services including infrastructure maintenance.

Balruddery, about 20km inland from Oamaru, was fairly easy rolling country with only couple of steep spots.

Dairy farming wasn’t in the plan but spray irrigation would bring a new kind of security, he said. 

The Isbisters had three pivots for pasture and crop graze heifers, bulls, beef cows and hoggets.

They will now be less reliant on irrigation from the Kakanui and be better equipped to finish sheep and cattle, easing pressure on them and grazing clients. 

They will now be able to run as many as 1200 cattle in summer; nearly double their tally five years ago when they moved from a farm in Hakataramea Valley, near Kurow.

Stock statistics told only part of their growth story. 

Reliable water meant Balruddery no longer had to regularly cut and store thousands of bales of hay or silage.

Isbister classed himself as mainly a beef cattle guy but said the more reliable pasture base could allow him to run more sheep, including finishing lambs.

Company chief executive Robyn Wells said it didn’t tell its shareholders how to farm but it had systems to ensure maximum farming efficiency for individual farmers and the scheme. 

Unlike Canterbury irrigation schemes, it doesn’t manage farm environment plans on shareholders’ behalf. But everyone was aware Otago Regional Council limits on water use would start to bite from 2020, she said.

Regular bucket tests and soil moisture monitoring helped farmers comply with a range of rules and keep waterways flowing and clean, she said. 

The company offered advice on irrigating steep slopes and expected shareholders to have a producer certificate showing they operate at best-practice standard. 

Selling supply shares created income for loan repayments and cashflow for running costs, like power for pressurised pumping. 

That “dangerously high” pipe pressure was more than 100psi so the network had to be constantly monitored, she said.

The company had 165 shareholders and more than 17,000 shares from a possible 20,000 had been issued. It expected to irrigate about 25,000ha once all its shares were sold. 

One share irrigated about 1.3ha and the expansion work contained capacity to deliver to the 2855 shares still to be issued. 

Wells said everyone was disappointed by the recent delay to the stage two expansion for farming reasons and also because it cost the company income from new shareholders once their water arrived. 

That was cash that couldn’t be funnelled into debt-servicing though, fortunately, interest rates were fairly low and irrigation uptake was higher than expected.

The company had laid more pipes and other supporting works to meet the demand, which would now start to pay for its itself.

It was incorporated in 1990 but opened only in October 2006. It had seven board members including a representative from cornerstone lender, Waitaki District Council. The company had nine staff.

 

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading