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farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80
Real Estate
THE NEW ZEALAND FARMERS WEEKLY – November 6, 2017
Self-contained low-cost dairy A PICTURESQUE, self-contained 414ha dairy farm on the Central Plateau milks 850 cows to produce about 300,000kg of milksolids and is for sale at $30,000/ha. Its location at Whakamaru, northwest of Taupo, put the farm on fertile volcanic ash soils that cover rolling contour with some hill and steep sidlings. It still has ample room for silage and cropping, shown in the 25ha planted in kale each year as a winter crop and 25ha in turnips for summer. Silage is made each year from surplus pasture and a new 600cow concrete feed pad enables the farm to feed the cows more efficiently with less waste. Paul O’Sullivan from Property Brokers says the farm makes the bulk its supplements on the farm, apart from some bought-in meal during mating which is fed through the meal feeders in the 48-aside herringbone dairy. It’s scale allows it to carry all its young stock and winter the entire herd. Combined with no need for irrigation, it is a low-cost, profitable farm with a five-year production average of 293,000kg MS, he says.
A pasture renewal programme during the past 10 years, plus a good fertiliser regime, has produced strong results and good fertility throughout the 98 paddocks subdividing the farm. It also benefits from a mild climate that has some frosts in winter and an average rainfall. All the paddocks access lanes are covered with a pumice base material sourced from a quarry on the farm while water for the paddocks is sourced from bores. Ample sheds cater for the calves, hay and machinery, including a six-bay shed plus a disused woolshed with a 13m covered calf shed. Completing the farm are five houses, including the fourbedroom home that has catered for the sharemilker for the past 20 years. O’Sullivan says the 50:50 sharemilker is keen to stay on the farm if an investor buys the property. The farm is also ideally suited for a farmer seeking a property with more scale and is a good size for a family operation, he says. One of the great appeals of the
This farm carries 850 cows on 414ha producing about 300,000kg MS through a 48-aside herringbone and a 600-cow feed pad.
property is its location on the Central Plateau with a couple of hydro lakes in the area for water sports, the ski field just an hour’s drive away and the Mangakino River on the farm’s
western boundary for fishing. O’Sullivan says it’s also simply a lovely outlook to distant mountains and national parks. The farm is for sale at $12.7 million.
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View the farm at www. propertybrokers.co.nz ref TPR57000 and for further information contact Paul O’Sullivan on 027 496 4417 or Craig Marshall on 027 553 2274.