The grass can be greener West Coast dairy farmers Jeremy and Anna Hart spent over a decade share-milking large herds of up to 2,000 cows in the Waimate area before making the move to a smaller dairy farm about 25 kilometres from Hokitika. They spoke at South Island Field Days about what prompted them to make the move to the West Coast and how it worked out for them. They shared their experience as part of a wider panel discussion, led by Sarah Perriam, host of Sarah’s Country podcast — that also included Development West Coast CEO Heath Milne and Property Brokers representatives Gareth Cox and Conrad Wilkshire — and provided a good insight into what it’s like to buy and start farming in a new part of New Zealand. “The plan when we were 30 was to do 10 years of dairy farming and then get into sheep and beef farming,” Jeremy says.
“We did our 10 years and then we started looking at a bigger deer farm, but the bank thought it was a good idea that we keep dairy.
Anna says the move has been a
“We looked over at the West Coast, which had fairly cheap land that was self-contained and had plenty of rainfall. It’s also a great lifestyle, so we are really glad we made the move.
and did so for about 13 years.
“We’ve got a great community around us, with really good people and it reminds me of how New Zealand was 20 years ago,” Jeremy says.
decided to make that lifestyle change,”
Recent expansion will see Jeremy and Anna ramp up production, while maintaining a manageable operation.
in Canterbury because the land prices
“We milk 300 cows and we just bought another 50ha next door, so we are going to 400 cows” Jeremy says.
holiday down the West Coast and
“We get the cows in for three milkings in two days, right from calving.
Kowhitirangi Valley that we ended
“The thing I like about the coast is that it's self-contained, so we have all the heifers on-farm, cows are wintered-on and silage is made on-farm also” Jeremy says.
Property Brokers.
positive one, explaining how she and Jeremy started share-milking large herds (up to 2,000 cows) around 2006 “Milking large herds got us to where we are but it was pretty tough going with 8 to 13 staff in the peak and we never really had any family time, so we Anna says. “We felt like we were ready to take that next step, but we couldn’t see a way were too high. “We thought we would have a family we also had a look around some farms and found one in the up buying through Gareth Cox at They wanted to do all they could to make the transition as smooth as possible and not just for themselves.
| (L-R) Property Brokers Rural Real Estate Agent Canterbury-West Coast Gareth Cox, West Coast dairy farmers Jeremy and Anna Hart, Sarah's Country host Sarah Perriam, Property Brokers Rural General Manager Conrad Wilkshire and Development West Coast CEO Heath Milne.
22 | THE FARMLANDER
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