BUSINESS GROWTH
Farming is a family affair Cor and Christine Verwey may have started small, but together with their sons, they now own several farms in both islands. Anne Hardie reports.
C
or and Christine Verwey came to New Zealand with no money in their pockets nearly 40 years ago and today the family milks more than 2000 cows between farms in the Bay of Plenty and the West Coast, with a kiwifruit orchard thrown into the mix. They followed the usual path – working on a dairy farm for a couple of years, managing a farm, and then they took on sharemilking contracts around the Bay of Plenty. The next part wasn’t so typical. The couple bought a 53ha drystock, converted it to dairying, and being $30,000 short on security with the bank, built the dairy themselves. Neighbouring properties were added over the years and today that farm stretches over 120ha and milks 450 cows at the peak, plus winter milk. 22
Add in a couple of support blocks and a 4ha kiwifruit orchard that came with one of the blocks and it’s a profitable business, with son, David, at the helm as a contract milker. He also owns half of the kiwifruit orchard, with the family trust owning the other half, and a packhouse managing the practical side of the business. The family trust was set up to cater for Cor and Christine (who are now separated) and their five children, and that has been central to the growth of the family business, in partnership with various children where possible. With a profitable dairy farm ticking over, it was time to invest in more land and that took them to the West Coast 14 years ago where they checked out the Wild Foods Festival and bought a 130ha dairy farm with more to develop at Mawheraiti.
“We chose the West Coast because it is always raining and we wouldn’t have to irrigate,” Cor says. “We were wrong there.” Son Andrew took up 20% ownership in the farm while the family trust owns the remaining 80%. He headed south to lease the farm from the family trust and owned the cows as well. Further development on that farm has stretched the milking platform to 155ha that now milks 340 cows and produces between 135,000kg and 145,000kg milksolids (MS). Back at school in the Bay of Plenty, Andrew had no real interest in dairying as a career, but when he wanted to leave school he was told he had to have a job first and a job on a dairy farm was an easy option. It wasn’t long before he could see a future in dairying.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | March 2021
