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KAIROMA FARM
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Google map aerial shot of milking shed. With a variable-speed drive, Rob says the latter provides better cooling efficiency. Rob says the wash system was upgraded also. This means the wash system will automatically change valves in the centre between milk and wash mode and will also drain the centre of the plant when switched to off.
Milk quality The milk line joins under the platform were upgraded from plastic to stainless steel for milk quality purposes. Rob says milk cans and sanitary traps, also under the platform, were upsized/upgraded to cater for the increased herd size and milk flow. Because of its age, he says the Fleming shed platform was getting close to its renewal date. This was the largest quake-related dairy shed project tackled by Morrison Agri. Rob says they worked on five to six, including one where an 80-bail rotary platform was
knocked off its rollers. A team of five work on the Fleming property, with one person handling milking duties. Mark and Penny took over running the property in 2001. They milk a 70 per cent Friesian herd, with a cross-breed balance. The first milking in the revamped shed was completed in July 2018. Mark says the operation, expanded by an additional 100ha in 2007, also includes a neighbouring 230ha run-off. Both farms produce silage for winter feeding and Mark also buys in a bit of hay.
Quake damage The Kaikoura Earthquake lasted about two minutes and had a magnitude of 7.8. The epicentre was just 15km north-east of Culverden. Detailed studies confirmed ruptures on
25 faults, considered a world record for the greatest number of faults to rupture in a single earthquake event. The northern tip of the South Island moved more than two metres towards the North Island and rose almost one metre. Two people died in the earthquake. Mark was in bed when the quake struck, just after 11pm, and says his brick house was rocking. However, the dwelling remained relatively unscathed, except for some paint cracking and a steel shelf in the garage falling on his car. Chimneys came off a couple of houses on his property, says Mark. While the quake lasted about two minutes, it felt like five, he says. Immediately after the event Mark went to the cowshed but didn’t see any obvious damage. However, he says after a few weeks went by the platform started giving him ‘a bit of grief ’.
No other buildings on the property were damaged or stock harmed. Electricity in the area was knocked out overnight, with Mark not able to milk again until 4pm the following afternoon. The Culverden region is no stranger to the whims of Mother Nature. Mark says the property ran sheep and cropping for more than 60 years, before irrigation schemes changed the face of the Amuri Basin in the late 1970s and through the 1980s. Water is taken from the Waiau and Hurunui rivers for more than 20,000ha of farmland. Mark says the basin suffers high summer temperatures and long, regular droughts from November to March. After initially adding more sheep and a couple of hundred beef cattle in the early 1990s, he decided to give cows a go.
Proud to support Kairoma Farm The preferred milking systems partner for Dairy Farmers Ph
0800 577 583 | www.morrisonagri.co.nz
