TARANAKI FARMING LIFESTYLES
A position on a 160-cow, 56ha farm at Midhurst followed and Cheree gave up her part-time position to focus on family and farming. She took on a part-time sales representative position with LIC which worked in with farm commitments. “The last of our children was born here,” said Cheree. The family moved to a 65ha farm near Waitara, starting with 220 cows. Over three years, they increased their herd size to 250 cows with a top production figure of 80,000kgMS. The farm’s location, surrounded by lifestyle blocks and market gardens, enabled Mike and Cheree to lease small pockets of land to graze extra young stock. They left that position with 300 cows. They then took up a 50/50 sharemilking position on a 220ha farm in Opunake. Milking 580 cows, they increased the farm’s production from 160,000kgMS to 180,000kgMS. During their six season stay on this farm, the couple bought a 40ha, 120cow dairy farm in Inglewood as a going concern and employed a manager. Two years later they sold this property to buy a 56ha farm in Kaponga, employing a couple to manage it. The 200-cow herd produced a total of 72,000kgMS. In their sixth season on the 580-cow sharemilking position, the Opunake farm was sold. Cheree said they kept their focus during this time, went looking for the next opportunity and maintained contact with banks, accountants and farm advisors. They took advantage of the elevated cow prices and sold their herd to the incoming farm owner. They then secured a lower order 1,000 cow crossbred herd position nearby. Six months into their first season on the 317ha property, they also took on the adjacent 200ha drystock block. This block grazed all the young stock, 100 holdovers, 60 bulls for the 1000 cow dairy plus the young stock for the owner’s other 250-cow dairy farm down the road. “We achieved 370,000kgMS on this farm,” said Cheree. Four seasons later the couple sold their Kaponga farm and purchased a 150ha dairy farm adjacent to Mike’s family farm.
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MAINTAINING THEIR FOCUS HAS HELPED THE COUPLE ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS Mike and Cheree lease the 100ha family farm and run the two units as one with 550 Jersey cows. The high altitude farm, nestled beneath Mount Taranaki, has high rainfall of up to three metres per year which can make managing winter pasture and minimising pugging difficult. Grass silage, pit silage and hay are grown on the farm. A lease block grazes half the young stock and also grows additional supplementary feed. Three fulltime and one part-time staff members are employed. “We have opted to run this farm as a system one grass only unit which has to date averaged 170,000kgMS,” said Cheree. Due to the dairying downturn, the owner of their lower order farm position opted for a structure change which disestablished Mike and Cheree’s position. The couple secured another lower order position for the 2016 season in Kakaramea. With 650 crossbred cows, the Hitchcock’s are targeting 260,000kgMS with calves on. “We have a very supportive farm owner who is prepared to feed the cows well to help achieve top production and good cow condition.” Throughout their dairying career, the couple found raising
a young family while both full time farming challenging, but they worked daily farm life around their children. Supportive parents close by also helped out when required. Keeping good budgets in place, maintaining their focus and ensuring systems are simple and low cost have minimised setbacks. “We didn’t
increase our costs in the high payout years which made us resilient in the low payout years,” said Cheree. The couple have found the opportunity dairy farming provides to be their own boss and in total control of their own direction appealing. “We love working on the land, the lifestyle and the money,” said Mike.
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