Strathallan Station some 26-kilometres north-west of Gisborne is a 1,213-hectare property currently milking a herd of 1,000 cows. Towards the centre of the property is a two-and-a-half-metre-deep ‘reservoir’ lake large enough for recreational kayaking and duck hunting. The reservoir sustains not only the farm’s irrigation needs, but also its milk shed requirements.

The property was originally run as a sheep and beef breeding and fattening unit before undergoing conversion to dairying in 2009. Strathallan Station has been operating a once-a-day milking programme – producing 254,567 kilogrammes of milk solids PLUS feeding 800 calves (20,000 milk solids) in the 2018/19 season.

Now the freehold property at 198 Humphreys Road in Waipaoa is being marketed for sale by tender through Bayleys Gisborne, with tenders closing at 4pm on July 17. Bayleys Gisborne salespeople Simon Bousfield and James Bolton-Riley said Strathallan Station was located at between 40 – 240 metres above sea level.

Mr Bousfield said the farm had access to superb reticulation from a large

Manmade 1,800 square metre reservoir located near the milking shed – with water filtered and pumped to a 30,000 litre holding tank before being treated through a dosatron, then circulated around the block to various other tanks and reticulated to large troughs.

He said additional water supplies to service the domestic quartet of farm dwellings on the property was sourced from a natural clear water well.

“The farm is consented to run up to 1,100 cows. Stock production records show Strathallan Station reared 800 calves and of the 400 heifer calves, some 200 heifer calves exported predominantly for export to Asia. In addition, the property produced 400 bull calves sold at various ages, 200 cows and 100 bulls to meat processing works,” Mr Bousfield said.

“The property has consent to take on an additional 100 cows under its split milking permutation.”

Farm building infrastructure on the Waipaoa property consists of:

· A fully automated 54-bail Westfalia rotary milking shed built in 2010 milking the farm’s two herds of 500 cows each on a once-a-day basis

· A large nine bay calf-rearing and implement storage shed

· A now dormant 264 square metre six-stand woolshed immediately adjacent to 302 square metres of covered yards suitable for handling calves.

· An effluent treatment pond consented to take in excrement from a herd of more than 1000 cows with a pumping plant spreading byproduct across the lower paddocks

· An additional pair of workshops and high-stud implement storage sheds

· Some 1,000 square metres of feed bunkers and concreted feed pad yard utilised for feeding out a combination of local cheap bought-in waste vegetable (tomatoes, squash) mix.

A 25-tonne silo with built-in auger is installed for in-shed feed system. Local kibbled maize is readily available.

Meanwhile, accommodation on the Waipaoa property consists of four residential dwellings sustaining the four full-time staff, encompassing:

· A six-bedroom/two-bathroom character homestead constructed at the turn of the last century and now with recreational amenities including a swimming pool and concrete tennis court

· A three-bedroom manager’s home with a separate two-bedroom sleep-out

and

· A pair of three-bedroom Lockwood staff homes.

Mr Bolton-Riley said the property’s topography predominantly consisted of rolling paddocks and easy hill country adjacent to some 40 hectares of flat land – sustaining an effective milking area of 700 hectares.and

He said Strathallan Station had been subdivided into 218 paddocks as part of the dairying conversion – with the paddocks separated by conventional post and batten fencing on the larger paddocks and sectioned into smaller blocks by electric fencing.

All the paddocks are accessed by well-maintained stock movement lanes. Strathallan Station is fully contained – 2000 cattle are wintered on farm including all milking cows, he said.