Large Canterbury dairy farm up for auction

Opportunities to buy an immaculate dairy farm in one of Canterbury’s most sought-after dairy districts are rare.

Kyle Park is just over 394 hectares of fully irrigated, flat land on free draining rich soils near Dorie in coastal Mid-Canterbury and is for sale by auction at noon on Thursday 6th November this year at the Bayleys Christchurch office, unless sold before.

Bayleys Country Specialist Ben Turner says Kyle Park is an exceptional property, converted in 2016, and consistently milking 1350 A2 cows, which produced 625,640 kilograms of milk solids average for the past three seasons. Average production per cow over the same period is 464 kilograms milk solids. Cows are milked in two herds, one for mixed age, and the other comprising mostly younger cows and heifers.

“Everything about this farm is immaculate. The owners and their team have done a fantastic job of developing this dairy unit into what it is today,” Turner says.

It offers modern farm infrastructure and homes, including a centrally located 80-bail rotary milking shed, which has been maintained to a very high standard.

Kyle Park supplies its milk to Synlait and operates under the Lead with Pride Gold Elite programme. It has just received an A grade in its latest supplier audit.

“This property is already future-proofed from an environmental perspective and offers new owners ease of management through modern infrastructure, a central race and large shed which provides good cow flow,” Turner says.

“It’s set up to operate as a one-person shed too, making it very efficient from a staff perspective.”

Turner says a feature of the property is its access to reliable and cost-effective irrigation water to feed its mostly pivot irrigators. Most of the property is irrigated with water from a bore behind the dairy shed, but there is also 100ha of land irrigated with water from the Acton Farmers Irrigation Co-operative.

Effluent is spread over about 100 hectares through one of the pivots, which is fitted with variable rate technology.

The rotary dairy shed features Waikato Milking Systems plant, in-shed feeding with a molasses mixing unit, automatic cup removers, a Protrack automatic drafting system and a circular yard with capacity for 700 cows and automatic wash-down.

There are 41 paddocks, averaging 9.3 hectares in size, and the owners have been consistently re-grassing about 30 hectares each year with a mix of pasture and forage species, including about 10 hectares of fodder beet used as a transition crop for the end of the season.

Stock water is from a bore next to the dairy shed in the centre of the property, supplied to two troughs in each paddock. There is also a Dosatron system installed at the bore site.

Farm infrastructure includes a 14-bay calf shed, a five-bay implement shed, another six-bay calf shed and a large storage shed. There are four homes, including a large executive standard main home built in 2016, plus a one-bedroom sleepout unit.

“All but one of the homes were built since 2016. They have all been maintained to a very high standard and all comply with the Healthy Homes requirements.”

“This farm sits in a sweet spot for profitability, based on its stocking rate, production and supplementary feed inputs. The average cost of production for the previous three seasons is a creditable $5.18 per kilogram of milk solids,” Turner says.

The decision to market the property by auction was made on the strength of its immaculate status, strong figures and future-proofing from an environmental perspective, plus its situation in a well-regarded area of Canterbury, he says.