Scale and production similar to Canterbury, but at more attractive local pricing is the opportunity awaiting buyers for three dairy farms on the Hauraki Plains near Waitakaruru.

Bayleys Waikato rural salesperson Karl Davis is expecting strong interest in the three properties, either from buyers seeking immediate scale as a package of two or three units, or from farmers looking for an individual property in a strong dairy region of Waikato.

?I?m picking it?s more likely these units will sell individually, but I certainly would not rule out someone or perhaps a corporate entity stepping up for all three.

?It would really suit a combined family group keen to run their own properties, where they could share farm gear and get some of the economies of scale possible from a larger operation.

?It?s a great location, close to Coromandel, and all the big-ticket items have been ticked off, so these farms are a great value proposition compared with Canterbury dairy land with irrigation and all the infrastructure and consents required for that,? he says.

The properties are for sale by tender (unless sold prior) through Bayleys Hamilton with offers closing at 3pm on Wednesday 5th November.

The three properties total 362.7ha and are currently run as one unit with separate dairy sheds, all managed by one contract milker. Two units are on Canal East Road and the third is on connected Hopai West Road.

Overall production for the 2024-25 season was more than 552,000kg milksolids from calving 440 cows in autumn and 520 in spring, plus milking empties through the winter months.

The properties at 253 Canal East Road and 400 Hopai West Road were previously farmed in conjunction with a 50ha dairy run-off at the southern end of Canal West Road before it was sold off to help fund the purchase of the neighbouring 165 Canal East Road unit ahead of last season.

Production from the two original farms plus the run-off in the previous season (2023-24) totalled more than 476,000kg milksolids from calving 385 cows in autumn and 520 in spring.

All three units sit on superior peat loam over clay soils, regarded as the best on the Hauraki Plains.

Each unit has its own feed pad, well maintained dairy sheds, all constructed after 2001, and effluent management systems covered by permitted activity agreements.

Water is supplied across all three farms through 50-63mm mainlines down to 20-25mm laterals to troughs in all 220 paddocks.

Between 850 and 1,100 TDM of maize silage is grown across the properties each year, along with 1000-1250 TDM of grass silage stacked plus 400-600 (10SBE) round bales of grass silage.

Bought-in supplement across the three properties comprises a mix of corn distillers dried grain, brewer?s grain, soy meal, palm kernel expeller, maize silage, and grass silage. A regular fertiliser and pasture replacement policy has been in place on all three properties. All the cropped paddocks will be returned to a perennial ryegrass and clover mix at 25kg/ha of seed before settlement.

Davis says there are six tidy homes across the three properties.

The current system for calf rearing has been to use shedding mostly at the 253 Canal East Road property.

The owners have wintered 100 rising-one and 100 rising-two-year replacement heifers on the platform, and previously also reared 700-800 calves annually on the platform on the original 50-hectare run-off before it was swapped last season for the 77-hectare unit at 165 Canal East Road.

Davis says 1,200 tonnes of maize and 600 tonnes of grass silage will be left on settlement. Possession is available from June 1 next year, but could be varied to suit buyers.