| 5 RURAL PEOPLE » Dirk and Kathy Sieling Diverse operation for Dirk and Kathy The stud’s genetics include bloodlines from Australia and England, but this season the cows were all naturally mated. Russell Fredric An 80 hectare plantation of 28 year old hill country pines is currently being harvested by Dirk and Kathy Sieling, but the couple are not expecting a gold mine of returns. Dirk and Kathy own a diverse 710 hectare, 410 hectare effective property bordering Whitianga which milks 430 crossbred dairy cows plus replacements, as well as running Ohuka Polled Devon Stud. “We are turning that country into grazing, and because it’s rough hill country we put the Devon’s up there. For the first round we just put the bulls in there and over a couple of years it gets better and better,” Dirk says. He expects harvesting to be completed around June. Export log prices have been extremely depressed during the past 18 months or so, Dirk says. “Most of the export logs are break-even for us, but we get the income from the local sawmills and that pays for any loss on export logs.” “If I had to give advice to anyone, I would say don’t go for a one-round rotation because you really don’t make any money until your second round, but in our case we want to break in other country and eventually it will all become lifestyle blocks.” The Sieling’s farm surrounds much of Whitianga, with the 200ha dairy farm platform on its southern boundary and the home farm, the location of Ohuka Polled Devon Stud, to the north. “We do mix and match a bit so some paddock get dual use. Occasionally the cows come in, other times replacements or Devons will come in so there’s not a strict separation between the dairy platform and the dry stock areas.” Most of the 300 hectares not in productive farm land or that has been in forestry is hill country, and native bush a lot of which is under a QEII National Trust covenant. A single large block has been earmarked for a combination of conservation and public amenity such as walking, cycling and horse riding. “What we are trying to achieve is that we get the better country in grass and the steeper country we really want to get back to native. That is not a simple process because you get all these pine tree seedlings and other weeds that you don’t want, and of course if you’re going to spray them out you’re going to kill the natives as well.” Areas being converted into grass have been sprayed and annual ryegrass will be aerial sown, but future pine tree seedlings would have to be removed by hand in areas where natives are to grow which would be a massive job and “a real quandary”, Dirk says. Breaking in the hill country has enabled Ohuka Polled Devon Stud to expand its herd from 36 registered breeding cows to 56, plus it has 12 rising two year-old bulls and 16 weaner bulls, while 22 further heifers will be coming into the herd in 2026. Ohuka Red Devons currently has three stud bulls, plus a yearling stud bull that is mated to the yearling heifers. The stud’s genetics include bloodlines from Australia and England, but this season the cows were all naturally mated by the progeny of the cows artificially inseminated in previous seasons. “We also bought in some New Zealand in-calf cows that have quite different bloodlines from our stock as well.” 14th May 2025 - Kaikohe Saleyards Contact Aaron Gubb: 021 590 915 Simmental Beef Stud Northland, NZ. 40 r2 Simmental Bulls | Our bulls are guaranteed for structural soundness DNA tested | Fertility tested | Muscle scanned | Beef classed | EBL & BVD negative 6TH Proud to be associated with Dirk and Kathy Sieling PROUDLY SUPPORTING DIRK AND KATHY SIELING
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