16 | Decided that it was now or never Virginia Wright Peter and Debbie Langford both grew up on dairy farms near the top of the South Island so they knew what they were getting into when, having reached 40 or thereabouts, they decided that it was now or never if they were going to give it a go themselves. They never did make the move to North Canterbury but the growth side of things happened nevertheless. When they arrived on the farm there were 186 cows doing 51,000 kg’s of milk solids. In 2003 the Langfords bought 114 hectares of ‘rough grazing and scrubby land” on a plateau above the farm. “It was the only place in this valley where we could expand the farm. We had built the farm up to 200 cows and 80,000 kgs of milk solids,” says Peter. That same year the Langfords made the transition from managers to lower-order sharemilkers, then went on to win the West Coast Share-Milker of the Year Award in 2004, which took them to the nationals. “That gave us some credibility with the bank and we ended up buying into the farm in 2006 rather than moving on,” says Peter. “It was sink or swim and it’s been tough at times. Payouts have been very good, they’ve been poor, they’ve been average and now they’re good again.” More recently, in 2012, they borrowed again in order to develop that block of scrubby land into good quality pasture. They negotiated access through some DOC land to get to it so that by 2015 the resulting good quality dairy pasture was linked directly to the cowshed. Two seasons ago they were milking 300 cows off 165 hectares effective for 120,000 kgs of milk solids. “Last season was a tough one nationwide and we didn’t do as well but we expect to get back up there this season,” says Peter. DAIRY » Peter & Debbie Langford West Coast behind THE POWER farming NZ 54 TASMAN STREET, GREYMOUTH 7805 PH (03) 768 4370 westcoastsales@powerfarming.co.nz New calves getting used to things on the farm. It’s not just more land that’s enabled the Langfords to grow their production though. They introduced whole farm soil-testing which meant they knew which paddocks weren’t giving them the grazing they had the potential to do, and experimented with different grasses and crops in order to optimize what they had. They transitioned the herd from mostly Friesian cows to mostly Friesian-Jersey cross and started paying close attention to their genetics. They’ve now got a herd BW ranked just outside the top 5% nationwide thanks to the embryo transfer work they’ve done with their two best BW (Breeding Worth) cows, establishing a strong matriarchal family line, and they’ve had two bulls in the national LIC register over the years. Regardless of whether it’s one of their own or not they always select top quality bulls to put across their herd. Peter and Debbie have enjoyed the challenge of getting their herd into top shape, but the ongoing challenge of keeping it there is about to pass on to someone else. Peter credits Debbie with keeping the whole operation a oat, as well as bringing up their four children, now adults, but she now has mobility problems. “Debbie’s recently had an arti cial knee and an arti cial ankle 5 years ago which is starting to play up,” says Peter, “so we’re looking to move onto something new.” None of their children wanted to take the farm on but before they could put it on the open market a potential buyer came up the driveway. “I’ll miss the challenge of expanding the farm and producing ne animals, but I won’t miss getting up at 5.00 in the morning I know that,” says Peter. “We’re looking forward to building ourselves a new house somewhere not far away. So that’s going to be a nice outcome for doing some hard yards.” “I’ll miss the challenge of expanding the farm and producing ne animals, but I won’t miss getting up at 5.00 in the morning I know that.” Proud to support Peter & Debbie Langford Trained Technicians Emergency 24-7 Service All Welding Repairs & Fabrication All Hydraulic Hose & Fitting Repairs Agents for Ryco 24/7 Allan: 021 777 487 Work: 03 789 8081 www.reaengineering.co.nz 64 PALMERSTON STREET, WESTPORT 7825 (03) 789-8538 OR 021-777-487
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