| 69 nzdairy Move from family farm proves rewarding Virginia Wright Ross Soffe was the fifth generation of his family to farm Tikorangi, a 60 hectare dairy farm 15 km’s out of New Plymouth originally settled close to 150 years ago. That farm was sold in 2012 when Ross and his wife Jo made the pragmatic decision to move to 160 hectares in Midhurst just out of Stratford. “We were landlocked on a relatively small farm by today’s standards. Joanne and I are getting older obviously, and we felt that if one of our kids decided that they wanted to take over and be a dairy farmer it wasn’t financially viable to do that because of the value of the land,” explains Ross. Having made that initial move while in their mid-50’s, they then borrowed some more money about five years later and helped their daughter Ashleigh and her husband James Oakes into a 175-hectare farm 3km down the road. Last year they purchased the 40 hectare run-off next door to their own farm. “So in the 10 or 12 years since selling the family farm we’ve done really well,” says Ross. At about the same time that Ashleigh and James moved in down the road their son Caleb stepped up to be Farm Manager, coming out every day from New Plymouth where he lives with his partner Charlotte and their two children. “Caleb’s more than happy making the day-to-day decisions but also happy to leave dealing with compliance, and managing staff and contractors to me for now, and we’ll see what the future holds,” says Ross. Caleb and Charlotte’s older child Liam (18) will soon start working on the farm full-time and his sister Kaya (14) helps out where she can. None of which would have been possible without that initial decision to move on from the family farm. The name of the Soffe’s Milking Shorthorn stud “Oliver Woods” is Ross’s way of paying homage to his family roots and ensuring they live on, albeit in a different form. “My great, great, grandfather who first settled the old family farm was a man by the name of William Oliver and when they settled the land they left lots of trees on it, so we had all these wooded areas, so that was part of where the Wood came from and my other grandfather was a Mr. Woods who came on the first ships that came to New Plymouth.” They established the stud in 1995 when Ross was looking to do something different alongside the pedigree Fresian stud his father had started in the 60’s. At the time milk fat didn’t figure highly in the milk payout compared to protein and the Milking Shorthorns were known for their high protein to fat ratio. Since then as payout priorities have changed again, with fat increasing in value, the Soffes have worked to improve their stud’s fat to protein ratio and are happy with progress having selected their genetics accordingly over 40 years. By the time Ross and Jo moved to Midhurst DAIRY PEOPLE » Ross Soffe they took 40 Milking Shorthorns in a herd of around 180 cows. They now milk 360 cows of which 100 are Milking Shorthorns, the rest being a mix of Friesian, Friesian-Jersey cross and Kiwicross. It was the look of the Milking Shorthorns that initially captivated Ross as much as anything and which is now generating wider interest. The Oliver Woods Stud breeds red, red and white, roan, and roan and white, with the roans being Ross’s favourite and often the favourite at the annual Shorthorn sales as well. They’re no slouches by other measures either, rating well on fertility and production, with the NZ Farmers Livestock and Livestock Specialist, Simon Payne, are delighted to support Ross and Joanne Soffe and their successful farming opera�on, Wee Brae Farm Ltd. Our dedicated agents are commi�ed to suppor�ng clients. For more informa�on, please contact Simon on 027 241 4585 or visit MyLiveStock.co.nz Proud to be working na�onally for over 100 years. At NZ Farmers Livestock Ltd we are 100% NZ owned and operated, and have a long standing and established history in the livestock market. We are proud of our online live auc�on pla�orm, MyLivestock, where farmers can ac�vely par�cipate (including bidding) via our website and app in livestock auc�ons streamed live and direct from saleyards and on-farm auc�ons. “Ongoing research & development results in superior products & performance advantages including; more yield, faster milking, no slip and no teat end damage.” Modern type Milking Shorthorn cows at Stratford Show. Liam, Caleb and Ross with a couple of Roan cows. ones the Soffes put up for sale averaging over 400kgs milk solids a piece as they select their best producers as a way to support the breed and help secure its future.
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