84 | nzdairy RURAL SERVICES » Paul Franklin - Hawkes Bay Irrigation Dam is something of an insurance policy Knowing he has water on tap when it is needed has given Paul the confidence to expand. Kim Bowden Hawke’s Bay dairy farmer Paul Franklin says it’s been so wet the last four seasons he’s barely had to draw on the seven-hectare storage dam he built on one of two dairy farms he owns in Springhill. “It’s about 500,000 cubic metres, which is about 500 million litres, if you want to get your head around that,” he says. “It’s a lot of swimming pools but, then again, when we’re irrigating these two farms we’re pulling water out at close to 200 litres a second, so it does disappear.” The dam is something of an insurance policy - when levels drop below a threshold in the Waipawa River his water take gets cut off, and the dam becomes a lifeline. “It’s all about water security. You get a dry year, and it has happened, and we go to the dam and pump the whole dam out.” Despite the investment, Paul isn’t complaining about not having to call on it in recent times. “We’d much rather have it (water) from the sky than through having to pump it. People think water is free, but no one irrigates unless they have to. The power bills can be quite horrendous.” Knowing he has water on tap when it is needed has given Paul the confidence to expand – that, and a bit of right time, right place opportunity too. He has three farms on the go, employing up to 35 people. In addition to the two at Springhill, there is the Ingleton farm in Tikokino – also close to drought-proof thanks to a bore water supply. “We’re milking 1,600 cows on there.” Across the side-by-side Springhill properties there are close to 3,000 more. Then, at Christmas, he picked up “another dry stock farm next-door”, which he’s just put a new centre pivot irrigation system on. “We weren’t expecting it to come on the market, but it’s just an absolute no-brainer, considering we have the spare water. It’s not going to create much more work, but it makes us more self-sufficient.” Paul says the latest acquisition means he’ll be less reliant on buying feed and grazing out young stock with other people. He talks to NZ Dairy while he is in the ute, walking heifers down the road, readying for autumn calving. “Each farm is calving close to 350 cows for the winter milk contract as well as the later calving spring cows are also milked into the winter. It just gives us a few more options and it utlises staff,” he says. “It means you get more total days in milk.” He thinks the region is well-suited to it. “We’re on drier, free-draining country, and we get a lot of byproducts from the canneries and fruit factories, which other areas haven’t got, and we Power Farming Hawkes Bay | 06 879 9998 Proud to support Paul Franklin - Springhill Dairies 49-51 Takapau Road, Waipukurau, Central Hawke’s Bay 06 858 9109 manager@millshonda.co.nz We are proud to support Paul Franklin feed that to our winter milkers as well.” Alongside the day-to-day farming, Paul loves the business development side of life on the land, and he reckons he’s still got a good few years left in that game. “I’m driving down the road at the moment, looking across at our farm, and I see these pivots, and I’m thinking, ‘Well, 30 years ago there was none of that’. “People don’t just stop at 65. The physical stuff slows down, but it’s a big business, and it’s got to be run.” For all your dairy livestock requirements contact Brownie: Phone: 027 271 4722 Email: sandfly1@xtra.co.nz Proud to support Paul Franklin - Hawkes Bay Irrigation
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