18 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Bruce Eade The Eade farm incorporates Fairleigh Stud and covers 370 hectares. It split calves and peak milks 550 cows comprising Holstein Friesian, Ayrshire and Jersey. Russell Fredric West Otago dairy farmer Bruce Eade re ects how his neighbourhood was a Romney stronghold when he moved with his family from Tisbury, near Invercargill, nearly three decades ago. He also recalls how the original conversion of their farm to a dairy operation, undertaken by his parents Ken and Nancy Eade when he was aged 15, was one of the rst in the immediate district. “When we came here in 1995 it was a massive change for the district and for the whole of Southland,” he says. The conversion process was unexpectedly traumatic. “The cow shed [construction] was late, we were milking 80 heifers in a two-cow plant in a hay shed with an extension cord from running from a meter box. When they nally got the cow shed built we wheeled a wheel barrow up and down the pit, probably for another fortnight, until the milking machines were in so it was quite a shock to the system. “Pretty much anything that could go wrong in the rst year it probably did. We wondered what the hell we’d done.” The Eade farm incorporates Fairleigh Stud and covers 370 hectares of which the home farm is 250ha and a dry stock block across the road of 120ha and is very much a family business, with Ken and Nancy still actively involved. It split calves and peak milks 550 cows comprising Holstein Friesian, Ayrshire and Jersey through a no-frills 40 a-side herringbone shed, but Bruce and Tanya, who have four children, and Ken and Nancy have not been shy in investing in improvements and today’s farm sports good infrastructure and equipment. Early dairy conversion the right way to go • FOR ALL COMMERICAL & AGRICULTURAL TYRES • CAR & 4WD TYRES • CAR & 4WD WHEEL ALIGNMENTS • SUPPLIERS OF ALL BRANDS FOR ALL BUDGETS (03) 208 8110 - 24 hour on call service | 25 Ashton Street, Gore
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