82 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Puketitoi Farms Making good use of two herd-homes Katrina’s husband David is an electrician working mostly off-farm and they have two small children, Emily, 7 and Charlotte, 6. Virginia Wright Puketitoi Farm can be found about 30 minutes drive west of Whangarei in Northland, and 10 minutes from the family farm in Titoki where Katrina Pearson grew up. Her father bought that farm from his father, who had carved it out of the bush when he arrived from England in the 1950’s. Her brother Andrew Booth is the third generation on that farm, with his wife Vicky, currently 50/50 sharemilking. Katrina and her husband David moved onto Puketitoi farm seven years ago. The farm was purchased eight years ago by the family with shares now split between Richard and Sharron (50%), Katrina and David (36%), and Andrew and Vicky (14%). While Katrina and David’s goal is to buy the others out, for now they’re contract milking 480 Friesians on the farm’s 260 hectares with a 50-bale rotary cowshed and have been for the last ve seasons. They run most of their dry-stock on farm and are fully autumn calving which is where they make good use of their two herd-homes. “Being autumn calving we calve off the back of a drought most years, so generally the herd homes are a good tool to feed our freshly calved cows until we get that really good grass growth in April after the rst couple of rains. Our grass growth and milk curve are pretty much aligned,” explains Katrina. By the time the grass growth picks up after summer on Puketitoi Farm the cows are in and calved, and while a wet winter might mean some standing off in the herd homes, “generally the cows are pretty good at utilising what grass is there without causing too much damage, and we move them on quickly once they’re done,” says Katrina. They typically then have good grass through to mid-summer and when the summer-dry really hits they’re already drying off their earliest calvers. For Katrina coming to Puketitoi Farm was a return to dairy farming after 10 years in the police force, and while staff management has its challenges the rest makes it worthwhile. ‘I love the farm and I love doing all aspects of the farm particularly herd improvement. The herd improvement has come a long way since I took over, with milk quality and genetics. So far this season we’ve been well under 100 with our cell count and that’s something we would never have been looking at achieving ve years ago. And just looking at the herd, the herd itself looks much better with udder con rmation and the likes.” says Katrina. • to page 83 PROUD TO SUPPORT PUKETITOI FARM LTD 50 Office 09 433 1733 Eden 021 0842 6587 Warren 027 391 4777 vcon.office@gmail.com HAY · SILAGE • SPRAYING • FENCING CULTIVATION • SEEDING • FEED SALES Proudly associated with Puketitoi Farm Ltd We specialise in: Earthworks • Site Preparation • Bulk Cartage • Roading All Types Metal Supplies • Farm Drainage • Bottom Dumper Trucks & Trailer www.catesbros.co.nz Phone: 09 438 0052 Email: accounts@catesbros.co.nz Custom solutions to help your business grow! !
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=