28 | nzdairy John Glasson about to hang up his gumboots The home farm and run-off near Helensville is at the southern end of Northland’s Kaipara Harbour. Kelly Deeks After 54 years milking cows on his farm John Glasson is about to hang up his gumboots. The lease is about to expire on his run off block and it will make the dairy farm unviable. “I’ll play it by ear. I might win Lotto,” says John who doesn’t yet know what he will do. “I’d go mad living in town so I’ll see what we can do to keep the farm going in some sense.” The home farm and run-off near Helensville is at the southern end of Northland’s Kaipara Harbour. The land around him is getting sliced up into blocks for homes so he says finding another run off block will be difficult. In its hey day in the mid sixties John says there around 320 suppliers to Kaipara Dairy Company. Now there are less than 20 dairy farms in the area. John has been milking a herd of 120 cows on 54ha and dry stock and replacements on the 65ha run off. He says he hasn’t got a mortgage on the property so he could keep living on the land but insurance and rates are a large cost so he’ll have to put his thinking cap on to find another income source. John is a bit of a local legend - still running the farm at age 80 largely by himself apart from son William giving him a hand in between working in forestry. Wife Megan was helping out until recently but has also decided to hang up the gumboots. “I enjoy farming but I’m getting a bit dilapidated,” says John who refuses to give up the rural life. “I’ve got a few joints not working as properly as they should so it’s probably time to give it up. But I’ve always enjoyed fighting Mother Nature and wondering what on earth she’s going to do next.” And she’s thrown both extremes at the farm recently. Cyclone Gabrielle ripped a lot of the poplars out on John’s drain bank so every time it rained afterwards it would flood. But a great autumn saw the Kikuyu “grow like fury” with all the rain and warmth. “So we did alright production wise that season, which we haven’t done this year as it got wet last winter and we got damage from pugging. Then in spring it was a bit cold and the grass didn’t grow and the cows didn’t know what producing milk was. So last year, 2023/2024, I was down 10,000kgsMS in production on the year before giving a total of 30,000kgsMS. So that was about a quarter of my income from milk solids.” John has been on the farm for over half a century, returning home in 1970 from working offfarm to help his father, also called John Glasson, on the farm the latter had bought six years earlier. The younger Glasson took over the property in 1980. DAIRY PEOPLE » John Glasson Caleb Jackson Contracting Caleb a Rural Business specialising in: • Round Hay & Silage Bales • Conventional Hay Bales • Full Paddock Renovation • Re-grassing • Fencing • Other Ag Services l i i li i i : ntion hayandsilage@gmail.com CalebJacksonContracting 027 252 5526 il il. l i Braybrook Livestock Transport 027 371 0337 braybrooklivestock@outlook.co.nz Servicing North Auckland But Mother Nature never stays still keeping John busy: “This season we are just starting to calve and haven’t done a lot of damage to the pasture this winter so as long as we get a bit of warmth and regular rain it should be better than last season. But you never know with farming.” BIG SAVINGS on 4 Ranger Models SP 530, Ranger 570, XP 1000, Diesel. Farm ready kits available. Finance packages available: 2.99 % over 24 months with 3 equal payments. 1/3 on delivery, 1/3 in 12 months, 1/3 in 24 months.
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