8 | nzdairy DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS » Goldfields A high standard contract milking business This year’s Share Farmer of the Year Third Place winners, Petrus and Mariette de Klerk, runs an efficient and high standard contract milking business in the Waikato region. Taking part in the Dairy Industry Awards within the Central Plateau Region this year, they proudly received three merit awards: Ecolab Total Farm Hygiene, LIC Animal Well-being Recording and Productivity and Honda Farm Safety Health and Biosecurity. “This was our first time entering the NZDIA mainly to see how we could improve our business and the feedback we got was very insightful, but we certainly didn’t expect to win any awards,” Mariette said. This 320ha farm, recently named Ngapuke after the rolling hills, houses 660 milking cows on average and rears roughly 600 calves each season. With a 220 effective hectare milking platform, Petrus and his team produced 281,686 kgMS for the 2024/25 season despite the drought and had received an award for being grade free this season with Miraka. The farm is classed as a system 4 farm feeding a combination of pasture, grass silage, in-shed feeding and winter forage crops (kale and swedes). “I’ve had a great passion for farming since I was little and still enjoy the experimental side farming. I find so much satisfaction in seeing the results of changes made on the milk production. Comparing the inputs (money we spend), to what we get out (money we make) is a driving factor of our success,” Petrus said. The business name, Goldfields Limited, is a reminder for Petrus and Mariette of their home country, South Africa and is named after a 14,000ha dry stock farm they worked on. Now working for Pokuru Pastures Limited, they can’t speak highly enough of their superiors, saying that they had become more like family over the years. The same praise was returned to them by the judges of the NZDIA stating that the dairy shed on Ngapuke was “the cleanest dairy shed they have ever seen.” Petrus and Mariette are also proud to be part of Miraka’s Te Ara Miraka Excellence Programme and to say that they have achieved 5 straight A’s for the past 5 seasons. The judges of NZDIA also pointed out that a strength of their business is the relationship that Petrus and Mariette have. Their unique and different perspectives on business and life makes for a strong combination to achieving success. “My wife is the one who handles the business side of things and I’m the one who simply enjoys farming and milking cows,” said Petrus. “Living in New Zealand provides a better, safer future for our family and allowed our children to The business name, Goldfields Limited, is a reminder for Petrus and Mariette of their home country, South Africa. Need support on yours? Give us a call for a free consultation on howwe could help you. 44 Te Heuheu Street Taupo | 07 376 1700 info@strettons.co.nz | facebook.com/strettons Proud to be supporting Petrus and Mariette on their farming journey. PROVIDING THE BEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR OUR CUSTOMERS COOLING, HEATING & PERISHABLE GOODS REQUIREMENTS create their own paths in life. Currently our son is an apprentice joiner in Taupo, and our daughter is studying for a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science,” said Mariette.” As if that isn’t enough to be grateful for, we’ve also managed to buy our first home in New Zealand,” said Petrus.
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