NZ Dairy Winter 2021

88 | nz dairy Strong milk price trend a positive Richard Loader DAIRY PEOPLE » Ardern family T aranaki dairy farmer Neville Ardern leads a successful family farm operation that has been built on a consistent commitment to development over decades, but he’s worried that the new freshwater regulations could potentially put the brakes on the industry. Neville started out as a sharemilker with his brother Shane. By their early 20s, the brothers had bought their first farm together near Opunake. The pair remained in partnership for eight years, through to 1989, until launching their own separate family farm enterprises. Te Kiri, west of Mt Taranaki, is where Neville and his wife Beverley put down their roots. They have three dairy farms in the area with a combined holding of around 700ha: the home farm of Merivale milks around 560 cows; Ardern Family Farms milks 530 cows at peak; and the largest under- development unit milks 500 cows. This unit, called Tom Hargreaves Farms Ltd, is named after Neville’s stepfather who originally farmed at Merivale (and gave the home farm its name). “We will produce 760,000kgMS this year, up from 700,000kgMS last year,” says Neville. “We’re not yet where we want to be with production. There is more work to be done. This is only our second year with the Tom Hargreaves platform being at the size it is – 260 hectares – with one cowshed at the end of the farm. We’re planning to build a new shed up there, which will be a lot more central. “We’ve had huge growth in the last six years, so we’re now at full capacity and looking to consoli- date with what we have from now on.” The couple’s eldest son Thomas is a 50/50 sharemilker on the Ardern Family Farms unit and has shares in the Tom Hargreaves property. His younger brother Noel, named after Neville’s father, is the family’s ‘machinery man’. A family affair: Taranaki farmers Neville and Beverly Ardern (middle) flanked by family members, son Noel (left), his wife Jo with baby Jack and their son William and (at right) son Thomas and his wife Monique with their daughter Bettina and son Carter. • to page 90 Farm Effluent Services P: Trevor de Malmanche on 0508 GET FES M: 021 964 150 A/H 07 873 8224 • We have over 2 kilometres of hose • We run high horse power pumps & secondary pumps to boost flow when needed WE HIRE: WATER PUMPS, STIRRERS, TRACTORS, TRANSPORTER Effluent Spreading of Oxidation Ponds Schurr & Ireland is proud to support Merivale Farms