| 33 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Antje and Soenke Paarmann Farm ownership goal a reality for couple Richard Loader Bordering the Puketi forest, an ancient kauri forest in the heart of Northland, the farm that Soenke and Antje Paarmann now own in equity partnership, is nestled 20 minutes west of Kerikeri, in the beautiful Far North. The farm is 178 hectares effective / 212 hectares total, with the difference made up of laneways and native bush that primarily consists of totara and tea tree varieties. The bush is a legacy of when it was converted to farmland 45 years ago, with the steeper country, unsuitable for dairy cows, and preserved in its native state. Sitting between 320 metres and 370 metres above sea level, the farm has a cooler, more favourable climate, more akin to Waikato than Northland country. Soenke and Antje started their journey on the farm seven seasons ago, with the first six as 50/50 sharemilkers. Since arriving on the farm, the hard-working couple have been heavily involved in its development, firstly with the removal of gorse and other weeds, then rocks. “The problem is with these rocky paddocks you couldn’t do any pasture renewal with them. So, in order to do pasture renewal we had to get rid of the rocks, or most of them anyway. It’s quite a money intensive exercise, so you can only do it bit by bit each year, but we are making good progress. :Some of the rocks are twenty plus tonnes, and some we cannot move because they are too big. Anything we can move with a 20-tonne digger we remove, then fill up the holes with top soil from a quarry on the farm. Then we have to cultivate it and usually we have chicory as a summer crop. The paddocks that we develop go into summer crop, and each year about thirteen per cent of the farm is in summer crop.” Last season the couple entered into equity partnership in the farm, buying a third of the partnership company’s 1800 shares, and changing their role to Contract Milker. Soenke says that as he and Antje can afford to they will buy more shares, with the goal of eventually taking full ownership of the farm. “We hope to have half the shares within eight years, and are considering taking on another fiftyfifty role to boost our cash flow, and increase equity in the partnership at a faster rate.” The couple emigrated from Germany about 18 years ago after completing agricultural degrees. Neither came from farming families and Soenke says that in Germany and Europe in general, unless you do so it is quite hard to get into farm ownership. “You are limited to being a farm manager or operations manager. I developed a love of tractors and machinery, then animals, at quite a young age, and Antje’s passion was more about animals, so we both knew we wanted to go farming. “During our studies we travelled New Zealand for four months, got to know the country and quite liked it. After our studies we decided to come to Soenke and Antje Paarmann have recently entered into an equity partnership in the Northland farm. • Round & Square Hay and Silage • Cultivation, Cropping & Drilling • Maize Planting & Harvesting • Bulk Haulage • Conventional Hay • Weighbridge Services • Lime and Fert Spreading • Digger Hire Ryan & the team at RTA Contracting are proud to support Antje and Soenke Paarmann 160 Hariru Rd, Ohaeawai RD2 Kaikohe office@rtacontracting.co.nz 021 813 421 Proudly supporting Antje and Soenke Paarmann Highway 407 1195 Kaikohe 401 1536 Kerikeri 407 7354 Waipapa 401 6654 Kawakawa 404 0842 New Zealand to go farming with the goal of being self-employed and owning a farm, a goal we are well on the road to achieving.”
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