| 99 nzdairy NZ CENTURY FARM & STATION AWARDS » Waihapa Trust ‘It’s just perfect for about 150 cows’. Waihapa Trust keeping things simple Randall Johnston Iain Sextus says it’s a fabulous achievement for him and his family to receive a Century Farm Award this year. Iain and his wife Katherine have been farming on their East Road property since 2003. The farm is 96ha total, 77ha effective. 2ha of the unfarmed land is an oil well site, while about 7ha (in two separate blocks) is under QEII covenant and part of what are known as the ‘Toko Wetlands’. Iain and Katherine are extremely proud of all the riparian planting that they have undertaken over the years and were recently recognized as DairyNZ Dairy Environmental Leaders. The land is about 80 percent flat, while 20 percent is hill country. They winter 275 LIC jersey cows, with about 50 going out to grazing. Calves are sent to the 26 ha run off early January and will return to the home farm as two year olds just before planned start of calving. “We try to keep things as simple as possible. We do twice a day milking up until we have about 1.2kgs of milk solids which is normally around February and then go to OAD. Our average is around 98,000 to 100,000 kilograms of milk solids per season. We’ve been doing A2 A2 bulls for years and we will keep doing that, the lowest 10 per cent BW cows go to Angus,” Iain explains. Long-term staff member Geoff Honeyfield has been a mainstay on farm, an arrangement spanning 11 years that has been working very well. “With my off-farm employment and as the kids started getting older we realised that we needed some help on farm and it’s been great, Geoff has been very good to us.” Iain and Katherine’s youngest child Ben is 15, middle-child Heidi is 18 and at Otago University, while their eldest, Abbey, is a second year nursing student in New Plymouth. A shift engineer for Fonterra, Iain says although it’s demanding juggling both that and the farm work, but he enjoys the variety of doing both. As a farmer, it is very handy having a mechanical background and Iain’s skills have certainly been put to good use over the years, especially with the installation of the effluent system and the remodelling of the cowshed. They used NuMatAgri to rubber the yard a few years ago and that has been a game changer. “It works really well, especially for the bulls or when you get a really wet winter and it’s just perfect for about 150 cows. They get longer claws, but that’s far better than dealing with lame cows.” “This land was part of the Harbour Board Leases. They were 21 year leases, but mum and dad (John) freeholded it. They got together with the neighbors and went to the council asking to buy them.” “Dad mostly used lower order share milkers; then in 2003 I was working at Fonterra and dad wanted a change, so that’s when we came home to work on the farm.” History Johann (Gus) and Carrie Sixtus purchased land in Toko in 1921. Based at East Road, 5km east of Stratford, the farm consisted of two survey blocks, separated by what was the original Patea river course. Due to volcanic eruptions or some other act of nature, the river now forms the back boundary of the farm. Being of German descent led to some unfortunate associations following WWI - so Sixtus became Sextus. Due to the difficulty of crossing the old riverbed, the back block of the farm was always run with five year old ewes, while the front block was run as a dairy farm. A good crossing was made with the use of modern bulldozers and diggers, allowing easy access to the back block. In the 1970s, the decision was made to gradually convert the whole farm to dairy. In 1973 a 17 bale rotary shed was built, one of the first in the district. As the farm developed with good pasture, cow numbers increased to 275 and the shed was expanded to 24 bales. 50 years later this shed is still in use and used as the main milking shed. The farm has supplied the Skinner Road and Toko Dairy factories, then Kiwi Dairies and now Fonterra. The crossing to the back block has been raised several times and the old riverbed developed with riparian plants. This area is now recognised as an area of natural significance by the Taranaki Regional Council and has been designated as the Toko Wetlands. Today the Toko Wetlands together with the stand of native bush are protected under a QEII covenant. In 1993 Petrocorp was granted a license to drill on the property. The well was a success and the oil was pumped to the back of the farm to the Waihapa production station across the river. The wellsite still supplies the production station. With the death of Gus in 1955, his son Russell became the owner and then in 1979 his son, John and wife Barbara purchased the farm. Their son, Iain and wife Katherine started sharemilking on the property in 2003 and in 2010 they purchased the farm and are still farming on the land to this day. Make better, fact based feed and herd management decisions with TRACKER™ 0800 300 313 | www.graincorpfeeds.co.nz Since the 1970’s we’ve proudly been the accountants for the Sextus family. Congratulations on 100 years! #greatrelationships “Ongoing research & development results in superior products & performance advantages including; more yield, faster milking, no slip and no teat end damage.”
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