Goal realised on Murchison farm

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 28

Goal realised on Murchison farm

Bruce Robertson likes nothing better than climbing a small hill at the back of his Murchison farm and taking in the view.

For the view includes his own farm, a 93ha dairy unit on the banks of the Buller River which he settled in June last year. Thirty - seven - year - old Bruce Robertson and his wife, Pam, were latecomers to farming.

Bruce worked as a fitter and turner in Auckland for 11 years, but there was always an inkling at the back of his mind that he should go farming. They finally took the plunge — Bruce gave up his city job and they worked for wages on a dairy farm in Waikato, milking 450 cows. It was hard work although enjoyable but the call of city life and the consumer society caught up with them and the Robertsons returned to Auckland after three years. Only a few months lapsed before they realised that the city was not the place for them to live and bring up children, so they opted again for the country life. Bruce Robertson then set himself a goal — farm ownership before he was 40 years old (he was then aged 32). They moved back to the Waikato, managing a development block for one year and sharemilking for the next three years, milking up to 240 cows. When the Robertsons were in a position to buy a

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farm, they looked at sites from Kaikohe to Taranaki and Whataroa before Bruce visited the Matiri Valley, near Murchison.

He could see the potential of the farm although it was in a rundown state. “What’s wrong with hard work?” asked Pam, and the Robertsons moved in. Finance from the Rural Bank came through in only three weeks and the Robertsons brought 40 Jersey heifers with them from Waikato, a costly exeicise but well worth it, said Bruce. The farm cost about half the price of a similar sized unit at Matamata. Pam Robertson said the family had to make sacrifices in their living standards to go farming and had only three weeks holiday in the last nine years. But now they were on their own farm the day would soon come when they could catch up on some of the things they had missed. Having achieved their goal of farm ownership, Bruce and Pam Robertson set about reaching another target — a five-year development programme to double milkfat production. “It’s a good bit of land ideally suited to dairying; it just needs the work,” said Bruce. Most of their work so far has involved clearing blackberry and ragwort, repair-

DAVID LUCAS

ing fences and installing a new stock water system. They have concentrated on getting the good parts of the farm in good heart and then slowly bringing in neglected areas.

The most expensive part of the development work has been the application of fertiliser, but this had resulted in a terrific response from the pastures. Some topdressed paddocks had provided double the quantity of feed from untouched paddocks.

Poor pastures were given a coating of 2.5 tonnes of lime per hectare, and then the whole farm received an application of potassic super. The Robertsons are milking 133 cows on 68 milkable hectares. Another 12ha has been drained and cleared of rushes and ragwort this season and will increase the milkable area to 80ha for next season.

The five-year programme includes building up cow numbers to a level of 195.

Milkfat production this season was budgeted at 14,000 kg, but at this stage it looks like reaching 17,500 kg. Before the Robertsons took over, the farm was producing almost 14,000 kg from 123 cows and the farm was 45ha bigger than at present. This extra land has since been sold to a neighbour. The present herd comprises a mixture of breeds,

including Jerseys, Friesians and Shorthorns, but Bruce Robertson wants eventually to have 75 per cent Jerseys and the balance a Friesian cross. This combination had worked well in Waikato and Jerseys were not as fussy as other breeds in wet conditions.

Bruce Robertson has quickly adapted to the different climate of the Murchison area by taking part in a local farm discussion group and heeding the advice of locals. The growth pattern of pastures is three weeks to a month later than in the Waikato, but the

grass keeps growing during the summer and there is another flush of feed in autumn.

Silage and hay are made later in the season, and the area is well suited to silage. The Robertsons have made 3500 bale equivalents of silage this season, plus 400 bales of hay.

Part of the development work this winter will include converting the oldstyle milking shed to a 16-a side herringbone model.

Many years ago there were 23 dairy farms in the Matiri Valley, but now there are only three, although they run much bigger herds.