Taranaki dairy farms saved by $10/kgMS payout
Only this season’s $10/kgMS bumper payout has saved some dairy farms along the Taranaki coast from absolute disaster due to the present drought – dubbed as one of the worst ever for some.
The Van Leeuwen Group- owned by Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen – has spent $22 million on the farm - it will milk 1500 cows and operate 24 DeLaval robots.
Production started last month; half of the barn is in operation with 12 robots. Contractors are working on installing the remaining 12 DeLaval robots.
Aad van Leeuwen expects the barn to be fully operational by Christmas.
Feed bunkers on the side of the barn can hold 4.5 million kg of dry matter.
Milk production is expected to top 1.2 million kgMS. Van Leeuwen expects production per cow to top 750kg.
* Read the full story in Dairy News October 13th issue.
