Federated Farmers President Colin Hurst Adds Dairy Farm

Colin, his wife Janis, son Nick and partner Alice took over a dairy farm right next to their established arable operation in June and last week a Fonterra tanker arrived to pick up the first milk from their new dairy farm.

The 600-cow operation is based on a 260ha effective platform, a mere fence away from where they grow wheat, grass seed and turnips.

The Hursts already have a 700ha property of which 450ha is cropped and the remainder is devoted to grazing their own and other farmers' cattle.

Colin Hurst says the purchase of the dairy farm was part of the family's succession planning and will enable son Nick and partner Alice to have a stake in the overall business.

He says he grew up looking at the dairy farm and is aware of challenges ahead.

"It's right next to the sea, so there are quite a few challenges with water, and the soils are heavy which present challenges when we get heavy rains. There are also a couple of waterways that run through the farm," he told Dairy News.

Hurst says while his son and partner are 50/50 sharemilkers on the new farm, they have employed a contract milker which enables Nick to continue to be involved in the family's arable property.

He says there is potential to increase production on the new dairy and integrate in with the arable side of the business.

"On our arable farm, we have always grazed cattle and dairy cows and at one stage even sheep. But now we can graze the cows from our dairy farm on the arable land, and it also means we will be able to rear calves, and we know that we will have a market for our grain. So, there are now significant synergies for both sides of the operation," he says.

Hurst says he's always been keen to have young people on the farm, and this latest move is all about succession planning and keeping the family business going.

Hurst took over as Federated Farmers president in June this year after serving three years as vice president.