Northland goat farmers’ $24m dream crumbles under bank pressure and industry slump

Milking goats has been Barry and Judy Foote’s life.

“Farm becomes part of you, mate. Your animals, that’s why you get up in the morning,” Barry Foote said, emotionally, while reminiscing on 50 years of farming along the old Russell Rd, out of Whakapara.

It was once worth over $24 million. Now, they could be left with nothing.

Their goats are all but gone, much of the farm is on the market and the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is pushing them to sell up and move on or be pushed into a mortgagee sale.

That means their retirement could be renting somewhere in town.

Barry and Judy Foote stand to lose their goat farm in a forced sell-off after 46 years on the land. Photo / Jason Dorday

BNZ’s general manager agribusiness and corporate banking David Handley said it has continued to work with the Footes, as it had done since 2020 when the business was impacted by Covid-19.

“We will be meeting with them and their advisers again shortly as part of our ongoing efforts to find a solution for them as they try to exit their business.”

Adviser and family friend, Rob Simcic, has proposed that BNZ enter into a confidential settlement over the shortfall – something the bank has declined.

BNZ has instead threatened to issue Property Law Act Notices and put their last block through a mortgage sale. That’s despite having paid the bank $3.5m in interest in an eight-year period, by Simcic’s reckoning.

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