Kaipara farm for sale

The Kaipara harbourfront drystock grazing farm.

A harbourfront drystock grazing farm which has been owned by the same family for more than 125 years is for sale.

The 227ha property, in three titles, is located on Summer Rd, Matakohe and has a 2.03km coastline along the Kaipara Harbour.

Having first settled the property in the late 1800s, the Whitehead family have farmed sheep and beef cattle there since.

In more recent years the, focus has been on finishing heavyweight Angus and Angus/Fresian cattle for the works and McDonald's market.

The farm is marketed for sale by tender, with offers closing on March 2, by Bayleys country property specialist John Barnett.

He says this sale represents a unique opportunity for potential purchasers to buy a farm that offers the best of both worlds - farming and time at the beach.

The farm, a proven beef producer, has been lovingly farmed over the decades with good investment into fencing and fertiliser, representative in the pasture quality and recent soil tests attained, he says.

And when the work day comes to an end it's only a mere 20 paces from the farm to one of the property's three sandy beaches.

The land area consists of 215ha of flat to undulating to easy hill grazing land, 10ha of native kauri, puriri and manuka bush which have been mainly fenced off, along with 2.39ha of radiata pines which were planted in 1994. The property's CV is $2.04 million.

"The farm's owners, Ken and Heather Whitehead, have very fond memories of the property through the years. Family picnics, setting the flounder nets, launching the boat off the beach and heading out for some snapper with their parents, their kids and now their grandkids, as well as just sitting back in their deckchairs listening to the sound of the surf rolling across the sand," he said.

Ken Whitehead says some massive snapper have been caught in the family dinghy just off the beach.