Hew Dalrymple in a pump shed attached to one of three new bores on Te Hou Farm, near Bulls. Photo/Bevan Conley
Hundreds of hectares of flat sandy country near Bulls is being developed for irrigation and intensive food growing on the new Te Hou Farm.
The development is very expensive - but the farm will become extremely profitable, Hew and Roger Dalrymple say.
It was formerly Flock House, an AgResearch farm used as a training school. Its 1250ha was bought three years ago in a three-way equal partnership by the Dalrymple brothers of neighbouring Waitatapia Station, the Ngā Wairiki/Ngāti Apa iwi and the Atihau-Whanganui Incorporation.
It's still in a development phase, with improvements to a dairy unit and other areas that grow dry stock, crops and vegetables. But the potential is much broader than that, Hew Dalrymple said - it could grow pork, chicken, berries, fruits and export of chilled red meat.
If the Ohakea Air Force Base 12km away was open to other aircraft then specialised product could easily be jetted off to anywhere in the world.
"China took its first plane-load of chilled meat on Saturday, and we all like to eat as if our garden is a summer garden all year round now."
The farm had an existing dairy unit on 320ha of the best, free-draining river soils. It now has a herd of 950 cows and an independent manager with five staff and a contracted adviser.
At the moment it's the main earner of the farm, while the sandier soils are being developed.
The warm, irrigated, free-draining soil could eventually employ a lot of people. At present there are three or four people working constantly, on contract and managed by the Dalrymples, preparing large areas for irrigation.
Te Hou has three new water bores, all about 50m deep, with pumps run by diesel generators. Working at capacity they can churn out more water than the town of Whanganui uses, Mr Dalrymple said.
There's no shortage of water, the brothers say.
"We are very lucky in this area. The central North Island is like a massive bucket which catches rain for us and sends it all down here, mostly underground."
There are no signs their water extraction has affected other users or allowed salt water to seep in underground.
"Horizons says it is completely sustainable. The water has been pouring out of there for a very, very long time."
Contractors are making those sandy soils into well-drained 50ha paddocks. First trees are logged off the dunes, stumps removed and topsoil pushed into a pile. Sand from the smoothed-out dunes is spread across the land and topsoil put back on top of it.
It's an expensive process, but worth it, Hew Dalrymple said.
"Topsoil is pretty precious. There's not much of it in coastal areas. It's worth spending the capital upfront to keep it."
This sand country should reach full production in about three years. The large paddocks will be watered by 10 US-made variable rate pivot irrigators, remote controlled from cellphones.
They will grow grass and are already finishing 10,000 lambs and 250 steers a year, as well as grazing replacement heifers for the dairy unit. They are also growing maize, malting barley, peas, pumpkins, squash, onions, oats and lucerne, with three-year spells in grass between crops.
The development work has cost more than budgeted, Mr Dalrymple said, but has been offset by the high price timber logged off the sand dunes is getting.
The Te Hou dairy unit has also been upgraded in the past three years. It has new lanes, a new stock water system and feedpad, and parts of the pasture are now irrigated.
The cows eat 65 to 70 per cent grass, with the rest supplementary feed. The feed includes lucerne, maize and silage and all of it comes off the farm.
There's an eight million litre effluent storage pond, and effluent is irrigated to pasture. The farm has nine houses, with dairy staff in some and the others rented out.
It was a tough first two years for the dairy unit, with a $3 to $4 a kilo payout for milk solids. Prices are looking better this year and there will be room to expand the dairy side with more irrigation later - if the board wants.
Te Hou also has 120ha of forestry on its sand dunes, and wetland enhancement is planned for the future.
This year it is wintering thousands of bees, for Comvita/Kiwi Bee. And there will be bees there in the next summer, because Ngā Wairiki/Ngāti Apa is starting its own bee business.
The tribe would like to have its own people working the land in future. The Dalrymples say they will always choose the best person for any job.
Te Hou is right on the boundary with their own 1500ha Waitatapia Station, where they raise dry stock and grow crops on their own behalf.