Waikato dairy farm sold for record $20 million

Media Release

Waikato dairy farm sold for record $20 million

22 August 2008: A large, high-performing dairy farm near the Waikato township of Huntly, marketed exclusively by Harcourts, has been sold as a going concern for $20 million – an amount believed to have set a new Waikato record.

Successful Harcourts Business Owner and Rural Sales Consultant Kevin Deane says the “superbly improved” 538 hectare farm at Naike, 26 km west of Huntly, was sold by negotiation to a dairy farming family partnership with significant landholdings elsewhere in the Waikato.

The new owners, who intend to continue running the property as a dairy farm, paid what is believed to be the highest amount ever for a Waikato dairy farm sold as a going concern, Mr Deane says, explaining that the sale included 1100 cows, a substantial Fonterra shareholding and a wide range of machinery.

Superbly improved in recent years and producing just under 400,000 kilograms of milksolids per annum under the previous ownership, the property is described by Mr Deane as “a South Island-scale dairying operation in a fantastic central North Island location”.

It includes approximately 500 hectares in pasture (divided into 82 well-fenced paddocks), a near- new 50-bale rotary cowshed and a new 10-bay shed alongside, a woolshed, eight haysheds spread around the flat to rolling farm, two large calf-rearing sheds and an implement shed.

There are also some pockets of native bush, a few acres in crops and some ponds that are well-utilised in duck-shooting season, according to Mr Deane. In addition the property includes four three-bedroom houses – two brick and tile homes and two weatherboard houses, one with a pool.

Mr Deane says both parties are thrilled with the outcome of the sale process.

“After a decade’s work converting and developing the farm the previous owners, Just Do It Ltd, were ready to pursue new opportunities and they can do that now. Meanwhile, having purchased a top-notch dairy unit the new owners, the Coombes family of Taupiri, are equally excited about the future,” he says.

ENDS

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