Profitable goat farming operation shows niche milk production is more than just kids-play
Friday 19 October 2012, 4:53PM
By Bayleys
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An opportunity to be part of a niche sector within New Zealand’s diversified high-value dairying industry is being offered for sale – with the sale of an in production goat farm.
This Waikato property supplies the Dairy Goat Co-operative (N.Z.) Ltd - the world's leading commercial manufacturer of goat milk nutritional powder products. DGC developed the world's first commercialised infant goat’s milk formula.
Surrounded by more traditional cow-milking dairy properties, Roto-o-rangi near Cambridge is a 48 hectare property with a modern purpose-built 62 bale rotary shed currently milking 570 does with a further 260 kids being raised.
The farm is one of 50 shareholders in Dairy Goat Co-operative (N.Z.) Ltd – producing 20milllion litres of milk annually, and now turning over NZ$110million. This farm holds 55,000 shares in the co-operative. Each share is worth $23.
The farm operates a ‘cut and carry’ feed system – where pasture grasses on the flat contoured property are mown and fed to the goats, who are housed in large sheds to keep their health at optimum productivity levels.
Animals on the farm are kept in barns totaling 2136 square metres and arranged into four pens. Dairy Goat Co-operative’s policy is that goats are fed forages such as grasses, clover, lucerne, hay, silage or pasture plants grown on-farm or bought in from other farms within New Zealand.
Some 44 hectares of this farm is sown for animal-feed purposes. This dairy goat farm is being marketed for sale by Bayleys through a tender process closing on November 15. Bayleys Waikato country sales manager Mark Dawe said the farm was being offered for sale as a highly productive going concern – encompassing the land, buildings, shares, herd, milking plant and cropping machinery.
“The farm last year produced 38,000 kilograms of milk solids – a figure capped by Dairy Goat Co-operative (N.Z.) Ltd. The co-op’ has subsequently lifted the production cap, and this year the farm is on track to produce over 45,000 kilograms of milk solids” Mr Dawe said.
“Output has been boosted in part by herd improvement – sourcing kids and breeding stock from other established herds around the country.”
The current payout for a kilogramme of goat milk solids is $17. By comparison, Fonterra is paying out $5.25 per kilogramme of cow milk solids.
The property has a capital valuation of $2.4million. The farm comes with two residences – a four-bedroom home, and a separate three-bedroom cottage.
“Dairy Goat Co-operative has a ‘Farm Code of Practice’ which encourage best farming practices for the production of goat milk for the purpose of producing high quality and safe infant formula. The owners adhere to this code, which is now used to set world class benchmarks for milk harvesting, animal welfare, environmental issues, farm dairy presentation and milk quality consistent with infant formula products,” Mr Dawe said.
“Goat milk from this farm is used in products now sold in more than 20 countries – with the majority of inventory sold in Asia. A key marketing strategy for the co-operative has been to focus on delivering a range of premium specialty nutritional products made from New Zealand-origin goat milk and produced in pastoral-based production systems according to strict quality standards.”