Out on the farm with Peter Langford Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Karamea dairy farmer Peter Langford says he and his wife Debbie are ready to hang up their gumboots.
With none of their four children keen on taking over the farm, it is now up for sale - lock, stock and barrel.
"We've done 25 years here and it's done us very well, but it needs another custodian," Peter tells Country Life.
"We've got a herd of cows that are in the top 10 percent in New Zealand, the machinery's in reasonable working order and the shed's full of hay."
Bordered on three sides by the Kahurangi National Park, the farmland sits in a pastoral valley at the end of a gravel road.
Debbie's family have owned the property since the 1930s and Peter says since taking the reigns, production has gradually increased.
"When we came here there were 180 cows, now we're milking a herd of 300.
"We bought and developed another 100 hectares of land on a terrace above the farm, and that's allowed us to milk the 300 cows."
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
To receive the keys to the farm, Peter reckons someone will have to front up with about $4 million.
"So do you want to buy it?" He asks RNZ's Cosmo Kentish-Barnes.
"After my next paycheck?" Cosmo suggests.
"Bring the cash in a suitcase and the farm's yours!" says the ex-Federated Farmers Provincial president.
Unfortunately, that sale has not gone ahead, but Peter and Debbie have since had some genuine interest in their turnkey dairy operation.
Beyond the farm gate, Peter is also a trustee of West Coast Rural Support Trust - a charitable organisation supporting the rural community when times are tough on the farm or in the family.
"If there's something happening, even if it's a flood event or if people are in financial strife and can't put meals on the table, we'll give them vouchers for grocery shopping."
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Photo: Sue Roper
Peter is also involved with the Karamea Community Catchment Group, which is currently collating water-quality data to see how the catchment can be improved.
So far, the results have been excellent, he says.
"Everyone's put fencing up, people have put plantings in and we've got an outfit called 'Clean Streams Karamea' that was started by farmers and run by locals."
The Catchment Group's keen to start trialling the use of dung beetles on Karamea farms.
Research suggests the insects could provide benefits to the ecosystem, including improved soil health and reduced runoff, he says.
"You put them in a fresh cowpat and they bury the dung and lay eggs in the soil profile lowdown. They aerate the soil, take the dung down and it's not running off into streams."
One of the first tests for the trial are weka - a common sight on farms in the area and they eat just about everything.
"They love stirring up cowpats and would probably have them for lunch, so we're not sure if the beetles can dig down quick enough or can fly away," Peter says.
Click the 'Listen' button above to learn more about the Catchment Group and Support Trust.
A juvenile weka showing the curious nature of the species. Photo: RNZ / Alison Ballance
A dung beetle Photo: RNZ/Nikki Mandow
Photo: CSIRO
