Dairy support proves a viable option

摘要

After a six year stint in Australia, Grant and Kerry Florance returned to farm in their home country of New Zealand about seven years ago. The family farm in the North Canterbury region of the South Island had been traditionally used to produce primelambs from 3000 composite ewes and winter graze a small number of dairy cows. There was irrigation available to support high stocking rates and supplement the 800mm annual rainfall. "When we came home to farm, we found the low lamb prices were simply notcovering our high irrigation-pumping costs and pasture program, so we began looking to expand the dairy support side of our operation," Grant said.