The Land Of Milk - And Milk?
NEW ZEALAND - Dyed-in-the-wool sheep farmers are turning away from their industry in droves, heading for the white gold that is dairying. That move is changing the face of the Mid Canterbury plains. Heather Chalmers talks to one couple who traded wool for milk.Record dairy payout prices and sheep farmer frustration at poor lamb returns are driving a surge in dairy conversions in Mid Canterbury, with possibly 40 new dairy farms coming on stream for spring 2008.
Mid Canterbury dairy shed builders say they are having to turn away business and are already fielding inquiries for the following season.
Each dairy conversion is a multi-million dollar development.
Lauriston sheep, beef and cropping farmers David and Jude Letham say they are converting because they have had a “gutsful” of poor lamb prices over the last few years. “We hung on for a year or two hoping things would improve. We’ve got to make better use of the land.”
By the start of spring next year virtually all of their 3100 breeding ewes will be gone, replaced by 1000 milking cows.
Source: The Ashburton Guardian