Buller man behind the King Flip
| Published date | 11 October 2023 |
| Publication title | West Coast Farming Times, The |
Not only did he relocate to New Zealand with his parents as a child, but the challenging land on which his farm was established led to the creation of a soil management method that was named after his family.
Alex emigrated from Scotland in May 1963 with parents Fred and Jean, and brother Tom.
"My parents owned a small farm in Scotland, but dad had an uncle in New Zealand so that's where the attraction to emigrate lay," Alex says.
They moved to Westport in 1969, with Fred working as a Ministry of Agriculture inspector.
Alex attended Lincoln College in 1972, but after 18 months of studying for a bachelor of agricultural science he decided it wasn't for him. He returned to Westport and did contract gorse spraying for Land and Survey, fencing in winter, and a little bit of shearing.
Brother Tom joined Alex in 1974 to establish the King Brothers farm business. They leased an ex-town supply farm on the outskirts of Westport and started dairy farming in 1975.
They started with a crossbred herd, buying their first purebred Holstein Friesian heifer in March 1976 from Nelson and Jan Cook's Westland Stud. They bought 13 animals in total at the first sale, mostly by the bull Spreydon Lodge Kerk.
"They were good producers," Alex says. "We went on to buy more heifers each year to top up our replacements, buying 60 in total."
The herd was improved following the introduction of the Cooks' bloodlines that Nelson was generous enough to share, Alex says.
"I really appreciate Nelson's keenness to share his knowledge, and we've become good friends over the years," he says. "He has been an inspiration and a mentor."
In 1984 Alex went into the ballot system for farms at Cape Foulwind. The original plan for the cape was for 48 dairy units, milking 135 cows each.
"Unfortunately, due to Rogernomics the first year of ballots was the last," Alex says. "But I got an 111ha farm, which was the original trial farm on which they planned to see if dairying was viable on the cape."
The farm hasn't been without its challenges. The heavy pakihi soil -- which has a solid iron pan between 300mm and 1m below the surface -- became very wet in winter as it got waterlogged and could not drain away.
"In some areas we were able to push posts in by hand," Alex says. "Humping and hollowing the land seemed to help, but it did depend on the soil and gravel types."
In 1990 the family was undertaking...
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