Perseverance of Rotokohu

• Published date: 09 March 2022

Nick's farms at Rotokohu were inundated with floodwaters in February, blocking access to land and stock and taking out underpasses and kilometres of fences. Nick and wife Jane spent eight years share milking at Wellsford, north of Auckland

Nick also did the hard yards there as a shearer, milking in the mornings before joining the shearing gang for a day's work, leaving Jane to milk at night.

"My body is now paying for it," he said.

Along with twins Shona and Carly, Kim and Chanel, the couple moved onto their first dairy farm at Inangahua in 1992.

After 10 years they branched out and also began a two-year stint leasing Dave and Karen Camp's dairy farm 'up the road' at Rotokohu, which they went on to buy.

The family moved onto that property.

"Mum didn't like that house though so we moved back to the house opposite the sawmill," Chanel said.

Eventually, in about 1996 they bought Swamp Creek Farm, further down the Rotokohu Straight towards Reefton, and later sold the Inangahua farm.

"I'm too busy to keep track of dates!" Nick said.

The Sluys also purchased 'Perseverance,' a 100ha block on the opposite side of the Inangahua River from Rotokohu at about the same time.

Nick has spent 17 years on Swamp Creek, milking 460 cows. He fluctuates between twice or once a day (OAD) milkings, depending on the weather and the payout.

He now has share milkers on Camps, as it is known. Craig and Sarah Suckling have share milked there for the past 12 years, milking 325 cows.

In the early 2000s, Nick and Jane also purchased Oakburn, near Cronadun, because "it became available".

A manager now runs the 500 cow farm, running twice a day and once a day herds.

"It is easier that way when we get a wet spring.

You don't want to push the cows too hard or they won't get in calf which puts the following season under pressure."

Nick said one of the biggest challenges he has faced during his time in the dairy industry was going from the Dairy Board to farmers owning their own dairy company. "All those years of low payouts through bad management!

"It was very hard - very stressful for us and for dad," said Chanel.

"With the $3.80 payout, we had to borrow another half a million dollars," Nick said.

"When we started at Swamp Creek, we paid $300 a month for power at the shed. This season, on OAD, it is $2700 a month."

Nick is critical of the power company putting new lines in along the banks of the Inangahua River.

"That has to be paid for and we are paying the price in more ways than one."

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