The big blue silo lowered into place recently on Andy and Anna Thompson’s dairy farm near Hokitika is a vote of confidence in West Coast farming.
After many years of planning, Ballance has installed its first urea silo on the West Coast, and identified another nine sites to follow suit as soon as possible.
Getting fertiliser to the Coast has always been a mission, says Graeme Smith, Ballance General Manager Sales & Marketing, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
‘The twin challenges of costs and logistics make this a tough market to support, but in the near future we will have 10 urea silos leased to West Coast farmers,’ says Graeme, ‘and we will continue to expand to meet market demand.
‘It is particularly pleasing that our first installation serves one of the Coast’s prominent dairy farmers in Andy Thompson, who is well thought of in radio and farming circles.’
The Thompson’s run a 220ha dairy farm at Awatuna, about 10 minutes north of Hokitika. Andy says they started using Ballance because the product mixes and prices were second to none.
‘Coupled with this, the on-farm technical advice I receive ensures my business thrives,’ says Andy, adding that the new silo is part of a cunning plan.
‘In the case of the Ballance urea silo, I am excited and relieved that they are now available, so I can con my father into spending hours on the tractor spreading urea,’ says Andy.
Ballance’s West Coast technical sales representative Paul Turner sees the silo as a breakthrough after four years of planning, helped in part by Ballance’s move into Nelson and its $2 million expansion of its service centre at Rolleston, near Christchurch.
‘We can ship urea from our plant at Kapuni direct to Nelson now, or through our port store in Christchurch, which is about three hours away by road from Hokitika,’ explains Paul.
‘It still leaves us a bit of work to do to cover the Coast from Haast to Karamea, but we are determined to meet the demand from Coasters for our products.’
The potential exists for Ballance to ship direct into Greymouth and Westport should the number of silos warrant it.
Ballance also supplies product in 500kg bags, but having a 12-tonne bulk storage silo on farm will make life a whole lot easier for busy farmers.
‘You don’t need a loader machine or additional staff. Just back up under the silo and pull the lever,’ says Paul. ‘The quality of the product is also assured, as the silo keeps it protected and dry.’
He says Ballance has a new style of silo under development that will improve the storage conditions further, particularly in regards to temperature control.
3 November 2010
