Together Mark and Sarah run their family farming operation near Morrinsville where they farm approx. 75 ha and milk about 195 pedigree Holsteins through 3 A4 Lely Astronaut robots.
Mark and Sarah installed the robots in 2016 when they converted their old 26 aside herringbone shed to a Lely Robotic milking system.
Mark had always been interested in robotics and the main driving factor was to start winter milk supply but didn’t want to milk all year round.
Having achieved their main goal, Mark and Sarah are now looking at other ways to diversify on their land.
This is mainly due to the robots giving them more time by removing the need to be in the shed to milk the cows and instead focus on new opportunities.
One of the options they have implemented are farm stays, which provides a unique experience for people to stay on the farm to get the real “hands on” experience of farm life. The farm stay has 2 miniature donkeys, Gigi and Eddie. There are also plans to increase the number to three as well as some miniature cattle
People who stay can also bottle feed calves in calving season and come to see the robots in action.They are making use of other areas of their land which includes planting a range of citrus trees, ( oranges, mandarins and lemons) to sell in the future while also trialing avocado trees.
If you would like to learn more about their farm including the robotic milking or farm stays please contact Mark and Sarah Hexter at firstclaasfarm@gmail.com