History
Camden Dairy Farms Ltd, the first company in the Camden Group, was formed in 1994 to purchase and develop a dairy unit near Dunsandel. The 221ha Camden farm initially milked 480 cows but with further development the stocking rate has increased to 700 cows, producing 300,000kgMS/Yr. Five full time staff are employed on Camden.
Willsden Farm was purchased in 1997, initially as a dryland support block. 200ha of the 297 ha farm was converted to dairy in 1999 with the remaining area used as support land for the dairy operations.
In 2001 a 650ha dryland sheep farm adjacent to Willsden was purchased. 120ha of this property was added to Willsden increasing its size to 417ha, enabling the dairy farm area to be increased to 306ha, milking 1,050 cows producing 470,000 kgMS/Yr. Willsden Farm employs 6 full time staff.
A further 280 ha of the purchased land formed Prairie Farm, milking 1,000 cows and producing 450,000 kgMS annually. Prairie also employs 6 full time staff.
The balance of the land purchase, 250ha, formed Chiswick Farm. Chiswick along with the 95ha of Willsden (345ha) was farmed as a support land unit, providing feed and grazing, for the 3 dairy farms. Chiswick was converted in 2016 to dairy, and now milks 900 cows, to produce 382,000 kgMS, and employing a full time team of 5.
Camden Group purchased a fifth farm, Burnham Farm in June 2010. Burnham Farm is a 388 ha irrigated property at Burnham, which has been developed into a grazing unit for the dairy farms dry stock. Burnham has a team of two.
Highbury Farm Purchased in 2015 and was originally a dryland sheep farm. It has been converted to the Groups dairy support unit, and included removal of 8km of mature pine shelter belts, relocation of house, garage and 6 bay hay shed, installing new access lanes, installing irrigation and stockwater system and increasing base fertility.
The Group is also involved in three well established joint venture businesses with long serving staff that 50% sharemilk three dairy farms in Te Pirita, West Eyreton & Culverden.
Terimicow Holdings Ltd, (established in 2008) is a joint venture with equity partners Terry Kilday and Mike Lucey. Terimicow sharemilks 1,050 cows in Te Pirita.
The second joint venture is Alto Holdings Ltd, which was established in 2009 with equity partners Tony and Anna Wakelin. Alto 50/50 sharemilk 1,250 cows, and lower order sharemilk 1,200 cows, both at West Eyreton.
The latest joint venture is Nordhof Holding Ltd, which was established in 2012 with equity partner Timo Christophersen. Nordhof 50/50 sharemilk 650 cows in Culverden.
