Derford farm preparing for the future

Gary Kingston’s family has been farming in the Bream Creek area since the 1840s.

The house that he lives in at the top of the farm has a view of the entire area his ancestors settled more than 180 years ago.

The main block at Derford Farm covers around 400ha, but Gary also looks after a forestry plantation at Wielangta and blocks at Copping and Kellevie.

Gary started working on his family’s farm in 1982.

“When I took over from my grandfather, it was mainly a crossbreed ewe operation producing finished lambs,” he said.

“But that market collapsed in the mid-80s, so we slowly switched over to cattle.

“My grandfather had done cattle in the early years, but got a bit burnt when the Japanese market collapsed in 1975.”

While it varies year to year, Derford Farm has around 250 breeding cattle.

“We haven’t got any sheep at the moment, and that’s just because the way the season is,” Gary said.

Derford Farm also has Wagyu Angus cross cattle.

“We’ve been joining around 40 per cent of our herd to Wagyu under a contract,” Gary said.

“That’s been reasonable, but it’s starting to get tighter with the increased costs and the shipping situation.

“We’re not sure whether we’ll continue that.”

Another revenue stream has been agritourism. There is a cabin at Derford, along with camping grounds, which was established around 25 years ago.

“When my father retired, he did a trip around Australia in a caravan

“He enjoyed staying on other farms when he was away, so he set up one here.

“That was a little venture for him in his retirement.”

Gary’s son Sam returned to the family farm two years ago after working in construction and plumbing.

Sam said his main goal was to make sure the farm remained viable.

“I want to double the production on the farm and work our way to having a full-time employee.”

It is now the third year Derford Farm has run on its own irrigation scheme.

“We’re pretty much empty of irrigation water at the moment,” Gary said.

While they can to use water from a nearby rivulet, Gary said a lack of rainfall was becoming the norm.

“When I started on the farm 42 years ago, we used to get around 900mm of rain per year, but now it’s dropped down to 800mm.

“But what I’m finding now is that those dry times are stretching out longer.”

“This will be our third dry season this year, which is a worry.

“Hopefully the dry spell ends.”