Dairy focus at former mill site

A business park focused mainly on dairy-related industries is to be established on the former Blue Mountain Lumber site near Tapanui.

Tapanui Investments Ltd has bought the 44.9ha site, which has 23 buildings, and is setting up the Tapanui Agriculture Centre. Project manager Kevin Fleury said the centre would start by manufacturing specialist bovine nutrition products.

The company planned to have the operation up and running as soon as possible, Mr Fleury said.

"This way, we're turning what's potentially a liability into an asset for the community."

The company had "put its money where its mouth is" and was keen to make the business venture a success, he said.

The company already had several tenants renting space at the former Blue Mountain Lumber site. Those operations would run alongside the new venture, he said.

"The site's so large, we can accommodate quite a number of activities," he said.

The company had identified a need for employment opportunities in West Otago.

"There is an obvious pool of people looking for work. We're looking to create employment," Mr Fleury said.

The company would be running a holistic dairy management programme encompassing the building of cow houses through to the development of specialised bovine nutritional programmes designed for individual cows.

Sister company Total Dairy Solutions would be based at the West Otago site, manufacturing cow houses.

The aim was to provide a system which would increase milk-solid production without needing to buy more land for dairy operations, Mr Fleury said.

"It's a proven international system." The system allowed for herds to be housed indoors during certain times and use pasture when suitable.

"Capital costs might perhaps be higher than traditional methods but the end result was higher productivity," he said.

The company had hired an Israeli bovine nutritionist with 30 years' experience in dairy operations overseas.

The tailor-made system would have financial benefits but also meant cows were kept in optimum health, Mr Fleury said.

The company was in the process of signing contracts with local suppliers for feed. including hay, baleage, seed, vegetables and fruit, which would form the core of the specialist supplementary feed.

Tapanui Investments Ltd director Jonathan Hendriksen, who is also co-owner of Terrace Downs golf resort near Mt Hutt, said buying the West Otago site provided a good opportunity to start a venture in the area that would provide employment.

The company looked at what the growing industries were in the area and what complementary businesses could be set up, Mr Hendriksen said.

The company had settled on a dairy support operation.

The long-term vision was to have a dairy support hub which might include training and education and technical support.

"It will be a great use for a wonderful site." He stressed the venture was in its infancy and it was "way too early" to say how many people would be employed at the site.

Winstone Pulp International, the owner of Blue Mountain Lumber, closed the milling operation in October 2009.

Winstone Pulp International managing director Dave Anderson said yesterday the company sold the West Otago site to Tapanui Investments Ltd earlier this year. At that time, Winstone Pulp had wound up the Blue Mountain Lumber company.

- Magaret Phillips