WAIKINO STATION
Showcase farm
Tucked on the fertile western shore of Lake Taupo, Waikino Station is a converted beef and sheep farm which is now home to our Southern Cross™ milking ewes and a state-of-the-art internal rotary shed.
Utilising a Pastoral farm system
Outdoor pastoral grazing year round
When Waikino Station was developed as the base for our genetic programme, two ewe barns were built. These are used for lambing but ewes are grazed outdoors for the entire lactation. This is an important point of difference with other sheep milk producers internationally. The pasture-based system is preferred by both our suppliers and our customers. Our sheep love it too!
Infrastructure to Support Supply
Waikino Station’s facilities have been built to optimise efficiency and enhance milk production, with animal welfare in mind.
The dairy shed was purpose built and is a 64 bale internal rotary imported from France which has electronic in-line milk meters, automatic cup removers and Reporoa backing gates.
Our advanced electronic in-line milk meters enable us to measure the performance of every ewe at every milking.
Sustainable Farming
Maui Milk is passionate about supporting and ensuring responsible farming practices.
Sustainability is important to our values and we are proud that the Nitrogen Discharge Allowance on this farm, and our supplier's farms is calculated at levels typical of traditional drystock operations. We use cattle sparingly and make the conscious choice not to farm some areas to potential, to protect the environment.
Southern Cross™ Genetics
Since 2015, we've made dramatic progress on both genetic improvement and farm system development.
We’ve focused on developing a profitable, stable and sustainable farm at Waikino Station to showcase to New Zealand farmers that dairy sheep farming is an industry worth investing in.
Our showcase farm (Waikino Station) operates primarily outdoors. With our genetics programme we’ve developed our own breed of dairy sheep, the Southern Cross™, to create a hardy dairy ewe—a hybrid incorporating genetics from the world’s leading sheep breeds.
