Adults and Teenagers
$40
Children (under 13)
$15
Pre-Schoolers
Free
Charlie and Dianna Shailer own a typical New Zealand dairy farm in the prosperous Waikato Province of the North Island. Charlie still works on the farm when required however the farm is now managed and operated by their son Gavin. The cows calve each year between July 10th and September 20th and are milked for ten months from mid-July to mid-May.
Visitors have the opportunity of viewing and interacting with two uniquely different farms. Firstly, the Shailer’s dairy farm milking 360 cows and secondly Pete’s goat farm milking 1,300 goats. The informative tours are available at 9am or 2.45pm. Visitors view two types of milking parlours used in New Zealand. The cows are milked in a herringbone milking parlour and the goats are milked in a turn-style, revolving milking parlour. The cows are milked once-a-day at 5am in the morning. Therefore ‘it is not possible’ for visitors to see the cows being milked. If visitors wish to see the goats being milked from a viewing platform then they need to choose the 2.45pm tour. Each tour is designed to suit the unique needs of the visitors and is influenced by the seasonal activities at the time.
Farm Tours take approximately 1 hour. A group of 6 or fewer visitors travel in a 4×4 farm vehicle. For larger groups, Charlie pulls a caged trailer behind the 4×4 with a maximum number of 12 in the trailer.
Charlie attempts to allow guests to interact with the animals where possible. Pre-booking is essential. (10% discount for families) Tours start on time. Late arrivals miss out!