Is 10 acres of maca farm worth the labour?

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Sun, 02/10/2013 - 14:52 #1

Member for

11 years 2 months
farmerspeteandkate
Last seen: 02/18/2013 - 19:56
Joined: 02/10/2013 - 14:29

Is 10 acres of maca farm worth the labour?

We are looking at purchasing a 10acre property on the NSW Northern Rivers. The property has approx 800 mature macadamia trees, a dam and silos/ dryers. 

We are complete novices and could really use some help with answers to the following

* what would be the best type of mower, a zero turn or a tractor/slasher? We have a budget of around $5000 - $6000 max and need to keep the hours of mowing to a minimum. 

* given there is no harvester and maca harvesters are expensive  we are thinking of hiring in a crew to do harvesting. I guess there wouldn't be any profit on 800 trees if hiring in harvesters?? We've been told the trees could yield $3000 per annum, but that was from the agent who just wants to sell the property.

* we never really intended to buy a maca farm, but the house and land are ideal. From what I hear, the nut prices are quite low.  Would we be better to knock down the trees and run goats other animals? Any ideas what it might cost to have the trees knocked down? I guess they would need to be burned to get rid of them?

* could we run some boer goats with the maca farm?

Thanks.

Pete & Kate

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Sun, 02/10/2013 - 23:09 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Pete and Kate,

I can't answer the question about the harvester or whether you should keep the Macadamia trees or not, but I do have some input and a question concerning the goats. If you want to run goats to keep the grass and weeds down then there are a couple of things to consider.

The first is, what type of fencing does the property have? Fencing to contain goats should be of the hinge joint or ringlock type type or plain wire electric fencing. Otherwise if it is just the barbwire cattle type fencing, they will be off and away at the first oportunity- every goat knows that the grass is always greener in the next paddock.  

The second thing is, if you intend to let them graze between the Macadama trees, is what type of irrigation do the trees have? if it is the poly pipe type with the little spinners on it, on the ground, or the drip irrigation at goat height type in the lower branches then the goats would probably chew them off (as will cattle) Both of them just love the feel and taste of the poly pipe as they chew it. I was told by one vet from DPI Qld that they love the slightly salty taste of the plastic. To be beyond the reach of the adult goats the pipe for drip irrigation, would need to be at least 1.8m off the ground because goats are browsing animals that stand on their back legs to trim the lower branches of trees.

The little orange spinners (miniature sprinklers) cost $3.50 each. A friend let her goats into the mango orchard and before she realised what they were up to, they had eaten, or mostly chewed beyond recognition, more than a hundred and fifty of them.

I don't want to put you off, but thought that you should know the above before you decide on whether to buy the goats or not.

Cheers,

Barb

 

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Mon, 02/11/2013 - 08:05 #3
rmcpb
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/22/2012 - 11:13

This reply comes with all my macca growing experience - NONE Smile

If I was looking for some animals to run under cropping trees I would not choose goats as they can be a bit hard on the trees. I would probably go for some sheep, easier to fence in (except for dorpers) and they are grazers not browsers so, while they will have a bit of a nibble, they will primarially eat the grasses under the crop trees and not the trees themselves.

Cheers
Rob.

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Sun, 02/17/2013 - 19:52 #4
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

 

Hi Pete and Kate,

I did some research on Macadamias a few years ago. Below were some of my findings, they are general in nature but may provide you with some useful information. The big issue I can see with macadamia production is the high running costs. If the combined yield and nut price drops below the running costs you are immediately going to be running at a loss. They are expensive to establish, therefore I would think long and hard before pulling the trees out. If the market is down at the moment like most agricultural products it is likely to turn around just as quickly.

• Macadamias account for only 1% of total nut consumption in Australia, room for expansion.

• Similar to olives, requires well drained soils.

• Difficult to grow close to the coast due to sea spray and other conditions.

• Start producing at 4 years of age, 1kg/tree, building up to 10kg/tree at 10 years of age.

• Average sale price of $3.00/kg (may be different now).

• Plant 312 trees/ha at average price of $20/tree.

• Capital costs of $10000/ha for ground works, irrigation tree planting plus the cost of land. Equipment investment required for years 1-3, $100,000 (tractor, slasher, sprayer), years 5+, $100,000 (harvester, nut handling equipment).

• Running costs years 1-3 of $1500-2000/ha, years 4-5 of $2000-3000/ha, years 5+, $5000-6000/ha (extra costs for harvesting and insurance).

• Gross margin of $3500-4000/ha at maturity (10 years of age).

Regards,

Charlie

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Sun, 02/17/2013 - 20:45 #5
farmerspeteandkate
Last seen: 02/18/2013 - 19:56
Joined: 02/10/2013 - 14:29

Thanks for your help so far. Lots of food for thought. 

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