Jun 11, 2026 · 30 min · 10 segments
West Coast dairy farmer Charlotte Aitken has taken an unconventional path to farm ownership, moving from a career in international banking in London to running her own dairy farm near Karamea. Anne…
Charlotte AitkenGuest
Anne LeeHost
We have 10 hectares of bush, but from that we have the King's Chain, which is on the beach, so which is about 10 hectares.
And I'm planting another three and a half hectares of lucerne, hopefully this spring.
But this year I'll be lucky if I be around the 200 mark because I didn't have a good in-calf rate.
Because last year I got hammered by facial eczema, which turned, I had a high empty rate, but yeah, it'll be okay.
out some of these highs and lows because you'd had that a couple of years before, then everything had come right.
And then obviously the facial eczema got you this time, which I think a lot of people don't realise that it is in the South Island, especially in those areas where you are.
And yeah, there's different ways people have in-shed feeding so they can get the zinc through there or they can put it through their water system.
But because there's so many water ditches or the humps and hollows, you know, you've got to make sure the cow actually gets it down their throat.
They were okay because we actually got in and put zinc boluses down there for the cow's throats.
We have 10 hectares of bush, but from that we have the King's Chain, which is on the beach, so which is about 10 hectares.
And I'm planting another three and a half hectares of lucerne, hopefully this spring.
But this year I'll be lucky if I be around the 200 mark because I didn't have a good in-calf rate.
Because last year I got hammered by facial eczema, which turned, I had a high empty rate, but yeah, it'll be okay.
out some of these highs and lows because you'd had that a couple of years before, then everything had come right.
And then obviously the facial eczema got you this time, which I think a lot of people don't realise that it is in the South Island, especially in those areas where you are.
And yeah, there's different ways people have in-shed feeding so they can get the zinc through there or they can put it through their water system.
But because there's so many water ditches or the humps and hollows, you know, you've got to make sure the cow actually gets it down their throat.
They were okay because we actually got in and put zinc boluses down there for the cow's throats.
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