ECan was cautious, but Leferink forged ahead and began looking at barn options.
ECan signed the consent and he built cow barns.
One year ago the farm was little more than a bare, dry block. Today it has two free-stall barns with 940 individual beds, dry cow and calving facilities and a 60-bale rotary shed with a high level of automation.
An equity partnership owns it and employs eight fulltime staff, with milking spread over eight- or nine-hour days.
"This was a means to an end for us. We wanted to show what could be done under the new land and water plan. This is an example of farming to meet and beat the rules," he said.
The first cows were milked on May 19 last year. They moved into the barns on June 30 and by August the second barn was completed and cows were calving inside.
"We had four key components when we were setting up - it had to be environmentally sound, it had to be a nice work environment, animal welfare had to be a high priority and the whole thing had to be profitable."
One year down the track, Leferink, who is also Federated Farmers Dairy chairman, believes that, thanks to top efforts by staff, the business has met all four criteria.
Along the way he has constantly been surprised by the benefits that come with cow barns in terms of production and animal health. He's battled environmental constraints, high expense, public perception, bureaucratic red tape and said making barn farming work is all about establishing good management systems.
A normal conversion to dairying costs between $10,000 and $12,000 a hectare, but barn conversion runs to between $25,000 and $30,000 a hectare. Although the Pannetts Dairies cows spend a good part of their lives inside, they still spend part of their lactation cycle outside. Most are keen to get back under cover, he says.
"Life in the barn is so easy on the cows, you open the door and the cows don't want to go outside. They'll go out for a run and come back in."
The easy life means he's likely to get four or five inseminations per cow. Calving runs year round at 90 to 100 animals a month. He can also buy cows out of season. An IQ system records where every nutrient on the farm is distributed. "This is all mapped so effluent and water go exactly where we want."
Rakaia Engineering built the two top-of-the-line barns, to a design that ensures a good airflow and natural temperature control. There is no fan-forced ventilation and temperature ranges between 15C and 18C.
Inside the barns there is no smell. Floors are scraped daily, food is cleared and restocked each morning and effluent is dealt with through a state-of-the-art separation and distribution system.
Barn cows produce significantly less nitrogen in their urine than cows living on grass.
Feed is one of the operation's biggest costs. The cows' diet is designed by a nutritionist and although most feed is bought in, the plan is to grow as much as possible on site in the future.
His cows are fed a total mixed ration laid out on concrete to prevent waste. He does not feed in the milking shed.
There are no health issues except for more hoof care and the need to mix vitamin D into feed during the winter to compensate for lost sunlight.
Leferink is budgeting conservatively on a payout next year of $4.68. He's not running any risks, however, and keeps about nine months' worth of feed on site. But if the feed is cheap and there's money in the bank he'll up his stocks.
Running a cow barn farm is about systems, systems and more systems, and it's also about achieving a good work-life balance for everyone involved - including the cows, he said.
"Our cows never run out of feed, they go to their own beds and choose their own neighbours. These cows are the happiest cows in the country; our staff know they cannot even lift a stick at a cow. There is no animal abuse. We even went to three times a day milking because the cows were standing there wanting to be milked."
It took about three days to educate the cows to barn life and to turning up to be milked; educating staff about the new system took much longer.
"Would we do this again? Yes, it's been beyond expectations. This is one way we can keep farming into the future. The catch is though, you can't pay top dollars for land and then put this system on top of it. This is not for all farmers. The skill base needed is very high and I take my hat off to what my staff have done in a year."
Arable or sheep farmers could use barns to convert a portion of their farm to dairy and continue their normal farming practices on the remainder, Leferink says.
"It's been capital hungry, but it's going well."
