Friday, March 29, 2024

Flying high and low

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Dodging jets isn’t a hazard for most farmers, but for Dunedin sharemilker Hamish Jenkins it’s part of the daily routine. He talked to Karen Trebilcock about the challenges of farming next to the runway.
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Hamish Jenkins 50:50 sharemilks for one of the more unusual landowners in southern New Zealand – Dunedin Airport.

“They know nothing about dairying so we use a farm consultant to bridge the gap,” he said.

“And being a corporate owner they stick to the budget, whether it’s a good payout year or a bad payout year. If it’s in the budget then it gets done.”

And while the cows don’t even look up as the flight from Brisbane arrives late afternoon, Hamish always checks on his phone when the next plane is due before bringing a mob of calves around the end of the runway.

“They’ll just scatter if one is coming in to land but the bird scarer causes more problems than the planes.” 

The well-fenced 91-hectare farm curves around the northern end of the runway while another 50:50 unit mirrors it on the southern end. The unusual shape makes the furthest paddock a 2km walk for the cows to milking.

“The beauty of it is we have 20ha on either side of the runway we can make silage on and the other farm also has 20ha. That’s what makes these two farms.”

He cuts the silage four times a year and feeds it out during lactation. Last year, which was a dry one on the Taieri, he made 280 tonnes.

“Depending what type of plane is landing or taking off, and what the weather is doing, I can usually keep cutting. I have to be in contact with the tower by radio all the time I’m out there. When it’s a big jet I have to stop. The best time to do it is starting at 3am and then there are no planes until 7am and that way I get a good run at it.”

It’s the second time Hamish has worked on the farm. He was there for two years as a contract milker for James Adams, who had it as a sharemilker. Hamish then contract milked for 11 years on the larger Adams home farm nearby (Dairy Exporter, February 2014, p 22), managing to slowly buy 120 cows but the step up to the 270-cow airport job was still a tough one.

“It was a squeeze. We don’t come from farming families so diversified to grow our money through rental properties which we sold to purchase the remaining stock. But we budgeted on a much lower payment. If we had known it was going to be an $8 payout that year it would have made it a lot less stressful.”

He grew up in Dunedin and “fell into farming” when he left school.

“I seemed to be able to handle the hours and handle the work so I kept at it. Plus all the people I worked for had boats and other nice things. We did own a couple of jet skis but we sold them to buy the cows. We’ll get them back one day.”

Now in the final season of the three-year airport contract, he’s keeping his options open but wouldn’t mind staying put.

“I think they’re pretty happy with me. Ideally I’d like to get up to 500-600 cows but it would be tough with a low payout. 

“There’s really no point looking at other jobs because you know the sums won’t work. It’s frustrating because at the moment cows are cheap and borrowing money is cheap.”

Although he would still like to have his own farm one day he’s not sure whether it’s the ultimate goal any more.

“I don’t want to be saddled with debt. Farms are just too expensive and in the end, is it all worth it? I didn’t get paid last month and I probably won’t get paid this month but we paid all our expenses – that’s just how it is in a low payout. We’re working hard with our business partners to make smart choices to enable us to continue in this industry.”

Teresa Walters is his only staff member and they share the tasks, each doing what they’re good at and enjoy. Although Hamish knows it’s hard defending having staff with such a small number of cows, being able to do a good job is important to him.

“If I was by myself and I ran out of time and a paddock didn’t get dusted and a cow died because of it, then it’s pretty easy to justify having a worker. Last year we only lost one cow and I think it was because we had the time to do everything that needed to be done. You’ve got to look at the big picture.”

Hamish’s wife Jody is the customer services manager at PGG Wrightson’s corporate office in Dunedin.

“Farming is my dream, not hers. We’ve tried being onfarm together and it didn’t work and anyway, I couldn’t pay her what she earns off-farm.”

Having a worker also allows him to play in a Masters soccer team and to coach his 11-year-old daughter Amity’s soccer team as well.

“I used to play rugby until I was 24 but I was getting injured every week. The soccer team I play for is entirely social and I’m the only farmer in it so it’s just good to get off-farm and talk about other things.”

Getting off-farm lately has also meant attending more discussion groups, dairy conferences such as SIDE at Lincoln this year, and learning to AI so he can mate his own herd.

“I’m trying to upskill myself as much as possible while I’ve got the chance.”

He did so well at the AI course that LIC offered him an apprenticeship last season and this year he expects to get a small run on the Taieri.

But even in a low payout year, he doesn’t want working off-farm taking his attention away from what his cows are doing.

“When we came here we budgeted on doing 95,000kg milksolids (MS) and that first year we did 119,000kg MS. Last year we did 124,000kg MS. We’ve increased to 300 cows this year but there might be a few that go after calving. I won’t be keeping any passengers.”

Last year he fed 60t of palm kernel but even though he can now buy it for $180/t he would rather spend the money on animal health and getting cows in-calf.

He wants to crack the 450kg MS/cow on grass but his bigger aim is reducing his 10% empty rate and increasing his six-week in-calf rate, which last season was 68%.

“I don’t know how to get my cows cycling when they’re pumping out 2.4kg MS a day. How do you do it? 

“We always AI the heifers and last year I did AI for 14 weeks with the cows and didn’t use bulls. The year before we did AI for six weeks and then the bulls went out and we got exactly the same empty rate so I don’t know yet what I’ll do this season.

“We had cows that went up to AI right at the start and then that was it and others that came up three or four times and both lots were empty when we scanned. What do you do?”

With long walks from paddocks to the dairy, he is “a massive fan” of 16-hour milking and last season started the routine in January when it got dry.

“I don’t see the point of dragging cows to milking if they can hold more milk. We never drop production by going 16 hours but we lower our costs. 

“The big mistake some people make is cutting back the feed when they do it. Don’t do that. Just divide what they need for the two days by three instead of four.”

All cows are grazed off in winter, and the young stock year-round, on farms on the Taieri. Onfarm he grows fodder beet for autumn milking and for the cows to come home to in spring, achieving a 20t/ha crop.

He usually raises 95 calves but this year might reduce the number to cut costs. Carryovers are also gone.

What else will be cut he’s not sure yet. 

“I’ve been having this discussion with Jody and at the end of the day if we’re not making money for season after season then why keep doing what we’re doing?

“But after so many years of being self-employed, I’m probably unemployable. I’m not sure if I could handle someone telling me what to do all the time. 

“And I love farming.”

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