James and his wife Louise have signed a four-year contract milking 500 cows in a split-calving operation for Anne Kellaway in Karaka.
Some people have questioned their decision to take on debt and start sharemilking in the volatile dairy market, but the couple see it as an opportunity.
James is always focused on pasture and has worked their budgets on a low-cost system. He has already made a list of ways to improve pasture utilisation on the new farm.
The Dairy Industry Awards have been a gateway to securing a good job, through networking with top people in the dairy industry.
“It definitely helped us get the job, it put our CV to the top of the pile.”
The awards had also been significant for fine-tuning their business, James says.
Going through the process of the competition helped him get a better handle on the financial side of their business, which has helped them go to the next step.
“We did scenarios on different-sized farms. It gave us the knowledge to do that and set up budgets and cashflows for a sharemilking position.”
As a result they are able to skip the 200-cow sharemilking position and will be half-way to achieving their goal of farm ownership.
They are taking James’ nephew Matheson Taylor with them, who has been working with them on their current 480-cow contract milking position at Miranda on the Hauraki Plains.
Matheson will move up to 2IC and James and Louise are helping him build his own equity through purchasing cows.
People are what are really important in the dairy industry and it’s important to give back, James says.
“I had a really good mentor when I started out and it rubs off – you’ve got to give young people the opportunity.”
The couple plan to continue to pay off debt and grow their equity to be in a position to keep moving forward towards farm ownership.
