Firm ideas on the sort of property they wanted to buy followed by hard work developing it have paid off for father and son team Charlie and Brad Cockrell.
Brad Cockrell – particular about animal health.
Hard work and happy cows
Some people steer clear of working with family members, but for the Cockrells the family farm really is a family affair. They told Glenys Christian parents, children, partners and in-laws have all had a part to play in developing the successful enterprise.
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Cows first and foremost
Cows very definitely come first on the Cockrell farm at Mangatawhiri.
“Staff are taught to give cows the upmost respect,” Brad Cockrell says.
“The cows do 300 days a year on and we do eight and think we’ve done well.”
The father and son and their three staff, who live onfarm, as well as one swing man who can be moved to different tasks around the farm as needed, have a strict policy of no lactating cows running, no dogs on the races, and no sticks in the dairy. Any feet problems are picked up straight away with staff recording any incidents so there’s a gradual build-up of data on the whole herd.
“Cows are king,” Brad says.
Staff don’t have it so bad either, with Sundays and public holidays being times when they can complete onfarm tasks, then head home. Their usual eight on, two-off roster switches to seven on, three off in late summer and autumn, allowing them to plan ahead for time off.
“I try to get staff to be engaged in the farm,” Brad says.
He believes variation in their work is important, so anyone who shows a particular interest in one task is able to spend more time on it. He’s also keen that they get to see the full cycle of what dairying involves. One Filipino worker, who was a barista a year-and-a-half ago, is now studying Primary ITO to Level 4.
“If they’re not excited to see the milk docket they’ve got to question whether they’re in the right job.”
Brad gives staff a monthly milksolids (MS) target to reach which is broken down into plus or minus for each day’s total production.
“Everything we do through the season comes back to the milk in the vat,” he says.
“And the staff input and work doesn’t go underestimated.”
To show his appreciation in an even more tangible way he’s now looking into an incentive-based system to reward them for targets met.
