The couple attended the Mark and Measure course in 2010 when they won the regional final of the farm manager of the year competition.
Five years on from the course and they’ve already crossed the line a year early for one of their major goals – owning all the cows in the 900-cow herd they 50-50 sharemilk.
Jess says the most enduring aspect of the Mark and Measure course is what they call the vision wheel – a planning wheel that identifies their vision and sets goals across a range of areas in their farming life along with the strategies they need to achieve them and the key areas they need to monitor along the way to ensure they’re on track.
But just as a wheel keeps turning, rather than going through the process once, they keep reviewing and adjusting their goals and strategies.
Jess says this winter will be the fifth year in a row they’ll call on the skills they learned in the Mark and Measure course and revisit their goals and strategies.
Don says some of their goals have changed over time as they’ve achieved milestones and as opportunities have arisen, so going back and refreshing them annually helps keep them moving forward and growing their business.
Monitoring their progress is ongoing and means they can adjust strategies if they need to.
“The goals we set were real and achievable and the course gave us the tools to create a pathway to get there,” they say.
