“I guess every farm kid wants to be like their dad and drive the tractor,” Sterling says.
“I remember being about six and going to get the cows in for milking on my own with the four-wheeler.
“And the earliest memory I have of driving a tractor is at the age of 10 when dad would let me drive up the race to the paddock and then take over. When he had finished the job he would let me drive back down the race.”
The 96-hectare farm has been in the Sterling family for more than 100 years. Sterling’s parents, Rob and Ann began leasing it in 1979 and bought the farm in 1985.
Leaving school Reuben moved to Palmerston North and went building for about five years. When his dad told him he wanted to stop milking and was thinking of converting to drystock, Sterling returned home to take over. He is now lower-order sharemilker milking 115 cows.
That was 15 years and since then he has amassed a small collection of tractors and various other equipment so the tractor to cow ratio is high compared to other farmers who might have one or two at most.
Between him and his Dad there is a suite of seven tractors. The other bits of machinery floating around too include a baler, wrapper, combi-baler, sprayer, two mowers, a conventional baler and a plough.
“Over the years we’ve collected more gear.
“We weighed up using contractors but they are not always available to come and do the job when you want them so we bought our own gear.
“We are completely self-sufficient and we have pretty much everything we need to do the job ourselves.”
Each tractor is allocated for different jobs, one is designated for feeding out, one has the mower attached all season, one tows the mixer wagon and another has the hay rake on the back.
Having lots of tractors and designating them to a specific job means he saves time when changing jobs. He can jump from one tractor to another rather than wasting time changing the implements.
“When we’re doing silage bales everything is ready to go. There’s no need to spend time changing gear around.
“It’s a bit of a collection. Some of them are over 60 years old and not really that flash. I learnt how to drive in them and they were old then.”
But while they are still going Sterling will keep using them.
His uncle Roy is a semi-retired mechanic and helps keep the machines maintained and fixes them if anything breaks down. Rob is a semi-retired electrician and floats around helping on the farm where needed. He can weld and do the basics so between him and Roy the gear is looked after.
A few years ago he decided to invest in a newer, more modern tractor he could use to do the odd local job here and there to help pay it off. It helps justify having the gear and creates some diversity for his operation.
“It is a good way to make some extra income, especially being a small farm.
“It is great to have a tractor with a cab and air conditioning as well as a heater that actually works.”
They also bought a conventional baler so he could do their hay and the odd job for nearby farmers.
“We usually use it do the outside round of the paddock to have a few small and easy-to-handle bales on hand for down cows and feed for calves.”
In the rest of the paddock they use the combi-baler, which speeds up baling.
“I can bale and wrap with one machine and they can sit in the paddock till I have time to get them.”
Included in their array of equipment is a power harrow and drill Sterling was keen to use to increase pasture quality. He sows about two hectares of sorghum every summer and uses chicory in his regrassing programme.
They run a System 2, feeding palm kernel and tapioca at the start of the season before the spring flush but pasture use is key.
“We have a mixer wagon but we don’t use it if we don’t have to.”
The mixer wagon was bought when Sterling and his dad were trying winter milking. They found the winter premium was gobbled up buying extra feed and the extra running costs and reverted to seasonal supply.
They have a custom-built mobile feed trough for mixes and silage, which is fed in the paddock.
The Friesian and Friesian-cross herd averages about 335 kilograms of milksolids. Sterling describes the land as being marginal for dairy so they try to achieve the bulk of their production before Christmas.
“Once it dries out production drops right down and we end up having to nurse our cows through until we get some autumn rain.
“This season gone we actually dried off just before Easter because it was so dry. Because of the summer dry he has been trying once-a-day milking. Traditionally, he goes OAD in January when it gets dry but last year he milked OAD all season.
“There are a lot of pros with OAD on a smaller farm.
“I find it less stressful. I always feel like I’m rushing to get jobs done before afternoon milking.”
Sterling has a daughter, Harper, and being OAD makes it easier to spend time with her.
“I start later in the mornings and don’t feel bad for waking Harper up early. It also allows me to pick her up after school.”
He is keen to remain OAD. It suits his lifestyle so he will give it another go next season before committing permanently.
Sterling is unsure what the long-term plan will be. Being small scale limits options and he wants to get out of the shed eventually. For now, he enjoys the lifestyle and having the flexibility to spend time with Harper.
And if he won Lotto?
“I would probably buy a couple of nice John Deere’s and a drystock farm.
“But first I would take a year or two off to go off-roading and hunting around the country.”
