The Springs Junction couple scooped the West Coast-Top of South Share Farmer of the Year title, two years after being placed runners-up in the Waikato Farm Manager of the Year award.
And it would never have happened if Renee hadn’t got hooked on the Australian McLeod’s Daughters television series as a teenager, or Jesse hadn’t turned his back on dairying and followed a career path toward shepherding.
Both ended up at Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre to gain farming skills, where they teamed up and changed their career paths to dairying, beginning with a management job on a 110-cow farm at Waimauku near Auckland.
It was a giant leap to their next management role on an 1100-cow farm at Piopio that climbed to 1600 cows over three seasons as more land was developed.
It was a case of sink or swim, but provided broad experience and a mentor, Ben Watson, who has played a big part in their career.
“He helped us achieve where we are today. It really helps when you have someone who is 100% behind you and wants to back you and point you in the right direction,” Renee says.
Ten years down the track, they hope to own their own “piece of dirt”, which Jesse says will be the cheapest land they can find that they can make profitable.
“We helped do that at Piopio where we developed more land and I really enjoyed turning it into something that could make a profit.”
Along the way they have managed a range of dairy farms, from high-input to low-input, and two years ago moved to the South Island where they are contract milkers on a 900-cow Dairy Holdings farm at Springs Junction; an isolated community near Lewis Pass with a population of about 200 people in a 100km radius.
Their contract differs from the norm in that they provide all the capital equipment and pay 20% of the bought-in feed costs, among other costs. They are also able to bring their own animals into the herd to be leased by Dairy Holdings and now have 110 cows in the herd, with another 60 joining them this year.
“It means we’ve been able to rapidly grow our equity in stock and also the capital package because we’ve had to have it,” she says. “For us it has worked out positively. We rear calves for our own business and we think of it as compulsory saving.”
Genetics is an “addiction” for Jesse and the goal is to eventually have a herd with a breeding worth (BW) that ranks in the top 5% in the country, with a bull named “Big Wednesday” in the LIC sire team, to reflect a win on par with Lotto for them.
“It’s a key driver to getting to where we want to go and the aim is to have a desirable herd and make $1/kg milksolids (MS) in livestock sales through high BW surplus heifers, high BW bulls, cows, culls and bobby sales.”
Managing Ben Watson’s dairy farm gave them the chance to work with one of the highest, ranking herds in the country and today they do gene marking for all their own animals.
They also plan to buy a couple of contract cows, partly as a hobby, but also adding better genetics into their growing herd.
At Springs Junction, the 354ha farm with its 300ha milking platform operates a system 2 on the DairyNZ scale where they winter the herd and harvest surplus pasture to provide the bulk of their supplementary feed.
This year they have 54ha of swedes planted for winter grazing – a season that can get half a metre or so of snow on the ground and last year experienced a week at minus 11C.
“I prefer the low-input system,” Jesse says. “When there’s a high payout we’ll make money and when there’s a low payout we’re not floundering. It’s always easier to put feed in than take it out.”
Next season the farm will increase cow numbers to 950 because it has a new pivot for irrigation through summer and will need more mouths to eat the increased pasture production.
The couple also won the DairyNZ Human Resources award, the Ecolab Farm Dairy Hygiene award and the Honda Farm Safety and Health award.
When it comes to human resources, Jesse and Renee remember what they needed as employees and strive to meet those needs with their own staff of four full-timers and one part-timer.
“It was something we really wanted to work on right from the start, “Renee says.
“We’re very isolated here, so it’s about trying to keep our staff happy. No amount of money is going to make them stay here; they have to be happy.
“The best way is finding out what makes them tick. We have two Indian staff who love getting a pat on the back and doing ITO courses and they want to gain citizenship, so we try to get them to where they want to be. Our 2IC is fantastic and helping him increase his skill level has been a key driver.
“It wasn’t that long ago that we were employees. It’s a feel-good thing to know that your contributions to the team are appreciated and above all, valued. When you’re working on a salary and working your guts out, you sometimes just need a pat on the back.”
A young family that includes four-year-old Alex and 15-month Ryan means they have had to learn to separate family life from working life and find their place in the isolated community. And it’s no different for their staff, she says.
The health and safety award reflects their clear targets and they stick to the manual religiously.
Renee says Dairy Holdings has clear protocol to follow which is miles ahead of most farming companies.
“We implemented it from day one and the staff know what the expectations are. We have our responsibilities and theyknow the targets and everything is clear in black and white. And we do it religiously.”
One of the benefits of working with Dairy Holdings, Jesse says, is having its support and access to a team of experts.
Working alongside them has helped develop a strong business and that relationship has proved invaluable, he says.
Second place went to Darryl and Tammy Schwartz, who are 50:50 sharemilkers at Kowhitirangi and Ahaura 50:50 sharemilkers Blessing and Patricia Hwata were third.
