Taking a step back

Steve Ireland’s late mother always told him that when she and Steve’s Dad retired they had all these wonderful plans, but their health stepped in the way and the plans were like fine grains of sand in the ocean. Her advice was to do what you can while you can and young enough to enjoy them, and that is exactly what Steve and his wife Nina are going to do. Having made 58 orbits of the sun, SouthCanterbury dairy farmer Steve has decided the time is right for he and Nina to take a step back, and engage a Contract Milker, which they have done from the beginning of this season. The couple have farmed in coastal South Canterbury, just one farm from the ocean, since 2003 when they converted a dry block to dairy, adding a run-off a few years later that is used for calf rearing, heifers, bulls, and winter the cows. “We’re hands on active people on the farm and other things, which we enjoy, but we’re not getting any younger and it’s a lot to manage the two farms,” says Steve. “I’ve developed some off-farm interests including mountain biking and I have adventure motorbikes. Nina rides horses and has a group of friends that she rides with several days a week. Previously we’ve employed staff and not managers, so this move was about being able to step back a little bit and enjoy those things. We will still manage the dry stock farm and rear all the calves, because that is where our passion is.”

This year, under the mantle of the Contract Milker the farm will milk 450 cows, budgeting to do 225,000kgMS. “We are around 80% Jersey and 20% kiwi cross. We have a high genetic herd and supply a lot of bulls to the industry, and wanted to maintain that. Having a contract milker come on and milking our cows with us still having the genetics allows us to achieve that.” The Contract Milker is Philip and Julia Harrison. Philip had previously worked for Steve and Nina as 2IC three years ago, leaving to take a contract milking role in the Waikato. “When we were thinking about bringing a Contract Milker on we contacted Philip as we knew he was looking for a bigger Contract Milking position. Philip has also employed one of his brothers as 2IC and they are both just as keen on cow genetics as I am. That was a real advantage to us. They are so interested in recording, genetics, and motivated to keep the herd genetics going. John and Philip have twenty-seven of their own cows and do embryo work.” As part of the process, Steve and Nina employed a Farm Consultant, Heather Lawson from Living Land Consultants. “It was the first time we had used a farm consultant since our sharemilking days. But Heather was instrumental in putting the contract and legal work together and for us that was big part of going down the process, to ensure we were heading down the right track.”

Written by Richard Loader