98 | ON FARM » Gleneden Dairies Gleneden Dairys newly-built feed pad The couple placed third in the Southland Share Farmer of the Year category in the 2025 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. Russell Fredric Robert: 027 439 5096 Email: rivertonfarmdrainage@xtra.co.nz operations@boothag2008.co.nz www.boothag2008.co.nz FOR ALL YOUR HERBICIDE, FUNGICIDE & INSECTICIDE SPRAYING LIQUID FERTILISER & PROGIBB SPRAYING TABULA GPS GUIDANCE, SHEEP DIPPING Scott Mackereth loves large-scale dairying which makes his multi-role work with Fortuna Group in Southland a great fit. Scott and his wife Stacey are contract milkers on one of Fortuna Group’s farms, Gleneden Dairies,at Brydone just south of Gore, a position they took on a year ago. Scott is hands-on while Stacey is a mental health counsellor in Invercargill and handles administration and human resources for the farm. The couple was placed third in the Southland 2025 Share Farmer of the Year in this year’s New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, also gaining a merit for the DairyNZ People & Culture Award. Gleneden has been owned by Fortuna for 12 years and peak milks 1400 cows on 499ha / 464ha effective, employing five full time staff including Scott. The farm is situated on Waikoikoi, Woodlands and Edendale soils on a mix of flat, rolling and hill contour and receives a reliable average annual rainfall of 1100mm. It has a newly built feed pad, an 80 bail rotary milking shed with Protrack drafting and Halo vat monitoring and a Halter system that was installed last season. “You’ve got a lot of real time data, health monitoring and pasture management at your fingertips with it,” Scott says. Last season’s production of 550,000kg MS was a record for Gleneden despite it undergoing a lot of improvements and infrastructure projects. “Our biggest focus has been on pasture management; that’s probably where my passion is. The more you can grow and harvest, the faster you’re going to get ahead in the dairy industry; that’s a key driver for performance, EFS (economic farm surplus) per hectare.” Scott is also responsible for overseeing five other farms, and two undergoing near full conversions. Before taking on his present role, he worked on dairy farms in the North America for 11 years and worked as a farm consultant in Waikato for three years upon his return. “It [consulting] wasn’t really my thing, so I looked at getting back into the farming.” “What appealed down south is the largescale farming. There are more corporates and syndicates,and they create a lot of opportunities internally.” He took on a supervision role for Fortuna for 12 months involving about 5000 to 6000 cows across multiple farms and it was subsequently suggested to him he and Stacey look at contract milking while still supervising the other farms. Not content to settle on all these responsibilities, Scott and Stacey are also taking on an equity partnership in 2,300 cows in Clydevale, South Otago, through Fortuna Group. “There’s three farms that we are leasing for 10 years in partnership with Fortuna, and we will take equity in that lease company, so it’s plant and herd.” “I think the harder you work the luckier you get, and we’ve worked bloody hard since we’ve been at Fortuna, and I think they’ve seen that and recognised it.” “Opportunities are coming to us because of our efforts and performance, I have worked with several corporates over the years, and I can’t speak highly enough of Fortuna; they have a huge support network of world class people involved.” Along with this, going through the dairy industry awards process, gaining some recognition and the opportunity to meet new people has been hugely beneficial, Scott says. “Because we are new to the region down here it was a good way for us to get exposure and to get our name out there and meet new people. I really enjoy scale; I like working with people.” Proudly supporting Gleneden Dairies
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