Business Rural Winter 2021

| 23 DAIRY PEOPLE » James Matheson Getting the balance right key for high achiever Virginia Wright J ames Matheson is a well-known high achiever. The 28 year old has already been farming for 10 years and was the 2019 Otago/Southland Dairy Farm Manager of the Year and runner-up at the national finals. So when after his success at the awards he noticed he wasn’t feeling his usual self and realised he was suffering burn out, it led James on a journey of self discovery that has seen him prioritise work-life balance. Now in the weekends instead of just working James will more likely be seen enjoying motor- cross or trail bike riding with his eight year old nephew Bronson and spending more time with wife Steph. “For me it’s about building a comfortable lifestyle through farming but rather than focus too much on making money I have to get the balance right. This creates resilience, which is increasingly important with all the stresses related to farming these days,” he thinks. This attitude has spread to how he manages staff as ensuring they get the right work-life bal- ance is important as well. For example, rosters are organised around staff key interests such as playing rugby with mates at the weekend. This has led to a culture of mutual respect and where everyone on the team helps each other. Developing a great company culture has also helped attract staff, who often approach James looking for a job. James says getting the right people in the right roles has been an essential part of achieving work-life balance, something he admits hasn’t always been easy. At present he says he is lucky to have a great team with Sam Bee, who has worked on the farm for three years, as second in charge. With the right skills to run the farm on a day to day basis this leaves James free to focus on overall IRRIGATION KIRK Specialists in the design, installation and service of water control and pumping solutions. 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James has been on the 330 ha (310 ha ef- fective) farm owned by Chris Lawlor in Waipahi, Otago, for ten seasons now. He progressed his farming career quickly beginning on the farm as a trainee and achiev- ing a farm manager role after just two years on the same property. He then purchased a 35ha block of land next door through stock trading and building up his own part of the herd which he sold back to the farm owner and has also invested in other property to build equity. He set myself the goal to have accrued $1million in equity by the time he was 30 and is on track to achieve that. The farm calves down 700 mainly friesian cows and peak milks around 650-660. Milk pro- duction target has been set at 345,000 kgMS. James’ responsibilities extend to a further 200ha run-off, used for wintering the herd and rearing the young stock, also owned by Chris Lawlor. James is focusing on adjusting the farm systems to meet environmental compliance challenges. The stocking rate is already low and the target is for no more than 10% of the feed to be imported with the rest grown on farm. This season sugarbeet, turnips and rape was grown with silage harvested. The farm is moving towards a no bobby calves policy bringing in beef genetics to give more flexibility over selling stock when suits. In terms of work-life balance a motorcross track has been built on the farm. Although this was primarily for Bronson to enjoy, James also uses it and second-in-charge Sam has also got the bug, purchasing his own motorbike. “I guess it’s a bit unusual,” says James, “but when you have a culture of helping each other that’s the sort of stuff that happens.” 100-year milestone celebrated big thing is that Hunting HQ takes all the liability out of it. As soon as you start charging for hunters to come on your land you’re liable so they take charge of that and all the health and safety stuff that goes with it.” When Michael talked about developing the crop- ping land over the years, he’s not just talking about the work he and Olivia have done. The Pavletich’s celebrated 100 years on the farm last Easter, delayed a year thanks to Covid, and the family gath- • from page 22 ered en masse “for a bit of a shindig”, says Michael. He and Olivia aim to start buying some equity in the farm later this year with the blessing of his two brothers who live and work elsewhere. “We’ve been talking about everything over the last 10 or 12 years as a family,” says Michael. “We had Coach-approach on board for a while helping with the succession plan, and the beauty with our family is we always openly discuss things, no hid- den secrets. We can all still sit round the Christmas table together put it that way,” he concludes with a laugh. Getting the right people in the right roles is an essential part of achieving work-life balance, says Otago dairy farmer James Matheson. “We’ve been talking about everything over the last 10 or 12 years as a family. We had Coach-approach on board for a while helping with the succession plan, and the beauty with our family is we always openly discuss things, no hidden secrets.”