| 33 The twists and turns of life circumstances have prompted some rethinking for dairy farmers Robert and Cate Willis (top and below). Robert and Cate Willis belted galloway. True love of farming Hugh de Lacy Reuben Christian’s first overseas experience of dairy-farming was not much fun, but when he came home he found the Mid-Canterbury large-scale industry more to his liking, to the degree that last year he converted that enjoyment to being runner-up in the North Otago/Canterbury Sharefarmer of the Year. Fresh out of high school in 2012, Reuben went to Canada where he worked on a robotics-milking dairy farm he was “not too keen on.” Not that he was a tyro to the trade: he’d grown up on a 20ha block in Waikato that carried dairygrazers, and relief-milked throughout his high school years. It was only when he got back to New Zealand in 2014 that he rediscovered his love of dairying, and took a casual calving job on a 2200-cow farm near Ashburton before heading to Lincoln University. Three years later he returned to the same farm, owned by Matt and Amanda Ward, as a Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) and, after a start as a full-timer in November, was promoted to assistant manager the following February. Twelve months later he was appointed manager. The Wards had helped Reuben with his university fees for all three years he was at Lincoln, in exchange for a promise that he’d work back at their Coringa Park Dairies for two years after he graduated. Called Valetta Pastures, the farm comprises a flat 315ha, 309ha of it effective, and milks 1050 cows for Westland Milk Products. DAIRY » Robert & Cate Willis / Simon Roy & Reuben Christian Proud to support Simon Roy and Reuben Christian A family owned & run business specializing in working with family farms 027 279 8704 or 03 303 6300 o ce@donaldlovecontracting.nz Proudly supporting Simon Roy and Reuben Christian Reuben has four permanent staff working for him, plus a fixed-term employee between July and December, and wife Jaden part-time. Reuben and Jaden met while they were at Lincoln University where she was doing an agricultural science degree which she initially put to work on soil moisture probes in the technical department at Carrfields in Ashburton. The couple had son Felix in February last year, and Jaden does the book-keeping for the family business, and helps out with the calves in the spring. The herd at Valetta Pastures is primarily Friesian, and Reuben is breeding by degrees towards a kiwi cross (F12) cow, with his FO to F11 cows artificially inseminated to straight Friesians, his F12 to F15 cows to a Kiwi cross, and his F16s to a straight Jersey. “We’re trying to breed a cow that weighs about 500kg and does 100% of its body-weight in milk solids,” Reuben says. “We also want a cow that gets in calf every 365 days with minimal or no intervention.” Valetta Pastures is farmed in conjunction with a mostly arable farm of 570ha, which carries its 300 replacements, while also raising a hundred beef cattle that are sold after 12 months. Reuben and Jaden are concentrating on maximising their farm performance and looking for the right opportunity to continue growing within the dairy industry to achieve their ultimate goal of farm ownership. “We’ve created a lot of family focus in our business, and despite some headwinds like dairy prices falling at the moment, we’ve got a positive outlook on the industry,” Reuben says. “We’ve created a lot of family focus in our business, and despite some headwinds like dairy prices falling at the moment, we’ve got a positive outlook on the industry.”
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