| 15 nzdairy Inglewood farmer Janet Schultz is preparing to move to a lifestyle block in New Plymouth. DAIRY PEOPLE » Janet Schultz Kim Newth Working through farm succession in Taranaki Dairy farmer Janet Schultz first started grazing cows at rural Inglewood near Mt Taranaki almost 20 years ago, but this year marks a new beginning as she and her partner prepare to move to a lifestyle block in New Plymouth. Janet poured heart and soul into her 103ha (86ha effective) farm at Inglewood after purchasing it in 2006, five years after her husband Gary was killed in a head-on car accident. It took two years for Janet to recover from the accident, in which she was seriously injured, but she came out of that determined to continue her dairy farming journey. She and Gary had been farming together before the accident. At Inglewood, she went on to develop both farm and herd into a highly productive dairy business. A nearby undeveloped 36ha runoff, which she added in 2012, was improved out of sight with new fencing and drainage to provide ideal grazing country for heifers and calves, as well as for growing supplementary feed. Over the past four seasons, Janet’s daughter and son-in-law - Kelsey and Matt Brooks – have stepped up their involvement as contract milkers and have built a house for their young family of three on the home farm. Janet continues her active involvement on the run-off block, but with the home dairy operation now in good hands, she is in the throes of planning her next big move. “I recently put through resource consent to split off two sections at the run-off – one of 2.5 acres and the other a seven-acre block – ahead of proscriptive rural property law changes coming in. I’m doing this to reduce debt as I want to shift off the farm as of mid-April. I’ll be moving to a one acre block with my partner in New Plymouth that has a relatively new home and is surrounded by farmland.” An avid gardener, Janet is looking forward to exploring “beautiful gardens” at the new block while still lending her expertise on the Inglewood run-off. “I’ll only be 20 minutes away and so am still intending to come back every second day to do the run-off. I also plan to carry on working part-time as a hairdresser and as a livestock administrator for PGG Wrightson.” For Kelsey and Matt, a decision lies ahead on whether or not to go forward with progression to 50/50 sharemilking. Today, the farm runs a pedigree herd – 40% Jersey and 60% Friesian – that is being slowly downsized to take pressure off the pasture while still maintaining good production. “We were calving 290 but that will drop to 280 and we’ll milk about 270 this year.” As Janet observes, it is a tough environment for dairy farming right now, with rising costs of compliance and other inflationary pressures having to be weighed in the mix. “People tend to look at the good pay out but not see that our costs are huge now. Fertiliser and stockfeed costs have both more or less doubled. I’ve just done the feed compliance for Fonterra and the regional council, and that’s my profit margin gone.” On a positive note, the farm’s effluent ponds were checked recently by the Taranaki Regional Council and came through with flying colours. “I recently put through resource consent to split off two sections at the run-off – one of 2.5 acres and the other a seven-acre block – ahead of proscriptive rural property law changes coming in. I’m doing this to reduce debt as I want to shift off the farm as of mid-April.” Visit: www.tandemgroup.co.nz or Call 06 758 5273 Proud to Support Janet Schultz Chartered Accountants Supporting and empowering business www.westownhaulage.co.nz 06 753 6611 180 Cowling Rd | New Plymouth Pleased to be Janet Schultz’s Livestock Carrier WESTOWN HAULAGE LTD
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=