| 67 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Steve & Amy Gillies the right people The Walters family. Waikato farmers Steve and Amy Gillies. Transition from sharemilkers to owners is going well Richard Loader Achieving a comfortable level of security was a key driver for Waikato farmers Steve and Amy Gillies stepping from 50/50 sharemilkers to the owners of their own dairy farm at the start of last year’s season. “With contract milking or sharemilking, if something goes wrong or the farm owner sells the farm, you have nowhere to move. With two little children we wanted to ensure we had somewhere to go to. We don’t necessarily have to go on the farm, but it is somewhere we could go if the sharemilking contract came to an end.” A qualified mechanic hailing from the Scottish border town of Duns, Steve’s introduction to farming commenced when he landed a job as a farm assistant in Te Awamutu in 2010, and like a duck to water the momentum has never waned. Steve learned the dairy farming ropes over a six year period on the Te Awamutu property before meeting Amy, buying a small run-off up the road and taking a contract milking job on the same farm. “When Amy and I married in 2017 we moved to Putaruru to contract milk on a slightly larger scale with the promise that we could buy the cows after two years and go sharemilking, which went according to plan. We sold the run-off and bought the 500-cow herd in 2019 from the farm owners. After two years, the opportunity to buy Putaruru Hire came up and we decided to buy it.” After running the hire shop for a year, along with continuing with the 50/50 job, Steve and Amy bought their own 97-hectare dairy unit, 30 minutes from Te Awamutu in Wharepapa South. “The farm has 250 cows on it and we have a farm manager on there looking after it on a dayto-day basis, while we have retained the 50/50 contract in Putaruru. You never know what’s around the corner, but at this stage having both farms works very well for us. We have the most fantastic farm owners. We’ve developed that farm quite a lot and try to do our best for the farm owner.” In the year that Steve and Amy have owned Wharepapa, they have put in a new effluent pond, new races, fencing and reticulated water system. “Perhaps the biggest thing though is that I’m a System 5 farmer,’ says Steve. “It’s all I’ve ever known and this farm isn’t set up for System 5. We’re at cross roads now as to whether we build a feed-pad and go to my style of farming or retain the status quo. At the end of the season, we will do the numbers and see how each option stacks up, and make a decision.” Over the next few years Steve’s goal is to be in a position where he and Amy are less busy, so that they can both be part of their children’s lives as they grow up. “There are so many people who are so stressedout these days, and they seem to have lost sight of what’s really important, and that is family.” ferent people respond to different situations, which Peter says has had many benefits. “For example if someone retracts when they are stressed someone might realise a co-worker needs some help so it’s a key part of developing a high functioning, safe, healthy team.” It’s also helped Peter and Sarah as well as team members realised recently the couple needed a break and worked together to make it happen. “Our focus is always on making sure our staff are okay but it’s often easy to forget about yourself and take some time out. We find planned time away from the farm is very important so we can recharge. But now the borders have opened, and with a large Filipino contingent in our staff, we have had people who have wanted to go back home for longer periods than normal so we’ve had to fill those holes. So when we recently needed to get away for a short break the team rallied around to make sure it could happen even though we were two team members down. It’s about a culture of everyone looking after each other and it was quite humbling to see our business culture coming back to help us.” Both Peter and Sarah grew up on dairy farms and studied at Massey University completing degrees in applied science in agriculture. They both take active roles over their business and have four children - Caitlin, 17, Nick, 15, Cameron, 14 and Matthew, 12 – who also enjoy helping out on the farm. CRAIG STEVENS MOTORCYCLES LTD Craig Stevens, 30 Main Road, Tokoroa Ph: (07) 886 1014 Fax: (07) 886 1015 Mobile: 027 244 2662 Email: teamcsm@xtra.co.nz 2 Satco Drive, Tokoroa PH. (07) 886 6413 TOTAL ANIMAL CARE FOR THE SOUTH WAIKATO 75 Tirau Street, Putaruru PH. (07) 883 3018 109 State Highway 30, Whakamaru PH. (07) 882 8685 FARM ANIMAL SERVICES • SMALL ANIMAL SERVICES • DAIRY RESOURCES 20 Kensington Street, Putaruru Tel: 07 883 8077
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=