24 | nzdairy Collaborative approach Russell Fredric DAIRY PEOPLE » Chad & Jan Winke Preparedness and opportunity have proven to be been providential partners that have favoured the goals of sharemilkers Chad and Jan Winke. The ex-pat American couple took full ownership of their 750 cow herd in 2019 after sharemilking on Grant Wills and Karen Preston’s central Waikato farm for the past nine seasons. The Winke’s started their journey in 2013 as lower order sharemikers earning 21% of the milk cheque for 650 cows on a platform of 215 hectares effective. Chad and Jan acknowledge that Grant and Karen’s support has been instrumental in achieving their goals so far. In particular, collaborating and “brain-storming” with the Preston-Wills’ enabled Chad and Jan to plough a path towards full ownership while staying on the same farm. After their three-year lower order contract ended, Chad and Jan bought 150 cows and autumn calved these. Chad is 47, and because the couple entered the dairy industry at a later age, they were focused on fast-tracking their plans. While Grant and Karen were not originally planning to ease back quite as early, it was a win-win situation, Chad says. “We borrowed that money and were aggressive at paying this back; we paid it all back in three years and we had all that equity plus some additional funds from the business.” After paying this debt they “doubled that down again” and were able to nance the purchase of the balance of the herd. Chad and Jan Winke took full ownership of their 750 cow herd in 2019. 1945 2022 Livestock Cartage Metal, Sand, Fertiliser Morrinsville/Matamata Ph 07 889 5179 | 0800 275 548 Email aslgeneral@xtra.co.nz 7 Although he acknowledges the signi cance of their achievement, Chad has not paused to give it much thought. “Sometimes I’m busy doing the business end of the achievement to think about that too much or get too excited about it, but it has worked really well for us. “We’ve come in line with the right people at the right time; there’s a lot of that involved in order to end up in the position we were on a larger-scale farm that gave us the path to be able to do what we did, but that was also what I was looking for.” Chad and Jan employ four staff, including a second-in-charge. The full herd is now split calved to make it easier for the farm’s infrastructure to cope and for easier management of calving. Pasture management has also been streamlined by using a system which measures it daily by satellite, saving two labour units spending about four hours each measuring with a plate metre. The farm runs system 5 operation and grows around 15 tonnes of grass a year. The cows are fed about two tonnes of supplement in herd homes which enables production of up to 110% or higher per cow. “I think we’re making probably 400 kilograms of milk solids [per cow per year] just off the grass and about 200 from the extra supplement they’re eating.” “Our cows fairly well maintain body condition score throughout the year, they’re not dropping a bunch of weight to make milk and the we’re not piling in feed when they’re dry to get them back up to a comfortable good body condition score.” *RW (ႉXHQW" 'HDO ZLWK LW CHARTER D ACCOUNTANT E Specialists in Farm Accounting • Cashflow Budgeting • Fonterra Shareholding Advice • Farm Sale & Purchase Advice • Equity Partnerships • GST • Livestock Valuation Options • Income Equalisation Pleased to support Chad Winke www.hoogeveen.co.nz | office@hoogeveen.co.nz | 07 862 9090
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