32 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Marc and Nia Jones They moved to New Zealand from Wales in 2016 and have steadily progressed through management, contract milking, sharemilking, and now leasing. Russell Fredric The past few years have brought rapid change for Waikato dairy farmers Marc and Nia Jones, with a series of acquisitions transforming their business from one sharemilking operation into a three-farm leasing enterprise. They moved to New Zealand from Wales in 2016 and have steadily progressed through management, contract milking, sharemilking, and now leasing which has diversified their business. In 2019 the couple were named Waikato Share Farmer of the Year when they contract milked for Margaret and the late Ian Elliott on the Elliot’s 270 hectare 970 cow home farm near Tokoroa. Their latest milestone came when they were named one of three winners of the 2026 Fonterra & ASB First Farm Award at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. They operate their farms near Hamilton and Whatawhata; a 200-cow unit on 66 hectares, and two larger farms milking 500 and 400 cows respectively on about 140 hectares each. “We are just driving equity growth, really. Leveraging and paying down debts; leveraging to get equity growth,” Marc says. While each property operates as its own production unit, managing them collectively provides greater scale, purchasing power and flexibility, while allowing performance and costs to be compared across the portfolio. After sharemilking about 700 cows, the couple expanded into leasing, adding the farms as opportunities arose. Their total herd has grown to just under 1,100 cows producing about 440,000kg/ MS annually, with each farm benchmarked separately despite operating under one business. Managing three businesses spread across multiple locations has required a different approach. Rather than overseeing daily operations themselves, Marc focuses on verification, quality control and supporting farm managers with decisionmaking. Each farm has its own manager and staff, allowing the business to scale while maintaining consistent standards. Technology has become increasingly important as the business has expanded. Wearable monitoring collars have been introduced across the larger farms during the past two seasons, alongside automatic drafting gates, while pasture management, payroll and milk quality are monitored through a range of digital systems providing practical, cost-effective solutions. “We were scaling up, and not being able to be everywhere, we found it beneficial to have the Contract milking, share milking and now leasing SPREADMARK REGISTERED FERTILISERS • LIME CHICKEN MANURE EFFLUENT SPREADING BULK CARTAGE Rob 027 962 0021 Nathan 027 473 7961 callanderspreading@gmail.com Servicing the Waikato since 1932 Milking Machines | Water Pumps | Effluent Systems hutchies.co.nz 12 Canada Street, Morrinsville 0800 HUTCHIES 57 Great South Rd, Taupiri 0800 488 244 animal health and the mating covered by a wearable.” Nia plays an equally important role behind the scenes, overseeing the business’s human resources and administration while raising the couple’s four young children. Together they have developed systems that allow operational decisions to be delegated while maintaining oversight across the three farms. Performance is measured as much financially as operationally. Although all three farms operate through one company, coding every expense and production figure separately enables detailed benchmarking between properties and helps identify which management decisions deliver the strongest results. A strong milk price and the additional Fonterra brands one-off payment in April have reinforced the couple’s disciplined financial strategy. Rather than accelerating spending, the additional income is being directed towards reducing debt and strengthening equity as they prepare for the next step in their progression. “Getting to a position that we can buy our own farm is the big priority now, so that we can put a peg in the ground for the kids and have a home. We’ve moved quite a bit over the years to progress through the industry.”
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