NZ Dairy Winter 2021

46 | nz dairy DAIRY AWARDS » Katrina Pearson Farm ownership in Kim Newth N orthland Share Farmer of the Year Katrina Pearson entered the 2021 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards to improve her knowledge on the financial and business side of farming. Winning the regional title and a national merit award has been very rewarding for her, not just on a personal level but also because of what she has learned along the way. “It has been a massive boost to the farm busi- ness,” she says. “We’re equity partners in the farm and this has enabled us to have those conversa- tions around succession planning. It has been a huge positive spin off from the whole process.” Katrina and husband David are in their third season working as contract milkers in an equity partnership for Puketitoi Farm Ltd milking 475 cows on a 250ha property at Purua, northwest of Whangarei. The property includes a drystock block adjacent to the dairy unit. Also in the partnership are Katrina’s parents Richard and Sharron Booth and her brother Andrew and wife Vicky, who are 50/50 sharemilkers on the original home farm by the Mangakahia River. Their younger brother Chris, who works in Auckland’s banking sector, has recently bought a section in Northland and plans to build there too. The 33-year-old grew up on her parents’ dairy farm in Titoki and graduated from Lincoln University with a Diploma in Agriculture in 2008. She spent a year completing the diploma’s practical require- ments at a neighbours’ property in Northland, be- fore suddenly changing course. She met a woman working as a police officer, thought it sounded exciting and decided to apply. “I was a police constable for 10 years before reaching a point where I needed to step into a more senior role in order to progress. I decided that if I was going to be managing staff, it might as well be for myself. By then, my family had already bought the farm at Purua as an investment. We were not involved in the first year but we sold our house to buy into it the following year and then moved to the farm. When I said to Dad that I wanted to leave the police to take over the running of our farm, he was pretty pleased because he’s so passionate about dairy farming!” Establishing KDP Farming as a contract milking business and vehicle for farm ownership was a big step for Katrina and David. On top of that David also established his own business in 2020 – David Pear- son Electrical. The couple are raising two children – Emily, 6 and Charlotte, 4 – but say the two busi- nesses are a good fit for their busy family lifestyle. David has flexibility to lend a hand when needed and they both love sharing the farm environment with their children. The couple are gradually lifting their share in the partnership and hope to achieve full farm ownership at Purua by 2033. Looking back to her first season on the farm, Katrina says it was pretty tough. “My previous experience as a farmhand was not much help when it came to managing staff and contract milking. Plus the first winter on the farm in 2018 was exception- ally wet. It was such a challenge but we came out the other end with everything still working and still growing.” Katrina runs two herds, selected according to the needs of the farm and the season. There have been excellent gains in BW since the Puketitoi partner- ship took over the contract milking role. Working with Katrina is a 2IC and a farm hand. “We have a good roster so we don’t have to rely on relief staff – there are always two of us on.” Half the farm is flat, while the other half is steep and challenging country with some areas only ac- cessible by helicopter for spray work. A focus on the environment has seen 3000 plants established on the banks of a stream running through the farm to the Wairua River. “We have also identified steep gullies out the back of them farm that we will plant out too.” The autumn calving farm runs off a system 5 production model, only without any supplement between September and December. The feed gap is mostly between March and May. “We grow 26ha of maize on the farm and that’s our staple supple- ment.” As Katrina observes, dairy farmers tend not to think too much about farm finances when there’s a good pay-out but she plans to stay closely focussed on the farm ownership objective through the com- ing season and beyond. Northland Share Farmer of the Year Katrina Pearson. “When I said to Dad that I wanted to leave the police to take over the running of our farm, he was pretty pleased because he’s so passionate about dairy farming!” Office 09 433 1733 Eden 021 0842 6587 Warren 027 391 4777 vcon.office@gmail.com HAY · SILAGE • SPRAYING CULTIVATION • SEEDING P: (09) 470 1060 E: admin@northvets.co.nz A: MAUNU: 16-18 Maunu Rd, Whangarei ONERAHI: 165 Onerahi Rd, Onerahi HIKURANGI: Cnr George & Parks Streets, Hikurangi Looking afterWhangarei’s Animals for over 50 years! Family Pets We look after all your furry friends! FarmAnimals From traditional livestock to the more exotic! Equine Care Shetlands or showjumpers, we can help you! 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