NZ Dairy Winter 2021

60 | nz dairy Awards open doors for high achievers Virginia Wright When Scott and Ann Henderson met in Gore in 2014 Ann was two years into her life in New Zea- land that began with a holiday and ended with her living here permanently. Born in Scotland Ann left school at 15, completed a Diploma in Animal Care at the University of Scot- land ,and ended up on a dairy farm milking three times a day as is the norm in Scotland. Scott left school at 16, completed a building apprenticeship followed by working as a carpenter for four years, did a stint at a sawmill in Clinton learning a range of skills, then went tractor driving in Gore. Once he met Ann he spent his days off helping out on the dairy farm she was working on and discovered he had a taste for it. “We sat down and decided on some goals for our future,” says Scott. “So for a start I got a full time job on the neighbouring farm for a year, then we went managing together and we’ve been work- ing together ever since.” That was 2016. In 2017 Ann won Dairy Manager of the Year for Southland and Otago and doors started to open as Scott explains. “That’s how we met the share-milkers here on Adam’s Flat, Hannah and Callum Stalker, and through them the farm owners, Whitestone Trust, as well as their overseer Dave Yardley, and we got the job of managing it together.” The opportunities didn’t stop there though. “We were managing for two years for the Stalkers, then they decided to move on and we got the awesome opportunity to go lower-order sharemilking on this farm and then the opportunity to buy the herd over three years, so at this point we own two-thirds of the cows and by next season we’ll own the whole herd including the young stock and we’ll go 50/50 sharemilking,” explains Scott. “It’s been an awesome farm to start out managing and go up to 50/50.” It’s a fairly fast trajectory and the Whitestone Trust has helped create the pathway by leasing the cows back from them. Scott believes that Ann’s win back in 2017 really helped with generating a lot of wrap-around support from the farm-owners and the farming community. DAIRY AWARDS » Scott & Ann Henderson Photos: Southland/Otago Sharemilkers of the Year Scott and Ann Henderson. Winter scene at Adam’s Flat in Milton. The Hendersons milk an 850-cow herd. !" ! #! $ % & & ' Proud to support Scott & Ann Henderson Here for Good is the compass that guides us towards the creation of a better now and a better future. Call Joe & Paula Mob: 027 232 2924 38 Kapiti Road Milton E: joeherbertcontractingltd@gmail.com • Ploughing & Cultivation • Round Bailing • Mowing • Drilling • Fencing • Precision Planting • Laying Waterpipes Proud to be associated with Scott & Ann Henderson Adam’s Flat is a 560 hectare farm in Milton, 40 minutes south of Dunedin, with 490 effective, and a milking platform of 340. They milk 850 cows and winter half the cows on and half off the farm. They have an additional 210 calves, 210 heifers and 50 carry-overs roaming the farm with the carry-overs kept for a specific purpose, given the rolling to very steep nature of a lot of the farm. “We keep all the A2 empty cows because we’re breeding towards being all A2, hopefully in the next two to three years. In the meantime because it’s too steep and too dangerous to do any mowing on the farm we use the carry-overs to follow behind the cows and tidy up when we need them to.” The herd is around 60% X-breed, 30% Fresian and 10% Jersey and the Hendersons are focused on breeding towards a X-breed 460 kg liveweight cow. “It’s the sort of size of cow that we really like for this farm,” says Scott. “They can handle the rolling to steep, and it’s a good size for a sustainable cow who can do her weight in milk solids.” The Hendersons know that with the amount of work the cows do on Adam’s Flat, with long walks on steep terrain, that this isn’t going to happen for now, but they’re confident it could be achievable on the flat. This year they won again at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, taking out Sharemilkers of the Year for Southland and Otago. “It was amaz- ing to win,” says Scott. “We put a lot of work into it but you get out what you put in. Going up to the Nationals was so much fun and we met so many like-minded people to talk to about different ideas, it was really worthwhile.” The Hendersons are grateful to their three full-time staff, a Chilean, a Kiwi and a Filippino who combine to bring a full-range of skills to the farm. “They’re a fantastic team and we really enjoy teaching our staff and giving them opportunities like we’ve been given,” says Scott. Thanks to those opportunities they’re hopeful they will achieve their long-term goal of owning their own dairy farm in the next 10 to 15 years. Ide- ally on the flat so they can achieve their other goal of having a herd of smaller X-breed cows that pro- duce their own weight in milk solids. But for Scott every day’s a good day on the farm regardless. “Dairy farming’s a great industry to be in,” he says, “and I reckon everyone should give it a try!”