54 | nzdairy Progress for Southland Miro, 10 minutes north of Winton, Richard Loader Southland farmers Adam and Nicole Gerritsen are about to enter their fifth season as 50/50 sharemilkers, working for Dairy Farms NZ Limited, on its 273-hectare property, Miro, 10 minutes north of Winton, and say the experience has been second to none. “Nicole and I have grown as farmers, with the help of Dairy Farms NZ,” says Adam. “I honestly think this has been one of the better sharemilking jobs in Southland, because of the people we work for. Working for Dairy Farms NZ has provided us with access to a wealth of knowledge, which has really been invaluable. The people on the board are industry leaders, with considerable industry and practical farming knowledge and experience, which Nicole and I have access to.” Adam is saddened when he sees corporates buying dairy farms, and operating them through managers, or at best contract milkers, effectively taking that traditional progression of a herd owning sharemilker out of the equation. “Dairy Farms NZ would have to be one of very few corporate structured farming businesses that have 50/50 sharemilkers. With Dairy Farms NZ, it was a pretty obvious move for us to come here. The people involved in this company will help us achieve what we want to achieve, and enable us to take our next step.” Adam, grew up on his parents’ dairy farm in the North Island, but chose to go down the path of landscaping and building when he left school. While doing some relief milking in the weekends Adam was offered the opportunity to take a full time role of farm assistant with his partner Nicole. “When Nicole and I were working together in Matamata as farm assistants, we looked at other fifty-fifty sharemilkers in the area and thought that was the goal for us. We spent five years working through the industry before securing a contract milking job which we did for three years, before investing in our own herd of 650 cows in 2016 and moving into fifty-fifty sharemilking. We started working for Dairy Farms NZ in the 2019/20 season, milking 900 cows.” Adam says that one of the reasons he and Nicole decided to go farming was the opportunity to work together which they did right up until children came along when they commenced sharemilking. The couple now have a seven-year-old daughIRRIGATE WITH CONFIDENCE - IRRIGATION SYSTEMS - REMOTE MANAGEMENT - PRECISION VRI 0800 PLAINS www.plainsirrigators.co.nz Farm Maintenance Done Right We’ve been getting things Done Right for decades by always stepping up to the plate and getting it right the ´ Q N Get in touch today and get the job Done Right. tarbotton.co.nz 03 307 7065 DAIRY LANEWAYS DRAIN CLEANING RUT BUSTING TRACKS & YARDS DRAINAGE & MORE DAIRY PEOPLE » Dairy Farms NZ
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