Cream of dairying

After 10 years in dairy farming, a Shannon couple has scooped the region's sharemilker of the year title

JON MORGAN/The Dominion Post

TICKING ALL THE BOXES: Manawatu-Rangitikei-Horowhenua sharemilker of the year award-winners Stefan and Hester Bryant, with Victoria, 5, Amy, 4, and Bonnie, 15 months, on their Shannon farm.

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Shannon sharemilkers Stefan and Hester Bryant place their priorities in this order: First, to serve God; second, their family; third, their business. Despite the lesser ranking, their farming business is doing pretty well. At least, the judges of the regional dairy industry awards think so – they have awarded the sharemilker of the year title to the couple.

"Our business is definitely important to us," Mr Bryant says. "But when opportunities for it come up, we look at them in that order – preferably, we get to tick all three boxes."

When it comes to the weather they have learnt to trust that God will provide.

"You hear people talk of mother nature, but it is God that gives us our weather," Mrs Bryant says. "That doesn't mean there won't be hard times, but we rely on Him to take us through those."

This year's drought is a case in point, they say. A 160-millimetre drenching in January was a godsend, coming just as the farm was beginning to suffer.

It rejuvenated their pastures and saved them from serious production losses during the following weeks. Their milk production is likely to be down 3000 kilograms of milksolids on the 84,000 they had targeted from their 230 cows, but they say it could have been worse.

Not that they don't believe in making plans.

Feed budgeting is an essential part of running their pasture-based system. They grow turnips as a summer feed and make grass silage. When pasture covers slipped to 1700kg of dry matter a hectare in late February, they acted to reduce the number of unproductive animals on the farm. Cull cows were removed two months early, with the young ones being sold to the South Island and the old going to the works. They also bought in maize silage to keep the milking herd producing. Now, they have dried off just 65 cows, leaving 145 milking.

It was their third time of entering the Manawatu-Rangitikei- Horowhenua region awards and the win brought them $15,000 in cash and prizes. They are now in a second round of judging for the national title which will be announced on May 24 in Christchurch.

They found the awards helped them to sharpen their business acumen, with presentations needed on how they managed their finances, pastures, livestock, the environment, staff, and health and safety. Advice came from their consultant, Brian Clarke, of PGG Wrightson, as well as soil scientists, bankers, accountants and other professionals. During the judging they received more advice and comment and met other sharemilkers.

The couple have been farming for 10 years. They grew up on small neighbouring farms in Whiteman's Valley, north of Wellington, and attended the same church in Silverstream.

Mr Bryant, 32, always intended to be a farmer, though on leaving school he thought he would just confirm that by working for a year on a dairy farm in the hills near Shannon. With that settled he went to Massey University for four years, graduating with an agricultural applied science degree, before returning to the farm to be a manager.

He met Hester, 29, who was in Foxton as part of her teacher training, at a church youth group event and they married in 2000. They now have three daughters, Victoria, 5, Amy, 4, and Bonnie, 15 months.

After two years the farm manager's position was exchanged for a lower-order sharemilking contract, which involved receiving a 19 per cent share of the farm's income.

Mrs Bryant kept her teacher's job and Mr Bryant found himself, at 24, the employer of a worker hired to help milk the farm's 380 cows.

They struck some good payout years and managed to save $80,000 toward buying the cows needed for a 50-50 sharemilking position. It should have been $100,000, but a drought in 2003 reduced their earnings, though it had the beneficial effect of lowering the price of cows to $900 each.

They bought 170 cows and moved to John Gardner's 65ha farm just south of Shannon, where they have been for five years.

UNDER their contract, they pay the running expenses of the milking shed and farm machinery, and the health and husbandry costs of the herd, while Mr Gardner pays for fertiliser and development work and owns the Fonterra shares. The farm's profits are shared equally.

A further 20ha was added to the milking platform in 2005 and they have gradually increased their cow numbers to where they now calve 250.

Even with the effects of the drought to deal with this year, their production figures are above the national average of a good year, at 345kg a cow and 950kg a hectare.

For the first two years they ran the farm by themselves, saved hard and managed to reduce their debt. They also increased the value of their main asset, the Friesian herd, by improving the genetics.

In the third year, they hired an assistant. It has allowed them to spend more time with their growing family and also on business strategy, of which the sharemilker of the year competition was a big part.

Mr Bryant is also able to devote more time to the church. He is a deacon in the Reformed Church of Palmerston North, responsible for its finances and for helping look after the needs of others.

A big change has also come with the building of a new milking shed. They have gone from a 16-bale rotary to a 24-a-side herringbone shed and from taking three and a half hours to milk the cows to two hours, even with a bigger herd.

This year's high dairy payout will go into reducing debt further, buying a four-wheel-drive tractor and to putting some money aside for their next big move.

That will likely come in a year's time and will be to a bigger farm. It will be a 50-50 sharemilking contract but will mean more cows and an increase in their equity.

Then, perhaps in five years, they want to buy some land, enough for a runoff to support their herd. At present, they rely on sending half of their cows away for winter grazing, though this year's deal has fallen through and they are keen to find another.

Eventually, the aim is to own their own farm, though it probably won't be a dairy farm.

Mr Bryant says he has always wanted to own a drystock and cropping farm.

"I enjoy dairying but it's not something I want to be tied to seven days a week when I'm older. I like beef cows and I'm interested in cropping – who knows, I might even have some sheep."

He adds that though dairying might be doing well now, it is quite feasible that sheep farming will be booming in 10 years or so.

"If I was a sheep farmer I wouldn't be in a hurry to convert to dairying," he says.

Balancing the demands of their three priorities isn't easy but they are determined that they won't get out of order. For example, Sunday is for rest and worship and they make sure that when it comes only the essential work of milking and, when necessary, calving is done.

Mrs Bryant expects to find herself busier as her daughters grow. She is home-schooling Victoria and will add the other girls as they reach school age.

She says state schools no longer include God in their teaching. "When you are taught everything was created by chance it leaves a kind of hopelessness in your life. But when you know that God is the creator and sent His son to die for us it gives us hope for the future."

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