The pathway to dairy farm ownership for townies is challenging but possible.
That is the message from Pukerau dairy farmers Andrew and Nikita Gerritsen, who say you have to both want and love it and you also need resilience.
About eight years ago, the Gerritsens were facing bankruptcy. Rather than giving up, they used their skills to run a low-cost, high-production system to pay debt so they could buy their first dairy farm in Pukerau, near Gore.
"We hate debt because we’ve had plenty of experience with it, so our goal here has been to smash it down as hard and as fast as we can," Mr Gerritsen said.
The Gerritsens bought their 170ha farm at the start of this month.
The couple met studying agriculture at Telford in South Otago, both aged 16, in 2004.
Both were townies: she is from Gore and he is from Coromandel.
"I ran away from home and hated school," Mr Gerritsen said.
He always knew he wanted to be a dairy farmer.
After graduating they worked for two years as assistants on dairy farms in South Otago, owned by Landcorp Farming, the state-owned enterprise now branded as Pāmu.
Her time as a dairy assistant was fuel to chase a dream of farm ownership, as assistants work hard and there needs to be an end goal to make it worth the effort.
The next step in their career was moving to the North Island to both work in second-in-command positions for Landcorp, which was undertaking large-scale dairy conversions in Reporoa, between Taupō and Rotorua, he said.
"They were pulling 22,000ha of bush out and when we turned up on June 1 there were pegs in the ground and no grass or cow sheds and by the end of the seasons there was 8500 cows and three rotary sheds. It was diabolical."
The number of cows and milking sheds increased in their two years working for Landcorp in Reporoa from 2006.
He learned a lot working on each farm being developed.
"I calved 10,000 cows that year and learned how different managers did it, so the learning was turbo-charged."
Mrs Gerritsen said the time was fun, as they were young, part of a big team and had few responsibilities and the work was much more than varied in South Otago.
"It was organised chaos."
For the four seasons working for Landcorp, they did every possible agricultural course they could.
They were tempted to stay long term working for Landcorp because of the "perks", which included nice housing and good equipment, but they decided to move on to progress their careers.
Their next jobs were working for a dairy farmer near Rotorua for the 2008-09 season. She was second-in-charge and he was manager.
A strong focus for the farm owner was giving every cow the highest level of care possible, while running an efficient farm, which was different from the "rip shit or bust" at Landcorp at the time.
"It refined us."
A family they knew in Coromandel invited them to work for them on a dairy farm near Gore.
They accepted and returned south.
"It was very run-down — it was about as bad as it gets with hideous production and it needed someone to get in there with a bit of up-and-go to turn it around and that was our first step into contract milking."
They improved the dairy farm, boosting milk production and cutting their contract milking costs to 23 cents per kilogram of milk solids, during their first and last season on the farm.
As they did not own any cows, they accepted the sharemilking opportunity. A local businessman assembled a herd and the Gerritsens sharemilked for him.
A real estate agent then door-knocked them with an opportunity to project manage the design and construction of a 54-bale rotary dairy shed and establish a herd for a new dairy farm in Knapdale, near Gore.
To enter an equity partnership for the project they invested all of their $300,000 savings, money earned either dairy farming or buying in-calf heifers to lease out.
They did their contract milking job and the project work at the same time, both aged 23.
"It was a turbo-charged way to get into project management and we nailed it," Mr Gerritsen said.
After the first season, the business relationship soured and they lost about $40,000 but got their initial $300,000 out and some livestock and never looked back.
A key lesson from the season was to continue to move forward rather than dwell on the past, he said.
They then took over a variable order sharemilking job on a very good dairy farm with a winter barn, milking 900 cows, which produced on average 490kg of milksolids per cow, in Riversdale.
After two months, the owners voted to sell the farm after getting an offer from an investment group too good to refuse.
The Gerritsens stayed on working for the investment group and when a contract was finally offered, they worked out they would lose money by signing it.
So they left in the middle of April to seek work for themselves and their six staff.
The following month they started a variable sharemilking job in Brydone, near Mataura.
They had another challenging relationship with their employer and left, knowing the next step must be more permanent if they were to remain in the industry.
The next step for them was about eight years ago to the farm they are now on in Pukerau.
Then the farm owners were Leslie and Lynette Dick, of Cromwell.
A sharemilker had left the property after going bankrupt in spring and the farm did not have cows for the rest of the year.
The Dick family had the farm on the market.
Another dairy farmer offered to sharemilk the property until it was sold.
The Gerritsens signed a three-year contract with the farmer to buy half of his herd and sharemilk the farm.
After a year in the job in the 2016-17 season, the Gerritsens realised the potential of the farm in Pukerau, so decided to sell their herd of rising 2-year-old cows they were leasing to a farmer in Waimate.
The sale allowed them to buy the other half of the herd they were sharemilking.
They signed a contract to buy the remaining herd in Pukerau but in the meantime, the farmer who was leasing their cows filed for bankruptcy.
"At this point we were beyond bankrupt and we had lost everything," Mr Gerritsen said.
As they loved dairy farming and did not want to let the Dick family down and never get to realise the potential of the farm, they worked with their bank to get an overdraft extension so the deal could go ahead.
They then "ground it out" to create a sharemilking business which allowed them to reduce debt by producing milk at a low cost.
For the 2024-25 season, they had $2.60 of farm working expenses and paid $1.30 of principal debt per kilogram of milk solids.
Their system was designed to be able to ride out any volatility in the dairy industry.
Mrs Gerritsen agreed.
"We don’t want to be in the red when the payout drops, so we are going to make the most of every milk solid."
The creation of a low-cost system included halving the amount of nitrogen applied and changing the wintering of cows from fodder beet to a cheaper grass and baleage system.
Grain was fed in the milking shed to complement the diet.
Their breeding objectives aims to produce a strong and stocky cow, able to produce more than the current average of 550kg of milk solids per cow.
A goal was to increase milk production 5% each season while maintaining cow numbers and expenses.
Milk production would rise by genetic improvements in the herd and increasing the amount of feed grown on farm.
Empty and cull cows were being milked until they were put on the truck this week to make the most of the high payout.
Mrs Gerritsen said farm ownership might have come sooner if they had stayed on with good employers rather than chasing opportunities offered to them.
"We thought because it was bigger it must be better, although we enjoyed the challenge. Our first contract milk job was such a good farm and if we stuck with them, we would have got a farm but we wouldn’t have been as good because of all the challenges we faced, we got better."
Their children Nina, 13, and Kev, 11, had seen the hard work required to chase down a dream.
Mr Gerritsen praised the "rock solid" relationship with the Dick family, who had owned the farm for nearly 25 years.
The Dick family had gone "above and beyond" to develop the farm to a high standard.
A run-off opposite the farm remains owned by the Dick family, who lease it to the Gerritsens.
"Our plan is to buy the run-off in the next four to five years," Mr Gerritsen said.
Then the aim was to build a house on a hill on their farm.
About 420 cows graze about 130ha of the 170ha flat to hilly farm because the cows produce less milk if they have to walk up a hill.
The trees they had planted on the farm during their tenure include maple, red cedars and natives.
They plan to plant blocks of ornamental trees on the hill, which would be visible from State Highway 1.
Gifts from some of the more than 100 guests at a recent party to celebrate the farm purchase were seedlings.
Birds they had introduced to the farm included geese, peacocks, pheasants, quail and turkeys.
"We aren’t going anywhere. This is our forever farm, so we want the farm to be park-like."
The good times in life needed to be appreciated because they might not last.
"We are enjoying now."
They were fit, young and enjoying their work, Mr Gerritsen said.
"We are going to smash it out of the park this year and set ourselves up while the payout is up and interest rates are dropping. We might have just nailed it for once."
