A Southland family is celebrating buying their first dairy farm sooner than planned.
Steve and Tracy Henderson bought their first dairy farm, about halfway between Invercargill and Bluff, last month.
The lease-to-buy deal for the 215ha property in Awarua settled nine months earlier than expected.
A life goal of the Hendersons was realised by owning a dairy farm before they reached an average age of 40.
To celebrate, the Henderson family, including children Ruby, Gus and Annie, went out for dinner in Invercargill.
Making time to celebrate achievements was important, especially since the children played their part in making it happen, Mrs Henderson said.
On the Hendersons’ new farm, Cameron Smith and Nicole Hanning-Smith contract milk 630 cows.
Under the business name Legendairies, the Hendersons also 50:50 sharemilk 800 cows on another 300ha farm in Awarua, owned by Calder Stewart.
The Hendersons met studying at Lincoln University. She was from a sheep and beef farm in Taumarunui, King Country and he was from a dairy farming family in Seaward Downs, south of Edendale.
After studying, she worked as a dairy assistant on a farm near Seaward Downs for two seasons while he was contract milking on a dairy farm in Pukerau, east of Gore.
To create their herd of 320 cows, they bought 80 heifer calves when they were contract milking and leased land to grow them.
In Centre Bush, they bolstered their herd size by buying empty "carryover" cows and getting them in calf, Mrs Henderson said.
"Then we just bought cows from everywhere."
They learned a lot from buying cows in the first year of sharemilking, she said.
In hindsight, they should have taken an experienced dairy farmer with them to buy cows, she said.
Mr Henderson said they should have got out of their comfort zone and backed themselves earlier by making a move to sharemilking sooner.
They also should have established a business team earlier.
Now a business team consisting of their banker, accountant and an adviser, regularly met in person to help them with planning and decision-making and to ensure they stayed on track to reach their targets.
About three years ago, a deal with the previous farm owners included a set price for the property.
If it ever looked like they would be unable to meet their target, they had "back-up plans".
Neither back-up plan was needed.
During the three-year term of the deal, the Hendersons were able to buy 25% of the farm by paying three lump sums and then leasing whatever share of the farm remained.
They felt lucky to have set a price for the farm three years ago, as interest rates, the dairy payout and farm and livestock values had increased.
Their business plan had allowed them to regularly check they were on target to buy the farm by next year’s deadline.
However, the farm owner contacted them in early August this year to ask if they could settle the deal earlier, she said.
"We went to the bank and our business team to see if it could work and there was no reason why it couldn’t."
After buying the farm, they got the bank to revalue it and it had increased about $5000 a hectare, Mr Henderson said.
They "cranked up" production on the farm by putting more cows on and signing on really good contract milkers for a three-year term.
"They get the basics right and farm," Mr Henderson said.
The contract milkers owned some of the cows in the herd and each season could rear 20 calves for themselves to help them build a herd so they could go sharemilking in the future.
"It’s a win-win situation for both of us."
They had no plans to milk their cows themselves on their newly acquired farm, as it was set up for people taking on their first contract milking job.
They would continue sharemilking nearby and be available to lend a hand to the contract milkers when needed.
They had no plans of leaving the Awarua area as they loved being part of the community and their children enjoyed attending Tisbury School.
If they had any advice to people wanting to progress in the industry it was to enter farming competitions.
Entering competitions helped them get their name out and progress in the industry including securing their first sharemilking position.
In the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, Mr Henderson won the Southland farm manager of the year award in 2009 and the couple won the Southland sharemilker category in 2014.
Mr Henderson represented Southland and Otago in the Young Farmer of the Year competition in 2015.
Opportunities still remain in the dairy industry for people to be able to progress to farm ownership, Mrs Henderson said.
"You can’t just expect it, you’ve still got to work for it.
