Waikato

We have just spent a couple of great days with Mandi McCleod a New Zealand scholar and her partner Ant Beetle on their 180 Ha dairy farm at Pirongia, Waikato. This area of undulating land is famous for its dairying, and following a very wet and cold Spring are now entering a better growing period in early Summer. Beetle is in a share milking partnership and has over the years increased his cow numbers to 650 milkers. (run in three seperate herds - Jersey, Friesian and Crossbred) The next step is getting the timing right as regards cashing in his cows and achieving the ultimate goal of purchasing his own dairy farm. He hopes to achieve this dream in the next twelve months and we wish him luck as the road has been long and hard from farm worker, farm manager, contract milker to his current position of share milker. We were impressed with the balance he was achieving in sound economics and excellent dairy husbandry and cow welfare. Of course behind every successful man there is a good woman……. …Mandi is a respected agricultural consultant in NZ and also specialises in succession planning. We are looking forward to hosting her in Wales in January.

A climate based system of dairying has many challenges, and without proper proactive management, may not be what is perceived throughout the world as an ideal extensive system of producing milk. As in the UK, economics and the increasing volatility in the cost of inputs such has fertiliser has increased the pressure within the dairy industry to intensify, expand and cut costs. (Plenty of material to discuss in my report!)

When we arrived at the farm we were fortunate to meet Mandi’s father, Bill McCleod who is the current Chairman of Ravensdown Fertiliser. This is a cooperative company that supplies 50% of the fertiliser to NZ farmers (1.081 million tonnes) with a turnover of 892 million NZ$. They made a profit last year before tax of 36 million NZ$, and returned 32 million NZ$ dollars to their farmer shareholders! The company has expanded into supplying lime, animal health products and an Australian division. A quiet and unassuming man,Bill put the obvious success of the farmer cooperative down to having an excellent CEO, and a challenging board that laid out a strong strategic plan based on shareholder return. Mandi later explained to me that her father had left school with no qualifications, built up a large dairy farm with his wife, reared five children and was now committed to turning Ravensdown into am influential and sustainable business within NZ agriculture.

A visit to the limestone caves at Waitomo, famous for their glow worms was the ideal end to our visit. I never thought that I would be fascinated with the life cycle of a worm, certainly not one that hangs from the roof and glows in the dark!