June 17, 2025 • 31 mins
Tune in as we welcome Fiona and Tom Langsford, winners of the NZ Share Farmers of the Year. Alongside taking out the overall prize, the Langford’s also took home the Sustainable Pasture, Business Performance, Environmental Sustainability, People & Culture, Leadership, Farm Safety, Health & Biosecurity, and Experience 2025 Dairy Industry Awards. In this episode, the team share their journey of balancing on-farm excellence at the South Waikato-based dairy operation.
Fiona returned to her family's high-performing 262ha, 1,100-cow farm in 2017, taking over management after three weeks of training, focusing on maintaining and refining the already successful system. Tom joined after the arrival of their first child, and together, they have balanced farming with family commitments through job-sharing and strong systems, achieving commendable results while raising three young children.
The team delve into their attention to detail in pasture and feeding management led to a farm record production of 510 kg MS per cow this season. Environmental stewardship is at the core of their operation, with significant reductions in water usage and extensive tree planting. Their environmental roadmap extends to 2030, with plans for continued improvements.
As they take on a second contract milking role and create advancement opportunities for their staff, Fiona and Tom demonstrate that farming excellence is about strategic vision, communication, and creating systems that work for both people and the environment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
G'day, and welcome to Feed for Thought, a regular
podcast from Pioneer coveringeverything from farm systems to
crops and products and much,much more.
All right, welcome to thisepisode of Feed for Thought.
As usual, I've got Matt Dalywith me.
Welcome along, matt.
G'day Wade, how are you?
Very good, very good, and acouple of guests today working
(00:26):
very much as a team though Tomand Fiona Langford.
Welcome along.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, hi.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Thank you.
Yeah, great to have you guys,and great to have you guys so
soon after the Dairy IndustryAwards too.
So from my point of view, amassive congratulations on
winning Epic result.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, thank you, very stoked.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Very happy.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think you took out somephenomenal number of the awards
, but you'll probably shy awayfrom that, I'm sure.
But an excellent result andgreat for the Waikato too, I
might say.
Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
And a wave of flag on you.
Yeah, absolutely, we'll haveour turn next year.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, so, yeah, great to be here.
So a family farm, just not far.
What are we out of Patera, hereBetween Patera and Arapuni?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, a couple of minutes away from the dam
Arapuni Dam.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, so in a great little spot in the farm office,
here too.
So it's great to be here.
It's a great set up here.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Looking outside here too.
So it's a great place, it's agreat set up here, looking
outside as well.
Quite rolling country as well.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Neat spot.
You guys got here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, we're definitely pretty lucky to be
where we are in the SouthWaikato.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, so can you give us a little bit of background
about yourselves, because you'vehad an interesting kind of
journey to come back to thefamily farm and we'll get to
that shortly but do you want tojust tell us a little bit about
yourselves, where you met andhow you got to this point here?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, so we actually met while doing a bit of
internship at Fonterra at theResearch and Development Centre
down in Pāmi.
I think she fell in love withme in the white lab coat.
Yeah, you're hard to resistEither the safety glasses.
But no, I've got a Bachelor inScience and majoring in Food
(02:17):
Science.
I think you know a big driverfor me was moving into the dairy
industry.
Born and bred in the ruralheartland of Auckland, by the
Harbour Bridge.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, plenty of rural opportunities.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Yeah hadn't been on a dairy farm until I met Fiona.
But you know I was keen on thatscience background so I studied
food science and really for methe only place I was going to
end up was working for Fonterra.
So I was very driven on tryingto achieve that.
So did the internship.
Ended up on the graduatetechnical program and feeded the
(02:53):
same.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So I studied nutritiondietetics at Otago University,
was set to be a dietitian andrealized that working for
Fonterra was a great opportunityto impact nutrition of products
rather than trying to convincepeople to change their diet,
which can be complex.
And so I worked for Fonterra.
(03:17):
So I was actually working inMelbourne.
Before we came home to thefamily farm In 2017, my parents
had hit a point where they wererunning a really, really good
system, but that had enough ofthe day-to-day management, and
so they were looking foralternative options.
So we sort of took on thatopportunity to come and run the
(03:37):
farm, so I took on a manager'srole.
Tom was in New Zealand at thetime, so it was nice to be back
in the same country again.
I think I started started May,did a three-week crash course
and just trying to learneverything possible, and on the
1st of June I was running 1100odd cows and five staffs, so
jumped right into the deep end.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, so we'll get into the system in a minute, but
I just want to rewind the clockhere, so you're not from from a
farming background.
How intimidating was it to uhto, to join fiona here on the
family farm?
I like I've known yos andmarianne for a wee while, but
what was that like?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
it's been a big change, it's been a big
adjustment, but you know, um, wecould see, uh, the light, um,
in terms of farming and whatthat would provide for ourselves
and and our family, you know,from an an early point being
together.
So you know, we've always beenfocused on moving into the dairy
farming side of things for along time.
(04:34):
So, yeah, it was intimidatingat the beginning, but I'm
certainly happy with thedecision that we've made, and
you joined straight away.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Or like where did you come back into the picture?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
So with the birth of our first born son, george so
that was in 2019.
I took the paternity leave Atthat point.
I was looking after George, feewas on the farm and we sort of
did a little bit of job sharing.
I spent quite a bit of time onthe farm.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Started the training program.
Yeah, bit of job sharing.
I spent quite a bit of time onfarm and then the training
program yeah this sounds like astory
Speaker 4 (05:09):
that sounds brilliant .
Did my internship with a kidunder one arm and um, and then,
yeah, I uh took voluntaryredundancy uh later on in 2019,
um, and then from there, wedecided to establish a contract
milking business and go fromthere.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Nice.
So, going back to the 2017,fiona, you did the crash course.
We've spoken about the factthat it was a really
high-performing farm systembusiness, really humming and at
scale, Obviously fairlyintimidating, probably for you
coming into that in somerespects.
What was that like and what isthe system?
What was the system, or can youdescribe the system to
(05:49):
listeners so they get a bit of afeel for it?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
yeah, yeah.
So I mean it's a split carvingsystem, so um 1100 cows system,
five farms.
So whilst we run a relativelysimple version of a system five
when, um, you know, growing upI'd helped on the farm here and
there, but I'd never done a fullmilking at that point in time
or anything.
So, yeah, definitely absolutelythrew myself in the deep end.
(06:14):
I had farm assistants who hadmore experience essentially than
me and I was managing them, soI had to lap up every
opportunity in terms of.
So I had to lap up everyopportunity in terms of taking
learning opportunities, going tocourses, doing everything I
could to just learn as much as Ican, but obviously had the
support of my parents as well,which was massive, and so that
first year had really reallygood support, a lot of support
(06:36):
throughout the year.
Second year had a little bit ofless support and the farm
performance showed Like I didn'tquite nail.
The pasture management in mysecond year had a little bit of
less support and the farmperformance showed like I didn't
quite nail the pasturemanagement in my second year,
and so production was a littlebit lower.
But that was actually probablythe best learning experience I
could have had, because Iactually learned from that and
(06:56):
and understood where I wentwrong.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Um, so sometimes your failures can be your best
learning opportunities as well,so so, yeah, you know, do you
think, mum and dad, let you makejust the odd little error here
and there.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, it all started in September.
Yoss had gone over to Chile foranother business venture.
I did some work and that'swhere I just got a little bit
wrong there.
I tried to put as much inputfeed in as I could so the cows
would produce as much aspossible.
Didn't quite nail the pasturemanagement and you know, once
you get it wrong it's sort ofsometimes a little bit too late.
So it was probably an accidentallearning session, but yeah, it
(07:34):
worked out really really wellbecause where we are today, you
know just what we learnt fromsome of those steps along the
way.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Nice and Tom, how's your learnings on pasture
management and how's that?
How have you gone about that?
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, well, I suppose we job share, so we're both
50-50 on the farm.
One day I'll manage the farmand the other day she'll manage
it.
Yeah, I think we've got verycomplementary skill sets and we
work very closely together onthe pasture management, people
management, all aspects of thebusiness.
So I'd like to say it'sprobably a strength of both of
(08:07):
ours, particularly in thepasture management side.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Can we just pick up that a little bit.
It's a day on, day off,effectively.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, it depends what you call a day off.
There he is, I do not definewhich was on or off True.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Well played.
I did not define which was onor off.
True, well played.
Yeah.
How does that work, and whatdrove you to going down that
pathway?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, so, for example , in the mornings we can't be
both on a farm.
We've got three young childrenat home, so one would always do
the early start and the otherperson, I guess on that day off
(08:51):
would still potentially come tothe farm later in the morning
and help out where needed, um,depending on how many staff are
on on that day, that sort ofthing as well.
We both have our strengths andtogether the synergistic effect
of what we bring together ismuch, much bigger than one of us
and the other one helping.
Yeah, so to both be fullyinvolved, um, and then I guess
from a key person risk as well,that's reduced a lot for us,
because if one went down, theother one can actually run the
(09:12):
farm as well.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That's neat.
Yeah, the key person risk ismanaged massively through that
approach isn't it yeah?
If you're out of action for afew days, yeah well, Fee's had
two cesareans since.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
So she's been out of action for a fair amount of time
with that process.
So yeah, that just sort ofshows it's working.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, and so back to the system.
As I said, it was ahigh-performing system and you
came into that.
Did you make any changes to thesystem or did you largely keep
that sort of untouched?
Where were the areas whereyou've really zeroed in to make
improvements?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
yeah, so it's.
It's really easy to jump in thesystem and want to try change
lots or things, but we recognizethat it was a really high
performing system already andthere's a lot of ways to run a
farm and I guess it'scomplementary for us to continue
the system and refine it and,you know, make minor
(10:13):
improvements and adjustmentsrather than trying to change the
system.
So we've rolled with the samesystem and just try to refine
over time to improve performancerather than trying to make
dramatic changes, and I thinkthat's been really complementary
to what's working here and itprobably helps because we have
similar values to mum and dad,so that really helps being on a
(10:33):
farm where you're all actuallygot the same values.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
But what about infrastructure?
Because as we drove in here,there's a brand new shed.
A brand new, is it covered?
Feed pad out the back.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Did you get to wave that flag to get there across,
or was that in the plan?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, so it has been in the long-term plan for quite
a while.
We were running well as many as1,200 cows for a 50-bale cow
shed, split carving so reallylong, milkings up to 10 hours a
day, and so you've got torecognize that people are
working pretty hard here and afrustrating shit, I guess, in
(11:09):
terms of cow flow and thingslike that as well, and it's 365
days a year.
So, yeah, we definitely had, Iguess, an influence on making
that happen, maybe a little bitearlier.
That sort of thing.
Just showing the board um, soI'm involved at a board level
for the business, so justshowing the board, you know, the
impact that it is having on thepeople.
Um, lameness was a challengefor us as well.
(11:31):
So just some of those crucialum factors that were impacting
people as well yeah, cool, andyou haven't.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Uh, even, as you know , you had a feed bird.
Obviously you've got a, a newerfeed pad.
It's covered now, but yourfeeding system has largely
remained the same for most ofthe time that you've been in the
business yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So um, or historically or many years ago
it was um, a lot of higher inputfeeds, more expensive feeds and
things like that, trying totarget that really high
production, um.
But we've come back to arefined level where actually,
from a profit perspective, justrefine it much simpler.
So we grow all of our maize, wegrow all of our grass silage
(12:12):
you're in control of those costsand really the only bought in
feed is palm kernel, a littlebit of straw or hay and on the
odd season, like this season, alittle bit of canola or DDG yeah
when it's really dry and you'reautumn calving, so you're just
trying to get that protein in.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, and we say refined level, just so our
listeners you know what sort ofproduction are you doing a cow
and a hectare to give a bit ofcontext.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, typically around $4.80, $4.90 per cow, and
this season we'll sit on around$5.10.
So we're actually this has beenour top season, or this is the
best season for the farm to date?
Yeah, top production.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Not a bad year to do it.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
No, it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, it's pretty good.
So obviously keen to get into acouple of the areas where you
won awards.
Like I said at the start, didphenomenally well to scoop quite
a number of them and you know Ihad the privilege to, I guess,
hear a little bit about.
You know your story leading upto today, but business and the
(13:16):
environment were two areas thatyou're quite passionate about
and you know you obviously havestrengths right across the
business.
But what I want to kind of getinto and maybe we can start with
business is you know, what doesthat look like in terms of
winning the awards?
One thing we get the bigpicture, but what does that look
like for you guys?
What are the critical bits interms of the execution to sort
(13:37):
of achieve business success?
You know, what are the thingsthat you're really honed in on?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah.
So I guess really strongfinancial discipline and that's
just around investing rights.
So it's not necessarily aboutnot spending money, but it's
about choosing where you spendand how that can be utilised to
bring your business forward orhelp the people in your business
.
So having really good equipmentand tools that don't break down
(14:05):
so that people have really,really efficient time management
, that sort of thing.
Clear strategic direction, solike we have our vision of what
we want our business to look at,like our mission statements and
our values as well, and we liveby those values every day.
They come into our staffperformance reviews.
They come into the way that werecruit as well.
So we're recruiting people thathave the same values as us as
(14:28):
well, so that it works.
And then diversification of ourbusiness as well.
So diversification of incomestreams and asset base as well.
So we've had the opportunity toinvest in the business and
become equity partners as wellas having our own contract
milking income stream and thenjust looking at some
diversification around otherincome opportunities as well.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And in terms of you've mentioned a board
structure and you know you'vegot massive disciplines around
that, but what part does thatplay in, kind of, I guess, in
terms of those disciplines andto that you know, and further to
that, the advice, where do theykind of play a part in that
kind of business performance?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, so I think the board is actually a fantastic
part of the wider familybusiness.
So it's probably just a goodway of succession planning in
the business and involving thewhole family.
So we're actually all on thesame page, but on a formal basis
.
So we have a formal board pack.
We have formal board meetingsas well, so, um, and there's a
(15:33):
few key people on the board fromwithin the family, but that
board sets the kpis for each ofthe farms.
Um, it sets the budgets.
So you've got clear directionon where where the business is
heading as well from a farmingperspective yeah, and so that's
the big picture, that's for the,for the farm enterprise.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
What do you do, what do you put about for you guys,
for yourselves, like you, foryour own kind of growth pathway?
And is it, is it all completelytied into the, to the family
farming enterprise, or are youthinking, oh well, actually,
diversification might include abit of stuff outside of this
sort of farming business.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Tom's dodging a bullet here eh.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
He's looking at me like he's going cool.
Yeah, he's chairman of thatboard.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So, in terms of diversification, so like, we've
looked at owning our own home um, things like that as well.
So totally separate fromfarming, um, and, and our
10-year plan is to own our ownfarm as well, separate from the
family group, so, whilstmaintaining our equity
partnership as well.
So we wanted to be able to doboth.
(16:44):
We see the benefit of theequity partnership of the family
farming group, um, there's alot of skill, there's a lot of
synergistic um benefit there aswell.
So being able to do both.
So rather than just jump in andsay we want to be those people
that own our own farm yeah, youknow, that is in the goals, but
not necessarily straight away,because what we're managing to
(17:04):
achieve and do as a family ismuch, much more than what we
could do on our own as well.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And what about the environmental side?
Because, as Wade touched on,it's a big part of all of that
was a piece that you enjoyedtaking home in the silverware
for us.
So where's the passion for youguys in that space?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, I think that's been something that's really
important for Fi and I, but alsofor the wider family as a
family farming business, I thinkthey've invested heavily in
things like effluent management,nutrient management, and so we
really wanted to take that astep further and sort of assist
that and help enhance thatenvironment and sustainability
(17:44):
piece.
We've got three young boys, soif they want to go farming, then
it's really important that weget that environment and
sustainability piece right.
So for us, that journey startedin 2018 with a farm environment
plan, just as a way ofdocumenting all the good stuff
that is happening on farm, butalso for Fi and I as a way to
(18:07):
identify gaps that we canpotentially take back to the
business and look at closing outother things like that.
We've done a bit of work Feeand myself in water use
intensity, so we've been able tosignificantly reduce the water
that we're using on farm to thetune of about 15 million litres
per year.
We're saving.
So that the tune of about 15million litres per year, we're
saving.
(18:27):
So that was really importantfor us.
But then also minimising wasteand maximising recycling.
We've done a lot of work inthat space, and then Fi and I
have done a lot of work inriparian planting in the last
couple of years.
So, yeah, we're really proud ofwhat we've been able to achieve
over the last couple of yearsin that space and it's happy to
(18:47):
be recognised as part of theDairy Industry Awards.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And Tom planted four and a half thousand trees in the
last year, so he seriously gotin there and got his hands dirty
.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
We roped a few people in.
I think our Dutch student thatwe had for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I don't think he wants to see another Manuka
plant again.
But during that FEP early on,as you guys were kind of coming
back, did it help you learn thatside of the business as well to
a greater and see opportunity.
Like you talked about that $50million, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, I mean, Tom has a background with Fonterra in
the environmental space, so hehas quite a lot of knowledge in
that space as well.
But it's just a really goodstructured approach to go hey,
what are we doing well, butwhere can we improve as well?
And so we were like let's getinto this early, identify the
areas that we can improvebecause we genuinely care.
(19:45):
Right, it's not like just atick box exercise for us.
It's like what can we do toimprove?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
let's identify them and and start making that
progress yeah, what I'm curiousabout with all of this is where
the hell do you get all this allthe time?
For you got three kids underunder six.
Uh, you're going flat out.
You're entering into the awardsplanting trees.
You know you've got a lot ofcows, a pretty full-on system,
and you may have touched that atthe start, but how do you get
(20:13):
time away in all of this?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
For the listeners.
They're just looking at eachother.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Puzzled, Puzzled, they're going shit.
What's our answer to thisquestion?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
This wasn't on the script.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, there's a few things.
So our team we've got a reallygood team and we've got systems
and processes in place that wecan walk out the door today and
know that our team could run thefarm in the way that we would
want to run it, and so that'sreally crucial for us, because
you can't run 1,100 cows on yourown and you definitely can't
(20:46):
get time off, um, you know,without a good team behind you.
So it's the people around us,and we have really good support
from our family as well.
So mum has the kids once a week.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
So every thursday we plan everything possible on the
farm on a thursday becausethere's two of us um yeah and
and um yeah, but it's the goodprocesses and structures in
place that we have.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But we do?
We run a full on hectic life,yeah, sports, everything.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
We just keep on going yeah yeah, yeah, we get a few
puzzled looks from certainly myside of the family.
Being Aucklanders cannotunderstand how, why we do so
much and how we do it all yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Just looping back to the environmental stuff, kind of
what's next, what's the sort ofthe future focus in that sort
of environment sustainabilityYou've clearly got a bit of a
passion for it and done a lot ofgood stuff Anything kind of on
the horizon or areas that you'reworking on.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Yeah, I mean the riparian will continue for a
long time.
We've got a plan through to2030 around that, but also
further than that, we're lookingat energy efficiency how we can
get more efficient in the shed,more efficient with all the
resources we're using.
Part of that is looking atsolar on the cow shed, so we'll
(22:07):
be looking at that in the nextcouple of seasons.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, and then we've met with our sustainable dairy
advisor as well and just youknow, starting to unpack the
emissions and what levers wemight have to pull in those
spaces, and I think there'sstill a lot of learning and a
lot more to sort of delve intothere.
But we'll just keep listeningand keep learning and see what
is practical for us in oursystem.
(22:33):
So there won't be any dramaticsystem changes, but you know,
just looking at what optionsthere are Fine tuning yeah.
And I think if we continue toimprove efficiency on farm,
you're automatically improvingin that space too.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Anything else, because people often go into
these awards and they come awayoh we've learned so much about
ourselves and that talked aboutthe business, and environment
and even people.
Is there something else thatkind of like?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
surprised you through the process that you, you
learned about it I think some ofit is just around like our
ability to communicate ourbusiness.
So actually sitting down andnoting how we know our business
through, we live it every day,but how do you communicate to
(23:23):
somebody else what you're doing?
All thing for us sitting downand being like, how can we show
and share and showcase to thejudges?
You know what we are doing onfarms, so and now communicate it
on a podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's good um, I want to pick up on
that a little bit, because thethe judges, and I'm going to say
steve canton might said this,but he said something along the
lines of what shone through wasthe attention to detail, and
we've picked up little bits ofit.
You know, like you talked aboutthe policies and procedures,
you know things that you've gotin place that mean that the
(24:00):
business can continue whenyou're not here.
But what are some of thoseareas where?
areas where maybe if you were topick the top two or three or
four areas where you've got areally strong attention to
detail.
It might be in the policies andprocedures, but what?
Are some things that stand out.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, so I guess one is like around pasture
management.
So we can't get cows in everyday or definitely can't get
every herd in ourselves.
So our staff feedback on ashared WhatsApp message they
feed back the residuals in thepaddock, they feed back the
water trough status and theyfeed back the weed status or the
fact that they've done theweeds.
So from there, you know, withthe residuals, we can fine tune
(24:42):
what's going into the feed outwagon, the supplementary feed,
and we're fine tuning to aquarter to half a kilo per cow.
So right down to you know, ifthere's a 1,600 residual, if
we're targeting 1,500, that's100 kilos per hectare.
That's spares, so that's 100kilos per hectare that can come
out of the wagon.
So yeah, just really sort ofthat's an example.
(25:03):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, that's great.
And then how do you relay thatthrough to whoever's doing the
job on the wagon?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, so the wagon?
It is a mixer wagon with aweigh scale and a programmed
feed recipe so we can justadjust the feed recipe.
So if we're not on farm we canjust message through and say
drop half a kilo of PKE out therecipe or whatever it might be.
And if we're on farm we can doit ourselves.
But we've got a Tuaise who willbecome a manager as well, so
(25:32):
they can start to learn tofine-tune that as well
themselves.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And what about like technology, like where does that
?
Does that enable some of theattention to detail kind of
aspect?
Is there anything that sort ofsprings to mind there?
Speaker 4 (25:48):
I wouldn't say we're um particularly techno centric
on on this farm I'd say it'scertainly coming through
certainly coming through thedairy industry awards.
It's um made us feel quite oldschool um talking to to the
farmers.
But you know we we do try useuh technology as much as
possible where it um does bringvalue to the business.
Um for us in particular, youyou know that comes down to
(26:10):
things like WhatsApp and makingsure that we have clear
communication pathways to thepeople that need to know
specific information.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, and other apps like Pasture GPSing, so you know
just getting brake sizescorrect and things like that.
So sometimes some of thesimplest technology is pretty
effective too.
Also open to looking into someof the wearables and spaces.
And, you know, with the CalManager Award, we think that's
just a really cool next step forus because, around the
(26:42):
rumination and being able tofine-tune some of the factors
that we can't fine-tunecurrently, the knowledge and the
information that we're going toget from that, I'm very excited
about being able to fine-tunesome of that, so that was one of
the prizes.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Was it yes?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
we won the Cow Manager Awards.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Are you just trying to keep a mental tally here.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's just awesome marketing by them to me
Interesting.
It's just awesome marketing bythem to me Interesting.
Outside of that, what's beenthe most rewarding piece of
being part of this journey withthe awards?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I think for us.
You know we're five and sevenyears into farming and so it's
been a relatively intense, shortjourney.
But we went into this notreally having a clue.
It was about benchmarking.
For us, um, it was aboutgetting feedback from judges.
Um, you know how often do youget two or three industry
(27:36):
experts in a room judging everyarea of your business and giving
you feedback?
So we went into it.
You know like we can get a heapof feedback.
We can come up with new ideasthey'll share, you know, other
options to us.
We can network along the wayand meet some like-minded people
.
Um, and then to come out of itand and to have done as well as
we have um has just been.
(27:56):
It's been really awesome.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Yes, feeling very lucky well, that's just gold,
isn't it?
Because it was the last.
It was kind of getting close tothe wrap-up question that I was
going to ask me and you've justnailed it.
It wasn't on the lines of youknow, uh, obviously we're keen
to encourage others to enterinto the awards.
You know, those are some pretty, uh, I guess, encouraging ways
(28:19):
to, you know, get people excitedabout entering, and the
feedback, the benchmarking.
It's not about the prizes.
Uh, well, they're a nice bonus.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
It certainly wasn't what motivated us into the
industry awards, so it's just abonus at the end of the day
having some prizes at the end ofit, but it's been an amazing
opportunity for us to see whereour business lies in the dairy
industry and see whatimprovements we can make and how
we can get better and thefeedback's been amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Like I said, how often do you get multiple
experts in the room and they seeevery single part of your
business and give you feedbackon each and every part, so we
walk away with some really coolideas as well.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
So, on that end, some of the feedback.
Or where is the what's thefuture for you guys?
I mean, you're taking out thetop gong yeah normally the sky's
the limit, but where?
Where are you guys heading?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
sky's always the limit.
So, um, we're taking on asecond contract milking role
next season, so we'll have um, Isay next season, but we're
talking about four days' time.
I think it's about creatingopportunity for our staff as
well so they can progress withinour business.
(29:35):
There's managementopportunities for them now and
it's about creating an openingfor ourselves to get a little
bit more into ops managementspace, a little bit less on the
day-to-day on-farm and takingother opportunities as well, and
I guess, a bit of a moreindustry influence level as well
(29:55):
.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Well, you're going to get a hell of an introduction
to that this year.
I think you've been probablypretty busy on that the last few
weeks.
No doubt, yes.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
I have Definitely getting right into that.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Nothing like giving more busy people some more
things to do, including podcasts.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Well, we've added to that list Wade we have, we have.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
But hey look, any final comments from you.
No, no, Again, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
You guys are a phenomenal couple and just first
time being out in the drivewayand just seeing your passion and
what you've delivered wade wastelling me about a little bit
about the awards and how thenight went, but just to meet you
guys it's been fantastic.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
so thanks for having us here yeah, no, it has been,
uh, yeah, hey, look, it's reallyexciting from my point of view
because you're right in, uh atthe back doorstep, so it's uh,
it's cool to have have another,you know, really high performing
farm to kind of benchmark offand and kind of just see what's
possible within the industry.
And you guys are certainly, uh,doing that and, um, you know,
(30:57):
from my point of view, I learn alot just sort of observing what
good operators like yourselvesare doing.
So, yeah, really appreciate youtaking a bit of time out, uh
and having us invade your, uh,us invade your farm for an hour
or so.
But, yeah, really do honestlyappreciate the time and I look
forward to just seeing whathappens over the next 12 months
(31:18):
and beyond.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, it's exciting times for us.
Yeah, very much looking forwardto it and thank you for coming
out guys.
Yeah, no worries, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right.
So, for those that havelistened in today, um make sure
you uh follow along, uh sharewith your friends, and uh we
look forward to you listeningagain on the next episode of
feed for thought, thanks verymuch guys, thank you.
G'day, and welcome to Feed for Thought, a regular
podcast from Pioneer coveringeverything from farm systems to
crops and products and much,much more.
All right, welcome to thisepisode of Feed for Thought.
As usual, I've got Matt Dalywith me.
Welcome along, matt.
G'day Wade, how are you?
Very good, very good, and acouple of guests today working
(00:26):
very much as a team though Tomand Fiona Langford.
Welcome along.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, hi.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Thank you.
Yeah, great to have you guys,and great to have you guys so
soon after the Dairy IndustryAwards too.
So from my point of view, amassive congratulations on
winning Epic result.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, thank you, very stoked.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Very happy.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think you took out somephenomenal number of the awards
, but you'll probably shy awayfrom that, I'm sure.
But an excellent result andgreat for the Waikato too, I
might say.
Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
And a wave of flag on you.
Yeah, absolutely, we'll haveour turn next year.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, so, yeah, great to be here.
So a family farm, just not far.
What are we out of Patera, hereBetween Patera and Arapuni?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, a couple of minutes away from the dam
Arapuni Dam.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, so in a great little spot in the farm office,
here too.
So it's great to be here.
It's a great set up here.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Looking outside here too.
So it's a great place, it's agreat set up here, looking
outside as well.
Quite rolling country as well.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Neat spot.
You guys got here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, we're definitely pretty lucky to be
where we are in the SouthWaikato.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, so can you give us a little bit of background
about yourselves, because you'vehad an interesting kind of
journey to come back to thefamily farm and we'll get to
that shortly but do you want tojust tell us a little bit about
yourselves, where you met andhow you got to this point here?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, so we actually met while doing a bit of
internship at Fonterra at theResearch and Development Centre
down in Pāmi.
I think she fell in love withme in the white lab coat.
Yeah, you're hard to resistEither the safety glasses.
But no, I've got a Bachelor inScience and majoring in Food
(02:17):
Science.
I think you know a big driverfor me was moving into the dairy
industry.
Born and bred in the ruralheartland of Auckland, by the
Harbour Bridge.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, plenty of rural opportunities.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Yeah hadn't been on a dairy farm until I met Fiona.
But you know I was keen on thatscience background so I studied
food science and really for methe only place I was going to
end up was working for Fonterra.
So I was very driven on tryingto achieve that.
So did the internship.
Ended up on the graduatetechnical program and feeded the
(02:53):
same.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So I studied nutritiondietetics at Otago University,
was set to be a dietitian andrealized that working for
Fonterra was a great opportunityto impact nutrition of products
rather than trying to convincepeople to change their diet,
which can be complex.
And so I worked for Fonterra.
(03:17):
So I was actually working inMelbourne.
Before we came home to thefamily farm In 2017, my parents
had hit a point where they wererunning a really, really good
system, but that had enough ofthe day-to-day management, and
so they were looking foralternative options.
So we sort of took on thatopportunity to come and run the
(03:37):
farm, so I took on a manager'srole.
Tom was in New Zealand at thetime, so it was nice to be back
in the same country again.
I think I started started May,did a three-week crash course
and just trying to learneverything possible, and on the
1st of June I was running 1100odd cows and five staffs, so
jumped right into the deep end.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, so we'll get into the system in a minute, but
I just want to rewind the clockhere, so you're not from from a
farming background.
How intimidating was it to uhto, to join fiona here on the
family farm?
I like I've known yos andmarianne for a wee while, but
what was that like?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
it's been a big change, it's been a big
adjustment, but you know, um, wecould see, uh, the light, um,
in terms of farming and whatthat would provide for ourselves
and and our family, you know,from an an early point being
together.
So you know, we've always beenfocused on moving into the dairy
farming side of things for along time.
(04:34):
So, yeah, it was intimidatingat the beginning, but I'm
certainly happy with thedecision that we've made, and
you joined straight away.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Or like where did you come back into the picture?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
So with the birth of our first born son, george so
that was in 2019.
I took the paternity leave Atthat point.
I was looking after George, feewas on the farm and we sort of
did a little bit of job sharing.
I spent quite a bit of time onthe farm.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Started the training program.
Yeah, bit of job sharing.
I spent quite a bit of time onfarm and then the training
program yeah this sounds like astory
Speaker 4 (05:09):
that sounds brilliant .
Did my internship with a kidunder one arm and um, and then,
yeah, I uh took voluntaryredundancy uh later on in 2019,
um, and then from there, wedecided to establish a contract
milking business and go fromthere.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Nice.
So, going back to the 2017,fiona, you did the crash course.
We've spoken about the factthat it was a really
high-performing farm systembusiness, really humming and at
scale, Obviously fairlyintimidating, probably for you
coming into that in somerespects.
What was that like and what isthe system?
What was the system, or can youdescribe the system to
(05:49):
listeners so they get a bit of afeel for it?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
yeah, yeah.
So I mean it's a split carvingsystem, so um 1100 cows system,
five farms.
So whilst we run a relativelysimple version of a system five
when, um, you know, growing upI'd helped on the farm here and
there, but I'd never done a fullmilking at that point in time
or anything.
So, yeah, definitely absolutelythrew myself in the deep end.
(06:14):
I had farm assistants who hadmore experience essentially than
me and I was managing them, soI had to lap up every
opportunity in terms of.
So I had to lap up everyopportunity in terms of taking
learning opportunities, going tocourses, doing everything I
could to just learn as much as Ican, but obviously had the
support of my parents as well,which was massive, and so that
first year had really reallygood support, a lot of support
(06:36):
throughout the year.
Second year had a little bit ofless support and the farm
performance showed Like I didn'tquite nail.
The pasture management in mysecond year had a little bit of
less support and the farmperformance showed like I didn't
quite nail the pasturemanagement in my second year,
and so production was a littlebit lower.
But that was actually probablythe best learning experience I
could have had, because Iactually learned from that and
(06:56):
and understood where I wentwrong.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Um, so sometimes your failures can be your best
learning opportunities as well,so so, yeah, you know, do you
think, mum and dad, let you makejust the odd little error here
and there.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, it all started in September.
Yoss had gone over to Chile foranother business venture.
I did some work and that'swhere I just got a little bit
wrong there.
I tried to put as much inputfeed in as I could so the cows
would produce as much aspossible.
Didn't quite nail the pasturemanagement and you know, once
you get it wrong it's sort ofsometimes a little bit too late.
So it was probably an accidentallearning session, but yeah, it
(07:34):
worked out really really wellbecause where we are today, you
know just what we learnt fromsome of those steps along the
way.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Nice and Tom, how's your learnings on pasture
management and how's that?
How have you gone about that?
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, well, I suppose we job share, so we're both
50-50 on the farm.
One day I'll manage the farmand the other day she'll manage
it.
Yeah, I think we've got verycomplementary skill sets and we
work very closely together onthe pasture management, people
management, all aspects of thebusiness.
So I'd like to say it'sprobably a strength of both of
(08:07):
ours, particularly in thepasture management side.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Can we just pick up that a little bit.
It's a day on, day off,effectively.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, it depends what you call a day off.
There he is, I do not definewhich was on or off True.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Well played.
I did not define which was onor off.
True, well played.
Yeah.
How does that work, and whatdrove you to going down that
pathway?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, so, for example , in the mornings we can't be
both on a farm.
We've got three young childrenat home, so one would always do
the early start and the otherperson, I guess on that day off
(08:51):
would still potentially come tothe farm later in the morning
and help out where needed, um,depending on how many staff are
on on that day, that sort ofthing as well.
We both have our strengths andtogether the synergistic effect
of what we bring together ismuch, much bigger than one of us
and the other one helping.
Yeah, so to both be fullyinvolved, um, and then I guess
from a key person risk as well,that's reduced a lot for us,
because if one went down, theother one can actually run the
(09:12):
farm as well.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That's neat.
Yeah, the key person risk ismanaged massively through that
approach isn't it yeah?
If you're out of action for afew days, yeah well, Fee's had
two cesareans since.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
So she's been out of action for a fair amount of time
with that process.
So yeah, that just sort ofshows it's working.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, and so back to the system.
As I said, it was ahigh-performing system and you
came into that.
Did you make any changes to thesystem or did you largely keep
that sort of untouched?
Where were the areas whereyou've really zeroed in to make
improvements?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
yeah, so it's.
It's really easy to jump in thesystem and want to try change
lots or things, but we recognizethat it was a really high
performing system already andthere's a lot of ways to run a
farm and I guess it'scomplementary for us to continue
the system and refine it and,you know, make minor
(10:13):
improvements and adjustmentsrather than trying to change the
system.
So we've rolled with the samesystem and just try to refine
over time to improve performancerather than trying to make
dramatic changes, and I thinkthat's been really complementary
to what's working here and itprobably helps because we have
similar values to mum and dad,so that really helps being on a
(10:33):
farm where you're all actuallygot the same values.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
But what about infrastructure?
Because as we drove in here,there's a brand new shed.
A brand new, is it covered?
Feed pad out the back.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Did you get to wave that flag to get there across,
or was that in the plan?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, so it has been in the long-term plan for quite
a while.
We were running well as many as1,200 cows for a 50-bale cow
shed, split carving so reallylong, milkings up to 10 hours a
day, and so you've got torecognize that people are
working pretty hard here and afrustrating shit, I guess, in
(11:09):
terms of cow flow and thingslike that as well, and it's 365
days a year.
So, yeah, we definitely had, Iguess, an influence on making
that happen, maybe a little bitearlier.
That sort of thing.
Just showing the board um, soI'm involved at a board level
for the business, so justshowing the board, you know, the
impact that it is having on thepeople.
Um, lameness was a challengefor us as well.
(11:31):
So just some of those crucialum factors that were impacting
people as well yeah, cool, andyou haven't.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Uh, even, as you know , you had a feed bird.
Obviously you've got a, a newerfeed pad.
It's covered now, but yourfeeding system has largely
remained the same for most ofthe time that you've been in the
business yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So um, or historically or many years ago
it was um, a lot of higher inputfeeds, more expensive feeds and
things like that, trying totarget that really high
production, um.
But we've come back to arefined level where actually,
from a profit perspective, justrefine it much simpler.
So we grow all of our maize, wegrow all of our grass silage
(12:12):
you're in control of those costsand really the only bought in
feed is palm kernel, a littlebit of straw or hay and on the
odd season, like this season, alittle bit of canola or DDG yeah
when it's really dry and you'reautumn calving, so you're just
trying to get that protein in.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, and we say refined level, just so our
listeners you know what sort ofproduction are you doing a cow
and a hectare to give a bit ofcontext.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, typically around $4.80, $4.90 per cow, and
this season we'll sit on around$5.10.
So we're actually this has beenour top season, or this is the
best season for the farm to date?
Yeah, top production.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Not a bad year to do it.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
No, it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, it's pretty good.
So obviously keen to get into acouple of the areas where you
won awards.
Like I said at the start, didphenomenally well to scoop quite
a number of them and you know Ihad the privilege to, I guess,
hear a little bit about.
You know your story leading upto today, but business and the
(13:16):
environment were two areas thatyou're quite passionate about
and you know you obviously havestrengths right across the
business.
But what I want to kind of getinto and maybe we can start with
business is you know, what doesthat look like in terms of
winning the awards?
One thing we get the bigpicture, but what does that look
like for you guys?
What are the critical bits interms of the execution to sort
(13:37):
of achieve business success?
You know, what are the thingsthat you're really honed in on?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah.
So I guess really strongfinancial discipline and that's
just around investing rights.
So it's not necessarily aboutnot spending money, but it's
about choosing where you spendand how that can be utilised to
bring your business forward orhelp the people in your business
.
So having really good equipmentand tools that don't break down
(14:05):
so that people have really,really efficient time management
, that sort of thing.
Clear strategic direction, solike we have our vision of what
we want our business to look at,like our mission statements and
our values as well, and we liveby those values every day.
They come into our staffperformance reviews.
They come into the way that werecruit as well.
So we're recruiting people thathave the same values as us as
(14:28):
well, so that it works.
And then diversification of ourbusiness as well.
So diversification of incomestreams and asset base as well.
So we've had the opportunity toinvest in the business and
become equity partners as wellas having our own contract
milking income stream and thenjust looking at some
diversification around otherincome opportunities as well.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And in terms of you've mentioned a board
structure and you know you'vegot massive disciplines around
that, but what part does thatplay in, kind of, I guess, in
terms of those disciplines andto that you know, and further to
that, the advice, where do theykind of play a part in that
kind of business performance?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, so I think the board is actually a fantastic
part of the wider familybusiness.
So it's probably just a goodway of succession planning in
the business and involving thewhole family.
So we're actually all on thesame page, but on a formal basis
.
So we have a formal board pack.
We have formal board meetingsas well, so, um, and there's a
(15:33):
few key people on the board fromwithin the family, but that
board sets the kpis for each ofthe farms.
Um, it sets the budgets.
So you've got clear directionon where where the business is
heading as well from a farmingperspective yeah, and so that's
the big picture, that's for the,for the farm enterprise.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
What do you do, what do you put about for you guys,
for yourselves, like you, foryour own kind of growth pathway?
And is it, is it all completelytied into the, to the family
farming enterprise, or are youthinking, oh well, actually,
diversification might include abit of stuff outside of this
sort of farming business.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Tom's dodging a bullet here eh.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
He's looking at me like he's going cool.
Yeah, he's chairman of thatboard.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So, in terms of diversification, so like, we've
looked at owning our own home um, things like that as well.
So totally separate fromfarming, um, and, and our
10-year plan is to own our ownfarm as well, separate from the
family group, so, whilstmaintaining our equity
partnership as well.
So we wanted to be able to doboth.
(16:44):
We see the benefit of theequity partnership of the family
farming group, um, there's alot of skill, there's a lot of
synergistic um benefit there aswell.
So being able to do both.
So rather than just jump in andsay we want to be those people
that own our own farm yeah, youknow, that is in the goals, but
not necessarily straight away,because what we're managing to
(17:04):
achieve and do as a family ismuch, much more than what we
could do on our own as well.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And what about the environmental side?
Because, as Wade touched on,it's a big part of all of that
was a piece that you enjoyedtaking home in the silverware
for us.
So where's the passion for youguys in that space?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, I think that's been something that's really
important for Fi and I, but alsofor the wider family as a
family farming business, I thinkthey've invested heavily in
things like effluent management,nutrient management, and so we
really wanted to take that astep further and sort of assist
that and help enhance thatenvironment and sustainability
(17:44):
piece.
We've got three young boys, soif they want to go farming, then
it's really important that weget that environment and
sustainability piece right.
So for us, that journey startedin 2018 with a farm environment
plan, just as a way ofdocumenting all the good stuff
that is happening on farm, butalso for Fi and I as a way to
(18:07):
identify gaps that we canpotentially take back to the
business and look at closing outother things like that.
We've done a bit of work Feeand myself in water use
intensity, so we've been able tosignificantly reduce the water
that we're using on farm to thetune of about 15 million litres
per year.
We're saving.
So that the tune of about 15million litres per year, we're
saving.
(18:27):
So that was really importantfor us.
But then also minimising wasteand maximising recycling.
We've done a lot of work inthat space, and then Fi and I
have done a lot of work inriparian planting in the last
couple of years.
So, yeah, we're really proud ofwhat we've been able to achieve
over the last couple of yearsin that space and it's happy to
(18:47):
be recognised as part of theDairy Industry Awards.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And Tom planted four and a half thousand trees in the
last year, so he seriously gotin there and got his hands dirty
.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
We roped a few people in.
I think our Dutch student thatwe had for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I don't think he wants to see another Manuka
plant again.
But during that FEP early on,as you guys were kind of coming
back, did it help you learn thatside of the business as well to
a greater and see opportunity.
Like you talked about that $50million, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, I mean, Tom has a background with Fonterra in
the environmental space, so hehas quite a lot of knowledge in
that space as well.
But it's just a really goodstructured approach to go hey,
what are we doing well, butwhere can we improve as well?
And so we were like let's getinto this early, identify the
areas that we can improvebecause we genuinely care.
(19:45):
Right, it's not like just atick box exercise for us.
It's like what can we do toimprove?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
let's identify them and and start making that
progress yeah, what I'm curiousabout with all of this is where
the hell do you get all this allthe time?
For you got three kids underunder six.
Uh, you're going flat out.
You're entering into the awardsplanting trees.
You know you've got a lot ofcows, a pretty full-on system,
and you may have touched that atthe start, but how do you get
(20:13):
time away in all of this?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
For the listeners.
They're just looking at eachother.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Puzzled, Puzzled, they're going shit.
What's our answer to thisquestion?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
This wasn't on the script.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, there's a few things.
So our team we've got a reallygood team and we've got systems
and processes in place that wecan walk out the door today and
know that our team could run thefarm in the way that we would
want to run it, and so that'sreally crucial for us, because
you can't run 1,100 cows on yourown and you definitely can't
(20:46):
get time off, um, you know,without a good team behind you.
So it's the people around us,and we have really good support
from our family as well.
So mum has the kids once a week.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
So every thursday we plan everything possible on the
farm on a thursday becausethere's two of us um yeah and
and um yeah, but it's the goodprocesses and structures in
place that we have.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But we do?
We run a full on hectic life,yeah, sports, everything.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
We just keep on going yeah yeah, yeah, we get a few
puzzled looks from certainly myside of the family.
Being Aucklanders cannotunderstand how, why we do so
much and how we do it all yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Just looping back to the environmental stuff, kind of
what's next, what's the sort ofthe future focus in that sort
of environment sustainabilityYou've clearly got a bit of a
passion for it and done a lot ofgood stuff Anything kind of on
the horizon or areas that you'reworking on.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Yeah, I mean the riparian will continue for a
long time.
We've got a plan through to2030 around that, but also
further than that, we're lookingat energy efficiency how we can
get more efficient in the shed,more efficient with all the
resources we're using.
Part of that is looking atsolar on the cow shed, so we'll
(22:07):
be looking at that in the nextcouple of seasons.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, and then we've met with our sustainable dairy
advisor as well and just youknow, starting to unpack the
emissions and what levers wemight have to pull in those
spaces, and I think there'sstill a lot of learning and a
lot more to sort of delve intothere.
But we'll just keep listeningand keep learning and see what
is practical for us in oursystem.
(22:33):
So there won't be any dramaticsystem changes, but you know,
just looking at what optionsthere are Fine tuning yeah.
And I think if we continue toimprove efficiency on farm,
you're automatically improvingin that space too.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Anything else, because people often go into
these awards and they come awayoh we've learned so much about
ourselves and that talked aboutthe business, and environment
and even people.
Is there something else thatkind of like?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
surprised you through the process that you, you
learned about it I think some ofit is just around like our
ability to communicate ourbusiness.
So actually sitting down andnoting how we know our business
through, we live it every day,but how do you communicate to
(23:23):
somebody else what you're doing?
All thing for us sitting downand being like, how can we show
and share and showcase to thejudges?
You know what we are doing onfarms, so and now communicate it
on a podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's good um, I want to pick up on
that a little bit, because thethe judges, and I'm going to say
steve canton might said this,but he said something along the
lines of what shone through wasthe attention to detail, and
we've picked up little bits ofit.
You know, like you talked aboutthe policies and procedures,
you know things that you've gotin place that mean that the
(24:00):
business can continue whenyou're not here.
But what are some of thoseareas where?
areas where maybe if you were topick the top two or three or
four areas where you've got areally strong attention to
detail.
It might be in the policies andprocedures, but what?
Are some things that stand out.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, so I guess one is like around pasture
management.
So we can't get cows in everyday or definitely can't get
every herd in ourselves.
So our staff feedback on ashared WhatsApp message they
feed back the residuals in thepaddock, they feed back the
water trough status and theyfeed back the weed status or the
fact that they've done theweeds.
So from there, you know, withthe residuals, we can fine tune
(24:42):
what's going into the feed outwagon, the supplementary feed,
and we're fine tuning to aquarter to half a kilo per cow.
So right down to you know, ifthere's a 1,600 residual, if
we're targeting 1,500, that's100 kilos per hectare.
That's spares, so that's 100kilos per hectare that can come
out of the wagon.
So yeah, just really sort ofthat's an example.
(25:03):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, that's great.
And then how do you relay thatthrough to whoever's doing the
job on the wagon?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, so the wagon?
It is a mixer wagon with aweigh scale and a programmed
feed recipe so we can justadjust the feed recipe.
So if we're not on farm we canjust message through and say
drop half a kilo of PKE out therecipe or whatever it might be.
And if we're on farm we can doit ourselves.
But we've got a Tuaise who willbecome a manager as well, so
(25:32):
they can start to learn tofine-tune that as well
themselves.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And what about like technology, like where does that
?
Does that enable some of theattention to detail kind of
aspect?
Is there anything that sort ofsprings to mind there?
Speaker 4 (25:48):
I wouldn't say we're um particularly techno centric
on on this farm I'd say it'scertainly coming through
certainly coming through thedairy industry awards.
It's um made us feel quite oldschool um talking to to the
farmers.
But you know we we do try useuh technology as much as
possible where it um does bringvalue to the business.
Um for us in particular, youyou know that comes down to
(26:10):
things like WhatsApp and makingsure that we have clear
communication pathways to thepeople that need to know
specific information.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, and other apps like Pasture GPSing, so you know
just getting brake sizescorrect and things like that.
So sometimes some of thesimplest technology is pretty
effective too.
Also open to looking into someof the wearables and spaces.
And, you know, with the CalManager Award, we think that's
just a really cool next step forus because, around the
(26:42):
rumination and being able tofine-tune some of the factors
that we can't fine-tunecurrently, the knowledge and the
information that we're going toget from that, I'm very excited
about being able to fine-tunesome of that, so that was one of
the prizes.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Was it yes?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
we won the Cow Manager Awards.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Are you just trying to keep a mental tally here.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's just awesome marketing by them to me
Interesting.
It's just awesome marketing bythem to me Interesting.
Outside of that, what's beenthe most rewarding piece of
being part of this journey withthe awards?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I think for us.
You know we're five and sevenyears into farming and so it's
been a relatively intense, shortjourney.
But we went into this notreally having a clue.
It was about benchmarking.
For us, um, it was aboutgetting feedback from judges.
Um, you know how often do youget two or three industry
(27:36):
experts in a room judging everyarea of your business and giving
you feedback?
So we went into it.
You know like we can get a heapof feedback.
We can come up with new ideasthey'll share, you know, other
options to us.
We can network along the wayand meet some like-minded people
.
Um, and then to come out of itand and to have done as well as
we have um has just been.
(27:56):
It's been really awesome.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Yes, feeling very lucky well, that's just gold,
isn't it?
Because it was the last.
It was kind of getting close tothe wrap-up question that I was
going to ask me and you've justnailed it.
It wasn't on the lines of youknow, uh, obviously we're keen
to encourage others to enterinto the awards.
You know, those are some pretty, uh, I guess, encouraging ways
(28:19):
to, you know, get people excitedabout entering, and the
feedback, the benchmarking.
It's not about the prizes.
Uh, well, they're a nice bonus.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
It certainly wasn't what motivated us into the
industry awards, so it's just abonus at the end of the day
having some prizes at the end ofit, but it's been an amazing
opportunity for us to see whereour business lies in the dairy
industry and see whatimprovements we can make and how
we can get better and thefeedback's been amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Like I said, how often do you get multiple
experts in the room and they seeevery single part of your
business and give you feedbackon each and every part, so we
walk away with some really coolideas as well.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
So, on that end, some of the feedback.
Or where is the what's thefuture for you guys?
I mean, you're taking out thetop gong yeah normally the sky's
the limit, but where?
Where are you guys heading?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
sky's always the limit.
So, um, we're taking on asecond contract milking role
next season, so we'll have um, Isay next season, but we're
talking about four days' time.
I think it's about creatingopportunity for our staff as
well so they can progress withinour business.
(29:35):
There's managementopportunities for them now and
it's about creating an openingfor ourselves to get a little
bit more into ops managementspace, a little bit less on the
day-to-day on-farm and takingother opportunities as well, and
I guess, a bit of a moreindustry influence level as well
(29:55):
.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Well, you're going to get a hell of an introduction
to that this year.
I think you've been probablypretty busy on that the last few
weeks.
No doubt, yes.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
I have Definitely getting right into that.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Nothing like giving more busy people some more
things to do, including podcasts.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Well, we've added to that list Wade we have, we have.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
But hey look, any final comments from you.
No, no, Again, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
You guys are a phenomenal couple and just first
time being out in the drivewayand just seeing your passion and
what you've delivered wade wastelling me about a little bit
about the awards and how thenight went, but just to meet you
guys it's been fantastic.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
so thanks for having us here yeah, no, it has been,
uh, yeah, hey, look, it's reallyexciting from my point of view
because you're right in, uh atthe back doorstep, so it's uh,
it's cool to have have another,you know, really high performing
farm to kind of benchmark offand and kind of just see what's
possible within the industry.
And you guys are certainly, uh,doing that and, um, you know,
(30:57):
from my point of view, I learn alot just sort of observing what
good operators like yourselvesare doing.
So, yeah, really appreciate youtaking a bit of time out, uh
and having us invade your, uh,us invade your farm for an hour
or so.
But, yeah, really do honestlyappreciate the time and I look
forward to just seeing whathappens over the next 12 months
(31:18):
and beyond.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, it's exciting times for us.
Yeah, very much looking forwardto it and thank you for coming
out guys.
Yeah, no worries, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right.
So, for those that havelistened in today, um make sure
you uh follow along, uh sharewith your friends, and uh we
look forward to you listeningagain on the next episode of
feed for thought, thanks verymuch guys, thank you.
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