Hikurangi 50/50 sharemilkers Todd and Natasha Imeson are now on the lookout for a dairy farm to purchase, having grown their business after 14 years in the industry to 710 cows and two current sharemilking jobs.
Todd started out as a farm assistant in Riponui, progressing to manager on the same farm the following season, a position he held for three years.
When his dad passed away, his mum called on him to run the family farm also at Riponui, which he did for six years before coming to sharemilk on Bruce Cutforth’s 145ha effective farm at Whakapara four seasons ago.
In 2016 Bruce purchased another 112ha effective farm and Todd and Natasha expanded their business with a second sharemilking job.
They now year round milk 430 cows on the home farm and spring calve 280 cows on the new block, with three full time staff.
Todd says the couple have been in a development phase with the new farm, since with just two short weeks’ notice of the new position starting, they had had to scrambled to buy cows.
“With a good low empty rate this season, we’ve now been able to sort out which ones are worth keeping. We’ve now got some good condition scores and the herd is improving all the time.”
Natasha’s passion is for breeding. She picks all her own bulls and Todd says the herd is now well above average. “We’ve been working on it for four years,” he says.
“For the first couple of years we were having to buy in replacements because we didn’t have any of our own heifers, but we’ve taken it to a point where we’ve now got our own young stock coming through.
“All the heifers coming into the herd now are over $100 BW, we make sure of that.”
Production is also improving and has risen from 265,000kgs milksolids across both farms last season to 320,000kgs milksolids this season.
Todd attributes the increase in part to milking fully calved cows through the winter as opposed to carry over cows last season. Todd’s passion on the farm is for seeing his cows well fed, and the resulting vat tickets.
He is quite into his numbers, enjoying the accounts, the budgeting, and completing feasibility studies on the different opportunities he and Natasha have considered taking up.
Now Todd and Natasha are on a year by year contract, they are actively looking for a farm to purchase.
They have been over a few farms in the past 12 months, and have even approached some of their neighbours.
“We want to stay in the area, but it doesn’t have to be,” Todd says.
“We like the neighbourhood, and it would be great to keep our sharemilking jobs to keep some cash flow into the business.”
The couple aren’t interested in buying a farm just for the sake of having one – it needs to generate cash. “Without cash we can’t do anything,” Todd says.
“We love being able to do something we enjoy, making money, and looking after our family which includes our son Lakelin, who is four, going on 14. Our little farm worker.”
This article was brought to you in association with the following businesses..
- Maungatapere Transport Limited
- Northland farm services
- Summit Chartered Accountants Limited
- Hooker Contracting Co Inc
