Case Study

Ross and Grant Skilton

Aorere Farm Partnership

 

Ross and Grant farm on two blocks in Whanganui

Ross and Grant farm on two blocks in Whanganui

The Home Farm, which abridges the Whanganui Golf Club Belmont Links, and which has been in the family since 1939. Originally 40 Hectares growing to its current 230 hectares.

Pakaraka Road – which they have owned for nearly 20 years. This is 300 Hectares, of which 180 is in pasture, and 120 hectares QE2 covenanted regenerating bush.

 

The major component of the operation are the piggeries (5,000 head all up) operating on each farm. There is a symbiotic relationship with the cattle rearing, with the effluent from the pig farm being used to fertilise the land – they don’t buy much fertiliser. 

Over both farms, there are 1,000 cattle. There are 700 replacement dairy heifers, of which 590 are provided by NZ Grazing. 300 are beef cattle and the remaining 110 relate to a private arrangement.  The private owner has been with them for nearly 30 years (in various family and business iterations). The original private grazier came with the land when they bought it (and his father had previously worked with Ian at Ambreed).

 

They have been with NZ Grazing since 1989 – a year after NZ Grazing’s incorporation.

Service Manager: Richard Hammond.

 

How did you find out about NZ Grazing Company?

NZ Grazing owner Ian, and their father Allan were long term friends through Rotary and Ambreed. Ian happened to be visiting when Allan made some comment around “The boys have converted the dairy farm to bull beef, and the bulls are wrecking the farm”. Ian was able to provide a better alternative. The bulls are gone.

They have stayed since. They were running 150 heifers (home farm was around 85 Hectares) at that time . They have been very happy since.

“We have been supplied relatively well by NZ Grazing. Occasionally the Privates would increase. To his credit Richard has looked after us and worked in with us around numbers”

 

What do you value about NZ Grazing?

 

According to Grant “It is the people, their attention to detail and how the contracts have evolved. The contract is fair to both owner and grower of the stock. From our perspective farming is not all beer and skittles, but the contract is an independent  reflection of the animals that the owner is getting back.”

 According to Ross “The ability to deliver numbers over the long term has been a great advantage. Another of the advantages of NZ Grazing is the long-term experience of people (Service Managers) coming in who have a great reservoir of knowledge”

 According to Grant “I wouldn’t like to be working directly with the multiple stock owners”

A perceived friction was around how target weights were established, especially when incoming animals were compromised. However, it was accepted that most animals did get to their targets when properly managed.

What advice might you give to a new grower farmer how they might benefit working with NZ Grazing?

The advantage of having a contract which is managed. Having all the marketing and procurement of animals done for them.

There is a specified price, you are not at the whims of the market. Grant related how in the early days the payments to growers were linked to the milk fat price – so there was a base plus top up.

According to Ross “the contract has moved to a focus on feed which reflects the competitive nature of best use of grass production”

What do you see as a challenge to farming?

Most challenges are weather and season related in the shorter term.

 From a longer term – the environment and nutrient pressure as well as the carbon neutrality. According to Ross “It is a compromise between pushing yourself to maximum efficiency while leaving yourself leeway to maximise production while balancing risk and efficiency“.  They use the beef stock numbers as a way of managing the variability. If grazing is getting tight they will sell some beef cattle. They also have some older cattle which they can move on to the harder paddocks.

What do you do to make your farm more efficient?

There is an excellent division of work between the two brothers. Jobs are complimentary. Ross tends to be the outside person and Grant tends to focus on the monitoring and financial aspects of the business, but the roles are not exclusive .

According to the brothers people are very important to the efficiency. They have fourteen staff across the piggery and two farms.

Ross’s daughter and son-in-law farm the home block.

Calvin (Farm Manager at Pakaraka Road) does a great job with the animals. He has that feeling with grazing animals, and he has wonderful experience which he is able to apply to growing the stock.

Why do you think you are good at what you do?

Ross is about to retire (whatever that means) he still lives on the farm that he was born on and that breeds a passion for the job. He is moving to a less “hands on job” but still loves working around the farm. He fills “in the gaps”. He also drives the environmental initiatives, being responsible for planting trees and predator control. Aorere was the winner of the Taranaki Regional Council  Environmental Award 2020.

Grant adds that attention to detail is also important, and they are lucky to have a good staff that allows the brothers to get to the details. Improved mechanisation also helps.

What do you do to relax?

Ross is an avid amateur astronomer and a keen cyclist although he says he is taking it easier now.

Grant has a younger family and spends a lot of time as a “stay at home dad”, enjoying participating in his family’s growing up.

Both have strong interest in maintaining family relationships, with their mother still living on the farm, allowing her to spend time together with her extended family

We take the hassle out of managing your dairy heifers.