Buying a farm right before the payout crash in 2014 was an experience best described by Jon Pemberton as character building.
He and wife Birgit had taken the leap from leasing to farm ownership just as the $3.90 low happened and they felt like they were losing a dollar for every milksolid produced.
“It certainly tested our resilience,” Jon said.
“Fortunately we got lucky with a contract from Open Country for a stable milk price, which made a huge difference.
“And instead of buying more cows, we ended up doing about 120 Friesian bull calves for North Island contracts with April delivery, which returned the equivalent of about $5 per kilogram of milksolids when working back from pasture eaten.”
The farm is in Brydone, eastern Southland, milking 370 cows on 139 hectares. They managed to produce 125,000kg of milksolids in that first season, milking 320 cows solely on pasture, but by 2020 they had increased cow numbers and production to 227,000kgMS.
Jon is the fourth generation in his family to be dairy farming and the base of their herd dates back to the late 1940s. He is originally from Canterbury and moved to Southland as a teenager with his parents in 1999. They bought a farm that Jon went on to contract milk and lease before it was sold in 2013.
Jon and Birgit sold most of their original herd to gather funds for their farm purchase. They sent the best cows to Canterbury and kept the rest to begin rebuilding.
Despite the challenges of their first season, they persevered. Making adjustments in the following season, they culled many older cows, resulting in a notably younger herd.
Growing the business further, they also began leasing a 260ha farm at Menzies Ferry in 2021 milking 780 cows.
The Menzies herd was put together late in the season as they took over the lease in March so there were limited options to find good cows. They ended up with some big Friesians with American genetics that do not seem to fit their system, and they have been mating them to Jersey semen to reduce the size.
“In that first season, we saw these bigger cows took 10% more feed but they produced 20 to 30 less kilograms of milksolids. They were inefficient.
“I’m sure if we turned up the supplementary feed tap they would go really well, but it just doesn’t suit the New Zealand system.
“Our perfect cow is about 510kg in liveweight, producing 580 to 590kg of milksolids efficiently.”
They have in-shed feeding and feed 500kg of pellets and 200kg of palm kernel per cow at each farm.
“We run a basic system. They go into a new break in the afternoon and back into it again in the morning. It’s a 24-hour break and that way we can see if there are any shortages on feed.
“The team are pretty good at checking when they’re getting the cows in, usually they’ll flick me a text to let me know if the cows had enough or not.”
Both farms operate a System 4 to 5 and run identical systems. They treat it as a whole, with all the cows calving at one farm then breaking them up.
“We try to mirror the two farms, so the same feed goes in the same area per cow because the bigger farm is just two herds instead of one, so it’s the same area effectively per herd, per paddock.
“The team transitions between the farms so it keeps it simple and there’s no question about feed, they don’t have to try and gauge it. We run the system so similar, it makes decision making quite easy.”
They start calving on August 1 and he chases a 300-day lactation, usually achieving 290 days.
This season has also had some challenges. They had to cull 90 cows due to staph infections and they are coming off the back of a sexed semen failure that had a huge impact on their calving spread – and both properties suffered from flooding in September.
“Every season has its challenges, sometimes they hit harder than others.”
The next two years are focused on building herd numbers. They have got their six-week in-calf rate to 68%, from 53% after last year’s issues, and are aiming to get back to the mid-70s.
They took things back to basics this year, with four to five weeks of conventional semen, followed by some Wagyu then on to short gestation for a total of 11.5 weeks’ mating.
After being stung in that first season with a low payout, Jon is always conscious of costs, trying to run a cost-efficient system but without cutting corners.
“We used a few tactics to lift performance. We always strive to hit body condition score targets and it probably helped that all the heifers were together at Menzies, with the 3- to 5-year-olds in a separate herd.
“The older cows are at Brydone where there is less walking.”
He said they also spread their risk by using a good number of bulls.
Using Wagyu was a new concept but they have decided to keep their calf market simple. The local market can be inconsistent and cause challenges with their limited facilities, so they want to keep it easy with a guaranteed market for calves.
“We’re aiming for simplicity to limit surprises.”
Birgit is in charge of calf rearing, and is meticulous. She has also taken on a new role with Open Country Dairies as their Otago Southland Farm Environment Plan Facilitator after they approached her.
It was great timing as their youngest had started school.
They have three children – Beau, 12, Miriam, 11 and Anja, 5.
Jon has extensive involvement in the community. He is the local representative on Environment Southland where he spends two to three days per week in council as part of the 12 councillor team.
“There is a lot going on in the political space at the moment, with a lot of moving parts, but I am really enjoying being a part of it.
“I’m a big advocate for focusing on outcomes and effects. It’s all about compromise – neither side will get their own way, so it is about how we can work together.”
He has played a pivotal role in founding Ag Proud NZ, an initiative aimed at advocating for positive farming practices and increasing awareness about the mental health of rural communities.
The organisation focuses on highlighting the efforts of the agricultural sector and fostering stronger connections between urban and rural communities.
And he actively contributes to the Three Rivers Catchment Group, which aims to keep farmers updated on environmental matters and initiatives within the catchment area.
They are lucky to have a good team on farm that allows them to have so much off-farm activity.
“They’re a cohesive team and work really well together. We respect each other and we are trying to build leadership within the team,” he said.
The medium-term goal is to find the system that works for them. They ultimately do not want to be running two separate farms, but are still undecided on cow numbers and whether they will operate a closed system going forward.
“We don’t want to overcapitalise on dairy. In 15 years it might be a different picture so we want to keep our eye on the bigger picture and be adaptable.”
On average they travel to Europe every five years and are heading to Thailand next summer for a family wedding. They will continue to travel and expose the kids to the world.
But for now Jon is really enjoying governance and Birgit is loving getting stuck into supporting farmers.
