Delighting in the details

Sharing their lifetime of dairy learnings is part of the journey to farm ownership for Canterbury dairy farmers Brent and Rebecca Miller.

The contract dairy farmers attribute their success to their 'Farmily', acknowledging the calibre of the people around them who support their journey. With a dairy farming knowledge spanning the North and South Islands and experiencing family-run and corporate-owned farms, the Millers have consolidated their skill base through their consultancy business Milk IQ – and are committed to authentic performance through solidarity. They look holistically at the whole business, crunching strategies, systems and applications for farmers. “We are able to apply the knowledge we’ve gathered over more than 20 years and put that against what farmers are trying to achieve,” Rebecca says. “We have seen lot of different systems, no one system fits every farm and every farm has different goals.” The Millers have spent the past seven seasons at River Terrace Dairy farm, near Carew, south of Ashburton in mid-Canterbury The 362ha farm, along with a 75ha support block, is owned by Andrew and Rachele Morris. While they now milk 1,150 cows, the Millers began at River Terrace in its first year as a dairy conversion farm. 2 years ago, they also took on the Morris’s second farm, Ealing Pasture Holdings, a larger block of 435ha a few kilometres down the road with a 394ha milking platform and 1,450 cows. Their first-year milking at Ealing Pasture Holdings saw them increase production by 12 percent and decrease costs by 15 percent. The couple pride themselves on running a tight ship, focussing on cost control and doing the small things well. This was a contributing factor to their award wins with River Terrace Dairy having the lowest cost of production at $3.84/kg MS, operating expenses are contained to 40 percent of gross revenue and a very good pasture harvest of 15.5 tonnes of dry matter a hectare, with pasture being 78 percent of all consumed. They achieved an impressive 495kg MS a cow, based on data from the 201718 season. Attention to detail, by both management and staff, is a key focus and they actively involve their team in management decisions. They are also vigilant record keepers with collected data giving them a large bank of information to draw from. Last season River Terrace produced 565,845kg MS and Ealing Pasture Holdings 732,460kg MS. The daughter of dairy farmers, Rebecca grew up immersed in farm life. Her parents worked their way up the career ladder through contract milking, sharemilking and eventually farm ownership in Whangarei. Brent started dairying while a student in Telford, where he did relief milking to get some money and enjoyed it. He describes dairying as a way to make good money and progress, with people, stock and machinery adding lots of variety. The couple currently employ 11 full-time equivalent staff, plus relief milkers and extra helpers over calving. Brent and Rebecca want to raise up the people in their business, so they can keep the talent and those staff members can take on management roles. “It’s a full circle. For us the whole reason why we’re here is for our people and to have a positive impact, not just profit. If we have a positive impact with our people, profit will come anyway. “We have worked hard to create a good team culture and our staff turnover is zero.” They say that with the help of their staff they are able to run the two farming operations effectively and efficiently. “We are still working with the same staff we brought with us from our previous job. Andy and Rachele are the same, two of their staff members, who now work for us, have been on the farm for 16 years.” This season the Morris’s have offered the Millers a 10 percent equity in River Terrace.

| Brent and Rebecca Miller

“Farm ownership is our ultimate goal. Having great staff means we can get out of the cowshed and away from day-today operations and focus more on the business and strategies. Developing the consultancy side gives us another income stream, which supports our farm ownership journey. “We have a high level of trust with our staff but it’s a two-way street. “As we moved from farm to farm and worked for various people, each with their own management style, we learned the importance of treating others how you would want to be treated yourself. “We carry that philosophy through everything we do.” Rebecca is passionate about growing their off-farm business in the corporate farming arena, delivering practical functional systems to create a stable and resilient whole team environment. The Millers have three children, Blake, 16, Blair, 13, and Rhianna, 10. “When the kids were younger, they saw us very much hands-on milking, but now they are seeing a different side and it is good for them to witness how a business can grow.” There is a strong synergy between their off-farm consultancy work and on-farm operations for the passionate dairy farmers. In line with this, Rebecca is writing a book with the working title ‘Embrace the Intangible’. “It’s about everything you can’t buy. So it's behaviour, the way we are with people and the way we treat each other. Basically, it is about relationships and being an employer of choice and trust.” She and Brent have trademarked their ‘Farmily’ word, which they say encapsulates their management philosophy. Brent is also working on a publication, ‘The true cost of transience in the dairy industry', which he is undertaking as part of the Kelloggs Rural Leadership Programme. This relates to staff turnover and what it costs a business to lose an employee and retrain someone new. He says losing a staff member is not just a cost from a monetary perspective. It’s also about loss of milk production and intangibles like other staff, management or owners having to step in and work more hours and the impact that has with stress and on families. Rebecca also hit the road as part of the Dairy Women’s Network ‘Make time for your people', speaking tour, which involves six face-to-face workshops which were held throughout the country from 8th March to 1st April 2021. “At the end of the day, our farming business operates around people and the need to look after people and provide an excellent working environment so they can do their job safely and well. “It’s a philosophy we enjoy sharing and even if we only help one person, that is one more person who can make a difference.” The award-winning couple have been recognised within the dairy industry and say their achievements give them a chance to benchmark and be involved at a strategic level. They were joint runners-up in the 2019 Dairy Business of the Year supreme award and also took home the Best Canterbury Farm Performance, Business Resilience and Best People Leadership awards. Last year they again won the Farm Performance, Business Resilience and Best People Leadership awards. This year they will enter the Dairy Business awards again and Rebecca is also entering the MPI Good Employer Awards. “Entering gives us a performance measurement and that clarity and connection enables us apply pressure where we need to,” Rebecca says.

Images supplied by Natwick and Dairy Farmer