BUSINESS SMASH
Southland SMASH info day a success Story and photo by: Karen Trebilcock
T
he first SMASH (Smaller Milk and Supply Herds) day came to Southland in mid-February after postponement last year due to Covid-19. It almost didn’t go ahead again with Auckland going into level 3 and the rest of the country level 2 the day before. But with 60 farmers attending the outdoor event, and hand sanitiser on the sign-in table, the Southland sun shone as Te Aroha sharemilker and SMASH committee member Will Rolton introduced SMASH and the day’s speakers. “It started out about 10 years ago for farmers with a couple of hundred cows and then it grew to 300 and 400 cows and now we welcome everyone even if you milk 2000 cows,” he said. “It is simply an information day held for farmers by farmers.” He commended DairyNZ for running a discussion group in Southland for farmers with fewer than 450 cows since 2016. The day was at James and Darnelle Smith’s Gorge Road farm that has 420 cows and son Hayden managing the dairy. 30
Farmers investing in houses rather than land Farmers, used to riding the capital gains wave, have switched from land to houses. Campbell Wood, of Southland-based accounting firm AgriFocus, said he had helped “a ridiculous number” of farmers, especially contract milkers, apply for loans to buy houses recently. With banks more willing to lend on residential property than cows and rural land, farmers were seeing it as a viable way to retain earnings made from farming. “We have debt-free contract milkers and sharemilkers and at the stage when they should be buying a farm they are buying houses instead,” Campbell said. “It’s not good because instead of the money being reinvested in farming, it’s fuelling the already hot housing market.” The accountancy firm, which has about 400 farming clients, for the first time last year had none of its 35 50:50 sharemilkers progress to farm ownership. It has 160 contract and lower-order sharemilkers as clients and last year only one stepped up to 50:50 sharemilking. Three were doing so this year. In Southland, DairyNZ said there were only Continues pg31 about 85 50:50 sharemilker positions left. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | March 2021
