How does it feel in your early twenties to be heading towards purchasing your first dairy farm?
Harry Finch and Elle Horne have been on that track since late last year, when an opportunity arose on a 189-hectare Central Canterbury property wintering a 560-cow herd.
When Harry met Elle, at Massey University in 2020, he was up from Lincoln University studying for a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, while she was down from Gisborne progressing towards a Bachelor of Animal Science. For Harry, dairying was already in the blood: at age five his parents had moved to the United States as part of a mission to help pioneer kiwi style dairying.
“As a young fella I didn’t spend much time in the milking shed. Despite that, growing up in a dairy farming environment, I always had a massive passion for agriculture. I was looking at going into rural banking, then I spoke to a mentor about my goals and ambitions, and wanting to own a farm. He said ‘If you want to own a farm then go farming! If you want to get there quick, then go milk some cows.’ That took the blinkers off, and I started looking,” says Harry.
After Massey, winning a place on the Grassroots Dairy Graduate Management Programme massively accelerated Harry’s career. Offered to seven university graduates each year, the programme focuses on professional development and fast-tracking their dairying career, covering subjects such as finance, pasture and people management, animal health and husbandry and environmental compliance. Where necessary, it also assists participants into employment with a reputable, supportive farmer.
Harry landed on his feet there. Prominent Mid Canterbury dairy farmers Will and Kim Grayling took him on as a herd manager at Singletree Dairies, their 595 hectares 2500-cow farm north of Ashburton. Meanwhile, after an initial post-university job with NZ Wagyu in Christchurch, Elle changed tack with her career, also taking a job with the Graylings.
Within a couple of years, Harry and Elle received an amazing opportunity from another well-known Canterbury dairying couple.
“Greg and Rachel Roadley approached us, saying they were keen to buy a farm, and would we like to go into business with them. They are incredible farmers and even better people, so we sat up and took notice. That was mid last year, and it planted the seed. We saw a couple of entry level farms, and although the figures stacked up, the properties didn’t have the X factor we were looking for. We asked my parents what to bear in mind when buying a farm. They said, ‘When you see what you want, you will know,’ so we kept looking.”
Meanwhile Dan van der Salm of PGG Wrightson Real Estate had listed a tier one farm with a seven-year-old 44 a-side herringbone cowshed producing 243,000 kilograms of milk solids at Sheffield, 22 kilometres west of Darfield in Central Canterbury.
“This farm converted to dairy in 2017 and has increased production each year since. Spray irrigated from the Sheffield portion of the Central Plains Water scheme, it has numerous calf sheds, implement sheds, a workshop and garaging; an excellent fully renovated executive five-bedroom homestead plus a two-bedroom cottage; and access to an adjacent 27-hectare dairy support block,” says Dan.
“When we saw that, we knew,” Harry and Elle agree, and the Roadleys saw it the same way. “We took advantage of Elle’s aggressive saving habits, and funds I’d accumulated from trading and leasing livestock, so were in a position to make it possible,” says Harry.
They established an equity partnership with Greg and Rachel, with the Roadleys as the majority shareholders, and the company employing Harry and Elle as contract milkers.
“While it’s positive to oversee the completion of any farm transaction, helping a young couple like Harry and Elle take such a major step in their dairying career is a particularly exciting moment, and it’s a real privilege to play a part in making their dream come true,” says Dan.
As an added bonus, the farm, which the partnership will rename Torlesse Dairy, has a large multi-use event venue, with its own kitchen, a detached toilet block and a private courtyard, used for the likes of weddings and twenty-firsts.
“Although the farm stands on its own merits, we’re going to keep the function room running. We have the facility, so we are keen to make the most of it. While first and foremost we are farmers, a facility like this on a dairy farm is unusual, and gives the place some serious character. It is such a beautiful farm, and such a venue speaks volumes about the place,” says Harry.
Harry and Elle take over Torlesse Dairy on 30 May.
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