Learning attitude helps win Sharemilker/Equity Farmer Award

MEDIA RELEASE

14 June 2011

Learning attitude helps Suisted win Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year award

It was the acquisition of a bread maker that set Jason and Lisa Suisted on their path to winning the Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year award at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards national finals on May 14 in Queenstown.

“When we were contract milking I was still hairdressing,” Lisa says. “So I had very little farming background or knowledge. At that time Jason paid all the accounts and I had no involvement in the farm. I wanted to collect Fly Buys and get a bread maker but Jason wasn’t shopping in the right places, so I took over the accounts – I knew nothing about it.

“I started learning as much as I could about the financial side of the business,” Lisa says. “Something can lead you to a path but it’s up to you how to take it when you get to the beginning.”

It is that attitude that led to the Suisted’s winning three merit awards alongside their national title in Queenstown.

“We’re coming into our tenth season farming,” Lisa says. “Prior to that Jason was a builder and I was a hair dresser, so we had a change of career. We wanted to get into farming because we wanted to become self employed and saw farming as a way to do that. The first year Jason was an assistant farm manager and then we stepped straight into contract milking 600 cows. It was a huge step – we knew the farm owner quite well and he had a lot of faith in us.

“After three years we went 50-50 sharemilking 260 cows and aimed to double our herd in three years.”

The Suisted’s are currently sharemilking 430 cows in Gordonton, near Hamilton, and entered the Dairy Industry Awards for the third time this year.

“It was our third time entering – we took a few years off to have kids and were the runner up last year,” Lisa says. “We entered to take the opportunity to up skill that presented itself We heard through friends that it was a great way to analyse the business and it’s profile building, a way to get our name out there with the aim of getting a larger job.”

The Suisted’s showcased their farm’s strengths during the judging process. “You do a presentation to three judges on the farm for two hours. It’s up to you how you want to present your business to the judges – we wanted to showcase our farm and spent time showing pastures we’ve renovated, our livestock and ideal cow. We have really good effluent systems and environmental management systems.”

They enjoyed their experience at the national finals. “It was fantastic to get together with the other sharemilkers and equity farmers,” Lisa says. “We were there to make friends and network. At the level everyone is running their business at, it’s interesting to talk to people about ideas on farm.”

Jason credits part of their success to the training he has done through AgITO. He has completed his National Certificate in Agriculture, Production Management, Level 4, and his National Certificate in Agribusiness Management, Business Planning and Financial Management, Level 5.

“I found it really beneficial – especially on the pasture side of things,” Jason says. “Coming onto a peat farm after a drought a lot of the pastures were damaged so I utilised the skills I learned through my AgITO training to work out how to renovate them.

“Completing my AgITO courses has really helped to advance my career,” he continues. It gave me the skills to enable me to manage a 600 cow dairy farm after only one year in the industry - I was able to take what I had learnt in class directly back onto the farm.

“I strongly recommend to anyone coming into the industry or wanting to advance their career rapidly to get hold of AgITO and kick start your career.”

Jason’s next aim is to do the Resource Management qualification and complete his National Diploma in Agribusiness Management, Level 5.

“Over the next 12 months I want to finish it,” Jason says. “We also have a staff member completing Level 3 and moving on to Level 4 training. We try to encourage our staff every year to do AgITO.

“There are a number of benefits. The first is that formal training is really important for their CV. Secondly, getting off farm and meeting other people in courses and talking and networking with others is a good way to learn. It’s great for motivation, staff are very motivated when they’re doing training – and for their confidence as well. Doing a qualification puts what they’re learning on the farm into action.”

“Up skilling and education is good for their future prospects,” Lisa adds. “We look favourably on prospects who have formal training on their CV.”

Lisa and Jason are now looking forward to the future.

“Our short term goal is to double our herd size again,” Lisa says. “We’d like to move to 650-1000 cows over the next couple of seasons. From there we’d like to work on building equity up in the business so we can purchase some land, but we’ll remain sharemilking for a few years yet.”

Lisa’s advice for other aspiring dairy farmers is simple. “I really recommend everyone to give the awards their best shot in their region. Take up all the opportunities you can to learn and force yourself off the farm to do it,” she says.

For more information about AgITO qualifications or to enrol, please call your local training adviser on 0800 691 111 today or visit www.agito.ac.nz. Further details about the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards can be found at www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.

ENDS

About AgITO

Agriculture ITO (AgITO) provides leadership in education and training, develops national qualifications, maintains national standards and provides ongoing support for their trainees and employers. AgITO training is subsidised by industry and Government. For more information on our qualifications, please visit www.agitoac.nz.

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