Five tips for new contract milkers | EP 87

Manawatū contract milker Riley O’Neill shares his top tips for people going contract milking for the first time in the coming season, or for existing contract milkers moving farms. 

Riley also discusses his own progression through the dairy sector, and his recent experience of moving to a new farm and new part of New Zealand. 

This is good, solid advice that's relevant to most dairy farmers, but particularly new contract milkers. 

Riley's social media channel:
www.instagram.com/theeudderfarmers 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

G'day everybody, welcome back to the Federated Farmers Podcast. Well, a new dairy season is about to get underway, and that means plenty of people will be stepping into contract milking for the first time. There'll also be existing contract milkers moving on to new farms, new teams, and new expectations. By now, most will have contracts signed and be working through changeover plans with farm owners ahead of June 1st, and that makes now a really good time to focus on some of those fundamentals. Getting the basics right early can really save a lot of stress later. Joining us on the podcast today is Riley O'Neill, who's contract milking in Manoa 2 with his wife Caitlin and three-year-old daughter, and he also sits on the leadership team down there at Federative Farmers. Riley's here with us today to share his top five tips for setting yourself up for a strong start to the season based on what he's learned since going into contract milking. This is really good stuff. You'll learn a lot from Riley. He shares from some of his own experiences, and uh, hope you enjoy it. Let's get going. Riley, thanks very much for joining me on the podcast today. It's really nice to meet you. Tell us a bit about you, mate. How long have you been farming and where are you farming right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

So thanks for having me on. Been farming for 10 years now. Um, a reduced starter dairy farming in Canterbury, just as to make a bit of money and whatnot. But um now we're farming, me and my wife are contract milking in um Kiwatea, just north of Thielding in the Manawa two. This is our first season down here, and before they were in Tutanaki for four years. So yeah, just been around a little bit. But um, yeah, really finding quite settled down here now and really enjoying it.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

So you're in the same neck of the woods as our uh our president down there, Ian Strawn, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah, just down the road from him. So um yeah, he we kind of connected pretty quickly um once we moved, and yeah, he's he's been really good.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Is there a good mix of dry stock and dairy in the in that area?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

For me, yeah, definitely. I think it was probably a bit more dry stock. Um, but then again, coming from Tubamaki, I think that's kind of easy. Um, but yeah, definitely a good mix, yeah. Um further you go towards fielding, it gets a bit more dairy and arable as well. So um it's it's nice to be in an area that's a mixed farming area. Um been learning a lot more um from different sectors and stuff, so it's been quite good.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Yeah, and did you move down there on June 1st last uh last year?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, yeah. So we um yeah, shift everything from uh North Tarnake down. Um uh we also brought a staff member down with us at the time as well. So it was quite a big shift. Um, and then yeah, straight into it, really.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

And just briefly, who are you uh whose farm are you contract milking on?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

So we're contract milking on um Andrew and Audra Hogarth. So um it's yeah, a bit different in a sense, but um, that's been really good, really good experience for us. And um, it's a it's a really cool farm. It's quite well established, um, but it's very modern and a tech as well. So it's been on a big learning curve, but we've yeah, really enjoyed it so far.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Before we get into talking about the topic of this podcast, your tips for contract milkers, can you just tell us a bit about your progression through the sector um from where you started out in Canterbury? Uh, like when did you start contract milking and what's your path been along the way?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah, so uh traditionally I never grew up on farms, just lifestyle areas. Mum and dad had horses and um they owned a butchery in Nelson, um, and then moved down to Christchurch sort of just after earthquakes with mum. Um and just sort of finished high school there. Um, and then I wanted to get into um super yacht careing, so working on big super yachts and stuff. So did a short course there um up in Nelson and then pretty much needed some money to go over to Europe, to France to try look for a job. So um had a a family friend that needed some help on a 1600-cow farm. Um, and sort of 10 years later I'm still farming. So I kind of fell into it in a way. Um, and then from there I sort of progressed through your farm assistant to her manager. Um I worked for a couple of really good um contract milkers um down in Canterbury, Matt and Georgie Nielsen. Um and they really that sort of sparked the interest in dairy farming and going conduit milking and shill milking. Um so yeah, from then we um they were finishing up their contract there and moving down to Southland. Um but wasn't too keen on going somewhere colder. So we looked around and found a really good um sort of a stepping stone uh to IC job in Opineki in South Tamaki. Um and yeah, just worked for another really good contract milking couple there, Daniel and Monique Newell, and they sort of gave me the sort of right tools to farm in Tumakuki, and from then on, uh the season after, that's when we started contract milking.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

So did you ever make it to uh to Europe onto those super yachts, or did you just get caught up milking cows?

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Nah, I think I got caught up, but who knows, you know, you might retire on a super yacht one day. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 6:14

I like it, it's ambitious. Hey, and you're you're also pretty active on social media. Tell us a bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

So when we started contrabing in this in the intent of making a page um for our progression and what we're doing, mostly tied to towards my wife, Caitlin, and her um learning and stuff. She comes from Christchurch and she was raised in a city and very much a city girl. And uh I think was the intent was to document that and her experience around it. And we did a little bit of that, and then we kind of just started more talent to what's you know what we're doing and a progression, and yeah, just I really enjoy sort of filming and photography and stuff on farm. I think that's been really cool. And then from then just met a lot of good people online and became good friends with some others, and yeah, it's a it's a good community out there, and we always get good tips and stuff from other people on social media, and it's yeah, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

What's your channel called for people who want to go and have a look?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Uh it's the Udder Farmers, um T E H E E Utter Farmers, but um, yeah. They're just on Instagram and stuff, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

So, Riley, you posted this blog recently in which you shared uh your sort of top tips for new contract milkers or you know, maybe newish con contract milkers moving to a new farm. Why did you do that? What prompted you to want to put that out there?

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Um, I guess being encouraged by the other um exit members in the Mono Two Rungatiki Feds. They regularly post blogs on their Facebook and Instagram page, and I think I just wanted to contribute in some way. Something about sheer farming, launch milking was probably the easiest one to talk about. So I've got a good experience around that. So yeah, I think I was just trying to help out where I could.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Great. So let's talk through those pieces of advice, Riley. What was your first point that you made in that blog?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

So talked about having a plan to measure grass cover slash sort of feed on hand come first of June. I think it it's really easy to sort of um you know finish up at your last job or organize moving and forget you know that main, that key element coming first of June. You really want to know what feed you have on hand on that day. It's really important. So setting up, you know, spring carbon and stuff. So I think just having a bit of a plan, you know, a few weeks in advance of how you're gonna do it. Um, you're gonna set a time. Do you need, I don't know, if you went to milking like us, do you need relief milk for that afternoon to help out? So it's it's just being a bit more prepared to, you know, come into the season and onto a new farm.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

That's something that's actually um taken care of in contracts, right? There's there's room there to uh specify what the pasture feed covers should be, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah, it is. So um in your contract, you should have uh an average cover come first of June or start of your contract, as well as feed on hand. Um so it's really important to know what you have on that day, so then you can start planning um in advance of where you're gonna fill that deficit or surplus, you know. Trying to have a plan early out, so then you're not coming into August and September with a massive, you know, fee deficit or you having to cut silage way earlier than you think. Um at all costs, you know, one way or another. So it's just being a bit more prepared and also just having a bit of a plan on when you're gonna do it means you're not gonna be out there till dark measuring grass, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

So yeah, and and if there's a shortfall, I presume your advice would be to go and have a conversation with the farm owner.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, 100%. Like um with any good uh relationship, contract milky, share milking, it's about communication. So having that knowledge already of how much grass you have, and then gives you the confidence to sort of speak up and make a plan with their farm owners.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

So Go on. What's your next piece of advice for new contract milkers, Riley?

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Set up a personal drawings budget. Um by now, most contractors will have uh a budget for the year for the business. Um, but sometimes, especially for us, we've we didn't have uh a drawings budget or a personal spending budget. Um it can be overlooked quite easily. But um in our case, we we didn't really have much there, so we we ended up going a bit over with a drawing. So um we ended up paying ourselves a wage now. So we through the business, we pay ourselves a wage. And then we also used um sorta.org and just put in some you know real simple numbers like your power, um, your groceries, your personal fuel, um, those kind of things, school fees, all that sort of stuff into that budget. So then you can kind of keep track, especially over um your lower payouts um kind of months, you know, you know, during winter and spring when you're not getting paid for your milk. So I think you're just having a bit of a personal budget in there as well as your business just goes a long way.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

If you're someone listening to this who just goes to sleep when they heard hear that word budgeting and um hate crunching numbers, all that you know there's heaps of people like that. What's your advice to them?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Like anything, make it a regular thing. If you're doing it consistently, it gets easier and easier. So once a month, um, me and Caitlin sit down and we we just go over last month's spending and budgets and numbers and compare where we're sitting. And if you're doing that regularly, it can end up being quite a short thing because you're getting quite good at it. But also we we did have a lot of help initially from the accountants at the start with um how to set a good budget and how to use figured and those tools to help compare.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Have you read the Barefoot Investor?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

No, I haven't. I'm not a huge book person, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

One of his bits of advice, you know, when you walk work through the Barefoot Investor's um strategy, he talks about having um these sort of date nights, these Barefoot date nights where you catch up and go through various aspects of your financial plan. It sounded like you've kind of come up with that um spontaneously. So good on you. Yeah, Riley.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

That's definitely uh a bit of a life hackers um having a business plan business meeting um where we just go out for dinner and do a bit of budgeting, but also have Taylor in as a date nine as well. So we have done that a few times too.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

So it sounds like you guys are kind of on the same page, possibly when it comes to finances. Would that be all right?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Yeah, definitely. I think we're both um driven by goals, you know, like financial goals. We're both very open and you know, communicating and what we should spend money on and and kind of realistic as well, you know, being realistic of what we should be spending it on. Um, like even just this season coming, we were pretty keen to buy a new bike. But looking ahead, it's like, do we really need a new bike? Probably not. So it's just being a bit more realistic about it and just um having that drive with your um financial goals and pushing yourself, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah, and that probably moves us on to your third point around goals, around setting goals. Can you can you talk about that piece of advice?

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Goals can be overlooked so easily, whether it's long-term or short term. I know that both um bank manager and accountants um both hammered us about having long-term financial goals, and that was really good. But it probably wasn't until the second year we really actually made a like a financial target and goal um over five years and where we should be up yearly. And that really helped us keep us motivated and stuff. But we also having short-term goals was a real big one. So either on farm, off farm, just having sort of those shorter term goals, six monthly, yearly, just kept us on track about you know where where our business is at and where it's heading.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Once you actually come up with those goals, how do you keep them front of mind for both you guys and and staff?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Definitely checking in every month. Production targets and goals are quite easy to keep track of. We give staff access to all the production stuff so they can you know suit as well. Um, so just sort of keep it on top of that. Um, but also like us, we have sale count goals as well, as we we do have higher sale count here. Yeah, semantic sale count goals. Um, we like to sort of check up sort of monthly with you know how the month previous month tracked. And it also helps with staff and recognising why we do all this as well, having that um goal of lowering that sell count and how we're gonna achieve that kind of educates them in the way of that extra bit of detail around you know when cows can to the platform and checking for their status and stuff. We definitely had a lot of um help from Matt, a previous employer down in Canterbury. He um weekly we used to have weekly meetings and we would always talk about sort of production goals, cell count goals, um, a lot of KPIs around the farm. But then he also would encourage us to write personal goals, you know, what we would want to progress through on farm, but also um off farm as well. So I guess that's what we're kind of doing now with our staff. We um get them to write down a few goals they want to learn for the year. Um, and then in about six months' time we kind of check in and see how how they're progressing, what we can do better as employees and what they can do better as employers.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

So that's cool. Can you share some of your do you mind sharing some of your other goals? Um, short-term and long-term for both the business and you guys personally. I'm just curious to know what you've got, um, what your goals are.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

We we definitely want to be um share milking, 50-50 share milking in sort of four or five years' time, but also be able to sort of um buy a home as well. So we've got to go a couple of like long-term goals like that, and then definitely be able to buy a farm in the future. I think that would be a you know an awesome opportunity for us first generation farmers, be able to get into a farm ownership and definitely hearing a lot more stories of that at the moment in the media and online. So um, and then just sort of short-term goals around the farm is mostly around um Salco Farm, sort of trying to get that below sort of 150. Um, we're not quite the year there yet, but um we've made some big um big steps coming into the new season. Um, better drive plan and procedures on how go about in the in the cow sheet and stuff. So sort of our main kind of goals is just this half progression, you know, where we want to see them progressing. We're always trying to educate them on stuff they want to learn, but also challenge them with new stuff as well, give them more responsibility, a bit more pressure and whatnot, just to, you know, see them work harder and progress.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

You mentioned buying a property. Are you are you talking there about buying something off farm uh as like a rental as an investment property?

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, definitely. So um be able to buy rental property off farm as a bit of an extra um income, but um also an investment as well. So one day we could maybe um use that to either buy cows or whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

So super yacht.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, maybe one day.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Does the change in Kiwi saver rules is it does it are you guys gonna benefit from that?

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Yeah, 100%. This has been the thing we've been waiting for the last couple of years. So um it was it was really cool to hear the news about it. Um I just yeah, just look forward to when it actually happens. But um, yeah, it's definitely will make a big difference to conjur milkers and share milkers be able to just diversify a little bit in their property. And um, especially for us when we've been putting into Kiwi Sava for well, I've I've been 15, 16 years now. So yeah, just be able to use that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

That's really neat because we've done a lot on Kiwi Saver, um Federated Farmers advocating for that change, and it's really nice to hear those stories out the other side of it uh about how that will actually have uh benefit people personally. Um, so yeah, thanks for sharing that. It's really cool, Riley. So those you've shared three three of your top tips. What's number four?

SPEAKER_00 20:23

So number four is plan some time off before carving sort of ramps up. So this is kind of a controversial one, some might say. Already had a couple of people um message me about it, but I think it's just important that uh remember that you're you're coming into your first of June. When I started, I had a bunch of energy, a bunch of motivation, and just really want to get stuck in. So I did that first month in a bit was great until the first couple of calves started coming, and then you're full swing at carving, and then you're into mating, and then all of a sudden it's Christmas, and you haven't really had any time off. So I think it's it's really important, especially if you're sort of coming from a managing perspective and you're moving farms. Having some sort of time off in June before carving is really key. And it doesn't have to be much, it could just be a night away, somewhere local, an after a couple of afternoons off at kids' sports games or just something off farm away from the busy work life. It gives you a good refresh coming into carving, just uh, you know, with a bit more energy, you you've lower the risk of burnout and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

So you mentioned you've had some feedback. Is the feedback along the lines of hey, why would I take a break when I've just started the new role?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Yeah, 100%. And I can see where people can, you know, get that. Um, but I think that you know there's a lot more um awareness around mental health and well being now and Especially for us when we started, we really wanted to, you know, keep that in mind for us. You know, we didn't want to end up like other contract milkers having burnout and having to leave the industry after six months. You know, you always hear about those stories. And we wanted to try to change that mindset when we started. And um, just having that sort of break coming up, and it can be quite daunting, especially if you're new, you're not super confident with the farm owners. But, you know, it's that open communication, you know, just being like, hey, got a couple of days off in here, just so I'll let you know. Just want to make sure I'm refreshed and ready. Come carving. I think you know, as farm owners, you probably would appreciate that. You want your your conjure milkers or employees to be at 100% come the busiest time of year.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

So yeah, bang on. And as you wrote in in your blog, even a well-fed, healthy cow needs time off to recover between seasons, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah, 100%, you know. You dry your cows off for two months, so why not have a conjuring milk and have a couple of hours off?

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Good one. Hey, uh, what's your last piece of advice, Riley?

SPEAKER_00 23:11

So I wrote about getting involved in local community groups, events, um, all that sort of stuff. Uh it was especially passive for us when we um moved down here from Totanaki. We were quite involved with young farmers back in Tatanaki, which opened up doors and meeting new people down in the Manawa too. So we had um, you know, quite a lot of support and backing when we moved down here. And it also we had a couple of connections on people and whatnot. So that's been really good as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

So on that note, Riley, what would you say to anyone listening to this who uh isn't part of Federated Farmers, you know, about what the benefits are of being part of your local branch?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Being part of Veds has been really big for me. I started through Young Farmers and became the Federated Farmers Red in Tanaki. At the time, we were we were just new members to Feds. Um we kind of signed up for the contract benefits, um, but we quickly kind of learnt what Feds was about behind the scenes, um, especially around sort of um local issues and around sort of policy and advocating for farmers in the area. But we also met some really good um other like-minded farmers as well. Um, I know you've had Sam Ebbett on the podcast a little bit. So I met him initially, and yeah, he gave us a lot of really great advice when we started contract milking. And um, I don't know if we would have that if we weren't members or we weren't connected to Feds in some in some way. We did use uh the free legal advice as well a lot in that first season. It gave us a really good understanding on the contract and where we sat as well. Um, so it was definitely um massively beneficial, especially on that first season.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Riley, what's one thing that you think farmers should start doing, stop doing, uh, and keep doing?

SPEAKER_00 25:17

I guess we'll start doing um just real simple reaching out for advice, you know. There's no shame in talking to a couple of professionals or local farmers, neighbours, you know, what would you do here? What have you done here in the past? Um it's definitely been something uh I've been learning over the last few years and getting better at. Stop doing doubting your abilities. Sometimes coming into a new role, you might feel challenged in some areas, but always back yourself. You know, you you're here for a reason. You were, you know, chosen to run the farm for a reason. So don't doubt yourself and just back it. And keep doing, just keep challenging yourself, you know. I guess there's that saying is if you're not, you know, learning something every day, then you know what are you doing? So just keep challenging yourself, pushing yourself, and um once you hit one goal, you you make a bigger one, sort of thing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Hey Royally, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. It's been really great to chat with you, and you've yeah, just provided some really nice advice. We've got a pretty good library of content now for uh share milkers and contract milkers, and you've just brought a different perspective to it. As you mentioned, we've had Sam Ebbett on quite a lot and Richard McIntyre and Brenda Atrill and others. Um, and thank you for your part today. I really appreciate it. And I guess I encourage anyone in your community to get in touch and get in touch with your local Feds group. Um, sounds like a really uh solid team to be part of.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Yeah, thanks. Yeah, thanks so much for having me now. It's been um uh a really cool experience being part of a local feds team, and yeah, never the report I'd be on here doing an interview. But yeah, it's been really great, and I hope um somebody gets something out of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

So they will, mate. And I'll put a link in the show notes to your uh social media pages um so people can uh you know hear more from you and Caitlin. Thanks, Riley. Awesome, thanks.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to hear more, subscribe to the Federated Farmers Podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to podcasts so that you get notified when our new episodes drop. And if you have any feedback or podcast suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us a line podcast at fedfarm.org.nz. That's podcast at fedfarm.org.nz. Catch you next time.