Winners Set To Capitalise On Niche Market

Young Winners Set To Capitalise On Niche Market Opportunities

Developing farms to capitalise on growth in equity has been a key strategy behind the success of Michael and Heather Burmeister, winners of the Lower North Island Fonterra Westpac Dairy Excellence Awards.

The Pahiatua-based couple were the winners of the Farm Business category of the awards at a function held in Palmerston North last night. They have won a study trip for two to Fonterra's markets and the right to compete in the national final in Hamilton on June 27.

The Burmeister's focus on cost control linked to a strategy of buying land early and developing run down farms to capitalise on high-income years and retain healthy profits in poorer years.

Awards Chairman and Fonterra Director Jim van der Poel says the awards aim to raise the performance of Fonterra's 17,000-farmer supply base to assist them in achieving the 3% annual productivity challenge outlined in Fonterra's strategy.

"A strong theme of the strategy is to remain the world's lowest cost producer of commodity milk products, which requires Fonterra suppliers to continue to develop efficiencies on farm."

Westpac General Manager Business Banking Bruce McLachlan says another aim of the awards is to profile dairy industry excellence and promote information exchange, through benchmarking and best practice.

"We believe recognising the best the dairy industry has to offer encourages innovation and sets the benchmark for this country's drive into global markets."

The Burmeister's own four properties with the main 136 hectare milking unit supporting up to 435 cows. Other properties are used for silage, grazing dairy replacements and yearlings, winter grazing and finishing off bulls.

"Our goal is to produce 1400kg/ms under our current cost structure by the 2007/8 season and we managed 1250 in the past season. That's up from 1135 two years ago," say the couple.

The Burmeister's are both from farming backgrounds with Michael's parents developing the original milking unit and Heather's family producing sheep and beef in Devon in England.

Another key goal for the partners is to take their two young children back to England every two years to visit grandparents and relatives.

"Family is important to us and we are currently working towards being able to hire a third labourer to allow me to step away from the milking side of the business," says Michael. "We run a relatively low cost per kgms structure with our only inputs being nitrogen, grass silage and irrigation. We try to keep things simple but aim for high kgms production by paying attention to detail, maximising cow performance and maintaining an adequate stocking rate.

The Fonterra Westpac Dairy Excellence Awards are being run in seven regions, with the winner of each region progressing to the national final. Tickets to the regional dinners can be purchased by phoning 0800 273 759 or online at www.dairyexcellenceawards.co.nz , where information on the awards can also be obtained.

Other Lower North Island winners were: Business Growth - Michael and Heather Burmeister Quality Management - Noel and Rosemary Chilcott Environment - Noel and Rosemary Chilcott Farm Manager - Brent Pocock Lifetime Achievement - Jim Thwaites

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