STORIES WE LOVE
A dairy couple step back and make way for sharemilkers
By Sam Marwood
Story from the Otago Daily Times, 3 May 2026
Every now and then I find a story that shows exactly what we're about at Cultivate Farms: real people finding a way to keep a farm working and bring someone new onto it. I share them here because seeing it done by others makes it real. Here's one I love.
From the Otago Daily Times, 3 May 2026: "Dairying couple calling time after 30 years in the field", by Shawn McAvinue. Read the full story at odt.co.nz.
Why I love it
A dairy couple in the Catlins, in New Zealand's south, are stepping back after nearly thirty years of milking. They'll move off the farm to live near it, and a sharemilking couple who've been contract milking in another district take over the running of it in June. To help them build their own equity, the pair stepping back are leasing them some of the herd.
What gets me is they've stood on the other side of this. Neither grew up on a dairy farm. They came from England as farm assistants, worked up through contract milking and sharemilking, and got onto this farm through an equity partnership with another farming couple. They had mentors, they say, and now they can help others get started.
Why it matters for towns like ours
Plenty of farmers getting ready to step back think there are two choices: keep going until the body says no, or walk away. This shows a third. You stay close, a couple with the skills but not the land take on the daily running, and leasing them stock lets them build a stake of their own.
One step you could take
If you're starting to think about stepping back, list who's already milking, sharemilking or managing farms in your district, and who's been a good hand on your own place. Someone ready for their own step up may be working nearby. Read who could run your farm when you step back in our Ageing on Farm guide.
I share these stories because each one shows it can be done, by ordinary farming families, in places like yours. If you know a story like this, or you're living one, I'd love to hear it.