Opportunities for career progression through Farming Partners

The profit-sharing farming partnership, has been building its network of farms and young farmers across Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand over the last 13 years.

A New Zealand-inspired share milking partnership is giving enterprising young farmers a step into farming.

A New Zealand-inspired share milking partnership

It offers dual prospects both for young people, without a family farm to return to or the resources to buy their own, to become part of a progressive farming business; and for landowners looking for farming expertise to manage and maximise the performance of their farm. The unique business model is based on share milking in New Zealand, where the herd manager can build equity in the herd.

Farming Partners, which was created by a group of professional farmers who came together to farm on a number of dairy and heifer rearing farms in Scotland and Ireland, now has nine grass-based dairy farms, including, from last year, one in New Zealand.

Building skills and ownership was what attracted David Commons, who manages Lundie Dairy in Angus on the East Coast of Scotland to apply to join Farming Partners. Not originally from a farming background, but studying agricultural science at University College Dublin, David has been with Farming Partners for 12 years now, working his way up from trainee herdsman to farm manager for a 650-cow herd.

“My uncle had a few dairy cows where I grew up in Co Mayo and I’d always enjoyed working with them. When I left school, it was around the time of the credit crunch, and agriculture was thought to be a safe route, so I decided to study agriculture science at University College Dublin. As part of the course, I spent six months in New Zealand on a big dairy unit, which was the first time I’d been exposed to anything on that scale,” said David.

All dairy cattle get to enjoy the outdoors

“When I graduated, I had half a mind to go back to New Zealand, but I needed to build up my skills and save, which is when I saw an advert for Farming Partners. It really appealed as I was familiar with the concept from my time in New Zealand.

“I liked the focus on training and skills with a view to fast tracking you to a farm manager and being able to buy equity in the herd. It’s good to have skin in the game but I also like the drive from Farming Partners with the business side of farming and building up experience,” he added.

In his first role, David moved to Scotland to work at Cumrue Farm in Dumfries and Galloway as a trainee manager, and then moved to Shawsholm Farm, in the same area, as a farm manager/sharefarmer before coming to the 280ha farm at Lundie.

Share milking partnership gives young farmers a rung on the ladder

Lundie was bought by the Howard family, based in Nottinghamshire, in 2014 to spread risk. Mainly arable and vegetable farmers, they set up a dairy at Lundie on a share farming partnership, inspired by the New Zealand model.

The previous generation of Howards had dairy cattle and Joe Howard, who now runs the farming business, liked the New Zealand approach of working with the seasons with spring-block farming and running with very little machinery.

"After four years, the farm at Lundie was not achieving what we wanted it to deliver and we put it up for sale,” explains Joe Howard.

“Farming Partners came forward to offer a partnership, which meant we could still have a vested interest, and work we’d already put in was not wasted,” said David, with Farming Partners bringing the knowledge base and expertise which he needed.

David and the team at Lundie have used all their technical farming skills and rolled up their sleeves to turn the business around.

David has a phenomenal solution-based approach to making everything work to its best. It’s now a high-performing, profitable 650-cow dairy.

The partnerships all vary, but the basic model is that there is a 50% profit share between the landowner and the farming partner, the former providing the land and infrastructure, the latter the livestock, working capital and the management.

The stock is bought initially by one or both parties, the herd manager encouraged and supported by Farming Partners – including, for example, with their experience of applying for bank loans – to buy into the herd and to eventually own it all. The proportion of ownership is reflected in the profit-share.

All the dairy farms are on grass-based systems working with the natural rhythm of the year, with annual spring calving and making the most of grass, which produces quality milk with high protein and fat solids.

Founding professional farmer, Brendan Muldowney said: “It works very well for landowners who, for whatever reason, want to bring in outside labour, capital and expertise.

“This could be due to no natural succession, focusing on non-farming interests or looking to make the farm more profitable. Since we started, every farm has been in profit every year. They are operated to a high standard, so they are highly profitable in good milk price years and remain profitable in low milk price years also,” he added.

To complete the circle, Howard Farms now takes the dairy cross beef calves from all Farming Partners’ Scottish units for its beef herd of 2000 which have been introduced to the rotation.

David had his own 30 cows by the time he left Cumrue, and now has 260, and hopes to reach 650 in the next few years.

To be part of Farming Partners you need to be prepared to work hard and take risks: “That element of risk and reward is what makes it appealing. It makes you think differently, and you know that management decisions will impact your own bottom line as well,” said David.

“It’s also really good to part of something bigger than just the farm: it’s the financial and business expertise that you get from the partners and being part of a wider network of farmers in the same situation for sharing ideas and problems and making your systems better and more profitable.

“Last year our wider business at Farming Partners also allowed me the opportunity to invest in a dairy farm in New Zealand which adds to the opportunity and excitement in my business. We have developed a business and culture in Farming Partners that’s really special,” he added.

As part of the partnership, David has a house at Lundie, where he lives with his wife, a Gaelic teacher originally from Tiree. Each Farming Partner farm has a ‘2iC’, an assistant manager, the duo driving the business. At Lundie, this is Sophie Cross, also from Wicklow in Ireland, and also about to marry a Scot. The assistant manager will progress to manage their own farm if they have the hunger and ability to do so.

Investing in people is central to the model, explains Brendan, whose wife, Maureen runs the people development side of Farming Partners and both of whom, with the other partners, attend careers fairs and open days to encourage young people leaving university to consider this career path:

“We want to find and recruit the right people who have that hunger and passion to succeed in this industry.

“Training, support and career progression is really important to us, and we believe in reinvesting profits to grow and improve our people and the farms we mind. Several of our farm managers and partners who joined us as students now run farms themselves, growing their own business with the support of farming partners in partnership with some great passionate landowners,” concluded Brendan.