Sharemilking future shaky?

Two years into a 50/50 sharemilking contract at Tihiroa, Mark Foster is questioning the traditional route to farm ownership. Mark, 36, says he made only a $9000 profit last season, milking 200 cows on 63ha belonging to Cowley Properties Ltd, and he wouldn't be able to afford to stay sharemilking if it was not for the job his wife, Nicole, holds at CRV Ambreed NZ. Mark, who managed half a dozen farms before he went sharemilking, says most joining the dairy industry now are going down the farm management route where a set salary and holidays are part of the package. Mark says lower order sharemilking will soon disappear from the options for people wanting a career in dairying but he thinks 50/50 sharemilking will probably carry on reports The Waikato Times. Waikato Times Farmer columnist Don Fraser, of Fraser Farm Finance, says there is a noticeable drop in the number of people going lower order sharemilking and believes farm management is the way of the future. ''As we have got into higher input farming, the farm owner has seen sharemilking as an opportunity to shift some of his costs, like palm kernel, silage, irrigation and even nitrogen, on to the lower order sharemilker. The lower order sharemilkers are not doing as well as they were. Jim Keir, a former farm business lecturer at Waikato Polytechnic, saw the writing on the wall before his retirement in 1997 when he was advising people to steer clear of climbing the sharemilking ladder to pursue farm ownership. ''I used to advise my students to get a manager's job as it's a career from which you can retire at 55 and go fishing,'' Jim, 81, says. ''Farm ownership is a dead duck. ''With land and stock prices so high, you are subjecting yourself to a life of misery if you want to own a farm. Lower order sharemilking won't be gone by lunchtime but will be gone in 10 years.'' Jim says farm owners could be more transparent when advertising for lower order sharemilkers. Meanwhile, Morrinsville farm consultant John Dawson is upbeat about sharemilking. ''There has been no move away from lower order arrangements this year,'' John says. His firm had dealt with a dozen lower order sharemilkers this season, with similar numbers every year over the past decade. John says Fonterra's record payout of $7.90 per kg of milksolids, last season, had absorbed the blow of the drought for most. Sue Hagenson, FarmWise manager for LIC, says the career path sharemilking offers is envied all over the world. ''It is a win-win arrangement that allows growth, progression and farm ownership for new farmers, and fills the need of many farm owners. For entrants into the industry, variable order sharemilking is an effective pathway to herd ownership and learning how to run a business effectively. Managerial, financial and administrative skills are developed which are not necessarily gained in a salaried situation.''