NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

This farmer couple earns $500k a year but are broke

By Vanessa Brown
news.com.au·
23 Aug, 2018 06:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tony and Jill Wilson from their dairy farm in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Photo / Supplied

Tony and Jill Wilson from their dairy farm in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Photo / Supplied

On paper, Tony Wilson and his wife Jillian make a lot of money — more than A$500,000 ($546,762) a year.

As owners of Wilson's Robotic Dairy in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, their cows brought in a total of A$63,640 for the month of August alone.

Sounds amazing, right. But the reality is quite scary.

The Wilsons spoke to news.com.au as part of our new money series, Cash Confessions, and revealed their spending costs for the month of August. They said bank payments, feed costs, electricity, insurance, maintenance and vet bills put them back in the red as soon as their pay landed.

"Our expenditure this month is A$70,950," Jillian told news.com.au. "We have a loss of A$7310 per month (plus our living expenses). So our total loss this month is around A$11,927.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"You don't save … you just have a debt that floats up and down. It's just different for farmers."

Mr Wilson, a fifth generation farmer, has become well acquainted with the reality of not making any money for his 90-hour working week.

And while the income for each month often fluctuates, running his dairy this year has been one of the toughest yet.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For more employment news, go to yudu.co.nz

"Our income numbers are big to the average person, but it's what is left over after the bills and the feed that matters," he told news.com.au from his farm in Kyogle.

"We go without lots of things to do what we're doing. But after 30 or 40 years you think, 'oh well'."

Mr Wilson, 60, has had the farm since the early 80s, and milks about 180 cows each day. But since the drought gripped the state, his monthly loss has only increased.

Each week, he and his wife work actively on their farm. Mr Wilson clocks at least 14 hours each day from feeding cows to growing grass, maintaining machinery and managing the herd.

Discover more

Airlines

Qantas revamping Auckland lounge as it reports record profit

23 Aug 04:26 AM
Business

Cavalier turns to profit in 2018

23 Aug 04:34 AM
Business

NZ dollar gains against Aussie

23 Aug 05:19 AM
Business

NZ shares drop as Air NZ, Ebos fall

23 Aug 05:34 AM

Mrs Wilson spends about four or five hours working the land, feeding calves, cleaning the dairy, and managing their books. Their work is endless, thankless and seven days a week.

"This loss is a direct result of the drought as our feed costs for the dairy herd and heifers has increased by approx. A$15,000 per month due to the increase in grain price and the need to purchase hay.

"We have also had a drop in income due to decreased milk production from the poorer quality feed available.

"We cover this with an overdraft, and this is likely to remain the same or get worse until we have good rain."

Mrs Wilson said their biggest spend was on feed, which — for the past month — exceeded A$30,000.

"Insurance was A$955, our electricity is A$3290," Mrs Wilson said. "The feed is A$34,000, fuel is A$1496, repairs and maintenance A$7354, mortgage and loans A$14,995, labour is A$2000.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Vet bills are A$500, while rates and miscellaneous expenses come to A$5360."

Earlier this month, 42-year-old Shane Hickey — a close friend of Mr Wilson — revealed he was earning just a fraction of the minimum wage.

Hickey, who also runs a dairy farm in Kyogle, posted a selfie-style video to Facebook from his drought-savaged farm, explaining how he'd just received a cheque for the month of July.

"I'm a proud dairy farmer … I work very hard," he says to the camera.

"But I'd like to say that I worked this month [July] and we just got paid in August for a whole month.

"I worked for A$2.46 an hour. Something has got to change. You can't keep this sh*t up.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"People can't expect farmers to continually work for nothing. That's basically slavery."

Mr and Mrs Wilson have five adult children and 12 grandchildren, three of which have followed in the family's footsteps.

"We have three kids in farming, and one who would like to be," Mr Wilson explained. "In it's in our blood.

"The three eldest ones have seen us through other droughts. They have heard our arguing and the stress it causes a family. We are around A$500 a day worse off than this time last year, so it's stressful."

The Wilsons, who estimate the amount of money they make from each cow lingers around A$3000 to A$3300 annually, said the base rate for their milk had only increased 2.5 per cent since 2009.

"That's nearly 10 years and in that time all other expenses, like labour, fuel and grain have risen," Mrs Wilson said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We have had no increase to our base rate milk pay since 2015. We need our milk price to lift to a level that would cover our expenses each month, allow us to continue to invest in our farm, and have some time off … and so our family can continue working this family farm.

"If family farms are not commercially sound then this country will not be able to feed itself in the not too distant future."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Analysis

Inside Economics: Why do we need more migrants when 200,000 people are on the dole?

25 Jun 05:30 AM
Premium
Business

'It blows my mind': Roblox game smashes records, captures young fans

25 Jun 04:58 AM
Premium
Property

NZ's biggest new supermarket gets green light

25 Jun 03:01 AM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Inside Economics: Why do we need more migrants when 200,000 people are on the dole?

Inside Economics: Why do we need more migrants when 200,000 people are on the dole?

25 Jun 05:30 AM

ANALYSIS: We already know what happens to NZ's economy when the borders are closed.

Premium
'It blows my mind': Roblox game smashes records, captures young fans

'It blows my mind': Roblox game smashes records, captures young fans

25 Jun 04:58 AM
Premium
NZ's biggest new supermarket gets green light

NZ's biggest new supermarket gets green light

25 Jun 03:01 AM
Regulator to crack down on bankers and advisers amid uptick in mortgage fraud

Regulator to crack down on bankers and advisers amid uptick in mortgage fraud

25 Jun 01:07 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP