Hamish and Rachel Hammond quickly developed a passion for farming that led to their current role as 50:50 sharemilkers on Hamish’s family farm in Wairarapa. Photo / DairyNZ
Hamish and Rachel Hammond quickly developed a passion for farming that led to their current role as 50:50 sharemilkers on Hamish’s family farm in Wairarapa. Photo / DairyNZ
Hamish and Rachel Hammond jumped at the chance to put their university learning into practice by taking up a contract milking offer right after graduation.
What started as a five-year plan quickly became a passion, and they are now in their second season as 50:50 sharemilkers on Hamish’s family farmin Wairarapa.
“The farm manager was leaving so Dad proposed we come home to try contract milking,” Hamish explained.
“He was offering the opportunity to run our own business and apply the theory we’d been learning.”
The farm borders Greytown, where Hamish’s great-grandfather started farming in the late 1920s, making Hamish a fourth-generation farmer.
Hamish had taken a break between his undergraduate studies and master’s degree in Agribusiness and Farm Management to compete as an international triathlete.
Rachel was chipping away at her master’s in Animal Science.
Some of the platform and support is leased. Operations run on both owned and leased land.
They are milking 600 spring-calving cows once a day for the full season.
“[Once-a-day] milking gives us flexibility. We still have a good workload, but we’re not tied to the shed in the afternoons, and we feel more efficient,” Hamish said.
“The cows have adapted well and are producing just as much milk as they did on twice-a-day milking, which has helped us chase that efficiency,” Rachel added.
The couple's children George and Lou get to enjoy the outdoors and experience farm life every day. Photo / DairyNZ
The couple are particular about breeding.
They aim for a highly productive, efficient, robust animal with a strong udder and high milk solids but low volume. The herd averages about 470kg in liveweight.
The top 60% of the herd, based on breeding worth, are mated to nominated sires and the remainder go to Angus semen.
“Using Angus, as well as a heifer synchronisation programme, has allowed us to improve our selection intensity and make significant herd improvements,” Rachel said.
They keep all of the Angus calves and finish them on one of their support blocks, a venture they started in 2019 to earn some extra money while they were contract milking.
They operate a System 3, with pasture making up the majority of the herd’s diet.
Grass silage is made on the support blocks and fed in the shoulders of the season.
They use in-shed feeding to provide a small amount of barley grain and minerals, which helps encourage the cows to enter the shed.
The barley quantity is adjusted as needed, based on the season.
“It’s a typical Wairarapa climate: we are wet in winter and dry in summer, with 1000 to 1100mm of rainfall mostly in autumn, winter and spring,” Hamish said.
They use turnips and chicory to keep the cows fully fed and the farm is 70% irrigated with two centre pivots and some long lateral irrigation.
The irrigation has allowed them to trial growing two crops of turnips from one paddock over summer.
Last season they grew close to 20t; 13t from the first crop and 7t from the second.
“The irrigation enables us to have better crops and we’re making good use of the water.
Rachel said the group started many years ago and Hamish’s grandad, Malcolm Hammond, and father Stephen were involved in some of the first plantings.
“We are committed to best practice in everything we do, including breeding the best cows and being efficient with feed and fertiliser use,” Hamish said.
“We want a really sustainable farming business that’s resilient to change.
“We don’t think we’re doing anything flash, we’re just focused on getting the basics right while balancing our work and family life.”
