Awards cap exciting three years for deer farming couple

After two weeks of  crisis stories, it is good to feature a positive farming operation that has faced up to the high debt of their business, and turned the corner into substantial profits.

Tim Aitken believes there is important messages for the future of the meat industry in his Fairlight Venison partnership.

Also part of his turnaround he contributes to his involvement in the Deer farm focus programme.

The payback from involvement in these farm monitor schemes is huge for all livestock operations.

One night, about four years ago, Tim Aitken lay in bed unable to sleep, his farm's debt preying on his mind. That year, he suffered a loss of $120,000. He and wife Lucy Robertshawe farm deer on attractive, totara-clad, rolling hills at Tikokino, Central Hawke's Bay.Their one saving grace was that the price of farmland was high, sent skyward by the dairy boom. So, with great reluctance, they decided to sell a 76ha stretch of valuable flats they had bought only three years before. Its price had leapt in the intervening years, and with the money from the sale, they were able to reduce their debt. Suddenly, with that worry lifted, they saw their farming business through new eyes reports Stuff.

They launched themselves into a succession of new ventures that have revived their passion for deer farming and given them greater hope for the future. The past three years have passed in a blur of excitement and achievement, capped with awards as Hawke's Bay Farmer of the Year and for environmental sustainability by Deer Industry New Zealand.

Their first move was to cement their relationship with venison exporter Firstlight. They had joined the Hawke's Bay company, the brainchild of meat marketer Gerard Hickey, the year before, but now threw themselves into the business. Part of the appeal was the company's vertical integration - ownership of a supply chain, from producer to customer, under one company. Another part was the three- year supply contract, which guaranteed a buyer for their venison and promised to give them stable pricing.

The 25 farmer-owners have to agree to strict supply requirements. Mr Aitken and Ms Robertshawe have to regularly supply a set number of deer to the meatworks and must also meet animal -welfare and meat-quality standards. For that, they get a return above the schedule price - a base price is worked out at the start of every year and is topped up from a pool at the end.

Other changes quickly followed, the biggest came when they were asked to become a deer industry focus farm for three years, which meant opening their farming operation to scrutiny from other farmers and advisers. Their term is just finishing and they can look back on a period of rapid growth under the watchful eyes of industry professionals, such as deer-farming veterinarian Richard Hilson, Farmax software specialist Pete Swinburn, Dereck Ferguson, of seed breeder Agricom, and AgResearch Invermay scientists Simon Liggett and Frank Griffin.

The focus farm programme has lived up to its name. It has made him focus on several key elements that have lifted his economic performance. The emphasis has been on providing useful, practical information for the 85 to 120 farmers who have attended the regular open days.These ideas have been taken up by others. He hears from farmers who have tried his fawning technique and won't go back to their old ways, and the autumn chicory- based pastures have been so successful that sales of chicory seed in Central Hawke's Bay have jumped 300 per cent.

Other points of interest have been genetic improvements, the increased monitoring of animal health, the discovery of a genetic line susceptible to Johne's disease, yearling mating, improved pregnancy numbers and earlier fawning.The result has been a lift in stock numbers and in weights that has been turned into profits.They have come a long way since that $120,000 net loss. Last year's profit, after expenses and before tax and mortgage payments, was more than $140,000 and this year's is expected to be about $125,000. At the same time, their debt levels have been reduced to 15 per cent.