Rowan O’Connor’s role with the Dairy Business Centre (DBC) has evolved from a sales manager into a roving Agricultural Business Consultant – with a big reputation for saving or elevating dairy businesses.
Rowan’s business card is deliberately broad. Because he is one of the DBC’s best-kept secrets – given his ability, the sheer stretch of his knowledge, and the contacts he works with on a day-to-day basis. Rowan, who holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) and has dairy farmed successfully in both New Zealand and Chile, also works closely with Ashburton-based MilkMaP Consulting Ltd*.
With a finger firmly on the pulse of industry and commodity pricing, he’s the “go-to” guy when dairy-farm owners or investors want a more hands-off approach without committing to employing a full-time operations manager. He is also a valuable resource and “buffer”, helping farmers either meet their farm’s production potential, refine and/or clean up farm businesses, or satisfy and reassure the banks that there is a solid plan in place.
Within that, he is well-known and respected by all the financial layers in the dairy industry, adding credibility and muscle to his clients’ voices.
There is no part of any dairy operation Rowan can’t slide into and add value to. He’s a valuable chameleon for the industry, and the people he has helped don’t forget.
‘We contemplated selling’
One of those people is Andrew Quigley, of Quigley Contracting and Quigley Feeds. With 60 employees working in the primary business in Mid-Canterbury, Andrew’s investment in a dairy farm ran into troubled financial waters after two seasons of poor pay-outs, which were compounded by Mycoplasma bovis**. Andrew was at his wits’ end when he brought Rowan in.
“We were in an intensive farming system with all year-round calving, and we were struggling to make money,” Andrew said. “The costs were out of control, and we were questioning everything. M. bovis was the final straw.
“I was running our other businesses as my core focus, and suddenly the dairy farm became very stressful. I authorised Rowan to act on my behalf through that time.
“He did an amazing job. He processed all our MPI [Ministry for Primary Industries] claims and argued to the MPI on our behalf. Once we got through that, we were still in a tough financial position, and we didn’t have a lot of equity left.
“We were honestly contemplating selling the farm and cutting our losses. But we talked to Rowan about how we could farm our way out of it, and he came up with our current, simplified model.”
“Rowan implemented everything – he employed the staff, sourced the machinery, the cows, and got the farm back up and running – including switching us to 100% autumn calving. He looked after all our costs, he set budgets and reported to the banks, and he has turned our dairy business into a very successful enterprise.”
Independent overseer the ultimate solution
Andrew said Rowan’s diverse skill set had made it possible to traverse every challenge.
“Rowan can put cups on cows if things go sideways, but he’s so much more than that. He’s driven and great at removing the emotion from the situation and really seeing the situation for what it is. Once we sat down and set a plan with him, he held myself, the manager and everyone around him accountable.”
Andrew says he wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rowan and considers him the ultimate solution for investors, multiple farm owners, or family owner/operators nearing retirement.
“Rowan would be brilliant for the guys who aren’t on-farm every day and who want to run them at arm’s length,” Andrew said. “Or, if someone is retiring, and they have multiple dairy farms but none of their kids are interested in farming. They tend to employ managers, and Rowan would be the best person to employ to sit above all of them as an independent set of eyes, acting on behalf of the family.
“Ours was a third-generation operation we’d had since 1961. I could have just thrown it away. I can honestly say, we wouldn’t still have the dairy farm if it wasn’t for Rowan.”
Fresh eyes
Rowan said being a major part of returning Andrew’s farm finances from red to black was breaking down the financials, and then cornering the opportunity.
“When I went in there, my plan was to look over the financials and watch the business for a couple of months and see what needed to happen,” Rowan said.
“Ultimately, it was only because Andrew had a barn and the winter milk contract that it was feasible. We’re maximising the amount of milk we supply in the winter, and then selling cows out to drop down to a grass-based system by September.
“It’s a unique model, and even if the pay-out crashed now, I think we’d be reasonably robust.”
He said when push comes to shove, it usually boils down to some straight-forward thinking – which becomes clearer when his clients have good information and support.
“These solutions have to work financially as well as everything else, otherwise no-one gets paid, and no-one enjoys what they’re doing.”
*MilkMaP focusses on “Milk”, “Management”, and “Profitability” by analysing key performance indicators, the cost structure of the business and the impact of any proposed feeding/stocking rate changes.
**M. bovis is a pathogen that causes respiratory disease, otitis media (middle ear disease), arthritis, mastitis and a variety of other diseases in cattle worldwide.
