Spring Sheep Shift: Transforming a Young Farmer’s Future
- Ryan McPherson, a finance-educated professional, has transitioned from pursuing a career on Wall Street to establishing a sheep dairy operation in South Waikato as part of the family's...
- McPherson holds a BA in Business Management with a major in Finance and previously expressed a strong interest in stocks, and shares.
- The sheep dairy operation is integrated into the broader family business, Colewin Farms, which manages several farming operations in the Lichfield area.
Ryan McPherson, a finance-educated professional, has transitioned from pursuing a career on Wall Street to establishing a sheep dairy operation in South Waikato as part of the family’s agricultural diversification strategy.
McPherson holds a BA in Business Management with a major in Finance and previously expressed a strong interest in stocks, and shares. While he had considered a career in New York, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic led him to manage support blocks on his family’s farms, eventually shifting his professional trajectory toward the development of a new dairy venture.
Diversification at Colewin Farms
The sheep dairy operation is integrated into the broader family business, Colewin Farms, which manages several farming operations in the Lichfield area. The existing dairy infrastructure at Colewin Farms consists of two separate systems: a production system 2 with 950 cows and a production system 5 with 700 cows.
The family’s dairy operations utilize support blocks for grazing heifers and lambs, as well as growing maize. According to McPherson, the decision to enter the sheep dairy market was driven by a desire to find more sustainable options for the farming business and a belief that the financial numbers for the venture were viable.
Ryan McPherson
We’d been talking about diversifying and considering more sustainable options for our farming business, and I felt that it was something different from the other things we were doing that I could grow into a good business and career.
Operational Implementation and Infrastructure
The partnership with Spring Sheep Milk began in 2020 when Thomas MacDonald, then the supply manager and now the chief executive of Spring Sheep Milk, assessed the farm for suitability. Following the assessment, the family business signed a contract with the company.
Construction and preparation for the operation began in December 2020. The project involved repurposing an existing decommissioned 16 ASHB shed, which was gutted and converted into a 42 ASHB facility specifically for sheep, featuring a rapid exit system.
The physical footprint of the operation includes:
- A 60-hectare sheep dairy platform.
- Dedicated lamb rearing sheds.
- A converted 42 ASHB milking shed.
The infrastructure development concluded on August 1, 2021, the date the first 650 Zealandia sheep arrived at the facility.
Strategic Shift in Agricultural Management
The move toward sheep dairying represents a shift in how some young farmers are approaching agricultural careers, blending traditional farming with business management and sustainability goals. McPherson’s background in finance provided the analytical framework to evaluate the viability of the Spring Sheep business model within the context of the family’s existing land holdings.
By utilizing existing decommissioned assets and diversifying the livestock profile of the farm, the operation seeks to increase sustainability while creating a new revenue stream separate from traditional bovine dairy production.