What’s wrong with the 50/50 sharemilking contract!:' the decline of the herd owning sharemilker'

Abstract

Something seems wrong with the 50/50 contract because it is in decline. Sharemilking in New Zealand has been the main stepping stone up the Dairy Industry career pathway into farm ownership since the early 1900s. It has been a way of learning skills and at the same time building valuable equity for a dairy farmer to make that transition from stock ownership into farm ownership. Sharemilkers have been the muscle of the dairy industry working directly at the coalface to achieve long term farm ownership gratification from determined years of hard work and sacrifice. Many Farm Owners can attribute their financial success to the Sharemilking pathway. That pathway has now narrowed with declining 50/50 Sharemilking Contracts on offer. Farm workers are losing the only true opportunity to achieve dairy farm ownership. These are changing times in the dairy industry and so career pathways must also change. This report looks at the 50:50 Herd owning Sharemilker and asks why is the 50/50 Contract in decline and what is wrong with it?