In the Shed
Scaling the System: Staying in Control as You Grow
The biggest challenge with scaling isn't buying another farm. It's maintaining visibility, consistency, and control once you're no longer involved in every decision. In this episode, farmers managing multiple operations across Southland and the Waikato share what changes when growth takes you from working in the farm to working on the business.
Alastair Hamilton, Richard Jackson, and Chloe Walker share their experiences of managing growth, building systems, and leading teams across multiple operations.
Visibility, reporting, people, and repeatable systems sit at the centre of the conversation.
The discussion offers practical lessons on avoiding costly blind spots, making better decisions, and building a business that can scale without losing control.
Whether you're preparing to grow or already managing multiple operations, this episode offers practical lessons on staying in control, maintaining visibility, and building a business that's designed to scale.
What you'll hear
- What typically breaks first when a farm business starts to scale, and why visibility becomes harder as you add more farms and more people.
- How successful operators create consistency across multiple units, using systems, reporting, and clear communication.
- The costly blind spots that can impact profitability, from missed animal health issues to feed deficits that aren't identified early enough.
- Why people management becomes increasingly important as businesses grow, and how strong teams underpin successful scale.
- The systems, structures, and mindset shifts needed to grow with confidence, from operators who are already managing multiple farms.
Who's in the Shed?
Sheryl Haitana, Host
With a background in ag journalism and communications, Sheryl Haitana leads SpadeWorks Communications and focuses on New Zealand’s primary sector. She brings strong industry knowledge and hands-on experience, offering a practical perspective on farm businesses, people and day-to-day operations.
Richard Jackson, Jackson Farming Group, Dairy Farm Owner
Richard Jackson is part of Jackson Farming Group in Southland, a family operation of multiple dairy units. His focus is on growing the business through expansion, improving performance and using systems and technology to maintain visibility.
Alastair Hamilton, Falcon Group, General Manager
As General Manager of Falcon Group, overseeing six dairy farms and multiple dry stock blocks in Southland, Alastair Hamilton oversees farm managers and systems to build consistency, improve reporting and ensure performance across a large-scale, multi-farm operation.
Chloe Walker, Precision Farming, CEO
Chloe Walker owns and operates multiple dairy and dry stock farms in the Waikato alongside her husband, running a closed system across more than 1,400 cows. She is also CEO of Precision Farming, bringing a strong technology and systems focus to farm performance, with an emphasis on people, structure and visibility across the business.
A few takeaways worth chewing on
- Growth creates opportunity, but it also creates complexity.
- Visibility becomes harder to maintain the further you get from day-to-day farm operations.
- The best operators build systems that surface problems early, rather than relying on instinct or being physically present.
- Technology doesn't replace good people. It helps good people make better decisions.
- Is your business set up to scale, or simply to get bigger?
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