Braeburn Enterprises is an established farm consultancy business specialising in critical thinking and a steady presence under pressure.
Rowan’s business card remains deliberately broad – given the stretch of his knowledge – and the contacts he has worked with on a day-to-day basis throughout his formidable career.
He’s always been about much more than technical day-to-day farm advice – his experience has made him uniquely placed to understand his customers, their numbers, and what it collectively means for their agricultural businesses. And, where he distances himself from the competition is his innate ability to separate the wood from the trees, and to bring value and clarity to the conversation.
It’s made him the natural ‘go-to’ guy for complex farming operations navigating seasonal stress, market shifts, labour challenges, succession planning and growth phases — without missing anything — including new opportunities.
Independent vision
With a finger firmly on the pulse of industry and commodity pricing, he’s also the resource dairy-farm owners or investors use when they want a more hands-off approach without committing to employing a full-time operations manager.
That includes offering a valuable “buffer”, while 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 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.
Based in Mid Canterbury, Rowan holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours), and he has dairy farmed successfully in both New Zealand and Chile.
Surviving to thriving
Braeburn Enterprises’ portfolio of top operators who routinely seek out his perspective include Quigley Contracting, which employs 75 staff within its Mid Canterbury agricultural contracting business.
Quigley Contracting has now sold its former dairy farming operation, but it is still involved servicing the industry and it is moving towards including dairy grazing on 300ha it owns.
Andrew says Rowan played a significant role in helping Quigley Contracting transition from surviving to thriving.
“Rowan’s very detailed, methodical and he understands his customers,” Andrew Quigley says. “He’s also done sales and he understands sales…but importantly for our business, Rowan is very detailed on the back-end of those conversations which helps us convert everything into a workable solution.”
Andrew candidly says they were up against it several years ago after two seasons of poor pay-outs that were compounded by Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis). Like many through that time, Andrew was at his wits’ end. That’s 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 a 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 turned our dairy business into a very successful enterprise.”
Practical and big-picture ready
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. Rowan changed that result for us.”