For Jaime Pickens, the chance to take on the lease of a sheep and beef station near Akitio wasn’t part of the plan. It quickly became an opportunity worth backing.
“This has been a big shift. I had a bit of a plan around managing and where I wanted to go, but this opportunity has arisen and I didn’t think I’d ever see myself in this situation.”
A big breeding operation
The station sits about 10 minutes out of Akitio, inland from Dannevirke. It covers around 1,420 hectares and runs about 10,000 stock units: around 6,000 ewes, 450 in-calf cows and a couple of hundred trade cattle. It’s mainly a breeding unit selling store stock.
Jaime’s goals are clear: pay down debt, build a profitable business, and put himself in a position to renew the lease long term.
“We build a business that is going to be profitable for myself and allow me to potentially renew the lease and be a long-term prospect.”
How do you test a farm lease before you commit?
When the lease came up, Jaime asked his farm consultant, Rachel Joblin of BakerAg, to help work through it. They started with the software they already had, but Rachel was a Farm Focus user and suggested they try it.
“I just found it far more user friendly. I’m not real tech savvy, so it was easy to use and we had great success with it.”
Together they built a budget for the whole business and compared different scenarios side by side.
“We were able to model so many different scenarios and overlay everything, and I was quite impressed with it.”
For Rachel, it meant they could plan the whole business before Jaime signed anything.
“Farm Focus has been a way that we’ve been able to assess the viability of a new business opportunity and plan on paper what the financial outcomes might be. Primarily it’s given us confidence around a business model that is forecast to be really sound.”
Is it hard to get started with Farm Focus?
Jaime’s accountant, Emma McKinstry of Rival Accounting in Masterton, did most of the setup work.
“It was probably pretty limited work for myself actually. They did most of that side of it. Just having those people around you just made it a smooth transition.”
Emma says it’s simple for farmers to pick up because there’s only one programme to learn, and the coding can be set up to suit each business.
Support from people who know farming
For Emma, being able to talk to a real person makes a big difference.
“When there are issues, you can pick up the phone and actually speak to someone. I think that makes a huge difference, particularly for farmers.”
“They know exactly what you’re talking about. They walk the talk as well.”
Backing a good operator
Rachel says the opportunity came to Jaime for a reason.
“Jaime’s a really good manager of livestock and gets good production from livestock. He’s also a good communicator. He’s good with people, he’s good with staff.”
Jaime has been with Farm Focus since late 2024, and he still runs Summit Agri’s working budget in it today. With clear numbers behind him, he can focus on building the business skills to go with his stockmanship. Since July 2026, he can also ask the AI Farm Assistant quick questions about his actuals, plans and reports.
Every Farm Focus customer gets free onboarding and phone support from a team that knows farming, in New Zealand and Australia.
