Andy and Lou Macklow farm sheep and beef near Waipukurau in partnership with Andy’s brother and sister-in-law, Jeremy and Kate Macklow. They run two blocks: a finishing block ten minutes out of town and a breeding block on the coast towards Porangahau.
How do you share the numbers across two farms?
Working in partnership across two properties depends on clear communication. Because Farm Focus is online, everyone sees the latest figures from either block.
“We can be on the farm and check figures or enter new information - in fact, we can log in from anyway which is really helpful.”
A few transactions at a time
“Farm Focus is cloud based so you’re working with the latest information every day. Reconciling is definitely much easier because the programme is clearer and really quick to use. If I have some spare time I can hop on and do say 10 transactions at a time, and they’re there locked in the system ready to go. Previously I entered the invoices all in one shot at months end which was time consuming, and there was always a chance I’d miss a vital piece of paper.”
Errors fixed in seconds
“Previously I had to trawl back through masses of paperwork to locate an input error, even for a miniscule amount, before I could reconcile. With Farm Focus it’s the opposite. It takes a few seconds to go in, correct and move on!”
Andy has been telling his mates about it.
“I’ve told quite a few mates to just hurry up and get on with making the switch! The process is simple, and Farm Focus really does make a difference to the amount of time you need to spend in the office.”
Still sharing the numbers today
The Macklows still run the partnership’s accounts in Farm Focus. Bank feeds, Farmlands and PaySauce flow straight in, the Invoice Scanner handles the bills, and a working budget sits alongside the actuals. GST is filed every two months, and their accountant sees the same live numbers. Since July 2026, they can also ask the AI Farm Assistant quick questions about their 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.
