CORPORATE farms teach a wide variety of skills and can help set up young farmers for ownership or sharefarming in the future.
That's the opinion of James Maxwell who moved from Cohuna to Camperdown in Victoria's southwest 18 months ago to work at Cossack Dairy.
"It was the personal development opportunities and learning how to further my skill set managing a large dairy," he said.
"Working on a large farm - it's the fastest way I can get the cash behind me to get into a sharefarming business.
"You get all skills from managing a big farm and you can take it away and do if for yourself."
James, 31, will join four other young farmers from Victoria on a study trip to New Zealand's North Island in January.
Sponsored by United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, Gardiner Foundation and National Centre for Dairy Education Australia, the trip will provide participants with the opportunity to compare farming practices.
"They do things differently over there (New Zealand) ... I hope to bring some of that back here," he said. "(For example) pasture management, and they have an open book business policy with discussion groups.
"I want to see what they learn from each other, that is a great way to learn with confidentiality and trust."
Working as a herd manager at Cossack Dairy, at Port Campbell, where the herd peaks at 1100 head, James wants to either sharefarm or lease within the next five years.
Focusing on owning the "herd and plant" makes most financial sense to him. Leasing a farm you are paying 2-3 per cent of its value (per year)," he said.
"If I was paying interest it would be double that and cows (not just replacements), they can return up to 20 per cent on their value. I will focus on that."
James worked in many roles within the dairy industry in northern Victoria, including teaching high school students certificate two in agriculture.
With a Bachelor of Agriculture from Melbourne University, James is also in the final stages of completing a diploma of human resource management and wants to look at studying the financial side of dairy farming.
