Having spent the past five years lower-order sharemilking at Milton, the Otago Sharemilkers of the Year will next season take up a variable-order sharemilking position at Chatton near Gore, another step closer to realising their eventual dream of farm ownership.
It was that focus along with their abilities as farm, livestock and financial managers, and their relationship with the farm owner which allowed them to implement their own strategies to increase production, and the way they treated the farm as their own that enabled them to win the top honour.
The judges also commented on the couple's competence, confidence and maturity which was displayed by the contribution they have made to developing the farm they have worked for the past five years.
Mr Erskine started his career by completing a six-month dairying course on leaving school before working on several Southland dairy farms and then spending three years working in Ireland.
At a field day on his farm last week, he said the exchange was designed to broaden his horizon but to also learn northern hemisphere animal husbandry skills.
In 1999, he returned to Otago and worked on farms on the Taieri where he met Debbie, a teacher at Outram school.
They married in 2001 and together they embarked on a dairy career which initially had goals of paying off Mrs Erskine's student loan, saving sufficient cash to get a position as a lower-order sharemilker and to start accumulating plant and livestock.
That also required Mrs Erskine to end her teaching career so they could focus on those goals and the larger target of farm ownership.
Five years ago, they moved to the Sanders property and their goal was refined to: owning and operating a successful farming business that effectively uses best farm practices and delivers excellent profits and growth.
They also want to enjoy a lifestyle that focused on family, friends and community involvement.
Mrs Erskine said goals and objectives had been a priority, and when put down on paper with a timeframe by which to measure them, they became clear and the values took on greater importance.
"They are one thing that has been of most benefit to us," she told about 60 people at a recent field day.
The Milton farm has a 160ha milking platform with another 22ha in winter feed.
It is an all-grass system with silage and hay the only supplements strategically fed during the season.
Mr Erskine said logistically it was an easy farm to manage and this year they had been running a split herd before dry weather forced them to 16-hour milking.
While not ideal, the cows were still producing 1.35kg/ms from 16-hour milkings, Mr Erskine said.
He aimed to get the most out of his cows by closely managing them and their feed.
Calving starts in early August and in the lead-up to that, cows are mobbed and fed according to their due calving date.
About late September, between 70kg and 80kg a hectare of urea has been applied and the cows would have started their second rotation.
Mr Erskine said by early October the round was shortened to 16 to 18 days and cows in milk could be given hay to supplement their diet.
Silage was made from November to early January, but this was the period the farm was at risk of becoming dry.
Mr Erskine said he tried to hold the rotation through February before slowly extending it during autumn to between 32 and 35 days, even if that meant supplementing some silage.
In a challenging autumn such as this, the cows can also be fed 6kg of silage each.
He aims for pasture cover as he dries the herd off in mid May of about 1800kg dry matter a hectare.
The results speak for themselves, with production increasing from 359kg/ms a cow in 2004-05, before the Erskines arrived, to an expected 467kg /ms a cow this season.
The other significant change has been with the breed of cow.
Mr Erskine said when he arrived they were large-frame Holsteins, but he felt the 600kg cows were too large and heavy for the at-times sodden ground conditions.
He has crossed them with Kiwi-cross and Jersey bloodlines, and the average cow size now was closer to 470kg.
Dairy NZ South Otago consulting officer Caroline Hadley said on an efficiency measure of body weight (average about 470kg) to milk solids produced (average 467kg), the Erskine herd was close to 100% which made it a very efficient herd.
Financially, the Erskines also aim to be efficient.
For the 2008-09 season they achieved that despite operating expenses being blown out due to increasing stock numbers and employing extra staff to cover for Mr Erskine while he had an operation on his neck.
Based on 2008-09 production of 445kg/ms a cow and 1251kg/ms a hectare, gross farm revenue was $1.56 a kg/ms, operating expenses were 96c a kg/ms and operating profit, or effective farm surplus, was 60c a kg/ms.
A year earlier, operating expenses were 72c a kg/ms.
When set against comparable statistics from an accounting firm and AgriFocus, the Erskines were well ahead on gross farm revenue, $1.05 and $1.21 respectively, operative profit of 33c and 50c and operating expenses of 72c and 71c.
The result has been strong equity growth of 351% since June 1, 2005, including 47% growth since the end of last season.
Next season they are shifting to an 800 cow lower-order sharemilking job at Chatton near Gore and will take 100 of their own cows with them.
They have built up a herd of in-calf heifers and older cows, and they plan to sell about 40 in-calf heifers and lease out the rest.
Ultimately, they want to own a farm, but Mrs Erskine said the Chatton move gave them experience on a larger farm and prepared them for the next step, whether that was a 50:50 sharemilking position, staying as sharemilkers and buying a small farm or entering an equity partnership.
"We just want to grow our equity in the best possible manner," she said.