Farm management, increasing production, tight control of their finances and clear goals meant the Waikato-raised couple outshone their competitors.
Their resourcefulness and ability to grasp opportunities allowed them to buy a 123ha dairy farm at Inch Clutha last year.
Mr Sutherland told a recent field day everything had lined up to allow them to buy the Inch Clutha property.
Adams Flat was generating a healthy profit and with last year's record milk payout and selling surplus cows for $2700, the opportunity to buy was too good to ignore.
Twenty-four hours after learning the Inch Clutha farm was for sale, they had bought it.
When they moved to the newly converted sheep and beef property in 2005, Adams Flat was a challenging dairy farm.
Pastures were run out, there were extensive areas of gorse and scrub and the contour of the land was rolling to steep.
Farm owner Grant Paterson was originally going to transform it into a prime lamb finishing farm, but he was convinced to convert it to dairying.
The Sutherlands' enthusiasm, energy and commitment meant that was a wise decision.
Mr Sutherland said they never intended joining the exodus of North Island sharemilkers, but the opportunity in the South was too great to ignore.
They came to South Otago with the goal of building a sustainable enterprise, a lifestyle that gave them some freedom and time with their two preschool daughters, Ashley (3) and Tayla (16 months), and time to build a profitable sharemilking business and ultimately buy a farm.
This has been partly achieved by their management skills and development.
The Adams Flat milking platform was 305ha with another 80ha of crops and the rest available for young stock.
Of the 305ha, 202ha of pasture was less than three years old, one of the main reasons milk production has increased.
Another contributing factor was a tight calving which was achieved through inductions and using Cidrs.
Calving started on August 6 with mid-calving on August 18.
Last year, 3.5% of the cows were empty.
Gorse and scrub have been cleared and five lanes built.
As well, they have installed more than 3km of drains as the soils drained poorly, but on the hills they soil could also dry out quickly.
Last spring, which was exceptionally wet, showed just how difficult the property could be. All their cows had to be calved on a feed pad built in 2007-08, an investment Mr Sutherland described as a life-saver.
"It would have destroyed the farm if we didn't have it," he said.
The Sutherlands do their own cultivation and employ a casual tractor driver.
This had proven cost effective and meant crops were sown when they wanted them in.
The hilly contours limited the area available for silage making and could be hazardous for staff riding quad bikes and tractors.
Silage harvesting focused on pasture quality which meant plenty of small cuts.
Whenever pasture growth exceeded 2100kg dry matter a ha (kg DM/ha) it was cut for silage but they also balanced that by aiming for cover of 2050 to 2100kg DM/Ha to help them get through summer without having to feed supplements to young stock.
They aim for residual pasture of 1500kg to 1600kg DM/ha.
Each week from the middle of September to March, they walked the farm to measure pasture growth from which they mapped grazing management in a system all staff could follow.
For most of the year, they operated a 25- to 30-day rotation, expanding to 40 days late in the season.
They also feed palm kernel at 2kg a cow in spring until pasture growth takes off.
Turnips were a key backstop for dry summers, with 20ha grown to be fed from February to mid March while in autumn, barley silage was fed at 4kg a cow to keep milk production through until May.
This year, he hoped to milk until May 12.
In winter, all the cows remain on farm, and are fed swedes, kale hay or straw.
Steep gullies are used, with block feeding for two to three-day periods.
A new effluent pond with three months' storage was built in 2007-08.
The contour of the land made irrigation difficult and the bottoms of paddocks have been aerated to capture any run off.
Mr Sutherland said the soils could also get very hard which meant irrigated effluent could run off.
They supply Dairy Trust, but an expected reduction in payout this season of $2 kg in milk solids meant their income would be down $500,000 compared with last year.
However, Mr Sutherland said that, while tough, the forecast payout of $4.50 a kg of milk solids was manageable.
He hoped to increase production at Inch Clutha to 150,000kg of milk solids to compensate.
One way to achieve that was through regrassing.
The couple have focused on costs and Mr Sutherland said he hated seeing what he called "wastage of stock" - cows that were dry or late calvers.
"That is huge on a balance sheet."
The Sutherlands have two years remaining in their sharemilking contract and were looking at options, with repayment of debt a priority.
But as they had done with Inch Clutha, they always had an eye open looking for options.
The Sutherlands will contest the national title in Wellington next month.