Keep your finger on the pulse with our latest blog posts

A purchase might make perfect sense for the farm, but the real cost isn't always what's on the invoice. How will you pay for it? What will it do to your cashflow? How much debt will you take on? What will the repayments look like? And what happens if the season doesn't go exactly to plan?

Contractors or freelancers are often required to be one of many skills, and one to wear many hats. Before you start, it’s essential to understand what expenses you can and can’t claim. This means you’ll keep the right receipts and track the right expenses. Figuring out what’s what can be a little confusing as everyone has a different working set up and what you can claim for can vary between industries and occupations.

At the start of the season, your budget was based on what you expected to happen, right? Your anticipated milk production, milk price, feed requirements, fertiliser spend, repairs, animal health costs and everything else that goes into running the farm. But now you have a few months of actual numbers and we can now look at how does the farm you are running today compare with the farm you budgeted for months ago?

If you’re only looking back at past periods and historic numbers, this limits the insights you can achieve for your business. With a backward-looking ideology, it becomes difficult to plan, run through different scenarios or understand the path of the business going forwards.‍Forecasting changes this.

Meet Dreamview - a family-owned dairy business nestled in the hills above Raglan, producing fresh milk, cream and yoghurt from their 250-cow Hillcrest Farm. With calving happening multiple times throughout the year (July/Aug, Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr), the farm is constantly managing lactation, cow numbers and milk flows to keep production steady and at times there’s surplus milk, while at others, production can become tight.

Claiming your eligible business expenses is one way to reduce your small business tax bill. MBS Advisors explain what costs you can claim as a business owner.

From 1 October 2026, the price of Xero subscriptions will increase in New Zealand. This year, Xero delivered a wave of new capabilities to make the software faster, more insightful, and smarter behind the scenes.‍

From 1 October 2026, Xero subscription prices will increase in New Zealand. With new capabilities introduced this year, now is a good time to make sure you're getting the most from your subscription. Features such as bank rules, receipt capture, online invoicing and reporting can save time and improve visibility. Regularly reviewing your Profit & Loss, Cash Summary and Aged Receivables reports can also help you stay on top of performance and cashflow using real-time information.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day demands of running a business, leaving little time to step back and look at the bigger picture. Take some time this month to review your pricing, profitability, efficiency, technology and goals for the year ahead. Even a small amount of dedicated time spent working on your business can help you identify opportunities, strengthen profitability and make more informed decisions for the future.