‘Don’t be the generation to stuff it up’: The reality of running the family business

Sam Mackaway’s future has been planned for as long as he can remember.

“I always wanted my family to grow up on a farm,” he says.

He’s a third-generation cattle farmer in Walcha, New South Wales, and now with a young family of his own, he’s realising his dream.

“The property’s been in our family for 27 years. It’s 2,800-and-a-bit acres and a beautiful part of the world to raise my kids,” he tells ABC iview’s Muster Dogs.

Eventually, Mackaway will inherit the family business, but it comes with conversations about succession, debt and leaving his mark.

According to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, seven out of 10 businesses in Australia are family-owned.

While family businesses are in every industry, 25 per cent of workers are in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Corrina Wright is the sixth generation to run her family’s business, Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards in McLaren Vale, South Australia, and says it’s a privilege to continue the legacy.

“You’re very lucky that you’ve landed in the spot where you are and being able to be part of such a long family lineage,” she says.

“But then there’s a little bit of pressure in that, because you don’t want to be the generation to stuff it up.”

Eyes on the future

While Mackaway always knew he wanted to settle on the farm, he had to work hard to earn his place.

“My brother and I got told when we were younger that we needed to go and do something before we came back to the farm, we needed to get a trade or go to uni or just do something, because anything that you come back with to the farm helps,” he says.

“I was quite keen on becoming a sparky [electrician], so I moved away and did that. I don’t use it every day, but I use it quite a lot on the farm, just being able to make stuff.”

Despite the generations of knowledge passed down, Mackaway knows he needs to look to the future if he wants the business to thrive for years to come.

In doing so, he’s introduced modern technology into his day-to-day work.

“I’m driving around in a tractor with a GPS and auto steer, whereas Dad’s driving around in a tractor just using his eyes, trying to see the lines,” he says.

While his father is an expert in using machinery to move cattle, Mackaway has taken on the challenge of learning how to introduce working dogs onto the farm.

He’s also introducing a data-tracking system to streamline his processes, which will enable him to track cattle weights and growth, as well as lineage and which bulls are working with which cows.

“I’m a few weeks away from releasing a farm management app. We do have a fair few headaches just tracking our cattle.”

In Wright’s family business, each generation has brought its own focus to the business. In her case, it was expanding from just selling grapes to starting their own brand.

“You’ve gone from a business that didn’t really care about what happened at the farm gate, your grapes were gone, and you didn’t need to worry about marketing or any of that sort of stuff,” she says.

“Now you’re running a business that can employ a whole pile of different people, not just tractor drivers, and you’ve got customers coming to you, and you’ve got marketing to do, you’ve got design and social media and all those sorts of things — the generational difference is huge.”

Those changes took a little while to get used to.

“The pressure back in the early days was to not stuff that up and to respect the family name that was going on a wine label,” Wright explains.

“Now I feel a bit more proud that our generation has been able to contribute significantly to assisting the business and strengthening it into the future as well.”

Planning ahead

Every five years, Mackaway sits down with his family to discuss succession planning.

His father’s own experience has influenced the handover process with his son.

“My grandfather decided that he wasn’t ready to retire. He wanted to keep going for a bit longer, and Dad thought, ‘I’m going to be 65 by the time you want to retire and not run [the] place how I want to run it’. So he’s very aware of that in the discussion about succession planning.”

But while family businesses can bring some challenges, Mackaway says having family support has offered vital help with the costs of expanding and setting up the property he owns with his wife, Laura.

“As long as we’re happy to all work together, we can get that debt down a lot quicker than if Laura and I were to move away and do our own thing. That’d take us a long time.”

For Wright, she says it’s been important to have advisers who are non-family members, to keep their vision on track — but she’s looking forward to creating opportunities for more family members in the future.

And while past generations were limited to farming work, roles could now be anything from a graphic designer to a lawyer.

“Legacy just means we’ve left it in a better spot than what we received it,” Wright says.

Her daughter is already working for the company one day a week.

Meanwhile, for Mackaway and prospects of a fourth generation in the business, only time will tell.

Stream the new series of Muster Dogs free on ABC iview.