Ever felt like you’ve got not only a great idea but a really solid plan to expand your farming operations but you’re banging your head up against a wall trying to borrow money from the banks?
That’s exactly how Ben Schiller felt for months and months when it came to starting and growing his sheep feedlot in Ngapala, South Australia, northwest of Eudunda.
After several years pursuing a career in carpentry after school, it was around 2017 when the now 31 year old decided to follow his dream of running his own farm.
He’d always had a love of agriculture having grown up on his family’s sheep farm and it was this passion that led him to pursue his vision of running his own property. Alas, a lot of the traditional lenders didn’t share his passion. They wanted a guarantee to fund his dream, and determined to do it on his own without any help from his family, this wasn’t an option for Ben.
It was this drive to do it on his own that brought Ben to DelayPay. Whilst he had no financial guarantee, Ben had a solid vision and a well thought out plan on building his business and that’s all DelayPay needed to get Ben on his way.
Initially Ben used the buy now pay later company to buy lambs on an 8 week turnaround, and then again to buy the hay and grain to feed them. He has since used DelayPay several more times over the years to maximise his cashflow and finds it the perfect solution to growing his business without having to jump through any of the long, drawn-out hurdles of other lenders.
He acknowledges that trading sheep is hard, but credits DelayPay as the reason that he has a successful business that lambs down around 1100 ewes a year, has plans to extend his sheep feedlot from a 7,000 to 10,000 head capacity and has done all of this without a bank overdraft!
“Now that I’ve got a successful operation the banks want to do business with me, but where were they at the start when I needed them most? I’m sticking with DelayPay as they took a chance on me and I respect that,” Ben said.
“They’re quick and easy and it just works for me and the way I run my operation. I’m so grateful DelayPay were able to help me achieve my goal of doing this on my own.”
“Not only that, but DelayPay helped me with the purchase of the Tepari hd4 sheep handler, single-handedly one of the best assets for my business I’ve ever bought! It makes boring jobs like weighing, drafting, vaccinating/drenching and crutching not only easy, but also enjoyable.”
Ben had wanted the sheep handler for a long time and being able to buy it with DelayPay allowed him to take advantage of a field day special price when cashflow was tight. The flexibility of being able to purchase equipment this way has been a game-changer for Ben and the possibilities in the future are endless!
Ben operating his new Tepari hd4 Sheep Handler – one of the best purchases he’s ever made using DelayPay.