If you would like to find out more, please give us a call to find out if a CowBank lease could work for you.

• Enquiry
• Application
• Credit Approval
• Selecting your new cows
• Settlement
• Payments
• Herd Audit

Enquiry 

When you first make an enquiry, we will ask you several questions about your farm in order to assess your needs in relation to what CowBank can offer. We will then send you an information letter and application form if you would like to take your enquiry a step further.

We do our very best to understand your own individual situation, and in doing so can offer you personalized options for your dairy farm business.

You can start your enquiry from this website. To view the application form and see what you need to apply, download our Application form or contact us freecall on 1800 300 269.

Application
 

If you would like to make an application, Ella Credlin our Agricultural Analyst will visit you on farm to help you complete this process and go through any additional information required. 

Ella will also complete a Farm report which covers the physical aspects of your farm and cows. 

Credit Approval
 

CowBank will process your application, analyse the financial and milk production information and speak to your referees. The formal Credit Application is prepared and then submitted to our Credit Committee who meets each week for review.

If your application is urgent we may call a special meeting to consider the application.

Once we have approval, we fax you a formal Letter of Offer. Once signed, we prepare the contracts and send them out to you to be completed before settlement.

Selecting your new cows

If you are using CowBank to add to your herd, this is the time when you select the new cows. You will provide the livestock invoices to CowBank, along with a list of the cow ID numbers for our records.

If you are selling your current cows to us to lease them back, we will also require a list of the cow IDs involved and a current valuation of the herd. 

Settlement
 

You sign the legal documents and return them to us. We are now able to settle your lease.

We don't bank this cheque until settlement. 

Payments
 

You should organise a direct deposit from your bank or milk company to CowBank for the 15th of each month for the 60 month term of the lease. 

Herd Audit
 

After settlement, Cheryl will visit your farm to complete an 'Initial Audit' and prepare a list which we send to you. You should use this list to advise us of any herd changes (deaths, culls, etc).

Cheryl will visit you on an annual basis to 'audit' the herd. This is done electronically via the NLIS tag system and we send you a copy of the list afterwards. We try to fit our visit in with your day as much as possible; it is easier to read milking cows at the dairy.