PHOTOS: SHAWN MCAVINUEA Southland family is celebrating buying their first dairy farm sooner than planned. Steve and Tracy Henderson bought their first dairy farm, about halfway between Invercargill and Bluff, last month. A life goal of the Hendersons was realised by owning a dairy farm before they reached an average age of 40. After studying, she worked as a dairy assistant on a farm near Seaward Downs for two seasons while he was contract milking on a dairy farm in Pukerau, east of Gore. Opportunities still remain in the dairy industry for people to be able to progress to farm ownership, Mrs Henderson said.