sharemilkern.
/ˈʃɛːˌmɪlkə/, U.S. /ˈʃɛrˌmɪlkər/, New Zealand English /ˈʃeəˌmɪlkə/ New Zealand.
A person who works on another's dairy farm for a share of the profits; (sometimes) one who owns a dairy herd and raises it on another's farmland under a similar profit-sharing arrangement.
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1901 S. Canterbury (N.Z.) Times 19 July The reference to £10 per cow obviously refers to the total return, not to the sharemilker's proportion.
1935 ‘J. Guthrie’ Little Country xii. 203 Advertisements..for a farm-hand or a share-milker.
1977 N.Z. Herald 8 Jan. iv. 7/2 (advt.) A position has become available for a 50–50 sharemilker on a 130-acre dairy farm. The present sharemilker has purchased his own farm property.
2016 Wairarapa (N.Z.) News (Nexis) 6 July 38 Owners simply could not afford to employ sharemilkers when debt levels were so high.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
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n.1901