Lynch was raised in Waikato and after school went straight into farming, with the exception of about 18 months working for a local contractor.
"A lot of my friends went on an OE, but I wanted to stay in New Zealand and continue hunting and living an outdoor lifestyle."
"I went down to the South Island with the expectation of staying for a year or so, but seven years later I'm still here, with no plans to leave."
Maybee was brought up on a sheep and beef farm on the coast at Milton, south of Dunedin.
"I dragged her into dairying but she's well and truly into it now."
The couple worked for Owen and Cathy Copinga managing Rivendell Farm.
Lynch said it was a fantastic place to learn.
They then went contract milking, before sharemilking for the first time last season on a farm owned by Winnie van Rossum.
Wanting to carry on his grandparents' work with Lyncrest stud, but not wanting to return to Waikato's challenging dry summers, Lynch made the decision to transport the stud's pedigree cows 1500km from Thames Valley to rural Invercargill.
The Invercargill farm was 84ha of flat to rolling land, on which the couple milk 285 cows.
All cows calve in barns, and the colostrum cows were taken inside at night, too.
"We really strive to look after our cows in spring and keep them out of the harsh weather," Lynch said.
"Production-wise we are doing over 550kgMS/cow and are on track to do 600kgMS/cow, or 2000kgMS/ha."
The farm system was pasture-based but they ensured the cows were fully fed, which meant feeding supplements.
Their top cows produced about 850kg of milksolids.
"We made a strategic change last season to lower the stocking rate by 15 cows and ended up doing more production per cow by around 20kgMS.
"With the inflation of feed costs and fertiliser, it is not profitable to have more cows."
Mating is 10 weeks, including seven weeks of artificial insemination to breed replacements before the bulls are put out for the next 25 days to finish.
The 2021-22 season was the first in which the couple used sexed semen on the top 10 per cent of the herd; cows that had a premating heat and the top cows in the herd got one straw of sexed semen in the first three weeks of mating, Lynch said.
"This mating we are going to go heavy on the sexed semen now that we know it was successful in the herd.
"Most likely the top two-thirds of the herd will get sexed semen this year."
They rear 100 replacements annually.
When breeding, they were "super fussy" on udder scores because of the production they were pushing through the cows.
"We focus on components over volume, choosing bulls with good components and at least medium milk volume."
This season, a large portion of the herd was in calf to Meander Shot Alibi-ET S3F.
They currently had 21 pedigree animals in the herd, and two-thirds are from overseas genetics; of those, eight or nine were sired by Plain-Knoll King Royal-ET, Lynch said.
"I don't think there's one cow from King Royal I don't like.
"The top King Royal heifers are producing what a mature cow can."
There was one 10-year-old cow in the herd that was outstanding for production and type - Lyncrest Fever Bridie EX, who had excellent components of fat 5.23 per cent and protein 4.26 per cent, Lynch said.
Bridie produced 842kgMS last season, with her lactation finishing in February.
The Holstein Friesian breed was ideal for a business focused on production.
"You can't go past a Holstein Friesian when you're wanting to push big milk out."
The couple were focusing on reducing debt so they could get into a bigger herd and farm in the next one to two years and would love to stay within Van Rossum's portfolio of farms, Lynch said.
"We love her farming philosophy. She is not driven by BW [breeding worth], but rather production per cow.
"She is more interested in the theory of liveweight: if a cow is 600kg, we want her doing 600kgMS.
"Our top cows are sitting at around 1.45 times their liveweight."
Lyncrest stud farm facts
Owner: Winnie van Rossum
Sharemilkers: Dylan Lynch and Natasha Maybee
Location: Invercargill
Farm size: 84ha
Cows: 285 cows, 40 registered Holstein Friesians
Production: 600kgMS/cow
Stud name: Lyncrest
