12 | Adding a new accommodation option ‘People will be able to just chill out and enjoy nature.’ Alistair and Genna Bird are adding a new accommodation option to their 625-hectare beef and sheep farm. Kim Bowden TOURISM » The Grange - Oxford Alistair and Genna Bird’s daughters love heading into the back blocks of their farm to explore, and soon other youngsters will have the chance to do the same. The husband-and-wife farming duo are adding a new accommodation option to their 625-hectare beef and sheep farm, and families looking to get away from it all are their target market. Agritourism isn’t a new venture for the Birds – they already offer an upmarket cabin complete with outdoor bathtub under the ‘Canopy Camping’ brand on the property, as well as horse trekking. But this latest addition will be little more “rough and ready”, Alistair says. Picture a DOC hut, well located to access a tucked-away waterfall and swimming hole and walking, horse riding and mountain biking tracks. “But, of course, people will be able to book it and make sure no one else has stolen their bunk when they get there,” Alistair says. “People will be able to just chill out and enjoy nature.” Alistair estimates farming now accounts for approximately 80 percent of business revenue, while agritourism is responsible for the rest. He says the farm itself is “quite tricky”, located in the foothills behind Oxford in North Canterbury. “It ranges from 260 meters in altitude right up to 880 at the very top, so there are a lot of management decisions around altitude and weather, and the impacts of that.” The Bird’s have been running the property for a little more than a decade, and they’ve been creative with it in that time, in response to challenging market conditions. “I think you’ve just got to look at every single avenue you can to keep the lights on and make ends meet,” Alistair says. “Anything that can bring a different revenue stream than protein is beneficial to your business. We try and look at the farm as a blank canvas, asking ourselves ‘What else can we do on here, other than raising sheep and cattle, to help us progress and achieve our goals?’.” It keeps them busy, and it helps that they love a challenge, but Alistair and Genna are also smart about knowing when to bring in extra support. They plan to recruit staff to clean the growing number of cabins, and they have signed up to the Agritourism Academy – an interactive online community designed to upskill and connect farmers wanting to diversify into tourism run by Marijke Dunselman. Alistair has had something of a crash course in virtual connection, and he is now known around the world as the ‘Kiwi Farmer’. He posts videos of daily life on the farm, warts and all, to YouTube, with an average upload Ph: 021 555 853 CANTERBURY A CLEAN AND RELIABLE TEAM HENRIKSEN SHEARING Celebrating over 100 years in business attracting between 5,000 and 6,000 views in a matter of weeks. “I was quite surprised when we started,” Alistair says. “In New Zealand, you’re at the bottom of the Pacific and you can feel like you’re existing down here all by yourself, but it’s certainly not the case. “The issue we face here are pretty well the same as in any other agricultural country – the same regulations are getting pushed through, the same climate issues – so there is a real camaraderie between farmers all over the globe.”
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