| 35 A life of fulfilment on the land Richard Loader RURAL PEOPLE » Tuatahi Farming Partnership / Tuit Farm Back in the gentle times of 1956, and at the ripe old age of four, Keith Holmes made a momentous decision that led to a life of ful lment on the land and beyond. Lured by holidays on his grandparents farm, the prospect of being overfed in the farmhouse kitchen, mixing with ducks, turkeys, chooks, dogs and cows, Keith decided he wanted to be a farmer more than anything else in the world. Leaving school at sixteen, Keith was accepted into the ve year Waikato Farm Cadet scheme, which he says not only provided solid mentoring but initiated AG ITO type training. Three years into the cadetship Keith was granted leave to attend Massey University and complete a Diploma in Dairy. After completing the quali cation with Honours, Keith continued the balance of his cadetship in South Canterbury at Orari. “I was also privileged to do the Farm Cadet Travelling Scholarship to the UK. At that stage, I was not sure I could get over the nancial hurdle of getting into farm ownership. I had no money and felt very vulnerable. But once I got over to Europe and saw these intelligent young people who were likely to be life-long farm employees or tenant farmers I realized that New Zealand had something pretty special and it was a matter of hard graft and going without. I guess I found a lower gear to hard-graft it. That gave me the determination and the Farm Cadet Scheme/Federated Farmers found me a 39% Sharemilking job.” Keith says he was part of the privileged era of New Zealand farming, which assisted him to progress into 50/50 sharemilking with the support of The State Advances. “It was discounted interest - though not signi - cantly. But the support structure was there. The Rural Bank and State Advances people were genuinely trying to help young people who may not have been farmers’ sons to get into farming. They got a lot of superb people into farming that wouldn’t have got there otherwise. In 1979 Keith was able to buy 95 hectares in Tauhei, the centre of the triangle between Huntly, Morrinsville and Hamilton and the edge of the Eureka Peat dome. While the working dairy farm was in poor condition it had a beautiful mix of peats, Hamilton Clay, Waihou sandy loam and Taupo ash — beautiful soil for agriculture or horticulture. “I was lucky with the money I had to buy a bit of scale but there was a lot of hard graft to improve the farm. Over time neighbouring land was purchased, increasing the farm to 264ha.” Now supported by ve full time staff, Keith milks 825 staunchly Kiwi Cross cows, stabilised by a LIC computer programme rather than ‘eye-chronometer’, along with 25 rare Pure British White Cattle. Keith says his on-farm role now is more ‘crisis manager’ but he is kept extremely busy with a myriad of community and industry interests including Arable Chair of Waikato Federated Farmers and he is a current committee member of the Waikato Regional Council Lower Waikato Flood Zone. “I’ve been privileged — but you make your own opportunities too, and you have to be prepared to take risks. Farming communities generally become your community of friends. If there is ever any problem in the rural community, you nd rural people will rally around with no invoice for time.” “I was lucky with the money I had to buy a bit of scale but there was a lot of hard graft to improve the farm.” 1945 2021 Livestock Cartage Metal, Sand, Fertiliser Morrinsville/Matamata Ph 07 889 5179 | 0800 275 548 Email aslgeneral@xtra.co.nz 6 Jackson Contracting For all your Agricultural Requirements give JCL a call today on 07 887 6688 OUR SERVICES: - • FULL GRASS & MAIZE SILAGE SERVICES • WEIGHBRIDGE • LOADERWAGON • CROP & PASTURE SPRAYING • MOWING & RAKING • BALING & WRAPPING • TRUCK & TRAILER CARTING • GROUND CULTIVATION & DRILLING • MAIZE SIDE DRESSING & SPREADING Two crews of four have already fenced 30 plus kilometres. Now supported by ve full time staff, Keith milks 825 Kiwi Cross cows. Servicing the Waikato since 1932 Milking Machines | Water Pumps | Effluent Systems hutchies.co.nz 12 Canada Street, Morrinsville 0800 HUTCHIES 57 Great South Rd, Taupiri 0800 488 244 He estimates it will take ve or six years, at a replacement rate of 1000 to 1500 a year, to transition the whole 6000 ewe ock to being fe resistant. A further three or four years will ensure the entire ock is getting fe resistant genes from both parents not just the rams. The fe resistance is not the only attribute that comes with the new rams. “The Romani is a Coopworth so it’s a high fertility sheep and it’s increased our multiples a lot. They scan really high and we have way more lambs on the ground,” says Carlos. Another big change for the Tuatahi Farming Limited Partnership came about thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund. They were successful in their application for a grant to fence off all the waterways on the property. “The basis of the project was to employ people without jobs and to upskill them. So we took people keen to learn how to fence and do all their papers, and from something they’d never done a year ago to what they’re doing now you can certainly call them fencers, they’re doing a really good job,” says Carlos. With a combination of paperwork, training, supervision, and getting on with the job, two crews of four, between 20 and 45 years old, have already fenced the 30 plus kilometres of fencing needed at Moerangi and are 10 km’s in to the 42 needed at Mananui Station. Once the fences are done another crew will come through in winter and carry out riparian planting with axes down by the water to act as lters and other natives such as cabbage trees and toetoe higher up. “For us it’s about keeping the waterways clean. The riparian planting will set up an ecosystem around these open creeks which also helps to retain moisture and give shade when it gets really hot. The fences look really great, and by the time they’re nished they’ll be fully quali ed fencing crews ready to take on contracts. It’s a win-win for all involved,” says Carlos. “The Romani is a Coopworth so it’s a high fertility sheep and it’s increased our multiples a lot. They scan really high and we have way more lambs on the ground.”
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