42 | RURAL PEOPLE » Rangitaiki Station: James Van Bohemen Simple systems key to large station Bull calves grazing a Lucerne stand. Team brie ng: Ben Pilet (S&B stock manager), James, Scott (Deer stock manager) working through the Rangitaiki Business plan. Rosa Watson A strong and cohesive team at Rangitaiki Station near Taupo is driving its success as one of Pamu’s largest sheep and beef stations, and moving it forward into the future. The 8125-hectare station winters around 89,000 stock units, making it the largest Pamu farm in terms of livestock, and third in terms of size. It employs a team of 25 staff, with a leadership team of six including farm business manager James Van Bohemen. James himself arrived on Rangitaiki Station as a senior shepherd, progressing through the roles of head shepherd and farm operations manager before taking on his current role. He thrives on the huge diversity that the station has to offer. “(It’s) essentially three different farm systems, which means there is always something happening on farm. “We have an amazing team of people with a strong cohesive culture, which makes it encouraging to work through the day-to-day challenges.” It was a privilege to manage such a large-scale operation, and lead a talented team of people. “The never-say-die attitude and willingness to get things done is amazing, and watching some of the things our staff achieve is incredibly pleasing.” The size of the operation could be overwhelming at times but was manageable with a simpli ed approach, James says. “We are big on the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach to our system, which means we face the same challenges every farmer faces, just upsized.” A new leadership team was recently put in place, and it had been incredibly exciting watching the team grow into their roles, James says. “It has also been admirable watching our wider team bring these guys into their roles and adapting to a change in leadership. “We are big on employing the correct person, with an emphasis on t and attitude – getting buy in and engagement into the farm direction – then working with our team and putting time into personal development and growth.” Going forward, the team is working on simplifying farm systems and providing synergy between farm systems. “This had ow on effects in the KISS analogy, in uencing workload and direction, and ultimately wider team buy in,” James says. “Our leadership team can communicate and empower our wider team better because it’s a simpler system.” Rangitaiki has also expanded its linkage with the dairy industry with the purchase of dairy x progeny, taking in approximately 4500 cattle annually – a mixture of Fresian bulls, steers and heifers. This year the key focus was on “farming 101” and building a team to progress and grow the farm system. “We identi ed three key goals for this year as being an energised and resilient people team, simple and repeatable farm systems, and healthy and resilient bull beef livestock. “Creating these three key workstreams has been huge to understand direction of what we are trying to achieve with some really cool workstreams to come out as a result.” One signi cant change was the expansion of the lucerne platform by 500 hectares, focussing on the supply of high metabolisable energy (ME) feed for the dairy x progeny over the summer and autumn period. “This will have signi cant bene ts for growing out young dairy stock, a key tool to enable the success of surplus dairy origin progeny from the dairy industry, whilst also offering some climate resilience with lucerne’s ability to produce in drier climatic conditions.” It had been a massive job that grew over a number of months. “However, the engagement and excitement of the team to push this has been hugely encouraging and a huge motivating factor for the project.” Rangitaiki Station team at Aratiatia Deer Milking Farm on a farm visit – previously managed by Mason Jones, now managed by Robbie Smith – both previous employees on Rangitaiki. Proud to support James Van Bohemen of Rangitaiki Station Yamaha Sales & Service • Repairs Parts/Accessories • YMF Finance and YMI Insurance We Service/Repair all Makes & Models of Motorcycles 41 Nukuhau St, Taupo Phone: 07 378 2453 • Fax: 07 378 2451 A/H: 021 465 833 • E: sales@promoto.co.nz Blue Grass enjoys working with Rangitaiki Station - James Van Bohemen Excellence in Agriculture Brook 027 471 9765 | www.bluegrasscontracting.co.nz
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