66 | Welsh flavour to Te Kuiti business There’s a Welsh flavour to the culture of quality that Delwyn Jones and Hanatia Tipene bring to their Te Kuiti-based shearing business. D&H Shearing’s clients are scattered all round the central North Island. Hugh de Lacy There’s a Welsh flavour to the culture of quality that Delwyn Jones and Hanatia Tipene bring to their Te Kuiti-based shearing business, D&H Shearing Ltd: as far back as the 1970s Delwyn’s father Arwyn Jones was shearing annually in New Zealand, and King Country shearers were returning the favour by shearing for him in Wales. One of those shearers was all-time great Sir David Fagan, and in turn Delwyn and his older brother Rhys worked for Sir David on his King Country run, which, after working for it for 20 years, Delwyn and Hanatia purchased from Sir David’s nephew Neil Fagan and wife Stacie. Delwyn’s father Arwyn still shears in Norway, and Rhys has been named as manager for the Welsh shearing team to compete at the World Championships in Masterton in March. Hanatia is originally from Porangahau in Hawke’s Bay, gravitating into the shearing sheds at 13 during the school holidays, then going on to become a school-teacher – she still does relieving work. She and Delwyn met at a shearing competition in Scotland when she was working as a woolhandler there, and he was shearing out of Wales. Today D&H Shearing employs between 50 and 55 staff during the season’s peak around Christmas, shearing between 550,000 and 600,000 crossbred sheep a year. And quality shearing is the focus. “We’ve got a culture of quality shearing and woolhandling that’s evolved over the years as central to the company’s mind-set,” Hanatia says. “That’s important for the farmers who want to maximise the returns from their wool, and no less so for the meat farmers to whom the wool is just a by-product. “Our farmers grow an exceptional animal, and we make sure it looks fabulous after shearing.” Last year D&H Shearing expanded into ewe pregnancy scanning, buying an existing run off Lorrene and Les Te Kanawa. Les had shorn with Delwyn’s father Arwyn back in the day, and taught Delwyn to scan. During the season the business employs three part-timers and Delwyn full-time, scanning 200,000 sheep from Turangi/Western Bays through to National Park, including all the Waipa/Te Hape Trust stations that both Delwyn and his father shore at. D&H Shearing’s clients are scattered all round the central North Island, as far apart as Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu and Taihape. RURAL SERVICES » D&H Shearing “One of our biggest sheds is Te Pa Station, managed by Jimmy Doolan for the Atihau Trust near Raetihi in the Waimarino. “This was where Simon Goss recently broke the world nine-hour shearing record by a single sheep, with a tally of 732.” It was the same shed in which Reuben Alabaster, of the prominent Taihape shearing family, and Delwyn shore a five-stand world record in years ago. Reuben’s parents, Evelyn and Ricky Alabaster, are D&H Shearing clients for the 25,000 ewes they run near Taihape and on Mahurangi Station near Wairoa. Delwyn says the D&H Shearing culture of quality is built around team leaders who set the standards for the day-to-day operations. “It’s what sets us apart,” he says. 027 231 8088 | matt@eightmilefarms.co.nz YOUR SUPPLIER OF ROADING AGGREGATE, FARM TRACK METAL & RACE RUBBLE.
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