28 | RURAL PEOPLE » Michael Taylor Lifeguard duties welcome change from dagging Beaumaris Station, near Riversdale Beach in the Wairarapa, is a sheep and beef operation run by Michael and Phillipa Taylor since 1991. It has been in the Taylor family since 1886. Virginia Wright Performance & quality you can trust multi Award winning Since 1924 sellar.co.nz 0800 SELLAR 06 377 3199 81 Queen St Masterton Proud to be associated with Michael Taylor Beaumaris Station is a sheep and beef operation near Riversdale Beach in the Wairarapa. It’s been run by Michael and Phillipa Taylor since 1991 and has been in the Taylor family since 1886. With no-one in their family interested in taking over the farm Michael and Phillipa are looking at viable options for stepping out of the day-to-day running of the farm. “There’ve been some pretty good equity partnerships locally, but we’re looking at leasing the farm or even selling. I don’t want to be here dagging sheep for another 20 years,” says Michael wryly. In the meantime they successfully run a Coopworth-Romney ock of 1650 breeding ewes and a herd of only 26 breeding cows from an original 120, the numbers reduced due to a brief foray into raising dairy calves. The resulting 120 or so R2 and R3 bulls, will go to the works in early spring. Michael enjoys the satisfaction that comes from breeding and has in recent years moved their genetics from Simmental-Angus more towards the Angus, largely due to temperament. It’s a trend he continues when, rather than retaining their maternal progeny, he buys in-calf replacements as and when required. With the bulls gone he’s thinking about building the breeding herd numbers back up. “They do a far better job of cleaning up for the sheep than the bulls do. The bulls are a bit fussier whereas the cow just sits there with a great big lump of old tag in front of it and they eat it.” Beaumaris is 308 effective hectares from a total of 640 with 244 of those reverting to native bush and 75 converted to a variety of trees. Whether they’re for forestry or carbon sequestering remains to be seen. The regenerating native bush which used to be manuka and kanuka scrub now has the podocarp forest coming through. “I would certainly like to see some bene t accruing for that whether in the form of rates relief or something else, and some recognition by the wider community. A lot of the rhetoric seems to be that farming’s not that good and we’re increasing our carbon footprint whereas I would say, with the amount of regrowth here for example that my carbon footprint would be pretty low.” Beef and Lamb NZ has a project going whereby all New Zealand farmers should “know their number”, by the end of the year, that number being their carbon emissions number. Michael believes the amount of regenerating bush and native forest throughout New Zealand, a lot of which is in the DOC estate, must be helping the carbon balance and should be included in such calculations. Michael has been Secretary of the Wairarapa Branch of Federated Farmers for close to 20 years. The days when farmers attended meetings at one of the numerous sub-branches as a matter of course are long gone, so he’s pleased to see that membership in the Wairarapa is slowly growing. It’s perhaps not surprising given that these days farmers tend to get more involved when there are major issues. “We’re advocating on their behalf,” says Michael. “In conjunction with Beef and Lamb and other industry bodies we’re keeping a close watch on the legislation that’s rolling out whether in the environmental area or the three waters area. There’s a lot of work going on in the background at the moment,” says Michael. He sees the farming industry as needing Federated Farmers more than they ever have and encourages everyone to join. “You’ve got strength in unity so if they’d all become members then we’d have a more powerful voice.” When he’s not at a Federated Farmers meeting or out on the farm, in the summer season, Michael heads back to the local beach where he’s a lifeguard and Club Captain for the Riversdale Surf Lifesaving Club. Swapping his farm boots for bare feet makes a welcome change from the ins and outs of calf-rearing versus breeding cows, and planning for an uncertain future. “There’ve been some pretty good equity partnerships locally, but we’re looking at leasing the farm or even selling. I don’t want to be here dagging sheep for another 20 years.” KIWI LIVESTOCK PRIMESTOCK | STORESTOCK | VALUATIONS | AUCTIONEERING Ray Spencer 021 544 791 o ice@kiwilivestock.co.nz Proud to support Michael Taylor & Federated Farmers
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