| 31 ‘Our soil and our patience is being tested’ Tony and Lynda Gray run a deer, beef and sheep business on 265ha effective in the Pohangina Valley. Photo: Dave Allen Richard Loader Manawatu sheep, beef and deer farmer Tony Gray reckons there’s never been so much continuous rain in all of his forty years farming. It is almost mid-July when I catch up with Tony and he tells me it hasn’t stopped raining since the 26th of June. “Today, if I hop off the quad bike, you don’t just stand on the soil, you sink down about 100mm. It’s very wet in this region and I think that you have to have a passion for farming here, but our soil and our patience is being tested.” Tony and his wife Lynda bought their farm in the Pohangina Valley, just a few short kilometres from the Ruahine Ranges bushline – an hour north of Palmerston North – late 2003, having moved from their previous farm in Marton. The total area is 406ha, of which 265ha is effective. Three gorges run through the property and 125ha of that area is in QEII covenants. There’s also some scrub blocks that are used once a year during winter shearing. While the gorges provide an interesting dimension to the farm, Tony acknowledges that you tend to get just a little complacent about their beauty when you see them every day. He’s reminded just how beautiful they are every time he takes people down the back flats and they remark on the fantastic piece of bush. “The covenant block is a combination of mature native bush and regenerating bush. When we bought the property there was already sixty hectares in QEII. There were a number of other scrub blocks that we used for a couple of years at winter shearing, but Lynda and I agreed that we could do without those blocks and so we put them into QEII, with the help of some QEII and Horizons Regional Council funding. So that’s now regenerating manuka with a few kahikateas starting to poke their heads above the manuka.” Tony tells the story that he and Lynda bought the farm in November 2003, and took it over on the 31st of March 2004. As farmers in the lower North Island will recall, on the 14th of February that year a 100-year flood caused millions of dollars of damage in Manawatu-Wanganui. “There were multiple slips on this farm taking out fences as well as tracks, and going across the road. It was quite severe. But in the time between February 14 and 31st of March the owner had a couple of diggers and people helping out. I also spent as much time as I could helping. While the farm was not how it was when we bought it, it was of a reasonable standard. RURAL PEOPLE » Kinross Partnership At that time, there were a number of farms sold in the region and many of those buyers just walked away, forfeiting their deposits.” As Tony observes, 19 years later Cyclone Gabrielle came around at the same time of year, but by then he and Lynda had planted a lot of trees and he feels that helped considerably. “Farming has been our life, and Lynda and I enjoy it most of the time. We think of ourselves as caretakers of the land, we don’t put cattle on the heavier soils, and we have done a lot of planting to try to protect hill faces and future proof the farm from other extreme weather events which are increasing in frequency.” Manawatu Shearing We cover theManawatu, Rangitikei &Wairarapa areas Call us today! Tony or Monika Kendrick Top Service Competitive Rates 06 323 2944 027 2760963 t.kendrick@kinect.co.nz . . . Buy & Sell Grass & Maize • Mowing • Raking • Chopping Carting • Stacking & Covering of Grass, Cereal &Maize Silage Baling • Round hay and balage • Conventional hay Farm Tracks • Laneways • Dams • Drainage Driveways • Contouring Dropsiders
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