| 65 Right on the edge of the Tasman Sea Seonaid, Kallum (holding Brady) Peter and Lynette, Macy, Andy and Debi, Macy and Bradley holding twins Shae and Carter. The next generation learning from herd manager Bradley. Richard Loader Andy Whitehead has farmed throughout Taranaki and the world, but reckons he and his wife Debi have found the very best place to milk cows, under the sunny side of the maunga and right beside the ocean. The couple milk 400 cows in Oaonui, a small community in the west of Taranaki. The 138-hectare farm goes right to the edge of the Tasman Sea, one of the very few in New Zealand with privately owned sand dunes protected under QE2 covenant. “Being so close to the coast is a challenge and part of that is a moving dune with the sand migrating over our boundary fence,” says Andy. A nearby 13-hectare run-off provides a home to the farm’s young stock. The couple are now in 75/25 equity partnership with the farm’s original owners and operate under a 70/30 sharemilking arrangement. “We could never have afforded to buy a 400-cow farm by ourselves. For us the equity model where we are 70% sharemilkers on a 100% cost structure has been a win-win. It lets us make the decisions but with financial incentive because we have ownership in the land. The original farm owners have been able to keep an interest in the property and gain from that equity ownership.” Now 55, Andy says farm succession features on the horizon, which means giving the next generation an opportunity. For the last seven years Andy and Debi have employed Bradley, who started off on wages and progressively moved his way up to farm manager, proving to be not just a hard worker but valued part of the family. “Bradley and his wife Rebecca have three young children, including twin boys recently born and we’ve almost become adoptive grandparents. Our next hope is that we can enable Bradley to become equity owners in the farm, somehow, and however that might look. That’s what I love about this whole concept of equity ownership within a business. It doesn’t necessarily dictate who’s in that partnership, so hopefully we can continue that legacy and pass it on to the next young farmers - because it’s just impossible by yourself. Bradley has the same passion for farming but that young enthusiasm.” Andy and Debi have two sons; Troy has a business, Kinatai Engineering, right next door while younger brother Kallum with his wife Seonaid and 9-month-old son Brady are looking at moving a house onto the farm. “So, we have two sons and an adopted one now, and as a collective you can make equity ownership work.” Still passionate about the business of farming and the environment in which he farms. Andy was recently challenged as to what the farm might look like in 500 years’ time. “The challenge to all of us is that we’re not only leaving our mark now or for the next generation but the many generations after that.” ON FARM » Andy Whitehead Kinatai Engineering is proud to support Andy & Debi Whitehead We build lasting relationships today, to build a better tomorrow. Proud to be the agri-business advisors to Andy & Debi Whitehead. With the development of a wetland area in the wings, Andy has a dream that one day he will see the return of kereru (wood pigeon) on the farm. “That’s a driver for me. Yes, we need to make money, but there’s also this dream that we’re going to leave this a better place than how we found it.”
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