74 | Goodin Ag growing its winter work Silage, maize harvesting and cropping keeps Goodin Ag staff busy during the summer months. Kelly Deeks RURAL SERVICES » Goodin Ag Ltd Taranaki agricultural contractor Goodin Ag is growing its winter work every year and along with that, is also levelling out the company’s revenue through the changing seasons, and providing job security for an ever-increasing number of staff members. Goodin Ag is a long-standing family business based in Rahotu, west Taranaki, started in 1980 by dairy farmers Tom and Lyn Goodin, and then purchased by their son Mark and his wife Sam in September 2014. Still very much a family business, Tom is one of the firm’s full-time drivers, as is Mark’s brother Chris and Sam’s father Robin Brown, and Sam’s mum Claire also works in the business. Since 2014, Mark has been working to keep as many staff as he can full time through the winter. “Contracting is a really hard industry, and the biggest struggle for me is working around the weather and the seasons,” he says. “It’s so hard to find work for 30 people all year round, and equally hard to find 10 to 15 new staff every spring. We have a great team of staff, and we want to be able to retain them. If you lose them, you don’t get them back.” Goodin Ag is busy enough through the summer with silage, maize harvesting, and cropping, so Mark turned his focus towards an increase in winter work. The company had purchased a local quarry in 2008, so Mark looked at ways of building this business, so permanent staff could head to the quarry after the maize harvest to process metal. Goodin Ag now supplies rocks to drainage chip and AP 40 down to super fines, 0mm to 6mm in diameter, good for tracks and cow races as they avoid the problem of larger rocks getting suck in animals’ hooves and making them lame. “One of our customers went from 20 lame cows in a season to zero lame cows after putting down our super fines on his races.” Goodin Ag doesn’t wash its fines so the clay remains and helps to bind the fines and set them hard. “It’s so hard to find work for 30 people all year round, and equally hard to find 10 to 15 new staff every spring. We have a great team of staff, and we want to be able to retain them. If you lose them, you don’t get them back.” • to page 76 Your insurance sorted 06 834 4820 | crombielockwood.co.nz likeGoodinAg Ltdkeepmoving Proud tohelpbusinesses
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