42 | Getting the balance right on Pamu farm Kelly Deeks RURAL PEOPLE » Takakuri Farm (Pamu) Daniel Lloyd and Tina Winder have found the perfect work life balance on the far north bull nishing and forestry unit Pamu Takakuri Farm, and it didn’t take them all their working lives to nd it. Daniel has lived and worked on the property near Kaeo/Whangaroa Harbour for 33 years. He started as a shepherd but in recent years, the 1652ha farm has moved away from sheep and Angus breeding and into nishing young dairy beef bulls on 400ha and forestry, with 393ha in pine, 125ha in eucalyptus, and 10ha in totara. “We’re making more money per hectare now on a smaller area of land,” Daniel says. “The sheep were costing us money. Although the lamb price has come up, the drenching, the dipping, and the shearing were all big expenses. And the workload! We’re trying to have a good work life balance on the farm so everybody has the ability to take time off when they need to.” Although Daniel always enjoyed working with cows, sheep, dogs, and horses, he recognises the farm had to change to improve not only its nancial status, but also in order for Pamu to achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025. “The bulls put out 5.2 tons of greenhouse gases per hectare, but we’re counteracting that. We’re now farming trees not bulls on the steeper ground, and everything that looks like a creek has been fenced off. We’ve got gully traps to protect our nutrient loss, and we’re taking regular water samples from our creeks. We will be ahead of the carbon neutral target by 2025, and some other Pamu farms may take advantage of our extra plantings.” The pine trees are young but eventually they will bring shade and shelter to the farm, creating a microclimate. They are being farmed to mill, and not for straight carbon credits. Natives and slow growing trees are also being planted into the mix, and this year will see a number of kahikatea planted into the wetter areas of the farm. Meanwhile, Tina is taking care of the pest control on Takakuri Farm as well as the other seven Pamu farms in Northland and private blocks, about 21,000ha all up. Since 2018 she has removed 7833 pests from Takakuri Farm alone, and has been described as a ‘one woman pest predator’. Tina started pest control of her own accord. She and Daniel even went possum hunting on their rst date! Tina has spent many years rearing pheasants and quails for release into the wild, and was starting to see chicks going missing. She started trapping and shooting possums, stoats, and cats, and now sees whole broods of her raised birds survive. Work and life on Takakuri Farm have been varied and successful. The shepherding days saw the farm achieve lambing percentages of 140%, and its Angus breeding days saw a herd calving in two cycles, with calving percentages of 94%, all early and all breeding some good Angus calves. But it’s the work life balance that has kept Daniel and Tina rmly rooted at home at Takakuri Farm. “I’ve turned down jobs because they didn’t have the work life balance we’ve got here,” Daniel says. “We’re not far from shing and hunting, we’ve got these lovely pheasants all around the house, and about 20 pet eels in the creek that we feed. Everyone is happy, we’ve got a good team of guys working here, and we’re all having a good time.” Proudly supporting Takakuri Farm FENCING | SCRUB CUTTING | WEED SPRAYING Dave Lloyd Cell: 027 273 8806 Ph: 09 405 1109 dave.dblcontractors@gmail.com Free, no obligation quote No job too big or small Proudly supporting Takakuri Farm Stock manager Dan McCready keeps a close eye on things. Daniel Lloyd (above). Daniel’s partner Tina trapping (below).
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