| 87 14 person Ag, earth-moving business Lott Contractors works across sheep, beef, and dairy properties, alongside civil work. Kelly Deeks Faster machinery, bigger jobs, and a new generation coming through the cab are shaping the next chapter of a contracting business that has been part of Waiau’s rural landscape for almost 70 years. Lott Contractors has grown from a father and son operation running bulldozers into a 14 person agricultural earthmoving business with a fleet spanning eight diggers, five dozers, Volvo articulated dump trucks, loaders, and trucks. Billy Lott joined his father Dave in the business full time in 2003, after working in Western Australia. His original plan had been to head to Montana for harvest work, but Dave was getting busy back home and had bought a new dozer and transporter, so Billy came home to operate them. Dave, who died last year aged 96, remained behind the controls full-time until he was 94. He had been a bulldozer operator for decades and was recognised as the world’s oldest working bulldozer driver. The business Dave established in 1957 has continued to evolve, particularly after introducing excavators and broadening its earthmoving capability. Today, Lott Contractors works across sheep, beef, and dairy properties, alongside civil work for Hurunui District Council and Environment Canterbury, including river protection and response to increasingly challenging weather events. With commodity prices currently supporting farm spending, maintenance work that can be deferred during tighter times is coming back onto the books. Dairy lanes, tracks, drains, water tables, farm development, and cattle shed foundations are all keeping the fleet moving. “Quite often we’ll go to a job for a few days or a week, and while we’re there they’ll ask us to do all RURAL SERVICES » Lott Contracting sorts of other things as well,” Billy says. “The jobs grow like that quite often.” Lott Contractors is deeply involved in the steep hill country, particularly around Waiau, Hawarden, and Culverden, where bulldozers and giant discs are being used to break in and improve land for pasture. With flat farmland increasingly rare and expensive, farmers are looking more closely at the hill country they already own and finding ways to make it more productive. Meanwhile the strength of the current market is giving Lott Contractors room to invest, while local labour provides flexibility when workloads surge. Billy is now looking ahead to his own succession plan, with his children Henry, 13, George, 12, and Charlotte, 10, already becoming part of the Lott Contractors story. Henry and George are getting behind the controls of trucks, dozers, and diggers, while Charlotte is showing plenty of interest in the business. Billy says he can see her eventually running the whole outfit. “It’s been pretty cool watching them get into it, FARM WATER SPECIALISTS 03 4233162 office@canterburywaterservices.co.nz www.canterburywaterservices.co.nz We provide a variety of quality water services & products to farms, lifestyle blocks and residential properties. We cover the Hurunui and Waimakariri Districts Daily - Look out for the CWS trucks. Pump Sales, Service & Installations | General Farm Water Services New & Existing Dairy Shed Water Reticulation | Sales, Design & Installation of Secondary Irrigation | Lifestyle & Domestic Water Pumping Systems | General Irrigation | Water testing and filtration systems Proud to be associated with Lott Contracting 027 370 2807 lochness@amuri.net TEXEL STUD Hossack Downs Texel Stud specialises in breeding high-performance Texel sheep with a focus on structural soundness, growth muscling, and commercial profitability. Our key products and services include: • Stud Texel 2ths Rams • Stud Suftex 2th Rams • Performance-recorded genetics • Rams suited for commercial & stud flocks • On-farm ram sales & ongoing customer support • Breeding advice & ongoing customer support Committed to producing quality genetics that deliver performance, profitability, and longevity for New Zealand sheep farmers. Hamish Galletly 022 040 9708 Contact because it’s exactly the same way I learnt,” Billy says. “I was cruising around with my old man, learning the machinery and learning the business, so to see my kids doing the same thing is really special.” A second generation of operators is not the only knowledge Lott Contractors is determined to retain. Its full time mechanic is now over 65, and Billy is looking at bringing a younger person into the workshop while there is still time to pass on decades of experience. Next year, Lott Contractors will mark 70 years in business, with the latest generation already sitting in the driver’s seat and the family’s future firmly tied to the rural community it has helped build and support across North Canterbury.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=