82 | The best solution to suit each situation Armed with expensive equipment, safety gear and knowledge, Mike is up to the job. Tracey Edwardes RURAL SERVICES » M&M Ag Services Mike and Maree Burrell braved a mid-life career move to tame the rampant weeds of Otago. M&M Ag Services, in its third year of business, has the professional equipment and knowledge for safe weed eradication. The couple live in North Taieri. While Mike can travel all over Otago, Maree has a full time job but does help out on occasion with gorse and broom jobs and does the accounts. “We pick the best solution to suit each situation from a large variety of chemical options, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. Agri spray are always available for the right advice. It can get expensive if you get wrong.” Mike, who turns 50 next year, had the life skills and background to start his venture. He grew up near Mosgiel, and Maree came from a West Otago sheep and beef farm. “The new business venture came after two years working for the neighbours with their spraying business. They gave us the opportunity to go out on our own after selling us two of their trucks. And M&M Ag Services was started. Before that I made bench tops for over 20 years, with a few years dairy farming and tractor contracting. Now the kids have left home, there’s the freedom to get out and travel the countryside. Armed with expensive equipment and safety gear, Mike tackles the terrible two - gorse and broom - with a hose and gun for spot spraying, and the boom truck for spraying entire paddocks for cropping and pest control and also eradicates those invasive thistles. “Gorse is hard to get rid of. If uncontrolled for over a year it can double in size and keep spreading. Keeping on top of it saves money long term. Broom and Gorse are as bad as each other, lots of little broom and gorse shoots grow underneath tussock and are hard to spot. “For rugged terrain the Gorse spray truck has two guns with a 200m hose for spraying into steep gullies. It keeps you fit walking up and down those hills!” Possum trapping, pig hunting, selling firewood and fixing and maintaining stock fences for lifestyle blocks and farms, keeps Mike busy over winter, and bad weather. “I aim to develop a nice wee business with repeat and new clients. I never turn a new job down, and jobs can be booked a week out. The largest job has been 90ha, and the smallest two hectares. We have a smaller unit for lifestyle blocks and a bigger boom spray truck was built by Gilchrist Brothers in Swannanoa, with the latest technology. His mantra is “You never want to waste a good day.” “Take those days while you can. I only spray if it’s safe, so if windy or wet on one job, I can get another job done elsewhere and leave it for a good day.” And there’s always chores back at their 5-acre lifestyle block raising lambs and dairy / beef cross calves. They also look after a 150-acre “I aim to develop a nice wee business with repeat and new clients. I never turn a new job down, and jobs can be booked a week out.” The Team at Agrispray are proudly supporting M&M Ag Services. Agrispray advises on and supplies a full range of farm inputs. Local for locals. Gilchrist Brothers Ltd Proudly supporting M&M Ag Services block, running sheep and beef. Mike enjoys catching up with clients, making sure they’re happy. “It’s good meeting new people, listening to what they’re up to. I learn something new on every job - and there’s a lot to learn.”
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