Business Rural Winter 2021

8 | RURAL PEOPLE » Robert & Cate Willis Stepping back from farm life offers a Robert and Cate Willis with family Luca and Isabella. The couple placed a contract milker on their Riverton property (below) and moved onto a 10-acre lifestlye block near Invercargill. Richard Loader F our years ago, fifth generation Southland farmer Robert Willis made a courageous deci- sion. Arriving home unexpectedly one day, Robert’s two young children looked at him and asked, ‘what are you doing here?’ It was that ‘oh’ moment. At the same time, one of Robert’s farm workers – an older and wiser man who had lost his farm ten years prior – offered Robert some advice. “He said you only have your kids once. All the days you spend on the farm will mean nothing in years to come when your kids have left home, and he encouraged us to look for other things.” At that particular time Robert was doing voluntary work for St John Ambulance in Riverton and had completed his Diploma in Ambulance Practice. “I realised then there was something else I en- joyed doing. So we stepped off the farm and I took a full time job working for St John Ambulance in Invercargill, with the possibility of pursuing a degree to become a paramedic.” Placing a contract milker on the farm, Robert, his wife Cate, and their two children Isabella, and Luca moved onto their newly acquired 10-acre lifestyle block on the western outskirts of Invercargill, 26 minutes away from the farm. “Over the fifteen years that Cate and I had bought and converted the family farm to dairy we had worked so hard but I didn’t realize that I’d burned myself out and you don’t know it until you step back.” For a man deeply passionate about farming, the decision to make that step away was both chal- lenging and an opportunity to re-set values placing family at the centre of his universe. “The thing about farming is that it ticks all the boxes for me. I like horticulture, I like the land, the water and the animals. I like everything you can do about manipulating the land, planting trees and I just adore the cows. I could do everything that I loved, make it a job, make it a business and do it all day. “The problem with the farm is there’s never a ten-minute job, it’s always an hour or so and you are in and out of home like a yoyo. Being a perfec- tionist robbed me of my time with my kids.” In July of this year Robert will have been with St John Invercargill for five years as an EMT (Emer- gency Medical Technician), which his Diploma enables him to do. He hasn’t pursued his degree yet because he has been enjoying his time with his family. “That was the reason we left the farm. So I haven’t wanted to give up all my time to train and lose all these valuable years with my kids. At the moment I’m watching my children who are home “Over the fifteen years that Cate and I had bought and converted the family farm to dairy we had worked so hard but I didn’t realize that I’d burned myself out and you don’t know it until you step back.” WE SERVICE ALL REGIONS OF NEW ZEALAND CALL US ON 0800 OSPFEED High Quality Stock Feed for Optimised Milk Production Proud to supply Robert & Cate Willis with their feed supplies Proud to support Robert and CateWillis on a teachers only day. We each have a pet cow and the children are busy shifting them. It’s just so nice to be part of this without all the commercial pressure.” As part of the St John’s ambulance team Robert works four days on and four days off. On the off days, two days are generally spent back on the farm, with the remaining days focused on family. The four days on are spent helping save lives. Robert says even though people can be more challenging to work with than animals, they are the most important. “I’m in a place where I get to help people in all sorts of circumstances. At the moment there’s a terrible run of mental health with suicides. Then I go out to the farm and help the staff out there, or stay with the kids. Really what more can I ask for - I am living the dream.”