Business Rural Winter 2021

98 | Truck driving part Virginia Wright W hen Dave and Eryn Duffy were offered an opportunity to buy into Andrews Transport Limited in 2010 they decided the move south to Riversdale from Ranfurly would be a good move going forward. The Duffy’s bought in with 25%, as did their business partner Keith Johnson (generally known as Moose), who was behind the offer. The other 50% was owned by the Richardson Group, who at present are caretakers of Moose’s share with his departure to Head Office in Invercargill earlier this year. “The Richardson Group have the financial sup- port and we’ve got the skills so it’s a joint venture that works really well, pulling our two strengths together to make one business,” says Dave. “We’d never have been able to get into transport other- wise”. With a fleet of 22 six and eight wheeler 15 tonne-plus trucks, plus three two-axle “fleas to do the running around” as Dave puts it, Andrew’s Transport Ltd has a truck for whatever work comes its way, from the many farms in their service-area of northern Southland. “We’re lucky because we’ve got a really good mix of high-country right down to flats with sheep and beef, dairy support, dairy and arable,” says Dave. “What that does is spread our workload through the year so we haven’t got all our eggs in one basket. Like at the moment we’ve finished with the fat cattle and lambs to the works, and the sowing because it’s got wet but we’re starting with the herd moves so we’ve got a lot of stock to shift before a quiet period in June and July, which is good for maintenance, holidays and things like that. “Spring sowing starts again in August, then we’ve got the milk we sub-contract for Dynes, plus there’ll be a lot of ground to turn over for the dairy support people and the arable guys to plant.” They’ve got a staff of 32 to keep things running smoothly and a range of job-specific trucks for moving stock or general cartage and sowing. They spread fertilizer from Ballance or Ravensdown, and lime from Fernhill which is also owned by the Richardson Group. “We shift a lot of gear like diggers and dozers as well for Gore Machine Hire with one of our low-bed trucks. We pretty much do anything a farm might need a truck to do,” says Dave. It would be fair to say that much of Dave’s working life has involved farm machinery and rural transport. In the two years before the Duffy’s moved RURAL SERVICES » Andrews Transport: Dave & Eryn Duffy Dave and Eryn Duffy with sons Jud and Beau. to Riversdale they ran a digger business follow- ing Dave spending a couple of years underground mining at MacRae’s Flat, where he also often drove deep below the ground. “Before that I worked for Beckers Transport off and on for about 10 years when it was owned by Scobie and Kathryn Mc- Connell.” The McConnells are now Dave’s brother Richard’s parents-in-law, and Richard with his wife Rachel also run a transport business, Ranfurly Transport, based, as you might expect, in Ranfurly. “It’s in our blood you could say,” says Dave. “ Our father Bill drove for a long, long time. He was farming and then truck-driving to help with the farm - this was back in the 80’s when farming was tough. Then when they sold the farm he stayed on driving so it was in his blood from the time he was a just a young feller.” When they were youngsters themselves Dave and Richard and their older brother Mark, now a builder based in Wanaka, used to fight over who would get to drive with their father that day. Back then stock trucks carried their own ramps to set up on the side of the trucks for moving the sheep off and on. “We used to love going with him,” reminisces Dave. “It was back in the days of the tunnel stock crates, so you actually had to crawl through the stock to open the gate to the ramp to get the sheep out. He used to love taking us too because we were just wee fellers and he was bigger so we’d do the job for him. “We loved it, but nowadays you can’t do any of that. Kids aren’t allowed to get out of the trucks for a start, whereas we used to love being able to jump in and help.” Dave’s quick to point out that he’s not running Andrew’s Transport on his own. “I need to say a big thanks to my wife Eryn whose been beside me all the way through, and we couldn’t do it without our amazing staff either, and loyal clients and suppliers. It’s a real team effort. “I was a Central Otago boy through and through so to move into Southland for me was a big step, but we’ve met some amazing people here, we’ve made some really good friends down here who are clients as well which is pretty special, there’s not many places you can do that. “ And while they may not be able to help out with shifting any stock, the Duffy’s two sons Jud and Beau nevertheless love jumping into the truck with their dad, almost as much as he likes having to take the wheel to fill in any time there’s a truck short of a driver needed to get the job done. (03) 208 8110 24 hour on call service | 25 Ashton Street, Gore For all Commerical and Agricultural tyres, Car & 4WD tyres. Car and 4WD Wheel Alignments. Suppliers of all brands for all budgets. Proud to support Andrews Transport Ltd CREATING VALUE THROUGH AGRIBUSINESS INVESTMENT Establishing success with our values at the forefront of decision making, focusing on a sustainable future. Proudly supporting Andrews Transport Ltd. Located across four offices within New Zealand and Australia: Christchurch • Te Awamutu • Lumsden • Tasmania 03 248 7866 www.farmright.co.nz office@farmright.co.nz Proudly supporting Andrews Transport Phone Darren 0274 895 645 email kiwigraham@xtra.co.nz