| 59 RURAL SERVICES » Cranleigh Haulage / BK Fencing & Excavation By farmers, for farmers Scientific approach Fencing types include wooden, aluminium, pipe and mesh. Karen Phelps Hugh de Lacy Offering farmers fertiliser recommendations based on soil analysis has become a key element in the business of Highland Nutrition of Kaitangata, Otago, which contracts to trucking company Cranleigh Haulage. Soil tests are collected from farms and then analysed by an associate company based in Victoria, Australia, which provide the of recommendations to farmers. Highland Nutrition supplements this service by testing human and animal hair for nutrient imbalances. Combined with a growing water quality awareness among farmers driven by regional councils’ water concerns, Cranleigh Haulage, working with Highland Nutrition, is expanding into the finer elements of soil science with organic products that principal Reece Johnston says are leading to declining levels of water-soluble phosphate and nitrogen use. The nutrient recommendations Reece offers his clients are designed by Peter Norward of Full Circle Nutrition in the town of Maffra, Victoria, while the nutrient imbalances in hair are analysed by Highland Nutrition. “With our ability to provide fertiliser recommendations, we’re unlocking the nutrients tied up in the soil, while our supplies of organic products address the organics-by-neglect attitudes many farmers have resorted to,” Reece says. “Farmers are starting to look seriously at alternatives to the old superphosphate and nitrogen Brent Jamieson is an ex-farmer who brings 30 years of farming experience to his company BK Fencing & Excavation. “After three decades of experience in dairy farming on our own dairy farm, we learnt our trade in real time by experiencing and solving fencing and fence maintenance requirements that our own land required,” says Brent. “Over the years we gained valuable learning opportunities in order to develop the necessary skills that now lets us perform a wide variety of hands-on services to our fencing clients.” Brent says the motivation behind starting the business three years ago was because there was a noticeable gap in the market for urban and lifestyle property owners to have their fencing completed by a specialist team that understood their needs. BK Fencing & Excavation has since grown to undertake rural, commercial and residential fencing and offer a variety of excavation services all over Southland and the Lakes District. Fencing types include wooden, aluminium and pipe and mesh. Fencing jobs for rural clients include fencing for livestock, bush blocks, waterways, stockyards and boundaries. “In my time farming I’ve completed three farm conversions and re-fenced another farm as well. I know what farmers want whether it’s time management or cost management.” Brent says he aims to provide a friendly, efficient and cost effective service. Attention to detail figures highly on every job: “I aim to do a better job than the farmers would do themselves,” he says. “I like to create value for the farmer so they think ‘it was worthwhile having that joker here’. At BK Fencing farmers can also hire our team to undertake any maintenance tasks and farming projects they need around their property. We do the jobs that aren’t getting done by farmers.” Brent has all his own equipment, which makes the job faster and means he can offer a reliable service. This includes a digger and truck, an Earth Worm with an auger for fence or building pole sheds, mix as pressure mounts from regional authorities intent on protecting rivers and streams. “We’ve combined these elements to create an expanding market for our trucking services, which are principally fertiliser cartage and spreading, backed by livestock transport.” Reece came off an Otago sheep, beef and arable farm, but on leaving school took up and completed a motorbike mechanic’s apprenticeship with a Balclutha firm, Hasler Honda, now Ewan Allan Honda. “I grew up around trucks on the farm, so when the Honda dealership changed hands I went driving for Clutha Valley Transport for six years, and followed that up with grain harvesting in Western Australia, and in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas,” he says. Back home Reece got the opportunity to be a sub-contracting driver for Peter Dynes Transport, driving milk products between Fonterra factories round the country, using a Mack Quantum truck he bought for $95,000. With another driver working for him, Reece began trading from 2011 as Cranleigh Haulage, operating the Mack on double shifts before adding a stock truck, an old Mack Ultraliner that he got for just $28,000. He quickly realised that his two-truck operation was too small to prosper, so in 2014 he bought an existing Kaitangata company, Nyhon Transport, and found himself with a fleet of seven. Working from a one-hectare yard in Kaitangata, the company has grown steadily on the back of heightened farmer interest in environment-friendly fertiliser applications, backed up by livestock transport. “My approach has been that it’s not enough just to offer farmers fertiliser-spreading and stock transport: we can attract new business by offering them science-based environmental solutions as well,” Reece says. Further expansion of the business continues to be limited only by the ongoing shortage of skilled drivers, something Reece says is still endemic in New Zealand “and all around the world.” a high-capacity post driver, which is mounted onto a 4WD tractor, and 5.5-tonne excavator. Brent says the excavator is compact so can work in limited spaces, for example, cleaning calf sheds, digging ditches for plumbing and electrical cables. This plant allows BK Fencing & Excavation can do the whole project while there for larger jobs including driveways, laying concrete, drainage, boring post holes and for sheds and building site works. He provides two service options: a complete contract build where BK Fencing & Excavation provides the materials and labour for a negotiated price or the farmer can provide the materials, and BK Fencing & Excavation provides its skills and expertise to build the project for the customer. Son Jude works for BK Fencing & Excavation casually making the business a real family affair and Brent employs additional contractors as required. “At BK Fencing & Excavation we take great pleasure in completing each and every job to a high standard and look forward to providing farmers with the right fencing solution to make it easier and more efficient to run their farm.” • General Transport - Big or small • Livestock Cartage - Inter Island & Local • Wool Cartage • Rock, Gravel, Bark & Sawdust Suppliers • Bulk Cartage • Fertiliser Cartage & Application with Proof of Placement • Otago’s only stockist of Golden Bay Dolomite Eddystone St , Kaitangata | 03 413 9735 | cranleighhaulage@xtra.co.nz bkfencing.nz brent@bkfencing.nz 0800 470 048 Experience & Efficiency – Your fencing is in good hands with us. Rural, lifestyle and urban fencing solutions along with excavation services, with a 6x4 truck and 5.5 tonne digger for fencing, driveways, and site works to Eastern Southland, Invercargill and Lakes Districts. Suppliers of Posts | Strainers | Timber Troughs | Kitset Sheds Processed Locally Brian Gore yard 032089656 Jason Milton yard 034174458 www.greatsouthern.net.nz Invercargill: 03215973
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=