62 | Gearing up for a busy 25-26 season Barrett Ag is committed to servicing the needs of farmers from baling, silage, cultivation and drilling to transport services and excavation. Kim Newth Southland’s coastal country provides a spectacular backdrop to daily work for the team at Barrett Ag Ltd, a fast-growing agricultural contracting business based in Orepuki, Riverton. Kahu Barrett, who founded the business 11 years ago, left school at 15 to go shearing but always had a passion for machinery. “My father, Zane, chucked me in our old Belarus and our old digger at a very young age. From then on, he had himself a free tractor driver and I loved it. We lived in Tuatapere on a hilly and rough farm, so I spent most of my childhood clearing and developing land with my dad, which helped me gain a lot of skills. I then went shearing as my parents, Zane and Tina Barrett, owned a shearing run. After a few years shearing, me and my dad bought an old 3388 international. From there, I started doing work for neighbours. After upgrading the tractor a few years later, I officially started Barrett Ag Limited and the sandpit got bigger.” Barrett Ag is committed to servicing the needs of farmers from baling, silage, cultivation and drilling to transport services and excavation. Kahu is currently looking for experienced tractor operators to join him for the 2025-26 season, starting this September-October. “I’ve already started advertising and have filled a few roles, but there are quite a few still left to find. We try to employ people of good character with a good work ethic who do well in a team environment, especially as at the peak of the season we have around 24 staff employed.” A drawcard for experienced tractor drivers is the allure of working every day in such a beautiful part of New Zealand and driving well-maintained machines. Kahu has invested to grow his business, having recently bought another long-established Southland rural contracting business (Brendon Shearing Contracting Ltd) that offered a similar range of services. “As a result, we have gone from eight tractors a few years ago to 24. We’re currently building a big ClearSpan workshop in Orepuki too and are looking to buy a yard in Riverton. Our services are the same but we now operate at a bigger scale. Having that scale behind us means that a job that would previously have taken us a week to do can now be done in a day. Brendon Shearing himself has been invaluable to me. His knowledge in the game is at another level and he has very high work standards. I really would like to thank Brendon and Jacqui for helping us as they have played a big role in helping the changeover go so well.” Kahu has further re-organised his business by going into a 50/50 arrangement with another rural contractor (Bullet Contracting Ltd) to deliver excavation services. “I didn’t have enough work to employ a good digger driver all the time, so I needed someone else to pick that up. RURAL SERVICES » Barrett Ag Ltd He’s a very good operator and very talented in drainage and everything else he does and it means I no longer have to organise that side of it. It’s going really well.” On top of the contracting work, Kahu and his family farm around 1,000 acres, used for baleage and to run trading stock, with Kahu’s father, Zane, managing the stock side of the operation. Zane, Tina and Kahu’s partner Barbara Faccioli live in same farming area where Kahu grew up, with the couple now proudly raising the next generation - Your Local Insurance Experts Level 3, Rothbury House, 36 Kelvin Street, Invercargill 9810 Phone: 03 211 0360 Mobile: 027 431 1130 Email: gareth.jennings@rothbury.co.nz www.rothbury.co.nz Rothbury is proud to insure Barrett Ag Ltd “Supporting local businesses since 1950” Email: gareth.jennings@rothbury.co.nz • Agricultural • Vulcanizing • Cars & 4X4 • Motorcycles & ATV • Alloy and Steel Rims • Wheel Alignments • Puncture Repairs 100% SOUTHLAND OWNED AND OPERATED 159 Northland Rd, Invercargill Ph: 0800 642 624 | E: sales@alltyresltd.co.nz | www.alltyres.co.nz FOR ALL YOUR TYRE NEEDS their young children, Manakai, 4 and Ariki, 2. Meanwhile, Kahu is hoping the coming spring will be nothing like last year’s when the region was drenched with record rainfall. He says the very wet season has, in turn, flowed through to a shortage in bale count. Last spring, soggy paddocks slowed contracting work to a trickle, making it hard to operate. “It certainly put us back a few months, though we managed to get on top of it in the end.” The Barrett family and Barrett Ag team would like to also take this opportunity to thank all their valued clients and suppliers.
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