NZ Dairy Autumn 2021

| 21 nz dairy CENTURY FARM » Nigel & Yvonne Rawlings and dynamite used to break in farm Photos: Geoff Rawlings’ new 39 Chevrolet; Henry, crushing blackberry, stuck on stump. Ethel, Geoff and family; Nigel, Yvonne and family. Richard Loader E quipped with horse and dray, spade, shovel, fork, slasher and axe, Geoff Rawlings spent his first winter camped beneath a kahikatea tree on the land he had acquired east of Otorohanga in 1919. Geoff stands tall among the many hardy souls that have forged the reputation of the Kiwi farmer, forging New Zealand the country that it is. Wounded in the bloody and bitter battlefields of Passchendaele, Geoff returned to New Zealand and was among the first group of ten returned service- men to be settled on 70-acre blocks of balloted land on what became known as The Soldiers Settlement. Once clothed in dense kahikatea forest that had been cleared in 1912 the flat land was dissected by the the Mangawhero stream, requiring river crossings. Some returned soldiers took one look at the peat swamp and stumps they had drawn and were on the next train out! Using his start-up budget of £300 Geoff built a three-roomed house and cowshed on the only patch of clay in his block, before marrying his pre-war sweetheart, Bruntwood postmistress Gladys Tyler in 1920. Access to the farm via Old Te Kuiti Rd, was little better than a mud track that cut up badly in the wet and Geoff’s grandson Nigel says his grandmother’s memory of arriving at the farm was that she would have turned around and gone home — if she had been able to! Wet, low-lying land full of Kahikatea stumps a metre high held little appeal, but by 1922 a new road was built, providing access from Otewa Rd. Initially, it was a struggle to find the few cows among the kahikatea stumps, so bells were hung around their necks. Geoff and Ethel worked hard together, clearing stumps with dynamite and using Clydesdales to stockpile the timber for autumn burning. Discs, harrows and a konaki (low dray on wheels) were added to their equipment and as land was cleared, some was utilised to grow tomatoes and potatoes commercially. At weekends during summer they loaded the cart with produce from their garden to sell around the streets of Otorohanga and it was a real achievement in 1926, when the proceeds enabled them to buy a gig. The cart and gig are treasured family relics that remain on the farm and will never be sold. The gig has recently been restored to original condition. As the land was drained and dried out, stumps kept emerging and stumping was an annual autumn task for over 60 years, with the occasional stump still emerging. Peat fires were a constant issue, often self-ig- niting, and could smoulder and creep underground for weeks. “As the peat dried out during dry summers on the home farm the land sank, sometimes quite dramatically,” says Nigel. “A race could drop 6-8 feet overnight.” But from one extreme to the other; flooding was always a problem in winter. “The Mangawhero flows into the Waipa River nearby. Once the Waipa rises to the point the Mangawhero can no longer drain into it, floodwa- ters back up. Up to a quarter of the farm regularly became submerged. Parts of the farm are still vulnerable in heavy rain.” Together Geoff and Ethel built concrete water troughs using corrugated iron as framing and took pride in being able to construct one in a day. Some still exist. The family began arriving in 1929 with Harcourt followed by Graydon, Henry, Shirley, Leonard (Ni- gel’s father) and Russell. By 1930 a herd of thirty cows were hand milked by seven young lads in an eight-bail walk through shed but a short while later milking machines were installed that could be managed by two milkers. Geoff established an Ayrshire stud and won a number of trophies for his stock, establishing a reputation as an excellent stockman and natural vet. By the time Geoff died in 1961, sharemilkers had been managing the farm for years and the farm had become run down. Drains were clogged, stumps hadn’t been cleared for years and rushes invaded the pasture. Blue gums that had been planted along drain banks years earlier toppled over in high winds, shallow rooting in the wet conditions, destroying fences and races. Leonard had taken a mechanic’s apprenticeship on leaving school and on qualifying he and younger brother Russell decided to take over as 39% sharemilkers. A huge amount of restoration work needed to be done which the brothers approached with much gusto. Today, the farm is owned by Nigel and Yvonne and encompasses 130ha owned land including the original 70 acres, and another 65ha of leased land, from which 500 cows are milked. “It’s pretty special that we’re the only descend- ants from the original WW1 balloted settlers to still be actively farming along the Mangawhero, and the only people who have ever farmed that piece of land,” says Nigel. “This year I’m slowly stepping back from the farm. My son-in-law Rick, who is married to our daughter Jessica, now manages the farm and is doing a great job. www.pumpn.co.nz 40 Turongo St, Otorohanga • 07 873 8973 www.pumpin.co.nz Offices in Otorohanga, Te Awamutu & Taumarunui www.baileyingham.co.nz | info@baileyingham.co.nz Congratulations to the Rawlings family on 100 years of farming DAIRY TECH DAIRY TECH LIMITED 178 Maihiihi Rd, RD2 Otorohanga 3972 P: 07 873 0819 E: info@dairytech.co.nz www.dairytech.co.nz • ROTARY • HERRINGBONE • FERTILISER BINS • COVERED FEED PADS • FARM BRIDGES • PRECAST SILO STANDS • PRECAST EFFLUENT SUMPS • TOP DOG • WEEPING WALL SUMP • ROTARY WATER GLANDS • BUTTERFLY GATES • MAINTENANCE / REPAIR