6 | nzdairy Migrants ‘important to our farming operation’ Richard Loader Absence makes the heart grow fonder and it took time spent working in London for Mathew MacInnes to realise that his heart belonged to the land on which he grew up. The land is 116 hectares in the Hauraki Plains that Mathew’s grandparents bought in the ’60s and his parents bought in the ‘80s, and which had been his home since a five-year-old, helping his dad on the paddocks. When Mathew returned to the farm aged 24, his dad told him to spend a year working on someone else’s farm — and do he did. He also met Natasha, who became his wife and partner. The following year he managed a smaller farm owned by his family for a couple of years, before moving onto the ‘home farm’ and progressively worked up to 50/50 sharemilking and finally the golden dream of farm ownership, milking 320 cows. Mathew’s love of farming has much to do with the constant variety of work presented on a daily basis, but he says it’s also a very solid environment to raise three daughters — Sienna 10, Ava 7 and Keira 3. “The girls love coming out on the farm on weekends and holidays and I like it because it gets them off devices. Natasha came from a sheep and beef background, and does some relief milking in the holidays, but she’s a primary school teacher, working full time. There’s a really good farming community in the Hauraki Plains — everyone looks out for each other.” Mathew says believing in the product they are producing is another big reason why he does what he does. “We think we do it more sustainably than anywhere else in the world and it’s good to be involved in something like that. So many other countries can’t produce milk, especially the way we produce it using grass. Most of the world’s milk is not produced by grass, and most Kiwis don’t understand that.” In addition to the home farm, Farm assistant Parminder Singh, Mathew and farm manager Satnam Singh. DAIRY PEOPLE » MacInnes Farm Mathew also looks after two other nearby family farms, maintaining contact once or twice a week, overseeing the general direction they are heading in, and support the staff as needed A 210 dairy cow unit is a minute down the road and has a Kiwi born farm manager. The other one is 20 minutes away and is a 460 farm, with one manager and two assistants, all migrant Indian workers. “There’s also a Filipino lady helping me on the home farm,” says Mathew. “Learning how to manage people has been important. I’ve done some staff courses in the past and worked on how to be as good as I can be. We’ve found migrant workers to be really important to our farming operation. They are keen, willing to learn and reliable. We’ve had our migrant workers for over three years now and prior to that we were struggling every year with keenness, reliability and willingness to learn by Kiwis.” Mathew thinks that part of the reason that it’s hard to find good solid Kiwi workers is because the ladder to farm ownership has changed from what it was like in the ‘80s and ‘90s. “Without family help, it’s too hard to do that now, the farm prices are too high. For that reason, many good people don’t go into the industry. It’s also harder to find 50/50 jobs.” CHARTER D ACCOUNTANT E Specialists in Farm Accounting • Cashflow Budgeting • Fonterra Shareholding Advice • Farm Sale & Purchase Advice • Equity Partnerships • GST • Livestock Valuation Options • Income Equalisation Pleased to support MacInnes Farm www.hoogeveen.co.nz | office@hoogeveen.co.nz | 07 862 9090 5055 State Highway 2, RD1, Ngatea 3597 Call 027 278 7421 - and we’ll get right on it. • Grass Stacks • Maize Harvesting • Baled Silage & Hay, Round & Square • Spraying • Ground Cultivation • Maize Planting • Under Sowing • Fert / Lime Spreading • Surface Drain Spinning • Track & Trailer - Cartage of Metal, Lime, Fertiliser, Stock, Silage, Hay & Maize TRACTI CO G Only the best equipment & always excellent workmanship
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