116 | nzdairy Key part of a vital farming community Hugh de Lacy Whatever urban people might say or think, farmers are all intensely aware of the environmental factors influencing their businesses, according to Mike and Helen White of Whites Contracting of Opotiki in the eastern Bay of Plenty. “The media seem to be pushing the idea that farmers are ignoring the environment, but that’s entirely wrong,” Helen White says. “‘Farmers have to be aware of the environment because that’s their bread and butter and their legacy.” The Whites together run their contracting business that has been operating for more than 30 years. They’re primarily involved in making hay and silage but their services spread to solid and liquid effluent-spreading, and groundwork. They feel themselves to be part of a rural business community that’s both highly supportive and well integrated. They frequently work in collaboration with the likes of local trucking company Waiotahi Contractors, who provide trucks, Opotiki Tyres who keep their implements shod, Lowe’s Hire and Engineering, and Black Robin Contracting, to name a few. Helen White says hers and Mike’s awareness of farmers’ environmental sensitivity arises from their own focus on providing a quality service, one in which they maximise the value of the feed they cut and bale. “We’re quite happy to sit on our bums for an hour or two to ensure that a paddock’s dry enough before we work it, or to interrupt a job to give a particular paddock more time, and come back later,” she says. A recent case in point was when they finished baling two paddocks for a farmer, only to find the remaining two were too green, so they went away and did another job and returned later to complete the first one. “That way the farmer got the quality they needed to feed their cows,” Helen says. Another area in which they have sympathy for their farmer clients is the government’s Three Waters policy which, whatever opinion they or their clients might hold about it, is causing stress right throughout the farming community. Whites Contracting operates all year round, and though mostly their season starts in September and goes through to June, it can intensify to between October and May. The business has inevitably been affected by the Covid pandemic, but the main bugbear to rural contractors, difficulties in obtaining replacement machinery parts, does not affect them so badly because Mike’s a qualified tool and die maker who completed an apprenticeship in Auckland before joining his father in business. “Mike’s got a very well stocked workshop, and he can fabricate most parts if they’re unavailable in New Zealand because of shipping delays,” Helen says. RURAL SERVICES » Whites Contracting Though busy enough driving implements for Whites Contracting, Helen has lately begun to make a further contribution to the district by joining up to work for the St John’s Ambulance out of its base in Opotiki. She has just completed her First Responder course and, with that qualification, spends 10 to 12 hours a week driving the St John ambulance. “It’s a way of giving something back to the community,” she says. Webbline Agriculture is pleased to supply Whites Contracting. www.webbline.co.nz | 0800 932 254 “Mike’s got a very well stocked workshop, and he can fabricate most parts if they’re unavailable in New Zealand because of shipping delays.” For all your Grass, Silage, Maize and Hay needs 07 315 4721 | 027 283 2212 | whitescontracting@xtra.co.nz Whites Contracting make hay and silage but their services spread to solid and liquid effluent-spreading, and groundwork.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=