| 87 nzdairy DAIRY SERVICES » Torro Contracting Verity ‘should have done it ages ago’ Kelly Deeks Verity and Lance Torrington are both happily undertaking their dream jobs in Putaruru, with her taking over their contract milking position and him seeing the opportunity to get a truck and digger and start his own business, Torro Contracting. Verity and Lance are contract milking on David McDonnell’s 57ha, 165 cow farm. Verity was in the police force before a stint as commercial transport investigator at NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and by the start of the 2023/24 season, she decided she wanted to work on the farm. “I love it,” she says. “I should have done it ages ago. I love being outdoors and being active, and achieving our goals on the farm is really rewarding. We’ve had a great result this season with the lowest Verity and Lance Torrington are both happily undertaking their dream jobs. empty rate this farm has ever had at 9.75%.” Verity’s many years in the police has given her a great eye for detail and she’s vigilant around the farm. She also has a great relationship with her AI technician Gaye McDonnell (no relation) and the two working together has been key to achieving this great result. Always supportive of his wife’s ambitions, Lance took great comfort in the fact that two extra hands on the farm meant he could divert his efforts towards his own dream. Before getting into dairy farming, Lance had worked for his uncle at Sunrise Earthmovers and then for J.Swap Forestry Construction. Although he tended towards yearning for his own truck in those days, his work on forestry roading was flagged by his peers and they convinced him should aim for a digger because he was a pretty good operator. With Verity taking care of the farm, and already in demand from his neighbours, Lance shot out and got himself a 2017 Hyundai 14 tonne digger and a 2002 Freightliner tipper truck. Wanting to offer something a bit different, he also got himself a specialised ramming head so as well as race work, drainage, and stock feed and metal cartage, he can also do retaining walls, house foundations, and install poles for bridges. Two weeks after Torro Contracting starting out was that time when the milk payout dropped twice in a fortnight. “The phone stopped ringing straight away, and the jobs we had lined up were no longer happening,” Lance says. “We were lucky enough that there was a bit of contouring, drainage, and Proudly supporting Torro Contracting 021 190 5843 | www.prattmotorcycles.co.nz | 80 Te Kumi Rd, Te Kuiti We’re built for this. 20 Kensington Street, Putaruru Tel: 07 883 8077 Novaflo work to do on our farm so we were able to get stuck in to that. Our farm owner David has been a huge support.” As the new contracting business finds its feet, Lance is also leaning on his experience as a certified welder and doing house removals for the local Willcox Building Removals. Lance is a perfectionist and he likes to do a top job. He’s easy for farmers to deal with and is knowledgeable and experienced in race work and drainage. He was told early in his dairy career that the race work and drainage always needs to be kept up, and he’s stuck to that advice. “It can’t be left until the payout improves or the economy comes right or there will be a bigger bill at the end of it. Better to do maintenance and keep your races up to scratch so your cows won’t get lame, and your drainage systems running effectively to protect your soils and crops.”
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