Joines future farming could have been cut short when she lost control of a chainsaw.
The Growing Future Farmers student was working on Owen “Bart” Bartlett’s and Liz Robinson’s Kāwhia Harbour 1600-hectare sheep and beef farm last October.
“The chainsaw kicked back and leaped up and bit me on the face,” Joines, 18, said. She was wearing safety gear, including a visor.
Stock manager Sam Shaw drove Joines to Kāwhia doctor John Burton for the injury to be cleaned and stitched before she went on to Waikato Hospital in Hamilton for a check-up.
“I got 16 or 17 stitches,” she said.
The accident happened on a Wednesday, and Joines took the rest of the week off as well as the following week.
“It wasn’t very long because she was bored,” Robinson said.
“I would have come back three days after it had happened, but Mum said no,” Joines said.
“I didn’t want to come down and get an infection by being in the woolshed or getting dirt or stuff like that in it,” she said.
“I’d done two chainsaw courses through Growing Future Farmers, but accidents happen,” she said.
“I think that would have been Sam’s worst phone call since I have been here.”
• Chris Gardner looks at the Growing Future Farmers programme in action on Page 5 today.
Briar
RIGHT: Briar Joines says “a chainsaw bit me on the face” and still wears the scar.
Photo: Chris Gardner
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The impact of a bad call
Tony Rowe says not concentrating for a moment on the farm can have lifelong consequences.
The former Waikato dairy farmer shared his story to help others stay safe. It was early evening, February 27, 1999, and Rowe had just finished milking on his parent’s dairy farm, just outside of Te Awamutu, and had a couple more jobs to do before heading in for the evening.
The then 25-year-old got on the tractor and drove into a paddock to start chopping with the maize harvester.
His wife Kylie would usually ride the motorbike alongside him during one of his final jobs for the day, but as she was only one week away from giving birth to their first child, she wasn’t with him that evening.
Rowe had cut about three sides of the paddock when the machine blocked. He got out of the tractor to clear the blockage, but he didn’t think to turn the machine off.
“Hindsight is a beautiful thing,” said Rowe.
“I thought I wouldn’t be near it to have to move it, but then when it wouldn’t shift, I thought I’m going to have to get back on the tractor and back it up to take the pressure off the blockage.
“As I stepped back, I tripped and fell forward. My hand went on the blockage, which must have shifted a bit, and the
machine grabbed that, and my arm together and just pulled me in up to my neck.”
Rowe was stuck like that for 25 minutes.
“It all happened so fast, but I can remember the feeling of it grabbing me and then a white-hot pain.
“It took the chain around my neck, and it took my earmuffs. I used my other arm to grab hold of the skid to try and stop the machine from pulling me in further.”
Rowe tried yelling, but no one could hear him over the sound of the machine.
“Every now and then it would grab a bit more shirt sleeve, or it would sort of try and pull me in a bit more.
“I think the adrenaline just takes over. It was just self-preservation. I was just trying to not go to sleep and hold myself to keep from going in further.
“All I wanted to do was fall asleep, but I thought if I close my eyes that would be it.”
From the house Kylie noticed cows in the maize crop and immediately knew something was wrong.
She rang Rowe’s mother who came down on the motorbike and found him trapped in the machine.
Rowe was able to talk his mother through how to turn the machine off and then she called emergency services.
Rowe was flown to hospital, and his family were told to say their goodbyes before he went into surgery as there was a chance he wouldn’t come out.
Rowe was in an induced coma for a few days following surgery. He spent a total of four and a half weeks in hospital while his body fought and overcame infections.
Rowe lost his left arm in the machine on the day of his accident. Surgeons tried to rebuild his shoulder with his stomach tissue, but it didn’t work. A skin graft was used and expanders inserted to stretch the skin over his entire wound.
“It was tough at the beginning. We had a new bub, I was inside trying to change nappies, and Kylie was out running the farm.
“Someone told me when I had the accident that it would be a couple of years before I started to feel normal, and I thought nah it won’t take that long. But, looking back on it, they were right. It took about two and a half years before I actually felt near normal.”
Rowe was back working on the farm 18 months after his accident.
With support from ACC, an engineer built some adaptations for Rowe to help him with daily tasks on the farm.
“Between us we came up with a harness I could milk with, which helped hold the cups while I milked the next cow.
“We made adjustments to cup washes in the shed, to vehicles, and to farm
machinery.”
He carried on farming for about 16 years after his accident.
“Ultimately it was my back that sort of forced me off the farm. I was shovelling maize and lifting 20-kilogram bags trying to prove I was as good with one arm as I was with two, but I was lifting things I probably shouldn’t have been.”
Rowe and his wife Kylie then took on their next challenge — a major house renovation. He has since worked for a hunting and fishing and outdoor sports stores.
Rowe said getting back to work and normal activities was instrumental in his recovery.
“It made me feel normal, having work to go to and to be back out there doing it. It was something good mentally.
“You can sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else live, because they’re going to continue living their life. But I thought bugger that, you got to get out and live. You got to carry on with life as if it didn’t happen because otherwise you will get left behind.”
“I am lucky to be alive”
Rowe very easily could have lost his life in the accident.
In fact, he almost bled to death but was saved by the way the rollers sealed his artery while he waited for help to arrive.
“It could have been a different story. I class myself as very lucky to be alive.”
Rowe said one of the hardest parts of his accident was being at home afterwards, while his wife Kylie was going out and working.
The biggest impact has probably been on Kylie, he said.
“Kylie ended up having to compensate for a lot. She missed quite a bit of the early stages with the kids because she was working on the farm instead of being with them.
“I have been lucky to have such good support around me.”
It’s been more than 25 years since Rowe’s accident. He has accepted it but said at night he still dreams he has two arms.
“It’s funny, from the get-go I knew I was down to one arm, but I had to see a psychologist as part of my recovery, and he said when I stop dreaming that I’ve got two arms I’ve accepted the loss.
“I still dream I’ve got two, and I still say things like I’m going to go and wash my hands.”
When Rowe hears about an accident on a farm now, he is reminded of his own.
“I feel for people now, you can see how things happen, you get busy, you get tired, you might make a bad judgment call.” • Farm accidents cost jumps – see story Page 8
DISHER CONTRACTING
Tony Rowe enjoys a walk at Hamilton’s Lake Rotoroa.
Bees…and now the birds
By Chris Gardner
It takes a community to raise a kiwi, and Rick and Moira Haddrell have spent a decade preparing theirs.
The couple are working with the Department of Conservation and Save the Kiwi to become the first private landowners in the region to move kiwi onto private land.
The Haddrells, who sold premium Manuka honey brand Haddrells of Cambridge to Prolife Foods in 2015 and purchased the 470-hecatre Mangatiti farm, spent five years retiring the land from sheep and beef farming and preparing it for beehives. Then another five years making it ready to receive kiwi.
application to DOC to receive Kiwi next year.
sites to get birds translocated to next season,” said Save the Kiwi operations manager Tineke Joustra.
corridor leading to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari.”
The Haddrells are hoping to receive the first of up to 250 kiwi over three or four years from Maungatautari and Lake Rotokare Scenic Reservice in Taranaki.
“When Save the Kiwi brought its team to the farm, they said it was perfect,” said Moira. “It’s summer safe.”
The farm, west of Waitomo village, receives about two and a half metres of rain per year, creating ground conditions that kiwi can get their beaks into for feeding on invertebrates, native fruit, berries, leaves
on the same page, including councillors, iwi, and neighbours.
The project started with the Haddrells putting bee hives on the farm and planting manuka with funding from Waikato Regional Council to support the bees.
“They were so happy to have the land reclaimed and stop the farm animals from pooping into the headwaters of the Waipā,” said Rick.
The Mangatiti Stream feeds into the Waipā then Waikato rivers.
through the Emissions Trading Scheme which they are reinvesting back into it.
“It’s sort of our retirement thing; we don’t work for money anymore. It’s the right thing to do. The farm is regenerating back into native bush,” Rick said.
The couple have also dealt with the incursion of introduced pests.
“In the first three years we shot 700 goats,” he said.
They have placed countless traps to rid the farm from rats and stoats and soon
“Little did we know that years of doing the
Rick and Moira Haddrell have worked hard to prepare Mangatiti for kiwi.
Photo: Chris Gardner
Liz Stolwyk
for Regional Council
Who am I?
Liz Stolwyk.
– Grounded. Bold. Connected.
• I’m an Event Manager, a Farmer, and a straight-talker who answers the phone when you call. I’m proud of my strong community networks and I stay connected so I can advocate effectively for the people I serve.
• Co-ordinator & Committee Member –Ballance Farm Environment Awards – 7 years
• Former roles with Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, National Fieldays and Waikato Rugby Union
• My husband Andrew Reymer (Chair of Te Awamutu Federated Farmers), and I are proud dairy farmers raising three nearly grown boys. (And yes, we raise three beef calves a year just to keep them fed!).
What’s important to me?
• A strong economy and healthy environment aren’t mutually exclusive – we can achieve both.
• Our large towns deserve better internal public transport options to stay connected.
• Freshwater quality matters: Lakes Te Koo Utu, Ngaroto, and Parangi need urgent action.
• Plan Change 1 – fighting for practical solutions that don’t drain millions from our farmers.
• Rates control – standing for smart, sensible spending that respects ratepayers.
Phone: 027 571 6206
“Now is not the time for inexperience... I’m ready to hit the ground running — with
Call to complete TB job
By Chris Gardner
A King Country farmer says the sector should push on with its plans to eradicate bovine tuberculosis from New Zealand.
Kāwhia Harbour sheep and beef farmer Chris Irons said the national pest management plan governance group had the choice of dawdling along or doubling down on the plan to rid New Zealand of the disease.
“If we take our foot off the throat, it will come back and bite us,” Irons said.
The group, including representatives of the Ministry for Primary Industries, DairyNZ, Beef and Lamb New Zealand, and Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ), is consulting farmers on how to finish the job of eradicating bovine TB from New Zealand.
“They are trying to get an idea if farmers want them to push on and kill TB,” Irons said.
An independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB found prioritising the remaining hot spots of TB-infected possums would achieve the goal of completely eradicating TB by 2055. Irons, Federated Farmers Operational Solutions for Primary Industries (OSPRI) delegate and North Island OSPRI chair, hoped most farmers would agree with acting swiftly.
OSPRI leads the TBfree
programme.
“People have realised, in the last five years, that we can’t get free in cattle until we get free in possums,” he said.
Group chair Dr Helen Anderson said there was more to do to protect valuable dairy, beef, and deer industries and to safeguard rural communities.
“We are so close to achieving zero infections in our livestock, with just 15 herds, or around 0.01 percent, infected in July this year,” she said.
“That’s an amazing achievement, thanks to decades of hard work and ongoing investment. But while the disease remains in possums, we will keep having outbreaks of reinfection.”
The governance group is seeking feedback on prioritising eliminating TB in the remaining hot spots of highly infected possum populations as soon as possible, using the most cost-effective tools in large ‘landscape-scale’ operations.
Dr Anderson said it was proposed to replace the current milestone of TB freedom in herds by 2026.
“We’re so close to zero, but we can’t achieve or maintain zero herd infections until we get rid of the disease reservoirs in the possum population,” she said.
“Farmers contribute to the cost of the TBfree programme through their levies and the sooner New Zealand gets rid of TB in possums
and herds, the sooner the cost to farmers can reduce.”
Funding of $60 million a year, 60 per cent from farmers and 40 per cent from the Crown, will cover the costs for the next five years.
“Beyond 2031, its currently expected there will be a shortfall, but it’s proposed to undertake a further review of long-term funding before we get to that point.
“It’s too soon to say what will be required beyond 2031.”
Beef and Lamb New Zealand chief executive Alan Thomson said: “Even if you’ve never faced TB on your farm, this plan affects the whole sector. Every farmer’s voice matters in shaping how we move forward.”
Dairy NZ chief executive Campbell Parker encouraged all farmers to have their say during the consultation.
“Whether or not you’ve been directly affected by TB, eradicating this disease is vital for the future of our entire sector.”
Deer Industry New Zealand Chief Executive Rhys Griffiths said farmer input played a crucial part in the primary sector’s future, “and here’s your chance to feed into important decisions”.
“Get informed on what the plan is proposing and make sure you have your say.”
Consultation on draft proposals for the TB Plan runs until October 12.
Chris Irons warns TB could “come back to bit us”.
‘Building wasn’t for me…’
The King Country Farmer reported last month Growing Future Farmers needed 31 more King Country and western Waikato sheep and farmers to help train students after a record number of applications. The charity already has eight experienced trainers across the region willing to mentor students but has received applications for 39 students. Nationally, the charity, which offers an employer-led career pathway, has received a record 150 student applications for 87 existing placements. Chris Gardner visited a farm in Kawhia to see how the programme was working.
By Chris Gardner
Briar Joines gave up a career in her extended family’s building company to go farming.
“I started building in December, and by February I was farming,” Joines said.
Joines grew up in Bombay, on the southern edge of the Auckland region, where she was home schooled.
She missed the application process for 2024’s Growing Future Farmers intake but was accepted two weeks into the programme when another student dropped out.
“Building wasn’t for me,” she said.
Owen Bartlett and Liz Robinson welcomed Joines onto their hill country sheep and beef farm at Kāwhia Harbour after their neighbours, Chris Irons and Debra Hastie, urged them to become
Growing Future Farmers trainers.
“We were all just talking about it down the way,” Robinson said.
“I was interested, but I had to wait to see if stock manager Sam Shaw was because I need him as a backup as I can’t do it all by myself.”
Irons and Robinson are two of eight experiences Growing Future Farmers trainers in the King Country and western Waikato region.
Robinson grew up in Port Waikato before working as a nurse in Auckland and shearing contractor in Taupō. She and Bartlett moved to Kāwhia Harbour about 32 years ago when they began rearing calves before changing to sheep and beef farming.
Shaw, who grew up in the area and returned from the Wairarapa about five years ago, welcomed the opportunity, relishing the
prospect of help on the farm.
“We used to get pretty stretched,” he said.
The farm supports 10,000 sheep and beef cattle which Shaw, Robinson, and now Joines manage between them.
Bartlett is on light duties following surgery.
Joines works four days a week on the farm with one day of study as part of the scheme and is offered additional work on a casual basis.
“I quite often get half a day off on Friday because I’ve got a one o’clock Zoom meeting,” she said.
She lives with Irons’ and Hastie’s student on their nearby farm.
“I’ll head home and do that and then I’ve got an afternoon to do bookwork, written work or whatever I need to do.”
“I think it’s worth my while,” she said.
Continued next page
Growing Future Farmers student Briar Joines.
“I’ve got a great farm here. And plenty of extra hours. I love it. Yeah. It’s been better than what I thought it was going to be.”
Joines’ highlight is learning to shear and passing on those skills overseas.
“I’d never held a hand piece before,” she said. “I really enjoy shearing. One of my highlights would be getting 100 in eight hours.”
She’s such a dab hand that she taught shearing in Mongolia for a month in the winter.
“They have three million sheep, all sheared by scissors – big scissors!”
Shaw’s highlight is teaching Joines and her fellow student to hunt - and they shot a deer.
“There’s always a bit of a tradition when you shoot your first animal, you have to eat part of the liver,” he said.
Robinson has enjoyed having Joines on the farm and watching her grow her
skills.
“She’s just easy to work with. So punctual it’s not even funny. I think only one morning she’s been late, and she’d had a set a triplets on the driveway and couldn’t get through.”
Bartlett said much the same. “Briar is willing to learn and be happy.”
Joines earned an NZQA Level 2 Agriculture last year, working four days a week on the farm and studying one day a week, and will complete Level 3 in November.
She started on $150 a week and it will rise to $280 by the end of the course.
“I don’t go out a lot, I don’t buy a lot of alcohol,” she said.
Her perfect job?
“It’s pretty hard to describe what my perfect job would be as I don’t really know myself,” she said. “I would just say: big country dogs, horses and a great team of people to work with.”
A view of Kawhia Harbour from Owen Bartlett and Liz Robinson’s sheep and beef farm
Owen Bartlett, left, and his partner Liz Robinson, with stock manager Sam Shaw, far right, welcomed Briar Joines onto their sheep and beef farm. Photo: Chris Gardner
Farmer accidents cost rise
Waikato farmers received $20.7 million for 4141 Accident Compensation Corporation claims in 2024.
Numbers of accidents reported to ACC have remained consistent over the last five years but the cost has risen to $14.2 million.
Waikato farmers were responsible for around a sixth of the country’s $120 million worth of farming claims, and more than 6000 of the 23,000 occurring during the spring.
“Exhaustion, lack of sleep, the stresses of farming, isolation from friends and family, and being unable to take a break all add to the risks that a farmer or farm worker will have an accident,” said ACC workplace injury prevention manager Paula Wood.
“This is something we want farmers and farm workers to keep in mind, as they go through the busy spring calving season this year.”
Agriculture is among the top five industries for ACC injury
claims alongside Manufacturing, Construction, Forestry and Fishing. These industries accounted for 38 percent of all workplace injuries in 2024.
One way to prevent injury is to simply stop and think, Wood said.
“Most injuries, in the first instance, are avoidable.
“When you’re tired and rundown it effects your decision-making, so take a break when you need it so you can go home safe at the end of every workday.”
New Zealand has some of the best farmers in the world, but we also have higher rates of workplace fatalities and injuries in agriculture, Wood said.
“Injuries can have a big impact on the individual, their whānau and friends, their community, and their workmates.
“We’re focused on reducing harm, injuries and fatalities and on driving positive, long-term change.
“Our partnerships are key to
supporting this - we partner with Safer Farms and our $11 million investment into the Farm Without Harm programme, as well as Farm Strong, a wellbeing programme which encourages farmers to farm well by living well.
“There’s always going to be inherent risks in an industry that involves operating heavy machinery and handling livestock, but by working with our partners and farmers on how they can implement practical safety practices on their farm, we can help to mitigate those risks.”
Farmstrong shares practical tips from farmers for farmers so they can perform at their best, says Farmstrong programme director Gerrard Vaughan.
“Tips that keep you focused and calm, habits that help you to look after the most important asset in any business, which is the people that work in it,” says Vaughan. There’s a strong connection
between your wellbeing and your risk of accident and injury, Vaughan said.
“It’s important to look after your mind and body, so you can bring you’re A-game every day to the work you do on the farm.”
Over 10 years, Farmstrong has built up a collection of practical tools to help farmers improve their wellbeing. This includes a new ‘toolbox’ of mental fitness skills for farmers to maintain a clear headspace and perform under pressure.
“We encourage farmers to check these out, find out what works for you, and lock it in.”
Warnings renewed as velvetleaf looms
One of the world’s most invasive pest plants is expected to emerge soon – on as many as 61 Waikato farms.
Velvetleaf was detected in New Zealand in the early 2000s and is spread by machinery or a contaminated crop such as maize.
Overseas it has caused an up to 70 per cent reduction in crop yields by outcompeting crops for nutrients, space and water.
North Island Velvetleaf Coordinator Sally Linton, who is employed on behalf of the North Island regional councils, Auckland Council and the Foundation for Arable Research, said the discovery of velvetleaf on a property can significantly impact farming businesses as cropping is difficult and more costly.
Velvetleaf can be extremely difficult to eradicate. As the plant matures, it develops a woody stem that resists many herbicides and standard weed control methods.
Each plant can produce up to 33,000 seeds which can lie dormant in the soil for up to 50 years. These seeds can germinate when the soil is disturbed, such as during cultivation, creating long-term challenges for agricultural land.
Linton says an enormous amount of work has gone into controlling velvetleaf by
regional councils since it was discovered.
“A big focus is the tracing of machinery and crop movement, so we can establish and mitigate the source of spread.
“The issue is farmers who buy maize, often sight unseen, and contractors who harvest crops often work multiple properties across large areas.”
Velvetleaf is found on 105 properties in nine regions of the North Island: 61 in the Waikato, 21 in Auckland, 15 in Horizons, three in Hawke’s Bay, two in Wellington, and one each in Northland, Taranaki, Gisborne and Bay of Plenty.
“To be honest, no farmer that crops is free from risk – and that is the message we need to get out. Biosecurity starts at the gate. It’ll save you a lot of headaches.
“So, while there are rules to prevent its spread from properties, we also do everything we can to support landowners who are affected.”
Landowners are responsible for destroying velvetleaf, which is an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act, and all machinery leaving an infested property must be cleaned.
Velvetleaf is an annual broad-leaved herb that grows between one and 2.5 metres tall. Seedlings are vigorous and the plant grows rapidly in the first few months after germination.
It has buttery-yellow flowers, about three centimetres across, from spring through to autumn. Leaves are large, heart-shaped and are velvety to the touch.
Suspected sightings of velvetleaf should be reported to Waikato Regional Council.
Paula Wood
Gerard Vaughan
Velvetleaf can cause enormous problems on farms.
A prognosis for Doocey
By Jon Rawlinson
Continuity of care and succession planning will be on the agenda when associate health minister Matt Doocey comes to Te Kūiti during the Rural Health Roadshow.
Part of a nationwide tour, the September 24 event is intended to help the government formulate its rural health strategy. The result should be policy that ensures country doctors – and country patients, by extension – are not a dying breed.
While he doesn’t have a bone to pick with the minister, Kāwhia’s Dr John Burton said he is passionate about rural medicine and hopeful Doocey will listen to medical professionals on the ground.
“It’s great that Mr Doocey is visiting rural areas to get a feel for rural health issues, so our response shouldn’t be to hit him on the head,” said Burton.
“But it saddens me that primary care is being eroded by workforce shortages that were foreseen 20 years ago and yet governments have not been prepared to act on them. We now have areas where there is no afterhours cover and patients are having to wait weeks to see their GP.”
Early diagnosis permits early treatment, which can make all the difference between life and death.
“When a rural practice is operating well, most problems can be dealt with close to home and there is less demand on emergency departments. More severe problems are picked up earlier, when they are easier to treat, and often with better outcomes,” he said.
Working in a country practice can require staff go above and beyond. One of the key
differences between rural and urban general practice is the depth of the relationships within the community, Burton said.
“There is no closing the door at 5pm. I’m always on call when I’m in Kāwhia and I’ve been involved in most people’s medical emergencies over the last 33 years. This fosters a special relationship within the community. Working here is more than a job for all of us – we rejoice when good things happen and grieve when people are hurt.”
Access to primary healthcare tends to be more difficult in rural areas, often due to greater travel times.
“Our availability is very important for patients. We are a long way from anywhere, especially in the middle of the night,” said Burton.
“Continuity of care is crucial for primary health care everywhere, but there are greater risks in a small community where we have to rely on fewer providers. If one of us moves away or retires, it is much harder than in urban areas to find someone to take up the reins.”
Improved forethought is needed to replace medical staff in rural regions.
“We need more people who have the skills and desire to work in rural areas, and those already working rurally need time to mentor trainees. But this gets harder as numbers decrease due to retirement. A succession plan is not always easy.”
The New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine is set to open in 2028. Specialising in rural medicine, it is expected to support regional practices.
“A medical school with a special focus on rural areas should have been opened years ago,” Burton said. “Students will be
GRASS HARVESTING
Big ride in Don’s memory
By Jon Rawlinson
Thanks to some good mates, Don Sagar will be represented by action as well as by name during the Distance Riding NZ Don Sagar Memorial Cup next month.
Coromandel’s Aaron Parker will be riding one of Don’s horses as he attempts to defend his 80km Senior Enduro class title.
Teresa Birkett from Distance Riding NZ (DRNZ) said Don, a longstanding endurance rider, would be pleased to see his legacy carried on exactly four years after his death.
“Don did quite a bit of distance riding –he loved his horses and the Waimiha area,” she said. “Aaron had only just started riding when Don died, but he bought two of his horses and, last year, he won. I’m sure Aaron will be here with bells on again this year.”
Aaron’s partner, Angela Makara, will also be riding one of Don’s former mounts at the October 25-26 event. With approximately 100 others also along for the ride, Aaron will
be no lone ranger.
The trail, which begins and ends at the Waimiha Sports Club, covers some ideal riding country, said Birkett.
“I think we’ll have about the same number of people again – it’s quite a popular event. It’s all beef country, which is perfect at this time of year because sheep farmers have been lambing and then docking, so we can’t ride on lambing blocks.
The Don Sagar Memorial features courses ranging from 7–80kms and it is open to serious competitors and riders looking to take in the King Country scenery at a more leisurely pace.
“It’s beautiful, rolling country, including some good flat land, and it’s not too hard underfoot, which is better for the horses,” Birkett said.
While the time in which courses are tackled matters, the welfare of horses is a fundamental element of the sport.
Essentially, distance riding includes two
classes – RTT (Ride the Trail) and Enduro (endurance riding). RTT isn’t as competitive and usually covers shorter trails than enduro events.
In endurance events, riders attempt to complete courses in a set time – penalties are applied for finishing under or over the time limit. Horses’ heart rates, measured before and after the courses, indicate how much strain the animal has been under. Penalties are then issued accordingly.
Recognising warning signs that a horse is being pushed too hard makes all the difference in competition, Birkett said.
“You have to learn how to become one with your horse and understand when it’s tired or thirsty, for example. You also have to make sure it is well prepared and well fed with the electrolytes it will need beforehand – just as any serious athlete should. All these things add up at the end of the day.”
Success is down to the right balance of horse and rider.
“Even if you don’t have an excellent horse, you can still go okay if you’re a skilled rider, but even with the best, fittest horse, you have to be able to ride well enough to get through the courses.”
Horses of many colours are involved in the sport, but Arabians are particularly well suited.
“There are some crossbreeds, such as an Anglo, which is like a thoroughbred and Arab cross, but in endurance events it’s mainly Arabians because they are better able to run longer distances.”
Distance riding is a passion shared by Teresa Birkett’s family, including her husband, Peter, and their teenage daughters, Rebecca, Grace and Sarah.
“Peter and I have a farm in Ōtunui (near Taumarunui),” she said. “We have sheep and cattle… and horses, of course.”
DRNZ is running numerous events nationwide this summer, including another King Country ride, centred around Piopio on January 3–4.
DRNZ riders on track. Rachel Ellis (344) on Chase and Sarah Hepper (345) on Tiramea Abba.
Photo Maureen Davis
Grower entries open
Entries have opened for the 2026 Young Māori Grower Award and Ahuwhenua Trophy competition
The competitions present opportunities for growers to showcase their success and talents, said Nukuhia Hadfield, Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee chair.
“The judging process for the senior Ahuwhenua Trophy competition gives entrants excellent insights into their businesses’ operations,” she said.
“As someone who has been through this process, it has helped us to make positive adjustments on our farm. It has also provided invaluable networking opportunities.”
Entries were opened by Te Tumu Paeroa Māori trustee Dr Charlotte Severne (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe), at a recent Horticulture New Zealand conference.
The Ahuwhenua Trophy is awarded for excellence in Māori horticulture and the Young Māori Grower Award celebrates rising stars in horticulture.
The Young Māori Grower Award has encouraged an incredible alumni of young leaders, while supporting an innovative and successful Māori agribusiness sector, Hadfield said.
Earlier this year, Te Kūiti’s Grace Watson reached the finals of the
Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award – an equivalent for agriculture won by Northland’s Coby Warmington.
“It’s a privilege to have been named a finalist,” Grace told The News at the time. “I’m looking forward to
the learnings and connections I form through the opportunity.”
The winners of the Young Māori Grower Award and Ahuwhenua Trophy will be announced in Whangārei on June 5.
Twin role announced for Jordan
Game Animal Council chief executive Corina Jordan will be seconded to also serve as chief executive of New Zealand Fish and Game.
She will be supported by Richie Cosgrove in the newly created role of chief operating officer.
Jordan was chief executive of Fish and Game from 2022 to 2025 and led significant change in modernising the organisation.
The arrangement will see costs shared between the two statutory bodies.
Jordan said the move was a practical step.
“Hunting and fishing bring both economic and societal benefits to the New Zealand community,” she said.
“The value of which can be measured in more than dollar terms, including improved mental health and physical wellbeing, a sense of community, conservation benefits, and attracting the next generation of hunters and anglers to continue our outdoor traditions that Kiwis value so much.”
Resolving Small Business Disputes
It’s natural when running a business to think in broad terms about business performance, and put smaller issues to one side. In our experience, unresolved legal issues or disputes (whether with creditors, suppliers, business partners, landlords/ tenants, employees) can sap time and energy. When a potential dispute is looming, forward planning is critical to managing your precious resources, to ensure that your attention is not taken away from what you really prefer to be doing for too long.
We have special expertise in alternative dispute resolution and helping to manage relationships to avoid disputes to start with. For our clients, our focus is on pointing everyone in the direction of resolving disputes, so that you can get back to running your business.
Often agreements (like employment relationships, shareholder agreements, or business partnerships) require you to follow a dispute resolution process, like mediation or arbitration. Processes not only improve your chances of resolving a costly dispute, following the right process is often critical to you accessing your rights under a contract. Arbitration and mediation, for the right circumstances, can be a good direction to head, to avoid protracted litigation or court claims.
The key is to call your lawyers early for advice and assistance. We can help with identifying the issues, nipping future problems in the bud, stepping you through the process, and tailoring options that best suit your needs and your life, so you can put disruptive disputes behind you, and get on with what you do best.
Jadin Hooper
The 2025 Young Māori Farmer finalist, Te Kūiti’s Grace Watson. Photo John Cowpland.
