On Farm Story
38 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – December 10, 2018
Plant a tree, grow a community Matawai farmers Eugene and Pania King are dedicated to sustainability but it isn’t just about the environment. Luke Chivers reports.
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HEEP and beef farmers Eugene and Pania King from Kiriroa Station at Matawai are combining their passion for the land with hard work and whanau support. The couple have a longstanding connection with their family, their environment and their local community. “We both grew up in rural New Zealand and a career in agriculture was inevitable,” Pania says. “We’ve always been really passionate about the sector. There’s nothing else quite like it.” Eugene and Pania met in 1992 while shearing. Not long after they started dating they found themselves packing their bags and setting off on a world trip using shearing to fund their travels. “We were young and eager. All we wanted to do was see the world and shear sheep. And that’s exactly what we did,” Pania says. “We sheared in Europe, across the United Kingdom and in Australia. But we also travelled across Asia and North America. “I don’t think either of us expected to be travelling for 15 years,” she says. But returning home was always on the cards – and so too was the goal of owning their own farm. “We finished our shearing career in Taranaki with whanau.” It was there their passion for economic, environmental and social sustainability was formed. They farmed for 12 years with family on Mangaroa and Ruakaka Stations on the east coast of the North Island. “Initially, we were farming with our family on a block in Mangaroa and Ruakaka.
“And then we farmed in partnership with my brother a little further east of Gisborne on a bigger property, Ruakara Station, and we were there for five years,” Eugene says. Our ultimate goal was mutual – it was for each of our four families to own their own farm. “It was a lofty vision,” he says. And how long it was actually going to take was anyone’s guess but, with a lot of hard yakka, it actually moved along fairly quick. They bought Kiriroa Station at the Matawai end of the Motu Rd, inland from Gisborne, in 2013. Their whanau followed suit shorty after with nearby properties. Ruakara Station is a 501ha (357ha effective) property, which the Kings describe as a quarter flat, half rolling and a quarter steep. They keep the country well grazed with bulls, steers and sheep. Eugene enjoys farming cattle though the family background in shearing was always going to secure the existence of sheep on the property. Kiriroa Station runs several classes of sheep and beef stock and has run an average of 11 stock units a hectare for the past two years. The 2300 sheep include 1750 mixed-age ewes, 510 ewe hoggets, 80 lambs and 24 rams. Last season they killed 2750 lambs through Affco at an average weight of 18.6kg. Cattle numbers in 2018 included almost 270 – 151 mixed-aged bulls and 118 mixedage steers. The carcase weight of the two-year bulls averaged 331kg and the R2 steers averaged 334kg. The station is also home to kahikatea forest, which is electric fenced to keep cattle out and other stands of native bush
THIS IS THE LIFE: Eugene and Pania King go to work in style.
ADVENTURE: As well as living in an outdoor world Erueti, 14, and Haeora King, 15, are also learning lessons for life. Photos: Rebecca Williams
which are in QEII National Trust covenant. The couple have built a financially viable operation with production levels well above the district average while supporting larger values of whanau, conservation and biodiversity. In recent years their efforts have won three categories at the East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards, the Beef + Lamb NZ Livestock Award, CB Norwood Agri-Business Management Award
and the East Coast Farming for the Future Award. And, with the help of wise capital spending, expense control and a penchant for hard-work the Kings have upped the farm’s economic farm surplus (EFS) every year since becoming owners. But it has not always been an easy ride for the couple. When Eugene and Pania took over Kiriroa Station they saw a lot of opportunity to make their mark. “Initially, this started with us fencing and planting about two hectares of young native trees and grasses.” Seventy poplar poles were also planted along ridge lines for wind shelter on the farm and other natives were planted for shade,
BIG BOYS: The stock on Kiriroa include bulls and steers.
shelter and riparian protection, Pania says. Their efforts also included capital fertiliser applications, stock yard development and repair, subdivision and the replacement of many kilometres of fencing. In 2015, the couple had a breakthrough, establishing a weka wetland in conjunction with the Gisborne District Council and its Natural Heritage Fund. “We’re also working on a plan with the council to stabilise the banks of the Motu River and the creek that runs through the back of our farm.” The Kings are active members of the Motu River Committee, which is led by 13 local farmers whose properties boundary the river.