HAWKE’S BAY FARMING LIFESTYLES
driving a combine harvester, worked on a ranch run by Kiwis in Canada and on a dairy, sheep and beef farm in Scotland as well. “I learnt things in Canada that we are utilising now such as self-feed silage pits. You put electric wires up, and the stock come to the pit and eat out of it. The advantages include less feed loss, no tractor use in winter and no vehicle depreciation. “Scotland is all indoor farming, and the cattle stud side was interesting — they showed cattle as well.” Robbie is a former competitive snowboarder and has travelled to 40 countries, and has been involved in Young Farmers for three years. “I competed in the Young Farmer of the Year Competition last year and got to the finals. Entering helps you learn new things and challenges you — it broadens your knowledge and skill set. “Getting out and off the farm is vital and the club nights mean you catch up with others. It is important to have hobbies and other interests — I go snowboarding, fishing, diving and hunting and am establishing a farm discussion group to get other young farmers out socialising. My long-term goal is farm ownership, which I am in the process of at present. “I am very interested in finding ways we can tap into overseas markets with increased populations, such as Australia, with exporting fresh vegetables and diversifying off-farm such as with tourism, which we have done for 15–20 years.
August 2018
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The Hill family rear 600 bulls and 10,000 lambs annually and also invest in cropping, tourism and deer “We originally started with a bed and breakfast and progressed into glamping by our river. Being able to diversify helps keep your farming business profitable.” The family do their own cropping including grass, fodder beet, peas, barley, rape, kale, oats and lucerne. They are researching hemp and are considering shifting into small seed production. “We are looking at producing vegetable seeds as we have irrigation here and have a guaranteed water supply. We always question the status quo and try new things because we believe you need to be experimenting to improve our business. “I am also completing the Kellogg’s Leadership Course and have learnt
FOREST & WOODLOT OWNERS IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING THE HARVEST OF ANY:
to be a better leader in general in all areas of my life. The course opens you up to new networks, tools and what successful people have done, and how to use different people’s strengths and weaknesses, coaching, public speaking, critical thinking and strategy. This involves breaking down information into ‘is it critical or is it an opinion’, is it ‘neutral or balanced’ with both sides of the argument and coming up with new
ways to improve our system. I believe it is well worth young farmers spending time on the course because it will help set you up for life. “Farming is not all about money you need to have a balanced lifestyle — that is where I believe people get it wrong — the balance gets out of whack. This can affect family and friends, and we forget to enjoy life — life is short and we need to have fun along the way.”
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GRANDPAS ORIGINAL FEEDER
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