6
October 2012
Waikato Farming Lifestyles
‘Hard work, trust, and an eye for good stock’ a life’s adventure in agriculture
On a crisp King Country night in the 1970s, when space by the fire at the pub in Waitomo was standing room only, a small telecommunications revolution was taking place in the wooden building which housed the local switchboard
JSR
Refrigeration & Air Conditioning On Call 24 hours, 7 days a week for emergency services • Commercial • Industrial • Rural • Design & Installation • Ice Makers • Cool Stores & Freezer Rooms • Sales, Service & Maintenance • Finance Available • IPQ Registered • On Farm Refrigeration • Heat Pumps & Air Conditioners • Chiller Hire •
0800 577 722 www.jsr.co.nz
148 Ellis St, Frankton, Hamilton
W
ith the help of a judiciously applied box of chocolates (and perhaps a friendly drink or two), stock agent Allan Gray had convinced the lady operator of the manual exchange to line up all the calls he needed to make in an evening, neatly inventing the speeddial system.
Allan with his family — daughters Moira and Deborah, wife Jill and son Warwick
“A good operator made all the difference between an easy night and a lot of waiting around,” says Allan, now 82 and happily retired from a lifetime of work as a stock agent. “We were on a party line, and if I tied it up for too long…”
But it was far from easy going. Without the aid of modern power machinery Allan tackled a mountain of gorse, and then came a terrible slump in wool prices, almost breaking the back of the wool industry.
Allan grew up in a farming family, weathering the hard times of the depression in the 1930s. Through diligent saving he amassed enough money to buy his own farm, settling in the King Country near Waitomo in 1966.
“I was chopping a block of scrub one day when a stock agent came up to me, and we got talking. Would I be interested in working as an agent if I wasn’t farming? That was when the seed was sown, I suppose.”
Soon after, the respected Newton King company offered Allan a job, and his career changed completely. He says that good stock agents were hard to find — a rare breed who could pick out muscle tone, bone structure, potential growth and sheer weight with their eyes alone. A legend in the industry, Doug Ancell, once told Allan that ‘the best pair of scales you have are your own two eyes’, and he put this adage into practise from day one. “I told myself — if I’m going to be in
™
Convenient Superfast Rapes Chicory
Herbs
Trench Digging at a Low
Swedes
Forage
Brassica Turnips
Cost
Terrasaw Industries Ltd Matakohe West Road, Matakohe, Northland Phone 09 431 6400, Fax 09 431 6420 Email: enquiries@terrasaw.co.nz www.terrasaw.co.nz
Kale
“Terrasaw” is a registered trademark of Terrasaw Industries
Anything… Anywhere… Anytime!
• Long and wide loads • Machinery movers • On site work • Water tank shifts • Container and shed lifts • Semi, flatdecks, trailers • Pallet Deliveries
For a FREE QUOTE phone us on 07 847 2074