The sun wasn’t shining on the farm of Steve and Jane Wyn-Harris yesterday. Well briefly, as the clouds momentarily parted between southerly rain squalls.
But it didn’t stop about 150 people appreciating a great farm – they were winners of the inaugural East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
I’m on a bus on the way to Gisborne – so I’ll download some photos before I lose internet coverage at Whirinaki!
A great tradition continued in Hawke’s Bay last night with the naming of another regional Farmer of the Year (to be technically correct …. the Silver Fern Farms Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year!)
Congratulations to Tom and Anna Clouston of Flemington for joining the dozens of other farmers given this honour since the competition began in 1972.
They will be hosting a field day on Thursday 5 May – I can’t tell you any more!
Also, last night, Radio NZ journalist Heugh Chappell won the Laurie Dowling Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture in Hawke’s Bay (hot on the heels of receiving a QSM in the New Year’s honours list).
At the height of the Meat and Wool Cup at the Hawke’s Bay Show (for me the early 90s, for others … a lot earlier!) it was Heugh’s tones over the airwaves at the Showgrounds.
Heugh has always been somewhat of a mentor for this little journalist, who was a 21-year-old hopeless case (no, really!) when she moved to Napier in the 90s.
Congratulations Heugh!
Posted in Family
If you wait long enough, the mail always gets through.
My daughter received a Christmas advent calendar from her Great Aunty Pam in England at the start of December last year, as happens every year. But normally my son gets one too.
It’s April and we’ve just received Lachlan’s advent calendar in the post!
Sarah’s arrived in good time prior to Christmas and we thought Lachlan’s had just succumbed to the great post office in the sky. I queried my postie at the time, but she hadn’t seen it. Then a note arrived with it “we get there in the end” she wrote. There was a sticker on the envelope saying “Royal Mail – the sender of this item applied insufficient Airmail postage so we diverted it to an alternative service. This may have caused delay.”
You think? Perhaps it was carrier pigeon.
So Lachlan opened the flaps, we had a laugh and an extra special thought for family in England. Roll on Christmas 2011!
(no, don’t roll on. I’m still coming to terms with the fact that this week is the end of Term One. Sometimes it feels like the school year has only just begun. Other days it feels like it should be Term Three!)
When walking to my car while shopping yesterday afternoon, I noticed a girl looking decidedly guilty.
She was hovering and furtively (but nonchalantly – she hoped!) looking around to see who was watching. She calmly picked up an item from a basket outside the pharmacy and walked away.
I couldn’t believe my honest little eyes. So I walked up to her and said “where do you think you’re going with that?”
“It’s for my friend,” she replied, pointing down the street.
“She hasn’t paid for it anymore than you have, you little shoplifter,” I retorted.
In hindsight, we were still close enough to the store for me to push her in there, but I had Lachlan with me, so I took it off her and said in my meanest voice “don’t steal”.
Embarrassingly, there were half a dozen people in the pharmacy when I returned the makeup to the shop assistant who had served me moments before. They couldn’t believe I had stopped someone shoplifting. What was I supposed to do? Just watch her?
And in school uniform too. Should I phone the school? What would you have done?
Posted in Crime | Tags: shoplifting, stealing, Waipawa
Congratulations to Steve and Jane Wyn-Harris – the inaugural winners of the East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
You know, I’m actually looking forward to not typing that ECBFEA phrase for a while!
There haven’t been many blogs from rivettingkatetaylor for a while because I have been busy organising the inaugural ECBFEA ( 🙂 ) dinner in Napier. The three finals judges, the judging coordinator and myself (apart from some tech people in Hamilton) were the only people who knew the award winners from last night’s show. So it’s been easier just not to talk about it.
However, there are now a number of people who now know how well I lie….
We had a great dinner at the War Memorial Conference Centre on Napier’s Marine Parade. Venison entree, beef fillet or lamb rack for mains (we are farmers after all – we should have offered a glass of milk for dessert to cover off the pastoral sectors!) Dessert was a buffet mix of fruit salad, mississippi mud cake, huge pavlovas and chocolate eclairs. It was all divine and so not good for the figure!
Steve and Jane are great people with an even greater farm. Steve took over from his father, planting, planting and more planting.., and today Marlow Hill, a dozen km from where I live, is indeed a “picture perfect” property as the judges described it. They also said Steve was a “high profile, focused and passionate farmer open to new ideas and leading from the front for environmental sustainability” and that the pair show “a real pride in sharing the property and their farming achievements with others”.
Steve and Jane won the PGG Wrightson Land & Life Award, which honours community spirit. This category focuses around the all-important people side of business. Pride and passion for the land are a key part of the judging considerations. Winners work actively within their communities and boast a very good relationship with external “advice or support” from agribusiness people. The award also encourages intergenerational thinking and planning (there are three teenage Wyn-Harris boys and yes, Steve and Jane do have a succession plan in place!)
Steve and Jane also won the Beef + Lamb NZ Livestock Award. The judges described Steve as a top-class stockman achieving impressive production, particularly with the work revolving around his Coopworth stud. (Mr Turnbull, I think of you every time I write Coopworth! You tried to tell me 25 years ago they were the best breed!)
Judge for yourself about the property. Here are a few photos.
Steve and Jane Wyn-Harris from Takapau in Central Hawke's Bay
Steve with first round judging team
This shot supplied by Steve shows how tree-clad Marlow Hill really is
So there were a few other winners last night….
Other award-winners in the 2011 East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards were:
East Coast Farming For The Future Award (sponsored by the Gisborne District Council and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council); James Hunter, Rangitoto, Porangahau , Hawke’s Bay.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients Habitat Improvement Award; James Hunter, Rangitoto, Porangahau, Hawke’s Bay.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients Nutrient Management Award; David Clark, Opou Station, Manutuke, Gisborne.
Hill Laboratories Harvest Award; David Clark, Opou Station, Manutuke, Gisborne.
Massey University Discovery Award; Brittany Thompson and Elephant Hill Estate & Winery, Te Awanga.
LIC Dairy Farm Award; Nick and Nicky Dawson, Great Glen Farms, Patoka.
A special thank you to sarah Foley at the War Memorial Conference Centre – she was professional, enthusiastic, thoughtful, creative and very, very, very helpful. She even sat down after everyone had gone to help me drink my first glass of wine for the night.
Thank you Sarah.
Posted in Rural | Tags: Ballance Farm Environment Awards, East Coast, Napier, War Memorial Conference Centre, Wyn-Harris
It worries me a wee bit when my eight-year-old son does his tightrope routine on top of the wooden fence beside our house.
He might fall off. But he doesn’t. Well, should I say he hasn’t fallen off. Do I add “yet”?
He might fall off. But he is experiencing risk with minimal consequences.
There are three kids at school who might say broken bones, in their case arms, are more than “minimal consequences”.
But to me, that’s life.
I climbed trees, jumped off sheds and walked along the top of hedges. I don’t remember falling off but I do remember crying to mum on more than one occasion.
This blog comes on the heels of an article I have just read on the NZ Herald website concerning the “tree hut” pictured below.
The article goes on… “The offending structure, two platforms built on council land near Orphanage Creek, will be torn down next week by the Nelson City Council. A tyre swing has the all-clear to stay but will be monitored and may be removed in future.
Nelson City Council parks team leader Lindsay Barber said the council was tipped off by a concerned member of the public. The hut’s platform was “a bit wobbly” and didn’t look particularly secure, he said. Barber said the council was caught between letting kids be kids and protecting the public: “We have to take a more conservative line with it.” He said “no one wants to ruin anyone’s fun”, but if a child was hurt it could come back on the organisation. “The general public are very, very unforgiving when it comes to the council. At the end of the day we’ve got to cover our tracks with it a little bit.” Barber acknowledged such a situation would not have happened 20 or 30 years ago but said “we’re in a different situation in the 21st century”.
Nelson city councillor Pete Rainey said it would be sad if a kid couldn’t have fun building a tree hut, but the council had a public safety responsibility.
But such actions were killing the nation’s adventurous spirit, said Scouts New Zealand spokesman Ed Kulik. “Kids these days are wrapped in cotton wool. They need to be able to climb trees – and fall out of them sometimes.” He said anything “remotely hazardous” required an unnecessary amount of forms and precautions.. “I’m disappointed that we can’t teach our children what is safe and that they can’t experience danger so they know how to get out of it.”
Posted in Family, Rural | Tags: breaking bones, Celia Lashlie, kids, motorbikes, NZ Herald
How true is this blog from homepaddock. We need to know our neighbours, help our neighbours, understand the needs of our neighbours and make our neighbours part of our lives – all the time, not just after a massive natural disaster.
via Homepaddock
Posted in Family
No words of wisdom from me today. I have just got home from the morning leg of “bike-to-school Tuesday” and now have to go back in the car with provisions as PTA is catering a funeral at lunchtime.
Thsi press release from Young Farmers today…. thought I’d share…. about its North Otago clubs coming together to hold a stock sale at the Waiareka Sale Yards yesterday. They made the call to local farmers and Members to donate stock and were pretty overwhelmed by the response.
“North Otago District Chairman Greig Moore was shocked at the amount of livestock donated (240 sheep and 72 cattle) and the money they managed to raise.
“I came into this thinking we’d make about $10,000 – not quite half way through it I started to think we were going to blow it out of the water.”
And blow it out of the water they did. Over $68,000 was raised with every cent to go straight to the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Fund.
Greig said that a lot of people turned out for the sale and the stock went for much higher than the usual sale price. Prime ewes sold for $184, prime lambs went for $180 and prime cattle averaged at a price of $944.77.
“One person ended up selling an angus steer for over $1300 alone.”
Greig says that thanks must be made to those that donated and bought stock and also to several trucking companies: North Otago Transport, Rural Transport, Mainland Agri Transport, Waimate Transport and Bennett Transport all donated their cartage for free.
Stock agents also gave their services for free: PGG Wrightson and Whitestone Livestock Stock Agents waived their commissions for the sale.”
Posted in Family, Rural | Tags: Christchurch earthquake, NZ Young Farmers
via Homepaddock
Posted in Family
I went to my third Dairy Industry Awards in Masterton last night – trusty camera in hand.
Awesome work by Richard and Joanna Greaves from Takapau (on the property of Larry and Jane White) who won the Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Sharemilker/Equity Partner of the Year after taking out five merit awards first including the significant (I think for the winner) the Westpac Business Performance Award.
winners - Joanna and Richard Greaves
Will add more tomorrow when I get the official press release. I should have done this earlier but I was recovering from two midnight bedtimes in a row (I’m getting old!)
Bradley and Chantelle McNaughton from Dannevirke won the Farm Manager title and Ben Smith was the top trainee – he works for last year’s national Farm Manager of the Year Monty (and Michelle) Monteith.
Bradley and Chantelle McNaughton
Ben Smith
It’s tomorrow now 🙂
Here’s the press release… (but I added the apostrophe into Hawke’s Bay – I hate it when people leave it out. That’s wrong!!!)
5 March 2011
With less than six years experience in the dairy industry, new Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa Sharemilker/Equity Farmers of the Year Richard and Joanna Greaves have created an award winning business.
The couple was one of three winners announced at the region’s Dairy Industry Awards celebration at the Copthorne Solway Park in Masterton last night.
Dannevirke farmers Bradley and Chantelle McNaughton won the Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa Farm Manager of the Year title and Takapau farm assistant Ben Smith won the Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa Dairy Trainee of the Year title.
The Greaves swapped successful professional careers to give dairy farming a go nearly six years ago, starting as farm assistants, and haven’t looked back.
“We believe our key competitive advantage is our tertiary education and the rate at which we can learn. We are able to allocate areas of management according to our strengths. Joanna’s a Chartered Accountant and focuses on the business management and I have a business management degree and look after the day-to-day farm management,” Richard Greaves says.
“We are fortunate to have the expertise of three additional investors in our business. They are extremely talented people and offer a wealth of expertise, and these skills extend the capabilities of our joint venture.”
The Greaves aim to increase their business equity to more than $3 million by 2016 and to own their own 800-cow farm. They are currently 50% sharemilking a herd of 880 cows for Larry and Jane White in Central Hawkes Bay. They won cash and prizes worth $11,790.
Carterton sharemilkers Bryce and Kylie Baron placed second, winning $4650, and young Featherston sharemilkers William and Sally Bosch were third, winning $2280 in cash and prizes.
The Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda Motorcycles NZ, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown and RD1, along with industry partner Agriculture ITO.
Dannevirke contract milkers Brad and Chantelle McNaughton won the region’s Farm Manager of the Year title and with it more than $7700 in cash and prizes.
The couple has been in the industry for 15 years, but this was the first time they had entered the awards.
“We thought it would be a good challenge to test our abilities within our business. It would make us more focused and set clearer goals of where we want to get to,” they said.
They are milking 165 cows on a 68ha farm owned by Alan Mills, which they plan to lease next season. They aim to purchase their own farm within 10 years.
Norsewood farm managers Craig and Angela Rosacker placed second in the competition, winning $3480, and Masterton contract milkers Bart and Tineke Gysbertsen were third to win $1655 in cash and prizes.
All three winners will now compete for the New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year titles and a prize pool of more than $130,000 in Queenstown on May 14.
Hawkes Bay Wairarapa Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year Richard and Joanna Greaves will host a field day on March 15, while Hawkes Bay Wairarapa Farm Manager of the Year Bradley and Chantelle McNaughton will host a field day on the Dannevirke farm they manage on March 22. Further details on the winners and field days can be found on this website.
Sharemilker/Equity Farmer Merit Awards:
- MacDougalls Best Variable Order Sharemilker – William & Sally Bosch
- DairyNZ Human Resources Award – Richard & Joanna Greaves
- Ecolab Farm Dairy Hygiene Award – Shaun & Kate Mitchell
- Federated Farmers of New Zealand Leadership Award – Richard & Joanna Greaves
- Honda Farm Safety and Health Award – Richard & Joanna Greaves
- LIC Recording and Productivity Award – Luke Haye
- Meridian Energy Farm Environment Award – Bryce & Kylie Baron
- Ravensdown Pasture Performance Award – Richard & Joanna Greaves
- Westpac Business Performance Award – Richard & Joanna Greaves
Farm Manager Merit Awards:
- DairyNZ Human Resource Management Award – Craig & Angela Rosacker
- RD1 Farm Management Award – Craig & Angela Rosacker
- Westpac Financial Planning and Management Award – Bradley & Chantelle McNaughton
For mnore information visit the Dairy Industry Awards website!
rivettingKateTaylor 