Shear hard work

SPEED SHEARS: Kevin and Donna Williams(pictured) felt it was time the Roseland Tavern speed shears came back and they have set up an exciting night's competition next Friday in the tavern's beer garden. It will undoubtedly draw a big crowd and the gun shearers who will be after the $3500 in total prizemoney. File picture

KEVIN Williams wasn’t very happy with his wife Donna when she entered the Westpac Business Excellence Awards.

“He doesn’t like the limelight,” says Donna, his partner in the K.Williams Shearing partnership which ended up winning the Maori Business Excellence Award, much to Kevin’s horror.

“Kevin would rather put on his gumboots and go to the shed than get dressed up, go on stage and talk about our business,” says Donna.

Luckily for Kevin, his human-dynamo wife is a brilliant front- woman who entertained the crowd at the awards night with a highly-amusing and informative presentation about their nine-year-old business.

Donna says she was astonished they won the award.

“I was so proud, I was on Cloud 9. Kevin, on the other hand, wanted to hide. It was the first time we had stepped back and looked at our business from the outside. It was a lot of work but very worthwhile.

“Mind you, we owe a lot to our accountants Debbie Blakeman and Clare Brooks who encouraged and supported us all the way.”

Kevin was born and raised on the East Coast, and Donna was eight when her family moved from Waingake to Tolaga Bay.

Donna worked for 19 years at Work and Income before resigning two years ago to work full-time for their shearing business, taking a strong educational and pastoral approach to the job.

“We are not your average shearing contractors,” says Donna.

“We take a holistic approach to our staff. My belief is if you don’t help your staff sort out their problems, they will not be happy and will not work as well as they could.”

With this in mind, Donna organises seminars and workshops to upskill, care for and resolve problems facing their 46-strong workforce.

“Two years ago, we were approached by Turanga Health who offered to bring their health and nutrition services to us.

“Since then, a nutritionist has been out to the shearing shed to cook lunch for us with a focus on healthy kai. Then they sent a busload of nurses to do health checks on our workers.

“One shearer, who hadn’t been near a doctor for 30 years, had a significant medical issue that needed to be attended to. The nurses tracked down his records, identified his problem and referred him to a GP.

“Recently, the nurses came to our house at 6pm to give all our team their flu shots. Our house is the base for all our activities. We have a ‘do drop-in’ shed where we hold seminars, workshops, drinks, meetings and presentations from various agencies.

“I got the IRD in one night to talk about the changes to child support. It was our busy season so only one of our guys turned up — but it was very worthwhile because he was grappling with some big issues and the IRD staff member was able to help and advise him,” says Donna.

“Gisborne Budgeting Services staff also came to talk to our crew. They explained about GloBug, a gadget with coloured lights which tells you how much power you have left. It allows you to pay for electricity as you go so you can manage what you spend and keep on top of payments.

“The adviser talked in real terms: ‘You either buy that box of beer and have no power tomorrow or go without the beer and spend the money on power.’

“It made sense to our young boys who are flatting and having trouble budgeting wisely,” she says.

“I hated maths as a kid — Mary had 10 apples and she gave four to John and all that stuff . . . but when you are sitting on a wool bale talking to these young ones about how many sheep they’ve shorn that day and how much money that equates to, all of a sudden maths becomes exciting.”

During the quiet season, Donna ran a full day of seminars and workshops at their house with representatives from IRD, WINZ, Budgeting Services, Carrfields Primary Wool (formerly Elders) and PGG Wrightson.

“Wool consultant Ross Buscke from Carrfields runs regular workshops to educate our staff on what the woolstores are looking for and wool in general.

“The woolhandler’s job is ‘to remove to improve’ the farmer’s clip so he gets the best possible price.

“We can ring our woolmen at home and ask their advice. It’s great to have their expertise at our fingertips,” she says.

Next on Donna’s schedule is organising first aid and driver training courses so more members of the crew can drive the vans.

As part of their holistic approach to staff wellbeing, Kevin and Donna also provide accommodation for their team.

“We recently bought a four-bedroom house behind our own house and we are setting up quarters for those who work for us and have nowhere to live. The double garage is now a kitchen-dining room and we’ve converted a shipping container into three bedrooms.”

The business has come a long way in the past nine years. Having worked as a shearer and shepherd since the age of 15, Kevin took over a shearing run that belonged to Butch Pardoe from Manutuke in 2007.

“When Butch offered us the run, we had no money and no idea about how to manage a business so we went to the bank to get a loan to buy a van and some cooking gear.

“The bank wouldn’t give us a loan for the van but they did give us an overdraft so we could pay the shearers.”

Donna worked out a deal with Butch to pay off the van over time.

“So we started up with a gang of 15 including a cook, one van and a tucker trailer for camp-outs.

“Our run consisted of the 12-15 sheds Butch previously had on his books. I remember we looked at each other and said ‘Do you think we can do this?’

“But I had faith in my Kevin — he’s a damn good shearer. His motto is: when you shear a sheep, you shear it all the way to the hoof. He doesn’t tolerate shearers who stop at the knee so the sheep leave the shed looking like they’ve got woolly leg warmers on.

“Kevin’s job is to make sure the sheep are in the best clean condition possible. If a sheep comes out looking pink, that’s a clean sheep — that’s what Kevin is looking for. A quality job is more important to him than the numbers. He thinks a well-shorn sheep is a thing of beauty,” says Donna.

“Having been a head shepherd, Kevin has a good understanding of the work and effort involved in getting the sheep to the point of shearing. He has huge respect for farmers and the job they do, so to have someone come in and shear the sheep roughly is completely unacceptable to him.”

The business now looks after 39 sheds, employs a staff of around 46 at the height of the busy season, and owns four vans, a station wagon and a huge tucker trailer.

“During the last main shear season from October to March, we employed 16-18 shearers, the same number of woolhandlers, six pressmen and two cooks.

“Most sheds are six-stand operations, some have eight and a few have three or four. Generally speaking, one crew stays at quarters on the farm and two crews travel daily.”

The gang has a wide age range from 17 years to 60ish although their eldest member at present is about 50.

“We have a bunch of new ones at the moment — one of them we took off the couch, literally.

“Kevin went to pick up a shearer for work and there was another guy lying there on the couch. We were down a worker so Kevin said to him: ‘What are you doing?’ to which he replied ‘Nothing,’ so Kevin told him to get in the van, and he did.

“He’s a great worker, a really happy chap, and a permanent member of the crew now.”

During the school holidays, they also take 16 to 17-year-old high school students and teach them to work in the sheds.

“It’s supposed to be work experience but we pay them because it’s hard work in a shearing shed.”

They have an Aussie lad working for them at present and last season employed two French girls as woolhandlers.

“The girls were good value. They came for three months and ended up working for us for nine months.”

Kevin doesn’t shear anymore.

“He’s too damn busy,” says Donna.

“He loved his shearing and misses it, but these days he’s got his hands full looking after the farmers and making sure our gang does a good job. He’s incredibly passionate about the shearing industry which certainly does not go without its hiccups at times.”

Donna sees her role as a motherly one — she gets called “Mother Hubbard” or “Aunty”.

“Some say I do too much for our crew but I see the benefits of looking after them and keeping them happy. Pay them well, feed them well and they work well.

“I’m not their mum or banker . . . but I may as well be sometimes. I boot their bums . . . and give them a big hug.”

She describes herself as “very bossy but very caring”.

“I’m a touchy-feely type who likes to hug and kiss everyone I meet . . . including the farmers, something that Kevin can’t quite get his head around.”

One of Donna’s many jobs is to keep track of what supplies are needed for a camp-out, and to load the tucker boxes.

“You have to take everything with you on a camp-out, from food and teaspoons to loo paper and beer.”

She sends the gang off with enough stores for two to three days and then restocks them after that.

“We try not to camp out in winter but we have to stay out sometimes, like recently at Tokomaru Bay. There’s no shearers’ quarters on the farm there so we stayed at the bowling club.

“I don’t care how basic or old the facilities are as long as they are clean, and the fridge and stove work.”

She’s also the “admin lackey” for the business which involves doing the GST, PAYE, wages and payroll and keeping up with emails.

When she has time, she attends Business Hub Meetings at Te Puni Kokiri for the networking opportunities.

A powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm, Donna attributes her capable, can-do attitude to growing up in a large family.

Donna is one of 16 children (12 daughters and four sons) born to well-known Tolaga Bay identities Nan and Doug Gordon.

“Mum took in hundreds of foster children — all my years growing up, there were kids galore in the house, right up to when Mum couldn’t walk anymore.

“And Dad would take the young guys that no one else would employ, up the Coast to AkuAku farm and teach them scrub-cutting, fencing and farming skills,” she says.

“Dad was an ex-army chef, and a pickle, relish and chowchow connoisseur. Every year, he used to order a ton of cauli, broccoli and onions from Murray McPhail and as kids we would peel and chop them all up — then Dad would count out all the jars for his 16 kids.

“Mum’s speciality was baking and preserving. I still remember Nana sitting under the old apple tree peeling onions wearing a pair of those old airforce pilot’s goggles with the leather helmet to stop her eyes watering.”

Catering for large numbers comes naturally to Donna.

“Thanks to Mum and Dad, I’m a bloody good cook and as long as there’s food in the fridge, I can make a tasty meal. I love cooking and feeding people.”

Talking of fridges, Donna has long dreamed of having a big, smart double-door fridge. She tells the story of finally finding her heart’s desire.

“Kevin nearly passed out when I took him to the shop and he looked at the price. But I said to him: ‘I don’t want diamonds and gold — just give me stainless steel. I opened the fridge and the angels inside were singing to me.

Stainless steel and crock pots really get me going.”

Kevin and Donna are not highly educated and have got where they are today through sheer hard work.

“I left Tolaga Bay High School at 15 and Kevin was kicked out of the same school at 15. When he told his father he wanted to go shearing, he was booted out of the house.

“Shearing did not have a good reputation in those days. The behaviour of men in the gangs was pretty bad and there were some horrible rousies too — some were scary bitches.

“The pecking order was very strong and you didn’t speak out if you were young.”

Donna talks from experience — she’s done her time as a rousie in her younger days.

“But that sort of behaviour is no longer tolerated. And we encourage our young ones to speak up and ask questions, especially when the woolman comes to the shed.

“Shearing is now a respected industry and is also seen as a competitive sport, thanks to world champion Kiwi shearers like David Fagan from Te Kuiti and woolhanders Oti Mason from Dannevirke and the late Joanne Kumeroa from Whanganui.”

The TV programme, Shearing Gang, which follows the Alexandra-based Peter Lyon and his gangs has also raised the profile of the industry. Donna says she’d like to meet Peter and see how he manages his huge operation.

So what’s the secret behind their success?

“Kevin and I are a good team with a solid foundation,” says Donna.

“We’ve been together for 36 years — since we were teenagers — and we’ve been through a lot together.”

They have had more than their fair share of tragedy, losing a daughter in a car accident at the age of 28.

The couple have two other children, Bob, who is a pressman in the crew, Jess, who is a former woolhandler, and seven grandchildren.

Their lives revolve around their family and work.

“We are useless without each other,” she says.

Donna’s dream is for their business to be up there with the biggest and best shearing contractors in the district.

“If you invest time and energy in your staff, you are investing in your business and your future. It’s way more than just a job.

“That includes finding work between seasons so we can keep our staff on. When we first started out and had no work, we had to put on our thinking caps and ask around for other jobs. Our gang do all sorts of work between seasons like breaking horses, docking, building yards and even fruit picking.”

Striving to be the best also involves keeping their staff safe in the workplace.

“We are among the few gangs with an active health and safety plan. Since the new law came in on April 1, we have gradually been getting all our farmers onboard with our own Woolshed WoF checklist which identifies hazards.”

Donna is a woman of many talents and surprises. Just when I thought I was getting a handle on what she does, she took me to her office to show me some documentation.

There I noticed racks and shelves of clothing with the K.Williams Shearing crest on them — singlets, hoodies, trackpants, sweatshirts, pants, bags and cooking aprons. In her spare time, Donna designs a range of outdoor clothing which is sold all over New Zealand and Australia. The profits go to a variety of rural activities they sponsor like horse sports, speed shearing and the “take a kid hunting” initiative.

And there, hanging on the office wall, is a photo of Kevin and Donna, with their business excellence award.

Donna regards her job as a huge blessing.

“I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to be self-employed and have financial and emotional stability.

“We’ve worked hard all our lives and have always had jobs but we haven’t always had a home. In the past we’ve lived in quarters. Now we have our own home and a business of our own. We are so blessed.”