It seems a heck of a way to set out after a dream to own a farm, but Tim Mouat reckons that even though it's a quarter-million dollar investment and costs a bit to run, for only half the year, he's still got it sussed.
Convinced working on a farm might never get him there - certainly not before he turns 30 - the 25-year-old bought his own silage chopper, a big piece of machinery called a Claas 870, and went into business harvesting in Central Hawke's Bay.
Four months later, Forage Tech Ltd, has been steadily picking up the work in the district and is now looking for more further afield, including the Hastings area, as the maize season kicks in.
"I've been keen on agriculture for a long time," said the former Lindisfarne College student and Smedley Station cadet last week at his base at Foley Agri Systems, on Aorangi Rd, near Takapau.
"Owning a farm is a bit out of reach at the moment," he said. "So, the most direct way to go farming is to go out, and then come back in again."
It's another sign of the times, but his dream will come as good news to those concerned that the agricultural industry is not stocking up enough young people as the farmers of the future.
"I love farming," he said.
Raised in Havelock North, it's in the blood a bit, his grandfather having been at Mangaorapa, and his uncles having also been farmers.
But giving him his biggest break was Rob Foley, whose family started farming in the Takapau area four generations ago, in the mid-1940s.
Mr Foley has more than 3500 acres, and his busy contracting business provides work, mainly fulltime, for about 10 staff, and first took on Mr Mouat at the height of a hay cut.
After attending Smedley in 2004-2005, Mr Mouat went shepherding, but as reality dawned, he chose something else for a summer. "I came to work for Rob," he said. "It was supposed to be one season, but I never left."
After he had been with the company three seasons, Foley Agri Systems extended its already diverse operation, which was recognised in 2006 with the FMG Rural Excellence Award, and started to get into silage, and offered him the new opportunity.
"We looked into it, did a few numbers, and decided we'd do it," he said.
He's quickly appreciated the competitiveness of it, but prefers a small operation, that offers quality and keeps its clients.
The hard work was convincing the finance company.
"In the end we decided to take the risk," he said. "Starting out there's always an element of risk, because you don't actually know what it's going to do."
He recalled mother Christine having her apprehensions, and said: "She's the play-it-safe generation, and took a bit of convincing, but in the end she left it to me. She trusted me."
There are sacrifices, which all come into the setting of the work-life balance and asked if he got time for other things, he said: "The motorbike I bought hasn't been out of the shed at all, I've tried to do hunting in the winter instead of the summer, but that never seems to work out."
"Most of my friends are in the same sort of game, so it means I don't miss out on too much, and we're all working at the same time," he said, and, of course, there's got to be time for the girlfriend, Lucy.
Over the winter he'll do other work for Mr Foley, but he's learning the mechanics of tending his big toy in the down-time.
While he'd rely on Landpower in Hastings for anything big, he said: "You've got to be onto your servicing and preventive maintenance."
It is second-hand - new machinery would have doubled the price - but he still made sure he obtained something worthwhile.
"We could have got cheaper machinery, but there's no point in getting something that breaks down."
"But then," he says, 12 months ago I wouldn't have thought I'd be owning a chopper."
Chopping his way to farm ownership
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