Strong succession planning has paid off for Hugh and Judy Akers of Broadlands Station, as their son Willie and his wife Laura now run the 1650ha sheep and beef farming operation in Ashhurst, Manawatū.
The farm, which has been in the family since 1886, was named the Regional Supreme Winner at the 2015 Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards, with judges commenting it was “an excellent example of multi-generational farming for environmental stability and financial success”.
Although, nearly 10 years on the farm is not quite as big as it was when they won the award.
“Some of it got washed away,” Willie said.
It’s a “we need to laugh, or we might cry” philosophy, as the couple remains optimistic about the work that lies ahead, after the devastating floods caused by Cyclone Gabrielle that hit the region in February last year.
The floods ran through the paddocks the Akers were using as finishing blocks.
“We had a beautiful crop at the time, and half of it was washed away and the rest of it ruined,” Laura said.
“That was heartbreaking.”
Fixing the problems had its challenges and Willie said there were a few hoops to jump through, as well as dealing with red tape.
“It can be really demoralising because it’s hard to know the right people to talk to, or who can answer our questions,” Willie said.
He said they eventually decided they had to “make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”.
“We knew we had to get the most out of the land as we could.
“It’s going to take a long time to get back to where we were, so we decided we would need to do things differently.”
That meant doing cut-and-carry baleage or maybe looking into a future cash crop.
“What we are reluctant to do is put the fencing back, and have it flood again and wipe out our fencing, so having things we can do that are low risk is important,” Laura said.
Now it’s the season for crutching, drenching and tidying up.
Recovering from flooding is a long, ongoing, slow process.
Where once they wintered about 11,500 stock units with a 70:30 sheep-to-cattle ratio, those numbers are now around 11,300.
The couple were engaged when they gained the Regional Supreme Winner title along with Willie’s parents; now they are married with two children aged 2 and 6.
Even though Laura swapped agronomy for farming, she said she didn’t miss her old office.
“I love being outside and I love being hands-on.
“There is always something to keep you busy.”
Even becoming part of an almost 140-year dynasty hasn’t phased her.
“Lucky, I had a son first go,” she joked.
“I really like family history, so it’s like we’ve been handed the baton in a way.”
The couple’s energy and optimism keeps them focused on ensuring their wool crop remains the quality product they’ve worked hard to achieve, despite the depressed sector.
They firmly believe it won’t be long before the wool industry will swing back.
“We are optimists,” Laura said.
“It’s going to make a comeback.”
Willie agreed that they had no intention of scrapping wool production.
“We’re not following people out of it,” he said.
“We have kept our quality of wool.
“While some people have given up on the quality of the rams and shearing... we haven’t because if you lose the micron and curvature, it’s really hard to get it back.
“We’ve been working for the past 20 years to get this right, so we aren’t going to let that go.”
“It’s got to get better,” Laura said.
“If you look at the global swing against plastics and polyesters, wool is just such an amazing product.”
Since the awards, the couple has been using technology more, and are currently looking at a range of high-tech digital farming options, such as halters for cows.
“There’s lots to think about,” Willie said.
Including, it seems, succession planning.
“We are starting to work out succession plans for us with our children,” Laura said.
“There’s no better time to start than yesterday,” Willie said.
– New Zealand Farm Environment Trust