Battle pays off for tough toiler

Naomi Foster bottle-feeds colostrum to a newborn lamb which had been unable to suckle its mother because the ewe's nipples were too large. That's the ewe getting in close to watch its lamb which, revived by the colostrum, was later able to feed from its mother. Photo / Tania Dropulich

There are seldom enough hours for mother-of-five solo parent and farmer Naomi Foster to accomplish all the tasks she piles on to her shoulders daily.

She prefers to head off problems early so she's out at 2am making sure calving cows among the 350 milked on her 207ha dairy farm near Maungaturoto are heading for trouble-free births.

And after inspecting the cows she moves to her neighbouring 332ha farm where she scouts around to check how her 200 beef cattle and 800 ewes are coping with the wet weather, taking along some warm colostrum in case she finds newborn lambs that need it.

Then it's back home to her brood of five children now aged 14-26, including sons in Northland U14 and U16 rugby teams who need a lot of chauffeuring to sports events.

The big workload started when Naomi and her husband separated in 2010 and she endured six years of striving to keep her family and farms intact while in the emotional and financial turmoil which the marriage break-up created.

Her lowest point was a long battle with the Inland Revenue Department over tax penalties they imposed when she had no access to bank funds and there seemed a possibility her land could be sold up.

"That got me in tears," she said. "I did my own court work because I couldn't afford a lawyer and the legal paperwork took hours and hours of my time."

The situation began to steady up about a year ago and, except for grieving when her father, Warren Leaf, died in November last year, Naomi now has more to look forward to each day than continual work.

She was close to her father, growing up in Dargaville and training as a nurse in Whangarei before turning to farm work for which she has a natural affinity.

And now she has a new man in her life, a shearer who gives her a hand with her stock when he's not working in woolsheds.

Another man is on the farm staff, milking the cows and managing grazing on the dairy farm. It's their fifth season of once-a-day milking and Naomi said that was turning out pretty well.

Home front

But there's still plenty for her to do. She's fed and taken care of 350 calves this season and she's a key provider of orphan lambs for local school pet days, with 15 lambs now being pampered to perform for youngsters seeking classroom glory and another seven lambs waiting to catch the eye of a petless boy or girl.

There's a lot to do around her house too, at present home to eight people - Naomi, her new partner and his 19-year-old daughter who is taking a Taratahi agricultural training course, Naomi's 43-year-old brother who has schizophrenia, her two sons aged 14 and 16, her 26-year-old eldest daughter who is back home temporarily, and one of her son's friends who is also on the Taratahi training course.

Naomi has a "more the merrier" philosophy which invites young people into her home. Her experiences with her own sons' reactions to her husband leaving have brought out her sympathies toward the needs many young people have to live in a welcoming environment.

You can even catch Naomi with a big smile these days. As she says: "It's been a long hard six years, but I've got a beautiful family and a beautiful farm."