Helen and Dickie Sansome, of Waikato‑based turf company Rolawn, also run an Angus stud and pheasant-shooting operation.
Helen and Dickie Sansome, of Waikato‑based turf company Rolawn, also run an Angus stud and pheasant-shooting operation.
The Country’s Kem Ormond chats with Glen Massey farmer Dickie Sansome about his diversification from turf to Angus cattle breeding – with a side of pheasant shooting.
Dickie Sansome is a farmer from Glen Massey, in the Waikato region, where he lives with his wife Helen.
Sansome didn’t always livein New Zealand; he grew up in the UK, in Buckinghamshire.
In the 1980s, he decided to go travelling and found himself taking tourists around Africa.
He had been to university and got himself a degree, and thought on his return to the UK, finding a job would be a piece of cake.
Having a brother already in New Zealand, he decided to check out a few turf farms around the region and found a few gaps in the turf market he felt he could fill.
Sansome set up Rolawn, and before long, lush green turf was being shipped around Auckland and the Waikato for all the new builds.
All the grass clippings from the company’s turf growth are repurposed back into the soil, meaning replacement of topsoil is unnecessary.
In April 2005, Sansome purchased 20.2ha n Waerenga, 12km east of Te Kauwhata.
After retiring from amateur rugby (due to his body grumbling about the hard knocks), he decided to set up a syndicate with a few friends and take up pheasant shooting.
He hit the big time three years ago by winning Supreme Champion at the Te Kauwhata A&P Show.
He has successfully defended the title to date.
When asked, “Why Angus?” he replied with a smirk, “I prefer the Scots to the Welsh.”
Dickie Sansome set up a pheasant shooting operation on his Glen Massey farm.
He also decided to set up an organised shoot on his property, and a farm manager was hired to breed the birds and look after the cattle stud.
The shoot is a cost-recovery operation, well organised and with safety in mind.
There can be more than 30 shooters, as well as beaters, pickers, and dogs, all who enjoy a shoot, the land and the sport.
There are chillers to house the fallen birds, and at the end of the day a shared meal is enjoyed in the farmhouse with local auctioneer Cam Heggie handing out the canapes.
Dickie Sansome takes part in a pheasant shoot on his Glen Massey farm.
“The farm is not viable to run as a total sheep and beef farm, but with the cattle and the pheasants and just needing one man to run that, it is viable, and it means there is no temptation to plant pine trees,” Sansome said.
“We have planted 20ha in native trees, as this is a good flushing point for pheasants.”
Life is good for Sansome, who is now semi-retired, which, in his mind, means only working 40-50 hours a week.
