The foundations were laid in 2005 to build on an idea to help ongoing funding for Hospice Wanganui by the rural sector.
The aim was, and remains today, to entice farmers and rural residents within the Whanganui District Health Board catchment to donate stock to be grazed. Once sold, the monies from the stock are invested and the revenue generated used to fund hospice operations.
The scheme had been running in the Waverley district for some time through the Waverley Lions Club, and Ruapehu Lions Club was also an early contributor, but the ideal opportunity came to build on that throughout the health board district.
The options for contributors included grazing cattle, donating cattle, donating sheep or offering cash donations.
Farming Friends chairman Brian Doughty said that, for the past three years, the organisation had raised $60,000 annually for hospice.
"Some money raised is retained to buy in stock for contributing farmers to graze for sale once they have reached certain weights," Doughty said.
"When we buy young stock, they are yarded at a central location where they are sorted into mobs for delivery to contributing farmers, but all movement of stock must be accompanied with the correct Nait documentation.
"Previously it was all recorded manually but the wand replaces all that hard graft by electronically reading the information from each cattle beast's eartag and then sending it electronically to Nait.
"It saves an awful lot of work thanks to the generosity of Paul Gilligan and his Datamars team," Doughty said.
For Gilligan, it was a no-brainer to help an organisation like Farming Friends.
"The wand was an ideal tool to give them. It is a quick, accurate way to record cattle information at a time penalties are beginning to happen when Nait regulations are not being followed correctly," Gilligan said.
"Datamars bought Tru Test in 2018 and the wand is just one of the many tools we have available for farmers."
Lions Club of Wanganui president Terry Carmody said his organisation had a longstanding relationship with Farming Friends that was set to continue into the future.
"We [Lions] have been donating $5000 a year for a while now," Carmody said.
"We have members who were farmers and are farmers and every family is affected by cancer at some point. Our association began through Waverley and Westmere members and has grown to include us all over the years. We are more than happy to help a charity like hospice who does a fantastic job."
Doughty said Farming Friends operations had slowed during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but not totally stalled because farming was regarded as an essential industry.
"It did slow us down, but we are getting back into full swing again now, especially with generous help from groups like Lions and Datamars," Doughty said.
