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14 <strong>Ashburton</strong> <strong>Courier</strong>, <strong>August</strong> <strong>20</strong>, <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong><br />
RURAL/LIFESTYLE<br />
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
Dairy farmers still<br />
relishing early starts<br />
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Above: Dromore<br />
dairy farmers Jodi<br />
and Chris Ford<br />
complement each<br />
other working side by<br />
side on farm. They<br />
are busy calving, like<br />
most other dairy<br />
farmers in the<br />
district.<br />
• Wellsand Galleries<br />
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2300540<br />
TONI.WILLIAMS<br />
@ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
Dromore dairyfarmersChris<br />
and Jodi Ford are midway<br />
through calving.<br />
It’s atestingtime; longdays<br />
with physically demanding<br />
work fit in aroundthedaily<br />
running of the farm.<br />
But they are making their<br />
way through, tryingtobe<br />
organised by the end of the<br />
weektoget somemuch<br />
neededtime offduring the<br />
weekend.<br />
The couple, who have<br />
daughters Tayla, 22 and<br />
Leah, 17,and son Alex, 15,<br />
are in a50:50 equity<br />
partnership farming at<br />
Kokura Farm on the<br />
Dromore MethvenRoad, in<br />
Mid Canterbury.<br />
Along with Chris, 43, and<br />
Jodi, 45, there are an<br />
additionalthreefulltime,<br />
and one parttime, staff<br />
working on farm.<br />
Chris’parents, Donald and<br />
Cheryl also live on farm, and<br />
Donaldoftenhelps out.<br />
The Fords supply Synlait,<br />
milking 930crossbred cows,<br />
from217 hectares (effective)<br />
using whatChris describes as<br />
the oldest 50 bail rotaryin<br />
the district.<br />
It mayhavebeenbuilt in<br />
1978 but has had technology<br />
added and is now afully<br />
automated shed able to be<br />
manned by one person.They<br />
milk twice aday. There is<br />
also a75hectarerunoff<br />
block usedfor young stock<br />
and wintering young cows.<br />
On farm they also have<br />
chooks, sheep, pigs and a<br />
goat.<br />
They started as 50:50<br />
sharemilkers around <strong>20</strong>13<br />
but two years later tookthe<br />
chancetogointo an equity<br />
partnership.<br />
It was an “awesome<br />
opportunity”,Chris said, and<br />
they made it work for both<br />
partiesinvolved.<br />
“You’ve gottolookoutside<br />
the square and take<br />
opportunitieswhenthey<br />
comeup.”<br />
It’s amantra he livesby<br />
when his name was putinthe<br />
hat for Federated Farmers<br />
early in his dairy farming<br />
career.<br />
Chris grewupinReporoa,<br />
halfway between Rotorua<br />
and Taupo.<br />
His firstdairy farm job was<br />
on akiwifruit andavocado<br />
farminTePuke, milking350<br />
cows.<br />
He met Jodi, aqualified<br />
chef andtownie, on anight<br />
out more than <strong>20</strong> years ago.<br />
They were both out with<br />
friends, hit it off and the rest,<br />
as they say, is history.<br />
Jodi left her joband took<br />
up farming with Chris before<br />
they movedtoaproperty as<br />
lower order sharemilkers at<br />
Whakatane.<br />
“I loveit. Iwould never go<br />
back to the city,” she said.<br />
Chris andJodi complement<br />
each other on the farm<br />
working astaggered work day<br />
that startsat5am. Shealso<br />
runsthe officeand he<br />
manages thepeople, which<br />
includes takingonWilling<br />
Workers on Organic Farms<br />
(WWOOF)toexperience<br />
different cultures andopen<br />
Chris Ford<br />
their home, and dairy farm,<br />
to others.<br />
They rarely argue andlike<br />
to unwindtogether watching<br />
recorded episodes of Hawaii<br />
FiveO.<br />
Chris enjoysjetboating,<br />
playing squash and has a<br />
fascination with growinghot<br />
chillies withnames like<br />
ghost, yellow devil, kraken<br />
andCarolinareaper.<br />
Dairy farming forJodi<br />
allowsher to workoutside,<br />
with animals and she likes<br />
the flexibilityitoffers to<br />
raise afamily.They areable<br />
to be there for the children<br />
beforeand after school, and<br />
get time away when needed.<br />
It was while farmingat<br />
Whakatane that they entered<br />
the NewZealandDairy<br />
Industry Awardsand came<br />
away withacoupleof<br />
awards, including the<br />
leadership award. It saw<br />
Christapped on the shoulder<br />
to take on the Federated<br />
Farmers Bay of Plenty<br />
sharemilkers chair role.<br />
He did it for four years<br />
beforethey moved to the<br />
South Island,and afarm at<br />
Hinds around<strong>20</strong>07.<br />
“We were very luckyto<br />
work forsomegreat mentors<br />
especially in theNorth<br />
Island whenwewere growing<br />
our business,” he said.<br />
It spurredhim on to<br />
becoming amentortohis<br />
staff andothers in the<br />
community.<br />
Chris’s only regret wasthey<br />
hadn’t movedtothe South<br />
Island sooner,“when land<br />
prices were cheaper”.<br />
In his role as Federated<br />
Farmers MidCanterbury<br />
dairy sector chair, which he<br />
has donefor the past three<br />
years,Chris enjoys helping<br />
people and havinginfluence<br />
overpolicy work with<br />
government.<br />
“Mentor roles, that’s my<br />
passion. That’s my buzz to<br />
really help peopleand<br />
mentor them,” he said.<br />
Chrisand Jodi have been<br />
working withMinistry of<br />
SocialDevelopment and<br />
offering asnapshotof<br />
dairyingtopeople whohad<br />
losttheir jobs due to Covid<br />
19.Itwas an idea Chris had<br />
dealing with theCovid19<br />
community welfare response<br />
group during lockdown.<br />
“I just thought that’s<br />
something we can do,” he<br />
said.<br />
They have hadthree on<br />
farm taster courses, hosting<br />
between six to 15 people fora<br />
farm tour and milking<br />
session.<br />
“It’s showing them what<br />
farm life is like in anutshell.<br />
Atwohour snapshot,” Chris<br />
said.<br />
He thoughtgetting Kiwis<br />
into farming wasone positive<br />
to come out of the pandemic.<br />
It is on holdduringcalving,<br />
but he is hopeful it will<br />
continue after calving<br />
finishesaround October 5.<br />
He says it is importantfor<br />
urban people to see farming<br />
in action.<br />
“Farmers are really trying<br />
to bridgethegap between the<br />
urban and rural divide.<br />
“There are just aselect few<br />
running down farmers, which<br />
are most vocal,” he said.<br />
“Urban (people)ingeneral<br />
are supportive and<br />
understandwhat we do.”<br />
He saiddairy farmers were<br />
facing afew issues including<br />
thefreshwater accord –an82<br />
page document which may<br />
dampen MidCanterbury’s<br />
economy“because we just<br />
don’tknowwhere it’s going to<br />
end up”.<br />
It was hard to planafuture<br />
whenmore and more<br />
regulations were hitting<br />
farmers, he said.<br />
There was also aneed for<br />
more awareness around<br />
mental wellbeing,<br />
Mycoplasma bovis continued<br />
to affect MidCanterbury<br />
farmers and there was likely<br />
to be ashortage of<br />
immigration workers due to<br />
covid to work on farms. It was<br />
all causingconsiderable<br />
financialpressure and at<br />
huge personalcost, Chris<br />
said.<br />
On apositive feed has held<br />
up. ‘‘Alot of farmers thought<br />
we’d be short of crop feed,<br />
but dry matter yields were<br />
up, so it hasbeenavailable.<br />
It’s been areally kind<br />
winter.”<br />
Herding cows to rejoin the milking herd on the main farm<br />
block.