Taylor Lincoln loves working on Reon and Wendy Verry’s King Country farm.
Some of the Verry Farming Ltd team gather on farm including, from left, Taylor Lincoln, Rameka Edwards, Reon Verry and Wendy Verry. Photo: Chris Gardner
“I’m learning different stuff about sheep and beef farming every day without heaps of pressure. No two days are the same the 19-year-old from Maihihi, near Ōtorohanga, said.
The former Te Awamutu College pupil joined the Verry farm, south of Te Kūiti, last year as a Growing Future Farmers student. She will complete her time with the Verrys later this year.
Lincoln is the fourth Growing Future Farmers student to benefit from living and working at Verry Farming alongside the Verrys and their staff, following in the footsteps of Teagan O’Shea, Tegan Sutton and Jodie Piggott.
“We are trying to give back to the wider industry,” Reon Verry said. “This is a pathway for people to get into farming.”
Farm manager Rameka Edwards. Photo: Chris Gardner
The Verrys have been sheep and beef farming their 1900-hectare piece of paradise since 2007.
They employ farm managers Rameka Edwards and Tom Fuller and shepherds Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer of the Year finalist Grace Watson and Ethan Poppelwell.
Reon was raised on a farm on Waipuna Road near Waitomo, while Wendy is from just over the hill.
“We started with a massive drought, the biggest since the 1970s, and have just leaned our business to not assuming it’s going to rain,” he said.
Wendy Verry said farms were once advertised as ‘summer safe’ – “I have not seen that on farm adverts for a long time”.
They farm about 5800 ewes, 1800 hoggets, 1000 bulls, 160 cows, 150 steers, and 550 dairy grazers.
The farm is in recovery mode following last summer’s drought.
Wendy and Reon Verry
“We had a feeling it was going to be dry and learned to make decisions early,” she said.
“We had to bring in 90 tonnes of palm kernel to feed our dairy heifers. We’ve not bought any for three years.”
They also planted 20 hectares in drought-resistant chicory to provide high quality feed for livestock.
“I feel like we have been on life support the whole year,” Reon Verry said.
Before this month’s heavy falls, the farm has received a little over 200mm of rain this year, around 100mm of that in April, less than half the 430mm of rain it usually receives by May.
The pain has been eased by un-drought like meat prices.
As immediate past chair of King Country River Care, Reon Verry is passionate about improving water quality.
The organisation gained $1.4 million funding from the government one-billion trees campaign for riparian planting on multiple farms in the catchment.
It’s a project that has set those farms up well to achieve the goals of improving freshwater quality set out in the Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change One.
Since 2014, he has worked with other farmers – such as Graham Pinnell and Graeme Gleeson – to represent the sector’s concerns on the workability of the plan to the council. He is awaiting the outcome of an Environment Court appeal with anticipation.
Taylor Lincoln
