FARMSTRONG
Todd and Anneke Reeves with their children Connor, Sophie and Jemma. The pair manage 480 cows on the 250ha family farm at Pukekohe, South Auckland.
No need to do it alone Todd and Anneke Reeves manage 480 cows on a 250ha family farm in Pukekohe, South Auckland. Todd recently shared his thoughts with Farmstrong on how to live well to farm well.
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ow’s the season going? We’re having a really good season this year, especially with the payout. We also run a small beef block and the beef prices are high too. So all is good. It sounds busy. How do you manage time off? We’re very lucky we’ve got great staff and good systems. We make sure the boys get every second weekend off and
Pukekohe farmer Todd Reeves says farmers should have a strategy in place so they don’t overdo things and can take some time off away from the farm. 50
we make sure we take breaks when we can too. Over lockdown we weren’t able to get away of course, but we took a good break over Christmas. We had it all rostered out, so everyone got a couple of weeks off. There’s always another job to do in farming, isn’t there? It can be tempting to just keep going. Yes, exactly. You can certainly get yourself into a situation where you’re just working all the time. You’re going to take a day off and then something breaks in the cowshed or there’s a water leak and you think you’d better fix it yourself. You need strategies to make sure you don’t overdo things. What are your go-tos? I’m heavily involved in our local rugby club, Patumahoe, coaching junior boys. I became a life member there last year. I coached my son all the way through and he’s now 17. Looking back, it was a great way to just get off-farm and talk to other people who weren’t in your industry. You soon realise everyone faces the same pressures – work, kids, owning a business – and that’s why we all need downtime. Rugby’s great for that. You just have to be at the game or training at certain times because people are relying on you. So, you haven’t got time to hang around and fix a gate. You’re also both heavily involved in the school, aren’t you? Yes, we really love helping out there. Our kids [Connor (17), Sophie (15) and
Jemma (11)] have all been through the school, so we’ve always been involved in the calf club and Anneke’s been chair of the board. I used to go and spray the weeds, join in with the working bees. And when the school cancelled calf club in 2020, we held it here on our farm with 20 kids. We had lambs and calves and organised judges. We didn’t want the kids who are passionate about animals to miss out on that. It was a great day. How do these activities help you farm better? Farming can be an isolated occupation. I think if you spend too much time alone, it’s not healthy. It’s good to make time for other people and activities in your community. I’m also lucky Anneke and I work well together. Our beef block is half an hour away, so she often comes with me in the ute and we talk over things and plan our weeks. Talk about how life is. That’s important too. Anneke also helps out with the paperwork, which I find the hardest part of farming. I love being outside, looking after cows and making the farm look nice, rather than sitting in an office. So that’s a huge help. It’s been a real partnership. Lack of sleep is an issue for many farmers. How do you make sure you get enough? We run a 3-in-2 System (three milkings, two days). We start at 4.30am one morning and seven o’clock the next,
DAIRY FARMER
February 2022
