People

Learning and growing on farm and off it

Only the third woman to win the award put her Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer trophy on the shelf and her boots on the ground, getting back to the land she loves. Before she did, Chloe Butcher-Herries spoke to Richard Rennie about what the award means to her.

THE morning after winning one of Māoridom’s most prestigious farming awards was pretty much the same as the rest for Chloe ButcherHerries: heading out into the hills with her dogs to move bulls and shift fences.

Only the third woman to win the award, she says she would not have it any other way, such is her love for what she is doing, and where she is doing it.

“To walk out the back door and be surrounded by the land, the trees, the whenua, it is a privilege.”

School holidays and weekends spent on her uncle’s Hawke’s Bay farm confirmed to her that it was the open space of the country that she wanted to build her life in.

Today the 30-year-old straighttalking assistant farm manager has risen strongly through the industry, gathering even more respect in light of her recent win.

But she attributes her success as much to the people who have helped her along the way as to her passion for what she does.

That includes her wife Makita and her latest bosses, Robert and Helen Pattullo of Newstead Farm, a bull-beef operation in Puketapu, near Napier.

“Rob is amazing. I have been doing this since I was 15 and the five years I have had with Rob outweigh everything else I have learnt before,” Butcher-Herries says.

She credits his mentoring role with helping her develop an understanding of the primary sector and its issues well beyond the farmgate, ensuring she is more than simply “someone on a motorbike with a few dogs”.

This has included regularly attending Beef + Lamb NZ field days and seminars, including on He Waka Eke Noa, to fuel her with the confidence to hold a view and be informed about the big-picture events affecting those on the land.

The Pattullos run an intensive bull-beef cell grazing system, buying in 1150 Friesian bulls from late April, running them through a cell rotation every four days within their 20ha blocks, with destocking starting in November.

The management practice fits in well with Butcher-Herries’ interest in having a smaller environmental footprint, lightening the load on the farm during Hawke’s Bay’s increasingly severe summer dry periods, allowing the property’s pastures to recover.

“Our view is that pretty much any animal on the farm for a short time is a good animal.”

The Pattullos have supported Butcher-Herries’ off-farm education as she completed her level 3 and 4 studies in sheep and beef farming with Primary ITO, and she steps in to start her diploma in primary industries studies.

Butcher-Herries and her wife have turned the inherent benefit of having a house to live in on the farm into another advantage by investing in three houses of their own as part of their journey to farm ownership.

Recognising the challenges that housing brings to many in the region, they have made a point of making them available to rent as healthy homes for Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.

“Over the next three to five years I know Makita is keen to buy three more, and to have 10 within 10 years, and in 15 years we would like to use them to buy a farm for us and our future,” ButcherHerries says.

In announcing Butcher-Herries’ award, Māori Trustee Dr Charlotte Severne also announced the unprecedented step of inducting all three finalists into the Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer alumni – an honour usually reserved for the winner.

Severne said the move was warranted by the sheer calibre of the three finalists, with the other two being Puhiere Te-Akainga Tamanui Tau and Rameka Eli Edwards.

Butcher-Herries said she welcomes the Pattullos’ open-door policy on their farm, which gives plenty of opportunity for people of any age to visit the property and see what she is up to.

“It is something we want to do, to really encourage more Māori, young and old, to get into farming. There are plenty of good resources out there now that weren’t there as much when I started, including the Primary ITO.”

She acknowledged many iwi could be too humble about their successes, and that the trophy represents a great opportunity to shout that success, in a sector that is an increasingly significant and valued part of NZ’s primary industry.

IWI WINNER: Chloe Butcher-Herries, right, with wife Makita Butcher-Herries, says the opportunities for Māori to participate and succeed in agriculture are better than ever. Photo: Alphapix

It is something we want to do, to really encourage more Māori, young and old, to get into farming.

Chloe Butcher-Harris Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer winner

Trust takes Ahuwhenua Trophy for top farm

Staff reporter PEOPLE

Awards

THE Wi Pere Trust, a large sheep and beef farming operation at Te Karaka near Gisborne, was awarded the 2022 Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Māori sheep and beef farm.

Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor made the announcement at the Ahuwhenua Trophy awards dinner in Hawke’s Bay. He said Māori account for 25% of the production of sheep beef and wool in New Zealand, and have brought a highly professional approach to their farming operations.

He encouraged everyone to go along to Ahuwhenua Trophy field days to better understand the complexity of the farms and passion of the farmers.

Trudy Meredith of Wi Pere Trust said winning the Ahuwhenua Trophy was absolutely amazing – especially given this was the first time they had entered the competition.

She said winning the competition will make people recognise the excellence that Wi Pere Trust strives for and the high standard of its operations, and how as a trust it looks after people.

“It’s not all about profit – and although it does help, it’s not the be all. This has also set the bar for the next lot of trustees,” she said.

Nukuhia Hadfield, chair of the Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee, said the farms of all of the finalists were impressive and the judges had their work cut out for them to come up with a winner. She said despite a challenging year, all of the finalist field days were excellent and each organisation is a great role model for farmers.

She said Wi Pere Trust is a very worthy winner “and for those of us who took the opportunity to attend their field day will see why. Wi Pere Trust runs an outstanding farming operation and measures up well in all the other criteria that are part of the judging process.”

Hadfield said the competition has once again demonstrated the strength and excellence of Māori farming.

The other finalists were Onuku Māori Lands Trust near Rotorua, and Hereheretau Station located in Whakakī, Wairoa.