A lifetime of innovative thinking

Maurice Wooster received two pieces of advice from the legendary Sir Len Southward, of Southward Engineering years ago.

“He said you need to concentrate on making the hinge, not the door. He also said if you can manufacture something a little bit better than someone else, you won’t spend a fortune trying to market it.” Maurice was a former schoolboy fencer, raised to turn his hand to anything on mid—Canterbury farms. He was a production engineering cadet and became the head of his own manufacturing workshop by his early 20s and he remains guided by this lifetime of knowledge and experience to this day. They’re behind every piece of Strainrite fencing equipment that comes out of the Robertson Engineering factory in Upper Hutt and they’re part of the reason Strainrite was formed in the first place. Innovation wasn’t the buzzword it is now during his farming childhood, but he says it was a highly innovative and creative environment to grow up in, where finding ways to improve something and make it easier to use was part and parcel of everyday life. Such an approach has not only underpinned Strainrite’s growth, but continues to drive the success of NZ’s primary sector as a whole, “We need to value our know-how and innovation,” Maurice says. Maurice and his team had already cemented their reputation nationwide, manufacturing high quality running gear for meat processors and spring steel blades for agricultural machinery. Then one day, while fencing his own farm, he realised the company’s next diversification was right in front of him – robust, reliable fencing essentials designed to work better and make the job easier for farmers and contractors in any way possible. “We started with a wire strainer and went from there,” Maurice says. Fast forward to 2021 and the wire strainer is still going strong, but is just one of hundreds of products in the Strainrite range. The company remains among the few New Zealand manufacturers to survive import deregulation in the 1980s, is internationally known and has just invested over $1 million in new plant and equipment to keep up with demand. Maurice did briefly dip a toe into offshore manufacturing for one line of products many years ago. However, the result was so inconsistent with Strainrite’s quality reputation that it only confirmed what he believed all along – that reliable New Zealand-made equipment, designed in collaboration with Kiwi fencers and farmers is the only way to go. Today more than 60 people, including six designers and product developers, work at Strainrite, focusing on continual improvement of its fencing equipment range.

| Maurice Wooster places a lot of emphasis on valuing the know-how and innovation of his team.

For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.

Article supplied by Strainrite

Days of wine and roses

From Nottingham to the Wairau Plains, six generations of one family is taking viticulture to new heights.

In the heart of the Wairau Plains in Marlborough, John Rose bought land he would call “Kegworth” in 1870 – named after his family farm in Nottinghamshire, England. Adjacent properties were acquired in 1903 to comprise 379 acres in all, of the richest agricultural land in Marlborough. Ownership of the farm changed to his son, John Wallis and grandson, Ernest Sinclair in 1908. Ernest had a son, Noel Ernest and a daughter Lois (known as Joan). Noel had a son, David William Noel (an only child) with his wife, Mona who died in childbirth. David and his wife, Valerie had three children – Tim, Tracy and Vaughan – who are now are the sixth generation of Roses to farm the land. The farm was called “Kai-iwi” for a period by Noel after visiting and liking the place Kai-iwi on his honeymoon. However, it was changed back to Kegworth by David, as no other Roses in the district were using that name and the original Kegworth farm had now been split up. Back in the 1900s the farm grew wheat, barley, root crops and peas. Clydesdale horses were bred to work the farm. In 1977, David and Val took over the farm and irrigation was installed, enabling crops such as peas and corn to be grown for Talley’s, alongside sheep. The first grapes were planted in 1981 – Chardonnay, which subsequently needed to be replanted due to phylloxera. The whole property is now planted in a range of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. Contracting was always a big part of the farming life, firstly with the horses and then mechanised. NES Rose Contracting was around from the 1930s, doing grain harvesting, hay baling and ground work. David took over the business in 1968 and had one of the first medium square baling machines locally and operated silage equipment. Rose Ag now specialises in fertiliser spreading and grape harvesting.

| Working the land, 1925.