25-year milestone for

from Real Farmer Winter 2021

BYDV—Mitigating autumn risk

25-year milestone for Ed Body

Long-time supplier, Ed Body is proud to be celebrating two milestones this year—25 years as a fencing contractor in Mid Canterbury and 21 years as a Ruralco Supplier.

It is good to catch up with Ed as he undertakes the process of replacing a broken fence wire, along with showing us his fence knot key rings that he sells and gives to his clients as a fundraiser for the Geraldine High School primary industries programme. Over the past few years Ed’s business has grown from strength to strength, with the workload keeping him and his team of four full time and three part time staff busy. They operate two post drivers and a digger, which ensure they can cover all aspects of the job. Ed first started fencing in 1997 when the Ashburton dairy industry was booming, and there seems to be no slowing down for him anytime soon. Covering the Mid Canterbury region, Ed Body Fencing usually spans from Rakaia to Geraldine. Along with fencing, of which Ed says is 80 percent agricultural, he also teaches high school students from rural backgrounds how to tie knots and participate in a few other fencing projects. Ed usually teaches a couple of times per month through the Primary Industry Academy. He also creates fencing knot key rings which students can refer to out on farm. These key rings are something Ed likes to give to his clients when finishing up a job for them. Recently, Ed attended the South Island Agricultural Field Days in Kirwee, where he had these key rings for sale. Ed and his team also manufacture Outriggers (pictured) which are available for purchase direct, and Ed says this is a great rainy day job to ensure he and the team are kept busy. Ed likes every fencing job as long as it’s keeping him and his team busy, but he does enjoy post and rail lifestyle fencing, along with tin fencing in town. In Ashburton, all the fencing contractors know one another with Ed saying that he would sometimes call on another contractor to help, if he has a bigger project that had a short deadline. Of late, some jobs have taken longer than expected due to the supply and demand of some fencing materials due to the impacts of COVID-19. On a positive note, Kiwis not being able to travel has freed up some money for people to do renovations on their house and property—keeping Ed busy too. If Ed is not fencing or teaching, he also leases a 150-acre run-off block in Geraldine where he finishes 260 cattle from 6 months to 2 years. Ed is rightly proud of his 25 years in business and wishes to thank his customers for their continued support.

LEFT: Ed’s new workshop located at 13 Bryant Street, Tinwald BELOW LEFT: On rainy days Ed and the team manufacture these outriggers. These are available for purchase direct from Ed at $4.50 each BOTTOM: You’ll never forget your knot again with one of Ed’s Figure 8 keyrings, pictured in blue and available in a range of colours $20 each BELOW: For 25 years Ed Body and his team have been proudly fencing around the mid Canterbury district. “I like every fencing job, as long as it keeps the team and I busy.”