So that’s it. HelpXers Jay and Bex have finally left the nest and headed north to Russell for the summer. We are once again alone and it’s not such a bad thing. Their leaving signals an end to almost 5 months of continual hosting. We need a break.
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
6 years ago when we were looking for a block of land our plans were different, our experience and knowledge were extremely limited, and I insisted we buy property somewhere between The Bombay Hills and the Brynderwyns that was easy for friends and family to visit. I feared isolation and loneliness if we moved further afield. We wanted 25 acres but could only afford 10 acres on the side of the highway and I couldn’t have been happier until about 3 months ago and then a slight restlessness hit me.It’s not so much a need to do something different, as it is a desire to do it on a grander scale. I want more land. I want more hills, more bush, more pigs. How wonderful would it be to give each pig a couple of acres with hills and gullies and bush? We could still have our few sheep and cattle and we could have ducks and chooks galore. I’d like 10 sows and 2 boars. I’d like to be able to move the pigs every 3 months to rest the paddocks and reduce the amount of damage they do over winter.
Of course there’s nothing stopping us looking for more land, and in fact Aaron’s been doing that for the last 6 months. God knows now is the best time to buy farm land as the interest in farming big and small has taken a dive. There are hundreds of properties for sale and many of them going at bargain prices. But it’s not as simple as that. I don’t want to move to some old house that needs doing up. We’d have to build again, despite swearing I would never, ever do so.
Work and money are the biggest issues. We need to work to pay for our lifestyle.
Building in a more remote area would cost more. Our petrol bills would be higher. We’d be starting again with so many things – fencing, planting, animal housing, etc. The thought of putting behind us 5 years of hard graft and progress to be back at almost square one is a horrible thought.
To be fair, I don’t dislike what I have, it’s just I want more. I want to wind the clock back 6 years, using the knowledge I have now, to look further afield. I want to buy 100 acres instead of 10.
Isolation and loneliness wouldn’t be an issue because we’d keep the HelpXers and CouchSurfers coming.
But I guess things are the way they are for a reason. The truth of the matter is, we’re currently in the perfect location for our financial situation. We both have good jobs and we’re located exactly half way between the two. We’re managing the land well with the resources we have.
Lets face it, we’re both fast approaching 40 and time is not on our side. It takes time to establish a farm. It’s taken us 5 years to get where we are now, although if we had to start again we could possibly do it again in 3.
I honestly can’t see myself moving to another farm, unless money and fulltime work suddenly stopped being issues for us.
But still, I can’t stop myself from wondering what we might be doing now, if 6 years ago we’d moved somewhere different and bought 100 acres instead of 10.
Demand Has Outstripped Supply
Since Mike King’s documentary on commercial pig farming in New Zealand a couple of months ago, the demand for piglets and free range pork has skyrocketed. Every week Aaron and I are asked if we can supply. We could literally sell hundreds of piglets now if we had them. A shop owner in Wellsford has told Aaron he gets daily requests from people looking for local pig farmers.
The time to hit the market with good quality free-range pork is now. We could make a killing but we are at least a year away from producing large quantities of piglets.
Perhaps the only saving grace is that it seems every other free range pig farmer is facing the same issue. Everyone’s asking and there’s only a limited supply of pigs. Any piglets around have all been pre sold.
Now is the time to buy 100 acres of cheap, rough land and turn it into a massive pig farm. Of course, good luck sourcing breeding stock if you haven’t already got any!
Frank’s son-in-law has timed it beautifully. He bought his massive farm a couple of years ago and will apparently have around 500 free-range pigs in his herd sometime next year. This is the farm Herculisa moved to and we have just been advised she is now running with 100 sows in a massive bush paddock, living the dream life it sounds.
So now Aaron and I have to make some big decisions. After deciding we didn’t have room for more than 4 breeding sows we’re now seriously contemplating increasing that to 6 to take advantage of the current trend for pork. It doesn’t seem much but 2 extra sows means around 24 extra piglets to feed each year. It’ll involve dividing paddocks, more fencing, more housing and more work. We have some number crunching to do this weekend. We’ve hopefully got our meeting with the smallgoods butcher before the end of the month and so we must decide before the month is up.
I’m a little nervous about taking the step but as Aaron says, if it proves to be 2 too many, 1 set of piglets from each of the 2 sows will cover a lot of our costs. The sows could then be sold or turned into sausages and we’ve lost nothing.
Ultimately our best course of action is to seal the deal with the butcher. While interest in free range pork is high at the moment, there’s no doubt it will wane somewhat in the next 6 months. It is certainly better to have a confirmed multiple pre order than trying to keep up relationships with multiple single pig buyers.
Stanley Gets His Day
Well, Stanley is only a couple of weeks away from being together with his true love Mabel. He’s as yet untested in the siring stakes and our hopes are high.And then Aaron got the call to ask if Stanley could go to Bev’s farm for siring duties for a few weeks. Unfortunately it would seem the sow Arthur last mated with aborted her piglets and Bev would like to try Stanley out with 2 of her younger girls. We’ve said yes.
The emotional human side of me thinks it is awfully sad that Stanley’s first experience with a girl won’t be with Mabel but I suspect he won’t complain if he’s put into a paddock with 2 willing girls.
Then he’ll be straight home and in a paddock with Mabel, so basically his next couple of months are going to be a young boar’s dream really.
His fertility needs to be high as the alternative is he becomes sausages. This is a horrifying thought. Stanley is now an adored pet. He is as much a gentleman as Arthur but not as much of a ladies man. He has already shown that his ego is easily bruised when his affections are not reciprocated.
And What of the Future?
It is fair to say I have been doing a lot of thinking about the future in the last few months. I am guessing this is largely due to having so many extra hands helping out on the block. I’ve had time to actually sit back and assess where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Now that I know that juggling the farm and work doesn’t have to be a constant struggle I don’t feel so scared about making decisions that could potentially lead to more work.
I’ve learnt a lot about myself this year and discovered that I’m actually capable of things I didn’t think I was.
The most amazing thing for me to learn is that, not only can I host complete strangers in my home but I can do so in a way that makes them enjoy their stay. In the past when people have suggested we run a farmstay and charge people for it I honestly believed my attitude was so anti-social that we would be out of business before we started.
Hosting HelpXers and finding out about their experiences with other hosts – the good, the bad and the truly ugly – I have discovered that as a team, Aaron and I make an excellent host team.
So now this has opened up to us a new doorway in the future when farming loses its shine and becomes too physically demanding.
I truly believe that at that time we will be the perfect couple to run a campground, hostel or even motel. I anticipate us only doing it for 2-5 years and maybe even being one of those couples that doesn’t actually own but just travels the country relieving owners so they themselves can take a break.
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