Back in 2020, when Winston Peters was in the news urging Kiwis to get home as soon as possible, Ben Hayes booked the first flight he could from Western Australia. He was thankful he did as he has friends who have only recently been reunited with their families. But it was the first time in his working life he had left a job without a new one to go to.
“I’ve worked in a few different industries but I always had a new job lined up before I left the old one,” says Ben.
“But I didn’t really have an option. When that first lockdown hit, I had to get home to my family.”
He grew up in urban Auckland and after dabbling in the building industry after school he went into the Navy as a chef. He spent eight years in the Navy but his priorities changed once he and his wife Sherie had kids. It was hard to balance the lifestyle, especially needing to deploy at the drop of a hat.
A conversation with a family friend at a BBQ led him to the PGG Wrightson livestock rep cadetship. He spent 18 months as a cadet and a further 18 months as a livestock rep, based in Taranaki.
Although he enjoyed the role, a family member twisted his arm, convincing him to move to Western Australia to work on their avocado orchard. That didn’t work out as planned, so Sherie and the kids moved back to New Zealand while Hayes worked on exploration drill rigs around rural Western Australia.
But it was only 12 months later that the first lockdown hit and he came home, moving back to Taranaki. He helped a friend on his farm till he found a role with Fonterra in the local factory, but he struggled being stuck inside all day and jumped at a role in the On Farm Assets team when it came up.
“We were looking after anything the tanker touches, I liked it better than being in the factory but I still wasn’t settled,” Ben says.
“But it wasn’t long till a farm assistant role came up at one of the Fonterra Farms in Longburn in Manawatū so we decided to give it a crack and move the family down.”
Ben Hayes, treating a cow down with milk fever, enjoys being outdoors with the animals as well as the large variety of farm work.
Starting in June last year and launching into the apprentice scheme, he has been absorbing as much as he can. He has completed Primary ITO level 3 and is working on his level 4 and has found the study really valuable to connect what they are doing on the farm with the reasoning behind it. He also credits his supportive manager, Lorraine Ferreira, and his 2IC Phil Read for helping to develop his farming knowledge.
“I’m loving it, I can really see a future in the sector and Sherie and I are dead keen to own our own farm one day,” he says.
But they have an alternative plan to the traditional farm ownership pathway, building their equity through property development. They own three houses already.
“I grew up on a building site, my parents always had property projects on the go, so I know how to do a lot myself and know the value you can create.
“We’re planning to get our deposit together using the residential market and get ourselves into a position the bank is willing to lend to us on. I reckon that’s the key, having the backing from the bank.”
He looks forward to being able to work for himself one day but is hoping to work on a more generic farm soon too. The Longburn farm he is currently on has extensive health and safety requirements that prevent him from sharing it with his family.
“It’s not the same lifestyle you have on general dairy farms, the kids can’t come out with me or anything so it’s like a normal job where Dad leaves for work and comes home at the end of the day.
“I do look forward to being able to share the lifestyle with my family sometime in the future and I’m keen to work for myself eventually.”
They split calve 600 cows through a 50-bale rotary shed. There are six farm team members plus the manager who runs two dairy farms and the support block.
Being involved in the sector has given Ben an appreciation for how much farmers are trying to juggle.
“When you’re responsible for 600-plus animals, there’s a huge amount of care that goes into them. You need to make sure they’ve got everything before you can worry about yourself.
“People outside of the sector don’t realise how much goes into it.”
He is thoroughly loving it, though, and is pleased he made the jump. He is eager to learn as much as he can to put his family in a good position for future opportunities and eventually buy their own farm.
This article originally appeared in the August 2022 issue of Dairy Farmer.
