Affectionately known as Nadia Lim’s “egg lady”, Jodie Humphries has become one of New Zealand’s most prolific poultry people overnight.
Chickens happened by default. Before that Humphries had flown the nest as far as Canada and spread her wings in countless occupations – some rural, some not.
One thing is for certain, the 38-year-old hasn’t taken the easy road.
“When you get into something you realise it is not exactly how you think it is going to be,” she said on a freezing, wet autumn day at Royalburn Station in the Cardrona Valley.
She wasn’t referring to farming.
Having been raised on a dairy farm in Glenham Southland, Humphries was determined to leave agriculture behind, so she completed a degree in fashion design at the then Otago Polytech.
“I don’t know what the plan was, but I just knew I loved sewing, designing and creating.”
Humphries still sews beautiful garments at moment’s notice. Her face lights up when she talks about making dresses for her six-year-old daughter, Danni.
“Sewing dresses for my daughter is easy and quick and she gets so much satisfaction from it. She just loves dresses and loves picking the fabric. I get joy from it too.”
Humphries wanted to create her own label, but in the meantime she worked the shop floor in retail. Seeing she wasn’t cut out for that industry, she retrained as a veterinary nurse.
“I have more energy when I get home after being around animals than I would in a retail store when I have been around people all day. I can talk to chickens all day.”
Five years into a vet nurse job in Dunedin, a breakup with a boyfriend and a 30th birthday were the catalyst for change.
“I thought I’d be getting married and having children and those things fell through for me so I was just like ‘let’s just do something really out of the blue’.”
Leaving for Canada to become a cowgirl ticked that box.
“I started as a wrangler over at what they call a dude ranch. Then I realised what I was doing was just a guide and I wanted to be a cowboy [men and women in the job are both known at cowboy], so I emailed a ranch.”
“I told them I grew up at a dairy farm, I know horses and surely it is not too hard to put it together.”
Despite having some tough working hours, 3am to midday, and the “no food on horseback” rule, she said it was one of the best experiences of her life.
“They are quite ‘badge of honour’ in a lot of things, it is a bit ‘this is what we do because this is the cowboy way’.”
“You saddle the horse up at 3am then you round up the cows and you push them for eight hours to the next spot and you don’t pack lunch like you do here. Here [New Zealand] you have your saddle bags loaded up, cowboys don’t have that, you have your horse and you have your saddle.”
The ranch was 1 million acres in size with 2000 cows and calves, 150 bulls and 120 horses. Each paddock was approximately 40,000 hectares with barely-fit-for-purpose fences. The cowboys escort the cows on a yearly circuit following the watering holes before they dry up.
Southland weather had set her up well, as Humphries thrived in the relentless winter temperatures of -30degC and 30degC in summer.
A year and a half into the job Humphries was pregnant with her daughter, and moved back home to have family around her.
Calling Humphries hardworking is an understatement.
While pregnant Humphries worked three jobs: night cleaning at New World, a local kennel and on a winery bottling line. With the solo mother benefit not covering costs she went back to work shortly after Danni was born.
“I got a job lawnmowing. I would take her and put her to sleep in a cot upstairs and I would have my baby monitor under my earmuffs.”
It was at her next job she was introduced to chickens.
Owner of Terra Sancta wines and former Mediaworks chief executive Mark Weldon had 600 chickens, a few sheep and two goats. Humphries was hired to manage the eclectic mix.
Approaching two years Humphries, got an unexpected call from Royalburn manager Michelle Wallis.
“Nadia and Carlos were thinking of buying chickens. I was a bit star struck, but Carlos I went to school with. He was head boy in my year.”
A job offer was on the table to manage just 90 chickens. Keeping her grounded, Humphries’ first office would be Nadia and Carlos’s laundry.
“That was great working in the house because I got to test all her recipes. I was fine with a sausage and potato before I met Nadia.”
Three years later Royalburn has 5500 brown shavers and is looking at 7000 by the end of 2024, Free Rangers eggs are a recognised brand and the farm produces up to 4000 eggs a day.
“The sales team could sell triple what I make,” Humphries said; $11 will get you a carton.
“There’s some good days and bad days here. It is farming and then it is a high-profile farm and when they decide to do something we go hard and fast, and that can equal hard days.”
Being a poultry manager at Royalburn means perfection for Humphries.
“Chicken feed is very scientific. They must have a certain amount of nutrients, to the perfect percent. If you get it wrong you can put them off lay.”
Throw in television cameras, and the pressure heightens.
“It was very nerve-racking at the start, my lip would shake. I tried to shy away from anything like that in my life. That’s why I work with animals so I don’t have to talk to people.”
And she really does love her hens.
“I do get attached. I have named a few, but sometimes it is the same name, usually Lucy.”
