{"id":68520,"date":"2023-07-31T10:40:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-30T22:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/?p=68520"},"modified":"2023-07-31T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2023-07-30T22:40:15","slug":"living-better-through-farming-smarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/people\/living-better-through-farming-smarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Living better through farming smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Ngatai Luke runs a successful liveweight gain cattle business and works closely with farmers throughout the North Island. Some are old hands, some completely new to farming. The business has grown into a significant enterprise with more than 12,000 stock spread across 15 farms.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says the firm measures success according to two metrics. The first is lifting the bottom line for the farms involved in terms of dollars per hectare. The second is more surprising: ensuring its farmers enjoy a work-life balance that would be the envy of many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was talking to one of our farmers recently and he said, \u2018I don\u2019t have a lot to do at the moment, I\u2019m looking for more work.\u2019 I said, \u2018Mate, you\u2019ve already got plenty to do, you\u2019ve got a family, go and have a holiday.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a philosophy that\u2019s striking a chord in the communities he visits, Luke says. \u201cEveryone talks about farming being a great lifestyle, but so many farmers struggle to achieve that. We believe that you can<\/em> have both. You can still run a highly productive and profitable farming system but you achieve that by working smarter not harder. Our business is bringing farming back to lifestyle. We are not about being busy, we are about being productive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says the key to this is the company\u2019s stock policy. \u201cYou can only control the controllables in farming and that\u2019s why we focus on what we can do well, which is put weight on animals, but we do it in a way that\u2019s good for the people too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke says shifting the mindset of people used to long hours and little time off can be challenging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMistaking busyness for achievement is a habit that even I\u2019ve had to train myself out of. But if one of our team is getting too busy we tell them it\u2019s time to stop and reset, because something ain\u2019t right. Either you\u2019re not being smart enough or there\u2019s ego getting involved and you\u2019re not involving others in the team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He acknowledges that long hours are \u2018a badge of honour\u2019 for many in the industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all know farmers who want to show the world who they are by how many hours they\u2019ll work and if you don\u2019t work those hours then you\u2019re being slack. That\u2019s a strong part of the farming blueprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018We focus on what we can do well, which is put weight on animals, but we do it in a way that\u2019s good for the people too,\u2019 Ngatai Luke says.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that attitude comes at a cost, he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe wheel doesn\u2019t spin right for long if you\u2019re always at work. After a while, everything else tends to start falling around you, because that\u2019s a pretty unbalanced wheel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to look after yourself before you look after your farm or others. Your own physical and emotional health are crucial for running any business.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke is convinced the biggest influence over people\u2019s wellbeing on farm is having a genuine sense of purpose and he\u2019s made this a major focus of the business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs humans, our biggest drivers are our values and beliefs. These are often shaped when we\u2019re young so as we grow older, it\u2019s important to revisit them and challenge ourselves because this is what shapes our decisions at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing we ask people who come and work with us is \u2018What are your goals? Family wise? Health wise? Professionally?\u2019 And nine times out of ten, they don\u2019t have any. So that\u2019s where we start. Rather than people saying, \u2018This is where I get my next buck from and that should keep me alive for another month\u2019, we want people going, \u2018Right this is what I\u2019m actually trying to achieve and that\u2019s what fills me up.\u2019 We are trying to create a values-driven farming community of positive, likeminded people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke recently got in touch with the Farmstrong team and has been distributing its resources through his networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really like Farmstrong\u2019s proactive approach. We need to start thinking about mental health much more as mental fitness because the stresses of farming are always going to be there. So the real question becomes: \u2018Are you mentally fit right now?\u2019 As humans, we can usually tell whether we are or not. And if we decide, \u2018I\u2019m feeling a bit unfit\u2019, then that\u2019s okay, it\u2019s just a matter of asking \u2018What can we do about it? What skills do we have in our toolkit to help and let\u2019s get on with it?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about his own wellbeing? After all, these days  Luke sounds … busy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right, I\u2019m not a man of excuses,\u201d he laughs, \u201cbut we\u2019ve experienced substantial growth over the last year. Prior to that, it was five years of going to the gym three times a week and I was doing a bit of boxing there too. Nowadays, it\u2019s a 15-minute walk in the morning but I also coach my son\u2019s rugby team twice a week and go to the game on Saturday. That\u2019s what I do on the physical side. Mentally I\u2019m always reading something I find positive and motivating for at least an hour a day because that\u2019s what fills me up. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke also places great store on taking time to appreciate life, especially when the going gets tough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe science tells us that the human mind is amazingly effective at magnifying the worst things all the time and making the best things seem so small. So you need to consciously counter that, especially when you\u2019re farming.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor example, one of our farms in the Wairarapa floods quite a bit, but rather than get down about it all, we\u2019ll get round a whiteboard, set out the challenge for what it is, but then look at the good stuff too. How are the people doing there? How are their kids doing? What have they got planned for the future? And all of a sudden it\u2019s a different picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLife\u2019s still pretty good actually. That\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about, despite the challenges in farming there\u2019s always another perspective. It\u2019s yin and yang. That\u2019s what juices me. That\u2019s what keeps me going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE: Farmstrong is a nationwide, rural wellbeing programme for farmers and growers. To find out what works for you and \u2018lock it in\u2019, visit www.farmstrong.co.nz<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A good work-life balance is one of the metrics this farming business measures itself by.\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":68521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[129,102],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t