We ask a farmer five quick questions about farming, and what agriculture means to them. Today we talk to Andrew Mason.

1. What did your journey into farming look like?

I grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Okuku managed by my parents helping them run their own farm up the road at nights and in the weekends.

The economically and climatically difficult 1980’s were a real feature of this upbringing even today still reminding me how difficult farming can be at times.

After leaving school I went high country mustering for a few years where I really lived the dream with a big team of dogs and covered a lot of country from Marlborough, down to South Canterbury and the Mackenzie Country, Lakes Wanaka & Hawea and through to Queenstown.

I still look back on those days as having some of the best job satisfaction I’ve ever had though in my early twenties while considering a couple of managers jobs I came to the realisation that the ladder I was on had no more rungs to farm ownership on it so turning them both down and with no plan I moved into town seeking somehow to make enough money to buy a farm.

My first job was selling residential real estate which I did for a couple of months despite knowing it wasn’t for me by Wednesday in the first week and then moved into selling commercial real estate for the next 13 years where I had the great fortune of making many lifelong friends and contacts, many of whom I have had the privilege of now working, investing and partnering with for over 30 years.

I felt privileged working with and under some pretty clever and decent people which still defines me today.

Despite what I considered real estate’s “golden handcuffs” in 2005 I left selling real estate and went out investing on my own aided by at that time a small portfolio of properties I had purchased throughout the previous decade in real estate leveraged against my income.

In addition to managing these properties I became involved with a number of former clients in a number of larger scale predominantly land based developments in both executive or governance positions.

At this time Angie was working in the corporate field and whilst not from a farming background was bought up on a lifestyle block on the edge of Christchurch with an obsession with horses.

She gravitated naturally to clients in the rural sector in her corporate career and would dream of living in the country surrounded by horses and open spaces.

As so often happens kids, life and working out of our family’s home in Merivale and Angie’ business in town became the focus rather than making the change to sell it all and go farming, not helped by the healthy respect I had on farming’s financial viability!

That was until Angie and I drove past Amberley House and its auction sign one Saturday afternoon coming home from the Hawarden Show.

Angie wouldn’t let it go and the stirrings of being a country boy again were rekindled by her constant prompting.

Some weeks later we turned up at the auction totally unprepared having looked at the house in the dark the night before and the rest they say is history but spare a thought for the seven kids that we uprooted from Merivale and plonked a mile out of Amberley up a kilometre long shingle drive.

2. Tell us a little bit about your farming operation?

Having now moved ourselves to Amberley Angie & I set about establishing the farming operation, initially with sport horses, then cattle following the purchase of St Leonards Station out the back of Culverden three years later and a neighbouring purchase to triple Amberley House’s farm size to accommodate young stock from the growing cattle operation out of St Leonards.

Today the combined farms of around 1000 ha see 450 cows out to the bull and we winter 150 younger cattle.  In addition Amberley Houses’ sport horse stud of breeding mares and younger stock together with up to ten foals a year creates a herd that at times reaches over 50 horses as well as selling breeding services to our stallions, predominantly Remi Lion King.

3. What challenges have you faced in your farming business, and how have you tackled those challenges?

Putting together a farming operation that was never part of a previously operating unit has come with its own challenges and rewards.

The challenges of finding stock levels, rotations and things that work have given great satisfaction as we’ve bedded them down as has the progress made in developing the properties.

Tasks that once seemed daunting were all picked away at and with time has came the satisfaction of their achievement and the enjoyment of their fruits.

In the Sport Horse side it’s very time consuming breeding just one horse and a whole host of factors come into play to produce a single horse to competition stage. It can be both heart breaking and rewarding industry!

4. What has been a major highlight for you in your farming journey?

For me it’s personally satisfying being a “sheep and beef” farmer - just like that kid growing up always wanted to be (albeit with only a mob of sheep kept for the house).

The job satisfaction this vocation gives is right up there and some days at the office have one hell of a view.

Other great aspects of the job are that Angie and I can run the farms together; Angie is more involved in the day to day sport horse side and I the cattle operation but we are able to both help each other out with our operations during busy times.

The other great aspect is the relationship I have with my head shepherd, my father David Mason.

Shortly turning 79 Dad takes a beat on the hill with me most weeks with his team of dogs and still insists on jumping into the race & spending all day marking all the front country calves in December, normally around 80 odd, and camping out with us for the week in the musterers’ hut out back when we mark the back country calves.

Weaning can become a bit of a marathon when we bring up to 800 head of cattle over the range and hold them in pens for a week for weaning, TB testing, health treatments and culling etc and despite 7-10 days of early starts and late finishes Dad’s always first into the truck.

After almost 70 years of farming there’s not much he hasn’t seen but he’s become pretty excited recently seeing some of the genetic breeding initiatives now becoming available to us.

We are proud of of our stock we are breeding both cattle and horses and we have started to see the young horses we have bred out and about doing well for their new owners which is a thrill.

5. What advice would you have for the next generation of farmers?

A journey into farming without a family farm succession plan offering a viable pathway is not an easy one to map out.

Sadly this is never more so than attempting to do it from within the industry which has led to increasing labour constraints as many likely employees see the writing on the wall and take a different career and make a life in another industry, a real loss to New Zealand  and New Zealand's  farming’s future.

We all owe it to the next generation to look out for talent when we see it and promote and look after these talented and hardworking young men and women when we come across them.

As told to Claire Inkson