('COUNTRY CALENDAR' THEME MUSIC) - The best of New Zealand's rural heartland. Hyundai Country Calendar. - (WHISTLES) Monny, Wayleggo! (DOG BARKS) It's been awesome to be back on the farm, and always wanted to come home. - They're adding value to their wool. - That's a good-looking yoga mat, isn't it? - And looking towards the next generation. - We're blessed with this wonderful asset, but it doesn't come with any cash. - Yeah, I know. It's grown so much. It's a true family business. Captions by James Brown. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024 - Morning. - Morena. - Wayleggo. Fresh one. - Yeah, another fresh one this morning. What's the plan? - One of us will head up the ridge. Another one can go up between the block and the Nail, and we'll meet up the top saddle, I reckon. - Yep, good as gold. - Wayleggo. - It's early winter at Kaiora Downs, near Culverdon, in North Canterbury. (SHEEP BLEAT) - Wayleggo. (WHISTLES) Wayleggo. (DOGS BARK) - Jono Schwass and stock manager Josh Hickey are bringing in a mob of 750 two-tooths. - This is their winter shear. They've already started on the main ewes, so the two-tooths are coming in behind now. I think mustering is certainly the cream ` it's the best job on the property. Yeah, it's good fun getting out on the hill and working the dogs and that sort of thing. The hills aren't too bad. You can get a bike or a truck reasonably close. Yeah, a little bit of walking or leg work at the end. (DOG BARKS) Monny! - I'll grab the gate, Jono. - Stock manager Josh grew up down the road, so he knows this country well. - It's good dog work. Really good for getting young dogs going. They're not big blocks, so if you bugger up, you can get back around them and fix it up. Get in! Fred, get in. Get in! Point them in the right direction, and they move, yeah. - (WHISTLES) Wayleggo, Monny! Monny! Monny! Wayleggo, Monny! - Jono moved home recently to help run the family farm. - Monny! Wayleggo! Definitely learning from Josh. He's got a very good grasp on stock and animal husbandry. - Wayleggo, Pip! - It's quite good with the team. We all sort of bring a different skillset. - Wayleggo, Pip! - It's been awesome to be back on the farm and back on the land. Always wanted to come home, so yeah, had the opportunity nine months ago, so yeah, it's really cool. Monny. Wayleggo! Just got a beautiful landscape. Obviously growing up here, you sort of fall in love with the place a wee bit. But it's got a really good balance, with hill, and we've got some irrigated flats as well, for finishing stock. So, yeah, the balance is really good. (WHISTLES) Righty-oh. Righty-oh, Monny. Wayleggo, Monny. (WHISTLES) Wayleggo. - Good job done. - Yeah, nah, they mustered up well. - Get these home and have a cup of tea. - It's the final stretch to the yards, and Jono can take the pressure off a bit. - They run pretty freely back home, back down the laneway. Monny, get in behind. Yeah, once they get going, they're usually pretty easy. Just follow in behind them. - It hasn't been the easiest homecoming. North Canterbury is experiencing a long dry spell, and the sheep haven't had green grass since Christmas. - With the dry summer and dry autumn, the ewes certainly aren't in the condition where we'd want them to be. But I guess that's just farming, working with Mother Nature. They're tough things, though. They'll get through, and hopefully we have a good spring. Fingers crossed. - Jono's parents, Jane and Mark Schwass, bought Kaiora Downs 24 years ago, arriving here with four young children. - JANE: All we owned when we came down ` you had three dogs, and I had two horses. - MARK: It was all dairy grazing, so we didn't need to buy the stock at that stage. So that made it attractive to get in. - Cup of tea, hon? - Oh, thank you. Excellent. - Then I'll go down to the village. - OK. Thank you. - The couple transitioned the property into a sheep and cattle farm. - It's important to have several income streams. So the dairy is always very solid ` we know exactly what we're getting every week. The beef is holding in there. And the sheep has obviously crashed now, which is the worst, cos that's half our income, really, yeah. - It can be cold. 2003. - 2003. That goes back a day, doesn't it? It's changed a lot, hasn't it? We've cleared all of that scrub out of there now. - 63-year-old Mark was diagnosed with skin cancer about three years ago. And his health has recently deteriorated. - It can get cold here at times. - This has been a terrible year in lots of ways. - Yeah. (CHUCKLES) - Mark's health. The weather. And returns. You know, 25% reduction in income for sheep and beef farmers across the board. What would have been a $125 lamb is probably around $100. - Yeah, even more, possibly. - Even more. So, yeah. - With Mark unable to get out on to the farm, the others have taken on more responsibilities. - Jonathan's learning the ropes, Josh is the stock manager, and Jane's sorta the overall business-type manager, with input from me, yeah. - And thoughts have turned to succession. All four of Jane and Mark's now adult children are involved in agriculture. And the family's working with an accountant to help transfer Kaiora Downs to the next generation. - (WHISTLES) Wayleggo! Wayleggo. - MARK: A lot of people say it takes 10 years for succession planning. And so we thought we'd start early, because it's a very difficult process to work through. As long as every member of the family knows what's happening, there shouldn't be any surprises. So we just keep on talking and working our way through it. And hopefully they will all keep on talking. (CHUCKLES) - Yeah, no, we're blessed with this wonderful asset, but it doesn't come with any cash, so it's just a matter of working it out so everyone feels included, isn't it? - That's right. (SHEARERS BUZZ, DOGS BARK) - Come on. Up-up-up! - Across at the shed, the gang from Philp Shearing are hard at work. - Beautiful fleece. Absolutely beautiful. - They'll spend four days shearing the 4200 Romney crosses. - How are you boys going? Do you want us to bring the rest of this mob up? - Yeah, yeah, that would be good. - Tom Philp is using a comb lifter to leave the sheep with a bit of a winter coat. - Yeah, that's the lifter there. And it's just to protect the sheep over the wintertime in the cold, harsh weather we get around North Canterbury. - When she can, Jane likes to spend time in the shed. - How's it all going, Jono? - Yep, all going good. Peeling thru them. - How far until you finish the A's? - We've probably got another hour left on these, I'd say, and yeah, we'll probably make a start on the two-tooths. - For animal health, purposes we shear our wool six months in the year. But it's a huge cost to shear the sheep. For second shear, it's good. There's no colour in it, no dags ` that's the dry season for you. And I think it's actually probably shorter in length. - The bulk of the wool will be sold to commercial wool buyers. But a few years ago, the family came up with a new way to use their crossbred wool. - About the 10% mark we'll sell through our felted-wool yoga mat business. - The clip from each one of these sheep is enough to make a yoga mat. And the Schwass family is keen to increase their stake in the wellness industry. - At Kaiora Downs, in North Canterbury, Jane Schwass and son Jonathan are meeting with stock manager Josh Hickey to plan the day. - Morning. How we doing? - Not too bad. - That's the story. - JANE: As a rule, we meet every morning. If we don't, we put a message on our stock chat page. - We'll get those hoggets in today. We need to give 'em a crutch this afternoon too, eh? - Yep, definitely. - Do you want those beefies shifted? - Yeah, if you wanna grab them... - There's always something we need to be talking about, cos we don't always see each other a lot during the day. Sometimes we work together, but sometimes we'll just have our own agendas. - Are you gonna do the other two? - Yeah, I'll do the two kales. - 98% chance of rain, apparently, on Sunday. - That'll be nice. Not too much, though. Just enough. - Righto. Sweet as. We'll get into it. - See you about. - See you after lunch. - Yep, sounds good. - Now, don't you yap. - Jane's a keen horsewoman, and it's her favoured mode of transport when shifting stock. - I just love the freedom of ponies. I've ridden off and on most of my life, really. It's just in my DNA now. Happy place. Happy place, being on a pony. Phoebe, she's a little stock horse that I've got that I use for recreation, a bit of hunting, bit of hanging out with. - The family runs around 270 breeding cows. And Jane's heading to the back of the farm to move a small mob on to new feed. - Just shifting these cows out of these downs blocks. Because it's been so dry, normally they wouldn't be this far down. They're normally on the hill blocks. And I get to do the job, which is always a treat on the pony. (DOG BARKS) Wayleggo! (WHISTLES) - The farm is in the Hurunui District and goes from flats to rolling downs, and steeper hills and gullies. - You're all right, girls. Just about there. - About four years ago they purchased some neighbouring land, so they now farm just under 1400ha. - Blocks like this are great. It keeps the dogs fit. Coming round, girls. Coming round, girls. Cows just seem to be really relaxed with the pony. And you can just wander in behind them without any stress. - The cows haven't done too badly in the drought conditions, cleaning up the long, dry grass. - I think Josh and Jonathan are both doing a really good job of managing the feed. We've all chipped in with input. But yeah. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) - Job done, and Jane can head for home. These girls won't need to be shifted again for another week or so. Over at the shed, the shearers are still at work. But it's last season's clip that Elle Schwass is interested in. She's recently come home from overseas, and today she's off to Christchurch to collect some felted wool to turn into exercise mats. Their wool is scoured in Timaru, and then it goes to Wool Technologies for felting. This morning Elle is meeting manager Richard Beere to check on progress. - Here's your latest scourment. 50% of it has been dyed your mint green. - Oh, yeah? - And the other 50% is just straight scoured wool there. - Yeah, the colour's coming out really amazing at the moment. It's got a nice marble to it. - It's had one blending into a conditioning bin. And now we're gonna take it through one, two more hoppers. - The Schwass family came up with the idea to use their own wool for exercise mats during the COVID lockdown. The hardest part was finding someone local to do the felting. - Small-scale felting projects aren't very profitable for guys like this. So I think we'd probably be the smallest operator that is in here. But, yeah, we're really grateful. - So, Elle, it's amazing the depth of wool we've got here, which is 15 cross laps across there. And just what this needle punch machine does, with the oscillating up and down there, we transform it into this 10mm yoga mat. - Yeah, it looks incredible when it comes out, doesn't it? - It was a process of trial and error to come up with a colour and a density they were happy with. - You want to obviously consolidate it down to a medium that's hard-wearing, but also you want to retain a little bit of the cushioning side of things there. So that's the comfort factor. - Oh, incredible. That's a good-looking yoga mat, isn't it? That's the perfect texture, exactly what we're chasing. - The Schwasses are keen for more of their wool to come here. - Six months' shearing does actually give rise to the ideal length for this type of non-woven machinery. We would like to place more of their own wool into a range of different products. - Oh, they look wonderful. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) Meanwhile, some horse trekking guests have arrived at the farm. They'll stay in the whare before riding tomorrow. (BIRDSONG) (GENTLE MUSIC) (HORSE SNORTS) - Jane Schwass enjoys sharing the family farm with others. - Morning. - Oh, good morning. - Hi. I'm Jane. - Hi, Jane. - A few years ago they opened up Kaiora Downs, near Culverden, to horse trekkers. - That sounds good. This would probably be a good trip. And you'll look back across to Hamner. So you'll get some good old vistas of the Amuri Basin. - Cool. - Girls, have a great ride. I'll see you back at home base. - Wonderful. Thank you. - Depending on farming activities, the riders are free to roam over the property. But most stick to the marked tracks. - I think it's lovely for people to have the experience. - Good girl. Wow, it's beautiful. - People just love to be away, just to be in the country. And I love it. I love that interface between rural and urban. Yeah, people seeing that farmers do actually look after the land. It gives them a snapshot of how farming works, I suppose. - Back near the homestead, the family's latest venture needs attention. - Chilly morning. - Today Elle Schwass is getting help from sisters Monica and Louise to put the finishing touches on their woollen yoga mats. - Right, pop those ones over here. - These look nice. - Yeah. - Shall I make up some boxes for the orders? - Wool comes with a few grass heads and seeds and things that the sheep have picked up out in the hills. So, yeah, after the wool gets washed, some of it stays in the wool. And we just want to make sure there's no prickly bits for anyone, especially if you're practising yoga on it. (TRIMMER WHIRRS) We cut the corners off, apply a bit of natural latex on the back. And then we stitch a label on, roll them up, and they're ready to go. - Low wool prices prompted the family to come up with the product. - We've had great feedback from people that do Pilates about the warmth and the comfort of the woollen mat. - It's usually Elle and mum Jane who look after the mat business. Louise and Monica are based in Christchurch but help out when they can. - All of us have sort of had stages in between things when we've been really involved. And then now Eleanor's come home and really taken it on with both hands and got it rolling. - I love yoga, I love wool, so it was just a really good fit, I think. - As well as providing a new income stream, the family loves the fact it's a sustainable product. - That's a big part of our ethos, is that the wool not only comes from the land, once it's done, it's biodegradable, and it can go back to the land. So at the end of its life, you could use it as mulch around native trees or any kind of planting. So it's, like, a full product. - And if you're not into yoga, they have other products, too. - We're really into boot liners. That's a big part of our business now too. A Red Band boot liner. But people use them for their slippers. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) - The Schwasses are hoping to grow production of Kaiora Downs mats. But keeping a diverse farming business is key. And dairy grazing provides a steady income. - JONO: Dairy grazing sorta fits in quite well with our system. We've usually got our ewes and cows out on the hills, so the dairy grazers occupy the more productive land through the winter. And they're great for cashflow. Just feeding a bit of hay to these girls. It's a good supplement for them. The fibre's good for their gut and helps balance their diet. - The dairy cows come to Kaiora Downs as calves and leave when they're just under 2 years old. - These girls are just from down the road, so they're pretty handy to the place. We take them right through till they go milking, as 2s. These are only a month or two away from going on to the milking platform. Just letting the girls on to their kale break for the day, give 'em their morning tucker. - Jono's been bringing in some more regenerative farming practices since he's been home and has introduced fava beans and vetch to the kale crop. - My last job was working as an agronomist, but with a focus on soil health. So just looking at natural systems, a natural way of doing things. It's looking good. The cattle seem to love it. They'll chew up all this leaf first. And they'll often go for the beans and the vetch, that high-protein mix for a start. You can see, we have no chemical on it. The pest pressure's relatively low, so really happy with that. Pretty lucky, with Dad, he's pretty forward-thinking and pretty open to new ideas. He quite likes the idea of a diverse mix. Even though the farming climate is pretty tough this year, with the drought and commodity prices, the way Dad set it up, we're in good stead going forward, so yeah, that's really cool. - Everyone's keen to ensure a solid future for Kaiora Downs. A favourite family spot is this 1.5ha native block they started planting around 17 years ago. - Do you want your possum dog? - Yeah, take the possum dog. - Find. Good boy. - Those pittosporums have come away, haven't they? - Yeah, I know. They've grown so much. To just have this place on the farm that we all feel is so special and we can come to, and it's obviously full of native trees, and now native birds are coming back, yeah, it's just a really special place to have as a family that we can all hang out. - All the siblings are involved in the succession planning. - Everyone feels so connected to the farm, and we all just think it's really important to look after this land. - Obviously Dad being ill, it's sort of... it's really shit. But in some ways, it's really brought us together. You know, we're all at home, all kind of wrapping around each other. Yeah, I think that's been a silver lining amongst a very tough time. - That's the last piece of the day. - JANE: We never had an expectation of any children wanting to do farming when they were growing up. That was our bag. That's what we chose to do. But it turns out they have, so that's pretty cool. - That's exciting to see ` the next generation coming on and picking up where we've got to, and taking it further. - MONICA: Reflecting back, Mum and Dad coming down here to Culverden with four young kids, it's through their hard work that's really set us up with opportunities. We've got Jono working here full-time now, Elle working on the yoga mats, myself and Will looking to come home in the next couple of years. And it's really through Mum and Dad's hard work that's created those opportunities for us, which is so special. (POIGNANT PIANO MUSIC) Next time ` - It is a game changer for the industry. It was certainly a game changer for our company. - It's a new way of farming oysters. - This has a basket, it has a float on the top, and then it has an axle through the middle here. - And it's changing the industry here and around the world. - I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved. - That's next time on Hyundai Country Calendar.