Bowing out of meat industry on a high
Former All Black Leicester Rutledge talks to Diane Bishop about his life in the red meat industry and how rugby continues to be a big part of his life.
The current high returns for lamb are putting a smile on Leicester Rutledge’s face.
If ever there was a good time to bow out of the red meat industry it’s now for the recently-retired Silver Fern Farms livestock drafter.
‘’I’ve never seen lamb prices looking so healthy. Beef and venison are looking pretty good too – to have the three sectors doing so well is great,’’ Rutledge said.
Rutledge has been involved in the meat industry, in one form or another, for more than 30 years.
He’s witnessed the ups and downs of the meat industry including the collapse of ill-fated company Fortex.
Rutledge has lived in the Invercargill suburb of Waikiwi with wife Judith for the past 18 years and his three sons and their families all live nearby.
He first came to Southland from Canterbury in the late 1960s in a ‘’beat up’’ car with his sheep dog Glen.
‘’I was almost 16, it was quite an adventure really.’’
Rutledge got a job on a Waianiwa sheep farm where he met a young lady named Judith and eventually married her.
He joined the local rugby club and started playing for Wrights Bush and in 1978 he was selected to play for the All Blacks.
That year he took up a position as a junior stock agent with JE Watson & Co and worked his way up to livestock manager before the company was bought by Elders Australia in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s he started working for meat company Fortex as Southland livestock coordinator. ‘’I was there through the collapse. ‘’It was a dreadful time – a lot of my farmer clients and friends didn’t get paid and it was an extremely stressful time for all.’’ After the demise of Fortex Rutledge’s work took him in a different direction and he got a job with DB Breweries doing sporting contracts. Rugby has been a big part of the burly 66-year-old’s life. He not only played for the All Blacks from 1978 to 1980, but he also coached the Italian rugby team with John Kirwan for two years while living in Venice. Rutledge’s job with DB Breweries gave him a taste of the hotel industry and he and Judith bought Winton’s Bottom Pub which they ran for three years. ‘’It was something we always wanted to do.’’
Rutledge, who lived in Dunedin while managing the Highlanders for two years, was offered a job as a livestock drafter with Silver Fern Farms in 2012.
‘’They said they had a job going and asked if I would be keen.’’
Rutledge loved his work drafting stock in southern Southland – an area he describes as the ‘’last frontier.
‘’It’s a great part of Southland and I had many wonderful clients to work for.’’
The biggest changes he’s seen over the years is the lift in the average lamb weights from 14kg to almost 18kg carcass weight, which he described as a ‘’damn good animal’’.
Rutledge said it was great to see the red meat industry in such good heart.
‘’I’ve never seen anything like this.
‘’It’s taken a long time to get red meat on the top shelf – I think farmers can look forward to a great season.’’
Rutledge, who retired only a month ago, said he didn’t want to still be drafting lambs when he was 90.
‘’It’s time to do something for myself – to write a new chapter.’’
While wife Judith has had him planting trees in their garden, you can be sure that ‘something’ will include rugby.
‘’Rugby has been very good to me – I have some great memories.’’
With nine grandchildren, you can be sure Rutledge will be watching and critiquing many Saturday games from the sidelines.
He has also been actively involved in promoting the bowel cancer screening programme in Southland.
While he hasn’t had bowel cancer he was diagnosed with an aggressive thyroid cancer three years ago.
‘’I had no symptoms at all – it was picked up in a routine blood test.’’
Now in remission, he’s thankful it was caught early and he encourages people to take the test that detects bowel cancer.