Couple hang up gumboots
After three decades of farming at the foot of the Kaimai Range, Alan and Hilary Bland have sold up and are moving into Matamata.
Mr Bland has farmed dry stock on his 28-hectare property in Te Poi for the past 20 years and last Monday made his final sale at the Matamata Saleyards.
The couple had produced 100 prime beef bullocks each year, with every animal between 600kg and 700kg liveweight.
‘‘In the past two years they seem to have got bigger and stronger as I have got smaller and weaker, so it’s time to go,’’ said Mr Bland, who turns 75 on April Fools’ Day.
‘‘We will miss it . . . but time moves on.’’
Originally from the United Kingdom, Mr Bland came to New Zealand in 1960, followed by Mrs Bland a year later.
‘‘I phoned Hilary and the telephone system was dreadful in those days and I shouted down the line asking her to marry me and her reply was, ‘It’s raining here too!’
‘‘Anyway, she came here and we were married in Dunedin in 1961.’’ They raised a family and consider themselves typical New Zealanders, with just a touch of an accent.
‘‘We are Kiwis – with a certificate to prove it,’’ Mr Bland said.
Mr Bland started his career as a stock agent for WrightStephensons (now PGG Wrightson) in Cromwell and was later promoted to a manager’s position in Waihi.
After 10 years with the company, he left to join the Tokoroa Farm Improvement Club as an adviser to farmers in Putaruru and Tokoroa.
He counselled on everything from growing more grass and getting more milk out of cows to keeping the banks at bay.
‘‘It was a great job, working with both the individual farmers and also supervising large properties, especially Maori farming trusts, and for 20 years the Hodderville Salvation Army dairy farms.’’
Mrs Bland was a supervisor at Te Poi Playcentre and said it was lovely to now see those ‘‘little toddlers’’ with families of their own.
In 1984, the Blands bought the property at Te Poi and were grazing dairy heifers before converting to their own beef farm.
‘‘I felt I couldn’t afford to make a mess of it because the farmers would be looking to see how their adviser was doing,’’ said Mr Bland.
‘‘The butchers and buyers have always been happy with what they got, so no complaints really.’’
Mr Bland said Elders and Ron James deserved a lot of credit for building the Matamata Saleyards in 2009.
‘‘The trend was to go to Frankton . . . all the smaller rural saleyards had closed,’’ he said.
‘‘They built it and it’s very well patronised. I have been very happy with the service.’’
You could find Mr Bland at the salesyard every week, even if his stock weren’t up for sale.
‘‘You have to keep up with it,’’ he said.
No doubt he will still patronise the yards every now and then, if he’s not too busy playing ‘‘increasingly erratic’’ golf.
He also volunteers with a few friends at the Maungatautari Reserve for several days a month.
The couple are looking forward to moving into town with their ‘‘young and irresponsible’’ beardie pup Buster and their ‘‘old and faithful’’ farm dog Tip.
They made sure to find a house with extensive views of the Kaimais, so they should feel right at home.