It's not a silly idea to breed your own workforce.
Not that Grant and Loryn Stewart ever pushed their offspring into joining Stewart Logging, but as their three children reached the appropriate age, they headed for the forest.
There might be plenty of good-natured banter in this close-knit whānau, which works out of Berwick, but they acknowledge it is special to be part of a family-owned business.
At 64, Grant Stewart is still the boss, working with his wife Loryn, their three children Matt (34), Dan (31) and Alyse (30), and nephew Shane Stewart.
His only regret is that he did not join the forestry industry earlier; when he left school at 16, he followed his father and grandfather into the butchery trade in Dunedin.
It was later when he was working as a contract boner at the freezing works that he met his future wife when she was working there during university holidays.
In the offseason, he did random jobs — from building and roofing to bricklaying — and it was while he was working with a friend, Lloyd Gunion, who was contract pruning, that he discovered he enjoyed the work, particularly the physicality.
Returning to the works when the season resumed, he lasted one day before he told his supervisor he could not do it any more. It was a boring job and he felt like a battery hen, he recalled.
He went home and rang Mr Gunion and asked if there was a job available. He was with him for two years before Loryn’s step-brother Peter Saunders asked if he wanted a job logging and sent him to Frank Carran for training.
Fit from silviculture, he found the work not that hard and he could ‘‘nut things out’’. He was there for about 14 years.
‘‘It was just like owning a corner dairy: it was simple; everything made sense,’’ he said. ‘‘He just had an eye for it,’’ his wife added.
Grant later worked for Wenita as a forestry trainer and doing maintenance work, which he reckoned was one of the best jobs he had, before managing a hauler crew.
In 2007, he went out on his own and started logging for Wenita, having bought a hauler from Tasmania, some other machines locally and getting a crew together.
That was not difficult as he was known to people. Several good mates worked for him, as well as his nephew, and then also his own children.
It was initially a little tricky working with his children and being both their father and boss but once they they differentiated between ‘‘dad at home and dad’s the boss at work’’ things gelled, his daughter Alyse Mansell said.
A change in how logging was done did not suit their operation and the whole family — including nephew Shane — moved with the business to the Gisborne region about 2013 where they remained for a decade.
Up there, the family literally lived, worked and played together and, in 2014, they won awards for forestry family of the year and for outstanding environmental management in the Eastland Forestry Awards.
When their children eventually wanted to return south, Grant phoned Wenita, with whom he had a good relationship, and asked about work, particularly given Matt was keen to take the business on and some certainty was needed.
They left the East Coast just prior to the devastating impact of Cyclone Gabrielle, travelling in a convoy back to Otago having learned a lot and done very well.
Stewart Logging has a mechanised hauler crew of about 10, meaning everyone is in a machine; it is Wenita’s only pole hauler crew.
While Grant admitted he was trying to slow down, full retirement was not really an option because he still enjoyed his work. ‘‘I like getting up out of bed and going to work,’’ he said.
Asked the biggest changes they had seen in the industry, Grant and Loryn cited environmental aspects, health and safety which had ‘‘just gone ballistic’’ — and mechanisation which had ‘‘gone ahead in leaps and bounds’’.
While Loryn had done the administration since the inception of the business, Matt now did the bulk of the health and safety work and had designed Stewart Logging’s health and safety system.
Last year, Matt received the health and safety award at the Southern Wood Council’s forestry awards and won Wenita’s own harvesting health and safety person of the year.
The environment was something that Grant felt very strongly about, particularly how sites and waterways were left, and that was something he had passed on to his children.
While up north, he came across three falcon chicks and pulled the heavy machinery out of the area until the chicks had fledged. Now his crew picked up on that pride in the job, using a wheelie-bin on site for any rubbish.
‘‘Grant is quite meticulous about how the job is done,’’ Loryn said.
Grant described forestry as a great industry for young people: ‘‘you get a lot out of it. It’s really good to get up early in the morning, do your job, go home and feel you’ve achieved something,’’ he said.
Wenita was a good company to work for, with good people, and while he was keen to do some more hunting and fishing, he was not ready to hang up his hard hat yet.
Plus, there was the bonus that came with working with family. When his children were growing up, he hardly saw them as he was always working. ‘‘Now I just go to work and they are with me every day and it’s good.’’
‘‘He’s the kid that’s got too many toys in the sandpit,’’ his daughter laughed fondly.
Dan, who had no idea what he wanted to do when he was at school, went straight into the forest. He had several stints away doing random jobs, in Canada and Australia, before returning to the logging business. Forestry afforded a good income and lifestyle and it was something that came naturally to him, he said.
A keen hunting enthusiast, he started a YouTube channel called Hunting Hooves last year which documented his hunting adventures, often accompanied by his father.
Grant Stewart paid tribute to his wife, saying the success of the business had been a team effort while Loryn said they complemented each other and it worked very well. Both agreed it had been good to be able to help their children get ahead.
