Murray Isbister is still looking after lambs over the summer holidays.
Mr Isbister has managed Fraser Farm, on the school’s grounds, for the past decade in a voluntary role and is on site working seven days a week.
He said he initially told the school he would help out for six weeks — and then just never left.
"I said I’d do it through the holidays until they came back and they’d get somebody else. But they haven’t found that somebody else yet."
The farm was about 8ha and during the school year its 125 sheep usually produced about 200 lambs, he said.
Calves were reared at the farm and there were some hens too, he said.
Students from the school’s agriculture classes helped him out during the week and the boarders gave a helping hand on the weekends.
"It’s the interactions with the kids that is probably the highlight, really.
"I enjoy it, I enjoy the kids, I enjoy the humour and it’s good to see some kids excelling at something that makes them feel really good."
The students also benefited as the hands-on experience looked good on their CVs once they finished school.
"It’s amazing the boys that get jobs because they’ve had that bit of experience."
Mr Isbister is an old boy of the school and has had three of his grandchildren graduate. The youngest is still attending.
He said he tried to run the farm as commercially as possible, with any profits going back into the school.
Fraser Farm received many donations from the local rural community, for which he was very thankful. 0
"If it wasn’t for the sponsors, we probably wouldn’t make much profit."
