South Otago sheep and beef traders Chris and Lisa Watt are about to realise a long-held dream of farm ownership. They talk to Shawn McAvinue about meeting in a shearing shed and their hard work including trading livestock, crutching sheep and renting tourist accommodation to reach their goal.
South Otago couple Chris and Lisa Watt are busy, seven days a week.
The couple met in a woolshed and have been identifying business opportunities to realise a dream of buying a 200ha farm near Owaka, without any assistance from their families, Mrs Watt said.
"We’ve done it ourselves, using good old-fashioned hard work, savings and good money management."
They would own the farm, including a "beautiful house", in late November, leasing it until then.
Consequently, the couple were cleaning and packing after listing their 25ha lifestyle block in Romahapa they had called home for the past decade.
They were looking forward to living on a bigger block where they could run livestock, other than horses and chickens, as it would reduce travel time to check on them.
The couple have held an annual store lamb sale at Balclutha Saleyards for the past three years.
"It has been quite a hit. People come from everywhere for the Kaka Downs lamb sale."
Each sale had been bigger than the one before, growing from offering 3000 lambs at the inaugural sale in 2023 to offering 7000 lambs this year.
The lambs were trucked to the saleyards from four blocks they lease, about 500ha, between Milton and Owaka.
Friends helped get the lambs on the trucks at each block.
"We have good friends but it goes both ways, you all chip in when it is busy."
A working bee often finished with a social event, Mr Watt said.
The couple had bought about 20,000 lambs and 1400 15-month-old beef cattle and 300 Friesian bull calves since October last year.
Their business model was different from a traditional sheep and beef farm, as they were solely trading livestock rather than breeding any.
Lambs were killed in February and about the same time more lambs were bought to be sold in May.
"We are not doing anything special, just keeping it simple," he said.
Selling the lambs a few months after buying them reduced risk, as the market was easier to read and there were usually not any major price fluctuations.
Some smaller lambs were bought in winter and were shorn and taken through to slaughter in October or November. Livestock were bought at saleyards from Temuka south, usually through an agent.
Price was the biggest factor in any buying decisions, he said.
Often the small sheep were some of the ugliest on offer but they looked better after being drenched, dipped and shorn.
A couple of shearers were employed and both of the Watts helped harvest the wool to keep costs down.
Shearing made them look tidier and got them eating more and putting on weight.
"We give them plenty of room — a bit of scope is key."
Most of the lambs at the sale were bought by Canterbury farmers seeking healthy, shorn lambs to eat winter crops. The Watts bought livestock at any time if the price was right.
Five truckloads of lambs were brought down from the North Island in December last year, due to farmers who were battling dry conditions off-loading their livestock.
If required, the Watts sent livestock away for winter grazing so there was no need for winter crops in their system.
By removing cattle from the system in summer, it made farming easier while they got busy with another "nice wee side-hustle", their sheep dagging business Wattie’s Crutching and Weighing, she said.
They crutched about 90,000 sheep annually. The crutching business complements the wider business operation.
Mr Watt said higher demand for sheep and beef had increased prices at sales.
"That could be the new normal price with all the trees going in," Mr Watt said.
The trading side of the business works best when sheep and beef prices were lower because the business had to spend less money to replace livestock.
Any money borrowed to buy livestock accrues interest, he said.
Mrs Watt said their current livestock trading operation would continue when they were farm owners, as a margin could be made if commodity prices were up or down.
"It seems to work for us — if it ain’t broke don’t fix it ... we’ll keep doing what we are doing until we’ve had enough."
Mr Watt said trading livestock, rather than breeding it, was better way to provide cashflow in a business.
"A breeding ewe does nothing for 11 months of the year."
Mr Watt was born and raised in South Otago and Mrs Watt (nee Jackson) hails from Canterbury.
The pair met in a woolshed in South Otago about 15 years ago.
He was shearing and she was woolhandling and "the rest, they say, is history", Mrs Watt smiled.
They got married about 13 years ago.
The current set-up of multiple-lease blocks served its purpose but it would be simpler to graze lambs on one large block.
"We are working on it," Mrs Watt said.
The path to farm ownership had been hard but each buying property when they were young had helped.
After getting married, they pooled their resources, knuckling down to strategically save money and "smash debt" to convince their bank to give them finance to buy a farm.
"We got a yes from the bank after 13 years." she said.
They were looking for more land to lease in South Otago, as there was potential to offer more lambs at their sale next year.
More land and a larger sale would mean more work "but that doesn’t worry us".
By offering more lambs, more buyers would come to the sale, he said.
"You’ve got to have a bit of scale," he said.
They had considered holding a cattle sale on farm but some beasts were needed to eat grass at certain times, so it suited their system better to get agents to sell them in staggered intervals but before a drought hit.
"There’s always a drought somewhere in South Otago."
It was easier to sell livestock when grass was available, rather than it being dry and farmers hoping for rain.
Business learnings include losing money after buying in-lamb ewes.
"We lost a bit of coin on them ... we have learned over the years. It hasn’t always been beer and skittles."
Another business interest was accommodation for tourists in Kaka Point and Te Anau, Mrs Watt said.
"That’s my wee side-hustle if I’m not doing the wifey jobs on farm of drenching and pushing up livestock."
They had been providing accommodation for tourists in a house in Te Anau and two studio units at Kaka Point Luxury Spa Accommodation, since about 10 years ago.
Their Kaka Point accommodation was a mortgagee sale and they bought the property "sight unseen".
The waterfront property featured some land and they aspired to build more units one day.
Mrs Watt had had travelled extensively and had worked in the tourism sector including the iSite in Balclutha.
The accommodation arm of their business was financially stable and was used as equity to buy their farm.
Diversification allowed them to spread the risk in their business, he said.
"You’ve got to spread your wings a bit."
Sometimes, when the house in Te Anau needs attention, Mrs Watt travels by air to Manapouri.
"She flies over to do the cleaning — she’s the pilot," Mr Watt laughs.
She got her full pilot’s license about four years ago and rents aircraft across the South.
"I love flying and we might pop over for a coffee in Mandeville. Chris loves being a passenger princess," Mrs Watt laughs.
"It’s all care and no responsibility," Mr Watt said.
