It’s a testing time; long days with physically demanding work fit in around the daily running of the farm.
But they are making their way through, trying to be organised by the end of the week to get some much needed time off during the weekend.
The couple, who have three children — daughters Tayla (22) and Leah (17) and son Alex (15) — are in a 50:50 equity partnership farming at Kokura Farm in Mid Canterbury.
Along with Chris (43) and Jodi (45), there are an additional three full-time, and one part-time, staff working on farm.
Chris’ parents, Donald and Cheryl also live on farm, and Donald often helps out.
The Fords supply Synlait, milking 930 crossbred cows, from 217ha (effective) using what Chris describes as the oldest 50 bail rotary in the district.
It may have been built in 1978, but has had technology added, and is now a fully automated shed able to be manned by one person. They milk twice a day. There is also a 75ha run-off block used for young stock and wintering young cows.
On farm they also have chooks, sheep, pigs and a goat.
The couple started on farm as 50:50 sharemilkers about 2013 but, two years later, the chance to go into an equity partnership came up.
It was an “awesome opportunity”, Chris said, and they made it work for both parties involved.
“You’ve got to look outside the square and take opportunities when they come up.”
It’s a mantra he lives by when his name was put in the hat for Federated Farmers early in his dairy farming career.
Chris grew up in Reporoa, on the North Island’s central plateau, halfway between Rotorua and Taupo.
His first dairy farm job was on a kiwifruit and avocado farm in Te Puke, milking 350 cows.
He met Jodi, a qualified chef and townie, on a night out more than 20 years ago.
They were both out with friends, hit it off and the rest, as they say, is history.
Jodi left her job and took up farming alongside Chris before they moved on to a property as low order sharemilkers at Whakatane.
“I love it. I would never go back to the city,” she said.
Chris and Jodi complement each other on the farm working a staggered work day that starts at 5am. She also works the office and he manages the people, which includes taking on Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) to experience different cultures and open their home, and dairy farm, to others.
Chris enjoys jetboating, playing squash and has a fascination with growing hot chillies with names like ghost, yellow devil, kraken and Carolina reaper.
Dairy farming for Jodi allows her to work outside, helping animals, and she likes the flexibility it offers to raise a family. They were able to be there for the children before and after school, and get time away when needed.
It was while farming at Whakatane that they entered the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards and came away with a couple of awards, including the leadership award. It saw Chris tapped on the shoulder to take on the Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty sharemilkers chairman role.
He did it for four years before they moved to a farm at Hinds, in Mid Canterbury around 2007.
“We were very lucky to work for some great mentors especially in the North Island when we were growing our business,” he said.
It spurred him on to becoming a mentor to his staff and others in the community.
Chris’s only regret was they had not moved to the South Island sooner, “when land prices were cheaper”.
In his role as Federated Farmers Mid Canterbury dairy sector chairman, which he has filled for the past three years, Chris enjoys helping people and having influence over policy work with government.
“Mentor roles, that’s my passion. That’s my buzz to really help people and mentor them,” he said.
Chris and Jodi have been working with Ministry of Social Development and offering people who had lost their jobs due to Covid-19 a snapshot of dairy farming. It was an idea Chris had dealing with the community welfare response group during lockdown.
They have had three on farm taster courses, hosting between six to 15 people each visit for a farm tour and milking session.
He thought it was one positive to come out of Covid; getting Kiwis into farming.
The courses were on hold during calving, but he was hopeful they would continue after calving finished in early October, especially as they gave urban people a chance to see a farm operation in action, something Chris thought so important.
“Farmers are really trying to bridge the gap between the urban and rural divide. There are just a select few running down farmers, which are most vocal.
"Urban [people] in general are supportive and understand what we do,” he said.
Dairy farmers were facing a few issues, including the freshwater accord which may put a damper on Mid Canterbury’s economy “because we just don’t know where it’s going to end up”.
It was hard to plan a future when more and more regulations were hitting farmers, he said.
There was also a need for more awareness around mental wellbeing; Mycoplasma bovis continued to affect Mid Canterbury farmers and there was likely to be a shortage of overseas workers to work on farms.
It was all causing considerable financial pressure and at huge personal cost, Chris said.
