Tuohy’s Gully farmer Willy Scurr has had a front row seat watching the transformation of the Cardrona Valley over his lifetime.
The valley was once a quiet backwater 40 minutes from the sleepy town of Wanaka.
These days Willy reckoned it was probably one of the busiest roads in the country. While opportunity stemmed from those who sought to have a share in their slice of paradise, it also brought huge responsibility.
Willy and Sarah Scurr were nominated for Year of the Farmer for their involvement in community projects, being active members of their local catchment group and adopting new technology and ideas on farm.
It took some convincing for the couple to agree to be interviewed. Willy said they have had their fair share of challenges in recent years on the farming front; tightening regulations, climate, animal health and a sought-after location all added to the stress load.
"Like most farmers, we are just trying hard to be good at the things we set out to do. It’s tough and there are challenges but opportunity too," Sarah said.
Sarah attended the Understanding Your Farming Business course, run by the Agri Women’s Development Trust, in 2014 and it prompted her to look at where she could add value.
"There has always been a strong farming community here whose values and priorities have evolved over the decades."
Securing funding through the Red Meat For Profit Partnership, she front-footed programmes alongside Beef + Lamb New Zealand around health and safety, winter grazing, environmental plans and carbon numbers.
The couple were early members of Wai Wanaka and were grateful for their help in achieving personal and catchment wide goals around riparian planting, pest and weed control and biodiversity.
"Living in this highly visible location we knew there was a lot of expectation on us to be doing things right. The spin-off was that it felt right too," Willy said.
The couple farm the property in a 50:50 partnership with locals Jo and Scott Jones. Jo, who grew up as Willy’s childhood farming neighbour, was a great sounding board for Willy who oversaw the farm’s day to day management.
Jo and Scott had a wealth of knowledge and experience in accountancy, diversification, land use, legal and council obligations and together the two couples made a robust team.
In 2021, the team lost a large number of lambs to an unidentified disease. Testing revealed the lambs had low immunity and were resistant to most drenches bar one.
"It started us on a journey to look at the genetics we used, our pasture and grazing management and being selective with drench use."
"We didn’t know a whole lot about faecal egg monitoring then, but we sure do now," Willy laughs.
With the tsunami of legislation unfolding at that time, it was a trying time for the team. They had to dig deep to get on top of the challenges and sought help from several experts including their vet Amy Watts and FecPak founder Greg Mirams.
"With the help of genetics consultant Will Gibson we moved to a Matakanui Station Polwarth ram. They have done a lot of work in genetics for footrot and drench resistance and it’s paying dividends for us," Willy said.
Willy and Sarah also made a conscious effort to "open the gates", welcoming visitors. They often hosted outside groups and shared what they were doing in the diversification and environmental space.
"I looked back at some of our aspirational dreams. We wanted to help educate people about the importance of our environment and how to continue looking after it while still operating a viable farming business. We wanted to maintain the strong farmer representation in our rapidly changing valley, and I’m so stoked to realise we are doing that," Sarah said.
— Alice Scott
