The front footage of Blair and Amie Kirkland’s Parnassus mixed sheep, cattle and cropping farm is there for all to see.
That would be incentive enough to do the right thing with motorists on State Highway 1 passing daily, but the couple do not need any motivation to be on top of their game.
Blair said it was a shame people did not look more closely or sometimes be so rash with their judgements.
"She was a battle this winter when we were getting rain after rain after rain and there’s the odd person coming out to take a photo of muddy paddocks.
"You wouldn’t mind having a chat with them before they drive off, but you can never get there in time."
Drivers and their passengers failed to understand the cattle were not permanently parked behind break fences on winter crops and were shifted daily to dry areas when it rained, he said.
Nor did they realise that it would be just as bad if cattle remained in soon-ruined grass paddocks without enough feed for spring which would pose greater animal welfare concerns.
Blair said they did their best and took their animal and environmental responsibilities seriously.
It would be good if the public could see the extra shelter being planted, loafing straw placed on the ground for dairy grazers or their shift to dry paddocks so they could sit down comfortably at night and be well fed.
The second-generation farmer freely followed in the footsteps of his parents after they developed a West Coast farm and moved to North Canterbury’s Glengael in 1985.
Like his father, he takes pride in making sure the farm is well presented and productive.
"I was right into farming from a young age and I suppose in adult life I just loved the challenge of it and being able to put a puzzle together and work out how the farm’s going to run for the year and put that plan in place. It’s pretty rewarding getting good results with stock and crops."
Amie is a nurse at the local medical centre three days a week and does all the accounts and book work.
Government, regulation and compliance changes have all gone "up a notch" and provide more challenges to dealing with the vagaries of the weather.
When Blair pushed for adding irrigation 13 years ago, initially his father had his doubts, but soon turned around.
Glengael has gone from a breeding unit of 3000 ewes and 50-odd cows to a well-balanced mixed farming business taking in stock finishing and trading as well as dairy grazing and cropping.
Invaluable for him was knowing that crop yields and stock weights reached budgets and extra feed could be banked for the next drought.
This was put to the test in 2014-15 when most of the stock in Cheviot had to be trucked out for grazing over winter.
They were among families insulated by irrigation enough to pull back on trading options and concentrate on feeding their capital stock.
Around the district Blair is known for giving back to the community, networking with local farmers, often attending meetings and conferences, and striving for improvement.
He volunteers for working bees at the local golf and cricket club, taking sports teams to the next game and going through the committee ranks at the rugby club.
The couple are part of a network of farmers in Canterbury who contributed to the direction of the research for the DairyNZ-led programme Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching.
Farming has never been an 8am to 5pm proposition with early starts and late finishes all too common.
The two wet past seasons and slushing around in mud and keeping cattle fed has not always been fun, but that rests easy with him.
"That’s why you have to be passionate about it because there’s a lot of time you’re doing big weeks and if you’re not passionate about it you’d struggle."
— Tim Cronshaw
