Farmers Yarn No.5 : Allan Coppell (Greg’s dad), Sheep + Beef farmer

Picture from Shepherdess - Photographer - Peanut Butter Vibes 

Tell me how you came to have a passion for farming?

I’m a fourth generation farmer from Motupipi in Golden Bay, the first generation were contractors with stables, draft horses and farming.

I grew up on a small dairy farm at Motupipi, and on leaving school I always loved the hill country and got a job in East Takaka on a sheep farm, where my love of working dogs and breeding was ignited (upto recently I had my 8th generation dog - Ted ) and has been a passion alongside farming. I then went shearing for a short time then spent 6 years working with a stock dealer in Central Takaka.

Ted was a good dog and Pop's Best friend

On marrying Heather and having 5 kids (Nick, Justine, Cara, Rachel and Greg) Heather and I took on my fathers dairy farm milking 50 Aryshire cows and Heather and I purchased 450 acres of hill country sheep farm on Birds Road, Clifton. Then the 80’s hit with rural structures changing, interest rates increasing, it was a tough time all round. Heather and I knew we had to sell while we could both farms it was a hard decision but one we knew had to be done; and then I purchased a truck and trailer and TnL to become an ‘owner driver’ between Takaka and Nelson daily. Id get up before the kids were awake, little Greg often came out when he saw my flash light up the corridor ‘bye dad’.

4 Years passed and this gave us the opportunity to get back on our feet, we sold the trucking business and we were able to buy 700 acres at Tutaki Valley, Murchison, we wanted to return to farming. Heather was a relief teacher and the kids were young, the farm needed a lot of development but we became risk averse to borrow the funds as interest rates were at 17.5%! so after 4 seasons of milking 150 cows an opportunity turned up to sell simultaneously Peggioh Station came on the market and Heather said ‘shall we go and have a look’, meeting with the Late John Marris at PGG and the rest is history!

We still had high interest rates. The kids were in correspondence school for the first year, then Heather got a relief teaching job and the kids went with her. Alongside farming, sold manuka firewood, did guided hunting all to make ends meet. I also reignited my passion for dog trialling and travelled around with neighbours around the country to local dog trails and qualifying for the nationals; they were some of the best days of my life.

Being resourceful and resilient were characteristics of all rural communities, we are no different to most stories of my generation in farming at that time. We had 12 good years there.The kids left and when Heather and I got into my 50’s we decided to sell up and enjoy semi-retirement in Nelson. Our elderly mothers and kids had grown up all lived there; we were ready to slow down. We moved onto a lifestyle block in Upper Moutere and I began driving Fonterra milk tankers. Who knew both my sons would return to farming and I’d be back at it at 70! I’m a happy man.

Pop still showing his sons how it's done

Dagging in Peggioh, Pop, Greg and Nick

Interesting fact about farming at the Top of the South? 

Pest Control – When we arrived on our property in April 2018 we had a huge feral pig problem, which were causing incredible damage across the farm. In the first 2 years we managed to shoot 400. It has taken a lot of fencing and ongoing shooting to keep the numbers down. See below pigs vs fenced paddock! Pig rooting really damages paddocks.

How did Repost come about in your eyes?

In July 2018 Greg and Dansy Coppell purchased Springers Block. They said it’d only work if I came on board. I was happy to do so and retired my Fonterra tank driver jacket up I’d been working there 10 years. We soon sat down with a map of Springers Block and knew the only way the farm could in time become productive would be to radically subdivide and improve pasture; it was my main advice from the get go. I calculated this would take at least 30km of fencing. A large capital investment from the get go would be required to improve business performance quickly and the return wouldn’t be felt for some years, a large cost for a small operation. I explained the fencing would have a roll on affect to minimise stock losses, improve stock condition, increase farm productivity, improve sustainable production, improve the financial reports.

I reminded Greg that ex-vineyard broken posts were what I tried to get as often as they were available; so it would work for Springers without making a huge dent in the $ back pocket! We’d bring 800 posts a time to the farm and got fencing.

With the nails often getting in the way, Greg and I during covid lockdowns 2020 I engineered the first hydraulic nail puller in my shed in Motueka out of old scrap I had laying around connected with hydraulic hoses to a tractor. We soon brought on Engineer Tom Te Heu Heu from Reform Fabrication to increase productivity from pulling 1 nail at a time to multiple and look at Repost now 6 nail pullers and they process 15,000 posts a week! I’m Just happy to have played a role in its creation. (sounds like Pop you’re the real hero of how Repost came to be, the true old 8 wire ingenuity!).

My generation didn’t have convenient engineers, specialists, and YouTube to learn things at their fingertips the way we do now. Nor did we have the money to employ them. We had to be Jack of all trades” Im glad times have changed on that.

We knew we could help others farmers get cheap fence posts. If you remember late 2020, the news were interviewing farmers on techniques to help town folk learn resilience and fortitude during times of isolation and uncertainty. Everyone was in different mindsets so it was good to have the machine to focus our energy on.

Being a 4th generation farmer. I have witnessed and heard first hand accounts from friends and generations passed. I firmly believe New Zealand farmers are the most resourceful and resilient communities and feel privileged to be part of it”.