Chris Irons
“I haven’t killed a lamb in a while,” says Te Waitere sheep and beef farmer Chris Irons as he ponders around 70 layoffs at Te Kūiti Meat Processors.
Irons and partner Debra Hastie supplies the company behind TK Natural Lamb which is cutting its workforce by about a third in response to declining lamb processing numbers.
The couple sent 2,500 lambs to the works earlier in the drought impacted season and have just 45 to go. Some will go to the works in June and more will follow in September.
Te Kūiti Meat Processors told workers in May that around a third of their 240 number would be laid off this month due to the declining numbers.
“It got dry earlier in the season and farmers sold their lambs out of the region store,” Irons said. “They won’t have come back into the region.”
“We were in drought, but we weren’t as bad as Aria and Wharepapa South,” he said.
Irons said the 2023-24 season was drier on their 770-hectare farm, and they had responded by dropping ewe numbers by 10 per cent.
“We realised that we were a bit overstocked so that was a lever we pulled,” he said.
“When it came to this year stock were in a better situation, and we got rid of a lot of lambs store so that when it did go dry in January we did not have as many, and it gave us options.”
Irons and Hastie have supplied Te Kūiti Meat Processors premium Whole Foods Market programme for years, fetching $184 per 20kg lamb in recent times.
“Every quarter we put forward our needs and they grant us that space,” Irons said.
“They are very good to work with as a company.”
Irons felt sad that meat workers were losing their jobs, but said the downsize would ensure the business could continue to operate and serve farmers.
“What else are they supposed to do?”
Supplying Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market which supplies groceries to A listers in the US has served the couple well. The store offers a wide range of products, including fresh produce, meats, dairy, and pantry staples, all free from artificial preservatives, colours, and hydrogenated fats.
“We would love it if someone sent us an email saying thank you very much,” he said.
The couple also supply the Angus Special Reserve grass fed and antibiotic free programme through Auckland based Wilson Hellaby meat processing company and Greenlea Premier Meats in Hamilton.
Irons is not one to complain, but he would love wool buyers to specify their needs with farmers.
“As farmers we are not getting messages back from the industry about what is the ideal length,” he said. “We could manage it a lot more if we got told what they wanted. Should we shear every six months, or should we go to eight months?”
Irons grew up in Te Kūiti and worked in parents’ Ray and Sue trucking company Irons Transport after school and in the holidays
“After high school I really wanted to go farming,” he said.
After school he completed a one-year Diploma in Agriculture at Massey University.
“I had 38 hours of lectures per week,” he said. “It was ideal, it meant I was studying and learning about what to do on farm.”
After a short stint in Australia truck driving, he landed a shepherding job which lasted six years before he was promoted to farm manager.
“A few people said I wouldn’t be able to handle it, but that was an incentive,” he said.
“It was a good challenge.”
After seven years, in 2011, Irons and Hastie accepted an offer to join his parents in a farm partnership at Te Waitere.
“It needed a lot of work,”
After five years the couple bought Iron’s parents out and expanded the farm.
Their son Ethan, 19, works for OPS Plumbing and Pipeline in Bell Block, while daughter Sophie, 17, is studying at nearby New Plymouth Girls’ High School.
Today they have help from a Growing Future Farmers agricultural training programme student.
“There’s lots of people wishing to get into farming,” he said.
“Sheep and beef farming is reasonably comfortable. A little bit more positive than it has been in the last couple of years. There’s been a 25 per cent increase in prices in the last year.”
The increase is not just driven by a drop in supply due to New Zealand droughts, but similar conditions in Australia, South America, and the United States.
Irons is a firm believer in building community, working as chair of the Waitomo branch of Federated Farmers and representing farmers with Operational Solutions for Primary Industries (OSPRI).
He’s a regular at Te Waitere Boating Club shin digs. “They’ve got a real community feel.”
He’s continued on the Kinohaka School board of trustees, despite having no children at the school, and is a member of New Plymouth Girls’ High School Scotland House Sub Committee.
