Balancing work, life key to happy farming

• Published date: 17 October 2023
• Publication title: Ensign, The

WHEN Nelson Hancox was 21, he was nearly killed in a head-on car crash which had an impact speed of about 160kmh

Waking in hospital, the back-seat passenger thought ‘‘I haven’t done much, I better enjoy life’’. Ever since, he has endeavoured to do just that and it had been a motivating factor when it came to work-life balance.

The Hancox family run a large-scale sheep and beef operation across three West Otago properties, comprising 27,000 ewes and 500 beef cows, a landholding which has expanded significantly over the past 40 years.

They have received various farming accolades over the years including Rabobank Lincoln University Foundation South Island Farmer of the Year, Clutha District Farmer of the Year and were winners of the national ewe hogget competition.

Nelson and Fiona’s three sons, Mitchell, Elliot and Tom are all involved in the business while daughter Zoe, who nurses in Gore, will eventually be.

The couple felt proud their children had decided to come home — ‘‘for us, that feels like success’’ — and Fi believed a philosophy around working hard but also having time off had been a contributing factor in their decisions.

She had talked to other farmers who never took time off and some of their children had no interest in following their farming footsteps, whereas their children had seen first-hand that balance.

When their children were growing up, Nelson and Fiona were fortunate to have the support of both their sets of parents and they also enjoyed good family holidays.

But that did not mean they had it easy during a farming career spanning four decades. Nelson recalled some ‘‘fairly dark times’’ in the 1980s with high interest rates, lots of debt and wondering, at times, if there was a future in agriculture.

But he kept himself busy, was fortunate to have good mates and sports clubs, and ‘‘just trundled on’’. Plenty of people were finding that again now; it was just about working out ‘‘another cunning way of trying to make money or save money’’.

As a young man, Nelson made money by shearing, crutching and making hay which got him a deposit for a 181ha property in Northern Southland when he was 21.

He had started baling hay in his early teens with a few of the neighbouring children and had about $50,000 in the bank when he finished his studies at Lincoln. Family support and a vendor mortgage also helped him on the path to farm ownership.

His time at Lincoln was a ‘‘wonderful’’ experience; he made some life-long friendships and it also taught...