Copyright farmersweekly
Reading Time: 5 minutes Farming runs deep in the Polson family – Mark Polson’s parents are still stalwarts in the docking crew. So when the Craig family approached him last year about buying their original family farm near Whanganui, Mark understood the weight of the offer. “They were very particular about who would take it over when they recognised it was time to move on,” Mark said. “It was a privilege to be asked.” It was too good an opportunity to decline, so the 1250 hectare breeding block, Te Hue, has become part of their farming business, Waipuna Farms. The home farm, Waipuna, sits 25 minutes down the road and covers 1900ha, including 200ha leased. Mark describes it as “hard hill country with some beautiful irrigated river flats.” Most of their lambs are finished there, supported by an intensive cropping and regrassing programme to lift productivity. Two other breeding and finishing properties make up their business; 600ha Te Tui and 700ha Awarua, in which they have in equity partnership with a family friend. All of the properties are scattered between Whanganui and Raetihi, connected by the Parapara road. Across the business they run 15,500 ewes, 5000 hoggets and about 1000 cows. They breed from the ewes, from around 1000 hoggets (normally more, but autumn was tough this year), and from the cows. Nearly all progeny are finished on farm – all male calves are kept as bulls – and everything goes to Silver Fern Farms, a relationship they’ve held for many years. The sheep are a composite breed called Highlander, robust and able to cope with hill country conditions. Mark’s parents, Donald and Liz, started breeding in the 1980s and have put a lot of emphasis on resilience to worms. “We do a lot of work on worms, both resistance and tolerance. So they either resist getting worms or if they do get a burden it doesn’t slow down their growth rates,” Mark said. “Facial eczema tolerance is also critical, especially in our part of the country.” They breed rams and partner with David (Norm) Alderson and Dr Dani van der Linden of genetics consultancy company ALLIN Solutions, who take the rams to a property near Feilding to grow and manage sales. “We’re really pleased with our sheep performance and it shows in terms of our sales.” With the new farm they also purchased a Romney flock, which they’ll slowly migrate towards their Highlander breed. The cattle are Rissington Profit Makers, a stabilised composite breed. They are predominantly black cattle that are selected for feed efficiency, fertility and a medium frame, which is important for cattle living a hardy life on hills. A team of five works alongside Mark at Waipuna, with a manager on each block and a few extra hands spread across the business. “We employ people based on skills and particularly attitude,” Mark says. “It’s important to have people who are on board with what you’re trying to achieve.” This year they’ve introduced an air fryer at docking – and it’s been a big hit. “The crew were already bringing the generator to keep their boom box going all day, so we thought why not bring an air fryer to have a hot sausage roll at morning tea.” Mark went to Canterbury University after he finished school to study Engineering, but after the first semester he decided some farming overseas was a better option. He spent a season in the United Kingdom and another in Australia, farming and driving tractors before returning to study Agricommerce at Massey University. “The second time around at university was much better. I remember turning 21 in my first year and realised how old I was compared to the other students. I was taking it more seriously and it just all clicked that time.” After four years, including completing his honours, he headed to Wellington for a role with Pāmu as a business manager looking after a number of farms in the Te Anau Basin. He learnt a lot about managing people and still keeps in touch with a few of his team today. Next he was involved with Farmlands, starting in Tauranga and moving to Christchurch before another role with Carrfields, where he enjoyed being part of a family business. He met his wife Lynsey at university and several years later they reconnected, got married and had their first son, Fred, in 2021. They’ve since had Henry too; he is 18 months old. It wasn’t long after they’d had Fred that they decided they wanted to be closer to family and the farm, moving to Whanganui so Mark could get involved with the farming business. Dad Donald is still involved but having less and less to do with the day-to-day operations, except at docking time. Lynsey worked for ANZCO Foods until they relocated to Whanganui and now is busy with the family and her own projects. With the farming business, they’re trying to diversify where they can, including developing a bull finishing system at Te Tui and planting trees on marginal land at Waipuna. “It was a big decision, especially because some of that land had been broken in by Mum and Dad but the numbers stacked up well. “We planted the worst parts, where we never got good performance from the sheep anyway. And fortunately there is a forestry road that runs right along the boundary which will allow us to harvest them eventually.” They did reduce about 500 of their lower performing ewes, and Mark is confident they made the right decision despite the controversy around carbon farming. For Mark, farming is more than just a business – it’s a continuation of a family legacy and a commitment to sustainable land management. “We’re not just trying to make a profit,” he said, “we’re trying to leave the land in better shape for the next generation.” With two young sons already growing up on the farm, the Polson family’s agricultural story is far from over – it’s just beginning its next chapter. – This article was made possible by Silver Fern Farms.
