Wāhine farmers 'WE'RE BOTH SMASHING IT!'

Juggling two farms and a baby is a labour of love for Chloe and Makita

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

Standing side by side on the 2500-hectare Hawke's Bay sheep and beef farm they manage, Chloe and Makita Butcher-Herries are living proof that hard work, love and resilience can transform even the biggest dreams into reality.

"We don't like to harp on about ourselves, but I'm so proud of what we're doing in the midst of raising our first baby and running two farms," says Chloe, 33, who was drawn to farming from a young age.

"We're two Māori women farming the land and bloody smashing it! I truly love our lifestyle and what we do.

"I remember being eight, eating my first lamb's tail around the fire on my uncle's farm, looking around at the trees, experiencing that connection to our whenua [land] and feeling so good."

By 2019, she had been farming for 11 years when her boss suggested she enter the Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Awards.

"I thought, 'That will be cool, I'll talk to my wife.' But she chucked it back in my face and said, 'What makes you think you should enter? You haven't been home to your marae, you don't use tikanga.' I realised, 'You're so right.' It made me reflect that I'd never really truly acknowledged my Māori side, but I'd always wanted to."