The Real World

When we catch up with Ellis, he is glued to the Playstation trying to outplay a mate on a virtual rugby paddock. 

The way these two are chilling out no one would guess the ‘mate’, Tony, is actually Ellis’ boss and they’re on their well earned lunch break.

Ellis is taking a year off between school and uni to work on his parents’ farm. But this is not like most first jobs out of school because Ellis has been lucky enough to score a job where the boss, Tony (25), is just a few years older than him.

Tony Fischer was employed as farm manager earlier in the year and the two of them are now like partners in crime. 

“I’m taking a year out here on the farm before going to uni. Meeting Tony reinforced my decision really. I could tell it was going to be fun from the start, he was a good guy.”

So what’s it like having such a cool boss?

“He’s got a good sense of humour and he’s easy to talk to.  I always ask him lots of questions and he’s always happy to answer them.  He’s pretty cool to work with,” says Ellis.

So what is the best thing about farm work?

While Ellis can give heaps of examples of how he’s knocked off challenges, there is one in particular that comes to mind.

“We did a lot of fencing at the start. When we first started here we didn’t have power on half the farm so I had to fix all that up by putting in fences and sorting out the electrics. Getting that fixed up was quite rewarding,” he says.
Some of the little things also make dairying different from your average office job.

“We have the tunes cranking in the shed in the mornings and afternoons, when the radio’s working, which is cool and it makes the time go quickly.”

The keen snowboarder is definitely a man of action and dairy farming allows him to live it up while at the same time earning a living.

“The job is pretty flexible I’m able to hit the slopes at Whakapapa every second weekend. I even get to miss the crowds with the option of taking a Sunday/Monday off.” 

The job also suits him in other ways with his brain being put to the test on a daily basis.

“If you have good knowledge of maths it helps. I enjoyed maths and I use it every day on the farm.”

We asked why other young people should get into the dairy industry?

“It’s better doing something rather than just sitting around,” says Ellis.

“You can do stuff like blatting around the farm on your motorbike and play Playstation in your break, you don’t do stuff like that in an ordinary job.”