BACKGROUND

Hi. My name is Noldy Rust. My wife Bev and I bought our 200 cow dairy farm situated in the district of Te Pahu, western Waikato in 1996. We love the area for its location, natural beauty and suitability for dairy farming. We have been fortunate to have raised three girls, all of whom have now left home, although one has recently returned as she realizes it’s not a bad place to live, and there is free wifi, cooked meals, beer in the fridge etc etc!  We still have our 14 year old foster boy Hayze at home, keeping us young at heart, and involved with our local college, rugby, mountain biking and that sort of thing.

I have enjoyed farming all my life, in spite of only going farming when I left school because I didn’t know what else to do! We have enjoyed intensifying our system whilst endeavouring to keep it simple and profitable, so as to maximise any opportunities to be involved off-farm in community related activities. We have now employed Sam as a contract milker and I am loving taking more of a back-seat role these days.

My career took a bit of a turn a few years back, when I was offered a position with Genetic Technologies as a maize seed rep. This opened up opportunities to work off-farm but still be involved in the agricultural sector. I worked for GTL for around 7 years, until I made a move to rural real estate as a salesperson in early 2018 meaning I now have the best of both worlds, still dairy farming, albeit not on a regular basis, and also meeting other farmers and assisting them in any way I can to buy or sell rural properties.  I am also privileged in being a committee member of SMASH, a role that is rewarding in bringing together farmers to meet, learn and share ideas. I am involved in several other organisations in our community, and relish the chance of spending a bit more time among people, and a little less time amongst my bovine friends, than I did in earlier stages of my life!