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.
Life on the farm
“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.
Reconnecting with her roots
“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.”
Makita, 34, says she would have supported Chloe no matter what, but the journey of reconnection that followed is everything she hoped for her wife to experience.
“She did it, went home, stood on her marae and when she looked at me, I could see she felt that feeling that you can’t even really explain,” says Makita.
“Now it gives way more purpose and meaning to being on the land.”
Winning the Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award 2022
The experience transformed Chloe, who went on to win the prestigious Ahuwhenua title in 2022.
“Three years later, when I entered, it felt right,” explains Chloe.
“I’d done so much work on myself and connecting to my culture. We also went through te reo Māori classes together. I loved it so much. I know my whakapapa [ancestral lineage] and maunga [mountain] now.”
The challenge behind the scenes
But it hasn’t always been easy. Chloe openly credits her wife for changing the course of her life in so many other ways.
“Before I met Kita, I was living a life I loved,” she shares.
“I was a typical farmer, did the work, went home and would drink a box of beer.”
Makita recalls, “I really enjoyed sober Chloe – she was the coolest person ever. But as soon as she had a bottle in her hand, it was different.”
Knowing her relationship was on the line, Chloe agreed to stop drinking – a concept she once considered impossible.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but if I didn’t, I would have lost Kita, wouldn’t own three houses, wouldn’t be managing 2500 hectares and Ahuwhenua wouldn’t have happened,” admits Chloe, who mentors other Young Māori Farmer finalists.
“I respect her so much for what she did for me.”
The journey to parenthood
Another test of their strength came with their dream of becoming parents, which took five years through a fertility clinic.
“We’re so glad we didn’t give up on each other because it’s not an easy thing,” tells Chloe.
Now their five-month-old baby girl Āhua Harete is the centre of their world.
“It was five years of turmoil and hard work to get ourselves in a financial position to give everything to our daughter,” shares Makita.
“Now my whole life has changed – she’s our everything. While Chloe is out there rearing animals to feed the world, I’m here rearing baby.”
With deep admiration Chloe adds, “I honestly feel like I’ve got the easy job – it’s much harder looking after baby.”
Balancing farm and family
Just before Makita gave birth, the couple was asked to take on a second Hawke’s Bay farm, so there’s rarely a second free, but they’re all thriving on the land.
In this week’s episode of Hyundai County Calendar, Chloe and Makita will take viewers around the farms. They’ve also been loving sharing more of family and farm life on their Instagram @wahine_farmers.
“Townies are saying, ‘It makes me want to be a farmer,’ and that’s what we want – we need more farmers,” says Chloe, who’s grateful to have received so much support as a trailblazer in the male-dominated industry.
“We’re so fortunate that the owners have allowed us to make this farm our own. So we’ll probably work and oversee these properties to the day our knees give in and the next generation are ready to put their lives on it.”
Chloe and Makita’s epidode screens on Hyundai Country Calendar, Sunday, September 14 at 7pm on TVNZ 1 and streams on TVNZ+.
