Dylan Ruki-Fowlie

2017 Finalists

Dylan Ruki-Fowlie

Dylan Ruki-Fowlie, of Te Atihaunui a Pāpārangi descent is right at home on Tawanui Station, south of Raetihi, owned by the Atihau Whanganui Incorporation.

He was born in Raetihi and went to college in Whanganui. When he left college he worked at a meat works and later at a steel mill in Auckland, but he found working inside all day not to his liking and ended up back in Raetihi working on the land. This came about when he was awarded an Atihau training scholarship during 2016, where he was the top student. Incidentally, Dylan is a shareholder in the Atihau Whanganui Incorporation.

Tawanui Station is a 1400 hectare (effective) block and its main role is breeding both sheep and cattle. It winters 9200 Romney breeding ewes. While a Romney ram is run over the main breeding flock, a Suffolk/Texel cross is put to the older ewes, hogget’s and two tooths. The 380 breeding cows are mostly purebred Angus.

The country is easy rolling but with some steep rugged country. It has good farm tracks and for most of the year quad bikes can be used to get around the farm, but in winter horses are used as the tracks start to get a bit harder for the farm vehicles.

As a General Shepherd, Dylan gets to do a variety of tasks on the farm. He especially enjoys the physical nature of the work and he finds that he can easily adapt to the different tasks he’s allocated to. Although he’s only been in the farming sector for a short time Dylan says he really loves the work and the lifestyle.

In looking to the future, Dylan is studying level 4 at the local marae every Wednesday and plans to study Level 5 National Diploma in Agribusiness Management next year. His goal is to become a Head Shepherd and a Manager within Atihau and possibly going to university to do a business degree.

He says he’s delighted at the faith people have in him by encouraging him to enter the YMFY competitor. Dylan says already it has helped him realise his potential.