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The Muster- The Gofer · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Muster on Hockanoi. Janelle Davison and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Rocky Cormack, they formed The Gopher, of course. They're the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: sponsors of the best of The Muster, 5am Saturday mornings,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and they joined me in studio for the first time
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: this afternoon.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, team. Good afternoon.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Good afternoon.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Right, Janelle, firstly with you, The Gopher, what's the backstory?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: The backstory... Everything starts with a good story, right?
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I suppose it does, yeah. So the gopher started
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: back in 2021, so it was June. Well, I was
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: working in a bank and it had closed, so I
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: was trying to work from home. Rocky was in a
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: role in an office for a transport company and decided
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: he wanted a change, so he decided to start up
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: the gopher.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: So more or less around the COVID time?
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: Pretty much, yeah.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Yep. So Rocky, going and taking your own business out
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: on the road and it's just growing legs.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it has really. It's, yeah, a bit surprised, but
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: we thought we'd give it a go.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: So when did you guys, so 2021 is when you
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: guys started up, is that right?
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: That's right, yep.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Right, so the nuts and bolts of the gopher then,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: what are you about?
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: So we are relief staff for farming businesses. So it
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: means that we can go onto farms and look after
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: your whole farm or you go away on holiday, or
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: we can just go in, work in with your staff
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: and milk your cows or help with weaning drafts over weaning.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: When you hit the first week of November, Rocky, everything
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: hits a proverbial, it starts getting busy, I suppose. So
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: for you guys at the moment, I suppose arguably all
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: year's busy.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it is really busy. Yeah, we're quite fortunate.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: We've got an office lady that runs everything. So yeah,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: you catch up with her once a week and yeah,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: she's just mind-boggling really.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: So how many staff do you employ now?
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: I think we've got about 18 at the moment.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: 18?
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 18 going.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Gee, that's good going for a company five years in
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the making, starting off by yourselves and just obviously the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: word spread and it got bigger.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it has really. Yeah, it's just, I don't know.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: It's a huge demand, isn't it?
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there is. It's just, You know, the phone didn't
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: stop ringing. It's, yeah. And people ring up for little things,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: big things. It's quite good, yeah.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You just specialise in anything and everything rurally. Would that
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: be fair enough in the ag sector?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: There's a machinery division as well.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, really?
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah. So we've got a two-and-a-half-tonne digger and a wee
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: skid steer and fence winder and mulcher.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Mulcher and grab and, yeah, everything, so.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Your sales, are you still physically out and about doing things?
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Yep, that's right.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: What do you most enjoy about the role, Janelle?
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Oh, I love the farm winding. Yeah, just going on
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: someone's farm and, yeah, just getting in there and doing it, well,
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: their way, but, you know, in your own way as well.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: That's quite cool.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: What about you, Rocky? What really appeals to you in
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the line of work?
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's just meeting all different people. You know, not
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: every day is the same. Yeah, like you could be
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: doing one thing one day and then flat out the
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: next day doing something else. So, yeah.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: So all your staff then, like everything's specialised now, is
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: that right? You've got people to cover different sectors. They
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: specialise in that staff-wise.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Would that be correct?
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, we've got experienced relief milkers. We've
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: got experienced tractor drivers. And then we've got a couple
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: of the office girls that one of them does the
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: marketing and she goes out and does house cleaning and
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: stuff with our admin lady.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: You do house cleaning as well?
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Far out. Do you clean cars? No. Well, that'll be
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: on the horizon sooner than later. Don't worry about that.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, we've been asked to clean tractors and stuff like that,
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: haven't we? Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: And another big thing as well here, liability insurance and that.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Where do you guys stand there, Rocky? What's the go?
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I think Janelle would be the best one to talk
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: to about that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Janelle, as far as that?
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're fully insured. We've got public liability as
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: well as statutory, and that's all done with our friends
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: at Rothbury.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Okay. What do you most enjoy about this time of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: year when you're out and about? I mean, you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: it's busy time. You're coming into mating and the dairy
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: side of life like you talked about, the weans coming out,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the drenching. Is there a real buzz when you're out
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and about at the moment, Rocky, when you're out in
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the rural sector?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's good. You buzz around and catch up
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: with a few of the staff and see them working
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: and you think, shit, that's actually our business going there. So, yeah.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And you're based out of Winton, is that right?
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: That's right, yep.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seen you with a DLS hat on before
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: as well. Oh, should you? Yeah, you've got to be
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: proud of your roots, absolutely.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Right, the important details. How do people get in touch
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: with the Gopher?
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Well, you can ring our office number on 03 263
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: 4044 or you can look up our website, which is www.thegopher.co.nz.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: You've got a Facebook page as well.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: We've got Facebook. We've got Instagram.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: TikTok.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: There's even a wee ticky-tocky, isn't there?
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, there really is. Yeah. Did you guys start the
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: TikTok account, dare I ask?
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: No.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: It's not my demograph.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: All right, we've got a lady that does that for us.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: Hannah's pretty awesome at that.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Hey, good on you guys. Thanks for coming in.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Janelle Davison and Rocky Cormack, you are the gopher and
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you sponsor the Best of the Muster on Saturday mornings.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: You enjoy the afternoon, guys. Good to catch up.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Thanks for having us.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Thanks very much.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Janelle Davison and Rocky Cormack, they are the gopher. Like
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I said before, they sponsor the best of the muster
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: here on Saturday mornings. Up next, Connor Miller from Balfour
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Young Farmers. You're listening to The Muster.