Thousands of local school children have been lucky enough over the years to see Jersey cows being milked on Ted and Clare Ford’s Appleby dairy farm, and who knows how many people have been helped through his 36-year commitment to the local fire brigade.
Now Ted’s commitment to both the dairy industry and Fire and Emergency New Zealand has been recognised with a King’s Service Medal.
The retired Appleby farmer laughs at memories of school children visiting the farm in spring and the questions they asked – or their parents asked - right down to incredulously realising a cow had four teats.
Spring on a dairy farm is busy enough without taking on the education role for groups of school children and their supervisors, but he says it was worth it.
“Kids need to know where their food comes from,” he explains. “I’d show them how to get the milk out of the cow and on one or two occasions, they got to see a calf born.”
His desire to educate led to a role as chair of the Top of the South Ag ITO, with students training on the farm to develop skills needed within the industry.
For several years he was also a judge for the West Coast-Top of the South Dairy Industry Awards, where Clare was involved as well.
It all centred around the pedigree Jersey herd the couple milked over the years, leading to Ted’s involvement with the Jersey Breed Society and ultimately becoming chairman. He is still a Jersey New Zealand regional ambassador for the Upper South Island.
Showing stock led to a long involvement with the Nelson A and P Association where he was president for a time and remains a committee member. Last week the 79-year-old was at the showgrounds with other volunteers, doing jobs that needed to be done.
“I’m one for getting stuck in and doing the job rather than being out the front.”
Even milking cows never stopped him racing off to the sound of the Appleby Volunteer Fire Brigade’s siren.
Back in 1988, Ted was a founding member of the then rural fire force, prompted by a fire in Redwoods Valley that was 20 minutes from the nearest brigade in Richmond. Part of the site for the new fire station sits on land donated by the Fords and Ted only retired from the brigade last year.
“When we started we’d hear the siren, and all we did was vegetation fires. That first year was six callouts. Today, half our calls are motor vehicle accidents, and we average 80 to 90 callouts a year.”
Still in their home in Appleby, the fire station is just around the corner and, though there are no Jersey cows in the paddocks now, there are still a few cattle.
