This week's annual weaner fair at the Guy property near Kaeo has a special significance.
It is the 50th anniversary of the iconic Northland event.
The multi-generational farming family have been farming in the hills west of Kaeo for about 100 years. The original block was a ballot farm allocated at the end of World War I to Jock Guy. Son Fred and his wife Ngaire took over in the 1950s.
Later their sons and daughters-in-law, John and Rose and Ross and Olive, continued the family enterprise.
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John Guy said each generation added pockets of neighbouring land and expanded the farming business.
"It started off with very small pockets of land with my grandfather milking cows and clearing the scrub by hand.
"Later it was run as a sheep and beef farm and now it is almost all beef, with just a few sheep kept up the back," he said.
The brothers run about 300 Angus-Hereford cross cows each, breeding them with a Charolais bull.
About 600 weaner calves were to be sold at Thursday's auction, which was being run as always by Carrfields. The sale was started in the 1970s as a joint effort with neighbouring farmer Claude Bramley.
John said they quickly settled on Angus as their base breed because they were tough and fared well in the Northland hills.
"We have tried other beef breeds, but Angus gave us what we wanted. We use a Charolais bull because they are consistent and their progeny are uniform in colour. It doesn't really matter what the cow is, the calves will all look similar in colour, which makes it easier to put together a nice line of calves for our sale."
The Guys' sale was keenly anticipated every year, with buyers venturing north from as far as Te Kuiti.
"For about 18 years, the top lines of our calves were going south to a buyer in Te Kuiti," John said.
He was expecting more interest from Northland farmers this year.
However, in honour of the occasion, Carrfields representative Ryan Carr was planning to fly up from Ashburton.
John said they had always been happy to stick with Carrfields to auction their cattle over the years.
"They are really good people, a real Kiwi farming family behind the company," John said.
"They always do a great job for us."
Carrfields stock agent Neil Miller has been representing the Guys for 34 years.
"Roger Low was even longer before me," Neil said.
"There were some tough years but they have kept going. The Guys always present their calves in good condition. The buyers find they shift well, and the Te Kuiti buyer used to say he wanted their sale to be a well-kept secret," Neil said.
"They have quite large lines of up to 80 in each. Buyers usually come back for more and some come back every year."
John said he and his brother earned money to buy into the farm by shearing.
"Shearing took us all over the world, including Australia, the UK, US, and my brother even shore sheep in Italy.
"There aren't many jobs that are as hard as shearing. But we had a lot of fun with a good bunch of people and we earned good money.
"It took us quite a few years but eventually, we came back and bought into Dad's blocks and eventually bought our own blocks."
Now the brothers own the original farm as well as their own nearby blocks, plus "quite a few" lease blocks around the area.
John said fencing was a huge cost and was difficult due to the hilly terrain and the many rivers and streams.
"We have decided to plant the original farm in pines this year.
"It's not something we particularly want to do, but we can't afford to fence off all the rivers and then provide the stock with an alternative water source. It's just not practical."
Rising farm costs, such as fertiliser doubling in price recently, had helped them to make their decision.
John said at his stage in life, in his early 60s and with children unlikely to follow suit, it was important to have a plan for the future.
"Farming was more financially viable 20 years ago than it is now.
"It will mean fewer calves next year but hopefully, it will also make life a bit easier.
"Times are changing," he said.
