The King Country’s Garry and Angela Vincent and Brian and Andrea Price have been announced as the lucky farmers who will receive an entire day’s worth of free farm-help from KCE staff this month.

The extra help is part of KCE’s Holler for a Hand community initiative, launched last year to give busy farmers in KCE’s operating area a few helping hands with jobs around the house or farm.

Garry and Angela Vincent milk a herd of 275 crossbred cows in Hangatiki.  At the end of May last year, Mr Vincent broke his leg while preventing someone from stealing their car.

Added to his injury, the couple were put under a huge amount of strain last Spring dealing with sick calves.

Mrs Vincent says they been working extra hard this year to build new calf rearing facilities, stock yards, an effluent pond, and new fencing.  But with Winter being an important time to catch up on maintenance and repair work around the farm, this has left the Vincent’s with an endless list of other jobs to catch up on. 

She says the extra hands to help get prepared for Spring is great for their morale, and they are enormously grateful to KCE.  

“It’s a real psychological boost for us.  When you feel like you’ve got heaps of jobs on the ‘to do’ list, this really lifts your spirits,” Mrs Vincent says.

“It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often,” she adds.

The second Holler for a Hand recipients, Brian and Andrea Price, were nominated by their friend Rachael Laver. The Price’s operate a sheep and beef farm in Oparure.

In May this year, the couple tragically lost their son Ben in a gyro-copter accident. Following Ben’s death, Brian fell and fractured part of his spine, which has left him mostly out of action for four to six months.

Andrea and a nearby farmer have been managing the daily jobs on-farm, but Rachael said in the application that the extra help to get jobs around the farm would be greatly appreciated by the couple.

KCE community relations manager Helen Peacock said ‘Holler for a Hand’ was an important way for KCE to ‘give back’ to some incredibly deserving local farming customers.

“The Vincent’s and Price’s are both very deserving winners.  Our team is really looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and helping them.”

KCE is the King Country’s largest power generator and retailer, providing electricity to farms, homes and businesses throughout the region.