Doing it successfully with a deer career.

Having spent most of his life with deer, in November last year Hayden Byars took on a new role as PGG Wrightson deer specialist for Southland.

Hayden’s father Peter started farming deer, at the family farm in Merino Downs, Waikaka, Eastern Southland, when Hayden was a youngster.

“When live capture started, Dad took advantage. When I was a young kid, we had deer arriving regularly. Dad fenced a wee bit of the home block, then bought a couple of 100-hectare farms that he completely converted.”

Farming was always Hayden’s future. After leaving Gore High School, he worked on a couple of West Otago farms before returning to Southland, where his parents helped him onto 285 hectares at Kaiwera. He farmed the property for the next 27 years, converting half to deer.

“Working with deer is a good lifestyle. I’ve always been confident with them, so always found them easy to handle. No dagging or crutching and not making a mess the way beef animals tend to. They are a nice easy animal to work with.”

He reckons the region is well set for deer.

“Southland’s grass growth and climate suit deer. Apart from being colder, which means we sometimes struggle for feed for older velvet stags, it’s a good fit, with plenty of people doing it successfully.”

Hayden’s father Peter created a rare and possibly unique century farm record in 2024: a father and son continuously farming the same property for 100 years. Hayden’s grandfather Alexander bought the Merino Downs home farm in 1924, handing it on to Peter in 1976.

Following a different path, fancying a new direction and mindful of family life, Hayden and wife Julie sold their Kaiwera farm last winter, so the PGG Wrightson opportunity coming up a few months later was an ideal fit.

“Going from one side of the fence to the other, from being a farmer dealing with PGG Wrightson livestock representatives, to being a livestock rep dealing with farmers is an interesting change. However, being surrounded by good people, who are ultra willing to help has made a smooth transition,” he says.

One early win for Hayden was the recent New Zealand record set by one of his clients Geoffrey Pullar of Littlebourne Wapiti, who sold a three-year-old champion velvet bull at auction in January for $95,000.

“Even if I can’t take credit for someone I’ve just started working with, in this role anything that earns a client money is satisfying, though you also need to make sure there’s something in it for everyone. Whether you’re selling or buying, all parties must be happy with the deal, which they clearly were with the record Littlebourne Wapiti bull.”

Off the farm, Hayden has had a successful career in rugby. As a player he represented Southland on the wing in the mid-1990s, and won a championship with his Waikaka club. Now coaching is his calling. As 16-year-old daughter Olivia pursued her own rugby career, Hayden started coaching women’s rugby, culminating in his current role as head coach of the Hinds, Southland’s provincial rep women’s team.

Team name aside, Hayden sees an important similarity between coaching and his livestock representative role.

“The personal aspect carries across. As a coach you must care about your players, and as a livestock rep you must care about your clients. That’s the basis for strong relationships, respect and success, whether on the rugby paddock or in the saleyard. If you don’t care, it quickly becomes obvious and the respect you need will disappear.”

Since selling in Kaiwera, along with Julie, Olivia, 14-year-old Heidi and 12-year-old Preston, Hayden now calls a ten-hectare Makarewa block home, running a few sheep and cattle and fully deer fenced so he can keep his hand in with velveting stags.

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