Tally Ho is owned and operated by a close-knit family. Learn more about the individuals behind the scenes.
Don has recently decided to take it a little easy and hand some of the reins over to his apprentices, Barb and Stuart. He has a firm grip on the guiding rein. At the age of 86 years old, he has decided to retire. So he now spends his time reading the paper and playing bowls. His Knowledge is extensive in fibre and making the best of colours and blends. He has approx 40 years of experience in carding.
Don came over from England, where he was working on farms, to start working them here. He started with an orchard in East Roxburgh and bought the present farm 50 years ago. He ran the 800 acres here with the help of Janet and Stuart. They ran sheep and cattle. He then branched into carrying coloured sheep to supply wool for Janet to spin.
He had an opportunity to purchase an old carding machine from one of the woollen mills, which he set up with great effort and expense in its own shed.
He then was able to card fleeces for other people. This machine was very old and limited to what he could card. The opportunity arose to purchase a second machine from Milton; this machine does a much finer job and enables him to card merino and alpaca. This can be seen going 6-7 days a week. (Visitors Welcome)
Janet married and migrated to New Zealand with Don in their early marriage years. She was originally from Northampton, England. She followed and helped Don with his dream of farming in New Zealand and backed this while working in a law office in Roxburgh.
She had a passion for spinning and knitting, but through health issues, she could no longer spin; in saying this, she made a great teacher of these fine arts and shared her knowledge regarding them with many folk.
In their farming years, I have been told she could build the best haystack a man has ever seen. She certainly put a lot of hours into farming, keeping up with the best of them, fencing, shearing and bookwork.
It is with regret that Janet passed away on the 17th of November 2012 after a short illness. She is greatly missed in the wider community and at home.
RIP Janet.
Stuart and Barb now run the family farm. They breed and work the flock of coloured sheep to supply the machines.
Stuart is the main maintenance man of the carding machines and has spent many hours doing this job. He is a jack of all trades and master of none.
Barb has now taken on the role of Carding as well as her normal office jobs. She loves spinning and hopes to develop new blends for you to enjoy.
Carding and working with wool is a wonderful job, and the enjoyment she gets from it is great.
In their spare time, Stuart collects Vintage Tractors, and Barb collects Miniature Horses, spins, weaves, knits, and enjoys pleasure riding on her big horse.
