Irven Hair Young 1886-1972

After leaving school lrven worked on his mother's farm and in his youth was, like his brothers, a very keen sportsman excelling as a sprinter but being handicapped with acute varicose veins at an early age, he had to eventually limit his sporting activities to wood chopping. This complaint, which caused him much distress for the remainder of his life, also precluded him from military service in World War One.

After the war, when the farm was subdivided into three for Thomas, Irven and another brother Robert Stanley, he was settled on the homestead section, which he farmed on his own account until 1962.

On 25 August 1920, he married Ann Emily Lambert, the eldest daughter of William Henry Lambert and Sarah Ann Elizabeth nee Walker. William Lambert was the proprietor of the Orepuki dairy factory.

Irven, like all others who started farming after World War One, was within a decade, to suffer two economic depressions, including the world-wide slump in the early thirties. These setbacks and the plague of rabbits which devastated the countryside, made life difficult for this generation of farmers until prices for farm products improved about 1936, and the rabbits were almost exterminated around 1940-41.

Dairying, potato growing and fat lamp production were his main activities with occasional crops of wheat and oats. His dairy herd was upgraded at an early stage by the purchase of several stud Friesian females from a Mr Leitch of Orawia. These formed the basis of an unregistered herd, which won numerous prizes at A & P Shows, until dispersed in 1949, when they were keenly sought after, some going as far away as Nelson.

During World War II potato growing was stepped up on the farm to meet the needs of the armed forces, but unlike the labour intensive crop it was in earlier years, all the planting, digging and grading was done by machines. They were grown under contract to the NZ Potato Board, thereby ensuring a guaranteed market.

In 1939, a neighbourng farm which had been abandoned by its previous owners, was purchased. This farm, at that time, was a mass of bidi-bidi and heavily infested with rabbits. Fortunately, this purchase coincided with the formation of the Orepuki Rabbit Board, which poisoned many thousands of the pest in the first year alone, eventually almost eradicating them. With the rabbits almost wiped out, the bidi-bidi was no longer a problem and with the help of plouglfing, stocking and top-dressing, they were completely eliminated many years ago.

During the depression years in the early thirties, swaggers were a common sight along the country roads, and it was almost a weekly occurrence to have one call for a meal and bed for the night. They would sleep among the chaff sacks in the loft and in the morning could be seen washing in the horse trough before being given breakfast and again taking to the road. On more than one occasion, if the weather was inclement, kind hearted Emily would ask them to stay until the weather cleared.

Many amusing incidents involving both humans and animals occur-red over a lifetime on the land. One such incident involved the youngest member of the family, at the time, removing the taps from the herd testers buckets and throwing them into the duck pond, with the result that all available adults were wading around in the mud up to their knees, looking for the missing vital parts before\par milking could proceed.

Several real characters were employed over the years - one of them late William Latchford, who was a keen pig hunter and had two or three pig dogs tied up at the farm, was awakened one night in his hut and told by a local practical joker that his dogs had escaped and had chased sheep into Deep Creek. Bill jumped out of bed and spent the next hour checking the creek, clad only in his night attire and boots, returning to find his dogs contentedly asleep in their kennels, and the local wag nowhere to be seen.

Another character, who worked on the farm in later years, and who at the time of writing, is still hale and hearty, had better remain anonymous, was helping in the shearing shed. One of the shearers was very fond of savories and when morning smoko was brought to the shed this particular day, he was told that the savories were in a closed tin to keep them warm. So he made a beeline for them and hastily lifted the lid off, only to find a very dead stoat reposing in the tin. The resulting skirmish and comments can best be left to the imagination.

Throughout his farming career, Irven was keenly interested in the potato industry, and would often remark to his family that some day potatoes would be preserved and eaten in ways other than the usual methods. Little did he then realize, that during his lifetime a world-wide multimillion-dollar industry in potato crisps and dried potatoes, etc. would be developed. In later life he was keen on playing cards and draughts and enjoyed his time with the Orepuki Bowling Club, as he did his regular visits to his crib in Queenstown.

His wife Anne was a home loving lady whose main interest was her family and later her grandchildren to whom she was devoted. She was educated at the Southland Girls' High School and left there to become a first day pupil at the Southland Technical College, when it opened in 1912. She was a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church all her life, actively helping in many ways.

Irven Hair Young died in 1972 at Invercargill after spending all his life at Waihoaka, and his wife died in 1977 at Calvary Hospital, Invercargill where she lived for a short time before her death.

Irven and Anne had five children - Mervyn William, Dorothy Elizabeth, Alan James, Ethel Betty and Keith.

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