Reducing pests one possum at a time
Growing up, Toby Haliday’s early years were filled with hunting adventures, which would eventually lead him to a career in pest control and environmental enhancement.
As a child in Hawkes Bay, Toby and his friends would hunt possums for their fur, which provided pocket money.
“We’d run around with dogs and air rifles, catching possums and getting the fur. Back then, it was like $60 for a kilo,” Toby says.
After leaving school, Toby ventured into forestry, unaware that pest control could be a viable career.
Eventually, he moved to Australia where he drove tractors. Upon his return to New Zealand, a friend in Napier asked him to join a pest control company which worked on possum control for the TBfree and OSPRI programmes.
“I had a really good boss and a great team. I loved it,” he says.
Meeting his wife, Samantha, a former nurse, brought another pivotal moment.
They visited Murihiku Southland for a family event and fell in love with the region.
As a keen hunter, Toby saw how well the region could work for him.
“I always envisioned Southland as this mountainous, uninhabited area. But it was an outdoors person’s paradise,” Toby explains.
A month later they called Murihiku home.
Once settled Toby sought a new career path, but his 12-month foray into dairy farming was short-lived.
“I absolutely hated it,” he admits.
With his wife’s support, he returned to possum trapping, buying a used ute and four-wheeler, and securing trapping permits from the Department of Conservation.
He also supplied pet food companies with rabbits, hares, and possums.
While he was having a great time out in nature doing what he loved, he wasn’t doing enough to earn a sustainable living to help support his growing family.
A chance call to Environment Southland led to a new opportunity.
“I was so lucky. They had just had a contractor leave and needed someone to fill the role,” Toby recalls.
He quickly proved his worth, taking on various Pest Control Areas (PCAs) and building a reputation for his work.
As Toby’s business, now called NZ Conservation Services, grew he hired subcontractors and full-time employees.
However, the unexpected loss of a contract in Otago brought unforeseen challenges.
“I took a huge financial hit,” Toby says.
By January 2020, Toby was once again the only employee in his company.
Despite the setbacks, Toby persevered.
The Covid-19 pandemic further tested his resilience, but he adapted by starting a native plant nursery.
With the lockdowns, there were rules in place about movement and because Toby wasn’t considered an essential worker he was limited in what he could do.
“I started freaking out again, nearly called it quits.
“You hear all these stories about people that actually came up with all these business plans and ideas and really successful stuff during Covid to get by, and I thought, well, why can’t we do that? I’d never worked in retail before, didn’t know anything, and then I thought about plants.”
Toby started eco-sourcing native plant seeds and advertised riparian planting services through his business.
This diversification helped sustain his business during tough times.
He started getting calls and was able to bring his brother Levi in as an employee.
Eventually he picked up a contract to complete the planting of the Charlton- Waimumu Riparian Project.
With the end of lockdowns and an expanding demand for services, Toby decided to return his focus to pest control, with Levi taking over operations for the environmental enhancement side of the company.
Demand for pest control continued to grow, with forestry operations looking for deer and pig culling and councils wanting help with rabbits.
Those connections led to the formation of a new business, Southern Forest Services Ltd, which deals in silviculture planting and monitoring.
The growth in business has also led to growth for the family, with Toby and Samantha welcoming a daughter, 5, and a son, 2, and purchasing a home in Otautau.
In 2022, NZ Conservation Services was a finalist in the Environment Southland Community Awards for Environmental Action in Biodiversity and Biosecurity.
Since beginning with Environment Southland, he has steadily added to the number of Possum Control Areas he covers and now he services all 63.
This has given Toby real insight into the importance of keeping on top of pest numbers, with the areas covered by PCAs able to maintain steadily low rates, while possum populations continue to increase outside of them.
From a country kid running around shooting possums for fur to a fullyfledged businessman, Toby has hit a few bumps along the way.
While he says he’s a positive person generally and has great support from his wife, Toby doesn’t skip a beat when it comes to maintaining his mental health and stress levels.
One of his tools is listening to self-help books, which he admits can sometimes contain mumbojumbo and be a bit corny, they can also contain a lot of wisdom, especially when facing difficult times.
And he has his own wisdom to pass on to others now too.
“Always keep an open mind and realise when there’s an opportunity. Make a decision on whether to pounce on it quickly, I think I’ve had more benefits out of that than I have negatives.
“I suppose those times that it’s been tough, instead of just sort of packing in and having to cry, just try and sort something else out, like ring around get on the phone, and someone will have something.”
