Tom Hatcher is in no doubt what he likes most about farming.
In fact, he seems somewhat puzzled by such a strange question.
“All of it,” he says without hesitation.
Cropping, livestock, big machinery, small machinery, bikes, quad bikes, utes, chooks, if you can grow it, raise it, process it and/or eat it: that pretty well fits the bill for this future farmer.
Fortunately for dad Paul and mum Jayne, the Hatchers have 10,000 dryland acres, running cereal crops (mostly wheat and barley) as well as sheep and cattle, otherwise their 14-year-old son might be looking for a new family with a better farm.
At school, Jayne says, arithmetic is probably his best subject because he spends the whole day counting down until the final bell so he can get back to the farm.
“He managed to escape the Year 8 camp to the snow this year, preferring to have the four days off at home so he could help out with everything from the mulesing to some paddock work and in the yards with the sheep and cattle,” she says.
“Tom loves it all, loves every day he’s on the farm, and I suspect is now counting down the years until he is out of school for good and on the farm forever.
“Maybe getting him into Longerenong ag college might just be enough to get him to stay until at least the end of year 12 – I guess you can always hope.”
Tom is the youngest of three children – sisters Millie, 18, and Ella, 16, are more than happy to let junior have their share of the workload as well.
Which works just fine for Tom as he doesn’t see anything on the farm as work.
“His sisters both want to go to university but that doesn’t seem to have rubbed off on Tom just yet,” Jayne says.
“He has been a goer since he could walk and has just never slowed down and has always helped out with everything his size and strength could manage – and then some.”
With Tom the third generation on the family farm there’s little doubt the future of the business is already well and truly on track.
Read all about our other joint winner of Junior on the Farm
