Mairi Whittle - a Taihape farmer with two tiny tots in tow

A toddler on her back, a newborn in front and five dogs alongside... that's how you might find Taihape sheep and beef farmer Mairi Whittle.

While Tad has now graduated out of his pack and sits alongside as Mairi feeds out to the cattle and rounds up ewes, things do take longer with two under two, she says. 

Mairi's little boys are the fifth generation on Makatote - 600 hectares of steep but fertile hill country which has been in the family for more than a century.

Mairi has farmed it for four years and in April bought the block from her family.

With the boys to care for, she does as much as she can and has only gradually stepped back to let her partner Hayden Tapp take on the bulk of the work.

Hayden is a shearer who has another block to farm, too.

"When I first got pregnant, I naively thought that it would be easy just to continue to do all the farming ... but once you've had a child you realise how much work they actually are," Mairi says

"I had to step back more than I thought and I did find that hard to start with."

Mairi is restricted to stock work these days but still does all the books.

Most mornings she rugs the boys up in layers of wool and heads out with her dogs to check on stock. They don't do anything in a rush, keep to the safe tracks and are back in time for lunch and a nap.

"It's not like we have to be taking the kids on the farm but it's nice to be able to."

Mairi says it's a rich learning experience for her oldest child especially and he rarely grizzles.

"It's like a magic cure ... the grass and the dirt and the worms.

"He sleeps well so hopefully it's because he's so worn out by the end of the day."

The first year of farming was pretty daunting, Mairi says.

"I almost surprised myself that I was running the farm on my own."

She had always aspired to come back to the farm and after several years as a rural banker, realised she liked the outdoor, physical life.

Mairi had already earned some farming stripes, growing up on the farm she worked as a rousie and helped out around docking time.

On her OE, she also worked as a grouse-beater and pony ghillie on a Scottish estate and for six months on a million-acre cattle station in the Australian outback.

A year of mentoring from another Taihape farmer gave Mairi the confidence to take the plunge and take on the family farm.

"He said "go, you're only going to learn by doing it."

Juggling motherhood and farming is a challenge but no more than she's used to.

"They're both full-time jobs."

Mairi is used to dealing with dry summers and getting her head around "what ifs" like the risk of foot and mouth disease, recently found in Bali.

With a "hefty mortgage", Maire says it's all about "head down, bum up" farming for the next little while but taking time to enjoy the kids too.

"I realise how privileged I am to spend all day, every day with them."