The Country 08/09/26: Robbie Jackson talks to Jamie Mackay

A South Otago cattle farmer has found himself an overnight sensation as a social media influencer. How did this come about? And why did banging on a hammer in a workshop at 2 am change his life’s trajectory?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the best ideas are always stolen and a good
story is worth repeating. Here's a great story. Michelle found
it in Farmers Weekly. Olivia Caldwell was the author of
a story about a young Catlin South Otago farmer who
leads an interesting life, to say the least. He has
over 60,000 followers on his three social media channels. His

(00:23):
name is Robbie Jackson. And Robbie, you started off going
to university, but it wasn't really your gig then. Tell
us a wee bit about your life story.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's a good one.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
How's it going, guys? So I went to Lincoln. I
didn't actually finish Lincoln. It didn't really agree with me.
It wasn't really my cup of tea. And then, yeah,
I sort of came back down south. I'm from down
south originally. And went to go drive tractors for a
fellow for the summer. And then I was going to
go overseas. And somehow I ended up managing a farm

(00:58):
at 20 years old. sort of stuck around.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, well, I'm reading from the story here in Farmers Weekly.
In part, you didn't like Lincoln University because you didn't
enjoy living with close neighbours. You got told off for
working on trucks too late at night and making too
much noise.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Neighbours don't tend to appreciate it when
you're trying to beat UJs out at two in the
morning with a hammer.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, I don't blame them, to be perfectly honest. Do
you still do that now on the farm in South Otago?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh, yeah. Yeah, well and truly, but there's no one
around to care.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
So you don't really like people. It's not that you
don't like people. You don't like people too close. How
do you kind of meld that into being a social
media influencer? And how do you become a social media influencer?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh, that's a very good question. So actually, I really
like people. People's kind of one of the things I
love in life. I like freedom a lot more. the
freedom to do what I want when I want, if
that makes sense. And becoming a social media influencer really
wasn't anything I planned on doing. Started off, I shared

(02:10):
a couple videos that I thought were a bit comical,
and then people seemed to like them, and then I
did a few more. Now, I don't know, I'd like
to think that I'm helping people, giving them a few
tips and tricks, helping them through the industry, helping promote
the industry. But, yeah, I don't really know how it
all sort of came to be, but here we are.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, there you go. You're on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
What's an example of the stuff you're putting out there
and why is it resonating with rural New Zealand?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I do, like I try to keep my content
very real, keep it very realistic. You know, I don't
pretty it all up. I show it how it is.
You know, we all make mistakes. And a lot of
it is I'm trying to encourage younger fellas to just
have a crack at something. If you're not sure, just
have a go. But, you know, it might be changing

(03:03):
the oil in your truck or it might be doing
up a fence or it could be anything. I'll show
a wee bit of everything, a bit of mechanical work,
a bit of farming work, a whole lot. I just
want to encourage people to have a crack at things,
have a go.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Robbie Jackson, you're only 23 years of age. You've decided
university wasn't for you. You love farming. and it is
a reasonably remote area, the Catlins, where you're farming. What's
the end goal for you? Are you going to go
farming or are you just going to become a movie star?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, no, I'm going to be sticking at farming. I'm
planning to take over the old man's sheep and beef
place in the next two to three years is the
running theory on that.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Have you told the old man this?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're in cahoots about it.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Well, that is quite young. You're 23 now. Two years'
time makes you 25. That's young to be taking farm
ownership for all that. Yes.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well and truly. It's going to be, yeah, quite interesting
how we're going to make it all work. But anyways,
we'll find a way.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
How is the farming season? Because I think you're doing
a dairy support block at the moment or you're managing
a dairy support block, a sizable one at that. How's
the farming season treating you?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh, I don't really know if there's a polite way
of putting it. It's been pretty average.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, because the weather's been real crap, hasn't it? The
further south you go.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
It's been shocking, man. Everything is just absolutely drenched. It's
just wet as anything.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
It could be worse, Robbie. You could be on a
lambing beat.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
That's true. That's true. I am a wee bit spoilt
here being a dairy support farm. I don't do lambing
and I don't do calving. So this is actually the
quietest time of the year for me.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Lots of time for your creative juices to flow around
your social media posts. Hey, Robbie Jackson, great to catch
up with you. Where do we find you? What's your tag?
You can.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Just search up... Robbie Jackson or RobbieJNZ and you can
find me on any of them, any of the social medias.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Well, we've had a look at what you're doing on
social media, Robbie Jackson, and we love it here on
the country. And to be fair, people can read all
about it. There's a really good story this week in
Farmers Weekly by Olivia Corble. So well done.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Thank you. Appreciate that.