Ever played one of those word association games? ‘Road’ can lead to ‘wheels’ can lead to ‘trucks’ … The way the brain connects words and concepts is interesting and sometimes amusing. To those in our industry, say ‘Ātiamuri’ and most will immediately go ‘The Bull Ring’. Savvy trucking and transport enthusiasts (and regular readers of this magazine) will likely recall the name ‘Kerley’, and those who know the family a little closer will then jump to dad Ray and twin brothers Dion and Hayden. From there, it’s a hop, skip and jump to stock trucks, rural transport, a fleet of sharply styled MANs, and doing things … a little differently.

Back in July 2020, we featured the brothers’ then-newest stock truck to join the fleet, an MAN TGX 35.640. The family name is synonymous with trucking in the central North Island, and while some might say Dion and Hayden picked up where Ray left off, over the past 20 years, they’ve written their own story in transport.

Leaving school at 14, the brothers’ first job was not in transport but milking cows. “We got sacked from a few jobs,” laughs Hayden. “But as soon as we got our licences, we were into it!”

Hayden enjoyed time in a Kenworth T400 at Godfreys of Rotorua, while Dion spent a couple of years in the South Island driving a “friggin cool three-axle truck, three-axle trailer” International S-Line for Otapiri Transport, Winton. In the mid-1990s, Dion returned to the Central North Island and drove log trucks with Arnold Hema, Trevor Doidge and RFH for over five years, while Hayden drove for Trevor Doidge for a couple of years.

By the late 1990s, they had returned to Ātiamuri to join Ray, who had by then grown R.J. Kerley – General Carrier to include a fleet of two stock and two dropside trucks while at the same time operating as a stock agent (see Ray’s Way in the April 2023 issue for the full story). The brothers were straight into it, doing whatever was required … “Crates on, crates off, bins on, bins off, sides on, sides off!” they recall.

“You could spend half your day swapping gear around,” Hayden comments. “Our first MAN tip truck was set up like that, but I look back now, and I think we were mad. That’s why now they’re set up as either a stock truck or a general truck,” he adds.

The brothers were on a pair of Hino FY380s with 24ft [7.3m] crates and 30ft [9.1m] trailers, which they bought off Ray to go owner-driver for him in 1999. “Real nice trucks,” Dion quips. “When I bought my first 30-footer to go behind the Hino, it was like, ‘Ooph, a 30-foot trailer; we can cart some cattle now!’ Now we’ve got combinations of 25ft [7.6m] truck and 35ft [10.6m] trailer crates that are lower and deeper … and we look back and think, ‘How the f@#k did we cart all that stock before?’”

However, the arrangement only lasted a couple of years as Ray and his boys had different approaches to the jobs. “Even though we were OD, dad wanted the job done the way he wanted it done. It was, ‘My way or the highway,’” says Hayden.

“It was a bit of a roller coaster at the start,” continues Dion. “We had our own ideas about how we should’ve been doing things, and Dad said, ‘Why don’t you go out and do it yourself if you think you can do it better.’ So, we went out looking for our own work.”

And with that, Kerley Brothers Transport was born.

Iron Man was proof of concept for the straight-axle, construction- spec MAN on rural work. Photo: Dion Kerley.

Trucks and diggers – all you need. Photo: Dion Kerley.

Building relationships

“It’s taken a long time to get where we are. But it’s all about who you know, and that gets you going,” says Hayden as the brothers recall their early years in business. A.T. Cook Contracting, Universal Beef Packers in Te Kuiti and Crusader Meats in Benneydale have been core clients since the brothers were still with Ray. “Our relationship with them has been really rock solid,” says Dion.

The bulk of Kerley Brothers’ business comes from their direct relationships with local farmers and stock agents. “We get great appreciation from the farmers we work with. I got rung up by a dairy magazine because the farmers told them we service them and they must speak to us,” says Hayden.

“The farmer I just came from said, ‘Haven’t you put your rates up? I’d be putting my rates up.’ That’s coming from a farmer!” he adds with a laugh, hinting at the type of relationships they enjoy.

“Being small has its advantages – we always have trucks here to service the local needs. We have a base of loyal customers and clients built on relationships and doing a good job – if farmers like you, they’ll use you,” he continues.

Not to mention that the men whose name is on the door are in the cabs. “Yes, that does make a big difference; they’re speaking to the boss and the boss is coming,” Hayden says, adding that, as with any relationship, it’s not always smooth sailing. “Even if someone is in the wrong, we’ll always be nice to the client and do the best job we can for them.

“You’ve got to retain good relationships – when shit needs to be done, they need the service, and when you need to call on them for something, the good relationship and that level of understanding are there.”

There’s no doubt things have changed significantly since the early days, and that these relationships have played a role in the company’s growth over the decades. “Back in the day, when Ray ran R.J. Kerley – General Carrier, there were operators carting stock surrounding us on all sides.

“Today, there’s just us and one other. The farms have gotten bigger, having the right gear to meet their needs is important, and reliable drivers aren’t exactly lining up at the gate,” says Dion.

While the fleet currently consists of three stock units, two tipping flat decks and one flea truck, Dion says that in the peak of the stock season, the brothers and contract driver Matt McPherson – who joined last year – call on long-term relationships they’ve fostered with other operators. “Owner- driver Tony McLaren has been contracting for us since day dot. He does ag work and stock work with his own International 9870. Tony is always involved,” Dion says. Kerley Brothers also works closely with Swede, Buck and Grant at Tauranga Livestock.

“We can move a lot of cattle when it’s on, just from A to B, not works stuff,” he says. “It’s go, go, go from March to November. Our three plus Tony and Swede – and I’m trying to drive a truck and trailer and run the company … Yeah, sometimes it gets a bit much!

“But you want to be hand’s on,” reckons Dion, followed by his trademark, “Yeeah, shit yeah!”

Rolling into the Ātiamuri yard.

The company has enjoyed a good relationship with MAN. Photo: Dion Kerley.

Doing it their way

All that said, the brothers don’t want the business to get any bigger. Dion, Hayden and Matt were recently joined by 20-year-old Jasmine Smith, who started out washing trucks for the brothers and, having passed her Class 2 in December, is now the custodian of the flea truck – a 4×2 Isuzu F Series named Ibubu.

“That’s a big help, 100%. We won’t have to worry about rounding up the ones and twos. Jasmine will do some serious work, especially when bobby calves are on,” Dion says.

Not content with just offering their clients a transport solution, Kerley Brothers also provides their farmers with related services such as agricultural earthworks and (as we describe in the main story) their latest venture, animal bedding.

“We’ve got two 13-tonne excavators that get out on the farms when transport is quiet or when we can organise staff on the gear. We love being out there on the farms in the machines; we’d rather be doing that than driving the trucks. Shit, yeah! But the core business is the trucks,” Dion says.

The brothers say they work very well together. “The farmers want us on the machines … we’ve got to clone ourselves sometimes,” Dion says with a laugh.

“Word of mouth is a big thing,” Hayden adds. “Our accountant told us years ago, a good name will walk in front of you, a bad name will run in front of you.”

Now 50 years old, the brothers say they wouldn’t want to run any other kind of business. They’ve built theirs based on their terms, structured in a way that works for them. It’s sure different to the norm, but what’s wrong with that?

“We want to do the work and enjoy our job,” says Dion. “We love doing things like stopping for a packed lunch at the side of the road when we’re out together. Stop, have a feed, make a day of it. Planning it like that is way better than go, go, go! Or getting invited to sit down for a roast with the farmer. That shit rocks, man! It makes the job so great.”

Adds Hayden: “It’s always good to catch up with the farmers. That interaction is fantastic; it makes you want to do the job”.

Dion concludes: “You can just about call us ‘lifestyle transport’ – because it is … Head out around 8am, back by 5pm, come down to the pub, start again tomorrow. It’s fantastic!”

‘Lifestyle transport’ … there’s another one for that word association game.