It’s her first season working on two Murchison dairy farms owned by Stephen Todd as part of a team of three employees on the 420-cow and 350-cow farms. Before that she worked on her parents’ dairy farm on Marlborough’s Northbank, where her grandfather got her interested in showing his pedigree Holstein Friesians and her parents bred medium-sized cows that worked well on a grass-based system.
“Cows are the family business and I can’t imagine not staring at them every day.”
She acknowledges farm ownership is a difficult goal, but says it is achievable for those dedicated to working their way up within the industry.
“Dairy farming puts a lot of people off because you have to do the early mornings and long hours in different sorts of weather and you have to put off your social life. But if you find a decent employer who gives you opportunities, you can go far and be promoted pretty fast.”
Next season she has a job lined up on a 1000-cow farm at Rakaia in Canterbury which she said would provide a different experience to Murchison’s climate.
“I’d like to gain enough knowledge so that within five years I’m herd manager and eight to nine years contract milking. I plan to save enough money to buy a few heifers, or Fonterra shares because they can’t die on you.”
Second place went to Dobson assistant dairy production manager Joseph McNaull and third to Rai Valley second in charge Bridgette Payton, who also won the DairyNZ Practical Skills Award. The TBfree New Zealand Farming Knowledge Award was taken out by Joseph McNaull and the Silver Fern Farms Leadership Award by Takaka assistant manager Stewart Watson.
