The 25-year-old is 2IC on a 280-cow farm at Rainy River, south of Nelson, owned by Mark and Julie Freeman and run by sharemilkers Jamie and Felicity Thomas.
Del grew up on a Maruia farm further south and sampled a few jobs before returning home to help her parents with a dairy conversion.
“I was working with them for a while and ended up falling in love with it again.”
A job as a dairy farm assistant at Tapawera followed and now the 2IC role on a farm with just two full-timers, which makes it busy but rewarding. It means she gets experience across the board, from dragging the K-line and sprinklers that cover 35ha of the 110ha milking platform, to dryland dairy farming and the use of chicory in that system, and the day-to-day milking regime.
“I do like the smaller farms where you know all the cows, because they are my favourite animals. Though I would also like the experience of a farm with more staff.”
Working on a dairy farm has the added benefit of keeping her physically fit for her dirt-bike racing which takes her on the national circuit of cross-country, enduro and hard enduro events.
“I’m lucky I have a good work-life balance and a good boss who understands my passion. Dairy farming is good training for racing which is mentally and physically challenging.”
It’s also tough on the body and she has been nursing a broken collar bone after a tumble from the bike, but it hasn’t dampened her enthusiasm to get back out there once it has healed.
A self-confessed shy person, Del says the awards were a good confidence builder and she was “blown away” by her win.
Twenty-year-old Takaka farm assistant Lydia Freeman was placed second and 19-year-old Blenheim assistant herd manager Sarah Parkes came third.
