The 19-year-old Carterton-based farm assistant has never imagined being anything other than a farmer. She started learning the trade as a 10-year-old from her parents Bart and Tineke Gysbertsen, Dairy Industry Award winners in their own right having taken out the Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Farm Manager contest last year.
Alice has been working full-time in the dairy industry for the past three years. This year was her second time entering the trainee contest, after making the top six in 2013, an experience that helped this time.
“The feedback from the judges was good … a couple of times with judging really helped to build my confidence – that’s what helped me this year.”
Alice also won the DairyNZ Practical Skills Award in this year’s competition. She is working on a 180-cow, once-a-day farm owned by Suzanne Butcher, who she credits as a big factor in her win. She’s also assisting on her employer’s 450ha grazing block, and is enjoying picking up a different skill set by building up her experience with young stock.
She is on track to achieve her aim of 50:50 sharemilking by 2016 and is already on the equity-building pathway, having bought a house. It gets her closer to her dream.
“That’s what I have always wanted – to own my own herd.”
Second place went to Eketahuna herd manager Jarrah McCaffrey. Kyle Paton, a herd manager near Dannevirke, took out third place along with the Watson and Son Farming Knowledge Award. The Tulloch Farm Machinery Leadership Award was won by Haydn McKinley from Matamau, Dannevirke.
