Friday, March 29, 2024

Pushing back a little bit more

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Young dairy farm manager Sarah Beaven has what it takes to get the job done starting with belief in herself, Sheryl Brown finds.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Sarah Beaven is breaking the dairy industry mould. At 23 she is farm manger on an 800-cow farm at Putaruru, a big achievement not only for her age but also her sex.

According to DairyNZ statistics just 18% of onfarm employees and only 21% of national farm managers are female.

When Gray and Marilyn Baldwin offered Sarah the position as farm manager some people voiced their disapproval which made her even more determined to succeed. Rural consultants, including women, frequently turn up to the farm and automatically approach any male staff member thinking they are in charge. It has become a bit of a joke between the staff who always have to point them in Sarah’s direction.

“They all go straight to the men and a lot of them are surprised it’s a female who is manager,” she says.

“Even when we interview for farm staff a lot of their faces are shocked when they find out I’m manager.”

Dealing with suppliers can also be tricky and sometimes it can be hard to get respect, she says.

“They can try and push you around a bit but I keep telling myself they wouldn’t do that to Gray so they shouldn’t do it to me. You’ve got to push back a little bit more sometimes.

“If you take it all to heart you would get bitter and upset. You can’t let it get to you. Being a female you’ve got to believe in yourself. People are going to think what they want.”

Sarah is in her first year as farm manager having taken the role on in March after a season as herd manager.

She grew up at Tokoroa where her mother Linda Nicholson ran the 20ha home farm. She faced similar stereotypical battles as a female farmer so overcoming them has always been ingrained in Sarah.

Her father Bill Teague was a large animal veterinarian who used to write the Vet’s Voice column in the Dairy Exporter and her grandfather was a dairy farmer so she had plenty of exposure to the agricultural industry. She initially thought about becoming a vet but decided against years of studying chemistry and physics.

So when she topped her agriculture class at St Peters College she realised practical work was where her passion lay. She left school at 17 to take a job as farm assistant milking 1400 cows at Tokoroa and admits it was an abrupt awakening to the realities of dairy farming.

“It was a shock to the system coming straight out of school, having to pay bills and buy groceries and cook for myself and getting cows in at two in the morning. But I really enjoyed it,” she says.

“I knew if I wanted to make a real go of it I would have to pull finger.”

She remains grateful to her first employers who took her on when she was so green. She stayed in the job for 18 months until she moved to a 600-cow farm for a new challenge.

While working there as a farm assistant a car ploughed through the fence and she had to ring the local fencer, Cameron Beaven. He later became her husband but first the new couple moved to Whangamata when Cameron’s work around south Waikato dried up. Sarah did a stint working in a bakery which made her realise how much she missed the dairy industry. The couple returned to south Waikato and Sarah saw a job advertised for a herd manager so optimistically applied.

“I just needed somebody to give me a chance,” she says.

“Nobody else had given me the opportunity to be a manager but Gray and Marilyn have been fantastic. They believed in me and have supported me from the start. It has really meant a lot to me.”

Marilyn says Sarah stood out from the other candidates. She remembers her exact words when Sarah showed up for the interview: “I know I’m good at what I do. I know I can do it. I just need someone to give me a chance.”

Sarah was open and honest, she had a brilliant CV and excellent referees so it was an easy decision to make and one Marilyn says they have never regretted.

Sarah excelled as herd manager and when Gray and Marilyn changed the structure to include a farm manager they encouraged Sarah to apply for the position.

“Sarah just totally shone,” Marilyn says. “She is fantastic. We still sadly live in a society where some blokes don’t hold a lot of respect for females but Sarah actually knows how to deal with it. She knows how to kick butt and roll with the punches.”

Her key strengths are animal health, milk quality and health and safety, Marilyn says.

“We feel very confident with her. We know Sarah has everything under control. She has her finger on the pulse.”

Having a husband who isn’t farming is a challenge in itself, particularly when looking to the future. Sarah and Cameron married earlier this year and have bought a house and a small piece of land from the Baldwins. Children are a possibility down the track but Sarah wants to remain working in the dairy industry, something she has discussed with her employers.

“I would like to keep my finger on the pulse and perhaps be the operations manager.”

At this stage it would make sense financially for Sarah to return to work and for Cameron look after their child.

“Cameron is hugely supportive and he has said that he would be willing to do that,” she says.

“But we are just living for the moment. He has his new business and we have just bought a house so we are just enjoying where we are in life.”

Manager…but also pitching in

Sarah Beaven admits it has been a big step up to farm manager but she has thrived on the new challenge.
The farm employs three other full-time staff who all report directly to her and that has given her the chance to use her managerial skills. She completed PrimaryITO levels 3 and 4 and is halfway through the Agribusiness Management Diploma.
“I don’t think you realise how much is involved in running a farm until you do it. You’ve got to plan and think for everyone else as well as yourself.”
She admits she has weaknesses and driving tractors over the hilly property is one of them but she compensates by employing staff to complement her skills and those of the rest of the staff.
“Everybody has strengths and weaknesses,” she says.
“I hire to everyone’s weakness. Wherever we have a gap I will recruit a staff member on that basis.”
She doesn’t shrug off any jobs though and wouldn’t expect her staff to do any job she wouldn’t do.

Key points

Farm manager: Sarah Beaven

Farm owners: Marilyn and Gray Baldwin

Location: Putaruru

Area: 287ha

Cows: 800

Breed: Jersey

Milking: Once a day

Production: 220,000kg milksolids.

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