While DairyNZ’s Dairy Connect initiative has built up steadily over the last three years, with 360 farmers around the country registered on its database as ready to help their counterparts out, more volunteers could be used in these areas of the lower North Island.
The service, which puts farmers in touch with each other to share information on specific subjects, was available to any farmer anywhere in the country, but ideally they should be farming in the same region.
“Elsewhere we’re pretty well covered,” national co-ordinator Janine Broekhuizen said.
But one skill area which could also do with a boost around the country was farmers who could help others get more value out of their DairyBase reports.
“Some farmers need help to translate them to use onfarm,” she said.
Janine Broekhuizen – a short, sharp step.
They might not be confident they were getting value out of the information they’re receiving or not picking up on anomalies. One instance she highlighted was a farming couple who didn’t realise they had a leak in their farm fuel tank until they compared their annual bill with the average for their area.
Dairy Connect started off in the Waikato in 2012 when Broekhuizen – who has a biochemistry degree and worked for Tatua as a product developer then AgResearch before taking on contract work with DairyNZ – was appointed. Almost 100 farmers have now signed up to help out with many initially answering queries about supplementary feed costs and the use of feedpads.
But over the past 12 months the focus has moved to be very much on business decisions and managing cashflow.
“Many are asking how they grow better grass and how do they utilise what they’ve got,” she said.
Younger farmers who previously didn’t have the incentive to look carefully at pasture management, relying on supplements instead, were now aware this was a crucial part of dairy farming. And they could easily be helped by farmers with up to 50 years’ practical experience able to pass on their knowledge.
Almost two years ago Kate Haultain, who lives at Gordonton, north-east of Hamilton, took on the role of Waikato co-ordinator. In March this year she launched Dairy Connect in the Bay of Plenty as the payout dropped and prospects for the current season weren’t shaping up well.
“It was a good opportunity for us to draw Dairy Connect to Fonterra’s awareness,” Broekhuizen said.
This was particularly the case when the co-op’s field reps were visiting sharemilkers who were the most vulnerable when it came to a drop in their income. And with the predictions of an El Nino weather pattern for the summer it was even more important to have farmers on hand who had been through the situation before and could pass on strategies which had worked for them.
The drive was on to strengthen Dairy Connect in Taranaki, where sharemilker Natalie Butler was appointed a year ago, as well as extend the service to the rest of the country.
Sue Rhynd was appointed as co-ordinator in Northland in June, coming to dairy farming from a background of working for vets.
“She’s also involved with the Rural Support Trust so understands the value of people talking to each other and could encourage farmers to put their heads up,” Broekhuizen said.
In September Linnet Burns, an equity partner in a Woodlands farm in Southland, was appointed as co-ordinator for the South Island.
“She’s passionate about people and community and has been busy building up the database particularly in Westland and Canterbury.”
Broekhuizen said there had been talk of extending the scheme south previously but it was felt with larger farming operations, particularly in Canterbury, those businesses were more likely to have consultants to give them advice, than smaller, more traditional farms in the North Island.
However, Westland Dairy Company asked for Dairy Connect help and already a number of connections had been made in other southern areas with good feedback. There are already 80 farmers on the database.
“It’s been a wonderful uptake,” she said.
“Only one person who was approached said no.”
Broekhuizen said another area where those in the dairy industry were using Dairy Connect was in progression pathways.
“If they’re farm managers they want to speak to someone a couple of steps ahead of them who was in their position a few years ago,” she said.
Generally, farmers would make contact through a message left on the DairyNZ website. Within 48 hours the local co-ordinator would search their database for the farmer who was most likely to be able to help them out and make contact.
“Ideally what we advocate is a phone call then a farm visit then another phone call to see how things are going,” she said.
“It needs to be a short, sharp step.”
This one-to-one contact was often quicker and more efficient than the person wanting information searching online or joining a farmer group.
“There are still quite a few people not online and we want to be open and available.”
In some cases the suggested farmer is already known to the person seeking help so another, from outside the immediate area, might be suggested.
“Sometimes they might want someone from further away who can put fresh eyes on the situation,” she said.
“We follow up after a month and ask if the advice hit the nail on the head, or does the farmer want to dig deeper as part of their information gathering.”
Those giving advice were also contacted for their feedback.
“They often say they hadn’t appreciated what they had to offer,” Broekhuizen said.
“And it’s often made them justify what they’re doing and why they’re doing it in a particular way.”
A total of 374 connections had been made by the end of October with about 10% of those being helped going on to use the advising farmer as a mentor.
“We can extend those across-the-fence conversations into asking people if they would be interested in being mentors,” she said.
Many older farmers have taken on these roles saying they’ve got to where they are today through having good mentors when they were younger. Dairy Connect has run one mentoring workshop for interested farmers and intends to hold another next winter.
“We need to work at this as an industry,” Broekhuizen said.
“Personal support goes a long way.”
www.dairynz.co.nz/dairyconnect, 08004 DAIRYNZ (0800 4324 7969).
