Thursday, March 28, 2024

One for the books

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After more than 17 years with Holstein Friesian New Zealand, Cherilyn Watson has a front row seat to how the dairy industry has changed over the years, and recently made history as the first female president of the World Holstein Friesian Federation.
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Pioneering her way in the dairy breeding industry, the general manager of Holstein Friesian NZ, Cherilyn Watson, found more of a challenge being one of the first women in some of her roles than not coming from a farming background.

“I joined Holstein Friesian NZ 17 years ago and back then there weren’t typically women in these sort of roles. Things have come a long way since then, but I am still regularly the only woman on some of the committees I am involved with,” Cherilyn says.

She was recently appointed president of the World Holstein Friesian Federation (WHFF) Council and is the first woman to hold the role in the 45 years since the federation started.

Holstein Friesian NZ president Hennie Verwaayen says Cherilyn’s appointment as president was recognition of how far the breed society had come in NZ, and proof that NZ was producing some of the best leaders in the field.

“For a little country at the bottom of the world, I think Cherilyn’s appointment shows we can and are footing it with the best in the dairy industry,” Hennie says.

Cherilyn is honoured to accept the role and takes pride in representing the Holstein Friesian breed as well as women.

“I’m a fierce advocate for women holding more roles within the industry. I believe if they have a passion for something they should be able to apply it and achieve anything they want,” she says.

“Sometimes, as women, we look at jobs and lack the confidence to apply where a man won’t think twice. Even if they don’t have the entire skillset, they will still apply because they recognise the potential from what they do have, but women tend to hesitate.

“I think it’s important everyone enjoys the path they choose and has the confidence to make those decisions and if that’s a woman choosing a role in a male-dominated industry, that shouldn’t hold them back.”

Cherilyn is an accountant by trade and relocated to Hamilton from Auckland 30 years ago and worked at a chartered accountant firm looking after farm accounts. That was when she developed a passion for dairy farming.

Away from the office, one of her favourite pastimes is walking the many great trails of NZ, having recently completed Abel Tasman and is looking to do the Heaphy Track later this year.

She held the accounting role for a few years before leaving to start her family. When her daughter was 10 months old, her former employer approached her about an opportunity to rebuild an accounting system for Ayrshire NZ.

“The project was only supposed to take around six months, but once it finished they offered me a role and I ended up working for them for nearly a decade,” she says.

“It was part-time initially, but my role grew when NZ hosted the 2004 World Ayrshire Conference. We had 120 delegates travelling in NZ for three weeks and it took a lot of organising.”

After the conference, she was ready for something new and explored her options. She found a systems manager role at Holstein Friesian NZ.

“I was only there 12 months before the general manager, who had started just before me, went back to the UK. I wasn’t remotely interested in applying for the role as I had a young family and was concerned about the commitment, but I was coerced into it.

There were a few applicants, but the board liked the business knowledge I could bring, and I took the role on the condition it was a flexible working arrangement around family life,” she says.

Seventeen years later, she is still thoroughly enjoying the role. 

“I had to grow into the role and build rapport in the industry, and I’m by no means an expert. There’s always a new challenge or something comes around the corner you need to learn,” she says.

The association has a team of six staff and almost 800 members; most are engaged, full-time farmers. They support people from the time they enter the industry and right through their farming careers, with a focus on the development of youth through an annual leadership camp.

“The association supports members with information through a number of channels. And work with breeding companies on various programmes to continue to improve Holstein Friesian genetics,” she says.

“It isn’t our role to tell our members how to breed their cows. We are a platform of information on more than just breed-related matters.

“The society exists to improve, promote and develop the Holstein Friesian breed in NZ. We support and advocate for our members and offer services to add value such as pedigree registration and traits other than production (TOP), including contracting to LIC and CRV to inspect heifers in their sire proving schemes.

“The association writes submissions to the Government on behalf of our members regarding regulations and is connected with anything dairy-related,” she says.

They register pedigree stock and members can get their heifers and cows classified (TOP scored) through the association, which feeds into the NZ Animal Evaluation System. And they offer an open female genomic testing service that is not available anywhere else in NZ. The samples are tested in Ireland, which goes to an extra level of detail than DNA testing alone, providing another tool for farmers to make their breeding decisions.

“Genomics allows farmers to identify which are their best animals to breed from when they’re still young, and increases their rate of genetic gain,” she says. 

“But one of the biggest challenges currently facing the NZ dairy industry is the development of genomics and the ownership of genomic information for the national herd.

“Overseas the development of genomic testing has already led to more structured breeding decisions about the type of cows farmers both want and need to breed. In NZ, we haven’t quite got there yet because there is currently no one industry good source of genomic data.”

Cherilyn sits on the Industry Genetics Steering Group looking at access to data and genotypes across the NZ dairy industry, working towards a solution in the genomics space. 

She also sits on the Breed Association Working Group of ICAR, an international committee setting standards for animal recording, is secretary of the NZ Dairy Breeds Federation and serves on the TOP Advisory Committee which steers the development and implementation of TOP traits in NZ.

And to top it off, she has been instrumental in securing funding and is leading the development of a new $1 million project, backed by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), to develop an information system to shape the genetics powering NZ’s dairy sector on behalf of the NZ dairy cattle breed societies.

She is passionate about the Holstein Friesian breed and NZ dairying and joined the World Holstein Friesian Federation Council in 2016 representing Oceania. Cherilyn believes having a representative from a predominantly pastoral farming system is key to maintain a balanced view on the world stage. Her new role as president is an exciting venture and she will be sure to make an impact.

On the council, she will represent the Oceania region – Australia and NZ, which is strong in pasture-based farming and she believes that it is an important voice on the council.

“My role as president involves overseeing the running of the organisation, chairing the meetings and working with the 41 members countries from around the world to improve, promote and continue to develop the Holstein Friesian breed around the world,” she says.

“NZ farmers are facing similar issues to dairy farmers around the world, from managing our social licence to operate, to addressing environmental challenges. I’m looking forward to working with the council and continuing to both facilitate discussion and help address those challenges.”

Generally, the WHFF Council holds a meeting once a year somewhere in the world, however, with borders closed due to covid, the council meetings are held by video link every three months. The hope is if travel opens up, the council will be able to meet face to face in 2022. 

“It is an honour to accept the role of WHFF President and I love the fact that there’s a whole economy in NZ driven by agriculture, and that in my role I am contributing to it,” she says.

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