Artificial Breeding (AB) technician Dirk van de Ven has an enviable lifestyle.
For about three months of the year the Winton, Southland, man works as an AB technician, earning enough to see him and wife Mieke through the year, albeit with odd jobs supplementing his main income.
“Then I do a little hoof trimming, gardening, walks, get firewood – it all keeps me fit. We work very hard for three months, then do a few little jobs,” Dirk says.
Now 60, Dirk hails from Holland, from where he shifted permanently in 2012. Over a 40-year career, he estimates he has inseminated half a million cows. He has been named the 2019 CRV Ambreed AB Technician of the Year for the Southland region.
The award recognises his commitment, competency and excellent cow return rates, meaning his success at ensuring cows are in calf.
In New Zealand, professionally trained AB technicians do the majority of inseminations. They are responsible for the handling and insemination of semen. CRV has more than 200 technicians across the country.
An AB technician must understand animal anatomy to ensure correct placement of semen in the cow’s reproductive tract. The job demands skillful handling to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both the animal and the inseminator.
Dirk describes the conditions and pay of the job as “very good.” In 2020 he managed to inseminate 11,000 cows, making what he describes as “a good income.” It was his busiest year ever. But he cautions that he is not a one-man (or person) band as wife Mieke helps to load the pistolets, drives the car and does the administration.
He credits Mieke for his success, saying he couldn’t do his job without her.
“She handles all the paperwork, she drives me, she makes us food and she helps me cool my heels when it gets stressful, which it can do when you’re working long hours during the peak of the season.”
Before he and Mieke emigrated to NZ, they used to travel from Holland every October (starting in 2008) to work for CRV during the NZ AB season, which back then typically lasted six to eight weeks.
“I came for four years in a row from 2008 for the first time, starting the end of October and ending December. Then we went back to Holland where we did the same work, or at least I did, because Mieke was a nurse,” Dirk says.
In 2012 the couple decided to make the move a permanent one. Their three sons were all pursuing successful professional careers – none related to farming – and they felt NZ offered an attractive opportunity, both in work and lifestyle.
Dirk first trained with CRV’s predecessor company in Holland as a 19-year-old. He grew up on the small farm his parents owned where they ran chickens and cows, but it was too small to provide a satisfactory return. The exception was when they raised chickens for meat.
“In Holland when I realised I wouldn’t be taking over the family farm, I decided to do the next best thing and learn how to breed good cows.
“I learnt to do that with CRV and I have been with them ever since. I trained as a technician when I left school and I got a job and got into it. In Holland an AB tech works every day of the year, whereas over here it’s seasonal, starting the end of October until Christmas, and even three weeks after,” he says.
However, he says the seasons are getting longer lasting 9-12 weeks as fewer farmers use bulls in the paddock over their herds.
“Over the last year we’ve been so busy, because the overseas AB technicians who may have flown into NZ to work during the season cannot travel because of border restrictions linked to covid-19,” he says.
Comparing the NZ system to the Dutch one, he says in Holland technicians have more opportunity to gain thorough knowledge and skill at the job because they do it day in and day out. That way they do not have a flood of animals to work with and the smaller daily number allows beginners to become experienced.
“In NZ you’re very busy for a few months, and it’s hard work for someone who lacks experience, so that’s one of the reasons why it’s hard to find good technicians,” he says.
“Still, there are good technicians in NZ but there’s more to the job than just the money – you need a connection with the animals and the land.”
He says the job requires patience, a sense of humour and most importantly, an interest in farming and an interest in caring for animals.
Now that he is growing older, he would like to take on an apprentice but there is an understandable reluctance from the younger generation to take up the career. If they live elsewhere and have a mortgage, they are rightly hesitant to up sticks and move to somewhere for two or three months. And if they have a partner it can be difficult for them to find a job for the rest of the year.
The size of NZ herds is a challenge for the dairy industry and the reason why the season is longer each year, with some herds in Southland having up to 1500 cows.
“So it is impossible to get them all in calf in time with natural breeding, you need AI technicians, so there is a future in the career,” he says.
“One of the answers could be more year-round calving but farmers here struggle to get good, reliable people to work 28 days a month, leaving their bed at 3.30 in the morning. How will farmers find these people when they go for year-round milking?
“Also, if you keep milking cows during winter you need to spend a lot of money on wintering barns, winter feed, machines, more cleaning and more lameness. I don’t know how you would do it in the European way.
“A farmer in Holland has about 100 dairy cows, which make him and his wife a pretty good living; they do all the work themselves from the time they’re 20 until they retire at 66. New Zealand doesn’t have the same system.”
He says he has been approached by other companies to work for them, but he prefers to stay with CRV, which he says has been a great company to work for.
“When I started 40 years ago there were a lot of small companies, now there is one large one – CRV, which came into existence in 1989. Why CRV? The people who work there work hard and like to do their job in a way that they can be proud of the company,” he says.
Dirk says he is unsure about the benefits of competition among AB companies. In Holland the job used to be much simpler when he had a limited distance to drive to local farms during a day, but today he might fill all his day with driving to farms further afield. There are now fewer farmers but several AB companies.
“Competition is also a big problem when it comes to diversity. Every company wants the best cows, best bulls and best production, and to get that done they follow the same bloodlines, which is very dangerous. You need crossbreeding because otherwise you’ll get inbreeding. There should be a law that every sire has 30 bloodlines.”
In the off-season Dirk also runs a small hoof trimming business from the couple’s base in Winton. He describes it as an uncommon practice in New Zealand, although he believes it should be carried out more often.
In fact when he applied to immigrate, he had to explain to immigration officials what the job entailed because they had never heard of it.
“They were in the North Island and called around to farmers to ask them what it meant. But in the north and in dry districts they don’t need to perform hoof trimming. However here in Southland, we have more rain.
“In Southland there are heaps of lame cows, it’s unbelievable. It’s hard to say what percentage because it differs month to month, but at an estimate about a fifth on an 800-cow farm became lame,” he says.
“Most of them you can help, but if you do nothing then the problem is solved also because a lot of the cows go to the works and that’s the end of the problem. It’s a very easy but very expensive solution – and produces poor cows.”
He says he does not carry out as much hoof trimming as he used to, partially because it is hard work, “and I’m not 25 anymore.” A Dutch trimmer has since taken over the job he used to do, although he continues to do some work. It is another job that he and Mieke are able to do together.
Does he think he might settle permanently in Holland or NZ? At the moment it looks like the latter. About 10 years ago the couple bought an inexpensive property on the outskirts of Winton and renovated it with double glazing and other improvements. It was very cheap compared to Holland – or Wellington and Auckland.
And once they can travel again, they will be able to enjoy two summers a year by dividing their time between NZ and Holland.
