Exhiliration was the best word used by Christopher and Siobhan O’Malley to describe their feelings after being named 2017 Share Farmers of the Year, at the third time of entering.
All the time and effort in preparing for the prestigious Dairy Industry Awards had earned national honours, considerable prize money and a big boost along the farm ownership path.
They also had the relief of knowing Christopher’s father Brian had survived a major health scare on the night of the awards dinner.
As the 33 finalists and more than 500 guests neared the climax of the presentation Brian dramatically collapsed.
Christopher rushed to his aid, along with Federated Farmers president Dr William Rolleston and some nurses in the audience.
Brian was taken by ambulance to Auckland Hospital, kept overnight and discharged on Sunday and was now back home in Christchurch without ill-effects.
The judges of the competition said Christopher and Siobhan had a strong partnership on which to grow their business and they thrived on a challenge.
“From the previous two experiences we learned how much effort has to go into this in order to get anywhere near the top,” Christopher said.
“This time we resolved to do it right. I thought it would take 20 hours each but that was spent in the first three days and we still had months to go.
“We had to dig deeply into what we do and why and we were pleased to find out that most of what we knew was actually right.
“A few things we found didn’t have as good a return as we had thought so we will be changing them in the future.
The O’Malleys received considerable help from rural professionals – their Ravensdown rep, KPMG’s Timaru office and three people from ANZ Bank Ashburton went to the farm.
Nearing the end of their second year 50:50 sharemilking 515 cows on Graham Brooker’s 138ha farm near Ashburton, the O’Malleys have progressed through jobs on the West Coast and in North Otago.
The competition judges highlighted the O’Malley’s achievement in 2015 in travelling widely to buy a high-quality herd of 550 cows within budget constraints then selling off the DNA-verified A2 ones for a $250/head premium to surrounding Synlait suppliers.
Next season the herd would go up to 630 cows with some neighbouring leased land.
“They demonstrated a passion to give back to the industry and this was evident in their entirely selfless approach to their business and in their relationships with other people,” head judge Neil Gray said.
“They were very strong with their human resource management and have developed their team and delegated areas of responsibility to assist their staff to achieve.
“For example, one of the staff members was in charge of dairy hygiene and when the operation received a Fonterra award for highest quality milk, it was the staff member that accepted it.
“They are also connecting with schools and trying to promote good, positive images of dairy farming, which is fantastic to see in a couple so early in their sharemilking career,” Gray said.
The O’Malleys hoped national honours would speed up their path through the dairy industry towards farm ownership, previously planned over 10 years.
Christopher was an adventure tourism guide who went dairying eight years ago while Siobhan, a former secondary school teacher, joined him in dairying six years ago.
Now they had three children, Finnian, Aisling and Ruairi.
As those names indicated, both sides of the family, the O’Malleys and the O’Rourkes (Siobhan’s maiden name) came from Ireland originally though three generations have been Kiwi-born.
Christopher had worked in Ireland and sailed across the Pacific Ocean. In 2016 he was named Mid-Canterbury Rugby Referee of the Year.
They would love to go back to Ireland for a visit and look at Irish dairy farming – Christopher said when Ireland got to host the Rugby World Cup he would combine his passions with a holiday there.
They would recommend to all young people in the dairy industry to enter their regional awards.
National winner in the Dairy Manager of the Year category was Hayley Hoogendyk of Manawatu, the first sole woman winner in the award’s history.
The 28-year-old former event manager was farm manager for Te Paratai Farms, on Nigel, Roger and Noelene Taylor’s 220ha, 600-cow property at Rongotea.
“Her onfarm skills were exceptional,” head judge Richard Kyte said, elevating her among the top six or seven regional winners who were close competitors nationally.
“The farm business is performing well and her pasture management is excellent.
“Hayley is a hands-on manager and likes being out there alongside her staff, empowering them to work together to meet targets.
“She has an excellent manner with animals and is concerned about the welfare of each individual cow. In her spare time she is also extremely active in her community.”
Winner of the Dairy Trainee of the Year category was Clay Payton, from Nelson, the 2IC on Brent and Michelle Riley’s 163ha Wakefield farm milking 450 cows.
“Clay is very professional and all the judges agreed that he will be a fantastic ambassador for the dairy industry and a great future leader,” head judge Andrew Reid said.
“He has a clear balance between his work priorities and life and family. He is very driven but has a strong community focus and an awareness of the issues the industry will be facing in years to come.”
