Young town enthusiasts do hard yards

Hayley Hoogendyk, who won Dairy Manager of the Year, is originally from Mt Maunganui.

Hoogendyk first studied accountancy at Massey University then changed to a business degree majoring in sports management.

She worked as an events manager, but when the job was disestablished she went milking cows to fill in a gap.

Today she is the farm manager at Te Paratai which runs 600 cows and is targeting 269,000kgMS this season. The farm is a system 4, now regrassing and growing 25ha of turnips.

Hoogendyk has four staff, and finds the people management especially appealing. Her business degree is a big help, she says. The increase in large dairy farms means the days of a single owner-operator are gone, says Hoogendyk. Now, looking after staff is vital.

“I like to see people progressing; I wouldn’t ask them to do anything I wouldn’t do. It’s important to look after people and see them succeed in life; if they are not succeeding then I am not succeeding. I want them to enjoy life, to turn up to work not because they have to but because they like the work.”

She says staff treated well and having their views taken into account can add value to a business. Workers at the coal-face often have good practical ideas and they need to be encouraged to share them. “So I don’t try to micro-manage them; I want them to make their decisions because they are there every day.”

Hoogendyk says entering the dairy awards has taught her a lot about herself and her farm and given her ways to improve.

She hopes to buy a house this year and in the future move to a lower order share milking role. Her ultimate goal is to manage multiple farms and use her people management skills.

Stephanie Walker (22) is the Manawatu Dairy Trainee of the Year. She hails from Bay of Plenty and came to Manawatu aged 17 to study agri science degree at Massey University.

Now she works on one of eight Landcorp dairy farms in a cluster near Foxton.

Her first contact with dairy cows came when a friend at their pony club was milking cows; she tried it and liked it and decided to make a career in the dairy industry. Her foray into the Dairy Awards came when a Waikato friend won Trainee of the Year in 2016.

“It gave me an incentive to enter. I wanted to benchmark myself against trainees of like skill and ability and to see where I stood, and I came away with a great result,” she says.

Walker says within ten years she would like to own 200 cows and be a 50/50 sharemilker.