46 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Theland Purata Lauren McConnachie earns top honours Nicki Woodlock Lauren McConnachie was awarded RunnerUp in the Dairy Manager of the Year 2025 category at the New Zealand Dairy Awards for Canterbury/North Otago, taking home $1,625 worth of prizes, including vouchers, a training course, and one merit award. She previously placed third in the same category last year. Lauren also received the Fonterra Dairy Management Award as her merit award. Lauren is the farm manager at Robindale Dairies in Te Pirita, a 563-hectare effective dairy operation owned by TheLand Farm Group. The farm is run by contract milkers Rob and Jenine Screen and is located just 10 minutes from Hororata. Robindale Dairies milks 2,150 cows, making it the largest milk supplier to Synlait. The farm features two milking sheds and is operated by a team of nine. After managing one shed with 840 cows last season, Lauren stepped up in 2025 to oversee both sheds and the full herd of 2,250 cows. The judges were impressed by Lauren’s strong skill set, knowledge, and capability in running the farm, highlighting her excellent performance across key areas including farm operations, livestock management, pasture and feed, team leadership, environmental sustainability, innovation, and financial management. Her approach to stock management and animal health was also praised, demonstrating a strong understanding, passion, and capability in livestock care, along with noticeable improvements in herd breeding performance during her time on the farm. The judges also noted her solid expertise in pasture and feed management, with a clear grasp of seasonal feed requirements. The judges commended Lauren’s strong leadership and staff management, with strengths in training, development, engagement, and goal setting for her team. Her enthusiasm for learning stood out, along with active involvement in DairyNZ workshops and community events. The judges also noted her clear commitment to ongoing training and personal growth. The judges also recognised Lauren’s strong understanding of environmental sustainability, including effluent and nutrient management, as well as compliance with waterway regulations. Lauren is the farm manager at Robindale Dairies in Te Pirita, a 563-hectare effective dairy operation. She demonstrated a clear commitment to innovation on the farm, effective goal setting with staff, robust health and safety reporting, and sound accounting practices. Her use of technology for staff training was highly effective, and she also showed strong capability and knowledge in financial management. Lauren leads a diverse international team at Robindale Dairies, with staff hailing from the United Kingdom, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil. She finds great satisfaction in training her team, watching their skills grow and seeing them progress in their roles. Since returning to New Zealand during the Covid pandemic in 2020, Lauren has been fully committed to farming. Driven by a strong desire to learn, she has completed multiple ITO courses at Levels 2 and 3 and earned a Diploma in Agribusiness Management. Her farming career has progressed rapidly - rising from farm assistant to 2IC and then to farm manager, all within just three years. Lauren sees entering the NZ Dairy Industry Awards as invaluable: “Every time I enter I learn something about the farm and myself. The feedback that I get from the judges is really great to track how well I’m doing. I get an outsider’s perspective on my strengths and weaknesses and it gives me some really useful feedback. 734 East Street, Ashburton 03-308-7982 www.ashburtonyamaha.co.nz Our services are: Sales,Tyres, WOF, Service and On Farm Servicing Proud to support Theland Purata Agricultural Contractors based in Methven Contact us today: Managing Director - Patrick: 027 297 2726 Operation Manager - Adam: 027 223 7309 office.naglecontracting@gmail.com FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz Experienced Dairy Vets Focused on whole farm performance Rakaia and Ashburton o ces Dedicated to dairying - we provide a dairy only veterinary service Excellent personalised service tailored to your farm system Competitively priced products and services O ce: Ashburton (03) 308 0493 Rakaia (03) 302 7818 418West Street, Ashburton 7700 9 Railway Terrace East, Rakaia 7710 Email: info@dairyvets.co.nz Web: www.dairyvets.co.nz I gain so much from it”. Looking forward Lauren says: “I want to move into contract milking next year. I’d like to travel to the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia and see how they do things in other countries if the opportunity arises. Then the long term goal I have is to get into farm ownership”.
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