NZ Dairy Winter 2021

| 43 nz dairy DAIRY AWARDS » Stephanie Walker Hugh de Lacy O verseeing farming entities for a corporate farmer would be almost as satisfying a career outcome as farm ownership for Steph- anie Walker, the National Fonterra Dairy Manage- ment Merit Award winner in the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Industry Awards. Stephanie, 27, has just started with Xavier Farm- ing on its 218ha effective property, running 565 cows at Wharetuhuenga, between Te Awamutu and Otorohanga in the Waikato. Her medium-term goal is owning a share-milking herd, and she’s on track to do that within about eight years, after which farm ownership beckons. “Of course I’d love to own a farm,” she says, “but these days it’s a lot harder with overseas investors in the game. ”Depending on what opportunities arise, I’d be quite interested in overseeing multiple farming enti- ties, whether that be for something like Landcorp, or as operations manager somewhere, or having a partnership in share-milking for investors that I oversee.” Originally from Whakatane, Stephanie’s only experience with animals growing up was the horse her parents bought her when she was 13. It triggered a love for animals that took her to Massey University where she missed the first cut for vet school, but decided that wasn’t the career path she wanted to go down anyway. So after a break back home in Whakatane, during which she worked for Whakaari/White Island Tours, she started a Massey agricultural science degree. “I wanted to be hands-on rather than spend five more years at university studying to be a vet, and the ag/sci programme let me do a lot of it by cor- respondence, and then I could get outside and get my hands dirty.” Stephanie’s first experience on a farm was in 2015 as a relief milker in the Bay of Plenty, and although that proved to be a tough introduction, she applied for and got an assistant’s job on a 450-cow property near Matamata for six months. Having learned things like riding a motorbike and driving a tractor, she then spent 18 months on a Paeroa farm where she enrolled in the Level 3 Primary ITO dairying course while continuing her ag/sci degree work extramurally. In 2016 Stephanie got her first big-herd experi- ence on Landcorp’s 900-cow Motua farm in the Manawatu, where she won her first dairy award, the 2017 Manawatu Dairy Trainee of the Year. “I preferred working with smaller herds and because of the award I was offered a job as 2IC for Steve Holdaway on his farm at Ballance.” Later there was a stint at Bruce and Kay Darby’s Kauri Moor 615-cow farm at Huntly before she moved to her present position. She says she was “100% blown away” by the announcement of her win in the Fonterra Dairy Management Award at this year’s Dairy Industry Awards – a win that incidentally garnered her nearly $7000 in prizes. “I was sitting with my mother when my name was called out, and Mum said, ‘That’s you,’ and I just said ‘Wha-at!?’” Perhaps it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise because she’d earlier won the same hon- our at the Auckland/Hauraki regional level, where it was called the Nick Hoogeveen and Associates Leadership Award, and also picked up the Fonterra Dairy Management Merit Award along with the Auckland/Hauraki Dairy Manager of the Year. The leadership award recognises her service as a volunteer for the Whakatane Fire Brigade, among other contributions to her community. And there’s another honour on Stephanie’s horizon. “I’ve got one more paper left for my agricultural science degree, and I hope to finish that after the spring calving, and to graduate from Massey University about this time next year. “What I end up doing in the dairy industry all depends on the type of opportunity that presents itself, though share-milking is the obvious next step,” she says. Wherever Stephanie Walker’s career in dairying takes her, be it corporate management or farm ownership, she’s obviously got the qualifications not only to manage, but to lead as well. “What I end up doing in the dairy industry all depends on the type of opportunity that presents itself...” National Dairy Management Merit Award winner Stephanie Walker with her dog Bindi. Specialists in customisable feed Silo | Bulk | Liquid | Calf 0800 300 313 GrainCorpFeedsNZ www.graincorpfeeds.co.nz Working smarter. So your feed works harder. nfd21kwRivertown Safe Power Assured ● Master Electrician • Commercial • Domestic • Industrial • Rural • 24/7 P hone (07) 828 7240 30 W illiam St, Huntl y. PO Box 164 , Huntl y rivertownelectrical@xt ra. co . n z Rivertown Electrical rural domestic commercial industrial www. rivertownelectrical . co . n z 'Congratulations Stephanie on your 'Dairy Manager of the Year' Award' Overseeing corporate farms on wish list Whakatane • 027 4512 621 STEVE WALKER ELECTRICAL Congratulations to Stephanie from Steve Walker Electrical and Shephaven Kennels