20 | nzdairy DAIRY AWARDS » Paul and Sarah Koopal Entering awards ‘leading by example’ Russell Fredric Dairy Industry AwardsCentral Plateau 2024 Share Farmer of the Year winners Paul and Sarah Koopal are passionate about the New Zealand dairy industry and the opportunities it provides. The couple were also recognised with four merit awards, which covered livestock, health and safety, dairy hygiene and farm environment, and $17,000 in prizes. One of their employees, Jessie Pope, was the 2024 Central Plateau Dairy Trainee of the Year while another, Jasmine Hall, was trainee of the year last year. Former staff have won dairy industry awards in past years and are now farm owners, Paul and Sarah say. “One of the things that we pride ourselves on is hiring great people, assisting them to grow and achieve their goals and pass the benefits through the industry. We love it when they do well.” “We entered the Dairy Industry Awards as we wanted to lead by example. It’s been a great opportunity to analyse each area of our business and we have loved the process.” Paul and Sarah are contract milkers on Paul’s parents Stewart and Anne Koopal’s 204ha, 544 cow farm at Rerewhakaaitu, but Sarah also works full time off-farm in rural banking. The farm has good infrastructure which includes a 44 a-side herringbone shed with automatic cup removers, Protrack automatic drafting and automatic teat spray. Paul and Sarah have been either contract milking or lower order sharemilkers on the family farm for 13 seasons. They agree this is unusual in the industry, however the farm has been in Paul’s family for more than 50 years and they have a strong affinity with the land, however they are now looking for new opportunities to help them accelerate their farming goals. “The dairy industry is a unique business model with many industry bodies, rural professionals and fellow farmers willing to assist you to improve your business. It’s amazing to be part of.” Although all their merit awards are equally important to them, they were especially pleased to win the livestock merit as animals are a huge passion. Paul and Sarah have been strongly focused on genetics and the herd is now nationally in the top 10% to 20% for breeding worth and production worth and these metrics have improved at twice the industry average due to breeding and culling decisions made on farm. They are focusing on breeding an efficient cow in order to minimise carbon and methane emissions. “What’s really important to us is our six week in-calf rate because a tighter calving spread means more days in milk, increased culling options, lower replacement numbers, increased days to get back in-calf and reduced GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions per KgMS. “We know once we have to start paying for our emissions, then production efficiency will be even more important for the farm.”Sarah says. “Paul has a goal of a 78% six week in-calf rate. This year he achieved 77% with no intervention, which against the Central Plateau average of 66% is a great result.” Paul and Sarah were placed third for Share Farmer of the Year at the Dairy Industry Awards nationals in Queenstown on May 11 as well as receiving the business performance and people and culture merit awards. Capping this off, they also won the CowManger Experience, a monitoring service focused on cow health, fertility and nutrition free for three years and are very excited about the future improvements they can make to the herd with the aid of this system. Christmas morning milking. Sarah and Paul Koopal after winning the CowManager award at the DIA nationals in Queenstown.
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