Raised on a sheep and beef farm, Rebecca Kinney was leaning towards a career in this direction when part-time work during her university studies took her on another path.
In 2021 she arrived from the family farm in Waikato to do a bachelor of agriculture degree at Lincoln University, and graduated just over a year ago.
In between her studies, she worked for Henry and Ashlea Norris at Groven Pastures near Dunsandel.
"It’s only half an hour from Lincoln so I used to drive out here and do a bit of part-time work, doing odd jobs and relief milking and feeding a few calves, just helping out where I could."
Groven’s herd of 1300 cows is milked twice a day for most of the season on the milking platform, with dry stock wintered off farm. About 300 cows will remain on the home block this winter.
One thing led to another and she became a permanent on the staff roll.
Today, the 22-year-old is grateful for the deviation which took her to dairying.
She enjoys being part of a team working with a large herd as an assistant herd manager.
"It’s pretty cool to see the scale and there’s a few more things involved with multiple herds.
"We have several different types of irrigation here and it can get quite complex at times with the centre pivots, Roto-rainers and we’ve just installed some new fixed grid in place of some K-line, and we still have some K-lines as well."
The farm is set up with two centre pivots following full circles on either side of the cow shed, and on the outside of them previously dryland areas are now carrying the fix-grid irrigators.
Dairying was not initially on her job list.
"When I started at Lincoln you have to do 15 weeks of practical work in the summer holidays each on dairy and sheep and beef so I thought I would get the dairy over and done with first, but I never really left. I guess there’s quite a few dairy farms around Canterbury so it’s easy to pick up some milking here and there."
She can seen now the fortunate stroke of serendipity played into her hands.
Dairying’s many opportunities up the career ladder would provide a good future, she said.
Miss Kinney has higher aspirations and joined the Grassroots Dairy Management Graduate Programme to help her develop the skills for progressing a dairy career.
"For me it was an opportunity to get exposed to the more hands-on side of dairy farming as opposed to studying it from a step back at Lincoln. I’ve always liked just getting out on the farm and doing some work. So the grad programme is quite good for that and looking into the technical skills.
"It also looks good on the CV and also just meeting lots of people at different levels in their dairying career and learning how they got to where they are now. That could be me in a few years and you never know what opportunities come about from having these connections and networking."
Lessons learned during practical modules for calving, animal health and drying off cows have helped her think more about farm-wide decision-making.
The dairy community celebrated her achievements and those of seven other young farmers completing the programme at an Ashburton function.
Organisers recruit top university graduates to guide them in taking on leadership and business ownership roles in the dairy industry.
Joining Miss Kinney were the latest graduates Thomas Coates, Sam Back, Megan Maslin, Maddie Lynch, Conor Attril-Mundt, Brady Ballard and Alexis Miller.
Programme leaders have already lined up seven trainees for next year’s intake.
Programme chairwoman Kim Grayling said the goal of the programme was to attract high-quality university graduates and prepare them to take on leadership and business ownership roles within the dairy industry.
She said the programme assisted them to find roles with supportive employers and they completed about 25 three-hour modules between February and November presented by a range of farmers and rural professionals.
"This enables us curate an impressive professional network for the graduate, employer and presenters alike. Some of the presenters this year have included Cameron Henderson, Michelle Pye, Rhys Roberts, Greg Roadley, Kerri Johnston, Andy Macfarlane and Brent Love, to name a few.
"We are currently in our third year of running the programme with the support of DairyNZ and the Rabobank Client Council."
Among graduates to take part in the first programme held in 2022 were Peter O’Connor, currently in Australia, who was the New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year and Young Farmer grand finalist in 2023, and Hamish Kidd, who has just returned from overseas and is going contract milking next season in Hawke’s Bay.
Miss Kinney said they were lucky to have access to quality leaders during the programme.
The dairying industry was good about farmers opening up about their businesses and systems to help people get ahead and share their own progression stories, she said.
"A lot of people are very keen to support it because its a way of recognising young people who want to move up in the industry. Before the grad programme there wasn’t really a specific network of up-and-coming dairy farm leaders that could be accessed by some of these people mentioned so it it’s definitely good for them too."
She said it was good to learn from a range of farm business people, but it had also opened up her eyes to the many supporting roles — including bankers, veterinarians and consultants — in and around dairying.
For her the financial side of the programme was invaluable.
"We all said at the end it’s not stuff you would be thinking about, but you go on to those financial workshops and come home thinking about something you weren’t before and might have something to consider in the future. Even in terms of personal budgeting and what you’re spending your money on and how these people have gained assets by buying cows or land or however you go about that."
She has been inspired to step up her saving and look at options to get a "little start" in the dairy industry.
Not wanting to get too far ahead of herself, she is happy with where she is at, and seeing what opportunities unfold the next few years.
"I would definitely like to stay in dairy farming and climb up the ladder and see how far it takes me. That’s why dairy farming is so attractive to so many people. There’s a very clear progression there where you can start off as a farm assistant and milking and feeding cows and then you start to get involved in some of the decision-making, and from there you just grow up to making all the decisions on your own farm."
In a heartbeat, she would recommend the programme to anyone serious about getting ahead in dairy farming.
Miss Kinney said she was also appreciative of the Norrises who helped her with her development.
