Year in role ‘busy’ but ‘fantastic’

New Southern Dairy Hub general manager Andrea Dixon. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
New Southern Dairy Hub general manager Andrea Dixon. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Shawn McAvinue talks to Southern Dairy Hub general manager Andrea Dixon about field days, winter grazing and being in her job for a year.

Q. The hub hosted field day "Farming for the Future" at the Wallacetown Community Centre last week. What was a topic discussed at the event?

Environment Southland focused on the land and water plan, which was really good because DairyNZ and Fonterra talked about the journey they went on alongside Environment Southland. It was a really good opportunity to ask questions around how we got where we are and what it looks like going forward.

Q. Is the plan is causing confusion for some farmers?

Yeah, confusion on what needs to be done in the world of regulation and that was a key driver on that topic and I thought it was fantastic to have those three people [representatives from DairyNZ, Fonterra and Environment Southland] in the room and there is an opportunity for us to do more of that because for some farmers there was some misunderstanding around permitted activity rules so I encourage everyone to go to the Environment Southland website and use the winter grazing tools and fact sheet.

Q. The hub farm was a stop on the Thriving Southland annual winter grazing tour nearly a fortnight ago. How did that go?

There were about 50 people in that group and they had a look at our set-up. Our manager Ian Butler did a fantastic job hosting them, showing them our fodder beet crops and talking about our plan B options. It was really wet in the early parts of June and we did have to move to our plan B around buffer zones and laying straw out for the comfort of the cows. They also got to look at our three-day break trial, which seems to be working really well for us on farm and the farm team seem to love it. We finished the trial last week and we await the results.

Q. Speaking of your team, how long has your farm manager Mr Butler been in the job and how is it going?

He joined us at the end of May so he is relatively new. He has come from a background of sharemilking and with DairyNZ so he has an extensive skill set for what is required to run a rather complex operation.

Q. I hear farmers talked about their winter grazing systems at the field day last week. Who talked?

Georgie Galloway shared her kale block grazing, a technique she has been using for the past nine years.

Luke Templeton shared his swede-grazing method and Steven Clarke shared his baleage and grass system. It was a really good opportunity for farmers to share what was working for them and other farmers to ask questions.

Q. If my calculations are correct, today is your one-year anniversary in your general manager role. How has it been?

You have done your maths correctly. I was reflecting on that the other day. Far out — it has been a year, a busy year.

Q. Busy but good?

Yeah, fantastic. When I started the role I knew running a research farm was going to be complex and there is a lot of complexity in our operation and how we operate. I enjoy working with the farm team, key partners and stakeholders to achieve what you need to. There is a real tension around driving profitability and achieving the research protocols. What I love about what we do at the hub is having highly reliable research information and that is something to be proud of.

Q. What was the appeal of the job?

For me, it was about taking the farm to the next phase of its evolution. Over the last year I’ve spent a lot of time reviewing systems and processes and checking the robustness of the organisation, as we move to whatever that next phase is, as any new leader would do at any organisation. We’ve had some really good results this year as a farm team. We were 3.8% ahead on milk production, we grew some good grass and had fantastic results and delivered on the research protocols to produce highly reliable data. The farm team hold the mana of that — they’ve done a fantastic job. I’ve loved my last 12 months and I look forward to the next 12 months. We have some cool things in the pipeline and I have a fantastic team around me, great support from our community and partners — I can’t talk more highly of them all.

 

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