Each year, NZ Dairy Careers in association with Macra na Feirme and the Irish Farmers Journal, select two scholarship winners from Ireland to live, learn and earn in New Zealand.
The Stephen Cullinan scholarship sends two successful Irish candidates who are interested in pursuing a full-time career in agriculture to New Zealand; to work and gain experience of New Zealand farming systems for six months.
Michael Comerford from Kilkenny City Macra, and Stephen O’Keeffe from Kilmallock Macra, were placed on Canterbury farms under NZ Dairy Careers’ training and development programme during their visit.
NZ Dairy Careers are proud to be in their fourth year of supporting scholarship students and caught up with Michael last week (before he set off on a new adventure in Western Australia) to find out what he thought about his NZ experience:
I have been working on a dairy farm in Lismore, Canterbury, in southern New Zealand. It has a herd of around 900 spring-calving, mainly New Zealand Friesian cows, with a mix of some Kiwi cross throughout the herd. Nine hundred is a decent-sized herd here, but there are farms nearby milking in excess of 2,000 cows.
Milking
The cows are milked through a 54-unit rotary parlour. This parlour is able to milk 300 cows in an hour with neither the cows nor myself under any pressure. Like most farms in the region, once you go past the topsoil you have gravel underneath. During the first four weeks of calving season here, we calved around 800 cows. That might sound like a lot of work, but we’ve a good team, working in a six-on, two-off roster which has made calving life a lot easier. I don’t think there is any other place in the world where a group of Irish lads working on farms could organise a day to go off skiing right in the middle of calving.
Animal Welfare
Despite the scale of farming here, animal welfare is still a number one priority on this farm and every farm in New Zealand, although as with anything, a few farmers can still manage to give the good farmers a bad name. Every calf on this farm, whether it’s a bobby or a replacement, is treated the same. The only difference is that they’re kept in separate sheds for easier management. The bobbys are kept on the farm until they are nearly two weeks old and then sold on to beef farmers who will continue to rear them for longer. Just like Irish farmers, the Kiwis believe that if an animal isn’t looked after to the highest standard, they won’t perform to their highest potential.
Winter Housing
There are very few farms in the area with winter housing, as there is no need for it, despite the fact there have been a few hard frosts and flash floods since I arrived. But the cows were always well-fed and had dry lying; it’s all about managing the resources you have. In New Zealand, they strongly believe you are only building a shed to suit the man and not the animal.
Business Growth Opportunities
Many of the farms here are essentially leased off banks. In some instances, the farmer is paying interest only as well as paying off some of the principal on the loan. This has allowed farmers to grow their business easier and by continuously improving their farms year on year, by the time they get to retirement age they could have doubled the value of the farm if it was a conversion. If they have a piece of the loan paid off, this leaves the farmer with a nice sum of money when they retire. Most farmers in New Zealand retire in their 50s, making generation renewal very strong. It’s the place to be for a young farmer wanting to get up the ladder quickly.
Main Differences Between Irish & NZ Farms
There are many more young people involved in farming down under. That has made a huge difference to my time here. It means you never have an excuse to sit around and do nothing on a day off as there are always a few off on the same days between all the different rosters. I would encourage any students arriving in January to come along to the pitch in Rakaia on a Wednesday evening at 7pm where there is usually around 20 of us there for a kickaround. Between the dairy business students and the rest of us here, the best way to describe your time here is, “like a week at the Galway races spread out over a year and instead of coming in the door at 4am you’re heading out the door at 4am to milk.
Would I Encourage Others To Apply?
I’ve learned so much out here, particularly about grass management. I am constantly trying to improve my eyeballing of the pasture. I would without a doubt encourage anyone even half thinking of coming over to New Zealand to apply for the scholarship. I wasn’t expecting to get it myself and if you don’t get it, Macra na Feirme can point you in the right direction to get started out here. There’s only so much you can learn in a classroom and I’d recommend anyone thinking of going dairying at home to come out here and see what it’s all about. They have a fantastic attitude to farming. They don’t get stressed about it and they have a great perspective on the industry.
Taking part in the Stephen Cullinan Scholarship is a great way to find out now whether or not you want this lifestyle because you are better off finding out now instead of a few years down the line when you’ve already got a milking parlour built and you realise this isn’t the life you wanted.
The scholarship was founded by the Agricultural Trust in memory of Stephen Cullinan, founder and first secretary of Macra na Feirme (equivalent to NZ Young Farmers) and also first editor of what is today's Irish Farmers' Journal.
NZ Dairy Careers offer training and development programmes all year around to international and domestic students. You can find out more about the programmes and how to apply at: http://www.nzdairycareers.co.nz/candidates.html