Passion for dairy cattle drives young stud breeder
A passion for dairy cattle breeding is in the genes for 19-year-old farm assistant Annie Gill.
“It was my dad’s passion and I’ve always been daddy’s little girl,” she says, laughing. “We’re two peas in a pod. It has been born and bred into me and can’t see myself doing anything else.”
When Annie passed NCEA Level 2 and her parents said she could leave school as long as she continued her education, she grasped the opportunity with both hands. She had spent hours preparing and showing cattle through her parents’ pedigree Holstein stud, so farming was the top option.
She is aiming for a Level 4 Certificate in Agriculture (Dairy) while working full time as a farm assistant for Roly and Briar Rogers, about 5km north of Otorohanga. She’s milking 600 A2A2 jersey cows on a 195ha (effective) milking platform.
“I’m going into my third season here. This was their family farm and they’ve slowly developed it into a bigger business. It is such a good area and there are pedigree breeders all around. I don’t want to leave this area anytime soon because a lot of the breeders have taken me under their wing and let me help them and show their cattle. I’m just gathering more breeding knowledge all the time.”
Looking ahead, Annie wants to be 50/50 sharemilking in the next 10 years with her own pedigree herd. She wants to thank those helping her get there.
“Quite simply, I wouldn’t be able to continue breeding animals and building my stud if it weren’t for people like Doug Cortman and Peter and Sabina van Leeuwen looking after my animals for me.”
Annie inherited the Pitstone Holsteins stud name from her parents, Kevin and Sherie.
“Dad started the stud in 1977 and sold the herd in 2015. When the buyer then sold some animals I had the opportunity to buy back a family line of heifers and cows, which means I have a line to breed from. This season I’m looking forward to my cows calving with sexed semen. The majority will be females and I will be able to sell some of them on to get a return on the work I’m doing.”
It’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive home to Whangamata, but Annie’s happy to see her dad at work when she gets there.
“He is supposed to be retired but doesn’t know how to stop. He’s a year off 70 and with relief milking and other jobs, he’s pretty much still working full time.”
Being out on her own at age 17 was a big step for Annie, who is the youngest of six children, so she joined Te Kawa West Young Farmers.
“Young Farmers for me was like a saviour because I moved two-and-a-half hours away from home when I was 17. I’ve never looked back. It’s like a family. We have meetings and fundraisers, but we do so much outside of that as well, we’ve got chat groups to make plans such as barbecues or river floats. It’s a great way to get off farm and still be around likeminded people”.
Annie was a Dairy Trainee of the Year finalist in this year’s Waikato Dairy Industry Awards and would like to enter the FMG Young Farmer of the Year in the future.
Continuing to show animals is also on the to-do list. It’s hard at the moment with her animals in Whangamata, but she’s off to Taranaki next week to hopefully buy some Holstein Friesian heifers in an auction, and has been asked to lend a hand at the upcoming Autumn Harvest Sale on April 22.
“It helps promote my stud, but it’s more about helping people and meeting new people. This game is all about who you know.”