Abigail Vickers; The Type Of Person The Dairy Industry Needs

The May 2011 issue of the Dairy Exporter has an article on Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Trainee of the year, Abigail Vickers.

At the time of the article, Abigail was 25 years old and in her second year as a dairy assistant. She has a goal of owning her own small scale organic farm, that doesn’t necessarily have to be involved in dairy. She already has 5 cows which she leases out, but would like to grow the herd to around 50 cows.

She entered the dairy industry to learn as much as she could about pasture management.

What a great example of a driven young person who has their act together. How many second year dairy assistants have started building up their herd? I don’t know many herd managers who have started building up their herd? She is an example of the type of people the dairy industry needs.

While she’s enjoyed working on both farms, she’s now looking at trying another farming sector to give herself some more time to pursue interests outside of work.

Here’s an example of a member of generation y, who the dairy industry dearly needs. But she wants more time to do things outside of work. One of the main characteristics of gen y, is they value time for activities outside of work. Obviously her two previous jobs do not allow her the time she would prefer. So she’s off to look around at other opportunities.

I wonder if she will return to working on a dairy farm. I bet she will continue to build her herd while working in another sector and then she’ll go dairying with her 50 cows and she'll do it her way. She’ll build the farm to suit her requirements and priorities.

I'm back on my soapbox preaching the same old sermon. The hours worked on dairy farms are turning off the best and brightest people.

If anyone knows Abigail, I’d love to hear how she is getting on.