Three Taupo women are proving their doubters wrong as they prepare for their first season as managers of dairy farms.
The trio will each manage Pamu dairy farms just out of Taupo.
When they started out, two had never set foot on a dairy farm and one grew up on a sheep and beef farm. One had family members who doubted she would cope with the mud, stink, and hours out in the cold.
Resolution Dairy Unit manager Mona Cable, Quarry Dairy Unit manager Liza Arnold and Burgess Dairy Unit manager Carol Cuttance have worked their way up from the bottom, spent time "riding the train" while their children were young, taken up study opportunities to learn about milking and effluent management systems, and all three still experience moments of self-doubt.
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Altogether Pamu Farms has 19 dairy units in Taupo.
"There is great mentoring support available from my business manager. If I have a question I get on the phone and ask for advice," Cable says.
Liza Arnold took over the 400 cows at Quarry in November. She walked straight into the second calving of the season, got a whole new herd of cows in February and they started calving on March 15. This will be the first season Quarry Dairy Unit has supplied Taupo milk processing plant Miraka.
Originally from Auckland, Arnold started working part-time on a dairy farm in Greymouth for her brother-in-law in 2014. It was the ideal job while her children were young.
She's held many positions, from calf rearing to dairy assistant and then third in charge, and in August last year took up the position on Quarry as second in charge, and by November was running the show.
Her two daughters are also in the industry, one is rearing calves and the other is in the process of buying her own dairy farm.
"If you want to grow yourself, you want to do it anyway, but the Pamu Farms managers I had along the way always accommodated my studies."
At peak, Resolution Dairy Unit has 1087 cows and spring calving begins on July 20. Next season, new manager Mona Cable is aiming to hit all her targets and so far this season Resolution has been grade free, meaning no errors relating to milk quality.
Before 2010, Cable was a fulltime mum, doing a polytech computer course. She had never set foot on a farm, but family members were working at Pamu's Achilles Dairy Unit.
"I had a little go and that was me. My family never thought I would last. Back then I had long nails and a skincare regime going on. I still do [skincare], but not as vigorous as before," Cable says.
Her progression was gradual but her managers urged her to study. In October, Burgess Dairy Unit will be fully organic, and new manager Carol Cuttance has been there for the three-year journey, starting as the shed manager in 2017. She grew up on a sheep and beef farm, has a diploma in farming, and has been farming her whole life.
Next season Burgess will peak at 590 cows and Cuttance is looking forward to being at the helm of a challenging system where no antibiotics are allowed, all feed has to be grown on-farm, and where a dry stock unit is part of the mix.
Pamu Farms has four organic dairy units in Taupo, all at varying stages of production with Burgess supplying Fonterra, which sends products to Europe, Korea and Canada.
A pink-helmeted daughter rides past on a motorbike, as the women say dairy farming has been a great employer for their children as well.
All three have all-male staff, and joke they'd love to have female staff. They say if anyone wants to have a go working on a dairy farm, they should get in touch and come in as a calf rearer or casual worker.
