For most of us, the alarm going off at a time starting with '4' is enough to send us screaming back under the covers. But, when you've been doing it almost every day for half your life, it just becomes part of your DNA.
Waikato dairy farmer Brendan O'Leary doesn't bat an eyelid at his daily 4.30am wake-up call. Now 46, he's the fourth generation of his family on the land and has been getting up early for morning milking since he was a teenager.
"The job's just got to be done. You're just delaying the inevitable if you roll over [when the alarm goes off]."
Brendan farms an 85 ha block at Gordonton, north of Hamilton, with his brother Lindsay, milking 400 cows twice a day, year round, so Kiwis can have their daily latte. The O'Leary family originally farmed at Pokeno, just south of the Bombay Hills, for around 80 years but moved to flatter country more suited to dairying at Gordonton 21 years ago.
Every day starts out pretty much the same: after a quick cup of tea, it's boots on and down to the shed by 5am to get the cows in and on the machines. Morning milking takes a couple of hours then, once the sun's up, it's breakfast time and on to the other business of the farm before the herd is brought in for the second milking of the day at 3pm.
The O'Leary brothers have one farm-worker helping them out, who works 11 days on and three off. The O'Learys work around his schedule to take time out but Brendan is usually at the shed for morning milking no matter what.
"I like to be at the coal face and know what's going on," he says. "I don't always do the afternoon milking - my brother can milk them and I can be doing other jobs."
The darkest hour is supposed to be before the dawn, but Brendan has learned to love it: "It's actually a really nice time of the morning," he says. "In summer it's cool, and the cows are happy, so it's the perfect time to get the milking under way.
"You can do a lot of thinking at that time of day, too - there are no distractions and phones ringing and people wanting you. You have time to think about strategies and what might be going to happen for the rest of the day."
While winter mornings are crisp in the Waikato, Brendan says it's actually coldest around 6 am, just before sunrise. Getting up at 4.30 means it's slightly warmer and getting milking under way then means fewer issues with frozen pipes and equipment.
While there's work to be done, Brendan still has time to enjoy the dawn: "Our cowshed faces the morning sun as it comes up, so it shines right into it."
Brendan is also quick to note that, apart from extreme situations, it's not a 24-hour job. Unlike many office workers, there's a clear knock-off time - and no sitting in traffic for hours.
"We start early but it's always tools down and finished at 5.30 pm," he says. "We're very strict about that, to make sure everyone can have family time and time for themselves."
Usually it's into bed by 9.30 pm but Brendan says the early starts don't get in the way of a good social life for him and wife Rochelle.
"If we go out to a party, it just means there will be a shorter amount of time in bed that night. After a couple of days you're back to normal. You've got to have that work-life balance."
Early starts have become such a habit that, even when he's on holiday, Brendan still finds himself waking at "normal time" - 4.30 am - "but I roll over and do go back to sleep."
However, he says he needs to get right off the farm when he's having a break: "It's easier to have a relaxing time and switch off, rather than staying home and just not going to the cowshed. I can still hear the motorbikes and the dogs barking.
"You need to get off the farm sometimes and have a life outside farming - I think that's important."
Looking outwards, beyond the farm gate, is an important part of modern dairying. As part of the Fonterra co-operative, the O'Learys are part of a global distribution network - and thinking about the wider environment has also become a priority.
"We are constantly looking at what we have to do to stay compliant with environmental boundaries - for example, we have recently invested money into effluent management - and we will continue to make sure we're farming in a way that is not negative for the environment.
"We fully understand the environmental impact of dairying and we want it to be sustainable. We are going into the future with our eyes open."
• Brought to you in association with Fonterra. Search #431AM