More work for Southern Dairy Hub farm manager

Shane Griffin is the Southern Dairy Hub's new farm manager. Photo: Yvonne O'Hara

A former road transport sales and logistics manager is the new Southern Dairy Hub farm manager, effectively looking after four distinct dairy farming systems.

Shane Griffin joined the hub's staff on June 1 this year.

He was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, but even though his parents owned a dairy farm, he had never worked in the industry until moving to New Zealand.

''My father dairy farmed in the mid-1990s and then leased the farm to somebody else, when I was young'' Mr Griffin said.

After leaving university where he studied transport management, he worked for an Irish trucking company as its sales manager, promoting the business and tendering for contracts, for two years.

He had visited New Zealand on holiday in 2007 and decided it would be a good place to work.

After moving here in 2011, he studied for his dairy production management diploma through Primary ITO, while working as a dairy farm assistant near Oamaru for three years.

''I came to New Zealand because of the global financial crisis,'' he said.

''When I left Ireland unemployment was 18%.''

From there he moved to Five Rivers as a manager on a 500-cow dairy farm for three years.

''It was a nice-sized farm; really lovely for a first farm to manage.

''Then I decided to come down to the hub to challenge myself.''

As the Makarewa 349ha (300ha effective) self-contained hub is a research farm, there are four herds and four different systems to manage.

There are 740 cows, as well as 140 young stock and another 180 young stock on the run-off. He has four fulltime staff.

He said it was essentially four different farms, with four different stocking rates and each system operated under different parameters provided by the researchers.

''I have to find the balance between production and performance without compromising the research they are doing.

''I have been here four months and find it can sometimes be challenging.''

Each farming system runs 150 to 170 cows and there are four different sets of calculations relating to area, feed and dry matter allocations and surpluses.

The science technicians carry out most of the measurements relating to AgResearch and DairyNZ's research studies on nitrogen leaching losses, crop yields, animal performance on kale or fodder beet, variable width waterway riparian planting, stream monitoring, and calf management.

He said New Zealand had a longer growing season, and larger herds with more animals per fulltime equivalent than in Ireland.

''The scale of operation here creates a lot of efficiencies.''

When not working on the farm, he has a 14ft lake-going boat and enjoys camping.

He also enjoys watching sport and is a big supporter of the Irish rugby team.

''I am pretty torn between the black and the green jerseys,'' he said.

Southern Rural Life