Mangakino farmer Cam George went from city-dweller to award-winning trainee farmer in the space of three years.
Winning the 2025 Central Plateau Dairy Trainee of the Year title at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards capped a remarkable progression in the industry by Cam George.
The 22-year-old spent the first 19 years of his life in Auckland and admits to being “as green as you can get” when he first went into farming in January 2023.
He is now 2IC on a 200-hectare dairy operation near Mangakino, owned by Tom and Traze Earl, milking 485 cows in a 40-a-side herringbone shed.
This followed a move – 10 minutes away – last year from Richard and Anna Webbers’ 510-hectare farm, milking 1000 cows in a 50-a-side herringbone shed.
George was a dairy trainee on this property for two-and-half years.
He entered the NZ Dairy Industry Awards for the first time in 2024, finishing in the top six in the Central Plateau dairy trainee category.
“My old boss encouraged me to enter, to meet some people and learn new skills,” says George.
Preparation for last year’s event included a skills night where he learned aspects of dairy farming, including fencing knots and pasture budgets.
The regional competition featured six practical sessions, a fun activity and a general knowledge quiz.
Practical tests included how to secure and safely transport a motorcycle for a town service; plate metering of the quantity of grass in a paddock; the different scenarios involved in feeding out palm kernel and maize silage; health & safety documentation; and drenching calves.
“There was a little bit of everything.”
After the two-hour practical session, George thought he was “doing decent”.
Placing in the top six, he went through to the next round – an interview covering personal development (“where I want to go and how am I going to get there”), plus on-farm questions such as the four stomachs of a cow, and the DairyNZ levy.
At the awards night dinner, George says he was feeling confident about the practical session, but not so about the interview.
“I honestly didn’t think I was going to win it,” he says. “It was a happy surprise.”
This year, George is on the Central Plateau Organising Committee for the NZ Dairy Industry Awards.
He is looking to enter the 2027 event in the Dairy Manager of the Year category.
Growing up in Auckland, Cam attended St Heliers Primary School and Selwyn College.
He studied business for a year at the University of Otago in Dunedin but realised “it was not really for me”.
He had kept in contact with a primary school friend who had gone farming in Feilding.
“He kept raving about it, and I was stuck in a room studying.”
George’s parents retired to Taupo, and he shifted in with them after leaving university.
His parents had some farming connections in the area, including Farm Source area manager Vicki Wallace, who linked him with Richard and Anna Webber.
Despite having no farming background whatsoever, the owners recognised his promise and enthusiasm, and an interview saw him taken on board as a dairy trainee.
“With calving and mating finished, it [January] was a good time to start,” says George.
He quickly learnt skills including milking, fencing and irrigation.
“It was a good grounding,” says George, who was part of a team of five on the property.
He has achieved a Primary ITO level 3 qualification and is pursuing level 4 this year.
On the Earl farm, there are three fulltime employees, including George.
The Earls sharemilk on another nearby property.
George’s move came after meeting the farm manager at an ITO course, plus family connections.
“It all came together.”
The current role means less time in the milking shed than in his previous position – “which is always nice” – plus more responsibility managing staff.
George thoroughly recommends the NZ Dairy Industry Awards scheme.
“I have progressed my skills and made new connections.”
This includes stock agents, an accountant and other farmers in the area and around the country.
He has also come to grips with technological advancements in the dairy industry, relating to productivity and herd management.
“I don’t think tech should ever fully replace checking your cows and making sure they are healthy, but the use of technology is definitely an aid in doing so.”
George is a big fan of environmental sustainability, such as planting around waterways and soft plastic recycling.
His first season as 2IC has been a good one, with a temperate spring following a mild winter.
“We’ve had grass the whole season.”
In the future, he would like to step up to a contract milking role, then sharemilker, and ultimately farm ownership.