Mr Crawford (30) and his wife Sara have a goal of owning their own farm or being in an equity partnership in 10 years. Between now and then, there are small goals and stepping-stones.
''It's about being proactive and looking for opportunities and the doors that open for you. Then you just have to work hard and make it happen,'' he said.
Mr Crawford won the Southland-Otago farm manager of the year title in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards and, at the national awards held recently in Auckland, he won the Meridian Energy leadership award.
Describing it as an amazing experience, he said the process, from entering through to attending the national final, was ''just awesome'' and he encouraged others to enter next year's competition.
He had previously entered the dairy trainee of the year three years ago while living in the Waikato, and was third in the regional competition.
After moving south, his goal was always to enter the farm manager of the year contest, driven by a desire to make contacts and meet new people.
Being newcomers to the region, it was a good way to get out and meet not only a lot of people but ''the right people''. It was also ''a little bit extra'' on his curriculum vitae to take the next step in the industry, he said.
While it was ''pretty full on'', that was all part of the experience and the feedback was invaluable, he said.
Mr Crawford grew up on a dairy farm at Paeroa. After leaving school, he spent a year working on a dairy farm before deciding he wanted to ''go and see what else was out there''.
He spent seven years as a plumber, gaining his registration, but then could not see himself being a plumber for much longer. He and his future wife, who did not come from a farming background, decided to go dairying.
For the first two years, Mrs Crawford was full time on the farm with him and it was a big learning curve, he said.
They started on a property near Hamilton and then moved to a farm near Matamata. They then decided to move south and secured a job on an 800-cow property at Waimumu, which Mr Crawford managed and where his wife did calf rearing.
They were now in their first season on a 750-cow dairy farm at Riversdale which, next season, would have 950 cows.
Mr Crawford's position as farm manager has seen him guide the farm's owners through the conversion from sheep to dairy during this season. Now a full-time mother to the couple's young son Lennox, Mrs Crawford did the accounts and paperwork.
Mr Crawford's involvement with the Dairy Industry Awards had been very positive and it had also been ''a real eye opener'' for the farm owners who had no previous experience working in the dairy industry.
Undertaking training and gaining a qualification was something that was important to Mr Crawford, who has been involved in Primary ITO training since he started in the industry.
''It's just awesome to put what you learn on paper back into practice on the farm,'' he said.
He was now mentoring and helping some people in the early stages of their Primary ITO training and he helped out at the Get Ahead career experience day in Gore earlier this year.
Moving south was a ''massive'' decision, but the couple knew they had to do it if they wanted to get ahead, Mr Crawford said.
When they came south for the interview last year, there was not even a dairy shed on the farm. Mr Crawford had been able to put procedures in place ''so everyone knows exactly what was going on''.
The dairy industry was family-oriented, which was important for Mr Crawford. Being able to come home for breakfast and lunch and ''hang out'' with his son and see his wife was a ''big thing''.
Lennox would also be able to grow up on a farm and enjoy the same lifestyle his father did when he was young - ''going out and doing stuff on the farm and hanging out with Dad''.
There was also the career progression that was available in the industry.
''There's not many roles out there where you could start fresh and do what we have done,'' he said.
Farm ownership was the couple's ultimate goal and that would probably be in Southland, a province they now called home, he said.
- Riding the Wave is the theme of this year's South Island Dairy Event in Invercargill next month. The aim is to equip dairy farmers with knowledge and skills of good management practices and the personal attributes needed to maintain a sustainable long-term business.
Farmers should focus on building a resilient enterprise that could weather the lows as well as the highs, event organising committee chairman Paul Marshall said.
Topics to be covered at the event included global dairying trends, the industry growth potential, environmental issues, and a series of risk and reward workshops looking at recognising risks to the farm business. There was also a strong focus on succession planning.
A new feature this year was technology and sessions covering how to make a cellphone into an on-farm support tool were expected to be popular.
