Mr Lang, who is the 2012 Otago dairy trainee of the year, is an assistant on a 600-cow Stirling farm run by former Otago and New Zealand dairy trainee winner Blake Korteweg.
Originally from Geraldine, Mr Lang got a job on a cropping farm while he was at school.
He completed a Diploma in Farm Management at Lincoln University and then spent eight years as a shepherd on sheep and beef properties in North Canterbury and South Otago.
He loved that work, and lamented that having to sell his team of dogs when he changed industries was "like cutting one of your legs off".
But his partner had done a Farming to Succeed course and there was a refresher day that he was "allowed to tag along to" and that was where he heard about the opportunities to get ahead in the dairy industry.
The Kortewegs were happy to take on somebody with no dairying experience and they were a great family to work for, Mr Lang said.
"It goes to show you get the right people around you, good things happen.
"It's not a job for them, it's a passion, and you can just feed off that passion."
The dairy industry was so different from what he was used to and he found it very interesting.
He had always enjoyed working with cattle and it "just ticked all the boxes".
It was Mr Korteweg who encouraged him to enter the Dairy Industry Awards, saying he did not have to win, but that it was a great fun and he would meet many people - "he was dead right," Mr Lang said.
It was not about the prizes but the people he had met and the partnerships formed, which were "priceless".
When his name was announced as the Otago winner, it was "a big surprise", although he joked that he was secretly hoping to get somewhere to make the trip worthwhile for family and friends attending the function.
He was looking forward to the national final, saying it would be "awesome".
Farm ownership was Mr Lang's eventual goal.
"Hopefully, it all works out and I can do the dream."