Q. How did you go?
I got fourth overall. I was in third but I dropped a place [in the final event] so I was a wee bit gutted to do that but to be fair, I’m pretty happy with fourth place overall and it gives me something to work on for next year, if I have another crack.
Q. Do you think you’ll have another crack?
I think I’d be silly not to. It is a hard competition, even at a regional level in Otago-Southland, so there’s no guarantee you’re going to make it through to the grand final. I’ve got another couple of years anyway, so if I don’t get through next year, then there’s another year after that to have a go.
Q. How old are you and what is the age limit for competitors?
I’m 28 and it’s 30, so another two years.
Q. Do you think competing in a previous national final gives you an advantage?
Yeah, 100%. Competing at the regional level, it’s all experience but there’s definitely a step up to the grand final level, so the guys who have been there before, they knew what to expect, and it’s all about understanding the strategy of the competition and how to get points and I was probably a bit naive going into it about how much work was involved and the first and second placegetters had been there before, knew what needed to be done and how to juggle their time in the leadup to it. You’ve got a heap of projects two months leading into it, so there’s a lot of work.
Q. What would have you done differently in your build-up now you’ve got the hindsight?
I’d try and get on to the projects quicker so I could spend a bit more time studying, rather than getting swamped by deadlines and projects and then trying to study at the same time. I’d spread it out a lot more. It’s easy to say now, but at the time we had a newborn kid and we were doing as much as we could.
Q. What were highlights of finals week?
Our region took out two awards on the night and got $5000 for Ronald McDonald House, so that was cool and our fundraiser for a foodbank won overall.
I took out the agri-skills award for having the highest overall score for that section. I was pretty happy to take that out.
Q. What were your agri-skills tested on the practical day?
Fencing, driving a digger, water troughs, plumbing in underground culvert pipes, riparian planting, swinging a gate, putting up fence rails, visual soil assessments, boning out half a side of lamb, taking velvet off deer, putting a baler on and off a tractor, shearing a sheep and there were seven half-an-hour modules during the day and they were quite full-on, including topics such as fishery regulation and winter grazing.
Q. Do you know the winner, Waikato-Bay of Plenty sheep and beef farmer Hugh Jackson?
We are bloody good friends. He was a member of Thornbury Young Farmers for a few years and was dairy farming down here, so Southland has adopted him — so it was a win for the region.
Q. Southland is claiming the win?
Yeah, we’ll take the win. He was down here for long enough.
Q. You and your wife Nicole Hanning-Smith were the winners of the 2024 Southland-Otago Dairy Industry Awards share farmer of the year category. What motivates you to enter competitions?
Multiple reasons. We’re both real driven to just push ourselves and learn and meet like-minded people. You end up with mates out of it, which is awesome, and your mates end up being the ones that push you in the industry — they’re just awesome. The other reason is that we want to build a great reputation for ourselves. We’re hoping next season to go 50:50 sharemilking down here so we are advertising ourselves as not only role models but hard-working, out-there people that want to push themselves and do well. It’s all about trying to build a good rapport so you can get well-known in the industry and well-known in the region. That’s what really pushes us to do it.
Q. Are you still contract milking for Stephen and Tracy Henderson on their 215ha, 580-cow Awarua property?
Yeah, this is our third season with Stephen and Tracy. We had an agreement that we’d do three seasons and then look at growing and carrying on, so that’s the plan.
Q. Would you look beyond Southland and Otago for the right opportunity?
Nah, we love it down here.
Q. What’s the long-term dream?
I’m going to win New Zealand Young Farmer of the Year over the next couple of years, and then one day be farm owners and be like Steve and Tracy, who’ve helped us out. We want to be the same and be able to lend a hand down the ladder. We’re lucky to have a lot of good mentors.
Q. What is an enduring memory of the grand finals?
It is quite easy to look back at it and think about a question you got wrong and think ‘I’m such an idiot’ and you forget about all the good stuff, like the people that you met and the people that helped you study. It’s quite easy to forget about all the good things when you’re focusing on being hard on yourself. The coolest thing out of the whole competition itself was it being in your hometown and everyone was just so bloody proactive and working for you — it was really cool.
Q. Was there a home-ground advantage?
I’d just about call it a home-ground disadvantage.
Q. Why’s that?
You put a bit of extra pressure on yourself. You’ve got all your mates there cheering you on, which is cool, but you don’t want to look like a dick in front of them. That was probably the scariest thing, going in front of the crowd of 800 and not wanting to look like a bloody idiot if I get something wrong. But in terms of support, it was awesome.
