Where do you live, and what do you do there? I’m living and working on the family dairy farm in Culverden. I’m not really doing the milking at the moment – I'm doing a lot more of the machinery operating, the day-to-day maintenance and dry stock. I grew up on the family farm, so it’s nice to be back working on this place.
What did you love about growing up on the farm? Just the wide-open space – there’s so much room to explore. My dad’s family have always been here, and I grew up with Granddad getting around on the farm as well. Even as a kid, I’d be out on the farm with my dad – just getting out there and getting involved. I’ve certainly seen a lot of hard work, and the dedication that my dad puts into it, too.
Did you go straight from school to university? No. After school I had a year working on the farm. Then, in 2019, I went to Lincoln University. I like learning but it didn’t click for me – things didn’t feel like they were falling into place. I just finished the semester. I felt, in the future, that if I wanted to try study somewhere else, I can cross credit those papers.
When did you realise you could combine getting an academic qualification with being on the farm? After I left Lincoln, I went calf rearing. It was hard work, but I really enjoyed it. And when calving came to an end, my then-boss offered me a job and I went into full-time dairy farming. I had a couple of different jobs over the years. I wanted to progress, and I wanted to progress fast, and I like to do everything well. So I started studying through the Primary ITO (Industry Training Organisation). Academically it wasn’t much of a push for me, but I’m still so glad that I did it. I definitely had advances at work from doing it, but I’m someone who needs a bit of a mental challenge. So I started thinking, “Where can I go from here to continue challenging myself more and educating myself further?” So I looked into Massey – it's known as your distance institute. It seemed like the right next step.
Were you juggling farm work with studying at Massey? No, not at first. I was in a car accident at the start of 2023, so when I started my studies with Massey – with summer school in 2023 – I was actually off work, because I had a brain injury. Going back to study hasn’t exactly been “take it on and roll with it”– it’s been a very different challenge. At the same time it was also beneficial as a mechanism to help my brain recover. The expectation was that it would be ten hours a week per paper. When I started, it was taking me at least twenty hours per paper and I couldn't remember anything. I actually had people – through my concussion services, sadly – who were telling me to give up on study, and I refused. I went, “No, that's not happening. I’ve signed up now.” Then when I did get back into work, it meant juggling things a wee bit more. I would combine my breakfast and lunch break, so I had a good chunk of time to come home, have something to eat and actually have a couple of hours to get a bit of study in before I went back to work. At times it can be challenging to get that balance, but I think it’s about finding strategies to make it fit.
How did your approach to learning change after your accident? When you have concussion, sometimes your ordinary neural pathways just don’t work. So I had to learn new ways to learn – now I’ve done it for so long that I can’t really describe exactly what’s changed, but before the accident I was a huge multitasker. I could have had a discussion with somebody while writing something down and still be able to retain both things. I could also listen to music while I studied. But that’s not something I can do anymore.
What sort of flexibility does distance learning give you? Online at Massey, the lectures are recorded and uploaded. If you miss something, you can re-watch it at a time that suits you. Certainly for me, especially with the concussion, I couldn’t actually do a whole lecture in one go. So it definitely helped with that, too, because I could watch ten minutes at a time if I needed to.
What do you enjoy – finding out the theory behind what you do on the farm, or putting into practice what you’ve learnt? There’s definitely been a fair bit of both so far. I think at times I would’ve had to spend a lot more time on my study if I didn’t already have prior knowledge from the practical skills I’ve gained over the years. And then, yes, out on farm I might see something and it’s like, “Oh, this is awesome. I’ve had that in my this-and-this course and I can tell you about it!” I think it just makes everything fit together quite nicely. I mean, it’s really good to learn theory. But when you are in the classroom, theory is what you get and you don't learn the practical at the same time. So you have all this knowledge, but you haven’t applied it to anything at that point. Whereas I think having both together just fits a bit nicer for me personally.
Massey University – New Zealand’s top-ranked university for agriculture – has supported the production of this story. Massey offers flexible study across agriculture and related sciences, with on-campus and online options. For more information, see massey.ac.nz.
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