Page 101 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

Next generation

leading the way

Words: James Robbie as a breed society, culminating with a presentation of our
I Strahan’s finishing block in Kiwitea.
thoughts. Our next stop was a farm tour of Ian and Steph
attended the 2022 NZ Hereford Youth Leadership Forum
in Feilding, thinking it would be a great opportunity
Ian has it running like clockwork and we learnt about
some of the strategy that goes into high-efficiency grass-fed
to get in touch with other young breeders with similar
industry experience and passion for Hereford cattle as me.
operations. Ian’s TechnoGrazing system was something a lot
We started off the day at PGG Wrightson in Feilding,
using their conference room as a space where, after getting of us had never seen working first-hand.
We topped off the day with a formal dinner at Little
acquainted with each other, we did some team building and Savannah in Palmerston North alongside the NZ Herefords
settled down into breaking down the youth events of the board members. It was a great opportunity for some of
past year. We elaborated on aspects of Hereford Youth that the youth members to talk at length with members of the
we enjoyed, areas we felt we were falling short, and things we board and pick their brains further. All in all it was a highly
would like to see and do more of over the next 12 months. educational and successful day for NZ Hereford Youth.
After this brainstorming session, we welcomed guest
speaker Andrew Freeman, a mediator and facilitator
specialising in team building. Andrew is a former Wairarapa
farmer and no stranger to the daily rigours of our individual
lifestyles. He gave us a talk about the importance of
teamwork, communication, and cooperation while on
and around farms, before we moved into an interactive
module that involved the results from a questionnaire we
had completed the week prior. The module identified our
individual personality styles and compared them against
the rest of the group. We then split up into groups and
discussed how our different communication and leadership Senior youth members making a guest appearance at a NZ
styles could both help and hinder group tasks. It was an Herefords board meeting.
informative and thought-provoking exercise and gave the
group a good idea about how to communicate effectively
with others, particularly those who fell outside the group’s
median style.
After lunch, we moved down the road to PBBNZ, where
the NZ Herefords board was holding its own meeting.
After listening to the tail-end of a discussion regarding
modernising the marketing of NZ Herefords, we introduced
ourselves. We then broke into groups and discussed
hypothetical scenarios for the future of NZ Herefords and James Robbie, left, with fellow Hereford Youth members Georgia
where we as the younger generation feel we should stand Moody, Sam Tipping and Joel Steele.

Year 2023 HEREFORD MAGAZINE 99