The Real World

Sarah Poppleton is a girl on the go.

Having already gained valuable qualifications and worked as an assistant herd manager, she’s now back to the books at Massey University.

It’s hard to keep up with this young achiever but we managed to pin her down just long enough to get the latest goss.

Last time we caught up with Sarah for issue three of Fresh, she was working as an assistant herd manager. She had already gained her level 2, 3 and 4 certificates in agriculture from Taratahi and was looking at further study.

Sarah is now at Massey University working towards an agriscience degree. So why did Sarah decide to return to study?

“Good question, I wonder that myself!” she jokes. “It’s just the way the world’s going. You now need a degree to get a job. Employers are choosing people based on whether they have a degree or not.

“Farming’s more like a business nowadays. It’s not just the practical aspect anymore, you’ve got to know the whys and the hows.”

Studying at Massey is a lot different from Taratahi, where learning was more hands-on. However Sarah has created a way to get her fix of practical experience – she works on Massey’s dairy farm, the Dairy Cattle Research Unit (DCRU), as a casual worker.

“If I didn’t milk once in a while I’d go insane,” she says.

Once again it is Sarah’s enthusiasm for dairy farming which scored her a sweet job.

“DCRU is a walk-through shed and there’s only a few of those in New Zealand. I like to give everything a go so I volunteered to help milk one afternoon, just so I could see what a walk-through is and see how it works,” says Sarah, who was immediately offered a more permanent job.

This year Sarah has become a bit of a celebrity. Not only did she appear in Fresh but she also featured in Young Country, a magazine aimed at young farmers.  What’s it like to be a role model?

“Being in Young Country was cool. I had people come up to me and say they saw me in the magazine. I even had a guy come up to me in the pub. I thought, wow, someone actually recognised me from the magazine! That was pretty funny.”

Sarah enjoys having an active involvement in recruiting people into the industry.

“I think dairy farming is really good and I want everyone to see that it’s good. I’m forever trying to get my brother to milk with me one afternoon,” she says.

“I like to dispel the myths around farming. Even my brother is naive and thinks you just get pooed on all day.”

Any advice for high school students looking to get into the industry?

“Start relief milking. It’s a good start. If you are a relief milker at school at least you are getting some experience. It allows you to get a head start so that when you go on to study at Taratahi, for example, you will already know the basics and can build from there.”