Dayna Hughes

Growing up on a 1200 herd dairy farm all my life, I have been actively involved in the farming

industry. As a part time farm hand during the weekends and school/university holidays. This

has included milking, handling stock, tractor driving, NAIT activity, maintenance and general

farm assistance, leading to actively gaining knowledge about the farming industry in both

practical and financial sectors.

Working as a seasonal machinery operator for a Corporate Cropping farm (13,000ha) in Donald, Victoria. I operated large-scale machinery including 18-meter seeders, 12-meter harvesters, and 36-meter sprayers. Work was done over a 12-14 hour period with a large team, which utilised my skills of teamwork, health and safety and communication.

Worked as a knife hand on venison night shift at Alliance meat works, between the Australian harvest and seeding period. This work was physical, in a cold environment and with a diverse group of people. It was good experience and I learnt a new skill set of working on knives and learning various cuts of meat.

In the 2022/23 summer I worked on Waikura Station (1,200ha, 15000 stock units) in Gisborne. This was a great learning experience as I was working on steep hill country. The farm was a Hereford and Romney Stud, it provided me with a variety of skills including; crutching, drenching both sheep and cows, weaning, AI cows, picking rams, and shifting stock using dogs. It was a great challenge to relocate to a place I’d never been before where I knew very few people, however, I embraced it by getting involved in the local touch team and attending surfing for farmers after work.

In the 2021/22 summer, I worked on a sheep and beef farm (393 ha, 3900 stock units) in

Blackmount, Southland. This provided a variety of work including stock work (crutching,

dagging, drenching, vaccinating) tractor driving, fencing, and other general work. I thoroughly

enjoyed the opportunity to work on a sheep and beef farm and loved getting involved with the tight-knit community of Blackmount.