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Your Next Recruitment Season Starts Before the Job Ad

It may feel far too early to be thinking about next season.  Most farms are coming out of calving, mating is approaching, and there is plenty happening right now that feels more immediate than talking about 1 June 2027. But in our experience, the farms that make the strongest recruitment decisions are rarely the ones that wait until they have a vacancy to fill.  They're the ones that start thinking earlier.  Not because they're advertising jobs in October, but because they're...

Between Calving & Mating: The Team Reset Worth Making Time For

Calving has a way of taking over everything. For several weeks, the focus narrows to what needs to happen today—or in the next hour. There are cows and calves to care for, staff to coordinate, problems to solve, weather to contend with and very little spare capacity for anything that can wait.  Then, almost without anyone noticing, the pressure begins to ease. There may be a little more breathing room, but mating is already appearing on the horizon.That makes the window between calving an...

Dairy Has Become an Employee Business - Have our Management Practices Kept Up?

DairyNZ’s first New Zealand Dairy Workforce Insights report makes for interesting reading.Its headline finding is straightforward: the dairy workforce has shifted significantly from an owner/operator-heavy model to one that is increasingly reliant on employees.In 2000, the sector had around 29,500 employers and 13,300 employees. By 2024, those numbers had shifted to approximately 13,800 employers and 22,500 employees. At the same time, the total workforce has reduced from 46,700 to 38,000 peop...

If Your Key Person Left Tomorrow, How Exposed Would You Be?

A fence can look perfectly solid — until the post carrying the tension gives way.  Businesses can be the same. Most have at least one person holding more knowledge, relationships and day-to-day know-how than anyone quite realises.  The person who knows exactly how everything works. They know the history behind the customer relationship, where that obscure document is filed, how the payroll process works, which paddock needs attention first, how the stock records are kept, when the ke...

Training Isn't the Outcome. Behaviour Change Is.

Many employers invest significant time and money in sending people to workshops, field days, conferences and training programmes. The expectation seems reasonable: someone attends a course, learns something new, comes back to work and the business benefits.But that is not always what happens. Too often, a team member returns from training enthusiastic and motivated, only to be swallowed back up by the day-to-day demands of the job. A few weeks later, much of the learning has been forgotten and a...

Good at the Work, New to Leading It

In rural businesses, people are often promoted because they are excellent at the practical or technical work.  They know the farm. They understand the stock. They can operate the machinery, solve customer problems, organise deliveries or make sound technical decisions. They are dependable, capable and trusted - so the next step seems obvious: put them in charge of other people.But doing the work well and leading other people to do it well are different skills.  A new farm manager or 2I...

Don't Wait Until Day 89

For employees who started around 1 June, the end of a 90-day trial period may be approaching in late August.  That makes now a useful time to stop and take stock. Not on day 89, when everyone is suddenly under pressure to make a decision, but while there is still time to have a proper conversation, provide support and see whether concerns can be addressed.A trial period is designed to give an employer time to assess whether a new employee is suitable for the role. It should not mean leaving...

Say It While It Can Still Be Fixed

Not every performance concern involves a new employee or a trial period. Sometimes a previously reliable employee is missing steps. A manager is not following through. A team member's communication has become difficult. Or an issue that looked minor in June is still happening in August.The longer poor performance goes unaddressed, the more complicated it becomes. The employee may reasonably assume their work is acceptable. Other team members may become frustrated because they are compensating fo...

Technology Helps. Judgement Still Matters

Rural businesses are using more technology than ever.  On farm, that might include collars, drafting gates, monitoring systems, pasture tools, payroll platforms, timesheet apps, cameras, alerts and reporting dashboards. In farmer-facing businesses, it might include customer systems, AI tools, inventory forecasting, automated communications, route planning, sales data, marketing platforms and workflow tools.Used well, technology can save time, improve accuracy and help people make better dec...

Getting Your Head Around Leave Legislation Changes

If you've ever found yourself wondering whether annual leave has been calculated correctly, you're not alone.Over the years, we've had countless conversations with employers asking the same questions."Why is this so complicated?""Surely there has to be an easier way?"The need for change was recognised.The Employment Leave Act 2026 has now passed through Parliament, marking the biggest reform of New Zealand's leave legislation in more than 20 years. The aim is to make leave easier to understand, ...

Calving is Busy. It Shouldn't Be a Test of Endurance

Every dairy farmer knows calving is demanding. Early starts, broken sleep, unpredictable call-outs, cold weather and a relentless list of jobs come with the territory.  But there is a difference between a busy season and a workplace running on exhaustion.Fatigue is not just about feeling tired. It affects concentration, communication, judgement, reaction time and mood. On farm, that can show up as missed steps in a routine, poor decisions around animals or machinery, short tempers, near mis...

New Team Members? The First 30 Days Matter

For many dairy farming businesses, 1 June marks the start of a new employment relationship. The employment agreement is signed, the move is done, the new team member has arrived, and everyone is ready to get stuck into the season ahead.But the work of “starting well” does not end on day one.In fact, the first 30 days are often where the tone for the whole employment relationship is set.  This is the period where new employees work out how the farm really operates, what the team culture ...

Calling it Casual Doesn't Make it Casual

As the new season gets underway, many farms bring extra people into the business — relief milkers, calf rearers, casual helpers, family members, neighbours, students, or people who can “just help out when needed”.There is nothing wrong with using casual employment where the arrangement is genuinely casual.  The problem comes when the label no longer matches the reality.A casual employee should generally be working on an “as and when required” basis, with no guaranteed hours and no...

Same Team, New Season - Still Worth a Reset

Not every farm has new people arriving on 1 June. Some teams roll into the new season with the same familiar faces, the same houses occupied, the same roster, and the same people doing largely the same roles.That can feel easier — and often it is.  But it can also create a risk.When a team has been together for a while, it is easy to assume everyone is on the same page. Expectations become unspoken. Little frustrations get carried forward. Roles shift gradually. Routines continue because ...

The Psychological Contract: What Sits Beneath the Surface

For many dairy farming businesses, June marks the start of new employment arrangements. Whether you’re welcoming fresh faces to the farm or stepping long-serving team members into new roles, it’s an important time to get things off on the right foot.Most employment agreements do a good job of capturing what sits above the surface — the hours, pay, leave, duties and practical terms of the role.But like any healthy working relationship, what happens beneath the surface matters just as much. ...

When Technology Becomes a People Story

There’s a certain way we talk about technology in farming.Usually, it gets framed as progress. More efficient. Less labour. Better outcomes. And to be fair, a lot of that stacks up. Halter is probably the clearest example of that right now, but it won’t be the last. More technology is coming, and much of it will promise the same thing: more control, more consistency, and less reliance on people having to be across everything all at once.Labour is tight. Good people are hard to find. And in m...

When Things Start to Fray

Why employment issues can start to rise when pressure, fatigue and uncertainty begin to build.Over the past little while, we have noticed a bit of a spike in employment relations issues coming across our desk.That can show up in different ways. Sometimes it is conflict between people who would normally work well together. Sometimes it is frustration around performance, attitude, or communication. Sometimes it is just a sense that things have become harder to manage, and no one is quite sure when...

Early Conversations Can Prevent Bigger Problems Later

Why dealing with concerns early is often the best way to stop them becoming something bigger.As we touched on in the previous article, employment issues do not always begin with one major event. More often, they start as smaller concerns that sit in the background for a while, gradually becoming harder to ignore.A concern about communication.A dip in performance.A growing sense of frustration.A few incidents that, on their own, might not seem serious, but together start to create tension.Often, ...

Employment Relations Law Changes: what you need to know

A set of changes to the Employment Relations Act are now live. The goal is to make some parts of employment law clearer and reduce “gotchas”, while still requiring employers to act fairly and in good faith.1) Clearer line between contractor vs employee (new “gateway” test)There’s now a clearer checklist that can help confirm someone is genuinely a contractor from the start (not an employee). In plain terms, a contractor arrangement is more likely to stack up when the person:has a writt...

Job Hunting? Get Your Ducks in a Row First!

When people are looking for a new role, there is often a strong focus on the job itself — what it pays, where it is, what the hours are, whether it feels like the right next step. All important, of course. But before you hit “apply”, it is worth making sure your basics are in good order too.We regularly receive applications from good people whose documents simply do not do them justice. An old CV, a generic cover letter, or referees who have not been warned can all take the shine off an ap...

Contract Milking Agreements

The new contractor “gateway test” (in force from 21 February 2026) is designed to give more certainty when the arrangement clearly looks and behaves like contracting from the start. If the arrangement doesn’t meet the gateway criteria, it doesn’t automatically become employment — it just means you fall back on the usual “real nature of the relationship” assessment.Does a Typical Contract Milking Agreement Stack Up as a Genuine Contractor Arrangement? Generally: yes — contrac...

Training Your Trainers - Why it Matters on Farm

When it comes to training on farm, the biggest mistakes often happen when the trainer isn’t equipped to teach properly. And in most farming businesses, your trainers are the owners, managers, or 2ICs – the very people whose days are already packed. That’s why it pays to think carefully about how you approach training and where you put your time.Match Your Training Effort to the RiskThe first question to ask is: what’s the risk to your business if this task isn’t done right first time?I...

Sticking the Landing This Year

Welcome to 2026!  Hopefully you’ve had a break, the head’s a bit clearer, and you’ve had a moment to picture the year ahead. Now that you’re back at work: the inbox springs to life, the team needs decisions, and the “urgent” stuff starts doing what it always does.  If you’re feeling fired up and inspired by the goals you have set for 2026, here are our top tips for setting goals that actually stick:1. MAKE GOALS FOR YOUR GOALSMost goals die because they’re motivational,...

The Stuff That Trips Farms Up: 3 Recent Real-World Employment Reminders

Most employment issues in agriculture don’t start in an office — they start in the shed, in the house, or in a string of texts that get a bit too sharp.When things get tense, the ERA doesn’t just look at the outcome — it looks hard at how you got there. Here are three rural-relevant decisions that repeat the same themes: process, communication, and the basics.If you read nothing else…Process still matters — even when behaviour is clearly not OK.Silence is risky — leaving someone in...

Your Leadership Style Over the Busy Season

The end of the year has a way of bringing out all sorts of leadership habits — some helpful, some… not so much. When everyone’s running hot and the jobs keep coming, it’s easy to slip into a version of yourself you didn’t plan on. Here are a few classics we see pop up on farms and in workplaces this time of year. Which one feels a bit familiar?🐓 The Headless ChookLots of motion, not much traction. You’re doing ten things at once and finishing about one of them.Nudge: Slow down lon...