KEY POINTS:
Aucklanders are accounting for a third of calls to DairyNZ's Go Dairy campaign aimed at attracting people to switch careers into farming.
The six-week, $1.6 million television and press campaign started on February 10 and after three weeks had attracted 1635 calls which qualified as genuine inquiries.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle said at least 250 people were actively looking for work on dairy farms at the mid-way point. The number is expected to exceed 1000 by the campaign's end.
"We are looking for people who have gained some skills in the workplace and have a degree of maturity to tackle a job on a dairy farm," Mackle said.
The campaign is a timely reminder of the increasing labour shortages dairy farmers face, particularly down south where there were many new conversions, he said.
The labour market is tight, and at the end of last year, about 22 per cent of farmer employers were looking for staff, he said.
"A profitable and sustainable industry depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain skilled and competent people.
"There's fierce competition from other sectors both nationally and internationally for the type of people we want."
The campaign is not a recruitment drive but aims to help people understand the sector and how to look for a job, Mackle said.
Mark Hodder, an assistant manager on a farm in Cambridge with 380 head plus carry overs, young stock, calves and bulls, was a subject in this year's adverts.
Prior to dairy farming, Hodder, 45, trained as a baker, spent 17 years driving for an Auckland meat company and ran his own courier franchise.
It was on a trip down the Old Taupo Rd that Hodder felt the call of the country life and he is now approaching his fourth season.
"Back in the country and it just clicked again, and that's how I got into it again," Hodder said. "I thought 'bugger it, I've had enough of driving in Auckland'."
Hodder grew up on a dairy farm but on his return he found the sector was big business.
"When we were kids it was just milk and stick them in a paddock and then get them out and milk them again; bit of hay made and a bit of mown silage and that was it."
He now wants to be a farm manager. "It's not beyond anybody's ability, it's just how you apply yourself."
