Farm operations manager

Name: Daniel Payton
Age: 22
Job title: Farm operations manager
Working hours: 40 hours/week
Employer: Landcorp Farming, other corporate farmers, agricultural consultancies
Pay: $38,000-$42,000 for a new university graduate, rising with experience
Qualifications needed: agricultural degree and experience in agricultural sector management
Career prospects: manager of large scale farm operation, rural bank manager, operations role in other corporate farmers

Describe your job

Landcorp is New Zealand's largest farmer. Operations managers have a portfolio of farms and we work with the farm managers to deal with budgeting, provide technical information - stock policy and animal health - and plan development like pasture renewal.

I do a five-year business plan working alongside the farm manager on financial and production targets, and I do a bit of staff management. You are mainly there to help the farm manager who does the day to day farm management.

I have three East Coast farms - two sheep and beef and one sheep, beef and deer - and in the Waikato a deer finishing farm and dairy farm. All up it's 6400 hectares and 38,000 stock units. We're a corporate farmer and the main aim is to produce a dividend so you're a lot more focussed on profitability. Because of the scale you need a different sort of management.

Why did you choose the job?

I've been in this job a month. I was an operations technician from April last year until this promotion. I graduated from Lincoln University with a BComAg in 2004 and spent a bit of time tractor driving in Central Otago and milking cows back home in Marlborough. I saw a Landcorp advertisement and thought I'd have a bit of adventure and do my OE - from the South Island to the North Island. It's got a reputation as being a good job. There's a lot of variety and you're dealing with large scale farming.

What's the best thing about the job?

Unlike university every day you're dealing with real life situations. You get to see a lot of the country and you're dealing with a lot of good people. I'm the kind of person who loves pulling stuff to bits and fixing it.

There's always room for improvement [on farms]. I like the variety. I grew up on a farm and I like the agricultural way of life and corporate farmers tend to be leading edge. The worst thing is probably living out of suitcases and motels. You can get sick of that but on a nice day it's great to be out of the office. On a typical week you might spend two to three days in the Rotorua office and the rest of the week visiting properties. At the moment I'm also dealing with safety training.

Describe any interesting projects

I've done feasibility studies on property purchases and a project on the feasibility of winter milk. Every year we audit the stock and in June last year we did a stock count on Rangitaiki Station between Taupo and Napier, which is the biggest deer farm in the country and reputedly the southern hemisphere. Three of us counted the deer herd as they were herded through a shed. It took 13 hours and we were in driving rain, howling winds and sleet. We had to stand with our feet in buckets of hot water. There were 19,715 deer.

What are your strengths?

A sense of humour and ability to deal with people. You've got to be a people person. You've got to be analytical and be able to look at the big picture, be a logical and lateral thinker and problem solver.

Where do you want to be in five years?

I'd still like to be working for the company and maybe have more properties to look after. Long term I'd like to have my own farm and in the meantime I'd like to be the best at what I do.