Rotorua’s Jessie Pope goes from Dairy Industry Awards winner to organiser

Jessie Pope is the 2024 Central Plateau Dairy Trainee of the Year.

A past Dairy Industry Awards winner is heavily involved in the organisation of this year’s edition.

Jessie Pope, of Rerewhakaaitu near Rotorua, was the 2024 Central Plateau Dairy Trainee of the Year.

This time around the 31 year old is on the Dairy Industry Awards (DIA) Central Plateau organising committee, while also trainee team leader and skills day co-ordinator.

“I enjoyed it so much I wanted to give something back, make it enjoyable for the entrants,” Pope said.

Pope is a farm assistant to DIA Central Plateau 2024 Share Farmer winners Paul and Sarah Koopal.

They run a 203ha dairy unit milking 540 cows in a 44-a-side herringbone shed.

In her third season on the property, Pope heard about the Dairy Industry Awards from friends who had entered.

She said entering in 2023 was a prerequisite when she went on the farm, with support from the owner.

First impressions

“Your first boss can make or break you.”

Gaining this support, Pope said that for her the competition was about growth and learning.

“I saw the programme as a great opportunity to learn new skills and meet like-minded people within the industry.”

She admits this was outside her comfort zone, particularly in her first year of full-time farming.

“Every year I’ve entered the awards, I’ve learnt something, not just about the industry, but also about what kind of farmer I want to be,” she said.

“There’s no growth in comfort.”

Awards launch

2024 Central Plateau winners: Dairy Trainee of the Year Jessie Pope (left), Share Farmers of the Year Sarah and Paul Koopal, and Dairy Manager of the Year Ben Purua. Photo / Supplied

In that first year, she attended a launch event to find out more about the awards, followed by a sponsors’ night.

Judging included practical exercises covering a tractor pre-start check; feed calculations; use of Nait (National Animal Identification and Tracing programme) tags; bobby calves; and putting together a washdown hose.

The second part of judging involved a multi-choice quiz.

A similar format was followed last year, with Pope’s goal to reach the final six contestants in her category.

“I surprised myself and won.”

Her partner, Luke Feisst, a herd manager at Edgecombe, won the Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee of the Year in the 2024 Dairy Industry Awards.

Pope said both are now applying for farm jobs, ideally on the same property in the Central Plateau.

“I’m wanting to progress in the industry,” she said.

“Spread my wings.”

She would like to be a 2IC for one or two years, then graduate to contract milking or share farming, with farm ownership as the ultimate goal.

“Dairying is my passion,” she said.

”You must find a balance between feeding and milk production. It’s a real hands-on job.”

She is undertaking Primary Industry Training Organisation (ITO) training, with monthly classes.

After completing level three, she is now working on the level four programme.

Pope grew up on a farm in the King Country, running sheep, beef and deer, where her father worked for 22 years.

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Attending boarding school in Marton, she was “always put to work over the summers”, helping out with drenching and yard work.

After completing secondary school, she had a gap year in 2012 that included volunteering for nine months at a brain injury rehabilitation centre in England.

On her return to New Zealand, she began a health sciences degree at Otago University, but after a year changed to animal sciences.

Pope then shifted to the North Island, living with her sister in Palmerston North, and working for LIC (Livestock Improvement Corporation) and NZ Post.

Vet nurse

Staying in the same city, Pope studied for two years at polytech and attained a vet nursing diploma.

With this qualification, she headed to Dannevirke and took up a position as a vet nurse.

“I loved it,” she said.

“It was brilliant.”

However, Covid intervened and she was forced to leave the role after five years.

So, her attention turned to dairying.

Pope said that while living in Dannevirke, she tackled some relief milking on her brother-in-law’s dairy farm in the area.

Her first dairying job was at Rerewhakaaitu where she has remained.

Pope said it was a family farm, with the owner’s son contract milking.

She is one of two other staff, including a 2IC.

Her role as a farm assistant includes looking after calves, grazing young stock, and animal health.

Pope said she was excited about the advances in technology in the dairy industry and all the information available to farmers, especially in terms of animal health.

“I hope to be able to work with this technology one day with my own cows, to be able to give them the best support and care they can get, so they can perform at their peak.”

She thoroughly recommends the Dairy Industry Awards programme and what it has meant for her career.

“I’m really proud of how much I’ve learnt, as it’s allowed me to take on more responsibility on-farm and gain more confidence in myself.”