Enter the talent programme which enabled that vast amount of experience - 25 per cent of reps had been in the roles for more than 15 years - to be tapped into and used to develop new talent, such as Toheriri.
Last year was the first year of the programme and there were more than 100 applications for four roles. More than 50 per cent of applications were from females.
Toheriri, who described it as an “amazing experience”, grew up on a sheep and beef farm in the Maniototo and attended boarding school at Columba College in Dunedin.
After a year studying physical education, she decided she preferred being out working than at university so she went casual shepherding around St Bathans and the Maniototo area.
After a seeding season in Australia, she returned home and bought herself a huntaway dog. Her first full-time job was shepherding at Kiatoa Station, near Waikouaiti.
She learned plenty there, working under manager and successful dog triallist Zac Gilmore, and built up a team of dogs.
From there, it was to Tarras where she worked for an intensive finishing operation. Having previously worked in extensive farming operations, it was an opportunity to learn about finishing stock.
She spent three days a week there and two days a week on a high country property where she still got to enjoy mustering.
Deciding to take a break from farming, Toheriri decided she wanted to stick around the Wānaka area, a good spot for her interests in rodeo, skiing and hockey.
She was playing touch with some builders and she decided to go building for a year, which was “good fun”.
She started her apprenticeship and gained some good skills but she missed having her dogs and horse with her and the agricultural industry in general.
She considered a stock agent role but said they were quite hard to get.
The Silver Fern Farms programme cropped up and she applied for that in August last year, starting in mid-January. She was one of two women selected for the four roles.
The role involved placements throughout the country to learn about how the different regions farmed and to spend time with various reps.
She recently finished with North Otago-based rep Peter Greenslade, where they covered the area from Otematata through to Maheno, and was now covering Gore and West Otago with Gary Fordyce.
Already this year, she had experienced farming in Southland, Central Otago, Waikato and Northland and she still had Taranaki and the East Coast to cover by the end of the year.
Asked about the appeal of the job, Toheriri said she loved getting out on-farm and working with farmers. When it came to getting experience, it was about going in with a good attitude. People had been very warm and welcoming.
Asked about her future career plans, she said she wanted a job that she was passionate about and that she woke every day and could not wait to go to work, and it looked like she was heading in that direction.
There was some flexibility around her sporting commitments; she has played hockey since she was four and has represented her country in the New Zealand Māori team.
She also grew up around rodeo and had been riding horses since before she could walk. While that was probably a bit harder to juggle the Christmas circuit with weaning drafts, it was a great family sport that she had always done and always enjoyed.
Her horse was injured but she hoped it would be ready by Christmas and she would probably be looking to chase the rookie title.
She recently spoke to interns at the Fairlight Foundation’s women-only farm training institute at Fairlight Station in Northern Southland and her advice to them was to follow something they were passionate about.
The next round of the livestock talent programme opens in July with applications and the final number of roles available was still to be determined.
