Young dairy farmer represents NZ at World Ayrshire Federation Youth Tour

Charlotte Stachurski, 18, at the Stratford A&P Show.

A Taranaki farmer has represented New Zealand in an international competition.

Charlotte Stachurski, 18, grew up on her parents’ dairy farm near Inglewood and has just completed her first year of an agricultural science degree at Massey.

Her life revolves around cows, particularly Ayrshires, and her long-term goal is to eventually farm her own herd and have a big show team.

In September, Charlotte represented NZ as part of the World Ayrshire Federation Youth Tour in Australia, courtesy of Ayrshire New Zealand. The other seven delegates came from Sweden (two delegates), Canada, America, Scotland, Finland and Australia.

Charlotte was the youngest delegate, with the others aged between 21 and 26. Along with their driver and managers, the group spent 10 days travelling through south Victoria and eastern South Australia, seeing the sights.

They also visited five Ayrshire stud farms: three in Gippsland, one in southwest Australia and one near Adelaide. Although Charlotte found similarities in farming methods between Australia and New Zealand, she noted the Australian Ayrshire cows are a lot taller than their New Zealand counterparts.

The delegates participated in judging, clipping and parading competitions, which were interesting and educational for the young show enthusiasts.

Charlotte Stachurski, 18, with the World Ayrshire Federation Youth Tour team.

The tour finished with the Adelaide show, which is a big event held over nine days, and this year there were five dairy breeds represented - Ayrshire, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey and Illawarra. Each delegate was assigned to assist a different exhibiting family.

The extended family Charlotte helped included children aged 13 and younger, who wore shirts depicting their responsibility at the event - “Poo Crew”. Keeping show cows and their stalls clean is a vital element of showing cattle. Everyone was friendly and helpful, and Charlotte enjoyed the hands-on involvement with other people’s show stock.

Charlotte was impressed with the cattle sheds at the show, which were huge and generally accommodated individual breeds separately. There was another level where everyone could sleep above the stalls, which made changing shifts during the night much more practical.

The trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Charlotte, who says she learned a lot and made great friends. She is very grateful to Ayrshire NZ for the opportunity and everyone on the tour who made her feel so welcome.

Charlotte bought a calf halter and is looking forward to using it soon. She acquired a free pair of Aussie gumboots and got them through Customs with no problems - but they confiscated her unopened jar of Vegemite.