She may have made history by being elected the first female head of Holstein Friesian New Zealand but the new president says it will not define who she is or what she does.
Wendy Harker, a Te Awamutu breeder, is the first woman to take on the top role in the association’s 105-year history. She has sat on the board for six years as a council member.
“I have been a part of the national team for six years,” she says.
Wendy Harker is the first female president of the Holstein Freisian NZ Association in its 105-year history.
“What’s important is what I can offer to the role. It will not define me just because I am a woman. I still have a job to do just like everyone else.”
Harker says while it is an honour to serve as president, the way has been opened for women to hold high positions in organisations. Holstein-Friesian has a female general manager and other organisations also have women at the helm.
A keen breeder, she is eager to continue to promote the breed within the New Zealand dairy industry. What she hopes to bring to the role her knowledge and passion and to help raise awareness of how good holstein-friesians are.
Wendy Harker with her dog Petra who pretends to be a farm dog, visit with Cow 11 (Westell Cutter Socks) who is the seventh generation offspring of a calf she took to Calf Club when she was a young girl.
“The board is a team effort and I see it as my job to make sure that we make the best use of those skills available,” she says.
“Our job is to look after our members and we will continue to look at opportunities to contribute to the dairy industry. The breed is the most versatile with the largest, best and most reliable genetic pool in the world.”
Harker says the holstein-friesian cow can be bred to suit all types of farming systems in New Zealand.
The association currently had 894 members at balance date this year and has shown a steady increase since 2007.
“However, we could expect a slight decrease this year due to the downturn in the industry,” she says.
“But when you consider the number of dairy farmers in the country and the number of farmers milking holstein-friesians, there is still great potential to increase membership. I know first-hand how valuable the organisation can be.”
Harker says the local Waipa Club members had a great influence on their breeding decisions providing much needed advice and support.
“Improving the herd is a long process,” she says.
“You can’t just change your breeding plan overnight and get instant results. We were looking for easy-care and long-lasting animals so we chose to cull on production rather than conformation for a while.”
Harker says it has been a long process but she is happy with the consistency of their holstein-friesian herd. The couple hold an annual sale with other breeders.
“We do not have any dud calves being born now,” she says.
“Genetically, we have chosen animals who are consistent with a good mix of genetic traits and production. I am confident the animals we are breeding and selling will perform just as well for others as they do for us.”
Their herd is now 90 per cent registered with Holstein Friesian New Zealand.
Harker has been a keen member of the Holstein-Friesian Association since 1990. When a vacancy arose on the board of her local branch, Harker was asked to put herself forward and was elected unopposed.
Since then, she has served on various committees and holding several positions.
Harker was raised on her family’s 130-cow farm at Ohaupo south of Hamilton but grew up in an era where women weren’t encouraged to go farming. Leaving school in 1982, Harker did what she was good at – accounting.
She studied part-time at Waikato Polytechnic while working in an accountant’s office.
In 1983 at the age of 18, Harker met husband David at Young Farmers.
“David’s sister was dating my brother and we were all involved with Young Farmers Club,” she says.
“Two years later, David and I got married followed by my brother and David’s sister six weeks later.”
The couple now have two boys – Tarn and Matthew.
At the time, David was sharemilking on a family farm. Harker continued working part-time while helping out on the 120-cow property which needed developing as it was undeveloped peat with a lot of stumps in it.
The farm was originally 121ha when the Harkers bought the property in 1990, but over the years, neighbouring land was bought and the milking platform increased to 240ha milking 470 cows.
Her passion for cows comes from her father – Ken Baker.
“My passion is definitely genetic,” she says.
“Dad had a good eye and he would always tell me about the cows – what was good or bad about them. I became hooked. I would spend as much time as I could going to saleyards with him. My holidays were virtually spent at the saleyards and at clearing sales,”
Such was her love of cows, Harker even started raising and grooming calves before she turned five and started school.
In 1987 her in interest in breeding grew after a friend who showed animals asked for her help.
“I began looking for quality animals to take to shows,” she says.
“But, our heifers at the time had poor conformation so I convinced David we should join Holstein Friesian New Zealand so we could improve the quality of our animals. This was a great move as it gave me a few calves to play with and take to shows.”
Her passion for calf club never waned and even before her children started school and showing their animals, Harker became involved in judging.
Harker believes the strength of the dairy industry in the future is with young breeders and farmers coming through the ranks.
“I have been judging calf club now for more than 25 years and I love it,” she says.
“I really enjoy seeing the passion and enthusiasm of the Young Breeders both in the show ring and starting their farming business, they are the future of our organisation.”
Harker also plays mentor to two youngsters from Pirongia who each choose a calf from her mob each year to show at calf club.
“The boys remind me of myself,” she says.
“They select their calves here and take them home to rear and prepare them for Calf Club. They now enjoy visiting past calf club calves of theirs that are now in our herd,” she says.
“Our herd manager’s daughter is also very enthusiastic and halter breaks all my show calves for me.”
Harker is also an executive member of the Waikato A&P Show, senior holstein-friesian and milking shorthorn judge.
She is also a certified Traits other than Production (TOP) inspector and classifier for Holstein-Friesian New Zealand representing the association at the New Zealand Dairy Breeds Federation.
Harker says she would not be able to indulge in her passion for calf club and judging without the support of her parents in the early days and now David and his family.
“David is not only tolerant of my roles, he is a great support,” she says.
“He has known from early days of my passion for showing and happily stays behind and does the farm work when I am away.”
This month, Harker will attend the Australian Holstein Friesian annual conference in Adelaide and in April 2016, she will attend the World Holstein-Friesian Conference in Argentina.
“I attended the last world conference in Canada four years ago and it was amazing,” she says.
“One of the things I found was New Zealand is unique particularly in the genetic make-up of holstein-friesian. We are quite different from the United States and Australia which is great in terms of how we market our genetics.”
Looking forward to the future, Harker will be concentrating on her role as president while juggling the farm, family and judging roles – something she relishes.
“It is not hard work when you have a passion for something,” she says.
Source: Stuff
