May 14, 2026 • 6 mins
Today’s Young Farmer Grand Final-winning panel ponders the excellent prospects for dairy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are wrapping dairy week here on the country with
Meridian and Farmlands as we count down to moving day
at the end of the month. We've got a couple
of dynamic young dairy farmers. In fact, they're so good
at their craft. They are both former New Zealand Young
Farmers of the Year, Emma Paul and her older brother
Tim Dangean. Emma, I want to start with you. Normally
a whitecaddo dairy farmer, mum of three and a vet
(00:24):
to boot. But today you're swaning about in Australia. Are
you on holiday on the Gold Coast or something.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Day, Jamie, good to be here. Not on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Unfortunately, we rap in Shepperton which is just north of
Melbourne there, so yeah, less sunshine, but it is actually
pretty good weather here today and it's a completely different
scene to what we see there in New Zealand. And
there's a lot less greenery, that's for sure. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I think for pastoral farming you'd take New Zealand every
day of the week, but they do it differently in Australia.
They have more housed cows than we do.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, that's all. We're over here Heaven a look at
a bit of investigative work on our parts, just seeing
how a different system really and how they house cattle
and how they're milking them. And there's some incredible setups
over here. They're virtually and sort of deed that land,
there's nothing green around them. And then they've got these
big houses with these cows on them and they look
(01:16):
absolutely comfortable under the shade there with the fans on
them and little misters going to keep the animals cool.
So it's pretty impressive to see. And some of these
animals they're cranking out a thousand kilograms of milk solids
per cow per year, so it's pretty incredible stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Why would we bother housing cows, especially you and the
White Catto region there we grow bountiful amounts of grass.
You can just let them frolic in the fields. It's
almost poetic, is.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It is almost poetic, And it's a different way of
doing it. And I don't think I'll be putting my
cows in the house anytime soon, but mostly because we're
lucky on our soil type that we don't really have to.
But we are looking at building a calving barn which
we'll be able to put our cows in when they're
having their babies and just pay a bit more attention
to them and take a bit of care. So that's
(02:03):
what we're over here looking at, really, is how these
fellows do it and what sort of set ups they
have and they suddenly know how to do it well.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, talking about babies, you've got three kids in the hubby.
Are you all going over there together?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, I've taught them with me, Jamie, but the keys
I bought Nanna and Popper too, because it's bere a
bit hard to wrestle three kids on a plane with
just me and Chris.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Oh. Absolutely. Okay, let's head down south because you're farming
Emma Pool in the White Catto region. Your younger brother,
your older brother, Tim Dangeon has gone south to make
his fortune sheer milking for Simon Hopcroft down in Riverton,
the river era of the South. Are you started to
dry off?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Tim?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
How's the season being?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
You're going, Dami good to be here. First day of
dry off today, which is quite exciting. So one hundred
and fifty going out and which leaves us about six
hundred more to do over the next ten days. So
it's a busy time of year, isn't it. But we're
very lucky with the weather. The weather's playing balls, so
great conditions to get cows right off safely and then
transitioned onto crops safely as well. So looking forward to
(03:05):
the end of the season. But it's been a good one, mate,
a sensational autumn, and I think Southland is will be
pretty happy really with how things have tracked. The region's
up about seven percent I think on milk production. So yeah,
very very good.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And unlike your sister, your younger sister, Emma, you're not
silly enough to milk cows all year round.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
No, you'd certainly need a barn down here to be
able to do that in the Southland. But there are
a few barns going on going up in the South
End at the moment. Jamie is obviously a bit of
cash around, so farmers are looking for opportunities to invest
to improve productivity and mainly come up with wintering solutions,
which is the most challenging time of year for doing
farmers in south and so complete polar offsite to what
(03:48):
Emma's looking at. But no, it's interesting to see it
happening around us. A couple of our neighbors have got
barns going on, so it's virtual for thoughts certainly. And yeah,
it's very interesting seeing what Emma and Chris are up
to over there as well, and they're very good. It
have been able to come up with a way to
be able to write a holiday off, I'd say, Jamie, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Tax deductible holiday fair enough. I would do the same
with myself. Tim has to move south to the Eldorado
of Southland to Riverton in your case, have been a
worthwhile move. You don't look back in anger.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Oh no, no, Jamie. We've really enjoyed it. We've been
very lucky to be well supported down here with a
great community, great farm owners and some sensational stuff that
we've been able to employee. So we've really enjoyed ourselves. Obviously,
the payouts been their good year to get into it,
and looking forward to the next twelve months as well
as it's looking pretty promising, isn't it. I think it's
(04:41):
awesome to see that there's some serious momentum behind all
of the primary sept of it, particularly the dairy sector.
At the moment. If you stick up three good payouts
in a row, then I think you've got to be
pretty happy, and all farmers should be making money at
the moment, so it's an exciting time to be part
of a great industry.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, the income side of the ledge is very good.
The costs, God's creeping up there. Okay, just just to
wrap this on a scale of one to ten, what's
the future for the dairy industry? And I'm looking and
Tim you can comment on this one as well. This
protein boom in the United States, which is going to
spread around the world off the back of people wanting
high quality protein when they're taking these weight loss drugs
(05:21):
like a zempeic in that the sky is the limit,
The sky.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Is the limit, and yeah, protein is absolute key for
this world to go around. Jamien over here, seeing the
scale that they're producing this milk on and producing that protein,
you can see there's a hunger and a drive from
the world to get there and you're not going to
get any better source of protein than from animals. So yeah,
ten out of ten orisin the dairy industry's got a
bright future?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Are you going? Ten out of ten? Tim Dungeon down himself.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, Yeah, struggled to get me off a ten. I
think Jamie, I think, yeah, some fundamentals that really excite
me are that the sector has been stress tested in
the last few years. Really, when you look at international
markets and the geopolitical scene, it's all been very unstable,
but particularly Fontier has done a fantastic job. We've still
being able to derive some decent profits from from a
(06:10):
challenging period of time, isn't it. So that gives me
a lot of confidence. And I think as well, when
you look at New Zealand's wide economic situation, it seriously
needs theory to be leading the forefront of what is
a recovery from a recession. So I think it's got
we need to be excited about plenty of year guts
about what the future can hold. It's exciting time.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I think, well, you won't get an argument from me.
Tim Dangel enjoy drying off of such a thing as possible.
And Emma Paul you enjoy are your text deductible holiday
in Australia. Thanks for your time today, you too, Cheers.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Cheers, Jamie. I must to find a koalae Jamy
We are wrapping dairy week here on the country with
Meridian and Farmlands as we count down to moving day
at the end of the month. We've got a couple
of dynamic young dairy farmers. In fact, they're so good
at their craft. They are both former New Zealand Young
Farmers of the Year, Emma Paul and her older brother
Tim Dangean. Emma, I want to start with you. Normally
a whitecaddo dairy farmer, mum of three and a vet
(00:24):
to boot. But today you're swaning about in Australia. Are
you on holiday on the Gold Coast or something.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Day, Jamie, good to be here. Not on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Unfortunately, we rap in Shepperton which is just north of
Melbourne there, so yeah, less sunshine, but it is actually
pretty good weather here today and it's a completely different
scene to what we see there in New Zealand. And
there's a lot less greenery, that's for sure. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I think for pastoral farming you'd take New Zealand every
day of the week, but they do it differently in Australia.
They have more housed cows than we do.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, that's all. We're over here Heaven a look at
a bit of investigative work on our parts, just seeing
how a different system really and how they house cattle
and how they're milking them. And there's some incredible setups
over here. They're virtually and sort of deed that land,
there's nothing green around them. And then they've got these
big houses with these cows on them and they look
(01:16):
absolutely comfortable under the shade there with the fans on
them and little misters going to keep the animals cool.
So it's pretty impressive to see. And some of these
animals they're cranking out a thousand kilograms of milk solids
per cow per year, so it's pretty incredible stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Why would we bother housing cows, especially you and the
White Catto region there we grow bountiful amounts of grass.
You can just let them frolic in the fields. It's
almost poetic, is.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It is almost poetic, And it's a different way of
doing it. And I don't think I'll be putting my
cows in the house anytime soon, but mostly because we're
lucky on our soil type that we don't really have to.
But we are looking at building a calving barn which
we'll be able to put our cows in when they're
having their babies and just pay a bit more attention
to them and take a bit of care. So that's
(02:03):
what we're over here looking at, really, is how these
fellows do it and what sort of set ups they
have and they suddenly know how to do it well.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, talking about babies, you've got three kids in the hubby.
Are you all going over there together?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, I've taught them with me, Jamie, but the keys
I bought Nanna and Popper too, because it's bere a
bit hard to wrestle three kids on a plane with
just me and Chris.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Oh. Absolutely. Okay, let's head down south because you're farming
Emma Pool in the White Catto region. Your younger brother,
your older brother, Tim Dangeon has gone south to make
his fortune sheer milking for Simon Hopcroft down in Riverton,
the river era of the South. Are you started to
dry off?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Tim?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
How's the season being?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
You're going, Dami good to be here. First day of
dry off today, which is quite exciting. So one hundred
and fifty going out and which leaves us about six
hundred more to do over the next ten days. So
it's a busy time of year, isn't it. But we're
very lucky with the weather. The weather's playing balls, so
great conditions to get cows right off safely and then
transitioned onto crops safely as well. So looking forward to
(03:05):
the end of the season. But it's been a good one, mate,
a sensational autumn, and I think Southland is will be
pretty happy really with how things have tracked. The region's
up about seven percent I think on milk production. So yeah,
very very good.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And unlike your sister, your younger sister, Emma, you're not
silly enough to milk cows all year round.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
No, you'd certainly need a barn down here to be
able to do that in the Southland. But there are
a few barns going on going up in the South
End at the moment. Jamie is obviously a bit of
cash around, so farmers are looking for opportunities to invest
to improve productivity and mainly come up with wintering solutions,
which is the most challenging time of year for doing
farmers in south and so complete polar offsite to what
(03:48):
Emma's looking at. But no, it's interesting to see it
happening around us. A couple of our neighbors have got
barns going on, so it's virtual for thoughts certainly. And yeah,
it's very interesting seeing what Emma and Chris are up
to over there as well, and they're very good. It
have been able to come up with a way to
be able to write a holiday off, I'd say, Jamie, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Tax deductible holiday fair enough. I would do the same
with myself. Tim has to move south to the Eldorado
of Southland to Riverton in your case, have been a
worthwhile move. You don't look back in anger.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Oh no, no, Jamie. We've really enjoyed it. We've been
very lucky to be well supported down here with a
great community, great farm owners and some sensational stuff that
we've been able to employee. So we've really enjoyed ourselves. Obviously,
the payouts been their good year to get into it,
and looking forward to the next twelve months as well
as it's looking pretty promising, isn't it. I think it's
(04:41):
awesome to see that there's some serious momentum behind all
of the primary sept of it, particularly the dairy sector.
At the moment. If you stick up three good payouts
in a row, then I think you've got to be
pretty happy, and all farmers should be making money at
the moment, so it's an exciting time to be part
of a great industry.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, the income side of the ledge is very good.
The costs, God's creeping up there. Okay, just just to
wrap this on a scale of one to ten, what's
the future for the dairy industry? And I'm looking and
Tim you can comment on this one as well. This
protein boom in the United States, which is going to
spread around the world off the back of people wanting
high quality protein when they're taking these weight loss drugs
(05:21):
like a zempeic in that the sky is the limit,
The sky.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Is the limit, and yeah, protein is absolute key for
this world to go around. Jamien over here, seeing the
scale that they're producing this milk on and producing that protein,
you can see there's a hunger and a drive from
the world to get there and you're not going to
get any better source of protein than from animals. So yeah,
ten out of ten orisin the dairy industry's got a
bright future?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Are you going? Ten out of ten? Tim Dungeon down himself.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, Yeah, struggled to get me off a ten. I
think Jamie, I think, yeah, some fundamentals that really excite
me are that the sector has been stress tested in
the last few years. Really, when you look at international
markets and the geopolitical scene, it's all been very unstable,
but particularly Fontier has done a fantastic job. We've still
being able to derive some decent profits from from a
(06:10):
challenging period of time, isn't it. So that gives me
a lot of confidence. And I think as well, when
you look at New Zealand's wide economic situation, it seriously
needs theory to be leading the forefront of what is
a recovery from a recession. So I think it's got
we need to be excited about plenty of year guts
about what the future can hold. It's exciting time.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I think, well, you won't get an argument from me.
Tim Dangel enjoy drying off of such a thing as possible.
And Emma Paul you enjoy are your text deductible holiday
in Australia. Thanks for your time today, you too, Cheers.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Cheers, Jamie. I must to find a koalae Jamy
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