The Muster- Olivia Weatherburn: Beef and Lamb NZ

Olivia Weatherburn looks at upcoming Beef and Lamb events.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Muster Events Diary brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand Click Beef lambendz dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Olivia Weatherburn joins me in studio, bopping away to a
bit of Elvis.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
He thank good. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Can't complain? Pretty mild?

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I know it's scary, really I want winter and winter,
but it will come.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
It will come, don't worry. It's a matter of when,
not of especially being in the South. Beef and Lamb
goes to the gunner.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
At the moment, so much happening. I know that the
teamer and twent at the moment doing the region delivery
plan for next year and what's going to happen. And
across the country there's lots happening. So just had that
big out the gate conference. There's field days next week.
It's hard to believe that's come around because it's not
down here. We sort of, yeah, keep to it on
knitting and doing what we're doing. But yeah, heap's happening.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
So what's happening with the crew in town today? Exactly
what's going on?

Speaker 1 (00:54):
So every year the farmer councils around the country get
together and they are every farm accounts is a sounding
board for the other farmers and all the levy payers
within the region, and so they come together yearly to
help the extension team and the staff of Beef and
Lamb to create what the activity and investment plan for

(01:14):
the next twelve months is going to be. So today
they'll be discussing what they're hearing, they'll have gone out
and talked to other farmers hopefully and they will be
bringing all that in together to go or what are
we going to deliver? So it'll be deciding whether there's
going to be more like those Shepherds to sheerholder events
or are they going to be focusing environment or a
people or what is the focus for those next twelve

(01:35):
months to be able to help farmers make those informed
on farm decisions.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
How's Bali going just off the top the AI.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, but it's going good. So the unique thing about
Bella and AI because everyone's getting into the whole AI
thing and it's actually quite scary. You're seeing a lot
of AI out there and it's starting to all look
the same and some when it comes to posters. But
with Balat, she can only get information off the bee
Land website. So she's been trained Aaron Meekl has had

(02:03):
to train Bala like a dog, a good dog, and
sometimes she doesn't listen, but she only takes information off
the website. And so when I've just re fresh the
employment hub and so now you can put questions in
around creating job descriptions or having good teen culture and
your team and creating a staff meetings and those kind

(02:25):
of things, she could take the information that's on there
and then user And from what we're hearing, it's a
little bit slower than some AI tools, but that's because
she's going and looking in a bit more detail rather
than going on the World Wide Web and just pulling whatever.
But from what we're hearing, we've had some students trialing
it and that it's been really valuable for their studies

(02:47):
to get the answers. And hopefully people are using it
to be able to actually get the facts and the
truth rather than what they think is right.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Have you heard a farmer is using it very often?

Speaker 1 (02:59):
I haven't of farmers specifically at the moment, but I'm
sure there is some out there. Yeah, not so farmer
facing for me now, but for those that I have heard.
So they did interview a few out the game and
that last week just little things like when there were
doing some wintering plans. So everyone's been some of those
farmers been sitting down doing their wintering plans this year.

(03:20):
They've been able to put some scenarios of questions in
there and it's brought up the stuff from the wintering faction.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
What's your job titles these days?

Speaker 1 (03:28):
National Extension program manager? So I do a bit for everybody.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
It's a good way to subj Actually I'm going to
ask one of them tails, but you wrapped it up
at about six words.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Then yeah, So I do bet for everybody. Forty percent
of my time is extension sixty percent and people in capability,
So the people in capability part of the business that's
not the HR and everythink within beef and lamb. That's
helping support farmers in the people in capability space, so schools, employment,
tertiary education, on farm, champion scholarships, those kind of pieces.

(04:02):
And then one part of that is the Generation Next
program as well.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
So what's coming up and the not too distant future.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
At the moment, the focus is Generation Next, So believe
it or not, ten years ago I put in great
inducted I suppose is the word. The first twenty Generation
Next participants here in Gore around this week actually about
ten years ago, and last week I helped to the

(04:29):
last twenty for this year in southern South Island was
last Monday. So we have been running the program for
ten years and we're about to have a ten year
celebration on the second of July when hopeful to bring
it together our alumni and people have been involved in
the program to be able to celebrate where we've gone
and what we've achieved and just ye really look at

(04:52):
what does that next ten years look like as well?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
And it remains popular, that's the thing it is.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, so we still have on average around ninety We've
got ninety three applicants this year participants at the moment,
so we'll graduate this year. So by the end of
this year we'll have around six hundred and forty graduates
of the program over the ten years. And if you
think about that, looking at we only were for the

(05:18):
first four years of the program, we were only in
Southland and it was always limited to twenty people. Then
we went to CSI or the Central Area and the
South Island and then it wasn't till about the fourth
or fifth year that the North Island joined us, and
it's only been in the last three years that we've
had the whole country.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
So who startled Whose brainschild was it?

Speaker 1 (05:39):
That was me?

Speaker 2 (05:40):
It was you.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, so well there you go. When you when I
went from my role at Beef and Lamb twelve years ago,
you had to do a presentation on an idea and
this was actually my presentation. It was more about your
presentation skills and how you could articulate, I think to
if you'd be any good for the job, and that
they're all debate late. But as part of that I

(06:02):
then sat there aside, and then a year later I
bought it up at Farmer Council when to keep coming
up with, oh, we need people who have got a
bit more confidence and skills of finance and technology and
building great teams and understanding actually the processes that happened
at the meat works and that, and I was like, well,
I've got this idea, and so thank you to the
Southern South Island Farmer Council and those that were a

(06:26):
part of it then and like Graham Evans and that
we're still were a part of it back then as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we'll give him some credit that they gave me the
but yet go have a go. And so we had
to go and a few years of getting it right
and yeah, I think we've just about got there.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Oh, you gotta be pretty proud of that.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, it would be my pridut's achievement of Beef and Lamb.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yes, so everything's tickety bow in other words, just takes
over with the organizationization years.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, I think. So, Yeah, there's there's lots happening, lots
of change. We Yeah, obviously Allen has got his feet
well and truly under the table now, so he's starting
to make some moves in regards to where we need
to go. We are looking at a referendum coming up
as well, so it's like, yeah, what's the future looking

(07:13):
like as well? There's always lots of different things popping
up everywhere. But we've got a really great team and
some great talent throughout Beef and Lamb. So it's awesome
to be able to work with all that talented people,
especially across the research team and that and with all
those cool research projects as a PhD student just started
in regards to the Bobby Cauff program, and yeah, that
real opportunity. We have to work with the dairy industry.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
So what's the referendum about?

Speaker 1 (07:37):
So the referendum every six years. As we are a
commodity Levey, we need to go out to farmers to
be able to get their confidence that they want to
be having a Levey spent foot with beef and lamb,
to be able to continue the activity we do.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
There are you going on love? Leave it?

Speaker 1 (07:55):
There? Sounds good? Thanks Andy, you're.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Watching these buttons that I'm pushing trying.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Good work, Olivia Witherburn of beefle At New Zealand. Clickbefamanz
dot com slash events to get the e Diary into
your inbox Every Friday morning. Hillary copens up next from
Benamin Cropshank Fried, The Lawyers,