DIFFERENTLY

I was born and raised on a sheep, beef, and deer farm in Northern Southland, which fostered a lifelong interest in farming and animal science. After earning a BSc in Zoology from the University of Otago, I began my career in conservation before transitioning to animal health and disease research at AgResearch Invermay, where I have worked for over 20 years. In 2012, I completed a master’s degree in Agricultural Science at Lincoln University. I am currently undertaking a part-time PhD at Lincoln University, investigating behavioural syndromes in farmed red deer. My research involves fitting deer with wearable technology to monitor their grazing behaviour across two contrasting farming environments. The animals are tracked over four key physiological periods across two years to assess the consistency and stability of behavioural expression. This work aims to understand how individual deer interact with their environment and explore the potential for using behavioural syndromes as a selection tool to build more suitable herds—improving landscape utilisation and reducing environmental impacts.

My passion for animals, science and the outdoors led me to study a Bachelor of Agricultural Science majoring in Environmental Management with Honours, where my dissertation focused on how differing concentrations of dietary plantain affected urinary nitrogen concentration and urination behaviour of late lactation dairy cows. After my Honours, I joined Fonterra's Graduate Technical Programme (FGTP) and studied a Masters of Dairy Science and Technology, learning about the other side of the dairy industry. In my thesis, I suggested opportunities for water reuse at a milk powder manufacturing site to reduce site water take. Following this, I knew I wanted to get back to my area of passion in the dairy industry- the agriculture side, so I joined the LU Pastoral Livestock Production Lab Group as a research technician. I provide practical support to a variety of projects led by PhD students and post doctorate fellows, but I am mostly focused on the Integral Health Dairy Farm, allocating pasture, recording biodiversity, planting trees, monitoring cow health through BCS and faecal scoring and collating data. I am interested in continuing to monitor the environmental impact of our practices on the Health Farm and collecting more data about the health of the animals and the health of people when they drink the milk.