At home in the Hawke's Bay country air | Rural

New dairy Trainee of the Year Ben Smith was straight back into the sharp realities of farming life when he hit the Central Hawke's Bay this week.

He arrived home amid the onset of a storm late on Sunday, and when he got up to milk the cows a few hours later, the power at remote Ashley Clinton, west of Onga Onga, had been cut after the winds brought a tree down over the lines.

But it was pretty much water off a duck's back to the 23-year-old dairy hand who's come a long way in less than three years working in farming, which started as a shepherd.

Now he's dairy assistant with Carwyn (Monty) and Michelle Monteith, who as NZ Dairy Farm Managers of the Year 12 months ago were at the Awards in Queenstown to witness his triumph last Friday night, and was running the farm for a few days while the managers took an extended break in the south.

Later on Monday, the power back on, the cows milked (albeit a few hours late) and the farm more or less locked-up for the night, he was able to reflect a power cut was nothing compared with the upheaval of the April 26-27 storm around Omakere where he developed his passion for farm life during holidays with uncles and mates.

He wasn't from a farm, and born and bred in Wellington might barely have learned to recognise the front of a cow from the back had the family not moved to Hawke's Bay when he was a schoolboy.

Settling in Havelock North, he began regular trips to an uncle's sheep and beef farm at Omakere, and ultimately found there was quite an udder side to life.

At Lindisfarne College in Hastings he would find more friends who were from farms, and the career path was slowly emerging as he headed off to Victoria University, back in Wellington, in 2006, although it wasn't "set" then that he would be a farmer.

He did B.Com.Admin in international business and management, keeping the gates open to a broader outlook, even when he finished was still undecided.

A whiff of the country air again was about as much as it took, and he said: "It came down to what I enjoy, the enjoyment and passion."

Fast forward, from the first job for Simon Beamish at Whanawhana, and his first year in the dairy industry with Takapau Plains farmers Richard and Joanna Greaves, who were also among the prizes in Queenstown as runners-up in the Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year competition.

In more ways than one, for in the same two years, he's become a dad, married latter schoolyears' girlfriend and former Iona College pupil Chloe, and they're expecting No 2.

Through it all has come the goal of farm ownership, which he believes is still achievable, despite corporate investor invasion of the rural property market which, by inference at least, was highlighted even by Monty Monteith when he spoke to Hawke's Bay Today after his Dairy Awards triumph last year.

Mr Monteith wasn't giving up, but did concede the goalposts with farm ownership by the age of 30 between the uprights had moved a bit, and he hoped to own a farm by the time he was 50.

The potential for Ben Smith was recognised by Trainee of the Year judge Kerry Lucas-Candy, at the awards ceremony after a week which included the 12 regional finalists visiting farms in the Southland region, on a three-day study tour branded "You can do it."

"He was a real stand-out and has a good handle on where he is going," the judge said. "He is going to be someone that a lot of people coming into the industry will look up to."

"He has surrounded himself with extremely good people and he has got mentors that are working for him," Mrs Lucas-Candy said.

She said strategic investment is "his big thing right now," and it was helped a little by the award, including $8700 in cash and prizes.

He saw it a little differently, and said: "Throughout the week we got to know all the other candidates. They were absolutely superb, equally passionate about what they are doing."

In context, a few hours in the sun, for back in the usually sunny Hawke's Bay there was still the matter of running a farm, it's 188ha effective, which at peak in September-October milks 525 cows in its 40-a-side herringbone shed.

"We got back late on Sunday night," he said. "It was pretty stormy, and it was a crash back to reality."

But even though a five-to-five type of day is the norm, the passion remains.

"What I love about farming is it's so family based," he said. "I get a good work-life balance, I can see my family during my breaks during the day. I'm doing what I love."