Building a high-performing farm team | Ep. 102

Talking Dairy

In this episode of Talking Dairy, we cover strategies that help create high-performing dairy teams. You’ll hear from Jane Muir, DairyNZ Senior People Specialist, and Fiona Langford, who, along with her husband Thomas, are the 2025 Share Farmers of the Year at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. They share how great leadership, clear communication, and smart planning make all the difference on-farm.

Fiona shares how they run their year-round operation with multiple employees, and how they focus on culture, wellbeing and development to keep their people happy and productive. Jane brings insights from the latest DairyNZ Employee Survey and tools like the refreshed Workplace 360 to help you lead with confidence.

Whether you’re bringing new employees on or wondering about what you could do to improve your workplace environment, this episode will leave you with practical ideas and plenty of inspiration.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Try the updated Workplace 360 assessment - see what’s working well and what to improve.
• Sign up for a free CalvingSmart workshop with Dairy Training - practical, short sessions happening nationwide in June and July.
• Check out Dairy Training’s Emerging Leadership course - help your next leaders step up on-farm.

Have feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at [email protected]

Connect with DairyNZ

Stay up to date with advice, latest research, tools and resources. Read, browse, scroll, listen, or be there in person. Visit dairynz.co.nz/get-connected

Kapitel

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. What makes a team perform well? (00:03:50)

3. Insights from the 2025 Employee Survey (00:04:41)

4. On-farm insights: Fiona shares what's working well (00:05:44)

5. Smart rostering and staff wellbeing (00:07:18)

6. Survey snapshot: What staff think about hours (00:09:09)

7. Onboarding new team members (00:11:51)

8. Building a strong team culture (00:14:50)

9. What great farm leadership looks like now (00:17:59)

10. The new Workplace 360 tool (00:19:07)

11. Learning new skills (00:23:24)

12. Supporting wellbeing at calving time (00:27:02)

13. Episode summary (00:29:51)