In this feature we speak to people who work tirelessly behind the scene in our industry.
What is your role and how did you get to it?
I’m the Customer Services Manager here at Dunstan Horsefeeds, I moved back from Sydney during Covid.
There was a Maternity position advertised on Seek.co.nz and I thought “ok let's give this a go, it’s ok if I don’t like it it’s only for a year…”, so I applied for it and met the team and they were all amazing. That’s the first job interview I’d had to do in 12 years, and within a week I had the job, and 2.5 years later I’m still here.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My job is very busy, the hours I’m at work I’m on all day, I usually finish about 4.30pm in the afternoon. I usually start at 7.30am, before anyone else gets here to get a good feel for how the day might pan out, if there are any issues I can start dealing with them before anyone else comes in.
I spend the first part of my morning touching base with all my contacts for feed orders, and that’s all over the country. I’m the link between the sales reps and the ordering system, the mill, and the people out back who pick and pack all our orders and then our logistics/trucking companies. I spend all day processing all of that and managing and processing orders, and making sure that our team have all the information they need in both the North and South Island to get all those deliveries moving for the next day.
What is your favourite part of your job?
I think the people. Both the people I work with on the Dunstan team and our customers. I grew up on a farm, so the people in this industry are my people. We have a good time in the office, we work hard, it’s a fun environment though. I’ll also talk to our customers two, three or four times a week so you develop this relationship with them, which is amazing. And being able to look after them and their animals’ needs is huge, and I love it.
What part of your job would you delegate if you could?
Planning for public holidays! That’s quite a challenge, especially for public holidays like Christmas and Easter that involve more than one day, it’s quite a challenge making sure we can get everyone covered in the smaller portion of the week.
How did you become involved in the thoroughbred industry?
I grew up on a farm in Rotorua. My granddad had horses, and my aunt had a big trekking business, so I spent all my years growing up riding just for the fun of it. Lots of my family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends either owned racehorses, were trainers, or are now jockeys, so I’ve always had a real passion and deep love for it, so coming to Dunstan was almost like coming full circle and coming home.
Favourite thoroughbred of all time?
No, I probably don’t have a favourite, and I don’t think I should say, I hate to pick favourites…
If you could shadow someone in the thoroughbred breeding industry for a day who would it be?
I love spending time (and I know it’s probably a bit silly to say) with David Smith - going out on farm and spending time with our clients and understanding their needs. It’s amazing from a personal aspect and building relationships to work out what the horses' need from start to finish if I could spend more time out on the road with him it would be amazing.
Finish this sentence - The best thing about the thoroughbred breeding industry is… it’s hard to just pick one. I think the whole thoroughbred industry is just quite amazing, horses are just spectacular creatures, and being able to see them from foaling, right through to watching them out on the track, and knowing I play a small part in that is quite special.
