A South Island livestock career that has taken him down more different farm drives than most.

Michael Coote took on the newly created role of PGG Wrightson South Island Livestock Supply Chain Manager in January, shifting back to the company after around 20 years in livestock-related roles with a large meat processor.

Michael has spent his whole career in the South Island, and for 21 years was a livestock representative, initially for Dalgety, one of the companies that merged to become PGG Wrightson. He worked in Balclutha, Palmerston, Middlemarch, Clinton and Roxburgh. 

Having worked across so many different districts, first covering the lower South Island, then the upper South Island in his subsequent meat processor career, only a few people will have been down more different farm drives than Michael.

“I started in Balclutha as the office boy, straight out of school. I always wanted to be a livestock rep. My parents were a married couple on a farm in the Clinton area, then my father went to work for Waitaki as foreman in the sheep yards, then into the office as the space booking clerk with a total of 40 years in the meat industry. I always had a passion for working with stock and with farmers. It always appealed. I still love it,” he says. 

Working for a meat company over a long period of time has prepared him well for his new supply chain role, where he works alongside processing companies that PGG Wrightson is in supply partnerships with. 

Providing support for National Livestock Supply Chain Manager Nigel Thorpe, Michael is responsible for fulfilling the supply agreements the company has with its processor partners throughout the South Island.

“It’s my job to tick all the boxes that ensure our partners receive their required volumes of livestock from the PGG Wrightson partnership. I work closely with the PGG Wrightson regional livestock managers and representatives, and occasionally with farmers, to make sure we fulfil that.”

Outside work, Michael is a dedicated rugby fan, sticking with his Southern Man roots to support the Highlanders, and making sure to go to at least one All Black test every season. He also enjoys mountain biking and is planning an Anzac weekend trip with a group of four couples. 

Michael lives in Ashburton with wife Ngaire, who works for a seed company. They have three adult children: Matthew who lives in Melbourne; Logan a Christchurch primary school teacher; and daughter Abby, who initially followed her father into livestock, and now works in the PGG Wrightson retail store in Invercargill, though since January has been on maternity leave after having given birth to twins Addison and Phoebe, Michael and Ngaire’s first grandchildren.

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