Following a career in dairy in Waikato, Canterbury born and bred Nathan returns closer to home base and prepares to take on South Canterbury dairy livestock role. 

Despite being a recently appointed Canterbury-based PGG Wrightson Livestock trainee, Nathan Hubbard is no rookie.

Growing up in Canterbury, as a youngster he worked for five years as a mechanic, before the Christchurch earthquakes shook up his life.

“Although we’d always lived in town, I spent plenty of time as a youngster outside chasing animals. Meanwhile, going back a few generations in the family tree, there are plenty of farmers. I reckon I was always a country boy stuck in town,” he says.

Shaken out of Christchurch, Nathan and wife Rebecca shifted to Waikato, and into dairy farming.

“The earthquake was the push we needed. When we arrived in the North Island, we decided to have a crack at learning what a cow was.”

Gravitating towards the prime country south of Cambridge, they worked their way up on three different farms, most recently sharemilking 400 cows.

“We put ourselves out there, with networking and opportunities with primary ITO. I surrounded myself with positive and successful people and wanted to learn as much as I could.”

That’s how it went, and they earned plenty of recognition, with Nathan named as dairy trainee of the year in 2014, and the couple finishing third in the Waikato sharemilker of the year for the 2022/23 season.

In October 2021 the owner of the property they were on died unexpectedly, the family sold the farm, and the Hubbards moved back to Canterbury. Becoming a livestock trainee came about soon after.

Selling their herd, which they did through their grazier and agent for PGG Wrightson, gave Nathan the inspiration.

“It opened my eyes to the next role. I love being in dairy and working alongside farmers: it’s what I know and what I breathe. I realised I have the life skills you need, being a farmer and having a heads up on how to relate to other farmers. Now I’m enjoying the training and looking forward to having my own area, connecting people with animals, or people with people: doing my best for the clients, earning them the best prices, or helping ensure they can grow good animals,” he says.

From that time on the other side of the fence, Nathan has a well-developed appreciation of what makes a good livestock agent.

“My experience with our dairy herd for 13 years was sending in milk and culls away, selling calves, and organising service bulls. For a farmer dealing with an agent, that relationship must be based on honesty. They need to be able to trust you. You need to have your phone on, and to always be contactable. Having been a sharemilker, I’m used to the phone always going. You need to have those connections, and to have more experienced guys behind you to lean on for answers to those tricky questions,” he says.

With three children, 12-year-old daughter Stella, and sons Dylan (10) and Oliver (six), Nathan and Rebecca also had to relocate several animals from Waikato back to Canterbury, where they are renting 30 hectares at West Melton. Included is their growing Brown Swiss herd.

“I gave Rebecca a 100-kilogram Brown Swiss heifer for her birthday one year and they calve every year, so the numbers are growing,” he says.

Nathan has just secured the role as South Canterbury PGG Wrightson Livestock dairy stock representative, covering Temuka, Geraldine and Fairlie. After a short stint in the training position, he is looking forward to learning the area, meeting clients, growing his network and building relationships with his fellow colleagues.