\u201cI focused on enjoying meeting all the judges and sponsors, and I was really happy to have stepped up and taken the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
An academic background<\/p>\n
Snodgrass was raised in central Auckland and went to Epsom Girls\u2019 Grammar School. <\/p>\n
For her tertiary education, she started studying for a Bachelor of Commerce at Otago University.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarted is the operative word, as I decided I wanted to study for a health-related degree,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI moved back to Auckland and graduated with a Bachelor of Health Science from AUT.\u201d<\/p>\n
She moved into the corporate side of health services, working in mental health, disability, aged care and general health helplines and digital platforms.<\/p>\n
The focus was on service-user experience, understanding what people wanted and whether the services met those needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve struggled with my own mental health since I was 12,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCovid-19 and working within the sector exacerbated everything, and my own mental health started to go downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnt out and suffering from depression, Snodgrass knew she had to stop and get help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took a year out and went through some intensive therapy, received a surprise adulthood diagnosis of ADHD, and rebuilt my confidence to look for work outside the industry I had trained for.\u201d<\/p>\n
She knew she loved animals, and she had the skills to study, so she did a one-year Certificate in Rural Animal Technology through Wintec. <\/p>\n
A new career<\/p>\n
\u201cI did placements at vets in the Hauraki Plains during the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met heaps of farmers and was soon being asked to do relief milking and calf-rearing work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely loved the hands-on stock work and being outside, and I started to ask myself if I could do this all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cI knew nothing about driving a tractor or riding a motorbike, I\u2019d only ever driven an automatic car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snodgrass was offered the role of farm assistant at Stu and Karen Davey\u2019s 220-hectare, 650-cow Paeroa farm, working under share milkers Tessa and Brendan Hopson, and has proved to herself that she can do the job.<\/p>\n
She is 85% of the way through her Level 3 ITO Apprenticeship in Dairy Farming.<\/p>\n
She is particularly proud of how far she has come with her practical skills, and this city girl now handles tractors, motorbikes and farm implements with confidence. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I wasn\u2019t strong enough to roll a down cow, and that really annoyed me, so I got back into the gym, which is good for both my physical and mental health. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow I can roll cows and heave around big bags of minerals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking to the future<\/p>\n
\u201cThe awards experience is incredibly valuable, offering excellent networking opportunities with industry leaders, potential employers and inspiring mentors,\u201d Snodgrass said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s helped me to identify my strengths and areas needing growth so I can further develop my learning and skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Work-life balance is crucial, and Snodgrass takes part in Surfing for Farmers and is a member of the Young Farmers, though she laughs and says that she\u2019ll be too old for that soon, so she\u2019ll join the Dairy Women\u2019s Network instead.<\/p>\n
She is looking forward to mentoring the Auckland\/Hauraki 2026 NZ Dairy Industry Awards Dairy Trainee entrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love learning, and I\u2019m keen to deepen my knowledge of farming and work my way to being a confident and competent farm manager. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for a herd manager or 2IC position next, but first I have a \u2018now or never\u2019 two-month trip to Europe coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snodgrass and her partner, who has contract-milking experience and is a beekeeper, would like to contract or sharemilk in the future. <\/p>\n
They will be moving in together after her European adventure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond that, I\u2019m open to farm ownership or a research-based role focusing on preventative health and genetics, or, if life permits, all of the above.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snodgrass finds being outside and working with stock very grounding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing is I\u2019m doing something that makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI focused on enjoying meeting all the judges and sponsors, and I was really happy to have stepped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7501,20931,40832,10779,18787,2199,7224,2837,40829,3233,1888,71,78,2454,111,43,139,69,40830,6926,14777,40828,61,40831,19135,80],"class_list":["post-46573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-7501","tag-30yearold","tag-aucklandhauraki","tag-awards","tag-caitlin","tag-city","tag-dairy","tag-during","tag-excels","tag-farm","tag-first","tag-from","tag-in","tag-industry","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-runnerup","tag-season","tag-section","tag-snodgrass","tag-to","tag-trainee","tag-working","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}