He loves his work as Fonterra's Manager, Vet Technical, where he's been for two years. Having loved animals and nature for as long as he can remember, he jumped at the chance to join Fonterra when the role came up.
"Throughout school I wanted to be a vet, but doubted my ability to get into the programme. So I did a degree in applied science first, and after that I felt ready to give vet school a crack. After I finished the vet degree, I worked as a dairy vet around Te Awamutu for a few years, before moving to Wellington for a job at the New Zealand Veterinary Association."
He enjoyed the challenges there, but missed the direct connection to farmers. So he came to Fonterra and the rest, as they say, is history. Ash's role involves working through the expectations of Fonterra's customers around animal well-being, and helping farmers show that the way they care for animals is world-class.
"We know being able to demonstrate this creates significant value for the co-op, but the big challenge is how we can provide this evidence without increasing workload for our farmers. The other half of the role is about providing technical support throughout the rest of the co-op - supporting our teams with information and advice on animal well-being, milk quality, animal nutrition, product quality, farm insights and optimisation."
What does he like most about the job? "The variety. Every day brings a new perspective, idea or challenge." He also enjoys helping farmers showcase their hard work on the world stage. "We can be really proud of the way we farm here in New Zealand, and shouldn't be afraid to say so," he says.
There are challenges, such as data capture, Ash says. "It's becoming more and more important to our customers that we can support our claims with strong evidence, and this means data. Collecting and recording accurate data is timeconsuming, and our farmers are already extremely busy. We're seeing more data automation come online now, but systems don't always talk to each other, so even if the data is captured, it doesn't always end up in the places it's needed. However, we'll keep trying to find new ways to easily record the information we need and encouraging all our technologies to integrate seamlessly.
"Our team is constantly keeping tabs on what Fonterra's customers are asking for, then trying to match these to existing on-farm practices and activities. If we can capture information through an existing mechanism, that's more efficient for everyone - especially our farmers."
- Ash Keown, Manager - Vet Technical
Farmer engagement on various issues is also challenging. "We know farmers want to do the best possible in all areas of their business, but each farm is different in terms of their current position and ability to make changes. I'm really interested in finding a way to personalise our approach to each farm - helping them cut through all the noise, feel confident about where they're excelling, and focusing on the specific areas where they have the largest opportunity."
Calves are currently a focus for Ash and his team. "We've made some changes to highlight good calf well-being, but I'm also keen for us to keep looking at ways to increase the value our farmers receive for the calves they sell," he says. "Genetics are an essential component of this. This can include use of female-bias sexed semen across heifers and top cows to get the highest genetic merit replacements. Sexed beef semen with a male bias is also a great option to breed larger bulls or steers which command better prices in the bobby and beef markets. New tools such as the B+LNZ Genetics Dairy Beef Progeny Test shows the huge variation in performance between bulls, even of the same breed type."
Ash says this means farmers can now use proven beef sires, knowing they will deliver consistent performance for traits of interest. He and his team regularly engage with genetics companies to discuss traits of interest and benefit to our farmers. "It's great we've got more of these emerging genetics tools available, but they're no use if we aren't using them effectively. So another important aspect of the work we're doing is ensuring farmers are aware of the available options and have access to the advice and support they need to make informed decisions that suit their farm goals and enable them to hit their performance targets. We're seeing farmers and their vets have really wide-ranging discussions here."
Ash and the team are continuously striving to communicate Fonterra's positive animal well-being story effectively.
For more information, including detail on genetics, breeding and their animal wellbeing work, visit fonterra.com/animalwellbeing.