Meet Simon Adams…

Our new Services Extension Officer’s name may sound familiar. Why? If you’ve been classifying your cows for a while, you may well recognise Simon’s name from his time as a Holstein Australia classifier in the mid-2000s.

Some 13 years later, his passion for the Holstein breed has lured Simon back to HA, this time in our new field role geared around providing on-farm support to members.

Simon has spent his first two weeks with us on his home patch, Victoria’s Western Districts, meeting up with the local Sub-Branch, visiting members on farm and spending a fair amount of time on the phone re-establishing contact with a few familiar names, as well as some new ones.

His time on farm has been spent assisting members with interpreting and understanding genomics results and working with them on registrations and other HA services.

“I forget sometimes how quickly word gets round in the dairy industry,” says Simon. “It’s really been straight back into it for me, almost feels like I haven’t been away. I’ve certainly been welcomed back into the Holstein community, and I’m looking forward to getting a little further afield at IDW this week.

“I’m looking forward to working with members to unlock the full potential of the tools that HA provides, helping them interpret results in the right way and providing that connection between people and data to ensure they are making the most of the services available to them.”

With a long and varied dairy career so far, we wondered what Simon does on his weekends off to get away from it all. Milk his own herd perhaps? Not quite. You’re more likely to find him wearing another hat (or helmet) come Sunday morning as President of the Warrnambool District Motorcycle Owners Club.

“Just getting out on a Sunday, going for a ride, having coffee or lunch is what it’s all about for me. I’ve had bikes almost as long as I can remember. I’ve currently got a Suzuki V-Strom 1000, and have had more than a few BMW road bikes in the recent past. Always happy to talk cows, but if you can talk a bit of fluent bike too I’ll probably see you soon!”.

Simon will be at IDW from Tuesday onwards to talk about either. Make sure to get along to the Holstein Australia stand to say hi.