Fourteen years ago, Christopher Vila switched careers and countries and turned up to milk cows in street clothes.
He can hardly believe he's now New Zealand's Dairy Manager of the Year.
Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
On Christopher Vila's first day at work, he turned up to the milking shed in running shoes instead of gumboots.
"And in pants, like I am going to the office," he says.
It was a cold start to a new career for the recent arrival from the Philippines.
"It's winter and my hands are really freezing. I don't have mittens for my bike. You can't feel your hands before you start milking so you need to put them on the cow's udder to heat them up."
Christopher used his first paycheque to buy overalls, a decent rain jacket and gloves.
That was 14 years ago.
Last year Christopher was named New Zealand's dairy manager of the year at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.
He says he'd never heard of the awards until a former winner suggested he should enter.
"It took me two years of courage and a lot of thinking to join and unexpectedly I won it on my first try so I can't believe that I won it...I got lucky I guess."
Christopher now manages a top-producing 340-cow herd at Ōhaupō near Hamilton.
The farm is overlooked by homes in the village and by lifestyle blocks so the former veterinarian is determined to farm as well as he can in the hope it will improve the image of dairy farming.
'If you are doing the right thing you've got nothing to hide so they are all welcome to look at me," he says.
Winning the award will open doors, Christopher says.
"That's the beauty of the programme. For me, I don't know anyone and if no one knows me they don't know my capabilities."
Christopher has been surprised at the media attention winning the award has brought in his home country.
He's been interviewed on national television, on radio and for articles about the accolade and his life in New Zealand have gone viral.
"A lot of people all over the world, like overseas Filipino workers, are messaging me, congratulating me and thanking me because, I think, of the Covid situation in the whole world and especially in the Philippines, there's something to cheer about, so it uplifts them - that's what they say. And it gives them a little bit of hope that there's still a brighter future for everyone.
"I'm just surprised they wanted to know my story. Yeah, I'm speechless."
