Our Team
Charlotte flay
Technical Sales Representative
Charlotte has a healthy obsession with the New Zealand dairy industry, and the runs on the board to be a valuable resource for her clients in Canterbury.
Charlotte was raised on her parent’s dairy farm and graduated with a Bachelor of Agriculture Science degree at Lincoln University in April 2018.
During that time, she was awarded the FMG tertiary scholarship, aimed at helping students succeed in their agricultural studies. Alongside her degree Charlotte has worked on various dairy farms throughout New Zealand and Australia – deepening her practical knowledge and experience.
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She joined the DBC in April 2019 as a Technical Sales Representative for Canterbury, and since then she has proactively continued to deepen her knowledge in animal nutrition and management.
She travelled to the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin in 2023, to work alongside her Silo Guard II colleagues from the United States – dealing directly with some of the 50,000 visitors from 100 countries that moved through the biggest cattle show in the world.
She has attended several technical conferences off-shore – including one in Vietnam in 2022 (with Kemin Industries alongside South American, Chinese, Japanese, and American representatives to discuss Amino Acids). She routinely works alongside her DBC Australia colleagues.
Charlotte is a regular at International Dairy Week in Australia – as she pursues her passion for registered cattle in her own time.
Her drive to deliver meaningful results to her clients makes her a valuable member of the DBC team. She also regularly travels to Southland, as needed.
Neville prendergast
Managing Director
Neville Prendergast has been at the heart of DBC since its inception.
He was one of the founding group of independent Mid-Canterbury dairy farmers and rural professionals who drove the initial DBC movement – pushing hard to introduce a new way, and a different voice for New Zealand’s dairy industry.
It wasn’t always easy, but to have DBC now sitting on the right side of history has been “incredibly validating” for DBC’s Managing Director.
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“Right from the start we were all about more milk from less cows,” Neville said. “And, we’ve been on that from day dot.”
Neville’s drive has been about strategically using supplements – alongside grass – to fully feed cows and improve per cow production.
He said the historical approach of adding more cows per hectare instead of getting more production from the cows that were already there, was “inefficient”, and it had now become an environmental issue.
He believes per cow production is the answer for New Zealand dairy.
“We’re all going to have to reduce our herd sizes, and everyone is scared that they don’t know how to get more milk from less cows. But it is possible,” Neville said.
“There is so much more production capacity in our herds out there.
“We’re so lucky in New Zealand to have this grass base, but it’s not consistent all year.
“If we want to get more production out of the cows, we’ve got to use other feeds with the right NDF to punch up their total energy intake – because the right supplements elevate – not substitute grass, and that flows through into a beautiful story. DBC has access to a deep network that can supply premium supplementary feeds.”
DBC’s relationships with established suppliers now gives it a long reach when it comes to sourcing ingredients. It allows it to offer a full range of quality feed products, customised feed blends and mineral supplements for all dairy farming situations.
Neville has put a lot of skin in the game over a number of years to make that happen, and he remains passionate about the mission. He said successful dairying within New Zealand has been hiding in plain sight.
“The rest of our industry has – at times – put an unnecessary handbrake on the amount of capacity this country can produce in the way of milk,” he said.
“You can fully feed cows and be very profitable doing it. Please ask us how.”
Neville Hamilton
Technical Sales Representative
Few things energise Neville (Magic) Hamilton more than helping farmers.
Born on a dairy farm in Whitianga, he dairy-farmed for 20 years before making Southland his home from 2001 when he accepted a manager’s role (until 2004) for New Zealand’s largest private deer operation at that time. It was owned by Southland agricultural entrepreneur and “A Touch of Madness” author Keith Neylon.
In 2004, the family dairy on the Coromandel Peninsula was sold, as the livewire fully embraced his move to Southland, buying a property in Te Anau, while also working in a contract management role for Southern Deer.
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In Southland he developed a habit of buying farms, improving them, and flipping them. It led to him getting his real estate licence, embarking on two separate stanzas marketing real estate, and sealing the biggest rural real estate deal done in Southland’s history.
At his heart though, Magic loved the farming industry and the meaningful alliances that had helped shape and push him towards some incredible achievements across multiple farming practices.
In dairy, he includes one of Europe’s and later New Zealand’s pre-eminent nutritionist – Wybe Kuperus – as a major influence in his thinking around feeding animals for production during the six years they worked together.
In 2020 he found his fit – again in nutrition – working for the Dairy Business Centre. Magic covers a lot of kilometres every year for his clients between Southland and Otago (dairy), and throughout New Zealand (deer).
“I’ve always had a knack for getting on well with farmers, having been one myself I guess,” Magic said. “A lot of people don’t enjoy cold calling, but I’ve always loved it. Driving up new driveways means you meet a lot of interesting people.
“I think it helps that I also get out of bed and do what I want to do every day. There is honestly no better feeling than helping my farmers get a great result.”
Magic together with his partner, Vicky, run a niche trophy stag operation, “Envy Deer”, on a small block at Woodlands, in Southland.
