How stud owner Hannah Lawson’s skills in the salon and the show ring complement one another.
During the week, Hannah Lawson styles hair for her human clients in the salon. But after hours and on weekends, she’s busy grooming her four-legged ones for the show ring. Her skills go both ways — hairdressing helps with show prep, and showing sharpens her hairdressing game. Either way, it’s a winning combo for the young stylist.
“I quite like the balance of one day talking to people and another day I can just be silent with the cows,” Lawson said.
Growing up, the Lawson family holidays were spent at cow shows. Her dad, Bob Lawson, is a third-generation Ayrshire breeder with a huge passion for showing cattle.
“There are photos of me at cow shows as a toddler. It’s been a family thing we’ve always done. We didn’t go away to lakes or other stuff. It was always cow shows!” Lawson says.
“I didn’t want to put myself in that position, but I wanted to find something I could do in conjunction with farming.”
After she finished high school, she dropped her CV at several salons around Manawatū, where her family were based at the time. She secured a summer role helping out at Revolve Styling in Palmerston North, and after a couple of months, they offered her an apprenticeship role.
She said she had stumbled across hairdressing, but it hadn’t been an obvious path.
“I wasn’t really a girly girl when I was young, and my older sister, Deb, also a hairdresser, even warned me off hairdressing.
“She considered it quite glamorised when, in reality, it’s actually a lot of hard work – almost as hard as dairy farming.
“Both take real dedication and are demanding in their own way. But I enjoy helping people and making them feel good about themselves.”
Lawson works as a regional educator for Vivo, which has her travelling around the Lower North Island and up to Auckland at times, as well as managing Vivo on Broadway in Palmerston North with a team of 10 and growing.
Although she doesn’t get to spend as much time on farm as she’d like, she regularly gets called in to help with herd testing, drenching, or drafting – anything that requires an extra set of hands on her parents’ farm in Woodville.
Lawson and her brother Craig run Nova Genetics, their own Holstein Friesian stud.
Craig is based in Australia and plays a key role behind the scenes, working with Lawson to make breeding decisions and manage everything Nova. He returned this year for the New Zealand Dairy Event – his first time back in more than five years due to work commitments. The event is a family affair, with the wider Lawson clan pitching in.
“I’ve got three brothers and two sisters, and we all rally together for the expo. Everyone has a role.”
Craig manages a team on a potato farm in Australia, while another brother, Paul, runs two dairy farms in Te Awamutu. Their brother Mark spent several years dairy farming but has since moved into a different career, while the rest of the family haven’t dabbled much more in farming.
The stud’s cows are spread across several farms, and Lawson checks in on them at least every two weeks, more often during the busy show season. With around 18 cows, she admits it’s mostly an “expensive hobby”.
“We’re not entirely sure of the end goal. We’ve got a few ideas about where we might take it, but it’s mostly a bit of fun.”
The majority of the cows come from imported embryos from Australia, the United States and Canada, and at least half are red and white.
Even though she grew up with Ayrshires, Lawson explains that the limited gene pool makes them challenging and why she chose Holsteins.
It’s been a successful few years on the show circuit — she’s picked up Junior Champ and Honourable mention a few times. She also helps her dad’s team and has helped at shows in Australia a couple of times.
“My life would be very boring if I didn’t do cows – I’d have lots of free time!
Having a busy work schedule and show life doesn’t leave much spare time, but she recently purchased a camera that will be great for taking photos of cows and hairdressing. That winning combo that keeps her happy.
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