Milking Shed Floor Milking Shed Floor

It’s important to introduce the great people who make us who we are, those that through their everyday work define our success as a company.


Lee Cassells: MSD Animal Health Milking Automation Operations Lead – Installation at Goatland farm, Morrinsville.

Lee has been working for MSD Animal Health for just over 3 years, even though his role changed a bit since he started, with nearly two decades of experience in the industry in his toolbox and an impressive career that took him around the world, Lee defines himself as a methodical fault finder that enjoys a challenge.

Lee grew up in the North Island, as a school leaver his choice was to train as a stainless-steel fabricator by trade. That career path started by providing support to the dairy industry by taking roles fitting and servicing milking equipment, first here, then working in Australia as a kiwi expat. Fast forward a few years, with experience and an exceptional work ethic, Lee was offered a role with global exposure working for a multinational engineering company as high-end technical support. Here is when Lee was roaming the world, where he got to visit great places, see how cows are milked in different places and meet fascinating people, but of course! Nothing beats coming back home!

 Lee recently relocated to Christchurch and lives with his partner Christine. A move south was always on the cards for him, but it wasn’t until the requirements of the role made evident that there was a pressing need for his skills set in Canterbury, it became clear that it was the right time, well …almost…, as he sees it, moving down south all the way from the Waikato during the holidays was a bit hectic, stressful, probably the busiest time of the year to do it, but it was definitely worth it and so far, Lee is enjoying the relaxed pace of the area.

The scope of Lee’s role is broad and varied, as part of his role, Lee is in charge of supporting our dealers when it comes to milking intelligence projects, in fact, he oversees every milking intelligence project, from start to end and beyond. That means planning, setup, training, and maintenance.

As Lee explains, to ensure that we deliver a seamless product, there is input required at every stage, the goal is to make sure that those big projects have those complexities sorted.

Another area that takes a good portion of his day is training, Lee carries the responsibility to lead the training for our technical team, our dealers and even customers. Lee’s favourite part of his role is providing solutions when others have ran out of options, helping people think outside the box, which is often when the best learning happens, too.

Also, Lee provides technical sales support, he goes out there and sits at the table where the good discussions happen, to bring certainty that the sales team can understand the systems in depth and make recommendations that addresses the customers’ needs for an efficient and productive milking system.

For Lee, that moment in the conversation when he comes alive with passion is when he speaks about his team, the value he places in it, as he puts it “the SenseHub team is a productive team, that communicates well and is really willing to help. This is the norm rather than the exception.”

In his spare time Lee does a tonne of mountain biking, and it sounds like he has been spending quite some time in some of the best tracks around Christchurch, also living so close the beach is the ideal place to perfect his kite surfing.

To speak to one of our knowledgeable and experienced team members like Lee, book a farm visit.

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