Thursday, March 28, 2024

Dairy award activity steps up

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Working on their Dairy Industry Awards entries while taking a summer break could pay off for the entrants of the 2016 competitions.
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The awards, which include the Share Farmer of the Year, Dairy Manager of the Year and Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions, received 452 entries prior to Christmas.

General manager Chris Keeping said information events for entrants and sponsors were being held in some of the awards’ 11 regions over the next couple of weeks.

“These events are about providing an opportunity for entrants to meet, learn more about the awards and what they can expect, and have some fun with fellow entrants, organisers and sponsors.

“A big part of the awards is connecting people in the industry and feedback we receive reinforces that meeting other like-minded people is one of the major benefits from entering.”

Keeping said the events were also about having fun, with some of the events held at venues like golf clubs and the Tui Beer headquarters.

She said the events were also useful for entrants as they prepared for judging, which began in some regions later this month. Judges spend up to two hours on entrant’s farms, so it was important that entrants made the most of that time and planned well.

Judges spend two hours on farm with entrants in the Share Farmer competition and one-and-a-half hours with entrants in the Dairy Manager contest. There is no onfarm judging component in the Dairy Trainee competition. Instead, entrants take part in a short practical session covering every-day farming tasks, and an interview.

The first regional winners will be announced in Taranaki on March 4, while the West Coast-Top of the South region is the last to name its winners on April 7. All 33 regional winners will progress to a national final in Wellington on May 14.

The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra Farm Source, Honda Motorcycles, LIC, Meridian Energy, and Ravensdown, along with industry partner Primary ITO.

The April 2016 Dairy Exporter magazine will be partnered with a special publication Cream of the Crop, profiling all the regional winners.

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