February 26 – The Southland Demonstration Farm’s first focus day for the year will be held on the farm at 10.15am. The next onfarm field focus day will be May 12. For details about the farm visit www.siddc.org.nz.
February 26-28 – The Northland Field Days has the most recent farming innovations and technology with entertaining demonstrations of skill and expertise. Visit www.northlandfielddays.co.nz for more information.
March
March 10 – A free one-day leadership course is being held at the Whangarei Showgrounds for Northland women. REVEAL is a course developed by 2013 NEXT Businesswoman of the Year and executive director of Agri-Women’s Development Trust, Lindy Nelson. Register by February 28 by emailing Kath on kargill@farmside.co.nz or phone/text Debbie on 027 558 6272.
March 12-14 – Central Districts Field Days at Manfeild Park in Feilding. Visit www.farmonline.co.nz for further details.
March 17 – The fifth Effluent Expo kicks off at Mystery Creek Events Centre in Hamilton and looks at design, operation and monitoring of effluent systems. For details about the event visit www.waikatoregion.govt.nz.
March 18-19 – Dairy Women’s Network’s annual conference is being held in Invercargill this year and for the first time includes an off-site field trip that will provide an opportunity to view the new advances in Southland’s wintering innovations. As well as a range of workshops throughout the two days, the conference reveals the Dairy Woman of the Year Award and the Dairy Community Leadership Award finalists. To register for the conference and view the full programme visit www.dwn.co.nz.
March 19 – IrrigationNZ is running training days in Canterbury for irrigation operators and managers. The first is in Leeston on March 19 and the second in Culverden on March 20. Each day runs between 10am and 3.30pm and the cost for non-members is $250 plus GST. For further details visit www.irrigationnz.co.nz.
March 20 – Entries close for the 2015 Dairy Business of the Year Award. Visit www.dboycomp.com for full details and entry forms.
March 21-April 10 – Registrations are now open for DairyNZ’s Cashflow Budgeting Workshops throughout the country. The two-day workshops are aimed at building budgeting skills and growing confidence in managing money. During the workshop, participants will develop a cashflow budget for 2015-16 for their business and learn about farm management calendars, stock reconciliations, calculating milk income, estimating and tracking monthly expenses, scenario testing, estimating for tax and interest payments, predicting working capital requirements and forecasting monthly surplus or deficit. To register an interest, visit www.dairynz.co.nz/cashflow.
Locations and dates: Wellsford, April 21-22April 23-24March 19-20March 30-31March 17-18March 19-20April 22-23March 30-31March 19-20April 7-8April 9-10.
March 23 – Applications close for the 2015 Kellogg Rural Leadership course, with forms and information at www.lincoln.ac.nz.
March 24-27 – The second Queenstown Agribusiness symposium will be facilitated by Mary Shelman from the Harvard Business School and Damien McLoughlin from University College Dublin. The symposium is a development programme for executives in agribusiness. For further details visit www.queenstownagribusiness.co.nz.
March 25-27 – For the first time, the South Island Agricultural Field Days will be held at its new site on Courtenay Rd near Kirwee, 25 minutes from Christchurch. Visit www.siafd.co.nz for details on the event, sites for exhibitors and accommodation.
May
May 2 – The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards national awards dinner will be held at the Sky City Convention Centre in Auckland. Tickets go on sale April 1 and can be ordered at www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.
May 12-14 – Registrations are open for DairyNZ’s Mark and Measure Seminars 2015. The three-day interactive seminars are designed to help dairy farmers, sharemilkers and others involved in the dairy industry to understand the performance of their business and plan for the future. The North Island seminar will be held in Taupo at the Bayview Wairakei Resort on May 12-14 and the South Island seminar at Rydges Lakefront in Queenstown on June 9-11. For further details and to register visit www.dairynz.co.nz.
