Or maybe farm owners Adrian and Bev Simmonds of Northland know how to pick winners. Their sharemilkers on the Winton farm in 2011, Lindsey and Clare McClintock, won the title and now current sharemilkers Steve and Tracy Henderson have done the same. Milking just 310 cows through a 26-aside herringbone with not even automatic cup removers, and using an all-grass system, the Hendersons, both aged 28, showed that high tech and large numbers do not always impress the judges.
The couple, who got married on the farm the Saturday after the Gore awards dinner, met at Lincoln University where Steve completed a Bachelor of Commerce (agriculture) and Tracy a Bachelor of Agriculture.
“We found the little flaws and the things we weren’t doing to the best of our ability and got help to fix them,” Steve said.
“It really made us accountable for what we do and why we do it.”
They also won the LIC Recording and Productivity Award and the Westpac Business Performance Award.
Second place went to Gore lower-order sharemilkers Daniel and Emily Woolsey who also won the Ecolab Farm Dairy Hygiene Award, the Federated Farmers Leadership Award, the Meridian Energy Farm Environment Award and the Ravensdown Pasture Performance Award.
Otautau lower-order sharemilkers James Deans and Angela Coleman came third and also won the DairyNZ Human Resources Award and the Triplejump Risk Management Award. Russell and Tracy Bouma, 50:50 sharemilkers at Balclutha, won the Honda Farm Safety and Health Award.
