The venue was announced at the final regional dinner of the 2017 series, for Southland-Otago, before the May 2017 national final in Auckland.
The last time the nationals were held in the South Island was 2011, in Queenstown.
“We have been keen to get down to the South Island for years, however, the earthquake has ruled Christchurch out until 2020 when the Convention Centre is due to be ready,” awards general manager Chris Keeping said.
“The cost of air fares to Queenstown and Invercargill is prohibitive, however, we are being supported with that by ILT Southland, which we are thrilled about.”
The Southland-Otago award winners this year were Share Farmers of the Year Russell and Tracy Bouma, Manager of the Year Ann Linton and Trainee of the Year Ben McLean.
The Boumas, aged 40 and 37, were sharemilking 762 cows on Andrew, Owen and Barbra Johnston’s 270ha farm in Clydevale.
They believed their excellent staff retention record was a reflection of their staff management abilities.
“We have supported a number of staff members to progress within the dairy industry,” they said.
“Our financial planning and monitoring systems that we have in place mean we have a good understanding of our financial position at all times.”
The Boumas had been sharemilking since 2002 and this was the fourth time they had entered the Awards.
Future farming goals for the couple include achieving $1 million equity growth in the next five years.
“We would also like to maintain our good reputation while remaining in the top 25% for 50:50 sharemilkers throughout the country.”
The Canterbury-North Otago section of the awards this year was headed by Christopher and Siobhan O’Malley as Share Farmers of the Year, Kerry Higgins as Manager of the Year and Ben Haley the Trainee of the Year.
The O’Malleys, both 34, were sharemilking 515 cows on Graham Brooker’s 138ha farm at Ashburton.
Before beginning his dairying career Christopher worked as an adventure tourism guide in the Abel Tasman park and at Taupo and in Ireland.
He had previously sailed across the Pacific Ocean and was the 2016 Mid-Canterbury Rugby Referee of the Year.
Siobhan held a master of arts degree in classical studies and a diploma in agribusiness management and was a secondary school teacher with a passion for English. The couple had three children.
Higgins, aged 32, was farm manager of a 433ha, 1340-cow farm at Hororata.
The West Coast-Top of the South awards were won by Murchison couple Jon and Vicki Nicholls as Share Farmers of the Year, Jack Raharuhi as Manager of the Year and Clay Paton, Trainee of the Year.
The Nicholls, sharemilking 470 cows on the Greenmile farm, entered the awards to network, analyse their business and meet new people and wanted to buy land assets in the future.
Raharuhi, aged 22, was the farm manager for the Landcorp 482ha, 1150-cow farm at Westport.
