Putaruru farm manager runner-up
Waikato farmers featured in the finals of the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, announced at Sky City Hotel in Auckland on Saturday night.
Putaruru contract milker Thomas White was runner-up farm manager of the year, taking home $11,000 in prizes. He also received the Fonterra interview award.
White, 23, has a diploma in agriculture from Massey University, and is contract milking 390 cows for his parents, Philip and Maree White, on their 112-hectare farm. He aims to go 50 per cent sharemilking off the family farm in the coming season.
Judge Leo van den Beuken said White felt a strong responsibility to ensure he was farming responsibly, and had very good production per cow and per hectare.
The Waikato sharemilker-equity farmers of the year, Barry and Nicky Mctamney, took home a merit award in the national finals – the Ravensdown pasture perform- ance award.
The couple are 50 per cent sharemilking 275 cows for the Maclennan Family Trust on an 82ha farm near Otorohanga. On Gypsy Day this year, they will become equity partners and managers of a 500-cow farm at nearby Maihiihi, which they plan to buy outright in 10 years.
The other Waikato finalist, Mark Jacobs, did not place in the national dairy trainee of the year finals but benefited from a study tour in the Waikato last week as part of the competition. The tour included a visit by the 12 dairy trainee finalists to the Ohaupo farm of Henry and Nicole Hendriks, the Gordonton farm of last year’s national sharemilker-equity category winners Jason and Lisa Suisted, and Livestock Improvement’s bull farm.
Jacobs, 25, is herd manager on a 400-cow farm owned by Sir Patrick Hogan at Cambridge, and is studying with AGITO.
Awards convener Chris Keeping said the 12 dairy trainee finalists represented the best from about 220 entrants in the trainee competition from throughout the country.
‘‘Despite their young age, our finalists are committed to the dairy industry and are focused on how they can prosper,’’ she said.
The three national titles were taken out by Canterbury representatives – the first time one region has claimed all three titles.
Enda and Sarah Hawe won the national sharemilker-equity farmers of the year, Mick O’connor the farm manager of the year and Nathan Christian the dairy trainee of the year.
The judges said clear trends emerged from this year’s awards, including the impact the changing nature of farm ownership structures was having on goal planning. There was also greater consideration of environmental concerns and public perceptions of dairy farming, and finalists had developed strong support networks to help them progress their career.