Dairy Awards come to Wellington

There are only a handful of tickets remaining for the 2009 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards gala dinner, where the winners of the New Zealand Sharemilker of the Year, Farm Manager of the Year and Dairy Trainee of the Year will be announced.

Convenor Chris Keeping says about 600 people will attend the gala awards evening being held in Wellington for the first time on Saturday May 16.

“The evening is a time to celebrate excellence and achievement in the dairy industry by its up and comers. We’re confident that in this time of global economic recession the winners will provide some good news and evidence of the huge opportunities for people to progress in dairy farming to achieve their business and lifestyle goals.”

Ms Keeping says the 36 regional winners (representing 12 regions covering the country) will converge on Wellington on Wednesday May 13 and spend a few days participating in activities and meeting with sponsors.

“We’ve created what we think is a fantastic few days of activities enabling the winners to meet politicians and see the city in a unique ‘Race to Base’ competition similar to the ‘Great Race’ TV programme.

“Some prize Holstein Friesian cows are also being brought into the city to be the live props in an event we’ve created to help people gain a better understanding about the process of milking cows.”

Ms Keeping says the ‘Great Meridian Milk Off’ involves a team of celebrities competing against some of the awards’ winners to hand milk a cow and then turn that milk into butter.

“It should be a lot of fun and create a real spectacle for people passing through Wellington’s Civic Square at lunchtime (on Friday May 15).”

The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, Honda, DairyNZ, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown and RD1, along with industry partner Agriculture ITO.

Tickets to the gala dinner can be obtained by free phone 0800 693 247 or visit www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz  to find out more about the 36 regional winners and national finalists.