Dairy Awards Offer Early Bird Cash

A cash incentive of $1000 is being offered by organisers of the 2010 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards to those who enter by Tuesday December 15.

National Convenor Chris Keeping says early entrants in the Sharemilker of the Year, Farm Manager of the Year or Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions will go into an Early Bird draw for the cash prize.

“We always have a late rush of entries, so we have decided to offer this incentive to encourage people to get in early and get some cash.”

To be eligible for the $1000 prize entries must be post marked by December 15 and contain a valid email address. Entrants must then also complete the entry process using the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards online system and go through to judging.

The dairy awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda Motorcycles NZ, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown and RD1, along with industry partner Agriculture ITO.

Mrs Keeping says dairy farm workers interested in entering one of the 12 regional competitions being staged around the country have about one month left to enter, with entries closing on Christmas Eve, December 24.

She says organisers hope more than 400 people will enter one of the three competitions.

“There is some optimism in the dairy industry with milk payouts increasing, so we are hopeful that will flow through to record entries in our awards.

“It has been tough for the industry over the past couple of years with challenging climatic conditions coupled with low milk returns. Those that positioned themselves well over that period will now be reaping the benefits and we’d certainly like them to share their stories of success.”

Entry forms in the 2010 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards can be downloaded from www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.