Palmerston North Sharemilkers Win Top Dairy Title

Manawatu/Rangitikei/Horowhenua Dairy Industry Awards

STRICTLY EMBARGOED TO 11PM SATURDAY MARCH 17, 2007

Palmerston North Sharemilkers Win Top Dairy Title

Palmerston North sharemilkers Arjan and Tracy van der Straaten from Aokautere have won the title of Manawatu/Rangitkei/Horowhenua Sharemilker of the Year.

They will now go forward to represent the region in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards national final to be held in Invercargill on May 12, competing for a combined national prize pool of more than $100,000.

An award was also made to the Lower North Island Dairy Trainee of the Year: Richard Sinclair from Woodville who wins a study trip to Australia.

The van der Straatens are milking 533 cows on a 170 effective hectare farm owned by Harvey and Betty Bell. They are on track to produce 315,000kg/ms for the current season ended May 31, 2007.

It is the third time the van der Straatens have entered the competition from which they say they have benefited from benchmarking and meeting like-minded people. They are actively involved in community and industry groups.

Runners up were Nick and Annaliese Berry from Foxton. Third place went to Grant and Kathryn Lovelock from Levin.

A field day will be held on the van der Strateen farm at 537 Fitzherbert East Road, RD1, Palmerston North on April 5 at 10.30am.

Other results included

ACC Workplace Safety Discounts Award Arjan and Tracy van der Straaten
Blue Wing Honda ATV Safety Award Nick and Annaliese Berry
Dairy InSight First Time entrant Award Brad and Kelly-Jo Powell
Ecolab Farm Dairy Hygiene Award Grant and Kathryn Lovelock
Federated Farmers Leadership Award Nick and Annaliese Berry
LIC Recording and Productivity Award Grant and Kathryn Lovelock
Meridian Energy Farm Environment Award Rikke and Kathleen Hastie
Ravensdown Pasture Performance Award Nick and annaliese Berry
Westpac Business Performance Award Arjan and Tracy van der Straaten

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