Almost 500 entries have been received for the 2011 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. The awards incorporate the New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year and the New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions.

National convenor Chris Keeping is confident the near record 497 entries received will deliver a strong contest among entrants and find some great winners.
Organisers received 210 entries in the dairy trainee contest, 147 in the farm manager contest and 140 entries in the more prestigious sharemilker/equity farmer competition.
'We received the most entries in Waikato, with 73 entrants competing across the three competitions; and Canterbury was next best with 63 entries,” says Chris.
Entries are just below last year's record when 508 entries were received and are still well ahead of the 399 entries in 2009.

'We knew it was going to be tough to beat last year's numbers as climatic conditions have made dairy farming difficult in many regions in the past few months.”
Chris says entrants will be preparing for judging; preliminary judging begins on January 31 with the last round of judging taking place on March 18.
The first winners will be announced on March 4 with the last winners announce on April 2.

The 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.
All regional winners will progress to the national finals in Queenstown on May 14.
For more information visit www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz