Dairy awards
OPINION: Results of regional New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) are trickling in but there's a worrying trend emerging.
Chris Hillier was named the region’s Share Farmer of the Year at the annual awards dinner which was held at the Copthorne Masterton last week.
Grace Te Kahika was named the 2025 Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Manager of the Year and Pieter van Beek the 2025 Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Trainee of the Year.
Due to the minimum number of finalists not being reached, Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Share Farmer and Dairy Manager entrant scores were benchmarked against the national average, with data collated from the 10 other regions. This also means merit awards are awarded if the entrant achieved at the right level.
Hillier grew up in Auckland is the only member in his family to choose farming as a career.
“I enjoy achieving targets and goals and love working outside and looking after the animals.”
The 38-year-old is a contract milker on Neil and Bev Wadham’s 69ha, 213-cow Carterton property. He won $6,750 in prizes and six merit awards.
The farm is a low-cost system which Hiller identifies as a strength of the business.
“In the years of lowpayouts, the farm has survived – and is still in the family 100 years on,” he says.
“The location of the farm provides a great mix of weather and soils suited to dairy farming.”
Future farming goals include continuing to have a healthy work/life balance while continuing to work towards his goal of farm ownership.
“Work/life balance has become more important to me as I’ve got older and started a family,” he says. “I’ve discovered balance is very important for mental health.”
Runners-up in the region’s Share Farmer category are Tony Hudson and Rachel Jones who won $1,250 in prizes and two merit awards. They are 50/50 sharemilkers for Michelle and Duncan Brown on an 80ha, 200- cow farm at Woodville.
Hudson began working in the dairy industry after leaving high school, while Jones was an award-winning hairdresser for 20 years, before joining Hudson in their farming business four years ago.
They are both proud to work in an industry that produces high-quality pasture- based products and considers animal welfare a priority.
Future goals for the first-time entrants include improving herd genetics and equity partnership.
The 2025 Hawke’s Bay/ Wairarapa Dairy Manager of the Year, Grace Te Kahika, won $5,500 in prizes plus four merit awards.
Te Kahika is farm manager on Jeff and Annie Stephenson’s 76ha, 180-cow farm at Dannevirke and was the 2015 Hawke’s Bay/ Wairarapa Dairy Trainee of the Year.
The third-time entrant says the awards programme has been a great way to make connections with like-minded people in the industry.
“I really had to look at my weaknesses and focus on upskilling,” she says. “I received plenty of job offers after the awards.”
Te Kahika loves the lifestyle farming offers her family.
“It’s so rewarding when you put hard work into the farm and see the results daily in the vat, in cow condition and in mating results.”
“We have so much potential in New Zealand dairy farmers – if you’re prepared to work hard and put in the hours there’s no limit on how far you can go.”
Te Kahika has achieved PrimaryITO Level Two and Three and is proud that her sons get to grow up on-farm “watching Mummy work hard and seeing the results of that”.
“Trying to juggle it all is probably the most challenging aspect of my career – I’m not just a dairy farmer, I’m also a mum to two young boys.
“Some days I wish I could be a ‘normal’ mum and wake up with the kids in the morning and spend weekends off on adventures with them.”
Together with her husband Isaac, Te Kahika plans to buy a herd of cows in a few years, with further goals of 50/50 sharemilkers and then eventual farm ownership.
“We have a passion for dairy farming and know that we can produce highquality milk from happy, healthy cows, with a minimal impact on the environment.”
