Dairy awards finals heading to Queenstown
The 2024 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) national champions will be crowned in Queenstown in May next year.
The Share Farmer of the Year in the 2019 Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards says he aims to look after his people, pasture, cows and environment.
Ruwan Wijayasena (43) is now in his 14th year dairy farming, promoting sustainable best practices and increasing profit by innovating.
He says the past few years have shown the business is achieving consistent results. “I wanted to share this with the wider industry and discover other opportunities for the business to grow.”
Ruwan is contract milking 1840 cows for Theland Farm Group Ltd on a 537ha Darfield farm. He won $10,750 in prizes plus two merit awards.
He holds a BSc Agri Sciences degree from Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, majoring in livestock production.
“I have always loved being a farmer, and I was lucky to join Synlait Farms, now Theland Farm Group, who shared my desire to implement best farm practices for sustainability.”
Ruwan sees his consistent results as a strength of the sustainable dairy business. “They are a result of lean implementation and LWP implementation under a strong leadership.”
“My wife and I are Buddhist and have a religious barrier of not being able to own cows and make decisions to kill them. We have found a way to grow our business without following the traditional footsteps.”
Farming goals include expanding the contract milking business. “I am not planning to become 50/50 sharemilker and then a farm owner. I can prove that there are other ways to grow than the traditional ladder and wish to share my knowledge with the industry.”
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.