27 January 2000 Event Promises Shot in Arm for South Island Dairy Industry

A ‘booster shot’ for the South Island dairy industry is scheduled for the first week of July when Lincoln University, Livestock Improvement Advisory, Dairying Research Corporation and leading dairy farmers present the second South Island Dairy Event (SIDE).

Building on the overwhelming success of last year's first such event, held in Christchurch with over 400 farmers and associated industry personnel attending, the partners are taking this year's Event to Southland.

With the theme: Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, the Event will be held at the Ascot Park Hotel, Invercargill, from 3-5 July.

"The theme refers to optimising the health of all aspects of dairy farming operations," says SIDE organising committee chairman and dairy farmer Lloyd McCallum of Southland.

"Speakers and presenters will cover financial, animal, environmental and business health and the contribution of all of these to the overall 'health' and 'physical fitness' of individual dairying operations.

"And we've chosen Invercargill as the venue because it's at the heart of one of the fastest growing dairying areas in the South Island."

The Event is very much a farmer oriented occasion, organised and managed by a committee of South Island dairy farmers with input and support from Lincoln University, Livestock Improvement Advisory and the Dairying Research Corporation.

Information, education, motivation, social interaction and networking are key elements of the Event and its Mission Statement is: "Empowering dairy industry people to create and manage change."

The Event is a unique occasion, says Professor Keith Cameron of Lincoln University, it's much more interactive than a conference and involves farmer focused workshops with plenty of time to ask questions. The format came about after comprehensive market research among a wide cross-section of farmers – owners, sharemilkers, contract milkers, managers; small and large herd operators; seasonal and town supply contractors.

The farmers said they wanted a ‘South Island’ event to gather information and meet socially. They wanted relevant and practical information tailored to farm businesses in the South Island environment. They wanted interactive sessions, not ‘lectures’, and they wanted speakers able to ‘get alongside’ the farmers. They wanted the presentation of ideas ‘outside the square’ from a mix of top scientists, dairy specialists, and successful farmers, plus successful businessmen from outside of dairying.

"The 1999 inaugural Event seemed to strike just the right note," says Mr McCallum. "Evaluations by those attending said overwhelmingly that the aims of the Event were met, the presentation of knowledge was pitched at the right level and that what they had heard would lead to changes in farming practices and management decision making. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed said they would attend this year's Event.

"It's important to note that the New Zealand dairy industry as a whole recognises the importance of the South Island within the country's overall dairying operations and like the four partners – Lincoln University, Livestock Improvement Advisory, the Dairying Research Corporation Ltd and leading dairy farmers – it is committed to the on-going good health of dairy farming."

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand