Rural Directions Hawke’s Bay Shepherd of the Year Award 2024
June 2024
We are delighted to be in our 6th year sponsoring the Rural Directions Hawke’s Bay Shepherd of the Year Award. This award celebrates the achievements of our shepherds, who are a vital link in our primary sector supply chain with their actions directly influencing the quality of product leaving our port.
Multiskilled shepherds still do the hard operational stock and general work but now there’s a heightened expectation to understand soil health and feed quality, match feed supply and demand, record and report data, navigate the challenges of compliance and a whole lot more.
Today’s modern shepherd must now deliver on both instinct and information!
Once again, the judging for this years’ award was close and we’d like to congratulate all those who entered. Feedback from the judges was highly complimentary towards all entrants, the industry is in safe hands with the talent that’s coming through.
We expected to be back to normal with the winner to be announced at the Silver Fern Farms Farmer of the Year Field Day in May. However, MetService issued a heavy rain warning and with safety in mind the decision was made to postpone the event until later in the year. To ensure the announcement was not further delayed the A&P Society arranged a special prizegiving at Rural Directions office in Havelock North. It was a pleasure to have the winner, his family, employers, our team, and A&P Society representatives here to celebrate.
Congratulations goes out to Hugh Banks the winner of the 2024 Rural Directions Hawke’s Bay Shepherd of the Year Award! This is a well-deserved recognition of Hugh’s hard work and achievements in his farming career to date. The judges commented Hugh had a great knowledge of the farming systems and policies at Arohiwi Station where he was employed. He also managed the health and safety induction really well with farm maps and a sign in and out of the property.
All the best to Hugh as he moves South to further grow his career. The team at Rural Directions look forward to watching your development within the industry.