Federated Farmers national board member and provincial president Katie Milne of Rotomanu, Lake Brunner, West Coast, has been named the 2015 Dairy Woman of the Year at the Dairy Women’s Network conference gala dinner in Invercargill.

Milne farms with her partner at Rotomanu, Lake Brunner catchment on the West Coast of the South Island. They have a small high BW Jersey herd of 200 cows.

On a separate run-off the couple rear replacement heifer calves and run a localised contracting operation making silage pits, hay, baleage, effluent spreading from ponds, herd homes and stand-off pads.

 The 2015 Dairy Woman of the Year judging panel comprised Mark Heer from DWN gold partner ASB Bank, Sandy Burghan from Global Women New Zealand, DWN trustee Alison Gibb, DWN chair and 2014 Dairy Woman of the Year winner Justine Kidd, and Fonterra representative Janet Rosanowski.

Of Milne, the panel said:

“Katie demonstrates an unselfish contribution to the dairy industry delivered with a passion and zest that gets attention. She already plays in a space beyond her immediate expertise, experience and comfort zone epitomising a dairy woman determined to make a difference and thus achieving great advocacy outcomes for the wider dairy industry.”

Milne has been the West Coast provincial Federated Farmers president since 2008, and holds a position on the national board, where she is spokesperson on adverse events, rural security, local government, ACC and employment.

 Her prize is a Fonterra-sponsored scholarship to the Global Women ‘Women in Leadership’ programme valued at $25,000. The programme will give her 12 months of exposure to globally focussed women in leadership roles across the New Zealand business sector. 

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