Winton's dairy vet woman of year finalist

Kath Taylor
Kath Taylor
Winton dairy veterinarian and mastitis consultant Kath Taylor is among six finalists in the 2013 Dairy Women of the Year Award.

She has been a dairy vet for 19 years, graduating from Massey University in 1994 and working in mixed practice in Taranaki for the next seven years before moving to Southland in 2001. She works for VetSouth Ltd in Winton, leading the milk-quality team.

VetSouth colleague Mark Bryan nominated Ms Taylor because of her significant contribution internationally, nationally and locally and at a farm level to improve milk quality.

She had not only worked hard to improve her own knowledge but to extend it to dairy farmers around the world. She has presented extensively on her work at the South Island Dairy Event (Side), dairy conferences, DairyNZ workshops, Dairy Women's Network conferences and Dairy Days.

Internationally, she presented at the first heifer mastitis conference in Denton, Belgium, and at the world mastitis conference in The Hague. The other women who will progress into the final round of judging are Synlait Farms Ltd chief executive Juliet MacLean (Rakaia), BEL Group business manager Justine Kidd (Waipukurau), farm owner-operator and AgITO key account manager Kathryn van den Beuken (Rakaia), farm owner-operator Leonie Guiney (Fairlie), and MyFarm farm supervisor Sarah Watson (West Melton).

Run by the Dairy Women's Network and sponsored by Fonterra, the award includes a scholarship, worth $25,000, to the year-long Women in Leadership course run by Global Women. Dairy Women's Network trust board chairwoman Michelle Wilson said the calibre of all entrants was ''exceptionally high''.

The winner will be announced at a gala dinner at the Dairy Women's Network annual conference on March 20, in Nelson.

 

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