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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