Low s**t awards

New Zealand is first in the world – again.

The inaugural winners of DairyNZ ‘Prize Pond’ awards  have been announced:

Effluent storage ponds from Canterbury and Taranaki have picked up DairyNZ Prize Pond Awards for keeping pond levels low in an event believed to be the first of its kind in the world. . .

Passing quickly over the question of where else in the world anyone would think of giving awards for pooh ponds:

Canterbury farm owners Murray and Shirley Thomas and sharemilkers Dave and Pip Howard, have a 30 day holding pond irrigating 160ha under a central pivot system. . .

The Taranaki ‘Prize Pond’ is owned by Ken Sole and is managed by sharemilker Dan Merritt. . .

No s**t we’ve got low s**t awards.

And while it’s fun to play with words, this doesn’t mean that I’m pooh-poohing either the principle or practice of catching farmers being good and recognising them for it.

The few bad ones attract headlines.

But most work hard to ensure what they do has the least impact on the environment and the lowest risk of accidents and it’s good that those who are doing it best are being recognised.