Manawatū farmer receives NZPork's Outstanding Achievement Award

Manawatū pig farmer Neil Managh (left) and his son Andrew. Photo / Supplied

Pig farmer Neil Managh has been recognised for his outstanding service to the New Zealand pork industry.

Managh, who has been farming pigs near Feilding for more than 40 years, has been presented with NZPork's Outstanding Achievement Award.

NZPork chief executive Brent Kleiss said Managh exemplified the New Zealand pork sector's commitment to high animal welfare and environmental standards and to producing an excellent product.

"Neil is a long-standing stalwart of the industry. This award recognises not only his lifetime achievements on his own farm but also his contribution to the sector."

Kleiss said Managh was always prepared to go the extra mile to demonstrate good animal welfare practices to visitors on his farm, including government agencies, MPs, Ministers, researchers and university students.

Managh chaired the NZPork Board from 1998 to 2002, with his tenure including hosting the Pork Expo 2000 and the first World Pork Conference in Auckland.

He has been involved in farming all his life, expanding into pigs in the late 1970s to add value to the grain crops he was producing on his mixed arable farm at Halcombe in Manawatū.

Managh farms with his wife Yvonne, and in more recent years, with his son Andrew and Andrew's wife Geraldine.

Their Ratanui farming operation, which employs 21 staff, has won several environmental farming awards, with its 800 sow farrow to finish unit fully integrated into a whole farm system.

Grain is grown, harvested, stored and home milled and mixed on-farm to feed the pigs.

Food by-products are also incorporated into balanced diets for the pigs, diverting them from landfill.

The manure and nutrients from the pigs are used to fertilise the paddocks to produce more grain for the pigs to complete the sustainability cycle.

The resulting barley straw is used for bedding in the loose housed dry sow accommodation.

Stockperson of the Year award

Meanwhile, Norly Bersabe and Lloyd Biliran, both from PIC Carleton Road in North Canterbury, were named joint winners of NZPork's 2022 Stockperson of the Year award.

Winners of the award, which carries a $500 prize, are selected from trainees who have completed their National Certificate in Pork Production Level 3, the qualification for people involved with the care of pigs in a pork production unit.

Entrants for the award must be recommended by both their farmer trainer and off-job training provider.

Kleiss said PIC highly recommended Bersabe and Biliran as stand-out stockpersons who went above and beyond to contribute to a depopulation and repopulation exercise to enhance the health status of the farm.

"They are great examples of the bright, ambitious and committed young people who are grasping the very good employment and training opportunities provided by the sector. We look forward to seeing them progress further in their careers."

The awards were presented at NZPork's Annual Conference in Christchurch on Monday 25th July.