dairy news 24 february 2015

OFFROADER WITH ATTITUDESporty side by sidePAGE 38

Irrigation running out or gone in South Island. PAGE 7

FEBRUARY 24, 2015 ISSUE 329 // www.dairynews.co.nz

Landcorp’s new dairy chief . PAGE 5

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NEWS // 3

Safer Farms coming your way. PG.09

Morrinsville farmer puts his faith in robots. PG.32-33

Hitting heifer weight targets will make you money. PG.24-25

NEWS��3-15

OPINION�� 16-17

AGRIBUSINESS�� 18-22

MANAGEMENT�� 23-26

ANIMAL HEALTH�� 27-30

FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT�� 31-33

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS��34-38

Prices back on trackALL EYES ARE on Fonterra this week to see if it lifts its $4.70/kgMS forecast after the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) prices last week surged 10.1%.

Banks are already lifting their forecasts: ASB is up 30c to $5/kgMS and BNZ up 10c to $4.80/kgMS.

The latest GDT lift is on top of a 9.4% rise at the previous auction, the key product whole milk powder up 13.7% this time, on top of a combined lift in the last two auctions of 35%.

Fonterra is due to announce its updated fore-cast under DIRA regulation during a visit to North-land this week.

BNZ senior economist Doug Steel says the bank has lifted its forecast to $4.80/kgMS for 2014-15 on the back of the last two auctions. Big gains have come a bit earlier than anticipated.

“We were expecting prices to be higher this year but they’re certainly coming in a rush in two auctions,” he told Dairy News. “It’s to do with the dry in New Zealand, but also slowing production growth around the world is a big part of it.”

BNZ’s forecast for the coming season is about $6/kgMS. “It’s early days for that one. It’s due to the vagaries of the commodity and currency mar-

kets so we’ll continue to assess that one.”They are still conscious of the challenges for

the milk supply globally through 2015 with the European quota coming off and low grain prices encouraging production in the northern hemi-sphere, Steel says.

Last week’s GDT prompted ASB to lift its farm-gate forecast 30c to $5/kgMS for the 2014-15 season and to lift next season’s forecast by 50c to $6.50/kgMS.

ASB rural economist Nathan Penny says dairy

prices are “back on the horse”. But while the results were impressive they came at a cost, including the drought declaration in Canterbury and rapid slow-ing of milk production.

“Generally, farmers have begun to respond to lower global farmgate milk prices (and in the case of NZ, prompted further by dry conditions) by slowing their production,” Penny says in his weekly update. “Moreover, what the recent auc-tion results highlight is that global dairy markets remain sensitive to changes in NZ milk supply.”

SEVERAL FACTORS will come into play when the milk price forecast is revised this week, says Fonterra chairman John Wilson.

“As we said in Decem-ber when we announced the $4.70 figure, this re-quired whole milk powder prices to move up to about $3500/tonne by autumn,”

he told Federated Farm-ers Dairy section’s annual conference in Taupo.

“We can see that move-ment now but there are other factors such as the exchange rate volatility which the board will take into account as part of its review.”

Wilson says they will look at supply and

demand for milk products internationally. Factors include the drought in New Zealand and Australia and production dropping in Europe because of lower milk prices.

“[Our new forecast] will be based on all that analy-sis and taking this through to the end of our financial year.” – Peter Burke

MANY FORCES IN PLAY

PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews�co�nz

THE FUTURE ownership of Lochinver Station near Taupo remains in limbo.

The Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin lodged a bid to buy the station last July, seeking approval from the New Zealand Overseas Invest-ment Office (OIO).

But Shanghai Pengxin chief executive Gary Romano says though they have talked to the OIO they still do not know when a decision may be made.

“The sale and purchase agreement is condi-tional on regulatory approval in China and New Zealand and until that happens we can’t settle.”

Romano agrees July-February is a long time. The proposed purchase of Lochinver by Shang-

hai Pengxin has been controversial. There is specu-lation that part of Lochinver could be converted to dairy farming because it backs on to another farm

Shanghai Pengxin bought from the receiver of the Alan Crafar farm business.

Romano observes, “This is a separate process from that of the purchase of station. Firstly you have to purchase the farm and to do this you need OIO approval. If we get this we still need to apply for consents and even if we get these there will probably be conditions that may apply.

“So is there is a valid concern… and a valid pro-cess to deal with that concern. The RMA process is set up to balance economic growth and environ-mental protection and stakeholders get a say in the process.”

Lochinver, owned by the Stevenson family, runs 19,000 breeding ewes, 1323 mixed age breed-ing cows, grazes 2300 dairy cows over winter and can hold 14,500 dairy heifers in quarantine.

PETER BURKEpeterb@ruralnews�co�nz

Lochinver Station deal in limbo

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4 // NEWS

SHANGHAI PENGXIN chief executive Gary Romano has complimented Miraka, the Maori-owned dairy factory near Taupo, for producing UHT milk for Shanghai Pengxin to sell in China.

Ramano told Dairy News the arrangement is work-ing well; the first product is being sold via the inter-net in China.

Miraka last year signed with Shanghai Pengxin and the Chinese dairy company Mengniu to produce branded UHT milk for the China market. Some of that milk comes from Shangahi Pengxin’s farms in the cen-tral North Island.

The UHT milk is packed into 250ml consumer packs. Miraka can make 240 million such packs annu-ally.

“From a marketing perspective we are happy,” Romano says. “Mengniu is also taking product off that factory and although we have no sales data from them, they are pretty enthusiastic and think it will be success-ful.

“Miraka has been quite flexible… when you’re doing a new market launch there will be ups and downs. I’ve found their staff supportive and focused and good to work with.”

The UHT plant cost Miraka $27 million.– Peter Burke

Compliments for UHT milk processor

Watch prices rise later – Australia chief

DAIRY AUSTRALIA chief executive Ian Halliday is predicting further recov-ery in dairy prices later this year.

Speaking at the Australian Dairy Conference in Launceston, Tasmania, last week, Halliday said prices to Aus-tralian farmers are expected to improve soon.

He pointed to a drop in milk output in key markets like New Zealand

and Europe.‘’New Zealand pulled back full year

forecasts by 3.5 % compared to the prior year. It’s been pretty dry over there.

“Europe was up about 5% last year; it’s down 2% this year. When world prices go towards record levels, every region… around the world chases that record price. New Zealand was up 9% last year, US was up 3% and Europe 5%.”

Australia finished last season only 0.4% up. Halliday puts this down to a tough start to the 2013-14 season.

This year’s national milk volume in

Australia will be up 2%. “We’re running at 2.6% after a strong start but it’s been tapering off this summer.”

At the same time consumption in the domestic market remains steady and solid “in line with population growth which is still a good outcome because in many developing counties dairy is under pressure, particularly milk con-sumption; it’s under pressure from other beverages.”

Halliday says the national dairy con-sumption is in line with population growth.

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NEWS // 5

Clear vision for renewal

MARK JULIAN is arguably New Zealand’s biggest farmer, control-ling 59 dairy farms running 55,000 cows that produce 20 million kgMS per year.

He grew up on a dairy farm at Okato, Taranaki, and knows what farm life is about.

He completed Bachelor of Applied Science, with a major in agriculture, at Massey University then spent another year studying dairy production and farm manage-ment. In his final year he won the William Gerrish Memorial Prize in Farm Management.

After university Julian worked as consulting officer for DairyNZ in the

central plateau area where many of Landcorps dairy farms are located.

He joined Landcorp about six years ago as a business manager in Wellington, spent two years on the West Coast as a farm business manager, then returned to Wellington in 2011 as a senior business manager before his present role.

He admits to a passion for dairy-ing. “I like cows and love farming; it’s what I have grown up with. During the few times I haven’t been directly involved in farming I’ve always wanted to get back to it. It’s where I’ve spent my career and it’s a fantastic place.”

DOING WHAT HE LOVES – ONLY BIGGER

DAIRY FARMING sys-tems on Landcorp prop-erties will in ten years be quite different from those of today, says the general manager of its dairy oper-ations.

Mark Julian is seen as an up-and-coming busi-ness leader; in 2013 he was named Young Business Executive of the Year. Last October he was appointed to run Landcorp’s dairy operations – 59 farms nationwide.

He told Dairy News key changes will include addressing environmen-tal issues and devising sys-tems to recruit and retain good people to run the business.

Currently any decision on farm systems changes is run through the Over-seer model, and proposed changes to any business case also get Overseer treatment to show the effect on the business’s nutrient footprint.

“All the business plans we put together have a section on sustainable management – the nutri-ent budget, where things are heading and options for mitigating loss. On any farm we’re looking at key sensitivities about the environment, for exam-ple, erosion control and sensitive waterways, to set goals.”

Julian’s role is to look at what the dairy indus-try as a whole is doing and what research projects are underway, such as Pastoral

21 with its focus on ways of improving environmental outcomes on farms. He’s been in a group review-

ing these projects, spark-ing an idea he’s keen to implement at Landcorp – a ‘future focus farm’.

“This would look at how we get profitable sys-tems with half the nitro-gen leaching…. It may involve taking risks so we would bring in some of the best people in the industry, not just from Landcorp.

“The aim would be to define environmentally sustainable farming sys-tems [and the resulting] stocking rates, inputs and infrastructure.”

The idea is embry-onic; no concrete plans are in place but it fits the industry leadership role Landcorp by its nature assumes.

“A lot of the things

we’ll be doing will have flow-on effects for the industry. But they’ll be for our business too because we’re big. We can do trials on one of our 59 dairy farms… that may have implications and bene-fits for our other farms. They may also have flow-on effects for the wider industry.”

Julian says Landcorp is now engaging more with stakeholders including iwi, commercial farmers and the wider community. “We’re trying to open up our business. For exam-ple, if we go with a focus farm we’d build online capacity so people can see what we’re doing and hold field days and that sort of thing.”

Related to the present

PETER [email protected]

and the future is Land-corp’s emphasis on the environment.

They note the Maori concept of kaitiakitanga. One Landcorp goal is to “rejuvenate” the environ-ment, not just manage within the limits of the law.

This philosophy is embedded in the compa-ny’s environmental plans.

Good quality data is crucial to good environ-mental management and making a profit. Land-corp is renowned for col-lecting a lot of data from milking sheds, paddocks and beyond. This can be shared by all in the com-pany.

The business is con-stantly evaluating new sys-tems for dairying. Though cow houses may have a place, they must stack up investment-wise. Julian notes recent research Mat-

thew Newman, DairyNZ, on the costs and benefits of these structures.

Farmers must be clear why they would invest in cow houses.

“I’ve seen farms in Waikato with herd homes. The farms grow their own maize and the house pro-vides 95% of their fertil-iser. They keep putting on minerals but they’re getting away from fertil-iser and imported feed – becoming almost a closed system. If they could keep their young stock on there it could almost be a closed system.”

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Mark Julian runs Landcorp’s dairy operations.


6 // NEWS

Small dairy farms need business help

‘SMALL’ DAIRY farms lack the level of help offered to small-to-medium enter-prises (SME’s) in the cities, and they should be getting it, says DairyNZ.

Strategy and investment leader for sustainability Dr Rick Pridmore told Fed-erated Farmers Dairy section’s annual conference in Taupo last week the help is especially needed by farmers running smaller operations – cow numbers up to 400.

He says larger farming operations are better off in being likely to have more resources to meet the growing mountain of paperwork being thrust on farmers. For many these demands are “frighten-ing”.

He discovered the extent of the prob-lem while involved in a business council in Hamilton where he mentored SMEs. Business councils are government

funded and have resources to offer city businesses. But no such thing exists for rural businesses, Pridmore says.

“In Hamilton they‘ll give you pam-phlets and training courses, and you’ll get a mentor, but if you’re a dairy farmer how do you deal with that paperwork? Dairy farmers need the same help as any SME.

“No doubt distance is a tyranny: it’s very hard to work out where to go for help if you live in a rural area. When I was setting up my business I didn’t know how to register for health and safety and ACC. But there are ways around this with more on-line tools being made available.”

Pridmore says farmers have many more issues to deal with than do city businesses and though some government agencies offer assistance, there is no independent organisation dairy farmers can readily go to for help. And he stresses that those designing help programmes should not assume that what works for a large business will automatically work for a SME.


North Island dry in patchesDAIRYNZ’S GENERAL manager extension Craig McBeth says North Island is “definitely getting dry and it’s starting to bite harder with every week that goes by”.

“It’s the nature of a drought that you just

don’t know when it’s going to come right, and that makes it harder to endure.”

The dry is particularly patchy with some farms having caught heavy show-ers while near neighbours missed out, he notes.

Where rains have missed, avoiding over-grazing is crucial to ensure pasture has the potential to recover strongly when it does rain.

“Just because you don’t see mud it might not feel like you’re doing much

damage but if you over-graze and perhaps have black beetle stress as well the plants won’t recover, or not for a long time.”

Late last week the pas-ture growth forecast for this week in Waikato was just 2kgDM/ha/day, com-

pared to a typical range for this time of year of 25-55kgDM/ha/day.

DairyNZ’s Tactics for Tight Times onfarm workshops starting this week will include tips on managing the dry, says McBeth.

“It was designed in light of the falling payout but we’re factoring in messages due to the dry summer…. In the South Island there’s real concern there will not be the drymatter to winter cows

on so we’ll be talking about what to do about that.”

However, diets have to be worked out farm

by farm depending on livestock demand

and what’s avail-able, and at what price. “You can’t

give a generic recipe for this stuff.”

Craig McBeth

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NEWS // 7

Ryan O’Sullivan says there will be a lot of PKE used.

Irrigation goes as drought digs inIRRIGATION IS running out, if not already gone, for an increasing number of South Island dairy farms as the drought tightens its stranglehold.

South Canterbury’s Opuha scheme will be shut down tomorrow (Wednesday Feb 25) following two months of mostly 50% restriction, and seasonal limits on some water take consents elsewhere mean pumps must be turned off even though there’s water in the well.

“We need rain, and we need it yesterday,” Federated Farmers Dairy North Canterbury chairman Vaughan Beazer told Dairy News.

Many cull cows have gone already and more and more farms are reducing milking frequency, though as yet he’s not heard of any total dry-offs.

“I know of one farm that’s been feeding 100% supple-ment. You can only do that for so long on a low payout.”

However, others with reliable irrigation are still milk-ing well off grass, though even they may have concerns about winter feed and/or condition of calves and heifers elsewhere on dryland.

“If we get rain in the next two weeks the dryland winter crops will have half their normal yield. If not, I don’t know what we’ll feed the cows over winter.”

Beazer’s South Canterbury counterpart, Ryan O’Sullivan, says winter feed “is the big issue looming.” “It’s too early to panic but you’ve got to be having that conver-sation with your grazier to try to see what the deficit is and how you’re going to fill it. I’d suggest there’s going to be a lot of PKE used.”

Hopefully Fonterra and Federated Farmers would be able to work with PKE suppliers to ensure availability and prevent prices becoming unreasonable. “If it spikes to $350/t it’s not an option.”

O’Sullivan also says he’s not aware of any complete dry-offs yet but a few dryland farms have set mid March as the deadline.

“The season is not over yet and there’s still time to get a good rain to turn it around. You can probably wait three to five weeks [from last week] depending on where you are and if it happens it will majorly alleviate the situation. If it doesn’t the extent of the overall disaster will be two-fold.”

O’Sullivan says Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy’s Feb 12 declaration that the drought is a medium-scale adverse event is a welcome acknowledgement but “practically doesn’t make a lot of difference.”

However, it could help smooth renegotiation of credit facilities, he adds. “It will help the banks’ people in Wel-lington recognise this is a major event and an unusual one-off.”

Fellow Fairlie basin dairyman Kieran Guiney echoes O’Sullivan’s comments. “For us it’s a token gesture. It’s great that they’ve recognised rural folk are suffering, not just farmers but lifestylers and gardeners and other people too, but financially it means nothing.”

Guiney says their two dryland farms have been on once-a-day since early this month and will dry off completely on March 10 if there’s no substantial rain. Their two irrigated properties, which had water cut off on January 15, would follow two to three weeks later.

Cows on the dryland are already down to 2kgDM/head/day of grass, with 5kg of PKE and 4kg of silage. “We’re just keeping them ticking over until we can increase the grass again and reduce the supplement.

“If we get a good 20mm in a couple of days it would be just wonderful.

“Winter feed crops are probably 30-40% behind, the kale especially, but the fodder beet’s been really great.”

ANDREW SWALLOW

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8 // NEWS

THE CHAIRMAN of Federated Farmers Dairy section says any business case for irrigation projects should be preceded by a discussion on environmental issues.

Andrew Hoggard told farmers at the section’s annual meeting that affected communities in particular catchments need to decide what attributes they want for their waterways under the national objectives framework. These would then set out what nitrogen leaching limits would apply to farmland, and any limitations that may apply to farming practices arising from the need to control sediment and phosphorous levels in waterways.

“Once that is worked through then you’re able to have the discussion on more irrigation simply as a business proposition,” Hoggard said. “In some irrigation proposals around the country we’re having a business case and an environmental case [presented] at the same time. I’m all for multi-tasking where it’s efficient, but in this case I don’t think it is.”

Hoggard says questions have been raised about why the Government is funding irrigation projects, and the answer lies in whether people see irrigation infrastructure in the same light as roads, power generation and distribution, telecommunications, urban water supplies and sewerage systems.

Irrigation projects have benefits well beyond the area they serve and provide economic benefits to the whole country, he says.

“Look at many of the examples already out there – where the economic benefits to districts with irrigation has resulted in more productivity for farmers, which has then translated to more business in those rural towns. This then flows through to more businesses in the cities.

“We’re a small country and all very much interconnected. Poor traffic flow in Auckland results in delays getting my products to the ports for export, creates costs for Fonterra’s head office, etc. By improving transportation in Auckland, there is a benefit to me on the farm, and the reverse is just as true.”


GET THIS DOWN YA, MATETHE CONFERENCE focused on environmental and business matters. One speaker was Fish and Game’s Bryce Johnson who received a surprise gift from Andrew Hoggard – a couple of bottles of his home brew with his own label and made from water that services Hoggard’s dairy farm near Feilding.

Trash out environment before talking irrigation

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NEWS // 9

Have you heard of Safer Farms yet?

IF YOU haven’t heard of the Safer Farms campaign yet, you probably soon will, and not just in this article.

The campaign is a new six-year Worksafe New Zealand project funded by ACC that aims to cut the farm death and serious injury toll 25% by 2020.

“This is a significant step forward, we hope, in preventing people from harm and death on farms throughout the country,” Worksafe board member Paula Rose told a group of industry representatives in Timaru last week, one of a series of 16 campaign launches nationwide.

“It’s not an enforce-ment programme; not regulation; not telling you what to do or getting people before the courts. That hasn’t worked in the past and it’s not going to work in the future,” she added.

Worksafe’s engage-ment advisor, Katy Sanson, expanded on that. “Safer Farms [promotes] clear practical solutions that are going to be long lasting.”

An advertising cam-paign is underway and a dedicated website, saf-erfarms.org.nz, went live earlier this month. Its front page spells out why farm safety is impor-tant with stats such as “220,000 work days are

lost annually due to farm related injuries”, and has links to ‘Make a Plan’ and ‘Read the Guides’.

To date there are 13 guides on the website, including ones for farm dairies, cattle handling, tractors, two-wheelers and quads. Sanson says

there will eventually be 47. Those with slow or no internet access can request hard copies of rel-evant guides and other information by calling 0800 030040.

The ‘Make a Plan’ area promises it “usually takes 10 minutes” and that any

information provided will be kept secure.

At the launch Sanson showed a hard-copy Safer Farms Toolkit pack. “The first thing in it is the self assessment table which will tell you where you are on the spectrum [of farm safety]. If you’ve

‘not started’, you need only read along the table to find out what ‘good’ looks like.”

Between the ‘not started’ column on the table’s left and ‘good practice’ to the far right, are ‘underway’ and ‘get-ting there’ columns.

Following the self assessment table in the hard copy Toolkit pro-vided at the launch were 17 information or work sheets such as ‘Legal Duties’, ‘Hazard Regis-ter’, ‘Accident/Near Miss Report’, as well as guides to safe use of quads, tractors, and two-wheel

bikes. Sanson stressed the

need to document safety activities, from formal hazard identification and risk assessment through to records such as “when you had a talk about health and safety over smoko”. “Good farming practice includes having good farm safety sys-tems.”

Many organisations were involved in compil-ing and proofing the tool-kit material. “We’ve done a lot of work with Dairy NZ and Rosie the [car-toon] cow is going to be talking about health and safety. Kids can go online and play health and safety games.”

Sanson stressed the toolkit is a live document and will evolve with new legislation and changes to what’s considered best

ANDREW SWALLOWpractice.

Questioned about pri-vate companies that pre-pare health and safety plans for farm clients, she said her “greatest fear” is that it ends up a dusty doc-

ument on a shelf. “A farm safety plan is

not something you do and put away. It’s a constant, ongoing thing looking at the risks and how you are going to do better.”

FEDS PRESIDENT, DAIRYNZ PRESENT

FEDERATED FARMERS president William Rolleston and a DairyNZ representative were at the Timaru launch.

“I totally agree the accident and injury rate has to come down,” Rolleston told Dairy News. “We need to think about health and safety first and foremost on farms, so we support this campaign.”

Worksafe’s 25% target reduction in serious injuries and deaths by 2020 is achievable, he believes.

DairyNZ regional leader Virginia

Serra said Worksafe’s challenge will be to convince farmers there’s been a change of emphasis from enforcement to more education and engagement, she added. “It may take a bit of time for people to realise they’re here to help.”

Worksafe’s Katy Sanson (see main story) told Dairy News that where farmers invited Worksafe out to help put together a plan, it couldn’t “turn a blind eye” to serious safety issues observed but infringement notices and fines are “right at the end of the process”.

Katy Sanson demonstrates the Worksafe Toolkit.

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10 // NEWS

Better engage now in environmental talks

DAIRY FARMERS would be wise to get active in their communities’ con-sultation processes for setting environmental

limits, says a Waikato aca-demic.

Associate professor Graeme Doole, working in environmental economics at Waikato University, says community groups’ inputs are crucial to the process of limit setting and farm-

ers need to be involved in such talks from the start.

“We have many com-munity groups and iwi and we are using a [talks] pro-cess to develop the limits. [Farmers should] engage and talk with indus-try groups such as Beef +

Lamb NZ and DairyNZ. Find the best way to be involved because if your voice is not heard, then when they come to setting limits your voice won’t be heard.

“The greater the invest-ment [farmers] can have


in that process the better.”Doole told the Fertil-

iser and Lime Research Centre workshop at Massey University of the need for dairy farmers to focus on profit and to do their sums properly when considering changing their farming systems so they can farm within limits.

His comments mir-rored those of Matthew Newman, DairyNZ, on the benefits of cow houses as means of reducing nitro-gen leaching. Doole says cow houses (costing $750-$1000 per cow) usually show a reduction in nitro-gen leaching of 15-20% if they are well managed.

But houses that cost

$4000-$5000 per cow often must be debt funded and force the farmer to intensify more, which effectively erodes any benefit this system has in decreasing nitrogen leach-ing.

Doole says a “nitro-gen fixation” in New Zea-land is tending to drive environmental impera-tives. This arose out of the “dirty dairying” campaign by Fish and Game which focused almost exclusively on the nitrogen problem.

“We are finding that to meet water quality limits we have to reduce our loadings of nitrogen. But also, and perhaps more importantly, in some areas

the problems of phospho-rous sediment and E.coli is an indicator of microbial losses.

“So we have a multi-dimensional problem. It’s not just a nitrogen prob-lem though in some cases nitrogen is important. But at the same time we have three other prob-lems which aren’t getting as much attention as they deserve.”

Doole says it would be good to see people stop hammering our farming systems and look at mit-igation options such as riparian planting and the development of wetlands.

@dairy_news


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NEWS // 11

Fish and Game find the perfect dairy farm

FEDERATED FARM-ERS dairy section held its annual conference in the central plateau this year with an emphasis on the environment and the busi-ness of farming.

On the day before the actual conference began, many delegates went on a tour organised by the fed-eration. This included a visit to Landcorp’s Rang-tiakei station to see a new dairy development.

But interestingly they invited friends/enemies Fish and Game to speak at their conference and also take the delegates to what they regard as a ‘model’ dairy farm. This was the farm of Mike and Lisa Parnwell’s farm near Reporoa and is in the Upper Waikato catch-ment. It was chance for delegates to hear at first hand the Fish and Game message.

John Meikle of Fish and Game waxed lyrical about the farm and the way it met the standards of an ideal dairy farm.

“Not all dairy farms have streams or waterfowl areas. In this particular case the back part of the farm borders a significant spawning stream for trout and also a significant hab-itat for both games birds and other indigenous spe-cies of bird,” he says.

“Mike (the farmer) has taken the step of taking quite a wide riparian area in this case 15m where the stock is excluded and grass has gown long and so no nutrients from the farm go into the stream.”

Meikle also praised the riparian area being right

beside the race which he says protects the stream from anything in the race. He also praised farmer Mike Parnwell for his low stocking rate which he says puts less nutrient stress on the property

Meilke says Fish and Game are not anti-dairy-ing but they want smart


Mike Parnwell

SEVENTY DAIRY farmers from 30 farms have agreed to share knowledge and host events as part of DairyNZ’s ‘Tactics for Tight Times’ campaign to help farmers survive the present tough season and build resilience.

Chief executive Tim Mackle says the declaration of drought on the east coast of the South Island highlights the need for extra support for farmers.

“The milk price hit a six-year low in December, and dry conditions are forcing many farmers to make tough decisions, especially as they look to next season.

“A dry summer and the low milk price [mean] judgement calls become more complex as farmers bal-ance the profitability of keeping cows milking, keep-ing condition on them and using supplementary feed.”

DairyNZ is looking to research, data and lessons learned from similar seasons to help farmers decide about animal health and wellbeing, pasture cover, feed, production, stock health and financial management.

The first round of events on the host farms will be in late February and March, giving an economic out-look for dairy and advising on survival tactics tailored to farmers’ regions.dairynz.co.nz/tactics.

Events look at survival tactics

dairy farming.Parnwell has been on

his farm for 10 seasons. He initially share-milked on the property and now leases it from the previ-ous owners estate. He runs

240 cows on 102ha effec-tive and uses a cow house for feeding and for pro-viding shade and shelter depending on the season.

He says it was natu-ral to carry out the ripar-

ian planting which has enhanced the farm.

As for the delegates – they were impressed with the Parnwell’s farm, just whether it will enhance farmers’ relationship with

Fish and Game is some-thing only time will tell.

@dairy_news


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12 // NEWS

Price volatility – get used to itPRICE VOLATILITY in the dairy industry may be the new normal, says Lincoln University farm management and agribusiness lecturer Bruce Greig. He expects prices to fluctuate widely from year to year.

The milk price farmers in New Zea-land receive is a result of the demand and supply conditions of milk in the international market, he says. As a com-modity market it naturally fluctuates.

Dairy farmers may just have to get

used to it and change to cope.A recent Federated Farmers’ survey

found dairy price drops, which are down 46% from their peak last February, had led to increased pessimism among farmers.

Many were worried about cash-flow, and would have to cut spending and increase debt for the first time for sev-eral years.

Greig says farmers need to imple-ment resilient systems which are sus-

tainably profitable at high and low milk prices. “The traditional all-grass New Zealand system might be better at low prices, but might also fail to capture the full benefit of high prices when they occur,” he says.

Farmers themselves play a key role. “Farmer capability is more a determi-nant of profitability rather than the system itself.

“All systems can be profitable under different conditions, and it is a ques-

tion about how you manage the risks,” he says.

‘’Therefore your choice of farm system, and therefore cost of produc-tion, determines your farm sustain-ability.”

He says the low payout this year is unfortunately accompanied by drought conditions which lowers production and can increase costs.

As for farmers’ other concerns he said few can avoid debt.

“In fact it makes sense to borrow capital when the return from the invest-ment in land is greater than the inter-est rate.

“But you must be able to service that debt from cashflow, which is where the risk emerges with low payouts.”

He is not as pessimistic as the farm-ers appear to be though.

“Farmers, however, are resilient themselves and will weather the storm until conditions improve,’’ he says.

A FORMER Federated Farmers president and a Young Farmer Competition winner have joined the New Zealand Farm Environment (NZFE) Trust.

NZFE chairman Simon Saunders says it’s a priv-ilege to welcome Warwick Catto and Bruce Wills to the board.

Warwick Catto is science strategy manager for Ballance Agri-Nutrients – the main sponsor of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA).

Catto won the Young Farmer of the Year compe-tition in 1995 and chaired the competition’s organis-ing committee from 1996 to 2000. He has been on the BFEA national winner judging panel since the pro-gramme began in 2011.

Saunders says Catto’s scientific knowledge and experience in science extension work make him a valuable addition to the NZFE board.

The other new trustee, Bruce Wills, is a former president of Federated Farmers.

The Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer is a long-time champion of environmental sustainability and an enthusiastic supporter of the Ballance Farm Envi-ronment Awards.

Visionaries join award trust

New managers at CRVCRV AMBREED has appointed two new senior manag-ers – Mathew Macfie, sales and marketing manager; and Andrew Singers information management and informa-tion technology manager.

Macfie joined CRV Ambreed after ten years with Galla-gher, most recently as international business development manager. At CRV Ambreed Macfie leads 50-60 part-time and full-time staff.

Singers joined CRV Ambreed from Ruralco Holdings Ltd, Sydney, where he was chief information officer. He also worked for RD1, most recently as group information technology manager, leading the development of business and farm IT strategies.

At CRV Ambreed he will oversee the IT framework and business systems.

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NEWS // 13

ON THE demand side for dairy there is more geopolitical uncertainly than for some time, Wilson says.

He noted, talking recently to leaders in Europe, that “all eyes are on Mr Putin. There are con-cerns about what is happening in and around Russia. That is creating a real atmosphere of risk.”

Meanwhile the drop in oil prices will have a positive im-pact for consumers particularly in South East Asia and China.

“But the reality is a lot of our key dairy markets are big oil producers: Venezuela, Algeria and Iran are significant buyers of whole milk powder and fat.”

These countries run big gov-

ernment buying programmes so they will be watched closely.

Another issue is supply chains in the Middle East and North Africa which are bound up with risks imposed by ISIS and ebola.

“For a truck driver to jump on a truck in the Middle East at the moment is somewhat chal-lenging.”

ALL EYES ON PUTIN

ON TOP of good production out of Europe and the US, China itself has also had a good production season this year, Fonterra chairman John Wilson says.

China is a big importer of whole milk powder but it became an even more significant importer when its own milk production took a big hit last year, Wilson says.

“It was predominantly through disease and also through the drive to consolidate their sector, so a lot of the smaller farms have been dropped out,” Wilson told the Northland Dairy Development Trust annual conference.

Official figures say China’s milk production was down about 6% last season but the key co-ops were down over 20%.

“They had a good production season in the latter half of 2014. The reason we have talked about invento-ries not going down in China is that they have produced a lot more milk so manufacturers have been using whole milk.”

They have also been working through the over-purchase of whole milk powder during the earlier six months of the year. “We see that start-ing to correct and potentially it could correct rapidly over the next couple of months from what we are seeing in production data in China. Our senti-ment is that their production is start-ing to come off – starting to respond to lower prices.”

While production growth is expected to continue in China, con-sumption will also grow – at 4% per annum, and that is a pessimistic view, says Wilson. So it is still a criti-cal market.

But, Wilson says, “unfortunately we have Uncle Sam”. “The US has a heavily supported dairy sector: the 2015 Farm Bill, approved last April, puts in place another big sup-port mechanism for their farmers; it actually protects their margin. So no matter what happens they can buy very cheap insurance to protect their

margin over their feed costs.“So we don’t see them decreasing

their milk production any time soon. Ultimately the real world will hit them but for the next 6-12 months… production is expected to increase at 3-4%.”

Europe has had a good produc-tion season and visiting there in June and July Wilson had never seen it looking so good. Farmers were con-fident because quota was coming off and they were happy to pay the levy because of high prices and cheap cost of production. At that stage produc-tion was up 4.3%.

Russia since has put dairy bans in place and Europe has followed the global milk price down.

“I am told it is the biggest month-on-month drop ever experienced in the farmgate milk price in Europe as paid by key cooperatives Arla and Friesland Campina, so it’s starting to have a big impact. [Farmers] are not going to be producing milk over the next three months. They can’t afford to pay that levy for the extra milk they are producing.” However they do forecast about 2% growth in Europe.

Australia had a good production season last year but over the last six weeks the dry has started to impact milk production.

New Zealand’s updated forecast is 3.3% down on last year with a signifi-cant drop over autumn.

“A lot depends on what happens with rain, but even with that a lot of cows have already been dropped out of the system, and not a lot of supple-ment is being fed because economics don’t support it so ultimately a lot of our milk powder and butter will be sold.”

Wilson says Fonterra’s response to the global situation is to stay on strategy. “Regardless of what is hap-pening we will stay on strategy. Com-modity is not a dirty word. You have to be the best ingredients seller to the world. So it is critical that we use our curve really well.

“In our curve we’ve seen a wider and higher peak. That peak was 14 days four years ago, now it is 50-60 days. It has a big impact on our pro-cessing assets… so we will continue to invest to ensure we can process milk off our farms.

“Importantly, look at the last 10 years: if you break up the ingredients part of our business – the milk price plus the ingredients part of our value-add returns to you – in the first five years it was $3.88, and the last five year $6.80.” This was achieved by making sure the co-op was efficient.

“The driver is to… invest alongside our milk curve with the most efficient assets.” Wilson explains this is why Fonterra is investing $800 million in its processing capacity and $220m in its food service plant.

Lots of supply and demand

Fonterra chairman John Wilson says China has boosted its own production this year.

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14 // NEWS

Fonterra Dutch plant comes to lifeFONTERRA HAS commissioned its first wholly owned and oper-ated ingredients plant in Europe.

The plant, in Heerenveen, in the north of the Nether-lands, produces whey and lac-tose specialty ingredi-ents

that will be used in high-value paedi-atric, maternal, and sports nutrition products by Fonterra and its global customers; it’s built on a 25ha site that

has been developed in partnership with Dutch cheese manufacturer

A-ware Food Group. Fonterra chief executive Theo

Spierings says the plant forms part of the co-op’s fully inte-

grated global supply chain from the farmgate direct to global con-

sumers, using Fonterra’s milk pools and manufacturing sites in New Zea-land, Australia, and Europe.

“The commissioning of our new plant in Heerenveen further

strengthens our ability to deliver high quality, advanced dairy

nutrition that meets the needs of our priority markets and global

customers. “Fonterra has substan-

tial intellectual property in the manufacture of

functional whey protein ingre-dients and had been

looking for some time for a source of high quality whey to enable us to com-mercialise these innovations.

“Our partnership with A-ware Food Group fits well with our strate-gic priorities aimed at increasing the volume and value of our ingredients and branded products,” says Spier-ings.

Fonterra regional director for ingredients in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia and CIS (EMEA) Hans Huistra says the plant’s location and capacity will enable Fonterra to better serve its European and global cus-tomer base, delivering a secure, reli-able source of high quality ingredient products.

The new plant will produce 5,000 metric tonnes of whey protein and 25,000 metric tonnes of lactose annu-ally.

It will operate around the clock: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. About 50 new employees currently work for Fonterra at the site.

A-ware Food Group’s adjacent cheese plant was also recently com-missioned on schedule

FONTERRA’S OFFER to acquire 20% of leading Chinese infant formula manufacturer, Beingmate is now open.

Launched through the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the offer is open until March 13: the result will be an-nounced on March 18.

Last August, Fonterra and Be-ingmate announced they intended to form a global partnership to help

meet China’s growing demand for infant formula. The partnership will create a fully integrated global supply chain from the farm gate direct to China’s consumers, using Fonterra’s milk pools and manu-facturing sites in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. It is intended to increase the volume and value of Fonterra’s ingredients and branded products exported to China.

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Battle for the top cheeses

THE BATTLE is on to find New Zea-land’s best cheese, with a finale at The Langham Hotel, Auckland, on March 15.

The event, with expert judges, will have at least 400 entries, three new cheese companies, a new cheese type, new international judges and this year yoghurt and butter categories.

Now in its twelfth year, the New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards offers the contestants the hope of 23 champion titles.

The new yoghurt and butter cate-gories acknowledge the importance of these products alongside cheese in stores.

Would-be cheesemakers will be recognised with the first Primary ITO ‘Aspiring Cheesemaker’ Award.

“The stage is set for new players, new classes and new awards,” says the awards organiser, Tony Goode. “It’s exciting to be able to showcase our cheese industry to some of the world’s most influential cheese critics,”

Chief judge will be Russell Smith, noted as an Australasian cheese judge and educator.

Thalassa (Lassa) Skinner, from the US, founder and co-owner of Culture magazine, will also judge.

“Culture is keeping a close eye on New Zealand’s cheese scene, know-

ing there’s a burgeoning industry here with strong specialty food apprecia-tion. We’re eager to share this with food lovers globally.”

Smith will lead 31 expert assessors, including experienced New Zealand’s dairy connoisseurs.

The judges will pick champions in 23 categories then choose the two best overall cheeses to be named supreme winner of the Puhoi Valley Champion Artisan Award for small artisan pro-ducers, and the Countdown Champion of Champions Award for larger pro-ducers.

“A sign of how home cheesemaking is advancing is the progression of pre-vious award winners to become fully fledged professionals, like Cartwheel Creamery,” Goode says.

“Cheesemakers in this category generally start with more simple fresh cheeses, but this year there are aged varieties with more complex flavours that require more skill.”

Meanwhile the New World Cham-pion Favourite Cheese Award is selected by public votes via the New World website.

One March 16 the public can attend the MindFood CheeseFest at The Lang-ham, 5.00-8:30pm. www.eventfinder.co.nz

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WORLD // 15

WITH ITS organic sales climbing, European dairy co-op Arla Foods is lifting the organic premium it pays farmers.

From March 1 the co-op will pay an extra 3c/kgMS to farmers in Sweden, Denmark, UK and Central Europe.

Arla says it must drive and develop the organic dairy market. Recently its board decided that its organic premium should remain, based on the bal-ance of organic raw milk supply and the demand for organic dairy products.

“We aim to drive and develop the organic dairy market in Europe,” says vice chief executive Povl Krogsgaard. “It’s a good business for all our farm-ers when we sell more organic products, and with our growing sales of organic products in Europe and beyond we foresee a need for more organic milk…. So we’re increasing the organic premium.”

He notes the global retail and industry markets are under pressure, cutting the earnings of Arla farmers, conventional and organic.

“This underlines the increasing need to earn as much as possible on value-added products in con-sumer markets.”

The co-op plans to recruit more organic suppliers soon, though the higher organic premium is likely to increase production by current suppliers.

Premium drives organic milk growth

Australia clampdown on foreign buyersAUSTRALIAN FARM-ERS are welcoming a sharper watch on foreign investment in farming.

The NFF has long called for more oversight by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and a transparent regis-ter of foreign ownership of farm land.

Now the Federal Gov-ernment says it will lower the screening threshold from $252 million to $15 million from March 1. It will apply to the cumu-lative value of farm land owned by a foreign inves-tor, including any pur-posed purchase.

And a foreign owner-ship register of farm land will strengthen reporting requirements and more clearly disclose foreign investment in farming.

National Farmers’ Fed-eration (NFF) president Brent Finlay describes the register as “a welcome step in progressing policy agenda, delivering on a measure the NFF has long

called for”.“Foreign investment in

Australian agriculture is welcome; it is essential for our continued growth and future prosperity. We are open for business.

“However, proper scru-tiny of investment pro-posals and a transparent register form the neces-sary architecture for suc-cessful and sustained investment, and ensure that investment is in Aus-tralia’s best interest.”

The lower screen-ing threshold will require that any foreign deal on farm land of $15 million or more must have Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

“The Government must ensure the Austra-lian Taxation Office is properly resourced to deliver the long-promised register.”

Work will begin in July to collect information, and the public must be told when this information will be accessible, Finlay says.

Barnaby Joyce

“There are still some key issues to iron out, such as foreign investment in infrastructure, agricultural supply chains and water. These are key components of a successful model and

must be addressed. We want foreign investment that serves Australian interests and we com-mend the government for taking this step.”

Federal Agriculture

Minister Barnaby Joyce says from July 1 the Aus-tralian Tax Office (ATO) will collect information on all new foreign investment in farm land regardless of value.

SHAREHOLDER DARTS TOURNEY 2015

Join the fun at your

Local Round, starting soon.

It’s the inaugural Fert & Feathers Darts Tourney and it’s open to all Farmlands shareholders. You don’t need to be a darts whizz to register and have some fun with your family and mates – and who knows, you could be winging your way to the UK, home of world darts, on the trip of a lifetime!

Registration is easy. Pop into your local store, give them a call now or register online at www.farmlands.co.nz/fertandfeathers

Local Round dates: 23rd March – 12th April 2015

For a full list of terms and conditions visit www.farmlands.co.nz/fertandfeathers

FML0219 Press NZFW.indd 1 17/02/15 9:50 am


16 // OPINION

RUMINATING

EDITORIAL

MILKING IT...


Tapping into the great talent pool

MUCH IS said about the need for succession planning and lead-ership in New Zealand’s primary industries. The baby boomer bosses are gradually slipping out of the top jobs and into semi-retirement to take on directorships and ultimately exit the indus-try. So where is the talent pool from which to recruit the next echelon?

This week we can see one example of how this will play out, in the emergence of a young Landcorp executive, Mark Julian, who runs the company’s big holding of dairy farms. It’s a huge role: he is responsible for the production of some 20 million kilograms of milk solids per year. It’s pretty impressive.

Just managing the staff for 59 dairy farms is a massive task in itself, but there’s more. Landcorp farms, in common with many Maori farms, are in marginal farming areas. These are places where many commercial farmers would never go, yet Landcorp is there developing land.

Landcorp’s very existence is often criticised. “Why does the government farm?” the uninformed critics wail. Fact is they’re farming tough country, and thanks to this business NZ Inc is get-ting a good return off marginal land, because it has smart young people such as Mark Julian at the wheel.

People who think strategically and practically, and bring into their businesses other talented young people, are doing New Zea-land proud.

Another example is Richard Wyeth, the young chief executive of the Maori-owned dairy company Miraka in the central North Island. This start-up company is already achieving goals ahead of time by its strategy.

People like Julian and Wyeth show that we have emerging talent in the leadership ranks of the primary sector. There are many others in science, agribusiness and technology.

The main thing is that New Zealand keeps encouraging young people to choose careers in the primary sector where the oppor-tunities are limitless.

GOT SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND?

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Miracles do happenA UK farmer is hailing a ‘miracle’ after a cow at his nursery with no bulls gave birth to a calf.

Harriet the cow has lived a celibate life since she moved to the nursery. But the owner was sur-prised to see the Dexter cow suddenly go into labour and give birth.

Valentine’s Day 300kg deliveriesA VALENTINE’S Day special consignment flew into the Indian city of Kolkata – 36 thorough-bred young German Bulls. They will inseminate cows that will give birth to higher-producing cows in the state.

The German Bulls were imported by the Na-tional Dairy Development Board for a state breeding programme. Each weighs about 300kg.

US battle over benefits of milkMILK PROCESSORS in the US are hitting back at critics via a social media campaign.

The Milk Processors Education Programme or-ganisers say they can no longer tolerate headlines such as ‘Milk can kill you’.

Milk brands, their em-ployers and others in the industry will post mes-sages and direct people to a website for more information on milk.

Media in firing line, rightly soTHE PRESIDENT of Feds Manawatu-Rangitikei, James Stewart, told his re-gional council that farmers get insufficient recognition for cleaning up the region’s waterways.

He charged that the media is not on the farm-ers’ side. His comments are timely food for thought for the mainstream media.

AS A farmer I have been increasingly con-cerned by the lack of consistency between council treatment of urban and rural users when it comes to the actions taken under the Resource Management Act (RMA).

We have all seen farmers prosecuted in the Environment Court for breaches under the RMA, for matters such as effluent dis-charges that “may enter water”.

These are the critical few words found in the RMA that most prosecutions are based on – “…and may enter water”. That means the contaminant didn’t necessar-ily enter water or cause pollution; it just

“may” have been able to enter water – and that’s a big differ-ence.

Of course it’s not always that simple. In some cases, contaminants from farms do in fact enter water. That cannot be condoned and depending on the circumstances, the Envi-ronment Court may be the appropriate course of action.

Last spring, the Otago Regional Coun-cil (ORC) boss Peter Bodeker said in the news media that recent dairy inspections in Otago were not good enough and that an unacceptable number of breaches had been found.

TVOne’s 7 Sharp recently depicted some popular swimming beaches as unsafe for swimming because of overflow sewage systems some city councils’ use – there is no “may” about that.

So let’s compare these on-farm breaches of the RMA to those in the urban sector.

Last November, media reported that in Cromwell 3500L of untreated waste had entered Lake Dunstan. In response, the ORC determined that no action was required.

Over recent months and years, Queen-stown Lakes District Council has had numerous untreated spills into the lake, with not a single prosecution.

Apart from a major tourist destina-tion’s image being tarnished by the sight of untreated sewage flowing on streets and into the lake, that waste is entering water and is bad for the environment.

If Queenstown was a farm, there would be a huge public outcry for it to be shut down until major improvements could bring it up to appropriate standards.

Other towns around the country have consent to pollute on a daily basis. Milton

is one example. It has been issued consent by the ORC to intermittently discharge 9150m3/day of untreated wastewater mixed with stormwater to the Tokomair-iro River.

This discharge permit expires on December 31, 2017. But don’t worry, part of the consent approval includes a diagram for a sign to be erected saying ‘Danger. Keep Out. No Swimming’.

Other New Zealand towns also have consent to discharge untreated or par-tially treated waste to land “in a manner that may enter water”. Interesting that

those towns have these discharge con-sents approved by councils, when this is the same standard for which farmers are being prosecuted.

For many coastal towns the solution is simple, just put waste out to sea in a longer and ever extending pipeline. Well at least it doesn’t get to freshwater that way, although as we’ve seen recently, the impact on many of our beaches is not something to be proud of.

There is one rule for council discharges, and a completely different rule for farm-ers and I’m convinced the environment doesn’t notice the difference.

People living in urban New Zealand have been ‘sold’ a story comprising limited science and based on a successful, catchy slogan – ‘dirty dairying’. That has given rise to the misconception that most pollution is from farms.

Regional councils nationwide continue to turn a blind eye to blatant urban pollu-tion, both within discharge consent param-eters and through unconsented spills into our lakes and rivers.

Farmers don’t expect any special treat-ment. We have a huge responsibility in looking after our environment. But nor do we expect to be targeted and singled out by regional councils.

All we ask is that in the interests of our environment we have a more level play-ing field. Currently what we have is any-thing but.• Stephen Crawford is Federated Farmers Otago Dairy chairman.


OPINION // 17

Where is the consistency?STEPHEN CRAWFORD

Stephen Crawford

RIVER NUTRIENT THREATS LESS THAN FEARED?

NEW REPORTS on algal growth in the Waikato and Waipa Rivers show a reduction in P and a sign that the threat of increased nitrogen alone causing algal growth may be less than previ-ously feared.

These come as the ‘Healthy Rivers: Plan for Change’ project gives impetus to a regional plan change to better protect water quality in the rivers.

The reports focus on nitro-gen (N) and phosphorus (P) that can stimulate algal growth. N and P enters the rivers from factories, wastewater treat-ment plants and farms.

The first report dealt with a council study of nutrients in the Waikato and Waipa rivers, the second was a council-com-missioned NIWA study of the Waikato River.

Some 61% of N and 45% of P in the rivers was likely to come from farms, said the report, based on data on nutrients in the two rivers from 2003-12. Overall, P was found about 12% lower than in earlier years.

Downstream from Hamilton, this P improvement was prob-

ably due to reductions in dis-charges from the city’s waste-water plant, says council water scientist Bill Vant. Reductions at sites up-river may be due to better dairy effluent manage-ment and erosion prevention measures.

The second report, by NIWA for the council, suggests that the threat of increased nitrogen alone causing algal growth in the rivers may be less than previously feared under current conditions, Vant says.

Council monitoring had shown an increase in aver-age concentrations of N in the Waikato River in recent years, raising fears of more algal growth.

However, P – which also supports algal growth - had decreased at several locations, suggesting this had helped reduce algae concentrations. Overall, says Vant, despite recent algal blooms, during the study period algae was down recently at five of 10 Waikato River monitoring sites and had not increased at any.

The report on NIWA’s study

says recent testing of water samples showed algal growth often responded to experi-mental addition of N and P, and occasionally to just P. “But there was little or no response to the addition of N alone,” the report says.

This may indicate that wa-terways now don’t need more N to produce algae and that recent reductions in P in the river had contributed to reduc-ing algae.

The report said zooplankton in the river could “graze” on algae, so helping reduce further the impacts of N and P on algal growth. But Vant stressed this North American zooplankton couldn’t be counted on to stay in our waterways.

“This new information will be assessed by… experts assist-ing the Healthy Rivers process,” says the council’s science and strategy director Tracey May.

“The data [will help us decide] how to best go about establishing the need for limits on… farming, to help protect and restore the health of the Waikato River.”

People living in urban New Zealand have been ‘sold’ a story comprising limited science and based on a successful, catchy slogan – ‘dirty dairying’. That has given rise to the misconception that most pollution is from farms.

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18 // AGRIBUSINESS

REPORT PROJECTIONS

■ China will be the largest economy by 2030, but its growth rate is likely to revert to the global average in the long run

■ India could challenge US for second place by 2050

■ Indonesia, Mexico and Nige-ria could push UK and France out of top 10

■ Philippines, Vietnam and Ma-laysia are set to be notable risers

■ Colombia and Poland will grow more strongly to 2050 than Brazil and Russia.

7.4% growth is China’s new norm

THE NEW Zealand China Coun-cil is backing the findings of a report that affirms our future lies with China despite an economic slowdown there.

The report this month by Price-waterhouseCoopers (PwC) forecasts China among the fastest-growing econ-omies to 2050 and says New Zealand’s trade deal offers more promise.

Council chief executive Patrick Eng-lish says China’s slowdown is inevitable: in 2004 when China had a US$1.7 tril-lion economy, 12% growth was neces-sary, but now its $10 trillion economy requires its present 7.4%.

“They’re calling it the ‘new normal’,” English told Dairy News.

The Chinese economy still has prob-lems – excesses in infrastructure and production, government tackling cor-ruption, environment problems and social disparities.

“These are things they’re focussing on rather than just economic growth,” says English.

Asked if sending most of our dairy

exports to China was risky, he says there is always an element of risk when you have most of your trade in one market. But this is not as New Zealand experi-enced its trade with Britain up to the 1970s.

“China represents over 20% of our total merchandise trade (and is the sec-ond-largest source of tourists and the largest source of students) but the bal-ance is spread between Australia, US, rest of Asia, Europe – a reasonably bal-anced spread but most of the growth in recent years has come out of China and Asia.

“Of more concern is the type of growth, predominantly in four cate-gories (dairy, forestry and meat) and most of the growth has come from an increase in volume as opposed to value; this is where we need greater change.

“But if you are a company selling a product or a service and you see a reduction in demand from traditional mar-kets such as Europe and the US, and growing demand from China, then you’re going to sell where you get the best value

and return.”PwC economics director Chris

Money says New Zealand’s future truly lies with China and its forecasts rein-force the importance of New Zealand’s focus on Pacific Rim trade deals.

“Currently, China is equal with the US in purchasing power (US$17 billion each) but by 2050, China’s GDP in pur-chasing power parity (PPP) terms will

treble to US$60 billion, 25%

higher than the

US, and more

than three times

the

combined GDP (in PPP terms) of the EU.

“Trade between the fastest grow-ing countries presents opportunities for New Zealand as a [trans-shipment] point for goods and services by air and sea… between South America and China, Indonesia and India.”

India has the potential to sustain its higher growth rate for longer and become a US$10 trillion economy by about 2020 in purchasing power terms, or about 2035 at market exchange rates. But this relies on India sustaining prog-ress on infrastructure investment, institutional reforms and boosting edu-cation levels among all its people.

“The importance of New Zealand’s free trade discussions with India are underlined by this forecast about it being the fastest growing of our largest trading partners and set to become the second-largest economy in the world by 2050,” says Money.

The report predicts the potential GDP growth, to 2050, of 32 large econ-omies representing 84% of total global GDP. It says world economic growth should average 3% per annum from 2014-50, doubling in size by 2037 and

tripling by 2050. But a global slowdown is likely after

2020, as the rate of expansion in China and other big economies moderates and as working age population growth slows in many big economies.


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20 // AGRIBUSINESS

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Breeding values set to changeLIVEWEIGHT BREEDING values for dairy cattle are to improve as a result of data analyses by NZ Animal Evaluation Ltd (NZAEL), a subsidiary of DairyNZ.

Changes to these breeding values and the flow-on effects for the overall measure of cow and sire genetic merit Breeding Worth (BW) were imple-mented February 16, focused on the conversion of liveweight information into a mature weight equivalent.

“Historically this conversion has been done within the liveweight

animal evaluation model, but over time the information has become heav-ily weighted towards data for two-year-olds which skews the calculation,” says NZAEL manager Jeremy Bryant.

The new method converts all weights to a mature equivalent before the data enters the liveweight animal evaluation model.

“The aim of the NZAEL research was to improve the accuracy of genetic pre-diction for liveweight, which then leads to a more accurate BW for dairy farm-

ers,” says Bryant. The year-long research has been

reviewed by the standing advisory com-mittee of NZAEL which includes lead-ing geneticists from New Zealand, and approved by the NZAEL Board.

The effect will be seen in all animals, the firm says, especially when compar-ing breeds. The liveweight breeding values for Jersey and crossbred animals generally decrease, and those for Hol-stein Friesians increase.

The routine updates of economic

values in BW also came into effect on February 16.

“NZAEL updates economic values every year, in order to keep aligned with market signals,” says Bryant.

This year, moderate changes are seen in the value assigned to fat and pro-tein yield. These come from a combi-nation of a falling milk price, as well as slight changes to the calculation of milk volume penalties and flow-on effects for fat and protein yield.

The combined effect of the live-

weight changes and economic value update mean that, on average, the BW of herds will reduce.

“Farmers with predominantly Jersey dairy cattle will see a slight increase in herd BW and farmers with predomi-nantly Holstein Friesian dairy cattle should notice a decrease in herd BW. Crossbred herds will be intermediate between the two breeds,” says Bryant. dairynz.co.nz/evchanges

Land use experience for studentsTHREE MASSEY Univer-sity science and agriculture stu-dents have worked the summer at Horizons Regional Council and on farms as a result of win-ning council sustainable land use initiative (SLUI) scholarships.

The scholarships are avail-able to students of soil fertility, soil mapping and farm manage-ment. In nine years the coun-cil has granted $150,000 to

students.Council spokesman Mal-

colm Todd says the scholarship encourages students in partic-ular skills and provides real life experience.

“SLUI aims to control hill country erosion, in a partner-ship between Horizons, central government and farmers. When SLUI was introduced in 2006, we identified we had a skill short-

age… and have set the applica-tion criteria for scholarships accordingly.

“Students need a soil sci-ence background and need to understand the practical side of running a farm and be able to relate to farmers. Those who meet these criteria can receive a scholarship and a lucky few also get opportunity to work for Hori-zons full-time over summer.”

This summer three students, Josie Winters, Courtney Mitchell and Natalie Hiyslop, have spent three months creating soil health plans, auditing SLUI farms and updating data in Horizons geo-graphic information system.

Applications for SLUI schol-arships open every February. This year’s round closes on April 13. www.horizons.govt.nz

@dairy_newsfacebook.com/dairynews

Three scholarship students worked for Horizons on farms and soils over summer.


AGRIBUSINESS // 21

Good recruitment lifts whole operation

RECENTLY I’VE been involved in projects sup-porting staff selection, some prompted by client frustration at modest response to promotion of roles.

The process is a chal-lenge for those in the staff market so here are some reminders about what’s needed to attract the best and reliably evaluate their capabilities, attitudes and personalities.

Regardless of the role, jobs need to be advertised effectively and applica-tions processed in a time- and cost-efficient way. The interview process must be a robust investigation so the appointee matches the demands of the role and the dynamics of the

existing team. The starting point is

to define the role and the attributes required. This ensures selections are made against predeter-mined criteria and reduces the risk of standards being compromised when there is a shortage of candidates.

The next step is to con-vert this to an advertise-ment that communicates opportunity and motivates readers to action. This should highlight key sell-ing points such as career pathways, a positive team environment or benefits like location, work life bal-ance and reward packages.

Writing advertisements is still an area where many struggle. A quick review of roles being advertised online at present confirms most ads are relatively introverted. Many focus

heavily on the employer’s wish list and fail to pro-mote the benefits offered. To be effective, advertise-ments must be written with the reader in mind.

I’ve helped to write ads for roles across the dairy world. Regardless of an operation’s location or requirements it’s always possible to find a selling point: it’s simply a matter of assessing what top people will be looking for.

The trend to online advertising has been a real positive: it’s time- and cost-effective and can attract applications within hours of placement.

Screening and short-listing candidates is the next vital ingredient. Quality time needs to be allowed to get an insight into each applicant. Ideally this should be done with

access to the applicant’s CV. Inviting electronic expressions of interest achieves this and has the added benefit of confirm-ing people’s computer and communication skills.

Screening should also include a brief discussion of reward expectations. Getting comment on this from all applicants pro-vides a valuable read of market expectations for subsequent salary setting.

Interviews need to be as much about ‘experi-encing’ as ‘interrogating’ applicants. They should be interactive so candidates demonstrate their capa-bilities, attitudes and aspi-rations rather than just tell you about them. Per-sonality profiles are also valuable to confirm likely work styles and behaviour patterns to ensure any

appointment will comple-ment the current team.

Reference checking before and after an inter-view helps get the short-list right and saves waste of time for all. I recom-mend validating the cred-ibility of referees before listening to their views. Questions need to be planned, searching and effective. They should always include an oppor-tunity for the referee to volunteer comment on an applicant’s professional or personal attributes that may not have already been identified as strengths or

weaknesses during the interview process.

My online resource centre has examples of formats, advertising and interview checklists, and audio presentations on how to telephone screen, interview and reference check.

Finally, it’s impor-tant not to compromise standards; better to delay making an appointment and re-advertise when candidates don’t meet expectations. If neces-sary make a temporary appointment to cover the short term and create

time to review and repack-age the position to get the right applicant. Some-times it’s just a matter of patience.

Experience has taught me that success in manag-ing people is 80% driven by successful selection. It can be time consuming and frustrating. However it is well worth the effort to future-proof the busi-ness and develop opportu-nity for everyone to move up a level -- including the employers.• Kerry Ryan, Tauranga, is an agribusiness consultant. www.kerryryan.co.nz

KERRY RYAN

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FARMERS ARE being invited to Southern Dairy Hub information meetings to hear about the proposal and its possible benefits.

Southern Dairy Development Trust (SDDT) chair Mat-thew Richards says it has until April 30 to raise the funds needed to go ahead.

The Southern Dairy Hub, the first of its kind in New Zealand, would bring together skills, knowledge and expertise in science, research and demonstration, specific to the conditions of the southern South Island.

“We’re looking for a central Southland location for the hub, which we envisage will be home to 800 cows, split into four herds,” says Richards.

“Our number-one priority is to inform farmers about the new hub concept, how it differs from the current dem-onstration farm model, and to gain their support so it can proceed.”

The trust is also asking farmers and businesses to donate cash.

“The benefits of having a place where comparative research results can provide farmers with information for decision making is worth more than the donation we are asking. The proposal will not proceed without sufficient southern dairy farmer support.

“Research late last year reinforced that farmers support the hub concept and it confirmed the types of research farmers want, such as how dairy farmers manage within tighter environmental constraints.”

The hub would cost $26.5 million to develop, and if SDDT can raise funds using the existing demonstration farm, saved cash surpluses and farmer and business contri-butions, then industry partners DairyNZ and AgResearch would take part.

Southern hub urges farmers to listen

MEETING DETAILS

Monday March 2:South Otago Town and Country Club, 1 Yarmouth St, Balclutha12.30pm and 7pm Tuesday March 3James Cumming Wing, Gore District Council, Ardwick St, Gore12.30pm and 7pm

Wednesday March 4Salvation Army, 7 Dejoux Rd, Winton12.30pm and 7pm

Thursday March 5Crowe Horwath173 Spey St, Invercargill: 12.30pm Preston Russell Law45 Yarrow St, Invercargill: 7pm

Sow pastures early in dry autumnNEW RESEARCH confirms it’s better to sow treated pasture seed early in dry autumns instead of waiting for rain before planting, says seed supplier Agriseeds.

Benefits include faster pasture establishment, higher DM yield and potentially better pasture per-sistence, and it’s easier to get a con-tractor. It all helps get a head start on feed recovery after drought, says the company’s agronomist Will Henson.

“Last year many farmers did not sow while it was dry. When the rain came in April, it kept raining on and off for three weeks; con-tractors were working 24 hours a day but couldn’t keep up.”

Questions arise about early sowing, the company says, e.g. how well do seed and endophyte survive in hot, dry soil? And is there possi-bility of poor establishment?

In a replicated trial near Cam-bridge last autumn, Trojan peren-

nial ryegrass with NEA2 endophyte was sown on three dates: Febru-ary 20, March 20 and April 27. All seed was treated to protect it from insects and disease.

The first sowing was in dry con-ditions, and seed sat in the soil with no sign of germination until 45mm of rainfall on April 4, 43 days later.

“We deliberately chose dark peat soil for this trial, because it is known to reach high temperatures in late summer and early autumn,”

Henson says. At the seed sowing depth, the

soil temperature at 10am on Feb-ruary 20 was 49.1°C. On March 20 it was 41.7°C and on April 27 it was 27.0°C.

Seed sowed early established quicker and grew more, Agriseeds says. The February and March sow-ings grew 2t DM/ha more than the April sowing (5.8t versus 3.8t), measured over five grazings from May to October.

Benefits of sowing early include faster establishment and higher yield.

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MANAGEMENT // 23

Careful strategy keeps cows in milk

Current production level

Total energy required above maintenance

Supplement needed (above maintenance)

Cost of supplement

Other costs (feedout, shed, etc) costs

Net benefit at various payouts

Total return

(kgMS/cow/day) (MIME/cow/day) (kgDM/cow/day) ($/cow/day) ($/cow/day) ($/cow/day) ($/herd/day)

0.7 56 5.2 1.81 0.31 1.02 409.63

0.8 64 5.9 2.07 0.36 1.17 468.15

0.9 72 6.7 2.33 0.40 1.32 526.67

1.0 80 7.4 2.59 0.44 1.46 585.19

1.1 88 8.1 2.85 0.49 1.61 643.70

1.2 96 8.9 3.11 0.53 1.76 702.22

1.3 104 9.6 3.37 0.58 1.90 760.74

Assumptions: 1. Cows will be fed maintenance even if they are dried off. 2. Farm labour costs are fixed. 3. Post grazing pasture residuals have dropped to below 1500 kgDM/ha. 4. No extra capital will be required to run the system. 5. Protein is not limiting. 6. Other costs (feed-out, shed, etc) are $0.06 c/kgDM.

MANY FARMERS are now facing hefty onfarm challenges. While the low milksolids payout is influencing cashflow and profitability, dry condi-tions are starting to limit pasture growth and milk flows in many key dairy regions.

There is no ideal ‘recipe’ for this autumn, but consider the follow-ing key management prin-ciples. Feed out grass silage and summer crops first

After a reasonable spring, most farmers still have good quantities of supplementary feed on hand. Feeding silage and

summer crops now not only keeps cows in milk but also protects pas-ture cover; this is increas-ingly important to ensure the persistence of modern pasture species. If you are feeding silage, always ensure you have at least 100kgDM/cow on hand to feed when it does rain.Reduce demand onfarm by selling genuine culls

Most farms have about 10% genuine culls which will leave the farm before winter. These need to

go now. For a 400-cow farm, culling 40 cows will release about 600kgDM – an extra 1.7kgDM – for every cow remaining.

This feed can be used to increase intakes and, hopefully, milk produc-tion.

With the meat sched-ule remaining high, culls are returning good prices at the works.Protect pasture covers by feeding silages vs concentrates

Many pasture scientists

acknowledge that summer over-grazing can reduce the productive life of pas-ture to the same degree as winter pugging. Ensuring pasture isn’t over-grazed protects the plant itself and keeps the plant in a better state to respond quickly to moisture once the rains come.

Cows eating silages (e.g. grass and maize silage) or summer forage crops (e.g. brassicas or forage sorghum) tend to leave behind more pas-

ture than those eating concentrates (e.g. PKE, meal, and grain). Feed-ing grass silage and maize silage on a feed pad, stand-off pad or sacrifice area enables farmers to drasti-cally reduce the pressure on pastures, protecting cover levels and reducing pasture damage. Keep cows in milk

Even in a low payout year, drying off milking cows too early doesn’t make sense (Table 1). Table 1 shows that even

Table 1. Economics of milking on rather than drying off cows

at a $4.50/kgMS payout, with cows producing as little as 0.7kgMS/cow/day, feeding maize silage (35c/kgDM eaten, 10.8 MJME/kgDM) generates a return of about $1.00/cow/day.

For a 400-cow herd it is worth about $400/day to keep cows in milk.Watch body condition score (BCS)

Achieving BCS tar-gets of 5.5 for your first and second calvers and 5.0 for the rest of the cows in the herd is highly profit-able even at a $4.50/kgMS payout.

There is no better farm system feed than maize silage to enable you to do this because it will keep cows in milk while protecting body condition and pasture cover levels.

Careful and strategic management will ensure you make the most of a challenging autumn. Tel. 0800 746 633

• Ian Williams is a Pioneer forage specialist. [email protected]


24 // MANAGEMENT

Big rewards in hitting heifer targetsIT IS costing dairy farm-ers an “awful lot of money” to have poorly grown heifers, says AgFirst consultant Gareth Bayn-ham.

‘Manage the tail’ is the key message he gave to farmers at the conclu-sion of a joint DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ field day at a heifer grazing

focus farm in Te Arai, near Wellsford, Northland.

“Dairy farmers are get-ting big losses from the light animals,” he says. And there are plenty of them. An LIC analysis of heifer weights in the national database showed only 23% of animals were within 5% of their live-weight targets, based on genetics.

Baynham showed mod-elling of a typical North-land farm with 280 average

cows and 70 replacement heifers: having 5% of heif-ers below liveweight tar-gets at 22 months would cost the farm $6050 per annum; if 25% of heifers were below liveweight it could cost the farm up to $42,763.

The focus farm of gra-ziers John and Geraldine Taylor is one of several in a national initiative to improve the way dairy heifers are grown in New Zealand.

DairyNZ’s Sarah Dirks says good gains have been made through the 6-week in-calf programme but not as much as the indus-try was hoping to see, so DairyNZ decided to focus on productivity, looking at heat detection, cow condi-tion and heifers. As there are two sides to the story

in a grazing relationship, it was a good move that BLNZ came on board with the heifer project as well.

Dirks says it is clear tensions can arise in the relationship between stock owners and graziers. There were perceptions on both sides that things were not particularly fair: graziers don’t feel they get paid well and they are given poor stock; the farm-ers say they pass the gra-ziers good stock but they get them back in what is perceived to be poor con-dition.

A number of graziers gave stories about stock

not turning up or stock turning up underfed or small or skinny. A North-land farmer told Dirks he was given underfed stock which he turned them around, looking great but the dairy farmer phoned to say he had found cheaper grazing somewhere else.

“That’s not fair: it’s not about which industry you are part of, it is just about treating people fairly. If we can improve communica-tion and define expecta-tions up front that’s a huge success for us.”

The industry target of 30% of average adult liveweight (500 kg) at 6 months (150kg) requires being on track to achieve puberty by mating, Dirks says. The 60% (330kg) at 15 months requires having two or three cycles

Grazier John Taylor and consultant Gareth Baynham with R2 heifers – all over target weight.

Less than a quarter of dairy heifers in New Zealand join the production at target weight. Beef+Lamb and Dairy NZ held a focus day in Northland to look at solutions. Pam Tipa reports.

“It’s not about which industry you are part of, it is just about treating people fairly. “

Sarah Dirks

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MANAGEMENT // 25

Big rewards in hitting heifer targets

DARGAVILLE DAIRY farmer Bob Franklin is happy to fork out money for top heifer grazing if he gets a product worth $20,000 more over its lifetime.

He has been dairy farming for four years after switch-ing from sheep and beef and is still building his dairy herd, he told the field day at the Northland heifer grazing focus farm of John and Geraldine Taylor.

Last year Franklin sent undersized heifers to the Tay-lor’s farm which did an excellent job of them, he says. R2 heifers observed at the February 12 field day were the second lot sent to the Taylor farm. The mob averages 430kg -- about 80kg above target -- and all were pregnant except two needing retesting.

Franklin says he put these heifers somewhere else ini-tially but then switched them to the Taylors who are now getting the same great results for him as last year.

Grazier John Taylor bought the 139ha farm in 1967 and ran a breeding ewe operation for 15 years. They then diver-sified into cattle and started with 50 head of dairy grazers. They now run 190 head with 30 plus weaners and 157 R2 heifers; sheep numbers are 700 ewes.

They do some private grazing but now mostly work through the New Zealand Grazing Company.

Calves are oral drenched and the heifers are getting Cydectin every eight weeks based on dung samples.

Winter is a critical period, particularly in Northland. The heifers are run in their ownership mobs with their own rotation. Taylor allocates 3 heifers/ha for yearling heifers (750-800kgLW/ha).

Heifers are shifted at least daily through winter – twice a day in wet weather with 50 heifers allocated 0.4ha a day on a 40 day rotation. Through autumn they are shifted every second day. The farm relies on balage – it is not geared up to feed PKE – made in January because gear and labour is available.

“This land is pretty responsive…. The worst thing is the wind; that might be helping us with lower spore counts.

“Calves are on a two day shift… To get growth rate you’ve got to move them before they need to be moved and you just keep going. September is our worst month because the lambs are starting to eat – the land is so cold its takes a while to come on.”

Heifer grazing is sensitive to feed deficits: heifers need to gow at 0.6-0.7kgLW/head/day to reach their 22 months liveweight. Any periods lower than this creates risks of missing liveweight targets.

Some pros of working via New Zealand Grazing Com-pany, rather than private arrangements, include dealing with one person, secure paying, regular weighing, and a dung and FE testing regime, calves must be 100kg at truck-ing to the grazier, and extra payments for winter, drought and animal health costs.

However Taylor thought the $500/head plus grazing feeds refund penalty for death was steep when it was not the grazier’s fault.

Happy to pay for good grazing

before mating so you can improve conception rate leading into mating. The 90% (450kg) target at 22 months requires milk pro-duction, reproduction and lifetime productiv-ity. Mature live weight is reached at 6-8 year of age. Most of the growing is in the first two years.

“Dairy farmers and gra-ziers aren’t having con-versations about what the target weights are which will depend on breed,”

Dirks says.BLNZ, LIC and

DairyNZ are leading a steering group on the heifer grazing. The group is talking with Feder-ated Farmers which has reviewed their contracts and will draft new, more specific contracts this year. Checklists and ques-tionnaires are in prog-ress to make sure the right questions are asked when a grazier relationship starts, more field days on

focus farms are being held, and technical experts are coming together to create an industry-agreed body of knowledge on heifers.

For instance, little information is available on feeding levels for heif-ers, Dirks says. A contrac-tor will put together fair pricing guidelines and the website is being updated to make information more accessible and reliable.

Jair Mandriaza-Munoz, of LIC, says anal-

ysis showed at 6 months 50% of animals were 5% below target weight. At 15 months – the all-impor-tant date for getting preg-nant – 60% of heifers were 5% below target. At 22 months, 73% were 5% below target.

Three out of four heif-ers in New Zealand enter the herd 5% below target liveweight at calving.

That affects their per-formance, production, “everything”.

Heifers at the Te Arai focus farm in Northland.

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26 // MANAGEMENT

Peat soils need extra attention

PEAT SOILS, in their natural state, have high organic matter content, and low nutrient

levels and water table fluctuations, so they behave differently from mineral soils in nutrient transformations and cycling.

There are different

BALA TIKKISETTYtypes of peat soils, such as bog peat and swamp peat. Bog peats have low nutrients with usually 35-50% carbon content, whereas swamp peats have higher mineral content – 15-40% carbon. Farm management gets tough if different types of peat soil are side by side or layered on top of each other.

To protect productivity, ground water and waterways, farmers with peat soils must pay particular attention to management of nutrients and soil moisture.

Peat soils typically have a low anion storage capacity. This means the leaching of nutrients to ground water will be significant in peat soils. Increased leaching of nutrients can occur when water tables are near the ground surface. Those low nutrient levels, and the tendency of peat soils to ‘lose’ nutrients to waterways easily, means that nutrient management on peat soils involves the use of a suite of practices to protect the environment and maintain productivity.

Implementing correct farm management practices, including the use of the right type of fertiliser, applying it at the right time and in the right amounts, is critical to minimising nutrient losses to water and optimising nutrient use for pasture production.

Applying fertiliser correctly to peat soils will maintain good pasture for longer periods, reducing the need for frequent cultivation and pasture renewal. Lime is also required to increase the soil pH to an optimum level for pasture and crop species. Soil and herbage tests will determine what nutrients peat soils need.

Fertiliser should be uniformly and evenly applied with none

outside the target area. The precise placement of fertiliser depends on a number of factors. It requires careful integration of operator skills, sound equipment and appropriate formulation of fertiliser.

It is recommended farmers follow the Spreadmark Code of Practice for fertiliser application, a programme governed by the Fertiliser Quality Council.

Another factor to bear in mind is that, while drainage and cultivation of peat are necessary to establish productive

pasture, they lead to irreversible shrinkage of the peat resulting in continued subsidence of the land surface.

Shrinkage is a result of consolidation following water removal and particle breakdown during cultivation, and also as a result of oxidation of the carbon in the soil due to exposure to air. Shrinkage is estimated at about 200mm/year after the initial cultivation, reducing to around 20mm/y as the peat becomes more consolidated. This makes drainage progressively more difficult to manage and can ultimately lead to the complete oxidation of the peat soil.

These factors mean that farming of peat soils can lead to damage to nearby wetlands and peat lakes, so extra care is needed. Waikato’s peat lakes, with their unique ecosystems, are the largest remaining collection of such unique habitats in the country and have attracted international attention. • Bala Tikkisetty is a sustainable agriculture advisor at Waikato Regional Council. Tel.0800 800 401 or [email protected]

Fertiliser should be uniformly and evenly applied with none outside the target area.


Peat soils need precise application of fertiliser.


ANIMAL HEALTH // 27


LIC partners with cow health firm

Top jersey bull leaves his robust legacy around world

CRV AMBREED’S highest ranked Jersey bull died this month.

Pukeroa TGM Man-zello produced 467 daughters in 173 herds in New Zealand alone. He died from a pro-gressive illness.

Pukeroa TGM Man-zello’s breeders, Alan and Vivian Lockwood-Geck, say “The thought of how many cows will not be inseminated by him over the next four to five years is a huge shame. He won’t be easy to replace in the short-term.”

Manzello in February 2013 hit the top of the RAS list. He has main-tained a top spot on the list ever since, the com-pany says.

Jersey New Zealand general manager War-

wick Dowse says he was a star result from Jersey New Zealand and CRV Ambreed’s joint venture JerseyGenes.

“He will make a sig-nificant impact in New Zealand and abroad with sons coming into AI and daughters becoming the next generation of brood cows,” says Dowse.

In his first three years as a proven bull, CRV Ambreed sold 250,000 doses, which CRV Global grazing product man-ager Peter van Elzakker says is extraordinary for a Jersey sire. He has also been sold in Australia, USA, South Africa, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Chile,

Columbia and Argentina.“Manzello was fre-

quently selected by farmers to improve the overall productivity, lon-gevity and fertility of their herds. His daugh-ters are well-liked and demonstrate good con-formation and great shed traits,” said van Elzakker.

LIC SAYS its new partnership with a global cow health company is growing the business and providing New Zealand farm-ers more choice.

The co-op is partnering with the cow monitoring and milking intel-ligence company SCR.

Under a distribution agree-ment, SCR, recently acquired by Allflex Group, will distrib-ute the LIC’s DAL milking sensors internationally and LIC will in New Zealand dis-tribute SCR’s cow reproduc-tion and health monitoring system Heatime.

LIC chief executive Wayne McNee says the partnership is part of the co-op’s strat-egy to grow the business overseas and pro-vide New Zealand dairy farmers with more choice.

“SCR is a world-leading provider of cow intelligence systems… [improving] farm efficiency worldwide. This agreement aligns with… our focus on key international markets that will add value for sharehold-ers in New Zealand.

“DAL sensors are highly regarded in New Zealand for measuring milk volume,

fat, protein, lactose and somatic cell counts during milking.

“The SCR Heatime system will add to our range of herd improvement and animal management solutions.”

LIC and SCR already see four markets for DAL meters. SCR’s Heatime will be avail-able to New Zealand dairy farmers from LIC, with its Protrack farm automation systems.

Heatime collects and analyses critical data points, from activity to rumination, on each cow, delivering heat,

health and nutrition insight.Shane McManaway, general manager

Allflex Australasia, said the linking of “three world leaders in their respective fields… provides synergies and opportu-nities not seen before”.

Yariv Avisar, chief executive SCR, says the partnership will support growth in both global businesses.

“It is our vision to secure dairy farm-ing’s future by monitoring every cow. We are delighted to work with LIC and their New Zealand farmers.”

Wayne McNee Manzello

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28 // ANIMAL HEALTH

MASTITIS IS INFLAMMATION of a cow’s mammary glands and udder tissue. It usually occurs as an immune response to bacterial invasion of the teat canal by various bacteria present onfarm, and can also occur as a result of chemical, mechanical or thermal injury to the cow’s udder.

Milk-secreting tissues and various ducts throughout the udder can be damaged by bacterial toxins, and sometimes permanent damage to the udder occurs. Severe acute cases can be fatal, but even in cows that recover there may be consequences for the rest of the lactation and subsequent lactations.

The illness is, in most respects, a complex disease affected by a variety of factors: it can be present in a herd sub-clinically where few, if any, symptoms are

present in most cows. Practices such as close attention to milking hygiene, the culling of chronically infected cows and effective dairy cow nutrition to promote good cow health are essential to help control herd mastitis levels.

Mastitis treatment and control is one of the largest animal health costs to the dairy industry and markedly affects cow welfare. Losses can arise from:

■ Milk thrown away due to contamination by medication or being unfit to drink.

■ A reduction in yields due to illness and any permanent damage to udder tissue.

■ The extra labour required to tend to mastitis cows.

■ The costs of veterinary care and antibiotics.

■ The cost of reduced longevity due to premature culling.

■ Grading due to high bulk somatic cell count

(SCC) in the milk. Most mastitis problems

are either calving related environmental problems, characterised by a high number of clinical cases in the spring, and/or contagious, which usually result in a rising cell count later in the season.

The contagious form of bacteria is Staph aureus which is easily transmitted from cow to cow via milkers’ hands and liners, so as the season progresses the number of infected cows goes up. Some good tips for keeping this form of bacteria at bay:

■ Spraying every teat, every day and every milking.

■ Wear milking gloves. ■ Avoid hosing down

around cows when cups are off.

■ Where possible milk your high cell-count cows last. Keeping the herd cell

count low in the autumn can present challenges because as production

volume drops, cells become less diluted and cell count rises. There is no benefit to treating high cell-count cows in late lactation so along with low producers they should be dried-off early and treated with dry cow therapy.

Many of the chronically infected mastitis cows cannot be fixed so I recommend culling cows which have had three or more clinical cases during the season as well as cows which have had high SCC over two consecutive seasons using dry cow therapy.

Mastitis is a complex issue and every situation is slightly different on any given farm. So how you treat it can depend on a number of variables. But the key message is to remain vigilant in detecting cases and carry out good dairy hygiene practices at all times of the year.• This first appeared in the 2015 edition of Getting the Basics Right.

PHIL FLEMING

Always be vigilant and practise good hygiene

Mastitis is a complex disease.


ANIMALHEALTH // 29

TO AVOID the cost, hassle and cow discomfort of mastitis in your herd, here are some preventative measures.

Teat spraying kills bugs and helps to heal cracked and dry teats. It is impor-tant to choose the right type of teat spray for the environment; chlorhexi-dine is a good all-round maintenance teat spray and iodine is useful in more challenging environments.

Once the teat spray type is chosen it is important to ensure the dilution rates are measured accurately. (See tables).

Mixing teat spray is not complicated but if it isn’t done in the correct order and mixed well it will not be as effective.How to mix:

Teat spray should always be mixed by adding the product, including teat conditioner emollient, to the water.

■ Measure and add water to bucket

■ Measure teat spray in a large jug (recommend 5L jug) and add to water

■ Measure teat condi-tioner in large jug and add to mixture

■ Stir mixture to combine ■ Spraying correctly

is possibly the most important step as miss-ing teats means the whole process is inef-fective.

How to spray correctly: ■ Ensure spray nozzle is

under cow ■ Spray in a circular

motion ■ Ensure coverage of all 4

teats, from the base to the tipFor severely cracked

and chapped teats using an additional salve or cream can help these heal quickly.

By following these simple steps teat condi-tion can become supple and smooth, not allowing the introduction of harm-ful bacteria and therefore decreasing the opportunity for mastitis.

These pictures show the improvements made by following this process. • This first appeared in the 2015 edition of Getting the Basics Right.

Teat spraying essential for udder health

A 1080 poison drop in the Blue Mountains, Otago, has knocked rodent and stoat numbers down to “unde-tectable levels”, says OSPRI, which runs the TBfree scheme.

OSPRI teamed up with DOC in the Blue Mountains, as part of the Battle for our Birds campaign.

Stoat numbers “fell dramatically: monitoring by tracking tunnels showed stoats at undetectable levels (0%) compared to 38% in November last year prior to the aerial pest kill operation”.

Tracking results also showed rats and mice had dropped to 0% in the treatment area from rates of 10% and 30%, respectively, says Brent Rohloff, OSPRI’s southern South Island programme manager.

The Blue Mountains is a TB risk area, where infected wild animals have been found.

“The Blue Mountains operation shows we have the skills and capability to stamp out TB in wild animals and [support] biodiversity gains,” says Rohloff.

DOC spokeswoman Ros Cole said the TBfree oper-ation was welcomed at a time when DOC was busy with other Battle for our Birds pest control work in the South Island.

1080 drop knocks stoats in Otago

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FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT // 31

Trevor Edwards with a range of his hot water cylinders.

Hot water cylinders resist rustHOT WATER cylinder maker Superheat Ltd, Christchurch, says its stainless steel barrels are less likely to corrode.

It makes cylinders of 180-1500L capacity, ideal for replacement or new water heating in dairy sheds. It can make large high pressure cylinders for automated milking.

The company’s cylinders are made with either copper or stainless steel barrels; the exterior cases are plastic, stainless steel or galvanised steel.

“Each material has

different characteristics, e.g. stainless steel is more resistant to corrosion caused by nitrates in water. Copper better resists corrosion caused by high chloride concentrations in water; it has higher resistance than stainless steel so is better for some applications,” says managine director, Trevor Edwards.

Plastic and stainless steel are more resistant to corrosion and are often preferred to galvanised casings.

The company says dairy hot water cylinders are often used where water does not conform to New Zealand drinking water standards.

“Some regions may have water safe to drink but ‘plumbosolvent’ which means it can corrode plumbing fittings,

particularly electrical elements and copper and stainless steel in hot water cylinders.

“Hard waters with high calcium levels can be aggressive to the cylinder elements.

“Superheat uses a low watt-density incoloy grade element suitable for most water conditions, but for very hard water the com-pany offers a higher grade element with much larger-diameter legs to further reduce the watt density and prolong the element life.

“Other factors that can affect element and cylinder life are the pH and electrical conductivity of the water and contaminants such as nitrates and chlorides.”

The cylinders can be specified with solar, heat pump and gas power to reduce operating costs and connected load.

Semi automated dairy sheds require smarter equipment so Superheat can make dairy cylinders with automatic filling systems, comprising a level sensor and solenoid valve.

These can be integrated into a system to control cylinder filling.

Superheat also makes domestic hot water cylinders including includes solar and mains pressure wetback cylinders.

Plastic and stainless steel are more resistant to corrosion and are often preferred to galvanised casings.

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32 // FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT

Banking on robots to set new record

MORRINSVILLE FARMER Mark Hexter has a good reason to be feeling excited: three robotic milking machines will arrive on his farm next month from Lely, in the

Netherlands.He expects that by

late April the cows on his family’s 78ha eff farm will be milked around the clock by the robots.

“I’m excited about the change, a little nervous at the same time because it is a big step,” he told Dairy News. “We’re launching

into robotics towards the end of the season; if the cows drop off milk at least we can dry them off and wait until next season.”

The investment is a big one for Hexter, who leases the farm from his parents: the robots, new races, fencing and other works will cost around

$900,000.New races and fencing

will only cover half the farm. “We’ll see how it goes; we might split the paddocks a different way as well.”

Hexter says a record 2013-14 season prompted his decision to embrace robotics this year. “We


had a very good season; we have no debt and I was able to save money and that’s the main reason we decided to go ahead this year.”

His first option was to look at a bigger farm for the robots, but at $4 million this was out of question.

Hexter’s sister, who helps on the farm, leaves at the end of next season; he hopes to break the cows into robotic milking by then and manage the farm on his own.

He started looking at robotics five years ago; labour was another reason

for looking at the switch. “It’s hard getting labour and if we can get 20% more profit from the same land you can’t get much better than that.”

He doesn’t expect production to lift 20% in the first year of robotic milking.

“We’re doing 500kgMS/cow at the factory; hopefully we can get it to 600kg one day.”

Robotics will also allow year-round milking; this season he is milking 190 cows, compared to 230 last season. With robots he hopes to get to 200 cows during the first year.

“Milking year-round means we get to keep our good cows instead of putting them in the works because they’re empty. It’s a good way to keep our good cows and the price for winter milk has also gone up.”

The robots will solve a labour dilemma Hexter faces on the farm.

With enough work for only 1.5 people, including him, he found it hard to pay two full time staff. “Especially, with a payout like this year, paying someone $50,000 to do nothing is ridiculous.”

Mark Hexter in his milking shed.

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FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT // 33

Banking on robots to set new record

Mark Hexter and Lely’s Philip Mitchell.

He has no plans to add a barn; a feed pad may be a better option.

“A barn would be for protecting cows during summer; it’s getting hotter and hotter here. But there’s no rush; one thing at a time.

“A covered feed is what I might look at one day. If you put maize down and it rains the cows don’t want to eat it; that’s why I am keen to put a roof over it.”

Animal health issues will also be kept at bay by the robots. Lameness is now a major issue, as cows rush in to get milked. With robots, they can

stroll, he says.He chose Lely because

it is a reliable company and the people are ‘switched on’. “Their robots weigh each cow every day and we can see if they’re being fed right; this will save us the cost of herd tests and vets’ charges.”

Last season’s 100,000kgMS was the best since Hexter’s family bought the farm 13 years ago. He hopes the Lely robots will help him better the record every season.www.lely.co.nz

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All the latest stories and more at www.dairynews.co.nz



34 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Feed mixer helps lift productionCANTERBURY SHAREMILKERS Steven (‘Sars’) and Ange Hyde are raising their cows to a new level, com-ments Webbline, whose BvL feed mixer the Hydes bought last winter.

The Hydes are into their second year of 50/50 sharemilking 1200 cows on a 300ha property for Nigel and Jane Reith at Ealing.

Last season, the Reiths could see the need to fine tune their operation so they bought a stand-off feed pad.

“With this facility

being built we could see the benefit of a mixer to maximise production,” Sars says. “We tried a couple of brands and set-tled on the BvL V-Mix 27. The feed pad and mixer save us pasture and mini-mise wastage, especially on the shoulders of the season.”

The farm operates two centre pivots, has 100ha under a Rotorainer and 30ha using K-Line sprin-kler.

The BvL is an excep-tional machine, he says. “It’s easy to drive. I mostly run it on my John Deere

6920. However when needed I run it on a John Deere 6330 (100hp) and it handles it at a pinch, so I have tractor flexibility.

“At 27m3 we have excellent capacity: on a milker’s mix we can get up to 11 tonnes mixed with total accuracy.

“We chose BvL because of its build quality, mixing capacity and consistency. The asymmetrical bin design of the BvL facili-tates fast mixing. Using a figure-eight mixing pat-tern it achieves a consis-tent mix in a short time.

“In the spring we were

feeding the milkers a mix of silage, straw and fodder beet and found that the beet chops up very well also”.

Sars says the farm increased to 30,000kgMS solids in the spring, build-ing up to October.

“It was a result of knowing the farm and cows better, the calving pattern and the mixer. I would equate that extra milk to a third of each, so in short I can attribute at least 10,000kgMS of spring production to the BvL and this was only by feeding in the paddock; we

didn’t have the feed pad finished then.”

Webbline Sales man-ager Glen Malcolm says the Hydes’ experience is not uncommon.

“Sars is running a low cost system and has proven that the BVL Mixer dovetails nicely into that low cost operation. Even with the lower forecast payout, we are still sell-ing, leasing and hiring BVL Mixers as farmers are looking for ways to get more out of their cows.

“We have run the fig-ures with many of our cli-ents on the economics

of running a mixer on a $4.70/kgMS payout and it still stacks up.”

Webbline Agricul-ture specialises in forage harvesting and feeding equipment, seeking to provide clients with help in planning for the right equipment to do the job, Malcolm says.

“It’s not always the cost of the machine that is most important, but that what a client buys will pro-vide the greatest benefits to his operation.”Tel. 0800 932 254 www.webbline.co.nz

Sars Hyde feeding in the paddock with his BvL 27.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 35

Polaris workhorse gets heavy duty upgradePOLARIS IS adding more grunt to its range of farm vehicles.

Notably, its 2015 Ranger 1000 diesel HD, built specifically for the New Zealand and Australian markets, has some “heavy duty upgrades” – electronic power steering, engine braking and 4-wheel descent control (4WDC) for hilly terrain.

This new model, built on the Ranger XP platform, also has updated styling, a new 1028cc diesel engine, a “massive” 110 amp alternator and a new ROPS cab frame.

Other features are dual A-arm front suspension, new flip-up seat storage, new lock-and-ride cab accessories, 37.6L fuel tank, easier serviceability and a quieter ride due to engine repositioning rearward.

The Ranger 1000 diesel HD also has new intake openings on the pillars behind the driver and passenger, improving airflow to the engine and clutch.

The new 1028cc Kohler diesel is a 3-cyl overhead-cam liquid cooled unit with indirect injection “that delivers smooth power and reduced combustion noise,” the maker says. It has a cast iron crankcase

for durability and an aluminum cylinder head for weight reduction. Alternator output is double that of the outgoing model.

“Full pressure lubrication provides superior protection and engine life. The automotive overhead camshaft design also reduces mechanical drivetrain noise and with the engine being repositioned rearward in the chassis this new model is expected to be harder working and smoother riding”.

The Ranger 1000 diesel HD has class-leading 907kg towing capacity, 680kg payload capacity and a rear dump box (gas-assist dumping) that can carry 454kg and a full-sized pallet.

For New Zealand, the Ranger 1000 Diesel will come as an ‘HD’ (heavy duty) spec model with an upgraded rear driveshaft, grease fittings, HD sway bar and driveshaft spline sealing – ideal for dairy farms.

The company says

■ 25.4cm of steering adjustment

■ 30.5cm of ground clearance, room and seat belts for three adults

■ 25.4cm of Dual A-Arm suspension travel up front

■ 25.4cm of independent rear suspension travel to keep the ride smooth when tow-ing and hauling up to a tonne.

OTHER STANDARD FEATURES

the HD spec is a direct result of recent visits by Polaris Industries USA management and engineers to New Zealand, “during which they spent hours with dealers and end users researching the usage of quads and side x sides in

New Zealand conditions”.The 2015 Ranger

1000 diesel HD will be available in New Zealand from early March. Price: $21,398 incl. GST.

www.polaris.co.nz

The Polaris 2015 Ranger 1000 has a new 1028cc diesel engine.


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Land Rover’s new Discovery Sport is the perfect vehicle for New Zealand, the company claims.

Land Rover’s Discovery Sport first in rangeA NEW Land Rover -- Discovery Sport – is the first of the company’s new Discovery vehicle range. The compact SUV seats seven in an optional ‘5+2’ arrangement.

Says Land Rover, “The Discovery Sport 2015 combines performance, safety and efficiency in a body shell of steel and aluminum. It offers a choice of 4-cylinder powertrains, 9-speed automatic transmission and standard all-wheel drive.”

Innovations include autonomous emergency braking and a new touchscreen infotainment system.

“It’s a perfect vehicle for New Zealand,” says Helen Sunley, national sales manager. “It’s capable and luxuri-ous, and its specifications and price give it an edge in the compact premium SUV market.”

Designed and engineered at the Land Rover Develop-ment Centre in the UK, the SUV will be made at Halewood, Liverpool.

Optional features include Black Pack -- a gloss-black grille, door mirror caps, front fender vents, hood and tail-gate lettering and a choice of 19- or 20-inch alloy wheel designs. A contrast roof in Santorini Black or Corris Grey extends to the base of the A-pillars

Seven alloy wheel designs, including Aero Viper, are available in silver or gloss black, depending on wheel design.

Front and rear undershields, and stainless-steel side steps, point to the vehicle’s back-country capability.

An optional panoramic roof with a dark tint and solar protection makes the cabin feel more spacious. A power-retracting shade gives extra sun shielding.

The maker says the SUV combines off-road capability and on-road dynamics.

Interior packaging and safety innovations make it an ideal family vehicle, and lightweight materials and an efficient powertrain reduce fuel costs and environmen-tal impact.

Land Rover Terrain Response makes it go well in “chal-lenging” conditions. Terrain Response tailors the vehicle’s steering, throttle response, gearbox, centre-coupling and braking and stability systems to the demands of the ter-rain. It has four settings: general, grass/gravel/snow for slippery conditions on- and off-road, mud and ruts, and sand, plus optional ‘dynamic mode’.

The Discovery Sport will sell in New Zealand for $78,500.

@dairy_news


CONTACT... Leon 021 440 575 Natasha 021 440 444

[email protected]

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 37

No such thing as a generic towbarNO SUCH thing as a ‘generic’ towbar exists, says towbar maker Best Bars Ltd.

A good towbar is one designed to suit the vehicle it’s fitted to.

“That means anyone who buys a new towbar online from an unknown original, without knowing what vehi-cle it was made for, could be putting themselves, and others on the road, in danger,” the company says.

“A towbar fitted to a vehicle that it was not designed for could be a recipe

for disaster. If it has to be adapted to fit the vehicle or does not have the correct fit-tings it could lead to failure during towing.

“Never fit a second-hand towbar, either, even if it is designed for the right vehicle, as there may be hidden corro-sion or metal fatigue.”

Have a towbar fitted by a reputable vehicle dealer or spe-

cialist fitter – one that carries labels saying ‘Genuine/Approved Accessory’

and ‘Manufactured in accor-dance with NZS5467’. These signify the towbar is made for and approved as a genuine accessory by a motor company and/or that it also meets the required New Zealand safety standard.

To be approved as a genuine accessories supplier, a towbar maker must meet stringent

design, testing and manufacturing

standards, including building them to NZS5467.

Best Bars says its towbar designs are tested on a special rig – independently calibrated and certified – which duplicates the forces exerted on a towbar, not just in a normal vehicle life cycle, but for far longer than most people will ever use it. www.bestbars.co.nz.

Industry reports bouyant tractor salesWAIKATO FARMERS led the way in tractor buying in New Zealand during 2014, and tractor sales approached record highs.

A total of 4061 tractors were bought January-Decem-ber, including 3419 at least 40hp, the most common mea-sure for farm tractors. In 2013 sales of 40hp and bigger were 3065.

Ian Massicks, president of the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) which gathers sales data, says record dairy payouts last year and good growing conditions got farmers spending.

“The July-September sales figures were the highest in a decade,” says Massicks. “They then continued steadily for the remainder of the year though stopping short of the 2005 record when 3515 tractors of at least 40hp were pur-chased.

“2014 was a healthy year for tractor sales and we expect 2015 to be a good year too, though with some reduction due to forecast lower dairy payouts.”

Of the 684 tractors bought in Waikato, 614 were over 40hp, followed by Southland with 418 over 40hp from a total of 430. Otago farmers bought the next-highest number – 249 40hp-plus from 291 sales.

This January’s purchases nationwide were 210 – at least 161 of them 4hp or bigger. Waikato again led the way with 25 purchases: 23 of them were at least 40hp, followed by Southland with 20, 19 of them 40hp or over.

Massicks says farmers prefer to buy from New Zealand machinery dealers rather than risk buying online from overseas suppliers.

New digger does moreEXCAVATOR AND bulldozer technology are com-bined in a new machine, Blade Runner, on sale in New Zealand from April.

Distribu-tor Mimico the machine is more productive than either an excava-tor or a dozer.

“Unlike most excavators, this 92hp, 15,700kg model has a six-way power-tilt blade with float, tilt, lift and angle options.”

Designed for heavy dozing, the ED160 has a rugged undercarriage and curved track pads for best traction and higher flotation.

The machine also has a 0.5m3 bucket and a zero tail swing radius making it suitable for digging, even in tight spaces.

@dairy_news


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CF Moto launches its sporty Z8S side by side

NEW PLAYERS in the NZ off-road market, CFMoto, have launched their feature packed, sports side by side vehicle, the Z8S.

The 800cc sports side by side (SSV) is part of a growing range of off-road vehicles offered by the global powersports man-ufacturer who have been producing feature packed, value for money vehicles for 20 years.

CFMoto New Zealand general manager, Dale Schmidtchen believes the Z8S will be well received by Kiwi’s given its com-petitive retail price of $12,490 ex GST.

“When you compare the cost of a Japanese 500 ATV which sells for close to $14,999, with a CFMoto Z8S side by side for $12,490 ex GST includ-ing a two year warranty, it’s a no brainer – the safety and versatility of a SSV should win every time,”

Schmidtchen says. The new Z8S will com-

plement CFMoto’s Z8 EX model already offered in New Zealand for $15,065 ex GST ride away.

“The main point of difference between the Z8EX and the Z8S is the narrower wheel track which make it more trailer friendly,” Schmidtchen says.

“The Z8S also offers $2,600 worth of accesso-ries such as alloy wheels, tow pack, roof kit, inde-pendent front and rear suspension and selectable 2WD-4WD modes.

“We hope Kiwi’s will respond well to the value for

money this model offers and expect it will be a good seller for us in 2015.”

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Now there’s a new paint finish in the range that mimics a real life chameleon – it changes colour when viewed from different angles or in a different light.

The new Chameleon finishes are part of the Plasti Dip Enhancers range of easy-to-use paints that can give workplace items and give them a new lease of life.

Plasti Dip adheres to most hard surfaces. The Americans refer to it as ‘like duct tape in a can’ because of the myriad of uses.

The Plasti Dip range is available from leading hardware outlets and automotive accessory retailers throughout New Zealand. See www.plastidip.co.nz or check out facebook.com/PlastiDipNZ.

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dairy news 24 february 2015

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