rural news 05 july 2016

RURALNEWS

MANAGEMENTCalm animals easier to handle, produce more. PAGE 26

MACHNERYChinese tractor manufacturer debuts in NZ. PAGE 34 NEWS

Beekeepers buzzing after formation of

Apiculture NZ.PAGE 16

TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

JULY 5, 2016: ISSUE 610 www.ruralnews.co.nz

RED AND BLACKDifferent regions of NZ have their various surpluses of produce that help feed livestock. Mostly it’s hay or silage, but not in the carrot growing capital – Ohakune – where reject carrots abound when grass is hardly growing. These cattle beasts, near Ohakune, were seen recently happily munching on the big reds. It was a common sight: orange ribbons of carrots laid out in paddocks, giving cattle and sheep a change of diet. No doubt their night vision is improving. Interesting to see red and black in Chiefs territory.

No need to panicNEW ZEALAND exporters need not panic about Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, says Trade Minis-ter Todd McClay, once a senior bureau-crat in the EU.

McClay told Rural News it will take Britain as long as 10 years to finally break away. The last country to leave the EU, Greenland, a very small coun-try, took three years to exit.

Britain’s huge economy prevents a quick exit, McClay says. And he can’t see any great economic problems aris-ing in the short-medium term.

“We are talking about many, many years and that is positive for NZ, because we will have time to engage

with all the important parties and nego-tiate the best outcome.

“I don’t think access for our sheep-meat and dairy products will be sig-nificantly affected… because a lot of those quotas are bound under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. We will need to sit down and talk this through…. We have a lot of friends in the EU and a very strong relationship

with the UK.” McClay has already sought and

received commitments from the UK and EU that no decisions related to NZ trade with either entity will be taken without us being involved. He hopes to start talking to EU and UK trade minis-ters at the G20 meeting in China soon, to discover what issues he needs to be aware of.

McClay says NZ has for two years been working with the EU on propos-als to negotiate a free trade agreement; the talks could begin next year and NZ wants them finished “within a couple of years – maybe by the end of 2019,” McClay told Rural News.

“Brexit will [not] slow that process significantly. I will [tell] the EU

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

TO PAGE 4

BEING A GOOD GLOBAL CITIZEN

MANY SCENARIOS could play out in the Brexit and EU situation, says Beef + Lamb NZ chairman James Parsons.

“We are watching,” he says. “It is a case of how to be good responsible international citizens.

“We need to try to make the best out of this and assist all parties to transition out of it while ensuring NZ’s interests are well looked after.”

A focus is what the EU does and how it treats the UK. Many variables apply in the politics overlaying that, including the UK leadership and whether the EU wants to make an example of the UK, Parsons says.

“Staying close to what is going on with all our counterparts in UK and Europe is important; so is work-ing through all the issues in terms of trade between the EU and the UK and all the various trade deals.”

The list is huge.“We are focusing on [exactly]

where NZ’s trade access arrange-ments with the EU sit, and ensuring we are as high on the list as possi-ble while being realistic about the things they have to work through.”

There’s a possible silver lining: if the EU is closed to UK sheepmeat or they have too high tariffs, there may be an under-supply to the continent.

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RURAL NEWS // JULY 5, 2016

NEWS 3

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ISSUE 610www.ruralnews.co.nz

Feds ponder how to keep farming flying highStrong themes at Federated Farmers’ annual three day conference in Wellington last week were the implications of Brexit, the role of science and technology and the public/media perception of farming. Peter Burke reports.

A TOP-LEVEL primary industries task-force will work through Brexit issues, the Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy told Federated Farmers.

He and Trade Minister Todd McClay and officials from MPI and MFAT plus people from DCANZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, the Meat Industry Association and Feds will steer the ‘flexible’ group advising and supporting formal government action.

Guy singled out biosecurity, call-ing on all New Zealanders to help pro-tect the country from problem diseases and pests. He urged all primary produc-ers to farm responsibly and he praised farmers for supporting the new bobby calf regulations.

“I acknowledge dairy farmers in par-ticular have come a long way, invest-ing $1 billion in the last five years to upgrade effluent handling on farms.

And 96% of waterways on dairy farms are now fenced [but] you don’t get acknowledged enough for what you have done.

“Now we want to work construc-tively with the beef sector on more fencing regulations. Consumers are more connected to what’s happening inside the farmgate and our interna-tional markets are demanding more from us.”

Guy called for an end to the “blame game” over water quality, a subject also touched on by Feds’ president William Rolleston, who says farmers and towns-folk need to talk positively and work together to find solutions.

He accused news media of not focus-ing on good news. “I feel frustrated that the good news is so hard to get out and that bad news travels so easily. Some fantastic things are happening, but

you don’t see them splashed around the papers.

“The general public has always seen agriculture as being in a good space, but listen to the noise out there in media land and you probably get a different

impression.” Rolleston says overall the mood of

farmers is better than expected given the dairy payout, as evident at Fieldays. And he is pleased to see more younger people becoming active in Feds.

WHO KNOWS WHAT’S HAPPENING IN DAIRYING?

FEDS DAIRY chairman Andrew Hoggard is hearing two different outlooks for the sector in the next two years – one gloomy, one optimistic.

He takes the middle ground, believing farmers are looking at a couple more tough years and perhaps some improvement in prices.

But it won’t be peaches, he told the conference. “People will have to keep an eye on their budgets to protect their cash; and the key thing is to learn lessons about debt levels and what we pay for land.

“We talked about all this in 2008. Yes, everyone is supportive in these

tight times, but this will happen again so we need to remember what happened this time and take lessons from it.”

The risk remains that when times get good, people revert to their old habits, Hoggard says.

Some Kiwis show they know little about the farming sector, emailing him to ask why he supports that “foreign company” Fonterra.

“I would hate to see what survey results would show if Joe Public in Wellington or Auckland were asked who owns Fonterra. I hear people saying Fonterra is stealing all the profits and ripping off farmers.”

FEDS HONOUR THEIR OWNFEDERATED FARMERS has unveiled six winners in its inaugural National Conference Awards.

These celebrate excellence in agriculture and the contributions made by Feds’ members to further enhance the primary industry.

Bee industry group chairman John Hartnell, from Canterbury, was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Federated Farmers for his commitment to the federation and the bee industry. This recognises his contribution to the industry and his leading the ‘farmy army’ after the Canterbury earthquakes.

Manawatu-Rangitikei provincial president James Stewart won the Farming Message Award for his work in promoting education in the primary sector. His new dairy shed, which has special space for educational purposes, is seen as unique.

Also receiving awards were Neil Heather of Taupo, Dan Hodgen of North Canterbury and Chris Wall from Manawatu/Rangitikei; Wanganui province won the Membership Growth Award.

HOW TO FRONT UP IN COUNCIL ELECTIONS

THE FEDS conference launched a new guidebook to the local body elec-tions due in the spring.

The booklet, republished every three years, comments especially on the cost of local government, and says what services councils should provide and to what degree. Freshwater management, roading, regional and district planning and economics all feature.

The booklet offers to farmers who may be standing for local govern-ment pointers on the Feds’ line and

questions to ask other candidates. Feds local government spokes-

woman Katie Milne says the guide suggests how councils should engage with and serve farmers and other ratepayers.

“Farmers are among the largest funders of local government and the sector most likely to be impacted by regulation developed and imple-mented by councils. Farmers need level-headed councilors who prior-itise real needs over the ‘nice to haves’,” she says.

Nathan Guy says a taskforce will work through Brexit issues for us.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT VELVETLEAF

Velvetleaf is an aggressive pest weed that’s been found in a number of locations around New Zealand.

It’s important that farmers who have planted fodder beet seed and rural contractors know about this problem and how to manage it.

Information meetings are being held in regions where velvetleaf is present. Come to a meeting in your area to find out more about velvetleaf, the problems it causes and how to control it.

The full list of meetings, dates, times and venues is at: www.mpi.govt.nz/alerts

TODD MCCLAY worked in the EU as a senior advi-sor to Sir Henry Plumb, a former head of the National Farmers Union who became president of the European parliament.

McClay has an idea of what may be going on in the EU headquarters in Brussels: “disappoint-ment, concern and proba-bly shock”.

“But… it’s a very professional civil service,” he told Rural News. “So [they will do] what bureaucrats do best: calmly work out processes, and analyse and evaluate likely outcomes and put the processes in place.”

EU finance ministers will want to send a very clear signal, as will the member states, about the process, McClay says. The aim will be to create stabil-ity and certainty in finan-cial markets.

Meanwhile hard hitting comment about Brexit has come from the Irish.

Ironically a majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, as did a majority of Scots.

Brexit poses huge problems for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland which for generations have shared a ‘soft’ border and traded massively in both directions. Brexit turns this into a ‘hard’ border, risking damage to both countries’ economies.

Brexit could be the driving force for the

unthinkable unification of Ireland.

In a lengthy editorial the Irish Times described Brexit as “a bewildering

act of self-harm”…. “Our neighbours have inflicted a deep wound on their country, economically and politically.”


4 NEWSIN BRIEF

PESTS, EROSIONS BLIGHT ENVIRONMENTPESTS AND erosion are singled out by the parliamentary commissioner for the environment as the two biggest problems on the land in New Zealand.

Dr Jan Wright’s new state of the environment report says a century of clearing bush on unstable hill country has left a legacy of erosion and an enormous amount of topsoil being washed into waterways.

Vast areas of North Island East

Coast are very bad and though tree planting has stabilised soils in some regions, the overall effect nationally is minimal. This will worsen as climate change brings heavier rain.

Wright urges a ‘battle for the birds’ to kill rats, stoats, possums and feral cats. NZ’s plants, birds and other native animals are vulnerable to “invaders” and more must be done to conquer them.

McClay’s EU connection

Todd McClay

commissioner that we want to con-tinue with the FTA and my expecta-tion is that the timing won’t change significantly.”

NZ will give the UK time to work through the initial implications of Brexit before pressing for spe-cific trade negotiations. “Ahead is a long, detailed process of discussion

and negotiation. We [export] about $3.5 billion to the UK and about $7b to the other 27 countries of the EU.”

While there is clamour in some quarters of the EU for Britain to leave quickly, this isn’t possible, McClay says. The two years talked about are only to devise an exit process. Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon is more about rules for coun-

tries entering the EU rather than leaving.

Many of Britain’s laws are linked to the EU, so many things must be unwound, e.g. “negotiating whether or not British people will be allowed to take their pets on holiday to Europe. Currently they apply and get a pet passport and move freely, but that’s [up for renegotiation].”

FROM PAGE 1

NO NEED TO PANIC OVER BREXIT

RED MEAT REACTION MUTED, HOPEFULBEEF + LAMB NZ is concerned at the possibility that Brexit will affect our sheep and beef exports to Britain and the EU.

This trade is inextricably linked through quota access and both are likely to be affected, says Sam McIvor, BLNZ chief executive.

The EU is NZ’s most valuable market

for red meat and co-products – at least NZ$2 billion last year. NZ’s sheepmeat EU quota (228,000 tonnes) represents 50% of these exports, and Britain buys 50%.

BLNZ and the Meat Industry Asso-ciation say they will work with the NZ government to retain access for these products

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NEWS 5

Polish-EU delegation sell pork, buy lamb

A POLISH and EU del-egation was in Auckland recently looking at trade partners, both to sell more pork and small goods into New Zealand and looking at the potential for getting more NZ lamb into EU markets.

Their interest was in the market potential for two-way trade, Agnieszka Rozanska, managing director of the Union of Producers and Employ-ers of the Meat Industry (UPEMI) told Rural News. Their campaign ‘The Taste and Quality of Tradition Directly from Europe’ is also touring Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan and Kazakstan.

Rozanska explained UPEIMI, based in Warsaw, mostly represents the Polish meat industry but has some members in other European countries.

“In our campaigns we talk about the whole EU and we support and promote in general the European meat indus-try. We are strongly con-nected and we do a lot of cooperation and prod-uct together with the EU,” she says.

“While we keep talking about the whole European market together because of the bigger potential, we support mostly the Polish meat industry,” including processing plants, slaugh-terhouses, cutting plants and farmers.

“We are here to get information about the market and to show what kind of products we can

bring,” she says.Rozanska says NZ’s

lamb exports to the EU last year were at least 141,000 tonnes. “Com-pared to that, our export of pork to NZ is small, just 25,000t from the whole EU. It is not a big number; we would like to export more since NZ does not produce enough for the internal market.

“We are happy to coop-erate with NZ. We know NZ-brand lamb is well known all over the world. In Poland we would like to introduce this prod-uct to our consumers who are not very aware of lamb because we do not con-sume much of this kind of meat.

“There are many opportunities and options to deal and do business with NZ, to build profit and advantages for both sides.

“Our campaign intro-duces European pork mostly and small prod-ucts like sausages, ham, etc which are well known in the world. We export a lot of pork and processed products to other coun-tries so we want to check NZ and try to build new relations here and see if we can do more business in future.”

Rozanska says the EU is the second-biggest pro-ducer of pork in the world after China. “We do a lot of processing as well – dif-ferent kinds of smoked sausages and hams. We have a wide range of prod-ucts.”

It is a matter of find-ing common interest to talk about this business.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

“If we find some clients in this market we would definitely like to build relationships. We know before we can do big busi-ness we need time to build relations.

“We have had very good meetings already,” talking to farmers and some exporters who already work with the EU. “We would like to sell pork and on the other side buy lamb and maybe other products. This is not a one sided business; we are aware we have to build it for both sides.”

The whole EU is a very big producer of food and now has a policy to intro-

duce its products to many countries, she says. The Poles have previously done promotions in the US, South Korea, Vietnam and China.

FREE TRADE agreements with the EU always take time, says John Leslie, economics and trade adviser for the EU delegation.

The EU’s negotiating agenda currently includes the US, Japan, a bilateral investment treaty with China, an update with Mexico and recently concluded negotiations with the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore.

“There is an active agenda; where we are now has been in the works for some time,” he says.

He says European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has introduced his better-regu-lation agenda, obliging them to do an impact assessment which is detailed and required a 90-day public consultation that concluded early July. “So that process is

moving forward but the objective is to make sure if we do something we do it as well as we can,” says Leslie.

Rozanska says from her expe-rience of observing negotiations between the EU and South Korea, it took a long time to finalise. Now in place for five years, it has had great impact on trading between the two partners.

EU, FTA TO TAKE TIME

Agnieszka Rozanska, Union of Producers and Employers of the Meat Industry.

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ZESPRI CHAIRMAN Peter McBride is chal-lenging employers in the horticulture sector to do more for young people in the industry.

McBride told 400 people at the Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year

competition of the need to develop young people and bring them through the industry.

It has a lot of physi-cal assets, but the most important is people, he says.

“In developing our young people we are cre-ating equity opportu-nities for them. There

are models out there for encouraging our young people to become owners; [we can] and give them opportunity in our busi-nesses either with capi-tal or by helping them to secure loans.”

McBride says with hor-ticulture and tourism the fastest-growing industries in NZ that creates a world

of opportunity for young people -- in management, post harvest, orchard management and roles in Zespri and in the horticul-tural services sector.

And there is also plenty of scope for people to start their own busi-nesses, he says.

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STUDENTS ATTEND HORT EXPO

ALONGSIDE THE young grower contest was a one-day horticulture expo for Bay of Plenty schools.

Organiser Renee Fritchley says about 200 students from 15 schools took part. Students were year 11-13, on the brink of deciding on their future education.

“This day is to engage them and open their eyes to all the opportunities in the horticulture industry, not just kiwifruit,” she says.

The students attended seminars laid on by Zespri, Plant and Food Research and Waikato

University, helping them envisage career paths.Chairing this was professor Jacqueline

Rowarth, Waikato University, who urged the students to see the range of careers available.

“It’s not just milking cows and picking kiwifruit, as is some-

times the perception. There is also strategy management,

biosecurity, economics, marketing and sustain-ability that NZ does incred-ibly well,” she says.

Young growers need help

CHRIS CLEMENT, a technical operations manager with the Apata Group in Te Puke, won the Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year Award and will contest next month’s finals.

He has competed three times because he enjoys the competition.

He was one of six contestants given

specific tests during the day and competing in public speaking on the awards night. Heavy rain made the outdoor tasks difficult and most got soaked.

At Apata, Clement runs a system that uses a camera to grade kiwi-fruit, benefiting growers and Apata.

During his ten years

in the industry he has watched it grow, paving the way to jobs for more young people.

“We need people coming in at the base level, starting to learn the basics so they can move up through the industry. It’s an aging industry so we need young people.”

He says people don’t necessarily have to know

about kiwi-fruit to work in the industry; it needs all kinds of skills such as computer programming, engi-neering and other professions.

PERSISTENT WINNER THIRD TIME LUCKY

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

better for young people to flourish and take opportu-nities. Most of these come in periods of difficulty or downturn so these are also periods of high risk. But they have to take the opportunity when it comes and push the boat out and hope the water stays in the harbour.”

Bay of Plenty young grower of the year Chris Clement.


NEWS 7Caring farmers win prize, ambassador role

RICHARD AND Dianne Kidd were “humbled” at taking the title of National Winners of the 2016 Bal-lance Farm Environment Awards.

The couple farm a 376ha sheep, beef and for-estry unit at Helensville on the outskirts of Auck-land. They are first-time entrants because this is the first time Auckland has been in the awards.

Richard told Rural News it had been an amaz-ing journey from the start. They didn’t expect to win the national award as they were feeling their way as first-time entrants.

For the next six weeks the Kidds will be heads down helping the farm manager, as lambing has

started on Whenuanui Farm, their location since the late 1970s. They were instigators of Kaipara Lamb, a group of farm-ers selling fresh lamb to Countdown.

After that they will go where the Farm Environ-ment Trust wants to them to, says Richard.

Trust chairman Simon Saunders says the Kidds will be excellent ambas-sadors for New Zealand’s primary industry.

“It’s clear that Richard and Dianne possess the outstanding communica-tion and leadership skills necessary to spread the sustainability message to national and international audiences.”

Richard says they enjoyed their time in Waitangi for the national judging, an interview in

front of six judges, and meeting the other contes-tants -- outstanding farm-ers or horticulturalists.

Just winning the title would have been enough, but there will be overseas travel to a destination of their choice looking at a farming theme or area of farming interest.

Talking to the previ-ous winner he has learned they will away from the farm a fair bit on national tour, spreading the word and even appearing in front of a parliamentary select committee.

The next six-eight weeks will be full onfarm. “After that we will be full-on advocating for more people to have a go at the awards and sustainable farming.”

Kidd was raised in cen-tral Auckland and enjoys

living on its periphery. He hopes more Auckland farmers will enter next year, including this year’s Auckland runner-up.

“Aucklanders prob-ably don’t realise there is a fair bit of rural land around: 70% of our dis-trict land mass is agri-culture, horticulture or grapes or what have you. From the top end is Wells-ford all the way down to Helensville, then the Bombay hills and Puke-kohe.”

He says they were humbled to win the award in front of all the other finalists because they were really good people.

“It was a big surprise to us as to everybody because we didn’t really know what they were looking for.

“We know we are sort-

of ambassadors for farm-ing and more than happy to accept that role. It’s a great thrill. We will get into the hard slog for a while then we will get on the road.”

He says they’ve learnt a lot of about their own farm. “You go to a few extra lengths checking the quality of your silage and maize silage and bench-marking these against fig-ures for farmers in their area and their class of stock. We learned a bit more about how we are farming.

“We got good feed-back from the judges, at the Auckland level. They gave a report and we took things out of that so it has been a learning process.”

The Kidds’ breeding and finishing operation runs 4820 stock units on 331ha (effective) with a pine woodlot established on 18.5ha and 15.3ha of regenerating native bush.

The Kidds were described as “environ-mental champions and great role models for dry-stock farming, achiev-ing impressive stock and

financial performance while working hand-in-hand with the environ-ment”.

They were chosen from the 11 regional supreme winners of the 2016 Ballance Farm Envi-ronment Awards.

For more informa-tion on the 2016 National Winner, visit the New Zealand Farm Environ-ment Trust website www.bfea.org.nz

Entries for the 2017 Ballance Farm Environ-ment Awards open on August 1, 2016.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Richard and Dianne Kidd of Helensville, outside Auckland.

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THE AGING population in agri-culture is working against New Zealand, says Lincoln University’s Jon Hickford.

Speaking to Rural News at the Careers in Agriculture hub at Fiel-days, Hickford says this is a huge problem, compounded by NZ’s rapid urbanisation and disconnec-tion from the agri sector.

The problem now is to find enough good young people to work in agriculture.

“The problem across the west-ern world is that young people are entirely urbanised and don’t realise the job opportunities out there on

the land. In the case of NZ, agri defines our existence as a country.

“It is easy to pick the young people out on the land and get them enthusiastic; but impossible to get to an urban school and con-vince them agriculture is important. They don’t get it.”

Hickford says once young people have a basic grounding in agricul-ture they can move into a range of professions -- accoun-tancy, property valuation, human resources and even rural news reporting.

He says the Fieldays careers hub was a good idea even though

it lacked displays of technology. “This site doesn’t look as flash bang as it might, but I’m not sure that’s a part of it. It’s really about knowing

about jobs and money and security.”

One instigator of the careers hub, Lee Picken, event manager for the Fieldays Soci-ety, says the idea arose out of hearing govern-ment plans to double exports and the con-

sequent need for more people to work in farming.

And the message about attract-ing more young people also came from the 1000+ exhibitors at Fiel-days. The education hub was partly

in response to their requests. Picken says education is a pillar

of Fieldays, on par with the event’s emphasis on innovation.

“The focus of the careers hub is getting the likes of PGG Wright-son, Ballance AgriNutrients and Growing NZ, all of which offer scholarships. And AFFCO is in there because of its apprentice-ships.

“The hub allows students to come in and determine not neces-sarily their next level of education, but more where they will take their career.”

Universities, some second-ary schools, DairyNZ and Young Farmers were at the Careers Hub this year.

8 NEWS

‘MAKE A NOISE ON R&D’

TOO PASSIVE: that’s how the Government’s chief science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman has described farmers’ attitudes to research.

Gluckman told last week’s Federated Farmers conference in Wellington that the primary sector has

sat back and largely left the decisions on R&D to government departments and CRI’s, not getting involved in the process.

Strong dialogue with science policy people and providers is essential, he says.

“Noise matters; Governments listen to noise,” Gluckman told the Feds. “The farming sector needs to be an active player engaged in R&D. Some people claim the primary sector takes and gives little in investment in science.”

Farmers must actively suggest research objectives because they know what they need.

“Farmers need to invest in R&D and apply technology if they are to remain competitive.”

Gluckman also criticised the lack of long term research in NZ. Much of the research done by AgResearch, Fonterra and LIC, and via the PGP scheme, is short term. Long term research is very important to the primary sector.

He also expressed other concerns about farming in NZ.

“Until now we have relied very heavily on low cost, high quality production distinguishing us from our competitors,” he said.

“But this competitive advantage is rapidly eroding. The cost of dairy production in Europe is falling dramatically and the quality of production of some farm products from Latin America it is rising rapidly.”

Farm technology and practices worldwide are diminishing NZ’s competitive advantage and soon we may not be the cheapest producer of high quality products. – Peter Burke

Need for young blood

Peter Gluckman

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

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NEWS 11

Amazon moves into food

Ian Proudfoot, KPMG.

BOOKS AND music com-pany Amazon is moving into food and you can’t ignore the power it will have, says Ian Proudfoot, KPMG’s global head of agribusiness.

Amazon reckons in 42 US cities it can deliver fresh food to the front door within one hour – often faster than going to the supermarket.

“We won’t be going to the shops, we will be using our phones to buy food, meaning we can inter-act much more directly with who is growing our food,” Proudfoot told the NZ Veterinary Association conference in Hamilton.

Coca-Cola has bought a dairy company, pharma-ceutical companies are moving into food and we are on the cusp of a finan-cial and cultural revolu-tion, he says.

“The biological tech-nologies, the physical technologies, the digital technologies are creating a whole heap of new solu-tions.”

KPMG asked 80 of the world’s largest agribusi-

ness countries what were the key opportunities and challenges facing their businesses. Volatility, trade agreements, natural resources, changing con-sumers, technology and climate change emerged as key themes.

“We are not getting the climate change theme nearly as much as they are across the world. The shift to low carbon economy is gaining pace, as is food safety. That is probably most important for your industry.”

NZ has grown mag-nificently and achieved a great productivity level, but “the reality is what we do today will not be enough to get us where we need to be tomorrow,” Proudfoot says.

People will farm in different ways and with different business models. Philadelphia Cow Sheds is an example: it crowd sources (i.e. sells an interest in an animal upfront); you buy an eighth of an animal, you’ll get an eighth of that meat when that animal is slaughtered.

“In 25 years… we won’t see supermarkets as we

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

see them today. They will evolve and change.”

Businesses like My Food Bag will be part of that change. It has recently disrupted itself by launching a ‘bargain box’ cheaper than its mainline product offering.

“We have for so long focused on the average,

but the reality is the aver-age doesn’t exist. What we need to be thinking about is, what are the niches we are directing our services towards?”

We can segment our communities many ways now: age, gender ethnic-ity – and religion will be an important sector in the

future. By 2030, 3.8 billion people will be members of various religions.

A growing part of the population will be the elderly who will be man-aging health conditions. “Things are changing very rapidly in food; we are on the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution.”

IN BRIEF

A WOMENS shareholders’ workshop run by meat processor Alliance will be repeated next month in Christchurch, Nelson and Palmerston North.

Women make up about half of Alliance Group’s 5000 farmer-shareholders.

The ‘Co-op to Cuisine’ workshops will be a practical forum for women shareholders to learn more about the cooperative and share their expe-riences.

Discussion will include the co-op’s strategies for the future, insights into how products are shipped overseas, product diversity, markets and the people that make them happen and new product development.

Different meat cuts will be demonstrated, as will examples of packaging. Other topics will be consumption trends, cultural matters and market access. Lunch is included.

Chief executive David Surveyor says women shareholders contribute much to the cooperative.

“I’m looking forward to updating those women attending on Alliance Group’s strategy and hearing their views.”

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NEWS 13

Top tender uptake of gold kiwifruit

SOARING CONFIDENCE IN the kiwifruit industry has orchardists paying high prices for a limited number of licenses to grow the new, successful G3 (SunGold) variety.

This stands to boost Zespri’s profit by at least $50 million.

In the past, Zespri has just sold licenses for kiwifruit, but with G3 now proven Psa-free it decided to put 400ha out to tender and the bids have reflected the fruit’s value – over $100,000/ha.

Half of the 400ha was reserved for green growers wishing to convert some of their orchards to gold and the other half was unrestricted. Of the

1000 bids received, 266 succeeded at an average $200,000. Most were for less than 2ha.

Chief operating officer Simon Limmer says the exceptional prices were not Zespri’s chief motivation; it simply wants to get product in the ground to meet demand.

“In the last few months we have seen real confidence in the SunGold variety -- its performance in orchards and its taste. It stacks up for growers. We are seeing greater acceptance of this product than we had hoped for. Growers are falling over themselves to get a product performing exceptionally well and with potential to go a lot further.”

Limmer says Zespri

ZESPRI CHIEF executive Lain Jager says it’s been a fabulous but late season for kiwifruit; some of the green crop was picked as late as June. This challenged them in shipping the export crop.

“Gold matures earlier than green so we have shipped gold earlier. On one hand that’s fine because we can get underway and fill the vessels; on the other hand we like to start green and gold together but weren’t able to this year, so we’ve had some opera-tional challenges.”

Jager says with such a large green crop this season, Zespri will ‘crop manage’ – buy about three million trays and withhold them from overseas markets. This has happened three times in the last eight years.

The surplus fruit will be given to charities or sold as stockfood or for processing.

GREAT LATE CROP

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

tried to make the tender process more affordable using deferred payment, which allows growers to pay the full cost of their new licences when the new vines start producing in three or four years.

“A number of Haywards (green) growers are either moving into

gold for the first time or better balancing the green and gold in their orchards, which is wise.”

Limmer says growers who missed out on this round will get another opportunity to bid next season when another 400ha comes up for tender.

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14 NEWS

THE PROPOSED joint venture between Silver Fern Farms and Shanghai Maling is still in the pipeline, but has been delayed.

Late last month, both SFF and SM applied for an extension to the June 30 date for receiving OIO approval. Both companies said they are continuing to work towards completion of the $261m investment and partnership.

“We remain committed to the partnership,” SFF chief executive Dean Hamilton told Rural News. “We continue to believe that we will achieve OIO approval, however we need to allow more time to provide the required information and then for the OIO and ministers to have sufficient time to review.”

Hamilton says the OIO has asked for more information and there is insufficient time to provide this for the OIO to then finalise their recommendation to ministers. “And for the ministers to then reach a decision by June 30; that is no longer a practical date despite all parties’ efforts to date.”

Hamilton says the main impact of the OIO delay will be on the timing of the finalised deal.

“The parties are in the process of reaching an agreement to extend the deadline for the OIO approval and therefore also for the completion date for the transaction. When that has been agreed, we will make a further announcement.”

However, as a consequence of the anticipated extension, Hamilton says the July 11 special meeting has been deferred and a new date for the shareholder requisitioned meeting will be set. He says this will allow the notice of meeting to be updated and distributed to shareholders with adequate time to review.

“Once the new OIO and completion dates have been agreed, we will then need to finalise the materials to be provided to shareholders ahead of the special meeting. We expect to provide a new date for the special meeting at the same time as the further announcement on the OIO.”• Fight goes on p17

SFF DEAL DEADLINE PUSHED BACK

Cattle won’t forget a scary droneIF YOU bring a drone up slowly on cattle you can observe them, but once you chase them with drones they don’t forget, says Dr Temple Grandin, Professor of animal science at Colorado State University..

You can observe cattle with drones, and you can handle them with drones, “but you’re probably going to have a bad time trying to do both,” she says.

“Let’s say I wanted to look at cattle with drones and I also wanted to chase cattle with drones. I would need different

drones with different sounds. So they might learn that one brand of drone is ok but the other brand with a different sound is bad.

“I would want to get them used to being observed with drones first before I’d start chasing them with drones. If you just get in

there and start chasing first, they are going to be afraid of all drones. You aren’t going to be able to observe them; they will run away from them.”

Grandin says she has seen a video of a drone flown high above cattle, then moved over and slowly lowered down. The cattle just looked up

at it. “Make sure at the

beginning that your cattle don’t have a scary experience with a drone because then they will be scared of all drones. The initial experience should be just observing them with it; then if I wanted to chase them I’d never use the ‘good’ drone I initially

trained them with.”A chase drone needs to

look very different from the observing drone. “I’d get another one that was the ‘bad’ one and I might tie a flag or ribbons or

something to the back of it to make it look even more different.”• More on Dr Temple Grandin’s presentation at the NZ Vets Confrerence p26-27.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

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16 NEWS

Beekeepers buzzing in unityA HUGE swarm of bee-keepers settled on Rotorua late in June, cel-ebrating their grow-ing industry’s new unity, seeing off the varroa threat and strategising to keep New Zealand at the front of honey exporting.

With 1465 registra-

tions, the Apiculture New Zealand conference, in Rotorua from June 19 to 21, is reckoned the city’s biggest domestic confer-ence ever, says conference chairman John Hartnell.

Apiculture NZ brings together the former National Beekeepers’ Association and the Fed-erated Farmers bee indus-

try group. The Honey Packers and Exporters Association is expected to merge with the new body after its 50th anniversary conference next year.

Hartnell says the con-ference theme was unity and speaking with one voice.

A “very strong” semi-nar list of science speak-

ers was complemented by three overseas speakers, on topics including bee health and varroa mite control, traceability and how to ensure NZ keeps its place as “the world’s leading exporter of honey products”.

Hartnell says bee-keepers face resistance issues with varroa much

as sheep farmers may face resistance when continu-ally using the same drench chemicals.

The industry must get information on best practice to its many new apiarists; about 2000 newcomers registered in only 24 months.

“So there was a lot of focus on how we address

ELITE KIWI sheep farmers have been invited to cele-brate their industry and work at the Beehive next year.

The invitation came from Primary Industries Min-ister Nathan Guy, to farmers attending the National Ewe Hogget Awards ceremony in Invercargill. About 300 farmers entered, including North Islanders.

Tru-Test, a long-time supporter of the 20-year old competition, says it is a true commercial sheep com-petition.

This year’s special category Tru-Test Phenotype Award went to Lumsden farmers Willie and Phillipa Menlove. Points towards the Phenotype prize are awarded for stock being true to type and the evenness of the flock. The judges said the Menlove’s flock were like “peas in a pod”.

that, how we work to look at alternative meth-ods of managing varroa. Are there more organic-type methods we can use, and how do we bring that knowledge to what is probably 50% of the industry, who have less than three years experi-ence?”

Bees are now being bred for varroa resistance.

“Beekeepers are select-ing stock from apiar-ies which tend to be able to manage varroa them-selves,” says Hartnell.

However, reinfec-tion from feral hives is no longer a problem, because feral bee populations have collapsed.

Traceability of prod-uct is another big concern. Electronic chipping of hives and product is at an early stage but could soon prove its worth.

“Because our products

are such high valued the market is asking ‘how can you guarantee that prod-uct is genuine NZ and can you trace that product back to the hive to prove its point of origin?’.”

Of NZ’s 7000 beekeep-ers, many were hobbyists but 800-900 are com-mercial or semi-commer-cial operators responsible for 95% of all hives, and these would benefit from improved traceability.

Hartnell said NZ is very aware of the counterfeit-ing of high-priced manuka honey overseas.

“In the international markets -- China, Singa-pore, Hong Kong or the UK – everybody’s very aware of the need to be vigilant to eliminate this grey trade, because it’s detrimental to NZ and to the consumers in the mar-kets where the product’s sold.”

John Hartnell

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NEWS 17

Fight for SFF goes on and onAs the proposed merger between Silver Fern Farms and Shanghai Maling now moves beyond its original June 30 deadline, the fight goes on to derail the deal and it does not look like ending anytime soon. David Anderson reports.

DRAMA AND dirty fighting are nothing new in the New Zealand meat sector.

However, the battle over the pro-posed merger between Silver Fern Farms (SFF) and Chinese Investor Shanghai Maling (SM) is showing no sign of abating or coming to an end. In fact, it is likely to be prolonged with an extension to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) deadline (OIO approval is needed for the deal to proceed) and resultant delay in the deal being final-ised.

Claim and counter-claim continue to go on between a well-moneyed, politically aligned, minority group of dissident shareholders opposed to the deal, and the SFF board and its man-agement hell-bent on proceeding with the JV.

This dissident shareholder group is led by an ex Vietnam-based, British merchant banker who is one of SFF’s largest shareholders -- John Shrimpton, and a former MIE member, Blair Galla-gher. The dissidents are supported by other MIE associates and by the nation-alist political party NZ First.

Shrimpton and co are currently running meetings to drum up sup-port among shareholders to overturn the deal, and NZ First leader Winston Peters is simultaneously also trying to stir up political debate to oppose it.

Supporters of the dissidents claim

there is “no known contact between the requisitioners and NZ First”. However, both are promoting eerily similar ‘con-cerns’ regarding the deal.

One of the Shrimpton/NZ First claims is about the size of the cash injection by Shanghai Maling into SFF. The dissidents say only $50 million will be injected into the business, not $261m as believed. Shareholders attending meetings in Gore and Balclutha in late June were told this by Shrimpton and it was repeated by NZ First in a media release on June 22.

However, SFF chief executive Dean Hamilton told Rural News that although he did not attend these meetings (nei-ther did Peters) this assertion was quite wrong.

“Shanghai Maling will invest $261m to acquire 50% of Silver Fern Farms Ltd (currently named Silver Fern Farms Beef Ltd). Of this, $57m will be returned to the co-operative and $204m will be retained within Silver Fern Farms to pay down debt and be available for investment.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton says a claim by both the dissidents and NZ First that the meeting in October 2015 did not meet threshold for a special reso-lution is also incorrect.

“Despite repeated public correc-tions by ourselves, the voting threshold for a special resolution by Silver Fern

Farms (equally the test required under the Companies Act) is 75% of those eli-gible to vote AND voting,” he explained.

“Voting is not compulsory. It is NOT 75% of all shares, only those actually voting. At our meeting in October last year, 82.2% of all shares that were voted, did vote in favour of the Shang-hai Maling investment. That is the measure.”

Another claim made by Shrimpton and co is that if the deal with Shanghai Maling proceeds, the new company will close the Fairton and Waitane plants. This is contained in material given to shareholders at the dissidents’ meet-ings.

Hamilton told Rural News he had not seen this ‘material’ and SFF has not been provided with a copy.

“We operated 19 plants this season. With the relocation of our Islington venison plant (previously announced due to the expiry of its lease) to be rebuilt at our Pareora plant, we will have 18 plants next season. There are no confirmed plans to shut down either our Fairton or Waitane plants.”

However he did concede that SFF “will continue to periodically review our plant network to ensure it is fit for purpose and as efficient as it can be – as any prudent manufacturer would do”.

When asked why this material (on the potential plant closures) was given

to SM and had not communicated by SFF to shareholders, Hamilton said it was part of the due diligence carried out by potential investors and not approved SFF policy.

“Shanghai Maling and the other interested parties – who conducted due diligence over a 4-5 month period in 2015 – were provided with informa-tion to allow them to assess the com-pany as is normal in these investment processes,” he explained.

“Amongst the many hundreds of questions asked by potential investors, Shanghai Maling asked what the man-agement thought the future years might look like AFTER the Shanghai Maling investment.

“Management provided high level projections with examples of what that capital could be used for, includ-ing accelerating the value added strat-egy and rationalising plants.

“It was made clear that these were projections only, and not board approved. The options are not board approved and are not available to Silver Fern Farms without significant capital investment and therefore are not appli-cable.”

Another of the dissident group’s oft-repeated claims is that the SFF board did not properly inform shareholders, prior to the vote last October, about the company’s real financial performance

and position.However, Hamilton dismisses this

allegation and says the recent Finan-cial Markets Authority (FMA) investi-gation backs this.

“We disclosed all the relevant infor-mation in the shareholder materials and the FMA has confirmed that there was nothing misleading or deceptive in those materials.”

Meanwhile, recent media reports are now claiming that the banks are putting heat on all meat companies to reduce their debt loadings. This is a point of conjecture, the dissidents claiming SFF’s financial position was not as bad as claimed by the company prior to last year’s special meeting which approved the SM joint venture.

When asked what the banks’ reac-tion would be if the deal was scuppered either by OIO rejection or shareholder pressure (via the Shrimpton Group) at the next special meeting, Hamilton told Rural News that SFF’s lenders support the investment by Shanghai Maling and are “keen to have it completed, and for the partnership to commence, as soon as practicable”.

“I can’t comment on what the lend-ers would or would not do if the trans-action was not approved by the OIO,” he says.

Silver Ferns Farms chairman Rob Hewitt (right) and chief executive Dean Hamilton are confident of getting the Shanghai Maling deal over the line.

@rural_news

facebook.com/ruralnews

Helping grow the countryFreephone 0800 10 22 76 www.pggwrightson.co.nz

Talk to your local PGG Wrightson team about your winter animal health needs.

Terms and Conditions: Off ers valid for dates specifi ed or while stocks last. Prices include GST and are subject to change. Some products may not be available in all stores but may be ordered on request. Prices do not include delivery, delivery costs are additional. Images are for illustrative purposes only.

MARKET SNAPSHOT LAMB MARKET TRENDSBEEF MARKET TRENDS


18 MARKETS & TRENDS

Beef & venison prices are reported as gross (before normal levies & charges are deducted). Lamb & mutton prices are reported nett (after levies & charges are deducted).

Me at North Is land S outh Is land

c/kgCWTChange

c/kgLast

We e kChange

c/kgLast

We e k

Lamb - PM 16.0kg -10 5.13 -10 4.98

S te e r - P2 300kg -15 5.30 -10 5.10

Bull - M2 300kg -15 5.25 -10 4.90

Ve nison - AP 60kg -20 7.50 -10 7.60

$4.5

$5.0

$5.5

$6.0

$6.5

27-Mar 27-Apr 27-May 27-Jun 27-Jul 27-Aug

North Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0

$5.5

$6.0


S outh Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price


$4.0

$4.5

$5.0

$5.5

$6.0


North Island 300kg Bull Price

5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0

$5.5

$6.0


S outh Island 300kg Steer Price

5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

$6.0

$6.5

$7.0

$7.5

$8.0


North Island 60kg Stag Price

5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

$6.0

$6.5

$7.0

$7.5

$8.0


S outh Island 60kg Stag Price

5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

BEEF PRICES

c/kgCWTChange

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg -15 5.30 5.45 5.52M 2 Bull - 300kg -15 5.25 5.40 5.57P2 Cow - 230kg -15 4.35 4.50 4.72M Cow - 200kg -15 4.25 4.40 4.62

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.40 5.40 5.35SI P2 Steer - 300kg -10 5.10 5.20 5.20

M 2 Bull - 300kg -10 4.90 5.00 5.05P2 Cow - 230kg -10 3.90 4.00 3.85M Cow - 200kg -10 3.90 4.00 3.75

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.30 5.30 5.20

Slaughter

Export Market Demand

ChangeLast

Week2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb +1 2.21 2.20 2.40 2.09NZ$/kg +6 6.94 6.88 7.63 5.86

Procurement Indicator

Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI -1% 77.8% 78.5% 72.69% 78.7%% Returned SI -1% 72.0% 72.7% 66.1% 72.1%

$1.50

$2.00

$2.50

$3.00


Demand Indicator - US 95CL Beef

Last Year

This Year

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

3-Apr 3-May 3-Jun 3-Jul 3-Aug 3-Sep

Procu rement Indicator - South I.

Last Year

This Year

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

3-Apr 3-May 3-Jun 3-Jul 3-Aug 3-Sep

Procu rement Indicator - North I.

Last Year

This Year

k

10k

20k

30k

40k


S outh Island Weekly Cattle Kill


k

20k

40k

60k


Nort h Island Weekly Cattle Kill


LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg -10 5.11 5.21 5.11PM - 16.0kg -10 5.13 5.23 5.13PX - 19.0kg -10 5.15 5.25 5.15

PH - 22.0kg -10 5.16 5.26 5.16 M utton M X1 - 21kg n/c 2.60 2.60 3.15SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg -10 4.98 5.08 4.71

PM - 16.0kg -10 4.98 5.08 4.73PX - 19.0kg -10 4.98 5.08 4.75

PH - 22.0kg -10 4.98 5.08 4.76 M utton M X1 - 21kg -10 2.38 2.48 2.60

Slaughter

Export Market Demand

ChangeLast

Week2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

UK Leg £/lb n/c 1.72 1.72 1.68 1.93NZ$/kg n/c 7.50 7.50 8.54 8.29

Procurement Indicator

Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI -0 .7% 71.3% 72.0% 61.5% 71.9%% Returned SI 0.0% 68.0% 68.0% 56.8% 69.6%

Venison Prices

ChangeLast

Week2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

NI Stag - 60kg -20 7.50 7.70 6.60 6.85SI Stag - 60kg -10 7.60 7.70 6.35 6.89

£1.00

£1.50

£2.00

£2.50


Demand Indicator - UK Leg Price

Last Year

This Year

50%

60%

70%


Procu rement Indicator - South I.

Last Year This Year

50%

60%

70%

80%


Procu rement Indicator - North I.

Last Year This Year

k

100k

200k

300k

20 Mar 20 Apr 20 May 20 Jun 20 Jul 20 Aug

Nort h Island Weekly Lamb Kill


k

100k

200k

300k

400k

20 Mar 20 Apr 20 May 20 Jun 20 Jul 20 Aug

S outh Island Weekly Lamb Kill

BEEF: The strength of the NZ dollar has added to the reluctance of processors to keep competing using schedules. Slaughter prices have either plateaued or fallen lately as a result. Currency movements don’t have such a strong impact on local trade markets, and therefore prices for these types of cattle remain solid. The cow slaughter is essentially finished now, with final tallies for the season estimated to be 11% lower than the 2014/15 season. Sourcing store cattle in the South Island is a difficult task. Nearly all are opting to trade through the saleyards and quality at sales as tended to be mixed. Dry conditions in the Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa are keeping the store cattle supply steady in the North Island. Buyers have tended to prefer to chase lighter lines of R2yr stock, as they are cautious around paying the extra outlay for heavier stock.

INTERNATIONAL BEEF: US imported beef prices appear to have stabilised, suggesting the recent price rally may have been short-lived. Demand from the US is limited, and once the Fourth of July holiday is over, will decline even further. At present the market seems confident that the increasing domestic supplies will meet their needs going forward, and this appears to have limited any price rally as a result from the tight imported supply. It is expected that a large

supply of fed cattle will hit the market from late September, which is likely to place pressure on domestic prices as well. The Chinese beef market is a little softer than a fortnight ago. Buyers are in possession of larger inventories which will likely limit interest for at least a couple of months.

SHEEP: The strength of the NZ dollar is keeping lamb slaughter prices from making any upwards movements despite the decreasing availability of lambs. Some processors are either closing plants or reducing capacity in preparation from for the coming bobbycalf kill, which is taking some of the edge out of procurement competition. Store lamb buyers in the South Island are willing to pay large amounts to acquire the limited volumes that are available. Lambs 37kg and below continue to make at least $2.80/kg at Temuka. Supply is less of an issue through the North Island, keeping prices lower there.

INTERNATIONAL SHEEP: The bulk of overseas lamb markets have displayed positive signs for the coming months. Interest out of both China and the Middle East continues to climb following the tough season to date. Low inventories through China and decreasing production within NZ arethe two key components to the better returns in these markets. The only

market which proving a sticking point for exporters is the UK. Domestic production in the UK is restricting interest in NZ product, while lower than typical shipments from the UK are also adding to the markets supply. The UK’simpending exit from the EU will likely impact on lamb

returns in the long-term, though just what affect it has is unclear at the moment. Currency movements will have the main effect on exporters’ returns in the short-term, with the UK pound already rising heavily against the NZ dollar.

WOOL PRICE WATCH Overseas Wool Price Indicators

Indicators in NZ$ Change 23-Jun 16-Jun Last Year Indicators in US$/kg Change 23-Jun 16-Jun Last

YearCoarse Xbred -21 5.29 5.50 4.78 Coarse Xbred -10 3.79 3.89 3.92

Fine Xbred -14 5.52 5.66 5.26 Fine Xbred -5 3.96 4.00 4.58

Lamb -20 5.60 5.80 6.25 Lamb -9 4.02 4.10 5.10

Mid Micron - - 8.64 10.08 Mid Micron - - 6.11 7.08

450

550

650

750

850

Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun

Wool Indicator Trends

CXI FXI LI

300

350

400

450

Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug

Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$

Last Year

This Year

450

500

550

600

650


Coarse Xbred Indicator

Last YearThis Year

350

400

450

500

550

600


Wool Indicator TrendsCXI FXI LI

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MARKETS & TRENDS 19

BEEF: The strength of the NZ dollar has added to the reluctance of processors to keep competing using schedules. Slaughter prices have either plateaued or fallen lately as a result. Currency movements don’t have such a strong impact on local trade markets, and therefore prices for these types of cattle remain solid. The cow slaughter is essentially finished now, with final tallies for the season estimated to be 11% lower than the 2014/15 season. Sourcing store cattle in the South Island is a difficult task. Nearly all are opting to trade through the saleyards and quality at sales as tended to be mixed. Dry conditions in the Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa are keeping the store cattle supply steady in the North Island. Buyers have tended to prefer to chase lighter lines of R2yr stock, as they are cautious around paying the extra outlay for heavier stock.

INTERNATIONAL BEEF: US imported beef prices appear to have stabilised, suggesting the recent price rally may have been short-lived. Demand from the US is limited, and once the Fourth of July holiday is over, will decline even further. At present the market seems confident that the increasing domestic supplies will meet their needs going forward, and this appears to have limited any price rally as a result from the tight imported supply. It is expected that a large

supply of fed cattle will hit the market from late September, which is likely to place pressure on domestic prices as well. The Chinese beef market is a little softer than a fortnight ago. Buyers are in possession of larger inventories which will likely limit interest for at least a couple of months.

SHEEP: The strength of the NZ dollar is keeping lamb slaughter prices from making any upwards movements despite the decreasing availability of lambs. Some processors are either closing plants or reducing capacity in preparation from for the coming bobbycalf kill, which is taking some of the edge out of procurement competition. Store lamb buyers in the South Island are willing to pay large amounts to acquire the limited volumes that are available. Lambs 37kg and below continue to make at least $2.80/kg at Temuka. Supply is less of an issue through the North Island, keeping prices lower there.

INTERNATIONAL SHEEP: The bulk of overseas lamb markets have displayed positive signs for the coming months. Interest out of both China and the Middle East continues to climb following the tough season to date. Low inventories through China and decreasing production within NZ arethe two key components to the better returns in these markets. The only

market which proving a sticking point for exporters is the UK. Domestic production in the UK is restricting interest in NZ product, while lower than typical shipments from the UK are also adding to the markets supply. The UK’simpending exit from the EU will likely impact on lamb

returns in the long-term, though just what affect it has is unclear at the moment. Currency movements will have the main effect on exporters’ returns in the short-term, with the UK pound already rising heavily against the NZ dollar.

WOOL PRICE WATCH Overseas Wool Price Indicators

Indicators in NZ$ Change 23-Jun 16-Jun Last Year Indicators in US$/kg Change 23-Jun 16-Jun Last

YearCoarse Xbred -21 5.29 5.50 4.78 Coarse Xbred -10 3.79 3.89 3.92

Fine Xbred -14 5.52 5.66 5.26 Fine Xbred -5 3.96 4.00 4.58

Lamb -20 5.60 5.80 6.25 Lamb -9 4.02 4.10 5.10

Mid Micron - - 8.64 10.08 Mid Micron - - 6.11 7.08

450

550

650

750

850


Wool Indicator Trends

CXI FXI LI

300

350

400

450


Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$

Last Year

This Year

450

500

550

600

650


Coarse Xbred Indicator

Last YearThis Year

350

400

450

500

550

600


Wool Indicator TrendsCXI FXI LI

Book a test drive today Contact your local Mahindra dealer*Mahindra offers consist of either 0% finance over 3 years (36 Months) or $3000 cash back, paid by way of Visa prezzy card, when you purchase any brand new Mahindra Pik Up or Genio variant. Both offers are based on our recommended retail price. The 0% finance offer is to approved applicants of Auto Finance Direct Limited only. On road costs of $950 applies to both offers. Establishment fee of $450, PPSR fee of $13 and a $10 monthly account fee applies to 0% finance offer. These offers cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers or discounts and must end at midnight on 30 July 2016 or while stocks last. MD Distributors Limited reserves the right to vary, withdraw or extend either of these offers. Terms and conditions apply.


20 AGRIBUSINESS

FOODWAIKATO’S OPEN access spray dryer at Waikato Innovation Park is running flat-out, help-ing companies using it for R&D. The park is owned by Hamilton City Council.

Operations manager Dave Shute says the plant

IN BRIEF

A NEW survey has found Kiwi consumers are seeking out more locally made food.

Concerns about product safety and levels of additives in consumer goods manufactured offshore are driving purchasing behaviour.

The Munchkin study which investi-gated the attitudes and habits of Kiwi shoppers showed that more than two thirds (69%) of Kiwi consumers said country of origin for food products they ate was important to them.

When asked what product catego-ries where country of origin labelling was important to them; meat and dairy products came up top at 96% and 95% respectively. This was

followed closely by fruit and vegeta-bles with more than nine in 10 (92%) consumers stating this. Knowing the source of their tinned or glass bottled products and dry packaged goods was also important with 86% and 83% identifying this preference.

The survey also found that 95% of Kiwi’s indicated that given the choice, they would rather have dairy prod-ucts from grass fed cows. Only 5% said they preferred products from grain fed cows.

The research was carried out in conjunction with the launch of the new Munchkin Grass Fed milk-based formula and toddler drinks produced in Canterbury.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELLING VITAL

has run year-round at full capacity and this is expected to continue. Any organisation may apply to use it.

The spray dryer, upgraded last year at a cost of $5.7 million, switched to mixing and drying formulated dairy cow, goat and sheep milk products when cows milk stopped flowing.

He says the upgraded dryer may now have the highest utilisation rate of any such facility in New Zealand. It makes powder for dairy companies to use in value-added products, and it is used to powder avocados. Much of its work is R&D.

The dryer produces powder at 500kg/hour; this sells for $10,000-$100,000 per tonne, depending on the product.

“We were always opti-mistic the upgrade would attract more business, and we are overwhelmed by enquiries,” Shute says.

“Now we’re juggling the schedule to accommodate clients.”

The plant processes fresh milk from five differ-ent suppliers. When fresh milk is not being processed the plant mixes formulated product and spray dries it into infant formula base. On non-assigned days the plant is used for one-off product development trials.

The first stage of the plant, funded by the gov-ernment and Innovation Waikato Ltd, was opened in May, 2012.

At first it was a liquid-to-powder plant, but the upgrading allows it to wet-blend dairy products, vita-mins, minerals, oils and other ingredients.

“The most recent upgrade, beginning in June 2014, was largely funded by a $3m equity injection from Callaghan Innova-tion,” Shute says. “It allows vitamins, minerals and oils to be ‘wet-blended’ with

milk or other dry powders prior to being spray dried to powder.”

The park’s chief execu-tive Stuart Gordon says the dryer has helped many cli-ents to grow their exports.

“We want businesses to arrive with an idea, com-mercialise it with Food-Waikato, and once they’re up-and-running go build their own spray dryer as Dairy Goat Co-operative did.

“We see that as a three-five year development; longer than five years and we’d be questioning whether we were doing the right thing with them.”

No other open-access facility of this kind exists in Australasia, for companies to do small runs of a first commercial batch of new product.

“The only option for them is to build their own plant, which is cost-pro-hibitive for most compa-nies, especially new market entrants.”

Upgraded spray dryer running flat-out

Food Waikato spray dryer operations manager Dave Shute.

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A key focus for RMPP is extending the knowledge and improving the uptake of good practice on New Zealand farms. What are the key objectives behind RMPP’s pilot farms?

We want profitabil-ity from greater sustain-able productivity for sheep and beef farmers. The farms are enabling us to find different ways of working with meat processors/exporters to help improve productiv-ity and profitability, and how we can develop an extension system benefi-cial to all involved in the supply chain; for instance, by developing relation-ships between the meat processor and supplier or mentoring and train-ing farmers who want to develop extension activi-ties. How does the project work?

We have six partner meat processors: Alliance Group, ANZCO, Blue Sky Meats, Greenlea, Progressive Meats and Silver Fern Farms. They are running different extension projects with some of their sheep and beef farmer suppliers, all linking into the value chain. About 70 individual farm businesses are involved and a wide range of activities. Rabobank and ANZ are also running more business-focused extension activities. There’s a lot of innovation and goodwill; for instance, meat companies are holding joint events or are organising visits for suppliers to other companies’ pilot farms. What’s the progress like?

Progress has been good: about 60% of partic-ipating farmers have made some kind of change, achieving great results onfarm, and very good thinking has developed on extension. For instance, we had several farms working individually in the North Island, but the group work in the South Island is going so well that a farmer group is now being formed in the North Island. Farmers are learn-ing from other farmers

and meat processors are working together. There are groups, workshops and one-to-one sessions with rural experts, on topics

such as body condition scoring, using software for feed budgeting, soils, forage and nutrition, gath-ering data on kill weights and benchmarking year-on-year farm results.What are the challenges?

To be successful the project needs to be scal-able. We are doing these smaller pilot programmes but need to be able to scale them up to an indus-try level. There are chal-lenges to identifying benefits for all parties involved but we are work-ing through these. Some benefits are long term, for instance, building trusted relationships with sup-pliers and other experts takes time but will provide additional benefits over time.What are the opportunities?

This is an opportunity for NZ’s red meat sector to go full steam ahead, increasing productivity and profitability by people working collaboratively, with benefits through-out the value chain. It’s a means for people to work in extension and con-tribute in being part of a vibrant industry. And it is opening career possibili-ties across the red meat sector as we seek to build the capacity and capabil-ity required to assist the sector to move forward.What feedback have you received from farmers?

We are getting good feedback from the pilot farmers through the pro-cessor representatives on what is working well


AGRIBUSINESS 21

Seeking more profit in red meatThe Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) brings together farmers with processing companies, banks and government to improve onfarm productivity. We catch up with Denise Bewsell, specialist extension manager for the RMPP, who explains how the $64 million, seven year programme aims to drive long-term, sustainable improvements in the sector.

and what isn’t. The level of goodwill from every-one involved has been fan-tastic. Everyone is willing to get involved and share

things. What feedback have you received from processors?

Some are saying this is a space they really want

to continue in, building trusted relationships and facilitating improvements as farmers identify areas they would like to under-

stand better. To find out more about

the RMPP and its six key projects visit www.rmpp.co.nz

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THE HOUNDWant to share your opinion or

gossip with the Hound? Send your emails to:

[email protected]


22 OPINION

EDITORIAL EDNA

UnfortunateTHE HOUND had to giggle at some of the crazy conspiracy theories going around when the Poms were going to the polls, last month, to vote on leaving the EU. Reports described Brexit pundits (supporters of the ‘leave’ campaign) so convinced ‘the authorities’ would rig the vote that they extolled people not to use pencils provided in the voting booths, because ‘the authorities’ could rub the pencil marks out and change the vote. Instead, they pleaded that voters bring their own pens to make their votes indelible. Of course this led to an inevitable social media campaign in which the Twitter machine lit up and promoted the racy hashtag #penisbetter.

Don’t panicYOUR CANINE crusader sees that his good mates at the meat industry’s ‘Dad’s Army’ – MIE (the gift that keeps on giving) – have taken umbrage at the Hound’s June 7 column calling on them to be more account-able in record keeping and filing with the Companies Office. MIE’s new ‘Captain Mainwaring’ – one Dave McGaveston of Nelson on Sea – penned an email to the Hound’s boss claiming such a “malicious” claim “brought into disrepute” MIE and it accountant’s busi-ness. However, your old mate notes that when the item came out in Rural News June 7, the Companies Office records showed MIE as not having filed its financial statement for the year ended March 31, 2015, despite this having been signed off at its annual meeting on July 29, 2015. However, these records magically appeared on the Companies Office register on June 15, 2016! As another Dad’s Army favourite, Corporal Jones, used to say, “They don’t like it up ‘em”, and it seems neither does MIE. However, it is good to note that the $200,000-plus of levy payer monies MIE sucked up have now been properly accounted for, thanks to a little prompting by you-know-who.

Oink, oinkTHE HOUND has been lambasted by claims and counter-claims over the SFF/Shanghai Maling deal. One constant is the denials by the ‘anti’ brigade of any linkage between John ‘The Pom’ Shrimpton, the failed meat sector ginger group MIE and political party NZ First. They carefully argue there is “no known contact” between the groups. This is despite the fact that the former MIE chair John McCarthy is a director of Shrimpton’s farm, that Shrimpton’s co-requisitioner Blair Gallagher is a former MIE executive, that MIE’s former spin-doctor ($22k got paid out for communications) is now doing the PR for the Shrimpton group and that Shrimpton himself helped write MIE’s failed ‘Pathway Report’. All the while, Winston Peters’ taxpayer funded chief man-bag carrier David Broome is donkey-deep in trying to gain media exposure against the deal. Your old mate says people can dress it up all they want, but putting lipstick on a pig does not hide the fact that it is still a pig.

“Our Avocado thief-trap works Edna ..............EDNAAAAAAAAA!!”

Tyranny of the minority THE SILVER Fern Farms/Shanghai Maling joint venture proposal is getting nastier the longer it drags out, not helped by the company’s often off-hand dismissal of some shareholders’ concerns about the deal and recent delay in getting Over-seas Investment Office approval for the deal to be finalised.

Until OIO and the relevant ministers decide, the process is stalled in a vacuum swirling with rumour and innuendo. The longer this plays out the more conspiracy theories and wild claims will be made by the dissidents.

Clearly a minority group of disgruntled share-holders, in cahoots with NZ First, are deter-mined to overturn the deal at all costs, arguing that their concerns centre purely on process and legal aspects. In fact they just don’t like it, but they lack the intestinal fortitude and courage of their convictions to say this outright.

Reports by the Financial Markets Authority and the Companies Office, over the validity of the Silver Fern Farms resolution process and its directors’ actions , should have dispelled these disgruntled shareholders’ case but, like political blowhards in New Zealand First, they dismiss these investigations as not having produced the result they wanted.

The blistering arrogance of this small minority underlies their mistaken belief in a right to over-turn the wishes of the overwhelming majority of SFF shareholders – the 82% (at least) who both-ered to vote last October in favour of the joint venture.

More proof of the depths this disgruntled minority will dive to is seen in their putting about unattributed, unidentified media claims out of Australia that Shanghai Maling wants to pull out of the deal. This is the same kind of ‘reputable’ Australian media scuttlebutt that falsely claimed a few weeks ago that Fonterra was showing Theo Spierings the door.

SFF and Shanghai Maling insist they are com-mitted to this venture and so it seems are the silent majority of SFF shareholders. It is time the majority told the vocal minority, in no uncertain terms, to pack up their tents and get out of the company if they are so unhappy.

Should OIO and ministerial approval be granted, the board of SFF would have no option but to honour the contract with Shanghai Maling, provided all agreed contractual obligations are met. The risk of not doing so would cost SFF and its shareholders a lot of money and you can guar-antee the disaffected 5% wouldn’t stump up with costs.

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RURALNEWS

ABC audited circulation 81,004 as at 30.06.2015

Rural News is published by Rural News Group Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of staff, management or directors of Rural News Group Ltd.

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OPINION 23

Find the right GAP under the Food ActTHE FOOD Act came into force on 1 March 2016, focussed on the production of food in New Zealand. The act requires a person who trades in food to ensure it is safe and suitable; it also requires registration and audit.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is responsible for this enormous undertaking, overseeing about 45,000 producers. The controls imposed by the act are tailored to the risk profile of the food being produced. The higher the risk – from a food safety point of view – the more stringent the requirements.

All producers of food – including fruit and vegetable growers, whose risk profile is not especially high – have until November 30, 2018 to register. Guidance on how to register is available at www.hortnz.co.nz.

NZ has two quality assurance schemes that provide traceability and accountability from crop to customer for the production of fruit, vegetables, olives and flowers: NZ GAP and GLOBALG.A.P. GAP stands for ‘good agricultural practice’. Both have run for many years; NZGAP was started by VegFed in 1999. These schemes ensure best practice in

production, packaging and distribution of fresh produce. They reduce the risk of health and safety and environmental problems, so consumers can buy with confidence.

NZGAP was developed by NZ growers to address consumer concerns about food safety, traceability and production issues. Also, growers wanted an efficient, cost effective management and production system that removed the need for multiple auditors. By meeting the standards required by the schemes, GAP approved suppliers can show their customers that their products are produced in a suitable manner.

The horticulture industry now proposes that the GAP schemes be recognised under the Food Act. This requires that MPI be satisfied that the GAP schemes conform to the Food Act, that there is a registration system, and that an effective and ongoing audit is in place. Required changes can be made to accommodate the Food Act and MPI’s requirements. However, the GAP schemes are already directing the food assurance scheme that ensures fruit and vegetables for sale are safe and suitable.

It is a ‘win-win’ for MPI and the industry: MPI gets a tailor-made scheme that meets its requirements

and is up-and-running; and the hort industry needs only to comply with one quality assurance programme – saving time and expense.

One question HortNZ gets asked is whether the Food Act applies to farmers’ markets, gates sales and to people who sell produce from ‘white vans’ in suburban streets. The Food Act exempts growers selling direct to the public from having to register and undergo an audit. But their produce must still be safe and suitable, i.e. it must not make consumers sick and it must meet composition, labelling and identification requirements and be in the right condition for its intended use.

However, it does require registration for anyone reselling produce. So if the ‘white van’ driver or farmers’ market stall holder is not the grower, he/she will need to register under the Food Act and be audited. •Mike Chapman is the chief executive of HortNZ.

MIKE CHAPMANAll food producers have

until November 30 2018 to register.

@rural_news


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ONE THING in life never changes: the moment you overcome one challenge, another is sure to arise.

Once in a while a chal-lenge crops up that might be easier to abandon, but that’s not my way.

You guessed it, that’s a reference to the New Zealand red meat industry.

At our February meet-ing we discussed our role, emphasising continued dialogue with key players, notably Beef + Lamb NZ, the Meat Industry Asso-ciation, Meat Industry Excellence and other par-ties keen to engage.

Plenty of people have been willing to talk, some

notable for their com-mercial self-interest and others on specific ele-ments in the industry. All have relevant ideas and passion and desire to see the industry move for-ward. But until key play-ers come together with

a common goal the required quantum shift will not occur.

Since our Febru-ary meeting we have talked with BLNZ, some of us getting involved in groups devel-oping and test-ing BLNZ’s market develop-

ment plan. Hopefully

the coming together of all the parties -- farmers, processors, mar-keters, government and others – will result in an agreed way forward. If so,

similar approaches might help us address other industry issues.

In February, speak-ing about the UK lamb market, I referred to a need to try to bring together

all industry

participants for the betterment of all.

What the Brexit vote means to NZ is unknown, except there will be signif-

icant unrest in all aspects of the UK economy. How NZ industry lead-ers and government respond will be vitally important.

Now is not

the time to sit back

and watch what develops.

Rather we should act to mould the future

with our UK counterparts for the betterment of all.

The UK marketing

strategy will likely be turned

upside down. Our lamb exports to the UK

face the biggest risk. We have a product that pres-ently is not rewarding farmers for their effort; preservation is the mini-mal acceptable outcome.

As BLNZ has emphasised, the EU and UK are our most valuable sheepmeat markets. Maintaining our quota of 228,000 tonnes at zero

duties to these markets

will be

important. How that can be achieved, what the end result will look like and over what time-frame is unknown.

The duration of the unrest as the UK settles into its new freedom may require some patience. But we must be patient at the table in the UK, not watching from the side-lines here in NZ.

24 OPINION

Abandoning a challenge is not my wayFederated Farmers Meat and Fibre chairman Rick Powdrell spoke at the Feds’ annual conference last week. Here are excerpts from his speech.

Rick Powdrell

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26 MANAGEMENT

Calm animals easier to handle, produce moreGOOD STOCKMANSHIP matters and needs much more credit, says Dr Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University.

“Animals afraid of people will be much less productive,” she told the New Zealand Veterinary Association conference in Hamilton.

Stress in animals depends greatly on their previous experience.

“A basic principle in working with animals is that a calm animal is easier to handle.

“Once an animal gets frightened – if during a procedure something bad happened – it will take it 20 minutes to calm down,” she says.

“If you have been in a near car accident you know how long it takes to calm down.”

If the eyeball of a horse or cattle beast is showing, it is really upset. “That’s scientifically validated because if you give drugs like Valium you don’t get the eye white. That proves there was fear.”

The signs that a cow or horse is starting to get fearful include tail swishing; that is not friendly as with dogs.

“When a tail swish gets faster and faster… then it’ll be flight or kick.

“Eye white showing, head up, ears pinned back… and then they poop more; you’ve scared the you-know-

what out of them. You don’t want to be doing that.”

Animals will associate a bad expe-rience with something they were looking at or hearing at the time. During a first experience with a vet, if an animal was looking at a white labcoat, then it will believe all white labcoats after that are bad.

“An animal is very specific in the way it thinks; it takes a snapshot, like the labcoat, [so if you wear] another kind of coat, it’s fine. Or certain vehi-cles are bad: cattle have learned ‘one four wheel motorbike brings me food, but three means trouble – they’re coming to round me up’.

“Look at what the ears are doing. Cattle, sheep, all your grazing animals watch with their ears. Observe where the ears are pointing; what’s your animal attending to? Watch that.”

We should get away from restraint methods that hurt. If you handle an animal roughly it changes its physi-ology. If laboratory animals are han-dled roughly, the results will not give normal physiological values.

The final five minutes for an animal going up the chute in a meat plant is really important.

“Poking pigs and jamming [them with] stuff will get you pale, watery, soft meat -- high lactate. Cattle poked with electric prods will get you tough meat. That last five minutes going up that stunning chute does matter. Getting animals excited and fearful

changes their physiology.”Grandin says she is often asked if

animals have emotions. Prozac works on dogs, but if their brains came from another planet, it would not work. Animals have seven core emotions: fear, rage, separation stress, seeking, sex, mother-young nurturing and play. The most important emotion for handling is fear.

“Animals feel pain. Castrate a lamb or castrate a bull, it hurts, but he doesn’t know what he is losing. That’s probably the difference between an animal and a human.”

If you force an animal – during a procedure or forcing a cow into a milking stall – the fear hormones go up. “If you train animals to cooperate with restraint you will have a lot less fear stress,” she says.

She cited a study in which young heifers walked through a handling race, then coming in later for AI, had better conception rates because they weren’t scared of the handling facil-ity.

Animals can acclimatise: their first trip on a truck is a lot more stressful than their ninth trip, unless the first trip is very traumatic then following trips will be worse.

Animals that fear people are less productive; this is well documented, Grandin says. Paul Hemsworth in Australia has worked on this for a long time. Fearful dairy cows have

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

TO PAGE 27

Dr Temple Grandin at the NZ Vet Association conference in Hamilton.

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MANAGEMENT 27

Calm animals much easier to handlelower conception rates; dairy cows that approach people have better somatic cell counts.

Animals don’t think in words; their memories are sensory based: they think in pictures, smells or tone of voice. They associate good and bad things with cer-tain sounds. The sound of one type of truck means they will get fed. They can even dif-ferentiate between different makes of cars.

“If you can think in a sensory way it will help you imagine what an animal is think-ing,” she says. “An animal’s first experience with a new person, a new vehicle or a new milking set-up must be a good experience.”

In discussion with a US dairyman plan-ning a new rotary milking platform she advised “take the time to train heifers, don’t just shove them in there. Make sure their going in there is a good first experi-ence”.

A proponent for humane treatment of livestock, Dr Temple Grandin is a designer of equipment for cattle and pigs during slaughter. She is the author of books on livestock handling and transport and has served as a consultant to develop animal welfare guidelines for corporations such as McDonalds.

FROM PAGE 26

@rural_news


US beef leg conformation causing concernLEG CONFORMATION issues in US beef cattle are concerning Dr Temple Grandin.

With the beef indus-try’s focus on carcase traits and selecting for production traits, she is starting to see some leg conformation issues.

“I am concerned that in certain genetic lines of beef cattle a mistake [is being repeated] that the pig industry made back in

the 1980s,” she says. “They just selected for

rapid growth, big loins and thin back fat. They started getting collapsed ankles where they walked on the claws.”

Some of the cattle are getting crooked claw and that matters, she says.

“Some people think they can do all the genet-ics by the numbers; but there is still a need for visual appraisal of breed-

ing stock to make sure they have sound feet and legs.

“We have to have bulls go out on some rough country; they have to be able to walk.”

In breeding, bad can start to become normal. She says don’t let it happen in leg conforma-tion.

A group of pig breeders in the 1980s were breed-ing nasty pigs, but didn’t

realise how bad they were because they weren’t deal-ing with other pigs.

There is an interac-tion between genetics and

what we can do with ani-mals.

“Take an American Holstein calf and tie it to a tree; it pulls back and

habituates and gets over it. Do that to Angus heif-ers you probably wreck about 10% of heifers. They will not habituate.

They get scared and they stay scared and they are ruined.”

@rural_news


Leg conformation issues are creeping into US beef cattle.

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to deliver the volumes and quality of colostrum the calf needs and it may be necessary to supplement this by feeding extra colostrum in the first 24 hours of life.

According to Holter ideally every newborn calf should receive at least two 2L feeds of high-grade colostrum in its first 12-24 hours of life -- either via tube or teat, but tube is often less wasteful and ensures the calf gets the right quantity quickly.

“The ability of calves to absorb the antibodies in colostrum declines very quickly. At 24 hours after birth they will no longer be absorbed, so those first hours are crucial.”

She advises the use of a Brix refractometer to give an objective measure of colostrum quality. It’s a simple and inexpensive tool, and an easy way to ensure the colostrum being fed is good enough. A reading takes only a few seconds and it’s easy to see whether a batch is above the 22% Brix threshold for grade 1 colostrum.

If cows have been vaccinated with a colostral vaccine such as Rotavec Corona, their colostrum will carry a higher level of antibodies to protect the calves fed it. Holter says good management is needed to ensure successful passive transfer of immunity to calves via colostrum.

“A good way of checking that your system is delivering good passive transfer of immunity is to blood test 10-12

calves aged one to and seven days. This will tell you whether calves have received enough colostrum and whether you need to improve your colostrum management or not.

“Factors such as poor body condition in cows, a short dry period, leaking milk before parturition, age, breed and timing of calf pickups all influence the quality of the colostrum that’s produced. The quality of colostrum from a cow declines very quickly after birth, so the more regular the pickups during calving – preferably twice daily – the more likely you are to collect good colostrum.”

Storage (for example, using a bacterial growth inhibitor) and hygiene are also important, as is good record keeping. Surplus colostrum can be safely frozen for use later in the season or even for the start of the following season.

While good colostrum

management is at the heart of a successful calf rearing system, several other factors play an important part.

Holter says calves are exposed to big pathogen challenges from the moment of birth and this should be minimised.

This starts with the cleanliness of the trailer used to pick up calves and follows through to the pens in which they are raised.

“Solid partitions between pens will help reduce the transfer of pathogens, and good bedding is essential; sawdust or woodchips are ideal, at least 15cm deep and over good drainage.”

Stocking density needs care: as a rule of thumb, no less than 2m2 per calf should be allowed.

A good feeding system will ensure proper growth and gut development following the crucial first few hours.

Holter says bullying within the pen can

prevent the smaller calves and slower drinkers getting their share, so the setup should take account of this. Clean water and a good starter feed are also part of the management mix.

The calf pens should be an all in–all out system: once a calf enters a pen it should remain there until it moves outside.

“Calves should not be moving between pens as they get older, as this is great way to spread bugs around.”

Pens should be well cleaned out after the last calf has left for the season, Holter adds. “Contaminated bedding needs to be removed and the flooring and walls should be clean and dry before a disinfectant is used.”

Problems with calf scours typically set in after the first few weeks of calving, Holter explains.

“This is partly because of the gradual build-up of pathogens over time.”


28 ANIMAL HEALTH

Colostrum key to healthy calvesGET YOUR colostrum feeding right and you’ll go a long way towards raising healthy replacement calves.

That’s the advice of Jo Holter, veterinary technical advisor with MSD Animal Health, who says poor understanding of colostrum and its management can expose newborn calves to pathogens that cause scours, such as rotavirus.

“If they survive, the impact on their gut health will last into their

adult lives and they may never reach their true potential,” she explains. “In many cases, the disease will kill them. That can be emotionally devastating and a big financial loss when you’re raising replacements.”

Milk from the first eight milkings is commonly referred to as ‘colostrum’, but this is incorrect, Holter says.

“Colostrum is produced in the first milking and this contains the highest levels of

protective antibodies that calves need in their first hours of life to build immunity to bugs like rotavirus. The milk from the following milkings, until the cows join the milking herd, is called transition milk. This is still fed to growing calves, of course, but it doesn’t have the same level of antibodies and it should be stored separately from the ‘gold’, first milking colostrum.”

Suckling on the dam cannot always be relied on Jo Holter says colostrum is produced in the first

24 hours and is vital for helping protect calves from pathogens in their first days of life.

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ANIMAL HEALTH 29

Teat seal alone could be effective – study

A DAIRYNZ and veter-inarian study of cows in wintering systems in Southland indicates that treating dry cows with teat sealant alone may be just as effective as the use of teat sealant and anti-biotic dry cow treatment (DCT).

It showed that cows treated with teat sealant had the same level of pro-tection against infection at calving and early milk-ing. However, the study, reported to the New Zea-land Milk Quality Con-ference says bigger, multi-herd studies were needed to provide better predictors of the effec-tiveness of different strat-egies.

“There is growing pres-sure to reduce the use of antimicrobials in agri-culture, due to the emer-gence of antimicrobial resistance among human and animal pathogens,” the report to the confer-ence says. The event was part of the NZ Veterinary Association conference in Hamilton.

“Improved steward-ship of animals, and clear guidelines that reduce the reliance on use of anti-microbials, are key steps in addressing these con-cerns.

“In dairy, up to 85% of the antimicrobials used onfarm are associated with treatment and pre-vention of mastitis. From DairyNZ farmer surveys we estimate that at least 85% of dairy cows in NZ are protected at dry-off, with about 50-60% of farmers choosing to treat all cows with antibiotic dry cow treatment (DCT) and 20% using DCT plus internal teat sealant (ITS).

“Internal teat sealants have been available as an effective non-antimicro-bial for protecting low somatic cell count (SCC) cows since the late 1990s but survey data suggest that fewer than 15% of farmers choose to protect cows with ITS as a single treatment.”

The report says that with the recent decline in milk price, farmers are more circumspect about

animal health costs at dry-off, and many are revisit-ing the value of protecting low SCC cows.

System-specific data on the true risks of leaving cows unprotected in dif-ferent wintering systems would help vets and farm-ers make more cost-effec-tive choices. During the winter of 2015, nil treat-ment and three inter-ventions at dry-off were tested for their ability to prevent mastitis at calv-ing on two well-recorded farms in Southland.

The trial was run May-November 2015 on two farms in Southland. Herd 1, near Winton, housed cows in a free-stall win-tering barn with water-cushioned, rubber mats as bedding and fed predom-inantly grass silage and straw; Herd 2, near Inver-cargill, wintered cows on the farm, on fodder beet supplemented with baled grass silage and hay.

All cows confirmed to be pregnant and free of clinical mastitis in the last two weeks prior to dry-off were enrolled.

A total of 929 cows were enrolled in the study and received treatments at dry-off. Of these, 864 cows calved and 861 were sampled at two intervals.

In both herds, cows left untreated at dry-off had more clinical masti-tis in the dry period and after calving, a higher rate of new intra-mammary infections at calving, and a higher SCC in the subse-quent lactation.

The level of clinical mastitis in the dry period among untreated cows was lower than expected by the farm managers, but only 10% of eligible cows in each herd were exposed. Both farm man-agers commented that having a greater propor-tion of the herd unpro-tected would have created a more noticeable and unfavourable result.

Compared to cows that received no treatment, the interventions achieved a protective effect ranging from 70 to 100% in the dry period, with a decline after calving (50-90% in Herd 1 and 50-62% for Herd 2). These effects were similar to previous studies.

The report concludes that among cows that got no protection at dry-off, there were almost three times as many cases of clinical mastitis, more infections present at calv-ing, and a higher SCC at

the first two herd tests in the subsequent lactation.

For cows receiving teat sealant alone, the level of protection was almost the same as a combination of dry cow and teat sealant, and for some measures

was better than dry cow treatment alone.

However it is acknowl-edged that the size of the study did not have suf-ficient power to con-sistently distinguish between the different

interventions. “Multi-herd studies

are required to determine whether these factors can

be modelled to provide better predictors of the effectiveness of different strategies.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

In dairy 85% of the antimicrobials used on farm are associated with treatment of mastitis.

LOGIC SAYS THEY’VE BOTH GOT IMMUNITY AGAINST PULPY KIDNEY.

BUT THE SCIENCE SAYS OTHERWISE.

In a recent New Zealand trial, we tested Multine® against one of the other leading 5-in-1s with the vaccines being administered at both tailing and weaning. In both cases the results were more than conclusive. Lambs vaccinated with Multine saw a signifi cantly better immune response against Pulpy Kidney and Tetanus than those vaccinated with the competitor 5-in-1. MULTINE. There’s no better 5-in-1.

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In a recent New Zealand trial, we tested Multineleading 5-in-1s with the vaccines being administered at both tailing and weaning. In both cases the results were more than conclusive. Lambs vaccinated with Multine saw a signifi cantly better immune response against Pulpy Kidney and Tetanus than those vaccinated with the competitor 5-in-1. MULTINE. There’s no better 5-in-1.

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30 ANIMAL HEALTH

Farmers like flash heat detection device

FUR RECOVERY A SUSTAINABLE WAY TO BEAT THE BLIGHTERSFUR RECOVERY is a sustainable approach to beating possums, says Neil Mackie, chair of the New Zealand Fur Council (NZFC).

The council is working with DOC to promote fur recovery as a way to control possums, he says.

“Last year we signed an memo with DOC to make it easier for NZFC accredited hunters and trappers to gain access to public conservation land for fur recov-ery,” says Mackie.

“The possum fur industry generates $110-150 mil-lion a year and employs about 1500 people; possum fur generates wealth from an animal that is otherwise a pest.

“There are about 30m possums out there; we trap and recover fur from 1.2m. By co-ordinating with DOC, we want to trap and recover another 2m to meet the growing demand from our industry.”

A report released last week by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says pests are a high priority for action. It says possums and other pests are being killed in only 12% of the conservation estate, meaning that our native plants and animals are going backwards against pests.

Mackie says DOC’s Battle for the Birds is encourag-ing but more is needed to win the war against predators.

“We want to bring the birds back and see enhanced flora and fauna and more dead possums. Together we can support a new sustainable concept of ‘green fur’ that will also generate revenue for our country.”

AN AWARD winning elec-tronic heat detector made by Gallagher is attracting the interest dairy farm-ers, says sales agent CRV Ambreed.

Sales and marketing manager Mathew Macfie

says the company is impressed with the Flash-mate’s innovative design. It won the Fieldays Inter-national Innovation 2016 award.

“It takes the guess-work out of heat detec-

tion, saving farmers time and money in confidently selecting cows for AI after morning milking based on the flashing red light.”

In extensive trials the Flashmate was found to help farmers improve sub-

mission rates by detecting cows that may otherwise have been missed, lifting the critical ‘six-week in calf ’ rate.

Mark Harris, global marketing manager for Gallagher, says the award

was a nice fit with the 2016 Fieldays theme of collaboration.

“The Flashmate con-cept was developed by technology start-up com-pany Farmshed Labs and two years ago we formed

a partnership to bring it to market,” Harris says. “After extensive testing and refinement in the lab and on farms, the product is now launched in Aus-tralasia.”

Even staff with lim-ited understanding of heat detection can use Flash-mate, CRV Ambreed says.

On a cow Flashmate monitors riding activ-ity and a flashing red light instantly identifies if the cow is on heat. Once a

heat is identified, the device will flash red for 26 hours, indicating the cow is ready for artificial insemination (AI).

It continues monitor-ing for subsequent heats and if the cow does not return to heat after 25 days it will begin flash-ing green to indicate the cow is a ‘non-return’ and likely to be in-calf. If AI fails, the unit will flash red when the cow comes on heat again.

Dairy farmers are taking interest in electronic heat detectors.

One shot could save a hidingScours can knock you sideways – hurting your calves, your family and your income. And it can strike on any farm. With Rotavec® Corona, a single shot before calving helps protect your calves against three of the most common causes of infectious scours – rotavirus, coronavirus and E. coli. Talk to your vet today about Rotavec Corona – the easy, one shot way to help your calves stand up to scours.

One shot could save a hidingScours can knock you sideways – hurting your calves, your family and your income. And it can strike

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 31LANDPOWER BOOSTS RESEARCHLANDPOWER HAS joined other agri-companies in sponsoring $850,000 of agricultural technol-ogy, service and advice for Lincoln University.

This is for a three years of research aimed at improving the performance and viability of New Zealand dairy farming.

The venue is Ashley Dene Research and Development Station where a dairy conversion is now almost complete. It will have 175ha of land carrying 530 cows milked in a 54 bail rotary shed, with support-ing feed and stand-off pads. Various dairy farming systems will be inte-grated with arable and livestock farming.

Lincoln University farms direc-tor Dr Teresa Moore says the research will include farm profit-ability, animal welfare and environ-mental performance.

“It has been a great pleasure to engage with the supporters over this dairy conversion and what it means to NZ, she says. “They wanted to get behind Lincoln Uni-versity and the valuable environ-mental research that is needed to ensure everyone’s longevity

in farming. They see merit in our objectives for this farm and want to support it as worthwhile and effective.”

Other supporters include OPUS International Consultants, Waikato Milking Systems, PGG Wrightson and Genetic Technologies (Pio-neer).

Two Claas Arion 430 CIS trac-tors, a JCB Loadall 536−60 Agri Super telehandler and a Trioliet Solomix 1 ZK mixing wagon are on site, to be followed by a Fliegl VFW slurry wagon, Amazone ZA-TS Super fertiliser spreader and Claas Disco 3600 Contour mower in the

coming months.Claas Harvest Centre chief

executive Richard Wilson says the research project offers benefits for all.

“The outcomes of this research will help to build a stronger and more sustainable dairy industry and give us a great opportunity to show-case how our technology and ser-vice can support dairy producers.

“In turn, the next generation of agricultural students will gain first-hand appreciation of [the latest] technology during their education, carrying with them into their first job and subsequent careers.”

Moving mountains the easy way

VISITORS TO Fieldays couldn’t fail to notice a new addition for 2016 on the largely green John Deere site, in the shape of the yellow JD 624K 15.7 tonne wheeled loading shovel.

Manufactured in the US, at the home of JD in the Quad Cities area, and calling on a 30-year history, the machine is well accepted in the con-struction and quarrying sector.

It looks ready to make the move to the ag industry where loaders of this type are finding a ready home shifting the enormous outputs of today’s self-propelled forage har-vesters.

Get up and go is supplied by a Tier3 compliant JD 6-cylinder engine of 6.8L pushing out 147kW (200hp) and 836 Nm torque at 1300rpm.

Transmission is an in-house JD unit with a single stag, single phase torque con-verter matched to four ranges with auto-mated electronic shifting dependant on load and speed. An optional 5-speed unit with Lock Up torque converter is also offered and might be the sensible choice for agricultural operations. For tough con-ditions the 624 offers a hydraulic locking diff on the front axle, and a dual front and rear locking system is available as an option.

The drive line is completed by HD axles with inboard planetary drives, fixed front axle, rear oscillating axle with 24 degrees movement and a centre pivot system which allows 40 degrees of movement rather that the more common 37 degrees

seen in competitors’ products.Lift capacity and hydraulic pump

output will have an obvious effect on output in respect of cycle times and the 624 shouldn’t be lacking. It has a 223L/min load sensing axial-piston pump capable of powering a full load of 5 tonnes to a max-

imum lift height of 3.95m in six seconds, returning to ground level in 2.7 seconds.

In headstock configurations, a parallel Z-Bar for better digging characteristics, tool carrier and hi-lift enable the machine to be configured for the task at hand.

Up in the cab the usual creature com-forts of air suspension seat and air con-ditioning keep things comfortable and cool, and a couple of interesting features make this machine a stand out from the crowd. Rather than a conventional layout of multi-switches the 624 has a sealed switch module, push button and said to use 75 fewer wires and 300 fewer connections than a conventional set-up, and so better suits dusty environs.

The system also needs no keys: access to start up is via a PIN code, and security including GEO Fencing and production reports can be sent to base via the JD Link system. www.johndeere.com

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

The research station under construction.

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32 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

KEEP THINGS ON TRACK

LATEST DEVELOPMENT from Dutch manufacturer Zuidberg is a new high-speed, aftermarket track system designed to improve traction in difficult conditions.

The new machine also addresses technical issues with similar products also available.

Fitting aftermarket systems can sometimes force a cut to driving speeds of up to 40%. And operators wishing to fit track systems at rear and retain original wheel equipment in front need to disengage the four wheel drive

function because inter-axle ratios are incompatible.

The new Zuidberg system, intended for rear fitment, overcomes these problems with a patented, integrated transmission which leaves front and rear axle ratios unchanged.

The system also a suspension system which not only acts on the bogie wheels – as is typical with other brands – but also includes the complete system including the idler wheels. This function is said to increase operator comfort and help prolong the life of the tractor and the track system, reducing operating costs.

Grouper mower boosts outputGRASSLAND SPECIALIST Kuhn has extended the versatility of its centre pivot, trailed mower conditioner range by adding a new grouper version – the FC 3160 TCD RA.

Suited to large scale operations and contractors, the machine offers all the advantages of the existing 3.1m FC 3160 TCD units, such as the versatility to mow on either side and the elimination of headland ‘dead time’ said to reduce output by up to 15%. It also adds the option of being able to bring two swathes together.

The machine uses a conveyor belt either to place two rows side by side for harvesters, or interweave two rows to form a narrower swath for balers or loader wagons; the

outcome is lower fuel consumption by reducing ‘rowing-up’ passes and it helps improve soil structure by reducing the amount of traffic over a given area.

The grouper conveyor belt is driven by a hydraulic pump mounted on the machine’s Gyrodine swivelling headstock,

and is capable of delivering swathes to left or right of the mower Control is via an in-cab unit allowing the operator to adjust belt speed to cater for varying amounts of crop, adjust the width of the swath being formed and lift the unit in and out of work.www.kuhn.co.nz

DAIRY EFFLUENT – par-ticularly in slurry form – can be a big problem.

Big problems need big solutions and they don’t come much bigger than the Giltrap Engineer-ing vacuum slurry tanker shown at Fieldays.

With a capacity of 20,000L, 8.5m long, 3.2m high and weighing 7.7 tonnes, this behemoth will make a large hole in an effluent pond any working day.

Made from 6mm plate steel, the tank is sup-ported along its full length

by a heavy duty integrated chassis. This superstruc-ture is carried on an HD tri-axle bogie system, with steered front and rear axles, fitted with over-sized tyres and hydraulic braking on all six wheels.

High-spec European components include a Battioni Pagani rotary vane vacuum pump (auto lubricated) to deliver 12,000L/min output to fill the beast in two minutes maximum.

Pump protection is by a double moisture-trap, and all fittings are either

brass or heavily galvanised steel for corrosion pro-tection and an extended operating life

Inside the tank is fitted with a reinforced baffle plate to prevent liquid surging as the tank emp-ties, and it has twin man-hole access points for easy entry to facilitate cleaning and maintenance.

Around the machine, three filling points are fitted as standard, which connect to 200mm sec-tional hoses for rapid fill-ing.www.giltrapeng.co.nz

BIG SOLUTION FOR A BIG PROBLEM

Giltrap’s vacuum slurry tanker.

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Designed to an uncompromising strength standard.

Our trailers offer exceptional tonnage ratings, thanks to super-strong chassis,

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quality of build and an emphasis on strength, McIntosh Tip Trailers have earned

a reputation as the toughest and most durable farming trailers on the market.

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]


MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 33

Spotted on the TRS stand at Fieldays was this Ford Ranger that looks like it might have serious off-road capability, though it might be overkill for Auckland school runs or trips to the supermarket.

REDNECK OFF– ROADER

Want to make that a large one?

UTES ARE big business in New Zealand, making up around 25% of the market, and seen from Ponsonby to Papatowai and all points in between.

Talking of big, they don’t come much bigger than the latest RAM truck unveiled at Fieldays.

Made by the Fiat Chrysler Auto Group, and selling at a rate of 40,000 trucks a month in the US, vehicles for NZ are marketed by Ateco Group NZ.

The company, with Walkinshaw Automotive, Melbourne, has formed American Special Vehicles, which will convert the vehicles to right hand drive and offer a full factory-endorsed three year/100,000 km warranty.

The RAM is big physically – 6m long and weighing 3.6 tonnes – and sports big numbers under the ‘skin’, starting in the engine bay. A 6-cylinder Cummins turbo diesel pushes out 276kW and 1084Nm from its 6.7L, using DEF to control emissions.

The chassis’s hydro-formed ladder has eight separate cross members and fully boxed rear rails for strength and stability.

Towing capacity is up to 6990kg dependent on the model, and payload 1713kg in the RAM 3500.

Keeping things moving is a 6 speed auto box with adaptive shifting using three clutch packs, dual pumps and filters and its own transmission cooling system. With a Borg Warner transfer case feeding to four wheel drive – allowing shifting ‘on the fly’ and three ranges–the rough and tumble should be easy to tame, especially in the lowest sped range.

The Ram 2500’s front suspension has 3-link coils matched to a 5-link coil set-up, with multi-rate coils and fixed displacement twin tube shock absorbers.

The higher capacity RAM 3500 uses a Hotchkiss rear leaf spring format for increased towing and carrying, and a bigger stabiliser bar is credited for greater stiffness and stability, on and off the road.

In the enormous cabin it’s obvious that lots of bovines have given up their hides for the sumptuous leather trimmed seats good for all shapes and sizes, aided by 10-way power adjustment, with comfort further enhanced by integral heating and ventilation.

There’s also a heated, leather bound steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, tinted power windows and a 20cm touch screen display with all the usual prerequisites of audio, communications and media control.

Safety is not forgotten either: front and rear seat curtain airbags, stability control, a clever tyre pressure monitoring package, rear park assist and a rear view camera. A useful rear load area is cleverly incorporated in the high level brake light assembly.www.ramtrucks.co.nz

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

POW06

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With 5 models available from 85-115hp, the Agrofarm series from Deutz-Fahr offers a range of multi-purpose tractors with the perfect balance of power and weight.

The series includes cab and ROPS models with 100% locking front diff, true four-wheel braking, a flat platform and a super-smooth power-shuttle 40x40 transmission**. The Agrofarm is the ultimate general-purpose tractor, ideally suited to New Zealand farming.

Contact your local Power Farming dealer today for all the details on the Agrofarm series from Deutz-Fahr.

* Conditions apply. Contact your local Power Farming dealer. ** Applicable to all models other than the 100DT.

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34 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS / RURAL TRADER

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Boton tractors’ NZ debut

A RELATIVE newcomer to the ‘heavy metal’ scene, Chinese trac-tor manufacturer Boton, took flight at Fieldays, launching four product offerings.

Founded in 2013 in Henan prov-ince, this company now makes 3500 units a year in a 60,000 sq.m factory, but the plant could turn out 10,000 units.

The products seen at Fieldays -- unimaginatively called A, B, C and D (compact, utility, general and high power respectively) -- include units 30-50hp in range A, 50-80hp in range B, 80-110hp in C and the largest 120-140hp using a Chinese made 6.8L Deutz engine.

Transmissions are largely Fiat designed, and are made under

licence in Boton’s factory. They are offered only in dry clutch configu-ration for all models and use LUK clutch components.

The larger models have four speeds and four ranges, and the option of creep; so here are trac-tors with up to 24 forward and 8 reverse speeds.

A wet clutch power shuttle transmission will be available by year end, and all models are avail-able in 2- or 4-wheel drive variants.

Interestingly, the company takes a lead from higher end man-ufacturers in using a separate res-ervoir for the external hydraulic system, to prevent contaminating the transmission; output is up to 66L/min.

The power steering has a sep-arate pump and circuit, ensuring enough flow for steering, brakes

and transmission lubrication. Lift capacity is rated 3300kg

and the company offers its own Boton-lift self-levelling front-loader, said to use European joy-sticks and loader valves.

The manufacturer seeks to set up a dealer distribution network in New Zealand and is talking to interested partners.

General manager for new prod-uct development Greg Saville says

Boton uses quality components from leading suppliers such as Deutz, LUK and SKF to deliver quality tractors to at least 20 coun-tries.

It has an industry leading 3+2 warranty scheme, effectively offer-ing five years of trouble free own-ership, Saville says. www.tractor-boton.com

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

POTTINGER TER-RADISC cultivators are proven useful for seedbed preparation by using 580mm diame-ter concave discs with adjustable cutting angles, to encourage good penetration and intensive mixing of plant residues with the soil. Now a new option of a front-board assembly, fitted ahead of the discs, expands the capabil-ity of the machine by allowing it to work in previously ploughed areas.

Using spring steel shanks with replaceable wear tips, the unit will break up clods or lumps and present the discs with a level sur-face said to reduce loadings; this should reduce fuel consumption. Adjustment in work is by an inde-pendent hydraulic circuit, with depth control by spring clips

fitted to the con-trol ram.

The frontboard can be retro-fitted to all trailed Terra-disc models.www.originagroup.co.nz

@rural_news


SETTING UP FOR A GOOD CROP

Joseph Cao (left) and Greg Saville of Boton Tractors at the Fieldays.


RURAL TRADER 35

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Freephone 0800 10 22 76 www.pggwrightson.co.nz Helping grow the country

At PGG Wrightson, we’ll help you with the right range of products, competitive prices and expert advice. Talk to the team about your calving requirements today.

Are you ready for calving?

Terms and Conditions: Off ers and prices valid from 1 July 2016 to 30 September 2016, or while stocks last. Prices include GST and are subject to change. Some products may not be available in all stores but may be ordered on request. Prices do not include delivery, delivery costs are additional. Images are for illustrative purposes only.

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Reliance Calf Milk Finisher 20 kgMade from a blend of whole milk powder, skim milk powder, whey powder, vegetable fats and soy protein. Contains coccidiostat, Bovatec® and a range of minerals, trace elements and vitamins. Designed to be fed to calves from day five onwards.

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$169

$30$5

AHDColostrum Preserver 20 LNormally $125

$99

$26 10%

Applies to McKee Plastics Pen Meal Trough 20 L, Fence Mounted Hay and Grain Feeder Mini, Water Trough 12 L, 5 Teat Calf Feeder and 6 Teat Compartment feeders.Limited to maximum of four stated items. Discount is off the PGG Wrightson standard retail price. Must be purchased in one transaction.

Purchase 2, get 25% off

Purchase 3, get 33% off

Purchase 4, get 50% off Purchase 4, get 50% off

rural news 05 july 2016

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