rural news 17 february 2015
DESCRIPTION
Rural News 17 February 2015TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 17, 2015: ISSUE 578 www.ruralnews.co.nz
RURALNEWS
ANIMAL HEALTHFarmers are urged to treat their dogs like any good worker. PAGE 40
MACHINERYHundreds converged on Levin at the annual vintage machinery event. PAGE 45 MANAGEMENT
Consultant shares advice on how best
to get through a drought.PAGE 32
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
STRIKING OUT AT NITRATEA new device (Spikey) which combines robotics, mechanics and chemistry is set for sale to combat dairy farms’ problem of nitrate-N leaching from cow urine patches. Mini-ME (Miniaturised Management of Excreta) is a robotic device which tows Spikey which detects urine patches and sprays them with a liquid nitrogen inhibitor that allows the urine-N to spread beyond the patch to encourage greater grass growth in and around it. It’s the work of three men: Bert Quin (far right), well known in the fertiliser industry; Geoff Bates, a robotic specialist; and a soil chemist, Peter Bishop. They showed their device to people attending the Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre conference at Massey University last week. – More page 6 and more from the conference in this issue.
More China dairy concerns?THE MINISTRY for Primary Industries denies holding ‘special’ meetings with New Zealand dairy product makers in the light of claims that China has rejected 60 batches of our dairy prod-ucts in the past year.
A Chinese website claims that 14%
of the products rejected by China came from New Zealand. But officials and industry sources here are playing down this news.
MPI told Rural News it regularly briefs the dairy industry on market developments; some briefings are “highly confidential”.
It says two meetings were held last week: one on a new manufacturing
standard for infant formula, on which they consulted the industry last year; the other to “confidentially” brief man-ufacturers on commercial and market-sensitive issues.
MPI would not describe the brief-ing or who attended, other than to say it was not about the rejection of product by China and the recent stories about this issue.
Rural News asked whether New Zea-land product had been rejected as con-taminated; MPI responded:
“In the 12 months to December 2014, there were only five instances when products were rejected due to the presence of bacteria, one due to chemical residue. These six instances represent about 0.06% of total dairy exports. If products do get stopped, it
PETER BURKE
is mostly due to administration errors, such as damage in transit and non-com-pliant labelling. It often involves trade samples as well as normal commercial trade.
“These issues rarely relate to food safety matters.”
Industry sources support the MPI statement, one confirming the affected items are often trade samples. Others express concern at the developments and hint that the Chinese are seeking to find fault with infant formula exporters to their country.
These sources suggested to Rural News that moves by the Chinese to buy their own processing plants could be part of a long-term strategy to put the squeeze on small New Zealand export-ers, especially in the highly competitive area of infant formula.
Meanwhile, MPI says it has a “con-structive and respectful” relationship with Chinese authorities and will con-tinue to work with them and manufac-turers to resolve trade issues.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 3
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NEWS�������������������������������������1-21
WORLD ������������������������������������� 22
MARKETS ������������������������ 24-25
AGRIBUSINESS �������������� 26-27
HOUND, EDNA ����������������������� 28
CONTACTS ������������������������������ 28
OPINION ���������������������������� 28-31
MANAGEMENT �������������� 32-38
ANIMAL HEALTH ����������39-43
MACHINERY AND PRODUCTS ����������������������44-49
RURAL TRADER ������������ 50-51 Fonterra wants to ‘mix it’THE MISSION of mymilk is to “mix it up” with competitors rather than lose that milk, says Fonterra’s chairman John Wilson.
“There has been some concern about whether mymilk is part of the cooperative or not,” he told the North-land Dairy Development Trust annual conference.
The new subsidiary is “specifically for 5% of our milk only and not any more”. “This is quite frankly to get out there and mix it up,” says Wilson.
“Not all farmers believe in joining the cooperative. We are getting farm-ers particularly in Southland and Can-terbury – where we’re offering mymilk – who are saying clearly, ‘no, we don’t want to buy shares, we just want to supply milk’.
“That means we lose that milk and we have assets in Canterbury and Southland that are highly efficient and
PAM TIPA
IRD – we’re here to help!NOW THAT drought has been declared by the Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, Inland Revenue says it will exercise discretion towards affected farmers.
The drought has been declared a medium-scale event on the east coast of the South Island from North Otago to Marlborough inclusive.
A spokesman for Inland Revenue
told Rural News IRD will look at the financial situations of farmers to see how best to help them through this tough time.
Relief options include income equalisation deposits, for which dis-cretion is allowed to make it even more useful, and assistance with the payment of tax when there is hard-ship.
The income equalisation scheme allows farmers to better manage peaks and troughs in their income by allowing money to be put aside from a better year and withdrawn against a not-so-good year. This preserves cash that can be applied for drought recovery and helps average tax rates for the year. • More on drought pp 5, 6, 12
can process milk more efficiently than the average plant in New Zealand.
“So where we can secure that milk, understanding its transport cost, paying less than the milk price and pro-cessing efficiently – it has to be advan-tageous to the cooperative.
“Mymilk is a standalone subsidiary of Fonterra.
“It only has three or four people
working in it…. Its job is to secure milk and prove to us it is profitable to do so, to get out there and mix it up… with competitors instead of sitting back and losing that milk… get that in and get that asset utilisation.
“Important here is that it must be profitable for the cooperative and it will be limited to 5% of our milk.”
Announced in December, mymilk
will initially invite applications from farms in Canterbury, Otago and Southland not currently supplying Fonterra, for one year contracts renewable for a maximum of five years without the obligation to purchase Fonterra shares.
At any time mymilk suppliers can apply to join the cooperative, buy shares and supply Fonterra directly.
Soils can take pressureTHE DIRECTOR of Massey Univer-sity’s Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre (FLRC), Professor Mike Hedley says while intensive farming puts pres-sure on New Zealand soils he believes they are presently capable of handling that pressure.
Speaking to Rural News at the annual FLRC conference at Massey last week, Hedley said that, in general, soils on lowlands or rolling hills can take the pressure – except in one or two small areas.
Meanwhile, pressure on soils will decline as regional council water qual-ity rules start to take effect. These are likely to limit stock numbers, leading to less degradation of soils.
Hedley says New Zealand generally
treats pasture soils on the lowlands and rolling terraces very well. Pasture pro-vides energy for the soil and for the live-stock that graze it.
“Perhaps there are a few soils where we might do a bit of treading damage in winter but we have all the technol-ogy to improve that. This is the classi-cal area in New Zealand that we don’t do too well.”
The decision many years ago to plant pasture on steep slopes is now causing sediment to erode from hill-sides into rivers, one of New Zealand’s biggest water quality problems.
“It can take 25-30 years for a raw slip to regenerate a topsoil. If that was on a productive area of a farm and you wanted to regenerate it I think we have the technologies to renovate them faster.
“But of course, the idea now is to
identify those areas and plant them with poplars or com-mercial forests, so that’s proba-bly the solution and it will lead to be more land use change.”
Hedley sees dif-ferent problems aris-ing with soils used for cropping and commer-cial vegetable growing.
“With arable farming the key thing in a lot of our fine-texture soils is that their structure is maintained by soil organic matter. All arable programmes, in respect of good agricultural practice, should have a renovation phase when the soils are put back in pasture.
“This pasture pumps organic matter into the soil
which helps the structure. It enables air to move in
and out of the soil, and water to drain freely from the soil…. Good agricultural practice focuses on putting
pasture into rotation.” More education on
how to manage soil is needed, Hedley
says. A lot of science is available
but people need their memories ‘refreshed’ about the practice. This will happen in part with new environmental regulations as farmers are forced to look more closely at how they manage land.
PETER BURKE
Prof Mike Hedley
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
4 NEWS
Cereal yields okay, so farTHE SOUTH Island drought doesn’t seem to have had too much impact on crop yields to date, par-ticularly where irrigation’s been available.
Barley sown in the autumn or winter on heavier dryland has gen-erally come in at average or only slightly below par; where irrigated the sunny season’s seen better than average output and one, as yet unconfirmed, report of a world record.
Unsurprisingly, given
the fine weather, progress is well ahead of normal with some early wheats taken already too.
“Part of the prob-lem getting cultivar trial results is the guys have been so busy harvesting,” said FAR’s research man-ager cereals, Rob Craigie.
Last week he wasn’t able to relay the detail of what’s been done so far but did have some aver-ages from sites in Canter-bury. Autumn sown barley off dryland at Chert-sey averaged about 8t/ha, compared to a four year
mean of 8.5t/ha, while irri-gated plots were in the 12-13t/ha range, suggesting an average a little over the 12.2t/ha four year mean.
Meanwhile at FAR’s St Andrews site in South Canterbury dryland bar-leys averaged 9.4t/ha.
“That’s pretty good for autumn sown barley and it was off a lighter soil for the area, not one of the stronger clays.”
Dryland wheat plots at St Andrews came in at a “pretty pleasing” 9.5t/ha while inland at Fairlie wheats averaged 10.5t/ha,
ANDREW SWALLOW
again without irrigation.“It will be interesting
to see how yields across the district compare,” says Craigie. “If those are representative of dryland yields this year I think growers will be pretty pleased.”
Feed wheat trials at Bulls, Rangitikei, did simi-larly well averaging 11.4t/ha, “quite a good result” for the site. Barley there hadn’t been cut last week as it was spring sown.
Chair of Federated Farmers Grain and Seed in South Canterbury, Colin Hurst, says winter wheats in the region have done “surprisingly well” though where sowing conditions were compromised by the wet in April they’ve suf-fered.
“They’ve been doing 6t to 10t off dryland depend-ing on the soil. The test weights have been good and they’ve thrashed out well.”
A big plus on his own farm at Makikihi was four days harvesting without having to dry grain. “Some farms have finished their harvest. That would be three weeks earlier than normal.”
Dryland ryegrass seed crops have “really suf-fered” in the dry, with yields down about 50% but autumn sown barley, like most wheats, has been good.
“Spring barley is pretty ordinary though. It’s short and the straw’s just pul-verised. It’s not unex-pected given the rainfall we’ve had.”
In Mid Canterbury Hurst’s Feds counterpart, Joanne Burke, says from what she’s heard barley yields off irrigated land “have held up quite nicely at 10-11t/ha” but off dry-land they’ve “lost about 4t/ha” coming in at 5.5-6t/ha.
“It all depends. It’s
been very patchy.”On their own farm just
inland of Rakaia dryland barley looked good but failed to deliver despite good silt loam soils.
“It had good heads on it but the grain size was horrifically small. That’s where it lost the yield.”
High winds, mostly hot norwesters with an occa-sional southerly cooler, did the damage, she believes.
“We had them pretty well all through Decem-ber.”
Straw yields from irri-gated crops have been good and with burning banned due to fire risk every bit’s been baled. Dryland straw volumes are probably half what they would be in a normal year so whether there will be more available overall compared to when some is burnt remains to be seen. One thing’s certain: it’s in demand.
“We’ve got every mer-chant wanting to snap up any straw they can and all the contractors are doing the same. It’s going to be an interesting situa-tion until we can sort out what’s actually out there.”
Back in South Can-terbury but off much lighter land than FAR’s St Andrews site, Peter Scott says his irrigated autumn sown barley “probably went about 8t/ha, but we put quite a bit of water on it. We went over it three times [with gun irriga-tors] where we’d normally only go once.”
Given the season and that his barley pad-docks by Timaru airport are “some of the lightest ground in Canterbury” he said he was “pretty happy with that.”
“The key was we got it in reasonably early. If it had been a spring crop I would have expected it would do half that.”
Despite the dry, harvests have been good around the country.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 5
It’s official: drought!
OFFICIAL DECLARA-TION that the South Island’s drought is a medium-scale adverse event has been widely welcomed by farmers and their representatives.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy made the announcement at a meeting of about 40 rural leaders, near Lake Opuha, last week before meeting media overlook-ing the dam for a photo call.
“The feedback from the meeting was that farmers have made early decisions… and by and large are coping well but the concern is the long-term forecast is for not a lot of rain,” he told Rural News.
Besides the immediate financial impact, which a speaker at the meet-ing said would already be $170-200,000 for a typical 3000 stock unit sheep and beef farm, the forecast means lack of winter feed is a mounting concern, said Guy.
MPI is working with Federated Farmers to compile an inventory, which will also include an assessment of likely PKE imports.
“We need to make sure there’s enough PKE coming in for the dairy industry and others that decide to use it.”
The adverse event declaration makes funds available for Rural Sup-port Trust activities, facil-itates tax tools such as
provisional tax deferral and income equalisation, and provides welfare sup-port in cases of extreme hardship.
Asked if the tax mea-sures had come in time for deferral of provisional tax payments, the Minister answered the declaration “makes it easier for IRD to realise farms are in partic-ular affected regions and are getting the necessary support.”
He declined to com-pare the scale and extent of the current drought with previous events which triggered declara-tions in the North Island.
“This is different. There’s a higher demand on irrigation across the South Island… I wouldn’t want to compare it with other droughts.”
Mackenzie Basin farmer Andrew Simpson was at the meeting and said it was good that Gov-ernment has recognised the drought is a big issue.
“The winter feed issue is going to be critical… and there’s real concern for the store stock sales and whether everything’s going to find a home.”
Cast for age sales and autumn calf sales could also prove a problem, he warned.
“There could be an impact on the calf sales. It will depend on demand from the North Island.”
And as if feed wasn’t short enough anyway, rab-bits are on the rise too.
“This is a season just made for rabbits. It needs to be recognised the
ANDREW SWALLOW impact they’re having… The South Island high country is in real need of the new strain of the calici virus.”
Greg Anderson, who farms upstream of Lake Opuha, was also at the meeting and welcomed the Minister’s announce-ment.
“I’m pleased with what they’re trying to do. It rec-ognises the stress that’s out there in the rural com-munity. It’s no silver bullet and there are no hand outs of money but there is some help for the Rural Support Trust.”
The ability to put money from capital stock sales into IRD’s income equalisations scheme, and take it back out without the normal mandatory six month wait, would be a real benefit of the declara-tion, he added.
“My concern is if we don’t get autumn rain is where will the stock go in winter. If the feed crops don’t yield we’ll either have to buy in feed of sell capital stock.”
Already all lambs have had to go store, where
they’re normally fin-ished, and while he “got lucky” sending a truck-load away just before the price crashed, his aver-age will be “$60 per lamb if I’m lucky, more likely mid 50s” compared to an $82/head average last
season. And with the rams due to go out in a couple of months, it looks likely next year’s income will be hit too.
“My aim is to lose as little as possible this year, and not lose it again next year!”
Opuha Dam chief executive Tony McCormack (left) and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy at last week’s official drought declaration.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
6 NEWS
ARE THEY TAKING THE P#SS?
A NEW device which com-bines robotics, mechanics and chemistry is set to hit the market to combat one of the biggest problems on dairy farms – nitrogen leach-ing from cow urine patches.
Mini-Me is a robotic device that tows Spikey, which detects urine patches and then sprays them with a liquid nitrogen inhibitor to defuse the patch and encour-age greater grass growth around it.
It’s the work of three men: Bert Quin, well known in the fertiliser industry; Geoff Bates, a robotic spe-cialist; and a soil chemist, Peter Bishop.
They demonstrated the device at the recent Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre conference at Massey Uni-
versity last week. Bates says the pollution
source on dairy farms that hasn’t been able to be con-trolled until now is leaching nitrates; the worst culprit is cow urine patches. “The urine patches are concen-trated and the grass can’t absorb it,” he says.
Spikey is fully opera-tional, for towing around paddocks by a quad. Mini-Me, the robot, is in the final stage of development. The plan is to hitch Spikey to Mini Me and unleash them on paddocks.
Quin says the spikes on Spikey cut through herbage in a paddock and ensure the sensors and the spray equip-ment work properly. The prototype on show has the spikes exposed, but in the commercial version these will be covered, much like a lawn mower.
PETER BURKE
Farming within limits, complexFARMERS IN New Zealand are starting to ‘cotton on’ to the con-cept of farming within environ-mental limits.
That’s the view of associate professor Graeme Doole, who specialises in environmental eco-nomics at Waikato University. He told delegates at the recent Fer-tiliser and Lime Centre work-shop at Massey University that farming within limits is a new and scary concept to many farmers.
Farmers tend to be focused on production and use this, rather than profit, as their yardstick of success. Many regard boasting about profit as obscene and some don’t know their profit until their accountant has done their books, he says.
In New Zealand production
is seen by the wider commu-nity as an indicator of regional vitality. “They say if we with-draw milk production out of a regional economy it will [dimin-ish] the number of jobs in the processing sector. They also say production… is important so we can retain our existing markets overseas.”
But Doole says the issue is more complex than that and there is a link between produc-tion and nitrogen leaching which is a major issue on dairy farms. In catchment areas where nitrogen loss is an issue in water quality, farmers are faced with having to downscale production to comply with limits.
“So that’s the dilemma. But there are creative ways to solve that. We’ve found in some applied work that at a milk price below $7.00/kgMS farmers can
produce less but make more money.
“If you over-intensify a farm – especially with expensive infra-structure or by carrying too much stock – you can end up produc-ing more but making less money because of the marginal cost of the feed.”
Doole says they have evalu-ated cow house systems, which
cost $750-$1000 per cow, and these usually show a reduction in nitrogen leaching of 15-20% if they are well managed. But on less well managed farms the reduction in nitrogen leaching can be as low as 3%.
“We are also getting a ten-dency towards very expensive cow house systems, especially in the South Island – $4000-$5000 per cow, especially free stall barns. [In that range] people are so highly indebted that they are intensifying to pay the debt and that’s eroding any benefit the system has for decreased leach-ing.”
Doole is confident farm-ers will adapt to the new rules. They previously coped with the removal of subsidies, though some fell out of the industry, and he expects the present changes will have much the same effect.
PETER BURKE
Graeme Doole
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 7
Lower prices the main problemTHE SOUTH Island drought has already hit most drystock farmers hard in the pocket and the concern over winter feed is mounting.
“The biggest issue is most farmers have had to sell stock at much lower prices than they were expecting so financially they’re already well behind,” Federated Farmers South Canterbury Meat and Fibre chairman Miles Ander-son told Rural News.
“In many cases they’re going to have to buy in feed too so their costs are going to blow out as well.”
On his farm he’s already feeding out to all ewes, using wholecrop barley silage made in December. “That was a cash [grain] crop I had to turn into feed. It was a good crop too.”
The overall feed situation in the area is already “fairly dire” and getting worse every week without good rain. Last Monday’s 10-15mm was a lifeline to brassica and beet feed crops but didn’t revive pastures which have browned off even on the most reliable south faces.
Anderson says even without the drought the winter feed situation in
the area would have been tight and now winter feed crop yields will be down and stocks of baleage and silage are being eaten into already.
Most farms have offloaded young stock already, many having to sell lambs that would normally be finished as stores.
“I sold 300 stores in November for $85/head because I could see it was get-ting dry then, and another 200 in the first week of January for $70-71/head,” says Anderson. “We normally finish all our own lambs and buy in more to finish in the winter.”
This year that’s definitely not going to be an option but he is still hopeful his brassica and fodder beet crops will pro-vide for his 1600 ewes and 400 replace-ments.
“We will batten down the hatches and try to keep hold of our capital stock. We don’t want to be in the position of having to buy back into capital stock when it rains because the drought’s so widespread it’s going to be difficult to get back in. If it was just South Canter-bury you might take the risk.”
His brassica winter feed, direct drilled in November into pasture that
had been sprayed out two months pre-viously, is still only 20cm high. “After two months [growth] we’d normally expect it to be two or three times that – 50cm tall at least. But the plants are there so they should survive.”
Fodder beet – 4ha of it and the first time he’s grown it – is “surprisingly
good too,” he adds. “I thought it would die but it seems to be a pretty hardy plant.”
Crucially though the paddock had been fallowed all winter so there was moisture to depth in the seedbed. “It just needs rain too.”
So far he says most farmers in the
area seem to be coping with the stress.“Sheep farmers are used to disap-
pointment,” he quips. “But if it drags on it will be a good idea to keep an eye on your neighbours and keep talking. It’s not so bad when you realise every-body is in the same boat.”
ANDREW SWALLOW
No response: 13mm of rain last Monday failed to revive South Canterbury’s parched pastures, says Feds’ local meat and fibre chair, Miles Anderson.
TO PAGE 12
Brighter rear tail lightfor improved safety and visibility
New more aggressive tyreprofile
Independent Rear Suspensionfor added comfort &
terrain negotiation
Massive 600kg towing capacity
urability and reliability have always been a Honda strength, however our product
innovation can’t be overlooked.
In 2014 Honda had a great story to tell with an all-new ATV range. With a completely
redesigned and much stronger chassis, new splash proof bodywork, revised fuel
mapping for smoother running, improved fuel economy, and redesigned running
parts for even more durability.
Honda now introduces new additions to the range, with a further host of upgrades
and independent rear suspension options. For 2015 the Honda story gets even better…
Increased rear rack capacity
www.hondamotorbikes.co.nzAt participating Honda dealers only. Specifications may not apply to all models. Contact your local Honda Dealer for more information.
THE BEST...JUST GOT BETTER
Number 8 wirelessHow Kiwi farmers are using data to meet demands
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An impending global food shortage and strict environmental regulations are forcing farmers to rethink the way they work. The world population is expected to increase 47 per cent, to 8.9 billion, by 2050, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity. To sustain this massive population growth and meet increasing food demands, the agriculture industry must double its output in the next 30 years – despite little new arable land and water.
Things are hotting up Earlier this year the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology released data showing that the global average temperature is expected to increase by 4.8 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. This could reduce average annual rainfall totals, resulting in more droughts as well as heavier rain leading to flooding. Meanwhile the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts a rise in global temperatures of just 1 degree Celsius would slow the rate of growth for corn by 7 per cent and wheat by about 6 per cent – not ideal when your goal is increased production.
But help is at hand. Entrepreneurs are busy developing innovative land management tools that help streamline efficiencies, increase productivity and lessen environmental impact. They can
even help improve the bottom line. It’s hardly surprising that farming is reinventing itself to embrace the digital age.
Kiwi entrepreneurs are smartening up the farm New Zealand developed technology is playing a big part in increasing agribusiness efficiency. Take Precision Farming, a system that allows farmers to see when, where and how much fertiliser has been deposited using satellite GPS technology installed in the vehicle spreading the fertilizer. Data is sent via Vodafone’s nationwide 2G network to Precision Farming’s secure server which then overlays that information on a computerised map. By avoiding wastage, Precision Farming helps farmers save time and money and create less environmental damage.
Ensuring the farm’s soil moisture levels are optimal for retaining nutrients within the soil root zone is better for the crops, the environment and the budget.
WaterForce uses Vodafone’s machine-to-machine network to measure soil moisture and monitor water levels, while SCADAfarm technology monitors the irrigation pumps for pressures, flows and faults, and enables remote ‘on and off’ control of pivot irrigators as well as the ability to adjust the amount of water used. The data can be accessed on any internet capable device, with text and email notifications also available.
New Zealand company Trackit has developed a Livestock Tracking and Management System, which combines High Frequency RFID and GPS technologies to maintain individual livestock real-time data on milking, medication, financial details and productivity. The system is driven by a web-based platform and accessed via an iPhone application to help farmers easily manage their herd for improved productivity and better health.
What’s more, with increasingly tight environmental regulations, accurate online records help farmers prove their compliance with local bylaws. It’s just another way smart farm solutions are a welcome addition to a farmer’s toolkit.
The smart farm – putting connectivity to work A farm in the future will look very different to those today. Imagine drones doing regular
fly-overs to help monitor and record plant health, water usage and pesticide dispersal. Automated machinery could plant, till and manage crops, ensuring precisely the right distance between plants and delivering the best possible water regime. Genetically modified seeds could adapt to the conditions of where they were planted to maximise yield and cope with climate stresses. While these systems are not integrated the world over yet, some major shifts are already happening. Smart power systems, precision agriculture tools, farm management software and affordable sensors enable farmers to centralise controls, increase efficiencies and enhance on-farm safety and productivity. But that’s not all. Real-time data helps farmers identify problems instantly and even solve them remotely.
Times are changing As new ideas flood the industry and the consumerisation of IT shifts software onto smartphones and apps, and data storage moves to the cloud, technology is more affordable and easier to implement. High-speed internet and wireless
networks extend from the office to sheds, while machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions transform the way rural businesses operate by enabling multiple business devices to connect and communicate. That means farmers can kiss walkie talkies, excel spreadsheets and notepads goodbye in favour of smartphones, tablets and software that automates farming applications. And with a new generation of technology-weaned millennials taking over the family farm, it’s little wonder the uptake on these innovations is picking up pace.
The answer for any farm is to be ready for the future by embracing technologies that let you work more efficiently and productively while reducing environmental impact. And the more intelligently your business is connected, the more ready it can be.
To find out how Vodafone’s innovative solutions can help you become a Ready Business, visit vodafone.co.nz/readybusiness
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 9
Long way to go to meet $4.70
THE GLOBAL Dairy Trade will still have “to travel a lot of distance” to sus-tain Fonterra’s current farmgate milk price of $4.70/kgMS, Fonterra’s chair-man John Wilson says.
But he also says that NZ produc-tion is now dropping at such a rate that it is falling below levels of the 2012-13 drought.
The Fonterra board will update the farmgate milk price forecast again this month under DIRA requirements.
Meanwhile, Wilson told the North-land Dairy Development Trust annual conference last week that the Septem-ber $5.30/kgMS forecast was based on the view that GDT whole milk powder prices would move up to $3500/t by February, March and April. The $4.70 is based on that happening a lot later in the year.
But he says the $4.70 still requires prices “to continue to lift from where they are today”. Despite the lift in the February 3 auction (WMP was up 19.2% to $2874/t) “we still have to travel a lot of distance before we can support that
$4.70/kgMS forecast,” Wilson warned.The current forecast dividend of
25-35c will be updated when Fonterra announces half year results in March.
Fonterra had a record production year in 2013-14, Wilson says. “What we’re seeing in 2014-15 is a higher peak but now the drought is starting to kick in and it is right across the country.
“We’re now starting to see produc-tion moving rapidly below the levels of the drought year of 2012-13.
“I said two weeks ago that we are 6% behind on a daily basis; at the end of January five days after I put out that
chairman’s update we were 8% behind on a daily basis; this week we are 10% behind. So we’re starting to see it drop quickly.”
Wilson says analysts agree that about $3500/t for whole milk powder is needed in the marketplace or milk just won’t be produced. “Farmers will stop producing it – that’s what we’re seeing right now. Farmers are making logical decisions. We’re seeing it in Northland right now… your production up here is 5% down on a daily basis.
“Farmers are good business people; you are not going to throw feed in at
[prevailing] prices if the economics are not there. We’ve seen that response globally as prices start to come down.
“The key message fundamental to this forum is that we must watch our cost of production. We’re in a global marketplace and we have to ensure we can produce milk and sustain these prices of below $3500/t because above that is where the grain feed guys start to produce a lot of milk.”
Europe has had a good production season, Wilson says. He was there in June and July and has never seen it looking so good.
Farmers were producing a lot of everything. “And they were very confi-dent because the quotas in place since 1983 – [like] farming with a brick on their head – are at last coming off, in May. There was a lot of optimism and they were thinking they could produce more milk. When they produced more milk than their quota they were happy to pay the levy because they were get-ting a high price and producing cheap milk.
“At that stage milk production in Europe was 4.3% up – that’s 6 billion litres – remember we’re 18 billion litres
so a third of our milk production lifted over 2014 out of Europe.”
Russia has since banned imported dairy product from Europe. And Europe has followed the global price down in the last eight weeks so the price at the farmgate has dropped dramatically.
“It is the biggest month-on-month drop in the farmgate milk price ever experienced in Europe – paid by the key cooperatives Arla and Friesland Campina; it’s starting to have a big impact. They’re saying they won’t be producing the milk during the next three months because they can’t afford to pay that levy for extra milk.
“We have had milk production up significantly in Europe. We’re expect-ing it to come down over the next 2-3 months but once quota comes off it will be based on the economics of pro-ducing milk and so we forsee about 2% growth in Europe.”
The New Zealand production fore-cast is 3.3% down on last year, with a big drop during autumn. Australia is start-ing to be impacted by dry conditions, but China’s own milk production is up this year and US production is expected to increase.
PAM TIPA
Fonterra chairman John Wilson says the co-op will update the milk price again this month.
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or pleasure for more than two weeks, this could be a sign of depression. You’re not alone.One in six New Zealanders will experience depression at some time in their life. Understanding more about depression can help you fi nd a way through.Join JK at depression.org.nz, or call the Depression Helpline 0800 111 757. depression.org.nz/rural
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
10 NEWS
Water allocation adds to feed shortage
On-farm ponds have a place, but more as a buffer than to add storage, says Opuha Water chief executive Tony McCormick
THE DROUGHT in South Canterbury has prompted one non-irrigating farmer in the Opuha Water area to question the irrigation firm’s first-come, first-served water allocation.
“The way the water’s
allocated has exacerbated the feed shortage,” says Jeremy Talbot, who farms nearby at Waitohi. “The dairy farms have used it all, in some cases far from efficiently and now there’s none left for the cropping farmers to grow the winter feed that’s so
badly needed.”Cropping farmers miss
out because their demand is low mid-summer when combinable crops are ripening but most years they need water after harvest to establish green feeds such as oats or brassica for winter.
ANDREW SWALLOW“That’s especially
important in a year like this when, given the looming feed shortage, they could plant an increased area to meet the demand. But they’re unlikely to take the risk because the water’s not available,” says Talbot.
With the prospect of water running out, irrigation has been running 24/7, even in hot nor’west weather when it should have been turned off to conserve supplies and reduce losses, argues Talbot.
“But nobody’s been doing that, even though they’ve been on 50% restriction for nearly two months. Admittedly, on-off irrigation is hard to manage with the scheme’s current layout but that could be fixed with either on-farm or communal storage. There are plenty of sites in the catchment that would need little more than a liner to make a useful pond.”
Opuha Water chief executive Tony McCormick acknowledges the different water use patterns depending on land use. “I am aware of the calls by some
shareholders to review how we allocate water through the season and this will undoubtedly be part of our review of the season and our operation in a dry season.”
However, the dam has met demand every other season since it was commissioned in 1999. “[We expect to] be able to supply the reasonable needs of all our shareholders.”
With regard to Talbot’s pond suggestion, McCormick says Opuha’s water supply agreements require any stores of water taken from the scheme to have board approval. “Essentially this is because any storage pond operated by an individual irrigator impacts on the reliability of all our shareholders. We are a collective, co-operative company so
it is essential we manage the interests of all our shareholders.”
A policy on private storage ponds is being developed. “The concept of ponds that can store water from one part of the season for [use in] another is quite different from anything that has either been built or considered to date. [Storage] is the function of the lake.”
The few existing onfarm ponds are typically to buffer storage and allow application rates that may be different from what the scheme delivers, he explains.
Onfarm ponds filled in winter could, in principle, improve reliability but many irrigation consents have seasonal limits on them, which could create a problem with winter
filling, he adds.The scheme already
has a few ponds downstream of the dam but they are to improve distribution efficiency rather than add storage. For example, adding an 80,000m3 buffer pond has allowed one branch of the scheme to be doubled from 300ha to 600ha.
“A pond to ‘store’ just one month’s water sufficient for 300ha would need to be four times larger. The bottom line is there is considerably better ‘bang-for-buck’ in building integrated operational buffer ponds than in building storage ponds on farm. We already have the storage facility in the lake.”
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 11
‘Shear’ hard work for cancerLOSING FAMILY to cancer has prompted two Central Otago farmers to hold a fundraising ‘Shear for Life’ marathon on Feb-ruary 28 to March 1.
The Teviot Valley farmers, Cole Wells and James Hill, will shear crossbred lambs for 24 hours to raise money for research and treatment of prostate cancer. This attempt is a first in New Zealand by full-time shearers, let alone two farmers who only shear casually.
Both men have been in fitness training for months and will continue until the big day. They hope to shear as many as 750 crossbred lambs each. Even though this is not a world record attempt the lambs will still have to be
shorn to a high standard.A supporter, Robert
McQueen, told Rural News that Wells and Hill are generous guys seeking to raise money and aware-ness.
They both lost family members to cancer. “It wasn’t all prostate cancer but it was cancer. They decided prostate was a good one to raise money because men can be a bit ignorant, especially cock-ies, about going along and getting checked.”
They have talked to Rotary, Lions and other organisations that have come on board, but the pair have also been flat out shearing, training and get-ting into the right ‘head-space’ for the event
They have so far raised $17,000-$20,000 in spon-sorships. They had aimed for about $24,000 but hope to exceed that.
PAM TIPA
Sponsors and sup-porters are coming “from all over the place” on the day. “It should be a good weekend, a lot of
things are lined up…. It is a big undertaking,” says McQueen.
The 24 hours will be split into 12 two-hour
runs, with 30-minute breaks every two hours, and a 60-minute break every four hours.
Wells (28) is a stock manager who has worked on stations in New Zea-land and Australia. He has never been a full-time shearer. His grand-father died in 1998 and
his ‘Pop’ in 2003. He and his wife and two children enjoy the farming life-style. Spare time pursuits include diving, rugby and hunting.
Hill (34) farms at Teviot. He has worked on farms around the South Island and recently moved home to take over
the family farm. His father died recently.
As a farmer he has shorn occasionally and is looking forward to the challenge. He has three children and in his spare time enjoys hunting, fish-ing and playing squash.
www.fundraiseonline.co.nz
Cole Wells (pictured) along with James Hill will shear for 24-hours to raise money for prostrate cancer esearch.
This attempt is a first in New Zealand by full-time shearers, let alone two farmers who only shear casually.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
12 NEWS
Landcorp’s profit plungesTHE EXCEPTIONALLY low milk price has dealt a blow to Landcorp, forcing it to post a half year profit to December 31, 2014 of just $1 million, down 92% on the same period in the previous year.
And the news is unlikely to get much better, given the effect the drought will have on the company’s profit in the next six months.
Chief executive Steven Carden told Rural News the net operating profit for the year to June 30 will be in the range $1m-$4m.
He says Landcorp has done its best to manage the fall in the milk price by taking advantage of guaranteed milk price contracts and by reining
in costs going into the lower payout year.
“But you can’t easily offset a 45% fall in the milk price from a large part of your business and replace that through cost savings or revenue from other parts of the business. The better prices for sheep and especially beef helped offset some of the fall in revenue from dairy. But we needed almost a doubling of beef prices to have any sort of impact on the fall in dairy prices. Lamb prices have softened and it hasn’t been quite the strong year in lamb that we’d anticipated.”
Carden says Landcorp’s “diversified portfolio of species” gives it more incomes streams as it further diversifies. But its wide exposure to the dairy
industry makes this hard. The company
seeks more fixed term contracts for red meat and the same for dairy to counter the volatility of the market.
It is looking at new target markets for existing products, e.g. milking sheep and deer leather. And it is selling coarse wool in partnership with Merino New Zealand.
“Since I came on board our strategy has been to move away from our concentration on dairy. Our big dairy development near Taupo is increasing our exposure so we’re working hard to find non-dairy opportunities. It’s slow progress… but in some new niche product areas we’re starting to get traction.
“We’re starting to
reach the point with bovine dairy where there is a ‘glass ceiling’ in terms of the country’s ability to take much more of it.”
Landcorp has cut costs, Carden says, but is taking care not to make short term cuts that will need reversing further down the track. Restructuring Landcorp has been to make it more sustainable.
“We’ve moved to a totally different level of costs… looking again at how we apply fertiliser… being a lot more precise in our application.
“We’re now starting to use the information out of the farm management system to make smarter decisions about the quality of our herds and flocks
and making sure we don’t waste feed. We’re constantly looking at costs in the head office and making sure everything we do in Wellington is adding
value to our farms.”Carden expects the
next six months to be hard with the low milk price and the impact of the drought, but looking 12 months out he is more
optimistic. He believes the milk
price will rise and prices for red meat will be relatively strong.
FARMING PEOPLE are now much more “climate savvy” than previ-ously, says Steven Carden.
Everyone anticipates the effects of droughts and makes better deci-sions about their businesses.
He says the present drought has hit Landcorp farms in the central North Island, parts of
Canterbury and the West Coast, all regions struggling through January.
Landcorp has culled cows early in response to the drought – stan-dard practice in the circumstances. And it has not bought many store lambs because of uncertainty about feed.
“People right across the industry have been managing the risk of climate quite well and we fall into that category.”
The company now better manages stock on its farms. Farmax is providing much better data on the feed situation, allowing better finishing and breeding.
DROUGHT HURTS STATE FARMER
Landcorp chief Steven Carden says costs have been cut, but no short-term measures have been implemented that will need to be reversed later.
Anderson says the drought is the worst he’s seen since returning from varsity in 1992 but his father Jim says 1969 was worse, though the current situation has similarities to how that started. “1968 was similar. The har-vest [in early 1969] was good but
we’d had little rain for the last half of the year, as per 2014,” he told Rural News.
“One of the things that helped in 1969 was there was feed inland and in Southland. Now, if sheep farmers need to send stock off farm they’ll find it very difficult because of the
demand from dairy.“Personally I think it should have
been declared a drought by now,” he added, before news of the minister’s trip to the province and subsequent declaration broke.• More on dealing with drought in Management, p32-33.
She was worse in 1969 – farmerFROM PAGE 7
SOUTH ISLAND AGRICULTURAL
FIELD DAYS
MARCH 25-27, 2015KIRWEE
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PETER BURKE
@rural_news
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
14 NEWS
Dry bites Fonterra’s milk supply
DRY CONDITIONS are also beginning to bite Fonterra’s North Island milk collection, which last month was 110 million kgMS – 1% lower than Jan-uary last season.
The co-op says condi-tions dried out markedly in January; little rain fell in the North Island and above-average tempera-tures hit pasture growth.
The South Island is an even bigger problem, with dry conditions engulf-ing the east coast. South Island collection was 69 million kgMS, 5% lower than January last season.
“Dry conditions con-tinue to impact milk col-lection in the South Island and irrigation restric-tions remain a threat,” the co-op says. “Some farmers with no capacity to irri-gate face drying off early
as the current economics of supplementary feeds do not support their wide-spread use.”
There was some good news for Fonterra in Aus-tralia, where milk collec-tion for the seven months to January 31 was 82 mil-lion kgMS, 6% higher than the same period last season.
The rate of growth has slowed and milk col-lection there in January was 11 million kgMS, con-sistent with January last season.
Meanwhile Fonterra says EU production in November 2014 was 3% higher than in the same month the previous year, the seventeenth consecu-tive year-on-year increase.
Production in the year to November 2014 was 5% higher than the same period in 2013; equating to a volume of six million tonnes of liquid milk. US
production in Novem-ber increased 3% over the same month the previous year; production in the year to November 2014 was 2% higher than the same period in 2013. This increase in production in 2014 equates to one mil-lion tonnes.
Argentina and Uruguay production in November
decreased 7% compared to the same month the previous year. Production in the year to November 2014 was 4% lower than the same period in 2013. While Uruguay produc-tion in 2014 dropped 1%, Argentina’s fell almost 5% due to climatic and politi-cal challenges.
New Zealand exports
SUDESH KISSUN
in November decreased 2% compared to the same month the previous year. While exports decreased in November, they are 6% higher in the year to November 2014 than in the same period in 2013.
Fonterra says this year-to-date increase is driven by butter rising 22% and WMP 11%.
Australian exports in November decreased 1% compared to the same month the previous year. EU exports in October increased 12% compared to the same month the previous year but exports in the year to October
2014 are 5% higher than the same period in 2013. This year-to-date increase is driven by skim milk powder (SMP) rising 48% and fluid and fresh milk 11%.
US exports in Novem-ber decreased 7% com-pared to the same month the previous year. How-ever, exports in the year to November 2014 are 3% higher than the same period in 2013. This year-to-date increase is impacted by cheese exports rising 23% and SMP 3%.
Argentina and Uru-guay continue to face challenges with exports, which in November decreased 13% compared to the same month the previous year. Exports in the year to November 2014 are 8% lower than the same period in 2013. This decrease is seen in most major product cat-egories excluding fluid and fresh milk, which increased 25% to Novem-ber 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.
China imports in December decreased 33% compared to the same month the previous year.
This is the fourth consec-utive month of decreasing imports.
This monthly change is impacted by WMP down 79% and SMP down 58%. However, 2014 imports for WMP and SMP remain strong, both 8% higher than in 2013. Middle East and Africa remains an important market for global dairy trade, import-ing three million tonnes annually.
Imports for Octo-ber (excluding Algeria) increased 10% compared to the same month the previous year driven by increases in most major dairy categories. Imports in the year to October 2014 are 4% higher than the same period in 2013 with fluid and fresh milk rising 24%, butter 17%, infant formula 11% and SMP 8%.
Asia (excluding China) is one of the largest mar-kets for global dairy trade, importing three million tonnes of product annu-ally. Imports for October increased 7.5% compared to the same month the previous year.
Dry conditions around the country are impacting on Fonterra’s milk collection.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 15
AN OVERWHELMING response to a sheep welfare survey of farmers, scientists and consumers shows animal wellbeing is of utmost importance to the Aus-tralian sheep industry, says Australia’s Sheep CRC.
“This survey is a first step to improve our knowl-edge in this area and to identify new methods to improve wellbeing standards on Australian farms,” says Sheep CRC chief executive James Rowe.
“Sheep producers genuinely care for the health and wellbeing of their animals and invest heavily in farm management practices, but protecting animals from threats to their health and wellbeing in exten-sive operating environments remains a major logis-tical challenge.”
The survey, which received 1530 responses, was run by the Animal Welfare Science Centre, Sheep CRC, University of Melbourne and Meat and Live-stock Australia.
The CRC’s animal wellbeing programme aims to develop new risk management information, auto-mated animal monitoring and data management sys-tems to support pro-active management decisions. Data from the survey will fine-tune the work.
“Further improving wellbeing standards will require a big spend, which the industry is making to ensure Australian sheep are provided with enhanced levels of care and protection,” says Rowe.
HAPPY SHEEP MOST IMPORTANT
Storm costs blow budgetsSTUNG $250,000 – that has been the true cost, at least, to each Hawkes Bay farmer of a storm that devastated the region in 2011.
This staggering figure comes in a research paper by Plant and Food sci-entist Ian McIvor, who says it’s likely storms in other hill country areas have cost farmers similar amounts.
McIvor, research-ing erosion prevention and mitigation, says his Hawkes Bay project was to get firm data on the eco-nomic costs to individual farmers.
Until now no-one has asked those farmers how much it cost them to repair the storm damage and how it impacted their farms, he says.
“We designed a ques-tionnaire and went to 60 farmers affected by the storm in Hawkes Bay in April 2011,” he told Rural News. “We interviewed them in September 2013….
By then they had got all their accounts in, had had time to reflect and gave us the facts and figures about the cost of repairing their farms.”
McIvor says he had no preconceived idea about the cost of repairs. But the $250,000/farm cost set him thinking farmers probably had to borrow this money at interest and pay it back some time.
“The amount included the cost of stock deaths, stock trading losses, shift-ing stock off-farm and paying for grazing some-where else, or selling it on a flooded market at a reduced price.
“In some cases, farm-ers had to dispose of lambs and other grazing stock before they were ready for sale. It’s also a loss of grazing, because land slippage and silt cov-ered the paddocks and repairs to infrastructure were high.
“A lot of stock had to be moved off because fencing had been taken out by the slips so there was no way of managing their grazing
PETER BURKE
unit especially if a bound-ary fence went down.”
Other major costs were digging out silted up dams and repairing tracks for access to their property.
$250,000 included the cost of a farmer’s labour.
Four years after the storm some farmers still haven’t repaired all their damaged fences. Peter McIvor
Working in partnership:
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
16 NEWS
Jury still out on housing cows
HOUSING COWS can either lift profitability or improve the environmen-tal footprint but not both, according to a new study.
The DairyNZ-led study says investment in a cow
barn can only be profit-able through more inten-sive farming, bringing in more cows and feed. However, a barn without intensification will result in a reduction in nitro-gen losses but at a signifi-cant cost.
Intensifying the farm
system to make the investment profitable can often result in a rapid ero-sion of environmental benefits.
The study collected data from five South Island farms running free stall barn systems – two in Southland and three in
Canterbury. DairyNZ senior econ-
omist Matthew Newman and AgFirst consultant Phil Journeaux last week presented the interim results of the study at the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society’s (AARES) confer-
ence in Rotorua.Newman says the jury
is still out on whether investing in a wintering barn is a good financial or environmental move.
The study shows inclusion of a barn with-out intensification of the farming system may
SUDESH KISSUN
Matt Newman
reduce nitrogen losses, but at a significant cost.
With good manage-ment and intensifying the farming system, the investment in a barn can be profitable but this is dependent on the milk price, feed costs and ini-tial capital outlay, the study finds.
Intensifying the farm system to make the barn profitable often erodes the environmental ben-efits.
“Overall, the deci-sion on a barn tends to be either/or – either you make money out of it or you reduce the envi-ronmental footprint of the farm. It is difficult to achieve both,” says Newman.
The study showed the farmers generally invested in wintering barns for farm management reasons such as reducing pug-ging of paddocks, better utilisation of supplemen-tary feed, better control of grazing management and feeding, shelter for stock during poor weather, better working conditions and to reduce the cost of wintering cows over the winter. Financial and envi-ronmental considerations
were well down the list.For most farms, a barn
incurred the high cost of more or new machinery and other farm infrastruc-ture. However, the cost of similar barns varied a lot.
“Incorporating a barn changes the system and most of the farmers in the study were taking two to three years to adjust the system to a level they felt was appropriate. They require a change in man-agement and often more attention to detail, partic-ularly on nutrition,” says Matthew.
In general, farmers with barns were trading some of their climatic risks for financial risks, particularly servicing increased borrowings and sourcing appropriate supplementary feed, he says.
THE STUDY THE FINANCIAL analysis used an investment cost-benefit approach calculating the net present value and internal rate of return over a 20-year cashflow, using a base discount rate of 8% real. The base milk price used was $6.50/kgMS.
Three of the five farms in the study had a posi-tive internal rate of return but only one had a posi-tive net present value, meeting the 8% discount rate.
The analysis considered capital costs and increased operating costs, offset by a reduction in some costs (e.g. less fertiliser) and increased milk solids production. In most cases the barn resulted in increased cow numbers and supplementary feeding levels.
Stage two of the study on the economic and nutrient loss impacts of constructing and running cow housing facilities will include a further nine Waikato barns.
A final report with full results from the study will be completed at the end of March 2015.
Check out our websiteswww.ruralnews.co.nzwww.dairynews.co.nz
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 17
Jacqueline Rowarth, “NZ has an educated farmer base and enviable resources”.
Play straight bat in global marketsNEW ZEALAND export-ers need to play with a straight bat to maintain trust and reputation in key markets, says Jacque-line Rowarth, professor of agribusiness, Massey Uni-versity.
Rowarth says holding the line on food quality, which includes safety, will make New Zealand animal protein highly desired. “China is likely to remain a major destination, but other countries will also be interested,” she told Rural News.
Rowarth was com-menting on a report released last week by PricewaterhouseCoo-pers (PwC) that says New Zealand’s future lies with China despite a slowdown in growth. PwC forecasts China among the fast-est growing economies to 2050 and says New Zea-land’s trade deal offers more promise.
Rowarth says New Zealand has an educated farmer base and enviable resources. “Playing with a straight bat’ will build trust and keep our rep-utation as honest play-ers/producers with other countries,” she says.
PwC economics direc-tor Chris Money says New Zealand’s future truly lies with China and its fore-casts reinforce the impor-tance of New Zealand’s focus on Pacific Rim trade deals.
“Currently, China is equal with the US in pur-chasing power parity (US$17 billion each) but by 2050, China’s GDP in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms will treble to US$60 billion, which is 25% higher than the US, and more than three times the combined GDP (in PPP terms) of the EU.
“Trade between the fastest growing countries presents opportunities for New Zealand as a transit point for goods and ser-vices by air and sea. Links between South America
and China, Indonesia and India present significant opportunities for us as a trans-shipment destina-tion,” says Money.
India has the poten-tial to sustain its higher growth rate for longer and become a US$10 trillion economy by about 2020 in purchasing power (PPP) terms, or about 2035 at market exchange rates. But this relies on India making sustained prog-ress on infrastructure investment, institutional reforms and boosting edu-cation levels among the whole population.
“The importance of New Zealand’s free trade discussions with India are underlined by this fore-cast as the fastest growing of our largest trading part-ners and set to become
the second largest econ-omy in the world by 2050,” says Money.
The report presents long-term projections of potential GDP growth up to 2050 for 32 of the larg-est economies, covering 84% of total global GDP and indicates that the world economy is pro-jected to grow at an aver-age of just over 3% per annum from 2014-50 – doubling in size by 2037 and nearly tripling by 2050. But there’s likely to be a slowdown in global growth after 2020, as the rate of expansion in China and some other major emerging economies moderates to a more sus-tainable long-term rate, and as working age pop-ulation growth slows in many large economies.
SUDESH KISSUN
[email protected] REPORT PROJECTIONS❱❱ China will clearly be the largest economy by 2030, but its
growth rate is likely to revert to the global average in the long run
❱❱ India could challenge US for second place by 2050
❱❱ Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria could push UK and France out of top 10
❱❱ Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia are also set to be notable risers
❱❱ Colombia and Poland will grow more strongly to 2050 than Brazil and Russia.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
18 NEWS
Time we stopped treating soil like dirt!SOIL SCIENTISTS need to engage more with society and educate people about the importance of soil.
That’s the view of soil scientist Dr Marta Camps of Massey University. Camps is the New Zealand representa-tive on a Food and Agricultural Organ-isation (FAO) technical panel helping to organise activities to mark World Soil Year in 2015.
One initiative by FAO worldwide is an awareness campaign about the everyday importance of soil to every-one on the planet.
“Many people now live in cities
and are not connected with farms and where food comes from so we need to raise awareness of the importance of soils to food security,” she told Rural News.
“And also about the role soils have on eco systems services, for example in storing carbon, filtering nutrients and its role on hydrology. Soil has many implications for all of us.”
In New Zealand it is planned to appoint three young soil graduates as ‘soil ambassadors’. They will work part time and visit schools to talk about soil.
“We want to try to break the lan-guage problem soil scientists have. It has been a problem for many years because they talk in strange technical
terms and we want to make soil sci-ence attractive. It is complex and this can scare people.”
Camps points out with rising pop-ulations and urban sprawl, the pres-sure on productive land is increasing. The amount of productive land avail-able to each person is rapidly declin-
ing and FAO estimates that by 2050 a mere 0.1ha will be available. Urban sprawl in places like Auckland high-lights the challenges of protecting pro-ductive land.
Camps is on an intergovernmen-tal technical panel planning to final-ise a document on the ‘status of soils’
worldwide. At an international level there are
many challenges to getting an agree-ment on how to manage soils. Cul-tural and economic differences are the obvious obstacles. It took three years of meetings to establish the global part-nership on soils alone.
PETER BURKE
Soil scientist Marta Camps says the growing world population is increasing pressure on soils.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 19
Arla makes move in Australia
EUROPEAN DAIRY co-op Arla Foods is boosting its dairy presence in Aus-tralia in a joint venture with Australia’s largest cheese importer, F. Mayer Imports.
Arla says the partner-ship will extend the suc-cess ‘down under’ of its specialty cheese brand Castello at a time when Australians are craving quality, culture and arti-san cheese. The joint venture, Arla Foods Mayer Australia Pty Ltd, will market, sell, and distribute imported and local products Castello cheese, Lurpak butter and other Arla products. It will also sell products from other producers in Europe and Australia via F. Mayer.
Arla Foods aims to raise annual revenue in Australia from its current $49m to $208m.
All Arla’s business in Australia will be through
F. Mayer Imports, the country’s biggest importer of cheese products and Arla’s preferred distribu-tor for 30 years.
The move is part of Arla’s worldwide efforts to enter new, attractive markets. The co-op is sup-plied by its 13,500 farmers in Northern Europe. Aus-tralia has 23 million con-sumers, many wanting specialty dairy products, Arla says.
“Although the overall Australian dairy market is seeing only low growth rates, the market for spe-cialty cheese is lively and growing,” says Arla’s man-aging director in Austra-lia, Lars Eggers, who will become the general man-ager of the joint venture.
“Australians want to be inspired by quality food, including artisan cheese…. A rich-food culture is clearly on the rise and we believe we have the prod-
ucts to tap into that move-ment.
“We hope to… [drive] the specialty cheese cate-gory [with] products that already inspire consumers in many other parts of the world. Castello cheese has
been sold in Australia for 35 years and our partner, F. Mayer, has been sourc-ing specialty cheese from all the great cheese coun-tries for decades, so we have a good foundation to build on.”
ARLA FOODS MAYER FACTS
■ Arla Foods to own 51% share, F. Mayer Imports to own 49%
■ Head office in Sydney ■ Marketing, sales, distribution of dairy prod-
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Foods ■ The joint venture will on May 4.
Arla Foods is boosting its presence in Australia.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
20 NEWS
Price moves more than just the dollar, claims wool manTHE LOWER dollar is one of the main influences behind the present buoyant wool market but there are other posi-tive indicators, says NZ Wool Services International’s Purelana manager Mal-colm Ching.
“A fair chunk of what’s happening at the moment is currency related and so the farmer in New Zealand is getting a higher price on a lower dollar,” Ching told Rural News.
“It doesn’t mean the client is neces-sarily paying much more.
“In some areas there is market pres-sure because of supply and demand. You see that in the lamb sector – last year China was asleep on lambs’ fleece. This year they came in on the first lot that turned up on the market. They were in very strongly and have stayed strong all the way through and look like
they will stay here for the rest of the season on lamb – particu-larly to around 30-31 micron. Once you get past that it’s a little quieter.”
Fashion is driving some demand, with Shetland fabric in again this year.
Wool of 27-30 micron is mixed with other wools from other origins to make apparel or knitting yarn and there seems to be growth in that area.
“So fashion is driving the growth, as is the underpinning of the market by the Wools of New Zealand’s Camira contract which requires quite a volume. When you’ve got one area targeted quite heavily then you naturally get this pressure.
“For one reason or another there doesn’t seem to be as much available on the market this time this year. That could be drought related and there’re several factors locally.
“The Chinese have been very active as well up to their New Year break, which they are in now for the next two or three weeks; so they did a lot of buying
up to that time to make sure they had wool arriving for when they came back. That also put a bit of steam into some of your fine crossbreds and hogget types.”
Interesting to note, says Ching, is there is no reduction in demand from Australasia and the Middle East for carpet wools. “We are surprised at that because with the price of oil
having dropped so much, a lot of syn-thetic fibres are up to 40-50% cheaper than last year.
“With a competing fibre being down so much on the previous year we were anticipating wool would take a signifi-cant drop because a lot of manufactur-ers just look at what fibre is available and what the price is and adjust their manufacture accordingly.
“Some of that has happened but not to the degree anticipated which indicates there is now this underlying demand for wool, and we’ve reached a level where it doesn’t seem to matter what happens too much with other things around us, the volume of wool that is required is reasonably static, which is positive. Maybe we have reached that plateau.”
There are so many “wildcards” it is too soon to call it a firm trend, says Ching. But it bucks the way clients nor-mally react.
“We have even had people place a 100 tonne order and they come back two days later and want to double it. Normally they would wait three weeks or a month.”
The double North and South Island sales held recently, with two more to go, historically can tend to put pressure on supply with more than people are pre-pared to take on their books.
“That hasn’t happened and we are about to finish those double sales and then we go to on sales on alternate weeks.
“That puts pressure on the amount of wool available on the market, so we’ve got through the hump of the higher flow volume and yet we’ve got a firm market.
“But a lot is dollar related; if we had been in the mid 1980s I don’t know if we’d be saying the same things.”
PAM TIPA
Malcolm Ching
@rural_news
facebook.com/ruralnews
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NEWS 21
WOOL SERVICES International (WSI) is helping NZ Merino and Landcorp with plans to develop branded products linked back to the farm, says WSI Purelana manager Malcolm Ching.
The Landcorp wool is still on the market, but it is not going to auction so it is not open to the whole trade, Ching told Rural News in answer to a question about reports that Landcorp is now directing all its wool clip through NZ Merino.
“It is being channelled through NZ Merino and directed mainly to ourselves and we are working with NZ Merino and Landcorp to try to develop branded and direct products where it is linked straight from farm all the way to the end user.
“So we’re working with NZ Merino and with some of our clients offshore to try to use the New Zealand model. I won’t say it’s [exactly] like Icebreaker or Little Perriam because we’re talking different fibres. You’re not in high fashion, you are in the product that is pre-dominantly in carpeting.
“But there are clients out there who want to do branded carpet ranges and to do that you need to have a story that takes them all the way back to the blade of grass the sheep are eating.
“It takes a long time but you have to start some-where. The way you start is to build a supply base committed to that type of scenario and be prepared to adjust either shearing patterns, preparation, even some of their breed mix if necessary, to tailor it to something you take further down the market end channel and hopefully attach some value to.”
They are dealing with more high-end established mills in Australia and Western Europe. It is early stages; they have been working on it for 12-18 months and it will probably take another three years, he says. By Landcorp coming direct to WSI, the price base is guar-anteed to be the market price on the day, so Landcorp is not losing anything. – Pam Tipa
NZ MERINO AND LANDCORP TEAM UP
Farmer funding sought for southern hubSOUTH ISLAND dairy farmers aim to raise $2 million within three months to launch a research farm.
The Southern Dairy Hub is the best opportu-nity for southern dairy farmers to get the sup-port they need to continue farming profitably and sustainably, says Southern Dairy Development Trust (SDDT) chair Matthew Richards.
“The Southern Dairy Hub is a huge deal. We need to get it… working in partnership for the benefit of southern dairy farmers and the southern commu-nity.”
The $26.5m project will get $10m from principal industry partners DairyNZ and AgResearch, depen-dent on local contribu-tion. SDDT will pay $2.5m, generated by the South-land Demonstration Farm; the balance will be debt.
Hub promoters last week gathered at the Lochiel, Winton, farm of
Tim and Jocelyn Driscoll to present the proposal and ask southern dairy farmers to help pay for it. The 45 attendees included DairyNZ chief execu-tive Tim Mackle and AgResearch representa-tive Shane Devlin.
The Hub needs $2 mil-lion from local farmers and businesses by April 30 to go ahead, Richards says. So far 170 farmers and businesses have pledged $383,000.
Farmers will rightly question how the hub will benefit them, Richards commented.
“This hub will test new ideas, innovation and practices at scale – so we farmers don’t have to. It will address local issues in local conditions, do com-parative research and give farmers information we need to make decisions on our farms with some con-fidence of the likely out-comes.”
Southern dairy farmers are under pressure from,
for example, the effect of dairying on waterways. Also, restrictions are likely on new dairy and winter-ing systems.
Richards is encourag-ing southern farmers to support the hub because the Southland Demon-stration Farm ceases oper-ation next year.
Mackle says the pro-
posed hub “differs from the current demonstra-tion farm in its focus on comparative research so that farmers can access ideas, innovation and options, tested with a degree of confidence and understanding of likely outcomes.”
The Southern Dairy Hub is envisioned as a
300-380ha farm milking four herds of 200 cows each and located in cen-tral Southland. It would have offices, education facilities and space for industry partners and organisations.
www.southerndairy-hub.co.nz
Tim Mackle@rural_news
facebook.com/ruralnews
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
22 WORLD
AUSTRALIAN SHEEP farmers are set to ben-efit from strong global demand for lamb thanks to tighter supplies from New Zealand.
Lower production looks set to play off against strong demand, says Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) in its 2015 sheep industry projections.
After two years
of record slaughter a decline in production was expected in 2015, though a recovery was anticipated from next year.
MLA manager of market information Ben Thomas expects annual lamb slaughter to dip below 20 million briefly, before picking up again next year and continuing a long term slaughter trend.
“We’re expecting the sheep flock to stabilise at 71 million this year before slowly building up by 2019 as more producers look to go into prime lamb pro-duction. Prices held up well last year for mutton and lamb even with inter-mittent drought and such high slaughter. The major challenges this year will be the decline of supply
Good year ahead for Aussie sheep farmers
against continued strong demand from export mar-kets, forecast to take 55.5% of production.
“Mutton fundamentals are also positive because, after two high years of sheep turnoff, the demand for breeding ewes looks solid provided feed and water are sufficient for flock rebuilding.”
The international trade will likely remain buoy-ant because of tighter New Zealand supplies and a weaker Australian dollar.
Australian lamb exports are likely to contract 15% to 202,000 tonnes this year, then rise gradually to a record 250,000 tonnes in 2019.
Australian mutton exports are expected to decline 27% year-on-year to 136,000 tonnes, after their highest volume in 20 years. A recovery in pro-duction by the end of the projection period should
give rise to more exports.Thomas says despite
lamb’s niche in the Aus-tralian market, domestic supply will stay stretched because, globally, more consumers are wealthier, and market access is easier,
particularly in China.“Demand for lamb
from the US, Middle East and China looks bright for our exports, while the smaller markets of Japan, South East Asia and the EU will remain
important.”Live sheep exports are
forecast to reach 2.4 mil-lion, up 5% from 2014, assuming the trade keeps on. Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan should take 70% of produce.
AUSTRALIAN BEEF farmers are bracing for a market contraction.
MLA’s 2015 cattle industry projec-tions are that, after two years of record slaughter and live export, the market is now likely to shrink.
Better cattle prices and competi-tion between the domestic and export markets for reduced cattle supplies are forecast, says MLA’s manager market information Ben Thomas.
“High turn-off has had a dramatic impact on the national herd: in three years [it will have declined] from a 35-year high of 29.3 million to a two-decade low of 26.5 million by the end of 2016.
“We’ve seen an enormous turnoff
of cattle and the flow-on effects are likely to last for the rest of the decade. Whether there is a widespread break in the drought or not, the high slaughter of the past two years will take a toll on supplies while seasonal weather will continue to influence farmgate returns.”
Beef exports are forecast to reach 1.05 million tonnes in 2015, down 19% and driven by the expected tightening of the domestic market. However in histor-ical terms this figure will remain high.
The US looks to remain the biggest buyer of Australian beef in volume and value terms; the EU is likely to remain Australia’s most valuable market on a per kg basis. All other beef export markets are expected to decline.
TIGHTENING BEEF MARKET
Aussie sheep farmers look to take advantage of New Zea-land’s tight prodution.
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Beef & venison prices are reported as gross (before normal levies & charges are deducted). Lamb & mutton prices are reported nett (after levies & charges are deducted).
BEEF PRICES
c/kgCWT Change Last Week
2 Wks Ago
Last Year
NI P2 Steer - 300kg -5 5.05 5.10 4.45M2 Bull - 300kg -5 5.20 5.25 4.38P2 Cow - 230kg -5 4.05 4.10 3.50M Cow - 200kg -5 4.05 4.10 3.35
Local Trade - 230kg -5 4.95 5.00 4.35SI P2 Steer - 300kg -5 4.70 4.75 4.28
M2 Bull - 300kg -5 4.70 4.75 4.10P2 Cow - 230kg -5 3.65 3.70 3.05M Cow - 200kg -5 3.65 3.70 2.85
Local Trade - 230kg -5 4.85 4.90 4.30
Slaughter
Export Market DemandChange Last Week 2 Wks
Ago Last Year 5yr Ave
95CL US$/lb -9 2.44 2.53 2.05 1.99NZ$/kg -35 7.30 7.65 5.50 5.56
Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks Ago 3 Wks
Ago Last Year 5yr Ave
% Returned NI +3% 71.9% 69.3% 79.66% 73.5%% Returned SI +1% 65.1% 64.1% 74.6% 68.7%
LAMB PRICES
c/kgCWTChange Last
Week2 Wks
AgoLast Year
NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 5.11 5.11 5.56PM - 16.0kg n/c 5.13 5.13 5.58PX - 19.0kg n/c 5.15 5.15 5.60PH - 22.0kg n/c 5.16 5.16 5.61
Mutton MX1 - 21kg -5 3.10 3.15 3.45SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 4.98 4.98 5.46
PM - 16.0kg n/c 4.98 4.98 5.48PX - 19.0kg n/c 4.98 4.98 5.50PH - 22.0kg n/c 4.98 4.98 5.51
Mutton MX1 - 21kg -5 2.58 2.63 3.30
Slaughter
Export Market DemandChange Last
Week2 Wks
Ago Last Year 5yr Ave
UK Leg £/lb n/c 1.95 1.95 2.10 1.92NZ$/kg -10 8.70 8.80 8.80 8.61
Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks
Ago3 Wks
Ago Last Year 5yr Ave
% Returned NI +0% 60.3% 60.2% 64.8% 66.3%% Returned SI +0% 57.5% 57.4% 63.6% 64.8%
Venison PricesChange Last
Week2 Wks
Ago Last Year 5yr Ave
NI Stag - 60kg n/c 6.40 6.40 6.20 6.68SI Stag - 60kg n/c 6.27 6.27 6.25 6.90
NEWS PRICE WATCH
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
BEEF
Cows the primary slaughter focus
Cows dominated the slaughter scene last week with bull and prime taking a back seat. And with schedule prices for cows over $1/kg less than those for bull and prime, processor margins are significantly higher to warrant the change in focus. Pregnancy testing in either underway or just about to begin and with dry conditions prevailing, particularly in South Island, the flow is likely to continue to rise each week. This, combined with deteriorating market conditions in the US is likely to see schedules remain under pressure in the short term.
US imported market plummets
US imported beef prices have plummeted in recent weeks in response to ongoing infrastructure issues at US ports. Issues have escalated to a point where there is just nowhere for incoming product to go. Ongoing labour disputes in West Coast ports have seen product build up and storage and inspection facilities unable to cope. Shipments have been diverted to the East Coast, where faciliites have also crumbled under pressure. There is literally nowhere for product being shipped to the US to go. Importers are largely standing out of the market, as securing any product at this point is labelled very high risk. There are some importers attempting to take advantage of the situation and securing product at very low prices. Last week saw virtually no bidding on product. Reports from the US imply that the labour disputes are close to being resolved, however the backlogs are such that some believe it will take up to 6
weeks to clear before product begins to move freely again
LAMB
Lamb slaughter rates higher across country
Lamb slaughter rates continue to be significantly higher across the country compared to last season. Schedules continue to fall each week as a result of both deteriorating market conditions and a lack of procurement pressure. The dry is impacting lamb condition and many are not yeilding well. Reports suggest that if slaughter continues at these rates than supply in both islands will run out within a couple of weeks. This might be a good thing for both farmers and processors, because with only two weeks left of easter trade supply remaining and global market conditions weak, prices post easter trade could be under pressure. Ewe space remains very tight across the country, although some companies have eased restrictions this week. Mutton schedules continue to fall.
Limited volumes of short term lambs on offer
Store lamb trading operated at minimal volumes last week in both islands. Paddock prices in the North Island were between $2.00-$2.10/kg for 28-32kg types. Recent rainfall in some parts has increased enquiry, but at around 40% of schedule, current store lamb prices are not enticing vendors to put lambs on the market. In many cases farmers are opting to kill at lower weights as the returns are better. In the South Island the dry conditions have also forced many farmers to kill lambs down to lower weights this year, which has created a hole in the market of short term forward lambs at 32–36kgs. Southland buyers are on the look out for these types of lambs, and they are proving few and far between. There are plenty of lighter lambs quoted, but they are hard to find homes for.
DAIRY
Declining production boosts WMP prices
A faster than expected decline in NZ milk production combined with good export sales in December have finally resulted in lifting WMP prices. Reports suggest that the majority of WMP stocks are now committed. Demand from China remains weak, but the much lower volumes forecast for the GDT auctions through to mid 2015 should underpin prices. SMP prices are unlikely to recover as quickly as the majority of this is sourced from the northern hemisphere which continues to be oversupplied, particulary as Russian sanctions continue to wreak havoc with EU exports.
WOOL PRICE WATCH DAIRY PRICE WATCH
Indicators in NZ$ Change 04-Feb 29-Jan Last Year Indicators in NZ$/T Change Last 2
WksPrev. 2
WksLast Year
Coarse Xbred Indic. +2 4.95 4.93 4.88 Butter +542 4991 4449 5683
Fine Xbred Indicator +5 5.45 5.40 5.04 Skim Milk Powder +341 3430 3089 6127
Lamb Indicator +14 6.56 6.42 5.32 Whole Milk Powder +435 3636 3201 6311
Mid Micron Indic. - - - - Cheddar +339 5077 4738 6004
Overseas Price Indicators Overseas Price Indicators
Indicators in US$/kg Change 04-Feb 29-Jan Last Year Indicators in US$/T Change Last 2
WksPrev. 2
WksLast Year
Coarse Xbred Indicator +2 3.64 3.62 4.04 Butter +163 3638 3475 4638Fine Xbred Indicator +5 4.01 3.96 4.17 Skim Milk Powder +88 2500 2413 5000Lamb Indicator +12 4.83 4.71 4.40 Whole Milk Powder +150 2650 2500 5150Mid Micron Indicator - - - - Cheddar n/c 3700 3700 4900
1
CURRENCY WATCH
vs. NZ Dollar Last Week 2 Wks Ago 4 Wks Ago Last Year
US dollar 0.737 0.729 0.782 0.822Euro 0.650 0.643 0.663 0.605UK pound 0.485 0.483 0.518 0.504Aus dollar 0.949 0.936 0.963 0.920Japan yen 86.38 86.01 93.58 83.82
Euro
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
UK Pound
US Dollar
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
26 AGRIBUSINESS
Exporter questions China strategyWHERE’S THE China plan? That’s the question a leading New Zealand exporter of infant formula to China is asking and not getting answers to.
Chris Claridge, man-aging director of Car-rickmore Nutrition, says New Zealand govern-ment departments and all exporters, including Fon-terra, need to work more cooperatively. He says if this doesn’t happen indi-vidual companies will get picked off to their det-riment and that of the whole country.
Claridge exports about 750,000 cans of infant formula to China a year, which are sold in super-markets and baby shops.
He contracts a company to package his product, but his company is based at his home at Parapar-aumu, north of Welling-ton.
Claridge says New Zea-land could learn from the way the Europeans oper-ate in the Chinese market.
“Look at the Danish. They go in with strong business links, a strong industry and they work co-operatively. They ‘gang tackle’ China whereas any New Zealands strategy is complicated by Fonterra’s position,” he told Rural News.
“Fonterra being the dominant player doesn’t engage… with any col-laborative actives. You sort-of understand why, because people around the peripheries are small,
but Fonterra operates its own agenda. Their activ-ities are separate from those of the New Zealand Government in China. So the result is there is no articulation between Fon-terra and the New Zealand Government in China – there is no China plan.”
Claridge says each gov-ernment agency involved – NZTE, MPI and MFAT – all seem to have China plans, but they are not integrated. He believes the situation is improving, but reckons the absence of Fonterra from the equa-tion remains an issue.
“So in Shanghai for instance you have virtually zero articulation between Fonterra and the New Zealand Government. You can argue that this is fine and there shouldn’t be any
because Fonterra is a cor-porate operation and they shouldn’t work with the government.
“But the concept of NZ Inc. doesn’t, in fact, oper-ate because not everyone is sitting down together and talking.”
Claridge says it seems they talk only when they absolutely have to.
He believes the biggest problem for New Zealand in China is the Europeans.
He says following the botulism incident, when, says Claridge, Fonterra and the Government failed to fully mitigate the public relations prob-lem in China, consumers and distributors started substituting New Zea-land product with Euro-pean product. He says the Danes and Irish overtook
us and we moved from third to fifth place in vol-umes of infant formula exports to China.
He notes that the Chi-nese are buying canning plants in New Zealand as part of a strategy of achieving ‘vertical integra-tion’ via their own supply chains.
While Claridge acknowledges that Fon-terra operates cleverly in the Chinese market and employs some smart people, he still regards
them as “the best truck drivers in the world”— his way of saying Fonterra is still largely a commod-ity-based producer doing little in the way of value add.
He says the diary giant has concentrated on com-modities and ingredients, but doesn’t venture much into high value products the way Tatua and West-land do.
Claridge regularly visits China to promote his product. He spends
money on television advertising, running a commercial he made in his lounge at home. He also does in-store promo-tions and runs seminars for retailers and distrib-utors.
He says the Chinese market is difficult to oper-ate in because of its com-plex rules, cultural issues and the sheer competi-tive nature of the country. But despite all this he sees a strong future for small niche companies.
PETER BURKE
Chris Claridge believes all exporters need to work together to crack China successfully.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
AGRIBUSINESS 27
Profit ‘review’ by state farmerSTATE FARMER Landcorp is reviewing its full-year profit forecast in the face of a lower milk payout and dry weather.
The company turned over $109.8m and made a net profit of $1m for the six months to December 31 last year; it forecasts a full year profit of $1m-$6m.
But chief executive Steven Carden says the first six months had been challenging and the full-year profit is now under review.
“A result like this will come as no surprise given the milk price and drought challenges.
However, we have cushioned the impact of these external factors by anticipating them early. One example is our support of the Fonterra guaranteed milk price scheme and another is our proactive livestock management around the country ahead of the drought.”
Fonterra’s offer in June last year to buy 40 million kgMS at a guaranteed price was well under-subscribed;
this saw Fonterra’s then-season forecast price of $7/kgMS applied, a happy outcome for farmers who pitched to supply a total of 25 million kgMS, and who then saw the forecast nosedive to $4.70kgMS.
But not all Landcorp milk is supplied to Fonterra.
The fall in milk prices has significantly impacted revenue, says Carden. However, the company remains on track for a modest profit.
“These first six months have seen us open new dairy units in Taupo and we have achieved our second-highest lambing percentage in our North Island livestock business.
“We’re continuing our
efforts to increase yields, reduce costs across our operations and create capacity to invest in our people and environment programmes. We’ve eliminated a layer of farm management in Wellington, increased decisionmaking at the farm level and the new FarmIQ Farm Management software system is creating some incredible gains throughout our livestock business.
PETER BURKE
ABOUT LANDCORPLandcorp is New Zealand’s largest farming company, owning or managing 137 dairy, beef, sheep and deer farms nationwide.
With 1.6 million stock units on 376,942 ha, it produces about 18,000t of milk solids, 10,000t of sheep meat, 10,000t of beef, 3500t of wool, 2500t of venison and 8t of velvet every year.
“Flourishing in a highly volatile world means maintaining a diverse portfolio of other species farmed. We plan to refocus our traditional beef, lamb and venison products around particular customers and we’re trialling new higher-value sales opportunities in sheep milk, deer leather and manuka honey.”
“Flourishing in a highly volatile world means maintaining a diverse portfolio of other species farmed. We plan to refocus our traditional beef, lamb and venison products around particular customers and we’re trialling new higher-value sales
opportunities in sheep milk, deer leather and manuka honey.
“Across all our products we’re after customers in niche markets with specific requirements.
“We’ve also taken significant steps to improve the marketing
of our products. For example, our partnership with New Zealand Merino to market our entire coarse wool clip gives us a direct relationship with some well-known consumer brands,” Carden says.
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Landcorp CEO Steven Carden.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
28 OPINION
THE HOUNDWant to share your opinion or
gossip with the Hound? Send your emails to:
EDITORIAL
No sour grapesTHE HOUND’S comment last issue re the wine industry whining over the moves by MPI to impose an extra $2.9 million a year in fees to cover biosecurity cost for the sector raised a few hackles. Your mate’s been told the industry already pays $200 million a year in excise taxes – unique to the wine industry – so any extra charges for biosecurity should be taken from this, rather than more taxes being imposed on winegrowers. Your old mate is pretty sure the people at MPI will not buy this argument, but reckons the industry is well within its rights to run the idea up the flagpole.
Arse kickingYOUR CANINE crusader is stunned to hear that the failure by some shiny-bum at Gumboot Castle (Fonterra HQ) to complete the proper paperwork has caused the dairy giant to lose its multi-million-dollar cheese market in the United States (the said shiny-bum) “forgot” to renew import licences. Apparently, the blunder means Fonterra’s 2015 US cheese quota is likely to be given to competing companies from other countries. The Hound suggests the big cheeses at Fonterra admin-ister some serious arse kicking.
Greenwash warningTHIS OLD mutt hears Greenpeace is advertising to outsource its activism in this part of the world to people in Hong Kong. According to job ads, the lobby group wants to base its Asia Pacific (including NZ) activities in Hong Kong… “Using content produced at national offices to amplify the reach and impact of Greenpeace’s campaigns by selectively distributing stories to international audiences’. The Hound suggests NZ audiences are soon to be ‘green-washed’ by overseas-based activists.
Media beat-upA LACK of real news in the post-Christmas lull saw ‘the big dry’ domi-nate some regions’ local media and feature more than usual on national news programmes. Some reckon this over-the-top, early coverage is behind the reti-cence of farming leaders to ring alarm bells and call for a drought. According to the Hound’s source, there are more sinister motives at play: that the old timers want nature to teach the newcomers a lesson and – like vultures – they’re circling to buy the stock and farms forced onto the market. Your canine crusader condemns such a dog-eat-dog attitude.
What a DickYOUR OLD mate’s favou-rite idiot MP – NZ First’s Richard ‘the Tosser’ Prosser – has been at it again. He recently issued a media release bemoaning the lack of young people studying agriculture and prom-ising to ‘start a campaign’ to encourage students to study agricultural disci-plines at university. The Hound suggests it’s a pity the New Zealand First ag spokesman didn’t do a little more research – like reading the front page of Rural News on Feb 3; Prosser would have discovered there has been a 20% increase in student numbers at both Massey and Lincoln this year enrolling in agricultural degree courses.
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EDNA
Mindset change neededTHE SAFER Farms initiative, recently intro-duced by WorkSafe NZ, is a timely one.
Since 2008, 120 people have been killed work-ing on farms in New Zealand: four times more people died on farms last year than in forestry or construction. Figures show that someone is killed on a farm every fortnight; this is a shame-ful record and it must change.
Improving farmer awareness and understand-ing of risks involved, along with education on how these risks can be minimised and/or man-aged, is a more effective and better approach to changing these appalling statistics than dishing out heavy-handed fines.
While farmers may strongly believe in per-sonal responsibility, rather than having ‘big brother’ telling them what to do, they have an inherent intolerance of bureaucracy and attend-ing to endless compliance documents. Still they need to clean up their collective act.
The stats don’t lie. Far too many farmers, farm workers and their families are killed and/or hurt on our country’s farms every year. There is no excuse for the poor safety record these statistics show. Any initiative that saves lives and protects people should be strongly supported.
While many farmers may disagree with some recent interpretations of the Health and Safety Act, like the carrying of quad pillion passengers and heavy fines for not wearing helmets, it is clear the ‘carrot’-only approach is not working. The option to implement the ‘stick’ – fines – is a necessary one.
Yes, farming can be a dangerous occupation, but farmers and their staff must take all nec-essary precautions and be aware of the risks involved to mitigate the risk of accidents/and or deaths on farm.
Let’s hope more farmers are becoming more aware of the health and safety issues in their workplace. As Peter Jex-Blake, Federated Farm-ers Gisborne/Wairoa provincial president, said at the Safer Farms launch in his region last week – a change in culture is needed. “It requires a change in mind-set; which will take a while, but with the right approach, we will get there.”
Work Safe Minister Michael Woodhouse is right when he says, “The number of deaths and injuries on farms won’t be reduced by the Gov-ernment sending out more inspectors. Only farmers can directly influence this toll.”
Hopefully Safer Farms will help them do this by finding health and safety solutions that work.
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
OPINION 29
What next: on-farm child ban?THIRTY-SEVEN PEOPLE were killed at work in the last financial year; ten were in the agricultural industry.
The farm deaths tended to involve the ‘mature’ (possibly slightly beyond the prime of life) and the inexperienced, but whatever the age, ten people dying because of farm accidents is more than anybody wants.
The problem: farms are complex environments and people make mis-takes. They make them on roads as well, of course, and on beaches.
But on roads and beaches people are con-sidered to be making personal choices, how-ever stupid those choices might be.
On farm, the choices are made for work rea-sons, which mean Work-safeNZ is involved. It also means employers are liable for accidents.
Now the liability is being extended to farm workers’ families – their partners, children and friends. The new work-place health and safety law, due to be brought in mid-year, is already caus-ing discussion about how employers and par-ents will manage and whether children should be confined to ‘house and garden’.
The irony is that in towns, where children are confined, research is being done to see how self-man-agement can be increased by removing restrictions.
PLAY was the brain-child of Professor Grant Schofield at Auckland University of Technology. It involved eight primary schools and when the project ended the story
went viral on the internet and featured in publica-tions including The Econ-omist.
Schofield says the modern day has created a paradox: “in the pursuit of safety and well-being for our beloved children, we make them less safe in the long run. The right time to learn how to manage risk and manage emotions is when you are eight years old, up a tree or in a fight with the kid next door, rather than when you are in a Subaru WRC at 18 with the cops after you and a few beers on board.”
Investigations are also underway into why farm-ers’ children have fewer allergies than urban chil-dren. Massey University is examining the effects of drinking raw milk; in America the University of Wisconsin has taken a broader approach and is looking at the micro-organisms involved with farm life – the soil and ani-mals, for instance.
Overall the consensus appears to be that farm children are healthier than their urban counterparts.
Banning children from farms will have consider-able consequences.
The first one is the effect on current employ-ees. Part of the plea-sure and satisfaction in farming is having family around. If the children
aren’t around that aspect vanishes and a consider-able component of the lifestyle has gone. Already concerns are being raised about the ability to attract people into the indus-try. If children are banned from farms, the problems will increase.
Secondly, yet more
people will grow up not having farming in their blood, and not want-ing to get involved as a career. Jeanette Mulvey, editor for BusinessNews-Daily suggests, “There’s a reason farmers’ chil-dren became farmers, and butchers’ children became butchers. They
learned from their parents by working with them, talking to them and learn-ing a vocation over many years.”
Thirdly, even more people may develop aller-gies and may struggle to learn to self-manage – not understanding risks and limits.
Of course, the bottom line is that children die on farms. In particular, the Child and Youth Mor-tality Review Commit-tee reported last year that 33 children were killed in off-road vehicle accidents between 2002 and 2012: 15 died on motorcycles and 12 on quads. Two thirds of
the children were operat-ing the vehicles alone.
Children also die in swimming pools, rivers, beaches, on roads and on driveways. Sad, but a con-sequence of living.
Guidance is required everywhere, not just on farm. But total restriction is not the answer.
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30 OPINION
I NOTED a media comment in December by Fed Farmers’ new chief executive, saying though the organisation was in a good cash posi-tion it had decided to
increase its membership fee by $30 a year.
This takes our annual fee to over $550. I’ve informed them we would not renew our member-ship.
In view of the diffi-cult time we are having, I cannot believe their arrogance. My time as a member is over. Doug Torr Waitakaruru
FEDERATED FATTIES
RE THE Hound’s comment ‘Whining winos’ in the Feb 3 edition: my wife and I are wine growers.
In our business we deal with things beyond our control: weather, legis-lation, exchange rates – we are apparently brave souls.
As farmers we all need to be acutely interested in our biosecurity and we have few objections to paying our fair share. The wine industry, a showcase for what this country can obtain in a world looking for clean, green premium products, has for many years been lumbered with a unique tax called ‘excise’.
We have no beef about paying our share for biose-curity, but for the Government to ask for another $2.9 million, on top of the $200 million already taken annu-ally in excise (read ‘taxes uniquely from the wine industry’) seems blatantly unfair.
So the Hound’s comment that “the $1.3 billion industry should suck it up and pay the small increase” seems ‘fired from the hip’ and ignorant, and overlooks that we already pay lots.
Take the funds for bios-ecurity, as it pertains to the wine industry, out of the pool already contrib-uted. Doug BellGisborne
HOUND WRONG ON WINE COMMENTRURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 3, 2015
22 OPINIONEDITORIAL
THE HOUND Want to share your opinion or gossip with the Hound?
Send your emails to: [email protected]
EDNA
22 OPINION
What slump?YOUR OLD mate reckons there is no fool like a farmer when buying land. This was confirmed late last year when a Morrins-ville dairy farm sale broke through the $100,000/ha barrier. Despite the $4.70 forecast payout, buyers were in ‘boots and all’, according to real estate agent Bayleys’ Mark Dawe. “We are seeing ‘old money’ buying these farms with well-established families looking at growing their Waikato presence,” the land shark was quoted as saying. The Hound trem-bles to think of what land prices will do when the dairy payout starts rising again.
Stern stuffA MATE from the south was talking about “the dry” the other day and how they’ve had less than half their normal rainfall for the past six months. In anyone else’s books it would be a drought, but down in the mainland appar-ently they’re avoiding that dreaded ‘D-word’ for fear of skittling stock prices and inflating feed values. Besides, having been through worse in the 1980s, most of the region’s farmers are made of stern stuff, and quite a few now have some irriga-tion. The Hound reckons it’s only when that starts to run out that the prover-bial will truly hit the fan.
Whining winosTHE HOUND reckons the wine industry is being somewhat disingenuous in opposing moves by MPI to recover $2.9 million a year from the sector to meet the costs of its wine regu-latory programme. MPI’s proposal for wine is part of a wider review of the fees MPI charges to primary industries for its services and activities as part of New Zealand’s biosecurity and food safety systems. Your old mate suggests the $1.3 billion sector should suck it up and pay the small increase; they would be first to whinge if an imported biosecurity scare shut down their exports.
STFU!YOUR OLD mate is not the first political observer to note that since former Feds spin doctor David Broome signed up as Winston First’s taxpayer-funded mouthpiece late last year, the number of media releases put out by NZ First MPs has gone through the roof. Unfortu-nately – rather like when Broome was running the Feds PR – it seems the missives from Winston’s lot are all quantity with bugger-all quality. The Hound reckons Winston should take Broome aside and tell him Abe Lincoln’s adage: ‘It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt’.
Ignore herIT APPEARS that a tree-hugging, soap-dodging columnist – whose scrib-blings appear in the Australian-owned Fairfax dailies in Manawatu and Taranaki – has gone running to police after another of her deliber-ately puerile, ill-informed and anti-farming rants was recently published. Hound’s advice to those who may be upset by what this supposed colum-nist has to say should just ignore it – as her opin-ions are about as sound and informed on farming as ISIS extremists are in practising tolerance, acceptance and diversity.
“I see you’ve been fishing again!”
FEDERATED FARMERS has undergone a major transition during the past four-five years.
Gone are the days when the Feds would fire out deliberately antagonistic statements chas-tising government or industry critics for some perceived action – or lack of it. The days of being a screaming skull and demanding atten-tion are thankfully behind it.
For Federated Farmers to be credible, with its members and the wider community, it has to be credible.
Like it or not, the reality is that Feds is the only organisation that can nationally represent the farmer’s view.
National president William Rolleston and chief executive Graham Smith are fairly new in their roles, but both have a similar attitude to what the organisation should be saying and how it should say it. They are firm believers in a ‘quality not quantity’ message.
The move by the organisation’s former chief spin doctor to work for Winston Peters, late last year, has also been timely for Feds. The bombas-tic style of his messaging is far better suited to an outdated, antiquated, one-trick pony, polit-ical dinosaur like NZ First than a modern-day farmer lobby.
However, Fed Farmers remains an advocacy lobby for farmers and so at times it will have to be unabashedly pro-farmer and even controver-sial. But this approach soon loses impact and effect when it is the lobby’s only modus ope-randi.
A key challenge for the farmer lobby is how to the repair the reputation of the agricultural sector with the general populace. Too often farmers are portrayed in the mainstream media as moaners, environmental vandals, money hungry bludgers, uneducated oafs and/or any combination of these descriptors.
These kinds of narratives have gone unchal-lenged for too long – meaning the relationship and understanding between town and country is no longer a small gap but a yawning divide.
Federated Farmers has an important role in helping close this divide. It has a far better chance of winning the hearts and minds of detractors when it is acting with credibility and facts.
It is a big job and will take a huge effort, but the work needs to start now!
Credibility the key
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A DROP in the primary produce commodity price index will scarcely affect land prices, says the real estate industry.
Bayleys national manager Simon Anderson says farming’s lower revenues will little influence how farmers estimate future revenues. Farmers use revenue data, costs of production and debt servicing to figure what they should spend to buy a new property.
“Farmers, and more importantly their banks, are taking a long-term view of commodity prices. Long-term the outlook is strong for sheep, beef, and diary prices,” Anderson says.
“So while Fonterra is budgeting for a farmgate milk price of $4.70/kgMS for the next season, the banks take a longer term view – more around $6.30.
“There’s nothing new about the cycles of the rural market, but banks and farmers take a more flat-line approach to their reve-nue forecasts, working instead on long-term rolling averages rather
than historical high and low posi-tions which can fluctuate mark-edly in the short term.” Bayleys notes more cor-porate buying rural property: high-equity farmers are looking to develop economies of scale by buying extra properties close to those they now own.
“Bigger… farmers can take advantage of fertiliser input, pasture management, seed or crop planting, feed pro-duction and staff
management over nearby properties.
“While commodity prices are the same
for all… economies of scale benefits
vary depending on a farmer’s experience, equity,
location and business plan.”
Farm values will hold
Weak commodity prices have little impact on rural property valuations say Bayleys’ national country manager, Simon Anderson.
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OPINION 31
A NEW year and a slight hangover from 2014. This year starts off with a legacy of grunt work by the primary industries and stakeholders; the results I hope will begin to be realised this year.
We are in our sixth year of the Land and Water Forum and 2014 saw the pinnacle of water reform. The forum is a result of the govern-ment reform by develop-ing a shared vision and a common way forward among all those with an interest in water. This is done through a stake-holder-led collaborative process, which is mod-elled off in the regions.
Ultimately it’s about using water responsibly and efficiently.
Farmers have the best chance of success here if we work together. I am confident by the end of 2015 we will be seeing some real progress on lessening the impact farming has on our water-ways.
The health and safety hangover will be weigh-ing heavily on many farm-ers’ minds this January. Unlike the slow burn of resolving the water issues, WorkSafe came in hot and heavy in 2014 and has left heads pounding. Unfor-tunately here, the collab-orative process has yet to take off, but sometimes you need to let people
throw their weight around before they’re ready to sit at the table and sort it out.
Consultation can come at the beginning or the end, but at some point we need to talk to each other and take a better approach than the heavy handed and disjointed one we have now.
Farmers are rightly concerned about how much the local and national government is choosing to solve prob-lems with more rules. It’s a Band-Aid rather than a long term fix. Health and safety is no doubt going to be the kicker for 2015, but the Resource Man-agement Act is not far behind.
Last year’s sentencing
of Hold the Gold Ltd and it’s director Bas Nelis had not just Waikato farmers in an uproar but the vast majority of the commu-nity, with echoed senti-ments from throughout the country. An example of the absurdity of parts of the RMA that allow environmental stew-ards, trying to do the right thing, to get tangled up in red tape and punished for their trouble.
A 2014 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report highlighted real problems in our system of environmental regulation, pointing out that high environmental standards don’t have to
mean high administrative costs. Thankfully Nick Smith announced there is to be a Resource Management Reform Bill which will be reported back by local government and environment select committee this June. It’s about time we had a good cleanse or detox if you will.
Finally, 2015 will see some pretty relieved farmers who are set to be compensated by banks for their investment in swaps under misleading information. An impor-tant lesson to learn for 2015, you cannot always trust the integrity of your banker but you can bank trust in the relationship.
Knowing if the relation-ship has long term value for both parties can help you take better educated risks than going it alone.
So take what you want
from 2014, but know we’ve laid the ground-work to make 2015 count.• Chris Lewis is Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president
CHRIS LEWIS
2014’s hangover could be 2015’s gain Chris Lewis
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
32 MANAGEMENT
While there’s been the odd dry spell, Canterbury and Otago’s farmers haven’t seen a serious drought for more than a decade and for some, this will be their first. Andrew Swallow talks to a long-time consultant in the region on how best to get through.
Dealing with drought
WHATEVER IT takes, don’t disrupt your capi-tal stock to cope with the drought.
That’s the headline message from a seasoned Canterbury consultant who’s seen the region go through severely dry sea-sons in over 40 years in the industry.
“As soon as you dis-rupt your capital stock, when the rain and recov-ery comes you will be hit
somewhere and you’re going to compromise your cashflow for more than just the drought year,” stresses Peter Clarke, Geraldine.
Feeding capital stock, by buying feed, or sending them away to grazing, will not be cheap in a drought, he acknowledges, but it will be less than the cost to the business of selling capital stock in a drought-depressed market and
having to replace them at high prices when the drought passes. It’s also highly likely income will be foregone in the interim.
If sheep and beef farm-ers have taken on dairy grazers, they should con-sider them as capital stock too, he says.
“You have a contract and you won’t be get-ting 18c/kgDM out of any other class of stock at the
moment. Put the lambs off to keep the heifers on.”
So, having bitten the bullet to keep the capi-tal stock – replacement heifers, hoggets and two-tooths included – what do you feed them?
Clarke says that comes down to what’s the cheap-est feed available in cents per megajoule of ME that will meet the needs of the stock class. In most years that’s homegrown
feed, usually pasture or perhaps a forage crop or two during summer and autumn, moving onto feed crops in winter. How much of those winter feed crops will be available this year remains to be seen.
Where moisture was conserved by spraying off, fallowing and spray-ing again before sowing, they established well and will recover if rain comes soon. Where corners were cut and/or mois-ture lost in cultivation, there are “disasters”. “In some years they will get away with it but this year they’ve taken a hiding.”
With conserved feed typically costing at least three times crop fed in situ, even in a normal year,
replacing that shortfall from winter crops won’t be cheap.
Regardless of winter crops, Clarke says as a rule of thumb dryland sheep and beef farms in the South Canterbury region should carry a reserve of fine chop pit or stack silage adequate to feed all capital stock for 100 days in summer and/or autumn should it get dry.
While baleage is a pop-ular option for its con-venience, and may be the only option for those buying feed in now, it’s not the best way to build
those reserves. “Baleage should be illegal. It’s far too costly.”
Also, when large amounts of supplement have to be fed, such as in a drought or snow, feed-ing baleage is much more time consuming than fill-ing a feeder wagon with fine chop silage.
Where trading or fin-ishing stock are still onfarm, Clarke advises planning destocking pro-gressively to minimise income loss.
“You should know the income per kg of drymat-
KEY POINTS❱❱ Keep capital stock and replacements.
❱❱ Buy feed or send away as necessary.
❱❱ Progressively quit other stock classes.
❱❱ Know your c/kg DM return for each stock class.
❱❱ Revisit farm policies for crop establishment and feed reserves.
TO PAGE 33
Peter Clarke
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ter fed to each stock class and destock the lowest earning stock first. If you don’t know the income per kg of drymatter by stock class, ask a consul-tant to work it out for you.”
In practice in January that meant quitting store cattle ahead of lambs as prices for the former remained relatively firm while lambs, stores in par-ticular, crashed.
With dairy grazers, heifer calves need to be on good quality feed but R1 heifers, if they were ahead of target at Christ-mas, “can become cows”, grazing rougher pasture and scrub if need be. Sup-plementing with PKE is also an option. For the calves, summer feed crops should have been planted to provide quality feed and reduce reliance on drought prone pasture.
Clarke says he stresses
to all his sheep and beef clients with dairy graz-ers the importance of an “ahead of target by Christ-mas” policy to build flex-ibility in summer, and in a year like this, it really pays. As a difficult stock class to manage they should also never be more than a third of the stock units carried, he believes.
“Heifers are a lot like bull beef. They’re risky and in years like this you get your come-uppance
for taking that risk. That’s not a criticism. It’s just the way it is.”
Clarke stresses there is no one recipe for deal-ing with the drought and plans have to be made to match the farm, stock and feed availability. The bottom line is droughts always reduce income and increase cost and how big that impact will be has often been determined by policy and choices made long before the dry set in.
MANAGEMENT 33NOT A ‘SUPER’ DROUGHT YET
CLARKE SAYS the current drought is “very bad” but hasn’t been going long enough yet to be classed a ‘super drought’ such as 1988 or 1969.
“For most people it’s only got really serious since late November because there was a lot of mois-ture in the soil coming out of winter, though on light ground it would have been felt earlier.”
In contrast, in the infamous 1969 drought, a dry summer and autumn was followed by a winter without enough rain to replenish soil reserves so there was little or no spring flush, he points out.
“That was the first year I was farming. We had seven inches [of rain] in ten months. It was fear-some.”
The current drought is wide-spread and includes many normally rain-reliable areas along the foothills. S
ome are “still green but not growing much.” Others are already brown and won’t recover for weeks even after rain arrives.
Dealing with drought
IRD is watching!
FROM PAGE 32
INLAND REVENUE says it’s moni-toring the drought and looking at the financial situation of farmers, with a view to seeing how they can best help them through the dry.
A spokesman told Rural News that even though a drought hasn’t been officially declared, farmers and other affected people can approach them at any stage for the range of relief options. This includes income equal-isation deposits, for which discretions are available, and assistance with the payment of tax when there is hardship.
Income equalisation sees farmers allowed to apply some income from a good year to that of bad year. This preserves cash that can be applied for drought recovery and helps average out tax rates for the year.
“We realise farmers’ incomes can be ‘lumpy’ and this scheme is recog-nition of this fact. The discretions that can apply to the income equalisation rules can be useful to some farmers
who are seriously affected.“The main message though, is
that affected farmers should talk to their accountants in the first instance about the range of options that might
help them.”The spokesperson says “MPI is
currently briefing Inland Revenue on a regular basis so that it can be pre-pared for any declaration if it comes.”
Inland Revenue says the options available to farmers are the same whether or not a drought is declared. But if a medium-size adverse event is declared it allows Inland Revenue to simplify procedures.
“For example, instead of getting evidence from the taxpayer as to how they might be affected, we may just accept the taxpayer’s actual declara-tion. In effect we are allowed to aggre-gate a whole lot of taxpayers and say they are all affected by the drought.
“For instance, if a drought was declared in South Canterbury and a farmer in that area was severely affected, Inland Revenue would take their word and action their requests.”
Inland Revenue says the decla-ration of a drought makes the pro-cess for farmers easier, but it doesn’t change the nature of assistance avail-able.
The declaration also has the effect of making Inland Revenue staff more aware of a problem in certain areas and they are likely to react more quickly and with greater sympathy.
PETER BURKE
FROM PAGE 32
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34 MANAGEMENT
North’s fragmented horticulture needs an action plan – report
HORTICULTURISTS IN Northland need to work on a strategic action plan with national bodies such as Horticulture NZ and the Avocado Industry Council, says the newly published Northland Regional Growth Study.
The action plan should identify options for such sectors as avocados, kiwi-fruit and citrus, says the report, released this month by the Economic Development Minister Stephen Joyce and Pri-mary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
The industry must look at how to achieve scale, for example, via collaborative manage-
ment, to increase value-add through R&D in the region, and to develop future leaders and work-ers.
Joyce described the report, which also looked at tourism, forestry, dairy and aquaculture, as the most comprehensive on Northland’s econ-omy in many years. Guy says the study highlights the need for diversifi-cation in the Northland primary sector to create higher incomes for house-holds and higher-value exports for New Zealand. This includes sustainably building scale in dairy, avocado and citrus pro-duction.
The report says North-land has a unique hor-ticulture industry with
advantages over and dif-ferences from the rest of New Zealand. Almost all the nation’s kumara, a third of its avocados, and a quarter of its citrus are grown in the region.
Yet GDP and jobs in horticulture have declined over the last 10 years, at about 2% a year, partly because of disease such as Psa and adverse weather. Nursery, flower grow-ing and beekeeping have grown.
“Though the sub-sec-tors within horticulture in the region face several issues and opportunities for growth, the indus-try as a whole struggles to address them because it is fragmented and has a large number of small players.
“The region’s Horti-cultural Forum represents the industry and provides a vehicle for industry players to join forces to develop a strategic action plan.
“The plan could iden-tify how Northland’s hor-ticulture industry will position itself to double in value, e.g. could it become the food bowl for Auck-land?”
The plan should also look at how to develop future leaders, increase investment in and com-mercialise science and technology, focus export marketing, differenti-ate products, and exceed sustainability thresholds. The plan should be coor-dinated by Northland Inc. and the Horticulture
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Forum. “The plan develop-
ment process could also involve the Ministry for Primary Industries and national bodies such as Horticulture New Zealand and the Avocado Industry Council.”
The report says manuka honey is identi-fied as one of three horti-culture areas with growth potential. Honey exports have grown 30% annually for 10 years; higher prices for ‘active’ manuka honey have boosted the value of exports.
“Northland produces some of the highest medi-cal grade manuka honey in New Zealand. How-ever, the industry [has] small players with poor beekeeping practices. The opportunity is for Maori/iwi/hapu and the industry to work together to increase production of highly active (med-
ical/nutraceutical grade) manuka honey and estab-lish a collective vertically integrated honey com-pany and/or brand for the region.
“A coalition of iwi and producers in the upper North Island is currently exploring how to com-bine resources to grow the industry. The next step is for a business case and operating model to be developed.”
A key opportunity within apiculture and for the pro-
posed coalition is the pro-duction of medical grade honey, the report says. Medical grade can sell for $50/kg vs $8-$15 per kg for non-medical grade honey. About 700 tonnes of honey in the region is reckoned medical grade, though this is only pro-duced two out of five years.
The region could pro-duce 2000 tonnes of medical/cosmetic grade manuka honey, needing about 60,000 hives with skilled beekeepers pro-
ducing the goods four out of every five years.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES to grow horticulture in Northland:
■ Go Global – a five year scheme supported by the PGP to increase productivity and capability in the avocado industry.
■ Research to develop new avocado root stock, to allow avocado growing in areas of lesser soil quality.
■ MBIE funding of research into preserving avocados during trans-port, to expand the number of poten-
tial markets. ■ Manuka Research Project – a seven
year scheme supported by the PGP to increase manuka honey exports to at least $1 billion.
■ Sustainable Farming Fund support for a project to lift productivity and profitability of collectively owned Māori kiwifruit orchards
■ R&D scheme involving New Zealand and international researchers to develop strategies to combat Psa.
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MANAGEMENT 35
planted. In 1995 a decision was made to amalgamate the business with the neighbouring Waerenga Incorpora-tion under a company structure named Wae-Kiwi, and to convert the business of the farm to shared interests in a full scale dairy farm operation.
Waerenga Pukahukiwi’s business adviser Lee Mathe-son says it has been a long hard road to success for the farm.
Matheson says Waerenga Pukahukiwi had a good bal-ance sheet and poor cash flow. Being owned by 1100 people, it was difficult to raise capital for development; the decision to convert to dairying was “pretty ambi-tious”. “But the owners took a long term view and the conversion has paid off; it has taken us 18 years to get here.”
In the early days of dairying the owners employed a sharemilker as they had no capacity to buy cows. This meant less income for shareholders because of regular capital spending on new fencing, lifting soil fertility and housing. “The profits were not high for a long time,” he says.
In 2007 the owners decided to buy out the share-milker, exerting greater control over farming operations.
He says 12 years of consolidation has paid off for the owners, who are happy to balance making profit with keeping the lakes clean.
FROM PAGE 36
Balancing act
14 years’ wait for water nearly overAS MOST of South Can-terbury’s farmers grapple with drought, about two dozen in the hinterland of Waimate will be hoping this is their last.
They’ve bought into the Waihoa Downs Irri-gation project, a subsid-iary of Morven Glenavy Irrigation (MGI) which will bring reliable Waitaki water to just under 3300ha of their properties.
“In my situation it will give me an engine room,” sheep and beef farmer Henry Dyer told Rural News at the official cere-mony to mark the start of construction.
“I’m doing 50ha at this stage but there’s the potential to do 120ha.”
Scheme instigators, Robin Murphy of MGI and John Kirk, deputy chairman of Waihoa Downs, explained how it had taken fourteen years for the concept of lift-ing Waitaki water into the Waihoa catchment to reach construction.
“There was a four or five year hiatus in the middle due to the Waitaki [allocation] Plan but it’s gained real momentum in the last two or three years,” said Murphy.
“The turning point was when we went away from
trying to do 5500ha and went with the hardcore of farmers who fully sup-ported it.”
That decision cut the design specifications and cost for stage one to $30m which farmers have funded with $1500/ha shares.
An annual charge, anticipated to be about $800/ha in a typical year, will be due hereafter, the exact figure depend-ing on how much water is required each year.
“In a dry year it will cost more because we’ll use more power.”
The power is to pump water up 6.5km of 900mm pipe to a pond at 217m above sea-level on the edge of the Waihao valley, from which it will flow down a backbone and rib network of pipes to the farms.
“It will be under pres-sure but not sufficient pressure to run the irriga-tion systems on most of the farms.”
The build programme is 204 days using fibre-glass pipes from Saudi Arabia dug into trenches up to 4m deep. Allowing for no-work days due to wet ground over winter it’s hoped water will be available on farm by spring 2016.
“Some of the ground
is quite steep and this land can get very greasy in the wet,” project man-ager Grant Mehrtens of Rooney Earthmoving explained.
Kirk says they’re already taking “expres-
sions of interest” in stage two of the scheme, which could take the area to 6600ha, but no decision on whether to progress that will be taken until stage one is complete and operating.
ANDREW SWALLOW
Henry Dyer says watering 50ha of his 519ha property will give it “an engine room” for fin-ishing stock and conserving feed.
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36 MANAGEMENTProfitability, water quality hand-in-hand
PRODUCING THE same quantity of milksolids from half the number of cows would be a winning formula for any farmer.
But for the 1100 owners of the Waerenga Pukahukiwi Ltd farm in Bay of Plenty, the need is to strike the right balance between profitability and protecting water quality.
Waerenga Pukahukiwi is a 1548ha (833ha eff ) farm, owned by Ngati Pikiao, located 17km north-east of Rotorua; it borders on the north-eastern and northern shores of Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti respectively.
Nitrate leaching is a hot topic around the lakes and as owners Waerenga Pukahukiwi are leading by example.
Last week about 60 economists and academ-ics, in Rotorua for the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Conference, vis-ited the farm to see first-hand how the owners are balancing farming and protecting water quality.
The farm is modern and has a 70-bail rotary machine milking at least 1000 cows. Year-round they are fed 60% supple-ments – barley and maize – grown onfarm; little grass is grown onfarm due to climatic conditions.
The farm has a man-ager and six full-time staff.
Production this season is expected to top 370,000kgMS, higher than the 2001-02 season, when the farm had nearly 2000 cows. Annual nitrate losses in 2001-02 topped 43.7kg/ha; this season it is calculated at 31.2/kg/ha.
Waerenga Puka-hukiwi chairman Clin-ton Hemana says nitrate leaching is kept low by onfarm management but the farm is “still in catch-up mode”.
“On one side our farm-ing is inefficient and on the other side we are look-ing after the lakes,” he told visitors at the farm.
“We all want the lakes to get better.”
He says with about 1900 cows 15 years ago, the farm had a larger nitrate leaching footprint. But with greater efficiency in nitrogen use and lower stocking rate, nitrate leaching has reduced. “Nitrate leaching is driven by urine patches and with
fewer cows, there is less leaching.”
To lift production per cow, Waerenga Puka-hukiwi focuses on mating management: 78% of the herd achieve six-week in-calf rate and body condi-tion score on June 1 is a minimum of 4.8.
Nitrogen use is largely limited to the milking
platform and cropped areas; it is applied in early spring to boost pasture intakes, in late spring to lift pasture quality and in autumn to lift pasture cover going into winter. Soil N tests are done before all cropping to optimise inputs.
A feed pad is used for all supplementary feeding
to milking cows.Historically, from 1955-
1995, Pukahukiwi was a sheep and beef farm car-rying 80% sheep and 20% cattle for most of this period, and changing to about 60% sheep and 40% cattle in the early 1990s. Several small blocks of pinus radiata were also
SUDESH KISSUN
Striking the balance between profitability and protecting water quality is the challenge at Warenga Pukahukiwi Farms.
TO PAGE 35
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MANAGEMENT 37
GROWERS TRY NEW GRAINTRIALS OF the grain quinoa (‘keenwa’) are expand-ing in Australia as imports from South America, and prices, soar.
“Australian quinoa imports increased 137% in 2013-14 year-on-year as consumers discovered this previ-ously little known product,” says National Australia Bank’s general manager agribusiness Khan Horne.
Prices hit $8/kg in early 2014, up from $2.50/kg two years before. Several growers in Western Australia and Tasmania, and researchers at Western Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Food, have harvested crops and “a fledgling market for the local product seems to be developing”.
Much of quinoa’s appeal is its gluten-free status, but that presents cross-contamination and certifica-tion challenges if headers and/or storage facilities are also used for wheat.
Weed control, poor tolerance of waterlogging, highly variable yield, and a lack of domestic transport and marketing arrangements are other pitfalls, though trials are trying to address these.
“While the strong price growth may tempt produc-ers to switch to quinoa, there are risks for growers to consider,” stresses Horne.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) made 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. Its web-site puts quinoa’s yield potential at 11t/ha, with 6t/ha considered good and 0.85-3.5t/ha average. It says it will grow in a wide range of soil types and climates, with-standing temperatures from 8oC to 38oC.
Watch for VM in woolWOOL GROWERS wanting to take advantage of premium wool prices need to watch out for vegetable matter in the dry conditions, says NZ Wool Services International’s Purelana manager, Malcolm Ching.
“Normally around drought time with animals push-ing in for feed, they push a bit harder under bushes and under trees and you also get a weed and seed burst,” Ching told Rural News. “We get a higher incidence of vegetable matter.”
Ching, who is responsible for farmer liaison, recom-mends more preparation and trying to remove during shearing time the wool that is contaminated with seed.
“It has a high priority from here on because if a lot of it comes onto the market like that then you will see substan-tial discounts for wool that has seed and vegetable matter in it compared with wool that is seed free.”
Farmers will need to weigh up whether they hold stock and feed and shear them, or whether they send them to the works without shearing.
“In a drought, when you shear an animal it wants to eat, so if you shear them and don’t have the feed you’ll stress your animals. So it’s a fine balance for some farm-ers whether they hold them, shear them and have enough feed, or don’t have enough feed, don’t shear they and send them to the works with the wool on.”
He says this is likely to cause a shift in the percentage of shorn wool against slight wool on the market. “There are quite a few markets in the world that have no prob-lem having slight wool in their products. It just limits the amount of wool available for those that can’t take it, who want only pure shorn wool.”
He says there will be pockets of farmers having to decide about stock but the drought is not national. “It will have an impact but it’s not going to be a massive impact so that little shift we have there has more positives for the wool price than negatives.”
PAM TIPA
Sheep man gets top roleWELL-KNOWN SHEEP specialist Professor Paul Kenyon is the new head of Massey University’s Insti-tute of Veterinary, Animal, and Biomedical Sciences.
The institute includes New Zealand’s only vet-erinary teaching hospi-tal and its leading native wildlife health centre, Wildbase.
Kenyon has led or co-led at least 100 sheep research studies in the past decade, resulting in 330 scientific publica-tions aimed at improving on-farm productivity and profitability.
College of Sciences pro vice-chancellor Pro-fessor Robert Anderson says Kenyon’s proven
teaching and manage-ment skills and his strong
research links in New Zea-land, Australia, Asia and South America made him an excellent candidate for the role.
Professor Kenyon says there are opportunities for the institute to grow in undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and in research nationally and internationally. He aims
to help identify those opportunities and develop strategies to exploit them.
“I’m honoured to be the head of an insti-tute that is nationally and internationally rec-ognised for its teaching and research excellence. And I’m excited by the challenges this position brings.”
Paul Kenyon
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38 MANAGEMENT
Maintain trees near power lines
THE LARGE grass fire near Christchurch early this month highlights the need to prune or fell trees likely to touch overhead
lines in high winds, says Orion chief executive Rob Jamieson.
“We are continually urging landowners to maintain trees near power lines to avoid power out-ages,” he says. “That mes-
sage is doubly important in these tinder dry condi-tions when tree damage can cause fires.”
Jamieson says it’s essential people assume all fallen lines are live and stay well clear. He says the
Canterbury company has done all it can to prevent fires being sparked by electrical equipment. One of these steps means it will take longer to restore power in rural areas, but cuts the risk of fire.
PAM TIPA
“Several weeks ago as the region was drying out we changed our operat-ing practices because of the heightened fire risk. For example, normally a piece of equipment called a “recloser” automati-cally restores power to an overhead line after a momentary power cut. So if a tree branch falls on a line in high winds it may cut power for a second or two. When the branch then falls to the ground the recloser automati-cally reinstates power to the line.
“Automatic reclos-ers are a great means of restoring power quickly but every time they try to reinstate the power they can create a spark.”
Orion has shut down all automatic reclosers on its rural network and will manually check over-head lines to find the cause of power cuts while the fire danger remains high. “Unfortunately this means it will take longer to get the power back on, but we can’t take the risk
of starting a fire in the cur-rent conditions.”
Selwyn deputy prin-cipal rural fire officer Douglas Marshall says “currently the fire risk in Selwyn is very high, and on days with high winds or hot weather, or both, the fire risk becomes extreme”.
He says property owners must now con-sider what they can do to reduce the chance of a fire damaging their home.
“It’s important that people don’t light fires,” says Marshall.
“Even if we do receive some rain the fire risk will remain very high as veg-etation is extremely dry and rain is not a signal that people can light fires.”
He says the council will seek to recover fire callout costs from anyone who breaches the fire restric-tions. People can also be liable for the cost of fire damage. To date this year nine individuals have been billed for fire callout costs in Selwyn.
DO ALL YOU CANTO HELP reduce the risk of a fire damaging your prop-erty you can take the following steps:
■ Make preparations so your family is able to leave your property quickly. You can find advice and information on how to prepare a household emer-gency plan and an emergency kit online at www.getthru.govt.nz
■ Check you have smoke alarms installed and these are working
■ Check trees on your property are at least 3m away from power lines.
■ Rural dwellers should keep a clear space around their houses to act as fire breaks: clear vegetation within 10m of buildings. Keep this area watered and green and remove trees, branches, shrubs and long grass. Do not store wood or other flammable materials inside this area
■ Check you have a wide entrance to your property or paddocks, at least 4m high and 4m wide to allow fire trucks access
■ If you have animals or stock consider what prep-arations you can make for them should a fire threaten
■ Get to know your neighbours so that anyone who needs help leaving in a fire emergency can receive help, or so that if you need help to evacuate, other people are aware of this and can help
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
ANIMAL HEALTH 39
War on wastage in ewe flocksRESEARCH INTENDED to reduce ‘wastage’ in commercial ewe flocks has begun at Massey Uni-versity.
The trial involves two commercial ewe flocks – at least 12,000 animals.
The aim of the proj-ect says Professor Paul Kenyon, head of Massey’s Institute of Veterinary, Animal, and Biomedical Science, is to define char-acteristics in a ewe that farmers can use to deter-mine which sheep to cull, which need more input to prevent them ‘falling’ out of the flock and which ones to keep.
Kenyon says the proj-ect should provide risk factors on which farm-ers can base decisions about which ewes to keep or cull. The most produc-tive ewe is one that stays in the flock for many years and continues to rear lambs.
The project is led by the recently appointed sheep and beef health lecturer at Massey, Kate Griffiths, until recently a vet in Taumarunui. Griffiths is doing a doctor-ate based on this project. It also includes Professor Cord Heuer and Drs Rene Corner and Anne Ridler.
Griffiths says little research has been done on this subject recently. And farmers say they’d like to know more about what are, in some cases, unex-plained sheep deaths and poor production levels in others.
Griffiths says the proj-ect started with 12,000 tagged hoggets and their progress was followed by recording data on them at least four times annually for some years.
“So wastage is basi-cally culling prematurely – before the end of their productive life span. A lot of people cull based on age, [perhaps] at six years old; but the ques-tion is ‘can they be kept for longer or should they be culled earlier, and what sort of factors influence that? There is little infor-mation about that.
“When I left Tauma-runui all the farmers won-dered what I was going to do, and when I told them, they thought it would be a fantastic idea.”
Griffiths says so far a few criteria have emerged, such as if a hogget is mated under 40kg she has a much lower longevity than one that’s heavier. A low condition score at a young age can have a mas-sive impact on the likeli-hood of a ewe staying in the flock.
“So if they are less than BC 2.0 they have reduced longevity and are more likely to be culled or to
die. It looks as though once a hogget is mated at under 40kg it never picks up condition in its life-time and it has a lower lifelong performance.”
If a hogget is under 40kg it shouldn’t be mated but instead fed so that it gains weight for mating the following season. Research has shown BC 3.5 as the ideal condition score for mating. At that number the animal should perform well in all aspects of reproduction.
Notably, the trial is in commercial, not research, flocks. Professor Paul Kenyon says the aim is collect data which can be readily applied by farmers.
“In the case of a research flock, there is a danger the animals might be slightly pampered. The same could also possibly be said of a breeding flock. That’s why we’ve deliberately chosen commercial flocks for this project.”
Kenyon says the trial is also limited to Rom-ney-based composite breeds. He says it would be impossible to do the research across all breeds.
“Interestingly, we did a farmer survey recently
PETER BURKE
MASSEY IS looking at incorporating another flock into the trial, ideally near Massey University. This will enable vet Kate Griffiths to use her skills to determine the cause of death in some sheep.
“That means I can do post mortems on animals dying; one problem we have is some sheep are just ‘missing’. These are not being identified as definitely dead
and it would be nice to know what they’re dying of.”
Kenyon says this research is timely given the way the country’s ewe flock has changed over 20 years.
“Twenty years ago singletons were ok and we weren’t breeding hoggets. Now we’re putting more pressure on them to be multiple-bearing and on many farms they’re being breed as a hogget and we
want all ewe age classes to wean heavier lambs.
“So we’re putting more pressure on the ewe and the question is ‘can she handle that?’. It’s a bit like what was happening to the dairy industry. Look at our Friesian cow 20 years ago, she was slightly different from what we have now, and you could argue the same is happening now to the ewe flock.”
ANOTHER FLOCK WANTED
which showed that in New Zealand there are 150 ‘composite breeds’ – which is quite a lot.”
He says the research project can deliver finan-cial benefits to farm-ers because wastage in sheep flocks costs farmers money. This occurs when sheep die and when they suffer poor health. All this means farmers must carry more replacement stock and face greater costs get-ting their animals well again.
The project is being led by pHD student and vet Kate Griffiths.
The trial involves at least 12,000 commerical ewes.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
40 ANIMAL HEALTH
THE NEW Zealand Equine Health Association signed up to a Govern-ment Industry Agreement (GIA) for Biosecurity Readiness and Response at the Karaka yearling sales last month.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed a fourth primary industry to join the GIA partnership.
“This means the horse racing, recreational and breeding industry and the Ministry for Primary Indus-
tries can work together to manage and respond to the most important biosecurity risks,” Guy said.
“The equine industry is an impor-tant primary industry exporter with a strong international reputation. It supports almost 17,000 full-time jobs and contributes $1.6 billion to the New Zealand economy from domestic and export activity.”
Guy added that while New Zea-land is fortunate that our horse pop-ulation is free of equine influenza
– probably the industry’s most seri-ous disease threat – we must be vigi-lant to maintain that status.
“I’m pleased the industry has recognised the value that GIA offers by working together to maximise our collective strengths.”
New Zealand Pork, Kiwifruit Vine Health and Pipfruit New Zea-land signed up to the GIA in 2014. www.gia.org.nz
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@rural_news
facebook.com/ruralnews
Working dogs deserve a pain-free lifeA MARLBOROUGH vet is urging farmers to treat their dogs as they would any good worker during the mustering season, reports animal remedy firm Zoetis New Zealand.
The company has launched an anti-inflammatory drug to treat joint problems and pain in dogs.
Stuart Burrough, at the Vet Centre Marlborough, experienced in ortho-paedic surgery and hip problems in dogs, has seen working dogs’ back and hip problems get worse during busy times.
“Some of these dogs can be in severe pain,” Burrough says. “Often the pressure is on them to keep working if there are no younger dogs coming behind them.”
A Massey University study of dis-ease and injury in working dogs on 44 farms in the lower North Island found 17% suffered joint and leg issues including stiffness and arthri-
tis. In semi-retired dogs the problems were 25%.
Concerned at seeing many work-ing dogs suffering joint problems and pain, Burrough ran a trial using Zoetis’ new anti-inflammatory Tro-coxil tablets. The treatment is given once a month following an initial loading dose; this reduces the risk of forgetting treatment and ensures continuous pain relief.
Pet dogs had responded well to the drug so Burrough and colleagues “wanted to see how working dogs might respond… and whether it could lengthen their working life, even if by just a couple of years.”
Two local working dogs were enrolled.
Tyntesfield Station’s Katie Fraser says her 8-year-old Ned had been slowing during the days, not want-ing to jump up onto the motor bike and responding more slowly to com-
mands. He had a history of back pain, with bony projections on his lower spine and mild lesions developing higher up.
The treatment brought him results within days, Zoetis says. Fraser noticed him moving more freely, and a month after the initial dose he “had more life in him and was keen to work again”.
“He is keen again to be working, and while you don’t want to push a dog that’s a bit older, he’s happier to be out there doing what he does.
“Before treatment we scored Ned on a lameness scale of 4/5, and after-wards at 1, and the same for his stiff-ness score,” Burrough added.
Ned recently won the Marlbor-ough Tux Maiden yarding competi-tion.
The treatment, costing $50 per month, brought no side effects, Zoetis says.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
40 ANIMAL HEALTH ANIMAL HEALTH 41
Review improves welfare of live exports
AN AUSTRALIAN scheme to better look after the welfare of exported live-stock is working as intended, a federal Gov-ernment report says.
The Department of Agriculture report says since it began in 2011 the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) has improved the welfare of exported animals.
ESCAS requires exporters to have com-mercial arrangements with supply chain partners to provide humane treat-ment and handling of live-stock from arrival in the importing country to the point of slaughter.
Animal handling and slaughter at the destina-tion must meet World Organisation for Animal Health standards and exporters must have con-trol of all supply chain arrangements for live-stock transport, manage-ment and slaughter. All livestock has to remain in the supply chain and the exporter must be able to trace or account for all of them.
The scheme is in response to public anger about the mistreatment of animals on their arrival in Middle East and South-east Asian destinations.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says the live animal export trade is essential to the liveli-
hoods of thousands of Australians and under-pins the economies of many communities. “In short it is essential for our nation,” he says.
Australia is the world’s second-largest exporter of live sheep and the fifth-largest exporter of live cattle.
Joyce says ESCAS began Australia has exported eight million livestock to 18 countries in 1139 consignments with only 22 incidents of animal welfare concern. “In light of this, govern-ment and industry are working together to open new export markets and to improve market access for Australian livestock to existing markets.”
The emphasis now, he says, is on the continuity of supply, “and this gov-ernment has worked hard to repair the damage done by the previous (Labour) government to our inter-national reputation as a reliable supplier.”
However, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cru-elty to Animals chief exec-utive Heather Neil says ESCAS has set a low bar and does not prevent Aus-tralian exported animals suffering.
The report says gov-ernment and industry are working with trading part-ners to enhance animal handling and husbandry skills and improve animal welfare outcomes – train-ing 7000 people to date.
“Industry is helping to upgrade facilities to meet international animal wel-fare standards and our commitment to this work is ongoing,” Joyce says.
In 2013–14 live exports earned A$1.24bn and rep-
resented 7% (live cattle) and 6% (live sheep) of total turnover in their respective industries.
Up to 10,000 are people involved directly and indirectly in the industry.
ALAN HARMAN
Australia’s animal welfare programme keeps live exports travelling. PHOTO: MARITIME TRADE INTELLIGENCE
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
42 ANIMAL HEALTH
INDEXES AIM AT BREEDING HEALTHY COWSDAIRY FARMERS wanting to produce healthier and more efficient animals can now make this part of their breed-ing programme, says herd management firm CRV Ambreed.
It says its two new breeding indexes, ‘Better Life Health’ and ‘Better Life Effi-ciency’, will enable farmers to breed spe-cifically for an efficient, easy-to-manage herd that stays healthy as it ages.
Both indexes are expressed as per-centages so farmers can easily pinpoint the expected health and efficiency value of an individual bull.
Peter van Elzakker, global graz-ing genetics product manager at CRV Ambreed, says the Better Life Health index identifies a bull’s overall contri-bution to a healthier herd. A higher per-centage means the bull’s progeny will have a lower rate of health incidents like mastitis, lameness, difficult births or reproductive problems.
“The benefits to farmers are easier-to-manage animals, fewer treatments, fewer veterinary bills and, in the end, greater financial gain.”
The traits in this index for New Zea-land include fertility, calving difficulty,
somatic cell count, residual survival, condition score and TOP-predictors. Overseas genetics incorporate ketosis, udder health, fertility, hoof health, calv-ing ease and calf vitality.
For example, Okura Lika Murmur S3J, one of CRV Ambreed’s top bulls, is claimed to excel in calving ease, fertility and cell count, giving him a Better Life Health value of 8%. Bulls pass on half their genes to their progeny, so Mur-mur’s daughters will be 4% healthier than daughters of a bull that scores 0%, the company says.
The Better Life Efficiency index sup-ports sustainable dairy farming by help-ing to reduce feed costs and increase lifetime production.
“Better use of feed, lower feed costs and lower cost per kilo of milk is a good thing, especially when payout is low,” says van Elzakker.
The traits included in the Better Life Efficiency index for New Zealand are kilos of milk, fat, protein, live weight, longevity, and fertility. Overseas genetics incorporate the new feed intake breed-ing value.www.CRV4all.co.nz
No drench for heavy ‘uns?
NOT TREATING heavier Merino ewes for worms, and dosing lighter ewes, may help avoid drench resis-tance, Australian research suggests.
The new strategies to control scour worms are being developed at Murdoch University, Western Aus-tralia.
Postgraduate stu-dent Meghan Cornelius says sheep with higher body condition scores (about 3.0) – where 1.0 is extremely lean and 5.0 indicates excessive fat – can tolerate moderate worm burdens and are less likely to need drench-ing than animals in poor condition. This is said to reduce the direct cost of drenching and can pro-long the effectiveness of chemical products before resistance develops.
The main worms that affect sheep in Western Australia are the scour worms, including brown stomach worm (Ostertagia) and black scour worm (Trichostrongylus), which
can cause ill-health, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, death.
“Depending on the degree of severity of worm burdens, produc-ers may be able to leave those sheep with the higher condition scores in the flock without treatment, which will minimise input costs and save valuable time for farmers,”
Cornelius says.With drench resistance on the
march Australia-wide and the higher cost of new combination drenches, Cornelius says employing resistance management strategies is critical to the long-term cost of managing
parasites.“Further research is determining
how many sheep with higher con-dition scores we can leave in a mob before there is a negative impact on whole flock productivity,” she says.
Scour worm burdens are a major problem for producers in areas with cool wet winters.
“The nematodes thrive in temperatures from 16-30° Celsius, and with moisture present the larvae develop in faecal material and then move onto the pas-ture, ready for sheep to ingest.”
Part of her research project includes field experiments with close monitoring of body condition,
body weight and worm egg count to compare the production responses between treated and untreated sheep.
“Producers can select sires with negative worm egg count ASBVs to further reduce the cost of parasite management,” she says.
ALAN HARMAN
Australian research aims to reduce sheep drenching. PHOTO: DAFWA
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
ANIMAL HEALTH 43
Attention to welfare can boost profitsDEER FARMERS are being encouraged to look closely at their animal health as part of the ‘Passion-2Profit’ initiative.
P2P aims to improve deer farm profits by developing new high-value markets for venison and raising farm performance. It will be partially funded by the Government’s Primary Growth Partnership.
“Animal health, feeding and genetics are the three big areas where farmers can influence the prof-its they make from deer,” says Deer Industry NZ chief executive Dan Coup.
“In 11 ‘Advance Parties’ we now have underway, farmers help each other to exploit opportunities in each of these areas. The first of these groups are already achieving good results for the farm-ers involved. Next will be ‘Clean Bill of Health’, looking at the impact animal health issues can have on deer perfor-mance.”
P2P advisory group chair Dr Mandy Bell, a Central Otago deer farmer and veterinarian, says deer are low-input animals.
“This is one of their great attractions from a farming point of view and no-one wants to change that. But you can’t just
turn them out after say, weaning, forget about them and expect great results.
“Every farm is differ-ent, but case studies show that health issues can have a big impact on fawn-ing percentages, survival rates and growth rates. With a few well-timed interventions as part of a customised deer health programme, it is possible to greatly improve farm profits.
“Before P2P was devel-oped, the industry took a hard look at farm profit-ability. Deer health was identified as leaving a lot of money on the table.”
DINZ and the deer branch of the Veterinary Association have priori-tised eight health issues harming deer perfor-mance on many farms.
Bell says farmers need to realise animal health is not just a cost centre, but instead has potential to increase farm profit. Farmers will be helped to recognise animal health problems on their farms, and what to do about them. Later in the year the focus will shift to animal health planning.
“All farmers want to maximise the profit-ability of their deer. But some of them will have undiagnosed animal
MANDY BELL cites two recent case studies as examples of deer farmers using custom-ised animal health plans to boost their farms’ bottom line.
Farm 1 – The farmer contacted the vet about Johne’s disease. A risk assessment was done and an animal health plan developed.
This involved monitoring and management of all diseases, not just Johne’s, with veterinary input. Each year the plan has been reviewed. After three years, deaths are down from 13% to 2.2%, in-calf percent-ages are up from 80% to 94.5%, and weaning rates have increased from 70% to 89%.
Bell says these performance increases result from a planned approach to animal health, not just the treatment of the one disease.
Farm 2 – This well-managed 10,500 SU farm has an annual animal health plan. In the last year it has reduced input costs by increased monitoring. As a result, animal health costs have fallen 25% ($9082). This could not have been achieved without careful monitoring and veterinary involvement, says Bell.
health issues in their herds which, if they were addressed, would boost herd performance and profits.
“Farmers typically see vets as an emergency service, called in when an animal health issue has blown up. The ideal is for farmers and vets to work proactively together, with
customised deer health plans developed and reviewed annually. Part of this involves weighing the costs of veterinary advice against improvements in farm profitability.”
Advance Parties are co-funded by the Minis-try for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund and DINZ.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
44 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
Spraying accuracy better by farNEW SPRAY technology on Case IH’s Patriot self-propelled sprayers is said to be unprecedented in application control and accuracy in most condi-tions.
The Case IH AIM Command Pro spray system has individual nozzle control and turn compensation, which means accurate rates, pre-cision placement, con-sistent droplet size and can cover more ground in “narrow application win-dows,” says Case IH.
“It delivers constant application rates and spray pressures, even with speed changes and in turns and irregular-shaped fields.”
Case IH product man-ager Pete McCann says managing the droplet size and pressure when spray-
ing is crucial to pest con-trol.
The company launched the technology in 1998.
“The most important advantage of AIM Com-mand is the ability to con-trol the pressure in the boom independent of the chassis speed,” McCann says.
“This gives the opera-tor the advantage of being able to balance coverage and drift for their particu-lar field conditions on the fly, saving time, increasing [coverage] per day, and maximising yield poten-tial like no other system.”
The AIM Command Pro technology adds sev-
eral benefits to the AIM Command system, nota-bly “its ability to maintain constant pressure for a consistent droplet size”.
The individual nozzle control minimises skips, preventing over-applica-tion and crop damage.
“As the nozzles pass over previously applied
or unapplied areas, each individual nozzle turns on or off as needed for the application specified, making it easier for grow-ers to balance coverage verses burn in long point rows or around pivots or obstacles,” says McCann.
The AIM Command Pro also has a new “turn
compensation” that allows individual nozzles to match the rate for that nozzle’s speed through the field relative to its position on the boom during a turn.
“Turn compensa-tion adjusts for different speeds across the boom during turns, providing a
consistent and accurate application rate. The pro-grammable ‘soft’ boom configuration also allows the operator to customise boom configurations for, say, fence row or wheel track configurations.”www.caseih.co.nz
MARIE SHERRY
@rural_news
facebook.com/ruralnews
Call 0800 804 458 to find your local dealer. Or visit our website, www.giltrapag.co.nz
Our feed out equipment helps you cram more into every day. The stable includes forage wagons, bale feeders and mixer wagons. The right tool saves you time, so you can make every minute count.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 45
Vintage machinery on show at Levin
■ 1 – Ian Skeet, from Otaki, driving his vintage McCor-mack Farmall tractor, cleans up a paddock of oats, allowing a team of Clydesdales to plough more easily. Skeet has four other vintage tractors, the Farmall being the oldest of its type at the show.
Hundreds thronged Levin’s annual vintage machinery event, stepping back in time to admire an amazing array of tractors, bulldozers and farm equipment, all beautifully preserved. Peter Burke attended with camera and notebook.
■ 3 –One of the oldest exhibitors was Peter Trotter (81) with a Massey Harris. He has worked all his life as an agricultural contractor in Horowhenua district.
■ 2 –Stephen Muggeridge, from Featherston, brought his team of Clydesdale to demonstrate ploughing and harrowing. His father was also a Clydesdale enthu-siast. The horses are also in demand for weddings and galas.
TO PAGE 48
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
AUSTRALIAN FARMERS Roger and Amanda Heath knew they would need to buy new machinery when they recently bought the family dairy farm from Roger’s parents Peter and Janice.
Roger and Amanda, with their six children, milk 300 Jerseys and some Illawarras on 260ha with a 22ha run-off leased block for the heifers, at Bookaar near Camper-down, western Victoria.
It is a fourth gen-
eration dairy, started by Heath’s great, great grandmother on 40ha and he has been there for 21 years, leaving school at 15 to come home to do the milking and do his farm apprenticeship on the place.
“We previously had a New Holland TS100 trac-tor which is still going strong on the farm after 10,000 hours. It was the main tractor and will now be kept for feeding out, raking and baling”, explained Mr Heath.
In April last year they
bought a New Holland T5.105 with an MX front-end loader through the Swayn & McCabe dealer-ship at Colac.
“The 112hp is the ideal size for us. We chose this New Holland model because it is a basic trac-tor and because of the reliability that we got from the old tractor.
“It had to be easy to use; we have one full-time operator, Tyson Osborne, and he is the main oper-ator of the machine. It runs well with great vis-ibility, it’s hard to fault.
The hydraulics are very quick.”
The recently-released T5.105 has a 3.4L 4-cyl engine which is Tier 4A emission compliant and utilises New Holland’s cooled exhaust gas recir-culation system and a diesel particulate filter.
The common rail system for diesel engines was first introduced to farming by New Holland in 2003, and they claim the benefits in compar-ison with conventional engines include reduced engine noise, better com-
bustion, higher engine power density and lower emissions.
The tractor runs a 12x12 transmission with electro-hydraulic power
46 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
Aussie farmer tickled pink with his blue machines
Roger Heath
CHRIS DINGLE
shuttle which makes oper-ating a front-end loader much easier.
The hydraulics have an open-centre system with tandem gear pumps pro-viding a combined total flow of 99L/min. Remote levers are within easy reach on the ergonomic CommandArc console.
“This is the first tractor we have had with a front loader, and we should have had one 20 years ago”, says Heath. “It’s amazing how many extra jobs you can find for the loader; it saves time and is very convenient.”
They feed pellets in the bail to the cows in their 20 a-side swingover herring-bone shed and meal to the yearlings and calves. “Fill-ing the pellet feeders is easy with the loader; the Quick Hitch takes about a minute to drop the forks and put on the bucket.
“It’s halved the time in changing over to the bucket. Mechanically it is a simple quick fix.”
Heath is passionate about his cows, with a big interest in the stud side
through their Wanstead Jersey stud, started by his great grandparents. “I just love the cows, always have.” He has been a clas-sifier with the Jersey Asso-ciation for 11 years, and gets to see lots of the country.
They’ve had a very ordinary season for hay. “We made all our own silage of 600 bales; we usually do 1000, and have been buying in hay. We normally work on 1000 bales of silage and 1000 of hay. The rain shut off in early August; we always usually get a spring.”
They need to milk 300 cows for debt replace-ment. They run a self-replacing herd and will bring 100 new cows into the shed this year. They would like to sit at 300 cows comfortably but will need to increase num-bers in the next few years, probably up to 340.
As part of their upgrad-ing program automatic cluster removers and stall gates are on the list, as will be a new feed system.www.newholland.co.nz
A TYRE TRUSTED BY A TYRE PROFESSIONALRemember when washing
machines and refrigerators lasted a generation? And tyres lasted for years too? Things were made to last back then. Now it seems things are made to wear out.
The reason for this is original tyres fitted to new vehicles are made to the vehicle manufacturer’s price. This may result in a compromise on the tyre performance and life.Cooper Tires are better value.
One tyre company, continuing to construct quality aftermarket tyres that last, is Cooper Tires. Drivers choosing quality American made Cooper Tires are finding they are getting a lot more mileage and better value for money than
original tyres. This is because Cooper Tires make tyres that last without compromising on high quality tyre components.
Cooper Tires are only sold through appointed local tyre professionals, so they know your conditions and can advise the right tyre for the job.
TyreLAND are one of the leading independent tyre specialists in New Zealand with 9 stores in the south Island and a store newly opened in
Auckland. Raymond from TyreLAND explains why they trust Cooper Tires for their customers;
If you’re looking for decent tyres for your 4WD call 0800 4 tread for your local TyreLand store. If there isn’t one in your area, call 0800 mileage (0800 645 243) or visit www.coopertires.co.nz to find your nearest Cooper retailer and request your free info pack.
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depths and a stronger casing, which means Coopers last longer and perform better. We always offer Cooper Tires to customers who want the best.
We keep records of our customer’s performance so they can see the money they save. We had a customer come in for his second set of Coopers; he got 65,000kms out of his first set, while he only got 30,000kms out of the original equipment set.”
“We have been selling Cooper Tires for over 25 years and believe they are the best 4WD tyres available on the market. This is because they have deeper tread
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 47
TYRES ON maize and silage stacks could get the heave-ho in favour of UK-made Secure Covers, says Secure Cover System (NZ) sales manager Peter Wrightson.
These use knitted textile held down by gravel bags, seen replacing tyres on stacks in England, Europe and America, he says. They are clean, safe and don’t cost the earth.
Tyres – dirty and heavy to handle – also present a risk of wire being eaten by livestock, causing injury to digestive tracts. Sometimes this would be treatable but if wire were to pierce an animal’s stomach wall it would likely need to be put down.
Also, farmers covering maize and silage stacks with soil or limestone can struggle to retrieve feed cleanly especially from top of a stack.
Secure Covers are made of knitted, UV-stabilised polyethylene mesh. The cover is placed over the usual polythene silage sheet and weighed down with 15kg gravel bags.
Wrightson says the system provides an effective seal: the fabric withstands wind, ensuring the cover sheet stays in place over the feed.
The knitted mesh is strong and carries a 10 year guarantee. After use the cover folds up to a bundle about 1m square by 300-400mm thick.
Wrightson recommends using pea gravel to fill the gravel bags, but says farmers can use anything that’s bigger than the pores in the bag.
Feed barn builders DesignMax, Waiuku, sell the covers in Auckland region.
Wrightson says customers grow their usage of the covers year by year. “We get a few more local dairy boys using it every year. They tend to use tyres with the net-ting in the first year and add more bags and nets in sub-sequent seasons.”Tel 0800 30 40 30www.dairydiner.co.nz/silage-covers
GARETH GILLATT
RETRIEVE THOSE TYRES FROM SILAGE PITS
All steamed-up and ready to baleAN AMERICAN lucerne moistening system could help New Zealand farm-ers and contractors deal with drought during hay baling.
Waiting around for natural dew is a thing of the past, the company says. Its DewPoint 6110 dew simulator for big square balers applies steam to dry hay at the baler. Hay may then be baled any time the crop is dry enough.
The machine, developed by grower Dave Staheli, is made by Staheli West
Inc, Cedar City, Utah.The DewPoint 6110 sits between the
baler and tractor as part of a one-pass operation.
Steam is injected through manifolds into the hay as it is lifted from the wind-row to the baler pickup and further as it passes through the feed chamber of the baler.
Four litres of water will produce about 6500L of steam, allowing an operator to add 19-26L of water to one
tonne of hay.When the injected steam contacts
the dry crop material it condenses and bonds with other water molecules in the vicinity. Unlike when water is sprayed on hay to simulate dew, steam is absorbed instantly, retaining leaves and softening the hay.
The DewPoint 6110 makes higher quality, denser bales and increases baling capacity, says Dave Staheli. A grower baling 16-20ha/day with one baler can easily cover 80-100ha/day with a baler and a DewPoint machine,
he claims.Product consistency is said to be
high. While in the cab, the operator can customise the steam application depending on how dry the hay is. Each manifold can be controlled separately.
“Moisture content is consistent in each bale, and the bales tend to be higher in quality because of higher leaf retention,” says Staheli.
The company seeks a New Zealand buyer or distributor. – Marie Sherry
The new 5 series tractors from Deutz-Fahr deliver unparalleled on-farm productivity with industry leading features like cab suspension, Stop & Go, 4-wheel braking, an ultra-clean tier 4 engine and a super quiet, ergonomically designed cabin. The 5 series provides the benefits of a big tractor in a compact, muscular 100-130Hp tractor ideally suited to New Zealand farming. Call your local Deutz-Fahr dealer for a demonstration today, and prepare to be impressed.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
48 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
Determining friend from foeGROWING PLANTS will be able to communi-cate with a US-developed robotic cultivator that can distinguish ‘friend’ from ‘foe’, intended to make it easier for vegetable grow-
ers to kill weeds.Prof David Slaughter of
the University of Califor-nia Davis department of biological and agricultural engineering says the five-year project will address a long-running weed prob-lem. “Machines can recog-
nise a weed, and they can recognise a crop plant, but they have trouble distin-guishing one pattern from another when they are co-mingled, as often with weeds and young crops, particularly when traveling at a typical tractor speed of
1m/sec or faster,” Slaugh-ter says.
Slaughter has a US$2.7m grant from the US Department of Agri-culture to design a robotic cultivator to remove weeds in commercial fields much as gardeners pull
weeds in their own back-yard – but labour-free and cheaply.
His ‘smart’ cultiva-tor has small knives that
ALAN HARMAN
reach out to uproot weeds and retract to leave crops intact. It will weed the beds of any row crop, espe-cially well in wide beds of densely seeded crops like spinach and baby let-tuce, which can turn green almost overnight with weeds and leafy crops.
Steve Fennimore, a weed specialist with the university’s department of plant sciences, says current vision-sensing mechanical cultivators can sometimes recognise weeds along the edges of wide beds, or seed lines, but they get lost in the middle.
“Workers often have to go back through and hand-weed them.”
The new cultivator will distinguish friend from foe through a safe, simple seed coating. The plants
will signal the cultivator by emitting a faint, fluores-cent glow that will appear when seedlings emerge and are most vulnerable, then vanish as plants grow and can out-do weeds for sun, water and nutrients.
“It won’t involve bio-technology or any genetic engineering,” Slaughter says. “The seeds will be coated with a safe, inert, fluorescent material.”
To develop the seed coating, Slaughter’s team will work with the univer-sity’s seed biotechnology centre and Aginnovation, a California company.
Especially this gear will suit automated let-tuce thinners, machines that drive through heavily seeded fields and remove all but the most viable plants.
Fluorescent seedlings will help a robotic cultivator target weeds in planted fields such as this one in California’s Salinas Valley. (UC DAVIS PHOTO BY STEVE FENNIMORE)
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■ 5 –Howard Berendt, Halcombe, imported this vintage Caterpillar bulldozer from the US to add to his ten vintage machines. First made in 1926, the range ran to 10,000 units. They were used for ploughing and planting corn in the US, but were never used in New Zealand.
■ 4 –Roger McIntyre, an agricultural contractor from Apiti, Manawatu, was one of many Caterpillar enthusi-asts at the show. He used this machine to plough land and clear bush to bring land into production. He spent a year restoring this machine to working order.
VINTAGE MACHINERY ON SHOW
FROM PAGE 45
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 49
POLARIS INDUSTRIES reckons it has ‘upped the ante’ in the side x side category with its new M1400, aimed at the light com-mercial market.
It has 2WD with turf-mode, turf tyres and is powered by a 31hp Pro-Star engine.
“The capabilities of the M1400 are unmatched in its class, with a payload of 635kg, towing capacity of 680kg and rear tray capacity of 499kg,” the company says.
The M1400 has electronic fuel injection, independent front and rear suspension and a top speed of 42km/h. Fuel capacity is 34.1L.
A notable feature is its flat-bed tray and options such as electric bed tilt, cab acces-sories and rear box, sides and carrier.
Polaris says it offers the industry’s larg-est range of accessories, and its lock-and-ride accessory range can be attached and detached “in seconds”.
The machine is 144cm wide, and has a 4.3m turning radius. In turf mode it is very agile and versatile.
“We already have an industry-leading range of 15 models with ROPS, however we continue to innovate and develop models,” says Polaris New Zealand country manager, Alan Collins.
“The M1400 is a great example of a vehicle that offers value and versatility to light commercial users – lifestyle blocks, vineyards, councils, golf courses, schools, etc.
“We have had great success with our heavy duty range – designed for heavy users – and now products such as the M1400 and the Ranger ETX suit light commercial and agricultural or lifestyle applications.
Price: $11,650 + GST.www.polaris.co.nz
A WIND-POWERED electricity generator, which uses a funnel to direct wind to a turbine, is offered to farm-ers on free trial.
PacificWind vice president Reza Sehdehi promotes the Invelox system as a new form of generation that brings the wind to the generator instead of putting the generator in the wind.
A funnel draws wind through pipes, down into a tur-bine-generator system.
A single tower can generate up to 25mW at 2c/kWh, the firm says. The equipment is said to incurr 50% lower maintenance and operating costs, half the installation costs and 10% the land area of traditional wind systems.
The generators will tick over in wind only 3.2km/h; traditional generators need at least 12km/h.
PacificWind is looking for large-scale farmers and horticulturists interested in installing wind generation. Ideally it would like to install a system on a farm using at least 3600kWh/month and wanting to produce their own electricity.
Pacific Wind will cover the cost of installation and maintenance for the period of the trial, the farmer only paying if the system hits all their targets.Tel: 09 8460174www.pacificwindenergy.co.nz
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New side x side suits farmers
The Polaris M1400 shown with optional rear box accessories.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
50 RURAL TRADER
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RURAL TRADER 51
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THE 2015 Northland Field Days will do much for young Northlanders, says committee president Lew Duggan.
From February 26-28 people from Northland and beyond will flood into Dargaville for the field days, an event offering plenty to young people, notably a practical look at how they can get into farming and forestry.
Career days, scholar-ships and the return of the Northland Young Farm-ers will be features of the event.
The committee is offering another $10,000 in scholarships, towards education or to support research into opportunities in the
region’s rural sector.Last year, for the first
time, the committee awarded $10,500 scholarships to seven students (18-20) from
Whangarei, Wellsford, Hikurangi and Matawaia. Competition was tough among the applicants, Duggan says.
“Bright young men and women gave it their best last year to get the grants. With young people of this quality entering agricul-ture in Northland, I think the region has a bright future.”
Youngsters looking for a start in farming, forestry and construction will get a close look at these careers. Thirty two high school students from Kai-
para, Whangarei, lower Far North and Rodney will learn about operating diggers, trucks and con-struction equipment. The aim is to show them what it’s like to work in these industries.
“We’re looking for-ward to seeing some of the area’s brightest stu-dents at the field days, where they’ll learn about
New Zealand’s most excit-ing and essential indus-tries,” says Duggan.
The event will also see the return of the North-land Young Farmers. The Kaipara branch has played a big part in the field days development: they organ-ised and ran the first one at Dargaville racecourse in 1985.
Duggan is looking for-ward to the event reaf-firming its connection to Young Farmers, given its huge contribution to agri-culture.
“Young Farmers has played a huge part in con-necting and supporting rural communities so it’s good to see them taking an interest in the field days. We hope we can work closer with mem-bers in the future.”
FEBRUARY 17, 2015: ISSUE 578 www.ruralnews.co.nz
RURALNEWSTO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
Northland Field Days
DARGAVILLE FEBRUARY 26-28TH
Fresh look at farming for youthGARETH GILLATT
“With young people of quality entering agriculture in Northland, I think the region has a bright future.”
Heaps more to see, better access and a new toilet!
And with the grounds having been almost booked out by Novem-ber 2014, Duggan expects something for every visi-tor, especially the attrac-tion of new machinery: John Deere, Fendt and Indian farm machin-ery maker Mahindra will
introduce new products.Visitors will access the
field days via a pedestrian friendly walkway, buying tickets at newer, smarter gate facilities. And a new permanent toilet block will add to their comfort.
“The Northland Field Days grounds have been
improved and added to for 10 years,” says Duggan. “And while a toilet block and better pedestrian access are the most ambi-tious changes to date, these will pale against the improvements we have planned for the near future.”
26th February - 28th February, 2015 The biggest outdoor event in Northland DAILY
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$15 adult $5 child (5 - 16yrs) Under 5 years free
See you there!State Highway 14, Dargavillewww.northlandfielddays.co.nz
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
2 NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS 3
Indian giant grows its tractor rangeINDIAN FARM machin-ery maker Mahindra will show its expanded trac-tor range, including new offerings at both ends of the power spectrum, says national sales manager Russell Burling.
The company will launch its 20-24hp eMax tractors and the mForce 100hp, its first large machine in New Zealand.
At 100hp the mForce
100P will meet the “known largest demand in the New Zealand market – for 90-120 hp tractors,” Burling says.
“They’re used by everyone… sheep and beef farmers, and dairy farmers; we’ve been were looking forward to getting a model in.”
With power coming from a 100hp 4-cyl Perkins 4400cc
GARETH GILLATT
turbo diesel engine, this model has plenty of power, managed by a 32x32 power shuttle trans-mission including eight creeper gears.
The loader can lift 1870kg and the rear 3-point hitch can carry a maximum of 3110kg.
The designers have kept simple the layout of the large, double-door cab, but haven’t skimped on features farmers want, offering hydraulic controls for the three point linkage on the left and right of the tractor.
Burling says the three year, 2000 hour warranty
should be an attractive offer.
And while the new eMax series (22-25hp) might appear to be the polar opposite to the larger tractor, they offer more than one might imagine.
The full chassis rail, Tier IV eco-friendly engine, and highly engi-neered drawbar and 3-point linkage means users are essentially get-ting the strength of a full-sized tractor inside a compact. “It’s definitely stronger and better,” Bur-ling says.Tel. 0800 282 726www.mahindra.co.nz
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS 3
Variable bale-wrapper had Kiwi inputA BALER-WRAPPER combo and new tractor transmission will be a crowd puller on the John Deere site at the Northland Field Days, says agent Cervus Northland manager Tim Ormrod.
The products are the John Deere 960 variable chamber-Goweil baler-wrapper combination and the new 7R series tractor with E23 automated powershift transmission.
Launched three seasons ago, the baler is popular in New Zealand largely because of this country’s role in its development, Ormrod says. It was developed partly in Australia, but the company paid close atten-tion to New Zealand conditions and concerns.
“They made an effort to talk to us about the changes needed. They have listened to us over the last couple
of years and we now have a good machine tested in New Zealand con-ditions.”
He says the variable chamber allows operators to set whether they make a bale with a soft or hard core, while also allowing them to make a range of different types of bale from different forage types.
“The baler can make such a great bale out of everything from straw to damp silage.”
We have used the Goweil G5040 wrapper due to its reputation and our existing business relationship with Webbline, the importer of Goweil wrappers.
With hydraulic brakes and load-sensing hydraulics the wrapper has a notable bale transfer system. It gives trouble-free bale transfer on varied terrain. Its plastic pre-tensioner system can save up to a dollar per bale on plastic costs, Ormrod says. “We’ve
got a number of Northland contrac-tors looking seriously at it.”
Ormrod says the new 7R series tractors with the E23 automated pow-ershift transmission will be popular with operators who spend a lot of time doing drawbar work.
“Guys who are pulling discs or silage wagons should get a lot of value out of this.”
The E23 system is a fully auto-matic transmission with 23F and 11R. The maker’s Efficiency Man-ager allows the operator to pre-set working speeds and the transmis-sion keeps the engine at optimal rpm to save fuel.
With three operator modes and 14 gears between 2.5 and 16km/h the transmission the tractor will be suited to a number of tasks, Ormrod says. Tel: 0800 333 734www.cervusequipment.co.nz
GARETH GILLATT
John Deere says it has paid close attention to NZ conditions in developing its baler-wrapper.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
4 NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS 5
Plenty of gear on show at eventVISITORS TO Northland Field Days machinery, product and informa-tion sites will see and hear more than ever this year, say the organisers.
Exhibitors are prom-ising lots of gear, some never seen before in New Zealand, says the event coordinator Meagan Edmonds.
Businesses had rushed
to book at least 90% of available sites by late January, she says. “They rushed to book a spot…. [Most of ] the event ground filled up in less than seven months”.
“Exhibitors got involved quickly for this event. Companies have also made plans to bring their biggest, brightest and latest machinery and
products to the event. Many exhibitors will launch brand new inven-tions.”
The Indian giant Mahindra will launch new vehicles – the Mahindra mForce 100p, the compa-ny’s first 100hp tractor in New Zealand, and a 20hp tractor.
Cervus Northland manager Tim Osmond
says John Deere also has big plans for the event: he hopes to unveil a new transmission.
Edmonds says exhib-itors expect to let visi-tors get their hands on the gear. And several have talked to her about stag-ing live demonstrations.
The organisers have worked harder to service visitors looking for food,
household items and tools.
“And a new entrance and an increase in visitor facilities will make attend-ing the event more com-fortable.”
Sponsor ANZ will have four-ATM units and two mobile cash carts, making shopping easy.
Early interest is strong in scholarships on offer
by Northland Field Days, Edmonds says. Five schol-arships, each for $2000, are offered to agricultural students from Northland.
Launched last year, this scheme attracted qual-
ity entries, and Edmonds expects a similar response this year.
“Everybody who’s called in seems excited by the prospect of these grants.”
Ring top replaces pigtailA NEW ring top post turns the concept of the tradi-tional pigtail standard on its “curly little head,” says maker Gallagher.
The design deals with the nuisance of tangled pig-tail posts, making it easier to store, carry and erect temporary electric fences.
Product manager Graham Johns says a key feature is its distinctive ring-shaped head. Made from heavy-duty glass-fibre nylon, the heads suffer no electrical shorts. And they are light and strong.
The company talked to many farmers and did a lot of R&D.
“We talked to farmers about what they liked and didn’t like about portable fencing and a common complaint about pigtail standards was entanglement during transport and storage,” Johns says. “Farm-ers were also frustrated about pigtail heads wearing through, resulting in shorting.”
Johns says feedback from farmers who have tri-alled the new post has been “fantastic”.
“We’ve run tests in Taranaki, Waikato and South-land, and farmers love them. Most said they wouldn’t go back to the old standards and one farmer said his staff members argue over who gets to use the new ring top posts.”
Gallagher has also redesigned the foot section for more strength and usability. Made from over-moulded glass-fibre for increased durability, the foot will withstand 200kg of tread pressure and will not bend out of shape like a steel foot.
The blade-type design of the foot prevents the standard from rotating when erected, and its profile reduces the risk of standards becoming tangled and entrapped during handling and storage. An extended insulated section also provides extra strength and better handling.
RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS 5
Hands-on ag experience for keen young NorthlandersNORTHLAND SECONDARY school-ers will get hands-on experience of quarrying, forestry and farming at the Northland Field Days.
Thirty two high schools stu-dents from Kaipara, Whangarei, Far North and Rodney districts will get a hands-on go at the controls of dig-gers, trucks and construction gear, and will glimpse the job opportuni-ties in these industries.
This will be held on the Kaipara Vintage Machinery Club’s field days site on the Saturday of the event.
Alistair McIntyre, author of the children’s book Doug the Digger and founder of Youth into Industry, says he wanted to give Northland school leavers a look into career options.
“Students are given an oppor-tunity to work alongside industry people in a safe worksite environ-ment.”
He floated the idea with Kaipara Vintage Machinery Club members at the 2014 field days; the members were keen.
McIntrye and the club patron Bruce Galloway talked to the field days committee about hosting a careers open day at this year’s event.
A similar event ran last year at the Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology. “Thirty one eager stu-dents turned up who were so keen they ignored several rain showers to carry on with activities.”
Field days’ president Lew Duggan
says the committee jumped at the idea, seeing it as a good way to get Northland youth into fast-growing industries.
“We already offer Northland youngsters scholarships to study farming, so the Youth Into Industry initiative was a perfect fit.”
Kaipara Vintage Machinery Club members will help as tutors and in support roes.
Students will operate mini-exca-vators and small plant and equip-ment, and learn about health and safety, workplace safety, weights and measures, and vehicle safety.
Industry personnel will talk about their expertise and help students do paperwork.
Young people will get the chance to experience ‘real world’ farming at the Northland field days.
Demonstration Area
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Vintage Machinery &
Mini Max
Quad SkillsLogger Sports
State Highway 14
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Northern AdvocateLawn Mower Race Track
Tractor Pull
Tractor Pull HQ
5
CERVUS EQUIPMENT LANE
POWER FARMING NORTHLAND PLACE
RD1 ROAD
FIBER FRESH WAY HONDA HIGHWAY
RD1 ROAD
DARGAVILLE FORD TERRITORY
NORWOOD ROAD
CRAIGS INVESTMENT PARTNERS PLACE
FONTERRA
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Emergency/Evacuation Gate
ENVIRONMENTALFERTILISERS
TRACK
REDLINE ROAD
MARKETAREA
Heavy Vehicles & Buses Bush
N
HHelicopter Rides
Awakino Point East RoadPublic Carpark
Public Carpark
Road 10m wide
Road 15m wide
Loading Ramp
Danger No EntryServices 1m
Helicopter RidesHAttractionsFood
Ticket Booths
Toilets
Disabled Parking
Entrance
Parking
Market SiteSite 14x18mPrime Site 14x18m
First Aid
Whangarei→Dargaville
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MACHINERYROAD
DAVE PHILLIPS MEMORIAL DRIVE
NORTHLAND TOYOTA 4WD TRACK
ARB NORTHERN LANE
NorthernAdvocate
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Ballance Agri-NutrientsSheep Dog Trials
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
6 NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS
4WDing, shearing, sheep chasing and much more!FOUR-WHEEL DRIVING, shooting, sheep racing and shearing and much more: there’ll be lots to do and see at Northland Field Days, February 26-28.
The venue is Dargaville on the picturesque Wairoa River, upstream from the mighty Kaipara Harbour. It’s a two-three hour drive from Auckland, and a mere 40 minutes from Whangarei.
Exhibitors and organisers have worked overtime on more new events than ever, says the
field days president Lew Duggan. And as usual the field days will be a mix of new and old events.
Northland Toyota is building a 4WD track next to its site, to allow visitors to power a Toyota 4WD in real-world conditions. Spokesman Nigel Gilmour says people trying out a Toyota Hilux, Land Cruiser or Rav4 on the 4WD course should expect to be put through
their paces. “It’s got some axle
twisters in there; there’s water, hills and sidings. Drivers will experience challenging approach and departure angles.”
Gilmour says the company wants to show off the Toyota Hilux’s role as a ‘workhorse’. The track will let visitors try out the truck in conditions they’re likely to experience any
working day.“Our aim is to get
people into vehicles to show them what sort of performance they’re capable of in tough conditions. We have always made sure the Hilux stayed true to its origins, able to do what it needs to do when the work demands.”
Meanwhile, hunters and target shooters can show off their sharpshooting skills at a
digital, clay bird shooting event.
Friday and Saturday will be jam-packed with activities including the Sheep ‘n’ Show event, a combination of sheep racing, sheep shearing and more.
Sheep and Show presents a ‘grand national sheeplechase’ with commentary, pre-race build-up and an offer of prizes for picking the winning sheep. There
will also be 45-minute shearing shows.
On other sites, competitions include lawnmower races, dog trials, a tractor pull and logger sports. “The events committee have outdone themselves this year,” says Duggan. “Anybody travelling to Dargaville on February 26-28 will miss out big-time if they don’t attend the Northland Field Days.”
The logging sports – always a crowd favourite – will be back again this year.
Exhibitors and organisers have worked overtime on more new events than ever.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS 7
Fence power ‘grunt’, remote water control on display at Gallagher sitePERMANENT ELECTRIC fence power and wireless water level monitoring will be prominent on the Gallagher site at the Northland Field Days.
National sales manager Peter Nation says the compa-ny’s high-powered M10,000i fence energiser, and its inno-vative wireless water level monitoring system, point the way forward in these technologies.
Due for retail release in March, the M10,000i has a stored energy capacity of 100 joules and a potential output of 10,000V. It can power 405ha of multi-wire fencing.
Part of the Gallagher i Series range of energisers, the M10,000i combines “brute force with incredible intelli-gence, delivering advanced monitoring capabilities to give farmers peace of mind their animals are where they should be,” the company says.
“A good energiser is like an invisible asset protector – making sure valuable animals, pastures and crops are safe and secure,” says Nation.
Like other i series energisers, the M10,000i has a con-troller unit that monitors energiser performance and highlights faults in a fencing system. The controller can be located up to 50m from the main energiser.
The waterproof controller displays the energiser’s volt-age and current readings and can be used to turn the ener-giser on or off, set alarm levels and fine-tune operating output voltage.
Up to six fence monitors can be installed onfarm and linked back to the central energiser controller to fully monitor a fence system – saving time and giving confi-dence a fence is working effectively.
“Having six fence monitors spread around a farm is a bit like having six staff members out there looking after six different zones, all the time,” says Nation. “The beauty of the i series energiser is that everything is monitored for you, so staff can focus on other jobs. It’s a huge labour saver, especially for larger farms with bigger fencing sys-tems.”
The M10,000i can be supplied with an optional remote that enables the farmer to quickly locate faults within a monitored zone, turn the energiser on or off remotely, and test a fence once a repair is completed.
An optional SMS controller adds a cellphone dimen-sion: if a fence problem is detected it will notify the farmer immediately via mobile phone.
Meanwhile, Gallagher’s wireless water level monitor-ing system notifies of water leaks.
Launched last year, this system gives farmers a close watch on water usage without the high costs of flow mon-itoring. It measures water pressure in the water vessel, transmitting that data to a wall-mounted or desktop dis-play unit as far away as 4km. Power is by solar.
Up to nine tanks can be monitored by one display unit. The display has a 2.8inch colour touchscreen and shows, e.g. abnormal water loss caused by broken pipes or over-flowing troughs, number of days of water remaining, and 30-day historical levels of monitored tanks.
The system can also alert farmers if the level in one or more tanks begins to decrease rapidly. Tel. 0800 731 500www.gallagher.co.nz
GARETH GILLATT
Gallagher’s Peter Nation says the company will have new electric fence and water monitoring products on display at Northland.
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RURAL NEWS // FEBRUARY 17, 2015
8 NORTHLAND FIELD DAYS
What’s on... and when!Clay shooting
Experience the thrill and excitement of shoot-ing clay birds without any risk. Show off your sharp-shooting skills.
Sheep dog trialsWatch the top sheep-
dog trialists from North-land face off for best in the region. Since compe-titions began in 2008 the
field days have attracted Northland’s top dogs and shepherds.
Trials - Thursday-Fri-day; finals – Saturday; ‘human sheepdog’ com-
petition - Saturday lunch-time.
Big fun eventsIf your kids want even
more excitement, head down to the Big Fun activ-ity zone, filled with such frolics as water walkers and a blow-up playground. The rides aren’t costly and the kids will be enter-tained for hours. (You may even want a go your-self.)
Clydesdale ridesTour the show in style
aboard a wagon pulled by three Clydesdale horses. The horses are world-famous, appearing on tele-vision in Hercules and in the movie The Lion the Witch and the Ward-robe. Owner Dan Dufty is an experienced horse-man happy to share all he knows about this amazing breed.
The rides are free. The route starts opposite the field days HQ on the corner of RD1 road and Farmlands Road.
Tractor pullWatch the best-of-
the-best tractor driv-ers in Northland battle it out over three days
of intense competition. Events include the busi-ness house event and the three-legged race.
Win your weight in meat At the Trutest site get
yourself weighed and enter a draw to win your weight in meat.
Quad skills, time trial Competitors take
turns driving a quad and trailer around an obstacle course in the fastest time. Anyone, from town, coun-try or city, can compete (age 16 and older).
Logger sports compe-tition
Logging workers from Northland and further afield have entered this contest for 20 years. It’s a hugely popular spectator event. Starts on Saturday at 9am and goes all day.
• Free parking is avail-able close to the grounds and regular public trans-port runs to and from the site. www.northlandfielddays.co.nz
THURSDAY TO SATURDAY (FEB 26-28)
SATURDAY (FEB 28)
Registration is FREE!
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PPP Feed Systems are specifically designed to handle PKE - guaranteedPPP have Installation Agents from Northland to Southland offering a full back up service
Check out our website: www.pppindustries.co.nz
Phone: 0800 901 902 | Email: [email protected]
SilosGrain silos from 6 tonne to 250 tonnes PKE vibrators – money back guarantee to work! Suitable for PKE, dairy meals and grain Mineral & liquid additive system Utility Augers
Herringbone Feed SystemsStainless steel ensures hygiene is excellentOne dispenser per cow, clear dispenser allows plenty of light in shedNon-breakable drop tubes with no blockages in drop tubeSheds from 10 aside to 73 aside, using PKE to dairy rationsFeed rates as low as 0.5 kg upwards
Rotary Feed SystemsStainless trays, anti-robbing barsSingle or multiple auger linesLiquid injectionMineral additive line suitable for EID systems
Press Screw SeparatorsA simple solutionPPP installed NZs first separator in 2002Clarifiers available for extra screening down to 80 microns
Automated Calf FeedersRear better heifers for more milk productionSave on labourOffers every calf the same opportunityEurope number #1 selling systemAuto wash system
On Farm MillingDisc MillingAustralian dairy farmers say “for less grain you produce more milk”
SEE US AT THE FIELD DAYS
Northland - Site 270
Central Districts - Sites 10a/11a