rural news 20 october 2015

RURALNEWS

MANAGEMENTWetlands helping to combat nutrient leaching. PAGE 30

MACHINERYEngineered from the ground up. PAGE 42 RESEARCH

Fingerprint yields clues

to milking way.PAGE 17

TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

OCTOBER 20, 2015: ISSUE 594 www.ruralnews.co.nz

PREPARING FOR THE WORSTHawarden farmer Dan Hodgen, with his son Gus, 8, says North Canterbury farmers are preparing to go back into drought mode. No recent rain means farmers in the district are back on tenterhooks with drought-breaking early spring rains now a distant memory.See full story page 5

Yet another underarm MIE TO VANISH?

THE FUTURE of farmer lobby Meat Industry Excellence is up for discus-sion, says chairman Peter McDonald.

With the Silver Ferns Farm vote over (held on Fri Oct 16, after Rural News went to press), MIE will soon be meeting with its core base of sup-porters to map out its future.

McDonald believes the ginger group has a role to play provided its objectives are clearly defined and agreed on by its supporters.

The farmer lobby has failed in its bid to get the meat co-ops Alliance and Silver Fern Farms to merge.

But McDonald does not believe the lobby group has failed and doesn’t want it disbanded. He believes MIE must continue advo-cating for farmer suppliers and supplying industry information to members.

“In the meat sector knowledge historically was and is always held by the companies; farmers were told only on a need to know basis,” he told Rural News. “And the meat companies always believe farmers need to know bugger all.”

MIE will take its time in deciding its future. McDonald says this will allow the emotion arising from last week’s decision to subside. “But we need to be sure about our objective going forward; we can’t muck farm-ers around and waste their time.”

WHERE THE bloody hell were they?Even with the ANZAC relationship

dating back 100 years, it seems the lack of commitment by our Australian cous-ins cost New Zealand’s dairy sector more meaningful gains from the recently con-cluded TPP negotiations.

NZ special agriculture envoy Mike Petersen told Rural News that if Austra-lia had stood with New Zealand there would have been a much better dairy deal.

“Unfortunately the Aussies did not stand with us over dairy in Atlanta (where the TPP was concluded earlier this month). Their focus was on sugar, biologics and other matters,” Petersen says. “If we’d had the Aussies onside, we’d have got a better dairy deal, but it was too hard with just us (NZ) against the combined and heavily protected dairy sectors of the US, Canada and Japan.”

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

TO PAGE 3

Despite the less-than-ideal outcome for dairy, Petersen, in Atlanta with the rest of the NZ negotiating team, believes the TPP has delivered an “outstanding” result for the NZ primary sector.

“It is an outstanding deal for New Zealand. We have basically gained free trade access for the majority of our pri-mary sector products – with the excep-tion of dairy and some beef – to 11 new markets with a population of 800 mil-lion or 40% of the world’s trade.

“We now have access to 11 new mar-

kets tariff-free for fruit and veg, sheep-meat, seafood, wine and forestry, and the next best thing for beef.”

Petersen says critics of the deal fail to recognise that the TPP has given NZ the equivalent of free trade deals with countries we could never have expected to sign up to bi-lateral deals.

“The US, Japan, Canada and Mexico would not be interested in doing a bilat-eral with a tiny country of 4.6 million people. They would ask, ‘what’s in it

for us?’, and they’d be right,”

he explains. “Through the TPP process we now have free access for all our pri-mary products—with the exception of dairy and some beef – into these four markets and seven others.”

Meanwhile, Petersen says it would have been untenable and economi-cally stupid for NZ to walk away from the TPP.

“The TPP would have gone ahead without us – it would have been 11 coun-tries instead of 12,” he says. – More on the TPP pp 6-10

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RURAL NEWS // OCTOBER 20, 2015

NEWS 3

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ISSUE 594www.ruralnews.co.nz

MIE’s main aim was to retain farmer own-ership and the co-op structure within New Zealand – getting the two co-ops together and determining a vision for the shared future of the two co-ops. “It was a major disappointment that we never got to have that discussion,” McDon-ald says.

He says a lack of “inspired leadership” by the co-ops is to blame. “We never had the needed leadership – someone standing up in one of those leadership positions and saying ‘this is what we need to do’.

“All we’ve got now is the respective chair-men saying ‘we tried our best’. I guess we will never know the answer to the 25-year-old ques-tion, ‘would a collective future have been better or are we better apart?’ ”

MIE to disappear?FROM PAGE 1

SIX HATS IN RING

Board downsize remit stuns

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

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Shareholders can vote by internet, fax or post, using the single transferable vote system between October 30 and 10.30am on Monday, 23 November; results will be announced later that day.

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A FORMER Fonterra director behind moves to downsize the co-op’s board says support from shareholders is heartening.

Colin Armer will join former deputy chairman Greg Gent in tabling a resolution at Fonterra’s annual meeting next month to reduce the number of elected directors from nine to six and the number of appointed directors from four to three to give a total of nine directors.

Armer told Rural News they are canvassing support among shareholders. “We have a large group behind us now and the support is quite heartening.” He took a swipe at Fonterra chairman John Wilson, who brushed off the resolution saying an important governance issue should be

decided by all shareholders, not just two – Gent and Armer.

Armer says Fonterra’s constitution belongs to the owners of the business and not just to the board.

Wilson says bringing a special resolution to an annual meeting on such a critical matter is not the way the cooperative operates.

“As both these farmers know, the board and shareholders council are currently working together to develop a discussion document to take out to shareholders early next year with a view to a special shareholders’ meeting midway through next year.

“We need to have a constructive and genuine consultation within

the shareholder base – not impose a solution developed by just two of our farmers. I want to hear the opinions of all our farmers on this critical subject.”

The proposal requires 50% support from the shareholders council and at least 75% of shareholder votes in favour.

Armer says it’s a big hurdle but they’ve made sure there are plenty of mechanisms for shareholders to discuss the proposition and its pros and cons before casting their votes.

“We all want our cooperative to be more globally competitive and successful with a clear strategy to achieve that. Our farming businesses and livelihoods depend on that.”

MIE'S TAKE ON THE INDUSTRY ■ MIE TELLS farmers not to be fooled by slightly

better stock prices or praise for the indus-try’s productivity gains; the industry’s decline is sustained and structural

■ High levels of conversion to dairy

■ NZ dairy farmers best paid in the world

■ Sheep and beef farmers earn roughly half their European and US counterparts

■ Dwindling supply: no one shrinks their way to success, a travesty for a once-great industry

■ Changes in stock numbers 2003-13 (source Beef + Lamb NZ): sheep -22%, beef -20%, deer -38% (dairy +29%)

■ Unsustainable for red meat farmers, especially family farms and intergenerational farming

■ Bad news for NZ Inc in terms of land use and envi-ronmental outcomes.

Peter McDonald

Greg Gent


4 NEWS

LOCHINVER DECISION CHALLENGEDCHINESE COMPANY Shanghai Pengxin is going to court to challenge the Government’s rejection of its bid to buy Lochinver Station.

The Shanghai Pengxin subsidiary Pure 100 Farm claims the incorrect argument was used when its application to buy the 14,000ha sheep and cattle station near Taupo was assessed, spokesman Terry Lee says.

Last month, the Government vetoed the Chinese company’s $88 million bid to buy Lochinver from the Stevenson Group, over-riding the Overseas Investment Office’s recommendation that the deal be allowed.

The OIO said it was a borderline case.The Government claimed in its decision that the

benefits to New Zealand were not “substantial and beneficial”.

Lee says the aim of the review is to obtain clarity on the ‘counterfactual’ to be used when assessing sales of non-urban land greater than 5ha to overseas investors.

“We do not believe the correct counterfactual was adopted when assessing our application.

“The judicial review will seek to obtain clarity for all parties on what constitutes a viable counterfactual and this will, we believe, do a great deal to restore confidence and certainty amongst investors and sellers.”

Actually it’s the Yanks!CONTRARY TO popular belief it’s United States investors, not Chinese, who were the biggest buyers of our dairy land during 2013-2014.

In its report ‘Overseas Investment in New Zealand’s Dairy Land’, KPMG analyses foreign direct investment (FID) decisions by the Overseas Invest-ment Office (OIO) during 2013-2014.

It shows that the US was the largest investor in dairy land during that two-year period – accounting for 56% of the freehold hectares sold and 26% of pay-ment for land by foreign investors.

Justin Ensor, KPMG deal advisory partner, says this highlights a common misconception about offshore invest-ment in our dairy farms.

“There is a widespread perception that it’s a thin market of Chinese and

Hong Kong investors who are buying NZ dairy land,” he says. “In reality, though, the market has a broad base of investors.”

China accounted for only one of the 24 transactions for dairy land approved by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). That was the major acquisition of Synlait Farms, which accounted

for 12% of hectares sold and 21.3% of money paid.

Earlier this year, the Government rejected an $88 million bid from Pure 100 Farm Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese-owned Shanghai Pengxin, to buy Loch-inver Station because the benefits to NZ were not “substantial and identi-fiable”.

A Shanghai Pengxin-controlled company also recently withdrew from of a $42.7 million deal to buy a cluster of Bay of Islands farms, saying it will not put the sellers through the “frus-tration and pain” of a Lochinver Sta-tion-type experience.

Dakang New Zealand Farm Group, 55% owned by Shanghai Pengxin, applied to the Overseas Investment Office in April this year for consent to buy 3300ha from Northland’s Pinny family.

Six months on, the company said it had yet to receive advice that the OIO had considered the sale or made a rec-ommendation to the Government.

Dakang chief executive Gary Romano said the decision to cancel the Pinny sale and purchase agreement

was “somewhat” based on the compa-ny’s experience with its 2014 sale and purchase agreement to buy the Lochin-ver cattle and sheep station near Taupo.

KEY FINDINGS FROM KPMG: ■ The US accounted for 55.9% total freehold hectares purchased by

overseas investors in 2013-2014. This was followed by China (12.0%), Sweden (6.1%) and the remainder in 11 other countries.

■ The US accounted for 26.5% of payment for dairy land, followed closely by China (21.3%).

■ Total disclosed payment during the period was about $297 million.

Gary Romano

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NEWS 5

Beef returns trump sheepNEW ZEALAND beef export returns reached a record high, exceeding lamb and mutton returns for the first time in 20 years in the season ending September 30, analysis by Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s economic service shows.

It is worth noting, however, that sheepmeat returns were constrained by supply.

NZ beef and veal exports generated $3.2b in 2014-15, up 39% on the previous season. This reflected an increase in shipments (+10%) and average value (+26%).

Driven by high beef prices, mainly due to strong US demand and low dairy prices, NZ beef production increased significantly in 2014-15.

Beef exports averaged $7510/tonne in 2014-15 vs $5970 in the previous season. In the 35 years since records have been kept, the average value of NZ beef exports has not exceeded $6000/tonne.

Demand was particularly strong in North America and Northeast Asia, where exports increased by 22% and 7%, respectively, while shipments to every other region declined. The two largest export markets were the US and China.

Despite an increase in lamb production in the 2014-15 season, NZ lamb exports were down 2%, but offset by a rise in the average value of lamb exports (+3.4%).

NZ lamb export returns reached $2.6b in 2014-15, up 1.3% on the previous season. In 2014-15 half of the returns were achieved in the EU, while Northeast Asia, the second largest export region, accounted for 21% of lamb export returns.

After doubling over the previous five years, NZ lamb shipments to Northeast Asia decreased by 12% in 2014-15. This was due to more product being exported to other markets.

While 2014-15 NZ mutton shipments were down on 2013-14 – dropping 8.8% to 85,300 tonnes shipped weight – the shipments were still 13% higher than the five-year average. This reflects higher levels of production and exports in 2013-14.

The combination of lower shipments and no change in the average value resulted in mutton export returns drop-ping 9.0% to $445m in 2014-15.

Ready for drought – again!DROUGHT RESPONSE com-mittee members are preparing to mobiliSe again in North Can-terbury.

No recent rain means farmers in the district are back on ten-terhooks with drought-breaking early spring rains now a distant memory.

The committee, which won plaudits for rallying support during the winter, met again last week.

“A month ago we were wind-ing down and now we’re winding back up again,” Hurunui drought response committee member Doug Archbold told Rural News.

“Things are on a knife edge.

People don’t like to talk about El Nino, but you can’t avoid it in the media and it is not looking good.

“A southerly went through yesterday and there was only a trace of rain over North Can-terbury and that’s a classic El Nino thing when you get dry southerlies.”

Hawarden farmer Dan Hodgen, who also sits on the relief committee, said, “We’ve done all the obvious stuff. We’re running out of ideas that are more than just sticking plaster solu-tions. Rain is the answer.”

Tony Trewinnard of Blues

Skies Weather has been forecast-ing in the district 25 years and says the chances of meaningful rainfall any time soon are remote.

“When a southerly front sweeps through and brings next to no rain that’s consis-tent with an

El Nino. That’s bad news for farm-ers,” Archbold says.

“A second season of stress could prove too much for some farmers.”

Archbold and Hurunui district mayor Wynton Dalley visited the region’s bank managers during the winter.

He says the banks are taking a

sympathetic view and indicated most farm “balance sheets were pretty strong”. Others had made prudent decisions to de-stock and cut costs.

“But that’s not to say some won’t make it and a second season of stress makes that possibility very real,” he adds.

Hodgen says the next few weeks are going to be important for a lot of farmers in the South Island.

“The whole east coast is dry and the message we want to get out there is ‘don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice’.

“I think there’s been a willing-ness to do that so far and that’s been one of the major positives from what is a bloody tough time.”

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6 NEWS

What does TPP mean for NZ agri?Earlier this month, the trade ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries signed the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, opening more access to 40% of the world’s GDP and 800 million people. David Anderson talked with New Zealand’s special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen and others about what TPP will mean for the NZ agri sector….

WITH THE ink barely dry on the TPP agreement, Mike Petersen, fresh from Atlanta, where the deal was signed, was in North Canterbury talking to farmers about coping with drought.

Invariably, the TPP deal also came up for dis-cussion and Petersen, NZ’s special agricultural trade envoy for the last few years and a regular attendee at TPP and other trade negotiations over this time, spoke passion-ately about the benefits of the deal to NZ and the agriculture sector in par-ticular.

There is little doubt NZ’s primary sector – with the notable excep-tion of dairy – has come out of the TPP agreement well. It provides for the complete elimination of tariffs on most of NZ’s key primary sector exports to TPP nations – except dairy and some beef to Japan.

“We were never going to get want we wanted for dairy,” Petersen told Rural News.

“The reality is that as far back as a year ago it was clear we were never going to get complete tariff reductions on dairy

from Canada, the US and Japan.

“Unfortunately the Aussies did not stand with us over dairy in Atlanta. Their focus was on sugar, biologics and other mat-ters,” Petersen says. “If we’d had the Aussies onside we’d have got a better dairy deal, but it was too hard with just [NZ] against the com-bined and heavily pro-tected dairy sectors of the US, Canada and Japan.”

Despite the less-than-ideal outcome for dairy, Petersen believes the TPP has delivered an “out-standing” result for the

NZ primary sector.“It is an outstanding

deal for NZ. We have basi-cally gained free trade access for the majority of our primary sector prod-ucts – with the exception of dairy and some beef – to 11 new markets with a population of 800 mil-lion or 40% of the world’s trade.

“We now have access to 11 new markets tariff-free for fruit and veg, sheepmeat, seafood, wine and forestry, and the next best thing for beef.”

Petersen’s optimistic view of the TPP is shared by many in the primary

sectors bodies that have gained from the agree-ment.

For other agricultural products there are some very positive gains, which can be welcomed by farmers.

“Beef farmers will be happy Japan’s tariff will drop from 38.5% to 9% over 15 years, which should put us back on a level playing field with

Australia and make a material difference to NZ exports,” says Stephen Jacobi executive director of the NZ International Business Forum.

He adds that the TPP has a range of other useful wins for the NZ primary including:

elimination of all beef quotas and tariffs in the United States, Canada and Mexico

elimination of tar-iffs on high protein dairy exports in Japan, of cheese tariffs in Japan and the US, of milk powder in the US and infant for-mula in the US, Japan and Mexico

elimination of tariffs on all wine, fruit and vege-tables and forest products exports to all markets

elimination of tariffs

Special Report - TPP

TO PAGE 7

Mike Petersen: “It’s an outstanding deal for NZ.”

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NEWS 7Special Report - TPPEstimated annual tariff savings once TPP

fully implemented (NZ$m)

Current exports

Potential savings

Proportion of current earnings

Dairy 4,600 102 2.2%

Cheese 711 53.4 7.5%

Protein products incl. caseins 895 8.2 0.9%

Meat 2,300 72 3.1%

Beef 1,500 59.8 4.0%

Sheep meat 450 2.6 0.6%

Processed meats 115 4.5 3.9%

Offals 55 4.7 8.5%

Fruit & Vegetables 1,200 26.3 2.2%

Kiwifruit 338 15.3 4.5%

Apples 150 1.2 0.8%

Buttercup squash 35 1 2.9%

Onions 25 1 4.0%

Wine 839 10 1.2%

Forestry 1,500 9 0.6%

Wool, leather & textiles 621 4 0.6%

Carpets 131 1.1 0.8%

Wool, leather and textiles 76 0.4 0.5%

Hides & skins 44 0.3 0.7%

Other Agric. Goods 1,600 18 1.1%

Source: ANZ

on honey in the US and Japan.

Beef + Lamb NZ (BLNZ) and the Meat Industry Association (MIA) describe it as the best possible deal for NZ red meat producers.

“This deal will help improve the competitive-ness of our exports by removing tens of millions of dollars of tariff costs,” says BLNZ chief executive Scott Champion.

“The TPP will open up these (TPP) markets and will see the removal of tariff costs for all beef and sheepmeat prod-ucts, with the exception of Japan,” says MIA chief Tim Ritchie.

“The US is NZ’s num-ber-one market for beef, both by volume and value, earning $1.57 billion in the year ending June 2015,” he adds. “Current trade is under a quota system attracting a US4.4c/kg

tariff. This will be elimi-nated. Meanwhile, Japa-nese beef tariffs will not be eliminated, but will be significantly reduced from as high as 50% to 9% over time.”

Horticulture New Zea-land president Julian Raine says the most criti-cal result in the deal for NZ horticulture exporters is the reduction of tariffs to Japan.

“This will have a sig-nificant impact on the earnings of growers of kiwifruit, buttercup squash, capsicum, onions and virtually all other

horticulture exports to Japan,” he says. “Japan is NZ horticulture’s third largest market and the elimination of tariffs will benefit NZ producers by an estimated $28 million

per year.”Kiwifruit produc-

ers have also welcomed the deal which will elimi-nate tariffs on kiwifruit exports into all 12 Asia-Pacific nations when it comes into force. Zespri chief executive Lain Jager believes the most imme-diate impact will be in Japan.

“In 2014, the indus-

try paid over $15 million in tariffs into Japan which is Zespri’s largest coun-try market. If this tariff relief was passed straight through to NZ growers it would equate to savings of over $1000 for every hectare of kiwifruit grown in NZ.”

Even the dairy sector, while disappointed by the eventual final outcome, has grudgingly admitted the industry is better off with these minor gains than none at all.

“The dairy outcome, while disappointing for farmers and for anyone involved in TPP over the last seven years, needs to be seen for what it is: the best that could be done, in the face of entrenched protectionism and anti-competitive reflexes in the world’s largest economies especially the US, Japan and Canada,” says Jacobi.

Fonterra chair John

Wilson described the deal as “a small, but significant step forward for the dairy sector”.

Petersen agrees the dairy deal was less than ideal, but says this mainly relates to “old world” products such as wholemilk powder and butter – where the protectionist dairy lobbies of Canada, and US again fought reforms.

“But if you look in the area of infant formula, where tariffs will be totally eliminated over 10 years, there is huge potential for NZ dairy and in an area where many of our dairy companies are focussing.”

Petersen says the TPP has basically opened up free access for all our primary products – with the exception of dairy and some beef – to markets with 40% of the world’s GDP and 800 million

FROM PAGE 6

TO PAGE 9

“This process – the TPP – gives us free-trade access with countries we could never expect to gain bilateral deals with: the US, Japan, Mexico and Canada.”

What does TTP mean for NZ?

Stuart WrightTe Kauwhata

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NEWS 9Special Report - TPP

Maori lobby back trade – FoMA

WHAT DOES TPP MEAN FOR AGRI

THE FEDERATION of Maori Authorities (FoMA) has come out in strong support of the new Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

FoMA is a Maori busi-ness advocacy group with 150 members, including most major tribal authori-ties, who collectively have assets of $8 billion, much of it in the primary sector.

Chair Traci Houpapa is a professional company director and business con-sultant and the chair of Landcorp Farming.

Houpapa says FoMA represents the majority of Maori exporters in New Zealand and the lobby has always had a relation-ship with successive gov-ernments over free trade agreements. She says it should be no surprise that FoMA supports the con-

cept of TPP.At their recent con-

ference, FoMA mem-bers were briefed on the talks which led to the TPP agreement and Houpapa says they were comfort-able with what they were told.

“What we see is that the removal of tariffs has to be good for export-ers and that includes Maori exporters because we grow and sell. If we only sell to Maori we are completely limiting the opportunities for our shareholders and our owners and our beneficia-ries,” she told Rural News.

“If we only sell within our domestic NZ market, we are limiting our opportunity. NZ has always been part of the trade conversation globally and we led these talks in many ways and it’s opportune for Maori exporters to participate

in the next stage of the conversation.”

Houpapa says it isn’t generally known by the wider public that all the other nations in the TPP have had pro-tectionist mechanisms designed to secure their trade and export arrange-ments to the detriment of NZ exporters with, of

course, a knock-on effect for Maori exporters. The removal of the tariffs, as proposed by TPP, bodes well for us all, she says.

“That our negoti-ators fought hard to enshrine the Treaty of Waitangi and to maintain the commitment to tan-gata whenua and mana whenua under the treaty

was certainly encour-aging. That isn’t widely accepted or known and again is something FoMA always had confidence in – that this and all NZ gov-ernments would uphold and honour the treaty.”

Houpapa says Maori were the original traders and NZ’s first exporters, trading wheat, flax and

other goods to Australia.“So it’s not unusual

for us to be exporters; it’s not new, it’s not part of the emerging Maori economy, it is simply who we are. We have always traded domestically and internationally and so the concept of trade arrange-ments or agreements is not foreign to us.”

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

FoMA chair Traci Houpapa.

people. This we could or would never achieve without the TPP.

“This process – the TPP – gives us free-trade access with countries we could never expect to gain bilateral deals with: the US, Japan, Mexico and Canada.

“It also means we have access to five new markets – the US, Canada, Singapore, Brunei and Japan – all of which have higher spending and earnings than NZ. That opens up huge opportunities for us.”

Meanwhile, Petersen has special praise for the team of agricultural negotiators from MFAT and MPI who he says have done NZ proud.

“People won’t know who they are, or even their second names, but David, Fiona and John are hidden gems who have done an incredible job advancing NZ’s primary sector trade.”

But Petersen knows there is still work to be done before the TPP is ratified, with each of the 12 member countries gaining political acceptance of the deal back home.

“No doubt there are political ramifications, particularly on the hill (Capitol Hill the base of the US Congress),” he concedes. “But there is too much at stake to let it fall over and I think it can and will be done.”

Petersen says critics of the deal in NZ need to face up to reality and understand the TPP would have still have been done if NZ had walked away – leaving our economy locked out of a free trade deal with the 11 member countries of the TPP and with no preferential access to these markets.

Petersen believes it would have been untenable and economically stupid for NZ to walk away from the TPP.

“Are the [TPP opponents] seriously going to tell all the sectors that will make huge gains from the TPP – even the dairy sector – that it is better to be paying tariffs and losing market share to 40% of the world’s market? That would be nuts.”

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10 NEWS

WHERE THE Trans Pacific Partnership goes from here will be very interesting, says Onions NZ chief execu-tive Michael Ahern.

The grower organisation says onion exports have had an immediate $1 million win with the prospect of eliminating tariffs on products into Japan. The annual sales to Japan are almost $10 million and the tariffs are almost 10%.

“But in the case of the onion industry, where [does] TPP go from here?” Ahern said to Rural News. “We’ve got a particular interest in the South Korean market which at the moment we don’t have access to. We need an overarching trade agreement such as TPP to have any chance of success for our individual item.

“We see some ongoing benefits out of TPP. We are really interested in where it goes from here.”

They hope to see more countries come into the trade agreement, such as South Korea. “We are expect-ing they may arrive.

Vietnam is also in the mix. Once the headline deal is done -- the government to government basis -- the offi-cials then go to work on the deal. Our job as an indus-try body is to make sure we are on the agenda. We are arguing our own case on the detail.”

From 85-90% of New Zealand’s annual crop is exported. The main markets are Europe -- mainly France, Germany and some of Scandanavia -- UK, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia; overall they export to 45 countries.

The prospect of a free trade agreement with the European Union could deliver Onions NZ $4 million straight away. Annual free-on-board (FOB) earnings for Onions NZ members are about $80-$100m on a ton-nage of 150,000-180,000 tonnes.

Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy, who met with Onions NZ on October 9 to sign a Govern-ment Industry Agreement on biosecurity, said the TPP was immediately worth $20m on entry for the wider horticulture industry. – Pam Tipa

NO TEARS FOR ONIONS ON TPP

Special Report - TPP

Dairy markets will open up – Luxton

OUTGOING DAIRYNZ chairman John Luxton believes heavily regulated dairy markets will open up in the coming years.

And when the US, Japan and Canada lower tariffs, New Zealand will be able to take advantage,

he says.Luxton attended the

final Trans Pacific Part-nership (TPP) talks in Atlanta as DairyNZ chair-man; he retired from the role at its annual meeting last week.

He predicts the Japa-nese dairy industry will continue to decline with an aging farmer popula-

tion, the Canadians will find that its management system cannot continue forever and the US will grow its exports.

“So these changes in the protagonists we have ultimately will work to NZ’s advantage,” he told Rural News.

He say the recent TPP deal signed in Atlanta was

“disappointing” given that negotiations had started in a positive way five years ago. “That’s the reality of the world we live in.

“NZ’s dairy industry will now have increased incentive to look at new markets. So, it’s not all negative; there are little incremental gains but over time they will be

reassessed.“China and Korea are

keen to join and when it comes time for renegoti-ations there will be more gains for us.”

Addressing the DairyNZ annual meeting, Primary Industry Minis-ter Nathan Guy agreed the TPP deal was disappoint-ing for the dairy industry.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

NZ was up against three highly protected industries – Canada, the US and Japan, he says.

“Our officials pushed as hard as they could; this is a significant and small step and we hope oppor-tunities for dairy will con-tinue to grow,” says Guy.

Small openings for dairy include getting some infant formula and Egmont cheese into the US; there is also an oppor-tunity to export whole milk and skim milk pow-ders into Mexico.

However, for other pri-mary sectors, the TPP has resulted in solid gains.

Guy pointed to beef ’s access to the lucrative Japanese market. Beef exports to Japan currently attract 39% tariff; under TPP it will drop to 9%.

Guy says the deal opens NZ to 800 million consumers and one-third of the world economy.

He shrugged off calls

by some for NZ to pull out. “Some are saying that we should step away; the reality is that we have tried to open access into the US for about 30 years. So, we needed to be there, working alongside the 11 other countries.

“We signed the China FTA and now it has grown well above everyone’s expectations; indications are that the TPP will con-tinue to grow and evolve.”

The US is the world’s number one market, Japan 3 and Mexico 11. These markets will present growing opportunities for our products, Guy says.

Recently retired DairyNZ chair John Luxton beieves heavily regulated dairy markets will open up.

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NEWS 11

DAIRY REMAINS CASH COWTHE DAIRY industry contributed 37% of the total value of New Zealand’s primary exports in 2014-15, according to DairyNZ.

This was revealed last week at DairyNZ’s annual meeting in Morrinsville.

Dairy earnings for the year totalled $13.2 billion. Waikato remains the dairy heartland with 34% of the herds; it produced $2.4b of milk last year.

The Waikato’s 4020 dairy herds produced 518m kgMS in 2014-15, 27% of NZ’s total milk production. But Waikato’s $2.4b earnings were down $1.8b on the 2013-14 season when the high milk price ($8.47 aver-age payout) boosted the region’s coffers by $4.2b.

Outgoing DairyNZ chairman John Luxton says the 2014-15 season’s low milk price has affected all farms as owners and sharemilkers strove to remain profitable.

“The value of milk production to Waikato’s econ-omy is huge; the region takes a big hit when farmers do,” says Luxton.

The North Island had 74% of herds, producing 59% of total milksolids; the South Island 26% of herds but produced 41% of milksolids.

The industry employed 40,730 people during the year; 27,830 worked on farms and 12,900 in process-ing and wholesaling.

The total number of herds reached 11,970; average herd size was 419. Last year the industry had 5 mil-lion cows.

El-Nino may be differentTHE EFFECTS of an El Nino this summer – if it hits – will not nec-essarily be the same as during the last one in the late 1990s because of changes to farming practices, says Beef + Lamb NZ chief economist Andrew Burtt.

“The thing people often do is compare back to the last El Nino drought in 1997-98,” says Burtt.

“It is a different and more resil-ient industry now. A lot of farmers are doing different things from nearly 20 years ago, like any indus-try. They are managing their live-stock, planning a bit earlier, and a lot more are growing crops like chicory, plantain or lucerne to help manage their pasture or feed sup-plies.

“Projecting that what happened 20 years ago is what will happen this year is missing some of the point about their behaviour and resilience. I have had some farm-ers say ‘if there is a drought we will deal with it’. They’re matter of fact about things, not wringing their

hands and saying ‘the end is nigh’ sort of stuff.”

El Nino notwithstanding, sheepmeat price forecasts are up about 10%, which includes the exchange rate effect; much depends on the effect the El Nino will or will not have.

“If it is dry on the East Coast it will certainly affect the East Coast. But if an El Nino means it is wet on the West Coast then maybe mar-kets will transfer lambs from one region to another for finishing. If it’s dry everywhere things will be a bit different again. If we’ve all got El Nino-itis or paranoia and it doesn’t happen, it will be different again.”

BLNZ is predicting a 7.2% decline in the number of lambs to be born this season. There’s been a decline in breeding ewes particu-larly in the North Island as a result of the difficult conditions on the East Coast, the flow-on effect from the drought last year.

But in other areas, from scan-ning the forecast is for lambing to pick up. “From scanning overall we are expecting things to be back; we will just have to see through lamb-ing and tailing, what the weather conditions are and how good sur-vival is. It has been very good so far.”

A record 1.2 million cows were processed last season because of

dairy cow culling, and BLNZ fore-casts a sharp decline from that because it was such a high base figure.

“Cows average a lot lighter than bulls or steers so there’s a mixed balance when it comes to the actual beef production weighted by about 14% decline in cow slaugh-ter; they are on average 200kg so that means there is a 12-14% reduc-tion in cow beef, but overall a 5% reduction in total production,” says Burtt, commenting on fore-casts for this season.

“From a market perspective things generally are positive. We’ve also got an exchange rate effect, a relative weakness or deprecia-tion of the NZ dollar relative to the US dollar when it comes to beef. So we’ve got steer and heifer and bull prices up for the current season. There will be some sea-sonal impacts on that during the season. A proportion of that is coming from the exchange rate effect.”

Steer and heifer forecasts are around $6/kg and for the bulls up to $5.73/kg.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Andrew Burtt

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12 NEWS

Merino Company has a fine yearTHE NEW Zealand Merino Company’s (NZM) strong performance this year showed that its approach of value creation, as opposed to volume play, was a winning one, says NZM chief executive John Brakenridge.

NZM booked a $2.3

million net profit for the 2014-15 year, a 21% increase on the previous year. Shareholders, including 536 wool growers, will receive a total dividend of $1.15 million, up 23% on 2013-14.

“Two decades ago fine wool was being dumped on the commodity market and sold at a discount to Australia. The growers

knew they had a product that was undervalued and unrecognised,” says Brakenridge.

“So NZM was set up to maximise profitability and sustainability across the value chains from market to grower. Key to this has been confronting volatility

head-on and establishing multi-year forward contracts that guarantee more stable prices for brands and growers alike.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

By removing the boom-and-bust of commodity price cycles, NZM had generated at least $30 million in extra income for growers, in wool and meat programmes in the past three years, compared to returns via traditional commodity systems, says Brakenridge.

This year NZM established new contracts with luxury and active apparel brands such as Loro Piana and Reda in Italy, NZ brand Icebreaker and SmartWool, Colorado.

“We’ve also extended our offering into strong wool, where we see excellent potential across the board through innovation. There’s great complementarity between strong wool and our fine wool business. It’s no good sitting back and waiting for the market to come to you. We want to shape it and secure exclusive deals with the world’s leading brands.”

In April, NZM won a two-year contract with Danish footwear firm Glerups to exclusively supply wool for its indoor

shoe range. In August, Swanndri signed up to use NZM fine Merino, and mid-micron and strong wool for its entire clothing and accessories range.

NZM’s Feetfirst project, part of a Primary Growth Partnership between NZM and the Ministry for Primary Industries, and supported by Merino Inc, has brought the fine wool industry a step closer to eradicating footrot using genetic testing. This would save millions of

dollars by reducing lost productivity annually in the sheep industry.

The Feetfirst partnership was an example of how increased collaboration could benefit NZ agriculture, says Brakenridge.

“That’s the sweet spot. With more collaboration, NZ’s primary sector could do a lot more to redefine its offering and take an active role in global markets.”

ONLINE LIVESTOCK TRADING WEBSITEA HAWKE’S Bay group has launched a livestock trading website called StockX.

Farmers can buy and sell direct, trans-port operators can plan and optimise bookings and meat processors can source and buy direct from farmers. Costs are said to be reduced via direct transactions, value is gained through access to a wider market and relationships and knowledge are built across the whole supply chain.

“StockX offers farmers choice and control over a key activity,” says man-aging director Jason Roebuck. “Farmers will be able to choose when and whom

they sell to.” The platform allows setting up live-

stock for sale listings and personalised alerts for listings of interest. Banking is managed through a trust account to secure funds between buyer and seller.

“You can trade anytime, anywhere, on any device and in real time. It also keeps traders honest and market values trans-parent,” Roebuck says.

The site has an online calculator that allows visitors to “look at the savings they can create” before they register.

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NEWS 13

Check out the latest market data atwww.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/markets

Market Data Every Week

Keeping the gumboots on

FORMER DAIRYNZ chairman John Luxton is not hanging up his gumboots yet.

The former agriculture minister stepped down last week as DairyNZ chair-man after an eight-year stint. But he is retaining his other connections with the sector, remaining a director of the Waikato independent milk processor Tatua.

He is also co-chairman of the Waikato River Authority, and chairs the Porirua Farm Ltd partnerships that manage eight farms. He owns a home farm where his son is sharemilking.

Luxton told Rural News it is good to retire from DairyNZ on his own terms. “It’s a four-year term and it’s time for younger ones to come through.”

Luxton says he is leaving “a really good team of directors” to run the industry-good organisation.

About 100 farmers attended the annual meeting, a near-record turnout.

Primary Industry Minister Nathan Guy at the meeting thanked Luxton for uniting the industry. “It hasn’t been an easy job at times, to make farmers realise they have to make changes to farming practices.”

He says under Luxton’s leadership

DairyNZ has taken a lead role in improving the industry’s environmental credentials.

Luxton served as a National MP for 15 years, including nine years as a cabinet minister and a stint as minister of agricul-ture.

Guy says the relationship between DairyNZ and the Government has been great under Luxton’s leadership.

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle described Luxton as a rock for the organ-isation. “We look forward to keeping engaged with you since you’re not hang-ing up your boots yet,” he says.

The DairyNZ board will meet early next month to appoint a new chairman. Former Fonterra director Jim van der Poel is the frontrunner. Until the new chairman is appointed, former Fonterra executive Barry Harris will be chair.

Meanwhile Waikato farmer Elaine Cook has been elected to the DairyNZ board, replacing Luxton.

Two sitting board members, Ben Allomes and Michael Spaans, were re-elected for another term.

Cook has served as an associate direc-tor of DairyNZ; she was the 2006 NZ Sharemilker of the Year and was a finalist in the NZ Dairy Woman of the year award this year.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

Outgoing DairyNZ chair John Luxton (left) with the newly elected board members Ben Allomes (returned) Elaine Cook (new) and Michael Spaans (returned).

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14 NEWS

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TRACTOR & MACHINERY PARTS DIRECT TO YOUR FARM

SECONDARY SCHOOL students within the Waimate and Waitaki Districts have been invited to apply for the Oceania Dairy Scholarship.

The scholarship provides the success-ful applicant with an annual payment of $3,000 for up to three years, as well as the opportunity for paid work experience during study or training breaks.

The South Canterbury-based dairy company circulated application forms for the 2016 scholarship to the principals of all schools within the region recently

“The scholarship is an important part of our commitment to the communities in which we operate,” says Roger Usmar, general manager of Oceania Dairy.

“We can think of no better way than supporting young people as they move from secondary school education to fur-ther education or training.”

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The scholarship targets education or training that can lead the recipient into a career in the dairy industry or that has the potential to enhance relations between New Zealand and China.

Applications 2016 close on 30 Novem-ber. The successful applicant will be announced before the end of the year.

Onion industry joins bio-security partnership

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Onions NZ chief executive Michael Ahern.

A LOT of work goes into preparing to spend five minutes signing a piece of paper to set up a Government Industry Agreement (GIA) for Biosecurity, says Onions NZ chief executive Michael Ahern.

That was all it took to

sign the deed this month with the Minister for Pri-mary Industries Nathan Guy in Pukekohe, the onion heartland where 54% of the crop is grown.

But Ahern says the signing followed wide-spread consultation with members -- growers and exporters.

“We have worked quite hard; it is actually a

complex issue. Basically there is an act of faith in the higher level princi-ples involved. We have worked with MPI officials and reached this point after a couple of years.”

Guy said it was the fifth GIA agreement and they are all concerned with partnership. “MPI can’t do this on its own and neither can the indus-

try,” said Guy. “The public play an important part as well.

“We have seen how this works with the Grey Lynn, Auck-land Queensland fruit fly response, where the industry sat around the table -- Pipfruit NZ and Kiwifruit Vine Health, working with MPI on the response. That’s one

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aspect. The other big aspect is working on the preparedness.” He said there was a lot of work to get to the point of signing the deed, which was only the start.

“This partnership will see us working closely with the Ministry for Pri-mary Industries (MPI) to make joint decisions on readiness and response to manage priority biosecu-rity pest risks impacting our sector,” says Ahern.

GIA secretariat man-ager Steve Rich welcomed Onions NZ to the partner-ship, saying biosecurity is a shared responsibility.

“Unwanted organisms are some of the biggest

threats facing our primary industries. As NZ trade and tourism continues to grow, the GIA partnership will have a critical role to play in helping to manage NZ’s biosecurity system.”

“The growing number of signatories is a positive signal that NZ’s primary industries are beginning

to see the value of work-ing together in partner-ship; this can only lead to better overall biosecurity outcomes.”

Onions NZ joins organisations represent-ing the kiwifruit, pipfruit, equine and pork sectors; MPI represents the Gov-ernment as GIA partner.

Kiwis make their mark at world ploughing champs

THE WORLD Ploughing Championships have just concluded in Denmark and New Zealand entrants acquitted themselves well.

Blenheim’s Ian Woolley in the con-ventional plough division finished elev-enth overall, after finishing fifth in the stubble ploughing on the first day and 16th in the grassland ploughing on the second day. He also gained a special prize for the ploughman who finishes highest in his first World Ploughing Champion-ships.

In the reversible ploughing division, Malcolm Taylor of Putaruru finished eighteenth overall, after finishing twen-tieth in the stubble and sixteenth in the grassland section.

Both the New Zealanders were com-peting against ploughmen and women from 30 countries.

They will both again represent NZ in the 2016 World Championships at Cov-entry in the UK.

Meanwhile, Rotorua’s Colin Millar was appointed president of the World Ploughing Organisation. He has been vice president for three years.

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NEWS 17

Fingerprint yields clues to milky way

A BREAKTHROUGH discovery by scientists at Fonterra’s research and development centre in Palmerston North is seen as leading edge, and the work has entered the finals of the NZ Innovation Awards, the winners due to be announced this week.

The discovery is called ‘milk finger-printing’, implying that, like human fin-gerprints, each print is different and unique; so too is the milk produced by each of Fonterra’s 10,000-plus suppli-ers.

Every time a tanker calls at a Fon-terra shareholders’ farm to pick up milk, a small sample is taken and sent in a cooled state to a laboratory near Ham-ilton. This has been done for years and is essentially a standard quality con-trol measure. But another key function of the test is to analyse the milk for its protein and milksolids.

Dr Steve Holroyd, leading the enhanced ‘fingerprinting’ test, told Rural News the composition of the milk is analysed using a spectrometer, which

shines light through the milk sample. “When you shine light through

milk some of the light is absorbed and depending on the different ratios of fat and protein that generates a spec-trum akin to a fingerprint,” Holroyd explains. “Each sample is a bit differ-ent; there are different levels of protein and the composition is unique to each farm. The spectrometer gives a precise measurement and does it quickly; each day the lab has to process thousands of samples.”

Holroyd says the technology is not new and the testing equipment has been around for some time, used in other countries in varying degrees. But the Fonterra scientists have manipu-lated the software used for analysing the milk sample to produce new and valuable data which has played a part in developing a high quality UHT milk product.

“The additional thing we have done, as well as measuring the fat and protein, is to use that entire spectrum more

effectively to mine a whole bunch of additional parameters about the qual-ity of that milk out of that spectrum,” Holroyd said.

“We analyse it statistically to gather a lot more information including a whole range of special proteins. The properties of these are more impera-tive as you get into the greater value add products.”

It is Fonterra’s ability to identify these special proteins, exploit extra data from existing testing and use it to assist with a high-quality UHT milk for the Chinese market that has put the co-op into the finals of the prestigious NZ Innovation Awards.

Holroyd says they use the software in new ways to get more data and derive greater value from the milk.

When a tanker calls at a farm, milk from this farm is normally mixed in with other milk from other farms and taken back to the processing plant. But, on the basis of the new testing that identifies farms producing the

high quality milk for specific products, Fonterra has changed its tanker runs to target specific milk.

This additional mining of informa-tion, and the application of that data, has led to Fonterra’s Waitoa plant in Waikato producing this special UHT milk for China. The unique milk is col-lected only from farms in this region.

This research was first designed to focus on food safety after the melamine incident that surfaced in China in Octo-

ber 2008, but this research was soon applied to other quality parameters. The project has been partly funded by the Government’s PGP scheme and it will feature in a special PGP expo.

Holroyd and colleagues are now probing for other information using the fingerprinting technology. Unanswered questions remain, but if answered they could lead to new high value add prod-ucts on supermarket shelves around the world.

Fonterra scientists’ discovery of a new way of extracting more valuable data from a simple milk test has paved the way for developing a new, high-value UHT milk product now being sold in China. Rural News senior writer Peter Burke reports.

Dr Steve Holroyd is heading the team at Fonterra, which is doing leading edge research into milk ‘fingerprinting’.

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18 WORLD

CHINESE BUY AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST DAIRY FARM

Aussie beef production soaringTHE AUSTRALIAN cattle industry is bracing for a near record annual cattle slaughter by year’s end.

Tight Australian beef supplies, the weaker Australian dollar and strong export demand have put that country’s cattle producers in a sweet spot.

Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA), in its latest cattle industry projections quarterly update, say producers with cattle to sell should have confidence in the market over the long term.

MLA manager of market infor-mation, Ben Thomas, says the annual cattle slaughter by year’s end is estimated to reach a record high. “This will be the third consecu-tive year of cattle slaughter exceed-ing eight million head, something never seen before. As a result, beef production is estimated to reach 2.46 million tonnes cwt – the second highest volume ever,”

says Thomas.The female slaughter rate so

far this year is 28% above the five year average, which will ultimately lead to fewer calves and lower beef production. Yet over the next five years Australia will still con-tinue to produce at least 2 million tonnes of beef and veal annually. Thomas says another impor-tant factor for the industry is the expectation of a continu-ing weaker A$ bolstering the demand for Australian beef. “Cattle prices are expected to remain buoyant over the longer term, even with the usual seasonal decline expected in the final months of 2015. “Australian beef and veal exports after the first nine months of 2015 are 4% ahead of the same time last year (a record), but in the fourth quarter we will see a continuous slowdown

in monthly export volumes. “The value of the dollar against the US currency will help maintain the value of exports for exporters and our competitive position globally.” Thomas foresees this as impor-tant for exports, with most

of Australia’s major competi-tors expecting higher produc-tion, including Brazil and India, although the US is expected to dip between now and 2017. “This will continue to pressure our market share in regions where there is common access, yet Australian beef ’s high food safety profile will support its position in the market. “The total turn-off rate illustrates how extraordinary the past couple of years have been,” Thomas says. With processors and feedlots the main buyers during the third quar-ter, Thomas says this trend would continue until pasture and water conditions improved, giving re-stockers confidence in the market. “Australian producers with cattle to sell should have confidence in longer term prices, given the value of our shrinking pool of cattle and high demand for our product here and overseas.”

MLA manager of market information Ben Thomas.

AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST and oldest dairy farm, formerly owned by New Plymouth District Council, has reportedly been sold for A$220 million to Chinese owners.

Herman Shao-ming Hu and Kenny Zhang are buying 70% of the 190-year-old Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL) in Tasmania.

The proposed deal came in the same week as the Fed-eral parliament prepared to debate the Chinese-Australia free-trade agreement and is expected to be a test of new Treasurer Scott Morrison’s attitude to foreign investment.

Hu and Zhang through their respective companies Ryoden Development and Waratah Corporation – are each to buy about 35% of VDL.

The other 30% is to be bought by Lempriere Capi-tal equity managers, linked to the Melbourne Lemp riere family, noted wool traders.

The deal is one of Australia’s biggest agricultural sales to foreign investors and will require approval by the For-eign Investment Review Board as it is much larger than the new $15m approval threshold set earlier this year.

In 2012, the Lempriere group also organised the sale of 80% of Australia’s largest cotton farm and irrigation water holder, Cubbie Station, to the Chinese company Shandong Ruyi for $240m. Lempriere retained a 20% stake.

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20 MARKETS & TRENDSMARKET SNAPSHOT BEEF MARKET TRENDS

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

BEEF PRICES

c/kgCWT Change Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg +10 6.30 6.20 5.55M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 5.90 5.90 5.55P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 4.70 4.70 4.40M Cow - 200kg n/c 4.70 4.70 4.40

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 6.20 6.20 5.45SI P2 Steer - 300kg n/c 6.00 6.00 5.00

M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 5.40 5.40 5.00P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 4.15 4.15 3.40M Cow - 200kg n/c 4.10 4.10 3.40

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.90 5.90 5.00

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last Week 2 Wks

Ago Last Year 5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb -22 2.20 2.42 3.12 2.14NZ$/kg -107 7.27 8.34 8.75 5.96

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks Ago 3 Wks


% Returned NI +13% 81.2% 68.3% 62.86% 75.1%% Returned SI +13% 74.3% 61.2% 57.1% 69.8%

LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange Last

Week2 Wks

AgoLast Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +5 6.16 6.11 6.46PM - 16.0kg +5 6.18 6.13 6.48PX - 19.0kg +5 6.20 6.15 6.50PH - 22.0kg +5 6.21 6.16 6.51

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.30 3.30 3.65SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.04

PM - 16.0kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.06PX - 19.0kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.08PH - 22.0kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.09

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 2.98 2.98 3.20

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last

Week2 Wks


UK Leg £/lb n/c 1.55 1.55 2.16 1.95NZ$/kg -18 8.60 8.78 9.37 9.01

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks



Venison PricesChange Last

Week2 Wks


NI Stag - 60kg n/c 8.45 8.45 7.55 7.83SI Stag - 60kg n/c 8.75 8.75 7.90 8.19

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 +10 6.30 6.20 5.55M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 5.90 5.90 5.55P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 4.70 4.70 4.40M Cow - 200kg n/c 4.70 4.70 4.40

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 6.20 6.20 5.45SI P2 Steer - 300kg n/c 6.00 6.00 5.00

M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 5.40 5.40 5.00P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 4.15 4.15 3.40M Cow - 200kg n/c 4.10 4.10 3.40

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.90 5.90 5.00

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last Week 2 Wks


95CL US$/lb -22 2.20 2.42 3.12 2.14NZ$/kg -107 7.27 8.34 8.75 5.96

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks Ago 3 Wks



LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange Last

Week2 Wks

AgoLast Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +5 6.16 6.11 6.46PM - 16.0kg +5 6.18 6.13 6.48PX - 19.0kg +5 6.20 6.15 6.50PH - 22.0kg +5 6.21 6.16 6.51

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.30 3.30 3.65SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.04

PM - 16.0kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.06PX - 19.0kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.08PH - 22.0kg +10 6.18 6.08 6.09

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 2.98 2.98 3.20

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last

Week2 Wks


UK Leg £/lb n/c 1.55 1.55 2.16 1.95NZ$/kg -18 8.60 8.78 9.37 9.01

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks



Venison PricesChange Last

Week2 Wks


NI Stag - 60kg n/c 8.45 8.45 7.55 7.83SI Stag - 60kg n/c 8.75 8.75 7.90 8.19

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NEWS PRICE WATCH


MARKETS & TRENDS 21

BEEF:. Cattle slaughter numbers are tight in both islands at present. Procurement pressure is resulting in more spot premiums being offered on lines of cattle and operating prices are subsequently lifting. Competition for prime cattle is heated and keeping both export and local trade prices firm in both islands. A falling US market and rising NZD has put significant pressure on processor margins for manufacturing beef. Operating prices are holding up however as the need for processors to keep plants full overrides eroding margins. Many processors typically increase capacity around the end of October, when slaughter numbers begin to increase. Reports suggest that when numbers do increase there is likely to be a sharp correction to bull operating prices, and it is likely that prime prices will follow the same direction. All eyes will be on the direction both NZD and the US beef market takes in coming weeks.

BEEF INTERNATIONAL: The US beef market is in a state of collapse as both domestic and imported prices for ground beef tumble. Imported 90 and 95CL are now both sitting just under US$1/lb less than this time last year. The falling market is being driven by an increase in in the supply

of domestic beef, particularly fed cattle, but also cows and bulls, combined with heavy inventory levels of imported product. The oversupply is at a time when demand is weak; both seasonally and as a result of cheaper pork and poultry. While procurement competition is holding NZ farmgate prices up for now, if the market continues to fall, there will be a correction to slaughter prices in NZ.

SHEEP: There is a good supply of old season lambs being forwarded to the processors in the South Island, with both teeth and the need to turn ground over for crops the driving factors. Operating prices have lifted 50cpk over the past 4 weeks and may flatten off from here. In the North Island there are limited numbers of old season lambs being slaughtered, and there is a gap in supply before big numbers of new season lambs become availalble. The tight supply is expected to see heated competition for the new season lambs throughout the Christmas trade period.

DAIRY: The most recent GlobalDairyTrade auction saw the overall index increase by 9.9%, driven by a 13% increase in both whole and skim milk powders. Fonterra have restricted the volume of product

offered through the GDT which is underpinning prices, as is an expected decline in milk production for the season. Also supporting the recovering market is the seasonal lull in milk production in the EU as well as the start of the peak period of demand from China. All factors combined

have most expecting prices to continue to recover from here. With the economic outlook now undergoing a sharp U turn as the fortunes of dairy increase, the downwards path of the NZD is not such a given and may spell bad news for red meat exporters.

WOOL PRICE WATCH Overseas Wool Price Indicators

Indicators in NZ$ Change 08-Oct 01-Oct Last Year Indicators in US$/kg Change 08-Oct 01-Oct Last

YearCoarse Xbred -9 6.10 6.19 5.49 Coarse Xbred +8 4.03 3.96 4.31

Fine Xbred -9 6.69 6.78 5.70 Fine Xbred +9 4.42 4.33 4.48

Lamb - - - - Lamb - - - -

Mid Micron - 9.87 - 7.98 Mid Micron - 6.52 - 6.27

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22 AGRIBUSINESSBANK SAYS IT WILL BACK FARMERS

NEW ZEALAND needs to look closely at where it puts its science funding, says Massey food scientist Professor Paul Moughan.

“I don’t think we can be all things to all people and I think we have to take a very close look at where we are going to put our [research funding] resources. We are a very, very small country, population wise,” he told a recent Westpac-Massey forum in Auckland.

“We are only going to make an impact if we focus in the right areas. If [we try] to do everything and give everything to everybody we are not going to make it and we need to choose those areas.

“If some of the [Government] ministers were here they would be saying we should be going into hi-tech manufacturing -- our future lies in transistor radios, computers, films, etc. Well I don’t share that view, I think it is daft. We produce $30 billion of food. A 10% improvement is $3b overnight; that’s a helluva lot of IT startups. So think it through.”

He claims if New Zealand had 10-20 more products like Fonterra’s bone health product Anlene – annual sales heading for $1 billion – we could make NZ a rich country again. Our OECD economic rankings would go

back to the 1950s where at one stage we led.

Moughan says we need to look at our basics, our core business and our comparative advantage.

“I would like to see an examination of conscience: are we doing the right types of work, the types of area we should be working in, how do food companies see it, how does the production sector see it?

“Get the right gameplan and then resource it well, fund it well, focus your money. And focus it on good people and good teams and stop the nonsense in this country [that says] everybody has to be given an equal share. I don’t think that is the way to make progress. To get smart we’ve got to focus our resources and know what we stand for; we’ve got a lot to be proud of.”

Fonterra is developing a lot of other products similar to Anlene. Zespri kiwifruit are sold on the overseas markets on the basis of sustainable health which is underpinned by a lot of science done by the Riddet Institute, which Moughan co-heads. “Zespri kiwifruit gets a 30% premium over every other kiwifruit sold on the market internationally.”

Moughan says these stories don’t get told, yet they are vital to the country’s future -- our children and grandchildren. “We don’t celebrate this stuff enough so people don’t

understand.”Former Prime Minister David

Lange said agriculture was a sunset industry.

“I reckon an industry that is growing 3% year-on-year is hardly sunset. When you look at the future marketplace it has to be good, and when you look at NZ’s ability to take the high ground for premium foods,

take into account provenance and all the rest, I don’t see any reason to be pessimistic.”

He says foreign students will pour in to get educated in agriculture and food and it will give a lot of Kiwis jobs – including highly skilled and highly trained jobs.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Cut out nonsense on science funding – Prof WESTPAC WILL support its dairy

customers to the tune of about $2/kgMS deficit in their cashflow this year, says Mark Steed, head of agribusiness and property.

“It is a case of coming through [the deficit] in the medium term and coming out the other side,” he says.

Steed says the banking sector saw the agri sector as highly vola-tile. Sheep, beef and horticul-ture are doing reasonably well but dairy is going through volatility. “The role Westpac has -- and all banks -- is to manage that vola-tility, assist in the volatility vari-ances in some way.

“Our role is very much to stand by the customers through the highs and the lows.

“We are obviously seeing the lows in the dairy sector. We are ensuring we come through that in a moderate kind of way. It is intriguing that a number of our dairy customers have some vari-ances in their cost base when you think about production. Some have costs around $3.50/kgMS to as high as $5.50/kgMS and when you overlay the leverage on top of that, interest is another $1-$1.20/kgMS.

“So when you’ve got a payout at $4.60/kgMS that is going to be really challenging. We expect to have to support our customers to the tune of about a $2/kgMS deficit on the cashflow this year.”@rural_news


Massey food scientist Prof Paul Moughan says NZ needs to look closely at where science funding goes.

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AGRIBUSINESS 23

New broadband targets for rural areas will mean access to broadband speeds of at least 50mbps by 2025.

Better rural broadband welcomed‘BOLD’ NEW broadband rural connectivity targets have been welcomed by the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa NZ (RHANZ) and the Telecommunication Users Association of NZ (TUANZ).

The target means nearly all rural New Zealanders will be able to access broadband speeds of at least 50 Mbps by 2025.

TUANZ says it pressed for broadband at 25 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload “so this goal of 50 Mbps is a commendable uplift,” says TUANZ chief executive Craig Young. But it would like the Government and providers to achieve the target earlier, if possible.

Good quality, high speed connectivity in all parts of NZ is a critical economic enabler for the economy, TUANZ says.

RHANZ chairperson Dr Jo Scott-Jones says securing reliable and affordable telecommunications services is critical to the health and wellbeing of rural communities and is a top priority for all 40 RHANZ members.

As part of its RBI phase 2 submission to the Government earlier this year, RHANZ called for more ambitious targets for rural broadband speeds.

RHANZ chief executive Michelle Thompson says good connectivity opens the doors to a range of new

health technologies, which in turn improves access to health services and helps with the retention and recruitment of health professionals.

“It is also an important component of health and safety plans for rural workers and business owners,” she says.

“While this new target is a significant improvement on the current target of 5 Mbps, the world in which we are operating is moving so rapidly it will require continual monitoring to ensure rural communities can fully participate in the 21st century,” Dr Scott-Jones says.

“Fixing the ‘digital divide’ is critically important to the health and wellbeing of rural communities and imperative to growing NZ’s prosperity.”

In the targets proposed by Minister for Communications Amy Adams for 2025, the Government’s vision would see:

99% of NZers able to access broadband at peak speeds of at least 50 Mbps (up from 97.8% getting at least 5 Mbps under RBI)

The remaining 1% able to access 10 Mbps (up from dial up or non-existent speeds).

Adams says the change will see NZ move from 17th in the world for rural connectivity to seventh and ensure no-one misses out on the opportunities of the digital age.

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PAM TIPA

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24 AGRIBUSINESS

Cedric Nepia and Te Urua Flavell with Ahuwhenua Trophy.

Showcase of Maori farming opens

THE AHUWHENUA Trophy compe-tition that will in 2016 decide the top Maori dairy farm gives a great focus to Maori working in farming, says the Minister of Maori Development, Te Ururoa Flavell.

The minister officially launched the 2016 competition at the Federation of Maori Authorities conference in Wel-lington, last week. Entries are now open and details are on the Ahuwhenua Trophy website.

The trophy is the longest running primary sector competition in New Zealand, inaugurated in 1932 by the Maori leader Sir Apirana Ngata and Governor-General Lord Bledisloe.

Its purpose is to showcase achieve-ment in the Maori farming sector to all New Zealnders, in particular successful approaches to governance, financing, management, environmental sustain-ability and the incorporation of tikanga Maori in business activities. Another key objective is to acknowledge the sig-nificant contribution Maori make to the overall NZ economy.

Flavell says there is great rivalry between iwi and towns and that is a great thing because it forces everyone

to lift their standards.He says in recent years some of the

competition finalists have been trusts, which have collaborated and aggregated their lands for greater scale and there-fore better economic returns for their people. But Flavell says there is still too much unproductive Maori land, and he

hopes the Ahuwhenua competition can be a catalyst for change in this regard.

Flavell says Maori agriculture offers great job opportunities for young people.

“I have been down south and seen one of the training programmes Ngai Tahu offers. They are engaging with a

lot of young Maori on their farms in the South Island and creating a whole lot of career opportunities. They give them a home, a farm to work on and with the training they are giving them they are lining up the young people to take over Ngai Tahu farms in the future.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the

Ahuwhenua Trophy management com-mittee, Kingi Smiler, says entering the competition offers a unique oppor-tunity for individual Maori farmers, trusts and incorporations to get valu-able professional feedback on their farming operations.

“The judges of the competition are highly skilled professionals in the agri-business sector and they have access to data which can benchmark individual operations. All previous participants in the competition have said it was an invaluable exercise and they gained feedback they otherwise wouldn’t have got. The modest cost of entering the Ahuwhenua Trophy is more than made up for by the benefits that can accrue, including becoming a finalist and win-ning the award.”

Smiler is appealing to farm con-sultants who work for Maori farm-ers to encourage their clients to enter the competition. He says these people hold influence over many Maori farm-ing operations and would see the bene-fits of their farms entering Ahuwhenua.

“For too long, Maori have failed to tell their own people and all New Zea-landers their success stories. Maori farming is one of these and through-out the country great things are being done on land owned by Maori,” he says.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

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26 OPINION

EDITORIAL EDNA

What next?YOUR OLD mate continues to be dumbfounded at the lengths some ‘environmental’ groups will go to in an effort to discrimi-nate against farming. The latest example is where Environment Southland councillors recently directed staff not to join a Forest and Bird declaratory judge-ment proceedings. Apparently, Forest and Bird is seeking to have the Environment Court declare that excreta from animals are a discharge. The judgement would have wide ranging impacts on farming as it would mean that animal excreta would require a discharge permit if no rule existed in a plan or national environmental standard to permit the activity. What next, permits to allow farmers to breathe?

Not so badTHE HOUND reckons while the farming sector in this country may have a tough time with some of the opposition political parties – who hate farmers, want to ban trade with overseas countries and/or believe the world has not changed since 1887 – spare a thought for farmers in the UK. The recent election of life-time socialist Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the opposition Labour Party has seen him appoint vegan Kerry McCarthy as his new, shadow farming minister. McCarthy admits she is a “militant” when it comes to clamping down on meat consumption. “I believe meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it,” she told a vegan magazine. Perhaps Eugine Sage is not so nutty after all?

Un‘Fairfacts’THIS OLD mutt reckons it’s hard enough having a rational discus-sion on the issue of PKE use in the dairy industry without half-wits spreading false information about it. Fonterra’s recent unilat-eral announcement that a ‘volun-tarily limit’ of 3kg of PKE/cow/day may be a sop to the greenies or a proactive response to consumer signals. Either way, it has sparked healthy debate among farmers. But they need accurate infor-mation to talk meaningfully. So it is unhelpful to see incorrect information published by the Australian-owned and controlled publisher Fairfax. For the record, NZ imported 2.01 million tonnes of PKE in 2013, not 2.01 billion as reported by the Aussies. Bit of a difference, cobbers.

Credibility issuesYOUR CANINE crusader suggests that while opponents of the proposed SFF/Shanghai Maling deal may have some genuine points to make, they are hampered by a number of major credibility issues. For starters, MIE enlisted a former grain and seed merchant as its supposed ‘agribusiness expert’. Now call your old mate a mutt, but what does a guy who use to sell feed know about the ins and outs of the international meat industry? Meantime, the farmer proponents of the myste-rious last minute deal put up to scuttle the SFF/Shanghai merger must be kidding themselves when they expected people to buy into their proposal when they refused to name either the agribusiness people or the bankers backing it. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

“Ok, you knock them into the box while I go and get the hive ready!”

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RURALNEWS

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SURPRISE SURPRISE, the Trans-Pacific Partnership has at last been concluded and no babies have been murdered.

Jane Kelsey and other TPP scaremongers have been conspicuous by their absence since the deal was announced.

Sure the outcome was disappointing for those who hoped to see the elimination of all protectionist barriers for our dairy sector, but this was never going to happen. Despite only minuscule progress for our dairy exports it was progress and the TPP has shown some really good wins for NZ, especially in our pri-mary sector.

As NZ special agriculture envoy Mike Petersen told Rural News, the TPP has deliv-ered an “outstanding” result for the NZ pri-mary sector.

“We have basically gained free trade access for the majority of our primary sector products – with the exception of dairy and some beef – to 11 new markets with a population of 800 million or 40% of the world’s trade,” he says.

So now we need to see some political lead-ership, especially by the Labour Party, on sup-porting the deal. Forget the anti-globalists in the Greens or the isolationists in NZ First who think NZ is still frozen in 1840; both these par-ties are small-fry political pixies and neither will ever be a lead party in government.

However, Labour as the major opposition party is supposed to be the government in wait-ing and it is time it started acting like it.

While the Government currently has the numbers in Parliament to pass this deal, it would be far better for NZ Inc if there was a true bipartisan show of support in the House for the TPP. It would demonstrate – to the coun-try and our trading partners – the commitment of New Zealand’s leaders to trade liberalisation that transcends partisan politics

While TPP-enabling legislation will be just as legally effective whether passed by a narrow or a wide margin, it would be far better for the country with strong bipartisan support. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark’s strong view on the deal has already shown that petty party politics has no place in such matters.

Labour has a proud history of free trade going back to Mike Moore in his days as trade minister. Jim Sutton and Phil Goff were both leaders in international trade liberalisation when they held the portfolios in Labour-led governments.

Labour needs to “get some guts” and back the TPP deal for the good of New Zealand.

Stop the rot!


OPINION 27

SFF deal good for shareholders and NZCOOPERATIVES HAVE many positive benefits, but raising capital is not one of them.

Silver Fern Farms (SFF) has been experienc-ing the same challenges Fonterra had before listing on the NZX in November 2012. Whether Fonterra was right to list or not is still a matter of debate; Australia’s biggest milk processor Murray-Goul-burn followed suit this year. The capital rais-ing was required to fund upgrades at the co-oper-ative factories, to focus more on high-value dairy goods including infant formula, consumer bever-ages and cheeses.

It is a familiar story.SFF is not, however,

suggesting listing on the share market to gain capi-tal. Having failed to raise the required money from shareholders (less than a quarter of the $100 mil-lion sought was achieved) it has secured an invest-ment proposal from Shanghai Maling.

What is on offer is a remarkable validation of New Zealand’s farming and processing capabili-ties. It is recognition of the brand that both NZ and SFF have been cre-ating.

Shanghai Maling has valued the company at $311 million and is pro-posing to inject $261 mil-lion, giving SFF access to 70,000 stores in China. Packaging and processing of the meat is to be com-pleted in NZ.

This acknowledges NZ’s reputation as a producer of safe food, in the face of increas-ing concern about food safety in China. Recent research indicates that over 70% of people in China now regard food safety as a matter of con-cern, and those very con-cerned have increased from 12% in 2008 to 32% -- a 20% increase. Despite the higher costs of pro-cessing in NZ than in China, Shanghai Maling is

focussed on achieving pre-mium prices and knows the value of the SFF NZ origin.

Another remarkable and reassuring factor for shareholders is that the deal is non-exclusive. Shanghai Maling is a business focussed on profits; if markets other than China are prepared to pay more for particular cuts, those markets will be supplied. The TPP agreement means there will be more options for meat companies in future and Shanghai Maling wants to be part of that future.

The investment will remove SFF’s debt, releas-ing $30 million of interest payments a year. In addi-tion, SFF will be in part-nership with a company strong in research and innovation; new money will enable this portfolio to be boosted.

The proposal for investment recognises the trajectory SFF established several years ago when it

moved to branding, mar-keting, premium products and adding value by focus-sing on the consumer.

Interbrand didn’t include SFF in the announcement of the 2015 Best Global Brands top 10 (led by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Coca cola and IBM), but in articles explaining what it takes to become a global brand it affirmed what SFF has been doing.

Chief content offi-cer for Interbrand, Paola Norambuena, says that in order to keep pace with today’s consumers, brands have to be coherent and efficient, with “ambitious vision that shapes both behaviors and structures”.

Josh Feldmath (Inter-brand chief executive) and Mike Rocha (Interbrand global director, brand val-uation) explained that “in the expansion of brands and businesses, acquisi-tions and partnerships have long been a mecha-nism for achieving rapid

growth in scale and stretch and—with varying levels of success—creat-ing shareholder value”.

SFF and Shanghai Maling have an ambitious vision of what their partnership can achieve: it will open up new markets through 70,000 outlets in China. Furthermore, the deal is complementary.

The shareholders have the farms, animals, processing and packaging; Shangahi

Maling has the outlets and consumers. The joint venture company shares the profits 50:50, and if farmer shareholders don’t like the returns, there are always other companies to supply – which means that the profits must be reasonable for sustainability of the company.

Interbrand suggests that the most successful partnerships involve partners with complementary offerings; this appears to be the case in the current proposal.

Shanghai Maling has recognised SFF’s potential and the significant investment on offer could take NZ meat to a new

level of recognition. The brand might not challenge Apple and Google, but it does have potential to give NZ another category of recognition in animal protein beyond dairy products -- and the All Blacks. • Jacqueline Rowarth is professor of agribusiness, The University of Waikato.

SFF and Shanghai Maling have an ambitious vision of what their partnership can achieve: it will open up new markets through 70,000 outlets in China.

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28 OPINION

Stephen Jacobi

TPP more than sum of its uneven partsI WAS asked by a televi-sion channel to award a score out of 10 for the Trans Pacific Partnership

(TPP) recently concluded in Atlanta.

I gave it 7.5 because 75% of New Zealand’s exports are well covered by the deal. I added a bonus

point of one for what was achieved for dairy, the other 25% of our exports.

The dairy outcome, while disappointing for farmers and for anyone

STEPHEN JACOBIinvolved in TPP over the last seven years, needs to be seen for what it is: the best that could be done, in the face of entrenched protectionism and anti-competitive reflexes in the world’s largest economies, especially the US, Japan and Canada.

The sense of disap-pointment is more acute because at the TPP lead-ers’ meeting held on the margins of APEC in Hono-lulu in 2011 it had been agreed that the final agree-ment would be “high quality, ambitious and comprehensive”.

This wording reflected the opportunity to create a new framework for trade and investment that would enhance sustain-able growth and job cre-ation.

Over time that vision appears to have dimmed to the extent that what we see coming out of Atlanta, while undoubtedly a bi g step forward, is less ambi-tious than the architects of TPP had in mind. The deal falls short of the goal of comprehensive tariff elimination – all duties on all products – even if no sector, not even dairy, is completely off the table.

For other agricultural products there are some positive gains that can be welcomed by farmers.

Beef farmers will be happy that Japan’s tariff will drop from 38.5% to 9% over 15 years, which should put us back on a level play-ing field with Australia and make a material difference to NZ exports.

Here is a sample range of other useful wins:

■ elimination of all beef quotas and tariffs in the US, Canada and Mexico

■ elimination of tariffs on high protein dairy exports in Japan, of cheese tariffs in Japan and the US, of milk powder in the US and infant formula in the US, Japan and Mexico

■ elimination of tariffs on all wine, fruit and vegetables and forest products exports to all markets

■ elimination of tariffs on honey in the US and Japan.

The timetable and pro-cess for elimination may vary, but these are none-theless tangible export gains that will translate into new business and rev-enue.

Beyond market access, TPP sets up a more con-temporary framework of rules for trade and invest-ment that will lower costs, reduce the time of doing business, provide greater certainty and security and ensure that over time there is a more consistent approach to setting reg-ulations and addressing behind the border barriers.

This is particularly important for today’s new way of doing business through complex global value chains and networks that sees our agri-busi-nesses operating in multi-ple economies sometimes through trade and other times through investment.

That all this has been achieved without the likelihood of significant adjustment for NZ in areas like medicines, invest-ment, intellectual prop-erty or the management of state owned enterprises reflects the skill of our negotiators and the fact that NZ is already at the level of world best practice in these areas.

The final text of the TPP treaty will be released to the public in the next month or so. This will hopefully enable a robust debate about the implica-tions for NZ on the basis of fact rather than rumour.

Farmers will want to make sure their voices are heard in the select com-mittee process that fol-lows the formal signing of the agreement and the passing of implementing legislation, which will pre-cede ratification by the Government.

Trade Minister Groser and his officials deserve congratulations for the achievement of a deal which overall advances the interests of the agricul-tural sector.• Stephen Jacobi is executive director of the NZ International Business Forum. www.tradeworks.org.nz

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Question: Why is the bank focused on assisting farming families with succession planning?

As an agricultural banking specialist, we’re committed to tackling the big issues facing our clients and the industry as a whole. With the average age of New Zealand farmers in the mid-late 50s, many farming families are now looking at how they can most effectively transfer assets to the next generation and ensure ongoing business success. This, combined with the shortage of young people showing an interest in on-farm roles, means that farm succession is undoubtedly one of the most significant challenges facing NZ’s agricultural sector.

From my experiences of working for years with farming families, I’ve found that many families find it difficult to separate the business and family relationships from the emotion that surrounds a family farm. As a result, many of these families are looking for assistance with their succession plans. This is backed up by our research on this topic: at least 80% of respondents in a recent survey said they would like some form of succession assistance from their bank.Question: What are some of the initiatives the bank is taking to help its clients?

The bank’s rural managers are actively talking with clients to discuss their goals and aspirations for their farming operation. These conversations can often lead into succession discussions in which our rural managers will encourage clients to start this process early and to openly communicate with other family members. When our clients are looking for additional guidance in this area, our rural managers might encourage them to attend one of our facilitated succession workshops. These involve a small

number of families getting together to explore concepts, initiate discussion and collaborate on ideas.

Another service we offer is facilitated family meetings which are run by one of our succession planning managers.

These follow a more formal process to clarify family and business goals before exploring legal and accounting issues. These are normally conducted away from the family home. Sometimes a meeting outcome is exploring ways of expanding the business or bringing in new resources, which dovetails into our farm ownership options facilitation service, set up to introduce investors and equity managers into farming businesses. Question: In conjunction with the Red Meat Profit Partnership, you’ve just held a Foundation of Farm Succession workshop with six farming families in Manawatu. What was the aim of that workshop?

The workshop was designed to help family members look at the needs of each generation in their family and discuss these with other families facing similar succession challenges. It included a session on business entry and exit, and a session on legal and accounting material. Participants also learnt about career strategy for both generations and theories of communication relative to farm businesses.Question: What were the benefits to the participants and what did they come away with?

The workshop equipped them to


OPINION 29

Farm succession all about communicationIn this first of a series of regular interviews with Rabobank staff on a range of topics, the bank’s succession planning manager Tony Hammington explains the work he does with rural families to help guide them through the stages of the farm succession process.

approach complex subjects like farm succession. The environment removed

them from their daily operational distractions, freeing them up to listen to, and talk with, other

family members about the important, but hard-to-discuss subjects. The feedback from older and younger generations who attended the workshop was that they felt confident to share views about the sensitive issue of managing money and change in the family business and that doing

this with their wider family group created a sense of collaboration and achievement.Question: What should farmers do if they’re looking to take the first step to put a plan together for their business?

A good starting point would be to read the

report the bank has recently published on this topic – ‘Farm Succession Planning - Navigating the Seas of Change’.• To obtain a copy of this report, or for more information about our succession workshops or family meetings, contact your local Rabobank branch on 0800 722 622.

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30 MANAGEMENT

Wetlands helping to combat nutrient leachingTHE SCIENCE behind wetlands is well understood: protecting, restoring and creating wetlands onfarm can help reduce nutrient losses and improve

downstream water quality. However, how to restore and develop them on individual farms in cost-effective ways is not well tested.

With this in mind,

a two-year project has been launched in South Waikato: a 1.1ha wetland has been created on the 267ha Baldwin dairy farm at Litchfield.

Over the next two

years the Baldwin farm wetland project will be showcased: water flow and water quality will be measured regularly and practical advice on design, construction

and operation will be compiled.

The project, costing several hundred thousand dollars, is a joint venture between the Baldwin Family

Will wetlands become the new weapon enabling farmers to combat nutrient losses onfarm? Sudesh Kissun reports...

Trust, DairyNZ, Waikato River Authority, Opus, Waikato Regional Council and NIWA.

According to DairyNZ, wetlands offer a lot of potential to reduce nutrient losses from farms to surface water. Well-constructed wetlands can extract up to 75% of the nitrate from runoff through bacteria and uptake by plants, trap sediment

and phosphorous, reduce faecal bacteria loads and sustain important ecological values.

Protecting, restoring and creating wetlands on farm can therefore help reduce nutrient losses and improve downstream water quality, DairyNZ says. “While the science behind the wetland design and functioning is well understood, the means to restore and construct wetlands on individual farms in cost-effective ways is not well tested. “

Many factors influence how wetlands perform and

construction can be expensive.

DairyNZ says the project is aimed at increasing wetlands on farms nationwide.

Outgoing DairyNZ chairman John Luxton told guests at the launch that wetlands remain unique features of the New Zealand landscape. Several decades ago people were draining wetlands but are now

restoring them, he says. Landowners with significant wetlands should consider protecting and restoring them as important natural habitats.

Wetlands slow and filter water flowing off the land. In times of flood, water is absorbed by wetlands and is slowly released again in summer, helping maintain flow in waterways, which is good for surface water takes and stream life.

Luxton thanked the Baldwin family for showing leadership and donating the land for the project.

WAIKATO WETLAND SHOWCASE❱❱ 1.1ha farm land converted into wetland

❱❱ Water quality and water flow to be moni-

tored regularly

❱❱ Two-year project to look at wetland design,

construction and operation

❱❱ DairyNZ keen to develop wetland as a

potential tool for reducing nitrate leaching

❱❱ Aims to increase creation of wetlands on

farms throughout the country.

Wetlands slow and filter water flowing off the land. In times of flood, water is absorbed by wetlands and is slowly released again in summer, helping maintain flow in waterways, which is good for surface water takes and stream life.


MANAGEMENT 31

Wetlands helping to combat nutrient leaching

Gray Baldwin says he hopes the project will help other farmers to tackle nitrate leaching by building wetlands.

The Baldwin family has donated the 1.1ha land to QE2 Trust, and public money is funding the project. They also planted trees around the edges and paid for fencing.

Baldwin agrees that reducing nitrate on

each farm will require different solutions. However, he hopes creating wetlands will cost less than building feedpads or housing for cows to control leaching -- and the project should prove that.

With councils about to impose tighter rules on nutrient leaching, farmers will either have to de-stock or spend on facilities onfarm.

The Baldwin farm wetlands break up into six bays, each connected by a weir.

An Opus spokesman, Roger Macgibbon, told the launch that in the 1990s NIWA tried unsuccessfully to promote the science of wetlands as a means for farmers to manage their environments. But the prevailing attitude to environmental

management didn’t further this and a lack of evidence on how the science worked stymied NIWA’s efforts.

“This project is about learning a heck of lot of things about wetlands on farm. Until we learn and extrapolate from this farm and take it to the next one and do it right we not going to put science into good practice on the ground.”

Marilyn and Gray Baldwin with grandson Peyton Baldwin with wetlands in the background.

Part of the wetlands on the Baldwin farm.

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32 MANAGEMENT

Serious savings from whole farm soil testingTARANAKI FARMER Hayden Law-rence reckons whole-farm soil testing saves him about $15,000 on fertiliser each year.

Lawrence, who farms in equity part-nership with his wife Alecia and par-ents in Taranaki, began whole-farm soil testing seven years ago. To date he’s saved about $90,000 on fertiliser and increased pasture production from 14.5 tonnes per hectare to 18.6t/ha on the 97ha property.

The Lawrences milk a maximum of 240 cows on an 85ha milking platform, using their hill country block to graze heifers. They also follow an 18-month cropping rotation, that sees paddocks planted into silage, oats, chicory and then into pasture.

They are trialling a three-year calving programme, where cows will be milked for 450 days and calved twice. Research from DairyNZ shows the additional days of milking could increase milk yield and potentially decrease animal health issues by reducing calving. As part of the trial, they are also growing fodder beet and maize.

Lawrence says whole-farm testing is a “no brainer” for the business. On average, it saves $162/ha from a blanket fertiliser application approach.

“For us to whole-farm soil test 50

paddocks costs $2500. We had been spending about $40,000 a year but that’s down to about $13,000 a year.

“When we started, Dr Ants Roberts (Ravensdown’s chief scientific officer) came down and did us a plan, which we still use. We have seven fertiliser mixes and one of those is no application.”

Analytical Research Laboratories (ARL) analyses the annual soil samples, taken from GPS transects for accuracy, and uploads the results to My Ravens-down, a secure online tool that allows farmers to view their farming informa-tion.

Based on the results, Lawrence

orders fertiliser and plans spreading with Ravensdown joint venture com-pany Spreading Sandford, who collect and spread the various mixes.

The whole-farm testing results haven’t been hugely surprising, but Lawrence says he’s noticed how var-ious crops and management pro-

grammes affect nutrient levels. It’s also been beneficial knowing when they can mine nutrients and when they need to top them up.

“We were advised that on our Taranaki ash soils the farm proba-bly wouldn’t need large quantities of superphosphate. But after two years we saw sulphur levels start to bottom out. We’ve easily addressed this by using sulphur mixes combined into our last nitrogen application in autumn and our first nitrogen application in spring,” he says.

ARL Technical Director Dr Hendrik Venter says the analysis of soil test results for samples submitted during 2014 showed that for pH, Olsen P, potassium, magnesium and sulphate-sulphur there was a significant number testing above and below recommended science-based optimum ranges.

“A soil test will help ensure the appli-cation of enough fertiliser to meet the requirements of the crop, while taking advantage of the nutrients already present in the soil,” Venter says. “Soil testing is one of the best management practices to achieve maximum produc-tion and with fertiliser being one of the largest input costs for farms. Flying blind is never advisable.”

@rural_news


Hayden Lawrence, with wife Alecia and kids Fletcher and Finn, reckons whole farm soil testing saves him around $15,000 on fertiliser each year.

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MANAGEMENT 33

More than just winning awardsALLAN AND Leeann Woodrow say they are glad they entered last year’s Southland Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The Woodrows, who own a 496ha sheep and beef farm in Waikana Valley, east of Mataura, first entered the competition a couple of years ago and enjoyed the experience.

“We didn’t win anything, but that wasn’t why we entered,” says Allan. “We wanted to see how the process worked and what we could learn from it.”

Environment Southland staff and their rural banker encouraged them to enter again and they were “chuffed” to win the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Award in the 2015 Southland Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA).

Woodrow says their 5000 stock unit operation ‘Green Ridges’ is a traditional family-run farm.

“Our children help out on the farm and we don’t

employ a lot of contract labour, which keeps our costs low.”

He says winning the BLNZ Livestock Award was encouraging “because it shows we are heading in the right direction in sustainability and it was great to get credit for that”.

The BLNZ Livestock Award recognises farmers who demonstrate in practical ways their long-term choices in the ways they farm. The judges look at wise use of land, labour and capital. They also consider animal health and the careful matching of stock class and type to land contour and soil type.

BLNZ chief executive Scott Champion says the awards show that farming sustainably and profitably are not mutually exclusive. “These farmers are demonstrating good environmental practices, and the value to the whole sector is seeing this at work.”

BFEA judges praised the Woodrow’s conservation values and their “lifelong dedication

to share knowledge and develop best practice”.

Stock performance on Green Ridges is excellent: the high performing Perendale flock consistently lambs at over 150% -- unshepherded. Judges also noted the farm’s cattle trading policy, designed to maximise pasture management in spring and summer and to minimise soil damage in autumn and winter.

“I’ve always got a lot of pleasure out of working with stock,” says Woodrow. “To me it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.”

He says entering the awards gave his family a valuable outside perspective on their operation.

“The judging process makes you take a fresh look at things you see every day and might take for granted. It’s like getting a farm

consultancy service for free.”

Woodrow believes all farmers should give the competition a go, regardless of how far down the sustainability track they are.

“I think some people are scared to enter because they think they might not win anything. But it’s not really about winning; it’s more about what you can achieve on the way.

“It’s a great event to be involved with and we got a lot out of it.” Entries for the 2016 Ballance Farm

Environment Awards are now open. Entry is free and entry forms are available online:

www.bfea.org.nz

Alan Woodrow, with wife Leeanne, believes entering the awards gave the family an outside perspective of their operation.

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34 MANAGEMENT

East Coast tech expo ready to switch on farming sectorSIX MONTHS out from the inaugural East Coast Farming with Technology Expo (ECFwT), the organiser has launched the event’s website and begun registering exhibitors.

The two-day April 2016 event will bring East Coast and Hawkes Bay farming communities face-to-face with industry innovators, including suppliers.

The organiser, Wairoa A & P Society, with a recently refurbished showground, is promoting the region-specific expo as a way for farmers and landowners to explore new ideas for farming in the region.

A & P Society president Dave Martin says the expo is “the ideal opportunity to launch new products or release new research and technology, specific to the East Coast sheep and

beef industry, directly to a target audience”.

“The point of the expo is to acknowledge the importance of face-to-face interaction in learning about new technology and making it affordable and

achievable for these two groups to come together.

“There are huge opportunities for technology uptake – especially in sheep and beef farming – and our society is excited about the potential of this expo and seeing the types of exhibitors keen to come on board.”

Event manager Sue Wilson says trade application forms are available on the website and include all essential detail.

“Everything regarding the expo is right there at exhibitors’ fingertips;

we wanted to make the process stress-free and straightforward.”

Martin and Wilson acknowledge the support of the expo’s key sponsors – Rural News Group, Farmlands and Hawkes Bay Regional Council.

“All these groups have an obvious interest

in the rural sector and they are passionate about innovation and forward thinking; their support is a real coup for our event,” Martin says. “We… hope this is the start of an ongoing relationship between the expo and these nationally recognised groups.”

Rural News Group general manager Adam Fricker says supporting the ECFwT Expo was a natural fit for the company.

“Rural News always carries stories about how the great promise of technology is finally coming good, with practical applications of technology and genuine productivity gains for farmers.

“We’re excited to get involved in an event that brings this technology to farmers. It feels like the industry is only at the beginning of this and

there is huge potential to use technology to make farming more efficient and profitable. The ECFwT Expo is a rare opportunity for farmers in this region to come and see for themselves what’s available and what might be relevant to their own operation.”

The acting land manager for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Nathan Heath, said they were pleased to be part of the expo.

“Wairoa is a big part of the Northern Hawke’s Bay region and with the East Coast has a raft of challenges unique to those areas,” he says.

“We believe technology is a big

part of the puzzle of understanding and managing these. We love the concept of the expo in that every year there will be different exhibits relevant to Hawkes Bay and the East Coast at that time; we wanted to be a part of that and have HBRC represented in what it can do for farmers and landowners in land management.”

Farmlands Hawkes Bay/East Coast regional manager Rhys Hellyer says the ECFwT Expo aligns well with the company’s core values.

“The premise of the expo is to showcase the latest technology in farming and it looks to attract a purely farmer

audience without the hustle and bustle of non-ag exhibitors, which is attractive to us,” he says.

“One of Farmlands’ core values is ‘Fostering Innovation’ and deliver-ing the future by leading and embracing change, looking for smarter ways to do things and chal-lenging the norm to exceed expectations. The expo aligns well with this by delivering and showcasing top tech-nology and innovation in farming on the East Coast.”

The ECFwT Expo will run on April 13 and 14, 2016.

www.eastcoastexpo.co.nz

“The premise of the expo is to showcase the latest technology in farming and it looks to attract a purely farmer audience.”

Tech expo organisers Dave Martin and Sue Wilson.

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SOUTHDOWN SPECIAL 35

Wairarapa stalwart returns to SouthdownsJOHN MCFADZEAN has farmed in Wairarapa all his life and is a staunch supporter of the Southdown as a terminal sire.

While he has tried other terminal sire breeds, McFadzean has come back to the Southdown.

John and his wife Helen have since 2010 farmed Glenburn Station – 2800ha on the South Wairarapa coast -- running 17,000 stock units: 7000 Romney ewes, 2300 ewe hoggets, up to 3000 trade lambs and 560 Angus cows and replacements.

Before 2010 they farmed on Glenbrae Station west of Masterton, the original family farm. Their eldest son Johnnie farms there today, while second son Lachlan works with John on Glenburn and youngest son Corey will be back at Glenbrae in December.

It’s a massive and beautiful property with spectacular views of the rugged coastline and the Pacific Ocean. Behind the coastal flats the hills reach skyward into the mists of the steep hill country.

McFadzean says the catalyst for their permanent move to Southdowns was the experience of son Johnnie who saw how good they were while he was shepherding in the South Island.

“He was keen to introduce them at

Glenbrae and for B flock ewes and for hogget lambing. So we bought a number of Southdowns for that purpose then to fulfil the needs of hogget lambing and B flock ewes. When Helen and I came to Glenburn we just carried on buying Southdowns.

“We have always had the other breeds to try out and to assess against the Southdown at times, but by and large the Southdowns have proven very successful, producing fast growing prime lambs and particularly successful in lambing hoggets.”

At Glenburn, McFadzean has about 30 Southdown rams which he buys from Wairarapa breeder Roddy McKenzie and also some from Jill Beard, near Gladstone, also in Wairarapa.

The rams are mated to the 2100 B flock ewes and the 2300 hoggets. The latter produce about 1600 lambs. But in the case of the B flock, McFadzean gets upwards of 140% lambing – which he says is very good.

At Glenbrae, Johnnie McFadzean runs the Southdown rams over the 800 ewes in his B flock and the 1700 ewe hoggets.

The high percentage McFadzean attributes to the quality of his Romney ewe flock, bought from the highly regarded Wairarapa breeders, Holmes and Michael Warren.

The lambs from Southdown rams are generally weaned at the end of the November and

some of those lambs will be sold immediately. The remainder will go onto chicory and plantain crops and will go to the works as 18kg-plus lambs in January or February.

“The Southdown breeders have done a great job with improvements over the years. The lambs are long, grow quickly and grade well,” McFadzean says.

“The other thing I like about the Southdown is when you compare their lambs with other breeds they may look smaller, but in fact they weigh more. They are very solid well-meated sheep. The breeders have done a great job in making sure the shoulders and heads are reasonably fine and that allows us to use them successfully for hogget lambing.”

McFadzean says the Southdown-cross lambs seem well able to handle Wairarapa’s dry summers. It’s possible to sell the lambs even at

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

lighter weights if need be because they are prime and able to go to the works.

He believes it’s important for

Southdown breeders to keep a firm eye on the front of their sheep and also their feet, so that the terminal sire rams have longevity.

John McFadzean

Silverdale & Oakdale

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36 SOUTHDOWN SPECIAL

A true terminal sire that’s gone in a hurrySOUTHDOWN BREEDER Chris Medlicott says farmers too often focus on the price per lamb instead of the return on kilograms of dry matter eaten.

He says more lambs sold off the ewe at weaning equates to higher efficiency, but this is not always achievable on different classes of country.

Medlicott says high lamb weaning weights are achieved by high quality feed, milking ability of the ewe and genetic ability to grow and lay down muscle. He also believes early spring country plays its part.

“For lambs left after weaning, it is important to have them growing at speed. The quicker those lambs exit your farm over summer the

more options you have to improve next year’s production or take on trading stock.”

Medlicott says a simple way to work out the value is on a weak schedule price, like that predicted for the upcoming main killing season.

“At $5/kg a 17kg lamb brings $85,” he explains. “Lambs left after the December 10 weaning draft – with an average liveweight of 28kg -- at a store value of $2.40/kg bring $67.20 per head.

“But when these lambs reach an average kill weight of 17kg by January 12 it equates to a return of only 28 cents per kilo of drymatter consumed.

“At a later killing date of January 29 the return will only be 23 cents, and if killed on March 20 the return will now be only 14 cents per kilo of dry matter consumed.”

Medlicott says the key message is for farmers to do their sums, taking into account a range of things including climatic conditions.

“Getting lambs away early is one of the strengths of the Southdown breed. A really positive attribute of the Southdown is they don’t suffer a weaning check, so you can be back drafting soon after weaning.

“A true terminal should be exactly that – gone in a hurry.”

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SOUTHDOWN SPECIAL 37

Easy lambing with lambs that grow

ROGER TWEEDS runs 2300 Romney ewes and 200 hoggets on his 300ha farm near Lawrence, Central Otago.

Tweed’s been 30 years on his present farm, a mix of river flats and steep country and typically dry in summer.

He’s experimented with a variety of terminal sires over the years, but has settled with the Southdown which he puts across up to 500 ewes in his B flock and all his ewe hoggets.

Tweed says the Southdown makes for easy lambing and what he likes most is that the lambs grow well and come weaning time he has a good product to

sell. He reckons with some other terminal sires he’s tried, while the lambing percentage was good the growth rate

was not and that’s what counts!

Tweed says this is especially so with the lambs from the ewe hoggets.

“My place is steep

and gets hot in summer. I notice that the Southdown rams and their progeny do well in this environment.

I love the Southdown because they just keep on growing,” he says.

He selects his B flock ewes based on how the animals look, not on their age. As for weaning,

this depends on the state of the lambs.

“The first lambs are generally weaned in mid-December, a mixture of those put to the terminal sire and those from the commercial flock. I don’t lamb an early mob as some people do.

“For example, last year I weaned after new year. I don’t farm by the calendar, I farm for the betterment of the animals.”

Tweed says the Southdown ram produces a “good meaty sheep” and he’s especially pleased with the lambs from the hoggets. He reckons the weight these lambs put on sets them aside from some other terminal sire breeds available.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

“The first lambs are generally weaned in mid-December, a mixture of those put to the terminal sire and those from the commercial flock. I don’t lamb an early mob as some people do.”

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38 ANIMAL HEALTHNZ researchers Gemma Henderson and Peter Janssen.

Research shows global answer to cutting animal methane emissionsNEW ZEALAND-LED research shows global solutions to reduce meth-ane emissions from rumi-nant animals are feasible, because the microbes causing the emissions are similar around the world.

The Global Rumen Census project analysed

the microbes responsi-ble for methane emis-sions from a wide range of ruminant animals around the world. Collaborat-ing with 140 researchers from 73 institutions, the NZ-led project found sim-ilar bacteria and methano-gens dominate in nearly

all rumens in a wide vari-ety of species and animal diets. This means new technologies that seek to reduce methane emis-sions by influencing rumen microbes should have global applications.

The results of the research project were

released earlier this month. The main part of the study was funded by the NZ Government via the Ministry for Pri-mary Industries as part of its support for the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

The international col-laborators worked along-side six main AgResearch authors, led by Gemma Henderson and Peter Janssen of AgResearch Grasslands, Palmerston North.

Henderson ways it was an honour to be involved with such a successful international collabora-tion. She has been work-ing at AgResearch for eight years on projects related to methane mit-igation and the Global Rumen Census project.

“One of the most excit-ing things for me was the enthusiasm generated internationally with so many people being inter-ested in what we were doing and wanting to con-tribute. That was very rewarding.”

As well as the expected samples from sheep, cattle, deer and goats, there were also some from buffalo and giraffes. The rumen is the modified foregut of these animals. Feed is fermented by the microbes in the rumen, allowing the animal to extract energy from feed such as grasses that oth-erwise could not be digested. These microbes are therefore essential for ruminant productivity.

Unfortunately, one of the by-products of this fermentation is the green-house gas methane. This is produced by microbes called methanogens. The microbial survey involved extracting DNA from all the samples and sequenc-ing diagnostic marker genes that allow the iden-tification of different bac-teria and methanogens.

“The rumen metha-nogens turned out to be highly similar species in all rumens across the world. So, only a few spe-cies appear to be respon-sible for all the methane produced by ruminants everywhere, which means mitigation strategies can be developed to target the few dominant methano-

gens,” says Peter Jans-sen, who leads part of AgResearch’s methane mitigation research.

He says the ini-tial hypothesis was that rumen microbes would be similar to some extent across the world, but they wanted to see if diets or other factors made a dif-ference.

“When you have a large dataset like that you’re never sure what is going to come out of it. There are so many different vari-ables – where the animals are, what they ate, what species they are; all these things can have an impact and you have to attack the exercise systemati-cally to figure out what the data mean. To do this, we engaged people with specific skills – an animal nutritionist, a statistician -- and we started explor-ing the data.”

Once the data had “revealed the story”, the findings were checked back with the Global Rumen Census collabora-tors around the world.

Janssen says the rumen microbes ended up being more similar than they had expected. Mostly they were the same in all sam-ples, but some microbes were more strongly asso-ciated with certain hosts and some with certain diets.

“Even more interesting from a NZ perspective was the finding that the meth-ane-producing microbes, the methanogens, are the same everywhere. That’s interesting from a meth-ane mitigation standpoint because that means the technology that’s devel-oped in one place will be applicable everywhere.”

The Global Rumen Census complements NZ’s large domestic research programme focused on methane-mitigation technology, particularly vaccines or inhibitors to sup-press methanogens. This domestic work is funded jointly by the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium, an indus-try-led initiative that receives 50% of its fund-ing from the Government, and the fully government-funded NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.

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ANIMAL HEALTH 39

MAKING THE switch from dairying to bull farming several years ago was not the shift all Bruce Kinloch’s neighbours would have considered, says Rumensin supplier Elanco.

But it was a change he does not regret today, providing him with more time to enjoy the day-to-day business of farming, have the flexibility to pursue life off the farm and the satisfaction of finishing quality stock.

The 100ha block Kinloch farms, near Tangimoana in Manawatu, was first meant to be a runoff block for his nearby dairy unit.

“But I decided I wanted to keep it after dairying; I liked the size of it, and it means we can run 240 bulls and also put in about 18ha of maize for selling as maize silage.”

The numbers include up to 80 weaners sent on to his son’s property and growing 20ha of grass for silage. Kinloch finds that running Friesian bulls is a relatively relaxed business and typically they are easy to handle.

“They are usually used to being handled, and the main thing is to ensure you keep a paddock gap between each mob. If you have the farm set up well, you can run things smoothly. I started out with steers originally and found they were harder to manage.”

Some advice from a stock agent about the flexibility and returns from bull farming prompted him to make the move.

His system is grass focussed, taking advantage of strong spring and autumn growth rates to maximise the weight gains from bulls bought in at about 120kgLW in spring.

“Those we bought at about 90-100kg did not do as well as the heavier ones, and we have made that 120kg mark our policy for buying in weaners. You pay a bit more but get a better animal.”

Inevitably on the clover, dense pasture bloat is an issue, and prompted Kinloch to try Rumensin capsules on the bulls as they came out of winter into their second spring.

“I work on getting the capsules in them when they are around 300-350kg before they really bulk up around their neck. They can be handled easy enough then, and the capsules go down without any problems; it’s a straightforward job.”

The first couple of years he only did some of the mobs, and soon noticed those he did not dose were the last to go.

“Last year every bull that did not get a capsule and was blown with bloat would have been 20-30kg lighter than those we treated and did not get bloat.” Last year he bought in a mob of 25 over early winter and concerned about the amount of clover around he administered the capsules.

“We made $600 a head on them, quitting them after three months; they were gone by mid-September, doing exceptionally well.”

There is greater flexibility if any bulls bought in autumn are able to be quit before Christmas, freeing up grass supplies as things dry out, and ensuring the spring purchased bulls can still get enough feed to maintain weight gains.

Opening up the grazing round over spring

for the bulls to maximise their pasture intake means using the capsules gives Kinloch peace of mind, not only that weight gains are being maximised, but also that he won’t lose any with bloat.

Visually he can always tell the bulls that have the capsules and those that

have not.“Those that don’t

have them have always taken longer to get away, between a month and five weeks at times.” Despite a challenging start to the growing season with windy, cold conditions, his first load of bulls were killed at 295kgCW in mid-

February which was “about where we want to be”.

Meantime, he is also enjoying the stronger schedule prices and continuing good prospects for bull beef, running an operation that provides a nice balance between farming and lifestyle.

KEY POINTS❱❱ Operator: Bruce Kinloch.

❱❱ Location: Tangimoana, Manawatu

❱❱ Area: 100ha

❱❱ Operation: bull beef finishing, targeting 300kgLW

❱❱ Rumensin use: capsules administered in spring to maximise weight gains and mini-mise bloat incidence.

Averting bloat gives peace of mind

Manawatu beef farmer Bruce Kinloch.

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40 ANIMAL HEALTH

zelam28x5

Top rams backed up by dataFORTY YEARS of genetic progress and a large recorded breeding database gives the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group (WRIG) an edge, the

group claims.WRIG has nine

breeder members, including industry pioneers, experienced in breeding quality Romney sheep.

The collective strength of the group is its size and connectedness. It has 32,000 females recorded, including ewe hogget replacements, and excellent linkage across flocks. Its robust recording systems enable accurate genetic assessment.

“Our size and connectedness has made WRIG an attractive resource for anyone wanting to analyse performance or pedigrees,” says group chairman Roger Barton. “Over the years, the science community has used WRIG information to address various issues

relating to genetic improvement.

“We have been heavily involved in the development of robust recording systems, including the National Flock Recording Scheme and SIL, focusing on the number of lambs born as well as the key indicators survival, growth rate and fleece weights.”

WRIG data has also been used in research into parasite resistance.

All group members have donated blood to Ovita and the group was used to verify the use of DNA markers to generate molecular breeding values for productive

traits. Initially this was done through Ovita and the project has since been commercialised by Zoetis as Sheep5K.

Sheep5K uses 5000 DNA markers to generate molecular breeding values for up to 22 economically important traits, yielding extra accurate information on young selection candidates. Combined with SIL information, Sheep5K “enables unprecedented selection opportunities”.

Barton says WRIG’s linkage across its flocks gives robustness and accuracy to the high number of recorded animals.

“The validity of those figures is good because of the connectedness of the group. We have 32,000 females with all data collected, independently verified by SIL and also verified by the connectedness of the group,” he says.

“With ram exchanges between members we know the group members are accessing the best genetics we can offer.”

WRIG is also said to be strong on the physical factors – feet, the way an animal stands, the jaw set, teat placement.

■ The Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group (WRIG) was formed in 1970 with the common goal to breed the most profitable sheep for the commercial sheep farmer.

■ The group supplies about 6000 Romney rams annually.

■ It is estimated that at least 30,000 WRIG group rams are used every year across New Zealand flocks.

■ Group members are Gleniti, Grassendale, Meldrum, Motu-nui, Te Whangai, Turanganui, Wai-iti, Waiohine, and Wairere.

■■ www.wrig.co.nz

WHO ARE WRIG

The WRIG supplies 6000 rams each year to farmers around NZ.

“With ram exchanges between members we know the group members are accessing the best genetics we can offer.”

@rural_news


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www.zelam.com


ANIMAL HEALTH 41

A NEW Zealand company reckons it has come up with a product for preventative treatment of parasites in R1 cattle.

Alpheus anti-parasitic capsules use a unique applicator to insert a slow release capsule into the cattle to provide coverage for 125 days – more than four times longer than other products on the NZ market.

Sirona Animal Health has developed the capsules with the assistance of Argenta Pharmaceuticals. Vet Claire Nicholson has spent the last two years overseeing the development and testing of the capsules.

The idea developed when Nicholson was a consultant to a number of companies involved in animal health.

“One issue that farmers constantly raised with me was the struggle to get good growth rates in cattle over the autumn,” she explains.

“The products available in the NZ market only provided protection from infestation with parasites for a few days; new parasites ingested after that complete their lifecycle in the animals

causing gut damage along the way. The next treatment is targeted to kill these new infestations when they have reached the adult stage thus preventing more contamination of pasture.

“Our solution is a product that kills all incoming larvae for 125 days, thus avoiding the establishment of new patent infestations and the consequent gut damage.”

Nicholson says farmers also felt that parasite management was too time-consuming.

“I shared their view that there must be a better way that didn’t involve having to round up the herd and bring them all in for dosing once a month. It needed to suit the NZ conditions and complement farm practices and lifestyles.”

Stu Moore, manager of Gem Lake Station where tests were done last year, says he will switch to Alpheus Anti-Parasitic capsules.

Sixty cattle on the Otago property were part of the testing last year; 30 were given Alpheus capsules, 15 were drenched and 15 were injected. All the cattle

were weighed and FEC tested every two weeks.

“The cattle with the capsules in them gained more weight,” Moore says. “I wasn’t surprised at the results; we’ve seen similar benefits treating sheep in this way. It’s good that we now have something for cattle.”

He says while some farmers may struggle with the cost, you’ve got to look at the advantages of not having to bring the cattle in every few weeks.

“Once the capsule is in, it’s in. You don’t have to re-drench or re-inject,” Moore explains. “With the labour cost savings and lower stress it puts on the cattle, it’s well worth it.

“It is more expensive than other parasite treatments,” Nicholson concedes, “but this is more than made up for in the time saved from not having to treat stock every 28 days.”

Alpheus anti-parasitic capsule and primer are designed to be used over the autumn when the larval flush on pasture is at its highest and the parasite challenge is at a maximum level.

“We believe gut damage at this time

leads to more permanent effects which in turn leads to reduced production,” she adds.

“Our testing, so far, has supported our aim that cattle treated with Alpheus antiparasitic capsules will gain weight, which in turn can lead to increased milk production and higher conception rates. This all equals increased profits.”

The capsule is being sold as a vet only treatment, Nicholson says.

“We have had a great response from vets so far. They not only see the benefits of the capsules, but also how they can use the applicator to simultaneously treat with other controlled-release products – such as zinc for FE and trace elements.”

She says the company’s philosophy is to try to make life easier for farmers and reduce stress on the animals

“As well, the Captec technology prevents regurgitation. We’ve had 100% retention in all trials to date. And the flat head design of applicator makes it easy and safer to administer,” Nicholson says.

New capsule makes treating cattle for parasites easier

The new anti-parasitic slow release capsules provide coverage for 125 days.

On high performance sheep farms, stock become more vulnerable to clostridial disease, especially sudden death syndrome. If you’re seeing unexplained deaths, especially in young stock or sending replacements away to achieve high growth rates, then it’s time to upgrade to the advanced clostridial protection of Covexin®10.

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42 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Engineered from the ground up

NOT LONG ago the humble quad was the main means of getting around the farm.

However side-by-side vehicles have become increasingly popular, safely seating two or three people and carrying generous payloads.

Canadian manufacturer BRP has sold its Can-Am quads and side-by-sides in the New Zealand market for some years, becoming best known for its high performance vehicles.

That’s about to change with the introduction of its new Can-Am Defender.

Designed and engineered from the ground up and noting feedback from existing users, the Defender range will add another weapon to the Can-Am armoury in the utility sector of note to farmers, hunters and councils.

The power plant is a Rotax V-Twin -- the 799cc HD8 and 976cc HD 10 producing 50hp and 72hp respectively and offering 20% more torque than their current competitors. Engine power is channelled through the

Pro-Torque transmission, which offers a work specific low gear for optimum torque delivery and a host of features such as larger CVT ratios, electronic protection for increased durability and engine braking taking care of deceleration.

The 4-mode traction system offers the option of 2x4 or 4x4 and the choice of locked or unlocked rear diff, which works with the front Visco-Lok system to put power to the ground.

Model-specific wheel equipment includes wheels up to 14 inch diameter and meaty 27 inch Maxxis tyres. These and 10 inches of front and rear suspension travel and up to 11 inches of ground clearance gives these machines serious off-road capability.

Also outstanding is a towing capacity rated at 2000lbs, a cargo box handling 1000lbs and total payload capacity of 1500lbs; the machine can easily handle a fully loaded cargo box and three adults.

The cabin area’s raked forward front cage section allows easier access and departure and there is plenty of storage for the odds and ends needed onfarm. Some models have dynamic

power steering.Essentially the range is four models,

but the Defender can be customised to individual taste using Can-Am’s big accessory range -- cabins, windscreens

and various equipment stowage options.

Topping the package is ‘maintenance-free’ service -- one year, 3000km or 200 ‘running’ hours; an

industry leading three-year factory warranty applies.

A full review of the model range and our experience of driving them will appear in our next issue.

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

Can Am’s new Defender series is essentially four models, but these can be customised to individual taste using the manufacturers’ big accessory range.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 43

WITH TRACTORS of 250-300hp favoured by many cropping farm-ers and contractors it’s no surprise to see Case IH launch the Optum series. With 270 or 310hp on tap, the series is designed to be versatile and able to do heavy draft work, yet be equally at home with PTO and transport duties and sit between the high-powered Puma or lower powered models from the Magnum range.

Christian Huber, Case IH vice-pres-ident of tractor product development, envisages that users of the larger Pumas

and smaller Magnums will migrate to the Optum. He sees development of the range being dictated by customer demand in respect of more models.

The 6.7L FPT engine used in the Puma is installed in the new series, though it uses a heavy duty load bearing sump that negates the need for any chassis or side rails and so improves turning radius. The design still allows a maximum gross vehicle operating weight of 16 tonnes. Interestingly, the engines do not offer ‘boost’ features for output, but rely on a setup that delivers rated power at all times, so what you see on the hood is what you get.

This is supplemented by a rethink on emission controls with the new Hi-eSCR after-treatment that relies solely on Ad-Blue and removes the normally standard exhaust gas recirculation system.The company says this results in the ability to tune the engine for best power and torque characteristics, and certainly the resultant torque figures of around 1300Nm between 1200 and 1800 ERPM look healthy.

Also of interest is a new ‘exhaust flap’ system that helps to control engine tem-peratures, but can also double as an exhaust brake which confirms the trac-tor’s aspirations to perform transport duties. When the brake pedal is applied it works in conjunction with the variable geometry turbo which reverts to maximum volume and increases back-pressure in the engine. These and the variable cooling fan that serves to sap engine power combine to increase braking power by up to 40%.

For those envisaging a high percentage of transport duties this feature should help to save fuel and reduce wear and tear in the brake and drive line components.

The engine is coupled to the well sorted Case IH constantly variable transmission

and, like its higher horsepower LWB Puma cousins, uses a four range gearbox. The box is beefed up for the Optum to handle the extra power and torque and can be speci-fied in 40 or 50km/h variants.

The final drive system of the units uses double reduction hubs to allow rpm’s to be kept up while keeping stress down, but importantly delivering high torque to the wheels. A choice of flange or bar axles is available, though the latter is likely to be the preferred choice in NZ; 2.15m diame-ter tyres or 900-85R42 size can be fitted to the rear.

Although much of the tractor is Puma derived, the front end is taken directly

from the robust Magnum series. It uses the same saddle frame design mounted directly to the sump which saves parts as well as wear and tear. A suspension system is incorporated that offers 110mm of travel and uses an adaptive dampening system dependant on vertical loads.

At the business end of the tractor, a choice of 4- or 2-speed PTO systems are available with the added benefit that a PTO brake function can be incorporated into the headland management sequence to prevent ‘wind down’ of driven implements on headland turns. The Cat 3 rear linkage has a lift capacity of around 11 tonnes at the ball ends and couples with a front system that will lift 5.8 tonnes.

The hydraulic system can be optioned at either 165 or 220L/min using a vari-able displacement load sensing format and though shared with the transmission this sees greater takeout capacity than the Puma, by means of an additional reservoir mounted under the central housing. This improves capacity without raising the oil level in the transmission, that tends to cause parasitic power loss if gears become submerged in oil, which is the norm in overfill situations.

Up on top of the tractor, it’s a case of status quo with the cabin using the same frame as the Puma and the Maxxum ranges, as well as the same layout and oper-ating logic. Updates include the latest gen-eration headland management control and a host of machine options, which include the like of AccuGuide auto steering, seat options and numerous lighting packages.

With a new aggressive design that will eventually become the new Case family look these tractors are going to capture some of this important market sector, but Kiwis are going to have to wait until the start of 2016 before they can touch one.

Case launches versatile drafthorse

The Case IH says the Optum series is designed to be versatile – able to do heavy draft work as well as PTO and transport duties.

With a new aggressive design that will eventually become the new Case family look these tractors are going to capture some of this important market sector.

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

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44 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Online access to genuine parts

THERE’S A saying in the farm machinery trade that a $5 part can stop a $100,000 machine and that’s probably correct with the complexity of modern machinery.

So it’s important to be able to access parts for routine preventative maintenance, and more importantly those unplanned events when a machine breaks down unexpectedly.

The first port of call is normally the dealer, or

maybe a ‘will-fit’ supplier if the parts are fairly common and there is a generic alternative, but the ‘will-fit’ man will be no help if the part is machine specific and expensive, as he is only interested in the fast buck from fast moving spares.

The local dealer will have the fast moving

spares and direct access to the supplying importer/distributor who will have

a much broader parts offering and a supply agreement with the

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

manufacturer.Power Farming

Wholesale is the largest privately owned importer of farm machinery in Australasia and has a large retail presence NZ wide.

It represents tractor brands such as Deutz Fahr, Kioti and Versatile, and a wide range of implement manufacturers like McHale, Vicon, Maschio and Trima to name a few. With distribution hubs in Morrinsville, Christchurch, Melbourne and Brisbane, it can access 250,000 parts lines from stock with a cumulative value of $50 million.

Power Farming’s new

online parts ordering and delivery system -- Parts Direct (website address below) – enables existing and new customers to search for parts 24/7, check availability, paying by credit card and take delivery within 24 hours.

Access will be via any internet enabled device, and once you’re on the site an intuitive parts search function guides you to the required part either by description, original part number if known or by displaying suggested items to fill the bill, all with an accompanying picture.

“The introduction of Parts Direct is in

response to the market’s demands for easy and convenient access to our extensive parts stocks on a 24/7 basis,” says David Pritchard, national parts manager, NZ and Australia. “We appreciate that during the busy harvest periods there isn’t always time during the working day to go to the local dealer to pick up parts, so we’re going to make it easier by offering this convenient on-line service.”

Pritchard says they will also sell a generic product range which will expand to meet customer requirements.www.partsdirect.farm

Power Farming’s national parts manager David Pritchard.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 45

Harvesting by app

FleetView app from harvest specialist Claas coordinates all grain transport tractor and trailers drivers in a harvesting fleet. The app helps the driver to decide which combine to ‘attend’ next, by displaying an exact position of the machine and the current grain tank level, ensuring the combines keep moving and maximise their output potential.

New brand

Kongskilde has announced a one-brand strategy for all machines made by Kongskilde Industries. Brands such as Howard, Nordsten, Overum, Becker and JF will all carry the parent company’s name and its new red livery. Farmguard, importer of plough brand Overum, notes that products destined for NZ will be painted the traditional blue.

China focus

Agco has opened a US$3 billion manufacturing base in Changzhou, China to supply domestic markets and as a globally important location for export prospects. The aim is to manufacture annually 20,000 tractors, 30,000 engines and 40,000 rear axle assemblies.

Award for JD

John Deere will take away a gold medal from the upcoming Agritechnica in Germany for its JD Pro-Cut system, which monitors blade sharpness and blade-to-shearbar clearance on self-propelled forage harvesters. Ongoing adjustment and monitoring is said to help keep the machines operating at maximum efficiency and save fuel.

Fendt to expand

Tractor manufacturer Fendt has voiced its ambitions to go beyond making tractors and forage harvesters; it is planning a line that will include drum and disc mowers, tedders, rakes and loader wagons made at its Feucht factory near Nuremburg which also builds the MF and Fella branded products.

More China growthGerman cultivation specialist Amazone on August 1 opened a Chinese subsidiary company in Tianjin in the region of Beijing. Initially designed for local sales and service, it also opens the possibility of local manufacturing. Covered area is around 3000 sq m, costing Euro 1 million.

Bits and pieces

Drone rule changes bring opportunity

Big spend upGERMAN ENGINE maker Deutz is to spend Euro 26 million ($NS43m) on a new 13,500m2 production hall at its Cologne-Porz headquarters.

Destined for the production of crankshafts and camshafts, around Euro 15 million will be spent on the building, which will incorporate the latest energy saving technologies.

A further Euro 11 million will go on manufacturing gear.

The existing production site at Cologne-Deutz will be vacated in stages; 130 items of plant will go to the new site during March-December 2016.

RULES GOVERNING the flying of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) changed on August 1 with the introduc-tion of Civil Aviation Authority Rule 102.

Yamaha Motors NZ wasted no time in getting the new certification, clearing the way for the company to fly its R-Max heli-copter UAV. The test flights were done near Auckland.

The R-Max is powered by a 246cc engine

and has a 28kg payload. It was designed in Japan at the request of the country’s Min-istry of Agriculture Forest and Fisheries, which sought an unmanned vehicle for crop spraying. It should suit the widely varying topography of NZ.

“We have developed a robust safety policy for the operation of the R-Max,” says Yamaha NZ general manager Daryl Lovegrove. – Mark Daniel

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Dealer relationship more than just good buysIT’S SPRING, so harvest season will soon be upon us and shrewd opera-tors will have used the long winter nights to ser-vice their tractors and machinery to ensure a trouble-free campaign.

All we need now are

warm sunny days and a light shower of rain every night, then harvest will be easy for everyone -- yeah right!

History tells us that it’s never that simple and invariably the Law of Sod or Murphy will apply: if

things can go wrong they will. When it does go pear-shaped – a mishap or a breakdown – the key consideration is getting going again and ensur-ing machines and more importantly men are not standing idle.

At these times the need for a good rela-tionship with your local dealer will be para-mount.

We all know that since the internet arrived we’ve been able to wile away endless hours

buying online items we didn’t know we needed. If we’re smart; we can even save a dollar or two on the local retailer price – as long as we remem-ber to add in freight costs, import duty if applicable and countless other charges like MAF, fumigation, port charges and local freight if the purchase is a big lump.

We also know of a number of ‘will-fit’ com-panies that offer parts for popular ranges of farm machinery, be they ploughs, harrows or hay equipment. They claim to offer fantastic ser-vice and in reality they may do. They sell parts ‘suitable for’ particular brands on a high volume/low margin basis and are not even vaguely inter-ested in slow moving parts for the same machines.

But back to the ‘suit-able for’ markings – these products are not the same as origi-

nal parts because that would be akin to poking a copyright lawyer in the eye with a stick. Suit-able normally means not quite the same, so make sure you allow extra time to ‘make’ them fit, while you wonder whether their quality will see them lasting as long as originals.

The aftermarket sup-plier will claim these products are the same or better quality, and that they can offer cheaper parts by taking out the middleman. “That’s great news,” you say -- until you realise you might need that middle-man.

Before you buy cheaper blades, give the franchised supply chain a thought; he’ll supply the same original blades for maybe just a few dollars more.

He also backs the product that you will have signed a big cheque for by keeping slow-mov-ing items on the shelf – complex gearboxes, mainframes or even whole mower beds. It’s likely they’ve been there

for years gathering dust, waiting for the day you walk in and say: “I don’t suppose you’ve got one of these have you.”

That same franchised dealer or importer will usually open during night or day to get you out of the poo and probably he’ll do it with good grace, not remarking that he has noticed you no longer buy many consumable items from him.

Neither will he men-tion that he is likely to keep those parts many years after the machines have gone out of pro-duction and that on cold winter days he sends his staff to training events to ensure you will get the best advice and service when you come in.

So by all means try to buy wisely, but remem-ber the old adage, ‘it’s not worth skinning a flea for a penny and breaking a sixpenny knife doing it’.

With that in mind, have a fruitful harvest. I have to go now; the post-man’s been and there are lots of offers to look at.

Before you buy cheaper blades, give the franchised supply chain a thought.

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www.morrifield.com

TunnelhousesBar Tires Grass Mulching Kit

Choose Performance That LastsThe Bush Hog® brand means superior performance now and for years to come. It was born more than 60 years ago with the famous Bush Hog® rotary cutters. From the very beginning, Bush Hog® TOUGH features were built into these machines. Many Bush Hog® mowers built 30 years ago are still on the job.

Canopy (not pictured)Our white canopy mounts directly to the roll bar (ROPS tube) to provide shade, comfort and protection from harmful UV rays.

Grass Mulching Kit Under-deck, bolt-on baffles capture grass clippings so specially designed mulching blades can shred them into a fine, lawn-feeding mulch.Working Lights Halogen headlights are easily angled from the operator’s seat and throw plenty of light for after hours mowing.Trailer Hitch Kit Easily bolts-on to enable you to tow a utility trailer or other tools and attachments.Anti-Scalping Roller Additional anti-scalp protection on discharge side is provided by this easily bolted-on roller. Recommended for use with mulching kit.Bar Tires Specially designed for maximum traction on hilly terrain or red clay and mud. Power Deck Lift (Not pictured) Electronically raises or lowers the mowing deck to your chosen cutting height. (Available on Professional Series only)**Accessories differ by model. See dealer for complete details.

Dealer Info:

SMILE. The grass needs mowing. Again.Our line of Zero Turn Mowers give you plenty to smile about. There’s the renowned durability andreliability that has made BUSH HOG® a legend for over 60 years. They’re perfect for commerciallandscapers and homeowners with large lawns and acreage. They’re built to last and easy tomaintain. They cut beautifully. And they’re a total blast to drive!

www.bushhog.comBush Hog®, Inc. 2501 Griffin Ave., Selma, AL 36703 (334) 874-2700©April 2014 Bush Hog®, Inc.

Available Accessories**

Mulching Blade

Trailer Hitch Kit

Working LightsAnti-Scalping Roller

Professional SeriesThese mowers combine heavy-duty construction and

superior performance features with creature comforts designed to enhance the operator’s mowing experience.

In a lawn professional’s world, this is the bosses’personal machine.

Everything you need for maximum productivity and comfort year after year

Model Engine & Deck

PZ2761KH5 Kohler CV742 Command Pro Engine (Gross 25 HP*)/61-inch, 3-spindle deck



FEATURES

• Infinitely variable speeds from 0 to 14 MPH• 61 and 73-inch cutting widths with 7-gauge welded decks• 12-gallon fuel capacity• Deluxe high-back, vinyl covered full-suspension seat equipped with arm

rests and operator weight adjustment, lumbar adjustment and fore and aft adjustment• Dual Hydro-Gear® ZT5400 hydrostats with large, 9-inch cooling fans

deliver faster ground speed and superior responsiveness • Pivoting front axle to reduce scalping and deck wear• Deck is suspended from front axle to provide better contour following

and immediate response to high spots• 3-year commercial limited warranty. Lifetime limited deck weldment.*

PROFESSIONAL SERIES

*Engine Rated at 3600 RPM Per SAE J1940 Gross

MADE IN

USA

0800 38 44 50

0415

15C1

0927

44”, 52”, 61”, 73” cut

WE DELIVER ON RESULTS NOT PRICE.LIFEGUARDS ARE FITTED FOR ONE REASONYOUR LIFE MIGHT DEPEND ON ITLifeguard is proving it saves lives. It is the only flexible CPD and the safest in the world. You can buy one today for $1,200 +GST

Contact us on 0800 782 3763 [email protected] much is a life worth – it’s a small price to pay

FLEXIBLE CRUSH PROTECTION

DON’T BE TOLD YOU DON’T NEED CRUSH PROTECTION

DOLOMITENZ’s fi nest BioGro certifi ed

Mg fertiliserFor a delivered price call...

0800 436 566

Free Range & Barn EggsSUPPLIERS OF:• Nest boxes - manual or

automated• Feed & Drinking• Plastic egg traysQUALITY PRODUCTS MADE

IN EUROPE OR BY PPP❖ A trusted name in Poultry Industry

for over 50 years ❖

SHEEP JETTER

Over 1000 units soldDeep penetrationTotal body coverage2.5 litres per sheep

NO ONE BEATSOUR PRICE!

Manufactured

in NZ since 1980

* Price includes Davey Pump & Honda Motor* Freight free to nearest main centre

$5112.00 + GST

HIGH COUNTRY 4X4 SAFARIS

All routes provisionalMACKENZIE EXPLORER AND

SOUTHERN RANGES EXPLORER 2016

ALL SAFARIS ARE • SELF DRIVE • PROFESSIONALLY GUIDED WITH RADIO COMMUNICATION TO EACH VEHICLE

• QUALITY ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS INCLUDED • ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE OFF ROAD TRAVEL

See our web site; www.nzadventures.co.nzor email; [email protected] the coupon or Phone: 03 218 8569 Fax: 03 218 9049or 027 550 6727✂

Please send me more information.

Post to NZ Adventures, 114 Millwood Glen, RD1 Invercargill 9871

Name: ...................................................................................................Address:..............................................................................................Ph: ...............................Email: ............................................................Vehicle Type: .................................................................................

SOUTHERN RANGES EXPLORER5 Days of more challenging off road terrain. This trip takes in the Lindis Pass and Dunstan Range. Old Man Range and Bullock Range of Central Otago before venturing into Northern Southland and follows the Mataura River Valley back towards Lake Wakatipu. A great trip of contrasting scenery.

MACKENZIE EXPLORER5 days of the most challenging, stunning high country scenery and off road driving in the historic Mackenzie Basin. Explore new terrain in the Hunter Hills , Lindis Pass, Dalgety, Hawkdun, Rollesby and Ewe Ranges.

Minimal SweatingPOLY SILOS

No RustLonger Lasting

Fast Easy AssemblyNo BlockagesPolyethylene

Call: 0800 668 534 Rangiorawww.advantageplastics.co.nz

Full Range of Sizes:

From 1,600 L (1 tonne)to

40,000 L (30 tonne)

www.clicdualwheels.co.nz

Clic Wheel Systems Ltd, ROTORUA

Ph/Fax 07 347 2292

on Duals for more traction, stability, flotation, towing power, versatility.

GET MORE GRIP & TRACTION

FLY OR LICE PROBLEMS?The magic eye sheepjetter since 1989

Quality construction and options • Get the contractors choice

07 573 8512 | [email protected] – www.electrodip.com

Featuring...• Incredible chemical economy• Amazing ease 1500+ per hour• Unique self adjusting sides• Environmentally and user friendly• Automatically activated• Proven effective on lice as well as fly• Compatible with all dip chemicals• Accurate, effective application

• ATV Carrier Mats • Exit/Entry Areas• Calf Trailers • Horse Floats & Trucks

• Weigh Platforms • Bale Mats • Comfort Mats for Wet & Dry Areas

• Utility Deck Matting

Phone: 0800 80 8570www.burgessmatting.co.nz

Rubber Safety Matting

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