rural news 21 april 2015

APRIL 21, 2015: ISSUE 582 www.ruralnews.co.nz

RURALNEWS

NEWSNew councillor helps bond the rift between farmers and HRC. PAGE 14-15

MACHINERYHuge tractor on track to work well. PAGE 49 MANAGEMENT

Wakanui wheat still tops but a couple of

newer cultivars are nipping at

its heels.PAGE 36

TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

SIZE DOES MATTEROhakune Brussel sprout grower Bruce Rollison sizes up some of his extensive crop and prepares to send it to supermarkets throughout the North Island. The different sizes of sprouts go to different niche markets and it’s how they look that attracts consumers. Rollison, new as a councillor at Horizons Regional Council, is among those helping to develop positive relations between farmers and the council. More details on pp14-15 TO PAGE 4

No more field days? IT WILL IMPROVE!

BEEF + LAMB NZ and WorkSafe NZ are at odds over some aspects of quad safety.

BLNZ chairman James Parsons says he’s continually fielding calls from farmers who are fearful, confused and even angry at WorkSafe’s approach to the issue.

Last week, quad safety was on the agenda at the BLNZ board meeting in Wellington. Parsons told Rural News all its field days are now under threat because of WorkSafe’s approach.

“I can’t put my hand on heart and say that adopting the measures proposed for quad use will make farms safer. Is it right to embrace blanket bans that make farms less safe?

“Farms are not just places of work; they are homes. Is confining children, bank managers, vets and visitors to the farmhouse sensible when quads on hill

country are the only practical mode of transport? Despite having a good safety record many of our BLNZ hill country field days are now under threat.”

Parsons believes the way to improve safety on farms is via a safety culture and a common sense farm code of prac-tice devised by farmers for farmers.

“We are absolutely supportive of farmer safety and spend a lot of time at field days promoting safe farming envi-ronments. The aspirations of WorkSafe to improve the safety record on farms is positive and we have engaged con-structively with them on multiple occa-sions,” he adds.

The controversy has arisen again partly because WorkSafe says it will apply strict rules to the field days to be held soon on the farms of the three finalists in the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition. Attendees have heard that no passengers may be carried on quads and that riders must wear helmets.

PETER BURKE

[email protected] PAYOUT will improve next season, but cashflow will remain tight on farms, say market analysts.

Long-dated contracts on whole milk powder and skim milk powder prices are showing signs of improve-ment; BNZ is sticking to its forecast of $6/kgMS for the 2015-16 season; ANZ is predicting a milk price of $5.50-$5.75/kgMS.

Last week, the Global Dairy Trade price index dived 3.6%, its third con-secutive drop. WMP prices are down 4.3%, compared to the previous auc-tion, SMP prices down 7.8%.

Fonterra will announce its open-ing forecast for the new season late next month.

BNZ economist Doug Steel says it’s hard to predict what Fonterra will forecast. “Forecasting inter-national dairy prices in the current market is tough; forecasting what Fonterra’s forecast will be is even tougher,” he told Rural News.

Steel expects Fonterra to base its forecasting payout on forward contracts. He points out that in last week’s auction late dated contracts pricing was encouraging.

For WMP sold in June, Fonterra got $2415/t; however for Septem-ber 15 contract it got $2478/t and for October 15, $2538/t.

For SMP, Fonterra got about 6% more for contracts sold in

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RURAL NEWS // APRIL 21, 2015

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AN ADVERTISING campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has farmers and sheep shearers up in arms in Australia.

Jona Weinhofen, a member of the band I Killed the Prom Queen – is pic-tured with a fake maimed lamb bear-ing the slogan, ‘Here’s the rest of your wool coat’. The advertisement was part of an undercover video series the animal rights organisation shot at 19 shearing sheds in three different Australian states.

When the image of Weinhofen began to hit social media, it caused a lot of consternation – with even PETA supporters calling out the organisa-tion for is false depiction of shearing. Australia’s Agriculture Minister Barn-aby Joyce called the attack on the wool industry “rubbish” and “a pack of lies”.

“I was talking to shearers yesterday, shearers who feel completely insulted by what is being alleged,” Joyce said. “Mr Weinhofen has turned up with a prop and said it was a sheep and completely disparaged the whole shearing indus-try, an industry which is our third-larg-est rural export, worth about $2.8 billion a year.”

PETA representative Claire Fryer defended the campaign saying “systemic abuse” is common in shearing sheds. However, her claims were not substan-tiated.

“The latest PETA campaign, fea-turing a fake sheep and Holly-wood-style injuries, is completely misleading and a desperate, self-serv-ing publicity stunt,” the Shearing Con-tractors’ Association of Australia said. Meanwhile, it seems PETA’s publicity stunt may have backfired and has already had a Facebook meme created that has nearly three times as many shares as the original image. It shows PETA’s fake ‘shorn’ lamb beside a lamb that has actu-ally been shorn and says: “Let’s make THIS go viral! THIS is the truth!”

SHEAR LIES

SFF quiet on cost critiqueSILVER FERN Farms isn’t responding to analysis which suggests its sheep-meat processing costs are the highest by some distance and that it is “one of the laggards” in beef too.

Dissecting the detail in the Meat Industry Excellence-commissioned report, Professor Keith Woodford says figures provided by report authors GHD indicate SFF’s sheep processing costs it $38.26/head – $6.17 more than Alliance and $10.01 over “industry cost leader” Ovation.

“No company can be competitive if it is at a $6 per head disadvantage,” writes Woodford in his blog (http://keithwood-ford.wordpress.com).

While he says it has to be asked whether the costs are accurate, he also reasons that if the figures are not accu-rate, why would GHD risk its reputation by presenting them?

“Given that Silver Fern Farms pro-

cesses over five million sheep per annum, it apparently puts them at a disadvantage of more than $30 million on their processing operations. That is a lot to make up through superior mar-keting,” says Woodford.

Nor does the problem appear to be one of throughput: looking at the three main sheep processors (combined market share 67% in 2013-14), SFF’s capacity utilisation was 49%, Alliance’s 46% and Affco’s 37%.

ANZCO and Ovation, with a com-bined market share of 17%, are at 51% and 53% utilisation, respectively, while the seven single-chain operators, with a combined market share of 16%, aver-age 63%.

“So in terms of plant utilisation, small is indeed beautiful,” concludes Woodford.

In a follow-up blog on beef, Wood-ford finds “once again, Silver Fern Farms appears to be one of the laggards, but it is not there by itself....

“Instead, there is evidence that most of the companies have a mix of high cost and lower cost plants, with the best quartile of facilities having labour costs about 25% lower than the rest.”

Despite that and evidence SFF’s beef operating costs are similar to many other companies’, it is inevitable much of the focus will be on SFF, says Wood-ford. “This is the company that has been struggling the most, in part because of its sheep operations. It is also the com-pany that is currently seeking $100 mil-lion new capital.”

SFF told Rural News it would not comment because of that ongoing and confidential capital raising process.

Woodford also recognised the sensi-tive timing of his commentary.

“If Silver Fern Farms cannot coun-ter with data to show that GHD has got the numbers wrong, or that GHD is not comparing like to like, then the challenge to get investors has just increased.”

ANDREW SWALLOW

Keith Woodford


4 NEWS

Beef booms, lamb languishesAMERICANS’ LOVE affair with hamburgers has resulted in a bumper year for New Zealand beef farmers, says Beef + Lamb NZ (BLNZ).

Strong demand in the US and NZ dollar weak-

ness against the US green-back has pushed the average per tonne value of beef and veal exports up by 28% to $7540 versus $5890 in the same period last season.

BLNZ reports that for the first six months of the 2014-15 meat export season, 212,000

tonnes of beef and veal were exported – up 12% or 22,600 tonnes on the same period last season.

Chief economist Andrew Burtt says this reflects a high, and early, cattle processing season – particularly in relation to cull cows – and strong global demand for beef.

The increase in shipments was mainly due to consist-ent high monthly volumes exported to the two main markets for New Zea-land beef – US and China – while volumes to other main markets decreased.

Beef exports to the US increased by 33% to 122,200 tonnes,

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

while exports to China increased by 21% to 21,000 tonnes in the first half of 2014-15.

“The increase in ship-ments came mostly from a 23% increase in processing beef, used primarily as an ingredient in ground beef products such as ham-burgers. However exports of boneless cuts decreased slightly,” Burtt told Rural News.

Processing beef and boneless cuts accounted for 54% and 34%, respec-tively, of total beef and veal export volumes in the first six months of the 2014-15 season.

However, while beef exports boom, lamb exports languish and in fact they decreased 2.9% in the first six months of the 2014-15 season, com-pared with the same period last season.

Burtt says lamb exports to the European Union, the largest market region

for New Zealand lamb, were up 3.9%, to 68,700 tonnes on the same period last season. But he adds that exports to North Asia were down 8.5%, to 47,500 tonnes, driven mainly by lower exports of carcases to China. Shipments to North America and the Middle East were up 2% and 0.9%, respectively.

Also taking a tumble was mutton exports, down by 18% to 51,000, reflect-ing lower production in 2014-15. This contrasts with the previous season when dry conditions and dairy expansion saw more ewes processed.

BLNZ says exports to China, the largest export market for mutton in North Asia, fell 30% to 31,600 tonnes, but exports to the European Union, South Asia and North America increased in the first six months of 2014-15.

News on the export front comes amid specula-

tion on what may happen next season. Burtt says a lot will depend on what effect the recent rain has on pasture growth and how farmers in the South Island have been able to manage their way through the drought.

Overall, he says, con-ditions have been better in most parts of the North Island and that may lead to some hogget mating. There is anecdotal evi-dence that North Island farmers have planted herb species, such as chicory and lucerne, helping them get better growth rates in their lambs and hoggets.

He says there is some suggestion farmers in many regions will think twice about dairy grazing and will instead use feed to better maintain capi-tal stock. But the answer is still some months away; the first real indication will come after scanning results.

PAYOUT WILL IMPROVEFROM PAGE 1

September and October.ANZ economist Con Williams believes

SMP and WMP prices will improve in the coming months. Uncertainty over milk production in Europe, where quota restric-tions expired on April 1, looms large, he says.

“Right now the world is well stocked with milk and there are questions around supply out of the EU. Buyers are thinking there will be more supply and those who have enough products are adopting a wait and see attitude.”

Williams says increased SMP and butter out of Europe are pushing prices down for those two products. Butter prices dropped 6.6% in last week’s auction.

Williams says the recent dives in dairy prices are not surprising. He predicts 2015-16 will be tougher than this season. “Farm-

ers will be mindful of spending; they will cut back on discretionary and non-compli-ance spending,” he told Rural News.

Several factors are behind the spate of drops in global dairy prices.

The jury is still out on whether Euro-pean farmers will produce more milk now that milk quotas have gone.

BNZ economist Doug Steel says the weak Euro is also impacting prices. Six months ago, the Euro was trading at US$1.30; it’s now down to $US1.07, making EU products more competitive on the world market.

China’s economic growth is also slow-ing and affecting demand for dairy prod-ucts there. And international grain prices remain low. Steel says this means low input costs for farmers in the northern hemi-sphere, so “the economics of making milk is cheaper for these farmers”.

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NEWS 5

Govt heeds lessons from Northland

TO HEED the lessons of the Northland by-election the Government needs to stay connected with New Zealand’s rural and remote communities, says Environment Minister Nick Smith.

But there is an opportunity to go after the Greens ‘soft vote’, he told the Blue Green conference on Great Barrier Island this month.

“By our principles of marrying good economic and environmental policies, of underpinning our policies with

good science, and of moving from a polarised conversation on environmental issues to a more collaborative approach we can appeal to New Zealand’s practical, down to earth brand of environmentalism.”

He is confident the government can pull together enough support to still “progress substantive change” in the Resource Management Act, he said.

Since the Northland by-election, securing a majority in Parliament for reform has become even more challenging, but discussions are

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

THE NEW Environmental Reporting Act – with proposed six-monthly reports – is the environmental equivalent of Ruth Richardson’s Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1993, Environment Minister Nick Smith said.

Before these financial reporting requirements, New Zealand had one of the worst records of public finance management, but in the 20 year since it had moved to one of the best.

Submissions closed on the bill last Friday (April 17). The first report, Environment Aotearoa, is due to be published in July.

“The environmental information is to be framed in five six-monthly reports covering air, atmosphere and climate, freshwater, land and marine domains and a comprehensive state of the environment report summarising all five domains, produced at three-yearly intervals,” he said.

The reports are to be produced jointly by Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry for the Environment; the three-yearly report will be audited by the Parlia-mentary Commissioner for the Environment.

EPA COMPARED TO RUTH RICHARDSON’S FISCAL ACT

continuing with confidence and supply partners, Smith says. He is confident of getting the support to make change.

Even before the by-election it has always been a challenge to secure a majority in Parliament to support a bill which would make changes over “difficult issues”. Those issues include sections 6 and 7 relating to protection of natural features. Changes to those sections are opposed by a number of environmental organisations.

“The first, key change is improving the plan making process. The current schedule 1 process is cumbersome, costly and is not serving New Zealand’s environment or economy well,” Smith said.

He is a strong enthusiast for the collaborative process used by the Land and Water Forum for water plans and is keen to see this approach for a wider range of resource management issues.

On that issue he said the Land and Water Forum had just

been reinvigorated to go to the next stage and its chief goal will be implementing the national policy statement at regional and catchment level.

Two further commitments on freshwater will be delivered this term. The first is developing a $100 million fund to support the retirement of buffer zones around sensitive lakes and rivers. The second is meeting a requirement for all dairy cattle be to excluded from waterways from July 1, 2017.

Nick Smith says the Government needs to stay connected to rural communities.

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FARMERS AND farming organisa-tions had better focus their energy on keeping safe on their farms, rather than getting into debates on whether children should be banned from riding as passengers on quads.

So says WorkSafe NZ’s Fran-çois Barton, following two recent deaths on farm quads and sug-gestions that farmers are getting mixed messages about quad safety.

Rural News is aware that some senior Beef + Lamb NZ staff and elected members are at odds about some aspects of WorkSafe’ s approach, believing it fails to understand the practicalities of farming life.

Some people are worried that farm advisors, such as accountants and bank managers, can only get

around a farm by riding pillion on a quad, deemed unsafe by WorkSafe.

Barton concedes there is “con-fusion and anxiety” about the law and what it might mean to farm-ers and their way of life. However, he says some farmers and farmer organisations should understand the critical risks on farm and look at ways of managing these better.

“WorkSafe’s position is that having passengers on a quad that

wasn’t designed to carry passen-gers adds to its instability and increases its chance of rollover,” Barton told Rural News. “Work-Safe does not see carrying passen-gers as a safe practice.

“Talk to any of the four or five families who lost someone in a

quad accident last year about how their life has been truly changed – tragically and forever.

“There is an opportunity and a need for leadership in the agricul-tural sector and WorkSafe is get-ting alongside Federated Farmers, DairyNZ and other organisations, helping them to help the sector.”

Barton says the $40,000 fine imposed on a Marlborough farm-ing couple late last year for not wearing helmets on their quads has had a reaction industry-wide – some of it negative, he admits. But there was a simple way to avoid being fined: comply with repeated requests and orders. “It is not a [big] hill to climb to use these things safely,” he adds.

Barton says the messages on quad safety have gained traction in the media – in particular about wearing helmets. But this reaction


6 NEWS

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UNFAIR, UNJUSTFEDERATED FARMERS Gisborne/Wairoa president Peter Jex-Blake has waded into the debate over quad safety.

He says banning passengers from quads effectively scuttles any onfarm field day. Jex-Blake, a farmer direc-tor of meat company Silver Fern Farms, says most farm-ers now accept the wearing of helmets, but baulk at being forbidden to carry passengers on quads.

“Not being able to carry passengers restricts your whole farming business – let alone field days. We all have people onfarm – be it the bank manager or the fertiliser rep – and the quad is just a mode of transport,” he told Rural News.

“WorkSafe’s answer is ‘use a ute’. Well, you just need a shower of rain on a greasy track and there is no way you can get around hill country on the east coast in a ute. So the safest mode of transport is a quad provided the oper-ator knows what he is doing.”

Jex-Blake says the new rules are taking away the responsibility for safe practice from farmers. Education, not more rules, is the answer.

Like many farmers, Jex-Blake admits he’s rolled a quad, but he wasn’t hurt and learned from the experience.

“The main cause of accidents is careless driving and not paying attention. You are driving along working your dogs, moving your stock and not looking where you are going. It’s easy to hit a depression or drain and suddenly you are over.

“So we need to be more proactive in safe practice such as stopping the bike to do what you have to and then get-ting on the bike and driving off again.” . – Peter Burke

Heat goes on quad bike safety

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

Francois Barton

TO PAGE 12

“WorkSafe’s position is that having passengers on a quad that wasn’t designed to carry passengers adds to its instability and increases its chance of rollover.”


NEWS 7

What does it mean for farming?WORKSAFE NZ’s prosecution of Work and Income New Zealand over last year’s Ashburton shootings holds worrying implications for New Zealand farmers, says the Federated Farmers board member responsible for health and safety, Katie Milne.

WorkSafe NZ in March prosecuted WINZ over the September shootings at the Ashburton Work and Income office, which killed Peggy Turuhira Noble and Susan Leigh Cleveland.

Milne says though she doesn’t know enough of the specifics of the case, it was a concern given WorkSafe’s push for safer practices on farm. “It raises a lot of questions about the level of effort farmers are going to need to be consid-ered compliant.”

In mid 2014 it became known that WorkSafe would take more action over health and safety practices on farms. Forty three extra inspectors were hired to raise a taskforce of 200 by the start of 2015 for a ‘safer farms’ campaign to reduce farm accidents, predicted to be 21,000 this year – 10,000 severe enough to require time off work.

WorkSafe NZ’s agricultural pro-

gramme director Al McCone says farmers must start complying with standards other industries have been reaching for some time. “In reality NZ farmers should already know all this stuff and should have been working to this for the last 10 years at least.”

Inspection teams have been travel-ling to farms across the country since February ensuring farms are operated in a manner that meets the 1992 Health and Safety Act.

“Inspectors are look-ing at whether the farmer understands the risks they, their staff, their families, and other vis-itors to the farm face,” McCone says.

While inspectors might not ask to see a risk mitigation plan, McCone says they will be looking for meeting records, feedback from staff on safety procedures and will informally observe staff at work.

“It is possible that a written warn-ing or an improvement notice could be issued if the inspector believes the farmer needs to make a change or

improvement. If something poses the possibility of immediate harm to any individual, a prohibition notice may be issued.”

While workplace safety is likely to be farmers’ immediate concern, farm-ers are also worried about issues that may arise if visitors are allowed on their properties.

Milne says many farmers were now con-sidering shutting their gates to the public, a shame considering the Walking Access Commission’s work in negotiating a ‘middle ground’ between land owners and the public wanting access to remote regions.

“What are we sup-posed to do when people like duck hunt-

ers and fishers wander onto proper-ties without asking? Farmers are likely to end up locking the gate.”

McCone also points to farmers’ wor-ries about, for example, the need for a meat company to run a school trip to a farm because the farrm owner declined

to assume liability for costs should someone have been injured.

Concern could be for good reason: a WorkSafe Farmsafe pack includes a form for visitors to fill in, asking for insurance details and, from intending hunters, confirmation that they hold a firearms licence.

The form must be signed by the visitor and the farm manager.

McCone says this is a ‘best practice’ solution. He says farmers operating within the confines of the 1992 act should be able to cover themselves adequately by telling would-be visitors about hazards not normally arising in everyday farming.

This can be done verbally, says McCone, and farmers can further cover themselves with farm diary notes about the call and what was discussed.

Duncan Cotterill associate and workplace health and safety special-ist Adam Gallagher says he recalls an incident where the axe head flew off the head of an axe of one of the com-petitors and hit a spectator at a wood chopping competition in 2011. “The

Department of Labour (now Worksafe New Zealand) investigated the incident I understand no prosecution followed.”

Freak accidents can happen. The key question is what reasonably practicable steps should have been taken to pre-

vent harm arising from the hazard.

However, nei-ther signs nor verbal warnings will protect from prosecution if vis-itors are injured by something deemed to be part of an everyday farming operation, adds McCone.

In incidents which result in serious injury or death, or situations where farmers have repeatedly failed to meet inspectors’ requirements, they are liable for fines of up to $500,000 for a company or $250,000 an individual. That figure is expected to increase to $600,000 for individuals and up to $3 million for body corporates in a new act likely to be tabled in December this year.

GARETH GILLATT

WorkSafe NZ’s Al McCone.

Fed’s Katie Milne.

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8 NEWS

Hort chief moves on after 30 years

HORTICULTURE NZ’s chief executive Peter Silcock is shifting out of the pri-mary sector after 30 years.

But he remains connected to the soil. He heads to Civil Contractors New Zealand as its chief executive from July 1 – a new industry for him.

With three decades mainly at the

helm of grower organisations, Silcock played a key role in the 2006 establish-ment of Horticulture NZ and develop-ing the industry’s strategy. He will again manage consolidation: Contractors NZ and Roading NZ voted last September to amalgamate.

“It’s a completely different indus-try, but there are similarities,” Silcock explains to Rural News. “They are pretty down-to-earth people and that’s what I

have always liked about working for the growers. They like you to talk straight and they talk straight to you.”

Silcock started with NZ Vegetable Growers in 1984 soon after graduating BSc from Victoria University. He was made chief executive in 1991. In 1997 he was also contracted to New Zea-land Fruit Growers Association – so he headed the two organisations. Vegfed, as it was known then, and Fruit Grow-ers came together in 2000. That led to HortNZ’s formation.

HortNZ has 22 affiliated product groups: larger ones like kiwifruit, pip-fruit and potatoes, and Vegetables NZ – small groups like asparagus and feijoas. It deals with the big issues common to the industry such as biosecurity, people development, representation to gov-ernment, resource management and natural resources. Product specific issues are left to the product groups.

In 30 years Silcock has seen hor-ticulture grow from a $500 million industry to $3.5 billion per year. Kiwi-fruit has grown from $200m to more than $1 billion. Vegetables have grown in processed and fresh from $100m to $500m.

But grower numbers have almost

halved – from 10,000 in 1984 to 5500 now.

“There is growth occurring right across the industry. The businesses have changed with vertical integra-tion, and consolidation is still occur-ring,” he says.

“We’ve got fewer growers, but we are growing and exporting more than ever. The positive is the industry has proven it is internationally competitive and we’ve got a strong export base.”

On the downside since 1984, com-

pliance complexity has increased. “The industry recognises some compliance is necessary but it can get carried away. Issues over compliance costs, access to water – that’s become challenging and one factor holding the industry back.”

Markets have changed, with Asia and the Middle East more important.

“Growers have had to become more professional to meet customer demands internationally. But also the NZ Gap and Global Gap (quality assurance programmes) have forced people to become more professional. And people are using systems like inte-grated pest management and inte-grated fruit production. So they are thinking and recording their actions

more.”Consolidation has occurred as

growers have retired or sold up; a nec-essary process to create scale, Silcock says.

“The industry is on the right track. The strategy document that HortNZ and all the industry pulled together back in 2009 is still relevant. We need to focus on meeting our customer requirements, the premium end of the market – the market segment that can give us higher returns.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

CAREER HIGHLIGHTSPETER SILCOCK says HortNZ’s formation was a highlight of his 30 years in the industry.

But other achievements have also given him personal satis-faction, such as starting the RSE scheme Young Grower of the Year and the NZ GAP scheme.

“And the work we are doing on resource management – people appreciate it is difficult and chal-lenging but they also support us in that. I have worked with some wonderful people, both the staff of HortNZ and the organisation that

went before. I have been part the teams that worked together.”

He also appreciates the board members and the chairmen over the years and thanks them for the opportunities they provided him.

Silcock is moving on because he wants a new challenge. “The board of HortNZ and I will part on good terms but it is the right thing for me to do for my future.”

He will always take an interest in HortNZ because “it has been a huge part of my life”. He leaves at the end of June.

HortNZ CE Peter Silcock will leave the organisation in June after 30 years in the primary sector.

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NEWS 9

Farmers no drones on UAV uptakeFARMERS ARE among the fastest business people seeing the advantages of UAV technology, says Warren Eade of GeoSystems NZ. (UAV stands for unmanned aerial vehicle, or ‘drone’).

“Farmers are dealing with large scale areas and traditional methodology such as a 4WD or motorbike searching around a farm takes a lot longer,” he told Rural News. “[Data we can collect] in the space of a one-hour flight could have taken them several weeks to collect manually.”

Eade will be one of several speakers on UAVs at the upcoming MobileTECH conference in Auckland on April 29-30. He will speak about finding the right UAV amid the hundreds of designs and thousands of

applications.Those hundreds

of UAVs fall into two categories: fixed wing or plane type versus multi rotor or helicopter type, he explains.

“Within those categories there are multiple UAVs and there is no such thing as a utopian aircraft, one that does absolutely everything. They have their pluses and minuses in size, weight, ease of flight, civil aviation regulations, payloads, etc. You need to do some homework.”

Some bigger corporate farms may be interested in buying UAVs but most other farmers would use services provided by people in the industry. His address will pitch to farmers and different agencies that have not yet made the plunge into UAV technology and are unsure what they need to consider, whether buying

Fixed wing and multi-rotor UAVs come in hundreds of designs with thousands of applications.

MOBILETECH 2015 is a major technology event focusing on UAVs, robotics and automation for primary industry businesses in Australia and New Zealand.

Presentations will look at the evolution of UAVs and insights into the future of this technology. Leading innovations in aircraft, operating systems and human-machine interfaces will be on display and demon-strated.

There will also be case studies highlighting UAVs now used used in farming, horticulture and forestry. www.mobiletech.events

LEARN MORE

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

or using UAV services.“Size, speed, ease

of launch, portability, software are the sort of factors that come into the decision-making process on which one to buy and which one to use,” he

explains. “Hopefully it will shed some light on the mysteries behind the purchasing decisions.”

UAVs can cost as little as $500, or upwards of $30,000, according to MobileTECH organisers.

EMBRACING THE ANZAC SPIRITFONTERRA TANKERS are sporting the Anzac poppy this month to commemorate the centenary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli.

The red poppies are adorning the cabs of 350 tank-ers and 160 Fonterra Brands New Zealand milk trucks in recognition and support for New Zealanders who have served in war zones.

As part of the campaign, Fonterra Brands is also offer-ing free Anchor milk to all 180 RSAs nationwide.

Fonterra global operations managing director Robert Spurway says Anzac Day is an important time for all New Zealanders, particularly those who have served in our armed forces.

“The concept itself came from two of our tanker operators who have flown in the RNZAF and we’re proud to have been able to help them bring the idea to life. It’s been well received by our teams and by many of our farmers whose families formed the backbone of our agricultural industries after returning from war,” he says.

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10 NEWS

General public pig ignorantTHE PORK industry recognises that little is understood about pig farming in general by many New Zealanders, particularly the requirements of caring for its ani-mals, says its annual report.

It is taking steps to be more transparent and instil confidence in its consumers via its produc-tion systems and standards. Projects underway include edu-cational resources and enhancing

the NZPork website with short films about the industry and its people.

Seventy-five percent of farms had been audited for the Presen-tation Assessment as part of the PigCare Audit Programme by the end of the 2013-14 financial year, says chairman Ian Carter.

Most farms are scoring well and the supply chain is using this information in a proac-

tive manner. This industry-wide independent welfare assurance, plus presentation assessment, is unique in New Zealand’s live-stock industries, Carter says.

“We can wholeheartedly stand behind our commitment to meet-ing high animal welfare stan-dards,” says Carter.

“Sound animal welfare prac-tices are critical for pork produc-ers. It is vital to the industry’s

success that animals are healthy and well cared for. Demonstrat-ing that required standards are being met or exceeded builds confidence in the industry, but is also a challenge.”

Carter says the industry faced criticism in June, but this was balanced by 70 positive stories in various media from February to June.

• Pork NZ annual report p17

High-speed broadband an issue for the Irish also

HIGH SPEED broadband is a core requirement for farm-ers, says Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Alex White.

Visiting New Zealand recently he told Rural News that Irish farmers tell him a complete rollout of high speed broadband to rural areas is the most important task his government faces.

Broadband is as important as – perhaps more impor-tant than – any other structural component of the farm-ing sector because it’s critical for increasing production and productivity.

“Until recently broadband in Ireland has been patchy. It has improved in the past year and even in the past six months and we reckon the private sector is spending [about] 2.5 million euros on broadband provision,” White says. “But this is still not going to be enough because there are parts of rural Ireland where it won’t be commercially viable for the commercial operators to go.”

White says the Irish Government will have to pay for high speed broadband in areas where it’s not commercially viable for the main operators. The commercial operators are installing high speed broadband in the cities and major towns, but [across most] of Ireland the Government is going to ‘have to take charge and put in broadband’.

“The cities and the big towns… are well served but the remote – and even not so remote – areas we will need to serve. Agriculture is one sector that will benefit.

“Also, education, health and tourism – especially agri-tourism – need broadband. We want to make sure people who come to Ireland have access to broadband, including students and tourists.”

White says Irish farmers want up-to-date information to drive the profitability of their businesses.

“They are happy and willing to use their mobiles or iPads to run the farm, but if the connectivity isn’t there they won’t be able to maximise the benefit of that technol-ogy. You see this issue in all parts of the world and I have been discussing that with people here in New Zealand.”

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

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NEWS 11

Pest paper a good signMANY PESTS in New Zealand continue to be managed with poor understanding of their bionomics and impacts, warns the abstract of a paper published this month in the Journal of the Royal Society.

However, despite that conclusion the paper itself is a positive sign for the unique pest management challenges New Zealand faces, says its lead author, Professor Stephen Goldson.

“It is quite remarkable to have such a diversity of people contribute to a paper on pest management,” he told Rural News, reflecting on the ten authors from nine organisations who penned ‘New Zealand pest management: current and future challenges’.

“I expect it’s the first time so many authors have come together on a New Zealand pest management overview paper like this and it’s probably a good thing.”

Such cross-sector collaboration is the way science, government and industry must work to meet the challenge of controlling pests with fewer chemicals, says Goldson.

The paper highlights how many of our farming and forestry systems are

effectively monocultures of introduced species, making them exceptionally susceptible to severe pest outbreaks, even though the pests may have little economic impact overseas. Even ryegrass and white clover pasture, while technically not a monoculture like most apple, kiwifruit or pine plantations, is very vulnerable.

Goldson says farmers need to be aware of that heightened risk and where possible use more diverse ecosystems.

“But I’m also aware of the economic necessity of making money from farming.”

Heeding guidance to reduce the risk of pests developing resistance to controls, be they chemical or biological, is a must.

“That’s absolutely essential otherwise we will have even fewer tools in our armoury,” he points out.

Goldson says we’re not short of successes in biocontrol, but some, such as the parasitoid wasp that attacks Argentine stem weevil, are showing signs of breaking down.

“We’re seeing a return of the weevil which is extremely concerning…. It’s a common misunderstanding that there’s a galaxy of

these biocontrols out there, but there isn’t. So we need to preserve the capacity of the biocontrols we do have by managing the whole system.”

Goldson adds that for New Zealand farming, often it is the absence of insect, weed or disease problems found elsewhere in the world that is our competitive

advantage. However, when something does get in, it becomes our Achilles’ heel because the farmed ecosystem lacks the diversity that would normally reduce a pest’s impact.

Unsurprisingly, Goldson highlights the importance of border biosecurity, which he believes has improved in recent years

ANDREW SWALLOW

KEY POINTS❱❱ Ecosystem approach needed.

❱❱ Don’t ignore unknown problems.

❱❱ Work to preserve controls – biological or chemical.

❱❱ Recognise NZ’s advantage makes us vulnerable.

through collaboration. Nonetheless, he says there’s still a need to be smarter in pest management and border biosecurity because chemical pesticides are being withdrawn, awareness and opposition to pesticide residues in food is rising, and public acceptance of such controls is falling.

He refuses to be drawn on whether

enough is spent on pest management and/or biosecurity, saying that is a political decision – which farmer representatives may, or may not, wish to lobby on.

What he does say is that funding from levy bodies such as DairyNZ or Beef + Lamb NZ is very important to finance shorter-term pest control research,

often in partnership with Government, as it frees public funds for the longer-term ecosystem work which is so badly needed.

Farmers have a key role to play in being observant and seeking advice on anything that appears unusual. “There are no stupid questions.”

Stephen Goldson

@rural_news

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12 NEWS

Southern milk supply dries up

FONTERRA SAYS milk collection in the South Island in March was 7% below last season.

The co-op collected 60 million kgMS in the South Island; soil mois-ture remains low across most South Island dairy-ing regions.

“Scattered rain in March was not enough to ease the irrigation restric-tions many farmers are still facing and extremely dry conditions continue to affect pasture growth rates,” the co-op says in

its monthly global dairy update.

North Island collec-tion in March reached 80 million kgMS, in line with March last season.

Fonterra says rain in March, consistent with long-term averages, sup-ported for milk volumes. However, dry conditions remain across most dairy-ing regions and follow-up rain is needed to hold milk production in line with last season over the coming months.

In Australia, milk collection for the nine months to March 31 reached 100 million kgMS,

6% higher than the same period last season.

Milk collection in March reached 9mkgMS, 9% ahead of March last season. Most dairying regions, Tasmania in par-ticular, received some rain, favouring pasture growth. Western Victo-ria produced much more than last season and Tas-mania is tracking in line with last season.

Meanwhile milk pro-duction worldwide has been subdued, Fonterra says.

EU production in Jan-uary was in line with the same month last year, the

first month since June 2013 with no growth in milk production. Ireland had the largest decrease, down 14%. Only the UK and Poland grew produc-tion in January.

US production in Janu-ary increased 2% over Jan-uary 2014. This increase was below market expec-tations and affected by reduced production in the

major dairy states Califor-nia, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Argentina and Uru-guay production data for January is not complete. Production in Decem-ber decreased 1% over the same month last year.

Australian production in January increased 1% over January 2014. Pro-duction decreased in Vic-

toria but increased 7% in Tasmania.

Meanwhile, New Zea-land exports in January increased 3% over Janu-ary 2014.

This was driven by SMP and AMF increasing 25% and cheese increasing 21%. But WMP decreased 10% to 137,000 tonnes.

Australian exports in January decreased

3% over January 2014. Increases in most major dairy categories includ-ing SMP, fluid and fresh dairy, cheese and whey powder were offset by a large decrease in WMP, down 62%.

EU exports in Decem-ber increased 8%; US exports in January decreased 22% over Janu-ary 2014.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

Fonterra’s milk collection in the South Island for March was 7% behind the same month in 2014.

HEAT GOES ON QUAD BIKE SAFETYcan be likened to the response to the ban on using cellphones in cars: cellphones are not the only cause of driver distraction and, similarly, head injuries are not the only cause of death in quad crashes.

“The leading cause of quad deaths is being crushed when one rolls on top of a person. Rollover is the leading cause, but head injury is a real, tragic outcome of quad

accidents,” Barton says. “Some people think helmets will solve everything, but they don’t. How-ever, if I was riding a quad I would want to be protecting my head from accident.”

Meanwhile, Barton praises Landcorp’s action on quad use and overall farm safety. He says its decision not to use quads in certain environments is smart and shows its commitment to safety.

“It’s interesting that WorkSafe

didn’t make that decision,” he says. “Landcorp took ownership of the problem: it thought about it, looked at the evidence, the other options and took control of the solution.

“Safety… doesn’t start and finish with following a bunch of rules and regulations. It takes ownership of the things that can kill and injure, and there are lot of options on how you can manage those,” Barton says.

FROM PAGE 6

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14 NEWS

One Plan working outFarmers in the Horizons Regional Council area are now working much more positively and closely with the organisation, says Bruce Rollison, a commercial vegetable grower and Horizons councillor. Peter Burke recently visited Rollison’s property to discuss his dual roles.

FARMERS AND Hori-zons Regional Council were for years at each oth-er’s throats over the infa-mous One Plan and the council’s stance seen by some as anti-farming. But the row has died down as some staff and council-lor changes – plus work by DairyNZ, Horticulture New Zealand and Fed-erated Farmers – have brought the council to its senses to implement One Plan, with all its imperfec-tions, in a practical way.

Helping in that change is Bruce Rollison who with his wife Stephanie grows vegetables near Ohakune in the shadow of Mt Ruapehu. He is also

one of the new people at the table at Horizons Regional Council – a first time councillor represent-ing the Ruapehu Ward.

Rollison says today staff, councillors and farmers work positively to find practical solutions, especially in priority catchments where there is intensive dairying and commercial growing.

“They’re meeting reg-ularly so that the steps Horizons executive and staff are taking have prac-tical understanding of farmers’ needs,” he told Rural News.

“That’s the key point – understanding the prac-ticality of farming and

weighing up whether reg-ulations do or don’t fit in a particular area. The aim is to allow the farmer to maintain and build their business and for Horizons to ensure the regulatory framework of One Plan is adhered to and that the environmental outcomes are positive.”

As a regional council-lor Rollison is required by law to act in the best interests of the region – not just a particular sector. At the same time, he and other councillors bring their own exper-tise to the debate. Rolli-son says, as a grower, he listens carefully to what others have to say and

makes sure that when he speaks he takes the inter-ests of others into consid-eration.

“I am not going to put up a debate that is so left- or right-field that some-one could say, ‘hey Bruce that was a ridiculous statement and you are not taking into account these other issues’. You have to maintain the profession-alism of upholding stan-dards while ensuring that progress can happen.”

Rollison says even before One Plan was unveiled, many farmers were adhering to strict environmental codes and good agricultural prac-tices. He believes this is

why there was a lot of ‘push back’ to One Plan, with farmers questioning the need for more regula-tions. He says the authors of One Plan should have taken more notice of this and their failure to do so helped cause the impasse between the council and farmers.

But Rollison says this is

now history and the focus is on making the plan work and trying to reduce the red tape for farm-ers working positively on environmental issues.

He adds that many councillors think, for example, if a dairy farmer is monitoring the environ-mental plan on his farm, why have three organisa-

tions call to check on him? “So we are moving to a

point where those farmers who are showing a good adherence to One Plan could be doing something of a self-audit. But if there is someone not adher-ing to the rules and there are issues then Horizons will continue to monitor them.”

Bruce Rollison balances life as a grower and HRC councillor.

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NEWS 15Sprouting business is all about good looks

PICK, PACK, PROCESS

CONSUMER PREFERENCES have moved from taste to looks. That’s the view of Ohakune com-mercial vegetable grower Bruce Rollison, growing Brussel sprouts and parsnips for the domestic market.

Rollison and his wife Stepha-nie sell about two-three tonnes of these vegetables every day and he says it’s the appearance that counts.

“It’s a shame because we have shifted from taste to looks. Every-thing has to look good. That’s what the retail market wants,” he told Rural News.

Bruce and Stephanie are grad-uates of Lincoln University: Bruce did an ag commerce degree and Stephanie one in ag science. Ini-tially, Bruce worked in the tour-ism sector and Stephanie as a fertiliser and agronomy rep around Ohakune.

Both come from farms: Bruce off a South Canterbury arable property and Stephanie a Hawkes

Bay sheep and beef farm. Their farming backgrounds drew them back to the land to raise their chil-dren.

Ohakune is well known for growing carrots and potatoes. But now sheep and beef, and even dairying, as well as sprouts and parsnips, are prominent. The decision to buy this particular busi-ness came somewhat out of left field, Bruce says. It was owned by a family who decided it was time to move out of the industry.

“We were looking at purchas-ing a house locally and we went past this place, which Stephanie knew well because of her job. It was let slip that it was for sale and she arrived home that night and said, ‘do we want to grow Brussel sprouts and parsnips?’ I couldn’t believe what had come out of her mouth and that was the last thing I expected. But, to cut long story short, we ended up purchasing the operation from people we knew and they were involved in the first

year of our operation which was great.”

That was 15 years ago and since then they have been planting a bigger area – 40ha each of pars-nips and Brussel sprouts – and sell these to the supermarket chains Progressive Enterprises and Food-stuffs. Unlike some other growers they don’t have contracts, instead taking orders day by day.

“We get phone calls for prod-uct. The supermarkets chains have relationships with our whole-saler, in our case mainly Turners & Growers, and they say ‘we need this many crates of whatever’,” Rollison explains.

“That happens on a daily basis so we are out in the morning pick-ing those vegetables. We still hand pick Brussel sprouts and the pars-nips are machine lifted then hand-picked.”

It’s a five-day-a-week opera-tion, but they also pack on Sundays to get product to the supermarkets on Mondays.

PICKING IS done in the morning and afternoon, with staff in the packhouse grading the product.

The larger sprouts grow at the bottom of the vege-table and small ones near the top; often the top ones are left a few weeks longer to grow bigger.

There are three grades: larger or ‘table size’, medium and very small. The table size sprouts are usually found loose on supermarket shelves. The very small ones go to restaurants. But there is increasing demand for the medium-small sprouts.

“We put these in pre-packed bags and that is becoming an important and larger part of our busi-ness. Five years ago we’d be lucky to sell 5% of our product that way, today it would be 40% of our market,” Rollison explains.

“People just want to pick a bag off the shelf, know it’s fresh and… walk, unless they have time to look and fill up a bag of loose product. This is the same in all product lines – not just ours. People do the same with potatoes, carrots and other vegetables.”

Bruce and Stephanie Rollison.

Picking is done in morning and afternoon.

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16 NEWS

Willingness to change key to success

“THE ONLY reason I’m here is because I failed.”

How often have you

heard a farming event opened with a line like that?

It was Marlborough farmer Doug Avery’s open-ing comment to an audi-

ence of about 100 in Fairlie last month – one of his ongoing Resilient Farmer

tour events.“But out of my hard

time came my greatest

Much of the coverage of Doug Avery’s Resilient Farmer tour has focussed on depression in rural communities but there’s much more to his presentation, as Andrew Swallow found out in Fairlie last month.

opportunity,” he contin-ued, recounting how years of drought drove him to the brink but then changes to his farming system, and return of son Fraser to the farm, revitalised his out-look.

Today, Avery’s lucerne story is legend (Rural News told it in 2008) but his Resilient Farmer tour mes-sage isn’t about lucerne, it’s about willingness to change, and if things aren’t going well, to seek help. “Farming made this coun-try what it is but we seem to have got into a rut.”

Small, incremen-tal changes add up over the years; the important thing is to make a start, he stresses.

For example, switch-ing his land to lucerne has produced $37,500/ha in the past 15 years, while simi-lar neighbouring coun-try in traditional pasture has done only $4200/ha. “There were only a few degrees of separation at the start but further out it becomes a huge differ-ence.”

Now his “hot pastures” return $3000/ha, and he has 450ha of them, while traditional ryegrass “horrid pasture” returns just $280/ha. Turnover has gone from $320,000 in 1998 to $2.2m.

Ewes scanned 203% last year and 93% of lambs went by weaning at 105 days averaging 21kg car-case weight, leaving land free to finish trading stock, or destock and “go to the beach” if drought limits growth.

Without high qual-ity feed, sheep will never demonstrate their genetic potential, he adds, advo-cating a 74% legume, 26% other pasture diet. “When

you achieve that you’ll find the genetic potential of your animals.”

Avery describes life as a series of peaks and valleys. You can’t stay on the peaks forever but as you leave one peak you should have your next peak in sight and use the valley between to your advantage. “To climb new mountains I had to learn a whole load of new stuff.”

Reacting when the crisis or opportunity hits is too late, so talking about lucerne as a solu-tion to drought when the drought’s on is too late. “Do the work to build resil-ience before the events.”

Collecting data and then crunching the numbers to analyse and assess performance, and alternatives, is vital, says Avery, who talks about three types of work on a farm: practical, paying $18-25/hour; tactical, earning $100/hour; and strategic, returning $300 to $1000/hour. It’s too easy to spend all your time on the practical with little or no time on the other two, he says.

“If you don’t do this [tactical and strategic] stuff you don’t know what you’re missing out on and I’d suggest you are exposing yourself to risk.”

Avery says farm man-agement package Farmax “is the most important tool we use”.

Every animal is EID tagged so, for example, when drought hits he knows which are the worst performing 25% to get rid of. “It might mean you only lose 8% production… the current [drought] situation is a great opportunity to get rid of those lowest performers.”

KEY POINTS❱❱ Three pillars: financial; environmental; social.

❱❱ Start change: small steps accumulate.

❱❱ Gather data and use it.

❱❱ Take time for tactical and strategic decisions.

❱❱ Make, use and keep connections.

Doug Avery

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NEWS 17

Pig industry brings home bacon

NZPork chair Ian Carter says those staying in the industry are getting better.

PIG KILL for the last financial year was 12,000 less than budgeted for by NZPork, showing the con-tinuing consolidation in the industry.

However, those staying are getting better production and are more professional in producing pig meat, NZPork chair Ian Carter told Rural News.

The total pig kill in the financial year to September 30, 2014 was 672,108 compared to 681,540 for 2012-2013. But while pig kill is down, pig production has actually increased which shows farms are becoming more productive and pigs are getting bigger. In 2013-2014, 47,646 tonnes were produced compared to 47,201 tonnes the previous year.

Carter says it “isn’t ideal” for an industry to be in a decline but the industry is becoming very specialised. At least 52%

of the product now is imported.

“The rest of the world is feeding more New Zea-landers with pig meat than the New Zealand farmer is. It is not a trend I am overly happy about.”

Producers in New Zea-land now have to have certain scale to be cost effective and meet all the regulations, he says.

“We have fewer producers, but they have also had an increase in the average weight. The cost to produce a larger animal is not significantly greater than a smaller animal,” Carter explains. “All the overheads are in there, you can spread it over greater kilograms of meat from the farm and then there are efficiencies in the system with the handling of a slightly heavier carcase.”

New Zealand still has a very low average car-case compared to the rest of the world. Over-seas the carcase is cut up similar to a cattle beast into more modern cuts

but New Zealand con-sumers still tend towards roasts, chops and bone-in products. That is the consumer preference but attitudes are changing.

“Getting into more modern cuts is certainly the objective of the indus-try,” he says.

While declining num-bers of pig farmers is a worry, Carter says he is more concerned about the producers they lose. “We come under a fair amount of scrutiny. I am a lot more confident because the base that is left is a lot more professional and specialised in producing pig meat for the New Zea-land consumer.”

He says the industry adopts innovative prac-tices and exceeds global standards in most areas. They produce solely for the domestic market and “our neighbour is the con-sumer and the need for our neighbour to have confidence in us is criti-cal to us”.

NZPork is looking at better cuts and consis-

tently improving quality, transparency of the indus-try’s production systems, giving consumers choices and getting consum-ers to have confidence in New Zealand production system.

“We are proud of where we are compared to the imported product but it is just getting that con-sistent messaging across.”

SINCE its long-standing legal action ended last year, NZPork is making better progress on negotiations with MPI over import health standards (IHS), NZPork chairman Ian Carter says.

The court case against MPI by

NZPork over the introduction of new IHS lasted for a few years but ended in 2013 when the industry lost its appeal in the Supreme Court, Carter says in his report.

Getting free of legal entanglement is allowing the industry-good body to work with

MPI on risks presented by the IHS.“Together we are investigating

how to effectively gather information that will help us to understand and manage the risk.” The product entering under the new IHS is being monitored by MPI.

RELATIONS THAW WITH MPI

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

@rural_news


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18 NEWS

Arable farmers show how to grow feedEAT YOUR heart out dairy farmers: even if your pasture is the best in the country it won’t come close to amassing the feed/day a cereal crop can, judging by Foundation of Arable Research (FAR) findings.

From flag leaf through to cheesy-dough grain stage, May-sown plots of wheat, oats, barley and triticale at Lincoln averaged 310kgDM/ha/day growth last spring.

“The triticale was the highest yielding but maybe not the best quality and the wheats were right up there with it,” pointed out FAR researcher Elin Arnaudin during a recent Results Round Up meeting.

Yields across all species were 20-23tDM/

ha at the cheesy dough stage, reached in mid-late December. That compares to just 4-5tDM/ha when taken as greenchop at the flag-leaf to booting stage of the crop in late October

to early November, she pointed out.

With such stellar growth rates, every day in the paddock means a much bigger stack come harvest, but Arnaudin stressed the 30-46% drymatter window for ensiling mustn’t be

missed.Plant growth

regulators reduced yield overall but did increase the percentage grain content of taller wheat cultivars, suggesting a feed quality benefit.

Wholecrop cereal silage taken at the cheesy dough stage is a high carbohydrate, low protein feed suitable for supplementing pasture which would “hopefully” be worth 25c/kgDM, said Arnaudin. Green-chopped crop has a higher protein, lower fibre and starch content.

Taking cereals as wholecrop can reduce growing costs compared to grain and means the paddock is cleared earlier for following crops.• More from FAR’s Results Round Up meetings: p34, 36-37

ANDREW SWALLOW

If your pasture is the best in the country it won’t come close to amassing the feed/day a cereal crop can.

FAR researcher Elin Arnaudin.

@rural_news


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20 NEWS

Shear dedication pays offSHEARING LEFT-HANDED has some special problems.

The torque of the handpiece naturally turns it for the right handed shearer, making it easier to keep the comb on the sheep and avoiding cutting the skin.

The sheep also has to be held the other way and the porthole is in the wrong place after the sheep is shorn.

Also, when shearing in a multi-stand shed, left-handers are always put on the bottom stand.

Shearing Sports New Zealand makes allow-ance for ‘lefties’: stand six at Masterton has the porthole, machine and catching pen able to be realigned.

Colin King (a former MP) was a three-time Golden Shears winner who shore left-handed.

LEFT, RIGHT OUT

FOR COMPETITIVE shearers, winning a class at Golden Shears is a career pinnacle. Peter McCabe, Tauranga, achieved this at the 2015 event when he won the veterans’ class.

“I have been shear-ing for 45 years includ-ing competing in other classes at the open so the winner’s ribbon means much to me,” McCabe told Rural News.

He also judged various classes, but not the veter-ans, at this year’s finals, as the organisers gave him permission to com-pete in that class.

The veterans’ class has a minimum entry age of 65 years. McCabe is 66, and there were 18 com-petitors nationwide.

McCabe’s shear-ing career started on the family 250ha farm

at Hoe-o-Tainui, 20km north of Morrinsville.

“I taught myself to shear at home and did my first hundred, shearing left handed before dad (45) and I (15) attended an Ivan Bowen shearing school in July 1967. Ivan convinced me I would do better shearing right-handed.”

McCabe said while it took him time to get used to it, it definitely was the right thing to do.

He then shore for 10 years with contractor Eddie Corbett, mainly in two-stand sheds working from home in Waikato. He married in 1970 and spent four years more with two other shearers working between Whan-gamata and Morrinsville, until numbers grew to enough work for each in his respective area.

McCabe then worked in Waikato in 2-3 stand

sheds, building a repu-tation for quality work. About then he did his personal best – 408 sheep in eight hours.

He also started shear-ing at shows “where I did well”, competing from Whangarei to Masterton.

There was little shear-ing during the Waikato winters so Mccabe did five years of pre-lamb shearing working out of Milton, Otago. He also worked the off-season in a local garage, becoming a competent mechanic.

“During the heyday of the boom in goats in the mid-1980’s I also had sheds shearing up to 750 Angora x goats and won several shows shearing goats.”

For shearing goats he used a 17 tooth comb and usually a slower cutting machine so the hand-piece would not get so hot. Goat shearing was a class at Golden Shears for two years and he won the event in 1989 and was runner-up in 1990.

McCabe started judg-ing in 1985 and later became judges examiner for Waikato for Shear-ing Sports NZ, formerly the New Zealand Wool Board.

He has judged from Whangarei to Moss-burn and Gore, and was invited to judge at the Golden Shears in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

From 1985-1995 he

worked for the New Zea-land Wool Board as a shearing instructor from Whangarei to Te Kuiti

McCabe first com-peted at Golden Shears in 1970 in the senior class (up to 330 sheep in nine hours), in 1979 competed in his first open class, and in 1980 was 16th qual-ifier. He has competed at Golden Shears for 18 years and gave up full time shearing in 1995.

While working full time as a mechanic, McCabe still judges at many shows and com-petes in veteran shearing contests.

“These are run with time handicaps for age and when shearing five sheep I have to give other competitors up to a minute start.”

Some competitors are as old as 83 – they just love shearing, McCabe says.

TONY HOPKINSON

Shearing veteran Peter McCabe with the winner’s ribbon he won at this year’s Golden Shears.

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22 NEWS

‘Cut the crap’ farmer tells ORCA LAST-MINUTE turn-around decision by the Otago Regional Coun-cil was the last straw for Oamaru dairy farmer Robert Borst.

The decision could put him out of business, he

says. Hence his frustra-tion that boiled over in a dumping of cow manure outside the council’s Dunedin office.

Borst had spent four years and up to $150,000 on consultants and legal advice on negotiations with the council over con-sents after a special sensi-

tive zoning was imposed on his Five Forks farm.

As a goodwill gesture he had already voluntarily reduced stocking rates by 20% and nitrogen leach-ing by up to 25%. He has carried extra interest pay-ments imposed by the bank because his valuation dropped 60% temporar-

ily because of uncertainty over the consents.

He had spent money on consultants, advisers and reports. He was doing his best to put together a comprehensive consent application despite being told at various stages by the council it wasn’t clear what was needed because

they hadn’t considered such as application before.

Borst had endured being told by a council head scientist who came to carry out significant water tests there was not future for dairying on the sensitive land. He felt this was predetermin-ing his consent. He had

Otago farmer Robert Borst has spent $150,000 on consultants and legal advice in his negotiations with Otago Regional Council.

tried to cooperate with ever-changing decisions and criteria for the appli-cation.

But when he finally submitted the con-sent and two weeks later was told the council had changed its mind and that the consent would have to be a notified application, he had had enough.

The Borsts had been told if they could show considerable progress in N leaching, that would justify a non-notified pro-cess. They had done that at considerable cost and effort.

A notified process would cost tens of thou-sands more, take years and possibly put him and his wife Sylvia out of busi-ness as they continued to struggle with doubled interest rates.

That is when Borst dumped a load of manure outside the Otago Regional Council Dunedin offices out of “sheer frus-tration”. “We are at the end of our tether,” Borst toldRural News. “I am not proud of what we did. It wasn’t premeditated; it was just something out of sheer frustration and an accumulation of emo-tions.

“We don’t know where to go. We haven’t got the luxury of going through a notified process. We are under financial pressure because of the high inter-est rates and we’ve got to deal with the drought and the low payout.

“We deal with those things as farmers all the time – but when the whole underlying value of your property is under threat, you can only survive that for so long. And there’s no certainty that the consent would be granted at the end of it.

“It is hard to make management decisions,

not knowing if we are going to be here next year or not.”

Borst says he is a born-and-bred dairy farmer. He worked up to ownership from starting out as a farm worker. His operation (3000 cows on three dairy units) is a family farm with himself and Sylvia as partners.

“We’ve spent some-where between $150,000-$200,000 on consultants, legal advice, etc to date,” he says. “It has been a lonely battle as well because we are basically fighting on our own.”

To do a water study required for the consent will cost at least tens of thousands and take 12-18 months. “Submitting a public submission, hear-ings, professional support – we are probably talking about hundreds of thou-sands and no guarantee we would get a consent at the end of it anyway.

“We already reduced nitrogen leaching as a goodwill gesture at the start of this consultation. We acknowledged we are in a sensitive zone and started to reduce our N footprint.

“But we can’t keep reducing stocking rate and stay economic, so it’s a balancing point. How far do you keep going? Until you have no business?”

He has been commu-nicating with Federated Farmers Otago president Richard Strowger and national president Wil-liam Rolleston throughout the process but has not had any recent feedback.

Since his dumping protest he has had support from the farming community and other businesses. He has had 60-70 text messages from farmers, businesses and strangers around New Zealand.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

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NEWS 23

TEACHING ABOUT agriculture and food should start at school, says Waikato University’s agribusiness head Jacqueline Rowarth.

In New Zealand it should be tied into every subject from economics, to history and geography.

“I am with Julian Cribb (Australian agricultural communicator) who says every subject at school should be taught through a lens of food production,” says Rowarth.

“For instance, economics: what does the country make money from? Or history: why was there an Irish copper on any American corner? Answer, the potato famine. Obviously geography is moving food around.

“Every single subject can be taught through a lens of food and that’s the bit we’ve been missing recently.”

Rowarth says at Waikato University agribusiness is a relatively new subject area. In 2011 there were

no agribusiness students, this year there are 42. For the first time the university also offers the subject as an elective in the first year with a further 55 students.

“Overall we have over 100 enrolments which is still small for New Zealand. But do we think it is indicative of increased interests? Hurray, yes!”

At Waikato students can do a major or a double major in agribusiness or do papers as part of other degrees so the agribusiness students come from all faculties. It is one agricultural programme you don’t have to have done chemistry for previously, Rowarth says. Fewer and fewer students are doing sciences at school so they struggle to get into other agricultural courses. While she thinks it is a pity science is not pushed at schools, at least through agribusiness papers students are getting some agricultural background.

“We now have accountants

and some finance people going out into the workforce with some understanding of agribusiness so if they are going to work for KPMG, that is a good idea.”

She says Fonterra employs about 90 accountants, most of whom would have straight accounting degrees, with no understanding of agriculture. “They can do the agribusiness major here and then they understand both.”

Rowarth says students often no longer base their choice of a tertiary education provider on the degrees they offer. Instead they look at lifestyle issues such as whether it is cheaper to live with their parents, take part-time jobs, or considerations about partners, so they look at what their local institutions have to offer. “So increasingly having some sort of agribusiness at all the institutions would be a good idea.”

She would like to see Auckland University also offer some undergraduate agribusiness papers.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Waikato University Agribusiness professor Jacqueline Rowarth says every subject at school should be taught through the lens of food production.

Schools should teach about food production

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MARKET SNAPSHOT LAMB MARKET TRENDSBEEF MARKET TRENDS

24 MARKETS & TRENDS

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

MeatMeatMeatMeat North IslandNorth IslandNorth IslandNorth Island South IslandSouth IslandSouth IslandSouth Island

c/kgCWTChangeChangeChangeChange

c/kgLast Last Last Last WeekWeekWeekWeek

ChangeChangeChangeChangec/kg

Last Last Last Last WeekWeekWeekWeek

LambLambLambLamb - PM 16.0kg n/c 5.035.035.035.03 n/c 5.065.065.065.06

SteerSteerSteerSteer - P2 300kg +10+10+10+10 5.555.555.555.55 n/c 4.954.954.954.95

BullBullBullBull - M2 300kg +10+10+10+10 5.605.605.605.60 n/c 4.704.704.704.70

VenisonVenisonVenisonVenison - AP 60kg n/c 6.356.356.356.35 n/c 6.236.236.236.23

North Island 16.0kg M Lamb PriceNorth Island 16.0kg M Lamb PriceNorth Island 16.0kg M Lamb PriceNorth Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$4.0

$5.0

$6.0

$7.0

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

South Island 16.0kg M Lamb PriceSouth Island 16.0kg M Lamb PriceSouth Island 16.0kg M Lamb PriceSouth Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5


5yr Ave Last Year This Year

North Island 300kg Bull PriceNorth Island 300kg Bull PriceNorth Island 300kg Bull PriceNorth Island 300kg Bull Price

$3.7

$4.2

$4.7

$5.2

$5.7

$6.2


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

South Island 300kg Steer PriceSouth Island 300kg Steer PriceSouth Island 300kg Steer PriceSouth Island 300kg Steer Price

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0

$5.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

North Island 60kg Stag PriceNorth Island 60kg Stag PriceNorth Island 60kg Stag PriceNorth Island 60kg Stag Price

$6.0

$6.5

$7.0

$7.5

$8.0

$8.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

South Island 60kg Stag PriceSouth Island 60kg Stag PriceSouth Island 60kg Stag PriceSouth Island 60kg Stag Price

$6.0

$6.5

$7.0

$7.5

$8.0

$8.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

BEEF PRICES

c/kgCWT Change Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg +10 5.55 5.45 4.40M2 Bull - 300kg +10 5.60 5.50 4.30P2 Cow - 230kg +10 4.75 4.65 3.50M Cow - 200kg +10 4.55 4.45 3.40

Local Trade - 230kg +10 5.50 5.40 4.40SI P2 Steer - 300kg n/c 4.95 4.95 3.98

M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 4.70 4.70 3.88P2 Cow - 230kg +10 3.70 3.60 2.88M Cow - 200kg +10 3.65 3.55 2.83

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.00 5.00 4.05

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last Week 2 Wks

Ago Last Year 5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb n/c 2.60 2.60 2.20 2.10NZ$/kg -14 7.56 7.70 5.61 5.69

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks Ago 3 Wks


% Returned NI +3% 72.8% 70.1% 76.64% 71.5%% Returned SI +1% 62.2% 61.0% 69.5% 66.1%

Demand Indicator - US 95CL BeefDemand Indicator - US 95CL BeefDemand Indicator - US 95CL BeefDemand Indicator - US 95CL Beef

$1.70

$2.20

$2.70

$3.20


Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - South I.Procurement Indicator - South I.Procurement Indicator - South I.Procurement Indicator - South I.

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%


Last YearThis Year

Procurement Indicator - North I.Procurement Indicator - North I.Procurement Indicator - North I.Procurement Indicator - North I.

60%

70%

80%

90%


Last Year

This Year

South Island Weekly Cattle KillSouth Island Weekly Cattle KillSouth Island Weekly Cattle KillSouth Island Weekly Cattle Kill

k5k

10k15k20k25k30k35k


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

North Island Weekly Cattle KillNorth Island Weekly Cattle KillNorth Island Weekly Cattle KillNorth Island Weekly Cattle Kill

k10k20k30k40k50k60k


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange Last

Week2 Wks

AgoLast Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 5.01 5.01 5.56PM - 16.0kg n/c 5.03 5.03 5.58PX - 19.0kg n/c 5.05 5.05 5.60PH - 22.0kg n/c 5.06 5.06 5.61

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.15 3.15 3.50SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 5.06 5.06 5.36

PM - 16.0kg n/c 5.06 5.06 5.38PX - 19.0kg n/c 5.06 5.06 5.40PH - 22.0kg n/c 5.06 5.06 5.41

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 2.73 2.73 3.15

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last

Week2 Wks


UK Leg £/lb +3 1.80 1.77 2.09 1.92NZ$/kg -10 7.90 8.00 7.72 8.00

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks


% Returned NI +1% 65.2% 64.4% 73.8% 68.6%% Returned SI +1% 64.3% 63.1% 71.2% 65.1%

Venison PricesChange Last

Week2 Wks


NI Stag - 60kg n/c 6.35 6.35 6.15 6.68SI Stag - 60kg n/c 6.23 6.23 6.20 6.90

Demand Indicator - UK Leg PriceDemand Indicator - UK Leg PriceDemand Indicator - UK Leg PriceDemand Indicator - UK Leg Price

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Procurement Indicator - South I.Procurement Indicator - South I.Procurement Indicator - South I.Procurement Indicator - South I.

45%55%

65%75%

85%

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Procurement Indicator - North I.Procurement Indicator - North I.Procurement Indicator - North I.Procurement Indicator - North I.

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North Island Weekly Lamb KillNorth Island Weekly Lamb KillNorth Island Weekly Lamb KillNorth Island Weekly Lamb Kill

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South Island Weekly Lamb KillSouth Island Weekly Lamb KillSouth Island Weekly Lamb KillSouth Island Weekly Lamb Kill

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

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NEWS PRICE WATCH

MARKETS & TRENDS 25

BEEF: Despite the short processing weeks surrounding Easter, operating prices for beef have continued to climb higher. Underpinning the increased prices in the North Island has been firming procurement pressure as slaughter rates continue to seasonally ease. North Island beef prices have been enjoying 10c/kg increases week on week with prices for most classes of cattle sitting well over $1/kg higher than this time last year. It is a similar situation in the South Island with processors looking to fill slaughter space at plants. Procurement pressure is again pushing prices higher. There is strong competition between processors for cows, despite the South Island cow kill remaining well above normal for this time of the year. Cow prices have shown the biggest lifts with prices up by 35c/kg in the last month. Overseas demand for beef remains mixed but the revival in US market prices in the last month has been welcomed. This is expected to continue to support the strong prices being paid at the farm gate for manufacturing beef.

LAMB: Export lamb prices in the North and South Island remain unchanged. Average farm gate prices in the North Island have held at just over $5.00/kg since late February,

whilst South Island prices have lifted marginally in recent weeks, but still remain only just over $5/kg. Export demand for chilled lamb was always going to be tough through March, following the end of the Easter Trade and it clearly showed in export results last month. After performing well through February, New Zealand chilled lamb exports retreated to below 20% of the total March lamb exports, far below historical averages for this time of the year. This significantly reduced Average Export Values and partly explains why farm gate operating prices have remained stubbornly low. A stronger NZD and increased Australian supplies are also weighing heavily on trading conditions. However with lamb slaughter rates forecast to drop through winter, there is every chance prices will start to show some upside as key markets react to the tighter supplies.

DAIRY: Market conditions are being described as “bearish”. Milk production estimates have been revised upwards in both New Zealand and Australia. These additional volumes have negatively impacted dairy product prices. The first GDT event for April clearly showed the markets reaction to the increased supplies with prices plummeting

nearly 11%. This was the biggest fall in over four years. Reports suggest many buyers have already secured their requirements for the second quarter of 2015, which has taken some of the buyer urgency out of the market. Also impacting the market has been the removal of production

quotas in Europe earlier this month. There is plenty of uncertainty around what impact this will have on the supply growth of the market, Buyers first reaction has been one of caution with many staying out of the market until the situation becomes clearer.

WOOL PRICE WATCH Overseas Wool Price Indicators

Indicators in NZ$ Change 09-Apr 01-Apr Last Year Indicators in US$/kg Change 09-Apr 01-Apr Last

YearCoarse Xbred +3 4.93 4.90 4.84 Coarse Xbred +8 3.72 3.65 4.18

Fine Xbred +1 5.63 5.62 5.07 Fine Xbred +7 4.25 4.18 4.38

Lamb n/c 6.43 6.43 4.99 Lamb +7 4.86 4.79 4.31

Mid Micron - - - - Mid Micron - - - -

Wool Indicator TrendsWool Indicator TrendsWool Indicator TrendsWool Indicator Trends

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Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb

CXI FXI LI

Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$

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Coarse Xbred IndicatorCoarse Xbred IndicatorCoarse Xbred IndicatorCoarse Xbred Indicator

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Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb

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26 AGRIBUSINESS

Three keys to success of kiwifruit vote – chairKEYS TO the Kiwifruit Industry Strat-egy Project’s success came down to three things, says its independent chairman, Neil Richardson.

These were consultation, the indus-try designing its own strategy, and industry people believing the working group got it right, he told Rural News.

The KISP project, as it is known, received well over 90% grower sup-port for key proposals. These included retaining the single desk structure for Zespri and a regulatory change ensur-ing ownership was retained by active growers.

Richardson says you can never consult enough. Some people may say the strategy group didn’t consult enough but it had over 650 individual submissions, ran over 100 meetings, had innumerable other meetings with individuals and held three

consultation rounds.“The second thing was this

was about the industry designing its own strategy for the future; it wasn’t someone else doing it for the industry or putting it on the industry.

“The people on the proj-ect were either voted on or appointed by their respective organisations so the representa-tion and the nature of the proj-ect was that of an industry looking to its future rather than having government or any other party do it for it.”

The third key to success was people “genuinely felt that we got it about right,” says Richardson, who led the 18 months consultation before formulat-ing the recommendations for voting. “There were lots of compromises, chal-lenges, difficulties to face as reflected in the voting cap. Throughout the con-sultation process, through the use of good advice and through the quality of

the thinking by the group itself, I think we about got it right.

“Through those three things, the way we ran the process, who was involved and the quality of thinking, decisionmaking and referendum ques-tions, we got the high turnout and that high turnout produced a very good result.”

Richardson believes the voter turn-out has only been exceeded on two occasions. One was the Fonterra set-up phase after a controversial and long

process and secondly when the current kiwifruit industry was established in 1999.

“In terms of voter turnout we have achieved far in excess of anything other than those two situations and the typi-cal turnout (for agricultural referendums) has been about 40% so we are far, far in excess of that.

“The other thing of note is, typically you might get 75-80% support for resolutions; all ours were in the 90s and as high as 97%.”

Richardson is confident of Gov-ernment support for the regulatory changes required.

“The Government has seen a very robust process with a great deal of independence in the decisionmaking,” he says. “These are industry representatives but they went there to represent the industry, not just their own positions, so they left conflicts at

the door. I think the Government saw a very good process; they saw a very clear strong industry turnout and they got a very clear message through the voting.”

Regulatory changes, changes to the Zespri and to New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc constitutions will take 12-18 months.

“I think we’ve established a plat-form. Underpinning all this were the questions of the sovereignty of the industry, making its own decisions on behalf of shareholders, and who owns and who controls the industry.

“There is a very clear view that this is a global business, and it operates in a global market, but it is proudly, unreservedly and unashamedly going to be owned by New Zealand growers.

“That will mean not only the grow-ing aspects, but right through the intel-lectual property all of those things happening offshore the benefits will come back to New Zealand.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Neil Richardson says the KISP project received over 90% grower support for its key proposals.

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AGRIBUSINESS 27

Aussie dairy farmers see red over energy white paper

Noel Campbell chairman Australian Dairy Industry Council.

AUSTRALIAN DAIRY farmers are unhappy with a new energy white paper unveiled this month by the Federal Government.

Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) says the proposal fails to deliver for Australia’s important rural industries and communities.

ADF President Noel Campbell said the white paper provides no direct response to critical issues of reliable and efficient energy supplies in regional areas; instead it will add substantial cost to regional customers in an attempt to charge consumers the actual cost of energy use.

“The priorities suggested by the Government in the white paper disregard the dairy industry’s high power needs for milking equipment, milk storage and cooling, and milk processing procedures,” says Campbell.

“The introduction of cost-reflective tariffs would distinctly disadvantage dairy farmers and manufacturers located in areas where supply costs are higher and they are unable to alter patterns of energy use to take advantage of cheaper tariffs offered at non-peak times of day.”

The ADF points out proposals to increase investment in the energy sector do not include any new solutions to provide regional consumers with the same reliable supply access enjoyed in urban regions.

“The Government needs to carefully consider all initiatives to ensure there is no damage to long-term competitiveness of Australian agricultural commodities including dairy,” says Campbell.

ADF wants a viable incentive scheme for dairy farmers

and manufacturers to increase their use of energy efficient technologies. Dairy has begun using renewable, efficient technologies on farm and in manufacturing, but this is costly and to continue to build the industry’s long-term sustainability Government attention and action is required.

Campbell says to enable the Australian dairy industry to grow, prosper and become more sustainable, the Government must act to encourage downward pressure on electricity prices, increased uptake of energy efficient technologies, and improve the reliability of supply.

Releasing the energy white paper, Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane said the Government was delivering on an election commitment to give industry and consumers certainty in energy policy.

“The measures in the energy white paper will deliver stable energy policy and efficient transparent markets that give consumers information to make choices about their energy use and industry the confidence to invest,” says Macfarlane.

The National Energy Productivity Plan will deliver up to 40% improvement in energy productivity, reducing household and business energy costs, encouraging economic growth, and helping to reduce emissions.

The productivity target will be developed as part of Australia’s post 2020 emissions reduction target, due to be presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change this year.

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28 AGRIBUSINESS

East Coast farmers take up support offersWHILE FARMERS are “traditionally a private and self sufficient breed”

it is important they seek help early when the uncontrollable bites.

That’s the advice of Gisborne farmer David

Scott, the Coast/Gis-borne/Wairoa coordinator for the East Coast Rural Support Trust since 2003.

The trust was the first

SARAH CHARTERIS in New Zealand, set up in 1991, and has four part-time coordinators cov-ering Cape Palliser to East Cape. It is part of a nationwide network that can assist rural individu-als, families and commu-nities who experience an adverse event – climatic, financial or personal – to more effectively meet and overcome these chal-lenges.

Scott says the free, independent and strictly confidential service is well used during a declared adverse event, but has fewer requests during normal ‘peace-time’. He says it is important for farmers to understand how their trust coordi-nator can assist any time they feel circumstances are getting beyond their control.

“Some of the ways the trust works include devel-oping, analysing and cre-ating options and actions for people to take, work-ing with financiers to resolve financial and debt problems including restructuring, negotiat-ing with creditors, animal welfare issues, and liais-ing with and making refer-rals to other professional

advisers and local support groups.

“The trust’s role is that of a facilitator to assist and guide in an impartial, informal and compassion-ate manner,” Scott says.

He stresses the impor-tance of seeking advice early. “The earlier the request for help comes, the better the chance the situation can be salvaged; often during a financial crisis we are called in too late.

“More often than not the request for help comes from the partner who is involved daily in and observing the change of the behaviour of the farmer and the lack of essential income required to keep the business viable. Farmers have tra-ditionally always managed to sort things out them-

selves, however when the non-controllable bites – such as climate, exchange rates, rising cost of goods, market force sale prices – often plans come unstuck big time.”

As the East Coast and Hawke’s Bay regions reflect on another long, dry and hot summer, Scott is pleased to see more farming families being proactive with their planning.

“The big winner for us right now is the huge amount of drought strat-egies taken on board by a lot of our sheep and beef farming families.

“There are many more adverse weather events [like droughts] due to cli-mate change and often a farm and family have barely recovered from one event when the next is

upon them.“We have brochures

[that give advice] and for eight years have preached the key elements at many community wool-shed meetings. Federated Farmers has also been giving out the same mes-sages.”

New technologies that challenge traditional farming methods are another big stress.

“For example, the Farmax programme, based on the amount of dry matter/feed covers versus the carrying capac-ity of a farm.

“Sale of stock and de-stocking are based on the computer result and not so much on the ‘eye and mind’ of the farmer. This technology challenges and threatens the farmers’ years of experience.”

Coast/Gisborne/Waiora co-ordina-tor for the Rural Support Trust, David Scott.

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AGRIBUSINESS 29

NEW ZEALAND is under-performing in branding its food products, says an academic who visited recently.

Dr Damien McLough-lin, a professor of market-ing at University College Dublin, says like many major food producing countries New Zealand is focused on production. But successful brands such as Coca Cola, Apple and Guinness have organ-ised themselves around the consumer.

But he says he is shocked that no single organisation in New Zea-land is responsible for branding food products.

The standout brand is Zespri, he says. Kiwifruit does an extraordinary job of delivering a premium product at a premium price – which is what branding is all about.

“NZ Inc is not doing enough to support its producers to actually reposition New Zealand strengths,” McLoughlin told Rural News.

“When I came on my

first visit here 18 months ago, I noticed all the planes were black – pre-sumably a reference to the All Blacks. When I went through the airport there are all these signs about the Lord of the Rings and I thought it was cut. “But, when I came again, it was still there and I’m asking, ‘is that the only thing this great country has to say about itself ’?”

McLoughlin says New Zealand, like Ireland, is one of few countries where there is no pollu-tion and the water and the air are clean. This propo-sition and image is hugely attractive to world con-sumers and needs to part of our brand proposition.

For a country to have a strong brand it needs an organisation dedicated solely to this, he says. By developing a strong national brand a country moves away from a ‘com-modity culture’ because its brands are driven by consumer insights.

He points to a success-ful initiative in Ireland called ‘Origen Green’, a national branding scheme conceived by the Irish

NZ underperforming in branding – Irish expert

Food Board. The aim is to get farmers, producers and processors to sign up to meeting strict objec-tives which focus on Ire-land’s clean, green image.

“The Irish Food

Board… targets influ-ential people – the big buyers of Irish food prod-ucts and major retail chains and food brands around the world. It has been extremely clever and

hasn’t been hugely expen-sive, but the money has been wisely spent.”

McLoughlin believes New Zealand has the potential to do something similar.

QUARRY QUERIES

Dr Damien McLoughlin

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

RUNNING A quarry safely is explained in a new publi-cation from MinEx, the national Health & Safety Coun-cil for the New Zealand minerals industry.

The handout tells of obligations under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 and the Health and Safety in Employment (Mining Operations and Quar-rying Operations) Regulations 2013.

MinEx says many businesses – some of them farms -- are doing work that can be called ‘quarry operations’ as defined in the December 16, 2013 amendment to the act.

Work covered by these regulations are subject to codes, guidelines and regulations companies must know about and follow.

The industries in question are earthmoving (whether via contractors or a company’s own equip-ment), road construction and farming.

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The person in charge of each quarry site must hold a Certificate of Competency issued by the board of examiners.

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WorkSafe guidelines and approved codes of prac-tice, most importantly the WorkSafe good practice guideline ‘Health and Safety at Surface Mines, Alluvial Mines and Quarries’ expected to be issued in June.www.minex.org.nz

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30 OPINION

EDITORIAL

Glammy whammyTHE HOUND reckons there must be a whole lot of red (which is appropriate) faces at the red meat promotion agency Beef + Lamb NZ after its major SNAFU in this year’s Golden Lamb Awards (The Glammies). The 2015 Glammies competition was recently declared a ‘no-contest’ because of a mistake by the testing facility in analysing the data to ascertain the top 20 finalists. BLNZ says it was made aware of this issue by the testing facility after all the media hoo-ha it had raised about the awards and after doling out the winner medals at this year’s Wanaka Show. Your old mate thinks people should spare a thought for this year’s ‘winner’ Hamish Buchanan who, after holding the title for a week, then had it snatched off him. Not a good look for BLNZ.

Something in the water?YOUR OLD mate wonders if there’s something in the water that’s caused the recent raft of departures – some sudden – of many top executives in the agri sector. Since new year we’ve noted the hurried exit of Brent Isler as chief executive of Farm-lands, Wools of NZ chief execu-tive Ross Townshend exiting stage left, the announcement that Peter Silcock from Hort NZ is leaving the role he has held with the industry good body for the past 10 years, and the strange and weird situa-tion at Fonterra with last month’s sudden resignation of Pascal De Petrini, the managing director of its Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) business unit, and a member of Fonterra’s manage-ment team.

Bad timingYOUR CANINE crusader reckons fertiliser company Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ new chief exec-utive David Wynne may need to improve his timing. Wynne recently told 160 people, at the recent Taranaki Ballance Farm Environment Awards dinner, in New Plymouth, that the entire rural community had a collec-tive responsibility to look after the environment. Unfortu-nately Wynne said this right after his company had been fined $60,000 for a discharge of sulphur dioxide into the air in May last year. The Bay of Plenty Regional Council prosecuted the company for breaching the Resource Management Act. What’s that they say about prac-tising what you preach?

Nice touch!A MATE of yours truly says he has recently noticed how the Fonterra tankers, seen driving up and down the country, are displaying a large ANZAC poppy on their grills. The Hound’s pal reckons this is a nice touch, but suggests the ‘Lest we forget’ lyric, dedicated to the brave young men and women who died fighting for our country, may, for Fonterra suppliers, be equally a reminder of last season’s whopper $8.40 payout vs this year’s paltry $4.70.Lest we forget, indeed!

HARDLY A week goes by without another report of a quad accident on a farm. And those are only the reported ones; never mind those in which the riders escape serious injury and nothing is ever said or done.

WorkSafe New Zealand has been setting standards for onfarm quad use and has run pro-grammes to educate people – especially farmers – on the subject.

However, some of its standards, such as no passengers – especially children – are being openly questioned by farmer organisations, nota-bly Beef + Lamb NZ (BLNZ). It insists WorkSafe doesn’t understand what life is like down on the farm and that quads in the right hands are safe.

There’s the nub of BLNZ’s argument: a quad in the right hands is safe. And maybe that is correct: experience does count, but sometimes it doesn’t.

Taking the bank manager or an investor out on the quad to see the farm is seemingly deemed necessary. Little mention is made about the avail-ability or use of side-by-side farm vehicles.

Many of us on field days have seen quads used for farm tours and have witnessed, first-hand, poor safety practices and unnecessary risks. Good luck, rather than good management, averted accidents on those outings.

The move to outlaw passengers on quads con-jures up visions of the ‘nanny state’ and Welling-ton bureaucrats running the ‘country’, as well as the city. There is little doubt that banning pas-sengers from quads will put an end to BLNZ field days as we know them. So will an end to carrying passengers on the backs of the utes.

Is a way of life about to end, and will the horse also be deemed too dangerous?

On a less-dismal note, take a look over the fence at Landcorp Farming, going hard at safety programme on its farms. Landcorp has set a stan-dard that should become the benchmark for all farms in the country, and its managers and staff are in full support.

OK, it doesn’t have to run field days. But if it’s good enough for Landcorp, why can’t BLNZ follow suit? Or is there a special case here that needs to be addressed?

The quad-undrum

SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND?

post to: Letter to the Editor PO Box 331100 Takapuna , Auckland 0740.

or Email: [email protected]

GOT SOMETHING on your mind about the latest issues affecting our farming industry? Put your pen to paper or your fingers to your keyboard, and let our readers know what you think. Note: Letters may be edited.

Contact us by either post or email. Don’t forget to put your name and address.

HEAD OFFICE POSTAL ADDRESS: PO Box 331100, Takapuna, Auckland 0740

PUBLISHER:Brian Hight .............................................. Ph 09 307 0399

GENERAL MANAGER:Adam Fricker ........................................... Ph 09 913 9632

CONSULTING EDITOR:David Anderson .......................................Ph 09 307 [email protected]

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER:Ted Darley .......... Ph 07 854 6292/021 832 [email protected]

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SOUTH ISLAND SALES REPRESENTATIVE:Kaye Sutherland Ph 03 337 3828/021 221 [email protected]

WEBSITE PRODUCER:Emily Gordon .......................... Ph 09 913 9621

RURALNEWS

ABC audited circulation 81,137 as at 30.09.2014

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

PRODUCTION:Dave Ferguson ........................Ph 09 913 9633Becky Williams ........................Ph 09 913 9634

REPORTERS:Sudesh Kissun ....................... Ph 09 913 9627Pamela Tipa ............................ Ph 09 913 9630Peter Burke .............................Ph 06 362 6319Andrew Swallow ................... Ph 03 688 2080Tony Hopkinson ......................Ph 07 579 1010

MACHINERY EDITOR:Mark Daniel .............................Ph 021-906 723 or 07-824 1190

SUB-EDITOR:Neil Keating ............................Ph 09 913 9628


OPINION 31

NZ has a ‘rock star’ lifestyle – thanks to farmingAT THE beginning of April, the Social Progress Index was released rank-ing New Zealand 5th of 133 countries, accounting for 94% of the global popu-lation.

The index is, accord-ing to authors Michael Porter and Scott Stern, “a robust and holistic frame-work for national social and environmental per-formance that can be used by leaders in government, business and civil society to benchmark success and accelerate progress”. It is the first comprehensive framework for measur-ing social progress that is independent of, but com-plementary to, GDP.

And New Zealand is an over-achiever, doing far better in social and envi-ronmental performance than its economic peers.

This result reflects the success of the pri-mary sector in every-thing it has done to boost the economy. In the mid-1980s, for instance, dairy exports were worth about NZ$1.5 billion and per capita income of a New Zealander was about 40% of that of an American. In today’s money, that NZ$1.5 billion is just over $4 billion, which wouldn’t support New Zealanders in the lifestyles to which they have become accus-tomed.

Last year dairy exports were worth at least $15 bil-lion – almost four times as much as in the in the mid-1980s – and per capita income was almost 66% of America’s.

New money coming into the country has sup-ported employment, which has increased the tax take. The taxes have enabled the Government to pay down the national debt while supporting increased education par-ticipation, plus infrastruc-ture development and health – and everything else that goes with a devel-oped country (despite

reliance on primary pro-duction).

The Social Progress Index recognises what has been done, and also notes that to be an over-performer is a significant achievement “given that it is harder for richer coun-tries to over-perform”.

New Zealand’s worst ranking (34th) is in eco-system sustainability, encompassing greenhouse gas emissions, water with-drawals as a percentage of resources, and biodi-versity and habitat. It is the water aspect that has caused the red flag.

The World Resources Institute has given New Zealand a baseline average water stress score of 1.4, ranging from 2 (medium to high stress) in Auckland to 1.3 in industrial use and 1.1 in agriculture (both in the medium range). Red flags alert to poor per-formance in comparison with economic peers, but examination of countries with similar GDP to NZ indicates most have been ranked with greater water stress than New Zealand. Comparable figures from the UK, for instance, are 2.6, with agriculture and domestic at 2.7 and indus-try at 2.5.

New Zealand’s green-house gas emissions are so small, contributing less than 0.2% of the world’s GHG, that they aren’t considered in the Social Progress Index. For New Zealand, however, they are a constant source of con-cern.

Emissions from the agricultural sector accounted for 48% of New Zealand’s total in 2013 and energy had dropped to 39% (industry and waste accounted for 6% each). Between 1990 and 2013, emissions from agricul-ture increased 14%, and emissions from the energy sector increased by 32%. Energy includes power and transport, and the increase in use reflects

an increase in popula-tion and lifestyle expec-tations… which brings us back to economic growth.

Biodiversity and habi-tat is the third part of the ‘ecosystem score’. The worst result is in criti-

cal habitat protection, though terrestrial protec-tion scores well overall, reflecting onfarm QEII covenants, as well as the large part of New Zealand under the Department of Conservation estate.

Without the primary sector, New Zealand could not afford to support soci-ety in the way it does – through infrastructure, welfare and education. The Social Progress Index confirms New Zealand is

a great country. Farmers, take a pat on the back for your contribution; New Zealand wouldn’t rank so highly without you.• Jacqueline Rowarth is pro-fessor of agribusiness, The University of Waikato.

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32 OPINION

RURAL RANTS & RAVESRural rants and raves is an opportunity for readers to tell us what they love about life in rural New Zealand – and what needs to change.

RAVE: I am mightily impressed by the recent MIE report into the meat industry’s woes. This looks to me to provide a long-term, sustainable future for the red meat sector. A Fonterra-type model is just what the meat industry needs; look how well the dairy industry is doing this year. – John, Ohakune

RANT: Quite frankly, I’ve read more believable fairy tales than the drivel dished up by MIE in its ‘report’ on the meat industry. How did they come up with their numbers? By throwing darts at a dart board and multiplying it by 15,000,000? – Murray, North Canterbury

RAVE: I’d like to put on the record my appreciation for how well Fonterra is doing this year. It is remarkable that the company has managed to surpass the $4/kg mark in its payout for this year – in spite of turbulent times in world markets and increasing supplies from overseas competitors. Well done and thank you Fonterra. – John, Te Awamutu

RANT: What the hell is Fonterra doing? This season’s forecast payout has gone down faster than Gerry Brownlee eating a pie. At this rate, I will never be able to afford to live off my dairy farm income and have to struggle along on my paltry university salary. – Jacqueline, Hamilton RAVE: We are so lucky in this industry to have

a Minister for Primary Industries who is forward thinking, energetic, smart and a credit to our sector. I think the minister is a wonderful human being and should get a lot more accolades from the farming community. – Nathan, Levin

RANT: What a joke Nathan Guy is as our ‘supposed’ Minister for Primary Industries. He is an embarrassment and has done nothing to lift meat prices and quell the high dollar, and is overseeing a collapse in dairy prices. He should resign immediately. – Damien, West Coast

RAVE: I recently had the pleasure of listening to the country’s premier radio broadcaster during my lunchhour. It was a delight to discover that he is an expert in farming, politics, golf, world travel and mooching freebies out of all and sundry. He also has an amazing array of ‘mates’ – politicians, All Blacks, 1970s washed up athletes – yet none are as clever, good-looking, knowledgeable or modest as him. - Jamie, Dunedin

RANT: I am constantly disappointed by the lack of media and general public appreciation and adulation for the greatest politician New Zealand has ever known. Do they not realise that the Rt Hon. Winston Peters has the solution to NZ’s high dollar, falling commodity prices, out-of-control immigration and soaring Auckland house prices? What is the matter with you New Zealand? – Winston, St Mary’s Bay, Auckland

• NB: This is a satirical column. None of the claims made are the actual views of any real person dead or alive.

Are we asking right questionsMANY FONTERRA shareholders were disappointed with the interim results the co-op announced last month. Many feel they are not seeing a return on their investment.

I think we might be asking the wrong question. It shouldn’t be where’s the return on our investment, but rather where do we see the value of being part of a co-op.

At the moment the milk price we are paid is based on the Global Dairy Trade result. It is averaged across the season, less manufacturing costs, to put it simplistically. All the other companies

should be achieving this anyway, with their products.

We know that only a portion of what Fonterra sells goes on GDT. The rest is sold through direct links to customers. I have heard many times that a bag of milk powder sold direct to a customer usually fetches more than a similar bag sold on GDT.

Let’s say Fonterra announced the dividend had increased to 60 cents. What would have happened? We would all be in a slightly better mood probably, and the value of the shares would probably have gone up to $10 or thereabouts.

Would that have solved Fonterra’s problems or made them worse? All you

Fonterra shareholders now talking about leaving Fonterra -- would you now be saying you would stay put? Why?

Surely the dynamic encouraging you to leave is even stronger now. You still receive a similar milk price, but by cashing in your shares you get a whole heap more equity you can invest elsewhere. So by performing, Fonterra could actually create more of a problem for itself.

That brings us to the crux of the matter – the milk price. Everyone will be there or thereabouts. The dividend return as a percentage will generally remain static. So a farmer with a short term issue – be it expansion, or

repaying debt, or a new farm purchase – will look at the books, see all those Fonterra shares sitting there and see a solution.

How can Fonterra make that farmer look at those books and see the long benefit of being part of a co-op, for the long term benefit of our industry and farmers in having a strong, dominant co-op in the New Zealand marketplace? Because experience overseas and in New Zealand shows that the dominant co-op will always set the price, and when you lose that dominant co-op expect poor returns to follow.• Andrew Hoggard is Federated Farmers dairy chair.

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OPINION 33

Vietnamese and Brazilians visit NZ to learn from Kiwi-co-opsDELEGATION FROM Vietnam and Brazil have visited New Zealand this month to study co-ops and how they contribute to the world’s most co-operative economy.*

Cooperative Business NZ, which represents the

interests of this coun-try’s co-ops and mutu-als, helped co-ordinate the study tours.

One of the best fea-tures of the co-operative business model is that everywhere in the world co-op members are happy to share their experiences with fellow co-op people.

We have some of the best co-operative busi-ness models, plus inno-

vation within our co-ops, and plenty of historical data showing we are here for the long term. That’s why other countries come to New Zealand to hear how we’ve overcome chal-lenges and continue to succeed internationally.

The eight delegates from Hanoi, Vietnam,

were in NZ from April 15-17, arriving in Wel-lington. They first vis-ited the Ministry for Primary Industries to learn how central gov-ernment encourages co-ops through legislation and policies. Then came meetings at Fonterra, Auckland, with senior executives.

The visitors spent April 17 at Cooperative Busi-

IAN MACTINOSH ness NZ’s Newmarket office, hearing about the member organisations’ roles and functions and getting an overview of the NZ co-op sector.

Scarcely had the Viet-namese left for Australia

when a Brazilian delega-tion arrived from Aus-tralia. These 17 visitors represented the Co-oper-ative Organization of Parana State and SES-COOP (Co-operative Learning System).

They visited Zespri and Eastpac in Tauranga on April 20, then next day travelled to Waikato to meet with Fonterra and LIC.

On April 22 the Bra-zilians got an overview of

the NZ co-op sector from Cooperative Business NZ then heard from Co-op Money NZ about our credit unions.• Ian Macintosh is chief executive of Cooperative Business New Zealand.

* A 2014 United Nations study showed New Zealand is the world’s most co-oper-ative economy per capita. The survey of the social and economic impact of co-ops ranked NZ first of 145 coun-tries.

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THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Authority’s (EPA) chief executive, Rob Forlong, has announced his res-ignation.

Forlong has headed the EPA since it started nearly four years ago; before that he was chief executive of the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) for six years.

Chairman Kerry Prendergast says Forlong made a big contribution to the EPA, and the board and staff are grateful for his leadership.

“Rob has led the organisation through the crucial set-up period since the EPA’s creation in 2011. He’s managed the merging of three groups of staff into one organisation, driven the necessary culture changes and implemented the EPA’s responsibilities for managing the environmental impact of activity in NZ’s exclusive economic zone.

“He’s done all this while ensuring the EPA has con-tinued to follow robust and transparent processes, and that the organisation doesn’t ‘drop the ball’ in any of its work.”


34 MANAGEMENT

Four tonnes a first for ryegrassThe Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) held its autumn result round up meetings earlier this month. Andrew Swallow relays a few of the headline messages.

FOR THE first time in FAR trials ryegrass seed yields have topped 4t/ha.

The stellar result was announced among a smorgasbord of agron-omy messages presented

by the levy-funded crop-ping body at a series of grower meetings earlier this month.

“This is the first time we’ve ever achieved 4000kg/ha,” FAR’s Rich-

ard Chynoweth told an Autumn Results Round-Up meeting in Timaru. “We’re pretty rapt with that.”

The breakthrough came in plant growth reg-

ulator trials on a Bealey-like coded cultivar at an irrigated site east of Ash-burton using 2L/ha of yet-to-be-approved product Payback (paclobutrazol) with trinexapac-ethyl (TE

– as in Moddus) and Cyco-cel (chlormequat chlo-ride) at growth stage 31.

Payback is currently used as a fruit-thinning tool in apple orchards and at about $500/L is prob-ably too expensive to be commercially viable for herbage seed growers at present, even if it were registered.

“It did not produce the highest margin,” noted Chynoweth. However, he later told Rural News he knows there are compa-nies keen to get it regis-tered for use in ryegrass which could see the price come down. “It’s long gone off patent.”

Yields from a South Canterbury trial are still to be finalised but they look equally promising, Chyn-oweth added.

Like the other growth regulators, Payback is a gibberellin-blocker, but appears to be taken up through roots rather than leaves. Consequently sprays must penetrate crop canopy to the soil to be effective, explained Chynoweth.

The soil uptake also seems to make the prod-uct effective for longer, so late growth stage 33 (GS33) pgrs are less likely to be needed.

Chynoweth stressed that because the product’s not registered for use in grass seed crops, at pres-

ent the result is more of scientific interest than for commercial application at this stage but it seems that could change.

Of the other sequences of pgrs a three spray pro-gramme of 0.8L/ha TE + 2L/ha CCC at GS31 and GS32 followed by 0.8L/ha TE at GS33 was the next highest yielding, both where plots were topped and closed (November 4) and where there was no topping, coming in at 3758kg/ha and 3737kg/ha respectively.

Statistically those yields were significantly better than all other treat-ments in the non-topped plots, despite the trial’s least significant difference of 351kg. However, in the topped plots a three-spray programme of 0.8L/ha TE and a two spray sequence of 1.4L/ha TE at GS31 and 1.0L/ha TE at GS32 were statistically on par at 3574kg/ha and 3488kg/ha respectively. The Payback treatment wasn’t used in the topped plots.

PRESENTING THE ryegrass pgr work (see main story) Chynoweth suggested measuring crop height as an assay of pgr efficacy and likely yield. “The idea is we could use stem length as a poten-tial yield indicator.”

Data from many trials shows a strong nega-tive correlation between crop height and yield with a ‘sweetspot’ for ryegrass at about 60cm, he explained.

“It might be a damn sight easier than estimating lodging out in the field to see if you got it right.”

For Italian ryegrass the target would be about 65cm and cocksfoots and fescues 75cm, he suggested.

But as one drought-struck dryland grower wryly pointed out, crops can be too short. “My turf grasses were 25cm this year and they definitely didn’t achieve 4t/ha!”

HEIGHT A NEW TOOL?

Record ryegrass: FAR’s Richard Chynoweth was one of seven speakers at FAR’s recent autumn results meetings.

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MANAGEMENT 35

Now is the time to decide on hogget breedingAPRIL IS the month when farmers need to make the final decision about hogget breeding for the year.

If managed appro-priately hogget breeding can not only increase the number of lambs weaned on a farm in a given year, but also increase lifetime performance. However, if poorly planned and man-aged there can be nega-tive effects, not only in the year the hogget is bred but also throughout her life-time.

According to Profes-sor Paul Kenyon, from the International Sheep Centre at Massey Uni-versity, “there are a few simple rules farmers need to follow if hogget breed-ing is to be successful”.

The first rule is, a hogget needs to be a min-imum of 40kg liveweight at breeding (for a flock with a mature ewe breed-

ing weight of 65kg). This is an individual minimum, not a flock average, which is often assumed by farm-ers. Using body condition scoring, hoggets should be BCS 2.5 minimum, Kenyon says.

BCS is likely a better indicator of reproduc-tive maturity, and thus suitability for breed-ing as a hogget, than live weight. “Farmers should be weighing their ewe hoggets regularly prior to breeding to get an under-standing of how they are tracking so that changes in their nutrition can be made, if they are falling behind liveweight target.”

Another rule to help ensure better lambing from hoggets is expos-ing them to vasectomised rams (teasers) in mid-late March. This can increase the numbers of ewe hoggets bred early in the breeding period. It also has the flow-on effect of resulting in more lambs being born early in the

lambing period, which should result in older and thus heavier lambs at a given weaning date.

“The important rule for teasing is, introduce the teasers to the hoggets 17 days -- and 17 days’ only -- prior to the first day of breeding,” Kenyon explains. “The optimum teaser-to-hogget ratio is 1:70, though a response of 1:200 has been reported. Teasers should not be used as a short-term fix when hoggets are well below the 40kg minimum at breeding.”

Hoggets need to gain about 20kg total weight during pregnancy (including the weight of the placenta, fetus and associated fluids). This requires an average daily gain of 130g/day during both the breeding period and throughout preg-nancy. This ensures the hogget grows as does the fetus(es).

With mature ewes, the traditional approach

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has been to maintain liveweight in early preg-nancy and then to feed them well in late preg-nancy, to ensure nutri-tional requirements of the pregnancy are met. This approach will not work with hoggets and will result in poor lamb-

ing success and below optimum liveweight two-tooths.

“Just feeding hoggets well in late pregnancy will result in most of the nutri-tion being partitioned towards fetal growth and the young hogget herself will not grow,” Kenyon

adds. “This is likely to result in more birthing difficulties (as she would not have grown out) and she will be lighter than planned at weaning.”

Therefore farmers need to be planning how they are going to feed their ewe hoggets appro-priately throughout preg-nancy.

“April is the time for farmers to look at their present pasture covers and to consider their likely pasture growth rates when deciding how many hoggets they should breed,” Kenyon explains.

“If covers are low, as they might be on many New Zealand farms after a dry summer, farmers may be wise to either reduce

the number of hoggets to be mated or consider not breeding hoggets at all.”

In the meantime, the International Sheep Research Centre team at Massey University, with funding from Beef and Lamb NZ and the C Alma Baker trust, is continuing to work on strategies to improve the performance of hoggets.

Dr Anne Ridler is leading a team examin-ing the perennial issue of lost pregnancies in ewe hoggets. And Dr Rene Corner-Thomas is exam-ining nutritional strat-egies in lactation, using alternative herbages to improve the liveweight of the hogget at weaning and the weight of her lambs.

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36 MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCING THE South Canterbury and North Otago results roundup meeting, FAR’s Rob Craigie showed how solar radiation for the region was well above normal for the summer.

“We did see some really high yields this season and I think that’s probably the reason,” he said.

Low rainfall and consequently low disease pres-sure, notably septoria, also played a part, though the lack of rain saw dryland wheat trials average 8.9t/ha compared to a four-year mean of 10.1t/ha. In contrast irrigated wheat plots beat the four-year mean by 0.8t/ha, averaging 13.4t/ha.

The region saw world records for barley yield and oilseed rape broken, the former at Timaru (Rural News, Mar 3) and the latter just north of Oamaru (Rural News, Feb 3). Both were irrigated.

SUNSHINE DRIVES STELLAR YIELDS

Is Wakanui’s reign starting to wane?WHILE FEED wheat vari-ety Wakanui still tops the tables for four year adjusted mean yield in Canterbury, a couple of newer cultivars are nip-

ping at its heels.“Wakanui’s still there

after seven years now but some varieties are start-ing to equal it,” FAR’s Rob Criagie told the Timaru meeting.

Torch and Starfire

(previously coded as KWW46) are on par with it off FAR’s four irrigated sites in Canterbury with Gator and Conqueror also in the running of the three dryland trials.

Craigie said a point

to note with Torch is a change to its leaf rust resistance rating, which has gone from resistant to moderately susceptible. “We think there’s a new strain of leaf rust around that can affect Torch.”

For biscuit wheat growers Empress and Inferno are the leaders leaving long-standing ref-erence cultivar Claire for dust. “Claire’s not really in the race anymore yield wise.”

Craigie highlighted Inferno’s performance off dryland, where it matches Empress, but irrigated it trails by 3%.

Moving up the quality scale into gristing milling wheat, Hanson is “about 5% ahead of Raffles, so that’s quite a handy yield advantage and it’s quite resistant to disease.”

In the medium grade millers, Discovery is “yielding particularly well” though it is in only its second year of CPT, and its high yield does appear to be diluting pro-tein content.

Among the premium millers “Conquest is

fading away yield-wise,” added Craigie.

“Reliance and Duchess are yielding substantially more.”

Among the autumn-sown barleys Sannette remains the standout, though three coded culti-vars from the same stable as Sannette, but with only one or two years results, are now on a par. “They’re all four-five percent ahead of the rest.”

FAR’S autumn cultivar evaluation booklets with detailed disease and yield data for all varieties in the CPT trials will be available later this month, Crai-gie said.

ANDREW SWALLOW

Torch is up there on yield but leaf rust ratings have changed, FAR’s Rob Craigie told growers.

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MANAGEMENT 37

Homing in on oilseed optionsFAR CULTIVAR and herbicide trials with resurgent crop oilseed rape promise to help growers hone their agronomy on the resurgent crop.

A much tighter range of yields in cul-tivar trials shows selections are closing in on types that suit New Zealand, FAR’s Jen Linton told farmers at the Timaru meeting.

At Waimate there was no significant dif-ference between the six hybrids and one conven-tional cultivar, DK Cab-ernet, in the trial which averaged 5.04t/ha. Cab-ernet top yielded at 5.19t/ha.

It was the same story at Fairlie with the conventional topping the 5.52-6.07t/ha yield range and a site mean of 5.8t/ha. “It shows we are picking and choos-ing the right varieties to grow,” Linton said.

Overall yields were about 2t/ha higher than the previous year when high winds caused severe seed loss prior to harvest.

This year the short cultivar DK Exs-torm was the lowest yielding at both sites but Linton said if the plots had been hit by high winds again, “as the name suggests [Exstorm] would have been the best one.”

The headline message from a 10-treat-ment herbicide trial targeting hairgrass in oilseed rape at St Andrews was to get the first spray on in May. At that timing all treatments gave over 90% control but when application was delayed to July the best control was 55% and the worst only 3%. “There were massive populations [of hairgrass] in some areas.”

Defoliation as a means of plant growth regulation and feed p r o v i s i o n c o n t i n -ues to be investigated in oilseed rape with this year’s results from trials at Chert-sey showing no sig-nificant difference in yield between plots defoliated by cutting hard at the green bud stage, given a light

mow at yellow bud, or treated chemically with plant growth regulators (pgrs) Cyco-cel, Folicur or Moddus.

“There was no significant difference but it’s pretty exciting that we could grow 5.5t/ha at the arable site,” said Linton.

On this occasion the feed potential of defoliations was limited. “We only took half a tonne off. In the past we have taken two-and-a-half tonnes [per hectare] off but at the arable site it’s been hard to get the crop that bulky.”

FAR’s Jen Linton demonstrates pgr effects on oilseed rape trials at the ara-ble site, Chertsey, late last year. No sig-nificant difference was recorded.

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38 MANAGEMENTFarmers have a stake in forestry industryFARMERS WITH woodlots have a vested interest in a successful forestry sector.

When they come to sell logs over the next four-five years they will

contribute much to a growers’ levy. Small growers represent a new breed of forest investors and will be motivated by needs different from those of the forestry corporates when it comes to harvest time

and deciding whether to reinvest in forestry.

To ensure you get maximum benefit from your woodlot, it is essential to have an input into how this levy is used and to voice your issues well before harvest date.

Small and medium forest owners (<1000ha) manage about 25% of the 1.7m ha plantation forest area in New Zealand. The exact area of small forests is not precisely known as the owners are hard to survey and

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generally not active in the wood sector politics. However, this is changing because of the boom in new land planting in the early 1990s and the associated ‘wall of wood’ from that period. Many small forests are now maturing and small growers are likely to become substantial levy payers, influencing the timing and quality of these new forests.

The NZ Farm Forestry Association and MPI have attempted to survey these growers, to characterise them, understand their intentions and seek better collaboration. The number of small growers is estimated at about 14,000 and they are likely to represent 60% of the wall of wood. Owners and growers range from individuals to small investment companies or trusts set up for superannuation purposes, etc. Some owners are joint venture partners with land owners and do not live at the woodlot location.

Many owners have less than 40ha and these can be found scattered throughout New Zealand.

Small growers have a lot of flexibility about the time to harvest and can attempt to sell only at optimal times. However, prior preparation is essential for the process to run smoothly and efficiently. This includes engaging consultants and preparing roads well in advance of the day you require a cash return. Usually three-four months are needed and harvesting is best arranged for summer or autumn. Collaborating with other woodlot growers in your district could also save costs and allow harvest dates to be planned to share contractors and markets.

A small woodlot

owner might expect to pay a forest levy of $5000-$6000 when their logs are delivered to a mill or port. This estimate is based on a 2011 survey of 728 land owners with forests of 20-100ha; this survey found the median forest plantation area was 37ha (almost 10% of the median farm size of 400ha) and the forest levy is currently set at $0.27 per m3. The levy collects about $6.8 million annually and will run until the end of 2019.

Many new forest owners will evaluate their return on investment after the first crop. Their decision whether to reinvest or not will depend on the experience they have with the current crop, the sector performance and the value they get from the levy. Factors that will make re-investment more attractive include the outcomes of research, greater productivity, lower harvesting and roading costs for the second crop, and better log prices from emerging value adding industries.

Governments and regional councils have a role in providing improved rural roading, more wood processing options and better port facilities.

While much has been invested in rationalising the milk and meat sectors, a resilient wood sector can play an important role for farmers by providing an environmental counter-balance to the continual pressure to increase productivity coupled with a flexible harvest date and income diversification.• Graham West is a principal technologist at Scion, Rotorua. The opinions expressed are the author’s.

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Are you a student or teacher at a rural primary school? Enter HP’s Rural Schools Competition and we could make your IT dreams come true! Just find an interesting way to tell us why your school needs a technology top up.

There are five chances to win a share of HP technology valued at $20,000.

Find out more at: hp.co.nz/ruralcompetition

Terms and conditions apply. Closing date for entries is 25 July 2015. Hewlett-Packard reserves the right to extend, modify or cancel the promotion at their discretion. They are not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this competition. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter. This competition is open to New Zealand rural primary schools no larger than 300 pupils outside urban (city and town) areas. ‘HP technology’ includes HP desktops, notebooks, tablets and printers and support assistance. Prize value to consist of total recommended retail price (RRP) of HP products and any technical assistance to set-up technology or training teachers. A cash alternative will not be provided. The prize is not transferable. The promoter’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions. © 2015 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

HP’s Rural Schools Competition is proudly supported by Rural Women New Zealand.


40 ANIMAL HEALTH

Tick eradication not Theileria silver bulletENSURING young stock are sourced from areas caught up in the outbreak of Theile-

riosis is still the best defence for farmers’ in areas where the disease is prevalent, says Bay Of Islands vet Garth Riddle.

The disease is caused

by the ikeda strain of the Theileria orienta-lis parasite and is impli-cated in anemia, poor production and cattle deaths in young stock

and older cows. It has spread from

Northland all over the northern half of the North Island in just two years, with confirmed

cases discovered as far south as Canterbury.

Riddle discussed the results of a Beef + Lamb NZ-funded tick control trial with 50 farmers at

GARETH GILLATT a field day in Kaeo late March, revealing that tick treatment is unable to prevent infection and anaemia.

A trial was carried out on Jeff and Helen Lins-sen’s drystock farm northwest of Kaeo last season using 100 weaner bull calves bought from an area free of the dis-ease. Stock were split into two groups of 50 bull herds. Research-ers applied a flumethrin pour-on to half of the animals in each herd.

Ani-mals were treated for ticks before they left the yards and again three weeks later, which was at a higher frequency than recommended, with doses at the top end of the recommended dose rate.

The researchers were trying to establish whether farmers importing stock from uninfected regions could protect them by aggressively treating them for ticks, using

a method currently suggested as best practice -- but not actually tested – as a means of preventing animals from contracting Theileria.

Stock liveweight gains and animal losses among both the treated and untreated stock were so similar that the results were statistically insig-nificant, says Riddle.

“The threshold of tick bites required to pass on Theileria was less than they thought. It doesn’t matter how good

your treatment is, it’s not going to stop all the ticks.”

In fact, Riddle and some Northland farmers at the event wondered whether the immune system’s reaction to the Theileria parasite was a bigger problem than the parasite itself.

Another of the clin-ic’s clients had lost 8-10% of his young stock over three years despite having them in top condition and he had

reached the point of sell-ing his breeding cows.

“These were top-condition calves; we put their stats into a benchmarking program and it came back saying it was impossible for stock to grow that fast.”

While Riddle is considering trying using antihistamines and steroids to treat stock

with the condition, he expects more results to come out of a much wider study being done by a group made up of veterinary associations, Beef + Lamb NZ

and DairyNZ, and led by Massey University animal breeding and genetics lecturer Rebecca Hickson.

Expect more results to come out of study, Riddle says.

“They’ve collected information from studies all around the country and are doing the hard work needed to compile that information. The really exciting solutions will come out of that study.”

@rural_news


An unfed adult Theilera tick.

An fully fed adult Theilera tick.

KILL MORE WORMS AND HELP SLOW THE

DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTANCE ON YOUR FARM1

ADVANCE TO ALLIANCE®

ACVM No: A10249 ®Registered trademark. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.coopersonline.co.nz NZ/ALCE/0115/00011 Leathwick, D.M., Sustainable Control of Nematode Parasites - a New Zealand perspective. Small Ruminant Research (2013).

ELE-

0163

0-RN


ANIMAL HEALTH 41

Sheep sex – not an Australian jokeAUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS say the reason ewes produce many more lambs of one sex in one year than in others is traceable back to their diet in the leadup to joining.

Charles Sturt University PhD researcher Catherine Gulliver investigated how short-term feeding of diets high in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can affect reproduction in sheep.

Her research saw nearly 300 first-cross ewes split into two groups and fed a special diet for six weeks before and three weeks after mating.

“The first group was fed a diet based on oat

grain and some cottonseed meal that was high in omega-6,” Gulliver says. “The second group’s diet was based on pea silage, similar to a diet expected when ewes graze pasture, and it was high in omega-3.”

At lambing time, Gulliver found a 15% increase in the number of female lambs from sheep fed the high omega-6 grain diet compared with those fed the high omega-3 silage diet. “Of the lambs from the sheep fed a high omega-6 diet, 58% were female and 42% were male,” she says.

That compares with 44% female and 56% male lambs from the sheep fed the high omega-3 diet.

Despite differences in the sex ratio between the two groups, there were no differences in the total number of lambs born.

Gulliver believes the research shows there is potential to alter the sex ratio of offspring by manipulating maternal nutrition around the time of conception – and thereby increase profits.

“If you can skew the sex ratio to your preferred gender to target specific production systems you could increase profit for a small input,” she says.

“For example, prime lamb producers typically prefer male off-spring due

to their faster growth rates and muscle accumulation, while flocks using maternal sires may prefer female offspring to be kept as replacements for the breeding flock.”

Ewes fed the high omega-6 oats diet had higher omega-6 concentrations in their

Gender imbalance in the lamb crop may be up to the ewes’ diet.PHOTO: CSIRO

ALAN HARMAN plasma and red blood cells, shorter time to oestrus and lambing and a higher

proportion of female lambs than ewes fed the high omega-3 silage diet.

“More research is needed to determine whether the effect on sex ratio was pre-conception or post-conception and the

exact duration of feeding required,” Gulliver says.

NSW Department of Primary Industries livestock researcher Edward Clayton says there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that in times of drought sheep get more females. “It could be that in drought [the ewes] are being fed more grain and it just so happens it coincides with that joining

period,” he says.Meantime, Clayton is

working on a project to lift the amount of omega-3 in red meat. He says most people get their omega-3 from fish oil, but the research will also look into whether grass-fed sheep, lamb or beef has high enough omega-3 levels to make a claim as a “good source” of omega-3.

“If you can skew the sex ratio to your preferred gender to target specific production systems you could increase profit for a small input.”

Yes, you have to. But spare a moment to think about why.

When your stock is traceable, NAIT can help swiftly contain a disease

and fi nd the source. It’s a big reassurance for your farm and business.

All movements count. Record what animals go where in NAIT

and you’ll do more than just play by the rules.

Check the rules at nait.co.nz/movements An OSPRI programme

Record animal movements.The reasons why go way beyond the rules.

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42 ANIMAL HEALTH

ONLINE APP FOR HERD CONTROL

Act now to reduce FEHERD IMPROVEMENT company CRV Ambreed is running free workshops on how to make the most of its online herd recording app.

CRV Insight helps farmers improve their herd recording and data management by making herd information more accessible ‘in the paddock’.

CRV Ambreed information product manager Henk Huurnink says CRV Insight is easy to use, convenience and makes data management easier.

But many farmers are not yet using the app to its full capability, he says, hence the company’s invitation to workshops in 15 locations.

The workshops will cover CRV Insight features, customising and viewing reports, making data entry easy, and using CRV Insight on smartphones.

Huurnink says CRV Insight Mobile especially suits smartphones, no surprise considering a recent DairyNZ report that 60% of farmers now use smart-phones and want technical information while away from their offices.

“[It enables clients to] manage their herd at a touch of a button and makes recording and accessing infor-mation easier. Our team is continuously innovating to in products and services farmers need to get on with their job with as much ease and efficiency as possible.”Tel. 0800 262 733

www.crv4all.co.nz

HOT, MUGGY condi-tions this year were a pointed reminder to dairy farmers to breed animals more tolerant of facial eczema (FE) and more resistant to the dis-ease long-term, says CRV Ambreed.

The company’s genetic development strategist Phil Beatson says R&D in the past four years by its staff and AgResearch allow iden-tification of FE-tolerant bulls.

Sires now entering CRV Ambreed’s progeny test programme are chal-lenged for FE tolerance, and targeted genetics are available to help farm-ers beat the disease long-term.

Beatson says the firm’s genetics for dairy cattle will typically breed off-spring that are 25% less reactive to a FE challenge

than an average bull.“It isn’t an over-

night fix though. A dose of facial eczema toler-ant genetics this season will help minimise the loss of milk production

in the progeny in years to come,” Beatson said. “Farmers need to con-sider the genetic option to combat facial eczema, and they need to get on the bus now and stay on

that bus.”Cattle in many parts

of the North Island and upper South Island were hit by FE this year. Higher humidity increased the number of

toxic spores in pastures and resulted in a spike in the number of FE cases.

Clinical cases of FE are easy to spot; skin loss and lethargy are clear signs. In extreme cases FE may cause an animal’s skin to fall off and even kill it. But invisible sub-clinical symptoms cost the dairy industry more through the loss of milk production.

FE tolerance is a heri-table trait and the right breeding programme can reduce the severity of the disease CRV Ambreed says.

Sheep farmers have shown the dairy indus-try how the disease can be addressed long-term: sheep today are up to six times more tolerant to a FE than sheep were 30 years ago.

Phil Beatson, CRV Ambreed

@rural_news


Call 0800 804 458 to find your local dealer. Or visit our website, www.giltrapag.co.nz

Everything starts with a healthy diet. Our mixer wagon will keep you in control of your herd’s weight and health. As they grow, so will you. Make every minute count.

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ANIMAL HEALTH 43

Workshops show how to get aboard NAITFARMERS ARE offered hands-on training in how to use OSPRI’s National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) programme.

The workshops will suit beef, deer and lifestyle farmers, giving two hours of hands-on, interactive tuition using NAIT’s online system.

OSPRI acting chief executive Stu Hutchings says the workshops aim to help new users of the NAIT system and those needing a refresher. Feedback from farmers on the workshops is good, he says.

“The NAIT programme is critical to biosecurity and market access. To be effective, we need all cattle and deer tagged and registered with NAIT, [and current] data on their location and movements,” says Hutchings.

Farmers need only a computer and internet access to complete all NAIT actions. The workshops show how to register animals,

record the sending and receiving of stock, and update animal details in NAIT’s online system. “Accurate NAIT data can be used to contain animal diseases, provide food safety assurance to international and domestic markets and add value to farming businesses,” Hutchings says.

“Being able to trace animal movements on and off farm is… containing bovine tuberculosis herd infections and identifying the source of the disease.” The workshops offer farmers a forum for asking questions before July 1, 2015, when all cattle must be tagged and registered in the NAIT database, including animals born before NAIT became mandatory in 2012. Workshop attendees will get instructions to keep at home, so they can continue to meet their NAIT requirements. “As long as their NAIT information is up to

date, farmers can use the system to keep track of stock they’ve received or sent away. For example, an increasing number of absentee owners are using NAIT to remotely monitor stock going onto

their farm,” Hutchings says.

Forty-two workshops will run nationwide. Each is limited to 20 people. Tel 0800 624 843 www.nait.co.nz/events

42 NAIT workshops will be run nationwide.

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44 ANIMAL HEALTHCattle Internal Parasites Treatment 2015 Abomasum Small Intestine Lge Intestine This survey will give a ready and easy-to-follow reference to the efficacy and spectrum of the many cattle anthelmintics available. It is compiled from

information supplied by animal health companies. While the information has been verified by our animal health advisor, Rural News cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies.

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Ingredient

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Ingredient

Dose Rate

Formulated

Dose Rate

Withdrawal Safety

Margin

Parasite

MaturityMeat Milk

BAYMEC INJECTION Bayer NZ Ltd Farmlands Abamectin 10g/L 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg live-weight 49 days 49 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ND ★★★★★★

Controls sucking lice .Has persistent activity against cooperia ,Ostertagia,Oesphagostomum and Dictyocaulus vivparus. Must be administered subcutaneously.

EON POUR-ON Bayer NZ Ltd ATS, Farmlands, PGG Wrightson, Farm Source

Eprinomectin 5g/L 500µg/kg 1mL/10kg bwt Nil Nil 5x dose rate matureimmature

★★★ ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Contains eprinomectin. Nil milk, meat and bobby calf withholding period. Suitable for beef and dairy cattle. Also for the treatment and control of sucking lice.

IPLUS INJECTION Bayer NZ Ltd Farmlands IvermectinClorsulon

10g/L100g/L

0.2mg/kg2mg/kg

1mL/50kg bwt 28 days 14 days 3-5x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Also for the control of sucking lice, Chorioptes spp. and Psoroptes spp. mites and biting lice. Persistent activity – up to 14 days Ostertagia ostertagi, up to 7 days Cooperia spp, up to 21days Dictyocaulus viviparus.

OUTLAW POUR-ON Bayer NZ Ltd ATS, PGG Wrightson, Farm Source

AbamectinLevamisole

10g/L200g/L

0.5mg/kg10mg/kg

1mL/20kg bwt 42 days 42 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ND ★★★ ★★★★★★

Outlaw Pour-on is also highly effective in the treatment and control of mature and immature strains of Cooperia spp resistant to the endectocides (including eprinomectin and doramectin). Levamisole is also very active against benzimidazole-resistant strains. Also for the treatment and control of sucking lice in cattle.

SATURN POUR-ON Bayer NZ Ltd Farmlands AbamectinLevamisole

10g/L200g/L

0.5mg/kg10mg/kg


ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ND ★★★ ★★★★★★

Saturn Pour-on is also highly effective in the treatment and control of mature and immature strains of Cooperia spp resistant to the endectocides (including eprinomectin and doramectin). Levamisole is also very active against benzimidazole-resistant strains. Also for the treatment and control of sucking lice in cattle.

BOMATAK.C MINERALISED Bayer NZ Ltd All sellers Oxfendazole 90.6g/L 4.5mg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 10 days 72 hours 2-3 times dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Contains selenium, copper, cobalt, zinc and iodine. Ovicidal.

EDGE INJECTION Bayer NZ Ltd All sellers Doramectin, Levamisole

4mg/mL doramectin, 200mg/mL levamisole phosphate

0.2mg doramectin and 10mg levamisole phosphate/kg bwt

1mL/20kg bwt 21 days 21 days 2x matureimmature

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

EDGE is also effective against strains of Trichostrongylus axei and small intestinal Trichostrongylus spp. and Cooperia spp. that are resistant to members of the avermectin/milbemycin family of anthelmintics.

ALLIANCE COOPERS All outlets Oxfendazole Levamisole, Abamectin

45.3g/L80g/L, 2gL

4.53mg/kg8mg/kg, 0.2mg/kg

1ml/10kg bwt 10 days 35 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★ ★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★ ALLIANCE is a triple combination oral drench for cattle and sheep. ALLIANCE contains: 25mg Cobalt and 5mg Selenium per 5mL dose.

CONVERGE COOPERS All outlets LevamisoleAbamectin

80g/L2g/L

8mg/kg0.2mg/kg

1mL/10kg bwt 10 days 35 days 3 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

CONVERGE is a dual combination oral drench for cattle and sheep. CONVERGE contains: 25mg Colbalt and 5mg Selenium per 5mL.

SCANDA COOPERS All outlets OxfendazoleLevamisole

45.3g/L80g/L

4.53mg/kg8mg/kg

1mL/10kg bwt 10 days 144 hours 3 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ SCANDA is a dual combination oral drench for cattle and sheep.

SCANDA SELENISED COOPERS All outlets OxfendazoleLevamisole

45.3g/L80g/L

4.53mg/kg8mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ SCANDA SELENISED is a dual combination oral drench for cattle and sheep. SCANDA SELENISED contains: Colbalt 0.4mg/mL and Selenium 1mg/mL.

PARAMECTIN INJECTION Jurox NZ Ltd All outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg 49 49 3X matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Controls sucking lice. Must be administered subcutaneously. Do not treat calves under 16 weeks of age.

PARAMECTIN® POUR ON Jurox NZ Ltd All outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.5mg/kg 1mL/20kg 35 NIL 3X matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Paramectin Pour On is Rain fast. Also controls sucking and biting lice.

ECLIPSE POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin Levamisole

10mg/mL200mg/mL

0.5mg/kg10mg/kg


ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ND ★★★ ★★★★★★

Eclipse Pour-on is also highly effective in the treatment and control of mature and immature strains of Cooperia spp resistant to the endectocides (including eprinomectin and doramectin). Levamisole is also very active against benzimidazole-resistant strains. Also controls sucking-biting lice.

GENESIS ULTRA POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin Triclabendazole

5mg/mL300mg/mL

0.5mg/kg30mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Also controls sucking-biting lice.

ARREST C Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets AlbendazoleLevamisole

100g/L75g/L

10mg/kg7.5mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★

OXFEN C PLUS Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets OxfendazoleLevamisole

90.6g/L150g/L

4.5mg/kg7.5mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ Effective against mature and immature strains of Cooperia resistant to the endectocides. Ovicidal. Contains Selenium.

OXFEN C HI MINERAL Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Oxfendazole 90.6g/L 4.5mg/kgmg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 10 days 5 days 5 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ "Ovicidal". Each 10ml contains 20mg of selenium and 97mg of copper. Also in plain form. Can be used in deer.

IVERMATRIX CALF Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Ivermectin, Levamisole, Oxfendazole

2g/L, 80g/L, 45.4g/L

0.2mg/kg, 8mg/kg, 4.5mg/kg

1m/10kg 14 days 35 days 3x matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

GENESIS POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.5mg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 35 days Nil 3 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

Also for the control of internal and external parasites in deer. Also for the treatment and control of biting and sucking lice. Extended activity 14 days Cooperia, Ostertagia. Rainfast.

GENESIS INJECTION Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg bwt 49 days 49 days 3 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Controls sucking lice. Has extended activity for 28 days against Trichostrongylus, Ostertagia L4, Haemonchus spp and 21 days against Oesophagostomum and Ostertagia spp and 14 days against Cooperia. Must be administered subcutaneously. Also available with B12. Contains 2mg/ml Vitamin B12. No sting formulation.

IVOMEC PLUS INJECTION FOR CATTLE

Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Ivermectin Clorsulon

1%10%

0.2mg/kg 2.0mg/kg

1mL/50kg bwt 28 days 14 days 20 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Also for the simultaneous control of sucking lice, psoroptes sp mites and aids in control of biting lice and chorioptes mites. Label claim for persistent activity – product continues to control certain worms for 7-21 days after treatment. (Lungworm and hookworm 21 days, Ostertagia 14 days, Cooperia spp. Up to at least 7 days.) NZ studies show product is effective (>95%) against adults.

IVOMEC INJECTION FOR CATTLE AND PIGS

Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Ivermectin 1.0% w/v 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg bwt 28 days 35 days 20 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★ ★★★★★★

Simultaneous control of external parasites including sucking lice and aids in control of biting lice. Label claim for persistent activity product continues to control certain worms for 7-21 days after treatment. (Lungworm and hookworm 21 days; Ostertagia 14 days, Cooperia spp. up to at least 7 days.)

EPRINEX POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Eprinomectin 0.5% w/v 500mcg 1mL/10kg bwt Nil cattle7 days deer

Nil 5-10 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ Weatherproof including rainfast. Bobby calves from treated cows have no withholding period. Controls roundworms and lungworm. Approved for use in all ages and classes of deer at same dose volume and rate as for cattle. For control of sucking and biting lice and manage mites (sarcoptes and chorioptes). Has label claim for increased milk production.

EXODUS POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Moxidectin 0.5% w/v 500mcg 1mL/10kg bwt Nil Nil 10 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

MATRIX C Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin, Levamisole Oxfendazole

4g/L160g/L, 90.8g/L


1mL/20kg bodyweight 14 days 35 days 3x matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

SWITCH C HI-MINERAL Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin/Levamisole

4g/L160g/L

0.2g/kg8mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

ECLIPSE E INJECTION Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Eprinomectin/Levamisole

7g/L223g/L

0.2mg/kg6.37mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

NOROMECTIN INJECTION Norbrook NZ Ltd Vets, Agmax, some OTC

Ivermectin 1.0% w/v 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg bwt 49 days Not allowed (note 1)

20 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★ ★★★★★★

Low sting formula, persistent activity Ostertagia 14 days, Cooperia 7 days, Dictyocaulus Oesophagostomum 21 days. Also for use in pigs.

NOROMECTIN POUR-ON Norbrook NZ Ltd Vets, Agmax, some OTC

Ivermectin 0.5% w/v 0.5mg/kg 1mL/10kg bwt 21 days 11 milkings 10 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Also controls sucking, biting and mange mites.

PARAFEND LV Norbrook NZ Ltd Vets, Agmax, some OTC

Oxfendazole 90.6g/L 4.53mg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 10 days 72 hours 5 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Ovicidal.

COMBO LOW DOSE Ravensdown Ravensdown Oxfendazole & Levamisole

45.3 g/L & 80 g/L

4.53 mg/kg & 8 mg/kg

1mL/10kg live-weight 10 days 35 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★ Also contains selenium, copper, cobalt, iodine and zinc.

ABAMECTIN POUR-ON Ravensdown Ravensdown Abamectin 10 g/L 0.5 mg/kg 1mL/20kg live-weight 35 days NIL 3x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Also controls biting and sucking lice.

ABAMECTIN INJECTION Ravensdown Ravensdown Abamectin 10 g/L 0.2 mg/kg 1mL50kg live-weight 49 days 49 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Persistent activity: Oesophagostomum 7 days, Ostertagia, Cooperia, Trichostrongylus 14 days, Lungworm 21 days. Also controls sucking lice.

CYDECTIN INJECTION FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP

Zoetis OTC/Vet Moxidectin 1% w/v 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg cattle 35 days 35 days 5 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

Persistent activity against reinfection of Ostertagia ostertagi and lungworm for 28 days.

CYDECTIN POUR-ON FOR CATTLE AND DEER

Zoetis OTC/Vet Moxidectin 0.5% w/v 0.5mg/kg 1mL/10kg Nil Nil 10 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Treats and controls biting and sucking lice and mange mites. Rainfast. Persistent activity against reinfection of Ostertagia ostertagi for 35 days, Haemonchus spp and Trichostrongylus spp for 28 days, lungworm, Oesophagostomum and Bunostomum for 42 days.

CYDECTIN PLUS FLUKE POUR ON FOR CATTLE

Zoetis OTC/Vet Moxidectin, Triclabendazole

0.5% w/v20% w/v

0.5mg/kg 20mg/kg

1mL/10kg 84 days 84 days 5 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Treats and controls biting and sucking lice and mange mites.Rainfast. Persistent activity against reinfection of Ostertagia ostertagi for 35 days, Haemonchus spp and Trichostrongylus spp for 28 days, lungworm, Oesphagostomum and Bunostomum for 42 days.

DECTOMAX INJECTABLE Zoetis Veterinary outlets Doramectin 1% w/v 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg bwt 35 days 35 days 25 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★ ★★★★★★

Also registered for use in sheep and pigs. Persistent activity up to 28 days Ostertagia, Dictyocaulus. Up to 21 Days Cooperia, Trichostrongylus, Oesophagostomum. Up to 15 days Bunostomum.

DECTOMAX POUR-ON Zoetis Veterinary outlets Doramectin 0.5% w/v 0.5mg/kg 1mL/10kg bwt 35 days Nil 25 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

Rainfast. Not adversely affected if applied when the hide is wet or if rain falls shortly after treatment. Also controls sucking and biting lice, mange mites. Persistent activity against re-infection up to 28 days for Ostertagia, Trichostrongylus axei and Dictyocaulus and up to 21 days against Cooperia, Oesophagostomum and Bunostomum.

VALBAZEN MINERALISED CATTLE

Zoetis All outlets Albendazole 150g/L 7.5mg/kg 1mL per 20kg bwt1mL per 15kg* bwt

7 days 48 hours 10xdose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ Contains 6.8g/L Copper, 1.5g/L Selenium. *1mL per 15kg for Liver fluke. Ovicidal to worm and fluke eggs of cattle.

ROB BLACKWELL // MANGAOTEA

BILL BELL // ASHBURTON

JIM COOPER // WINTON

CLINT GRAHAM // HAWKES BAY

ALI MCKAY // WAIPU

CHRIS LEWIS // WAIKATO

PROUDLY AVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCAL VETERINARY CLINIC.

Merial is a Sanofi company. MERIAL NZ. LEVEL 3, MERIAL BUILDING, OSTERLEY WAY, MANUKAU, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND | WWW.MERIAL.CO.NZ | ECLIPSE® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF MERIAL. REGISTERED PURSUANT TO THE ACVM ACT 1997 | NO’S. A10640 & A9270 | COPYRIGHT 2014 MERIAL NZ LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NZ-14-ECL-057.

“UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY, WE CHOOSE ECLIPSE®.”

MAL_Eclipse_8x14_advert.indd 1 15/04/14 8:59 AM


ANIMAL HEALTH 45Cattle Internal Parasites Treatment 2015 Abomasum Small Intestine Lge Intestine This survey will give a ready and easy-to-follow reference to the efficacy and spectrum of the many cattle anthelmintics available. It is compiled from

information supplied by animal health companies. While the information has been verified by our animal health advisor, Rural News cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies.

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Product Company Available

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Active

Ingredient

Concen-

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Ingredient

Dose Rate

Formulated

Dose Rate

Withdrawal Safety

Margin

Parasite

MaturityMeat Milk

BAYMEC INJECTION Bayer NZ Ltd Farmlands Abamectin 10g/L 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg live-weight 49 days 49 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ND ★★★★★★

Controls sucking lice .Has persistent activity against cooperia ,Ostertagia,Oesphagostomum and Dictyocaulus vivparus. Must be administered subcutaneously.

EON POUR-ON Bayer NZ Ltd ATS, Farmlands, PGG Wrightson, Farm Source

Eprinomectin 5g/L 500µg/kg 1mL/10kg bwt Nil Nil 5x dose rate matureimmature

★★★ ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Contains eprinomectin. Nil milk, meat and bobby calf withholding period. Suitable for beef and dairy cattle. Also for the treatment and control of sucking lice.

IPLUS INJECTION Bayer NZ Ltd Farmlands IvermectinClorsulon

10g/L100g/L

0.2mg/kg2mg/kg

1mL/50kg bwt 28 days 14 days 3-5x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Also for the control of sucking lice, Chorioptes spp. and Psoroptes spp. mites and biting lice. Persistent activity – up to 14 days Ostertagia ostertagi, up to 7 days Cooperia spp, up to 21days Dictyocaulus viviparus.

OUTLAW POUR-ON Bayer NZ Ltd ATS, PGG Wrightson, Farm Source

AbamectinLevamisole

10g/L200g/L

0.5mg/kg10mg/kg


ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ND ★★★ ★★★★★★

Outlaw Pour-on is also highly effective in the treatment and control of mature and immature strains of Cooperia spp resistant to the endectocides (including eprinomectin and doramectin). Levamisole is also very active against benzimidazole-resistant strains. Also for the treatment and control of sucking lice in cattle.

SATURN POUR-ON Bayer NZ Ltd Farmlands AbamectinLevamisole

10g/L200g/L

0.5mg/kg10mg/kg


ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ND ★★★ ★★★★★★

Saturn Pour-on is also highly effective in the treatment and control of mature and immature strains of Cooperia spp resistant to the endectocides (including eprinomectin and doramectin). Levamisole is also very active against benzimidazole-resistant strains. Also for the treatment and control of sucking lice in cattle.

BOMATAK.C MINERALISED Bayer NZ Ltd All sellers Oxfendazole 90.6g/L 4.5mg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 10 days 72 hours 2-3 times dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Contains selenium, copper, cobalt, zinc and iodine. Ovicidal.

EDGE INJECTION Bayer NZ Ltd All sellers Doramectin, Levamisole

4mg/mL doramectin, 200mg/mL levamisole phosphate

0.2mg doramectin and 10mg levamisole phosphate/kg bwt

1mL/20kg bwt 21 days 21 days 2x matureimmature

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

EDGE is also effective against strains of Trichostrongylus axei and small intestinal Trichostrongylus spp. and Cooperia spp. that are resistant to members of the avermectin/milbemycin family of anthelmintics.

ALLIANCE COOPERS All outlets Oxfendazole Levamisole, Abamectin

45.3g/L80g/L, 2gL


1ml/10kg bwt 10 days 35 days 3x dose rate matureimmature

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★ ★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★

★★★ ALLIANCE is a triple combination oral drench for cattle and sheep. ALLIANCE contains: 25mg Cobalt and 5mg Selenium per 5mL dose.

CONVERGE COOPERS All outlets LevamisoleAbamectin

80g/L2g/L

8mg/kg0.2mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

CONVERGE is a dual combination oral drench for cattle and sheep. CONVERGE contains: 25mg Colbalt and 5mg Selenium per 5mL.

SCANDA COOPERS All outlets OxfendazoleLevamisole

45.3g/L80g/L

4.53mg/kg8mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ SCANDA is a dual combination oral drench for cattle and sheep.

SCANDA SELENISED COOPERS All outlets OxfendazoleLevamisole

45.3g/L80g/L

4.53mg/kg8mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ SCANDA SELENISED is a dual combination oral drench for cattle and sheep. SCANDA SELENISED contains: Colbalt 0.4mg/mL and Selenium 1mg/mL.

PARAMECTIN INJECTION Jurox NZ Ltd All outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg 49 49 3X matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Controls sucking lice. Must be administered subcutaneously. Do not treat calves under 16 weeks of age.

PARAMECTIN® POUR ON Jurox NZ Ltd All outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.5mg/kg 1mL/20kg 35 NIL 3X matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Paramectin Pour On is Rain fast. Also controls sucking and biting lice.

ECLIPSE POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin Levamisole

10mg/mL200mg/mL

0.5mg/kg10mg/kg


ND ★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

ND ND ★★★ ★★★★★★

Eclipse Pour-on is also highly effective in the treatment and control of mature and immature strains of Cooperia spp resistant to the endectocides (including eprinomectin and doramectin). Levamisole is also very active against benzimidazole-resistant strains. Also controls sucking-biting lice.

GENESIS ULTRA POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin Triclabendazole

5mg/mL300mg/mL

0.5mg/kg30mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★★★★

Also controls sucking-biting lice.

ARREST C Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets AlbendazoleLevamisole

100g/L75g/L

10mg/kg7.5mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★ ★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★

OXFEN C PLUS Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets OxfendazoleLevamisole

90.6g/L150g/L

4.5mg/kg7.5mg/kg


★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ Effective against mature and immature strains of Cooperia resistant to the endectocides. Ovicidal. Contains Selenium.

OXFEN C HI MINERAL Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Oxfendazole 90.6g/L 4.5mg/kgmg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 10 days 5 days 5 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ "Ovicidal". Each 10ml contains 20mg of selenium and 97mg of copper. Also in plain form. Can be used in deer.

IVERMATRIX CALF Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Ivermectin, Levamisole, Oxfendazole

2g/L, 80g/L, 45.4g/L

0.2mg/kg, 8mg/kg, 4.5mg/kg

1m/10kg 14 days 35 days 3x matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

GENESIS POUR-ON Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.5mg/kg 1mL/20kg bwt 35 days Nil 3 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

ND ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

Also for the control of internal and external parasites in deer. Also for the treatment and control of biting and sucking lice. Extended activity 14 days Cooperia, Ostertagia. Rainfast.

GENESIS INJECTION Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Abamectin 10mg/mL 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg bwt 49 days 49 days 3 x dose rate matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

Controls sucking lice. Has extended activity for 28 days against Trichostrongylus, Ostertagia L4, Haemonchus spp and 21 days against Oesophagostomum and Ostertagia spp and 14 days against Cooperia. Must be administered subcutaneously. Also available with B12. Contains 2mg/ml Vitamin B12. No sting formulation.

IVOMEC PLUS INJECTION FOR CATTLE

Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Ivermectin Clorsulon

1%10%

0.2mg/kg 2.0mg/kg

1mL/50kg bwt 28 days 14 days 20 x dose rate

matureimmature

★★★★★★

★★★★★★ ★★★

★★★★★★

★★★ ★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★★★★★

★★ ★★★★★★

★★★ Also for the simultaneous control of sucking lice, psoroptes sp mites and aids in control of biting lice and chorioptes mites. Label claim for persistent activity – product continues to control certain worms for 7-21 days after treatment. (Lungworm and hookworm 21 days, Ostertagia 14 days, Cooperia spp. Up to at least 7 days.) NZ studies show product is effective (>95%) against adults.

IVOMEC INJECTION FOR CATTLE AND PIGS

Merial Ancare Veterinary outlets Ivermectin 1.0% w/v 0.2mg/kg 1mL/50kg bwt 28 days 35 days 20 x dose rate

matureimmature

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46 ANIMAL HEALTH

Animal welfare law workshops for dairyWORKSHOPS STARTING this month will help dairy farmers under-stand animal welfare laws and work out their options for keeping on the right side of new rules.

DairyNZ ‘Welfare Matters’ two-hour workshops kick off in Hawera on April 29, then go to Stratford and Waihi on April 30. Four-hour sessions on stock welfare will also begin in Southland, one on April 28 in Winton, another on April 30 in Gore.

DairyNZ’s animal welfare team leader Chris Leach says the work-shops easily help farmers get up to speed on animal welfare – “what the rules are, what farmers can do to comply and practical instruction to train staff on their farms.

“We had a change to the animal

welfare code last year and other pro-posed changes to the Animal Wel-fare Act are going through Parliament now, expected to come into force later this year. These latest changes are likely to give the Ministry for Pri-mary Industries greater powers to issue infringement notices and fines.”

All the workshops are designed for decision-makers – those who will be held responsible if a farm isn’t com-pliant.

“Often people slip up because they are not aware of changes to industry standards or they misinterpret what they need to do,” Leach says.

The workshops will tell how to manage tails, euthanase calves, ensure cattle are fit for transport, and how to train farm employees in good

welfare practices.“The workshops will be delivered

by local veterinarians and will help farmers minimise risks to their busi-ness. Farmers will learn how to instil first-class animal welfare culture in their farm team.”

Dairy Women’s Network is joining DairyNZ to take the longer four hour ‘stock welfare’ workshops. These ses-sions will run in Ruawai, Northland, and in parts of Waikato, the West Coast, Canterbury and Southland during May.

“These stock welfare workshops will run from 10am to 2.30pm and will cover a bit more such as practi-cal skills training.”

To register: www.dairynz.co.nz/wel-fare-workshops

ALL ARE welcome to come along and sup-port excellence in farm-ing and acknowledge winners at the 2015 New Zealand Ewe Hogget awards dinner, to be held in Christchurch in early June.

On the night, breed winners’ efforts will be acknowledged and the overall winner announced.

This competi-tion is now in its 19th year. Regional judg-ing has begun in the North Island and the

national judges will then judge the South Island finalists.

Once completed, the breed section win-ners will be announced. There will be a presenta-tion dinner at 5pm on Tuesday

June 2 at the Chateau on the Park in Christchurch

Also during the eve-ning, the breed win-ners will be interviewed, and a panorama of pho-tographs screened of

their farm and stock.

Entry will be by ticket only, at $65 (incl GST) per person.Tel 03 3589 412 or email [email protected]

2015 EWE HOGGET EVENT

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 47RURAL NEWS // APRIL 21, 2015

46 ANIMAL HEALTH

Year 2013 Year 2014 % Change

Canada 27,542 28,144 +2

United States 201,851 208,274 +3

Brazil 65,089 55,537 -15

European Union

184,335 169,500 -8

France 42,656 33,127 -22

Germany 36,248 34,611 -5

Italy 19,018 18,178 -4

UK 13,490 13,526 0

Russian Fed 40,158 37,500 -7

Japan 24,721 20,944 -15

China 524,500 524,600 0

India 619,159 592,942 -4

World 2,200,000 2,130,000 -3

World tractor sales stagnate

THE WORLD tractor market for 2014 is estimated to be about 2.1 million units, which showed a slight decline and high regional variation.

The big volume markets continue to be China and India where about 50% of the units sold worldwide are registered. Note that a great number of these tractors have very low horsepower, and indeed price, compared to the major players such as US, Brazil, Russia and the intensively farmed areas of Europe.

The EU, with its intensive farming, represents about 25% of global industry turnover at about Euro 8.2 billion. But the EU only has about 8% of global tractor sales, with an average tractor

value of Euro 43,000 – double the world average

Individual markets show contrasting pictures. The Americas (USA, Canada and Brazil) delivered at least 235,000 tractors, about 50% being ‘lifestyle’ type units no bigger than 40hp. Though the global financial crisis becalmed sales in 2009-2011, a clear recovery has been seen in the last two years with sales in the US exceeding 100,000 units in 2014.The key indicator was a drop in 100hp+ tractors to 32,200 units (-34%).

In Canada, the overall market was flat – about 28,000 units and a cautious outlook for 2015 despite a bumper harvest but poor crop prices.

In Brazil sales fell from 60,000 tractors in 2013 to 55,000 in 2014, about one

third in the 100hp+ sector. The market remains heavily subsidised via a loan scheme (FINAME). Pundits are picking the market will decline by 5% in 2015.

In Europe, 2014 showed an overall decline of about 8%. However, different EU countries showed very different results.

France had 22% fewer sales (33,000). Germany, down 5%, led in the Euro zone with 34,600 tractors sold at an average size of 155hp. One in every five tractors sold in Germany was over 200hp.

The Italian machinery associations report, “the lowest figure in the post-war mechanisation of Italy has been reached in 2014”, with 18,178 tractors sold (4% down on the previous year). Much of

this downward trend was in the high horsepower market which, compared with Germany still only represents 4% of the total.

The UK bucked the downward trend by staying flat at 13,500 units. Factories in Europe are predicting 2015 will see a continued downward trend of about 10%, caused by low commodity prices, adverse weather and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

In Russia, a substantial market, sales fell about 6% to 37,500 units. Sales of mid-range tractors dropped sharply, but sales of sub-30hp tractors rose by nearly 40%.

In the powerhouse of Asia, Japan sales dropped by 15% to just 21,000 units. However China held its own – 524,000

While we might think the New Zealand new tractor market – with sales approaching 4000 units – is large, it pales into insignificance compared to the rest of the world. But despite the big numbers it isn’t all rosy. Machinery editor Mark Daniel reports.

sales of ‘real’ tractors to the professional farming sector. India says it remains the ‘world leader’ in tractor sales – 593,000 units, an impressive number but note it includes pedestrian tillers, single wheel units and many machines smaller than 30hp.

– NZ sales ok. Page 50

MORE CHOICE IN EURO SERIES

DEUTZ-FAHR TRACTOR distributor Power Farming has recently introduced three new models to the 6 series range.

These are designated CS, with three models -- 166, 193 and 210hp. The 6160, 6190 and 6210 CS tractors have an ergonomically designed control lever that brings all main

functions into one location and does away with the traditional gear lever on the right side of the cabin.

The Comfort Shift lever is the key interface to a transmission developed by specialist ZF and offering 40 forward and reverse speeds via six main speeds, four powershifts and a creep gear set.

The main speeds are shifted electro-hydraulically in less than 0.5

second, while the four powershifts have proportional valves to ensure a smooth change under load at all times.

The CS models in standard specification have speed matching, auto powershift (APS) and achieve 40km/h at lower engine revs; they should prove popular with users wanting optimum tractor performance.www.powerfarming.co.nz

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

Farmers use their 4WD’s for everything: road, gravel, sand and mud. You name

the condition and farmers will put their work horse through it. Just as important as choosing the right 4WD for the job is getting the correct tyre for the conditions. The choices farmers have when buying 4WD tyres has grown over the last few years, with so many brands coming into the market. What brand do I choose? Then you need to choose a pattern: high performance, highway, all terrain or mud tyre.

With so many choices if you make the wrong choice, your 4WD could be under performing for the next 2-5 years. When choosing a 4WD tyre farmers would normally pick between

an All Terrain tyre, which would be good on road, gravel and some off-road, but would lack enough traction in the muddy paddock.

Or, you could choose a mud tyre which would be great off-road, but noisy on-road, slippery in the wet

and have lower mileage. Cooper has solved the age old problem, by introducing the S/TMAXX a hybrid mud/all-terrain tyre.

The Cooper S/TMAXX has all the characteristics of a mud tyre: 4 rib design, with open shoulder blocks

and sidebiters for off-road traction, while wider tread blocks provide a larger foot print and internal siping improves wet-road performance. The S/TMAXX comes with Cooper’s patented Armour-Tek3 casing which gives the tyre 2.5 times more tear resistant meaning much less tyre

damage and punctures in the harshest of terrain. The Cooper S/TMAXX comes with a massive 14.7mm of tread and a minimum mileage guarantee of 50,000kms.

To find your nearest Cooper Retailer, call 0800 MILEAGE (645-324) or visit coopertires.co.nz for a free info pack. Cooper tyres are only available at selected Cooper Tires Retailers.

Hybrid Mud/AT tyre guaranteed to last

Choosing the right tyre is essential for performance, safety and value. Without the right tyres for your vehicle and driving style your 4WD could be under performing and costing you more than just money.

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the track system’s double axis bogie with two-way oscillation which provides better weight transfer and reduces shock load-ing, thereby cutting back vibration and stress on the frame.

The DeltaTrack has two saddle tanks with a total capacity of around 1800L. These are located below the cab on each

side with a crossover tube, so regardless of the fuel level the weight from left to right remains the same. And unlike its competi-tors the 460DT’s tanks don’t affect the front-to-rear weight ratio.

This is the first Ver-satile DeltaTrack in New Zealand, but Darling isn’t worried by the cur-rent lack of numbers.

There are already quite a number of wheeled Versa-tile tractors in this coun-try and Power Farming has sold at least 30 of the DeltaTrack machines in Australia, where their size and power make them ideal for the large broad-acre cropping operations found there.

“Under Power Farm-ing and the backup they’re

got locally in Timaru and nationwide, I’ve got no concerns about servicing or parts,” he says. “We’ve got good backup with Ross Dawbin at Power Farming in Timaru, and if anything is required we know that you can get it out of Australia pretty quickly.”

Power Farming ’s national tractor man-ager, Brett Maber, expects there will be more demand for these huge machines in New Zealand, with the increasing devel-opment of minimum till-age gear and the search for greater efficiencies through one pass machin-ery, all of which demands greater power.

While the 460DT is the biggest tractor Power Farming has sold in New Zealand, it’s not the big-gest the Australasian-wide firm has handled.

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 49

Huge tractor on track to work wellSOUTH CANTERBURY arable farmer Warren Dar-ling has taken delivery of a new Canadian-built 460hp Versatile Delta-Track tractor, one of the bigger machines sold in the South Island in recent times.

This is one of the few machines designed as a dedicated track machine instead of simply having a track assembly added to an existing platform.

Versatile tractors have traditionally been at the top end of the power spec-trum and are designed specifically for the mas-sive broadacre cropping operations found pri-marily in parts of Aus-tralia, North America and Europe. Although the brand is not yet well known in New Zealand, it is internationally recog-nised by large-scale arable farmers.

The 460DT is powered by a Cummins QSX 15L engine that meets Tier-4 emission standards and offers unbeatable power and torque without the requirement for additives (no AdBlue is required), coupled to a CAT TA-22 16-speed powershift

transmission which offers smooth shifting with industrial strength dura-bility.

Darling does a three crop rotation of wheat, barley and oil seed rape on his third-generation 450ha property Poplar Grove, just south of Timaru, where he recently har-vested a world record 13.8 tonnes/ha of barley. He describes the 460DT as a “huge lugging machine” and he’s impressed with its performance and econ-omy.

“It’s a big tractor, but it’s pretty simple and it does everything we need for our heavy cultivation,” he says. “It’s very cheap to run – we only use 20L of fuel per hectare for our cultivation includ-ing drilling, and 30 min-utes/ha of time, so we’re not doing big hours on the machine. But we need that big horsepower to pull the cultivation gear we’re using.”

In a one-pass opera-tion, the Versatile is pull-ing a Great Plains Simba SL500 cultivator with discs incorporating resi-dues, sub-soiling legs and a consolidation roller, fol-

lowed by a Great Plains Simba Centurion drill.

Darling says despite its size, the 460DT gives a lot smoother ride than the previous four-track machine he’s had.

“It’s a pretty comfort-able machine – with one of the biggest cabs on the market – and the ride is very smooth. But despite it being big it’s very manoeuvrable and is easy to operate, and it’s got all the basic things you need for a big lugging tractor.

“When you’re in it you think it’s a great big machine, but in fact you still have headlands the same as a normal wheeled tractor. It’s so manoeu-vrable that you don’t have to make big headlands or alter your cultivation techniques in any way – just carry on the same.”

In fact, with its 33 degree articulation angle, the 460DT has an extremely good turn-around radius.

Darling reckons the track system is particu-larly impressive and takes any jarring out of rough country.

A major part of that smoothness comes from

The appearance of the Versatile 460DT DeltaTrack machine at the South Island field days drew a lot of interest. The tractor is seen here with new owner Warren Darling (right) and his son Andrew, the future operator of this 460hp machine.

TO PAGE 51

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50 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

TRACTOR SALES in New Zealand last year hit a ten-year high and Waikato played its part.

With last year’s record dairy payout underpinning rural confidence, it’s no surprise 2014 was a record for new tractor deliveries nationwide.

With around 4000 units sold, dealers and importers were smiling and lots of farmers got rid of their old clunkers.

The mighty Waikato, dairy dependent, held top position with at least 600 registrations of over-40hp units delivered to farmers and contractors.

Case IH New Zealand recently celebrated near Hamilton its achievement of being the leading tractor brand in Waikato – at

least 150 units sold by dealers in Cambridge, Otorohanga, Paeroa and Huntly.

Awards were presented to the dealer principals, and sales, parts and service teams were recognised

for their tremendous efforts.Case IH operations manager for

NZ, Tim Fanning, says it’s a great feeling to get first position in a market where the competition is fierce.

“We know we have great products, but without the help of great people at our dealerships, and the best backup, you can’t be a market leader,” he told Rural News.

Fanning also thanked the farmers and contractors who supported the brand and its dealerships, “for their support in helping us reach this milestone”.

Asked how 2015 was shaping up, he noted, “this looks like it will be another solid year for tractor sales, as the long term outlook keeps confidence high”.Tel. 0800 CASEIHwww.caseih.co.nz

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

A year to remember for NZ tractor sales

You ‘Little Ripper’!

WITH ITS paint still wet, Robertson Manufacturing’s Little Ripper bale feeder was launched at the South Island field days last month, winning the runner-up prize for New Zealand-made farm machinery.

While popular, bale feeders have had to contend with greater bale weights – sometimes 750kg or more – as baler manufacturers have striven to increase bale densities.

This heavy loading of machines has resulted in cases of instability in less-than-ideal conditions.

To address this problem the Little Ripper has two key components within its design.

First is the S-type discharge elevator,

which transfers loads back through the centre of the machine, rather than using a traditional layout where the elevator is just an extension of the bale handling cradle. This greatly improves stability.

Second is the re-think of the bale transfer system that takes the bale off the ground, transports it and ultimately places it on the discharge table. By using a conventional layout of two bale spikes to lift the bale, and adding a lateral grab mechanism, the bale is held securely in place during the transport phase and, when required, the bale is gently placed on the unload cradle.

Unlike other systems, which effectively throw the bale into the unload position, this is particularly useful for any misshapen bales that can be prone to trying to climb off the elevator.www.robfarm.co.nz

MARK DANIEL

[email protected]

Robertson’s Engineering new bale feeder boasts higher stability.

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“On the New Zealand tractor scene, the 460 is at the very top end in terms of horsepower,” he says, “but in fact this same chassis now goes up to 620 horsepower, and we’ve sold quite a few of those in Australia.”

He says Power Farming has two further

demonstration machines currently being evaluated by New Zealand farmers but he believes the market for such massive power is limited in New Zealand because of our type of farming and smaller properties.

Maber says Versatile has an international reputation for building

tractors with big, strong engines and bulletproof transmissions and componentry.

“In recent years the company has spent tens of millions of dollars on research and development and on improved engineering, and they’re now producing a new

generation of tractors with sophistication and style, but still with real rugged durability and toughness.

“It’s that rugged toughness, that North American robustness, bang for your buck and the mentality of being bullet proof – that’s why they’re so darned good

and why they just go and go, and do thousands and thousands of hours of work.”

For more information contact Ross Nesdale, national marketing manager, Power Farming, DDI 07 902 2226.www.powerfarming.co.nz

Huge 460 HP tractor hits the groundFROM PAGE 49 The 460 HP four-

track versatile 460DT is one of the larger tractors sold in the South Island recently.

NZ-MADE DUALS SUIT LOCAL CONDITIONS TRACTORS ARE hitting the paddocks as the cultivation season looms.

If the going is tough underfoot or paddocks are on hill slopes and rugged terrain, dual wheels might be best to combine extra flotation, traction and stability to get you to places safely and with minimal soil damage.

Adding duals to a tractor significantly reduces the ground pressure due to a larger footprint.

The result is less ground compaction and reduced damage to crop and pasture yields. With added rubber on the ground, increased tractor width and extra lugs to ‘bite’ into the earth, the point at which the tractor will over-balance is increased – improving operating safety and stability.

Adding an extra set of lugs also assists in reducing lateral slippage. Certain ground conditions or the use of big cultivators can demand more traction. The extra lugs provided by duals ensure the tractor power is more effectively transmitted to the ground.

Snaplok dual wheel systems, by TRS Tyre & Wheel, have proven effective in increasing productivity on New Zealand farms for many years. Their quick release clamp is ideal for farmers wanting the convenience of removing and fitting duals regularly.

An alternative option is Cobra duals, designed for the farmer who doesn’t need to take his duals off or put them on frequently.

“Farmers can be confident when selecting Snaplok dual wheel systems that they benefit from over 25 years of successful operation in New Zealand conditions,” says TRS marketing manager Andrew Gillam.

“Our dual wheels systems are designed and manufactured in NZ, for NZ conditions and New Zealand’s farmers.”www.trstyreandwheel.co.nz

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

Market Data Every Week

WHANGAREI 9 Kioreroa Rd 09 430 3066HAMILTON 87 Kahikatea Dr 07 843 9100ROTORUA 292 Te Ngae Rd 07 345 5599HAWERA 289 Waihi Rd 06 278 0020HASTINGS 1322 Omahu Rd 06 879 9090FEILDING 40 Kawakawa Rd 06 323 0101HOKITIKA 65 Fitzherbert St 03 755 8450

TEMPLETON 735 Main South Rd 03 341 6900ASHBURTON Main South Rd 03 307 9400TIMARU 72 Hilton Highway 03 688 6900DUNEDIN Airport Turnoff 03 489 8886WANAKA 156 Ballantyne Rd 03 443 6781INVERCARGILL 25/3 Wallacetown- 03 215 6114 Lorneville Highway

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52 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Machinery co-op turns 10 and still going strongORIGIN AGROUP, NZ’s

only farm machinery buying co-op, recently celebrated its 10th

anniversary, so it was timely for Rural News to catch up with managing director Dave Donnelly at the recent Central Districts Field Days (CDFD).

Donnelly reports a record sales year for 2014 and is cautiously optimistic for 2015, given the long term optimism particularly for the dairy sector.

Origin represents leading brands from Europe such as Pottinger, Alpego and Hatzenbichler, and while the show turned up nothing too new, there appeared to be improvements or upgrades to current models.

The Hatzenbichler has sold well over the years as a low cost means of establishing small seed crops. Customer prompting has seen Origin has introduce an in-cab control box to monitor fan speeds, belt slippage and tank levels. This should help eliminate ‘bald spots’ that make the heart sink after emergence.

CDFD was also a good

opportunity to focus on a pre-ripper that might be a help after the drought has left ground to be worked up in tougher than normal conditions

The Alpego Delta 300 pre-ripper has a heavy-duty toolbar that fits in front of a rotary hoe and carries four robust legs with replaceable points and wings.

The staggered formation of the legs reduces draught requirements and the aim is to set the depth about 75mm below that of the rotary hoe’s blades.

The outcome is a general loosening of the soil to aid crop establishment, but more importantly it eliminates the smearing effect normally associated with rotary hoes and blade wear is 30% lower.

Amongst the Pottinger range of grassland equipment was the Top 762C twin rotor rake, with an adjustable working width of 6.9-7.6m.

Improvements for the 2015 season centred on the mounting of the tine arms, which are subject

to huge loads as these machines are pushed hard to stay in front of today’s high output self-propelled foragers and balers. If damaged, a two-bolt fixing system ensures the damaged tine arm can be removed and exchanged quickly, cutting downtime in the paddock. At the front of the machine Origin was

showing the Multi-Tast jockey wheel system, which runs ahead of the raking rotor to control adaption over undulating territory and ensuring there is no soil contamination from the tines bottoming out.

Pottinger’s well known high volume jumbo loader wagons now come with a 5-year warranty on the

transmission, including the input gearbox, rotor drive gearbox and the rotor itself.

The warranty is conditional on an annual pre-inspection by a Pottinger authorised dealer, surely a small price to play for such peace of mind. Tel. 07 823 7582www.originagroup.co.nz

MARK DANIEL

Origin Agroup’s Dave Donnelly at the recent CDFD.

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Massey range gets a big liftAGCO took the opportunity at the recent South Island field days to make a foray into the telehandler market with its new 9407S. Mark Daniel reports.

WITH A lift capacity of 3.5 tonnes to a maximum height of 4.0m, and pow-ered by a Perkins 4-cyl 130hp engine, the machine certainly appears to have all the right credentials.

Centred on a shorter, wider chassis with a wheelbase of 2.87m and shod with 24 inch diam-eter tyres, this telehan-dler offers tight turning for operation in confined spaces. The industry norm of two- wheel, four wheel and crab or offset steer-ing takes care of pointing the machine in the right direction.

The engine is located along the offside of the machine, parallel to the main boom. This provides

access to items requir-ing routine maintenance, with the main items such as hydrostatic and hydrau-lic pumps mounted at the front of the engine bay.

The all-important cooling pack is also mounted forwards and features a flip-up design for cleaning, and when coupled with the reversible fan this should ensure cool running on hot days

From the engine the drive is transmitted via a hydrostatic pump to the gearbox with two mechan-ical ranges and two hydraulic splits to ensure a range of speeds to suit all applications. Creep speeds allow slow speed

with high throttle settings to achieve fast cycle times. Maximum speed is a true 40km/h. Forward/reverse control is via a shuttle lever mounted under the

left side of the steering wheel.

The grunt of the machine, the boom, has a 1.75m pivot point and is powered by a closed-cen-tre load sensing hydraulic pump offering a peak flow of 160L/minute, which should ensure fast cycle times.

The newly designed cabin front and rear curved screens has the former carrying on up over the roof space and the latter curving around the right rear of the machine. Both give unprecedented views, par-ticularly to the right rear quarter that can be a blind

spot on some competitive brands.

At 900mm wide, the cab should suit all sizes of operator and with stan-dard features such as air conditioning, air suspen-sion seat and a noise level of 75 dbA long days should be a breeze. For operator informa-

tion and boom control a dashboard is located in the front right of the cab, so easing the view down through the boom to the toolbar; a fully propor-tional joystick is located ahead of the right hand armrest.www.masseyferguson.com.au

MF Telehandler

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D40 still has the chopsTHE 2005 launch of the Nissan Navara D40 really tested its mettle, the media drive event hammering the trucks through West Coast bush on rough old mining trails, river beds then through Rainbow and Molesworth Stations.

Its abilities on and off road impressed and, thanks in large part to its tough looks and generous size, it went on to be a sales success for Nissan NZ, selling 11,676 units between November 2005 and March 2015, second only to the Toyota Hilux in the ute segment for most of that time.

The D40 is in its ‘run-out’ phase now – the new Navara is due here in June – so that tally will no doubt increase as buyers take advantage of sharp deals on

D40s (for example, the ST 4WD double cab is down from $52,790 to $35,990).

So will such buyers be getting a truck that remains competitive in a ute market much more crowded than it was in 2005?

Rural News spent a week with a 2WD D40 to have one last look. It still looks great, there’s no denying – proof that strong and simple design stands up over time.

The 2.5L turbo diesel engine in the 4WD was the most powerful engine in its class in 2005, and until the ST-X 550 V6 Navara is dropped in June (Nissan is discontinuing the fantastic Renault-sourced V6) Nissan still has the brag-ging rights. However, the 2.5L engine’s 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque have been eclipsed recently by other

brands.It is more than enough though, even

in 2WD guise where you get 120kW and 403Nm.

Carrying capacity of 943kg (2WD) and 873kg (4WD) and towing capacity of two tonnes (2WD) and three tonnes

(4WD) are still competitive, the tray and double cab were always generous, and Rural News saw respectable fuel efficiency of about 9.0L/100km. On paper then, the old D40 can still cut it.

On the road, it is comfortable and handles well, although a side-by-side

comparison with a new Ranger or Amarok (or the new Navara) would reveal slower steering and a bit more shudder and shake over rough bits of road or track. Given the age differ-ence between the D40 and those trucks though, the difference is not huge; the D40 really did advance the ute category in 2005.

And equipment levels, at least in the ST-X we drove, include most of the kit a buyer in 2015 would expect. Nissan has upgraded the truck a couple of

times since 2005.Nissan is doing the usual juggling

act of running out the current model to make room for the new. Finance terms of 1.9% for 48 months and hefty dis-counts off normal retail pricing make the outgoing D40 Navara a great buy.

ADAM FRICKER

The Nissan Navara D40... still good value as the run out begins.

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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.

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Join PGG Wrightson Rewards between 20 April and 31 July 2015 to be eligible for this great package valued at over $400.

PLUS spend over $250 on your Rewards Business Card per month for the � rst 4 months and we’ll give you a $30 grocery voucher!*

*SKY Basic costs $48.07 per month. Other terms and conditions apply – see www.pggwrightson.co.nz/rewards for details.

Sign up to SKY Basic* for 6 months:» No joining fee*

» FREE SKY Sport, MY SKY and COUNTRY TV for 6 months*

Join PGG Wrightson Rewards today and receive this exclusive SKY o� er!

Visit your local store or download an application form online.

rural news 21 april 2015

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