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OCTOBER 21, 2014: ISSUE 571 www.ruralnews.co.nz

RURALNEWS

AGRIBUSINESSThe world’s largest robotic dairy farm swings into action. PAGE 22-23

ANIMAL HEALTHNAEAC say future animal testing for research is likely to decline. PAGE 47 WORLD'S BEST

NZ has been ranked the

number one co-operative economy in the world.PAGE 10

TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

PM GETS HIS GREENSPrime Minister John Key went rural last week to see a high-tech asparagus growing operation in Horowhenua. He met one owner Geoff Lewis who in the 1980s turned his back on the dairy industry and planted 10ha of asparagus. Today his company Tendertips produces 300 tonnes of asparagus, about a third of it going to Japan. As well as inspecting the impressive pack house, Key and Lewis talked about employment issues in the horticulture sector including the ‘recognised seasonal employer’ scheme, which many horticulturalists see as critical to their industry. See page 5 for more details.

Research exodus underwayBEEF + LAMB Genetics (BLG) needs to act now to prevent the collapse of New Zealand’s science capability in livestock breeding, say farmers and a former director of AgResearch’s Inver-may campus.

“They’ve lost just… over half the sci-

ence capability already: eight scientists have gone and two pHDs haven’t been completed,” Dr Jock Allison told Rural News at BLG’s inaugural Sheep Breed-ers’ Forum in Dunedin last week.

He was speaking about AgResearch’s planned relocation of the genetics hub at Invermay to Lincoln – “the elephant in the room” during the forum’s first-day proceedings, according to North

Canterbury Corriedale and South Afri-can Merino breeder John Booker.

“I’ve already met three people who are not there anymore,” he fumed during a tirade on the topic that opened the day’s closing Q&A session.

Allison pointed out the eight scientists include one from the farm systems team, Dr Julie Everett-Hincks, but nonetheless her work was also

valuable to breeders.BLG’s chairman, former Landcorp

chief executive Chris Kelly, was hauled to the front of the packed hall to provide answers on the AgResearch issue.

An injection of $15m from MBIE would help retain the scientists but BLG’s contractual obligation with MBIE meant the work the money is for has to be done by named people and it is “less

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

important where they are situated,” Kelly said.

“One thing Beef + Lamb can do is give certainty to those people with the money we’ve got… I’m not saying we have any control over the move of Invermay to Lincoln but we will do our best.”

But that didn’t satisfy some dele-gates, who suggested BLG should set up an organisation to do the genetic work. “Why not act now before we lose the other half of the genomics team?” asked one.

That was echoed by Allison. “The time has come when we have to strike quickly.”

AgResearch had given the breeding industry no confidence that anything in its plans would change and another organisation would probably be able to offer the same services “a whole lot cheaper”.

Kelly acknowledged the remaining scientists “must stay or we are dead in the water. And I have made that com-mitment today with the funding.”

Moving on, Kelly took a shot at the lack of technology transfer in many Pri-mary Growth Partnerships. “None of these PGPs are going to succeed until we crack the technology transfer prob-lem…. If we could fix that, and nothing else, the agricultural sector would be twice as profitable as it is now.”

Nobody from AgResearch com-mented on the relocation proposal at BLG’s forum.

• More from the Sheep Breeders Forum in Rural News November 4.

@rural_news

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ISSUE 571www.ruralnews.co.nz

‘Grey’ market lends a silver lining

THE IMPACT of Russia’s dairy ban on global dairy prices may be waning.

The emergence of a ‘grey market’, allowing some Russian allies to buy milk from Europe and re-export it to Russia, is easing downward pressure on prices.

Fonterra director Ian Farrelly told a Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) conference in Cambridge last week that EU milk is starting to trickle again into Russia through a “grey market”.

“The situation remains complex but there is a grey market developing where we find allies of Russia, like Turkey, are getting milk from EU and putting it into Russia,” he told SMASH delegates.

Russia, the world’s second-larg-est importer of dairy products, banned milk from the US, EU and Australia as

a tit-for-tat response to trade sanctions imposed by the west over its conflict with Ukraine.

The ban left 250,000 tonnes of dairy products seeking new buyers on the world market; coupled with a surge in milk production around the world the Russian ban drove down dairy prices.

However, last week’s Global Dairy Trade auction saw the trade weighted index jump 1.4%, its biggest gain this year.

Farrelly later told Rural News that he believes milk will find its way into Russia through “unconventional bor-ders”. “While Russia has banned direct imports from Europe, they are still trad-ing openly with others and we think over time milk will find its way through those countries.”

This should ease the downward pres-sure on dairy prices, which have fallen

nearly 50% since February.“The extra production that hasn’t

got a home is creating (price) sag on the total world market, at a time when here is a lot of milk because of very good sea-sons,” says Farrelly.

He doesn’t expect New Zealand dairy products to find their way to Russia through the grey market. Russia buys mostly cheese from Europe and New Zealand is dominant is whole milk powder, a product not high on Russia’s list.

University of Waikato professor of agribusiness Jacqueline Rowarth says rumours of the grey market have been circulating, including through China.

She hopes this will help prices bounce back and lift the milk payout to farmers. But she points out that Fonterra has indi-cated prices must rebound 30% by the end of the year to maintain the $5.30/

kgMS forecast payout.BNZ economist Doug Steel says it’s

hard to get any “concrete info” on the existence of a grey market. He believes while the decline in dairy prices is arrested for now, there remains intense downward pressure.

Grain prices relative to milk price remain low in the US, encouraging farm-ers to produce more milk. The uncer-tainty in global stock markets has taken volatility a step higher, says Steel.

“So, while we’ve had the year’s biggest increase in the GDT price index, we have to keep an eye on future GDT events; it’s a case-by-case scenario.”

Steel says the low milk price will increase pressure on EU farmers to scale back production but this won’t happen overnight. “While the seeds are getting sown now, we won’t see the results until next year.”

SUDESH KISSUN

sudeshk@ruralnews�co�nz

Vigilance required

No thanks!FINAL RESULTS of the wool levy refer-endum show 57.19% of votes against and 42.81% in favour.

The weighted vote from larger enter-prises was even more strongly against the levy -- 59.88% opposed and only 40.12% in support.

“The record voter turnout of 47.22% strongly signals that farmers care about the future of the wool industry and want to be heard; this is a step in the right direction,” says Sandra Faulkner, chair of the Wool Levy Group. “The turnout is much higher than the last wool levy referendum [turnout] of 39% and of most commodity levy orders which are about 35%.

The wool levy referendum was open for a month and closed on October 10. Voting packs were sent to 12,201 sheep-farmers.

– More page 7

Kiwifruit growers in Hawkes Bay are being warned to be vigilant to stop the spread of PSA.Zespri recently held a field day for growers in the region. Orchard productivity centre manager Shane Max warned growers that while the disease arrived in Hawkes Bay much later than the Bay of Plenty they must be vigilant about it. Much has been learned about PSA and many kiwifruit orchards in Hawkes Bay don’t have the disease, he says.Max says it would be nice if it could stay that way and says the way to do this is for growers to keep up their spray programmes and hygiene and keep thinking of ways to mitigate PSA infection risk.For more details about the field day see pages 8-9

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4 NEWS

Truckie shortage

SOUTHLAND TRUCKIES switching to driving Fonterra milk tankers are leav-ing transport firms’ trucks lying idle.

Fonterra employs 204 tanker driv-ers at Edendale. It offers drivers higher wages, set work shifts and a nine-month working year.

In Southland and Otago, where transport companies have plenty of work, many trucks are idle.

HW Richardson Group, Invercargill, has hired 20 drivers from the Republic of Ireland but is still short. Summer-land Express Freight Ltd, Cromwell, also wants overseas drivers.

In very short supply are drivers with class 5 licences that cover heavy truck-and-trailer rigs. This shortage is nation-wide: the Road Transport Forum says at least 100 trucking firms have idle vehi-cles.

NZ Road Transport Association

Otago Southland area executive Alan Cooper reckons the industry is short of 400 drivers partly because the gov-ernment earlier this year deemed heavy vehicle driving a non-essential skill cat-egory in respect of immigration permits for foreign truckies.

This rule change, intended to retain jobs for Kiwis, caused a driver exodus, Cooper says. He wants reinstatement of work permits for foreign truckies.

Good opportunities abound for class 5 drivers, some earning $30-35 per hour, he says.

National Road Carriers chief execu-tive David Aitken says it is looking for solutions to the driver shortage.

“The size of the shortage seems to be across the board….

“We need a more comprehensive industry-led response.”

PETER OWENS

@rural_newsfacebook.com/ruralnews

US beef buyers court New Zealand suppliers

FROM A single-warehouse whole-sale business established in 1983 CostCo has boomed to become an international chain of membership warehouse stores selling ‘every-thing’ – food and computers or travel packages.

Turnover in recent years has topped US$64bn making it the fourth largest retailer in the world. Meat sales are about US$6b/year,

$4b of which is in the US. It has at least 660 warehouses including 468 in the US and Puerto Rico, 88 in Canada, 33 in Mexico, 26 in the UK, 20 in Japan, 11 in Korea, 10 in Taiwan, and six, soon to be seven, in Australia.

Huskey said given the success of the Australian operations it would “make sense to open a couple of warehouses over here.”

The company culture is to pay people well even on the shop floor and where possible promote from within. “When employees are happy they are your very best ambassadors,” said Huskey.

“I started 20 years ago pushing carts in the parking lot. You can go from working on the cash registers to running a $166m warehouse business.”

Single warehouse to world giant

IF YOU haven’t already heard of CostCo, chances are you soon will.

Two representatives of the giant US wholesale-style retailer visited New Zealand earlier this month look-ing to forge closer links with beef suppliers.

“We buy millions of pounds of beef from New Zealand and our business is growing,” assistant gen-eral manager merchandise Bob Huskey told Rural News after a Beef + Lamb NZ facilitated meeting with about 100 farmers in Can-terbury.

“We need to make sure we’ve got farms and pro-cessors in New Zealand still producing beef.”

Our lean beef, typically 95CL bull beef, and Australia’s, is essential to blend with fattier grain-fed product from the US for many of their lower-priced offerings such as burgers and mince.

Lowest price and highest quality is a core principle of CostCo’s busi-ness, but Huskey sought to reassure they want everybody in the supply chain to be making a dollar.

“Our goal is that all stages of the supply chain are able to survive, and not just survive but have an enjoyable lifestyle too. You can’t have a sustain-able supply programme if people are

losing money.”During their week-long visit they’d

been to Silver Fern Farms’ Te Aroha plant, Greenlea Premier Meats in Hamilton and Affco’s Horotiu plant, also in Waikato.

“But those were just the ones we had time to visit,” Huskey’s colleague

Tyson Apperson told Rural News.“We must buy beef from close to

every plant in New Zealand – 25-30 plants.”

Another farmer meeting in Ham-ilton had been “standing room only.”

Huskey said they want to strengthen links with farmers through their processors. Contracts, or per-haps producer clubs with CostCo’s name incorporated, could be a way to do that, he acknowledged, but no firm plans had been made yet.

The aim is traceability, not so much because CostCo’s customers want to be able to see where prod-

uct comes from before they buy but because customers trust and expect retailers to have traceability in their supply chain. “[Traceability] is prob-ably more important to the retailer than the customer,” said Huskey.

Of the 200m lb (~91,000t) of beef CostCo buys, 25-35% comes from

New Zealand. Country of origin labelling (CoOL) has been mandatory in the US since 2009 so the beef is labelled with a list of pos-sible origins including Aus-tralia and New Zealand.

“When CoOL came in a lot of retailers went US-only but our stance was, if it was OK before, it’s OK now, so we stuck with our supply programme.”

Organic beef lines are limited in its warehouses, with only a modest

mark-up compared to conventional beef, for example: US$3.79/lb for conventional mince would be US$5/lb for organic. However, online ten of the its 14 beef lines offered last week were organic, and tagged “grass-fed” in their description. Prices ranged from US$260 for a 10-pack of 10oz (284g) rib-eye steaks to US$115 for a 12-pack of 16oz (454g) mince portions.

Huskey told the meeting that prior to this trip he’d not been particularly impressed with grass-fed beef but what he’d had in Australia and New Zealand had been extremely good.

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

We want your beef: CostCo meat buyer Tyson Apperson and colleague Bob Huskey.

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NEWS 5Quad message starting to get through

WORKSAFE NEW Zealand says it thinks farmers are getting the message about quad safety despite a recent spike in quad crash deaths.

One confirmed and three unconfirmed quad crash deaths have occurred this year.

But national programmes manager Francois Barton says Worksafe is seeing some positive signs about quad use by farmers: they seem to be realising the value of quads and the need to ride them carefully.

“We have seen evidence that the sale and use of helmets has gone up. We are seeing strong engagement… with our recent ‘quad safety action group’,” he told Rural News. “You’re seeing on Country Calendar that helmets are being worn.”

The quad issue is not easy to fix, Barton says. It will need time and a wider culture change in farming. Understanding the capabilities and limitations of quads is critical, so is training people to use them properly.

“I wouldn’t expect a farmer to throw the keys of a $300,000 tractor to a worker without asking ‘are you competent about what you are

doing?’ The same applies to a quad. There is a responsibility to make sure the people jumping on these things know what they’re doing.”

Meanwhile, the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) says workers in agriculture, forestry and fishing are over-represented in the latest work injury claims to ACC. CTU head Helen Kelly says about a quarter of all workers in these sectors had an injury claim accepted by ACC.

“There is something seriously and systemically wrong when a quarter of the workers in any particular sector are injured at work. There seems to be an acceptance that there are some sectors where a certain number of injuries, or even fatalities, are expected. This is an unacceptable perspective. Every worker should be able to return home from work safely,” Kelly says.

PETER BURKE

Key backs seasonal worker schemePRIME MINISTER John Key says the gov-ernment strongly supports the ‘recognised seasonal employer’ (RSE) scheme which allows Pacific Islands people temporary entry to New Zealand to help harvest and pack crops if NZ labour is short.

He discussed this last week while vis-iting a large asparagus farm in Horow-henua. With owner Geoff Lewis, over tea and asparagus rolls, Key, Primary Indus-tries Minister Nathan Guy talked about the value of the RSE scheme to the horticulture sector. Key also raised the need to get more New Zealanders into jobs in the sector.

“The government’s focus is doing a bit of both. We’re strong supporters of RSE because it’s a good foreign policy tool, it works well and it helps people from the Pacific,” Key told Rural News.

“But equally we’ve been putting more pressure on the industry to employ as many local people as they can.

I was sceptical of RSE at the start when Labour brought it in. I thought that it was fraught with danger and would be diffi-cult to establish, but it’s proved very suc-cessful.”

Key says the money Pacific Island work-

ers make under the RSE scheme often helps them to buy land, in some cases a farm, in such places as Samoa.

“One reason RSE is probably going to grow as a scheme is because even though we want to soak up more local employment and we have the capacity to do that, in real-ity the industry’s growth curve is very high.

“Take apples for instance: we’re seeing a lot of foreign investment… buying local businesses because they want to dramati-cally increase the output and they have a lot of capital. So they will need a large increase in the seasonal workforce in places such as Hawke’s Bay.”

Key says horticulture is a good indus-try for regional development because it is labour intensive and provides great employment opportunities for a range of people including those who want a tran-sient lifestyle, people semi-retired and locals who want seasonal work.

Key says packhouses such as Geoff Lew-is’s are high-tech and he notices this trend in other places he visits.

“Pack-houses are vastly different from even three or four years ago.”

– Peter Burke

GEOFF LEWIS says he’s impressed that John Key understands commercial issues and the need for companies like his to succeed.

He says though he discussed the RSE scheme with the Prime Minister, these workers form a low, but still important, segment of his work force.

Lewis was among the first growers to employ Samoan workers under the

RSE scheme and has developed a strong relationship with that country. He under-stands the government’s policy on ensuring New Zealanders get first pick of the jobs in the sector, but says the issue is to have enough people at the right time to do the work.

“The RSE programme has given the industry certainty of labour supply,” Lewis told Rural News.

Glad the PM gets it

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Boom for beef and sheep?

COW NUMBERS in the US are at their lowest for 63 years, contrib-uting to a boom in beef export vol-umes and prices, says Beef + Lamb NZ chief economist Andrew Burrt.

In September this year the aver-age value was up 22% on last Sep-tember, Burtt told Rural News. September exports from New Zea-land averaged $7.30/kg as against $6.37 in September last year. The average price for the full year to September 30, 2014 was FOB $6/kg for all beef exports.

The season to September 30 was New Zealand’s second-largest export in beef volumes; the highest was 10 years ago in 2003-04. Over-all volume was up 6.2%, partially due to high beef production as a result of the cull here, says Burtt.

For the year the FOB average value was up 2%.

“That’s significant when we consider the exchange rate in New Zealand dollars was stronger,” says Burtt. “The US is about half our markets but it has competi-

tion from others such as China and South East Asia – but the US is driv-ing the trends.

“In North Asia our market share has pretty much stabilised as a result of a number of factors such as the competition from other mar-kets.”

Other countries are getting FTAs or better access post BSE (mad cow disease).

“BSE was a long time ago but it takes a long time to get market access back. The US and Canada in particular have opened up those North Asia markets again and are particularly competitive in pro-moting grain fed beef into North Asia which has put some pressure on us.”

BLNZ believes high beef prices will persist for a time because of series of factors coming together in the US and Canada reducing cow numbers. But if prices go too high buyers might go to other meats like ground turkey meat or boneless chicken breasts. But the fundamen-tals are good for the coming year.

Lamb export volumes were down about 3% in the year to Sep-

tember 30, which ties back to last year’s spring and the lamb crop after the drought. This September the average lamb price was $8.65 FOB, compared to $8.38 in the pre-vious September.

Total returns for the year were up 9.5% to $2.52 billion because the average per tonne value of lamb exported rose 13% to $8300 com-pared to $7400 in 2012-13.

“The EU is the main market for New Zealand with a high average value primarily because it reflects a different type of product,” Burtt says. “China is the largest market: it has continued to be a strong market. Sometimes there is rhet-oric about how much is going out in carcase form, which is actually very little.”

Mutton achieved the second-highest export volume in history mainly due to dairy conversions and slaughtering of ewes. Mar-kets are highly concentrated par-ticularly in North Asia and China, driven by price and demand for red meat protein.

North Asia is buying about 75% of the mutton volume as

against 20% 10 years ago, reflect-ing the FTA, better access and commercial opportunities.

The outlook for lamb is still positive, say Burrt. All indications are that prices will remain strong despite economic growth in the EU, which accounted for 48% of lamb returns last year, remaining fairly flat.

BLNZ is surveying farmers now and information on the lamb crop should be out in November. “But we had a good autumn across the country, a benevolent winter and we are having a good spring so far so we would hope broadly there will be an improve-ment.”

A SHORTAGE of lean beef in the US due to low cow numbers is contributing to a boom in our exports, says Andrew Burtt, Beef + Lamb NZ chief economist.

But it’s not all for burgers as some media portray, he says. Ground beef is part of US culture, accounting for 50% of beef consumed, but it’s used in all kinds of dishes – typically tacos, spaghetti bolognaise sauce and meat balls.

Beef production has significantly declined in Canada and the US partly driven by 10 years of BSE in Canada which has reduced its cow herd. The US has suffered droughts in various places from the Mid-West to Texas and all California has been in drought for some time.

“All these things are feeding to the lowest number of cattle in the US in about 63 years,” he says. Cattle slaughter plants have closed in California, Dakota and Texas.

However cheaper maize prices this year mean more prime steers and heifers will be fed in feedlots. “That may lead to some increase in per animal fat production which then has a linkage to our lean beef supplies they need.

“It would be overstating it to say the US is running out of cows for lean beef but their cow slaughter has dropped significantly. Their supply of lean beef is down significantly compared to five-ten years ago. They’ve been competing with China to import quite a lot from New Zealand and Australia.”

Not just burgers driving up price

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Beef + Lamb NZ chief economist Andrew Burrt.

@rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews


NEWS 7

Levy promoter blames commercial interests on loss

An opportunity lost – wool brokers

THE WOOL industry needs a leadership group, says Wools of NZ chairman Mark Shadbolt, who urges prompt talks on setting one up now that growers have rejected the proposed levy.

But Wool Levy Group vice-chairman Derrick Millton says Wools of NZ was one of two grower-owned companies that “scuttled” the wool levy, which would have achieved that leader-ship. Now those companies must show what they can do in the absence of a levy, he says.

But Millton also believes there may be other ways of raising funds from growers for industry-good activities.

Shadbolt told Rural News the rejection of the wool levy leaves the future of wool in the companies’ hands and “that is probably where it should be”. Commercial efforts

such as Wools of NZ with its branded strategy or Primary Wool Coopera-tive’s Just Shorn brand – rather than a levy – will bring benefits to the bottom line.

But he wants the par-ties to talk soon about an industry leadership group to look at issues such as education.

“I would support an industry leadership group as we promoted as an extension of WIRL (Wool Industry Research Ltd) or some-thing to that effect.

“There has been discussion throughout the levy campaign as to ‘if it doesn’t happen, what will we do next?’ I don’t support the levies obviously, but we need a leadership group, and extension of WIRL with blinkers off will be beneficial.

“I’m trying to take a forward looking position because anybody who takes on something in the

industry realises how hard it is and that’s why I commend the effort of the levy group.” He says the result was a reflec-tion on the history of levies rather than the future.

Levy group vice-chairman Millton says the group was tasked with presenting a levy

proposal to farmers. “We did our best but clearly it was not what the majority of farmers wanted.”

Millton says the proposal was scuttled by two grower-owned commercial companies that con-vinced some wool growers not to vote for the proposal. The onus is now on those companies to show what they can do in industry lead-ership and to articulate that.

“In my view the chair of NZ Merino [Ruth Richardson] stating that a wool levy was a dumb idea was irresponsible when the busi-

ness represents such a small slice of the wool industry.”

He claims it is not realistic to believe a post-harvest research business, WRONZ and its subsid-iary WIRL, can “morph” into an industry-good organisation.

Millton believes there are alter-native ways to collect funds for industry-good activities but they must be collected evenly across the industry. But it would require companies to step up to the plate.

“For Mark Shadbolt to suggest we now need an industry summit to find a way forward is too late, the pan-industry wool levy review group has been operating for three years to bring unity to this industry.

“We have to settle and see what is now required. But wool growers have no collective industry voice. What do we do about education, innovation and communication? How do we fund and promote these things in the future.”

• It’s over! Page 26

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

WOOL BROKERS Association president Richard

Kells says it is disappointing the opportunity to

augment the recent gains wool has made has not

been picked up.

“That is the funders’ decision and we have to

respect that decision.”

Kells says a leadership group would be desir-

able and the levy group provided a clear trail for

that. He thinks the levy group would have ensured a

united single voice with an industry forum within it. If

everyone participated and decisions were reached

through that forum, that would have helped unify the

industry.

“The levy group would have been able to provide

that forum and we would have had far better connec-

tion with international wool groups because it would

have been a New Zealand growers’ and industry

voice. We could have made a big contribution to

international affairs.

“It’s a shame it will take another five years but we

will get there eventually.”

He believes the industry would be better for

having a levy. “There is an unfounded fear of creating

a gravy train, which is unfortunate.”

Kells says international pressure groups such as

Peta, which are disseminating misleading informa-

tion about wool and promoting synthetics, have big

budgets. “That is the sort of thing we have to have an

answer to,” he says.

Wools of NZ chair-man Mark Shadbolt.

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8 NEWS

Taste critical in Kiwifruit growers quest for profitHow growers can produce top-tasting kiwifruit and make top dollar was the theme of a recent Zespri field day in Hawkes Bay. This is a critical time for growers as decisions made now will determine the size and value of their crop. Reporter Peter Burke attended.

HAWKES BAY is commonly known as the fruit bowl of New Zealand.

Apples are grown there, as are grapes, kiwifruit and horticultural crops. The region is also known for its dry summers and Indian summer-type autumns, which actually suit kiwifruit – and of course apples.

The field day was held at John Erick-sen’s 20ha kiwifruit block at Puketapu, west of Napier. In Bay of Plenty, there are ‘focus’ orchards where growers hold regular discussion groups and hear from Zespri staff firsthand on the issues affecting the industry. There is no such orchard in Hawkes Bay. However, Shane Max, who runs Zespri’s orchard produc-

tivity centre, says it was decided timely to hold a special day in the region, espe-cially given the fact there are some very big volumes of Gold3 (gold kiwifruit)coming on.

He told Rural News they wanted to make sure every growing district had all the knowledge available to do every-thing to achieve high dry matter and therefore good tasting fruit. Max says springtime is a critical time in the pro-duction of kiwifruit with the focus being on getting the crop load, pollination and spray programmes right.

“A consumer’s first concern is always what the fruit tastes like, rather than how big it is,” he explained. “We want

growers – particularly with the big vol-umes we’ve got coming – to focus on high taste fruit and less focus on how big the fruit is. So taste is more important than size in the dynamics of the market.

“A key to this is making sure there are enough, but not too many, flowers for the bees to pollinate. We suggest growers target around 60 flowers per square metre.”

Max says growers need to fully understand the challenges of pollinat-ing kiwifruit – especially if it is growing under netting to protect the fruit from hail. Growers, he says, need to have a good understanding of beehive man-agement.

“They have to make sure they have got the appropriate number and qual-ity of beehives coming because kiwi-fruit require a very high number of bees to achieve good pollination. With kiwi-fruit you have a male and female vine and to achieve good pollination you have to have a very high stocking rate of bees that will go in and visit a male flower and then visit female flowers in the same flight,” he explains.

Max says it’s important that grow-ers connect with the market and under-stand that what they do in the orchard impacts on the credibility of the kiwi-fruit industry. He says with the rapid growth of Gold3, which replaced the

Hort16A variety after it succumbed to the Psa disease, , its marketing success will hinge on providing Zespri high qual-ity, high taste fruit. “The market feed-back is very strong and growers had to must adapt their practices to grow a high taste product. Zespri pays a pre-mium for high taste fruit so there is financial incentive,” he explains. “But the win is when the consumer buys a nice piece of Zespri kiwifruit, pays a high price for it, likes it and comes back and buys another one. So the real benefit is increasing sales in the high priced mar-kets,” he adds.

Hawkes Bay kiwifruit grower John Ericksen hosted the field day on his orchard, at Puketapu, west of Napier.

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NEWS 9

Nowhere beats the ‘Bay’JOHN ERICKSEN’s kiwifruit orchard is a dairy conversion.

In the 1980s, when fuel prices were high, which in turn pushed up the price of irrigating his dairy farm, he converted to kiwifruit and hasn’t looked back since.

While Ericksen has some Psa floating around in his Hort16A orchard, he says most of the vines are now grafted to the new Gold3 variety. He believes this is good in many respects, one being that it doesn’t have a sharp end or ‘beak’ which can damage other fruit.

“The other reason we like Gold3 in Hawkes Bay is because it comes into

flower three weeks to a month later so that’s a whole lot of frost protecting we don’t have to do.

“Another advantage is that in Hawkes Bay the harvest is in March when you get colder nights. That’s what brings out the colour in the apple trees and it starts the ripening process. It’s the same for kiwifruit – the cold nights and warm days start the ripening process that brings on maturity and allows us to pick earlier than other parts of the country.”

Ericksen says a whole range of factors combine to make Hawkes Bay an excellent region to grow kiwifruit; in fact he thinks it’s the best.

Growing revolution fired by Psa diseaseCAMPBELL TACON, who manages John Ericksen’s orchard, has worked there for eight years and before that in the apple industry.

Tacon is highly regarded by other grow-ers for his ideas and the way he manages this oper-ation.

Of the 60ha of kiwifruit grown on the orchard, about two thirds are the new Gold3 variety, which is less susceptible to Psa than the Hort16A that makes up the remainder of the crop.

Somewhat controver-sially he believes Psa has revolutionised growing kiwifruit in New Zealand. Tacon says before Psa arrived many growers had no real idea of what they

were doing. “Now they are forced to

understand what they are

trying to achieve, how the plant actually achieves it and what they need to do

and how they need to do to manipulate it. It’s changed the way people grow,” he explains.

This is a critical time of the year and Tacon spends a lot of time doing the analysis on his kiwifruit. His attention to detail is a real eye-opener, but he says unless this is done the vines will not produce the good yields of high quality fruit. This includes getting the thinning of flowers right, his target being 63 flowers per square metre.

“At this time of the year, we need to have all our thinning and canopy work finished so that the only vegetative growth that you are carrying into flowering is what you need. It’s to get the right number of flow-

ers that are going to be pollinated and carry fruit,” he explains.

“There is no point in taking these off later. The aim is to have enough flowers to meet our pro-duction targets.”

Tacon says uniformity is needed right through-out the orchard and super-vising workers to meet the rigorous standards that he sets.

“If everything is uni-form, everything happens at the same time and this means we have the biggest impact, we hit our targets

and produce a good crop at the end.

“In the kiwifruit indus-try we work on trays per hectare. For the Hort16A, I’m targeting about 17,000 trays per hectare. Because Gold3 is a more prolific cropper, from the same number of flowers (63 per square metre), I am look-ing at 20,000 trays and of course it is also a larger fruit,” he adds.

Tacon says since he’s been in the industry he has seen a huge change in the relationship between Zespri and growers and

says it meets the needs of the consumer.

Zespri, he adds, knows what the market wants and say it’s up to orchard-ists to produce a great tast-ing fruit that the consumer enjoys and wants to keep coming back for more.

Tacon believes that other primary sector groups could learn a lesson from the way kiwi-fruit growers and market-ers work hand-in-hand to deliver a quality product to the consumer.


Orchard manager Campbell Tacon is highly regarded by other grow-ers for his skill and knowledge.

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10 NEWS

NZ co-ops world’s best

NEW ZEALAND was last week ranked the number-one co-operative economy in the world during the International Summit of Co-operatives in Quebec, Canada.

The co-operative econ-omy index is based on

membership and employ-ment relative to a coun-try’s population and the co-operative sector’s annual revenue relative to GDP.

The top 10 places are dominated by EU mem-bers; New Zealand is the only non-EU country in the top 10.

Former executive

director of Co-operative Business NZ, Ramsey Mar-golis, who attended the conference, says the rec-ognition is a big tick for NZ’s co-operative move-ment.

Margolis says co-oper-atives in New Zealand are special; a majority have small businesses as their owners.

“In the rural sector, co-ops are in business to improve the bottom line of their members’ primary business and they know that,” he told Rural News. “Farmers and growers here are member owners of at least three co-opera-tives, sometimes up to six or seven.

“This is because most

of our co-ops have a single purpose: either buying from member owners or selling to member owners. Not so overseas, where a co-operative may be mul-tipurpose.

Specialising in one thing is what has given our co-ops the strength they have.

“Overseas we see much

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

more variation in the types of co-operative business. It is said that when you’ve seen one co-operative, you’ve seen one co-oper-ative.”

According to the nz.coop website New Zea-land has some strong cooperative businesses, not just in the agricultural sector.

In 2011, the combined revenue of co-ops and mutuals was over $39 bil-lion; they produced 3% of

the country’s GDP and almost 10% of Manage-ment magazine’s Top 200 were co-ops and mutuals – including the country’s single largest business, Fonterra.

Other big co-ops in the agriculture sector are fer-tiliser traders Ballance and Ravensdown, meat com-panies Alliance and Silver Fern Farms, rural services traders Farmlands, Tatua Milk, Westland Milk and the Dairy Goat Co-op.

Ramsay Margolis

POWER OF UNITYThe global census on co-ops reveals:

❱❱ 1 in every 6 people in the world belongs to or is a client of a co-operative (i.e. 1 billion memberships/clients)

❱❱ 2.6 million co-operatives employ 12.6 million people

❱❱ US$20 trillion in co-operative assets generate US$3t in annual revenue. If they were a single economic unit coop-eratives would be the fifth-largest economy after Germany

❱❱ Countries with lots of co-ops tend to show well in social progress.

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NEWS 11Six vying for three Fonterra spotsVOTING FOR Fonterra’s board elec-tions has begun.

Fonterra’s 10,500 shareholders were last week mailed their voting packs for board elections and, in four wards, shareholder council positions. Voting opened online, by fax or post on the same day at 10.30am.

Three Fonterra directorships are coming vacant, six candidates are in contention. Two of the three sitting directors, John Monaghan and David MacLeod, are seeking re-election; long-time director Jim van der Poel is retir-ing.

The four new candidates are MyFarm director Grant Rowan, South Canter-bury farmer Leonie Guiney, Cambridge farmer Garry Reymer and South Wai-kato farmer and professional director Gray Baldwin.

All have completed candidate assess-ment panel (CAP) interviews. Road-shows, where candidates will be quizzed by shareholders, start in in Invercargill on October 28 and work their way north to finish at Whangerei and Pukekohe on November 4.

Rowan says he’ll bring a “commit-ment to the success of Fonterra and make it the dairy cooperative, milk

processor and marketer of choice for all New Zealand dairy farmers.

“I’m a straight shooter and indepen-dent thinker,” he told Rural News. “I have a strong understanding of dairy-ing and a life-long involvement in the dairy industry, having worked my way up the dairy farming ladder from farm management and share milking to farm ownership. I also have all the competen-cies required of a Fonterra director.”

The key issue he sees for Fonterra is demonstrating “the compelling long-term benefits that flow from remain-ing a strong and united cooperative”.

Guiney says she’d give Fonterra’s board an “absolute commitment to and understanding of the true compar-ative advantages that have contributed to genuine wealth creation for New Zea-land farmers.

“That starts with ensuring we enhance, or avoid inadvertently [erod-ing], the pathways that allow young energetic people to grow equity from milking cows.

“Continuing to attract these entre-preneurs with the work ethic and skill to farm the peaks and troughs of the com-modity cycles to our industry, and to our

Fonterra, is key to our future success.”Baldwin is an award winning farmer,

having won the Supreme Award in the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards 2009, but he’s probably better known for his roles as a director of LIC, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, agritech com-pany Regen and Trinity Lands.

“When I narrowly missed election to the Fonterra board in 2011 I resolved to improve my governance skills…. During the past three years I have strength-ened this skill,” he writes in his candi-date profile.

“My election to the LIC board in

2012 gave me a second set of valuable insights into how successful farmer-owned companies are governed.”

If elected Baldwin says he’ll reduce his directorships to fully commit to Fon-terra.

For Reymer, the key issue for Fon-terra is to make sure it gets the fun-damentals in New Zealand right and remains a co-op.

“It’s not about the strategy – that’s important, but senior management have a good handle on that. What we should be talking about is... what sup-ports that strategy inside our borders here in New Zealand. Because if we don’t get that right we won’t have Fon-terra in 10 years – or at least not as a farmer-owned cooperative.”

But if that sounds like anti-TAF rhet-oric, it’s not, he says. “TAF’s great. But the job’s only half done. We need to complete the job.”

MacLeod chairs Taranaki Regional Council and is a director of PKW Farms, and Monaghan is also a director of Wel-lington’s Centre Port and trustee of Wairarapa Irrigation and Eketahuna Charitable Trusts.


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NEWS 13

FOR MOST primary sector portfolio holders it’s business as usual, though a standout is the elevation Maggie Barry to Minister of Conservation.

Jo Goodhew remains Associate Minister of Primary Industries outside the Cabinet. But she picks up the Food Safety portfolio and Nikki Kaye takes on ACC.

With Amy Adams moving to the front bench and getting the justice port-folio, Nick Smith resumes Environment which he lost to Adams in the last Parlia-ment because of his ‘problems’ as ACC Minister.

The appointment of Smith is a popular one; even the Environmental Defence Society endorses him.

Also directly affecting the wider farming sector is Louise Upston becoming Minister for Land Informa-tion outside the Cabinet. This includes responsibility for the Overseas Invest-ment Office (OIO), which decides which foreigner may or may not buy land. It is currently evaluating the bid by Shangahi Pengxin for Lochinver Station.

Maggie Barry, as Minister of Conser-vation, now oversees DOC and Fish & Game. Her predecessor Nick Smith had a testy relationship with Fish & Game while he held that portfolio.

Minor changesGuy has unfinished business

BEEFING UP biosecurity and helping to secure improved market access are two priorities for Nathan Guy as he resumes his role as Minister for Pri-mary Industries.

Guy got back his former job in the Cabinet, but there have been changes to some portfolios concerned with the primary sector. He told Rural News he was delighted to get a call from the Prime Minister saying he was in the Cabinet again.

“I’m looking forward to my role as I have a lot of unfinished business to deal with,” Guy says. “Agriculture is in my blood and I will keep working hard for what is a huge part of the New Zea-land economy.”

It will be tougher for dairy farm-ers this season with the lower payout, Guy says, but they will get through it and the grass will continue to grow. They are extremely resilient.

“They have been through droughts, snowstorms and floods. They have just had a fantastic season despite some strong headwinds includ-ing the high US dollar. Last season’s

$8.40 payout by Fonterra was a fantas-tic result and some of that money is still flowing through into this season.

“Farmers would have known… the payout is volatile: it goes up and down. The 15-year average is $5.25. Dairy farmers know it will be tough and they will be working closely with their banks and accountants… doing a line-by-line review of their cashflow and budget.”

One way the Government can help dairy farmers is by pressing for more free trade agreements, Guy says, and he will work with Trade Minister Tim Groser to remove trade obstacles and secure more FTAs. Such agreements offer huge potential for the dairy and red meat sectors.

“I will also work with the new Min-ister for the Environment Nick Smith on RMA reform, a big part of our eco-nomic growth. We [must] manage our economic growth in conjunction with our environmental obligations. I’ll also champion water storage proj-ects and the importance of these for rural and regional New Zealand.”

Maori economic development is another of Guy’s priorities, linked to the Government’s goal of lifting

the value of exports to $64b by 2025. Guy says his ministry has some “great work underway” to assist Maori trusts to lift the performance of their farms.

He also wants to work on projects to encourage the “brightest and best” young people into agriculture.

Guy remains optimistic for the primary sector because of the huge demand for protein, especially in Asia. He says the Government will con-tinue to fund science and technology to help farmers improve productivity and profitability.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

Nathan Guy: “New Zealand agriculture is in my blood and I will keep working hard.”

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14 NEWSMillenials present grand opportunity for NZ lamb exports

WE’VE PROBABLY all heard of Generation Y, but ‘millenials’?

The term is common parlance in the US and becoming a buzzword in

New Zealand meat mar-keting circles.

“The millenials oppor-

tunity is very, very excit-ing,” Alliance director Dawn Sangster told Rural

Alliance director Dawn Sangster in June and July spent five weeks visiting key markets and customers for NZ meat: USA, UK, China, Europe, Singapore and Indonesia. She’s now relaying her findings at meetings across New Zealand. Andrew Swallow reports.

News last week.Sangster is doing the

rounds of Alliance share-holder meetings and other farmer meetings relaying her observations from a five week tour of the meat company’s key customers and markets during June and July.

“Millennials are aged 1-34 years and are more likely to eat lamb than their parents and grand-parents. Best of all there are 78.3 million of them. They would pay more for no added hormones, free range food, grass fed and antibiotic-free.”

In the USA, New Zea-land’s largest French rack market and Alliance Group’s second-largest chilled market behind UK, Sangster spent time with the New Zealand meat companies’ joint venture The Lamb Cooperative.

US domestic lamb pro-duction has been drop-ping for 30 years and half of consumption is now imported. An American Lamb Board study tips imports to hit 80% by 2018.

“The USA lamb flock is only about 4.5 million so they are dependent on NZ lamb,” observes Sangster.

However, consump-tion is falling from 1.4kg per capita in 1972 to under 0.5kg in 2014. In compari-son, they wolf down about 110kg/year of beef, pork and poultry.

“People who know about lamb will pay a pre-mium for it so there’s lots of opportunity.

“Seventy per cent of Americans have never tasted lamb. [New Zea-landers] tend to take it for granted everyone knows what lamb is.”

About two thirds of US lamb sales are to food service including some of the nation’s one mil-lion restaurants. Lamb is the second highest-priced protein, only lobster lift-ing more dollars from the diners’ wallets. Sang-ster notes a trend to less expensive cuts such as shanks and sliders (mini burgers). “Lamb burg-ers were trendy and Mexi-can cuisine had increased its use of lamb with lamb tacos as an example.”

Lamb is also showing strong growth among the US’s 40,000 food retail outlets, she notes.

Sangster’s trip also took her to the UK, Europe, China, Singapore and Indonesia.

“Everyone is talking about Asia but that market is more lower-value with potential to rise in the future…. We need to be careful to keep a diversi-fied portfolio of customers and not put all our eggs in one basket.”

Prudent marketing partner selection is partic-ularly important in Asia, and Sangster notes the Chinese marketing mantra ‘the last kilometre is the hardest’.

“You have to be care-ful who your partners are. I saw frozen product [not Alliance’s] on an open trailer being transported across Beijing. It could be your brand on that trailer. What if someone gets ill from your product because of it?”

Alliance is “very much long-term focussed” in such markets and has rationalised its partners over the years to ensure it is supplying the best people.

“Alliance has a 14-year relationship with Grand Farm which is the larg-est importer of meat into China. Grand Farm has had phenomenal growth with turnover in 2000 of US$1 million rising to well over US$100 million in 2014.”

Sangster says her Chi-nese hosts were generous and there’s an impressive work ethic. The one-child policy and recent food scares make their regula-tions and concerns about food safety and traceabil-ity understandable.

“The Chinese value face-to-face relationships and we must remember that much can be lost in translation and the message isn’t always received as we meant it to be.”

Sangster says in all markets she made “valu-able connections and learnings” through “get-ting alongside customers on the ground”.

“The tour added greatly to my knowledge and insights as an Alli-ance director which I am working to share with the Alliance board and man-agement, farmers and, in particular, our sharehold-ers.

“Every market is differ-ent and in order to secure customers we must under-stand and cater for the individual needs of each of these markets.

“The future is positive: the world is hungry for our grass-fed red meat and there will be an increas-ing number of people pre-pared to pay a premium for high quality, safe lamb, beef and venison.”

Tea in China: Alliance director Dawn Sangster (centre) enjoys a rose petal tea with customers in China.


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NEWS 15Anti-GE claims about China trade dismissedFEEDING American dried distillers grains is unlikely to cause problems with China, say agribusiness specialists.

GE Free NZ recently claimed that the NZ dairy industry’s use of 16,000t of GE soy and GE maize per month in the form of dried distillers grain (DDG) could create fur-ther barriers to our dairy products in China

The group made the claim after it discovered that some of the by-prod-uct, which is now barred from China, was being sold in NZ as a dairy feed.

A US grain industry group claims Chinese offi-cials prevented 1.45m t of maize-derived DDG from being landed in November 2013 due to the possible presence of the genetically modified maize strain Agrisure Viptera (MIR 162).

Developed by the Swiss agrichemical and seed company Syngenta, the maize strain was engi-neered to produce pro-teins that ward off bugs including corn borer and black cutworm.

Though the seed vari-ety was launched in 2011 after getting the nod from biosecurity and food safety authori-ties in Canada, Australia, Argentina, US and Brazil, approval for its use as a by-product was still on hold in China even though the company had submitted it for clearance to authori-ties there in 2010.

In April 2014 some US players said exports were 85% behind earlier years and that China was using the presence of the strain as an excuse to protect its own industry from compe-tition. But NZ analysts say a more likely cause is Chi-na’s bureaucracy, some-times difficult to work with.

NZ sheep and beef was held up on Shanghai docks in April-May last year because export certificates were issued on then-new MPI letterhead, confus-ing Chinese officials famil-iar only with documents from the NZ Food Safety Authority.

US grain giants Trans Coastal Supply Co and Cargill have sued Syn-genta, blaming it for the blockage and claiming it had rushed to market

without gaining all neces-sary approval to recoup the costs in development of the new variety.

Global US DDG prices are said to have dropped by about US$100/t since mid-2014, raising the interest of NZ feed com-panies due to its value for money.

GE Free NZ claims the 100,000t of US DDG and GM soy brought into New Zealand in Feb-Aug 2014 is up on last year and a threat to the NZ dairy industry due to its erosion of the country’s ‘clean green’ brand.

While feed companies say they have increasingly used it in their mixes and as a standalone product, this pales when compared to the 104,779 tonnes/month of PKE said by Biosecurity New Zealand to have been imported January 2012 to June 2013.

An MPI spokesper-son says the varieties were assessed as safe for human consumption and posed no biosecu-rity risk as they had been heated and crushed before being exported. Studies by OECD and EU authori-ties found that GMO traits didn’t pass from feeds to eggs, milk or meat har-vested from stock, MPI says.

Federated Farmers Grain & Seed chair Ian Mackenzie says that while it was not trying to sug-gest China might block

GARETH GILLATTdairy products emanating from cows fed on Amer-ican DDG, such a move would be contrary to their actions in the previous trade restrictions placed on NZ dairy products in 2013. “There’s no contam-ination in the milk so the

authorities aren’t likely to try to block it.”

While New Zealand dairy exports faced trade restrictions in China twice in 2013, it was the result of the contamination or per-ceived contamination of products.

GE Free NZ claims the 100,000t of US DDG and GM soy brought into New Zealand in Feb-Aug 2014 is up on last year and a threat to the NZ dairy industry due to its erosion of the country’s ‘clean green’ brand.

Experts have dismissed claims that use of GE dairy cow feed may lead to bans of NZ dairy product exports to China.


16 NEWS

Station opens gardens for charityRose Haynes and Jock Nicholls will open Waihua Station’s gardens to public on November 23.

NESTLED ALONG the coast of northern Hawke’s Bay lies a historic pioneer-ing farm that next month will open its grounds to support a local charity.

Waihua Station lies about 20km south of Wairoa, its eastern bound-ary lapped by the South

Pacific.On November 23 its

100-year-old homestead will host the Waihua Christmas Fete, a day of quality shopping and pic-nicking in beautiful gar-dens. All proceeds will go to the Hawke’s Bay and Eastland Rescue Helicop-ter.

Rose Haynes is the fifth

generation to farm the 2000ha sheep and beef station, started in 1882 by John Glendining. Rose was raised on the farm by her parents Jill and Bob and took on its management 16 years ago.

“It hadn’t always been the plan that I would come back to the farm long-term, but I was home

between overseas trav-els and the opportunity came about to stay,” says Haynes, who lives in the homestead with daugh-ter Saba (9) and partner Jock Nicholls.

“Dad still comes out every day to work on the farm and has his own team of dogs. We also have two fencers.”

Having a woman at the helm is not new for Waihua: generations of strong wives and daugh-ters have contributed to the station’s success. Haynes is the latest in that line and is clearly at home on the land.

As with all farming there have been ups and downs, but Haynes is con-

SARAH CHARTERIS

fident they have found the right mix for Waihua. The farm runs about 600 cows each year and keeps all progeny for finish-ing. They buy in hoggets for winter, about 2200 arriving in May and leav-ing over a period of four weeks from November. They also have about 200 dairy grazers.

“We don’t have sheep over summer: it was hard on the pasture and [would have required more staff ] for the extra work required,” explains

Haynes.“We have a great rela-

tionship with the works; we supply and we know what we can grow in that winter period. We have the cattle year round and have been using short horn bulls as we find they produce animals that are quieter and we can finish progeny for the works a lot earlier.”

Several flats are used for cropping, particularly maize, while larger areas of native vegetation have been retained but thinned.

ROSE HAYNES says the idea to open the gardens of Waihua for a fundraiser came a few years ago.

She and three friends, all mothers running busy households, were looking for something “fun to support the community”.

“There are so many clever local people creating and growing different things and we like to think the fete gives them wider exposure to different clientele from throughout the region.

“The bonus is that many people love to see historic homes and gardens like Waihua, but the opportuni-ties to do so can be rare. The fete allows families to enjoy quality shopping in unique surroundings and all in support of a good cause.”

The first Waihua Christmas Fete was held in 2012, attracting 400 people and raising $5000 for Star-ship Children’s Hospital. This year promises to be even bigger with 40 stallholders offering food, wine, plants, jewellery, homewares, gifts and artwork.

“There will be something for everyone and we chose the rescue helicopters because they are such a vital lifeline for rural communities such as ours,” Haynes says. “It’s important to support them as we never know when we may need them.”

Fun to support local community

KEY FACTSWhat: The Waihua Christmas FeteWhen: Sunday November 23, 10am to 4pmWhere: Waihua Station, end of Glendining Road off SH2, Northern Hawke’s BayCost: Entry $10 for adults, 12 and under free.

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NEWS 17

Corporate farmer doubles its profit

HIGH COMMODITY prices doubled the annual profit of corporate farmer Rural Equities Ltd in the last financial year.

The company’s earnings at least dou-bled to $24 million on high prices for milk, beef and lamb; earnings before interest and tax reached $6.4m, com-pared to $3.3m the previous year.

Commenting in the 2013-14 annual report, REL chairman David Cush-ing says the substantial increase is pri-marily due to record milk production and milk price; performance gains and improved profitability from the group’s three directly managed Waikato sheep and beef properties also contributed.

REL owns 25 farms totalling 12,087ha, a mix of sheep and beef, dairy, deer and arable farms spread from northern Waikato to Southland. There are 14 properties in the South Island and 11 in the North Island; nine farms are directly managed comprising 5361ha.

Six of the directly managed farms are dairy farms, all with 50/50 sharemilkers, and the remaining three are the Waikato

sheep and beef farms. The six dairy farms total 1190ha and milk about 3820 cows. The three Waikato group farms cover 4171ha and run 30,000 stock units.

Cushing says record milk production for the third successive year was achieved on the six dairy farms; the company sup-plies Fonterra and Synlait.

“We have completed a generally successful farming year. Although there was a significant autumn drought over much of the North Island, overall national cli-matic conditions were favourable,” he says.

Prices for wool and lamb lifted from the low levels experienced in the previ-ous year and beef remained at attractive levels.

Fonterra’s final milk price for last season is $8.40/kgMS; Synlait paid its suppliers $8.27/kgMS.

Cushing says its two Canterbury dairy farms, Rocklea and Milford, switched to supplying milk to Synlait

from August 2013; the four other dairy farms continue to supply Fonterra.

REL’s property values, includ-ing its sheep and beef farms, increased by $20m last year.

Cushing says the rural property market was again buoyant with further growth in values nationally, but especially in Canterbury and other dairy regions.

“Of particular note is the welcome lift in rural property values throughout the North Island and for sheep and beef properties generally. The value of these properties has largely been stable for several years and an increase in the

value of the Hawke’s Bay and Waikato properties is pleasing.”

Investing in properties held to improve land use, value, earnings and the overall quality of the holding has been a long term strategy for the group, says Cushing.

The conversion of part of the Eiffel-ton property near Ashburton to a 233ha dairy unit milking up to 940 cows was

confirmed during the year; milk pro-duction will start August 2015. Like its other Canterbury dairy farms Eiffelton will supply Synlait.

Cushing says the remaining 163ha of the Eiffelton property will provide grazing for replacement dairy stock and grow supplementary feed. It could also be converted to a dairy unit milking up to 650 cows. In the interim, the irriga-tion system on that block will be added to and upgraded.

Cushing says most of the develop-ment of the three Waikato sheep and beef farms is finished, except for fenc-ing particularly at Waikoha.

Pasture renewal continues on all three farms: Annandale, Puketotara and Waikoha are run as a group – 4171ha run-ning 30,000 stock units.

Cushing says two big summer and autumn droughts in a row have crimped productivity and earnings from these farms but production has kept improv-ing.

The company paid a dividend of 7c/share this month; last year it paid 6c/share.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

THE NUMBERS❱❱ Total income -$24m

($10.9m in previous year)

❱❱ Total assets valued $223m ($192m)

❱❱ EBIT -$6.4M ($3.3m)

❱❱ Dividend – 7c/share (6c).

High commodity

prices helped

double Rural

Equities Ltd profit

last financial year.

@rural_news


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18 WORLD

Beef and pork star in Canada-EU trade deal

BEEF AND pig farmers are the winners in a new trade deal between Canada and the EU, but it spells bad news for cheese makers in Canada and the US.

The proposed Com-prehensive Economic

Trade Agreement (CETA) released last month allows duty free access for 65,000t of Canadian beef, worth $680m, into the EU, 50,000t of it new quota. Pork allowances will increase to 80,000t, all new quota.

The deal will also cut about 95% of EU agricul-

tural tariffs, previously a huge barrier to trade, which averaged 13.9%. But there is a downside for Canadian cheese makers: EU fine cheese imports will substantially increase to 32,000t.

Canadian Prime Min-ister Stephen Harper released the CETA text,

SUDESH [email protected]

requiring legal review, translation and ratifica-tion by the Canadian and European parliaments.

The Canadian Federa-tion of Agriculture (CFA) is happy with increased access to the largest con-sumer market in the world.

CFA president Ron Bonnett thanked the Canadian Government for the deal. “We are confi-dent the provisions will be implemented soon so our exporters can begin bene-fiting from the deal.”

Between 2010 and 2012, Canada’s annual agricultural exports to the EU averaged $2.8b, led by wheat, soybeans and other oilseeds, canola oil, frozen fruit and maple syrup.

Bonnett acknowl-edges the downside. The CFA has always urged a balanced trade deal that strengthens and supports all Canada’s commodities, he says.

“We insist the Gov-ernment works with the Canadian dairy industry to [limit] any damage the agreement may cause the Canadian dairy sector,” Bonnett said.

US dairy industry trade groups are unhappy with parts of the deal contain-ing provisions on geo-graphical indications (GIs) and reallocating to the EU a portion of the

WTO tariff rate quota for cheese.

The National Milk Pro-ducers Federation says this would raise artificial trade barriers restricting market access for Ameri-can cheeses to the Cana-dian market.

The provisions on geo-graphical indications are alarming because they grant automatic protec-tion to the EU for “asiago,” “feta,” “fontina,” “gor-gonzola” and “munster” in complete disregard of Canadian intellectual property laws, the NMPF says.

“Cheese manufactur-ers that produced those cheeses prior to October 18, 2013 will be allowed to continue to use those

names, but future pro-ducers of those cheeses will have to add qualifi-ers, such as “kind,” “type,” “style” and “imitation.”

“These new limi-tations on the use of generic names clearly vio-late Canadian intellec-tual property procedures and existing international trade commitments.

“The automatic pro-tection for five cheese names that are generic in Canada, the US and glob-ally is another example of the EU’s overreach on geographical indications,” it says.

As part of the agree-ment, Canada also reallo-cated 800t of its 20,412t WTO tariff rate quota for cheese to the EU.

This reallocation further restricts the limited access US cheese exporters have into the Canadian market.

“Canada added insult to injury by impairing the quality of the cheese market access US export-ers expect to gain through ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, and by moving to water down the small access they currently offer to US exporters through Can-ada’s WTO quota,” says Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for the NMPF.

.“This is yet another example of Canada’s work at every turn to limit access into its market for highly competitive US products.”

Canadian PM Stephen Harper.

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WORLD 19

WFO head quits, too busyPETER KENDALL has resigned the presidency of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) after being appointed chair-man of UK levy body Agriculture and Horticul-ture Development Board (AHDB).

The former National Farmers Union president announced his resigna-tion with immediate effect at the recent WFO board meeting in Italy.

Kendall was only elected as WFO presi-dent in March – just weeks after stepping down as NFU president. He was then appointed as AHDB chairman in April.

“Since my election I have been appointed by my government to chair a statutory body responsi-

ble for promoting agricul-tural growth in the United Kingdom and, regretta-bly, I now find I am not able to devote the time to the WFO presidency that it requires and deserves,” Kendall said

“Since being elected to this position in March 2014, I have been more convinced of the impor-tance of the WFO as a global voice for pro-ductive agriculture, and our presence at the Cli-mate Change Summit in New York in September brought this home to me.”

He said the WFO’s work was central to many of the big global challenges and required “strong lead-ership that delivers clear and consistent messages”.

“WFO will become an

even more influential and respected voice of entre-preneurial farmers across the world. I wish WFO and its board every success,” he said.

Dr Evelyn Nguleka, WFO vice president and president of the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), has stepped in as acting president.

What is the WFO?THE WFO is made up of at least 50 national farmers’ organisations and agricultural co-operatives.

It describes itself as, “an international organ-isation of farmers for farmers, which aims to bring together all the national producer and farm cooper-ative organisations with the objective of developing policies which favour and support farmers’ causes in developed and developing countries around the world.”

WFO’s mission is to, “represent and advocate on behalf of farmers in global policy forums and create the conditions for the adoption of policies aimed to improve the economic environment and livelihood of producers, their families, and rural communi-ties.”

Lamb campaign

Peter Kendall has stood down as WFO president, despite only taking up the role in March this year.

AUSTRALIAN SHEEP farmers have a new lamb market-ing campaign.

‘You never lamb alone’, was launched in September to coincide with peak spring lamb production.

Meat and Livestock Australia says the new campaign focuses on the notion that lamb brings people together for all occasions.

MLA central marketing and industry insights general manager Michael Edmonds says the new theme was devel-oped to be used year-round, with the aim of moving away from traditionally seasonally focused themes like ‘spring’ racing fashion and ‘spring’ romance.

“Changing to a more generic marketing campaign that can be tweaked during periods where lamb production is at a peak, like spring, will ensure we’re getting the most leverage out of our campaign and the maximum return on investment for Australia’s lamb producers,” Edmonds says.

“Our research showed that seasonal and tactical mar-keting activities were losing effectiveness, so we want to create one consistent message for the lamb brand that has the ability to resonate with consumers all year round.”

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www.nait.co.nz | [email protected] | 0800 624 843

Test-a-bull, move-a-bull, trace-a-bullProtect your business – make sure your service bulls are TB tested and their movements are recorded in NAIT.

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

BEEF PRICES

c/kgCWT Change Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg +5 5.60 5.55 4.60M2 Bull - 300kg +5 5.65 5.60 4.30P2 Cow - 230kg +5 4.45 4.40 3.50M Cow - 200kg +5 4.45 4.40 3.40

Local Trade - 230kg +10 5.60 5.50 4.60SI P2 Steer - 300kg +5 5.20 5.15 4.32

M2 Bull - 300kg +5 5.05 5.00 4.15P2 Cow - 230kg +5 3.55 3.50 3.15M Cow - 200kg +5 3.55 3.50 2.95

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.00 5.00 4.40

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last Week 2 Wks

Ago Last Year 5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb -8 3.04 3.12 2.04 1.81NZ$/kg -22 8.53 8.75 5.42 5.05

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks Ago 3 Wks


% Returned NI +3% 65.7% 62.9% 79.37% 79.0%% Returned SI +1% 58.6% 57.1% 76.6% 74.3%

LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange Last

Week2 Wks

AgoLast Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +5 6.51 6.46 5.86PM - 16.0kg +5 6.53 6.48 5.88PX - 19.0kg +5 6.55 6.50 5.90PH - 22.0kg +5 6.56 6.51 5.91

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.65 3.65 3.30SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +5 6.28 6.23 5.68

PM - 16.0kg +5 6.28 6.23 5.70PX - 19.0kg +5 6.28 6.23 5.72PH - 22.0kg +5 6.28 6.23 5.73

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.18 3.18 3.30

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last

Week2 Wks


UK Leg £/lb n/c 2.16 2.16 1.82 1.85NZ$/kg +1 8.59 8.58 8.38 8.84

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks


% Returned NI +1% 76.8% 75.8% 71.6% 71.0%% Returned SI +1% 72.8% 71.4% 69.5% 72.3%

Venison PricesChange Last

Week2 Wks


NI Stag - 60kg n/c 7.60 7.60 7.15 7.98SI Stag - 60kg n/c 8.00 8.00 7.40 8.34

NEWS PRICE WATCH


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BEEF

Demand drives lifting schedule prices

As NI cattle prices continue to firm, many of those that have killable cattle ready are opting to hold on and increase weights, as the value of those extra kgs is very attractive. There is also a proportion of what should be killable cattle that are struggling to get to killable weights. Both are subsequently preventing the kill from gaining momentum. Local trade is desperately short of supply to fill orders, and competition between export and local trade is keeping prime schedules firm. SI cattle schedules are also firming week on week, driven by low numbers and high demand for all classes of cattle.

US imported beef prices continue to fall

While US imported beef prices continued to retreat last week, the level of bidding on product has improved on the previous week, indicating there is still a bit of interest in the market. It is hoped that this interest picks up each week from here on, with the level of bidding vastly improved by the time larger volumes of NZ bullmeat are offered. While both 90CL and 95CL fell a further 6-8c/lb last week respectively, combined with the lower NZD/USD, processors are still making healthy margins that should sustain current FOPs. If 95CL drops much below $3.00/lb, there may be some adjustment to FOPs. So, while we expect the current heights of bull prices to be maintained, there is an increased risk of downside now associated with this that is best to be prepared for

LAMB

Christmas chilled trade keeps lamb prices lifting

NI slaughter numbers continue to be low this week as the transition period between old and new seasons lambs kicks in. However, processor capacity is low and most plants are subsequently fill. Demand for the chilled Christmas trade continues to drive prices up this week. Some processors have lifted spot prices to match contracts at $6.70/kg gross, however most spot prices are below this at between $6.50-$6.60/kg gross. In the SI lamb prices have just started to firm. Significant numbers of new season lambs are not expected until the end of Nov due to the large number of multiple lambs born this year and the absence of early lambs due to dairy conversion. With old seasons lambs close to over, and demand for Christmas chilled in full swing, procurement pressure is expected to ramp up in coming weeks with prices lifting in response.

VENISON

Venison schedules reach their peak

Venison schedules reached their peak at the end of September and have held steady since. In both islands prices passed last years peak by around 50cpk but still lagged 40cpk behind the 5yr ave levels. While the NZD/Euro did ease through Sept, it still remained above last years levels. This combined with only an average market and procurement pressure due to declining deer numbers, hasn’t helped processor margins through this peak period. Slaughter levels should remain steady through to Christmas, and schedules traditionally begin to fall again towards the end of October.

DAIRY

Long term dairy price contracts decline

As NZ milk production heads towards its peak, manufacturing is busy and supplies of product are building. With Chinese demand for whole milk powder still weak, manufacturers are diverting product into butter and skim milk powder (SMP). This is causing increased supply of SMP on the global market and while export demand is good, prices are falling as a result of plentiful supplies. Increased butter production is also resulting in further decline in prices. Cheese prices have upheld in the last two weeks as Asian demand has been firm, however as production expands, upcoming negotiations are expected to decline, again due to increasing supplies.

WOOL PRICE WATCH DAIRY PRICE WATCH

Indicators in NZ$ Change 09-Oct 02-Oct Last Year Indicators in NZ$/T Change Last 2

WksPrev. 2

WksLast Year

Coarse Xbred Indic. -4 5.64 5.68 5.50 Butter -222 3578 3800 4849

Fine Xbred Indicator -3 5.90 5.93 5.71 Skim Milk Powder -128 3467 3595 5481

Lamb Indicator - - - - Whole Milk Powder -255 3372 3626 6053

Mid Micron Indic. - 8.00 - 7.54 Cheddar +44 5089 5045 5361

Overseas Price Indicators Overseas Price Indicators

Indicators in US$/kg Change 09-Oct 02-Oct Last Year Indicators in US$/T Change Last 2

WksPrev. 2

WksLast Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator +3 4.46 4.42 4.58 Butter -200 2813 3013 4025Fine Xbred Indicator +4 4.66 4.62 4.76 Skim Milk Powder -125 2725 2850 4550Lamb Indicator - - - - Whole Milk Powder -225 2650 2875 5025Mid Micron Indicator - 6.32 - 6.28 Cheddar n/c 4000 4000 4450

CURRENCY WATCH

vs. NZ Dollar Last Week 2 Wks Ago 4 Wks Ago Last Year

US dollar 0.786 0.786 0.817 0.830Euro 0.619 0.621 0.632 0.613UK pound 0.488 0.487 0.503 0.519Aus dollar 0.897 0.895 0.901 0.876Japan yen 84.81 85.58 87.62 81.74

Euro

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

UK Pound

US Dollar


THE WORLD’S largest robotic dairy farm under one roof has swung into operation in South Can-terbury.

Owned by the South Island’s largest dairy oper-ation -- the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group -- the farm at Makikihi will eventually house 1500 cows milked day and night by 24 DeLa-val robots. The barn is 193m long, 67m wide and 12m high.

On September 25, owners Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen began milk-ing 750 cows with 12 DeLa-val robots, using one half of the shed; contactors are installing the remaining 12 robots and full production is expected by Christmas.

The van Leeuwens will invest close to $22 million: $8.5m for the land, $4.2m

for the robots and $5m for the barn. On the property they have also built three new houses, two efflu-ent tanks, one for undi-luted effluent and one for diluted effluent as well as concrete feed bunkers that can store 4.5m kgDM. They have also installed a grain feeding system to the robots and will con-crete the surrounds of the barn. A 46 cubic metre diet feeder mixer wagon and tractor have also been pur-chased. A lot of develop-ment work is being carried out on the farm including fencing off all streams and planting them out as well as installing some wet-lands.

Van Leeuwen agrees it’s a massive invest-ment but points out that they recently sold a farm in the area for close to 80% of what has been invested in the new prop-

erty. That farm produced 450,000kgMS annually. On the new farm milk pro-duction is expected to top 800kgMS/cow within five years or 1,200,000 kgms.

“In this farm produc-tion will be up three times when fully up and run-ning,” he told Rural News. “I may be spending a bit extra here but it gives you an idea of what you can achieve inside compared to outdoors.”

The barn will be set up in two halves – an early lactation side and a late lactation side. Cows coming in will spend 100-140 milking days in the early lactation side; the length of stay will depend on when they calve and milk yield.

“Then they go to the other side – the late lacta-tion side – and from there eventually get dried off again and go outside in the

paddock for two months where they calve and come back.”

The van Leeuwens are no strangers to robotic milking; their home farm runs two free-stall barns, both 500-cow facilities built in 2009. They run 12,000 cows on 13 opera-

tions and own a contract-ing company as well as being self contained with regards to dairy support land.

Van Leeuwen is con-fident of reaching his target milk production of 800kgMS/cow in five years. “The cows on the

home farm are doing 750kgMS/cow; we are expecting this to rise to 800kgMS plus so there’s no reason why we can’t do it here.”

To achieve that the cows will need to grow in size; the van Leeuwens plan to mate the herd with

Holstein Friesians and calve year-round.

However, there is no rush to “push the limits”. “The aim is not to push it to the limits you see in Europe and America, where they are pushing to 12,000L/cow/day…. That puts a lot of pressure on

22 AGRIBUSINESS

Putting the machine into milking in south CanterburySUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

The world’s largest robotic dairy farm under one roof is now in south Canterbury.

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AGRIBUSINESS 23Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen will invest around $22 million for the land, barn and robots once their development is completed.Putting the machine into milking in south Canterbury

your herd. Our goal is to focus on milk solids and do it in a sustainable way.”

This will also help the cows live longer. Van Leeuwen says it depends on how hard you push the cows and how much you focus on litres. “Our strat-egy is to focus on milk solids and the average age of herd should come up.”

Sustainable farming is a feature of the barn; the farm uses no fertiliser. Instead, effluent is recy-cled onto paddocks.

“What comes out gets recycled… the nitrogen, phosphorus and potas-sium are there,” says van Leeuwen. “You know what’s in a tonne of efflu-ent so you can work out effluent irrigation accord-ingly; this is nothing new and has been done in Europe, Canada and North America. But it’s new to this part of the world.”

Effluent from the barn’s laneways will be continually cleared by automatic chain-pulled scrapers, draining down into the 7m deep, 23.5m radius tank.

The aim is to use the effluent as base fertil-iser for the feed crops surrounding the shed, a 28,000L slurry tanker applying it by dribble-bar or injector. “With injec-tion we’re burying it in the soil so there’s no loss of nutrient to the air or smell to annoy the neighbours.

It’s very effective. We’ve been doing it for three years.”

The dribble-bar is used on existing grassland and lucerne.

The cows are fed mostly maize, lucerne and grass silage. A few kilos of canola meal are thrown in every day depending on the need and pellet rations are offered in the robotic milkers.

The correct feed mix will give 2.5 times the production of conventional grass systems. “It’s all worked out; you know what’s in your stack because the stacks are tested. You also know what the cows are requiring; we work on the basis of 17-18% protein, 240MJ ME/cow.”

Nearly all the feed will be home-grown, cut and carried off the sur-rounding 600ha. The van Leeuwens grow 200ha of maize, 60 ha of grass and 370 ha of lucerne for this barn.

Another benefit of the barn and keeping animals inside is animal health. Lameness is non-existent as cows don’t have to walk to and from paddocks for milking.

The barn has rubber mats for cows to walk on, so there’s no moving them in and out of the barn to get them used to standing on concrete. And the cows do not slip over.

“The cows are happy inside; they don’t have to face the weather outside. A happy cow produces lots of milk.”

Van Leeuwen notes it is beneficial always to have staff among the cows. “The workers are always closely associated with the cows; with the help of

the robots, we can always check if any of the cows are sick.”

Since the farm is a 24/7 operation, a herd manager is on shift all the time. And at full production van Leeuwen expects 12 fulltime staff to be working in and outside the barn.

AAD AND Wilma van Leeuwen first embraced robotic milking barns in 2008-09.

The drive was to keep cows from getting knocked down by nasty weather, he says. “We wanted to look after our cows better. The herds were getting bigger so we decided to build a barn.”

The plan was then to slow down but they changed their minds.

“We realised you can have a large herd under a roof as long as you manage it properly [otherwise] things can fall apart quickly. You’ve got to have the right skills and the right people to manage it 24 hours a day.”

Van Leeuwen says a lot of farmers are interested in his type of farming; the home robotic farm has had about 3000 visitors in five years.

“It can be done like this…. Maybe this is the future because land is getting more expensive; costs are going up and you have to get more efficient. I’m not saying everyone is to do this tomorrow.”

He says at last year’s high payout, returns accel-erate. “We’re still sitting on the same breakeven point as everyone else but once it gets to $8 payout, things accelerate.”

Is this the future for dairy?

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24 AGRIBUSINESS

Kiwifruit growers want their day in court

THE KIWIFRUIT Claim was due to be lodged with the High Court in Wellington late last week (Oct 17).

Growers still have until the end of October to sign up to the claim, but Kiwifruit Claim com-mittee chairman John Cameron says the court has the power to extend that date.

The class action by kiwifruit growers is claiming $885m in com-pensation saying MAF (now MPI) failed to administer its biosecurity functions and obligations, which lead to the vine-killing disease Psa being allowed into the country.

Cameron says the case is based on new evidence linking the Psa DNA to pollen imported from China.

Cameron admits there had been a lot of opposition to the claim including Zespri and Kiwi-fruit Growers Inc. But he says a number of misconceptions were

clarified at a public meeting in Te Puke, and the legal document from litigation funder LPF, over such issues as grower liability, has been strengthened to clarify liabilities.

He is adamant there is no risk to growers if the case is lost other

than the initial fee of $500, $1000 or $1500 – depending on the size of a participant grower’s orchard.

“The more growers who sign up the better the case, but at the same time there is a risk for LPF and they need to be assured that all the plaintiffs don’t walk away.”

However, growers have the right to walk away as does LPF, although it considers there is a strong case and its intention is to support the owners through to a successful res-olution. If LPF does walk away it will have to meet adverse costs as a

result of the withdrawal, and grow-ers can decide whether to continue the claim, funding themselves, or find another litigation funder.

LPF will post any security costs and if the claim is successful will take a 20-25% success fee.

Cameron says as of October 10, 25% of the Gold growers had signed up to the claim and a number of Green growers as well.

Cameron is “really annoyed” by the misconception that the action is anti-Zespri and anti-Govern-ment.

“That indicates to me that if the government does anything wrong it is expected everyone should shut up and say nothing,” he says.

“The claim is totally separate from the single desk or any other industry issues and even Prime

Minister John Key had said grow-ers were free to test the case.

“Like all of us we are account-able to the Government,” Cam-eron says. “If we are in breach of anything to do with the law... we are held accountable. From my per-

spective that’s what the issue is about.”

He says growers are out of pocket.

“Some people have moved on and I congratulate those

who have the ability to do that; they probably have bank support.

“But for other growers if it doesn’t come right in the next two or three years they will be gone, notwithstanding the ones who have already gone.

“There’s accountability and there’s law and everyone has the right to their day in court.

“I think the government in all fairness has indicated that, John Key has indicated that… local MPs have indicated that, so it is a very healthy scenario.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

LINCOLN AGRITECH Ltd is celebrating 50 years of researching and encouraging agricultural engineering.

The company, approved by the government in 1963, was founded in 1964 as New Zealand Agricultural Engi-neering Institute (NZAEI) at Lincoln College (now Lincoln University). The first staff member joined in October 1964.

Financed chiefly by Ministry of Agriculture grants, it first worked on tractor safety frame testing, fencing, carcase disposal, farm water supply and farm aviation.

In 1979 NZAEI opened a second research division at Ruakura, Hamilton. Lincoln Ventures Ltd was cre-ated in 1994 as a merger of NZAEI, the Kellogg Farm Management Unit and the Centre for Resource Man-agement.

In 2012 the company changed its name to Lincoln Agritech Ltd to better reflect its position as an inde-pendent agritech-focused science and engineering research company, owned by Lincoln University.

The company has spread its field of interest beyond farming, to the industrial and environmental sectors. Examples include:

A mechanical blackcurrant harvester developed and made commercially from 1973, and sold in NZ and elsewhere.

Water harvesting in dams and other types of stor-age in the 1970s for stock and irrigation, including the design of the Glenmark Irrigation Scheme in Waipara.

A direct drilling machine called the Rotodrill (1980) in collaboration with MAF, which enabled ploughing and seeding of land in a single step.

IRRICAD, a world-known software package used to design pressurised irrigation systems sold in 60 countries.

Aquaflex, a soil moisture sensor sold worldwide since 1991.

50 years of agritech innovation

Left to right: Andrew West, vice-chancellor, Lincoln Univer-sity; Amy Adams, Member of Parliament for Selwyn; Peter Barrowclough, chief executive, Lincoln Agritech Ltd.

“There’s accountability and there’s law and everyone has the right to their day in court.”

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26 OPINION

THE HOUNDWant to share your opinion or

gossip with the Hound? Send your emails to:

[email protected]

EDITORIAL EDNA

Deluded!Fed Farmers backed the wrong horse in the wool levy vote and their team got thumped. Only a minority 43% of voting wool growers supported the imposition of a new levy with 57% against. It was even worse when based on the weighted stock numbers coming in at 40.29% for and 59.71% against. Yet, despite this result, the Feds – like many of the lefties after this year’s general election – refuse to acknowledge the scale of their defeat and claimed in a media release of a ‘narrow loss’. Now if the Feds think that was close; then your old mate would hate to see what they call a hiding!

Dam dirtyFURTHER TO the Hound’s earlier revelations a couple of columns back, regarding the murky rela-tionship between blogger Whaleoil, so-called polit-ical operative Simon Lusk and a number of anti-Ruataniwha council-lors on the Hawkes Bay Regional Council: it seems newly elected Hawkes Bay MP Stuart Nash also has close linkages to the aforementioned Lusk and Whaleoil. Questions are now being asked about the new MP’s apparent opposition to Ruataniwha and what – or who – has promoted this. Watch this space as more is likely to come of this.

HorseplaySPEAKING OF inter-esting associations, your old mate is intrigued at some of the key players in the fanciful $885 million lawsuit being filed against MPI by kiwifruit industry associates. Former Supreme Court judge Bill Wilson and Auckland Queen’s Counsel Alan Galbraith are also linked to the claim. Wilson is one of three directors of the litigation funder LPF Group. However, Wilson and Galbraith have a long association – even owning racehorses together – which led to Wilson’s retirement from the Supreme Court four years ago following misconduct complaints.

WTF?TO SHOW how out of touch and pointy headed academia can be, the Hound sees that Canterbury Univer-sity is debating whether research funding for the dairy industry should be declined on ethical grounds. Your old mate suggests that when academics start comparing the ethics of the dairy industry to that of the armaments, tobacco, alcohol and gambling sectors, some-thing is seriously wrong in the tertiary sector and it is time for a clean-out.

Really?THIS OLD mutt notes that hot on the heels of farmer complaints about the re-branding of milk tankers in the new co-op livery Fonterra is trying to ease shareholder concerns by playing on provincial parochialism. Milk tankers with different provincial markings will appear on NZ roads as part of the dairy co-oper-ative’s strategy to win back public confidence. Apparently Fonterra boss Theo Spierings reckons head office in Auckland is too distant from regional New Zealand and the new provincial paint jobs will help the co-op regain the public’s trust.

NEW ZEALAND wool growers have again firmly rejected the idea of a levy-paid indus-try-good wool organisation.

In a referendum that closed on October 10 farmers declined the opportunity for a new wool commodity levy order. The previous levy was dropped in August 2009.

The new levy promoters and advocates, the Wool Levy Group, concede the fight is lost.

Chairwoman Sandra Faulkner describes the outcome as “disappointing”. She and fellow levy group supporters have a right to be disap-pointed: they worked hard to get the industry-good wool organisation reinstated. But they should not be disappointed about the voter turnout. Some 47% of eligible woolgrowers voted – still pitiful – but high compared with most commodity levy referendums that strug-gle to get more than a 35% turnout.

Now however, the higher-than-normal voter turnout signals that the rejection of the wool levy should be finally accepted.

The vote: 57% of farmers rejected the levy, only 43% favoured it. Meanwhile the weighted vote from larger enterprises was even more strongly against the proposal: almost 60% rejected the levy.

Faulkner says the promoters faced a twin challenge: to ensure wool growers understood the proposal to introduce a levy under the Com-modities Levy Act, and to get a strong voter turnout.

This poll result shows that both of these objectives have been met.

While some proponents of an industry-good wool organisation will be disappointed that their fellow woolgrowers have elected to reject a levy, they must now accept this is the will of a sizeable majority of growers.

Thankfully, Faulkner has conceded there is no chance of a repeat effort to force another vote. “Growers have had their say and that’s where we are at,” she says.

It is now time to move on for the sake of all involved in the country’s $700 million wool industry.

It’s over!

SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND?

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OPINION 27

Farmers keep feeling the squeeze as costs continue to growFOOD IS no more expen-sive than it was three years ago.

Campbell Live investigated and, to the host’s considerable surprise, revealed the results: the food basket was cheaper than it had been. What wasn’t pointed out was that during that time incomes and the expense of producing that food has increased significantly.

Last year, average sala-ries and wages increased 3.0%, food increased 1.2% and on farm expenses increased 3.4%. These are Statistics NZ data for the year to June.

Farmers continue to be squeezed.

It is hardly surprising that stress and depression have increased in the rural sector.

Adding to the burden is the legislation for environ-mental compliance, not because of the rules and regulations, but because they change. In recent sur-veys, farmers’ biggest con-cern was that having spent a lot of money to become compliant a change in the ‘goalposts’ could require even more spending.

James Stewart, Feder-ated Farmers Manawatu-Rangitikei provincial president, has reported average spending on envi-ronmental protection of over $110,000 in the Hori-zons region in the last five years. In Waikato, Land-corp business analyst and Waikato agribusiness masters student Thomas Macdonald estimates capital costs of compli-ance infrastructure at $1/kgMS, which is $130,000 for the average Waikato dairy farm in the last three years.

Farmers are having to spend this money to comply with regional council edicts. Dairy com-panies are supporting the councils, Ministry for Pri-mary Industries is check-ing for breaches, and the fertiliser companies are running the Overseer model to ensure that fer-tiliser is not being applied irresponsibly.

The problem is that Overseer, in common with all models, is constrained

by the assumptions that were used to create it. The developers are con-stantly trying to improve the predictions made, but a wide margin of error is acknowledged.

Despite the flaws, Overseer is being used as though it gives a defini-tive answer; that answer is being used in the council regulations.

The result is that farmers are being judged by the councils, the dairy companies and the Ministry for Primary Industries using a tool that the ‘judges’ haven’t been helped to understand. This makes it very difficult for farmers to argue their case, particularly as many of them haven’t had the time to get to grips with Overseer’s nuances, either.

From the official website: “Overseer nutrient budgets is an agricultural management tool which assists farmers and their advisers to examine nutrient use and movements within a farm to optimise production and environmental outcomes. It allows comparisons of the outcomes of management decisions. The computer model calculates and estimates the nutrient flows in a productive farming system and identifies risk for environmental impacts through nutrient loss, including run-off and leaching, and greenhouse gas emissions.”

The points to emphasise are “comparisons”, “estimates”, and “risk”. Overseer’s main benefit is identifying whether losses might be higher or lower if a management change is implemented.

Continuing along the present path of regulation

based on estimates will result in yet more stress and depression. With milk prices falling, and El Nino warnings for the summer, every agricultural business should be telling

New Zealand society (including the compliance monitors) about what has already been done environmentally and why regulations using a predictive tool are creating

more uncertainty.In Thomas Macdon-

ald’s research, a con-stant theme was that large amounts of money were being spent with no clarity about whether compliance

was assured. Uncertainty is part of

what causes stress and depression.

Tolerance and education are required: food is cheap in New

Zealand and farmers are protecting the environment while producing that food.• Jacqueline Rowarth is pro-fessor of agribusiness, The University of Waikato.


28 OPINIONAgriculture sector will require bright people on and off the farm

OUR PRIMARY indus-tries need bright people: those with a strong work ethic and determination to excel, who can build a future for themselves and their families.

Off-farm, the primary industries need people who understand the cul-tures and languages of the countries we export to. We need people who have the technical nous to develop new products or add value to those we cur-rently produce. We need people who can help us to reduce agriculture’s envi-ronmental footprint while increasing production.

We need everyone from engineers to the skilled trades to support what we do. And we need switched-on farmers.

Last year, however, the primary industries col-lectively graduated only 365 people at degree level right in all disciplines. A further 287 people were awarded certificates and diplomas. This isn’t many when those industries employ almost 150,000.

In 2013, we graduated just 99 people in agricul-tural science degrees and a further 37 in horticultural science.

In that same year, 186 people were capped with degrees in drama and the-atre studies. There were 418 acting jobs in 2012,

says MBIE. It added, “the chances of getting work as an actor are limited because the performing arts industry in New Zea-land is small. This also makes it difficult to sus-tain a career as a full-time actor. Many actors supple-ment their income with other jobs.”

I take the last point to mean barista.

Last year, we gradu-ated 20 more people with degrees in music than every degree level disci-pline in the primary indus-tries. It is a similar story in the pure sciences too.

How on earth has it come to this? We are punching out graduates in anything so that our poli-ticians can claim we’ve got an educated workforce, but in what, selling shoes?

The problem comes back to the proliferation of school qualifications where ‘media studies’ is of equal standing with phys-ics. Which one is easier? This continues on at ter-tiary level where the strat-egy seems to be, if you offer a degree in it, they will come. That’s why we graduate more acupunc-turists than forestry sci-entists.

By 2025, we’re told two-thirds of all primary industry roles will demand a post-school qualifica-tion. These figures throw real challenges at us; are we moving fast enough

and how are we going to turn this mess of qualifica-tions around?

It could start by nar-rowing the subject choices at school and by deciding that not every occupation needs a degree to be rele-vant or worthy. Just look at the skilled trades and our trainees going through the Primary ITO.

Our universities and polytechnics should be talking to Lincoln and Massey about offering post-graduate vocationally focused qualifications in the primary industries.

A one year post-gradu-ate practical diploma, or a two-year masters in farm administration degree would give even graduates in theatre studies wider career options. It also widens the pool of gradu-ate talent we need to suc-ceed.

Rick Powdrell is chair of Federated Farmers meat and fibre section and a member of the federa-tion’s national board.

RICK POWDRELL

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30 OPINION

Mental health pressures growing in rural NZMENTAL HEALTH and wellbeing differ markedly in rural and urban New Zealand.

And worrying pressure is building in rural com-

munities in several ways. For example, the Gov-ernment aims to double exports by 2025 while also reducing workplace acci-dents and environmen-tal pollutants; the public is demanding more sustain-

able and cleaner farming systems; milk prices are falling; and drought is pre-dicted in some regions.

Rural people, particu-larly those with farming business connections, are being pulled in different

directions, causing stress. Reduced farm incomes and increased stress from the environment and drought cause spikes in mental health problems.

Mental health affects the workload of rural

health services. We need people to come in and talk through issues at an early stage rather than waiting until everything collapses and there is a crisis. But there are health worker shortages in rural commu-

JO SCOTT-JONES nities. The New Zealand Rural

General Practice Net-work reports that nearly a quarter of all such prac-tices have a vacancy for one GP, some more than one. Retaining and recruit-ing culturally competent health professionals in rural areas is a top priority for RHAANZ.

A lack of up-to-date health data for rural popu-lations is the largest obsta-cle facing RHAANZ. If we can’t measure it we can’t change it. We know from provisional 2013 census data that 611,000 people live rurally but we do not know, for example, how their health status and outcomes compare with urban people.

These difficulties appear to be the result of variations in the way data is collected and incom-patible national data sets. Nor do we know what the per capita health spend is for rural people compared to urban people. We will be talking with the new Minister of Health and Ministry of Health repre-sentatives to ensure future health data is collected in a way which allows mean-ingful rural/urban analysis.

Suicides are a sobering indicator of a communi-

ty’s health and wellbe-ing. Ministry of Health data shows the suicide rate in rural communities has been higher than for urban in recent years. Pro-visional figures released by the chief coroner show 529 people took their own life in the year ended June 2014.

Federated Farmers, who requested the data from Coronial Services, says 22 of these suicides appear to have been farm-ing related, up two from the previous year. NZ Police confirm at least half the threatened/attempted suicide calls (56%) in 2013-2014 came from non-urban areas. In 2013-2014, more farmers died by sui-cide than from work-related injuries.

RHAANZ wants depression and mental health and work health and safety to get equal shares of money and resources in rural commu-nities.

The main thing we need rural people to do is seek help as soon as they need it. There is no shame in asking for support.• Dr Jo Scott-Jones is the chair of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ). www.rhaanz.org.nz

Who to callIf you or someone you know needs help, talk to your local GP or nurse in an emergency, and do not hesi-tate to call 111. Alternatively visit or call:

• Lifeline 0800 534 354Suicide Crisis Helpline (for those in distress or concerned about the wellbeing of someone else) tel. 0508 828 865.

• Youthline 0800 376 633 www.depression.org.nz/rural

• Samaritans 0800 726 666

• Depression helpline 0800 111 757

• Rural Support Trusts 0800 787 254.

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32 MANAGEMENT

Seeking the best ‘outcast’ cows

COULD THE best beef cow of the future be what’s currently considered a cast-off from the dairy industry?

That’s what a long-term trial at Massey Uni-versity’s Tuapaka research farm on the outskirts of Palmerston North aims to find out.

The trial is based on what many dairy farmers have until now regarded as their ‘outcasts’: calves sired by beef bulls put over the tail end of the herd.

Dr Rebecca Hick-son and Professor Steve Morris are running the Beef + Lamb NZ-funded trial with a herd of 200 cows. The cows are either pure Angus, Angus-Frie-sian, Angus-Jersey, or

Angus-Kiwicross.They’re being mated

with Hereford, Angus, Simmental and Charolais bulls.

The objective is to determine the best beef cow based on its ability to:

• Calve at two years of age.

• Achieve good wean-ing percentages.

Not be too heavy.• Produce big calves

while cleaning-up pasture.• Carry body condi-

tion to get through tough times.

• Produce progeny that grow well beyond weaning and taste good.

Hickson says it is about comparing cows of differ-ent live weight and milk production to see which

are the most efficient on a number of criteria, in par-ticular number of calves weaned, calf weights and cow feed requirements. They are looking for the perfect beef cow: a cow that meets all the above criteria and does so with the least inputs.

While it’s still early days in the trial, after four lactations some trends are starting to show up.

“What we are seeing is the reproductive per-formance – that is the number of calves weaned and inter-calving interval – and pregnancy rates are all very similar.

“The differences that are coming in [are] that the high milk yield-ing cows are producing

heavier calves versus the lower milk cows which are producing lighter calves.”

Based on the results so far, Hickson says her cur-rent favourite is the Angus Kiwicross but they need to see if trends to date con-tinue for another three years at least, and if any problems such as overly big udders or mastitis emerge that might not in a genuine beef cow.

“So far the Angus Kiwicross is in front because she is a moderate sized cow, so she’s a rela-tively low cost animal to run, but she’s producing great big calves.”

Hickson notes a lot more Kiwicross calves are coming out of the dairy industry and their poten-

tial is relatively unknown. Many show up with Jersey markings and people tend to shy away from them, but she says based on the results of the Massey trial

to date, there is no reason to. In fact, they could be a good option.

“We hope that more people purchasing four days old calves or weaner

calves are willing to pur-chase beef crossbred calves and it would be nice to see to more of those calves coming into the

Massey researchers are four years into a trial which could have profound implications for beef and dairy farmers alike. Peter Burke reports the details as relayed at a recent Beef + Lamb NZ and DairyNZ dairy/beef integration day in the Manawatu

Massey University’s Dr Rebecca Hickson.

TO PAGE 33


MANAGEMENT 33Could cull cows be the future?

Cow with a view: one of the trial animals at top of the farm.

beef industry, as opposed to going on the bobby truck.

“Certainly, as a breeding cow they are a sensible choice. What we are really doing is putting the numbers out there. If farmers haven’t tried it, they don’t know,” says Hickson, noting the Friesian-Hereford was the cow used historically

where farmers wanted a dairy-beef cross herd.

A common comment with such cows was that they would do well for a few years then develop prob-lems as they got older.

HOME OF THE PERENDALETuapaka, the exposed hill farmer where the beef work is being conducted, is the farm where the legendary professor Sir Geoffrey Peren developed the Perendale breed of sheep.

FROM PAGE 32

Upskill to cope with lessFARMERS’ PROBLEMS caused by the drop in Fonterra’s forecast milk solid payout are best tack-led head-on with agri-business management training, says Primary ITO, which offers courses in this discipline.

The need is urgent to review and revise bud-gets and monitor cash-flow to ensure debt levels don’t rise unnecessarily. Spending cuts, increasing milk production and gen-erally improving onfarm performance are among the options.

Primary ITO’s Diploma in Agribusiness Management supports farmers in honing their business management skills to manage risks like a volatile payout and take control of their business.

Key subjects include business and finance, where students learn

to develop and moni-tor financial plans, moni-tor on-farm performance against objectives, and develop a budget to share with their bank man-ager or accountant, are all directly applicable to the farmer’s own business.

Cath Blake, manager of Dairy Training Ltd, says cashflow budget development and imple-mentation are vital. “The skills farmers gain by completing the Diploma in Agribusiness assist in managing financial risk…. This financial capability

helps farmers to look to the goals of the business and gives long term confi-dence in the dairy indus-try.”

Staff costs can also be a point of contention when budgets are tight-ened. Staff may be let go or professional develop-ment and training costs cut.

Mark Paine, DairyNZ strategy and investment leader (people and busi-ness) says recruiting the right staff and keeping staff motivated can mean staff turnover is reduced.

“The cost of staff turn-over to the dairy industry is about $300 million per year. If we can hold onto our good staff, this can lead to better business performance.”

The Diploma in Agribusiness Management includes human resource management as a key subject, and supports farmers’ staff development. Farmers learn how better to recruit, select and induct staff, and build good working relationships and assess performance.

The Agribusiness Diploma is a collaborative project between Primary ITO, DairyNZ, Beef and Lamb New Zealand and HortNZ. Studies are open to farmers, growers and agribusiness operators.

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36 MANAGEMENT

Ignore unknown plants at your perilIGNORING A new and unknown species in your pasture could cost you thousands of dollars later, so scout your paddocks and get help with anything untoward, says a leading weed scientist.

“If you see anything new, get it identified,” stresses AgResearch senior scientist Trevor James. “It might be on the roadside near your prop-erty or in your pasture, but wherever it is, talk to somebody to find out what it is. The regional coun-cil is often the first place to go, or ask someone like me.”

High quality cameras

on smartphones allow rapid, easy picture taking and sending for identifi-cation, he points out, but making sure the person asked to identify the prob-lem knows their stuff is also important.

“I know of one farm where five or six years ago a new species was dis-missed as ‘summer grass’ by a local advisor. Six years later the farmer was having to import 180t of feed to maintain milk pro-duction at levels he used to get off pasture.”

In that case, the prob-lem was Yellow Bristle Grass (YBG), an annual weed first identified as a problem in Waikato 15 years ago, now established in most of the northern

North Island and now reaching into Taranaki and Manawatu.

It only impacts pro-duction January to March when it has much lower energy content and palat-ability than ryegrass. Con-sequently, stock avoid it and production off pasture drops. In the case of dairy pasture with 13% YBG, it’s calculated $343/ha has to be spent on supplement to maintain milk production, says James.

“It’s an annual so it’s not there in winter. It just affects summer grazing.”

Importing contami-nated hay or, when YBG is seeding, livestock from a contaminated area are two means of spread, hence the need to be vigi-

lant about such imports. Similarly, silage-making machinery coming from paddocks or farms with YBG problems is also a risk.

“There is a spray that will kill it in pasture (Puma S, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl) but you’ll often have to hit it twice due to its staggered emergence and not let it seed. To get rid of a seedbank you need to go through a pasture renewal process with ideally two years of summer crop.”

A just completed study by AgResearch found YBG seed remains viable at least five years if ploughed down so if possible make a shallow, stale seedbed prior to any cropping to stimulate germination

then take out YBG and whatever else germinates with glyphosate, suggests James.

“Near the surface the seed doesn’t persist too long, and we found it persists longer in dry, sandy soils longer than it does in heavier clay soils, which to some extent explains where we’re seeing it become a problem.”

Yellow Bristle Grass is not the only problem pas-ture weed to watch for. In the northern half of the North Island Alligator Weed “turns up in all sorts of places,” says James.

“We used to think it was a semi-aquatic

weed but it’s all over the place now, probably car-ried there by cultivation equipment and pond area clean outs.”

Once established, con-trol is particularly difficult due to an extensive root system. In Waikato the regional council has taken over control. “Report it and they will come in and

try to control it.”Giant buttercup is

similarly a problem in the north, but also fur-ther south in Taranaki and Golden Bay. In those latter regions there’s the added complication of popula-tions that have developed resistance to the two main in-pasture herbicides used

TO PAGE 37

AgResearch senior scientist Trevor James advises farm-ers to be vigilent and identify any unusual plants.

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MANAGEMENT 37

A JOINT media release from Hawkes Bay and Canterbury regional councils, and Marlbor-ough District Council , earlier this month called for “the public to be on high alert for Chilean needle grass” following an extensive winter campaign to educate rural New Zealand.

Nearly 400 farm biosecurity signs have been distributed, a Facebook page set up (www.facebook.com/chileanneedlegrass) and seed identification cards and brochures on biosecurity to prevent its spread updated under the Chilean Needle Grass Awareness Programme.

“We’re hoping rural communities will be

better placed to identify Chilean

needle grass in coming months

following the social media, signage and

brochure campaign,”

says CNGAP coordinator Jenna

Taylor.

It’s most recognisable in late spring and early summer during flowering due to distinctive reddish-purple seed heads with long tails of up to 7cm in length.

The grass has been found on about 3700ha in the three regions but could infest an estimated 15mha nationwide if not contained. In Hawke’s Bay, 24 new properties have found it in the past two years, most notifications coming from the landowner or a neighbour. A total of 127 properties in the region are now known to be infested.

“The bulk of these are lifestyle blocks, predominantly sheep and beef, but the pest has also been found on a dairy farm, two vine-yards, a golf course and an apple orchard, so diverse land uses are at risk,” says HBRC’s biosecurity team leader plant pest, Darin Underhill.

In Marlborough, 26 properties have “extensive” infestations, 48 “substantial” infestations and 68 “small” infestations. MDC biose-curity co-ordinator Jono Under-wood says the council is doing more compliance, surveillance and education work “to ensure the level of control work and awareness is

lifted across the board.”Warwick Lissaman, a farmer and

chairman of a community-led action group in the region, says a long-term strategy is to involve the whole community to stop its spread.

“Part of that policy is the recogni-tion by landowners who don’t have it that they could easily get it.”

Landowners are encouraged to make farm hygiene plans assessing the risk of Chilean needle grass and to follow protocols to manage the risk of outward spread and/or ingress.

“Our long-term plan will work if the community is united and responsible,” says Lissaman.

Farm biosecurity signs are avail-able to farmers free from Environ-ment Canterbury, DC and HBRC. The Chilean Needle Grass Aware-ness Programme campaign has MPI Sustainable Farming Fund support.

For more on farm biosecurity, copies of the updated Chilean needle grass brochures and seed identification card, or to request farm biosecurity signs, contact Taylor on 03 314 9586 or [email protected]

On alert for Chilean needle

BEEING WEED-WISE● Scout paddocks for new species.

● Identify unknowns and assess threat – get help if necessary.

● Beware risk of seed import with feeds, stock, or machinery.

● If importing feed, limit feed-out area and check for new weeds following spring/summer.

● Check roadsides – take or request action if necessary.

Unknown plant? Sling it out!

FROM PAGE 36

in its control: flumetsulam and MCPA, meaning a pas-ture renewal phase, pref-erably with a crop between pastures, is needed to hit it with an effective herbi-cide.

Across the central North Island toxic low-growing shrub Tutsan is making a comeback as a strain resistant to rust spreads.

“The rust arrived from Australia about 30 years ago and gave reasonable control but in the past five years a strain’s emerged in the King Country that’s tolerant to the rust and it’s spreading like crazy,” notes James.

The red, later black-berried plant is “toler-ant of all but the toughest brush killer-type herbi-cides” and has very small seeds. People picking

the plant for decoration or garden use has aided spread, as has roadside mowing.

Stock generally avoid living plants but cut stems or berries pose a risk.

In Northland Gravel Groundsel is encroaching on pasture from coastal areas.

“It’s a fairly new one we don’t know how to control yet... Northland Regional Coun-cil has an appli-cation in with MBIE for fund-ing to look at it.”

As the name suggests, the weed favours light, free drain-ing ground and while it’s not toxic, stock avoid it, impact-ing production off infested pad-

docks.In Horizons, Field

Horsetail has moved out of riverbeds to become a pasture problem, often through movement of material for roading.

“There’s a lot of it on the West Coast but it’s only really become a pas-ture problem in the Rangi-tikei flood plain so far.”

While James admits TO PAGE 39

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38 MANAGEMENT

Technology buff keen to run farm remotely

SOUTH CANTERBURY farmer Alvin Reid is a happy man when he wakes up in the morning with-out having had a text over-night from his robotic farm.

It means everything is normal on the Pleas-ant Point farm: cows have been turning up through-out the night to be milked by six DeLaval robots.

And if a text does come in, Reid is able to log onto his home computer and see what the problem is, thanks to 12 powerful cameras installed around the farm. The self-con-fessed technology buff has installed cameras, sensor lights and water usage measurement devices on his farm in his quest to eventually run the farm remotely.

“When I get a text I bring up the robots on the

screen. If the text is about teat cup grip then I bring up the robot and can see the teat cup hanging; from my computer I can control the robot and fix it.”

Reid and his wife Judith either own or are equity partners in six farms in the South Island; the other five are conventional farms running 300-800 cows.

The robotic farm, launched last November, milks 480 cows twice daily.

The technology starts at the gate with each animal ear tagged; the tag sends a signal to a central com-puter that stores informa-tion on production flow. The computer’s memory then guides the animals through a series of gates to milk or graze. Reid expects each cow to produce 430kgMS/year.

The DeLaval voluntary milking system (VMS) comes with the DelPro herd management system.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

It collates a comprehen-sive record for each cow and allows Reid and his staff to follow each cow’s milking performance and milk quality.

The DelPro system also keeps track of each cow’s milk production and number of visits to the VMS. It automatically cal-culates the optimal time for the next visit, based on the time elapsed since the previous milking and the amount of milk expected.

Cow traffic at the robots is controlled by a smart selection gate (SSG). Reid says its helps get more milkings per cow per day, more regu-

lar milking intervals and higher feed intake.

DelPro logs milk qual-ity for each cow and sends alarms if threshold levels have been exceeded. It alerts the VMS so it auto-matically diverts abnormal milk and alerts Reid and his staff via mobile phone and computer.

Accurate feeding is another feature of DelPro: data from milk meters, together with fat and pro-tein information from individual milk samples, can be gathered and ana-lysed in DelPro and used to dispense precise feed amounts for each identi-fied animal at the feed sta-

tion. The robotic farm proj-

ect has cost Reid about $2.5 million; a rotary milk-ing machine would have cost less. But we will get that back, says Reid.

The farm is run by two full-time staff; he works part-time on the farm. A conventional farm of the same size would need 3.5 labour units.

Reid says with a rotary milking machine he would have been “bored” by now.

His next project on the farm is how to run the farm remotely.

“Eventually, I don’t want people here; most

Self-confessed technology buff Alvin Reid monitors milking from his computer.

TO PAGE 43

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MANAGEMENT 39

he’s less familiar with the South Island’s problem weeds, he still rattles off a list: Viper’s Bugloss; Russell Lupins; Nassella Tussock; Chilean Needle Grass (see sidebar).

Whatever the weed, a good approach is to avoid get-ting it in the first place. Grazing “the long acre” and/or importing feed are often import pathways.

“The problem often comes in drought. When you’ve got hungry stock to feed you don’t always have much of an option about where you buy your feed, but if you do buy in feed, try to keep where you feed it to a limited area and go back there the following year and look for anything unusual.”

Besides minimising the risk of weed spread, keeping stock to a limited “sacrifice” area during such dry times will also limit damage to pasture elsewhere on the farm, he notes.

Not wanted!FROM PAGE 37

Echium vulgare - Viper’s Bugloss

Equisetum arvense - Field Horsetail

Senecio skirrhodon - Gravel Groundse

Hangawera Station manager Ian Mathieson.

Bull sale sees prices liftHANGAWERA STATION, part of Tainui Group Holdings, held its annual bull sale in early October. The sale was held on the station at Tauhei, Waikato, and resulted in a clearance of the 152 bulls presented.

“There were eight bulls passed in, but I sold them the next day above

the reserve and they all went to Kerikeri,” rural operations manager of the Tainui Group and station manager Ian Mathieson told Rural News.

Animals went as far north as Kaikohe, to Te Kuiti and Taupo in the south, and to Bay of Plenty. Most buyers were dairy farmers.

The sale was held in

wet, windy weather but this did not deter buyers. Free food and hot drinks were offered and this year a professional chef, Sarah Higgie, ran a barbeque all day.

Selling agents were RD1 Livestock and PGG Wrightson.

Prices: 65 head of 24-30 month bulls averaged $2250; and 87 head of 18

month bulls averaged $1810. Both averages were up on 2013 sale figures.

“It was a good sale in spite of the weather and pay-out forecast and farmers realise the premium that Polled Hereford calves can get next spring,” Mathieson says.

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@rural_news


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40 MANAGEMENT

Fescue fits for Northland farms

TALL FESCUE is increas-ingly becoming the pas-ture of choice on some of Landcorp’s North-land farms in the face of increasingly severe summer droughts.

Managers at the com-pany’s Kaipiro station 16 km northeast of Kerikeri and Sweetwater station 10 km northwest of Kaitaia have put in more of the perennial grass on their dairy platforms after dis-covering its capabilities in recent long dry summers.

The SOE’s experimen-tation with fescue in the north started 12 years ago when Sweetwater station manager Mark Johnson replaced 60ha of the prop-erty’s 977ha dairy platform with the variety Advance.

He found that where production off rye and

kikuyu grass struggled on the predominantly peat soils in the area’s hot sum-mers, the tall fescue kept growing. The result was a lift in milk production every time the cows went into a paddock of the alter-native pasture.

Today, fescue is the main pasture, occupy-ing about 600ha or 60% of the platform, and John-son hopes to increase that to 80% over the next two years.

Seeing the success Johnson was having, Kaip-iro manager Andrew Kirk made an initial planting of 25ha of Advance’s suc-cessor, Excel, three years ago, and by the end of this milking season will be up to 300 ha.

Once established, fescue grows quickly

throughout the year which can make it difficult to manage in a round, par-ticularly if there are only one or two paddocks of it. Let it get too long and it becomes much less palat-able so the “round” needs to be shorter than on rye-grass, 14-17 days being the norm for fescue. Even that isn’t always fast enough in spring, making topping or heavy mob grazing nec-essary to achieve target

residuals and maintain pasture quality.

Johnson says all their fescue paddocks get topped once a year some-where between September and November as a matter of course. Some scruffier paddocks are shut-up for silage.

“But we usually mow ahead of the cows and they clean it up ok.”

The only time rye-grass grows faster than the

fescue is in late winter and early spring and even then it’s only about 10kgDM/day difference, he adds.

In spring the fescue will do 70-100 kgDM/day, and come summer it will still produce 70kgDM/day “when ryegrass will not grow much more than 20.”

But while the plant is more heat resistant than ryegrass and will grow through summer, than can be its downfall: as ‘the only green thing on the farm’ can easily get over grazed resulting in a pasture that should last at least six to eight years dying out in two or three, warns Land-corp agronomist Matthew Keltie.

At Sweetwater, under Johnson’s management, fescue still makes up 60% of the sward in some pas-

The problems caused by droughts in the far north have been well documented but a sometimes forgotten pasture species can help mitigate the impact. Gareth Gillatt reports.

KEY POINTS❱❱ More tolerant of heat

and drought than ryegrass.

❱❱ Grows fast so graze frequently – 14-17 day rounds.

❱❱ Top if swards too ragged.

❱❱ Plan establishment carefully – needs a month in warm moist soil to germinate.

❱❱ Beware overgrazing when it’s the only thing that’s green.

tures nine years after sowing, despite invasive species like kikuyu being present.

“These are still high performing paddocks,” says Johnson.

He pulls cows off the fescue as soon as the resid-ual gets down to 1500 in summer to protect the

plant. Doing that’s less of a problem now a significant part of the farm is in the species.

“When we only had 40-50% of flats in fescue and it was the only thing green in summer the resid-uals did get down because of a too short rotation length,” he admits.

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MANAGEMENT 41

Extra grass from careful establishmentLANDCORP AGRONOMIST Matthew Keltie says alternate pasture species such as fescue have long played a part in the group’s management, but how much uptake they get often depends on whether there is a central champion for the species.

Fescue’s appeal is that it is more resistant to heat and moisture stress, and an extra 2t/ha/year of growth com-pared to ryegrass has been recorded. But it is a lot less forgiving of mistakes at planting, or during grazing, than rye-grass.

“Anyone considering planting fescue should first find a forage agronomist expert who can help them implement the best practice requirements for planting and managing it.”

Seeds need at least five weeks of warm, moist soil with temperatures constantly above 12 degrees to germi-nate. Anything less and the already long-

ish wait between planting and the first graze will be extended, and pasture fail-ure becomes a distinct possibility.

Kirk says anybody planning to sow fescue needs to make hard decisions around summer crops, prioritising the aim of getting a good pasture estab-lished over taking one last feed off a crop.

“In February you need to get in after the first bit of rain and be very disci-plined about spraying the crop out.

“If you leave it too late then it will be slow to establish and you won’t be able to put any livestock on it until spring.”

His preference is for autumn sowing, rather than spring, as it’s generally a safer option in Northland as there’s more likely to be the moisture needed to get seeds growing.

“By the time the soil warms up in spring things are drying up and the plants don’t get the water they need.”

Johnson, who has successfully planted fescue in spring, says conditions

need to be just right before considering a spring sowing.

“The farm is often too wet to plant early and then it dries out too quickly after sowing. It can be a fantastic suc-cess or dismal.”

He reckons on the farm’s peat soils spring plantings have to be done by the end of October, but that deadline may differ on other farms and soils.

There are risks in planting in autumn too, he points out, especially if rains don’t come until late by which time soil temperatures are likely to have dropped. He reckons to have autumn-sown fescue in by April at latest.

“If it’s late, the first winter can be

really challenging due slow establish-ment in lower soil temperatures.”

Other than timing, Johnson and Kirk say seedbed preparation for fescue is no different to ryegrass. Typically an annual grass will be sown, followed by a summer crop, then the fescue at 100,000 seeds/ha with a standard undersower or 80,000 seeds/ha with a precision drill.

Kirk often uses Pasja summer bras-sica as an entry to fescue, grazing stock helping consolidate ground ready for the grass.

“I’ve found that it leaves a seedbed

that is really good for establishing new grasses.”

Nutrient requirements are no differ-ent from a replacement ryegrass and are driven by soil test results.

“We tend to put fertiliser in all the way along and generally don’t need to put any extra in.”

Like any new pasture, early grazing needs care and Kirk says he usually uses heifers or lambs initially, though good establishment last autumn meant he was able to put it in the milking round straight away.

“You don’t want to overgraze it, especially at the beginning.”

Johnson echoes that. He only lets cows graze fescue to a residual of 1600-1800kgDM/ha in its first year, using a mower to tidy up after the third or fourth round if need be.

“We try to graze it scruffy to allow the crown to develop and tiller out. After that first year 1500-1600 residu-als are the aim.”

GARETH GILLATT“You don’t want to overgraze it, especially at the beginning.”

– Andrew KirkConvinced: farm manager Andrew Kirk is ramping up the area of fescue at Kaipiro Station.

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MANAGEMENT 43

FROM PAGE 38

days between 7pm and 5am there’s no one here. The plan is to get exceptional reporting systems in place and if the farm is running the way it should I don’t want to know about it. But if something’s wrong, I want to know about it straight away.”

The DeLaval robots are doing the job but he’s keen to add other technology.

“The robot says it’s been idle for 60 minutes and we wonder, what’s the reason for the text? We soon start to learn that if we get that text at 8pm, when you know the shed should be full, you get on the computer and cameras and know something is wrong.

“The DeLaval system

has exceptional reporting but there are a lot of things that are not part of the robotic system and we need to add to that.”

Reid has been a fan of automatic milking since his stint on the Dexcel (now DairyNZ) board.

“Our trials at Newstead proved we could make cows voluntarily move around farms. What De Laval has designed now is far more stringent than what we had in 2008.”

Reid is confident of making his robotic farm

profitable within three years.

There are teething problems but he is keen to learn and make adjustments along the way. “Not one day do we say we should not have done this.”

AUTOMATIC MILKING is slowly being embraced by farmers in Australia and New Zealand, says DeLaval regional president Oceania Richard Alderton.

While almost 50% of farmers in Europe are using robots to milk their cows, farmers here are taking a “slightly more cautious approach”, he says.

Alderton made the comments at the world’s largest robotic farm under one roof, a 1500 cow milking barn built by South Canterbury farmer Aad van Leeuwen. DeLaval supplied 24 robotic machines for the farm, where milking started last month.

Alderton says there is no doubt that a “growing minority of farmers” in Oceania see robotics as a progressive step.

Rough calculations by DeLaval show that if 1% of farmers in Australasia convert to automatic milking, that would represent 1000 robotic units milking 70,000 cows.

Alderton says automatic milking systems will not be for everyone. “You have to be on the right type of farm, have the right approach and be open minded about it.”

One big question asked about robotics

is whether it saves labour; Alderton says it can. A 200-cow farm in Tasmania running three robotic machines has 0.6 labour unit. The spare labour capacity can be used for other work.

Alderton says automatic milking also provides flexibility to farmer and cow; they can both decide when and what to do. “So, if the farmer is doing other duties he doesn’t have to come back to do milking; if a cow wants to be milked, she decides when she comes for milking and she can come three times a day.”

When Alderton began work in New Zealand five years ago the comments on cow barns were “generally not positive”. But public and industry sentiment have moved in favour of barns. “They now see barns as a solution, not a problem; barns keep cows cooler in summer and warmer in winter.”

Oceania is the largest exporter of milk and Alderton says the company will continue promoting sustainable and efficient milk production. “Barns and robots realise the DeLaval vision: sustainable food production.”

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44 MANAGEMENT

Awards a way of showing townies and media the truth

ENTRIES FOR the BFEAs in South-land close November 21 but several regions are already into first round judging.

“We’ve had a strong entry this year, up on last year and with a good mix of farm types,” East Coast coordinator Kate Taylor told Rural News.

“There’s also a range of farm sizes, from the standard family farms through to larger corporate type properties.”

Horizons entries also closed in

September.“We’ve had 19 entries. That’s

well above normal,” coordinator Stella Rackham says.

But entries in Canterbury, which closed at the start of the month, are back a little, says regional coordinator Jocelyn Miller.

“Possibly it’s the impact of having two national winners on the trot. People are perhaps a bit over-awed about entering, instead of focusing on the feedback opportu-

nity the awards present.”Taranaki’s closing date was

Friday (October 17) and Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Greater Wellington entries close this Friday (October 24). Northland and Otago close October 31 and Southland November 21.

Regional awards nights are held through February, March and April with Supreme Award winners going through to a national awards night in June. See www.bfea.org.nz for entry forms and more.

Entries and deadlines

SICK AND tired of bad press about farming? Then why not enter the Bal-lance Farm Environment Awards?

That’s what Southland farmers Mark and Deborah Hamill did about this time last year.

“One of the key reasons we entered was because we were sick of all the negative stories about dairying in the media,” says Mark.

“The people generating these sto-ries were basing them on emotion and not facts, and that really got up my nose…

“I know my neighbours feel the same way. If you don’t care about the environment and your stock, you don’t have a farm.”

They converted their 301ha sheep and beef farm, near Gorge Road, to dairying in 2008 and now milk about 800 cows on a 241ha milking platform.

They’d been approached about entering the BFEAs before but 2014

was their first go. “We didn’t feel we were doing anything special.”

Yet they landed three category awards, including the PGG Wright-son Land and Life Award which was notable, says Deborah.

“It recognises all the people who have been involved with our farm and all the relationships we have built up over the years. These things are an important part of our journey.”

She says the competition “makes you look back at where you have come from and where you are now, and then it makes you think about where you will be in five years.”

They included their three chil-dren in the BFEA judging process. Both sons are studying agriculture at university.

“We feel it’s vital to invest in our children and involve them in the busi-ness. They are our succession plan.”

She also says she’s “very proud” of what Mark’s achieved on the farm, which was another reason for finally entering the awards.

“We were proud to be sheep farm-ers and now we are proud to be Fon-terra suppliers. So I thought we had a good story to tell.”

They’ve fenced and protected about 30ha of native bush, wetland and riparian areas. BFEA judges described their south coast prop-erty, ‘Folly Farm’, as “beautifully pre-sented” and noted their passion for the ecosystems in the river, creeks, bush and wetlands on the property.

Mark says the awards are unique because they don’t focus solely on production and profitability.

“They look at the social and envi-ronmental factors that are a crucial part of the whole farming picture. That sets it apart from other compe-titions.

“As farmers, I think we have a responsibility to showcase what we are doing. People in town need to hear about the good things happening on the farm.”

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

Mark and Deborah Hamil entered the BFEA to counter negative stereotypes about farming.


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RURAL NEWS // OCTOBER 21, 2014RURAL NEWS // OCTOBER 21, 2014

ANIMAL HEALTH 45

Fluke comparison prompts action

DATA COLLATED by the recently launched Farm IQ System has prompted a large East Coast sheep and beef operation to take a closer look at liver fluke controls.

“We’ve probably always had it, but when we’ve looked at the kill sheets in the past it’s only been two or three per unit load of cattle,” Whangara Farms’ general manager Rich-ard Scholefield told Rural News.

However, when all the kill sheet data for the year was pulled together with Farm IQ’s Farm Manage-ment System (FMS), and perhaps more importantly, benchmarked, it became apparent they had a prob-lem (see chart).

“It’s why this year we’re doing a trial with different drenches and will follow that through to slaughter.”

Despite livers being downgraded due to fluke damage Scholefield says there’s no price penalty on affected animals. It’s the likely growth impact that’s the concern.

He believes that’s mostly at the shoulders of the season, as at peak

times they’ve been averag-ing 2.5kg liveweight/day.

“That’s probably as good as anywhere but coming out of winter, and into autumn too, some-times we’re doing just 0.4-0.5kg/day when I think we could be close to 1kg/day…

“It’s when the pres-sure comes on and they’re under a bit of stress due to feed or climate – dry as well as wet – that the fluke probably has a growth affect.”

At four or five times the price of regular drenches the fluke-specific prod-ucts aren’t cheap, hence the trial to check growth response rates, as well as impact on kill sheet data.

About half the 1250 Friesian bulls win-tered were injected with Ivomec Plus in early September, which should have knocked out all but immature flukes (see panel) ingested within two weeks of drench date.

By way of control, some animals got nothing and some the usual oral of Oxfendazole C. The trial is being monitored by a local vet and they’ve been through one weigh-ing so far. “There’s noth-ing noticeable yet,” says Scholefield.

The bulls will be killed targeting a 300kg car-case weight, having been bought last year in spring through to early summer as 280-300kg liveweight

yearlings.“We’re doing a bit of

work with our ewes too. We used Genesis Ultra on some last year and there was definitely a weight gain and condition score response but they were a mob that got preferen-tially fed too so we need to look at it again with a control.”

Whangara Farms is 7000ha, run in five blocks with a manager for each but Scholefield says they have fluke issues right across the property, which is Maori-owned. Just over half the 60,000 stock units wintered are sheep and the balance cattle.

• More about Farm IQ page 46

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

ABOUT FLUKELIVER FLUKE (Fasciola hepatica) can infest most farm species and several non-farm grazing species. Cysts are ingested with pasture, typically in wet areas, and release immature flukes in the animal’s intestine. The immature flukes migrate to the liver where they mature, reaching adult egg-laying stage 8-10 weeks from ingestion. Mature flukes can live over a year shedding thousands of eggs into the bile duct and in turn the intestine and dung. Eggs hatch in warm, wet pasture, and complete the first part of their life-cycle in snails before leaving the snail to encyst on pasture, awaiting ingestion by a passing sheep, cow, deer, horse or even rabbit.

“We’ve probably always had it, but when we’ve looked at the kill sheets in the past it’s only been two or three per unit load of cattle.”

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46 ANIMAL HEALTHBig cost to fighting wild dogs

AUSTRALIA’S WOOL growers have spent A$7 million in five years fight-ing a national wild dog plague that threatened to put them out of business.

The money, channeled through the R&D and mar-keting body Australian Wool Innovation (AWI)

has funded research to preserve access to exist-ing baits and develop new ones, document the social impact of wild dogs, and co-ordinate local, regional and national dog control work.

Australia’s wild dogs include dingoes, feral domestic dogs and hybrids. Combined, their

attacks are estimated to cost at least A$50 million a year.

But while wild dogs remain a scourge for sheep producers, AWI says results from its commu-nity wild dog control ini-tiative (CWDCI) show progress is possible.

A survey of 2200 landholders involved

in CWDCI projects nationwide found 25% of respondents had de-stocked but now intended to re-introduce sheep, and 33% intended to increase sheep numbers. Some 60% said their feeling of personal wellbeing had improved and 51% reported positive biodiversity impacts.

Among 251 landholders, stock losses had reduced 70%, from an average of 310/farmer to 86. Valu-ing replacements at the national average of A$86/head that’s effectively A$19,000 saved.

A four-year AWI funded trial showed increasing aerial 1080-drop bait density from 10/

ALAN HARMAN

km to 40/km increased wild dog kill from 55% to 90%. Consequently higher density baiting is now pos-sible under permit from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

AWI general manager of research Paul Swan says wild dogs still rep-resent one of the great-est threats to the sheep

and wool industry in large areas but AWI’s develop-ment of tools and local and regional networks mean they are “starting to see positive results….

“However, while we should commend the efforts of the many con-tributors to these on-ground efforts, we should make no mistake: there is a long way to go.”

Wild dogs on the prowl.

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❱❱ Nine demonstration farms established which in 2011-12 recorded production increases and cost savings equating to a total income increase of $1.4m.

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❱❱ FarmIQ Farm Management System (FMS) up and running.

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ANIMAL HEALTH 47

Animal testing likely to decline

THE CHAIRPERSON of the National Animal Ethics Advisory Commit-tee (NAEAC) says while animals will continue to be needed for research, testing and teaching, she expects the number to gradually decline.

Dr Virginia Williams says while the numbers of animals used for these purposes are down by 25% for the year ended 2013, she says more relevant is the figures relating to the rolling three-year average.

In 2013 the number of animals used for testing, research and teaching was 224,048, the rolling three-year average 284,000.

“We are always aiming to reduce the number of animals and replace them wherever possible. While there is quite a substantial fall this year, we look more at the three-year roll-ing average because you get projects that go on for three years and only get reported at the end of that period. So it’s likely that next year the numbers will go up, though it would be nice to think that they wouldn’t.”

Globally New Zealand is a minor player in animal testing, Williams says. And our research focus is mainly on production

animals whereas in the UK it’s more on rodents. In New Zealand in 2013, cattle made up 51.4% of the farm animals used, sheep 20.6%. This reflects the focus in New Zealand on veterinary research, animal husbandry and testing the efficacy of products used to maintain the health of other ani-mals.

“One of NAEAC’s aims is to promote what we call the three ‘R’s’: ‘refine-ment’ (reducing pain

and distress); ‘reduction’ (reducing the number of animals to the minimum possible to get a statisti-cal result, but not so small that no result is obtained); and ‘replacement’ – world-wide there are places where animals can be replaced.

“It’s expensive to use animals. Note that it is one thing to find replace-ments, and another to have that validated as a testing programme so that the regulatory authorities

will accept it.”Dr Williams says a chal-

lenge for her organisa-tion is getting the public to understand the issues – and it’s not all bad news. Often there is a ‘shock horror’ reaction when the number of animals used for testing goes up, but New Zealand has strict controls governing their use.

“Any use of animals has to be approved by an animal ethics commit-tee of three independent

people: a veterinarian nominated by the NZVA, a nominee of the SPCA and a lay person nominated by a territorial authority. They have to approve, by looking at the cost to the animal versus the poten-

tial benefit. So obviously the higher the cost to the animal the greater the sup-posed benefit from the research. We have a good system to oversee that and it’s well regarded around the world.”

Williams says the public don’t understand animal welfare issues because few people in cities have any contact with a farm, though they may have a companion animal.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

While animals will be needed for research, NAEAC chair Vrginia Williams expects the numbers to gradually decline.

“ The thought that we may have BVD in our herd really bothered us. The potential profit loss would threaten our family’s financial security.”

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48 ANIMAL HEALTH ANIMAL HEALTH 49

Survey finds big range in calf deaths

A SURVEY prompted by lack of data on calf deaths in the New Zealand dairy industry has found there’s a huge range in mortality.

The debate on eutha-nasia of calves following the Chilean clubbing foot-age prompted Manawatu

researcher Dr Lucy Wal-dron to look into the death toll on farms here. She found there’s a dearth of data, not just on eutha-nasia but also on losses in general, so did her own poll.

While only 10 farms responded, even in that limited sample total losses ranged from 1% of calves

intended to be reared, to 31%, averaging 7.4%. The survey also found a wide range in approach to farm biosecurity.

“It shows it’s a bit hit and miss, what people are doing,” Waldron, of LWT Animal Nutrition, told Rural News. “A lot are effectively leaving it to chance. They wash-out

and disinfect before the calves arrive and then they have to take their chances from there.”

Only one had wheel-baths for vehicles and fewer than half had sys-tems for ensuring rearers’ clothes were clean.

“Milk tankers may be cleaned at the factory but they often go to more

than one farm on a col-lection round, and there are numerous other vehi-cles that go from farm to farm, potentially carry-ing infectious agents that can sweep through a calf shed.”

Even vehicles which don’t go from farm to farm pose a threat due to con-tamination of roads with

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

manure and vermin car-cases, she points out.

“You need to think of your farm as its own little island when it comes to biosecurity.”

Valuing heifer calves at $500 and bulls at $200 the financial loss of just the animals was up to $19,000/farm. “In a low payout year like this can you afford that?”

Only four respon-dents put a cost on losses other than the animal itself, ranging from $100 to $1000 in total, but Waldron suggests that given the time and effort involved in nurturing sick

calves those additional costs are probably a gross underestimate.

“Calf rearing should be one of the most important activities on a dairy farm and I don’t think it gets the focus it deserves on many farms. Partly it’s because of shortage of labour but also it’s about farmers’, sharemilkers’ or manag-ers’ attitudes towards it. Often it comes bottom of the priority list but herd replacement calves are your cows of the future and a lot of how they per-form in later life is deter-mined by their health and nutrition as calves.”

DO YOU routinely tube feed calves?Post-mortems on tubed animals show damage

to throat tissue is common, as is milk getting into the rumen rather than the abomasum, says a North Island research scientist.

“The rumen should be 10-20% of the stomach in young calves but where they’ve been tubed it’s often distended and full of rotten milk,” Dr Lucy Waldron of LWT Animal Nutrition, Feilding, told Rural News.

“When you cut them open it stinks: a calf’s stomach shouldn’t smell at all. The milk should all be in the abomasum and like cream cheese.”

While she acknowledges the reason dairy farms reach for the tube – time pressure and to ensure colostrum is received – Waldron says using such devices is doing more harm than people realise.

“We’ve often seen lesions and tears in the oesophagus where calves have been tubed and we won’t buy them now. All our calves for research are picked up straight off the farm, straight off their mothers.”

Besides the physical damage observed, milk in the rumen provides a substrate for bacteria which is likely behind many cases of persistent scours and could well lead to less than optimal rumen function later in life, she suspects.

“It’s very hard to shift a population of bad or pathogenic bacteria once they’re in there.”

To ensure milk makes it into the abomasum it needs to trickle down the oesophageal groove through the stomach, not flood in as it generally does from a tube. The suckling action is also impor-tant.

“You can’t guarantee it’s getting in the right place with a tube.”

Questions raised over tube feeding

Dr Lucy Waldron prompted to do research on calf ethunasia following publicity on the subject.

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Shaping the future of animal health


ANIMAL HEALTH 49

When is it time to give up teaching a dog new tricks?I CONFESS to persevering longer than most people with dogs that have issues, and I admit it is more enjoy-able working with a dog that shows ability from day one. Perhaps I should be more ruthless? When do you draw the line with a problem dog?

Virtually every problem with a pup or dog is the result of somebody doing something that they shouldn’t have done or somebody not doing what they should do.

An exception to that rule can be a pup’s birth nature: an abnormal fear of everything or an aggressive approach to life. If you know, without doubt, that nothing has happened to cause either fear or aggression then you know it is in the pup’s mind. I don’t waste my time with either of these.

As pups get older aggression may start to creep in and if dealt with correctly it rarely becomes a prob-lem. Hormones may be to blame and sometimes it can be as simple as de-sexing.

Timid pups are different to soft pups. Timid pups hide; loud noises scare them; new people or animals have them scurrying for cover; they seem terrified of the world. There are too many outgoing happy pups around to bother with the timid. Put them down.

Soft pups, however, are some-

what standoffish with new people and dogs, they sit back observing rather than meeting everything boldly. I find these pups respond very well to kind gentle han-dling and they are often easy to train and easy to manage when working. I am natu-rally drawn to them.

Occasionally I have been training a young dog that takes offence at cor-rection - a raised angry tone of voice, or something thrown near it to keep it back off sheep - and it will scarper back to the kennels.

Beating it at the kennels or putting it away will only worsen the problem; we go back to where we were training and I patiently resume. If it is about to happen again, I will give the stop command as it is beginning to slink off, it stops in its tracks and I praise the obedience and we end training for the day, on a good note.

Often, in time, you can patiently work through the pup’s insecurity. However, if you have done nothing wrong and everything right and the pup still can’t handle an angry voice, threats and correction, it isn’t going to cope with the noise and commotion that happens in working situations. Don’t waste your time with it.

Correct rearing of pups is vital and it is very easy to rear a pup well. But

it’s also easy to make a mistake and ruin it for life. I can’t stress this enough.

When a pup first misbehaves, your actions will determine whether or not the bad behaviour is stopped, or it escalates into a

bigger problem, or another problem altogether. It’s worth rereading that sentence: it is very important.

Most faults and problems with pups and young dogs can be nipped in the bud early, and I don’t see any, other than the ones I have described above, as insurmountable.

The only exception is ‘worrying’. Once a dog has mauled an animal or killed, it can never be trusted. I have no hesitation shooting a dog that has worried.

If you have a low success rate with pups and working dogs, take a long look at yourself and either get a make-over or find another job.

I am grateful to the dogs that tested my patience and to the dogs that didn’t respond to basic training techniques for they taught me new ways of doing things. • Anna Holland is teaching people dog training. For more information www.annaholland.co.nz or Ph 06) 212 4848 or [email protected]

Was the dog born with a problem, or was there a mistake in training or handling?

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50 SOUTHDOWN SPECIALStation’s on-going success on the back of Southdowns

GLENALVON STATION is in picturesque Central Hawkes Bay, the snow-capped Ruahine Ranges presenting, in this season, a beautiful backdrop.

The station has been owned by five generations of the Butler/Rathbone family who have devel-oped and successfully grown the business over the years.

Aside from all the work generations of farmers have done on the property, one key reason for its suc-cess has been the use of Southdown rams to pro-duce high-quality, high-yielding, pre-Christmas lambs.

Today Owen Butler and son James are in a partner-ship on the farm. While James is playing a greater role in the day-to-day run-ning of the operation, the core element – the use of the Southdown – remains.

When Owen’s father was running the property

in the 1950s the South-down was put over most of the then Romney flock.

“It was chosen because the family believed it was the best ram,” Owen Butler tells Rural News. “Those were the days when we targeted the British market. Every-thing went to the termi-nal sire and straight to Tomoana freezing works in Hastings.”

But in the 1970s, when Owen was running the farm, he moved away from the Southdown for some years, before coming back to them. Today they are a key part of the farm’s operation.

Owen Butler says for a while the Southdown was seen as over-fat, short and dumpy and Romney wool was attracting a two dollar premium over the Southdown wool. Money, he says, was the simple reason for the switch away.

“I trialled the Polled

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

TO PAGE 51

Dorset, but they didn’t perform so well with us. So I returned to the South-down because I had liked them in the past.”

Butler says Southdown ram breeders also got the message and lengthened them out. In the early days, he bought his

Owen Butler has been running Southdowns

on the property since the 1970s.

Southdown ewes and lambs on Glenalvon Station.

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SOUTHDOWN SPECIAL 51

The modern-day Southdown is longer, fertile and produces high yielding lambs.

Southdown success

FROM PAGE 50

Southdown rams from local farmers, but now sources the rams through Callum Dunnett of PGG Wrightson, from South Island breeders. First, Colin Smith, and now Chris Medlicott.

James Butler has con-tinued on with his father’s choice of the Southdown. He likes them because they handle very well the often dry conditions of Central Hawkes Bay. He’s been directly involved in

the farm since 2002 after completing his training, initially at nearby Smedley and later at Massey Uni-versity.

In recent years the But-lers have moved from Romneys to Coopworths and James says the South-down has proved an excel-lent terminal sire for the Coopworths.

The Butlers run 2650 Coopworth breeding ewes and these are put to a Coopworth ram to breed replacements and some

lambs for sale. They also finish up to 1000 cattle yearly, and grow malting barley for Malteurop.

The Southdown ram is put across what James calls his culls and the hoggets. These culls will include a number of Southdown/Coopworth cross two-tooths, which have got through the system and any ewe over five years of age.

“We take sheep that aren’t just there or we don’t like. Or we may find

a first cross Southdown that has slipped through,” he explains. “But first cross Southdown ewes are very fertile sheep and rather than killing them we pop them straight into the cull mob. Sometimes we may even slip into that mob a four-year-old ewe that isn’t making it and we at least get a saleable lamb out of her.”

This cull mob scans at 170%.

James Butler says theTO PAGE 52

On Farm Sale January, Friday 16th @ 1:00pm

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For all enquiries contact; Jill BairdPh: 06 3727814

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Glenhazard Holdings LtdGladstone, R.D.4 Masterton

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Client comments...Ben & Caroline Murray, Woodbank Angus Stud, Clarence

Derek West, Ward

Willowhaugh Southdowns~ Established 1956 ~

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• Using “Willowhaugh” Southdowns over mixed age ewes

• Drafted at 10 weeks of age on 9 October 2013

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• Using “Willowhaugh” Southdowns over their hoggets

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Enquiries welcome | S.W. Gray and D & J GrayTaipo Road, Rongotea, No 6 RD, Palmerston North | Ph 06 324 8845

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Flock no 4436 OB AccreditedSouthdown Studs

Stud & flock rams & ewes available

For early maturing Southdowns.

“Some of my clients are drafting

lambs at 10 weeks and 18.5kg.”

Keep up with the latest stories from by following us atGET SOCIAL WITH RURALNEWS

facebook.com/ruralnews twitter.com/Rural_News


52 SOUTHDOWN SPECIAL

modern Southdown is longer, which equates to weight, and they produce high-yielding lambs. The other advan-tage is that they have a narrow shoul-der, which means they don’t cause birthing problems when mated to hoggets.

“Nowadays you get a big, well-framed sheep that’s got weight, is free moving.

“There are no issues with over-fats and we know the lambs are going to grade well. We are happy with our sheep and what we are getting and we

are not going to bother looking for any alternatives and intend to stick with the Southdown.”

One of the changes James has made on Glenalvon is to plant lucerne. This is to drought-proof the farm and get the ewes milking and feeding the lambs.

Only ewes and lambs mated to the Southdown ram are run on the lucerne and the main goal is to get their weight up faster.

The Coopworth ewes and lambs are not run on the lucerne, but later, when these lambs are weaned, they

get a chance to reap the benefits of the lucerne.

James likes to try other pasture species mixes, but says there is a prob-lem with plantain, which is suscepti-ble to grass grub and can be a problem in the area.

The Butlers still target the Christ-mas and pre-Christmas market: 80% of the Southdown lambs are gone by the first week of December.

For them, the Southdown is delivering well in line with their business plan and they do not intend to change.

Adapting to changing times

FROM PAGE 51

A classic terminal sireTHE SOUTHDOWN has been the foundation of ‘New Zealand lamb’ or ‘Canterbury lamb’ since the start of refrigeration in 1882.

It has been the classic ‘terminal sire’ where all offspring mature early, grow fast and go for slaughter.

The breed has changed often in

‘type’ over the years when responding to changing meat markets. From the origi-nal imports from Britain, it was greatly reduced in size to meet the demand for small joints. Now the breed has changed back to larger sheep, again to meet a market where consumers buy

oven-ready products and not joints.Apart from being a specialist meat

breed, Southdown have been impor-tant in contributing their meat quali-ties to other breeds through crossing and interbreeding.

James Butler

Holly FarmSouthdown StudEst 1935 Flock No 1375

Rams AvailableBred under dry land conditions.IDEAL TERMINAL SIRES

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RAMS AVAILABLE PRIVATELY OR AT FEILDING STUD FAIRBred in the difficult Northland conditions these rams provide the opportunity for

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RURAL NEWS // OCTOBER 21, 2014RURAL NEWS // OCTOBER 21, 2014

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 53

Greasing system has no moving partsA NEW greasing system could cut service times and increase machinery life, says its designer Bradley Slee, who has spent 14 years working on prototypes.

He has developed a grease nipple and grease coupler with no internal or exter-nal parts that won’t leak, wear or jam.

He got the idea in 2000 while servic-ing spray equipment after a day’s gorse spraying. He discovered a circlip was missing from the hydraulic input gland on a hose reel.

“I was amazed to see the machine was still running even though there was 300psi pressure in the pipe,” he told Rural News. “The next thing I needed to work out was whether it could work up to 10,000 PSI.”

It did, inspiring Slee to re-examine the workings of grease nipples and cou-plings on machinery.

In traditional nipple/coupling arrangements – they date back to 1929 – grease travels through the top of the nipple, which is normally sealed against foreign material by a ball and spring lock. As the transfer of fluids between the gun and the nipple essentially pushes

the connection apart, the coupler needs sharp jaws or some other mechanism to grip the nipple and seal it.

This can be a problem over time. Slee says the action from the locking mech-anism wears down the nipple and the coupler, allowing leakage of grease or sometimes even snapping the nipple off completely. The consequences of this can be disastrous.

“Grease will try anything it can to get out of a system,” he explains “Cylin-ders and joints then wear out costing big money to refurbish and replace.”

Slee’s Nevaleak system prevents this by injecting grease through the side of the nipple eliminating the need for a locking mechanism and second ball bearing valve.

Like traditional fittings Neva-leak couplings fit round the nipple. However, unlike traditional fit-tings, the grease is channeled through the coupling’s sleeve past an O-Ring on the side of the nipple and into one of four intakes on the nipple leading to the second chamber.

What the missing circlip on the spray system proved to Slee is the coupler could do away with mechanical locking

mechanism completely, but it took him some time to figure out exactly how to make it work reliably. In fact, it took 500 prototypes to simplify the coupler from a mechanism containing 10 separate com-ponents into a unit with just one, he says. “A big part of it was getting the coupler down to no parts.”

Slee says developing a coupler with-out extra welds could have been impossi-ble if the right prototype developers with the right equipment weren’t working out of Auckland.

“I was lucky to have access to proto-type makers with a CNC drill capable of milling holes on an angle.”

To test it out Slee enlisted the help of Craig Thomson, owner of Waipu Earth-moving, with a five-ton Hitachi and the Kittyhawk and a forklift at Ardmore Air-port.

The experiences of the engineers in charge of maintaining the

plane were especially telling, according to Slee. He says they often had to com-pletely remove the drive shaft to grease it prior to the fitting of the Nevaleak nipples. “Now we’ve given the nipples a good high pressure test.”

The company’s online store went live at the start of October. But he ‘toyed’

with a launch in April last year, making the site live for two days before taking it down again. “We had the O-rings inside the coupler and I felt it wasn’t reliable enough so we took it down again and I put the O-rings on the nipples.”

The valves and couplers are made of single pieces of machined stainless steel. A ten-year warranty applies.Tel. 027 600 5555www.nevaleak.com

GARETH GILLATT

A cutaway shot of the grease nipple and coupler with no internal parts to cause leaks or jams.

Bradley Slee has spent 14 years developing the new greasing mechanism.

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54 MACHINERY & PRODUCTSTractors ease orchard’s disease managementTWO GOLDONI Quasar 90 tractors (85hp) are helping ease the load of Psa management on a Hawkes Bay orchard, says the tractor supplier.

Roughly 21km south-east of Napier, the Waima orchard has 60ha planted in kiwifruit.

With spraying, mulch-

ing and harvesting work all handled in-house, the orchard’s fleet of five trac-tors often gets a work-out. Orchard manager Campbell Tacon says the workload is stretched even more by a 10km gap between blocks.

The arrival of Psa on three of the opera-tion’s eight orchards two seasons ago added to

the spray management demands, leading to the purchase of two new trac-tors, adds Tacon.

“With Psa we’ve had to do a lot more spraying – up to 25 times per year.”

Developed especially for growers, the tractors, at 85hp and with 4WD, are at least twice as powerful as others in the orchard’s fleet and are the same

height. This suits spraying and mulching. Spraying is done with an old model Typhoon sprayer towed behind the tractor.

The sprayer carries 2000L of water and weighs 2.5t but the Quasar 90s tow them easily at any time of the year, allowing operators to get in and spray for Psa after rain and frost protection when it is

needed most. “Because they are 4WD

we don’t need to worry about wet patches; that’s different from our exist-ing fleet.”

The extra power also comes in handy when dealing with vine trim-mings, Tacon says.

Leaves and vines are mulched into the ground using a 2m Berti, easier

GARETH GILLATT

THE ORCHARD will in the next year work on replacing the remainder of its gold crop with a newer variety less susceptible to PSA.

Half of the gold vines at Waima are the 16-A variety, which are more likely to contract PSA.

The orchard plans to eliminate old plants, replacing them with G3 shoots and vines.

New variety in view

with the new tractors. “We like to mulch because it puts the nutrients back into ground.”

With 8/8 transmission these are the first tractors in the fleet to have shut-tle shift capabilities, aiding manoeuvrability in com-bination with their 2.9m turning radius.

The workers are known to vie for use of the new tractors for a days work.

“It’s nice to have the good gear. It runs up and down the road fast and works smoothly.”

With 10km between patches, road speed was an important factor, explains Tacon. “The geography of the blocks is spread out a little so having a trac-tor capable of driving at 40km/h is useful.”Tel. 07 573 8132www.agtek.co.nz

Orchard manager Campbell Tacon says the Goldoni tractors perfect for Kiwifruit.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 55Early weed kill vital for forage brassicasFEED VALUE of new season forage brassica may be improved by killing weeds such as spurrey (yarr), willow weed, nightshade and fathen, says herbicide maker Zeelam.

Its product Pycus “gains control over harder-to-kill” weeds such as the above, and annual nettle, this-tles, seedling docks, yarrow and amaranthus.

“The importance of good weed kill early in the life of a forage bras-sica crop and when the seedling weeds are growing will always give the best results,” the company says. “With adequate soil moisture these young weeds are growing, so they take up and circulate the herbicide quickly to deliver a lethal dose.”

Timing this application well

when the crop is small means the weeds are easier to hit, ensuring the competition is eliminated.

Pycus can be applied to swedes, kale, rape and turnips and its use rate range caters for a variation in the size of the young weeds pres-ent at the time of spraying. www.zelam.co.nz

Mixed result for Kiwi ploughmanTHE WORLD ploughing championships for 2014 recently concluded with mixed results for the two New Zealand compet-itors.

Held near Bordeaux, in south-western France, the event was a great success with competitors from 29 different countries competing in each division with conven-tional and reversible ploughs.

First time competitor Mark Dillon from Riversdale in the conventional section fin-ished 18th overall after finishing 17th in the stubble on the opening day and 20th on the grassland plot on the second day. He gained sponsorship, while there, from a local winery run by a Wellington woman

and her French husband.Meanwhile, Malcolm Taylor, from Puta-

ruru, in the reversible section finished 7th overall after coming 10th in the stubble and 6th in the grassland. He represented New Zealand last year in Canada and will again represent New Zealand at the 2015 world championship to be held in Denmark.

The Republic of Ireland – a stronghold of good ploughmen – had a unique result. The winner of the conventional section Eammon Tracey finished third in Canada in 2013 and the winner of the reversible plough division, John Whelan last year fin-ished, third this year.

Of the 58 different ploughs used all – except four – were Kverneland or Kverne-land-based.

TONY HOPKINSON

Riversdale’s Mark Dillion finished 18th overall at his first world ploughing chanmps.

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56 MACHINERY & PRODUCTSNew improved field day grounds for Northland

BOOK NOW for exhibit space at the 2015 North-land Field Days, says event coordinator Meagan Edmonds.

Early site registration is 50% higher than last year and only 10% of the avail-able sites are not already spoken for.

“Businesses have got in contact with me to pick out sites much faster

this year,” says Edmonds. “Anybody still on the fence on whether to attend the event next year will need to move fast if they want to come along.”

She adds the strong interest doesn’t surprise the organisers. Last year’s bumper event and good economic conditions in Northland are suggesting a strong exhibitor presence

Weed control in fodder beetA HERBICIDE made by Zelam, now into its third year of use, kills weeds in beet crops.

Beetrix contains three active ingredients for broad spectrum weed kills. The maker says the three actives (ethofumesate, metamitron and phenmedipham) have complementary modes of action to give an over-lapping spectrum of activity.

“Until recently farmers have had to tank mix dif-ferent herbicides to kill a range of weeds. Beetrix pro-vides single product convenience and flexibility.”

The herbicide will kill or suppress redroot ama-ranthus, prostrate amaranthus, black nightshade, cleavers, fathen, field pansy, hairy nightshade, hedge mustard, little flowered mallow, scrambling speed-well, stinging nettle, stinking mayweed, shepherds purse, spurrey, storksbill, twin cress, vervain, wild portulaca, willow weed and wireweed.

Timing of application is critical to get the best out of Beetrix, Zeelam says. “Use it at any time from sowing as weeds germinate. Repeat as further weeds germinate and to kill larger weeds through to crop clo-sure.”

The company says it can be safely sprayed at any crop stage even when split germinations occur.

However, soil moisture before and after application is important for root uptake and to ensure weeds are growing at this time.

Timing of application is crucial to getting the best out of Beetrix.

next time.Northland’s economy

has grown 6.9% in the last 12 months, according to a recent ANZ Regional Trend survey, with North-land businesses grow-ing 2% faster than their Auckland and Canterbury counterparts.

Northland Field Days president Lew Duggan says the is a showcase farmers, forestry gang operators and farm and forestry workers attend to get the supplies and services for the next 12 months.

“It’s Northland’s big-gest business event of the year, worth tens of mil-lions in new business to the region,” says Duggan.

“About 27,000 people attended the event this year, a figure we hope to top next year.”

Higher levels of com-fort and convenience are planned.

“The events ground has slowly been improved and added to over the past 10 years,” says Duggan. “While a toilet block and better pedestrian access will be the most ambitious changes to date they will pale into insignificance at the improvements we have planned in the very near future.”

The event will run from February 26-28 next year. Tel. 09 439 8998. www.northlandfielddays.co.nz

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New quad displays a complete design work-overA NEW quad from US manufacturer Polaris rep-resents a “complete rede-sign” of the preceding model.

The 2015 Ranger 570 comes in ‘heavy duty’ specification, chief of which is an engine braking system with four-wheel descent control (4WDC) “to provide optimum con-trol and traction when descending slopes”. The 4WDC system is already “tried and true” in New Zealand, the maker says; it is used on the Polaris UTE released early this year.

The new model has a heavy duty sway bar, upgraded rear driveshaft and grease fittings as standard – aiding durability and easier for

maintenance.Power comes from a

567cc, fuel-injected ProS-tar engine (44hp) driving through the maker’s on-demand AWD including ‘turf mode’.

Further upgrades for 2015 over the previous Ranger 570 model include standard electronic power steering (EPS), 10% more

engine power, improved styling, increased lock-and-ride accessory storage, and greater sus-pension travel and cab comfort, including tilt steering as standard.

Macpherson strut front and independent rear suspension have 22.9cm and 25.4cm travel respectively, and 25.4cm

ground clearance.The new model has

a seatbelt interlock that limits top speed to 24km/h when the seatbelt is not worn. And an optional ‘speed key’ separate from the starter key can be used to limit top speed to 40km/h.

Polaris says the new machine, reflecting its mantra ‘Hardest work-ing, smoothest riding”, is a class leader in its 680kg towing capacity, 227kg rear dump box capacity and 34.1L fuel capacity.

Price is $17,995 incl. GST plus dealer charges where appli-cable.www.polarisindustries.com.au

POLARIS HAS annual sales of $3.8 billion from products such as quads, its Ranger side-by-side vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and on-road electric-hybrid powered vehicles.

The company says that in quads it has grown its year-to-date sales by 37.3% over the same period in 2013, including sales growth of 36.4% in the side-by-side segment.

Good sales progress

The 2015 Ranger, 570 comes in ‘heavy duty’ specification.

All prices are exclusive of GST. Freight charges may apply

Reese Agri | Ph: 1800 140 196 | Email: [email protected] | Ph Murray: 0400 540 300 | www.reeseagri.co.nz

Reese Agri’s range of UFO Mowers are known for their robustness, dependability and honest ability to get the job done. With 8 models

to choose from, there is a mower to suit your every requirement.Built with the quality workmanship you’d expect from a company that has been building and marketing agricultural mowers for more than 40 years, the UFO range consists of 5 drum mowers and 3 disc mowers, from 1.6m up to 3.4m cut. So if you are in the market for a mower, look no further than a UFO Drum or Disc Mower.

UFO DRUM MOWER FEATURES❱❱ Available in manual and hydraulic models

❱❱ Cutting widths range from 1.6 to 2.4 meters

❱❱ Heavy belt drive system

❱❱ Low maintenance, low cost operation

SPECIFICATIONS UFO1600 UFO2070W UFO2400 UFO2400HL Cutting width 1.6m 2.0m 2.4m 2.4m No. Drums / Blades 2 / 6 2 / 6 2 / 8 2 / 8 Type Manual Manual Manual Hydraulic Weight 390kg 460kg 580kg 690kg Power requirement 30hp 45hp 65hp 65hp (at 540rpm)

UFO 3400 TRAILED DRUM MOWER FEATURES❱❱ Popular 3.4m cutting width

❱❱ Height adjustment from 25mm to 300mm (1” to 12”)

❱❱ Proven design, rugged, dependable construction

SPECIFICATIONS Cutting width 3.40mNo. Rotors / Blades 4 / 12Type Hydraulic / TrailedWeight 1190kgPower requirement 80hp(at 540rpm)

FROM ONLY

$6,995 + GST!!

FROM ONLY

$20,495 + GST!!


58 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Contractors query high costs of machinery and partsRURAL CONTRAC-TORS New Zealand is questioning the high cost of machinery and parts charged contractors and farmers.

President Steve Levet says with the falling fore-cast milk price for the coming season dairy farm-ers are going to be care-ful when making decisions

this year: cost cutting will be top of mind.

“With the reality of a lower dairy payout this year, sheep and beef farm-ers already under the

pump and arable pro-ducers also feeling the squeeze, further pressure is going to come on con-tractors to at least hold or reduce our costs.

“Rural contractors do not have the luxury or the ability to absorb contin-ued cost increases and just pass them on in our pricing to clients. So just

as farmers are not able to wear price increases, con-tractors certainly cannot afford to carry on losing money either.”

Levet says rural con-tracting is a tough busi-ness and in today’s highly competitive environment it is not easy to make a profit.

“Contractors are already running pretty tight operations and there is not a lot – or in most cases any – fat to cut.”

He says like their farmer clients. rural con-tractors will have to look at reducing their costs.

“For most rural con-tracting businesses one key area of cost is machin-ery and parts. Ask anyone about the cost of parts and they will all tell you the same thing – eye-water-ing!”

Levet says this has prompted many contrac-tors and farmers to look at sourcing parts from either non-aligned dealers and/or the internet.

“Just like consumers in the other parts of the economy, many rural con-tractors are finding the attraction and availability

of cheaper goods via the internet a genuine way for them to cut costs.”

He admits there are risks in not sourcing parts from machinery dealers, including no guarantee of such goods being ‘genu-ine’ parts and/or the lack of service back-up when using these non-dealer-sourced parts.

“Yet despite such risks many rural contractors are still choosing to source their parts this way, purely

because of the huge price savings they can make by doing this.”

Levet says he is not making a direct criticism of machinery dealers, but highlighting an example of the cost problems facing rural contractors and what some are doing to reduce their costs.

“Most of us would agree this situation is not ideal and if there is a way rural contractors and machinery dealers can resolve this issue, then RCNZ is keen to be party to this,” he adds. “Any-thing that will help lessen our costs and improve the bottom line has got to be a good thing.”

“Anything that will help lessen our costs and improve the bottom line has got to be a good thing.”

Rural Contractors NZ president Steve Levet.

SECURE YOUR FARM SHED NOW!All sizes available,

buy online and save2.4 x 2.4 Zinc Roller .................. $549 + GST

3m x 3m Zinc Roller ................... $779 +GST

3m x 3m Colour Roller Door........ $899 + GST

4.2m x 4.2m Zinc Roller Door ... $1913 +GST

www.doorsnz.co.nzPRICES VALID UNTIL 30.11.2014

BEST VALUE HANDS DOWN.

NORMALLY $3,100 + GSTNOW $2,699! + GST* - INCLUDING EURO HITCH

SLIM HAND DESIGN

The slim hand design slides between bales easier and simplifies stacking, loading and unloading.

HEAVY DUTY PIVOTS

Large 32mm pivot pins, with massive surface area provides years of trouble free use. Greasable pivots also provides easy maintenance

LOADER BRACKETS

Standard with integrated Euro-Hitch brackets. Other bracket available on request.

MONOQUE MAIN FRAME

The heart of the CXR bale handler is the uniquely formed main frame, which is both strong, light weight and smooth to reduce bale damage

TOP EXIT HOSES

The hydraulic cylinder is fully protected inside the main structure and the top exit hoses are out of harms way.

OPTIONAL PATENTED FLOATING EQUALISER

The ultimate in precision bale handling, the optional Equaliser keeps both hands moving simultaneously for accurate bale placement. The 50mm of float makes loading and stacking easier

BALE SUPPORT

The RHS centre bars provide unparalleled bale support to reduce bale deformation during handling, and provide a better grip of the bale

UNIQUE HAND SHAPE

The unique hand shape follows the radius of the bale for a perfect grip and the straight ends extend past the centre point of the bale which allows the hands to easily slip between bales and eliminates damage to wrapping.

• Free freight• Made in New Zealand• Ultra compact design• No pinch points• Unique hand shape• Fully enclosed Hydraulic Ram

THE EXEPTIONAL VALUE, HEAVY-DUTY FARMER’S BALEHANDLER.

*CRX Softhands offer valid through November 2014. Subject to stock availabilty. Limit 2 per customer. Secure yours now.

FARMER BALEHANDLER FOR ROUND & SQUARES

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CHECK OUT OUR FULL RANGE OF LEADING PRODUCTS AT HUSTLEREQUIPMENT.CO.NZ OR CALL US ON 0800 487 853

COMPACT SOFTHANDS DEAL $3,499 + GST - Including loader brackets

MEGA SOFTHANDS DEAL $3,999 + GST - Including loader brackets

CXR SOFTHANDS

Katipo 680 Katipo 890Katipo 1150 Fox 1500/1800 Columbia 2000 Advance 3000

Check out Hustler’s expanded range of spray equipment. Now equipped with new Hustler features for greater ease, precision and speed.

RETHINKING APPLIED



The system runs on a single 6mm cable on each side.

The retractable bunker roofs will keep feed and/or fertiliser dry.

Tie-down tarps keep feed/fert dryHAVING PROBLEMS keeping your product / feed dry on your farm?

NZ Tarping Systems may have the solution; its unique retractable tarping bunker roof system is made to measure so they can be installed on all types of bunker roofs. Farmers throughout the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki are very happy with the tarping systems.

Gary Andrews, NZ Tarpings says it is not a new system; it’s in use for decades but relatively new to New Zealand.

The system runs on a single 6mm cable along each side, (there are no gutters or tracks, this system is very unique). Which can be wound by one person simply winding it back or forth which takes about two minutes. “The days of dragging tarps to cover your bunker are over, “he says.

“The bunker roofs are all about protecting the feed and fertiliser from the rain and other elements: at a time when the pay-

out is down farmers are clamping down on costs, this system is the most suitable effective proven one around in preventing losses. “

The system retracts right off the rear of the bunker, and only needs a meter to fold back to, eliminating the need to have rails full bunker length out the back so you can get to the product right to the back of the bunker; this is also a benefit when the bunker is being filled. As the cover is never in the way and whenever the cover is used remember it only takes one person.

Cost depends on the type of materials chosen for the cover; it is our recommendation for heavier grade material for its longevity and effectiveness. The benefits of the system far outweigh the initial outlay.

Andrews, a Kiwi who worked for 33 years in Australia in the transport industry, In New Zealand and Australia as a body maker and fleet

• 2 floors give greater accuracy on bends and corners• Option of spreading half bout width• More floor torque for the toughest jobs

• Steering drawbar allows spreader to follow in the exact path of the tractor to eliminate any corner cutting• Perfect for crop growers

• Stainless steel bin• 700mm wide conveyor• 3 speed gearbox• Optional load cells and Twin floor• Optional electronic auto steer

ROBERTSON TRANSPREAD DIRECT

SAVE MONEY... BUY DIRECT FROM THE FACTORY

For your free catalogue of all our products please contact Andrew 027 443 4777 or Don 027 433 2212P O Box 6 Hinds, Mid Canterbury • Ph 03 303 7228 • www.robfarm.co.nz • email: [email protected]

TwinFloorTranspread

Row Crop Spreader

Steering Transpread

SPREADERS FROM 1.4 TONNE TO 12.5 TONNE. CONTACT US TODAY FOR SHARP PRICES!

• Powerful Perkins 100hp 4-cylinder, 4400cc turbo diesel engine

• Power Shuttle 32x32 including 8 Creeper Gears

• Heavy dutyloader with 1870kg lift capacity - loader fitted with third service

• Electronic 3-point hitch with 3110kg lift capacity

• Wet clutch

• A/C Cabin, AM/FM Stereo, CD Player

• Industrial-strength chassis

• Made in South Korea

The all-new top of the line Mahindra mFORCE 100P PREMIUM 4WD full-size utility tractor

has a roomy 2-door deluxe cab packed with the latest technology.

Highly versatile and capable in almost any setting - well suited to New Zealand conditions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION or to TEST DRIVE: 0800 282 726www.mahindraauto.co.nzwww.mahindratractors.co.nz

TRACTOR & LOADER

71,490exc GST$

100HP CAB

THIS IS MAHINDRATERR ITORY

• 2.5 Diesel Engine

• High/Low Range

• Borg Warner 4WD System

• Power Setting & Air Con (Premium Model)

CRDe model shown

DRIVE AWAY FROM

15,643exc GST$

QUAD BIKEEATER!

OCTOBER SPECIALThar Di BASIC

Thar CRDe PREMIUM

$15,643 exc GST

$20,861 exc GST

Please note Thar cannot be registered for road use.

SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

manager; during this time he gained a great deal of experience with automated retractable tarping systems that are mandatory on trucks in Australia. The twin cable system is proving to be far superior by comparison to other systems available.

“Returning to live in New Zealand 5 years ago my observations were of the lack of good safe tarping solutions. I recognised the need for promoting and installing retractable tarping systems within our own trucking industry for the safety of operators and the increase that could be

gained in productivity. ““I also saw the need for

this system for farmers as I drove around seeing them dragging old tarps taking two or more guys sometimes. This is not a new product it has been in use in Australia for years so there is nothing to be proven here, it works and has done for years I’m just bringing it to New Zealand and I stand behind my product and the tarping systems so much so I made it my business.”

Watch NZ Tarping Systems on a farm at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qOOlmXVFwA.nztarpingsystems.co.nz


60 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

All aboard the feed trainHOOK TOGETHER five or six Milk Bar feed trailers and tow them through any gateway – no collisions!

That’s the maker’s promise, says sales man-ager Anna McIntyre.

All-wheel steering enables each feeder to exactly follow the tracks of the tow vehicle.

“At this time of year you will often see a PKE trailer with a big dent where it has cut in and hit a post,” says McIntyre.

“The Milk Bar Feed Train will never cut in, no matter how many you are towing. It is remarkable

to see five or six of them being towed through a gateway with no damage risk to post or trailer.”

The Feed Train also has a split brake system. A simple but effective lever allows the user to ‘park brake’ the trailer before it is removed from the tow vehicle. “When you have a tonne of PKE on board, you want to know it will not roll away and injure somebody.”

For towing stability and balance the Feed Train has split troughs. Each trough has a central ridge for the cows to push against to get

the last crumbs and elim-inate waste. It comes in two sizes: 4m which holds 850kg and 6m which holds 1250kg.

The Feed Train is made

from 75mm channel steel, braced for added strength. All steel work is hot dip galvanised. Warranty is three years.Tel. 0800 104 119

Cows eat PKE from a trailer from the feed train.

The trailers form a feed train which is easy to tow around paddocks.

A TYRE TRUSTED BY A TYRE PROFESSIONALRemember when washing

machines and refrigerators lasted a generation? And tyres lasted for years too? Things were made to last back then. Now it seems things are made to wear out.

The reason for this is original tyres fitted to new vehicles are made to the vehicle manufacturer’s price. This may result in a compromise on the tyre performance and life.Cooper Tires are better value.

One tyre company, continuing to construct quality aftermarket tyres that last, is Cooper Tires. Drivers choosing quality American made Cooper Tires are finding they are getting a lot more mileage and better value for money than

original tyres. This is because Cooper Tires make tyres that last without compromising on high quality tyre components.

Cooper Tires are only sold through appointed local tyre professionals, so they know your conditions and can advise the right tyre for the job.

TyreLAND are one of the leading independent tyre specialists in New Zealand with 9 stores in the south Island and a store newly opened in

Auckland. Raymond from TyreLAND explains why they trust Cooper Tires for their customers;

If you’re looking for decent tyres for your 4WD call 0800 4 tread for your local TyreLand store. If there isn’t one in your area, call 0800 mileage (0800 645 243) or visit www.coopertires.co.nz to find your nearest Cooper retailer and request your free info pack.

CooperS/Tmaxx

GUARANTEED to last up to 80,000kms!

TyreLAND Store

Raymond ‘Mothy’ Hunter

depths and a stronger casing, which means Coopers last longer and perform better. We always offer Cooper Tires to customers who want the best.

We keep records of our customer’s performance so they can see the money they save. We had a customer come in for his second set of Coopers; he got 65,000kms out of his first set, while he only got 30,000kms out of the original equipment set.”

“We have been selling Cooper Tires for over 25 years and believe they are the best 4WD tyres available on the market. This is because they have deeper tread

KINGHITTER Rancher Deluxe

$8650 $7990FIRST HIGH TENSILE BEAM• 14 safety

features• First postdriver

sold to Royalty• First Super 6

pulley design system

• Includes Hydraulic Adjustment and Top Link Ram

STEAL THE DEAL

Call 0800 672 009www.fairbrotherind.com

*

*Conditions apply. Valid to October 31



Press reduces silage wasteFARMER BRUCE McLen-nan says he uses his BvL Topstar silage block cutter on his grass silage and maize silage stacks to reduce wastage.

“By cutting so cleanly it reduces the admission of air which causes the silage to start deteriorating and losing quality.”

He farms near the Fon-terra factory at Lichfield between Putaruru and Tokoroa and has three large concrete bunkers servicing his farms.

He also uses a Webbline Silapress to increase compaction by up to 40% more than traditional tractor rolling.

The machine, weigh-ing 3600kg, is rear link-age mounted and has nine rings with a diameter of 90cm and a working width

of 3.0m.“Traditionally tractors

used to compact and roll the stack have used tyres that are built to spread the load and can flex and only press the widths of the tyres. But the Sila-press spreads the weight to give consistent compac-tion over the whole stack,” said North Island sales-man for Webbline, Cam-eron Smith.

Webbline sees no need for a dual wheel tractor on the stack because the same compaction job can be done with a 170hp trac-tor as opposed to the usual 300hp machine. If the tractor has a front loader it can be used to spread as well as to compact with the Silapress.

“They have a higher point loading than trac-tor tyres and when roll-ing bunkers the Silapress

keeps the wheels away from the concrete walls.”

As an example rolling a 12m wide bunker would take 20 trips with a tractor and only four with a Sila-

press.Also available is a 3.0m,

11 ring model weighing 4100kg.Tel. 0800 932 254www.webbline.co.nz

The Webbline silage press increases com-paction and reduces waste.

Bruce McLennan

WWW.SUZUKI.CO.NZ

Save big dollars on these hard-working Suzuki farm Quads as we run our end of season stock clearance.Talk to your participating Suzuki dealer today!

Promotion runs from 1 October 2014 until 31 December 2014 and is not available in conjunction with any other promotion. Prices exclude GST. Savings are inclusive of GST. Stock is limited and off er only at participating dealers.

WWW.SUZUKI.CO.NZ

SZM

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CAMBRIDGE FARM ROLLERS

Vee Ring Roller Seeder Drill with Vee bottom seed box, hydraulic clutch, ext. drawbar, ...................... $18,800 Special rollers made to order, Spare parts, Rings and Bearings. 26"dia rings ................... $90.0024"dia rings ................... $85.00 Ph: 0800-838 963

• All prices ex-Factory, Excl GST •Competitive freight rates to the North Island

NEW 10ft Roller with Extension Drawbar & Screw Jack $6900

AUSTINS FOUNDRY LTD 131 King Street, Timaru www.austinsfoundry.co.nz

TONY HOPKINSON


48 JOHN STREET, WHANGAREI0800 4 BOOTS (26687) or 09 438 8907

Visit www.lastrite.co.nz for more quality products

FOOTWEAR LTD NZ MADE BOOTS

HUNTER BOOTS Comfortable, durable and stylish. The heavy duty sole construction makes this a robust boot

designed for climbing over rugged ground. This boot has a soft toe and is made from a thick Mad Dog Nubuck Leather, stitched and screwed construction with a rubber,

replaceable sole, that is glued and screwed. Soft padding for ankle support and D-Rings for your laces are an added

advantage. Great fitting boots full of comfort, ideal for those long hunting and tramping trips.

FARMER BOOTS Lastrite’s Farmer boots are made for comfort. Constructed from Mad Dog leather they are an ideal

farmers, fencers and builders boot. Very sturdy and made to last this boot is robust with a heavy duty construction. It has a leather insole and midsole that is stitched and screwed

construction with a rubber, replaceable sole, that is glued and screwed. Update your old boots now and

you will never look back.

• The magic eye sheepjetter since 1989• Quality construction and options• Get the contractors choice• Direct from the manufacturer• Efficient application and unequalled cost savings

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Unique self adjusting

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• Electric• Petrol• Diesel

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working with farmers for 40 years

see your local CRT Farmlands Store or ph 0508 805 801 for your nearest supplier

www.smithattachments.co.nz

~~ Specialists in ATV Trailers ~~

Docking Chute

0800 DOCKER(362 537)

www.vetmarker.co.nz

VETMARKER

SD-1825 with 1 collar ................$695.00SD-1225 with 1 collar ................ $595.00 SD-825 with 1 collar ..................$495.00Extra collars $375.00 – PRICES INCLUDE GST

GREAT VALUE

FREE DUMMY COLLAR

If required, with all sportDOG orders

Up to 6 rechargeable waterproof collar units & remotes• Model SD-1825 – 1.6 Kms range (1 mile)• Model SD-1225 – 1.2 Kms range• Model SD-825 – 800 Metre rangeAll with Tone & Vibration options24 levels of correction – 3 year warranty

QUAD SAFETY

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IT’S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY

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www.advantageplastics.co.nz

Full Rangeof SizesAvailable

CRAIGCO SENSOR JET

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• Cost Effective

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

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

• Utility Deck Matting

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

Rubber Safety Matting

DOLOMITENZ’s fi nest BioGro certifi ed

Mg fertiliserFor a delivered price call...

0800 436 566

www.ruralnews.co.nz

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AND MUCH MORE...

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WEBSITES BREAKING NEWS

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Check out the latest news and information atwww.ruralnews.co.nz


McKee Plastics, Mahinui Street, Feilding | Phone 06 323 4181 | Fax 06 323 [email protected] | www.mckeeplastics.co.nz

MOBILE FEED TROUGHS4.5M (3 Wheel) Jumbo Culvert

PK Feeder$3499.00 inc

4M - 800L Budget Drawbar

$2050.00 inc

6.0M (6 Wheel) Jumbo Culvert

PK Feeder$4999.00 inc

6M Culvert (mobile)

$1375.00 inc

2400 Litres

1700 Litres

ONE STOP WATER SHOP

Culvert Pipes Phone 0800 625 826

for your nearest stockistNew Zealand’s CHEAPEST Culvert Pipes!

FREE joiners supplied on request.

•Lightweight,easytoinstall

•Madefrompolyethylene

McKee Plastics Mahinui Street, Feilding

Ph 06 323 4181 Fax 06 323 [email protected] | www.mckeeplastics.co.nz

300mm x 6 metre ................................ $410

400mm x 6 metre ................................ $515

500mm x 6 metre ................................ $690

600mm x 6 metre ................................ $925

800mm x 6 metre .............................. $1399

1000mm x 6 metre ............................ $2175

1200mm x 6 metre ............................ $3475

Joinerssupplied FREE with culvert

pipes

ALL PRICES INCLUDE G.S.T.

Please add $12 Freight per order

$30valued at

$140

RAINWEAR CLEARANCE SALE! 50-60% OFF!PRICES SLASHED!!! MAKING ROOM FOR OUR AMAZING NEW BUFFALO BOOTS - DUE SOON!!!

$40valued at $180

$40valued at$140

$30valued at$120

$25valued at

$110

$25valued at $120

Rainwalk is ultra light nylon.More breathable, but lesswaterproof than Flexiskin.Ideal for Spring/Summer!



New! 600mm easy

access Manhole!

New! 600mm easy

access Manhole!

Summer

Specials

Code Product Price






XPCU8006.0 XPRESS CULVERT 800mm X 6m M0Q=1 $1,120ea

XPRESS Culverts

AFFORDABLE QUALIT

Y


NOW $3,699Save $521*

(WAS $4,220)




• Corrugated side walls improve overall strength, allowing the 25,000L and 30,000L tanks to be buried up to 1 metre in the ground AND still be guaranteed for 20 years

• Self supporting roof is so tough it needs no internal structure

• Made from premium grade polyethylene plastic

Promax Water Tanks

2 or more tanks? Call us now!



PromaxTanks

PROMAX 28,000 Litre Water Tank FARMLANDS EXCLUSIVE NOW $3,199*

hot deal!


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NOW $3,199Save $302*

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Check out our website www.promaxplastics.co.nz or call us on 0800 77 66 29 to order.

A tough

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Summer


I’m big and tough

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New! 600mm easy

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I’m a big tough guy

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What makes Promax tanks the

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2

1

67

89

10

5

43

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PRM11

13

Strong one piece

Promax moulding

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14 favourite NZ

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Corrugated sidewalls for

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toughness, this unique

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tanks to be buriedAll Promax tanks

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Potable (Drinking)

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rural news 21 oct 2014

Documents

xpress tanks

promax tanks available

buriedall promax tanks

big tough tanks

farmerssummerpromax

uv stabilisedall promax

big tough guyon tanks

litre water tank corrugated