rural news 6 august 2013

RuRalNEWS

managementMaking money in the hills... and on the flats. page 28

bee awareWake up and smell the honey say Beekeepers Association. pages 35-36 exports

A potential shift in urban thinking is

good news for New Zealand

meat exports.page 11

to all farmers, for all farmers

August 6, 2013: Issue 543 www.ruralnews.co.nz

MPI recently increased the number of detector dogs that can sniff out up to 45 different odours and stop all sorts of biosecurity threats crossing our borders. Clara is one new recruit to the dog team and MPI Minister Nathan guy chose her name. Clara and guy were centre-stage at last week’s HortNZ conference, in Wellington, where a demonstration of the dogs was put on for delegates. More from the conference and border security pages 6-8, 12.

Beef+LamB NZ chairman mike Petersen has given the meat Industry excellence group a hurry up on any proposals for industry restructuring.

“We haven’t got a lot of time because next season is coming quickly and if there is going to be something tabled it needs to be tabled within the next two or three weeks,” he told the Beef+Lamb NZ Scene and Herd conference call last week.

Petersen says farmers need to interview the companies they supply their livestock to. “I am still surprised that farmers will send $1 million of livestock to a company without interviewing them or the marketing and procurement man-agers to understand whether they are right for their business. I would demand an interview with every one of them before entering into a con-tract for a $1 million of supply.”

Petersen says Beef+Lamb has funded a proportion of the meat Industry excellence group’s costs and will provide funding on any pro-posal put forward to make sure it’s in the best interest of farmers.

“We need to see a proposal that is going to happen, that is going to get underway. We see limited value in funding a whole lot more analysis of industry restructuring if we haven’t got the buy-in from the participants themselves.”

We won’t be rushed – Page 4

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

MIE gets hurry-upGrowing cost of RMA

THe OUTGOING president of HortNZ, andrew fenton, has attacked regional councils for costing his organisation a third of its budget – costs that continue to mount.

fenton, head of HortNZ for eight years, says in direct costs alone Rma activities cost at least $500,000 annu-ally and he expects this to “be in the mil-lions” if things continue as they are.

His remarks to the HortNZ annual conference were made while lawyers for his organisation were involved in a High Court appeal against Horizon Regional Council’s infamous One Plan.

“What has happened at Horizons is the tip of an enormous iceberg of misunderstanding, misinformation and misguided decision-making being repeated around the country every day,

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

affecting growers and the commercial viability of their businesses.

“Setting a precedent in the adjudica-tion of the Rma has become an accepted method of leveraging regional strat-egy. This is dangerous for growers. Just think about it – one regional authority gets something through and the others say ‘that’s a great idea, we’ll do some-thing too’ and so it escalates. Be warned, it will come to your region.”

fenton says HortNZ did not lightly

take the decisions to appeal the Hori-zons case in the High Court.

“But after an enormous amount of anxiety, frustration and full scale debate amongst the board and staff, it was agreed that it was the right thing to do. It’s frustrating that we had to do this in the first place; we shouldn’t need to be paying all this money to defend our rights.”

He says HortNZ finished the year 2012 with 43 different legal actions

around the country on Rma issues. “It has become our number-one

activity and is the highest portfolio expense for HortNZ and it is growing every day. There can be no compla-cency over these industry-wide issues, which are critical to every one of our 5500 growers.”

fenton acknowledged it may sound like a battle cry, but growers need to defend their rights and be united against the threats posed by the Rma.

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RuRal News // august 6, 2013

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fONTeRRa faRmeRS will use the latest payout windfall to improve cash-flow and catch up on farm investment, says co-op chairman John Wilson.

Lower payout last season and the drought took its toll on many fonterra farmers, Wilson says. This time last year fonterra was forced to reduce its forecast payout by 25c to $5.25 as milk powder prices on GDT hovered about US$2600/tonne.

This caused cashflow problems on-farm, Wilson

says. “Then came the drought and farmers were really challenged,” he told Rural News.

“a higher advance rate provides our farmer shareholders a strong start to the season and the opportunity to grow their own farming businesses. There is a lot of catch-up required in farm as investment.”

fonterra last week lifted its 2013-14 forecast payout by 50c to $7.50/kgmS and announced a dividend of 32c/share, amounting to a forecast cash payout of $7.82/kgmS.

at the beginning of the 2013-14 season on June 1, fonterra expected dairy prices to remain at or near cur-

rent levels. However, supply con-straints in europe and China

during the northern hemisphere spring have contributed to an

increase in dairy prices of 3% over the past two months. milk powder prices are hov-ering about US$5000/tonne. In addition, the New Zealand dollar has weakened against the US dollar.

These factors have con-tributed to our updated fore-

cast,” says Wilson. and with supply tight and demand hold-

ing up, Wilson expects prices

to remain at “elevated levels” for the rest of the year. “further out it will be a supply/demand issue that will deter-mine dairy commodity prices.”

Westpac economist Nathan Penny agrees there’s an upside risk to the payout in the coming months. Supply/demand and the dollar are the key fac-tors, he says.

Westpac predicted a forecast payout of $7.40/kgmS, based on a higher pro-duction forecast. Penny believes fon-terra’s most recent forecast for annual production growth sits at 2%. “We are more bullish and predict 5% growth. more milk production means more downward pressure and this may explain some of the 10 cent forecast difference.”

Penny says the higher advance rate will be good news for farmers recover-ing from the drought.

federated farmers Dairy chairman Willy Leferink says the higher forecast payout and advance rate are great news after a disappointing back end to the last season. “Given this time last year payout forecasts were being pared back, seeing it go up is a huge relief.”

Leferink’s advice to farmers is “bank the gains and run a prudent opera-tion”. “as we know from the drought there may still be some climatic sur-prises to come.

“Drought was a major factor behind farm debt growing to about $51.7 bil-

lion. It means much of the fore-cast, if it sticks, will go back

into paying down these credit lines.”

economists estimate the increase to the

forecast payout represents a $3.6

billion boost to the economy, or about 1.7% of gross domestic product.

News�.............................. 1-16world�.............................. 17

markets�.....................18-19

agribusiNess�........... 20-22

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issue 543www.ruralnews.co.nz Fonterra payout

good newsMPI takes the blame for mess

sUdEsh KIssUn

[email protected]

THe mINISTRy for Primary Industries (mPI) has admitted that its mistakes led to thousands of tonnes of meat being stranded on wharves in China.

a review into how mPI handled the matter shows that the minis-try made mistakes when changing the templates used for certify-ing meat exports to China. These errors resulted in “delayed accep-tance of these exports”, according to the acting mPI director general Scott Gallacher.

“The mistakes were com-pounded by a failure to appropri-ately escalate an emerging issue internally, or to ministers, once delays to exports began. This review identifies a series of learn-ings, which we are immediately acting on. It’s clear mPI needs to lift its game with China.”

Gallacher says mPI is imple-menting 25 management actions, which will be completed by July 2014. These include developing an mPI China strategy, investing in more staff and more training to strengthen relationships and understanding between mPI and key Chinese regulators.

“We’ll also be renewing efforts to double the resourcing for mPI’s market access team in Welling-ton from 8 to 16, developing a new issues management system in part-nership with the meat industry and improving processes for the identi-fication and management of risks to trade issues, and the escalation of emerging risks internally and to ministers,” Gallacher added.

He says trade with China has tri-pled in the past five years and the review makes it clear of the need for an improved approach to how mPI works with China and “we are committed to achieving that”.

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4 news

don’t rush us – MIE

THe POSSIBILITy that lamb may prices may top $100 will not take the heat out of the reform process, says meat Industry excel-lence (mIe) head Ross Hyland.

But he has brushed off a hurry-up from Beef+Lamb NZ chairman mike Peterson, who told a B+L conference call last week something needs to be tabled within the next two or three weeks because the next season is coming.

But Hyland told Rural News that mIe won’t be rushed and it’s not the timing but the detail which is important.

Hyland says the meat companies themselves have been talking about

such things as procure-ment tradeable rights. Obviously procurement will be a major issue again with a falling volume of lambs and suggestions prices “may be north of $100 a lamb”.

“Is that going to mean the heat goes out of the reform? I don’t think so. Processors, key politicians and key stakeholders now understand there has to be change.

“The debate now is how that change evolves. Because of the different ownership models of the industry processing sector that is an extremely chal-lenging ask.”

Hyland says mIe isn’t just about next season. “mIe is about the next generation – the current crop of farmers’ kids, and their great-grandkids and

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

the structure of New Zea-land Inc, and how we can ensure the primary sector has a balanced portfolio of exports and not simply milk products.

“We are taking a much wider view. We are not into industry good; mIe is focused on the meat sector and particularly the sheep industry because obviously the beef sector, although competitive, remains a commodity [producer] and it’s largely been offset by the growth of dairy anyway.

“The real issues are procurement and capac-ity and if we can fix those two, we will see where the ownership models go in time.

“When you’ve got over-capacity of 40% in the market and you’ve got a shrinking supply base, you don’t have to be einstein to understand things have to give.”

asked about a sugges-tion that mIe may put up candidates for meat com-pany boards, Hyland says that has not come from

the executive. “There’s bound to be

farmers out there who think in those terms, but from our point of view we will get counsel on that while we are seek-ing advice and clarity to ensure whatever mIe does is supported by profes-sional processes.

“We plan to remove the emotional debate because if we are to be credible across the sector with farmers, processors, trad-ers and politicians we have to stand as a professional organisation.”

Hyland says he has heard a couple of com-ments that mIe has gone quiet.

“We’ve gone quiet for a good reason: we are working on good quality systems, processes, get-ting structures in place to ensure this is a long-term gain mIe is prepared to play.”

He says more informa-tion may come forward by the end of the month, but there is no strict time schedule on that.

It’s quite a privilege

CeNTRaL CaNTeRBURy farmer and company director murray Tag-gart says he feels “quite privileged” to be appointed chair of meat processing cooperative alliance.

Taggart’s appointment was announced late last month and takes effect October 1 when incumbent Owen Poole retires after nearly six years at the helm as an independent director.

Taggart is also due to retire from the board by rotation this year but will be seeking re-election, he says.

Given the current angst about the future of the meat industry, in particular the sheep sector, it seems likely he’ll be challenged for his seat. It’s a situation he’s familiar with having lost to meat Industry action Group nominees mark Crawford and Jason miller in 2007, only to oust Crawford in 2010.

“I have no idea whether I will be challenged,” Taggart told Rural News last week. “all I can do is hope we will be judged on the things we can influ-ence, rather than on the things we can’t influence.”

Taggart says it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to comment on company policy or the state of the meat industry while Poole is still in the chair but he did outline his career to date.

after graduating BagSc at Lincoln University he worked for aNZ Bank for seven years before going farming in 1990. “I always wanted to farm but didn’t have enough money initially.”

He still farms the first 193ha he bought at Cust, between Oxford and Rangiora, and has leased and bought fur-ther blocks nearby to farm 457ha today.

Irrigation was added in 1999 through the Waimakariri scheme, bringing an intensification of operations from sheep plus a couple of paddocks of crop to cropping 300ha with a ewe flock and lamb and cattle finishing on the remain-der.

He was a Nuffield Scholar in 1996 and a regional recipient of an fmG Rural excellence award in 2006.

He gained an alliance board seat in

2002, prompting him to resign as fed-erated farmers meat and fibre national chairman after two years in that role. “I was heavily involved in the reforms of meat and wool boards.”

That included chairing the industry stakeholder group which oversaw the now infamous mcKinsey report on the wool sector.

Reflecting on the state of the wool industry today, he says the problem is wool remains an “industrial raw mate-

rial” competing on price with other industrial fibres such as nylon or cotton.

“It’s very easy to sit there and blame industry structures but the price move-ments in wool are no different to in the meat industry: supply and demand is still a major factor.”

To clear the way for the chairman’s role with alliance he’s resigned director-ships with CRT and Southern farms, but remains on the board of Ballance agri-nutrients.

Poole signalled his retirement during last year’s round of shareholder meet-ings. He was chief executive of alliance 1995-2005 and was appointed to the board in 2008.

alliance’s board has nine direc-tors, six elected by farmer sharehold-ers and three independents appointed for the commercial skills they bring to the board.

AndREw swAllow

[email protected]

murray taggart

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news 5scoop for the 2 steves

tHe tWo steves – massey vice chancellor steve maharey and science and innovation minister

steven Joyce – were among the first to sample a new formulation of ice cream developed by staff and students at massey’s institute of food nutrition and

Health. initially it was thought that a singaporean student working on the project had got the quantities

for an additive to the mixture wrong, but as luck would have it she was right. the result was a winner and so the

brand scoop was created. it took about a year to fully develop the delicious ice cream to its present state.

NIWa SCIeNTIST Dr Brett mullan says the country may expect more droughts like the recent one.

mullan was one of a NIWa team that reported on the drought to mPI. The report says what most suspected: the recent drought was one of the worst ever, certainly the worst since 1945-46. and it was one of the most widespread, only Horowhenua and parts of the lower South Island escap-ing its effects.

The drought was caused by the

general southwards movement of high pressures down over New Zea-land, mullan says.

“We can see from pressure records that this has been happening for the last 100 years. There is quite a strong trend towards high pressures in the summer across New Zealand. We also expect more of that in future from the climate models as C02 builds up and the climate warms.”

Similar droughts have struck before, but this last was especially bad. High pressure systems are known to move across New Zealand

in summer without causing drought, depending on conditions in spring and where the highs are centred, mullan says.

“On this occasion they were cen-tred very much in the Tasman Sea and this kept the anti-cyclonic flow over New Zealand.”

Despite the severity of the recent drought mullan says farmers need not take drastic action. They should do the obvious such as conserving water or planting grass species that handle droughts better.

Climate Change report see p12

Yes, it was bad!PETER BURKE

new Food hQ a magnet for innovatorsa NeW food science hub is to be set up at massey University’s Palmer-ston North campus, with hopes that private com-panies will choose to clus-ter there.

‘food HQ’ is a col-laboration between massey, fon-terra, agResearch, Plant and food, the Riddet Insti-tute, the Bio Com-merce Centre and the Palmerston North City and manawatu District councils.

The aim is to create a unique ‘food hub’ on the massey campus site, for greater collaboration between the founders. food HQ has a 12-year time horizon during which about $250 million is expected to be spent to get it running to its potential.

The partnership has been run loosely for a time; food HQ formalises that collaboration. The project will involve new

buildings for agResearch which last week said it plans to move more staff there.

Project manager mark Ward told Rural News the aim is food innovation and getting more formal col-laboration by the thou-sands of scientists working in food technology.

“as well as developing new infrastructure, food HQ is about a cultural shift towards being highly collaborative and taking on the world as opposed to taking on each other. The idea is to minimise the competitiveness between

organisations and to serve government stakeholders in a more joined-up way.”

The aim of food HQ is help double New Zealand’s high value food exports to $60 billion per annum.

meanwhile, Science and Innovation minister Steven Joyce will judge the success of foodHQ by the

number of pri-vate compa-nies attracted to join. He told guests at the launch that it has his sup-port, but he had a clear of vision of how to mea-sure its success.

“We need more private sector companies on the site and I’m a strong believer in that. you’ve

got fonterra and that’s fantastic and you have a few others which is good, but you need more investment from private sector companies big and small. That will really create the innovation that gets things humming.”

PETER BURKE

“food HQ is about a cultural shift towards being highly collaborative and taking on the world as opposed to taking on each other. the idea is to minimise the competitiveness between organisations and to serve government stakeholders in a more joined-up way.”

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6 news: hortnz conference

BIOSeCURITy maNaGe-meNT has improved hugely, says HortNZ’s outgoing president, andrew fenton.

Under the new minister for Pri-mary Industry, Nathan Guy, there’s been a step-up in mPI’s perfor-mance in this area, fenton says.

fenton has formerly been highly critical of the present gov-ernment’s approach to biosecu-rity, openly clashing a year ago with then minister of Primary Industry, David Carter.

But fenton now says there’s no doubt Nathan Guy is taking the issue seriously, with increased spending on new technology and more dog detector teams. The system is now one of the best in the world, he says.

Reflecting on his eight years leading HortNZ, fenton says his major achievement has been cre-ating the new organisation and successfully bringing together the

various groups that make it up.“Unity is what keeps the rep-

resentation together and makes it influential. It’s the unity of grow-ers that government recognises and it’s the one major advantage we have.”

The price growers get for their produce is still the biggest chal-lenge facing members, fenton says. He warns if growers don’t make money they won’t be farm-ing for long.

“There is [a lot] of pressure on retail, not just from supermarkets, but all retailers. They want the best value and – of course – the consumer wants the cheapest and best produce.

“So you’ve got a demand from

the consumer, as well, that the product has to be cheap…. [Con-sumers] have to recognise that to eat fresh fruit and vegetables they need to have profitable growers.”

fenton says growers also need to indulge in some fresh think-ing and look at ways they can add value to their products by develop-ing new varieties.

“It’s not about producing the same product year in, year out and putting it on the same market year in, year out. It’s not about more volume; it’s about more value,” he explains. “There’s got to be smart thinking and growers have got to be the ones to lead that.”

PETER BURKE

Biosecurity getting better – Fenton

no risk impossible – MinisterPRImaRy INDUSTRIeS minister Nathan Guy says it’s simply impossible to elimi-nate all risk of a biosecurity incursion into New Zealand.

But he told delegates to last week’s HortNZ conference that overall New Zea-land has a world-class biosecurity system. even if all trade and travel into New Zea-land were stopped, the risk of a biosecurity breach could not be guaranteed and the challenge is to manage risk.

“To illustrate our challenge, let me pro-vide some context: about 175,000 items cross our border each day, and we receive about 10 million travellers a year. It is simply not possible, for example, to do an exhaustive search of every item, in every container, in every consignment that arrives in New Zealand. So what we need to do, and what mPI does, is work smartly to manage risk at every level of the biose-curity system and to provide the best level of protection.”

Guy says claims of cuts to biosecurity operations are wrong. funding in this area has doubled since 2000 and a major pro-gramme is underway to improve the exist-

ing system.“Late last year,

we recruited 45 quarantine inspec-tors. In Janu-ary, we recruited another 11, and we are in the process of recruiting another 30. mPI’s biosecurity detector dog programme has also expanded its operational capacity, with 34 teams now active nationally.”

Guy told conference-goers that 11 new x-ray machines will replace existing ones at auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown airports. a new x-ray image trial at melbourne airport, which enables bags to be checked before they arrive in New Zealand, is working well and may be extended to other airports.

Guy also praised HortNZ for its “con-structive engagement” on biosecurity issues and says he’s excited about horti-culture’s plans to boost productivity and increase exports.

PETER BURKE

@rural_news

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news: hortnz conference 7slick produce marketing for the new age

a WORLD expert in food marketing likes New Zealand’s ‘100% pure’ brand and reckons it works well for tourism and food.

David Hughes, emeritus professor of food marketing at Imperial College, London, told Horticulture New Zealand’s annual conference in Wellington last week that the New Zealand brand fits well with China, where food integrity and safety is a big issue. He says New Zealand can deliver on that brand proposition and while we are not alone in this, it puts us in a small, elite group of countries that can.

Hughes says China is not a panacea for New Zealand and we must ensure a good balance of markets – including emerging markets such as China. However, he believes food quality and safety is a competitive advantage and that in europe there will be a recalibrating of prices, which will mean consumers will end up paying more for produce.

But he says supermarkets will still use price as a means of gaining market share.

Getting a bargain is becoming fashionable and supermarkets and consumers are looking for deals. “It’s now fashionable to be a scrimper and saver and there are programmes on radio and television every night showing how to be a smart shopper. So we are being trained to be smarter. In part this is linked to the recession

and partly to guilt – people saying we shouldn’t waste food. In fact, we throw away a third of fresh food.”

It’s been said the recession and tough times cause people to eat out less and spend more time in the kitchen. But the latter is not true; ‘convenience’ food, in whatever form, is still a huge driver, Hughes says.

“While you may be preparing a meal at home, essentially what you do is ‘bolt together’ ingredients pre-prepared by the supermarket, which has effectively taken the labour out of meal preparation. That’s a challenge for us in fresh produce, because it means we need to add more value in our packing sheds or somebody else will just do that.”

UK supermarkets have set up shelf space devoted to ‘nites in’, where consumers can readily buy a range of ingredients including such things as wine to conveniently and quickly produce a ‘home meal’.

“What the supermarket is saying is we want to take the business from the movies, the the-atres and from the food service sector, because you can do it all at home. at the supermarket you can download the film, buy the popcorn and buy the ‘big night in’ package. It saves you money and what’s more you’ll have fun.”

– More HortNZ Conference coverage p12

PROFessOR HugHes says ordering on the internet or phoning orders to supermarkets in the uK is becoming more common. It’s called ‘pick and click’.

“take my younger son with three children. His wife does pick and click at 10 o’clock on a thursday night and when she drops the kids to school the next day she goes past the supermarket and picks up the ready-picked and packed groceries.”

technology is being widely used in supermarkets around the world to ‘reward’ regular customers. Hughes says when he walks into his local supermarket the microchip in his loyalty card is instantly recognised and as he shops he may receive special personal offers of bargains on his smart phone.

“For example, I might like peaches and on a given day they could offer me a special deal on these available to no one else in the store.”

technology at the supermarket till is also huge.

“tesco works out whether

you would have paid more or less at its direct competitor. If they calculate at the till you paid, say, 5 pounds more at tesco, they give you a coupon right there for that 5 pound difference. It’s sexy, sophisticated technology.”

‘Pick and click’ the way aheadPETER BURKE

@rural_news


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8 news: hortnz conference

Key focus on Korea – PM

PRIme mINISTeR John Key says the New Zealand horticultural sector is well placed to capitalise on a new trend that’s emerging among consumers – the desire to eat food that’s healthy and nutritional.

Key was guest speaker at HortNZ’s con-ference dinner last week, where he pre-sented the Bledisloe Cup to the ‘grower of the year’.

He told delegates consumers are not eating food because they have to or to entertain themselves or others. many consumers, especially ageing ones, want top-quality food and New Zealand can supply this. “Not only do they trust our food implicitly, they know the taste of it is magnificent and they know what they are buying is healthy for them.

“manuka honey is great example. There is a massive market for manuka honey in asia among consumers who want to eat that product because they believe it will be good for their long term health.”

Key, recently returned from Korea, says

free Trade agreements (fTas) are crit-ical for the expansion of New Zealand’s agricultural and horticultural sector. He hopes to settle an fTa with Korea, where tariffs significantly disadvantage New Zea-land primary exporters, especially kiwifruit growers.

“New Zealand sells $1.6 billion of prod-ucts to Korea each year, but we pay $200 million in tariffs. Korea on the other hand sells about the same volume of goods to New Zealand and they pay just $5 million. There is a clear unfairness in that.”

Key says Korea is a market New Zea-land should care about because it has 50 million consumers with an average income the same as New Zealanders’. for compari-son, many Chinese are wealthy but the per capita income in China is much lower than in Korea.

“If we get an fTa with Korea it will save your industry tens of millions of dollars and you’ll have a good market to sell into.”

Key says the horticultural industry is critically important to New Zealand and it’s a well-run industry which has never been afraid to grasp new technology.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

The battle of the BledisloeLORD BLeDISLOe, governor-gen-eral of New Zealand in the 1930s, did much to encourage excellence by donating trophies.

These include the ahuwhenua Trophy for excellence in maori farming and of course the cup for the annual rugby duel with australia.

He also donated a cup for hor-

ticulture, which Pm John Key presented at this year’s HortNZ con-ference. Before presenting the cup to this year’s recipients – Joe and fay Gock of South auckland (pictured) – Key mused that the aussies would never win it if the competition was for tomatoes because he claimed the aussie fruit don’t taste anywhere

near as good as New Zealand’s. “We’ve lived a lot of places in the

world – including the US, UK and Singapore,” Key said. “my wife’s favourite fruit is tomatoes and it’s a fact New Zealand tomatoes are packed full of taste and a fantastic product,” he says. [See more on the Gocks on page 12]

Opportunities for wheat

BURGeONING DemaND for wheat in South east asia could mean a brighter future for New Zealand’s hard-pressed cropping farmers, judging by the com-ments of a milling sector expert to a foundation of arable Research meeting late last month.

former international flour miller, now consultant, Nasir azudin told growers and industry delegates gathered in ash-burton how rapid economic and popula-tion growth in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Phillipines, and malaysia means demand for wheat is set to soar.

even if New Zealand can’t find niche

markets for its wheat in those countries, their demand will draw wheat from aus-tralia, competing with demand from New Zealand mills suggesting the domestic market here could firm.

azudin says the number of flour mills in Indonesia alone has jumped from 14 in 2010 to 21 now, with a combined capacity of 8.5mt/year of wheat, and that will jump another 2mt/year next year.

Per capita consumption of wheat in Indonesia is just 21kg/year, compared to about 150kg/head/year in australia and New Zealand. With a population of 250m, just a 2kg/head/year increase in that wheat intake equates to an extra half million tonne demand.

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news 11

MeAt COMPANIes are getting queries from the Chinese about the supply of whole lamb carcases, Hickson confirmed.

And he used the example of the Merino clothing company Icebreaker to illustrate why this was not neces-sarily a bad thing. He was answering a question about the risk of what has happened in other manufacturing industries such as clothing, where value-added opportunities have gone offshore because of lower labour and operational costs.

Progressive Meats, and no doubt other meat companies, received daily inquiries from China, recently about whole carcases or carcases cut in a simple way.

Risks needed to be covered by not having all eggs in one basket. But with processing there were two chief things they wanted to hold to: supplier rela-tionship and customer relationship.

“If I use the analogy of Icebreaker – they have got the supplier relationship, in Merino wool suppliers, and they’ve got the brand and customer relation-ship. they get it manufactured in the most efficient and least-cost manner to enable them to service the needs of their customers.”

If some of our meat processing was to occur in China in future, in principle he wasn’t opposed to it. “But I would want to ensure we had the relation-ship with the customers so we were in control of the value chain.”

However, earlier Hickson said a characteristic of the “voracious” Chinese market is they tend to value different cuts from a carcase at much the same amount. so that’s been a huge benefit because we have been able to sell the lower value cuts closer to the average carcase price to China, but still get top prices for the better cuts in other export markets.

china wants whole lambs

Resurgence of complementary seasonal supply

a POTeNTIaL shift in trendy urban thinking from ‘buy local’ to ‘buy best-in-season’ is good news for New Zealand meat exports, says Craig Hickson of Progressive meats.

It would help accel-erate what he sees is a resurgence of selling New Zealand seasonal meat exports in a complemen-tary arrangement with

Northern Hemisphere supply.

a recent discussion with a US long-term industry person, who also inclines to alternative life-styles, showed a transi-tion from buying local to

buying best-in-season. “That was California

where they tend to lead some of the thought-pro-cess fashion trends in the world,” Hickson, Progres-sive meats’ founder and managing director, told

the Beef+Lamb NZ Scene and Herd conference call.

“We can never be local in terms of supply but we certainly can be best in season. I see a resurgence in this area where we have complementary supply in different hemispheres.”

Complementary supply was actually the genesis of our industry back in 1882 when all carcases went to

england, until they joined the european Union, he says.

Hickson, who added a Welsh meat plant to his business portfolios in 2012, said Welsh lamb is already being used for complementary supply into UK and europe.

“There has been New Zealand meat company representation in europe for many years and still is. There are customers who have specifically British lamb during their peak and New Zealand as their alter-nate.”

But using comple-mentary northern/south-ern hemisphere seasonal

supply was trickier in North america where the lamb population was lower. and from a marketing point of view you have to weigh up the disadvantage of putting an alternative brand or company from yours in front of custom-ers, Hickson says.

Beef+Lamb NZ chair-man mike Petersen said the complementary supply might work for some cuts but not for others. for some premium mar-kets and some cuts, New Zealand supply was year-round.

Hickson says farmers see a whole carcase leaving

the farmgate, but when it leaves the meat compa-nies, it was in many dif-ferent forms and cuts for many different markets.

“there has been new Zealand meat company representation in europe for many years and still is. there are customers who have specifically British lamb during their peak and new Zealand as their alternate.”

craig Hickson

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12 news

60 years of innovation recognised with awardaN eLDeRLy Chinese couple, Joe and fay Gock, who among many things pioneered an innovative system for storing kumara, are this year’s HortNZ Grower of the year.

The pair were presented with the award – the Bledisloe Cup – by Prime minister John Key at HortNZ’s gala dinner last week.

Joe and fay, both born in China, have been commercial growers near mangere, auckland, for 60 years. During that time, they have been regarded as two of the most innovative commercial growers in New Zealand. In the 1960s – in conjunction with the then DSIR – the Gocks developed a system of

storing kumaras which reduced the loss from rotting from 60% to under 1%.

They also developed seedless watermelons and were the first people to put stickers on individ-ual fruit to distinguish them from other competitors. The Gocks were also noted for the rhubarb

they grew, which is regarded as a difficult crop to grow.

Joe and fay Gock are also renowned for their work within the Chinese community and fea-ture in a book about Chinese grow-ers called ‘Sons of the Soil’.

Ben James, of Hastings, was named young Grower of the year.

New ‘Raine’ beginsTHe NeW president of HortNZ, Nelson fruit and berry grower Julian Raine, says he’s looking for-ward to his role and the challenges ahead.

He told Rural News he stood for president because he felt he could offer something to hor-ticulture and the respec-tive product groups and fruit and vegeta-ble grower associations that make up the organ-isation.

Like his predecessor, andrew fenton, Raine sees the big challenge as the Resource management act, and the cost of doing business in New Zealand. Other challenges include getting enough good quality labour, bios-ecurity, country-of-origin labelling and getting the 22 product groups and HortNZ to work in sync.

Raine was raised on his family’s sheep and beef and dairy farm and he still runs this.

“Unfortunately, Nelson is more known as a hor-ticulture region than a livestock region; so when I came out of university I felt I should be more up-to-date and in tune with the crops that grow well in Nelson,” he says.

He’s been a grower for 30 years and has apples, kiwifruit, boysenberries, blackcurrants and hops on his property. He’s a former director of the NZ Boysenberry Council and chair of the Nuffield farming Scholarship Trust and a trustee of the massey-Lincoln agricultural Industry Trust.

Raine says his first priority in his new role will be to oversee the completion of the ‘future focus’ report and dealing with the action points which come out of this. – Peter Burke

Julian raine

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PETER BURKE

[email protected]

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THe GOVeRNmeNT’S chief science advisor says farmers can expect more flooding and high wind events.

Sir Peter Gluckman has just released a detailed 20-page report on climate change, which updates scientific think-ing on the subject and sets out the implications of climate change for sectors including land-based industries.

Gluckman says the science of climate change is com-plex and evolving and can be difficult for lay people and policy makers to ‘navigate’. He says in the medium term (30 – 40 years) New Zealanders, in particular farmers, will have to devise new strategies to adapt to the “expectation and frequency” of extreme events.

The report warns farmers to expect more frequent severe flooding and high wind events, and with greater extremes which will affect yield and quality of produce. It also says because of the decrease in frosts, pests are more likely to survive and new exotic pests and diseases may become established.

and wetter conditions in winter and spring will likely encourage “pathogen proliferation”.

In regards to horticulture, the reports suggests that as the climate changes it may be possible to grow some crops now confined to northerly regions further south. This may include some grape varieties.

arable farmers will find the yield and quality of broad-acre crops affected, but on the other hand warming tem-peratures may increase the number of growing days.

Pastoral farmers may see the grass grow faster in spring, but in summer and autumn, grass growth could be reduced because of droughts. farmers may have to shift to faster-growing but lower-energy grass species and away from higher energy-providing traditional ryegrass.


news 13

$50k for rural communitiesTHe 2013 PGG Wrightson / Ballance agri-Nutrients ‘Cash for Communities’ scheme raised $50,000 for rural commu-nity funding.

The four month scheme, which closed at the end of may, saw PGG Wrightson and participating suppliers contribute $1 per tonne of Ballance agri-Nutrients fer-tiliser bought and $1 per $500 spent on selected agri-chemical or seed products to schools and charities selected by farm-ers who bought through the rural retailer.

at least 1700 farmers registered for the scheme earmarking funding for 175 rural community organisations. about $22,000 will go to rural schools, rescue helicopters will get $12,000 and St John $14,000.

Stephen Guerin, PGG Wrightson general manager retail, said the success of the scheme reflected a “genuine com-mitment by farmers and suppliers to sup-port organisations needing assistance to survive in rural communities”.

synlait’s launch milks strong market support

CaNTeRBURy mILK processor Syn-lait’s successful listing could be a sign of things to come.

Stockbroker Grant Williamson says it shows confidence in the dairy sector and should open the eyes of other shareholders of private com-panies in the sector.

Williamson, a director of Hamil-ton Hindin Greene in Christchurch, expects private companies to look at listing shares following Synlait’s NZX debut. Synlait began trading on the NZX last month. Launched at $2.20, the share price jumped to $2.80 on July 24 before retreating to $2.64 last week.

Demand for Synlait shares was high; most investors ended up with fewer than they sought. Williamson says some of his clients also had to

settle for fewer shares. “Not everyone got what they wanted but it was a very successful list-ing and there was a lot of demand for shares,” he told Rural News.

Williamson says Dutch co-op frieslandCampina’s 7.5% stake meant a good chunk of shares on offer were out of reach for most investors. There were fewer shares left for other potential investors, he says.

He says Synlait’s decision to spin out its farming business and concen-trate on milk processing was a good move.

“Remember that some years ago Synlait failed to get enough investor support to float its shares. It’s a dif-ferent beast today. The farms are a

separate business and the demand for dairy prod-

ucts globally means investors like put-ting their money into dairy processors.”

Synlait’s launch followed the float last November of

fonterra Taf (trading among farmers) where investors can buy units in shares

and receive dividends from the co-op.But Williamson says apart

from being dairy processors, there shouldn’t be too many comparisons between Synlait and fonterra.

“fonterra is s fully fledged dairy processor and pays a dividend; Syn-lait has indicated it won’t be paying any dividends for some time. Synlait is going through a growth phase. So they are two different beasts.”

The company raised $75 million new capital which will pay down debt and access funding for growth initia-tives.

Three overseas companies are major shareholders: Bright Dairy of China holds 39.1%, Japan’s mitsui & Co 8.4%, and frieslandCampina 7.5%.

managing director and co-founder of Synlait milk John Penno says it is clear many investors see it as a stra-tegic asset in the New Zealand dairy industry and an opportunity to invest in a business clearly committed to creating more value from milk.

sUdEsh KIssUn

[email protected]

Gdt turns fivegLOBAL DAIRY trade (gDt) last month completed us$10 billion in cumulative sales since its incep-tion five years ago.

gDt director Paul grave says it will mark its 100th trading event next month, confirming its role as “a neutral, trusted market place for dairy products around the world”.

“Currently we are trading over 900,000 Mt of dairy products annually,” he says.

gDt offers nine product cate-gories to 800 bidders from all over the world.

the sales platform was launched by Fonterra, which offers milk powder, cheese and butter. Other sellers are euro-serum, the world’s largest producer of demineralised whey powder, Indian dairy co-op Amul, Australian co-op Murray goul-burn, Dutch co-op Arla and Dairy-America.

John Penno

@rural_news


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14 news

Poms patriotic pushHUNDReDS Of #buybritish ban-ners are springing up all over the UK countryside. Launched by farm-ers and growers, the campaign aims to get the British public to buy more local food.

NfU says banners are being erected at or near prime locations so as many people as possible can see them in the hope they will throw their support behind British farming and 200 farmers and growers are backing the scheme.

NfU president Peter Kendall says the banner campaign has been

extremely popular with farmers and growers taking up the challenge of urging the public to buy British. “It’s an incredibly simple but effec-tive way of using their land to pro-mote the campaign itself and the good work they do on-farm so they can ensure more British food ends up on more British plates.”

The #buybritish campaign has been timed to coincide with the Trust the Red Tractor initiative, a food assurance scheme started by farmers, food producers and retail-ers.

Richard Cattell, head of market-ing and communications for Red Tractor assurance, says the cam-paign is an excellent way to get people thinking about where their food comes from.

“Now more than ever it’s impor-tant to know the food you are buying comes from a trusted source,” he says.

“The banner campaign will enable us to tell the British public why it is important to trust the Red Tractor in an eye-catching and mem-orable way.”

no more shonky electrical jobs

THe DayS of getting elec-trical work done without a compliance certificate are over.

Legislation introduced last month requires elec-tricians to hand their cus-tomers a certificate of compliance or an electrical safety certificate when the job is finished.

The electrical Contrac-tors association of New Zealand (eCaNZ) warns

farmers and homeowners they could face problems insuring or selling proper-ties if they cannot produce a certificate.

eCaNZ chief executive Neville Simpson says anec-dotal evidence suggests a lot of electrical work is being done by unlicensed persons. He says rural dwellers may sometimes find it expensive to call out electricians, preferring to do the work themselves.

“The problem is that insurance companies will

knock back claims where compliance certificates are not provided,” he told Rural News. “also, when selling a property, farmers will be required to produce compliance certificates for all electrical installations.”

Simpson says there’s also a serious risk to life and property if electrical work is done by unlicensed people.

electricians have always been required to provide a certificate of compliance or safety cer-

sUdEsh KIssUn

[email protected]

tificate to customers. But Simpson says there were some ‘grey areas’ that have been cleared. “and now there’s no longer any doubt that an electrical certificate is required for any work.”

The changes have not been widely publicised by the Government but it is important that consumers know about them.

“Previously an electri-cal contractor was only required to issue a certifi-cate of compliance for new installations deemed gen-eral-risk or high-risk pre-scribed electrical work.

“The new regulations also apply to any low-risk work – usually main-tenance or replacement work on existing prop-erties, and an electrical safety certificate will be required.

“your electrical con-tractor is legally required to provide you with a cer-tificate of compliance or an electrical safety certifi-

eCANZ MAsteReLeCtRICIANs (Me) branded members issue the organisation’s branded certificate of compliance which also carries a $10,000 work-manship guarantee.

Customers not satisfied with a member’s work can ask eCANZ for support in resolving the situation.

eCANZ has a membership of 1250 electrical contracting businesses. Members are required to demonstrate and carry a minimum of $5 million public liability insurance to operate under the organ-isation’s Me scheme.

$10,000 guaranteecate depending on the risk level of the work, and if they don’t offer you should be asking for one.”

Simpson says anyone planning electrical work should ensure the electri-cian they plan to engage is licensed, before work begins, and keep a copy of the certification once it is completed.

legislation now requires electricians to hand a certificate of compliance of electrical safety certificate when a job is completed.

@rural_news


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SCIeNCe IS being excluded from the debate over land farming in Taranaki.

That’s the claim of Taranaki Regional Council’s director of envi-ronment quality, Gary Bedford.

Land farming is a practice where biodegradable waste including small quantities of hydrocarbons adhering to mud and rock cuttings from oil drilling is integrated back into the soil on farms to naturally degrade and co-incidentally to improve fertility. It has been done mostly on dairy farms in Taranaki.

But,under pressure from envi-ronmentalists, fonterra says it won’t collect milk from any new farms that adopt this practice. The co-op confirmed to Rural News that it is certain there is no food safety issue in respect of land farming. But fonterra says the high cost of test-ing the land underlies its decision.

Bedford says land farming has been done in Taranaki for 12 years and the process is a “robust and sci-entifically environmental sound” way of handling waste from drilling.

“all sorts of allegations have been made about the practice which are not consistent with the facts. as a result of that pressure fonterra has made a ‘marketing’ decision not to pick up milk from any new land farm sites.”

He says this now raises ques-tions about land farms because they are on dairy farms and the farmers concerned have been get-ting much better production. “The way I see it, fonterra has been put into a position where this decision has nothing to do with science or environmental performance.”

Bedford says typically a farmer has made available his scrubby

waste land paddocks, usually cov-ered in blackberry or very sandy and lacking fertility. Once the scrub has been cleared away, the land is flattened, the topsoil is removed and waste is applied, usually in the form of a de-watered slurry.

Strict consent conditions apply and degradation of waste is closely monitored by the council.

Once the all clear is given, nor-mally in about 18 months, the top soil is replaced and grass seed and fertiliser are applied to re-establish pasture.

Bedford says good science underlies this process, including excellent research from alberta, Canada, where this work is exten-sive – “far greater than we’ve seen in Taranaki. They deal with up to

10,000 oil wells per year in alberta, whereas we have had about 600 wells in Taranaki in 150 years.

“and conditions in Canada are much harsher than in Taranaki. They have very thin soils which are frozen for up to six months as opposed to our rich volcanic soils and temperate climate, which make it much easier for the hydrocarbons to degrade.”

Bedford says the Canadian sci-ence is very robust, but the coun-cil has been, and is doing, further research to ensure the ecological state of soils on land farms is safe. He says a Crown research institute is now doing more research for the council and an agricultural scien-tist, Dr Doug edmeades, is doing work on the productivity gains

made on land farms. He says the only negative effect

found so far is compaction of the land by tractors used to prepare the ground for the waste material. Bedford says farmers are unhappy about fonterra’s decision because they have lost a tool to improve their pasture. farmers are also unhappy about the ill-informed comments made in the media.

The problem how is what to do with the waste, Bedford says.

“There are only two options: bury it deeper, safe but silly because you are not solving the problem; or look at going to a landfill, which is a waste of expensive landfill space.

“Land farming means you are solving the problem and [enhanc-ing things for] the farmer.”

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

Before...

... after

Farmers Weekly 13x3

Rural News 16x2

Notice of Election2013 Board of Directors

Election of TWO (2) Directors

Invitation for Candidate Nominations

In October two member elected Directors retire from the Board of DairyNZ Incorporated. DairyNZ therefore invites registered members to nominate candidates to fill the two vacancies. All members of DairyNZ (farmers paying a levy on milksolids to DairyNZ) are eligible to stand for election. An information pack outlining Director attributes and nomination requirements can be obtained from the Returning Officer. Nominations must be received by the Returning Officer by 12 noon on Friday 30 August 2013.

Elections

If more than two nominations are received an election will be carried out by postal, fax and internet voting using the STV (Single Transferable Vote) voting method. Votes will be weighted by annual milksolids production. Voter Packs will be posted on 17 September 2013 to all registered levy payers.

Voting closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 16 October 2013. The DairyNZ Annual Meeting will be held in Taranaki on Thursday 17 October 2013 at 1.30pm. The AGM venue details will be confirmed in the voter pack to be sent to all members. Election results will be announced at the meeting.

For further details contact the Returning Officer as below.

Anthony MortonReturning Officer – DairyNZ Inc0508 666 [email protected]

Notice of Election2013 Board of Directors

Election of TWO (2) Directors

Invitation for Candidate Nominations

In October two member elected Directors retire from the Board of DairyNZ Incorporated. DairyNZ therefore invites registered members to nominate candidates to fill the two vacancies. All members of DairyNZ (farmers paying a levy on milksolids to DairyNZ) are eligible to stand for election. An information pack outlining Director attributes and nomination requirements can be obtained from the Returning Officer. Nominations must be received by the Returning Officer by 12 noon on Friday 30 August 2013.

Elections

If more than two nominations are received an election will be carried out by postal, fax and internet voting using the STV (Single Transferable Vote) voting method. Votes will be weighted by annual milksolids production. Voter Packs will be posted on 17 September 2013 to all registered levy payers.

Voting closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 16 October 2013. The DairyNZ Annual Meeting will be held in Taranaki on Thursday 17 October 2013 at 1.30pm. The AGM venue details will be confirmed in the voter pack to be sent to all members. Election results will be announced at the meeting.

For further details contact the Returning Officer as below.

Anthony Morton Returning Officer – DairyNZ Inc0508 666 [email protected]

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16 news world 17

aussie Chinese meat exports grow

aUSTRaLIaN SHeePmeaT exports to China during the 2012-13 financial year leapt 91% to a record 69,860 tonnes, boosted by a more than five-fold year-on-year lift in mutton exports to 35,867 tonnes.

meat and Livestock aus-tralia also reports lamb ship-ments during 2012-13 also improved, up 38% year-on-year to 33,993 tonnes.

Beef and veal exports to China for the fiscal year soared 1093% year-on-year to a record 92,279 tonnes, making the asian giant the fourth-largest single export destination after Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.

Total volumes of 62,421 tonnes to China during the first six months of this year exceeded the total annual shipments for 2012 of 32,906 tonnes.

australian chilled beef exports to China have increased over the last 10 years, with the volumes during the first six months of 2013 reaching the highest volume yet, at 8890 tonnes.

mLa says australian sheep meat

shipments to China in the first six months of this year totalled 40,607 tonnes, with lamb accounting for 17,864 tonnes and mutton 22,743 tonnes.

mLa expects the demand to con-tinue to grow. “On the back of the strong growth in personal income

and improving infrastructure, com-bined with rapid urbanisation in China, there is reportedly increas-ing demand for imported red meat from a wider area of China,” it says in a new report.

Demand for australian product is also helped by a declining national sheep flock in China and the need for imports to substitute for local

product.“along with increased lamb

slaughter and production in aus-tralia, the ongoing strong economic conditions and growth in China are expected to lead to a further increase in lamb exports in 2013,” mLa says.

Chinese sheepmeat imports during the first eleven months of 2012-13 increased 91% year-on-year to 165,324 tonnes. Its imports in the first five months of this year rose 110% to 99,972 tonnes.

australia’s imported sheepmeat market share in China increased for the first five months of 2013 to 39% at 39,379 tonnes, but New Zealand accounted for 58% of the total over that period

with 57,652 tonnes.New Zealand was China’s largest

supplier during 2012-13, the annual shipments rising 90% to 91,340 tonnes, accounting for 55% of the imported sheepmeat market.

New Zealand has the advan-tage of a free trade agreement with China that puts the australian trade at a disadvantage.

AlAn hARMAn

australian chilled beef exports to china have increased over the last 10 years, with the volumes during the first six months of 2013 reaching the highest volume yet, at 8890 tonnes.

Farmers aim to keep chemicals out of terrorists handsaUSTRaLIaN faRmeRS are backing a Government initiative to prevent poten-tially dangerous chemicals falling into the hands of terrorists.

a new national code of practice con-taining tips for businesses to assess and prevent chemical security risks has been welcomed by the National farmers fed-eration (Nff).

The code, launched last month by attorney-General mark Dreyfus, high-lights security gaps where chemicals could be taken and misused by terrorists.

australian authorities have identi-fied 96 chemicals of security concern. Of these, eleven have been identified as being particularly high-risk because they can be used to make homemade explosives. These eleven chemicals are the subject of the vol-untary code.

Three chemicals – hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid and sodium azide – are used in the dairy industry. Potassium nitrate is used by fertiliser manufacturers.

Nff chief executive matt Linnegar says farmers rely on having access to safe and effective chemicals as they help control pests, weeds and diseases.

“There are strict laws governing the handling, use, transport and storage of chemicals on farms, and the Nff has worked with the Government on this ini-tiative to ensure it aligns with the existing tight regulatory arrangements for agricul-tural chemicals.

“This is not about making it harder for farmers to access chemicals, but rather about farmers keeping an eye out for any-thing suspicious and reporting it to the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400,” says Linnegar.

as part of development of the code, the australian Government has assessed a number of chemicals of security concern, many of which are important to farmers, helping them to sustainably produce food and fibre.

“as one of the largest users of chemicals in australia, farmers already play a crucial role in ensuring they monitor the secu-rity of chemicals on their farms, including keeping them stored in dedicated, lockable storage areas,” says Linnegar.

“farmers are also encouraged to report anything suspicious, including unauthor-ised access to private property and any chemical theft, to the authorities.

“farmers, like all australians, can play a role in helping to keep the country free from terrorism.”

Dreyfus says the code is for importers, distributors, transporters, universities, farmers, hardware stores, pool chemical suppliers and any other sector using these chemicals.

“We have worked with industry to develop a voluntary code that can be incor-porated into existing security management procedures,” he says.

“We all want to make sure that australia remains a safe and resilient country. Good security is good for business. Not only does it protect valuable stock, it also helps keep australians safe.”

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ZOE9157

Market snapshot laMb Market trendsbeef Market trends

Beef & venison prices are reported as gross (before normal levies & charges are deducted). Lamb & mutton prices are reported nett (after levies & charges are deducted). Note: Freight is paid in the North Island but not by all companies in the South Island.

MeatMeatMeatMeat North IslandNorth IslandNorth IslandNorth Island South IslandSouth IslandSouth IslandSouth Island

c/kgCWTChangeChangeChangeChange

c/kgLast Last Last Last WeekWeekWeekWeek

ChangeChangeChangeChangec/kg

Last Last Last Last WeekWeekWeekWeek

LambLambLambLamb - PM 16.0kg +5+5+5+5 5.285.285.285.28 +5+5+5+5 5.235.235.235.23

SteerSteerSteerSteer - P2 300kg +5+5+5+5 4.524.524.524.52 +5+5+5+5 4.204.204.204.20

BullBullBullBull - M2 300kg +3+3+3+3 4.404.404.404.40 +2+2+2+2 4.054.054.054.05

VenisonVenisonVenisonVenison - AP 60kg +5+5+5+5 6.756.756.756.75 +3+3+3+3 6.906.906.906.90

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

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

5yr AveLast YearThis Year

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

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

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

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

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

$3.0

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

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

$6.0

$6.5

$7.0

$7.5

$8.0

$8.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

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

$6.0

$6.5

$7.0

$7.5

$8.0

$8.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

BEEF PRICES

c/kgCWT Change Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg +5 4.52 4.47 4.20

M2 Bull - 300kg +3 4.40 4.37 4.30

P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 3.60 3.60 3.60

M Cow - 200kg n/c 3.50 3.50 3.50

Local Trade - 230kg +5 4.52 4.47 4.20

SI P2 Steer - 300kg +5 4.20 4.15 4.00

M2 Bull - 300kg +2 4.05 4.03 3.95

P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 3.10 3.10 3.10

M Cow - 200kg n/c 2.95 2.95 3.00

Local Trade - 230kg +8 4.20 4.12 4.20

NZ Slaughter Estimated Weekly Kill

1000s Change 2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago Last Year 5yr Ave

Cattle NI - 0.0 0.0 15.9 18.8

Cattle SI - 0.0 0.0 4.4 3.8

Cattle NZ - 0.0 0.0 20.3 22.6

Bull NI - 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.3

Bull SI - 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3

Str & Hfr NI - 0.0 0.0 9.8 10.7

Str & Hfr SI - 0.0 0.0 3.2 2.3

Cows NI - 0.0 0.0 4.3 5.8

Cows SI - 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.1

Export Market Demand

Change LastWeek


95CL US$/lb +2 1.93 1.91 2.06 1.82

NZ$/kg -4 5.28 5.32 5.66 5.29

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks

Ago Last Year 5yr Ave

% Returned NI +1% 82.8% 81.8% 75.95% 75.1%

% Returned SI +1% 76.3% 75.2% 69.8% 69.6%

NZ Weekly Beef KillNZ Weekly Beef KillNZ Weekly Beef KillNZ Weekly Beef Kill

0

20

40

60

80

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

Last Year

This Year

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

$1.80

$2.00

$2.20


Last Year

This Year

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

60%

70%

80%

May Jul Sep

Last YearThis Year

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

60%

70%

80%

90%

May Jul Sep

Last Year

This Year

LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange Last

Week2 Wks

AgoLast Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +5 5.26 5.21 5.61

PM - 16.0kg +5 5.28 5.23 5.63

PX - 19.0kg +5 5.30 5.25 5.65

PH - 22.0kg +5 5.31 5.26 5.66

Mutton MX1 - 21kg +5 3.10 3.05 3.35

SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +5 5.23 5.18 5.66

PM - 16.0kg +5 5.23 5.18 5.68

PX - 19.0kg +5 5.23 5.18 5.70

PH - 22.0kg +5 5.23 5.18 5.71

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 2.88 2.88 3.20

NZ Slaughter Estimated Weekly Kill

1000s Change 2Wks Ago


Lamb NI #DIV/0! 0 0 119 131

Lamb SI #DIV/0! 0 0 60 61

Lamb NZ #DIV/0! 0 0 179 192

Mutton NZ #DIV/0! 0 0 34 45

Export Market DemandChange Last

Week2 Wks


UK Leg £/lb n/c 1.82 1.82 1.37 1.74

NZ$/kg -7 7.66 7.73 5.90 8.43

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks


% Returned NI +1% 69.8% 68.6% 97.4% 70.0%

% Returned SI +2% 67.9% 66.2% 98.2% 69.4%

Venison Prices

Change LastWeek


NI Stag - 60kg +5 6.75 6.70 7.40 7.78

SI Stag - 60kg +3 6.90 6.87 7.45 8.08

NZ Weekly Lamb KillNZ Weekly Lamb KillNZ Weekly Lamb KillNZ Weekly Lamb Kill

0

150

300

450

600

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

Last Year

This Year

Demand Indicator - Demand Indicator - Demand Indicator - Demand Indicator - UK Leg PriceUK Leg PriceUK Leg PriceUK Leg Price

£1.00

£1.50

£2.00

£2.50


Last Year

This Year

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

45%55%65%75%85%95%

105%


Last Year

This Year

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

50%60%70%80%90%

100%110%


Last Year

This Year


Andrew WoodPalmerston North

Bill Hodgson Dunedin

Jeremy MacAvoy Ashburton

Peter Young Hawke’s Bay

news price watch


Andrew WoodPalmerston North

Bill Hodgson Dunedin

Jeremy MacAvoy Ashburton

Peter Young Hawke’s Bay

BEEF

Lack of kill drives cattle prices higher

Local trade prices are starting to lift more consistently with a lack of supply developing. Last week local trade prices were mostly around $4.45-$4.50/kg in the North Island and $4.20/kg in the South. Competition is also heating up for 300kg export steer with prices keeping pace with the local trade market. The recent price lift is solely procurement driven with the kill still dropping sharply through July. While US imported prices are moving in the right direction, this was largely offset by the dollar lifting over US80c last week. Meat company margins on beef are below average for this time as they chase harder for limited supplies. With processors already paying above the odds, the seasonal lift in prices into the spring is likely to be more limited than usual.

US beef market improving, challenges remain

US imported beef prices continue to show some slight upside with 95 & 90CL prices both moving up in recent weeks. US domestic prices for 90CL have also been moving higher. Demand from US end users is generally seen as improving. Reduced availability of imported product is also having a positive impact on prices. But there are still some key factors that are likely to limit the potential upside for imported prices. Firstly, there are still significant stocks of beef in the US. The latest USDA cold storage report shows that stocks of boneless beef at the end of June were 8% higher than last year. While it’s positive that pork stocks are down 5%, this is offset by the fact that chicken stocks are up by 3%. Secondly, competition from chicken is also set to continue. The USDA is forecasting that chicken production in the US for 2013 will be up on last year by 3%. This increase would put downward pressure on chicken prices and make it more competitive compared to beef.

LAMB

Gaps starting to appear in lamb kill

The number of lambs coming forward for kill has been steady and well matched with capacity in recent weeks. North Island kill numbers stabilised in June with the monthly total only 2% lower than in May. The June kill was also on par with last June and only 6% below 5 year average levels. The lamb kill in the South Island in June was actually slightly higher than usual – running 2% above last year and 5yr average levels. But now reports suggest that gaps are just starting to now appear in supply and this is likely to increase upward pressure on farmgate prices. A pretty kind winter to date, particularly in the North Island, means that farmers have options in terms of holding lambs for longer.

Store lamb prices lift

With store lamb prices jumping at key North Island sale-yards in the last week the paddock market has been generally quiet as it adjusts to a new level. Levels of demand for quality lambs have become stronger with good pasture and crop growing conditions in many areas. Recent sales at Stortford and Feilding put buyers on notice. While there were decent numbers of lambs offered (4,500 at Stortford and 11,000 at Feilding) there has also been strong benches of buyers. Both sales last week had 30-34kg males selling at around $2.70/kg with lighter lines up to $2.80/kg. Ewe lamb prices were more mixed up sold up to $2.80/kg at 28-32kg. The South Island market is more subdued but prices have also been up at some sale-yards recently. Prices are typically in the $2.40-$2.50/kg range.

DAIRY

Dairy prices move steadily higher

Dairy prices in Australasia moved higher again over the last 2 weeks. Milk production is at seasonal lows and this is matched by lower product supplies. Stock levels are generally trending down which is positive for price. The gDT event in mid-July also saw prices lift by an average of 5% across all products and contracts. Whole Milk and Butter Milk Powders were up 7.7% and 4.8% respectively while Rennet Casein prices eased by 5%.

WOOL PRICE WATCH DAIRY PRICE WATCH

Indicators in NZ$ Change 25-Jul 18-Jul Last Year Indicators in NZ$/T Change Last 2

WksPrev. 2

WksLast Year

Coarse Xbred Indic. -2 4.61 4.63 3.67 Butter +15 5245 5230 3553

Fine Xbred Indicator -6 5.07 5.13 4.58 Skim Milk Powder +25 5750 5725 3491

Lamb Indicator -4 5.25 5.29 4.72 Whole Milk Powder +3 6208 6205 3491

Mid Micron Indic. -24 7.74 7.98 8.85 Cheddar +27 5529 5502 4488

Overseas Price Indicators Overseas Price Indicators

Indicators in US$/kg Change 25-Jul 18-Jul Last Year Indicators in US$/T Change Last 2

WksPrev. 2

WksLast Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator +2 3.67 3.66 2.92 Butter +63 4150 4088 2850Fine Xbred Indicator -1 4.04 4.05 3.64 Skim Milk Powder +75 4550 4475 2800Lamb Indicator n/c 4.18 4.18 3.76 Whole Milk Powder +63 4913 4850 2800Mid Micron Indicator -14 6.17 6.31 7.05 Cheddar +75 4375 4300 3600

Wool Indicator TrendsWool Indicator TrendsWool Indicator TrendsWool Indicator Trends

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May

CXI FXI LI

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

250

300

350

400

450

500


Last YearThis Year

Coarse Xbred IndicatorCoarse Xbred IndicatorCoarse Xbred IndicatorCoarse Xbred Indicator

300

400

500


Last YearThis Year

Dairy Prices TrendsDairy Prices TrendsDairy Prices TrendsDairy Prices Trends

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun

SMP WMPBut. Ched.

Whole Milk Powder Price in US$/TWhole Milk Powder Price in US$/TWhole Milk Powder Price in US$/TWhole Milk Powder Price in US$/T

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

5,000

5,500


Last Year

This Year

Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000


Last Year

This Year

Wool Indicator in US$Wool Indicator in US$Wool Indicator in US$Wool Indicator in US$

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May

CXI FXI LI

Dairy Prices in US$/TonneDairy Prices in US$/TonneDairy Prices in US$/TonneDairy Prices in US$/Tonne

2,500

3,500

4,500

5,500

Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun

SMP WMP.But .Ched

CURRENCY WATCH

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

US dollar 0.807 0.791 0.779 0.802

Euro 0.607 0.602 0.597 0.653

UK pound 0.524 0.519 0.510 0.512

Aus dollar 0.873 0.861 0.840 0.770

Japan yen 80.06 79.22 76.68 62.78

Euro

0.56

0.60

0.64

0.68


Last Year

This Year

UK Pound

0.46

0.48

0.50

0.52

0.54

0.56

0.58


Last Year

This Year

US Dollar

0.70

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90


Last Year

This Year


20 agribusiness

new head expecting better times

THe BeTTeR payout and lift in farmer confidence is likely also to mean a better season for contrac-tors, says the newly elected president of the Rural Contractors association, Steve Levet.

Last year the whole industry was hit by drought on top of a lower payout and is still in recovery.

Levet was elected president in June and is ready to lend his weight to initiatives the 470-member asso-ciation has underway. These include lobbying government on seasonal workers and trying to attract the brightest young people to all areas of agriculture, including contracting.

about three quarters of his rural contracting work comes from dairy farms and that would be true for most contractors, says Levet. He is an albertlander – a descendant of the first settlers of the Wellsford area north of auckland – and last year he was chairman of the albert-landers’ 150th anniversary. He is also the cousin of Gordon Levet, the renowned Romney sheep breeder.

Levet farms 62ha and in the last three years has reared calves – 210 last year and 150-200 this year. He is doing straight friesian bulls and has 85 in the shed at present. With two fulltime workers for the contract-ing business, the farming operation gives his staff work through winter. He does fertiliser spreading with a 4WD truck and a trailer and trailer spreader and has a six-wheeler for general cartage, does seed drilling, hay baling and has a 12-tonne digger for earthworks such as dams, house sites and roads. He also does culti-vation; he bales hay but doesn’t do silage.

He has been contracting in his own right since 1980 and a member of the contractors’ organisation since 1986. members can get premiums on insurance and fuel, benefit from net-working among members, advice on legal and council issues and the organisation lobbies government on issues pertinent to the industry. It also provides advice to members on health and safety and employ-ment with prototype employment contracts available. The association has one paid part-time staff member

chief executive, Roger Parton.“every year at conference we

always have a session on employ-ment,” says Levet. “It always pro-vokes good interaction, because everybody through the course of the year has an employment issue with somebody. The goalposts for employing people are constantly on the move.”

Typical of their activities in sup-port of members is helping a Bay of Plenty contractor in a battle with the council which wants to restrict his activities. “We’ve been actively engaged in fighting Western Bays over consents for his yard,” he says.

It’s the type of case which could set a precedent for other councils to follow.

The association also lobbied gov-ernment over the recent changes in agricultural transport regulations and helped win some “common sense” concessions. The association is also keeping a watch on govern-ment moves on health and safety and lobbying to make it easier to obtain return visas for seasonal experience contractors who work both in hemi-spheres.

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

Best and brightest wanted

steVe LeVet is also on a mission to encourage the young people into the industry “We want to highlight to schools and educators [the good prospects in] agricul-

ture today. Long gone are the days when you put the halfwits in there. It’s no longer ‘you’re not performing, you go farming’. Agricultural contracting is the same. the machinery we’ve got is highly sophisticated and expensive and you’ve got to be computer literate to drive a tractor these days.”

Agricultural contracting can become a career pathway, with young people initially working for a contractor then starting their own business. And academic qualifications are also available through Infratrain, meaning young people can study while working, to gain a qualification. Parents whose sons want to go into agri-cultural contracting are often pleased to find out qualifications are available.

Qualifications also look good on a CV and will help in gaining work in the northern hemisphere.

steve levet, Wellsford, has been elected president of the rural contractors association.

Phone 0800 445 554 email [email protected]

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agribusiness 21

Product Gdt auction16/07/2013

1 mth change

3 mths change

change in 2013

nZd/tonne

Whole Milk Powder(WMP) $6,432 7.8% -8.8% 55.2%

Skim Milk Powder(SMP) $5,806 6.6% -6.1% 36.7%

Butter Milk Powder(BMP) $6,137 10.8% 3.5% 30.9%

CHEESE $5,690 -1.7% -4.6% 27.8%

Trade Weighted Index (GDT- TWI) $6,139 6.0% -8.1% 42.7%

NZ Dairy MarketTHeRe WaS a three week break between auctions from July 16 to august 6. The results of the auction on July 16 show the predicted turnaround in prices after some soft auction results of late. fonterra confirms the fy13 forecast cash payout to farmer shareholders of $6.12 remains unchanged but overall returns have been revised up thanks to high overall 2013 auction prices and the fall in the New Zealand dollar. Interna-tionally dairy values are to stay firm for now, according to reports from the US Dairy export Council, but Chinese cuts to infant formula prices, and hefty levels of advance purchases could pose a threat to values. milk supplies are still fundamentally short after a poor start to 2013 production. milk production in the top five exporters argentina, australia, european Union, New Zealand and the US fell some 2m tonnes, or nearly 3%, year on year in the march-may period because of weather upsets. Northern hemisphere output was constrained by cold springs in many countries.

US AgricUltUrAl coMMoDity PriceS

commodity units Price this issue

Price last issue change

Live Cattle USD/Kg $2.775 $2.694 2.989%

Feeder Cattle USD/Kg $3.364 $3.341 0.696%

Lean Hogs USD/Kg $1.870 $2.105 -11.187%

Greasy Wool USD/Kg $10.47 $10.470 0.000%

Corn USD/Bushel $4.748 $5.028 -5.579%

Wheat USD/Bushel $6.523 $6.635 -1.696%

CORN HaS fallen sharply as large US corn sowings have made it through peak pollination without too much poor weather. The early sown crops in the south have begun harvest and talk is of huge yields leading to pressure on prices from a spike in supplies. If the weather continues to be favourable towards corn growth and development, we can expect a record large crop to be harvested and declines in price. Hog prices have plummeted 11% over the three week period we’ve covered on speculation that cooler weather in the US midwest may raise animal weights, increasing pork supplies. The midwest has had cooler-than-normal conditions, tempera-tures ranging from 17.7oC to 26.6oC; hogs eat less during hot weather showing the connection between weather and price. Cattle supply problems go the other way as the lack of supply after the cull during last summer’s drought have left the market short of stock; that and the demand for beef in the US being at an all-time high has led to price rises.

NOT a lot of activity in New Zealand agrishares. Tennon has slipped away slightly as their recent strong run comes to an end. However, the company, which supplies wood products to the US housing market, is still up over 51% this year. PGG Wrightson pushed 6.45% higher and Livestock Improvement has shown good gains up 25 cents to $6.05 and up 12% for 2013. fonterra units have remained very flat and after a strong first half of the year have settled into a more stable range about the $7.30 - $7.60 level.

This table is a list of shares linked to New Zealand’s rural industry and is in no way a recommendation to buy or sell any share. You should seek the advice of a trusted financial advisor before entering into any sharemarket investment.

francis wolfgramfinance matters

rUrAl NewS Agri ShAreS iNDex

code company Prices as 30/07/2013

Prices as at 8/07/2013 change change

in 2013

ALF Allied Farmers $0.016 $0.018 -11.11% -46.67%

ATM A2 Corporation $0.660 $0.630 4.76% 22.22%

DGL Delegat’s Group $4.050 $4.070 -0.49% 37.76%

HNZ Heartland Bank $0.86 $0.83 3.61% 26.47%

FSF Fonterra Shareholders Fund $7.490 $7.380 1.49% 5.75%

FFW Foley Family Wines $1.350 $1.350 0.00% 12.50%

LIC Livestock Improvement Corp. $6.05 $5.80 4.31% 12.04%

PGW PGG Wrightson $0.330 $0.310 6.45% -28.26%

SAN Sanford Limited $4.690 $4.700 -0.21% 10.35%

SEK Seeka Kiwifruit Industries $1.900 $1.850 2.70% 111.11%

TEN Tenon Limited $1.260 $1.400 -10.00% 51.81%

WEL Wool Equities $0.120 $0.120 0.00% 9.09%

TUR Turners & Growers $1.650 $1.600 3.12% 0.00%

rnai index total 30.426 30.058 1.22% 16.70%

HAVE YOUR SAY!

Join the conversation on the new BASF website blog. Make your opinions known. Discuss matters that interest or concern you. Register now for theBASF Blog at: www.agro.basf.co.nz

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Closes 30th August 2013.

BSF 7733 07/13


22 agribusinessag twitsRural News’ irreverent and hypothetical look at what’s happening in the farming world

Top Bleats view all

johnpennosynlait: Who says foreign invest-ment is a bad thing for New Zealand agricul-ture? Thanks to the Japanese, Chinese and Dutch investment in Synlait this New Zealander has done very nicely! #instantmillionare

jwilsonfonterra: Hey @johnpennosynlait, we’re extremely jealous as we’d have loved to have listed on the stock exchange. But thankfully TAF has made a few of us Fonterra farmers rich as well! #betterthanlotto

damienoconnormp: I knew it; all my fears have proven to be correct! I’m pretty sure there were never any earthquakes in Welling-ton until TAF was introduced. #theskyisfalling

thatguynathan: Hey @damienoconnormp take a chill pill. There is more chance of David Shearer staying on as leader of Labour Party than Fonterra ever listing on the stock exchange. #deadmanwalking

richardyoungmie: Our Meat Industry Excel-lence group has already led to a revolution in the NZ meat industry with rumours that the big meat companies are now ‘talking’ to each other! #stunningachievement

opoolealliancegroup: Hey @eiongardensff our “We’ll be back to you with something in a couple of months” diversion to the MIE group is starting to run out of steam. What now? #pressureison

eiongardensff: Yeah @opooelalliancegroup; bugger it, let’s do lunch somewhere public in Wellington and they’ll think we are ‘talking’. #longlunch

opoolealliancegroup@eiongardensff: Nice. I’ll invite Affco and Anzco along as well, tip off the media that we are ‘talking’ and Bob’s your uncle. #tooeasy

mpetersenbeef+lambnz: Well done Wills and Kate on the new royal addition. Must have been that lamb chop Wills had when he last visited NZ. But as any sheep farmer knows, singles are just not good enough these days! #oneheirandonespare

waynemcneelic: I just want to let all my old colleagues at @MPI know that I’m missing working at the ministry about as much as Kevin Rudd misses Julia Gillard! #cannotblam-emeanymore

Avocado rivals join forces

TWO fORmeRLy fierce rivals in avocado export-ing say their successful collaboration could signal the way forward for other export industries.

The forecast for aus-tralia earnings this season have jumped 20%, from $40m to $50m, for the newly formed avocado exporter avoco.

Now representing about 75% of New Zealand avocado growers, avoco is a collaborative venture

after decades of “fierce rivalry yet mutual respect” between New Zealand’s two biggest avocado export companies, says an avoco director alistair young.

Southern Produce Ltd, Bay of Plenty, and Primor Product Ltd, auckland, put aside their long-stand-ing commercial com-petitiveness to form the joint venture company to export to australia, the biggest export market for avocado. They also now represent about 75% of

exports to that market.This bold move could

signal the way forward for other export industries, they say.

“We have realised it makes complete sense to work as a partnership against foreign compet-

itors rather than fight among ourselves,” says young, who is also a Southern Produce direc-tor. “The interests of the New Zealand avocado industry and its grow-ers are best served by a unified entity focused

totally on getting the best orchard-gate return for growers.”

Primor Produce director and general manager John Carroll says growers demanded they perform better as an export industry. avoco was able to revise its forecast earnings upwards at its first board meeting in June.

The two companies are also collaborating in all other export markets under their avanza com-mercial arrangement.

PAM TIPA“the interests of the new Zealand avocado industry and its growers are best served by a unified entity focused totally on getting the best orchard-gate return for growers.”

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ClarificationIN tHe article ‘Wheeled feeder enhances grain use’ (Rural News July 16, p37) it was incorrectly stated that the Advantage Feeders 1200kg trailered MgF1800 grain feeder was road legal. While the trailer has been safely towed with a full load at 60km/h, it cannot be made road legal. Rural News apologises for any confusion.

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24 opinion

editorial

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lizard madnessMANY A farmer has come a gutser courtesy of RMA-wielding council minions. However rural folk might be heartened to hear they are not alone. An old mate of the Hound, who lives in the bushy fringe of Auckland, has had similar problems. His appli-cation to subdivide his small bush block into two sections was met with a condition: he had to pay a herpetologist (a lizard expert, nothing to do with nasty diseases) to come and count all the native geckos on his property. If the population density exceeded a certain level, he would be required to relocate them all.

who’s paying?YOuR OLD mate notes the Meat Industry excel-lence (MIe group) has made much of being a grassroots farmer lobby agitating for meat sector reforms. the Hound reckons a part of MIe’s success and/or reso-nance with farmers is this grassroots feel and that its members are dipping into their own pockets to fund it, etc. so the Hound was surprised to see MIe has now engaged Christ-church PR company Convergence to run its media work. this old mutt is told such PR work does not come cheap and would be interested to know who is paying for it.

More greenwashtHe HOuND was unsur-prised to see green MP and former paid mouth-piece of the organic lobby steffan Browning latching on to the latest claims by the doomsayers at Pesti-cide Action Network Aote-aroa New Zealand, saying that New Zealand rivers are full of pesticides and we are all going to die. the only problem for the likes of Browning and his fellow organic acolytes is that research proves this is just greenwash. stanford univer-sity research shows data from 237 studies aggre-gated and analysed that determined organic foods are no safer or healthier than non-organic foods.

Two-facedA MAte of the Hound reckons the Aussie-owned and controlled publishers of a weakly (sic) rural publi-cation are hypocritical with their stance on palm kernel (PKe). As the Hound’s mate says, the Aussie publisher is only too happy to run front page stories quoting greenpeace New Zealand campaigner simon Boxer and helping promote the eco-terrorist organisation’s campaign about how bad and evil PKe is to the planet. However, the Aussie publisher is more than happy to take money off the same ‘evil’ purveyors of this product and run full page colour adverts promoting the use of PKe.

what’s in a name?YOuR OLD mate was pleased to see such a generally positive reac-tion, from most quarters, to the dairy industry’s recently launched upgrade of the Clean streams water accord – the ‘sustainable dairying: water accord’. One excep-tion was the negative lot from Fish & game whose main complaint appeared to be its name: “…It is not a good start when ‘Clean streams’ has been removed from the title of the sector’s supposed commitment to reducing its impact on the nation’s waterways,” the outdoor lobby whined in a media release.

THe NeW dairy industry accord designed to clean up waterways has been hailed by industry, councils and farmers, but it has drawn only luke-warm support from environmental groups.

The accord sets national environmental benchmarks for dairy farming, covering stock exclusion from waterways and riparian, effluent, nutrient and water use management. It also sets out new industry standards for conversions of land to dairying.

most of the nation’s 13,000 dairy farmers are covered by the accord, which has the support of fonterra, Open Country, Tatua, Synlait and miraka and industry body DairyNZ, while feder-ated farmers and 15 regional councils have signed on as ‘friends’.

many from the local government and the reg-ulatory sector describe it as an excellent mecha-nism for environmental improvements, unlikely to make farmers’ lives difficult farmers or to bank-rupt them. It draws on the consensus approach to water management implemented by the Land and Water forum.

The accord is not perfect and the last-minute decision by Westland milk Products not to be a partner is a blow. Hopefully, Westland’s issues can be sorted quickly as an ‘all-in’ method by the dairy industry to water quality management is far better than a piecemeal, company-by-company approach.

Despite this hiccup, the accord is another pos-itive step forward for the dairy sector and water quality in New Zealand and a long way ahead of where it was 10, 15 or even 20 years ago.

But you wouldn’t know this listening to the typically negative response from fish & Game NZ. It described the new accord as a “mixed bless-ing” that did not contain enough positives for the lobby group to sign up to. It says while it is head-ing in the right direction, progress was far too slow and the public expected more.

fish & Game has an important role as an envi-ronmental watchdog. However, incessant and negative carping about the dairy sector makes it sound like a dog that barks and chases car tyres, but not much else. These animals usually don’t stay around long and unless fish & Game changes its obvious anti-farming modus operandi, it too will come across as all yap and no substance.

federated farmers Nelson spokesman martin O’Connor summed up its response well when he said the lobby “was never happy and ignored the fact farmers had spent huge amounts on environ-mental compliance in recent years.” as O’Connor adroitly added: “… It’s hard to farm green, when you are in the red.”

That’s something fish & Game would do well to recognise.

Change the record

“that’s crazy! – what do dogs know about politics?!”


opinion 25

Rural residents the poor cousins of urban-focused councilsDeSPITe SmILING auckland mayor Len Brown’s frequent TV utterances that the city is of one mind and moving united towards a rosy future (centred on an underground rail tunnel near Queen Street), the schism between auckland’s parts has never been greater.

Recently, the Govern-ment and the auckland bureaucracy agreed to spend $10 billion-plus on the 4km downtown rail tunnel, a second harbour crossing and new motor-way links in urban auck-land – though I’ve heard up to $60 billion over two or three decades mentioned!

at the same time, a reply to a letter was published in the Rodney Times by auckland Transport spokesman, mark Hannan. It read in part: “across the auck-land region there are 868km of unsealed roads with an estimated cost to seal of $347 million. The present seal extension programme funding identified in the long-term plan is $4.2 m over 10 years or an average of $420,000 per annum.”

Vast rural tracts, from the firth of Thames to north of Wellsford, were forcibly married to urban auckland in 2010. This rural hinterland constitutes about 75% of auckland’s area. The point

of the conjugation was to bring rates from sparsely populated (read voter-poor areas, which lacked the numbers to object effectively) into voter-rich urban areas to help pay for expensive urban projects.

We can get a fair measure of the regard in which auckland Council holds

its rural population from the $420,000 per annum funding for rural seal extension—a generous one kilome-tre per year—versus $1+ billion a year for major urban transport projects that are as relevant to most rural residents as condoms are to eunuchs. In rural areas, the main issue is always sealing local roads.

With a budget of $3 billion a year, auck-land Council could seal all its rural roads in five years and barely notice.

Slightly off topic but not irrelevant, american friends just hired a camper from

a major company to discover it’s for-bidden to drive on any unsealed road, surely an impediment to the enrich-ment of rural NZ by tourism!

auckland Council would love to cancel what the Left disparagingly refers to as the “holiday highway” from Puhoi to Wellsford, if only it could get its hands on the money for urban transport.

Northland is predominantly rural, less prosperous than much of the coun-try and could benefit substantially from better links with our largest city; yet auckland Council cares only about its own downtown transport issues.

However, roads in rural auckland are really just the edge of a larger concern.

The new auckland is now large enough to arm-wrestle central govern-ment. all other local territorial author-ities are pipsqueaks in comparison. Hence many are now looking at pos-sible amalgamations to become large enough to regain influence with cen-tral government.

Because most amalgamations would

be based around cities, we’re likely to see the progressive disenfranchise-ment of rural populations with respect to local government, because as with auckland’s rural roads, populous urban interests will always win over rural con-cerns.

This matters because local govern-ment sets most rules for the obstacle race that governs our lives, much more so than central government. So, city-focused planners will set the rules for large tracts of rural New Zealand.

for instance, planners loathe rural subdivision as much as the Greens hate Gm, and the minimum subdivision size over outer auckland is proposed to be

150ha. forget subdividing off a small block to fund your retirement when the kids want to take over the farm! How-ever, bureaucrats love bush remnants and streams so I doubt that it will be long before they all have to be fenced, which means dams (think resource con-sents), pipes and troughs to water stock, with culverts and bridges for vehicles!

expect similar nonsense to become widespread if local body amalgamation proceeds. Is there a solution? Unbun-dling the auckland monster seems pref-erable to creating more of them.• Warren Judd is the former editor of NZ Geographic and a farmer in the Rodney dis-trict north of Auckland.

wARREn JUdd

northland is predominantly rural, less prosperous than much of the country and could benefit substantially from better links with our largest city; yet auckland council cares only about its own downtown transport issues.

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26 opinion

Don’t blame farmers, KeithIt’s A bit rich for silver Fern Farms chief executive Keith Cooper to say farmers did not take notice of market signals for the 2011-12 season (Rural News, July 2) and therefore were responsible for the ‘home grown’ volatility . Is he now suggesting because we accepted the schedule price at the time, set by the meat processing companies, that we were the cause of the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to their balance sheets? He goes on to say: “the markets aren’t volatile; we caused the vola-tility by the way we mucked around with the supply profile to the market.”

An email from sFF chairman eoin garden sent to suppliers October 19, 2011 includes the statements “economic conditions are very topical in europe”; “this time it appears customers have stable credit facilities, people are still eating so the supply chain is func-tioning.” And “On balance one can only be positive about sales reve-nues across all species all prod-ucts this coming year, providing it’s the right specification.” then in the sFF Market update for lamb dated November 18 2011 it says “the current market condi-tions coupled with current FX rates calculate to a schedule payment of 700 cpk by Christmas and then

around 650 cpk mid-February at the conclusion of the 2012 easter shipments to europe.”

these were the ‘ signals’ we as farmers took notice of.

this does not sound like the “markets aren’t volatile” as Keith Cooper is claiming. More like sFF took their eye off the ball during the Christmas New Year period and did not adjust their schedule accordingly.

I look forward to the 2013-14 season and the market signals so I can plan when to supply my lambs, for an optimum return which the end customer can afford. s w Brannigan [Abridged]

(via e-mail)

striking the right balance on debtfaRm DeBT levels are incredibly high. These have increased in the past year to at least $50 billion. On dairy farms this amounts to $20/kgmS, making the most indebted farmers vulnerable to bad weather, price falls and cost rises.

a leading head of rural banking says that much of the debt is investment in expanding production, irrigation, more stock, new dairies, etc so it’s ok. Well, he would say that wouldn’t he! He didn’t mention that interest rates may well go up soon, and that will put the top 10 – 20%

of indebted farmers in dire financial straits.

I am concerned that some farmers are being encouraged to make ever greater capital investments just to increase production. Let’s face it, the dairy companies want more production, the Government wants more production, and the banks are happy to lend. None of them has to live with the stress of farming and they all get paid no matter what. When was the last time any of them took a salary cut because of a drought?

There is a feeling among some industry advisers that a herd of fewer than 300 cows is no longer sustainable or profitable. This is nonsense – profitability depends on individual circumstances. However, farmers with smaller herds often feel pressured

to expand production and ask me whether they should buy out the neighbour or increase carrying capacity by using more fertiliser and bought-in supplementary feeds.

Detailed analysis of their situation may show that reducing herd size reduces costs and income but maintains profit. I could quote a number of examples of farmer members who have downsized their operations to achieve a better return for their efforts.

as a bonus there is a

significant reduction in stress; ask their wives and they will tell you. Getting the right balance between business debt/workload/profit and personal/family/community life is the key to satisfaction.

Of course not all increases in farm debt are bad and some will lead to greater profit. The question is how can farmers determine whether any investment will be profitable? Certainly not by studying historical tax accounts or plugging rule-of-thumb figures into a bank’s cashflow spreadsheet.

The quality of management decisions depends on the quality of information being used. In my experience farmers who have kept accurate records of rainfall, soil temperature, pasture covers and production data over a number of years are in the best position to forecast the profitability of any change. assessing each ‘what if ’ in terms of profit per kg of dry matter eaten by stock gives them the best handle on what they should do.

This approach will help answer questions such as:

Should I build a herd

home or reduce debt?Do I need help from a

stock nutritionist?How much debt can I

afford?Should I graze store

lambs or dairy heifers?Should I reduce debt or

take a decent holiday?The answers will

help you strike the right balance between a profitable business and a sustainable lifestyle.• Peter Floyd is the managing director of Cogent Farming Business Systems Ltd www.profitfocusedfarming.com tel. 0800433376 or 0275968796

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opinion 27

Re JACQueLINe Rowarth’s ‘Need to decipher truth from fiction’ (Rural News July 16) and her criticism of Albrecht’s Base Cation saturation Ratio (BCsR) theory used to assess soil fertility.

Although sufficiency Levels of Available Nutrients (sLAN) such as MAF Quicktest units has shown to be a better predictor of crop responses internationally than BCsR theory, I have found considering the ratios of calcium,

magnesium, potassium and sodium in over 400 farms useful in reducing metabolic issues such as bloat, milk fever and grass staggers. My contention is that it is not an ‘either-or’ situation, but both sLAN and BCsR should be used as the latter helps keep the mineral balance correct for the animal that eats the grass.

New Zealand soil scientist Andrew Carran reported over 20 years ago that calcium and

magnesium ratios were impor-tant for legumes in particular, but not that critical for grasses. My own observations on clients’ farms over the past 24 years is that where magnesium is being applied along with calcium based lime, the clover content of pastures improves when magne-sium has been shown to be low in the base saturation.

However, rather than being completely dismissive of BCsR, Professor Rowarth and Dr

edmeades, whom she quotes in her article, should advocate for trials to be done here in New Zealand with grazing animals, particularly system 1 dairy cows, and looking at their production and welfare as the final arbiter as to which approach is best. I think they may be surprised at the results. Robin BoomAgronomic Advisory services91 lindsay RdRd9 hamilton

bCsr theory Does have some meritlet the real truth be tolD!IN RegARD to ‘Need to decipher truth from fiction’ by Jacqueline Rowath (Rural News July 16), a few things may be of interest to your readers.

Rowarth has discredited the Albrecht soil balancing system but failed to give any evidence in her opinion piece.

We have subscribed to the Base Cation saturation Ratios (BCsR) for the past 20 years and, contrary to her beliefs, we have found that in practice there are ideal ratios. It is relatively inexpensive and the quality and quantity of produce is better than those who subscribe to sufficiency only.

We are rural contractors and farmers, and about 20% of clients subscribe to the same theory (ie BCsR). It is evident they have significantly higher levels of grass, grain and seed production than those using mainstream fertiliser.

I challenge Prof Rowath to demonstrate how suffi-ciency fertiliser can deal with excesses of nutrients, pests and disease, microbiological activity, drainage, droughts, pollution, previous crop residue breakdown, soil struc-ture, water porosity, stock and human health.

given the correct ratios of cations and anions and trace minerals in the soil, most of the above problems can be addressed without resorting to pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and, in human health, medicines and surgery.

It must be remembered that soils are chemical, which affects the physical properties of soils, which affects the biological properties. All of these combine to give us a dynamic living environment which gives plants, animals and people the right to live with good health.

A good example of this is: if the Mg is 3 times the K in the soil you will not get hypomagnesimia in cattle. Also if the K is twice the sodium you will not get bloat. If the calcium is over 60% and less than 70% you will get proper insoak of water with rainfall and capillary action as it dries out. Modern problems like Psa in kiwifruit and clover root weevil can all be solved using BsCR.

If we use modern fertiliser practices such as fine particle suspension, we can balance our soil relatively cheaply, addressing the trace element issues at the same time, without spending any more money than anyone else.

Prof Rowath should be careful about discrediting a system without providing adequate information because she is in a position of influence. steve MackenzieRd1 Blenheim

rowarth replies

A QuICK re-read of the column in Rural News (July 16) will reveal that it was a summary of history, current debate, and a peer-reviewed review of research by Peter Kopittke and Neal Menzies published in the Soil Science of America Journal. In my investigation for the column, I failed to find independent research supporting the BCsR system that had been published through peer-reviewed scientific channels. Farmer testimonials, anec-dotes and assertions are not the same thing as data from randomised and replicated trials where direct measure-ments are taken.

As the column reported, “in the majority of cases yield increases are due to associated crop management practices” (rather than any specific system such as the BCsR).

science and understanding moves forward with critique that is substantiated with data rather than simply asserted; vested interest and conflicts should always be declared.

I have worked on farms since 1974. My doctoral research was in nutrient cycling, following an agricultural science degree majoring in soils and environment. My research is not sponsored by commercial firms, I take no speaker fee for the talks I am asked to deliver for industry and society, and I give columns for publication without charge.

My gain is in the satisfaction of using science to assist understanding, not in remuneration.Prof. Jacqueline Rowarth

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28 management

Making money in the hills...HILL COUNTRy farm-ers should put their efforts and energy into increasing lambing and calving rates, rather than trying to finish stock.

meanwhile finishers should focus on daily live-weight gain and maximum return on feeds.

That’s the message large-scale finisher Roger Dalrymple, Bulls, gave a recent BRIG (Beef Returns Improvement Group – see panel) seminar near Hunt-erville, Rantikei.

“The one thing that hill country farmers can influence most is their lambing percentage and if they increase this from say 110% to 130%, their returns will skyrocket,” Dalrymple says.

“Too many of them focus on things which take them away from

increasing their lambing percentage. In my opinion, their goal must be to optimise lambing percentage.”

a key issue for hill country sheep farmers is to quit lambs before feed is insufficient to main-tain both lambs and capi-tal stock.

“The capital stock must always be the priority and their feeding regime should not be compro-mised.”

On hill country, cattle should be seen as a means of eating excess grass in spring and late summer, grooming pasture to ensure ewes are well fed. a key point is to get calv-ing date right so cows are well fed without affecting feed supply for ewes with lambs at foot.

Buying one- and two-year-old cattle to match demand to spring grass

supply is another option but again, they must not be allowed to affect feed supply to breeding ewes, which are the key money makers for the business.

a distraction for some farmers is a person that many regard as a friend – the stock agent, he adds. While agents have a place, too many farmers’ deci-sions are driven by agents, effectively using them as advisers, instead of focusing on the farm’s key driver of improving lambing percentage, he believes.

“They listen to their stock agent and ask what the market is doing. In reality the market is irrel-evant to a certain extent. It’s more important to get the timing [of lamb sales] correct and looking after their capital base for lamb-ing percentage.”

One of Dalrymple’s key

messages is to know the value of feeds. Some farms don’t and in effect, sell their grass too cheaply, he warns.

“my entire focus is on cents per kilogram of dry

matter. all of my budget-ing on the farm includ-ing feed budgeting and my gross margins are based around what I actually sell my grass for through my animals. The dairy indus-

try sells it through milk; we sell ours through meat, or wool. But it all comes back to a cents per kg of Dm produced off every hectare on the farm. Some things stack up better than

others and you don’t know that until you actually know what you are sell-ing your grass for through your lambs, steers or maybe deer.”

feed quality in terms

PETER BURKE

finishers and breeders should stick to their niches, says roger dalrymple.


management 29

and on the flatsof metabolisable energy (me) also needs to be taken into account, as does cost of production of different feeds, he adds.

In his feedlot he uses a nutritionist to produce feed blends to ensure ani-mals get the best pos-sible diet to gain weight quickly. a mixer wagon, as opposed to a basic silage wagon, is needed to blend the different feed ele-ments.

“The best feed is the feed you grow on the farm and the next best option is to buy locally because the transport costs are lower and the chances are you’ll have a better idea of its quality as opposed to buying it sight unseen from another part of the country.

“If you buy feed, don’t wait until others start buying it. Get in early and essentially ignore what others are doing. When you do feed out aim for zero wastage by having a system, such as a feeding trough which minimises wastage.”

Dalrymple devel-oped his own feeders to do that, now marketed as ‘flexifeeders’. One version is semi portable, the other fully portable.

as a finisher of 35,000 lambs and up to 6,000 cattle, he says hill coun-try farmers should have a clear understanding of his

farm’s key driver which is the ability to grow animals fast and well. If he can get a lamb to put on 270g/day as opposed to 170g/day, then his profits take off. When buying lambs the first thing he looks for is healthy ones.

“I only want to buy a lamb that can grow from day one. They must be alert, not obviously stressed or have things like pink eye or runny noses or sore feet. Their drench-ing should be up to date and we don’t want lambs with lots of wool on them: the time spent shearing reduces growth rate.

“We are selling meat, so lambs bred from termi-nal sires and with hybrid vigour are our first choice when buying. It also helps us if the lambs are of a similar weight range. even lines are key.”

The same applies for cattle: even lines reduce bullying and larger mobs where the social order is already established are preferred.

about brigBRIg stands for Beef Returns Improvement group, a Rangitikei initiative established in 2010 with the aim of improving profitability of beef farming in the area, without compromising other enterprises, such as sheep. It is administered by a committee of six farmers and two rural professionals and has three years’ partial funding from Beef + Lamb NZ. see www.brig.co.nz.

electronic Identification (eID) of stock is a tool many more sheep and beef farmers could be using to their advantage, Dalrymple believes.

“some of us are using it, but by and large it is a totally unused technology that every hill country farmer should be using. It doesn’t mean putting a tag in the ear of every lamb – one in 20 would be fine.”

Monitoring those animals’ growth rates will give a good indication of mob, feed, and paddock perfor-mance, he explains.

“to me it’s a fantastic tool that over time provides invaluable data that leads to better management and increased farm profitability.”

the days of just looking over the fence to compare farm performance are gone, he adds. Having accu-rate data on his computer showing grass covers and weight gain means he’s able to assess different pastures’ productivity.

slower uptake of technology in sheep and beef compared to dairy reflects, in part, lower returns and it’s something of a chicken and egg situation, he believes.

“to get that money coming through we’ve got to start getting farms to perform…. there is great tech-nology out there - we are just not using it.”

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30 management

woodchip wins stand-off studyWeLL maNaGeD woodchip is the best stand-off for cow care judging by the findings of a Dairy NZ research project.

agresearch scientist Karen Schulz presented the results of the three month trial at a recent field day at fon-terra’s Jordan Valley farm, Northland.

During the trial 80 pregnant non-lac-tating cows were split into groups and allocated to one of four different stand-off surfaces for eighteen hours/day, and pasture for the remainder of the day.

after four days of this on-off regime, they had a week on pasture with researchers continuing to record lying times as well as signs of leg health, walk-ing gait and dirtyness.

Cows were twice as likely to lie down on the woodchip stand-off pads as they were on concrete, and towards the end of the four-day stand-off period on con-crete they were only lying on the pad for just over an hour at a time.

“Cows were choosing to lie down in the paddocks instead and in extreme cases will actually graze while they are lying down,” notes Schulz.

Cows on 12mm and 24mm rubber matting stand-offs lay down for roughly

half the time of those on the woodchip surface. They also tended to get dirtier than those on concrete or woodchip surfaces.

Schulz says the total lying time for the cows on the 12mm rubber mat did not reach recommended lying times and should therefore not be used for prolonged stand-off purposes.

“Well managed wood is the best sur-face for stand-off pads as cows on wood-chips rest more and have a reduced risk of lameness. Concrete areas should

never be used for stand-off.”DairyNZ farm systems special-

ist Chris Glassey says while woodchip stand-off pads are the best of the uncov-ered options it’s with the caveat of good design and maintenance, including replacement of the woodchip. effective drainage is key to their longevity and a revisit of farms that were involved in a trial with such stand-offs eight years ago found only one third were still using them.

“The guys who were said the most

important deter-minant of the success of the structure was the investment of drainage under-neath,” notes Glassey.

Stand-offs on fonterra’s Jordon Valley farm are heavily used, 600 cows going on them for 18

hours/day for 10 weeks during winter, when the area gets 300mm of rain.

Glassey says this was by far the heaviest use of all farms researched yet stock were still willing to lie down on

pads at the end of the winter.“Cows at the end of that period were

lying down and were comfortable: that’s excellent management.”

Staff had replaced shavings three times and ripped pads once to assist drainage.

“On our own farm we ran tests on how long we could go without replac-ing surfaces and it worked out to be 50 days…. you really need to replace mate-rial at least once a year and you will probably need to keep material on hand if you intend to use pads intensively.”

farmers involved in the trial sug-gest digging a hole in pads at the end of winter to work out how much material needed replacing and what the state of the pad is, adds Glassey.

GARETh GIllATT

pad management tips• stockpile material for start of winter.• Replace base at least annually.• Avoid overstocking.• Dig holes to assess management required.• Keep winter and calving areas separate.• Avoid feeding out on pads where possible.

chris Glassey, dairynZ

concrete: not suitable for a stand-off, dairynZ research found.

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management 31

Ram tests extended to hill country

Woolshed guidefeDeRaTeD faRmeRS and the NZ Shearing Con-tractors association are to release a “quick fix” guide to reducing foreign object contamination of wool.

“Inattention is seeing everything from press bars, clothing, fertiliser bags, cell phones and even a tennis ball ending up in bales of wool,” says feds’ meat & fibre spokeswoman Jeanette maxwell.

The guide will be an online graphic which can be downloaded, printed, and posted in woolsheds. Under the heading Keep Calm and Shear On, five tips are listed:• a clean shed sets the scene• One press, four bars – any missing?• Open and empty wool packs before use• Only wool in bales. Only newsprint with bin bales.• Hang it, store it or lose it – leave no clothing or other items lying around.

aRe THe best rams on the flat still the best rams when run on hard hill?

Changes to the Cen-tral Progeny Test mean lambs born this spring will provide independent data on that question follow-ing two hill country farms’ addition to the three low country properties used historically.

“The reason it’s been expanded is to increase its relevance to sheep and beef farmers,” Beef + Lamb NZ genetics man-ager mark young told Rural News.

young says the move, which to date is being funded by BLNZ, reflects the greater proportion of the national flock now run on hill.

“Some people think that the sheep that rate the highest on low country are not the same as those that rate highest on hill coun-try. Technically it’s called a genotype by environment interaction.”

The two new properties are Koromiko farm, Wair-arapa, which is leased and run by Taratahi agricul-tural Training Centre, and eGL Pastoral’s Onslow View, Central Otago.

“This is a very excit-ing project to be involved in and, if at the end of the project results show us whether top perform-ing rams do or don’t per-form better or worse on hill country, that’s a price-less piece of information

for farmers to know,” says Taratahi’s sheep and beef manager Paul Crick. “The results can only be good for our industry.”

Koromiko is 840ha of flat, rolling and steep land crossing the maung-araki range. Some 1200 ewes are involved in the three year CPT trial, some served with semen from top industry dual purpose rams.

at eGL Pastoral’s Onslow View, about 800 of the 10,000 Perendale and Wairere Romney ewes run on the 3000ha prop-erty will be used for CPT work.

“They’ll lamb on improved hill country at 2200 feet,” eGL owner Grant Ludemann told Rural News. “We’re always happy to try new ventures and this is a great oppor-tunity to see some of New Zealand’s best genetics crossed with our stock and to see how they perform on our country.”

Ovita will record maternal and terminal traits, though the empha-sis will be on maternal, so it will be three years before meaningful results start to come through as ewe lambs born this spring will need to lamb as two-tooths before a full data set is available.

The farms will record traits such as ewe live-weight and condition; estimated dates of concep-tion; lamb numbers, wean-ing weight, sex, date of slaughter, yield grade and health status.

Results from the 2012 CPT matings at Wood-lands in Southland, Pou-kawa in Hawke’s Bay and ashley Dene in Canterbury are due out this month. Contact Beef + Lamb NZ

to register for a copy.*Ovita is a partnership

between Beef + Lamb New Zealand, AgResearch and Government. It develops sheep genetic selection tools.

AndREw swAllow

[email protected]

extension of the cPt will allow environmental influence to the assessed, says BlnZ’s mark Young (inset).

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32 animal health

Breeding guru calls it a daya SCIeNTIST who rev-olutionised the applica-tion of animal genetics in breeding programmes in the sheep, beef and deer industries is retiring after almost 40 years.

as lead breeding scien-tist for Landcorp, and sub-sequently focus Genetics, Dr Geoff Nicoll headed the largest animal breeding programmes in the world, responsible for about 500,000 ewes, 70,000 beef cows and 65,000 hinds.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have the best job in the world,” says Nicoll.

“No one else has had the same level of resources that I’ve had at my finger-tips.”

Nicoll overturned old mind-sets of breeding to produce champion ani-mals by breeding to raise whole flock or herd perfor-

mance using sires with the best combinations of fer-tility, growth, meat yield, fleece weight and disease resistance.

He says the pinnacle of his career was intro-ducing CT scanning to animal breed-ing pro-grammes.

“every-one thought we were mad. But the CT scanning enabled us to measure the amount of meat on the live animal. We didn’t have to kill it which was brilliant. Suddenly we could select for meat yield in live ani-mals and use them in the breeding programme.”

Landcorp lead the world in using CT scan-ning in sheep and deer

breeding resulting in unprecedented genetic gains, he says.

another highlight was develop-ing the compos-ite termi-nal sire breed, Lamb Supreme.

“We’ve been able to take the best genet-ics and

develop animals that are commercially beneficial for the country.”

Collection of large vol-umes of performance data meant breeding was scaled-up to new levels.

“When I first started it was difficult to see evi-dence of genetic improve-ment. We just had to work on a gut feeling that we

were doing the right thing. But when I saw the first set of properly analysed genetic trend results I realised we’d been right. I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.”

Gaining farmer accep-tance that the techniques deployed were work-ing was also a challenge at first, as farmers were resistant to change, he adds.

“But they’re now seeing the benefit of supe-rior genetics…. I’ve wit-nessed first-hand a huge change in farming. There is now a good combina-tion of genetics and man-agement on farms because farmers can see the value in the science.”

Nicoll’s career’s taken him around the world showcasing New Zea-land’s animal breed-ing model, and there is nowhere which has a suite

of breeding programmes on a par with focus Genetics’ scale, he says.

“We have a unique

coordinated approach to the development of genet-ics in a commercial oper-ation.”

focus Genetics chief executive Gavin foulsham says Nicoll will leave a big gap in the animal breeding industry, and congratu-lates him for his “signif-icant contribution”, in New Zealand and world-wide.

“He leaves behind a strong legacy that we look forward to building on.”

Nicoll’s staying on part-time to assist focus in “up-skilling” another animal breeding scientist, he adds.

ct scanning sheep has been a breeding breakthrough, says retiring focus Genetics’ breeder, Geoff nicoll.

that was then: nicoll at work in the 1980s with an early apple computer.

Geoff nicoll


animal health 33

TB cases prompt comms questionsReCeNT CaSeS of TB in surveillance only areas are prompting questions not only about how they occurred, but the commu-nication between TBfree New Zealand and farmers in those areas.

Since Christmas, six dairy herds have been confirmed with the disease in Taranaki and two in South Canterbury at Rangitata.

While TBfree refuses to release numbers of ani-mals involved, Rural News understands dozens of animals have been culled in both areas as a conse-quence.

TBfree says immedi-ate neighbouring proper-ties were notified in line with national policy, but some farmers near – but not neighbouring the Ran-gitata cases – feel they should have had some offi-cial communication as to what was happening in their area.

“every farmer in the area should be made aware what’s going on,” one told Rural News.

TBfree says it sent let-ters to 85 landowners in the area, including neigh-bours and those with properties where it is sur-

veying wildlife for infec-tion. Those letters went out at the end of may. Last week, the operation was “over 70% compete with 594 possums, 6 ferrets cap-tured but no post mortem results to date.”

a spokesman says the challenge with com-munication about cases is “to balance the need to know and not unduly affect a farmer’s liveli-hood during what is often a highly stressful time. Specific details are con-fined to those assisting with the management of the infection and support-ing the farmer and his or her family.”

federated farmers Dairy and Sharemilker representatives in South Canterbury had received no information about the Rangitata cases, which are likely the first in that area for over a decade.

“It seems to be one of these things that’s a bit of a taboo subject,” local feds Dairy chairman Ryan O’Sullivan told Rural News.

“It’s a bit silly really because the more we know about it, the more we can do about it.”

many younger farm-ers in the area would have had no experience of TB in their careers and

with most farms having C10 status there’s a real danger of complacency, he believes.

“We need to get a better handle on what’s an appropriate level of com-munication.”

asked how it ensures livestock managers are informed of developments with the disease, TBfree told Rural News it sends newsletters to contacts for testing (herd owners), cir-culates national commu-nications and advertises. It also updates TBfree committees and industry groups.

a decision on hold-ing farmer meetings or making further commu-nication in the Rangitata area will be made once investigations have been completed, it said. The first case in the area was confirmed in april and the second in may.

To date, no additional testing of herds in the area has been undertaken as a result of the cases. The need for this will depend on the outcome of cur-rent investigations, says TBfree.

No movements of ani-mals have occurred from the initial property since TB was identified but some controlled move-ments have been made

AndREw swAllow

[email protected]

from the second property with the receiving prop-erty notified of restric-tions required when receiving animals from a risk herd.

TBfree says it would only change the status of the recent outbreak areas from Vector free only if it is believed there is an

established infection in wild animals, specifically possums. To date, wild-life tests in Taranaki have come back negative while results from Rangitata are awaited.

“It is most likely that the infection in the Ran-gitata herds is movement related. The herds which

currently have an infected status have moved animals onto their property over the past few years.

“It is important to state that there is no suggestion that either infected herd owners did anything other than fully comply with their obligations under the TB control programme.”

The two infections are believed to be linked, but further tracing is required to confirm that.

TBfree says there are currently 14 infected status herds in its Canter-bury region, down from 170 in the mid-1990s.

To PAGE 34

stock movement appears the most likely cause of tB clusters in taranaki and south canterbury dairy herds.

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34 animal health animal health 35

FeDeRAteD FARMeRs Dairy national chairman, Willy Leferink, says the taranaki, south Canterbury and other recent cases of tB (see p33) are a wake-up call, particularly to those in areas apparently at least risk.

“People forget very quickly,” he told Rural News. “I don’t think Mid Canterbury has had a case as long as I’ve been living here.”

tBfree New Zealand says implementation of the NAIt tracing system is improving its ability to identify and carry out testing on tB risk animals.

“We believe this is already a substantial benefit of the NAIt scheme and can only improve further as more [NAIt] data becomes available.”

However, it should be acknowledged that there’s a risk with any animal movement, be it to or from grazing, or a purchase or sale. to assess that risk, it recommends:

Requesting and viewing AsD form(s) before buying or grazing animals

using AsD form question two responses about place of birth to assess relevance of C status

using questions 6.0-6.8 to assess risk of importing tB.

ensuring herds, animals bought in, or any imported for grazing, are registered with tBfree New Zealand and NAIt.

Before grazing animals or sending animals to grazing, assess risk of the area animals are coming or going to, and any testing requirements.

Inform agents acting on your behalf what your tB requirements are, eg only stock from C8 or higher, and not from Movement Control Areas.

tB cases a wake-up callFRoM PAGE 33

Tail-breaking case timely reminderSPCa COURT action against a Waikato farm worker who harmed 200 cattle, including breaking the tails of 40, has been applauded by industry bodies.

federated farmers, DairyNZ and the New Zealand Veterinary association say breaking tails is unacceptable

stockmanship and the case is a reminder to employers and staff alike.

“employers need to have their eye on the ball and make it clear they don’t tolerate this type of behaviour,” says feds Dairy Waikato chairman, Chris Lewis.

at this time of year staff handling “moody”

cows separated from calves, and heifers experiencing first milkings need particular skills, he adds.

“employers need to remind staff of the proper way to handle cows in these situations, so she doesn’t present a danger to herself or the staff.”

DairyNZ’s team leader for animal husbandry and welfare, Nita Harding, says the key is to work with cows, not against them.

“Going into the farm dairy is a routine procedure and cows will easily comply if they are treated well. It’s all about understanding

how a cow interprets the world around her and then managing her appropriately.”

for challenging situations, DairyNZ’s early Response Service (call 0800 43247969) offers confidential support where animal welfare may be at risk.

in briefnawaC Changes loomreVision of the animal Welfare act 1999 is likely to result in “significant changes” to the way the national animal Welfare advisory committee (naWac) operates, says committee deputy chair-woman, Karen Phillips.

naWac last month released its 2012 report, highlighting the workload advising on the act reforms, an animal welfare strategy, and the three welfare codes released during the year put on the committee.

naWac is an independent advisory committee to the minister for Primary industries, established under 1999 to advise the minister on animal welfare matters and to develop codes of welfare.

a copy of the annual report is at www.mpi.govt.nz in “publications”.

Willy leferink

feds dairy Waikato chairman, chris lewis.

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animal health 35

Beekeeper body calls for actionThe National Beekeepers Association has nominated August as Bee Aware Month. Here and on page 36 andrew swallow and alan Harman report on initiatives here and latest developments overseas.

GOVeRNmeNT NeeDS to wake up and smell the honey.

While not putting it quite so bluntly, that’s the National Beekeepers association’s message announcing august as “Bee aware month”.

“The government is considering allowing honey imports into New Zealand from various countries but honeys from around the world can bring in a range of pests and diseases that would pose significant biosecu-rity risks for our bees,” says NBa chief executive Daniel Paul.

In some countries bees are dying in huge numbers but while there have been some concerning casualties in New Zealand so far things aren’t as bad as they are overseas, he says.

“We need to do all we can to help protect our bees to stop the situation getting worse.

“Not only do bees contribute bil-lions of dollars to our economy, most of our food depends on pollination by bees, as do our gardens. a world with-out bees is just too terrible to imag-ine.”

The NBa has expanded what was a “Bee Week” last year to a “Bee month” of initiatives this year high-lighting the insect’s role in New Zea-land. It is encouraging planting of

more bee-friendly plants and use of bee-friendly sprays. It also wants to undertake a first ever nationwide bee health survey to find out what’s really happening to bee populations.

“The varroa mite is one of the big-gest threats facing our bees. It has spread throughout the country and we desperately need to contain this dangerous pest,” says Paul.

all wild bees have been wiped out

by the mite, he maintains, and the NBa is calling for donations to help fund the fight to research and find a solution to the problem.

Other threats he highlights are pesticides, including neonicotinoids, and lack of nutrition for bees.

The NBa says bees account for over $5 billion of New Zealand’s econ-omy through crop pollination and honey production.

schools videos to mark monthIn preparation for Bee Aware Month the NBA invited primary schools to create videos showing the importance of bees and how to help them survive.

A team of three from stonefields school, Auckland, won the competi-tion; Limehills school, Invercargill’s entry was second and Opua school, Bay of Islands, was third.

NBA chief executive Daniel Paul says all entries were of a very high quality but the stonefields’ entry, produced by pupils Mia des Forges, Natasha shumilova and Maya Cosford, was a stand out.

“the quality of the messages, research and animation used in the video were exceptional, especially from 8 and 9 year olds.”

stonefields won a van load of gardening products worth $1500 from Palmers gardenworld, which was presented last week.

Limehills used dance and animation in their video and won $1000 worth of Palmers products, while Opua school did a rap and receive $500 worth of gardening products.

the videos are online as follows:stonefields school: http://vimeo.com/70075238 Limehills school: http://youtu.be/kQTU7R4b4DkOpua school: http://youtu.be/Ju2Eut4EWkI

organic nZ repeats call for neonic banSOIL & HeaLTH – Organic NZ has repeated its call for New Zealand to follow europe’s lead in banning neo-nicotinoid pesticides, and upped the ante saying “saving bees means saving ourselves.”

“Humanity is hugely dependent on bees for our food, and we poison them at our peril,” said spokeswoman Debbie Swanwick in a newsletter last month.

“We urgently need to switch to sustainable, organic farming meth-ods that are kind to bees, to us, and to the whole ecosystem.”

In april europe placed a two-year ban on three neonicotinoid pesticides which, according to Soil & Health’s newsletter, “permeate every cell of plants making them poisonous. Birds, earthworms and other wildlife are thought to be affected too. “

Neonicotinoids are not limited to agricultural use but are in many home use products and those used by pest control professionals, it adds.

“Bee populations are in decline worldwide,” says Swanwick.

“In the UK alone honeybee pop-ulations have halved in the past twenty five years. This could take us on a journey to a destination we never thought possible and one worthy of a Darwin award. The harsh reality is that humans may be responsible for our own extinction because we didn’t fight hard enough for our survival.”

at the time of the european ban National Beekeepers association president Barry foster told Rural News it wasn’t necessarily looking for a ban on neonicotinoids here but wants more attention paid to the impact of all systemic pesticides on bees, at all stages of the insect’s devel-opment. at present, only effects on adult bees are assessed, and in some cases adult bees are a lot less sensitive to pesticides than larvae or queens. While these are hive-bound, forag-ing adults can bring traces of chemi-cals into the hive on their bodies and/

or in feed.foster also notes combined effects

of sub-lethal doses of pesticides plus viral pathogens or parasites such as varroa isn’t fully understood.

agcarm, the crop protection industry body in New Zealand, said the eU move was an example of politi-cians making decisions that should be left to regulators, and “a bleak day for the crop protection industry, farmers and growers in the eU.”

New Zealand’s ePa, “to its credit”, was not run by politicians, it added.

“There is no evidence of neonic-otinoids causing problems for bees in New Zealand. Just because the eU bans something it doesn’t mean New Zealand should follow suit,” said chief executive Graeme Peters.

Neonicotinoids, such as widely used seed treatment Gaucho, are approved for use in New Zealand as seed treatments for forage brassicas, cereals, pumpkin, squash, maize and potatoes.

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36 animal healthUs research reveals fungicide risk

NeWLy PUBLISHeD research by the US Department of agriculture’s agricultural Research Service (aRS) adds weight to the consensus multiple factors are driving honey bee colony declines.

It found bees consuming pollen tainted with some commonly used fungicides were more likely to suc-cumb to gut parasite Nosema (see sidebar) than those given clean pollen.

“Honey bees that were fed pollen that contained the fungicide chloro-thalonil… were almost three times more likely to become infected when exposed to the parasite Nosema, com-pared with control bees,” says study author Jeff Pettis, research leader of aRS’ Bee Research Laboratory, Belts-ville, maryland.

The fungicide pyraclostrobin (as in Comet) was found less frequently in the pollen samples, but also increased bees’ susceptibility to Nosema infec-tion.

The pollen samples were collected from honey bees pollinating apples, watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, blueberries or cranberries.

The pollen was analysed to deter-mine how much fungicide, insecti-cide, miticide and/or herbicide the bees were exposed to while pollinat-ing each of the six crops.

In many cases, the pollen that bees brought back came primarily from plants other than the targeted crop. Some pollen samples contained very few pesticides, but the average number seen in a pollen sample was nine different pesticides, which could include insecticides, herbicides, miti-cides and fungicides.

However, fungicides were the most frequently found chemical sub-stances, and chlorothalonil, which is widely used on apples and other crops in the US and New Zealand, the most common among those.

The most common miticide was fluvalinate, which beekeepers use to control varroa mites. Neonicotinoid insecticides were only found in pollen from bees foraging on apples.

“Our study highlights the need

to closely look at fungicides and bee safety, as fungicides currently are considered safe and can be sprayed during the bloom on many crops,” says report co-author Dennis van engelsdorp with the University of maryland.

“We also need to better under-stand how pesticides are getting into the hive. Clearly it is not just from collecting pollen from the crops that bees are being used to pollinate.”

Pettis says the findings, published last month in online journal Plos One, provide new information useful in understanding the myriad problems affecting honey bees in the United States, including colony collapse dis-order, dwindling honey bee colonies, and other health problems in man-aged bee colonies.

AndREw swAllow

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BeeKeePeR aCTION against neo-nicotinoid pesticide use in the United States and Canada continues to grow.

Last month a new expert Bee Health Working Group in Ontario, Canada met for the first time while in the US bee protection groups are appealing a recent pesticide approval.

Ontario’s BHWG is a response to increased hive losses. made up of bee-keepers, farmers, agri-business repre-sentatives, scientists, and federal and provincial government agency staff, the group will produce recommen-dations to mitigatie potential risks to bees from exposure to neonicot-inoids, as used in corn and soybean crops.

Ontario has 3,000 registered bee-keepers managing about 100,000 col-onies producing honey worth C$25 million to the province’s economy.

The provincial government is also working with the University of Guelph on research projects to sup-port the health of bees and other pol-linators.

The Ontario Beekeepers’ associ-ation says the province experienced heavy losses of colonies this spring, anecdotally even greater than those

experienced in 2012.These new reports of bee kills

demonstrate what appears to be a longer term decline in bee popula-tion as a result of the continued use of these highly toxic pesticides, it says.

“as a member of the group, we will help our crop farmers find alter-natives to toxic neonicotinoids,” asso-ciation president Dan Davidson says.

“However we must enact a ban before the next planting season. Our industry simply cannot sustain these losses. allowing the status quo to remain would spell tragedy for the bees.”

The group met for the first time last month and is to provide recom-mendations by spring 2014.

meanwhile beekeeping organ-isations in the United States have appealed approval of a product in a new sub-class of neonicotinoids.

Sulfoxaflor, made by Dow agroSci-ences, has been approved for use on barley, wheat, strawberries, cotton, canola, nuts, beans and grass grown for seed.

The National Pollinator Defence fund, american Honey Producers association, National Honey Bee advisory Board, the american Bee-keeping federation, and three bee-

keepers are seeking changes to Sulfoxaflor’s label, the way pollina-tors’ value is assessed, and the risk assessment process used by approval body the environmental Protection agency.

“Our country is facing widespread bee colony collapse, and scientists are pointing to pesticides like Sulfoxa-flor as the cause,” says lawyer Janette Brimmer of public interest law organ-isation earthjustice.

“The effects will be devastating to our nation’s food supply and also to the beekeeping industry, which is struggling because of toxic pesti-cides. This lawsuit against the ePa is an attempt by the beekeepers to save their suffering industry.”

Beekeeper Jeff anderson blasts the ePa’s approval as Sulfoxaflor’s label carries no enforceable protections for bees, he says.

“There is absolutely no mandatory language on the label that protects pollinators. further, the label’s advi-sory language leads spray applicators to believe that notifying a beekeeper of a planned application, absolves them of their legal responsibility in fIfRa (federal Insecticide, fungi-cide, and Rodenticide act) to not kill pollinators.”

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machinery & products 37

Bale feeder suits all types

a NeW trailed, round-bale feeder that suits UTVs and utes gives the operator the same level of control as with a tractor, says the maker, Reese agri.

Director Rob Baan says his com-pany’s agrispred Bale Bug feeder suits people feeding out round bales with side-by-sides or 4WD utes.

Tractor-mounted bale feeders do worrying damage to pasture during wet winter and spring months, Baan says.

“If they damage pastures you have to roll and seed them, intro-ducing a whole lot of work.”

Unlike other trailed bale bug-gies intended for UTVs or 4WDs, the Bale Bug is self-loading and has its feed-out mechanism and loader

actuated by a wireless remote con-trol. It can feed out from either side. “It has its own power supply and doesn’t rely on tractor hydraulics.”

a heavy duty chain (5 tonne breaking strain) and Kohler-

designed hydraulic motor enable the machine to handle any type of bale; the only limit is the device towing it, Baan says.Tel. 06 357 9323www.reeseagri.com

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Made for both fun and workfIeLDayS VISITORS were treated to a preview of the all-new yamaha side-by-side – the 3-seat, 686cc Viking.

It suits recreation and work, says yamaha motor New Zealand marketing manager Ollie Sharp.

“The Viking has been developed with work and play in mind… carrying more personnel, more gear (272kg in the tray), towing more (up to 680kg) and being safer to operate, making it well suited for New Zealand’s demanding farming conditions.”

The engine is the same as in the yamaha Rhino, but the maker has revised the engine ‘mapping’, increased the compres-sion ratio, added new cam profiles and a new single exhaust port to increase power output and torque. The result is said to be more low-down grunt and pulling power and better fuel efficiency.

Sharp says passenger comfort and safety also got close attention and the Viking is one of a few “true” three-person side-by-sides available. each passenger has a three-point seatbelt, overhead and front grab bars and feet braces.

“a lot of thought went into how many seats the Viking should have; two, three and four options were considered. It was eventually decided to go with a staggered three-seater where a single row of seats would provide increased tray space and load capacity.

“The three-seater layout allows com-plete ‘walk-through’ capability with the centre passenger set back to create space between the driver and right-side passen-gers.”

Handling and stability are optimum because of the maker’s Ultramatic gearbox – a variant of the common CVT system. It has a clutch design that maintains tension on the drive belt to engage engine brak-ing from maximum speed down to 5km/h, Sharp says.

“The major benefit… is that it reduces the need for frequent use of the disc brakes when slowing down, and allows the driver to control deceleration primarily by using the accelerator pedal without locking up the wheels.”

yamaha motor expects its first ship-ment later in the year.www.yamaha-motor.co.nz

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38 machinery & products

a THROW away remark – “there has to be a better way” – by Toni Johnson while helping her father place tyres on a silage stack cover, led to one of the best innovations at National fieldays.

aqua anchors are either 14m or 16m long and 75mm or 65mm sections of lie-flat hoses hermeti-cally sealed at both ends and filled with water.

They lie over and around the edges of silage stacks to hold the cover in place and keep the crop from the elements. They replace traditional tyres. a patent is pending.

“I am only 48kg soak-ing wet so lugging tyres and getting splashed by all

the vile accumulated water and debris, like every-one else who has covered stacks, got me thinking,” said Toni.

Working with her Dad, alan, who has a mobile carpentry business and his friend Dave Saunderson, another builder, they came up with aqua anchors.

They are laid across the stack empty then filled with water. “We believe 14m or 16m lengths will cover most stacks and if the stacks are smaller the hoses can be doubled around. and they are UV treated,” said Dave.

Using a flexible hose (12mm garden) with a Hansen 25mm trough fitting, the water goes through a socket with

a non-return valve into the aqua anchor. With a manifold several anchors can be filled simultane-ously depending on water supply. Normal supply should fill each aqua anchor in five minutes or less. The fitting pops from the socket when the aqua anchor is filled.

“We recommend that after filling a little water is removed to allow for expansion in the heat of

the day,” said alan.If the aqua anchors

are accidently run over by a tractor or vehicle the socket will pop out and is easily replaced.

after the entire crop has been fed out the aqua anchors are drained by holding the non-return valve open with a stick or small bolt. They can then be rolled and stored.

One aqua anchor roll 75mm x 16m weighs 9kg empty and 88kg full (or, full, the same as 10 tyres and empty, one tyre).

Price: 14m rolls of 75mm and 65mm, $29.95+GST and freight; 16m rolls of 75mm and 65mm, $34.95+GST and freight.Tel. 0800 no TYREs www.lagoonltd.com

no more old tyres for silage stacks

tYRes ON silage stacks are an eyesore for the rest of the year. they collect rain, harbour mosquitoes and leach chemicals into the soils and waterways.

they can also be breeding grounds for rats and possums. tyre collec-tion companies will collect unwanted tyres, which may not be burned or sent to landfill.

no pests, no chemicals

Toni Johnson fills water into Aqua Anchors.

TonY hoPKInson

“i am only 48kg soaking wet so lugging tyres and getting splashed by all the vile accumulated water and debris, got me thinking.”

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NeW ZeaLaND’S sec-ond-largest maker of calf milk replacers (CmR) produces them at one of the few plants approved by mPI for quality milk powder exports.

The company is mil-ligans feed Ltd, whose CmR is “formulated by nutritionists to provide calves with a blend of milk proteins and fat levels to stimulate and encour-age the maximum growth potential of the calf and made from 100% dairy protein”.

“Because it is as close to the real thing as a prod-uct can be, calves are able to easily digest the milk and take up a full amount of goodness from it,” says Joseph Paton, milligans agrifeeds sales represen-tative. It’s a good recipe using the best quality milk powders and is generated by our animal nutrition-ists to enhance growth

potential.”There is also a multi

milk Replacer (mmR) produced at milligans blending plant in Oamaru.

Paton says while it meets the essential high standards required for exporting, the mmR is formulated to suit New Zealand lamb breeds and conditions.

“It encourages lambs to develop and gain a kick-start into life…. [proven] in field trials and through

feedback from farmers”. It is formulated for

lambs but also suits fawns, foals and other animals. The company’s full range includes feed for cattle, sheep, deer and other stock, with quality pellets and meals. milligans can customise mixes in consultation with nutritionists and customers to their specific requirements, using quality grain, bran, pollard, fats, proteins and

dairy products.milligans is a privately

owned company in production since 1896 in Oamaru and has always used the best local ingredients and resources, Paton adds. The company’s storage warehouses, food ingredient blending plant, cheese shredding/blocking, and milk powder blending plants are based along with its head offices in Oamaru.

Specialised food prod-ucts are blended and packed onsite then mar-keted across New Zea-land, australia, asia and the US using the com-pany’s product brands. The company has a food distribution business in auckland to service the North Island. The South Island and international markets are serviced from Oamaru.www.milligans.co.nz

machinery & products 39Close to the real thing!Bring your horse to school

CHRISTCHURCH’S RaNGI Ruru Girls’ School says it will be the first central city school in New Zealand to offer students a dedicated equestrian programme.

“The new 2014 programme will provide students with access to horses as part of the school programme – an unprecedented opportunity,” says the school’s director of equestrian Pippa young.

“Whether it’s a love of horses, a way to follow a career path in the equestrian industry or to develop riding skills, the NCea-linked eques-trian programme pro-vides opportunities that haven’t been available before.”

young says students who live outside Christchurch and have horses will be able to ride them regularly rather than just during school hol-idays. and those keen to learn to ride or interested in horses, but who don’t own a horse, will now have access to one.

“There will be regular lessons and training days together with master classes from visiting experts. Girls will have access to riding resources that might not otherwise be available to them. for girls keen to become riding judges or gain skills in eques-trian administration, access to expe-rienced tutors and mentors will also be key elements of the programme,” young adds.

The programme includes agist-

ment arrangement and transport to the horses.

“Our students will be able to link their equestrian skills and interest in animals with academic achievement. for those keen to pursue a career in the equine industry, enjoy their riding or compete at any level, this programme will provide girls with an advantage in a competitive field.”

year 12 student anna Robertson says she has benefited from the riding support

offered at Rangi Ruru and is excited about the equestrian programme. “It will help me with my career plus I get to spend time with my horse and become a better rider.”

www.rangiruru.school.nz/equestrian

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40 machinery & products

Tractors and gear shipped to tiny Pacific nationPOWeR faRmING Wholesale has just despatched a large consign-ment of tractors and equipment to Tuvalu, in the South Pacific.

The shipment included 10 Kioti DK551 tractors with ROPS - eight of them fitted with front loaders – and spares and equipment. It was part of an aid package to the Tuvalu Government funded by the euro-pean Union.

Tuvalu – formerly the ellice Islands – is collection of nine atoll and reef islands, directly north of New Zealand, midway between australia and Hawaii. It has about 10,000 people and is at severe risk from rising sea levels associated with climate change.

european Union aid goes to infrastructure development, espe-cially reliable water supplies, effective sanitation and waste man-agement, coastal protection and the provision of renewable energy.

The tractors were trucked from morrinsville to auckland and loaded into three containers for shipping to fiji, then to barges for the 1000km voyage to Tuvalu.

Ross Nesdale, Power farm-

ing’s marketing manager says the Korean-built Kioti tractors were chosen for the contract because of their reliability, strength and ver-satility.

“The DK range are serious trac-tors with the strength to handle a lot of heavy work, but still nimble and compact enough to work around a yard. They have opti-mised combustion, 4-cylinder turbo diesel engines that are reli-

able and economic.“These are solid no-frills prod-

ucts that are easy to maintain, so they’re the ideal machine for Tuvalu.”

Nesdale believes Power farm-ing’s reputation for service, prod-uct support, its long history – now over 60 years in the industry – and it being one of the largest suppliers of tractors and farm machinery in australasia, were the reasons it was

chosen to fulfil the contract.Power farming’s training man-

ager for New Zealand and australia, mark Daniel, will travel to Tuvalu to train locals to run and maintain the equipment.

Power farming has In recent years shipped tractors and agricultural machinery to fiji and Samoa, and it is currently organising to send tractors to Pitcairn Island.

5-tonne strain test for anchor post

mORe GRaPeVINeS for your fence outlay: that’s an offer from Strainrite, whose new vineyard strainer-post anchor has tested to 5.0 tonnes.

The usual vineyard strainer tests at only one tonne, says Strain-rite manufacturer Robertson engi-neering.

Owner Brian Collins says, “With a normal vineyard fence using a stay, the last 2m cannot be planted with vines because of obstruction by the stay. This may not seem much, but in a large vineyard it rep-resents a lot of vines.”

The anchor consists of a tapered anchor pipe attached to an anchor rod with a ring at the other end to attach wires.

The anchor is driven into the ground about 1m. The tapered shape enables it to push through hard and rocky ground with no pre-spiking needed. When the strain comes on, the anchor rotates and locks in place.

Installation is easy and fast. all parts of the assembly are hot dip galvanised.

meanwhile, a new post wedge attached to the bottom of posts before they are driven into the ground are to stop lifting and

twisting.“They are a simple device ideal

when posts are driven into dips or low points on a fence line where they are subject to lift and need special footings,” said Collins.

The wedges are nailed to the lower section of the post and are driven in with their shape diverting soil, stone or other obstructions. The fencer decides how many to nail to the post, depending on the strain the post will come under.

They are hot dip galvanised and likely to sell for $4.00 incl. GST.

meanwhile, Strainrite’s multi-wire tread-in-steel post is ideal for

carrying multi-wire electric fences and can be shifted while the fence is electrified as it has a well-placed insulated section with a hand grip.

It is built for carrying tape as well as electric wires. The angled clip at the top carries 40mm tape and the four clips are angled so tapes do not drop out when the fence is being shifted.

The shaft is made of galvanised spring steel and the foot is pressed form steel shaped to give better ground retention.

They retail at $36.00 for 10 and the price includes GST.Tel. 04 524 9032www.strainrite.co.nz

TonY hoPKInson

a line-up of the machinery Power farming has sent to tuvalu.Are you suffering from:

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40 machinery & products machinery & products 41

New tax app aims to ease IRD pain

a fIRm called Tax management New Zealand (TmNZ) reckons it has made paying provisional tax easier than ever with its new Pay My Tax app.

“Provisional tax can be a headache for taxpayers because it’s often difficult to predict what your final payment will be – especially for those who work in volatile markets or seasonal industries,” explains TmNZ’s Chris Cunniffe “If you don’t pay on time, the IRD charges high interest costs and late payment penalties. With the Pay My Tax app, taxpayers can shift the payment dates for their provisional tax to a time that better suits their business and avoid paying IRD’s interest or penalties.”

Cunniffe says by leaving cash in the business for as long as possible, people can pay for the things they really need to do. By using the app, they can even pay the cost of financing their tax by credit card.

The Pay My Tax app also helps avoid the high cost of borrowing to pay for provisional tax. The cost of using the Pay My Tax facility is low. available from 5.4%, it’s less than the cost of a traditional business overdraft facility and it’s tax deductible.

The new app is available for android smart-phones and iPhones and can be downloaded from august 12. Tel 09 520 8922

www.paymytax.co.nz

Powerful, effortless ridemITSUBISHI aLReaDy had a great car on its hands with the smart little aSX.

Sharp handling and easy to park; the small SUV with its modern design and high ride was already popu-lar with city-goers. Usually powered by a 112kW petrol engine, recently New Zealand has been supplied with versions with the 2.2L turbo diesel we previ-ously reviewed in the top-spec Outlander. an engine powerful enough to make that size vehicle get up and go was always going to be fun in a car that weighs 200kg less.

It’s a bit of a rocket actually! Power arrives in huge dollops and as it is mated to a 6-speed auto (with sport mode if you want to use the paddles) it is pretty much always in the right gear to get up and boogie. It makes

travel, any travel, so effortless. Plenty of power, huge torque

numbers for a vehicle this size and yet only using 5.8L/100Km. I must admit, I failed in my attempt to

run it out of gas in the many days I had the aSX. With the 60L tank you should be well over 1000km before needing to visiting the pie and coffee shops we used to call

service stations.Inside my aSX Sport came

with a host of luxurious goodies like electrically adjustable heated leather driver’s seat , a large colour

info and music screen, sadly with-out Sat Nav, and a leather-clad wheel with cruise and audio con-trols. The lower than usual com-pression of 14.9:1 means that in

addition to a lighter weight engine cabin clatter is kept to a minimum too.

Smart use of leather and chrome accents make for a classy driving

environment. Chrome is also used outside on the grill surround and mir-rors, which automatically fold away when the vehicle is locked. Wheels are 17” on the sport model and 215/60 in size – offering good grip and modest noise levels. for farmers in remote loca-tions, the aSX 4WD has a push button switchable 4WD option with diff lock if needed.

Price: $41,990 for the slightly lower-speced LS model and $45,990 for the leather clad version, which also has better lighting options. mitsubishi offers a 10 year powertrain war-

ranty, a five year or 130,000km new vehicle warranty and five year road-side assist on all its new cars. Tel. 0800 54 53 52www.mmnz.co.nz

MARK MCFARlAnE

WWW.SUZUKI.CO.NZ

Power away on a new Suzuki KingQuad for 1/3 deposit and you’ll pay no interest at all on the balance! Simply pay a third in 12 months time, and the fi nal 1/3 another 12 months after. You could even use your old bike as a trade in. Off er available only at participating Suzuki dealers, until 31 August 2013 or while stocks last.

LT-A500XPL3 KINGQUAD 500 POWER STEERRRP $13,909 + GST – DEPOSIT $4636

LT-A750XPL3 KINGQUAD 750 POWER STEERRRP $14,778 + GST – DEPOSIT $4926

LT-F400FL3 KINGQUAD 400 4X4 MANUALRRP $10,870 + GST – DEPOSIT $3,623

LT-A400FL3 KINGQUAD 400 4X4 AUTORRP $11,300 + GST – DEPOSIT $3,766

Not available in conjunction with any other promotion. Prices exclude GST. Payments include $395 documentation fee, $13 PPSR and $5 transaction fee. Normal lending and credit criteria apply

prom

otus

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0%INTEREST1/3 + +1/3 1/3

DEPOSIT IN 12 MONTHS IN 24 MONTHS

Not available in conjunction with any other promotion. Prices exclude GST. Payments include

0% DEPOSIT IN 12 MONTHS


42 rural trader

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, easy to install

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McKee Plastics, 231 Kahikatea Drive, Hamilton. Ph 07 847 [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.

CRAIGCO SENSOR JET

P 06 835 6863 - www.craigcojetters.com

DEAL TO FLY AND LICE

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Pest Free Domestic for homes, garages, etc to 200sq,m – $159.90 incl. GST & post.

Pest Free PRO for large homes, small offices & factories, etc to 400sq.m – $399.90 incl. GST & post.Pest Free Commercial for dairy sheds, grain mills, factories, etc – $1800 incl. GST & post.

STOP RATS with Pest FreeBuy with confidence from authorised rural sales agent N + J Keating, 70 Rimu Street, New Lynn, Auckland 0600. Tel. 09 833 1931(cell 021 230 1863); email [email protected]

0800 766 737 www.painfreeday.co.nz

TOP DOG BOX

Phone 0800 625 826www.mckeeplastics.co.nz

❱❱ Accomodates up to 4 dogs❱❱ 6 individual air vents❱❱ Removable centre board❱❱ 2 lockable galvanised gates❱❱ In-house drainage❱❱ Fits all wellside & flatdeck utes

(2 models)❱❱ Raised floor for

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5 Swan Lane (off Cuba Street)PO Box 9254, Wellington 6141

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WE’RE ONLINE

The Met Shop

Weatherstations, unusual gifts and science support for over 40 years... • Available to south Waikato dairy farmers

to be picked up from site• About 3000 tonnes per year• Just over 480 tonnes available approximately

every six weeks• Available for long term contract

Chicken Litter

Email your interest for discussion to [email protected]

Be ahead of the scramble for natural fertilisers“The world is finally waking up to the long term damages

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BREAKING NEWS

MANAGEMENT STORIES

MARKETS & TRENDS

MACHINERY REVIEWS

COMPETITIONS

AND MUCH MORE...

LATEST STORIES ONwww.ruralnews.co.nz


rural trader 43

Please add $10 Freight per order

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FLEXISKIN RAINWEAR SALE! 40% OFFSALE ENDS AUGUST! ORDER NOW FOR CALVING & MILKING SEASON. WATERPROOF, BREATHABLE

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ANZ was awarded first place in the 2013 Canstar Cannex Agribusiness Award. ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited. ANZ1093/TBWA

Tim Van de MolenANZ Agri Manager and Farmer2013 ANZ Young Farmer Contest winner

Opening more doors, closing more gates.ANZ Agri Managers are dedicated to helping your farm reach its potential.

ANZ1093 - Angri Young Farmer – Farmers Weekly FP V4.indd 1 9/07/13 5:10 PM

rural news 6 august 2013

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