Farmers Weekly NZ March 2020

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Ospri admits fault Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz

N

ORTHERN Hawke’s Bay farmers are frustrated other landowners in the area are not doing enough to control possums, leaving them exposed to a bovine tuberculosis outbreak, which Ospri admits it took its eye off.

Farmers at a meeting organised

by Ospri at Putorino said those landowners, including some forestry companies and iwi, are not being held to the same poisoning standards as they are.

They called on Ospri to stand up to those not pulling their weight and, if need be, take legal action to force them to do more to control possum numbers.

Tutira farmer Neil Aitken is waiting on TB test results from a cow killed recently and he expects to be told the animal was infected.

He is convinced the infection was from possums that got onto his property from the neighbouring Mohaka forest, where, he says, not enough is being done to control the pests.

Ospri needs to do everything in its power to force all landowners to act and if that means taking legal action then so be it, he said.

“We need to get in and do everything we can to get down to really low (possum) levels across the whole area.

“Ospri has to put its money where its mouth is.

“Everyone should be treated the same.”

Ospri chief executive Steve Stuart said discussions about possum control are being held with various landowners.

But legal action is a last resort.

It is better to try to work with landowners constructively.

“The stick is there if we need it but sometimes that approach can be negative,” he said.

Farmers want forestry companies to poison areas six months before felling so possums are killed before they can move to neighboring farms in search of new habitat.

Aitken said as soon as pine trees are cut down possum numbers in surrounding areas go up so everywhere that trees are being felled needs to be hit hard with poison beforehand.

NZ Forest Owners Association spokesman Don Carson said some foresters do possum control because possums eat indigenous riparian plantings used in forests.

Ospri runs possum control operations in commercial forests but foresters are not levied to pay for them.

Regional councils do some possum control and as ratepayers, forestry companies contribute to those.

Farmers who want neighbouring forest owners to poison before felling should contact the company concerned to see if an arrangement can be reached.

Ngati Pahauwera Development Trust, which owns the land the Mohaka forest is on, opposes aerial application of 1080.

Chief executive Robin Hape said other landowners are free to poison and possum control as

DO SOMETHING: Neil Aitken says more needs to be done to control possum numbers in the Mohaka Forest that borders his farm.

We appear to have let you down defending the buffer zone and we are determined to get this fixed as soon as possible.

Steve Stuart Ospri they see fit but the trust has opted for ground trapping.

It has a mix of ground traps and Goodnature traps, which can kill multiple possums. Goodnature traps are used in areas that pose a

health and safety risk for staff.

Hape said the trust meets its Ospri obligations.

The recently expanded Hawke’s Bay movement control area, which covers 572 herds came into effect on March 1.

Stuart said test results received after Christmas, tied to a TB outbreak in the Waitara Valley last year, mean more herds are under suspicion than originally estimated, which is why the movement control zone was expanded.

It looks like not enough was done to defend the buffer zone around Waitara.

“We appear to have let you down defending the buffer zone and we are determined to get this

fixed as soon as possible,” he told the meeting.

There had been a belief northern Hawke’s Bay was protected so money was allocated to other areas where there was a perceived greater risk.

Ospri plans to work more closely with regional councils and forestry companies to access early warning information about possum numbers.

Acknowledging earlier shortcomings over Ospri’s communication with farmers Stuart committed to holding another meeting at Putorino in two months to report progress.

Stock movement controls will not be kept on any longer than is necessary.

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NEWS

24 Summer

rain is a gift for Vic farmers

As farmers in eastern Victoria pick up the pieces after ravaging bush fires and three years of drought those in the state’s west are helping those who need to fill a feed supply gap, buoyed by the benefit of unseasonal rainfall.

Newsmaker ������������������������������������������������������26 New Thinking ��������������������������������������������������27

WEATHER OVERVIEW The next couple of weeks continue to be drier than average but March does have an uptick in downpours over New Zealand and rainmakers around NZ. Nothing is locked in yet but the best place to find wet weather is between the highs. So far 2020 has had a near-relentless stream of high pressure. We are now seeing more low pressure placement between the highs. That means rather than high after high we’re seeing one big high then an area of low pressure or an area of wet weather. March 3 and 4 have some chances for wet weather and again after March 9. There’s no silver bullet for the droughts yet but maybe some silver linings.

Pasture Growth Index Above normal Near normal Below normal

7-DAY TRENDS

Rain The next best chance for wet weather looks to be on Tuesday or Wednesday with a cold front reaching the lower North Island while afternoon inland downpours affect the central and upper North Island.

Opinion ������������������������������������������������������������28 World �����������������������������������������������������������������34

ON FARM STORY

NZX PASTURE GROWTH INDEX – Next 15 days

Temperature More above-average daytime highs are on the way for many regions though Tuesday and Wednesday might be a temperature reset for some. But the airflows look to be mainly helping to create more hot weather with humidity in the north too.

Wind High pressure slips away this week with a humid northerly and is replaced by another high midweek that brings light, slightly cooler winds to the South Island but looks to enhance the easterly flow over the North Island.

Highlights/ Extremes It is still leaning drier than average in many places but we are certainly seeing a March uptick in downpours.

We talk about the Swiss Cheese Effect when downpours put holes in the drier-than-average weather maps. That is more likely in March.

14-DAY OUTLOOK

Some parts of NZ have had relief but the ongoing dry weather means evaporation continues. Some pockets of pasture growth can be expected for those fortunate enough to get a soaking downpour in the past seven to 10 days. We have more downpours coming but again they are hit and miss so more pockets of pasture growth while other areas face zero growth with dead grass. While no big rainmaker is forecast we do have better chances for showers.

SOIL MOISTURE INDEX – 27/02/2020

32 High standards pay off While his friends dreamed of glamorous sporting careers Mihaka Beckham dreamed of working the land and being a dairy farmer.

REGULARS Real Estate �������������������������������������������������35-39 Employment ����������������������������������������������������40 Classifieds ��������������������������������������������������40-41 Livestock ����������������������������������������������������41-43 Markets �������������������������������������������������������44-48 GlobalHQ is a farming family owned business that donates 1% of all advertising revenue in Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer to farmer health and well-being initiatives. Thank you for your prompt payment.

Source: WeatherWatch.co.nz

This product is powered by NIWA Data

For more weather information go to farmersweekly.co.nz/weather

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

3

China shows signs of activity Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz INTERNATIONAL log prices took another tumble last week on the back of China’s continued shutdown as it deals with coronavirus.

There are warnings the key market might take another month to return to normal.

AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick says on average wharf gate log prices have fallen 20% in recent weeks, a similar decline to the 2019 crash, prompting exporters to reduce or stop production.

Logging crews in some areas have been stood down or are working shorter weeks and the Government is working with the sector to help employers and staff who have lost jobs.

A month after the virus was discovered meat exporters report regulatory processing and business in China is still operating at minimal levels though shifting food imports appears to be picking up more quickly than other sectors.

Meat exporters say while there are tentative signs of activity in the Chinese market they face new challenges from disrupted shipping schedules and container availability.

Alliance sales manager Shane Kingston says delays in ships docking and containers being unloaded and distributed have disrupted the return of empty containers for exporters to fill.

But there are welcome signs of activity.

“We are finally starting to see a transition back toward normal levels but we are still a number of weeks from returning to normality.

“The scale of unknowns is getting less very day.”

More Chinese are returning to work, which is slowly relieving port and supply chain disruption, especially for food.

The co-operative’s livestock and shareholder services manager Dannie Hailes says the prolonged

shut-down was initially caused by delays for people returning home after the Chinese New Year but then facing mandatory quarantines and other controls to limit the virus’ spread.

Global meat prices remain volatile as product is diverted to other markets in North America, the Middle East, Europe and wider Asia.

The wood industry faces even greater uncertainty.

We are finally starting to see a transition back toward normal levels but we are still a number of weeks from returning to normality.

Shane Kingston Alliance Forest Industry Contractors Association chief executive Prue Younger says information from the Ministry for Primary Industries is that activity in some wood markets has increased in the past week.

“However, market transactions have not yet returned to normal as the wood processing and construction sector has not yet resumed production.

“They estimate it will be at least until March 2020 until wood markets resume normal operations,” she says.

The Forestry Ministry is meeting weekly with the sector to monitor the impact and Younger says the ministry is also working the Ministry for Social Development and Inland Revenue to help workers and employers facing reduced work.

MPI is meeting banks and other lenders to clarify how they are supporting the forestry and wider

sectors and the Forestry Ministry is working with the Department of Conservation to identify options to redeploy forest workers.

NZ Forest Owners Association president Peter Weir says a lack of space in Chinese ports has virtually halted NZ log exports, worth $2.7 billion a year.

An influx of logs from Europe is adding to congestion in ports and log yard space near processing centres.

Weir says exporters had hoped business would return to normal after the extended Lunar New Year holiday finished in China two weeks ago.

“That hasn’t happened. Many Chinese sawmills are yet to get back to work.

“NZ exporters have nowhere else to send the industrial grade logs they harvest.”

The season’s first frozen blackcurrant shipment from NZ is still on the water off China waiting to be unloaded.

Blackcurrant Co-operative manager Mike Kearney says China is not its largest market but is considered a growth market.

Logistics company CODA Group spokesman Gerard Morrison says managing freight has been exceptionally difficult because of the lack of certainty.

“There is no point pumping stuff up (to China) if it’s not being cleared and this is starting to impact on shipping services and their capacity to move freight. It will have an impact,” he says.

Meanwhile, global sharemarkets have taken a beating with reports the performance of US stocks this week was the worst since the global financial crisis of 2007-08.

The NZ Stock Exchange top 10 index fell 5% in the week after February 20 and its primary sector index, a measure of the performance of listed NZ companies involved in agriculture, viticulture, horticulture, aquaculture and forestry, has fallen 7% since the start of February.

STIRRING: Alliance sales manager Shane Kingston says delays in ships docking and containers being unloaded and distributed have disrupted the return of empty containers for exporters to fill but there are welcome signs of activity.

4

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Climate measures need to speed up Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz CHANGES in climate will have a long-term effect on future primary production and the sector needs to adopt strategies to deal with them more quickly, a new report says.

A research partnership between Our Land and Water and the Deep South Challenge, Changing with our Climate aims to help scientists, regional councils and industry bodies understand the potential impacts of climate change on pastoral, arable and horticultural farm systems and identify appropriate adaptation measures.

The research will provide data to underpin tools being developed to help landowners understand and visualise alternative land use opportunities.

Landcare Research research priority leader Anne-Gaelle Ausseil hopes the research will encourage long-term strategic adaptation, such as diversifying cultivars, shifting sowing dates

and planning more shade and shelter.

The two-year study, based on climate change predictions made

by Niwa, looked at the impact of overall climate trends but couldn’t calculate the impact of all risks.

“Extreme events like hailstorms and damage from insects are also likely to increase under climate change conditions but it is difficult to quantify the additional measures needed to respond to these events,” Ausseil said.

The research suggests pastoral farms will have a small increase in pasture production in many parts of the country during the next 80 years, though that will vary by location, because of increased carbon dioxide encouraging plant growth but with a shift to wetter springs and away from drier late summers.

An increased risk of water shortages, especially in regions such as Waikato and Hawke’s Bay, will put pressure on freshwater ecosystems and require more efficient irrigation.

For pasture and arable crops

there is a trend towards higher water limitations in spring and summer, especially in Hawke’s Bay. The variability of water demand in Southland is predicted to increase.

Nitrate leaching will be higher and more variable with more extreme rain leading to more frequent nitrate leaching.

The most noticeable increase modelled was in a Southland case study where annual leaching increases significantly with more spring rain and more frequent extreme rain but more research is needed to confirm the trend.

Higher temperatures will pose a greater risk to livestock production with more days where heat stress might occur. More shade and shelter will be needed for stock welfare.

In the arable sector climate change is likely have minimal effects on maize yields, except for a slight increase in Hawke’s Bay production if crop management is adapted to reduce risks of yield loss. For example, maize crops could be sown earlier in

ADJUSTMENT: Landcare Research priority leader Anne-Gaelle Ausseil says food and fibre producers might need to consider alternative land uses as the climate changes.

spring to minimise a negative effect on yields caused by faster reproductive development that shortens the crop cycle.

Earlier sowing dates will enable the use of long-cycle maize hybrids for extra growing periods or the earlier establishment of autumn-sown crops such as wheat, forage oats and Italian ryegrass for greater winter production.

For perennial crops such as wine grapes, the long-term effect of climate change might require

a change in cultivar to varieties adapted to warmer and drier climates. However, the warmer climate might also open new areas suitable for wine grapes that were previously too cool.

Changes in future flowering dates might compress different grape-growing seasons, which will affect harvesting and access to labour.

Kiwifruit is likely to be affected by higher water demand in some areas and more variable demand in others.

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

5

Global study to benchmark farms Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz

MONEY: The aim of a global study of regenerative agriculture is to capture more value for Kiwi meat, Beef + Lamb chief executive Sam McIvor says.

experts and the wider industry as well as governmental, consumer and expert perceptions of it.

With confusion around exactly what it is, given much of what

Flood claims reach $1.2m LAST month’s flooding has resulted in 130 claims being lodged with insurer FMG by Otago and Southland farmers.

The claims are worth about $1.2 million and are for damage to houses, baled hay and general equipment and contents.

National claims manager Emma Town said it takes from a few days to a few weeks for farmers to go through their property and lodge a claim.

“These are mainly for damage to houses, such as flooring and personal belongings, along with baled hay and general farm contents.

“Other claims have varied from stock claims and damage to farm buildings including but not limited to dairy sheds, farm fencing, implement sheds as well as some vehicles.”

is considered to be regenerative agriculture overseas is the natural way New Zealanders already farm, a key part of the study will be the definition.

debates and conversations in wider society and within government.”

McIvor said it’s important to understand whether the adoption of regenerative agriculture could have benefits for the sheep and beef sector by further improving environmental sustainability, offering a way of framing the sector’s sustainability narrative in a manner all relevant stakeholders can understand.

They include farmers, meat industry, consumers and regulators.

The aim is to ultimately capture more value for NZ red meat products, farmers and NZ overall.

There is significant interest among NZ farmers and while B+LNZ has already been in contact with many McIvor encourages others with an interest in the project to get in touch.

The release of a final report is expected by the end of the year.

Ahuwhenua hort finalists named THE first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy have been named.

They are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua Trust from Te Kaha.

This is the 87th year of the competition, which has traditionally focused on dairy and sheep and beef farming but now includes horticulture.

“Horticulture is an essential element of our Maori economy with it now growing faster than traditional methods of farming,” Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said.

The finalists are part of an emerging group of people making a positive impact on a multi-million-dollar industry.

“These finalists are among some of the best across the country.

“I am looking forward to seeing their growth and how they set out to realise their goals which will be hugely beneficial not only to the development of New Zealand’s regional economies but to NZ as a whole.”

Each finalist will showcase their properties at public field days in March and April before a winner is named on Friday May 22 at the Trustpower Baypark Stadium, Tauranga.

ESSENTIAL: Agriculture minister Damien O’Connor says the Ahuwhenua trophy finalists are among some of the best in the country.

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A GLOBAL study of regenerative agriculture is under way to identify chances to extract more value from sheep and beef exports.

Beef + Lamb is doing the study to understand the similarities and difference of regenerative agriculture to NZ farming practices.

The study will look at the opportunities for farmers and include a global consumer perspective to understand what potential there is for red meat exports.

B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor said with increasing interest in regenerative agriculture here and abroad, sheep and beef farmers want to lead in that space.

The research will look at the market potential of regenerative agriculture, what it means to

It will benchmark the definitions against NZ farming.

Finding opportunities for different farming practices to complement what farmers do already will be key to the study, McIvor said.

It will tie together the consumer perspective, a market view and the expert views of those working in government and in relevant non-government organisations.

“We want to understand consumer perspectives on regenerative agriculture, its presence and pricing at retail, wholesale and food service, what makes it appealing, and where consumers are getting their information from and how it is shaping consumer behaviour.

“The study also looks at government and expert views of regenerative agriculture as a practice, how it compares to conventional agriculture and where it sits within sustainability

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

7

Dairy price volatility in past Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz CONCERN about the impact of coronavirus on the Chinese market has overshadowed the new normal of more stable world dairy prices, on which New Zealand farmers and their processors can now plan.

After two fortnightly auctions the Global Dairy Trade index is 7% down on its late-January level before the coronavirus alarm was sounded.

It has fallen from 1056 in mid January to 978 after the second February GDT event.

While now at the lowest point for the past 12 months it is only 10% below the highest point of 2019, which was 1086 last May. In other words, global dairy prices have moved in a very narrow band of plus or minus 5% over the past year when compared with high volatility periods historically.

Though it remains to be

seen, should the impact of the coronavirus on dairy trade be limited to that range of movement seen over the past 12 months, NZ dairy farmers will have reason to cheer.

It will be validation of what ASB senior rural economist Nathan Penny has called a higher plateau of farmgate milk prices stemming from a supply/demand balance that is more stable and not easily upset.

He predicts milk prices will average $7/kg over the next decade in a range between $6.50 and $7.50, compared with the $6 average of the past decade.

That optimistic outlook is based on moderate growth in global dairy production and exports as all the main producing countries run into constraints.

They include environmental and regulatory measures on nutrients and greenhouse gases, capital constraints and competition with other primary industries and urban needs for

GOOD RETURNS: ASB senior rural economist Nathan Penny predicts milk prices will average $7/kg over the next decade.

resources like land and water.

Penny pointed out the average annual milk production growth in NZ of 5% over the 15-year period between 2001 and 2015.

During that time the supply and demand factors in world dairy moved quickly.

Fonterra began its existence with farmgate milk prices that typically moved 50c or $1 between seasons.

But in 2007-08 and the beginning of the commodities boom that movement blew out to $3 and even $4 between seasons, making it very difficult for farmers and their financiers to plan and budget.

The $6 average of the past decade contains an $8-plus and a $4-plus, reflecting the high volatility of world prices that made forecasting very difficult.

Fonterra also had to build processing facilities for more milk production, up to 10% in a season, which occurred twice during that decade.

Since 2015 NZ milksolids

production has been plus or minus 2% from one season to the next, including what commentators expect to be nil growth this season.

Lower long-run NZ dollar forecasts also underpin the dairy prices and their translation into farmgate prices.

ASB expects the NZD/USD cross-rate to average 69c over the next 10 years, compared with a previous forecast of 73c. The cross-rate average this season has been 65c versus 69c last season.

At current dairy commodity prices a one cent move in currency changes the farmgate price by 14c/kg.

Because of its hedging policy Fonterra won’t fully capture the currency benefit this season but should be able to gain 30c/kg in the 2021 milk price forecast, Penny said.

Whatever happens to GDT prices as a result of coronavirus disruption, dairy farmers can rest more easily on the higher plateau of world dairy markets.

Milk price holds firm FONTERRA has reaffirmed its farmgate milk price forecast of $7 to $7.60/kg and its earnings guidance of 15c-25c a share.

Despite uncertainties over the coronavirus effects Fonterra has sold forward most of this year’s production and its New Zealand milk supply is falling away sharply in some regions.

The revised milk collection forecast for the season is 1515 million kilograms, 0.5% down on last season.

The co-operative foreshadowed news about its asset portfolio review along with the interim financial results on March 18 but they will not change the underlying performance of the business.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Constant change the arable norm Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz CONSTANT change will become the norm as the arable industry meets the growing demand for homegrown food, Arable Industry Food Council chairman Ivan Lawrie says.

At a recent food hui organised

by Eat New Zealand and attended by financiers, farmers, activists, chefs and tourism entrepreneurs Lawrie was surprised to hear of the relatively high volumes of organic flour being imported from Australia by top-end Auckland bakeries.

He was equally pleased though at the amount of interest shown in sourcing locally produced grain.

The hui focused on an important global movement of consumers going back to basics, using local, sustainable and fairly produced food from animals and plants.

Many of the attendees had no idea most of NZ’s flour is made from imported wheat.

“This opens opportunities for growers, traders and millers and while this market space might still be considered niche it influences consumers through the strong media presence that chefs and restaurateurs have nowadays.

“Just as craft-brewed beers have made their way into supermarkets, specialty baking products are also becoming more common,” Lawrie said.

Countdown bakeries now use only NZ wheat and Breadcraft has this year moved in the same direction.

“Be prepared to make some changes to meet this growing demand,” Lawrie told farmers.

He described the hui as confronting, enlightening, empowering and thoughtprovoking with the conversations and connections made between ideas and people were amazing.

“There were certainly some radical points of view around how the global food industry should be changed to connect the producer with the consumer and while they were not all entirely practical there were some consistent themes.

“It is clear that people want to understand more about the food that reaches their table and this is especially important to our sector where our products mostly lose their identity and become ingredients of other food products.”

The hui was not interested in Impossible Burgers, synthetic foods or plant-based meats.

“Rather, attendees were interested in an important global movement of consumers going back to basics and wanting to eat the real thing.

“This means growers need to be ready to shift production quickly to meet demand.”

It is clear that people want to understand more about the food that reaches their table and this is especially important to our sector where our products mostly become ingredients of other food products.

Ivan Lawrie Arable Food Industry Council The industry has set itself the goal of returning to milling wheat self-sufficiency by 2025.

“It’s quite a lofty goal but before deregulation we were selfsufficient in milling wheat and we can do it again as long as we have the right infrastructure set up to do it efficiently.”

If all players in the game work together and the Government comes to the party a self-sufficient 2025 is possible, Lawrie said.

Growth will now be focused on growing milling grain in areas where it’s not normally grown including Wairarapa, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay. “Our work between now and 2025 is to ensure the varieties we

are growing in those new regions and in these markets are meeting the needs of the baking industry.

“There will be some adaptation work to go on and we are working closely with millers and bakers to ensure we meet their needs,” Lawrie said.

Speaking at a 2020 AgriOutlook workshop in Lincoln, Foundation for Arable Research chief executive Alison Stewart said constant change will become the norm in adding value to the business of cropping.

Despite a decline in production area over the past 20 years, a lot because of intensive dairy in Canterbury, productivity has continued to increase year on year.

But Stewart said that is now plateauing with environmental challenges putting the hand brake on driving production higher.

“Still we are doing 13 to 14 tonne to the hectare, Aussie is doing 3-4t/ha, so we are doing a really good job but we are a domestic commodity market so there’s not a lot of opportunity to enhance profitability.”

Plants for protein have huge opportunities with the likes of plant-based milk, hemp products and seed crops such as sunflowers and the industry’s homegrown milling grain initiative.

“Our issue is our growers get more money to grow wheat to feed animals than they can to feed people – that’s a very sad situation.

“A major programme of work is to convince consumers that to go homegrown we need a 40 cents premium (on finished products) and even if just 8c goes to the grower it will double industry profitability overnight.

“I think we have to drive this challenge.”

Stewart said FAR is facilitating a project with high-end growers to empower other mainstream growers to take risks and drive into diversified systems where they can constantly evolve and improve.

“We need to look at the problem in a holistic manner and look at the stakeholders around us.

MONEY: Arable croppers have to make investments and be prepared to balance risk and reward to make money from new areas, Foundation for Arable Research chief executive Alison Stewart says.

“The issue is risk and reward as we move from price takers to price makers.

“Be prepared to make investment into new initiatives,” Stewart said.

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10 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Fired up coasters threaten blockade Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz BIODIVERSITY values on private land are disappearing and need protecting, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says.

So councils must be tougher in managing them.

West Coast community and iwi leaders have joined forces to fight what they call a Government land grab under the guise of conservation with some owners having 70% or more of their land designated as needing protection.

Sage said the new National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity identifies significant natural areas such as wetlands on private and public land but it does not mean private land is locked up and not available for use or development.

“It simply means landowners will need to apply for resource consent to ensure the impact of clearing vegetation or draining a wetland is assessed and it could mean, potentially, conditions are put on a consent or it is declined if values are high.”

The Conservation Department already controls 1.9m hectares or 84% of the land on the West Coast but civic leaders say that could increase to 90% under the new policy, which has locals fired up and threatening protest action.

Sage says councils have been required to identify such areas for 10 years or more but the West

Coast, Canterbury and the Far North councils have been slow and are now catching up. The areas are those over 0.5ha of significant indigenous vegetation.

Westland Mayor Bruce Smith says new criteria to include natural characteristics mean private landowners will require ecological reports for resource consent applications if they want to disturb the areas.

Smith described the Government’s actions as land theft and says there is a mood in the community to blockade roads to force the Government to listen.

Another issue riling coasters is the decree from Sage that land classed as stewardship be given to DoC to manage.

Representing 33.99% of land on the coast, stewardship land has been managed by DoC since 1987-88 because no government department wanted it.

At the time the community was promised it would be consulted over the land’s future but that has not happened and now Sage has said it is going into the conservation estate, which will exclude it from any economic activity.

“It will mean we can’t dig up gold or pounamu, rock for roading or flood protection or any minerals that will ensure we have a future in NZ,” Smith said.

DoC does not pay rates so losing economic activity on stewardship land threatens the economic

GET TOUGH: Councils must up their game in policing significant natural areas on private land, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says.

viability of coast communities.

“Westland is not doing it, 87% is already controlled by DoC, it doesn’t need another 13%.”

People are starting to dig up land before significant natural areas are identified.

Tania Gibson Grey District Council Sage says she is listening, has met West Coast civic leaders and will do so again but she makes no apologies for addressing what she calls a biodiversity crisis.

Councils are required to protect significant indigenous vegetation and fauna and even though areas

might be on private land that does not mean landowners are entitled to compensation.

“For the last 150 years of history landowners have not compensated the community for the loss of wetlands. They have not compensated the community for the loss of shrub lands or wildlife.”

She says landowners can get help with riparian fencing, planting and pest control.

Grey Mayor Tania Gibson says her council has spent 20 years identifying significant natural areas on 70 farms but a Government requirement to now include natural characteristics means they will have to start again.

Some landowners are taking pre-emptive action.

“People are starting to dig up land before significant natural areas are identified. They have looked after their land but now

find it can be taken off them.”

Gibson says it is another example of the Government not listening to the community, citing changes to whitebaiting and freshwater rules.

Iwi are also unhappy at the prospect of losing control of their land.

A letter to Sage last month from the Westland, Grey and Buller mayors, the West Coast Regional Council and local iwi, said Conservation Board membership does not reflect the wider community’s economic interests.

West Coast Federated Farmers president Peter Langford says reassessing significant natural areas is not only a loss of property rights but also land value.

Any piece of land considered a significant area, such as bush, wetland or landscape, will have to be fenced and managed separately to the rest of a farm.

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

11

Ryegrass research focus on fats Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz AGRESEARCH is not concerned about the development of a conventionally bred ryegrass that could rival its work using genetic modification to create a high metabolisable energy ryegrass.

Agricultural seed company Germinal is developing a new variety of ryegrass using conventional plant breeding methods with no gene editing or modification required.

The aim of the Germinal project is to develop a ryegrass with increased lipid (fat) content to make the feed more energy dense, improving milk production in optimistic about its progress. dairy cows and growth rates in Germinal’s research partner beef and sheep. is the Institute of Biological, It could also lower methane Environmental and Rural Sciences emissions.

(IBERS) in Wales, which allows it By altering the proportions of access to the institute’s research fatty acids in grass forage it aims and to apply it to New Zealand to enhance not only the health conditions. and performance of grazing Germinal NZ general manager animals but also the nutritional Sarah Gard says lipids – fats and and quality characteristics of the oils – have roughly double the dairy and meat produced – all in a energy value of carbohydrates for natural and sustainable way. the same weight.

An AgResearch spokesman “We’ve known for a long says the Crown research institute time that adding fats, up to a is focused on its own work, which includes fieldHALF trialsPAGE in the265W Xcertain FARMERS WEEKLY 200H level, MM increases animal productivity. But non-pasture United States, and is cautiously

POTENTIAL: Sarah Gard says a ryegrass under development could improve animal performance and reduce methane emissions.

feed supplements are generally expensive, which can offset any gains in milksolids or revenue.

“However, if the pasture has higher concentrations of lipids the grazing animal naturally has a high intake without the need for supplements.

“Stock will get extra fats directly from the grass.”

Lipid is the most energy dense part of the grass plant so an increase in lipid content will add significantly more energy to the resulting forage.

Initial work found a wide variation in lipid content in

ryegrasses, which allows breeders to improve populations and subsequently varieties for the trait.

Gard says Germinal hopes to breed ryegrass with a lipid concentration of 5% – double that found in existing varieties.

The benefits could extend beyond animal performance with lab tests indicating high-lipid grass can mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The work being done at IBERS has shown that increasing the lipid content of grass reduces methane emissions from ruminant livestock by changing rumen fermentation patterns and breaking down protein more efficiently.

“We hope to extend this work in the near future by feeding sheep with high-lipid grass and then measuring how much methane they produce.”

Progress has been made on altering the profile and the first varieties are in official trials.

The project has been running for about 10 years and it is expected to be another five to 10 years before Germinal has a product suitable for NZ. A major issue in increasing lipid content is developing a low-cost, quick, testing process for that can

be used in a breeding programme.

The company is also looking at several other areas in ryegrass development, including reducing the nutrient requirement of grass and clover so plants make more efficient use of available nitrogen and phosphate, with less needing to be applied by farmers.

AgResearch said last year its development of a new generation, high metabolisable energy ryegrass is making steady progress with field trials of the genetically modified HME ryegrass in the US showing it performs well in controlled growing conditions.

Researchers from NZ will head back to the US this northern hemisphere spring to continue trials.

The project involves breeding novel traits into ryegrass cultivars that will best suit NZ growing conditions, with researchers also introducing genes with simpler genetic patterns, which will make future breeding programmes easier.

The goal of the US phase of the research is to do realistic rather than simulated animal nutrition studies so the potential environmental benefits, such as reduced methane emissions and reduced nitrogen excretion, can be properly evaluated.

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12 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Dairy returns too tiny for farmers Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz

BAD MOOD: Dairy farmers are downbeat despite all the market signals are good, DairyNZ strategy and investment leader Bruce Thorrold says.

DAIRY farmers have many reasons for optimism though three out of four say the returns are not worth the effort, DairyNZ strategy and investment leader Bruce Thorrold says.

Many farmers are asking themselves why they still bother dairying and his task is to help clear the fog and rekindle motivation, he told the

Sending unsafe to tag animals to the works?

DairyNZ Northland farmers forum.

Farmers are worried about environmental, banking, farm value, alternative food, drought and disease pressures.

Curiously, considering the downbeat mood, the market signals are good right now, whether it be solid milk prices, relatively low costs of production, demand around the world, low greenhouse gas emission intensity, struggling competitors in other countries and synthetics proving harder than first thought.

Projections say 10 billion people by 2050 will need twice as much dairy foods as are produced now.

“The Irish dairy industry was poised to jump after the removal of quotas five years ago but is bogged down in greenhouse gases, nitrogen, labour shortages and bobby calves.

“All the same issues but we have 20 years’ head start.”

Thorrold said most of those matters are outside the control of individual farmers.

In their control are things like lifting farm profitability, improving water quality and reducing gases.

A 7% return on assets at a $6.35/kg payout is realistically achievable, makes debt profitable and creates options for the farmers.

Bruce Thorrold DairyNZ

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“We need to make progress on all three, together, because going backwards on any of them is not a 10-year solution.”

Methane is now being treated differently than carbon dioxide by lawmakers.

“That’s a breakthrough for the pastoral sector because it means methane doesn’t need to go to zero.

“The Zero Carbon Act means we have to cut 10% of methane by 2030 and we need a plan to achieve that.

“In the meantime, all pastoral farms will need farm environment plans by 2025 and on-farm carbon offsetting will be allowed.”

Thorrold said the obvious route to 10% less methane is feeding animals less and some landuse change.

“If the only option we have in 2030 is to pull 10% of feed out of the system then it can be done.”

He wants farmers to let go of the fear of the target and figure out how it will be achieved.

Thorrold said large nitrogen leaching reductions will hit farms in priority catchments.

The farm plans will encourage good farm practices and riparian planting and wetlands.

“When we do the right things in the right place it makes a substantial difference in water quality.”

Surplus bought nitrogen is a good predictor of nitrate leaching though that is different for every farm.

So reducing that surplus is a good start along with getting cows and their urine off pasture at critical times.

Already there are tools like Ecotain, Spikey and low-nitrogen genetics while DairyNZ is spending millions of dollars of farmers’ levy money on mitigation research.

Thorrold said a 7% return on assets at a $6.35/ kg payout is realistically achievable, makes debt profitable and creates options for the farmers.

The Northland average is 5% return on assets and the Northland Agricultural Research Farm achieves 7%.

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Warning: More trees are a danger to the economy Gerald Piddock gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz CARBON farming could cost New Zealand $1.25 billion a year in lost pastoral exports, Beef + Lamb economic service executive director Rob Davison says.

Converting large swathes of farmland into forestry for carbon farming means losing all that land’s future export returns in favour of income from Emissions Trading Scheme credits.

That new income will be in NZ dollars only and derived from the NZ market, Davison told farmers at Limestone Downs Station’s annual open day.

“Effectively, we’ve turned an export hectare into an import hectare.

“If we go to put a million hectares of hill country in trees under ETS we are going to take out $1.25 billion of export receipts and put in something like a couple billion of NZ dollars.”

BE CAREFUL: Beef + Lamb economic service executive director Rob Davison warns of unintended consequences of planting trees.

The fall in export dollars would push the value of the NZ currency down – a favourable outcome for those who stay in farming.

But the export dollars from the pastoral sector amounted to $25 billion in the 2018-19 year with dairy contributing $15b and red meat around $10b.

Discussions around where to plant more trees for forestry have to be looked at in the context of the production gains the pastoral sector has made since 1991

when the lambing percentage was 100.

Last spring that percentage was 131 and in 2019-2020 was 127.

“NZ’s silicone valley of excellence is our pastoral sector.

The lambs produced are also bigger and heavier.

“Likewise, in the dairy industry, milk production has increased 48% from 259kg MS to 383kg MS a cow.

“They are phenomenal productivity increases.

“We haven’t seen that

elsewhere in the economy,” he said.

To produce the tonnage of lamb from the 2018-19 season using 1990-1991 levels of performance farmers would need 16 million more ewes to produce 12.7m more lambs and an extra 4.8m more slaughter lambs at lighter weights to reach the export tonnage.

BLNZ favours a mosaic approach to livestock and carbon farming where livestock are on country best suited for pasture.

Contour and the accessibility for forestry harvest mean some farmland is not suitable for harvest if planted in trees because foresters want trees near roads and on land that is not too steep.

“But for conservation and carbon farming there’s possibly a good fit with livestock.”

It is setting up the farm for future generations rather than a one-term hit, he said.

CHOOSE WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

13

Banks back farm debt help fund BANKS and the Government are offering support for farmers struggling with farm debt.

The Government has allocated $200,000 for the Farm Business Advice Support Fund to be managed by Rural Support Trusts.

Qualifying farmers get up to $6000 to pay for financial or business advice from an independent consultant.

The National Council of Rural Support Trusts and the Bankers’ Association have signed an agreement to back the fund.

Trusts will provide up to $3000, depending on an assessment of need, and the relevant bank will match that dollar for dollar.

The fund is for farmers feeling pressure, council chairman Neil Bateup said.

“This might be because there’s been some change or their bank has indicated they need to discuss their debt situation.

“The hope is that there may still be options available so that the wishes of all parties can form a solution,” he said.

“There’s a recognition it’s in everyone’s best interest for a farmer to have up-to-date business and financial plans,” association chief executive Roger Beaumont said.

“This will inform conversations between the farmer and their bank.”

Trusts will take applications from or on behalf of farmers and a consultant will provide a report, which will be given to the farmer and the bank.

This initiative involves ASB, ANZ, BNZ, Heartland Bank, Rabobank, SBS Bank, TSB and Westpac.

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14 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

PUSH: A2 Milk might increase marketing in China for the rest of the year in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

News

A2 Milk Company ploughs onwards in China Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz THE A2 Milk Company delivered another strong sales result in the first half of the 2020 financial year, lifting most of its key numbers by 20-30% over the previous corresponding period.

Revenue was $806.7 million, up 32% or nearly $200m on the first half of FY2019.

Earnings before interest and tax and net profit were up 21%, at $263m and $185m respectively.

Basic earnings a share were 25.15c but the company will continue its policy of not paying a dividend while reinvesting its profits.

The company says it has a near-term goal of reaching US$100m of annual sales in the US and it has expanded distribution to 17,500 stores.

A2 had a closing cash balance on December 31 of $618.4m, up $154m on the June 30, 2019, number.

Products for infant nutrition accounted for 82% of the revenue and liquid milk sales 13%.

The sales of a2 Platinum Chinese-label infant nutrition products through 18,000 stores were $146m, double those of the previous corresponding period.

Cross-border e-commerce sales were of similar size at $159m.

The share of infant nutrition sales in Australian grocery and pharmacy channels has fallen to 54% of the total, showing a steady conversion rate of daigou sales into in-store and e-channel sales in China.

Sales of liquid milk in the United States also doubled, to revenue of $28m, and liquid milk sales in Australia rose 11% to $75m.

A2 milk accounts for 11% of all milk sales in Australia.

The company says it has a near-term goal of reaching US$100m of annual sales in the US and it has expanded distribution to 17,500 stores.

It produces four milk varieties and two coffee creamers.

A2 directors said it is time to assess participation in infant nutrition manufacturing facilities to complement existing supply chain relationships.

Acting chief executive Geoff Babidge said the company expects strong revenue growth to continue in the second half-year but it is hard to assess the impact of coronavirus, either positively or negatively.

The company might increase marketing in China for the rest of the fiscal year.

The share price reacted positively, putting on $1 or about 7%, to be around $16.70.

Have your say on this issue: farmersweekly.co.nz

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

15

Scales looks to spend up profits Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz CASHED-UP Scales Corporation produced a solid set of underlying operating results for 2019 and is on the lookout for organic growth and diversification opportunities.

Full-year group revenue from continuing horticultural, food ingredients and logistics businesses was $484.6 million, 20% above 2018, and underlying net profit was $36.4m, a 2% gain.

Declared profit was $121.6m because of the sale of the Polarcold business for a net $73m gain and the part-sale of Meateor pet foods to Alliance realising $9.8m.

Managing director Andy Borland said the company is committed to reinvesting the proceeds in New Zealand agribusinesses that provide a targeted return on capital of 15%.

“We think the whole sector is a very positive place to invest, where we can add value.”

Scales had a net cash position of $105m on December 31, which

could be used for organic growth opportunities, acquisitions to strength existing businesses or investments in new sectors where Scales can add value through its resources, experience and export network.

Among the organic growth options are further redevelopment of existing apple orchards with new varieties and accommodation for seasonal workers.

A new $10m coolstore to be built next to the existing Whakatu pack house will improve centralisation of Mr Apple’s post-harvest operations.

Borland said the major horticultural division delivered a record $265m revenue in 2019, up 4%, and the Mr Apple export crop was 3.8m cartons.

For the first time following orchard redevelopment most apples (56%) were premium varieties including NZ Queen, Pink Lady, high-colour Fuji and Royal Gala and the first commercial crops for Dazzle and Posy varieties.

HELP: Scales apple sales have benefitted from the Chinese authorities’ decision to prioritise food deliveries.

In 2019 they brought about $10 a carton premium over traditional varieties.

As the redeveloped orchards increase production the premium proportion of 4m-plus cartons is forecast to go over 60%.

Posy apples have already been picked this year and air-freighted to China for immediate sale through online platforms.

In 2019 China took 17% of apple exports by Scales versus 10% the year before.

Though the impact of the covid-19 virus is uncertain some mitigating factors included higher sales to Europe of larger fruit sizes, more sales through e-commerce and the actions of Chinese authorities to prioritise food deliveries.

Scales confirmed its underlying net profit guidance between $30m and $36m for 2020.

The directors will declare the final 2019 dividend in May, following an interim 9.5c a share in December.

Borland said the delay on dividend enables the company to assess the apple harvest.

Scales’ share price has fallen nearly a dollar during the past three months, to sit around $4.30.

Borland thought some of that might be caused by coronavirus uncertainties and dismissed any disappointment among shareholders that sales proceeds would not be distributed, saying the intention of the company to reinvest was clearly signalled.

Seeka sells orchards, but ups its pack house capacity Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz DESPITE the shadow of dry weather last summer limiting Green kiwifruit yields Seeka has still managed to push sales, earnings and profits up.

In its year end announcement Seeka posted revenue growth of 16% to $236.9 million, a 3% rise in net profit after tax to $6.9m.

Earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 4% at $34.5m.

As hot, dry weather again casts a shadow over this year’s harvest, the impact of last year’s lowered yields were offset by an expansion in the company’s core business in both pack house and

orchard assets. That included buying the Aongatete packing company, strong gains on the sale of Northland orchards and significant lifts in the company’s retail services business.

Seeka has since completed further Northland property sales worth $10.1m, bringing the total Northland sales to $51.7m and delivering a gain of $6.1m.

Chief executive Michael Franks said the assets sales helped repay debt while the Aongatete buy secured core kiwifruit packing business assets.

Aongatete was bought for $25m a year ago, boosting Seeka’s processing capacity by 4.5m trays to take its annual

capacity to 38m trays, more than 20% of the industry’s total production.

Consolidating operations remains firmly in Franks’ sights with the company investigating the sale of its $15m of orchard assets in Australia.

As recently as 2018 a retail investor presentation cited the Australian orchards as part of the company’s growth strategy but Franks said the decision to sell the orchards was not to quit but to exit ownership and lease them back.

The company has about 100ha of Green orchards in the Shepperton district of Victoria.

He wouldn’t say how much they might fetch.

“But I can say Australians love Australian-grown kiwifruit and they grow very good fruit in those orchards.”

Back in New Zealand at Rangiuru near Te Puke the Oakside packing and coolstore was completed at a cost of $22m with another facility under way in Northland at Kerikeri.

The expansion and sales of assets have left Seeka in a mid-level debt position with bank debt of $116m compared to $80m at year end 2018 and $150m in June last year.

The company expects improved earnings for 2020, depending on crop volumes.

Franks said the Green crop is more likely than Gold to be

affected by the dry weather after Christmas. Rain in Western Bay of Plenty has been sparse since Christmas with some prime growing areas recording no rain in January and 15mm for February.

Further increases in Seeka’s avocado business are also likely to boost growth, with an expansion of handling capacity in Northland as the region becomes a major avocado centre.

The board has declared a dividend of 12c a share comprising a normal dividend of 8c and a 4c a share from property sales.

Seeka’s shares were selling for $4.29 trading on Wednesday.

News

16 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

NO PROFIT: Smaller sale yards have become uneconomic because of animal welfare and health and safety concerns.

Smaller PGW, bigger earnings Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz PGG Wrightson delivered solid improvements in earnings and dividend in the first half of the 2020 financial year following significant changes in capital and governance.

Earnings before interest, tax and depreciation were $34.5 million, up 33% on the previous corresponding period.

Directors have declared an interim dividend of 9c, 20%

higher after the one-for-10 share consolidation last year and the capital return that followed the sale of the grain and seed business.

The company now has 75m issued shares and a market capitalisation of $170m.

Shares have traded in a band of $2.25 to $2.50 since the consolidation and lost 1c in early trading following the latest results announcement.

Among other major changes to the company structure in

Aussie Awaits!

2019 the board was cut to five directors, only two of whom, the representatives of the 44% majority shareholder Agria Corporation, have served more than a year.

Smaller but not substantial shareholders include Ngai Tahu Holdings at 3.63% and Rural Equities 2.66%, represented by David Cushing.

PGW chairman Rodger Finlay is an independent director who also sits on the Ngai Tahu and Rural Equities boards.

Chief executive Stephen Guerin, appointed last June, said the Fruitfed Supplies arm of the retail division is doing particularly well from the positive conditions in the horticulture sector.

Early reports for this season are encouraging regarding fruit volumes and quality, justifying the inflow of investment capital.

Small volumes have been air-freighted to China,

QUEENSLAND

June 2020

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Sept 2020

mainly to e-commerce sites and supermarkets.

Fruitfed operates in 16 regions among PGG Wrightson’s 92 sites nationwide.

Early reports for this season are encouraging regarding fruit volumes and quality.

He also pointed to the wool business, which traded solidly to produce a 21% lift in Ebitda.

Export volumes rose 16%, concentrating on longer-term, higher-value contracts in Europe and Britain and operating costs were cut.

Among areas with negative results the water business fell by 34% as land owners couldn’t do irrigation developments.

Guerin said six retail premises are left in company ownership

and they are subject to sale and lease back proposals for the future.

The total number of retail sites hasn’t changed though four, in Taupo, Mayfield, Darfield and Alexandra, are being rebuilt or moved.

Some consolidation of sale yards will be ongoing as urban expansion puts pressure on livestock movements, noise and effluent disposal.

Smaller yards have become uneconomic with animal welfare and health and safety concerns.

The Go livestock plans for farmers growing company-owned animals on weight gain contracts are being well-used and the money tied up is 25% higher than a year before.

That programme now accounts for 65% of the company debt of $59m on December 31.

The directors restated their guidance of $30m Ebitda for the full year from continuing businesses though covid-19 could cause volatility in earnings from impact on trade flows.

Delegat lifts its case sales 10% TASMANIA

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DELEGAT lifted worldwide sales of cases of wine by 10% in the first half of the 2020 financial year, making a record net profit of $34.4 million, also 10% higher than the previous corresponding period.

Executive chairman Jim Delegat was pleased with the 13% increase in North American sales but there was a 12% reduction in Australia, New Zealand and the AsiaPacific region, on which he didn’t elaborate.

Case sales in the six months to December 31 in Britain, Ireland and Europe were up 28%, continuing the very strong performance of the company’s Oyster Bay brand.

Global case sales were 1,733,000 and the revenue $156.7 million, up $13.7m, from a combination of increased case sales and favourable currency exchange movements.

Delegat said the company is on track to achieve global case sales for the full year of 3,240,000, up 8% on last year when just over 3m cases were

sold. Based on the prevailing exchange rates it also forecasts a 2020 operating profit in line with market consensus of $52.4m.

Net debt on December 31 was $268m, down from $291.5m, and the equity to equity plus debt ratio has improved from 53.5% to 58%.

Delegat shares are trading about $11, having moved in the $10 and $12 range during the past year.

The company paid a fully imputed dividend of 17c following the 2019 financial year.

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

17

Venison escapes virus disruption Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz DEER in the farm mix spread the market disruption risk with because venison sales to China are not seriously affected by coronavirus, Deer Industry New Zealand chief executive Innes Moffat says.

Over many years the deer industry has actively sought to diversify its markets to reduce the impact of disruption to any one and it’s done pretty well, Moffat said.

While China takes 50% of NZ’s lamb and beef and almost all its mutton it takes only 10% of venison with the main markets being northern Europe and the United States. South Korea is NZ’s biggest velvet market, followed closely by China.

Despite coronavirus deer processing plants are working at normal capacity with product flowing to major markets.

“But if there was a crisis of some sort in Germany or South Korea deer farmers would still be exposed,” Moffat said.

Marketers expect the recent volatility in world markets to continue beyond the impact of coronavirus.

“Living with this volatility is a

challenge for farmers as well as marketers.

“Many drystock farmers opt to have a mix of livestock classes, including deer, on their farm.

“They’ve learned over the years that when one product is struggling another product is often doing well.”

Lamb and beef prices reached giddy heights before Christmas in response to Chinese demand for meats to replace pork lost to African swine fever.

The Chinese government had just put in place measures to reduce prices of imported meats when the coronavirus struck.

Lamb and beef prices came off those highs in the last month.

“We saw a similar venison price spike in 2018 when demand for trim from pet food companies peaked.

“We’re still in the price correction phase for that with some distributors in Europe and pet food manufacturers in the US holding stocks of manufacturing grades that they paid high prices for in 2018.”

After a price spike markets often overshoot and companies holding expensive stocks might try to recoup some margin by holding off ordering in the hope of a lower price.

MITIGATE RISK: Putting deer in the farm mix helps spread the risk caused by market disruption.

Photo: Kieren Scott, Minaret Station

Moffat said it can take a year or two before high-priced stocks are cleared and a better market balance is achieved again.

The February venison price to farmers, based on the published schedules for a 60kg stag, was $8.09 a kilogram, back about $1.50 on February 2019.

While still the third-highest price on record for this time of year no-one is happy with where prices have gone, he said.

The average value of venison exported from NZ in the last

months of 2019 was down about 15% on 2018, which was reflected in the prices paid to farmers.

Demand for chilled venison continued to grow in North America and in continental Europe demand for game meats appears to be relatively stable, albeit with continued signs of the change in market preferences away from frozen products in favour of fresh.

“Our marketers are working with some very savvy partners in Europe to add value to frozen

venison including novel retail applications and more portioncontrolled items.”

With access to China problematic marketers are looking to further expand demand in the US, Moffat said.

Manufacturing grades of venison were once all destined for Europe but in recent years smallgoods manufacturers and pet food companies in North America have been taking useful quantities as was China in the months leading up to the coronavirus outbreak.

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18 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

COMPETITOR: Eventual winner James Lawn was a happy man during the practical challenges in the Taranaki-Manawatu regional final of the Young Farmer Contest.

News

Lawn mows down rivals TARANAKI business manager James Lawn is the third to qualify for this year’s Young Farmer contest grand final.

The 30-year-old won the Taranaki-Manawatu title in Hawera on February 22.

Lawn said he is overwhelmed with the work and preparation needed over the next few months.

It will be his second final. In 2017 he came fifth, just behind Lisa Kendall, who won this year’s northern region contest.

“I understand the process and the time and constraints that it’s going to put on life.

“There’s always going to be a challenge with every grand final not knowing what the organising committee is going to throw you but I’m lucky enough to be a previous grand finalist and I’m going to try to lean on that experience as much as possible and hopefully bring back the trophy for Taranaki-Manawatu,” he said.

Lawn won three of the five categories, innovation, environment and food.

Hugh Jackson, a DairyNZ trainee consultant was runner-up in his first contest.

“I’m ecstatic. I’m very stoked. It couldn’t have gone much better tonight and today. It was really good fun and I’m over the moon,” he said.

“I really surprised myself at the quiz and being on the DairyNZ graduate programme now helped a huge amount with heaps of information going in, so I’m really grateful for that.”

AgriHQ market analyst Graham Johnson was third.

The 22-year-old was runner-up at last year’s regional final and runner-up FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year while in high school.

In the junior young farmer competition the first three places went to teams of two from Feilding High School.

Phoebe Smailes, 17, and Anna Simpson, 17, won for the second year in a row. Smailes was also the competitor of the day.

“There was a lot of other good kids here. We all have our strengths and we’re all good at what we do. We’re all obviously here because we love it and just to be chosen as that competitor of the day is pretty cool,” she said.

Frank Fertilisers’ made up by Renee Biggs and Holly Gregory came second.

Both teams will compete at the grand final in Christchurch in July.

In the Agrikids competition, first place went to the team of Gabby Cavan, Phoebe Driscole and Sophia Pinkney from Carncot Independent School in Palmerston North.

Second place went to a trio from South Makariri School and a team from Mount Biggs School near Feilding came third.

The top three teams will also compete at the grand final in Christchurch in July Northern region winner Lisa Kendall and Waikato/Bay of plenty winner Mitchel Hoare were the first two finalists found.

Your comment counts Add your voice to this story at farmersweekly.co.nz

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

19

Kiwi dairy builds China’s babies Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz WITHOUT fanfare the New Zealand dairy industry has delivered a substantial increase in value added to commodities by turning a sizable portion into infant formula before export.

But there are now fears China’s low birth rate, its attempts to control the number of companies and brands of infant formula and the coronavirus outbreak might slow future growth.

The latest figures from Statistics NZ show infant formula exports in 2019 of about 120,000 tonnes grew by 30% over the year before to earn export revenue in excess of $1.7 billion.

For comparison, exports in 2015 were worth $450 million.

StatsNZ couldn’t say what proportion of exports are retail-ready products or bulk components, including non-dairy ingredients.

The industry earned $15/kg from last year’s large volume versus $4-$8/kg for the bulk of dairy exports.

Four major blenders, packers and exporters dominate the trade – Fonterra, Synlait, Danone Nutricia and GMP. They add value by what is called wet mixing of dairy and non-dairy ingredients followed by spray drying then packing into the retail-ready cans for export or in 25kg bags for canning offshore, mainly in Australia and China.

A proportion of the trade is facilitated by private citizens or commission agents buying cans in NZ or Australian stores and sending them to China by family or commercial arrangements, called the daigou channel.

For example, the A2 Milk Company, which is active in Australia and NZ but not a manufacturer, earned $1b of infant formula revenue in FY2019, up 40% on the year before.

It said two-thirds of its sales were in Australia and NZ, including daigou, and a third in China.

But more than 75% was probably consumed in China

WILLING BUT: Exporters are willing to add value to dairy products but they tend to attract higher tariffs and the capital required to make them adds exposure to different market risks, Dairy Companies Association chairman Malcolm Bailey says.

Infant formula exports in 2019 of about 120,000 tonnes grew by 30% over the year before to earn export revenue in excess of $1.7 billion.

though A2 did not disclose that statistic.

Synlait reported consumerpackaged infant formula sales of 43,000 tonnes, up 21%, which was a tenfold increase over the past five years.

In terms of revenue the ticket is being clipped twice because A2 has a supply agreement with Synlait covering most of its production.

All formula manufacturing

plants, formulas and brands have to be approved by the Chinese government and the trade has been affected by non-licensing of what Synlait calls second and third-tier blending and canning facilities.

In its latest market update Synlait predicts a significant drop in infant base powder sales because of market consolidation and a reduction in demand from brand owners who have yet to receive brand registration.

Tier one companies include multinationals like Danone, Nestle, Fonterra, Wyeth and Abbott.

They are now taking blending and canning back in-house, where the necessary approvals and licences have been secured.

Synlait has two infant formula facilities, at its home base in Dunsandel, Canterbury, and in Manukau, Auckland.

Along with its newly commissioned Pokeno processing plant it has wet-mix kitchens with 130,000 tonnes annual capacity backed by canning capacity of 80,000 tonnes.

It has a minimum five-year contract with A2 Company, renewed last year.

Fonterra channels its infant formula blending and packing through its Crawford St facility in Hamilton as part of a broader category it calls paediatric ingredients and products.

The biggest markets are China and NZ while smaller quantities go to Europe, southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Asia and Australia, global paediatrics director Susan Reelick said.

Fonterra supplies most if not all the major infant formula manufacturers in NZ with ingredients ranging from fresh milk and formula ingredients

to infant formula in bulk or consumer packs they process and export to the world market.

Fonterra produces formulas for five stages of child growth from pregnancy and babies to preschoolers.

It sells canned products, bulk ingredients including powders, proteins and organics and speciality ingredients like probiotics, hydrolysates and lactoferrin.

Fonterra Research and Development Centre devised and clinically tested specialty ingredients that can be produced at scale efficiently.

Reelick said annual revenue for paediatric products is in excess of $600m, 95% of which is classified as advanced ingredients, returning significantly more than standard dairy commodities.

Danone Nutricia said its exports from two NZ manufacturing facilities go to Australia, China and some southeast Asian countries.

The French-based multinational has invested more than $100m in NZ facilities and has expanded into dairy alternatives such as goat and sheep milk products.

“While the sector has enjoyed solid growth there is potential for some volatility in the coming period as countries such as China commit to developing domestic infant formula manufacturing capability,” a Danone spokesman said.

GMP Dairy, an Australianowned private company with blending and canning plants in Auckland, was approached for comments but did not respond.

NZ Dairy Companies Association chairman Malcolm Bailey, a former Fonterra director and Federated Farmers president, said there is no lack of willingness by the industry to add value to dairy exports.

But as more sophisticated products are sold the tariffs applied by the receiving countries tend to escalate.

The capital companies have to spend to equip them for that trade is considerable and brings exposure to different market risks, he said.

Ten Basic Fertiliser Facts You Must Know and Adopt to Meet 2025 Water Quality Limits: Dr Bert Quin

Fact 1. The overuse of soluble P fertiliser is by far the largest cause of P run-off and leaching, and therefore of the decline in the quality of Kiwi waterways.

Fact 2. Once you have Olsen P levels that are more than a third of the P retention (ASC), application of additional soluble P is very prone to loss to the environment.

Fact 3. If you want to build up your soil P in an environmentally-protective way, simply apply RPR. It does not get leached or lost directly in run-off, but releases P in a sustained fashion for plants.

Fact 4. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. RPR-based fertilisers are even cheaper than super-based products as well! Added sulphur bentonite (sulphur 90) is far more efficient than the excess sulphate in super.

Fact 5. Following 1-4 above will greatly reduce P run-off and leaching. This should be done before anything else, and the situation reassessed before spending huge amounts of money!

Fact 6. It is nonsensical to give in to pressure to install expensive mitigations riparian strips, excessively large wetlands and ‘phosphorus walls’ when you have no idea of their long-term effectiveness and maintenance costs, and before you have established whether changing to sustained-release RPR is all you need to do!

Fact 7. in any case simple fenced-off 3-metre wide grass riparian strips are essentially as effective and vastly cheaper than more complex strips. Both reduce bacterial and sediment losses. Neither will have any significant long-term beneficial effect (on a whole -farm basis) on soluble P and nitrate-N loss. But grass strips can be harvested in summer to be fed out, to improve P and N cycling.

Fact 8. In a nutshell, for maintenance of P levels any genuine RPR (not an RPR/Boucraa mix please!) can be used. Just check the Cd content. For low fertility situations or low rainfall, use a blend of RPR and high-analysis soluble P. Fact 9. For N, rather than granular urea, use prilled urea, sprayed immediately prior to, or during, the spreading with urease inhibitor. Use of N can be literally cut in half with big savings.

Fact 10. Potash is more efficient, and must less likely to cause metabolic problems, if applied in small doses 4 times a year, adding up to 50-60% of the total annual amount you are using now. Easy to mix with your prilled urea. Leaching of anions like nitrate will be minimised as well.

For more info, email Bert Quin on bert.quin@quinfert.co.nz, or phone 021 427 572, or visit www.quinfert.co.nz

News

20 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Farm societies have common issues to face This is the fifth and final in a series of articles written by the latest crop of Nuffield Scholars. This week Beef + Lamb insight and strategy analyst Ben Hancock looks at the possibility of farmers generating energy while combatting climate change and being easier on the environment.

FARMING the world over, as much as the context, production and scale vary, shows, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

After nearly six months on the road of my Nuffield journey I was struck by the similarities across continents and farming systems.

So many of the issues we face in New Zealand can be translated to our counterparts around the world.

This highlights that we have allies in dealing with the challenges we face and that we’re not in this alone.

In many developed countries there are the same concerns of the widening gap between urban and rural communities and the challenge of attracting people into their agricultural sectors.

At an agri-tech symposium in the American mid-west plenty of cutting-edge ideas, gadgets and technologies were proposed and introduced to solve myriad issues.

After two days of the symposium a panel of mostly young and engaged farmers was asked what their main concerns were. They repeated a familiar concern: finding staff, especially good staff.

The dairy farmers in Kenya I visited were concerned about connecting with their consumers though the connection is a

more literal one – the actual logistics of getting their product to consumers elsewhere in Kenya, regardless of whether they are small subsistence farmers or larger more commercial operations.

A reliable supply chain is of more concern than perceptions of production.

Even so, their perception in the community still helps when the almost inevitable threat of land theft approaches.

Frustration in having a political voice is a common theme in many countries and agricultural sectors.

Within a few minutes of meeting the owner of a packing house in California he asked what I thought of President Donald Trump but he didn’t want to hear what I thought.

He wanted to tell me what he thought. So much of what he vented was borne out of frustration of not being represented in state or federal politics or in the general public.

So how does NZ differ.

NZ does have a great reputation and it has been enabled by our government and regulators.

The trust in our production systems and goodwill in terms of how NZ is perceived and behaves on the international scene is an asset for our industry.

GOOD NAME: Our reputation as a country matters when selling goods overseas, Nuffield Scholar Ben Hancock says.

The five of us Nuffield scholars benefitted in our travels from NZ’s international reputation.

Frustration in having a political voice is a common theme in many countries and agricultural sectors.

The Christchurch massacre occurred while we were in the United States. Often the perceptions of NZ’s reaction from locals was one of sympathy for what had happened but also an appreciation of the community’s response and Government decisiveness.

Our nation’s reputation is more important to NZ’s agriculture than elsewhere. Take the red meat sector. More than 90% of

what we produce is exported. Our reputation matters.

After a long day riding in the back of a van across nearly the length of Romania our group of scholars reached Bulgaria. Rather worn out and hungry we found a nice enough place to eat. Lo and behold, there was NZ lamb on the menu.

Nothing else on the menu hinted as to where it came from. Somewhere on the border between Romania and Bulgaria our reputation still carried weight.

Perhaps it was the only thing any locals would know of NZ. This really hit home that our community is here, our customer is there. The appreciation for NZ’s image and all that entails is valued by our customers. Yet a lot of the headwinds that are buffeting NZ’s agriculture sector and rural communities are generated locally.

I saw some perverse outcomes of government involvement in industries and, though I’m

reluctant to admit, there might be some benefits.

For example, in Ireland, if society decides an action such as conservation or environmentalism is a priority that benefits wider society at a cost to the producer, wider society contributes in some form – whether through taxpayer-funded support or at the local checkout.

On returning to NZ it feels as though the support and validity gained through regulation has changed.

The inundation of regulatory and societal pressure is wearing on rural communities.

However, we’re not alone in this. There are seismic shifts happening globally.

The detachment between the community and consumer means the cost of demands on production are difficult to meet.

Ultimately, though, the Garden of Eden can’t be demanded without someone needing to pay the full price for having that shiny apple.

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production is not jeopardised.

“We need food Neal Wallace so other sectors need to do better. neal.wallace@globalhq .co.nz “This is a breath of someone to finally fresh air for HE red meat industry say Rankin says while that.” hopes to ramp up its reports have been previous Taste Pure Nature scathing of farming, this one brand campaign is less so. on “I felt like this the back of the report has helped latest international climate us turn a corner, that change report. affected by climate farmers are change but we The Intergovernmental also really need them.”

Panel on Climate Change The report found (IPCC) report global food is being welcomed systems account

by New for a quarter of Zealand farming greenhouse gas leaders as an emissions and endorsement of agricultural emissions our low impact of nitrous systems and the oxide and methane importance of are increasing. maintaining food But land also has a role production. as a The IPCC says carbon sink, absorbing land on which 30% of the we rely for food, planet’s greenhou water, se gas emissions health and wellbeing energy, between 2008 and 2017. is already under pressure Crop productio and climate n is being change will exacerbat affected by higher temperatures, through desertifica e that changing rain patterns tion degradation potentiall and land frequency of extreme and greater y affecting events. food security.

The report warns consump tion The report’s advocacy patterns, land management and balanced diet including of a population growth will determine animal protein sourced the planet’s future from resilient, in a changing sustainable, low climate. greenhou systems is an endorsem se gas “Pathways with higher demand ent for NZ, for Beef + Lamb chief food, feed, and insight officer water, more ON-FARM training Jeremy Baker says. resource-intensive courses have an consumption important role to “This is the NZ She said there should and productio play n and more limited red always future, Feilding High in agriculture’s be an opportunity production system. meat technological improvem Reesby said the to role that form Meaghan Reesby School student ents training because do practical of training plays “It is definitely in agriculture yields, says. trained staff have in increasing the not saying that The year 13 pupil result in a better understand skills of people in we all need to higher risks from ing of how their agriculture should become vegetarian agri-commerce at plans study water scarcity workplaces, such not be overlooked Massey University or vegan.” in drylands, land as farms, function, and any future next year but said degradation and which is good for changes in how not everyone employers and It is an opportun food insecurity training course are interested in agriculture employees. .” ity to ramp delivered needs wants to go up promotion to remember that.

Report contribut to university. of the Taste Pure Feilding High School The daughter of or Associate Himatangi dairy Nature brand, Professor Anita Some people prefer can build their practicalpupils farmers, Meaghan’s to tell Wreford, of farming brother global meat eaters 40 million on approach, whether a more handsLincoln University works experience while on the family farm, about NZ’s low’s Agribusiness that is through at school by complementing a cadetship or beginning carbon footprint, and Economic taking courses offered what he learns at he says.

Research Unit, work with building their knowledge a job and Gateway, a programme through DairyNZ climate says it shows the practical courses, through change importance of for young while her sister courses offered people in their last ambassador Trish also is also full time not implemen by workplace year of school ting contradictory Rankin is training providers that allows them fitting her Massey on the farm, heartened the policies. such as Primary to report says some course work ITO. training made up complete around that. sectors need to “The report is of theory and reduce their highly practical unit standards. emissions faster for NZ as we grapple relevant to ensure food MORE: trade-offs involved with the greenhouse gas P3 emissions, with reducing adapting to the change, managing impacts of climate the we value and maintainiareas supporting our communities and ng and societies in this process.

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

21

Farmers at crossroads after rain Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz GENEROUS rain in Australia coming after three tough years of drought and fire has bought farmers to a crossroads of opportunity likely to ripple through global grain and meat markets.

Mecardo analyst Matt Dalgleish, in Ballarat, Victoria, said bush fire stock losses in New South Wales and Victoria are less than first estimated.

While still devastating, the initial estimates of 1.7 million head of sheep and almost 500,000 cattle have been pared well back.

Total stock losses for New South Wales are estimated to be 20,000 and Victoria Farmers Federation estimates are 7100 for that state.

Kangaroo Island has by far suffered the greatest losses, estimated at 53,000, mainly sheep.

But Dalgleish said the prospects of a fourth year of drought in Victoria and New South Wales have been well and truly banished by widespread rain that has given many districts more water in the past month than in the past year.

“February is usually our hottest month but we have had a cooler February and significant rain.

Melbourne receives 700mm of rain a year and has already had 150mm. Ballarat is similar.

“We cannot recall the grass being as green here at this time of the year. We have had mushrooms and clover is germinating and is at the third leaf stage.”

Even further north in the big fodder-growing expanses of the Mallee district where annual rainfall is about 500mm farmers have enjoyed 50-100mm.

The change in conditions offers some options for farmers who had depleted crop tonnages and historically low stock numbers after three years of drought.

“Our sheep numbers nationally are at a 120-year low, down to 64.8 million.”

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Meantime, last year’s national crop harvest was 16% below its 10-year average.

For many farmers the chance to bank the increased soil moisture and put it into crops rather than livestock is a very viable prospect.

“That moisture can be kept in the ground, used to grow a crop on properties that are very low in stock numbers.”

February is usually our hottest month but we have had a cooler February and significant rain.

Matt Dalgleish Mecardo The prospect of trying to restock with sheep and cattle will be daunting as stock values continue to surge in the recovery phase.

One Mecardo client returned home empty-handed from a stock sale where six-month-old Border Leicester-Merino ewe lambs were going for more than $320 a head.

So-called restarter lambs for breeding are already making A$10 a kg carcase weight, prices usually not seen until winter.

Areas like central New South Wales, in particular, had suffered three tough, dry years and a cropping programme might suit many more now, rather than grazing.

“It is possible that after this recovery we lose another 6% of our sheep flock. Farmers who go cropping generally don’t go back to livestock.”

The cattle story is similar to sheep with almost 60% of last year’s herd slaughter being female stock, taking the national herd to a 30-year low of 24 million with losses suffered in the bush fires paling against the 500,000 killed in

last year’s Queensland floods.

Mecardo’s analysis of past drought impacts has shown meat processors face intense pressure in the recovery phase as farmers hold on to stock for breeding.

Dalgleish expects this time to be no different.

Processors are also under the hammer from significant increases in electricity costs across states.

After two years of low crop production it is possible the country could face a strong surge in tonnages with a switch from livestock.

Australian wheat prices tend to hold a premium of about 20% against global prices, induced by strong biosecurity controls around imports.

“We could see a big switch with a record crop and see that commodity price premium drop.”

Dalgleish and Mecardo managing director Robert Herrmann believe a lot will be learnt from the drought experience and what areas commit to crop versus livestock.

“But basically if you have got product to sell, it is a good time.”

SMALLER: The number of stock lost in Australian bush fires is much less than feared, Mecardo analyst Matt Dalgleish says.

GREEN: The prospect of drought in Victoria and New South Wales has been banished by widespread rain, Mecardo analyst Matt Dalgleish says.

LEGAL TALK with Barbara McDermott Sunset clause in subdivision sale agreement passes reasonable person test

Ling v Northwest Developments Limited In the Ling case, Mr Ling (the purchaser) signed an agreement to purchase a property in a subdivision being undertaken by Northwest (the developer).

The agreement contained the usual subdivision clauses including a sunset clause for the titles to issue by 31 March 2018. The clause permitted the

Barbara McDermott Phone 07 834 6159 barbara.mcdermott@nwm.co.nz

developer to extend the sunset date for another six months if it had submitted the survey plan to LINZ for approval by 31 March 2018.

By February 2018 Northwest had completed most of the steps in the subdivision process, including the Council’s approval of the plan. However, Northwest struck issues – it needed some neighbours’ consents and it needed to amend its plan to take into account a neighbouring subdivision. The amended plan did not change the subdivision or the lot being sold to Mr Ling.

Northwest extended the sunset date by six months.

In August 2018 Northwest advised Mr Ling they had lodged their documents with LINZ to obtain the new titles. Mr Ling cancelled the agreement.

Northwest obtained an order for “specific performance” i.e. a Court order requiring him to complete the agreement. Mr Ling appealed that order. He argued he could cancel the agreement because the plan that was finally lodged to obtain the new titles was not the same plan that had been lodged before 31 March 2018.

www.nwm.co.nz

The Court interpreted the sunset clause in the agreement on the following principles: what do the words survey plan “convey to a reasonable person having all relevant background knowledge reasonably available at the time of the agreement”? This enquiry was to be undertaken “against the overall context of the agreement”.

Considering these principles, the terms of the agreement as a whole, the subdivision process and the purpose of the sunset clause the Court found a reasonable person would “unquestionably” treat the amended plan as being the survey plan for the purposes of the sunset clause. Mr Ling’s appeal failed. As a result the order for specific performance of the agreement by Mr Ling stands.

The devil can be in the detail Particular care should be taken with the terms of the agreement when a property is being subdivided. Complications can arise – as Northwest and Ling found out to their detriment.

This is definitely an agreement which requires the advice of an experienced property lawyer.

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The subdivision process can take many months and even years to complete. Because of the time involved and potential for unexpected issues and delays, an agreement for sale and purchase of a property being subdivided should have additional clauses to protect both the developer and the buyer. One of these protections is a “sunset clause”. This clause allows either party to cancel if the titles do not issue with the agreed time.

This ensures the developer tries to complete the subdivision within the time while allowing flexibility for delays. Purchasers have certainty about their commitment. Despite the inclusion of a sunset clause in the agreement, issues still can, and do, arise. A recent case of Ling V Northwest Developments Limited [2019] NZCA 630 is an example.

News

22 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

BACK ON TRACK: Despite the fear and devastation of bush fires Gordon Nicholas is highly optimistic about the farming year ahead.

agrievents Tuesday 03/03/2020 - Thursday 12/03/2020 DairyNZ Farmers’ Forums, Southland, Taranaki and Canterbury Hear about the latest changes on and off-farm. Research updates will cover: wintering practices (Southland), autumn calving (Taranaki) and variable milking intervals (Canterbury).

Register at: dairynz.co.nz/farmersforum.

Wednesday 18/03/2020 Whangarei Agricultural Pastoral Society Karen Williams - National Board Member and Arable Industry Group Chairperson Federated Farmers of New Zealand Insights into the NZ Arable Industry.

Venue: Barge Showgrounds Events Centre, Whangarei Time: 5.30-7.30pm Contact: business@wap.org.nz for more info.

AWDT Understanding Your Farming Business & Wahine Maia, Wahine Whenua 3 full-day workshops and an evening graduation ceremony run over four months. Equips and supports women involved in sheep and beef farming to lift business performance.

Delivered in over 30 locations around NZ. Registrations for 2020 programmes are now open, visit the website for more information and to register.

Locations and dates (3 modules & graduation): • Kurow: 26 Feb, 25 Mar, 22 Apr & 20 May • Timaru: 27 Feb, 26 Mar, 23 Apr & 21 May • Onewhero: 26 Feb, 25 Mar, 22 Apr & 20 May • Other locations available from 29th April (refer to website) Website: To register visit www.awdt.org.nz/programmes Contact: keri@awdt.org.nz or 06 375 8180 for more info AWDT Future Focus Programme designed for red meat farming partnerships to plan their business together. 2 full-day workshop delivered over two months.

Delivered in over 20 locations around NZ. Registrations for 2020 programmes are now open. Visit the website for more information and to register.

Locations and dates (2 modules): • Rotorua: 10 Mar & 7 Apr • Taumarunui: 11 Mar & 8 Apr • Other locations available from 29th April (refer to website) Website: To register visit www.awdt.org.nz/programmes Contact: keri@awdt.org.nz or 06 375 8180 for more info AWDT It’s all about YOU programme It’s all about YOU is a two-day personal development programme for women involved in the primary sector or rural communities.

You’ll discover your true value, refocus on what is important, explore possibilities and create new networks.

Locations and dates: • Cromwell: 18 &19 March • Milton 26 & 27 March • Whangarei 28 & 29 May • Matamata 18 & 19 June Website: To register visit www.awdt.org.nz/programmes Contact: tessa@awdt.org.nz or 06 375 8180 / 027 696 7409 for more info Wednesday 19/08/2020 Whangarei Agricultural Pastoral Society Mark Wynne 2020 -CEO Ballance Agri-Nutrients - Changing Perception of the Agricultural Industry - What can we do?

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Fire-damaged farms restored by timely rain Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz AS GORDON and Janet Nicholas watched dozens of kangaroos, wallabies and deer sprint out of the flaming bush beside their dairy farm on January 4 they knew they might soon be following as scorching flames leapt across the road and onto the farm’s dry pastures.

Only six weeks later that scary apocalyptic image is hard to imagine as the north eastern Victoria pasture country recovers from the devastating New Year bush fires.

Calves contentedly graze the ryegrass pastures the wild life fled over such a short time ago and the front lawn is lush and green.

The couple are talking optimistically about a promising season ahead on the property that is only a short walk from the New South Wales border.

The slightly surreal reminder of the fires is the hundreds of hectares of scorched brown bush encircling farms.

“I knew things were getting serious when the fire we had heard rather than seen a day before was visible and the wildlife were making a run for it,” Gordon said.

“Then trees around the house just combusted and a huge fireball came hurtling out of the bush, landing on our tubed silage and setting it alight.”

The United Dairy Farmers of Victoria council member and head of the local fire brigade had already packed off his daughter and daughterin-law further down the valley, leaving him, Janet and two sons to fight off the flames.

By January 4 the fire, fanned by 50kmh winds, had shifted further in one night than in three days.

They milked their 580-cow herd early that afternoon and put the cows on the dairy shed yard, cooled by sprinklers.

As the fire swept across the pastures their 90 grazing steers were released as fences burned.

Then trees around the house just combusted and a huge fireball came hurtling out of the bush, landing on our tubed silage and setting it alight.

Gordon Nicholas Farmer Many were not so lucky.

News reports from the region include accounts of stock piling up in frenzied masses, unable to get out as flames advanced on them.

The Nicolas’s replacement heifers on the family runoff half an hour away were among those victims.

More than 80 of the 110 heifers were killed or had to be put down, a task Gordon could not get his son Evan to do after he spent years rearing high-quality young stock.

Thirty animals are back home recovering.

Insurance covers total stock value rather than per head.

“So we may end up a bit short there.”

The family lost a hay shed,

800 tonnes of drymatter supplement, the heifers and some assorted plant and machinery in a blaze that could have taken even more.

Fence damage has included strainer posts and gates, some replaced by BlazeAid volunteers.

The family home was saved in part thanks to the lush green lawn they deliberately maintain as a border and heat absorbed by a tough old gum tree nearby.

Stuffing nappies into the water-filled spouting is one of many tricks locals like the Nicholases use to keep the flames at bay.

“We have been very fortunate really. We have not had much feed from the Victorian Federated Farmers fodder drive but have accepted some private donations, all up about 10 semi-trailers’ worth.

“We have also bought a lot in ourselves.”

His feed demand equates to about one semi worth a day while the pastures recover.

“We have seen the perennial pastures come back very well and that has been helped by the good rain we have enjoyed since the fires.

“The annuals have not performed as well but crops like lucerne and chicory are looking healthy.”

The region gets 1200mm rain a year but has enjoyed summer figures that would be the envy of most North Island farmers now.

An early 23mm snuffed out the last of the flames over two days with a further 40mm falling through to early February.

“We have been lucky in that the rain fell over time, unlike what some farms have

experienced, washing away soil when it fell.”

Ironically, there are also farms in Victoria and New South Wales struggling to get water despite the rain.

Normally clear rivers and dams have turned chocolate brown with ash, making pumping stock water almost impossible.

But it’s also been some heroic work by Gordon and his neighbours to save the 14 dairy farms in the valley.

Gordon recalls lurching down a ridge on his farm in the four-wheel-drive fire truck, blinded by smoke and thinking it could be a good time to get out.

Turning the truck around he was barely able to outrun the flames chasing him.

The Nicholas family displays typical Australian resilience and good humour to some tough times.

Gordon attributes that in part to having enjoyed some consecutive good seasons, helping put more feed in store than they had enjoyed for almost 20 years.

“And while we have debt we also have good equity and cashflow.

“If it had been poor prices, low feed and high debt this would have been harder to deal with.

“It is disappointing to lose 80 high-genetic heifers but it is no good moping about it.

We’ll just have to milk some of those old girls a bit longer.”

It’s been a full-on six weeks for Nicholas, who admits to needing the occasional sitdown in the shade some days just to catch a break.

“But we are feeling very optimistic. If things keep kicking along like this we are setting up for a good winter.”

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

23

Quiet army follows in brigades’ wake Billboards throughout rural areas thank Australian firefighters for their valiant efforts during the bush fire season. Their heroism has become a source of national pride. Now another volunteer brigade is working hard and will do so for months to come. Richard Rennie paid them a visit in Corryong, northeast Victoria.

BLAZEAID is a volunteer organisation helping farmers turn their scorched properties back into farms, refencing and restoring structures devastated by the flames.

Conceived in the wake of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, BlazeAid has 30 camps running throughout Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It is the country’s largest voluntary disaster response organisation, also helping after floods and other natural disasters.

Deep in the scorched country of Corryong the hills ring with the voices and hammering of dozens of volunteers helping farmers get back on their feet.

The length of time we are here is about the same as asking ‘how long is a piece of string?’

Bill Gerritsen BlazeAid Camp co-ordinator Bill Gerritsen has had a stream of volunteers through the camp six hours out of Melbourne.

“That includes students, a judge, even some airline pilots – we have found the pilots, in particular, are very good managers so we pair them up with our skilled fencers.”

Gerritsen, working out of a community recreation centre, is akin to a military commander with a line of whiteboards detailing teams, farms and tasks allocated.

A big notice reminds fencers to stay hydrated with a litre of water every hour under the hot sun.

“We have about 180 farms in this district to tend to and are getting two to three inquiries a day from farmers. The length of time we are here is about the same as asking how long is a piece of string?”

The teams work gruelling 12hour days in tough hill country with time spent on farms varying from two days to two weeks.

What those volunteers find is farmers often still in a state of shock, trying to come to terms with where to start in getting their farms and themselves back on their feet.

“We find when we get there and we start talking to them it makes a huge difference straight off. We have had wives come in here thanking us, having been so worried about their husbands out on what remains of their farm all day alone.”

And the organisation’s work is not limited to fencing. Broken water lines, damaged dwellings, even a smoke-damaged garden have all been put right, often helping farmers as much mentally as physically.

The equipment is held in specially built commando trailers, rugged off-road units loaded with every conceivable fencing need. At Corryong the camp has two trailers and Gerritsen could find plenty of work for another four.

Donations have included major discounts from fencing supply companies like Gallagher and Waratah.

Gallagher animal management general manager Malcolm

HELPING HANDS: Blaze Aid Corryong camp manager Bill Gerritson, centre, with husband and wife volunteers Lyn and Stan Rusmussen.

Photo: Nathan Dyer

Linn said the firm has provided emergency fence packs in the early days post-fires and is working locally helping train farmers and resellers on new fencing methods.

BlazeAid deliberately buys most equipment in the local towns to help boost their subdued economies.

Husband and wife Lyn and Stan Rasmussen have been at the camp since late January, despite having their own business across the state.

In that time they have had only three days off and have every intention to stay for all of February before heading back home.

“This was an area where the two

big fire fronts at the time could have joined up and the damage is fairly immense,” Stan said.

One farm they tended to had not had running water for six weeks.

“We have just been blown away by this place and these people.

The farmers are so thankful for us coming.

“Some have lost every fence on their farm. Even if you simply sit and talk to them for a while it means a lot.”

Gerritsen said BlazeAid offers the chance for people making donations to know all the money is going directly to benefit farmers.

“As an organisation we have

only one full-time, paid employee, our accountant in Melbourne. The rest is completely voluntary.”

As volunteer numbers have started to ease up the workload has not and Gerritsen will welcome any Kiwis wanting contribute to the BlazeAid efforts.

Aside from the compulsory sheep jokes, he believes there might be a chance to share some fencing techniques between countries and for people to help restore rural communities.

MORE:

www.blazeaid.com.au >> Video link: bit.ly/FWblaze

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News

24 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

CUPBOARD FULL: Central Victorian hay cropper David Cossar says last year was the best ever for fodder farmers in his region and things are looking good after early rain this year.

Photos: Nathan Dyer

Summer rain is a gift for Vic farmers Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz AS FARMERS in eastern Victoria pick up the pieces after ravaging bush fires and three years of drought those in the state’s west are helping those who need to fill a feed supply gap, buoyed by the benefit of unseasonal rainfall.

David Cossar, a large-scale hay cropper in central Victoria’s southern Mallee district said last season was as good as he could ever hope for in the vast, tough 500mm annual rainfall country.

And 50mm of rain since New Year helped his operation to a good start this year.

In true Victorian style his operation is big, with his 3000ha generating 40,000 small bales of hay a year for domestic sale both locally and interstate. A further 10,000 large bales are exported.

He also supplies a neighbouring 20,000 head feed lot with supplement.

Cossar’s hay production last year benefited from two exceptional autumn rain breaks of 40-50mm, bringing soil moisture up to healthy levels well before summer hit.

“I don’t think we had ever seen yields, quality and prices as aligned as they have been,” he said.

As an Australian Fodder Industry Association board member he appreciates more than most the huge benefit the summer’s unseasonal rain has brought the industry as fodder supplies flowed west to east.

“In the early days after the New Year bush fires there was a real concern about us running out of fodder.

“Exporters of fodder got a hard time to wind that back when, in fact, we are only exporting about 10% of our total fodder production. Meantime the rain has slowed down demand.”

The recent rain in parts of western Victoria fell sporadically in more eastern areas hit hardest by bush-fire pasture loss.

Demand for supplement has continued, albeit at a slower pace, and the Victorian Farmers Federation has been overseeing donated supplies to affected farmers, delivering in total 8400t.

United Dairy Farmers of Victoria

manager Ashlee Hammond said the trucking distances have been from 650km to 800km in the wake of fires, literally hauling hay from one side of the state to the other.

“The logistics have been a big part of the drive. We have not been short of supply from farmers willing to help out and that is quite remarkable given many were facing the prospect early in the new year of another dry season and could have probably done with having it on hand for themselves just in case.”

Cossar put up a load of highquality hay for the drive.

“You give it if you have got it.

I have had letters from people thanking me for the hay sent to them. It almost puts a tear in your eye to get that. You always hope no one will have to send any to us but feel they would if they had to.”

He has one client in western Queensland who had sunk $500,000 into feed supplement over the past two years just to keep his stock alive. He has stopped ordering only in the wake of the recent rain there and further south.

Cossar said there is a strong sense of optimism in a country

You give it if you have got it. I have had letters from people thanking me for the hay sent to them. It almost puts a tear in your eye to get that.

David Cossar Hay cropper where a dry patch tends to be measured more in years than the weeks most Kiwi farmers are familiar with .

That is supported by industry analyst Mecardo.

Market analyst Matt Dalgleish said there are strong signals drought that has dogged much of the state for almost three years has shifted, with areas like Ballarat getting as much as a quarter of the annual rainfall in recent weeks.

Sightings of mushrooms, an indication of warm, moist, autumn-like conditions have been recorded around the southern Victorian city’s boundaries.

“Normally, February is our hottest month. We have had a cool one so far with 150mm of rainfall.

We can’t recall when it has been as green as it is at this time of year.”

For Cossar the season is shaping up to be business as usual with a portion of his baled hay destined for export to China and Japan while local equestrian demand claims a large portion of his high-quality oaten and straw hay business.

HELPING: David Cossar donated a load of hay to drought and fire-affected farmers.

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Sheep Shears Crutch and Weigh Combo Daggers MateSheep Handler Daggers Rechargeable Mate Daggers Mate Sheep Handler Sheep Handler Sheep Handler • The ultimate machine for fast and efficient dagging and crutching • Air controlled on skids • Tips sheep on their sides for dagging and crutching Calf • Adjustable overhead Crate clamp Sheep Weigh • Includes belly flap • Made in New Zealand

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$ 114.00 Auto Weigh AutoSheep Weigh Sheep Handler Express Conveyor Express Conveyors 1 Handler Sheep Auto Weigh Sheep Sheep Handler Auto Weigh Sheep Handler Sheep Express Conveyors valued at

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• Fast and efficient weighing, drafting and dagging.

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• The ultimate sheep conveyor with high volume throughput, saving time and labour • Hydraulic control of speed and direction (optional) • Deep V design for best restraint of sheep • Available in 3.2m and 4.2m • Optional: walkways. transport kit, hydraulic width control • Made in New Zealand

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THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

BLUE ---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100

Optional ramp clamp, transport kit available.

29,995 DRAWN

M. Z

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31-05-16

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DescripƟon Code FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 1.5M FHSPS15 DescripƟon CodeHALF RAIL/SHEETED Price QtySHEEP PANEL Total 2.0M FARMHAND FHSPRS20 FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 1.5M FHSPS15FULLY$ SHEETED 229.00 SHEEP 2 PANEL $458.00 FARMHAND 2.0M FHSPS20 FARMHAND HALF RAIL/SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 2.0MFARMHAND FHSPRS20 $ 259.00 23 $5,957.00 HALF RAIL/SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 2.5M FHSPRS25 FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 2.0M FHSPS20FULLY$ SHEETED 299.00 SHEEP 3 PANEL $897.00 FARMHAND 2.5M FHSPS25 FARMHAND HALF RAIL/SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 2.5MFARMHAND FHSPRS25 $ MESH 349.00GATE1SLIDING$349.00 SHEEP FHSGSLIDE DescripƟon Code Price Qty Total FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEP PANEL 2.5M FHSPS25 $ 359.00 2 $718.00 STANDARD FHSGSTD20 FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEPFARMHAND PANEL 1.5MSHEEP GATE FHSPS15 $ 2.0M 229.00 2 $458.00 FARMHAND SHEEP MESH GATE SLIDING FHSGSLIDE $ 349.00 1 $349.00 FARMHAND STANDARD$ 2.5M FHSGSTD25 FARMHAND HALF RAIL/SHEETED SHEEP PANEL SHEEP 2.0M GATE FHSPRS20 259.00 23 $5,957.00 FARMHAND SHEEP GATE STANDARD 2.0M FHSGSTD20 $ 439.00 3 $1,317.00 SHEEP DRAFT MODULE ADJUSTABLE-SIDES NY003 FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEPFARMQUIP PANEL 2.0M FHSPS20 $ 299.00 3 $897.00 FARMHAND SHEEP GATE STANDARD 2.5M FHSGSTD25 $ 459.00 4 $1,836.00 YARD PANEL PINS FH07 FARMHAND HALF ADJUSTABLE-SIDES RAIL/SHEETED SHEEP FHSPRS25 $ $3,595.00 349.00 1 $349.00 FARMQUIP SHEEP DRAFT MODULE NY003 2.5M$ 3,595.00 1 SHEEP YARD U-BOW FHSPU S FARMHAND FULLY SHEETED SHEEPFARMHAND PANEL FHSPS25 $718.00 YARD PINS FH072.5M $ 5.00 82 $ 359.00 $410.00 2 Total FARMHAND SHEEP MESH GATE SLIDING FHSGSLIDE $ 349.00 $349.00 FARMHAND SHEEP YARD U-BOW FHSPU $ 109.00 1 $109.00 1 FARMHAND SHEEP GATE STANDARD 2.0M FHSGSTD20 $$15,995.00 439.00 3 $1,317.00 Total OpƟonal FARMHAND SHEEP GATE STANDARD 2.5M Extras FHSGSTD25 $ 459.00 4 $1,836.00 FARMQUIP SHEEP DRAFT MODULE V-SIDES NY004 $ 3,595.00 1 $3,595.00 OpƟonal Extras FARMQUIP SHEEP DRAFT MODULE ADJUSTABLE-SIDES NY003 FARMHAND GROUND SPIKES FH013 YARD PINS FH07 $ 5.00 82 $410.00 FARMQUIP SHEEP DRAFT MODULE V-SIDES NY004 $ 2,595.00 FARMHAND PERMANENT SHEEP YARD POST FHSPOST FARMHAND FHSPU $ 109.00 1 $109.00 FARMHAND GROUND SPIKES SHEEP YARD U-BOW FH013 $ 15.00 SHEEP RACE ANTI BACKING FLAP FHSBF Total $15,995.00 FARMHAND PERMANENT SHEEP YARD POST FHSPOST $ 49.00 SHEEP RACE ANTI BACKING FLAP FHSBF $ 79.00 OpƟonal Extras FARMQUIP SHEEP DRAFT MODULE V-SIDES NY004 $ 2,595.00 FARMHAND GROUND SPIKES FH013 $ 15.00 FARMHAND PERMANENT SHEEP YARD POST FHSPOST $ 49.00 SHEEP RACE ANTI BACKING FLAP FHSBF $ 79.00

• Includes adjustable sides draft module

RED ---------- 1500 BLUE ---------- 2000 GREEN ------ 2500 CYAN --------- 3000 THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO S-SHEETED PANEL FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE

+GST

FREEPHONE 0800 843 024

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO

FARMQUIP Sam AND SHALL NOT BE DRAWN R SHEET SIZE

FARMQUIP DATE SHEEPYARD SYSTEMSSCALE

REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER FREEPHONE PLAN No. POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

0800 843 024

SY 260

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER PLAN No. POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

FARMQUIP DATE SHEEPYARD SYSTEMSSCALE

1:75

A3

1 OF 1

FARMQUIP DATE SHEEPYARD SYSTEMSSCALE

FREEPHONE 0800 843 024

DRAWN

REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR 21/05/18 ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER PLAN No. POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP. SHEET NO.

DRAWN

SY 260

SHEET NO.

Total $458.00 $5,957.00 $897.00 $349.00 $718.00 $349.00 $1,317.00 $1,836.00 $3,595.00 $410.00 $109.00 $15,995.00

$ 2,595.00 $ 15.00 $ 49.00 $ 79.00

RED ---------- 1500 BLUE ---------- 2000 GREEN ------ 2500 CYAN --------- 3000 S-SHEETED PANEL

RED ---------- 1500 BLUE ---------- 2000 GREEN ------ 2500 CYAN --------- 3000 S-SHEETED PANEL

.00

Price Qty $ 229.00 2 $ 259.00 23 $ 299.00 3 $ 349.00 1 $ 359.00 2 $ 349.00 1 $ 439.00 3 $ 459.00 4 $ 3,595.00 1 $ 5.00 82 $ 109.00 1

SY 260

SHEET NO.

9,995

$

.00

Sam R SHEET SIZE 21/05/18

1:75

A3

1 OF 1

+GST

Sam R SHEET SIZE 21/05/18

1:75

A3

1 OF 1

p Sheep / Calf Ramp Farmhand Sheep

Pen Panel Farmhand Round Hay Feeder

Farmhand Heavy Duty Round Feeder

• Large bale, 2m diameter • 15 head positions

• Large bale, 2m diameter • 1200mm high • 9 head positions

AVAILABLE AT FARMLANDS NATIONWIDE

$

Sheep Draft Module Sheep Draft Module Adjustable Sides V-Sides

Rechargeable Sheep shears

• • • •

Farmhand Rectangular Hay Bale Feeder

Battery powered 180watt, 12 volt 2800 RPM Includes combs, cutters, charger, 2 x batteries and carry case.

$

479.00

+GST

695

$

FREIGHT +GST PLUS

Farmhand Lifestyler Hay Feeder Farmhand Lifestyler

Hay Feeder

• Hangs on railed fence or gate

• Fits 2 large bales

AVAILABLE AT FARMLANDS

.00

995.00

+GST

$ PLUS FREIGHT

69.00

FREIGHT +GST PLUS

man Vetless Crush

Stockman Vet Cattle Crush with Squeeze

Stockman Vetless Cattle Crush Stockman Vetless Crush

Stockman Vet Crush • • • • • • • • • • • •

Designed for medium to large farms and herds Stockman heavy duty headbal Hot-dipped galvanised Extra heavy duty 75 x 50 base frame Split-side gates on both sides Quiet locking system Slam latches on both gates Heavy duty steel floor Includes rear handle for headbailoperation Vet access V5 Made in New Zealand

• Designed for medium to large farms and herds • Made in New Zealand • VL2 model

kman Vet Crush

Head Plan

$

9,995

.00 +GST

Optional offside draft handle $395.00 + GST

Stockman Vetless Stockman Vetless S Stockman Vet Crus with double Crush C Cattle Crush Cattle side squeeze • Designed for medium to large farms and herds • Extra heavy duty 75 x 50 base frame • Split-side gates on both sides • Split gates on both sides • VL5 model • Made in New Zealand

StockBoss Vetless Crush

StockBoss Auto D3 Drafter

*Scales sold separately

$

11,995

.00

$

+GST

Optional offside draft handle $395.00+ GST. Side squezze $2,595.00+ GST.

12,995

.00 +GST

Optional offside draft handle $395.00 + GST

Stockman Vet Crush StockBoss Vetless Crush

StockBoss Auto D3 Drafter

StockBoss Vet Crush

StockBoss Vet Crush • Top of the range. Designed for large animals or stud operation • StockBoss heavy duty headbail • Hot dipped galvanised • Split entry46 gateHead Plan with • 3-piece sided gates • Slam latches on side gates • Quiet locking system • Includes rear handle for headbail • Made in New Zealand

Curved Tub

StockBoss Auto D3 Drafter 68

16,995 StockBoss Vet Crush .00

$

• Fully Automatic weighing and drafting – PLUS MORE! • Top of the line automated crush. Designed for larger animals and/or stud breeders • StockBoss heavy duty headbail • Extra heavy duty 75 x 50 x 5 mainframe 89 Head Plan • SplitPlan entry gate Head • 3-piece sided gates • Air operation • Hot dipped galvanised • Heavy duty steel or rubber floor • Remote control • Made in New Zealand *Scales sold separately

+GST

Optional double sided squeeze available for $2,795.00 + GST

Stockman Yard Crush Gates

Head Plan

26 Head Plan

46 Head

102 Head Plan

• Add side gates to existing timber yards with a headbail and sliding gate to make up an affordable handling area

PRICED FROM

$

.00 1,095 Stockman Vetless Cattle Crush

26 Head Plan

+GST PER SIDE

with Double Sided Squeeze 260 Head Plan

Head Plan

350 Head Plan

100 Head Plan

500 Head Plan

4 100 Head Plan

46 Head Pla

26 Head Plan

46 Head Plan with Curved Tub

89 Head Plan

68 Head Plan

102 Head Plan

100 Head Plan

160 Head Plan

260 Head Plan

350 Head Plan

500 Head Plan

6

Weight gain at the touch of a finger.

Touch Screen Weigh Scales and Readers Simple to operate touch screen weigh scales and EID Readers.

0800 731 500 www.gallagher.com

TW-1

Weigh scale

TW-3

Weigh scale

TWR-1

Weigh scale & Reader

TWR-5

Weigh scale & Reader

Farmhand Vetless Cattle Crush Farmhand Vet Crush

Farmhand Vetless Farmhand Farmhand Vetless Cattle Crush FarmhandVet Vet Crush Crush Cattle Crush • • • • • • • •

• Economical crush for weighing and handling • Farmhand walkthrough headbail • 50 x 50 x 4 base frame • One piece gates on both sides • Hot dip galvanised • Heavy duty steel floor • Single sliding entry door

$

5,195.00

Economical crush for weighing and handling Farmhand walkthrough headbail 50 x 50 x 4 base frame One piece gates on both sides Hot dip galvanised Heavy duty steel floor Single sliding entry door Vet access gates

Farmhand Vetless Cattle Crush Farmhan

$

+GST

6,295.00

+GST

Optional offside draft handle $495.00+ GST

Optional offside draft handle $495.00+ GST

Farmhand Vetless Cattle Headbail Crush Farmhand VetSliding Crush Headbail Stockman Gate Farmhand Headbail Farmhand Stockman Headbail Stockman Sliding GateStockman

Farmhand Headbail Farmhand Headbail Farmhand Handler Farmhand Walkthrough Swingbail Walkthrough Swingbail

hand Vetless Crush With walkthrough

Handler

Farmhan

Farmhand Handler With swingbail/headbail - Swing Headbail

• Great for lifestyle blocks headbail or small farms needing an Farmhand Vetless Cattle Crush Farmhand Vet Crush • Great for lifestyle blocks or small economical cattle handling farms needing an economical cattle handling area • Headbail and railed sides

$

2,995

area

3,190 Farmhand Vetless Cattle Crush

Farmhand Handler $ .00

Farmhand .00 Handler - Swing Headbail +GST

+GST

Farmhand Vet C Farmhand Vetless Cattle Crush Farmhand Vet Crush

Add side gate for $400.00+ GST

Farmhand Handler - Swing Headbail

Farmhand Vetless CattleHandler Crush Farmhand Vet Crush Farmhand

Farmhand Yard Panels Farmhand Cattle Yard Farmhand Slam - Bundle ofCalf 10 Mate Auto Calf Weigh Crate Latches Gates - Single Draft

h Crate

Drafter Yard Panels Farmhand Cattle Yard Farmhand Slam • Weighs calves upFarmhand to 120kg - Bundle of 10 Latches Gates Calf mate Auto Farmhand Calf Weigh Crate Farmhand

Calf Weigh Crate - 3-Way Draft • Weighs calves up to 120kg Calf Weigh

Crate

- Single Draft

• Weighs calves up to 120kg

Calf Weigh Crate

Drafter

Headbail Walkthrough

Calf Mate Auto

- Single Draft CattleDrafter Farmhand Vetless Crush Farmhand Vet Crush • Weighs calves up to 120kg

Farmhand Curved Force Tub

.00 $ .00 2,995 11,995 Calf Dehorning Bail Force Tub Farmhand Curved $

+GST

Walkthrough

Swingbail

$

+GST

Calf Dehorning Bail • Also weigh using Calf Dehorning Bail Farmhand600mm Headbail Farmhand load bars

Headbail Swingbail

Stockman Sliding Gate Farmhand Headbail Farmhand Headbail • Designed for fast efficient Calf Mate Auto Stockman Sliding Gate Stock Farmhand Headbail Farmhand Headbail Stockman Headbail Stockman Sliding Gate Farmhand Headbail Farmhand Headbail weighing and 3-way drafting Walkthrough Swingbail Swingbail Drafter Walkthrough Swingbail Walkthrough for large herds • Auto weighing and drafting • Weighs up to 160kg

Farmhand Cattle Yard Stockman Gates Sliding Gate

Farmhand Loading Ramp Calf Dehorning Bail

.00 $ .00 1,395 895 Farmhand Loading Ramp +GST

+GST

Farmhand Slam Yard Panels Farmhand Heavy -Farmhand Farmhand Cattle Bundle of 10 Latches Farmhand Slam Slam Farmhand Farmhand Farmhand Cattle YardYard Farm Farmhand Cattle

Duty Slam Latches

GatesHeadbail • Includes mounting brackets Stockman Sliding Gate StockmanGates Headbail

n Vetless Cattle Crush

- Post to post - Post to rail - Rail to rail

Yard Gates Latches Latches • 1800mm, 2100mm, 2500mm, 2700mm, 3100mm (L)

15.00 5 19MM $Farmhand Farmhand Curved Force Tub 30.00 Loading Ramp3 25MM $ Curved $ $ Loading Farmhand Force Tub.00 Farmhand LoaR Farmhand Force TubFarmhand 35.00Curved 795.00 295 5 3 14MM

$

+GST

+GST

$

1,195.00

+GST

- Bundle of 10 - Bundle

Farmhand Cattle Yard Farmhand Slam 6 Latches Gates

PRICED FROM

+GST

+GST

+GST

Farmhand Yard Panels

- Bundle of 10

5

Farmhand 10 Head Yard Farmhand 10 Head Yard

Farmhand 5 Head Yard

Farmhand Yards

• • • • •

• 1800mm high panels • 7 rail multi-purpose for cattle and sheep • 70mm x 40mm rail • Farmhand walkthrough headbail • Farmhand sliding race gate • Farmhand adjustable loading ramp (optional) • Galvanised construction • Kitset delivered to main depot • Available to order through all Farmlands branches

7-rail multi-purpose for cattle and sheep Farmhand walkthrough headbail Farmhand sliding gate Hot dipped galvanised Kit set delivered to main depot

Farmhand 10 Head Yard

Farmhand 25 Head

Farmhand 20 Head Yard

(Approximately 5 head yard size, depending on animal size)

4,295

.00 $ +GST (FH5) Farmhand 20 Head Yard

Farmhand 25 Head Yard

Farmhand 10 Head Yard Farmhand 10 Head Yard

• • • • •

Farmhand 20 Head HeadYard Yard Farmhand 20

7-rail multi-purpose for cattle and sheep Farmhand walkthrough headbail Farmhand sliding gate Hot dipped galvanised Kit set delivered to main depot

• • • • •

7-rail multi-purpose for cattle and sheep Farmhand walkthrough headbail Farmhand sliding gate Hot dipped galvanised Kit set delivered to main depot

Farmhand 25 Head Yard

Farmhand 20 Head Yard (Approximately 10 head yard size, depending on animal size)

$

Farmha

(Approximately 20 head yard size, depending on animal size)

4,795.00 +GST

$

(FH10-1)

Farmhand 32 Farmhand 3220 Head Farmhand HeadYard Yard

6,495.00 +GST

(FH20)

Head Yard HeadFarmhand Yard 2512mtr Farmhand Farmhand Horse Pen 12mtr Ho

Farmhand 32 Head Yard

Farmhand 32 Head Yard

Farmhand 80 Head eYard en Farmhand 12mtr Hors P

• • • • •

(Approximately 32 head yard size, depending on animal size)

7-rail multi-purpose for cattle and sheep Farmhand walkthrough headbail Farmhand sliding gate Hot dipped galvanised Kit set delivered to main depot

(Approximately 32 head yard size, depending on animal size) DRAWN

M. Z

DATE

31-05-16

SCALE

FH - 32 R

SHEET NO.

5

10

10

40

40

S/G

*Excludes loadingA3ramp

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

S/G

H/B

H/B

S/G

BLUE ---------- 1800 *Excludes loading ramp GREEN -------- 2100

5

S/G

Farmhand 32 Head Yard

7-rail multi-purpose for cattle and sheep Farmhand walkthrough headbail Farmhand sliding gate Hot dipped galvanised Kit set delivered to main depot

S/G

• • • • •

Farmha

S/G

SHEET SIZE

25

N.T.S.

H/B

25 H/B

1 OF 1

Farmhand Yard Panels Farmhand Farmhand Loading .00 .00 $FarmhandCurved $ 32 Head Yard 12mtr+GST Horse Pen Force Tub +GST (FH32) Bundle of 10Farmhand Ramp ) Yard Pane Farmhand Curved(FH80Farmhand

9,495

BLUE ---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100

BLUE ---------- 1800 BLUE GREEN -------- 2100

---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

M. Z

DATE

31-05-16

SCALE

FH - 32 R

18,995

DRAWN

SHEET NO.

BLUE ---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

SHEET SIZE

N.T.S.

A3

1 OF 1

FH - 32 R

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE SHEET SIZE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN BLUE ---------- 1800 OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE GREEN -------- 2100 N.T.S. EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER 1 OF 1 POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

DRAWN

M. Z

DATE

31-05-16 WHOLE

BLUE ---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100

SCALE

SHEET NO.

FH - 32 R

M. Z

DRAWN DATE

A3

SCALE

SHEET SIZE

SHEET NO.

31-05-16

N.T.S.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO

A3

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

FH 80 - L

1 OF 1

A3

THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO

REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED INSHALL NOT BE FARMQUIP AND 31-05-16 REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR DESIGN ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE N.T.S.OR MANUFACTURE WHEN SUCH EXCEPT USERWHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN 1 OF 1DIRECT WRITTEN POSSESSES AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP. AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

DATE

SCALE ANY

M. Z

DRAWN

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE DRAWN M. Z SHEET SIZE

EXCEPT SHEET NO.

DRAWN

M. Z

DATE

31-05-16

DATE

FHFH- 80 32- LR

SHEET SIZE

SHEET SIZE

SCALE

SCALE

SHEET NO.

N.T.S.

31-05-16

A3

SHEET 1 OFNO. 1

N.T.S.

A3

1 OF 1

Farmhand Curved Farmhand Yard Panels Farmhand BundleRamp of 10 Force Tub Farmhand Loading Farmhand Curved FRP Catwalk Grating E Bundle of 10 and LoadingRamp HIL Force SWTub TOCKS rmhand Yard Panels Farmh Add loading ramp for $3,195.00 + GST (Plus freight)

Add loading ramp for $3,195.00 + GST (Plus freight)

IN THE INFORMATION CONTAINED Y TO THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETAR NOT BE FARMQUIP AND SHALL IN REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED USED FOR WHOLE OR IN PART OR RE MANUFACTU OR DESIGN ANY EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN FARMQUIP. AUTHORISATION FROM

BLUE ---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100

ed Curv Far LAST Force Tub

Force Tub mhand • 3.2m diameter curved tub • Partially sheeted to provide visual barrier • Man gate access • Safety latching system • Hot dip galvanised • Easily incorporated into any Farmhand yard BLUE ---------- 1800 GREEN -------- 2100 system

Farmhand Curved Force Tub $

2,295.00

+GST PLUS FREIGHT

31-05-16

SHEET NO.

FH - 32 R

Fa Bundle of 10

A3

1 OF 1

Ramp

M. Z

DATE

31-05-16

SHEET NO.

SHEET SIZE

N.T.S.

• Adjustable height ramp

DRAWN

SCALE

FH - 32 R

M. Z

DATE

SCALE

• Sheet size 2405 x 915mm

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DRAWING IS PROPRIETARY TO FARMQUIP AND SHALL NOT BE REPRODUCED OR DISCLOSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART OR USED FOR ANY DESIGN OR MANUFACTURE EXCEPT WHEN SUCH USER POSSESSES DIRECT WRITTEN AUTHORISATION FROM FARMQUIP.

DRAWN

SHEET SIZE

N.T.S.

A3

1 OF 1

Farmhand Yard Panels Farmhand Loading Bundle of 10 Ramp $

329.00

+GST PER SHEET

$

3,195.00

+GST PLUS FREIGHT

7

Bullmax Post Driver Bullmax Grease Gun Bullmax Earth Auger Bullmax Eart Use for Y Posts, Earth Pegs, 18V portable Grease Gun Vineyard Posts, Ground Pegs with Spare Battery

One man earth auger

Two man earth a

Bullmax Post Driver Bullmax Grease Gun Bullmax Earth Auger Bullmax Earth Auger One man earth auger

Use for Y Posts, Earth Pegs, 18V portable Grease Gun

Vineyard Posts, Ground Pegs Bullmax Post Driver

with Spare Battery

• Powerful 40CC 4-stroke engine • Includes interchangeable 45mm, 55mm, 73mm and 80mm sleeve heads • Lightweight with anti-vibration comfort-plus handle • 1500-2000 blows per minute.

Impact energy up to 45J

+GST

• • • •

Powerful 2-stroke, 68CC engine Commercial quality Heavy duty gearbox 150mm, 250mm, 300mm auger sizes included • 450mm extension bar • Recoil impact spring • Also available: 1 Man Earth Auger $799 + GST

AS SEEN AT

SOUTHERN FIELD DAYS!™

.00 .00 .00 995 995

$

349 349

BMPD-65-2 BMPD-65-2

BMPD-65-2

Two man earth auger

Bullmax Earth Auger

799

BMGG-18V-1.3

BMGG-18V-1.3

.00 .00 899 799 899 .00 899 .00 $

.00

+GST

BMEA-52-2

BMEA-68-1

BMEA-52-2

BMEA-68-1

Bullmax Generator Bullmax Compressor Bullmax Compressor Bullmax Generator Bullmax Compressor Farmhand Round Horse Pens ShelterShed Bullmax Compress Kohler 4-Stroke Petrol Portable electric 320 FAD Portable petrol 385 FAD Kohler 4-Stroke Petrol Portable electricShelter 320 for: FAD Portable petrol 385 FAD Calves, horses, sheep, lambs, alpacas Storage for: Hay, farm implements, bikes and more!

• Kitset, easy bolt together design, quick to install • Round pens include 2100mm W • 12, 15, 18 & 20 meter round pens • Comes with steel colour x 5 rail panels and 1 high top gate • Kitset easy pin together system cladding for roof and 3 sides • Heavy duty 50 x 50 RHS PRICED FROM galvanised steel frame • Lower walls clad with 18mm plywood insert +GST • 3000mm W x 3000mm D x 2200mm H BMC-E-320

$

3990 795

.00

$

1,595

BMG-3000

Optional ground spikes $15.00 each

1,595

795

EW N PRODUCT

2,995.00

+GST

KITSET + FREIGHT

BMC-P-385

BMC-P-385

BMC-E-320

BMG-3000 Promotional offers valid until 31st March 2020. Not to be used in conjunction with any other finance offers. See finance T&C’s for details. Finance terms facilitated by UDC and Heartland Bank. Many products shown are manufactured to order so standard Farmquip leadtimes and freight apply. Freight charged on all orders unless otherwise stipulated. Cattle yards pricing excludes concrete and site works.

PROFENCE BARBED WIRE 2.5MM 25KG ROLL 75MM OR 150MM 59

599

| 1001713, 1002523

119.95

$

GALLAGHER ENERGIZER M5200i

SAVE

$63.94

TRIBAL GOLD HERBICIDE 20L 188

| 1028975

1,199 .95

$

FARMHAND 2M ROUND BALE FEEDER

TM

$

SAVE

$281.05

289

| 1017279

376.00

$

SAVE

$79.95

| 1021101

579.95 SAVE

$233.05

FAR_09614

= Choices Rewards Points earned. * Terms and Conditions apply. Prices include GST. Savings and Discounts based on normal retail price. While stocks last.

Prices valid from 1st – 31st March 2020.

GALLAGHER THREE-WAY AUTO DRAFTER, TW1 SCALE AND LEAD-ON RACE COMBO 6,999 | 1009322, 1022924, 1040350

$

DELFAST 4.00MM CORDLESS POST STAPLER WITH 2 X 2V LI-ION BATTERIES AND CHARGER

$

214 | 1000458 ^A0073

1,999 | 1007333

999 | 1040363

.95

CYDECTIN® SELENI DRENCH FOR SHEEP

PROMAX MIST GREEN WATER TANK 30,000L

.00

$

.95

$

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

25

Kiwi firms boost Aussie recovery Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz KIWI agri firms are eying opportunities created by the Australian recovery from drought and bush fires.

They are selling new technology and systems to help Aussie farmers deal better with future tough seasons.

Hundreds of kilometres of fences are now being built throughout Victoria and New South Wales by volunteers and paid contractors.

Gallagher’s Australia-based animal management systems general manager Malcolm Linn said many farmers are using the blank slate the fire left as a chance to redefine their farm’s subdivision and layout.

“Even before the fires and drought exclusion fencing has been a real focus for more farmers as a means of keeping wild dogs and kangaroos out of pasture areas and stock out of bush areas.”

Three years of tough drought mean feed levels in the bush are severely depleted, pushing dogs and kangaroos into farmed areas at a time when cattle and lambs have never been worth more.

Areas like east Gippsland and northeast Victoria are particularly vulnerable, with significant natural bush areas bounding farms.

“The suspended electric fence system we have developed has proven to work well linked in to energiser systems that are capable of communicating their performance to sheds and houses as far away as 25km.”

Australian farmers are also looking harder at riparian protection.

Gallagher is working closely with Landcare Australia, including offering Gallagher Landcare fencing grants for individual

fencing projects up to $8000 including materials. They focus on fencing for grazing management and conservation.

The focus in Australia on carbon sequestration will also increasingly be about excluding both wild and domestic animals from plantation areas, Linn said.

Significant subsidies are also now on offer for farmers fencing major native forest areas.

“The suspension fence design is proving it can retain its integrity better than a traditional fence. It may have 70 posts per kilometre compared to 200 for a traditional fence so there is less maintenance and greater effectiveness in control.”

There was a perception they may have to do a lot of resowing but a lot of perennials are deeprooted and are coming back.

Tom Dickson Barenbrug Seeds New Zealand seed companies are also doing more business.

Barenbrug Agriseeds research and innovation manager Tom Dickson said with rain on firedamaged pastures has boosted demand for quick feed options.

“There was a perception they may have to do a lot of resowing but a lot of perennials are deeprooted and are coming back. We are finding farmers are ranking paddocks on damage and recovery potential.

“A focus on quick feed grasses means they can get some hay off and in the shed.”

SHEDS

Cattle Yards

YARDS

There is a lot of money pouring in to help farm recovery and recognition that will not continue in future if fires and droughts are regular events, prompting more consideration about diversity and robust grass types.

That is matched by some extremely high water prices, soaring to A$500/megalitre (a million litres), almost double the cost of a year ago. That focuses attention on drought-tolerant varieties.

Barenbrug has moved to reduce its climate exposure in seed production, growing more in Tasmania alongside the mainland.

Getting ryegrass, cocksfoot and tall fescue from NZ also helps with diversification.

The shift in weather patterns in Australia has created timing pressure with quick feed seed taking 18 months to lead to supply and lucerne even longer at 5-7 years.

Dickson cautioned there are still some areas, including pockets in New South Wales and northern Victoria, where the dry is holding on.

But there is a greater sense of optimism about feed supplies.

“And lamb, cattle and dairy prices are all historically high.

“But farmers have spent a lot of time feeding stock so there is not a lot of cash to spare for the next 12 months.”

PGG Wrightson Seeds Australia sales and marketing manager Jason Agars said there has been a big surge in demand for quickstart crops, particularly oats, leaving supplies short.

Demand has been concentrated by the break in the dry and the fires coinciding.

The shortage of quick-growing cereal crop supply had also been intensified by last year’s low cereal yields further depleting supplies.

Like most seed companies

BRIDGES

GROW QUICK: Farmers want fast-growing grasses and cereals to capitalise on the rain that has broken the Australian drought, Barenbrug Seeds research and innovation manager Tom Dickson says.

PGG Wrightson gets seed from NZ along with Tasmania and the mainland.

There is still a need for followup rain in parts of Victoria while the coastal strip of New South Wales has experienced significant

rain that has refilled dams and saved town water supplies.

“But over the ranges in places like Dubbo it’s still dry. In Victoria east and west Gippsland are good but central and northern regions are also still quite dry.”

Sheds

Woolsheds & Covered Yards

Newsmaker

26 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

New BeltexMerino cross shows good meat promise The hard answers are yet to come but early indications are a new Merino-cross sheep look exciting. Glenn Fastier and John Tavendale talked to Annette Scott about the first crop of Beltex-Merino lambs.

A

WORLD-FIRST for the recently imported Beltex sheep breed has delivered a crop of Beltex-Merino lambs that have the breeders just a little bit excited.

The beginning of the exciting venture for the sheep industry was born in 2017 when the first imported Beltex embryos were transferred to ewes on Perendale stud breeder Blair Gallagher’s Rangiatea farm in the Mid Canterbury foothills.

Beltex NZ was established by Gallagher, sheep genetics scientist and former Invermay head Jock Allison and Canterbury farm adviser John Tavendale.

The Belgian Texels, Beltex as they are known, have a great deal to offer carcase quality in the export industry, Tavendale said.

The muscling in the sheep is impressive and the high-yielding lamb carcase has the Beltex continuing to grow in popularity as a terminal sire in Britain.

Livestock markets report higher prices for Beltex rams because of the fierce demand from buyers and top-end lambs are achieving up to a 20% premium over other finished lambs.

Having proved their worth in the meat respect over their three years in NZ, research is now under way to see if the Beltex can make an impact on the NZ Merino and its associated wool industry.

“The big emphasis so far has

OPPORTUNITY LOOMS: Simon’s Hill farmers Sarah and Glenn Fastier have bred the first BeltexMerino lambs that are proving an exciting prospect for the Merino industry.

Photo: Otago Daily Times

been on the terminal sire. This cross with the Merino is a world first for Beltex and because it’s a first the wool is yet unknown,” Tavendale said.

“We have the opportunity for the research to be done now and see what opportunity there is in the wool.

“I do think there will be potential to some degree.

Just what degree we’ve yet to determine and we’ll start the trials over the winter and see.”

The trial lambs, the first Beltex-Merino progeny, were bred by Glenn and Sarah Fastier on Simon’s Hill farm in South Canterbury.

A random pick of 100 lambs from the weaning earlier this month has been sent to Tavendale’s Mid Canterbury property for their first shearing with research under way to test their ability for winter lamb contracts and wool marketability.

“It’s pretty exciting really. This is a world-first and there’s looking to be potential in more ways than one with the Merino,” Tavendale said.

The first Beltex-Merino lamb draft from Simon’s Hill processed out at 18.27kg, yielding 55.86% carcase weight to yield, at least 3% more than expected above Merino crossbred and substantially ahead of the Merino.

“It’s been an outstanding result.

The Beltex has a role to play from this little trial.

WORLD FIRST: John Tavendale is excited about the potential of the first crop of Beltex-Merino lambs. Photo: Annette Scott

“If high country farmers want a terminal sire that will draft lambs quickly then it appears the Beltex has got quite a lot to offer.

“The muscling out of the Beltex has added a lot to the Merino carcase. Now we’ll have to see what it can do for the wool,” Tavendale said.

Glenn and Sarah Fastier at Simon’s Hill farm 3000ha running 7000 Merino ewes, wintering 5000 Merino hoggets while also running 250 Hereford-Angus cows to the bull.

“So we are more intensive, effectively wintering 14,000 stock units.”

In the heart of the Mackenzie Basin the temperature extremes can peak over 40C in summer and drop to minus 20C in winter with rainfall low at 500mm average and northwest winds constant.

“But the stock thrive and with the introduction of irrigation and development of the lowland hill country we have achieved our focus on making it a farm as it was never big enough to be a run,” Glenn said.

With the dryland development and 300ha now under pivot

irrigation and subdivision of the lower hills into lucerne-mix paddocks ewe numbers have grown and the property increased from two to seven stock units to the hectare.

“It has given quite a lift and been a huge benefit in rotational grazing, mob sizing and lamb survival and will hopefully allow us to get away from selling store stock.”

While the Merino ewes and SuffTex-Dorper ram have been a successful cross, the opportunity to grow lambs out more quickly had Fastier keen to try the Beltex over the Merino.

“I think it could catch on and bring a good alternative to the Merino industry,” Fastier said.

“Admittedly, they were older ewes they went to but unscientifically the lamb survival was particularly good and certainly there were no lambing issues.”

Fastier said Merino lambs, being quite slow to mature, are a longerterm prospect and with the onfarm ability now he’s keen to look at growing lambs more quickly.

“To give us flexibility we want something that matures as quickly as possible to offset other parts of our business.

“As a wool-growing machine the Merino is lesser in fat and muscle where the Beltex is the other end of the scale – all fat and muscle – so we’re looking at what the Beltex can offer us,” Fastier said.

“It was a small trial to start with

I only ever thought of the Beltex as a terminal but our Merinos are super fine so there’ll be no question about the wool being fine enough to make good money.

Glenn Fastier Farmer ewes taken at random and it’s been pretty impressive meat to bone.”

With wool prospects down the track the Simon’s Hill Merinos will be well-suited.

“I only ever thought of the Beltex as a terminal but our Merinos are super fine so there’ll be no question about the wool being fine enough to make good money.

“We only did this out of interest but it has proved itself to be as good if not better than we do now so we are open to future opportunities.

“If there’s a terminal sire for the Merino industry then a highyielding Beltex sire will have much to offer Merino breeders.”

And the wool prospect.

“The potential is there and in time the research will tell us how good or not that might be.” Fastier said.

Plenty of rams will be on sale BELTEX NZ’s third annual auction on March 6 will offer for the first time Beltex and Beltex-cross ram lambs and Beltex-Cheviot rising two-tooth rams.

The auction has 170 rams including purebreds

and Suffolk, Texel, Perendale, Cheviot and Poll Dorset crosses.

The sale will be held at the Gallagher property Rangiatea, Mount Somers, with viewing from 11am and the auction starting at 1.30pm.

New thinking

THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

27

Fly strike prediction tool coming A new tool to help farmers predict fly strike will work in a similar way to facial eczema warnings.

Hopefully, in a couple of years we’ll have an accurate prediction model for fly strike

C

OUNTING the hairs on the heads of dead flies might sound as exciting as watching paint dry.

But the work, which identifies fly species, will help create a new data model to let sheep farmers predict when fly strike could hit.

The two-year project by Massey University is developing a risk model for fly strike so farmers can more accurately know when it is likely.

School of Agriculture and Environment head Professor Paul Kenyon outlined the project at Limestone Downs Station’s annual open day near Port Waikato.

It will be similar to facial eczema risk assessment.

Similar fly strike risk models are already used in Britain and Australia.

Creating the model means collecting lots of information on climate conditions and populations of the two main fly species responsible for strike, Lucilia cuprina and Lucilia sericata.

Massey University graduate student Paul Brett is identifying the flies.

“Paul is collecting hundreds of flies each week, luckily he’s an entomologist because he likes flies and what he has to do is look down a microscope at every fly and he diagnoses the flies as the two types of strike flies based on how many hairs are on the head.

“You can imagine that’s an exciting job,” Kenyon said.

Flies are collected from traps on eight farms, including Limestone Downs, throughout New Zealand over two years.

Professor Paul Kenyon Massey University

FIX NEEDED: Fly strike is a big issue for sheep farmers, Professor Paul Kenyon says.

Weather stations are set up on each farm to monitor maximum, minimum and average temperatures, humidity and wind direction. The farms also have three soil probes to monitor temperature because that affects fly emergence.

The meteorological data is then matched with the fly collection data.

Fly strike is caused by flies laying their eggs on sheep. The maggots eat the sheep’s living flesh and poison them with ammonia secretions. It affects sheep health and production, causing an on-farm financial impact.

“Sheep farmers rank fly strike as one of the biggest issues they have to deal with,” Kenyon said.

WARNING: Massey University is developing a risk model to better inform sheep farmers when fly strike is likely.

In the 2018-19 season across the eight sites the traps were out from September to May to determine when the season started and finished. The exercise has been repeated over the 201920 season.

The data collected shows the cuprina fly was trapped from October to May while the sericata fly was found from late November to April.

At Limestone Downs the peak capture times were February 4 and late February for the sericata and cuprina fly respectively.

Once the data from this season is collated it will be tested using international models and a new local model to see which is more accurate.

To make it more user-friendly, the researchers will incorporate Niwa’s virtual climate stations into the model so farmers can use it to predict local risk times.

“Once we have got through this summer-autumn to work out when the end of the season is we’ll be at the stage of testing some of those models.

“Hopefully, in a couple of years we’ll have an accurate prediction model for fly strike, allowing farmers to make more informed decisions when they do the various management options on their farms to mitigate against it.”

Study puts arable technology on pasture Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz A PROJECT to adapt technology used for variable rate application of fertiliser on arable crops to work on pasture is showing is showing initial promise.

Topcon Agriculture and Lincoln Agritech are assessing optical sensing technology or near infrared sensors for variable rate application of nitrogen fertilisers on pasture, especially on dairy farms.

Nitrogen fertiliser is usually applied uniformly over a pasture, irrespective of fertility, soil type or area of a paddock but the threeyear study aims to enable farmers to apply the fertiliser at rates the soil needs.

Also known as optical sensing technology, it is commonly used for assessing biomass and the nitrogen status in arable crops.

Lincoln Agritech has shown when used on pasture, it can cut nitrogen use by 30%

and a leaching by 13% while maintaining pasture yield.

Topcon sales and service representative James Storey says the system uses sensors attached to the cab of a tractor or truck.

They take readings from either side of the vehicle to determine the level of chlorophyll in the pasture.

The readings are used to calculate average chlorophyll content of the area.

That determines the appropriate nitrogen fertiliser amount to be put on specific parts of the paddock.

Trampled area like gates don’t need any fertiliser and gullies do not need much if any nitrogen because nutrients wash to lowlying areas.

The three-year trial is halfway through and Storey says they are seeing a significant increase in grass growth but it is too early to accurately quantify.

They are looking for new farms to participate and to

MAKING PROGRESS: James Storey from Topcon who is part of research project to improve variable application of fertiliser on pasture.

provide more data and have a contractor who will collate and provide information from three units he has attached to his tractors.

In the arable sector the technology ensures crop yields are uniform and a pasture paddock should achieve a similar result.

The technology includes a

GPS system to provide proof of placement for fertiliser application, which will be essential for farm environment plans.

Opinion

28 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

EDITORIAL

Aussies give us a lesson

T

HE Crowded House song, Four Seasons in One Day, is about Melbourne though this year it could apply to the whole of Victoria. The year started with catastrophic bush fires laying waste to farms and rural communities. Then came the floods that again hit the state hard. Now, Australian farmers, with the help of volunteers and the wider primary industries in Australia and overseas, are optimistic. People have worked to repair fences, find stock and get farms working again. The rain has kick-started the growth that will bring life back to the country.

Farmers Weekly reporter Richard Rennie visited Victoria last month to see first-hand how farmers and the volunteers helping them are recovering from the summer from hell. He found there are lessons for New Zealand’s farmers in the resilience, positivity and ability to embrace the opportunities that arise out of challenges. Even dairy farmers in the increasingly dry region have reason for optimism at the moment, despite the ordeal they’ve endured in recent months.

NZ farmers are, on the whole, still waiting for the rain that swept through southeast Australia last month. At the moment it’s hard to see how green shoots will grow through the brown earth.

But take a look at Gordon Nicholas’ dairy farm, on P22. It was ravaged by fire as 2020 began. Looking at the regrowth it’s almost hard to believe it happened.

Gordon told Richard that despite losing stock and infrastructure to the fire he’s feeling hopeful. The rain has set the farm up for a good winter, he thinks. It’s quite an attitude and one that’s typical of a farmer who’s used to working with what the elements throws them.

There’s a lesson there for everyone – to make the best with what you’ve got, to do what you can with the things you can control and not worry about what you can’t. So, don’t dream it’s over and remember, you can’t always take the weather with you but you can make something strong out of what you have.

Bryan Gibson

LETTERS

Subsidies, rates relief needed LARGE-SCALE pine conversion might have catastrophic consequences to land and people.

As stock numbers reduce sale yards and meat works might close down with a potential loss of jobs.

Communities could be destroyed, schools and shops will close.

As the pine plantations increase so does the pig population. Pigs are devastating the Northland lambing percentage. I know of seven farms with forestry blocks as their neighbours that have lost more than 2500 lambs this last season alone.

These losses can’t be sustained and have the potential to cause a further decline in sheep numbers. Pigs also destroy soils, fauna and flora as well as spreading kauri dieback disease.

I know a lot of hill country should not have been cleared for farming but these areas need to be restored, preferably back into native bush not to pine, which needs to be felled, resulting in further erosion.

I would like to clarify, I am not anti trees and belong to the Farm Forestry Association.

We have been in the process of full riparian fencing and planting on my family farm.

Our first lot of bush was fenced down to the stream in 1947 at our own initiative and expense.

We have fully fenced seven native bush blocks and three generations on our family farm have planted exotic and native trees since 1924. Plot sizing varies from 0.5 to nine hectares. We have also planted single-belt stock shelter lines of bamboo, natives and pine trees. This fencing has been

a huge cost of labour and materials.

As sheep and beef farmers we require seven to nine wires to effectively keep stock out.

I have personally installed nine wire fences, two of which are barbed, posts 3.6 metres apart and five battens. One 530-metre stretch alone cost $24,000 in labour, materials and native planting. In contrast, dairy farmers need only two or three wires to make fences stock-proof.

When stock are excluded from areas weeds run rampant and can often smother newly planted trees.

Riparian fencing of land causes a large problem in regard to ongoing weed control. This is going to create further costs to individual farmers over and above the initial cost of fencing and planting, In addition, troughs have to be installed and maybe

an additional water system added. I agree this needs to be done, however, there simply needs to be more help from government and local bodies.

That would result in more farmers adopting riparian planting and will make it more affordable for those already in the process of doing so.

The Government should also be encouraged to roll out a rate reduction on this now unproductive land.

Ross Killen Kaikohe

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Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

29

Policy penalises good farmers Jamie McFadden

J

UST before Christmas the Government released for consultation a new policy that will have major cost implications for councils and landowners.

The proposed National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB) introduces a raft of new requirements to be implemented by councils.

For many landowners, particularly hill and high-country farmers, this new policy will have a far greater impact than the recent freshwater legislation.

Consistent with the Government’s approach to freshwater and climate change, the more you have done to be good environmental stewards the more you will be penalised under this new law.

One of the more controversial parts of the statement is the requirement for all councils to do district-wide ecological significance surveys. That means anyone who owns land can expect to be surveyed. Currently it is voluntary for councils and many have not done it because of the huge cost, the conflict it creates in their communities and the lack of benefit to biodiversity outcomes.

New national significance criteria under the proposed statement are much broader meaning most indigenous vegetation will be captured as Significant Natural Areas (SNAs).

Areas of exotic vegetation such as pine, willows, gorse and pasture are likely to be deemed SNA if it is habitat to an important native species.

Most landowners will have SNAs on their land and many face the prospect of having the bulk of their land designated SNA. Stricter rules will apply to areas mapped as SNAs. Property values will be impacted for those with a high proportion of their land

The

Pulpit

mapped SNA and there is no compensation.

During our recent 2016 Hurunui District Plan review evidence clearly showed mapping and regulating SNAs on private land is counterproductive. It turns biodiversity into a liability and does not improve biodiversity outcomes for SNAs. Evidence shows many SNAs will continue to deteriorate or be lost if active management, particularly of weeds and pests, is not done.

As a result, the hearing commissioners removed all SNA mapping from the District Plan and with no appeals the new plan with no SNAs became law.

Under the proposed statement all councils are required to survey their whole district for SNAs, taonga (Maori treasures) and highly mobile species.

If landowners refuse access councils are required to desktop map and, if necessary, force access using the Resource Management Act powers of entry.

Because of the lack of confidentiality and the misuse of private property information many landowners have refused access for surveys. If the statement, as written, is forced onto councils it

will bring major disruption into our communities.

The RMA and the statement fail to recognise that landowner attitudes towards the natural environment have changed and people do not need to be coerced to protect biodiversity.

The native forest clearance incentivised under previous government policies no longer occurs.

The reason an impressive 2.8 million hectares of native vegetation remains on sheep and beef farms is because landowners have chosen to protect it though maintaining that indigenous vegetation is a considerable cost to landowners and for any biodiversity policies to be effective the buy-in of landowners is critical.

Biodiversity protection on private land relies on the goodwill of landowners.

Indigenous biodiversity must be seen as an asset not a liability.

Landowners must feel confident their positive environmental efforts will not result in more restrictions and bureaucratic interference. For biodiversity protection on private land to be successful it must be removed from the punitive, regulatory framework of the proposed statement and RMA. Our solution is to point to the success of the QEII Trust covenanting system and the former catchment board approach.

Those systems are a partnership based on trust. They offer tailored plans and rules agreed to by both parties. They focus on actions needed to protect areas rather than bureaucratic surveys. They include funding and help with management of natural areas, confidentiality of private property information and greater certainty for both parties. The proposed statement provides none of that.

Over the next year the Rural Advocacy Network will be

UNFAIR: The Government’s environmental polices meant the more good farmers have done the more they are penalised, rural advocate Jamie McFadden says.

calling for major changes to New Zealand’s fragmented and ineffective environmental laws.

As part of that we are advocating for a national advisory system that has a vision of developing and nurturing the environmental ethos of stewardship or kaitiakitanga across all landowners, rural and urban, under one holistic, integrated planning framework.

Watch this space.

In the meantime we are launching a nationwide campaign to inform landowners of the statement’s implications. We are calling for much stronger support from our industry groups in challenging the draconian, top-down approach this Government continues to take with environmental policies.

Submissions on the statement close on March 14 and we encourage landowners and those with an interest in biodiversity to submit.

There are no public meetings on the statement and we have asked

Ministry for the Environment to reconsider that stance.

We have prepared a comprehensive analysis of the implications for landowners and councils and it can be obtained by emailing info@ ruraladvocacynetwork.nz or phone/text Jamie 027 321 8747.

Who am I? Jamie McFadden and his wife Linda Dodds established an eco-sourced native plant nursery that helps protect natural areas and provides environmental advice to Canterbury farmers. It also co-ordinates and does poplar and willow erosion plantings for many farmers as the largest private initiative in Canterbury. He chairs the Rural Advocacy Network.

Your View Got a view on some aspect of farming you would like to get across?

The Pulpit offers readers the chance to have their say. farmers.weekly@globalhq.co.nz Phone 06 323 1519

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Opinion

30 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Farmers don’t need big study of unscientific fad Alternative View

Alan Emerson

LET me start by saying I support anything that improves or enhances New Zealand’s reputation when it comes to marketing our meat, dairy and wool.

I think we have a proud record for grass-fed, good animal health and environmental awareness but it can always improve.

It is important to differentiate fact from fiction, fads from reality.

So, when I read a media statement from Beef + Lamb on regenerative agriculture I was interested.

The release told me B+LNZ is doing a significant global study into regenerative agriculture.

Significant, in my dictionary, means important or momentous and global means relating to the whole world.

I wondered why B+LNZ is committing levy money on an important or momentous worldwide study of regenerative agriculture.

Chief executive Sam McIvor said there is increasing interest in regenerative agriculture both in NZ and globally and our farmers are asking it to lead in that space.

I can but take Sam at his word

but I haven’t heard anything about it from farmers in my circle or from a media search.

I rang B+LNZ who were helpful.

There is no finalised budget yet, they will be running the project and they’ll have a paper by the end of the year.

So, what is regenerative agriculture?

It’s quite difficult to find out as there is a considerable lack of strong, peer-reviewed scientific evidence.

It’s even hard to find a solid scientific definition.

With regenerative agriculture you move animals around in herds, let them graze the pasture at its optimum quality and quantity and return dung and urine to the soil, all of which we do.

You then introduce earthworms to assist the organic matter being incorporated into the soil and irrigate where necessary.

The result is the organic matter is maintained or increased.

Then comes the rub.

Regenerative agriculture on degraded soils overseas has used animal management, fertiliser and irrigation to build organic matter.

So, fertiliser is critical whether it is natural, from dung and urine, or artificial.

British research shows organic matter from both farmyard and artificially produced fertiliser have the same effects, which raises serious questions.

We might be increasing organic matter, which is good, but to do so we need to keep applying

fertiliser and irrigation, which the regenerative agriculture disciples reject.

Going to the internet, yet again, and asking it if regenerative agriculture actually works you get a pile of unscientific hyperbole.

The media coverage in NZ hasn’t been robust either.

There was a supportive article quoting agroecologist soil consultant Nicole Masters who works with farmers in NZ, Australia, the United States and Canada. I hadn’t previously heard of her.

Again going to the internet I find she has written a book, For the Love of Soil. She graduated in 1999 with an ecology degree with a focus in soil science and describes her interests as a musterer, diver and explorer.

I support anyone who gets work published but like it peer reviewed and trying to find peer reviewed scientific evidence is challenging.

You can read how in the US regenerative agriculture increased soil carbon to 6%. In NZ our soil carbon is 8%.

Advocates for the practice say regenerative agriculture cuts inputs and sequesters carbon.

American research suggests soil carbon has been increased by eight tonnes a hectare a year.

A paper presented to the Massey University Farmed Landscapes Research Centre conference earlier this month by Dr Ants Roberts and Dr Jacqueline Rowarth and Mike Manning is worth reading.

My understanding is if you want

to increase carbon you need to increase inputs.

Any decrease in inputs results in a decrease in soil carbon and more nitrogen being released to the environment.

In addition, a drying environment means more carbon is released, which is likely to happen with global warming.

That can be mitigated by irrigation.

I also found an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report that showed NZ agricultural emissions are declining.

So, my point is NZ agriculture is good now. We can improve but I remain unconvinced on regenerative agriculture.

Facts could sway me but facts are lacking.

One “fact” presented was that meat grown under regenerative agriculture is more nutritious than our conventional production methods.

Despite some hours of research I could find absolutely no evidence to support that.

My position is simple. Anything that can improve the value of our produce overseas is to be encouraged.

I would, however, sincerely suggest B+LNZ’s promise of global research into regenerative agriculture is based on fad not fact.

There’s ample scientific evidence available now. They should analyse it, which doesn’t require a significant global research project.

ATTENTION: Beef + Lamb chief executive Sam McIvor cites increasing interest in regenerative agriculture.

With the daily threats beef and lamb farmers are under in NZ it is a waste of levies.

Your View Alan Emerson is a semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath-emerson@wizbiz.net.nz

Our farms are already regenerative From the Ridge

Steve Wyn-Harris

THERE is a bit of wheel reinvention going on.

No, that’s not quite the metaphor that I’m looking for.

How about teaching granny to suck eggs? Something like that.

Regenerative agriculture is all the rage, the answer to all our ills.

Really?

I see Beef + Lamb is about to do a global study into regenerative agriculture. That sounds expensive. Hey, that’s my levies you are squandering.

Yes, B+LNZ, the organisation that is usually the bastion of sensibleness.

The purpose of the study is to understand its similarities and differences to New Zealand farming practices.

Well, I could save them a lot of

PROMOTER: Free-thinking beekeeper Melissa Clark-Reynolds is obsessed with regenerative agriculture.

cost and world travel if they came here and I could show them that though I’m a conventional farmer most of the goals and methods of regenerative agriculture are done on this farm and most other sheep and beef farms around the country. But they know that, for goodness sake.

Regenerative agriculture is

very similar to what I do with my clover-based, rotational, in-situ grazing as promoted by generations of farm consultants.

And, yes, there are differences, primarily that I use conventional fertiliser rather than the impracticable option of making compost or gathering seaweed for my 320 hectares. I do want to remain economically sustainable while improving my environment.

Or they could go to Doug Edmeades’ Agknowledge website and read issue 42 of his Fertiliser Review, which, point by point, goes through regenerative agriculture’s claims and either refutes them or shows that’s exactly what we do already.

If they wanted to spend a little bit they could take Doug out for lunch, ply him with booze and get it from the horse’s mouth.

Doug’s summary goes like this.

“Of the many goals that regenerative agriculture espouses some are unscientific, some are not based on sound science (mitigating climate change). Some are implausible and likely to be very costly (replacing chemical fertilisers with compost and manures), some are based on a

false premise (chemical fertilisers are bad for soil health) or can be achieved more cheaply by other means (ie, improving soil health using chemical fertilisers).”

We are foolish if here in the 21st century we start going down paths unbacked by science.

B+LNZ interviewed me recently for a study on the future of hill-country farming. Towards the end were several leading questions on regenerative agriculture – questions designed to get a response in support of regenerative agriculture.

So, I wonder what’s going on with this organisation.

I see Melissa Clark-Reynolds, a great independent thinker, is on the board. But she is also obsessed with regenerative agriculture. I’m not sure her beekeeping background gives her the understanding of how the bulk of us have been improving soils and building soil carbon using conventional agricultural methods but I could be wrong.

The Primary Sector Council also appears to have fallen in love with the concept of regenerative agriculture.

The promoters of this concept

and other even more snake oil products and ideas prey on the vulnerable, idealistic and foolish.

It’s no problem if they can afford a drop in production and profitability. It is, after all, free choice.

I’ve just had a look at the Facebook timeline of a dairy farming family who went to a regenerative agriculture seminar three years ago and jumped in boots and all. They wrote about gathering seaweed, building worm farms and spreading fungi spores.

The herd then got mastitis and they tried to treat the cows with holistic methods rather than antibiotics and the page ends sadly with the news they were forced to send the cows to the works and sell their farm.

Given my premise that what we do is what those overseas call regenerative agriculture, maybe we should just embrace the term and proudly proclaim that we all are practising it.

Your View Steve Wyn-Harris is a Central Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer. swyn@xtra.co.nz

Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

31

NZ First no friends of rural NZ Todd Muller ANOTHER election year is upon us and pundits are already predicting a fierce battle between New Zealand First and the National Party for the electoral support of rural and provincial people.

While that narrative might be popular amongst the political elite in Wellington and Auckland it simply doesn’t hold water for those who actually live in communities south of the Bombay Hills, north of the capital or in the South Island.

Outside of the bubble of Wellington’s beltway NZ First is growing increasingly insignificant for rural communities.

It’s not just that their star is fading but more it never shone brightly in these places to begin with – despite their straining rhetoric.

I would understand you taking such a claim from a National MP and Opposition agriculture spokesman with a grain of salt but you don’t have to take my word for it. The figures are there in black and white for everyone to see.

At the 2017 election NZ First got 2900 votes in Clutha-Southland to National’s 21,915, 3062 votes in Tukituki to National’s 19,166, 4112 votes in Waikato to National’s 23,891, 3330 votes in Taranaki King Country to National’s 21,466 and 2440 votes in Selwyn to National’s 26,003.

My home electorate of Bay of Plenty, along with Tauranga, is often considered the spiritual home of NZ First because it

IRRELEVANT: New Zealand First is growing increasingly insignificant in rural communites, National Party agriculture spokesman Todd Mluler says.

is the region where Winston Peters launched his Party in 1993 following his resignation from National. Despite this long association and all the history that goes with it they got only 4568 votes in Bay of Plenty to National’s 23,164 and 4523 votes in Tauranga to National’s 21,182.

Even in Northland, a newfound and self-proclaimed fortress of support for NZ First, they managed to cobble together only 5353 votes to National’s 18,834.

Numbers aside, NZ First simply has not been advocating for rural communities like they claim to and their support in these areas clearly reflects that.

I don’t point this out to dismiss the views of those who chose to vote for NZ First in 2017 but, rather to clearly illustrate the bellicose bravado from Peters and

Shane Jones simply doesn’t match the reality on the ground – and it’s only going to get worse for them.

An inconvenient truth for NZ First that cannot be ignored is that when half of their voters ticked the box on election day they did so with the implicit hope they would form a coalition with National.

Those voters still feel a great sense of betrayal that Winston jumped into bed with Labour and even more so the Greens and the uncertainty they have brought with them.

If there is one thing I’ve learned throughout my business career, first with my family orchard in Te Puna and then with corporates Zespri and Fonterra, it is that businesses need regulatory and political certainty to thrive.

It is particularly true for farmers and growers who already have

enough variables to deal with like the weather, interest rates, disease and at time volatile international markets.

The political uncertainty this Government has delivered is something they can do without.

The reality is that when farmers feel things are becoming too uncertain or volatile they close their wallets, and when they close their wallets the main streets of towns like Morrinsville, Greymouth, Dargaville and Gore feel it.

The old adage rings true that when farmers sneeze NZ catches a cold.

I’m sorry to be the one to break the news but our farmers are sneezing and it’s a flu that NZ First gave them.

Despite the good weather, high commodity prices and low

I’m sorry to be the one to break the news but our farmers are sneezing and it’s a flu that NZ First gave them.

interest rates farmer confidence is still at record lows and it’s a direct result of the uncertainty this Government has sown.

Despite all of this NZ First arrogantly proclaims provincial NZ should be grateful for everything they’ve given them.

They can’t understand why they aren’t being rewarded electorally and the penny is yet to drop that it might just be because when most kiwis look at NZ First they simply don’t see their own values reflected back at them.

Jones might have stylised himself as some kind of pompous prince of the provinces but the veil is so thin most can see straight through it. All it took was a farmer protest at Parliament telling the emperor he had no clothes on to see him label them backwards rednecks.

Peters and Jones can tubthump all they want about how it’s Labour and the Greens who are driving along pushing the accelerator on a raft of radical economic and social change and that middle NZ are better off with them there to pull the handbrake, but nobody is forgetting who gave them the keys to the car in the first place.

You can be anything but what you are DEAR Aunty Thistledown, I am the victim of widespread bullying and I need some advice.

Not only am I being bullied for being a white, middle-aged male but also for having the audacity to work in the rural sector.

No one loves me.

Should I get one of those sexchange operation thingies and get a job in town?

Regards Pale Stale-Male Dear Pale, I can surely sympathise with your situation. The rest of us have been stuck in this funk for the past 1000 years.

Nevertheless, the fall of the white, middle-aged man has shaken the world. If the group that holds the majority of the world’s wealth and a near-monopoly on authority can not avoid discrimination, what hope is there for the rest of us?

I am not going to lie, I have some reservations about your plans to career-hunt as a transgender woman.

The gender affirmation surgery waiting list is so long it will take 50 years for you to receive your surgery.

By that time, as a woman, you will have reached peak invisibility.

Ask

Aunty

Thistledown

It is a quirk of physics that older women are visible only if they are holding a tray of baked treats and even then any reference to them should be prefixed by “little, old”.

I am afraid you will not be a good candidate for employment in this state.

But you do have a few options remaining.

Firstly, you are very likely to be one of the farmers caught up in the epidemic of noise-induced hearing loss. That mumbling noise coming from behind you is your wife begging you, for the

You, my friend, could be the next social media influencer.

hundredth time, to go get your ears checked. If you just wait, soon the chants of your detractors will be replaced with sweet, sweet silence.

Deafness should bring you the relief you seek, unless you are on Facebook back-chatting at vegans.

In that case, we need to talk about social media hygiene because you are doing it all wrong.

Social media is supposed to be an echo chamber filled with people who agree with you.

You can help the system out by blocking pithy strangers and unfriending people you wish you were never friends with. Or you might want to go for the soft-block option, thus maintaining your selective deafness of your family members in the online world.

Here you can snooze people, unfollow them or put them on an acquaintance or restricted list so Facebook knows to keep them at arm’s length.

Your second option is to adopt a point of difference.

WHERE ARE YOU? Older women are visible only if they are holding a tray of baked treats.

You could remain in the bargain bin with the dollar-a-dozen white males or switch it up just enough to keep them guessing.

Perhaps you would like to self-diagnose a food allergy, ditch the he/him for a new set of pronouns (eg, they, ze, hir etc) or communicate via interpretive dance.

Slap some fake tan on the bottom of your legs to seamlessly

transition your farmer-attire into that of an ironically dressed hipster.

If you assimilate well enough, you can get a job that pays even better than tending to soil and animals.

You, my friend, could be the next social media influencer, a member of Parliament or one of the 37,000 people working for the United Nations.

On Farm Story

32 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

High standards pay off While his friends dreamed of glamorous sporting careers Mihaka Beckham dreamed of working the land and being a dairy farmer. Charlie Williamson reports.

W

HILE his primary school friends were talking about how they would be the up and coming All Blacks stars when they grew up young Mihaka Beckham was saying he would one day be a dairy farmer.

And with the help of a few mentors and his ability to seize any opportunity he could find along the way Mihaka, 23, is living his childhood dream.

Mihaka works as herd manager on a Taupo dairy farm milking 440 Jersey-Friesian cows on 170ha effective for Bryan and Tesha Gibson.

He began his career in dairy farming when he was seven, saying he would often head out to his uncle’s dairy farm at Whangarei to help in the school holidays.

“My uncle was a pretty good dairy farmer and I definitely looked up to him,” Beckham says.

“He showed me how to put the cups on, take them off, spray the cows, put up break fences, fix fences, the list goes on. He showed me the basics of being a dairy farmer. At the time I don’t think I realised how vital those skills would be in my career later on.

You have little kids that dream of becoming an All Black, well my dream was to be a dairy farmer.

Mihaka Beckham Farmer “It showed me from a really young age what I was going into and helped me understand fully what I wanted to be doing. I knew what to expect so it wasn’t like I was going into the unknown.”

“You have little kids that dream of becoming an All Black, well my dream was to be a dairy farmer.

“I wanted to really enjoy life with my family, you know, like still work hard but still enjoy life at the same time.

“Dairy farming is just that and my family is right there beside me for the whole process, which is pretty cool.”

Mihaka lives on-farm with his partner Shanaea and their fourmonth-old daughter TaiAria.

“Without having my uncle offering that experience I don’t know if I would have ever really done much. I also had a teacher at school who pushed me get to get stuck in.”

He scrambled to do every bit of work experience he could while studying at Whangarei Boys High School.

“I already had that interest there from my uncle’s farm but I got into dairy farming through an agricultural Gateway programme called Primary Industries at Whangarei Boys. They would organise work experience opportunities for me.

“From there I started work on a farm called Jordan Valley up in Whangarei then asked my then boss if I could start coming on the school holidays and over the Christmas holidays. From there I ended up landing a full-time job.

“I worked on that farm for about three to four years before returning home to Tauranga to work on a dairy farm.

“Unfortunately, that job wasn’t for me and it didn’t work out.”

When the chance arose to work for the Gibsons in 2018 he jumped at it.

“I’ve been at this farm for almost a couple of years now and I can honestly say I’ve loved my time here.

“That is because of Bryan and Tesha helping, supporting and teaching me new things and skills along the way.”

He believes the dairy sector has abundant opportunities but, like everything, it takes a bit to find your feet and that shouldn’t push prospective dairy farmers away from the sector.

“As long as you are hardworking, determined and keen on the outdoors you’ll find something that suits you in the dairy sector. There’s a lot of bosses out there that don’t really mind or necessarily focus on how much experience someone may or may not have. They just want good, reliable people.

Mihaka says the Gibsons are the best employers he has worked with because they look after their staff and help them.

“They’re always checking in with me and making sure I’m doing all right on the farm, which really helps when you are trying to do your job well.

“In comparison, I was on a 1200-cow farm a few years ago and I was always stressed out to the max.

“I hated my job, hated dairy farming and didn’t want to be a dairy farmer any more. I didn’t want to milk cows and that was just crap because it was what I have wanted to do since I was a young boy.

“It put me in a bad state of mind but then I came here and I was stress-free and they don’t work you into the ground.

“They enjoy seeing me get off farm and they like to see me have a life outside of dairy farming.”

A big part of once again falling in love with the sector was the introduction of Primary ITO courses when he started with the Gibsons.

The courses allowed him to not

DREAM REALISED: Mihaka Beckham has wanted to be a dairy farmer since he was a young boy. He now is the herd manager on a 440-cow farm near Taupo.

Photos: Stephen Barker

only grow as a person but also develop day-to-day confidence and clarity around dairy farming.

“The courses give you the confidence to believe in yourself and what you are doing on the farm. Some of the courses are really bloody hard but you’re learning the right stuff which is important,” he says.

“With dairy farming, there is so much to learn, like you could never know it all.

“If you really want to be a dairy farmer then you should be doing these courses to better yourself and be able to understand why everything is done on the farm.”

After finding himself getting stuck in that day-to-day slog in previous jobs and having been given the opportunity to take Primary ITO courses in his new job he has come to appreciate being able to grow as a dairy farmer.

“Before taking Primary ITO courses all I learnt was how to treat the cows – like not make loud noises and just look after them – and the rest was just like

looking after your grass. Also shed maintenance, so trying to keep your shed clean and do a proper wash and feeding and things like that.

When you’ve learned all these things and you repeat them every day you’re not pushing yourself to grow as a person. You need something else to focus your mind on.”

“Once you’ve started this higher education you can start to understand why you are doing all these day-to-day things and everything just makes more sense day to day.”

Mihaka is up to level three in his Primary ITO course, studying pasture management.

“Bryan’s and Tesha’s support has made all the difference in enjoying this job and it’s a real bonus that they are investing in me.”

Aside from being able to grow as a dairy farmer he says Primary ITO gives him some actual qualifications on paper, which is crucial in this day and age.

In 2008 the Gibsons were the Central Plateau Sharemilkers of

the Year and were commended for being in the top 1% for somatic cell count in New Zealand between 2018 and 2019.

“I’ve worked on two farms like this, where they are in the top 1% for somatic cell count in NZ. It’s definitely attractive to a worker like me,” he says.

“I think this has really helped a lot as they keep the standard high.

“It helps you grow really quickly as a dairy farmer as you’ve got to push yourself to get to that level too. These farms have a reputation to keep and you’re a big part of that too.”

The bar is still set high for Mihaka, saying that the Gibsons have now redirected their onfarm goals from debt reduction and increasing production to looking after their employees and environmental management.

“The primary focus on the farm is a bit of everything. When they started it was mainly a financial focus to get the ball rolling. But they’ve been here 17 years now so they are getting more involved

On Farm Story

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

33

TOP BOSS: Mihaka says his employer Bryan Gibson is the best boss he has ever worked for because he is supportive and helpful. Through his employers he rediscovered his love of dairy farming.

LIFESTYLE: Mihaka lives on-farm with his partner Shanaea and their four-monthold daughter TaiAria.

As long as you are hard-working, determined and keen on the outdoors you’ll find something that suits you in the dairy sector.

Mihaka Beckham Farmer in improving lifestyle, looking after their workers and making sure we’re looking after the environment better.

“The main environmental priority right now is around reducing winter cropping so we’ve got no exposed soil in winter when it’s wet.”

That is done by feeding out more silage over winter.

Last season, which turned dry, the herd produced 190,000kg of

milksolids and this season they are aiming for 200,000kg MS. They are at 155,000kg MS. The farm is a System 3 to 4 and though they are trying to limit winter cropping there are still some crops grown.

“Up until this year we had planted a lot of brassicas, such as turnips for summer, kale and swede for the winter. We’ve changed over this past year and we’re growing chicory for our summer crops.

“We make plenty of silage as well as growing swede and kale for winter but we’re moving away from that for environmental reasons.”

Gibson maintains grass quality by managing the grazing round efficiently and making plenty of silage in early summer.

The farm has its own equipment so if pasture quality begins to drop they can cut those paddocks and bale for winter.

Feed fed through the in-shed

feeding system is grain-based using a product called Hipro and another called Avon, which is the by-product out of the flour mills in Auckland.

There is a strong focus on looking after and feeding the cows as well as possible to ensure optimum reproductive performance.

“We believe that if the cows have been looked after and they are healthy then they will get in calf.

“Last year the farm had the highest in-calf and the lowest empty cow rate in the district, so it seems to be working well.”

Calving begins on July 20 and they aim to keep 80 replacement heifers though they rear everything they can.

Calves are reared inside till weaning, which gives them full control and they can monitor how much feed they are getting.

Their target weaning is 62kg and once they are weaned they are sent to the 100ha runoff block bought about four years ago solely as a development project.

“The run-off block was pretty run down, had low fertility

PRODUCTION: Mihaka checks out the 440-cow herd that produced 190,000kg MS last season. It is targeting 200,000kg MS this season.

and it is pretty steep country.

“It was pretty much 100ha of weeds back then.

“We run all of our young stock down there including all of the beefies. We also send half the herd up there in the winter and half the herd stays on-farm. This also helps with limiting our winter grazing,” he says.

Mating starts on October 15 and AI usually goes for four weeks followed by the bulls for a further five and a half weeks.

“We are using Friesian premier sire semen for the bulk of the herd.

But heifers were mated to Ayrshire this year, tailed with Ezicalve Hereford bulls for the herd and Angus for the heifers, which gives us plenty of beefies.”

Looking ahead, Mihaka says when the time is right he would like to look at contract milking and perhaps start to build equity through calf rearing and leasing.

Alternatively he might also look to go into partnership with his brother who is also dairy farming.

“We were thinking maybe going into sharemilking or starting out with some calves first.

“We could possibly buy a bit of land and start doing calves with the goal of getting our own herd.”

He is quick to point out the number of opportunities available in dairy for young people and thinks they are often clouded by what people see on social media these days.

“Then they hop on their social media and see all this bad stuff about the dairy sector and form an opinion from that.

“I think public perception of the sector would be different if these young people could actually see what goes on in the dairy sector and understand it better. It is silly that they don’t even know where their milk comes from.

“There’s always going to be those people that put farmers down. But if you’ve been brought up on a farm and you know what goes on then you know what it’s all about.”

Article first appeared in Dairy Farmer, March 2020. >> Video link: bit.ly/OFSbeckham

DISCUSSION: Mihaka catches up with colleague Henry Simmons to talk about pasture management.

World

34 THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Kiwi dryness saves dairy prices GLOBAL dairy prices are under pressure from coronavirus, which is affecting almost all commodity markets, but have been saved by New Zealand’s dry weather.

Apart from the immediate practical supply chain logistics the uncertainty about its impact on Chinese demand for dairy commodities looms large over markets, says, Intl FCStone senior commodity analyst Peter Meehan says.

“A significant proportion of the potential price negativity caused by covid-19 has been offset for the moment by the on-going dryness concerns over NZ’s North Island, which has led to a sharp fall-off in its pasture growth rates.

“Now that we have moved well beyond NZ’s peak milk-producing months and collections tail off as per their seasonal trend there’s a sense that the impact of covid-19 will begin to win that recent tugof-war, putting further pressure on dairy prices in the coming weeks,” he said.

Chinese port capacity is severely curtailed by reduced staffing with a backlog of vessels waiting to

unload. The transport of medical supplies is being prioritised.

A fall in numbers dining in restaurants and fast-food outlets has also led to a fall in demand for dairy ingredients, in turn further affecting dairy commodity consumption.

“The effects of this have been reflected in the latest Global Dairy Trade auctions, which, after posting back-to-back gains at the start of 2020 (+4.5%), have declined by 7.4% over the February auctions.”

Had it not been for such dryness in NZ this fall could have been far more severe, Meehan said.

NZ’s NZX dairy futures markets have seen whole milk powder’s March 2020 to October 2020 futures contracts fall 8.9% over the past four weeks. NZX skim milk powder futures were down 6.3% over the same period and NZX butter fell 2.7%.

European dairy prices have also fallen in recent weeks though, in most cases, to a lesser degree.

Covid-19 is significantly disrupting Chinese supply chains with restrictions on movements

No one trusts government A SHOW of hands at the Oxford Farming Conference in Britain revealed there was not a single audience member who trusts the government to protect food production standards in trade deals.

The flash survey was taken after Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Theresa Villiers rejected National Farmers Union president Minette Batters’ call for a commission to be set up to safeguard British farming standards when trade agreements are being negotiated.

Asked why she had not honoured her predecessor Michael Gove’s pledge to set up the body, Villiers said “I can see this is potentially an effective means of ensuring we have appropriate working relationships between government, farmers and experts on our trade discussions but we continue to have a debate in government about whether that is the mechanism we are going to adopt or not.

“There are a number of groups already established to engage between government and business, including farming, on our trade negotiations but I

will take the message from Minette back to my colleagues in government who decide whether a commission is the way to go or whether we should just continue to use the existing working groups.”

Villiers was grilled on the subject repeatedly by conference delegates and other members of the panel, including Batters, who asked how exactly the Government plans to protect standards.

“We put it in our manifesto.”

That was a line she repeated in a later press conference, when journalists quizzed her on how farmers can trust the government to meet its commitments without legislation.

“We will just have to demonstrate to them during our trade negotiations that we are going to ensure our farmers are treated fairly and our high standards will not be diluted,” she said.

“Our British brand’s greatest strength is our high standards in food safety, in food security and on animal welfare and we are going to defend that in our trade negotiations.”

UK Farmers Guardian

Had it not been for such dryness in NZ this fall could have been far more severe.

Peter Meehan Intl FCStone

SAVING GRACE: Dry weather in New Zealand limited the fall of dairy commodity prices on global markets, FCStone analyst Peter Meehan says.

into and out of infected areas and workers staying at home to avoid contracting the disease, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board says.

Farmers are having to slow production to deal with transportation issues, particularly

in getting feed in as well as product out. Labour shortages are also an issue.

Millions of chickens have had to be slaughtered because of lack of feed.

“All industries are being impacted by supply chain logistics

though this is a bigger challenge for the more perishable products such as raw milk,” board dairy and livestock market specialists head Chris Gooderham said.

“Pork and dairy consumption are also being impacted by the closure of restaurants although retail sales are only reported as showing marginal reductions.

“For the United Kingdom, trade with China is still small compared with domestic and European Union sales.

“It is more likely that the EU and UK will see a knock-on effect from NZ being unable to ship product into China and looking for other outlets instead.”

UK Farmers Weekly

Subsidies being cut ... but new grants replace them SUBSIDIES for English farmers will be cut by 5-25% next year, the government has confirmed – but there are new grants replacing them.

Farmers who receive up to £30,000 in the section of European Union subsides known as Basic or Direct Payments will have their payment reduced by 5%, with further reductions for payments falling in bands above that amount.

And claims of £30,000 to £50,000 face a 10% cut, £50,000 to £150,000 will lose 20% and £150,000 or will drop 25%.

So a claim for £40,000 faces a 5% reduction for the first £30,000 and a 10% reduction on the next £10,000.

The reduction percentages will be increased over time until the final payments are made for the 2027 scheme year, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

Money saved by reductions in direct payments will be reinvested directly into the farming and land management sector.

In 2021 that will include piloting the government’s forthcoming Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, which will pay farmers for environmental work.

Defra said the money will also be used to help

SMOKE AND MIRRORS: British farmers are to lose direct farm subsidies but they will be replaced with environmental, productivity and animal welfare grants.

continue and improve its tree health offer ensuring that the nation’s trees are increasingly resilient and healthy.

It wants to increase the number of farmers in the Countryside Stewardship scheme, which it sees as a stepping stone to the ELM scheme.

Grants will be made available so foresters, growers and farmers can invest in their businesses, allowing them to add value to their products and help mitigate climate change.

Defra said it plans to delink direct payments, maybe as early as 2022, as they are being phased out so recipients no longer have to farm to receive them.

It said it will also look to offer farmers a one-off optional lump sum to

replace ongoing direct payments during the phaseout period.

Farmers may choose to use the lump sum to invest in their business to boost their productivity and profitability. Others may choose to use the money to diversify their activities, it said.

“Some farmers may decide to stop farming altogether and use the payment to contribute to their retirement or move to another sector.

“This should facilitate restructuring, creating opportunities for existing businesses to expand and new entrants to join the industry.”

The ELM scheme will form the cornerstone of post-Brexit farm support in England.

It will reward farmers for environmental measures on their land – providing public goods such as clean air, water and climate change mitigation.

The government has also published a future farming policy update as the Agriculture Bill goes through the committee stage in the House of Commons.

The update sets out how future policies will be designed to ensure increased productivity goes hand in hand with environmental initiatives.

On productivity, new government grants from 2021 will help farmers invest in equipment and technology to increase their productivity and deliver environmental benefits.

From 2022 Defra will support research and development projects to help farmers benefit from innovation, producing food more efficiently and sustainably with lower emissions.

The government says it also wants to strike a new deal with farmers to promote the production of healthier, higher-welfare animals.

That will involve publicly funded schemes for farmers to deliver animal health and welfare enhancements that go beyond the legal minimum.

UK Farmers Weekly

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2, 2020

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Whakamarama 50 Goodall Road

Milk these big views!

7

Totalling 84.63ha over two titles, this great located dairy unit requires new ownership. Currently milking approx.

240 cows with additional lease land this farm has a best production of 102,000ms. The property is well equipped with a 300 cow capacity herd home, six bay calf rearing shed, five bay implement/workshop and a 30 aside herringbone shed. Given the location and appeal of the area it could be justifiable to discontinue dairying. The rolling contour and good racing system would make this a top-quality beef or cropping unit given its northeasterly lye. The family home which consists of seven bedrooms, three living areas and a swimming pool has attractive views overlooking the coastline. A second dwelling consists of three bedrooms providing great options for either accommodation for staff or a family operation, with local schooling only minutes away.

Tender (unless sold prior) Closing 4pm, Fri 20 Mar 2020 247 Cameron Road, Tauranga View 12-1pm Tue 3 Mar Ben Hickson 021 433 283 ben.hickson@bayleys.co.nz

3

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SUCCESS REALTY LIMITED, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

bayleys.co.nz/2450325

NEW LISTING

THE DESTINATION FOR RURAL REAL ESTATE

Whakapirau 154 Mooney Road Iconic coastal station This iconic coastal station is offered to the market for the first time in three generations. Consisting of 324 hectares of rolling hill country, including three kilometers of coastline, opportunities like this do not present themselves every day. Location, contour and infrastructure only add to what is a stunning piece of New Zealand, steeped in heritage. Situated only one and a half hours from the Auckland CBD this property provides astute investors, farming families and the discerning buyers the opportunity of a lifetime, you must put this property on your list.

bayleys.co.nz/1020423

Tender (unless sold prior) Closing 2pm, Tue 31 Mar 2020 84 Walton St, Whangarei View by appointment Todd Skudder 027 439 1235 todd.skudder@bayleys.co.nz MACKYS REAL ESTATE LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

Land is the biggest asset to any farming business so it pays to stay up to date with the market.

Connect with the right audience at

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate

35

RURAL rural@pb.co.nz 0800 FOR LAND

Property Brokers Limited Licensed under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008

Central Waikato - Prime location

OPEN DAY WEB ID TWR02606

OHAUPO 111 Mill Road A first-class 30.5 ha dairy support/beef finishing unit supported by a very good standard of improvements situated in an excellent central location between Te Awamutu, Cambridge & Hamilton • Flat to gentle rolling contour; silt loam & peat loam soils; Pukerimu District Water Scheme • Land use options include dairy, dairy support, beef finishing & maize growing • Farm amenities include a 6-bay implement shed/workshop & cattleyards

AUCTION

• Quality low maintenance 6 brm brick homestead on an VIEW Thursday 5 Mar 1.00 - 3.00pm elevated site with panoramic views featuring spacious kitchen/dining, separate lounge, attached double garage AUCTION 1.00pm, Thu 19th Mar, 2020, Te Awamutu Golf Club, Kihikihi Road, Te Awamutu Genuine retiring vendors offer an outstanding opportunity to acquire a first-class unit with versatile land use.

6 2

On-Farm biosecurity protocols apply-vehicles/footwear to be cleaned prior to arrival

Brian Peacocke

Mobile 021 373 113

brianp@pb.co.nz

Hill country living

2

Home only no business

OPEN DAY

WEB ID TUR74551 OHURA 592 Waitewhena Road VIEW Thursday 5 Mar 10.00 - 12.00pm DEADLINE SALE closes Thursday 26th March, 2020 at This property is set in a very warm sheltered valley with 4.00pm, (unless sold prior) good soil types. The majority of the farm faces North with some South facing hills. 301 total area with approximately 250 hectares effective grazing land, which is very typical for the area. There is approximately 15 hectares of hay flats and they are easily accessed via a main track that is well maintained. The balance is medium to steeper hill country. This is complemented with a reliable and extensive water reticulation system Katie Walker with good water storage capacity out to concrete Mobile 027 757 7477 troughs. Regular fertiliser applications.

Office 07 895 7123

DEADLINE SALE

Home 07 895 7112 katiew@pb.co.nz

pb.co.nz

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WEB ID TPL67871 KINLOCH 659 Whangamata Road View By Appointment • Make sure you watch the video on www.pb.co.nz • Executive four-bedroom home with overwhelming views • Full sized equine arena • 22 ha of rolling pasture with 12 ha planted in exotic and native species • Brand new helipad and large hangar • Meat processing facility with walk-in chiller • Large lockable implement shed which could be converted to storage units Kinloch has now become one of Taupo's most premium Greg Kellick locations to live and play. Your investment will be secure Mobile 027 619 3051 greg.kellick@pb.co.nz and your lifestyle will improve.

BY NEGOTIATION

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RURAL rural@pb.co.nz 0800 FOR LAND

Property Brokers Limited Licensed under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008

Private valley living

TENDER WEB ID WGR74653

OKOIA 345 Kaukatea Valley Road Enjoy the quiet ambiance of the Whanganui countryside on this 77.42 ha (more or less) lifestyle block.

Situated down a no-exit road and only a leisurely 15 minute drive from the heart of Whanganui, you really get the best of both worlds.

The six bedroom character homestead sits nestled amongst established trees with a private northerly aspect, taking advantage of the sun and stunning rural views.

Land comprises of a mixture of flat to steep contour, with 25 effective hectares of grazing and 17 hectares of forest made up of a mix of tree species at a variety of ages, with the balance being non-effective land.

Farm infrastructure is well catered for with a three bay implement shed, three stand wool shed with yards and adjoining nightpen, cattle yards, grain silo and various other shedding.

VIEW By Appointment TENDER closes Friday 20th March, 2020 at 2.00pm, Property Brokers 51 Taupo Quay Whanganui

6 Richard White

Mobile 027 442 6171 richardw@pb.co.nz

Ngawapurua Farm - 188 ha

2

Self contained, low cost dairy farm

TENDER

DEADLINE SALE

WEB ID PR74485 PAHIATUA 80922 State Highway 2 View By Appointment TENDER closes Tuesday 24th March, 2020 at 2.00pm, at Ngawapurua farm is well located being 6 km south of Property Brokers, 129 Main Street, Pahiatua Woodville and under 30 minutes drive to Palmerston North. Comprising 160 ha of flat superior soil types utilised as milking platform has resulted in excellent production history of a 5 year average around 162,000 Jared Brock kgMS peak milking 430 cows. The 30 ha easy hill Mobile 027 449 5496 Office 06 376 4823 country support unit adds an excellent complement to Home 06 376 6341 the dairy business which is utilised as young stock jared@pb.co.nz grazing. Infrastructure includes a 40 bail rotary shed, numerous shedding, excellent access and water supply.

John Arends Ngawapurua features 2 homes with the main home Mobile 027 444 7380 featuring 4 bedrooms.

Office 06 376 4364

TENDER

johna@pb.co.nz

pb.co.nz

TENDER

WEB ID WMR74896 OTAIO 861 Woolshed Valley Road View By Appointment DEADLINE SALE closes Wednesday 8th April, 2020 at New to market in South Canterbury.

DEADLINE SALE

4.20pm, (unless sold prior)

Self contained with a total support block.

Low cost, dairy farm on multi use soils. Irrigated.

Consistent proven production. Can be purchased as a going concerned.

Two substantial homes. Irrigation via it's own well.

Multiple titles and 2 Centre Pivots. Ballance K-Line. Total area 341 ha in an excellent location only 6-8 km from main road on sealed road. High performing Friesian herd.

Tim Meehan

Mobile 027 222 9983 tim.meehan@pb.co.nz

Ian Moore

Mobile 027 539 8152 ian.moore@pb.co.nz

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2, 2020

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NORTHERN MANAWATU - 242.8 HA 133 Mania Road, Rangiwahia, Manawatu Situated 7.5km north of Rangiwahia and 20km east of Mangaweka, this medium hill country property weaned 720 lambs at 17kg+ CW this year. Typically considered a summer reliable locality with its close to 1,400mm annual rainfall and its proximity to the ranges, a large portion of the dams spring fed.

Well tracked the solid fertiliser history should see this place bolt away with a bit more rain. The spacious four bedroom home was redecorated recently, with the four stand woolshed and livestock facilities located close-by. Livestock available at valuation from our retiring Vendor.

242.8 hectares Tender

nzr.nz/RX2239042 Tender Closes 1pm, Thu 2 April 2020, NZR, 20 Kimbolton Road, Feilding.

Peter Barnett AREINZ 027 482 6835 | peter@nzr.nz NZR Limited | Licensed REAA 2008

PUTAKI - WHEN SIZE MATTERS 291 Mahoe Road, Waitomo Putaki presents the opportunity to secure a large scale sheep and beef operation on easy to steep hill country in an area that is historically regarded for its consistent summer rainfall and favorable soils renowned for quality livestock production. A total of 1274 ha with 1000 ha being classed effective. Sheep and cattle breeding station with lambs sold as forward stores or killed. Full property report available .... potential here.

1274 hectares Deadline Treaty Sale

nzr.nz/RX2168360

Gary Scott 027 484 4933 | gary@nzr.nz Alan Blackburn 027 203 9112 | alan@nzr.nz NZR Central Limited | Licensed REAA 2008

Deadline Private Treaty, 11am, Thu 19 Mar 2020, NZR, 1 Goldfinch St, Ohakune

Accelerating success.

Reach more people - better results faster.

colliers.co.nz

RURAL | LIFESTYLE | RESIDENTIAL

FINAL NOTICE

OPEN DAY

ONEWHERO, WAIKATO 216 Nolan Road Scale, Balance and Character Wairamarama Valley is around one hour south-west of Auckland. Highgate Hill Farm has two homes on 880 hectares. Currently leased. Prior to the lease the property was farming a mixture of bull grazing, finishing and breeding, running 70% cattle and the balance in sheep. Well fenced to 95 paddocks. The property has two reticulated water systems supplying water to over half of the farm with natural water accessible to all of the balance. Well-formed tracking provides ease of stock movement to three sets of cattle and sheep yards. Highgate Hill Farm, provides that great investment opportunity.

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2

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DEADLINE PRIVATE TREATY

Plus GST (if any) GV $6,210,000 (Unless Sold Prior) Closes 4.00pm, Thursday 12 March

VIEW By Appointment Only

Adrian van Mil M 027 473 3632 E avanmil@pggwrightson.co.nz

pggwre.co.nz/PUK31808

114 Hectare Waikato Dairy Unit

• •

A 70 hectare trophy deer farm with its own airstrip, amazing Bay of Plenty views and good contour.

Wake up to spectacular sunrises from the master suite of this remodelled Lockwood home.

Well maintained property with good water, pasture, fertility, fencing and deer handling facilities. The forest park boundary ensures ultimate summer grass growing conditions and a dense, clover rich sward.

Waterfalls and swimming holes, goldmines, bush clad valleys and lots of hay country - Amazing property!

Ideal velveting, breeding or beef unit.

Good mix of contour – lovely aesthetic appeal 30 ASHB dairy, sound home with excellent farm infrastructure Additional 20 hectares of milking country available for lease Fully compliant with good farm records There’s lots to like about this well located farm

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1

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PRICE ON APPLICATION Plus GST (if any)

RUAPUNA, MID CANTERBURY

2

TENDER

(Unless Sold By Private Treaty) Closes 4.00pm, Thursday 2 April

VIEW 11.45-1.15pm Wednesday 4 March

Andrew Fowler M 027 275 2244 E afowler@pggwrightson.co.nz Amanda Edwards M 027 463 3502 E amanda.edwards@pggwrightson.co.nz

pggwre.co.nz/HAM31271

PRICE BY NEGOTIATION

Productive Dry Land With Reliable Rainfall 'Cracroft' is approximately 400 hectares cropping/finishing block. Baseline of approximately 42, allowing wintering of dairy cows or fattening bulls. Two homes. Four stand RB woolshed, covered yards, covered drafting race. Cattle yards, numerous sheds, fertiliser shed plus 440T grain silo. Deferred settlement or secured vendor finance may be an option.

Offers invited over $18,000/ha Plus GST (if any)

VIEW By Appointment Only

Tim Gallagher M 027 801 2888 E tim.gallagher@pggwrightson.co.nz Robin Ford M 027 433 6883 E rford@pggwrightson.co.nz

Richard Thomson M 027 294 8625 E richard.thomson@pggwrightson.co.nz pggwre.co.nz/ASH31125

PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under REAA 2008

For more great rural listings, visit www.pggwre.co.nz www.pggwre.co.nz

5

EXCLUSIVE

KARAMU, WAIKATO

•

Kaimai Deer Farm

pggwre.co.nz/TAR31918

EXCLUSIVE

• •

KAIMAI, BAY OF PLENTY 2722 SH 29

PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under the REAA 2008

Helping grow the country

NZ’s leading rural real estate company

Helping grow the country

Agri Job Board

BULL FARMER This is an opportunity for you to be an integral part of our development plan to improve permanent subdivision and infrastructure and make running the farm efficient and enjoyable.

Phone:

LK0101581©

A valid work permit is required. References are essential.

Name:

We would prefer: • 2 years experience • 4 trained dogs • Horse experience Accommodation: Very comfortable single quarters. All food provided including cooked evening meal Monday to Friday and cooked winter lunches. SkyTV and internet. There is excellent hunting on the station and local rugby and squash clubs.

We have an opportunity for a casual/part-time position, based in our head office in Feilding, for a Pre-press Production Designer.

We offer a package that will match your skills and enthusiasm and includes regular time off. Come home each day to a recently renovated 3-bedroom home in a quiet location on the farm. The school bus run is nearby for both primary and secondary schools. Short distance to boat ramps and west coast beaches.

Please print clearly

Training is offered e.g. dog training and support to attend AgIto courses.

We invest in great people and products, including the AgriHQ suite of data and analysis products, Farmers Weekly, On Farm Story and Dairy Farmer.

The role includes all aspects of the day-to-day running of the farming operation along with developmental work. There is a combination of team and sole charge work with responsibilities set to achieve your potential. You will need at least one good working dog.

REACH EVERY FARMER IN NZ FROM MONDAY

Located near Waikaia township, which has a bistro, pub, store and tearooms.

GlobalHQ is the country’s most innovative multimedia agri-information hub. We work hard to create valuable content that informs, inspires and entertains.

Completed works include: • Two sets of TePari Cattle yards for safe and efficient animal handling • 400ha of cell and Technosystems with waterways and native bush fenced for stock exclusion • New laneways for access and ease of stock movements • Large permanent water reticulation system with tank monitors for ease of management

EMPLOYMENT

We have a vacancy for a shepherd to join our team at Glenaray Station, Southland, which runs 38,000 ewes, 1500 cows and 2500 hinds.

Part-time/Casual Pre-press Production Designer

This position is aimed at achieving a strong work/life balance for both employee and employer.

All Applications are treated in strictest confidence

SHEPHERD

WE’RE HIRING

Five-O Farms is a 650ha effective bull beef farm situated between Dargaville and Whangarei that is passionate about sustainable, profitable farming. We are looking for someone to fit in with our family’s goals and values.

To apply or request further information please contact: Chris and Kim Leigh-Mackenzie - fiveofarmsltd@gmail.com Phone 022 044 5062 evenings

FARMERS WEEKLY – March 2, 2020

For more information please phone Mike O’Donoghue on 03 202 7720 evenings

LK0101508©

classifieds@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

To apply please email CV to: office@glenaray.co.nz

The Pre-press production/designer role position exists to provide support in the production process of advertisements and editorial layout for all GlobalHQ publications, including AgriHQ reports.

farmersweeklyjobs.co.nz

JOBS BOARD

We require someone with the following skills: • Advanced knowledge of Creative Suite, particularly InDesign and Photoshop • High level of grammar and spelling accuracy • Excellence in customer service • High level of attention to detail and accuracy • Ability to work individually and in a team environment • Ability to work to deadlines.

2IC Bull Farmer Farm Manager Fencer General Large Scale Farm Management Opportunities Operations Manager Pre-Press Production Designer Shepherd Tractor/Truck/Machinery Operator Weigh Crate Operator Whanganui Sheep and Beef

To request a job description and application form please email hr@globalhq.co.nz

LK0100828©

40

*FREE upload to Farmers Weekly jobs: farmersweeklyjobs.co.nz

Applications close Monday March 23, 2020.

Address:

*conditions apply

Contact Debbie Brown 06 323 0765 or email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

Email: Heading: Advert to read:

Noticeboard POWER CABLE

NEED

HOMES FARM SHEDS SUBDIVISIONS PUMPS

Advertise your job in Farmers Weekly

Prices include delivery to your door!

STAFF?

For friendly & professional advice CALL 0800 843 0987 Fax: 07 843 0992 Email: power@thecableshop.co.nz THE CABLE SHOP WAIKATO www.thecableshop.co.nz

LK0101583©

We could save you hundreds of $$

Nick 0274 763 658 or nick.aam@xtra.co.nz

LK0101488©

SEEKING OPPORTUNITY Progressive smart tidy operator seeks opportunity to improve your farming asset. Development lease, standard lease, lease to buy. Equity manager, sharefarming or other options.

• 5000-20,000su • Sheep, beef and deer, breeding and fattening and cropping • Great stockmanship, machinery and development experience • North Island preferred • Good references available

AGRICULTURAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

Plus receive added value of online free of charge* Call Debbie

0800 85 25 80

classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

Return this form either by fax to 06 323 7101 attention Debbie Brown Post to Farmers Weekly Classifieds, PO Box 529, Feilding 4740 - by 12pm Wednesday or Freephone 0800 85 25 80

STANDARD FEEDER (C6 Pinned) • • • •

1 x 6 foot bale 2m diameter 15 feed positions 15 - 30 animals

100% New Zealand Made Quality Stockfeeders

0 $ 85 +GST

OVAL FEEDER (S2 Pinned) • • • • •

3 x 4 foot bales 2 x 6 foot bales 24 feed positions 24 - 48 animals 4m long

$ 120+G0 ST

0800 104 404 | www.stockfeeders.co.nz

New Zealand’s proven stock feeder for 24 years | 100% New Zealand Tensile Steel

LK0101513©

*Available for one month or until close of application

Noticeboard

TOWABLE TOPPING MOWER

TOWABLE FLAIL MOWER

12Hp Diesel. Electric Start

11.5HP Briggs & Stratton Motor.

Industrial. Electric start.

GST $4400 INCLUSIVE

FLY OR LICE problem?

Electrodip - The magic eye sheepjetter since 1989 with unique self adjusting sides.

Incredible chemical and time savings with proven effectiveness.

Phone 07 573 8512 w w w. e l e c t r o d i p . c o m

GST $4200 INCLUSIVE

50 TON WOOD SPLITTER

GST $4200 INCLUSIVE

To find out more visit www.moamaster.co.nz

Phone 027 367 6247 • Email: info@moamaster.co.nz

LK0101304©

13.5HP. Briggs & Stratton Motor. Electric start.

1.2m cut

ANIMAL HANDLING

DOLOMITE NZ’s finest BioGro certified Mg fertiliser For a delivered price call ....

0800 436 566

FO SALR E

Colin Mackenzie Trust 1221 Waitewhena Road, Ohura

To inspect please contact Stuart Mackenzie 027 289 1115 Detailed information pack with basic terms and conditions and proposal requirements available from:

NOTICEBOARD ADVERTISING

Do you have something to sell?

LK0101135©

• 10,000 plus su. Approx 1100 eff ha. Summer safe • 3+3 years from 1 July 2020 with first right of refusal offering compatible tenants a longer term relationship on this 3rd generation family property • Suited to sheep and cattle breeding and finishing • Well maintained infrastructure including two dwellings

Geoff Burton Farm Business Management, Taumarunui Phone 07 895 8052 • gtb@xtra.co.nz

CHILLERS & FREEZERS [For farmers and hunters]

udly NZ Madew Pro Since 1975

021 441 180 (JC) frigidair@xtra.co.nz

classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

ANIMAL HEALTH www.drench.co.nz farmer owned, very competitive prices. Phone 0800 4 DRENCH (437 362).

ATTENTION FARMERS FAST GRASS www.gibb-gro.co.nz GROWTH PROMOTANT Only $6.00 per hectare + GST delivered Brian Mace 0274 389 822 brianmace@xtra.co.nz

When only the best will do!

TIMBER YARD AND compliant treatment plant.

Central NI. Approximately $80k stock, includes truck, forklifts, saws, timber, posts, battens etc. Many sheds, huge yard, 1.3 hectares.

All inclusive $150k ONO. Phone 027 216 9265.

CONTRACTORS

Northland Fieldays

HOMEOPATHY CENTRAL

DISTRICTS FIELD DAYS

info@farmservices.nz 07 858 4233 farmservices.nz

in Farmers Weekly issues March 9 & 16.

Wednesday March 4 at 12 noon.

Farmers Weekly reaching every farmer on

RAMS. TERMINAL SIRES Southdowns and Suffolk/ Southdown X for heavy fast growing lambs. Suitable for Hogget mating. $250$550. Phone 06 357 7727 or 021 133 7533.

RAMS FOR SALE WILTSHIRE & SHIRE® Meat rams. Low input. www.wiltshire-rams.co.nz 03 225 5283.

SHEEP SCANNING AVAILABLE SERVICING SOUTH WAIKATO, King Country, Ruapehu, Taihape areas.

Eight years experience, NZ & UK. Fully Pneumatic, 3 Way drafting, EID available.

No mob too big or small.

Wet/dry to Triplet and foetal ageing. Phone for prices and availability 027 479 4918.

Livestock Noticeboard

For Sale Pinnacles Wiltshire Rams

every farm. Let us help your business reach copies every week.

QUESTIONS? BOOKING? GET IN TOUCH Debbie 06 323 0765 classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

"Maximising your return through personal livestock management"

t os le re m iab he s ar s ld v r i or ul e W erf lipp w c po ed e sp Field Days Special – receive an extra lithium battery

See us at CD Fieldays on AGBITS site G15A

View in action go to www.handypiece.co.nz

Free call 0800 474 327

GOATS WANTED. All weights. All breeds.

Prompt service. Payment on pick up. My on farm prices will not be beaten.

Phone David Hutchings 07 895 8845 or 0274 519 249. Feral goats mustered on a 50/50 share basis.

RAMS. HILL COUNTRY Perendales. Easy care with good size and quality wool. $250-$550. Phone 06 376 4751 or 021 133 7533.

WILTSHIRES-ARVIDSON. Self shearing sheep. No1 for Facial Eczema. David 027 2771 556.

30 POLL DORSET ewe lambs. Capital stock, SIL recorded. Phone 06 378 0267 RED DEVON BULLS; Also in-calf cows + heifers, BVD vaccinated + weaners. Hill country stud. TB-C10 - 06 376 3966 2TH TEXEL RAMS for sale. Phone 027 484 2822 www.texel.co.nz

Phone Dave on Ph 06 327 7843 or 027 416 8188

Booking and material deadline due by

handypiece ■ Ideal for shearing sheep, alpacas, goats and cow tails ■ Variable speed from 2400-3500 rpm ■ Latest brushless motor technology means minimal heat build up ■ 1400gms means 100-200gms lighter than standard handpiece ■ At 2700 rpm the 12-volt lithium battery will crutch up to 300-400 sheep, 400-500 cow tails ■ Tough alloy switch box with auto reset fuse for overload or lockup – clips to belt

NAKI GOATS. Trucking goats to the works every week throughout the NI. Phone Michael and Clarice.

027 643 0403.

LIVESTOCK FOR SALE

At 5’4, silky blonde hair and hazel eyes with a slim build, this lady loves the country life and the challenge it throws at her. She enjoys horse riding, camping, fishing, country music, cooking and a good conversation. She is looking for a likeminded country man.

To meet, please call 0800 446 332 www.countrycompanionship.co.nz

400 Wiltshire ewe lambs

Central Districts Field Days feature running

the people that matter to you. 78,039 HOMEOPATHIC FARM SERVICES

FARM MAPPING SIMPLE AND CLEAR farm maps with paddock sizes will help you achieve your daily goals. Get a free quote from farmmapping. co.nz FOR ONLY $2.10 + gst per word you can book a word only ad in Farmers Weekly Classifieds. Phone Debbie n on 0800 85 25 80 to book,

Country Lady Looking For Love!

200 1st cross Perendale/Wiltshire 2th ewes

19-21 March 2020

Email: dave@handypiece.co.nz

Heavy duty Long lasting See us at Northland Field Days – Site 3 Phone 021 047 9299

LK0101572©

NORTHERN FIELD DAYS SITE NO. 624

12 MONTHS TO 5½-yearold Heading dogs and Huntaways wanted. Phone 022 698 8195.

PERSONAL

LK0101582©

TALK DIRECTLY TO THE EXPERTS

DOGS WANTED

NZ KELP. FRESH, wild ocean harvested giant kelp.

The world’s richest source of natural iodine. Dried and milled for use in agriculture and horticulture. Growth promotant / stock health food. As seen on Country Calendar. Orders to: 03 322 6115 or info@nzkelp.co.nz FOR ONLY $2.10 + gst per word you can book a word only ad in Farmers Weekly Classifieds. Phone Debbie n on 0800 85 25 80 to book,

• No shearing • All born twins

LK0101078©

Another tool to use for the health of all your farming livestock

SELLING AND BUYING dogs NZ wide since 2012.

Deliver, trial, guaranteed. www.youtube.com/user/ mikehughesworkingdog/ videos 07-315-5553

GOATS WANTED

GORSE SPRAYING SCRUB CUTTING. 30 years experience.

Blowers, gun and hose.

No job too big. Camp out teams.

Travel anywhere if job big enough. Phone Dave 06 375 8032.

Call Debbie

0800 85 25 80

CRAIGCO SHEEP JETTERS. Sensor Jet. Deal to fly and Lice now. Guaranteed performance.

Unbeatable pricing.

Phone 06 835 6863. www.craigcojetters.com

BUSINESS FOR SALE

LK0101362©

ATTRACTIVE KING COUNTRY LEASE OPPORTUNITY

HORTICULTURE

DOGS FOR SALE

41

LK0101576©

ANIMAL HANDLING

2 YEAR WARRANTY. NZ ASSEMBLED. ELECTRIC START & QUALITY YOU CAN RELY ON

classifieds@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

_______________________________ byllivestock.co.nz

07 823 4559

byllivestock

LK0101574©

FARMERS WEEKLY – March 2, 2020

Livestock Noticeboard

WHITE DORPER RAM HOGGETS for sale

Check out Poll Dorset NZ on Facebook

The best breed for easy lambing and top survival. Rams have been scanned for eye muscle and skin thickness. SIL data.

LK0101546©

Further details and photos on website sales page. ratapikodorpers.co.nz or phone Boyd on 06 756 9197

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING

PHONE HANNAH GUDSELL 0800 85 25 80

DTC 22/7, 320ms, approx 100 A2A2 cows $1860 Stewart Cruickshank 027 270 5288 Ref: DH789

Interested?

weight reports provided.

Managed by ex-dairy farmers, weighed and drenched regularly with

For more information call: Andy Carlson 0274 529 697

Mike McKenzie 027 252 5908 Ref: DH1431 27 Autumn Calv Hfrs BW49 PW49

WAIRARAPA TEXEL DEVELOPMENTS

DTC 3/3, CRV bred, well grown complete replacement line $1800 Hamish Manthel 027 432 0298 Ref: DH1427 220 Xbred Herd, BW106 PW165 RA98 DTC 20/7, LIC Bred 30+yrs, system 1 Mated to A2A2 sires, top cows $1750

Flock10 / SIL No. 2960

Matt Hancock 027 601 3787 Ref: DR1425 140 Fsn Herd, BW63 PW67 RA92 Steve Quinnell 027 278 3837 Ref: DH1362 70 Autumn calv Xbred Cows BW100 PW163

• For sale 2th Texel Rams LK0101248©

LK0101421©

DTC 20/7 to LIC, closed herd 30yrs $1750

CONTACT: Carrfields – Callum Dunnett 027 587 0131 PGW – Simon Eddington 027 590 8612

www.carrfieldslivestock.co.nz

Large areas available

DTC 19/7, 463ms, 75% calving in 6wks $1790

Approx Tallies: 40 1 shr Ewes 160 Ewe Lambs

Vendor – Penni Loffhagen 03 314 4551 or 021 149 4413

Grazing available for Heifers from 1 May 2020 Drench and Jersey Bulls provided.

2th Rams available

380 Fsn/FsnX Herd BW66 PW91

SUFFOLK FEMALE SALE 5th March 2020 1:30pm start 11:00am viewing on farm

This is a great opportunity to buy from large Suffolk flock run under commercial conditions.

MAY - MAY

“Best ease of hogget lambing ever and surprisingly vigorous! Lambs continue to grow well.” – Hamish Bielski, Clinton

Google - Micron Matters Facebook - Glenflora Hillender Or phone 027 280 5468

240 Fsn/FsnX Herd BW71 PW107 RA96

Mt Greba 36 Christians Road Hawarden North Canterbury

GRAZING AVAILABLE

Does Micron matter to you?

Glenflora Hillender is a 25 micron stabilised dual purpose sheep bred in a non traditional fine wool environment for 9 years.

DAIRIES FOR SALE TAWHAI SUFFOLK STUD

FARMERS WEEKLY – March 2, 2020

LK0101506©

RA88. DTC 15/3 to Hfd, all 3-6yrs, milked hilly farm $1600 Val Ditchfield 027 573 7480 Ref: DH953 Go to our Website for the best selection available.

www.carrfieldslivestock.co.nz

Friday March 20th, on-farm Fairlie 120 rams, 7 breeds

Romney, Romdale, Perendale x Texel x Romney, Texel x Romney, kelso. Maternal, kelso. x Romney, kelso. Terminal Plus a selection of hogget mating options available for purchase or lease

• Terminal and Maternal sires available • Free transport offered Within the lower 1/2 of North Island, for lines of 5 or greater purchased

WANAKA SHOW

Visit us at our site right beside the sheep pens

IN - CALF FEMALE SALE Wednesday May 6th approx. 100 PTIC stud Angus females

Facilitated by

Fully performance recorded and ranked from one of New Zealand’s largest registered studs.

AUTUMN RAM SALE

• Wairarapa Texel Developments Partnership

R2, R3, R4 plus 10-year old AD capital stock cows David Giddings 027 2299760 George Giddings 027 656 3323 PGGW - Keith Willson 027 412 5766 Simon Eddington 027 590 8612 Carrfields - Callum Dunnett 027 587 0131 PWA - Hamish Zuppicich 027 403 3025 RLL - Anthony Cox 027 208 3071

LK0101479©

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

LK0101554©

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“Muscling up and meating the market”

Stewart Cowan – 06 372 2770 texels4u@gmail.com Andy Phillips – 027 238 4961 halfy490@gmail.com

QUALITY

FARM

MACHINERY

27 MARCH

VIEWING FROM 10.30AM AUCTION STARTS AT 12.30PM TINWALD SALEYARDS, ASHBURTON

To view all listed items visit carrfields.co.nz

CONTACT CLAAS HARVEST CENTRE CANTERBURY

03 307 9400

CONTACT DRUMMOND & ETHERIDGE

0800 432 633

Farmers choose us first for news, opinion, analysis, market updates and even their own livestock advertising.

For more contact: Hannah Gudsell 06 323 0761 or 027 602 4925 livestock@globalhq.co.nz

farmersweekly.co.nz/advertising

2537FW BULL SALES

SALE

farmers weekly hits 78,039 Rural letterboxes

Livestock Noticeboard

FARMERS WEEKLY – March 2, 2020

130 ANGUS BULL CALVES 175kg 230 HEREFORD BULLS 420kg Owner/Station Bred

STOCK REQUIRED

16MTH BEEF BRED HEIFERS 350-400kg

2YR BEEF or FRSN BULLS 460kg+

CULL BEEF COWS

www.dyerlivestock.co.nz

Ross Dyer 0274 333 381 A Financing Solution For Your Farm E info@rdlfinance.co.nz

The officer, well impressed by his effort now believes that Paddy is clean and said, “Wow. I couldn’t do that sober.” Paddy replies, “me neither.”

Supplied by Lindsey Thompson

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING

Sale Day: Tuesday 10 March 2020 AUCTION at Gore Showgrounds Viewing from 12pm – Sale starts 2pm

Are you looking in the right direction?

Sired by top pure Beltex Rams:

• 43 Beltex X Texel Ram Lambs Robinson Family • 16 Beltex X Poll Dorset Ram Lambs Robinson Family • 30 Beltex X Suffolk Ram Lambs Robinson Family & Symon Howard (Taronga) • 30 Beltex X South Suffolk Ram Lambs Robinson Family & Doug Irwin (Parmount) All Ram Lambs are showing the unique double muscling and the higher yielding density characteristics of the Beltex breed.

Call HANNAH 0800 85 25 80

livestock@globalhq.co.nz

Weekly Auctions Wednesday night – North Island Thursday night – South Island

FEATURE AUCTIONS South Island Store Lamb Sale Thursday, 12 March 2020 at 7.00pm For more information go to bidr.co.nz or contact the team on 0800 TO BIDR

Your source for PGG Wrightson livestock and farming listings

NZ’s Virtual Saleyard

KIKITANGEO ROMNEY STUD Key: Dairy

KIKI G197-14

SEMEN STILL AVAILABLE • • • •

From a proven sire which is second in NZ for worm resistance - a son of his is the top Also a top sire for FE tolerance with a number of sons having a nil reaction when dosed at 0.60mg/kg A strong constitutioned sheep with 50 year of breeding for structural soundness Many ram breeders purchased Kiki sires at our 2019 Annual Sale to beat the problems of FE and worms without compromising physical features

Further information and photos please see our website www.kikitangeo.co.nz or contact Gordon Levet, email glevet5192@gmail.com or telephone 09 423 7034

LOWER NORTH ISLAND DAIRY HERDS & IN-CALF HEIFERS FOR SALE PGG Wrightson Dairy representatives are specialists at marketing and selling dairy herds.

Benefit from the nationwide team that is dedicated to matching herds with the right buyers and achieving an optimal outcome for your business.

336 MA Capital Stock Jersey/ Jersey X Cows

GET INTO THE BLACK

BW 96

Sheep

Other

PW 132

$1,700+GST

•

273 Capital Stock Friesian & Friesian X Herd BW 61 FOL UF K

E

A

F

PERFOR

M

L

O

NC

SEA

Using a Suffolk ram results in 100% of offspring being in the black, which will in turn, put YOU in the black.

S

LK0101334©

Proven fast growth Hybrid Vigour Easy identification High yields

cheer up your bank manager today!

Tell him you’ve bought a Suffolk!

FIND YOUR NEAREST SUFFOLK BREEDER: nzsheep.co.nz/suffolk

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @farmersweeklynz so you don’t miss a beat!

12 March - All Sexs 18 March - Str & Bulls 19 March - Hfrs 01 April - Str & Bulls 02 April - Hfrs 08 April - All Sexs 15 April - Str & Bulls 16 April - Hfrs 22 April - Sue Brothers - All Sexs 23 April - All Sexs 29 April - Str & Bulls 30 April - Hfrs 14 May - All Sexs For more information contact your local PGG Wrightson Livestock agent.

RA 99% Farm Sold - Vendors Retiring.

Has been in the family for 40 years.

Hard working Spring Calving Once A Day Jersey & Jersey X Herd farmed in a wet climate (this district is not drought affected). The bulk of the herd is DNA’D. Tim Pickering – 027 446 9963 Agonline ref: 6321

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FEILDING WEANER FAIRS UPCOMING SALES:

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SALE TALK

Paddy is driving home from the pub and gets pulled over by a police officer. The officer says, “Good evening Sir. Do you know why I pulled you over?”

43

Glenrobin Stud

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STOCK FOR SALE 100 ANGUS HEIFER CALVES 160kg

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

PW 65

$1,800+GST

•

RA 98% Long established, hardworking herd farmed in a difficult climate. Vendor exiting industry and farm is sold. Very low cell count. Herd tested and milked on System 2.

Trade Livestock like never before

Tim Pickering – 027 446 9963 Agonline ref: 6157

Freephone 0800 10 22 76 | www.pggwrightson.co.nz

bidr.co.nz

Helping grow the country

Follow our journey As we hit the road for the final day of the Young Breeders Competition on March 13, followed by the World Hereford Conference Post Tour March 14 - 18, 2020.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

44

Market Snapshot brought to you by the AgriHQ analysts.

Suz Bremner

Mel Croad

Nicola Dennis

Cattle

Reece Brick

Graham Johnson

Caitlin Pemberton

Sheep

BEEF

William Hickson

Deer

SHEEP MEAT

VENISON

Last week

Prior week

Last year

NI Steer (300kg)

4.80

4.80

5.25

NI lamb (17kg)

6.90

7.00

7.00

NI Stag (60kg)

7.80

8.00

9.55

NI Bull (300kg)

4.80

4.80

4.90

NI mutton (20kg)

4.55

4.55

5.00

SI Stag (60kg)

7.80

8.00

9.55

NI Cow (200kg)

3.45

3.35

3.60

SI lamb (17kg)

6.80

6.95

6.75

SI Steer (300kg)

4.60

4.60

5.10

SI mutton (20kg)

4.20

4.40

4.80

SI Bull (300kg)

4.65

4.75

4.85

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

SI Cow (200kg)

3.20

3.65

3.60

UK CKT lamb leg

11.14

11.09

8.72

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

Last week Prior week

Last year

North Island lamb slaughter price

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

9.5 8.5

7.62

7.04

10.0

US domestic 90CL cow

8.25

8.00

6.80

9.0

7.5

8.0

6.5

$/kg CW

7.46

6.5

$/kg CW

$/kg CW

$/kg CW

South Island lamb slaughter price

10.0

7.5

8.0

6.5

7.0

Oct

Dec 5-yr ave

Feb

Apr 2018-19

Jun

5.0

5-yr ave

Apr

Jun

2018-19

Dairy

Aug 2019-20

Last week

Prior week

Last year

Coarse xbred ind.

-

-

2.87

37 micron ewe

-

2.58

30 micron lamb

-

3.78

$/tonne

7.25 6.75 6.25 Sep-19

Nov-19 Sept. 2020

Urea

567

567

650

-

Super

314

314

321

-

DAP

787

787

843

Last price*

360

Jan-19

Mar-19

May-19

Jul-19

Sep-19

Nov-19

Jan-20

vs 4 weeks ago

Company

Close

YTD High

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd

25.48

26.34

21.2

The a2 Milk Company Limited

16.42

17.07

14.2

420

YTD Low

Meridian Energy Limited (NS)

4.7

5.8

4.7

Auckland International Airport Limited

8.03

9.21

8.02

Spark New Zealand Limited

4.635

4.88

4.33

Ryman Healthcare Limited

15.9

17.18

15.75

Mercury NZ Limited (NS)

4.815

5.62

4.8

Contact Energy Limited

6.85

7.74

6.78

Port of Tauranga Limited

6.68

8.08

6.51

Fletcher Building Limited

5.26

5.7

5.07

Listed Agri Shares

CANTERBURY FEED BARLEY Prior week

NZ average (NZ$/t)

Top 10 by Market Cap

400

320

Jan-20

DAIRY FUTURES (US$/T) Nearby contract

Aug 2019-20

Last year

440

May-19 Jul-19 Sept. 2019

Jun

Prior week

CANTERBURY FEED WHEAT

7.75

Mar-19

Apr 2018-19

Last week

Grain

Data provided by

MILK PRICE FUTURES

5.75

Feb

FERTILISER

(NZ$/kg)

Feb

Dec

Fertiliser

Aug 2019-20

WOOL

Dec

Oct

5-yr ave

5.0

5.5

Oct

8.5

9.0

6.0

4.5

9.5

6.0

South Island steer slaughter price

6.5 $/kg CW

10.5

5.5

4.5

South Island stag slaughter price

11.5

5.0

5.0

$/kg MS

7.0 6.0

6.0

Last year

10.5

US imported 95CL bull

North Island steer slaughter price

Last week Prior week

North Island stag slaughter price

11.5 $/kg CW

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

Ingrid Usherwood

5pm, close of market, Thursday

Company

Close

YTD High

YTD Low

The a2 Milk Company Limited

16.42

17.07

14.2

Comvita Limited

2.4

3.25

2.4

Delegat Group Limited

10.6

12.1

10.45

2925

3000

3300

400

SMP

3060

3070

2970

380

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund (NS)

3.96

4.06

3.85

Foley Wines Limited

1.8

1.91

1.78

AMF

4750

4750

5175

360

Livestock Improvement Corporation Ltd (NS)

0.79

0.82

0.75

Marlborough Wine Estates Group Limited

0.194

0.197

0.193

New Zealand King Salmon Investments Ltd

2.01

2.3

2

PGG Wrightson Limited

2.35

2.47

2.24

Sanford Limited (NS)

7.11

8.2

7.1

Scales Corporation Limited

4.35

5.17

4

SeaDragon Limited

0.002

0.003

0.001

Seeka Limited

4.25

4.74

4.25

Synlait Milk Limited (NS)

6.15

9.1

5.98

Butter

4000

4000

4150

Milk Price

7.21

7.21

7.41

$/tonne

WMP

340 320

Jan-19

* price as at close of business on Thursday

May-19

Jul-19

Sep-19

Nov-19

Jan-20

WAIKATO PALM KERNEL

3400

300

2.85

2.93

2.75

3200

280

S&P/NZX Primary Sector Equity Index

15236

16941

15146

S&P/NZX 50 Index

11437

12073

11437

3000

260

S&P/NZX 10 Index

11455

12096

11233

$/tonne

US$/t

WMP FUTURES - VS FOUR WEEKS AGO

Mar-19

2800 2600

T&G Global Limited

240 220

Mar

Apr May Latest price

Jun

Jul 4 weeks ago

Aug

200

Jan-19

S&P/FW PRIMARY SECTOR EQUITY

Mar-19

May-19

Jul-19

Sep-19

Nov-19

Jan-20

15236

S&P/NZX 50 INDEX

11437

S&P/NZX 10 INDEX

11455

45

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

6.90

SI SLAUGHTER STEER ( $/KG)

4.60

SI SLAUGHTER BULL ( $/KG)

4.65

R2 TRADITIONAL STEERS, 395KG AVE, AT WELLSFORD GROWN CATTLE FAIR ( $/KG)

2.38

Feed supplies are tight NORTH ISLAND

N

ORTHLAND is still desperate for rain. People are drying cows off, mainly younger ones that are still growing and need a chance to get to optimal weight for calving. An ag consultant says farmers need to be aware that when a decent rain arrives pasture quality will go off for a while because any remaining pasture will rot, so they will need to have plenty of feed on hand to get over that hump.

Around Pukekohe about 20mm of rain arrived last week. It was good enough for irrigated crops for a day or two but of no benefit to dry, hard soils awaiting cultivation. Most of the onions are now off the fields with exports under way.

Growers are not expecting the bonanza last year delivered. Greenhouse tomatoes are heading to Australia to meet a shortage there. Other local vegetables are hard to sell. There’s not much demand because of consumer spending on tickets for the $50 million dollar lottery.

South Waikato had thunder rolling around the district last week but the rain was very choosy about where it fell. Some places have greened slightly. The farmer we spoke to has been going out twice a day to check troughs. When it’s hot cows can drink 100 litres each a day. He’s also had the sprinklers on in the milking shed to keep cows cool and tries to keep them in paddocks where there’s shade. He says the cows are milking well given the conditions.

Bay of Plenty farmers are tucking into winter feed reserves. At least with the decent dairy payout farmers can afford to buy feed. There was just enough rain last week to settle the dust. Thirty-degree days are putting fruit crops under a bit of pressure. Some avocado trees with crop still on are dropping their fruit so there’s windfall fruit available at roadside stalls.

Young kiwifruit without access to water are under stress and their leaves are curling. Rain’s needed to help kiwifruit size up.

Taumarunui remains dry and streams and dams are drying up. Stock buyers have had their quota cut by about half by meat works but things are freeing up a little. Shearers, rousies, wool handlers and judges have been flocked into town for Friday’s Taumarunui shears competition.

Parts of Taranaki were blessed with 100mm of rain last week and other places had just 10mm to 15mm. Most dairy farmers are now on once-a-day milking and have time to go to the beach in the hot afternoons. Autumn-calving herds are due to start calving soon and there’s concern there won’t be enough grass for hungry cows. There are waiting lists of up to two months to get empty cows into the works. The wait’s been exacerbated by a chemical spill at the works which has held things up even more.

We’re told the sea is beautiful and it’s a wonderful time to be at the beach near Gisborne. Last week brought some nice steady rain, up to 30mm. There are still boats loading logs at Gisborne’s port but with demand from China dropping lots of trucks are off the road and forestry workers have been laid off. On the

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LivestockEye

GETTING BETTER: Farmers selling stock at Coalgate enjoyed the 5mm to 20mm of rain that fell last week.

Photo: Alice Greenwood

farming front stock prices have dropped.

One farmer was budgeting on getting $1600 for two-year cattle but he’s revised that down to $1200. Yields for laterharvested sweetcorn crops are down 20% to 30% because of the dry. The tomato harvest is going flat stick and there’s been a huge honey flow.

Hawke’s Bay farmers near the western hills have springs that are dry or are going dry for the first time in memory so not only are they dealing with a feed shortage but also a water shortage. There are too many mouths on farms. Meat works are taking all the animals they can but their chillers are full. Lambs are about a kilo lighter than expected for this time of year and to make things worse TB-infected cows have been found north of Napier and about 500 herds are under a restricted movement notice. An ag consultant says it’s been decades since Hawke’s Bay has had TB. Manawatu has had some rain but the heat has undone a lot of the benefit. Stock condition is suffering because farmers can’t get animals to the works. There’s only limited feed to spread across all the animals. People are getting concerned about ewe weights going into tupping and some might decide not to mate hoggets.

Southland seems to be the only place with an abundance of pasture and lambs from the Feilding sales are heading to the South Island. It costs about $6000 to get a truck and trailer load across Cook Strait so buyers are looking for bargains to make the trip worth it.

Wairarapa is hot and drier. Some dairy farms have run out of supplementary feed. The farmer we spoke to had 26mm in the rain gauge last week. He says heavy dews are helping with grass growth.

SOUTH ISLAND The Nelson region is very dry. Level two water rationing is in place across the plains. It means a 35% cut in watering. In orchards the earlier Comice, Taylors Gold and Packham’s Triumph pears are coming off. Apple-wise the popular Royal Gala variety is being picked. Packing houses

are flat out but a lot of orchards are still looking for staff.

Marlborough’s dry too with no rain likely for the next two or three weeks so water restrictions are in place on some rivers. A major concern for sheep farmers is the impact the lower pasture quality will have on ovulation rates during mating. In the province’s vineyards people are getting ready for grape harvesting.

Pasture growth’s taken off on a Grey Valley farm on the West Coast after a lot of sun last week and decent rainfall the week before. The farmer we talked to says he’s planning to make more silage to bolster the winter reserves. The cows are being milked three times every two days and he says production’s holding up okay.

In Canterbury farmers were pleased to get some rain last week with 5mm to 20mm. Much more is needed soon while temperatures are still high enough for growth before winter. Indications from arable farmers are that yields have been very good so far across cereals and small seeds.

Weaning’s in full swing in Central Otago and some farmers have done a third cut of lucerne. Our contact reckons the Merino-Romney cross is the most profitable sheep in the country at the moment as the wool clip is in demand and they produce a lamb that is finished in the year it’s produced. A fruit grower a bit further south at Roxburgh says they’ve had no rain, cool mornings and lovely sunny days – perfect conditions for harvesting. The last of his peaches are in the packing shed now and plum picking for the local market’s under way.

A farmer at Mataura in Southland says scanning’s done on the cows and the sixweek in-calf rate is 75%. Last year it was at 77%. Milk production’s starting to tail off so some farmers are looking at changing their milking regimes from twice a day to 16 hours or 10 milkings over seven days. Another farmer we talked to says it’s been a pretty tough season because the spring was ugly and they haven’t seen a lot of sun so he’s keen to give his staff a bit of a break before winter kicks in.

Courtesy of Radio New Zealand Country Life You can listen to Country Life on RNZ at 9pm every Friday and 7am on Saturday or on podcast at rnz.co.nz/countrylife

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46

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

Chatham Islands lambs start annual pilgrimage Rain in the South Island was a welcome sight last week for Canterbury people and sparked more life into the store lamb market.

It was timed well with the first offload of Chatham Islands’ lambs as they start their annual pilgrimage via Timaru though they had spent a week on the mainland.

As is typical of the Chathams lambs they brought size to the Temuka yarding, with most sold in big lines in the store pens though they were in essence prime.

Those featured at Temuka last Monday were from Pitt Island and because of their size and Suffolk-Romney breeding sold for $141-$160. Chatham Islands livestock will be a semi-regular feature at the Temuka and Stortford Lodge sales as the year progresses.

NORTHLAND Wellsford grown cattle fair • R2 Angus steers, 345-427kg, eased to $2.34-$2.41/kg • R2 Charolais steers, 336-389kg, softened to $2.42-$2.44/kg • R2 Angus-Friesian steers, 378-379kg, eased to $2.29-$2.32/kg • R2 Hereford-Friesian steers, 329-366kg, came back to $2.54$2.55/kg • R2 Hereford heifers, 382kg, were discounted to $2.49/kg Just 172 cattle were penned at WELLSFORD last Monday for their grown cattle fair. All the offering was R2 cattle, with most vendors having already shed any excess older cattle. The smaller yarding traded at softer levels compared to 2019 results, with steers back 30-50c/kg for most and heifers discounted 30-40c/kg on average. The yarding did not lack quality with most a credit to vendors. R2 Angus and Angus-Hereford steers, 391kg, earned $2.37/kg. In the heifer pens Angus, 385kg, softened to $2.34/kg. HerefordFriesian, 336-418kg, eased 20c/kg on average to trade at $2.30/kg to $2.44/kg, with Hereford-dairy, 377-390kg, back to $2.31-$2.33/kg.

Kaikohe cattle sale • R3 Hereford-Friesian steers made $2.35-$2.45/kg • R2 beef-cross bulls earned $2.25-$2.30/kg Just 55 cattle were presented at KAIKOHE last Wednesday, PGG Wrightson agent Vaughan Vujcich reported, as drought conditions continued to stall this market. Weaner Herefordcross steers earned up to $2.75/kg, with the bottom end at $2.35/kg. The best of the weaner beef-cross heifers sold for $2.40-$2.50/kg, and the balance, $2.10/kg.

AUCKLAND Pukekohe cattle sale • Medium weaner crossbred steers fetched $470-$480 • Good weaner heifers earned $580 • Boner cows made $1.64/kg

QUALITY: Nearly half the store lambs at Coalgate last Thursday were heavy types that held their value.

Photo: Alice Greenwood

Buyers were treated to some welcome rain at PUKEKOHE on Saturday 22 nd February. It was a strong sale despite softening schedules, and prices for all classes of cattle were solid. In the prime pens, steers sold for $2.55/kg, while the better prime heifers traded at $2.46-$2.50/kg. R2 whiteface steers sold well at $2.79-$2.86/kg, and crossbred steers varied from $2.56/kg to $2.79/kg.

COUNTIES Tuakau sales • Top weaner beef heifers sold to $700 • Prime heifers firmed to $2.54/kg • Store lambs averaged $70 TUAKAU hosted a weaner heifer fair last Thursday, and due to the dry conditions prices were back 15-20c/kg on the same sale last year, Carrfields Livestock agent Karl Chitham reported. The 700-head yarding was dominated

by Charolais and Simmental heifers, with most at 181222kg making $525-$580. Angus heifers, 162-174kg, earned $495-$525. Numbers were light at Wednesday’s prime sale but steer and heifer prices firmed by 5-15c/kg. Steers at 589-677kg traded at $2.42-$2.45/kg, and the best of the beef heifers made $2.54/kg. Lighter beef-types sold down to $2.38/kg. A small offering of boner cows returned $1.22$1.67/kg. Monday’s sheep sale was also a brief affair. Store lambs made $60-$81 and prime lambs fetched $117-$158.

Prime ewes averaged $73, selling up to $106.

WAIKATO Frankton cattle sale • Twelve R3 Hereford-Friesian steers, 538kg, softened to $2.39/kg • R2 Hereford-dairy steers, 362kg, eased to $2.44/kg • R2 Hereford-dairy heifers, 284kg, traded at $2.36/kg • Weaner Hereford-Friesian heifers, 154-167kg, lifted to $595-$640 • Three prime Hereford steers, 686kg, topped their section at $2.56/kg

Store cattle throughput increased to a still moderate 261 head at FRANKTON last Wednesday. A selective buying bench meant vendors had to meet the market, particularly for older store cattle, and R2 Friesian-cross heifers, 315339kg, returned $1.45-$1.56/kg. Twelve autumn-born R2 Hereford-Friesian steers, 508kg, fetched $2.29/kg.

Weaner heifers made up the lions share of the yarding at 181 head, and most traded at improved levels. HerefordFriesian, 138-147kg, lifted to $470-$505, as did red Hereford-Friesian, 148-151kg, up to $450-$470. Hereforddairy, 128-152kg, held at $345-$430. Just 17 prime steers were penned, and most were 525-726kg and traded at $2.39-$2.43/kg.

BAY OF PLENTY Rangiuru cattle and sheep • R3 Hereford-Friesian steers, 505kg, made $2.46/kg • R2 Hereford-Friesian steers, 316kg, were the pick of the bunch at $2.82/kg • Prime lambs fetched $113-$149 • Ewes improved with most $53-$122 For the second week in a row only a token number of cattle came into the yards at RANGIURU last Tuesday, with proceedings done and dusted in only 35 minutes. The mix was very different to the last few sales, and the beef-cross market improved 20-30c/kg above early February prices when such cattle were last available in quantity.

Hereford-Friesian filled out the R2 pens, and they sold consistently in the range of $2.48/kg to $2.59/kg with Friesian and Friesian-cross heifers, 302-368kg, selectively bought from $1.75/kg to $2.17/kg.

Only three lines of prime cattle graced the pens, with the best Hereford-Friesian steers, 558kg, that achieved $2.60/ kg.

POVERTY BAY Matawhero sheep • Store wether lambs typically fetched $98.50-$102 with the balance at $81.50 • Store mixed-age Romney ewes mostly made $61-$67 • Prime mixed-age ewes traded at $118-$120 • Prime two-tooth rams sold for $70 There was around 660 store lambs on offer at MATAWHERO last Friday. Short-term mixed-sex lambs sold well at $116-$131, medium males earned $77-$87.50 and medium to light ewe lambs traded at $77-$85.

TARANAKI Taranaki cattle sale • R2 Angus-Friesian steers, 374kg, made $2.38/kg • Two R2 Hereford heifers, 292kg, sold for $2.29/kg • Boner Friesian cows, 395-493kg, traded at $1.36-$1.39/kg There were less than 100 head of cattle at last Wednesday’s TARANAKI sale. The R2 heifer pens were mostly made up of dairy-bred cattle where Friesian, 245-392kg, traded from $1.80/kg to $1.91/kg, and 410kg Kiwi-cross fetched $1.51/kg. Weaners sold on a similar market to the previous week’s dairy-beef weaner fair and Hereford-Friesian steers, 97-119kg, sold in a range of $380$475, while Hereford-Friesian, 108-130kg, were secured for $340-$400.

SALE YARD WRAP

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020

47

lamb volume dropped by 1000 head and traded at $110$139 for the majority, with heavy types up to $152-$158.

Unusually, and even with lower than normal numbers, prime volume exceeded the number of store cattle.

Simmental-cross heifers, 515kg, topped their section at $2.39/kg, with the lion’s share of the yarding HerefordFriesian, 452-548kg, $2.20-$2.30/kg. Store cattle were exclusively weaners and mostly Hereford-Friesian under 100kg; heifers made $260-$265 with bulls and steers $225$230.

SOUTH-CANTERBURY Temuka prime cattle and sheep • Hereford bulls, 708kg, made top money at $2.79/kg • Eight boner Friesian heifers, 389kg, fetched $1.55/kg • Boner Friesian cows, 475-685kg, varied from $1.39/kg to $1.53/kg • Prime lambs mostly traded at $95-$160 • 108 two-tooth Kelso breeding ewes sold for $140-$148 The rain that fell around TEMUKA had little impact on the unusually small yarding of sheep last Monday. Plenty of Suffolk-Romney lambs from the Chatham Islands would not have looked out of place in the prime pens and made $141-$160, while other heavy types fetched $98-$108 and a few light pens $57-$77. Prime ewes struggled to sell, with $10-$15 shaved off the bulk that made $60-$135, though a few managed $140-$160. Cattle were tough to find with the smallest line-up in the last five years. The main highlight was bulls over 470kg that traded from $2.60/kg to $2.76/kg.

Kiwi-cross cows, 424-440kg, returned $1.35-$1.38/kg.

TRAVELLERS: This line-up of Hereford and Hereford-Devon heifers from the Chatham Islands was on sale at Temuka last week.

HAWKE’S BAY Stortford Lodge store cattle and sheep sale • R2 Angus steers, 366-469kg, ranged from $2.71/kg to $2.83/kg • 15-month Hereford-Friesian heifers, 316-321kg, earned $2.37/kg • Store lamb market lifted $12-$17 across most classes • Good ram lambs lifted to $95-$117.50 • Medium ewe lambs improved to $71-$81.50 Cattle came forward in low but quality numbers at STORTFORD LODGE last Wednesday, while an increase in buyer numbers gave the lamb market a boost. Cattle volume still struggled to hit 150 head, but several special entries drew in orders. R2 Angus-exotic steers, 457kg, sold well at $2.70/kg, and Angus and Angus-Hereford heifers, 397kg, returned $2.48/kg. Friesian heifers, 321kg, made $1.92/kg. The news was good out of the sheep pens, with a buoyant market across the board. Medium to good cryptorchid lambs sold from $86.50 to $107, and a small mixed-sex section fetched $67-$90.50. Good ewe lambs featured and sold for $86-$97.50.

Stortford Lodge prime cattle and sheep • Three Hereford-Friesian heifers, 553kg, returned $2.21/kg • Very-heavy mixed age ewes improved to $118 • A pen of good ewes lifted to $89.50 • Good two-tooth ewes fetched $90 • Good male lambs held at $112 Sheep throughput dropped to 177 head at STORTFORD LODGE last Monday, and ewes made up 131 of the total tally. The market was solid, and a pen of heavy ewes lifted to $109, as did light-medium types to $45-$51. A handful of prime lambs sold at steady to firm levels, where lightmedium and good types earned $67 and $108 respectively.

Just three heifers were offered in the cattle section.

kg, with a large line of 290kg R2 traditional heifers at $2.19/ kg. Two lines of 500kg R3 heifers were $2.18-$2.26/kg. Little else of significance was sold. A yarding of 10,000 lambs were mainly sold without too much fuss. Early pens of good male lambs were mostly $100-$115, down to $90-$100 on the more medium-type males. Top cuts of ewe lambs went as high as $100, but the majority of the decent lines were $80-$90. Mixed-quality long-term lambs were sold in two rough cuts, the better options $70-$75, and the remainder usually $55-$65.

Rongotea cattle sale • R3 Hereford-Friesian steers, 460kg, softened to $2.17/kg • R2 Hereford-Friesian steers, 302kg, held at $2.31/kg • R2 Hereford-Friesian heifers, 327kg, fetched $2.14/kg • Autumn-born R1 Hereford-Friesian heifers, 230kg, earned $2.35/ kg • Autumn-born Hereford-Friesian heifer calves made $250-$265 Weekend rain was unable to boost numbers in the cattle pens or on the buying bench at RONGOTEA last Wednesday, New Zealand Farmers Livestock agent Darryl Harwood reported. R3 heifers varied as Hereford-Friesian, 292kg, sold well at $2.29/kg, while beef-cross, 480kg, were bought for $1.80/kg and Friesian, 376kg, $1.50/kg. The first of the autumn-born calves were on offer and Friesian bulls traded at $105-$205, while Hereford-Friesian sold in a range of $200-$285.

CANTERBURY

Feilding prime cattle and sheep • Hereford bulls, 612kg, dropped 3-7c/kg to $2.40/kg • Prime lambs were back $3-$5 per head with most $124-$152 Lamb volume at FEILDING last Monday was on par for this time of year but sold across only 20 pens. Ewe volume doubled and the top pens managed $90-$95.50 with most $68-$78. The prime cattle yarding was a third of the previous sale at 58, yet the mix was very similar. Boner cows lost ground by 10-15c/kg, and Friesian and Friesian-cross, 481-503kg, traded at $1.07-$1.12/kg.

Canterbury Park cattle and sheep • Prime steers, 600-745kg, dropped 10c/kg to earn $2.31-$2.42/kg • Prime dairy-beef and Friesian steers improved to trade at $2.20$2.30/kg • Prime Angus heifers, 593-641kg, made $2.16-$2.21/kg • Heavy wethers traded for $114-$116 The buying bench grew in the store lamb pens at CANTERBURY PARK last Tuesday after a good run of rain on the plains. Prices showed a steady to rising tone and medium lambs ranged from $87-$119, while lighter types gained ground to finish at $70-$86. Prime lamb prices eased $3-$4 per head in the range of $110-$192, with the bulk at $130-$140. Ewe prices remained consistent and most of the yarding was evenly spread out from $62 to $119, with a few very good and heavy types $130-$192. The cattle yarding was only 62 head, a third of the usual size for this time of year.

Feilding store sale • R2 Angus steers, 400-435kg, were $2.60-$2.66/kg • VIC cows with Angus calves-at-foot were $1200-$1290 • Male store lambs averaged $95 • Ewe store lambs averaged $80.50 Only around 200 store cattle were offered at FEILDING, where the market mainly matched a week earlier. A lot were 315-435kg R2 traditional steers which made $2.50-$2.66/

Coalgate cattle and sheep • Prime Simmental-cross steers, 543-561kg, made $2.48-$2.52/kg • Prime Friesian steers, 505-570kg, fetched $2.24-$2.31/kg • Heavy ewes made $140-$150, with the balance $70-$139 Nearly half of the store lambs at COALGATE last Thursday were heavy types that held their value at $100-$104, and one big pen of ram lambs stretched to $112. Much of the remainder made $80-$99, and light types $47-$78. Prime

MANAWATU

Temuka store cattle • 43 Chatham Islands Hereford heifers, 279-317kg, earned $2.02$2.04/kg • Weaner Friesian bulls, 149-169kg, sold in big lines and made $365-$370 The 363 head of cattle on offer at TEMUKA last Thursday was well below the 1000 yarded at similar sales last year.

Bidding was cautious with the bulk of the R2 cattle bought in from the Chatham Islands, and heifers made up twothirds of the entries. Hereford and Hereford-Friesian steers, 307-358kg, earned $1.93-$1.99/kg, but the balance of the yarding was mostly mixed quality heifers or bulls that were selectively bought in the range of $1.59/kg to $1.86/ kg. Dairy weaners were out in good numbers at 180 head.

Dairy-beef heifers, 128-189kg, sold for $290-$330, and most Friesian bulls, 124-131kg, returned $280-$330, though one pen pushed to $410.

OTAGO Balclutha sheep sale • Medium prime lambs eased to $110-$125 • Heavy prime ewes were steady at $100-$115 There was just a small number of prime lambs on offer at BALCLUTHA last Wednesday. The market for prime lambs softened and heavy types traded at $130-$145, while prime ewes held with medium at $80-$95.

Interest was high for over 1500 store lambs on offer, and values strengthened across the board. The top end lifted, up to $14, and traded at $90-$100, and small to medium types fetched $70-$90.

SOUTHLAND Lorneville cattle and sheep sale • Prime bulls, 660kg, made $2.26/kg • Medium R2 Hereford-cross heifers, 306-328kg, sold for $2.00$2.10/kg • Weaner Friesian bulls, 120-130kg, traded at $200-$245 • Good quality prime 2-tooth ewes fetched $100-$130 • Heavy prime ewes earned $120-$138, and the remainder $44$100 There was a small yarding of prime cattle at LORNEVILLE last Tuesday, where 420-445kg heifers traded at $2.00/kg, while dairy types, 370-455kg, were typically bought for $1.40-$1.50/kg. Boner cows, 550kg, sold to $1.52/kg at the top end, while those around 450kg made $1.15-$1.20/kg.

There was also a small yarding of store cattle and vendors met the market. R2 Friesian bulls, 343-370kg, fetched $1.75-$1.81/kg while Friesian-cross, 409kg, made $1.74/kg.

Prime lambs strengthened at the top end and heavy lambs made $130-$153, medium $119-$124, and light $91-$111.

A limited number of store lambs were on offer and the top end sold for $90-$105, and the balance $60-$85.

Charlton sheep sale • Light to medium prime lambs sold in a range of $110 to $128 • Heavy prime ewes made $125-$136 • Light to medium store lambs sold for $85-$103 Prices eased for a smaller yarding of prime lambs at CHARLTON last Thursday. The top end earned $130-$137, while light prime ewes fetched $50-$75 and medium, $90$110. The limited offering of store lambs was met by good demand and the top end traded at $104-$109.

Markets

48 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – March 2, 2020 NI SLAUGHTER STAG

NI SLAUGHTER BULL

SI SLAUGHTER LAMB

($/KG)

($/KG)

GOOD RAM LAMBS AT STORTFORD LODGE

($/KG)

($/HD LW)

7.80

4.80

6.80

96

Strong demand for feed

H

Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz

ARVEST is in full swing across the country and looks to be a profitable season with most arable farmers in a positive mood, Federated Farmers grains chairman Brian Leadley says.

“Certainly, yields are generally above average and well up on the past two seasons, which were tough.

“Grain weights are good, test weights are shaping up and protein levels in milling grain are meeting the mark,” Leadley said.

“Overall, we are coming out pretty well given the climate did throw a bit at us in the spring with hail, rain and floods but the dry summer has been on our side.”

Wheat yields, in particular, have been most pleasing with 14-16 tonnes to the hectare crops being reported as a good average throughout Canterbury.

Topping off the better harvest this season are positive market indicators.

Milling wheat is well sought after.

That is partly because of reduced grain volumes in Australia but, more importantly, local bakers and consumers supporting home-grown, Leadley said.

“We would love a massive premium but we’re not there yet.

“We are getting a fair international price and we are getting uptake with good support for local product.”

Top milling wheats are fetching $420$450 a tonne.

Feed wheat, while under pressure, is holding up with good quality grains hitting $400/t.

“It’s difficult to quote pricing on feed grains as it does vary dependent on whether it’s off-farm and the distance transported, 10km to 110km is quite different.”

There’s some movement of grain to the dairy industry as dryness around the country creates demand for feed.

“Whether for beef or dairy, there’s good, strong demand out there but the challenge in this is the economics

TOP CROP: Mid Canterbury cropping farmers Johnny and Thomas White are very happy with their wheat crop yields hitting 15t/ha shaping this season’s harvest to be the best for several years.

Photo: Annette Scott

The global issues around coronavirus are not adversely affecting the local arable sector. They are helping. around the logistics of moving the grain.

Barley has also yielded well and despite indications of a smaller area grown this year, yields appear up.

Most barley has been grown under contracts that have been strong and positive and well taken up this season.

Based on international demand, malting barley has been fetching up to $430/t.

“It’s good to be competitive globally,” Leadley said.

With expectation of an autumn feed shortage there’s potential for greater uptake earlier than usual for feed grains.

“Early inquiry is certainly indicating there will be strong demand and it’s not just the dairy industry.

“We have the pork and poultry sectors

also after grain and significant volumes go to beef feedlots.

“There will be good market opportunities out there.”

The global issues around coronavirus are not adversely affecting the local arable sector. They are helping.

“Food is still required internationally and while not from NZ our pricing is based on the global situation.

“The current indicators remain positive at this stage.”

Leadley is keen to see NZ become self-sufficient in growing all grains and cereals but it will take time with realistic goals and targets and a massive increase in production.

Local growers produce about 100,000 tonnes a year of wheat for baked goods.

That needs to increase to 300,000 tonnes to meet demand.

Then one of the major issues yet to be hammered out is the cost of freighting grain in the South Island to the North Island.

For the 2025 self-sufficiency goal to happen strong committed partnerships between all sector stakeholders need to be forged and maintained, Leadley said.

700

high $595-$640/hd $2.48-$2.52/kg Prime Simmentallights Weaner Herefordcross steers, 543Friesian heifers, 155165kg, at Frankton

560kg, at Coalgate

ACROSS THE RAILS MEL CROAD

Season’s fast start might hit winter stock numbers THE carry-over of livestock into 2020 combined with dry conditions and market uncertainty have led to a sustained rush of stock into processing plants. Prices received at the farmgate have reflected all of the above with some falling to six-year lows.

For lamb, which continues to move well through export channels, prices are still sitting historically high, albeit down $2/kg from their peak. Beef and mutton, on the other hand, continue to be influenced by stuttering export conditions. The weekly falls in prices look to be slowing but will be sustained only if the flow of stock into plants reduces. Autumn might be here but weather conditions have yet to show much directional change. It’s hard to shift the focus from right here, right now but it doesn’t hurt to look at the bigger picture.

Industry estimations didn’t pick a lift in the lamb crop this season though at farm level it certainly felt like there were more lambs to lift at docking. What they did indicate was static slaughter rates, regardless of the lamb crop tally.

The flood of lambs into North Island processing plants in recent weeks and the flow of store lambs heading to the South Island will create supply gaps through winter, especially in the North Island. It is a similar situation for beef.

More than 80,000 extra cattle were processed nationally by the end of January. With many still awaiting slaughter this gap will only widen, limiting market availability through winter.

While it might be tough going now, look to Australia to see the positive impact rain is having on the sheep and cattle markets.

Demand has spiked as farmers look to restock while others retain what stock they have left. An even flow of stock will always support farmgate prices, a flood of stock will do the opposite.

We need the rain, not only to ease the on-farm pressures and stress but also to stem the flow of stock to processors to regain some sense of normality. Otherwise we are in for an interesting trading environment through winter on the basis of much tighter supplies. mel.croad@globalhq.co.nz

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