Take control of your energy costs and make your network more resilient.
Combining cutting-edge microgrid technology with a deep understanding of farming, Farmlands FLEX provides tailored energy solutions that reduce costs, keep farm systems running and even generate on-farm revenue. Find out more at www.flexenergy.co.nz
Gavin and Kylie Bay, Farmlands shareholders and Farmlands FLEX early adopters & Bryce Sharkie – Farmlands Business Development Manager
Tokoroa dairy farmer Mike Tillemans shares a laugh with SealesWinslow Nutrition Specialist Chrissy Alexander. Photograph by Mark Hamilton.
Design by Julian Pettitt
This publication is printed on paper made from pulp that is environmentally certified, and from renewable and sustainably sources. It is Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) and manufactured under strict ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems (EMS).
The plastic wrap is 100% recyclable in the New Zealand soft plastic recycling scheme.
This publication has been printed by Webstar, a Toitū enviromark diamond certified company and a winner of a Green Ribbon Award “Minimising our Waste”.
The information contained in this publication is given in good faith and has been derived from sources perceived to be reliable and accurate. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and correctness of the information, Farmlands gives no warranties, express or implied, regarding the information nor does it accept any liability for any opinion or information (including the accuracy or completeness thereof) or for any consequences flowing from its use. The information and views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views or opinion of Farmlands, its editorial contributors, freelancers, associates or information providers. Independent advice is recommended before acting on information or suggestions contained herein. Readers who rely on this information do so at their own risk. Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service whether by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Farmlands.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of the publisher. Prices and offers apply only in the time-period stated on the front cover of this publication and while stocks last. Not all products are available at all Farmlands stores. All prices include GST unless otherwise stated.
Working for you
Kia ora,
To be able to say “We’re Delivering” on our strategic plan, is an exciting place to be. Farmlands is turning up in meaningful ways, day-in, day-out for our shareholders and rural New Zealand - finding new opportunities to support, and help you save on rural essentials.
Farmlands FLEX is a prime example of this. While helping to reduce costs, our new joint venture is building farm profitability and a renewed sense of resilience across rural communities. Farmlands FLEX is an initiative which would have never reached the levels of public interest it has, without the scale and support of the Co-operative.
FarmlandsPRO is another initiative, that driven by excellent shareholder uptake and a world-class supply chain programme, is helping to deliver lower costs and increased efficiency to all users. Through great planning and putting the customer first, we’re building networks to support your needs now and into the future.
Throughout the magazine you’ll read fantastic stories about collaboration between our field specialists, suppliers and shareholders; long-standing Partners and their communities and farms, tapping into new markets and new ways of doing business. All of this work helps Farmlands support you better, however you’re farming, growing or living.
As you read through this edition of Farmlander and see the amazing gains we’re making on behalf of rural New Zealand, just think … if you haven’t yet brought all your business back to Farmlands, you could well be missing out.
Ngā mihi o te kōanga (Greetings of spring).
Tanya
Got something to share with the team at Farmlander ? Email farmlander@farmlands.co.nz
Keep up-to-date with the latest news from across the co-operative via our website and social media. @farmlandsnz @farmlandsnz
Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited
Photo: Radlab
Photo: Alana Hyland
An inquisitive ewe at Mike and Cath Cranstone's farm in Fordell, near Whanganui.
Land The Big Picture
How
New
Mixing
How
Spring can be
so here are some handy tips to
“Mad Cow” is his car, but this dairy farmer’s nutrition programme is keeping his cows happy.
How farmers will benefit from the SealesWinslow and Farmlands Nutrition teams combining.
The Calf Experts share their thoughts following their
Drench
An
AWARDS
CLIPPINGS
News from Farmlands and beyond
Farmlands celebrates Century Farm Awards
As foundation sponsor of the Century Farm Awards, Farmlands was once again proud to be part of an event that celebrates rural New Zealand and the families who’ve helped build it.
Among the attendees for the annual event were James Meager – MP for Rangitata and Mayor of Clutha District – Bryan Cadogan, alongside Century Farms Chair Eddie Fitzgerald and Farmlands Director Dawn Sangster.
Farmlands was also represented by Rob Sharkie – GM Field and Technical Sales, Regional Sales Manager Tony Heaps and Senior Technical Field Officer David Eckhoff.
Rob says of the evening: “It was great to reconnect with friends and our past customers, and to see the sterling effort of these families over the last hundred-plus years. Even more encouraging still is that these family businesses are - and farming in general is - in good hands, as the younger members of these families come through.”
Farmlander will continue to showcase the stories of these farming families in future editions.
Find out more about applying to be a Century Farms family by visiting their website - https://www.centuryfarms.nz/
SURVEY
Farmlander survey winner revealed
Congratulations to Greer Eady of Greymouth, winner of a $250 Farmlands Gift Card for taking part in our latest Farmlander Reader Survey.
We are always looking at ways to improve our magazine and keep it relevant for shareholders, so we included our annual survey with the Autumn 2025 issue of Farmlander
The survey found 58% of respondents were either ‘happy’ or ‘delighted’ with the issue, while 42% said it made them more likely to read future issues.
The most popular parts of the magazine were farming education (how-to guides), special offers and farming news and updates.
Readers also had the chance to tell us what they would like to see more of in Farmlander, with answers ranging from lifestyle and small farm coverage to organic farming and even alpacas.
Thank you to all our readers who took part. Keep an eye out for future Farmlander Reader Surveys for your chance to have your say on the magazine and be in to win cool prizes.
From left: David Eckhoff (Senior Technical Field Officer), Tony Heaps (Regional Sales Manager), Dawn Sangster (Farmlands Director), Eddie Fitzgerald (Century Farms Chair) and Rob Sharkie (GM Field and Technical Sales).
UTE DIESEL FUEL TANKS
WHAT'S GOING ON Retail
update
As Farmlands continues to make headlines with major technology rollouts—such as FarmlandsPRO at the 2024 National Fieldays and the 2025 launch of Farmlands FLEX - a quieter but equally impactful transformation has been taking place across the co-operative’s nationwide retail footprint.
Under the stewardship of Karma Wetere, General Manager - Retail, Farmlands has been executing a strategic overhaul of its 80 retail stores across New Zealand, with a clear focus on enhancing shareholder experience, increasing operational efficiency and reinforcing community connections.
The programme includes construction of new retail locations, designed not only to better serve Farmlands’ rural shareholder base but also to anchor regional distribution operations. Hastings is set to open a new store within the next couple of months, featuring an integrated regional distribution hub adjacent to the existing Farmlands Horticulture Hub, aligning with the region’s horticultural strengths. New Plymouth will also welcome a purpose-built site in late 2025.
Each of these stores will include modern amenities that improve the in-store experience, including Increased floor space for wider product range visibility and drive-thru access for enhanced loading convenience.
“These features reflect our commitment to making life easier for our core farmer and grower shareholders,” says Karma. “The integration of regional hubs also enables faster and more efficient delivery of essential supplies.”
OUR PEOPLE
Farmlands welcomes new GM of Marketing and Customer Engagement
After 20 years working across the world for some of the biggest names in retail, media, technology and telecommunications, Cameron Death (pron. Deeth) has joined Farmlands as General Manager – Marketing and Customer Engagement – a newly created role covering all aspects of marketing, brand, media, communications, customer care, loyalty and membership.
Cameron’s resume covers time with Microsoft and NBCUniversal in the United States and then key roles with NZME, Vodafone (One NZ) and The Warehouse Group, before spending a year travelling.
“It’s a real privilege to step into a business that sits at the heart of one of New Zealand’s most critical sectors that fuels our export economy, supports regional jobs, and underpins communities right across the country - driving mind-blowing technological innovation. There’s a lot for me to learn from the people here who know this sector, these communities, and this business inside and out; I’m genuinely excited about the challenge and the opportunity to contribute.”
Welcome to the team Cameron.
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Karma Wetere.
Cameron Death.
ROADSHOWS
Big turnout for rural contractors roadshows
Hundreds of rural contractors were invited to attend four regional roadshows this June, organised by Rural Contractors NZ (RCNZ) and supported by Farmlands and other RCNZ partners.
Farmlands Business Development Manager, Matt Cheer was one of the guest speakers, and told the Palmerston North roadshow that rural contractors play a key role in Farmlands’ strategy to lift turnover from $2.5b to $6b over the next five years. He announced that from June 1st 2025, preferential pricing for all RCNZ members would apply. “We are highlighting the strong relationship that Farmlands and RCNZ have and how this flows through to RCNZ members who are critically important to rural industry.
Matt also handed over a $500 Farmlands Gift Card to Otaki rural contractor Robert Sims who answered the most questions right, in a quiz run by WorkSafe. Improving health and safety is a key aim of Rural Contractors NZ. WorkSafe inspectors helped present the four roadshows and their message of ‘we are here to help rather than prosecute’ went down well with RCNZ members.
To The Core leads the way
It's not every day you get to hear from the CEOs and Board Chairs of New Zealand's most successful agribusinesses. For 24 participants, the To The Core governance and leadership programme – held 16-18 June in Christchurch, was able to deliver this exceptional roster of business talent and much more.
To The Core is a collaborative effort between LIC (Livestock Improvement Corporation), Farmlands and Silver Fern Farms, designed to give shareholders of these groups an opportunity to learn more about governance in co-operatives and develop skills needed to operate at board level. In addition to those pictured, To The Core was
incredibly fortunate to be able to call upon a fantastic range of experienced directors, who all generously shared their wisdom, insights and career highs and lows, knowing it will help 'grow good governance' in the sector.
Event emcee and Shareholder Relations Manager, Silver Fern Farms - Clark Taylor, says, “We have an alumni of more than 125, made up of people from all over New Zealand, working across multiple agribusiness sectors. Some have moved on to be Co-op directors, others actively involved in regional councils and local businesses. One thing in common with all - they have taken away new skills to add value to their own business.”
From left: Matt Cheer (Farmlands Business Development Manager) Andrew Olsen (RCNZ CEO), Steve Wills (Farmlands Marton and Whanganui Business Manager), Clint Carrol (Chairman RCNZ and Farmlands shareholder).
Land
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Upload your best pictures of barns, cottages, huts and sheds, or images of stunning infrastructure, set against a rural backdrop. If your entry is successful, your picture will make it into the TOP 12, to be included in the 2026 Calendar.
We can’t wait to see your pictures and hear about your experiences in or around these amazing structures built on the land.
Scan the QR code to enter or visit farmlands.co.nz/calendar
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Your say
It’s great to feel the love. Here’s what Farmlands shareholders from around New Zealand have to say about our service.
“We have been members with Farmlands for decades. We recommend them to our friends and neighbours because of great prices all the time and especially when there is a sale. Additionally, our local Farmlands team have become our family away from home. We look forward to catching up and always learn about a new product or better way to do something on our farm. In these challenging times its really nice to know we can always count on Farmlands to be looking after us at not just the co-operative level but at our local store. Farmlands is our happy place to talk all things rural and learn about the latest from our Farmlands family team.” (Waipapa)
“The staff at Farmlands Whanganui are fantastic. They go out of their way for you. Makes shopping there a very stress-free experience!” (Whanganui)
“I always seem to strike it lucky with Elle in the Tauranga store. For a little lady she packs a powerful punch. Elle is pleasant, friendly and very knowledgeable. Nothing is too much trouble. She goes the extra mile to see I get what I need. Lifting 20kg salt blocks into my car boot is done willingly and without hesitation. I really appreciate her.” (Tauranga)
“I like dealing with my local Farmlands, as they are always friendly and helpful. I use my Farmlands Card regularly and enjoy the savings and convenience it brings.” (Greymouth)
“The staff were great, didn't hover over us, let us browse and we subsequently purchased what we wanted!” (Masterton)
“Very cheery and helpful to come to my aid as I walk in the door with a walking stick. Then they're very happy to load my 20kg bags of chook food into my car for me as they always have.” (Balclutha)
“Wanted to get a certain pair of women's Stoney Creek pants which were not in stock. Danielle went above and beyond trying to get me the right style and fit that I needed. Got a phone call only a couple of days afterwards to say they had arrived. Cathy also goes above and beyond to help us source what we need. Would also like to give a big shout out to the rest of the staff as well. They are knowledgeable and always ready and willing to help. Apologies, I just don't know all their names to be able to thank them personally.” (Taieri)
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Ask for Barenbrug when you next talk to your Farmlands TFO or Agronomist.
The big crowds that attended Fieldays at Mystery Creek in June had plenty to do in the Farmlands Village.
The main attraction this year was the launch of Farmlands FLEX*, but visitors also got to discuss nutrition with our SealesWinslow, McMillan and NRM teams and learn more about FarmlandsPRO and the Farmlands Card app from our digital specialists.
For those in need of gumboots, we had the ever-popular Skellerup Red Bands for sale, and Skellerup’s Quatro and 4x4 ranges as well.
Nobody walked out of the tent hungry, with a BBQ breakfast, free coffee and sweet treats for Farmlands Cardholders, and apples from Hawke’s Bay’s Mt Erin
Group (handed out by Regional Sales Manager – Horticulture, Graeme Lee).
Our friends at Fern Energy (50% owned by Farmlands) were next door with a full-sized Fern fuel truck and their team of experts on hand to provide information about on-farm fuel deliveries.
As always, Farmlands CEO Tanya Houghton enjoyed her chance to mix and mingle with shareholders.
Thank you to everyone who helped set up and run the Farmlands tent, including Farmlands Partnerships & Events Lead Deborah Allan who celebrated her 20th year working at Fieldays.
*For more information about Farmlands FLEX, see page 36.
Photos: Radlab
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In this section
Agritourism, innovative products and new land uses are helping Farmlands shareholders diversify their businesses and tackle succession planning.
20 Meet a Tapawera apple grower who’s silenced the naysayers – twice.
24 Kiwi ingenuity is opening up new markets for our world-class wool.
30 Find out why more farmers are making the leap into agritourism.
Photo: Oliver Weber
APPLE PIONEER PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES
Tasman farmer Dave McGaveston has never been afraid to try something new, and his fearless approach could transform horticulture in the area.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN OLIVER WEBER
Dave McGaveston (right) with his youngest son and business partner Aaron.
Dave, in partnership with his youngest son Aaron, is the first and currently only apple grower in Tapawera, about an hour’s drive west of Nelson.
While the Tasman region is a horticulture hotspot, Tapawera’s climate – which can go from freezing winters to 40°C temperatures during summer – meant other growers were skeptical when he started the apple project back in 2016.
The Farmlands shareholder pressed ahead and proved the doubters wrong, successfully producing several varieties including Koru and Lady in Red.
This season’s production was badly affected by a rare summer hailstorm, but the McGavestons are typically producing around 80 tonnes per hectare.
They are also trialing several new varieties and have done especially well with Honeycrisp, a cultivar originally developed by the University of Minnesota that is mostly grown in America’s Pacific Northwest.
“Honeycrisp is a very difficult variety to grow but it’s performed exceptionally well,” Dave says. “In fact, we had the guy from the exporting company for Honeycrisp here just the other day, and he said, ‘you grow the best Honeycrisp in the world’.”
Although most of his farming career has been in sheep and beef, this is not the first time Dave has grown apples, nor is it the first time he has been told “you’ll never grow apples up there” and ignored the naysayers.
Hard graft
In a region full of multi-generational farms, Dave started out with nothing, working as a shearing and fencing contractor and saving up enough to buy a rundown sheep and beef farm when he was 21.
“I went through the next 20 or 30 years just buying rundown farms and doing them up, and eventually I bought a thousand-acre property which also had tobacco on it.
“We actually ended up having a very good crop, but then the next year the government tried to phase tobacco out, so that was the only year I grew it.”
While his tobacco growing career was short-lived, Dave saw the potential in the land for other horticultural uses. In the early 1990s he made the bold call to grow apples.
“That was further down the valley from where I farm now, but it was also in an area that had never ever grown apples before. And when I planted them, all the big growers down on the plain said, ‘you're wasting your time. You’ll never grow apples up there’, and we successfully did exactly that.
“Today that area is heavily utilised for apples and pears and kiwifruit and other horticulture, so I'm probably a bit of a pioneer.”
Despite the success of his first foray into apples, Dave decided to sell up when the government announced plans to deregulate the apple industry, a change that took place in 2001.
“I'd been in sheep and beef all my life and I knew what deregulation does
to grower returns. When you don't have some discipline in the market, it just destroys it, so I could see the writing on the wall.”
Making a comeback
In the intervening years Dave focused on sheep and beef farming and was politically active in that space.
From Tasman Meat and Fibre chairman for Federated Farmers, Dave was an elected director on Primary Wool Co-op and Combined Rural Traders (CRT), which later merged with Farmlands to create the nationwide co-operative we know today.
Dave chaired the Meat Industy Excellence Group and was at the forefront of several attempts to bring crossbred wool marketing into a consolidated and disciplined co-op.
He also invested in a dairy farm on the West Coast, which he sold after 15 years when debt levels were
Dave McGaveston has defied the skeptics with his apple-growing operation.
“starting to hammer on me” and the long-term sharemilker wanted to join the team at Tapawera.
When Dave finally decided to make his comeback to the apple industry, he discovered that a lot had changed.
“When I grew apples in the nineties, the products we used then were hugely different to what we use now, so when I went back into apples, we needed a lot of guidance, because
“It’s a relationship that's across the board. It's not just in horticulture; it's in pastoral farming too. If you've got a really good TFO [Technical Field Officer] you can pick their brains if anything goes wrong for you; it means a hell of a lot.”
He says Farmlands Technical Advisor Luke Hawthorne has been instrumental in helping them navigate the brave new world of apple growing.
“I'll ring him up probably a couple of times a week just to pick his brain and get ideas from him. When it comes to harvest, he wants to know every day about what we are getting off and whatnot.”
Dave and his son Aaron get their horticulture sprays from Farmlands, including products like growth regulators as well as herbicides and pesticides. They also shop at Farmlands for their sheep and beef farming operation.
“It’s a relationship that's across the board. It's not just in horticulture; it's in pastoral farming too. If you've got a really good TFO [Technical Field Officer] you can pick their brains if anything goes wrong for you; it means a hell of a lot.”
Apple boom predicted
Luke says Tapawera has a unique growing climate and could be the next boom area for apples.
“When Dave started out, he probably got quite a lot of flak for doing it, but I think he's beginning to turn people's heads a wee bit. People are going, ‘oh, well perhaps this is a unique spot and we can grow apples there’.”
the old products that I was familiar with had gone.”
Much of the change was driven by a shift towards more environmentally friendly sprays, which Dave says are more expensive than the old “harsh” ones he had used.
“I'm not saying it's the wrong thing to do, it's just we have to bear the cost of that to make sure we protect the environment.”
However, he notes there is a shortage of land in the area: “There's not a lot of bare land coming up for sale anymore, and if it is, it's really expensive.”
Luke says Honeycrisp is arguably one of the hardest varieties to grow in the world, and very few locations outside of North America have managed to grow it successfully.
“The only other climate they've found suitable so that they get the taste, the flavors and the aromas and fruit quality is Central Otago,” he says.
“They've tried to grow it in Nelson, and they’ve tried to grow it in Hawke's Bay, but it hasn't performed the way it should. Whereas the Honeycrisp that's growing in Tapawera seems to be as good, and I've been told by others that it's even better, than the Honeycrisp apples grown in America.”
It’s not just the climate that makes Dave’s property a great spot for growing apples. Luke says it has excellent soil, thanks to the Motueka River which runs past the property.
“There’s a lot of river silt going through there, so you've got good drainage down underneath, but you've actually got quite a good depth of beautiful loamy topsoil, and that's where all the nutrients and everything's coming from” Luke says.
“That's what trees are about: good soil, good drainage and water, and he has all of that there. That's why you'll see there's so many hops grown in that area; they all need the same attributes.”
Different timeframe
Although much of the spray regime is similar to elsewhere in the country, Luke says the chemical thinning process in Tapawera is a little bit different than what apple growers do in other regions.
“Even though we're only 20-30 minutes away from Motueka, there's probably a week to almost two weeks’ delay in harvest time. That's how different the location is, and the maturity that happens within it, so we do play around with chemical thinning a lot. Every season's different.”
Next, there's hand thinning, which is “a moving target” depending on the size and colour of apples that the market wants, Luke says.
“Fruit does seem to colour quite well up there, but not as well as on the Moutere clay, so we have to use some other tools that we have to try and colour that fruit up.”
Luke works with around 20 apple growers in the Tasman region, but he also gets to travel further afield in his role as Regional Sales Manager - Horticulture (Southern), picking up plenty of useful knowledge along the way.
“I deal with a lot of growers in Canterbury, growers in Central Otago, and I recently went to Hawke's Bay to work with some growers up there. They’re quite different areas, so you see a lot of different things and a lot of different growing techniques.
“That's part of the excitement about the role: I'm travelling the country, and there are some pretty smart growers out there doing some interesting stuff. The more that we can help learn those techniques and share them with other growers, the better for everyone.”
Money talks
So, what made Dave decide to go back into apples after a 15-year hiatus? Securing water rights for the Tapawera property was one factor, but Dave says the biggest driver was helping the next generation.
Dave has two sons farming. He said there is little opportunity for them to get into farming with the low returns offered by sheep and beef alone.
“With sheep and beef, the return on capital invested is probably 1.5%
at the very best, and for a young fella coming through nowadays, you can't do it. You've got to have cashflow. Banks look for cashflow now more than they do for equity.
“It was all right in my younger days because we were getting huge, compounded capital growth, but you don't now. Land prices are extremely high and they’re not going up by 20% per year.”
The contrast in returns between the different land uses was highlighted recently, when they put the bare block of land directly across the road from their apple orchard up for sale.
As part of the process, they had an independent consultancy firm create an information memorandum on this land, and they came back with an estimated figure of a 14.1% internal rate of return.
“That's why we've planted apples,” says Dave. “That sort of return is what you need to be able to get the banks to back you, and I want my kids to be in a situation where they can afford to keep improving their businesses. I've done it all my life.”
The Tapawera climate has helped Dave grow worldclass Honeycrisp apples.
Falling volume
One of their biggest challenges is getting enough wool: the amount processed by WoolWorks has been relatively stable for the past couple of years at around 105 million kg, but this year it’s likely to be in the 90-95 million kg range, a 10% drop. Nigel says there are a number of reasons for the decrease.
“There's trees, there's nude sheep, there's meat works that are composting skins with wool on them. There's farmers that don't see the value in collecting all of their wool clip, so they use some of the poorer fleeces and skirtings for mulch and weed protection under the trees. We're under pressure for volumes, there's no doubt about that.”
“We realise that farmers are having a tough time at the moment; they're not getting paid enough for their wool.”
WoolWorks CEO Rosstan Mazey says there's a lot of work going on in the background to get a much better price for farmers’ products.
Although most of the wool processed by WoolWorks is medium to strong wool, its scours are set up to wash fine wool as well. It washes about 10,000 bales of Merino wool each year, almost all from the South Island.
“There's only a small portion of the global Merino supply grown in New Zealand, but what's grown here is very good. Then we've got crossbred, which ranges from 28 micron and then going up into the stronger wool with up to 40 microns,” Rosstan says.
“We've adapted our equipment to be able to wash all of those types, and that's something that makes us quite different from most plants around the world. Most can either do one or the other.”
Growing range
There's a burgeoning range of products that wool is a part of, but the core product remains soft floorings, such as carpets and rugs.
Rosstan says there’s a resurgence in wool carpets domestically and also in some of New Zealand’s key export markets like continental Europe and the UK, as consumers tune into the sustainability and environmental aspects of the product.
“There's also no microplastics in our wool and it provides really good health and wellness benefits when you've got wool products in an interior environment. That was something that really came to the fore during the Covid era, when people largely remained indoors.”
Wool is also becoming increasingly popular in bedding products, particularly in the top layers, he says.
“People now realise that wool has a superior comfort level to polyester
and other synthetic products, with attributes such as thermal regulation and dynamic breathability supporting a much better sleep with wool. And it also gives you increased protection to fire. We are seeing a number of companies that are shifting now to putting wool into their bedding.”
Rosstan also points to Mustang Manufacturing, a US-based maker of horse-riding gear, which uses 100% New Zealand wool for some of its products like wool blankets and saddle underlays.
Woolworks President Nigel Hales introduces powerhouse rug manufacturer Saibosi to the benefits of New Zealand scoured wool.
“Then there's a whole broad area of interior textiles like acoustic panels, which are becoming more and more commonplace, particularly in open plan office environments and large internal spaces,” he says.
“They act almost as an air filter because of the properties of the fibre and also provide good thermal regulation and obviously acoustic properties. We’re also seeing growth in the building insulation market, where you have woollen batt products.”
Waxing lyrical
It’s not just the wool itself that is in demand for a range of different uses: wool wax, a by-product extracted during the washing process, provides weather protection for the sheep but is also useful for many human activities.
Nigel says one of these is in music, where lanolin from wool wax can be used to tune instruments such as pianos.
“We've been supplying wool wax actually to a guy who's the world's leading Yamaha piano tuner. It's so fascinating. He exclusively tunes the pianos of the likes of Elton John and Lady Gaga.”
“It’s also useful for vehicles. You could put it on your old F-Series Ford and protect it for the rest of its life and drive it through a swamp and it won't rust if it's sprayed with wool wax.”
Lanolin is widely used for cosmetics including lipsticks, facial creams, shampoos and eczema treatments.
Other by-products of refined wool grease include vitamin D3 and cholesterol, which Nigel says can be difficult to source elsewhere.
“There's only two other sources of animal-based cholesterol and that's pig's brains and spinal cords, and you can see how that would be a problem in certain countries.”
Cozy Crops
It’s not just the big industry players looking to bring innovative uses for wool to market and get better returns for farmers. Jessica and Kieran White, Farmlands shareholders based in Kio Kio (near Otorahanga), are the creators of Cozy Crops, a range of wool pellets used in the garden.
Autex embraces wool
Autex, a New Zealand company that produces modern acoustic panels and insulation products, has unveiled a wool-based product from its groundbreaking Autex Future Lab (AFL) - a new home for research and development (R&D).
Jonathan Mountfort, Creative Director at Autex, says from their inception, they’ve been driven by a commitment to leaving our planet better than we found it.
“That’s why we’re so excited to unveil AFL and apply this philosophy to natural fibres, creating the blueprint for how we work in partnership with the
The couple met while they were living in Auckland, and in 2020 they decided to leave their corporate jobs behind to go farming.
“Kieran's family is all from the Waikato, and they were farming dairy cows. Kieran and his brother decided they wanted to go into sheep milking, which was new for them and pretty new for New Zealand at that stage,” Jessica says.
“We were milking sheep for five seasons here, and that's when we discovered that the cost of shearing
natural world to responsibly use both biological and technical resources – something that the industry has struggled to do for a long time.”
The first innovation to emerge from AFL is Autex’s very first wool-fibre product, Embrace – an architectural surface that combines tactile warmth with all the high-performance qualities Autex is known for.
In line with AFL’s philosophy, Embrace considers every part of the closed loop system to ensure it’s truly regenerative, and this includes the farming practices.
is quite expensive compared to what you get out of it, especially for sheep milking because those sheep are not bred to have the highest quality wool.
“We ended up with this shed full of this whole clip of wool and I thought, ‘What are we going to do with it?’ We can sell it, but it's not covering the cost of anything, it's just getting rid of it essentially.”
With few other options for the wool, Jess began to spread it around in her garden, unaware of the commercial opportunity at her feet.
“That's when friends and family wanted to start using it, and I quickly learned that people had been using wool in the garden for years. But I wanted to make it more user-friendly, because obviously not everybody has bales of wool in their shed.”
While other companies make wool-based gardening products, Jessica says Cozy Crops has a big point of difference: not only does it help keep slugs and snails away, but it's also a fertiliser and a mulch.
“Most other wool products on the market don't have the manure present because they’ve been washed and cleaned.”
“If we still had the sheep, managing Cozy Crops on top of everything else would be questionable. There's just a lot more downtime with the cows and the size of herd that we’ve got now.”
Jessica has been putting this extra time to good use developing a new product, which she is keeping under wraps for now, but is hoping to launch during spring.
“We are in the late stages of product testing. It’s not currently available in New Zealand or anywhere that I've seen as a standalone product, but it’s still very much in that gardening space.”
Freeing up time
Although Kieran and Jessica recently switched from sheep milking over to dairy, Cozy Crops is still going strong.
In fact, Jessica says the change may be good for Cozy Crops, because it frees up more of their time to focus on the business.
This is mainly due to the sheer number of animals involved: their 80ha farm runs about 250 dairy cows, as opposed to between 1,000-1,200 milking sheep.
“We've just finished our first season with the cows and it's a lot easier than the sheep, a lot less intensive,” she says.
Cozy Crops is mostly sold online, although it is available in a couple of Mitre 10 stores. While they are still working their way through the remaining wool clip from their own farm, Jessica says they have plenty of interest from local farmers in supplying them.
“There's definitely not a shortage of low-quality wool that people are trying to get rid of. The whole point of Cozy Crops was to be able to pay farmers more fairly for their wool. We offer more than what your standard wool traders will offer.
“You have to shear your sheep regardless of what you've got them for, whether it's meat or milk. It’s a necessary process like drenching, so it makes sense to use the wonderful by-product that is wool, to help Kiwis grow healthy, productive gardens.”
Jessica and Kieran White use their Cozy Crops pellets in their garden.
Agriculture and tourism are New Zealand’s two biggest export industries, and a growing number of farmers are figuring out how to combine the two for profit and pleasure.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
It’s no secret that times have been hard for many in the rural sector, with rising costs and untimely weather events squeezing profit margins. What if there was an untapped opportunity to boost profit and diversify your business, sitting right on your doorstep?
That’s what many Kiwi farmers, growers and rural property owners are discovering, as they dive into the booming tourism genre known as ‘agritourism’,
which shows off New Zealand’s natural beauty through a rural lens.
For the Macdonald family of Middlehurst Station in Marlborough, tourism is a vital part of their succession planning.
While many Kiwi farmers and growers watch their kids pursue other careers, and often leave the country altogether, all four of their children are working in the business.
Willie and Susan Macdonald may not have expected this scenario when they bought Middlehurst Station in 1998, as their children Sophie, Henry, Lucy and Skye were still very young at the time. They were previously based at Mt Nicholas, which looks over Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.
Situated in the picturesque but remote Awatere Valley, Middlehurst
Middlehurst's luxury lodge The Quarters was built after the Kaikōura earthquake damaged the original shearers' quarters.
Station sprawls across 16,500ha on some of the most rugged farming terrain in New Zealand, with elevations ranging from 550m to 2,500m (around the height of Mt Taranaki).
The Macdonalds run about 5,000 Merino ewes and have their own Merino stud on the property. They also have a herd of 400 Angus breeding cows who graze in the lowerlying parts of the station.
At almost a third of the land area of Auckland, managing such a property is a challenge on its own, but that hasn’t stopped the Macdonalds making a series of bold moves to grow and diversify the business.
These included building on-site luxury accommodation, launching their own meat delivery service and, more recently, starting a Middlehurst Station farm store and gourmet butchery in Kaikōura.
Henry manages Middlehurst Station’s farming operations, while his wife Joy manages and operates their luxury lodge, named The Quarters, which is nestled beneath Mt Lookout.
Sophie, Skye and Lucy run the retail store, with Skye doing all the front of house and Lucy being the operations manager for the butchery. Meanwhile, Sophie does all of Middlehurst’s accounts, admin and HR.
In it together
“We've all done our own thing after high school, and then some of us have been to uni, and then we've all come back and we're all working in various departments of the business,” says Lucy.
“Everyone’s involved nicely. We are lucky that everyone's got their own lanes, and we can work well together, which is the main thing.”
Like many Kiwi businesses, they managed to turn adversity into opportunity, building The Quarters after the destructive Kaikōura earthquake in 2016.
“The earthquake damaged the original shearers’ quarters and staff accommodation on the farm, and so mum and dad said, ‘we're building something new. Why don't we make it multipurpose?’ Because the shearers’ quarters only got used for 10 days of the year when we were shearing,” Lucy says.
“We're on the Awatere Valley Road that runs right through Molesworth Station, so in the summer it does get quite busy. We thought, ‘why don't we open it up to tourists and show them what a working station is in New Zealand?’”
Dining is a big part of the Middlehurst experience, with The Quarters having its own private chef.
As well as offering luxury accommodation for longer stays, Middlehurst Station also does day trips, including a collaboration with Kaikōura-based South Pacific Helicopters which flies people up to the station for lunch.
The Macdonalds have continued to add to their tourism offering, with now includes options such as guided 4WD farm tours, e-bike hire, farm-totable cooking classes from their live-in chef, wood-fired hot tubs and even a driving range for keen golfers.
Lucy says international tourism is starting to pick up again in the postCovid era, but many of their visitors are Kiwis, including corporates and adventure groups.
“We do lots of corporate retreats where they just want to get out of town, get away, switch off the devices and reconnect with each other. We see a lot of growth out of that, which is good.”
Tourist hotspot
The Macdonalds are hoping the post-Covid recovery in international visitor numbers will also boost their farm store, based in the tourist hotspot of Kaikōura.
Lucy acknowledges they have picked a tough economic time to launch new businesses, but she says her family does things differently, testing the waters to see if they can make it work.
“The meat boxes came around after the first Covid lockdown and they went really well during the second lockdown. People were sitting at home wanting to cook and create what the chefs did, because they couldn't go out.”
While their meat delivery service has continued, Lucy says they have had to navigate the changes in consumer behaviour after lockdowns ended.
“We've noticed the last couple of years people have wanted more of that in-store experience, so that's why we diverted towards the retail option,” she says.
“That's been cool to have a positive space where we can show
people what it's like up at the farm. We do a lot of work around telling our story and portraying how we want the store to look and feel, like it's just another branch of the farm.”
Launching the store allows them to capitalise on another trend, which is a growing level of consumer interest in where and how their food is made.
“We want people to know where their food comes from, by having that connection with the farmer and build and grow those relationships, so people do have that understanding and that connection back to their food.
“It's been an amazing but really tough first year in retail. I think it’s hard out there for a lot of businesses, so we're just going to keep on keeping on. It's all about growing and evolving what we've started. We are really looking forward to the next couple of years.”
Growth industry
Starting a business in a completely new industry can be daunting, and Middlehurst has had help from the Agritourism Academy, which supports Kiwis to start and build their agritourism businesses.
The academy, which recently won Best Use of Technology in Agritourism at the 2025 World Agritourism Awards, is a new initiative by industry group Agritourism NZ.
Founder and CEO Marijke Dunselman says there has been a perception from some in the farming sector that tourism is not a “serious” business, but attitudes are starting to change.
“It's a bit of a no-brainer because tourism over the past 50 years has been growing at a rate of 6.5% compounded growth each year,” she says.
Building The Quarters was no simple task, and the Macdonalds enlisted the services of Farmlands shareholders FarmBuild, who have managed several similar projects across the South Island from the first sketch to completion. FarmBuild Managing Director Colin Gregg says isolation is a major problem on a lot of these builds.
“There are some big challenges in working in those areas and getting materials to some of those sites. With Middlehurst, the road is so narrow that we had to bring in
all the concrete in one hit because we couldn’t pass on the road.
“We had 11 trucks all following each other one Saturday morning all the way from Blenheim!”
“We’re finding more and more that tourism is a big part of farming now. It’s a multi-purpose building so you’ve got to think about the different uses that they have.
“At times it’s all the shearers but at other times it’s all tourism and everybody needs their own space and their own bathroom. A lot of thought has to go into it.”
“Pre-Covid it was New Zealand's largest export earner, and it's almost back to where it was before, so the combination of tourism and agriculture… there's a lot of potential there.”
Not only is New Zealand’s tourism industry massive, but farmers occupy an important niche, with growing interest in eco-tourism and more nature-focused holidays.
“People are looking for destinations that are off the beaten track,” Marijke says. “They want to meet the real people. They love that connection with the land, the people and the animals, learning where their food comes from. It’s not just international, but also the domestic market.”
Born in the Netherlands, Marijke worked in marketing before moving to New Zealand over 30 years ago. She developed a passion for agritourism while working for Tourism Southland, where she got to meet many local farmers.
“Farmers are different than your average tourism operator whose focus is completely tourism; they might have a background or a qualification in tourism, whereas farmers are focused on farming.”
Starting out in agritourism can be daunting, but Marijke says there are many different options, ranging from full guided tours and luxury lodges to small pods and cabins.
If farmers don’t want to run their own tourism operation, they have the option of leasing or contracting it out.
“I know people who have a few basic accommodation offers that make $100,000-$200,000 extra a year. That allows their kids to go to boarding school, they get to go on holiday, and it doesn't take that much work. And the return on investment is really high.”
Another benefit of agritourism is its potential to help families with
Agritourism NZ CEO Marijke Dunselman says combining agriculture and tourism is a no-brainer.
succession planning, by increasing profitability and offering new avenues for family members to work in.
“I work with people where the kids have come back to the farm with a partner and developed a luxury lodge, and that's their business on the farm. The farm is still running, but it allows kids to come back and work, because the return on that land is a lot higher,” Marijke says.
“It's not just the return for the farmer; it also employs local people. You have that multiplier effect, and it helps to build those rural communities.”
“We want people to know where their food comes from, by having that connection with the farmer and build and grow those relationships...”
Starting out
Manawatu dairy farmers Jana and Mat Hocken have also worked with the Agritourism Academy on their brand-new agritourism venture, which wasn’t so much the Field of Dreams approach of “If you build it, they will come” as “They’re already here, so we might as well build it”.
The Farmlands shareholders are prominent figures in the farming community, with Jana running the Lean Farm Project (read more about this story in the autumn 2024 edition of Farmlander ) and Mat chairing the Rural Innovation Lab.
Their farm Grassmere Estate now offers farm tours, accommodation in their 100-year-old homestead and rustic venues for corporate functions, including their historic barn which
hosted the pre-conference dinner to the New Zealand Future Food and Fibre Summit 2025 (E Tipu) in May.
Jana says one of the drivers for getting involved in tourism was the response they got from the tours they were already doing on their farm.
“Because of my Lean Farm and Mat’s Rural Innovation Lab, we've always had people that come and visit our farm, so we've had loads of different groups. That was one thing that started us thinking, maybe our farm is quite an interesting place to visit.”
While most of their visitors over the years have been other farmers, last year they had a tour group from Canada, which showed how strong the appeal of agritourism can be for non-farmers.
“I don't even know how they came across us, but there were about 40 of them. What was interesting was that half of them were farmers and half of them were totally different people like accountants and nurses, and they loved it,” Jana says.
“We thought, oh my Goodness, do non-farmers actually want to go on their holidays to New Zealand to visit farms? And believe it or not, they do.”
Taken for granted
While New Zealand’s beautiful countryside is a drawcard for tourists from across the world, Jana says many Kiwi farmers are so used to it they don’t fully appreciate what they have.
“We've just got so many beautiful aspects on our farm, like the river. When we had these tour groups, we ended up taking them down there, and literally they could have paid us to just throw rocks in the river the whole day.
“We've had people from places like Malaysia and Thailand and it’s unique for them to go down to a river that's pristine and there's no one around. These are the kinds of simple experiences that we just take for granted.”
Having recently bought another 390ha dairy farm a few minutes away, Mat and Jana are pressed for time even without the tourism venture. Fortunately, they have Katy, wife of their farm manager Rob, who will be managing that side of the business.
“She has a customer service and events background and is just amazing with people,” Jana says.
“It's going to be a massive learning opportunity for her, but it's quite cool we can bring our farm team in on this.
“The social aspect of this is very important to us. We’ve spent quite a bit of time overseas, and we travel quite a bit, but generally, people that go into farming aren't the most social people, and it can be quite isolating. This is a cool way to bring people from all over the world to our farm.”
Jana says many farms have old homesteads like their one, and she’s hoping their experience will show others what can be done if they are restored.
“It's such a shame, but you drive past all these old farms with tiny old farm buildings, and they're all falling down. But if you restored them, people would pay for that because it’s such a unique experience to stay in one of them.”
Grassmere Estate recently hosted the pre-conference dinner for the New Zealand Future Food and Fibre Summit 2025 (E Tipu).
Electricity can be one of the most challenging farm inputs to manage. A new energy system developed for rural New Zealand promises to change that.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
Farmlands has launched a joint venture with innovative energy sector business Blackcurrent to create Farmlands FLEX, giving farmers and rural businesses more control over their electricity.
Launched at Fieldays® in June, Farmlands FLEX uses micro-grid technology, incorporating solar, to help reduce power costs, maintain operations during outages and potentially create new revenue streams.
It's built with rural properties in mind, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities that farms and orchards face with their energy needs.
Farmlands FLEX CEO Andrew ‘Pegs’ Pegler says it’s about much more than just solar and batteries.
“Solar and batteries are an enabler to what Farmlands FLEX will do. There's a microgrid for the customer. Then we extend that to a ‘virtual power plant’ with a number of customers with microgrids and combine their load to give real value to the market.”
This distributed approach doesn't compete with traditional providers, it complements them – adding resilience where it's needed most.
Pegs says on days when “the lakes are low, there’s no wind, and it's super cold in the morning”, Farmlands FLEX users will have the chance to get a good price on the spot market for their energy produced on-farm, if they choose to sell it.
From left: Bryce Sharkie, Business Development Manager - Upper South Island, with Farmlands FLEX customers Kylie and Gavin Bay.
“They can say ‘I want you to manage it, and I want you to optimise it to make me money’ or ‘I want you to manage it, but I want you to optimise my resiliency’...”
“There are times when the market needs that load, and they will come to Farmlands FLEX and we contract on behalf of our customers. They need a big industrial customer, but essentially we are 1,000 little customers that Farmlands FLEX helps present as an industrial sized load.”
This system can significantly boost the prices paid for farm-generated power, with some Farmlands FLEX customers earning as much as 32 cents per kilowatt hour on average.
This can add up to a decent sum; although the average farmer is installing about 100 kilowatts worth of generation and batteries, Farmlands FLEX recently signed up to install solar on a series of dairy sheds on different farms owned by the same farmer.
“This is why Farmlands FLEX and the microgrid system is so good,” says Pegs. “That's almost 800 kilowatts spread across seven different dairy sheds, whereas the average house uses about 5 kilowatts.”
Farmlands FLEX CEO Andrew 'Pegs' Pegler (left) and Farmlands Head of Key Accounts and Strategic Partnerships Luke Fisher (right) see FLEX as a gamechanger for shareholders.
Farmlands FLEX will also allow farmers and growers to decide how involved they want to be in the process.
Pegs says there is a ‘set and forget’ option where the customer can put in parameters and let FLEX take care of the rest.
“Do they want to rent 20% of their battery or 30% of their battery? They know their farm and they also know their operating model. An irrigator is different to a dairy shed, which is different to cool stores, which is different to pumping water out of the ground,” he says.
“They can say ‘I want you to manage it, and I want you to optimise it to make me money’ or ‘I want you to manage it, but I want you to optimise my resiliency’. Most farmers don’t want to spend a lot of time on this… they’re pretty busy already!”
For farmers who have already installed solar, ‘Get FLEX’ is a package that builds on this existing investment. Many Kiwi farmers have taken steps toward energy independence with solar, but remain tied to the grid.
The 'Get FLEX' option transforms existing arrays into intelligent energy systems with advanced batteries and smart management. This costeffective upgrade gives farmers control over their electricity without duplicating investment.
Knowing your numbers
Luke Fisher, Head of Key Accounts and Strategic Partnerships at Farmlands, says Farmlands FLEX brings a new level of transparency to on-farm solar generation in New Zealand.
“I think every farmer has probably gone through a scenario over the last five to 10 years of ‘is solar viable? Does it make sense?’ There's a lot of claims out there, and there's a lot of different people who know someone who's given it a go and it hasn't quite worked.
“What Farmlands FLEX does is it moves the discussion away from being, ‘it's a solar panel’ to the technology behind it with things like microgrids. What that means is we get size and scale.
“If they've had those thoughts before about using solar, then it's worth having a conversation about what it actually looks like.”
Luke says Farmlands FLEX can show what solar on a relatively small space on farm (such as on the dairy shed) looks like over the 30-year lifespan, with the ROI clearly laid out.
“You're also seeing benefits from day one. You're not having to wait until you paid a loan off before seeing a little bit of incremental difference,” he says.
“I think every farmer or every conversation I've had the last month, we've talked about electricity in some way or the other with all these price changes and everything else.”
Changes in weather patterns are another challenge that Farmlands FLEX will help solve, Luke says.
“There are dairy farmers who have been getting good payouts but they’re not spending because they're having to keep irrigators on for six or seven months instead of three or four months. For people like them, this is a game changer.”
More than solar
While Farmlands FLEX offers solar installation packages, Pegs says they are “a bit agnostic” when it comes to how the on-farm electricity is generated.
“If you've invested in wind or you've got hydro, which is super rare, that also works. We are also talking to geothermal. You can still hook into Farmlands FLEX as long as you have on-farm generation capacity.”
Besides the greater control and the financial benefits (from cost savings and revenue), Pegs says Farmlands FLEX also offers farmers and growers resiliency, while helping to significantly reduce their carbon emissions.
“It's a really easy thing to offset not having to replace utes and other things straight away, because you've got this additional benefit for something you've done for other reasons.”
Benefits of using Farmlands FLEX
• Beyond Solar: Farmlands FLEX combines solar, batteries, and smart software into a fully managed microgrid—not just a one-off install.
• Market-Ready: Enables participation in demand response and dynamic export,—turning energy into a revenue stream.
• Built for Resilience: Designed to handle rural grid challenges with backup, forecasting, and local asset control.
• Smarter Over Time: Ongoing optimisation, remote monitoring, and insights via a real-time energy dashboard.
• Scalable and Connected: Farmlands FLEX systems can grow and even connect with neighbouring sites/other farms, building a distributed generation model – traditional systems can’t.
To find out more about Farmlands FLEX, visit www.flexenergy.co.nz
Lay of the land
In this section
Whether it’s planning for wild weather, managing drench resistance, getting calving season right or preparing your orchard for a bumper harvest, our experts and shareholders will help you have a successful spring.
Photo: Alana Hyland
42 Learn the strategies and systems that can help your farm handle spring weather.
50 How investing in nutrition has transformed a Waikato dairy farmer’s results.
68 Why sheep farmers need to get worm-savvy to manage drench resistance.
NIWA’s Seasonal Climate
Outlook shows one clear trend across New Zealand as we head into spring: it’s probably going to be warmer than usual in most places.
However, the picture is murkier when it comes to rainfall; some areas like the northern part of the North Island are forecast to have slightly more rain than usual, while others such as the West Coast may be at normal to slightly below normal levels.
With parts of New Zealand struck by both flooding and drought in recent years (sometimes in quick succession), farmers are more aware than ever of the need to be prepared for both wet and dry conditions.
Agresearch Business Manager – Meat & Fibre Grace McLeay, who researched ways to mitigate the effects of climate change while she was still at Farmlands, says having the right infrastructure is key to withstanding heavy downpours.
One option is groynes, man-made structures that slow the flow of water. She recommends consulting your local regional council before carrying out such work, but in some cases you may be able to build them yourself.
“If you've got paddocks on the corner of a river and that paddock is particularly vulnerable on that corner, obviously a whole wall of water is going to be really destructive.
New Zealand weather is notoriously unpredictable. Smart planning can help farmers withstand the worst of what spring has to offer.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
“Those river groynes are a great way to engineer the slowing down of water and minimize the destruction because you've got a rush of water, there's no stopping it.”
Grace says riparian planting along waterways and streams is a way to slow the rate of sediment loss into streams when there are significant rain events, although you need to be careful about choosing the right plants for the task.
“You don't want to spend all this money on riparian planting when a flood could come and just take it out, and then you're continuously having to replace them. You've got to have stuff that will actually survive.”
The big dry
Drought can also be an issue during spring, and Grace says infrastructure is important in preparing for dry conditions.
“You need to ensure that your water infrastructure is up to speed. Ask yourself: What does water resilience look like for me? Have I got enough water storage? Is that something that I need to invest in my capital expenditure budget?”
Although on-farm dams can be useful, Grace says being overly reliant on them being rain-fed can be a problem.
“I know farmers up in Taihape that are at risk because they don't have a
water reticulation system. They don't have a way of pushing water around their farm in a drought.”
Grace says one of the trickier aspects of dealing with drought is knowing when to destock, as getting the timing wrong can be costly.
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Heifer numbers were reduced, in favor of introducing a much greater bull finishing component, with bulls matching the grass growth curve far more effectively.
“We maintain weight gain on the bulls for their entire time in our care, targeting slaughter at 290kg cc in December/January, and although
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we are generally very fortunate with Manawatu weather, it can turn a little dry in February/March, thus making us vulnerable to reduced feed reserves, compromising all stock on the property.
“As feed covers start to diminish with summer underway, the bulk of the bulls are gone by the end of January.”
Home-grown feed
Hiamoe makes good use of forage crops, eg. Rape, Chicory and Kale planted in late spring, also mitigating the risk of a dry summer, Julius says.
“When we're planting in November, we've got heaps of grass and by December we're thinking, ‘gee, how are we going to eat all this crop?” Come February, the grass has stopped growing and we're very pleased to have the crop, which always comes as a pleasant surprise!”
The main weather challenge, heading into spring, is heavy rainfall over lambing, which Julius says, is their greatest cause of lamb deaths, after 205% ewe scanning.
They deal with this major issue in several ways, including:
• Three lambing dates to spread the risk
• Use of good Romney ‘easy care’ genetics
• Maintaining good body weight on ewes through the winter rotation
• Set stocking ewes onto as much good quality cover as possible
• Extensive tree planting for shelter.
“Our main goal is to ‘set stock’ the very well-conditioned ewes onto excellent pasture covers and when bad weather arrives (as it always does), they nurture their lambs vastly better, instead of abandoning them, in search of a feed for themselves,” Julius explains.
The Team have also been working to protect the land itself from weather extremes, incorporating 90ha of riparian planting (poplars and natives).
“These guard against erosion, offering the added benefit of shade, an important animal welfare consideration and in an unusually dry summer, extra forage from poplar prunings,” he says.
Healthy soils
Another aspect the Team pay particular attention to is soil health, which can play a big role in adverse weather resilience, protecting against both drought (by holding more water) and flooding (by improving water absorption capacity).
“With our cropping programme, more than 80% of it is done by direct drilling, optimising soil structure by not regularly breaking it up,” Julius says.
“Colder soils mean reduced grass growth, so the Hiamoe Team also maintain a programme of mole ploughing, enabling surface water to drain more quickly, thus aiding slight boosts in soil temperature, kickstarting grass growth in the spring, much earlier than normal. We make spring happen, rather than waiting for it to happen.”
He says one of their greatest goals as a farm is to reduce their carbon footprint.
“We do this by always providing optimal feed and water to all stock optimising performance and minimising the time that animals are on the property before achieving target weights.”
Talk to your local Farmlands team today about how to protect your farm or orchard from wild weather.
Planting crops like Chicory can mitigate the risk of a dry summer.
Farmlands has come to the rescue of farmers and growers battling rising input costs, launching a range of exclusive brands that offer quality without the price tag.
The co-operative has been transforming its supply chain to improve efficiency and to deliver better results for shareholders in terms of choice, product access and price. Being super smart about how and where products are sourced from is a vital part of delivering on this, including owning and managing an exclusive range of products specifically designed to meet customer need.
Here is a rundown on five brands that Farmlands has introduced into the New Zealand market and are only available through Farmlands – covering a broad range of rural supplies requirements from ag-chem to fashion.
AgStar: Crop protection that works as hard as you do Why pay more for the same results? AgStar gives you the same active ingredients as the big brands but at co-operative prices. From weed control to pest management, AgStar keeps your crops protected and your costs down.
Reliance: Better nutrition, better value
Feed your livestock what they need without the premium price tag. Made in Farmlands-owned mills across New Zealand, Reliance products are
designed by Farmlands nutritionists, to deliver quality results at a great price.
Back Road: Workwear that actually works Farm-tested, farmer-approved. Back Road clothing stands up to the toughest conditions without breaking the bank. Practical features, serious durability and prices that reflect your co-op's buying power.
Top Paddock: Farm essentials, co-op prices
The tools and hardware you need every day, without the everyday markup. From fencing to farm maintenance, Top Paddock products are built for rural New Zealand and priced for New Zealand farmers and growers. More lines are always on their way, so keep your eyes out for new products!
1972 by Barkers: Look great on and off the farm
Farmlands’ exclusive partnership with iconic Kiwi brand Barkers offers quality men's and women's clothing at co-op prices. Style that works as hard as you do, only available at Farmlands.
For those who work the land but still want to look good while doing it, the standout is undoubtedly '1972 by Barkers'. This exclusive collection
brings together Barkers' reputation for quality and style with Farmlands' understanding of rural life.
"We wanted to create clothing that works as hard as our customers do, but still looks great when they head into town," explains Farmlands CEO Tanya Houghton. The range includes everything from merino layers to stylish jackets that transition seamlessly from farm to restaurant. These are clothes that understand the demands of farming but refuse to compromise on style – and they're only available through Farmlands.
For those more focused on function, Back Road workwear offers farm-tested, farmer-approved clothing that stands up to the toughest conditions. From hard-wearing overalls to waterproof jackets that keep you dry through a day of fencing in the rain, Back Road delivers durability without breaking the bank.
These exclusive brands are available on FarmlandsPRO or at your local Farmlands store.
Here's a small selection of products from our exclusive brands, to support you this spring.
AgStar Knock out Extra 540
A non-residual, non-selective herbicide for pre-planting and pre-harvest weed control in crops, pasture, horticulture, agriculture, and forestry. Knock out Extra is absorbed by plant foliage and green stems. It is inactivated immediately upon contact with the soil and does not provide residual weed control. Knock out Extra moves from the point of foliage or stem contact into the root system controlling the plant above and below the ground. Glyphosate 540g/L.
AgStar Liberty 200
A non-selective contact herbicide for the control of a wide range of broadleaf and grass weeds in orchard, vineyards and non-cropland areas. Offering greater safety for young trees and vines compared to glyphosate, Liberty® is particularly suitable for sensitive crops, minimizing the risk of damage while ensuring effective weed control.
A liquid nitrogen fertiliser that enhances nitrogen use efficiency, boosts crop yield and reduces environmental impact. Its liquid form enables precise application and easy integration with other nutrients.
Reliance Blue Boost
As close to the perfect balance of electrolytes (sodium, potassium and chloride) for calves, lambs and kid goats as possible. Reliance Blue Boost has a high dextrose level to help water cross the gut and give an energy boost.
Reliance Level Up
Containing many of the additives used to make calf milk replacer, Reliance Level Up literally levels up the playing field. Contains two essential major minerals, seven trace elements and twelve vitamins known to be lacking in cow’s milk relative to the needs of calves. Developed in conjunction with The Calf Experts.
Reliance Kiwi Power Whey
A New Zealand made product designed with kiwi calves in mind. Manufactured from whey proteins sourced from the local dairy industry in New Zealand. Formulated to contain 26% crude protein to support growth and frame, whilst balancing our typically higher fat Kiwi cow’s milk.
Back Road Value Kids Gumboots
Designed with practicality and comfort in mind, these gumboots are ideal for kids who love to explore, rain or shine. Whether it's jumping in puddles, helping in the paddocks, or simply enjoying a walk on a wet day, the Back Road Value Junior Gumboots are a reliable and affordable choice for everyday wear.
Back Road Value Heavyweight Socks and Back Road Value Lightweight Socks
Tough gear for tough farmers. Back Road Value Socks are made with a durable wool blend that keeps your feet warm, dry, and comfortable from sunup to sundown. Built to handle long days in work boots, they offer a snug fit that won’t slip and a toughness that stands up to chores, mud, and miles. Real value for folks who put in real work.
Consistency keeps FARMER ON TRACK
Whether he’s out in the paddock or hurtling down a drag-racing track, Tokoroa dairy farmer Mike Tillemans knows the value of sticking to a winning formula.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN MARK HAMILTON
The former mechanic might be a whizz at tinkering with engines, but he doesn’t tinker with the feeding regime that has boosted production and profitability on his farms for almost 15 years.
One of Farmlands’ largest bulk feed customers, Mike uses a blend of soya hulls and palm kernel for every one of the roughly 1,600 milking cows spread across his four farms.
“It's 5kg per cow per day, either in shed or via the feed pad. We change a little bit of their diet around that depending on how the season goes, but whether the grass is growing or not, it's five kilos per cow regardless,” he says.
Although Mike and Vanessa’s dairy empire expanded considerably a couple of years ago with the purchase of his largest farm (a 300ha property at Peach Road, west of Tokoroa), his nutrition regime has been around a lot longer than that.
It started all the way back in 2011. Fonterra’s farmgate milk price that
season (2010-2011) lifted to a thenrecord $7.60/kg milksolids, up from $6.10/kg the previous season and only $4.75/kg in 2008/2009 during the worst of the GFC.
However, Mike wasn’t happy with his herd’s production at the time, saying he “really struggled” to get 400kg per cow.
“I met a guy who worked in nutrition and when the payout went up, he talked me into just feeding 5kg, so we tried it on one farm. We just did 5kg per cow, in-shed feeding, and away we went; the cows lifted that year by 100kg of milk solids per cow.
“Back then we worked it out on the cost of feed to our payout, we were making a hundred percent return on that investment. In what other industry or business can you do that?”
Smoother ride
The financial equation may have changed since then, but Mike’s rigorous approach to nutrition has another big benefit: consistent
production, not only from year to year but across all four of their farms.
“We've been really consistent the last three or four years, at around 450500kg milk solids a cow. We're all very similar, although the feed pad farms are probably slightly higher cows per hectare because we can put a bit more feed in.”
His approach to nutrition also makes it easier to ride out peaks and troughs in pasture production.
South Waikato was one of several regions of the country hit hard by drought heading into autumn this year, but Mike and Vanessa’s farms were well prepared for the big dry, able to supplement with a mix of grass and maize silage.
“Each farm grows their own maize on-farm, but I grow more on the dry stock farms that I bring into the feed pad farms as maize silage.”
The consistency in production between farms is impressive considering each farm has its own unique topography and conditions, not to mention its own individual farm manager.
Ahead of the game
Despite the daily 5kg feed schedule, the bulk of the cows’ diet on Mike’s farms is still pasture, and Chrissy says her on-farm visits help to highlight any potential shortfalls before they become a big problem.
“It’s about making sure they understand that when you're looking at the cows, they're hungry, because you're not giving them enough square meters.
“You also need to make sure that you're ahead of the game and if they are starting to look short, we're not waiting until it's too late to put silage in, because it takes 14 days for the rumen to adjust.”
A particular focus for Chrissy is on the transition period between late pregnancy and lactation, during which animal health issues can easily arise if nutrition needs are not met.
“We need to make sure that we've got the right blend there that they're going to use for their milking blend,” she explains.
“It's still the same for them, but they're getting different minerals to cope with what they've just been through, and we need to make sure that it's fed for the right period of time, so we're not getting the animal health problems.
“We also need to be keeping an eye on the grass; when you're doing transition, you can only feed so much grass because of the potassium in it.”
Although Mike’s herds calve between July and September, the work to get the cows prepared for the demands of transition begins much earlier.
“I start working with Mike on the next season in April,” Chrissy says. “Like any herd drying off is a key piece
of the puzzle. Cow condition and macro and micro minerals are a focus for me, as this sets the cow for her best start when calving in 8-10 weeks.”
Getting enough calcium in over winter to build up each cow’s reserves is another key factor, she says.
“Once the cow has calved, she's lost 90% of her calcium that day. It's a massive hit, and that's where animal health problems can come in.”
Under the hood
When Mike isn’t out on a farm, you can often find him behind the wheel of a fast car (or under the hood), a passion that can be traced back to his previous career.
“I grew up on a dairy farm, but in my teenage years, there was no way I was going to be a farmer, and I actually did my trade as a mechanic,” he says.
“My parents bought a second farm, and I contract milked on that for three years, but then my parents split up, so I left the family scene and went contract milking with Vanessa around the corner. We didn’t buy our first farm until we were 30.”
Although he no longer works as a mechanic, Mike’s obsession with engines never left him.
He loves classic cars, is a regular visitor to the Whangamata Beach Hop event and even has his own Ford XA in the garage that he has been doing up.
However, it’s drag racing where he has been making his mark, hurtling down the track at speeds of up to 133 miles per hour (214kph).
“I've had a really good season this year. I just won the national series in Tokoroa and Meremere. I've got a Ford Maverick called the Mad Cow and it's pretty cool.”
Mike’s love of cars has been passed on to his twin sons, one of whom works as a tractor mechanic while the other is a truck mechanic.
“They started out driving tractors for the local contractor for a few seasons and then they worked out what they basically wanted to do. They were typical teenagers… they all want to do their own thing!”
Farmlands and SealesWinslow –the perfect blend
Farmlands’ purchase of SealesWinslow has significantly boosted the co-operative’s nutrition offering to all customers and its role as a national producer of animal feed.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
The integration of the previously competing SealesWinslow and Farmlands Nutrition teams was officially unveiled to farmers at National Fieldays in June, in the form of a bigger team of nutrition specialists and technology to help all farmers (Farmlands shareholders and beyond) to better assess their feed options.
This is the part of the integration of SealesWinslow that most customers will see and there’s even more going on behind the scenes to operate effectively as a wholesale nutrition business, supporting customers through a range of retail merchants. This work includes bringing all five feed mills under a single manufacturing organisation and bringing together SealesWinlow, NRM and McMillan’s marketing effort together to support better sales
outcomes and greater efficiency across all three brands.
A single field team supporting all customers
The SealesWinslow acquisition means a much bigger combined field team to support all farmers with their nutrition needs, with everyone who specialises in ruminant nutrition now part of the SealesWinslow field team.
“This means we now have 16 nutrition specialists working with all our sales partners (e.g. Farmlands, Farm Source and PGG Wrightson) to cover more area and provide SealesWinslow products to more customers. It means more support for farmers and our partners and more of a focus on everything ruminant from calf right through to cow,” says Grant Jackson, General Manager of Nutrition Sales.
The co-op also has a team of NRM nutrition specialists, who are now focused exclusively on equine and lifestyle nutrition needs.
“We've focused less on dividing teams up by what channel to market, and more about the farmer, making it easy for them to know ‘this is the person I deal with for all my nutrition needs’,” adds Grant.
Benefitting from leading Ruminix tool
Farmlands shareholders can now access SealesWinslow’s groundbreaking Ruminix tool, a specially designed calculator that allows farmers to estimate their return on investment from various feed and diet options.
Grant says Ruminix will be even more useful when paired with the broader range of products SealesWinslow can offer as part of the Farmlands family.
“The whole SealesWinslow team now has access to custom blends. Our nutrition specialists can focus not just on the augmentation of diets but have the complete suite of solutions for addressing any nutritional deficit limiting the performance potential of livestock,” he says.
“Ruminix was a bit ahead of its time when we first developed it, and Farmlands will be able to realise its potential because we now have full access to all products.”
The SealesWinslow and Farmlands Nutrition teams have joined forces.
What are weeds costing you?
Maximise your home grown feed with Nufarm’s phenoxies range to control spring weeds.
Eat more of what you grow. Calculate your potential returns at Grassmanship.nz.
Get Nufarm’s phenoxies range at your local Farmlands store, or talk to a TFS today.
SCAN ME
FAQs from small block owners
With the rapid growth in AI advice online and social media sites supported by enthusiasts, it can be difficult to know what animal nutrition advice is reliable. Some recent re-occurring questions are addressed below.
Must the ratio of Calcium (Ca) to Phosphorus (P) in compound feeds be 2:1?
No not really; a Ca:P ratio of 2:1 or higher is considered a good thing, but must be calculated for the total diet. Concerns are normally raised from vets or people with castrated goats and sheep in relation to the risk of blockages in the urinary system caused by mineral deposits.
The Ca:P ratio of a nut or pellet would not normally be important in isolation, outside of a feedlot type situation where dry supplementary feed might make up 80-90% of the diet to support high weight gains.
The total amount of excess P consumed is the primary risk factor for urinary calculi and other minerals like magnesium can be important as well if over-supplied. Blockages are unlikely in grazing males when fresh forage makes up the majority of the diet and clean drinking water is available.
Are high carb diets dangerous and unnatural for grazing livestock?
No not really. Ruminants (cows, sheep, deer and goats) consume carbohydrates in every mouthful of forage and have evolved to make good use of them. Carbohydrates are their primary source of energy and range
DR ROB DERRICK HEAD OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
from easily fermentable sugars through to structural fibre (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin), which are hard to digest for those of us without a rumen.
Pasture typically ranges from 7-25% soluble sugars and starch so grain-based pellets with molasses are not that foreign to the rumen microflora – they just need time to adjust to higher feeding levels.
Starch in grass seed and grains is basically a slow-release form of sugar that plants have stored away for germination. Starch takes longer for the rumen bacteria to ferment than sugar and consequently drops the pH in the rumen more slowly after a meal. Provided instructions on the bag are followed, well formulated compound feeds can present fewer nutritional risks than forages.
Do compound feeds cause obesity?
Feeding higher rates of compound feeds is recommended only when the quality or quantity of forage on offer is not sufficient to meet the needs of the animals at that time, e.g. winter forage alone may not meet the needs of in-lamb ewes and early spring forage may not meet the need of nursing ewes with twins or triplets.
Young growing animals, late gestation or lactating animals typically require more support than older dry stock. Strategic use of compound feed can support body condition, production and health, increasing the lifetime performance without causing obesity.
Is the irregular use of compound feeds dangerous?
Calling stock to a small feed of nuts is a great way to check if all animals in a mob are fit and healthy. Small amounts – perhaps 100g per eweto make a dash across a paddock worthwhile will not expose stock to a risk of acidosis provided they are chewing the cud i.e. are eating long forage they can regurgitate and chew, thereby releasing saliva which is a natural rumen buffer.
If concerned or in doubt, talk to your local retail team or call NRM Customer Services on 0800 800 380.
Small things can make a big difference when it comes to animal feed. One easy thing to do is choose feeds which are FeedSafe accredited, requiring the feed mill to have good quality assurance systems in place to make sure the feed you buy is safe for your animals. All NRM, McMIllan and Reliance compound feeds are proudly FeedSafe Accredited.
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PECKING BLOCKS
Anybody who has seen day-old chicks scratch and reverse before pecking feed off the ground knows that chooks are hard-wired to be foragers.
DR
Pecking blocks are designed to deliver nutrients to poultry in a form which will require a bit more time and effort compared to a mash or pelleted feed. By offering a little challenge, a pecking block can enrich the wellbeing and productivity of poultry.
Enrichment can be a nice-todeliver gesture – effectively a thankyou to birds that repay owners so frequently with nutritious eggs – or a management aid when birds need a little distraction.
Pecking blocks can be thought of as a nutritional alternative to a punching bag in a gym – the thing that allows natural instincts to be expressed without harm to others. They come in a range of textures from grains simply pressed together and bound with fat through to rockhard mineral-based blocks.
NRM Pecking Blocks sit midway in the spectrum. When Farmlands purchased SealesWinslow in 2024, it gave access to a commercial poured block plant and the ability to give poultry owners the choice of nutritious, yet lower priced products
per kg due to economies of scale and production systems.
Making blocks and putting them in a tub is never going to be as cheap as poultry feed delivered in bulk, but similar blocks are popular on commercial poultry units in the UK because they have proved to be costeffective in reducing stress.
NRM developed the 2.5kg option specifically for urban-based customers with smaller flocks in mind, the 10kg option being more appropriate for larger flocks in rural areas and commercial units.
A key driver behind delivering this option was being able to offer something if the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu gets to NZ and birds have to be confined to reduce exposure to wild birds – either voluntarily by owners wishing to protect their birds or by compulsory housing orders if authorities try to limit the spread of the disease through flocks.
It
Pecking blocks may help to reduce harmful behaviour such as aggression, feather pecking, cannibalism, flightiness and distress. Once abnormal behaviour starts it can be difficult to stop.
With whole wheat and lightly cracked maize they give birds access to chunky pieces of grain which can be good for gizzard function.
A mixture of both fine and coarse oyster grit helps to deliver slowly available calcium to support eggshell production overnight.
Whole sunflower seeds have been included to add interest. The blocks are tipped out of the container to allow easier access, rather than licked out of the tub like most poured molasses blocks.
Birds that have never seen a pecking block before can take time to appreciate what they are for. Sprinkling some regular food or grains onto the block or dampening it with a little water can soften the block and help with initial intakes.
Meeting the needs of both the commercial and lifestyle sectors through our five mills brings enormous synergies which benefit both sectors.
NRM has enjoyed great support from lifestyle poultry owners, so it feels good to be devoting some product development to help meet some needs now that we can produce at short notice if virulent bird flu hits our shores.
NRM Pecking Blocks are perfect for anyone who wants to enrich the lives of their layers. They're great value compared to smaller grain blocks and allow birds to express natural foraging behaviour for longer. Get yours now by searching Pecking Block at shop.farmlands.co.nz
ROB DERRICK HEAD OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
can take time for some birds to appreciate pecking blocks are for eating.
Meet the new game changing ryegrasses from PGG Wrightson Seeds.
With so much outside of your control, it’s good to have something you can actually rely on this spring. PGG Wrightson Seeds has one of the largest portfolios of pasture options available to New Zealand farmers and this portfolio just got newer and more exciting! Our crops and pastures are extensively developed and trialled to grow better yields that deliver better returns.
MIDWAY is a diploid mid-flowering perennial ryegrass, that could fit across any pasture-based system in New Zealand, especially where spring growth is required. As the name suggests, Midway is a traditional mid-flowering ryegrass which will add value to farmers who are looking for that early spring feed prior to and post lambing and calving but also strong pasture growth in the following seasons.
PALLISER is a very late flowering tetraploid ryegrass with the flexibility to be used as a short or long rotation type. It is high yielding with strong summer and autumn production. High quality and persistence for a hybrid type ryegrass. Palliser was selected from elite plants created by a cross between tetraploid Italian and perennial ryegrass.
To find out more, visit your local Farmlands store or talk to your Farmlands TFO or Agronomist.
VAST has made a real impact since being fully on the market last spring. Vast is the next generation in tetraploid ryegrass delivering the ultimate combination of density, quality, production and grazing preference for New Zealand farmers to maximise stock performance and productivity. With an extremely late (+36 days) heading date, Vast offers the latest perennial ryegrass heading date on the market.
ACCRUE is the latest generation, very late flowering diploid ryegrass. Year-round production of dry matter with a key focus on growth during summer and autumn, is what makes Accrue a standout in this category. Selected for improved quality characteristics, Accrue offers reduced seed head production and improved rust tolerance.
Hamish Wyllie is into his 6th season managing the family’s Waimakariri based dairy operation. During his time, pasture renewal has been a big focus. The farm targets 15% pasture renewal every year and for Hamish the key is getting the right ryegrass genetics in the ground to meet feed demand, maintain quality, and go the distance. To help him with these decisions he relies on the agronomic expertise of TFO Nigel Kirk.
“Every ryegrass variety hits its spring flush at a slightly different time,” says Hamish. That’s why he’s using a combination of both Reason AR37 and Legion AR37 perennial ryegrasses to smooth the feed supply curve. Reason is a mid-heading (+3 relative to Nui) variety which is very strong in the Upper
South Island through early spring. His Reason paddocks are always the first to kick into gear following winter.
Legion is a late heading (+13 relative to Nui) variety, which hits its spring flush period about 10 days later. The combination of mid and later-flowering genetics means that the farm maintains steady grass growth right throughout the season.
Another consideration for Hamish is maintaining pasture quality through late spring and into summer. “The last thing we want is for everything to hit the reproductive phase and lose pasture quality at the same time” That’s why he takes a careful approach to selecting heading dates and uses modern genetics with low aftermath heading. For Hamish it is a
big advantage being able to have early feed without compromising pasture quality later in the season.
The farm is prone to summer dry, insect attack and pugging in the winter, so ryegrass resilience is also a big factor. He uses both Reason and Legion with AR37 endophyte because of their high tiller density, robustness and ability to survive during adverse conditions.
For more about how Reason and Legion could help your farm, talk to your local Farmlands Agronomy expert.
Hamish Wyllie and TFO
Nigel Kirk inspecting a newly sown paddock of Reason AR37.
THE NEXT STEP IN KALE GENETICS.
SovGold is a modern New Zealand bred kale that combines excellent quality with a high yield potential. SovGold has a very high top end yield potential, although average yields are around 10-14 t DM/ha, depending on management and environment. SovGold is well suited to all cattle grazing systems and sheep systems that sow late to control crop height for utilisation by sheep.
• Medium-tall kale
• Late flowering variety that maintains leaf into mid September
• Very high total leaf yield
• High total yield for intermediate kale
RGT HUSTLE RESILIENT RYEGRASS THRIVES ON THE WEST COAST
Perennial ryegrass RGT Hustle is proving its worth in one of New Zealand’s most demanding environments. We visited a West Coast dairy farm to see how it’s performing under pressure.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
Green, lush and positioned next to a major intersection, the front paddock on Jeremy and Anna Hart’s Kowhitirangi farm isn’t just turning heads, it’s showcasing the strength of RGT Hustle RGT18 ryegrass.
The Farmlands shareholders selected RGT Hustle as part of a recent regrassing effort on their 300ha dairy
farm inland from Hokitika. Originally from South Canterbury, the Harts have farmed on the West Coast for the past decade. Jeremy says the climate and remoteness demand a low-input, highefficiency farming approach.
“With annual rainfall around 3.8 metres, pasture quality is crucial,” Jeremy explains. “We’re milking 400
cows with an average production of around 410kg of milksolids. We milk once a day; we have one staff member and we do everything ourselves, rarely bringing contractors in.”
Timing is everything in their wet environment, and finding reliable, highperformance varieties of grass is key. With support from Farmlands Technical
RGT Hustle RGT18 perennial ryegrass paddocks are both picturesque and productive.
Field Officer Stephen Wright, the Harts opted for RGT Hustle, bolstered with the RGT18 endophyte. This combination boosts pest tolerance while reducing the risk of common animal health issues seen with older endophyte types.
“RGT Hustle is well proven on the Coast,” says Stephen. “It handles wet soils better than most varieties, and we generally recommend a slightly higher sowing rate. Conditions here are unforgiving, and RGT Hustle delivers where it counts.”
This past summer, Hartland Dairies sowed 50 hectares of RGT Hustle RGT18, and it didn’t take long to see the results.
“Jeremy’s biggest observation has been the speed of regrowth,” Stephen says. “Older pastures need 24–25 days between grazings, but RGT Hustle paddocks are ready in just 16 days.”
This rapid regrowth is particularly valuable heading into winter. On the West Coast, where off-farm wintering isn’t an option, the ability of pasture to recover quickly is essential for maintaining stock condition.
“We do about 100 days of on-farm winter grazing,” says Jeremy. “That new grass bounces back faster, so we’re getting more feed when we really need it.”
Built for local conditions
The success of RGT Hustle is no accident. It’s the result of a breeding programme that focuses on quality, yield and persistence, the traits that matter most to New Zealand farmers.
“It really hits the mark,” says Blair Cotching, RAGT’s South Island Business Sales Manager. “For farmers like the Harts, it’s about consistent growth, regrowth speed, and pasture quality through all seasons.”
Winter growth, a must-have trait for the Coast, has been a particular focus.
“In colder areas, some grasses struggle through winter,” Blair notes. “RGT Hustle keeps growing and recovering, even under pressure. That makes a real difference when feed demand is high.”
Another standout feature is the RGT18 endophyte. While the West Coast is currently at reduced risk from major
insect pests like black beetle, RGT18 still provides added peace of mind, without compromising animal health.
“Animal health directly impacts productivity,” Blair says. “RGT18 significantly reduces the risk of ryegrass staggers while still offering robust insect protection. It sets a new benchmark for safety.”
Historically, there’s been a tradeoff between pest resistance and animal safety. With RGT18, farmers are getting both.
Certified for confidence
RAGT seed is certified by the New Zealand Seeds Authority (NZSA) and independently tested by AsureQuality to meet industry standards. Farmers can count on:
• At least 70% endophyte infection
• At least 90% germination
• At least 99% seed purity
“Certification is a quality guarantee,” says Sheila Househam, Farmlands Seed Category Manager. “It gives confidence to our team and our shareholders that products like RGT Hustle RGT18 will deliver what they promise.”
This close collaboration between Farmlands and RAGT is key to getting the right products on the right farms.
“We work with Farmlands to help farmers find solutions for their specific challenges,” Blair adds. “It’s a real partnership.”
Encouraged by their results, Jeremy and Anna plan to sow more RGT Hustle RGT18 this coming spring as soon as the weather allows.
“You never know when a good window will open up to get things done,” Jeremy says. “Out here, they say ‘if you snooze, you lose.’ So, when the time’s right, we’ll be ready.”
Quality, yield and persistence are key, says RAGT’s South Island Business Sales Manager Blair Cotching.
theMastering basics of calf rearing
The Farmlands Calf Rearing Roadshow has wrapped up for another season, after an incredible journey across 11 events nationwide. Here are some key takeaways from the roadshow.
WORDS BY KAREN FRASER
Stacey and Karen, the dynamic duo behind the roadshow, shared a powerful message that resonated with farmers everywhere: “Do the basics the best you can.” This simple yet effective mantra is the foundation of successful calf rearing. When we focus on getting the fundamentals right, we lay the groundwork for a smoother, healthier, and more productive season. Let’s explore some of the topics covered during the roadshow to help you prepare for the season ahead.
Shed setup: Create a safe and comfortable environment
A warm, dry, and well-ventilated shed is non-negotiable. Calves exposed to cold and damp conditions use more energy to stay warm and have less energy to put into growth.
• Drainage matters: If your shed has ongoing drainage issues, it’s time to plan improvements. While it might be too late for this season, make it a top priority in the off-season.
• Fix the small stuff: Repair broken gates, leaky troughs, and faulty gutters. These minor issues can cause major daily frustrations.
• Ventilation vs. draughts: Ensure there’s no draught at calf height, but maintain airflow above to prevent ammonia build-up, which can lead to respiratory problems.
• Dry comfortable bedding: If bedding fails, so does calf comfort and health. Bedding should be deep enough to draw moisture away from the calf and needs to be topped up regularly.
• Infrastructure: Industry requirements say 1.5m2 per calf. This is ok, but if you want calves to be healthy and grow well, offer 2.2m2
Hygiene: Cleanliness is key
Great daily hygiene practises are your first line of defence against disease.
• Feeder cleaning: Rinse feeders in cold water, scrub with warm water and detergent, then rinse again. Hang them upside down to dry. Drying is crucial to prevent bacterial regrowth.
• Disinfection routine: Spray sheds with a virucidal disinfectant like Virkon S a few times a week, even if no illness is present. Focus on walls and rafters rather than the floor.
• Absorbent bedding: Use products like Stalosan F, Easy-bed Pro, or Zorbifresh to absorb moisture before topping up with fresh bedding.
• Foot baths: Set up a two-step foot bath—first to remove mud, then to disinfect. Virkon’s red colour helps indicate it’s still effective. Once the colour fades its time to refresh the baths.
• Biosecurity: Keep visitors away from calf sheds and enforce strict hygiene protocols.
• Personal hygiene: Always wear gloves when handling calves and wash hands before eating, smoking, or vaping. Don’t forget to clean your phone daily—it can harbour billions of bacteria!
Day 1 care: Starting strong
The first day of a calf’s life is critical.
• Frequent pickups: Collect calves at least twice a day. Leaving them on the dam for 24 hours only gives a 50/50 chance of passive antibody transfer.
• Gentle handling: Reduce stress by handling calves calmly and carefully.
• Clean transport: Keep trailers cleaned after each pickup and drive slowly to avoid injury.
• Navel care: Spray navels with AHD 8% tincture iodine at pickup and again at the shed. This is sufficient if using the correct iodine.
• Quantity: Provide 10% of the calf’s birth weight of higher than 22 Brix colostrum. If quality is low, increase to 15%. Rule of thumb if calves drink let them feed until they shake for the first two feeds.
FEATURED PRODUCT
FEATURED PRODUCT
Milligans Excel Plus Colostrum 600g
A premium quality colostrum specially formulated with high IgG levels, to provide infectionpreventing immunoglobulins to newborn animals.
FEATURED PRODUCT
AHD Iodine Tincture 8% 5L
Iodine Tincture Spray has antiseptic and disinfectant properties making the formulation ideal for use on calf navels, open wounds, abscesses, fungal infections and dehorning wounds.
Colostrum management:
The 5 Qs
Colostrum is the calf’s first and most important meal. Follow the 5 Qs to ensure success:
• Quality: Use a refractometer to test colostrum. Aim for over 22 Brix for day-one calves. If it’s between 18–21 Brix, boost it with Milligans Excel Plus Colostrum Powder.
• Quickly: Feed colostrum within the first 1–2 hours, or at least within 6–12 hours. After 24 hours, passive transfer is no longer possible, but colostrum still offers gut protection.
• ‘sQueaky’ clean: Store colostrum in clean, preferably stainless-steel containers with lids. Refrigerate if not used immediately—bacteria double every 20 minutes!
• Quietly: Stress reduces the effectiveness of antibody absorption. Ensure all handlers are calm and gentle.
Nutrition: Fuelling growth
Nutrition is the engine of calf development. Don’t cut corners here.
• High-quality feed: Choose reputable brands for both liquid and hard feeds.
• Milk additives: If feeding whole milk, consider additives like Reliance Level Up Milk Additive to balance nutrients and add a coccidiostat.
• Correct mixing: When using calf milk replacer (CMR), ensure it’s mixed at the right concentration and temperature. Never mix CMR at temperature over 60°C as this denatures the proteins.
Reliance Level Up
Reliance Level Up is a comprehensive supplement designed to be added to whole milk (not Calf Milk Replacer) to help boost the health and vitality of calves from 3 days of age.
• Compartment feeders: These help identify slow feeders in the first few days and ensures even nutrition distribution, especially in restricted feeding programs. They are great for teaching new calf rearers too!
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• Ensure calves are evenly fed
• They are made of tough, durable plastic
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• UV stabilised for protection from sun damage.
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Reliance Calf Grower 20%
Reliance Calf Grower 20% is a high protein calf pellet designed to support calf development.
Key features & benefits
• Quality ingredients in a pellet form for increased utilisation and reduced wastage
• Highly digestible ingredients to stimulate rumen development
• The coccidiostat Bovatec® to aid in the prevention of coccidiosis
• Molasses and flavouring for increased palatability
• Essential vitamins and minerals which can be low in cow’s milk.
• Introduce hard feed early: Start hand-feeding small amounts of hard feed after milk feeds within the first 1–2 weeks to build the habit.
• Trough space: Ensure there’s enough space for all calves to access hard feed comfortably.
• Reachable water: Clean water is essential from day 1 for growing great calves, developing the rumen and to help digestion.
Proactive health management: stay ahead of problems
Early intervention can prevent minor issues from becoming major problems.
• Electrolytes on hand: Always keep a quality electrolyte like Reliance Blue Boost at the ready.
FEATURED PRODUCT
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• As close to the perfect balance of electrolytes (sodium, potassium and chloride) as possible
• A high dextrose level to help water cross the gut and give an energy boost
• Glycine, an amino acid that aids sodium and glucose absorption from the intestine
• A nutritionally effective dose of Vitamin B12 that is linked to stimulating appetite
• Watch for warning signs: A calf that’s off its milk or slow to rise is often the first sign of illness. Act quickly with electrolytes to prevent escalation. Dehydration and slow reactions are the biggest cause of calf mortality.
Final thoughts: Set yourself up for success
The Farmlands Calf Rearing Roadshow has once again delivered practical, science-backed advice to help farmers raise healthier, stronger calves. By focusing on the basicsshed setup, hygiene, day-one care, colostrum management, nutrition, and proactive health - you’re not just preventing problems, you’re building a foundation for long-term success. Remember, it’s not about doing everything perfectly. It’s about doing the important things consistently well. As Stacey and Karen say, “Do the basics the best you can.” That’s the real secret to a successful calf rearing season.
Contact your local Nutrition Specialist or Technical Field Officer for products designed to complement your rearing programme, or shop on
Stacey and Karen pictured with Hamish Millward –Farmlands Morrinsville Branch Manager.
Thriver Calf Teats are the latest innovation in animal rearing products. Available in Screw-In and Pull-Through, get yours from your local Farmlands store today.
Available from Farmlands stores nationwide.
With drench resistance presenting a growing threat to New Zealand’s agriculture sector, farmers are getting more sophisticated in their approach to fighting parasites.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN ALANA HYLAND
Until recently, the easiest way for farmers to prevent obvious signs of parasites in their stock was a regular drenching regime for their herd or flock.
But just as overuse of antibiotics in humans has helped to create antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’, this approach to drenching has created selection pressure for worms that are resistant to the commonly used combination drenches.
Triple drench resistance is when worms are resistant to combinations of the three main ‘anthelmintic’ drenches (benzimidazoles, levamisole, and avermectins), and has been affecting sheep farmers in New Zealand for several years.
Farmlands shareholders Mike and Cath Cranstone, who have three farms spanning just over 2,000ha in Fordell near Whanganui, are among those who have had to rethink how they operate.
They run 8,000 breeding ewes across mostly medium to hard hill country, alongside Riverton Ezicalve Herefords,
specialising in breeding heifer mating bulls for the beef and dairy sectors.
Mike says they first discovered drench resistance in some of their sheep back in autumn 2018, when the issue was still emerging in New Zealand.
“Very few people had identified combination drench resistance at that stage, and to be fair, it knocked my confidence a bit in terms of how robust our farming business was going to be,” he admits.
“But we’re still here, we're still farming sheep and we're able to manage it reasonably well without having a huge cost, either in their production or the animal health bill.”
Tailored approach
A crucial element in the Cranstones’ fight against drench resistance has been tailoring their approach to individual species of worm, including testing to work out which species are resistant to which drench.
Through this process, they discovered that the drenches they
were using were weak against ‘Trichs’ (Trichostrongylus), a common genus of nematode or round worm.
“It’s been important that for us to identify what drenches are failing and to what worm, because knowing that has given us options,” Mike says.
“We can still use a triple drench in the spring and up to Christmas, when Trichs aren't making up a large proportion of the worm burden.”
Mike says Trichs are an autumn worm in the North Island, so March through to May are when they face their biggest challenge with them.
“We've been able to use a triple drench for a pre-wean and weaning drench because we know our worm burden is dominated by other species then. We shift into the new actives, Zolvix and Startect, in the autumn period. We’re quite targeted in our approach.”
Their drenching regime is based on monitoring; this year they had to move away from using the triple drenches earlier in the season
Keeping on top of drench resistance is critical for sheep farmers like Mike and Cath Cranstone, who farm near Whanganui.
“Resting
paddocks for a few months from susceptible animals while allowing eggs to die in conjunction with cross-grazing with different stock species, reduces the larval contamination on pastures.”
because of increased leakage that showed up at a 10-day post drench check, Mike says.
“It’s a concern, but the worst thing we want to be doing is multiplying resistant worms on our farm by using drenches that aren't working.”
Seeking refugia
Mike believes the development of resistance on his farm has been caused not only by over-reliance on drenches but also by the lack of ‘refugia’ (worms that haven’t been exposed to drenches) being introduced to his flats.
“You need a mixed population of worms on your pasture, not just worms
that have had the selection pressure of having survived a drench,” Mike explains.
“We often had very clean pastures where we had wintered our yearling bulls. We would then put drenched, inlamb hoggets onto these pastures, and they would lay down a whole lot of new worms that were drench survivors.”
One of the Cranstones’ three farms has a better drench status than the other two, and Mike says they actively try to move the worms from there to their other pastures.
“We haven't run lambs or that many light stock on the harder part of that property, so it hasn't had the same drench pressure on that ground.
“That's our best source of refugia, so we look at every opportunity where we can bring animals that are wormy off that country, undrenched, onto our lamb finishing blocks.”
This means they need to select the proverbial ‘sacrificial lamb’, or in their case, unmated dry hoggets, to go undrenched.
“In the spring we’ll often have them out on that country for two to three months then bring those hoggets back to the flats carrying some of those good worms.”
Mike notes the importance of finding classes of stock they can leave undrenched without an immediate impact on the productivity of those animals.
“We can afford those dry hoggets to get a bit wormy. It also gives us an opportunity to apply some selection pressure to them and cull the least resilient sheep.
“I suppose that's something that we've got to accept when managing drench resistance and lowering our reliance on drenches: we are taking some risks that we are going to have some impact on productivity, but some short-term impact managed well is much better than having a massive impact long-term.”
Healthy flock
Mike says the key to tackling drench resistance in a sheep-dominant system is the ewe flock.
“A well-conditioned and well-fed ewe flock not only weans bigger lambs that require less total drench in their lives, but is also able to ‘vacuum’ worm larvae off pasture while providing some refugia back into the system.”
Mature cattle are generally always grazing with sheep and have an important role of cleaning up the sheep worm larvae. We also try to regularly change and mix up the areas that hoggets and weaner cattle graze.
Part of their strategy is to use fodder crops to grow their lambs faster and reduce the concentration of worm larvae that the lambs are eating.
“The preferred crops are Raphno, Chicory and clover, with about 40ha of each, sown each spring. We also
grow 80ha of maize grain, which gives areas of the farm a complete break from lambs.”
Elena Duter, Head of Agronomy at Farmlands, first met Mike over 23 years ago when he visited her home country Uruguay on a farming research trip, at a time when drench resistance wasn’t even on the radar for farmers.
She says incorporating crops into rotations is a successful tool for reducing the development of drench resistance, while adding nutritional value and quality to the farm system.
“From an animal perspective, nutritional status will have more impact if we want to reduce susceptibility to infective larvae. Good-conditioned, healthy and nonstressed un-drenched animals will help slow down the development of drench resistance on farm.”
The speed at which parasites grow and procreate is a “vertiginous” cycle that we need to be able to disrupt, Elena says. “Eggs pass out into the dung, moving into the soil and then to the herbage to be eaten by grazing animals, to later develop inside the gut, having adults producing eggs in a term of 21 days.”
Strategic grazing, pasture management, and the pasture environment supporting healthy
livestock and reducing parasite load (in conjunction with refugia) are the tools in our toolbox moving forward, she says.
Elena recommends carefully planning pasture grazing levels. Leaving higher residual pasture covers helps reduce the ingestion of worm larvae as they are concentrated in the base of the pastures.
“Also think about what worms we have left behind when we shift stock out of a paddock. Is there a large contamination that we need to clean up at the next graze with older stock or other species?
“The other consideration is whether we have enough refugia to dilute the drench-surviving worms.”
Strategic ‘sacrifice’
Another alternative is considering the “sacrifice” of some paddocks for silage or hay making, instead of grazing, Elena says.
“However, if it’s planned, I would not call it sacrifice but a strategic use of the paddock. Young stock with little or no immunity to worms should be a priority for reduced exposure to infective larvae. Even on a regular drenching programme, the ingestion of worm larvae has a significant negative impact on lamb growth rates.
These actions can have a very positive impact with little input in the system, however, they need time and planning.”
Buying in worms
The combination of these approaches enables the Cranstones to stretch lamb drench intervals beyond the traditional 28 days. This slows the build-up of drench-surviving worms on their pastures without causing a massive parasite challenge.
However, he believes some types of farms may find it more difficult to source refugia, which could be good news for farmers with stock that have the right worms.
“I think the straight lamb finishing operations without a breeding component are at high risk of drench resistance, and they have a challenge of where they source refugia from, so they are often having to buy in the good worms.
“It won’t be long until we see store lambs being sold and their drench resistance status having a significant impact on their value, although we may not get official certification because of the difficulty in establishing standardised protocols.
“They’ll be buying the good worms and they've got to buy a sheep at the same time to carry them.”
Mike predicts sheep with “good worms” will be in high demand from farmers battling drench resistance.
of easily digestible carbohydrates such as starch found in grains, and sugars found in rich pastures.
The health of a horse’s digestive tract is paramount to the way they feel and ultimately the way they perform, grow and breed, writes Equine Nutritionist Luisa Wood.
Information around the equine digestive tract and how to keep it healthy is readily available in the horse community and ‘biome’, ‘hindgut balance’ and ‘microbiota’ have become popular buzz words and phrases. Often these words are used by feed and supplement companies to promote products and describe gastrointestinal health. Understanding these phrases and how the digestive tract functions is essential to managing it correctly and ensuring optimum overall health. The horse’s biome, or microbiota, refers to the bacteria, fungi and protozoa that reside in the equine caecum and large intestine, also called the hindgut. The primary role of these microbes is fermentation of fibre, and they convert carbohydrate-based contents, especially plant-based fibre, into volatile fatty acids (VFA) which provide energy to the horse.
Although the importance of the biome is widely appreciated, experts suggest that our knowledge of how this complex ecosystem develops in foals remains unclear. Optimum biome development in foals is crucial and the microbial balance in a new-born foal is thought to help develop its immune system, establish the structure of the intestine lining, and assist in the foal’s ability to harvest energy from food. The microbial population that resides in the hindgut plays a vital role in health and disease; it is highly susceptible to imbalances caused by feed and management. For example, disruptions in the microbiota can lead to mild symptoms such as loose manure and behavioural changes, and if left untreated, can cause more serious implications such as colic and laminitis. The main cause of imbalances is through consumption
Equishure is a dietary supplement designed for horses suspected of suffering from hindgut acidosis.
If soluble carbohydrates, such as those found in large supply in grain meals, find their way into the hindgut some lactate might be produced. An overproduction of lactate can shift the pH of the hindgut to a more acidic state. When a drop in pH occurs, called hindgut acidosis, some of the beneficial fibre-digesting microbes die off which decreases digestive efficiency as a result. This can be avoided through limiting grain meals to less than 2.5kg for an average 500kg horse, and feeding grains processed through using heat and pressure to enhance foregut digestion.
Overconsumption of fructans, the storage sugars that accumulate in cool-season grasses, can also wreak havoc on the hindgut biome. Because fructans are resistant to digestion in the small intestine, they pass on to the hindgut, where they are fermented. Fermentation of fructans also changes the pH of the hindgut which, in turn, destroys beneficial bacteria and disrupts hindgut balance. Adopting a predominantly forage diet, avoiding rich pastures in susceptible horses and keeping grain meals small all helps to ensure correct microbial balance and a healthy biome.
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Photo: Richard Brimer
SPRING CHECKLIST
Kiwifruit, wine and apples are New Zealand’s biggest horticulture exports, with their own unique challenges. Farmlands Technical Manager - Horticulture, Andy Davis, looks at what growers of each of the ‘Big Three’ should focus on heading into spring.
Apples
It's essential to begin preparations for the upcoming growing season in spring. A key focus should be the timely application of dormancybreaking agents such as Escape, Waiken or Cyan. Work closely with your Technical Advisor to identify the optimal application window whilst considering the current winter chill conditions. Timing is critical; be ready to act when a favourable weather window arises. Ensure all winter prunings are cleared from the designated blocks ahead of time to avoid any last-minute delays.
For best results, dormancy breakers should be applied during periods of higher ambient temperatures, ideally between 12° and 24°C, with ample sunlight both before and after application. These conditions enhance the efficacy of the treatment and help promote uniform budbreak.
As the days warm and budbreak approaches, it's important to prepare for spring weed control.
For optimal results, ensure all spray equipment is properly calibrated, and the right product is chosen for the job.
If you're considering a residual herbicide like Chateau, remember it must be applied to predominantly bare soil. If more than 20% of the herbicide strip is already covered with weeds, Chateau’s effectiveness can be significantly reduced. In such cases, a knockdown herbicide such as Buster may be required prior to application.
A well-executed Chateau application can maintain a clean spray strip for as long as three to four months, depending on the application rate.
If the herbicide strip contains a significant number of established weeds, a glyphosatebased option such as Weedmaster TS470, along with a suitable adjuvant may be required to ensure effective weed control.
Spring is also the time to kick off your pest and disease management programme with
dormant oil applications. These early sprays are your first line of defence against overwintering pests like European Red Mite and their eggs.
Dormant oils work by suffocating these pests, but coverage is key. That means applying oil at a high enough water rate to ensure runoff and full saturation of branches, buds, and trunk. A thorough application will get into the nooks and crannies where pests hide.
The closer to greentip you can safely spray, the better the results. Modern formulations of spray oil allow for applications to push into greentip. However, if you're dealing with russetsensitive varieties, it's best to apply while the trees are at bud swell to avoid fruit finish issues.
Consider using Excel Plus spraying oil, which contains added surfactants to reduce surface tension and improve coverage. For an even
stronger start, tank mix with Mortar insecticide, as this combination will significantly improve control of scale and mealybugs.
If your orchard has had a history of European Canker, Fireblight or black spot, it is important to include Nordox copper in your mix.
As soon as green tissue emerges, our attention shifts to disease management, specifically, black spot and powdery mildew.
To maintain a robust black spot control programme, begin applications as soon as green tissue is visible. Effective management hinges on proactive, forward-cover strategies, especially during periods of rapid spring growth. Don't let the crop or the weather get ahead of your spray intervals.
Mildew was an issue last season in many blocks, and the first key timing for control is tight cluster. This is an incredibly important application.
As soon as green tissue emerges, our attention shifts to disease management, specifically, black spot and powdery mildew.
Powdery mildew overwinters in fruit and leaf buds. As these buds open and develop, they are the first source of active sporulation and infection for the current season’s new growth. It is recommended to apply an application of Neptune at tight cluster to establish a solid foundation for your season-long mildew control programme.
Kiwifruit
As spring breathes life into orchards, it's the perfect time for kiwifruit growers to focus on setting the stage for a productive and healthy crop.
From bird control to frost protection, it’s important to work through your spring checklist to ensure your vines get the best possible start to the growing season.
Spring also means early season disease control needs to be put in place for Psa. Best practice is to have a high rate of a suitable copper cover in place as buds break. This application is the key to getting a preventative Psa programme underway.
Young spring leaves are highly vulnerable, and early infection can impact valuable flower buds. The use of bactericides and copper products are important tools in the early spring but ensure they are used correctly and at the most suitable timings for disease control.
Use the Zespri Psa risk model to guide spray timing and talk to your Farmlands Horticulture Technical Advisor. One of the unpleasant aspects of spring is that it also means frost season. Frosts can cause devastating damage to young shoots and flower buds.
It is important to employ a combination of active and passive frost protection strategies. Wind machines, overhead sprinklers, and heaters are common active measures. However, you should also enhance vine resilience to frost and other abiotic stressors using a suitable bio-stimulant such as Fylloton. The combination of amino acids in Fylloton helps to accelerate plant recovery from abiotic stress. Amino acids are an important addition at crucial growth stages as they help to drive plant growth, resilience and strength.
Coming out of winter, bird control can be an issue that is often not noticed until it’s too late. Birds hungry from a long winter will eat and peck at emerging buds. It is important to monitor and apply Flock-Off at the first signs of damage.
An application of Flock-Off acts as a repellent causing irritation to a bird’s sense of taste and smell. Flock-Off is non-toxic and a proven bird repellent.
As buds develop, early thinning is key to managing vine balance and encouraging the development of uniform, high-quality fruit. Hand bud thinning helps control crop load, removes defective buds, and improves airflow, reducing the risk of disease.
Space fruiting shoots evenly and remove weak or poorly positioned buds to support stronger cane growth and better light penetration.
Spring is a high-demand period for nutrients. Ensure your vines receive a balanced fertiliser programme, incorporating essential micronutrients like manganese, which plays a vital role in photosynthesis and enzyme activity.
Manganese deficiencies, often exacerbated by high soil pH or cooler spring soil temperatures, can lead to pale foliage and reduced growth. Foliar applications of nutrient products such as Trace-It Mn N can help alleviate symptoms of deficiency.
Last but not least, with the potential for inclement spring weather and bee activity, artificial pollination can be an important insurance policy during flowering. Applying viable pollen can significantly boost fruit set and uniformity.
Monitor flowering closely and apply pollen during peak female flower receptivity, ideally in dry, calm conditions. Talk to your Technical Advisor for more pollination information.
Viticulture
As the vines wake from winter dormancy, early spring is a crucial period to set the foundation for a quality vintage.
Spring frosts are one of the greatest threats to early shoot growth. Check frost alarm and monitoring systems early before the season gets underway and remember to check the wind machines for birds’ nests. It’s essential to have your frost protection measures in place and in good working order well in advance of the first dip in the temperature.
Even if a frost event does not directly cause damage to vines, it can check growth. The use of a foliar
applied bio-stimulant such as Fylloton can support vine recovery.
Products containing seaweed extracts and amino acids stimulate growth and reduce plant stress. Early application after a frost event maintains shoot development, helping vines recover more quickly. Work with your Technical Advisor for further advice on the use of bio-stimulants.
Weed pressure can rapidly increase in spring, competing with vines for nutrients and water. First and foremost, it is necessary to consider a herbicide strategy that avoids the development of resistant weeds.
Where glyphosate-resistant ryegrass is a concern, it’s important to rotate herbicide modes of action and avoid over-reliance on glyphosate alone. The use of residual products such as Chateau can aid in control and provide alternative modes of action.
Early thinning shapes not only this year's crop but also sets up a solid framework for future seasons.
For problem vineyards however, it may even be necessary to integrate cultural practices like targeted mowing or cultivation. A proactive approach during early spring will help maintain effective weed control throughout the growing season and help to protect future herbicide options.
Shoot thinning, or suckering, is one of the first manual canopy tasks of the season and is critical for vine balance. The removal of excess shoots achieves an even and manageable canopy. In cane-pruned vines, it's also the time to select well-positioned suckers in the head of the vine for next year’s replacement canes.
Shoot thinning also improves air circulation, reduces disease pressure, and enhances light exposure to developing clusters. Prioritise weaker blocks first to encourage strong shoot growth. Stronger blocks can be thinned later to manage canopy vigour. Early thinning shapes not only this year’s crop but also sets up a solid framework for future seasons.
A robust early-season pest and disease management program is essential. Begin with spraying oil applications to control overwintering pests such as mealy bug. Spraying oil suffocates pests and disrupts their life cycle, reducing pest pressure later in the season.
Ensure thorough coverage, especially into the nooks of cordons, spurs and the trunk. Early oil applications using Excel Plus can also be used as a preventative powdery mildew spray during early shoot growth.
Once shoots emerge, sulphur sprays should be introduced for powdery mildew control. Sulphur is a cost-effective, proven option for
preventing early infections, which can have major impacts on fruit quality if not controlled.
Apply sulphur at rates relative to canopy size early and maintain regular intervals to cover new growth, particularly during periods of rapid shoot elongation.
Early-season foliar nutrition is vital for supporting healthy grapevine growth. Key nutrients like boron, zinc, and magnesium play critical roles during spring. Boron is essential for cell wall development and flowering, helping to ensure good fruit set. Zinc supports shoot elongation and leaf expansion, both crucial for establishing a strong canopy.
Combined foliar sprays such as NutriGemma provide both boron and zinc in an easy-to-use package.
Magnesium is a central component of chlorophyll and vital for efficient photosynthesis during rapid spring growth.
Foliar applications allow for immediate nutrient uptake, especially when soil availability is limited by cool, wet conditions. Early targeted nutrition helps set the foundation for vine health and a successful vintage.
Early spring is a time of opportunity and careful management in the vineyard. Prioritising frost protection, vine recovery, shoot thinning, and early pest and disease control will create the conditions for a great crop later in the season.
Consistent attention to detail now will help you stay ahead of potential challenges and set the tone for a productive and profitable season.
A safer tool for SPRINGTAIL CONTROL
Springtails can cause significant economic damage in forage brassicas if a control program has not been implemented during the sprayout or establishment phase of the crop. Following pastures, carry over populations can be very high. Springtails will attack the emerging brassica with symptoms initially appearing on the stems. As the infestation develops leaf damage becomes more evident.
Springtail damage can develop rapidly in forage brassicas and in some unfortunate cases the decline from having a great crop to a replant scenario can be just a few days. Crops should be walked regularly during establishment to ensure issues are identified as soon as possible. Springtails are difficult to detect against the soil or plant surface, so to test if they are present in a crop, a piece of white paper can be used to identify them. Place the paper on the soil surface and vigorously tap either side of it a few times. If present, springtails will jump onto the paper.
For generations the go-to chemical control options for springtails have been organophosphates or synthetic pyrethroids, which provide excellent control, but are damaging to beneficial
insect populations and also have poor environmental and toxicological profiles. Sparta® from Corteva Agriscience delivers the same level of control as the old market standards but provides a higher level of safety for the user and environment, with the added benefit of being IPM friendly. Naturally derived Sparta works by contact and ingestion and has translaminar activity, ensuring good control of insects feeding on the underside of leaves. 20 mL/ha (2.4 grams of the active ingredient spinetoram) is all that is required for springtail control. Applications can take place at either spray-out in combination with glyphosate and other herbicides, or early postemergence before springtails can cause damage to cotyledons or early stage forage brassica.
Sparta Insecticide
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your Farmlands TFO or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
• Exceptional control of springtails and other key forage brassica pests
• Safer to end users and the environment
• IPM friendly
• Low use rate (20 mL/ha)
• Novel mode of action with no record of resistance.
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MT BENGER GETS BIGGER
Purchasing 3,368 acres on the banks of the Hurunui in 1924, was the start of the Fraser family farming legacy, which has just continued to grow.
After immigrating to New Zealand from Scotland, James Watt Fraser managed Terako Station in Waiau before serving in WW1 with the Mounted Rifle Brigade in Egypt and the 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment.
After the war he returned to New Zealand, married Ella and purchased
Mt Benger farming halfbred ewes and cattle for 40 years.
They raised three children, with their two sons Duncan “Ross” and Neil taking over the farm in the 1960s.
The farm was intensified with subdivision fencing, land development, aerial fertiliser and irrigation during the 1970s. Ross and Elizabeth “Anne” Fraser (nee Mcfarlane) took over sole ownership and farmed for 30 years raising five children.
Their two sons Duncan and Alexander and their wives purchased Mt Benger in the late 80s with further development completed. In 1994 an equity partnership was formed with Duncan and English investor, John Sheldon.
Duncan and Jane (nee Spark) made changes to sheep breeds going from Corriedales to a composite breed and intensifying the irrigation system
CENTENNIAL FARM
NEW ZEALAND FRASER MT BENGER, CANTERBURY 1924
to finish stock, while also raising their five children. A neighbouring 2,000 acre farm (Glenburn) was purchased in 1998 and farmed in conjunction with the original block.
In 2017 Stuart along with his wife, Joanna (nee McConway) returned to the farm to continue custodianship and raise their three children, the fifth generation of Frasers on the land.
Mt Benger is now 6,100 acres of owned land running composite ewes and beef cattle as a breeding finishing farm. Mt Benger Ltd has grown and diversified through equity partnerships in both dairy and cropping farms.
The New Zealand Century Farm and Station Awards aims to capture and preserve the history of our country’s farming families. We share stories from Farmlands shareholders who have worked their land for 100 years or more.
James Watt Fraser, WWI, 1915.
Mt Benger homestead, 1920s.
Mt Benger main yards and woolshed, 2024.
What inspired you to write The Good Life?
We have always naturally leaned into sharing our knowledge, skills and failings with our neighbours, friends and community. Growing our own food, trying (and failing) new skills and methods is part of what fills our cup here on our lifestyle block. What we have been doing on our farm comes from years of seasonal work, living on farms and remotely - having our own space now to do what we want has meant we have the ability to put it all into action. What I hope people can take away from the book is that you don't need to own your own land to live the good life!
Where did you learn your cooking and food preserving skills?
Lots of opportunities over the years: from my mum pickling beetroot, to my partner bottling tomatoes, to having to learn how to butcher a turkey in the outback if we wanted dinner. I’m not sure if it’s my Scottish frugal genes, or the cost of living, but
Good life, great food
Gillian Swinton and her husband Hamish live on a lifestyle block in Central Otago. Her book The Good Life includes more than 25 recipes for pickling, preserving and delicious meals to help you get the most out of your kitchen, garden and paddock.
whenever something is affordable or in abundance, I look into different methods of squirrelling it away for the seasons ahead.
What is your top tip for becoming more self-sufficient?
Community is really key, finding people in your area doing similar things is great as you can share equipment, knowledge, produce and skills. Through them we have learned so much, and life (and food) is so much more fun when shared so we try to do that as much as we can. The main thing is to have fun, don't grow what you don't eat and work with Mother Nature and the seasons. Winter is coming for us, so we are starting to slow down and tuck the garden away for winter. Being able to rest in winter is important!
How hard is homesteading on a smaller farm?
Often a lifestyle block can be referred to as a life sentence block: you don't have the infrastructure, equipment or income as you would on a larger productive farm. Some days it can feel like a money pit, with endless equipment breaking, but the good days outweigh the bad. We have tried to include other income streams like selling our excess produce, honey and eggs at our roadside stall and workshops. This money heads straight back into the farm for feed, seeds and repairs which definitely helps! I think homesteading is as hard as you want it to be, our key principles are based on growing our own food, bettering the soil and working with community. We try not to put much pressure on ourselves, and try and have fun with it!
Win a signed copy of The Good Life
We have two copies of The Good Life to give away. To go into the draw, please email your name and shareholder number with the subject line “The Good Life” to farmlander@farmlands.co.nz . Entries close August 31, 2025.
RECIPE
Perfect roast chicken
Time: See cooking timetable
It’s a bold move to call a recipe ‘Perfect Roast Chicken’, but sometimes you gotta own it! When I was working on the stations, I realised how easy life can be when you dial in some basic meals that are also tasty and impressive. Seeing as we’re in New Zealand and not the Australian outback, I’ve swapped out the perfect turkey for the perfect chook. A roast chook is now my go-to if I need to feed guests, or if I’ve run out of ideas for dinner. It’s simple, easy and always a crowd-pleaser.
Firstly, you need to work out the size of your bird. You know the sizes on the front of store-bought chickens (15, 16, 17, etc.)? Well, that translates to their weight: 1.5kg, 1.6kg, 1.7kg and so on. Knowing this number helps calculate your cooking time and stops the meat from drying out. Don’t throw away your bones after eating, I have a recipe for them too — remember, this is a self-sufficient kitchen!
INGREDIENTS
Chicken
Butter
Lemon
Fresh herbs (my favourites are sage, rosemary and parsley)
Whole head of garlic
Salt and pepper
METHOD
• Pat the skin dry and place the chook breast side up in a roasting dish. Carefully make an incision at the top of the breast between the skin and the meat. Push some butter into this gap so there is some underneath
the skin of the chicken. Manipulate the butter from on top of the skin to distribute it as best you can.
• Carefully prick holes in a lemon using a sharp knife and pop this in the cavity of the bird. Stuff a good handful of herbs in the cavity, too. If you don’t have fresh herbs at hand, you can season the skin with dried herbs, but make sure the cavity has a lemon in it.
• Halve the head of garlic by cutting it horizontally. Place this in the dish with the bird.
• Season well with salt and pepper.
To work out your cooking time: a stuffed chicken requires 50 minutes per kilogram (2 lb 4 oz) at 180°C (350°F) if the oven is on fan-bake. If you don’t have the fan-bake option on your oven, increase the time to 60 minutes per kilogram.
1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) chicken = fan-bake 75 minutes
1.6 kg (3 lb 8 oz) chicken = fan-bake 80 minutes
1.7 kg (3 lb 12 oz) chicken = fan-bake 85 minutes
1.8 kg (4 lb) chicken = fan-bake 90 minutes
To ensure your chicken is fully cooked, pop a skewer in and check that the juices run clear. Remove the lemon from the cavity and squeeze it over the skin. Grab the garlic and squeeze the cloves out on to the skin too. Eat the skin first, as the crunchy deliciousness is best enjoyed hot!
RECIPE
Homesteaders’ ice cream
Time: 20 minutes plus several hours for chilling
For this recipe you’ll need an ice cream maker — it’s truly worth getting one, either second-hand online or from a low-cost department store. In the spirit of bartering, in the past I have swapped my waffle maker for my neighbour’s ice cream machine to make a few batches — and I return it with a pottle of ice cream as a thank you.
Ice crea m is a great thing to make in batches, and it stores well. I often take a batch to gatherings or pot-luck meals, and I always seem to bring home an empty container.
This recipe starts by making a custard, so you could leave it as custard instead if you prefer. This custard base can be adapted for any ice cream flavour you wish. These particular proportions of milk and cream to egg yolk will give you a decadent ice cream. For something a little lighter, use more milk and less cream, as long as the dairy adds up to 3 cups. You can also cut down on egg yolks for a thinner base, but don’t use less than three. If you don’t have honey, you can substitute plain sugar.
TIP
If you want to scoop the cream off the top of your non homogenised milk, allow the milk to stand in the fridge for 12 hours. The cream will rise and settle on the top.
This recipe makes 700 ml (24 fl oz) of ice cream. If you want to double the recipe, check the capacity of your ice cream machine before pouring the mixture in to avoid disaster (I speak from experience!)
INGREDIENTS
500 ml (2 cups) cream
250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
125 ml (½ cup) honey (or 130 g / cup sugar)
teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large egg yolks
EQUIPMENT
Pot
Whisk
Ice cream maker
Bowl
Food thermometer
Freezer-friendly containers (I use old ice cream tubs)
METHOD
• In a pot simmer the cream, milk, honey and salt until the mixture combines, about 5 minutes on a gentle heat. Remove your pot from the heat.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly add a third of the hot cream mixture into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot containing the remainder of the cream. Add flavour if using. Return the pot to a low heat and gently cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 75°C (175°F) on your thermometer).
• Cool the mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Place the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer to chill. Chilling the bowl first helps the process later.
• Pour the custard into the frozen bowl (be careful not to overfill) and place in the machine. Leave the mixture to churn in the machine and check on it after 20 minutes. The longer the churn, the more frozen it will become.
TO SERVE
Serve directly from the machine for soft-serve-style ice cream, or store in the freezer until needed.
Images and text from The Good Life by Gillian Swinton, photography by Francine Boer Photography and Gillian Swinton. Published by Allen & Unwin NZ, RRP $45.00.
LENDING A HELPING HAND HOW MITRE 10 BACKS RURAL NEW ZEALAND
For more than half a century, Mitre 10 has been rolling up its sleeves and getting stuck in to support communities across Aotearoa. From sausage sizzles to school playgrounds, Mitre 10 is proving that when it comes to rural New Zealand, it really is ‘With you all the way’.
WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
Last year alone, Mitre 10 poured $3.3 million into communities across the motu - an investment that’s making a real difference in the lives of rural Kiwi.
Much like Farmlands, Mitre 10 is a co-operative and that brings heart to the business. With 85 stores nationwide - many of them family-owned for generations - it’s deeply rooted in the communities it serves. Whether you’re on the fringes of a big city or in a onepub town, chances are there’s a Mitre 10 nearby acting as a local hub.
Liz Devlin, Mitre 10 New Zealand’s Direct Marketing and Partnerships Manager, says the stores are more than just a place to pick up supplies.
“Our stores are where people bump into neighbours, catch up with mates, and chat with staff they’ve known for years. For many Farmlands shareholders, it’s not just a store - it’s part of the community fabric.”
As a long-standing Farmlands Card Partner, Mitre 10 offers shareholders exclusive deals and discounts, and the relationship runs deeper than dollars and cents.
“We’re out there in our communities, not just with our stores but through hands-on support for local groups and projects,” says Liz.
From left: Former St Canice’s School Board member Sean Casey, Mitre 10 Westport owner Troy Scanlon and Mitre 10 DIY ambassador Stan Scott at the St Canice’s School playground upgrade.
“Last year, nearly 2,000 community groups used our fundraising barbecues. And many of our stores go above and beyond, pitching in on local projects off their own bat.”
Doing the mahi, not just writing the cheque
Samantha Brown, Mitre 10’s Brand and Partnerships Manager, says their approach to community support is anything but hands-off.
“It’s not just about handing over a gift card or a product for a raffle— though we do that too. It’s about real, on-the-tools mahi. Our people are out there in their gumboots, wheelbarrows and shovels in hand, making a tangible difference.”
And it’s not just about the here and now. Samantha says the projects Mitre 10 backs are chosen for their long-term impact.
“These aren’t flash-in-the-pan efforts. We look for projects that will benefit a good number of people for many years to come.”
One standout initiative is the Helping Hands programme, which delivers practical support for community building projects all over the country. A prime example is Project Playground, which helps primary schools and early childhood education centres build or upgrade playgrounds that are often the only play space in the area.
Westport leads the way
Few stores embody the Mitre 10 spirit quite like Mitre 10 Westport, owned by the Scanlon family for four generations. Over the past eight years, current owners Troy and Casey Scanlon and their team have helped upgrade or rebuild four local playgrounds.
Their first project broke ground in 2018 at Granity School, sparked by a chance conversation between a teacher and Mitre 10’s DIY ambassador Stan Scott.
“A teacher mentioned they’d love a chook run,” recalls Troy. “Next thing you know, we’re talking a full playground—and it became my job to make it happen!”
In 2019, the store team and a bunch of locals restored the garden and orchard at Westport North School after Cyclone Fehi wreaked havoc. Then in 2021, after devastating floods, the community again came together with Troy and Casey’s store to rebuild the playground at Westport Early Learning Centre.
Now we’ve helped build the new one. It’s come full circle.”
The build took just four days, thanks to a massive community effort. Troy says much of the credit belongs with local Sean Casey, a former member of the school board, who was the main driver in getting the project off the ground. The local
“There were 500 homes flooded - it was impossible to pick just one to help,” says Troy. “So we thought, let’s do something for the kids. They’d been going to creche in a rugby clubroom for six months. When they came back, they had a brand-new playground, complete with a ship Stan built that looked like the Endeavour. It was massive!”
Their latest effort? A new playground at St Canice’s School, where Troy was once a student - and where he and Casey’s son now goes. In fact, Troy’s great grandfather built the original school on the same site in the early 1900s!
“Back in the early ’90s, I helped raise money for the old playground.
Farmlands store got involved too, donating the bark for the playground, after Business Manager Jack Cockfield heard about the project. Suppliers, contractors, and the Mitre 10 support office all pitched in to help get the job done.
Jack has a personal connection to St Canice’s School. His wife Trudy has taught there for 20 years, and their two adult children attended St Canice’s when they were younger.
"It’s a great project and Trudy tells me the playground is well used by the kids. Westport is a tight-knit community and what Troy, Casey and the team at Mitre 10 Westport have done for the area is phenomenal.”
As a co-operative spread from Kaitaia to Invercargill – Mitre 10 support hundreds of community-based initiatives every year that help Kiwi love where they live, work and play. You can check out a few of the more recent Helping Hands projects at https://www.mitre10.co.nz/helpinghands
The new St Canice's School playground is a hit with local kids.
Resene is a proud
A new chapter for historic homestead
Nestled just outside Takapau in Central Hawke’s Bay, the majestic Oruawharo Homestead has stood since 1879, acclaimed for its architectural value and a surviving example of the work of Charles Tringham, a notable Wellington architect of the time.
Now, thanks to the dedication of its new owners, Rob and Erica Lauder, the historic property is undergoing a careful and considered restoration. Their work restoring and painting the exterior of this stunning property, has seen them win the Resene Colour the Country competition this spring.
The couple, who purchased the homestead during lockdown, moved south from Auckland to be closer to family, and were undeterred by the scale of the task. "We weren’t scared of a challenge," says Rob. "We knew we’d be taking on a lot, but it’s about preserving a piece of history."
The homestead, once part of a large sheep farming estate, had not seen a new coat of paint in over 23 years. Rob has taken on much of the exterior painting himself – an enormous job, given the size of the building and the preparation
involved. So far, he’s completed two of the five sides. The weatherboards, made of Totara milled on the property in the 1800s, are still remarkably sound. “Although there’s not one bit of rot in them after 145 years, the amount of work to prep them was an unexpected surprise.” Rob admits.
Resene products have been instrumental in the restoration. Raw timber is treated with Resene TimberLock, undercoated with Resene Quick Dry, and then finished with two coats of Resene Sonyx 101. The weatherboards are painted in Resene Double Sea Fog, a soft off-white, paired with crisp white window frames. “We played with a few testpots, but we’ve done enough painting to know what we like,” explains Rob. “Resene paints were an easy choice having used them for years.”
Resene Double Sea Fog
While the homestead itself isn’t used for functions, tours are run for those keen to experience the striking interior, including its matai flooring, which is unusually light in colour, suggesting an unusual treatment. Beyond the homestead sits a former church, originally built in Takapau by the original owners and now used as a function centre after being returned to the property.
Restoration is very much a family affair. Rob’s son, a builder, lives in the cottage on the grounds with his wife and contributes to the ongoing repairs and maintenance of the expansive grounds. Erica balances her work as a GP with helping around the property. “There’s always something to do whether it’s painting, gardening or managing the land. It’s a team effort,” says Rob.
Next on the list? A long-overdue kitchen renovation and more exterior painting which includes the building’s striking quoins. With the Resene ColorShop prize voucher in hand and plenty of painting still to be done, Rob and Erica are looking forward to continuing their labour of love.
top tip
Paint your steps and patio to complement your home’s colour palette with Resene Walk-on paving paint, available in a wide range of colours. For extra slip-resistance mix with Resene Anti-Slip Grip Additive or use Resene Non-Skid Deck & Path to keep family, friends and guests safe.
Enter your best rural project and win!
Resene and Farmlands are on the hunt for the country’s best rural Resene projects. Send in your photos and the stories behind your kitchen, shed, barn or bedroom – anything inside or outside that's painted, stained or wallpapered with Resene products!
The winning projects will not only win a $1,000 Resene ColorShop voucher and a $250 Farmlands Gift Card, but will also feature in an upcoming issue of Farmlander magazine.
a $1,000 Resene ColorShop voucher, and a $250 Farmlands Gift Card.
Visit www.farmlands.co.nz/resene to enter your project!
Resene Kingfisher Blue
SEA Containers NZ specialises in shipping container modifications, sales, hire, relocations and container shelters across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. With over 51 depots nationwide, SEA Containers NZ provides fast delivery of new and used containers in all sizes — ideal for farmers needing secure, cost-effective and versatile storage solutions.
Containers offer a robust way to store everything from tools and fertiliser to harvested produce and machinery. With theft on the rise, their sturdy build keeps your gear safe from both the elements and unwanted visitors.
On the farm, containers are commonly used for:
• Dry, secure storage of equipment, feed, chemicals and spare parts
• Portable workshops or mobile offices
• Temporary livestock shelters or covered workspaces using container shelters
• Relocatable solutions to support growing operations
Compared to traditional buildings, containers offer a faster, more affordable way to scale up infrastructure — with less paperwork and greater flexibility.
As a Farmlands Card Partner, SEA Containers NZ offers exclusive discounts and promotions throughout the year.
Get a 4% Farmlands shareholder rebate with your next SEA Containers order, when you use your Farmlands Card. Offer valid until 31st December 2025. For more information visit www.seacontainers.co.nz/farmlands-exclusive or phone 0508 732266
In the world of agriculture, where every second counts and performance is paramount, farmers and growers are always searching for ways to maximise efficiency and enhance productivity. Enter ELF, a brand renowned for its commitment to innovation and excellence in the realm of oils and lubricants.
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in demanding conditions across automotive and transport, industrial, forestry and agricultural sectors.
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In an industry where every decision impacts your bottom line, adopting the best products is crucial. With ELF’s exceptional range of oils and lubricants now available at Farmlands, you're equipped to elevate your farming operation to new heights. Experience the ELF advantage for yourself and discover the difference that premium lubrication can make in the efficiency and longevity of your equipment.
Visit your nearest Farmlands store today and explore the complete ELF range, because when it comes to farming, performance is everything. Make the smart choice for your machinery—and your farm's future— with ELF!
50% owned by NZ farmers and growers
Fern is 50% owned by you, the Farmlands shareholder. This means your fuel purchases strengthen Farmlands and help it to better back NZ farmers and growers.
Plus, you’re giving back to your local community with every purchase through Fern’s Fuel for Schools Programme where each litre gives back to your local community.
For every 1,000L of bulk fuel you have delivered, your nominated school receives $5!
THE LAST WORD
Building a more resilient balance sheet
With optimism returning to the rural sector, now is a great time for farmers and growers to check the financial health of their businesses, writes Rabobank’s Bruce Weir.
Following a challenging couple of years, positivity is returning to the food and agribusiness sector, off the back of improved commodity pricing and lower interest rates.
The Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey for June was at its highest level in nearly eight years, but it’s more of a ‘cautious optimism’, as farmers and growers are still nervous about making major investment decisions.
An improved farmgate milk price forecast, record beef exports and stronger-than-expected lamb pricing will all see more money flow into rural New Zealand.
The horticulture sector is also fairly optimistic, with a record kiwifruit harvest and solid apple season, although horticulture has also felt the brunt of inflation, with input costs having gone up a bit more than for their sheep and beef and dairy counterparts.
But while tariffs have dominated headlines globally, Kiwis in the rural economy are more worried about the weather, following several challenging events in the past season.
More generally, it appears there is not the same appetite for leverage that there has been during previous economic cycles, and that’s probably not a bad thing.
Rural businesses with good strategy and structure will continue to invest, but what we are seeing is if people are going to take on a bit of leverage, it's largely with quality assets now.
My number one suggestion to farmers and growers is to avoid
locking in high-cost structures that push break-even points to unsustainable levels, which is easy to do when commodity prices are strong.
Build and stick to a clear strategy, and I always talk about knowing, understanding and owning your numbers, both from a financial and environmental point of view.
You need to understand key metrics such as profitability, debt to asset ratios and how profit and loss, cashflow and the balance sheet all speak to each other, so you know where that cash is going.
Assess how the business can sustain itself through economic fluctuations, downturns and adverse weather events, and use profits wisely, especially if you are highly leveraged.
This may involve diversification or land-use changes, which we are getting more inquiries about, including from owners of dairy run-off blocks and land suitable for converting to dairy as well as horticulture.
For those with a bit of free cash for capital investment, now may also be the time to embrace technology and upgrade infrastructure, but always be clear on what problem you are trying to solve.
Alternative technologies such as solar systems, and in some cases batteries, could also be worth consideration from a financial, environmental and security of supply perspective, as well as taking pressure off the grid during dry autumns and winters when New Zealand’s hydro capacity can be under pressure.
Building agri industry capability
Rabobank is committed to supporting New Zealand’s food and agribusiness sector and is involved with a number of initiatives which aim to further develop industry capability.
These include our free financial skills workshops, which are open to everyone in the industry. We have had people from across the spectrum attend these workshops, from farm staff, farm managers and contract milkers right through to business owners, with a new module on farm succession coming soon.
These workshops are an initiative of our Client Councils and the costs for these are covered by the Rabo Community Fund – a new fund set up in 2021 to help grow and strengthen rural communities.
Over the past four years, the Rabo Community Fund has contributed over $3 million to more than 100 rural community projects across New Zealand, with our Client Councils deciding where to invest. Our Councils give us valuable feedback, and act as a conscience for our business.
Bruce Weir is General Manager of Country Banking at Rabobank New Zealand and a Farmlands shareholder. For more information on how Rabobank can help your business grow, visit the Rabobank website www.rabobank.co.nz
