EDITORIAL
Being proactive
O
ften in life you have to be proactive – front up and tell people what you really want them to know – don’t expect them to pick up your “right” messages from the media or to understand what’s going on at your place. Tell them. It was a great thrill to accept the Best trade/professional publication award for the Dairy Exporter magazine at the Canon Media Awards recently. Not so much for me personally, as I have only been at the helm for the last 18 months – but for the team of hard working and passionate journalists, production staff and advertising reps who deliver a magazine to your letterbox each month. The Dairy Exporter magazine has been trucking along in the agri sector since 1925 – so has a huge legacy of providing information for dairy farmers which directly adds value to their farm business. That’s what we are here for, to help farmers Learn, Grow, Excel. It’s our WHY – simple as that. In my acceptance speech, I said the
win was for you dairy farmers – working hard on your farms to provide high-quality protein for New Zealand and for world markets. I said you were feeling a bit brow-beaten by mainstream media but have been investing huge amounts of money and making real progress protecting your farm environments and working towards improving water quality. The Dairy Exporter is always chock full of stories about farmers investing in best practice and making environmental gains – but we need to get those stories out to the urban population. How about a bit of guerrilla marketing – take up our offer of another half-price subscription if you already have one (P88) and take the extra issue out to your urban community. Drop it in to your local café, your dentist’s waiting room, your lawyer’s office or give it to your urban friends. And get busy on your Twitter feed and
SNEAK PREVIEW
NEXT ISSUE SPECIAL REPORT: Budgeting and benchmarking: Knowing your numbers and adding profit to your bottom line by comparing with others. MATERNITY DUTY: How to manage the cows during calving HOP TO IT: Adding hops into a dairy business WINTER GREENS: Dairy101: Tips for feeding winter crops.
Facebook pages too – tell the world what you want them to know – don’t expect them to pick it up from mainstream media, from fake news or talking to other urbanites. This year’s Dairy Industry Awards national winning sharemilkers Siobhan and Christopher O’Malley are taking that proactive approach. (p33). Siobhan says they want to be the rural voice on their urban friends’ Facebook feeds, so they have engaged on Instagram, Facebook and through a blog, sharing everyday scenes and activities from their Pukeko Pastures farming company. Our special report outlines the importance of calf-rearing – growing the next generation of productive members of your herd. (P51). We have some top rearers talking about their tips and procedures and experts unravelling the importance of colostrum intake and rumen development. In our feature farm story we showcase a group of Waikato farms owned and farmed by a charitable trust that has contributed $25 million to worthy organisations around the Waikato over the past decade. Trinity Lands is making a huge contribution to their community – that’s a story worth telling.
Jackie
NEW ZEALAND
Learn, grow, excel
NZ Dairy Exporter is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740, Toll free 0800 224 782, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz Dairy Exporter/Young Country editor Jackie Harrigan, ph 06 280 3165, M 027 359 7781 jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz Lead sub-editor: Andy Maciver, ph 06 280 3166 Reporters Hugh Stringleman ph 09 432 8594; Glenys Christian
ph 027 434 7803; Sheryl Brown ph 021 239 1633; Cheyenne Stein 06 323 1660; Anne Hardie 027 540 3635; Anne Lee 021 413 346; Karen Trebilcock 03 489 8083; Designer: Joanne Hannam Account Managers: Warren McDonald, National Advertising Manager, Ph 06 323 0143 John McMaster, Auckland/Northland, ph 09 3756 007 Janine Gray, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, ph 027 474 6094 Donna Hirst, Lower North Island, ph 06 323 0739 Nigel Ramsden, Livestock, ph 06 323 0761
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | June 2017
Shirley Howard, real estate/international, ph 06 323 0760 Debbie Brown, classifieds/employment, ph 06 323 0765 David Paterson, South Island, ph 03 382 6143 Subscriptions: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz ph 0800 2AG SUB (224 782) ISSN 2230-2697 (Print) ISSN 2230-3057 (Online)
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