NEWS
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Ahuwhenua finalists show how it’s done. PAGE 29
Merge Maxx added to the mix.
PAGE 35
Opportunities in forestry open up to farmers PAGE 12
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS MAY 7, 2019: ISSUE 675
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Bovis surge anger NIGEL MALTHUS
FARMERS IN the district most affected by Mycoplasma bovis are up in arms at the Ministry for Primary Industry’s news that it will boost its efforts to eradicate the disease. This is expected to bring hundreds more farms under controls over the next few weeks. MPI said just before Easter that it would increase its activity in the leadup to autumn and winter stock move-
ments to limit the risk of disease spread and “to give farmers as much certainty as possible heading into this busy period in the farming calendar”. Mid-Canterbury farmers say it’s already too late. MPI’s programme director Geoff Gwyn says the ‘surge’ results from increased surveillance, late last year, showing a spike in the number of highrisk properties identified. He says MPI wants to get ahead of the curve before autumn and winter stock movements
get into full swing. “We will contact about 300 farmers as a priority over the next few weeks who have had high-risk animals move onto their property. We expect 250 to have notice of direction movement controls placed on them immediately and, following testing, that 10-12 % may become confirmed properties.” Gwyn says about two thirds of the properties are beef farms and the remainder dairy. Mid-Canterbury Federated Farm-
ers meat and wool chair David Acland told Rural News that farmers are already starting to move cattle around, for cattle and calf sales, heifer grazing and dairy cows going out to grazing as they dry off. “We’re coming into a really critical phase and everyone likes to dry off their dairy platforms at a certain cover,” he says. “It’s the same conversation we had last year. The middle of April is too late.”
Top performers FORMER ALL Black captain Taine Randell was one of 250 attendees at the recent field days of the finalists in this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Maori sheep and beef farm. Randell told Rural News he was impressed by the finalists and that to describe them as good Maori farms doesn’t do them justice. “They are top performing farms in New Zealand and top farms globally,” he said. Randell, who is involved with Ngati Kahungunu, pointed out that Whangara Farms, a finalist, is an aggregation of three farms. He also praised another finalist, Gwavas Station, which was bought several years ago by the Te Awahohonu Forest Trust for finishing lambs bred on its other farm Tarawera Station. Randell said the vision and excellence shown by all the finalists show how good Maori farming is today. • See more pages 29-31
TO PAGE 3
‘UP IN ARMS’ NIGEL MALTHUS
A MID Canterbury farmer who has already lost his dairy herd to Mycoplasma bovis believes MPI is repeating the mistakes it made last year. Frank Peters says the region’s farmers are “just bloody up in arms” about the surge in M. bovis notifications. Peters says MPI was told last year to make sure it had everything done before the change of season, yet here was a surge happening at the start of May. “Suddenly now they’re hot on the case again? Well, come on, you’re supposed to be on it all the way through,” he told Rural News. Peters has restocked after destroying 1220 cows last year. Although his farm is self-contained with its own winter grazing, he says the new insecurity for those who needed winter grazing, and for the graziers, was “horrendous”. Meanwhile, he is still waiting for compensation money “but that seems to be normal practice”. “That seems to be the worst part about it,” Peters added. “They say compensation is like-for-like, but we will never ever be like-for-like when they finish this.”
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