Coast & Country - February 2019

February ˜°˛˝ Issue No.˜˜˜

Asparagus PAGE 6-7

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Balancing profitability and environmental standards February is here – and life is getting busy again after the festive break.

www.coastandcountrynews.co.nz

Recently I had the privilege of interviewing the five finalists in the 2019 Bay of Plenty Ballance Environment Awards.

I discovered what they’ve been working towards on their properties, and achieving in their operations, while taking steps to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner is simply inspiring.

They’ve all done a lot of hard graft to get to where they are today – but most have said becoming more sustainable simply involves making small alterations to the way they do things. As one finalists put it: “Small steps now lead to big differences down the track”. Read our coverage of the BOP Ballance Farm Environment Awards finalists on pages 40-44.

The Dairy Industry Awards are also approaching.

Regional managers of the DIAs tell me they don’t use the word ‘competition’ any more – because the awards programme is not about winning.

It’s more about what entrants can gain – both professionally and personally – by entering and being judged by a range of experts from the agricultural industry. Read more about what the awards really

offer – and when each region is being judged – on pages 16-21. Plus, details on the BOP Young Grower of the Year event is on page 45.

Biosecurity – and the importance of it to all of our primary industries – continues to be at fore with identification of a single brown marmorated stink bug in Mount Maunganui late last year. On page 3 Elaine Fisher provides an update on the surveillance programme in place.

We also speak to third-generation kiwifruit grower from Te Puke, Simon Cook, who also runs a kiwifruit contracting business and is a Kiwifruit Vine Heath grower director. He was a Nuffield for 2018 and chose ‘biosecurity’ as his focus topic. Read what he discovered about other countries’ biosecurity efforts and awareness – some of which are experiencing stink bug infestations – on pages 34-35.

And our cover features what is believed to be the world’s first custom-designed sprayer for avocados, which is operating from a Katikati contracting business. Ross Tanner and Robin Murray have worked together for three years to bring the machine to NZ and engineer it to suit the unique needs of spraying avocados – see page 46. It’s amazing what people can achieve when they work together!

Merle Foster

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 3

Stink bug infestation would be threat to all of NZ

Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor inspects a brown marmorated stink bug trap with KVH chief executive Stu Hutchings and New Zealand Avocado CEO Jen Scoular.

“They are on the frontline for keeping out Facilities handling containers of imported unwanted pests like the stink bug, which could goods are coming under increased destroy our horticultural crops, cost our economy scrutiny following the discovery of a single billions of dollars and literally be a plague on our houses if they become established in New Zealand.” brown marmorated stink bug at Mount Just before Christmas, a bug was found in a suburMaunganui late last year. ban house by a member of the public who Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor notified Biosecurity NZ. The response was says while no others have been found, the rapid and included meetings of members of male bug was located just 2km away from the Government Industry Agreement body 29 transitional facilities handling imports. and the deployment of teams setting traps Before sea and air containers arriving in and searching for any other brown marmNew Zealand can be opened, they first orated stink bugs. go to one of the 4518 handing faciliBy late-January no more had been found ties approved by Ministry for Primary but surveillance was to continue for 12 Industries. weeks after the first sighting before being “I’ve asked Biosecurity New Zealand scaled down. to take a fresh look at the facilities where The Minister of Agriculture visited Mount Those who think containers of imported goods are initially Maunganui on January 24 to thank staff at they’ve spotted a emptied and checked for biosecurity Biosecurity New Zealand, MPI, Kiwifruit brown marmorated Vine Health, Avocado New Zealand and risks,” says Damien. stink bug should “These facilities are dotted around our the private company SPS Biosecurity Ltd catch it and call ports and airports and are a key comcontracted to carry out the trapping and 0800 80 99 66 ponent of New Zealand’s biosecurity surveillance – who all had their Christmas immediately. infrastructure. holiday plans disrupted by the need to respond to the discovery of the insect.

He also thanked the member of the public who recognised the insect and called the 0800 number.

“The whole of New Zealand owes you all a vote of thanks because this bug is not just a threat to horticulture and agriculture but to all of us. The best way I can describe it is as a stinky, nasty, costly bugger which we don’t want in New Zealand.”

It is estimated that if the BMSB took hold in this country it would devastate the fruit, vegetable and wine industries, destroying more than $4 billion of exports and costing thousands of jobs.

During his visit Damien was taken to one of the locations where SPS Biosecurity had set up a BMSB trap, and shown the methods used to seek out the insect in the surrounding area.

Two pheromone-impregnated strips were attached to a tree. One will attract most members of the stink bug family, while the other was specific to the Andrew Blakie of SPS Biosecurity shakes a branch, BMSB. Below was a rectangle of plastic with an adhesive surface, to trap insects which crawl across it. while Sophie Melles and Chris Inglis of SPS and SPS Biosecurity operations manager Sophie Melles Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor check says while the traps are effective, BMSB may also be what insects have fallen out.

in the foliage of the tree or surrounding plants. “For this reason, we carry out a range of inspections at each trap site.”

This includes spreading a cloth below the tree and shaking branches to see what falls out and holding a small “beating sheet” under branches which are “beaten” with a stick and then inspecting what is caught on the sheet.

SPS biosecurity adviser Chris Inglis says shaking and beating branches are methods of collecting insects used by early entomologists.

“It looks pretty basic, but it is a proven technique and there is a formula to count the number of insects which fall on the sheet and work out

how many are in the tree.”

While extensive research is underway, KVH board chairman Dr David Tanner says there are currently no truly effective means of killing the brown marmorated stink bug.

However, should it become established here, the Environmental Protection Agency has approved the release of the Samurai Wasp, which can destroy up to 70 per cent of eggs in a stink bug egg mass.

To find out more about the bug, search ‘brown marmorated stink bug’ at www.mpi.govt.nz. If you see one, catch it and call 0800 80 99 66 Elaine Fisher immediately.

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Keeping it in the family – with an urban farm A series of events and a desire for change led to two generations of the McLeay family developing their 1700m² section in Hamilton East into a flourishing urban farm.

Empty-nesters, barrister John McLeay and his wife Sarah, a local body adviser, were considering options and eager for change. Around the same time, their 20-year-old daughter Effie, mum to two-year-old Luka, also

needed somewhere to live and some family support.

John says there wasn’t really a plan made, it was more events that made the plan for them.

“My wife was offered a good job, which meant I was the one who could look at other options.”

Effie had spent two years living at Wilderland in the Coromandel, and had experience in the concept of selfsufficiency and growing food within a small area.

“We wished we could have had more

Effie McLeay and Luka, aged 2, amongst the edible flowers. All photos: Catherine Fry. time with our children as they grew up, and Effie was interested in having a business at home and being with Luka,” says John.

‘Kiwi can do’

Twelve months ago, John left his job and joined forces with Effie growing microgreens for the Hamilton Farmer’s Market and some hand-picked local cafes.

“We did our research first, and felt we could handle the short growth period of microgreens and keep in sync with market requirements,” says John.

There was no huge injection of cash into the

venture, it has grown more organically, making use of opportunities and ingenious problem solving to develop the business. The typical ‘kiwi can do’ attitude shines through strongly here.

“Our first poly hot house was ‘rescued’ from the local community centre for $50, and was carried aloft by five people for about 1km, much to the amusement of the locals,” says John.

One of the first issues was learning that seeds don’t germinate in the cold, and delicate shoots are not at all frost hardy. “We lost a lot to frost the first winter,” says Effie. “Now Dad covers the poly houses with frost cloth and a tarp if there’s going to be a frost.” ...continued

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Self-sufficiency and learning to grow food in a small area mentally friendly packaging for their product.

“We’ve been using PLA – or polylactic acid – containers, which are made from corn starch and sugarcane,” says John. “They break down into basic plant materials once more when they are subjected to hot composting.”

Edible flowers

As environmental awareness and a desire to reduce the use of plastic spreads, John has noted that around one-third of their customers will bring their containers back.

His financial and analytical background is never far away, and he’s

turned his mind to looking for economically-viable hot composting solutions, both commercially and domestically.

While all parties are currently enjoying the three generations living and working together, long-term Effie would like her own place, and be able to earn enough money doing what she loves to support Luka.

The urban farm is continually evolving, space is utilised well, and provides a modest income. Neither John nor Effie are in a hurry to expand, but have added edible flowers to the produce grown this summer, a colourful hit with the café crowds.

Catherine Fry

Effie McLeay in the poly hot house. continued...

Heating a poly hot house is not economically viable, or particularly efficient, so John deduced that they already heated the house, so why not use the house to germinate the seeds.

Simple commercial, metal shelving units from Bunnings are strategically placed around the dining area, with neatly arranged seed trays, sown with Kings Seeds, on each shelf – a compromise for not overrunning the house, but achieving germination.

“Germination takes from four to seven days depending on the seed type, and then the trays are moved out to the poly hot houses for a further seven to 10 days, and finished off in the shadehouse,” says Effie.

Growing microgreens

Effie and John are very mindful of what goes into their soil, and do not use any chemical fertilisers or weed killers. They make a limited amount of their own compost from food and garden waste, and have a worm bin. Windrow compost is bought in for the seed raising mix, from sources using chemical-free greenwaste.

Beds are prepared for the greens, which are grown on to salad green stage. Cloche tunnels with nets not only provide some weather protection, but deter butterflies and other insects.

“There’s always something to do in the evening, even if it’s just keeping on top of the weeding,” says John. “We go out with torches and remove slugs by hand too.”

Constant supply

The farm isn’t regimented rows of tidy beds, but the seemingly random positioning is a carefully controlled business, ensuring there is a constant supply of shoots coming on at all times.

The cafes can expect their delivery to have been washed, packed and delivered ready to eat within hours of cutting.

The business is registered with council as a food seller, and John has been experimenting with environLeft: John McLeay enjoying his new lifestyle.

4

2

1

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Page 6

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Duncan and Joss Weir in their Okoroire asparagus paddock.

All photos: Catherine Fry.

Their excitement is obvious as green-fingered couple Duncan and Joss Weir settle into their new Okoroire lifestyle block.

Not only does it mark the end of a two-year search for a suitable property, but the beginning of their retirement dream.

It’s quite a lifestyle change for the city-dwellers from Tauranga, but both have always wanted go rural, and get back to working and living off the land. Duncan has previously worked in a cut flower nursery and “dabbled” in miniature roses.

And while he’ll remains in the tech services advisory role he’s held for the last 30 years, Joss has left her administrative job at a Tauranga secondary school and is taking the lead role on the home block.

“We’d been looking for two years, far and wide across the region, anything from free-range chicken enterprises to hydroponics, so we were very well researched,” says Joss.

Asparagus growing

Joss and Duncan Weir surrounded by the mature fruit trees in their orchard.

We saw it on a Friday, again on the Sunday and had a contract on it by the Tuesday. Ten days later we were unconditional,” says Duncan.

Part of the attraction was the established asparagus paddock that was already bringing in a modest income. The previous owners had everything in shape for potential buyers, and spent three weekends giving Duncan and Joss a crash course in asparagus growing, as takeover would be in the picking season.

“We moved in on a Saturday and have been picking ever since,” said Duncan when Coast & Country News visited in November. “Although we’re new to asparagus, Duncan had a very good knowledge of horticulture to start with, and has picked it up fast – and I learn from him,” says Joss.

The three-and-a-half acres, with a lovely 1940s farmhouse, ticked all글the boxes. “We’ve never moved so fast!

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Page 7

Green-fingered couple realise lifestyle dream continued...

Asparagus is a relatively easy perennial crop, with an intense harvest season from September to December each year. The Weir’s crop requires four to five hours of picking and grading seven days a week during the picking season.

“We have a fast turnover with product being sold within a couple of days of harvest,” says Duncan.

“We keep it chilled and hydrated, and the result is export quality, crisp and sweet asparagus.”

It is sold at their gate, and at Rotorua Farmer’s Market under the name Front Paddock Asparagus.

Only one acre is planted with asparagus, with another one-and-a-half acres of pasture, and the balance is domestic gardens and the house.

The domestic gardens have an extensive orchard with numerous established fruit trees, large areas of vegetable beds, wireenclosed vegetable gardens, and hundreds of metres of grapevines lining the asparagus paddock boundaries.

This season they’re already growing tomatoes, potatoes and other vegetables. It’s early days for learning what the property is capable of.

Free-range chickens

The final one-and-a-half acres is earmarked for another project. As the asparagus season ended, Joss and Duncan were planning to buy in around 75 red shaver 20-week-old hens on the point of lay.

“Because of the time of year we’ve taken over the property, there isn’t time to grow them on from one-dayold chicks, but we’ll do that in future to replenish the laying stock,” says Duncan.

“As our flock will be free-range and

some “natural chicken cultivation” for the paddock.

Looking ahead

Duncan Weir in the enclosed vegetable growing area. fed with good food, it mattered to us where the hens came from,” says Joss.

The Weir flock will be sourced from a trusted free-range breeder. A suitable hen house, which can be turned around and moved

in the paddock, was being organised.

“The hens will be free-range, and rotationally grazed. We reckon we’ll be able to rest the paddock for around eight to 10 weeks before the birds spend another week in each area,” says Duncan.

The hens’ diet of a quality commercial chook food will be augmented by homegrown veggies such as silverbeet, and Joss is looking to experiment with fermented foods.

“They’re more digestible when fermented, and much better for the gut,” says Joss.

From late-summer until mid-winter, while the asparagus is dormant, the hens will be let in to forage, offering

Looking at the bigger picture, Joss and Duncan are carefully using the land to its full potential.

They work in different practices that complement each other, as naturally as possible, and also maximise production.

A plan to grow hydroponic vegetables is also in the early investigative stage. “At some point in future we’d like to live and work on the

Specialising in Specialising in • • • • • •

property, and for it to support us financially,” says Duncan.

It’s easy to see why Joss and Duncan jumped on this property, and their contentment and enthusiasm is infectious. Maybe we should all look at slowing the pace and going back to the basics of the land?

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Catherine Fry

CENTRAL PLATEAU FOCUS

Page 8

Taupo dairy company knows how to nurture staff When staff begin working at Miraka they get a cultural induction about what the Taupo dairy company is all about and also spend time at a marae.

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Miraka integrates traditional customs and protocols across all aspects of its business including an annual powhiri to welcome new staff, whanau, suppliers and contractors; they’ve created a Miraka haka and patere (song); and support staff to improve their Te Reo

Forestry Minister Shane Jones with chief executive Richard Wyeth and the Miraka team.

Maori, according to the Ministry MPI, Miraka CEO Richard Wyeth those exceptional employers who for Primary Industries. says staff are critical, obviously, are committing to good employThey’ve also worked on employwith any business. “We’ve got 120ment practices such as training, ment practices via innovation, plus staff here, so when they first paying and treating staff well,” employee development; and a safe start they come to the marae, they said Agricultural Minister Damien and healthy work environment. get engaged.

O’Connor at the recent awards.

And it’s these actions that has “We give them a cultural inducMiraka is owned by a group of seen Miraka named best Maori tion of what Miraka is about, but Maori trusts and incorporations. agribusiness employer at the inauthen we also empower them.”

These include the Tauhara Moana gural MPI AGMARDT Primary Richard says while Miraka has Trust, Tuaropaki Trust, Waipapa 9 Industries Good Employer Awards. Trust, Hauhungaroa Partnership, enjoyed commercial success he’s “Attracting and keeping this really proud of his staff and their Wairarapa Moana Incorporation hard-working talent is a significulture, “because it’s nice and open and Huiarau Farms. cant challenge and we recognise and inclusive, I think”.

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Sort out your accounts, tax and financial position Do you need help with your accounts?

Do you feel you are paying too much tax? Do you know what you can claim or, more importantly, what you can’t? Are you overwhelmed by your accounts?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to any or all of these questions then it might be time you phoned Trish Patterson at Accountants Bay of Plenty to get your business and your life back on track.

Trish Patterson, director and chartered accountant, says most business owners want to understand the figu es which repTrish Patterson, resent their business. director and chartered “This can often extend to their personal accountant with life as well. You don’t want your tax probAccountants Bay lem to get out of hand and you need to of Plenty. know if your business is progressing.

“Accountants Bay of Plenty can help sort out your accounts, your tax obligations and your financial position, which will help show which way your business is going.”

Trish is client-focussed. She talks one-on-one with her clients and is very happy to deal with whichever computer package a client is using.

Her clients know who they will deal with and the fi ed-fee structure means clients know exactly what they will pay.

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All you have to do to get peace of mind about your financials is to pick up the phone and talk to Trish.

CENTRAL PLATEAU FOCUS

Page 9

The solution to those dairy refrigeration needs The days are getting warmer – milking cooling is critical – and if you’re finding our cowshed’s refrigeration system isn’t cutting the mustard, talk to Lawry Bidgood.

He owns and operates Taupo Refrigeration and Air conditioning Ltd – and he firmly believes ice bank milk cooling systems are the way to go.

He mainly installs Ice Force Dairy Ice Bank coolers on his clients’ farms.

Inside an Ice Force Dairy Ice Bank cooler.

“The ice bank predominantly makes ice during night-time – and during milkings it turns off,” says Lawry.

“A pump draws water from the ice bank, sending it through the milk plate-cooler, which cools milk going into the vat. Then the water goes back to the ice bank to be re-used. Simultaneously, the system produces hot water for the shed as it builds ice.”

Lawry’s team installs ice banks in the South Waikato and Central North Island. “Not all farms are the same. We engineer each a specifi system to match the farmer’s power, primary cooling and water availability in their dairy shed,” says Lawry.

Taupo Refrigeration’s “Some clients can Lawry Bidgood swears hook an existing unit by using Ice Force onto a new ice bank.

Dairy Ice Bank coolers For others, it’s just a on his clients’ farms. case of finding spac or running pipes to cater for a unit being placed elsewhere.”

Lawry says an ice bank has many advantages.

“You can build and store your energy when the shed isn’t running – this really comes to the fore with sheds with marginal power capacity.

“You achieve cool temperatures without using a glycol-type chemical. And the ‘coil in water’ design has almost no risk of a tube splitting, causing water to go into the refrigeration unit which is always a danger with plate coolers on water chillers.”

The 3300L concrete tank ice bank have a three-year coil warranty, and require a once-yearly service. “It’s fail-safe equipment,” says Lawry.

Lawry says the ice bank is also handy for farms with water restrictions. “It enables you to back off your primary water use. Power consumption will go up – but it can assist in water use compliance.”

Merle Foster

Clients can hook an existing unit onto a new ice bank.

Page 10

CENTRAL PLATEAU FOCUS

A cutting machine like no other in Taupo If you’re needing stainless steel, aluminium, steel, plastic, glass, timber – even carpet – cut, Mobile Welder in Taupo can now help.

Owners Mike and Marion Thompson have just purchased and set up a new precision abrasive waterjet cutting machine – called a Maxiem 1530 – which can cut just about anything. “You name it, it will cut it,” says Mike.

The machine arrived just before Christmas, and now Mike’s given it a

test-run with a few different materials, he’s ready to tackle your projects.

The Maxiem 1530 waterjet cutting machine is designed for a wide range of materials and thicknesses, from metals and composites to glass and plastics. A DXF file or pictu e is required and the machine’s all-in-one controller computer transforms your file or pictu e into a cutting programme before the waterjet cutter takes over.

“Basically, if you want anything cut into shapes for all kinds of project, this machine can do it. It’s mindboggling what can be cut,” says Mike.

He’s excited to add the machine to Mobile Welder’s services. “It’s the first of its kind in the Taupo area and will be a very useful addition to our existing business.”

Mobile Welder specialises in structural steel fabrication for residential houses, office blocks, apa tment buildings, school buildings and commercial buildings.

Services include construction and general fabrication of balustrades, stairs, handrails, trailers, tools, sliding and swinging gates, security fences, fertiliser storage sliding lids, stock feeders, plus lots more.

They repair trailers, fi eplaces, gates, fences – and travel for onsite repairs, maintenance, machinery breakdowns and general repairs for contractors and farmers.

Now Mike says the waterjet will offer a new range of services – to new and existing clients – at Mobile Welder’s fully-equipped base workshop at 8 Manuka Street in the Tauhara Industrial Park, Taupo.

The new precision abrasive waterjet cutting machine at Mobile Welder offers Taupo a new range of cutting services.

A magnificent sight from every angle A new exhibition at Taupo Museum is showcasing the beauty of the wonderful Tongariro National Park.

The unique exhibition’s concept came about following remarks made to one of the artists, Sue Graham, that she must have painted the mountains from every angle. From this came the idea of positioning the artworks in the middle of the room and for visitors to walk around to get the full effect.

Five additional artists will have works complimenting the theme of the Tongariro National Park, displaying their own series of artworks around gallery walls, including photography, sculpture, drawings and paintings of NZ native flora and fauna of the a ea.

Sue Graham’s paintings depict our iconic volcanic mountains: a magnificent sight f om every angle. The paintings express her impressions of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe from every aspect, featuring a

variety of sizes, both acrylic and watercolour mediums, in realistic and interpretive genres.

Robbie Graham is exhibiting his photography of the Central Plateau, plus sculptures in metal and wood, inspired by the area’s volcanic mountains.

Carole Cornes’ precision botanical studies illustrate the native fauna and flora that inhabit the bush of the central mountain area.

Doug Anderson’s kinetic outdoor sculptures use concrete, stone, steel and wood – often from reclaimed and recycled sources. Di Michels presents Nga tamariki a Tane – ‘The children of Tane’ – a visual celebration of native fauna of Tongariro National Park and surrounds. And Mari Moore showcases her quirky acrylic paintings and illustrations based on sayings about the mountains. The exhibition runs to February 25 at the Taupo Museum.

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

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FEED MANAGEMENT

Page 12

Summer feed strategies Summer is a time many dairy farmers maximise profitable milksolid production for the remainder of the current season while also protecting next season’s production and reproduction.

DairyNZ offers tips on what factors and practices to consider in a summer feed strategy. First, think about pasture management The primary differences between summer and spring pastures are, in summer-dry regions, leaf emergence rate and pasture growth rates are slower due to reduced moisture.

This will slow down the round, or increase the number of days in the rotation to capture the threeleaf stage, helping maximise growth during summer and increasing feed available in autumn months.

Take into account pasture allowance. In summerdry non-irrigated regions, high air temperatures and moisture stress can cause a build-up of dead material (stem and stalk) in the pasture base.

Avoid over-grazing. Over-grazing pastures in summer depletes a plant’s energy stores primarily contained in the bottom 4cm of the plant.

But also avoid under-grazing – because it’s

important that post-grazing residuals are no greater than 4.5cm during summer. If higher residuals remain in summer, pasture quality will decline further and dead material in the pasture base will rot when it rains.

Look after your irrigated pasture. If you are irrigating, regularly monitor soil moisture levels and consider signing up to NIWA FarmMet – a subscription weather forecast and information service.

Nutrition

Summer nutrition is also key. During mid-lactation, energy is generally the limiting nutrient in a pasturebased system. Feeding an energy supplement in summer can be profitable – if it has been sourced and fed at a reasonable cost – and if pasture is not wasted, this will keep more cows milking for longer lactations.

Keep an eye on dry matter. Dry matter content increases in summer pasture, even under irrigation.

This means more dry matter is available for the cows to eat compared to pasture at the same height in spring. For most farms, protein will not be limiting production as crude protein content in pastures is rarely less than 16 per cent. The requirement for a mid-lactation cow is 16 per cent protein.

Mineral supplementation in summer depends on the diet being fed and cow requirements. Compared with cow requirements, maize silage is low in Mg, Ca, P, and Na. These strategies below will also help manage feed supply and look after the herd.

Be mindful of heat stress. Although heat stress effects are more severe in hot climates, dairy cows in some areas of NZ are affected by heat during summer. For symptoms of heat stress and to use the Temperature Humidity Index calculator, see: www. dairynz.co.nz/animal/cow-health/heat-stress/ When hot conditions are forecast some short-term solutions to reduce heat stress for cows and minimise milk production losses are:

Supplements

Use supplements wisely if conditions get dry; feeding supplements keeps animals in production longer than would otherwise be possible in a dry summer. Switch to once-a-day milking. Although this has little affect on feed requirements, moving to OAD or three times in two days can take pressure off cows and staff as well as give managers more time to plan and manage.

Dispose of known culls. Do this earlier rather than later. Cull on pregnancy diagnosis, production worth, and Somatic Cell Count. The objective is to carry as many cows as practicable beyond autumn without jeopardising next season. (Source: www.dairynz.co.nz/feed/ seasonal-management/summer-management/).

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FEED MANAGEMENT

Page 13

Best practice advice for effective silage storage Silage stack management is essential for good results with maize and grass silage, according to Envirocon Ltd, which offers Interbloc bunkers designed specifically for the modern farming environment.

“A poor pit or bunker not only increases wastage but also the workload involved with feeding out,” says Envirocon Ltd general manager Jack Bright. “The objective is to do it right, first time. “Envirocon has been providing silage storage solutions for more than 14 years now.”

Envirocon’s Interblocs are one tonne, interlocking mass concrete blocks that deliver a unique combination of durability, flexibility, and cost effectiveness. “And the Envirocon team can manage the end-to-end process without extra time burden on the farmer,” says Jack.

“You can also design systems to meet exacting standards and our blocks carry a comprehensive guarantee.”

Jack says a properly-specified and constructed concrete bin allows for greater compaction, so with maize silage farmers can achieve an average density of 225kgDM/m3 compared to

200kgDM/m3 when stacked in a bun.

But there’s a few things to decide on when constructing a new bunker. “Consider where the maize will be fed out – in the paddock, on the feed pad etc.

“Decide the best location for the stack. Is it a practical site for large truck-and trailer-units to get to if ground conditions are soft at harvest?

“Harvesting maize at the right time reduces leeching to almost nil, but allowance still needs to be made for getting drain water away from the site.”

When choosing a bin size, Jack says daily stack removal will be determined by feed requirements. “Ideally, removing at least 20cm into the

micron thick.”

Choose a white/black cover with good reflective properties for enhanced protection. Manage temperature – anything above 30 degrees Celsius will see a crop’s food value start to drop off significantly.

“Ensure the covers are weighted properly – you still can’t go past old cars tyres for this job. And lay bait for pests,” says Jack.

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New velvetleaf infestations prompt more crop checks Those with maize crops in the ground are being asked to scout them for velvetleaf, with new infestations of the pest plant being found in the Waikato this year, according to Maize Action’s January 13 edition.

Velvetleaf is one of the world’s most invasive pest plants, damaging arable crops by competing with them for nutrients, space and water. It is an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act. It is thought to have previously spread to the Waikato via unclean machinery, infested maize crops, maize silage and maize grain.

The plant is an erect, broad-leaved weed with large, heart-shaped velvety leaves. It can grow 1m-2.5m in height, and has large buttery-yellow flowers that appear in spring to autumn.

As velvetleaf is a new weed incursion, its impacts on pasture, crops and livestock in New Zealand are cur-

pit each day and aiming at removing the whole face every 24 hours minimises secondary fermentation.

Maximum height is usually determined by factors such as reach of the frontend loader.”

Other considerations include getting your plastic roll size correct. “This will minimise the chance of water ingress through a leaking join.”

And remember oxygen is the number one enemy of maize silage. “Eliminate as much oxygen as possible by using a good quality polythene 150mm

rently unknown, according to the Agpest website form AgResearch.

“Overseas literature highlights the longevity of the seed and that as a result large numbers of seed can accumulate in the soil seed bank “Velvetleaf is known to produce allelopathic chemicals that can inhibit water uptake and chlorophyll production in many crop plants.

“Even moderate infestations that emerge the same time as the crop does can reduce production by 25 per cent or more.”

Farmers are encouraged to report suspected sightings of velvetleaf to Waikato Regional Council’s biosecurity pest plants team on 0800 BIOSEC (0800 246 732).

This will allow WRC staff to assess the property and then work together on a plan if they confirm the presence of velvetleaf.

Page 14

RURAL BUILDING & FENCING

HORSE OF THE YEAR

Page 15

Giant strides for Horse of the Year line-up New Zealand’s premier equestrian showpiece – the Land Rover Horse of the Year Show held in Hawke’s Bay – will host its biggest line-up ever this March, boasting some of the hottest names in world eventing.

The ‘power couple’ of world eventing – current Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials winner Tim Price and his Badminton-winning wife Jonelle are returning home with the help of The True Honey Co. to spur on the crowds at the event’s new Burghley Day. Burghley Day, on March 16, presented by Höpt Soda will see Hastings’ Discovery Gardens transformed into a ‘Baby Burghley’ featuring iconic Burghley cross country jumps, British food trucks, a Beefeater Pink Gin Bar, pop-up Höpt Soda ‘Hoptail Bar’ and Burghley theming.

And anticipation is already building to see two of the world’s top 10 eventers in action. Tim Price is third in the world FEI Eventing rankings while wife Jonelle sits seventh – her podium finishes earning her a Halberg Sportswoman of the Year nomination.

It’s the first time the pair has

returned home to New Zealand to compete since 2004 and their inclusion in the line-up was a ‘must have’ for event director Dave Mee. “It could be argued many Kiwis underestimate the talent of our top eventers. The cross-country fences these guys and girls face would question anyone’s courage. To have such a dedicated and talented young couple like Tim and Jonelle flying our flag on the world stage is great for NZ and great for the sport.

“We thought, let’s celebrate their achievements by bringing them home to compete. This is our chance as a country to salute and really make a fuss of what they’ve accomplished.”

VIP entertainment from March 12-17 is highly sought-after and includes the glamourous Hall of Fame cocktail party, Bayleys Business Lunch, family fun Friday night Hastings Heart of Hawke’s

Bay Extravaganza and finale events, the G.H. Mumm Champagne Cross Country Lunch on March 16, and Cup Day on March 17. Dave says 55,000 people will head to the show, taking

Current Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials winner Tim Price is returning home to NZ to spur on the crowds at the Horse of the Year’s new Burghley Day event.

Photo: Libby Law Photography.

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in its shopping, wine and food villages and hospitality experiences. “Along with world-class equestrian competition, this six-day spectacle is an event like no other.” Tickets are at: www.hoy.kiwi

DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS - BOP

Page 16

A chance to learn, connect and grow Twenty people will be telling judges about themselves, their roles, goals and achievements on-farm this month as judging gets underway for the three categories of 2019’s Bay of Plenty Dairy Industry Awards.

But DIA regional awards manager for the BOP, Jodie Mexted, says the goal is no longer to win an award – that’s bonus if it happens.

Really, the awards are all about learning, connecting and growing – and they’ve changed the event’s motto to demonstrate this.

“The awards motto used to be ‘Passion for progression’. This year it is: ‘Learn, connect, grow’ – and this really sums up what the awards are about.

“It’s about ongoing learning from others in the industry – because a big part of actually entering is the feedback you get from experienced judges, farmers and rural professionals. And the growth you can experience from the awards process – both in your personal life and in your business.”

Jodie says this year entrants are from Whakatane, Opotiki, Matata, Galatea, Waimana, Te Puke and Pongakawa.

“And there’s a mix of entrants across the three

Winners of the 2018 BOP Dairy Industry Awards at at the regional field day. competitions. We have farm assistants, 2ICs, farm managers, lessees, sharemilkers and contract milkers entered.”

The BOP regional preliminary judging round for Farmers at last year’s DIA Bay regional the Dairy Trainee of the BOP field day were keen to hear about Year category is February 14, what entrants had been achieving and followed by Finals judging on experiencing on their farms.

February 25.

Preliminary judging for both through entering. This is why we try not the Share Farmer and Dairy to say the word ‘competition’ anymore Manager of the Year categories is on – we call it the awards programme February 12-14, with finals judging on – because we also don’t want to turn February 26-28. people away from entering.

Jodie says entrants in the DMOTY “Because it’s not about winning – it’s a category have judges come onto their bonus if you do.” farm – and they have 1.5 hours to Jodie says this quashes the idea people present what they do, to them. “You can have to feel they’re at a certain stage get them to meet at the cowshed or in in their farm goals or careers to enter. the paddock etc and take them through “It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at whatever you’re been working towards – you’ve got this huge opportunity to or are in-charge of on-farm. learn, connect and grow.

“SFOTY entrants also have judges “And I think you get more out of the visit them on-farm for two hours. And awards if you don’t win the first time.

DTOTY entrants have to meet judges I know past SFOTY winners who won off-farm for a practical and interview their first time entering and are now session.” guttered they cannot enter again to learn Jodie says while some enter to commore and get more feedback, from our petitively vie for the top honours, many enter as a benchmarking exercise for not judges, to improve.”

Plus the awards is also about getting only their businesses, farming careers off-farm and meeting others in the and operations but their personal lives.

“I am not competitive, but I entered in region and industry.

“Quite often on farms people don’t get 2012 for Dairy Trainee of the Year – and I actually learned so much – it’s basically this opportunity – they are too busy in day-to-day operations.” free education.

BOP regional winners will be “You get all of this feedback, people announced at a Regional Awards Dinner willing to come to you and volunteer on March 13, at TECT Pongakawa, The their time, give you all their advice for Action Centre. absolutely nothing.”

Regional winners then go into national With a Bachelor in hospitality and judging against winners from 11 tourism, Jodie entered because she had other regions, with national winners no qualifications in farming. “I wanted announced in May. Merle Foster to get experience and learn from others

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DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS - BOP

Page 17

Regional awards dinner to glam up farmers for a night The regional awards dinner for the Bay of Plenty section of the Dairy Industry Awards in March is being changed up a bit this year.

coasts to their partners.

The regional awards dinner is held to announce the Bay of Plenty region winners of the Dairy Industry Awards in three categories – Dairy Trainee of the Year, Dairy Manager of the Year, and Share Farmer of the Year.

Preliminary and finals judging

shimmering shiny ensembles, cloche hats, and ‘bobbed’ hairtsyles.

While men can don neatly-tailored suits with bright whites, thin ties and leather shoes – or matching waist-

Organiser Jodie Mexted says the dinner – on Wednesday, March 13 from 6pm onwards – is being moved from its traditional venue at Awakeri Events Centre to be held at Pongakawa School’s Action Centre.

“This is an effort to support another community venue – and we are also changing it up in that we are having a theme for the night, which people can dress up for if they wish.”

This year’s theme is The Great Gatsby 1920s era. Jodie says the ladies should think flapper dresses, hair accessories and headpieces, long pearl necklaces, The Bay of Plenty’s dairy farming community is being invited to get off-farm and enjoy a night out.

Dairy Industry Awards key dates: Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee of the Year Judging: Preliminary Round, February 14 Finals Round, February 25.

Share Farmer and Dairy Manager of the Year Judging: Preliminary round, February 12-14

Finals Judging, February 26-28 Regional Awards Dinner: March 13, TECT Pongakawa, The Action Centre.

Regional Winners Field Day: April 8, venue TBC.

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will be undertaken this month ahead of the dinner to announce the BOP winners. A winners’ field day will be held in April.

“We welcome the farming community to attend this event and head back in time to the 1920s and support this great community event and check out the

local dairy talent.

“So come on, get the crew offfarm and enjoy a night out!”

Limited tickets went on sale January 24. To purchase, head to: www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz For more information, contact Jodie Mexted on 027 253 7958 or email: bop@nzdia.org.nz

Page 18

DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS - WAIKATO

Awards bring free benchmarking and advice A total of 29 farmers have put their hands up to receive free education and mentoring by entering the 2019’s Waikato regional competition of the Dairy Industry Awards.

Regional managers Phillip van Heuven and Erin Brown say they’ve had some early entrants pull out for a number of reasons – but those who have entered are from around the Waikato region.

“There’s 12 entries to Share Farmer of the Year, which are made up of 50/50 sharemilkers, low order sharemilkers and contract milkers,” says Phillip.

“Dairy Manager of the Year has seven entries, which comprise of 2IC, herd managers and farm managers. And 10 contestants will vie for the Dairy Trainee of the Year award.”

The Waikato regional preliminary judging round for DTOTY is February 12-14, followed by finals judging on February 25.

Preliminary judging for both SFOTY

and DMOTY categories is February 12-14, with finals judging on February 26-28.

Phillip says the SFOTY entrants will be judged on financial and business, pasture, livestock, farm environment, human resources; farm safety, health and biosecurity; farm dairy hygiene, leadership and community, making the most of the property, communication; and a Q&A session.

DMOTY entrants are evaluated on their farm, stock, feed, personal and power play actions. While DTOTY contestants have an interview – covering general farm knowledge, communication and engagement, career development, personal development and industry awareness – worth 70 per cent and a practical wroth 30 per cent.

Philip says entrants are encouraged to have a few practice runs through presentations before judging “so they’ve got their timing right and to ensure they are confident in what are presenting to the experienced judges”.

He says the awards programme focuses on connecting, learning and growing so the feedback provided from the judges is very beneficial in their future careers

and pathways, regardless of whether they receive a placing or merit awards for excellence in different categories.

“Judges are carefully selected and are experts in the field, so it is great they are able to provide advice and guidance,” says Phillip.

“The awards are a great way for you to benchmark yourself against other promising farmers and also meet others throughout NZ that have a passion for the industry and interests.” Merle Foster

DIA’s 2018 Waikato region Share Farmers of the Year Steve Gillies and Amy Johnson went through the judging process and won. Here, they show people their farm at their winners’ field day last April.

Dairy Industry Awards key dates: Waikato Dairy Trainee of the Year Judging: Preliminary round, February 12-14 Finals round, February 25 Share Farmer and Dairy Manager of the Year Judging: Preliminary Judging, February 12-14

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DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS - CENTRAL PLATEAU

Past winners encourage next wave of entrants

As 2019’s regional entrants into the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards will be focussed on putting their best foot forward during February’s judging events, one Central Plateau farming couple can attest to it being all worth it.

Carlos and Bernice Delos Santos, who won the 2017 Central Plateau Share Farmers of the Year title and were

named national runners-up, say entering the awards was one of the best career decisions they have made.

The couple say they grew professionally and personally just from entering.

“You hear that so often from previous entrants, and the truth is, you really do,” they say. “If we could enter again, we probably would!”

The Delos Santos are still sharefarming on the same farm where they won the regional title and have increased their herd size to 370. “We are about to embark on our next adventure and will

be milking more cows.”

“We certainly give credit for that progression to the Dairy Industry Awards. We learned that it’s a lot easier to deal with bankers and potential farm owners/consultants with the knowledge we gained from the DIAs.” This year, the couple are involved with the Central Plateau regional committee as regional managers and are enjoying being able to encourage the next wave of entrants coming through. “ This is our way of giving back to the awards and it is amazing to be involved in what will be a memorable event to future winners,” says Carlos.

“We know what it’s like first-hand to start from nothing. We literally worked from the ground up, and we like to share and encourage other entrants to do the same thing.”

“We knew just by entering, that you got all these goody bags and vouchers and if you do a bit better then you start getting some serious prizes.

“In the past, we would say we want to own a farm but we never really had a plan in place to achieve that ownership. Entering the Dairy Industry Awards made us put everything in writing and work it out.”

“We now have a clear path on how we are going to get there, what we need to do now and what we need to do in three years’ time.”

The Delos Santos say the awards also made them realise just how important their family is, enabling them to prioritise their children and the time they spent on them. “Growing your business is one thing, being able to spend time with our three little children even though we are busy, priceless!” says Bernice.

The awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda Motorcycles, LIC, Meridian Energy, and Ravensdown along with industry partners DairyNZ and Primary ITO. “When you are farming, it’s easy to think you got it all sussed,” says Carlos. “Entering SFOTY meant we sat down and went through everything in detail to find out where we were doing great and where we can improve. We certainly went outside our comfort zone.”

The Central Plateau regionals winners for 2019 will be announced at a Regional Awards Dinner on March 14. For tickets or more information, see: www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz

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DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS - CENTRAL PLATEAU

DIA popular in Central Plateau The Central Plateau regional competition of the Dairy Industry Awards has received the second-highest number of entries of 11 regions, behind only Canterbury-North Otago, with 47 in total.

New Zealand DIA general manager Chris Keeping says a total of 393 entries overall were received for the awards’ 11 regions – which is an increase of 29 from last year.

“It’s a great result and we are really thrilled with the response,” says Chris.

The Canterbury-North Otago region received the highest number of entries – at 59 – for 2019.

The number is split into 17 in the Share Farmer of the Year, 30 in the Dairy Manager of the Year and 12 in the Dairy Trainee of the Year competition for the ergion.

Chris says changing the visa entry criteria has also seen an increase overall in entry numbers in the Dairy Manager and Dairy Trainee categories.

“The numbers ensure strong categories will run in each of our 11 regions and that is great for the entrants, for the categories and for us as organisers of the awards.”

Nationally, 106 entries were received in the Share Farmer category, 166 entered the Dairy

The Dairy Industry Awards this year has 393 entrants, throughout its 11 regions, keen to be part of the awards programme.

Manager category and 121 entered Dairy Trainee of the Year.

Chris says the regions had worked hard to attract entries and he’s rapt that all three categories would be run in all 11 regions.

“Previous DIA winners continue to make an impact within the dairy industry and many are clear leaders,” says Chris.

“All entrants can give themselves a huge pat on the back, as they’ve taken an important step in enhancing their career and farm business just by entering the awards.”

The NZDIA is supported by national sponsors Westpac,

DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda, LIC, Meridian Energy, and Ravensdown, along with industry partners Dairy NZ and Primary ITO. Judging has begun for some the 11 regional categories, which will wrap up this month, with winners announced at dinners throughout the country in March.

The 33 winners of those categories will then progress through to the national finals in Wellington in May. For more information and to view an events calendar of the Regional Awards, see: www. dairyindustryawards.co.nz

Just entering boosts your CV For the 47 entrants in the 2019’s Central Plateau regional competition of the Dairy Industry Awards, just being part of awards programme will boost their career credentials to future employers.

That’s what past winners Carlos and Bernice Delos Santos, who won the 2017 Central Plateau Share Farmers of the Year title, believe.

“Entrants are all potential leaders of the future,” says Carlos, who with wife Bernice are now regional managers of the Central Plateau regional competition.

“A lot of people who have entered the awards in the past have gone on to bigger and better things, and most of them – if not all of them – will credit it to being part of Dairy Industry Awards.

Carlos says the awards programme gives entrants a way to boost their credentials. “Farm owners and/or employers look at potential employees’ CVs and if they see they’ve entered the awards, they see them as motivated and willing to improve and get better.

“We know as an employer, we would look at this very favourably.”

This year’s 47 entries for the Central Plateau is the second-highest amount among the 11 regions participating.

Carols says many entrants are based in Reporoa “but we have some as far as Tokoroa, all the way to Mamaku and some as south as Taupo and others in between”.

“Our entrants for Dairy Trainee of the Year are mostly newcomers in the industry, so most are in farm assistant roles.

“For Dairy Manager of the Year, most are in a senior role on the farm, making decisions that affects farm productivity.

A number are working towards becoming dairy managers.

“And in the Share Farmer of the Year category, most are contract milkers.”

The CP regional preliminary judging round for DTOTY is February 14, followed by finals judging on February 25.

Preliminary judging for both SFOTY and DMOTY categories is February 12-14, with finals judging on February 26-28.

Carlos says he and Bernice found the judging process exciting. “We had put a lot of hours and effort into making our presentation and when the judging day comes, there’s nothing better than being able to deliver your presentation in the best way possible.

“It was a bit hard to get a good sleep the night before, as were we just so excited.”

But they also advise entrants to enjoy the process. “We know it’s easy for us to say now but looking back, how we managed to put things together is beyond our imagination.

“Bernice was pregnant and we had two young kids and a farm to run. This awards programme will get the best out of you. Be yourself, tell the judges your own journey, how you got to where you are and where you want to go.

“Everyone has different paths and ways to get to where they want to be.”

CP regional winners will be announced at a Regional Awards Dinner on March 14, at the Energy Events Centre, Rotorua.

Regional winners then go into national judging against winners from 11 other regions, with national winners Merle Foster announced in May.

Page 21

DAIRY

Page 22

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Happy farmers and holidaymakers alike After a wet December we’ve all had a bit of surprise. In December we had 265mm here in the Bay of Plenty. For the first three weeks of January we’ve had 17mm.

A farmer client of mine in Omokoroa had 330mm for December 2018 and only got 30mm the December before.

So production is up 16 per cent.

But there is talk the El Nino weather pattern may have a late bite to it, so don’t expect too much rain for the next three months. There’s a chance one or two cyclones may come, similar to last year, but will be heading west, so keep a close eye on that.

Predictions are a slightly-below average rainfall for us – these westerlies clawing in now seem to be drying things out – Northland is turning dry, but the rest of the country is okay. But for now there’s certainly not much current demand for feed. So it’s been a nice festive stretch for farmers and holidaymakers alike.

Crop work

With cropping, farmers need to be planning ahead for pasture renovation. Identify paddocks that are weedy or got pugged last winter/spring and deal to them in February while it’s dry. Get the drainage done and tidy them up.

Also get your contractors organised early – because this year there’s more demand for maize and they’ll be busy harvesting it. Keep a vigilant eye on that army caterpillar – it has a knack of attacking lucerne, brassicas, new pastures and suchlike. Winter crops will need a spray again shortly. Leaf miner and white butterfly will be

coming into crops – so check and spray.

Make sure you have extra supplement feed on hand to get through if it does turn dry in February/March.

Buy in some maize if you need to and have your silage stack sites ready to go, away from drains, power lines etc and in a free-draining area. There’s no point preparing them two days before it arrives. Get it done now while dry, fill in the holes and compact it. As I always say: Proper planning prevents pitiful performance! We’ve got some quality silage available and hay if needed. Global Dairy Trade prices have risen in the last three auctions.

Skim milk is up 22 per cent, and there’s been a lift overall in the GDT of 11 per cent; the auction before, it was 4.2 per cent. Some economists are predicting a lift in the payout, from $6.10kgMS to $6.30kgMS – some reckon $6.25kgMS. So things are looking stronger but there are whispers of the Chinese economy softening slightly, so keep an eye on that. This would affect us more than the other markets.

The Technical Advisory Group’s report on the Mycoplasma bovis eradication programme provides encouraging progress. It looks like they are containing it; the spread isn’t getting worse. But we’ve still got a long way to go yet – so farmers need to ensure security remains tight on their borders.

Seeing this disease being contained is a big relief for farmers right across the country. It was a good move to try to get rid of it rather than manage it.

will be happy where their season is at now. But with the payout looking to become stronger, reduce some more debt if you can. It’s good opportunity

Reduce debt

to do so after a hard few years – it will keep the bank manager happy and gaining a better financial base for the future. It’s all about team effort.

Attention Farmers

And while most milk production is done

by December’s end, make use of the next few months before the cows dry off. Most farmers

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Page 24

Appreciating the importance of pasture is vital I remember my father’s comment regarding my assertion that the quantity of pasture grown now in the Central Waikato may have declined since the late-1970s early-1980s.

His comment was that milk production per hectare had climbed markedly since then, with the inference being that so too had pasture production.

However, the MAF data I have shows a 20-25 per cent higher level in annual drymatter production then compared to now. High quality permanent grazed pastures were recorded at a number of sites as growing in excess of 18,000kgDM/ha without N being applied.

Today 14,000kgDM/ha is a figure often talked about as a good result with an average of 230kgN/ha being applied.

If that is correct, then dairy farming as carried out today has a fundamental issue, as there is seldom a static situation, things are either getting better or worse.

If the decline in pasture yield is real, then, as pasture is the cheapest and most nutritious form of feed for dairy cows, how is it that the amount of milk per hectare has risen significantly?

In the early-1980s most dairy farmers took genuine pride in being self-contained. Run-offs were quite common, particularly for smaller properties, however grazing young stock at home for the first 12 months was common.

‘Milking only platform’

I remember discussion around the then-novel idea that the home farm was a ‘milking-only platform’, and young stock were grazed off property as soon as they were weaned.

At that time it also became fashionable to focus on high utilisation of pasture by the grazing herd with any pasture not grazed being regarded as wasted. To achieve that, more animals were required and the inevitable feed gaps were then filled with bought in supplement.

So, things have changed, and will continue to do so.

However, it doesn’t counter the argument that pasture growth, and persistence, in many instances is inferior now to 40 years ago.

How many farmers now have a realistic

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idea of the quantity of pasture grown each year and use this as the basis for their feed budgeting? My experience is in many cases the supply of bought-in feed is the primary consideration with pasture seen as a ‘filler’.

In those situations, pasture growth is also seen as unreliable and variable, and because it is not as easily manageable as bought in feed, the principles underlying maximising the growth of it have been largely lost.

Pasture is the ideal feed for grazing ruminants, which is what a cow is.

Multi-species clover-based pasture is what they were designed to consume, and the meat and milk produced is unique with healthgiving properties that cannot be replicated in any other way.

Lowest cost

Pasture is also the lowest cost feed available – therefore any loss in production must be compensated for by purchasing more expensive feed. The economics of declining pasture yield long-term leads to an inevitable conclusion.

A return to an appreciation of the importance of pasture and how it is best managed to maximise growth each year is essential for the long-term viability of not only dairying, but all pastoral farming.

The best operators, in all respects, are skilled observers. They spend time with their animals and in the paddock.

Decision-making is based on experience and increasingly they are able to anticipate what is about to unfold and make the appropriate decisions, with a willingness to trust gut feel.

They also have a network of people with knowledge and skills that they don’t have, consult and discuss issues regularly with them, but realise the responsibility is theirs alone, make decisions quickly and accept responsibility for the outcomes.

Farming then becomes a science-based artform.

Everyone experiences and therefore does things a little differently – however the fundamentals of soils, animals, and climate are understood and respected.

At the base of all successful pastoral farming is soil and a sound soil fertility system ensures carbon is continuously sequestered, providing the potential for increased pasture production each year.

Summer is the ideal time to consider alternatives and explore options as there’s time to do the background checking necessary to ensure this autumn’s inputs provide the results that meet longer term goals.

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DAIRY

Page 25

Conf licting advice from rural professionals In 1994 an article in ‘Straight Furrow’ covered a sharemilker on a peat soil near Hamilton had been losing nearly 10 per cent of his herd for three years running from milk fever-related problems, between 1988-1990, in spite of giving his cows lots of magnesium.

I’d called on the farmer in spring1990, a year after starting my soil advisory business, and told him the soil would be all out of balance and by correcting this, the problem would go away.

Like many farms at the time, they’d been using 30 per cent potassic super in the spring and 15 per cent potassic super in autumn. The farm owner agreed to let me try and sort the problem out, so long as the fertiliser bill was no more expensive than the conventional fertiliser they’d been using.

After doing soil and herbage tests, which showed big imbalances, I recommended some burned lime ash at 2.5 tonne/ha as a cheap calcium and sulphur source, serpentine dust at 1 tonne/ha as a cheap magnesium source, potash, salt, boron, copper, manganese and selenium. No superphosphate was applied for the next three years and no more cows died from metabolic problems – and, the farm production lifted by 30 per cent, hence the reason for the article.

Metabolic problems

As a result of this article the manager of a large Maori-owned station contacted me, saying he had just lost around 50 breeding cows from metabolic problems. So I did comprehensive soil tests and herbage tests and again identified major imbalances.

However, the station was being overseen by a farm consultant who did not understand my American

soil tests. As my recommendations were to apply some lime, magnesium, potassium and trace elements, which he took issue with, he sent my report to a soil scientist based at Ruakura, who dismissed my recommendations and told them all they should do was continue applying 15 per cent potassic super. Needless to say the farm consultant made certain this happened so my recommendation was never applied and the problem would have probably continued.

Over the years my relationships with farm consultants has generally been conflicting, because they tend to be just NPK boys. And unless phosphorus is measured by the Olsen P method, they don’t want to know – and I’m not a fan of too much nitrogen being applied, which they often promote. The exception is consultants who have come from a veterinary background – they generally understand the importance of having good calcium, magnesium, boron and other trace elements being applied for animal health and performance.

products. But not this farm consultant. He got a fert rep who has been on the scene for a fraction of this time and has a lot less experience and expertise than myself and who works for a superphosphate manufacturing company. The fertiliser applied worked out to be 15 per cent more expensive per unit of P on the ground than the triple super I was able to source from a private importer. The farm consultant charged

for his services, gets inferior advice and costs the client tens of thousands of dollars for a more expensive fertiliser. All up, a lose-lose situation.

Robin Boom, CPAg, member of the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists. Ph: 0274448764.

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Déjà vu moment

Two months ago, I found myself having a déjà vu moment with the same farm consultant I’d hadthe issues with back in 1994. I’d done some soil and herbage tests with recommendations on a large sheep and beef property and recommended a triple super-based fertiliser mix with some trace elements.

The trustees had asked this particular consultant to look at what was being applied, and consequently dismissed my tests and recommendations and got a fertiliser rep from one of the co-ops to do some more tests and apply a superphosphate-based mix.

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EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

Self-clean system ensures clear water No excuses for non-compliance At this time of year, many people notice their drinking water smells differently, especially water from the hot tap.

“These odours are caused because bacteria have built up on the base of the tank where they break down material that has flowed into the tank,” says TankVac business owner Warren Agnew.

“In doing so they use oxygen from the water and provide nutrients for E.coli.”

Unfortunately, in most water systems the pump collects water from near to the base, causing it to suck into the house the poorest water quality in the tank, says Warren.

Included in this water can be leaf material, which the pump grinds into very fine particles, blowing it into the filter.

“A new filter can turn black within a day

and cease function within a few weeks,” says Warren.

TankVac – a self-cleaning system for your water tank – can help prevent these issues.

“We have developed this system at Waikato University’s engineering department where overflow water is taken off the base – and this sucks out bacteria and plant sediment, leaving water more oxygenated and minus E.coli, which die off overnight without a nutrient source from the bacteria,” says Warren.

“Comprehensive testing by microbiologists at AUT University established the effectiveness of the base overflow system.

“For this, we thank Professor Michael Walmsley of Waikato University and Dr David Bryant at AUT University.” View a demonstration of the TankVac system on YouTube.

Waikato dairy farmers found to be significantly non-compliant aren’t doing their bit for the environment and are letting all farmers down, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ environment and catchment manager Aslan Wright-Stow says the majority of dairy farmers put in a lot of effort and take great pride in ensuring their farms are up to standard and fully compliant, and those who are not complying with effluent management rules must wear the consequences.

Aslan’s comments come as Waikato Regional Council staff say monitoring of high risk farms has revealed the dire state of dairy effluent infrastructure, with some farms having just one-thousandth of the storage needed. “We support the monitoring of high risk farms by WRC and the increased focus on those who need to lift their game,” says Aslan.

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“These farmers are bringing down the good work of the 4000 other Waikato dairy farmers who are doing their bit to look after waterways, manage effluent well and are investing in the latest technologies.

“Each farm has the potential to have an impact – we want all our dairy farms doing their part to manage effluent well and look after the environment.”

Aslan says the sector has a clear vision to improve water quality and it requires everyone and every farmer to do their bit.

“The sector has invested in a programme which ensures effluent system professionals are accredited and can provide the best advice to farmers, including tools to ensure the amount of effluent storage is adequate,” says Aslan.

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“DairyNZ also has a Warrant of Fitness programme for farmers to identify areas of their effluent system which need improving, as well as help which is available through our team to support farmers meet their requirements. “There has been a lot of improvements across the country, both in terms of knowledge and practice. “The number of farmers who continue to be non-compliant are few and do not represent the majority.”

Dairy farmers looking for effluent system information are advised to visit: www.dairynz.co.nz/effluent or ph: 0800 4 324 7969.

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EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

Page 27

Lack of infrastructure posing real risk to environment Waikato Regional Council’s monitoring of high risk farms has revealed the dire state of dairy effluent infrastructure, with some farms having just one-thousandth of the storage needed.

Investigations manager Patrick Lynch says WRC initiated a strategic, risk-based approach to farm monitoring in early-2018, which involved prioritising those farms with less than seven days’ effluent storage, or likely to irrigate onto saturated soils or with

a history of non-compliance. “What we’ve found is of real concern. Unfortunately, the state of dairy effluent infrastructure on many farms is probably worse than we’d expected, with some farms only having one-thousandth of the storage they need.”

Patrick says WRC adopted the risk-based approach so it could direct resources where they were most needed. “There are a large number of Waikato dairy farmers doing the right thing and have invested in improving their infrastructure. So instead of blanket monitoring all farms, we’ve focused on monitoring high risk farms – and the results show there’s still much work to be done.”

WRC farming services team leader Stuart Stone says at December his team had completed 239 inspections of high risk farms since July 2018. “Thirty-one per cent of these farms are what we would term ‘significantly non-compliant’. Many are now being formally investigated with a strong possibility that some will result in prosecution.”

Stuart says there were some really good examples of best practice infrastructure.

“Good systems have the dual benefit of preventing effluent polluting the environment, while providing an excellent source of fertiliser. It is great to see those in place.

“However, we’re also seeing a high number

farms that have inadequate infrastructure with barely any capacity to prevent effluent going into the environment, and ultimately impacting on water quality.”

Patrick says in the last five years WRC has taken about five prosecutions relating to dairy effluent each year. Last year WRC commenced nine prosecutions and is formally investigating a further 16.

“We feel that all stakeholders in the dairy industry still have a very long way to go in pulling the poor performers up to the required standard.”

Soil

Handy tips to enable cows to handle the summer heat If you think us humans have been suffering in the midsummer heat, spare a thought for the cows.

By February, the heat from the New Zealand sun is so strong cows are very uncomfortable indeed. Their tongues are out by 9.30am; they are too hot to eat or drink, so they don’t. They stand in mobs, trying to escape the heat while inadvertently creating more heat by huddling together. They stand in one place, poo in one place, and attract more flies. It’s a grim sight.

However, in the several decades I spent dairy farming I discovered a few simple, no-or-low-cost adjustments farmers can make to their working day to ensure cows stay as comfortable as possible during the hottest weeks of the year – keeping milk production high as a result.

Under traditional twice-a-day milking models, cows are milked around 5am and are back in the paddock around 8am, missing the opportunity to graze dewy grass.

In the peak of summer, I would ask staff to milk at around 3am so the cows were back in the paddock by 5.30am6am. By the time the real heat kicked in mid-morning, they’d had four hours grazing wet grass and were asleep with

full stomachs.

Eating that high-moisture feed meant they didn’t need to go to the trough and were ahead for required water intake for the day.

On a hot summer’s day, silage made with young grass is as irresistible to cows as icecream and fruit salad is to humans – we’ll run to it!

I used to keep the young silage especially for summer to give the cows a reason to eat, feeding it out around lunchtime. If you don’t have silage, chicory is a good alternative.

After feeding the silage, I would move the cows to a 500m-long paddock, planted north to south in trees – a designated shade paddock, not used for grazing. By lunchtime the sun was past the trees and the mob had full shade to enjoy for around an hour before milking.

Due to the early start, we’d milk cows at around 1pm-1.30pm so staff were finished work by 4pm and could have some cooling-down time of their own.

Sprinklers at the shed provided some extra relief for hot cows.

Other tricks we used to up the cows’ water intake included mixing 1000L of water with feed in a mixer wagon. This stopped cows rushing to the trough to

Pond

compete for water when they left the feed pad.

We also offered cows watered-down molasses in PK trailers in the race when they came up for milking. Molasses is instant energy and provided enough of a pick-me-up for hot cows to get up and feed.

Asking staff to make cow comfort a priority during this critical time and taking advantage of what Mother Nature has to offer could be the difference between your cows continuing to milk, or not.

The next challenge facing farmers is the possibility of facial eczema occurring on-farm. Facial eczema in cattle can be treated; we have treatments available that work very well to stop the progression of the disease. For more information, please contact me.

Summer can be a stressful time on farm, so I urge farmers to pick up the phone and call me if they have any questions whatsoever – we’re here to help.

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New CEO shares her thoughts on water use There’s a lot of awareness among the public about issues around water quality and also how we use water – this is changing the debate around water policy, with the wider public becoming more involved and this trend will continue in future, according to IrrigationNZ’s new chief executive Elizabeth Soal.

“A lot of the issues around water resources are complex and are longterm issues that are hard to distill into

soundbites. The complexities tend to get lost in media coverage, which tends to simplify the issues,” says Elizabeth, who is set begin her new role in late-February.

“As people become more aware of the limitations on water availability there is a trend to adopt newer technology to improve water use efficiency and effectiveness. In the past decade we’ve seen significant improvements in efficiency.”

Elizabeth takes over as CEO from Andrew Curtis, who stepped down from the role to pursue new consultancy ventures. She has a background

in water management, law and policy and is currently director of strategy and policy at Waitaki Irrigators Collective. She also served on IrrigationNZ’s board from 2011-2016.

Climate change

Elizabeth says future pressures and trends to affect irrigators and irrigation as a whole will include climate change.

“Climate change is a big issue.

This will result in changes in rainfall with more high intensity rainfall events but longer periods of drought, which will mean we’ll be looking at significant changes in the levels of water bodies in the future.”

As a result, Elizabeth says New Zealand will be faced with increased flooding events, urban water supply shortages and more demand for irrigation in existing and new areas – but it’s not just an issue which affects irrigators.

“To resolve this we’re going to need to have some significant discussions around improving our infrastructure in urban and rural areas – that includes our natural infrastructure and our irrigation

infrastructure in order developed in the past. So we to improve need to think about what the irrigation sector will our resilience. look like in 20 years’ time “I would also expect and start planning for to see changes in the role of iwi in the that now. governance and man“Advocacy is the most important activity agement of water. from our strategy “We don’t know yet goals. This includes what those changes helping deliver the will look like but message that irrigathey will also have tion is key an impact.”

IrrigationNZ’s new CEO to community Asked what she Elizabeth Soal. wellbeing.” sees as priorities Elizabeth says irrifor the irrigation gation has been demonstrated to sector for the future – she points be one of the most effective ways to IrrigationNZ’s future strategy. to improve community wellbeing “IrrigationNZ’s future strategy – with studies showing irrigated identifies what I think are the areas have increased employment key priorities for the future – to rates, more high-value jobs, work on advocacy for the sector, and an increase in school enrollimprove our information base ment numbers. and have good training and “This in turn leads to improved standards in place which encouroutcomes in a number of other age ongoing improvement. areas, including health and Start planning social cohesion.”

“The signals from the Government are that the ways irrigation will develop in future are not the same as how irrigation has

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EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

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Water storage essential for future resilience A recent expert discussion document on drought and climate change highlights future national planning to improve water storage and looking at a range of options to mitigate the effects of more severe droughts forecast is urgently needed, according to IrrigationNZ. The document, titled ‘Drought and Climate Change Adaption: Impacts and Projections’ was produced as a result of a Deep South Dialogue, run by non-profit research institute Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.

The Dialogue brought together key researchers and sector representatives to map current knowledge about how drought will impact NZ as our climate changes, and to identify critical knowledge gaps that must be filled if we are to successfully adapt to our changing climate.

IrrigationNZ chief executive Andrew Curtis says more frequent droughts and more variable rainfall will affect both urban and rural communities and means we’ll need to rethink how we manage water in future.

“For example, with less rainfall forecast during summer in western areas of New Zealand, there will be more demand for water storage from both councils and farmers to provide a reliable water supply,” says Andrew.

“To adequately prepare for the future, NZ needs to capture more of its plentiful water from rain and ice melt. Hopefully, the issues highlighted in this document will lead to action to avoid our regions being crippled from future droughts,” says Andrew.

The document highlights that having been historically ‘water-rich’, NZ is not well-prepared to cope with a future with more droughts in many areas.

The report also points out that: “Much of our irrigation in drier areas is on a run-of-river basis, a model extremely vulnerable to drought given environmental obligations. NZ’s dependence on agricultural exports and urban reservoirs may yet be a recipe for drought vulnerability”.

“Changing drought risk will have an impact on our society in many ways including on water supply, wastewater, stormwater and primary production among others.”

Andrew says it’s positive that the Government is looking at how water services will be delivered in future. “The next step is to develop a national

The Kerikeri Irrigation Company’s storage pond. The scheme provides water for horticulture, Kerikeri township and lifestyle blocks. New Zealand will need to develop more water storage facilities like this in future, says IrrigationNZ.

approach to plan for improved water storage for both urban and rural communities.

“Local and regional water storage infrastructure can be expensive to design and construct but the need for this investment will become more critical in future. We’ll also need new infrastructure in regions where this hasn’t previously been required as rainfall and river flows change.”

Plus, Andrew says that improving water use efficiency will also continue to be a priority. “Farmers are already investing in more efficient irrigation sys-

tems and NZ has very efficient systems operating by world standards.

“Regional councils are continuing to require that farmers adopt more efficient irrigation systems and irrigation schemes are also modernising their networks to install piped systems, which reduce water loss. Urban areas are also looking at programmes to improve and encourage water use efficiency.”

To read the document, see: https:// motu.nz/our-work/environment-andresources/climate-change-impacts/ drought-and-climate-change-adaptation-impacts-and-projections/

Page 30

FORESTRY

Clear employment message for forestry industry A clear message has been sent to New Zealand’s forestry industry that breaches of minimum employment standards will not be tolerated and ensuring entire supply chains are operating in a compliant manner is vital.

The messages comes as a large forestry company has been penalised $35,000 at the Employment Relations Authority for paying migrant employees less than the

minimum wage.

Silverculture Solutions Ltd, an associated company of CNI Forest Management Limited and a supplier of Silviculture services to Timberlands, employs up to 250 staff in forest block growing and maintenance.

SSL was determined by the ERA late last-year to have used an “illegal system of calculating pay” and paid the workers only for “productive hours”.

The outcome follows a Labour Inspectorate audit of 10 silviculture businesses in the region in 2016, with the Inspectorate raising minimum payment concerns with SSL as early as 2009.

“The four workers received between $241-$4846 below their minimum wage entitlement, for more than a year. The penalties automatically place SSL on the Immigration Stand Down List, preventing them from hiring migrant workers for 18 months,” says Kevin Finnegan, regional manager in charge of the Inspectorate’s forestry strategy.

“Instead of paying the workers what they were legally entitled, SSL paid them for what they deemed ‘productive hours’ only – which the company calculated as the amount of trees needed to be pruned or planted, divided by the expected hours to do them.”

These so-called ‘productive hours’ also excluded travel time in transporting workers in vans through the forest to their work sites, plus time spent preparing equipment and having required safety briefings.

“This notion of ‘productive hours’ is totally unlawful and highly exploitative of workers. The case serves as strong reminder to any contracting business that minimum employment standards in NZ including payment for all hours worked, apply to everyone, including migrant workers,” says Kevin.

“What would have made it more difficult on these workers was that about half of SSL’s workforce usually comprised of migrant staff on ‘tied’ visas, meaning their visas allowed them to only work for SSL. “Fear can dissuade workers from coming forward in these situations. But the Inspectorate encourages anyone who has information about minimum standards not being met to phone the MBIE’s service centre where calls will be handled in a confidential manner, on 0800 20 90 20.”

Kevin says this ERA ruling should send a message to the entire forestry industry that breaches of minimum employment standards will not be tolerated and that ensuring entire supply chains are operating in a compliant manner is vital to the ongoing viability and reputation of the industry.

“The potential for investors to withdraw from forestry because of poor social practices is high, if changes are not made.”

Employers are also encouraged to find out more about their rights and obligations at: www.employment.govt.nz

Forestry journal finds new way forward ‘The New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science’ has this year shifted to a new operating model.

Owned by Crown Research Institute, Scion, and operating since 1971, this international peer-reviewed journal is now published via a new website and online editorial system, replacing those previously supplied

by Springer Nature.

The move made by Scion – the only CRI to publish an academic journal – is to continue its financial support for free access to more than 1550 journal papers.

The journal has a new editorial team comprising Drs Peter Beets, Ecki Brockerhoff and John Moore from Scion and Professor Euan Mason from the University of Canterbury. They are supported by associate editors from the US, South Africa, China, Finland and NZ. Covering the breadth of forestry science, the journal focuses on planted forests but will consider manuscripts on a wide range of forestry topics.

Now in its 49th year, there is one volume per calendar year but no separate issues. Individual articles are published online as soon as they are ready. Read more about the journal at: https://nzjforestryscience.nz Access to PDF files of all papers published prior to 2019 is available at: www.scionresearch.com

FORESTRY

Wood processing clusters proposed Establishing industrial clusters around wood processing is a promising prospect for regions with surplus forestry resources and can contribute substantially to New Zealand’s bottom line, according to Scion.

In a recently-completed research project, the Crown Research Institute identified four regions where wood processors could collaborate with other industries to provide, share and reuse materials, energy, water; and, or, byproducts, for mutual benefit.

“If a cluster was established in each of these regions, the increase in onshore processing would provide an additional 1000 jobs in each region, add a total of $2 billion to NZ’s bottom line and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 67,000 tonnes a year by replacing coal with biomass.”

The Wood Energy Industrial Symbiosis project mapped NZ’s forestry, energy resources and fossil energy-using industries to identify regions where clusters of wood processing operations could be co-located with manufacturing plants.

Regional opportunities

Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Northland and Southland/ Clutha were identified as regions suitable for wood processing clusters using Scion’s WoodScape model and predictions of future log availability to calculate return on capital investment – or ROCE. Industrial symbiosis in Gisborne would be focused on standalone wood-processing powered by forestry and processing residues. In Ngawha, in Northland, the availability of geothermal energy frees up residues for secondary manufacturing. In Hawke’s Bay and Southland/Clutha, residues from wood processing clusters would be used to replace coal or LPG energy sources used by other nearby industries.

The project says new wood processes with the highest ROCEs include sawmills, Optimised Engineering Lumber, plywood, oriented strand board, cross-

laminated timber and remanufactured timber. Where geothermal heat is available the range of options expands and includes bio-chemical recovery and manufacture of solid biofuels from wood processing residues that might otherwise have been used to provide process or drying heat.

Scion believes growing on-shore processing will be necessary if NZ wants to achieve a 10-fold increase in GDP from forests and related manufacturing.

Co-locating

“Co-locating wood processing to take advantage of and share resources makes economic and environmental sense. New wood processing clusters would create jobs and wealth in the regions and increase people’s overall quality of life.”

An existing example of industrial symbiosis is the town of Kawerau in Eastern Bay of Plenty. “Surrounded by forestry, Kawerau is a well-established wood-processing centre, and has the world’s largest application of geothermal energy for industrial use.

“Analysis has shown that further development in Kawerau, such as a new plywood mill and an OEL plant with the residues being used for chemical production and fuel for industrial heat, could have a significant positive impact on GDP and jobs.”

Opportunities for full industrial symbiosis around the Marsden Point oil refinery and Golden Bay Cement/Portland Cement in Northland hold similar potential.

Further opportunities exist to replace fossil fuels used for industrial heat with biomass in the central North Island, Blenheim, Tasman/Nelson, Hokitika, Greymouth and Canterbury.

“By working collaboratively, a group of industries can use resources more efficiently than by any individual company and can result in reduced waste and GHG emissions, job creation and regional development.”

(Source: ‘Scion Connections’ Issue 30, December 2018).

Erosion funds of $36m awarded to regions Te Uru Rakau – Forestry NZ – is funding almost $36 million via the Hill Country Erosion Fund to enable much-needed erosion control in the regions.

Twelve new HCEF programmes will happen between July 2019 and June 2023 to deliver significant improvements in erosion control.

These range from building regional

capacity and capability to plant trees, to farm planning and land treatments including planting poplars, willows and other indigenous and exotic species.

Te Uru Rakau deputy directorgeneral of forestry Julie Collins says 12 applications were received including four from regions that hadn’t previously applied. “It shows

the importance they’re placing on sustainable land management and treating erosion in their regions.”

Julie says loss of productive land through erosion has a significant impact on the environment and the sustainability of NZ land, with the annual cost associated with hill country erosion estimated to be between $100m-$150m.

Page 31

Page 32

LIFESTYLE FARMING

Milking and making cheese on the Coromandel Small cheese batches and fresh milk are the secret to success at Mercury Bay Creamery. “It all starts with the cows and farm,” says Carl Storey, whose journey to becoming a cheesemaker began during his OE to Europe in the 1990s.

While overseas, Carl mostly supported himself with construction industry work, and towards the end of his travels “fell into” a job with a French cheesemaker, where he stayed for about 18 months learning the art of making cheese.

The small Ayrshire herd produces The love of cheesemaking followed Carl enough milk to make 2500kg of back to New Zealand, where he made cheese annually. Milk not used in cheese for friends and family in his cheese production is sold at the spare time. It wasn’t until three farmgate as fresh raw milk. The years ago, when Carl and wife retail shop is currently the only Jeanette purchased the Mercury outlet for cheese, but there’s Bay farm, that his dream to be been interest from local restaua professional a cheesemaker rants, says Carl. “We only plan came to fruition. All Mercury to get as big as our production Bay Creamery cheese is created capacity allows, so we can maintain solely from milk produced on the quality and small batch-style of their farm. The 20-cow Aryshire our cheese.” herd was sourced from the Waikato.

With 55,000 people driving past Ayrshires were chosen for their better their gate – 1.5km south of tourist fat-to-protein ratio which makes Mercury Bay Creamery farmhouse destination Whitianga – every year the best cheese. cheese soaked in merlot. the small retail shop is always busy.

And wthe creamery has been Artisan product open since April 2018, it was a few years in the planCarl, who grew up on a dairy farm, milks cows in ning – and there is a lot of trial and error involved, a small single-side herringbone shed, with five sets of says Carl. cups, which he built. Six or seven cows are milked through winter to maintain milk supply.

“Our farm is pesticide and chemical free, and we Dunlop cheese don’t feed supplements. Cows just eat grass. This “Currently, we’re experimenting with Dunlop means that our milk is natural and pure. Our cows are cheese, which is specific to the East Aryshire in happy.” The farm is part of the Mercury Bay CreamScotland. Dunlop cheese is traditionally made with ery story, and customers drive past cows on their way Aryshire milk and takes 12 months to mature.” up the drive to the on-farm The process for making Dunlop, which Carl retail shop, and that’s describes as a “farmhouse cheese”, is much the same important, says Carl. as making other cheeses. “I manage temperature, time “People like to know and bacteria to get the Dunlop flavour and texture.” where their food is The Aryshire cattle breed was historically called the coming from these days.

‘Dunlop cow’, so making Dunlop is a natural fit for They see healthy cows the creamery. “Getting the mix of cheeses right is with a bit of weight on, something we’re learning as we go,” says Carl. see lots of grass.

“We haven’t sold any parmesan yet. It’ll be two years It’s all before we take that to market. But our brie and campart of the embert has a 21-day cycle, and in summer we make story. It’s mozzarella and ricotta in the morning and sell it in the true artisan afternoon.” production. It’s Carl is the only employee of Mercury Bay Creamery, our cows, our milk but this year wife Jeannette is expected to join the and your cheese.” team full-time.

Josephine Reader

in Storey fits Jeanette g around her kin cheesema g job nearby. in h teac Wright. ron

a Photo: Sh

Carl Storey can pat and get close to his tame 20-cow Aryshire herd.

Photo: Sharon Wright.

LIFESTYLE FARMING

Page 33

Waikato District Plan draws hundreds of submissions

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style living. The rules allowing subdivision in return for protection of environmental features will remain in some form.

Proposed rules have a habit of changing during the process and coming out quite different from that proposed, so be vigilant. If the rules allow your subdivision now, don’t delay.

If you’re interested to find out what opportunities might potentially be lost – or gained feel free to give me a call and discuss your situation without delay.

Brent Trail, managing director of Surveying Services, specialises in resource consent applications for subdivisions across the Waikato, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty. For further information, call 0800 268632 or email: btrail@surveyingservices.co.nz Functional Fertiliser

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way you could subdivide rural land in the Franklin area aside from protecting and covenanting natural features. It is now proposed Franklin owners will have the same subdivision rights that Waikato landowners have enjoyed over the years – if they have been unable to subdivide recently.

The General Subdivision Rule proposes a lifestyle lot of about a hectare can be cut off many older titles that exceed 20ha in size. However, don’t relax and sit back if you currently comply with this – I expect by the end of this process this rule will only apply to titles more than 40ha in size, so this may be your last chance to subdivide a 20ha block!

Also proposed is a new ‘rural hamlet’ rule promoting relocation and reduction in size of multiple titles, allowing for life-

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The plan change was necessary to integrate the Franklin and Waikato sections, and is meant to introduce a consistent approach to development and growth across the district for the first time since the district’s boundary changed in 2010.

Since submissions closed on October 9, council staff have been busy collating submissions to enable a list of submissions to be further notified early this year.

This is only the start of a lengthy legal process that can take many years before it is finalised – and it is only the first stage.

The second stage is now underway and

looks at natural hazards and climate change. This is bound to further affect some subdivision activities.

Whether you’ve made a submission or not, it’s important to look at the list of submissions, when published in the next month or so, and see if they affect your future plans at all. In general, anyone can make a ‘further submission’, particularly those who are affected by a potential rule change.

So, have a look and, if they affect you, either positively or negatively respond – you should have your say. Being involved is the only way to have any influence over something that can shape the future of your district and ultimately affect your livelihood.

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Key advice to guard against facial eczema in stock Research has thrown up the common pit falls of facial eczema control in New Zealand. The DairyNZ-funded study conducted in 2015 raised a number of key points as noted below. It was led by Waikato veterinarian Emma Cuttance.

Sub-clinical facial eczema – or FE – is a problem on at least one-third of dairy farms in the North Island, where the Bay of Plenty would be no exception.

Spore counting, caused by fungus Pithomyces chartarum, is good for

detecting trends – but to be most relevant the same paddocks need to be tested each week on your farm.

This clearly has implications on the value a farm can gain from grass samples submitted during the FE season.

Chicory and plantain, planted in pure swards, protect against FE, while tall fescue may have some protective effect. Lime, on the other hand, has no effect on spore counts.

Of most importance is that zinc remains the best protection tool but under-dosage is common. In particular, zinc in water is the most common method but the least effective at achieving adequate zinc levels in cattle.

It is possible for all zinc treatments to work but all methods can fail if the dosage is incorrect. The method is more likely to fail if cattle have control www.functionalfertiliser.co.nz over their intake of zinc – via water or feed).

The Future of Farming Once zinc treatment is initiated farmers need to test a selection of cattle for zinc concentration in the blood, and liver damage. Monitoring is important to provide assurance that control efforts are providing adequate protection.

Your local vet clinic can provide you with monitoring and treatment options suitable for your property to provide the best possible protection against facial eczema this autumn.

KIWIFRUIT

Page 34

A big biosecurity lesson from Nuffield travels

learning and interacting.

Here he learnt about Dutch agriculture, Europe’s history and the devastating effects World War II on Dutch and European agriculture.

After ducking home for kiwifruit harvest, he embarked on the scholarship’s second component – a six-week Global Focus Program travelling Singapore, India, Dubai, UAE, France, Belgium and the USA. The seven-nation intensive group tour aims to show scholars a mix of agricul“I thought it would expose me more tural, cultural and political practices in a to practices of biosecurity in hortirange of different countries. culture and agriculture around Simon Cook learnt much from his And the fun began – a jamthe world.”

2018 Nuffield Scholarship travels. packed schedule of travelling But, surprisingly, what Simon and visiting a range of industries, found was few biosecurity measures in place and a organisations, government groups, farms, orchards and mood of complacency – something he believes exists factories from early morning to late at night – daily. in NZ’s primary industries too. Now he’s finishing his Then came component three – a self-organized 10 Nuffield project by focusing on how we fight comweeks-plus of individual travel to explore a subject of placency and achieve a cultural change in practising interest. This investigation culminates in a report of biosecurity – both here and abroad. Here’s his story. findings; and presenting findings at a Nuffield ConferSimon was one of five Kiwis bestowed a Nuffield ence. scholarship for 2018, with three core components, Why choose biosecurity? “Given the history of Psa-V and began by attending the Nuffield International in NZ’s Kiwifruit industry and my own involvement Contemporary Scholars Conference, in the Nethwith industry biosecurity body KVH, it was only erlands in March 2018, where all 70 scholars from natural my individual travel would focus around biosaround the world came together for a week of ecurity,” says Simon.

“NZ’s incursion of Mycoplasma Bovis also reinforced the importance of focusing on this area.”

Clint Wall looking Simon says NZ has very strong border control. at a BMSB trap “We’re separated from other countries by sea and near Auburn in anyone and anything travelling here has to go through a customs process to enter NZ in an effort to prevent Alabama. biosecurity threats entering and incursions.”

Simon knew from previous travel through Europe there were no customs operations in place at crosscountry borders.

“So I thought I’d look on-farm or on-orchard to see if there were biosecurity practices in place to prevent biosecurity incursions and spread of pests and diseases.

“It turned out there were very few examples of biosecurity happening on farms – it was disappointing,” says Simon.

For example, he travelled from Qatar – a country known for having foot and mouth disease – straight to France. “The next day we arrived on a farm – no questions asked.”

“We did stop in Qatar and disinfect our shoes and equipment ahead of our trip – but anyone could wander to farms in Europe and cause an incursion without biosecurity measures being in place.”

When Simon Cook – a thirdgeneration kiwifruit grower from Te Puke, who also runs a kiwifruit contracting business and is a Kiwifruit Vine Heath grower director – embarked on his Nuffield Scholarship last year, he chose ‘biosecurity’ as his focus topic.

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He visited Alabama and Pennsylvania in the US to see first-hand the damage done by an established presence of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, plus a recent spotted lanternfly incursion.

“Virginia and Pennsylvania are where BMSB has really taken hold, so I stayed in the US for one month visiting orchards, farms and towns affected,” says Simon.

He also viewed the issue of citrus greening, or HLB, in Florida. Citrus greening has reduced the industry to half of its previous size, wiping about NZ$6 billion off the local economy. “To put that in perspective the entire NZ horticultural industry is worth around $5.5 billion and employs more than 60,000 people.”

Then Simon went to Chile – the first Southern Hemisphere country to have a BMSB incursion – then onto Australia’s Northern Queensland region, where banana plantations are suffering from TR4, a devastating soil-borne disease.

Simon says he visited many countries not aligned with Nuffield for his project – and met with owners and workers on orchards, farms and factories, the US Department of Agriculture, he spent an afternoon with NZ’s Chilean ambassador, and also met two US congressman.

With NZ’s primary industry markets – kiwifruit in particular – primarily overseas, he took on the scholarship to gain a greater world perspective “and to see how we fit into the global landscape… it was opportunity for me to learn more”.

“I thought it would expose me more to practices of biosecurity in horticulture and agriculture around the world.”

KIWIFRUIT

Page 35

Biosecurity – we’re light years ahead but it’s not enough In Chile, Simon also found much complacency of BMSB’s entry. “In Chile, BMSB will severely impact horticulture and agriculture if it spreads to rural areas. But two hours south, where orchards are located, there is no interest in the topic. It will also have significant social impact if the population explodes where it has established in Buenos Aires.

But until the bugs land in their orchard and start disrupting production will they start to take notice and act.”

Dropped the ball

Simon thought he’d find much stronger emphasis on biosecurity at individual European farms “but since the 2001 Foot and mouth outbreak in England they’ve really dropped the ball and got complacent”. “All those biosecurity practices and hygiene practices they had in place have gone.

“My Nuffield project is now focused on how do we fight complacency and achieve a cultural change?”

Simon believes the same thing could be said NZ for orchardists – only eight years after vine-killing disease Psa-v was first detected in Te Puke in 2010, ripping through orchards decimating crops until Hort16A was replaced with new variety G3.

Simon, who owns a Te Puke kiwifruit contracting business, says orchardists have ditched biosecurity practices they had in place post-Psa.

“After Psa we’d stop after visiting each orchard and spray all of our equipment, to prevent spread of pests and diseases.

This took about 30 minutes so I’d charge orchardists $30 for the service.

“Within a few years we were asked to stop this practice because orchardists were no longer willing to pay the $30.

“So that’s the big challenge – how do we solve this complacency among our primary producers?

“In NZ we have this cultural psyche of: ‘She’ll be right’ – how do we change this approach to biosecurity?”

In Florida Simon learned of how grapefruit growers, when first facing the threat of citrus greening, decided to not to do anything because they thought it was oranges and not grapefruit the disease would affect.

“Now this region produces only one-tenth of the grapefruit it had done pre-citrus greening.”

Back home, Simon says “we’re light years ahead in our biosecurity efforts – but it’s still not enough”.

“We have KVH for the kiwifruit industry, which was created when Psa was first detected in NZ and has carried on its work, and we do now have Government Industry Agreements in place for most primary sectors – but more needs to be done at individual level.

“You can see this with NZ’s incursion of M. Bovis. If farms had double-fencing

to stop interaction with neighbouring farm animals, and if farmers had used the NAIT system properly so all cattle could have been traced, the bill to try to eradicate M.bovis would have been halved.”

“It’s the same thing with the kiwifruit industry. Before Psa we had no hygiene or biosecurity practices in place.

Dodged a bullet

“In the early stages of Psa, orchardists were employing all sorts of biosecurity practices to limit its spread, now those have fallen away. In one way we recovered too quickly from Psa, because bouncing back has built in that attitude of us being bulletproof.

“Some growers now say: ‘I don’t need to worry about biosecurity because KVH will look after us’. “Overseas I saw countries fighting what’s in front of them and not being able to look at what else could potentially be a threat in future so we’re really lucky to have an organisation like KVH that’s so focused on identifying and trying to prevent future incursions – but I think in some ways we’ve dodged a bullet with Psa.

“We were lucky to have G3 in our plant breeding programme so close to release. It was sheer luck G3 has psa-tolerance, has a great taste and is as good as it is. In Florida I saw the citrus industry hit with citrus greening and have nothing to go on to.

“They’re still trying to breed disease tolerance and genetically engineer fruit and still getting nowhere despite spending US$250m on research.

“If we didn’t have G3 as a last resort that worked half of our kiwifruit industry would be gone.”

Simon’s Nuffield travels finished last November. This summer he’s writing his Nuffield project report, to be published after March. He’ll then speak publicly to educate primary producers about his learnings – and the need to better their biosecurity efforts at every level.

Simon says the last horticulture-hailing Nuffield scholar was Horticulture NZ chair Julian Rain, in 1997. He’s hoping to inspire more young horticulturalists to apply for the privilege. “It’s an amazing opportunity and it’d be good to get another person from the horticulture industry to gain the scholarship for their future benefit and that of our industry.”

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FARM VEHICLES, MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

Des could not do without his Fergys As you curl up Des Farrelly’s driveway near Pahoia his love of tractors and farm machinery is immediately evident.

But you also notice he likes to do things differently.

He bought the 1ha site covered in gorse in 1985. He bulldozed the flat top and built his own three-level A-frame home. He’s since collected more than 130 Triumph cars, he’s moved an old shed from his family’s

former farm at Bethlehem – now covered in houses on Moffat Rd – to store home and farm antique items, plus machinery parts.

And he has shipping containers – some stacked on top of one another – in use as workshops for machinery parts, car garages, plus an upstairs table tennis room overlooking Tauranga Harbour and the Mount. attraction But we’re here for the tractors.

Tales of ‘Pet’ Tractors “There is four I use – and another & Machinery alike couple,” say Des, who has been using Massey Fergusons all of his life since his dad traded an Allis Chalmers for 1958 MF 35.

“My first job away from home was a MF 35, my second job up at Omanawa – the guy had a Dexter, which is really a blue Fergy,” laughs Des. “No Shhhh don’t’ tell anybody that!”

He was pig farming in Katikati for 14 years “and my boss there had a MF 35 there too”.

Today Des has partly filled his property with shipping containers after a fire tore through farm buildings in January 2014. It burnt out two Fergy 35 tractors and four Triumph cars. “And my Fergy conversion – the tyres were burnt, steering wheel and carburettor.”

Des got his conversion re-built and fixed up and went shopping to replace what he’d lost. He found a Fergy in Matamata, stamped 25.11.1956 on the side of the block – making it a Grey and Gold model. This is his baby. Although he has a July 56 model down in the shed too.

“They are known as a Grey and Gold as they distinguish the difference of the last Fergy 28s to the 35s. Mr Harry Fergusson painted them grey and gold.”

The grill isn’t the original grey colour “but many men around the world think like me and have painted their tractor’s grills gold too,” says Des. He’s shifted the side badge to the bonnet “because I

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Des Farrelly on his 1956 Fergy Grey and Gold. Photos: Merle Foster. can’t find a bonnet badge yet”. The rest is original “as far as I know”.

“It’s my main firewood splitting tractor,” say Des. “The wood splitter goes on her and I do about 60m3 of wood a year.”

Des says the Fergusson 35 is the same as the Massey Fergusson 35 – same motor, gearbox, hydraulics, with a few minor improvements on the later ones.

“But the Grey and Gold 35 is worth probably twice as much – only because of a bit of paint.” His Grey and Gold also has a winch attached “for towing 40 foot shipping containers up the drive”.

Why shipping containers? “I only had the contents of my workshop insured, so after the fire I had no funds to rebuild so the brain twigged I should get these.”

Des Farrelly has painted the grill gold on his Grey and Gold model – like many men have worldwide.

FARM VEHICLES, MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

Page 37

Four tractors for multiple uses Des pulls and winches into place with his tractors “plus help from my nephew’s digger”.

Des also has 130 Triumph motor cars – “they kept coming in so I kept building for them, but we’ll talk cars another day”.

His conversion – he calls a Triumphant Massey Fergusson, which is 2.5 litre, six cylinder, twin-carbs and 106hp – he uses for going on Tauranga Vintage Machinery Club treks.

“Before the fire it was on duals, so it lost six tyres, the steering wheel disintegrated, one of carburettors melted.”

He rebuilt it. It’s 12 inches longer with the six-cylinder Triumph motor Des installed.

“Being a Triumph enthusiast I have a few spare motors. I’ve made two brackets and pushed the mudguards out, which gave room for a twin seat and seatbelts, so Alma can come on the treks as well.”

They can also have a cup of tea and bicky en route with Des placing a chilli bin at the rear. The front cab windscreen he’s fitted is off a Triumph Herald – and he’s attached a front carry tray, which drops down to carry light loads.

“It still has a Fergy back-end so it’s lowgeared but it has so much more power.

“We go on club treks and it’s about another 10-15km/hr faster on the road,” says Des. “It still gets used as a farm tractor too, but it’s a dream to drive on the road.”

Des spends an hour or two weekly on his tractors then he’s back to being ‘different’, either making or fixing or converting something to suit the purpose. “I can do a 100-hour week if things go wrong.”

So where has the passion for Fergys and Triumphs come from? “There’s no real reason, but in Tauranga the Massey Fergusson agent also sold Triumphs – they’re

both British brands. “My dad bought his Fergy in town, and a Vanguard car. Then I bought a second-hand Triumph from the same shop – that’s the way it went.”

He has another MF 35, which was damaged in an on-land accident, he bought from an insurance company.

“It goes good and came with brand news tyres on the front. I’ve put a new bonnet on it.”

Another tractor came from an auction at Matamata. “This is just an everyday reliable Massey Fergusson, MF 35 – six forward gears, two reverse speeds and a live drive.

“I’m not going to down a 28 – but compared to a 28 the Fergy 35, when it came out it was a huge engineering step up, with low and high ratio, live hydraulics and live PTO,” says Des, who we believe will be found under the bonnet of a tractor for many years to come.

Merle Foster

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BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS

Growing a better future It’s been a journey of hard work, thinking outside the square and tenacity to get D&B Hort Ltd – growing plants for the kiwifruit industry – off the ground at Paengaroa.

Now David and Rebecca Timms are 2019 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards’ finalists.

Seven years ago David entered the kiwifruit industry. He was managing the Dyers family’s 14.43ha Gold Nugget Orchard at Pukehina when vine-killing disease Psa-V hit in 2010. One of his first jobs on Gold Nugget was to take a chainsaw to kiwifruit trunks, cutting out Hort16A vines. “I started kiwifruit when Psa broke out – obviously, things weren’t looking the greatest but I look at it now and feel I was lucky to be part of a significant change in plants for the industry,” says Dave, who still manages Gold Nugget full-time.

At work Gavin asked Dave if he’d like to grow some seedlings. “I said: ‘Yes’. He said: ‘Alright, you can do a couple of thousand’. I went away, thought about it, came back and asked: ‘Can I do 4000? And it grew from there.”

That first season Gavin leant Dave gear, space at his orchard to grow the seedlings, and gave him pointers “coaching me along”. “From there we’ve gone in our stride,” says David, whose wife Rebecca gave up her veterinary career to work full-time in the nursery, and raise the couple’s first child Lily.

Establishing D&B Hort Ltd in July 2014 and selling 4000 Bruno rootstock plants in June 2015 – positive feedback prompted them to go bigger. “And we didn’t foresee the growth that was coming – the industry is currently growing like wildfire.”

November 2015 the couple planted 15,000 seedlings at the Dyers’ orchard. “In winter 2016 we sold those plants and thought: ‘Okay let’s go bigger again’.”

But they needed more land. The Timms bought a house at Paengaroa and in September 2016 purchased 22ha next door, with the Dyers initial loan guarantors. “This was very admirable on their part; it was big help for a younger couple,” says David.

November 2016 the Timms developed the nursery on 2.5ha flat land, planting 30,000 seedlings and Rebecca became a nursery full-timer. In November 2017 they planted 65,000 seedlings, sold 30,000 as one-year-olds in June 2018, keeping 35,000 in the ground. “We’ve just planted another 30,000 to sell as one-year-olds this winter and will have 35,000 twoyear-olds to sell.”

The Timms purchase seedlings from well-known

David Timms working with the kiwifruit plants.

Photo: Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

grower Wayne Parker in Te Puna. “We’ve stuck with Wayne as he produces a good quality product, so we can turn it into a good quality Bruno rootstock.”

David says Wayne recycles pots “which many other guys don’t” so all return to him for cleaning and re-use. The nursery is split into rows, each with four mounds and a Fast Track for shelter.

Rebecca says seedlings are planted out in ‘strawberry’ polythene-made mounds with dripper lines underneath, which are connected to a fertigation system.

“They get fertilised and watered daily for those initial months, then when required.”

They avoid watering seedlings overhead after what David’s seen Psa does to small plants in wet weather.

“In orchards they’re going to get rain but any water you can minimise on leaves, with Psa being waterborne, is best practice – especially for seedlings.”

FINAL

Rebecca and David Timms, with Lily, onsite.

Photo: Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Each plant has a bamboo stake they’re trained to climb. Secondary shoots are broken off, and weedmat is placed between mounds to curb weed growth.

“We’ve probably eliminated more than 80 per cent of our glyphosate use since introducing weedmat,” says David. The measure also reduces labour needed to remove weeds – “time spent hand-weeding is better spent training plants – and with young seedlings we don’t want to risk spraying around them”.

David says Psa is their biggest challenge. “Also, pest and insects.” To limit damage we sew cover crops between crops, planting lupin and mustard seed.

They also help with soil conditioning.”

Based on Kaituna River’s edge poses the issue of water run-off. “We get good rains so to hold loose ground we get next cover crops in as soon as we can.”

A spray programme of copper is in place to manage Psa, and they use foliar sprays, seaweed solutions and fertiliser to encourage plant health. “We try to look after the soil by trying to put back in what we take.”

The Timms’ property has areas of native plants.

“There’s lots of hill not suitable for much stock – so to minimise erosion we’ve got three stages of native planting planned in the next five years.”

They also plan to run deer, with the property fully fenced for the animal.

Merle Foster Read this story in full at: www.coastandcountrynews.co.nz

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BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS

Boysenberries, kiwifruit, sustainability and a good lifestyle Second-generation fruit growers Craig and Lani Julian have a unique philosophy when it comes to operating their boysenberry and kiwifruit businesses near Whakatane.

Craig and Lani Julian on their Whakatane boysenberry farm. Photos: Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

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While they strive to achieve top-performing operations, they like to do things as sustainably as possible while also enjoying life with their two children and what their backyard has to offer.

“A lot of people ask us about our goals – but our biggest goal is our lifestyle. Sometimes we feel guilty when we see highly-ambitious people – we do get offered a lot of opportunities in our industries – but we have other things that are important to us,” says Craig.

“We go camping, I’m captain of a surf lifesaving club, we travel quite a bit and spend lots of time surfing – so we like being holistic about our lives rather than getting concerned with making more money.”

However, they are serious when it comes to employing more sustainable methods on their orchards.

Craig was born and raised on his parents Joan and David’s berry farm – they established in 1975 – near Whakatane. Lani grew up on an organic vineyard.

The couple initially leased Craig’s parents’ 4.5ha boysenberry farm before purchasing it. “My brother Paul purchased the retail side of the business. And we’ve re-invented the process side of the business, which supplies boysenberries for process.

Nice crop “We proudly grow boysenberries exclusively for Heinz-Watties cans. We also have a small contract with Homegrown smoothies, supplying local operations with boysenberries,” says Craig.

The couple first developed a 2.2ha green kiwifruit orchard. “We did that on weekends, on the smell of an oily rag, and got it up and running then leased another green orchard off my father. Then we bought the berry farm and slowly purchased more orchards.”

Today they grow 25ha of kiwifruit – 50/50 gold and green – and 10ha of boysenberries.

Boysenberries are a raspberry/blackberry hybrid grown on vines up to 2m high. Craig says a boysenberry grows long canes during summer which are hung over and tied into wires during winter.

“In June-July we do a winter prune, buds burst from the canes mid-august, they flower in October and fruit November-December and each bud produces five fruit– so January through to May you walk away because the plant is growing its new cane.”

“We start picking fruit in early-December, peaking for Christmas then finish early-January.”

Craig says it’s a nice crop apart from the need to pick a few hundred tonne of boysenberries in a short, sharp three-week window.

“It’s really challenging to find 100 people for threefour weeks of the year and get them up to speed to ensure they’re making minimum wage.”

“And it’s a highly risky crop because you’re battling against fungal diseases, rain and the environment.”

While Craig doesn’t think it’s possible to grow boysenberries organically – “the pressure from fungal

infection would be too great” – he does employ as many environmentally-sustainable methods as he can.

“Use of agrochemicals is limited wherever possible by using biological alternatives and our plants are provided with strong, healthy, balanced soils, allowing them to use their own natural defence systems to overcome disease and pest pressure.”

No plastic

The berry orchard floods badly during winter so they are working on a pump system to deal with this.

“We also pump water out of sumps in the ground and into tanks for irrigation, recycling water.”

And they use cardboard to package boysenberries.

“Watties have asked to shrink-wrap our pallets but we don’t allow that. We have a really aggressive attitude towards no plastics. This is because we’re surfers and beach-dwellers – we live in the ocean as much as we can so we really believe plastics are killing the earth.

“We live on our orchard and love breathing the air, so we minimise our spraying programme and are always looking for any innovation that’s softer and kinder on the environment,” says Craig.

On their kiwifruit orchards they’re focused on reducing their carbon footprint. “We don’t want any artificial shelterbelt because we love trees.

“We’ve never been big sprayers of weeds – instead we like to focus on soil biology. We partially do our own fruit programme – and to minimise our solid fertiliser input we increase use of foliar sprays.

“We like seaweeds, we put tonnes and tonnes of compost on and have a busy programme of natural inputs.”

Craig admits he initially struggled with understanding organic methods of growing fruit, so completed some biological farming courses. “Then we started growing a mixture between organic and conventional crops of kiwifruit – and we’re about to develop a solely organic gold kiwifruit orchard this winter.” Here they’re planning a native wetland to feed water into the orchard – “from there it can run into tanks for use”.

Green approach

Craig says their biggest challenge growing kiwifruit is Psa-v. “We had a few orchards wiped out from it – that was probably because of our green approach. I was a latecomer to adopt copper. I didn’t believe in it but I soon learnt it was a bit of a necessity. Although now we’re at the front of backing off on using these types of measures as we’ve begun to understand Psa better and learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Craig and Lani are very excited about kiwifruit’s future. “On a recent trip to Japan, hosted by Zespri, everyone was talking about a red variety and when we might see that, and a new green.”

And they’re also excited their children, Ella, 15, and Jai, 12, are keen to be involved in the fruit-growing business in future.

Merle Foster

BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS

An emerald makeover

Sheep are part of a diverse operation at Emerald Hills.

Rose and Rick Powdrell. an Environment Focus Farm. The three-year project’s goal was to highlight on-farm environmental work being done, how to go about it and how farmers can involve local bodies.

One significant result was installation of troughs across a large portion of the farm, which previously relied on spring-fed dams, taking stock away from natural waterways. Other work included planting poplar poles and Manuka seedlings and installing detention dams to alleviate washing out in gullies.

“Our biggest problem here is surface runoff and what that might take with it, so we’ve put in dams to catch sediment to ensure we’re minimising losses of nutrients and sediment.”

They did a Level 3 Environment Plan as well. “It was a five-year plan so we’re still working through that.”

The focus for the next three years is on fencing off gullies, wetlands and now-redundant dams once used for stock water.

Merle Foster Read this story in full at: www.coastandcountrynews.co.nz

Photos: Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Rick and Rose Powdrell are the third generation of the family to farm Emerald Hills near Te Puke.

Since they first took ownership of a large part of the farm in 1986 they’ve gradually transformed 446ha – with 382ha effective – into a diverse drystock operation with environmentalism at its core. “My Grandfather Jack bought the property in 1939. Both Jack and my father John were forward-thinkers,” says Rick.

“They did some great things which have benefited the land, such as fencing off steep gullies and gorges.

“As times have passed and focuses have changed, I always say past generations were doing things that were good environmentally but were doing them because they were good from a management perspective.”

In the early-1990s Rick and Rose approached Bay of Plenty Regional Council to undertake environmental protection work on their property.

“The first thing we did with BOPRC was create a soil and water conservation plan; we’ve just carried on from there.”

The Powdrells have fenced off significant waterways – unusually that form most of the property’s boundary – and planted thousands of trees for the benefit of their own property and the greater Kaituna catchment.

Steeper paddocks have become sheep-only zones.

Pinus radiata was planted as part of earlier projects in retired areas – but Rick says most retired land has been left to regenerate naturally. “We find these areas first get covered with bracken then natives pop up and eventually overtake.”

Today some fenced off areas have received Manuka plantings. “This is primarily because we have wild deer at the back, so we have to manage them along with other pests. They don’t tend to worry the Manuka.”

Rick’s also worked with BOPRC on biological controls. In the 1980s he established a receptacle weevil to help control nodding thistles.

Part of Federated Farmers for a long time – he’s served as BOP Provincial president and Federated Farmers meat and fibre industry group chairperson – Rick says it wasn’t until he was elected to the board that he really got involved in politics of environment.

“This focused me to look at my own property and say: ‘What are the environmental issues we’ve got and let’s focus on those’. Four years ago Beef + Lamb NZ approached the Powdrells, for their property to become

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BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS

Finding a sustainable way forward Fraser McGougan has seen many farmers lose interest with dairying. He’s not one of them.

He and wife Katherine purchased his family’s farm in 2011 following a succession plan instigated with foresight by parents Gavin and Charlotte McGougan. Now – having spent the last seven years paying down debt and improving profitability on-farm – they’re more focused than ever on the dairy industry.

And while their vision remains clear that the 430 crossbred cow twice-a-day milking operation on 137ha effective near Whakatane remains profitable, Fraser’s also implementing changes on-farm that will benefit the environment.

“We started with 270 cows on the home farm and added more cows as we acquired more land. As a young farming couple we’ve done a fair bit of benchmarking, now we’re trying to find out where we sit environmentally,” says the fourth-generation farmer.

Recent years have brought a change in focus “into looking at environmental best practice and how the farm can still be sustainable, viable and economic in 100 years’ time”. “Our mentality has changed – we now think that we look after the land and it looks after us.”

“I want our farm to be seen as an example of what can be done on a pretty standard farm, while balancing profitability and environmental standards. Small steps now lead to big differences down the track.”

In their first year owning the business they created a 34-bail rotary by retrofitting an old platform made for 28 cows. Since then they’ve installed technology to improve milking efficiency and save on water and power use. “We’ve put in automatic cup removers, bail restraints, automated teat spray, compressed air to purge the milk lines so you don’t require water, a heat recovery unit and snap-chilling for milk cooling.

“I did the milking for seven years solid; now I have two staff it’s about making the one-person shed a nice work environment for them,” says Fraser. Freshwater is re-used at the cowshed up to three times.

“When water enters the shed its first use is for pre-cooling milk – then it is re-used to wash-down the plant and is pumped to a tank for floodwash. This keeps our effluent storage

requirements down and reduces the amount you need to irrigate. It means you use less fresh water and you have less effluent water to get rid of. A guesstimate is it halves our water use at the cowshed.”

The farm also has an increasing area under effluent irrigation. “We have 36ha. Very shortly this will climb to 42ha – with 420 cows. This saves us on purchasing nutrients.”

In fertiliser application, Fraser has focused on precision farming using nutrients smarter to encourage grass-growth. “Nitrogen has a bell curve for its use, so we believe it’s better to use 23 units or 50kg of urea per application – if we do use it. After that you’re just diminishing returns.”

The McGougans also purchased a spreader to time applications right. “And we’ve invested in a GPS tracking system for our tractors so we can achieve accurate application.”

Fraser says the right timing – and putting the right nutrients on in the right place brings results. “You decrease N use and application costs but you grow more grass. I’ve done the numbers and it really stacks up.”

Recently, Fraser has contracted individual paddock soil sampling.

He says it’s an initial expense but makes a huge difference in saving on total fertiliser spend and time. And it’s really eye-opening.

“We put different rates of fertiliser on different paddocks. Sampling has shown some paddocks have high Olsen Ps and don’t need fertiliser for two-three years.”

The farm has a small amount of native bush, including an impressive stand of kahikatea trees. “My father fenced this piece off, now with Katherine and the children, Emily, 7, Isaac, 5, and Liam, 2, we’re going through a regenerative process controlling weeds and pests. Another piece of land we bought has trees, so we’re retiring the land, fencing it off and replanting natives.”

Fraser says while its sounds like they invest lots, he insists they’ve been smart investments that serve to increase profitability on-farm and the environment. In 2016 they won Best People Leadership in the Dairy Business of the Year awards, plus Low Input with Best Financials and Best BOP-Central Plateau Farm Performance.

“The quote thrown is: ‘You’ve got to be black to be green’. But it does make sense – and it helps that Katherine is a whiz with the accounts and strategic planning.”

In May 2018 Fraser was named one of 15 climate change ambassadors, the only farmer from the BOP. He’s now on an 18-month commitment to champion the climate change cause as part of the Dairy Action for Climate Change. “With climate change I believe there’s something which is happening, and we’re going to make a difference and we’re going to make a positive change for our world. As an ambassador I’m learning so much information on this topic and trying to filter it through to our farming communities.”

Merle Foster

Katherine and Fraser McGougan on their Whakatane dairy farm.

Photo: Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS Franz and Sandy Imlig on their Springfield Orchard at Lower Kaimais. Photo: Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Achieving orchard goals in line with the environment In 1996 Franz and Sandy Imlig had an electrical business in Galatea and two young children.

Their accountant encouraged them to invest, so they purchased 14ha in Lower Kaimai – close to 500ft above sea level – with a plan to “do something with it, sell it, and make money”. “But we fell in love with the property and the challenge,” says the couple, who’ve established a consistently-producing avocado orchard while considering their footprint on the environment.

Now they’re finalists in 2019’s Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

At purchase the Imlig’s children were aged four and six. “We put a caravan on and travelled every second weekend for 15 years working on the property as much as we could,” says Sandy.

“It had fences and troughs for horses and cows so we had to take it all out.”

They began planting avocados in 1998. When they got 1100 trees they undertook a thinning process.

Today Springfield Orchard has 4.5ha of avocados, with 480 mature trees and 200 young trees. Some may question the land’s altitude, and while Franz says they don’t produce as much as lower orchards – since moving to the property four years ago they’ve managed to produce consistent crops. “We have our regime of doing things, which can be different to what others do,” says Franz. But since living onsite the Imligs have had more time to focus on the operation and become more environmentally-conscious.

Franz says the altitude brings a lot of rain “so we use a minimum amount of hard fertilisers”. “We did start by using a fert spreader but found we were using a lot of fert where we didn’t need it. We fertilise by hand; this cuts our fertiliser usage and allow us to give more to trees that need it. We’ve installed a fertigation system, putting foliar nutrients in our irrigation, which means we can do small amounts and often to keep the trees going.” Franz’s electrical skills have come in handy to limit their water use. The Imligs have an unconsented bore under BOPRC’s Rule 38: Permitted Take and Use of Groundwater up to 35m3/day per property.

“We supply five houses, which can draw what they like, and we’re allowed 35m3 in a 24-hour period.

“We have five 30,000L tanks – and Franz has wired the bore so if in any one 24-hour period we hit 35m3 our bore will not turn on again for another 24 hours.”

For irrigation they use tensiometers to measure ground dryness and how hard the tree is working to pull moisture. “We have tensiometers in each block so it’s not one-size-fits-all. The amount of water used will vary to how these tensiometers read per block.”

This saves water and gives each block the right amount it needs, and reduces electrical costs in pumping unnecessary water around the property.

Franz also installed a variable speed controller on the irrigation system “so if the system doesn’t need the full power to draw the water, it doesn’t use it”.

Sandy says they use soft sprays wherever possible “because we have wild bees and we’re a bee stud for our apiarist. We try to spray at night when we can, when bees are in hives, as it helps get larvae and moths”.

For three years the couple have been using reconstituted gypsum – old processed wallboard from houses that’s been recycled. “While it takes longer to absorb into soil structure, so you need to use a bit more, it’s a lot cheaper because nobody wants it and it’s a great alternative for waste product.”

In fact, they’ve been part of a number of trials – to improve their own orchard practices and find ways forward for their industry. A trial on new plantings with a vermicast company has seen them compare their product with standard methods of planting. Sandy, a Lynwood Nurseries’ BOP rep, says they trial new rootstocks too.

A large trial with Farmlands has looked at how much water they need to apply chemicals. Another trial is using a different product to lessen use of copper on-orchards.

They’re also restoring a BOPRC-listed reserve on the property.

Franz says ensuring their operation becomes more sustainable hasn’t been difficult. “It just takes a little bit of thought and ideas and putting them into practices.

“It’s about everything we can do sustainably while still making a profit.”

Merle Foster Read this story in full at: www.coastandcountrynews.co.nz

Page 43

AVOCADO

Page 44

Compliance key to new Asian markets Growing demand for avocados in Asia and changing market conditions across the Tasman are reinforcing the value of Avoco’s Avanza brand.

key retailers and distributors ered spray programmes will be vital during across the region. This the next few months to ensure growsaid, quality issues at ers meet phytosanitary requirements certain times of the needed to access all our export marseason did present kets, but especially those in Asia. a challenge for “Growing fruit to the highest Avanza’s customers standard allows our team of market to manage. managers to confidently allocate In order to benefit from the opportuWith avocado confruit to a range of developing Asian nities in Asia, Avoco is now encouraging sumption on the rise markets. This is especially imporits 700 growers to pay strict attention in Asia and the industant in a big crop season, or when to their spray programmes and overall try signalling next market conditions in Australia mean orchard management to ensure their we need to change our game plan to fruit is given the green light to supply its season’s NZ crop could be well up on generate the best return to growers.” growing number of Asian markets. this year’s, marketing Australia is NZ’s largest avocado China and Taiwan were added to Strict orchard management and communicaexport market but its growing Avoco’s total avocado export mix last practices must be observed if tions manager Steve year, bringing the number of markets it growers want to enjoy access to domestic production and speculaTrickett says Avoco supplies outside of Australia to eight.

Avanza’s full range of markets. tion Chilean fruit could gain market believes it’s more access within two years is illustrating important than ever for growers to the importance of having other market options.

Solid reputation ensure they are “all-market compliant”.

Should Australia’s changing market outlook weaken Fruit is marketed under the Avanza Growers who achieve this have the values of NZ fruit, especially mid-season, all-market brand and its well-established presence compliant growers would have the advantage of being in Asia – combined with Avoco’s market best chance of getting fruit picked earlier for Asia and benefiting from able to harvest early and supply a host of Asian marmanagement expertise this has enabled kets, including China, Japan and Korea. the brand to build a solid reputation for smart marketing decisions that increase returns to the grower pool, says Steve. supply chain excellence while strength“Pest monitoring and carefully consid- Larger programme ening the company’s relationships with In its first year of supply to China, Avoco exported 23,000 trays from about 30 growers, shipping one sea freight container per week to Shanghai. This represented 86 per cent of the industry’s exports to China.

Total volume planned was down due to a delayed programme start with Chinese Customs taking longer than anticipated to officially list NZ avocados as an approved import.

Next season, Avoco’s plan is to lift volumes to three containers per week across a 14-week period, with volume coming from more than 400 growers registered to supply China. “We’re pleased to have tested our chosen distribution network in China in 2018. Looking ahead to next year, while competitor pricing and Australia remains our number one market and top priority, volume from South America will be a consideration, but with a bigger crop pending, we will need to have more we anticipate being able to deliver a much larger sales programme in China and throughout Asia. eggs in the basket to serve customers beyond Australia.

“But for that to happen, growers need to work hard Our AVANZA brand is established in eight Asian markets and in their orchards to remain compliant and suitable for we need growers doing all they can to support developing as many markets as possible.”

Put a few more eggs in your basket

markets in Asia. Growers who tick the right boxes increase the chances of supplying Asia earlier in the season. To benefit, remaining all-market compliant is key.

Don’t take shortcuts with new plantings

avoco.co.nz

WHEN DO YOU WANT TO PICK? At Just Avocados, we are committed to providing a model that allows flexibility around harvest while maximising returns.

Talk to us about how we can maximise your orchard’s potential.

Kyra Fielden

John Emett

Grower Services Representative (Bay of Plenty)

Orchard Management and Grower Services

027 257 5028 kyra@justavocados.co.nz

027 476 9087 john@justavocados.co.nz

@justavocados info@justavocados.co.nz www.justavocados.co.nz 07 549 3027

CC0119

For technical advice on management practices that will get your fruit over the line, contact our team.

A lot of new plantings, replants or interplants have already gone in the ground or will soon be planted.

A few precautions to take note of are planting depth, overwatering and sunburn. When planting, ensure you firm the soil down gently as you plant so the tree does not collapse into the soil after rain or irrigation. This can cause collar rot and eventual death, especially with clonal rootstocks.

If you’re not following Just Avocados Ltd pre-planting and planting programme, your trees may display a wilted appearance for a period after planting due to transplant stress. This is sometimes misdiagnosed as water stress and treated with additional irrigation to the point of overwatering – the symptoms of which are also a wilted leaf appearance. The cycle continues until the soil becomes waterlogged and anaerobic, resulting in tree mortality.

Newly planted trees are also prone to sunburn as the sensitive, green cambium has little leaf cover and can quickly get sunburnt if sunburn protection has not been applied. Sunburn damage in severe cases can cause ringbarking and also eventual tree mortality.

Remove any flowers or fruitlets on newly-planted trees as you want all energy and resources to go into vegetative growth. Any flowers or setting fruit will hold back canopy growth. Pre-plant drenches, drenches at planting and post-planting drenches with beneficial microbes can be applied. This will improve root development, nutrient uptake and aid root rot resistance. This is especially beneficial in plantings within existing orchards, marginal areas and when replacing sick trees with new ones in the same hole or vicinity where disease pressure is high.

Remember that any orchard development, or new plantings, is an investment and one that will yield returns for up to 40-plus years. In light of orchard longevity, do not take any shortcuts. Ensure that you put in the time, resources and effort – it will definitely pay off.

Erica Faber of Just Avocados

AVOCADO

Page 45

Record entries for 2019 young fruit grower contest For the first time, the ay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower competition has received a record 11 entries for the eight available places in the competition.

Organisers had the tough job of whittling the 11 down to eight, using a ‘contestant selection matrix’ developed to take into consideration aspects such as the level of education achieved and the number of years full-time in the industry.

Those to make it through to the 2019 competition are Alex Ashe of Farmlands, Andrew Jenkins of Seeka, Dylan Wadsworth of Baygold, Emily Crum of Prospa, EastPack, Georgia Guy-Williams of Apata Group, Hamish McKain

of DMS, Megan Fox of Southern Cross Horticulture and Ranjit Singh of Weskco Ltd. The young growers will go headto-head in a series of practical and theory events to test their horticultural skills at the ‘Horticultural Village” from 9am-3pm at the Te Puke A&P Show on February 9.

Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Growers Upskilling Committee chair Andrew Dawson says the horticulture industry needs young talent to ensure it can continue to grow rapidly.

“The Young Fruit Grower competitions not only promote the talent that already exists in horticulture but also retains, develops and builds that talent.”

The 2019 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Gala Dinner on February 13, 2019, follows the

with tables of 10 available. This includes a three-course meal and entertainment. Networking and drinks start at 5.30pm.

NZKGI CEO Nikki Johnson says the gala dinner has proven to be both a very entertaining evening and a superb insight into the talent the industry has.

“It’s great to have competitions

such as the BOP Young Fruit Grower Competition, to not only showcase the industry’s talented future leaders but also support the development and growth of skilled personnel in the horticulture industry.”

Tickets, which are still available but selling fast, can be purchased from: www.bopyoungfruitgrower.co.nz

Comedian/actress Madeleine Sami will be MC for the 2019 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Gala Dinner on February 13. competition day and will involve a final speech competition and announcement of the winners.

The evening’s MC will be renowned comedian and actress Madeleine Sami. Tickets to the gala dinner are $90 per person,

Plan your pre-autumn nutrition now Well, we’re into the next season. Fruit set is looking good in some areas – others have too much and we’ve seen lots of cukes. There are a number of reasons for this, however essentially the fact is they are aborted embryos and therefore equal less fruit.

Our focus on-orchard is on the next plans. We’ve assessed orchard crop loads and will make some tactical pruning to reduce crop loads, overcropping and remove exposed fruit. We need leaf cover on the fruitlets; if there’s none we don’t have leaves to drive sizing.

That’ll place more load and stress on the tree and end with poor quality fruit. Removing leaves early will protect remaining fruit and ensure a better product to market. Injecting will be a core component to getting us through with the forecast crop load. Given the crop loading we’ll inject all trees in autumn, starting as soon as the red flush has gone.

deliver quality and premium avocados to the export markets. Next steps on your ‘action list’ should include nutrition, with steady rains start feeding again and bring up micronutrient levels pre-autumn.

Then there’s injecting; and planning with pruners.

AAL will have an early season training review with our pruning teams. The review is about getting a consistent approach to our pruning tasks. It’ll include setting a hierarchy of the prune – for example, crop load, height, width, light, structure etc.

Talk to your harvester and confirm their a ailability’.

Labour is a big issue and securing your harvester will be important in these bigger years. Bring them into the discussion with your packhouse to ensure the best picktime for your fruit, your crop load and the market.

®

Tony Bradley Aongatete Avocados Ltd

Injection trial

The Avocado Industry Council is running a field day in March discussing results of an injection trial. It’s a good opportunity to refresh yourself on best practices for this task. Aongatete Avocados Ltd will be there discussing our injection programmes. AAL puts in a significant number of injections per year and has done so for 14 years. So we have learnings to share.

Trees are showing signs recovery from over-fl wering and stress impact.

Over-fl wering seemed to be a bigger issue this year and in a number of cases pushed trees into stress mode and they suffered for a long time after fl wering. Good rains have helped drive new growth at long last. We now have trees in a state to start to developing fruit sizing and leaf quality.

Nutritional needs are focused to feeding the required leaf development and fruit growth. It’s a good opportunity to use lots of seaweed.

Fruit markets are challenging this last year with crop fl w issues and now quality is being challenging at season end. We’re talking to our exporters early. After this year we’ve heard they may be reviewing their crop fl ws.

I want to ensure we can

NETT VOLUME LITRES:

DISTRIBUTED BY:

contact: info@goodtogrownz.co.nz ph:0273470392 www.goodtogrownz.co.nz

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Page 46

AVOCADO

New, custom-designed avocado sprayer in WBOP The first Atom 4000 self-propelled sprayer – specifically customdesigned for avocados – has landed in New Zealand at Tanner Spraying Ltd to service Western Bay of Plenty orchards.

Owner Ross Tanner and R&R Tractors’ Robin Murray have worked for four years to bring the machine to NZ – and have engineered it to suit the unique needs of spraying avocados. Ross’ business has used Atom sprayers, primarily designed for use in kiwifruit orchards, since 2005.

“But the avocado business is growing, so we have this brand of sprayers and the manufacturer Andreoli Engineering, a small company in Italy, has the ability to

design sprayers to fit into niche markets,” says Robin.

With one-third of Tanner Spraying Ltd’s clients avocado orchardists, Ross wanted to upgrade to a safer, more efficient machine for the job.

Spraying avocados comes with challenges – most WBOP orchards feature undulating terrain, growers require services within tight timeframes due to monitoring requirements and you’re battling increment weather, says Ross.

He also needed a safe and comfortable machine for operators that would do the job accurately.

Less fill-up stops

The Atom 4000’s many features meet these needs.

The 3500L tank – most others are 2000L – means it requires less fill-up stops, reducing travel and more spraying time. “The 3500L will be gone in 45 minutes,” says Ross.

It’s 126hp diesel engine, heavy-duty axles with a Limited Slip system, and hydrostatic transmission ensure accurate and smooth driving.

“On hillsides I feel comfortable driving this Atom,” says operator Gareth Anderton. Independent suspension and automatic levelling also give it stability and comfort and a good feeling as it drives over humps, hollows or hydralada impressions, says Ross. And wider wheels leave orchard floors unharmed.

The cab is roomy, air-conditioned, higher for greater visibility, pressurised, chemical and dust-proof and has an extra seat. “So for driver health and safety, and fatigue, it’s ticks all the boxes,” says Robin.

REVITALISE SOIL & FUNGAL REVITALISE FUNGAL REVITALISE SOIL SOIL && FUNGAL ACTIVITY IN YOUR ORCHARD Redesigned fan ACTIVITY IN IN YOUR YOUR ORCHARD ACTIVITY ORCHARD REVITALISE SOIL & FUNGAL The 1000mm diameter fan has unique Revital are suppliers of Premium Compost, guide vanes for accurate and even spray of REVITALISE SOIL &IN FUNGAL Revital aresuppliers suppliers of Chicken Premium Compost, avocado trees. “The vanes direct air and Revital are of Premium Compost, Vermicast and Aged Manure.

ACTIVITY YOUR ORCHARD spray through and up into the tree much Vermicastand and Aged Aged Chicken Manure.

Vermicast Chicken Manure.

ACTIVITY IN YOUR ORCHARD better – rather than just blasting spray Revital are suppliers of Premiumanywhere,” Compost, ALISE SOIL & FUNGAL says Ross.

REVITALISE SOIL & FUNGAL The men also had the manufacturer Revital are suppliersVermicast of Premium Compost, and Aged Chicken Manure. redesign the fan, changing its outlets. “This TY ACTIVITY IN YOUR ORCHARD YOUR ORCHARD Vermicast IN and Aged Chicken Manure. pushes spray through avocado trees better

are suppliers of Premium Compost, Revital are suppliers of Premium Compost, SUPPLY, DELIVER AND SPREAD SERVICE AVAILABLE. DELIVER AND SPREAD SERVICE AVAILABLE. cast SUPPLY, and Aged Chicken Manure.

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Elenka Nikoloff SUPPLY, DELIVERMaureen RabbidgeSERVICE AVAILABLE. AND SPREAD Elenka Nikoloff Maureen Rabbidge TAURANGA NORTH AND SPREAD SERVICE TAURANGA SOUTH SUPPLY, DELIVER AVAILABLE. Elenka Nikoloff Maureen Rabbidge TAURANGA NORTH TAURANGA SOUTH 021 595 311 | elenka@revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz

021 595 311 | elenka@revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz TAURANGA NORTH TAURANGA SOUTH www.revital.co.nz 021 595 311 | elenka@revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz Elenka Nikoloff Maureen Rabbidge TAURANGA SOUTH

021 595 311 | elenka@revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz 021 595 311 | elenka@revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz ng Ltd’s loff Rabbidge www.revital.co.nz www.revital.co.nz Elenka Nikoloff Maureen Maureen Rabbidge Tanner Sprayi avocado ed RTH TAURANGA SOUTH custom-design tion.

TAURANGA NORTH TAURANGA SOUTH yer in ac ra sp revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz r.

021 595 311 | elenka@revital.co.nz 027 440 8881 | maureen@revitalfert.co.nz otos: Merle Foste

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Small fill tank

They’ve attached a smaller fill tank, at a lower height, to the back of the machine. “A pump sends water to the 3500L tank. As fast as we fill this small tank, we can fill the 3500L – it takes 15 minutes.”

Other modifications include retrofitted bars, allowing trees to slide along the machine to prevent fruit and tree damage. Installed cameras allow staff to monitor spray application, and a Tracmap GPS tracks application. “We can show the grower exactly what trees have been sprayed,” says Ross.

“Growers can even go online and track the machine’s progress; when it enters the property, ground covered and trees targeted.”

Robin says Atom 4000s are in the US and Australia – “but I believe this is the first one in the world specifically designed for avocados”.

“The key to these machines is they have to be fit for purpose. That’s why the team at R&R Tractors work with clients to ensure their needs are met – because they’re a huge investment,” says Robin, who is grateful Ross has worked with his company for future Merle Foster benefit of other clients. benefi

and reduce drifts over top,” says Ross.

“It makes our service more efficient and cost-effective.”

SUPPLY, DELIVER AND SPREAD SERVICE AVAILABLE.

www.revital.co.nz Elenka Nikoloff MaureenAVAILABLE. Rabbidge IVER SUPPLY, AND SPREAD SERVICE AVAILABLE. DELIVER AND SPREAD SERVICE TAURANGA NORTH www.revital.co.nz TAURANGA NORTH TAURANGA SOUTH

Ross says the machine has a perception of being larger – many clients ask how it will get through their orchard and be filled up onsite. “It’s the same height as a tractor – plus we’ve solved the issue of a higher fill connection.”

Ph

Above: R&R Tractors owner Robin Murray and Tanner Spraying Ltd owner Ross Tanner with his new custom-designed Atom 4000.

COUNTRY LIVING

Page 47

Waikato women explore India’s rural landscapes Lot Job or 25 s f Deal more or

At a tea plantation in Nilgiri Hills, Ooty. Top row: Sharon Abernethy, Jean Donovan, Karen Lucas, Christine Lewis. Middle row: Rita Cutforth, Hillary Robertson, Janet Macky.

Bottom row: Carolyne Gatenby, Rita Kent, Andrea O’Brien. Photo: supplied

When you hear that 10 women from rural Paterangi, near Te Awamutu, spent three weeks travelling around India with an English-speaking guide in a 26-seater bus, there has to be a story there.

The women met while their children were at Paterangi School, and for around 15 years have shared outings and weekends away. Last March, they embarked on something more adventurous. On behalf of the group, Jean Donovan, Rita Cutforth, Carolyne Gatenby, Janet Macky and Sharon Abernethy congregated to discuss some of the farming practices they saw travelling southwest India.

The Wayanad district is the least populated area in Kerala state and is mainly a farming community. The farm the group visited was about five acres. Fruits and crops grown included rubber, spices, coffee, bananas, bamboo, cashew nuts, beans, papaya, pawpaw, peppers, chilli peppers, cardamom and rice. “There was so much diversification,” says Rita. “Every part of the land was either growing something or being prepared to plant the next crop.” “Nothing is wasted,” says Janet, “If it isn’t sold, it’s used to feed animals, for medicine or crafts.”

Wild boar

Indian farms have few fences and crops are separated by raised dust walking tracks, some just wide enough to take a little tuk-tuk van. “The paths are kept clear and raised because of snakes,” says Carolyne. “We were told not to walk in the grass or leaf litter.”

Wild boar are a huge problem in rural India, causing extensive crop damage and attacking humans. Boar is considered sacred by Hindus, the area’s dominant religion, so cannot be killed. The farm had a small hut where, a watchman keeps guard against any marauding boar at night.

The women say there was a noticeable drive towards an organic, sustainable environment with no evidence of spraying. “The farmer talked about everything

working together,” says Sharon. “Certain insects are considered friendly to different crops.”

While old machinery was used the farm was very labour-intensive with much work carried out by women. An ox and cart was still used, and produce was taken to the co-operative in the nearest village on the back of the tuk-tuk. Water came from their own well and there was electricity on the property.

Self-sufficient

“The people live such a simple and hard-working life,” says Jean. “But there was an air of contentment and they were completely self-sufficient.”

The group were amazed at the acres and acres of rice grown in Alleppey, Kerala, where 900km of waterways provide water for flooding the paddy fields. They toured some waterways in a converted kettuvallam houseboat (rice barge). “We saw some older, smaller machinery used to harvest the paddy fields,” says Rita. “But on the whole, it was another very labourintensive process with a lot of double-handling. Health and safety was noticeably non-existent,” says Sharon.

“Whatever type of work was carried out, no safety gear was worn; they wore jandals, no hats, nothing.”

Read this story in full at: www.coastandcountrynews.co.nz

8 Pepper St PO Box 17, Matamata Freephone:

0800 562 382

www.jobevalves.com

Page 48

COUNTRY LIVING

A back country tour you won’t regret If you’re planning to drive South Island’s back country, consider joining Robbie and Connie Crickett of NZ Adventures.

The self-drive back country tours company started in the late-1990s offering drives through the South Island – and Robbie has been involved guiding tours since then.

“Our tours for the 2018/2019 season have sold out,” says Connie. “But the 2019/2020 season’s offering has been finalised and is now open for bookings.”

The season is November-April, with tours centred around high country farming. “The tours work in with farming; starting after lambing has finished in late-spring and finishing mid-April, hopefully before snow closes the tracks.”

The company offers five tours. High Country Heritage is six-seven days down the Southern Alps’ eastern side from Blenheim to Cardrona.

“The April 2020 tour finishes in Cardrona on the eve of the biannual Wanaka Warbirds Airshow.”

The West Coast Explorer is five days from Hanmer

Springs to Greymouth by backtracks.

Highlights include the beech forestlined tracks around St Arnaud and Murchison, coal and gold mining heritage in Denniston and Reefton areas and spectacular tracks inland of Ahaura.

The 46 South follows an imaginary line across the far south, from the Catlins to Fiordland into Central Otago. Highlights include the Catlins’ coastline and the southern end of Lake Manapouri.

Big Sky is six

days on a very large loop from South Canterbury into Central Otago and back into Canterbury. Highlights include very high barren tracks of Central Otago’s conservation parks and high country sheep stations.

And the Eastern Explorer drives the Eastern foothills of South Canterbury and Otago through Hunter Hills, Hakataramea, Oteake, Strath Taieri, Waipori Gorge, Te Papanui Conservation Park and the Lammermoors and Rough Ridge.

NZ Adventures’ new 2020 season tour dates and information packs are at: www.nzadventures.co.nz

Touring the South Island is unforgettable with NZ Adventures.

Helping create NZ’s next Ironmen Two of the Central Plateau’s largest farming businesses are getting behind the Taupo Ironkidz Triathlon, which each year is on February’s last weekend, a week before Ironman NZ.

Phone: 07 362 8433

Ironkidz is a triathlon for school age kids. It’s all about participation, achieving a personal best and having a heap of fun. There are three events: triathlon for kids aged seven-15; a Splash & Dash for five-seven-year-olds; and an elite section, for more competitive triathletes.

The triathlon – a fundraiser for Waipahihi Primary School – is one of Taupo’s longest-standing events with 2019 being its 20th year.

Wairakei Estate has been naming rights sponsor of Ironkidz since 2012, with Blue Grass Contracting Ltd joining as a sponsor the same year. Blue Grass now sponsors the elite section.

Ironkidz event manager Jon Palmer says Ironkidz has become a large and much-loved event in the area, with

1000 kids taking part. “As a school fundraiser we couldn’t do without our sponsors and we hugely appreciate the support from Wairakei Estate and Blue Grass Contracting, and our other sponsors.”

Wairakei Estate is one of the largest environmentally-sustainable pastoral holdings in the Southern Hemisphere while Blue Grass Contracting Ltd is a major agricultural contracting company cultivating and harvesting large numbers of hectares in the Waikato/ Taupo area.

Blue Grass Contracting Ltd’s John Nettleton says they love getting behind Ironkidz and helping build confidence in the kids, by them getting involved and achieving their goals. “It’s a really fun event.”

The Ironkidz triathlon is on February 24, 2019, with entries capped at 200 for the Splash & Dash, and 800 for the Ironkidz triathlon. To enter, visit: www.ironkidz.co.nz

The Ironkidz triathlon at Taupo draws entrants from wide and far.

COUNTRY LIVING

Page 49

Falling in love with chickens O U NT R

The book ‘Cluck. A Book of happiness for chicken lovers’, published

by Exisle Publishing, is a celebration of hens, roosters and chicks, combining highquality photography with inspirational and amusing quotes to create the perfect gift for chicken fans.

The book’s author Freya Haanen, of Dunedin, says she’s always been fond of chickens but since researching this book she’s fallen in love with them even more. Accompanied by beautiful pictures of Plymouth Rocks and Orpingtons to Welsummers

N NIE

S

FU

and Silkies, this collection of quotes and proverbs will steal any chicken lover’s heart. Thanks to Exisle Publishing, Coast & Country News has a copy of ‘Cluck’

by Freya Haanen to give away. To be in to win, email captions for the photo at the far right and send with your name and address with ‘Country Funnies’ as the subject line to: merle@sunmedia.co.nz Or put these details on an envelope and post to Country Funnies, PO Box 240, Tauranga 3140 to arrive by February 18.

Winner of the December Country Funnies caption is Diane Doneghue of Te Pahu for her caption: ‘Reduce your farm insurance premium – keep machinery in a well-lit area’. She wins a copy of the book ‘Godley’ by Terry Kinloch.

Y

C

Any self-professed chicken owner will know that there’s more to these endearing, quirky, clever characters than the eggs they produce.

What’s the fuss about turmeric?

Curcumin extracted from turmeric is possibly the most studied natural compound. There are research papers covering everything from its antiantioxidant capacity, to it helping cancer defences, protecting brain cells against age-related problems, neurodegenerative problems and many more. However, most research is focussed on its antiinflammatory capacity.

Almost every chronic disease either causes or results in inflammation. While the inflammatory process is essential for healing, it can cause new problems or worsen existing problems.

Just think about this for a moment.

Heart disease is inflammation of blood vessels leading to plaques. Inflammation is part of how cancer cells spread. All autoimmune disease is inflammatory. Neurodegenerative diseases including dementia-related conditions are inflammatory. All respiratory and allergic conditions are inflammatory.

Most skin problems are caused or worsened by inflammation and osteoarthritis is, of course, inflammatory.

This is why most medical treatments for these conditions centre around reducing inflammation with

everything from humble aspirin through to powerful steroids. Part of the problem is some people cannot tolerate medications, or they cannot use them long term; or in some cases increase they risk of other health problems.

For example I have a client who had battled tennis elbow for some time. While medications provided temporary relief he decided to add my curcumin and potent oligomeric proanthocyanidins – known as OPC – alongside Omega 3 fish oil and an anti-inflammatory diet. After a few months he reported his elbow was much better.

This should not surprise as multiple studies and research show curcumin helps to normalise several inflammatory processes, especially inflammatory cytokine and prostaglandin production.

Curcumin acts as an immune system conductor restoring natural immune balance.

John Arts (B.Soc.Sci, Dip Tch, Adv.Dip.Nut.Med) is a nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health Ltd. For questions or advice, contact John on 0800 423559 or email: john@abundant.co.nz Join his newsletter at: www.abundant.co.nz

ric Turme C P with O

Abundant Health

‘Cluck. A Book of happiness for chicken lovers’ is the book prize for February.

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Page 50

CARTAGE & EARTHWORKS

New wetland on the way near Tauranga Initial work on a new wetland ecosystem at Te Puna could begin by March.

The development, which will feature cycling and walking tracks plus cultural and ecological signage for all to enjoy, has been kickstarted by a $250,000 Bay-

Trust grant. The 25ha Tahataharoa wetland, on the Te Puna headland of the Wairoa River near Tauranga will become a public reserve owned by Pirirakau Incorporated Society and jointlymanaged in conjunction with Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

The two parties have negotiated during several years with a private landowner to purchase the site and are excited to transform it into a functional wetland ecosystem.

The joint project is one of four successful applicants in BayTrust’s inaugural Community Amenities funding round, which is designed to help fund building or upgrading community and environmental assets across the region.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council deputy CEO Gary Allis hopes initial work can now get underway by March.

Stage one is expected to cost around $1.4 million, and Gary says the grant from BayTrust is a significant step forward.

“It’s fantastic as it provides the project with the recognition it deserves. It’s a big achievement for Pirirakau but also for the community who will get a lot of use and enjoyment from this area and be invited to get involved in the restoration itself.

“This grant now enables us to go forward and secure the additional funds required.”

The plan is to restore the wetland with native plantings and re-establish inter-tidal vegetation to create a home for native birds and enrich the area’s biodiversity.

A boardwalk with viewing platforms and signage will be built, a combined walkway and cycle track will be created, and cultural gateways will reflect the deep connection tangata whenua have with the site.

Piriraku Incorporated Society environment manager Julie Shepherd says the area is the final resting place of

the hapu’s principal ancestor, Tutereinga.

The project will help restore mana and reconnect people to the land, which was confiscated for a military settlement between 1840-1860.

Julie says the hapu has fought for years to prevent development that would disturb the area, and the society is thrilled to be collaborating with WBOPDC and the current private landowner to protect it for future generations.

“It allows is to visit the land once again and care for it. From our perspective, it’s not just an ecological restoration but a spiritual journey of returning home.”

Community groups and schools within Pirirakau’s rohe will be invited to help create the new ecological and cultural space, and interpretation boards will be installed to help share the area’s history.

“I’d like to pay tribute to our chairman, Rawiri Kuka, who has pursued this project for so many years,” says Julie.

“Due to the success and return of the site, he’ll retire next year. I’d also like to acknowledge the kaumatua involved who are living and those who have passed.

The reward is theirs as well.”

BayTrust CEO Alastair Rhodes says the Community Amenities Fund is designed to grant between $100,000-$500,000 to capital projects that deliver new permanent facilities, or upgrade and preserve existing community and environmental assets.

Fortythree projects were considered this time. “Once restored, this 25ha will add approximately five per cent to the total amount of wetlands in Tauranga Harbour,” says Alastair. “It will provide new recreational activities, improve our natural environment and help bring our community together. BayTrust is looking forward to this project taking shape and congratulates all involved for their collaborative efforts so far.”

Track construction begins on rail trail The sight of bods on bikes along the Te Aroha to Matamata Hauraki Rail Trail is one step closer to reality now track construction is underway.

Work began on this leg of the trail on January 8,

following a blessing by kaumatua Mokoro Gillett, with Splice Construction awarded the construction tender.

The 38.5km grade one track will start from the Te Aroha Railway Station

and head along Te ArohaGordon Rd, Mace and Alexandra roads, Manawaru and Tower roads to the Matamata Trail head

by Railside by the Green on Hetana St. Hauraki Rail Trust general manager

Diane Drummond says enquiries on when the new route will be rideable have been high, with visitors lining up to be among the first to experience the new trail.

“The cycle-trail leading to Matamata is a key component of the trail network and is expected to drive cycle-related visitor numbers to nearly 130,000 per annum during the next few years.”

Diane says the creation of the Hauraki Rail Trail has been a huge boost for businesses in the Hauraki and Waikato regions and the Hauraki Rail Trail Trust has engaged with social media guru Cass Esposito, to increase traffic to the Hauraki Rail Trail website.

“This is increasing exposure to business partners and increasing visitor nights from our major markets. Numbers are already up across the network with some businesses reporting 50 per cent growth on this time last year.”

But there is still work to be done before people will be able to ride the trail. Hedge removal and fence construction will continue and six bridges will be installed in various locations. Landscaping and signage will also appear later this year, ahead of the official opening in late-2019.

FERTILISER

Page 51

Winchmore for sale - but will keep fert trial A drone image looking out over Winchmore Research Station. Photo: AgResearch.

The site of New Zealand’s longest-running fertiliser trials under pasture is up for sale – but the farming community is being reassured the long-term trials will be continued.

AgResearch, which has decided to sell, says the station northwest of Ashburton has been contributing to local and regional research for more than 72 years.

Winchmore was originally purchased in 1946, with a focus on providing local research into the use of border dyke irrigation.

Long term fertiliser trials were started in the 1950s and together the site has contributed to more than 500 science publications.

But AgResearch director of

infrastructure John O’Dea says projects and priorities have changed in recent years, which has seen more research conducted on commercial farms or smallscale intensive research.

“This means the Winchmore site has primarily focused on the long term fertiliser trials.”

The 4.1-ha fertiliser trial has been in place since the 1950s, and will continue operating beyond the sale of the farm.

The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand has signed a 35-year lease with AgResearch to ensure the long-term fertiliser research trials at Winchmore continue.

FANZ chief executive Vera Power says the site has been providing extremely useful information for almost 70 years now.

“This has allowed us to track

changes to pastoral land as agriculture evolves and supports our evidence base for sustainable management.”

Winchmore’s fertiliser trials complement the other longterm fertiliser trial, on North Island Hill Country, near the Manawatu Gorge.

John says the combination of Lismore soils and spray irrigation at Winchmore will enable a wide range of future cropping and grazing options.

“Modern de-stoning technology now means the stony Lismore soils are regarded as some of the most sought-after and productive soils for intensive vegetable and arable production.”

Crops on farm this season include potatoes, wheat, barley, maize, peas and specialist seed crops, with a small area retained

in lucerne and permanent pasture.

Historically, the farm had limited winter-forage cropping, and was primarily used as a grazing property.

Originally 308ha, the farm is being subdivided into two parcels, either side of the Dromore Methven Rd, with the larger parcel of approximately 247ha to be sold on the open market.

Winchmore provides a range of buildings from offices, meeting rooms, workshop and implement sheds, to a woolshed and covered yards, and a new set of cattle yards with a concrete base.

The farm will be offered for sale by deadline private treaty, with offers to be received by the end of February if not sold prior.

In 2017, Winchmore’s irrigation was upgraded from border dyke (flood) irrigation to overhead sprinkler irrigation, in line with the transition across Canterbury to more water efficient irrigation systems.

“The sale of Winchmore will enable AgResearch to invest in its wider research facilities, and thus continue driving prosperity by transforming agriculture,” says John.

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Waikato Regional Council’s sustainable agriculture advisor technical, Bala Tikkisetty, has an impressive list of letters after his name, and a huge passion for sharing of information he is so knowledgeable about.

Bala was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. He studied for a BSc in Agriculture at the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University in India. This was followed by a Masters in Agricultural Sciences and a Post Graduate Diploma in Plant Protection.

He moved into the workforce and by 1994 held a senior position at the Department of Agriculture in his home state, Andhra Pradesh.

And with India being the largest dairy producer in the world, he had first-hand experience and knowledge surrounding the impact of intensive farming on the environment.

Eager for a change, Bala and his family moved to New Zealand in 1994, with his background and qualifications making him a valuable immigrant to the country.

Initially he worked at Victoria University in Wellington in a research programme for screening of pesticides.

Then he spent about 10 years as a land sustainability officer at Southland Regional Council before coming to Waikato Regional Council in 2006.

“In my current role I’d describe myself as a conduit between

the researchers and what happens in the field,” says Bala.

This involves ensuring he stays up-to-date with current research, then finding ways of passing this information through to the farming communities.

“I liaise with industry bodies, such as Beef+Lamb NZ, DairyNZ, Deer NZ, Pork NZ, Fonterra, and the fertiliser and other farming industries.

“I also work with research establishments such as universities, and Crown Research Institutes, such as AgResearch.”

Armed with new information and facts, Bala is responsible for producing informative material to present to farmers at workshops and field days put on by Waikato Regional Council.

Bala’s identifies soil erosion and debatable water quality as two of the main issues experienced by the Waikato region.

“The sustenance of the world depends on farming and we must manage our ‘natural capital’ sustainably.

“Soil and water are our most valuable assets, and are connected to everything.

If we destroy them, we lose everything.”

During the years in this role, Bala has noticed the issues have been accepted by farmers and the majority are very committed to remedying problems.

“I advise farmers to look at their practices and analyse the impact on their soil health, water quality and productivity.” If you’d like to make contact with Bala, email: bala.tikkisetty@ waikatoregional.govt.nz Catherine Fry

Waikato Regional Council’s sustainable agriculture advisor technical, Bala Tikkisetty. Photo: Catherine Fry.

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FERTILISER

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Page 53

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In 1983 Massey University research suggested 1.8m tonnes of lime were required on New Zealand soils each year. Just 1.3m tonnes are applied annually.

Lime tonnage has not increased since 1981, while applications of other nutrients have increased markedly.

Between 1983 and 2007 the total nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers applied went from 913,724 tonnes to 1,885,774 tonnes, doubling in 24 years. In 2017, urea tonnage went to 820,000, doubling in a few years. That is 345,000kg of nitrogen from urea alone. This much nitrogen requires about 700,000 tonnes of lime to counter the increase in acidity, as nitrogen strips calcium from the soil. That makes the total annual shortfall 700,000 tonnes of calcium or the equivalent approaching 2m tonnes of lime.

Sources of calcium other than lime include Dolomite and various phosphate products. Dolomite is a favoured product that contains necessary magnesium that will be depressed if calcium is applied without it. Acidic phosphates are not conducive to good microbial life, particularly fungi. One of fungi’s functions is to hold calcium in the soil. Without fungi, 98-100 per cent of added calcium can be lost.

Unfortunately, NZ authorities don’t acknowledge the difference between calcium in soil and the availability or not of calcium to plants. If calcium was considered deficient, the chances are agricultural lime may be applied in a bid to correct the levels. If the pH was satisfactory, then lime may not be applied at all.

The reality is quite different. You may not need to apply large amounts of lime, but you do need to apply calcium, not necessarily as lime.

The results may not be instant. They may take several years, but if the biology in the soil has been nurtured, the results can be in excess of any application you will have made. Some soil test calcium figures have multiplied by nine times the starting figure with modest inputs of calcium during a five-year period. The key is the biology. With salt fertilisers having a negative effect on soil microbes, most NZ farms will not capture the full benefit of lime applied in the traditional way; more so if boron is not added, but more on that later.

Dr William Albrecht, of the USA, demonstrated the effect of calcium versus pH, when he drilled soybeans with equal amounts of calcium as calcium hydroxide (alkaline), calcium nitrate (neutral) or calcium chloride (acidic). The crop yields were the same independent of pH. For example, the results were superior to soybeans grown without calcium.

Do not confuse the terms calcium, lime and pH. The primary objective of food production is to produce profitable nutrient-dense food for human consumption. Even with satisfactory pH, calcium needs to be supplied for microbe and plant health. In the short term, improving calcium levels in the soil to 68 per cent of the base saturation, on a PAL soil test, will result in better crop and animal health, quality and production. Medium term, the application of less fertiliser and nitrogen, can result. Think of calcium as an important fertiliser and not as something we periodically add to regulate soil pH which is a measurement of hydrogen.

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

SHEEP & BEEF

Page 55

It’s a good time to be a sheep farmer in NZ Sheep numbers peaked in 1982 at 70 million sheep, Ten years ago New Zealand’s sheep farming but the national flock has been in decline ever since. sector was facing tough assaults upon its Today it numbers 27.3 million. claim as one of the country’s most important Productivity gains have been impressive, with the sector generating almost the same tonnage of sheep export sectors. Strong growth in dairying meat today off that drastically reduced number, thanks was knocking sheep farms from some of to farmers’ efforts to lift lambing rates to an average our most traditional sheep farming areas 129 per cent this season. like King Country and Southland, while exceptionally low returns were threatening Sheepmeat Last year market analysts AgriHQ reported it had the viability of many smaller drystock been many years since supply and demand were so closely pitched, despite the exchange rate remaining units struggling to stay afloat.

Fast-forward 10 years and the sector can claim to be one of the most sustainably profitable contributors to the pastoral sector. Saleyards are testimony to the level of optimism the sector is experiencing.

Buoyed by almost universally good grass-growth nationwide and a good run through lambing, store lambs are flying out of saleyard gates at record prices, boosted by good prospects for summer grass supplies.

Lambs are averaging $8 per kg, well up on last year’s $7.20/kg at the same time. At a consumer market level, supplies remain tight through all NZ’s key markets, thanks in part to the consistent decline in sheep numbers NZ has experienced in the last 10 years.

a thorn in exporters’ side. It also came as NZ’s largest competitor Australia was battling to supply markets, with drought and feed issues continuing to plague key supply regions.

Rabobank’s late-November report shows sheepmeat remains at the front of what is overall a very upbeat red meat outlook. Rabobank animal proteins analyst Blake Holgate says despite some consumer resistance to higher prices and possible disruption of Brexit in traditional markets UK and Europe, China and the US are likely to underpin continuing strong prices. NZ’s success in securing high sheepmeat prices has also been boosted by a growth in

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demand for traditionally lower value cuts, including flaps and bellies. Chinese demand is for use in traditional hotpot dishes moving the items well beyond traditional commodity price levels.

Lambing

New Zealand is also facing its lowest lamb kill on record, despite a record high lambing season. The average lambing per cent was up 1.7 percentage points at 129 per cent, well above the 10-year average of 121.4 per cent. Lamb numbers have reduced in the North Island by 3.2 per cent. South Island’s

tally rose by 1.7 per cent. Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairman Miles Anderson says the returns had been a long time coming, but are now where they need to be, “and it is a good time to be a sheep farmer”.

Confidence is strongest since 2011 and his one caution is prices remain sustainable. “I just hope we don’t gouge prices and put people off buying lamb.”

A Beef+Lamb NZ report shows 2018’s lamb slaughter is the lowest since 2011, and despite exceptional productivity gains increasing breeding numbers is now needed to maintain critical mass.

Richard Rennie

Page 56

SHEEP & BEEF

Test for what’s holding your stock back Despite New Zealand’s relatively benign climate lending itself so well to pastoral farming, its soils can hide some chronic mineral deficiencies that can undo the efforts of the best farm managers as they try to get the most out of their stock.

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health NZ technical veterinarian Richard Sides is urging farmers to look harder at what may be holding their stock’s performance back, and says the answer may be easier to find than they first thought.

“It could be easy to spend five seasons and a lot of money chasing the wrong solution to the problem you see in your stock, when spending just a few hundred dollars on some advice and blood tests could reveal a simple trace element deficiency.”

Typically in NZ selenium and cobalt can be the most common deficient minerals, thanks to this country’s relatively young, ash-type soils predominating.

Both trace elements play a critical role in animal health and production performance, says Richard.

Selenium is responsible for maintaining a healthy immune system, fertility and muscular development – about 30 per cent of NZ’s grassland area provides insufficient selenium levels.

Cobalt is critical for the synthesis of vitamin B12, important for energy and protein metabolism, and therefore healthy growth rates. A deficiency in cobalt is typified by poor growth rates, a loss of appetite and higher death rates in lambs.

Testing

The Volcanic Plateau has the greatest natural deficiencies in these vital trace elements, and the “bush sickness” that afflicted sheep in the first half of the 20th Century prompted mass plantings of pine trees as an option to pastoral farming. While this area is famed for deficiency, many other pockets

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of NZ are almost as low. Richard says testing for deficiencies can be as simple as taking blood tests to detect levels of both minerals. Or, going one step further, liver biopsy from several live animals can provide an even more accurate indicator of selenium levels.

Surprising outcomes

“The results in a mob are very consistent for selenium, so you only need about four animals in your sample for an accurate indicator.”

Richard says outcomes can be surprising from the simple tests. “We’ve had cases where one year the copper levels were low and selenium was high, and the following year they’d completely reversed – had my client assumed this year was the same as last he ‘d have not only wasted money on copper treatment, but missed out with lower production thanks to the compromised selenium levels.

Fixing trace elements issues could help farmers get the most out of their stock.

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SHEEP & BEEF

Page 57

Beef cattle numbers up – but sheep tally down Beef cattle numbers have increased strongly in the last year while the dairy cattle tally has dipped for a second year. And total sheep numbers have eased again in 2018, down one per cent to 27.3 million.

Statistics NZ, in its provisional figures from the 2018 agricultural production census, show dairy cattle numbers fell one per cent, to 6.4 million in June 2018.

“This followed a similar small dip in 2017, though overall

dairy cattle numbers have been relatively steady since 2012,” says Stats NZ agricultural production statistics manager Stuart Pitts.

Meanwhile, beef cattle numbers rose for the second-yearin-a-row, up five per cent to 3.8 million in 2018. “[But] Sheep numbers have fallen in 10 of the past 12 years, in total down about 12.8 million from about 40.1 million in 2006,” says Stuart.

“New Zealand now has 5.6 sheep for every person, after peaking at 22 sheep for every person in 1982.”

And a large fall in sheep and beef cattle numbers since 1990 means overall stock units

have fallen in the last 28 years, despite a rise in dairy cattle numbers.

A ‘stock unit’ means different types of animals can be compared, based on the food they eat and how much they weigh.

The stock unit is based on the annual feed needed for a 55kg ewe rearing a single lamb.

A dairy cow is the equivalent of about seven ewes, so is counted as seven stock units, compared with just one stock unit for a ewe.

In 1990 there were 100 million stock units in total, more than half of those sheep, with most of the rest in beef and dairy cattle. Deer make up a small part of the total.

By 2004, total stock unit numbers

units to 25 million,” says Stuart. “In the same period, dairy stock units almost doubled to 41 million. By 2018 dairy cattle made up almost half of all livestock units.”

fell to 94 million and in 2018 that was down to 86 million.

“The large drop in stock units since 1990 mainly reflects a halving in sheep numbers, down from 53 million stock

Pursuing an integrated approach is best “It is worth testing each year to see where your rather than expecting one to deal with symptoms of stock are at, and to build up something of a history the other. to learn from, and see where your money is best “The beauty is you can pursue this integrated spent.” approach, once you have identified the deficiencies, The link between trace element deficiencies and through the use of a mineralised drench treatment. parasites is also better understood now, and failing to Eclipse with vitamin B12 and selenium is a good address one can put stock on a slippery health slope example of a twin-active drench delivering both to be afflicted by the other. minerals in an easily-administered product to cover “Selenium plays a key role in helping maintain the your bases.” animal’s immune system and if it is deficient in it Richard says the relatively low information cost then it is more vulnerable to worms’ effects. In turn, that goes with acquiring blood tests is opposed to the gut becomes inflamed by parasites, reducing its high costs of trying to boost lowered stock producability to absorb trace elements, and so it becomes a tivity through crops and supplements. vicious circle of infection and deficiency.”

“That is a lot of money to spend, over what may Conducting blood/liver tests with faecal egg often be an already stressful time for the animal, counts to get a handle on levels of worm infections when the solution may be far closer to home, and will integrate the two big challenges of worms and fixed far more cost effectively, with positive ongoing minerals, ensuring one is working with the other – benefits into the following season.”

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 58

February 2

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Local Wild Food Challenge,

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Summer Seafood Festival, noon-

6pm, Rotorua, $50. See: ti-nyurl.com/ ybzbjm3d

February 9

Te Puke A&P Show, 31 Showgrounds Rd, Paengaroa, Te Puke.

BOP Young Grower of the Year Competition,

Te Puke A&P Show. See: www. bopyoungfruitgrower.co.nz Fibre Art Workshop, 10am-2pm, Historic Village, Tauranga, $75/$90.

See tinyurl.com/ybd7tgps Worm Composting Workshop, 1pm3pm, War Memorial Hall, Te Puke, $34.50 (take home a worm farm worth $255). Western Bay residents only.

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February 11 Felted Bowl Workshop, 10am-

2pm, Pou Whakaaro, Whakatane, $75. See: tinyurl.com/yataw2mo

Ornamental to Detrimental, Prof Philip Hulme on invasive exotic plants, 6pm, Scion (Rimu Room), Rotorua, free. See: tinyurl.com/y7tp5za3

February 13-Apr 17 Free Farm Accommodation Workshop.

Become knowledgeable on the Residential Tenancy Act, Healthy Homes Guarantee Act and what your requirements, rights and responsibilities are in regards to on-farm accommodation. Check the dates in your area and register at: www.dwn. co.nz

February 19

Orchid & Plant Auction,

7pm, St Enoch’s Church Hall, 16th Ave, Tauranga.

All welcome, cash only.

Ph 07 577 6676.

February 20-March 3 Hamilton Gardens Art Festival.

See: hgaf.co.nz

February 21

Floristry Fun, 6.30-8.30pm (6 weeks),

orchard. Workshop at a mature, diverse, organic orchard. Learn about living sustainably, Tirau. Details: www.LaLS.nz

February 23

February 24

Fraser High School, Hamilton, $79.

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Rotorua Dahlia Show, Ngongotaha Hall, 10am-3.30pm.

February 23

Home Composting Workshop,

1.30pm, Taupo Community Gardens, free but registration essential. See tinyurl.com/ycnl6x6n

Home Composting Workshop,

1.30pm, near Turangi, free but registration essential. See: tinyurl.com/ycnl6x6n

Pruning & Maintaining a Home Orchard, 10am-4pm, near Tirau,

$120. See: www.lals.nz Garden Design, 9am-3pm (two weeks), Fraser High School, Hamilton, $89. See: tinyurl.com/y8xx4ctc

Pruning and maintaining a home

NT ME AT

PEPP ER

BER TR TIM E

talk by Wally Johnson, P˜kor okoro Miranda Shorebird Centre. See: tinyurl.com/y8kog9pr

February 24-March 1

Seed Week, Koanga Institute, near Wairoa, $828, camping facilities included. See tinyurl.com/ybfgnaac

March 2

Dahlia Show, Campbell Hall,

Canada St, Morrinsville, 11am-3.30pm.

Mansfield Garden Party, 10am-3pm, Mansfield Garden, Hamilton Gardens, koha. See tinyurl.com/yb7uftbq

Full family entertainment at Morrinsville Morrinsville A&P Show is about bringing town and country together one day each year, says show president Bruce McRobbie.

This year the Morrinsville show is on Saturday, March 2 – and is promising even more entertainment, animals and trade sites than ever before.

“In its 102nd year, the show has become an iconic part of growing up in Morrinsville – and each year we try to showcase what it means to be part of our diverse community,” says Bruce.

“Full family entertainment is what we aim for and this year we will feature wood chopping and strongman competitions. We will also run a cowboy challenge demonstration in the eques-

trian section for the first time.”

Mahons Amusements is back with sideshows and rides, as well as children’s favourites – the teddy bears’ picnic from 11am-12noon, face painting and Mike the Magician.

“There is something special about the sound of the pipes that sets the atmosphere and the Highland dancing is well-attended,” says Bruce.

Other entertainment includes the Chelsea Dog Show, Wai Taiko Drummers, a rock climbing wall, petting zoo and pony rides, country and western music, rock ‘n’ roll dancers and kapa haka groups.

The Miss Morrinsville competition will run three sections – missies aged six-10, juniors aged 11-15 and seniors aged 16-plus in the afternoon.

In the horse area will be Clydesdales

There will loads of entertainment for youngsters at the Morrinsville show.

S

Pacific Golden Plover Project, 2pm,

– one of the largest displays in the Waikato – harness horses, miniatures, hacks, ponies and donkeys. Plus, there’s sheep dog trials, dairy goats and alpaca. “We run a young handlers’ event too.”

Bruce says a greater number of trade sites will be present this year – including tractors, motorcars, farm equipment, motorcycles, lawn mowers, chainsaws and more. Plus, vintage machinery and cars will be on display.

Two lucky gate ticket-holders will win a $250 voucher donated by Farmlands Morrinsville – to be drawn in the afternoon. Winners must be present when drawn.

“It’s a good day out for young and old. A family pass is only $20 for two adults and two children aged 12-plus – as under-12s enter for free. And we’d love to see you there.”

Morrinsville A&P Show is on Saturday, March 2.

Gates open 9am at Morrinsville Recreation grounds.

Comps inundated with entries In our December and January editions, Coast & Country News ran a summer reading giveaway. For December, the winner of newly-released ‘Meat & Three’ cookbook by Kathy Paterson, is Colleen Robotham of Te Kuiti for her correct answer: ‘Wairarapa’.

For January, the winner of Anna Valentine’s new cookbook ‘The Veggie Tree Spring & Summer Cookbook’ is Kylie Smith of Whitianga for her correct answer ‘the original kumara chips’.

We were inundated with entries to both competitions, and thank all readers for taking part.

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 59

MASSEY FERGUSSON GLOBAL TRACTOR RANGE With the new Global Series, Massey Ferguson has taken the concept of a utility tractor and re-engineered it from the ground up to meet the needs of present and future farming.

On offer in this power bracket is an array of build specifications, options and accessories, all designed to help tailor your machine exactly the way you need for your farming operation

4700

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• • • •

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5710 • 100HP

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Transmission 16F X 16R Dyna4, clutchless power shuttle, 100lpm hydraulic flow, 5400kg rear lift. The MF 5700 SL Series tractors are designed specifically to provide optimum handling ability with the MF Series loaders. The perfect combination.

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RB Series Round Balers RB4160V Patented Constant Pressure System (CPS) Hyrdroflex control (HFC) on drop floor Std with 13 knives Large greasable bearings Variable chamber up to 1.6m

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Full Range of Quality Farm Machinery I www.piakotractors.co.nz

Page 60

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

WINNER

Eila, 6, loves her pet sheep and reading to them as well in Pukekohe.

This is a picture of Georgia with her be love chicken called ‘Chi d ps’.

Sebastian, 9 months old , having a laugh while helping feed the baby go ats in Karamu.

“Hey mate, can you pass me a towel?” Ted the pet lamb seems to like his weekly bath in North Nukuhou.

Daisy took ‘afence’ something in Cam to bridge.

BS! PRIZandEdetUailsPcan beFemOaileRd (highGresRolutioAn jpgy,s)POto Box 240,

Pictures to Coast & Countr untry Camera” or posted every entry. kathy@thesun.co.nz “Co e a name, address and phone number with Tauranga. Please includ