C&C - 02/12

Issue No. 138 Bay of Plenty & Waikato Farm, Orchard & Rural Lifestyle news

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INSIDE bruary Fe

HUNT, FISH, EAT FERTILISER KIWIFRUIT HORTICULTURE RURAL DRIVER PASTURE DAIRY COUNTRY LIVING

Denis ‘Denny’ Brake has been shearing all his life, but it’s a restricted career option for the younger generation with sheep numbers continuing to drop.

Read more on page 2-3.

Photo by Tracy Hardy.

Work sheared

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COAST & COUNTRY

Coast & Country

Checking in on your patch We are already into February visited an enthusiastic fig connoisseur, growing 70 different fig tree and the shearing season is varieties in Katikati. coming to a close.

Reporter Phillipa Yalden referees It’s a tough old job and the economy is making it tougher.

This month I met a shearing gang from Rotorua whose workload has halved along with the diminishing sheep numbers in their patch.

I also met the new woman working for Beef and Lamb NZ and

an ongoing debate between the Egg Producers Federation and the RNZSPCA, while reporter Andrew Campbell checks with Zespri on what they intend to do about growers illegally grafting the new Gold.

DairyNZ gives us information on the new accreditation for effluent

design, and columnist Don Fraser tells us why China buying the Crafar dairy farms is a concern.

Check out the latest Wildside adventure to get tips on catching and consuming some delicious flounder.

Comaraderie in the woolshed As the shearing season comes to a close and workers prepare for competitions, Coast & Country checked in with a gang to see what it takes to wield the shears.

We visited Nick Adams’ sheep farm at Ngongotaha, not far from the Agrodome north of Rotorua, to meet Wayne Watchorn and his shearing gang.

The gang has three full-time shearers: Denis (Denny) Brake, Eric Tibble and Kane Fredricksen. It also has two rousies: Alana Brus and Tracey Roe. On the day we visited they crutched 800 ewes for the shearing competitions at the Rotorua A&P Show.

The gang works every fine day from December till the start of February; they were on their 20th straight day when Coast & Country visited.

Despite the hard years for sheep farmers, shearing is still a required job on the farm with shearers returning twice a year.

Nick Adams says it’s “about time” there was good wool prices.

The camaraderie between farmers and shearers remains strong.

“For us, the farmers are our friends,” says Wayne.

“Our number one shearer, Denny, has been shearing for 30 years, he and Eric are legends around here.

“They’re very well-known and held in high regard by the farmers.

Farmer Nick Adams is a good example of why sheep numbers have dropped during the last few years.

He took over the farm from his father in the 1990s.

“From what dad had, we’ve only got about half the sheep now – we’ve got 1000 ewes and 200 replacements.

“Across the whole farm we were making a loss most of the time; we’ve planted a lot of trees.”

Nick says “it’s about time” the prices came right for farmers.

“I wouldn’t count on wool, but meat is probably finally where it should be.”

Thanks to Nick, Wayne and the gang for letting us into the woolshed.

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COAST & COUNTRY

Page 3

Shearing gang workload is diminishing as a career for young workers coming through.

“Five years ago, over summer, I had two gangs going through December and January.

“Now I’m doing it all with one gang, all in the same period.

“A young guy starting shearing – you just can’t give him consistent work.”

Wool prices are the best they’ve been in years though; with farmers previously barely breaking even after they’d paid for a day’s shearing.

“The wool at the moment is the best it’s been in 25 years; there have been spikes, but it always dropped.

“Farmers were struggling to break even

Being a shearer is more than a job; it’s a lifestyle. But the lifestyle is under threat as sheep numbers decrease and shearer workloads diminish.

Shearing gang coordinator Wayne Watchorn says he used to run two gangs; now one can do all the work.

Since Mamaku shearer Wayne Watchorn started shearing 12 years ago, he says sheep numbers in his patch have dropped almost 50 per cent.

There are fewer farmers on their run and picking up enough work for the gang is getting harder.

“Around here, on our little patch, I’m still seeing numbers fall away.

“It might be different in the King Country, where there are bigger farms, but around here dairy farming is so invasive – it’s taking over the land.”

The investment has been made into the dairy industry around Rotorua, says Wayne, and sheep farmers are subsidising it.

“It’s all turned to dairy grazing, or they’re leasing the land to dairy farmers, or they’ve sold to them.”

Sheep farming is just not sustainable in comparison, says Wayne.

Although he grew up on his family’s sheep and beef farm, he can’t imagine taking it over one day.

“I can’t fathom the debt it’s going to take to run that farm – it’s millions.

“The return off sheep, until the last couple of years, has been going backwards; it doesn’t stack up, you can’t

compete with the dairy industry – that’s the scenario you’ve got. “Maybe I’m too small minded, but I like to sleep at night.”

For now Wayne continues to coordinate his shearing gang, trying to find more work as sheep numbers continue to drop.

He has been coordinating the Ngongotaha-based shearing gang for the last 10 years.

The gang, which covers a patch from Manawahe to Kaharoa and around the Rotorua lakes, used to have more than 40 farms on its run.

Now there are only about 30 and the remaining ones have half as many sheep as before.

“When I started, an average flock was about 2000 to 2500 ewes.

“Now it is more like 1000-1200; one of our bigger jobs has gone from 3000 ewes to 1200.

“I know of numerous situations where the farmers have sold or leased out to a dairy farmer; one flock went from 3000 ewes to 600 – he sold half his farm.”

It means there are less sheep and fewer farms for the shearing gang, which makes it tough to recommend shearing

See more photos on page 47.

just getting us in,” says Wayne.

But that doesn’t mean sheep numbers will be on the rise anytime soon to make the most of wool prices – farmers are getting great money for their lambs as well.

The gang isn’t charging farmers more, however. Currently, the shearers are able to earn $400-500 per day.

This is with the gang charging $1.80 per sheep and while $400-500 per day seems like good money, Wayne notes it is seasonal work.

“They have to make it last or supplement it with another income.”

By Sheryl Brown

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COAST & COUNTRY

Coast & Country

Taking on the bulls One woman is stepping in to the bull ring – working in an industry that is still male top-heavy.

Erica van Reenen is the new Beef and Lamb NZ extension manager for the Mid Northern North Island.

Her role entails arranging activities and events, projects and programmes tailored to the needs of farmers in the region.

She works with the director and the farmerelected Farmer Council to identify needs of the region and is involved in some industrywide projects to represent sheep and beef farmers.

“I’m your go-to girl.”

She does believe there are more women on their way to leadership roles within the agriculture fields, but she has seen there is a long way to go.

“At university, it was 50:50, and there are a lot more women coming through.”

She got a shock though when she invited a number of industry leaders to the launch of the Hamilton Young Farmers Club.

“Out of 100 industry leaders, 97 were males.

I was astounded.

“It’s still a male dominated industry, but I like a good challenge.”

The 27-year-old takes up the role after working for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a policy analyst.

“Policy was an interesting way to start my career. I had some advice early on that getting government experience early on and then going private is a good way to go.

“I learnt an incredible amount in my three years at MAF and got some great experience.”

After growing up in Wanaka and spending most of her school holidays on her friend’s high country farm, Erica soon fell in love with farming.

The time when ‘townies’ all knew someone on a farm has long gone though, along with a lot of the understanding of what agriculture does for the country.

“I have noticed there is a shift in urbanised communities – they have much less of an understanding of agriculture than when I was growing up,” says Erica.

“People always used to have someone in the family that had a farm, so all kids, even if they were townies, would have some understanding of how a farm operates.

“But that’s not really the case anymore, which is a real shame I think.

“I think it’s a real challenge that the industry

faces, to try and educate the public on what the agriculture sector does and vice-versa for farmers to understand some of the challenges and pressures that townies face.”

Some of the other big challenges she sees facing the sheep and beef industry are working towards farming more sustainably and the changing face of farm succession.

“There has been a big shift towards more sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices on farms.

“Intensive beef is one area that might come under pressure soon.”

There are good examples of steep hill country that’s been managed well, says Erica, and how farmers can make retired land profitable.

“There are opportunities out there, it’s just being willing to take the first step and get robust advice.

“It’s a change of thinking for a lot of farmers.”

Erica says a lot of the groups she is managing want to look at optimising land use classes.

“So I think there’ll be a bit of a focus on that for this region over the next year, across the board, both in the Bay of Plenty and the Waikato and down Taumarunui way.”

Farm succession is a concern, says Erica, as more children leave the farm for jobs elsewhere and the current generation of farmers is aging with nobody to take over the reigns.

“I think succession is a really big issue – what succession looks like now compared to five, 10 years ago, is quite different.

“I think partly because farming has become much more of a business than it used to be, so a farmer has to have an understanding of the accounts and the whole situation.”

Erica says there are many kids leaving to go

to university with the intention of returning to the farm, but just not coming back.

“I know a lot of people with the view that they would go back to the farm, but they haven’t because other opportunities have come their way.

“With the aging population of farmers, it’s certainly something that’s pretty critical.

“And it’s not easy for someone else (without the succession path) to get into land ownership – it’s really difficult.”

One area Erica wants to harvest is to encourage farmers to ‘get the basics right’.

“It’s my philosophy really – getting the basics right can make a really big impact.

“We’ve got all this amazing technology with EID and that sort of thing – that we need to make sure we get the most out of that information.

“Having that hard data to support what you’re doing, that can be as simple as creating an excel graph to set benchmarks, that could make a huge difference to a business.”

Erica is focused on seeing the Beef and Lamb ‘Farming for Profit’ (F4P) programmes for the Bay of Plenty, Taumarunui and Waitomo set up this year.

“We’ve got the Waikato/Franklin one set up and that’s so far going really well, we’ve had really positive feedback about the new programme.

“So I’m keen to get the other three going and getting some good speakers and options on the table and working with those communities.”

The objective of a F4P programme is to address the issues faced by the community from a farm systems perspective.

A F4P programme will identify the critical farming issues within a farming community and develop activities to address these, and deliver through a range of mechanisms.

F4P will use on-farm field days, seminars and workshops to deliver the components identified as being of highest importance for the community.

These will always be linked to a section of the sheep and beef sector value chain and may not always be on-farm specific.

F4P will deliver knowledge transfer outcomes and monitor the progress of a community, as a whole, rather than that of an individual farm.

The Waitomo ‘Farming for Profit’ programme is planning a day for March 28.

Check out the March Coast & Country for more information.

By Sheryl Brown

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COAST & COUNTRY

Page 5

Peck, peck, pecking away at the system Tick from consumers, knowing and demanding it, farmers are approaching us. Not everyone can join Blue Tick as our standards are high and so they are having to change their farming practices to ensure they meet these standards and improve the welfare of animals.”

By Phillipa Yalden

As New Zealand faces the introduction of a new enriched colony cage egg production system, there are calls to tighten the definition of free range and labelling of eggs from the RNZSPCA. Juliette Banks, who runs the SPCA Blue Tick programme, says there is no clarity for consumers purchasing what they think is ‘free range’.

“There is no legal definition of free range; so all of these definitions are marketing terms, not welfare terms.”

Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand Executive Director Michael Brooks says the definitions of free range, barn and cage are, however, set out in the government’s Code of Welfare for layer hens.

“There is often a claim made that there is no definition of these systems.

“That is simply not true – there is and it can be found in the Code of Welfare.”

In the current Code of Welfare, the definition of free range is ‘a system that provides birds with access to an extensive outdoor area and which typically includes housing without cages’.

The code then goes on to include recommended stocking densities and living conditions. “What the new code does, and the Egg Producers Federation supports this, we said there should be tighter definitions around stocking densities, what the range should look like, daylight hours,” says Michael.

Juliette says that the Code of Welfare’s definition of free range is very loose, however and the SPCA’s free range standards give a thorough outline of what is required to produce ‘free range’ eggs.

“There is more to farming a hen than just having a big paddock, they need shade and shelter.

“There is a lot more to it, it’s caring for them, making sure their freedoms are met.”

Michael says the EPF submission on the new code asked for more detail on shade and shelter.

Through the Blue Tick Programme, Juliette says all consumers can go online and download the standards and find out exactly what conditions the eggs they are purchasing are produced in.

“They are the same standards the farmers use, the consumers can see, that our auditors use. It’s all very transparent.

“We know there are some free range farms out there that need to improve their conditions.”

Juliette says there needs to be tighter regulations and more in-depth guidelines for free range farms.

“We are based on the freedom food scheme, which has been running for 17 years.

“All of the standards are international, adjusted for New Zealand conditions, we believe these standards are 100 per cent perfect for the animals.”

Michael says under the proposed new Code of Welfare the current cages will go and the enriched colony cage system will provide greater room for hens and the ability to scratch, perch and nest.

The options for farmers will be to switch to the colony system, free range or barn system.

“The big debate still to be decided is when current cages go and when the switch has to be made.”

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee is now deciding on when the enriched colony system will be introduced.

The SPCA Blue Tick programme is an accreditation scheme that certifies farms that humanely farm including barn and free range eggs.

“We have defined what these farming methods mean because there is not a legal definition of any farming method,” says Juliette.

“Free range is just a marketing term, it is not a farming method.”

The programme includes independent annual audits and spot auditing

to ensure farmers are undertaking the required practices. Juliette says currently an individual farmer can run both battery and free range farms and may be mixing eggs within a packet, giving consumers no insurance they are receiving free range.

“There are no auditing or management systems to make sure this is not happening.

“You can not guarantee you are getting a free range system. With Blue Tick our auditing system goes from paddock to plate.”

Michael says this is incorrect – that all egg farms are audited every year by MAF. “Part of the audit is checking eggs sold against eggs produced,” says Michael.

Juliette has been working in the Blue Tick programme for the last 18 months and says the programme is “racing ahead”.

“We are seeing a real move towards Blue

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Page 6

Coast & Country

Seaweed aquaculture is both environmentally friendly and profitable – not a common combination. New technology has the potential to open a whole new market that will make cultivating seaweed a very worthwhile business.

It’s that time of year again – sea lettuce season is just around the corner.

It’ll grow just as prolifically this year, our harbours and estuaries will turn a lovely shade of green then, when the lettuce dies, the beaches and sand flats will be covered

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with a smelly rotting mess. We know this will happen again because the flow of nutrients into the waterways has not slowed, nor is it likely to slow much in the foreseeable future.

Obviously a big negative on our environmental ledger, however, there is a way to turn this particular negative into a positive. Nutrients from runoff are and, will remain, a major problem that must be addressed, but the nutrient that grows land plants grows seaweed just as efficiently when it gets into the sea (hence the sea lettuce) and sea weed can be as valuable as land plants.

Seaweeds are plants, but they are algae, which are quite different from land plants. They don’t have roots, instead they absorb nutrients directly from the water around them and they’re very efficient at it and can grow very fast. The more nutrient the faster they absorb it and the faster they grow.

There is not a single seaweed species that isn’t edible (although their ability to soak up heavy metals and chemicals from industrial pollution means that, like kai moana, those growing near industrial sites should be avoided).

Even our problem sea lettuce has been highly valued by people around the world for millennia; it’s rich in dietary fibre, protein, vitamins and trace elements. Most New Zealanders are familiar with sushi and its black paperlike wrapping, but how many know that that black wrap is seaweed? It’s a product the Japanese call nori and there are huge farms producing it in northern Asia. Here in New Zealand, that same seaweed, Porphyra, grows around the coast where it is a traditional food called karengo. It is just as healthy as sea lettuce, but few people, not even Maori, know about it.

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Despite considerable work being done by NIWA to develop cultivation methods that suit local conditions, New Zealand is very slow to take up seaweed farming. Apart from a few mussel farms that produce kelp on the side for condiments like kelp salt, all seaweed used here is collected from beaches after it has been washed up by storms.

The problem is twofold; seaweed is comparatively low priced unless it’s processed into high value products such as condiments; and legislation is ambiguous about inshore seaweed cultivation. Legislative issues will be resolved if people show an interest, but the low price is a deterrent to interest so it becomes a circular argument.

But an increasing interest in using seaweeds in the production of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and bio-fuels, is set to change the Kiwi attitude. Seaweeds are already used extensively in manufacturing, including a host of products that most Kiwis use – the next time you clean your teeth, eat an ice cream or drink a beer, you’re consuming a little bit of a seaweed called Eucheuma cottonii, produced from aquaculture by some remote tropical fishing village.

As technology makes the isolation of more and more chemicals possible, big pharmaceutical and energy companies are increasingly turning their eyes toward valuable compounds produced by seaweeds and other marine organisms.

This has the potential to open a whole new market that’s much higher in value than is presently available and one that will make cultivating seaweed a very worthwhile business; both for the pocket and the environment.

By Graeme Dobson

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Page 7

Aquaculture worth $1 billion to NZ Aquaculture NZ has set a goal of $1 billion export sales by 2025.

To help reach this goal, government has amended legislation to make it easier and cheaper to enter the business and is promoting the formation of strategic industry-science relationships.

Aquaculture New Zealand’s fourth annual conference was in Nelson on November 9-10, showcasing advances in NZ aquaculture.

The 360 participants heard 29 speakers, including Prime Minister John Key, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Phil Heatley, government bureaucrats, leaders in business and research and international celebrity chef and author Peta Mathias speak on the future of aquaculture in New Zealand.

Participants heard that worldwide aquaculture is gaining in importance and by 2020 is expected to contribute 58 per cent of all seafood on the world market. In 2010, aquaculture contributed only 20 per cent to New Zealand’s seafood exports with earnings of $380 million, but this is set to increase dramatically if the government’s target of $1 billion sales by 2025 is to be achieved.

The Prime Minister says reaching this goal requires legislative changes to remove obstacles to new marine farms and the development of strategic research – industry partnerships.

Until recently the Aquaculture Management Area

system limited the area that could be set aside for aquaculture and virtually froze new development, so on October 1, 2011, the government abolished AMAs and the process of obtaining an aquaculture lease reverted to one of obtaining resource consent from the relevant council.

This move will speed up the application process and reduce the prohibitive costs of entering the industry.

At present, New Zealand does not boast a wide range of farmed marine species – salmon and mussels have the lions share of the industry, with oysters a distant third. Phil Heatley, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture says science is pivotal to development of new aquaculture species.

He says changes in legislation have been made to streamline the process of obtaining development funds and encourage farmers to look at new marine species such as hapuka and other finfish. The Prime Minister, however, ruled out research and development tax incentives for farmers – so the way forward will lie in obtaining grants and forming partnerships between industry and institutions such as Cawthron, NIWA and AUT. The conference stage was dominated by inspirational speakers, such as Andrew Ferrier, former Fonterra chief executive, who compared the aquaculture and dairy industries and stressed the rewards to be gained by both industries in seizing opportunities offered by an ever increasing demand for protein of Asia’s new middle classes.

Dear Brian, Re: “Government considers new colony egg system”, January 2012 A number of statements attributed to the RSPCA in your piece on Colony Egg Systems (January 2012, page 6) must be corrected.

Firstly consumers and your readers should know that every commercial egg farm in New Zealand is audited every year by MAF. As part of the audit, records must be kept of the number of hens and the number of eggs produced under each production type. This means that the SPCA claim that “there are no auditing or management systems” is not correct.

Secondly, the Colony System does not require a dispensation from the Animal Welfare Act as claimed. The Colony System is supported by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), the independent group of animal welfare experts, including an SPCA representative, which advises Government on all animal welfare issues. One of the key reasons for this support is because the Colony System does not require a dispensation from the Animal Welfare Act. Furthermore, the introduction of the Colony System in New Zealand was proposed by NAWAC. The Egg Producers Federation, which represents cage, barn and

free-range egg farmers, supports the proposal but did not initiate it.

The Colony System allows birds to perch, nest and scratch. Consumer research studies show that New Zealanders are supportive of the new Colony system. There is no evidence to support the claim that consumers in Europe are turning away from the Colony System. The USA has just announced that the Colony System will replace current cages.

Contrary to the statement made in the article as well, the NZ egg industry has definitely addressed labelling.

A voluntary system means eggs are labelled according to production type, i.e. cage, free-range or barn.

The SPCA says there is no definition of free-range farming. There certainly is, and it is included in the Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare 2005.

The Egg Producers Federation’s submissions for the pending new Code also tighten and toughen these definitions.

Regards Michael Brooks Executive Director Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand, Inc.

The programme was clearly tailored to established producers, however and the lack of special interest ‘break-away’ sessions, a popular feature of the 2010 conference, was a disappointment to many. Break-away sessions offer a forum to discuss subjects not central to the main forum, such as eel and other fresh water cultivation and without them smaller producers and those looking to enter the industry were deprived of a voice as the main the floor was dominated by established producers. In the end, the message from the conference was loud and clear; the marine aquaculture industry is on the move and set for a very bright future, but fresh water aquaculture is, at least for the present, in the ‘too hard basket’.

RURAL BUILDINGS

Page 8

Coast & Country

Built tough; stand tough

“Strongbuilt kitset sheds are New Zealand’s strongest farm buildings – and they need to be because the New Zealand weather is going to put them to the test,” says Goldpine brand manager Brendon Crequer.

“At Goldpine, we don’t do things by halves and the Strongbuilt range is a perfect example of that – designed to exceed building requirements, not just meet them. If you want to do it once, and do it right, then build a Strongbuilt shed.”

Strongbuilt kitset sheds by Goldpine are built around five core values: • Built to last and protect your possessions Strongbuilt sheds, barns and stables are built using high density, high strength Goldpine poles, which carry a 50 year guarantee against insect and fungal attack. The 0.4mm corrugated iron from NZ suppliers is used for the cladding to withstand the harshest weather conditions.

• Easy to build Each kitset is delivered direct to your building site and comes with clear and precise plans and easy to follow directions written in plain English. All connections are provided in the kitset and are easy to use, strong and reliable.

• Engineered for New Zealand conditions Strongbuilt focuses on performance, with no corners cut. Closer spaced purlins provide greater strength, girts are cut into the poles to eliminate the need for flimsy brackets and steel bracing for the walls and roof eliminate sway and increase strength.

All Strongbuilt sheds are designed in accordance to the NZ building code.

• A timber frame and high density, high strength poles that take the knocks When you buy outdoor timber from Goldpine, you can count on it being the very best quality and that’s what is used in all Strongbuilt kitsets. Goldpine’s high density, high strength poles are recognised as the best in the business and these are used across the Strongbuilt range, teamed up with quality timber frames. It all adds up to a kitset shed that is strong enough to take the knocks.

• Designed to meet your needs With a huge range of optional extras, the ability to add on to an existing design and a ‘design your own shed’ service, you can be sure there is a Strongbuilt kitset that’s perfect for your needs.

Drop into your local Goldpine store today and speak to one of their shed specialists who will listen to your requirements and recommend a shed to suit. Goldpine – your outdoor timber specialists. A family owned Kiwi business for more than 35 years.

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Page 9

Avoid building pitfalls

So, you’ve claimed your piece of paradise and it’s time to build your dream home.

Whether you want something just a little different or something that blends nicely into the rural landscape, a barn home is the perfect choice.

The prospect of building your

dream home is hugely exciting and for many it’s a once-in-alifetime experience, something they’ve worked long and hard for.

As with any type of home, building a barn house can be fraught

with pitfalls that can turn that dream into a nightmare. It’s relatively easy, however, to avoid the pitfalls if you are fully informed and go into it with your eyes wide open. Here are a couple of things to think about; Understand your building site. Sloping sites can add significant extra cost over a flat site. Also understand the soil conditions – a weak soil structure can add to your foundation costs. Get a Geo-tech report and take some advice on the site before you get too far down the track – ideally before you purchase the block.

Understand the additional costs that you will incur over and above the build cost of your home. These may include; waste water design and installation, water tanks, getting power to the site, forming the driveway access.

Engage a reputable builder who has experience building in rural situations.

The best outcome is often achieved

with a building company who can design and then build your home.

Often architects and draughtsmen don’t consider the cost implications of their design and won’t take responsibility for the building phase. A company that can build as well can ‘value engineer’ the design, saving a lot of unnecessary cost, and be with you all the way from design to completion.

Econobuilt has always had the simple philosophy of ‘Building Better for Less’ by combining high quality and reasonable prices while consistently delivering a great customer experience.

Their commitment to traditional solid timber building techniques and the experience gained while completing more than 3000 buildings has firmly established Econobuilt as New Zealand’s leading barn builder and they’d love to turn your dream into reality. For more information visit www.econobuilt.co.nz

DIY irrigation now available for farmers

Manufacturers RX Plastics have now released a DIY Irrigation Farm Pack that makes this affordable irrigation option more accessible to smaller scale farmers.

RX Plastics sales and marketing manager Phil Gatehouse says the new Farm Pack was a logical extension of the K-Line range.

“We know there are a lot of smaller properties that would benefit from using K-line irrigation, so we wanted to make it easy to simply walk into a rural

supplies shop and walk out with a pack that contains everything you need to get your irrigation up and running.”

The Farm Pack concept has already proven highly popular with K-Line’s North American customers and will now be available from rural supplies outlets all over New Zealand.

“Each package is designed to cover one hectare of land and includes five irrigation pods, 100m of 32mm K-pipe, NAAN sprinklers and saddles, and all the other necessary components to install the system.”

Phil says for bigger blocks, buying two Farm Packs will irrigate more than two hectares of land.

The only additional requirement for the owner is to purchase a Jet Pump to push water through the system.

RX recommend a .75kw pump for 1ha and a 1.1Kw or 1.5HP Jet Pump for two Farm Pack kits.

The pack comes with a full set of written instructions and an instructional DVD to ensure that all bases are covered.

Phil says that in addition to small farms, the system could be used for sports fields, parks and general dust control during summer months.

K-Line Irrigation is a revolutionary, specially formulated, flexible tubing line and pod sprinkler system designed to reduce the time and money spent on irrigation installation, operation and repairs.

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SAFETY & SECURITY

Page 10

Coast & Country

Making you feel safe at home Wireless technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated and very cost-effective says Target Technology Ltd owner Evan Williams.

For a number of years, the New Plymouthbased company has sold a number of wireless products from the USA which is finding favour amongst a large number of city, rural dwellers and farmers.

The Driveway Alert is an outdoor alerting system which will alert you to anyone on your property. The Driveway Alert is made in the USA and is extremely easy to install.

“Most of us have experienced people coming to the door and taking us by complete surprise, and very often people enter our property and never come to the door,” says Evan.

The Driveway Alert lets you know when someone has entered your property by letting off a beeping noise inside your house. The device consists of a battery powered wireless sensor specifically designed for outdoors.

Generally it is mounted up the driveway, but eight extra sensors or detectors can be mounted anywhere on the property. The sensor is very small and un-obtrusive and is powered by four AA cell batteries which last

two years. When a person or a car passes the detector, a wireless radio signal is sent up to 800 metres to the receiver in the house. The receiver sounds a three second beep to alert you to someone outside.

“The installation is very easy to complete as no wiring is required and a complete single transmitter and receiver kit is only $299.”

Target Technology also has a new longer range unit which can transmit 1.5 km to the house or 3km using a repeater.

Target products are available for mail order delivery throughout New Zealand and all products have a 30 day money-back guarantee.

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It is a long way from his previous career of constructing and designing golf courses, but he is loving his new job.

“There is heaps of career opportunities to work around the world and I love the explosive side of it. “It is amazing what a huge bang you can get out of a small amount of explosives.”

Programme leader Pat Russell says blasting has a huge number of practical uses around the farm or in the contracting world.

She says the course is popular with farmers, contractors, forestry workers and people wanting to enter the mining industry.

“It is all about demolishing things, but in a safe and controlled manor.”

In recognition of the hazards involved in blasting health and safety is a significant part of the curriculum. Theory is studied extramurally and the programme also involves three days practical, on-site experience.

“It’s very thorough and professional,” says Adam.

“The course goes through all the basics and gives you a lot of background and then you get onto the blasting.”

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WESTERN BAY OF PLENTY

Page 11

Dog handling – nothing’s too tricky Chelsea Marriner thinks more people should spend some time training their dogs – she says it’s pretty easy if you’re consistent.

“They are all voice commands, most of them have a hand signal that goes with it.”

The dogs average 10 minutes a day individual training; the young dog and pup get more time, says Chelsea.

“I spend a lot of time exercising and playing with them.

“They had time off over Christmas, we just played by the lake with the Frisbee.”

In her down time, Chelsea has written some books and trains people’s dogs for them “if they’re having issues”.

“It’s probably something I should do more of.”

By Sheryl Brown

They say ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, but Chelsea Marriner disagrees and aims to prove it at the Katikati A&P this Saturday, February 5.

The 20-year-old dog handler has a team of 10 collies which she performs and competes with around the Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

“I think you definitely can teach an old dog new tricks.

“They’re certainly easier to teach if you start them learning from pups.

“Just like kids, the more time you put in in the early stages, the easier it is down the track.”

Chelsea says she bought one of her dogs at six months and one at five-years-old.

She has bought all her collies from farms.

“They picked up the tricks and the agilitytype stuff really quickly.”

Chelsea says more people could probably spend the time to teach their dogs obedience.

“I take the whole 10 dogs with me to the beach and they all run around and jump in the sea and have a good time, but if somebody is walking towards us, I call them all in behind and they walk in behind until that person’s passed.

“And often people have one dog and their dog will come over and jump in amongst all my 10 dogs.

“The people look at my 10 dogs and say ‘wow you’ve got a handful’ and I think well no, actually you’re the one who has the handful.”

Chelsea says it’s easy to train a dog if you are consistent.

“It doesn’t take a lot if you do it from the start and you’re consistent with what you want.

“But it does make a whole heap of difference for everybody else who is involved with you and the dog.”

Chelsea has gone several steps further than simple obedience and has taught her dogs an array of tricks, from the simple roll over, to doing obstacle courses, to jumping up and sitting on her back.

Her passion in training dogs started when at the age of four she saw Tux Wonderdogs on TV. “I thought ‘that is so cool’.

“I knew that is what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

She began competing in agility with dogs when she was seven-years-old and now performs with her dogs at various A&P shows and events, including the Fieldays at Mystery Creek.

Her team ‘The Dog Stars’ are one of the star acts at this weekend’s Katikati A&P show and will be at the Te Puke A&P show the following weekend – February 11.

Chelsea says the ‘dog shows’ attract a great audience at the events.

Recently, Chelsea has been taking the team over to a friend’s station in Taumarunui where she and the dogs are both learning more stock work doing some casual shepherding.

“They are still learning stock work.

“We’ve got four sheep at home and the dogs have played with them, but when they are in a paddock with several hundred, that’s a bit different.

“Once they get the idea there’s a whole heap of sheep, they pick it up pretty quickly.”

Chelsea is enjoying learning more herself and says she is not sure where she wants to end up, but working with dogs and stock on a farm is one idea.

She says all dogs have their own natural personalities, which you have to take into account when training them.

“Teaching them a new trick – I base a lot of it on their natural behaviours because they all have their own little quirks.

“A lot of the stuff, if you catch them in the right moment and you reward them for it, they’re more than happy to do it again.”

She usually starts them off with food until they’ve learnt what she’s teaching them and then she moves to a toy.

makes a difference

Page 12

HUNT EAT FISH

Coast & Country

Lighting the ancient spear path Flounder spearing is one of those hunting methods that strips everything back to the basics.

Man and spear, stalking his prey by hand, just as mankind (and some of the stroppier womankind) have done for thousands of years.

Okay, so our caveman ancestors might not have had super-bright, LED underwater lights, but otherwise, the concept hasn’t changed much through the millennia.

It’s incredibly satisfying to handpick your breakfast, to select and choose – rather than merely accepting what swims into a net or onto a hook. And a trudge over the mudflats for an hour or two is good exercise!

One of my most exciting memories as a kid was going flounder spearing with dad. The prospect of being allowed to stay up late; the pungent wafts of kerosene and the hiss of the tilly lamp; sneaking through the darkness, eyes as wide as dinner plates,

peering through the calm estuary waters for a sign of the elusive flatfish delicacy.

On one excursion during a family holiday up north, we were plodding through the long kikuyu on the beachfront, wielding sacks and spears, when dad cautioned, “watch out for the hole”.

“What hole…arrghhh” my tender young voice pierced the still night air as I fell into a six foot chasm into complete darkness. Undaunted, those early days of floundering are special memories and I’m enjoying seeing the new generations picking up the thrill of the kill; and enjoying the cruisy flounder breakfasts at the bach the next morning.

These days the tilly lamps have been superseded by a variety of flashy new electronic lights, and while it’s taken some of the atmosphere and romance away The target: flounder.

from flounder spearing, it’s added some practicalities.

The greatest benefit has been the ability to run lights under water, which improves fish spotting immensely, firstly by eliminating wave distortion; but also putting the light source very close to the sand, so every little contour is dramatically highlighted. Much like a plasterer shining a light over a wall to spot humps and hollows, the flounder stand out impressively on the seabed when the light source is from the side.

Our early efforts to make electric lights found mixed success. Full size 12 volt light bulbs, sealed into jam jars, worked pretty well, although they needed a car battery lugged around in dinghy or kayak to power them. Smaller bulbs were okay and didn’t suffer the same heat build up, but it was hard to find ones powerful enough, with a narrow beam.

The advent of little halogen downlights, running on 12 volts, revolutionised the home-built flounder light scene, and it

wasn’t long before commercially-made models meant it was a bit pointless to build our own.

Lately, even the halogen lights and their bulky batteries have been upstaged by the LED lights, now with AA batteries in their handles. Some turn on automatically when immersed in seawater, taking away any issues with overheating in the air while turned on, then cracking once submerged.

These days we’re using single 3watt cree LEDs with Lithium rechargeable batteries, giving a burn

Darcy’s first flound er from a few years ago, and the fish that piqued his intere st in spearing.

HUNT EAT FISH

PH 07 578 0030

Page 13

Floundering through the generations time of four hours on low, or an hour or so on high beam and 250 lumens. They’re light, powerful and a far cry from the complications of batteries, cables or the kerosene lamps of old.

These underwater lights can also be used for squid fishing from the boat – but that’s a yarn for another day.

Headlamps can be used in a pinch, on very calm nights. But it doesn’t take much of a surface ripple or a bit of sediment in the water, for above-surface lights to become suddenly quite less effective.

We flick them on once a fish is speared to locate the bag; and for getting to and from the fishing grounds, otherwise, they’re off while the underwater lights are on.

Spears can be as simple or as complicated as you want. The old timers used anything from stiff wire to parts of old farm machinery. I remember us boys always had single prongs, but dad had the Rolls Royce version – two pitch fork prongs.

Once speared, the shaft was driven deep through the fish, into the mud. Then a hand was slid under the fish, holding it on the shaft, till it was manoeuvred over the sack or fish bin. The flounder was then easily slid off the spear.

These days, many spearos use barbed spears. It means the fish can be pulled from the water with one hand, leaving the other free to open the catch bag or bin. The fish is harder to remove, but generally there’s less chance of an escape.

We always try to spear flounder from directly above to avoid the light-bending parallax, aiming just

behind the head, to avoid spoiling any of the good eating flesh. If you manage to strike the headbone or gill plates, the barbs may not engage, so the old ‘hand underneath’ technique is a good fall-back plan.

There’s great debate in our family as to the best time for floundering. Dad always says it needs to be a calm night with no moon, no rain and an incoming tide. Getting all those prerequisites lined up doesn’t leave many good nights in a year!

But generally, as long as the tide is rising, there’s a good chance of nailing one or two.

Sandy estuary flats are good. The flounder will be lurking in the channels, just waiting to have a crack at the crabs as the tide rises. They are in shallow. You don’t have to get your shorts wet usually, just ankle depth provides good size fish. Best policy is to walk into the current, so the stirred up sediment doesn’t cloud your view ahead. The edges of harbour channels, ocean surf

beaches and any sandy areas with crabs will attract flounder. Sometimes you can walk for miles and not see any, then find three or four within a few steps.

Flounder are most bountiful and in top condition in summer. There’s a few around in winter, but much sparser and you’ve got to be a bit hardy to leave the comfort of a cosy fire to waddle around in cold seawater. We’ve had winter success drifting in kayaks – tucked up warm under a spray deck, with a tottie for good measure; underwater light on one side of the kayak and spear in the other hand – poling along quietly. You need a barbed spear for this technique to successfully boat a fish. It does mean you can fish deeper water.

They are very simple to clean, probably the easiest of any fish. A small slit with a knife just behind the right gill, or on the underside and the guts and organs can be flicked out with your finger. A quick sluice in seawater and it’s done.

Our latest outing was a special request from grandson for his tenth birthday. With three mates, we trudged the mudflats for an hour. They bagged two and missed several.

We mulled over many that were legal size, but felt it better to leave them for another day. The boys had a ball – the excitement of spotting even a small flounder was electric. Plus they heard bird and animal calls, marvelled at the speed of herrings darting around in the light, gave some eels a hard time and spent a lot of time

Stan and Darcy with their quarry from the tenth birthday outing.

Flounder; simple and fresh The simple clean flavours of flounder are what make it unique.

In my opinion, there is only one way to cook flounder and that is to lightly dust it with flour, (we use rice flour), then cook on a barbecue hot plate – I use a Teflon liner.

Heat the barbecue up first to a medium heat, dot butter and olive oil on to hot plate, then place the flounder belly side down on the plate so the skin doesn’t split. Close the lid, then turn fish after about 5 minutes. I then generally close the lid and turn off the barbecue and leave to sit for a few minutes.

Serve with lemon juice and salt and pepper. I have found the flounder is always better left for a day before cooking, don’t forget the roe is delicious also.

If you need anything to go with it, just cook more flounder or serve on Vogel’s toast.

I dispose of the flounder frames, by adding to a brew barrel with water, grass clippings and a bit of golden syrup or brown sugar to help the fermentation process.

The “tea” can then be used as a foliar spray or a liquid fertiliser. I do recommend that when you apply it to make sure you are leaving for the day.

Or maybe a week! - Claire.

pulling their shoes out of bog holes. Eventually, they figured floundering was better with bare feet – pretty The three watt cree LED much as the ancients did it. submersible.

The breakfast was equally entertaining, granny cooking up the flounder on the barbecue and the lads helping themselves to delicious portions of fresh, white fish.

I’d urge anyone having a go at floundering: Don’t feel you have to fill the bag. One or two each is usually plenty. Our policy is restraint.

It’s about the experience, not the bag limit.

We don’t freeze flounder, but prefer it fresh and only catch enough for the morning. So generally 2-4 is enough. There’s no point nailing everything in sight, struggling back to shore with a bulging bag, ending up with a big cleaning task and potentially leaving fewer for the future.

I cringe when I hear stories about people going netting and filling the freezer with 40-50 fish. Not only is it well over the legal limits, but from a sustainability point of view, senseless. We want our offspring and theirs to have enough flounder around for generations to come.

Many thanks to my forebears for lighting the lamp and igniting that primeval urge to hunt with spear. It’s a simple satisfaction that has to be experienced to understand.

FERTILISER

Page 14

Coast & Country

Pelletised fine lime is back Beck Helicopters Ltd can again provide fine lime in a pelletised form that is both easily spread and readily available.

Fine lime has shown to be more effective than standard agricultural lime,

therefore it can be applied at much lower rates. Pelletised fine lime is a sustainable product sourced from the Greta Valley. AsureQuality certification means it is equally suitable as an input for organic or conventional farms.

Why Lime? Lime is primarily applied

to raise soil pH, but lime has many other significant and lessconsidered benefits. By applying small doses of fine lime frequently – or as frequently as practical in your farming scenario – you can maintain both optimal pH levels and provide a readily available supply of calcium to stimulate soil biology.

Why Pelletised Fine Lime? Lime is essentially a rock that breaks down very slowly. The finer the lime is ground, the larger the surface area that is available for utilisation. Particle size is critical to nutrient availability.

By breaking down quickly, fine

lime provides a significantly faster change in soil pH and pasture response in lime-responsive soil.

Benefits include reduced transport and application costs.

Pelletised fine lime makes liming more efficient by using a small volume of highly effective product. It breaks down quickly for rapid response and return on investment. This is achieved by using lime with high calcium carbonate content and extremely low moisture content. The pellet form provides a practical means of delivering effective fine particle lime to the soil.

The fines of other types of lime

are especially prone to drift. In the pelletised form the fines drop straight to the ground. The pellets break down rapidly when in contact with water. Beck Helicopters can provide a simple solution to getting effective fine lime into the soil.

Cartage and application of lime can be costly. By applying only the fine particle lime and eliminating the less-effective larger particles, you make the liming process far more efficient. You can use much less product by total volume, yet get a significant volume of effective ultra-fine particle lime on to the ground.

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Page 15

Positive impact on the soil Natural humates are widely regarded as a premier source of organic matter and are recognised as the most effective of all soil conditioners.

They have a high cation exchange capacity and studies have shown they also possess an excellent waterholding capacity. Humates can also have a profound effect upon soil structure, opening up compact and clay soils and aiding with the rapid exit of excess sodium and salts.

You can usually cut back on fertiliser by up to 25 per cent, especially on nitrogen, and in many cases you can cut back 50 per cent or more on phosphate. Where phosphate availability is a problem, such as on high pH and high free lime soils, humates greatly increase phosphate availability as well as iron, zinc and manganese. The reason one can cut down is because in many cases there is more and deeper

root growth and increased biological activity to release nutrients.

Humates can complex nitrogen as ammonium and retain it in the root zone preventing nitrification and leaching out of the soil.

We see an increase in organic matter in the soil in great excess of the tiny amount we add as humate. Biological activity and especially fungi and soil algae when stimulated with humic acids from humates can produce organic matter, and in the case of soil algae, just from photosynthesis and inorganic nutrients. An activated, thriving, microbial population converts stubble and crop residues to organic carbon (humus) at a much faster rate. One tonne of humic product is equal to approximately twenty tonnes of general compost in regard to humus and biological activity. The faster you can convert plant matter to humus, the higher the organic carbon gains.

About 100kg per hectare of humate replaces tonnes and tonnes of the best compost or so called

‘organic’ fertilisers like ‘soft rock phosphates’. Humates supplied

by NZ Humates have been tested on crops and have shown yield increases of nearly 30 per cent with only 100kg per ha applied.

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Humates can have a profound effect upon soil structure, including opening up compact and clay soils.

Effluent pond design in limelight A series of practical video guides have been produced by DairyNZ to help farmers work through the design and construction process of effluent storage ponds.

The three videos cover pond site selection, soil testing and key elements of the construction process of a synthetic-lined pond and are now available as a resource on the DairyNZ website and YouTube.

They proved popular viewing with pond construction companies and farmers during a series of workshops on the new pond design and construction standards held around the region late last year says Dr Theresa Wilson DairyNZ’s project manager for effluent.

“The Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) Practice Note 21: Farm dairy effluent pond design and construction, is a very technical document to help engineers design ponds to good standards,” says Theresa.

“Contractors and farmers said the videos also helped

to put some of the more technical factors of designing and constructing effluent storage ponds into the farm setting.”

The videos cover aspects of the planning process including digging test sites, the suitability of soils for construction, safety considerations around a site and the process of lining a pond with a synthetic liner.

“We’re planning to follow these with a video on pond safety which people have said would be particularly useful for managers to go through when they’re training staff,” says Theresa.

“And we’re also planning a video on the technical challenges of building a clay-lined pond to meet technical and regulatory standards.”

To view the videos visit www.dairynz.co.nz/effluent or on DairyNZ’s YouTube channel: DairyNZltd.

Read more about keeping effluent ponds low in our effluent feature, page 30-31.

Page 16

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The very high INDUSTRIES NZ dollar will reduce Talk about your worries; eat Firestone Building Products Australasian distributors Cosio Industries Ltd are official the money that comes back to growers. well; exercise; spend time with In Te Puke and other regions with Psa, friends and family; get enough there are many hectares of Gold 16A sleep; get some enjoyment back being cut out or orchards producing in your life; and/or start to solve their last Gold harvest. problems.

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As an industry, we are planning to solve our problems. There’s work developing a recovery pathway out of Psa and there are positive signs that what is being planned may well succeed.

The National Pest Management Strategy putting controls in place for the on-going management of Psa is well advanced. The plan is to have this in place midyear.

The pastoral and welfare support networks are being strengthened and we are discussion with the government to provide additional support. Our biggest concern is looking after the people in the industry and keeping them in the industry.

In January, NZ Kiwifruit Growers created a new position appointing an employment coordinator in the Bay of Plenty. The aim is to retain skilled kiwifruit industry workers in the region as the impact of the vine-killing disease Psa begins to spread.

The role, which is funded by the Ministry of Social Development, will focus on meeting the skill and labour needs of employers in the kiwifruit industry

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by matching those who have lost their jobs as a result of Psa to other employment opportunities in the kiwifruit industry.

The key emphasis is on providing quality employment opportunities to improve sustainable INDUSTRIES employment outcomes for people and support skill retention in the kiwifruit industry.

Within our communities we all need to be on the lookout for stress in ourselves and our friends and colleagues. There are some excellent pamphlets, help lines and websites that help.

Some of the signs of stress are: Loss of enjoyment and interest in activities usually enjoyed; loss of energy and constant tiredness; persistent worrying about little things; changes in sleeping patterns: sleeping difficulties despite physical exhaustion or sometimes sleeping too much; indigestion or stomach upsets; muscle tension and pains (for example, lower back, chest, shoulders, joints, nervous ‘twitches’ or muscle spasms); skin itches or rashes for no apparent reason; frequent sickness (for example, cold, flu and stomach bugs); shortness of breath or shallow breathing; memory or concentration problems; doing risky or careless things (excessive drinking, gambling, drug use); continuous feelings of anxiousness and tension for no obvious reason; feeling irritable, impatient or teary with no apparent reason; finding it hard to ULTRA-PRO make decisions and concentrate; a sad mood that will not go away despite good things happening; loss of ULTRA-PRO appetite or over-eating; and/or isolation by avoiding people, places and events.

If you are suffering any of these symptoms or know someone who is, go see your doctor.

You can also contact NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated, phone 07 574 7139 or visit www.nzkgi.org.nz for a list of other support options.

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PH 07 578 0030

Page 19

Industry responds to Psa-caused job losses The man taking on responsibility of putting kiwifruit industry workers back into employment knows what it’s like to lose his job to Psa.

Marty Robinson was working as an orchard manager in Paengaroa, on an orchard he part-owns, but found himself without a job in November when Psa took over.

“It breaks your heart – all the ooze.

“We’ve cut out about 90 per cent of the orchard.”

The bacterial disease, which is killing kiwifruit vines throughout the Bay of Plenty and beyond, is seeing many people like Marty lose their jobs, but the industry is intent on holding on to their skills and knowledge.

Marty, who has done human resources work in the past, has just been appointed by New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated as the employment coordinator for the Bay of Plenty, in an effort to retain the skilled kiwifruit workers.

“When our orchard down-sized we lost about three managers and six supervisors and key staff.

“One went to Alexandra, one went to Hawke’s Bay – they didn’t have a viable option here at the time.”

That is what the industry wants to stop and Marty is going to provide the link between employers and potential employees.

He says at this stage they are still expecting more than two thirds of the normal crop to be harvested this season and there are jobs available.

“At this stage there is still going to be about 90 million trays.

“There are jobs in the packhouses; they need quality control officers, forklift drivers, line managers, along

Marty Robinson is keeping kiwifruit workers employed. with roles out in the field during harvest for tractor drivers, auditors and supervisory roles.

“If growers re-graft in winter there is going to be a lot of work.

“Developing orchards require more man hours than producing orchards.”

The number of jobs could change yet though, with the rain during December and January seeing more effects of Psa. “We’re still two months away from picking. With all the rain, we’re more nervous than we were; we could still end up 30-40 per cent down on last year’s crop.

“The worst case scenario for us is if Psa drops the harvest to half in the next year or two, people will have to leave the industry and the region.

“Then we will have to up-skill hundreds of new staff to build the industry up again when it recovers.”

Marty says the workers, their skills and knowledge, are an asset the industry can’t afford to lose.

“The kiwifruit industry workers have highly skilled jobs, right from on-orchard plant care to quality

control and distribution.

“It’s going to come right in a couple of years.

“If we can maintain all our skilled staff in the industry, then there is going to be more work when the orchards regrow.”

He says in the meantime, it is a chance for many workers to the take the opportunity to up-skill.

“A lot of workers are semi-skilled or skilled in packhouse and orchard operation, but won’t have the paperwork skills or formal qualifications.

“This is a chance for them to do some up-skilling courses.

“We have been working with the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, the Hort ITO and other providers, and they are going to have new courses to help meet the needs of the industry.”

Marty will also be working with Literacy Aotearoa to further help up-skill the kiwifruit industry workers. The role, which is funded by the Ministry of Social Development, will focus on meeting the skill and labour needs of employers in the kiwifruit industry by matching them with those who have lost their jobs as a result of Psa. New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated chief executive Mike Chapman says the new role is an essential one and was created in an effort to proactively manage the impact of Psa on employment.

“The sad reality of Psa is people will lose their jobs.

“We want to do all we can to keep these skilled New Zealand workers in the Bay of Plenty as their experience is a key part of the success of the industry.

“Creating this role is a way of using industry networks to know where workers have been made redundant and where other employment opportunities in the industry exist.”

Marty has more than 18 years of experience in the kiwifruit industry; as an orchardist, orchard manager and in human resources roles.

“I know there are some very skilled and experienced people who have lost their jobs as a result of Psa – we don’t want to lose these people from the industry or even the region.

“By talking to employers and knowing where vacancies exist, and what particular skills are needed, we can match people to employment opportunities.”

For employees and employers wanting to know more about the service, phone Marty on (07) 574 7139 or 029 770 9874 or email marty.robinson@nzkgi. org.nz

By Sheryl Brown

Page 20

HORTICULTURE

Coast & Country

Solution for New Zealand’s used tyres Each day, New Zealanders dispose of about 11,000 used tyres.

Many of these are sent to landfill, dumped illegally or sent overseas to unknown destinations. Carbon Recovery, however, offers an environmentally friendlier recycling programme. The Waharoa factory can recycle all of this country’s tyres no matter how big or small they are.

Carbon Recovery Ltd is a New Zealand-owned business that has spent the last 10 years researching tyre-recy-

cling practices around the world and has developed its own ‘best practice’ model for this country.

The tyres are collected and processed into tyre-derived fuel that is used in high temperature cement kilns, ensuring complete combustion.

Carbon Recovery’s zero to waste landfill policy means all New Zealanders will benefit from a healthier environment.

The company collects tyres from transport companies, tyre retailers, councils, farmers and recycling centres and transfer stations to turn this valuable resource into a new form of energy through the

Carbon Recovery Ltd general manager Ray Austen.

tyre derived fuel chipping process.

There are few other options to recover tyres efficiently as tyre retreading has dramatically decreased in this country. Many countries throughout the world have banned tyres from landfill because there are better options like this recycling initiative. The New Zealand Waste Strategy and the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 support tyre recycling.

In working with landfill operators, Carbon Recovery provides a nation wide collection service for any dumped tyres and then collects them for recycling. The company also works with councils to retrieve tyres that have been illegally dumped in gullies and bush areas in the countryside.

Many farmers too have collected tyres for silage pits and these can house mosquitoes, cause environ-

mental problems and be difficult to move off the farm. Carbon Recovery will also collect these tyres for recycling.

People wanting to find out more about using the carbon recovery programme should phone the company, general manager Ray Austen, 0800 868 473 or visit www.carbonrecovery.co.nz and complete a request for services form on the contact page.

PH 07 578 0030

HORTICULTURE

Page 21

G3 grafts on Zespri’s watch Zespri’s board meeting in February will be where decisions are made about future releases of the gold strain G3.

Zespri became aware late last year that some growers have grafted G3 onto vines cut because of Psa infection.

G3’s attraction is its reputed superior tolerance to Psa compared with the gold variety Hort 16A. By late January, Zespri was aware of about 13 hectares of G3 graftings. The industry has a total of 13,000 production hectares.

“No decisions have been made yet on a mechanism for a possible release of further hectares of G3 in 2012,” says Zespri spokesman Dave Courtney.

“Provided G3 is still looking good in early February, the Zespri executive will develop a paper on G3 demand volumes and proposed licensing arrangements to go to the Zespri board at its February meeting.

“Following that, there will then be an industry-wide discussion on how any release of G3 is done.”

Last year, 257 hectares of G3 were released.

Zespri’s starting point is to identify the future demand for Gold,

then establish the number of hectares of G3 to be planted and work through the fairest allocation mechanism for all growers.

Zespri has not given anyone permission to graft across to G3 without having a licence. Zespri wrote to all growers on the issue before Christmas, advising of the step it will take to protect its intellectual property.

“Where we have been made aware of illegal graftings, staff have been visiting orchards to do an audit,” says Dave.

Zespri’s standard process for planting without a licence requires the orchardist to remedy this breach of intellectual property

rights by obtaining a licence or removing and destroying the plant material within a particular timeframe.

These growers who are ‘going early’ are doing so without knowing either that G3 ‘will work’ or whether they will be able to obtain a licence through whatever licence mechanism is confirmed.

If G3 doesn’t turn out to be more tolerant than other varieties or if Zespri decides against releasing additional G3 licences, the unlicenced growers will have to cut the vines or try and buy a licence from other growers.

By Andrew Campbell

Symptom of failing crops Growers and advisors have to wake up and understand that plant predators and disease are symptoms of a failing crop and not the cause; it is natural to be healthy, not natural to be sick.

When a predator attacks, look to the host, attacking the predator is as foolish as suggesting that headaches are a lack of Aspirin.

Get the fertiliser salesman out of the advisory role and feed the crop a balanced diet, then it can build its own resistance.

If predators were the problem, the whole system would have imploded when the first one raised its head. This is Mother Nature’s check and balance; “that the weak should perish, and only the fit survive” – Robert Service.

Nature will always look after herself, there is always a check and balance: The wolves in North America don’t take on the big Bull Moose, they move the herd around until a straggler lags behind the mob an then pick it off.

The lions in Africa also take out the weak. It is nature’s way of selecting and culling the weak or those suffering from malnutrition.

This system would have stopped when the first predator got out of bed if the problem was predation.

Predation is a matter of taking out the inferior plants or animals before their due time.

The soil is the plant’s rumen and if that rumen is malnourished or hostile to the introduced plants requirements, then the plant will reveal signs of stress and as predators are opportunists, they attack when the opportunity is right. It is just right in Te Puke for Psa. Don’t attack the predator, rectify

Peter Lester of Quantum Laboratories

from the lab the host.

On my last trip to the Bay of Plenty, a kiwifruit grower was having a conversation with his son and said that he would need to apply some nitrogen soon via a spray.

I queried as to why? And his reply was “they tell me it will do some good”.

I am at a loss as to who ‘they’ are, but I suspect ‘they’ are the fertiliser salesmen or some poor advisor who too is being conned.

Nitrogen availability to plants is as a result of a system that has been in existence for many millions of years. That system is called the nitrogen cycle. It is not something you buy out of the bag, it is available to plants as a result of biology fixing atmospheric nitrogen and making it available to plants.

In nature, nitrogen comes available in tandem with all other growth factors. Pushing growth outside this window results in the problems now manifest in Te Puke kiwifruit.

My Name is Neil Woodward.

I am a director of Z-Contracting- we are family run business, our team consists of three, being myself, my son and my brother.

Our organisation has been established for over 18 years. I have been involved in applying crop protection programmes within the horticultal industry since 1966.

We specialise within the kiwi fruit industry, We have the equipment to spray orchards with our two Atom sprayers and one recently purchased Tracatom Formula tractor which is also available for mulching and mowing.

Our Atoms are set up with radar speed sensors, this combined with fully automated sprayer controllers and three nozzle rings enhances application efficiency and accuracy.

We also use a quad bike for strip weed spray applications.

We hold all certificates needed to meet Globalgap compliance.

We look at all challenges to help ensure we protect your crop with excellence.

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To contact us: Phone: 021 907 621 E-mail: zcl@zanadu.co.nz

Page 22

HORTICULTURE

Coast & Country

Fig fortune measured in friendships Figs are not going to replace the Psa-stricken kiwifruit industry in the Bay of Plenty, says hobby grower John Dean.

The retired farmer grows more than 70 different fig varieties on his Katikati block as a trial for the Tree Crops Association.

“They’re a boutique crop, but there is money to be made in figs,” says John.

“I really think the opportunity is to supply direct to the restaurant trade so

they can be fresh.” New Zealand’s fig export market largely goes to America – which only imports figs from New Zealand in the southern hemisphere.

“Because we don’t have the bugs and beetles that they don’t want in the United States.”

Trays of 15 figs can sell for between $35 and $55.

“At present, figs need to be air freighted to get to America on time – we need to improve the preserving systems.”

Traditionally, green-skinned figs are

John Dean is growing 70 fig varieties. found in New Zealand, but John lists black-skinned varieties as his favourites.

“I feel that New Zealanders haven’t yet had the joy of the very

best figs to eat.

“The Americans’ favourite variety is called Mission.

“My favourite one so far is called

Celeste and Jim Peeles’, who’s retired from the local nursery, his favourite is Malta.

“All of these are black-skin figs.”

John has loved figs since he was a boy. He started growing them when he started work in a nursery in the 1970s.

He now has more than 70 varieties growing on his Katikati block.

He credits his collection to Eric Cairns from the Tree Croppers Association, who has imported some different fig varieties and has identified more than 140 different fig varieties in New Zealand.

“They’re an easy crop – they don’t need fertiliser,” says John, “and the frost doesn’t affect them at all”.

“Figs can stand snow in winter – in Italy, during the second world war, some of the prisoners of war only survived because of figs.

That was their staple food.

“I’ve seen fig trees successfully crop down south in Cromwell; there are horses for courses.

“It’s nice to get a fig that suits your taste and your district.”

The first figs come in at Christmas and go right through to June, depending on the variety.

“The real trick with figs is bird proofing,” says John.

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HORTICULTURE

Page 23

Tricks of bird proofing

There is an old saying with figs; ‘They like moisture at their feet and the sun on their tops’. Well, they’ve certainly been getting plenty of rain to soak their roots during the last few weeks, but not so much sunshine.

“I’d be interested to know if anyone has an answer to bird protection – I’d like to know the perfect system.

“You can pick them just prior to the birds attacking; although they will get a few if you don’t mind sharing them.

“If you went to a 40ha block you’d benefit – they’d be too many figs for the birds to eat.”

John says the key when growing a fig tree is to keep the surface roots covered.

“They have surface roots, which are your fruiting roots, and if you get a drying out of

that surface you won’t get fruit production.”

So the big thing is mulching and pruning and the trees need to be pruned four times a year, says John.

“It takes about two-three years for a tree to crop, but generally, like most fruit trees, four or five until you get a good crop off them.

“You can speed up their growing or you can hold it back.”

There are still a few tricks of the trade John says he’s still to learn.

“At this stage I only know how to get a breba crop biannually.”

An early crop is always going to create a premium, but John is not in it for the money.

“I’m not there for financial return. I’m not out to grow figs commercially.

“The huge benefit for me is the friendships I’ve made.

“I’m only too happy to give people cuttings – which I do every winter. I want to encourage people to have the benefits.”

When he shifted to Katikati, John got a plant given back to him from cuttings he had previously given away from his first ever fig tree – which was sold to him as a Brown Turkey variety, however, it turned out to be an unknown variety and was subsequently named John Dean – after John himself.

“A lot of figs that came to New Zealand were with people from the Dalmatia area and Italy, and that Mediterranean area was the home of figs of course,” says John.

“Once we can go back there we’ll find the correct names.

“At the moment, we can’t afford it, but in the future, with DNA, we’ll be able to find out the names of these figs and the name John Dean will disappear.”

The figs were an easy plant to bring out for the early settlers to New Zealand as they transported well.

“They were very poor those people when they first came out. They brought grapes and figs with them as they were an easily transportable thing.”

The early settlers to Katikati even had figs named after them, including Mrs Stewert and her daughter, Fay Stewert.

“There is nothing new about figs, but I think they’re one of the most fabulous things of modern culture.

“There is nothing nicer than a fig just opened up and put in the oven and drizzled with maple syrup as a dessert.”

John says there is a move back towards people wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables at home.

“I think there has been such a resurgence in people wanting better health and wanting to grow better foods.

“If you look at figs as far as nutrition is concerned, they are a high quality food.”

By Sheryl Brown

RURAL DRIVER

Page 24

Spoilt for choice This year is definitely shaping up as a very exciting year for the New Zealand new car market.

the year. The first of these will be the Mazda CX-5, a smaller version of the very popular CX-7. Available in two and all-wheel-drive options from early April, and in both diesel and petrol engines, the CX-5 will feature new SKYACTIV technology recently introduced in the Mazda 3.

Peugeot is also launching a smaller crossover option to their 4007 SUV. The new 4008 model, due here in May, will be sold as a 1.6 or 2.0 litre petrol

From compact cars to commercials, the world’s leading manufacturers have been rolling out the innovations and loading them into a variety of models that will see the local car buying public well and truly spoilt for choice.

Three new compact ‘crossover’ vehicles are due for release in the first half of

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with a CVT auto transmission or as a 1.6L HDi diesel variant with manual gearbox. Nissan has its own sporty crossover in the form of the Nissan Juke. Described by motoring writers as ‘funky-looking’ inside and out, the Juke will boast a 1.6L petrol engine with an all new and improved Xtronic CVT transmission and should be available from April.

More exciting news from Nissan comes with the midyear New Zealand launch of the all-electric Leaf – the 2011 European Car of the Year. This eagerly anticipated car has received many favourable reviews and boasts a range of between 120 and 170km from its fully charged lithium-ion battery. Hybrid vehicle converts will also be pleased to know Toyota has made big changes to its world-leading Prius, with a new model due out later in the year.

New small to mid-size cars, like the Mitsubishi Lancer SEi, Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla and the Series II Holden Cruze SRi-V were selling well in the last half of 2011.

This trend looks set to continue as manufacturers continue to load these smaller size models with all the latest technology and safety features as they expand their ranges. For example, the Holden Cruze is soon to have the addition of a hatchback model while Toyota is launching all-new Camry and Aurion models in March.

The luxury end of the market will be well catered-for as new models continue to roll off the production lines and onto New Zealand roads. These will include new Mercedes-Benz ML, SL and B-Class models and the new 3 Series and outstanding M5 from BMW. Commercials and utes also continue to provide buyers with a huge range of options as the big name players build better technology and performance into one model after another. The Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok and Toyota Hilux, among others, have all been selling above targets in recent months. Joining them this year will be the ‘big daddy’ of them all – the Nissan Navara 550, which will be powered by a new 3.0L V6 diesel engine delivering 170kW and 550 Nm of torque.

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By Gaylene Moore

Coast & Country

Exciting smaller ‘crossover’ models like the Mazda CX-5, Peugeot 4008 and Nissan Juke will offer buyers more flexibility when they are released into the market soon.

RURAL DRIVER

PH 07 578 0030

Page 25

Rural safety message from police and Morehu and Davey were in the other.

Police said earlier that the driver of the sisters’ vehicle was passing another car at speed when the collision occurred.

Police say the girls and the two-yearold girl, who remains in a full body cast at Starship Hospital, were not wearing seat belts at the time.

Farmers and rural residents are being asked to use commonsense when it comes to transportation in rural areas.

Two recent accidents in the Bay of Plenty on rural roads point to the importance of adhering to road rules.

This call comes after 13-yearold Eastern Bay of Plenty resident Shane Hohepa was killed when he was thrown from the back of a ute in January.

He was travelling on the back of the ute along Galatea Road in Te Teko, when the ute swerved and the boy was thrown from the tray of the ute.

Police Senior Constable Stephen Allen says Shane was one of two people on the back of the ute at the time of the accident.

There was one passenger inside the cab with the driver.

Emergency services were called

to the scene and closed a section of Galatea Road, between State Highway 30 and MacDonald Road for three hours to enable the serious crash unit to do a scene examination.

A karakia was given by local kaumatua before the road was reopened.

Stephen says the circumstances of how Shane died are still being investigated.

He says there is no indication at this stage of another vehicle being involved.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Holmes says people need to pay particular attention to the conditions of the roads and their driving behaviour. The X240 4WD Mark says when motorists are confronted with a hazard, the speed they are travelling affects their ability to react and possibly avoid a crash.

Davey and Reihana were expected to appear before a registrar in court in January, but were excused appearance.

They were remanded until February 23.

Morehu was remanded without plea to appear on February 23 at an earlier hearing.

The accused have not yet entered

By Letitia Atkinson pleas.

Police are also currently investigating the death of two teenage girls who were killed on Christmas Day when the car they were in collided with another vehicle on a rural section of Welcome Bay Road.

Brooklyn and Merepeka MorehuClark died at the scene and a police investigation into the incident revealed the two weren’t wearing seatbelts.

Three people, including the girls’ mother, are facing manslaughter charges in relation to the crash.

A two-year-old girl is still in Starship Hospital as a result of the crash.

Welcome Bay labourer Phillippa Vanessa Morehu, 37, Haki Tepuere Davey, 17 and 20-year-old Aucklander Hateraka Hikurangi Reihana are all charged in relation to the crash.

The sisters, Reihana and a twoyear-old girl were in one vehicle

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Page 26

MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

Coast & Country

Spray dryer warms up export opportunities New Zealand’s first and only independent product development spray dryer is one step closer to being open for business.

The 10.5 metre high stainless steel dryer, weighing 7.5 tonne was lifted into the new pilot plant in January on the Waikato Innovation Park campus in Hamilton.

The $11 million product development spray dryer facility, primarily funded by Innovation Waikato Ltd, is the Waikato component of the governmentsponsored New Zealand Food Innovation Network.

Capacity of the multi-purpose spray dryer is one-half tonne/hour.

Construction of the facility will be completed in April and the first product run is scheduled for midMay. “We’re now looking for commitments from companies that want to research and develop new spray dried food products in the pilot plant,” says Waikato Innovation Park chief executive Derek Fairweather.

“Our message out to the market is that we’re open

orchard tractors

small tractors & mowers

ag tractors

“We’re going through a major growth for business and we want to help comphase at Dairy Goat Cooperative and panies create new products and reach intend to install a second dryer on our new export markets.

Hamilton processing site within the “We believe this dryer facility is a next few years. Using the new dryer at key mechanism for moving the dairy Waikato Innovation Park to produce industry from a focus on commodities our goat milk powders has provided us to value-added production.” with the perfect bridge.”

Derek says there is huge potential for Dave Shute operating manager for specialty milk producers, in particular. the new plant says the dryer facility “This facility will give innovators in gives smaller, innovative players in the the industry the ability to come up speciality milk industry a chance to with the next speciality milk product move innovation to commercialisation.

– along similar lines as Stolle, A2 and “New Zealand is a major player when colostrum products. I also expect to see it comes to supplying milk and food the facility helping create entirely new products to the world. And, Asia – industries, such as dried sheep milk particularly China – is an extremely products. important export market that is right “This facility creates opportunity on our doorstep. for anyone who’s ready to scale up “The challenge for producers, howa new spray-dried product to comever, is developing new products that mercial production.

As our facility gains appeal to these consumers. momentum, the “The issue is that if you are a smaller opportunities for player in the specialty milk industry, product innovation it’s difficult to gain access to a comwill be that much mercial manufacturing facility where more possible you can test a new product and then in smaller dairy scale it up to commercial production. companies.”

The Innovation Park’s new dryer The Dairy Goat gives the innovators in the industry Cooperative has an amazing opportunity they never already commithad before.” ted to utilising Dave says the long-term strat40 per cent of egy for the plant is to expand the plant’s the spray dryer’s capability to capacity. The manufacture infant formula, company’s comfruit and vegetable juice mitment was a powders. critical factor Finance for the dryer in creating the came from Innovation NZ’s first commercial case Waikato Ltd debt and independent and gaining gova government grant of product ernment funding $3.95 million. development and approval to spray dryer build the plant as a lifted in true Private Public place.

Partnership.

The cooperative’s chief executive Dave Stanley says the dryer facility will help the company bring on extra capacity to meet expansion requirements.

PASTURE

PH 07 578 0030

Page 27

Giant knotweed discovered in Waihi A new Waikato outbreak of the highly invasive Asian pest plant giant knotweed has been confirmed on four adjoining properties in Waihi recently.

It follows a tip off to Waikato Regional Council contractor Heidi Pene by a local resident who had been unsuccessfully trying to deal with the weed themselves.

“This weed is a serious threat as it can grow rapidly and take over where it gets established,” says biosecurity officer Wendy Mead.

“Knotweeds are very hard to eradicate and have been known to grow through roads and house foundations in England.”

Giant knotweed, originally from

Giant knotweed.

Japan and eastern Asia, is a many stemmed shrub which grows to four metres tall and during summer has attractive panicles of white flowers.

It also has large leaves and hollow stems which have a zig zag form.

It is related to the more common Japanese knotweed which is a very serious pest in parts of Europe.

Giant knotweed is listed as an eradication pest plant under the Waikato Regional Pest Manage-

it. Knotweeds are spread by the movement of root fragments. It is not known where the Waihi infestation originated, but most knotweed infestations occur through movement of contaminated machinery or dumping of garden waste.

Dumping of garden waste on roadsides, down gullies or on sand dunes is a serious problem in New Zealand and results

in many garden plants escaping, some of which can be highly invasive and displace native vegetation.

For more information visit www. waikatoregion.govt.nz/knotweed <http://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/ knotweed> or to report giant knotweed phone 0800 BIOSEC (0800 246 732).

ment Strategy and the council has taken responsibility for its control.

“Arrangements are being made for contractors to control the giant knotweed in Waihi and the council would like people to be on the lookout for any more infestations of this plant,” says Wendy.

There is only one other known infestation of giant knotweed in the region.

This is at Waikino and a control programme is in place to eradicate

Purple loosestrife in Tokoroa

Purple loosestrife has been found in Lake Moananui, near Tokoroa.

It destroys wetlands and water margins, causing blockages and flooding, and removes food sources for many fish and bird species. It produces millions

of long-lived, highly viable seeds from an early age which are spread by water, contaminated machinery, soil, livestock and hay. If people think they have seen this pest please phone 0800 BIOSEC (0800 246 732) to report it.

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Page 28

PASTURE

Coast & Country

Let it rain - let it grow While most people were moaning about all the rain during their summer holiday, farmers were doing a rain dance in their gumboots.

Bruce and Sue MacDougall have been enjoying watching the grass grow wild this summer.

The Bay of Plenty had more than its fair share of rain during the festive season, putting a dampener on many holiday plans – but it is not doom and gloom for everyone.

“Someone told me the other day that you can tell who the farmers are by the smiles on their faces and the holiday makers by the scowls,” says Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers president John Scrimegeour.

John, a dairy farmer at Pongakawa, says he’s had more than 200ml of rain during the Christmas period.

The extra rainfall at this time means farmers can start the year in a good position.

“It means they’re able to feed their stock well right through into summer,” says John.

“There will be quite a bit of late hay and silage harvested – extra – that they’d normally not be able to do; “And it just relieves the pressure of thinking about how long they’re going to be able to keep feeding stock well and do they have to reduce stock – send stock to the slaughter – just to reduce pressure on feed supplies.”

John says dairy farmers should be able to milk later into the autumn rather than drying off early due to a shortage of feed.

That will mean more milk in the vats, more money in the bank and potentially farmers will be spending more too.

“We would expect most people to carry on (milking) till April and May this year at this rate,” says John.

“Not so much last year, but the previous three or four years, there were Bay of Plenty farmers drying off in February onwards.”

It can still get dry in February and March so John says they are not counting their chickens just yet, but with the extra feed on farm and extra supplements, it should provide enough feed to carry the cows through.

Dairy farm owner Bruce MacDougall, up the road at Paengaroa, has lived and farmed on the land all his life.

“I don’t remember a year wetter than this one and I’m in my 70s.

“I do remember wet summers, but not like this.”

Bruce says the continuous rain has made the grass grow significantly and there is a lot more red clover than normal.

His sharemilker’s production is up and Bruce says the extra cover will ensure the cows are in good condition for next year.

“The last three years, production hasn’t been as good as it would be. It’s good to see it in the other direction.

“It’s really good for the country as a whole. If we didn’t have the dairying, I don’t know where we’d be.

“It’s been an amazing spell.”

Bruce says with the negative impact that Psa is having on the economy, the rain is a saviour.

“It’s just as well for Fonterra and farming at the moment.”

Bruce put in an irrigation system 18 years ago after suffering from several bad droughts.

“We have very light soil which dries out quickly, and we had quite a few bad years so we decided we either had to move or put in irrigation.”

Bruce says the electricity to run the irrigation is expensive, but “it takes a lot of the worry away”.

“When it gets dry, you don’t know how long it’s going to stay dry for. With irrigating, you know how much the power bill is going to be.”

The excessive amount of rain so far this summer means a saving in the power bill.

The irrigation from the Waitahanui Stream usually starts about October and goes through summer, but Bruce says this season they stopped just before Christmas.

“The rain has been a big saving – nothing beats rain.

“We’re lucky on the hills, people in the low country – a lot are probably too wet; what’s good for one isn’t good for another.”

That’s the nature of farming says Bruce.

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Bruce is the third generation to farm the hills, read about the MacDougall family history in the March Coast & Country.

By Sheryl Brown

PH 07 578 0030

PASTURE

Page 29

Bessie and Tomas are friends.

A donkeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s final tale Sometimes living the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Good Lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; has good and bad patches, like the fabled Curateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Egg. Such was the case when I blissfully signed off work at Christmas, hoping for a leisurely month in January.

I came home from a last burst of present and grocery shopping to find Tulip donkey flat on her back, with legs waving madly in the air. Now donkeys like to roll, a lot. But when a fat tummy and flat back combine to prevent a gal getting back on her feet, it can have serious consequences.

When I found her, I hauled her over the bulgy bit and got her standing, but donkeys arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t meant to spend considerable time upside down and Tulip stopped eating, perhaps because something in her innards had got out of line.

So in the morning on Christmas Day, there I was, finding a vet for a miserable looking donkey. He poked, prodded and listened, pushed in a couple of injections and made his escape.

On the Monday a second and more active vet and I spent two long sessions attempting to get Tulip rehydrated, but her liver was packing up, and on Tuesday we called it a day.

Now burying a donkey requires a large hole. And there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a digger in the Waikato anywhere available. So the first vet came back with a vet nurse, I took Tulip to the front gate and then scarpered, there was a big bang, and later (while I was deliberately out shopping) a truck came and trundled her off. A very miserable Christmas all round!

I had obviously suffered enough and a visit to TradeMe a couple of days later, discovered a jenny for sale in Waiuku. A friend and I drove up to visit â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bessieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

It was love at first snuffle, and the lovely people even offered to bring her down in their float.

She arrived on the Saturday and was somewhat startled to be greeted and examined by the rest of the tribe, but she and Tomas are now a very contented â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;itemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and life has improved hugely.

I finally got my hay made in mid-January when the weather eventually got summery. Having had an extra six weeks to grow, what got cut was pretty thick. As usual, I mowed the edges with the ride-on and spent hot hours on a sunny afternoon removing pile after pile of dock stalks and seed heads, possibly a legacy of a neighbour whose paddocks consist of docks and little else.

When the time came to bale, there seemed an awful lot of them. Last year we got 24 conventional bales, but this time it was a whopping 55. Thank goodness the pickup team were young and fit. I managed to send 10 down the road to a friend, as my carefully cleaned and prepared carport was by then stacked five layers high!

Now all Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to do is collect up the beastly dock piles and have a good burn up on a suitably moist day.

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EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

Page 30

Coast & Country

Sharing smart water use ideas Effluent management is a big topic these days and it will get due attention at upcoming Smart Water Use Ideas Exchange sessions around the Bay of Plenty this month.

Keeping the farm water system in good working order is part of ‘smart water use’ and will help ensure stock are well served.

Photo by Nicola Topping, Real Image.

Five sessions are on offer during February so dairy farmers can pick one close to home. They’re coming up soon, so farmers need to RSVP right away to reserve their spot – and allow for catering numbers for the lovely lunch which is being provided!

Locations include Reporoa (Feb 9), Te Puke (Feb 10), Katikati (Feb 13), Edgecumbe (Feb 15) and Galatea (Feb 16).

These are DairyNZ events, supported

by Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Rotorua, Western Bay of Plenty and Whakatane District Councils as local partners.

Water management rules and regulations are changing and DairyNZ and councils

are working together to ensure farmers are aware of the latest requirements – and the tools and practices that can make their job easier.

Regional and district council staff will be on hand at each session to discuss local water issues and answer questions.

Wayne Berry will take it from there and lead a discussion on practical water use ideas. An experienced dairy farm owner, Wayne is a DairyNZ consulting officer helping to implement the Smart Water Use on Dairy Farms programme.

“We hope dairy farm owners and managers will bring their staff along to a session,” says Wayne. “Then, with a Smart Water Use resource kit in hand, they can explore opportunities for improvement on their own farm.”

A great place to start is in the dairy shed says Wayne.

“Good water management and efficient yard wash-down practices can dramatically

reduce effluent volumes.”

Water loss out on the farm can be a real headache too, so the sessions will cover simple and inexpensive ways to identify leaks and fix them fast.

“We’ll have samples of various watersaving technologies and devices on-hand at the session,” says Wayne.

“Every farm is different, so you have to decide what’s best for you.”

Some great draw prizes will be on offer, including a Stark Washdown Wand developed by dairy farmer David Stark and the Se-Tech water flow indicator.

Both are great examples of Kiwi ingenuity and items that, used properly on the farm, can save water, time and money.

To RSVP dairy farmers can phone 07 349 6825 or 021 245 3310 or email Natalee.

Swinyard@dairynz.co.nz. For more information visit www.boprc.govt.nz. Look for the Smart Water Use quick link on the home page.

By Gord Stewart

A light humour on low effluent pond levels As the long hot days of summer roll through, it’s becoming even more important to keep checking the levels in effluent ponds.

DairyNZ has launched a campaign to assist dairy farmers to irrigate from their effluent ponds.

To help spread the message, DairyNZ’s campaign is using cartoons, a magnetic pond level indicator, t-shirts and, the highlight of the promotion, a ‘Prize Pond’ photo competition.

Diary farmers can send in their pictures to show how low their pond can go – visit www.dairynz. co.nz/prizepond – and if you have the best looking pond you’ll win a barbecue hosted by former All Black prop, TV sport commentator, radio personality and farmer Richard Loe. It might have light-hearted elements, but the campaign has its serious side.

Last October, DairyNZ and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand released an effluent pond construction guide that can be found at www. dairynz.co.nz

EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

PH 07 578 0030

Page 31

Can I see your accreditation mark?

When you are planning a major investment in farm effluent infrastructure it is natural to do your homework on the people who you will be writing out cheques to.

Some searching questions of company reps, brochures and references from other farmers are generally all farmers have had to go on to help make decisions between providers of effluent systems.

For some farmers, that has not been enough information to go on, and despite their best intentions, they have ended up with systems that were never going to be adequate for their farm or easy to manage.

It is a significant on-farm capital outlay and it can be complex. New effluent systems can range anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 or more, depending on factors like the storage you require, how you want the effluent applied on your farm, climate, farm geography and soil type and your requirements for future growth.

Our team of effluent specialists have heard farm-

ers across the country discuss effluent system upgrades and new installs as we have talked about the Farm Dairy Effluent Design Code of Practice and Standards. A common theme we’ve heard is that people looking at upgrading their systems want to ‘do it once and do it right’, but they’ve found the growing range of options for managing effluent can make it a difficult process to negotiate before they make the investment.

If you want to ‘do it once and do it right’, there is a new searching question to put to the people offering you design advice; ‘are you an accredited designer of effluent systems?’

A new accreditation programme for companies who offer effluent system design should make it easier to find out if that company has the technical skills to provide a high standard of service so you get the right system for your farm.

Accreditation is a mark of quality for designers that you should look out for. These designers are saying they maintain the design quality in their day-to-day

PRE-CAST CONCRETE & STEEL CONSTRUCTION SPECIALISTS

dairy nz Theresa Wilson, DairyNZ Effluent Development Project Manager

business that they achieved by going through the accreditation evaluation process.

By passing that evaluation, you can be sure they have the ability to design systems that meet the standards set out in the Farm Dairy Effluent Design Standards and Code of Practice.

Their skills have been assessed in areas such as their understanding of regulatory requirements, soil assessment, hydraulic design, effluent

composition and nutrient management and integrating these elements into workable designs.

The accreditation scheme is run by IrrigationNZ who have a number of complementary programmes covering irrigation system design, installation and evaluation, and water measurement through the IrrigationNZ Blue Tick accreditation programme.

The governance is shared between Irrigation NZ, NZ Milking and Pumping Association, DairyNZ and an independent director.

For a list of accredited effluent design companies and more details on the programme visit www.effluentaccreditation.co.nz

An accredited organisation designs ‘fit for purpose’ effluent systems for clients in accordance with the Farm Dairy Effluent Design Standards and Code of Practice.

Accreditation of design organisations is based on demonstration of systems and processes that provide assurance of good design practice resulting in fit for purpose effluent systems.

A fit for purpose effluent system design supports the six main objectives of the Design Standards and the Code of Practice: • To capture all farm dairy effluent.

• To spread the farm dairy effluent at a time that allows uptake by plants.

• To uniformly spread the farm dairy effluent to the desired depth, and at the desired intensity.

• To control farm dairy effluent application to within the boundaries of the application area.

• To ensure that farm dairy effluent systems can be operated safely.

• To comply with all regulatory requirements, including consent conditions.

Page 32

MAIZE

Coast & Country

Eager for the maize harvest Young 22-year-old contractor Sean Cuff has found himself living in a new place, owning a big piece of machinery and building up an established business.

Sean Cuff is at the wheel of his first business adventure after purchasing a forage harvester.

Sean has bought contractor Bill Webb’s maize forage harvester and has moved up from the Manawatu to do the 300 hectares of work already contracted to the harvester.

Sean is eager to build up his business to “as big as I potentially can”.

“This is what I’ve always wanted to do since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

“I will potentially look at buying a maize planter and tractor next year.”

Sean says he is currently ringing around clients and is hoping to go out and meet some farmers to introduce himself. He will be with contractor Peter Bradstreet at the Te Puke A&P show on February 12 cooking sausages and hopes to meet a lot of people.

He is working in with Peter, who purchased the contracting side of Bill Webb’s business last year.

Sean grew up on his parent’s small 50 acre block, but spent most of his time at the neighbours.

“There was a contractor who lived down the road. I always rode my bike down there and would go hassle him to drive or do anything.”

When he left school, he went to Taratahi Agriculture Training Centre and then got his first job working for contractor Warren Smith.

He then went driving tractors in America and when he returned he managed a sheep and beef farm for the same contractor.

“I was offered a job running a sheep and beef farm down south, and then this opportunity came up and it is what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Sean is enthusiastic to get working as it’s been a great season for farmers.

He has 300 hectares of maize to do in the Bay of Plenty, then he might go looking for grass work around Rotorua.

DAIRY

PH 07 578 0030

Barber’s Pole Worm Barber’s Pole Worm (Haemonchus contortus) is a large blood sucking parasitic worm that is mainly a problem in sheep and goats in the North Island from January through to May. Unlike other worms, it is clearly visible in the abomasum (fourth stomach).

vet’s view

The female worms (20-30mm long) have white ovaries that are wound spirally around a blood filled intestine, giving the characteristic ‘barber’s pole’ appearance. Barber’s Pole is the most dangerous of all the parasitic worms in New Zealand due to three factors: 1. The speed at which the eggs can develop through to the infective stage on pasture.

2. The speed at which it can cause the death of its host; even before worms are mature enough to lay eggs.

3. The large numbers of eggs the adult lays.

As this worm is a blood sucker, severely parasitised animals (especially lambs) quickly develop signs of anaemia, including white gums and membranes, bottle jaw (swelling under the jaw), lethargy, rapid weight loss and death in severe cases.

These symptoms can occur well before adult worms are even mature enough to lay eggs – so deaths can occur before eggs are even seen in a faecal egg count! Moderate to severe infec-

with Ravensdown Vet Gavin Goble tions of ewes at or around the time of mating, can significantly reduce ovulation and conception rates.

Control of Barber’s Pole involves careful grazing management plus strategic use of specific worm drenches. All broad-spectrum drenches effectively kill Barber’s Pole infections (unless there is drench resistance), but during periods of high larval challenge animals can be quickly re-infected.

Hence using short-acting drenches could require re-treatment within 10-14 days, but this is impractical and will escalate the development of drench resistance. Adequate control therefore requires the use of chemicals with persistent activity against this worm; either moxidectin or closantel; usually oral drenches given every 4-5 weeks during the risk period. There are several brands of these drenches available so check that the meat withholding periods fit with your management goals.

Beat a feed complacency trap It is not often dairy farmers get a good payout accompanied by a good season.

Typically, the payout will go up and there will be a bad drought or they’ll have a great season, but a reduced payout.

This year dairy farmers seem to have ‘all their ducks in a row’, but they can’t afford to get complacent, says feed specialist Bill Webb.

While the grass is looking green and is growing, it doesn’t mean the quality is giving cows what they need to carry on milking.

Bill Webb says with the extra feed around this season, farmers need to focus on quality not just quantity.

“The weather conditions can change really quickly – you don’t want to get a false sense of security.

“It’s looking nice and green now, but if we have two or three weeks of fine weather in February, it can dry out quickly.”

Bill says the pasture will be lacking in starch.

“The cows will be getting plenty of protein, but not enough starch and if they’re milking into late autumn it will drag the condition off their backs.”

Bill says heading into March farmers need to ensure they have plenty of starch feed – which will come through their maize.

“Everyone is going to be pushing to extend their lactation into April and May this year.

“They need to start feeding their Maize out as soon as it’s ready around March.”

Bill says the maize is looking good at the moment, but farmers need some fine sunny

weather with good temperatures to develop the starch in the kernels for it to be ready for harvest.

He says most farmers won’t get green maize silage this year.

“The crops are looking great, but the maize in the lower lying areas is struggling a bit after all the water that’s been lying around.”

Bill Webb Feed Solutions still has some maize silage for sale, along with bales of silage and hay.

“We’ve made 1000 bales of hay and still have some more to make.

“It’s beautiful hay; really good quality – it’s second-cut stuff and full of red clover.”

Bill says farmers should be starting to think ahead about pasture renovation and methods to achieve the best results and ensuring they have the best quality feed to carry their cows through an extended lactation.

“You don’t want to be flogging your cows before the next season.

“While you’ve got a good payout, feed them well and build up the reserves of quality feed for when there is an on-farm short fall, which will happen sometime during the season – it’s just when.”

By Sheryl Brown

Page 33

Page 34

DAIRY

Coast & Country

Understanding the shed cow flow

Don Chapman has been building dairy sheds for more than 20 years.

He knows how important good cow flow is and how to achieve it.

The most important factor when building a new dairy shed is “cow flow, cow flow, cow flow” – says specialist dairy shed builder Don Chapman.

Don, the owner and operator of Don Chapman Builders Limited based in Morrinsville, has been building dairy sheds throughout New Zealand since 1988 so he understands the importance of cow flow in the construction of a new farm dairy.

“Builders need to be aware of cow flow through the shed to make sure it is suitable for the animals.

“They need knowledge of the technology that goes into these sheds, as well as making sure they understand what technology is coming up in the future.”

Don and his 20-strong team build about 40 dairy sheds a year, both herringbone and rotary cowsheds.

He says the first thing people need to do when planning a new farm dairy is to select the right builder.

“It is mentally important. It has become a specialised area of our construction industry.

“I think it is important that people employ someone who has experience, as it is quite different to other sorts of construction work.”

Builders need to understand herd size and cow flow, understand how to use the right materials and be available to work intimately with farmers to ensure the best solutions for their herd says Don. “We will come out to the farm and assess the site to decide what style

of shed will suit the herd size. Then we price it out and start planning the build.”

Working with dairy industry professionals on a regular basis, Don has a large knowledge and contact base with contractors and milking machine manufacturers.

“We are responsible for making sure the whole project fits together.

“Operator comfort and workability is a key feature. It needs to be practical to operate.”

All of the materials used by Don Chapman builders are pre-finished and low maintenance with galvanised steelwork, Coloursteel on all roof and wall finishes and polypanel built walls.

“It’s clean, strong and low maintenance.”

Growing up on a dairy farm not far from Morrinsville, Don has always been involved in the dairy construction industry. He left the family farm to undertake a construction apprenticeship with a builder specialising in dairy sheds, before starting his own business in 1988.

“We have built hundreds of dairy sheds. It usually takes between 12 to 18 weeks to complete the overall project, depending on what sort of shed it is.

“We always set out to build a quality finished product.”

Don Chapman Builders Ltd undertakes a range of building and construction solutions with its subsidiary Chapman Dairy specialising in dairy sheds throughout New Zealand and internationally.

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DAIRY

PH 07 578 0030

Page 35

Rate hike needs knocking back There was some good news for Eastern Bay of Plenty irrigators before Christmas, with strong representation helping to knock back Trustpower’s desired minimum flows on the Rangitaiki River.

There’s more process to come, but good advocacy does make a difference.

In that vein, a big part of Federated Farmers’ work in the early months of 2012 will be advocacy to councils on the perplexing matter of council rates.

Any farmer reading this will know the effect of the rates bill on their books. It is an issue Federated Farmers has had right

in front of government for a number of years.

Just before Christmas, our national office reviewed the rates of farmers in our ‘10K Club’ – a group of people from around New Zealand with dramatically high rates bills. I am always amazed that a council can commandeer so many thousands of dollars from individuals by simply applying their costs to a property value rate.

The note from one correspondent to the effect that they were relieved their rates had ‘leveled off ’ at $30,000, on a 150ha coastal farm, was poignant.

Containing the rate burden, let alone reducing it, is not easy.

We are finding also that, as council costs and debt increase, farms are looking

A summer to savour It is not often pastoral farmers enjoy climatic conditions that deliver outstanding farm performance for a prolonged period.

December and January have provided, for the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, a wonderful mix of the moisture and sunlight necessary to provide both high growth rates and excellent feed quality.

The Berryman’s dairy cows at their Awakeri property on January 18 were producing 2.0kg of milksolids per cow per day and gaining weight, with an average condition score of over 5. The reason for this level of farm performance is due to a number of factors, with outstanding daily animal and pasture management being the most important.

Pasture, when soils are in close to optimum condition, is an outstanding convertor of sunlight to energy.

Often during summer, properties aren’t able to maximise performance due to less than ideal soil moisture.

So far, this season rainfall has arrived in both the quantity and with the frequency required.

With a soil fertility programme geared to optimising clover growth, total pasture production is greater than animals require, providing surplus feed able to be made into hay. Hay is a particularly valuable supplement as it contains both high energy stored as seed, as well as stalk. Fed in spring when grass growth is rapid and sunshine hours are low, it provides the extra energy and fibre necessary for optimum rumen function and high levels of animal performance.

With the present abundance of clover, high levels of milk production continue as clovers are high in both calcium and energy. Brix levels taken in mid-afternoon on pasture soon to be grazed regularly provide figures of 10-15. Clover is also highly digestible, allowing animals to physically eat more kilograms each day.

When there is sufficient plant available calcium for maximum clover growth paspalum and other low energy summer grasses are seldom dominant.

This allows an interval between grazing long enough for optimum growth to be obtained.

The best time to graze pasture is at end of the rapid growth phase just prior to stalk and seed head formation.

At this stage, the energy content of the plant is at its highest, digestibility is still close to ideal and outstanding animal performance results.

Just prior to seed head formation there is also sufficient energy for plants to provide the mycorrhizal fungi that operate symbiotically with their roots’ extra energy for increased moisture and nutrient harvesting. This stimulates rapid re-growth helping ensure enough pasture is available to fully feed stock when the area is next grazed.

Should late summer deliver a spell of dry weather and pastures become dry and therefore slower to digest, supplementing daily intake with silage made in early November before full seed head emergence will ensure this season’s production is one to remember.

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increasingly attractive to councils desperate for cash. Whakatane District Council has thought up a new rating system for 2012 that would chew further into farmers’ earnings if adopted.

Somehow, it is the view of council that the rating system would be cheaper to run if targeted rates, designed to reflect the distribution of benefits, are collapsed into the general rate on capital value.

The cost of council services funded by these targeted rates, such as libraries and the aquatic centre, would increase dramatically for farmers. There is no valid reason for this, especially considering the distances of these facilities from farms.

Added to this, there is a new contribution from farms to urban stormwater costs.

This might add up to a nice political equation in some quarters, but the impact on rural people has certainly escaped the attention of Whakatane District Council, which has offered no consultation on the proposal other than the formal process on their Long Term Plan in March.

Federated Farmers is putting in the hard work to get this big rates transfer to farmers exposed and dealt with. We need the support of all Whakatane farmers if we are to knock it back.

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Page 36

DAIRY

Coast & Country

Consequences of foreign ownership In the early 1970s, I was a rural banker in the State Advances Corporation and the ownership model then was to go 50:50 share milking; pay off the debt, go bigger, pay off that debt, then sell half or more of the cows and purchase a modest farm with Rural Bank money.

We often ran out of funding and clients had to wait for the following year’s funding to the Rural Bank from the government. In those days, nearly every farm was owned by individuals, all farming 120 to 350 cows. The rural communities were buzzing with positive activity as were the local schools.

What has happened in the intervening period?

Well, banks have had plenty of money and they have encouraged their clients to buy up the neighbours. Some even did better than that and purchased many farms to farm large dynasties.

These dynasties were created with borrowings from a bank, which is essentially debt. Most will, but some may not survive. Dare I mention the Crafar saga! These farms are now being sold to Chinese interests with Landcorp share milking on them. In this model, we have sold the land to offshore interests and we have placated the locals with Landcorp share milking on them (for the meantime). Is this what we want?

In New Zealand, we now have some individual farming operations that are so large that there is no way the family can manage it or take it over. More than that, the amount of money required to purchase the same is beyond our banking operations. Banks are now trying to keep exposure to individuals down, so they may well be sold to offshore investors.

We see a lot of foreign ownership coming into that fantastic dairy area of Southland. Germans and Americans are all showing their keenness to acquire our amazing dairying land.

Then there is the multiplier – for an individuallyowned dairy farm, you can take the gross income and

multiply that by about six (the multiplier) which indicates how much money flows back into the local economy. If the land is owned by overseas investors and profits are repatriated back to their country of origin, the multiplier reduces possibly down to three, maybe even lower. The continued flow of money by overseas interests away from New Zealand is watering down our local economy.

I realise that farming is a capital intensive business and land is very expensive, but the question begs – can we afford to see our farms continually sold to foreign ownership and what do we do to stop that trend or slow it down?

Put that question on top of the likelihood of the world running seriously short of food, and you will see what foreign ownership of our land really could mean.

Will they build their own factories, process the milk and send it straight back home and vertically integrate the business?

I appreciate I have not given many solutions to the problem here, but this issue is alive and well, but stays under the radar.

Talk to any individual farmer to know he is very concerned about the situation.

I see that the Green Party are ‘grand-

standing’ this issue and I must say I support them on it.

I believe foreign farmers can lease as much of our land as they like, but should not be able to own too much of this finite and precious commodity.

If you look at the model for the land that Maori have had returned, it is going into a title that cannot be sold without consent from the court.

We need to remember that land is the basis of New Zealand wealth and our prosperity.

So, in summary, the inability of Kiwis to now purchase our own farm land will see the continuation of foreign purchases.

One day, when there is a world food shortage, we will wish that we had been more precious about our most valuable asset – land.

These are the opinions of Don Fraser of Fraser Farm Finance. Any decisions made should not be based on this article alone and appropriate professional assistance should be sought.

Don Fraser is the Principal of Fraser Farm Finance and a consultant to the Farming Industry.

Phone 0800 777 675 or 021 777 675.

A disclosure document is available on request.

PH 07 578 0030

FORESTRY

Page 37

To prune or not to prune One of the questions I get asked most when I am visiting farmers with trees is whether they should be pruning their trees or not.

At the moment, it is actually hard to justify pruning on a strictly financial return on investment basis. If you do a spreadsheet exercise on the merits of pruning using current prices it just won’t stack up. For this reason, many of the corporate forest owners have now stopped pruning, or are being very selective about what they prune. The problem is the current margin between the slumped pruned log price and the export price which has increased during the last two years, even if it is down a little at the moment.

If the regime used then adopts a wide spacing, so the tonnes per hectare are down as well, then the value per hectare of a pruned stand can be below that of a stand managed for a structural regime. At Woodmetrics, we have sold clients forests recently where bids for

unpruned stands have valued them higher than pruned stands on a per hectare basis.

Having said this, there is still a good argument for farm foresters to prune. The equation for a farm forestry block may be different if the site is very fertile. Radiata grown on very high nitrogen sites and in shelter belts or near the stand edge will tend to grow big ugly branches. These logs may only be suitable for pulp logs, which is of negligible value. In this situation when we are comparing pruned logs with pulp logs, the spreadsheet exercise looks completely different. There are other good reasons to prune as well.

A small forest owner with pruned logs has market options at harvest which are not open when there is no pruning.

The fact that the corporates are not pruning as much is a good reason to prune. A strong industry has been built up producing clearwood products from pruned logs and will still need feeding.

Also a pruned stand has more grazing under it for a longer period and the fences

Dodgy carbon credits banned Forest owners have welcomed the government decision to prevent emitters from using dodgy carbon credits to meet their obligations under the NZ Emission Trading Scheme (NZETS).

Banning the use of these industrial gas CER units was recommended by the independent ETS review panel earlier in the year.

“The ban was essential in order to give our market some integrity,” says Forest Owners Association chief executive David Rhodes.

“But there is still more work to do if we want to avoid a major financial headache down the road.

“These units have created a perverse situation whereby it has become profitable to create some greenhouse gases and then destroy them and claim the credit.”

David says the international market is awash with these units and New Zealand risked becoming the only destination left for them.

“In Europe, their use is restricted and will be totally banned from April 2013. Australia similarly will have no place for them in its carbon market.”

The NZETS puts a price on carbon in order to change behaviour. The aim is to gradually adjust New Zealand to a world where fossil fuels are much more costly than they are today.

“This ban goes some way to achieving this, but has not addressed New Zealand’s overall policy on international units.

“In Australia and the EU the policy is clear. A limit will apply to the proportion of international units that emitters can use to meet their domestic obligations,” says David.

“This is to ensure that emissions reductions also occur at home. This encourages their domestic economies to transition to a low-carbon future, rather than simply

providing funds to help some other country adapt.

“Getting the balance between international units and domestic units and an appropriate pricing mechanism is as much an art as it is a science. If the price is too low there’s no incentive to reduce the use of fossil fuels or to plant more trees. If it’s too high, it unfairly penalises exporters and New Zealanders on fixed or low incomes.”

In recent months, the NZ carbon price has dropped to as low as $8 a tonne, removing the incentive to plant trees or for fossil fuel users to change their behaviour says David. Taking the government’s two-for-one concession to industry into account, the cost of compliance for industry has been as low as $4 a tonne. Yet the price being passed on to consumers could be up to $25/tonne.

“The Australians and Europeans don’t subsidise their emitters two-for-one as we do in New Zealand. Also, the initial fixed carbon price in Australia, at $A23 a tonne from July next year, will be above likely market prices here.

“We see no justification for continuing with the two-for-one subsidy given the expected price and availability of units.

“I imagine officials and the government will be keeping a close watch on price movements during the next two or three months, bearing in mind the need to align our ETS with those of our trading partners. The ETS is not functioning as intended and the question of what proportion of emissions reduction should come from domestic action still remains to be answered.”

do better without branches interfering with them.

Finally, ask is it wise to make a 20 year investment decision based only on current market prices?

There are still lots to consider when

making the decision to prune, but at the end of the day, it is a venture of faith as it always has been.

We’ll get you

more money for your trees

Do you have trees ready to be harvested in the next 2 years?

Woodmetrics’ competitive tendering process is your best option to realise your investment and our complete sale management process will ensure you get paid — why take the risk?

For further information,visit www.woodmetrics.co.nz

Be prepared — call 0800 96 63 63 now to talk about your trees with Peter Harington, your Regional Manager.

Page 38

RURAL CONTRACTORS

Coast & Country

Great season; less palm kernel Neville Marsh Contracting is hoping the amazing growth and production farmers are having continues until the end of the season.

Farmers are smiling with all the grass growth and their production is mirroring this, says Neville.

He has clients who have been making supplement for the first time in seven years due to the fantastic grass growth.

The company’s Keenan Orbital

Spreader is currently busy broadcasting effluent, shavings or other farm waste on paddocks for farmers, who are getting good results from doing this each year.

Hilly country is the Orbital’s specialty as the spreader can throw the product twenty metres – if we can get the Orbital to the top of the hill safely, then it will throw it to the bottom and vice versa.

Neville has been trialling the Orbital on his own property and is seeing impressive results – grass is as lush on

the hillsides as it is on the flats.

The majority of maize crops in the area are looking very impressive says Neville, although the weather has taken its toll on some low lying crops.

“More farmers are buying in maize this season, even with extra on-farm supplement and some are hoping to decrease the amount of

palm kernel they buy in as they feel it can be detrimental to their cow’s health.”

Neville’s Claas Jaguar 950 eightrow harvester is ready and with some luck, the weather will hold to let us have a good run to provide good quality maize to our clients as is our standard practice.

Pasture renovation will be getting

underway shortly and farmers need to start booking this in especially if they have large areas to direct drill.

Neville has two Duncan 17 Run drills with experienced drivers, so both drills can come in and cover the ground efficiently if requested.

At this stage, seed supply does not seem to be an issue.

Supplied by Neville Marsh

RURAL CONTRACTORS

PH 07 578 0030

Page 39

Cultivate and seed in one pass

AJ & SN Muir pic & ed

Re-grassing, and re-grassing crop paddocks, has never been easier with Te Puke contractor and drystock farmer Ben Muir offering all the steps in one go.

Ben’s machine does full cultivation and seeding in one pass, saving time and money in its tracks.

“It rips, it cultivates, we seed and then we roll – in one pass,” says Ben. “It’s an amazing machine.”

“I’m doing a couple of hundred hectares a year with it now and growing all the time.

“All the guys I do work for absolutely love it. It’s a cost-effective way with great results.”

Ben says they can seed anything from

Crop paddock harvesting is due to start and farmers wanting to re-grass with precision, as quickly as possible, should look no further, says Ben. “We’re able to go straight into maize stubble. It’s cost-effective, saving time and money.

“The ground is open and closed and seeded within four seconds so there is good moisture retention for crop establishment.”

Ben says the machine cultivates well and they also don’t seem to get the soil erosion problems on steep hill country with it.

“We get a lot of rainfall around here, with light soils and our soil erosion problems are very, very minimal.”

The sheep and beef farmer wanted a machine that he could do steeper country with and is getting good results.

“I’ve been a cocky all my life. I wanted to re-grass a lot of our hill country and this machine does a great job.”

Ben works around the Eastern Bay of Plenty, whether he’s called out to Tauranga, Rotorua or Whakatane, he’s happy to travel.

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Grant Contractors tree removal specialists get the job done quickly and professionally.

They are a privately-owned, family company based in Tauranga, operating throughout the Bay of Plenty and the Waikato.

The team is highly trained to ensure the job is done safely and with the least disruption possible.

“Services are available for commercial and domestic use,” says owner Ian Grant.

“We specialise in stump grinding, removal and chipping as well as whole tree shredding, whole tree removal, mulching and land clearing.

“We have the ability to mulch standing trees up to six years old and we can turn green waste into valuable nutrients for the garden through mulching which helps replenish the soil and help the property flourish.”

Grant Contractors has machines custom built for the job, including a 13 tonne and a 26 tonne digger, and provides customers with the most cost-effective solution for tree removal needs.

Grant Contractors services include: Avocado thinning and removal; clearing kiwifruit orchards; removing a large, unwanted tree; shedding trees; clearing land ready for subdivision.

Tree removal can be dangerous, so it should only be undertaken by specialists with specialist equipment – get Grant Contractors in to do the job for you.

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brassicas to grasses to cereals.

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By Sheryl Brown

COUNTRY LIVING

Page 40

Coast & Country

Lengthening the stirrups

Hoofcamp started running guided treks in 2002 and as keen trekking riders, Kathryn Dick and her husband Matthew often found that riders had left some gear behind or ended up breaking equipment.

They started to carry extra bits and pieces with them and ended up selling tack from their horse truck.

In 2009, Whakatane had no saddlery store so it seemed a good idea to start one.

Kathryn and Matthew chose to keep the Hoofcamp name for the saddlery shop and found a little shop on Commerce street.

They didn’t have much gear to start out, but had a dream to one day own a big store that people would travel for miles to come and visit.

This little business grew until the little shop wasn’t big enough to carry all the stock they kept purchasing.

Hoofcamp Saddlery has been operating for three years now, and in June 2011, they moved into a much bigger premises with everything under the one roof, just four doors up from the little shop they had outgrown.

Hoofcamp do saddlery repairs, cover laundering and re-proofing, plus all sorts of other repairs. They also import Western

saddles from the USA which are exclusive to Hoofcamp and also stock other quality brand name English saddles and bridles.

They carry a large quantity of horse feed with easy dispatch through a roller door into vehicles, various ranges of supplements, clothing and a fitting room, boots and all other equestrian needs for all disciplines of riding.

There is a lounge suite for customers to relax and have a coffee while they browse through catalogues, a children play area, huge workshop for repair work, horse cover laundering, reproofing, and plenty of room through the retail area for the customer to enjoy.

Giving away a horse A retiring farmer in preparation for selling his land, needed to rid his farm of animals. So he went to every house in his town.

To the houses where the man is the boss, he gave a horse. To the houses

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where the woman is the boss, a chicken was given.

He got toward the end of the street and saw a couple outside gardening.

“Who’s the boss around here?” he asked.

No kidding

“I am.” said the man.

“I have a black horse and a brown horse,” the farmer said, “which one would you like?”

The man thought for a minute and said, “The black one.”

“No, no, no, get the brown one.” the man’s wife said.

“Here’s your chicken.” said the farmer.

COUNTRY LIVING

Coast & Country

Page 41

Farming spectacle on show at Morrinsville A&P Show Organising the Norwood Morrinsville A&P Show is a full-time job with all but the good weather to be confirmed for the event.

First-time secretary and treasurer Maree Hill is busy ordering ribbons, taking entries and organising entertainment.

The event is Friday and Saturday, March 2-3, at Morrinsville Recreation Grounds, Avenue Road.

Friday is the equestrian dressage and sport horse events with the gates opening to the public at 6pm for a night out at the amusement park. Entry is $5 a

person. The gates open at 9am Saturday for the main event, which sees the usual dairy, beef, and calf club competitions and alpaca classes – both for the

animal and the fleece.

There are horse classes, which this year include hacks and ponies, lead rein, miniature ponies, donkeys and mules and

Clydesdales; dog trials, highland dancing, tug of war and Miss Morrinsville to watch and Maree is hoping they will be vintage tractor.

There is plenty of entertainment for the children, including rock-up climbing walls, John the puppet man and Sheep n Show – which includes sheep racing, jockeys and all.

A family pass is $20 for two adults and two children, or $8 adult, $4 for children 13-16 years old and under-12-years free.

Helicopter rides are $60 for adults, $50 for children.

Maree says there are still plenty of trade sites available for busi-

Waipa new rules changing rural subdivision After a lengthy consultation period, Waipa District Council will publicly notify its change to subdivision rules next month.

This will mark the start of a formal submission process where landowners have a chance to object to or support the changes.

There are changes to the residential rules, but the major effect will likely be felt by the rural landowners. Other councils are also announcing big changes – so if you live in Waikato, Hauraki, Matamata-Piako, Thames-Coromandel or Western Bay you need

to be alert also.

During this process you can still carry out subdivision under the old rules so, if you have thought of subdividing, it is important to get on with it right now. You will also want to put in a submission to the rule change to help secure your position. There is a slim chance public pressure may influence council in its decision making process, but don’t bet on it – council have the resources to push through most decisions that they make!

One of the significant opportunities lost will be the withdrawal of the ‘long association’ rule, which enables many long-term landowners to subdivide a new lot. If you’ve lived on a property

3RD MARCH 2012

for about 13 years, we could assist you to secure these rights.

The entire subdivision process doesn’t need to be finished immediately – just resource consent at this stage. It can be extended over eight years, making the initial cost of securing your rights more affordable.

It is also not too late to take advantage of other rules such as the 25ha lot size (before it doubles!) and the ability to create a new title around an existing surplus house on your property.

Many landowners appreciate the advantage of doing this to provide their families with options in relation to ownership and development of their land. If you want flexibility in how you deal with

your asset in the future, you must act now to secure your current rights.

As Waipa District Council move to protect the quality soils, they are providing subdivision opportunities for those with significant natural areas on their properties.

These areas include wetlands, stream and river margins and native bush.

If you are interested to find out how the deletion of these rules or future opportunities may affect you, please feel free to give me a call.

Brent Trail, Managing Director of Surveying Services, specialises in resource consent applications for subdivisions across the Waikato, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.

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nesses to base themselves for the day. She says there is already a range of agricultural companies, motorbike businesses, craft and food companies and even a stall for digital TV. “It’s a really mixed bag – it’s not just all farming.”

Entries close February 20.

COUNTRY LIVING

Page 42

Coast & Country

Real New Year resolutions Abundant Health

The principles of healthy living are relatively simple.

these are the main ways our body defends against external and internal threats.

Most will have some health issues; some will be serious and others just annoying.

Sometimes we do not achieve our health goals because we overcomplicate things and tend to think that the mountain is too big to climb.

When making health goals, the first step is to make goals achievable.

All of us have arrived in 2012 with our individual health history. We need to be brave and recognise there are some things we cannot change, but to focus on things we can influence.

You may be fortunate and have started the year in great health. If that is you, then your goal should be to protect your health and to make sure your key body defence systems are working well. For you, this will probably mean having a good diet, getting plenty of appropriate exercise and a simple maintenance supplement programme. I would place special emphasis on your immune system and antioxidant defences as

I write this with a sore and stiff back after a holiday lower back injury and my goal is to get everything working again through my back ‘doctor’, specific exercise and anti-inflammatory supplements.

Your problem, like mine, may be temporary or you may be battling a long-term chronic problem, whether that is arthritis, cardiovascular problems, respiratory problems, diabetes or other problems such as fatigue or weight gain. If you have health problems, it is important you get good information about your problem from your doctor or other health

professional. Sometimes people do not achieve their health goals because they do not know where to start. When I create a health plan for people, we will usually start with a discussion about your health history, including family history. From there we take into consideration any medical diagnosis and treatment.

The first place to start is making sure your diet and exercise are appropriate for your age, weight and health. To this we then add a nutritional support programme using supplements which can target problem areas. For example, if you have osteoarthritis we should add nutrients that can slow the disease process, lower joint inflammation and improve joint tissue function.

Whatever your circumstances most people can get real improvements if they work to a programme. Let’s start 2012 with positive health goals so you can improve your health and live life to the full.

If you would like further information please phone 0800 423 559, visit www.johnarts.co.nz or www.abundant.co.nz John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health.

To read more from John visit www.sunlive.co.nz

Improving workplace culture HOW TO SAVE HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS A YEAR

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The phrase workplace culture is a term that is being used more frequently recently.

This phrase, like so many others, dips in and out of fashion and means different things to different people.

When I refer to work place culture, I am referring to the particular stage of intellectual development of an organisation, the customs, achievements, outlook etcetera of an organisation.

There are many different types of company culture from command-and-control military style of blind

obedience; to informed acquiescence; through to self governance nirvana; and many combinations of the above.

Most organisations I work with strive to have an organisation that is pleasant to work in, promotes productivity, is selfgoverning, awash with inspiration and driven by values rather than profits. The big question is how does an organisation achieve such a culture? An obvious start is to inspire your staff to react in a particular way.

It is of no surprise to note that academic research repeatedly confirms that different people react in different ways to the treatment they receive. Refer to Dan Pink’s book ‘Drive’ for further information on this obvious assertion.

For this reason alone, taking one approach in an attempt to achieve a particular type of company culture will not work. Companies must consider the characteristics of those they are wishing to influence. For example, studies repeatedly show that those performing in simple, mechanical, programmed or script taskorientated roles react positively to incentives. If you reinforce behaviours that you want, you get more of such behaviour. However, it is not that simple. If a task requires even rudimentary cognitive skill (commonly called ‘thinking’), larger rewards lead to poorer performance. Thinking tasks require thinking people and they are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose, they need to feel as though they are part of something bigger.

So it seems company culture is like shoes, one pair does not fit all. Different people performing different tasks require different approaches. If an organisation is skilful enough to match the right aspects of culture, to the right person, at the right time, the result is employee engagement. Engaged employees are an organisation’s gold.

This article is intended as a point of reference and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional advice. Specialist advice should always be sought in relation to any particular circumstances and no liability will be accepted for any losses incurred by those relying solely on this article.

Coast & Country

COUNTRY LIVING

Page 43

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Leisa Raeymaekers and George Marshall love racing their Drift go karts.

The whole family can enjoy the thrill of motorsport thanks to the efforts of a Tauranga business.

Go Karts Direct is an exclusive importer and distributor of Drift go karts for the New Zealand market.

Owners Bryce Marshall and Jan Wyllie began importing Drift go karts into New Zealand six years ago and now supply them to buyers all around the country.

They have established a reputation for quality Drift go karts, which are suitable for children and adults.

Bryce says they are extremely safe to use having a low centre of gravity, while still maintaining good ground clearance.

“They are designed to travel on flat, even terrain, and because of their design they drift rather than roll.

“They come in three parts and are extremely easy to assemble. You need very few tools to put one together.”

Bryce says it’s a great introduction for young children to learn to drive and control out in the open spaces.

“It’s something we can do safely with our kids. It is a great way for children to gain confidence and of course have lots of fun.

“We recommend everybody wears a helmet and uses the fitted seatbelt when they are driving a kart.”

The machine develops plenty of low-down torque allowing for power slides. Featuring a simple, strong design, the Drift go karts have a

Honda design cam, four stroke engine and are capable of speeds of 45-50km/h. The speed can be governed easily for younger riders by a simple screw adjustment.

The karts run on 91 octane petrol and are extremely economical. They have an easy-to-operate recoil pullstart mechanism and an automatic centrifugal clutch and can carry drivers weighing up to 120kg.

The karts are ideal for use on orchards, farms, lifestyle blocks, paddocks or any large open spaces. They are surprisingly inexpensive and cost much less than most other motorsport machines says Bryce.

The karts can be sent direct to your door at reduced freight rates or you are welcome to pick up from Tauranga.

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BOARDING & EDUCATION

Page 44

Coast & Country

An education with a difference As you enter the gates of Waikato Diocesan School for Girls you are immediately struck by a sense of tradition.

Waikato Diocesan School for Girls aims to promote a safe, caring environment for students.

This is the key to the school’s success – a 100 years of history, teamed with a forward thinking and innovative approach to education.

Social, moral and spiritual values are central to Dio’s sense of community and special Anglican character.

The school believes that for students to achieve their best academically, it needs to also focus on the spiritual, emotional, physical and social needs of the girls.

Each year, students take part in an impressive programme of personal development, which offers meaningful experiences in leadership, motivation and responsibility.

Boarding opportunities for girls continue to be part of the special character of Waikato Diocesan School for Girls and boarding is embedded in the charter and vision for the school.

Boarder families send their daughters to Waikato Diocesan for many reasons: The boarding experience; the

all-round education; the special character; and the family atmosphere.

Girls live with other students from their academic year in one of five boarding houses. Three meals per day are included in the fees and all houses are centrally heated, carpeted and furnished.

Professional, nurturing boarding staff provide the girls with a safe and positive place to live and grow.

Homework is supervised and subject specialists provide additional tuition if needed.

As the girls become more senior, they are encouraged to take more responsibility for themselves and to become more independent.

Year 13 students have individual study bedrooms and share kitchen and living facilities. They cook their own meals in the weekends.

Waikato Diocesan School for Girls aims to promote a safe, caring and challenging environment in which students may grow into confident, responsible young adults.

To see what Waikato Diocesan School for Girls has to offer, come to our open day on Friday, March 16, 10.30am-12.00pm or phone 07 8552038 for a prospectus.

At Dio, we’re a little bit country…

Our boarding houses are largely utilised by families in the agricultural and horticultural hinterland of the Waikato. Most boarders live within an hour or two of Dio, allowing them to travel home for the weekends and retain their relationships with their families and with the land.

Open Day – Friday 16 March 2012, 10.00am to 12.30pm. All enquiries to 07 855 2038, email admissions@waikatodiocesan.school.nz or visit www.waikatodiocesan.school.nz

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BOARDING & EDUCATION

Coast & Country

Page 45

Delivering on its promise of personalised education St Paul’s Collegiate School continues to fulfil its promise of focusing on delivering education that meets the individual needs of its students by staying small enough that students are known personally.

experience in the New Zealand educational environment– that challenges and develops the physical, personal and social skills of impressionable young people.

On this campus, St Paul’s continues its tradition of managing boys well during their adolescent years through a programme that

The school is structured to offer single sex education for adolescent boys in the form of a boys only Junior School, known to be best for boys during their crucial formative years (Years 9 and 10).

There is a natural integration of the sexes in the Coeducational Senior School allowing for a socialisation process that will be replicated in the work force.

St Paul’s has a second campus, Tihoi Venture School – a unique life changing self discovery

integrates classroom learning with outdoors activities, which is compulsory for boys at Year 10. Unique in New Zealand, Tihoi is the “jewel in the crown’’ of the St Paul’s experience.

It is one of only four programmes of its type worldwide.

“Learning in and from, taking care of, and enhancing, the rural environment they live in is an important part of the learning process in the boys’ time at Tihoi,” says headmaster Grant Lander.

Grant says Year 10 is a crucial time in a boy’s development and the Tihoi experience balances the “learning through action and consequence” needs of boys early in their secondary school experience.

When the boys graduate to the Senior School they have the opportunity for social and academic integration with girls,

thus giving St Paul’s students the best of both worlds.

Girls (accepted at St Paul’s in Years 11-13) participate in a separate, focused Tihoi programme.

The school has an established record of Academic Excellence with NCEA and scholarship results well above regional averages. The school offers a very strong science programme – one of the best in the country – teachers challenge students to strive to achieve their personal best in the classroom.

It provides this academic focus in an Holistic Educational Environment embracing an emphasis on participation in sport, culture and Christian dimensions.

Key points of difference at St Paul’s: • Personalised education – small enough that students are known personally.

• Structured to reflect what

is best for both – sexes boys only Junior School; co-ed Senior School.

• Tihoi Venture School Year 10 boys – a unique life changing experience of self discovery.

• Academic Excellence – achieving “personal bests” in the classroom.

• Holistic Education Academic, sport, culture and Christian dimensions.

St Paul’s Collegiate School headmaster Grant Lander says the school’s second campus, Tihoi Venture School, offers students a unique outdoor educational experience.

Winning is an art.

And a science.

Year 13 Diocesan student Rebecca, was one of only two New Zealand students chosen to attend the 2011 London International Youth Science Forum.

Diocesan’s impressive performance continues at our all-girls independent school. You are invited to view our boutique boarding facilities and tour the school to see how Diocesan Girls are equipped to succeed any time you are in Auckland. Find out more about Diocesan School for Girls by visiting www.diocesan.school.nz

Clyde Street / Epsom / Auckland Phone 0800 346 4475 www.diocesan.school.nz

Smallschool, school, students students known PersonalisedEducation Education Small knownpersonally personally Personalised St Paul’s Collegiate School is small

St Paul’s Collegiate School is small enough to allow each student to be enoughknown to allow each student to be personally and regarded as known an personally andofregarded as integral part the community. an integral part ofHouse the community.

A vertical system in the day A vertical system in operates the day as andHouse boarding school and boarding schoolfamily operates as an extended unit during a student’s timeunit at Stduring Paul’s. aEach an extended family own unique student’sHouse time has at StitsPaul’s.

Each character, and its ourown Housemasters come to know House has unique character, understand the student members and ourand Housemasters come to know of their House well. members and understand the student of their House well.

St Paul’s Collegiate School Hamilton

St Paul’s Collegiate School Hamilton

Our students feel part of a small supportive community...

Our students feel part of a small supportive community...

“I feel there is always someone I can go to for support.”

“I feel there is always someone I can go to for support.”

“Part of my coming here was to be amongst the expectations of excellence.”

“Part of my coming here was to be amongst the expectations of excellence.”

“Smaller classes mean they are more focussed.”

“Smaller classes mean they are more focussed.”

“The tutorials before school are really good.”

“The tutorials beforeme school reallyongood.”

“Being here has made moreare focused academics.”

“Being here has made me more focused on academics.”

Contact us now for more information

Contact us now for more information

07 957 8899 • Email:

info@stpauls.school.nz • Web: www.stpauls.school.nz

07 957 8899 • Email:

info@stpauls.school.nz • Web: www.stpauls.school.nz

Page 46

COAST & COUNTRY

Coast & Country of established farmers, rural professionals and members of the group. This module focuses on Off farm Investments. Ph Teresa 021 816 181 or email: teresa.moore@ dairynz.co.nz

Thursday 23 February Putaruru Biz Start

Katikati A&P Show

At Uretara Domain 9am.am. Adults $5, school children $2.

At Plaza Theatre Putaruru, 59 Kensington St, Putaruru 11am – 1pm. Positioning yourself to get the ideal job. Be the person employers want to hire. Ph Amy 027 483 2205 or email: amy.johnson@dairynz.co.nz

Thursday 9 February

Sunday 26 February

Feb 9 at Reporoa Memorial Hall, Broadlands Rd, Reporoa. Feb 10 at Te Puke Memorial Hall, 130 Jellicoe St, Te Puke.

Feb 13 at Katikati War Memorial Hall, Main Rd, Katikati. Feb 15 at Edgecumbe War Memorial Hall, Kauri St, Edgecumbe.

Feb 16 at Galatea Wear Memorial Hall, Mangamate, Galatea. All 10.30am – 12.45pm. Smart water use can cut effluent volumes, lower power costs and reduce work time. Come along to discuss practical ways to use water more efficiently and reduce water loss on the farm. Hear about the future of local water supplies from Regional and District Council staff. Be in to win one of a number of draw prizes.

RSVP for catering purposes. 07 349 6825 or email: Natalee.Swinyard@dairynz.co.nz

On SH5 (Rotorua to Hamilton highway) at Mamaku near Rotorua 10am start.

Vintage tractors, ploughing, hay making (weather permitting) stationary engines, vintage cars, refreshments etc. Adults $5, under 12’s free. Event run by Rotorua Tractor & Machinery Club. Ph Alan 07 357 5349

Saturday 11 February

71st Awaroa Sports Day

Sunday 5 February

LIMITED TIME ONLY !

Smart Water Use Ideas Exchange

Te Puke 106th A&P Show

A&P Showgrounds, Paengaroa, Te Puke (opp Kiwi 360 on SH2). Events include: Chelsea’s Dog show, TMPCC Endurocross (motorbike action including international competitors), chainsaw sculpturing & digger competition, new Western Riding classes & more. Gate fees: Under 5 Free, children $2, persons 13 years & over $10, family fee (2 adults/4 children) $25.

Daily 7am - 5pm from Tauranga 24hr Overnight Hapuka 6.30pm - 6.30pm

www.gorringebros.co.nz

e We servic of all makes pumps

Monday 13 February Keep your cows in milk over summer Plan your summer crops now • Pasture Sprayout

• •

Cultivation & Seeding Direct Drilling

We do the complete job.

Book early—Call us on 07 549 1075

Whakatane Biz Grow

At EastBay REAP, 21 Pyne Street, Whakatane 7pm. An open group focused on up-skilling farmers who want to progress further in the dairy industry.

We will be drawing on the experience of established farmers, rural professionals and members of the group. This module focuses on Equity Partnerships/Off Farm Investments. Ph Cameron 027 288 8238 or email: Cameron.bierre@dairynz.co.nz

Wednesday 15 February Central Plateau Biz Start/Biz Grow

Held Feb 15 & 21 at Waiariki Institute of Technology, Mokoia Drive, Rotorua N Block, Room 201 7-9pm. This is an open group focused on up-skilling farmers who want to progress further in the dairy industry. We will be drawing on the experience

Vintage Tractor Working Day & Show

Friday 2 March Morrinsville A&P Show

Morrinsville Recreation Grounds March 2 and 3. A great day out for everyone with heaps to see and do. Equestrian dressage and led horse event is held on Friday, with the main show on Saturday.

Saturday 3 March Sports Grounds at Hauturu (on the Kawhia Harbour) on Hauturu Rd. A country family day out with horse events (starting at 9.30am), chopping events (starting 10am), athletic events & novelty events (lunchtime onwards). Food available, plus a Hangi at lunchtime and a BBQ tea. Ph Murray Brandon 07 871 0730

Saturday 17 March TAG Contest

In conjunction with the National Bank Young Farmers Regional Finals – Mystery Creek. For those of you that don’t know what TeenAg is, it is an agricultural skills based competition held at the 7 regional finals around New Zealand for teams of 2 people aged 14 - 18, with the chance to compete at the 2012 Grand Final TeenAg Competition in Dunedin. The competition is in two parts, the Prelims and the Race Off. The Prelims consist of 7 modules, a combination of agricultural and educational challenges, racing against the clock and trying to get as much right as possible so as to score the most points. The top 7 scoring teams from the Prelims go through to the Race Off, which is a race against the other teams to complete a course of quick challenges. The top 3 teams from the race off go through to the Grand Final. Register your team: (03) 303 3058, or teenag@youngfarmers.co.nz

To list your rural event please email: julie@thesun.co.nz with Rural Event in the subject heading.

www.sunlive.co.nz

0800 382 828

COAST & COUNTRY

Coast & Country

Kane Fredricksen gets to work in the woolshed.

Eric Tibble is a familiar face in the shearing circles.

centenary celebration

EASTER SATURDAY 7 APRIL residents of Waitanguru, Piopio are elebrating the centenary of the Waitanguru Hall. Anyone interested in attending should Ph R.Nicholas 07 877 8795 or email waitanguru@yahoo.com

for sale

PULLETS Brown Shaver. Point of lay, good layers. Ph 07 824 1762

house for sale

A PERFECT 3 bedroom home, warm and dry for winter with fireplace and full insulation.

Absolutely gorgeous outlook and cool breezes for Summer!

Fantastic family home or for first home buyers - ideal location

in Brookfield. Fully fenced on a 716m2 section situated within easy walking distance to Brookfield shops, Schools,

house for sale

PreSchools & parks. Separate single garage with power.

Located in a quiet cul-de sac in a great neighbourhood, this home is a must see to see the potential. View some photos on TradeMe #405 700 583 or phone Daphne 027 552 6283 today!

Price Slashed to Sell was $330 now only $295,000 FANTASTIC LIFESTYLE BLOCK AT PIKOWAI Within easy commuting to Tauranga, Te Puke and Whakatane this 4 bedroom brick home is in paradise!

Beautiful sea and rural views

6 acres grazing land, horse pens, heaps of shedding, butchery and chiller for own use single garage with sleepout/ office big games room or can be converted to extra double garage, chook house, drenching race for the cattle. 11.5 x 4.5 metre in

house for sale

ground swimming pool which is fully decked and fenced. This is a beautiful home and comes with a share in the community woolshed, tennis courts and cattle yards.

Own water scheme. Fantastic community to belong to - be in quick! Price of house has been slashed! to $550,000 - urgent sale.

Ph 027 281 7427 today.

house sitters

HOUSE SITTERS FREE available from the 29th Jan 2012

to the7th Feb, 7th March to the 4th May 2012, and then from the 21st June onward. Very active retired couple would love to look after your property, life style block, farm, stock (cattle, sheep, horses, chooks, alpacas, pigs, etc) and all types of pets. We have been housesitting for 2yrs and have ref and police clearance. Contact on flyandsissy@hotmail.

trades & services

GORSE SPRAYING do you have a gorse problem? Ph today for a FREE quote for all gorse control.

Scott 0274 624 769 TREE FELLING, PRUNING & Removal/chipping. No job to big or small. Phone Scott 0274 624 769

Page 47

COAST & COUNTRY

Coast & Country

NER

Page 48

Prize Pack up for Grabs!

Pictures and details can be emailed (high resolution jpgs) to contest@thesun.co.nz â&#x20AC;&#x153;Country Cameraâ&#x20AC;? or posted to Coast & Country, PO Box 240, Tauranga. Please include a name, address and phone number with every entry.

WIN

Five-week-old Penny introduces herself to my Hamiltonian grandaughter Phoebe, age 7. From Carol Ayla from Noosa visits her country relatives on their farm at Arohena. From Judy Sherriff of Te Awamutu.

Malcolm, Opotiki.

Santa with Blake, 5 and Stella, 3, Aarsen.

Hot Deals on Houselots Polypropylene Carpet Houselot*

Berber Carpet Houselot*

Solution Dyed Nylon EHD Carpet Houselot*

also includes 9.5mm underlay and installation

also includes 9.5mm underlay and installation

also includes 9.5mm underlay and installation

This is our daughter Chelsea, 10.5 months old. She likes to sit at our back fence chatting away to the sheep or whoever else seems to be standing there. All the while tooting her horn on her new bike.

From Elisha and Richard Bain of Hamilton.

From Halei Aarsen of Matamata.

$2495 $2995 $3495 *Houselot offers based on 22 lineal metres

Mobile Showroom Ph 570 0321 or 0800 022 234 Unit 4, 2 Wilrose Place, Tauranga Email tauranga@flooringdirect.co.nz

Our son Sam with his pet goat at Rangitaiki School Pet Day. Each year they have a dressup section. From Kathie Davies of Taupo.

The photo is of grandaughter Sienna with dog, Jaz, taking time out from chores to smell the daisies. From Sandra Anderson of Mamaku.