Te Kuiti farmer Mitchel Hoare is hoping to add to his trophy cabinet. He is one of three emerging achiever finalists in the Beef and Lamb New Zealand awards. Story page 6. Plus Paul Charman checks out the cow whisperer Neil Chesterton page 4.
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Paul Charman reports on the work of King Country Rivercare to clean up waterways in the King Country.
Many King Country farmers are confused over the need to prepare fresh water farm plans while the coalition government adjusts legislation that will define rules such plans are to cover.
The plans, which were to be completed by mid-2025, were initiated as part of a push by successive governments. They aim to improve the “swimmability” of New Zealand
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rivers by reducing contaminants generated by rurally based farm runoff, plus sewage and factory waste generated closer to town.
But the brakes went on following the election, with the coalition keen to focus on risk and reduce costs to farmers.
Hence, among other changes, a relaxation of rules for keeping farm animals out of waterways and more permissive rules for intensive winter grazing are now expected.
The final set of rules covering freshwater farm plans are expected to be out soon, but a revised freshwater bill is not the only legislation many King Country farmers will have to follow in this area.
The Waikato Regional Council’s Regional Plan Change 1 has similar aims to the Government Bill, albeit with the added impetus of Treaty Settlement conditions aimed at restoring Waikato and Waipā rivers to a much better condition than they are at present.
“There has been no word on what the WRC’s final PC1 rules for fresh water will look like though there has been a lot of consultation,” King Country Rivercare’s Reon Verry said.
“We also don’t really know how Plan Change 1 will meld with the Government’s revised freshwater bill - it all just adds to the uncertainty.
“The WRC Plan Change relates back to a Treaty Settlement which sets it apart from regional water plans in other parts of the country.
Elsewhere regional councils have just been guided by the national policy statement on
fresh water.
“But farmers here know that it doesn’t matter what happens in the rest of the country; we are 10 years into an 80-year-plan to restore the Waikato and Waipā rivers to an improved state, still without a plan in place.”
Verry pointed out that farmers had no problem with the whole idea of improving water quality.
“We have been busy, particularly in the last few years, with measures such as excluding stock, riparian planting and fencing off bush – you name it.
The motivation is nothing to do with the forthcoming freshwater bill or Plan Change 1. We want our families to be able to swim in these rivers, and of course we need clean water for ourselves, our farm animals and the rest of the community.”
Verry says in the last four years King Country River Care’s 160 members had made a major push toward better water quality off their own bat.
“River Care received some funding from the Government’s One Billion Trees programme before the election and we’ve put it to good use.
“Most of the work had been done on farms, though public reserves at Piopio, Āria and Mōkau had also benefitted.
“The aim was to plant 200,000 trees and we’ve exceeded that by more than 10 per cent (planting 227,715).
“We’ve partnered 149km of fencing to protect waterways and restored 80 ha of native bush.”
“The beauty of it all is that nobody has forced us to do this – we have done it willingly. And we have been free to prioritise when and what areas we put the work into.”
Māori-owned dairy manufacturer Miraka has launched New Zealand’s first green hydrogen milk collection tanker.
The vehicle, a 700hp Volvo green hydrogen-diesel dual-fuel milk collection tanker, was launched at the company’s dairy plant at Mokai, northwest of Taupō.
Miraka chairman Bruce Scott said the launch marked ‘another significant milestone’ for the company, aligning with the founders’ kaitiakitanga vision and values and Miraka’s commitment to environmental care.
Company chief executive Karl Gradon said the tanker was designed to reduce milk collection CO2 emissions by about 35 per cent per vehicle.
He commended Miraka’s trans-
port and hydrogen partners, Central Transport Ltd and Halcyon Power, for their support.
He said a year to the day before the launch, the company entered a partnership with Central Transport and Halcyon, establishing a Rural Hydrogen Hub which it hoped to expand nationwide.
“Launching our first green hydrogen dual-fuel milk collection tanker one year later is a tremendous achievement which we look forward to seeing rolled out across the fleet,” he said.
Tūaropaki Trust, a cornerstone shareholder in Miraka, provides geothermal energy and steam for the Miraka dairy plant through its Mokai Power Station.
Under a joint venture partner-
Chris Gardner talks to Peter Nation who announced last week he would be standing down as chief executive of Fieldays.
Outgoing National Agricultural Fieldays chief executive Peter Nation has some sage words for his successor.
“Don’t make it about yourself and keep your ego in check because it’ll be really easy to make it all about you,” he said.
The 63-year-old has resigned for the position he has held for nine years, after 12 years serving on the Fieldays board, and will vacate the position in December.
“It isn’t about you. You’re leading a highly dynamic team of not only staff, but also volunteers and members and stakeholders and suppliers and sponsors. A really big team of over 500 people.”
Nation is not involved in the hunt for a replacement. That’s a job for the National Agricultural Fieldays Society Board led by chair and Waikato farmer Jenni Vernon.
“Early days,” Nation said of the search for his replacement. “The board are going to take their time. It’ll be, I’m not being boastful, a special person because you’re dealing with all these layers. I’ve hosted five or six prime ministers and had relationships with them and senior ministers. Some of them have become acquaintances that I know personally.”
Nation is a well-respected agricultural sector leader.
Before becoming Fieldays chief executive, he spent 11 years as Gallagher’s national sales manager, and 24 years as ANZ rural district manager.
He’s an affable fellow who punctuates every conversation with good humour and laughter.
He navigated the big event focused organisation through its most turbulent time during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister’s mouth in March 2020 was there will be no mass gatherings,” Nation recalled.
“We were 90 days out from Fieldays.. and by 5pm we had no bookings for Mystery Creek. You don’t look on the library behind you and find the book that says here’s your simulation of running a business on fresh air.”
Nation had to write his own book and apply it to the context of the southern hemisphere’s largest agricultural trade show.
“We’ve stabilised the business,” Nation said of the post pandemic years.
“We’ve had some good Fieldays. You look at all that and you think actually Iet’s just draw the line under that and leave on a high.”
So, what other changes did Nation lead?
“I brought an increased focus on risk and compliance,” he said. “That was driven by the tragic mosque attack that shocked the world and New Zealand suddenly woke up.”
Nation’s tenure also included the growth of hubs at the National Agricultural Fieldays, including the forestry, sustainability and health and wellbeing hubs.
“We escalated that really fast,” Nation said. “The health and well-being hub has now become one of those things that really gets the hair on the back of my neck standing up. There’re 25 to 30 thousand people going through there a year, and we know we’re saving lives and working with others to achieve that.”
So, what’s next for Nation? He turns pensive.
“This place gets under your skin,” he said. “I’m not leaving because I don’t enjoy it or I hate it, I just think it’s time.”
Nation said he would probably do some
Peter Nation is leaving Fieldays on a high.
“There are a few companies out there that I could help with my experience. If I can’t, I’ll go white baiting or fishing.”
“I’m really looking forward to the first day
and maybe spending two days just smelling it. Because I need to get to see it. There’s a whole lot of exhibitors I’ve never been to see because I just don’t get time, and I’m
By Paul Charman
As a young vet Neil Chesterton’s developed his interest in lameness early on in his career, when he noticed some farmers had up to a third of their cows lame over a season.
Northern Hemishere cows, housed in concrete-floored barns, generally go lame from sole ulcers, which was less of an issue in New Zealand, but as New Zealand cows are “walking cows”, there was a gap in research, so Chesterton set about doing his own With farmers’ consent, he spent plenty of time in bushes, observing from his car and even climbed under a milk vat to collect data and study cow behaviour – all without alerting the curious and sometimes fearful animals.
“I found they were so able to recognise me as a different person that they would stop to watch.”
“I found that when I wanted to watch a farmer bringing his cows in I would need to ride one of their motorbikes.”
“Somehow, they know the difference between motorbikes; for example, your neighbour’s motorbike and yours.”
Chesterton knew a farmer whose cows were afraid of him because he pushed them to run while riding his motorbike. His neighbour, who had exactly the same Suzuki model, was gentle, and the cows were relaxed with him.
But when the gentle farmer borrowed his impatient neighbour’s bike, the cows ran from him too.
“The same thing happens when you have changes of staff; if the cows get scared of one of them.”
Chesterton has observed that cows like to walk to the shed, to be milked and to walk back to their paddocks in nearly the same order each day.
“To make my recording easier, I was hoping the order they returned from the cowshed would be the same as when they went in.
But I discovered an amazing thing.
“They walk to the dairy shed in one order, they liked to be milked in another order, and to change order to walk back. He excitedly told his finding to farmers who said: yes, don’t you know anything about cows?’
To keep that order the dominant cow will push others in front of her, both onto the track and into the milking parlour.
Others will follow, but if one tries to overtake the dominant cows will beat it back.
“Most farmers will tell you which are the dominant cows, though if it’s a bigger herd there’s only somebody at the back and it’s harder to see.
“If you keep well back and let them find their own order there’s less dominance fighting going on.”
Meanwhile, in rotary cowsheds allowing the cows to have their desired milking order still worked better than controlling them with backing and electrified topping gates.
“My basic rule is when the herd comes into the milking yard no gate must move for 20 minutes.
“In that time the whole herd is quietly rearranging itself into a milking order.
As for the benefits of speaking kindly to the cows, with a slightly raised voice, Chesterton was unequivocal.
“It’s always better speak to them with a gentle tone; it relaxes them and improves milk production. I have numerous examples of farm workers speaking harshly or con-
trolling the cows by tapping them with a prod. “ It is not a good idea; one rough worker can spoil the flow of the whole operation.”
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By Paul Charman
To Inglewood Vet Neil Chesterton treating cows with kindness makes sound economic sense.
Chesterton, who speaks on cow lameness internationally, says cows are far more preceptive than many farmers realise.
He is an advocate of speaking kindly to them during milking and working with the often misunderstood pecking order within herds.
Last month (August) he and wife Sandra travelled to Eire to lecture and train farmers on lameness and then on to an international conference on the subject In Italy. As well as speaking on his specialist subject around the world annually, Chesterton has attended the biennial cow lameness conference in Venice seven times in the past 15 years.
Much of the message comes down to patience and farm design.
“Patience concerns the people stuff; so much damage happens when the cows are under pressure because of a person pushing them too hard, both on the track and in the cow shed.
“If the heads are up when they’re walking home, or in the cowshed that’s telling me there is pressure. Under pressure cows can’t look after their feet; they’re afraid of that dominant cow or they’ll need to reverse and turn, and the feet are the things that suffer.
“Basically, I tell farmer if you can get voluntary cow flow, I’ll bet you’ll hardly know what lameness is.
“I used to say the person following the herd on a bike should be 5 metres from the last cow. But helping a friend bring in his cows a few years ago I discovered when
I was 5 metres behind, that cow was not just looking at her calf in front of her, she was looking at me. She recognised me as a stranger, and I probably smelled like a vet. So, I got back a bit further and found that when I was at 10 metres, the cows relaxed and started following with their calves in order, and not looking at me. I now recommend 10 metres, but found out some older farmers already knew this from long experience.”
One farmer had hardly any lameness in his herd, and Chesterton discovered he would stop his motorbike well behind his cows on the stroll to the milking shed and smoke three cigarettes – not that he was encouraging smoking.
Farms which had tracks longer than 1.31.5 km exaggerated the lameness. He sees many farms now with up to 2.5 km to the back paddock, a round trip of 5km.
“It’s too far. Though some farms that have this distance avoid lameness because they let the cows go voluntarily. If they can spread out and walk at their own pace it helps a lot.
“In the indoor system lameness causes a bit of pain but the cow only has about 100 steps to get to the milking parlour. But in our system its absolutely cruel to make a cow walk with a lame foot. Basically, the cow has to be kept close to the cowshed so you’re eating all the close paddocks of grass, which means the whole herd now has to walk even further.”
Lame cows equated to less milk production and from an animal welfare perspective there was nothing more painful. To Chesterton, lameness topped the list of costly health issues, third only to infertility and mastitis.
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Rangitoto farmer Mitchel Hoare is a finalist in awards that celebrate all aspects of the country’s red meat industry.
Mitchel is one of three emerging achiever finalists in the Beef and Lamb New Zealand awards.
“I applied for something else I missed out on. The guy that did it urged me to try this as he thought I was a suitable applicant,” Hoare said.
“It’s really about getting recognition for helping in the community, being a future leader - but the idea of putting yourself forward for recognition is not really the Kiwi way, is it?
“But I thought what if you don’t put yourself out there? You have got to go after these things. You can’t just sit back and expect opportunities to come to you like that.
“As a levy paying beef and lamb person being self-employed, beef and lamb do a great job with all the extension work that they do. It’s good to support them.”
He’s been in competitions before. In 2015 Hoare and Maihiihi cadet Alex Reekers represented New Zealand at the World Young Shepherds Final in Auvergne, France.
In 2020 Hoare was the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Young Farmer of the Year.
Now 29 and married with a 10-month-old daughter, Hoare is sheep and beef farming over a couple of blocks of about 240 hectares, running a sheep dipping business, working in the family native nursery, and at the moment rearing calves.
“What I hope to get out of it is if I don’t win, I’ll be in the room with some influential people - all a good learning experience, but you have got to put yourself out there.”
He runs nine dogs and has always had an interest in dog trialling.
“I train them and sell them. I don’t really do the ‘train for other people’ model.”
His preference is to train them, work with them a few years and on sell before they start depreciating.
Beef and Lamb’s insights and communication manager Rowena Hume said the number and the quality of entries across eight categories in the awards was pleasing.
While that made judging particularly challenging, it highlighted the depth of talent and innovation in the red meat
“The judging team of farmers and industry professionals did have a difficult job, but all the finalists are making a positive contribution to our sheep, beef and dairy beef sector and it is a privilege to be able to recognise their work,” Hume said.
“It has been a particularly challenging year for farmers and it’s even more important than ever that we celebrate success within our industry.”
The winners will be announced at an awards dinner at Hamilton’s Claudelands events Centre on October 10.
Niwa’s climate summary for June, July, August showed 40 sites had record or near-record high mean temperatures.
In the King Country the highs were more modest. Waikeria’s mean maximum temperature was 15.3 Celsius, 0.8 degrees higher than normal and the third highest since records began there in 1957.
Similarly Te Kūiti’s 15.3 was 1.1 degree higher than normal fourth highest since records began in 1959.
The action was all elsewhere. The highest temperature was 25.7°C, recorded at Hastings on June 10. It was the second-highest temperature recorded in New Zealand during the winter season.
Dunedin had its warmest winter since records began in 1947 – topping the 2023 record.
It was New Zealand’s third-warmest winter on record. The country has had its warmest winters each year since 2020.
The country recorded its 12th-warmest June, 8th-warmest July, and 9th-warmest August. Overall, the nationwide average temperature for winter was 9.6°C, 1°C above the 19912020 average.
Livestock Improvement Corporation is taking part in a project to breed heat tolerant and disease resistant dairy cows for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Embryos bred from LIC’s pasture-based genetics will be sent to the United States, where breeding company Acceligen will perform gene edits on the stem cells. The embryos will then be transferred into dams that will give birth to gene edited sires.
The bull calves will be reared in Brazil and semen will be collected from sires sold into Sub-Saharan African markets through a developed distributor network.
The project is a collaboration with LIC, Acceligen and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which is providing more than $8 million in funding.
The government has committed to legislative change to enable the greater use of gene technologies, ending an effective ban on gene editing by the end of 2025. (See GE rules up for change, Page 11).
LIC Chief Executive David Chin said the company is looking at the science and viability of adopting such tools for New Zealand farmers.
“As an organisation, we continue to explore gene editing as a breeding technology to ensure the co-operative stays current with this area of science so we can understand how the sector may adopt it in the future,” he said.
The African initiative seeks to address food insecurity in the region by providing high-performing dairy animals to help grow sustainable dairy markets, contributing to improving human and animal welfare.
“This is a big one for LIC and we are proud to be involved,” Chin said. “Collaborating with Acceligen allows us to work with the very best in the world, whilst showcasing our advanced breeding capability to global markets.
“The initiative supports us to stay at the forefront of the latest technologies and is an opportunity to leverage international expertise with positive benefits for the dairy sector.
“As a leader in pasture-based dairy genetics and a farmer-owned co-operative, LIC supports dairy farmers to navigate their unique challenges and, in particular, provide them with the right tools to breed the most sustainable and profitable herds, now and into the future.”
Rural Women New Zealand is calling for more mental health support for rural communities, following a plea in Parliament by ACT MP Mark Cameron.
Cameron’s son Brody died in May. His father told Parliament last week “yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day. Hard for some, bloody hard for me. I buried my boy, and he is gone.”
An emotional Camerson continued: “I stand here to address this House, to address all of you, a shadow of the man that boy would have become. A shadow. But I am here, because I must. I am a father to a lost son, a parent to a lost
child. But I turn up every day in this House because I believe in rural New Zealand,” he said.
Rural Women New Zealand Board Chair Sandra Matthews said her organisation wanted to offer “our heartfelt support” to Cameron for having the courage to stand in the debating chamber and share his whānau’s grief.
“The more we acknowledge and talk about these issues the better, as we know our rural communities are doing it really tough.
Mental Health Awareness Week runs from September 23 to 129.
Cameron lamented the red tape, sermons and other obstacles the total community faced, and he hoped by advocating for rural communities he might help others.
“Politicians need to stop and actually listen to rural folk,” he said. “Actually think of the people we effect when we make laws in this place,” he told fellow MPs.
Matthews said there was a wide range of issues at play in rural communities ranging from communities experiencing significant job losses from the closure or scaling back of major local employers, to public sector job losses in the regions.
• To page 11
They are a threat to our native flora and fauna – and they are also costing the country’s farmers.
Now Federated Farmers is pointing the finger at the conservation department, saying it doesn’t deal with feral animals on its side of the fence.
A survey of more than 700 Federated Farmers members from across the country shows the feral plague costs farmers at least $213 million a year.
That figure includes a direct spend of $5.45 a hectare on pest control ($74 million per year) and $10.22 a hectare in lost production ($139 million per year).
“That is a huge cost for rural communities to be carrying at a time when many farming families are already struggling to turn a profit,” Federated Farmers pest management spokesperson Richard McIntyre said.
“It’s also a very conservative estimate and doesn’t include things such as the cost of restoring damaged pasture, fixing broken fences or the loss of trees.”
McIntyre says goat, pig and deer populations are booming in most parts of the country, but things are particularly bad on farms bordering Department of Conservation land.
“DOC are widely regarded by farmers as the neighbour you really don’t want to have because they don’t fulfil their obligations to control wild animals and weeds,” McIntyre says.
“Farmers are spending huge sums of money trying to get wild animal populations under control, but until we see more investment on public land, nothing is going to change.
“Unfortunately, DOC are spending just $13 million a year managing large browsing animals like goats, pigs and deer.
“This simply isn’t addressing the problem, with DOC monitoring showing deer and goat prevalence increasing 28 per cent in just the last 10 years.”
McIntyre says DOC’s efforts are a drop in the bucket, and the annual cost to farming families is more than 15 times the Government spend.
“Farmers could spend all the money in the world on pest control, but if we don’t see similar efforts on public land, we’re never going to make a dent in these populations.
“Hordes of wild animals will simply keep walking out of the bush, where they’re breeding like rabbits and destroying
National parks comprise about one-third of New Zealand, but a quarter of the country’s indigenous biodiversity is located on farmland.
“If the Government continues to under-invest in pest control, we’re all going to pay the price of declining biodiversity, lost production and reduced exports,” McIntyre says.
“We appreciate the Government is under huge financial pressures, but this isn’t something New Zealand can afford to scrimp and save on.”
McIntyre says it isn’t necessarily about the Government having to spend more money; it could simply be a case of reprioritising existing spending to deliver better outcomes.
“We need to get on top of this problem now. If we allow these animals to keep breeding, their populations, and the cost to control them, will only continue to grow.
By Paul Charman
A white paper has warned there will be a significant transition of sheep and beef farms into pine forestry unless policies and economic signals are reconsidered.
“Why Pines?” summarises the results of four recently completed research programmes, funded by Our Land and Water.
They all found a likely increase in pine plantations on land used for sheep and beef farming.
Lead author, principal economist at NZIER and science leader at Our Land and Water, Dr Bill Kaye-Blake, said rural communities were concerned a large change to pine forestry would threaten intergenerational connections to their land.
and its impacts on communities and the sheep and beef sector.
Federated Farmers chair Waikato Reon Verry said policy settings around carbon and the carbon price were having a big effect on the price of land.
“If you think that’s a good thing because you are selling your farm – I suppose that’s fine. But long-term effects on the community like the white paper talks about – they are going to be real.
“Carbon farming is no good to service centres like Piopio, Te Kūiti, Ōtorohanga or Taumarunui”
- Reon Verry
They were also concerned that it would reduce population, employment and services in their communities, harming the health and wellbeing of those left behind.
Low lamb prices could see more land being converted to trees.
The white paper identified areas for action, including:
Policymakers should take into account the social and cultural benefits of sheep and beef farming.
Researchers and policymakers should quantify the risks and benefits of pine forestry that have not been included in computer models so far.
Policymakers should recognise benefits of native forestry. Converting highly erodible pasture to native forests should be prioritised to reduce erosion.
Policymakers should reassess the influence of climate change policy on land-use change
I still don’t believe there is more employment generated by a forest than a sheep and beef operation.”
Verry said a production forest generated some employment but a carbon forest did not employ a lot of people.
“No hay makers, drain diggers, shearers, vets and there is nobody living on the property so there’s nobody coming into town to spend their money. No jobs for all those agricultural industries that surround the farmland.
“Do we realise where it’s all going in 50 years time? No, only that if we carry on on this trajectory it is going to hollow out the rural communities. Carbon farming is no good to rural service centres like Piopio, Te Kūiti, Ōtorohanga or Taumarunui.
“Meat processing operations are the big industries in Te Kūiti but with all the animals gone we won’t have meat processing here. The operations have so many businesses that depend on them over and above the staff employed there.
“ There are sawmills in the King Country too, but you don’t need a sawmill to grow trees for carbon farming because it’s not in the plan to chop them down.”
• Conference announcement welcomed –See page 15.
By Clyde Graf, Waipā-King Country Councillor
We have some incredible birds in New Zealand. Anyone who’s driven through the South Island has probably encountered the kea (our alpine clown) and if you’ve been lucky enough to go to Stewart Island, you’ve probably heard a few of the 20,000 kiwi inhabitants.
The male has a shrill and thrilling call that cuts right through you; the female sounds like she’s throwing up. Stewart Island is rugged and wild, and it’s never been aerially poisoned with 1080, until now. Zip - Zero Invasive Predators - poison drops are scheduled to begin in 2025.
I have to ask – why would you drop poisoned food onto an island where kiwi are thriving? Kiwi chicks are vulnerable to stoats but there are no stoats on Stewart Island. The Graf Boys (Me, and my brother Steve) have filmed a good range of birds there, including kiwi, ruru, kaka and tomtits.
My brother has even produced a fulllength documentary on the lives of the yellow-eyed, and the Fiordland Crested penguins, the rarest penguins in the world.
Whatever poison you drop will kill birds. Cereal baits containing 1080 or brodifacoum are food, and food is scarce in winter. The neighbouring Ulva Island brodifacoum drop in 2023 killed rats but it also killed robins, saddleback, rifleman, brown creeper, and all but one weka with chicks.
The recent Wet Jacket (Fiordland) and Matukituki (Wanaka) 1080 drops killed 50 per cent of the radio-tagged kea. Back in 2011, DOC killed 78 per cent of monitored kea in North Okarito.
An Official Information Act response from DOC this month states “…we expect the mortality rate of the unmonitored population to be proportionate to the monitored birds.”
Paradoxically, that means DOC is killing a lot of endangered kea when they drop poison into their environment to save them.
DOC says that 1080 isn’t killing kiwi, but you have to test kiwi for 1080 to know that. In 2018, I asked for a list of dead kiwi found in Northland over a 20-year period, their cause of death, and whether they were tested for poison residues.
Of 740 dead kiwi, 53 were tested for anticoagulants such as brodifacoum – 37.7 per cent were positive. Not a single one’s cause of death was listed as “pesticide”. They had only tested three kiwi in the whole of New Zealand for 1080 and none for fluorocitrate (a deadly metabolite of 1080).
This reluctance to test kiwi continues, so it was a surprise to see that two dead kiwi were tested from South Okarito in November 2022, and that the results were positive for 1080. DOC still didn’t say 1080 killed them.
We know that invertebrates eat cereal baits, and we know that kiwi eat cereal baits and invertebrates. Either way, when you drop poisoned food from the sky, it will reach a lot of beautiful birds. It’s how the food chain works.
On a recent Breakfast show, DOC asked people not to feed the kea because feeding them novelty food items is killing them. How ironic.
When will this ecocide end, you ask? I guess, in their minds, the $80 million incentive attached to the Stewart Island project justifies the insanity. VET’S
By Lisa Coles, Clinic Co-ordinator, King Country Vets
The farming community is becoming a lot more aware and proactive about drench resistance, which is great to see. There are plenty of methods to reduce the impact of drench resistance for farming businesses in the short to medium term, especially tailoring it to your farm systems.
However, now is also the time to think about long term tools as they will be slower to achieve but may well be a pivotal tool in years to come.
There are three main parasite related Breeding Value (BV) on sheep Improvement Limited (SIL). What are they? How are they measured? How heritable are they?
1. WormFec – Faecal egg counts of individual lambs at 6-8 months of age (mob average must be over 800 eggs per gram). Lower egg counts equals higher WormFec value. These animals will shed less eggs from a younger age, so not contaminating pastures as much. It is moderately heritable at 21 per cent (this is actually a very good value for selection and heritability and well worth doing, especially if reviewed in conjunction with growth BV).
2. Resilience – measured by ‘days to drenching’ and ‘gain under parasite challenge’; It is very involved, so many breeders do not perform this testing. However, it is designed to select individual lambs (and thus their lines) that can continue to grow despite worm burdens, but they may be shedding a lot of eggs.
Heritability of this trait is 15 per cent, which is low heritability.
3. Carla Saliva Test – this is a measure of the Carla antibodies produced by the sheep immune system in response to larval challenge and which remain present for only a few days.
Carla is a molecule found on the surface of internal parasite larvae (third laval stage, L3s), so having high levels of Carla antibodies means that it can bind to the L3 larval and prevent the worm establishing in the gut.
The saliva antibody response is positively associated with animal productivity (growth rates), which is not always seen with faecal egg count based selection (i.e. an animal with a good low Wormfec result may be a very poor growing animal).
Young animals with high Carla are on average 1.5kg heavier than low Carla animals. Heritability is moderate at 28%
The more that commercial farmers feedback to the importance of these tools to their preferred breeders, the better we can push the industry forward to a lower input sheep.
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The Government is set to end a 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab with new laws around gene tech.
The laws, to be introduced to parliament by the end of the year, along with a new regulator to oversee applications, will align the country’s stance on genetic modification and gene editing with Australia, which has long had its own regulator.
Five genetically modified (GM) crops have been approved for cultivation in Australia: cotton, canola, Indian mustard, banana and safflower. GM flowers have also been approved for growing or importing into Australia. Other crops are undergoing field trials.
What is envisaged for New Zealand is a dedicated business housed within the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and it would have the authority to exempt certain activities involving gene editing.
No genetically modified crops are grown commercially in New Zealand. No fresh fruit, vegetables or meat sold in New Zealand is genetically modified.
However, some processed foods may contain approved genetically modified ingredients that have been imported.
But future options to use genetic technology in response to climate change and restoring nature have been highlighted in a report from the Aotearoa Circle, a public-private partnership which says it, “aims to restore natural capital in New Zealand”.
The report, published by Price Waterhouse Coopers New Zealand, does not provide specific recommendations on the pathway the country should take with respect to gene tech, but does compare and contrast its position on the technology to that of the rest of the world.
It notes the difficulty New Zealand researchers face to meet this country’s criteria for trialling and releasing genetically modified organisms.
There are nine genetically modified food sources available in New Zealand, including GM potatoes soy, wheat, corn and rice.
New Zealand tends to sit at the extreme end of process approval in terms of caution, alongside the European Union.
Other trading partners, including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, tend towards a more moderated, tiered approach to gene tech approval.
Only Canada sits at the most liberal end of the approval spectrum, taking a “traits based” approach to the organism, regardless of the process use or change made.
Examples highlighted in the report on the tech that New Zealand could use include
rapid-flowering apple trees, high condensed tannin clovers and sterile Douglas fir trees.
A shift in other countries’ regulatory environment could see the EU move towards more of a tiered risk system.
The report’s scenarios highlight some of the risks facing this country as other countries start to adopt GE.
Alignment with a more tiered risk approach could mean New Zealand retains its competitive advantage as a food producer, while non-GE products may also meet a specific market niche.
More than one commentator has pointed out that the likes of Fonterra and Zespri use “GE free” a promotional slogan.
• From page 7
We also have communities grappling with the ongoing impacts and slow journey to recovery following Cyclone Gabrielle and the North Island extreme weather events; various communities facing ongoing drought; as well as farmers affected by low market prices at the same time as rising input and living costs.”
She welcomed the continuing to rollout mental health support to primary and intermediate students in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.
“We also applaud the recent government announcements to increase support for drought-affected communities and increase funding for Rural Support Trusts.
“Rural communities rely on volunteers, and we know people are overwhelmed and at the risk of burnout from the plethora of issues they are having to face.
“With Mental Health Awareness Week just around the corner, we urge the Government to continue to invest in providing increased resources and access to rural mental health services, including counselling and medical assessments.”
‘Farmers across the country will be breathing a sigh of relief that common sense has finally prevailed with farm plans’
- Colin Hurst
By Paul Charman
Farmer groups have welcomed an announcement that the Government will pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans until system improvements are finalised.
“Improving the freshwater farm plan system to make it more cost-effective and practical for farmers is a priority for this Government,” Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard said.
“Freshwater farm plans support farmers in managing freshwater risks, but the current system is too costly and not fit-for-purpose.
“We have heard the concerns of the sector and Cabinet has agreed to pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans while potential changes are considered.
“Minor amendments to the Resource Management Act will enable the pause.”
Once these amendments were made, farmers would not have to submit a freshwater farm plan for certification while changes to the freshwater farm plan system were underway.
Federated Farmers freshwater spokesperson Colin Hurst said the pause until improvements could be made was practical and pragmatic.
“Farmers across the country will be breathing a sigh of relief that common sense has finally prevailed with farm plans,” Hurst said.
“There’s been a huge amount of uncertainty hanging over farmers heads for the last year, with many wondering what’s happening.”
Freshwater farm plans were supported as an affordable and flexible alternative to inflexible
national rules or expensive resource consents. Farmers also support their use as a tool to help improve environmental outcomes - but say they needed to be practical, cost-effective, and easy to use.
“Unfortunately, the system put in place by the previous Government was nothing short of a bureaucratic birds’ nest for farmers that failed on all three counts,” Hurst said.
“They took a really good concept that had widespread buy-in from farmers and the wider primary sector and made it completely unworkable and unaffordable.”
Complex rules and duplication of effort added cost and frustration for farmers.
The prospect of a five-figure bill for a new farm plan eroded a lot of goodwill from farmers, particularly those who already had a perfectly good plan in place, Hurst said.
More than 10,000 farmers already had a farm plan of some sort through their milk processor, meat processor or regional council requirements.
None of the existing plans would have been recognised under the current regulations.
“The whole process felt incredibly messy for farmers, with many facing a legal requirement to get a new plan before proper systems and processes were even in place,” Hurst said.
“Thousands of farmers in the Waikato and Southland were expected to have a certified farm plan by February 2025, but until very recently there weren’t even certifiers in place to do the work.”
After 12 months of the rules being active, only a single farmer in the entire country
More than 10,000 farmers already have a freshwater farm plan of some sort.
actually had a certified freshwater farm plan approved, Hurst said.
“Completely unrealistic timeframes and requirements meant these regulations were set to fail from the get-go,” Hurst says.
The Government wanted freshwater farm
plans to acknowledge the good work many farmers were already doing, Andrew Hoggard said.
“The key thing for farmers is to make a start and keep up their efforts – their work will not be wasted.”
Ken Arnold reckons they have the biggest kahikatea in the Waikato, although Annette, his wife, is happy to claim second place, arguing that the tallest (66.5 metres) is in Pirongia Forest Park.
“No, we have to have some claim, it’s seven metres around the base,” Ken disagrees, good naturedly. “You find another one that’s seven metres around the base!”
Nonetheless, it’s definitely a big, old tree, reaching about 60 metres in height and estimated to be about 800 years old. And it sticks out among the other kahikatea that make up two close-together stands on their property.
“People have said our trees range from about 400 to 800 years old,” says Annette, in wonder of the information. “Why are they still here? How did they survive? I have no idea.
“Precious, precious; that’s what they are, precious.”
The Arnolds are restoring the kahikatea stands – fenced off from stock - on their Ōhaupō life-style block, where they have lived for 20 years, and are tracking their restoration efforts using a kahikatea forest fragment health assessment method developed by Waikato Regional Council.
The Kahikatea Green Wheel is like a Warrant of Fitness for kahikatea that should be undertaken every five years – it assesses 32 important health features using a five-point rating system so landowners can easily see what is working well and what needs fixing. The health features relate to threats such as pest plants and animals, stock presence, nutrient inputs and drainage; the presence of native plant and animal species; and management regimes in place.
Kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), an ancient podocarp and New Zealand’s tallest native tree, play a crucial role in wetland
ecosystems, providing habitat and food for native birds and insects. Before humans arrived, around 189,772 hectares of kahikatea forest grew in the Waikato’s wet areas, beside lakes and swamps and on floodplains. Today there are only around 2760 hectares and the remaining trees are mostly found in fragments under five hectares in size. Without management, these stands are destined to degrade and eventually die.
The council has mapped the region’s kahikatea fragments, including information about their physical condition and links to other natural areas. This information is available online for landowners interested in restoring their stands and tracking their progress as part of the Kahikatea Green Wheel project.
Currently, 29 kahikatea fragments (126 hectares in total) across seven district council areas have been assessed using the Kahikatea Green Wheel – most on private land.
The site scores range from 11.4 to 28.8, with 35 being the highest possible mark.
“I was the first landowner to do the Green Wheel in the Waikato,” says Annette, who helped the council to test the assessment in 2019, at the time scoring 13.2 for stand one, the one with the big old kahikatea.
The stand was already fenced when the Arnolds bought the property, but there had been a lot of privet within it, which the couple had cleared over the years.
“I’d pull them out, lop them down, and we’d chainsaw down the really big ones; cleaned the lot up,” says Annette.
“Then I said, ‘I really got to do this other stand before I get too old’.”
Stand two, which had had cattle through it for many years, was fenced off in 2018, and Annette planted 600 or so eco-sourced native plants into the area in that first year.
During Covid-19 lockdowns, the Arnolds
Ken and Anne Arnold’s kahikatea stands include one tree thought to be 800 years old. also fenced off a wet area next to stand one and planted 100 kahikatea.
“I have planted a total of about 2000 plants now. It’s all kept me busy, but I enjoy it.”
Annette says both stands look so different now, five years later. She has just completed her second kahikatea stand assessment for the first stand, scoring 21.5 out of 35.
The newly fenced second stand was assessed at the same time and scored 22.3.
The biggest job is hand releasing the young plants from grass and weeds, but Annette also checks traps and bait tunnels for pest animals once a week and a live cage daily.
With the stock out and ongoing pest animal and plant management, native plants are now self-generating. “And I do a bit of seed gathering and tossing seeds around.”
The couple have seen an increase in bird species: “Kākā, more tūī, I saw a falcon, kereru, king fisher, grey warbler, ruru… blue heron have been nesting there in the last couple of years.
“The European birds are increasing too, and the Australian – the screechy plovers, magpies and rosellas. And we have bats.” “I would like to come back in 100 years’ time just to have a look.”
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Paul Charman argues that the seafood industry should avoid ‘green wash’ when labelling food.
Our meat producers have a positive story to tell, and they don’t have to resort to ‘green wash’ to tell it.
Just look at the verifiable claims beef and lamb can make: advances in animal genetics and health and improvements in farm practices have resulted in our farmers making more from less. Since 1990, they have doubled their export values while halving the number of animals farmed. Our free-range animals graze outside year-round as nature intended.
This country is among the lowest user of antibiotics in cattle and sheep production. New Zealand farmers do not use antibiotics to enhance production or yields. Because of strict controls around the use of hormonal growth drugs, they only be used under veterinary supervision and animals are tagged on a government database. Animal welfare is a priority for the sector;
we have some of the strictest animal welfare standards in the world.
With all this in mind it was disappointing when another major protein producer was accused of ‘green washing’ on its food labels this week.
The accusation came from senior research fellow in the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Kathryn Bradbury.
She said canned tuna and other seafood products were labelled ‘sustainably fished’, ‘responsibly caught’ or ‘dolphin friendly’. But she says new research shows most of the claims are ambiguous and may serve as greenwashing.
“We looked into the labelling and environmental claims on packaged fish and seafood products in major New Zealand supermarkets, investigating 369 products such as canned tuna or other fish, vacuum-packed salmon and frozen fish or seafood,” she said.
“Just under half of the products (41.2 percent) we investigated contained at least one self-declared environmental claim, such as ‘sustainably fished’, ‘responsibly caught’ or ‘dol-
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phin friendly’. Nearly 80% of these claims were vague and therefore contrary to international best practice and NZ Commerce Commission guidance.”
“We found 42 products available in New Zealand supermarkets carried a ‘dolphin friendly’ or ‘dolphin safe’ claim. Our results show we need stronger enforcement of existing regulations and clearer rules around labelling of fish and seafood products to encourage transparency around fishing practices.
“Under New Zealand’s Fair Trading Act, misleading or unsubstantiated claims are not allowed. But seafood product manufacturers are not required to state the harvest location or method.
“We found only about half of the products
stated the harvest location and less than 10 percent mentioned the harvest method,” Bradbury said. “This means consumers usually do not know where and how their fish and seafood is caught.”
While the beef and lamb communities we serve have a first-rate story regarding sustainability, it still depends on the public trusting and believing what is written on our food labels.
And while the vague claims made on tinned fish labels may not be “untrue” as such, according to this study they are vague, and amount to little more than “green wash”.
The report suggests seafood marketers should review their marketing as a matter of urgency – or risk diminishing public trust in food labelling overall.
The New Zealand pork sector has welcomed a policy amendment for highly productive land
It says the previous wording could have prevented pig farming on agricultural land.
The Government changed the wording in the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land to make it clear pig farming is an appropriate activity in such areas.
The industry was “grateful” to the Government for listening to farmers’ concerns and taking action to address the issue, NZ Pork chief executive Brent Kleiss said.
“The wording in the policy states highly productive land should be safeguarded specifically for “land-based” primary production,” he said.
“This effectively excluded pig farming from land, deemed highly productive, creating significant challenges for establishing new farms or expanding existing ones in these areas.
“We were very concerned that was the way the Ministry for the Environment and local
councils were interpreting the policy.”
Under the revised policy statement, pig farming – referred to as ‘intensive indoor primary production’ – is recognised as an appropriate activity on highly productive land, Kleiss said.
NZ Pork raised its concerns with the Government.
“The amendment was important because pig farms are often part of bigger farms where effluent is used as a natural fertiliser on cropping or pastoral land. That is why many commercial pig farms are on land that is considered highly productive under this policy,” he said.
“Resolving this issue has been a significant focus for the industry over the past two years, and we are pleased with the outcome. The amendments ensure that pig farming can develop or expand on highly productive land while preserving the overarching goal of the policy statement to protect these lands for food production.”
Turning the concept of kaitiakitanga into an international legal tool earned Justin Sobion a doctorate which he will apply in the International Court of Justice at The Hague to establish the obligations of countries to address the climate crisis – and the consequences if they don’t.
“In my doctoral studies, I was looking at the duties of states, particularly around holding the Earth in trust for future generations. So I’m a good fit to work on this case,” Sobion said.
He was awarded his PhD in law last week. His thesis is titled ‘Earth Trusteeship: A Framework for a More Effective Approach to International Environmental Law and Governance’.
Trinidad born Sobion will represent Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia in a case initiated by Vanuatu, involving 132 nations.
The eight Caribbean countries have filed written submissions at the Court of Justice for an outcome that will strengthen the region’s legal position in terms of climate loss, damage claims and negotiations.
Public hearings for the landmark case will
begin on December 2, with Sobion coordinating the Caribbean submissions.
It was an article about how the Whanganui River was the first in the world to be recognised as having the same legal rights as a person which caught his attention.
It inspired the Swiss resident and United Nations employed human rights officer to embark on his doctoral studies at Auckland University.
“It was fascinating to read about this legislation that sought to protect the river and aligned with the Māori worldview that the river is a sacred living entity. It got me interested in the country, tikanga, and the legal system here,” Sobion said.
The aim of his thesis was to explore whether Earth trusteeship could provide a framework for a more effective approach to international environmental law and governance - addressing head-on the ecological crisis.
“To be a trustee means you give up some authority because you’re acting on behalf of someone else,” he said. “That’s a challenge, especially in a world where many states prioritise their own interests.
“Despite these challenges, I think Earth trusteeship will become increasingly important as the global community grapples with environmental crises.”
Forest owners say the reform of resource management instruments will deliver clearer, more consistent environmental standards for production forests nationwide.
Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced plans to revise settings in the National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry at the New Zealand Institute of Forestry conference. The reform will look to remove the afforestation clause which allows councils to impose different planting rules on production forests from those stated in the environmental standards.
New Zealand Forest Owners Association chief executive Dr
Elizabeth Heeg says the reform will reduce the regulatory complexities faced by growers and streamline forestry’s environmental controls.
“The departure from the National Standard and introduction of various councils’ environmental rules has created conflicting standards and confusion among growers as to which takes precedence,” she said.
“These rule variations have placed significant pressures on growers, many of whom have had to apply for resource consents for new planting in low or no-risk areas, without any demonstrable need for these new rules.
Horticulture New Zealand wants the sector to be included in the second Emissions Reduction Plan.
Acting chief executive Michelle Sands says the current plan makes no mention of horticulture, fruits, or vegetables.
“The sector is crucial for meeting emissions reduction targets, and supporting land-use change to horticulture is one of the many solutions New Zealand should be leveraging,” she said.
“Horticulture is already a low-emissions land use that provides food for New Zealanders and the global market, contributing $7.48 billion in value across domestic and export markets. This is achieved on less than 0.1 per cent of New Zealand’s land area while accounting for only 1.1 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“To ensure a low-risk pathway to net-zero, the Government should develop a diverse portfolio of emissions reduction policies, rather than relying heavily on a few uncertain technological advances.”
HortNZ wants the plan to include clear policy direction supporting the transition of 14,000 hectares of land use to horticulture. This would involve recognising diversification into horticulture as a key policy and elevating ‘enabling the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables’ to a matter of national importance under the Resource Management Act (RMA) and its replacement legislation.
It wants the policy aim to establish a national framework for commercial vegetable production to address the challenges posed by regional regulations.
With the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund officially disestablished under the emissions reduction plan, HortNZ is also calling for the creation of a new fund to
Horticulture contributes $7.48 billion in value across domestic and export markets
reinvest Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) proceeds into greenhouse decarbonisation.
“There is an urgent need for policy mechanisms that facilitate horticultural expansion as a strategy for low-emissions food production, and that provide resources for the sector to further decarbonise,” Sands said.
“HortNZ urges the Government to commit to doubling the horticulture sector’s value by 2035 as part of its emissions reduction strategy, aligning with the goals of the Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan, a strategy co-owned by government, industry, science, and Māori.”
Horticulture New Zealand represents the interests of more than 4,500 commercial fruit and vegetable growers across the country, who produce around 100 different fruit and vegetables. The horticultural sector supports more than 40,000 jobs.
She said the announcement was a promising step towards addressing the issue and creating more consistent and outcome-based environmental regulations for forestry across the regions.”
The environmental standards provides a nationally consistent set of legal obligations that aim to maintain or improve environmental outcomes related to commercial forestry activities.
“The reform will ensure forest owners are operating to the same environmental rules across New Zealand irrespective of which jurisdiction they fall under,” Heeg said.
