CountryLife | 23 February 2018

CountryLife Friday February 23, 2018

CountryLife – 1

FEBRUARY 2018

Dave Duley with one of his spellers at Landsdowne Park in Cambridge.

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2 – CountryLife

Friday February 23, 2018

Pinhooking pays off big

By Steph Bell-Jenkins Former Waikato rugby player turned Landsdowne Park owner Dave Duley has pulled off “probably the biggest pinhook of the year” at this year’s Karaka sale, according to Windsor Park Stud owner Rodney Schick.

Pinhooking involves buying six-month-old horses as weanlings and selling them at the yearling sale as older horses.

Duley bought a Zoustar filly for $130,000 and sold her at Karaka for $650,000.

“To take a risk on a filly at $130,000 is quite a risk, but he bought himself a really nice filly and he got his due reward,” Schick said.

“It was one of the fillies of the sale. It was an outstanding pinhook and probably one of the best pinhooks of the year in Australasia. He took a decent risk and it paid off.”

It was love at first sight when Duley first laid eyes on the Zoustar filly.

“When I saw her she was just beautiful,” he said.

“I fell in love with her and I’ve never spent that sort of money buying a horse before and I just had to buy her because I knew she was just a lovely type. She was an athlete and she was everything I look for in a horse and luckily she was everything a few other people were looking for too, so it was quite nice.

“In this industry you normally want to try and break even and then if you can make a profit that’s what you’re trying to do. So it’s nice when you do get it right.”

Duley said the key to a good pinhook was “doing your homework in terms of what you want to buy” – and a bit of luck helped.

While he tries to pinhook a few horses every year, his main business is yearling preparation for clients.

“I do like pinhooking, but selling on horses on behalf of people and making money for them gives me just as much pleasure,” he said.

“This year we did pretty well, I think our farm took over $1.8 million for the whole sale and a lot of my clients made money. For instance one client who had been breeding for 30 years had never sold a horse for over $100,000 and to achieve that for him was unbelievable and he was stoked. He had a reserve of $70,000 and to get $140,000 made me happy.”

Duley, who grew up in Matamata and moved to Australia while still at school, bought Cambridge’s Landsdowne Park 10 years ago after he finished playing professional rugby.

His career, which began with the Queensland Reds, took him across the globe to England, Scotland, Wales and New Zealand. While here he played for Bay of Plenty, the Waikato Chiefs and Counties Manukau as a lock.

When his playing days ended he began looking for something completely different.

“I’d always had a passion for horses and the thoroughbred industry and got into it through that,” he said.

“I used to do pony club in Matamata when I was younger so it was sort of born into me. We used to go to all the shows and stuff.”

Later Duley became friends with Windsor Park Stud owner Rodney Schick.

“During the off season of rugby you’re always looking for something to do and learn and I thought it’d be a great opportunity so I volunteered to help out at Windsor Park and work in the yearling barn there and just started learning from there,” he said.

“Whenever I had the opportunity to go to different farms around the place I’d go and try and learn as much as I could from all these amazing people in the equestrian industry who

just have so much knowledge, especially around the Cambridge area. There’s so many people that are very, very good horse people – they’re probably the best in the world – and to learn from them was awesome.”

Duley said people’s generosity in helping him get established in the industry had been “amazing”.

“Everyone wants to help out and when you have a success at the yearling sales or anywhere, people are coming up and congratulating you, texting and ringing you and it’s nice to be in an industry where everyone tries to work together most of the time and is really proud when Kiwis

succeed, because we’re such a small country and we’re up against the Aussies and it’s good when we succeed in the horse game.”

To top off a stellar year for Duley, a horse reared on his farm, Dijon Bleu, is “now looking like she’s going to be filly of the year”.

Duley is encouraging others to get into the horse industry, which he believes is rich with opportunities.

“If I can do it there’d be lots of other people out there who could do it too,” he said.

“I like to see people succeed and have a go and if I can inspire one person to achieve something that would be great.”

Landsdowne Park owner Dave Duley pulled off an outstanding pinhook at the Karaka sales this year

CountryLife – 3

Friday February 23, 2018

Safe passage for native fish Supplied Waikato Regional Council will look for funding partners for a three-year trial to reduce native fish mortalities as they pass through flood control pumps.

Councillors approved funding – half of the $1.494 million requested by staff – during four days of budget talks at the start of February. It’s proposed the council share be funded from its investment fund.

The regional council last year led a national research investigation into the potential impact of land drainage and flood control infrastructure on migratory native fish. This resulted in a nationally endorsed issues and options report that now supports the council’s intended response to the issue.

The council’s trials showed that during eel migration, in particular, up to 100 per cent of migratory female eels more than 600mm in length would die if they were to travel through existing pump stations during their operation.

“Many of these assets were installed by central government a number of years ago and with little consideration for their impact on native aquatic ecology. We are dealing with an inherited legacy issue that current and future generations now face and need to address and resolve,” said council chair, Alan Livingston.

“This issue is not unique to the Waikato however, we do have the largest number of flood

pumps in New Zealand. So as part of our response to the issue we last year installed an imported 'fish friendly' pump at the Orchard Road drainage scheme in the lower Waikato floodplain.

“Downstream eel migration has just begun and we're cautiously excited about initial monitoring results from the site which indicate survival rates may potentially be higher than 95 per cent,” Cr Livingston said.

“Our scientists are holding the eels under controlled conditions to examine and document their longer term internal and external health. It’s been a week, and all these eels are still alive, and this suggests the pumps are performing as hoped.

This information will provide us with greater confidence that they will be in a state capable of undertaking the long migration to their breeding grounds in the tropical Pacific islands.

“But we've recognised that more needs to be done and so we’re proposing a research and development programme including a series of safe fish passage trials over the next three years,” Cr Livingston said.

The trials will include a range of potential technological solutions and decision making tools, not just trialling new ‘fish friendly’ pumps.

This work will also support the wider initiatives for the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River, in partnership with iwi, for which eels in particular are a taonga.

Fieldays is turning 50

Supplied In 1969, the first New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays was held at Hamilton’s Te Rapa Racecourse. The Town and Country Fair, as it was known then, aimed to bring rural and urban audiences together to celebrate New Zealand’s farming industry and lifestyle and the contribution it makes to the economy. Fast forward 50 years, and Fieldays is a staple on many agricultural people’s calendars, with hundreds of thousands descending on Mystery Creek each June. This year, it celebrates its 50th year, with celebrations kicking off last week with an event at its first home, Te Rapa Racecourse. There, local politicians and district mayors, agricultural leaders, past and present presidents and members of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society, Waikato Racing Club members and other VIP guests relived the early days with speeches and anecdotes, and the unveiling of a speciallycommissioned anniversary sculpture (pictured).

The Racecourse housed Fieldays in its first two years before the event was moved to its current location at Mystery Creek in 1971.

Many who attended last week’s event were responsible for organising the inaugural Fieldays in 1969, including John Kneebone, who first sparked the idea for a town and country fair in New Zealand on a trip to the UK as a Nuffield scholar.

Speaking at the event to a backdrop of photos and film of Fieldays throughout the decades, New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation thanked the Waikato Racing Club for its collaboration in the early days and the sacrifices they made to help pull it off.

“The organisers at that first event in 1969 thought they’d have a couple thousand people turn up. But on the day, it turned out to be more than 10,000 with cars parked all the way up Te Rapa Straight, which was farmland back then,” Mr Nation said.

He gave thanks to the original six farmers of the Fieldays Society, whose tenacity and perseverance he said paved the way for Fieldays to become the premiere agricultural showcase it is today, contributing half a billion dollars to the global economy each year.

“Those first six farmers approached ANZ in North Hamilton for a 100 per cent loan of $62,500, $430,000 in today’s money, so they could move Fieldays to Mystery Creek. At the time, Mystery Creek was a run-down dairy farm but had been identified as the site to house the event for future growth.

“The story goes that when the Society went into the bank they were asked what security they had for the loan, and one of the farmers threw a roll of copper wire on the bank manager’s desk and said, ‘this is the only asset we own’.”

Artist Cherise Thomson with the anniversary sculpture.

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4 – CountryLife

Friday February 23, 2018

Slow down on rural roads Catchment management

It is hoped that a mock crash earlier this month (pictured) will to encourage Waipa drivers to slow down on rural roads. Emergency services attended the scene at the high-risk intersection of Pokuru and Te Mawhai Rds near Te Awamutu, around 7am on February 8.

The joint initiative between New Zealand Police, Te Awamutu Fire Brigade, St John and Waipa District Council aimed to highlight to motorists what can happen when driving too fast for the conditions. Each motorist driving past the crash scene was stopped and received information about the risks of driving too fast on rural roads.

Council’s Road Safety Co-ordinator Megan Jolly said the conditions at Pokuru Road are typical of rural roads in the Waipa district.

“Besides the layout of the road, roadside

hazards such as drains, power poles and banks make these roads very unforgiving if you make a mistake. We all need to adjust our speed to suit the conditions of rural roads,” she said.

In the past six years driving ‘too fast’ has contributed to 32 serious injury and 7 fatal crashes within the Waipa district. Incidents where the driver has lost control account for 70 per cent of local rural road crashes.

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By Stu Kneebone, Waikato Regional Councillor, Waipa/King Country Catchment management in the Waikato region is undertaken by the Integrated Catchment Management directorate of Waikato Regional Council (WRC). The region’s catchments are managed as eight zones, each with its own manager. Each zone has a catchment committee made up of its constituent councillors, community/landowner representatives, Iwi, district council and representatives from other key agencies who have an interest in the zone.

These committees meet 3 to 4 times/year, and nominations for the new term for these will open next month. The chair of each zone committee sits alongside elected councillors on the Integrated Catchment Committee which meets every 2 months and reports directly to council. The committees have oversight of the various catchment related work programmes and their associated budgets which they advise and recommend on accordingly.

WRC approved a draft long-term plan (LTP) budget last week and, due to a number of issues, the proposed rate increase is higher than in previous years for our catchment-related work.

For the Central Zone, which is based on the Waikato River catchment from the Karapiro Dam to Ngaruawahia, we want to increase the number of work programmes that we undertake with both rural landowners and Hamilton City. The Central zone is approximately 15 per cent urban, however due to both the nature of the issues and the significant rating income from these urban areas, a significant portion of our work is undertaken on the various streams and gullies within the city. In the rural parts of the zone, demand for catchment management work (riparian planting/ protection, soil conservation/erosion control work) is exceeding WRC’s current ability to deliver.

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This problem is consistent across all 8 catchment zones as awareness of the need to better manage our soil and freshwater resources grows.

So, the proposed budget is looking to increase rating revenue for the zone from the current $517,000 to $994,000 for the 2018/19 year. This is a significant increase for the actual catchment rates, but with these being only a part of the rates bill, the overall proposed general rate increase is 4.2 per cent. Catchment work is funded from a combination of targeted and general rates, depending on the nature of the catchment, who benefits, and the work undertaken. Over the 3 years of this LTP this additional resourcing will be used to implement an expanded catchment management work programme, partnering with both landowners and other The proposed LTP will be available for the public to submit on next month, so please take some time to look at the bits that interest you, and we would appreciate your considered feedback.

WRC councillor Stu Kneebone

CountryLife – 5

Friday February 23, 2018

Earthworms improve productivity

By Bala Tikkisetty The humble earthworm is worth its weight in gold when it comes to on farm soil productivity and improving soil health and water quality.

Common earthworms were introduced from Europe in the 1800s to improve the general condition of soils, reduce surface run-off of contaminants from pasture and prevent soil erosion generally.

These introduced earthworms are essential to the development of fertile productive soil. They act as biological aerators and physical conditioners of the soil, improve soil porosity, structure, aggregate stability and water retention.

Earthworms also increase the population, activity and diversity of soil microbes, such as mycorrhizal fungi.

Soils without enough of the right type of earthworms are usually poorly structured and tend to develop a turf mat or thatch of slowly decomposing peat-like material at the surface. Old dung and dead plant material lie about the surface. These factors can naturally inhibit pasture and crop production.

Lower producing grasses are often more evident than ryegrass on these types of soils as well. Pasture growth is slow to start in spring and stops early in autumn.

Plant nutrients tend to remain locked in the organic layer and there is poor absorption of applied fertiliser.

Plants’ roots in such soils are relatively shallow and pastures are therefore susceptible to drought.

And, as indicated earlier, water runs

The most common introduced earthworm in New Zealand is Aporrectodea calignosa, a topsoil dweller. This earthworm grows up to 90mm long and may vary in colour from grey to pink or cream. Another very common introduced earthworm is Lumbricus rubellus, a surface dweller. Often found under cow pats, this earthworm will grow up to 150mm long. It is reddish-brown or reddish-purple with a pale underside and flattened tail. Aporrectodea longa live in burrows as deep as 2-3m below the surface.

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off this type of pasture more easily rather than being absorbed into the soil, increasing water quality problems.

To help avoid these types of problems, soils should have a good diversity of relevant earthworm species.

Earthworm functional groups are: Epigeic earthworms (i.e. Lumbricus rubellus) feed on organic matter on the soil surface and do not form permanent burrows; Endogeic earthworms (i.e.

Aporrectodea caliginosa) ingest topsoil and its associated organic matter, forming semi-permanent burrows; Anecic earthworms (i.e. Aporrectodea longa) draw organic matter from the soil surface into their deep, permanent burrows to feed on.

Doing an earthworm count will let farmers know if they have enough of the right type. Counts should preferably be done late winter to early spring when soil moisture and temperature conditions are ideal. Counts can be done by taking out a 20cm cube of soil with a spade.

Aim to have an earthworm number of between 30 and 35 in that cube.

If soils are scoring way below that there are a range of ways to increase their populations: Ensure soil calcium levels are near 7 as calcium promotes earthworm reproduction.

Maintain soil pH between 5.8 and 6.3.

Limit use of fumigants and other pesticides.

Reduce ammonium-based fertilisers as they make soils acidic.

Also, moist soils promote earthworm spread and activity and more will remain active in topsoil during summer under irrigation. Direct drilling and no tillage cultivation methods is another way to promote earthworm numbers. Use a mould board or disc plough rather than a rotary hoe. Cropping farms should include a phase of pasture in their cropping rotation to increase organic matter returns.

Bala Tikkisetty is a sustainable agriculture advisor at Waikato Regional Council. For more information contact him on 0800 800 401.

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6 – CountryLife

Friday February 23, 2018

Survey shows drop in confidence Supplied by Federated Farmers A marked drop in farmer optimism and growing concern about the ability to recruit suitable staff are stand-out features of the Federated Farmers Mid-Season Farm Confidence Survey.

For the first time in two years, farmer optimism has decreased, including negative perceptions of the economy, farm profitability, farm production and farm spending. Farm debt levels have also increased and fewer farms are now debt-free.

The Federated Farmers survey is conducted by Research First twice a year (January and July) and 1070 farmers responded to the questionnaire last month.

In terms of optimism about general economic conditions, there was a drop of 23 points compared to July last year and a 50 point drop

when asked about the 12 months ahead.

“That’s quite a hit, but it needs to be viewed in context,” Andrew Hoggard, Federated Farmers Vice-President said.

“Pretty much all recent surveys of businesses have found a drop in confidence because of the disruption and uncertainty over October’s general election. And in mid-January, when our survey was done, farmers in many regions had endured weeks and weeks of little or no rain.”

Last month’s survey found that optimism about future farm production fell for the first time since January 2016, with dairy farmers the most pessimistic. Andrew said it was telling that farmers in all regions expected production to decrease, but particularly those in TaranakiManawatu and Otago-Southland, the two areas

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most affected by drought.

Just over half of all farms are currently making a profit (53.6%), which is slightly lower than six months ago, but the proportion of farms making a loss has stabilised at 9.3%. However, optimism about future profitability has halved over the past six months and pessimistic perceptions have quadrupled.

“Again, some context. Dairy commodity prices were on a downward trajectory for the last half of 2017 and at the time of our survey were only just starting to go the other way,” Andrew said.

“It was the dairy sector which suffered the biggest drops in production, farm spending and similar indicators. Meat & Fibre farmers weren’t so bad.”

Similar to the July 2017 survey, the greatest concern for farmers was regulation and compliance costs. The dry weather was also on

their minds and worry about climate change policy and the potential for livestock emissions to be included in the ETS showed a marked increase.

The ability to recruit staff is becoming increasingly hard - the hardest in the 18 surveys that have been carried out since 2009.

“Federated Farmers is trying to head this off with initiatives such as our new dairy apprenticeship but this trend is also a message to politicians that as they tinker with immigration settings, the needs of rural New Zealand are very different from what’s going on in Auckland.”

Biosecurity (21.3%) leap-frogged the economy and business environment (16.1%) as the issue that farmers wanted the Government to treat as the No. 1 priority - no doubt a reflection of worries over the spread of the cattle disease mycoplasma bovis.

English a ‘safe pair of hands’ Supplied by Federated Farmers Bill English (pictured right) proved to be a consistently safe pair of hands as Finance Minister, guiding New Zealand through the global financial crisis, the Christchurch and Kaikoura/Hurunui earthquakes and the dairy downturn, Federated Farmers President Katie Milne said.

"A straight-up farm boy from Dipton, he is a guy that many New Zealanders could relate to.

"He demonstrated he wasn’t just an astute manager of the nation’s finances, but through his approach to social investment revealed he was a caring leader who really wanted to make a difference for the less-well off," Katie said.

"He can leave Parliament with his head held high.”

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CountryLife – 7

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Friday February 23, 2018

Milk urea nitrogen could be key

Supplied Milk urea readings, supplied daily to most New Zealand dairy farmers, could provide a clear picture of exactly how much nitrogen herds are excreting each day in urine, according to CRV Ambreed.

Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) is the amount of nitrogen contained in milk urea and there’s a direct connection between MUN and the amount of nitrogen excreted in urine - cows with low MUN excrete less nitrogen as urine. Calculations

by CRV Ambreed show a reduction of 20 per cent in leaching within 20 years is possible by using genetics to breed cows with lower levels of MUN. CRV Ambreed’s head of research and development, Phil Beatson, said farmers are

more used to talking about milk urea (MU) than MUN because MU values are presented to them every day on the bulk milk test report. Milk Urea concentration (MU) is an indicator of how much dietary nitrogen (consumed by the cow as plant protein) is not being used for production and is therefore wasted and excreted. Nitrogen excreted in the urine is particularly important because much of that nitrogen is leached into groundwater.

Beatson said about 45 per cent of dietary nitrogen is excreted in urine. This amounts to each cow excreting about 75kg of nitrogen a year in urine and this urinary nitrogen (UN) is the primary source of nitrogen leaching. The relationship between bulk milk MU and UN is a

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very accurate measure of how much nitrogen is hitting the ground as urine on a herd basis.

It follows that MU is very likely to be a good predictor for how much leaching is actually taking place on farms.

Use of their bulk milk MU reading should therefore help farmers form the basis of strategies to reduce leaching.

He said MU values for pasture-fed cows in New Zealand vary but an overall drop of 2-3 points in

MU values across the year would provide a 20% reduction in leaching. The average MU value in New Zealand is about 30 units, with daily herd test readings spread anywhere from 20-40 units, he said.

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Phil Beatson, CRV Ambreed research and development manager.