AginED
#
FOR E FUTURIA G R R S! U E N E R P
Volume 63 I July 5, 2021 I email: agined@globalHQ.co.nz I w w w.farmersweekly.co.nz EACH STORM HAS ITS OWN PERSONALITY.
US IMPORTED BEEF PRICES This graph shows the values of US imported 90CL in us$/lb. Hundreds
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 90CL is typically used when making burger patties. US processing plants are facing very strong demand from retail, food service and export markets. Another factor is tight supply of beef in Australia. Why would this affect the demand for NZ product? 2 June is typically a strong month for consumption of beef in the US and typically eases after July 4. What US holiday is around that time of the year that would increase beef consumption?
Have a go: 1 What is the latest imported 90CL value? 2 How does this compare to the same time last year and the five-year average? 3 In what month/year have values been the highest as shown on this graph? 4 In what month/year have values been the lowest?
3 90CL and 95CL describes how lean the meat is and the percentage of red meat to fat, and CL stands for ‘chemically lean’. For example 90CL has 90% red meat and 10% fat while 95CL is 95% red meat and 5% fat. What would you expect to have more fat, a cow or bull? 4 Before ‘CL’ it was known as ‘VL’ or ‘visually lean’. This required someone to visually estimate the red meat vs fat percentage. Why do you think the industry moved away from using ‘VL’?
COULD HEMP PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTAL AS WELL AS MEDICINAL BENEFITS? Head to https://farmersweekly.co.nz/section/horticulture/ view/hemp-growing-opportunity-for-si-farmers and read the article on the work that is underway to convert a former paper mill to a medicinal cannabis and hemp mill. How could hemp be useful environmentally in a farm setting? Can you give two examples? What do they estimate the production and processing capacity of the mill to be when it is complete? They forecast that the medicinal cannabis market will be worth at least 1 billion dollars by 2025. Do you think that the demand for this product will increase to that level? Why or why not?
WORKING DOGS
Paper:
TeamMate website:
Without working dogs, New Zealand’s nearly 25,000 sheep, and beef farmers would find it difficult to muster and manage their stock. However, until recently, we have known very little about the lives of these dogs.
All this changed when Vetlife and Massey undertook TeamMate, a four-year longitudinal study of over 600 working dogs on the South Island. Over the study period, approximately 1 in 10 dogs died. Farm dogs tended to have long working lives, with approximately 65% being more than seven years old when retired and approximately 40% of dogs being more than ten years of age. When information about retirement was combined with results of physical examination researchers, found that in young and old dogs alike, lameness nearly doubled the risk of a dog being retired or dying. Future research will focus on understanding the causes of lameness so that we can prevent it.
QUESTIONS: In the study, veterinarians visited farms every six to eight months to conduct physical examinations and collect data rather than waiting for a dog to be taken to the veterinary clinic. Why do you think they did that? A dog that died or retired was considered lame based on the results of the last physical examination, which may have been several months ago. However, the dog may also have recovered between the visit and being retired or dying. Consequently, the risk of death or retirement associated with lameness was over-or under-estimated. What do you think is the case, and what makes you think that?
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ANIMAL SCIENCE? Check out the Bachelor of Animal Science www.massey.ac.nz/bansci
Some lows are big and lazy, others are small and fast, some cause negative severe weather (snow storms during lambing, for example) others create positive severe weather (like plenty of rain when you’ve been in drought). Google maps the planet with Google Earth but WeatherWatch and IBM map the earth's atmosphere, so a WeatherWatch forecaster can check to see current weather conditions at any location on the planet, from the North Pole to the Southern Ocean to the Southern Alps - all in high detail. Mapping the atmosphere means we can better understand the 'personality' behind each storm and their journey. For example, squashed together isobars means gales, deep lows in the sub-tropics bring heavy rain, southerlies off Antarctica bring deadly wind chills and snow. So here's your challenge - visit the maps page at WeatherWatch (https:// www.weatherwatch.co.nz/mapsradars/rain/rain-forecast) and take a look at planet earth. Can you find 5 low pressure systems and try giving them a personality - or put another way, what characteristics does each of those lows have? (windy, cold, wet, hot, thundery, snowy, etc) and what sort of weather would they be producing locally?
Got your own question about how the weather works? Ask Phil! Email phil@ruralweather.co.nz
THIS IS YOUR LAST WEEK TO GET IN THE DRAW! Head to www.honestwolf.co.nz and answer these questions to be in the draw to win an Honest Wolf wool cap! 1 What is the name of the farm where the wool for Honest Wolf products comes from? 2 What four colours do the wool caps come in? Simply send your answers to agined@globalhq.co.nz with your name, age, and school and we will randomly pick a winner. This competition is open for students 18 years and younger.