AginED
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FOR E FUTURIA G R R S! U PR EN E
Volume 65 I July 19, 2021 I email: agined@globalHQ.co.nz I w w w.farmersweekly.co.nz This table shows a selection of data from the Temuka in-lamb ewe fair held July 7th.
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 Kayla was a practice nurse and is now studying medicine at Otago to become a doctor or specialist. What drove her decision to go back to study? 2 Statistically there are quite a few rural practitioners that are due to retire in the next five to ten years. What effect could this have for rural areas?
Temuka in-lamb ewe fair
3 What are the core crops that the Gardynes produce?
Have a go: 1 Go to www.farmersweekly.co.nz 2 Find and watch the OnFarmStory of Jono and Kayla Gardyne “You’ve just gotta make it happen” and read the article “Caring for the rural community”. 3 Where in NZ do the Gardynes farm? 4 Along with sheep and beef production, what else do they use their land for?
4 Jono says that one of the biggest immediate challenges for them is keeping track of environmental and broader Government legislation, why is this? 5 Their own lambs are finished by February. They then buy in store lambs and finish them by the end of April, why is it best that they are finished by this time? 6 Do they have any other facets to their farming business?
Have a go: 1 What are the details of the line of ewes which made the highest value? 2 What are the details of the line of ewes which made the lowest value? 3 What does ‘SIL’ stand for? 4 Can you write the full name of the breeds listed?
STRETCH YOURSELF:
Beef + Lamb NZ Genetics is running a Low Input Sheep Progeny Trial to identify genetic qualities to futureproof NZ’s sheep industry. The first run of lambs were born in 2019 and the third mating has just finished. To learn more about this trial head to: https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/trialseeking-future-proof-nz-sheep-industry
THE NEW ZEALAND JUNIPER STUDY Juniper berries provide the unique flavour in gin. Massey University and industry partners have been awarded funds to research, evaluate and identify suitable juniper berry strains and propagation methods with potential to give New Zealand-made gins a unique sensory signature or terroir. Terroir refers to the flavour and sensory characteristics of drinks (including gin and wine) imparted by the environment in which the fruit for that drink is grown. What do you know about Juniper plants? • Which species of juniper is the main source of gin juniper? • Juniper ‘berries’ are not actually berries – what are they really? • Juniper berries have a vast range of uses in addition to gin. What are some uses for Juniper essential oils and extracts?
1 Capital stock means that these ewes are retained for breeding and usually only sold in the case of a farm sale or change of farming policy. Why would this be an important detail to include? Would they be more or less sought after by farmers?
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE:
What attributes are they testing in this trial? How could this benefit the NZ sheep industry in the future?
• Harvesting of juniper berries is tricky because the trees are spikey, and berries ripen inconsistently over two to three years.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Photo: Massey Horticultural Science Masters student Su Liu is currently conducting a study to find out the best method of propagation of juniper plants to help NZ Gin industry to produce all gin ingredients locally. She is using a variety of combination of plant growth regulators and propagating approaches including micropropagation from tissue culture.
Massey University has a successful partnership with Venture Taranaki, supporting local businesses around food, agriculture, horticulture, engineering, and sustainability. Visit the website to find out more about some of the exciting students internship projects , including Shikeale Harris and Tash Kui-Snowball working at Begin Distilling on the Juniper project - https://www.venture.org.nz/science-andresearch/massey-partnership/
Want to learn more about the Horticulture and Plant science at Massey? Check out https://www.massey.ac.nz/bhort
3 Analyse the highest and lowest values. Looking at each column in the table, why do you think the highest value achieved that price? 4 What other details do you think a farmer takes into account when deciding how much to pay for ewes?
DID YOU KNOW? • Junipers are dioecious trees, which means there are separate male and female trees. To produce berries, plants of both sexes must be grown in close proximity to facilitate wind borne pollination.
2 The percentage shown indicates the ‘lambing percentage’. What does this mean and why is it important?
5 The outlook for spring lamb schedules at the processors is expected to be good. How do you think this is likely to affect in-lamb ewe prices compared to year-ago levels?
CONGRATULATIONS! Hugo Dupont, aged 9, from Beaconsfield School.
OUR
CAP WINNER!