Farmers Weekly NZ July 30 2018

3 Wool sale meltdown spat Vol 17 No 30, July 30, 2018

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Fonterra vacuum exposed Hugh Stringleman

J

hugh.stringleman@nzx.com

OHN Wilson’s immediate resignation as chairman of Fonterra because of ill-health has exposed the lack of experience among its directors because of the downsizing of the board that began in 2016.

It is a double concern for company leadership stability because chief executive Theo Spierings is also resigning this year after six years, the same length of service as Wilson as chairman.

Wilson has been a director since 2003 and was the inaugural chairman of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Council from 2001 to 2003.

The next longest-serving director, John Monaghan of Wairarapa, has already been elected by his fellow directors as the replacement chairman.

He was the only realistic candidate, based on experience and the complicated process of Fonterra’s director elections, already under way for this year.

Monaghan, also a former Shareholders’ Council chairman, was elected in 2008 and was reelected by farmer-shareholders for his fourth term last year.

Four of the seven farmerdirectors are serving their first three-year terms and would arguably lack governance experience to be chairman, which is a full-time role with a prime ministerial-sized salary.

They are Ashley Waugh, elected in 2015 and up for re-election this year, Donna Smit (2016) and Brent Goldsack and Andy Macfarlane (both 2017).

Apart from Wilson and Monaghan, the only other longserving director is Manawatu dairy farmer and academic Nicola Shadbolt (2009) who is also up for re-election this year but has not yet indicated if she will stand.

Nominations to the independent nomination process closed on July 23 but the candidates will not be disclosed publicly until September 10.

If elected by fellow directors to the chair it would have given her an unfair advantage over other candidates in the contest.

If she is not standing, she would have been only a temporary chairwoman until the November annual meeting, at which time Wilson will also be standing down as a director.

The chairman is subject to reelection by fellow farmer-directors after each annual meeting.

The four independent or nonfarmer directors are also new to the job and under Fonterra’s constitution they cannot take the chair.

Shareholders’ Council chairman Duncan Coull said Wilson navigated Fonterra through some difficult periods and changes for the good.

“Although it seems premature to do so, because he will be a director until November, I want to acknowledge John’s hard work and legacy as well as the sacrifice made by his family so he could do a very time-consuming and demanding job.”

Coull said it was co-incidence rather than continuity that Monaghan was also a former council chairman.

The appointment of new chief executive is a board matter and not for Fonterra’s chairman alone and Monaghan and other directors

Continuing as chairman when I cannot put my full energy and attention into the role is not appropriate.

GONE: Ill health has forced Fonterra chairman John Wilson to step down immediately after 17 years of service to the farmer co-op.

had been closely involved.

The council will find out the identity of the new chief executive about 12 hours before it is announced in accordance with Stock Exchange regulations and Coull expects that will be weeks rather than months away.

Fonterra said no further details will be provided on Wilson’s serious health scare and surgery.

In a message to farmers Wilson said the decision to stand down as chairman was difficult but ultimately in the co-op’s best interests.

“I have made a very good recovery and am well but will need ongoing treatment.

“As many of you will know from experience, governance roles are incredibly rewarding but equally

demanding on the individual and their families.

“Continuing as chairman when I cannot put my full energy and attention into the role is not appropriate.”

Wilson faced extra pressures when NZ First Leader Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development and Forestry Minister Shane Jones called for his resignation in June after Fonterra posted a first-half loss and cut earnings and dividend expectations. He made no public response at the time.

Monaghan, aged 63, grew up on a dairy farm and has farming interests in Wairarapa and Otago.

He has served on multiple committees, chairing several of them.

“He has taken a lead role in representing Fonterra’s interests on customer visits and global trade issues and has strong networks both domestically and internationally with key stakeholders,” the Fonterra statement said.

Wilson could leave feeling proud of his role in guiding the co-operative in a time of volatile international markets and a host of local challenges, Federated Farmers said.

“He has done a tremendous job and gives 100%,” dairy section national chairman Chris Lewis said.

“He has always been fiercely supportive and proud of his cooperative farmer-shareholders and the work they do.”

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NEWS

WEATHER

7 Horticulture

wants to beat dairy

Major growth in horticulture is signalling an outstanding future for the industry but it is not set up to take advantage of the opportunities, Jenkins Freshpac general manager Jamie Lunam says.

Growers’ champions rewarded �������������������������������������� 8 All primary industries at risk ��������������������������������������� 10

Newsmaker ������������������������������������������������������22 New Thinking ��������������������������������������������������23 Opinion ������������������������������������������������������������24 World �����������������������������������������������������������������30

ON FARM STORY

OVERVIEW A milder than normal westerly flow is with us for the start of this week but a colder change looks set to rush up the country, perhaps on Friday and Saturday.

It is not 100% locked in but a cold change looks increasingly likely. That might see low level snow for a time and frosty weather coming in behind it, perhaps this weekend. After this cold snap a large high should cross New Zealand then the second week of August should be milder again. August is shaping up to be a chaotic month with a big variety of weather from some large lows crossing our area and the bulk of the highs tracking to our north.

NZX PASTURE GROWTH INDEX – Next 15 days

Pasture Growth Index Above normal Near normal Below normal

7-DAY TRENDS

Rain Rain and showers in the west of both islands with heaviest falls and highest totals on the West Coast. Drier than average in the east of both islands but some wet weather there too.

Heavy snow on the Southern Alps.

Temperature Mild or warmer than average across most regions over the next few days with northern and eastern parts of the North Island likely receiving the warmest airflows. Coldest air this week arrives Thursday and Friday, potentially as a nationwide southerly.

Wind Milder than usual wind flows for most regions this week starting with northerly quarter winds on Monday and tilting more westerly quarter until Thursday. By late working week a colder southerly flow moves in then fades as a high rolls in.

Highlights/ Extremes Some heavy rain on the West Coast.

A potential cold snap on Thursday and Friday might see snow falling to 100m to 200m in the lower South Island and might even affect the Central Plateau. Not yet locked in.

14-DAY OUTLOOK

For further information on the NZX PGI visit www.agrihq.co.nz/pgi WeatherWatch.co.nz is forecasting a warmer than average end to July and start to August, generally speaking, positive for some pasture growth. Temperatures will be a few to several degrees above average. Rain in the west, driest in the east though a possible southerly on Thursday and Friday could drive more moisture up the eastern side of NZ too. Frosts look less frequent this week. A more positive few days ahead for pasture growth but a polar change late week is possible.

SOIL MOISTURE INDEX – 27/07/2018

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REGULARS Real Estate �������������������������������������������������31-33 Employment ����������������������������������������������������34 Classifieds ��������������������������������������������������������34 Livestock ����������������������������������������������������������35 Markets �������������������������������������������������������36-40 GlobalHQ is a farming family owned business that donates 1% of advertising revenue to the Rural Support Trust. Thanks to our Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer advertisers this week: $570.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

3

Online wool sale blamed for flop Nigel Stirling nigel.stirling@globalhq.co.nz THE country’s largest wool broker is fuming at what it sees as “soft selling” on a new online trading platform it believes is to blame for the disastrous start to the new wool auction season.

After staging a modest recovery since the start of the year the average price for crossbred wool crashed back to earth with a 9% fall in the first sale of the 2018-19 season at Christchurch on July 19.

It is believed to be the largest drop in prices for the opening sale of the season in two decades.

The market slump caught farmers and brokers by surprise with a massive 45% of the 10,500 bales offered for sale passed in after failing to meet reserve prices – the highest rate in two years.

Market commentary immediately after the sale cited weak demand from Chinese buyers prepared to buy only enough to fill their immediate needs.

That is understood to relate to fresh environmental concerns surrounding wool scours in China.

However, PGG Wrightson’s South Island sales manager Dave Burridge believes an online trading event two days before by start-up Natural Fibre Exchange (NFX) made a bad situation worse.

Despite only 750 bales being offered on the NFX platform a close to 100% clearance rate sent the unhelpful signal to overseas buyers that growers of NZ crossbred wool are willing to sell at any price.

According to NFX’s website full-length crossbred fleece at the July 17 event fetched 303c/kg to 337c/kg.

At Christchurch two days later average prices for wool sold ranged from 341c/kg to 345c/kg at the stronger end.

“When the market is undersold by that much two days before it makes it difficult for us to send

NOT US: National Fibre Exchange chairman Craig Hickson says the idea its online wool auction caused a meltdown in prices is nonsense when it is simply a price discovery mechanism.

As an industry we need to not sell at all costs.

Dave Burridge PGG Wrightson

a signal that the market has not dropped by that much.”

Burridge said low passings at the NFX event suggested reserves had not been set or had been set too low.

“As an industry we need to not sell at all costs … it signals to

manufacturers that we are soft sellers and further undermines the market.”

NFX was launched in May by Wools of NZ with meat companies Alliance Group and Craig Hickson’s Progressive also having taken shareholdings.

The platform is operated by CRA International, which also runs Fonterra’s Global Dairy Trade fortnightly online auction of dairy commodities.

Hickson, who is also NFX chairman, dismissed as nonsense the idea the July 17 online sale was to blame for the meltdown in prices at the South Island auction two days later.

“NFX in no way sets the market

price and neither does the open cry auction. It is the buyers and the sellers that form that.”

Hickson said prices slipped 2c/kg between the July 17 online event and the previous one a fortnight earlier.

The easing in prices reflected a slackening in demand for NZ wool over that period rather than any feature of the online platform, which is merely a mechanism for price discovery.

Clearance rates ranged from nearly 80% to nearly 100% in the five online auctions to date.

Sellers nominate starting prices below which bids cannot be made and which effectively act as a reserve price.

Waireres can take the pressure Lyndon Chittock farms 158 hectares near Gore. “We run a grass factory. Our 1900 ewes and 500 hoggets are behind wires for nine months of the year. The winter stocking rate is over 18 per hectare.

“The 2017 lambing was 157 percent. The percentage has been lifting steadily over the three years that I’ve used the Wairere Multiplier over a Wairere Romney base.

Carcass weights have lifted to an average of 22kg this year, including a thousand trade lambs that we buy in for the summer.”

“The Wairere Multiplier has turbocharged my flock.”

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Asked whether the high clearance rates suggested the starting prices on the NFX were being set too low and undermining the wider market Hickson said the price nominated is a matter for sellers.

“It is the difference between discovering the market price on the day versus an aspirational price.

“It is fine for anyone to have in their own mind what they think it is worth and they can set their reserve price accordingly but if they set it above what a buyer is prepared to pay then it will not sell.

“It is quite simple in that respect.”

4

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

Ballance boosts balance sheet Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz FERTILISER group Ballance AgriNutrients will be keeping a good part of its earnings to boost the balance sheet after three years of rebate payments pushing it into a bottom-line loss.

Chief executive Mark Wynne didn’t have an exact figure when the initial earnings report for the year ended May 31 was released on Thursday but it will be several million.

Ballance reported a gross trading profit of $71.3m, up from $56.8m a year earlier.

It is keeping the rebate to shareholders at the same amount, $45 a tonne on purchases from the co-operative, and that will take up just over $56m, at an average of $4500 a shareholder though there will be payments above $100,000 to the largest farming clients.

Some of the rebate will be paid in new shares.

Sales volumes of fertilisers, animal feeds and industrial ingredients were up 1.5% to 1.64m tonnes, and revenue rose 2.6% to $826m.

The very strong result reflects the positive sentiment among farmers and growers, chairman David Peacocke said.

Horticulture sectors sales were very strong and growing though they still make up less than 10% of total sales, with the bulk still to dairy and pastoral farmers, Wynne said.

Full details of the group earnings and financial position won’t be released until the annual report is issued in a month or so but Ballance typically keeps its ratio of shareholders’ funds to total assets at a strong level, even through the narrow losses of the last three years.

After completing projects in Waimate and Ashburton supply areas it plans ongoing spending on infrastructure this year, seeking further improvement in the supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies.

Wynne said the big project is a $30m-plus refit of the Kapuni urea

PROFIT: Ballance chairman David Peacocke and chief executive Mark Wynne say the co-op’s very strong result reflects the positive attitude among farmers.

As far as I can tell, we missed no orders.

Mark Wynn Ballance plant in Taranaki, a project done every two or three years, involving dismantling the plant, then rebuilding it.

The shut-down next February will last for six weeks.

Ballance will also rebuild the Seales Winslow animal feed plant in Ashburton, after the major fire there last December.

The rebuild is mostly covered by insurance and the group earnings were little-impacted by the fire, with replacement product supplied from the group’s two North Island plants and some plant staff relocated to Timaru.

“As far as I can tell, we missed no orders,” Wynne said.

The new, modern plant will have robotic packing and bagging and provide greater capacity for premium animal feed products.

Innovative fertilisers Sustain and PhasedN continue to have the fastest growing sales in the core business and Wynne reported a strong take-up of the MyBallance digital management tool offered free to shareholders in the second half of the year, with more than a

quarter of all active shareholders now registered.

Peacocke said the group needs to continually improve its agility to respond to the increasingly competitive fertiliser market in New Zealand.

Fertiliser prices remained firm through the year. The main reason was a stronger focus on environmental quality in China, where less efficient plants have been closed, reducing world supply capacity, notably in nitrogen products and increasingly in phosphates, Wynne said.

New plants are being built in other parts of the world, which will also help security of supply.

Ballance believes its gas supply to the Kapuni urea plant is secure for at least the next decade as the gas is sourced from onshore wells not subject to the Government ban on offshore exploration.

The lack of process in the Government decision was very disappointing, Wynne said.

There would have been issues if the group had proceeded with plans for a $1 billion greenfields replacement plant, finally shelved in the planning stages two years ago, because that would have required surety of at least 30 years of gas supply.

A lack of a competitive gas market in the future will shutdown any future new-build plans.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

5

Hunt for M bovis source not over yet Annette Scott annettescott@globalhq.co.nz THE Ministry for Primary Industries has not given up on finding out how the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis arrived here, response director Geoff Gwyn says.

It’s now a year from when the disease was identified on a South Canterbury dairy farm and still all seven pathways remain suspects.

“We have no pathway link to any one farm. We are still looking at all options,” Gwyn said.

While MPI has completed the inspections of three premises, two veterinary associated premises in the North Island and a farm in the South Island, it searched under warrant in March it cannot yet publicly announce the outcome.

“We were due to announce this publicly when we were informed that another regulatory agency was undertaking inquiries in relation to two of the inspected properties.

“As such, we have delayed confirming the results of our inspections until those inquiries are completed.”

MPI is not privy to the detail of the other agency’s inquiries and does not know what, if anything, it has investigated is relevant to those inquiries.

“Where an individual or a company is the subject of inquiries by another regulatory agency MPI would not want to do anything that may compromise that.

“We are deferring making any public statement about the outcome of our inspections until such time the agency making these inquiries has completed them.

M bovis has been found on 57 farms over the past year with 42 of them active.

There are now more beef farms than dairy farms with the disease though many of the infected beef properties have dairy-beef cattle as opposed to straight beef breed animals and, given that, the number is not expected be of significance.

“A beef survey is currently under way and there will be more assurance on that by the end of the year.”

Gwyn said whether dairy, beef or lifestyle, all farms affected by the disease are subject to the same rules.

He wasn’t so concerned about the lifestyle group.

Farmers are responding and the industry is standing up.

Geoff Gwyn MPI “I am less concerned with lifestyle properties. They tend to be a one-stop-shop and not a great risk to manage.”

As for calf rearers and sale yards cattle movements, there’s comprehensive advice available on the DairyNZ website and Gywn urged people to get familiar with and heed the advice.

“There is no zero risk and we are not necessarily recommending business stops. We have under control the properties we believe are infected and other farmers

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GOOD ADVICE: There is good advice for calf rearers on the DairyNZ website, Geoff Gwynn says.

should continue to do business as usual, of course, under best management practice.”

He was pleased to note on-farm biosecurity is lifting.

“Farmers are responding and the industry is standing up.

“Biosecurity risk management and Nait compliance for good traceability remain fundamental to the response and eradication programme.”

MPI remains confident the earliest occurrence of M bovis in NZ is late 2015 on the Southland farms of Alfons and Gea Zeestraten.

“All the evidence we have to date from 170,000 tests points to the introduction being late December 2015 or early 2016 and that earliest occurrence does relate to Southland.

“But we haven’t got blinkers on and we urge people who believe they have evidence otherwise to come forward.”

To date close to 35,000 of an expected 160,000 cattle have been slaughtered in the phased eradication programme.

A Veterinary Association directive to its members last week regarding the approval for

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transport of pregnant cows to slaughter within two weeks of calving is being managed, Gwyn said.

“We are working with farmers to manage this and if necessary we will retain them on-farm if they can’t be moved to slaughter.”

To date MPI has received 219 compensation applications with the total value claimed at $32 million. Of $18m assessed, $14m has been paid either in full or in part.

As the second round of milk testing gets under way Gwyn expects more infected farms will be found.

“We will find more herds. I just hope it will be in single figures.”

Plans are under way to test bobby calves either on-farm or at point of slaughter and beef cattle tests will also be done at processing plants.

MPI is hosting a delegation of infected property farmers in Wellington on Wednesday to get structured feedback from grassroots farmers.

“We want to assess processes, know what is working and what isn’t, what we can do better to make the response as fit for

WAITING: The Primary Industries Ministry is waiting for another agency making Mycoplasma bovis inquiries to complete its work before announcing the results of its own inquiry that involved searching three premises under warrant.

purpose as we can for farmers and how we now look at working at a local community level,” Gwyn said.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

7

Horticulture wants to beat dairy Annette Scott annettescott@globalhq.co.nz MAJOR growth in horticulture is signalling an outstanding future for the industry but it is not set up to take advantage of the opportunities, Jenkins Freshpac general manager Jamie Lunam says.

Speaking at the HortNZ conference in Christchurch Lunam told 350 growers and industry delegates that while aiming high they need to get the balance right.

We have a lot of employers in horticulture who are not playing the game as they should.

Mike Chapman HortNZ “There’s an outstanding future for all crops in the horticulture sector but with labour issues, a rapidly ageing asset base, particularly in packing facilities, and not near enough collaboration, the industry is not aligned to make the most of the opportunities.

“Horticulture has a potential future that can put dairy out of the top spot on the primary sector podium by 2030.

“Outstanding growth opportunities are ours for the taking but are we backing ourselves to take advantage of those opportunities?”

Lunam said he really worries about how to get it right.

The industry needs the right people doing the right jobs with the correct mix of automation.

So, collaboration is key.

“Up and down the value chain we must get much closer to industry peers.

“People must be ready to match the skills we are going to need in the future because we haven’t got them yet.”

An estimated 30,000 seasonal workers will be needed for the harvest in 2030.

About 15,000 are needed for the kiwifruit harvest in Bay of Plenty now.

“To double that number, and we need to, doesn’t look economic or practical.

“It means we need to fill 38 Boeing 737 Dreamliners to help us pack and harvest our product in the future.”

Lunam said the human resource landscape and the industry are changing.

“We need to pull in data geeks, not necessarily consultants and partners.

“The industry of technology is coming on us like a freight train.

We are going to be competing with the Xeros and the Googles. We need to move now.”

Creative thinkers and visionaries need to be in the mix.

“We need some very clever thinkers on the bus to help us get there. We need to reshape our people and upskill.

“The industry leaders need to learn to manage our millennials.

They are coming into our network and they are a new beast.

“Where are those geeks, those strategists, those future supply chain gurus – they are not on those buses and we need to attract these people in.”

Lunam urged the industry to automate and for growers to get involved.

“What return we will get if we can’t pick and pack?

“What is the cost of not doing this? It doesn’t have to be a $10 million project in year one. It can be progressive.”

All the tools for automation are ready to go and there are solutions for all sized businesses.

“We are a small industry in a small nation and we are not going to make it without rocket-ship collaboration.

“We all need to pull together – share our pain and share our toys.

“The days of secrets to get the edge over the competitor are not going to fit anymore.”

HortNZ chief executive Mike

CRISIS: If the horticulture industry doesn’t collaborate and automate by 2030 it will need to fly in 30,000 people to get enough staff to pick and pack its harvest, Jenkins Freshpac general manager Jamie Lunam says.

Photo: Annette Scott

Chapman said the industry must identify and clean up its bad employers if it is to attract workers.

“We have a lot of employers in horticulture who are not playing the game as they should.

“They will pull us all down.

They could pull the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme down.

“We have to unite to deal with them,” Chapman said.

Despite the reliance on RSE and overseas workers the biggest

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proportion of horticulture’s workforce continues to be New Zealanders.

“Part of the solution to our worker shortage is Kiwis. There are 100,000 jobless in NZ and we have to get these people off the couch.”

Chapman said it is appalling that horticulture, which generates $6 billion in returns, has no apprentice or degree courses.

“There is no pathway for people to go forward.”

He hopes the launch at the conference of an apprenticeship

programme next year will start to fill the gap.

“Now employers and growers need to work with the Primary Industry Training Organisation and make this apprenticeship work.”

Chapman echoed Lunam’s call for all industry stakeholders to work together.

“Collaboration is essential to meet the growing labour requirement and the great thing about going the extra mile is there will not be a lot of traffic.”

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8

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

Europe, Britain move to slash NZ meat imports Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz EXPORTERS have reacted with dismay to news New Zealand’s red meat quota to Europe could be split between Britain and the European Union as part of the Brexit process.

Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association have lodged protests in Brussells, London and Geneva after Britain and the EU went to the World Trade Organisation with a formal plan to split the 228,000 tonnes sheep meat quota.

That would remove NZ exporters’ ability to adjust the destination of its exports in

response to individual country market conditions across the 28 EU members, association chief executive Tim Ritchie said.

“Markets are dynamic.

“Domestic production and consumer demand continues to evolve and it is important for market stability that NZ’s sheep meat and beef exporters are able to factor that into their marketing plans.

NZ has had this ability since the establishment of the WTO quotas and has proved its credentials as a responsible participant.

Sales to the EU, NZ’s largest red meat and co-product market, are worth $2 billion a year and account for 23% of the industry’s

total exports.

The timing of this proposal is confusing given the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU are yet to be negotiated.

“Without clarity and details around the future trading relationship between the United Kingdom and EU it is very difficult to assess the implications of their proposal.

“It is therefore both illogical and unacceptable to be put in a position of having to negotiate an arbitrary split of our legally binding market access rights when there is so much uncertainty about the shape of the future trading relationship between the EU and the UK,” Ritchie said.

We expect both the EU and the UK to honour their legal obligations and commitments.

WHOA THERE: New Zealand doesn’t want a Brexit windfall but does want its established rights upheld, Beef + Lamb New Zealand chief executive Sam McIvor says.

B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor said the NZ red meat sector is not seeking a windfall

from the Brexit process but the upholding of its legal rights.

“The tariff rate quotas form part of the EU and UK’s WTO commitments and are legally binding rights and obligations.

“We expect both the EU and the UK to honour their legal obligations and commitments.”

B+ LNZ and the MIA both said the issue is a high priority and they have registered their opposition to the EU’s proposal in person in Brussels, Geneva and London and through a joint written submission to the EU Commission. They are also working on the issue with the Government.

Growers’ champions rewarded Annette Scott annettescott@globalhq.co.nz KIWIFRUIT industry leader Peter McBride has been honoured with Horticulture New Zealand’s premier award, the Bledisloe Cup. McBride’s contribution spanning more than 40 years was hailed at the HortNZ’s awards dinner as outstanding and meritorious.

Similar to the famous rugby Bledisloe Cup, horticulture’s version is one of three cups Lord Bledisloe presented to NZ in 1931.

“The Bledisloe Cup celebrates a person who has made an outstanding and meritorious contribution to the NZ horticulture industry and Peter McBride certainly epitomises that,” HortNZ president Julian Raine said.

McBride was first exposed to the kiwifruit industry in 1978 through his family’s orchard in Te Puke, in Bay of Plenty.

He went on to buy his first kiwifruit orchard in 1989 and

today he has responsibility for several large farming companies and heads one of NZ’s key horticulture companies as Zespri chairman.

Raine said McBride fought hard for horticulture and is a key interface between growers, industry and the Government.

“He is focused on innovation and also represents Zespri International as a director on the NZ International Business Forum and as a member of the NZ-China Council.”

Alongside his work for the kiwifruit industry McBride has an equally long history of service to charitable organisations.

He was a director of Longview Charitable Trust Board (Dairy) in Waikato and was also a director of Centrefarm Aboriginal Horticulture.

Other awards presented included the inaugural Environmental Award.

It went to James Trevelyan from Te Puke.

On considering the nominees for the award Raine said the HortNZ Board was heartened

by the vast amount of environmental work under way and the focus growers have on sustainability.

Raine said Trevelyan proudly and publicly supports the environment while providing tasty, healthy, nutritious fruit to the world.

In 2017 his family-owned company produced a report, Our Journey toward a Sustainable Future, that states sustainability is a journey that requires ongoing development, innovation, collaboration and commitment.

“James really walks the talk and you can see him talking passionately about caring for the environment in the HortNZ video Healthy Food for All Forever.”

Grower and orchardist Tim Egan was the winner of the President’s Award.

Egan is heavily involved in the promotion of horticulture in Gisborne.

Described as having a huge passion for anything to do with growing, his work spans not only

THANKS: Peter McBride, supported by his wife Linda, accepts the Bledisloe Cup for his contribution to HortNZ.

his orchards but also with people and recruiting people into horticulture.

He is chairman of the Gisborne Labour Government Group and Tipu Advisory Board.

Industry Service Awards were presented to Garry Elliott and Graham Martin.

Elliott has been involved in bringing new chemistry to the horticulture industry since his career began in 1964.

He is one of the pioneers of the early years of herbicide

applications on onions, changing the approach for NZ onion growers.

Martin is a stalwart of Canterbury horticulture.

He organised the first Young Vegetable Grower of the Year competition in 2007 and has continued to do so for most of the years since.

In 2014 he was presented with life membership of Horticulture Canterbury.

Earnscy Weaver was presented with life membership of HortNZ.

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News

10 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

All primary industries at risk whose Veto Vote movement directs diners away from restaurants with no vegan options.

Marsh believes there is room for production of both meat and plant-based alternatives but countries like Canada have the head start with its government contributing to start-up funding and plenty of flat land available on which to grow crops.

Glenys Christian IT’S never new technology that wins but a business model that enables it, Beef + Lamb New Zealand independent director Melissa Clark Reynolds told the Proteintech Conference in Auckland.

And the business model for laboratory-grown meat is developing quickly, production costs are dropping massively because of the small number of steps in the supply chain with few people sharing the profit.

That is why big United States meat processors are investing in plant-based products.

“When it flips it will flip fast,” she said.

Some companies now don’t allow employees to claim expenses for meat meals, she said.

“More and more companies will go down this route.”

But just as many people who favoured non-dairy products still kept a container of milk in their fridge, she believes the same thing will happen with meat.

Many flexitarians have a largely vegan week then eat meat at the weekend.

Laughing and pointing was the most human way of dismissing change which was exactly the reaction to Air NZ serving business class passengers the Impossible Burger, she said.

But Virgin Australia had then made a direct appeal to NZ

Good on Air NZ for trying to do something innovative but good on Virgin Australia for picking the conversation up.

Melissa Clark Reynolds B+LNZ

MEAT BAN: Some companies now do not allow employees to claim expenses for meals containing meat, B+LNZ director Melissa Clark Reynolds says.

farmers to supply it with their beef.

“Good on Air NZ for trying to do something innovative but good on Virgin Australia for picking the conversation up.”

B+LNZ market innovation manager Lee-Ann Marsh said estimates are that from 20% to

30% of meat sales will be displaced by alternative proteins by 2050.

“Plant-based is where the buzz is,” she said.

“Global and government institutions have put the impact of reducing meat consumption on the agenda. And there’s growing support for a plant protein-based diet from the medical industry.

“There’s a steady flow of investment capital because the potential is too great to ignore.”

All NZ’s primary industries are at risk of disruption, not just meat, she said.

Some examples are Perfect Day animal-free milk and Finless Food, which has the slogan “Sustainable seafood without the catch”.

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DO BOTH: B+LNZ market innovation managaer Lee-Ann Marsh says there is room in the market for meat and plant proteins.

Ava Winery “molecule by molecule” is producing wine without growing grapes and has already recreated classic vintages at a quarter of the price.

Modern Meadow sells what it calls leather re-imagined, which Marsh said is a strong value proposition of a sustainable product that can be cut to any size.

There is also a new set of influencers creating a different cultural narrative around meat with James Cameron’s film, The Game Changers, featuring soldiers and athletes who don’t eat meat.

Millennials’ eating patterns are reshaping the food industry with them being highly represented in the estimated seven million vegetarians in the United States along with 23 million flexitarians,

In Australia, a not-forprofit group, Food Frontier, is accelerating a similar industry development.

B+LNZ is identifying who its target customers are to be forward-looking and create what they want.

Its Taste Pure Nature advertising differentiates this country’s grassfed beef and its environmental strategy has set ambitious targets.

“We may need to be very selective as to who we partner with in the market,” she said, ahead of a trip to China to look at different business models and how to best influence the consumer experience.

There is a lot more that could be done to be fresh and exciting as well as building trust through transperancy, where Blockchain technology offers opportunities to authenticate consumer experience rather than them feeling confused and sceptical, she said.

Manuka-flavoured huhu grub on menu HUHU grubs and edible fungi are two of the areas where Landcare Research sees potential alternative protein opportunities for New Zealand.

Its commercialisation manager Graeme Anderson told Proteintech a reconfiguration of the world’s primary production is needed with a 25% growth in protein demand and 26% of ice-free land used for livestock grazing.

With new rearing techniques used to grow huhu on artificial substrates and manipulation of their diet they might be able to reach maturity in six months rather

TASTY? What flavour would you like your huhu grub?

than the present two to three years. Then they could be sold at upmarket restaurants.

“We might be able to get our own manuka-flavoured huhu,” he said.

Science team leader Peter Buchanan said NZ’s vast range of fungi has fabulous potential as a source of protein.

“A partnership of Maori, science and farmers could

be the way forward,” he said.

NZ’s economy is based on other countries’ biodiversity with few niche products such as honey and fish so far developed.

“It strikes me as weird that we haven’t got our heads around our biodiversity, which is unique and can’t be copied by anyone else.”

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

11

Stricter test coming for domestic honey?

THE Ministry for Primary Industries wants feedback on whether honey produced and sold in New Zealand should meet export manuka honey standards given some of the domestic supply ends up overseas.

Since February all exported manuka honey must meet a specific definition to support authenticity because the high price manuka honey commands around the world has exposed the sector to scrutiny from overseas consumers, media and regulators, MPI said in a discussion document.

“We are now considering whether to apply the same science definition to NZ manuka honey sold on the domestic market.”

MPI said evidence suggests a significant amount of export honey is sold as manuka with prices ranging from $12 a kilogram to more than $140/kg.

Alongside the global demand there is also a premium price attached to manuka honey sold in NZ. In the year ended June 30, 2017, the price of bulk light clover honey was between $10/kg and $14/kg. The price for manuka honey ranged from $10/kg to $127/kg.

While the scientific definition for manuka honey has provided confidence in the authenticity of NZ product for overseas consumers and trading partners the same level of assurance is not available for NZ domestic consumers because it is not required to be scientifically tested before being sold.

And not all honey labelled as manuka would meet the scientific definition and therefore there is a risk that consumers could buy mislabelled honey despite protection for domestic consumers under NZ legislation.

MPI also said it is highly likely manuka honey sold on the domestic market ends up overseas, either because it is bought by overseas visitors who take it home, it is bought in NZ and sent through the post or it is traded through online sales platforms.”

If such honey is tested offshore and fails to meet the scientific definition it could diminish trust in the regulatory system, it said.

“This could be seen as undermining the general assurance we give to our export markets and call into question the authenticity of our other exported products.”

Submitters have been asked to respond to a series of questions, including whether NZ consumers and businesses do not have certainty on what regulators consider constitutes manuka honey and whether they agree with the assumption about manuka honey that is sold in NZ making its way to overseas markets.

Submissions can be presented until 5pm on September 17.

A series of public meetings will also be held.

– BusinessDesk

PRECAUTION: The Primary Industries Ministry is considering stricter tests for manuka honey sold locally to stop substandard products getting to overseas markets.

IT’S noT what you grow.

IT’s who you grow.

Shearing pay rises are showing results Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz HIGHER pay rates appear to have stemmed the flow of shearers and shedhands heading offshore.

Shearing Contractors Association president Mark Barrowcliffe said a wage increase of up to 25% has been welcomed by woolhandlers and South Island contractors starting pre-lamb shearing have been told by staff the better wages are an attraction to stay here instead of heading overseas.

Earlier this year the association announced plans to increase rates by up to 25% from July 1 to address the loss of experienced staff chasing the better money offered in Australia.

“We feel it gives our employees a living wage while shearing in NZ.” “They realise the industry needs a helping hand so long as it is part of a strategic plan.”

That plan includes improving the profile of the association, lifting rates of recruitment and retention, improving training opportunities and lifting the standards of health and safety.

Further change is pending to the way woolhandlers are paid after a ruling from the Labour Inspectorate that they can no longer be treated as casual workers.

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News

12 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

Exporters watch US meat glut ABOUT 2.5 billion pounds of red meat and poultry sits in coldstorage in the United States, with total volumes remaining stable over the last three months.

Of the 1 billion pounds of red meat, beef makes up half of the volume, but stocks have reduced in the last month.

The stockpile of beef, about 200,000 tonne, reflects the phenomenal growth in US production and exports over the last year.

Higher beef export demand equates to higher cold storage stocks as beef needs to transit through cold storage prior to export.

The stockpile could have been bigger had it not been matched by very good domestic demand, AgriHQ senior analyst Mel Croad said.

While the volume so far is not thought to be a threat to the New

Zealand industry when combined with growing red meat and poultry production and now trade uncertainties, it starts to raise a red flag.

Prices received for NZ manufacturing beef are about 15% to 20% off their three-year average, which was pushed up by the big 2014-15 spike, but remain at good levels on historic comparisons.

The US volumes are massive, Beef + Lamb NZ senior agricultural analyst Ben Hancock said.

Production is continuing higher but the US summer demand has peaked, as it does every year after the July 4 Independence Day holiday, though it remains at strong levels.

He thinks the production growth might last another 18 months to two years but this season the heifer and cow kill was up about 8% on last year and the number of heifers retained as replacements slightly below

last year so there are signs supply might be near a peak.

Hancock doesn’t expect the beef glut to have a big impact on NZ even though nearly half our beef exports go there, mostly as manufacturing beef for burgers, because the next few months is a quiet time for production here.

Croad said there are a lot of variables outside the beef industry that will put pressure on prices.

Pork production in the US is also at record levels and the trade tariff row means pork destined for China is subject to a 62% tariff, bring exports to a standstill.

Unless a way round the tariffs is found, that build-up will have a negative impact on red meat and poultry prices because of the greater domestic competition.

Mexico had also imposed 20% tariff on US pork.

Beef prices have reduced over the last year to make it competitive and it remains the preferred protein in the US.

RAIN GEAR

The very strong domestic and export demand is allowing the US market to cope with the production boom and stay on an even keel.

“We need that to continue,” Croad said.

Farmgate prices are lower than last year and Croad is not as confident of the outlook through spring compared to this time last year.

The US imported 95cl (bull) price for NZ product is at US$2.08lb, down from $2.33 last year. The US imported 90cl (cow) price is US$1.94lb, down from $2.20. The US domestic 90cl beef price is $2.20 but the price gap is not enticing US end users to imported beef.

The lower kiwi dollar, now at US$0.68 from 0.74 a year ago, is offsetting some of the price fall.

“We are not directly impacted by the tariff issues but we are by the uncertainty it is causing,” she said.

Though NZ’s exposure is

reduced by the off-season for production here, there are a lot of cattle on farms to be finished in spring or early summer.

“We had a lot of cattle bought in the high store market early in the season and farmers finishing for the spring market need to be aware of these variables and the impact they could have on farmgate prices.”

In August last year, Croad talked about a wall of beef on the US market. That has occurred through this year but the impact has not been as great as initially expected because of continuing strong demand.

Overseas analysts have talked of a super demand cycle brought about by the growing affluent middle-class population in Asia.

Hancock said US demand for NZ manufacturing beef remains firmly underpinned by the need to blend our leaner product with the higher-fat, grain-fed domestic supply to provide the burgers required by consumers.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

13

US subsidies to hurt NZ trade Nigel Stirling nigel.stirling@globalhq.co.nz TRADE watchers say United States President Donald Trump’s assault on the global trading system has entered a dangerous new phase with the potential to depress prices for New Zealand’s agricultural exports.

The US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday announced a US$12 billion emergency aid programme for farmers hit hard by tariffs imposed on US farm exports in retaliation for Trump’s own tariffs.

To date Trump has hit US$36b of imports into the US from China with a 25% tariff out of a US$50b initially targeted.

Trump has asked officials to draw up a list of a further US$200b worth of imports and has said he could yet levy duties on the entire US$500b worth of goods imported from China annually.

In addition, he has hit aluminium and steel imports and recently threatened European car imports into the US on national security grounds.

Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said the aid will cover the estimated US$11b worth of damage so far to US farm incomes from retaliatory tariffs

PRICE PRESSURE: The immedate knock-on fore New Zealand exporters from United States subsidies to protect its farmers from retaliatory tarrifs is likely to be a surge of cheap feed ramping up animal protein production and thus lowering prices, the Government’s special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen says.

from China and other countries targeted.

“This is a short-term solution to allow President Trump time to work on long-term trade deals to benefit agriculture and the entire US economy.”

However, the Government’s agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen believes using subsidies to insulate US farmers from the effects of tariffs could invite other countries to do the same in response to US tariffs.

“There is no reason to suggest

that the European Union will not do the same if they see their farmers being hurt.”

Petersen said the immediate knock-on to NZ farmers would be from distortion to the US feed market that is likely now to eventuate.

Prices for soy in the US are already at a 10-year low because of Chinese tariffs and are unlikely to recover any time soon because any subsidy is likely to be production-linked with no incentive for farmers to rein in

production to allow prices to readjust higher.

“That is why I have a real concern about beef prices over the next six months because we are going to see very cheap chicken and very cheap pork as a result of cheap feed.”

Fonterra’s global stakeholder affairs director Simon Tucker said the co-operative is still scrambling for details of how the scheme will work.

It is likely the Depression-era Commodity Credit Corporation will be funded to buy targeted commodities as a means of shoring up prices to farmers.

“Prices for dairy in the US have been low recently because of too much production and if China in any way backs off buying dairy products then there is a chance that situation is going to get worse and the CCC could step in and buy cheese.”

Just what impact that would have on prices on international dairy markets is uncertain.

Tucker said the US dairy industry’s increasing export share has left it exposed to retaliation from countries unhappy at Trump’s use of tariffs against them.

“The US is a major dairy exporter and if their product is

caught up in trade barriers then as night follows day subsidies to protect their interests seem to be inevitable.”

The US is a major dairy exporter and if their product is caught up in trade barriers then as night follows day subsidies to protect their interests seem to be inevitable.

Simon Tucker Fonterra While some former US officials have already suggested the aid package could fall foul of World Trade Organisation rules former trade negotiator Tucker said it is difficult to comment until the administration releases more detail.

Petersen said even if a complaint does make it to the WTO it is arguable whether it could be ruled on because the US is refusing to ratify appointments to its appellate body.

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News

14 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

UNITED: Hurunui District Landcare Group members, from left, Mark Stevenson, Chris Bolderston, co-ordinator Josh Brown, David Fincham, James Hoban, Scott Hassell, Rob Macbeth, Sam Zino and Dan Hodgen.

Photo: Lucy Hunter-Weston

Farmers active in setting rules Sandra Taylor A WILLINGNESS to engage with regulators has enabled a group of Hurunui farmers to find compromises to environmental regulations that meet the needs of all parties – and the environment.

After nearly three years of negotiations and robust debate, the Hurunui District Landcare Group (HDLG) is pleased the Hurunui Waiau Zone Committee has voted to recommend Environment Canterbury allow dryland farming to be a permitted activity if less that 10% of the farm is in winter feed crops, with a cap of 100ha.

Cheviot sheep and beef farmer and HDLG member Mark Stevenson said the vote represents

a significant victory for the group and the region.

“It is a workable solution to the flawed 10% rule, which penalises low-emitters by preventing farmers from increasing their nutrient losses by more than 10% without a consent – and these consents were unlikely to be granted.”

HDLG is in essence an advocacy group representing 150 predominately dryland farmers from the Hurunui area and includes a small group of irrigating farmers at Cheviot.

The group is viewed by many in the sector as a template for other dryland farmers facing similar regulatory challenges in other regions.

The group, an incorporated society, formed after the now

infamous meeting of over 300 dryland farmers at Waikari in 2014 where farmers responded angrily to ECan’s 10% rule.

While ECan has acknowledged the regulation is flawed, the group has worked hard to find a solution that protects their businesses and the environment while allowing ECan to meet their statutory obligations to the Government’s National Fresh Water Policy Statement.

Stevenson said ECan is required by law to account for the nutrients in Hurunui District and by collecting objective data from its members, HDLG is a medium to help ECan do that while ensuring members don’t have to deal with ECan directly.

HDLG is not an approved collective as defined by ECan

and has no formal agreement with it but it has worked to build a relationship and, most importantly, educate the people who draft policy and plans about dryland farming in North Canterbury.

Stevenson said if the regional plan gets changed as proposed it is likely HDLG will opt to become an approved collective.

“This would be a painless transition for its members but significant in its recognition of a far more pragmatic plan.”

As an approved collective, HDLG would provide aggregated information to ECan but no individual data would be released from the collective.

Rather than complying with unworkable regulations, the group has designed a membership commitment it believes is manageable for farmers and reflective of dryland farming’s contribution to water quality.

“While dryland farming is a very small part of the problem it still contributes to water quality challenges.”

Stevenson said the group’s co-ordinator Josh Brown has been able to take ECan staff to farms and show them the environmental protection work farmers are doing as well as highlighting the climatic, topographical and economic challenges dryland farmers face.

This has been a mutually beneficial exercise and has seen a real willingness by ECan staff to understand farmers’ businesses.

HDLG members are required to have a Farm Environment Plan (FEP), which Stevenson said is not an onerous task timewise and helps demonstrate they

are responsible stewards of the land.

It also acknowledges that as dryland farmers they do affect the environment, albeit in a very small way, but by belonging to the group and abiding by its requirements shows farmers’ willingness to do their bit to protect and enhance their water quality and environment.

In return they hope to find a solution to the 10% rule that means they are no longer noncompliant, which is the case at the moment.

While dryland farming is a very small part of the problem it still contributes to water quality challenges.

Mark Stevenson Hurunui District Landcare Group Stevenson said they want certainty their businesses are legal, which is important for their long-term security.

The group aims to reach agreement that works for all parties.

“An alternative that a planning process delivered without dryland input might be far more restrictive.”

Farmers have the chance to offer alternative solutions through the zone committee process.

“Last time we weren’t involved we ended up with the 10% rule.

Getting involved has to be worth a try.”

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

15

Nitrate levels are a concern to council Tim Fulton timfulton050@gmail.com THE latest nitrate readings for Waimakariri aren’t worse than expected but forecast increases under business-as-usual management are of concern, Environment Canterbury says.

ECan is drafting measures to scale back intensive agriculture, especially dairying.

In Waimakariri nitrate cuts of 20% to 25% discussed at recent public meetings will be needed by 2030 if they are ultimately adopted.

The community and ECan’s advisory body, the Waimakariri Zone Committee, have been aware of nitrate concentrations since a report and public meetings in 2016, a spokesman said.

“However, the longer-term projected increases under the business-as-usual type management scenarios are a source of concern.”

The zone committee held public meetings in mid July to share its thinking on recommendations for managing nitrates in rivers, streams, private wells and public water supplies.

ECan groundwater science manager Carl Hanson said the highest nitrate readings were at Silverstream, a spring-fed lowland waterway and recreational area near coastal Kaiapoi. Nitrogen concentrations there were close to the national drinking water standard of 11.3mg/litre.

Since Silverstream is not a recognised source of drinking water it is more relevant to compare the reading to the 6.9mg/l bottom-line limit for nitrate toxicity in the national freshwater policy statement, Hanson said.

Waimakariri people are restless about water quality and proposed solutions to nitrate, phosphorous, silting and other environmental spoilers.

Nitrate readings were also high and increasing along with the district trend in other lowland waterways including the Cam and Cust Rivers and Ohoka Stream. Any more than 1 mg/l of nitrate in a waterway could create algal weed growth.

“It says they’re getting nitrate into them from agriculture activity up the plain. And, to be honest, they have been for some time,” Hanson said.

Some of the nitrates in Silverstream and other lowland water bodies have accumulated over many years though it appears the Silverstream concentration is more recent. Waimakariri’s singlebiggest dairy converter of land from forest to dairy in the past five years is Ngai Tahu Farming on the old Eyrewell Forest estate above Silverstream. At governance level, Ngai Tahu is a major partner in ECan’s environmental protection programmes.

Hanson said the highest nitrate concentrations recorded in the northern Waimakariri tributaries nitrate assessment were not confined to the Eyrewell Forest area.

A handful of dairy farms below Ngai Tahu’s Te Whenua Hou dairy and beef farms are just as problematic and the most southeastern farms are more likely to be running off nitrate into Silverstream. A hydrology study showed nitrate is crossing the Waimakariri River toward Christchurch and will also be affecting Kaiapoi water though knowing exactly where the flow goes is quite tricky.

ECan monitors 30 wells across the district.

Some are sampled yearly and others every three months. ECan always makes landowners aware of the reason for the sampling and that data will be publicly accessible as plots on a map.

Hanson said the council has a conservative, averaged target for nitrate of 5.65 mg/l to minimise the risk that individual wells would exceed the 11.3 mg/l drinking water safety limit, either consistently or occasionally (nitrate concentrations can spike during the later winter and spring following winter rainfall).

The 5.65 mg/l level was also sometimes used as a limit or maximum target for public water supply wells because higher frequency sampling is

required above that value and it provides a factor of safety against the 11.3 mg/l drinking water limit.

Regarding nitrate concentrations reportedly being occasionally above the limit in 40% of private wells, Hanson said that is a statistical projection based on some measured data, not a measured value per se.

Waimakariri’s nitrate levels are increasing overall but are not generally as high as neighbouring Selwyn or Ashburton Districts, Hanson said.

WORRY: Nitrate readings in the Waimakariri area are not worse than expected but continued business-as-usual management is of concern.

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News

16 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

OPPOSITE EFFECT: A rule limiting overseas investments with New Zealand landowners might result in more land being sold or investors pulling out, Crowe Horwath accountant Alistair King says.

Investment rule could backfire Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz NEW Zealand’s wine industry risks a big hit from legislation creating barriers for overseas wineries wanting to invest here, accountant Alistair King says.

The Government intends to make it more difficult to set up profit-a-prendre partnerships in which the land is owned by NZ interests, often syndicates, and the winery pays a fee for access to the grapes and grows them the way it wants for winemaking, King, a Wanaka-based Crowe Horwath partner, said.

Profit-a-prendre agreements, popular in NZ for the last seven or so years, need only to be recorded with the Overseas Investment Office. New legislation going

through Parliament requires they become subject to the full OIO approval process with the office ordered by the Government to take a much stricter line on enforcing the rules.

That would slow down and likely restrict foreign investment, King said.

Undermining arrangements that provide for NZ ownership of the land is short-sighted and would lead to significant impact on the profitability of the wine sector and other affected horticulture industries.

Profit-a-prendre is also extensively used in the forestry industry, which has been excluded from the legislative change.

The Crowe Horwath office in Wanaka has advised both domestic landowners and offshore wineries in setting up agreements.

Delegat’s record result Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz WINEMAKER Delegat Group has made a record aftertax operating profit in its latest year.

The result was based on record global sales of 2.736 million cases, a 3% lift on the previous year, the company said.

Profit for the year-ended June 30 was $44.9m, a 17% improvement.

As well as record sales the group achieved higher yields on its 2016 and 2017 vintages and had a lower cost of sales and lower financing costs.

When the full result is released in August, Delegat expects a favourable impact from fair-value estimates, including grape valuations, under international accounting rules, leading to a reported after-tax profit of $45.8m.

The company told the NZX it expects global case sales to reach 2.945m in the 2019 year, 3.168m in 2020 and 3.377m in 2021.

“New Zealanders own the land and are responsible for everything on the property except the grapes, which the wineries manage.

It is not a change of ownership. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Alistair King Crowe Horwath “It is not a change of ownership.

“It’s a win-win for everyone.

“The Government won’t say why they’re changing it and, in our view, it is a step backwards.”

The deals typically run for a

30-year or so period, covering peak production for the grapes.

The owner plants the variety the winery wants to use for winemaking.

If OIO approval is required then a winery might decide it might as well go the whole way and buy or lease the land.

Land purchase would deprive New Zealanders of the chance to invest in the project and if OIO approval was not given the development might not even happen, which would be a loss to everyone, King said.

NZ landowners are getting very good returns from their land investment, usually in the high single-digit percent, compared to average agriculture returns of 3% to 5%.

King thinks the impact on viticulture could be an unintended

consequence of Government moves to reduce foreign investment in pristine assets such as high-country stations and large tracts of land.

Horticulture and viticulture often have higher development costs, making them suitable for foreign capital.

Cloudy Bay is a long-term example of the benefits of foreign investment, being developed and owned by a leading world luxury goods and drinks group, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, he said.

It has helped the NZ sauvignon blanc story worldwide.

According to NZ Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan about 20% of the industry here is overseas-owned. The benefits are not just in the capital provided but in important distribution access overseas as well.

PGG Wrightson earnings up, profit down Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz RURAL services group PGG Wrightson expects to report operating earnings ahead of the previous year but the bottom line will be much lower.

Very strong trading in the retail and water business and the agency business, which includes livestock, has put the Ebitda figure for the year-ended June 30 at the top end of the earlier guidance of $65 million to $70m, chief executive Ian Glasson said. Ebitda in 2017 was $64.6m.

However, the after-tax profit will be well below the 2017 result, partly due to an expected charge of about $6m

on putting right historical liabilities under the Holidays Act 2003. That is now expected to be $20m, down from $46.3m.

The group employed many casual, seasonal and part-time employees and found there had been unintentional errors due to the complexity of the legislation in calculating certain employee leave entitlements, Glasson said. The review covered the last seven years and was not yet completed.

Other large employers had the same issue, he said.

The latest year also included higher depreciation covering technology investments, unrealised losses on export currency hedges, higher

interest costs and effective tax rate and would not have one-off gains to match the $8.7m gain on property sales in 2017.

Wrightson is continuing to work with investment banks on its strategic review on growth opportunities, capital and balance sheet requirements and potentially the shareholding structure and hopes to report on outcomes in coming months.

Glasson said the group’s trading result at the top end of the forecast range is very satisfying and reflects the diversified portfolio of businesses.

The annual audited result will be reported to NZX on August 14.

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18 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

News

Oxford report damns pastora included with feedlot production Health and the Environment, NEW Zealand’s grass-fed, red systems. has been published in Science meat system has been damned It was the second such report magazine and is the second recent in an academic report calling for in recent weeks to question the steps to reduce the report to suggest Government environmental impact of red meat taxes or health and environment consumption of production – or more specifically warning labels for meat. It lumps meat because of beef feedlots and intensive together feedlot and grass-fed health concerns chicken and pork finishing systems. and the impact of systems.

The Oxford study said just its production on An Otago University study 4% of all meat and 8% of beef is the environment. found the environmental impact produced from grass-fed systems The Oxford of meat production rates low and while it examined the impact University when consumers made buying of grass-fed meat production, its report Meat RMPP Action Network – Facilitator training courses decisions and its authors arguments and conclusions are Consumption, For rural professionals or farmers looking to run an Action Group under RMPP Action Network. No course fees. Register at www.actionnetwork.co.nz/training Lead Facilitator workshops • Invercargill 11 & 12 September • East Coast/Gisborne 16 & 17 October Neal Wallace farms have reduced carbon • Nelson 7 & 8 November neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz emissions 30% below 1990 Action Network Fundamentals & Extension Design levels through productivity workshops and efficiency gains.

DIETARY guidelines have • Hamilton 19 & 20 September That exceeds the 11% always stressed three• Invercargill 24 & 25 October reduction below 1990 levels quarters of food intake • East Coast/Gisborne 27 & 28 November that NZ agreed to as part should be derived from For more info contact of the Paris Agreement on plants, Beef + Lamb New info@actionnetwork.co.nz Zealand nutrition head Fiona Climate Change.

A recent B+LNZ survey Greig says.

Sunday 26/08/2018 also largely dispelled the Fruit, vegetables, Silver Secateurs Competition deforestation claim the wholegrains and pulses Venue: Yealands Estate Vineyard, Rowley Crescent, off academic papers linked perfectly complemented SH1, Blenheim, Marlborough MEAT IS GOOD: Some to red meat production, nutrient-rich animal foods Time: 8:30am – 8:00pm alternative proteins might not calculating 24% of the such as meat, dairy and fish.

Admission: Free be as nutritionally rich as red country’s total native “As sexy as it is not, that Friday 26/10/2018 – Sunday 28/10/2018 meat, Beef + Lamb New Zealand vegetation is on sheep and word (moderation) should Waikato A&P Show nutritionist Fiona Greig says. beef farms. be the mantra of all dietary Venue: Claudelands Arena, Brooklyn Road, Hamilton “It’s a beautiful thing when patterns regardless of Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm you can say the NZ sheep whether you eat animal General Admission Friday: $5.00 consisted of 20 ingredients and beef sector is focused on products or not.”

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suggested a tax on meat to discourage buyers.

The Oxford report also suggested a meat tax or labelling, as part of greater control over the industry for health, environmental and animal welfare reasons, albeit acknowledging the difficulty in implementation and likely slow changes to behaviour.

“This may include interventions that affect either the conscious, reflective decision-making systems or nonconscious,

LK0085515©

Plants must complement meat in diets Research Organisation have been looking at whether changing diets will reduce the environmental impact of food production and found no simple answer.

“In a nutshell, they highlight that the food system is a major source of environmental impact but assessing the environmental impact is complex due to the diversity of agricultural systems, the huge variances within production systems and range of foods eaten around the world.

“Of the limited evidence available, it says that in some cases recommended diets that governments endorse have a lower environmental impact.

“This means our over consumption of food energy associated with average diets including treat foods, eating more food than our bodies actually need, is likely to be the issue, not a single food.”

The solution is to determine a sustainable diet through a holistic approach rather than simply looking at meat in isolation.

News

farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

19

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TARRED: New Zealand’s low-impact, low-intensity pastoral farming has been lumped in with more intensive systems in a report critical of farming.

al red meat automatic processes.

“Potential interventions within the rational choice paradigm include labelling schemes (based on health or environmental criteria) and certification programmes (based on welfare or environmental considerations) or fiscal interventions (such as so-called fat taxes).”

Global meat consumption is growing, driven by pork and chicken, and increasing from about six million tonnes in 1960 to 30m tonnes in 2010.

Most of that has been in China, which over that period increased consumption from less than 1m tonnes to more than 8m tonnes.

Consumption in the rest of Asia, Central and South America and Africa has risen but flattened in Europe and North America.

The most substantial, direct way in which meat production affects biodiversity is through land conversion to agriculture.

Oxford University Average individual global consumption is estimated at 122 grams a day, of which a third is pork, a third chicken, a fifth beef and the rest sheep, goat and other animals.

And it is increasingly processed meat, which the authors warned creates health risks.

Meat consumption is rising as the world’s population grows and becomes more affluent and it is acknowledged meat is a good source of energy, essential nutrients including protein and micronutrients such as iron, zinc and vitamin B12.

“It is possible to obtain a sufficient intake of these nutrients without eating meat if a wide variety of other foods is available and consumed,” the authors noted.

The report also acknowledged meat production provides employment and livestock and related food product trading is a core function in many economies.

But that is outweighed by health risks and environmental factors.

It said meat production is a leading cause of humanity-induced environmental degradation through the removal of trees for pasture and crops for animal feed and degraded soil and water.

“The most substantial, direct way in which meat production affects biodiversity is through land conversion to agriculture.

“This involves both conversion of natural habitats to grassland and grazing and conversion to arable land to produce grain and soya for livestock consumption.”

It acknowledged animals grazing pasture stimulate root development, benefiting carbon sequestration, while livestock excreta promotes plant growth, fixes carbon and sustains existing and new plant growth.

But that is countered by greenhouse gas emissions from animals, indirect emissions from over-grazing and erosion and alternative potential uses for the land, including for carbon sequestration via natural plant growth or afforestation.

The authors rejected claims livestock production from grazing reduces climate change by promoting CO2 storage, saying analysis reveals benefits are highly locality specific and at a global level benefits are modest and outweighed by emissions from animals.

“Careful management of grassland systems can contribute to mitigating climate change but the net benefits are likely to be relatively modest.”

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20 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

Ag sector backs gas reductions Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz THE primary sector has put forward a harmonious position in more than 14,000 submissions on the proposed Zero Carbon Bill and New Zealand’s 2050 targets, policies and budgets.

All agricultural and horticultural bodies have supported option two for emissions reductions for long-lived greenhouse gases and stabilisation for short-lived gases like methane.

The six-week public consultation, Our Climate Our Say, began in early June and has now closed so the Ministry for the Environment can collate the responses.

Climate Change Minister and Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw said most New Zealanders are in favour of action being taken and he is impressed by the number of business and farming leaders who shared a commitment to leading the change.

DairyNZ agrees with scientific experts that if methane is stabilised at a specific level it will not cause any additional warming.

Jim van der Poel DairyNZ “People have told us they are already concerned about the damage they can see from climate change, the increase in storms and droughts and rising sea levels.

“Moving to a low-emissions economy will impact some communities more than others.

“Many people told us we will need to walk carefully through the 30-year transition.”

Shaw said there is a balance to be found between moving quickly enough to address climate change and not so quickly that parts of the economy will be put at risk.

Federated Farmers said it is important to have a road map to a low net emissions economy.

It supports a Zero Carbon Bill with reference to an emissions reduction target, emissions budgets and a Climate Change Commission.

Long-lived gases should be targeted for emissions reduction while the short-lived one are stabilised, the federation said.

But it sounded warnings about the possible impacts of net emissions targets at the expense of economic and social wellbeing.

“NZ should not lock itself into an inflexible approach that disadvantages us more than other nations,” climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard said.

“In the decades to 2050 we will also be grappling with the major cost implications of an ageing population. We must have regard for the impact various net-zero

options would have on emissions prices and on GDP, jobs and incomes.”

Agricultural exports are 64% of total merchandise exports plus several billions of dollars of food for domestic consumption.

Our unsubsidised and highly efficient agriculture sector is highly exposed to competition from moderate to highly subsidised producers in other nations.

Having worked hard to remove trade barriers it would be counterproductive for future governments to impose costs on NZ producers that would undermine those trade gains.

Potentially, the loss of food production here could be taken up by much less emissions-efficient producers overseas not facing the same costs.

“The net result of that would only worsen climate change,” Hoggard said.

Federated Farmers continues to take the position that agricultural biological emissions (methane and nitrous oxide) should not come into the Emissions Trading Scheme or other policy mechanism until costeffective mitigation technologies are available to farmers and international trading partners and competitors are tackling their agricultural biological emissions.

Finally, if those gases were included in the ETS then any revenue should be recycled back into the agriculture sector for research and on-farm initiatives to help farmers and growers reduce their net emissions.

DairyNZ supported emissions targets for 2050 with five-yearly budgets to help provide certainty for agriculture and said option two is the logical approach.

“DairyNZ agrees with scientific experts that if methane is stabilised at a specific level it will not cause any additional warming, unlike carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide which build up in the atmosphere for hundreds of years,” chairman Jim van der Poel said.

“Any decision made about which level of methane stabilisation is most achievable and appropriate will include a robust and science-based analysis by government, scientists and industry.

“DairyNZ intends to help provide scientific evidence and be fully involved in such discussions.”

The horticulture industry said it supports the concept of a Zero Carbon Bill with a 2050 target provided there are viable alternative production systems and technology developed within that timeframe.

Horticulture NZ chief executive Mike Chapman said the industry is concerned about the impacts of the various net zero options on emissions prices and on GDP, jobs, incomes and the health of New Zealanders.

Most growers are small to medium-sized businesses so extra costs could have a dramatic

CLEAR VISION: New Zealand should not lock itself into an inflexible emissions policy that will disadvantage it more than other nations, Federated Farmes climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard says.

effect on their ability to remain profitable.

It recommended NZ meet its targets by a combination of new forests and horticultural planting, including vines and shelter belts, and the use of international carbon units with strong environmental safeguards.

National’s climate change

spokesman Todd Muller said the opposition is committed to pursuing meaningful bipartisan progress but not to lead the world in responses.

“It is important that our ambition moves at a pace that doesn’t leave our communities and businesses behind.

“As the true costs of the

transition to a low-carbon economy coalesce for communities, whether that be through higher food costs, increased petrol prices or a slowing of the economy, we should not lose sight of the fact that our country makes up less than one-fifth of 1% of global emissions.”

Councils now have RMA guidelines Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz

NEW guidelines for local authorities in their administration of the Resource Management Act have received a mixed response from Federated Farmers.

The federation is in favour of best practice guidelines but disappointed not to have been consulted during drafting and believes a chance to achieve fairer outcomes was missed.

Senior policy adviser Richard Gardner, based in Auckland, said the attempt by the Ministry for the Environment to get common sense and consistency should be applauded.

The federation’s members and policy staff found too often councils are misusing their powers and managing compliance and enforcement matters inappropriately.

But there is a lack of differentiation in the guidelines between routine inspections and inspections that arise as the result of a complaint.

The handling of enforcement decisions also came in for criticism.

“We have long held the view that there should be a pecuniary penalty regime for misdemeanour and accidental offences with criminal prosecutions reserved for the worst, deliberate offences

and the current strict liability standard regarding those prosecutions removed,” Gardner said.

The responsibility for criminal prosecutions should be removed from local authorities to the Police or the Environmental Protection Authority.

The ministry’s publication, put on its website in July, is called Best practice guidelines for compliance, monitoring and enforcement under the Resource Management Act. Examples of how the guidance can be applied to council activities and templates are provided for councils to use.

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22 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

A busines born from necessity Hayley Rhind’s fashion design business started by accident when she was getting clothes made to save money. In just three years her White Chalk label has hit the milliondollar mark. She talked to Annette Scott.

M

ARLBOROUGH farmer and clothes designer Hayley Rhind has more than stamped her mark on the fashion scene.

In just three years she has created a million-dollar clothing business with her White Chalk brand now selling in more than 40 stores across the country as well through a well trafficked online shop.

The 33-year old entrepreneur, based on the sheep and beef property Beneagle, owned by Hayley and her husband Matt with family support, admits it’s all taken off a whole lot quicker than she ever imagined.

The timeless design of White Chalk is aimed at everyday women who appreciate quality, style and affordability.

But what Hayley is most proud of is that the business, co-owned with her brother Nathan and sister-in-law Ginny, is now 100% designed, manufactured and moving to grown in New Zealand.

And it all came about by chance rather than strategic planning.

Hayley and Matt grew up in Canterbury, Hayley on a market garden and Matt as a shearer’s son from Glentunnel near Darfield.

In their early days as a couple Hayley and Matt contracted to the Animal Health Board as possum monitors, a job that took them on the road.

“We just stayed in shearers’ quarters or whatever was available wherever we were.

“It was before kids, young and in love and a great way to see the country.”

Then came the opportunity for farm ownership.

We had to show some commitment and make a plan.

Matt started working on hill country stations first as a shepherd on Snowden Station in the Rakaia Gorge before stepping up the ladder to take on a stock manager’s role in North Canterbury.

At the same time new mum Hayley was working her way through an agribusiness diploma.

“I was stuck in the middle of nowhere and getting used to the restrictive life as a mother. I did it by correspondence.”

When the right property came up almost four years ago the couple bought Beneagle, a hill country property just out of Blenheim.

“With a big mortgage and a farm to develop we couldn’t afford

to employ anyone.

“I was the boy on the farm. Well, that was the plan,” she said.

But Hayley couldn’t afford to buy clothes.

That’s when White Chalk quickly evolved from a passion project with clothing literally designed on the 1000-hectare farm turning into a booming business venture.

“After we bought the farm I couldn’t afford to buy clothes so I started designing my own patterns and had Ginny, who was living in Vietnam at the time, produce them for me.

“When they arrived it was like Christmas and I really liked what we had done.

“When our friends started asking if they could buy our pieces we realised we were on to a good thing.”

Hayley and Ginny decided they made a seamless fashion and business team and are now co-owners of White Chalk, a name that really just came from nowhere.

“It was the first name I came up.

We discussed a lot of others but kept coming back to White Chalk, so it stuck.”

Keeping it in the family, Nathan is now in the business as overseer of production and all things technical.

“Matt has been given a couple of jobs but he mucked them both up, on purpose I suspect.”

He was sent back out on the farm.

“And he really is quite happy about that.”

White Chalk quality is second to none with Hayley’s creative space including inspiration from textures of native NZ allowing for perfect balance of colours, great fabrics and, ultimately, comfort.

She designs for women who believe style and comfort are equal when it comes to fashion and her motivation comes from women all over NZ who embrace the everyday.

“I am designing for someone just like me who doesn’t dress in heels and wear make-up everyday but who appreciates nice clothes and not what everyone else is wearing.”

Limited numbers of each design are made so there’s no fear of looking like Mary, Mavis and Martha down the road.

The real focus on marketing is aimed at rural communities.

“And it’s working fantastic.”

Since moving production to NZ in August last year all White Chalk

IN THE SWING: The timing for the business wasn’t great but Marlborough farmers Hayley and Matt Rhind have each found their place in fashion and farming.

garments are now made just down the road in Blenheim where the business employs four staff looking after an office, retail store and busy mail order service.

After we bought the farm I couldn’t afford to buy clothes so I started designing my own patterns.

Hayley Rhind “We made the decision to move our production to NZ when we realised that many kiwi businesses were closing down due to clothing manufacturing going offshore and this just didn’t sit well with us.

“We also believe that when you are paying designer prices you deserve to get great quality – this

is guaranteed with NZ Made.”

The Kiwi fashion brand launched its winter 2018 collection with a new tag.

“We are not only made in NZ we are also grown in NZ, using NZ Merino in our garments either 100% or as a cotton blend and have been amazed at the NZ Made support.

“That’s been an exciting addition.”

But it will be even more exciting when Hayley and Matt can use their own Merino wool.

Beneagle runs Angus and South Devon cattle and halfbred ewes are the key capital stock with Merinos more recently introduced as Hayley and Matt look forward to the day when they can use their own wool for White Chalk.

“We started the Merinos and we are doing our homework but it’s proving a lot harder than we thought it would be but hopefully we will get to that. Until then we will keep buying NZ Merino.”

Meantime, Hayley is no longer the boy on the farm.

“We have employed a real boy now and that’s good for Matt as he’s still got a lot of work to do developing the farm with a water system, new fencing and tracks and he’s doing it all himself.”

Millie, 7, and Jed, 3, also keep mum and dad on their toes.

“We did have this romantic idea where we thought taking the kids out in backpacks when they were young would be easy but not on a hill farm so with the business and kids I have been a little less hands-on with the farm than planned.

“It’s been hard. It’s had its challenges.

“We came onto the farm in a drought year, had a second drought year, a big mortgage and a baby.

“The timing for the business wasn’t ideal but we have had three good years with that and we have had a great couple of years with rain on the farm – so really, it’s all good now and I hope that soon I will be out on the farm more.”

New thinking

THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

23

Death of the chemical farmer Horticulturalists gathered in Christchurch last week to discuss the future as the age of chemical warfare on pests, weeds and diseases draws to a close and gives way to bio-protection and new methods as simple as physical barriers. Annette Scott was there to hear about what’s in store and why New Zealand is lagging.

P

RACTICES in agriculture and horticulture are increasingly being challenged for their lack of true sustainability.

At the Horticulture New Zealand conference the post-pesticide age was considered in a panel discussion aimed at kick-starting new thought processes for nextgeneration bio-protection in a volatile horticulture era.

Headed by Lincoln University ecology professor Dr Steve Wratten, a top global researcher on biological pest control, the panel included Foundation for Arable Research chief executive and applied plant scientist Alison Stewart, Charles Merfield of the Future Farming Centre and Robbie McCormick, technical manager for Hawke’s Bay-based Mr Apple.

The high use of damaging inputs and misuse of oil-derived products and water were key issues around the industry’s challenges, Wratten said.

The tools are getting rusty and the physics, biology and ecology toolboxes are having new tools added at an exponential rate.

Charles Merfield Future Farming Centre Frequent pest, weed and disease invasions compound those problems, often mitigated mainly by prophylactic pesticides.

Wratten outlined the futurefarming system driven by next generation bio-protection where, in terms of biologicals, NZ is miles behind the rest of the world.

“We have got to accept that whatever we do there’s no silver bullet.

“It will be a journey of hard work but a journey we have got to take.

“So how are we are going to cope in the post-pesticide era and what is bio-protection?”

It is an industry-funded centre focused on research to find natural and sustainable solutions for controlling plant pests, weeds and diseases in NZ. The aim is to develop sustainable pest management solutions that will help NZ’s plant-based primary production to flourish while maintaining a pristine natural environment.

“It’s about harnessing the power of thriving things to manage pests, weeds and diseases – giving nature a helping hand.”

It’s as simple as shelter, nectar,

pollen and prey – SNAP. “If we have shelter we will have the insects and the bees and the wasps and the ladybugs and with the food they will survive to be the alternative prey for the invasion of new pests and weeds.

“Why do we have increasing incursion problems? Because we haven’t looked after our natural prey.”

Vineyards have put SNAP to work, planting 100-metre strips of buckwheat and phacelia between rows of grapes, growing and flowering to look after the natural prey and cut down the use of pesticides.

“Every 10 rows at $3-$5 worth of seed for 100m, it’s inexpensive, it’s environmentally friendly and its nature’s service to plants.

“While harvesting the services of nature can be a complicated story there are very strong marketing reasons that will bring true tangible benefits.

“We just have to do it. Feed the bees and the ladybugs and improve the health of plants,” Wratten said.

“The armoury we have as scientists is amazing in what we as scientists can offer to you as growers.”

In a snapshot of biopesticides for the horticulture industry Stewart said it’s about global food security, climate change protection, environmental pollution and sustainable ecosystem services.

She acknowledged the whole biological crop space is very confusing, wide and diverse with lots of terminology.

Stewart has successfully developed and commercialised a number of biopesticide technologies for the horticulture, arable and nursey sectors in NZ and the United States.

“Biopesticides are in a growth phase.

“Their value comes in yield and quality benefits, crop performance, no residues, pest resistance and perception of being better for your health.

“They are an added component to the toolbox,” Stewart said.

The US has 350 registered biopesticides, NZ has 14 biofungicides and 14 bioinsecticides, mostly used in highvalue horticulture crops.

Some of them were developed in NZ and some brought from overseas.

“We have to support the home development of biopesticide products because some crops are unique to NZ so we need to support local research and development, but at the same time we can also look at the 350 US products and see what we can utilise there into NZ as well.”

Then growers will need a lot more knowledge about how to use the products.

NEW TOOLS: Farmers will have to cope in a post-pesticide era but scientists have an amazing armoury to offer growers, Lincoln University ecology professor Dr Steve Wratten says.

Photo: Annette Scott

“We will get better results from giving the advice and demonstration trials at field days to upskill growers.

“It’s going to take a lot of time and lot of resources and the sooner we get started the sooner we will see results,” Stewart said.

Merfield has worked on both sides of the science-farming fence, starting as an organic vegetable grower in Britain and NZ before joining academia in the mid 1990s.

More focused on the physics around machinery and system design he went left field in his presentation to growers with mesh crop covers as a physical barrier to pests.

“It’s run-of-the-mill, standard practice in places across Europe and Israel and gives almost complete control.

“We have had significant

increases in potato yields with gross margin at the farmgate up 70% because of the physical barrier and not even a sniff of chemicals.”

Merfield said the chemical tool box is shrinking.

“The tools are getting rusty and the physics, biology and ecology toolboxes are having new tools added at an exponential rate.

“You need to pick these up and run with them as soon as possible.”

The practical control of coddling moth at Mr Apple orchards is proving a huge success, McCormick said.

Mr Apple has been working on trial control programmes using imported sterile moths, releasing 22,000 moths by drone over a 10 hectare area in 10 minutes.

“It’s all about mating disruption

and we have achieved 98% reduction in wild coddling moth on one large orchard.

“While we have tried various ways of releasing the moths, going from the pushbike to the drone has proven more practical and effective.”

McCormick is keen to see regional and industry conversation around such practical control measures.

“This will be a key tool as we get into high-value market unrestricted access.”

He hopes the practical control will achieve zero tolerance.

“It’s what we are aiming for and we are into year four now.

Hopefully another year of investment in this area will get down to nil.”

The challenge ahead is reducing the risk posed by wild apple trees, McCormick said.

Opinion

24 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

EDITORIAL

Dimiss reports as irrelevant

I

T WOULD be easy to label as largely irrelevant two academic reports questioning the environmental and health impacts of red meat production and diets. And as far as those reports relate to New Zealand’s pasture-based system, they are.

Oxford University’s report Meat Consumption, Health and the Environment, repeats the short-comings of a recent Otago University study by lumping our grassfed red meat production system with the feedlot finishing of beef and, perhaps even more galling, the intensive production of chicken and pork.

The studies argue the production of meat and diets high in meat result in environmental degradation as forests are cleared for pasture and crops to feed stock, soil erodes and water is polluted. But the rigour of the two reports and relevance to NZ can justifiably be questioned as neither gives the sheep and beef sector credit for reducing carbon emissions to below 1990 levels, that 24% of NZ’s total native vegetation is on sheep and beef farms and we rarely use feedlots to finish stock.

Backers of artificial protein also disparagingly refer to feedlots to support their products, by association lumping in NZ’s pasture-based system. That is not to say our system has no impact on the environment but the academics’ arguments and conclusions create a misleading and potentially damaging impression of NZ red meat production.

Obviously, a diet too heavy in meat can cause health issues but promotion from meat industry bodies and nutrition guidelines depict balanced dishes of plant-based animal protein. This constant undermining of our sector’s credibility must be arrested and Beef + Lamb NZ’s Taste Pure Nature red meat story and origin brand could be the vehicle to correct this misinformation.

Academia appears to have taken a disappointingly narrow approach to the topic, one that glosses over the survival and wellbeing of tens of thousands of families and their communities who rely on the NZ meat industry for their livelihoods. These reports show we are falling behind in telling our story to more of the world. We need to act now.

Neal Wallace

LETTERS

Murky waters obscure numbers I WAS never very good at maths at high school, calculus had me flummoxed and algebra completely confused me.

I wasn’t too bad at subtraction, however, or was that abstraction.

Never mind, I did work out that when you took a number of figures away from a larger number you were left with a considerable amount less, a revelation that has been conveniently forgotten by your correspondent Alan Emerson in last week’s (July 23) edition column regarding a recent water abstraction decision.

You see, it’s not just 10 cubic metres from the river is it? In fact, it is 65 cubic metres taken (cumulative effect of existing RDR and RSL schemes) when the flow is at 146 cubic metres and with the addition of close to river bores on the island its about 76 cubic metres of river water that eventually makes it way to the sea. Oh, and remember it’s dirty at

that flow. So there is a bit of mathematical magic for you to ponder, 146 cubic metres becomes 76 cubic metres.

If your readers have the view anglers are anti farming, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, we want to preserve a recreational flow in rivers for existing and subsequent generations to enjoy but at the rate at which they are being degraded one worries what the outcome might be for the future of any freshwater activities and I wonder how future generations might view this extraction-at-any-cost culture.

Luckily, this country is made up of many individuals and groups who are not so oneeyed as your correspondent and are prepared to stand up for the protection of the very environment your readers have had the privilege to work in. Getting back to the 10 cubic metres that sparked the debate, I suggest that if

your correspondent was to accidently trip and fall into that amount of water he might very well struggle to get out.

Phil deJoux South Canterbury Salmon Anglers Assn

Keep it pure NEW Zealand breeders are importing bulls with very high intramuscular fat and are forgetting other important features such as eye muscle area, rib and rump fat necessary for hill-country survival, calving ease and growth, less mature cow weight, scrotal size, gestation length and days to calving.

A strong head and jaw is needed to compete with sheep on our hill country and, most of all, soundness with good legs and feet, constitution plus meat.

These bottle-jaw things coming out of the United States can’t compete in our

conditions and are bred on flat country or in feed lots so know nothing about fossicking for food.

At the Gisborne sales record prices were set for the country and they were not high in intramuscular fat but the breeders still received the silver and bronze medals in the Steak of Origin contest out of 266 entries.

First prize was also pure NZ breeding from Northland.

If the animal doesn’t make it to slaughter as prime beef, what have you gained?

If you want to cross breeds, do so, but the Americans have not been honest in what they have done with the Angus breed, eg white tails, white socks, white underbelly from brisket to testicles, even a white star on the forehead has been popping up.

Let’s keep Angus pure.

Malcolm Crawford Waikato

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Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

25

‘Factory farm’ is a nuclear bomb Andrew Luddington

L

ETTER writer Richard Alspach and columnist Alan Emerson made a fascinating parallel last week between perception and facts.

Both can be distorted for purpose but perception, or to use the Americana version of the word, optics, can have a greater influence than shouting “look at the facts”.

There is no doubt that agriculture New Zealand relies on our optics for a great proportion of our sales.

The image of a green, clean, beautiful wilderness, 100% pure if you like, sells our milk, our manuka, our wine, our kiwifruit and everything.

So what will the optics be like when a massive milk factory farm in the Mackenzie country begins to crank its colossal gears?

Well, the answer is bloody awful.

Let’s look at the facts first.

When a cropping farmer on good, deep soil adds irrigation he might need to apply half as much water again over what his farm receives in rain. Say at 900mm annual rainfall he will need to artificially apply 450mm.

A dairy farmer on the same ground, I would hazard a guess, will need a little more, say 600mm.

Now, in the hard, stony, shallow, sun-baked, wind-blown, high-country desert that is the Mackenzie, these figures will leap to a multiplier of many times.

And this fact becomes a very bad look indeed.

The public will see massive machines trundling around spraying newly created, virulent, unnatural green desert in stupidly unsuitable weather conditions spraying the highways, their cars and even themselves with water.

A finite supply of the most precious commodity on the planet gone to waste.

The optics are terrible.

Furthermore, we have seen that a really good wind can turn all those kilometres of centre pivot into what will look like the aftermath of a Terminator battle.

The

Pulpit

A rather expensive and stupid look.

And in the exposed Mackenzie country it can be very windy indeed.

Emerson once wrote on these pages “who cares about a few slightly impure waterways”.

Well I do and I am not the only one.

It would follow then that Emerson would not care what happens to a few rare black stilts that happen to be in the area.

Well I do, and I am not the only one.

The human juggernaut expands and expands, polluting earth, sea and air on an unprecedented scale in the history of the world.

We are creating a mass extinction event that is undeniably occurring under our very own feet.

It is said that Fonterra is not supporting this massive development in the Mackenzie.

Emerson tells us Fonterra is not qualified to make the call.

Sorry, but that is the biggest factual stuff-up I have ever read from you 52 times a year for some 10 years now.

Fonterra is not supporting this development because it knows the optics are appalling.

The old adage, if you kick mother nature out of your door she will just waltz right back in with a pitch fork is very true.

This development is so far removed from nature that nature

is most likely to turn around and destroy it.

Emerson tells us we have brought in hieracium and rabbits that have cost the pre-human Mackenzie country dearly and that is true.

But let’s call hieracium the sword, the rabbits a machine gun.

What will that make this massive milk factory? A nuclear bomb?

Emerson then goes on to rather childishly suggest that if Greenpeace wants to stop developments such as this occurring in such sensitive areas then it should buy the land.

A good idea. Greenpeace have got it right. We farmers need them like Trump needs opposition.

I intend to make them a donation to help them achieve that goal because the optics of this farm going ahead are so bad it will bring deleterious effects upon all of us.

Your View Got a view on some aspect of farming you would like to get across?

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NO GO: Canterbury farmer Andrew Luddington supports Greenpeace’s opposition to the development of a dairy farm in the Mackenzie Basin.

ANTI: Greenpeace protestors at the site of the Mackenzie Basin dairy farm. Several were arrested.

Opinion

26 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

Expensive toys are unnecessary Alternative View

Alan Emerson

I CAN remember being told that 60 years ago at the height of the Cold War that good old New Zealand was under threat from China and from Russia, the Red Bear.

My family, being the civicminded people they were, immediately dug a fallout shelter that could also be used as a defensive position to repel invaders.

They also oiled up a couple of trusty .303 rifles with boxes of ammo.

They obviously haven’t been used yet but they’re still there, waiting for the day.

Actually, India and Indonesia were also considered threats back then but neither has stepped up to the plate and invaded.

Then in the 1970s the then Labour government invited China to establish an embassy here, which it happily did.

That move encouraged antiChinese hysteria led by the then National Party leader, one R D Muldoon, who told us in great and graphic detail of the massive threat from China. He was apoplectic feeling that an embassy here was the thin edge of the wedge, the beginning of the end.

Now it seems we’re regressing back to those times with the Minister of Defence and NZ First

MP Ron Mark telling us about the threat to our sovereignty posed by China.

He talked about the threat China and Russia pose to the international community.

There is a threat to world order and China is responsible.

Being a simple country boy I’d have thought that if there was any threat to world order it would have to come from the United States.

China didn’t initiate a trade war or cause NATO to virtually implode. America did.

The world order threat is compounded by President Trump wondering why he can’t just invade Venezuela.

We’re told that not only can we locate submarines with these new, gold-plated planes but we have the ability to drop bombs on them.

I haven’t heard anything like that from either China or Russia.

The reality is the hand of friendship we extended to China in the 1970s has been pivotal in NZ’s economic wellbeing.

Our trade with China has almost trebled in just the last 10 years. That’s what’s important.

Back in 2007 our trade with that country was a healthy $8.2 billion.

In the June 2016 year that figure became $23b.

That gives me 23 billion reasons to be nice to China.

China is unimpressed with

our position on any possible threat it might pose to us and I don’t believe there is one. It has registered its displeasure at our hard line against it.

We’re about to update our Free Trade Agreement with China, a negotiation vital to every man, woman and child in NZ, which begs the question as to why we’re going out to annoy them with trite, pointless, out-of-date, sabrerattling rhetoric.

Hard on the heels of that stupidity came a further idiocy – we’re going to spend $2.3b on new submarine surveillance aircraft.

My view, simply stated, is that we need those means of transport a little like a fish needs a bicycle.

We’re told that not only can we locate submarines with these new, gold-plated planes but we have the ability to drop bombs on them.

Is anyone honestly suggesting we ever would?

We are told about the search and rescue capability. That’s fine but that uses only about 10% of the planes’ time and you don’t need a $2.3b vehicle for search and rescue.

Another 25% will be used for fisheries surveillance, which, I agree, is important but, again, you don’t need a $2.3b toy for that.

Half the time will be spent offshore with tasks like patrolling the Straits of Hormuz. I’m unaware of any constructive dialogue about why we need to be there. It isn’t one of our main trading routes.

So, other than a pack of shinyarsed Wellington Mandarins convincing a gullible minister they need new toys the harsh reality is we don’t for two simple reasons.

The first is the money could

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Defence Minister Ron Mark is taking New Zealand back to the bad old days.

be better spent elsewhere. The nurses and the health system could do with an injection and our research and development spend, the investment that helps shape our future, is abysmal.

The second and most important reason is that our real and present threat isn’t from China or Russia, it is from biosecurity incursions.

We should know, we’ve had a lot including myrtle rust, Mycoplasma bovis, potato and tomato psyllid and there’s stink bug and fruit fly not to mention the dreaded foot and mouth that is always a major threat.

Agriculture Minister Damien

O’Connor is to be congratulated for putting biosecurity back as an accountable standalone organisation and increasing the biosecurity budget from $184 million in 2012 to $383m this year.

That is $383,000,000 invested in NZ’s future well-being. It is pivotal for our prosperity both now and in the future.

Spending $2.3b on toys for the boys over a perceived threat from China and Russia isn’t.

Your View Alan Emerson is a semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath-emerson@wizbiz.net.nz

Unintended consequences hit rural United States From the Ridge

Steve Wyn-Harris

I KNOW most of those who live in rural New Zealand understand what a connected world we live in.

We have had several decades of being buffeted directly by world events with no protectionism to shelter behind. However, others are not so savvy.

We are exporters of top-quality meats to consumers all around the world and not only compete with the same meat against local framers but also others wanting to trade into that market.

And, of course, we compete against different meats and proteins.

Which is why I’ve been keeping an eye on the trade wars resulting from a dramatic change in White House policy.

A mate said to me the other day we have nothing to fear from trade wars as we aren’t the target.

I replied it doesn’t matter if we aren’t in the sights, we might well end up as collateral damage all the same.

We are a nation that has spent 30 years preaching on the world stage that free trade is good for all – certainly, for us, as a country that exports far more food and fibre than we consume ourselves. But it’s good for others as well so different countries can produce the goods they have a comparative advantage in producing.

Now, suddenly, we find ourselves facing trade wars in all directions. How did this happen?

Well our old mate Donald Trump decided those in the rust belt who elected him need

protecting so to try to get the United States automobile industry back on it’s feet he implemented tariffs on Chinese, Canadian and Mexican steel among others.

United States farmers might have helped elect Trump but they are not happy.

Obviously, they weren’t going to take that sitting down and retaliated right where it hurt the most, which is rural America and the rust belt and put tariffs on things like pork and soy.

Unsurprisingly, US pork quickly becomes uncompetitive in those places so other countries fill the vacuum and pork inventories begin to build up in America.

Those soybeans I mentioned,

what about them? Well 60% of the US’s $20 billion exports to China are soybeans and the new Chinese tariffs mean shipments will decline about $4.5b.

That makes the Brazilians very happy as they fill the void. They have just harvested a bumper crop and the Americans have the largest area planted on record.

What are they going to do with this huge surplus of soy when it is harvested?

Well, you can feed it to pigs and cattle, I suppose, but now you are going to have a whole lot more pork you can’t export economically because of the tariffs so to get the domestic consumer to chew their way through vast volumes it will have to go down in price. The customers will then decide pork is such a bargain the nice beef fillet and lamb rack can stay on the supermarket shelf.

At this very moment, inventories of meat are rapidly

building up in US storage.

There are 1.1 billion kilograms of beef, pork, poultry and turkey sitting in coldstores – near record levels. They are running out of storage room.

This is leading to falling prices and the futures markets indicate more to come.

That must affect our own exports but by how much, time will tell.

US farmers might have helped elect Trump but they are not happy.

The Trump administration is now talking about spending billions to compensate farmers for tariff-driven price declines.

Maybe they are finally now learning about unintended consequences.

Your View Steve Wyn-Harris is a Central Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer. swyn@xtra.co.nz

Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

27

M bovis tests face challenges Keith Woodford

BULK milk testing of all New Zealand milk for Mycoplasma bovis is about to begin with three tests of every herd.

However, that will be only from cows that are healthy, unless a farmer has failed to identify a sick cow, because sick cows are given antibiotics and their milk does not go into the vat.

Milk companies have routine tests for antibiotics in milk and farmer penalties for any mistakes are very high.

So, farmers are always diligent in keeping that milk separate.

This milk is either fed to calves or, increasingly, tipped into the effluent system.

The Primary Industries Ministry decision not to test the hospitalherd milk for M bovis is an interesting one.

It would be more logistically difficult than testing the bulk milk, requiring the support of every farmer, and not just the processing companies.

But what this non-testing of sick-cow milk means is the spring testing regime is essentially for sub-clinical cases where a cow is shedding the organism despite being healthy. The problem here is that most sub-clinical cases do not shed and if they do it is only sporadic.

It seems MPI will be testing the bulk milk in two ways.

One will be the standard method called PCR, which searches for both dead and alive DNA from the M bovis organism.

A positive result can be taken as confirmation there is at least one infected animal in a herd. A

negative result simply means no animal is shedding.

The chances an animal will shed the organism increase markedly if that animal is stressed. Calving is one such stress event, particularly in NZ where metabolic conditions often arise at calving related to feed and weather stress occurs at the same time.

Given the spread-out nature of calving over 12 weeks, if a herd has a high percentage of healthy animals that are sporadically shedding there is a reasonable chance a PCR positive result will be found by one or more of the three PCR tests. But if there is only a small proportion of the herd that is infected then it could be hit and miss.

MPI already has some experience of PCR testing from bulk-milk testing last autumn. It found positives in only three herds and in at least two of them it was autumn-calving cows. So, that gives some support to the notion the spring testing, when there is much more calving occurring, might be successful.

One caveat concerning the likelihood of success is the positive PCR tests found last autumn were in herds already under intensive M bovis surveillance for other reasons.

And it took many negative tests before a positive was found. This intensity of testing across all herds is not logistically feasible.

It seems MPI also plans to test the bulk milk using what are called ELISA methods to search for antibodies to M bovis. This type of testing has previously been done on individual cows using blood samples but not at the herd level using bulk milk.

Measuring antibodies in the bulk milk raises multiple challenges. The first issue is that the level of antibodies is likely to be highest in colostrum but colostrum does not go into the bulk-milk vat. The second issue is the ELISA tests often pick up

false positives from Mycoplasma organisms other than Mycoplasma bovis. Therefore, some false positives will almost certainly be found.

The next challenge with the ELISA tests is to decide what level of positives is required before a herd can be considered positive.

This has also been an issue with ELISA testing of individual cows where MPI has had to use arbitrary cutoffs as to the percentage of cows that can be positive before warning bells ring.

When testing individual animals it seems 5% and 7% cutoff levels have been used but, either way, it is arbitrary.

This Mycoplasma bovis is a real tricky little devil that arrives like a stealth bomber with superb anti-radar jamming devices.

With bulk-milk testing, making those judgements becomes even more challenging with no prior scientific validation to provide guidelines.

As I have said many times before, this M bovis is a real tricky little devil that arrives like a stealth bomber with superb anti-radar jamming devices. This means that at best the ELISA test can provide warning bells.

The big-picture conclusion from all of the above is spring testing will be likely to confirm whether M bovis is endemic across many breeding herds. But none of us think it is endemic across a large proportion of herds. The problem is that if eradication is to be successful we have to find it in every herd where it exists, not just the majority.

Accordingly, what the spring testing cannot achieve is a conclusion that we have defeated

NO CHANCE: Colostrum milk provides the best chance of detecting Mycoplasma bovis but it doesn’t go into the bulk milk vat so won’t be tested.

the little devil. That is why the Technical Advisory Group advised this is going to be an eight to 10year battle before success can be claimed. Of course, defeat might come much sooner.

Hopefully, MPI will also prioritise particular herds at highest risk. The infected herds to date have been primarily those with imported Holstein-Friesian bloodlines. That is not because those cows are naturally more susceptible but simply because it seems that is where the stealth bomber arrived. From there the organism has transferred to similar herds through sales of progeny.

Based on one particular disease outbreak in 2014, which is very suspicious for M bovis, I can identify about 10 farms that seem to have been at particular risk of infection through animal transfer. Those farms need to be investigated very thoroughly but to date that has not occurred.

If they are positive, the forward traces will fan out from there.

Unfortunately, there is another group of between 70 and 100 heifers I regard as being particularly susceptible but no-one knows where they ended up. These animals are high-risk because their bull-calf brothers are confirmed positive on two properties. However, there is a good chance they could be traced with a diligent investigation though it seems they probably

went to multiple properties.

The other big challenge in all of this is the logistics at MPI. As any military officer knows, you have to build the army before going into battle. With M bovis that has not been possible.

The stakeholder reports from MPI indicate it is doing about 3200 laboratory tests a week and there is a backlog of about four to five weeks between collection and testing. I am also aware of parties being advised they are a forwardtrace property more than four months ago but are still to see the testers turn up.

The number of notices of direction properties with movement controls has been declining in recent weeks but MPI has provided no interpretation of what is happening. Given testing can only be indicative it is likely the decline reflects an easing of criteria. It cannot be an all-clear-with-certainty. We must remember a test result of ND means not detected.

Unfortunately, it does not mean all clear.

Your View Keith Woodford was Professor of farm management and agribusiness at Lincoln University for 15 years to 2015. He is now principal consultant at AgriFood Systems. He can be contacted at kbwoodford@gmail.com

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On Farm Story

28 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

More profit with lower impact The low milk price in 2013 was not the ideal time for a multimillion dollar dairy conversion let alone one writing its own blueprint. But, as Neal Wallace reports, North Otago’s John and Ruby Foley had a vision and a goal and they were determined to see it through.

T

HERE was no single dairy farm blueprint for John and Ruby Foley to follow.

They had just a wish list underpinned by a philosophy that the value of the business had to be set by the enterprise not the cost of land.

In the back of the minds of the North Otago dairy farmers was the increased difficulty for young people to enter the industry because of the cost of land.

Having previously invested in two traditional dairy farms they wanted a business that did not require vast areas of land but an enterprise generating enough income to fund the purchase.

Their solution was to develop Gleniffer, a farm near Tokorahi, as a hybrid dairy farm focused on efficiency throughout the supply chain.

It uses two Herd Homes to support pasture grazing backed by extensive monitoring of the feed eaten, feed bought-in, waste and the volume and quality of milk produced each day.

“The value of Gleniffer is in the enterprise, not the land,” John Foley said.

Through their company Glenmoa Farms the Foleys milk 420 cows averaging 750kg MS a cow at an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of $4.60 a kg MS a cow.

Last season they produced

315,000kg MS off 180ha at a stocking rate of 2.3 cows a productive hectare. The farm was split between 117ha used for feed production and the remaining 53ha for cow grazing.

“To get the production that we have achieved we would need a 227ha traditional pasture system, operating under average-efficient conditions and milking 820 cows,” he said.

The key was a relentless focus on efficient milk production by controlling costs, monitoring inputs, ensuring cows were efficiently converting feed and maximising milk produced.

“We’ve dropped our cost curve,” he said.

Four staff, including John and Ruby, were employed, at a staffing rate of one person to about 100 cows or 75,000kg of MS produced, compared to the NZ average of one to 140 cows or 54,000kg of MS produced.

They run 133 cows per 100,000kg MS compared to the NZ average of 260 cows per 100,000kg MS. Supplements harvested off Gleniffer – grass silage, fodder beet and cereal crops – provide 75% of their needs.

The weight of all supplements used were recorded on a weigh bridge so the Foleys knew exactly what was used.

Bought-in feed included high protein products and some concentrates but the exact recipes were secret, their intellectual property.

“It’s where we make our money,” he said.

The skills they learned when cropping proved useful, especially monitoring, mixing and buying grain and feed and reinforcing the importance of timing and

COVERED: Two herd homes are central to the Foley’s hybrid farming system.

CONTENTED COWS: The Gleniffer Farm winter milking herd out of the elements during a cold North Otago winter’s day.

Photos: Neal Wallace

tasks such as annual soil testing of paddocks.

At 5pm each day Oceania Dairy texts him a milk quality report on that day’s consignment.

Subtle changes can then be made to the feed mix to ensure the milk qualifies for premiums paid for meeting specific composition targets.

The value of Gleniffer is in the enterprise, not the land.

Their milk price, including a winter premium and milk composition premium, is $7.74/ kg MS and so exact is their farm system, in a perfect week production varies only 3kg MS a day.

“Every day the cost of the feed

we feed to our cows is put into a computer and at the end of the day we know our milk volume and our margins.”

When they established Glenmoa Farms in 2013 it was a green field site, which Foley said was vital to get the optimum layout of infrastructure.

That planning also had to meet several criteria.

The average efficient farm produces 384kg MS a cow. They wanted to double that.

They also wanted to ensure nitrogen leaching was well within Otago Regional Council limits and the enterprise was environmentally sustainable.

“Environmentally, it has to be sustainable. Animal health-wise we want to treat the cows the best we can.”

Their eventual hybrid system is based on what they learnt and liked from viewing other businesses and one of the most important components is an exceptional herd of cows, the result of 70 years of breeding, they bought from Taranaki.

“It was probably one of the best decisions we ever made,” he said.

Two further requirements for their stock were that cows should not have to walk far and not muddy gateways or trample over grazed areas.

As a result, lameness and sore feet are not an issue while the installation of four gates in each paddock gives the cows a fresh daily entry and exit from subdivided paddocks.

The Foleys milk all year-round with the main calvings in August and January and a smaller drop in March.

Cows are on pasture for 14 hours a day and inside for eight, except if the weather is extremely wet, cold or hot when they can be kept inside to protect the pastures and for comfort.

For the balance of the time they are being milked.

At 2.30am paddock gates

automatically open and the cows wander at their own pace to the Herd Home where feed is provided from 3.30am.

Cameras provide security but also an alert if the cows are late arriving.

Milking starts at 4.30am after which the cows return to the paddock before the process is repeated at 11am, with feed provided at the Herd Home ahead of milking at 2.30pm.

Foley describes the hybrid system as de-intensification.

Compared to a conventional system, Gleniffer is driven by fewer but more efficient cows, making best use of inputs to produce more milk while requiring fewer staff.

His replacement rate is 18%. He has cows in their tenth lactation and each cow is weighed daily and production is recorded, a key indicator of individual animal health.

The average cow weighs 625kg to 650kg and total milksolids produced is 115% of live weight.

Foley said feed use is high because of its quality.

The winter herd is fed 240 tonnes of supplement a month with waste less than 500kg.

This utilisation was attributed to the Foleys doing their own harvesting, which allows crops to be cut when they are at their optimum.

Foley said the degree of animal monitoring such as daily weighing and milk production quickly reveal any issues such as Mycoplasma bovis.

And his milk production curve is flat so any sudden reduction gives another warning of possible health issues.

“If something changes, we know about it.”

Even with that early warning system the Foleys have tightened the farm’s biosecurity by closing the herd and leased the farm where they graze and grow out heifers and dairy-beef cross

On Farm Story

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

29

THE BRAINS: Innovative dairy farmers, from left, Gleniffer Farm manager Jason Angland and property owners Ruby and John Foley.

calves rather than contracting the grazing.

“We’ve completely shut our place down. We’ve really closed the door.”

A new venture, 2ha of apples, will create a further biosecurity boarder with the trees planted around the boundary and the fruit to be fed to the cows.

The hybrid system allows about 80% of cow effluent to be captured in bunkers and holding tanks.

Urine is mixed with shed-wash water and filtered twice before being stored in a large tank and irrigated over cropping and silage paddocks.

A 20mm effluent application is equivalent to 63kg of nitrogen a hectare and has halved the volume of bagged urea they apply.

Solid waste is collected under the Herd Homes and applied to pasture paddocks.

An unexpected benefit is that when applied during winter, the solid effluent forms an insulating layer over the grass, protecting it from frost and helping it come away early in spring.

Their stewardship of their farm and environment has twice been recognised by the North Otago Irrigation Company environmental awards, reflecting the high standard of their management.

Foley is investigating a new venture drying and selling the cow effluent as compost.

A minor issue has been the one to two cows a year that do not adjust to living in close proximity to other cows.

Conversely, they have identified 67 super-cows averaging 29 litres

in the morning and 19 litres in the afternoon and over a season produce more than 1000kg MS. They form the basis of the herd’s breeding future.

And being a green field site, they were able to design Gleniffer for the future.

The 40-aside herringbone shed was designed to handle larger cows and should robot technology get to a stage that satisfies him, the shed can be modified easily.

About half the cups have automatic cup removers. They did not install them throughout the shed to ensure cows still interact with staff.

They have operated the hybrid dairy farm for nearly four years and are still learning and refining their management, which is becoming easier and resulting in improved performance.

Foley said it became easier once it was understood the fundamental driver was cow efficiency.

“It sounds complicated but it’s actually very simple,” he said.

John and Ruby both work in the business but a key person is manager Jason Angland, who the Foleys describe as relaxed, intelligent and a natural stockman.

EFFECTIVE: Cow efficiency is a central plank to the Foleys’ hybrid dairy unit.

We’ve completely shut our place down.

We’ve really closed the door.

Foley was raised on Glenmoa, a neighbouring mixed-cropping farm, and apart from 10 years working and living in Gisborne, has spent his working career in North Otago.

On returning, he bought Glenmoa, expanded the area and focused on cropping. At one stage

he was harvesting 10,000 tonnes of grain a year.

Two of the farms were sold and in 2009 an investment was made in a corporate dairy farm.

Four years later they converted the 190ha Glenmoa property to dairying and employed a sharemilker who milked 650 cows.

But they were not happy with the traditional dairy model, questioning who would buy the farm if they came to sell it.

“Ruby and I thought about farming, continuing to do cropping and dairying but how to do it better, to create an enterprise rather than large-scale farming.”

They sold Glenmoa and created the hybrid venture on Gleniffer, with work starting after crop harvesting in 2013 and ready in time for the 2014 dairy season.

Foley said the hybrid system sounds more complicated than it is and any farmer could adopt it provided they stay focused on the drivers, that it is an enterprise and requires careful monitoring of inputs and cow efficiency.

Importantly, Gleniffer is profitable but is also less demanding on the land and environment.

>> Video link: bit.ly/OFSFoley

World

30 THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

French buy Spanish not Kiwi lamb BRITISH sheep farmers have paid the price for high lamb prices earlier in the season as foreign buyers have switched to alternative markets.

Sheep meat exports to France declined after the rising cost of British lamb caused the country’s buyers to take meat from other countries.

United Kingdom exports recorded by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs fell by 28% or 1900 tonnes to 4680t in May this year compared with May 2017.

Agricuture and Horticulture Development Board analyst Tom Forshaw said from mid-April and throughout May the British lamb price averaged 104% of the French equivalent.

“Normally the GB price tracks at about 80% of the French market making our lamb attractive to buyers,” Forshaw said.

“While GB values have edged above the French price two or three times previously it has only ever been for a very short time.

The period which stretched for three weeks in April and the whole of May is unprecedented,” he said.

The upshot of the relatively

The high United Kingdom prices are likely to have drawn in significant quantities of frozen stock from New Zealand.

BEHAVIOUR CHANGE: High lamb prices in Britain have forced the French to buy Spanish lamb while attracting more frozen New Zealand lamb to the United Kingdom.

high prices saw the French look elsewhere for lamb supplies but it was Spain rather than New Zealand that helped fill the void.

“NZ producers are fulfilling contracts in Asia, which is a growth market and, for them, far closer to home.

“Instead the French switched to Spain as a source and imports from Spanish producers have risen by 80%,” Forshaw said.

Only now are British prices returning to their normal level with the average price for the

Irish say Brexit means no Mercosur beef pact NO DEAL on Brexit must mean no deal with South American trading bloc Mercosur if the European Commission is to deliver on its commitment to put Ireland first in negotiations, the Irish Farmers’ Association says.

Removing the United Kingdom market would leave the European Union with more beef than there is a market for.

IFA president Joe Healy called on EU Commission president Jean-Claude Junker and Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan to ensure there is no Mercosur deal on beef while Brexit remains unresolved.

“In view of the lack of progress on Brexit and our critical dependence on the UK market for beef exports the EU cannot agree to increased beef imports from Mercosur.

“Increasing EU beef imports makes no sense whatsoever and the EU Commission should instruct (EU Trade Commissioner) Cecilia Malmstrom to withdraw beef from the Mercosur negotiations.”

IFA national livestock chairman Angus Woods said the latest report from the EU Food and Veterinary Office on Brazil showed it continues to fail to meet EU standards on beef imports.

On the meeting of British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Cabinet at Chequers, Healy said while there were

some signs of movement there was a generous helping of double-think by the UK in wanting to have its cake and eat it, which is unacceptable.

The British proposals would allow the UK to open the floodgates to cheap imports, destroying the UK market for Irish farmers and wreaking havoc across the EU.

In view of the lack of progress on Brexit and our critical dependence on the UK market for beef exports the EU cannot agree to increased beef imports from Mercosur.

And he believed it is inconsistent with the UK’s commitment to maintain full alignment with rules that support the economy and the Good Friday Agreement.

He acknowledged the UK offering to make an upfront choice to commit by treaty to ongoing harmonisation with EU rules is a positive step but there is no value in a commitment if Parliament can opt out.

The IFA position is for no border on the island of Ireland or the Irish Sea and no scope for a UK cheap-food policy.

UK Farmers Guardian

week ending July 7 at 462p/kg deadweight, representing about 83% of the French average.

“Hopefully, that means the French buyers will come back to UK lamb but this won’t be clear until we have the figures for July trading which are published in late August,” he said.

Looking at the domestic situation for lamb, the high UK prices are likely to have drawn in significant quantities of frozen stock from NZ, the board said.

Although imports were down in

May by 18% or 1400t, production figures for June saw a fall of 16% or 3700t on a year earlier and the frozen stock from NZ will probably have come in to fill the gap.

The longer term domestic picture for lamb consumption is also causing concern.

Mintel food and drink analyst Anita Winther said despite a swathe of marketing campaigns, lamb value sales have continued to fall.

“The sector has posted an 8%

decline over 2012-17, estimated to hit £674m in 2017,” Winther said.

Lamb struggles behind beef, pork and chicken in terms of both consumer use and perception – 65% of British consumers eat lamb but just 13% feature the meat on their weekly menu, she said.

“As one of the priciest unprocessed meats lamb is the most vulnerable to consumers switching away during a weakening of disposable incomes.

“While lamb is the meat type where UK self-sufficiency is highest, leaving it more protected from changes to exchange rates, inflation in fuel and fertiliser costs is squeezing margins,” she said.

Public to get say on Kiwi deal BRITISH people are to be given the chance to say what any future free-trade agreement with New Zealand should look like, Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox says.

“For the first time in over 40 years we will be able to determine who we trade with and on what terms,” he told the UK’s Federation of Small Businesses, after announcing the imminent launch of four public consultations covering FTA plans relating to New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“I want everyone to have their say to make sure our future trade policy works for the whole of the United Kingdom. Trade affects us all and I urge anyone with an interest to take part in these consultations.”

While not spelling out the planned content of the four consultations Fox said they will be released soon.

UK exports to NZ and Australia, two of the UK’s closest allies, are growing at 16.8% and 14.8% respectively, he said.

“That is a faster pace than our global average and is far outstripping export growth to the European Union.”

Fox’s positive words on freetrade came just a week after he told the UK Parliament’s International Trade Committee he believes there was growing evidence of a global move away from such agreements.

“There is a trend in global trade to move away from the concept of pure FTAs and to look to see what other tools are in the box to achieve trade liberalisation,” he said.

YOU DECIDE: British people will decide who the country trades with and on what terms, Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox says.

“Maybe the length of time it takes to negotiate a full FTA, certainly the way we thought in the past about full, gold-plated FTAs may not be the way that we think in the future.

“I definitely had the strong impression at the World Trade Organisation ministers’ meeting in Buenos Aires (last December) that there was an appetite to look at different ways of doing business.”

Trade Minister David Parker said the public consutation “is a strong signal that the UK is prioritising an early agreement with NZ. “It reflects our shared commitment to put in place a high-quality, comprehensive FTA as soon as possible once the UK has left the EU. “There’s lots of other countries they could have chosen but they have chosen us and that’s good.

“It is part of this Government’s

active and broad trade agenda.

“Partners like the UK and the EU, who have similar thinking on human rights, labour and environmental issues, offer good opportunities to advance our new Trade for All agenda.

“Businesses and workers can be sure we will support them to achieve greater market access for our exports and to expand opportunities for all.”

The UK is NZ’s fifth-largest trading partner with two-way trade worth nearly $6 billion annually.

Parker also welcome Britain’s move to consider joing the CPTPP. “Growing the CPTPP membership would both increase its value and contribute to further alignment of rules and trading standards, which is important in the current global trade environment.”

UK Farmers Guardian

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY – July 30, 2018

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

31

1 2

3 7+

318 Totman Road, Rd1, Tirau • • • • • •

Excellent central location 20ashb shed with in shed feeding Plenty of shedding and barns Mostly rolling contour Superior four bedroom homestead Comfortable three bedroom cottage

For Sale

By Negotiation

A 5+ I 69.9ha O Kate Scott 0278581492

View by appointment

Visit the link below to watch the video

rwputaruru.co.nz/PUT21668 Waikato Real Estate Limited Licensed (REAA 2008)

FARM WITHIN CITY BOUNDARY

HUNTERS DELIGHT

DAIRY FARM WITH LIFESTYLE

• This quality property is located on the outskirts of Palmerston North and is 76 hectares in 4 titles including lovely scattered bush.

• Currently milking cows and would be suited to any agricultural activity with resource consent for intensive agriculture along with a recent upgrade to the cowshed effluent system.

• Facilities include a 16 aside dairy, machinery shed, good hay shed.

• With silt loam soils this could be a great chance to add a forage and heifer block to your current dairy business.

• Call Les to inspect this property.

• Opportunity for the part time hunter gatherer to shoot deer on your own door step, just outside Pahiatua and a short drive to Tui Brewery.

• Featuring some pruned open pine forest for your investment along with native and regenerating bush.

• Three bedroom home or hunting lodge on a flat terrace with great views overlooking the stream below and deer in the bush.

• Good array of out buildings along with some holding paddocks near the woolshed.

• Great for the adventure minded and future investment. Call Les.

• Have you ever wanted to go fishing in between milking? Well this is your chance to do just that.

• This 525 acre property located in the central Horowhenua has all the features that you and your family would love.

• A good mix of flat to rolling contour that has the ability to winter cows.

• Modern herringbone dairy along and nice five bedroom family home.

• With growth in this area who knows how great this farm could be as an investment in the future.

• Call Les to inspect this property.

Sallan Realty

Google ‘Sallan Realty’ Your Farm Sales Specialist

THE DESTINATION FOR RURAL REAL ESTATE

Land is the biggest asset to any farming business - so it pays to stay up-to-date with the market.

Connect with the right audience at farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate

LES CAIN 0274 420 582

Licensed Agent REAA 2008

LK0093551©

Contributor to realestate.co.nz

32

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY – July 30, 2018

Accelerating success.

Reach more people - better results faster.

FARM, FOREST, OR HUNTING BLOCK?

TENDER closing Thursday 16 August 2018 at 4pm RAYSBURN FARM, MATAWAI DISTRICT MIXED USE

SH 607ha of freehold land

150ha (approx.) in pasture

www.colliers.co.nz/209049

Located directly onto SH2

Ideal conversion

Existing improvements

Established native bush

Warwick Searle 021 362 778 Forestry Sales Limited, Licensed under the REAA 2008

Australia’s Top Dairy

WALCHA DAIRY, NSW 626ha opportunity awaits

Targeted to supply profitable northern liquid milk market World class dairy on the NSW Northern Tablelands  Producing over 7.3 million lts milk FY16/17, & over 7 million lts FY17/18  MS 533,000kg FY16/17 & MS $8.40/kg to May 31st FY17/18. Milk income 64 CPL to May 31st FY17/18  Additional milk payments in July/August approx. 4.3 CPL & $0.54/kg MS.  Significant NSW production and freight competitive advantages with Full management team in place 

Walcha Dairy is a true industry leader, making use of the latest technology and management practices to allow for the greatest productivity to be achieved.

Roderick Wyllie 0427 377 513 Roderick@protam.com.au Stuart Watts 0439 661 655 stuart @protam.com.au

SPRING 2018 PROPERTY PULL-OUT

We’ve got you covered It’s back!

The Spring Property Pull-Out feature will be running through all issues of The Farmers Weekly in October. Book a campaign of three or more advertisements in October and get a complimentary editorial on your property in one of our pull-out specials.

We’re very proud that Farmers Weekly remains committed to the Real Estate industry, and that we have been the most read rural publication for more than a decade.

For more information on real estate advertising contact Shirley Howard on 06 323 0760 or email: shirley.howard@globalhq.co.nz.

Terms and conditions apply.

Give your advertising campaign the edge with an advert on farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate

©2107RE-SPFP

Talk to your agent now and make sure you are in the paper that more farmers read.

Classifieds

Employment

BURNVIEW STATION

We are looking for an Omega Lamb Unit manager to join our motivated team.

Burnview Station is a fourth generation family owned 1900ha (14000su) sheep and beef breeding/ finishing coastal property, one hour from Dannevirke/Waipukurau at Herbertville, with a 330ha finishing farm 10km from Dannevirke

Caberfeidh is a 5300ha (effective) breeding and finishing operation in the Hakataramea Valley, wintering approximately 30,000su and peaking at over 40,000su. It runs 550 Angus Cows and 16000 Headwaters ewes and their replacements, as well as a large finishing and trading operation focusing on high quality products which includes producing lambs under the Te Mana brand

Burnview winters 7500 ewes, plus replacements and 350 cows and replacements. The station finishes the majority of the lambs and sells cattle at 18 months. There is also a forestry operation starting later this year.

Caberfeidh is flat to medium hill country with 1500ha of Hill. 600ha of the easier country is under irrigation

For more information please phone 027 483 9245

LK0093670©

Applications close Wednesday 15th August 2018

We are seeking a person who has a high skill level in all types of fencing and farm maintenance, also a passion for handing down knowledge to young people. This is a rewarding position that offers a unique experience in teaching, working and living in a fantastic environment.

Must be a team player, have a can do attitude and enjoy a good challenge.

We offer a comfortable 3-bedroom house with excellent primary school in our district. There are also recreational activities on the property.

Applications in writing close with the Manager Friday 3rd August, including 3 referees.

Rob Evans (06) 856 5725 smedley.stn@xtra.co.nz Smedley Station, Smedley Road, RD 4, Waipawa

LK0093564©

A job description is available along with further information by contacting the Manager:

Classifieds ANIMAL HANDLING FLY OR LICE problem?

Electrodip - The magic eye sheepjetter since 1989 with unique self adjusting sides.

Incredible chemical and time savings with proven effectiveness.

Phone 07 573 8512 w w w. e l e c t r o d i p . c o m CRAIGCO SHEEP JETTERS. Sensor Jet. Deal to fly and Lice now. Guaranteed performance.

Unbeatable pricing.

Phone 06 835 6863. www.craigcojetters.com

ANIMAL HEALTH www.drench.co.nz farmer owned, very competitive prices. Phone 0800 4 DRENCH (437 362).

ANIMAL SUPPLEMENTS

RUN OFF

YOUR FEET? Turn to Farmers Weekly first for your employment advertising needs Phone Debbie Brown 0800 85 25 80 or email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

LK0093685©

Enquiries to opoho@xtra.co.nz for a full job description, or visit NZ Farming Jobs or TradeMe Jobs for more information.

Tikokino, Central Hawke’s Bay Requires a Fencer/Maintenance Manager The position of a Fencer/Maintenance Manager has become available on Smedley Station; this is a rewarding position that has a large level of responsibility. Smedley is a 5054ha station (3186ha effective) situated under the Ruahine Rangers, farming sheep, cattle and deer.

GOATS WANTED

Tailored remuneration package to suit the right applicant for our business.

SMEDLEY STATION & CADET TRAINING FARM

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR, GARLIC & HONEY. 200L - $450 or 1000L - $2000 excl. with FREE DELIVERY from Black Type Minerals Ltd www.blacktypeminerals. co.nz

ATTENTION FARMERS www.gibb-gro.co.nz GROWTH PROMOTANT $5.85 per hectare + GST delivered Brian Mace 0274 389 822 07 571 0336 brianmace@xtra.co.nz

CALF TRAILER MATS

DOGS WANTED

SOFT, DURABLE, FREE draining rubber mats. Easy to clean. Call to order on 0800 686 287 – www. numat.co.nz

12 MONTHS TO 5½-yearold Heading dogs and Huntaways wanted. Phone 022 698 8195.

CONTRACTORS GORSE AND THISTLE SPRAYING. Experience teams with mist blowers, hand pumps and gun and hose. No job too big.

Camp out teams. Phone Dave 06 375 8032.

DOGS FOR SALE HEADING PLAIN EYE pups. Proven workers. $600. Phone 07 871 9698.

Te Awamutu.

HUNTAWAY PUPS, well bred. 10 weeks. Phone 06 863 9815.

NO DOG AUCTION offers this! 40-80 dogs in stock when you need one. Deliver South/North Islands/ Australia/Chathams, 45 day trial.

Guaranteed to work. View online/ onFarm Sheep/Cattle www.youtube.com/user/ mikehughesworkingdog/ videos 07 315 5553.

DOGS WANTED QUICK EASY SALE! Buying 400 dogs annually South and North Islands! No trial or breeding required.

No one buys or pays more! www.youtube.com/user/ mikehughesworkingdog/ videos 07 315 5553.

When only the best will do!

WANTED

This is a unique opportunity to be involved in a multi-dimensional family farm operation.

Looking for the right person to help us succeed in our goal of efficient and sustainable profitability. Opoho runs sheep and beef breeding and finishing enterprises, a TMR beef feeding system and maize production.

Established planning and organisational skills and positive communication are essential.

FOR FARMERS & HUNTERS

We are a married couple in our mid 30’s currently leasing 430ha in summer safe Pukititiri.

We are looking for a 80ha + lease in a warmer climate in Hawke’s Bay to compliment our current operation.

We have very straight forward policies and treat our lease as if it is our own property. We will do the same with any other opportunity we are offered.

No accommodation needed.

We can provide references and would consider anything.

NATIVE FOREST FOR MILLING also Macrocarpa and Red Gum, New Zealand wide.

We can arrange permits and plans. Also after milled timber to purchase.

NEW ZEALAND NATIVE TIMBER SUPPLIERS (WGTN) LIMITED 04 293 2097 Richard.

Diverse 780ha coastal farming operation in Northern Hawke’s Bay, OPOHO STATION is seeking a Farm Manager.

Caberfeidh is only 10 minutes from Kurow. The accommodation is a 4-bedroom house with primary school bus at the gate.

Drystock Lease Land Wanted in Hawke’s Bay

FORESTRY

FARM MANAGER OPPORTUNITY

This is a great opportunity for you to join a high functioning team. You will be exposed to managing a high performing ewe flock and grazing high quality forages which include Lucerne and chicory. You must be a team player and enjoy working within a team environment as there are 10 other staff members on farm. You will be provided the opportunity to grow your skills while working in the field you love.

For further information visit our website: lonestarfarms.co.nz or contact Matt Smith, Farm Manager to discuss the role further on 027 536 0499 or send applications to jobs@lsf.co.nz

LK0093707©

■ To be organised and enjoy planning ■ An understanding of irrigation ■ Feed budgeting skills ■ An excellent work ethic ■ Good communication skills ■ To take ownership ■ 3-6 competent working dogs ■ To be a team player

Contact Lance McNicholas 027 294 7504

frigidair@xtra.co.nz

LK0093559©

For this position you will need: ■ 4+ years’ experience working as a Shepherd in New Zealand ■ An understanding of lamb/ cattle finishing.

■ To keep accurate records ■ Self-motivation and a willingness to learn ■ Sound knowledge of Technology ■ A Keeness to take on responsibility

The feral deer population has increased to levels seen in the 1950’s resulting in reduced winter feed for farmer’s stock, and damage to juvenile trees for forest owners.

021 441 180 (JC)

The dwelling is a well maintained historic homestead 500 metres from the beach, with school bus at the gate, adjacent golf club, and other community facilities nearby.

Please send CV with references to: simon@mcia.co.nz or MCI & Associates PO Box 38, Dannevirke 4942 by 15th August

McNicholas Aviation Limited is a helicopter deer recovery operator based in Opotiki. The aerial operation can selectively cull your feral deer population and pay a royalty. If required we can also seek and destroy any resident feral goat population.

udly NZ Madew Pro Since 1975

This is an opportunity to manage a progressive business with three full-time staff.

This job offers an opportunity for someone wanting to take the next level in their farming career. In this role you will be responsible for the Omega lamb project on the property, this involves being responsible for the 280ha of chicory on the property finishing 20,000 lambs, this area is mainly under irrigation. For the rest of the year you work in conjunction with other experienced shepherds organising your block under the guidance of the Operations Manager. As for all positions within Lone Star Farms, you will work within a team.

(from private blocks)

FREEZERS

HEADING, HUNTAWAY, handy, backing dogs or bitches, 2-6 years. Top money paid. Phone Ginger Timms 03 202 5590 or 027 289 7615.

FARM MAPPING YOUR FARM MAPPED showing paddock sizes.

Priced from $600 for 100ha. Phone 0800 433 855. farmmapping.co.nz

FERTILISER DOLOMITE, NZ’s finest Magnesium fertiliser.

Bio-Gro certified, bulk or bagged. 0800 436 566.

FOR SALE BATTERY ELECTRIC offroad motorcycle. Made in NZ. Does 12kh for 20km.

Phone Kev 021 032 8656.

BIG SQUARE BALES of baleage for sale, this season, good quality.

Located in Taipa - Far North. $75+GST per bale.

Phone Joel 020 403 60603.

BOOK AN AD. For only $2.10 + gst per word you can book a word only ad in Farmers Weekly Classifieds section.

Phone Debbie Brown on 0800 85 25 80 to book in or email classifieds@ globalhq.co.nz

LK0093366©

Kurow, South Canterbury

PURCHASING FERAL DEER

CHILLERS &

GOATS WANTED. All weights. All breeds.

Prompt service. Payment on pick up. My on farm prices will not be beaten.

Phone David Hutchings 07 895 8845 or 0274 519 249. Feral goats mustered on a 50/50 share basis.

HORTICULTURE NZ KELP. FRESH, wild ocean harvested giant kelp.

The world’s richest source of natural iodine. Dried and milled for use in agriculture and horticulture. Growth promotant / stock health food. As seen on Country Calendar. Orders to: 03 322 6115 or info@nzkelp.co.nz

Please contact Aaron 027 509 7178

WANTED FORESTRY/ WOODLOTS (Shelters removed or harvested)

Tree Tec Ltd: What do we do?

We can purchase standing trees, land and trees or harvest and market on your behalf.

No worries as we’ll do all the hard work for you around health and safety, resource consent application and management.

Harvesting and trucking.

GUARANTEED PAYMENTS Call or email Tree Tec Aaron West 027 562 3832 aaron@treetec.co.nz

MOA MASTER Quality you can rely on – GUARANTEED

HERITAGE APPLE TREES. Farm pack specials. www.tastytrees. co.nz – Phone 09 408 5443 or text 027 346 7645.

BOOK AN AD. For only $2.10 + gst per word you can book a word only ad in Farmers Weekly Classifieds section.

Phone Debbie Brown on 0800 85 25 80 to book in or email classifieds@ globalhq.co.nz

TOWABLE FLAIL MOWER $3910 + GST

TOWABLE TOPPING MOWER $3570 + GST

MANUKA SITES WANTED CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND. Whanganui, Taranaki, Wairarapa.

Excellent site rental paid on quality honey. Contact 027 372 0842. Email: zerbywerby@gmail.com

PROPERTY WANTED HOUSE FOR REMOVAL wanted.

North Island.

Phone 021 0274 5654.

PUMPS HIGH PRESSURE WATER PUMPS, suitable on high headlifts.

Low energy usage for single/3-phase motors, waterwheel and turbine drives. Low maintenance costs and easy to service. Enquiries phone 04 526 4415, email sales@hydra-cell.co.nz

LK0093662©

Manager

UNIT MANAGER

LK0093709©

34

“WOOD SPLITTER” 50 TON

12 HP DIESEL MOTOR “ELECTRIC START”

$3990 + GST

To find out more visit

www.moamaster.co.nz Phone 027 367 6247 Email: info@moamaster.co.nz TRACTORS/ MACHINERY

WEED SPRAYING

P U N C T U R E P R E V E N T I O N .

Tyreshield. Use on all vehicles. Tractors, rideon mowers, bobcat and earthmover tyres, quad bikes and all farm vehicles. Contact Mike 06 342 7880 or 0274 425 249 www. mikestyreshield.com

BOOM SPRAY. Broad acre, brush weed control, total vegetation. Hilux gun and hose units x 2 and mist blowers for gorse, broome, blackberry control.

Covering Lower North Island. Phone 06 375 8660 or 021 396 447, email kingbilly718@gmail.com

Livestock

THE NEW ZEALAND FARMERS WEEKLY – July 30, 2018

STOCK REQUIRED EWES Due Aug/Sept

Thursday 2nd August, 12pm Start 1000 Cattle, Comprising:

18MTH A&AH X STEERS 380-480kg

60 2yr Charolais X & Simm X Steers 20 2yr Hfd/ Frsn X Steers 600 1yr Purebred Angus Steers (Angus Pure) 50 1yr Angus & Angus/ Hfd X Steers 300 1yr Purebred Angus Heifers (Angus Pure) 50 1yr Angus & Angus/ Hfd X Heifers 30 1yr Hfd/ Frsn X & Hfd X Heifers 20 1yr Devon X Heifers & Steers 40 Top Autumn Wnr Hfd/ Frsn X Heifers

R2 YR ANG & EX HEIFERS

R1 YR ANGUS STEERS 260-300kg www.dyerlivestock.co.nz

Ross Dyer 0274 333 381

35

Turanganui Romneys

KAUROA (RAGLAN) SPRING CATTLE FAIR

STORE LAMBS 28-40kg

SIL

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

Special Entries Include: A/C Client: WJ Cleave 60 Top 2yr & Charolais X & Simm X & Here X Steers

A Financing Solution For Your Farm E info@rdlfinance.co.nz

A/C Client: CP Jowsey 40 Top 2yr Purebred Angus Heifers (Angus Pure) A/C Client: Waiteika Station (K Abbott) 70 Top 1yr Angus & Angus X Steers (Angus Pure Tags) 40 Top 1yr Angus & Angus X Heifers (Angus Pure Tags) A/C Client: Glenmoerangi Station (Tom & Clint Jowsey) 170 Top 1yr Angus Steers (Angus Pure Tags) 120 Top 1yr Angus Heifers (Angus Pure Tags)

COWS FOR SALE • 62 Autumn Calvers Frs/FrsX

A/C Client: K & P Shea 120 Top 1yr Angus Steers (Angus Pure Tags) 60 Top 1yr Angus Heifers (Angus Pure Tags)

$1380 • Pick 300 from 335 Frs/Frsx Cows,

big production $1650

LK0093652©

delivery flexible, $1800 • 55 August-October calving cows

A balanced genetic package

A/C Client: Diamond Creek Farm 120 Top 1yr Angus Steers

Check out my listings

Fertility, Survival & Growth Rate The Cornerstone to Profit

The above lines are Annual Drafts which include Purebred Angus Cattle Sept/Oct born, sired by top Angus bulls from the Mangapapa, Springdale, Waitangi, Kaharau, Rangitira & Matauri Angus Studs & all entries can be highly recommeded for their shifting ability.

Contact: Chris Leuthart, PGG Wrightson 07 825 8410 / 0274 936 594

www.MyLivestock.co.nz

Brent Bougen, NZ Farmers 07 848 2544 / 0272 104 698

Contact Wayne Robb 021 712 511

Helping grow the country Michael Warren

Holmes Warren

SALE TALK

The girl, who was reading a book, closed it slowly and said to the guy, “What would you like to talk about?”

Oh, I don’t know,” said the guy. “How about nuclear power?”

“OK,” she said.

“That could be an interesting topic.

But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow and a deer all eat the same stuff... grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass.

Why do you suppose that is?”

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING NIGEL RAMSDEN 0800 85 25 80

FOR SALE

06 307 7802

06 307 7841 0274 465 312

06 307 7554 0274 795 006

RD 2 FEATHERSTON 5772

annual bull sale

• 20 Fsn/FsnX ylg hfrs, well grown, BW 69, $650.

Stewart 027 270 5288

Tuesday 21th August 2018 – 12.30pm 341b Matauri Bay Road, RD1, Kaeo, Northland

• 26 Fsn/FsnX in-calf cows, BW 63, PW 103, Aug/Sept calv, good young cows. $1380.

Stewart 027 270 5288

The stud herd of 400 females is run under commercial conditions on hill country.

• Pick 200 from 250 Fsn/FsnX in-calf dairy herd, 450kg/ms, BW 11/22, PW 33/24, R/a 54%, $1,400.

• 44 Fsn ylg hfrs, BW 55, PW 53, owner bred all DNA, $650.

Matauri genetics have had phenomenal success in a wide variety of environments having been used in over 200 stud herds. Matauri Reality 839 alone has had 4500 progeny analysed

by Breedplan. Sons of the Matauri sires have sold for up to $47,000 and consistently achieved high averages.

Warren 027 677 6361 • 45 Fsn bulls, 260kg/lw avge, all Nth Island bred, $3.30/kg.

Jack 027 823 2373

REQUIRED Lines of Hfd, Angus, Jsy home bred

The guy thought about it and said, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

bulls required, top dollars.

To which the girl replied, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don’t know shit?”

0800 548 339 | nzfarmsource.co.nz/livestock

Call 0800 548 339 Prices exclude GST

EARN FARM SOURCE REWARD DOLLARS ON ALL FARM SOURCE LIVESTOCK PURCHASES & SALES*

65 R2 Angus Bulls

Matauri Angus has established itself as a leading provider of NZ based genetics in the Australasian industry.

Bunter 027 444 1169

MATAURI OUTLIER F031 LK0093266©

A guy was seated next to a 10-year-old girl on an airplane.

Being bored, he turned to the girl and said, “Let’s talk. I’ve heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

Todd Candy

CONTACTS Cam Heggie Bruce Orr Neil Miller Tom Bayly Colin Maxwell

027 501 8182 027 492 2122 027 497 8691 027 415 4125 09 405 0357

For more info please email colin@matauriangus.com or visit www.matauriangus.com

LK0093671©

wayne.robb@nzfll.co.nz

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Dairy

Grain & Feed

MILK PRICE FORECAST ($/KGMS) 2018-19

SHEEP MEAT

DOMESTIC

FONTERRA 2018-19

AGRIHQ 2018-19

7.00

6.53

AS OF 24/05/2018

AS OF 19/07/2018

MILK PRICE COMPARISON

Last week

Prior week

Last year

Canterbury (NZ$/t) 405

338

NI mutton (20kg)

5.15

5.15

4.10

398

345

SI lamb (17kg)

7.95

7.85

6.65

Feed Barley

399

398

352

SI mutton (20kg)

5.40

5.35

4.15

221

Export markets (NZ$/kg) 9.07

9.12

7.87

6.5

Maize Grain

433

420

418

6.0

PKE

285

284

219

WMP GDT PRICES AND NZX FUTURES

286

285

UK CKT lamb leg

* Domestic grain prices are grower bids delivered to the nearest store or mill. PKE and fertiliser prices are ex-store. Australian prices are landed in Auckland.

2500 2000 Sep 17 Dec 17 Mar 18 C2 Fonterra WMP

Last week

Prior week

5.5

Last year

CBOT futures (NZ$/t)

4.5

Wheat - Nearest

290

274

245

Corn - Nearest

209

205

200

483

446

390

ASW Wheat

467

462

379

Feed Wheat

464

328

292

Feed Barley

451

402

337

PKE (US$/t)

Jun 18 Sep 18 NZX WMP Futures

6.5

Ex-Malaysia

116

116

South Island 1 7kg lamb

8.5 7.5

NZ venison 60kg stag

6006.5

$/kg

3000

7.5

INTERNATIONAL

APW Wheat

3500

North Island 17kg lamb

8.5

Australia (NZ$/t)

4000 US$/t

6.75

399

Waikato (NZ$/t)

What are the AgriHQ Milk Prices?

The AgriHQ Seasonal milk price is calculated using GDT results and NZX Dairy Futures to give a full season price. The AgriHQ Spot milk price is an indicative price based solely on the prices from the most recent GDT event. To try this using your own figures go to www.agrihq.co.nz/toolbox

8.00

409

PKE

May 18 Jul 18 AgriHQ Seasonal

500

4005.5 300

4.5

Oct Oct

90

Dec Dec

Feb Feb

5‐yr ave NZX DAIRY FUTURES (US$/T) Nearby contract

Prior week

vs 4 weeks ago

WMP

2945

2915

3150

SMP

2050

1990

AMF

5690

Butter

5070

Last week

Prior week

Last year

Last week

Prior week

Last year

1990

Urea

485

485

477

Coarse xbred ind.

3.10

3.17

2.80

5750

6050

Super

304

304

309

Nth Isl 37m

3.32

3.32

3.00

5080

5375

DAP

702

Sth Isl 35m

4.55

4.55

3.40

750

750

CANTERBURY FEED PRICES $/kg

NZ venison 60kg stag

4.5

600

3000

Oct

Latest price

Nov

Dec

Jan

4 weeks ago

Sharemarket Briefing UNITED States President Donald Trump’s twitter account showed no signs of slowing down as he intensified the trade battle with China as well as accusing other countries of currency manipulation.

Trump said he was prepared to impose tariffs on all Chinese goods imported to the US, following the US$34 billion worth of tariffs recently enacted.

While investors hope the two largest economies will patch things up, a trade war between the two countries could significantly aggravate a global economic downturn.

Conversely, Trump met European Commission President JeanClaude Juncker in Washington, with both leaders aiming to lower tariffs and trade barriers between the US and Europe.

The Europeans agreed to lower industrial tariffs on a range of imports but have yet to finalise an agreement on car tariffs.

Investors cheered the concession which sent US markets soaring.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed to an all-time high, while the S&P 500 closed within 1% of a record high.

In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May is taking personal control of Brexit talks with the European Union.

Market commentary provided by Craigs Investment Partners

S&P/NZX 50 INDEX

8932

S&P/NZX 10 INDEX

8604

350

c/k kg (net)

NZ$/t

US$/t

Coarse xbred wool indicator

5.5

450

16551

This yr

(NZ$/kg)

3200

S&P/FW PRIMARY SECTOR EQUITY

Last yr

AugAug

NZ average (NZ$/t)

WMP FUTURES - VS FOUR WEEKS AGO

Sep

JunJun

WOOL

* price as at close of business on Thursday

Aug

AprApr

FERTILISER

Last price*

2800

Last year

8.05

Feed Wheat

7.0

Mar 18 AgriHQ Spot Fonterra forecast

Last week Prior week

NI lamb (17kg)

Milling Wheat

7.5

5.5 Jan 18

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

c/kkg (net)

$/kgMS

Sheep

$/kg

36

250 150 Jul 14

Jul 15 Feed barley

Jul 16

Jul 17 PKE spot

400

300 2.5 Jul Oct

Sep Dec

5‐yr ave

Nov Feb

Jan Apr

Last yr

Mar Jun

May Aug

Jul

This yr

Dollar Watch

Top 10 by Market Cap Company

Close

YTD High

YTD Low

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd

14.70

15.50

11.92

Auckland International Airport Limited

6.69

6.99

6.11

Meridian Energy Limited The a2 Milk Company Limited Spark New Zealand Limited Ryman Healthcare Limited Fletcher Building Limited Mercury NZ Limited (NS) Contact Energy Limited Air New Zealand Limited (NS)

3.14 10.75 3.80 12.27 7.08 3.35 5.79 3.23

3.22 14.62 3.90 12.50 7.96 3.45 5.96 3.43

2.75 7.66 3.28 10.27 5.74 3.08 5.15 2.86

Listed Agri Shares

500 3.5

5pm, close of market, Thursday

Company

Close

YTD High

YTD Low

The a2 Milk Company Limited

10.750

14.620

7.660

Comvita Limited

5.840

9.210

5.600

Delegat Group Limited

9.000

9.050

7.510

Foley Family Wines Limited

1.460

1.610

1.400

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund (NS)

5.160

6.660

5.000

Livestock Improvement Corporation Ltd (NS)

0.750

3.000

0.750

New Zealand King Salmon Investments Ltd

2.830

2.900

1.840

PGG Wrightson Limited

0.660

0.720

0.560

Sanford Limited (NS)

7.670

8.500

7.350

Scales Corporation Limited

4.630

5.000

4.350

Seeka Limited

6.500

7.010

5.800

Synlait Milk Limited (NS)

10.790

11.650

6.260 3.100

T&G Global Limited

3.200

3.300

Tegel Group Holdings Limited

1.130

1.240

0.810

S&P/NZX Primary Sector Equity

16551

17332

14417

S&P/NZX 50 Index

8932

9084

8059

S&P/NZX 10 Index

8604

8848

7640

THE kiwi dollar should This Prior Last consolidate slightly higher NZD vs week week year from current trading USD 0.6785 0.6729 0.7289 ranges and higher again EUR 0.5826 0.5783 0.6518 into year-end, BNZ AUD 0.9188 0.9172 0.9615 currency strategist Nick Smyth says.

GBP 0.5177 0.5176 0.5731 Risks remain, such as Correct as of 9am last Friday a sharp downward move in the Chinese renminbi because of trade worries or a sharp move up by the United States dollar on interest rate rises but they are risks rather than the BNZ’s central view. The renminbi looks to have stabilised in the last couple of weeks and the risk sentiment in world markets is positive now.

BNZ’s forecast for the end of September is US$0.685, which would take the dollar from the lower end of the sideways trading range – high 0.66s to mid 0.68 level – it has experienced in recent weeks. The year-end forecast is 0.70 Smyth said the move is largely based on the Reserve Bank’s surprise increase in its core inflation estimate, after reviewing its inflation model and taking out more volatile items to focus on common factors across the economy. That means the market is now pricing out the possibility of cuts to the Official Cash Rate, which had been hanging over the currency.

BNZ believes the kiwi could consolidate to €0.60 this year before a move lower next year as the European Central Bank moves towards second-half interest rates rises. The NZ$/ sterling cross reflects the Brexit discount on the British currency, which might also be resolved in sterling’s favour next year.

Alan Williams

Markets

COARSE WOOL INDICATOR

SI SLAUGHTER BULL

NI SLAUGHTER LAMB

($/T)

($/KG)

R2 HEREFORD-FRIESIAN STEERS, 400-430KG, AT FRANKTON

($/KG)

($/KG LW)

5.30

8.05

Cattle & Deer BEEF Last week

Prior week

Last year

NI Steer (300kg)

5.55

5.45

5.65

NI Bull (300kg)

5.35

5.35

5.60

NI Cow (200kg)

4.45

4.40

4.50

SI Steer (300kg)

5.50

5.40

5.45

SI Bull (300kg)

5.30

5.20

5.15

SI Cow (200kg)

4.40

4.25

4.35

US imported 95CL bull

6.67

6.77

6.70

US domestic 90CL cow

7.00

7.14

6.90

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

North Island steer (300kg)

$/kg

6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0

South Island steer (300kg)

6.0

NZ venison 60kg stag

5.5

c/k kg (net)

$/kg

600

5.0

500

4.5 400

300

4.0

Oct Oct

Dec Dec

Feb Feb

5‐yr ave

Apr Apr

Jun Jun

Aug Aug

Last yr

This yr

VENISON Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

Last week Prior week

Last year

NI Stag (60kg)

11.00

11.00

9.10

NI Hind (50kg)

10.90

10.90

9.00

SI Stag (60kg)

11.30

11.30

9.10

SI Hind (50kg)

11.20

11.20

9.00

New Zealand venison (60kg Stag)

12

c/k kg (net) $/kg

11 10

NZ venison 60kg stag

600 9 500 8 400 7

300 6

Oct Oct

Dec Dec

Feb Feb

5‐yr ave

Apr Apr Last yr

Jun Jun

Aug Aug This yr

2.82

high lights

$152-$166

$167-$177.50

Heavy mixed sex store lambs at Canterbury Park

Good male store lambs at Feilding

Saleyard ewe lamb prices skyrocket

A

S THE old season store lamb numbers trend down and demand moves in the opposite direction, buyers are rolling up their sleeves and are prepared for battle on good budgets.

Ewe lambs at Stortford Lodge reached new record levels last Wednesday as most traded hands at $145-$166.

NORTHLAND NORTHLAND A smaller yarding greeted salegoers at WELLSFORD last Monday, which was likely attributed to vendors holding off until the upcoming cattle fair. Some did not have the luxury of choice though as saturated paddocks meant they had to push the offload button now. As such the yarding was something of a mixed bag, though there was plenty of interest from local buyers and another player from the Waikato.

R3 Hereford-cross and Beef-dairy steers, 485-618kg, were solid at $2.74$2.76/kg.

R2 steers lifted for the majority and beef-cross, 382-433kg, earned $2.74$2.83/kg, while Hereford-Friesian, 362-413kg, fetched $2.81-$2.91/kg, and Hereford-Jersey lines managed a solid $2.72-$2.73/kg. R2 heifers also showed improvement with HerefordFriesian, 411-470kg, strengthening to $2.70-$2.77/kg, and autumn-born 286kg Angus-cross heifers were strong at $2.71/kg. Twelve 500kg R2 Friesian bulls made a respectable $2.65/kg.

In the R1 pens six Hereford-cross heifers, 281kg, fetched $710. Autumnborn weaner lines were well received and Angus-cross steers, 184kg, returned $665, while the heifers, 153kg, managed $530. Dairy beef heifers of the same age and 161-190kg traded at $505-$565.

The cow market was by far the

YOU SCRATCH MY BACK: Charolais crossbred calves get up close and personal at the Hakataramea sale yards in 2013.

highlight of the KAIKOHE sale last Wednesday, with strong demand from processors pushing prices to new levels. The balance of the 300 head yarding sold on a mainly steady market, PGG Wrightson agent Vaughan Vujcich reported.

About 100 Friesian cows were penned and the better lines sold up to $2.25-$2.30/kg, with medium types trading at $2.12-$2.15/kg. That meant that most sold for $1100-$1200, which is a common range for in-calf cows at present. R2 Hereford-Friesian steers sold to keen interest at $2.80-$2.86/ kg, though second cuts trailed at $2.60-$2.65/kg. Friesian-cross and crossbred lines made $2.30-$2.40/kg.

Heifers were mainly beef-cross and prices were steady at $2.60-$2.65/ kg, however Friesian pens sold for $2.25-$2.30/kg. R1 steers sold at

$3.10-$3.20/kg, with values similar for lighter Hereford-Friesian heifers.

Beef bulls also managed $3.00/kg, but lesser crossbred types were well off the pace at $2.30-$2.40/kg. Autumnborn weaner Friesian bulls, 100105kg, sold around the $500 mark.

AUCKLAND AUCKLAND Lack of numbers drove prime cattle prices up at PUKEKOHE on Saturday July 21.

The top steers, 707kg, sold to $2.87/kg, while 467-577kg returned $2.74-$2.77/kg. Heifers also met keen interest and the best line at 548kg returned $2.81/kg, with 515kg making $2.66/kg. Boner cows varied from $1.83/kg for 480kg, to $0.96/kg for 406kg.

Continued page 38

29, 2017

NOVEMBER

EYE LIVESTOCK TTLE TARANAKI CA

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT YOUR SALEYARD?

2.47

2.96

2.86

2.73

Store cattle

not enough475n good but while Angus-Friesian, Localisededrai $2.82/kg, $2.74-$2.77/ off the pace at on a quiet note VIEWPOINT

Suz Bremner

R

225 - 245KG

310KG

350 - 415KG

400 - 505KG

1-YEA R HEIFE BEEF/ DAIRY

1-YEA R STEER BEEF/ DAIRY

1-YEA R STEER BEEF/ DAIRY

2-YEA R STEER BEEF/ DAIRY

tallies

Weaner 13

Steer Heifer

1-year 112

2-year+ 34 9

16

6

Total 159

19

41

-

2-YEAR STEER Dev x Ang/Fr Ang/Fr Ang/Jer Ang/Jer Here/Fr

Jer

M

8

M

9

M

1400

540 475 - 506 401 - 445 366

M/G M

546 492 377

M

2 R

2-YEAR HEIFE Ang/Fr

Here/Jer Fr & Fr x

M/G

5

2

Jer x

Ang/Fr Here/Fr

M

3

2

M/G

8

M

2

M

2

L/M

3

M

2

M

530 370 467 315 451 320

4.0

$/kg

$/hd 1140

452

2

3

Fr x

Weight

Cond.

Tally

1300 - 1400 1090 - 1200 940 1542 1220 600 1455 910 1285 800 1060 400

3.5

2.52

3.0

2.59

2.5

2.74 - 2.77 2.70 - 2.72

2.0 100kg

200kg

300kg Steers

500kg 400kg Heifers

2.82 2.48 1.59 2.75 2.46 2.75 2.54 2.35 1.25

ph 0800 85

info@agrihq.co.nz

600kg

2.57

SUBSCRIBE TODAY AT AGRIHQ.CO.NZ/FARMER

agriHQ.co.nz

31

Beef/Dairy

LE

STORE CATT

Receive comprehensive liveweight-based results from the entire sale even when you can’t make it there yourself. Sign up to LivestockEye reports and keep your head in the game.

0800 85 25 80

60

3 Bull ed , were November finish apart from a doozy 506kg s-Jersey, 401-445kg, return 297 Cow 62 Angu sale, 169 upted the kg. -$2.77/kg. at the Taranaki 19 m that interr Total and two $2.74 of a thunderstor a mixed bunch cattle were Heifers were reached A total of 340 auctioning. cons isted beef-Friesian gh main ly small lines of other lines well below tallies Total penn ed, thou three over Prime cattle all Cow just with /kg 15kg, with Bull Heifer 40 of smal l lines localised $2.75 Ex-service Red bulls, 688-7 Steer 20 ite the odd /kg.

1 getting that.

10 head. Desp 19 ged $2.94-$3.00 and some areas hit and itions on mana had to be quite light to thunderstorm Lines yesterday, cond steer pens, up to 25mls drying out in the 1-year n tallies rties are still old effect pass $3.00/kg Hereford-Friesia Store cattle most prope ever-popular causing a two-f g to but the a few occasions. 1500 on fast, which is comin that cattle ge 10kg, quality did mana h were 308-3 them. of more mixed offered thoug buyers to greet at $2.92- 1200 sale and fewer sold over a very tight Mostsold on a steady market 900 sian, and er Angus-Frie Prime steers what was a /kg, with heavi s.

-$2.88/kg on 600 is tight. $2.97 g similar value range of $2.83 as processor space/kg.

335-381kg, makin1-year heifers could 300 softer market $1.75-$1.82 20-Dec The best the 6/kg for 6-Dec -$2.5 0 Boner cows made pens included some $2.52 22-Nov This year age was 8-Nov this was Last year The 2-year steer albeit in very small man n, but again 5-yr ave riesia y, ord-F nice lines of qualit best of the bunch Heref tion of the quality. the reflec a and at , ers, 546kg numb ($/kg) ord-Friesian, steers and heifers was three Heref

25 80

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web agrihq.co.nz

email info@a

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Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

37

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

Markets

38 THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018

‘Golden year’ at this winter’s bull sales This year’s annual bull sales have been outstanding, with prices up across all breeds and throughout the country, says PGG Wrightson Livestock National Genetics Manager Callum Stewart.

“It really has been a golden year. We have seen exceptional demand for bulls. In 2017, across all auction sales, we offered 3226 bulls, recording a 92 per cent clearance rate, and in 2018 our breeders put up 2919 bulls, with a 95 per cent clearance rate. Year on year, the 2018 average price across all breeds, per bull sold, was approximately 40 per cent ahead of where it was last year. While the quantity of sales was down slightly, the quality of bulls has risen markedly, as the improved prices and excellent clearance rates show,” he said.

Among many highlights, the Kaharau Angus Stud late June sale, in Gisborne, caught the eye, with a total clearance of the 51 bulls offered, averaging $14,970 each, including a rising two-year-old bull purchased by a partnership of Gisborne’s Rangatira Angus Stud and Turiroa Angus Stud for $95,000.

Also notable, in Hawke’s Bay, all 61 bulls offered by Koanui Polled Hereford Stud, Maraetotara sold, averaging $12,295, one achieving a local record of $51,000, purchased by Glenbrae Hereford Stud, Porangahau.

In Marlborough, Taimate Angus Stud achieved a complete clearance of 55 bulls, averaging $9790, and further south, at Parnassus, North Canterbury, Te Mania Angus sold 123 bulls, at an average of $11,353, with the standout lot selling to Oregon Angus, Wairarapa for $47,000, also a record for the stud.

Callum Stewart said the bull sales reflected continued buoyancy of the red meat sector.

“Farmers are receiving excellent prices for weaners, which underlines the rewards of buying and breeding good quality cattle. When the return on investment in sound genetics is so obvious, farmers are prepared to spend more on bulls of superior quality, in confidence that those decisions will pay off in due course,” he said.

Get in touch: 0800 10 22 76 www.pggwrightson.co.nz

Helping grow the country

Store type steers, 453kg, returned $2.58/kg, while 15-month crossbred were variable, with a better pen making $980, $3.02/kg, but a lesser conditioned but similar weighted line making $840, $2.61/kg. Heifers, 292-314kg, traded at $710-$870. R1 steers,146-185kg, made $485-$720 and very small heifers, 89kg, $375.

COUNTIES COUNTIES About 400 store cattle were yarded at TUAKAU last Thursday, Karl Chitham of Carrfields Livestock reported. Most R2 steers in the 420-470kg range sold at $2.85-$2.90/kg, $1205-$1285, with R1 and 15-month steers, mainly HerefordFriesian, 320-340kg, making $3.00-$3.15/ kg, $940-$1060. The heifer market was firm as R2 Hereford-Friesian, 420-450kg, traded at $2.85/kg and Angus, 360kg, earned $2.97/kg, $1070. R1 AngusCharolais heifers, 318kg, made $950, with 292kg Hereford-Friesian fetching $900. Other R1 Hereford-Friesian, 280320kg, made similar money. Red-bodied Hereford-Friesian, 115kg, sold for $450.

There was solid demand for cattle at Wednesday’s prime sale, with a lift in prices across the board for the 310-head.

Heavy steers sold particularly strongly, with 650kg-plus making $2.82-$2.96/kg and medium, 550-650kg, $2.72-$2.80/ kg. Lighter steers earned $2.68-$2.70/ kg. Only a handful of heavy beef heifers, 550kg-plus, sold well at $2.82-$2.86/ kg. Light-medium beef heifers returned $2.65-$2.71/kg and dairy-types $2.25$2.44/kg. A small entry of beef cows traded at $2.18-$2.34/kg and the best of the Friesian cows made $2.05-$2.17/ kg. Medium cows averaged $1.90/kg and lighter boners sold down to $1.75/kg.

The sheep market was firm last Monday with 700 prime lambs selling from $125 to $188. Store lambs traded at $92-$123 and prime ewes $91-$184. SIL ewes made $130-$152.

WAIKATO AT FRANKTON last Wednesday the yarding was mixed but those with quality were snapped up by Waikato and Bay of Plenty buyers. Angus-Hereford R2 steers, 417-425kg, were steady at $2.81-$2.82/ kg, as were Angus-Friesian, 386-420kg, $2.76-$2.86/kg, though HerefordFriesian, 396-427kg, softened to $2.78$2.85/kg. Most R2 heifers maintained recent levels with beef-cross, 345-432kg, earning $2.72-$2.76/kg. Hereford-cross, 368-488kg managed $2.59-$2.72/kg, while Hereford-Friesian, 358-469kg lifted to $2.67-$2.75/kg. Both the R1 and autumn-born R1 market had a softer tone after the solid results of the previous week. Angus-Hereford heifers, 185-225kg, traded at $585-$735, while Hereford-Friesian, 181-212kg, eased to $615-$680. Autumn-born R1 HerefordFriesian heifers softened with 102-142kg lines earning $475-$505, while 90-100kg managed $360-$470. Bull lines were also back and Hereford-cross, 96-114kg, returned $370-$555 with HerefordFriesian, 94-100kg, trading similarly at $435-$550.

The prime market was steady for most and beef and exotic steers, 503-602kg, traded at $2.74-$2.83/kg, while beefdairy, 502-605kg, were close behind at $2.68-$2.79/kg. All prime cows, 481532kg, traded at $2.01-$2.06/kg, while 626-698kg lines fetched $2.31-$2.45/ kg. Boner cows, 422-511kg, softened marginally to $1.77-$1.97/kg.

BAY OF PLENTY BAY OF PLENTY Interest in the RANGIURU sale grew last Tuesday. Two lines of six prime steeers averaged 743kg and 778kg. The lighter of the two were Limousin and had better yield, so sold for $3.08/kg, with Hereford-Friesian making $2.96/kg.

All cows were dairy and prices reflected

strong demand. The section was topped by 560kg Friesian & Friesian-cross at $2.15/kg while other lines 482-506kg fetched $1.94-$1.96/kg. Prices for R2 Hereford-Friesian steers were impressive as 372-410kg lifted to $3.05-$3.06/kg.

Heavier heifers of same breeding made $2.82/kg, with a slight premium for Hereford, 395kg, at $2.86/kg. Autumnborn steers, 265kg, returned $890. The only RD1 steers under $600 were dairy, and a feature line of Angus-cross, 313kg, reached $995, while all other lines traded at $620-$760. Two pens of Angus heifers met keen interest and the top line at 244kg made $815, and the second cut, 206kg, $680. Beef-Friesian, 178-224kg, returned $655-$730.

Sheep numbers were very low and prime lambs varied from $91 up to $172, with ewes making $74.50-$93.50.

Dairy Service Bulls.

pggwrightson.co.nz/ deferabull

TARANAKI TARANAKI The cattle fair set a new precedent for store prices at TARANAKI and another week of good weather meant that continued last Wednesday. Older cattle numbers were limited but medium beefFriesian steers, 343-366kg, sold to $3.09/ kg, with a heavier line of two HerefordFriesian, 480kg, earning $2.85/kg. BeefFriesian also made a premium in the heifer pens at $2.74/kg, however, 472kg Hereford-Friesian managed $1295 at that $/kg level. Hereford bulls were eyed up for the dairy herds in both the R2 and R1 pens, with the older boys weighing 296kg and earning $4.31/kg, while 170-235kg R1s sold for $700-$850, with the lighter line up to $4.12/kg. A premium of 40c/ kg or $100-$150 was very evident for R1 beef-dairy steers over their heifer equivalents. Both sections improved in price and Angus-Friesian steers, 230256kg, managed $830-$910, while heifers of same breeding and 198-223kg mainly traded at $620-$700. Prime and boner numbers were low, though the two lines of two steers apiece were very consistent as 657-772kg earned $2.93-$2.94/kg.

POVERTY BAY POVERTY BAY The MATAWHERO yards followed the same trend as the rest of the North Island as the 1200 store lambs firmed another notch. The average sale price lifted $2/ head even though lambs were lighter on average. Good male lambs sold for $146$150, with mediums selling quite well at $135-$141. The core of the pens were ewe lambs which were largely short on any weight. One heavy pen made $150, while the better presented medium lines were $130-$131. Rest were a little too longterm for bidders, subdued at $100.50$117. Two pens of mixed sex lambs did as well as the males, with the heavy pen at $158, and a medium line making $142.

Nearly all the prime lambs were $148$156.

HAWKE’S BAY HAWKE’S BAY Store ewe lamb prices sky-rocketed at STORTFORD LODGE last Wednesday as

a large bench of local buyers was fiercely competitive. These prices followed hot on the hooves of a strong prime lamb market last Monday.

Top lines of all sexes traded consistently over $200, with very heavy cryptorchid lambs up to $215. Other very heavy male lines strengthened to $180-$212, and heavy types, $149$178.50. Ewe lambs were strong as very heavy types lifted to $182.50-$206, heavy $170.50-$180, and good $144.50-$158.

Ewe numbers were steady and demand strong. The two-tooth market was a game of two halves as per head budgets were in play and heavy types softened to $133 while medium-good lifted to $137.

Top 2-4-tooth ewes managed $193, with the remainder at $121-$133. Seven very heavy mixed age ewes achieved $226.50, with other very heavy lines lifting to $172.50-$199. Heavy types managed $141.50-$164, and good to very good ewes were steady at $130-$139. Medium to medium-good types returned $112$127, and lighter types, $94-$110. Five very heavy wethers fetched $199.

Twelve 619kg in-calf Angus & AngusHereford cows were the only prime cattle on offer and they were quickly snapped up for $1486, $2.40/kg.

A lift in throughput of store lambs last Wednesday was met by a much larger bench of buyers and locals pushed out the outside competition. Much of the increase in number was in the ewe lamb pens. Buyers needed at least $130 to even enter the market and that was spent on a line of medium mixed sex, while similar weighted ewe lambs lifted to $146-$151. Medium to medium-good ewe lambs made $145-$158, with good to heavy types earning $153-$174. Good to heavy males made $157-$169, and the remainder $149-$157.

A decent yarding of breeding ewes also had their time in the sun, though buyers were selective. A line of wellbred Romney mixed age were scanned to close to lambing for a percentage but still made $200, while Perendale to a Perendale ram fetched $182.50. A small line of 2-tooths sold well at $196, though a line with a lesser lambing percentage made $167. Two pens of ewes with lambs-at-foot carried on the spring like theme and the top line of 17 Romney ewes and 28 healthy lambs sold exceptionally well at $112.50 all counted.

Every line of store cattle sold had dairy blood to a high degree and that was very notable in prices. The feature of the yarding was a consignment of 32 R2 bulls, which made good value. The lighter line at 475kg was slightly better in condition and made $2.97/kg over the 500kg line at $2.89/kg. R2 heifer prices improved and Hereford-Friesian, 356432kg, fetched $2.73-$2.79/kg. A line of crossbred heifers were mainly HerefordJersey and at 370kg these made a slight discount of $2.68/kg on the cleaner Hereford-Friesian. All the R1 steers and heifers were from one property and were drafted into Friesian through to Hereford-Friesian and those in between.

The best sellers were three HerefordFriesian steers, 165kg, $690, with these pushing to $4.18/kg. All other lines sold below $3/kg for per head values of $480$570. The Hereford-Friesian heifers were more popular than the Angus-Friesian, with the latter selling at a $100 discount to their lighter sisters.

MANAWATU MANAWATU The prime sheep sale at FEILDING last Monday had a bit of a turning of the tide as lamb numbers dropped but ewes from more central areas filled up the pens.

The top line of mixed age ewes reached $189 and very good 2-tooths, $144-$148.

Most other 2-tooths traded at $111-$139.

Light-medium and medium ewes earned $86-$110, with medium to good types

Markets

making $113-$139. There was also a good portion that sold for $140-$166. Two lines of mixed sex lambs hit the magic $200 mark but from there very little differentiated sexes as a firm market had all lines of very heavy types, ewes included, making $181-$189, with heavy types earning $162-$177.

Very few lines sold for less than $140.

Processors were out in force for a bigger yarding of cattle. A feature line of 13 Angus cows sold for $2.21/kg, and prime Friesian cows, 540-650kg, also hit that mark at $2.20-$2.24/kg.

Many eyes were on the first feeder calf sale at MANFIELD with plenty of speculation on how these sales will go under the cloud of Mycoplasma bovis. Concerns were put to rest as 160 calves sold to a wide bench of buyers for very good prices. The first pen of Friesian bulls set the tone at $310 and Hereford-Friesian also reached that level. Top money was paid for a pen of Charolais-cross at $440. Good Friesian bulls made $240-$310, and medium $175$210, while Hereford-Friesian sold for $280-$310 and $170-$200.

Charolais-cross heifers sold well at $260-$310, while there was quite a bit of variance for HerefordFriesian as the top line made $240-$290, though medium and small traded at $100-$190.

RONGOTEA offered another small store cattle yarding last Wednesday, however they were joined by the first of the spring calves, New Zealand Farmers Livestock agent Darryl Harwood reported. Cows featured in a few different ways, including the ever present Friesian boners, 516560kg, at $1.69/kg. They were joined by run-with-bull beef cows and Charolais, 575kg, earned $1110, and Angus, 415kg, $745.

In-calf Friesian heifers sold for $920, Jersey $1070 and crossbred, $875. There was little in the way of prime cattle, but R2 Hereford bulls, 577kg, came close and sold for $2.89/kg, while 545kg Jersey returned $2.57/kg. A pen of 422kg Hereford-Friesian heifers sold well at $2.70/kg, while Friesian, 359415kg, were off the pace at $2.11$2.17/kg. Beef cattle were sought after in the R1 pens as 228kg Angus steers fetched $750, and Red Devon, 215kg, $615. Lighter Hereford-Friesian, 150kg, also sold well at $560, while bulls, 220kg, made $560. Dairy blood was much more prominent through the heifer pens and Hereford-Friesian, 207-275kg, looked buyable, selling up to $720. There was more juice in the tank for Angus-cross, 215kg at $660, and Shorthorn, 223kg, $780, though crossbred were cheap at $250.

Weaner Angus-cross bulls, 107140kg, fetched $500, while beefFriesian heifers of similar weight traded at $360-$400. A good selection of spring calves suited all budgets. Big Friesian bulls sold for $130-$185, and smaller, $80-$120. Hereford-Friesian sold to $245-$340, and second cuts, $150-$180. In the heifer pens Hereford-Friesian came in tops at $200-$250, with smaller types making $110-$170. Angus-cross heifers sold for $80-$95.

Mixed age ewes made $119, and mixed sex lambs were strong at $126-$146.

Calving has kicked up a gear

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018 in Manawatu and two calf sales were held at MANFIELD PARK last week. The latter was last Thursday with 180 calves in attendance, of which a larger portion were Friesian bulls than the Monday sale. Prices were solid and the top Friesian made $200-$250, medium $150-$190 and small, $75-$90.

Charolais-cross sold for $250, Angus-Friesian $180-$200 and Hereford-Friesian, $310. In the heifer pens Charolais-cross took top honors at $245, while AngusFriesian made $180-$210, and Hereford-Friesian, $185-$200.

It was a bit of a so-so store cattle sale at FEILDING on Friday.

Quality was reasonable but not noteworthy with a large number of bulls the only feature. R2 steers were a scrambled mixture in terms of quality and pricing. Some 395-405kg Hereford steers were the strongest at $3.30-$3.40/kg, though 440-470kg Charolais-cross weren’t far behind at $3.05-$3.10/ kg. A few pens of 390-435kg Friesian steers made $2.30-$2.50/ kg. Three pens of traditional heifers broke above $3/kg, putting 365-440kg at $2.95-$3.15/kg.

Other 355-485kg beef-cross heifers regularly sold at $2.75-$2.80/ kg. Two lines of nice 520-535kg Angus and Angus-Hereford bulls sold for $3/kg, with some 370460kg Friesians at $2.75-$2.80/ kg. Traditional and Simmentalcross RD1 steers, 195-245kg, made $3.90-$4.10/kg. Traditional heifers, 195-245kg, $690-$870, $3.45-$3.90/kg, and 185-215kg Hereford-Friesian $3.30-$3.40/kg.

R1 Friesian bulls, 220-320kg, made $3.30-$3.40/kg. A token selection of autumn-born 105-110kg Frieisan and Hereford-Friesian bulls were $545-$580, $5.25-$5.30/ kg.

Store lambs were thrust into alltime record territory as another $10/head was added. Average per head pricing across the main pens was $153. Whether male lambs were good or heavy mattered little at $167-$177.50. Medium male lambs were $141-$161. Good and heavy ewe lambs averaged $158$166 with medium $148-$159 and lighter $135. Good run-with-ram ewes began the sale at $190, but other more medium lines were at $153-$168. Decent scannedin-lamb mixed age ewes made $163-$173, whereas similar 4-6 year pens, SIL 156-176%, made $187-$198.50. Solid lines of fourtooth and six-tooth Romney’s, SIL 160-172%, were at $200-$206.

CANTERBURY CANTERBURY High prices drew out larger numbers of store lambs to CANTERBURY PARK last Tuesday but the yarding of nearly 1800 met a determined bench of buyers, which drove the market up. Cattle numbers also increased for the same reason and while the prime steers held value, heifers came back in price.

There was no faulting the store lamb market as a mainly good quality offering of meat breeds was penned and joined by wool breeds that sold at similar levels. Two small pens of heavy cryptorchid returned $151-$161, while per head buying in the mixed sex pens meant medium through to very good lambs sold for $131-$151, with heavier types making $152-$166. Merino wethers fetched $137-$151 and

a heavy line of mixed sex, $153.

Good Corriedale wethers returned $138-$147. Three small lines of medium condition, in-lamb breeding ewes followed, with two from one property making $137$151 and the other slotting in the middle at $148. There was no letup in the prime lamb pens as the market held the previous week’s level and buyers spent $150$197 on the bulk of the offering.

Prime ewes took a lift of $7-$10.

Common for heavier types was $184 up to $228, while mediumgood lines lifted to $156-$177.

Light-medium and medium sold for $114-$154.

The prime cattle yarding was mainly Angus-cross or Herefordcross, which generally are a

Buy now.

Pay later.

pggwrightson.co.nz/ deferabull beef-dairy mix, though not in every case. Finished Angus and Angus-cross steers, 615-740kg, consistently traded at $3.01-$3.07/ kg, with medium weight but finished beef-cross earning $2.85$2.95/kg. The market was firm for forward stores at $2.80-$2.90/kg.

Heifer buyers were very gun-shy after the high prices the previous week proved too expensive. The market lost on average 11c/kg as buyers tightened up the budgets and hit a price ceiling at $2.90/kg.

Angus, 553-645kg, managed $2.88$2.89/kg, though 42 of the 49 head offered sold for $2.76-$2.87/ kg, and varied from local trade through to heavy prime types.

The only other class in the pens of significance was the prime cows and Hereford, 587-618kg, made $2.17-$2.22/kg.

Few store cattle were penned and quality was very mixed.

The buyers were still very much present and good lines met keen interest. Highlights included four R2 Angus heifers, 364kg, which managed $2.90/kg, in stark contrast to a similar weighted line of Friesian-cross which made just $1.39/kg. Hand-reared R1 Limousin-cross steers were chased hard and rightly so. They sold exceptionally well at $1075 for the top pen of 261kg, while the second cut weighed 206kg and made $730. Angus was also a star attraction in the R1 pens and steers, 186kg, fetched $810, and heifers, 180kg, $690. Prices for seven mixed sex Friesian, 245kg, could not be sniffed at either as they went under the hammer for $700.

With cattle numbers very low last Thursday sale attendee’s main attention at COALGATE was on the sheep pens, though apart from a big entry of prime lambs, volume was not much better here.

Of the 2300 head yarding 67%

were prime lambs, and of that over 90% sold for $160-$214 as prices firmed $5 per head. No prime lambs made less than $140, while a small store yarding had few dropping below $120. The better store lambs sold exceptionally well, trading up to $150-$165, with the balance earning $120-$149.

The top line of 18 in-lamb ewes reached $240, with two other lines of lesser quality earning $150-$160. A line of 15 ewes with 20 lambs-at-foot made $87 all counted. A line of seven very heavy wethers reached $281.

Heavier ewes mainly traded at $150-$178, with medium making $126-$148 and the remainder, $60-$117.

Cattle prices were healthy for the better prime cattle and two steers, 470-490kg, reached $2.84$2.90/kg, while a heavier heifer, 555kg, made $2.72/kg. The only feature of the store sale was a consignment of Angus cows, of which 21 were vetted-in-calf to the Angus bull and the balance empty.

These made processor value, with the in-calf lines weighing 429505kg and earning $2.10-$2.17/ kg, and the empty cows, 433kg, $2.21/kg.

SOUTH CANTERBURY SOUTH CANTERBURY Sheep schedule prices are continuing their steady upwards trend, and the TEMUKA sale is reflecting each step as buyers come forward with slightly better budgets each week and their game face on. However the previous week’s high cattle prices could not be sustained as fewer buyers came forward.

Prime lamb numbers did nudge below the 1,000 head mark but consignments of very forward store lambs from the Chatham Islands and Otaio went some way to fill the gap. While these heavier store lambs still had room to grow they sold to high demand at $160$170, they still sat at the lower end of the prime price range, where 80% of the lambs offered made $170-$214.

Other mixed sex – mainly wether and ewe lambs – sold on a lifting market with good types making $157-161, and medium very similar at $155-$157. No ewe lamb lines could be purchased for less than $153, though there was some real heavy weights in this section.

A line of 60 Merino-cross mixed sex did make a discount on other similar weighted lines as they went under the hammer for $145, which is still good money in anyone’s books.

Vendors can rely on the ewe market to be consistent and despite a lift in numbers it was just that. The top line of nine reached $266, with two other small pens making $220. Most of the trading however happened in a $130-$178 range, while most male sheep sold for $106-$136.

Cattle buyers who turned up with space to fill the previous week were absent and that had a significant effect on prices, with most classes losing 10-20c/kg.

Just a lone Shorthorn-cross steer managed to reach $3.00/kg, while Angus, 485kg, lost ground and came in at $2.71/kg. Prices were also back for HerefordFriesian, 508-761kg, with all trading at $2.79-$2.89/kg.

Similar movements were seen

39

in the prime heifer pens as the market lost around 10-20c/kg with Angus-cross, 543-555kg, earning $2.69-$2.70/kg, and Devon-cross, 437-463kg, $2.50-$2.61/kg. More Friesian heifers came forward this week and were one of the more resilient sections as 470-491kg earned $2.41-$2.54/kg.

The news did not improve in the cow pens and again 10-15c/kg was taken off the previous week’s prices. Angus cows, 599-750kg, returned $2.25-$2.32/kg.

Boner cow numbers crept up and $2.00/kg was not so readily available. Heavy types, 560-672kg, made $1.95-$2.01/kg, while most other lines, 415-555kg, sold for $1.80-$1.88/kg.

OTAGO OTAGO The yarding was a mixed bunch but those with quality were snapped up by Waikato and Bay of Plenty buyers. Older cattle were steady for the majority though R1 and autumn born R1 lines softened.

Angus-Hereford R2 steers, 417-425kg, were steady at $2.81$2.82/kg, as were Angus-Friesian, 386-420kg, $2.76-$2.86/kg, though Hereford-Friesian, 396-427kg, softened to $2.78-$2.85/kg.

Most R2 heifers maintained recent levels with beef-cross, 345-432kg, earning $2.72-$2.76/ kg. Hereford-cross, 368-488kg managed $2.59-$2.72/kg, while Hereford-Friesian, 358-469kg lifted to $2.67-$2.75/kg.

Both the R1 and autumn-born R1 market had a softer tone after the solid results of the previous week.

Angus-Hereford heifers, 185225kg, traded at $585-$735, while Hereford-Friesian, 181-212kg, eased to $615-$680.

Autumn-born R1 HerefordFriesian heifers softened with 102-142kg lines earning $475$505, while 90-100kg managed $360-$470. Bull lines were also back and Hereford-cross, 96114kg, returned $370-$555 with Hereford-Friesian, 94-100kg, trading similarly at $435-$550.

The prime market was steady for most and beef and exotic steers, 503-602kg, traded at $2.74-$2.83/kg, while beef-dairy, 502-605kg, were close behind at $2.68-$2.79/kg.

All prime cows, 481-532kg, traded at $2.01-$2.06/kg, while 626-698kg lines fetched $2.31$2.45/kg.

Boner cows, 422-511kg, softened marginally to $1.77$1.97/kg.

SOUTHLAND SOUTHLAND Prime sheep were the main feature at CHARLTON last Thursday, and met determined bidding from a large gallery of buyers, PGG Wrightson agent David Morrison reported.

A small store lamb yarding was penned and easily absorbed by a competitive bench of buyers. Top lines made $140-$145, medium $120-$130 and light, $110.

Heavy prime lambs sold as high as $215, with medium types strong at $150-$170, and lighter, $130$140. Prices were similar through the prime ewe pens, which reached $200 and had medium lines trading at $150-$180. Lighter lines made $110-$130, while 2-tooths sold for $120-$150. Rams fetched $80-$100.

Markets

40 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 30, 2018 NI SLAUGHTER STEER

SI SLAUGHTER COW

SI SLAUGHTER LAMB

($/KG)

($/KG)

GOOD STORE EWE LAMBS AT STORTFORD LODGE

($/KG)

($/HD)

5.55

4.40

7.95

162

high $130-$166 to very good lights Good ewes at Feilding

$150-$170 Medium prime lambs at Charlton

Prime Sale

Milk futures give best price indicator

LOOKS GOOD: Increased enthusiasm from mills and stable feed grain prices have arable farmers optimistic about the new season’s harvest.

Grains market looks good Annette Scott

M

annettescott@globalhq.co.nz

IXED indicators driving volatility in the global grains market are not expected to affect better times in the local domestic industry, Federated Farmers grains chairman Brian Leadley says.

Adding to the optimism of better times for local growers is the move this month of major supermarket chain Countdown to use only New Zealand-grown wheat in its bread and buns.

“That’s a real big plus for grain growers and for Kiwi consumers to know that all Countdown’s bread and buns will be made from our own grain.”

In the past Countdown has used Australian grain.

With increased enthusiasm in the milling market Leadley

expects there will be a bit more milling wheat go in the ground this season.

Contracts for next year at $430-$440 a tonne are sitting well up on last year’s $350/t.

“The mills are certainly back with more enthusiasm and for growers we are at sustainable levels and with options, especially given many of the milling varieties are late winter and spring planting.”

Ethical and contamination controversy around palm kernel has helped stabilise the domestic feed market.

“There’s steady demand from the dairy industry, prompted too by Mycoplasma bovis and the need for more good dairy feeds.

“Farmers are selling grain direct from the silo at some quite acceptable prices with feed barley at $400/t and wheat at $410. Certainly, prices have stabilised around there on the back, too, of a lift in meat values.”

DON’T WAIT UNTIL AFTER WEANING TO THINK ABOUT HEIFER-DEVELOPMENT, IT’S TOO LATE. RAISE SUPERIOR HERD-REPLACEMENTS THAT GROW

AN EXTRA KILOGRAM PER FORTNIGHT DURING THE MILK-FEEDING PHASE.

For further informaaon:

phone: 0800 80 90 92, or email: qoc@bell-booth.co.nz

Leadley said with lamb kill sheets coming in at $180 there are good options for arable farmers there, too.

As for the international scene, NZ’s main competition is Australia but if other markets came on that scene there could be a potential reduction of worldwide grain.

“But right now arable farmers are a lot more comfortable looking forward than they are looking back,” Leadley said.

On the international scene the recent release of the United States Agriculture Department’s monthly world supply and demand estimates (WASDE) report was supportive for most offshore grain markets but the recent impacts of the US-China trade rhetoric has created a volatile global market.

Trade talks between the US and China have not yet produced an outcome as both countries previously

threatened tariffs are now in place.

That has weighed on Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean values and has occasionally had spillover pressure on the CBOT corn and wheat markets.

In contrast to the downward pressure, support for CBOT wheat futures has been found from multiple reductions to the production estimates for the European Union and Black Sea countries now harvesting their summer wheat crops.

Following a decline in the production of wheat in the EU and Black Sea updated forecasts of global production and end stocks have also had a bullish impact on the market.

The US-China trade tensions have stalled US soybean exports to China and it’s expected if there is a continuation of demand for animal feed from China, it will need to source that elsewhere.

MILK prices forecast by most dairy companies are a little rich relative to where the markets for dairy commodities sit. Prices in the mid $6/kg milksolids (MS) range now seem more likely than $7/kg MS. Susan Kilsby Milk price futures trading on AgriHQ Analyst the NZX Dairy Derivatives market provide an excellent reference point to where the market is at. Prices on this market are updated as frequently as trades occur with prices constantly updated throughout the day and much of the night. This market has recently been trading near the $6.60/kg MS level.

There are nearly 4000 open positions in the milk price futures contract for the 2018-19 season – representing nearly 24 million kg MS. The dairy markets have softened a little over the past month and there is no clear direction in the market. Milk supply volumes are up in South America, resulting in more competition in global markets for whole milk powder. Milk fat products continue to trade at elevated levels but we are starting to see some downward price pressure on these products.

Skim milk powder pricing is holding at relatively low levels because of large stocks of this product languishing in the northern hemisphere.

Most of the extra milk recently produced in Europe and the United States has been made into cheese. Therefore, prices of standard varieties of cheese remain under pressure but specialist varieties such as mozzarella and cream cheese are doing much better.

The global market for dairy commodities is being dragged down a little by the uncertainty caused by both the US and China implementing extra trade barriers against each other. While these tariffs do not directly impact the trade of New Zealand’s dairy products they are causing uncertainty in the markets. Uncertainty generally means more cautious behaviour and doesn’t usually bode well for prices. susan.kilsby@nzx.com

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