NZ teen makes cut for Cobber relay

HEADING INTO COMPETITION: Taylor Bird, 19, will be competing with dogs Bruno, Kate, Tom and Moss.

Staff reporter

THE 12 working dog teams representing New Zealand and Australia that will compete in the inaugural Cobber Challenge Relay have been announced.

Representing New Zealand this year is 19-yearold shepherd Taylor Bird. His Team Hakatere Station is made up of four dogs – two huntaways and two heading dogs.

The new relay format recognises that farmers often work dogs in teams, or pick certain dogs to do different tasks, like mustering mobs of cattle or pushing sheep through yards.

Now in its seventh year, the 2022 Cobber Challenge Relay will run from Monday, August 22 to Sunday, September 11.

Farmers have nominated teams of two, three or four dogs.

Each day of the three-week competition, the farmer will select one of their nominated dogs to wear a GPS collar, to track how far, fast and for how long they work. The results will be combined to crown the winning team of the Cobber Challenge Relay trophy.

The data is uploaded daily to the Cobber Challenge website so fans can follow their favourite working dog teams at cobberchallenge.com.au and on the Cobber Dog Facebook page.

Cobber’s marketing manager, Kellie Savage, said: “We had so many amazing nominations this year, and the 12 we’ve selected span from Bodallin in Western Australia, across to Mount Somers in New Zealand, almost 5000km.”

Competitors for the 2022 Cobber Challenge Relay are: • Nick Foster of Boorowa, NSW

Team Koonama Working Kelpies including dogs

Cracka, Drake, Scorcha and Bundy • Olly Hanson of Corinella, NSW

Team Lost River Kelpies including dogs Jake,

Bowie and Hex • Sarah Richards of Coolah, NSW

Team Nerremen Kelpies including dogs Kora,

Spud, Cash and Tank • Georgie Constance of Binalong, NSW

Team The Young Guns including dogs Belle,

Beau, Murray and Jess • Darius Cosgrave of Tintinara, South Australia

Team Superior Wool Merino including dogs Jip and Boots • Ali Hodgson of Greenways, South Australia

Team Circus including dogs Opie, Becham Floyd and Midi. • Jordan Flemming of Fingal, Tasmania

Team Redhead Kelpies including dogs Nuts,

Claire and Nip • Ryan Eade of Bodallin, Western Australia

Team Hill View Kelpies including dogs Flick,

Millie, Tezz and Suzie • Taylor Bird of Mount Somers, New Zealand

Team Hakatere Station including dogs Bruno,

Kate, Tom and Moss. • Melissa Smith and Dan McKinnon of Skipton,

Victoria

Team Anywhere Crutching including dogs Caviar

Keith, Roy, Pip and Jude • Dane Simmonds of Myrniong, Victoria

Team Parwan Prime including dogs Ruby and

Tully • Genine Jackson of Charters Towers, Queensland

Team Turbo including dogs Whiskey, Buck and

Nick

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We had so many amazing nominations this year, and the 12 we’ve selected span from Bodallin in Western Australia, across to Mount Somers in New Zealand, almost 5000km.

Kellie Savage Cobber Challenge Relay

LIC brings home large returns on shares

Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz

FULLY paid-up dairy farmers who are shareholders of LIC and users of its services will benefit from a near 50% increase in the annual dividend after the co-operative reported a 16.5% rise in net profit after tax.

The 2022 financial year results included an increase in dividend to 18.43c a share, accounting for $26.2 million distribution, including 80% of underlying earnings.

The latest dividend announcement represents an 18.5% gross return on the current share price of $1.39, a yield that would be hard to beat anywhere in the New Zealand share market.

A special dividend of 10c fully imputed was paid on January 21 to partially distribute funds from the divestment of the automation division last June.

Therefore, shareholders have received a gross return from the FY22 year of about 28% from the farmerowned co-op or 20% fully imputed.

About $4m of the latest dividend amount is expected to be applied on repaying nil-paid shares dating back to 2018, when they were issued to shareholders as part of a share simplification process.

Chair Murray King said the FY22 increase of 5.7% in revenue to $263m and 16.5% increase in net profit after tax to $26.7m was a record result.

It was driven by increased farmer spend on premium genetics and herd improvement services to breed more efficient cows with a lighter environmental footprint.

Difficulties encountered during the year included covid-19, inflationary pressures and supply challenges. LIC thanked farmers for their support, many of whom faced similar challenges.

“Delivering value for our farmers is at the centre of everything we do and it’s results like this that enable us to do just that – through our herd improvement products and services, a solid dividend, and, importantly, the right R&D investment to keep their herds profitable and sustainable into the future.”

Farmers’ use of fresh semen from premium bull teams has increased genetic gain, and long-term users of LIC genetics have almost doubled the speed of improvement in their herds over the past decade.

King said the co-op has invested heavily into genomics over the past 30 years and new research has confirmed farmers are reaping the rewards of this now.

“We don’t need to milk more cows, we just need to milk the best cows and we’re really pleased that our farmers are making solid progress in this space.” LIC put $18.2m into research and development during the year, representing 6.9% of revenue.

A large portion was directed at the large-scale methane trial, with CRV and funding support from the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre, which is aimed at discovering a genetic link for methane production to ultimately enable farmers to breed cows that emit less methane.

King said the trial has been measuring feed intake and methane emissions from 300 young bulls and results from this phase are expected to be released later this year.

The outlook for trading this financial year is good with underlying earnings in the range of $20m to $26m, assuming no major adverse climate event or milk price change.

We don’t need to milk more cows, we just need to milk the best cows.

Murray King LIC

IMPROVED LIVESTOCK: LIC chair Murray King says the rise in revenue was driven by increased farmer spend on premium genetics and herd improvement services to breed more efficient cows.

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