Farmers Weekly NZ May 13 2019 by AgriHQ

8 Gabrielle makes it to the top Vol 18 No 18, May 13, 2019

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Methane target levels surprise Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz

HE level of long-term methane reduction targets announced by the Government last week surprised Victoria University climate change expert Professor Dave Frame but he’s telling farmers not to make too much of them. He is pleased the Zero Carbon Bill contains targets that differentiate between long and short-lived gases and that the targets will be subject to periodic revisions. However, the level of the methane reduction targets – 10% by 2030 and between 24% and 47% of 2017 levels by 2050 – is higher than he expected. “I’m a bit surprised that the Government have opted for methane targets that go well beyond the level of cuts needed to stabilise temperatures, which may invite a future government to re-open the issue but it’s important to note that the steeper end of the range of possible methane cuts would only be triggered if the rest of the world gets much more serious about climate mitigation. “It’s important not to make too much of targets as credibility will come from actual policies, not aspirations for 2030 or 2050.:” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged the importance of agriculture but climate change

is the biggest challenge and agriculture needed to be part of the solution. “That is why we have listened to the science and also heard the industry and created a specific target for biogenic methane,” she said. “The split gases approach we’ve agreed on is consistent with that commitment.” The provisional reduction targets for 2050 will be subject to review by the Independent Climate Change Commission in 2024 to take account of changes in scientific knowledge and other developments. The commission will support emissions reduction targets through advice, guidance and five-yearly emissions budgets. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle supports the direction of the Bill but questioned the science behind the 2050 targets, saying they are based on global scenarios and not grounded in a NZ context. “This range for methane, combined with reducing nitrous oxide to net zero goes beyond expert scientific advice for what is necessary for NZ agriculture to limit global warming to no more than at 1.5C,” he said. “If we get this wrong it will have significant impacts on not just the dairy sector but the economic, social and cultural wellbeing of NZ.” Beef + Lamb chairman Andrew Morrison said the Government is asking more of agriculture than

fossil fuel emitters elsewhere in the economy. Reduction targets should be based on the warming impact of each gas, he said. “An equitable approach requires carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide to go to net zero and methane to be reduced and stabilised by between 10% to 22%.” “It’s unreasonable to ask farmers to be cooling the climate, as the Government’s proposed targets would do, without expecting the rest of the economy to also do the same.” Meat Industry Association chief executive Tim Ritchie said it is strange targets for agriculture do not allow farmers to offset emissions by planting trees, which is contrary to a recent report by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton. “It would lead to the bizarre situation where fossil fuel emitters can offset their emissions by buying forest but farmers cannot offset their emissions by planting forest on their own land.” Federated Farmers vicepresident Andrew Hoggard said the methane reduction targets send a message to farmers that NZ is prepared to give up on pastoral farming. “This decision is frustratingly cruel because there is nothing I can do on my farm today that will give me confidence I can ever achieve these targets. “Let’s be clear, the only way to achieve reductions of that level is to cut production.”

Winter started three months ago Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz HAMISH Wilson’s winter management started three months ago. Dry weather since New Year has forced the Clydevale, south Otago, farmer to feed silage and nuts to his stock since early March but despite recent rain Wilson will not get any let up with ewes going onto crops in a few weeks. A healthy 75mm to 80mm of rain last month eased extremely dry conditions over most of south Otago where about half the normal average rain has

fallen so far this year. Wilson says the rain helped feed quality but quantity is still short. Crops have responded to the rain and will help farmers get through winter, he says. He has bought 120 bales of lucerne balage and 12 tonnes of nuts to help him through late summer and autumn and sold half his 4000 lambs as store. Those lambs he did sell prime were about 1kg lighter than usual. The dry weather has prompted Wilson to consider growing lucerne as a backstop for future dry seasons.

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NEWS

WEATHER OVERVIEW

20 Farmer trust in nitrate debate A fresh generation of irrigated and dryland Canterbury farmers is rallying in the face of more environmental rules.

Newsmaker ��26 New Thinking ��27 Opinion ��28

Last week was dominated by northerly winds. This week is dominated by westerly winds. Monday is cooler, Tuesday milder and Wednesday cooler then warming up again late week. This is reflected in the daytime highs which fluctuate a bit across the country, especially in the South Island. Generally speaking, this week high pressure dominates to our north, which encourages more westerlies over New Zealand. This weekend high pressure remains around northern regions but another rainmaker moves northwards and might bring rain to the North Island by Sunday and heavy falls on Saturday to the South Island. Next week we have the chance of a wintry southerly before the next high rolls in from Tasmania – the potential southerly is one to monitor.

NZX PASTURE GROWTH INDEX – Next 15 days

Pasture Growth Index Above normal Near normal Below normal

7-DAY TRENDS

Wind

Rain Rain moves up the West Coast on Tuesday with heavy falls turning to showers on Wednesday as it crosses the North Island. Rain returns to the West Coast on Friday and Saturday and spreads over the North Island early Sunday.

World ��36

ON FARM STORY

Temperature It’s cooler for many places on Monday but the week ahead sees fluctuating temperatures, some above normal others around normal. Later this week and this weekend we go back to sub-tropical northerlies but next week there’s some potential for an Antarctic southerly.

Westerly winds dominate NZ this week with a southerly lean for Monday, a northerly lean for Tuesday and a southerly lean again for Wednesday and Thursday. Milder northwesters return for Friday and Saturday. A due south change is likely next week.

Highlights/ Extremes Nothing too extreme showing up this week other than more heavy rain for the West Coast and a chance of some rough weather on Sunday. It’s too early to lock in but there might also be a wintry southerly next week.

14-DAY OUTLOOK

WeatherWatch.co.nz now forecasts the first half of 2019 will be drier than average for a large portion of the country, in particular the upper and central North Island and eastern South Island. We do have rainmakers coming back into the forecast, though, with one this weekend bringing more rain and showers nationwide but totals vary with perhaps only 10mm to 20mm falling in our driest regions like Waikato, Manawatu and Canterbury between now and next Monday.

SOIL MOISTURE INDEX – 09/05/2019

34 Bring on the tough challenges Being the boss isn’t easy and it’s even harder going solo on tough hill country prone to long, cold winters and dry summers. But for Taihape farmer Mairi Whittle it’s her dream come true.

REGULARS Real Estate ��37-41 Employment ��42 Classifieds ��42 Livestock ��43-51 Markets ��52-56 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: $962. Need help now? You can talk to someone who understands the pressures of farming by phoning your local Rural Support Trust on 0800 787 254.

Source: WeatherWatch.co.nz

For more weather information go to farmersweekly.co.nz/weather

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

M bovis project activity surges Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz CHANGES in management and oversight of the Mycoplasma bovis response are aimed at strengthening the eradication programme at a regional level, programme director Geoff Gwyn says. An independent report on the surge in the programme, announced by MPI last month, has been commissioned to assess its cause and effects. The report will also identify other immediate improvements. Gwyn says there’s no textbook for such a programme. “Meaning we are learning every step of the way and regularly needing to refine our approaches. “We knew late last year we were going to have a surge in workload and I underestimated it, I didn’t forecast it well enough Gwyn said. MPI said late last month it was ramping up in the programme over the six weeks leading into winter.

That involved 1100 properties including 300 farmers identified with high-risk animals for immediate contact, of which about 250 were expected to go under notice of direction movement controls.

We knew late last year we were going to have a surge in workload and I underestimated it. I didn’t forecast it well enough. Geoff Gwyn MPI A further 800 properties were to be contacted about very low-risk animal movements. Gwyn said as of May 9, 166 of the 300 farmers had been contacted with about a third issued notices of direction.

“Early indications are there’s less regulatory controls than we anticipated but it is early days.” The properties caught up in the surge are predominantly beef farms. “It is unfortunate that there is a current backlog of farmers that we need to contact and possibly place under movement restrictions. “This is a disappointing situation to get to and we understand the pressure that this puts on farmers.” The review was commissioned by the governance group overseeing the eradication programme. “The idea behind that is to understand why the surge has happened, improve oversight and decision-making and undertake determination as to whether further changes to the governance are required.” Previously chaired by Biosecurity NZ head Roger Smith, the governance group will now be chaired by former AssureQuality chief executive now public servant Kelvan Smith, appointed

BACKLOG: The Primary Industries Ministry has more farmers it has to contact and possibly put under movement controls, programme director Geoff Gwyn says.

this month as an independent chairman. Included in the ramp-up is a plan to strengthen, update and better resource the eradication programme. A team 30 staff has been established to resource calls to farmers. Management and oversight of the response function is changing with MPI’s work to strengthen at a regional level, starting in Canterbury. Gwyn said it’s likely an additional senior regional operations manager will be appointed with increased ability to resolve local issues more quickly. There will also be an increased focus on working with industry partners and key groups,

including Federated Farmers. “The day-to-day oversight of the programme requires significant capacity. We have all committed to stepping up to this challenge.” The pilot is up and running in Canterbury this week. “It may sound aspirational but I would like to think we can get 90% of decisions made at regional level without going to Wellington. “We’ll give it three months and see how it goes and if it’s working we’ll likely look at rolling it out in other regions,” Gwyn said. The technical advisory group will be reconvened ahead of its planned mid-year meeting to review the programme in light of the surge and to reassure the programme remains on track towards eradication.

Eradication is worth effort, expert says Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz ERADICATION of Mycoplasma bovis is viable and worth the effort, international consultant Dr Roger Ayling says. But there are obstacles in achieving eradication, including not knowing how it got into New Zealand, the British expert says. The work done to date is very good in that it’s determined one strain and one source of infection in NZ. “It came in through AI semen, that’s the belief for NZ and also

the belief how it came into the UK so it seems. “But where things get difficult is through the lack of good testing.” Ayling also identified the risk of spread through cattle faeces on the land as an obstacle to a successful eradication. “It is quite concerning. “In theory the organisms can survive up to 236 days whereas when you slaughter the animals you have a 60-day stand-down period before you restock. “It’s quite worrying it could survive.” Work done internationally on

the organism’s survival in the environment dated back to 2010 and was done in a laboratory environment. “They have not been out to the farms to see how the organisms survive in manure.” A member of the M bovis science advisory group in NZ, Ayling hopes an application for $30 million research funding to identify areas such as the source and better testing of imported semen and embryos and single animal testing will soon be approved. “There will be research calls going out later this month

It came in through AI semen, that’s the belief for New Zealand and also the belief how it came into the United Kingdom so it seems. Roger Ayling around NZ and around the world to get a big team involved.” Ayling said while first detected

in America in 1961 and then virtually every cattle farming country in the world since, the disease is not necessarily out of control. “It’s spreading, that’s for certain, and that’s concerning. “Eradication, while tough for the better good, in the long-term makes sense.” He said no other countries have gone for mass slaughter because of a lack of investment and lack of knowledge of what the disease could cause. “NZ is leading the way – being watched by the rest of the world waiting to see what happens.”

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Research effort must go on Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz NEW technologies will be needed for farmers to cut methane and the Government must play its part to ensure they are found, DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says. The dairy industry, like its sheep and beef counterpart, is committed to playing its part in reducing biological emissions but continued investment in methane reduction research and development is necessary and the Government has an important role to play. The search for effective solutions is more a matter of identifying and funding smart science than just spending money so partnerships between the Government and industry made sense. New Zealand needs to invest in its own research that suits local farming systems rather than relying on work done overseas. It is one thing to limit methane production in general but another to work out the best way to achieve that in a pastoral system rather than a system where stock is fed in barns, where supplying methane inhibitors in feed is made easier. Mackle is optimistic progress

HELP US: Farmers need help to understand the emissions issue, DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says.

is being made towards finding specific NZ solutions but he is also realistic about the size of the challenge. One of the first things farmers must do is understand their emissions and where they come from. As part of DairyNZ’s pansector Dairy Tomorrow strategy over the next five years every farm will need to have a farmspecific plan to manage and reduce emissions. But it’s not just farmers who need to adapt, Mackle said.

More work will be required to develop the skills of rural professionals so they can provide farmers with the best advice on ways to cut their methane emissions. When DairyNZ began working with farmers on improving water quality it found one of the biggest challenges was the need to upskill rural professional on ways to help farmers adapt to new compliance goals and requirements. Methane reduction will create similar challenges.

Hort wants big picture gas policy GROWERS’ views on the Government’s greenhouse gas goals are muted but Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman says the main issue facing the horticultural sector is emissions from fertiliser use. “Currently the only effective control mechanism is to use less fertiliser. “This means less production so is not especially desirable so guidance on how to efficiently use fertiliser is key to meeting our targets.” Chapman maintains some reduction can be achieved with better management. “But the real key to lowering emissions is a focused increase in research to develop solutions, such as the development of loweremissions fertilisers.” Better management of nitrous oxide, one of the long-lived gases, requires a programme to better manage fertilisers. The long-held concerns Horticulture NZ has over the loss of high-value soils also links to management of the sector’s gas emissions, Chapman said.

BIG PICTURE: Mike Chapman maintains any greenhouse gas policy needs to look at the wider picture of food security. “If high-quality soils are used for growing our fruit and vegetables there is a reduced need for fertiliser so regional and central government planning needs to enable growing on these soils, not just for produce, but also to meet climate targets.” Chapman said there are also broader issues relating to food security that must be included in any analysis of how the sector responds to greenhouse gas limits. That includes transport infrastructure’s impact on gas emissions and trying to grow as much as possible in areas nearer populations to reduce distance from seed to plate. That will, in turn, require water storage and more glasshouses.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

‘Tell us how,’ farmers say Frustrated farmers are bewildered by the Government’s approach to their gas emissions and want to know how they are expected to cut emissions significantly without going broke and ruining the economy. Farmers Weekly spoke to three of them. FAIRLIE farmer Mark Adams wants the Government to tell him how to stop his sheep and cattle burping. “I can work on the genetics, forages and farming system but outside of that I haven’t got a clue and I think that’s the same for all farmers.” Reducing stock numbers is too simplistic and could result in unintended consequences. “After 26 years farming here I think I’ve finally got the balance right – grazing grasses on time with the right number of animals and right systems on the right soil type. “Farmers should be rewarded for that, not penalised and we can’t reduce our way to success.” Adams, who heads a farmcatchment group in his area, will plant 10% of his farm in trees over the next two years, making

DAIRY farmers are gathering the information they will need to reduce their herd methane emissions, having been aware of the need only over the past year or so, Northland sharemilker Andrew Booth says. One of DairyNZ’s 15 climate change ambassadors, Booth said the science is clear that it is fair and appropriate for farmers to reduce and stabilise methane, rather than reduce it to net zero. “But this isn’t letting our sector off easily at all. The 2030 target, to reduce methane by 10%, is a tough ask. “It could be achievable if there is a big enough drive and buy-in from farmers but it will be a challenge. “Are the 24% to 47% numbers realistic? Only time will tell. “We are already some of the

DOES NOT COMPUTE: Mark Adams says farmers should be allowed to use trees to offset methane emissions.

wa total cover of about 15%. At the very least farmers should be able to use trees as an offset

lowest emissions dairy producers in the world. “For some of our best performing farmers there isn’t a lot of room to move and other farmers will need support as they figure out what tweaks they can carry out on farm to lower their emissions.” The best way farmers can reduce methane is by using less supplementary feed alongside other small changes to the way a farm is managed that could increase efficiencies. Booth said he had begun to model the greenhouse gas profile of his farm and had already done a lot of riparian fencing and native planting already to improve water quality. Carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions would be handled by offset tree planting.

for methane emissions but the legislation won’t allow it. That won’t stop the planting programme and he will adopt any tools he can in other ways as well. The exclusion was politics bullying the science. “My view is that if climate change is the defining issue for New Zealand then why are our science institutions financial paupers? This is a science problem that needs a science solution and without that it’s just rhetoric.” A massive education programme for farmers is needed. Adams accepts the targets for reduced carbon dioxide emissions, saying big gains are being made in farm machinery technology and the ability to use tree-planting as an offset would buy time for further advances. It is inconsistent to allow trees as an offset for some gases and not others.

BUFFERED: Northland dairy farmer Andrew Booth on the banks of the Mangakahia River where he has fenced off riparian zones and planted native trees and bushes.

UNHERALDED: Mid Canterbury cropping and livestock farmer Ian Mackenzie says 25 years of wheat crops such as this paddock of milling wheat have the same effect on carbon emissions as 25 years of pine plantations but that is not recognised. Photo: Annette Scott TO BLAME an arable or any farming system for global warming is defying all science and biology, Mid Canterbury cropping and livestock farmer Ian Mackenzie says. “It confirms my view that the politicians are just idiots who don’t know basic biology and have got this bureaucratic stupidity based on overseas ways of measuring emissions that are totally irrelevant to agriculture in New Zealand.” Mackenzie said laying the blame on the biological system for global warming defies all biological logic and until the Government thinks about what carbon farmers take out of the atmosphere in growing their crops and products it’s all a big farce. “Politicians have devised their bureaucratic model and want to make it fit the biological model. “It’s nonsense with unrealistic targets that will unnecessarily affect and adversely impact rural and wider economies. “My main premise is that we are taking carbon out of the atmosphere in growing our grains and that is not recognised. “I don’t see myself as just an arable farmer. We run livestock

too and across the whole farm system we are taking more emissions out than we are putting in and we get no credits.” Being as efficient as possible underpins Mackenzie’s farming practices. “I believe I am an efficient food producer and we have invested heavily in technology to be ultra-efficient. “The fact of the whole matter is nothing we are going to do is going to change biology. “There’s a real limit to how you can interfere with a biological system and Government won’t communicate with the rest of the world about how we farm here in NZ, which is unique in the world. “The better the crop the more carbon dioxide we take out of the atmosphere and the more efficient production versus the amount of fossil fuel used to produce it.” Mackenzie said the biggest impact for the arable sector will come from an attack on the transport industry by way of taxing fossil fuels. “Effectively, that’s taxing the NZ agricultural system and that would weigh quite heavily on arable farmers.”

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Crossbred cow’s value off the charts Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz A RISING-FOUR-YEAR-OLD crossbred cow with breeding worth among the top 10 cows in New Zealand has sold at auction for $32,000. Her four ET daughters, now in-calf rising-two-year-olds, as the next four lots auctioned, made a total of $72,000 at the dispersal sale for Roger Shepherd, at Ruatangata, near Whangarei. The sale comprised 320 crossbred cows, BW 137 PW 184, and 140 crossbred in-calf heifers, 70% of which are A2/A2. The sale grossed $870,000 and the cows averaged $1835 and the heifers $2190. The top-priced cow, CGPX-15104, is 11/16ths Jersey and 5/16ths Holstein Friesian and has a BW of 280/69 and a PW 543/69. She is A2/A2, contracted to LIC this season and next season, and supplied a bull to LIC this year.

All four daughters were sired by Kraakmans Jaydie and have LIC contracts for the same two seasons.

These were not pedigree but grade and commercial and Roger Shepherd should feel extremely proud of his lifetime breeding achievements. Bernie McGahan PGG Wrightson She was bought by a syndicate of breeders led by Stewart Anderson of Otorohanga, who said the cow’s milk fat numbers are extraordinary. The first lactation was 7.94%

EXTRAORDINARY: Crossbred four-year-old CGPX-15-104 made $32,000 because of her milk fat production and very high BW and PW.

milk fat, 222kg, 2791 litres over 226 days. The second lactation was 7.29% milk fat, 230kg, 3148 litres over 203 days. The two-season average milk fat of 7.6% is two percentage points above the national average for Jersey cows of her age and her protein is about 0.5% above the national average. She will be kept empty after her next calving at the end of July and flushed for embryos as many times as possible. “We would like to get that milk fat influence into Holstein Friesian bloodlines,” Anderson said after the sale. The cows in the herd consistently produce 400kg MS annually and have been milked once-a-day for the past six seasons to fit in with weather and ground conditions in the district. The herd was begun by Shepherd’s father in 1942 and AI was used from when it first

ALL DONE: Competition was keen for crossbred cow CGPX-15-104 at a Northland dispersal sale called by Allan Jones for PGG Wrightson dairy division.

became available in Northland. Shepherd bought the herd in 1981 and has maintained a high input of improved genetics based breeding values, capacity, somatic cell count, udder and fertility. The farm is system 1 and 21 cows are carrying LIC or CRV contracted calves. He sold 15 bull calves to LIC over the years, two of which went into Premier Sires. PGG Wrightson Northland livestock manager Bernie McGahan said the interest shown by intending buyers from all over

SATISFIED: Vendor Roger Shepherd pictured during his five-hour dispersal sale at Ruatangata, Whangarei.

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the country was unprecedented in his experience. The presale video had the most views of any posted by AgOnline. Most farmers who attended in person or had instructed agents to bid went away with some cattle. “These were not pedigree but grade and commercial and Roger Shepherd should feel extremely proud of his lifetime breeding achievements. “We knew the LIC and CRV Ambreed contracted cows would cause the most interest and the prices paid confirmed that.” PGG Wrightson staff members had put in hard yards before and during the sale, typified by the drafting agent who measured 13km on an odometer during the day. Shepherd said he was very pleased with the dispersal sale organisation, presentation and results. He was stepping down to a smaller farm nearby. PGG Wrightson dairy specialist Andrew Reyland said the tested milk fat percentages and production numbers off the Shepherd farm on low inputs and once-a-day milking were very creditable. “All of those cows will move very well for their new owners,” he said.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

We must become the world’s deli Ashburton farmer Gabrielle Thompson has become the first appointed farmer director of Silver Fern Farms in a move designed to ensure succession and development of skills around the board table. She talked to Annette Scott.

T OP-END: New Zealand needs to offer high-quality meat and crop delicatessen products – that’s the space NZ should be headed and Silver Fern Farms first-ever appointed farmer director Gabrielle Thompson is excited about that. Photo: Annette Scott

farm, irrigation was introduced by Thompson’s father-in-law Selwyn and further developed by Gabrielle and Peter when they turned to store lambs and arable about 10 years ago. “We are a lot greener and lot more fertile now. It’s just growing.” Alongside the store lamb finishing the Thompsons run their cropping operation growing grass seeds, wheat, barley, peas, clover seed and swedes and giant rape for the lamb finishing. “So, I’m never short of something to do on the farm. “Peter’s in charge. I just drive the tractor wherever I’m told and do lots of sheep work.” As a trained vet Thompson opened her first companion animal clinic and retail business in Ashburton in 2004 then grew her business by 2008 to five clinics across the lower South Island turning over $5 million and employing 40 staff. She sold the clinics to pursue

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other business interests but not before she gained extensive business experience. “The business had some interesting times with rapid growth. “Through the start-ups I have learnt how to deal with issues such as low profitability and poor cashflow and successfully steered it through these to become a topperforming company.” The performance was recognised by Veterinary Enterprises, the largest clinicowning company in New Zealand which bought the clinics in 2013. Thompson went on to buy a suffering business that sold artisan bread in supermarkets. “This business was an opportunity for me to learn about fast-moving consumable goods, supermarkets, importing and exporting.” Thompson extended the range of Pipi’s Artisan Bread in NZ and started exporting into Asia but then sold the business because of a conflict of interest for an upcoming directorship. A director of Ashburton farm services co-operative Ruralco since 2012, Thompson heads the board’s risk and audit committee and previously chaired the health and safety committee. She is a member of the Institute of Directors having completed governance and essentials courses and the company directors’ course in 2013 and the risk and LK0094416©

HEN Gabrielle Thompson was approached to put her name in the hat for the Silver Fern Farms board she saw a chance to be involved in governance of a company that is a big part of her farm business. A sheep an arable farmer, Thompson farms in partnership with her husband Peter and his brother Chris on 530 hectares at Dorie near Ashburton. The trio finish up to 14,000 store lambs a year and for three generations the family has been a loyal SFF supplier. “I was approached by a couple of directors who thought I would be a good person for this new appointment to the board. “When I thought about I thought it would be as we are suppliers to SFF for three generations and it is a big part of our business with the store lambs. “It’s good to use your energy to improve something that your own business can benefit from.” Thompson submitted her CV and was shortlisted to five then down to two and finally one. “I was pretty chuffed. “Obviously, there’s a lot for me to learn but that’s the whole point of the appointment – to get younger thought patterns around the table, someone maybe not so well known but someone with skills and experience willing to learn while part of the board.” Thompson works full time on the family farm with the sheep as well as cropping responsibilities helping cultivating and harvesting. She is responsible for the farm’s administration and health and safety, banker and supplier relationships, sales contracts and has full involvement in the strategy and succession planning for the farm. “Yes, I’m full time, that’s school time and I have school holidays off so pretty much I work my farm hours around Frankie, our eightyear old daughter.” Originally a dryland sheep

audit course in 2014. She also gained governance experience as a member of the Veterinary Association’s business board and the Christchurch Employers Chamber of Commerce. A passionate driver for rural and agribusiness Thompson expressed her eagerness to get her feet under the SFF board table.

Some people have their heads buried in the sand but I’m futuristic with my outlook, which I expect, given my appointment, will be fresh thinking at the (SFF) board table. Gabrielle Thompson Farmer “There’s massive change to be effected right across agribusiness. “Some people have their heads buried in the sand but I’m futuristic with my outlook, which I expect, given my appointment, will be fresh thinking at the board table. “Accountability and traceability are key to opportunities in agriculture moving forward and I’m looking forward to the day we put a microchip in every lamb.” Thompson believes NZ is

well placed to use technology to become the world’s delicatessen. “We need to be offering highquality meat and crop products. That’s the space NZ should be headed for and I’m excited about that, especially in the sheep industry where numbers are not going to grow so we need to make more out of what we have got. “There will always be space for a good quality steak, leg of lamb or venison. “Traceability and accountability will enable us to market to the right people and even though producing less we will get into restaurants rather than into every supermarket.” Thompson said SFF has put a lot of effort and investment into that space. “We are getting the grass-fed and environment story out to consumers about how we raise beef, sheep and venison the way we do versus other countries such as American and Europe do in barns. “But I’m not saying NZ is squeaky clean. “We do need to step up in addressing our environmental sustainability.” Admitting she is a bit of a social bunny Thompson makes sure she has time to enjoy with family and friends. “We like to travel a bit around NZ and overseas. I love reading, going to the gym and going out with friends for dinner, going to rugby and concerts and having time to go swimming or play a game of chess with Frankie.”

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News

10 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Climate hit cuts PGW pay-back Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz PGG Wrightson shareholders will receive a 31c-a-share capital return from the proceeds of the sale of the seeds business. That will take up $235 million of the sale proceeds of about $426m paid by DLF Seeds. The total recommended by the new board of directors is less than indicated by the board in place at the time the sale was announced. It suggested a capital return of up to $292m was possible. The seeds sale will provide a net capital gain of $120m. In the several months since then PGW’s earnings outlook has deteriorated through a difficult spring and summer weatherpattern for many in the rural sector so the revised figure should provide a cash-cushion for the company. New chairman Rodger Findlay described market signals as mixed and the directors are

cautious about the rest of the year. They now forecast operating earnings (Ebitda) for the remaining rural services business at the lower end of the earlier guidance range of $25m to $30m for the year ending June 30. That is well down on last year but exact comparisons are difficult because of the impact of the seeds sale on the mix of overhead costs. PGW shares dropped 3c to 53c on the NZX after the capital return detail and earnings guidance were released. “It’s been a pretty awful year,” outgoing chief executive Ian Glasson said. “And it’s been unusually awful, wet through the spring till early January, so an impact on sowing and planting, then very dry through mid-March and we’ve yet to see that all play out.” A lot of the impact was in the first half of the year but farmer hesitancy in the cattle livestock market is continuing because of the unusual season

and Mycoplasma bovis. May and June are important months for the livestock business. Findlay said the board is also reviewing PGW’s corporate service structure to ensure it has the most efficient model. He hopes the result can be announced before the end of the June 30 year. Glasson was brought into PGW in late 2017 to head the strategic review of the business that led to the sale of the seeds division. The Australian is now leaving and will return to Sydney, retiring from fulltime management work to focus on agri-related governance roles. He’s being replaced as chief executive by Stephen Guerin, who has led the PGW retail business for the last eight years and is general manager retail and water. Guerin has been with the group for 31 years and is a former manager of one of its star divisions, Fruitfed Supplies. The handover takes place at

GOING: PGG Wrightson chief executive Ian Glasson will hand over to the firm’s retail and water general manager Stephen Guerin after a sensible transition.

the end of May and Glasson will leave after a sensible transition is completed. He said the outcome of the strategic review has been very good for all stakeholders. The seeds sale achieved a very good price for shareholders, the remaining group business will keep the supply partnership with the seeds business and seeds staff will be part of a global business with the advantages and opportunities that provides. “It’s a win-win result and we’re left with a solid rural services business with an $800m annual turnover, making it one of the biggest businesses in NZ, still

listed on the NZX, and the leading supplier to the agriculture sector.” All the group’s operations are now in NZ. The capital return will be by way of a pro-rata share buyback, under a court-approved scheme of arrangement. Full details will be provided to shareholders before a formal vote on the proposal, Findlay said. He acknowledged Glasson’s outstanding leadership through the strategic review and complex seeds sale transaction. It was especially pleasing that in Guerin the group had such a strong internal candidate to take on the role.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

DLF to boost farmer contracts Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz FARMERS will have more opportunities to grow forage and turf seed for international markets as part of Danish group DLF’s ownership of PGW seeds. The boost will come from DLF having access to a much larger range of seed products, PGW seeds chief executive and new DLF executive vice-president John McKenzie said. “There will be a multiplication in product-growing opportunities.” He and DLF Seeds chief executive Truels Damsgaard couldn’t say what the potential was but it should be substantial. “If you ask us in five years we‘ll be able to tell you,” Damsgaard said. This benefit for farmers is one of the aspects commented on by the Overseas Investment Office when it approved the Danish group’s acquisition. The OIO’s report has not been released but set no major conditions, he said. Buying PGW seeds is a very big acquisition for DLF. Damsgaard was in Christchurch for several days for the handover of the business after the sale was completed on May 1. The merger brings together the leading temperate forage and turf seeds developers in the northern and southern hemispheres. PGW seeds will add about 45% to DLF revenues. In the June 2018 year PGW seeds revenues from Oceania and South America were just under $450m. Pre-merger about 95% of DLF revenues were from north of the equator. DLF has paid about $430m for the business, which Damsgaard said was a fair price for an outstanding brand. McKenzie has led the PGW seeds business since the Wrightson and Pyne Gould Guinness merger in 2005 and has been appointed to the DLF Seeds executive management board as executive vice-president

IN IT TOGETHER: John McKenzie, left, has moved with the business from PGG Wrightson to DLF Seeds, headed by chief executive Truels Damsgaard.

There will be a multiplication in product-growing opportunities. John McKenzie DLF Seeds of strategic business unit Oceania. South America, a major seed market and growth target for PGW seeds, is already a smaller separate division for the DLF group and Damsgaard has put McKenzie on the board overseeing that business. The markets there – Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil – already produce more seed than NZ and Australia combined, with the potential to significantly increase volumes with growth in market size. For Damsgaard, the scale of the PGW seeds NZ business is bigger

than its NZ business so that puts the management of PGW seeds in the driver’s seat of the merged business. McKenzie’s team and DLF NZ have started to look at how they will integrate the businesses with products and customers at the centre. This process will take several months. The greatest gains from the merger will come from the crosspollination of people’s minds as the 45 PGW seeds research staff work with the 130 people already in the DLF Oceania team. That talk and communication has already started. While it takes 10 to 15 years to develop new products the outcome for the merged group will be greater scale and critical mass, especially in the biotech space, Damsgaard said. The OIO had commented on the benefits of putting leading innovators together. DLF has made several acquisitions in eastern and western Europe, North America and South America and has

developed the management philosophy of not micromanaging from Denmark. “We get the right people on the ground to run the businesses. We’ve been fortunate and successful with that for a long time.” It is a proven system and the same approach will be adopted in NZ. “When you pay a fair price, you don’t want to rock the boat. You want two and two to make fourplus.” DLF Seeds has been operating in NZ for about 10 years but growth here and in the smaller South America business was slower than expected. “That was due mainly to PGW seeds. They were doing a great job in the southern hemisphere,” he said. DLF has long performed well in the northern hemisphere and the management had discussed southern opportunities with the group’s board. “PGW seeds has been on our strategic map but we

never believed there was a real opportunity for us. When we heard in October 2017 that PGW was planning a strategic review we thought it might be the opportunity for us to fold what we do in the northern hemisphere into the southern hemisphere.” Despite the keenness PGW seeds was not a must-have because that would have made it an emotional decision. There won’t be any move of NZ research to Denmark. “The research will sit where it sits but with a global view,” McKenzie said. Plantain is a well-established NZ forage crop, good at reducing nitrogen leaching into the soil. It isn’t sold in Europe but could do well there, Damsgaard said. Like PGW seeds, DLF services the pastoral sector though its winter emphasis is on coldtolerant germplasm, compared to the winter-active cultivars in NZ, reflecting the climate-driven cutand-carry feeds system in Europe against the pasture-grazing focus here.

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News

12 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

NO HURRY: Scales will be patient about reinvesting money from sales of businesses, managing director Andy Borland says.

OIO tick fills Scales’ investment coffers Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz SCALES Corporation could have about $150 million cash by the spring and early summer for new agribusiness investments. The sale of its Polarcold business to United States firm Emergent Cold will be settled in the next few days after being approved by the Overseas Investment Office. Directors will then update the market on its

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earnings guidance for the December 31 year, Scales chairman Tim Goodacre said. That should happen before May 17. The $151.4m sale was announced in early May last year and the parties have been waiting a year for OIO clearance. Managing director Andy Borland said the process took longer than they expected but the structure of the deal, with Polarcold earnings since June accruing to Emergent Cold, which then paid interest on the purchase price to Scales, means there is no advantage or disadvantage to anyone. “It just meant we could not go for anything big while we were waiting. We’ve been looking throughout but there’s nothing ready to go and we’ll be patient.” Borland said the group will pay down about $40m in seasonal debt but retain its core debt, which is at modest levels with the interest costs covered several times by earnings. Since signing the Polarcold deal Scales has spent about $34m buying a 60% stake in US pet food business Shelby, sold its bulk-liquid storage business Liqueo for $20m and raised $15m from the sale of 50% of its own NZ pet food business Meateor to Alliance. Taking all these sums into account and adding accrued earnings should provide a cash fund of about $150m in the next five to six months, he said. The search for acquisitions will focus on New Zealand but the group would be happy to support Shelby initiatives in the US and will look at Australia as well. Agribusiness, export and a China focus are the leading criteria.

Kiwi at good level for rural exporters

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THE quarter point cut to the Official Cash Rate had a muted impact on the New Zealand dollar after being well-telegraphed, ASB Bank institutional currency dealer Tim Kelleher says. The kiwi had already fallen against the United States dollar since the Reserve Bank signalled its easing bias in March. At current levels the kiwi sits between the 25-year average of US$0.6604 and the 30-year average of 0.645. “At that level it’s looking great for the rural export sector,” Kelleher said. ASB had tipped last week’s OCR-cut to 1.5% and believes there will be another cut, leaning towards an August move, though markets are pricing more chance in November. The OCR is now level with the core Reserve Bank Australia rate and if there is another cut here but not in Australia expect a fall in that dollar cross-rate. The kiwi is already near the bottom end of the recent trading range. Generally, the kiwi is being well supported in the market, being underpinned by good terms of trade and strong commodity prices and the Government still running a budget surplus, he said. ASB’s formal forecasts still have the kiwi in the US$0.69-0.70 range at year-end, based on an expected drifting lower by the big dollar. That isn’t happening yet and the greenback could yet move higher, Kelleher said. – Alan Williams

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Livestock case goes to appeal Nigel Stirling nigel.g.stirling@gmail.com

WIDER: Though matters being appealed by Rural Livestock are minor in the case concerned they have implications for the business and the wider industry, it says.

While it often arranged for and supervised the unloading of livestock bought on behalf of clients it did not always do so.

failed to give those facts sufficient weight. Rural Livestock is also challenging the $1000 reparations it was ordered to pay Clark for a leased bull that was returned to him injured and which he had to later shoot. Not being appealed is the ruling in relation to 176 in-calf heifers bought on Clark’s behalf by Williams in June and July 2015. The animals were leased out but couldn’t be found once the leases ended. Rural Livestock argued Williams acted without the firm’s authority

in drawing up the leases but Nation rejected that and ordered it pay Clark $210,000 plus interest to compensate for the missing animals. In a statement Rural Livestock director John Faulks said the firm respects Nation’s ruling and the parts being appealed are relatively minor. “We have taken this step only because we think those aspects potentially have importance beyond this particular case for both Rural Livestock’s business and the wider stock and station industry,” he said. Rural Livestock was back in the High Court in March defending itself against a claim from another Otago client of John Williams. A judgment is yet to be issued. Federated Farmers is also investigating options for regulating the stock and station industry and hopes to present them to the Government by the end of the year.

Heat knocks kiwifruit numbers Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz SEEKA expects its kiwifruit packing volumes to be about 8% lower than pre-season estimates because of summer heat that affected fruit size. With 97% of the expected SunGold crop packed and 33% of the expected Hayward crop away, the company now expects to pack 33.54 million class 1 trays for export, up from 30.23m last year but below the 36.32m given in earlier guidance. Seeka still expects to achieve the margins forecast earlier. Chief executive Michael

Franks said the weather effect is industry-wide. The group’s Australian fruit harvest has also been affected by hot, dry weather with the green nashi crop down 18% on last year and kiwifruit, at 1900 tonnes, down 26%. Franks said operating earnings (Ebitda) for the December 31 year are now expected to be in the $32.5m to $33.5m range. The previous guidance was $36.5m to $37.5m. The forecast compares with Ebitda of $26.2m last year. The Australian business is expected to break even.

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A STOCK firm on the receiving end of a judgment against it in favour of one of its former farmer clients is appealing parts of the decision. Justice Gerald Nation in the High Court at Christchurch last month found largely in favour of Milton farmer Ross Clark in his claim against the South Island’s largest stock firm, Rural Livestock. The case centred on livestock deals brokered for Clark between 2015 and 2016 by former Rural Livestock agent John Williams. Justice Nation awarded Clark more than $270,000 plus interest and costs – less than the $640,000 he sought. However, in a notice filed with the Court of Appeal last week Rural Livestock said it plans to challenge parts of the judgment. Nation ruled the stock firm breached both the Fair Trading Act and its contractual obligations by failing to ensure the delivery of 32 of 104 heifers bought on Clark’s behalf by Williams in May 2016. The discrepancy was picked up only after Clark several months later noticed the number of animals Rural Livestock had charged him for did not match the tallies on the invoices from the transport company that moved them. Nation ordered Clark be repaid the $29,440 he paid for the heifers plus interest. But Rural Livestock says Nation erred in his finding it was responsible for ensuring the delivery of the animals bought by Clark. While it often arranged for and supervised the unloading of livestock bought on behalf of clients it did not always do so. Furthermore, under the firm’s terms and conditions of trade its responsibility for the livestock and their delivery passed to the buyer as soon as they were on the truck. The notice said Nation had

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Feed grain not among good options Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz GOOD returns for store lambs and strong signals from the milling industry mean arable farmers are opting out of autumn feed grain plantings. Growers are hunting out their best options and after a good year last year with lambs they are at the top of the priority list for many arable farmers again this year, Federated Farmers grains vice-chairman Brian Leadley said. The market signals coming from the mills are also encouraging for New Zealand’s drive towards self-sufficiency. But uncertainty continues to hover over feed grains. Indicated plantings of autumnwinter feed wheat, barley and oats are back 9200 hectares on 2018 while milling wheat planting is up 1000ha – an indication arable farmers are favouring the buoyant lamb market and the certainty in the milling sector in their autumn-winter production planning. Leadley said the drive toward milling wheat self-sufficiency is not about taking massive production out of the feed sector. “There are options and growers will take them, especially with the talk of $8 plus for lambs and some very good milling contracts being offered. “The push for self-sufficiency in milling wheat is really about trying to lift total production and bringing on some more irrigated land with the likes of the Central Plains and also growing a bit more in places such as Southland and also in some parts of central North Island. “With this potential ahead of us we need to have systems in place towards greater milling wheat production.” The increase in the area of milling wheat intended to be planted for harvest in 2020 is a boost for the Arable Food Industry Council’s drive for NZ to

If feed options are not showing out growers will move to alternative opportunities in spring, as they have done in autumn. Brian Leadley Federated Farmers

SPEAK UP: Stable weather has let arable farmers prepare paddocks for autumn planting but Federated Farmers grains section vice-chairman Brian Leadley says if other farmers want it produced they need to let growers know or risk missing out.

be self-sufficient in milling wheat by 2025. “There are contracts out there with pretty good pricing. “For lower-end quality there are contracts for about $420 a tonne then as you go up in the higher premium grades, prices go up a bit. “The higher prices for those top-end grades recognise the risk of a slightly lower yield potential and are also a reward for that better quality milling wheat that’s in demand.” The earlier the market gives signals about what varieties are wanted and not wanted the better, Leadley said. “Those early signals are a real

positive and we’re getting more and more of that.” But that’s not the case right now from the feed industry despite some expectation among growers that a $7 milk price next season might create some certainty. While the latest Arable Industry Marketing Initiative (AIMI) survey showed yields across the grains harvest up 3% that compares to the low figures of a very poor season the year before. “So, while feed grains may not go in the ground, there’s not a lot of carry-over either from a season regarded as poor by many growers. “Farmers in dryland areas, particularly in North Canterbury,

scored plenty of rain and also enough sunshine to record yields that in some regions were sometimes even better than those with irrigation. “Those who described it as their worst season ever were mostly on reasonably heavy soils around the foothills where they probably got less sunshine too. “Having said that, it’s probably also a reflection of their expectations, given the inputs and levels of expertise that have been developed in the industry. “Average yields are pretty high now on international standards.” Stable weather has enabled growers to prepare paddocks for autumn planting with predicted

intentions for other crops likely to alter as market signals change. “For example, some farmers may be waiting for spring crop options. “If this is the case arable farmers will follow the signals for the best options that could well be in vegetable seeds or spring flowering crops such as peas with maybe some spring barley. “If feed options are not showing out growers will move to alternative opportunities in spring, as they have done in autumn. If feed grains are needed, end users need to signal indication now or risk missing out, Leadley said. “There’s not a lot of feed wheat contracts out there and there’s no signal for it pulling away.” Growers are also mindful they are competing internationally for their place in the feed market, particularly in the poultry and pork industries. Mycoplasma bovis is being tagged as a likely contributor to the uncertainty and lack of commitment from the dairy industry. “The inability to move stock and potentially dairy farmers going to lower stocking rates and staying in-house could be a factor impacting on dairy – we don’t know, time will tell. “If you want it produced let the grower know, there’s still time to get it in the ground,” Leadley said.

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News

18 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Farmers need support, extension Turi McFarlane’s work as a senior farm environmental consultant with Ravensdown puts him at the sharp end of the challenges farmers face meeting local and regional council demands around nutrient allocation. His Nuffield study identifying tools for measuring and maintaining sustainable farming practices shows New Zealand is doing better than some might imagine. He spoke to Richard Rennie. NUFFIELD scholar Turi McFarlane believes New Zealand’s unsubsidised farming environment can be a doubleedged sword for farmers when it comes to responding to a growing list of environmental demands. A year’s study on the scholarship programme gave him the chance to see farmer-focused environmental programmes that were often better funded than anything in NZ. “I think the fact NZ farms are unsubsidised means farmers here tend to respond quicker to the challenges presented to them. “However, it does mean that they are wearing much more of the growing cost of compliance.” Farm environment plans (FEPs) are a key environmental management tool McFarlane examined. In NZ they are becoming a regulatory requirement for farmers in many catchments but the overseas equivalents he visited are all voluntary. They included an FEP programme in Alberta, Canada, and the CatskillsDelaware area of New York state. Farmers in the New York city water catchment area operate on an FEP scheme developed in 1997 to ensure farm environmental management protects the downstream water supply to the city. Sign-up in the watershed he visited is 90%, with most costs paid for by the city. “While the high level of funding support is not realistic for NZ it does illustrate high levels of engagement are possible outside of regulation.” McFarlane is concerned NZ’s regulatory requirements around FEPs could make them more of a box-ticking exercise and limit the aspirational goals some farmers might otherwise have in

The schemes I visited were extremely well resourced when it came to supporting farmers to improve environmental outcomes. Turi McFarlane Nuffield Scholar

SUPPORT NEEDED: Turi McFarlane believes farmers could do with more Government support around extension.

completing the plans. If NZ continues to pursue the regulatory route he encourages the Government to provide more extension support to farmers to help them overcome challenges such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving freshwater quality. “If they were able to provide that alongside the programmes of agencies and industry bodies that are already in place it would be welcome. The schemes I visited were extremely well resourced when it came to supporting farmers to improve environmental outcomes.” He doubts NZ farmers will be receptive to a full-scale, subsidised FEP scheme like New York’s. Instead he suspects they will prefer to own their plan and

use it as part of an on-farm risk assessment rather than a tick box exercise, providing the support and expertise is there. He acknowledges the complexities that come with trying to measure improvements in environmental outcomes like water quality as a direct result of FEPs. The New York model provided some clear links for farmers on how their mitigation methods relate directly to environmental outcomes. He believes one of the key measures can be recording the uptake of sustainable management practices (SMPs). He observed Queensland’s Grazing Best Management Practice programme, which identifies five key areas of farm business including soils, animal health,

people and land management, with an online function to enable farmers to compare themselves to their peers. “SMPs need to be well informed by science and linked to an assessment of land use at the catchment scale to ensure that wider environmental outcomes are being met.” The benchmarks used by farmers also need to be robust for measuring and comparison. McFarlane acknowledges Overseer as a nutrient management tool is not entirely perfect. “But it is very useful to help inform on-farm decision-making. More investment in it would be a good thing but we also have a number of other tools evolving here, such as Ravensdown’s

LUCI-Ag, which helps to identify nutrient hot spots and pathways on a farm map.” More recently, NZ farmers are being compelled to consider greenhouse gas emissions in addition to water quality management. McFarlane examined an emerging concept, Climate Smart Agriculture, as an integrated approach to dealing with farm gas emissions. “This approach does not try to look at emissions in isolation. Instead, it considers three outcomes including the reality that the world needs to produce more food, farmers need to be more resilient in the face of the effects of climate change such as droughts, pests and diseases as well as the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” McFarlane said his year’s study left him encouraged by the work NZ agriculture has done but conscious the level of support farmers need to transition to more sustainable systems is significant. “That support will play a key role in not only in ensuring that our agricultural systems are sustainable but also in helping to tell the story of NZ agriculture, which we are trying to tell and sell to the world.”

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Finer wool fills wallets Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz LINKING end markets back to the farmgate is the optimum way to get the best value out of wool, PGG Wrightson wool general manager Grant Edwards says. And with opportunities in the global market New Zealand needs to get in on them now, he told farmers at a recent Beef + Lamb field day at Arrowsmith Station. The Ashburton high country station has just contracted its fine Merino wool for a third year to Californian-based Patagonia in an exclusive deal Edwards hopes, given time, will grow wider across NZ. Patagonia specialises in active outdoor sportswear. The company is very particular about the value chain, driven by several key wool standards including animal welfare, farm management, knowing the supply chain and that the environment is being treated right. “That’s the way of today,” station owner Philip Wareing said. “If we want to get the best for our product we have to be more and more compliant. “The Patagonia standard, while it has some funny little things like the sheep having water at all times in transportation, at the end of the day we are getting a very good premium on our wool.” Wareing said a change in sheep breeding and management has made a huge difference to the station’s wool clip over the past four years. He credited the wool turnaround on the expertise and passion for sheep of the station’s more recent farm manager Brian May. “He’s very keen on genetics and he’s worked hard to get the mix right as we work towards an all-poll Merino flock.” When May started at Arrowsmith in 2015 the four-tooth ewes were clipping four kilograms at 30 microns.

Four years on they are clipping 5.5kg at 18.5 microns, earning the station a $2.50-$3.50/kg premium on Australian Merino wool prices and supplying one of the world’s most exclusive markets. “We don’t want to go any finer. We’re just concentrating on weight now,” Wareing said. Edwards said there’s a challenge in that for NZ. “There’s very strong demand around the world for 18.5 micron. “Australia has gone through the drought and production is back 1215% this year with a further 10% fall in production next year. “Aussie is producing 1.8 million bales of this wool. NZ is producing 60-70,000 bales. “NZ could grow a lot more,” Edwards said. “And what we want to do a lot more is link more end markets back to the farm gate. “Finding manufacturers overseas and linking back to the grassroots on the farm is where the true value of wool will be found, not just in fine wools, though it’s easier to do with fine wools, but also with crossbred wool. “Through forward contracts we are able to offer wool growers price certainty and securing wool long-term adds certainty to the supply chain and manages price fluctuations.” Fixed contracts lessen the reliance on spot price on the day the wool is ready for sale and global partners are provided with certainty of supply, securing their long-term commitment to NZ wool, Edwards said. “It can be a gamble but to get the real worth out of what we are producing on our farms we are going to have to be prepared more and more in the future to produce to consumer order. “Certainly this Patagonia contract is working very, very well for us here at Arrowsmith,” Wareing said.

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20 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Will money really grow on trees? Annette Scott annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz FARMERS have been enjoying strategic planning and business management in their heads but the pressure is on to get that planning onto paper. In a presentation to a sheep and beef farmers field day at Arrowsmith Station AgriMagic consultant Charlotte Glass urged farmers to tread with caution as they make decisions on carbon farming. Will money really grow on trees? “It’s a philosophical and ethical minefield and you could go down all sorts of bunny holes,” Glass told farmers as she addressed climate change opportunities and threats for farm businesses. “Farmers have been enjoying strategic planning and business management in their heads and that’s been fine – until now. “Now the world is asking for you to get it out of your heads and onto paper.” There are things farmers will need to learn and things they will

need to look for following the Independent Climate Change Committee (ICCC) report in coming weeks. “If you think life is probably getting a little more complicated then I think you are right. “You may have jumped the hoop on taxes but there will be more policy statements in coming weeks.” Some things will be out of farmers’ control but some they can influence. “We don’t want to mess around wasting time on things we can’t influence. “So how much change can we effect in our on-farm systems modelling?” Modelling shows on-farm systems change will get only 5-10% improvement in greenhouse gas emissions and to do that there is a variable impact on farm profit. “And you have to be brilliant to even get that and that is not enough so you will have to look at an offset, forestry maybe, but that’s not permanent. “You could have something very

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strategy and you have to have the desire to do it. “It’s not a walk in the park and you need to own it yourself.” Glass suggests engaging some young blood. “If you are old and tired and don’t want to be bothered by it then get some uni students – fresh

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minds on the job. “They need your wisdom – bind the two together and do it. You are going to have to adapt for the future.” The good thing is GHG legislation should drive more efficient farming, she said. “Future farmers will need to be strategic and tech savvy to respond to the signals of change. “We are sitting here on 1% of the world and sitting here on our own because no other agriculture country wants to know about it.” “The battle is in NZ at the moment – it’s political. “If you want to change it, buy yourself a suit and get on a plane,” Glass said.

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random and diverse like kiwifruit and chestnuts. “But permanent horticulture is where Government policy is pointing farmers.” With the carbon price at $25 it will cost $4 a hectare on an average sheep and beef farm responsible for 5% of its emissions. “It’s annoying but it’s manageable.” But if a farm pays for 100% of its emissions it will cost $312/ha if the carbon price hits $100/t. “The key point is every farm is different and if you are looking for strategies to reduce or offset your GHG emission – seek good advice because it’s very complex. “It’s more about overseas need to understand farm models and

A FRESH generation of irrigated and dryland Canterbury farmers is rallying in the face of more environmental rules. A group of North Canterbury farmers aged 28-35 have started the Next Generation Farmers (NGF) Trust in response to regional council plan changes in Waimakariri, just north of Christchurch. The seven trustees are either farm owners or managers on dairy and drystock farms. All consented land users in Waimakariri are already expected to reach a baseline Good Management Standard for nitrate use by 2020. But under proposed plan changes some of the district’s dairy farmers have until 2030 to cut their nitrate levels 15% beyond the existing Good Management Practice (GMP) standard. All other farmers with a permitted activity consent would need to make a further 5% reduction on GMP. Many farmers will not be able to comply, trust chairman Scott Evans told a public meeting at Swannanoa. Dairy, drystock and arable farmers are already investing in riparian management, environment plans, stock exclusion, irrigation management,

TAKE CHARGE: Next Generation Farmers trustees are, from left, Victoria Trayner, Sam Spencer-Bower, Andrew Olorenshaw, Sarah Gard and Scott Evans.

wetland restoration and new technologies to irrigate more efficiently and reduce nitrates, Evans said. A DairyNZ and Federated Farmers survey indicates environmental spending by dairy farmers in Canterbury and Marlborough was $170,000 a farm in the five years between 2010 and 2015. That amount was nearly double the national average of $90,000. Evans, a dairy farmer at Oxford, said the trust wants to work alongside industry and local authorities on a united approach to environmental policy. The group claims the mantle of the first farmer-led group of its sort in Waimakariri, charging a $20 membership and hoping to eventually represent all 350 farms in the Waimakariri area. “Farmers have a lot of local

knowledge and we want to ensure this grassroots perspective is not overlooked. “We need practical, achievable changes that positively impact the environment and incorporate farmer-driven solutions.” Farmers are some of the best environmentalists, he said. “Riparian management, farm environment plans, stock exclusion, irrigation management, wetland restoration and new technologies are just some of the investments we are making to ensure the land remains viable for the benefit of the wider community.” The trust is working with industry organisations to change the rules, which are based on the finalised Zone Implementation Programme Addendum, or ZIPA. The formal RMA process has

started and there will be a call for public submissions once the proposed change (Plan Change 7 to the Land & Water Regional Plan) is notified. NGF is preparing to be heard. Now is the time to join the trust and act on the proposed regulations, Evans said. “It is part of our social licence and responsibility as caretakers of the land to ensure we stand up and take ownership for the environmental issues we are all facing. “We don’t want to get the next 10-review (in 2030) and get absolutely hammered. “It’s important that we remain profitable to ensure we can continue with these initiatives and keep heading in the right direction.”

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Comvita takes another knock COMVITA shares fell 9.3% after it said honey production has been poor overall for the third season in a row and it now expects a net loss of about $6 million for the year. The shares recently traded at $3.80 and are down 14% so far this year. In late May 2016 the stock was trading at $13. “Even though production per hive for Comvita was higher than the previous year it was a poor production season overall. “This has been put down to poor weather patterns but we also believe that there is an impact in most regions but notably Northland and East Coast of overcrowding of manuka sites with hives by competing beekeepers,” it said. While honey production postChristmas met the budgeted expectations on a per hive basis, honey grades are lower than expected and the Primary Industry Ministry manuka honey definition changes led to a large drop in value of multi-flora manuka bycatch. Manuka honey has a significant premium over other honey and in December 2017 MPI finalised a scientific definition that can be used to authenticate whether a particular honey is New Zealand manuka honey.

TOO MANY: Poor production is being caused by overcrowding of hives at manuka sites, Comvita says.

All honey labelled as manuka for export must be tested by an MPI-recognised laboratory to make sure it meets the new definition. Among other things, it identifies it as either monofloral or multifloral. Comvita said the poor season is

extremely disappointing because the company has been moving its apiary business to a more variable cost model “Obviously we have much work to do,” it said. It will look to change the direction of the business unit before the next season.

“This will involve a review of our apiary business operations and under-performing assets, withdrawing from sites that have become non-viable due to overcrowding and moving these hives to where there are large tracts of manuka, including our own plantations, which will

produce material quantities of honey over the next two to three years,” it said. Comvita noted it now has greater control over sales channels and in-market pricing. With the acquisition of 100% of the China joint venture and by securing a direct trading relationship with the last of the major cross-border e-commerce platforms into China it now achieves consistent and growing monthly revenue at improved margins, it said. Those relationships reduce its dependence on the so-called daigou channels, essentially an army of informal travelling shopping agents who buy products in Australasia for sale in China. However, Comvita said benefits won’t be obvious until the 2019-20 year, reiterating it underestimated how difficult in time and resource commitment it would be to get pricing right and build direct contractual relationships with all the major e-commerce channels into China. In February it reported a first half net loss of $2.7m as the planned shift to more formal sales channels took longer than expected. – BusinessDesk

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22 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Fonterra can’t escape Beingmate FONTERRA and its Darnum plant in Australia will still be exposed to its former Chinese partner Beingmate in a new supply deal with Bubs Australia. The Kiwi co-op took back control of the Darnum plant from a joint venture with Beingmate that failed to produce material benefit but will now use the factory to produce milk powder for Bubs, which will sell it in China in a joint venture with Beingmate. Fonterra Australia will supply Bubs with organic milk powder, sourced from New Zealand and manufactured at Darnum, Victoria, Bubs said in a release to the Australian stock market. The conditional supply agreement runs until July 31, 2021. The new Bubs Organic range of infant formula will be Australia’s first organic grass-fed cow formula and will be available in Chemist Warehouse pharmacies throughout Australia within three months. Exports to China’s cross-border e-commerce channel and shops will follow soon via a recently established joint venture with Beingmate. In a separate statement Bubs said it has formalised a joint venture created with Beingmate to distribute and promote Bubs goat

IRONY: Fonterra’s Darnum plant used in a failed joint venture with Beingmate will now be used to supply another company in a joint venture with Beingmate.

and organic cow milk formula throughout Beingmate’s network, including 30,000 Mother and Baby stores in mainland China. The joint venture will be the exclusive authorised distributor for all Bubs’ branded products. Bubs Australia has a 49% stake while Beingmate holds 51%. The deal comes on the heels of Fonterra’s experience with Beingmate that led to a $405 million write-down of the cooperative’s Chinese investment

after several years of underperformance. The Bubs deal with Beingmate shows some of the hallmarks of Fonterra’s partnership with the Chinese firm, which put Beingmate as a 51% shareholder in the failed joint venture to produce infant formula products for Beingmate’s Chinese customers. Fonterra said at the time that the deal was a key plank in plans to expand its reach into China’s

second and third-tier cities. After it failed to fire Fonterra unwound the investment earlier this year, taking back full ownership of Darnum. It is also considering options for its 18.8% stake in Beingmate. Bubs, meanwhile, recently bought Australia Deloraine Dairy, an infant formula manufacturing facility that has been approved by China’s Certification and Accreditation Administration. The existing technical

application for an organic cow milk formula submitted to the State Administration for Market Regulation on April 2, 2018, will now be transferred to Bubs Organic. Pending approval, the new range of formula may be physically distributed to China’s Mother and Baby stores, it said. “Super premium product offerings are the fastest-growing segments of the infant-formula category and we are now able to offer two nutritional options, organic and goat, to suit individual dietary needs,” Bubs Australia chief executive Kristy Carr said. Bubs also said it formalised a strategic partnership with Alibaba’s Tmall, a retail channel also used by Fonterra and A2 Milk Co, as well as the recently announced equity-linked alliance with the Chemist Warehouse. In April Bubs said it had reached a four-year strategic alliance with Chemist Warehouse that provides for an initial issue of 12,356,627 fully paid shares in Bubs, potentially rising to 37,069,881 on shareholder approval and performance goals. Bubs shares last traded at A$1.475 and have risen from 45.5 cents at the beginning of the year. – BusinessDesk

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Mail centre is a pest weak point images in real time for rapid risk assessment by customs staff. The International Mail Centre (IMC) that processes 40 million items a year at Auckland Airport came in for some criticism.

The centre has been described as outmoded with limited space to enable scanning improvements to be made.

It is a high risk area for hitchhiker pests such as the brown marmorated stink bug but is no longer fit for purpose though no date has been set for a new centre to be built, Delane said. It is outmoded with limited space for scanning improvements to be made.

Delane urged the Ministry for Primary Industries to harden its Biosecurity First focus at the IMC with the impact of a biosecurity breach there far greater than the business impact on mail and freight companies having to accommodate improvements in biosecurity systems. However, Delane took some comfort the centre is a lower biosecurity risk, partly because online shopping is the main generator of parcel traffic. Airline and airport security around luggage and freight scanning have lowered the risk of threats not being detected. MPI director-general Ray Smith said he will be making a number of recommendations to Biosecurity NZ based on the report’s findings. “The findings support our work to develop new baggage scanning technology, recommending we move quickly to use RTT to scan all baggage at Auckland Airport.

LOOKING INTO IT: Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor.

“We are well advanced in developing a prototype scanner to automatically detect goods posing biosecurity risks.” A prototype of the system detected an egg in a suitcase shortly after installation in early April. MPI is in discussion with the mail centre’s property owners to upgrade the facilities there. Delane maintained there is also an opportunity to communicate

the importance of biosecurity to tourists once they leave the airport, using smartphone apps and digital technology. Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor said some of the recommendations will take time and investment in new technologies. Issues with the mail centre were long standing and he intends to again discuss with MPI officials how to better upgrade it. 13148

THOUGH New Zealand has a world-leading biosecurity border system weaknesses still need attention as global freight and mail volumes grow, an independent review has found. It was commissioned after a fruit fly discovery in April to examine the adequacy of the border defence relative to rising passenger volumes at ports and how NZ is responding to the changing nature of mail received. The adequacy of international visitor awareness campaigns and domestic awareness were also examined. It found the biosecurity system is generally robust but reviewer Rob Delane recommended new scanning technology be installed. That includes wider use of computed tomography (CT) scanning for hand luggage and real time tomography (RTT) scanners for suitcases. Tomography scanning lets operators see sections of an object. The latest versions process

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24 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Chinese crisis hits world pork supply Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz THE emerging crisis from pork shortages in China might signal a squeeze on pork imports to New Zealand as Chinese importers try to fill the emerging supply gap. African swine fever (ASF) has ravaged Chinese pig herds since its discovery in August, having spread to all Chinese provinces, resulting in more than a million pigs being culled. Culling an entire infected herd is the only solution for farmers trying to curb the disease’s spread. There is no vaccine. The disease now affects 150200m of the country’s 400m pigs that account for half the global herd. Rabobank estimates production losses of 25-35% in the world’s largest market for pork, equating to almost 30% more than the entire United States pork production or equivalent to Europe’s annual supply. The Chinese shortfall is estimated to be simply too great to be made up from imports. The US Department of Agriculture has estimated losing half its pigs could push China’s pork prices up by 70%. New Zealand Pork chairman Eric Roy said there appear to be sensitivities at a Chinese government level around describing just how great the

spread of the disease has been. While NZ red meat officials have been playing up the effect the pork crisis could have on lifting red meat sales, the most immediate impact in China has been on poultry sales as consumers swap pig for chicken in their diets.

If it is as serious as we think it is, it could have a ripple effect globally. Eric Roy New Zealand Pork The South China Morning Post reported poultry price increases of up to 68% in the past year in a market already tight for supply thanks to a ban on importing poultry from the US and Europe after a bird flu outbreak in 2016. The Chinese government is putting major emphasis on ASF control, aware of the impact a shortage could have on a populace committed to eating pig. Pork is integral to the Chinese diet, holding significant cultural and spiritual value, being seen as a symbol of force, prosperity and well-being, particularly this year which is Year of the Pig.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data indicates China’s per capita pork consumption at 31kg a year, poultry 12kg, beef 4kg and sheep meat 3kg. “They (government) have been downplaying it due to the extent of the spread but the other reason will be because they are heading towards a protein shortage and do not want to create an atmosphere that drives up global prices. “If it is as serious as we think it is, it could have a ripple effect globally,” Roy said. The Chinese protein crisis comes in part because of the poultry shortage and the ASF outbreak being exacerbated by the US-China trade war. Tariffs of 50-70% were put on US pork imports by the Chinese government as part of a retaliatory move in the trade battle. Typically, China only imports 2% of its pork products but the outbreak has already sliced 20% off the country’s domestic production. “Generally, we know that 2% over or under on supply has a 5% impact on prices in the protein markets. These are loose numbers but to some degree reflect what we might call a standard reaction to supply,” Roy said. He acknowledged expectations from the red meat sector the issue might increase demand for other products.

TIGHT: New Zealand imports 60% of its pork but that might now go elsewhere as prices rise in response to the Chinese shortage, New Zealand Pork chairman Eric Roy says.

“But qualifying just how much that will be, that will be quite hard to do. China is the biggest producer of pigs in the world and the biggest consumer of pork.” Rabobank has reported Chinese protein importers are scrambling to secure long-term pork supplies. The Chinese government is supplementing tight supplies by drawing on its national pork reserve of 200,000t, only a fraction of the 41m tonnes consumed every year. The most likely sources for pork imports will be the European Union, the US, Canada and Brazil. Roy said NZ’s production is simply too small to make this country a player in the supply game. NZ has about 100 pork producers with exports worth about $1m a year. “But there are some products

that we don’t have a big market for here in NZ, such as legs, which are usually only popular for ham around Christmas. “The issue of greater interest to our growers is the impact of ASF on imported pork to NZ. We cannot compete at present with imported pork products on price and this pork may end up going to China.” NZ now imports about 60% of its pork products. Roy said he is loath to paint too bright a picture of the ASF situation, given it is a disease noone ever wants to see here. “It is devastating. “Pigs have no natural resistance to it. “Our industry has good on-farm biosecurity procedures but we are talking to MPI and the minister about the risks from the disease entering through airports.”

Getting fit for calving A SERIES of videos designed to help women prepare for calving season is being promoted again this year by Farmstrong. The videos aim to help women prevent strains and injuries as a result of going into the physically-intensive season unprepared. They were filmed last year near Ashburton with a group of enthusiastic sharemilking women and friends. Farmstrong is getting behind the routine to share it nationwide. The Fit for Calving stretches and warm-ups are tailored specifically to the needs of calf rearers and strengthen muscle groups commonly used during the calving season. The idea of the six-week programme is that women start doing five to 10 minutes of exercises a day then build up to 20 minutes a day by the end so

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they ready to go. The stretches work for women of all physical abilities and require no specialist gym equipment. Women can use household objects such as cans of food, buckets and chairs to complete the routines. Siobhan O’Malley, who runs a sharemilking business of 600 cows, thinks the Fit for Calving videos are great resource for women. “I got involved last year because basically every year I come into calving unfit and within a couple of weeks I am hurting so badly. It’s great Farmstrong has got behind this so they can reach a wider audience.” Rachael Rickard, one of

VIDEO STARS: Jessie Chan-Doorman, Alice Liljeback, Julie Cressey and Rachael Rickard all appear in Farmstrong’s Fit for Calving exercise videos.

the women who helped on the project last year, runs a sharemilking business with her partner about 3km out of Hinds in Mid Canterbury. “When the calves start dropping and we’re picking them up and moving them around the sheds we’re suddenly active in a different way on the farm. I think anything that helps women get

more mobile so they stay injuryfree and get stronger before they do all that lifting is a great idea.” Alice Liljeback also appears in the videos. She works alongside her husband sharemilking 350 cows on the outskirts of Methven and was involved in putting the programme together. “Women are often so busy looking after the needs of their

families and farms that they neglect their own wellbeing. Fit for Calving has been designed with them in mind.” is the official media partner of Farmstrong

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Post-quake farming rejig rolling Tim Fulton timfulton050@gmail.com

SHOW AND TELL: Farm field days and advice are helping farmers still recovering from the Kaikoura earthquakes.

The Post Quake Farming Group classes about 30 of the affected farms as severely damaged.

“It’s a buffer against drought, price movements, market demand, climate change, increasing compliance and the odd earthquake. “Income comes from the timber at harvest and also from registration in the Emissions Trading Scheme. MPI’s billion

trees funding may also make it more accessible for some of our farmers now.” Bennett said the programme is for farmers committed to making changes in their operation. Extension days including farm tours will help farmers create a variety of different income sources and promotional advice to link the story of the land and people to markets. The scheduled field days included tours on hill country farms and financial benchmarking on a range of land-use options, advice on biodiversity improvement, an assessment of horticulture options, extension

advice for sheep farming and agritourism. The first forestry integration field day in April was hosted by Henry and Olivia Pinckney at The Gates, near Waiau in North Canterbury. About 20% of the farm’s grazable area was significantly damaged in the quakes. The 1400ha sheep and beef farm has 300ha of planted forest and the Pinckneys are investigating more diversification including sheep milking, production forestry, manuka honey and native planting. The group’s next Farm field day at Kekerengu, Kaikoura, on

May 9 will include an overview of the Government’s billion trees programme. A fortnight later, on May 20-21, it will run a tour of farms on the inland road between Waiau and Kaikoura. Massey University professor of sheep husbandry Paul Kenyon will join the tour, giving farmers a chance to question him and see some what he is talking about in action. Most importantly, it will give sheep farmers time to learn from each other, Bennett said.

rural-support.org.nz/pqf

May 2019

HAVE YOU READ DAIRY FARMER YET? The latest Dairy Farmer hit letterboxes on May 6, have you read yours?

Our On Farm Story this month features Auckland farmer Brian Yates who sharemilks on his parents’ farm where milking robots play a big part. With the season coming to an end, now is a good time to showcase automation and new technology helping farmers farm smarter not harder.

THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME$8.95 THEME THEME THEME / THEME Sheds Dairy THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME / THEME ation THEME THEME Autom THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME ticsTHEME Robo THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME

Incl GST

Diversity in Northland Irrigation a lifeline Research centre fizzles

Day and Night the An Auckland farmer’s robots milk herd round the clock DAIRY FARMER

May 2019

Get the full story at farmersweekly.co.nz

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SOUTH Island sheep and beef farmers are rolling up for a refreshed autumn round of Kaikoura earthquake recovery programmes. It’s estimated some farms in North Canterbury, Kaikoura and southern Marlborough lost up to 40% of their usable land in the November 2016 earthquakes. The Post Quake Farming Group classes about 30 of the affected farms as severely damaged. Many of the properties relied heavily on moving stock around lost vital infrastructure like tracks and fences. They also lost homes and farm buildings in some cases. The government and industrybacked group is working with about 100 farms from south Marlborough to the Spotswood Basin in North Canterbury and to the inland boundary of Kaikoura and Hurunui Districts at Mount Paul Range and Amuri Basin. The group is funded by the Primary Industries Ministry earthquake recovery fund with support from Beef + Lamb and Environment Canterbury. The group went back to the drawing board with its postquake support this year after farmer feedback that extension programmes weren’t hitting the mark. The Government and farming and other landcare groups approved new work areas at a meeting in December. The three forestry integration meetings this autumn give farmers options for getting involved in the Emissions Trading Scheme, Afforestation Grants Scheme, forestry grants and timber harvest, post quake farming project manager Michael Bennett said. The timing is perfect for farmers to look at forestry when considering how best to use their land, he said.

Newsmaker

26 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 6, 2019

BIG BOSS: Mike Scott has come from Australia’s biggest-ever energy project to run Waimea Water’s dam project.

Photo: Tim Cuff

Waimea water brings exec home Waimea Water’s new chief executive Mike Scott is stepping down from running Australia’s largest-ever energy project to oversee construction of the Waimea Dam near Nelson, a project with a $100 million price tag that’s only a fraction of what he is used to dealing with. Mike Scott told Richard Rennie why he’s made the move.

USTRALIA’S vast and remote northwestern gas reserves are removed in many ways from a provincial New Zealand dam project but Waimea Water’s new chief executive Mike Scott maintains the same principles of good management, skilled people, risk management and proven systems prevail despite the disparity in scale. For the past three and a half years Scott has been an executive with Woodside Energy. He most recently headed the North West Shelf (NWS) venture as chief executive for the $34 billion project with six multinational partners. With 27 years’ experience around the world, predominantly in the energy sector, and a civil engineering masters degree from Canterbury University, heading such an enterprise would mark a career high point for an engineer. Scott acknowledges the enormous project dwarfs not only Waimea but most global energy projects. The NWS project produces 16.3 million tonnes of liquid natural gas a year at Karratha

from a series of offshore fields and platforms and earns, according to Woodside’s 2018 results, about $6 billion a year. “With an operating budget of about $1 billion a year the NWS is certainly a bit higher than that for the Waimea Community Dam.” But taking on the markedly smaller project is a chance to reunite with family who have endured his commutes to Perth over the last few years. “It is about coming home but it is also about being part of a legacy project for this region.” Just as the North West project injected significant income and economic growth into Australia’s economy, Scott sees the Waimea Dam being a game-changer for Tasman. It is also one whose need was reinforced by last summer’s severe dry spell. “This year’s drought in the Tasman region has really highlighted to many the need for the dam. “The economy was hit badly by the drought and most people I talk to really understand the need to build more resilience into the community and the regional economy.

“Most people I talk to are actually asking me if we can get it built quicker.” A dawn blessing marked the start of the project in March, with the initial Lee Valley access road construction well under way.

I think there is a need there too to think more holistically about how we use water to help drive our economy. Mike Scott Waimea Water Excavation of dam foundations is to begin soon with the completion date set for late 2021, in expectation the dam will be filled in 2022. The project’s construction company is a joint venture between two established firms, Fulton Hogan and South Island company Taylor’s Contracting, both experienced in extensive

water projects including Central Plains and the Tekapo Canal remediation. “Later this year we will begin on the starter dam to manage the river flow during construction. As far as dams go this is a reasonably conventional type, a concretefaced, rock-filled construction, which is appropriate for the location and material being excavated.” The 53m high project is not the biggest of its type, with similar dams up to 100m high existing around the world. It is, however, the largest dam built in NZ for the past 20 years and marks a milestone after a number of projects including Ruataniwha fell over. Beyond the usual high-riskproject stresses that accompany highly capital intensive energy operations Scott has been accustomed to also dealing with geopolitical uncertainties and cost challenges that go with projects in foreign countries including the Middle East and west Africa. Fortunately, NZ’s political environment is more benign but Scott is conscious of the controversy that has swirled around the Waimea project for

almost all the 40 years it has been mooted and the project cost rising from about $20m at conception to $104.4m today. That is a figure he is confident can be met, providing no major geological issues arise. “We have a contingency there that is designed to manage reasonable risk. There is a risk in the geology and you can do all the seismic surveying and bore logs you like but at the end of the day you may not know until you open up the ground – it could be worse, it could even be better.” Based on the extensive work done Scott is confident engineers have a good handle on the project’s challenges and risks. He is also confident of his new, small, experienced and highly skilled team. Coming back to NZ from waterstarved Australia where he saw the impact of drought and flood on food prices Scott admits he is surprised and a little disappointed how this country has struggled to leverage greater competitive advantage with its prolific water supply. “I think there is a need there too to think more holistically about how we use water to help drive our economy.”

New thinking

THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 6, 2019

Trade water, NZ Initiative says Think Tank, the New Zealand Initiative, advocates a system where water rights, capped by environmental constraints, can be traded within a catchment so those who need more can buy it from those who need less. Neil Wallace reports on the suggestion the Initiative says will also improve water quality.

TRADING scheme for water, similar to that for emissions, will improve water quality, the New Zealand Initiative says. Its chief economist Eric Crampton’s report, Refreshing Water: valuing the priceless, advocates a cap and trade market system backed by hard-wired environmental constraints to manage and sustain freshwater resources. A well-functioning system can ensure all users follow best practice but cannot choose between the merits of competing water and land uses. Central to any reorganisation of water management is recognising the interests of existing consents holders but also those of iwi, a failure he says is the root cause of water issues. “Real solutions raised the spectre of costly Treaty claims and so were avoided. “Whether iwi claims can be resolved through negotiations towards regulatory solutions or a full Waitangi Tribunal process we believe the game is worth the candle.” The first-come first-served system has caused the overallocation of some catchments, haphazard and poor management of contaminants and failure to fully acknowledge the issue of urban pollution. While science is a key to finding solutions tradable water rights will achieve environmental goals. Those goals should reflect the aims and aspirations of the community while the price of water in sub-catchments will reflect the degree of environmental challenge. A 2014 study for the Iwi Advisers

USE IT OR SELL IT: The New Zealand Initiative suggests users with excess water allocation should be able to sell what they don’t need.

Group estimated it will cost $50 million to implement a water rights system and $30m a year to run it but provide $370m of economic benefits from better water use. Those economic benefits explode out to more than $500m during a drought. Crampton said a cap and trade system must have consistent catchment-wide management, something missing in managing the recovery of Australia’s Murray Darling River, which is suffering from salinity, erosion, algal blooms, quality issues and invasive species. Access to water in the basin can be bought and sold but flowing through five states its recovery has been hampered by disparate management of differing state government rules. Crampton says one set of rules for each catchment is crucial. “We’re suggesting that cap and trade be done at a catchment level and it would be a lot easier in NZ because regional government jurisdiction is based on water catchments.” There are parallels with water management in the 1980s when United States scientists found sulphur dioxide emissions caused acid rain and had to be lowered.

Scientists could not identify which factories should close or those needing to introduce scrubbers so an emissions cap was created and emitting factories were given tradable permits within that cap. Those able to easily cut their emissions did so and sold excess allocation to those less able to do so while the dirtiest, hardest to fix factories shut down and sold their permits. Water consent-holders including farms, industries, commercial users and councils would have their existing consents converted into tradable water permits. Electronic trading systems would allow water users to submit bids to buy water allocations from other users or sell their own allocation but it will be backed by hard environmental constraints. “Hydrological mapping lets the system know the effects of drawing water from aquifers and rivers at different places within the catchment. “It then incorporates the downstream effects of upstream water drawing into its workings and generates different prices for water at different places in the system.” Crampton says tradable rights

BETTER OFF: Allowing people to trade their water rights will improve the quality of fresh water, the New Zealand Initiative says.

We’re suggesting that cap and trade be done at a catchment level and it would be a lot easier in NZ because regional government jurisdiction is based on water catchments. Eric Crampton NZ Initiative provide far greater incentive and therefore certainty of improved water quality than a water tax. If water was taxed, should demand exceed government expectations then it would be easy for the total water draw to exceed a catchment’s sustainable limit. Having a price on water might also encourage councils to put a higher priority on fixing leaks or installing water meters to create surplus water rights that can be sold. Adding a futures market for water rights could help finance irrigation projects, which are now part-funded by shareholders buying permanent rights to draw water from the scheme but valuing those shares is difficult without factoring in future scarcity. “Some water users may only need the scheme’s water in 10 or 15 years’ time rather than today and could not justify the investment.” Water rights form part of the value of the land when it is traded. A 2010 study found farms with irrigation sell for up to 50% more than similar farms without irrigation. Crampton is recommending the Government take responsibility for developing and establishing a tradable rights system with caps no lower than current uses, with the scheme trialled in Canterbury.

SELL IT: A capped system of tradable water rights will improve water quality and provide capital for irrigation schemes, New Zealand Initiative chief economist Eric Crampton says.

The NZ Initiative is also working on a study to develop a trading platform for nutrient emission credits. “Achieving any cap on total catchment-level emissions is simpler when trading is allowed. “Alternatively, stronger environmental quality can be achieved at similar overall cost by allowing trading.” Crampton says farmers changing land use or becoming more efficient could trade those rights with those seeking extra capacity. Similarly, if a council-owned sewage system overflowed, a council could have to buy emission credits.

Opinion

28 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

EDITORIAL

Time for farmers to embrace future

AST week the Government released its Zero Carbon Bill and the response to it has been about what you’d expect. Some farming industry groups call it cruel and unworkable. Environmentalists say it gives farmers a free ride. A pragmatist would say if you’ve made the two ends of the spectrum equally angry you’ve done a good job. We all know the threat climate change poses to farming and now we have legislation that gives a bit more certainly about the path ahead. The split-gas option, which treats biological gases differently to others, is a good, sciencebased decision. It must be noted the Bill is supported by the Climate Leaders Coalition, a group of 87 big businesses whose members include Fonterra, Ravensdown, Synlait and Silver Fern Farms. Those companies must recognise how the world and its climate is changing and how the primary sector needs to be part of the solution. What they need to do now is put that support into action and help their suppliers and shareholders make the transition in a sustainable way for both the environment and the bottom line. That could mean encouraging good practice through financial incentives. It could mean investing more in mitigation strategies. The Government will need to come to the party as well with support for the farmers whose livelihoods are at the heart of this transition. History tells us the carrot works far better than the stick. Some industry bodies point to our track record and it’s true farming, sheep and beef farming especially, has done great things in reducing emissions over the past few decades. They say if we reduce our productivity it will be taken up by less sustainable nations. That’s fine but do we really want our food story to read: New Zealand, better than Brazil? This is a chance for New Zealand to work collectively to achieve this goal that almost everyone agrees needs to be reached. We talk a lot about working together to tell our food story. We also talk about lessening the urban-rural divide. By embracing a lower-emissions future, we can do both.

Bryan Gibson

LETTERS

Co-ops succeed where firms failed RE: ALLAN Barber’s criticism of cooperatives, Farmers Weekly April 29. Is it coincidental that Barber comes out with his annual criticism of co-operatives nearly the same week as duckshooting? He should check his facts about supplier based cooperatives when the meat industry, particularly, is littered with corporate meat company casualties that were sold to co-operatives through the 80s, 90s and later at firesale prices. Farmer suppliers know the value of supporting co-ops and today those shared-up and loyal suppliers appreciate having a co-operative setting the national meat and milk prices and not having them

imposed from Japan, China or in a corporate office in NZ, for, first and foremost, their own shareholders’ benefit. He then uses only the last decade to conclude that privately owned companies perform stronger (no financial evidence provided) and don’t require suppliers to share-up when the lack (loss) of capital was the root cause of large corporate meat company failures in the past. But the real nonsense is his claim that inter-island lamb schedules are 50 cents apart is a corporate advantage when any present disparity is seasonal and reflects more the difference in slaughter patterns between North and South Islands. It was the reverse before Christmas. A snapshot of schedules this last

week suggests barely 20 cents separates North and South, corporate or co-op meat schedules. So what’s his point? Barber does his reputation as a commentator (and Farmers Weekly’s credibility as a paper) no good pedaling this bias and factually incorrect column to your readers as news. It is cynical fake news in its finest form and I presume with an underlying objective to undermine the integrity of co-ops by the media. Informed readers won’t believe it. Cooperatives’ biggest critics usually have no skin in the game. Your readers will acknowledge, though, the strategic importance of cooperatives as large-volume processors and smaller, niche operators to both process and

market New Zealand meat and milk produce in competition. Long may that continue. Hugh Gardyne Gore

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Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Fonterra must make us all proud Michelle Pye

S YOU drive from Timaru to Oamaru you will spot two billboards standing tall in a paddock of lush pasture telling the world that here lives a Proud Fonterra Farmer. It makes you pause and think what if every Fonterra farmer was proud enough of their co-op to tell the world they are proud Fonterra farmers? Better still, what if the New Zealand public was proud enough of Fonterra that it became a Kiwi icon like the All Blacks or Red Bands? I don’t have a sign but I’m a proud Fonterra farmer. Because, if we aren’t proud of Fonterra and our industry how can we expect the rest of NZ and the world to be? I came across a quote recently that reads “Be proud of who you are and not ashamed of how someone else sees you”. The challenge is how can we change the perception of our industry and how can we ensure we don’t confuse pride with arrogance. Fonterra has just announced the launch of a new programme for the coming season called The Co-operative Difference. It is designed to recognise farmers who achieve set onfarm standards in five areas – environment, animal welfare, milk quality, people and communities and our co-operative and prosperity. All the areas are integral to ensuring we have both a sustainable farming business and a sustainable co-operative. When I say sustainable I mean financially, socially and environmentally as these go hand in hand and we can’t have one without the others. So, it is great to see people, our communities, our co-operative and prosperity included in the programme. It is also vital in a customerfacing business to ensure we can

The

Pulpit

KEEP QUIET: It is not the role of Fonterra shareholders to tell the board or management what to do, farmer Michelle Pye says.

meet customers’ needs, which seem to increasingly focus on knowing what they have bought has been ethically and sustainably produced. So, rather than seeing this as mission creep behind the farm gate, I see this as a positive move enabling us to showcase the good on-farm work we are doing. It’s one way we can enable farmers to be proud of the work they are doing and hopefully help to change the perception of our industry. However, to me the Cooperative Difference means something quite different to the recognition programme just launched. The Co-operative Difference is about 150 years of having a co-operative model in the dairy industry, which is the legacy of the many generations that came before us. It was their passion, determination and support that have ensured this model still exists today and we must ensure we show the same attributes to ensure we have a strong cooperative for generations. My husband and I farm across different sectors and no other sector has a strong co-operative at the centre of it that sets out every day to maximise the amount it pays for our products. Fonterra turns up every day we

want it to, collects our product no matter how much or how little we have produced, pays the highest price it can then processes and sells it to share any profit with us. Then, when times are tough,

When I say sustainable I mean financially, socially and environmentally as these go hand in hand and we can’t have one without the others.

it supports the suppliers with an interest-free loan and deferred payment options through Farm Source. It is very rare to see this behaviour outside a co-operative. To me, that is The Co-operative Difference.

AT WORK: Pye Group’s Michelle Pye, centre, and Maree Wardell discuss environmental planning with Agribusiness Group consultant Dave Lucock at the Pye Group offices.

I went to a meeting recently where an ex director said “Don’t ask what your co-op is doing for you – ask yourself what you have done for your co-op recently”. Everyone has a responsibility in our co-operative. The board’s role is to govern and hold management to account. The Shareholders’ Council is there to represent shareholders. The role of management is to execute the strategy and manage the operations. Our role as farmers is to provide quality, sustainably produced milk and our role as shareholders is to engage with the co-op, read the information provided and make informed choices when voting. The Co-operative Difference for Fonterra is we have clearly separated governance from representation. The Shareholders’ Council is often the target of criticism with various views ranging from lapdog, toothless tiger and not worth the money to my personal favourite, they just go to Auckland to drink cups of tea. I can assure you I have better things to do with my time and shareholders’ money than fly to Auckland to drink cups of tea and I prefer coffee anyway. So, if we are the subject of criticism either we are not performing our role or there is a misconception about what our actual role is. Let’s be clear. It is not our role to tell the board or management what to do, approve decisions made by the board or sack the board. The ultimate power in a cooperative rests with shareholders who can hold the board to account by exercising their right to vote. The council’s role is to represent shareholders. We do this through three main functions of monitoring performance, guardianship of the co-operative philosophy and

the director election process and connection with farmers, which includes sharing knowledge with an engaged farmer base. We report to shareholders through our annual report, regular emails and from time to time special reports like the assessment of Fonterra’s financial performance since inception published last year. However, probably our most effective way of communicating is via conversations with farmers, which is why your council is increasing efforts this year to connect with even more farmers. Later this year nominations for councillors will be called for in a third of council wards because of rotation. That is your chance to put yourself or another shareholder forward to help shape the future of our co-operative. Again, for me, this is The Co-operative Difference, the people who form the heart of our co-operative, whether they are farmers, shareholders, employees, councillors or board members, people who are passionate about their industry and the cooperative because at the end of the day we all want the same thing here – a successful, sustainable industry that creates goodness for generations to come. And we all need to play our part in ensuring that happens.

Who am I? Michelle Pye is director of Pye Group, a family owned and operated agricultural business specialising in contracting, dairying, vegetables, cropping and grazing in Mid and South Canterbury.

Your View Got a view on some aspect of farming you would like to get across? The Pulpit offers readers the chance to have their say. farmers.weekly@globalhq.co.nz Phone 06 323 1519

Opinion

30 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Emissions Bill a curate’s egg Alternative View

Alan Emerson

ON WEDNESDAY we had the announcement of the climate change legislation and the Bill supporting it being introduced into Parliament. Like all things there are parts I liked and parts I didn’t. For a start I was really pleased with the acknowledgment of the importance of the agriculture sector by both Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw. I am also pleased methane is being treated separately and that’s a real plus in my view.

If the media keep telling the public we have it sweet then getting change will be difficult.

I wasn’t as impressed with the methane targets but the sector has the chance to work with the Government to achieve something more realistic. My understanding from the scientists I’ve spoken to is that just a 10% reduction in methane by 2050 is climate neutral. That isn’t a lot and should cause few problems for the sector. I heard Shaw talking and I was pleasantly reassured by his comments. He talked about the legislation being a collective effort across every sector of the economy. He understood the vast

difference between methane and carbon dioxide. He talked about an independent Climate Change Commission, which I found encouraging. The Government needed to put in infrastructure and support for farming so there have to be support services, research and development and advice. He assured us the legislation does not necessarily mean a reduction in stock numbers. What I got out of all that was the Government is progressing with a measured approach based on research and development, which I don’t have a problem with. I have two concerns. The first is that air travel is ignored. It’s an infinitely bigger polluter than agriculture. The second is the level of methane reduction required. Reaction to the legislation has been interesting. Federated Farmers vicepresident and climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard said the targets for methane will send the message to farmers New Zealand is prepared to give up on pastoral farming. He added it is frustratingly cruel because there is nothing he can do on-farm to meet the targets. He’s right but if the Government is going to boost research and development I’m confident there will be options available in future. That research and development boost is extremely important in my view. Further, as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton pointed out, farmers should be able to plant trees on their land to reduce their emissions obligation. Being realistic, if you go onto any large hill in rural NZ today and look around you’ll see trees for Africa. It wouldn’t surprise me if we are ahead of the eight ball now and I look forward to more work in this area. Beef + Lamb basically sung from the same song sheet as Feds

YES: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged the importance of the agriculture sector to NZ.

saying the targets are too high and farmers should be able to plant trees. I don’t have any argument with either point. Of considerable interest is the general media says the targets for methane are soft, so the sector has some work to do to convince the country they’re not. If the media keep telling the public we have it sweet then getting change will be difficult. The Environmental Defence Society was supportive of the Government moves, as you would expect. Its position is the announcements were highly concessionary to the agriculture sector. Our old mates at Greenpeace were apoplectic. They talked about the Bill being watered down by vested interests like agriculture. They said “With a miserly ambition of 10% cuts in

HELPLESS: Federated Farmers vice-president Andrew Hoggard described the methane targets as frustratingly cruel because there’s nothing he can do to achieve them.

methane by 2030 – the gas from our dirtiest industry, dairy – the Zero Carbon Bill is watered down medicine that lacks the potency to cure the actual ailments we have.” They obviously need a pallet of happy pills at Greenpeace HQ. Mind you, it’s good for our sector they are so emotive and off the wall as no-one in their right mind will take them seriously. Going forward I’m a lot more relaxed than I could have been. The Government wants the support of all parties in Parliament. Federated Farmers are solid, rational lobbyists and can make their arguments heard by all of the parties. The legislation has to go to a select committee, which gives the sector the ability to have more input. The science is on the side of agriculture and it will just be a

matter of presenting that science, calmly and unemotionally to politicians. So, we have a lot of work to do if the sector is to succeed in achieving change. We need to get the backing of some renowned scientists, which I don’t think will be difficult. We need to talk to politicians of all persuasions calmly and unemotionally. We must convince the general media and subsequently the public that agriculture isn’t having a soft option. We all need to support the same science. If we do those things I’m confident reason will prevail.

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

LET THEM: Farmers should be allowed to plant trees to offset their emissions, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton says.

Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

GONE: Nothing can now save Westland Milk from overseas ownership because not even Fonterra can afford to take it on.

Westland demise self-inflicted The Braided Trail

Keith Woodford

THE approaching demise of Westland Co-operative Dairy, trading as Westland Milk Products, has come as a surprise to many people. It should not have done so. At the very least, either a partial sale or major joint venture has been inevitable for some years. Survival as a co-operative is now impossible. Most of the people I talk to think the sale to Chinese company Yili is a very bad idea. West Coasters do not like it. Even Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor is of that opinion. And if a sale really is necessary, then the common perspective seems to be that it should be a local company. In response, I say, dream on. The die was cast many years ago. There is no local company with the strength to take over Westland’s debt and operations. That includes Fonterra, which is itself in asset divestment mode. Quite simply, the Westland co-operative has got itself into a dreadful mess with too much debt and a non-competitive milk price relative to other companies. This is a serious matter for all West Coasters given the Westland cooperative is the biggest employer on the Coast. The root of that problem has been steadily developing over the last 17 years. Once Westland got on the slippery path it could not find its way back to firm ground.

As the proverb says, success has many parents but failure is an orphan. So, no-one is going to put up their hand and say mea culpa. However, all Westland directors for the last 17 years should be asking themselves where they went wrong, where it all started and when were the last opportunities to get back onto firm ground. Arguably, the answers to these questions are no longer relevant to the future of Westland itself. It’s too late to make any difference. But they are relevant to the directors of every other New Zealand co-operative business. There are lessons to be learned. I have always been a strong believer in the role of cooperatives in agribusiness. For quite some years I taught a course at Lincoln University on cooperatives. Co-operatives can help farmers maximise the selling price for their products and minimise the cost of specific inputs. They change the power balance between farmers and those who are further along the value chain towards the market. However, co-operatives can be long-term successful only if they show financial discipline. That means making sure there is always enough money left in the kitty for capital expenditure. It also means keeping a rein on managers driven by growth at the expense of company stability and not being fooled by a company’s own PR. The Westland co-operative began its modern-day life in 2001 when the Dairy Board was disestablished and Westland chose to go it alone from Fonterra. Westland was paid $84 million for its share of the Dairy Board and it thereby started its modern life with minimal debt.

I say modern life because the Westland co-operative goes back to 1937. However, before 2001 it did not market its own products. The Dairy Board did that. The first big mistake of the modern Westland was staying with a traditional capital structure of cheap shares with no capital gain. The mantra was cheap-in and cheap-out. However, Westland always had ambitions to grow its business. Way back in 2001 I led a Lincoln University team tasked by the cooperative with assessing the scope for increased milk production on the Coast. We analysed the soil maps and overlaid existing farm land use with GIS mapping. We had some debate about the suitability of some soils but the overarching message was clear. There was indeed great scope for expansion. Westland did not ask us to address the issue of funding the necessary increase in processing capacity. Westland could see it had plenty of borrowing capacity. However, Westland got carried away with reliance on debt. It became a slippery path. Westland’s cheap-in and cheap-out policy meant farmers supplying new milk had to make a one-off capital contribution of only $1.50 for each kilogram of annual milksolids production. That was crazy. And there lay the seeds of Westland’s eventual demise. Although the seeds were sown in 2001, the sprouting shoots of trouble were not evident until about 2009. Even then, there was time to change the policy and require new production to be equity funded at, say, $4 or thereabouts. But it did not happen. The capital policy was highly

beneficial for some major corporates, including Landcorp. It meant there was a wealth transfer from existing family farms on the Coast to these expanding businesses. I remain puzzled why Westland’s external directors did not argue for increased capital contributions. Perhaps they did but if so, they did not argue hard enough. Westland could still have survived with its low capital contributions but only if everything went well.

Westland got carried away with reliance on debt. It became a slippery path. The capital structure left no resilience to withstand misfortune. Lack of retained earnings made the situation worse. One such misfortune occurred during the global financial crisis. Westland’s currency-hedging skills were inadequate. To its cost it became an accidental speculator. That was a management mistake but perhaps the external directors, with their financial background, should once again have been looking more closely. Westland also lost a huge opportunity in 2009 when, following the tragic death of chief executive Scott Eglinton, the new chief executive reversed the policy of moving to A2. To put the A2 issue in perspective, the a2 Milk Company should make a net profit well in excess of $300m this year, all from about 20m kilos of A2 milksolids produced by Synlait farmers.

If Westland had continued with its A2 policy it could by now have been producing more than 50m kilos of A2 milksolids a year under its own banner. The economics of West Coast life would have been very different. I tried in 2009 without success to convince the new chief executive to stick with the A2 policy. Westland’s most recent problems stem from expansion into Canterbury, the associated debt, some cost over-runs and poor performance of value-add investments. Those value-add outcomes illustrate that value-add is harder than it might seem. Without the Canterbury expansion, Wetland could probably have survived. To those who now want to criticise the proposed sale to Yili, I say think again and do that thinking in the real world. Yili has been investing heavily in its Oceania (Waimate) operations and is financially strong. It has given 10-year guarantees to match the Fonterra price. It has the supply chains to Chinese consumers in place. There is no local company that can match the Yili offer. Yes, we can continue to regret Westland’s spilt milk of the last 17 years, but it is also time to move on. Westland’s farmers now need to focus on reducing their own farm debts to sustainable levels. These next 10 years will indeed go quickly.

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

Opinion

32 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Unforgettable tour of the country into the Headwaters composite sheep breeding programme as well as the way agriculture and tourism can combine to offer new career opportunities for younger people. The shearing demonstration was done by a lad off a Mid Canterbury farm that produces Headwaters sheep for the Alliance Te Mana lamb programme. He did a tourism course in Queenstown and now works for Real Adventures, owners of the Earnslaw and providers of the shearing and farm demonstration at Walter Peak. Queenstown was a shock, having changed from an attractive lakeside town to an ever expanding tourist Mecca with major housing and retail developments, an airport which has quickly become too small for international flights and an inexhaustible need for accommodation to house all the overseas hospitality staff. Central Otago has some wonderful parts but Queenstown and increasingly Wanaka look out of control.

Meaty Matters

Allan Barber

I HAVE just returned home after two weeks touring New Zealand, mostly the South Island, by train and coach and can honestly say it was the most stunningly beautiful trip I have ever made. It even beat Sicily, Turkey, India and Japan, all of which at various times seemed to have taken the prize for the best trip ever. We were lucky with both the weather, alternating between amazing and good and only very occasionally damp and the season, which turned on its traditional autumn splendour in Central Otago, Canterbury, south Westland and on the West Coast. As well as showing NZ at its finest the trip provided an invaluable insight into the sheer breadth of agricultural investment and activity across the country. In light of calls to cut carbon emissions, plant millions of hectares in trees and generally reduce our agricultural footprint, it was a salutary reminder of how much the economy depends and will depend for a very long time on agriculture for overseas earnings. It is impossible to see realistically how huge swathes of rural country will convert voluntarily to other forms of activity, except for the apparently inevitable encroachment of urban sprawl onto productive farm and horticultural land and the billion trees programme. Of course, population growth causing loss of land contributes to higher carbon emissions and is essentially unproductive, unless the increased building activity is seen as a positive factor. But it is unlikely to benefit the balance of payments. Travelling by train through the North Island on a gloriously clear day provided the perfect contrast to the South Island tour ahead of us, making the transition from the increasingly built up Pukekohe and Pokeno area to the fertile Waikato then onwards through rural King Country, the splendours of the Central Plateau and Rangitikei before the coastal stretch to Wellington. As would prove to be the case south of Cook Strait, it was hard to envisage just how anything could replace in a hurry the different farming activities on all these varied types of soils and land forms. The train journey from Picton to Kaikoura provided my first view of the impact of the earthquake, both on the shape of the coastline and the impressive structural achievement to rebuild the road and railway. Arriving in Christchurch in the dark caused complete disorientation. I hadn’t realised the station had moved to Addington but it wasn’t till

The trip provided an invaluable insight into the sheer breadth of agricultural investment and activity across the country.

SPECTACLE: Allan Barber visited Milford Sound on his national tour.

the morning that the scale of destruction in the Square, by the Avon and to the east became obvious. This was my first time in Christchurch since the earthquakes nine years ago and the immediate impression was mind-blowing, though Hagley Park and further west were much as I remembered them. The journey to the West Coast

was spectacular and nothing much seemed to have changed apart from the increase in dairy farms on the plains but travelling south through Mid and South Canterbury we saw lots of pivot irrigators used for both dairy and arable farming. No doubt there are plenty of people who question the wisdom of allowing so much

irrigation on this land, thereby encouraging more agricultural and horticultural production. But given the economic advantages and council approval for these large units it would be unreasonable to expect farmers to ignore the opportunity. A visit to Walter Peak at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu via the Earnslaw provided an insight

We were relieved to head for Te Anau and Milford Sound, which we were fortunate to see on a perfect day with clear skies, no wind, waterfalls and fresh snow on the mountains. The coach journey through western Southland showed many ewe flocks with telltale marks of having been serviced by the ram, some dairy farms closer to the coast and, to please Shane Jones, plenty of evidence of farm forestry blocks. The far south sums up the beginnings, past and present of the meat industry. On the road to Bluff sits South Pacific Meats’ compact plant next to the Open Country dairy factory followed a few kilometres later by the damaged remains of Ocean Beach. Two days later on Sebastopol Hill beside the road to Oamaru we passed the monument to Thomas Brydone, which commemorates his part in the first shipment of frozen lamb to Britain in 1882. This snapshot of history, combined with what I saw during two weeks travelling around the country gives me hope for the future. In spite of the enormous challenge posed by the need to change how we feed the global population it gave me confidence NZ agriculture retains the capacity to adapt and flourish in this demanding new environment.

Your View Allan Barber is a meat industry commentator: allan@barberstrategic. co.nz, http://allanbarber.wordpress. com

Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

There’s time for rational response From the Ridge

Steve Wyn-Harris

“IT IS patently unfair for those of us who live in cities to ask the farmers who we depend on for our food to go through a steeper transition if we choose to continue to drive around in fossil-fueled cars when we could be switching to cleaner options.” If you didn’t see the interview last week and don’t know who said this you might be surprised to learn it was Climate Change Minister James Shaw of the Green Party. He could also have mentioned reducing international air travel given the $78,000 he spent last year, putting him as our biggestspending politician and well in front of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. It’s quite a departure from the rhetoric the Greens were spouting in the election campaign and backs my reassurance to my right-wing mates after the election outcome who thought the world was going to come to an abrupt end when I reckoned once the Greens finally got some ministers they would decide they liked it, would not want to do stuff that would see them gone in three years and also get to understand

the realities of life and politics. That is one of the reasons we saw with the proposed legislation of the Zero Carbon Bill that they have taken the advice of a splitgases approach recognising methane as a short-lived gas is different from carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, which are long-lived gases. That was recommended by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton in his report last August. So, the proposed Zero Carbon Bill could have been worse but, as we know, it still poses great difficulties for our sector with the targets set for methane reduction. It sets a target for 10% reduction

This latter option would be the death knell of farming businesses, rural communities and the country’s economy. So that’s not going to happen.

in methane emissions by 2030 and aims for a provisional reduction ranging from 24% to 47% by 2050. That’s a heck of a range and biological long-term systems like ours can’t adapt or deal with that sort of uncertainty. My own sector of sheep and beef has already seen a 30% reduction in emissions since 1990 but that is not recognised either.

COMFY: Steve Wyn-Harris told his right-wing mates once the Greens got some ministers they would decide they liked that and wouldn’t do stuff that would see them gone in three years.

This secondary target of 24% to 47% far exceeds both New Zealand and global scientific advice and means agriculture is being asked to reduce far more than fossil fuel emitters. Upton noted a 10%-22% reduction in methane outputs means our sector would no longer contribute to global warming. This extra 25% reduction means methane emitters are being required to offset carbon emitters. One tool Upton recommended for farming businesses to offset methane emissions was in establishing trees on farms so they are warming neutral but that is not part of the proposed legislation. These ambitious methane reduction targets are putting a great deal of faith in emerging and unthought-of-to-date technologies to help us hit a 50% reduction in 30 years without culling 50% of our herds. This latter option would be the death knell of farming businesses, rural communities and the country’s economy. So that’s not going to happen.

Yes, the 20-year objective of creating a vaccine or being able to modify the rumen microbiome so our cattle and sheep don’t burp methane might come through. Let’s hope it does. Promising work on asparagopsis, a species of seaweed, showing up to 50% reduction in methane output looks good. But it is difficult to harvest and extract and must be in every mouthful, which is somewhat of a difficulty on hill country. It could be so expensive it is prohibitive. AgResearch’s work offshore on GE ryegrasses that reduce methane, help with water scarcity and water quality could be transformational if it works as hoped and if we are allowed to use it. Genetics could be another tool. Perhaps things we aren’t even thinking of yet might turn up or, most likely, a combination of all these sorts of technologies but there are a lot of ifs here. The previous National government signed us up to the Paris Climate Agreement, which

has brought us to this proposed bill. That agreement had a key goal of safeguarding food security and ending hunger. As we know this puts a direct tension on our agricultural sector’s ability to reduce methane emissions while at the same time producing food. We know we are some of the most efficient producers of food with the lowest emissions per kilo. It would be counterproductive to remove our ability to do that while less efficient farming nations continue on their merry way because they produce in an economy where methane is not nearly 50% of the total emissions. This bill is a proposal so there is the opportunity yet for legislation that is science-based and a rational response to an accepted problem.

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

Breaking the rural-urban divide Riley Kennedy THE agricultural sector is what New Zealand is made of. Without it NZ wouldn’t be what it is. Growing up around the rural community in NZ is something we will never forget but also something we possibly take for granted. The luxury of jumping on the motorbike and going for a ride, being in big, wide, open spaces is something some people have never experienced. As future leaders of the agricultural sector it’s our job to educate the consumers about the story behind the food and fibre industry of NZ. I’m a 17-year-old boy in my last year of high school. I live in Fairlie, which is the gateway to the Mackenzie Basin. I have memories of being on farms from a very young age. My dad is a stock truck driver so the passenger seat in his truck

quickly became my school holiday programme. There is not a part of the country I haven’t seen from the right hand side of a stock truck.

It’s time for us to start telling the story about how NZ’s food and fibre is produced and let the consumer ask why. Having a childhood of growing up around stock trucks means I was able to go to hundreds of farms and ask plenty of questions, most probably annoying the hell out of the farmer who simply wanted his stock gone. This, I believe, is where partly, along with other factors, my passion for investigation, writing stories and forming strong opinions came from.

We have all got ourselves into a heated discussion with a townie or at least heard of one who has strong opinions about farming. Recently I was at Otago University open day where I found myself in a discussion with a lecturer. I asked this particular lecturer if Otago offers any agricultural papers. She responded “I don’t believe in farming, it is wrecking our environment”. If you know me well it takes a lot for me reserve my comments so I responded. “Well that’s a shame but you have a nice day.” That really cemented why I wanted to start writing this. Us, as people from the rural community, get really wound up when we get ourselves into a situation like this. There is one way we are going to stop this and it begins with us telling our story and how consumers’ food and fibre is produced.

Unfortunately for us, news outlets only want stories they can play with, twist to shape into something far from the truth. Remember the 2017 election, water tax, well that’s what I mean. We had a whole lot of people who had no idea what the hell they were talking about and it resulted in a particular Labour MP who is now a cabinet minister being punched in Manawatu. It’s time for us to start telling the story about how NZ’s food and fibre is produced and let the consumer ask why. It’s time for us to start breaking down the wall between urban and rural communities and let’s start the conversation about how and why we farm how we do.

Who am I? Riley Kennedy is a 17-year old year 13 student at Mackenzie College in Fairlie who has a passion for agribusiness and journalism.

GOOD VIEW: Riley Kennedy has formed his view of the world from the right hand seat in his father’s stock truck.

On Farm Story

34 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

HAPPY AT HOME: Mairi Whittle has achieved her aim of returning home to run the family farm.

Photos: Andrew Stewart

Bringing on those tough challenges Being the boss isn’t easy and it’s even harder going solo on tough hill country prone to long, cold winters and dry summers. But for Taihape farmer Mairi Whittle it’s her dream come true. Andrew Stewart called in to see how she’s getting on.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Mairi Whittle enjoys awe-inspiring natural scenery as she goes about her work but the weather can be brutal on the hard hill country producing long, cold winters and dry summers.

HE Taihape to Napier highway is a sometimes snaky road surrounded by vast landscapes and prominent landmarks. Clean, green hills stretch as far as the eye can see and this strong farming country produces soughtafter stock. But it can be a brutally challenging environment to farm in too. Winters at this altitude are long, cold and punctuated by snowfalls. Summers are becoming increasingly dry with rain far less dependable after the holiday period. And it’s the stuff of Mairi Whittle’s dreams. She returned to her family farm last year, set up a lease from her parents and has realised her goal of becoming a sheep and beef farmer in her own right. The farm, Makatote, is 607 hectares with 580 hectares effective. It straddles the TaihapeNapier road about 20 minutes east

of Taihape and rises to 840 metres above sea level. There is about 200 hectares of cultivable country with the balance being rolling hills and steeper sidings that drop down to the Moawhango River. Mairi headed south on leaving school to enroll at Lincoln University. Like many others she didn’t really know where the study path would take her but enjoyed her time working towards a commerce degree. In her final year, she was offered a rural banking graduate position and moved to Nelson to start her new career. After a stint there, the then National Bank offered her a transfer to South Taranaki, which she jumped at because it took her closer to home. Though she enjoyed her time with the bank Mairi, like many young kiwis, had designs on an overseas adventure and set off on her big OE. She worked in Scotland, where her family originated, as a rousie and shepherd then spent six months

as a jillaroo on a million-acre station in outback Australia. But her inner self was longing to get back to her home country to try to get into the world of sheep and beef farming. “I always knew this was what I wanted. I just didn’t know how to get into it.” One of her first jobs back in New Zealand was at The Doone near Kaikoura, which taught her how a South Island high country run operates. She was exposed to the wonderful world of stock work and also began to build her practical farming skills. Through the farming grapevine Mairi heard about a job as a shepherd on a Pukeokahu farm near Taihape. Manager Rob Stratton had a reputation of being a great boss, teacher and mentor and when Mairi was offered a job she jumped at it. It was the break she was hoping for. Rob was a patient and knowledgeable teacher who invested time in Mairi despite

On Farm Story

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Connecting to the outside world

BIG JOB: Makatote covers 607 hectares of rugged country straddling the Napier-Taihape road and rises to 840m above sea level.

realising her heart was set on returning to her home farm. He encouraged her to try to form a solution so she could realise her dream and reinforced the fact there is no such thing as the perfect time to take over a family farm, so it was as good a time as any. That was early in 2018 and by the end of winter when scanning was due to be done on her home farm Mairi and her parents agreed a 10-year lease was probably going to be the best option for everyone. So, first-time farmer Mairi found herself buying 4000 ewes and 1600 hoggets from her parents. The eye watering financial transaction was part of her introduction to farming in her own right but she was confident in the quality of the stock and the farm. Another event that turned into a big deal in 2018 was the Rural Catch competition at the National Feildays at Mystery Creek. Being single at the time Mairi was entered by a group of well-wishing friends. She was interviewed over the phone and on the strength of that interview offered one of the eight slots in the competition. Ever the optimist, Mairi decided she had nothing to lose so headed off to the bright lights of Hamilton. The competition was a week-long expose of skills-based challenges and constant media attention culminating in the final on Saturday afternoon. By her own admission Mairi did fairly well in the skills challenges but was absolutely hopeless when asked to drive a small digger. But, to her surprise, she was named as the winner. The friends who nominated her were in the crowd cheering with customprinted t-shirts and looked on as Mairi collected a new Suzuki quad bike and a mountain of other farming products to take back to the farm. Though the win generated a huge amount of social media requests none of them led her to any sort of rural catch of her own. It wasn’t until she had returned to Taihape and the dust had settled that Cupid’s arrow struck. Local shearer Hayden Tapp caught Mairi’s eye and the couple have been together ever since.

I always knew this was what I wanted. I just didn’t know how to get into it. Mairi Whittle Farmer Nearly a year after taking over the reins from her parents Mairi is relishing all the challenges and opportunities that have been thrown at her. The huge jump from being paid a steady wage to having to constantly fork out huge amounts of money on all things farming have been tempered by her background as a rural banker. Her former life exposed her to the financial implications of farming in her own right, which have made the step far less daunting. Though she is very grateful for the chance she has been offered Mairi is also looking to improve on her parents’ work and make her own mark on the land. She

hopes to do more subdivision of paddocks, upgrade the water system to become more reliable in the increasingly dry summers and also plant more trees for shelter and around waterways. Despite the farm producing fantastic stock under her parents’ guardianship Mairi is always keen to make her own stamp on the farm. This year she planted 25 hectares of swedes and kale as a winter feed option for sheep and cattle. When asked what her biggest challenge has been Mairi admits it is probably the weather. Winter and spring storms can wipe out the lamb crop and last year she went through the heartbreak of losing many more than she would have liked. Very dry summers seem to be becoming the normal weather pattern as well. She now appreciates the advice she was given to sell stock early in the season before feed becomes scarce. The constant learning of practical skills is another aspect

IN THE past few years Mairi Whittle has used Instagram to capture images of her farming life and connect with the outside world. She admits her lifestyle can sometimes be lonely but uses social media to stay in touch and share the stunning scenery she sees daily. The instant medium allows her to see first-hand the impact her chosen occupation can have on those who live in urban centres. The comments on her photos quite often express wonder, awe and longing for the life she has chosen and Mairi wants to expand that in

that she is still coming to grips with. While she admits she still has a lot to learn she has picked up skills quickly and is never afraid to ask questions of others or work hard. She has even spent days pressing wool in the woolshed, which might have saved her a few dollars but gave her a great appreciation of the graft that goes on there. She also now has a team of six dogs and would like to spend more time pursuing dog trialling. But probably the biggest emotion Mairi feels is one of gratitude. She is extremely thankful her parents, who worked hard to create a wonderful farm, have given her such an opportunity at such a young age. Her father Jim now uses his spare time to study Italian in Wellington, a lifelong dream that day to day farming never allowed him to realise. Her relationship with former boss Rob Stratton is also something she is very grateful for. He not only encouraged her to take on the challenge of farming in her own right but remains a

future if possible. She recognises there is a rural-urban divide and would love to be part of the solution. “I guess it’s about telling the positive stories but also getting the people that are not interested in reading those stories, interested and engaged with farmers.” She also has some advice for her fellow farmers. “Farmers need to be a bit more open-minded as well and get better at telling our stories. We need to engage more with people outside the farm gate and show them the positive sides of farming.”

close friend and mentor and visits the farm to check up on her and offer advice. When asked what advice she has for other young Kiwis looking to get into farming Mairi drew on her own experience. “Don’t be afraid to ask for advice but also you don’t have to listen to all the advice that is offered. And if you don’t have a family farm, find yourself someone you have mutual respect for.” She feels that’s crucial to making any arrangement successful. She also encourages anyone from a family farm to work away from it for a time to learn new skills and get some different perspective. Leasing the farm works well for the Whittle family but Mairi’s long-term goal it to buy it. Given her background in banking she knows that will be tough. She is also mindful of her two brothers and the need for them to be included in any succession plans.

>> Video link: bit.ly/OFSwhittle

THEY DON’T TALK MUCH: There’s not much company as Mairi Whittle works her land but she uses social media to keep in touch with the outside world and to tell her farming story.

World

36 THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Too poor to eat his own produce A FARMER who produces food he can’t afford is calling for British government action to address rural poverty. James Metcalfe, a tenant farmer running a pedigree North Country Cheviot flock with his wife and father at Edale in Derbyshire’s Peak District, said his income from producing food has been so low he has considered using a food bank. He told his story as part of a 12-minute film, God’s Lone Country, which sets out to challenge rose-tinted images of the rural idyll and reveal the tougher realities of life in the countryside. “Last August we were at the point where we considered giving up. “We did not know how we were going to pay the rent. “My wife and I have both suffered with mental health issues in the past and last year I was at my lowest ebb.” Metcalfe was approached by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) as part of an 18-month investigation into how policy, business and community shape the United Kingdom’s food and farming systems and rural communities.

POOR: Farmer James Metcalfe’s income was so low he considered using a food bank.

“They approached me in September and it was a blessing.

Dating app for cattle goes live A DATING app for cattle was launched on Valentine’s Day. Tudder is a swipe-based phone app allowing farmers to look for bulls to serve their herd or breeding cows. The app was developed by SellMyLivestock as a bit of fun on Valentine’s Day, co-founder Jamie McInnes saifd. But it highlights how relevant online matchmaking is for farmers looking for breeding stock. “Finding the right match can be daunting for us humans let alone if you’re a fourlegged farm animal,” McInnes said. “Traditionally, playing moo-pid for cows would require proper grafting: visiting each herd of hopefuls at different farms or at an auction market, all the while running the risk that the best cow on the market has simply slipped past you.” The app features profiles of farm animals from 43,000 farms across Britain, representing about a third of all United Kingdom farms Farmers will swipe right for yes and left for no in the search for the perfect match for their farm. Once a match has been made farmers will be redirected to the SellMyLivestock website where they can browse photos and learn more about the breeding stock listed If farmers are interested in viewing or buying livestock they will be able to contact each other to discuss it. UK Farmers Weekly

WAITING: A new app allows British farmers to find mates for their cows.

“I was so low that talking about our problems for the film

was like therapy for me,” he said. “It was comforting to know I was not alone. “I also wanted people to know not all farmers drive around in Range Rovers and wear Hunter boots. “I think there is a lot of rural poverty but people do not see it.” FFCC director and Monmouthshire livestock farmer Sue Pritchard said “We commissioned this film to expose the very real problems facing rural communities and give a voice to the millions of ordinary people who live in our countryside. “The social issues they face are every bit as serious and pressing as in urban areas but they feel unheard and overlooked by policy makers in Westminster and society in general.” Metcalfe said “We have considered the food bank because at times income is so low. “How ridiculous is it that a farmer produces food that he himself cannot afford. “I will buy cheap food because that is what we can afford to buy yet I know it should be more expensive but I cannot afford to pay for it, so it is a stupid, vicious circle.” The film says it tells the story

They feel unheard and overlooked by policy makers in Westminster and society in general. Sue Pritchard Food, Farming and Countryside Commission of farmers who can’t afford to eat the food they produce, local people who can’t afford to live in their own villages and transport networks that isolate communities. It is set in the beautiful backdrop of the Peak District National Park. God’s Lone Country tells the stories of three people struggling in the countryside on low incomes with poor access to affordable housing and public services and reveals the tougher realities of life in rural Britain.

Watch the film at vimeo. com/332203873

Plant trees on farms Brits told FARMERS should be paid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a study calling for urgent action to tackle climate change says. Growers and livestock producers should be rewarded for helping the British government reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2050, the Committee on Climate Change report said.

The focus must be on eating less but better meat, re-orienting diets around plant-based proteins and grass-fed livestock. Gareth Morgan Soil Assn The target is needed for the United Kingdom to meet its Paris Agreement commitment to help mitigate climate change. Emissions must be reduced across a range of industries. But special incentives are needed for agriculture, which is likely to still be a significant emitter of greenhouse gases by mid century. “It is difficult to reduce

agriculture emissions to near-zero given the inherent biological processes and chemical reactions arising from crops, soils and livestock. “Most remaining emissions are non-CO2, particularly methane,” it said. Changes in farming methods, including reduction in beef and sheep production, should emphasise carbon sequestration and biomass production. A fifth of UK farmland should be shifted into treeplanting, energy crops and peatland restoration. Redirecting support would support the major transition in land use needed to achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas target. It recommends financial payments should be linked to actions to reduce and sequester emissions from 2022. The National Farmers Union – which has a more ambitious target for agriculture to eliminate emissions by 2040 – said it is vital to tackle climate change. But it argues improvements in productivity, carbon capture and renewable energy production are the most effective ways to do so. NFU deputy president Guy Smith said “We will not halt climate change by

WARNING: Climate change won’t be stopped by curbing British production and exporting it to countries with lower standards, National Farmers Union deputy president Guy Smith says.

curbing British production and exporting it to countries that may not have the same environmental conscience or ambition to reduce their climate impact.” It is better to farm smarter, improve productivity, encourage carbon capture and boost renewable energy production. Some 65% of British farmland is best suited to grazing so the NFU’s ambition is that its climate impact is among the lowest in the world, he said. The Soil Association, which promotes organic farming

reliant on grazing livestock, said changes in diets are needed to meet the targets. But it warned increasing intensively reared British pork and chicken in place of beef and lamb will simply suck in red meat imports. Policy head Gareth Morgan said “A smaller, higher-quality ruminant sector still has a vital role to play in nurturing soil health and biodiversity. “The focus must be on eating less but better meat, reorienting diets around plantbased proteins and grass-fed livestock.” UK Farmers Weekly

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

Real Estate

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

NEW LISTING

Craigieburn 11075 West Coast Road

Grasmere Station The iconic Grasmere Station is nestled amongst some of New Zealand's most spectacular and picturesque scenery, on the Great Alpine Highway around ninety minutes' drive from Christchurch and well-positioned to prosper from the rapidly increasing tourism industry. A very productive and easily managed 555.54ha freehold bareland property, it is currently grazing dairy stock and has approximately 148ha of well-established lucerne, producing baleage. It is also well-suited to sheep, cattle and deer, and has a consent in place to irrigate with lowcost water. A pivot plan has been designed to irrigate around 375ha. Considerable recent development has been done, with a central lane, new fencing, cattle yards and re-grassing completed. There is ability to add value through building your dream home or weekend retreat, and increasing production by adding irrigation.

bayleys.co.nz/559989

Deadline Sale (unless sold prior) 4pm, Fri 7 Jun 2019 3 Deans Ave, Chch View by appointment Ben Turner 027 530 1400 ben.turner@bayleys.co.nz Craig Blackburn 027 489 7225 craig.blackburn@bayleys.co.nz WHALAN AND PARTNERS LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

Million $ Views – will NOT cost a million

Can not be seen from road, very private.

Te Aroha 153 Hill Road

• 13.888ha – 34 acres • 5 paddocks, some shelter belts • Large dam, 1-1½ acres provides water for garden, stock and ducks

Hill country opportunity

157sqm home in tidy condition with two covered verandahs. Open plan kitchen/dining area, large lounge with all day sun. Two bathrooms and three double bedrooms. 64sqm double garage, storage area and work bench. Also lock up shed with large woodshed and lean to. Only $950,000. No agents. Phone Malcolm Brazendale 06 329 2420

LK0097471©

10km to Feilding or Palmerston North.

Located on the edge of the Kaimai Ranges this 405ha (more or less) ranges from gentle rolling to medium and steeper contour and is currently run as a cattle breeding and sheep operation. Water is sourced from a spring feeding to a manacon then gravity fed to the farm and buildings. A water ram feeds to a manacon and supplies four troughs at the top of the farm. Buildings include a three stand woolshed, two hay barns, a large implement shed, a set of sheep yards and a set of cattle yards plus a satellite set of each and a four bedroom brick home. Pockets of native bush and a stony bottomed stream runs through the property plus amazing views add appeal. There is also a metal quarry. Scope, location and opportunity on the back of a strong beef and sheep market.

bayleys.co.nz/2310454

Auction (unless sold prior) 11am, Thu 30 May 2019 96 Ulster Street, Hamilton View 12-1pm Tue 14 May Russell Bovill 027 273 9025 russell.bovill@bayleys.co.nz Mike Fraser-Jones 027 475 9680 mike.fraserjones@bayleys.co.nz SUCCESS REALTY LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

TAUMARUNUI 27 Hakiaha Street TAUMARUNUI taumarunui@pb.co.nz Office 07 895 7123

Property Brokers Limited Licensed under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008

Oio Farms

WEB ID TUR48715

TAUMARUNUI 60 Bullians Road Oio is located in the southern King Country approx. 30kms from Taumarunui, at the foothills of Mt Ruapehu and near to the world heritage site of Tongariro National Park. Oio Farms is a premium breeding and finishing property with the majority of its country being of easy rolling contour that would lend itself to alternative land uses if desired. Oio Farms Ltd is for sale as one unit comprising 1339.76 ha. In addition, there is

an option to look at a part sale of approx. 520ha (subject to survey) being all the Oio hill country on the western side of SH4, leaving the balance lot of approx. 820ha being the main station with all the buildings. The part sale of the hill country and / or the fattening unit would be conditional on the contemporaneous sale of all Oio Farms land holdings.

BY NEGOTIATION

VIEW By Appointment

Katie Walker

Mobile 027 757 7477 Office 07 895 7123 Home 07 895 7112 katiew@pb.co.nz

pb.co.nz

TENDER

Orini 1532 Orini Road You’ve Got to be Kidding? No- I’m not- here’s your opportunity to get involved in the highly innovative dairy goat industry and supply the Dairy Goat Co-Operative. On offer is nearly 37ha with a full complement of improvements plus over 80,000 shares. On target to produce 100,000kgMS this season my Vendors are open to a range of offers from a full blown “turnkey” operation to selling down shares, separate titles, goats etc separately. See you at an open day soon.

Tender Friday 31 May 12noon (unless sold prior) View: Monday 13, 20 and 27 May 11am-12noon harcourts.co.nz/ML4231

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

A VERY SMART DAIRY FARM

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

129.60 hectares Video on website

988 Tangimoana Road, Ohakea, Manawatu Offering a productive mix of Ohakea silt loam, Carnarvon black sandy loam and Kairanga peaty loam with an area of lighter sand supplying a winter balance. It’s modern 40AS dairy, with ACRs, auto-drafting & in-shed feeding is an easy one person shed with the current 30 clusters. The balance of the on-farm infrastructure is virtually all less than ten years old. Overlooking the farm is a spacious four bedroom home, that has been tastefully re-decorated. A great dairy unit in a strong locality.

nzr.nz/RX1861762 Tender Closes 11am, Thu 23 May 2019, NZR, 20 Kimbolton Road, Feilding. Peter Barnett AREINZ 027 482 6835 | peter@nzr.nz NZR Limited | Licensed REAA 2008

TRANSFORMING REAL ESTATE INTO REAL ADVANTAGE FOR SALE

FOR SALE

MANDEVILLE VILLAGE 468 MANDEVILLE ROAD, CANTERBURY

WAIRAKEI ESTATE FORESTRY TAUPO, CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND

TROPHY ASSET LOCATED IN THE HEART OF A THRIVING COMMUNITY Mandeville Village is underpinned by excellent cashflow security with the key tenants being on 15 and 20 year leases. The enviable tenant mix, anchored by SuperValue and NPD, is serviced well by a strong local economy with high potential growth prospects. The asset was completed in 2018 with its architectural design being inspired by the affluent surrounding residential and rural catchment. Additionally, guaranteed rental growth up to the greater of CPI or 3% p.a. will provide confidence for excellent returns in the years to come.

7,000HA+ FORESTRY RIGHT OPPORTUNITY

+ Net Rental: c.$575,000p.a. + Outstanding WALT of c.11.75 years + Enviable tenant mix including a supermarket, service station and childcare centre + Large underlying land holding of 6,670sqm + High profile frontage to Tram Road (with vehicle movements in excess of 6,000 per day) DEADLINE PRIVATE TREATY Thursday 23 May 2019 at 4pm (unless sold prior) TIM ROOKES 027 562 3700

CAMERON DARBY 027 450 7902

Offered for sale by CBRE Agribusiness is a single rotation Forestry Right comprising some 3,506ha of established young age class crop (together with 286ha being established this winter), together with the opportunity to plant 2,201ha that will be available as cutover land as existing forestry rights terminate and a further 1,334ha currently utilised for drystock grazing which will shortly be available for forestry.

+ Outstanding Central North Island location

TWO STAGE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Stage One closing Thursday 23 May 2019 at 4pm

JEREMY KEATING 021 461 210

+ 7,326ha* Forestry Right Opportunity + Predominantly 4th rotation forestry land with a comprehensive roading network + Multiple competing destinations for forest products including export via Napier or Tauranga + Tenure by way of simple single rotation registered Forestry Right

WYATT JOHNSTON 027 8151 303

*Approximate areas only www.cbre.co.nz/63298322

www.cbre.co.nz/218323Q29

CBRE (Agency) Limited, Licensed Real Estate Agent (REAA 2008)

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Farmers Weekly 6 May 2019

Tenders close 4.00pm

Real Estate

Wednesday, 29 May 2019

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

Open Day: Thurs, 16 May 2019

12 noon to 2.00pm

Quality and Location An excellent opportunity has arisen with the availability of a top quality block of land situated in the prime location of Mystery Creek & Kaipaki, central to Cambridge, Te Awamutu & Hamilton

 408 Mystery Creek Road, Kaipaki

 water supply from Pukerimu District Water Scheme

 41.02 hectares more or less - 1 title

 a variety of general use shedding; 1 x fertiliser bunker

 elite soil type - predominantly sandy loam - flat contour

 very good cattle handling facilities, concrete base, galvanised rails & load-out race

 utilized for asparagus last 9 years, now sown with quality annual ryegrass

 no dwelling but excellent building sites available

 multiple land use applications:-

 an outstanding block in a top quality location

Licensed Real Estate Agent - REAA2008

- finishing - cattle stud

- cropping - equine stud

phone

07 870 2112

Brian Peacocke 021 373 113

office@pastoralrealty.co.nz

VIEWS FOR MILES

FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS

• What a find!! Awesome living on the edge of Feilding on this outstanding 46 hectare property. • Once you leave town you enter the property as the sealed driveway leads to the home that is positioned to capture all of the views. • The home has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, large living area, four car garaging and very large rumpus room. • Other facilities include stables, hayshed, workshop and woolshed with cattle yards. • The land is made up of some rolling hills and a lot of river silt flats. • Currently the property is running some dairy grazing along with cattle and sheep. • This is paradise and the new owners will fall in love with it as our Vendors did. • With an RV of $2,500,000 and motivated Vendors what is your offer? Call Les to inspect.

Sallan Realty

1161 No 3 Road, Te Puke

Ben Carter Licensed under REAA 2008 m 0274 972 728 o 07 578 8887 e ben@nrgrealty.co.nz

LK0097539©

5.15 can. ha of Green Kiwifruit, strip male, estimated 12,000 trays/can. ha, 2019. Price, just $390,000/can. ha.

VIEW: By appointment WEBSITE: www.nrgrealty.co.nz?TGA13249

CALL 0800FARMTEAM

THE DESTINATION FOR RURAL REAL ESTATE

GREAT VALUE & GREAT CROP

Te Puke

• Great chance to purchase this aesthetically pleasing property in the Midhurst district. • Situated on Rutland Road and being 44 hectares in size, this property has been well nurtured and looked after for the last half a century by the same family. • Features include a three bedroom period family home that has had a modernization in the MidEighties and sits very secluded from the road with lovely mountain views. • Other facilities include a disused dairy that is now used for stock handling, two hay sheds and a four bay older style machinery shed. • The property is well raced and subdivided, with good stock water and shelter. • Has been a great family dairy farm and now fattens cattle and our Vendors have decided to sell. • Call Les to inspect and discuss your options.

Google ‘Sallan Realty’ Your Farm Sales Specialist

Plus a 2 storied, 5 bedroom home with a RV of over $800,000, for just $600,000. PRICE: $2,600,000 + GST (if any)

MREINZ

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

Licensed Agent REAA 2008

LK0097462©

web ref R1297

- dairy - horticulture

RURAL | LIFESTYLE | RESIDENTIAL

TENDER

OTAUA, WAIKATO 188 Forestry Road Dairy Farm Otaua Size equals production • 240 hectares with 195 hectare dairy platform • Calving 520 cows • 208,000kgMS average for past four years • 36 aside herringbone built 2003 • 3,500,000 litre effluent pond built 2011 • Three dwellings • Inline feed system/auto cup removers • Comprehensive PIM available upon request • Zoning Waikato District

TENDER

Plus GST (if any) (Unless Sold By Private Treaty) Closes 4.00pm, Wednesday 26 June

VIEW By Appointment Only

Mark Needham M 027 704 6833 | B 09 237 0644 E mneedham@pggwrightson.co.nz

pggwre.co.nz/PUK30198

WAIKARETU, WAIKATO

AUCTION

BALFOUR, SOUTHLAND

Handy Bare Land

VIEW By Appointment Only

"Lanzdown Dairies" Short Notice Auction

166.4 hectares (411 acres) subject to survey Mainly easy to medium hill 73 hectares deer fenced with excellent stock water Good quality pastures and newly sown fodder crops Excellent house sites with views to the ranges 15km south of Waipukurau

Plus GST (if any) Closes 4.00pm, Thursday 30 May

• • • •

Max Lyver M 027 597 5818 | B 06 858 6780 E mlyver@pggwrightson.co.nz

pggwre.co.nz/WPK30372

AUCTION

Plus GST (if any) 1.00pm, Thursday 23 May Balfour Hall, 68 Queen Street, Balfour

219.5225ha 50 bail rotary dairy shed with 600 cow yard Five bedroom home plus three bedroom home Excellent shape with central lane through 51 paddocks plus six calf paddocks, 8ha kale • Milking 500 MA cows year on year • 90 day effluent storage with slurry tanker dispersion An Open Country supplier, this unit is located close to Balfour township and offers production upside.

VIEW By Appointment Only

Bill McDonald M 027 434 1928 E wmcdonald@pggwrightson.co.nz Darrell Duncan M 027 432 5767 E dduncan@pggwrightson.co.nz

pggwre.co.nz/GOR29164

PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under REAA 2008

For more great rural listings, visit www.pggwre.co.nz www.pggwre.co.nz

Adrian van Mil M 027 473 3632 | B 09 237 2041 E avanmil@pggwrightson.co.nz

pggwre.co.nz/PUK28264

TENDER

• •

VIEW By Appointment Only

After 28 years of diligent farming now is the time to sell. • 130 hectares of flat to rolling contour • Excellent fertiliser history • Soil type Mairoa Ash • 38 paddocks predominantly 7 wire post and batten • Spring water reticulated to every paddock • Woolshed, hay barn, two sets of cattle yards Do not delay, instructions are to sell!

HATUMA, CENTRAL HAWKE'S BAY

•

Plus GST (if any)

Surplus to Requirement

TENDER

• • •

$1.6M

PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under the REAA 2008

Helping grow the country

NZ’s leading rural real estate company

Helping grow the country

RENT A BULL – DRY STOCK FARM MANAGER

ANIMAL HEALTH www.drench.co.nz farmer owned, very competitive prices. Phone 0800 4 DRENCH (437 362).

ATTENTION FARMERS FAST GRASS www.gibb-gro.co.nz GROWTH PROMOTANT $5.85 per hectare + GST delivered Brian Mace 0274 389 822 brianmace@xtra.co.nz

www.no8hr.co.nz | ph: 07-870-4901

BUILDER AVAILABLE. South Island. Shed /barn, deer shed and yards. 15 years experience. Phone 027 436 8372. DAGS .30c PER KG. Replacement woolpacks. PV Weber Wools. Kawakawa Road, Feilding. Phone 06 323 9550.

BUSINESS FOR SALE E N G I N E E R I N G BUSINESS for sale. Sheet Metal, stainless steel and aluminium fabrication, East Auckland area. Established 40+ years ago. Servicing the marine, automotive, building and hospitality sectors. Currently owned and managed by an ex dairy farmer. If you are looking for a change in lifestyle, respectable hours and 5 days a week if you choose. No more worries about mud, mastitis or M. Bovis. Please reply with expression of interest to info@marinestainless.co.nz

CONTRACTORS

FORESTRY

GORSE SPRAYING SCRUB CUTTING. 30 years experience. Blowers, gun and hose. No job too big. Camp out teams. Travel anywhere if job big enough. Phone Dave 06 375 8032.

WANTED

BUYING 350 DOGS annually South and North Islands. No one buys or pays more! 07 315 5553. Mike Hughes.

DOGS WANTED 12 MONTHS TO 5½-yearold Heading dogs and Huntaways wanted. Phone 022 698 8195. BUYING 350 DOGS annually South and North Islands. No one buys or pays more! 07 315 5553. Mike Hughes.

FARM SERVICES /SUPPLIES TARPAULINS PVC TARPS. All sizes. Top quality Ripstop PVC.NZ Made. Phone for quote Westlorne Ohakune 06 385 8487. www.westlorne.co.nz or email: westlorne@xtra. co.nz Free delivery North Island.

FARM WANTED YOUNG PROGRESSIVE farming family, genuinely wanting to purchase, 4000su plus sheep and beef property preferably in Hawke’s Bay. Other areas considered. Phone 027 817 6646 anytime.

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.

GOATS WANTED 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.

GRAZING AVAILABLE WINTER COWS. 11 hectare of swedes. Up to 300. nilsreiten@gmail.com or phone 022 398 9705. Taumarunui.

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

LEASE FARM WANTED YOUNG FARMING FAMILY looking for a suitable farm, anywhere from 500 to 5000 acres. Any location considered but preferably in the North Island. Experienced in leasing. References available. Phone 021 083 04279 or 09 408 4838.

FO SALR E

SELLING

SOMETHING? 0800 85 25 80

LK0097622©

RUN OFF YOUR FEET? Advertise your vacancy in Farmers Weekly Phone Debbie Brown 0800 85 25 80 or email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

Classifieds LIVESTOCK FOR SALE

GOAT / SHEEP MILKING

ATTENTION WINTER MILKERS. Free autumn service bulls, Hereford/ Angus/Jersey. Experienced lease bull supplier. Phone 027 739 9939.

We currently seek interested parties, farmers, partners and investors. • New and exciting venture in growth industry • Large scale farming operation

WILTSHIRES-ARVIDSON. Self shearing sheep. No1 for Facial Eczema. David 027 2771 556.

For further details contact Nick 0274 763 658 Email: nick.aam@xtra.co.nz

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

AGRICULTURAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

T HI NK P R E B U I L T TIONAL A N T A S VISIT U SITE RL61 S Y A D L E FI

SHARE FARMING OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

NORTH ISLAND TRIAL LIMOUSIN-NORTH ISLAND Bull Trial Sale. Thurs 6 June. 1pm at 26 Buckingham Rd, Mangatawhiri. Catalogue: www.limousin.co.nz

NEW HOMES SOLID – PRACTICAL

(1) Quality Hereford cows available for

WELL INSULATED – AFFORDABLE

Our homes are built using the same materials & quality as an onsite build. Easily transported to almost anywhere in the North Island. Plans range from one bedroom to four bedroom First Home – Farm House Investment – Beach Bach

share farming. In-calf to a LBW Stud Hereford Bull. A great opportunity to build your numbers of high quality stock without

PROPERTY WANTED

the large outlay of costs.

HOUSE FOR REMOVAL wanted. North Island. Phone 021 0274 5654.

(2) Registered Stud Hereford cows. In-

STOCK FEED

opportunity to build your own herd of

calf to a LBW Stud Hereford Bull. A rare Registered Stud cows.

HAY 12 EQUIVALENT squares $70. 15 equivalent rounds $75. STRAW 12 equivalents $55. BALEAGE at $80. Unit loads available. Phone 021 455 787.

LK0097525©

LK0097473©

Interested? Find out more by logging onto www.no8hr.co.nz for more details of the business, the vision and what’s required. Applications close on 24 May 2019.

classifieds@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

HEADING BITCH, 5-yearold. HUNTAWAY DOG, 5-year-old. Both fully broken in Mainstays. 12-month HUNTAWAY dog, basic command in training paddock. Phone 021 137 2714. HEADING DOG, 10 month old, going in training paddock $1,000. HUNTAWAY DOG, 20 months, working. $1,000 Phone 06 928 0910. HUNTAWAY BITCH, 7 years old, Ex-station mainstay. $1600. Phone 03 489 1617.

www.no8hr.co.nz | ph: 07-870-4901

To win this role, you’ll need to be able to tick the following boxes: Strong drystock farming background, forward thinking and technology savvy, able to apply sustainable farming practices, first-class animal husbandry skills, have a high H&S capability and a detailed understanding of financial and business reporting.

Large four-bedroom homestead available.

CRAIGCO SHEEP JETTERS. Sensor Jet. Deal to fly and Lice now. Guaranteed performance. Unbeatable pricing. Phone 06 835 6863. www.craigcojetters.com

If you would like to register your interest or find out more, please contact Toni Trusler at No8HR on 0275 998 909 for a confidential and obligation-free conversation.

For either of these opportunities please phone Mark 021 330 425

Moa Master provide quality products and services at affordable prices 13.5HP. Briggs & Stratton Motor. Electric start. 1.2m cut

TOWABLE TOPPING MOWER

Call or email us for your free copy of our plans Email: info@ezylinehomes.co.nz Phone: 07 572 0230 Web: www.ezylinehomes.co.nz

FO SALR E

12Hp Diesel. Electric Start

CLASSIFIEDS TOWABLE FLAIL MOWER GST $4400 INCLUSIVE

11.5HP Briggs & Stratton Motor. Industrial. Electric start. GST $4200 INCLUSIVE

ADVERTISING

50 TON WOOD SPLITTER

GST $3990 INCLUSIVE

To find out more visit www.moamaster.co.nz

MOA MASTER

Phone 027 367 6247 • Email: info@moamaster.co.nz

LK0097217©

An excellent remuneration package is offered based on the successful applicant’s experience and qualifications.

DOGS FOR SALE

There would be an expectation that the incoming share milker would purchase a large portion of the existing herd and the machinery including tractor and farm trailer. In addition, there are likely to be existing staff who may be keen to stay on, so the opportunity would be there to employ those team members.

This showpiece farm has exceptional infrastructure, offering a 5-bedroom homestead and excellent steel cattle yards. All cultivatable land has been converted into modern pastures and is well watered with a spring fed gravity reticulated system with a central lane through the entire property.

This is a sole charge job with a full time shepherd.

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

This future focused organisation is looking to partner with a 5050 share milker for the season after next, ie from 1 June 2020. Based in the North Island, this 1000+ cow dairy farm is well set up and ready for an experienced operator to walk in and take it to the next level.

This is not your run of the mill Farm Manager role, it’s the opportunity to continue an exciting aggressive development programme – turning the ambitious strategy into reality. You’ll be responsible for stock and farm performance, financial KPI’s, and all pasture management and feed budgets. You will also be a practical, resourceful problem solver and your attention to detail will be second to none – it’s critical to keep the farm looking very sharp.

Your key responsibilities will be to manage all aspects of this hill country station, including stock management decisions, budgeting and labour requirements.

ANIMAL HANDLING

We are calling for expressions of interest from potential business partners on behalf of a client .

This job is so good that if we could do it ourselves we would. Rent A Bull is a sheep and beef farm and the home of Ezymate – a bull leasing operation. Based at Five Rivers, 95km north of Invercargill in Northern Southland it boasts 316 hectares of paddock area and 700 hectares of rolling hill country.

We require an experienced person with good pasture management and stock handling skills, with the ability to perform and oversee routine farm tasks as required.

Applications close 21st May

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST - 1 JUNE 2020 - 5050 SHAREMILKING

• More than a job, more than a business • Opportunity for high flyer to take their next step in a centre of excellence • Lead new initiatives and build capacity

An opportunity for a Manager’s position, on a family owned sheep and beef hill country property 30km north of Taumarunui. Foxley Station is a 1400ha, 11,500su medium to steep hill country breeding/finishing property running Romney ewes and Angus cows.

Please respond in writing to FA & KM Fullerton-Smith, PO Box 98, Taumarunui 3946 with CV, background, relevant experiences and two referees. Queries to foxley@xtra.co.nz

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

LK0097511©

Farm Manager Foxley Station

Employment

Have something to sell? Advertise in Farmers Weekly

Phone Debbie Brown 0800 85 25 80 or email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

LK0097240©

classifieds@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

LK0097647©

Livestock

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

RANUI Bull Sale

COLEMAN FARMS CHAROLAIS

3.00pm Thursday, 6th June Karamu, 662 Rangitatau East Rd,Wanganui LK0097291©

Bull Sale – 4th June 12 noon, On Farm Tiraumea

COLEMANS ANNUAL CHAROLAIS BULL SALE

Fully Guaranteed Service & Semen Tested TB Clear C10 EBL & BVD Tested & Vaccinated Free Delivery (NI)

LK0097365©

MONDAY 20 MAY 2019 AT 1PM ON FARM AT 168 MATARAUA ROAD RD 1, KAIKOHE, NORTHLAND

All bulls are semen and service tested Scanned for carcase Independently inspected Cow herds run under commercial conditions

• • • •

Bulls displayed on concrete Hard surface in sale ring. Feet visible BVD Tested Antigen Clear & Vaccinated 3-year Guarantee for soundness & fertility

“Internationally proven from sea level to snow line” Enquiries to: Lin Johnstone Phone: 027 445 3213 DAY OPEN Lindsay Johnstone Phone: 027 445 3211 7 MAY ranui.w@farmside.co.nz PGG Wrightson Agents Callum Stewart Ph: 027 280 2688 Ken Roberts Ph: 027 591 8042

20 RISING 19-MONTH SERVICE BULLS TESTED CLEAR AND INNOCULATED FOR BVD TB STATUS C10 70% OF BULLS PRESENTED ARE POLLED

otapawa@xtra.co.nz Stuart Robbie 027 848 4408 Douglas & Dara 06 376 7765

• • • •

FURTHER INFORMATION PH 09 401 0902

Sale Catalogue online: www.ranuiangus.co.nz

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING

GOING GOING GONE!

Martin & Mary Taylor PH:06 8555322 E: taylors@glenbraestud.co.nz 2019 AVERAGE OF GLENBRAE SALE BULLS ‘VS’ BREED AVERAGE

Call Nigel

livestock@globalhq.co.nz

30 years intensive selection for early growth produces this:

“The proof

Woodleigh cow with heifer calf prior to weaning

You get paid for carcass weight. Woodleigh genetics produce it. CC0091844©

29 Powerful Poll Hereford Sires

Glenbrae Annual Bull Sale 1019 Mangaorapa Rd, Porangahau. Thursday 2pm. 30th May 2019

3-year-old herd sire: Woodleigh Zircon

is in the

Paddock sales of 2-year-old bulls until 30 June Catalogue at www.belgianblues.co.nz Lockwood Smith 022 458 0515 or lock@xtra.co.nz

Auahi Charolais Pio Pio

Lot 5

View Online: www.glenbraestud.co.nz

0800 85 25 80

Est. 1981

Lot 10

Pudding

Henderson Partners

Registered

1pm Thursday 23rd May

Herefords

Offering: 26 R2 Bulls

LK0097652©

bulls

Maximum Unreserved sale – starting price $3500 Meeting today’s selling conditions. Compare the quality against NZ’s last year’s top priced R2 Charolais sires.

C10 • Fully guaranteed Inspection anytime Ph John 07 873 8477 or 027 633 1776

find out more at: www.herefords.co.nz

Making Black Better!

LK0097193©

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

Livestock

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

SALE TALK

on farm at Mironui Station Weber Rd, Dannevirke Viewing from 8am or by prior arrangement ‘Breeding consistent quality hill country cattle for the NZ beef industry’

NATIONAL BULL SALE LOT 5 NGAKOUKA’S CASCADE VITALISE 1751

NATIONAL BULL SALE LOT 14 NGAKOUKA’S CASCADE VERNON 1752

All bulls have been semen tested, BVD vaccinated and tested, and structural soundness assessed.

OREGON angus 0097594

LK0097588©

Bruce and Chrissina Donald 1877 Weber Rd, RD 10, Dannevirke 4970 p: 06 374 2939 e: bruce.chrissina@xtra.co.nz ngakoukaherefords.co.nz

130.71x100 Oregon Angus

170 Fr/FrsnX BW46 PW45 DTC 1/7 Strong cows with CRV background $1650 260 Fr/Xbreds BW38 PW50 DTC 25/7 360ms, long walks on wet farm $1475 88 G3 Frsns with A2A2 content BW56 PW59 DTC 1/8 17yrs LIC, 400ms Mid-June Delivery $1750 Paul Kane: 027 286 9279 National Dairy Coordinator

A/c S & K O’Sullivan 252 Dalziel Road, Eltham Friday 17th May – 11.30 am – undercover Comprising • 140 x Friesian and Friesian in-calf cows BW 83 PW 114 R/a 96% Details • Equal computer split from 560 cow herd by LIC • Calv 25th July – 6wks to LIC Nom Fsn Sires • Owned and bed for 18years, 450kg/ms/cows • 78% in-calf to AB – no cidars, rotary shed • TB C10 – Lepto annually – MBovis negative • Very good herd – well farmed – totally recommend. Payment terms: 31st May 2019 – cows can be held on farm to end of May if purchasers have no access to farm.

39 Frsn Autumn born 1yr heifers, BW89 PW69. Immediate del $1060 KH 25 Frsn I/C heifers, BW93 PW94, DTC 10/7 to Jsy bull. $1250 70 Autumn Frsn & Frsn X Inmilk cows, computer split, profile avail Matt Hancock Ph:027 601 3787 Waikato Dairy Coordinator 65 Frsns I/C Heifers BW95 550 Kg 40 years LIC breeding $1700 Pick 18 From 70 Xbred I/C Heifers BW 119 PW 142 DTC 1/8 $1700 15 Early July I/C Heifers F/FX BW 104 PW 110 $1500 20 R1 Heifers Straight Blacks BW 123 PW 181 $700 Brent Espin Ph: 027 551 3660 Taranaki Regional Manager

Wanted

LK0096435©

Thursday 30th May 10am

For Sale

HERD REDUCTION AUCTION G3 PROFILED COWS

LK0097585©

Shortly after a British Airways flight had reached its cruising altitude, the captian announced: “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight 293, non-stop from London Heathrow to New York. The weather ahead is good, so we should have an uneventful flight. So, sit back, relax, and OH...MY GOD! Complete silence followed. Moments later, the captain came back on the intercom. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sorry if I scared you. While I was talking to you, a flight attendant accidentally spilled coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!” From the back of the plane, an Irish passenger yelled “For the luvva Jaysus, you should see the back of mine!”

View catalogue on

Rising Yearling Friesian Heifers Must be fully recorded F12 Would prefer capital stock lines Philip Webb Ph: 027 801 8057 Central & Southern North Island Dairy Coordinator

www.carrfieldslivestock.co.nz

Enquiries to Brent Espin – 027 551 3660

Winners of the Steak of Origin 2018

32 BULLS

1447 Hereheretau Rd, RD 6, WAIROA 4196

Tuesday 4th June 2019 – 3pm PROFIT-A-BULL EXCELLENCE

www.kerrahsimmentals.co.nz

FOURTH ANNUAL ON-FARM SALE

at Tangiwai Station, Wairoa - 1pm Tuesday, 21st May 2019

Jon Knauf

PREDOM

INANTLY POLLED PERF BULLS FO ORMANCE R AUCTIO N

OREGON DYNAMITE

LK0097594©

AT MORLAND 1464 MASTERTON STRONVAR ROAD KEITH & GAE HIGGINS 06 372 2782

CONTACT: Or catalogue

Jon Knauf 06 838 6793 E: jsknauf@gisborne.net.nz

Phil Transom 0274 420 060 PGG Wrightson

Ross Mitchell 0274 048 965 Fergus Rural

OPEN DAY THURSDAY MAY 16TH, FROM 1.50PM

Angus Cattle bred and tested under

Hillcroft Angus COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS Hillcroft Angus Hill Country Specialists Hill Country Specialists

Lot 2 Tag 127-17

PICTURED: Rangatira 13-4

for you

Est.Est 1960 1960

Lot 1 Tag 84-17

A couple of great sons of new sire Rangatira 14-206

Bull Sale Annual Annual Bull Sale Tues 5 June 2018, Midday

Sires Salebulls bulls: Sires of ofsale Rangatira 13-50

Rangatira 14-206 Rangatira 13-50 Tues 4 June7352019, Midday Rangatira (sonCobra of Cobra) Matahuru Rd, Ohinewai Rangatira 13-4 (son of 13-4 Kaharau 546) Stern 358, Meadowslea All bullsRd, fertility tested and fully guaranteed 820 Waiterimu Ohinewai Stern 176 358 BVD tested clear and vaccinated twice

Malcolm Ph 07 828 5709; Fraser Ph 0272 85 95 87

Malcolm and Fraser Crawford: Matahuru Rd, Ohinewai Fraser 0272 85 95 87 • Malcolm 07 8285709

LK0097474©

HillcroftAngus All bulls fertility and semen tested, fully guaranteed F Hillcroftangus www.hillcroftangus.co.nz BVD tested clear and twice vaccinated Malcolm & Fraser Crawford: Matahuru Rd, Ohinewai.

pa Wairara th lk 16 Bull Wa 19. May, 20 s or All visit e. m welco

Celebrating

100 YEARS OF

BREEDING

GLANWORTH

PINEBANK

Shaun Fouhy (06) 376 8869

Willie Falloon (06) 372 7041

Livestock

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

FOR SALE

FULL HERD DISPERSAL

LARGE HERD VARIOUS BUYING OPTIONS

a/c S.T & K.A Daulton at Matamau Saleyards, 7km north of Dannevirke on SH2

800 Friesian Friesian Cross Cows

Farm sold

HAVE A SALE COMING UP?

Comprising: 190 x KiwiX cows BW104; PW150; RA98%. DTC 1/8/19. AB 8 weeks, tailed with Hereford & S.P. Plus, 50 x KiwiX in-calf heifers BW115; PW129; RA98%. DTC 1/8/19. Jersey bull – out 23/12/18 C10; 47 years breeding; blanket dry-cowed 29/4/19 Plus, 7 Milking Shorthorn cows Enquiries, contact: Todd Bray 027 235 5991 or Malcolm Coombe 027 432 6104

LK0097623©

Enquiries to Michael Conwell 027 226 1611

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING

Thursday 23rd May, 2019, at 11.30

LK0097646©

Well farmed at high altitude with long walks. AB Bred, producing 400kg ms. Calving from 1st August 2019 to Pedigree Hereford Bull. Dry cow treated with Cepravin. Drafts to suit. Cost effective buying that won’t affect production.

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

Lot 71 Semen Package

Koanui Kahuna 7299

SALE DATE: Thursday June 13th, 2019 @ 1.00pm

Call Nigel

70 Rising Two Year Old Bulls on Farm Auction “The Sale Shed” 811 Maraetotara Road, Havelock North.

0800 85 25 80 livestock@globalhq.co.nz

Ph: 06 874 7844 Mobile: 027 4888 635 Email: kphp@xtra.co.nz

www.koanuiherefords.co.nz

3 DIGIT LIC FRIESIAN HERD & R2’S

TE MAEWA

OWNER BRED 50+ YEARS A/c AVERY FARMS 649 RAWHITI Rd, RD1 TE AROHA Wednesday 22nd May – 11am start

a/c C & S Pedley, ‘Sunny Lodge Farms’ Levin

63 LIC Friesian I/C Hfrs BW 79 PW 74

LOSED TESTED, C PI M-BOVIS . E GATIV M HERD. NE

Thursday 16th May 2019, 11.30am

Due to George and Lyn selling their farm and retiring from farming this 3 digit long established LIC Friesian herd comes to the market. These cows are milked under the hills of Te Aroha and will shift extremely well. They are a level system 1 and know how to work. 70% of the herd are 2, 3 & 4 yr olds. Excellent SCC of 80,000 year after year and best production of 98,000 ms from 290 cows. The cows were dried off early and will come forward in good condition. If you want young genuine cows with a long AB history that know how to work and that will shift well you should attend this sale. Cattle can stay on farm until 31st May by prior arrangement only.

CHANGE OF VENUE: On-farm, at 122 Florida Road, Ohau, Levin (Tanker # 45762) Signposted from SH1 & SH56 south of Levin Comprising: 174 x 2-8 year old cows and 40 R2 in-calf heifers Producing: 104,072 kgsMS (346.9/cow) 2018/19 season

PORI - PAHIATUA

Blanket Dry-cowed (Cepravin) March 23, 2019

Steak of Origin 2017 Gold and bronze medals and ‘Most Tender Steak’ in Competition Steak of Origin 2018 Gold, Silver & Bronze medals. 2nd place in Grand Final

Due to calve from July 14 (mix AB & selected recorded bulls) These cows will be presented in good condition Further enquiries contact: Vendor – Craig Pedley 021 061 2292 NZ Farmers Livestock Agent Darryl Harwood 027 449 1174

Or any NZ Farmers Livestock agent

BULL SALE RESULTS 2019

LK0097448©

NZ Farmers Livestock Regional Manager Malcolm Coombe 027 432 6104

Docile, easy calve Bulls and semen available All bulls growth recorded, breed plan, muscle and fat scanned. BVD blood tested and vaccinated, lepto vaccinated, TB status C10

Enquiries, inspection welcome, contact: Graeme Dyke 06 376 3966 Email tm.reddevons@gmail.com

Farmers Weekly will be sending the autumn bull sale results e-newsletter from May 2019. Contact Nigel on 06 323 0761, 027 602 4925 or livestock@globalhq.co.nz to sign up or include your sale results and receive weekly updates.

DON’T MISS OUT. farmersweekly.co.nz

LK0097310©

SCC average 131000, C10; EBL free; Lepto vac.; closed herd

LK0097609©

For further information please contact Agents: NZFL Bill Sweeney 027 451 5310 or Kevin Fathers 027 279 9800

HILL COUNTRY STUD

Pedigree Jersey Herd & Replacements

Comprising: 190 LIC Friesian I/C Cows BW 63 PW 70 RA 95%

Catalogues available and light luncheon provided.

RED DEVON

COMPLETE DISPERSAL SALE

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

Livestock

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

On Farm Sale

KAIRURU

Monday, 20th May 2019 - 1.30pm 1775 MANGAONE VALLEY ROAD EKETAHUNA

POLLED HEREFORDS

SINCE 1979

ON FARM SA

28TH ANNUAL SALE Mark, Anthony & Diana Eagle ‘Chessfield’ 1775 Mangaone Valley Rd Eketahuna p: 06 376 8256 e: eagleeketahuna@xtra.co.nz

JUNE 5 AT 1PM

R2YR BULLS (midwa at Kairuru,28Reporoa

26th March at

LK0097479©

FREE DELIVERY

Kaimoa South Devons have pleasure in putting forward 24 Bulls in 2019

GET THE WHITEFACE ADVANTAGE

LOT 5

We are committed to producing meaty bulls with good frame, constitution and temperament. With clients’ needs in mind we have sourced new genetics from overseas to maintain the highest qualities in our bulls.

KEVIN & JANE MCDONALD (REPOROA) 07 333 8068 • 027 451 0640 JEFF & NICOLA McDONALD 021 510 351 • kairuruNZ@gmail.com

Maungahina

Looking for a Beef Shorthorn?

Sale date 6th June –1pm

at Maungahina Homestead. 112 years breeding.

Check them out

Maungahina Storm (sons in Sale)

Longview

Kerikeri Bull and Incalf Heifer Sale 31st May, 11.30 09 401 9633 - Shane & Dot

Glenrossie

Lochburn

Taupiri Private Sales 07 824 6751 - Kelvin

Aubrey

Whangarei Heads Sale June 28th, 1pm 09 434 0987 - David 09 434 0718 -Will

Waitomo Private Sale 07 873 6968 - Ron

Combined Beef Breed Bull Sale

Taupo Sale May 24th, 12pm 027 501 8182 - Cam 027 210 4698 - Brent

Bullock Creek

Waitara Private Sales 06 754 6699 - Roger

Colvend

Mangaotuku

Ongarue Sale 28th May, 3.30 07 894 6030 - Alan

Stratford Private Sales 06 765 7269 - Jack

Hinewaka Sale

Takaka Private Sales 021 556 806 - Bill

Masterton Sale June 5th, 3pm 06 372 7615 - David

Glenbrook Station

79 lots including Polled Herefords, Charolais and Speckle Park bulls. 5 elite pedigree Hereford heifers and 5 Elite pedigree Speckle Park heifers. Speckle Park Embryo and Semen.

13 in-calf R2yr heifers 13 heifer calves

Ph Mark or Bruce Mckenzie: 027 415 8696 or (06) 377 4836

Email: mark.maungahina@xtra.co.nz www.maungahina.co.nz

Registered Polled Herefords

Reg

KEVINRed, & JANE White & McDONALD Roans of our world

Hiwiroa Sale

Woodcall

Legacy Sire of Speckle bulls

Waipukurau Sale May 30th, 11am 06 858 5369 - Jim 06 855 4737 - Nick

Dunblane

Omarama Private Sales 021 285 9303 - Simon

Waikari Private Sales 027 233 3678 - Chris

Carriganes Cattle

Westwood

Leeston Private Sales 022 470 2447 - Sarah

Tuatapere Private Sales 03 226 6713 - Anita

Rough Ridge

Ranfurly Sale May 17th, 11am 03 444 9277 - Malcolm

Glendhu

Maerewhenua

Oamaru Private Sales 03 431 2871 - Norman

LK0097595©

Browns

Mahoenui Bull and Incalf Heifer Sale May 28th, 9am 07 877 8977 - Russell

Mill Valley

Katikati Bull and Incalf Heifer Sale May 23rd, 1pm 07 552 0815 - Ken 021 520 244 - Craig Morrinsville Private Sales 07 889 5965 - Hamish

Raupuha

Whangamomona Private Sales 06 762 3520 - Aaron

Orena

Using a n bull in Shorthor eeding ss-br your cro l increase wil program ne up to bottom li 20%

07 333 8068

Heriot Sale May 21st, 11am 027 497 8104 - Fraser

Renowned for great marbling producing top quality meat

Come and join us at our on-farm sale: Tuesday 28 May 2019 at 9am Also selling in calf heifers Contact Russell Proffit

www.shorthorn.co.nz

Enquiries inspection always welcome email:and rnmwproffit@xtra.co.nz

2033 State Highway 3, RD Mahoenui, 3978 phone: 07 877 8977 or 027 355 2927 www.raupuhastud.co.nz Raupuha Stud

Livestock

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

GLENDHU SHORTHORNS

60 R2 YR ANGUS DAIRY BULLS 550kg 1300 MA EWES CAP STOCK RWR 05/03

400 day wt (kg)

600 day wt (kg)

Milk (kg)

Carcase wt (kg)

Eye muscle area (sq cm)

Rib fat (kg)

Rump fat (mm)

Glendhu 2019 Sale Bulls avg

+3.1

+30

+42

+58

+6.3

+36

+5.7

-0.22 -0.29

Breed EBV for 2017 born calves

+2.9

+27

+38

+51

+6.0

+34

+4.3

-0.3

Fraser Fletcher Ph 027 497 8104 or fraserfletcher@gmail.com

HEAVY MALE LAMBS 35-42kg 150 MA

www.dyerlivestock.co.nz

Ross Dyer 0274 333 381 A Financing Solution For Your Farm E info@rdlfinance.co.nz

Call Nigel

0800 85 25 80

livestock@globalhq.co.nz

STOCK WANTED

South Island T J Visser 027 314 8833

> 150 ex Forest Downs Ltd > Located Tarras & Fairlie Bidr auction – 7pm, Wed 15th May

Australasian Global Exports

Further enquiries:

BYLLIVESTOCK.CO.NZ

Bidr® is New Zealand’s new online auction

FRIDAY 24th MAY

regarding registering for bidr please either

TAUPO 12PM SALE YARDS

3-Angus 10-Limousin 7-Charolais 11-Shorthorn 2-Gelbvieh 5-Simmental TAUPO SALE YARDS TRANSPORT AVAILABLE AT SALE & SOME GRAZING OPTIONS AVAILABLE 6-Hereford 2-South Devon (Oruanui Road)

LK0097618©

Brent Bougen 027 210 4698 Brent Bougen 0272104698

Hit the bulls-eye with advertising in the Farmers Weekly.

136 Holstein Friesian Cows and ln calf heifers 22 Jersey Cows

Reaching over 78,000 rural mailboxes weekly we are the ideal space to engage with the right audience for your bull sales.

cows. All cows have been mated to A2 sires.

Farmers Weekly also publishes a free weekly e-newsletter during autumn and spring that showcases bull sale results from around the country. Adding digital advertising options to link to your catalogue offers added benefits.

HIGH INDEXING JERSEY & JERSEY Included in theCROSS offering HERD are several autumn calved BW 143/50 PW 161/67 RA 100% (in top 10 All Breeds for NZ )

Many being offered are A2A2. All dry cows have been dry cow therapy treated with Cepravin.

Many cows contracted to LIC forcattle 2011 are matings Of outstanding conformation these Due to calve from 16-7-12, 6.5 weeks recommended to those in need of replacements AB Jersey and Kiwi cross or additions tototheir is 99%after recorded Estimated beherds. 420Herd cows non pregnant, culls, older cows & 5% rejection with catalogues available. Herd is EBL free, BVD Production last season 347kgs ms/cow, clear, C10 for TB and has milk tested clear for 1000kgs ms/ha, on been rolling to steeper contoured farm, no meal, palm kernel or maize Mycoplasma Bovis. fed. Payment terms: 25% due 10also days available from date of sale Young replacement stock

Ph Selwyn Donald Ph 027 437 8375 or

Enquiries to the sole marketing agents: Brian Robinson Ph 027 241

0051 Vendors: Bridget and

Brian Robinson BRLL 5389 PH: Grant 0272 Gibson 410051Phor027 07 470 8583132

LK0097653©

with balance due 24th October 2019

Outstanding genetics & potential to be one of enquiriesleading to the selling agents: the All countries suppliers of Genetics to the dairy years to come. Full details Brian industry Robinsonfor Livestock Ltd. available.

For catalogue contact Justine Brown 07 889 5965

Cam Heggie 0275018182

Sale will comprise of:

•

Angus 10 Limousin Charolais 11 Shorthorn Gelbvieh 3 Simmental 44 BULLS Hereford 2 South Devon

Cam Heggie 027 501 8182

Outstanding Holstein Friesia and Jersey Herd Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 11am Sale to be held on the property at 251 Te Kura Road, Otane, Hawkes Bay

•

3 7 2 3

(Oruanui Road)

Oakdale Dairy Delight Sale

•

byllivestock

12 noon

www.bidr.co.nz. If you have any questions

• •

Contact: Isaac Pharazyn 06 857 3828 027 857 3828

COMBINED BEEF BREEDS41R2 BULL SALE FRIDAY 24th MAY REGISTERED BULLS

platform. To register please go to

on 0800 TO BIDR (0800 86 2437).

766 Longrange Rd, Omakere

COMBINED BEEF BREEDS R2 BULL SALE

Andrew Scarlett 027 462 0126

Rough on 027 462 0116 or the bidr team

Motere Bull Sale Rostrum,

Aaron Clapperton 027 496 7410 Richard Seavill 021 169 8276 / 07 825 4984 Chris Smith 027 496 7413 / 06 756 8968 Chris Kyle 027 496 7412 / 07 883 7412 Bryce Young 027 496 7411 Office 07 823 4559

Jim Hazlett 027 462 0128

call Hazlett’s bidr representative Emma

Yearling Bull Sale 26th September 2019

25 Angus Steers 407kg ave. – RS 75 Angus Steers 293kg ave. – RS 50 Frs bulls 420kg ave. – RS 200 Frs bulls 180-200kg ave. – RS 50 Hrf/Frs heifers 300kg – RS 200 Mixed sex lambs 32kg – RS LK0097650©

> 200 ex 935 Ltd

Tuesday 11th June, 3pm

STOCK FOR SALE

North Island Tim Brandon 0274 437 420

> 600 ex Rangitata Dairies Ltd

35 ANGUS BULLS

100+ Frs bulls 190-220kg upper North Island must have good NAIT history – CK 2yr Hereford Bulls 450-500kg – BY Angus Bulls 450-500kg – BY

F12 $1,125 F8-F11 $1,000

> 950 R1 Friesian Bulls

BULL SALE

SIF HINDS MA ANGUS COWS - NOV BULL

HAVE A SALE COMING UP?

Wanted 2018 Spring Born Friesian Heifers

FOR SALE

ON FARM

STORE LAMBS 30-3kg

To find out more, contact Nigel Ramsden on 06 323 0761, 027 602 4925 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz

Central North Island Combined Beef Breeders Society

LK0097200©

200 day wt (kg)

STOCK REQUIRED

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING

LONGVIEW SHORTHORNS FOR SALE

23 Bulls and In-Calf Heifers at home - 705 Mangakaretu Road KERIKERI (lunch provided)

Friday 31 May, 1.30pm Earlier viewing welcome

farmersweekly.co.nz

NEED TO MOOOVE SOME STOCK? Advertise your stock sales in Farmers Weekly Phone Nigel 0800 85 25 80 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz

LK0097620©

Birth wt (kg)

Est. 1910 www.motereangus.co.nz

LK0096573©

Free delivery in the South Island

Lot 2 Glendhu Munro 17728

FOR SALE

1st Bull Sale Tuesday 21st May 2019 at 11am on farm 147 Kempthorne Rd Heriot, West Otago

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

Shane & Dot Dromgool BAY OF ISLANDS, NZ

T: 09 401 9633 M: 021 0295 2030 E: s.d.dromgool@actrix.co.nz

Catalogue available Visit us on Facebook @ Longview Shorthorns - Bay of Islands

livestock@globalhq.co.nz – 0800 85 25 80

Livestock

GOING GOING GONE! Have you got a sale coming up? Advertise in Farmers Weekly To advertise Phone Nigel 0800 85 25 80 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz

2019 BULL SALES BULL WALK

A great chance to see around 1100 R2 Bulls over five days that will be auctioned this season.

FARMERS WEEKLY – May 13, 2019

HERD DISPERSAL OF QUALITY FRIESIAN COWS & R1YR HEIFERS On A/C DJ & SM Hiestand Farm Trust Inglewood Thursday 23rd May 2019 11.30am Start To be held at Inglewood Saleyards for Convenience Approx 180 x Friesian & Friesian X Quality VIC Cows 42 x Friesian & Friesian X Rising 1yr Heifers Points to note: • 400 m/s per cow on System 2 style Farming • Due to Calve from 1st August 2019 to AB Friesian (6.5 weeks) then tailed with Friesian bull to end December • Rebate will be paid to any Recognized Livestock Company introducing Buyers For further details please contact: PGG Wrightson: Jeff See 06-7568488 or 0275-680813 Or Any PGG Wrightson Dairy Rep On Line at: Agonline.co.nz

LIMOUSIN SOUTH ISLAND 11th Annual Bull Sale

MONDAY 20 MAY 2019, 1PM Use Limousin to add MUSCLE, higher VALUE cuts and improve YIELD whilst retaining EASY CALVING and good TEMPERAMENT BE PREPARED TO BE IMPRESSED COME ALONG AND SEE FOR YOURSELF 1pm on farm at Brian O’Connell’s property, Main Road, off Rakaia-Selwyn Road, Dunsandel. Auctioneers: PGG Wrightson, Simon Eddington 027 590 8612 Contact: Warrick James 03 318 2352 or Gary Kennett 03 329 6380 Catalogue available at www.limousin.co.nz

South & Mid Canterbury Tuesday 21st May 1pm to 4pm Kakahu Angus & Centrewood Charolais, Geraldine Meadowslea Angus, Fairlie Stern Angus, Pleasant Point

Tom Hargreaves David Giddings James Fraser

03 6974979 03 6858027 03 6147080

James McKerchar Robert Peacock Nick France Paul Scott

03 6143332 03 6922893 03 3039749 03 6129962

Andrew Laing Brent Fisher

03 3291709 0272 514791

Rick Orr Jono Reed Sam Holland George Johns Chris Jeffries Greg Chamberlain Will Wilding Rob Stokes Rob Burrows Helen Molloy

0272 457751 0272 580732 0211 814868 0221 983599 0274 608849 021 549229 027 8264015 027 7571673 027 2633582 0274994079

James Murray Johnny Murray Paul Hickman Charles Waddy Richard Van Asch Angus Peter Greg Crombie

027 4866699 027 7319430 021 575155 03 5757388 021 1915584 0224287906 0275511011

Helping grow the country

South & Mid Canterbury Tuesday 21st May 10am to 4pm Merrylea Hereford, Cave Orari Gorge Hereford, Geraldine Okawa Hereford, Mayfield Matatoki Hereford, Cave

LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING

Central Canterbury Wednesday 22nd May 12pm to 4pm Sudeley Angus, Irwell Silverstream Charolais & Hereford, Greenpark

North Canterbury Thursday 23rd May 10am to 4pm Red Oak Angus, Weka Pass Grampians Angus, Culverden Hemingford Charolais, Culverden Kaiwara Angus, Culverden Grassmere Hereford & Riverlands Angus, Cheviot Capethorne Hereford, Cheviot Te Mania Angus, Conway Flat Beechwood, Richon and Woodburn Hereford, Amberley

Marlborough Bull Walk Friday 24th May 10am to 4pm Matariki Herefords, Clarence Bridge Woodbank Angus, Clarence Bridge Taimate Angus, Ward Waterfall Angus, Awatere Burtergill South Devon, Koromiko Brackenfield Angus, Awatere Leefield Station Angus, Waihopai Valley

HAVE A SALE COMING UP?

St Arnaud, Wakefield & Rai Valley Bull Walk Friday 24th May 10am to 4pm Lake Herefords, St Arnaud Martin Farming Hereford & Angus, Wakefield Blacknight Angus, Rai Valley

Malcolm McConochie Richard Martin Ben Maisey

021 2510078 027 2303098 03 5716271

Call Nigel

Further Enquiries John McKone, PGG Wrightson Simon Eddington, PGG Wrightson Anthony Cox, Rural Livestock

0275 299375 0275 908612 0272 083071

0800 85 25 80

livestock@globalhq.co.nz

Trade livestock online with bidr® – your new real-time auction platform.

Bid, buy, sell all things rural

www.bidr.co.nz

Your source for PGG Wrightson livestock and farming listings MACHINERY & HERD CLEARING SALE Friday 17th May Machinery – 11.00AM Start Cows – 12.00PM Start A/C John Burrill Sherwood Drive, RD 4, Pukekohe Herd:

SPRING CALVING HERD Monday 20th May 11.00AM Start Morrinsville Saleyards A/C DL Nixon Ltd CANCELLED

D ELLE C N A

Contact Brad Osborne 027 208 1015 Or Chris Elliott 027 590 4827

Calving 10th July–15th September . Vendors leaving the dairy industry.

COMPLETE HERD DISPERSAL SALE

Machinery:

Tuesday 21 May 2019 Note change of date.

Duetz DX160 4X4 Cab tractor, Ford Industrial

Feilding Saleyards

loader tractor, Ford 4600 2 wheel drive

11.30 am

handy tractor, & Fiat 72-93 4x4, Rops, Pearson loader tractor with forks & bucket. New Holland 2 row maize choppers with grass head. Tandem Disc’s 4.5 metre, 2x grader blades,2x Cambridge rollers, & Sam

A/C Tipperary Dairies Palmerston North Comprising: 190 Frsn/FrsnX & Jsy Cows -

Gallagher Forager & V trailer. 4x PKE Trailers,

BW 79 PW 107 R.A 95%

2x calf feeder trailers, 3x farm tip trailers,

Cows calving from 27th July to LIC PSS

baler/wrapper. Grain auger, silage bin, and stock crate. Catalogues/Profiles available on Agonline. Contact Brad Osborne 027 208 1015 Or Colin Saunderson 027 493 6524.

Friesian for 6 weeks and tailed with Simmental bull removed 5th Jan. Cows

Sowry Land Co 86 Mangamaire Road Comprising 260 fully recorded 2 - 8 year old Friesian & Friesian JerseyX cows BW 55 PW 100 Contact Tim Pickering 027 446 9963

DAIRY DISPERSAL SALE

Comprising: 190 2-8 year Friesian & FriesianX Cows BW 60 PW 98 R.A 83%

Or Kane Needham 027 839 3612

COMPLETE DISPERSAL SALE OF XBRED HERD & REPLACEMENT HFRS Thursday 16th May 11.00am 102A Casey Road, Whatawhata A/C Farmy McFarm Ltd Comprising: 260 X Bred Cows BW 69 PW 106 80 R2yr In Calf Heifers BW 84 PW 112 90 R1yr Heifers BW 116 PW 145 Hard working kiwi cross herd with PWs up to 334.

Special Entries A/c Tangihau Stn 80 R9yr Ang Cows vic Ang 1/12 80 R3yr Ang Hfrs vic Ang 8/11 A/c Okare Stn 280 R2yr Ang Strs A/c Te Tiki Stn 60 R2yr Ang Strs A/c Mangatawhiti 25 R2yr Ang Strs

Mason Birrell: 06 838 7091, 027 496 7253

Heifers are calving from 27th July to Jersey

Payment/Delivery – Payment 14 Days from

or Contact: Andrew Leggett 022 038 3216 Peter Forrest 027 598 6153 Jamie Cunninghame 027 583 3533

Enquiries:

Hamish Forrester: 027 601 2351

R3 INCALF HEIFERS CAPITAL STOCK BREEDING HERD 80 MA Murray Grey Cows R3 & Older Due 1st September 40 Rising 20 Mth Murray Grey Heifers

60 Hereford Heifers BVD Skin Notch Tested Clear and Vaccinated BVD TB C10 Vet Tested In Calf 3/4/19 to Meadowslea Angus Bulls out 20/10/18 (3 cycles) $1750 Contact Sam Bell 027 204 0499

Due 20th August

OUTSTANDING CONFORMATION FRSN/FRSN X JSY/JSY X HERD

All Scanned in Calf Murray Grey Bulls (Torindale Bloodlines x Gore)

PANORAMA POLLED HEREFORDS ONLINE DISPERSAL AUCTION

4 Sire Bulls Available

Tuesday 21st May 11.30 Start 172 Piakoiti Road, Walton A/C Sursum Farm (J & C Van De Goes) Comprising 144 Frsn/Frsn X/Jsy & Jsy X In Calf Cows, BW 35 PW 86 RA 100% Calving 25th July AB Nom CRV for 4 1/2 weeks. Tailed off Hereford bull. Bull out 26th Dec. Herd ave 390 m/s, 1060 per hec, SCC 59,000. Herd dried off, dry cow dry clox & teat seal. John and Cathy are retiring & offer their long est herd for sale, owned & operated

For Sale due to Sale of property Enquiries: Rob Harvey 021 331 519

MATATOKI HEREFORD ONLINE AUCTION Wednesday 22nd May @ 7.30pm

Sons of: Monymusk Gallant 110088, Waikaka Skytower 1329, Matatoki Nepia 1419, Monymusk Grenade 110114 Breedplan recorded, scrotal measured, carcase scanned, BVD clear and vaccinated, TB C10, 7n 1 Vaccinated, semen tested. View Online: bidr.co.nz/content/matatoki-hereford

for 34 years.

Herd mainly in calf to A2/ A2 Jrsy/XBred AB 5wks.

Closed herd, LIC bred with last 6yrs CRV.

Tailed with Jrsy bulls, bulls out 21st Dec.

been using swedish neds semen for last

Mid/South Canterbury Bull Walk 21st May 2019 Visitors welcome To register with bidr: • call the bidr team on 0800 TO BIDR • sign up at www.bidr.co.nz

Herd calving from 15th July-30th Sept.

Cows vic R3yr Hfrs vic R2yr Steers

Ian Rissetto: 06 838 8604, 027 444 9347

420 kg/ms with a bulk SCC of 80,000 farmed

Catalogues available on Agonline.co.nz

Contact Brad Osborne 027 208 1015

PGG Wrigthson will offer approx 1005 cattle including:

TB C10 EBL Free Lepto Vaccinated.

in sharemilking circumstances. The herd is

sale date, delivery immediate.

Catalogues/Profiles available on Agonline.

WAIROA COW & CATTLE FAIR

TB C10 – EBL Free, Lepto Vacc.

& heifers that are being sold due to a change

Contact Dean Evans 027 243 1092.

Frsn content of herd left to sell, vendors retiring.

Enquiries: David & Jayne Timperley – Vendors 03 685 5785 or 0274 375 881 Simon Eddington PGG Wrightson 0275 908 612 Sam Bell PGG Wrightson 0272 040 499

on a system 2.

opportunity to purchase capital stock, cows

Contact Peter Forrest 027 598 6153

Calving 22nd July 2019. TB Status C10.

Commencing 1.30pm, Inspection from 11.30am 20 2 Yr Simmental Bulls 50 2 Yr Simmental x Hereford Heifers PTIC low birth weight Hereford Bulls 13/11/18 (2 cycles) TB C10

285 185 535

forward in good order and are well grown.

80 Frsn & Frsn X Cows BW 63 PW 78 RA 100%

260 Rutherford Road, Albury South Canterbury Friday 17th May 2019

A/C AM McBeth Himatangi

bull, removed 20th December. Will come

Morrinsville Saleyards A/C D&S Paton Ltd

OPAWA SIMMENTALS ANNUAL ON FARM BULL & HEIFER SALE

Thursday 16th May 2019 @ 11.00am

Tuesday 14th May 11.00AM Start Morrinsville Saleyards A/C Bellevue Farm ELLED C CANCELLED CAN

Wednesday 15th May 11.00AM Start

Other

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Feilding Saleyards 11.30 am

Great opportunity for buyers to buy from a long-established herd due to the farm being sold.

CLEARING SALE

Sheep

Cows calving from 17th July to 5.5 weeks LIC Friesian Sires & tailed with PB Hereford bulls removed 27/12. Cows have had a blanket dry cow therapy & are milked on a system 2 with cows wintered on the property. This herd has been together for 20 years and this season averaged 351 of milksolids to 22/3/19 with Somalics averaging 80-90kg through this time then went onto OAD. Cows have been dried off on 30 April.

will be drycow to SAMM Plan. A great

consistently producing in the range of 380-

ELITE FRSN/FRSN X CARRY OVER COWS & IN CALF HEIFERS A2 TESTED

Tuesday 28th May 10am Machinery 11.30am Herd

Cattle

Luke & Fiona Renton

tandem axle side delivery feed out wagon.

John Deere round baler, & Taarup round

HERD & MACHINERY ON FARM SALE - PRELIMINARY NOTICE

Pahiatua

Comprising 130 MA Frsn, Frsn X & Jsy Cows BW 72 PW 106 TB Status C10.

Key: Dairy

Looking for Hybird cross they have 4yrs. A beautiful herd with top udders &

Tuesday 14th May @ 2.30pm Full dispersal of Panorama Polled Herefords Online auction will be conducted on bidr Tuesday 14th May @ 2:30pm after the National Hereford Sale. The online auction will be available to view and participate in at the Hereford Grazing unit, 428 Levitt’s line, Kiwitea, Manawatu. Signposted from the Main road. Assistance from the bidr team will be available to help you on the day as well as the PGW Genetics team. On offer in the Dispersal auction will be the entire life’s work of Alan Cook which consists of the following animals: 19 mixed age cows SIC 6 rising 2year heifers SIC 13 Wnr heifer calves 7 Wnr Bull calves 5 18 month Bulls Viewing of Alan’s Herefords will be available on Farm, 35 Junction Road Feilding at 1pm to 4pm - Monday, 13th May or 8am to 9.30am - Tuesday, 14th May To register with bidr: • call the bidr team on 0800 TO BIDR • sign up at www.bidr.co.nz

BVD vacc, M/Bovis milk tested clear.

For further information contact: John McKone – 027 229 9375 Simon Eddington – 027 590 8612

For further information contact: Ryan Shannon – 027 565 0979 Tony Gallen – 027 590 1711

Calving 9th July-28th Sept.

Catalogues available on Agonline.

A bidr® sale, hosted at www.bidr.co.nz

Contact Vaughn Larsen 027 801 4599

Contact Jason Roberts 027 243 1429

Bid, buy, sell all things rural

Dry cowed & teat sealed 11th April. TB Status C10. In calf Heifers in calf to Jrsy Bull.

conformation. TB C10, EBL free, Lepto vacc,

Freephone 0800 10 22 76 | www.pggwrightson.co.nz

Helping grow the country

PETER & CAROLINE FOSS

King Country BULL SALE WEEK | MAY 27TH – MAY 31ST 2019

495 Potaka Road, RD 1, Aria, King Country Ph/fax (07) 877 7881 Email: pcfossy@xtra.co.nz

•VALUE – bulls for every budget • VARIETY – 6 breeds from 13 studs •VOLUME – approx. 330 bulls for sale over 5 days

Sound well fleshed sires, Excellent temperament 200 Fully breedplan recorded cows 20 Bulls Catalogued

WILTSHIRE RAMS AVAILABLE

> Genuine full shed sheep > No shearing > No dagging > No dipping

Brent Bougen, 027 210 4698 Alan Hiscox, 027 442 8434

Cam Heggie, 027 501 8182 Kevin Mortenson, 027 473 5858

25TH ANNUAL SALE THURSDAY 6TH JUNE 1PM, TE KUITI SALE YARDS

COLVEND

BULL OPEN DAY • ALL ENQUIRIES WELCOME WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY 1 - 5PM

KIA TOA CHAROLAIS

~ANGUS AND SHORTHORN STUD ~ BULL SALE 28 MAY 2019 – 3.30PM

On-farm Sale Est 2003

INAUGURAL ON FARM AUCTION HELD UNDER COVER

973 Troopers Road, Te Kuiti

14 ANGUS & 9 SHORTHORN BULLS FOR SALE

LOT 3

LOT 10

LOT 16

LOT 6

LOT 18

Colvend Angus established in 2016 on females from the Oakview, Turihaua and Springdale Studs. Colvend Shorthorns established in 2000. Successes at Beef Expo 3 Supreme Champion bulls and 2 Reserve Champions.

37 GENUINE HILL COUNTRY BULLS ON OFFER Monday 27th May 2019 at 1.30pm Contact: Paul and Claire Grainger 07 878 6458 – 027 209 1959 pcgraingers@xtra.co.nz

ALAN & VAL PARK • PH 07 894 6030 841 Tapuiwahine Valley Road Ongarue, Taumarunui E: colvendfarm@gmail.com

LK0097614©

BVD tested free. TB C10

ALL BULLS BVD TESTED AND VACCINATED TWO SEASON FOOT GUARANTEE

Colvend Shorthorn & Angus Stud

Storth Oaks Angus Bull Sale

LK0097611©

Wednesday 29th May 2019 1pm on farm 85 trait leading bulls for sale facebook.com/storthoaksangus

storthoaks

twitter@storthoaksangus

LK0097613©

LOT 2

LK0097599©

www.kahaspecklepark.co.nz

Sale 31 May, 11am at Te Kuiti sale yards Pure breed bulls for sale, 3/4 bred bulls 7/8 bred bulls and dry R2 1/2 bred heifers for sale plus a small number of Embryos.

TARANGOWER ANGUS Est. 1926

73rd ANNUAL SALE

For over 80yrs Hingaia bulls have been standing up to the demands of the industry

Tuesday 28th May - 11.30am OFFERING 38 quality rising 2yr Angus bulls

HINGAIA OFFER:

Sound, quality, quiet bulls bred to perform.

Proven Genetics Constitution Fertility Longevity Soundness Balanced EBVs

All bulls are fully guaranteed.

A personalised purchasing arrangement to suit your needs

HINGAIA ANGUS

Yearling bulls are also available in September See for yourself the quality of bull we sell at Hingaia

“A balanced breeding programme for all environments” Annual Bull Sale Wednesday 29th May 2019 147 Hingaia Road, Te Awamutu - 4.00pm

ALL BULLS TESTED FOR BVD AND FULLY INNOCULATED • TB STATUS C10 FREE DELIVERY N.I.

Inspection and enquiries welcome

Rob Purdie

Ph: 07 877 8935 • Fax: 07 877 8936 Email: tarangowerangus@farmside.co.nz 912 Ngatarawa Road, Mahoenui

Richard Jolly 147 Hingaia Road, RD4, Te Awamutu 3874, Mobile: 027 499 7159 Email: jollyr@no8wireless.co.nz Andrew Jolly Mobile: 027 562 7740

Andy Transom, PGG Wrightson Ltd Mobile: 0275 965 142

www.hingaiaangus.co.nz

ANGUS

BUL L S A L E 30 Bulls WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY 2019 AT 4PM Bull Sale Venue: 303 River Road, SH 43, Taumarunui Alan & Catherine Donaldson

p: (07) 896 6714 • e: agcsdonaldson@gmail.com • www.pukenuiangus.co.nz

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Market Snapshot brought to you by the AgriHQ analysts.

Suz Bremner

Nicola Dennis

Mel Croad

Cattle

Reece Brick

Caitlin Pemberton

Sheep

BEEF

Deer

SHEEP MEAT

VENISON

Last week

Prior week

Last year

NI Steer (300kg)

5.45

5.35

NI lamb (17kg)

7.35

7.30

7.35

NI Stag (60kg)

8.80

8.90

11.00

NI Bull (300kg)

5.15

5.10

NI mutton (20kg)

5.05

5.00

SI Stag (60kg)

9.00

11.00

NI Cow (200kg)

4.00

SI lamb (17kg)

7.00

6.95

7.15

SI Steer (300kg)

5.05

5.25

SI mutton (20kg)

4.85

4.90

SI Bull (300kg)

4.90

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

SI Cow (200kg)

3.40

3.65

UK CKT lamb leg

9.44

9.28

9.22

US imported 95CL bull

7.70

7.86

6.79

US domestic 90CL cow

7.46

7.37

6.87

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

Last week Prior week

Last year

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

$/kg CW

North Island steer slaughter price

6.0

North Island lamb slaughter price

8.5

$/kg CW

7.5 6.5

Oct

Dec 5-yr ave

Feb

5-yr ave

Jun

2017-18

Coarse xbred ind.

Aug

37 micron ewe

2018-19

30 micron lamb

Dairy

Jun

Aug 2018-19

Last week

Prior week

Last year

$/tonne

6.0

0.00

3.26

Dec-18

Feb-19 Sept. 2020

Last price*

Apr-18

625

523

3.35

Super

321

307

4.75

DAP

833

775

Jun-18

vs 4 weeks ago

NZ average (NZ$/t)

Top 10 by Market Cap

Aug-18

Oct-18

Dec-18

Feb-19

Apr-19

Company

YTD High

YTD Low

The a2 Milk Company Limited

16.07

16.98

10.42

Meridian Energy Limited (NS)

4.28

4.29

3.38

Auckland International Airport Limited

8.25

8.4

7.065

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd

15.99

16.12

12.3

Spark New Zealand Limited

3.645

4.18

3.54

Ryman Healthcare Limited

11.86

12.5

10.4

Mercury NZ Limited (NS)

3.94

3.95

3.51

Contact Energy Limited

7.23

5.82

Fletcher Building Limited

5.06

5.35

4.57

Port of Tauranga Limited (NS)

6.05

6.11

4.9

Listed Agri Shares

CANTERBURY FEED BARLEY Prior week

Fertiliser 625

400

320

Apr-19

DAIRY FUTURES (US$/T) Nearby contract

Aug 2018-19

Urea

360 Oct-18 Sept. 2019

Jun

Last year

440

Aug-18

Apr 2017-18

Prior week

480

6.5

Jun-18

Feb

Last week

CANTERBURY FEED WHEAT

7.0

$/kg MS

Apr 2017-18

Grain

Data provided by

MILK PRICE FUTURES

5.5

Dec

FERTILISER

(NZ$/kg) Apr

Oct

5-yr ave

WOOL

Feb

8.5

5.5

5.0

Dec

9.5

6.5

4.5

Oct

South Island stag slaughter price

10.5

7.5

5.5

4.5

8.5

11.5

South Island lamb slaughter price

South Island steer slaughter price

9.5

6.5

$/kg CW

8.5 $/kg CW

$/kg CW

5.0

6.0

10.5

6.5

4.5

Last year

North Island stag slaughter price

11.5

7.5

5.5

Last week Prior week

7.5

5.5

4.5

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

$/kg CW

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

Ingrid Usherwood

5pm, close of market, Thursday

Company

YTD High

YTD Low

440

The a2 Milk Company Limited

16.070

16.980

10.420

Comvita Limited

3.500

5.420

3.400

Delegat Group Limited

10.350

10.610

9.400

3265

3275

3305

420

SMP

2550

2525

2510

400

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund (NS)

4.270

4.850

4.170

1.710

2.000

1.470

6190

6000

5950

380

Foley Wines Limited

AMF

1.000

1.050

0.750

Butter

5700

5625

5350

360

Livestock Improvement Corporation Ltd (NS) New Zealand King Salmon Investments Ltd

2.250

2.980

2.100

340

PGG Wrightson Limited

0.540

0.580

0.470

Milk Price

6.48

6.50

320

Sanford Limited (NS)

6.760

7.060

6.350

Scales Corporation Limited

5.070

4.340

SeaDragon Limited

0.003

0.002

Seeka Limited

5.250

5.350

4.200

Synlait Milk Limited (NS)

10.500

11.350

8.860

T&G Global Limited

2.750

2.810

2.600

S&P/NZX Primary Sector Equity

16903

17434

15063

S&P/NZX 50 Index

10104

8732

S&P/NZX 10 Index

9819

9829

8280

$/tonne

WMP

Apr-18

* price as at close of business on Thursday

WMP FUTURES - VS FOUR WEEKS AGO

Oct-18

Dec-18

Feb-19

Apr-19

350

$/tonne

3300 US$/t

Aug-18

WAIKATO PALM KERNEL

3400

3200 3100 May

Jun-18

Jun Jul Latest price

Aug

Sep 4 weeks ago

Oct

300 250 200

Apr-18

Jun-18

Aug-18

Oct-18

Dec-18

Feb-19

Apr-19

S&P/FW PRIMARY SECTOR EQUITY

16903

S&P/NZX 50 INDEX

10104

S&P/NZX 10 INDEX

9819

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019 NI LAMB ( $/KG)

SI MUTTON ( $/KG)

NI M2 BULL ( $/KG)

7.30

4.85

5.15

VIC MA TRADITIONAL COW, 535KG, FEILDING IN-CALF COW FAIR ( $/KG)

2.09

National bull sales set to commence This year’s national bull sales are on 13 and 14 May, signaling the start of the bull selling season. PGG Wrightson Livestock National Genetics Manager Callum Stewart says rising two year old Angus and Hereford bulls will feature, consecutively, over the two days. “Our National Angus Sale is on 13 May at Palmerston North’s Orlando Country Club, followed by the National Hereford Sale on farm at the Strahan property, Kiwitea, on 14 May. “All bulls are offered by prominent North and South Islands studs. The Angus bulls were brought together in November, since when they have gained excellent condition, while the Herefords have been on the Strahan property since February and are similarly looking great,” he said.

HAVING A LAUGH: PGG Wrightson auctioneer Joe Higgins, second from right, and the rest of the livestock team take bids at Temuka last week.

Talk of making balage NORTH ISLAND

N NORTHLAND the kumara harvest is all but wrapped up with 95% of the crop in. Growers have had an unbelievable run of good weather and kumara have been nice and clean going into storage sheds. By variety 49% of the total crop is the traditional red kumara, 46% orange, 3.5% gold and 1.5% the purple-fleshed variety. Our kumara growing contact says the orange kumara was introduced from Louisiana in 1995 and now accounts for almost half of all sales. Kumara paddocks are being put back into grass and Northland’s dairy farmers, while they’d like rain, are grateful they’re not going into winter with already wet soils. After 10 continuous fine, calm days with above-average temperatures around Pukekohe a front arrived on Friday with scattered light rain. Some crops will still need to be irrigated though. The local growers association has held a soil erosion and silt control workshop to keep growers and contractors up to date with recommended ways of managing moving soils and keeping them within property boundaries. Waikato and Central Plateau have had some much needed warm rain. There’s a good bit of optimism in the dairy sector with the latest rise in global dairy prices and the drop in the exchange rate – people are talking about a $7 milk price next year – but farmers know not to count their chickens. Bay of Plenty had drizzle on Friday morning. Things are pretty quiet on kiwifruit orchards. There’s a bit of a hiatus because the gold crop has been harvested and now it’s a waiting game until the green fruit is mature enough to be picked. The pickers don’t get paid unless they work so it’s a very frustrating time for everyone. Avocado growers wish they had product to feed into the market – it’s the off season so people shouldn’t be surprised prices are through the roof. Motiti Island in Bay of plenty usually picks New Zealand’s first avocados but not until next month. Dairy farms in Taranaki have a lot of grass. In fact we’re told one farmer near Inglewood is thinking of making silage. The farmer we spoke to says, for April

his farm had 200% of its usual monthly rainfall. Lost of people are putting on urea while it’s still warm enough for the grass to grow. Gisborne’s also been mild and we’re told some days have felt like summer. There’s also been a splattering of rain. The market’s reasonably strong for cattle and really strong for sheep. On Wednesday six boats were parked up waiting to come in and be loaded with logs. The yards beside the port are full of them. The mandarin harvest is starting, growers are on the cusp of orange picking and, towards Wairoa, the last of the squash is being harvested. Hawke’s Bay’s apple harvest is virtually finished. The price for granny smiths is still very good so they’re being picked for export rather than processing. There’s very high demand for NZ apples from Asia. On farms grass is growing pretty well. Even the Rangitaiki plains between Napier and Taupo, which are 700 to 750 metres above sea level, have plenty of grass. Manawatu and Rangitikei are having reasonably warm weather and there’s been a drop or two of rain. A lot of topdressing planes and helicopters are buzzing around spreading nitrogen. Dairy farmers are ummng and ahhing about when to dry off and sheep and beef farmers are sending the last of the lambs away. They’re all trying to build up feed going in to winter. Wairarapa had a nice bit of rain on Thursday night and it’s unseasonably warm. That’s pretty useful for growing grass. Animal health hasn’t been plain sailing. The farmer we spoke to says this time last year, which was the season from heaven, his ewes were 8kg heavier than they are now. He’s looking at worm counts to see if they’re partly to blame. SOUTH ISLAND Feijoa harvesting is in full swing in Nelson and Motueka. Fruit size is good but quantities are down this year. Gold kiwifruit harvesting is coming to an end. Most apple picking is finished and orchards are getting a post-harvest cleanup. Some blocks are being ripped up by diggers. The trees are burnt on site then the ground’s fumigated and prepared for planting new varieties.

A farmer in Marlborough says he’s in the land of milk and honey but at the same time he admits it’s eerily concerning as temperatures are 6C or 7C above normal and pasture growth’s up 30% to 40%. It’s not surprising that winter feed crops are looking fantastic as soil temperatures are a warm 12C at 10 centimetres. Rams on lower hill country properties have completed their task. Ewes have gone onto on winter rotation and despite them eating all the grass in front of then it’s popping up just as quickly behind. In vineyards pruning is about to get under way. On the West Coast our contact at Rununga says it’s been a nice week despite some heavy showers. People are drying cows off and early heifers are coming home from grazing. Most farms have moved to once a day milking. Winter crops are being measured to work out yields and balage is being set out on paddocks where stock are now on winter rounds. Canterbury has had a mostly cloudy, dull yet mild week. The grass is still growing, which is a bonus for this time of the year. The announcement that more farms have tested positive for Mycoplasma bovis has really knocked the store beef market, to the point where many cattle at sales are being passed in because there are no buyers. Farmers hope it’s a short-term issue and things can return to normal soon. It’s been a mild week in south Otago and now that fertiliser is in the ground, pasture growth has taken off. Cattle condition has picked up after the dry summer. The biggest challenge is finding space at the works to get them killed. Ewes have gone to the ram in good order. Our contact says his rams will stay in with the ladies over winter because they can only get pregnant once. A farmer at Waimahaka in Southland says temperatures are 2C to 3C above normal and after 20mm of rain paddocks are healthy and green. There’s not too much mud around either, which is a bonus. He’s already dried off a few cows but the bulk of the dairy herd is due go on holiday on May 20. Most contract milkers in the region are locked in for next season. The next step up the ladder for them is lower-order share milking.

Courtesy of Radio New Zealand Country Life You can listen to Country Life on RNZ at 9pm every Friday and 7am on Saturday or on podcast at radionz.co.nz/countrylife

Although numbers are down slightly on last year, Callum Stewart says quality is at a high level. “We have 21 lots offered at the Angus sale, followed by 15 Herefords, which is fewer than last year, in part due to the success of on-farm sales,. Buyers are monitoring data, and targeting the most effective way to improve herds. Breeders are motivated to keep on advancing genetics, and the bulls on offer testify to their success with that. We therefore look forward to good clearances at each sale,” he said. Immediately following the National Hereford Sale, a complete dispersal for Panorama Polled Herefords will be conducted online, starting at 2.30pm on 14 May. “This will launch online sales in genetics. Every Hereford in the stud will be offered for sale, including the bull calves and rising two year old bulls. We are using our ‘bidr’ platform for this sale. Bidr is a virtual saleyard operating an easy-to-use, real time auction. This eliminates much of the stress on animals, as well as reducing the sale’s environmental footprint. Bidr is easy to use, from anywhere in the world, backed up by strict listing and accreditation protocols. “We are looking forward to the response to this offering, the first of a new kind of genetics sale. Bidr gives our clients an exceptional way to reach farmers, therefore growing their brand more effectively than ever before through the breadth of online coverage,” said Callum Stewart.

Find out more about upcoming bull sales at pggwrightson.co.nz/bullsales

Helping grow the country

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

Good store lambs in demand nationwide One of the big takeaways of the week has been the seemingly bottomless level of interest in store lambs throughout the country, though more so in the North Island. Each of Matawhero, Stortford Lodge and Feilding had lambs average $122-$127, even with more than 34,000 store lambs sold between them last week alone. NORTHLAND Wellsford store cattle • R2 Hereford-Friesian steers, 364-412kg, eased to $2.35-$2.53/kg • R2 Hereford-Friesian heifers, 338-348kg, held at $2.38-$2.45/kg • Traditional weaner steers, 245-283kg, improved to $695-$745 • Weaner Hereford-Friesian heifers, 162-239kg, eased to $500-$605 • Seven Charolais cows and calves, 207kg were well received at $1160 A big yarding of just over 820 cattle were a challenge to absorb at Wellsford last Monday, with most trading on a softer market. R2 Hereford-cross steers, 354-408kg, returned $2.32$2.45/kg, while Angus-Friesian, 312-389kg, eased to $2.26$2.42/kg. R2 Hereford-cross heifers, 342-431kg, made $2.35-$2.53/ kg, with Angus-Friesian, 273-327kg, earning $2.05-$2.23/kg. All 320-385kg Hereford-Friesian heifers traded at $745-$805 for varied $/kg. Weaner Hereford-cross steers, 225-269kg, earned $610$725, and Simmental-cross, 228-257kg, $635-$745. Angus sold in two bands with 139-188kg, at $445-$535, and 250256kg, $640-$650. Hereford-Friesian, 241-262kg, held at $725-$730, with 291kg improving to $885. Kaikohe sale • Best of the R2 steers made $2.80-$2.82/kg • R2 Friesian bulls, sold for $2.30/kg • Better VIC cows, reached $1.75-$1.82/kg The 600 head yarding at week’s KAIKOHE cattle sale was still hard work due to the low pasture levels in this region although was helped by better quality lines, PGG Wrightson agent Vaughan Vujcich reported. Weaner beef bulls made $2.40-$2.80/kg, while the best weaner heifers made $2.40$2.50/kg and beef-cross steers at $2.70-$2.90/kg. Whitefaced R2 steers made $2.65-$2.75/kg, while lesser quality earned $2.40-$2.50/kg.

AUCKLAND Pukekohe cattle sale • Prime steers made $2.72-$2.86/kg • Prime heifers earned $2.70-$2.81/kg At the PUKEKOHE CATTLE SALE on May 4 there was a good number of prime cattle which sold strongly with interest from local and outside buyers. Fewer store cattle helped this market and prices firmed, with R2 steers making $2.72-$2.86/kg although younger off-bred types sold for $1.83-$2.00/kg and heifers at $2.42-$2.52/kg with lesser types at $2.33-$2.44/kg. Medium off-bred steers made $350-$480 and medium heifers were $410-$495.

COUNTIES Tuakau sale • Good Angus weaner heifers, 215kg, made $550 • Prime heifer market lifted by 5c/kg • Prime lambs averaged $145 • Top ewes sold to $200 About 540 store cattle were yarded at TUAKAU on Thursday, Chris Elliott of PGG Wrightson reported. Heavy steers, 480-560kg, traded at $2.48-$2.77/kg, with 350-450kg steers making $2.35-$2.75/kg and 280-350kg, $2.40-$2.81/ kg. Weaner steers, 165-200kg, earned $570-$620 and weaner bulls, 160-260kg, $240-$490. Heifers, 400-520kg, sold at $2.40-$2.62/kg and 300-400kg, $2.20-$2.40/kg. Weaner heifers, 160-180kg, fetched $500$540. Heavy prime steers made $2.72-$2.82/kg last Wednesday, with mediums at $2.65-$2.70/kg. Quality in the heifer section was good, with heavier beeftypes earning $2.71-$2.78/kg and mediums $2.60-$2.71/kg. Dairy-type heifers made $1.60-$2.30/kg and heavy Friesian cows $1.68-$1.85/kg. Medium cows earned $1.50-$1.65/kg and lighter boners $1.20-$1.50/kg. Prime lambs returned $130-$170 on Monday, with stores fetching $65-$120. Top prime ewes sold at $160-$200, medium $110-$160 and light, $60-$110.

WAIKATO Frankton cattle • R2 Hereford Friesian steers, 335-470kg, held at $2.62-$2.75/kg • R2 Hereford-cross steers, 320-365kg, held at $2.37-$2.43/kg • R2 Hereford-Friesian heifers, 285-390kg, lifted to $2.45-$2.57/kg • R2 Hereford bulls, 375-390kg, improved to $1250-$1300, $3.32/kg • Quality weaner Angus steers, 200-230kg, rose to $645-$805 Tallies at FRANKTON increased to 744 head. R2 beefcross steers, 360-415kg, softened to $2.25-$2.46/kg, as did Hereford-cross heifers, 275-370kg, back to $1.96-$2.01/kg. However Angus and Angus-Hereford heifers, 340-345kg, held at $2.34-$2.46/kg. Weaner Hereford-Friesian steers, 130kg, were solid at $457, while 195-200kg traditional heifers returned $420$510, and 195kg Hereford-Friesian were $435. Friesian bulls, 155-165kg, improved to $385-$390. The prime market held at recent levels with all 520-650kg prime steers steady at $2.62-$2.73/kg, and 450-605kg prime heifers almost identical at $2.62-$2.75/kg. Heavy Friesian boner cows improved to $1.61-$1.67/kg, with second cuts at $1.41/kg.

BAY OF PLENTY Rangiuru cattle • Prime steers, 540-640kg, were mainly $2.66-$2.75/kg • Boner Friesian cows, 405-575kg, lifted to $1.52-$1.64/kg • R2 steers, 385-490kg, typically rose to $2.59-$2.71/kg • Good R2 heifers, 390-445kg, went for $2.50-$2.54/kg • Traditional weaner heifers, 225-235kg, were $550-$625 A combined tally of 840 cattle at RANGIURU found good interest, with most sectors of the sale lifting on the week prior. Top cuts of 565-695kg prime steers were as strong as $2.84-$2.90/kg, while some 520kg R3 Charolais heifers were taken up to $2.87/kg. The few beef cows, 570-655kg, went for $1.88-$2.02/kg. Light R2 cattle were still slow moving - 370kg and lighter steers were $2.28-$2.52/kg, with 285-380kg beef-cross heifers only $1.98-$2.09/kg. A few 310-330kg R2 dairy heifers were $450-$490. A large line of 150kg weaner Hereford-Friesian steers did well at $570, $3.83/kg.

TARANAKI Taranaki sale • R3 traditional and Simmental-cross steers, 380-545kg, made $2.67-$2.81/kg • R2 Angus steers, 440-470kg, were more resilient at $2.77-$2.80/ kg • Prime steers, 584-570kg, earned $2.76-$2.82/kg Last Wednesday’s TARANAKI cattle sale came in below expectations despite a good quality line up of cattle, with a clear lack of demand for cattle with poor pasture levels heading into winter. Only steers and bulls were on offer. R2 steers sold around 10c/kg below expectations. R2 Angus steers held better than the rest of this category, which was mostly Angus-Friesian and Hereford-Friesian. Prices varied, better quality mainly earned $2.60-$2.75/kg while the majority of the balance eased to $2.40-$2.60/kg with offtypes below $2.30/kg.

POVERTY BAY Matawhero cattle fair • Traditional VIC mixed-age cows, 435-590kg, were $2.04-$2.25/kg • Traditional VIC R3 heifers, 400-465kg, made $1000-$1200, $2.47$2.75/kg • R2 Angus-cross steers, 345-545kg, usually made $2.91-$2.98/kg • R2 straight-beef heifers, 240-395kg, were typically $2.22-$2.50/kg • Weaner straight-beef heifers, 200-245kg, achieved $2.98-$3.22/kg A sparse showing of buyers had auctioneers nervous prior to the sale, however the 1600 cattle sold without prices getting dragged too low. One line of in-calf cows, 590kg, was taken to $1325, $2.25/kg, but $1.86-$2.04/kg cover the bulk of the rest. Some R3 steers, 490-500kg, were bought at $2.80-$2.88/ kg, with R2 steers roughly 10c/kg above this level. R2 heifers were quite tough selling, usually around $2.15-$2.30/kg, but occasionally better. The weaners were very inconsistent. Some 255-260kg steers were $830-$870, with 210-225kg at $760-$810 and 185-205kg, $590-$640. The 180-200kg heifers were tough selling at $470-$530. Matawhero sheep sale • Heavy male lambs mostly sold for $135-$140 • Heavy ram lambs made $140 • Prime lambs earned $133.50-$140.50 Despite the larger volume of store lambs on offer at last week’s MATAWHERO sale, the sale held up well and flowed easily with this region having decent pasture levels. There were large lines of medium male lambs which sold well at $132-$140 and light males varied at $107-$122. Ewe lambs mostly made $90-$108, while a small number of light mixed sex sold for $95. Good Romney breeding ewes in good condition sold well at $132.

HAWKE’S BAY

KEEP GOING: Hamish Wilson has had an early start to winter and has had to sell 2000 lambs as store following the dry weather. Photo: Neal Wallace

Stortford Lodge prime sale • Angus and Angus-Hereford steers, 719kg, sold well at $2.86/kg • Traditional heifers, 462-586kg, all earned $2.69-$2.76/kg • Very heavy ewes improved to $178-$189 • Medium-good ewes traded at $128-$133 • Very heavy ram lambs lifted to $166.50-$185 Just over 100 prime cattle were penned at Stortford Lodge last Monday. Three Angus bulls, 475-660kg, returned $2.30/ kg. Traditional cows, 628-684kg, traded at $1.95-$2.04/kg, with Hereford-Friesian, 579-664kg, earning $1.90-$1.91/kg. Ewe throughput lifted and with most improving. Two huge ewes took top honours at $222, with heavy types up to $169-$176, the lighter end $104-$121. Lamb numbers halved but sold well. Very heavy cryptorchid topped their section at $187, with very heavy mixed sex lambs close behind at $173.50-$174. Heavy prime lambs lifted to $154.50-$162.

SALE YARD WRAP

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019

SQUAD: The PGG Wrighton livestock team in action at last week’s sale at Temuka. Stortford Lodge in-calf cow fair and store sheep • Top mixed-age Angus cows, VIC to an Angus bull, lifted to $1410$1545, $2.53-$2.61/kg • Four-five year Angus cows, VIC to an Angus bull, returned $1620, $2.80/kg • All Hereford cows, VIC to a Hereford bull, traded at $705-$1190, $2.09-$2.38/kg • Medium to good cryptorchid lambs improved to $130.50-$140.50 • Good to heavy ram and wether lambs held at $134-$144 It was a foggy start to the second In-Calf Cow Fair at STORTFORD LODGE but this did not deter a strong bench of buyers. Quality cows were abundant, including two strong contingents of capital stock traditional lines available due to the sale of two farms. Mixed-age 600kg plus Angus cows, VIC an Angus bull, held at $2.14-$2.28/kg, with 460-535kg lifting to $2.27$2.30/kg. Angus and Angus-Hereford cows, 552-624kg, to an Angus bull, had varied returns at $2.01-$2.28/kg, with the heavier end improving on last sale. Vetted-in-calf R3 Hereford, 468kg, to a Hereford bull made a premium on their lighter 376-412kg, counterparts at $2.94/kg and $2.57/kg respectively. R3 Angus heifers to an Angus bull, returned $1655, $2.80/kg R2 Angus heifers, run with an Angus bull, were well received at $1340, $2.97/kg. Out in the sheep section close to 8,500 lambs were penned. A good turn-out of buyers on the rails improved results on last sale. The majority of mixed sex lambs were medium types and they held at $114.50-$122. Ewe lambs made up the lion’s share of the yarding and medium-to-good types were steady at $110-$131, with the lighter end lifting to $86-$114.

MANAWATU Rongotea sale • R2 Angus-cross steers, 440-465kg, made $2.40-$2.58/kg • R2 Angus bulls, 500kg, were $2.56/kg • Weaner Hereford-Friesian steers, 110-260kg, sold for $350-$670 • Autumn-born Friesian bull calves sold for $100-$250 The demand for short term cattle and weaners lifted at last week’s RONGOTEA sale. R2 Hereford-Friesian heifers, 305-320kg, made 2.11-$2.42/kg while the same breed heifers, 220-310kg, earned $1.77-$1.97/kg. In the weaner pens, Friesian steers 135-145kg, made $300-$400 while same breed bulls, 135-230kg, were bought for $380-$600 and 130-180kg heifers made $250-$360. Feilding prime sale • Boner Friesian heifers, 390-430kg, were $2.11-$2.25/kg • Boner Friesian cows, 485-550kg, lifted to $1.70-$1.72/kg • Prime Angus cows, 590kg, made $2.15/kg • Heaviest prime lambs rose to $173-$193 • Standard prime lambs lifted to $157-$168.50 More buyers were attracted to the prime cattle auction due to a large showing of in-calf Friesian cows and heifers, pulling prices up around 10c/kg. Any premium on in-calf lines was relatively minimal, especially in the cows. Some 435-445kg in-calf Friesian heifers were $2.27-$2.34/kg. Boner Friesian cows, 570-625kg, went as high as $1.76$1.84/kg. Prime ewes were a rarity in the sheep yards, though almost 4400 lambs were offered, selling to a stronger market also. Even the lighter prime lambs were picked up at $144-$150.

Feilding in-calf cow and heifer fair • Vetted-in-calf mixed-age Angus cows, 505-570kg, were all $1080$1220 • Vetted-in-calf mixed-age exotic cows, 580-650kg, made $1250$1300 • Vetted-in-calf 3-5yr traditional cows, 495-585kg, achieved $1120$1210 • Vetted-in-calf traditional R3 heifers, 445-500kg, mainly sold at $1250-$1280 • Vetted-in-calf traditional R2 heifers, 380-390kg, sold for $1190$1210 A yarding of 884 in-calf cows and heifers at FEILDING was similar in tally to a year ago, though numbers were bolstered due to a few farm sales in the region. Action began slowly wa quarter of the heifer pens were passed in. R3 heifers, 375-530kg, of all breeds made $2.63-$2.74/ kg, while the few 380-390kg R2 traditional heifers from one property all went for $3.05-$3.17/kg. There was a two-tiered market on the cows. The betterhalf were at $2.15-$2.26/kg, while the remainder were usually $1.98-$2.09/kg – this applied to traditional and exotic breeds at all weights. Three pens of 515-615kg traditional cows were a step above the rest, however, at $2.31-$2.37/kg, or $1380-$1420 for the two heaviest pens. Feilding store • R3 Angus and Angus-Hereford steers, 491-567kg, made $2.88$3.07/kg • Autumn born weaners Hereford-Friesian, 407kg, sold for $1090 • R2 Friesian bulls, 394-519kg, made $2.51/kg • Top store lambs made $150-$155.50 The FEILDING store sale was another big one with large volumes of lambs and cattle. R2 steers were mostly traditional and Angus-cross, and the better of these sold for $2.85-$3.04 and the rest mostly made $2.65-$2.71/kg, while Hereford-Friesian mostly sold in a fairly tight range of $2.65-$2.74/kg. R2 Angus heifers, 387-428kg, sold well at $2.71-$2.75/kg. Lamb prices were up despite the large numbers with most selling for $137-$145, while the bottom end was mostly $110-$120. Romney 2th ewes made $133, while run-with-ram ewes were bought for $140.

CANTERBURY Canterbury Park • Traditional and exotic prime steers, 465-700kg, were $2.65-$2.77/ kg • Traditional and exotic prime heifers, 450-700kg, were $2.48$2.63/kg • Heavy store lambs $105-$117 • Heavy prime ewes softened to $160-$200 • Heavy prime lambs made $150-$180 There was a small yarding of store lambs at CANTERBURY PARK, mainly light to medium types. Mediums made $95-$104 and light lambs sold for $70$89. Reduced quality in the prime ewes softened prices, with heavy ewes making $160-$200, mediums $130-$159 and lighter selling for $90-$129. Prime lambs held steady on last week. An increase in traditional cattle helped lift the market 5-10c/kg across the board. Prime beef cows, 565690kg, were mainly $1.79-$1.86/kg.

SOUTH-CANTERBURY Temuka sale • Prime traditional cows, 400-720kg, strengthened to $1.71-$1.84/ kg

• Boner Friesian cows, 400-580kg, sold for $1.36-$1.54/kg • Medium-to-good mixed sex lambs were $104-$117 on average • Top end of the prime lambs lifted to $184-$198 Prime cows lifted an average of 11c/kg at the TEMUKA SALE last week, while boner cows lifted by 8c/kg. Beef steers mostly softened to $2.39-$2.50/kg, while the betterquality prime heifers strengthened slightly to make $2.40$2.44/kg. The lamb pens had another record tally at 10,470 and while the bench of buyers wasn’t huge, the store lambs sold on a steady-to-strengthening market. Woolly Halfbred lambs often made a small premium on equivalent crossbred lines. The average price was $114/hd. Improving schedules helped the prime lamb market with the top end lifting, while most sold for $120-$159. Temuka store cattle • Traditional R2 heifers, 300-360kg, sold well to make $2.51-$2.63/ kg • Weaner Angus and Angus-Hereford steers, 175-225kg, strengthened to $600-$775 • Weaner heifers, Angus and Angus-Hereford, 177-215, made $580-$620 Numbers were down at last week’s TEMUKA store cattle sale, with a quite a few cattle withdrawn due to the poor prices leading to the sale. Traditional R2 steers held despite having lighter weights with 340-400kg, making $2.51-$2.52/ kg, while the better lines of 385-405kg Hereford-Friesian were either side of this range at $2.50-$2.56/kg. Other steers mainly sold at $2.30-$2.48/kg. R2 heifers were largely Hereford-Friesian and 365-400kg softened to $2.20-$2.34/ kg. Interest lifted in the weaner pens due to a lift in the quality. Beef-Friesian steers, 165-210kg, made $470-$530, with 150-195kg traditional heifers at $530-$620.

OTAGO Balclutha • Heavy prime lambs, steady to strengthening at $150-$160 • Medium prime ewes were $120-$130 • Top end store lambs made $100-$105 • Medium store lambs were $85-$90 Prime lambs continued to sell with strong demand at BALCLUTHA, particularly medium lambs which lifted to $130-$140. Prime ewes mostly held steady, almost all $110$160. The store lamb market stalled, easing significantly through the medium-and-lighter cuts. Heavy and male lambs were a little more resilient though.

SOUTHLAND Lorneville • Prime cows, above 500kg, lifted to $1.30-$1.40/kg • Angus weaner bulls, 285kg, made $940 • Heavy prime lambs lifted to $145-$162 • Heavy prime ewes strengthened to $143-$166 LORNEVILLE continued to find good demand for quality lambs which lifted across the board. Prime lambs lifted around $7-$13 at the top end of prices, while the upper end of store lambs lifted around $2 for medium and light lambs although heavy store lambs softened at the top end to make $105-$112. Prime cattle softened a little, with 500kg plus steers at $2.36-$2.40/kg, and 480kg plus heifers earning $2.30-$2.35/ kg. The store cattle pens were mostly calves with Angus heifers, 255kg, making $700. R2 beef-cross steers, 485525kg, made $2.37-$2.38/kg.

Markets

56 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – May 13, 2019 SI LAMB

NI MUTTON

SI M2 BULL

($/KG)

7.00

5.05

MEDIUM CRYPTORCHID LAMBS AT STORTFORD LODGE ($/HD)

4.90

138.80

high lights

2.53-2.61

2.70

VIC MA Angus Cow, 541-611kg, Stortford Lodge

R2 Hereford-Friesian steer, 385-485, at Rangiuru

ACROSS THE RAILS REECE BRICK

Turbulence surrounds R2 steer, heifer sales

HOST: The National Hereford Sale is being held at Ian Strahan’s farm in Kiwitea.

Bull sale sparks busy week Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz

T’S going to be busy in Manawatu next week with the PGG Wrightson Livestock National Hereford Sale tomorrow and the annual Beef + Lamb AgInnovation conference the next day. There are 14 bulls available at the sale, which starts at 11.30am at the Strahan Land Company at Kiwitea. Sourced from prominent studs from the North and South islands, the bulls have been grazing on the Strahan property for three and a half months to create a level playing field. “The bulls are looking great despite the adverse weather – no rain, no grass – showing how great the Hereford breed is under all sorts of conditions,” Hereford show and sales committee chairman Robert Kane said. The bulls’ genetics suit the many different New Zealand beef breeding programmes with 70% having below-

average gestation length EBVs, 65% with below-average birth weight EBVs, 80% having 600-day weight EBVs in the top 30% for the breed and 80% having above-average EMA, with 65% in the top 30% of breed. “A high proportion are performance bulls with top carcase and growth genetics,” he said. “Some are curve benders (low birth weight EBV to high 600-day weight) and some are ideal for heifer mating or breeding bulls for the dairy market.” A parade at 9.30am will be followed by a paddock inspection and judging results. The AgInnovation conference, at the Awapuni racecourse on Thursday from 10am to 9pm, starts with a keynote presentation from NZ Merino’s Hadleigh Smith titled Can Strong Wool Surf the Merino Wave? He will talk about the recent wool surfboard innovation and other potential future uses for wool composite technology and what that could mean

for the global market for NZ wool. Workshops include Geordie McCallum from Wairarapa Property Consultants on how to manage a farm business succession and transition, insights from B+LNZ national beef genetics manager Max Tweedie on the B+LNZ beef genetics project, B+LNZ global market intelligence and research manager Hugh Good on the development of the Taste Pure Nature brand in California and AgResearch senior scientist David Stevens discussing the feasibility of virtual fencing for beef cattle on hill country. Attracting and retaining talented staff is an ongoing challenge for the sheep and beef industry and the conference ends with an evening meal and panel discussion chaired by Farmers Weekly columnist Steve Wyn-Harris that will look problems behind the staffing shortage along with advice on how to achieve buy-in from staff.

IT’S only in the last fortnight the weak R2 steer and heifer market has really become apparent. Using information from the eight North Island yards where AgriHQ collects data, the average beef and beef-cross R2 steer is making $2.70/ kg, with heifers at $2.43/kg. The South Island is around 15c/kg lower on both classes. Why this has happened isn’t a simple question to answer. Schedules and feed levels are the usual go-to deciders for store prices but their influence doesn’t explain it all. Benchmarking against prime schedules shows these can essentially be ruled out as a problem, though more-so in the North Island. Late-summer/early-autumn was relatively tough going for some sections of the country but there is still a fairly large portion of both islands ticking over as well as can be expected. So what else is the problem? Well, the number of dairy calves reared in the past two years is definitely playing a role. This is especially obvious in the South Island where it, and reduced calf sales into the North Island, have shifted the dial from an undersupply to oversupply in only two years. Add in the ongoing saga that is Mycoplasma bovis and it’s easy to see why agents are often funneling beef-dairy cattle into the sale yards to shift them. There also seems to be a change of tactic from buyers. Some finishers have been disappointed with the margins on store cattle bought last year, either sticking to stricter budgets or looking for alternative options in response. What this will all mean for the coming 12 months will be quite interesting. Not all these issues can be resolved short-term, which begs the question of whether this is a short-term blip or a fundamental shifting of the store market. It wouldn’t be too surprising if it was the latter given there’s almost been a perfect storm of conditions that have underpinned store cattle prices through 2016-18. reece.brick@globalhq.co.nz

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