Farmers Weekly NZ September 13 2021 by AgriHQ

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Labour pressure intensifies Neal Wallace

neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz

HE primary sector workforce is being squeezed by an exodus of migrant dairy farm staff and backpackers and those struggling to find NZ workers. Tighter immigration laws have stalled the processing of residency applications, generating uncertainty among 200 foreign dairy farm workers, prompting many to return home or move to other countries. Southland dairy farmer Jason Herrick has lost one Filipino worker and is about to lose another who, having been apart from their families for two and a half years while waiting for residency to be considered, have given up waiting. Pandemic controls have added to staffing difficulties with the Government freezing managed isolation quarantine (MIQ) bookings, which could delay until the new year the arrival of 200 exempted foreign dairy workers and skilled seasonal workers such as machinery operators. Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi was unable to respond to questions by deadline, but has previously stated the Government is resetting policy. “We want to work with sectors and see them develop plans to attract, train and upskill Kiwis into roles and invest in productivity changes that can help them move away from a reliance on low-paid and low-skilled migrant workers,” Faafoi said at the time. Some meat plants are short 100 staff – Silver Fern Farms is seeking 1600 for the season peak alone –

WAITING GAME: Henry Paat (centre) is returning to the Philippines having worked on Jason Herrick’s (right) Southland dairy farm for the past two years. Marcos Iguana (left) is a NZ citizen. Photo: Natwick

and the industry needs about 100 halal butchers essential for the $3.3 billion trade. Of particular concern is the lack of halal butchers, who enable 43% of our red meat exports to be sold to Muslim consumers. The horticulture industry is finalising quarantine-free access for 14,400 workers from Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa under the recognised seasonal employer scheme (RSE), but there are questions whether it will be sufficient. The ongoing labour shortage will impact the wine industry, with

a significant but unquantified number of vines unpruned last season, reducing yield. DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says the Government has exempted 50 farm assistants and 150 herd or assistant managers, but the senior role has a requirement for an annual salary of $79,500 for a 40-hour week, which is proving a disincentive to fill. Federated Farmers board member Chris Lewis says that salary is about 30% higher than market rates. Mackle says in this case

immigration rather than employment rules apply, meaning hours worked in addition to the 40 hours have to be paid at an hourly rate. The result is that there have only been 30 applications for senior roles but 55 applications for farm assistants. “There is a big gap between the Government’s aspirations and where the market is right now, which is why we are not seeing so much demand,” Mackle said. He says the quickest and easiest

What we are facing is all because the Government is not prepared to make a commitment to the primary sector and this is the result. Jason Herrick Farmer

Continued page 5

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ROUND THE FARM TABLE Catchment Edition

Chef and good keen man Al Brown chats to members of the Pūniu River Care team, winners of the inaugural Catchment Group award at the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

You’d think that after planting over 1.2 million trees and helping build over 60km of fencing around waterways, you’d deserve to put your feet up. But for Talitha Wanden, (Ngāti Maniapoto) and Quinton Tunono (Ngāti Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga) and the 47 other members of Pūniu River Care, they’re just getting started. The catchment group was formed in 2015, to enhance the waters and replenish the taonga of the 57km Pūniu River – one of the longest secondary tributaries in the country and one that ultimately feeds into the mighty Waikato. The group’s difference and real strength is that it’s made up of the four marae and their hapū and iwi the river flows past (Mangatoatoa, Rāwhitiroa, Aotearoa and Whakamārama). “We came together as a marae collective, crossing iwi boundaries, to create our own version of restoration,” Quinton says, “one that draws on mātauranga Māori, promoting practices grounded in Māori traditions and values.” “Our stated vision is safe places, healthy waters, and healthy people. As our ancestors taught us, these are all connected,” adds Talitha. The mahi is obviously paying off, with Puniu River Care (PRC) recently announced as winners of the newly created Catchment Group Award at the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Al Brown sits with the both of them and finds that it’s not just the trees that are flourishing. Al: Congratulations on your win! Why is this river so important to you?

Quinton: Cheers! Growing up round here, I remember swimming, doing awesome bombs and catching eels. Our river was our playground and our food source. As kids you have this sense that it will be like this forever. That’s what we want future generations to have. Talitha: We are part of the awa. It is part of us. We saw the effect the river condition was having on the health and wellbeing of our people. So we wanted to do something meaningful and practical – to be part of the solution and not be part of the problem.

Catchment Group,

Al: Tell me about the work you guys are doing?

Quinton: It starts with restoration work at scale. Most visibly we work with land owners and farmers to plant trees along the river. Planting stabilises the banks which arrests sediment depositing, allowing the true ecosystem to return. Talitha’s brother and one of PRC’s founders, Shannon Te Huia, projected that 80 million trees would need to be planted, so we’ve got a way to go! Talitha: One of the first planting projects we completed as a catchment group was a re-constructed wetland near our nursery and in prime view on State Highway 1. A lot of the mānuka have really taken off and a kahikatea stand has also been planted amongst the many native riparian varieties, bringing what was once a thriving species, back to the area. Al: How closely do you work with farmers along the river?

Talitha: The first step with a restoration project like this is to connect with those who can make a real difference to the area – the people who manage or own large areas of nearby land. So far we’ve established relationships with around 47 farmers. Quinton: It’s about educating, building trust, and creating long-term partnerships. We provide the trees ‘in-kind’ and the farmers help prepare the areas by helping remove old fences and building new ones. It’s fantastic to see how in tune farmers are to the need for an environmentally sustainable approach. Al: And how does the planting benefit the group and community?

Quinton: Our goal is to create a sustainable organisation that benefits the community for generations. We’ve established a nursery by Mangatoatoa Pā, propagating over a million plants a year. They are all selected to preserve the original species from within the Pūniu catchment. Talitha: We have a hugely diverse group of people working together who really feel part of something empowering and meaningful. The PRC catchment group is like a tree – branching out into education, providing horticultural and project management training in partnership with WINTEC; supporting local businesses like fencers; and establishing long term connections with farmers as well as local and national funding and environmental bodies.

WITH WITH

Check out my Round the Farm Table recipes at nzfeatrust.org.nz Al: And it grows and grows – that’s awesome. So how was your BFEA experience?

Talitha: We were advised to enter by one of our funding partners. It was quite a new experience for us but we saw it as a great way to keep learning. We met some amazing farmers doing incredible things and they and the awards really fit with our view that only with an open door around sharing information can we all grow. Quinton: Entering was never about the award itself, but we were stoked and humbled to be recognised. Bringing the kai back to the awa and putting smiles on the old people’s faces – those are the accolades we are after! But we feel very grateful to be able to tell our story and it’s been a huge source of mana for our people. Al: What does the future hold for the catchment and beyond?

Talitha W anden a nd Quinton Tunono o f Pūniu R iver

Care.

Quinton: We have to look to the past to go forward. We draw on our local history as told to us by our kaumatua; what kai was found around the awa, how did they get it, what trees flourished. As a country we’ve manipulated the environment long enough. Now it’s time to work with it the way our ancestors did. Within the group we hope to see similar programmes emerge in other parts of the country. We always talk about the importance of meeting local challenges with local solutions. It’s an inclusive approach that draws in the entire community. Al: Love that! Lastly, of all the kai that comes off the land round here what’s your favourite?

Quinton: We grew up hearing stories of kōura and freshwater mussels in plentiful supply. We’re starting to hear of these coming back. Hopefully in a generation or two, there will be enough for everyone. I can’t wait. Talitha: You can’t beat smoked tuna (eel)! The new Catchment Group award recognises the efforts of rural communities to work together to improve water quality in their area. To enter or find out more, visit nzfeawards.org.nz.

rsery.

r Care nu

ive at Pūniu R m a e t e h T

The Pūniu River winds through the Waikato.

NEWS

23 Chewing influences N leaching

New Lincoln University Pastoral Livestock Production Lab research has shown the role a cow’s genetics and eating behaviour plays in reducing the level of nitrogen it excretes in its urine.

REGULARS Newsmaker ��26 New Thinking ��27 Editorial ��28

6 Green light on MIQ-free RSEs The hoped-for quarantine free travel for Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) staff has been given the official green light, with the first workers due to arrive from the Pacific Islands in October.

Pulpit ��29 Opinion ��30 World ��33-34 Real Estate ��35-36 Tech & Toys ��37 Employment ��37 Classifieds ��37-38 Livestock ��38-43 Weather ��45

14 Mixed reactions to road 9 Targeting better beef genetics A new beef genetics programme has the potential to lift the sector’s profits by $460 million over the next 25 years, according to industry modelling.

funding

Despite the scale of the Government’s $24 billionplus transport plan, mayors in some provincial regions are challenging the adequacy of funding for rural roading networks.

Markets ��44-48 GlobalHQ is a farming family owned business that donates 1% of all advertising revenue in Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer to farmer health and well-being initiatives. Thank you for your prompt payment.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Dairy leaps into peak season Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz DAIRY prices have jumped up 4% in the latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction in a very timely rise for the farm gate milk price as peak spring production begins. The 3.3% increase in whole milk powder (WMP) prices underpinned the first substantial market lift for six months. Skim milk powder (SMP) was up 7.3%, butter 3.7% and anhydrous milk fat (AMF) 3.1%. “The magnitude of this lift (4%) was much more helpful than that extraordinary 15% jump in March, which was disruptive,” Jarden’s head of derivatives Mike McIntyre said. The new market strength was critical timing for the farm gate milk price forecasts as peak milk approached. “There was very good buy-side support and for WMP the Chinese participation was well down,” he said. “Broad-based demand from South East Asia and the Middle East gave cause for optimism and the auction time was quite drawn out. “Fonterra took some WMP

We see the global dairy market as being largely balanced at this point, with prices settling at a healthy level. Nathan Penny Westpac

DEMAND: Jarden’s head of derivatives Mike McIntyre says broad-based demand from South East Asia and the Middle East gave cause for optimism.

volume off the GDT, saying that demand and prices were good elsewhere in Asia.” NZX dairy analyst Stu Davison says buyers were there in force with their elbows out. “Constant messages from NZ processors of tighter supply may

have been heeded and GDT offer volumes are much lower than this time last year,” Davison said. “This auction will no doubt light a fire in the global dairy industry. “Buyers that missed out at this auction will be scrambling to secure prices and product, while

sellers will be looking at how this changes stream returns in the short-term.” Westpac senior agri-economist Nathan Penny says global dairy markets appear to have cleared the surge in NZ milk production in the autumn and the coming spring peak would now set the prices in either direction. “We see the global dairy market as being largely balanced at this point, with prices settling at a healthy level.” Therefore, Westpac maintained its farm gate milk price forecast of $7.75/kg milksolids but, being early in the season, there was a wide range of outcomes possible on either side of that figure.

ASB economist Nat Keall says the stability of GDT WMP prices at 20-30% higher than at this time in the past three seasons meant that this auction’s results weren’t a rush of anxiety. “It is a signal buyers expect dairy demand to remain solid and are keen to avoid missing out given the tighter WMP supply of late,” Keall said. Being the first GDT auction of the spring and the first for three weeks, the outcome was a good signal of the market. Buyers who missed out this time could be more aggressive in a fortnight. ASB maintained its milk price at $7.90, saying the season was expected to remain very strong in an historical sense. The NZX milk price estimate jumped 39c to $8.04 after the GDT result and the futures markets movements before and after the auction. The NZX milk price range is $7.89-$8.42; the bottom of this range works on the NZD-USD exchange rate increasing 1.5c over the season, while the top end of the range assumes commodity prices increase 5% on average over the rest of the season.

Report won’t impact FEP framework Gerald Piddock gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz THE Government’s framework for farm environment plans (FEPs) will not be affected by last month’s damning report on Overseer, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says. In a statement, O’Connor said the issues identified with using Overseer as a regulatory tool were not unexpected and the Government was working toward a 2.0 version of what has

been a useful on-farm tool. “The Overseer announcement does not impact the Good Farm Planning Principles: Towards Integrated Farm Planning guidance and the pathway toward it,” O’Connor said. “The review of Overseer was useful because it gives us a clearer picture as we prepare to progress with integrated farm planning, through which freshwater improvements will be delivered on each farm and across catchments.

“It will take a range of technologies and practices onfarm to restore freshwater across a generation and as we’ve indicated, the Government also setting some bottom lines where necessary through regulation.” In August, a scientific panel released a report into Overseer stating they did not have confidence in the software’s estimates of nitrogen lost on farms. Both DairyNZ and Beef+Lamb

NZ supported the Government’s work towards redeveloping Overseer. Fonterra’s general manager of on-farm excellence for the environment Mat Cullen says it recognised the limitations of Overseer in regulation and from a farmer engagement perspective in its Tiaki programme. “That’s why we developed alternative tools, such as our nitrogen risk scorecard and emissions report,” Cullen said.

“These tools combined with our robust farm environment plan processes better engage our farmers and deliver better onfarm outcomes. “We do, however, offer Overseer as a service to our farmers. About 7% of them use it, most of whom are required to do so by local government.” A spokesperson for Synlait says the company was looking at what it meant for its Lead with Pride programme and had no comment to make.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Green light on MIQ-free RSEs Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz THE hoped-for quarantine free travel for Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) staff has been given the official green light, with the first workers due to arrive from the Pacific Islands in October. Former HortNZ chief executive Mike Chapman has been working closely with the Government on RSE issues and says the announcements simply confirms what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had proposed early in August. “And there are still a few details to be worked out around timing. We also have those workers who were due to arrive who were supposed to go into MIQ, who are still to come first,” Chapman said. Their arrival had been delayed due to the lockdown in August. About 450 workers fall into this category, with the equivalent of two planeloads from Vanuatu and one from Samoa. “We really just need the dates for their arrival to be tied down,

Continued from page 1 solution to the dairy worker shortage is to grant residency to long-serving foreign workers, recognising their sacrifice and contribution to the industry and communities. Mackle has been told many plans to leave NZ, having waited up to three years to have residency applications considered but which are now on hold, which will exacerbate the labour shortage. Herrick says one of his workers is going to Australia, which is offering migrants in selected industries a four-year work to residency programme and the other is returning to the Philippines. He says his two workers planned to return to the Philippines over winter but stayed because of uncertainty

This helps mitigate any additional risk from covid-19 by ensuring they go into self-isolation in a pre-organised place immediately upon arrival. Damien O’Connor Agriculture Minister

RSE GETS GOING: Mike Chapman said the official announcement that RSE workers would enter the country MIQ-free confirmed the PM’s earlier promise.

so we can arrange those flights,” he said. The quarantine-free RSE

they would get MIQ spaces when they returned. He is angry the Government has not been more transparent with its long-term immigration plans and for allocating MIQ space to sporting teams and entertainers, but not essential dairy workers. “What we are facing is all because the Government is not prepared to make a commitment to the primary sector and this is the result,” Herrick said. DairyNZ has estimated the industry is short of up to 2000 workers and Herrick says Southland, which struggles to recruit locals, is home to about 1000 foreign workers. In July Minister Kris Faafoi announced extensions to those holding Essential Skills visas and Working Holiday and Supplementary Seasonal Employment visas.

workers will be coming from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu and will be required to receive their

first vaccination pre-departure. They will have day zero and day five covid tests, with a selfisolation period of seven days. It is anticipated workers will be kept in team bubbles, ferried to and from work sites. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says the RSE workers are a starting point for new worker arrivals because they come to NZ as a cohort, work together and live in employer accommodation. “This helps mitigate any additional risk from covid-19

by ensuring they go into selfisolation in a pre-organised place immediately upon arrival,” O’Connor said. Chapman says he anticipated the workers will be spread evenly across the country, with teams in the North Island working on apple and kiwifruit bud thinning, while those in Otago would be engaged in the last of late-season pruning. Hopes are that at least 12,000 RSE workers will be employed this season and it is estimated about 4000 are still in NZ, not having left after the last lockdown. He says there was no shortage of work opportunities and the industry was even shorter for staff in the absence of tourist backpackers who have previously provided a pool of at least 50,000 potential staff to source from. O’Connor says the Government’s intention is to broaden eligibility for quarantinefree entry to NZ from the Pacific Island countries and Tokelau, once it was safe to do so. “In the meantime, other people entering NZ from these countries will need to meet existing MIQ requirements.”

UNCERTAIN: Southland dairy farmer Jason Herrick, right, says Henry Paat, centre, and Marcos Iguana, left, planned to return to the Philippines over winter but stayed because of uncertainty they would get MIQ spaces when they returned.

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Limited worker pool proving a challenge Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz THE meat industry is scrambling to fill its work roster for the coming season, including finding sufficient numbers of halal butchers without having access to foreign workers. Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says some plants are short 100 employees, which may force reduced value-add processing or an exit from some product lines.

It was just terrible and quite sad because MSD tried to help us and unemployed NZers to get a job, but there is just so much apathy out there. Prue Younger Forest Industry Contractors Assn The shortage is across all work areas but is prevalent in the Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, ManawatūWhanganui and Canterbury. Local forestry contractors desperate for staff are also unable to source overseas workers despite a miniscule response to a local recruitment drive. Karapeeva has labelled the

shortage of halal workers “critical”. About 43% of red meat exports are halal-certified, which requires around 250 halal processing staff, of which about 100 are New Zealand residents or those with open work visas. The closure of NZ’s borders due to the covid pandemic has curbed access to migrant halal butchers and boners, so Muslim New Zealanders are being encouraged to consider a career in the sector. The sector is also asking the Government to recognise religious affiliation as a qualification for halal butchers and to create a special visa category for these workers. Due to annual staff attrition, Silver Fern Farms needs about 1600 new workers ahead of the peak season, which the company states is challenging due to the border closure. It operates an approved in principle (AIP) scheme to recruit workers from the Pacific Islands, especially for its Hawke’s Bay, Pareora and Balclutha plants, but says it has a plan to recruit and retain employees to mitigate the risk of lost processing or a drop in value. Alliance Group general manager of people and safety Chris Selbie says the processor is considering initiatives such as job flexibility and extended seasonal work to mitigate staff shortages. “While it is early in our season, we are concerned about our ability to recruit the number

of seasonal workers required across our seven plants due to the ongoing impact of covid-19,” Selbie said. AgriHQ senior analyst Mel Croad says once the lamb season starts, volumes quickly ramp up to between 500,000 and 600,000 a day by Christmas to supply chilled markets. Beef + Lamb NZ is forecasting there could be one million extra lambs for processing this year. Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi says the ministries for Primary Industry and for Business, Innovation and Employment are working with the MIA to consider a class border exception for a small number of migrant slaughterers, which would only occur when MIQ capacity allows. Faafoi acknowledges border restrictions limit the ability to access offshore labour, but says this is a key tool to protect NZ from the virus. Forestry contractors are also struggling to recruit locals for silviculture work despite the efforts of the Ministry for Social Development (MSD). Forest Industry Contractors Association chief executive Prue Younger says having recruited 250 people last year, efforts this year were less successful. This was despite an MSD project promoting a “$10,000, 12 week challenge”, reflecting the earning ability for a silviculturist. Of the 2500 people who registered, Younger says less than

OPTIONS: Alliance Group general manager of people and safety Chris Selbie says the processor is considering initiatives such as job flexibility and extended seasonal work to mitigate staff shortages.

20 took up the work. “Some of the rationale for not taking up the work was location, drug testing and some signed up not realising what they were signing up for,” Younger said. “It was just terrible and quite sad because MSD tried to help us and unemployed NZers to get a job, but there is just so much apathy out there.” She says Immigration NZ has rejected calls to allow workers from the Pacific Islands, claiming they were not qualified, despite evidence of NZQA qualifications and experience and that silviculture was not time dependent. The National Party says current immigration policies are also forcing doctors, teachers, engineers, construction workers

and nurses to leave NZ. Migrants are stuck in limbo by delays in processing visas, which has created a backlog of residency applications and a frozen Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) and residency Expression of Interest (EOI) pool. Party immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford says it would resource INZ and instruct them to address the backlog, reopen the EOI pool and process visas under urgency so skilled workers do not leave for other countries. It would also provide a residency pathway for skilled migrants and their families, including dairy farm workers and decouple visas from specific employers to binding migrants to sectors and/or regions.

Vines left unpruned amid staff shortages Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz FOR the first time ever, not all of the nation’s grape vines were pruned this year as the industry grapples with an ongoing labour shortage.

Wine NZ chief executive Philip Gregan is expecting another tight year for labour availability and fears a hit to grape yields from the unpruned vines, which was an issue on Marlborough and Central Otago vineyards. “In all probability it will be

another tight year,” Gregan said. Global competition for primary sector workers has become more hotly contested with the Australian Federal Government announcing that from September 30 it is introducing an Ag Visa. This allows the primary sector

to recruit an uncapped number of low to highly-skilled workers from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and provided they commit to the sector and to live in rural areas, there is a pathway to residency.

The project applies to farm, meat, fisheries and forestry workers. But while it is unclear how many workers it hopes to attract, a report out of Victoria expects 3000 Pacific Islanders will work in the state’s primary sector this season.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Targeting better beef genetics Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz A NEW beef genetics programme has the potential to lift the sector’s profits by $460 million over the next 25 years, according to industry modelling. Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), through its Sustainable Food and Future Fibres fund, are investing a combined $16.7 million in a seven-year partnership. Called Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB), the programme aims to provide farmers with the genetic selection tools they need to breed animals better suited to NZ’s farming conditions. The goal is to improve sustainability, productivity and profitability, while also speeding up farmers’ ability to respond quickly to changing consumer preferences. INZB programme governance group chair Helen Anderson says NZ’s beef sector currently relies on an Australian genetics platform, which understandably factors in traits relevant to its climate and farming systems. “INZB will develop a New Zealand-based genetic evaluation, which will ultimately result in more efficient beef animals, which generate less greenhouse gases and are more profitable,” Anderson said. She says the new evaluation is groundbreaking because bulls of different breeds can be directly compared. Currently, each beef breed has its own evaluation, which makes genetic selection unnecessarily complicated for farmers. B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor says the programme capitalises on NZ’s world-leading skills and knowledge in sheep genetics and applies them to the beef industry. “The data tells us that our beef industry has been lagging behind on genetic progress,” McIvor said. “Not only will this give the industry better genetic tools, but a major focus of the programme is to work with commercial farmers

TAILORED: The new beef programme aims to provide farmers with the genetic selection tools they need to breed animals better suited to NZ’s farming conditions.

The genetic gain for beef has lagged behind the other livestock industries, so breeding cattle specifically for New Zealand conditions will give the beef industry the same opportunity to excel. Damien O’Connor Agriculture Minister to increase understanding and grow confidence in using genetic information to drive productivity and profitability.” He says dairy farmers will also benefit. “With these new productionfocused genetic selection tools,

dairy farmers will be able to select semen from beef bulls for artificial insemination in their herds, more confident that they will have shorter gestation, easy calving and produce more valuable calves,” he said. The programme is being funded 60% by B+LNZ and 40% by MPI. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says the programme is targeting a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of product produced. “The cows most suited to New Zealand’s production systems will be moderate in size, but still highly productive. Moderate-sized cows, which require less feed, will help to lower the impact on soils and produce less methane,” O’Connor said. He says the time is right to create a beef genetics programme tailored to NZ conditions. “More than 20 years ago our livestock industry developed NZspecific dairy and sheep genetics

programmes and this has led to exponential gains in productivity,” he said. “The genetic gain for beef has lagged behind the other livestock industries, so breeding cattle specifically for New Zealand conditions will give the beef industry the same opportunity to excel.” The new genetics programme will use artificial insemination and genomic selection to identify the bulls with the best genetic markers earlier in their life and with greater accuracy. Farmers will be provided with tools to capture data and inform breeding decisions, with training available throughout the programme to ensure the tools developed are fit for purpose and used widely in the industry. “Soon farmers will be able to breed herds according to the landscape they are in, whether it’s flat land or hill country,” he said. He says as the Government

OUTCOME: Informing New Zealand Beef governance group chair Helen Anderson says the New Zealandbased genetic evaluation programme will ultimately result in more efficient beef animals.

looks to all sectors to pull their weight to reduce emissions, the project is an important component of the primary sector’s response to climate change.

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10 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Lack of vaccine access in rural NZ Gerald Piddock gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz A NEW report co-authored by the University of Waikato and the Waikato District Health Board has highlighted the lack of access rural residents have to covid-19 vaccination services. The Spatial Equity of Covid-19 Vaccination Services in Aotearoa report examined the spatial equity, and associated health equity, implications of the geographic distribution of covid-19 vaccination services in New Zealand. As well as rural residents, Māori people over the age of 65 and people living in areas of deprivation also had lesser access to vaccination services. “Spatially accessibility to vaccination services varies across Aotearoa and appears to be better in major cities than rural regions,” it said. “Furthermore, priority populations including Māori, older people and residents of areas with socioeconomic constraint have, on average, statistically significantly lower spatial access to vaccination services. This is also true for people living in rural areas.” It also found that vaccination services also varied significantly by District Health Board (DHB) region. The report was compiled in August prior to the latest lockdown and the outbreak of the Delta variant in NZ and has been sent to the Ministry of Health (MoH) to be peer reviewed. The Rural GP Network’s clinical director of rural health Jeremy Webber says while its findings are no surprise, it was important to put it into context. “Things are moving so quickly that when this was done we were very much on that staged rollout of vaccinations, which has changed a lot with Delta coming through,” Webber said. He says it highlights the lack of access to vaccinations rural communities faced in the initial response. “Rural communities weren’t

prioritised as they perhaps should have been,” he said. “The important distinction now is that since the Delta outbreak, the Ministry has really ramped up the vaccination programme.” The report also highlighted the variability of access in rural areas, he said. “It’s not just poor in rural compared to urban. There’s a discrepancy between areas. You have a farmer in one area saying they had no trouble getting a vaccine and somewhere else says they can’t even book in. “It creates that angst and uncertainty about whether they can get the vaccination or not.” While it was important to prioritise those at risk people on the front line, he says there was also a differentiation between population groups who are more likely to die of the disease. “That’s certainly applicable to Māori, to rural to low socioeconomic,” he said. Some rural communities had already taken the initiative and established pop-up vaccination services. Community halls in some rural areas had also been utilised as vaccination centres, particularly on marae. In his region of Taupō, he knew of one in Reporoa and another in Turangi where iwi had utilised marae to vaccinate and educate people on covid. “We do have these little pockets where people are being really proactive.” The MoH’s group manager of covid vaccination operations Astrid Koornneef says that while no farmer-specific vaccination events had been set up so far, DHBs with a high proportion of remote and rural populations had rolled out events for people in rural communities. “One example is the Canterbury District Health Board running a clinic recently in Ashburton for migrant communities, many of whom work on dairy farms in the district,” Koornneef said. “General practice and pharmacy-based clinics have also been established in Akaroa

PROACTIVE: Due to lack of accessibility to covid-19 vaccine, some rural communities had already taken the initiative and established popup vaccination services.

Rural communities weren’t prioritised as they perhaps should have been. Jeremy Webber Rural GP Network

township and in the Hurunui, Waimakariri, Kaikōura, Ashburton and Selwyn districts.” Pop-up clinics had also been set up in South Canterbury and

another was set to be rolled out in Taranaki later this month. Webber says administering the vaccine was also putting further pressure on a rural health force already struggling with staffing shortages. He had also heard anecdotally from some rural doctors concerned with some who had escaped the lockdown in urban areas to their holiday homes and had taken up some of the vaccines from rural communities. There were also challenges in people with poor internet service in rural communities struggling to use the online booking system.

“That’s been frustrating for some of our rural communities,” Webber said. The answer was to contact their local GP by phone to arrange a time to get vaccinated. Rural doctors were also aware it was a busy time of the year for farmers. “I would suspect that getting a vaccination is down on their (farmers) priority list, but what we need to do is make sure that there is some good consistent messaging around prioritising them when they are available and making sure we get them vaccinated,” he said.

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

CODA Group’s new chief executive Deena Clarkson has more than 20 years’ experience in sales and logistics.

CODA appoints a new chief executive NATIONAL logistics provider CODA Group has appointed Deena Clarkson to the role of chief executive. Clarkson has more than 20 years’ experience in sales and logistics, her most recent roles being the programme director for Fonterra Supply Chain automation and general manager New Zealand Distribution Centres. CODA Group chair John Loughlin says Clarkson brings extensive freight and logistics experience combined with a deep understanding of the operational challenges across NZ’s supply chain. “Deena has been instrumental in leading NZ’s largest supply chain over the past 10 years, transforming operational excellence and productivity improvements across the physical logistics network,” Loughlin said. Loughlin says that skill will assist CODA Group’s strategy to deliver long-term relationships with customers and strategic partners. He says CODA Group has established a reputation as an innovative logistics provider. Clarkson commenced her role with CODA Group in late August.

ERROR: The Government is consulting on changes to its freshwater regulations, after regulations such as the first draft of slope maps wrongly identified vast areas of farmland as being of low-slope.

B+LNZ wary of map changes Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz PROPOSED changes to the Government’s much-maligned low-slope map, which determines if stock must be excluded from waterways, fails the practicality test, warns Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ). The organisation is also concerned with another proposal, fearing it could enable the Government to use farm environment plans (FEPs) as a regulatory or compliance tool. B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor says this proposal could change the plan’s purpose, adding that it is vital they are designed by farmers for their use rather than something that is imposed. The Government is consulting on changes to its freshwater regulations, after regulations such as the first draft of slope maps wrongly identified vast areas of farmland as being of low-slope and required fencing to exclude stock from waterways.

McIvor says while the revised maps are better, they still contain too many errors and should be replaced with a general stock exclusion rule that regional councils were empowered to give effect to.

Based on the feedback we’ve been getting from farmers, we believe the Government has underestimated the scale of the remaining problems with the map. Sam McIvor B+LNZ “The new mapping approach still has inaccuracies and does not provide regional councils with

THE BEST PART OF

enough flexibility,” McIvor said. The policy also needed to include recourse or a review process for areas where maps are wrong or where the cost and effort to exclude stock vastly outweighs the environmental risks and impacts. “The proposal still doesn’t take into account the fact that requiring stock exclusion on some of the identified zero-degree to five-degree slope land would be inefficient or ineffective, especially given the waterway or catchment characteristics,” he said. “Based on the feedback we’ve been getting from farmers, we believe the Government has underestimated the scale of the remaining problems with the map.” McIvor says given current satellite information the organisation does not believe it possible to get a nationallevel map accurate enough to determine where stock exclusion should occur. He says B+LNZ reluctantly

supported the Government’s plans for a mandatory certified freshwater farm plan. “We reluctantly agreed to this approach, along with all other agricultural groups, provided input regulations were avoided and there was an industry-led, outcomes based, non-prescriptive approach to the plans,” he said. But the Government’s proposal changes the purpose of farm plans from adding value to a farming business and helping with management decisions and managing environmental effects, to being used as a compliance tool. The Government is also proposing changes to intensive winter grazing rules that were similarly slated as unworkable. That includes replacing the date by which winter crop paddocks must be resown to “as soon as practical”, and removing pugging depth rules. Implementing these rules is to be delayed by six months to November 1 next year.

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12 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Water storage scheme halted Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz THE development of a Wairarapa community water storage scheme has stopped, with the organisation behind the proposal saying getting consent for it was going to be too difficult for it to continue. Wairarapa Water Ltd (WWL) chair Tim Lusk says the decision to stop work on developing the Wakamoekau Community Water Storage Scheme (WCWSS) will be very disappointing and deeply concerning to many. The scheme was expected to become a foundation building block in the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy (WWRS) and be central to accelerating land-use change as a significant climate change response. He says in July 2019 WWL was advised that the scheme was “eminently consentable”. “Since then the environmental planning framework has changed rapidly to render the scheme extremely challenging to consent. The time and cost consequences meant that further development is not viable at this time,” Lusk said. He was unable to comment further. In its latest newsletter, published in July, Wairarapa Water chief executive Robyn Wells said getting consent for a significant and complex project, such as the Wakamoekau, was always challenging. “Selecting the right pathway has become all the more complicated for the Wakamoekau as two key pieces of regulatory legislation have been evolving and emerging at the same time and this has created regulatory uncertainty for the project, leading to delays in the originally agreed timelines,” Wells said. “The first was the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management becoming operative in September 2020 and its highlydirective policies around wetland and river loss. “The second is policy direction and rules emerging out of the mediation of the proposed natural resource plan that Greater

ESSENTIAL: Federated Farmers Wairarapa president David Hayes says water storage is critical to the region’s long-term future.

Wellington Regional Council first notified on July 31 2015. WWL has been an appeal party on the issues of water harvesting and storage.” Lusk says all efforts must now go to translating the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy into a convincing action plan. “Environmental planning frameworks and funding must be aligned to support the strategy,” Lusk said. “WWL wants to assure everyone that the substantial development work completed by the project team can be taken forward when conditions allow. It is very hard to imagine a comprehensive climate change solution in the Wairarapa without community water storage.” Federated Farmers Wairarapa president David Hayes says water storage is critical to the future of the region’s towns and rural hinterland, to employment, production and the health of its rivers and wider environment. He says the Wakamoekau

scheme, which aimed to capture water at times of high-flow and store it for summer and autumn dry periods to help maintain river levels above minimum flows, was seen as a foundation block of the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy.

It’s highly concerning that we have stumbled at the first step. David Hayes Federated Farmers Wairarapa “It’s highly concerning that we have stumbled at the first step,” Hayes said. “I grew up in South Australia, the driest state on the driest

continent, I’ve seen how severe water shortages undercut so many aspects of life. “Wairarapa must not underestimate the shock that climate change-accelerated lack of water will mean to our Wairarapa communities and to the environment. It is time to act. “The strategy launched earlier this year and led by Dame Margaret Bazley was clear that it needed to be fully implemented if we are to address the impacts of climate change. We cannot pick and choose. “Storage is the only practical initiative for resilience going forward. Really, the only strand of the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy that was being actively worked on was the Wakamoekau scheme. “With that halted, we have nothing on the table but we still have a solid set of recommendations in the strategy that now need to be properly resourced and managed.

“The environmental planning framework is complex and changing rapidly and this decision by Wairarapa Water Ltd underlines the fact that the planning framework is not yet fit for purpose. “It is creating barriers that are preventing sound management of the most important issue facing our rural and urban communities. Wairarapa resident Tina Nixon says if a community water storage scheme cannot be developed in Wairarapa she fears for the region’s long-term future. “What is now obvious is that Greater Wellington (Regional Council) does not see water resilience for the Wairarapa as a priority. Transport and climate change are. Billions have gone into some pretty crap efforts to sort these out while the investment in Wairarapa water storage has been minimal in comparison,” Nixon said. “This is in direct contrast to our Wairarapa leaders, who signalled wholesale support for the Water Resilience Strategy and made it clear that water resilience is our number one priority.” GWRC deputy chief executive Nigel Corry says the strategy is a high priority for the council. “Water management and water resilience is a core part of Greater Wellington’s functions, which is why we have led and supported various forms of water storage investigations for over eight years and invested over $5 million in it. “Climate change is at the core of the strategy. Its central drivers are in the demand for and supply of water – a progressively changing environment driven itself by climate change,” Corry said. He says the council’s Wairarapa committee will be crucial to help it prioritise and sequence actions under the strategy. The council is also looking to put in place a project structure and resourcing to transform the strategy into an implementation plan. “We will also be looking at what options exist to bring the work done by Wairarapa Water into the implementation of the strategy,” he said.

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FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Spring bull sales begin cautiously Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz SPRING bull sales have spluttered into life with social distancing, face masks and online bidding, as part of covid control levels throughout the country. While Level 4 may have ended in all rural areas, inter-regional travel remains difficult and many vendors have included online websites in their marketing. Bull breeders have yet to see if current very high prices for store cattle and for beef schedules are reflected in demand and values for their offerings. The majority of the target market for the spring sales are dairy farmers wanting yearling bulls for their upcoming cow mating season. If the bulls are turned out after cows have all been through AI to dairy semen, then calving ease and low birth weight are top of the priorities, with or without strong colour marking. Sales figures from past seasons and tallies of the bull catalogues already posted online show that

more Hereford bulls are offered and sold as yearlings than twoyear-olds, perhaps twice as many. NZ Herefords general manager Posy Moody says breeders are supplying for the whiteface dairy-beef preference among dairy farmers who want readily identifiable, good temperament, fast-growing, saleable cattle. The dairy beef index now published in the breeding values of Herefords provides easy comparisons between bulls offered. The Boehringer Ingelheim Merit Dairy Sires are registered Hereford bulls that must have a maximum of +1.6kg for birthweight (in top 10% for bull calf drop), top 20% for the dairy maternal index and top 60% for 400 day growth rate. Angus NZ has the heifer/ dairy terminal (HDT) index, with emphasis on calving ease, growth rates and low birth weight in appropriate genetics for dairy farmers to choose. AngusPure is also emphasising the source and trace system for steers and heifers sired by registered bulls that can sell for

premium prices when finished for slaughter. Dairy Beef Progeny Test results for bulls of more than 12 breeds have also been published by Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics. The test generates the information dairy farmers need to make informed decisions about the non-replacement genetics they choose to use over their cows. “We entered into partnership with LIC (which helps fund the test) a couple of years ago to ensure that dairy farmers have access to the best bulls coming through the progeny test,” general manager Dan Brier said. The aim of the programme is to improve the quality of dairy beef, generate more value along the supply chain and reduce calf wastage in the dairy industry. The first Hereford bull sale of the spring was Bidr-only because of level 4 and the Waimarie and Otengi studs near Kaeo, Northland, sold 26 of 35 lots for an average of $3007. NZ Hereford’s Philip Shepherd says the top price was $4900 for

ACCESS: General manager Dan Brier says B+LNZ entered into partnership with LIC a couple of years ago to ensure that dairy farmers have access to the best bulls coming through the progeny test.

yearling Waimarie Bismark 15 and $3900 was paid by the same Northland dairy farmer for Otengi Echuca 21. Bismark 15 is one of this season’s intake (born 2020) to the Merit Dairy Sires listing. “I am happy with the sale results considering the circumstances, although the average was back a

bit on last year,” Shepherd said. All buyers were from Northland, despite the September 2 online happening, except for two yearling stud bulls that went outside the province. Purchasers sent their transport companies to collect the bulls, most of whom have moved already.

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14 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Mixed reactions to road funding Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz DESPITE the scale of the Government’s $24 billion-plus transport plan, mayors in some provincial regions are challenging the adequacy of funding for rural roading networks. Auckland accounts for the lion’s share of the national land transport programme at $7.3b, but Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Manawatū, Canterbury and Otago are also swallowing $6.1b of the funds over the plan’s 2021-24 lifespan. Ashburton District Council mayor Neil Brown said he was underwhelmed by the $1.2b allocated to Canterbury and just how much would be available to his council’s district as it continues to recover from devastating floods in late May. “When you look at general repairs and maintenance allocated, we did get more than the last three year plan, but it is only 1.6% more,” Brown said. “Roading and infrastructure inflation tends to run above the CPI, usually at 4-5% a year.” He estimated overall the amount allocated would be only about 80% of what the Canterbury region needed. Canterbury has been allocated $605 million for maintenance and operations and $287m for upgrades and ‘Road to Zero’ safety improvements. The remainder is for Christchurch public transport. Brown says the new bridge that has been in the pipeline for Ashburton for 15 years also falls outside the three-year funding window, but there was some hope that given the state of the existing bridge this could be fast-tracked. The present 90-year-old Ashburton bridge remains in a shaky condition after the late May floods, with traffic limited to 30km/h. “When it comes to this bridge, it is about resilience. If that bridge

ACCEPTABLE: Tararua mayor Tracey Collis says while road funding is less than she would have liked, it was not the shortfall initially expected.

goes out, the next option to cross the river adds an hour and a half to the journey,” he said. He says council was meeting in early October to decide how the shortfall could be made up, if at all, with the only other option being additional ratepayer funding. At the top of the North Island, Far North District Council deputy mayor Ann Court says it was easy to believe the $750m allocated to Northland was adequate, when in fact it too fell short. The state of Northland’s roads became something of an election issue in 2015, with then transport minister Simon Bridges’ “10 bridges” project proposal. Court says that list was now down to eight bridges and one of those at Kāeo, on State Highway 10, has been delayed by soaring costs. “Everyone is putting a positive spin on this funding, but I am not,” Court said. Her council had sought $88m from the programme and had received $80m in the 2017-20

plan. It had gone to extra effort to ensure its 2021-24 bid was defensible to Waka Kotahi. “We bid this time for $105m and got $95m. We are still $10m short, and that is significant for this district,” she said.

Everyone is putting a positive spin on this funding, but I am not. Ann Court Far North District Council Allowing for inflation, she estimates the district like Ashburton received about 78% of what it sought. She was also cautious about the $2b injection that came from the Crown into the roading plan to make up for Waka Kotahi’s funding shortfall in the wake of

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covid-induced loss of fuel and road charges revenue. “What many are not aware of is that this is a loan, it needs to be paid back. While it did top up funding to councils, when will this have to be paid back, and what will the implications of that repayment be in coming years?” she asked. She was also seeking greater accountability from Waka Kotahi on how effective the state highway network was in Northland. The region has a disproportionately high number of accidents and death rates per kilometre. “As a council we have to run our road network to meet certain KPIs,” she said. “However, we do not see the same demand placed upon Waka Kotahi for the state highways. Greater transparency is vital if we are to make sensible funding decisions.” Ratepayers would be the only other option to make up a funding shortfall, but Court says they had already paid through road user charges and taxes.

“In the meantime, KiwiRail and coastal shipping, the other big recipients, have contributed nothing by way of charges but are receiving funds,” she said. Coastal shipping is to receive $30m, and Kiwirail $1.2b over the programme’s three-year period. Tararua District Council mayor Tracey Collis says she was relieved to be receiving 50% of what was sought for low-cost projects in her district. Of the Manawatū-Whanganui region’s $1.3b allocation, a quarter was committed to safety upgrades and to the NZ Upgrade Programme improving rail links and road safety, including Ōtaki to north of Levin. While funding for the new Manawatū-Tararua route was separate, she was now optimistic the district roads feeding into the current alternative Gorge route would be returned to council in sound condition. Some projects would also now have to be pushed out beyond the three-year funding window into 5 to 10-year timelines.

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16 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Synlait set to restructure SYNLAIT Milk is looking to cut 15% of its staff to reset the business and generate savings of approximately $10 million to $12m a year. “We need to build teams that are working together with clear roles and responsibilities, and the systems needed to chase the growth we are looking to achieve. This is not just a cost out exercise, it is a complete reset of how we operate as a business,” chief executive John Penno said. The company is discussing the proposed changes with impacted team members and union representatives. The consultation process will take place over the next two weeks. According to the website, Synlait is made up of 1000 people and more than 280 milk suppliers. A further update will be

This is not just a cost out exercise, it is a complete reset of how we operate as a business. John Penno Synlait

RESTRUCTURE: Synlait Milk chief executive John Penno says the aim of the reset is to remove any unhelpful hierarchy from the organisation.

provided along with Synlait’s fullyear 2021 results on September 27. According to Penno, the aim is to “remove any unhelpful hierarchy from the organisation to ensure staff have the information, resources and freedom to act as they need to, to do their jobs every day”. Synalit has said it expects to report a net loss of between $20m and $30m in the year that ended July 31. The company has been

grappling with ongoing shipping delays, lower prices for ingredient products and has taken a more conservative approach to year-end inventory volumes and valuation. It has also been hurt by troubles at a2 Milk. Synlait has an exclusive supply rights deal with a2 Milk for baby formula that is in place until 2023. A2 Milk, however, has been hit by a dramatic drop in sales due to ongoing travel disruptions. – BusinessDesk

Fonterra director nominations open NOMINATIONS for this year’s Fonterra board of directors’ election have opened with an election to be held for three farmer-elected directors. This year Peter McBride, Leonie Guiney and John Nicholls retire by rotation and have confirmed that they will be standing for reelection. The nomination period runs from September 3-17. Nominations will be independently assessed by a panel of governance experts: My Food Bag, TR Group and Datacom Group chair Tony Carter; The Warehouse Group chair Joan Withers; and Skycity Entertainment Group, Tourism Holdings, NZ Rural Land, Ara Ake and WEL Networks chair Rob Campbell. This panel will shortlist and recommend the best candidates to Fonterra’s shareholders with the candidates announced by the returning officer on October 18. The non-assessment process, where farmers can put themselves forward as a candidate for the board outside the Independent Assessment Process, will follow with the

ANOTHER GO: Fonterra chair Peter McBride is among those who will stand for re-election. The nomination period runs from September 3-17.

nomination period running from October 18-28. All candidates will then be confirmed by the returning officer on October 29. The director election will be held using the first-past-the-post system via postal and online voting by Fonterra shareholders. Nominations for the Fonterra Co-operative Council and the directors’ remuneration committee will be called for on October 12 and close at 12 noon on October 28.

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News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Audits added to Nait criteria OSPRI is making changes to its Nait accreditation programme following a review of the requirements for becoming accredited. Head of traceability Kevin Forward says the programme is designed to help strengthen animal traceability and build more farmer confidence with information providers and accredited entities. He says two years ago, Ospri updated the Nait accreditation standards for entities that operate as sale yard agents, meat processors or information providers who manage Nait accounts on behalf of farmers. “We responded to feedback from farmers and the wider industry following the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak,” Forward said. “Our intention is to give confidence to farmers that organisations handling and managing their Nait data have been scrutinised and meet industry-agreed standards, leading to better outcomes for them and the wider industry.” Forward says an effective animal traceability system relies on accurate records of animals and their movements.

In the next few months, we will be contacting current Naitaccredited entities to advise them of upcoming audits and what they need to do to retain their Nait accreditation.

NEW FRAMEWORK: Nait head of traceability Kevin Forward says in the next few months current Naitaccredited entities will be contacted to advise them of upcoming audits and what they need to do to retain their Nait accreditation.

Our farms are different, which is why we use different vaccination programmes to protect our sheep.

Kevin Forward Nait “This underpins disease management and national biosecurity,” he said. “Ensuring accredited entities are operating in accordance with their Nait requirements, and following international best practice, is essential for building trust in the system.” He says Ospri has designed an accreditation framework that aligns with industry best practice. It is modelled on international accreditation and quality assurance programmes. “In the next few months, we will be contacting current Nait-accredited entities to advise them of upcoming audits and what they need to do to retain their Nait accreditation,” he said. “We will also be consulting with meat processors, sale yards, and information providers on the rollout of the programme to minimise disruption. “These changes will potentially have implications for those businesses and operators. If you decide not to renew your accreditation it will be revoked.” To enable a fair and streamlined process, Forward says all applicants will need to complete and pass an assessment before applying to Ospri for accreditation. This will allow the opportunity for those seeking accreditation to address any non-conformances that may be raised. When businesses become Nait-accredited they are effectively promoting themselves to farmers and the wider industry as a reliable and trusted operator. “You are also helping farmers; it means less work for them in the office and it may generate more business for you,” he said. Ospri will update the list of accredited entities and information providers on its website as they are assessed. Forward says ultimately, traceability best practice is not just the sole responsibility of farmers, the wider supply chain has a role to play too.

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Available from leading veterinary clinics and rural retailers. ACVM No: A934, A935, A11311 & A11766. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz ©2021 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved. NZ-MUL-210700002 1. Baron Audit Data, June 2021

News

18 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

US-NZ trade relations stagnant Eric Frykberg THERE now appear to be few hopes of significantly improved trade relations with the United States, eight months into the Biden administration. The preceding Trump administration was avowedly protectionist, but his successor has done little in real terms to reverse that trend. What progress that has been made stems from hard work and initiative by sectors like the meat industry, which enjoyed a 32% increase in the year to July. But Government to Government, it is a different story. For one thing, there is virtually no chance of the US joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, according to official and unofficial sources. They make clear that President Joe Biden has other things on his mind – a lot of them – such as battling covid and restoring neglected infrastructure. The US was one of 12 countries that signed an earlier version of the treaty, the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, in 2016. But US President Donald Trump rescinded that signature after his election later in the year, citing

Anyone hoping that the Biden administration would pursue international trade policies to counter the protectionism of the Trump administration would be sorely disappointed. Kent Kaiser Trade lobbyist a nationalist policy of “putting America first”. However, Trump’s defeat in the 2020 poll does not mean the TPP’s successor, the CPTPP, will see the US back inside the tent. An official statement from the American Embassy in Wellington made clear this was unlikely, despite Trump’s replacement by a Democratic administration. “Trade with other nations is, and always will be, of paramount importance to the United States,” the statement said. “However, as President Biden has said, the United States must focus on making investments

STATUS: The US is New Zealand’s third largest trading partner after China and Australia.

in the American worker, their families, US infrastructure and covid recovery before he signs any new trade agreements.” This official view is echoed by comments within the US. “Anyone hoping that the Biden administration would pursue international trade policies to counter the protectionism of the Trump administration would be sorely disappointed,” wrote a trade lobbyist, Kent Kaiser, in an opinion piece for the Washington

Make sure you know about the new requirements to ensure the welfare of your sheep.

news site, The Hill. “President Biden has left the Trump tariffs in place and he shows no signs of wanting to pursue new trade agreements, having allowed his trade promotion authority (in Congress) to lapse.” The US is New Zealand’s third largest trading partner after China and Australia. Meat, beverages and foodstuffs like honey and dairy made up the top three export commodities from this

country and values have been rising. A veteran trade expert Stephen Jacobi says New Zealand has been able to weather the protectionist storm in Washington better than might be expected. It has been able to retain access to entrepreneur visas and government procurement contracts that have offset losses from heightened tariffs for steel and aluminium. And, it has been able to maintain agricultural trade despite continuing restrictions via tariffs and quotas. But a trade deal would still be worthwhile. Meanwhile, another development has caused regret in NZ: persistent, if falling, state subsidies to American agriculture. These contradict popular myths about American industry standing on its own two feet, in line with common beliefs about rugged individualism. According to the USDA, direct government payments to farmers for this year are forecast to fall 38.6% from the Trump years. But they will still reach $US28 billion, of which $US9.3b will be for covid relief. NZ producers have criticised these subsidies for many years.

• Only use a hot iron or rubber ring. • Leave enough tail to cover the vulva in ewes and similar length in rams. • Don’t go any shorter than the distal end of the caudal fold. • Sheep over 6 months old must be taildocked by a veterinarian, using pain relief.

See www.mpi.govt.nz/animalregs for more information or phone 0800 00 83 33

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Price surge signals healthy market Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz WITH carbon prices surging 20% in only two weeks, analysts and traders say the signals to emitters to reduce carbon outputs is growing stronger by the day. The Government’s carbon unit auction on September 1 resulted in a surge of bids that cleaned out the 4.75 million units on offer and pushed prices over the $50 a unit mark. That in turn activated the Cost Containment Reserve (CCR), the Government’s war chest of an additional seven million units. These were also promptly purchased, with the final auction price settling at $53.85. Last week, the carbon market continued to surge to $62.25 a unit on the spot market, with future contracts in April 2025 at $68.95 a unit. The surge in interest by both emitters and institutional investors has some in the sector calling for a curtailment on who can purchase the credits and limiting them to emitters only. Sector commentator Keith Woodford labelled the clean out of the CCR and continuing surge in prices an embarrassment for the Government, being caught out by the interest.

The clean out of the CCR units means the last auction of the year in December is essentially open skies for bidders. But Jarden head of commodities trading Nigel Brunel says the auction system was starting to operate exactly as it should, delivering the sort of price signals necessary to prompt a shift in emitter behaviour and adoption of new low-emission technology.

As far as we can see this market is liquid, it’s moving and it is working. Lizzie Chambers Carbon Match “Plenty of companies would have started to mobilise capital to make the changes necessary and that signal is only going one way now,” Brunel said. “It is only through price signals and financial impact that you will effect change.” Two consultations are also under way at present, with outcomes that may influence future price movements if adopted.

One is to curtail the ability of non-emitting investors to purchase units at auction and another to only allow units to be sold through a central unit exchange, similar to NZX, as opposed to the multiple outlets trading in them today. But Brunel says any curtailing of carbon auction participants could have unintended consequences for the Government’s carbon efforts. “What about those financial institutions who purchase units and provide credits to emitters, they play a vital role, particularly for smaller-scale emitters?” he asked. Carbon Match director Lizzie Chambers says she has found a significant increase in interest in the market with prices now about $60 a unit, with a good mix of unit buyers and no one party dominating bidding. “As far as we can see this market is liquid, it’s moving and it is working,” Chambers said. She believed some critics of the market’s behaviour failed to understand that the $50 was never a ceiling, only a trigger point for the CCR units to be allocated. “There is no evidence the units have been lost to speculators. You may find the auction has been dominated by institutions, but

WORKING: Climate Change Minister James Shaw says the ETS scheme is now working as it should be.

that does not mean they are acting speculatively, they provide a service that includes banks buying a position for clients requiring units in the future.” She says proposals to try and curb the proportion of nonemitting bidders would be fraught with difficulty interpreting who was and was not valid and would only harm the market’s liquidity. “People need the commercial freedom to transact in the carbon market and do not need the government meddling with that,” she said. Climate Change Minister James Shaw says the fact the CCR was triggered shows the system was working as it should. “It did what we put it in place to do, which was to avoid the impact

of price spikes being passed on to consumers and businesses,” Shaw said. He confirmed that with no further CCR units available, the final price for units at the December auction would be whatever the market determines it should be. “The ETS is working more effectively now than ever before. Reforms we introduced last year included putting in place a sinking lids on emissions allowed with the scheme, meaning that it is finally doing its job and helping us to reduce emissions,” he said. “Previous governments had essentially operated a scheme that had no limit on the amount of pollution permitted within the system.”

Fonterra holds 2021-22 payout midpoint steady FONTERRA held the midpoint of its forecast farm gate milk price for the current season steady in its latest announcement under the Dairy Industry Restructuring

(Raw Milk) Regulations 2012. The dairy giant forecasts a payout price of $8 per kilogram of milk solids, which is the mid-point of the $7.25-to-$8.75

per kg MS opening forecast already announced. It is expecting its farmershareholders to supply 16.2 billion litres of milk in the season ending May 2022 and said the

total cost will be an estimated $11.64 billion. The milksolids supplied by shareholding farmers in the 2021-22 season are forecast to be 1455 million kg MS.

Total milk collection, however, is tipped to be 1525m kg MS, slightly below the 1539m kg MS collected in the season that ended May 31. – BusinessDesk

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News

20 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Avo exports face headwinds Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz AVOCADO growers have been told to expect substantial falls in orchard gate returns (OGR) for their fruit harvested this spring and summer, mainly because of avocado oversupply in Australia. The average price per 5.5kg tray across all sizes will be well down on the average OGRs for the past five years of $23 for fruit that was exported. Last season was particularly good for growers, who received $26/tray and $42,000/ha OGR across slightly more than 4000ha in production, half of which is in Bay of Plenty. Primor chief executive John Carroll says the new export season began on September 1, with some air freight to Asian markets and the first shipments to Australian supermarkets. Primor is a partner in the joint venture company

Avoco, the majority exporter of avocados. The domestic season started in July, with attractive prices for consumers in the $1-$2.50 range per ripened fruit. Industry estimates are for 4.8 million export trays and a need for perhaps as much as 3m domestic sales. Last season’s figures were a record 8.2m trays, including 5.1m export, of which 4.25m went to Australia, for an overall industry value of $234m. Smaller volumes were sent to eight Asian markets, headed by Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Exports were up 1m trays on the previous season despite covid-19 freight disruptions. Australia took 55% more than it did the previous season. The combination of good export prices and the high yields per hectare produced the highest OGR

Agrievents Wednesday 22/09/2021 and Wednesday 29/09/2021 Know Your Mindset. Grow your influence There’s no shortage of change in rural New Zealand right now. And change is hard. To support rural people to respond to pressure with meaningful, positive action, the @AgriWomensDevelopmentTrust are moving the ‘Know your Mindset. Grow your Influence’ programme online – it’s now open to all rural New Zealanders, both women and men. This short, sharp and uplifting workshop makes the science of psychology relevant and practical for rural people - in the context of Covid and the challenges we’re facing now. Register yourself, family or farming team for this two-part online workshop, the next series runs on Wednesday 22 Sept and Wednesday 29 Sept. https://www. awdt.org.nz/know-your-mindset-grow-your-influence-online/

CHALLENGES: Heavy Australian avocado crops have impacted prospects for NZ sales, exporter John Carroll says.

market last season was $60m, the highest total in the past decade. Growth has been steady from $30m to $60m over the past seven years. Scoular says fruit values slumped in the Australian market during June and July, well before any NZ supplies. All of our supply channels are adversely affected by logistical problems and she doesn’t expect that position to improve quickly. “I heard of one ship whose timetable changed four times before our fruit left the Port of Tauranga,” she said.

Hugh Stringleman hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz

Wednesday 20/10/2021 Whangarei A&P Society - Rural Business Network Karen Williams, Arable Chairperson, Federated Farmers New Zealand “Insights into the NZ Arable Industry” Where: Barge Showgrounds Events Centre, Whangarei Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm Tickets $20 from EventFinda https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2021/rbn-karen-williams-insights-into-the-nzarable-industry/whangarei

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Saturday 06/11/2021 – Sunday 07/11/2021 Marlborough A&P Show Horse classes, Livestock, Animal Nursery, Childrens Entertainment, Trade Exhibits. Town and Country Together Venue: A & P Park Blenheim For more infomation, phone 03 578 5822 - www.marlboroughshow.co.nz Email: marlborough.show@xtra.co.nz

Should your event be listed here? Phone 0800 85 25 80 or email adcopy@globalhq.co.nz

full season because of the threat of lockdowns,” Tarawa said. “The position in Australia is better, because we have retail programmes there. “But all these issues cost money; all the difficulties and frustrations are measured in dollars and cents.” Tarawa thought the domestic market could take greater volumes and that in the past five or six years the home market had performed well for growers and their packers. “But it doesn’t take much to oversupply 5m people and the lockdowns have cut demand from independent fruit retailers and foodservice outlets,” he said. “In summary, this is by no means a disaster, which would be no markets and no transport options – we still have markets and we must be nimble and proactive.” NZ Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular says parts of the domestic market had been undersupplied in the past, both geographically and seasonally, and that could now be rectified. Consumption of avocados is growing in homes and as a healthy fruit option during a pandemic. “We are strongly supporting the NZ market to enable it to take more fruit than last year,” Scoular said. The value of the domestic

Irrigation consents approved

Thursday 14/10/2021 AWDT – Generation Change Do you know a young woman about to embark on a career in food and fibre? Tell her about Generation Change. New from @AgriWomensDevelopmentTrust, Generation Change is a oneday workshop and support community preparing young women for a life of meaningful work and positive impact. Designed for women in tertiary study or training with agri-food career ambitions, ‘Generation Change’ is about starting the journey with a clear sense of their values, strengths and purpose. By connecting with a community of supportive peers, inspiring primary sector leaders and a mentor, it’s also about going the distance together. The first programme kicks off in Christchurch on Thursday, October 14 – learn more and register at www.awdt.org.nz/generation-change-2/

Saturday 4/12/2021 Whangarei A&P Show – One Epic Show Day Venue: Barge Showgrounds, Maunu Road, Whangarei Time: 9.00am start Trade sites and entries contact Ellie 09 438 3109 ext 6 website: www.whangareishow.co.nz

in the past decade. “That was a very good outcome for growers because shipping to Asia was tough and we had planned to send more up there than we did,” Carroll said. “A greater volume went to Australia, which fortunately was short of fruit.” This year both Queensland and Western Australia (WA) crops have been heavy, leading to oversupply during autumn and winter and from now to January, when WA fruit is in direct competition with that from NZ. “The Australian market is very full and we are fortunate that Avoco has maintained a very good relationship with the major supermarkets,” he said. “NZ supply is somewhat of an insurance policy for them because it is not always like this. “We are trying to get more into Asian markets but considering the volume NZ needs to sell, it paints a fairly sombre picture.” Packhouses and exporters have advised growers to pick more for the domestic market, which has resulted in weak pricing early. NZ Avocado board member Jim Tarawa, representing exporters from Freshmax, says global logistics made it very difficult to serve Asian customers. “Demand is okay, but their confidence is conservative, taking fruit a month at a time instead of a

APPLICATIONS for groundwater for irrigating huge avocado plantings in the Far North have been granted by independent commissioners but are likely to face immediate appeal. The 22 members of the Aupōuri Aquifer Water Users Group (Aawug) applied for 4.6 million cubic metres annually at an abstraction rate of 43,168 m3 a day. Consents were given for 4.5m m3, for an initial period of 12 years, after which all existing and new groundwater takes in the region will be reviewed using monitoring data. The Aupōuri aquifer is the largest in the country, about 50km by 10km, from Ahipara in the south to beyond Houhora in the north, and coast to coast under the Aupōuri peninsula. Applications for water were lodged before 2019 and orchard development and plantings have already taken place over 500ha and more. The amount of water sought would be enough to irrigate about 1000ha of avocado trees. Among the applicants are three local hapu that have either started orchard development or intend to use water for other crops. Avocados have been the main horticultural crop for the Far North since the first orchards around Houhora in the 1980s. The region now accounts for 20% of the industry in New

BOLTED: Water consents have been granted for more than 500ha of avocado development that has already taken place in the Far North.

Zealand, before the new plantings come into production. An early developer was King Avocado, covering 160ha and containing 100,000 trees, and among the latest applicants for more water. Another wave of very large plantings resulted in the Motutangi-Waiharara Users Group of 17 applicants in 2017 gaining rights for 2m m3 a year that could be progressively drawn down subject to water level monitoring in bores. The latest Aawug applications were opposed by about 90% of submissions, including some of the existing growers concerned about their own bore consents. Hydrological experts gave evidence that the water sought from the huge aquifer would be less than 2% of the annual recharge from rainfall. It was only 0.16% of the estimated 2850m m3 of groundwater stored in the aquifer. The commissioners acknowledged the objections on

the grounds of long-term effects, water levels in existing bores, threats to wetlands, subsidence, and possible saltwater intrusion. But they said the amount of water sought was relatively small in comparison to the total throughput of the aquifer. Opponents to the applications have called on the Department of Conservation to appeal to the Environment Court, as it did to the 2017 group. Industry statistics show productive Far North orchards have already increased by 60% in total area from the 2019-20 season to the 2020-21 season, 548ha up to 866ha. These are the first of huge plantings in recent times to come into fruit. The considerable increase in early-season fruit from the Far North will be produced for export markets that we don’t yet have, said one exporter. Speculative planting should have considered that seasonality before barrelling ahead.

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Tech could support Overseer boost Richard Rennie richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz A TWO-YEAR trial of nutrient monitoring by Waikato River Authority on the Waikato River has proven a new tool for farm nutrient loss modelling that can deliver real-time data to farmers and catchment managers. A review last month of the Overseer nutrient modelling software system found the platform was lacking in its ability to determine real-time nutrient losses and multiple flows of nitrates lost from farms. In accepting the report, government officials are considering the future of Overseer, including a new risk index tool using elements of Overseer, a “next generation” Overseer or an entirely new nutrient loss model. More real-time monitoring of water quality was also called for in whatever iteration was developed. The review prompted Overseer chief executive Dr Caroline Read to call for a wider discussion between the software company and government over what the future direction of Overseer would be, either as a long-term planning tool as used now, or as a more immediate monitoring and prediction tool. Founder of real-time water monitoring system Eco Detection Jefferson Harcourt says his company was keen to be part of any discussion seeking more real-time data for catchments and farms. Along with Waikato, trials have also been conducted in Hawke’s Bay. Harcourt’s company Grey Innovation specialises in identifying leading-edge, university-based technology and commercialising it. Eco Detection technology was originally developed in the hunt for a means to detect fertiliserbased explosive devices in the wake of the Bali bombings. This resulted in Australian

SENSITIVE: The new technology provides a signature of nutrients in waterways, Eco Detection founder Jefferson Harcourt says.

It is also capable of identifying a forensic signature, a fingerprint if you like, of certain nutrient losses. Jefferson Harcourt Eco Detection developers creating the GreyScan inorganic explosives detection device that has been adopted by Australian Federal Police and security agencies globally. The technology’s heart lies in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). This is a technique that can separate the ions of a sample by applying electricity and splitting them into bands, depending upon their size and response to the electrical charge. This in turn enables the compounds in the sample to be identified.

Since then, developers found the system’s sensitivity to nutrients, including nitrogen, made it capable of being adapted into a real-time nutrient monitoring system. Typically based in a lab, the technology’s size has been reduced and its analysis rate accelerated from over half an hour to less than a minute. Harcourt says the system was used alongside existing technologies in the trial that concluded that data produced had the potential to be used more widely. The report expressed a hope the Eco Detection system could be used to aid land-use decisions and support the authority’s vision and strategy for the Waikato River. The ability of the technology to make four recordings a day on the concentrations of nutrients contrasts to the more labour intensive, lab-based analysis that requires samples to be taken

from the river, transported and analysed. “We know from experience that you can and do experience some sample degradation of the sample to occur in that process. But it is also about the time and frequency of analysis. Eco Detection can do it in-situ frequently, compared to a sample that may only be done on one day at one time once a month, manually,” Harcourt said. A concern of the Overseer reviewers was the lack of ability to record real-time nutrient losses, helping identify events, such as heavy rainfall, that may contribute to “spikes” in nutrient losses. “Eco Detection enables some quick feedback on any remediation steps that may be taken,” he said. “It is also capable of identifying a forensic signature, a fingerprint if you like, of certain nutrient losses, for example, from septic tanks as opposed to farm effluent ponds.” He was hopeful after the success

of the trial 100 Eco Detection sensors would be put through the Waikato catchment. Harcourt emphasised the technology was not setting out to usurp Overseer, but to strengthen its modelling ability, given the capacity to provide real time data capturing all aspects of nitrate loss, in particular. “We would definitely want to be part of the conversation around Overseer’s future – models only getting better with better data input,” he said. Read says while information on nutrient concentrations of water bodies flowing through a farm may be of real interest to a farmer, they have limited applicability to informing an Overseer nutrient budget. “OverseerFM looks at what happens to nutrients within the farm system, based on management practices. It doesn’t attempt to measure what nitrogen levels are in local waterways,” Read said.

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AginED Ag ED

FOR E FUTURIA G R R S! U E N E R P

Volume 73 I September 13th, 2021 I email: agined@globalHQ.co.nz I www.farmersweekly.co.nz/agined

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Are you a parent or teacher and want to receive AginED every week directly to your email inbox? Send us an email to sign up at agined@globalhq.co.nz

Know your sheep? There are many different breeds of sheep in New Zealand. Traditionally Romney, Perendale and Merino have all been very popular and prolific breeds, why do you think this is? What attributes made them attractive to farmers both historically and currently?

THIS GRAPH SHOWS MONTHLY AUSTRALIAN BEEF EXPORTS TO ALL COUNTRIES.

1. Can you name three breeds of sheep that are considered to be a “wool” breed? 2. Can you name three types of sheep that are considered to be a “meat” breed? 3. What breeds of sheep can shed their own wool? Why is this something that both lifestyle block owners and some farmers maybe keen to have in their flock? Why have they become more popular in the last few years? 4. What breeds of sheep were combined to make a Coopworth? What other breeds have been produced through combining two specific breeds? Can you find three examples and list their attributes? What makes them different/superior to the breeds that they originated from? 5. Do some research. How many rare feral breeds of sheep are there in NZ? Can you name them and describe what makes them unique?

Have a go: 1 What is the most obvious trend for exports in 2020 and 2021 compared to the five-year average? 2 How many thousand tonnes of beef was exported in August 2021? 3 Looking at last year and the five-year average, what months are exports typically at their highest level?

STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 How do exports in August this year compare to August 2020? 2 Low exports compared to the five-year average are being driven by limited volumes of cattle available for slaughter. Why is this? Why are farmers choosing to hold onto cattle despite strong global demand for beef? Hint: Think about the weather in Australia in the last few years. 3 The NI prime steer average is currently $6.25/ kg which is 50c/kg above the five-year average while processors in Queensland are offering the equivalent of NZ$7.20-$7.50/kgCW. What are Australian processors aiming to do by offering such high prices? 4 What do you think the tight supply of Australian beef does for the demand of NZ beef products?

FILL YA BOOTS:

You may have been to the sale yards or seen in-lamb ewes advertised as having been mated to ‘terminal’ rams. A terminal ram is one that provides the genetics to maximise lamb growth, feed efficiency and carcass quality. A ‘dual purpose’ ram is one that can be used to breed both terminal and replacement stock. Have a look at the chart (right) from Beef+Lamb NZ to see the differences in desired characteristics from each type of ram.

DON’T FORGET TO SEND US A PICTURE OF YOUR LOCKDOWN STUDY OR LEARNING SPACE! Send us in a picture of your lockdown work space and be in the draw to win some fantastic prizes! We want to see the different types of places that were incorporated in your learning. Prizes include an awesome 4 piece clothing pack from Stoney Creek and a HuntingHQ cap Toy Lawnmower for our teens and our younger readers you can be in to win some amazing toy prizes from Husqvarna. Send us you pictures Toy Leaf Blower at: agined@globalhq.co.nz

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Are you thinking of rearing a pet calf and/or lamb this year, or already have one? We are looking to put together some tips and tricks to look after your pet and prepare them for your local pet day. What tips would you have for someone who may be rearing a lamb or calf for the first time? Send them to us at agined@globalhq.co.nz

News

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Chewing influences N leaching Gerald Piddock gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz NEW Lincoln University Pastoral Livestock Production Lab research has shown the role a cow’s genetics and eating behaviour plays in reducing the level of nitrogen it excretes in its urine. The research by PhD student Cameron Marshall shows that what cows with phenotypically lower milk urea N eat – and how they eat – is important in reducing their environmental impact. It found that these cows chew and ruminate eaten pasture differently, which alters the N excretion patterns to the environment. The research has been published by Marshall in two papers in scientific journals as part of his doctoral thesis. The other research was from another experiment that looked at the differences between cows with a lower and higher milk urea N concentration phenotypes when these animals ate plantain rather than a ryegrass diet. It found those cows with the low milk urea N phenotype urinated significantly less N excretion per urination event, thus reducing the potential N leaching to waterways. Cows with low milk N concentrations are a genetic trait. The research used the herd from the Lincoln University Ashley Dene Research and Development Farm herd where this trait has a natural variation. It took the eight highest and the eight lowest animals with milk urea N concentrations from the herd and placed them indoors in crates so Marshall could collect and analyse everything these animals excreted and defecated when fed the two diets. It found that those cows who consumed plantain had a 32-47% reduction in nitrate leaching when extracted through urine compared to a ryegrass diet.

REDUCE: Research from Lincoln University PhD student Cameron Marshall shows the cows that chew their food more could emit lower levels of nitrogen in its urine.

The study on grazing differences was undertaken last year. It took 45 animals from the herd that had a mix of high and low milk urea N concentration breeding values and put them outside in a paddock of ryegrass/ white clover and a paddock of ryegrass/white clover and plantain. The research measured the N concentration in the cow’s urine and then using an equation, calculated its N loading rate onto the soil and modelled what the leaching rate is. The plantain variety used in the indoor research was Agritonic from Agricom. Marshall fitted the cows with grazing recorders, which fitted on bands around the cow’s neck and sat under its jaw. These recorded every time the cow opened and closed its mouth and using software, it allowed him to differentiate between biting to eat and rumination.

“What we found was that the low (milk urea N concentration) cows masticate more. They have a greater level of oral processing,” Marshall said. In other words, they chew their food properly. This is thought to lead to smaller food particles entering the rumen, which changed its fermentation dynamics. The food passes through the rumen faster, meaning less time for microbial fermentation and less urea excreted in urine. The new research follows on from previous work from Marshall, which showed that cows selected for low milk urea N had a 28% reduction in the urinary urea N loading rate per urine patch than cows with higher milk urea N breeding values. Those ‘better cows’ also yielded an increase in milk protein percentage. “The results of this new research indicate two promising

tools that temperate pastoral dairy production systems can use to reduce N losses and ameliorate the negative impact on the environment,” Marshall said. Marshall would like to see this latest research expanded to further explore the research into the rumen. “I think based on these results, we have shown that these animals appear to be quite different. The way that they are processing their food, starting with the grazing behaviour, appears to be quite a different digestion process which we think is resulting in the differences in N excretion,” he said. He says it would be worthwhile exploring that concept on commercial farms. While the N reductions in breeding for low N cows are not as large as the reductions that can be made in switching feeds, breeding for this trait accumulated over generations.

The results of this new research indicate two promising tools that temperate pastoral dairy production systems can use to reduce N losses and ameliorate the negative impact on the environment. Cameron Marshall Researcher

It was a permanent solution to lowering N leaching in cows, whereas using plantain only worked for as long as the cows were eating this feed. “It’s time we started looking at these incremental continuous approaches,” he said.

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News

24 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Falling off the perch farmstrong.co.nz

IN THE space of eight hectic years, dairy farmer Jason Halford went from being crowned New Zealand’s Farm Manager of the Year to “falling off the perch” with fatigue. His career path in the industry was fairly typical. “I was a real hands-on farmer for 20 years. I’m a practical person, I learn by doing things, so I went dairy farming at 16. I did that for four years, made butter for a year at a dairy company in Pahiatua, did my OE, came back, got a degree and became a farm manager. I’m very passionate about farming and I love working with people and animals. I’ve always been a worker. My parents were workers too,” Halford said. That drive and passion soon paid dividends. By 2011, Halford was earning accolades at the NZ Dairy Industry Awards. “I never thought I’d win that award, but I did and that’s something no one will take away from me. I look back on those times with great pride. Winning that award really grew my confidence as a farmer,” he said. His ambitions grew too. He planned to double his sharemilking business to 600 cows within three years. Understandably, much of his focus was on results and earnings, with farm ownership the eventual goal. But he was in for a rude awakening. “Foolishly, I never stopped to listen to my body. I would just go and go, even when my body was telling me, ‘come on, time to pull back a bit’. I never thought I’d ever get to the day where I was sick of milking cows, but it just happened overnight,” he said. Halford recalls that day well. “It’s a bit like a Lady Di moment for me,” he laughs, “I was tending lame cows, my back was sore, I was tired of picking up cows’ feet and it just kind of broke me. I rang a friend of mine, absolutely in tears and said ‘I can’t do this anymore. This has taken too much of me’. Now I’m a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, but I’d never been like that before. I wasn’t just tearful, I was broken. I was just sick of working,” he said. During his recovery the reasons for his sudden collapse became clearer to him. “Farming’s an all-consuming job. I was the sort of person who would go and fix a broken gate at any hour, whereas someone else would’ve left it till the next day. But the perfectionist in me wouldn’t allow that. Like a lot of farmers, I wanted to score an A-plus for everything I did. When I didn’t, I would beat myself up mentally,” he said. “So, everything in my life was

out of whack. I had the option of reining it in too. I could’ve employed more staff, but I had to do everything myself. And I was absolutely terrible at having time off. That’s why I burnt out. The sheer physical nature of the job broke me. If I look back now, I was a zombie.” It wasn’t just Halford who suffered either. He had a partner and young children. “I remember a conversation I had with my wife. I asked her how much of the parenting I was doing. And she said, ‘what do you reckon?’ And I said, ‘30, 49%?’. And she went, “No, 5%’. And I thought, ‘oh man, that’s shit’. I had kids who were five and three and I hardly saw them,” he said. “I look back now and I just wasn’t present. If anyone on-farm asked me for anything, I’d do it in a flash. But the people I loved the most were the ones I felt I could be apart from the easiest. I just thought, ‘oh they’ll understand’.” Once the penny did drop, he did whatever it took to get his life back in balance, but it was a long haul. “It took me nearly 18 months to recover from farming like that. It wasn’t like the next day I was fine. You actually do deplete your body so it completely runs out of energy. I felt like I’d worked the lives of two men. I think a lot of farmers are like that and we talk about it like it’s a badge of honour, but that’s not something I’m proud of anymore,” he said. His route back to health came via the most unlikely venue – the local tennis club. “Tennis saved my life. I joined the community club at the Takapau and the friends I gained from that were

REFOCUS: Jason Halford and his family. Halford says his family priorities fell short because his main focus was always what needed to be done on-farm.

huge. It felt so good to get offfarm, get a break and socialise with other people. It got me out of that ‘groundhog day’ work pattern. If I hadn’t had my tennis, I would’ve just kept grinding away,” he said. “Tennis gave me a mental break too. When you’re playing, you’re not thinking about the farm, you’re thinking about the ball coming back.” Halford also got involved running the club and enjoyed that. “I was Hawke’s Bay volunteer of the month at one point, helping

HANDS-ON: Jason Halford in the middle of helping a calving cow in the mud.

out as vice president. That community aspect of life – giving your time and something back to others – felt very rewarding and helped me get back on my feet too,” he said. Regular exercise off-farm has since become a mainstay. “Farmers are physically strong people, so doing something active in my spare time is a big thing for me. I’d say to any farmer reading this, challenge yourself to train for and complete a big walk or a 10km fun run with your family or a group of mates in the next 12 months. You’ll come back feeling refreshed,” he said. He’s keen to share other painfully-acquired insights as well, beginning with the importance of downtime. “To be a high-functioning person on-farm, you need recovery time. The All Blacks don’t play 50 tests a year, but as farmers we often think we can do it, but you just can’t. It’s not possible. It’s going to catch up with you,” he said. “I think the longest stretch I had off in 10 years was a week. So put yourself on the roster and back your team. If they aren’t up to it, train them better. DairyNZ has fantastic resources.” He offers similar advice on managing stress. “When your bucket’s full, it’s full, don’t keep tipping in more challenges, decisions and problems so it’s overflowing. Look at the jobs that you don’t need to be doing. Do you need to be at every milking? Don’t put the cows on once-a-day, put yourself on once-a-day.” Halford worries that the buoyant state of the industry

Foolishly, I never stopped to listen to my body. I would just go and go, even when my body was telling me, ‘come on, time to pull back a bit’ Jason Halford Farmer could encourage others to overwork. “Yes, there’s never been a better time to be a dairy farmer, but you’ve still got to make sure that you’re working to live, not the other way round. These high payouts are all well and good, but your body won’t care about that. When you’re tired, you still need to stop,” he said. “I think the bigger question farmers should ask is this: why are we farming? We all want to provide our families with this great lifestyle, but if you’re not going to be there for them, what’s the point?” “A cow eats grass, produces milk and goes to the cowshed, but that doesn’t have to be the limit of our lives. We can live more broadly, but to expand our world and meet people outside farming, we have to schedule time-off.” “What I went through was horrible. At one point, I was so disconnected that even my dog wouldn’t come up to me. That was an awful place to be and that’s why I’m speaking up now.” is the official media partner of Farmstrong

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26 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Newsmaker

MAKE IT WORK: New FarmIQ chair Warren Parker says farmers need to get maximum value for their data.

Turning data into on-farm results Respected primary sector leader Warren Parker was recently appointed chair of farm management software provider FarmIQ. He spoke to Colin Williscroft about some of the challenges facing the growing digitalisation of farming in New Zealand, as well as some of the benefits.

HERE’S a lot to be gained for farm businesses by collecting and collating data into information that can be used to help make decisions on-farm, new FarmIQ Warren Parker says. “I think everybody sees that we need information to drive the right decisions on-farm and increasingly we need to be able to collect that data automatically and use it in an integrated way,” Parker said. “The proposition behind FarmIQ is that if we can collect all the information, the data, in one place, then farmers can use it for their financial management, their pasture management, their land management (decisions) and in terms of their compliance.” Parker says the idea of having one source and multiple uses of data has always appealed to him. He says during his career, which has involved modelling and using tools to help farmers make better decisions, he has learned that data by itself is not particularly useful, but data that’s transformed into knowledge that helps farmers make the right choices is, more often than not, very valuable. When it comes to data ownership, he says FarmIQ is clear that data is owned by individual farmers “but data held to yourself is not especially useful”. “Your own data is more powerful when it combines with others,” he said. What’s important are the

guidelines and principles governing the use of it. “You think about Xero for example, it collects information from all the people who use a Xero accounting system, to provide a whole lot of insights collectively that the individual business would not be able to gather in their own right,” he said. “The question is ownership in a way that will enable farmers to maximise their data so they get more value if it’s used to collaborate with others, as long as everyone respects the protocols involved. “Data is more valuable when it’s transformed into information that helps farmers make decisions. Too many people are stuck on data rather than the value that can be created from it.” He says it’s important to avoid having multiple systems, where data is held at different points. “Interoperability enables you to share information. Think of your accounting system; you connect to the bank and the bank feeds your expenditure into your accounting system and you just code it,” he said. “That’s made it more efficient, you don’t have to re-enter information.” But he says for interoperability to work in agriculture there needs to be standards where the same information applies across the board – for farmers, for banks, for Inland Revenue, for rural retail companies. One of the challenges Parker

says needs to be met is how to collect data from different points – including accounting systems, meat-kill sheets and dairy companies – and then draw that into one platform, rather than farmers having to continuously re-enter that information, so data can be shared seamlessly but retaining respect to ownership.

Data is more valuable when it’s transformed into information that helps farmers make decisions. Too many people are stuck on data rather than the value that can be created from it. Warren Parker FarmIQ He gives the example of banks, where people might have a Visa or Mastercard. Individual banks still offer services tailored to their customers but the cards run off the same backbone platform. Through digitalisation, he says agriculture is moving in the same direction. “But (the question is,) how do we use the data efficiently, collate it, sort it into useful information and then apply it?” he asked. Parker brings a wealth of experience to his new role.

He says being raised on a farm provides him with an understanding of farming that he retains today. “I was milking cows and rearing calves at a young age. Those sorts of things helped shape my ability to empathise and connect with farmers and the reality of what needs to be done on the ground,” he said. After getting an ag science degree at Massey and then focusing on-farm management, he later completed a PhD in animal science and went on to head the university’s agricultural and horticultural systems management department. He then had a 20-year career as a senior executive in Crown Research Institutes, initially as general manager, then chief operating officer at AgResearch, before becoming chief executive at Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua, then moving on to be chief executive at Scion. After finishing his CRI career in 2017, he moved into professional directorships. At present, those include Bay of Plenty Regional Council investment fund manager Quayside Holdings, along with board positions on Farmlands and Pāmu, which he has chaired since 2019. He also chairs the forestry ministerial advisory group, which provides advice directly to the Minister of Forestry. Parker sees an exciting future for FarmIQ.

“We can get really efficient in collecting, applying and using data in our farming businesses,” he said. “The key point for me is how do we make it easy for farmers to collect and collate their information? “If you can read the information directly off your scales, out of your milk vat, or from your breeding company, that’s going to help a lot.” He re-emphasises the benefits that will come from farmers only having to enter information once and it being shared across their business. “Your Nait system, for example, that’s the same information that you’re going to need for calculating your greenhouse gas inventory, because you’ve got your stock numbers, stock sales, on and off the farm for grazing. Those are the same numbers that plug into calculating your greenhouse gas footprint,” he said. “There’s a lot of synergies if we design (the system) properly.” He acknowledges software uptake in NZ agriculture has never achieved scale or critical mass, which needs to be addressed. “It’s not a very big market size, so we can’t have too many of these (platforms) to create financially viable solutions, but they need to be designed in a way that creates value for landowners,” he said. “It needs to be cost efficient. “And we need to make sure we’re creating maximum value for farmers from their data.”

New thinking

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Tool to speed up genetic gain An AI programme using genetic gain technologies to speed up the transition to a low methane-emitting flock has born impressive results. Annette Scott reports.

CANNING results from an artificial insemination programme have highlighted the potential to speed up genetic gain in commercial sheep flocks. The AI programme carried out on Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) future farm, primarily to breed low methane emitting sheep, has recorded close to 50% success. B+LNZ general manager of farm excellence Dan Brier says the result is encouraging and shows potential for commercial sheep farmers to use the technology as a tool to speed up genetic gain. The programme was run as part of the rapid genetic gain project on Lanercost, the organisation’s North Canterbury hill country farm. Rapid genetic gain technologies are being used on the future farm to speed up the transition to a low methane-emitting flock. Brier says the same technologies could be applied to any targeted traits. Farm manager Digby Heard managed the programme using the cervical AI technique to artificially inseminate 90 ewes. This technique is commonly used in other sheep farming countries because it is faster, less expensive than the laparoscopic method and does not require skilled technicians. Brier says sheep studs typically use the laparoscopic method because it is associated with higher conception results. Scanning of the AI ewes on Lanercost was 47.4%, which is particularly pleasing Brier says, given the drought conditions in autumn and that this was the first time Heard had carried out the procedure. “What this means is that on one day, without having anyone come to the farm, we have 43 ewes in lamb to a specific ram,” Brier said. “If we chose to, we could repeat that for a week and have 300 in-lamb to that specific ram.” The rapid genetic gain project aims to define the effectiveness, speed of change and cost of breeding

technologies and determine if sexed semen can be used successfully in sheep. It will also compare cervical to laparoscopic AI using sexed semen. The project considers the practicalities for commercial farmers to execute a cervical AI programme. With sexed semen not available this year, the project went ahead with the AI programme using fresh semen collected from the Lanercost ram flock as a proof of concept and as an opportunity to learn the procedure of how to cervically inseminate ewes.

With consumer pressure increasing all the time, farmers need tools to be able to use high merit rams over a bigger proportion of their flock while keeping a lid on costs.

POTENTIAL: Farm manager Digby Heard manages the Lanercost AI programme showing potential for use in commercial sheep flocks.

Dan Brier Beef + Lamb NZ “Lanercost will be a good testing ground for artificial breeding technologies such as artificial insemination and will hopefully give commercial farmers the confidence to invest in them if they are wanting to change the genetic profile of their flock,” he said. He says while the focus on Lanercost is transitioning to a lowmethane flock, artificial breeding could be used to speed the genetic gain in any number of heritable traits. “With consumer pressure increasing all the time, farmers need tools to be able to use high merit rams over a bigger proportion of their flock while keeping a lid on costs,” he said. “For some farmers it might be finer wool, but for others it could be health traits like facial eczema.”

NEW: Angus Gibb (left) of Xcell Breeding Services supervises the procedure of new AI technology with Lanercost farm manager Digby Heard.

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Opinion

28 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

EDITORIAL

The only constant in life is change

T’S not often a pearl of wisdom is formed in the sea of social media, but one emerged today. An expat New Zealand historian noted that Kiwis in NZ tend to dismiss ambition in favour of doing what they have always done. He went on to say that the “what we’ve always done” was ahistorical, and actually meant “what we are doing right now”. This thinking, he said, differed from those New Zealanders who had lived, or do live, overseas and who were ambitious about what NZ can achieve. It’s something for food producers to ponder. At the moment we have many in our industry fighting to essentially stand still. They defend where we are right now, while forgetting that farming has always evolved here and will continue to do so. What has worked in the past won’t always work now or in the future and we need to continue to talk about how we meet the future needs of our customers and communities. We’ve made a good living selling bulk milk and meat products to the world for quite some time, and a variation on that will be a part of our future success. But it only takes some incremental changes to put us on a future-proofed path to achieving much greater value. And that’s not just monetary value. It’s greater environmental and social capital we’ll be banking as well. Time marches on and those who want to stay in the present get left behind. As every farmer knows it takes constant work to nurture the land to make sure it’s fit to grow next season, and the one after that. In the immortal words of a 1980s power ballad, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Perhaps those who’ve seen what the rest of the world has lost have a better perspective on why keeping what we have should be at the forefront of our thinking.

LETTERS

Magpies solved my cricket problem

Bryan Gibson

AN INTERESTING article on magpies (Wyn-Harris, September 6). I shot dozens of them a few years ago because I heard that they intimidated the native birds and that appears to be the case. About the same time I got an influx of crickets, many of them getting into the house under the doors. I told a farmer friend of mine in the Waikato about the cricket problem and straight away he said “are you shooting the magpies?”. When he told me to stop shooting the magpies, the cricket problem ceased almost immediately. Alan West Auckland

A dubious carbon trading scheme DENIS Hocking (Farmers Weekly, August 16) may be “very sceptical” (his words) of Beef + Lamb NZ’s claims about the ETS. But I am very sceptical of people such as Denis Hocking and Piers McLaren, with a vested interest in commercial forestry or their views on forestry, carbon trading and the ETS. Besides, large swathes of monoculture pinus radiata are bad news, especially when they swallow up good beef and sheep hill country farms. The dubious carbon trading scheme has resulted in predatory overseas forestry

corporations converting good farmland to pinus radiata monocultures. It seems ludicrous that the ETS does not consider vegetation under five metres in height in assessing carbon sequestering. There are numerous native trees/shrubs under 5m in height. For example, matipo, horopito, karaka, mānuka, taupata, hebes, flaxes and pittosporum, to mention a few. If vegetation under 5m is not part of calculations, then it’s a distorted assessment of NZ’s target results. The subject of climate change (global warming) brings forth bizarre arguments. Several years ago

a DoC director general Al Morrison, formerly a political editor, blamed wild deer for emissions. Just recently, Forest & Bird, well known for notorious and extreme, bizarre views (in contrast to an occasional good idea) similarly blamed wild animals for farting and belching and adding to emissions. Forest & Bird, trying to portray wild animals as “noxious”, have long claimed NZ’s vegetation evolved in the absence of browsing. Five or six million moa and herbivore birds, such as kereru, kokako and takahe, browsed vegetation over millions of years.

Continued next page

Letterof theWeek EDITOR Bryan Gibson 06 323 1519 bryan.gibson@globalhq.co.nz EDITORIAL Carmelita Mentor-Fredericks editorial@globalhq.co.nz Neal Wallace 03 474 9240 neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz Colin Williscroft 027 298 6127 colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz Annette Scott 021 908 400 annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz Hugh Stringleman 09 432 8594 hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz Gerald Piddock 027 486 8346 gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz Richard Rennie 07 552 6176 richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz Nigel Stirling 021 136 5570 nigel.g.stirling@gmail.com PUBLISHER Dean Williamson 027 323 9407 dean.williamson@globalhq.co.nz

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Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

The time to deliver is now Mike Butterick

’M ABSOLUTELY gutted to hear that the proposed Wakamoekau water storage dam in the Wairarapa has been abandoned. Talk about an own goal. It begs the question: what on earth is happening in this country? We used to pride ourselves on being a nation with a can-do attitude, but we’re rapidly turning into a country of can’t do and not allowed to do. This is with a background of modelling from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) showing that a one-degree increase in temperature will result in the east coast of both the North and South Islands being in extreme moisture stress for up to six months. This is predicted to be around 20302040. That will come around very quickly and we now run the very real risk of being caught out. We have an opportunity to plan ahead for this likelihood and yet the bureaucratic regulatory process stands in the way as a major impediment. The impact on the state of our rivers in terms of significantly lower flow periods for longer periods could be mitigated by the use of them as a conduit to carry the water to the region’s southern parts, as was planned for this scheme. This would only have been beneficial to the health of the waterways ecosystems. It’s acknowledged that they are permeable, however, that water is still in the whole groundwater ‘system’, it doesn’t just disappear in a cloud of smoke. It must be remembered that when current low-flow criteria conditions are in existence, all water users must cease taking

Besides looking back over time at global warming, 16 million years ago, Central Otago was once subtropical, evidenced by fossils of crocodiles, turtles and eucalyptus (reference Ghosts of Gondwana by George Gibbs). So the climate must have warmed to attain a subtropical state? I am not suggesting there aren’t environmentally detrimental trends, but let’s get an accurate picture, considering all factors and without commercial bias. Lewis Hore Oamaru

water from the river. The water that falls into the watershed is gone within 24 hours and from that point on, we cannot magic up rain to increase the flow. If it doesn’t rain there will be no increase, despite what we do.

The

Pulpit

The recipe is simple, just add water and you can grow anything. If as predicted, the volatility of our weather increases, it is absolutely critical to have reliability. The stark reality is that we are blessed with copious water in this country. We have 72 cubic metres per person, which is 12 times the world average, and yet we currently only use 2% of it (1% for the agricultural sector and the other 1% for domestic and industrial purposes). Quite simply, we are faced with a future scenario where we will struggle to maintain our supply for all users. Water is an enabler, a necessity of life. Is it acceptable that an 85-year-old pensioner should have to shower while standing in an oversize bucket to capture water for her garden, as happened during the last water restrictions experienced in Masterton? We are happy to rezone land for possible future expansion of the Masterton airport, based on an increased population assumption, and it makes sense to do so, yet we fail to actually implement a plan to store water, and enough of it, for the same potential residents.

Use agents to ensure transparency AS A wool grower with 60 years’ experience, I am extremely concerned at why the strong wool industry has become so uneconomical. Obviously there are many answers to this problem. We would all like our government to ban the import of plastic fibres or stop the manufacture of synthetic carpets, curtains, clothing and upholstery for starters. The strong wool industry is

CHANGING CLIMATE: Wairarapa farmer Mike Butterick believes NZ has an opportunity to plan ahead, but the bureaucratic regulatory process stands in the way as a major impediment.

Storage in times of excess makes perfectly good sense and to not do so is a travesty. We are failing our future generations for water is an employer. Without reliable supply, how tenable are businesses that are large employers such as the likes of JNL, Higgins and Breadcraft? Water equals jobs. In terms of water for the agricultural sector, the same logic applies. A truck load of sheep, cattle, milk, grain or vegetables is

not only food, but also jobs and security of regional income. The recipe is simple, just add water and you can grow anything. If as predicted, the volatility of our weather increases, it is absolutely critical to have reliability. Yes, we can all put tanks in and yes, we need to fix our water infrastructure, but the benefits of doing so will pale in comparison to future-focused large water storage schemes that capture water in times of excess.

slowly becoming more proactive, but it also needs the help of our selling agents. Some of the wool growers have been supplying wool to these agents since 1861, but how much say have farmers had? To add some fairness to the transaction, why can’t the agent use a camera while shearing is happening? If the agent used a camera they could also record the wool staple length and strength as they assess it, the total quantity, the farm ID and other quality assessments by taking

random samples during shearing. The tallies of sheep shorn can also be counted and recorded for cross-referencing. The weight of the bales can also be filmed as an accurate record, then emailed directly to the buyer from the agent. By using this recorded information as verification, the agent could establish the agreed farm sale price with the grower. The grower would be included in the transaction and correspondence from the point of exchange or handover.

The bureaucratic jumble that we seem to have created for ourselves needs sorting, and urgently, if we are ever going to plan ahead for future generations, to enable successful businesses, both industrial and agricultural and domestic requirements to be met. The time to deliver is now, future generations will not thank us for doing nothing, for to do nothing is to steal their future.

Who am I? Mike Butterick is a Wairarapa farmer and former 50 Shades of Green lobbyist.

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

If this system was adopted, there would be no need for the transport to and from the auction sites, not only saving transport costs, auction house storage charges would also be eliminated. With the agent-recorded details, an online auction could then take place, which the grower could also attend. Would there not be a lot more transparency and fairness throughout the whole process? David Blackley Bay of Plenty

RICK ALEXANDER

for the RAVENSDOWN BOARD

I will bring a life time of practical farming experience to the Ravensdown Board. Multiple years of governance experience running a large commercial multi-site healthcare organisation strongly supports my candidacy. Hard working, genuine and honest, I care deeply about the success of New Zealand’s agriculture sector. For many years I have benefited from sound management at Ravensdown and wish to contribute to the future success of the co-operative.

Rick Alexander Standing to ensure strong farmer representation on your board.

Nominator: Chris Grace Seconder: Hugh Donald Area: 5

r_alexander@xtra.co.nz

027 979 8900

linkedin.com/in/rick-alexander-52b033219/

Opinion

30 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Why penalise small rural schemes? Alternative View

Alan Emerson

LET me start by saying I believe we can always do things better. I’d add that with 67 local bodies all owning water, wastewater and sewerage facilities, things can be improved. I am, however, implacably opposed to the Government’s current Three Waters initiative. I can find little merit in any of it. At best, it is a tax on provincial New Zealand to pay for the incompetence of our larger cities. At worst, it is a reallocation of our local resources to iwi via the backdoor. The justification for this government chicanery is the tragedy that was the Havelock North water supply. The problem was slack local government and not water assets. How the Havelock North incompetence became a national Three Waters scheme defies all logic except to provide a convenient excuse for

the Government to manipulate. Of further irritation is that most farmers get their water from the roof or a spring and the waste goes into a septic tank. The problem is that the Government wants the provinces to pay for the reforms in two ways. The first is by the confiscation of assets we already own. The second by contributing to the almost $3.5 billion taxation the Government is already throwing at the scheme. That money could be better spent on research, development, housing and roading. It also begs the question as to why tax the provinces for the foibles of the big cities. Auckland and Wellington got themselves into the current crisis. My view is that they can pay to get themselves out of it. Leave my tax dollars well alone. There are two pieces of legislation that fit the crazy category. The first is the Water Services Bill. The legislation appoints an independent regulator, which I support, but that regulator covers all farm water schemes that supply more than one dwelling. The reason given is that “everyone is entitled to safe drinking water” is spurious. Our 75,000 rural schemes are going to suffer another

government-inspired bureaucratic intervention requiring extra reporting and for what? I’m unaware of any problems with rural water and I’ve been drinking it for long enough. Ridiculously, in my view, a government document told me that “compliance among suppliers serving 100 consumers or less is unknown but unlikely to be low”. So these clowns don’t know what’s really going on, but are still willing to make judgements and impose an excessively bureaucratic system. The question I have is to ask is, why penalise small rural schemes when there isn’t any accurately defined problem? Following on from the Water Services stupidity, we then have Three Waters that I’d describe as a grasping power grab for little provable benefit. What the process does is to confiscate the water, wastewater and sewerage assets from the local councils who have paid for them and then incorporate them into four super organisations with little local representation. Bigger isn’t always better. The reasons given for this asset grab are government claims that local councils are going to be in for massive bills to fix

their infrastructure and it will be cheaper if four super entities do it. There are many figures provided by the Government as justification for the asset grab. I don’t find those figures remotely credible. Fortunately, neither do many councils. The Government plans to take the water, waste and sewerage assets of 67 democratically elected councils and put them into four massive pots. Iwi will effectively control 50% of those agencies. That effectively means that assets are being transferred from ratepayers to iwi. How that will happen is that there will be a Regional Representative Group made up of mana whenua representatives and those from local authorities each with 50%. That group appoints and monitors the Independent Selection Panel, which will appoint and monitor the boards of the four organisations. Cabinet has therefore agreed to part of NZ (16%) being effectively given significant control over assets and major influence over the delivery of services that are vital to the wellbeing of the entire country. It is the effective confiscation of assets owned by you and me. I’m unaware of any offers of

compensation. That is wrong and totally undemocratic. The Government’s consulting with experts is also problematic, with economic consultancy Castalia claiming “the Government’s policy process appears flawed and is focusing on high-risk options that may not deliver benefits”. That should ring alarm bells – if anyone is listening that is. The Government’s consultation with councils has also been farcical. They get less than two months to respond to the proposals, which means no meaningful public consultation. In the meantime, we’re subjected to an over-the-top advertising campaign that suggests to me the decisions have already been made. Correspondingly, iwi had over 12 months of consultation. It’s time to pull the plug on the entire circus and define the problem accurately, consult everyone meaningfully and start again honestly.

Your View Alan Emerson is a semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath.emerson@gmail.com

To err is an opportunity to discover From the Ridge

Steve Wyn-Harris

I MADE an accidental discovery the other day. More on that later. Accidental discoveries have helped make major advancements in human development and science. The first that comes to mind is the discovery of penicillin. Sir Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist from London, had been experimenting in 1928 with staphylococcus, a common type of

bacteria that causes boils and can also cause disastrous infections in patients with weakened immune systems. He went on holiday carelessly leaving his bacteria growing on their culture plates. On his return, he noticed that a mould had infected one of the plates and where it had, the staphylococci had been prevented from growing further. He identified the mould as from the Penicillium genus, but it wasn’t for another decade before it was recognised for what it was – the first antibiotic – and it alone has saved an estimated 200 million lives. In 1945, Percy Spencer, an American self-taught engineer, was working in a lab testing magnetrons, the high-powered vacuum tubes inside radars.

Magnetrons produce microwaves and Percy was surprised to notice his peanut butter chocolate bar had melted in his pocket. Guessing it might be the microwaves, the next day he made some popcorn with it and then cooked an egg in seconds. Spencer and his employer patented what we now call the microwave. Their first one cost $US5000 (Over $US50,000 in today’s money), weighed 340kg and was 1.8 metres high. Natural rubber was limited in its uses as it couldn’t withstand extreme heat or cold. In 1839, Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped some rubber onto a hot stove and the resulting vulcanized rubber created new industries and transformed the world. We now come to my own accidental discovery that, although

humble, may have some as yet unidentified benefit for humanity. Forty years of lambing beats and although I don’t want to be taking mismothered lambs home, I find it hard not to gather these waifs and strays up on the chance of a mother becoming available and a hoped-for successful mother up. Often the natural mother has determined that this offspring has limited chances of survival and she is better to put her efforts into the siblings. She is often right. We all know that unless you get colostrum quickly into these newborns, their chances of a longterm future are negligible. I’m unconvinced that dehydrated colostrum products are that effective, so this year I rang Rob, a local dairy farmer, and asked for some of his fresh stuff.

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I swapped a bottle of wine and he gave me a generous amount. More than I needed for the time being, so I froze half of it in small containers in the deep freezer. The first half went down like a treat and saved several lives. When I needed some more, I went to my store and thawed out a batch. I was surprised how the freezing had deepened the colour and that when I stirred it with my fingers as it warmed that the freezing had also made it feel gritty. The lambs didn’t seem to mind as they sucked on it greedily. What was annoying was how the teat kept blocking up and I had to keep taking it off to get the teat blocking matter out. The next morning these few

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Opinion

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Shaping the future

THE concept of ‘carbon farming’ has been around for a long time. I recall carbon farming discussions with my colleagues at University of Queensland back in the early 1990s, but the industry has taken a long time to finally arrive. Well, it is now here. And it has the potential to overwhelm not only the sheep and beef industries, but also have big impacts on the timber industry. It is only six weeks since I wrote an article setting out that carbon farming is now considerably more attractive than sheep and beef on the hard North Island hill country. Then two weeks later, I extended that analysis to the easier hill country. In a more recent article focusing on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), I mentioned that the same conclusion could be drawn for considerable parts of the South Island. All of those can be found archived at my own site https://keithwoodford.wordpress. com in the forestry category. I undertook those analyses using a carbon price of $48, which was then the market price. As I now write this article on September 8, the price is $62 and has been moving up each day. Futures contracts for 2026 are now available above $71. That means that anyone who knows they will have carbon NZUs available to sell at that time can right now lock in a price above $71. There is talk that, given current settings within the ETS, the price could soon rise to more than $100. The Government’s current advice is that a price as high as $110.15 would be acceptable in 2026, with the Government’s costcontainment reserve only being activated at that point.

Given that this year’s costcontainment reserve is already exhausted, there is considerable speculation as to what will happen as soon as the next auction on December 1. The Government will need to find some more firepower if it wants to put a lid on current prices. At last week’s auction, they were totally outgunned by the commercial investors, who sucked up all of the 2021 reserve and still the Government could not hold the supposed maximum price to $50. I have just rerun some forestry calculations using $60 as the carbon price. At that price, and if financial returns are to be the key criteria, I can confirm that carbon farming is clearly the highest and best use across most of the existing sheep and beef land. However, note the caveat about financial returns being the criteria for that finding. There is also no doubt that if financial returns are the criteria, then it has to be exotic forests. Natives grow much more slowly and are more challenging to establish. In contrast, if amenity values and perhaps biological diversity are the criteria, then native forests can indeed be the solution in some specific situations. But if the criterion is either dollars or carbon sequestration, then it has to be exotics. Those exotics don’t necessarily have to be the Pinus radiata that we refer to as pine trees. It might be eucalypts, it might be redwood or, in some cases, Douglas Fir. But let there be no doubt, it won’t be native forests if dollar returns and carbon sequestration are what counts. Until recently, the timber industry has been rather keen on carbon farming as an adjunct to production forests. Once the carbon averaging system is introduced next year, the risk associated with claiming carbon credits for first-rotation forests will have been greatly reduced. As long as carbon credits were valued at $20, $30 or even $40, then for first-rotation forests it

looked like a nice little income earner alongside the main business of timber production. However, foresters are now realising that carbon farming has the potential to totally outrun production forests in relation to these first-rotation forests. From a land-owner perspective, in many situations it is now looking better to collect credits for the carbon, not just for the first 16 or so years under the new averaging system for production forests, but to let those credits run on, initially to 50 years, but then beyond for another 30 or so years to full maturity at perhaps 80 years. Forget about the harvest. Note that this situation pertains to new forests on land that has most recently been in pasture. Carbon credits are not available for any land that was in forest immediately preceding 1990. There are also major limits in regard to those first-rotation forests planted after 1989 that are now reaching maturity. In general, but with exceptions, those forests will remain as production forests. One of the major exceptions will be post-1989 forests, where the owners registered their forests in the ETS and collected the associated carbon credits. The key issue is whether or not these credits were cashed-in or are still held as NZUs. If the NZUs were cashed in, then at least some of those NZUs will need to be repaid at the now much higher carbon price. Hence, there are some nasty situations coming up for some landowners, with the only escape being to now convert these forests to permanent-forest status. But the details are too complex to get into right now. It must wait for another article. James Shaw in his role as Minister of Climate Change has been explicit that the ETS is operating much along the lines he had hoped and he is not at all upset that the carbon price is now rising rapidly. His perspective has been that the carbon price needed to be at least $50 per tonne before emitters would start significantly

lambs were hale and hearty and had another grateful feed of the gritty colostrum. It was at this point Jane took some notice of my battles to clear the teat and looked at my mix. “That’s not colostrum you fool, that’s pumpkin soup!” she said.

I pointed out that I was no one’s fool and I knew what containers I’d put my precious colostrum in and its whereabouts in the deepfreeze. I went to check the deepfreeze just in case and then realised that not for the first time in my life, I was mistaken.

Now, not all those lambs survived but not all of them died either. I’m not advocating by any means that if you have no colostrum, substitute it for pumpkin soup. But I’m a huge fan of pumpkin

Keith Woodford

UNKNOWN: Keith Woodford says the first step in the new carbon farming era is acceptance that we have already headed into dangerous territory.

changing their behaviours. Similarly, he has indicated that he can see the price of carbon rising considerably higher and he is comfortable with that occurring. So, let’s look at what would happen if the price of carbon, with ‘carbon’ being the shorthand for ‘carbon dioxide’, reached $100. It would mean that the carbon tax on petrol would be about 24 cents per litre, given that a litre of petrol releases approximately 2.4kg of carbon dioxide. This change would undoubtedly be an issue of annoyance to many motorists, but it would not greatly change petrolbuying behaviours. In contrast, a carbon price of $100 per tonne would mean that carbon farming would blow away all significant agricultural land-uses apart from dairy and horticulture. One of the problems with carbon farming becoming dominant is that carbon returns are received in New Zealand dollars. As currently structured within the ETS, they are transfer payments within the NZ economy. In contrast, the agricultural industries earn export dollars and it is export dollars that underpin the NZ economy. According to the Ministry for Primary Industries in their most recent State of the Primary Industries document, NZ’s primary industries earned 83% of NZ’s export income in the most recent year. They also state that this percentage has been increasing for the past 10 years. Sheep and beef currently earn about $10 billion of foreign exchange each year. Another issue is that land

soup and I think this little accidental discovery shows there is more to the substance than meets the eye. Someone needs to have a closer look into its powers. Fleming wasn’t awarded his Nobel Prize until 17 years after his accidental discovery.

converted to carbon forestry is locked up permanently. Given the associated carbon liabilities attached to the land, there is unlikely to ever be a pathway for future generations back to agriculture. Back in June 2019, I wrote that the “equilibrium price of carbon needed to ensure that emitters change their behaviour is much bigger than the price required to make carbon forestry profitable”. That insight remains the reason that carbon farming now has the potential to blow away the sheep and beef industries. When I first made that statement, it was heard in Wellington. Someone with considerable influence rang me and we talked about it for well over an hour. But we were not on the same wavelength. I was politely told that NZ’s focus had to be on planting a lot more trees given our international obligations. The implication was that collateral damage to sheep and beef was just the way things were. As for solutions, that gets real tricky. Unscrambling the egg is not easy and I will have more to say on that. But the first step is to get acceptance that we have already headed into dangerous territory.

Your View Keith Woodford was Professor of Farm Management and Agribusiness at Lincoln University for 15 years through to 2015. He is now Principal Consultant at AgriFood Systems Ltd. He can be contacted at kbwoodford@ gmail.com Previous articles can be found at https://keithwoodford. wordpress.com

I’m hoping I don’t have to wait that long.

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

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Opinion

32 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Decline in credit confidence Straight Talking

Cameron Bagrie

ANZ’S Business Outlook Survey for August showed a net 53% of businesses expect it to be more difficult to get credit looking forward, the toughest reading on record. The net is those expecting it to be easier less those saying more difficult. A net of 53 says few expect it to be easier, and a lot are saying harder. Most survey responses were received prior to the Level 4 lockdown. July was the second worst month for reported credit conditions, with 51% expecting it to be more difficult. A net 65% of farmers expect it to be more difficult to obtain credit. That is not quite the previous low of minus 69% in July 2019. Throw together supply chain disruptions, rapidly escalating costs, labour and productivity disruptions and lockdowns, and you have pressure on business cash-flow. An underappreciated reason for business failure is a lack of working capital or the cash to manage short-term commitments and operations. This is a time when banks and the government are really

going to need to step up with some sort of facility, and work together, especially for Aucklandbased small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) if lockdown extends. But the trend in credit conditions and persistent perception of difficulty to obtain credit in the ANZ survey is the real disconcerting part. It has not been perceived as easier to get credit since 2016, rather more difficult for the past five years. Of course, credit is not a free lunch, there are risks involved. Businesses and farmers cannot just point the finger at banks. Some businesses are not really that bankable. This is a real issue that many businesses need to take ownership of; better bankable businesses are more saleable businesses. Many businesses are just not good at managing their financial positions, relying on numbers ticking over themselves, they overpromise and underdeliver and fail to explain how identified problems are being addressed. Banks see the good performers, and others, with a wide variation. Banks hands are also tied on some levels. Lending on a house carries a lower risk weight than a business or agriculture loan, which means less capital needs held. Banks are being told to hold more capital. They get capital relief by switching to housing. Compliance dominates everything, it is necessary and

HARDER: Based on a recent ANZ survey, 65% of farmers expect it to be more difficult to obtain credit.

An underappreciated reason for business failure is a lack of working capital or the cash to manage shortterm commitments and operations.

important. But compliance looks to be complicating the lending process so much, it has become a real struggle for frontline staff to support customers. But it is also time more questions were asked of banks, who are remarkably profitable by

international bank standards. A strong health response, vaccinations, and the business sector is what will drag us out the other side of this covid mess. Wellbeing and almost $320 billion in lending against houses needs jobs and incomes to support it. That economic base comes from the business and agriculture sector. Consistently favouring housing – while incentivised by the risk weights, which favours housing – is short-term thinking not backing the long-game. Banks continue to shy away from investing sufficiently to lift their systems into a modern, functional, staff and customercentric platform. They are investing, but insufficiently. Years

of underinvestment requires serious money. Many farmers will be noticing the churn of their rural manager, if they still have one at all. Feedback is that many frontline staff with a customer bent are feeling ostracised and unvalued. The endgame is pursuing another career, which eliminates people with critical banking skills and experience. Market feedback is also that bank turnaround times are stretching to a month or more. Banks have trimmed so many people, the customer waits too long for feedback or an answer. Farmer satisfaction levels with their banks are on a downward trajectory, according to a Federated Farmers’ survey. The bias against agriculture from some has been significant in the past five years. Some was warranted given dairy sector debt levels, but a lot of balance sheet deleveraging has taken place putting the sector on a firmer footing. It is time for the banks to really step up and support SMEs and farmers. A couple have been. Taking a more long-term approach on staffing, technology, risk and profitability are imperatives. Cameron Bagrie is the Managing Director of Bagrie Economics and a shareholder and director of Chaperon – helping businesses navigate banking. His views do not constitute advice.

Growing plague of pests a curse Off the Cuff

Andrew Stewart

THIS year we have enjoyed what I would previously called a ‘normal’ year in terms of the weather. Our little patch of the Rangitikei used to be described as summer safe, but it would be a brave farmer to utter those words these days. Although frequent rainfall and warm temperatures are great for growing grass, these conditions have also proved beneficial for an ever-expanding plague of pests on our farm. Rabbits, hares, deer, turkeys, goats and peacocks live joyfully in the many areas of native bush and trees on the farm, venturing out at leisure to graze on the pasture that we work hard to produce. Now you may think this is a great problem to have, and in some ways it is. Our kids are at an age now where their favourite farming activity is to go out to “goat town” and nail some of these pesky creatures. And we are very fortunate to have sambar deer roaming around, the second

largest deer species in New Zealand after wapiti. But the true cost to our farming enterprise is not insignificant. While checking various fences, including boundaries, over the past six months I have seen firsthand countless places where the goats and deer are creating holes and causing damage. Not only does this cost time and money for fencing, but our sheep and cattle are able to get through holes into paddocks they shouldn’t be in, creating more mustering as well. They are not only creating fencing headaches, they are munching their way through huge amounts of pasture as well. When you think that the average adult deer would be the same size as a two-year-old cattle beast, many goats are the same size as a hogget and an adult peacock can weigh 5kg, the numbers start to add up. Not all the pest problems are pasture-related. The pigeons, or ‘flying rats’, seem to enjoy the solitude of the beams in our covered yards, where they build fancy nests and breed yet more pests. Problem is, they also enjoy shitting on everything that happens to be parked underneath. And the resident turkeys just love roosting on gates where they also drop turds, mainly on the gate latches you

are wanting to open. The new, and most insidious pest, this year is porina. It is the first time I have noticed its impact on our farm in winter, with bare patches in green paddocks being the first giveaway. Upon digging down into these patches, I found the slug-like caterpillars wriggling around trying to escape. A hasty photo and phone call to my agronomist revealed exactly what I didn’t want to hear. In his opinion, this is the worst year for porina, which has been noticed in a huge swath of the North Island stretching from Parapara to Hawke’s Bay. It is a difficult pest to contain and I would advise anyone who suspects they have porina on their farm to take some photos, dig some holes and get some professional advice. As farmers, we all work hard to produce pasture and the last thing we want is to see it disappear before our stock gets a chance to eat it. So, while the pest problem seems to be an ever-changing situation, it is possible to make progress. In my father’s day, his most pesky pest was the possum. There were so many of them living in the local area that native bush areas were under serious threat as mature trees even fell victim to possum predation. He took it upon himself to wage a war on

UNWANTED: While Andrew Stewart appreciates the variety of fauna surrounding and on his farm, he says the true cost to our farming enterprise is not insignificant. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

possums; creating a network of bait stations that not only covered our farm but many others in the local area. As a result of mainly his hard work over the decades, possum numbers declined to the point now where we struggle to find one if we go looking with a spotlight. We do regularly fill up over 100 bait stations around the farm, but the amount of poison needed is miniscule compared to

when he first started. This goes to show that with a plan, persistence and the right people pests can be eradicated in the long-term.

Your View Andrew Stewart is the RangitikeiManawatu Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman and a sheep and beef farmer in Rangitikei.

World

THE NZ FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Hedgerows can deliver big returns PLANTING hedgerows on arable land to boost populations of pollinating insects could increase crop yields by 10%, according to new research. Countryside charity CPRE wants the Government to act on the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee and expand the UK’s hedgerow network by 40% by 2050. This could be achieved by increasing protection through existing hedgerow regulations, and by offering incentives through the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme to plant new ones. The charity commissioned the Organic Research Centre (ORC) to investigate what this could mean for farmers and others. In that study, hedgerows were shown to cut the need for pesticide controls by 30% and increase yields by 10%. CPRE said this demonstrated that strategic planting of

hedgerows on arable land has the potential to pay for itself. It calculated that for every £1 (about $1.94) invested in hedgerows, farmers would see a £1.73 (about $3.36) return from higher crop yields and reduced spend on pesticides. The research found that hedgerows were at their most valuable when they connected to forests with flowering plants on the canopy floor. In one study, this ecosystem doubled apple yield on a Kent fruit farm, while a similar study in the Netherlands showed this effect increased the value of a strawberry crop by 50% through improved quality and yield. As much as 5% of carbon sequestration on farms is attributable to hedgerows – an ORC field study showed that a hectare of hedgerows between 3.5m and 6m wide could sequester as much as 131t of carbon a year. The UK has lost half its

FINDINGS: In a UK study, hedgerows were shown to cut the need for pesticide controls by 30% and increase yields by 10%.

hedgerows since the Second World War, when the drive began to increase food production. But while the Government has clear targets to increase tree planting, it has yet to set one for hedgerows. CPRE head of rural economy and communities Daniel Carey-Dawes wants to see local authorities, as well as government, encouraging more hedgerow planting, by integrating these in new developments and avoiding damage to existing ones. Defra has responded to the CPRE’s research, pointing out

that farmers will be rewarded for managing hedgerows sustainably under the new “public money for public goods” payments formula. Natural England chair Tony Juniper says hedgerows were “very much a part” of the nature recovery network it had set out in its 25-year Environment Plan. “These wonderful features create natural corridors, provide essential habitats for wildlife, catch and store carbon and bring benefits for the rural economy,”Juniper said. UK Farmers Weekly

These wonderful features create natural corridors, provide essential habitats for wildlife, catch and store carbon and bring benefits for the rural economy. Tony Juniper Natural England

Green light for GE wheat THE first CRISPR genome edited (GE) wheat trials in Europe will be sown this autumn (NZ spring) at Rothamsted Research, Hertfordshire, following approval from Defra. The wheat has been edited to reduce levels of the naturally occurring amino acid asparagine, which is converted to the carcinogenic processing contaminant acrylamide when bread is baked or toasted. Project leader Professor Nigel Halford believes asparagine levels can be reduced substantially in wheat without compromising grain quality. This would benefit consumers by reducing their exposure to acrylamide from their diet, while also enabling food businesses to comply with regulations on the presence of acrylamide in their products. “That is a long-term goal, however, and this project aims to assess the performance of the wheat plants in the field and measure the concentration of asparagine in the grain produced under field conditions,” Halford said. During development in the lab, researchers

FOCUS: The International Barley Hub will develop new varieties and growing systems that can cope with future climate change, plus new uses for the crop.

Multi-million investment in plant science centres PURPOSE: The wheat has been edited to reduce levels of the naturally occurring amino acid asparagine. ‘knocked out’ the asparagine synthetase gene TaASN2. Asparagine concentrations in the grain of the edited plants were substantially reduced compared with unedited plants, with one line showing a more than 90% reduction. “This new trial will now measure the amount of asparagine in the grain of the same wheat when

grown in the field and assess other aspects of the wheat’s performance, such as yield and protein content,” project scientist Dr Sarah Raffan said. The project is planned for up to five years, ending in 2026, with plants being sown in September/ October each year and harvested the following September. UK Farmers Guardian

BUILDING work has begun on two new plant science centres at the James Hutton Institute’s Invergowrie campus. The International Barley Hub (IBH) and Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC) are being funded by £62 million (about $120m) from the long-awaited Tay Cities Regional Deal, with £45m from the UK Government and £17m from the Scottish Government. Completion is expected in early 2024. A breaking-ground ceremony was held on August 26, led by both Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands Mairi Gougeon and Under Secretary of State for Scotland Iain Stewart. The £35m IBH will develop new varieties and growing systems that can cope with future climate change, plus new uses for the crop.

The £27m APGC aims to revolutionise crop production systems to produce food locally, 365 days a year, with less environmental impact, completely independent of the weather or availability of agricultural land. “This centre will allow us to develop and translate science that will lead to new production systems like vertical farming, more accurately model climate change and its implications for plant and crop products such as food, pharma etc, and support food security through crop storage,” APGC director Professor Derek Stewart said. The two projects aim to create more than 470 jobs in the Tayside region and a further 2200 jobs across the wider Scottish and UK economy. UK Farmers Guardian

World

34 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Fears trade deals will cause closures TRADE deals which increase imported meat cuts and products are set to lead to a fresh wave of abattoir closures, new research from the Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF) has claimed. The All On The Table study, carried out after Prince Charles convened a round-table on abattoirs in 2019, revealed almost all abattoirs have surplus slaughtering capacity, with most able to increase throughput by 10% or more. “This means policy changes which increase imported meat cuts and products, for example lower import tariffs or phytosanitary standards, and/ or which reduce UK livestock production, are likely to increase abattoir closures, with a disproportionate effect on smaller abattoirs,” the report said. But Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) head of policy Norman Bagley told Farmers Guardian he did not

believe trade deals with Australia, New Zealand, the US or South American countries would be the reason why smaller abattoirs shut their doors.

It is important to remember the closure of any business in any industry is normally due to many factors coming together at the same time. Norman Bagley AIMS “It is important to remember the closure of any business in any industry is normally due to many factors coming together at

the same time,” Bagley said. “Some will close, but this could be due to there being no family succession or the value of the site being so great as to make it a retirement proposition, as the land becomes residential housing.” Bagley went on to predict many smaller abattoirs would survive new trade deals if they create a customer proposition based around provenance, new product development and eating quality which can be marketed domestically or globally. He pointed to the example of several new AIMS members who were selling direct to consumers or producing high-end products for restaurants, specialist retailers and wholesalers. “Their businesses have a better chance of success if their markets are global and not UK-only. “Many have told us of their plans and many are centred on

SURPLUS: A UK study revealed almost all abattoirs have surplus slaughtering capacity, with most able to increase throughput by 10% or more.

e-commerce and exports,” he said. “Abattoirs and their cutting plants must come together to take existing and new products into existing markets and, through new trade deals, new markets.” Another finding from the PCF research was that farm viability would be affected by the closure of abattoirs. Nearly half of the farmers who responded to the survey (45%) who had a private kill retail business said it was “essential” to their business, while

21% said it was “very important”. But 46% said they had no alternative abattoir they were prepared to use if their current slaughterhouse closed, and half had just one acceptable alternative. More than onequarter (28%) of private kill farmers said their retail business would have to close if their current abattoir shut its doors and roughly one-quarter (23%) would have to reduce livestock numbers and shrink their grassland area. UK Farmers Guardian

GB-NI border export checks halted VACANCIES: According to a sector-wide report, there is an average vacancy rate of 13% and more than 500,000 vacancies across the food and drink industry.

Sectors call for a covid-19 visa THE UK food and drink sector has joined forces to call for a 12-month Covid-19 Recovery Visa to help alleviate the labour shortages, which are causing serious disruption across the supply chain. A report has been sent to government ministers highlighting the impact the pandemic and postBrexit immigration policy is having on the sector’s ability to recruit key workers. The NFU, Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and Dairy UK, as well as all the major players in the Scottish food industry, including NFU Scotland, Scotland Food and Drink, Scottish Bakers, Opportunity North East, Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers and the Scottish Wholesale Association, have all cosigned a letter to the Government accompanying the report. The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers has also welcomed the study. According to the report, there is an average vacancy rate of 13% and more than 500,000 vacancies across the food and drink industry. As well as calling for the recovery visa to enable businesses to recruit HGV drivers, the report also recommends the introduction of a permanent, revised and expanded Seasonal Worker Scheme for UK horticulture and an urgent review.

Businesses see a 34% shortfall by the Migration Advisory Committee on the impact of ending free movement on the food and farming sector. “At the very start of the supply chain, farm businesses are feeling the pressure,” NFU vice president Tom Bradshaw said. “For example, horticulture farms are struggling to find the workforce to pick and pack the nation’s fruit and veg, with some labour providers seeing a 34% shortfall in recruitment. “Farm businesses have done all they can to recruit staff domestically, but even increasingly competitive wages have had little impact because the labour pool is so limited, instead only adding to growing production costs.” Bradshaw went on to say it was ‘too simplistic’ to argue that the end of furlough would see more people meeting the shortfall, with many furloughed workers concentrated in urban areas. FDF chief executive Ian Wright also warned without “fast action” the labour challenges would continue. “If they do, we can expect unwelcome consequences such as reduced choice and availability for consumers, increased prices and reduced growth across the domestic food chain,” Wright said. UK Farmers Guardian

EXPORTS of farm-produced goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (NI) are to continue without full border checks indefinitely. A so-called “grace period’’ on the movement of goods into NI was set to expire on October 1. But it was announced on September 6 that the existing trading arrangements will continue and that no deadline has been set for that situation to end. It means businesses exporting goods of animal origin, including meat and dairy products across the Irish Sea will not be subject to what would have been significant new paperwork and heightened border checks. Around 75% of all groceries bought in NI are sold by British supermarkets, which ship the vast majority from distribution centres on the British mainland. These have been subjected to heightened border checks since Brexit, but had the grace period ended a new level of red tape would have kicked in. Although the imminent

threat of disruption to trade has been averted, the British Meat Processors Association has given a lukewarm reaction to the announcement.

While the pressure is off the 1 October deadline, our negotiators still face the same issues as they did before, for which compromise will be needed all round. British Meat Processors Assn “While the pressure is off the 1 October deadline, our negotiators still face the same issues as they did before, for which compromise will be needed all round,’’ it said. With the hiatus in place, negotiations between the UK government and the EU will

continue over the future of the NI Protocol. This came into effect on January 1 and under the terms of that agreement, all goods travelling from GB to NI should follow EU customs rules and product regulations. But, to allow businesses time to adjust, grace periods were agreed and the latest of these was due to come to an end on October 1. Sir David Frost, the UK minister in charge of Brexit, said the grace period and easements in force would remain. The Government would continue to operate the protocol on the current basis, to provide space for potential further discussions and to give certainty and stability to businesses while any such discussions proceed. Frost gave an assurance that “reasonable” notice would be given if the situation were to change. The UK is seeking significant changes to the protocol as part of the new negotiations, but this has so far been rejected by the EU. UK Farmers Weekly

DELAYED: Businesses exporting goods of animal origin will not be subject to what would have been significant new paperwork and heightened border checks.

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Hawera 155 Mangawhero Road

Magnificent dairy farm This outstanding 129.49ha (more or less) flat rectangle shaped dairy farm is situated on the Mangawhero road, between Auroa and Kapuni. An excellent 44 bale rotary cowshed with cup removers, as well as a built in afiMilk system to manage and monitor animal health. Centrally raced provides easy access to and from the cowshed, along with a good range of support buildings. The farms best production was done from autumn calving from 360 cows producing over 220 000 milk solids, high input feed made on farm has seen the land resown over the past two and a half years. The property comes with the added bonus of three houses. This is an excellent opportunity to buy your dream size quality dairy farm, with strong infrastructure and proven results.

Tender (will not be sold prior) Closing 1pm, Fri 10 Sep 2021 256 High Street, Hawera View 11am-12pm Thu 2 Sep or by appointment Brendan Crowley 027 241 2817 brendan.crowley@bayleys.co.nz SUCCESS REALTY TARANAKI LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

bayleys.co.nz/2600944

708 Old Hill Road, Central Hawke's Bay

Kurow 76 Bledisloe St Tender

Stoneridge Farm 609 ha breeding property in the Porangahau district of Central Hawke's Bay, 40 km south of Waipukurau and on the boundary of the Porangahau Village. An approx. 30 min drive from Waipukurau. Contour is classified as easy, medium, steep hill rising from sea level to 260 m. The country is relatively clean with poplars and willows providing shade and erosion control. Reticulated water from elevated dam reservoirs. Improvements include, four bedroom and office, renovated homestead with views to the coast and over the farm. Four stand woolshed, covered yards and an excellent set of cattle yards. Property Brokers Ltd Licensed REAA 2008 | pb.co.nz

New Listing

Holiday park / Lifestyle business Tender closes Thursday 7th October, 2021 at 2.00pm, Property Brokers, 98 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau View By appointment Web pb.co.nz/WR94108

Pat Portas M 027 447 0612

Located in Kurow, Waitaki Valley, North Otago this Holiday Park is a For Sale Buyers $995,000+ View By appointment well-known destination to many families and recreational Web pb.co.nz/OML95733 sportsmen though out New Zealand. Simply wholesome country with some of the best recreational and fishing destinations close by. Complete with 119 powered caravan sites, multiple cabins both selfcontained and shared, all upgraded with first class amenities, a large capacity lodge and an extremely well-appointed managers residence. This business will be sold as a going concern with all the infrastructure in place. New owners will continue to benefit from the multiple income streams with a long-term property lease, with Ross Robertson advanced bookings in place. M 021 023 27220 Property Brokers Ltd Licensed REAA 2008 | pb.co.nz

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate 0800 85 25 80

Real Estate

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

RURAL | LIFESTYLE | RESIDENTIAL

CAREW, MID CANTERBURY 'Aberystwyth Dairies' - Tier One with Scale • • • • • • • • • •

298 hectare MHV irrigated dairy unit Seven pivots with k-line fed from two ponds 618 stall barn with additional loafing barn Excellent array of farm buildings 60 bail rotary shed with ACR's, ADF teat spraying and auto flushing Excellent standard of housing with five homes Environmentally resilient dairy unit currently running split calving MHV authorised land use (ALU) for 1100 cows Current N loss 60kg/year Turn-key operation with scale, for genuine sale

DEADLINE PRIVATE TREATY Plus GST (if any) (Unless Sold Prior) Closes 1.00pm, Wednesday 29 September

Tim Gallagher M 027 801 2888

pggwre.co.nz/ASH34685 PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under REAA 2008

Welcome to Blair Johns GlobalHQ’s new Real Estate Partnership Manager. I come from 16 successful years in various real estate roles based in Manawatu, and formerly Taranaki. Born and bred in South Taranaki to a generational dairy farming family, this role is a natural progression into the primary sector for me. My background has given me a wealth of experience building effective, long-term relationships. I have a passion for real estate, most recently working for one of Palmerston North’s most successful agents as a Sales Executive. I look forward to having a coffee with you either in person or virtually, and meeting with you and your teams to discuss your business and opportunities going forward. Contact Blair today on 027 474 6004, or email blair.johns@globalhq.co.nz

Helping grow the country

FARMERS WEEKLY – September13, 2021

Tech & Toys

Waste Treatment Systems

farmersweekly.co.nz/advertising 0800 85 25 80

WHERE RELIABILITY & PERFORMANCE ARE GUARANTEED

Supplying and installing separators since 2002 Dairy and Pig Farms, Meat Works & Truck Wash Stations

Serving NZ farmers since 1962

INNOVATIVE AGRICULTURE EQUIPMENT

www.pppindustries.co.nz sales@pppindustries.co.nz

1962 - 2012

0800 901 902

50 years

Primary Pathways – Jobs, Education & Training

Shepherd General

HOME-BASED FARM RELATED TELEPHONE INTERVIEWING

Our farm is situated in the heart of the Waikato. The farm is family operated. We require a self-motivated person who has enthusiasm and initiative.

What's your next career move?

We operate an intensive 570ha sheep and beef breeding and finishing farm approximately 12km from Matamata. The farm runs 3500 Romney Ewes and 150 Angus Cows and their replacements. Incorporated in that is a recorded Romney flock of 600 ewes run as part of the ARDG breeding group. This flock is highly tolerant to facial eczema and is production driven with a lot of emphasis also put into the genomic (DNA) side. As a result of this we are also selling rams into the industry.

Cinta Agri Research is looking for homebased telephone interviewers who wish to work on a casual temporary basis and able to work from home. It is preferable if you have an understanding of NZ farming or have a rural background. If you are keen to start immediately and have the following qualities we wish to hear from you: • Reliable and able to work to time deadlines unsupervised • Professional telephone manner • Clear and confident speaking voice • Conscientious approach to work • First time project remuneration $21 per hour + completion bonus. $20 phone + $20 internet per month

LOCATIONS: MARLBOROUGH/TASMAN/MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS Ideally, from a rural background, horticulture/viticulture is an advantage but not essential. One position for each location, we need a people's person who likes to get out and about and be amongst it.

All surplus sheep and cattle are fattened off the farm with cropping playing an important role. We also lease approximately 140 hectares of cropping ground (Tama) in the winter which we graze all our Ewe hoggets’ on behind three wire electrics.

Key criteria:

Self-motivated Assertive and proactive A positive "can-do" attitude Good communication and presentation skills A sense of adventure

lLK0108511©

Key attributes required are: • Excellent stock handling skills and strong work ethic • A good communicator, honest and reliable • To work independently, or as part of a team • A desire to take up challenges and extend themselves

LK0108413©

We are looking for a person who is self-driven and motivated to get ahead in the industry. That person will work alongside Craig (Owner and Farm Manager) and grow their knowledge and take on more responsibility as they develop.

Please email your interest and any relevant experience to Sarah Field & Administration Coordinator field@cinta.co.nz | www.cinta.co.nz

For the right person we are offering: • A competitive salary package • Excellent working conditions in which to progress • A tidy two-bedroom house in a strong community • The opportunity for personal growth and career advancement

JOBS BOARD farmersweeklyjobs.co.nz

Please send your covering letter and CV to calexander@outlook.co.nz

AgriHQ Analyst

Applications close: Monday 20th September 2021

Block Manager

If you would like further information about the role please contact Craig on 027 774 6644

Fish Processing Projects General Manager Head Shepherd

RURAL REAL ESTATE CANDIDATES REQUIRED

Summit is in it for the long haul, as a commissionbased position, we will assist and mentor the right candidates for a successful career in Real Estate. Call now for a confidential chat to discuss your future in Real Estate! Blenheim: (03) 578 3366 Picton: (03) 573 6166 Motueka: (03) 528 4001

www.summit.co.nz

Ag jobs at your fingertips

Home Based Telephone Interviewers Labourer Livestock Auditor

Farmers Weekly Jobs - your one stop shop for primary industry careers

Rural Real Estate Shepherd General *FREE upload to Primary Pathways Aotearoa: www.facebook.com *conditions apply

Email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz or call 0800 85 25 80 today LK0107423©

Contact Debbie Brown 06 323 0765 or email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

www.farmersweeklyjobs.co.nz

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• Inspection door to check screen • Reinforced stainless steel screen • Tungsten tipped auger

DOGS WANTED

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

12 MONTHS TO 5½-yearold Heading dogs and Huntaways wanted. Phone 022 698 8195.

FOR SALE CONCRETE CULVERT PIPES. Farm grade pipe stocked in Taupo. 450mm & above. Call Wayne for more info. 027 405 6368.

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

BOOK AN AD. For only $2.10 + gst per word you can book a word only ad in Farmers Weekly Classifieds section. Phone Marie on 0800 85 25 80 to book in or email wordads@ globalhq.co.nz

BALAGE FOR SALE

FORESTRY

BALAGE $75+gst. Unit loads available. Top quality. Phone 021 455 787.

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.

DOGS FOR SALE B/COLLIE B/W PUP. Well bred. Ready 20/10. Phone 021 069 0106. DELIVERING DURING lockdown. NZ Wide. Trial. www.youtube.com/user/ mikehughesworkingdog/ videos – email: mikehughesworkingdogs@ farmside.co.nz 07 315 5553. PURINA PROPLAN WHATATUTU dog sale. NEW DATE: Saturday 25th September. At Otara Station, 319 Whatatutu Road, Te Karaka, Gisborne. Sales start at 12 noon. Dosing clearance required. Vendors please confirm entry go to: Whatatutu Dog Sale – Facebook page

WANTED

GOATS WANTED NAKI GOATS. Trucking goats to the works every week throughout the NI. Mustering available. Phone Michael and Clarice. 027 643 0403. 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.

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

GIBB-GRO GROWTH PROMOTANT PROMOTES QUICK PASTURE growth. Only $6+gst per hectare delivered. 0508-GIBBGRO [0508 442 247] www. gibbgro.co.nz. “The Proven One.”

GRAZING AVAILABLE

PERSONAL BUSHMAN, 56yo, seeks a woman to court. View relationship. 027 864 5092 John. Or email: bushman56yrs@gmail.com

RAMS FOR SALE WILTSHIRE & SHIRE® Meat rams. Low input. www.wiltshire-rams.co.nz 03 225 5283.

GOOD CATTLE GRAZING in Tuki Tuki valley. Suits approximately 20 head. Phone 06 870 8930 or 011 044 561.

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

WANTED TO BUY RIFLE WANTED. 308 Browning / Sako. Phone 027 440 3699.

HORTICULTURE

LIVESTOCK FOR SALE

EAST TARANAKI FARM LAND. Sheep and beef. Phone 020 4018 9927.

LAMB DOCKING / TAILING CHUTE

With automatic release and spray system. www.vetmarker.co.nz 0800 DOCKER (362 537)

0800 436 566

We are dedicated to delivering our farmers the best service and best returns.” ASSISTING WOOL GROWERS since 1983

WOOL

Independent wool brokers

Passionate about your wool and committed to its future p.06 835 6174 e.office@kellswool.co.nz

www.kellswool.co.nz

Promote or find your next adventure in our Travel & Tourism section published monthly. Next issue – O ctober 11 Booking deadline: Wednesday October 6 – 12 noon

WILTSHIRES-ARVIDSON. Self shearing sheep. No1 for Facial Eczema. David 027 2771 556. B R O O K L A N D SIMMENTAL, LBW, short gestation, bulls, suitable for beef or dairy, EBV’s available. Phone 06 374 1802. RED DEVON BULLS. Waimouri stud, Feilding. Phone 027 224 3838.

VETMARKER

NZ’s finest BioGro certified Mg fertiliser For a delivered price call ....

WANTED TO LEASE

Travel further with Farmers Weekly

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

DOLOMITE

To advertise your travel products and services contact: Debbie 06 323 0765 or email classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

MOWER MASTER TOWABLE FLAIL MOWER 13.5HP. Briggs & Stratton Motor. Electric start. 1.2m cut Assembled with SKF bearings.

Assembled by Kiwis for Kiwi conditions – built to last.

LOG BUYER

GO THE MOA!

$4400 GST INCLUSIVE

To find out more visit

HAULER CREW available for summer harvest. Wairarapa area. Phone 027 489 7036.

www.moamaster.co.nz Ph 028 461 5112 • Email: mowermasterltd@gmail.com

Livestock Noticeboard

STOCK REQUIRED 1YR FRSN or FRSN X BULLS 180-250kg 1YR BEEF BULLS 220-300kg

No joke. Last week, in Lockdown haste, our

1YR BEEF STEERS 180-250kg

Sale Talk ‘joke’ didn’t get the taste test

2YR

We thank all those who cared enough

STEERS 400-550kg

2YR FRSN BULLS 420-500kg 2YR BEEF BULLS

420kg +

it should have. to share their thoughts directly with us, and we apologise for publishing it. Sale Talk will be thoroughly ‘taste tested’ before publishing in future. Thank you, Dean.

www.dyerlivestock.co.nz

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

Lot 1, 2021 supporting meat the need

WHY USE LONG GESTATION BULLS? 170 R2 Registered Herefords

Bred for high calving ease and short gestation Exclusive supplier of SGL Hereford semen to LIC Sale Date: September 29, 2021 Sale Venue: 427 Cannington Road, Cave Sale catalogues are available early September from: John and Liz McKerchar, Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords Cave, South Canterbury Ph 03 614 3759 Email shrimptons@farmside.co.nz

www.shrimptonshillherefords.co.nz

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ANIMAL HANDLING

Noticeboard

farmersweekly.co.nz

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

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Livestock Noticeboard

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

WANTED HL

Yrl Carry-over Jersey Bulls

Store Lambs

FOR SALE

Spring calf contracts avail. on Friesian Bulls 150 x Autumn Born Frs Bulls. 120kg. $550 50 x Autumn Born Here/Frs Hfrs. 130kg. $530

_______________________________

Richar Seavill Chris Smith Chris yle Jason Roberts Harrison Levien Bryce Young

WANTED

Dairy/Beef Cross Yearly Exports Heifers

C C C

021 169 8276 027 96 7 1 |

06 7 6 8968

027 96 7 12

07 88 7 12

027 707 1271 027 96 7 10

September or October delivery

Dairy bull education day

Please Contact

11am - 1pm, pm, Tuesday 21 September 451 Mangamaire Road, Pahiatua

027 96 7 11

byllivestock

07 823 4559

YOUR LOCAL PL AGENT

Wanted to buy – Friesian Beef Cross Heifers

www.progressivelivestock.co.nz SALE TALK

Paying top prices Spring born 2020 Must have been on property for 6 months and meet Chinese Export Protocols. Min weight at delivery -270kgs. Delivery date late September/early October.

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Contact: Sharon Browne Ph: 07 843 7577 or 027 490 6146

RIVERLEE HEREFORDS

Spring Bull Sale 27th September 2021, 11.30am

A person called our airline customerservice desk asking if they could take their dog on board. “Sure,” I said, “as long as you provide your own kennel.” I further explained that the kennel needed to be large enough for the dog to stand up, sit down, turn around, and roll over. The customer was flummoxed: “I’ll never be able to teach him all of that by tomorrow! If you’ve got a joke you want to share with the Farming community (it must be something you’d share with your grandmother...) then email us at: saletalk@ globalhq.co.nz with Sale Talk in the subject line and we’ll print it and credit it to you.

M: (06) 874 7844 E: info@koanuiherefords.co.nz

www.koanuiherefords.co.nz

11.30am MONDAY 20th SEPTEMBER

HILLCROFT

angus

92 ANGUS YEARLINGS 51 ANGUS 2-YEAR OLDS 37 HEREFORD 2-YEAR OLDS SALE ON FARM & ONLINE

est. 1960

PRODUCING GOOD HILL COUNTRY CATTLE WITH ADDED CALVING EASE AND PERFORMANCE OUR TOP YEARLINGS FOR SALE BY NEW SIRES STOKMAN TRIFECTA P240 Top 1% short gestation, calving ease daughters Top 5% calving ease direct, birth wgt, days to calving

STOKMAN CAPITALIST P243 Top 5% calving ease direct, 200, 400, 600 day wgt Top 10% short gestation, birth wgt

Stokman Trifecta P240 and Stokman Capitalist P243

ENQUIRIES AND INSPECTION ALWAYS WELCOME Malcolm & Fraser Crawford Matahuru Rd, Ohinewai Hillcroft Angus www.hillcroftangus.co.nz

Fraser 07 828 5755 or 0272 85 95 87 Malcolm 07 828 5709 or 0274 721 050

Conditions apply

Held under cover on farm 2354 Rangiwahia Rd, Rangiwahia,Manawatu

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Dairy Beef X Yrl Hfrs, Sept/Oct Delivery

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R2 Friesian Bulls 350 - 450kg

PROGRESSIVE LIVESTOCK LTD

BYLLIVESTOCK.CO.NZ "Maximising your return through personal livestock management"

R1 Friesian Bulls 180 - 240kg

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

TA UMARUNUI Y EARLING BUL L S A L E D AY

Calving Ease Bulls • Monday 27th September • Black Ridge 11.00 AM • Puke-Nui 1.30PM

ANGUS

BLACK RIDGE

BULL SALE

ANGUS STUD

62 2yr Polled Hereford Bulls BRED FOR CALVING EASE, MODERATE BIRTH WEIGHT AND TEMPERAMENT.

TANGIHAU MAXIMUS N458

Catalogue can be viewed at NZ Herefords.co.nz

www.herefords.co.nz

LK0108157©

Selling Agents: Carrfields Livestock: Dan Warner 027 826 5768 NZ Farmers Livestock: John Watson 027 494 1975

Enquiries & Visitors Welcome Murray & Fiona Curtis 06 328 2881 or 027 228 2881

Email: mfcurtis@farmside.co.nz

Inspection and Enquiries always welcome | All bulls BVD vaccinated and tested. Lepto vaccinated. TB C10.

All sale bulls are BVD/Lepto/10 in 1 vaccinated. MONDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER 2021 AT 1:30PM ON-FARM BULL SALE VENUE: 303 River Road, SH 43, Taumarunui

25 CALVING EASE Bulls FOR SALE

Alan & Catherine Donaldson P: (07) 896 6714 E: agcsdonaldson@gmail.com www.pukenuiangus.co.nz Find us on Facebook

ON-FARM BULL SALE Monday 27 September 2021, 11am th

27 Low Birthweight Yearling Bulls

Dean & Teresa Sherson 675 Taringamotu Rd, RD 4, Taumarunui P: 07 896 7211 • M: 027 690 2033 E: mailto:black_ridge@live.com.au Like & Find us on Facebook

If your rams have genetics farmers should invest in this season contact Ella and discuss options to get your message across. Ella Holland: 06 323 0761 or livestock@globalhq.co.nz | farmersweekly.co.nz

LK0108561©

Ram your message home here!

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

Wanted to buy – Kiwi Dairy Crossbred Heifers Paying top prices Autumn & Spring born 2020

Livestock Noticeboard

Delivery date late September/early October. Contact: Sharon Browne Ph: 07 843 7577 or 027 490 6146

Waitangi Angus

Resurgam Angus Yearling Angus Bull Sale

Livestock advertising?

FERTILITY, SOUNDNESS, TEMPERAMENT, CONSTITUTION AND CARCASE QUALITIES

Sean & Jodi Brosnahan 386 Wainui Road, Ohope Friday 17th September 2021, 12pm

Going Going Gone!

Must have been on property for 6 months and meet Chinese Export Protocols.

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

These R1 bulls are from NZ’s most remote farming area. They are truly station bred from hill country and are mainly NZ genetics. They are of impeccable temperament, soundness, type. 100% grass only – Closed herd. TB = C10. These bulls will be available for pre-sale inspection in Ohope, Friday 10th September, 9-12pm.

Contact Ella:

0800 85 25 80

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livestock@globalhq.co.nz

“ A Consumer orientated breeding programme

using proven performance genetics to enhance commercial returns for our clients

Tuesday 28th September 2021 at 12 noon on farm

87 yearling bulls at Waitangi ALL Bulls are i50K tested for enhanced EBVs

Enquiries and Inspection Welcomed:

Contact John, Joss or Phil Bayly M

Purchase any Bull at this sale and charge it

Herepuru Herefords 52 years of breeding

027 474 3185,

jbayly@xtra.co.nz

Sale Catalogue link: www.waitangiangus.co.nz/upcoming-sales

BE IN TO WIN

through your NZ Farmers Livestock account to For Further Inquiries: be in to win $2,500 cash. Drawn in October. Sean & Jodi Brosnahan Waitangihia Station 06 864 4468, 021 997 519 resurgamangus Brent Bougen - Auctioneer 027 210 4698 www.resurgamangus.com Shaun Bicknell - 027 221 1977

”

NEW SALE DATE

www.waitangiangus.co.nz

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NZ’s Best Dairy-Beef Bulls

12TH ANNUAL ON FARM SALE

Friday 24th September – 1pm 73 lots of Speckle Park and Hereford Yearling Bulls

Bulls For Heifer Mating

Auction Plus – streamed live for online bidders and viewers

MATING HEIFERS OR DAIRY COWS?

LK0108282©

THE CHOICE IS

18 TWO-YEAR-OLD BULLS 100 YEARLING BULLS 12 noon, Tuesday September 28th

On-farm auction, Marton

38 two-year Bulls for sale

or buy online with

Wednesday 22 September at 11.30am

PMS – n/a

RGB – 255, 255, 255

CMYK – 50, 28, 24, 65

CMYK – 0, 0, 0, 0

HTML – 3c4c54

Ready to talk some Bull?

Add value to your calves

Contact Ella: 0800 85 25 80 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz

Bulls For Heifer Mating

RIVERTON HEREFORDS

BULL SALE: 45 CALVING EASE YEARLING BULLS

30TH ANNUAL SALE

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 24 – 1PM 839 VALLEY ROAD, HASTINGS

FORDELL, WANGANUI LK0108370©

THURSDAY 23 SEPT – 12 NOON

36 TWO-YEAR BULLS 110 YEARLING BULLS Hybrid auction on

LK0108300©

Contact Priscilla, Bill or Shannon Paki 07 322 2362 or 027 322 2352 Email: herepurustation.ltd@outlook. com

LK0108376©

All TB & BVD clear and vaccinated.

PMS – PMS 445 C RGB – 60, 76, 64

CMYK – 0, 80, 95, 0 HTML – f15a29

www.ezicalve.co.nz

Corner Manawahe & Herepuru Roads Manawahe, RD 4, Whakatane

Bred for low birthweight, calving ease and quiet temperament.

PMS – PMS 173 C

RGB – 241, 90, 41

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WILLIAM MORRISON 027 640 1166 ardofarm@xtra.co.nz

MIKE CRANSTONE 0800 EZICALVE PGGW - KEITH WILSHER 027 596 5143 NZFL - MALCOLM COOMBE 027 432 6104

Contact: Tom Suttor, Carrfields 027 616 4504 or Dean Freeman, Redshaw Livestock 027 445 1944

www.ezicalve.co.nz

6th ANNUAL YOUNG IN-MILK COW AUCTION

5th ANNUAL SERVICE BULL AUCTION

A/c Troy Stevenson on Friday 1st October 2021 at 437 Patiki Road, Pihama, Sth Taranaki Start Time: 11:30am Undercover BBQ lunch provided

Delayed payments to

• • • • •

AUCTIONEERS NOTE: All cows personally guaranteed by our Vendors, offering 1-week trial. Cows purchased to supply calf milk, then offered for auction. Buy with confidence. We totally recommend and have received very good comments from previous buyers. PLEASE NOTE:

PAYMENT TERMS:

VIEW OUR CATALOGUE AT:

LK0108519©

Payment due 20th January 2022. Deliveries immediate. FURTHER ENQUIRIES TO CARRFIELDS LIVESTOCK AGENTS: Brent Espin 027 551 3660 or brent.espin@carrfields.co.nz Daniel Crowley 027 215 3609 or daniel.crowley@carrfields.co.nz

www.carrfieldslivestock.co.nz

Market your dairy herd sales to an audience that counts today. Call Ella: 0800 85 25 80

COMPRISING: 230 x Frsn & Frsn X & Jersey X Cows DETAILS: • BW169/53 PW254/60 LW234 herd testing, A2A2 tested. • TBCM – MBovis not detected, Lepto & BVD vaccinated. • All calved – unmated – in fantastic condition. • 25th August herd tested – 2.0kg/ms/cow– SCC 99,000. • Breed breakdown – 23% Frsn, 35% Frsn X, 27% Jrsy X 15% Jrsy.

COMPRISING: 360 hill country well managed bulls 40 x R3yr Hereford 80 x R2yr Hereford 80 x R2yr Angus 60 x R3yr Jersey 100 x R2yr Jersey (several ideal for Heifer mating)

DETAILS: • All bulls are TB tested & inoculated & BVD tested • All bulls are double vaccinated for pink eye with Piliguard • MBovis free property • Fully transparent Nait transactions • Our Vendor has been supplying service bulls to dairy farmers for numerous years & are fully aware of the quality & standard they require. Purchase with confidence.

This auction date is scheduled subject to any changes due to Covid-19 regulations.

ROSEGOWAN HEREFORD 2nd ANNUAL ON-FARM SERVICE BULL SALE Subject to Covid-19 Restrictions and Protocols

A/c Finch Contracting Thursday 23rd September 2021 at 972 Paterangi Road, Te Awamutu Start Time: 11:30am (Undercover, luncheon provided)

A/c Piquet Hill Farms Ltd on Wednesday 22nd September 2021 at 887 Te Akau Road, Te Akau (West of Huntly) Start Time: 11:00am undercover Lunch provided

DETAILS: • TB C10 MBovis not detected & BVD negative • All cows in-milk, milked twice daily in rotary shed • 6th annual in-milk auction • Strict selection criteria

AUCTIONEERS NOTE: Due to a robust selection, this will be one of the highest offerings they have presented. Selected from local established Te Awamutu herds. Cows calved from May onward. Once cows are sold the whole farm will be planted in maize. Young, all sound, these cows will be presented in optimum condition for mating. Annual buyers have confidence in the standard of cows being offered. All breeds to suit all buyers and can select A2A2 cows.

PLEASE NOTE: This auction date is scheduled subject to any changes due to Covid-19 regulations. PAYMENT TERMS:

PLEASE NOTE:

Payment due 12th January 2022. $50 price reduction if delivery before 1st October 2021. Free grazing to the 25th November if required. Delivery available twice a week: Tuesday & Friday.

This auction date is scheduled subject to any changes due to Covid-19 regulations. PAYMENT TERMS: Payment is 20th October 2021 – deliveries immediate to suit trucking.

FURTHER ENQUIRIES TO CARRFIELDS LIVESTOCK AGENT: Jack Kiernan 027 823 2373 or jack.kiernan@carrfields.co.nz VENDOR: Will Jackson 027 739 9939 or 07 825 4480

14th ANNUAL IN-MILK AUCTION HIGH INDEXED – A2A2 COWS VERIFIED BW169 PW254 LW234

12th January 2022

COMPRISING: 160 Frsn & Frsn X in-milk cows BW147 PW191 R/A 99% Herd test data available

PROGRESSIVE LIVESTOCK LTD

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

CARRFIELDS LIVESTOCK AGENTS: Ben Deroles 027 702 4196 or ben.deroles@carrfields.co.nz Mike McKenzie 027 674 1149 or Mike.mckenzie@carrfields.co.nz

VIEW OUR CATALOGUE AT

www.carrfieldslivestock.co.nz

LK0108434©

Livestock Noticeboard

LK0108524©

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

VIEW OUR CATALOGUE AT

www.carrfieldslivestock.co.nz

Muggeridge Family Farms C/- Robert & Alison Muggeridge 811 Kina Road, Oaonui Opunake, Taranaki TUESDAY 28th September 2021

Wanting to buy

Start time: 12pm

Sale held undercover with BBQ lunch provided 14 x 55 x 10 x 22 x

Friesian export heifers $1875-$1950

2 & 3 yr/old Hereford Bulls 1 year old Hereford Bulls 2 year old Jersey Bulls 1 year old Jersey Bulls

Jersey export heifers $1150-$1225 Hereford export heifers $1075-$1150

Animal Health All bulls are TB/BVD tested negative BVD & Lepto vaccinated

Price is depending on location and weight so please contact out team for more information. LK0108424©

Payment Terms Payment due 20th October 2021 PLL Bull Plan Finance available Free transport Taranaki wide on week of sale

Simmental export heifers $1275-$1350

For catalogue or more details Please Contact Matt Muggeridge 027 237 8661 Vendor’s Robert & Alison Muggeridge 027 659 1188 or 06 763 8401 Or your local Progressive Livestock Agent www.progressivelivestock.co.nz

All heifers True to type for breed, Standard Chinese protocol Minimum 6 months on-farm requirement, BVD, IBR free For more information contact: exports@yarracorpnz.com Barry Purcell 027 263 5095 • Pene Visser 0274 330 497

LK0108444©

• • • •

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

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021 Livestock CELEBRATING Noticeboard 50 YEARS OF BREEDING POLL

LK0107422©

HEREFORD BULLS FOR THE BEEF INDUSTRY 1962 - 2012

Docile • Hardy • Fertile www.reddevoncattle.co.nz

On Farm Sale and Bidr Auction

NEW SALE DATE

GroWTH & meAT

21st September 2021, 12.30pm

mIlK & mATernAl

feeD effICIenCY

teatarangi.co.nz

TE TAUMATA POLL HEREFORDS

PREDICTABLE PROFITABLE PERFORMANCE GENETICS June 7 2012 at 12pm

33rd AnnuAl on fArm Bull SAle th

To view our bull sale catalogue & Romney and pictures of sale lots go to:

Border Leicester www.tetaumata.co.nz Rams

free DelIVerY

57th Annual Hereford Bull Sale Young Herd Sire Te Taumata Banjo 10302

Wednesday 29th September 2021, 12noon BVD VACCInATeD TB C10 CArCASe SCAnneD Beef Industry Driven Performance a true dryland farm ON FARM - from LUNCHEON PROVIDED

660 Ngaroma Rd, 26km off SH3, Sth East of Te Awamutu.

Alistair & Eileen 06 372 7861 or Jim 06 372 7718 Email: studstock@tetaumata.co.nz 150 Te Kopi Road, RD 4 Masterton 5884, www.tetaumata.co.nz

POLL HEREFORDS Est. 1962

Phone us to discuss your Romney and Border Leicester ram requirements

Te Taumata Genetics

LK0108456©

Te Taumata 2TH Border Leicester Rams

Alistair & Eileen McWilliam Ph 06 372 7861 or 027 455 0099 www.tetaumata.co.nz

Top quality bulls bred for NZ Farmers ● ● BVD Tested Clear, BVD and 10 in 1 Vaccinated ● Calving ease, moderate birth weight bulls suitable to mate 1 or 2 year old heifers or cows ● Breedplan Recorded ● TB Status C10 ● Herd completely free of known genetic defects ● Only proven NZ bred bulls used in last 10 years ● Renowned for great temperament ● Three year comprehensive guarantee

Wednesday 29th September 2021 100 REGISTERED BULLS SELL!

625 Jackson Road, Kumeroa

www.mtmableangus.co.nz

10yr + No

10 Yr C L O S E D BIDDING ONLINE BLE AVA I L A

HEREFORD

Trading

H E R D & FA R M

10th 10 th Annual Bull Sale - Monday 20th September 2021

1358 Buckland Road - Cambridge - Undercover - 12 Noon

60 Grass fed Hereford Yearling Bulls - Approx 470kg l/w ave. Suitable for cows. BW & LW provided, TB C10, EBL Free, BVD Negative, Double vaccinated. Bred for medium birth weight, calving ease and temperament. Birth weights available. All bull purchasers enter a draw for 2 x lots of 30 native trees from Cambrilea Riparian Services. Light luncheon & drinks provided. Signposted from Mobil Karapiro, SH1. Purchase any Bull at this sale and charge it through your NZ Farmers Livestock account to be in to win $2,500 in cash. Drawn in October. T&Cs apply. ONLINE BIDDING AVAILABLE VIA MYLIVESTOCK. FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT: VENDORS: HELEN & CHARLIE LEA - 07 827 6868 OR 021 833 221. info@ratanuifarm.co.nz BRENT BOUGEN - 027 210 4698 GARETH PRICE - 0274 777 310 ANDREW FINDLAY - 027 273 4808

s Ju

“

te t Be

e Be

KELVIN & CYNTHIA PORT • P: 07 872 2628 • M: 022 648 2417 E: kelvin@bushydowns.co.nz • Web: www.bushydowns.co.nz ROBERT & MARIAN PORT • P: 07 872 2715

YEARLING BULL & HEIFER SALE

4th th Annual Yearling Bull Sale - 12pm Kevin or Megan FRIEL ph: (06) 376 4543 kev.meg.co@xtra.co.nz

Sound bulls with exceptional temperament • Full EBV details in catalogue. Selection of Short Gestation & Low Birth Weights • Bulls ideal for Beef & Dairy Free local delivery or grazing till 1st Nov. Payment 20th Oct.

2021 STOKMAN ANGUS

Enquiries and inspection welcome. Contact

Monday 20th September 2021

34 TOP YEARLING BULLS & 60 2-YEAR OLD BULLS

40 R1 COMM HEIFERS SELL Same sires as Bulls

Can’t make it on Sale Day? We work with BIDR, so you can bid from a location convenient to you.

- EBV’s available Sale Day

THE STOKMAN BULL . . . * FERTILITY AND SEMEN TESTED * CARCASS SCANNED * HD50K TESTED FOR HIGHER EBV ACC. * SUPER QUIET DISPOSITIONS * GROWN WELL TO BREED HEIFERS OR COWS * C10 TB STATUS, BVD VAX AND TESTED

CALL FOR A CATALOGUE OR TO VIEW BULLS AT YOUR CONVENIENCE

Mark, Sherrie and Jake Stokman Phone 07 333 2446 Mark 027 640 4028, Sherrie 027 499 7692, Jake 027 787 4008 Email: mtkiwi@farmside.co.nz Facebook: Stokman Angus Farm Sale Location: 1708 Te Kopia Road, Waikite Valley Rotorua

Ready to talk some Bull? Contact Ella: 0800 85 25 80 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz

” 6th Annual Yearling Bull Sale – FRIDAY, 24TH SEPTEMBER 2021 1:00 PM AT 43 FINLAY ROAD, CAMBRIDGE – Viewing of bulls from 11:00 AM Our bulls are purpose bred for Calving Ease and short gestation

Our bulls are proven for mating with heifers and MA cows

BVD free and vaccinated M Bovis free TB C10

Visitors always welcome. For all enquiries, contact: Sam LeCren M: 027 474 9989 E: sam@takapoto.co.nz Andy Transom, PGGW M: 027 596 514 Follow Takapoto Angus on Facebook

www.takapoto.co.nz

Livestock Noticeboard

FARMERS WEEKLY – September 13, 2021

Check out Poll Dorset NZ on Facebook

To advertise

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

UPCOMING AUCTIONS

Call Ella: 0800 85 25 80

HURSTPIER and HORIZON Polled Hereford Stud ANNUAL BULL SALE

547 Ngatimaru Rd, Tikorangi – 23 September – 12 noon

For more information go to bidr.co.nz or contact the team on 0800 TO BIDR

Tuesday, 14 September 2021 12.00pm Totaranui Angus Yearling Bull 12.00pm Kokonga Herefords Yearling Bull Wednesday, 15 September 2021 12.00pm Shadow Downs Polled Hereford Bull Thursday, 16 September 2021 11.00am Swap Agriculture 13th Annual Service Bull 12.30pm Kairaumati Yearling and 20 month Hereford Bull 2.00pm McFadzean Cattle Co Yearling Bull Friday, 17 September 2021 12.30pm KayJay Angus Yearling Bull 1.00pm Mahuta Hereford Yearling Bull Monday, 18 September 2021 11.30am Hillcroft Angus & Hereford 12.00pm Mt Mable Angus Yearling Bull

HURSTPIER HEREFORD STUD 33 R2yr Pedigree Polled Hereford Bulls Also 14 outstanding R2yr Charolais pedigree Bulls HORIZON HEREFORD STUD 20 outstanding pedigree Yearling Bulls Also A/c of Ruakarpa Farms – 25 well bred 2yr Hereford Bulls A/c of Ariki Angus Stud – 3 2yr Pedigree Bulls and 8Yearling Bulls

BullsEye Sale

David & Fiona MacKenzie and Greg & Vicki Straker

Thursday 23rd September

16th Annual Service Bull Sale / 300 McDonald Mine Road Huntly Undercover & Streamed Live with Online Bidding 440 BULLS COMPRISING: 11.30am Beef Bulls 60 x R3yr Herefords 60 x 2yr Angus (virgins) 100 x R2yr Herefords (virgins) 15 x R2yr Murray Greys 1pm approx Dairy Bulls 15 x R2yr Ayrshires (virgins) 40 x R3yr Jerseys 100 x R2yr Jerseys 35 x Autumn Jerseys (virgins) 15 x Ylg xbreds Recorded All bulls are BVD & TB tested & BVD double inoculated. All bulls have been sample tested to extremely high percentages for M Bovis and results show M Bovis not detected. Our vendors stand behind their bulls, if there is an issue with a bull when delivered you can swap the bull or be fully refunded. Delivery on sale day if needed, then every Monday from 27th September until 1st November - you pick your day/s. Auctioneers note: I have personally inspected all bulls and can vouch for their excellent temperament and condition. Buyers can buy in confidence at this sale, not only because of the bulls, but the vendors that stand behind their article. Where else do you get the chance to pick what you want, get delivery when you want and pay via Bull Plan if you want! Remember online bidding is available if you are unable to make it to the sale. Be in to win $2500 cash - visit MyLiveStock for more details. Agent in Charge: Bill Sweeney - 027 451 5310

FRANKTON

HYBRID

LIVE STREAM

Saleyard

STORTFORD LODGE FEILDING

Your source for PGG Wrightson livestock and farming listings LK0108129©

Rod and Joanne Jupp 027 711 5542 Nicola and Marcus McLeod 0274 548 996 NZ Farmers Livestock agent – Simon Payne 027 241 4585

60TH NATIONAL FRIESIAN BULL SALE

98TH NATIONAL JERSEY BULL SALE

Wednesday 22nd September 11.30

Thursday 23rd September 12.00

Te Awamutu Saleyards

Comprising: • 48 2yr Recorded Friesian Bulls • 15 18 Month Recorded Friesian Bulls • 19 1yr Recorded Friesian Bulls • Plus 54 Straws of semen BW’s to 208, Dam production to 900 m/s These bulls have been G3(DNA) profiled so their offspring can be fully recorded as replacement heifers. This offering is very well bred from high type herds doing exceptional production. Bulls are predominately owner bred and reared and will come forward in excellent order. These bulls give you different options at AI time and enable farmers to produce a lot more valuable Friesian recorded heifer calves. BVD tested and vaccinated. Catalogues giving all details are available on www. AgOnline.co.nz Sale will be hosted by bidr® as a Hybrid Livestream auction, with online bidding. More info visit www.bidr.co.nz Andrew Reyland 027 223 7092

Comprising: • 10 2yr Recorded Jersey Bulls • 15 1yr Recorded Jersey Bulls BW’s up to 316, Dams production to 935 m/s This year’s lineup of well-bred and presented Jersey bulls are backed by many generations of high-quality female bloodlines and sired by the best type and production bulls currently available. Heifer calves bred by this year’s offering can be kept as replacements with confidence. Bulls have been BVD tested and vaccinated. Farmers requiring well recorded high genetic value bulls should attend this sale. Catalogues giving all details are available on AgOnline.co.nz Sale will be hosted by bidr® as a Hybrid Livestream auction, with online bidding. More info visit www.bidr.co.nz Andrew Reyland 027 223 7092

HERD FOR SALE Approx 160 2-8yr Cows Delivery 1/06/2022 Top Kiwi X Herd BW 150 PW 176 RA 93 Owned 44yrs

Milked on medium/ steep country in B.O.P Price $2100 plus GST Enquiries: Rod Kamphorst 027 499 4937 Phil Owen 027 484 3186

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

Helping grow the country

Trading livestock? is your solution! Watch and buy online at bidr.co.nz

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Market Snapshot brought to you by the AgriHQ analysts.

Mel Croad

Suz Bremner

Reece Brick

Nicola Dennis

Sarah Friel

Caitlin Pemberton

Deer

Sheep

Cattle BEEF

SHEEP MEAT

VENISON

Last week

Prior week

Last year

NI Steer (300kg)

6.25

5.75

NI lamb (17kg)

9.35

9.25

7.20

NI Stag (60kg)

6.55

6.60

NI Bull (300kg)

6.15

5.60

NI mutton (20kg)

6.60

4.90

SI Stag (60kg)

6.45

6.60

NI Cow (200kg)

4.60

4.25

SI lamb (17kg)

9.25

9.15

6.95

SI Steer (300kg)

6.10

5.20

SI mutton (20kg)

6.75

4.65

SI Bull (300kg)

5.90

5.15

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

SI Cow (200kg)

4.90

4.05

UK CKT lamb leg

12.03

12.11

9.47

US imported 95CL bull

8.95

9.04

8.20

US domestic 90CL cow

8.95

8.75

7.35

Export markets (NZ$/kg)

$/kg CW

6.50

5.50

5.0

$/kg CW

South Island steer slaughter price

6.50

$/kg CW

Dairy

Aug 2020-21

Oct

Dec 5-yr ave

Feb

Apr 2019-20

Jun

Last week

Prior week

Last year

2.86

1.90

6.50

294

1135

750

DAP

Top 10 by Market Cap Company

YTD High

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd

32.8

36.55

YTD Low 27.1

Meridian Energy Limited (NS)

5.18

9.94

4.925

Auckland International Airport Limited

7.32

7.99

6.65

410

Mainfreight Limited

94.54

99.78

64.85

Mercury NZ Limited (NS)

6.68

7.6

5.79

400

Spark New Zealand Limited

4.82

4.97

4.37

Ryman Healthcare Limited

14.8

15.99

12.46

Contact Energy Limited

8.1

11.16

6.6

Fletcher Building Limited

7.3

7.99

5.67

Ebos Group Limited

34.2

36.25

27.51

390 370

…

J…

… M

J…

N …

…

578

342

2.45

380

DAIRY FUTURES (US$/T)

844

342

6.00

Sept. 2022

844

30 micron lamb

$/tonne

7.00

Aug 2020-21

Urea

1.75

7.50

Jun

Last year

2.80

420

Apr 2019-20

Prior week

2.85

8.00

Feb

Last week

37 micron ewe

430

Dec

NZ average (NZ$/t)

Super

8.50

Nearby contract

Oct

FERTILISER

CANTERBURY FEED WHEAT

Sept. 2021

7.0

Fertiliser

Aug 2020-21

Grain

Data provided by

MILK PRICE FUTURES

5.50

8.0

5-yr ave

Coarse xbred ind. Jun

2019-20

9.0

5.0

7.0

(NZ$/kg) Apr

South Island stag slaughter price

6.0

8.0

4.50

5-yr ave

$/kg MS

South Island lamb slaughter price

WOOL

Feb

7.0

10.0

5.00

Dec

8.0

11.0

5.0

Oct

9.0

5.0

5.50

4.00

10.0

6.0

6.00

Last year

6.0

9.0

4.00

Last week Prior week

North Island stag slaughter price

11.0

7.0 6.0

4.50

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

8.0

6.00

5.00

Last year

North Island lamb slaughter price

9.0 $/kg CW

North Island steer slaughter price

Last week Prior week

$/kg CW

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

$/kg CW

Slaughter price (NZ$/kg)

William Hickson

Ingrid Usherwood

Aug-20

Oct-20

Dec-20

Feb-21

Apr-21

Jun-21

Aug-21

CANTERBURY FEED BARLEY

Listed Agri Shares Company

5pm, close of market, Thursday Close

YTD High

YTD Low

ArborGen Holdings Limited

0.32

0.335

0.161

The a2 Milk Company Limited

5.64

12.5

5.42

Comvita Limited

3.72

3.75

3.06

Delegat Group Limited

14.81

15.5

12.9

Prior week

vs 4 weeks ago

430

WMP

3715

3650

3515

420

SMP

2835

2830

2825

410

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund (NS)

3.69

5.15

3.61

400

Foley Wines Limited

1.49

2.07

1.45

390

Livestock Improvement Corporation Ltd (NS)

1.22

1.35

0.81

Marlborough Wine Estates Group Limited

0.25

0.65

0.24

New Zealand King Salmon Investments Ltd

1.4

1.72

1.39

AMF

4140

4100

4050

Butter

3500

3460

3430

Milk Price

7.61

$/tonne

Last price*

380

7.61

370

Aug-20

* price as at close of business on Thursday

WMP FUTURES - VS FOUR WEEKS AGO

3700 3600

$/tonne

US$/t

Dec-20

Feb-21

Apr-21

Jun-21

Aug-21

WAIKATO PALM KERNEL

3800

3500 3400 3300

Oct-20

PGG Wrightson Limited

3.62

3.99

3.11

Rua Bioscience Limited

0.405

0.61

0.37

Sanford Limited (NS)

5.2

5.51

4.3

Scales Corporation Limited

5.05

5.16

4.22 4.66

Seeka Limited

5.4

5.68

400

Synlait Milk Limited (NS)

3.15

5.24

2.85

T&G Global Limited

2.95

2.85

350

S&P/NZX Primary Sector Equity Index

13638

15491

12865

S&P/NZX 50 Index

13096

13558

12085

S&P/NZX 10 Index

12695

13978

11776

300 250

Sep

Oct Nov Latest price

Dec

Jan 4 weeks ago

Feb

200

Aug-20

S&P/FW PRIMARY SECTOR EQUITY

Oct-20

Dec-20

Feb-21

Apr-21

Jun-21

Aug-21

13638

S&P/NZX 50 INDEX

13096

S&P/NZX 10 INDEX

12695

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

Analyst intel

WEATHER

Overview If you hadn’t noticed, spring has arrived and the true chaos of our weather patterns in New Zealand are being felt. As we often say at WeatherWatch: NZ is basically two mountainous islands stuck in the roaring forties, and while the roaring forties do stop at Whanganui, the North Island has certainly been lumped in with Southern Ocean weather patterns lately. We have a cold week this week for some in the Deep South, as wintry southerlies keep snow flurries coming to the ranges and perhaps even some brief lower level flurries on Tuesday in Southland and later into Otago and Canterbury. Late week, high pressure moves closer to the SI, while a northern low moves closer to northern NZ.

14-day outlook High pressure lies near Tasmania this week and will help bring in a drier pattern to the South Island, but it will also encourage colder southerlies (for Southland in particular, where a few lower level snow flurries are likely on Tuesday). Later this week, the high moves in over southern NZ and expands out to the Chathams, but it has a puncture over northern NZ in the form of a subtropical low, which moves down and over NZ this weekend.

Soil Moisture

Highlights

09/09/2021

Wind

A windy Monday for central NZ as NW winds turn S to SW. This cooler airflow will linger until later in the week, but high pressure over Tasmania should shut down the windy westerlies (for a time). Easterlies/northerlies this weekend, then westerlies return next Monday. Source: NIWA Data

Temperature

7-day rainfall forecast This new week kicks off with a cold front zipping up the South Island, with heavy falls on Monday on the West Coast (yet again); it moves across the North Island on Tuesday, slowing down and weakening. This week is looking quite dry, but a few snow flurries are possible in the lower South Island, but nothing too significant. High pressure dominates until a low with subtropical connections moves into northern NZ at the end of the week/ into the weekend. 0

Beef options to fill China gap limited

A generally average to cooler week this week, especially cooler in the south of both main islands. Southland will be coldest and most like winter, especially Tuesday to Thursday. Milder weather returns nationwide late week, thanks to the northern low with subtropical connections.

Highlights/ Extremes

100

200

400

Rainfall accumulation over seven days, from 6am, Monday, September 13 until 6am, Monday, September 20. *Forecast generated at 12am Friday, September 10.

Windy Monday in central NZ. Wintry Tuesday-Thursday in southern NZ. High pressure over Tasmania shuts down the windy westerlies. Colder air lingers in the South Island until late week. All eyes on the upper North Island later this week, as a low moves in.

Weather brought to you in partnership with WeatherWatch.co.nz

Sarah Friel sarah.friel@globalhq.co.nz

WO atypical cases of bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), or mad cow disease, have been detected at separate locations in Brazil. In accordance with existing China policy, Brazil put an immediate halt on beef exports to China. Atypical BSE describes a case which develops in cattle sporadically, rather than by consuming infected animal matter and affects all cattle populations at a very low rate. Brazil reported atypical cases in 2012, 2014 and 2019. In 2019, the ban on exports to China lasted 13 days. It is still too early to know when trade will resume this time around but given China’s limited options for suppliers to fill the gap, it’s expected the ban will be as short as possible. In 2019, the make-up of China beef imports was like 2021. The top five suppliers in 2019 were (in order): Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Uruguay and New Zealand. In the year to July 2021, the order has been reshuffled, but the key players remain Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, NZ and Australia. The outbreak of African swine fever has increased China’s reliance on beef imports. Compared to the same period in 2019, year-to-July imports increased by 474,117 tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes, including 503,000t of Brazilian beef. This is a lift of 323,200t compared to 2019. There aren’t many alternative markets available to plug a long-term supply gap left by Brazil. NZ exporters are not able to step up, given September cattle processing is weak before capacity and numbers lift through October and November. Based on the five-year average, 105,800hd of cattle are processed in NZ in September, 149% below November processing. Australia-China trade relations remain sour. Australia’s share of China’s beef supply has reduced from 18% in the yearto-July 2019 to 6% in 2021, a reduction of 41,855t. Even if China let hostilities with Australia

lapse for the sake of beef supplies, Australia does not have the volume to deliver. In August, Australian chilled and frozen beef exports slumped to 77,150t, the lowest in-month export volume recorded over the past decade. This aligns with weak Australian slaughter rates. From June 8 to September 1, eastern states’ beef slaughter rates were 27% below the five-year average. A similar situation exists with Argentina, which was China’s second biggest supplier in the year-to-July. As of July, China has imported 297,500t of Argentinian beef, a 111,900t lift on 2019 volumes. However, to stop domestic meat prices inflating, the Argentine government has extended its export ban to the end of October.

There aren’t many alternative markets available to plug a long-term supply gap left by Brazil. NZ exporters are not able to step up, given September cattle processing is weak before capacity and numbers lift through October and November.

This ban stipulates Argentina can only export half of its 2020 volumes, with a total ban on specific cuts. So, at most, Argentina can only supply China with 46,016t of beef over September-October. This is a drop in the bucket compared to the 155,309t Brazil supplied over September-October 2020. There may be some opportunity in the US, which is China’s sixth biggest beef supplier this year. Hefty cattle kill due to severe drought, paired with strong export demand, has seen supply to China lift by nearly tenfold year-on-year in July. This July, the US exported 16,670t of beef to China, with an export value of US$144 million, $132m up on year-ago exports. So, the US may be incentivised to dig deeper into domestic inventories to supply a strong market.

SALE YARD WRAP

Chatham Islands lambs fill gap As old season store lamb volumes dwindle as the season ends, supply is topped up by lambs from the Chatham and Pitt Islands. These lambs have a big journey to get to New Zealand at a significant cost to the farmers sending them, and some years the returns struggle to cover that cost, but 2021 is not one of those years. Buyers actively sought these lambs at sales last week, as confidence in their ability to finish them before they cut their teeth is high, especially given that they have proven to grow out well. Males tend to be wethers and mixed-sex lines wethers and ewes, which means no risk of the ewe lambs being in-lamb. A clear premium was paid at both Stortford Lodge and Temuka sales; top pens reached $190-$218 and no lines fell below $130. NORTHLAND Kaikohe cattle • Two-year beef-cross heifers earned $2.70-$2.75/kg • Quality yearling Simmental heifers made $2.96-$3.03/kg • Boner cows sold around $1.70/kg There were around 350 head at KAIKOHE last Wednesday, PGG Wrightson agent Vaughan Vujcich reported. The best of the 2-year steers were Angus-cross which sold to $2.93/kg with the balance of more crossbred types at $2.60-$2.70/kg. Yearling crossbred steers fetched $3.00/kg and beef-cross and Friesian bulls traded to $2.60-$2.70/kg.

WAIKATO Frankton cattle 7.9 • Most 2-year beef-dairy steers, 421-531kg, sold well at $3.13$3.29/kg • Six yearling Hereford-Friesian steers, 331kg, pushed to $3.35/kg • Top boner Friesian cows, 525-608kg, reached $2.32-$2.37/kg PGG Wrightson penned a larger than advertised yarding at FRANKTON last Tuesday. The offering was well-contested, and most sections firmed. Two-year beefdairy heifers, 381-446kg, largely firmed to $2.91-$2.97/kg. Friesian heifers, 411kg, traded at $2.58/kg though smaller pens, 377-428kg, reached $2.73/kg. Yearling exotic-cross and beef-dairy steers, 347-403kg, earned $3.00-$3.07/kg. Better Hereford-Friesian, 286-343kg, fetched $3.00-$3.13/ kg. Autumn-born weaner beef-dairy steers, 114-116kg, earned $380. Speckle Park-cross heifers, 133kg, reached $490. Prime steers, 560-638kg, firmed to $3.27-$3.31/kg and heifers, 491-567kg, $3.21-$3.30/kg. Boner Friesian heifers, 418-180kg, realised $2.63-$2.81/kg. The balance of boner Friesian, 457-507kg, were mainly $2.13-$2.25/kg. Read more in your LivestockEye. Frankton cattle 8.9 • Two-year Shorthorn and Shorthorn-cross steers, 400-413kg, managed $3.20-$3.26/kg • Yearling Angus-Hereford steers, 211-257kg, sold well at $3.25$3.39/kg • Prime Hereford-Friesian steers, 515-553kg, reached $3.17-$3.26/ kg A sizeable yarding of 789 cattle was penned by New Zealand Farmers Livestock at FRANKTON last Wednesday, with plenty of quality throughout. Two-year HerefordFriesian steers, 361-470kg, realised $3.07/kg to $3.28/kg. Better Hereford-dairy, 406-471kg, earned $3.20/kg while 381-386kg had to settle for $2.90-$2.95/kg. Beef-dairy heifers, 377-390kg, managed $2.96-$3.03/kg. Quality beefcross bulls, 360-379kg, fetched $2.94-$3.03/kg and Friesian, 281-426kg, $2.98-$3.06/kg. Yearling Hereford-Friesian steers, 227-261kg, held at $3.47-$3.57/kg while Hereforddairy, 166-231kg, firmed at $3.12/kg to $3.29/kg. Top Angus heifers, 332kg, improved to $3.13/kg with 260kg up to $3.46/kg. The balance of prime steers, 503-705kg, held at $3.08-$3.17/kg. Heifers, 416-504kg, returned $2.99-$3.15/ kg. Better boner cows were commonly $2.24/kg to $2.44/kg. Read more in your LivestockEye.

KING COUNTRY Te Kuiti sheep and cattle • Heavy prime lambs made $244-$250 with the next cut to $180$184 • Two-year beef-cross bulls, 418-436kg, fetched $2.87-$2.89/kg • Yearling South Devon-cross heifers, 257kg, earned $2.95/kg There were around 1200 sheep at TE KUITI and the best prime ewes sold to $180-$190 with light types $120-$126. The top end of the make hoggets achieved $160-$169 and ewes to $165. There was just a small yarding of cattle offered on Friday. The best of the 2-year steers, 513kg, sold to $3.24/kg with Angus-Friesian, 419kg, to $2.99/kg. The top end of yearling Hereford-Friesian steers, 323kg, realised $3.22/kg with more crossbred types $2.83-$2.87/kg. Yearling Hereford-Friesian heifers, 270kg, sold to $3.16/kg and Speckle Park, 254kg, to $3.00/kg.

BAY OF PLENTY Rangiuru cattle and sheep • Friesian steers, 719kg, earned $3.38/kg • Prime Hereford-Jersey heifers, 546kg, made $3.39/kg • Friesian, Friesian-cross and Jersey cows, 522-538kg, achieved $2.30-$2.41/kg • Prime lambs traded at $172-$203 and store lambs $62-$124 Buyers appreciated the normality of being out at the sale yards at RANGIURU last Tuesday. Eleven 2-year HerefordFriesian steers, 462kg, sold for $3.20/kg and smaller lines at 440-463kg traded at $2.93/kg to $3.09/kg. Heifers sold in small pen sizes and included the highest priced: 327kg Hereford-Friesian that made $3.00/kg. Other dairy-beef pens, 344-440kg, managed $2.85-$2.93/kg. Yearling steers earned $650-$740 regardless of breed and included many 188-264kg Friesian. The main exception was three Hereford-Friesian, 316kg, that made $990. Several larger lines of Hereford-Friesian, 223-247kg, topped the heifer section at $780 with smaller pens of 175-208kg typically $615-$660. Angus bulls, 313kg, fetched $800. Read more in your LivestockEye.

POVERTY BAY Matawhero cattle • Two-year Hereford heifers, 350kg, achieved $3.37/kg • Good yearling traditional steers, 180-200kg, made $4.00-$4.22/kg and 215-260kg, $3.72-$3.77/kg • The top end of yearling beef heifers traded to $3.11/kg Just over 580 head was offered at the MATAWHERO cattle fair last Tuesday. There was a feeling that buyers are waiting at the starting blocks, as the region waits for spring pasture growth to really kick off though there was good demand for larger lines and heavy cattle. In the 2-year steer pens, a larger line of 240kg Angus had good demand to make $3.21/kg, as did a few 465kg Charolais which reached $3.36/kg, $1560. Heavy 2-year Charolais and bigger lines of traditional heifers traded to $3.10-$3.13/kg and those below 300kg were priced accordingly with a large portion $2.66$2.74/kg. Read more in your LivestockEye. Matawhero sheep • The top pen of store ewe lambs reached $180 with medium $140-$168 • Shorn mixed-sex store lambs made $181 • Coopworth store ewes achieved $112-$138 The top end of heavy male lambs firmed at MATAWHERO to $195 with medium $168-$174 and light $96. Heavy prime lambs eased to $214-$218.50 with medium $190-$199.50 and light $130-$140. Heavy prime ewes firmed to $283 with the balance $201-$205. Read more in your LivestockEye.

TARANAKI Taranaki cattle fair • Top 2-year dairy-beef steers made $3.27-$3.35/kg and the next cut $3.14-$3.24/kg • Autumn-born R2 steers mostly made $3.15-$3.25/kg, and heifers $3.02-$3.04/kg • Yearling Hereford-Friesian heifers, 251kg, had good demand to reach $3.43/kg There was a good offering of 850 head at the TARANAKI cattle fair which allowed a true test of where demand is sitting. A large consignment of quality vetted empty dairybeef lines buoyed the 2-year heifer market. The top cut achieved $3.12-$3.22/kg and the lion’s share were mostly $2.80/kg to $3.00/kg. Top yearling dairy-beef steers shifted for $3.47-$3.64/kg with the next cut at $3.20-$3.30/kg and the majority of lesser-quality types $2.86-$2.96/kg. Read more in your LivestockEye.

HAWKE’S BAY Stortford Lodge prime sheep • Fifteen very big mixed-age ewes topped the sale at $281 • Good to very good mixed-age ewes held at $149-$188.50

• Very heavy male lambs held at $223.50-$228 • Two significant ewe lambs reached $235 Ewe throughput numbered 837 head at STORTFORD LODGE last Monday. There was something for everyone within the offering with a wide range of conditions on offer though the majority were medium-good to very good types. The balance of very heavy mixed-age ewes held at $221$225 with heavy at $191-$220. Medium to medium-good ewes held at $131.50-$148.50 while the lighter end traded at $78.50 and $112. Just 85 prime lambs were penned. Very heavy ram lambs firmed to $236. The top end of heavy mixed-sex firmed to $220 and good to heavy lines improved to $151-$185. Heavy ewe lambs firmed to $180. Read more in your LivestockEye. Stortford Lodge store cattle and sheep • Two-year Angus steers, 440-461kg, held at $3.28-$3.33/kg • Two-year Friesian bulls, 424kg, made a premium at $3.39/kg • Yearling Angus steers, 371-382kg, sold well at $3.71-$3.74/kg • Good wether lambs made $189-$190.50 • Heavy cryptorchid held at $163-$195 Spring cattle sales hit STORTFORD LODGE last Wednesday as volume ballooned to 1150. Main features included traditional two-year steers, Friesian bulls and traditional yearlings from Gisborne through to Southern Hawke’s Bay and the buying bench was widespread around the North Island. Traditional 2-year steers, 387-436kg, sold for $3.13-$3.22/kg and Charolais-cross, 373-402kg, $3.28$3.35/kg. Traditional heifers and Friesian bulls, 376-403kg and 365-511kg, sold well at $3.19-$3.29/kg. Traditional yearling steers averaged 285kg and $3.60/kg though Angus and Angus-Hereford, 223-252kg, reached $3.92-$3.97/kg and lighter pushed over $4.20/kg. Traditional heifers were variable though averaged 215kg and $3.14/kg. Lamb volume reached 4360 and featured 1700 from the Chatham Islands. Local lambs held but those from the islands lifted and heavy mixed-sex made $177-$190.50 and good, $139$168. Good ewe lambs sold for $149-$163. Read more in your LivestockEye.

MANAWATŪ Feilding prime cattle and sheep • In-calf Wagyu heifers, 493-580kg, fetched $2.85-$2.90/kg • Friesian heifers, 505kg, returned $2.76/kg • Friesian cows, 525-575kg, sold across a wide range of $2.09/kg to $2.49/kg Vendors continued to appreciate the strong lamb prices at FEILDING last Monday. Very heavy pens mostly traded at $236-$256 with one pen of five males to $280. Heavy lines were well-sought after and ranged from $199 to $230 while medium-good pens were mostly ewe lambs and priced at $173-$197. The lion’s share of a small ewe offering was $194-$199 and in very good condition. A few heavy and very heavy pens made $206-$248 and the balance varied from $122 to $183. Read more in your LivestockEye. Feilding store cattle and sheep • 2-year Angus steers, 420-500kg, eased to $3.10-$3.25/kg • 2-year Friesian bulls, 410-485kg, made $3.30-$3.40/kg • Home-bred yearling Angus steers, 290-340kg, were $3.60-$3.80/ kg • Ewe with docked lambs-at-foot were mainly $120-$142 all counted • Store lambs mostly traded at $145-$175 Store cattle numbers lifted to 1400 at FEILDING, mainly finding steady-to-firm interest. Two-year dairy-cross steers, 420-505kg, were mainly $2.95/kg flat. All 2-year heifers, 350-420kg, except for those with brindle markings sold for $3.15-$3.30/kg. Well-marked Hereford-Friesian yearling steers, 230-380kg, made $3.30-$3.55/kg while 175-230kg traditional heifers at $3.15-$3.40/kg. Yearling Friesian bulls, 195-205kg, were $3.05-$3.10/kg. The largest yarding of ewes with lambs-at-foot to date traded similar to past weeks, though buying was a bit more selective. Lines with lesser-conditioned ewes were

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021

at $245-$261. The balance traded from $140 to $240. Ewe numbers were low, but a few of the top pens made $270$297 while other heavy types returned $208-$250 and medium, $160-$196. Read more in your LivestockEye. Temuka store cattle • Two-year Angus steers, 363kg, traded at $3.28/kg • Two-year Angus heifers, 329kg, made $3.14/kg • Two-year Hereford heifers, 443kg, earned $3.12/kg • Yearling Angus steers, 244kg, fetched $3.81/kg • Yearling Belgian Blue-cross heifers, 215kg, achieved $3.90/kg TEMUKA was well into the swing of post-lockdown sales by the time the store cattle sale came around last Thursday. Cattle were of good quality and big lines featured. The top 2-year Hereford-Friesian steers, 384-409kg, sold to $3.05-$3.15/kg with second cuts of 381-419kg priced at $2.96-$3.02/kg. Traditional yearling lines, 255-282kg, were typically $3.51/kg to $3.67/kg while Hereford-Friesian, 227-304kg, managed $3.04/kg to $3.20/kg. A pen of 327kg Charolais heifers made $3.46/kg and 290kg Angus traded at $3.45/kg. Read more in your LivestockEye.

SOUTHLAND Charlton sheep • Heavy prime ewes earned $220-$265, medium $180-$210 and light $130-$165 A medium yarding of prime sheep was penned at CHARLTON last Thursday and sold on a strong market. Heavy prime lambs made $200-$230, medium $185-$195 and light $150-$180. Store lambs sold on par to the last sale held before lockdown recommenced. The top end fetched $125-$140, medium $110-$120 and light $100-$110. SPOT THE DOT: Chatham Islands lambs are often distinguished by raddle marks, which helps identify them on the boat on their journey to New Zealand.

usually $95-$115 all counted. The 2500 lambs sold to a good market. Prime types were $190-$220, good lines worked around $175-$185, mediums were primarily $150$170, with $120-$140 for lighter lambs. Read more in your LivestockEye. Rongotea cattle • Two-year Hereford-Friesian heifers, 350kg, made $2.46/kg • Autumn-born 1-year Jersey bulls earned $2.78/kg • Friesian boner cows, 495-517kg, sold from $2.02/kg to $2.16/kg • In-milk crossbred heifers traded to $850-$1150 There was just a small yarding of cattle at RONGOTEA last Tuesday, New Zealand Farmers Livestock agent Darryl Harwood reported. Heavier 2-year steers above 418kg made $3.05-$3.12/kg and 372kg Hereford-Friesian earned $2.95/kg. Yearling Friesian bulls, 221-303kg, sold from $2.18/kg to $2.76/kg and 180-213kg Jersey, $1.64/kg to $1.94/kg. Simmental-cross bull calves topped the feeder pens at $240, with other breeds $130-$170 for heavier types and $40-$115 for lighter calves.

CANTERBURY Canterbury Park prime cattle and all sheep • Prime Hereford steers, 540-620kg, earned $3.29/kg to $3.41/kg • Store lambs ranged from $102 to $153 • The top pen of ewes with lambs-at-foot made $139 all counted A sizable tally of prime lambs was yarded at CANTERBURY PARK last Tuesday and results remained impressive as 75% sold above $200. This included around 100 very heavy that earned $250-$282 while heavy pens made $210-$248. Very good and good types were evenly spread from $157 to $207. Very heavy ewes managed $271-$289 while a quarter of the tally was heavy pens at $204-$250. Only a limited volume of prime beef cattle was available. Most steers were traditional or exotic breeds that earned $3.30/kg to $3.41/kg although Limousin-cross, 520-535kg, fetched $3.21/kg to $3.35/kg. Read more in your LivestockEye.

Coalgate cattle and sheep • Prime Angus steers, 556kg, achieved $3.50/kg • Prime traditional and exotic heifers over 500kg managed $3.38$3.46/kg • Two-year steers Charolais-cross steers, 483kg, traded at $2.88/kg • Yearling Angus steers, 227kg, made $3.08/kg and 201kg heifers, $2.84/kg • One wether achieved $320 The auction at COALGATE last Thursday was the first since the Level 4 lockdown started four weeks prior. Prime cattle quality was high and $3.30-$3.38/kg encompassed most of a consignment of traditional and exotic steers. Other high yielding pens included 617-768kg HerefordFriesian that made $3.24-$3.34/kg, and 494-654kg Shorthorn at $3.18-$3.28/kg. All prime lambs met good demand and the best earned $250-$293 while most ranged from $200 to $245. The best ewes managed $300-$314 while plenty of others returned $240-$288 before the rest were evenly spread from $138 to $238. The best store lambs fetched $170 and the balance ranged from $109 to $148. Read more in your LivestockEye.

SOUTH-CANTERBURY Temuka prime cattle and all sheep • Prime exotic, beef and beef-cross steers, 525-575kg, earned $3.19-$3.28/kg • Prime heifers, 470-590kg, returned $3.05-$3.16/kg regardless of breed • Friesian cows over 550kg managed $2.30/kg to $2.44/kg • Ewes with lambs-at-foot traded at $94-$132 all counted A large yarding of lambs from the Chatham Islands bumped store numbers up at TEMUKA last Monday. Forward stores attracted bids of $200-$218 and included one pen of 242 head. Medium types made $141-$161 with the lower end of the range mostly mixed-sex or ewe lambs. A small yarding of prime lambs was easily absorbed. One lamb reached $275 followed by a quarter of the section

Feeder calves Regular buyers kept the market for the top end buoyant at MANFEILD PARK last Monday and Thursday. The best Friesian bulls made $75-$90 with medium $50. Good Hereford-Friesian and Simmentalcross sold to $200-$235 although Charolais-cross achieved $270. Charolais-cross and Simmental-cross also performed best in the heifer section and $165-$225 was common for the good pens. The top HerefordFriesian heifers achieved $100-$155 while medium pens returned $60-$85. Calf numbers increased to 470 at TIRAU last Tuesday and Hereford-Friesian filled most pens. Hereford-Friesian bulls eased to $200-$220 and small to medium types sold well at $30-$200. Good red factor calves held at $100-$150 and small calves improved to $30-$70. Friesian bulls held at $50-$100. Good Hereford-Friesian heifers also held at $90-$120, as did small to medium at $15-$85. Around 930 calves were penned at FRANKTON last week. Both yarding’s were predominantly beef-dairy calves, though PGG Wrightson penned some very good 5–6-week Friesian bull calves last Tuesday and these fetched $280-$300. The balance of medium to good calves held at $90$170 over both sale days. Top Angus-cross bulls firmed to $150-$220 and medium types held at $50-$100. Medium to good Hereford-Friesian held at $160-$205 while smaller calves eased to $50-$120 and red factor lines earned $50-$130. Friesian heifers sold well for New Zealand Farmers Livestock last Wednesday at $200. Top Hereford-Friesian heifers could not quite match the highs of the previous week and traded at $130-$160. Small to medium realised $20-$90 while red factor lines held at $10-$75. Around 500 calves passed through the REPOROA sale yards last Thursday. The best Friesian bulls managed $160 while medium pens often made $60-$95. Hereford-Friesian were the main beef-cross type and the best bulls achieved $235-$270 while similarly sized heifers achieved $155-$195.

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Markets

48 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 13, 2021 NI STEER

NI LAMB

SI LAMB

($/KG)

6.25

9.35

9.25

PRIME TRADITIONAL STEERS, 530KG AVERAGE, AT COALGATE ($/KG)

3.37

$3.18 - $3.28 high $3.71 - 3.74 2-year Hereford-Friesian Angus steers, lights Yearling 370 - 380kg, at Stortford steers, 450-470kg, at Lodge

Brazil export blow could impact NZ Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz

EW Zealand does not have available beef to cash in on a sudden cessation of Brazilian exports to China following two cases of a form of bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), or mad cow disease. It has been reported that Brazil suspended exports after confirmation that two cases of atypical BSE were detected in two separate domestic meat plants. China has suspended trade until it determines the extent of the problem but it currently buys about 900,000 tonnes of Brazil’s two million tonnes of annual beef exports. Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says that the volume of Brazilian beef exports to China will be difficult for any country to replace, but NZ is currently at the low point of its processing season. While the ban is temporary, Karapeeva says there is potential for disruption to other NZ markets. “An extended ban on Brazilian beef by China may see Brazil look to diversify to other markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East and other southeast Asian countries,” Karapeeva said. So, while there may be more demand for beef from China, this does have the potential to displace some New Zealand beef exports from these other markets.” Argentina has export restrictions, Australia is rebuilding its herd, while the US has significantly increased its exports to China. Brazil has never recorded a

CHANCE: While the ban is temporary, Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says there is potential for disruption to other NZ markets.

An extended ban on Brazilian beef by China may see Brazil look to diversify to other markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East and other southeast Asian countries.

classic case of BSE. According to the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, atypical BSE can appear spontaneously and sporadically and is unrelated to the ingestion of contaminated food, the primary source of classic BSE. Atypical BSE has differing biologically properties and

biochemical characteristics to classic BSE. Classic BSE is caused by feeding insufficiently heated ruminant fats and proteins containing the pathogenic prion protein to cattle. Prions and abnormal pathogenic agents that are transmitted can affect cellular proteins called prion proteins that are most abundantly found in the brain. It can appear in countries which have not had any cases of classical BSE and the fact that the disease only occurs in older animals leads scientists to assume this extremely rare disease develops spontaneously. “This is similar to the spontaneously occurring cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which is also caused by prions,” a paper by the research institution stated.

Frankton

ACROSS THE RAILS SUZ BREMNER

First test for spring market THE spring cattle market was put to its first real test at many sale yards, but spare a thought for those yards sitting under the Level 4 lockdown, as they can still not yet open their gates. Pukekohe, Tuakau and Wellsford fall in that area and potential vendors are frustrated by the continued closure of the Wellsford sale yards, PGG Wrightson Northland livestock manager Bernie McGahan says. “We are selling bits and pieces in the paddock, but this is the time when farmers like to quit cattle in some numbers,” McGahan said. As a stop-gap measure, some lower Northland cattle are being sent to Kauri sale days in Whangarei instead of Wellsford, which usually has the bigger tallies and galleries. Other farmers have sold ahead of usual times, before lockdown, because of feed shortages and the good store prices. McGahan thought that the local store cattle values should be higher than currently, based on the beef schedule, but that lockdowns and uncertainties were holding them down a little. “When the restrictions ease, I think the cattle market will take off, probably in October,” he said. Pasture growth across Northland is slow because September has been wet and cold so far and a lot of nitrogen was going out, as McGahan could observe out his office window.

Some cattle that would usually be sold at Tuakau are being drip-fed into the Frankton sale yards and the hope is that a move to Level 3 will see these yards back in operation. Many other North Island yards got right into spring cattle fair action and as restrictions moved down to Level 2 on Wednesday, the pressure around attending numbers also made the job of holding sales a little easier. These early spring sales showed real promise for the two-year and yearling cattle that came forward – in particular, annual draft lines of quality dairy-beef and traditional cattle. Values for these types are already very similar to last year’s spring market and as yet there is not a true grass market established, so there is still room for more, especially given the promising beef outlook. Some regions have been fortunate to have good spring rain already and were the leaders in the market; most notably Manawatū were big buyers at several yards. While Central Hawke’s Bay buyers were active, Hawke’s Bay farmers are finding themselves in uncomfortably familiar territory of waiting for the rain to come and now that the wind has arrived, concern is already mounting over another dry spring. Temuka also held a big spring cattle sale after testing the water last week with a small yarding. This market also showed good potential early in the season. suz.bremner@globalhq.co.nz

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