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Volume 132 I November 21st, 2022 I email:agined@agrihq.co.nz I www.farmersweekly.co.nz/agined

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How does our carbon footprint for sheep and beef meat production stack up against the rest of the world?

This is of course a hugely hot topic right now with New Zealand’s desire to be “zero carbon”. Head to https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/importantnew-research-nz-beef-and-lamb-carbon-footprint to read about the comprehensive study carried out by AgResearch looking at our carbon footprint for sheep and beef meat production in NZ. Then see if you can answer the following questions.

1 What is a carbon footprint? What is a carbon footprint? 2 What is the carbon footprint of 1kg of NZ sheep meat? What about 1kg of NZ beef?

STRETCH YOURSELF:

1 Based on the premise that eating red meat 2-3 times a week for a year equates to just under a single passenger’s return flight from Auckland to

Christchurch. Looking at how many times you eat meat per week, how many of these flights could be made with your family’s yearly meat intake? 2 2 Who is the world’s largest exporter of lamb? 3 3 Do some research. What are the main differences between GWP100 and GWP*? 4 Which of these was used in the Life Cycle Assessment study? Why was this? 5 Do you think that GWP100 or GWP* should be used in

NZ to assess methane targets? Explain why. 6 What does the term “climate neutral” mean?

THIS GRAPH SHOWS NEW ZEALAND LAMB SLAUGHTER RATES.

1 What month is lamb kill typically at its highest levels? 2 In what month is lamb kill at its lowest levels? 3 Has this season followed a similar pattern to last season and the five-year average?

HEIFERS ARE THE FUTURE OF ALL DAIRY HERDS so raising them well and making

informed choices for all aspects of their care is imperative to dairy farmers. Liveweight targets are one part of this.

1 What is a heifer? 2 At what age are dairy heifers first put in-calf?

STRETCH YOURSELF:

1 Why is body weight the key driver of puberty? 2 At what age should heifers be at 90% of their mature weight? 3 How are mature weights estimated? 4 What is the most accurate way to assess if heifers are meeting targets? 5 Looking at the table below what would a 12-month Jersey heifers liveweight target be? 5a) What would a Friesian of the same age be? 5b) What would the target be for a 22-month crossbred heifer?

Jersey 423 kg Crossbred 467 kg Friesian 499 kg

Source: National Dairy Statistics (2014)

It is important that heifers meet their liveweight targets. Not achieving them means delayed calving, lower fertility following calving and often less milk at first-lactation. Head to https://www.dairynz.co.nz/animal/ heifers/liveweight-targets/ to read more about this and then answer the following questions. For more information on the benefits of liveweight targets head to https://www.dairynz. co.nz/media/5788804/heiferfactsheet-11.pdf

Puzzle Me This

How many words containing three or more letters can you make from CAULIFLOWER

There are five 8 letter and eighteen 7 letter words that can be made from this, can you make any? STRETCH YOURSELF:

1 The number of lambs processed in NZ during the 202122 season was 600,000 head lower than the previous season. Looking at the graph, what months were slaughter levels much lower than typical? 2 At 17.7 million head, this was the first season in 30 years of AgriHQ records where the number of lambs processed was below 18 million head. What factors do you think have driven a lower supply of lambs? 3 In the coming years, do you think NZ sheep numbers will increase or decrease. Why do you think this is?

logyTechnologyTech

Jenni Matheson and Milli Kumar from Kinda with their cauliflower ice cream

Cauliflower Ice Cream Anyone?

A start up company called Kinda have made an “ice cream” from cauliflower and will be launching their single serve tubs in 2023.

1 How many flavours of ice cream does Kinda make? 2 How did the Kinda brand start? How did the Kinda brand start? 3 What do they believe are the environmental What do they believe are the environmental benefits of their brand versus traditional ice cream? benefits of their brand versus traditional ice cream?