Country-Wide August 2018

GROWING NZ FARMING

In at the

Deep End

Taking over the family farm wasn’t on the cards quite so soon for John Small. Together with wife Leah they are tackling the challenge p65

August 2018

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WRITER’S NOTE

Opportunity for a fresh start

I NEXT ISSUE Country-Wide September: • CROP AND FORAGE SPECIAL: Focus on hill country.

• BRANDING: Telling our story, part two.

• MYCOPLASMA BOVIS: Where to now?

n New Zealand, we like to think we’re world leaders in agriculture, particularly pastoral livestock systems. In many respects we are, but Mycoplasma bovis is highlighting a few areas where, as a teacher would say on a school report, we “could do better”.

Livestock traceability is one of those.

It took nearly a decade for NAIT to get to its 2012 launch and now, six years later, it’s still full of glitches, as the NAIT review released earlier this year confirmed. MPI has repeatedly blamed, and the mainstream media gleefully repeated, farmer non-compliance with NAIT as hampering tracing of M bovis.

Yet MPI is meant to be the enforcer of NAIT. Much of that non-compliance will be because of problems highlighted by the review, especially system design and the regulations NAIT operates under.

The initial three-year transition period was welcome, but a review should have started the day that transition period finished for cattle, with a deadline to report within the year.

Instead, the review started in early 2016 and rumbled on until March this year. It was only released after a ministerial rev-up. There’s been a lack of urgency by all involved at NAIT, MPI included, and from the previous Government.

We’re lucky we’re not paying a higher price than the $1 billion M bovis is going to cost us.

Imagine if it had been a disease with trade implications.

Compare that $1b figure to the $8m annual budget for NAIT, of which only $2.1m went to operations in 2016/17, and you have to ask if we’ve got our priorities right.

Most of us would rather farm without NAIT, but it’s a necessary evil in today’s world of non-tariff trade barriers, sanctions and traceability. We need our farming leaders to ensure executives at Ospri drive improvement of the system while championing its use to the rank and file in the fields. It’s all been too quiet, for too long, and it probably still would be but for M bovis.

Given the pressure coming on NAIT, the resignation of Michelle Edge as chief executive and Jeff Grant as chairman of parent body Ospri will inevitably be seen by some as a sign the head chefs couldn’t stand the heat. Unfair as that may be, changes at the top present an opportunity for a fresh start.

Integrating electronic ASDs with NAIT and getting an accurate benchmark of farm-to-farm livestock movements should be priorities, especially as eASD and NAIT integration is forecast to return a net present value of 170%. It should have happened yesterday.

Andrew Swallow

Got any feedback? Contact the editor direct: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272.

Facebook.com/terry.brosnahan

Download your copy at www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

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August 2018

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More: p40

BOUNDARIES Southern Finale for Young Farmers.

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A help on to the land.

HOME BLOCK 10

Charlotte Rietveld spends time with farming sheilas.

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Roger Barton makes the case for wool.

Blair Drysdale shakes off winter with a holiday.

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Amy Hoogenboom takes a tour of experience.

Charlie McCaig challenges some holy grails.

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Nick Loughnan reflects on times gone by.

FACTS 17

Reece Brick notes the potential for collateral damage.

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NOTEBOOK 18

What’s on when and who’s doing what

BUSINESS Clawing back Aussie on red meat.

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Hats off to Taste Pure Nature.

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Merino wool: A fibre fit for littlies.

Contents

Brexit: UK assurance schemes even more vital.

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Chinese demand for Northern Ireland wool soars.

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Gold awards for NZ steaks.

Editor: Terry Brosnahan, ph 03 471 5272; mob 027 249 0200; terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz Deputy Editor: Cheyenne Nicholson, ph 06 280 3168; cheyenne.nicholson@nzfarmlife.co.nz Managing Editor: Tony Leggett, ph 06 280 3162 mob 0274 746 093, tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Levy rise to energise red meat story.

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M bovis response concerns mount.

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Rural NZ pays for own faces on air.

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Pests: Ecan’s plan of attack.

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Robin Gamble: Character with sense of fun.

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Deer Farmer Editor: Lynda Gray, ph 03 448 6222, lyndagray@xtra.co.nz

Country-Wide is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740 General enquiries: Toll free 0800 2AG SUB (0800 224 782) www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Sub Editor: Andy Maciver, ph 06 280 3166, andy.maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz Designer: Joanne Hannam, ph 06 280 3167 Junior designer: Cassandra Cleland Production Planning: ph 06 280 3164 Reporters Andrew Swallow ph 021 745 183 Anne Hughes ph 07 863 3361; Lynda Gray ph 03 448 6222; Robert Pattison ph +64 27 889 8444; Sandra Taylor ph 021 151 8685; Tim McVeagh 06 329 4797; James Hoban ph 027 251 1986; Russell Priest ph 06 328 9852; Jo Cuttance ph 03 976 5599; Rebecca Harper ph 06 376 2884.

Partnerships Managers: Janine Aish, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, ph 027 890 0015 Janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett, Lower North Island, ph 027 474 6093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson, South Island, ph 027 289 2326 david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz Subscriptions: nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop ph 0800 224 782 or subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Printed by PMP Print, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 1179-9854 (Print)

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August 2018

More: p26 More: p70

DEER FARMER 36

Systems model for deer like dairy.

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Taiwan deer farming insight.

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Health tool plugged to vets, farms next.

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Cervena brand gets a makeover.

LIVESTOCK Young couple in at the deep end.

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Genetics: A sale by popular demand.

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YOUNG COUNTRY

Dog trials: Quality father and daughter time.

Lloyd Smith introduces a young dog to stock work.

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COMMUNITY 74

A war veteran tackles cyclone log recovery.

NAIT progress good by international standards.

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SOLUTIONS

Gene talk: Breeding for disease resistance.

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App to replace scales.

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Insights into animal moods.

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Stock check: Treading carefully with rams.

ESTATE

CROP AND FORAGE Future forage: Spoilt for choice.

Diverse forages: Cropping for the cows.

Jim Gibbs discusses the magic of sheep on beet.

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Market view: Buyers wait for clarity.

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Succession: Keeping it fair.

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PLANT AND MACHINERY One-pass reseeding rig.

More photos from this month’s Country-Wide.

OUR COVER

ENVIRONMENT 62

Catchment plans: Collaboration at its best.

Farm forestry: saving baby from the bath water.

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TECHNOLOGY 67

Alan Royal shows how to clean up disk space.

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August 2018

John Small and wife Leah found themselves unexpectedly taking over the southern Hawke’s Bay family farm.

Photo: Brad Hanson

Kirstin Mills offers some time-saving tips.

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Future-proofing a farm development.

FARMING IN FOCUS

More: p40 7

BOUNDARIES | YOUNG FARMER OF THE YEAR

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Southern finale

ast contestants, current competitors and supporters flocked to Invercargill for the 50th FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final. Having 37 of the 49 previous winners at the 50th celebration dinner on the Thursday night was a highlight.

Otago/Southland’s Logan Wallace, pictured in the fencing stage, took the title of 50th grand champion.

Competitors went south for competitions including: AgriKids, Teen Ag, Young Farmers stock judging, fencing and claybird shooting as well as the Young Farmers annual national awards.

More photos: see page 82.

MYTH-BUSTING BROUGHAM TALKS One of the country’s leading soil scientists is embarking on a myth-busting lecture tour later this month.

As the recipient of the New Zealand Grassland Trust’s Ray Brougham Trophy last November Ravensdown’s chief scientific officer Dr Ants Roberts will give four talks headed ‘Soil fertility finagling: A curmudgeon’s view”.

Too many people are pitching philosophies and/or products to farmers and other agriculturalists without good science to support the claims being made, Ants says.

“I am going to have my say on what the science says on a number of topics.”

Those include: base saturation cation ratio theory; use of humates; reverted superphosphate; fine particle application; fertiliser impacts on soil fauna and flora.

He’s in Palmerston North August 15, Ruakura August 17, Lincoln August 20, and Invermay September 11.

Entry is free; time and venue details under “news” at www.grasslands.org.nz

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GRANT FOR LEADERSHIP New Zealand Farm Management consultant Justin Geary (left) was presented with a grant from the local branch of the Deer Farmers Association at the Deer Industry Conference to help fund his Kellogg’s Rural Leadership course.

“We try to pick a recipient from the area that we think will, in due course, give back to the industry in a constructive and positive manner,” national chairman of the Deer Farmers Association, David Morgan says, who made the presentation with branch chairman Graham Peck (right).

Besides his consultancy business, Geary has an 80-hectare beef and dairy support block near Fairlie.

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August 2018

BOUNDARIES | OUTTAKES

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A help on to the land

okomairiro A & P Society is developing the Tokomairiro High School Agricultural Tertiary Education Scholarship to help students into the agriculture sector.

Tokomairiro High School principal Glenis Sim said she was thrilled with the development of agriculture in the school.

Horticulture, run by Sue Nelson, had always been a subject of high interest.

“Our new HOD Science, Kara Whaley, is very passionate about agriculture so we are now seeing an increase in the numbers studying agricultural science in the school.”

Tokomairiro, in the Milton area in South Otago, was where 2017 FMG Young Farmer of the Year Nigel Woodhead farms.

Teen Ag, which runs in conjunction with Young Farmers, was developed as a club in the school about three years ago.

This year three teams from the school represented Otago-Southland at the 2018 FMG Young Farmer of the Year grand final.

Funds for the scholarship, which A & P Society president Richard McElrea thought would be for $1000, would come from proceeds from their Winter Crops Competition.

OUTTAKES REVENUE GATHERING?

A speed camera south of Temuka made more than $200,000 in fines in its first few weeks of operation earlier this year. Authorities claim speed cameras are not revenue gathering but to improve road safety in high crash areas. If this is so, why don’t they use more high-visual electronic traffic speed signs and fine the slow drivers who cause a lot of the risk taking.

TEXAS VS AUSTRALIA

A Texan farmer goes to Australia on vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets to talking. The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says “Oh! We have wheat fields that are at least twice that size!”.

They walk around the ranch a little, and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately replies “We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows.”

The conversation has died down when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the fields. He asks the Aussie “What are those?”

The Aussie replies with an incredulous look: “Don’t you have grasshoppers in Texas?”

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August 2018

CORRECTION Last month Country-Wide relayed a ‘highlight’ figure in OSPRI’s 2016/17 annual report of 3.7 million animals registered in NAIT. We took this figure to be the total number of animals on the NAIT register, just as the figure below it was the total number of farmers on the NAIT register – 83,326.

It turns out the 3.7m figure was just the animals registered in that year.

According to the NAIT review, there were 11 million cattle and 420,000 deer on the NAIT register by February 2018, figures much closer to Statistics NZ’s June census tallies. With hindsight, our criticism of OSPRI’s stakeholder council was over the top, for which we apologise.

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The Boss and The Chief Inspector head off on a grey power getaway.

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

A time for self-promotion Charlotte Rietveld finds a way to extract herself from the mud of winter to spend time with our nation’s fabulous farming sheilas.

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ho would have thought we’d be thanking July for a welcome break from the rain. Like the rest of our fair country, winter began with water tables brimming and most of us doing anything to escape the endless mud.

The Boss and The Chief Inspector took this one step further by announcing they were off on 2018’s second grey power getaway. Forget the exotic heat of the islands or Europe’s ancient ruins, these two were off to burn their heating subsidy in style – on the bright lights of Oamaru. While not a holiday destination topping everyone’s travel list, The Chief Inspector came home raving and even The Boss was uncharacteristically effervescent in his “very good” summation.

Meanwhile, Her Indoors was gleefully back to full-time farming, which I celebrated by giving myself a five-day promotion to the position of farm manager.

In keeping with this status elevation, I felt it would be only right to also upgrade my corporate wheels. And so it was that I was cruising Middle Rock’s sodden farm tracks in The Boss’s late

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model Land Cruiser having a merry old time. By day two, having flown through my 90-minute trial period, I decided this managerial business was just the thing.

I subsequently had my three-day performance review, where the panel of one concluded I had exceeded all KPIs and deserved a contract extension and a sizeable bonus.

With visions of retaining this lofty management role, I was on my A-game not putting a gumboot wrong.

With confidence peaking I had decided it was time to be joined by a couple of farming cadets who could benefit from my infinite farm management experience – it was time to ‘give something back’ as they say.

Half-way through a tussock-block mob shift, busy running dogs teaching my nappy-clad cadets some new vocabulary, I had a moment’s inattention. What used to be solid ground had now joined winter’s ever-expanding swamp land and the corporate wheels were going no further.

It was mid-afternoon and I was stuck in mud out the back of the farm in a stolen vehicle accompanied by one and two-year-old cadets and half a box of raisins. Let’s just say it was a long

afternoon, after which I was only too happy to give it all back.

Having had more than enough of mud outdoors and my two little cadets’ indoor mud, I went in search of my own reprieve. As it happens, the napisan gods were looking down on me with pity that day as there in the paper, like a radiant beam of child-free wonder, was an advertisement for ANZCO’s Being Bold for Change rural women’s conference.

Let it be said that I normally run a mile from such estrogen events.

Conga-line visions of women painting each other’s nails merge with fears of seminars about how to colour-coordinate RAKAIA GORGE your office space leaving me waking at night with cold sweats. But this time, be it from desperation of dreary weather or dribble, I couldn’t sign up fast enough. It turns out 149 other agricultural women from around New Zealand were thinking the same. Now, as anyone who has been acquainted with me knows, I like a good yarn. But even I was left in baffled slack-face silence at the decibel ratings emanating from that conference venue.

This being before we’d all even met, I knew then that we were in for a good time.

Sure enough, it was a cracker couple of days and not an incense-burner, group hug nor hairy armpit in sight. I left with patience restored in all varieties of mud and faith restored in our nation’s fabulous farming sheilas.

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August 2018

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Making the case for wool Wool – that great, environmentally friendly natural fibre – has been left off the shopping list in the quest to build 10,000 new homes a year, Roger Barton laments.

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he shortest day has been and gone and from here on in is the usual start of winter. Ground conditions are wet and I’m easily reminded as to how wet we got later last winter and into spring.

The ewe hoggets have started on their swede crops and despite the stony soil profile are already a bit muddy. They have all been full-bellied which makes life more comfortable for them and shearing is particularly easy.

I’ve written about my love affair with wool before. What a great natural fibre but what a travesty that it is continually relegated to second choice over synthetic products.

I’ve never got too excited with scanning percentages. They are just the start. The real focus is on minimising losses of both ewes and lambs from here to weaning.

We are happy, as a nation, to rail against the use of plastic bags and then turn around and do the opposite of what we are preaching.

Our government has lofty aims of a zero-carbon economy by 2050 but then won’t support the wool industry by incorporating more environmentally friendly products in their quest to build 10,000 new homes per year, presumably to contain costs.

I thought that they were preaching

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August 2018

that sustainability wasn’t for free? Are they scared to support the wool industry because their ultimate target is to eliminate methane-emitting animals?

Many years ago the Ministry for the Environment put out some sort of a “carbon footprint calculator” and four people, including me as a meat-eating sheep and beef farmer had our personal data entered into the system by an interviewer.

Interestingly Jeanette Fitsimmons, ex Green MP and staunch environmental advocate was also one of those subject to the calculator. Surprisingly my carbon footprint was the lowest of the four monitored.

It seemed to help that I didn’t need transport to get to work and I have no hobbies as such (well other than farming).

The results were reported in the Dominion newspaper along with the occasional comment from those monitored. My final throwaway line was “Buffalo Bill must have saved the world.” Sometime later Pete Hodgson the then Minister for the Environment, from memory, fronted a meeting in Masterton on the much-discussed FART tax. I chanced a greeting with him and he referenced my Buffalo Bill comment – it seemed to hit a nerve.

If you were starting to think that the drab winter weather was making me cynical I would probably have to agree.

On the brighter side, we had a record scanning. Triplets included, we came out at 196%; 186% for the two-tooths, 202% for the mixed age and a whopping 232% for the aged recordeds (only a small

Roger Barton’s ewes have had a record scanning.

tally of ewes there, though).

I’ve never got too excited with scanning percentages.

They are just the start. The real focus is on minimising losses of both ewes and lambs from here to weaning. Quoting lamb losses as a percentage of lamb crop are terribly distorted if you don’t have a triplet figure at scanning. Our best loss rate is 11.7% and worst 18%. Both well inside accepted industry average. As a fellow breeder says: “The only trait you can’t over select for is survival.”

Since the start of the year sheep and beef farming has been in a sweet spot.

Great pasture and crop growth, good lamb growth rates, best ewe hoggets ever, best lamb pricing and a strong beef market.

How long will it last? But more importantly how do we stop everyone else from climbing into our wallets on a continual basis to erode the gains we have waited so patiently for? The shearing fraternity have raised a fair flag that they are struggling to attract and maintain their workforce and meet our needs around timing. We can be assured it won’t stop there. With increased costs there should be increased accountability around quality and professionalism in whatever field people operate.

Life would all be a little more pleasant if we made more of an effort to work with people than against them. I’m sure there are many ways where we can all lift our game.

GREYTOWN

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Murphy’s

impeccable timing Pearl Harbor memorials: The USS Missouri and the memorial shroud over the wreck of the USS Arizona.

With the arrival of winter, a holiday in the warmth of Hawaii beckons for Blair Drysdale and his family from their farm at Balfour, Northern Southland.

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inter certainly hit with a vengeance this year. A week of frosts is unusual for us in early June, a reminder that Mother Nature is boss. It’s when the use of silly string is prolific and merely seen as an object by animals, that for the first few days must be entangled in kale and swedes, solely to frustrate the farmer.

Now that all classes of stock have learnt the perils of temporary fences and have some new-found manners (or so I thought), all is going well and for all but the R2 beefies, there’s plenty of feed for winter.

The flow-on effects of Mycoplasma bovis meant having to carry 45 extra head of R2s into winter on the fodder beet because of space being extremely tight at processing plants.

I don’t want to go on too much about M bovis, but I think MPI director Geoff Gwyn’s statement saying farmers are failing to report cases is well out of line and has been met with the ire of farmers.

I know several farmers who made that phone call, as I myself had to make and I don’t think it’s helpful of him playing the blame game and nor is politicians using it as a political football.

However, winter isn’t all doom and gloom. Most years we leave the farm at this time in the capable hands of my

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father, while we enjoy warmer climates somewhere. This year was no exception with a trip to Hawaii with friends booked back in early summer, leaving June 6.

But along came Murphy, in the form of very heavily falling snow in an attempt to derail our plans at 7pm the night before departure. Not BALFOUR a great development when you’re flying out of Queenstown. The roads heading to Queenstown in the morning were dodgy, but the airport was open (just) and flights on time.

A few things strike you on arrival to Hawaii. The heat on exiting the plane, the patriotism and anyone of authority having openly holstered firearms.

While the customs officers and police are somewhat hostile, the Hawaiian people are open and welcoming. It’s a culturally diverse state, beautiful beaches, mountains, volcanoes, so much to see and do, and of course it’s hugely historical significance in the unfolding of and bringing the United States into World War II. Day 1 in Hawaii and a text from Mum, Murphy wasn’t done yet. Two out of three mobs of cattle had broken out and all hell had broken loose. A quick phone call from Mum to a mate of mine to give Dad a hand in restoring justice and all was good. In the words of Wal Footrot,

“Those bloody Murphy’s!”

Visiting Pearl Harbour is an absolute must. A very moving place and one of the best things I’ve ever done. Everything of that fateful day respectfully preserved and displayed for future generations to honour the fallen. Even being there one can’t comprehend the terror that unfolded at 7:55am on December 7, 1941, a two-hour assault on the heart of US Pacific naval fleet.

Looking over the almost completely submerged wreck of the USS Arizona, with more than 1100 men entombed within its hull, the memorial spanning over her 97ft beam, is very compelling. The hairs on your neck stand to attention involuntarily.

The brutal attack on the Americans of course paled in comparison to the US retaliation, the nuclear bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki spelling the end of WWII. Standing on the forward deck of the USS Missouri, beside the spot where the instrument of formal surrender of Japan to the allied powers was signed thus bringing an end to the war, is surreal.

Holidays are a must, life is for living and one never knows how much time is left. I say this on a very serious note because as I write this I reflect fittingly and respectfully on the loss of a handsome, loyal and brave young man, who was prepared to, and served for our country in the New Zealand Army.

The son of a good mate of mine, loved and missed by all his proud family and friends who passed away tragically a year ago on Mt Taranaki, aged 22. Private Morgan Ross Fraser, Rest in Peace.

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August 2018

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

On a tour of experience Massey University veterinary student Amy Hoogenboom is counting down to the end of her student days and looking forward to being a ‘real vet’.

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urns out my trusty Ford Mondeo is not so trusty after all. The day after I sent in my April column, the sandy-coloured sedan blew a hose pipe and needed a new water pump.

It was a less-than-ideal position to be in given I was about to set off on eight weeks of working around the country and none of the three mechanics I rang in Palmerston North could fit me in that week to fix it. To cut a long story short, I now owe the team at Ruahine Motors Waipukurau several boxes of beer for coming to my rescue, delivering mum’s car and taking mine to be fixed.

A lot has happened since I last wrote, I have visited six different vet clinics, baked five batches of chocolate brownies and two chocolate slices, travelled 8473 kilometres, seen one outstanding chronic case of lumpy jaw, vaccinated 14 rabbits, assisted with a caecal torsion surgery in a dairy cow, and castrated a guinea pig amongst other things.

I have always admired the amber hills of Hawke’s Bay in the summer, the endless curvy roads that wind out to sandy beaches. But after travelling State Highway 1 along the Kaikoura coast and down to Canterbury for clinical placement, I think I have fallen in love with the south.

There is something rather magical

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about the mosaic of paddocks and braided rivers snaking across the plains which buttress the towering snowcapped peaks of a fault line. I enjoyed it so much that I am returning for two more weeks’ placement and think it may be not a bad place to start my career.

Now we’re into August, calving and lambing is underway for many, as is foaling, with August 1 marking the beginning of the thoroughbred breeding season.

I seem to feel like I am never busy enough, so from August to November for the past three years and again this year I night foal watch for a Manawatu thoroughbred stud. This involves working from 6pm to midnight two nights a week; watching mares on a floodlit paddock, regularly checking other paddocks of mares who are still two to four weeks away from their due date, attending every foaling and providing individual care and monitoring of the mare and foal.

Some may say what a lot of fuss, but many of these foals will sell for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars at 18 months old (and research has proven most mares foal at night).

Recently, I spent six weeks on small animal rotation in the Massey University Vet Teaching Hospital. It was the block of rotations I’d been dreading most; I just find it a heck of a lot more complicated

MASSEY UNIVERSITY

than farm animals or horses.

The rotation involves working through different ‘services’ in the hospital including referral surgery, internal medicine, emergency care and community practice (the university’s first-opinion vet clinic).

Six weeks ended up flying by. It was great to be involved with the weird and wonderful cases as well as the opportunity to begin consulting while having an experienced vet to offer their opinion also.

I would be lying if I said I would miss the teaching hospital with early morning and late-night patient treatments, forever trying to keep white lab coats clean, being quizzed until your brain feels like mush and spending a disproportionately large amount of time running up and down the corridors of the hospital looking for the ever-elusive clinicians.

However, the classmates in my rotation group and the staff of the Massey Vet Hospital with their good will and wicked sense of humour made my time on small animal rotation, not only bearable but a fun and valuable learning experience.

It’s 122 days to go until I’m a ‘real vet’ – exciting, nerve-wracking, the end of one adventure and the beginning of another.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Defying the findings of science Opunake equity partner Charlie McCaig challenges the dairy industry holy grail of organic and A2 milk.

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f you lived in the middle ages or as human knowledge develops, time earlier, chances are you would becomes limited for unscientific practices have heard of trepanning. and beliefs. It’s that opinion that leads Trepanning was a surgical me to be generally opposed to two things procedure where a small hole being actively promoted as possible was drilled – or worse, scraped – directions New Zealand dairy should in a person’s skull to expose one of the take: organic and A2 milk. membranes that surrounds the brain and Both organic and A2 have strong spinal column. support with some vocal proponents, This delightful procedure was used but both will suffer the same downfall in as a cure for various ailments such as my opinion because science just doesn’t headaches, seizures or mental disorders. support their claims.

The thinking of some people of the The generally accepted definition time was that these ailments were of organic farming is “an integrated caused by evil spirits. If your ‘doctor’ farming system that strives for didn’t subscribe to that theory perhaps sustainability, the enhancement they would have been a ‘humourist’. of soil fertility and biological It’s not as funny as it sounds. diversity whilst, with rare Humourism was a theory that held that exceptions, prohibiting there were four humours in the body: synthetic pesticides, blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow antibiotics, synthetic bile. A person would be healthy fertilisers, genetically OPUNAKE when all four humours were in modified organisms, and balance. An excess or a deficit of growth hormones”. one or more of the humours was Organic farming’s proponents’ the cause of illness. If you were ill your claims are varied and numerous but doctor might prescribe blood-letting to the ones that seem to hold best in relieve an excess of blood. the consumers’ psyche is that organic If you’ve never heard of these food is somehow ‘healthier’ and ‘treatments’ there’s a good reason: ‘more environmentally friendly’ than they’re complete nonsense. Eventually conventional food. as our understanding of the world grew, Both these things have been established more sensible theories emerged. For a – through several scientific reviews of long time, it was believed that miasma many studies – to be untrue. (or ‘bad air’) was the cause of diseases.

Organic food has no more nutritional Eventually we developed germ theory value than its conventional alternative. which is the accepted theory of disease In European and United States research, and has been so since the late 1800s. organic dairy farming has been found to The point I am making here is that produce more greenhouse gas per unit of

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August 2018

Releasing evil spirits: 15th century Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch’s illustration of the practice of trepanning.

produce and also leach more nutrients to waterways (although as with other things, we have to be careful interpreting overseas research for NZ systems).

I also struggle understanding the use of homeopathy in the organic system.

Along with trepanning, humourism and miasma, homeopathy is something that has been proven by science to be nonsense.

A2 milk is a much simpler proposition but suffers from the same problem. The only large-scale review of research – undertaken by the European Food Safety Authority – showed there to be no truth to the health claims made.

The process of shifting a farm to an organic system or testing, culling and breeding for A2 milk, is long and expensive. The organic milk price is high now and we hear lots about the growth of that market in terms of percentages, but the reality is that it is still a very small market when compared to conventional products.

That’s why the supply is being carefully managed by limiting the number of conversions each season to avoid crashing the price.

How long will it take before the inevitable march of scientific understanding flows through to consumer choice?

How long can products maintain a ‘health halo’ market premium when the health claims are found to be false? In the modern world health fads come and go in the blink of an eye. Whole milk has survived for millennia.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Not that long ago ...

Alexandra, Central Otago-based Nick Loughnan reflects on growing up in the 1950s and 60s in a very different New Zealand.

M

y last column about farming through Rogernomics in the 1980s had me thinking more than a little about times gone by.

As I walked my five-year-old grand daughter to school recently during a stopover with my daughter, I was again reminded of these differences.

Her little friend Izzy was just ahead of us with her mum. We caught up, but Izzy was not to be distracted. In the gloom of that dark midwinter Dunedin morning, her little face was lit with a blue glow.

She was gazing intently at her cellphone and only stopped after a ticking off from her mum for being rude, at which point she dropped the phone accidentally on the concrete path and shattered the screen. At least it was good to see some kids still walking to school.

I am lucky with my memories from that age. I thought I would share a few.

Our family of four children was brought up in a street backing on to possibly one of the most valuable farming assets in New Zealand, 350 hectares in the heart of Auckland – the Cornwall Park sheep and beef farm with One Tree Hill on it. It was our huge backyard, only going home when it got dark or we got hungry, whichever came first. Our street was full of kids.

Mum was a Te Kuiti girl whose father was a Somme survivor, leaving a leg on the battlefield.

Dad was from Invercargill, and again, had his twenties interrupted by WWII, running around after Rommel in North Africa, while Mum was in the Air Force.

Work post-war took them both to Auckland where Mum joined TEAL,

16

now Air New Zealand, crewing on the inaugural flying boat service to Sydney on big lumbering underpowered aircraft that took up to 11 hours to cross the Tasman. Dad was counting beans in an office before they met and married.

There was a serious housing shortage at the time.

We had a leaky home. It had been built after WWII when corrugated roofing iron was scarce – so it had none; just a flat roof with a tar-pitch skin that leaked. I was born in 1955 and remember rainy days and dripping ceilings.

A new iron roof went on before I started school in 1960. Our washhouse was detached and consisted of concrete tubs with a wringer, and a copper that my sister and I had to light to heat the water early on wash days.

Earliest recollections of visiting Mum’s parents, by then living on Auckland’s North Shore before the harbour bridge was finished, was crossing on a small vehicle ferry – a busy little boat. It was a beautiful city to grow up in. People had time for their families and for each other.

Everything was shut in the weekends except petrol stations, picture theatres and dairies where the ‘bodgies’ hung out, buying milkshakes and listening to Elvis on the jukeboxes. At the pictures we stood for ‘God Save the Queen’ before the shorts and feature film started. Later as a 12-yearold, I was hauled to my feet by an old guy behind me for not standing.

Sundays were big family days. Lunch was a big hogget roast, and relations would come, sherry was poured, and the women

ALEXANDRA

always knitting, with a woollen jersey on the go for one of us kids. Our parents’ generation had grown up through the 1920-30s Depression years, and knew all about thrift, and ‘making do’. The lessons were passed on. If we ever had a day off sick from school, we all had to take our turn darning holes in socks or sewing buttons back on shirts that might have got ripped off somehow.

Looking back, I think how lucky my generation was. One income per household was sufficient, and governments had the interests of all at heart with progressive house building programmes and state financing of home loans. Homes were affordable! Urban neighbourhoods were stable.

For all the gains, I am saddened today to see what has become of our society.

Our housing stock has become the fashionable new class of investment asset, with so many young families today now priced right out of the market because of that, and caught tightly in the rent trap. I’m a bit ashamed that many of my generation, who grew up in such great times, are the ones collecting these rental properties.

And young people don’t eat enough roast dinners or know how to knit.

Mum joined TEAL, now Air New Zealand, crewing on the inaugural flying boat service to Sydney.

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August 2018

FACTS

Between a rock and an orange one New Zealand exporters could face collateral damage with Trump administration’s trade war with China, AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick reports.

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August 2018

impact this trade war on NZ sheep and beef for the 2018-19 season, especially since President Donald Trump seems hellbent on continuing his erratic stance to trade relations. However, it is something NZ farmers should follow before we get into the new trading season.

Trade deals are set to have a long-term impact in Europe too. Latest proposals as part of the Brexit negotiations will see a 50:50 split of NZ’s tariff-free sheep meat quota between the European Union and the United Kingdom. This will limit the ability of NZ exporters to freely shift sales between these two markets.

Head-to-head: US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinpeng.

More worryingly is the news from across the ditch.

Australian officials are fighting to have the quota boosted from 19,200 tonnes (only 8% of NZ’s allowance) to something more in-line with NZ’s allocation. Any significant increase could massively unsettle this market for NZ exporters.

The official date for the end of the Brexit transition is late-March 2019.

NZ beef export value (12 month rolling)

5

BIllion NZD

4 3 2 1 0 May-­10

May-­12 US

May-­14 May-­16 China & Hong Kong

May-­18

NZ lamb and mutton export value (12 month rolling) 2.5 2.0 BIllion NZD

N

ew Zealand is finding itself awkwardly positioned in the middle of an escalating trade war between China and the United States. At the time of writing sheep and beef commodities had managed to dodge the back-and-forth of tariff additions, but it is enough to leave exporters keeping an eye on the situation.

Historically the US has been a vital export partner for beef and lamb exports. In contrast China is a fairly new trade partner, slowly developing from just another Asian market into a key destination for NZ product since the implementation of the NZ-China free trade agreement in 2008. To give some context, in the year-to-June the US bought 45% of NZ’s beef exports and 7.5% of lamb exports, whereas China took 22% of NZ beef and 34% of our lamb.

Worst-case scenario would see NZ having to choose a side in this tug-of-war, but the more likely impact will come indirectly from lower global commodity values.

We’ve already seen signs of this impact too.

Latest economic data points to China’s economic growth stagnating and value of its currency would have fallen if it were not for government intervention.

Commodity traders are becoming increasing with towards this situation, a key reason behind dairy values sinking 5% at the July 3 Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction – the largest fall since March 2017. Neither sheep nor beef exporters have reported any deterioration in interest lately, however.

It is difficult to pinpoint just how much

1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 May-­10

May-­12 United States

May-­14

May-­16 China & Hong Kong

May-­18

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NOTEBOOK 2019 ZANDA AWARD NOW OPEN

MORE YOUTH SCHOLARSHIPS Julie McDonald (Zanda’s wife), Thomas Macdonald (2018 winner), Richard Rains (chairman Zanda McDonald Award).

The search is on for talented young agrileaders from New Zealand and Australia to apply for the 2019 Zanda McDonald Award. The award is regarded as one of Australasia’s most prestigious badges of honour for young leaders within the primary industry, and comes with a prize package of over $50,000.

Applications are now open for Silver Fern Farms Plate to Pasture Youth Scholarships. In their second year, the scholarships award six young people around New Zealand $5000 to assist with developing their careers and capabilities in the red meat sector.

More? www.silverfernfarms.com/our-farmers/plate-to-pasture-youth-scholarship

STUDENTS GET TASTE OF AUSSIE TeenAg participants, Bella Latimer and Kayla Lear from Whangarei Girls High School have been awarded a fully sponsored student exchange to Nambour State College, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, by the Whangarei A&P Society. This is the sixth year of the exchange programme. Later in the year Bella and Kayla will reciprocate by hosting two students from Nambour.

Entries close: Friday, August 24, 2018. www.pppgroup.org

More? whangareiap.org.nz

PROGRESSIVE AG The B+LNZ Progressive Ag Conference 2018 will cover a range of topics including time management, farmer-driven collective catchments, the changing face of livestock treading, genetics for sheep and beef farmers, and the Red Meat Story. Professor Derrick Moot will also talk about subterranean clover and lucerne. Croydon, Gore, August 9.

More? beeflambnz.com/events/blnzprogressive-ag-conference-2018

WOOLON CREATIVE FASHION WoolOn is a creative fashion event which showcases clothing designs that celebrate wool as a fashion fibre. New Zealand and international designers compete for an overall Supreme award. Alexandra, Central Otago, August 17-19.

More?

wooloncreativefashionevent

FARM SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WORKSHOP B+LNZ has developed a Safety Management System for farmers – and they’re rolling it out through a series of one-day workshops around the country.

More? www.beeflambnz.com/events/blnz-farmsafety-management-workshop

CELEBRATING WINE AND FOOD Discover the latest food trends, wine releases transform your skills in the kitchen and nourish your palate at the New Zealand School of Food & Wine in Auckland’s Viaduct. August 18-20.

More? foodandwine.co.nz

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NOTEBOOK If you have something you think might be suitable for the Notebook page please send an email or Word document (.doc) to Andy.

Maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz along ith any pictures as .jpg attachements.

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BUSINESS | FUTURE INFLUENCERS

Clawing back Aussie on red meat Primary produce plays a leading role in New Zealand’s trade with the rest of the world. Country-Wide writers report on the brand strategies of our exporters.

WORDS: JOANNA GRIGG

I

t’s hard to stomach. When international consumers think of countries that produce premium red meat, they are more likely to think Australia than New Zealand.

When Beef + Lamb NZ took their market research team to quiz consumers in Asia, Europe and North America, it was Australian beef or Japanese wagyu that usually topped the list, with United States and Canadian beef in top-spot in some markets.

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“New Zealand lamb is slightly more famous than our beef but often behind Scottish or Welsh lamb,” global manager NZ Red Meat Story, Beef + Lamb NZ, Michael Wan says. Wan led the market research team and the development of the recently launched NZ origin brand Taste Pure Nature. This campaign aims to capture more value for NZ sheepmeat and beef overseas by lifting the profile and enhancing the position of these products.

NZ farmers may think standing hay, desert, feedlots and stroppy tropical cattle but Australian red meat has a consistently

higher premium image than NZ in beef.

This has largely come about through the Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) True Aussie brand campaign.

Launched in 2014, it is licensed to and supported by their meat companies. At the time they had individual brands for particular markets such as Aussie Beef Clean and Safe, in Korea, but were looking for a global message. This was in a similar vein to the reputation Germany has for engineering cars and France for cheese.

Wan says the MLA investment has successfully elevated the Australian story

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Our story tells consumers about animals being grassfed “all day every day”.

and, in some markets, they are getting dominance.

“But the South American red meat story is also making big inroads into China so NZ needs to get out on to that playing field or risk being left behind.”

A measure of True Aussie brand success is that other Australian food growers, beyond beef and lamb, are requesting the brand be used with products like cherries and seafood. Wan says there is very little specific knowledge within the tested markets about how NZ sheep and beef are raised. The good news is that NZ as a country has a positive image of clean, natural beauty. This is largely because of tourism promotions and the Lord of the Ring movies.

Consumers used the word organic to describe images of NZ farm systems, as a short-cut way to say natural, Wan says. The new brand taps into this, saying “nature is the best producer”.

Beef + Lamb NZ’s market research also shows that when consumers were questioned a bit deeper, they found the NZ story of grass-fed, light-touch farming systems to be more believable than when they thought more deeply about the Australian grass-fed story.

“Consumers also associate Australia with large cities, deserts and an arid climate,” Wan says.

The True Aussie brand has the catch

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phrases; ideal home, peace of mind and pure enjoyment. This translates that Australia is the best place to grow red meat, its food is safe and enjoyable to eat. The promotional video features more images of people eating than the NZ equivalent which is weighted towards natural scenery and food shots.

Wan says the NZ Taste Pure Nature brand is not designed to go head-to-head with True Aussie.

‘We feel confident we have developed a story that is appealing to our ideal consumers; the conscious foodie and the aspiring foodie.’

“Consumers don’t like marketers that say ours is better than theirs.”

Our story tells consumers about animals being grass-fed “all day every day” and the light-touch approach to farming in NZ, and we expect consumers will be drawn to that, he said.

“We feel confident we have developed a story that is appealing to our ideal consumers; the conscious foodie and the aspiring foodie.

“We have defined a space and will go after it.”

Wan’s budget to spend on promotion by NZ Beef & Lamb NZ is likely to be around 10% of the $68 million annually that his Australian counterpart has to spend.

Endorsement from levy-payers (farmers) to fund this level is being sought.

In April, Beef + Lamb NZ received unanimous support for the Origin Brand and high-level, go-to-market strategy from processing companies.

The plan being discussed is to run two pilot programmes; in China and the US although there has been debate over the priority of US markets, following the launch.

The brand had been cooking since 2016 following interviews with farmers to get a feel for the story and with consumers to see where NZ red meat sits.

Taste Pure Nature brand assets will be available for NZ exporters to use in all markets with the brand appearing on packaging, advertising and other material in pilot markets by the end of the year.

“Given the budget we’ve got we will concentrate on cities like Shanghai where almost thirty percent of the twenty-four million people are conscious foodie consumer targets.”

Beef + Lamb NZ report US retail sales for fresh grass-fed beef reached US$272m in 2016, up from $17m in 2012.

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“NZ farming naturally fits in this grassfed category, but we are currently lacking formal accreditation systems to be able to use these claims in some markets,” Wan says.

Carving NZ as the premium source of grass-fed beef will be challenging given the global competition but a logical fit for NZ. Beef will be harder to differentiate than lamb, which already has a profile as a recognised high-quality NZ product.

Australians may describe feedlots as a complimentary role to their grass-fed cattle systems but Beef2Live states the feedlot sector contributes about 25% of

Australia’s total beef supply, 80% of beef sold in major domestic supermarkets and most of the production growth in the beef industry over the last 10 years.

Credence (or demonstrating that you walk the talk) is important as a back story. In NZ it relies on the fact that all meat is accredited through either the NZ Farm Assurance Programme or equivalent audited accreditation via meat processors.

“Meat processors support for the Farm Assurance Programme across the sector is encouraging and will help ensure the integrity of the brand we take to market,” Wan says.

He would like to reinforce the farm standards by having an eating quality standard linked to Taste Pure Nature.

“We are looking at a range of options and discussing with the industry.”

The True Aussie brand credence relies on a project called Target100. This is 100 initiatives to improve the sustainability and the impact of Australian farming on the environment.

These initiatives are listed and are heavily focused on reducing agricultural emissions, animal welfare and welfare/ feeding on feedlots.

Hats off to Taste Pure Nature video

Having half Aussie/half Kiwi genealogy I state my impartiality from the start.

But I have to say the Taste Pure Nature promotional clip made by Beef + Lamb NZ is ahead of the Meat and Livestock Australia True Aussie one.

The Australian clip, made in 2014, does have some attractive green pastures and a series of words that evoke a sense of being among friends and down-to-earth farmers. It also has broken sheep yards and a Brahmin looking like it’s about to charge.

They both feature shiny glossy Angus cattle and shots of people enjoying food.

The NZ video rolls out like a recipe

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August 2018

with the land, rain, stock and farmers as ingredients. The photography is stunning and all you see is green and lush. It relies heavily on nature shots; waterfalls, mountains, coastlines, rolling farmland rather than people. That bit comes right at the end with an explosion of food imagery and people reacting to the food.

True Aussie was built on three pillars: ideal place, peace of mind and pure enjoyment. The True Aussie monologue of slightly cheesy words – sun-blessed, green and gold, it’s in our blood, true Aussie born and raised, hand on heart, does emphasize this but it’s not as easy or pretty

to watch as the cinematography of Pure Taste Nature.

Music is more upbeat in the NZ clip, although if it rolls on monitors in supermarkets, it is likely to be visual only.

The bottom line is that both clips promote the taste and care in production of beef and sheepmeat which is a good thing for the entire industry. They both reflect their brand values.

Make up your own mind who nailed it by watching True Aussie and Taste Pure Nature NZ beef and lamb on YouTube.

Share the winning clip to friends overseas.

I have.

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BUSINESS | FUTURE INFLUENCERS

A fibre fit for littlies Exporting merino clothing designed for young children and babies has involved doing the rounds of international trade shows. Jo Cuttance reports.

K

nowing what the retailer likes about your brand means you can tailor how you will sell your product to them.

Lucy Wildman co-owner of Little Flock of Horrors, an Aucklandbased baby and children’s merino clothing company whose range is sold worldwide, says she knows every retailer is different, and looking for different things.

Along with Little Flock of Horrors, Lucy and husband Francis Frost also own export marketing business Module Marketing.

This business helps take New Zealandbased brands into global markets.

Since creating the Little Flock of Horrors in 2010 Lucy has travelled to trade shows around the world promoting the label.

Early on she learnt not to use the word ‘wool’ because buyers immediately thought scratchy and would turn away. On her trade booth she would have “merino” in decals on the wall and found most Americans did not know what merino was and often assumed it was an Italian surname. When told it was a fabric, they would ask if it was pima cotton, which she replied no, it is wool. At this point there was a clear split in buyers who were interested and those who left.

Of those who stayed some were attracted to the style of photos, others the name, or the design style and many buyers were not really interested in hearing about the renewable and sustainable aspects of the product, which is manufactured in Fiji from NZ-grown merino wool.

Each retailer had different touch points and a skill Lucy learnt was asking what it was about her brand they liked. With this knowledge she could give the story they were after.

Little Flock of Horrors’ big break into the New York market came after the clothing was featured in DailyCandy, an online newsletter which has since closed.

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Francis Frost with Lucy Wildman and their children Iggy, 9, (left) and the original inspiration for the horror, Frankie, 7.

This newsletter provided readers with information about hip and trendy events and businesses.

After this was published they experienced a big spike in international sales. While interest was hot Lucy used the opportunity to contact major stores around the United States and the United Kingdom, A buyer from Barneys New York contacted her asking which trade shows she would be at. Lucy suggested a one-onone meeting however the buyer told her this was not how things were done.

Lucy knew this was an opportunity not to be missed and said she would be at an upcoming trade show in New York, where

she met the buyer and secured her clothing range into Barneys NY flagship Madison Ave store.

When first launched she contacted some of the major marketing and business organisations in NZ, including those within the wool industry, seeking grants or advice, she says. However, none wanted to hear about Little Flock of Horrors as they were not big enough.

With an annual turnover of $600,000, Lucy doubts the business would even be considered big enough now. They just wanted business and financial plans, and five-year projections. Lucy says in fashion retail you cannot forecast a growth plan on

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August 2018

a piece of paper. Lucy never dwelt on not receiving help and learnt by going out there and doing it herself.

She now feels many of those national organisations are quite outdated in their methods and probably quite out of touch with what retailers want.

Merino for little monsters Little Flock of Horrors, merino for little monsters, was created by Lucy Wildman, who is passionate about creating cool merino clothing for babies and children.

She co-owns the company with husband Francis Frost, who she met while travelling on the east coast of the United States.

She ended up living in Stowe, Vermont, for more than a decade.

She says the couple lived and breathed action sports in the freezing cold, noticing how the sports industry there focused on performance fabrics, the different characteristics of the fabric and how it functioned, something which was not common with fashion fabrics.

Back in New Zealand and expecting her first baby in the middle of winter in 2009, Lucy had gathered an ensemble of outfits for her son, Iggy, which turned out

not to be practical for the changeable NZ climate.

She discovered merino wool was perfect for her son’s clothing and he was warm and comfortable when wearing it, although she did not like the style and colours available.

Lucy, who has an MBA, started creating and sewing her own designs in merino clothing for Iggy. When daughter Frankie was born 18 months later she began designing for little girls.

Francis suggested the name “Little Flock”, while Frankie inspired the addition of “horror” because of her constant crying.

The first collection was launched at the ABC Tradeshow in Las Vegas in October 2011. The brand has since evolved as Lucy has realised she had to stop trying to be everything for everyone.

When designing for the North American and UK markets, if a company did not like the colours she had, she would offer the product in a different colour. Now the base colour is black and if they do not like it, then perhaps the design is not for them, she says.

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BUSINESS | BREXIT

UK assurance schemes

even more vital

WORDS: CHRIS MCCULLOUGH

W

ith the fears that Brexit could hurt the agricultural sector in the United Kingdom there never has been a greater reliance on a food assurance brand to keep the exports rolling.

Two of the main quality assurance brands in operation in the UK are the Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb (NIB&L) farm quality assurance scheme and the Red Tractor scheme in England.

The NIBL scheme was established in 1991 and officially launched in 1992. It is one of the first and longest-established quality assurance schemes worldwide.

The scheme was set up to give consumers’ assurances about the farm end of the production chain with three key pillars: food safety, animal welfare and care for the environment.

The scheme assures the consumer that Farm Quality Assured beef and lamb has been produced on farms certified as operating to designated assurance standards including their quality of care for animals and the farm environment, their freedom from use of unnatural substances and their compliance with legislation.

The NIBL scheme is funded through

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a 50:50 ratio between producers and processors. Producers pay an annual membership fee to be a participant, while processors pay a throughput fee based on the cattle/sheep slaughtered.

The scheme standard and rules are drawn up by the Standard Setting Committee. Since its launch, it has been continually updated and revised to meet changing market needs.

The rules are published and sent to all participants and applicants. These manuals give full details of all the requirements which need to be met and of the regulatory procedures which must be followed.

There are eight main elements to the Product Standard, with a total of 83 separate elements.

• Animal husbandry, stockmanship and welfare • Animal health • Animal nutrition • Animal traceability – identification, sourcing and records • Housing and handling • Transport • Environmental care • Farm procedures

Ian Stevenson, Livestock and Meat Commission chief executive, said: “producers apply to join the scheme by contacting LMC or NIFCC, the Northern Ireland Food Chain Certification, which is the third party certification body who carry out the registration, inspections and certification functions. Processors can join the scheme also by contacting LMC. “LMC contracts the certification body to independently verify that producers are adhering to the required standards of the scheme.

This body is accredited to the European Procedures Standard ISO 17065 by the United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS).”

The LMC says the NIBL scheme has a range of benefits for producers: • To widen the marketplace for producers, for example, more retailers in both domestic and international markets now require Farm Quality Assured beef and lamb; • Cost benefits associated with presenting FQA cattle/sheep for slaughter. For cattle, penalties of up to £100 per head for nonquality assured stock are in place. FQA sheep typically receive £1 more per head than non-quality assured stock in the marketplace.

• Approved members are eligible to use the logo when marketing product

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affordable food that they could recognise and trust.

“Costs are met by assurance fees from farmers and licence payments from food companies who want to be assessed so they can use the Red Tractor logo on product. Red Tractor is a not-for-profit organisation.”

Farms are independently assessed to ensure they meet strict criteria set out in the scheme standards which cover important areas such as food safety, traceability, animal welfare and environmental protection. For a product to display the Red Tractor logo the assurance chain from farm to store must be unbroken, so any food companies packing or processing food from assured farms must also meet the scheme’s criteria.

Livestock and Meat Commission chief executive Ian Stevenson.

• FQAS is a recognised equivalent scheme to Red Tractor and many retailers which use the Red Tractor Logo to market their meat can be readily accessed by NI beef and lamb as a result of this equivalence • Provides best practice standards for husbandry, welfare, nutrition and environment. This helps to assist farmers with better record keeping and traceability of inputs • Gives customers assurances about the source of the product and the standards under which the animals have been raised • Competitive membership fees in comparison with other schemes in the UK. “The NIBL is a well-supported scheme and the assured beef and lamb that is produced on members’ farms is well respected amongst the many customers of NI industry,” Stevenson said.

“One of the main challenges and opportunities for the future development of the scheme is to focus more on outputs/ outcomes while still taking appropriate care of the inputs.

“The NIBL scheme is an essential quality mark that underpins the many quality brands where NIBL scheme beef and lamb is marketed direct to consumers. The NIBL scheme will continue to develop and will last for as long as it is required by the marketplace.

“LMC cannot foresee any short or

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medium-term reason why the NIBL scheme will not form an important part of the high quality offering of beef and lamb from Northern Ireland industry.”

The second assurance mark that is widely recognised right across the UK is the Red Tractor brand.

‘The NIBL scheme is an essential quality mark that underpins the many quality brands where NIBL scheme beef and lamb is marketed direct to consumers.’

“The Assured Food Standards company was established in the spring of 2000, and the Red Tractor label was launched the same year. At that time, the public were faced with a plethora of different food standards and labels,” a Red Tractor spokesperson said.

“The Red Tractor label was set up to help harmonise the approach to food and drink standard-setting and inspections throughout the supply chain and to give the public a mark of quality, safe,

“Highly-trained independent assessors visit all assured farms and licensees to ensure the scheme’s standards are adhered to. Anyone found to be failing to meet the standards has the opportunity to make improvements or, for serious breaches, can be suspended or excluded from the scheme,” the spokesperson said.

“One farm assessment opens the door for farmers to sell their produce into many markets. Some major brands and retailers insist on farm assurance as part of their sourcing policies to ensure the quality, safety and traceability of their raw ingredients.

“There are several examples of assured farms benefiting from fewer inspections from government agencies under earned recognition agreements too.”

Red Tractor has more than 46,000 farms in membership and the logo appears on £13 billion of product. One of the organisation’s main challenges is to increase recognition and understanding of the logo so consumers actively seek and purchase it when buying food and drink.

“Red Tractor has a major role to play in the future of good UK food and farming, by promoting recognition and the reputation of professionally produced food in the UK.”

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BUSINESS | WOOL

Chinese demand for Northern Ireland wool soars Coarse wool is seeing a comeback in Northern Ireland with Chinese demand for woollen carpets. Chris McCullough reports.

I

t seems the quality of wool from Northern Ireland sheep is far superior to others, according to Chinese buyers as demand there for the clippings has soared.

Buyers from China take most of the wool sold at auction by Ulster Wool, based at Muckamore in County Antrim, for use in carpets as the Chinese prefer their coarser wool that lasts much longer.

Demand has got so high, Ulster Wool is urging more sheep farmers in Northern Ireland and neighbouring Republic of Ireland to bring more wool to them to meet the demand.

Last year Ulster Wool handled 1.2 million kilograms of wool from about 4000 producers in Northern Ireland including some from the Republic – but now it needs more!

The company is already seeing an increase in wool collected so far, but as this is the peak wool season it wants to ensure more farmers bring their clip in as soon as possible.

Ulster Wool joint manager Jayne BonesHarkness says their new collection centre set up in County Tyrone is starting to yield results.

“Demand is strong for our wool particularly so from China where it is made into carpets,” she says. “The Chinese seem to prefer Northern Ireland wool because it lasts longer and forms a carpet better.

“We are now in the main season for shearing and collecting wool so this is our big chance to collect wool.

“Ulster Wool has been getting the message out that we need more wool and is trying to get more farmers through the door. We have hired Sarah Davidson to travel around some of the areas which we don’t get so much wool from to try and boost business.

“Our new collection centre in County

26

Jayne Harkness Bones, left, Ulster Wool joint manager, examines some freshly arrived wool with Sarah Davidson, Ulster Wool.

Tyrone is starting to show its worth as farmers simply take their wool there and we bring it to Muckamore,” she says.

Jayne has worked at Ulster Wool for almost a year and is an expert wool handler herself participating in many shows from Northern Ireland to New Zealand.

Ulster Wool is part of the British Wool group, a farmers co-operative established in 1950. The depot at Muckamore was opened in 1972 as Ulster Wool Group but was rebranded as Ulster Wool in March 2018.

“On average we take in five to six tonnes of wool per week but in one of our busiest weeks in June we collected 91 tonnes, she says.

“Ulster Wool is a not-for-profit organisation and all the profits are returned to farmers once running costs have been processed.

“It has to be stressed to farmers that we do not buy wool, we actually sell it at auction on their behalf.

“We pay on average 30% more for our wool than our competitors do,” she says.

Seven full time and three part time staff work at Ulster Wool which stays open extended periods to ensure the wool is collected.

After the wool is weighed it is sorted into about 100 different grades, then baled into 400kg bales and sent to Bradford in England for sale at auction.

Farmers tend to stock up their wool in the hope of getting a better price but Jayne urges them to get the wool in while it is freshly cut.

“The worst wool we get is wet wool,” Jayne says. “Anything can happen to it when farmers store it in sheds. It’s much better to bring the wool in fresh when it is high in lanolin and feels oily.”

When it comes to wool prices the Cheviot breed does real well achieving £1.20/kg for well-grading wool; Blue Faced Leicester at £3.61/kg and Teeswater at £4.40/kg.

“Organic wool receives a premium of 50 pence per kilo,” Jayne says, “but farmers must confirm their organic status by producing the farm’s organic status certificate from the Soil Association.”

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August 2018

Year 1 – the advance payment will be set to 100% of the prior year’s clip value.

Year 2 – the advance payment will be set to 100% of the prior year’s clip value plus / minus any balance from the previous year.

Year 3 – the advance payment will be set to 75% of the prior year’s clip value plus /

to be successful, so increased up-front payments during the first two years will help ease the pressure on cash flow.

“Through this initiative we hope to appeal to young farmers to market their wool through us, and thus safeguard the long-term future of British Wool for

‘Ulster Wool has been getting the message out that we need more wool and is trying to get more farmers through the door.’

minus any balance from the previous year.

Year 4 – the advance payment will be set to 50% of the prior year’s clip value plus / minus any balance from the previous year.

Year 5 onwards – the advance payment will be set to 25% of the prior year’s clip value plus / minus any balance from the previous year.

Year 6 onwards – payments will be in line with all other British Wool registered producers.

“Investing in the future of the industry is an essential part of our strategy, and we want to play a key role in encouraging young farmers into the industry, British Wool chief executive Joe Farren says.

“Any start up business requires support

the benefit of all our members. Eligible producers will be paid exactly the same prices as all our producers. This is purely an early years cash flow support scheme.”

British Wool say it works on behalf of producers to maximise the value of their wool, adding value through downstream product marketing, new wool product development working with manufacturing partners, regular auctions, wool grading and processing and efficient collection and drop service through the national depot network. In order for a new entrant to be eligible for the scheme he or she must not have previously been registered with British Wool and have kept sheep for fewer than five years.

It’s a lifesaver for your lambs and your profit.

MSD_Nilvax_Half Page_CW_130x192_02

The team can grade and bale about five to six tonnes a day but no wool goes to waste as even the dags are bagged and sent for sale.

This year British Wool introduced a scheme designed to support those sheep producers that have recently entered the industry.

Farmers who regularly bring their clip to Ulster Wool normally receive a small advance payment for their wool and the remaining amount once the auctions take place. This means they could expect all their wool harvest payments in periods up to a year.

However, the new scheme will see eligible producers receive 100% of their clip value as an upfront payment for their first two years, along with a priority wool in-take and grading service through British Wool’s nationwide depot network.

Producers will then transition on to the standard payment scheme over the next three years by way of adjusted balancing payments so that, over the life of the five year scheme, new entrants receive the same cash as they would have done had they been on the standard payment scheme throughout that period.

Eligible new entrants will receive their wool payments as follows:

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Ask your animal health advisor for Nilvax.

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August 2018

27

BUSINESS | AWARDS

Gold for NZ steaks

Getting “steak” in: judges at work in the World Steak Challenge, in London.

STEAK OF ORIGIN

T

wo rib-eye steaks have landed New Zealand’s first gold medals in the annual World Steak Challenge in London.

The steaks were entered by First Light and Alliance and were among 45 to receive gold medals. Alliance also picked up a bronze for a fillet steak.

First Light’s steak came from a 32-month-old Wagyu x Kiwicross heifer that was 438kg on the hoof and 230kg on the hook, “light for a Wagyu heifer,” noted First Light’s Jason Ross. The breeder was Taranaki-based iwi farming business PKW. “It’s good news for us and great for First Light,” PKW’s dry stock operations manager Andrew Gibson said.

Reared on grass throughout, the heifer was one of only a handful to hit optimum marble score from a mob of about 40 sent to First Light in April 2018, he added.

“They’re on nice Taranaki land and even then we struggle to get the marbling.”

The steak’s marble score was 6 on First Light’s scale of 1-9. It scored 2 for both meat and fat colour, and the carcase had a GR score of 10.

Alliance’s gold and bronze winning steaks were two of only three in the 136 medal winning steaks to be entered

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without a breed listing. Alliance marketing manager Peter Russell said that was deliberate, in-line with their grading policy of ignoring breed so carcase and cut assessment is totally objective with no bias due to preconceptions related to breed.

“We’re absolutely delighted [with the medal],” he said. “It’s proven our hypothesis.”

The winning steaks were from Alliance’s Pure South, 55-day aged, HandPicked food service range which requires marbling of 4+ and to date, less than 4% of carcases have qualified for.

All three NZ steaks were entered in the World’s Best Grass-Fed Steak category, one of five categories in the competition. The winner of that category, a sirloin from a three-year-old Ayrshire reared in Finland and supplied by Denmark’s JN Meat International, also won the overall World’s Best Steak title.

Entries, which cost £495 + VAT per steak, the equivalent of about NZ$1000 plus 20% in GST, were received from 22 countries and judged by a panel of 31 judges, including two New Zealanders.

For more detail on judging criteria and other winners see www.worldsteakchallenge.com

First Light’s World Steak Challenge gold follows another of their Wagyus winning the Brand Champion title in New Zealand’s Steak of Origin contest held at Fieldays.

Grand champion in that contest, which attracted 266 entires and is sponsored

by PGG Wrightson, went to mother-and-son team Colleen and Jon Knauf of Wairoa with a Simmental that had won the Best of Breed - European Class.

“For Simmental – a European breed – to win when Angus and other breeds have done so well in the past is fantastic,” Colleen said.

Head judge, Graham Hawkes, president of the NZ Chef’s Association said the winning steak “ticked all the boxes”.

“It was tender, it was tasty, it had texture and it was so succulent. It really was the champion of champions.”

More? See “news” in www.beeflambnz.co.nz

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August 2018

BUSINESS | LEVIES

Levy rise to energise red meat story WORDS: TIM FULTON

R

aising sheep and beef levies will promote the red meat story and protect the industry’s “basket of goods”, B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor says.

The organisation has asked farmers to lift the sheepmeat levy by 10 cents to 70c per head and the beef levy by 80c to $5.20 per head.

Sheep and beef farmers on average pay $1560 in annual levies, made up of $1160 of sheepmeat levy and $400 beef levy.

Dairy farmers on average pay $410.

A levy increase would give B+LNZ $2.7 million for a total pool of about $9m to tell the “red meat story” and accelerate other programmes, McIvor said.

Most of the $2.7m would go toward B+LNZ’s Taste Pure Nature origin brand, developed in partnership with meat companies.

The brand under-pinned work B+LNZ was doing in biosecurity, environmental management and promoting farmers as heroes in their community, he said. “It won’t be $9m just on activation in the marketplace.”

The brand has reportedly unsettled partners in the NZ Lamb Company joint venture who are worried the brand will confuse their customers in the United States.

Taste Pure Nature would promote the natural, grass-fed qualities of New Zealand product and had unanimous support from meat companies when it was finalised in April, McIvor said.

The next step would be “seeing how we take that to the world”.

B+LNZ has done an initial market appraisal and was consulting exporters on where and how to launch the brand in major cities.

If farmers increased levies B+LNZ would also appoint a biosecurity programme manager to work with government,

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processors and farmers to “work out what the risks are and how we deliver that information”.

The brief would include working with Ministry for Primary Industries to identify and detect unwanted organisms, roll out farm biosecurity plans and work with Nait to replace paper-based animal status declarations with electronic records.

Higher levies would raise $800,000 to “accelerate” environmental initiatives, by making more use of carbon measurement tools, for example. Farmers wanted to reach carbon neutrality well before the industry’s official target of 2050 and be “well ahead of the curve on this stuff,” McIvor said.

Sam McIvor: It won’t be $9m just on activation in the marketplace.

Agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen said Taste Pure Nature could be a banner for NZ’s red meat attributes, like Ireland’s Origin Green.

But once you drew attention to the product you had to back up the claims with proof of animal health and traceability, for instance. “It’s important to fill the room with evidence.”

Petersen, a former B+LNZ chairman, said he didn’t see any reason for B+LNZ and processors not to work together on the brand. “This is pre-competitive, this is stuff that no one company should be in competition with others.”

He was satisfied B+LNZ’s targets for more funding “make perfect sense” but questioned why the organisation

was asking sheep and beef farmers for more funding now, when the cost of Mycoplasma bovis was so uncertain.

AgFirst managing director James Allen said B+LNZ’s biggest challenge would be proving the value of the organisation investing more in-market. He found it easier to see the value in other workstreams, like improving sheep and beef’s public image.

Dairying had probably moved faster in that area in the past decade, even if it was out of necessity. “You look around the regions and they’ve possibly got more traction, regionally and nationally.”

B+LNZ was right to aim higher than minimum standards to satisfy regulators and markets, Allen said. “We’re doing it because there’s value to our business and to the community.”

In the past three years B+LNZ has made net annual savings of $1.4m by cutting spending on offshore offices and market development activities. It had also spent more on environmental projects, the Taste Pure Nature brand and research into alternative proteins.

B+LNZ’s total expenditure for the 201718 financial year was $26.7m, comprising B+LNZ levy funds and a lesser amount of outside funding.

The 2017-18 budget was net of other income it received in cash and the amount was deducted against each major work area. Other income totalled just under $2m.

B+LNZ received additional funding of about $3m through research consortium partnerships and Beef +Lamb Genetics which contributes to the total of $5m in addition to other income in the B+LNZ parent accounts.

B+LNZ has leveraged funding for Red Meat Profit Partnership and B+LNZ Incorporated of about $7m. There is no direct meat processor funding to B+LNZ but Beef + Lamb NZ Incorporated does receive some processor funding.

29

BUSINESS | MYCOPLASMA BOVIS

M bovis response concerns mount WORDS: ANDREW SWALLOW

A

s the Mycoplasma bovis response enters its second year, concerns are growing that it’s been too slow, muddled, and with inadequate movement restrictions for eradication to succeed.

Meanwhile, a knee-jerk move away from calf rearing threatens a stock shortage in coming seasons culminating in a slump in the beef kill in a couple of years’ time.

Some M bovis blood samples are taking more than six weeks to be tested and even when results come back positive for M bovis antibodies, movement restrictions haven’t been applied, Country-Wide has been told. Such experiences are alarming industry leaders and rank and file farmers alike, and contradict MPI’s updates and website information.

For example, the July 13 update, and many previous ones, state: “farms that are infected, or being tested, are under regulatory controls – they can’t move

animals off the property without a permit from MPI”.

Similarly MPI’s website says: “tests take up to two weeks to complete and farmers are told results as soon as possible”.

No one from MPI was available for interview to answer the concerns CountryWide relayed but in written answers the ministry said not all farms undergoing testing would be regarded as high-risk and so would not need to go under Notice of Direction (NOD).

Farms may have received animals from a high-risk farm, but it may not have been at a high-risk time, for example, if they took cattle before the period when the farm could have been infected, it said.

Farms were not placed under NOD when first round tests came back positive because one positive antibody test did not mean a farm was positive.

“The ELISA test shows up possible exposure but this is not reliable and could be to a different type of mycoplasma (there are many). This is why we need to do several rounds of testing.”

An Assure Quality technician blood-samples a calf ready for M bovis antibody testing.

KEY POINTS Mycoplasma bovis concerns: • Free to move stock even after positive antibody test.

• Slow and unclear communication.

• Tests taking up to eight weeks to process.

• Over-the-top clean-down demands.

• DIY culling without reporting.

Waireres can take the pressure Lyndon Chittock farms 158 hectares near Gore. “We run a grass factory. Our 1900 ewes and 500 hoggets are behind wires for nine months of the year.

The winter stocking rate is over 18 per hectare.

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

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

“The Wairere Multiplier has turbocharged my flock.”

www.wairererams.co.nz | 0800 924 7373 30

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August 2018

e

s. e

y e r ht s.

With it taking as long as eight weeks in some cases to get test results back, affected farms are waiting months before knowing their fate: cleared, NOD, RP (Restricted Place) or IP (Infected Property).

None that Country-Wide spoke to had sold stock, other than to slaughter, from the day they were informed tests were needed, but they noted they could have and questioned why MPI was so slow to impose restrictions. One wondered if it was because eligibility for compensation wasn’t triggered until a notice was imposed. Another wondered if MPI wanted to downplay the extent of the outbreak.

MPI said regulatory controls were put in place with urgency wherever required and stressed its aim was to eradicate M bovis.

“We most definitely would not delay vital control measures,” it said.

Besides slow processing of samples frustrating affected farmers, getting timely decisions from MPI on what can or can’t be done with stock is another recurring bugbear. Delays are creating immediate management issues and long-term production problems.

Meanwhile, some hygiene measures demanded when farms come under regulatory control have been criticised as being over-zealous, unnecessarily costly, and lacking practicality.

MPI acknowledged the risk of transfer of M bovis through fomites was very low, but said it was not zero. Its biosecurity

NO LEGAL CAUSE Thinking that the wording of the Biosecurity Act 1993 might be behind MPI’s apparent reluctance to apply NOD or RP status to properties awaiting M bovis testing or test results, Country-Wide checked the relevant sections of the Act (122 and 130 respectively) at www.legislation.govt.nz Neither appears to contain any reason why, on discovering a farm had imported an animal or waste milk from an infected property, MPI could not apply a NOD or RP notice.

We also checked the penalties for failure to comply with such notices: costs could be imposed, infringements issued and, ultimately fines of up to $500,000 for individuals or $10 million or 10% of turnover for corporates sought through the High Court.

measures were based on scientific and technical advice from around the world and the scientific literature.

“When attempting to eradicate a disease, the most rigorous measures are deployed as a precautionary measure.”

The overall approach was: “to work with affected farmers on a case-by-case basis reflecting their individual circumstances, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.”

MPI said the current number of IPs (41) was still within the expected range and was being tracked against the numbers used in the economic model which was last run in April. It failed to answer how trace, surveillance, NOD & RP numbers compared. The models were “undergoing refinement” as Country-Wide went to press.

±

± M BOVIS – THE NUMBERS • 4067 trace properties • 121 properties “under assessment” (Nth/Sth split: 36:85)

Document Path: \\wdcwfsp756\MapInfo\GIS Data MPI\Response_MBovis2017\MXD\MBovisOperationsMasterReferenceListStaticMaps\MBovisOperationsMasterReferenceList_UnderBiosecurityControls.mxd

• 161 under Notice of Direction

This map and all information accompanying it is intended to be used as a guide only, in conjunction with other data sources and methods, and should only be used for the purpose for which it was developed. The information shown in this Map is based on a summary of data obtained from various sources.

While all reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the Map, MPI: (a) gives no warranty or representation in relation to the accuracy, completeness, reliability or fitness for purpose of the Map; and (b) accepts no liability whatsoever in relation to any loss, damage or other costs relating to any person’s use of the Map, including but not limited to any compilations, derivative works or modifications of the Map. Crown copyright ©. This map is subject to Crown copyright administered by Ministry for Primary Industries.

Under Biosecurity Controls Mycoplasma bovis Response 12/07/2018 August 2018 Country-Wide

• 71 under Restricted Place Notice • 41 current Infected Properties • 14 previously infected, now cleared • 175,555 samples received; 160,570 processed.

• Numbers as of mid-July.

Restricted Places (includes infected farms) Restricted Places (includes infected farms)

NODs (under testing – 70 to 80% return negative)

NODs (under testing – 70 to 80% return negative)

Land Information New Zealand, Land Eagle Technology Information New Zealand, Eagle Technology

Under Biosecurity Controls Mycoplasma bovis Response 12/07/2018

0

80

0

160 Km

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MEETING INSIGHTS MPI ran a nationwide series of Mycoplasma bovis meetings for farmers and industry representatives in late June, including one in Timaru. While much of the content had already been widely reported and/or was readily available online, a few nuggets are worth repeating.

MPI head of Biosecurity, Roger Smith, revealed its Technical Advisory Group of 10 international experts was split 6/4 on whether or not eradication should be attempted.

The decision to request Government act on that advice was then made by a Governance board with three voting members: Beef + Lamb New Zealand chairman Andrew Morrison; Dairy NZ chairman Jim van der Poel; and Smith.

“So this is owned by your industry associations,” Smith said.

He later urged farmers to “get your vet out, please,” if incidence or severity of animal health is out of the ordinary. “This is why we found it on the first farm.”

Those who shot sick stock and “put it in the hole” rather than getting cause checked would have it on their conscience if the national eradication attempt failed.

“If we find you, we’ll deal with you.

You all have a responsibility to make this work.”

At the same meeting, when asked about when NOD, RP and IP statuses were applied, MPI’s response director David Yard said the aim was to inconvenience farming as little as possible while eradicating the disease. Smith said of about 700 properties under surveillance, it was expected three would become RPs. If those surveillance properties were already under NOD, then it was a higher risk with about 20% of NOD’s becoming IPs. Yard said there were almost as many trace properties in the North Island as South Island.

160 Km

Created by the Infortamtion & Data Management Team Date: 12/07/2018

Created by the Infortamtion & Data Management Team Date: 12/07/2018

31

BUSINESS | RADIO

Rural NZ pays for own faces on air WORDS: TIM FULTON

B

roadcasting funder NZ On Air is being asked to backtrack on a policy forcing primary industry to stump up for farming stories on television.

Rural Delivery this year relied on a producer dipping into her own pocket to keep the free-to-air show running into a 14th season.

NZOA funded last year’s 35 episodes on TVNZ for $1,000,003 excluding GST. Executive producer Tracy Mika said the show normally ran 35 episodes a year at a cost of just under $29,000 per episode.

Showdown Productions applied for $1m in the September 2017 funding round but NZOA came back with a new formula.

The agency promised $299,901 for a new season provided “the sector” put up at least $150,000 from rural industry, Mika said.

“They rang last September and said we’re not going to fund you this time because we think there’s money to be had from the agricultural sector.”

The producers approached industry organisations like AgResearch, Plant and Food, AGMARDT and DairyNZ. Mika said more than 20 agricultural organisations including AgResearch, Plant and Food were supportive “but could not contribute funding”.

AGMARDT put up $60,000 on a oneoff basis and DairyNZ $20,000. The organisations could see value in putting a small amount of money in “to keep their stories out there and to keep the programme alive”.

But the show was still $70,000 off the $150,000 target so Mika stepped forward.

32

“I was the final industry contributor.

Because of my strong belief in Rural Delivery and the reputation we have built telling important stories from the rural sector over the last 13 years, I personally made up the $70k shortfall.”

The show was built on editorial independence so NZOA’s co-funding approach didn’t work, Mika said.

‘Sensational and usually negative news seem to attract media attention with much less attention given to balancing the stories with the many positive success stories that exist in the primary sector.’

“The big problem is, when you do what they suggest, for example, ‘hey Fonterra, can you fund the programme to a cost of a million dollars?’ Fonterra of course want 100% of the stories to be about Fonterra.”

AGMARDT and DairyNZ already had a long non-commercial relationship with the show “and were probably going to be on the programme anyway” so the programme’s integrity wasn’t at risk.

Ratings didn’t show how many viewers were farmers but TVNZ was happy with the show and wanted it to continue.

The target audience was the rural sector but it had 3.1 million views on YouTube in the past 15 months and 8500 social media followers.

Mika said she told NZOA Rural Delivery would be applying for 100% funding this time.

AGMARDT general manager Malcolm Nitschke said its one-off $60k funding fitted well into a strategy for sharing AGMARDT success stories.

While there was a variety of rural media available, there seemed to be a noticeable reduction in available TV air time given to the primary sector good news stories around innovation, best practices and sustainability issues, he said.

“Sensational and usually negative news seem to attract media attention with much less attention given to balancing the stories with the many positive success stories that exist in the primary sector.”

A DairyNZ spokesperson said Rural Delivery approached it for funding to support the show and they agreed on $20,000 for two segments of about 6’30 seconds each, based on story ideas provided by DairyNZ. The organisation often looked for opportunities to share its farmers stories and this a way to do it through a relatively low-cost TV option.

An NZOA spokesperson said NZOA introduced a new NZ Media Fund strategy on July 1 last year. It applied to all applicants and NZOA has been “clear with the industry that in response to static funding for over a decade, and fast-growing demands on our funds over that same period, co-investment is an important aspect of our business case assessment.”

Rural Delivery was not alone in being subject to this requirement, NZOA said.

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August 2018

BUSINESS | BIOSECURITY

Ecan’s plan of attack WORDS: SANDRA TAYLOR

F

aced with an increasing array of pest animals, plants and diseases entering the province, Environment Canterbury’s biosecurity team is changing the way it does business.

Under Canterbury’s Pest Management Plan, Environment Canterbury (ECan) will focus on controlling new incursions and pests. While limited numbers in the region, the intention is to stop them becoming tomorrow’s gorse, broom and rabbits, ECan principal biosecurity adviser, Laurence Smith says.

“We are working more at the frontend of the invasion curve, targeting pest animals and plants that are new to Canterbury while maintaining work on those that have been here a long time.”

He lists wilding conifers and onfarm biosecurity as being among ECan’s highest priorities and in both they are working in partnership programmes with the Ministry for Primary Industries, other central and local government agencies, farming industry organisations and landowners.

With onfarm biosecurity in particular, they will be working along with industry organisations to help drive behavioural change over the next few years. Biosecurity staff have the capability to wash down their vehicles between farm visits when

Bennetts wallabies.

incursions, such as velvetleaf. ECan is also creating a pathway management plan, which identifies pests present in other areas and puts a plan in place to prevent them coming into Canterbury.

This includes the identification and inspection of high-risk areas, where incursions are most likely to occur.

Wallabies have been a problem in South Canterbury for many years and Smith says a lot more resources will be

Wallabies have been a problem in South Canterbury for many years and a lot more resources will be going into trying to reduce the isolated wallaby populations south of the Waitaki River. necessary and are carrying equipment to help do this.

“For landowners, this is one of many ways to protect their land and business from being impacted by new pests.”

Smith says ECan is part of a National Capability Network which means it can be called upon by MPI to help with the response to any national biosecurity

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August 2018

going into trying to reduce the isolated wallaby populations south of the Waitaki River. To do this, ECan is working with Otago Regional Council in a joint effort to stop them spreading further, while also stopping them coming north by ensuring landowners control wallabies in the containment area between the Waitaki and Rangitata rivers.

At the northern end of the province, Chilean needle grass has been identified on 330 hectares, involving 20 properties, but Smith says about half of the region is susceptible to the weed, so ECan is working with the landowners concerned and on raising awareness of this production-limiting weed.

Detector dogs are also playing a role is detecting weeds such as Chilean needle grass and velvetleaf. While there is a significant investment in teaching these dogs to detect, they can be taught to sniff out specific weeds in just one day, he says.

Increasingly technology is helping in the battle against pests and weeds, as infra-red can pick up animals and spectral analysis and high-resolution cameras attached to drones, satellites or aeroplanes can detect individual weeds such as wilding conifers, gorse and broom.

While rabbits are at a relatively low level in much of Canterbury, the release of a new virus, K5, in the middle of March is another tool to help control their numbers, particularly in problem areas such as the Mackenzie Basin and pockets of North Canterbury.

Smith says it is too early to say how effective the new virus has been.

While new biosecurity incursions capture the headlines, there have been some success stories, with only one elusive rook living in Canterbury now, down from several thousand. Nassella is being contained to what is now a static population and biological controls have severely reduced ragwort numbers while broom is being increasing impacted by the broom gall mite.

Ecan is changing the way they are working to get better at identifying high risk areas for biosecurity.

“Most people do a great job of managing pests on their land, but there are always a few people who object to being asked to control their pests, but thankfully these are a small minority.”

There is an array of information about pest animals and plants, and onfarm biosecurity on Environment Canterbury’s website.

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BUSINESS | AUCTIONEER

A character with a sense of fun

O

tago stock agent Robin Gamble was a larger-thanlife character who loved his family, rugby, fishing and more than the occasional

escapade.

Gamble, 72, who died on May 12, notched up 55 years in the stock and station industry.

When once cast as an old, rugged villain in a cowboy and western feature film, the director told him the only thing he had to do was not act – just being himself was perfect.

Gamble grew up on the Taieri where his parents were dairy farmers and, from a young age, he wanted to be a stock agent.

He joined National Mortgage as an office boy in January 1963. There were mergers over the years but he still considered he worked for the same company, now PGG Wrightson.

Long-time friend Paul Davies, who started work the same day, recalled one of Gamble’s first jobs was hoisting the flag every morning on the roof of the building.

He spent a year in the Dunedin office but was always orientated towards livestock, with a season as a trainee in Balclutha.

After three years as a junior stock agent in Clinton, he moved to Milton where he married Virginia Thorn and the couple had two children, before moving back to the Taieri.

Gamble later became livestock manager at the Dunedin office. He gave up that role in his early 60s and continued as head auctioneer.

“Live an uncomplicated life, keep it simple, be loyal and honest to your wife and family, your company, your clients, your workmates, your competition and yourself,” he once told the Otago Daily Times.

Davies said Gamble never dropped his standards – or his sense of fun.

In the mid-1960s, the pair went to the West Coast in Gamble’s new company car.

They stopped at a river, where he pulled out a rod and caught a “beautiful” trout.

Further along, he put in a whitebait net

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PGG Wrightson auctioneer Robin Gamble sells another lot at the 2013 Abbotsford Station lamb sale.

and they caught 50lb of whitebait.

Around a corner they saw a deer on the road, Gamble grabbed his rifle and shot it, tying it to the roof of the car.

They spied a waterfall near Franz Josef.

A television advertisement for Ford at the time depicted a car driving through a waterfall — “so Robin couldn’t help himself” and attempted to drive through the waterfall. However, it got jammed in the middle and sank up to its axles.

“Robin, in a gruff sort of voice, turned to me and said, ‘get out, get out, you’ll have to push’.” The car was retrieved by a grader.

Former colleague and friend David McKenzie described Gamble as larger-thanlife, “a true family man and a legend in his profession”.

When McKenzie transferred to Dunedin in 1988, it was testing times with the farming downturn.

“Robin had a huge role to play with his team of agents and we were able to implement all these changes without affecting our clients and the strong company relationship we had with them,” he said.

“From an early age, I learned I could play any sport I wanted – as long as it was rugby,” son Brett said.

“He was famous for his very direct motivational speeches, most of which would have been half the length if the expletives were removed.”

Daughter Kerry remembered a father who taught his children to be loyal, through his love for his wife, his lengthy dedication to his firm, the long-term relationships he fostered with clients, and his steadfast loyalty to his provincial rugby team.

Many happy gatherings were held at the family bach at Bull Creek, on the South Otago coast.

Gamble was heavily involved with the Moanariri Crib Owners Association’s work developing Bush Track in the Bull Creek Scenic Reserve.

He and Clinton farmer Ally Campbell began what was to become years of work as crib owners, friends and family gave up their holidays to build an easily accessible track.

More recently, Gamble had been a regular at duck-shooting season on Campbell’s property. He would arrive at the old musterer’s hut, take his tie off, put the decoys out and get the mai mai ready, then begin telling stories.

Gamble fought illness over the last 18 months of his life with his trademark determination. He even took the boat out through the breakers at Bull Creek for one last day of fishing when he could barely stand or walk.

He is survived by his wife Virginia, Kerry, Brett and their families.

Sally Rae, Otago Daily Times

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August 2018

Taiwan deer farming

Systems model for deer A new model is under development for deer farming to follow dairying with its system 1-5.

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August 2018

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DEER | SYSTEMS

Systems model for deer like dairy Deer farming could follow dairying with its system 1-5 with a model under development described to the recent Deer Industry Conference. Andrew Swallow reports.

H

ow would you describe your deer farming system?

A systems model developed as part of the Passion 2 Profit programme could see terms equivalent to dairying’s systems one through to five applied to deer.

Jamie Gordon of MRB outlined the Primary Growth Partnership-funded concept to the Deer Industry Conference in Timaru in May, saying it would not replace Farmax or other farm management tools, but should stimulate analysis onfarm.

“The idea is to compare production and financial performance between different hypothetical breeding and finishing systems,” he said.

Farm types are split into breeding or finishing, and within those two categories there are further subdivisions. For example, finishing systems are divided into five depending on the genetics of the weaners and the intensity of feeding (see chart).

A finishing farm where 7.5 tonnes of drymatter (DM)/ha/year is consumed, all as pasture, would be classed low intensity, or level 1 feeding, whereas 14.8t/ha consumed, including fodder beet, clovers and herbs, would be high intensity or level 3 feeding.

‘We’ve got the framework in place, and Jamie has proved it’s robust, but we need to test the terminology a bit further.’

Overlay that with different weaner genetics, broken down into moderate framed (MF) or large framed/terminal (LF/T) and carcase weight produced per hectare per year ranges from 193kg/ha for

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MF on low intensity feed, to 884kg/ha for LF/T on high intensity feed.

Gordon stressed those are annualised figures, as the moderate frame, level one fed animal finishes in 362 days from March 1, whereas an LF/T animal on level three feed finishes in 225 days.

Putting financials on that, the net margin per hectare ranged from $1169/ ha for low feed intensity, moderate framed reds, to $2287/ha for large-framed hybrids intensively fed.

Having developed the model, it was “road-tested” against real-life figures from seven farms, running eight systems, three in the North Island and five in the South.

The model net margins/ha (see table) were found to be close to reality with the real-life margins exceeding the model a little thanks to lower feed costs.

“We’re quite happy it’s not too far out,” Gordon told the conference, though further refinements in model inputs and terminology will likely be necessary.

What now happens to the model was being discussed between Gordon and P2P programme manager Innes Moffat as this edition went to press.

“The system names are working titles only at this stage,” Moffat said. “We’ve got the framework in place, and Jamie has proved it’s robust, but we need to test the terminology a bit further.”

The system descriptions should become a guide to probable changes in output from changes to inputs, or ‘the cost of gain’, hence helping farmers evaluate possible changes to their system, as well as benchmarking performance, Moffat said.

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August 2018

DEER | SYSTEMS

Taiwan deer farming insight WORDS: ANDREW SWALLOW

I

t’s deer farming, but not as we know it.

That’s how leading deer veterinary scientist Colin Mackintosh described Taiwan’s deer industry to the Cervetec conference in Timaru in May, having spent five days in Taiwan last November at the invitation of its government.

All-types of farming must compete with a population of more than 23 million on an island that’s only a quarter of the size of New Zealand’s South Island, and two-thirds of which is so mountainous it’s uninhabitable.

Consequently, much of the farming is in intensive, housed systems, deer included.

There are 500 to 600 deer farms with herds of between five and 200 deer, most of which are stags kept for velvet antler. They are mostly Sambar or Sika deer, but with some imported Fallow and Red deer.

Pens are typically metal on concrete floors. Mackintosh noted that’s not very nice for the deer, but from what he saw they are fed and looked after well.

“They can feed alfalfa [lucerne] cheaper there than we can grow it. They buy it by

A

August 2018

the shipload from North America.”

Sprinkler systems keep the deer cool in what’s generally a hot and humid climate and there appear to be few serious animal health issues, though he noted foot-andmouth disease vaccination is routine. Tb was slashed from 4% incidence in 1996 to an estimated 0.2% by 2006.

Velvet is the main product with many farms selling direct to jealously guarded clients who, in some cases, like to watch the removal process then drink a rice wine infused with the blood collected.

Velveting runs February-June. Stags are held in a crush, then the head is strapped down to remove antlers without anaesthetic.

“It is not done humanely because there

are no animal welfare regulations like we have in New Zealand,” Mackintosh said.

He also noted a disconnect between typical Taiwanese velvet marketing images of deer on grass and the reality of the housed systems.

Traditionally, due to competition for clients, and isolation, deer farmers don’t work together but the current government is seeking to change that. In Taiwan nearly all forms of farming are tax-free, as is government-funded advice.

“The country wants to encourage its farmers to be highly productive so that the country can be as self-reliant as possible for food production, given the relatively limited amount of land available for farming.”

Fertiliser implicated in farm fatalities

n investigation into the sudden death of 27 hinds and fawns on a Central Otago farm suggests undissolved fertiliser was most likely to blame, the Cervetec conference in Timaru in May was told.

Arrowtown vet Geoff Woodhouse explained how he’d been called in February when a farm manager found 23 hinds and fawns dead among a mob of 350 one morning.

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Hard yards: most Taiwanese deer, like these Sambars, are farmed in confined yard systems.

They’d been mustered on to flats the previous day ready for weaning at what turned out to be the end of a three-month drought.

“It had poured with rain that night,” Woodhouse said.

Four more died that day, but the rest of the mob were healthy. Six postmortems, including many tissue samples and tests, found no obvious answer, leaving exposure to an acute toxin as the most likely cause. Checks ruled out water

or toxic plants in feed, but a few fertiliser pellets were found.

It turned out a DAP, PhasedN, super and Sulphurgain brew had been applied in November but sat on the paddock undissolved in the dry.

The post-mortems ruled out fluoride poisoning from the super, leaving ammonia and/or nitrate poisoning from the DAP as the most likely, but highly unusual, cause, he concluded, a diagnosis endorsed by conference delegates.

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DEER | HEALTH REVIEW

Health tool plugged to vets, farms next WORDS: ANDREW SWALLOW

P

romotion of a new tool to raise standards of deer health management, and herd performance, is about to step up a gear.

The Deer Health Review Workbook, a product of the sector’s Primary Growth Partnership programme, Passion 2 Profit, was launched July last year. Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) Deer Health project manager Lorna Humm says to date the focus has been on getting vets up to speed with the workbook, with a “soft launch” to farmers at field days and in farming publications over the past year.

Humm, who developed the workbook following extensive consultation, says it uses a “what’s the gap” approach, encouraging measurement of performance and the gap between that and where the farm would like to be.

KEY POINTS • Deer Health workbook workings.

• Prompts evaluation of actions.

• Highlights performance gaps.

• Commits the what, who and when.

• Ongoing process, not a one-off plan.

• Best done with vet present.

• Meets quality assurance requirements.

“It is more about the process than being the plan itself… The idea is to change mindsets away from health plans being a static document and encourage ongoing revisiting, measuring and monitoring to keep it dynamic and ever-evolving.”

The workbook has been extremely well received by those who have already come across it provided they understand how it is meant to be used, she says.

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“Those who expect it to give them all the answers or be a plan in itself, have missed the point.”

Besides fostering better farm management, it is designed to meet quality assurance programme requirements for annually reviewed animal health plans.

At the Deer Industry Conference in Timaru in May, local vet Hayden Barker outlined how he and farm manager Tim Turner had used the workbook, following its three steps.

“It really does highlight the opportunities quite quickly,” Turner said. “For me it was well worth the time invested into it.”

Barker cautioned not all health issues would be addressed in one visit, but the process would help farmers focus on the more important issues and make incremental gains.

“Once you’ve done it once, it becomes a base document for your farming operation and you wouldn’t be doing every year from scratch, but be referring back to it.”

A paper version could be used but doing it electronically was preferable because there were quick links to reference materials and relevant information.

Just prior to the industry conference, deer vets at their annual conference, Cervetec, were also urged to make the most of the workbook.

“Don’t turn this into a tick-box programme,” Totally Vets’ Ginny Dodunski said.

Working through the review with clients would identify opportunities for vets to add value to their clients’ businesses through better animal health, she said.

As a profession, vets had failed to capitalise on such opportunities in the past and, to date, they were probably not making as much use of this latest tool as they could be.

“We don’t get into really good discussions with farmers about what they’re doing onfarm and I think we make

Risk of health issues from parasites to trace elements and clostridial diseases are worked through one by one.

Paper version is available, but electronic preferable for the links it provides.

a lot of assumptions. If we ask closed questions, we get closed answers.”

The workbook, which can be downloaded free from the Deerhub* area of the DINZ website, would be “massively useful” for younger vets in particular, she said.

On some farms it would highlight a lack of management data from which to make good decisions, while those with good data would be able to identify actions to try to improve performance.

Having systematically reviewed each health issue’s management, and the alternatives and associated costs and benefits to that, the workbook concludes with an action and review section where the “what”, “who” and “when” should be written, and, in due course, a “done” and “notes” column completed.

Go to ww.deernz.org/deerhub/health and scroll down to learn more about the Deer Health Review workbook and/or download a copy.

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August 2018

DEER | BRANDING

Cervena makeover

Silver Fern Farms is one of the five licence-holders for Cervena branding of farm-raised venison.

WORDS: LYNDA GRAY

A

$200,000 refresh of the deer industry’s Cervena brand had modernised it for multiplatform promotion and the push into the European spring and summer market.

The makeover, the first since the industry brand mark’s launch in 1991, had been expensive due to the multi-lingual adaption for the North American, French, Dutch and German markets but in line with what was required in the highly competitive food service and wholesaling sectors, Deer Industry New Zealand’s Innes Moffat says.

Cervena was launched in 1991 to distinguish naturally raised NZ venison from animals three years and younger processed according to strict quality criteria. Exporters pay a licensing fee to use the Cervena branding, along with their individual brand names. There are five licence-holders: Silver Fern Farms, Alliance, Duncan and Co, Mountain River and Firstlight Foods.

In hindsight Cervena was a concept ahead of its time and for the European market it was initially intended for, Moffat says.

“The point was to differentiate our farm-raised venison from game meat but European buyers at the time weren’t interested.”

The reluctance was due largely to

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Germany’s long-held affinity with traditional hunted game venison. The lack of traction within this market led to a US focus from the mid-1990s which the Game Industry Board, the forerunner of DINZ, targeted with generous promotional spending.

‘The point was to differentiate our farm-raised venison from game meat but European buyers at the time weren’t interested.’

The spending became a topic of heated debate and was ramped back from 2002, following the restructure of GIB and formation of DINZ. However, the US market had grown to the point where Cervena was acknowledged by distributors, importers and the food service industry as good and consistent-quality venison, Moffat says.

The question of what exactly it had delivered to the industry and farmers was difficult to answer with black and white figures.

What the figures do show is that in 2016 and 2017 the value of Cervena exports accounted for 12% and 14% respectively

of the total value of venison exports, not a huge amount due in part to the strict qualifying criteria. But in the US in 2016 and 2017 Cervena accounted for 44% of total NZ venison exports by value.

The upward trend was in line with increased tonnages to the US which was now the leading market for NZ venison.

“Cervena has sold for consistent and high prices in the US whereas larger volume markets have suffered from greater volatility in prices,” Moffat says.

At this year’s deer industry conference Glenn Tyrrell, Duncan & Co marketing manager, intimated that Cervena was a contributor to the $11-plus schedule.

He said the development of the US market and Cervena had been a “slow burn”, a view shared by Mountain River’s John Sadler.

“It’s a long-term venison strategy and it’s taken a while but it’s withstood the test of time. Over recent years the growth in the value of the US market has been significant and some of that’s due to Cervena and it could be said that the benefit of that has filtered back to exporters and farmers.”

Cervena was now in the throes of being reintroduced to Germany, and trialled in new European markets as a spring/summer barbecue option distinct and different from traditional winter game venison.

Initial promotions looked promising but it was still early days to tell if Germans had developed an appetite for Cervena.

39

LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

In at the deep end A young couple found themselves unexpectedly taking over the family farm. Russell Priest reports. Photos: Brad Hanson.

F

aced with the death of both his parents in close succession John Small had little time to reflect before taking over the farming business.

John was brought up on the farm which his parents had farmed for 30 years. He spent two years

40

working full time with his father Ross before he died last year.

His mother Sandra died in 2015. It’s barely enough time to learn many of the more-detailed farm management practices, but time will fix that. At 24 John has plenty of that on his side.

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August 2018

Also in his favour is the good state the farm was left in by his parents for which he and wife Leah are grateful for.

Infrastructure forms a large component of a farm’s capital expenditure.

From the well-constructed and maintained fences, yards and farm buildings to the degree of subdivision, provision of water and quality of the pastures, John and Leah have a sound foundation on which to build their business.

Leah, 23, who hails from dairy-farming stock, works three days a week in nearby Dannevirke as a property management consultant with a real estate firm. She spends much of her spare time helping John on the farm for which he is very grateful.

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The Smalls’ Wai-totara, is a 600-hectare (550ha effective) sheep and beef farm, 35km south east of Dannevirke in southern Hawke’s Bay. Most of the farm is rolling-to-medium hill country (450ha) with 50ha of flats and 100ha of steep hills rising from 250m to 730m. An occasional fall of snow is experienced particularly on the higher peaks.

The Weber area is renowned for its strong westto-north west winds. Sometimes venturing to the highest point on the farm is too dangerous due to the likelihood of being blown over. The wind is great for getting wool dry but tough on soil moisture levels.

The predominantly clay soils receive an average annual rainfall of 1350mm which is normally evenly distributed although the farm can often experience dry summers.

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John Small.

Crossbreeding pays off Wai-totara has been farmed as a traditional sheep and cattle breeding and finishing business but there are a couple of curve balls involved – Red Devon cattle and Texel sheep.

Ross introduced the moderate framed, early maturing and placid cattle to his predominantly Simmental herd eight years ago to improve ease of calving, docility and fertility. John has continued with his father’s policy of top-crossing the cows with Red Devon bulls so now there are a number of purebred females in the herd.

Eighty cows with varying percentages of Red Devon blood, up to a quarter of which are R3 in-calf heifers, are farmed.

Being an easy-care breed means John can run the mixed-aged (MA) cows on the highest and most exposed country during calving without supervision. It also allows him to avoid lambing ewes at this altitude where lambs can readily die of hypothermia. The R3 heifers are calved on the easier country among ewes and lambs.

The breed met all of John’s father’s expectations having delivered close to

FARM FACTS • Sheep and beef breeding and finishing.

• 600ha (550ha effective).

• A mixture of flats, rolling and medium-to-steep hills.

• Annual rainfall 1350mm.

• Predominantly clay soils • Wind run: Strong, predominantly west-to-northwesterlies.

• Stock wintered: • Ewes: 2420 (750 two-tooths).

• Ewe hoggets: 700.

• Rams: 40.

• Cows: 80 (15 R3 heifers).

• R1 heifers: 35 • R1 steers: 35 • Bulls: 2

View of some of the easier Wai-totara country.

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August 2018

Red Devon herd sires.

100% calving last year (one dry cow out of 80) although John concedes the bull is normally out for 70 days. “This makes it easier to achieve a higher in-calf rate than with a more restricted mating period.�

Bulls are out from December 1 to February 15 and while 15-month heifers are not mated John is intending to introduce this practice in the next two years.

Yard weaning of calves has been practised in recent years. Calves are fed on hay for five days giving them the opportunity to interact with humans while also being exposed to an electric fence as John extends the yard area into an adjacent paddock. This provides them with a useful learning experience for when they are break-fed on rape from mid-June to early September before being spread among the ewes and lambs. R2 steers and surplus R2 females are sold in the yards before the second winter.

MA cows not only perform the role of pasture groomers over the spring/summer period but also clean up any roughage during the winter that has developed.

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August 2018

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Shearing two-tooth ewes.

Spreading the lambing risk In spite of running a highly productive Romney flock based on Jason Le Grove’s Motu-nui bloodlines, John chooses to also run a small Romney Texel flock and a B-Romney flock. Both groups are early mated allowing him to benefit from early season lamb premiums and take some pressure off feed demand at a critical time.

A total of 2420 ewes go to the ram – B-flock ewes (500) and Texel Romney ewes (220) go to Texel and Poll Dorset rams respectively on March 15 for three cycles.

John says the Texel influences leaves them with excellent early growth and high-yielding carcases for which we get a significant premium.

Mating of A-flock ewes (1700) to Romney rams begins on April 1 for 2½ cycles. The overall lambing percentage is 150.

“I try to have the ewes on a rising plane of nutrition before the rams go out and for a cycle during mating if I can,” John said.

Three separate rotations of at least two weeks duration involving the Texel and B-flock ewes, the A-flock ewes and the replacement ewe hoggets operate during the winter. The latter are shorn in August then set-stocked on saved pasture in a sheltered bush paddock before doing it hard on some of the higher country during lambing.

Lambing of the B-flock and Texel ewes takes place on the easier-contoured lower country and the A-flock ewes at a higher altitude.

“Spreading the lambing dates reduces the storm risk and also makes it easier to build up feed covers for lambing.”

The first draft of the B-flock and Texel lambs occurs late October/early November before weaning. About 100 lambs killed before Christmas averaged about 35kg liveweight, yielded about 55% and fetched an average of $130/lamb.

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‘Spreading the lambing dates reduces the storm risk and also makes it easier to build up feed covers for lambing.

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“Texel cross ewes may not be as fecund as the Romneys but they produce some amazing lambs.”

Those killed in the autumn average about 44kg with even some of the Romneys yielding up to 55%.

Two thirds of the male lambs and those ewe lambs not required as replacements are finished with the rest being sold as stores.

Replacement ewe hoggets number about 700.

In selecting his Romney sires John concentrates on structural features relating to their mobility and their ability to feed as well as their breeding values for number of lambs born and early-to-eight months growth since this is the period when he finishes most of his lambs. Despite the state of the crossbred wool market he still likes to see a sound fleece.

The 50ha of flats complement the hill country. While the latter generates the store stock the former is farmed more intensively to finish lambs, winter weaners and make hay.

Ten hectares of sprayed pasture is directdrilled in early November with Greenland rape and used to finish lambs over the summer before being shut up, with the regrowth used (supplemented with hay) to winter weaners for three months in late winter/early spring.

Italian ryegrass sown in spring follows the winter rape then the paddock is returned to permanent pasture. John is keen to substitute the Italian ryegrass with a mix of red and white clover which he would replace after two or three years.

John Small in his woolshed.

BUILDING A DOG TEAM John boarded at Napier Boys High School before heading across the ranges in 2012 to Otiwhiti Station near Hunterville to become a cadet for a year at the Otiwhiti Land Based Training school (Country-Wide, March 2018). After graduating he spent a further year as a junior shepherd on the station before getting a job at nearby Ferndale Station.

He spent two years there before returning home after his mother died to support his father who was suffering from illhealth.

John has fond memories of Otiwhiti, citing the complete change in environment including interacting and working closely with eight other cadets, one of whom was a female, the extensive nature of the farming operation, the use of horses and learning the art of dog training.

He says Otiwhiti operated a different style of farming to what he was used to and riding a horse was a new experience.

“I took an eye pup along with me to the school and was taught how to train it and I also developed an understanding of what dogs are capable doing on the farm.”

Halfway through the year John bought a huntaway so that when the course was finished he had a dog team which made getting a job more easily.

The woolshed at Wai-totara.

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August 2018

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47

LIVESTOCK | GENETICS

By popular demand WORDS: RUSSELL PRIEST

I

n response to requests from commercial farmers to make available genetics from their successful weaner-producing cow herd, Wairarapa’s John McFadzean has decided to hold a sale of yearling bulls on September 13 this year.

“We’re going to sell bulls based on productivity not pedigree at an affordable price,” John said.

“Some commercial farmers are finding it difficult to buy bulls to suit their budget so our aim is to provide them with highperformance bulls they can afford.”

Fellow Wairarapa farmer and large-scale ram breeder Derek Daniel has been buying bulls from the McFadzeans for several years with considerable success.

“We’ll be doing exactly what a number of now-successful Wairarapa ram breeders including Derek did 50 years ago – screening ewes from their commercial flocks.”

The process is already under way with the screening of about 1000 cows.

Initial screening will be based on cow conformation (type), fertility and ability to consistently wean a heavy calf.

Heifer calves born to screened cows will have to perform in the commercial environment to attain “screened” status.

As the programme progresses an expanding database of information on the screened herd will be developed.

Selection of potential bull calves for

Selection of potential bull calves for sale have been made while still on their mothers.

sale have been made while still on their mothers with photos taken of the cow-calf unit to help buyers identify the percentage of Simmental/Angus involved. Only 30 elite bulls out of 250 born will be offered for sale.

“We’ve decided to call the breed McFadzean Meat Makers (MMM) and while they’ll have varying percentages of Simmental and Angus genes their role will be to improve herd profitability,” John said.

“The offering will include both maternal and terminal sires depending on the amount of Simmental and Angus each bull carries. There’ll be bulls to satisfy all breeding objectives.”

One thing you can rely on is that the bulls will be sound and conform to a type displaying good growth with heavy

muscling and a medium frame with a strong constitution. For the last 40 years the McFadzeans have focused on breeding a cow herd incorporating the above traits along with strong female characteristics and have not been afraid to compete with stud breeders for herd sires that satisfy their requirements for performance and type.

“From my experience by using these MMM bulls I believe what would have taken 25 years to achieve using traditional genetics can be achieved in one generation,” John said.

PGG Wrightson stock agent Steve Olds believes the McFadzean cow herd is one of the highest performing in the country and is excited its genetics are being made available to commercial farmers.

At Lawrence on Vet LSD®

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• After nearly 30 years farming At says Vet LSD® is one of only two products that have delivered tangible results in ewe health.

• Lambing losses are lowered and lambs born full of vigour.

For more information or to purchase Vet LSD® please contact your local vet clinic or visit us online www.vetlsd.co.nz

48

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August 2018

LIVESTOCK | M BOVIS

NAIT progress good by international standards

T

WORDS: ANDREW SWALLOW

he flak fired at NAIT due to the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak is unsurprising but largely unjustified, the outgoing chief executive of parent body OSPRI, Michelle Edge, says.

By international standards, New Zealand’s cattle and deer traceability programme is making good progress towards becoming comprehensive and reliable, she says.

Similarly, the 18 months it took to complete the NAIT review was swift for such a task.

“That’s not that long for a national regulatory review. The TB review took three years,” she says Edge, who announced her resignation on June 22, joined OSPRI in June 2015, shortly before the TB review was completed. It was her job to implement its recommendations, including a $20 million cut in TB funding to $60m/year. NAIT’s budget’s remained at $8m/year.

With the restructuring complete and OSPRI “the company” now “well settled” she says the time was right for her to move on. Criticisms of NAIT due to M bovis had little influence on her decision.

“It’s just part of the sentiment you get as these changes occur in biosecurity,” she

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says, comparing it to an insurance policy: people often don’t look at the fine print of the policy until they need it.

In fact, the fine print of NAIT was already being scrutinised by the review process well before M bovis was discovered in NZ for the first time a year ago, she points out.

That review made 38 recommendations, grouped into five areas and nine categories (see panel). Regulatory or legislative changes are needed for 17 of those, but in May Minister for Primary Industries Damien O’Connor said 23 could be implemented promptly by Ospri.

Early in July Edge said the schedule for which recommendations would be done when was still being worked on, though some were already happening. A consultation document on recommendations which require notification, of which there were 10, would be put out “in the coming months”.

Some, such as tag standards and accreditation of tag suppliers and other information providers, would be of no direct concern to farmers, but others, such as making the NAIT system more user friendly and circulation of best practice guidelines are farmer orientated.

Recent advice on managing dairy cattle movements to wintering locations is an example of that promotion of best practice

KEY POINTS Edge on NAIT: • Main risks catered for.

• No measure of farm-to-farm compliance possible.

• National standstill exercise needed.

• Review timeline reasonable.

• Recommendations underway, schedule to be confirmed.

• NAIT only 12% of Ospri budget. recommendation already happening, she says.

As for the recommendations requiring regulatory and/or legislative changes, she wasn’t sure of the timeline for those to happen as they’ll be driven by MPI. Compliance with NAIT requirements through saleyards and to processors is well over 90% now, she says, though the percentage is slightly lower within the 48-hour time limit, as the NAIT review reveals. Where the problem lies is with farm-to-farm movements, due to a lack of data. The NAIT review found 57% of movements on to farm were recorded within the required 48-hours but Edge says nobody knows what overall compliance with farm-to-farm movements is because 49

there are no figures on how many such movements are made in total.

It’s also impossible to say whether, as a result of the publicity about NAIT compliance, there has been any improvement this winter, she says.

To obtain such data, a national “standstill” in stock movements would be a good start. Edge says such an exercise might be done in “2019-onwards, when the review changes have been made”.

To do one before that would be difficult with the resources deployed in the M bovis response, and it would be better that the operational changes recommended by the review are in place, such that the results of the standstill become a baseline for future audits. Standstill audits should be done every five years thereafter, she says.

In future there will be spot checks on a yet-to-bedetermined number of the 90,000 NAIT accounts each year to ascertain whether the animals present on a property match what’s on NAIT’s database.

Edge admits that in an ideal world, it would have been good to have done such a standstill exercise already, but it is costly, disruptive, and the exercise must be built into “the business case” for NAIT. Meanwhile, and in future, there will be spot checks on a yet-to-be-determined number of the 90,000 NAIT accounts each year to ascertain whether the animals present on a property match what’s on NAIT’s database.

How those will be targeted is also yet to

Michelle Edge

movements involving saleyards and processors.

“At the moment there are a lot of figures being bandied around and extrapolated as a risk to the entire country. I don’t agree with that. The main risks are being catered for.”

REVIEW RAISES HOPES

be determined, but in line with the NAIT review NAIT is increasing its reporting of non-compliance to MPI which has powers to issue infringements.

First step in a non-compliance issue will be a warning letter from NAIT, Edge says. The next step depends on the nature of the offence. Failure to rectify a serious offence after a warning letter may result in referral to MPI who will either issue an infringement notice, which could include a spot fine, or investigate further and depending on the outcome of that, infringe or prosecute.

Lesser offences might get a second warning letter from NAIT before being passed to MPI. While Edge can’t quantify the number of referrals to MPI, she says there have been some in recent weeks and over the past six months there have been “numerous farm inspections and saleyard inspections” by MPI resulting in 19 “interventions”.

However, as a product traceability and food safety risk management system, NAIT is performing well, she insists, as demonstrated by compliance rates for

Federated Farmers’ Meat and Fibre chairman Miles Anderson says he’s hopeful the NAIT review will “fix a lot of issues” with the system.

“There are so many things that need tidied up.”

At the root of the problems is the design of the system which isn’t user-friendly, especially when some of those users have poor internet and/or are unfamiliar with computers, he believes.

Besides those problems limiting compliance, there are also misunderstandings about what is required to be recorded by those using it.

With hindsight, Ospri’s compliance team that visited saleyards and processors to ensure they got to grips with the system in its first few years should never have been disbanded, he says.

“They probably should have moved on to doing spot checks on farms and running workshops on using it, but we are where we are.”

Anderson admits he’s frustrated that even now, with NAIT compliance in the spotlight thanks to M bovis, he’s still getting reports of untagged animals being traded.

“If you buy animals that don’t comply now, you’re mad.”

All farms need to shun such offers so economics force the sellers to comply and NZ’s beef farming and export industry can be confident it has a robust, reliable, and, crucially, rapidly accessible traceability system.

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CHANGE OF CHAIR A week after Ospri announced Edge’s resignation as chief executive, it said Barry Harris would succeed Jeff Grant as chairman, Grant having stepped down to

go to London to negotiate for Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association in Brexit talks.

“OSPRI has an important role to play in helping deliver both the TBfree and NAIT

REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS Pages 55-58 of the NAIT review final report, available under “publications and resources” at www.ospri.co.nz, lists 38 recommendations, 11 of which require either “no operational or legislative change” or are operational change only. Three are operational but also require notification or regulation, as indicated in brackets in the list below.

• NAIT to use LINZ farm boundary and ownership information.

• NAIT to simplify and streamline animal registration process.

• NAIT to promote re-scan and lost/non-reading tag procedures.

• Tag suppliers to provide and promote essential tag application information.

• NAIT to implement and promote standard reporting procedures for tag loss/retention problems.

• NAIT to centrally record tag loss reports and assess against standards (Notification).

• NAIT to standardise visual coding of RFID tags.

• NAIT to improve end-user system access by developing mobile apps and lightweight web versions.

• NAIT to facilitate addition of new fields to NAIT records to support disease management, food safety, market assurance, and animal productivity, if requested.

• All calves, regardless of age, to be tagged before leaving farm, except direct to slaughter.

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programmes and I’m strongly committed to working with shareholders and other key stakeholders to ensure OSPRI is a success,” Harris said.

Harris was appointed to the board in July 2014, shortly after Ospri was formed from the merger of NAIT and the Animal Health Board. Previously he was a senior executive with Fonterra and is a long-standing director of DairyNZ. He also chairs McFall Fuel, Food Innovation Waikato and Wintec and is a director of WEL Networks.

The OSPRI board thanked Grant for successfully leading the organisation through major changes, particularly the new TBfree strategy.

Grant said Edge had made a big contribution to reshaping Ospri, including restructuring the TBfree programme and dealing with a $20 million reduction in funding.

“Michelle has played a major role in also ensuring the NAIT Review was completed which will see changes implemented that give a more usable system for the Industry and confidence in providing the intended outcomes when it was first set up”.

• An “Impractical to Tag (ITT)” box to be added to ASD so no need to pre-register such movements on NAIT (Regulation) • NAIT and MPI to agree and implement monitoring, reporting and compliance protocols.

• Compliance roles and responsibilities of NAIT and MPI defined and communicated.

• Infringement regime reviewed to ensure fit for purpose (Regulation).

• The other 24 recommendations are non-operational (ie: require notice, regulation and/or legislative change). Key among these, from a farm perspective, in Country-Wide’s opinion, as follows: • NAIT number assigned to location, not person. (Regulatory change required).

• Annual declaration of numbers of non-NAIT species (Regulatory and legislative change).

• No need to NAIT outgoing livestock – ASD sufficient (Regulatory change).

• NAIT tags exclusive to location (Regulatory and legislative change).

• Tags only available from accredited suppliers (Notice).

• Enable Crown agents such as Police direct access to NAIT data (Regulatory change).

• Removal of statutory barriers to sharing of NAIT info with potential buyers (Legislative).

• NB: None of the recommendations are enacted until NAIT issues a notification to that effect. Current NAIT obligations remain.

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LIVESTOCK | GENETALK

Explosion in the number of farms affected by M bovis has drawn attention to flaws in the nation’s biosecurity.

Breeding for disease resistance Our internal biosecurity between farms has all the integrity of a toddler licking a toilet seat, geneticist Nicola Dennis writes.

I

have been ill a lot this winter. That is the thing about living with a paramedic and a small child who licks everything. Every disease in circulation walks straight through the front door. Should Ebola hit our shores, I expect I will be one of the first to perish.

You will survive me in that case, but when it comes to livestock diseases, most of us are trapped in the same germy boat. The explosion in the number of Mycoplasma bovis-infected farms across the country has taught us that our internal biosecurity (between farms) has all the integrity of a toddler licking a toilet seat.

My email inbox has been overflowing with queries and speculation about the M bovis chaos, it has really captured the hearts and minds (and other parts of the anatomy) of the ag community.

Few things are more alluring to a scientist than a juicy problem and the whiff of authority effing it all up. Putting that aside, there is no escaping that we farmers, as a collective, are to blame. Pretty much all Kiwi farmers (not just cattle owners) rely heavily on stock trading and contract grazing to manage the ebbs and flows of pasture growth. We are moving god-knows-what around the country daily.

Where does breeding and genetics fit into this hot mess?

First, if a disease comes through and kills (or entices the government to kill) a large quantity of animals, then this limits the higher merit options available for breeding

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replacement stock. Those that fall in with the crowd, this would be a setback, but there will probably be enough variation in the animals left in New Zealand (or overseas) to recover what was lost.

For those breeding niche traits or rare breeds, all progress could be lost. If you value the effort you have put into your breeding programme, biosecurity should probably be a whole lot more than the latest buzz word.

body fat. We can also breed for resistance against specific traits. NZ Ram breeders are making good gains in breeding for facial eczema resistance in sheep.

Overseas, the United Kingdom has a breeding index, TB advantage, to breed dairy cows that have better resistance to Mycobacterium bovis (aka “Bovine tuberculosis” or “the real M bovis, thank you very much”).

This approach can be powerful, but there is a caveat. Like all other traits, there needs to be good recording of the phenotype.

Without good data there is no trait.

The facial eczema trait works because animals can be given the disease (in a controlled way) and the resulting

If you value the effort you have put into your breeding programme, biosecurity should probably be a whole lot more than the latest buzz word.

My second point is a little less dismal.

We can breed for disease resistance, so that our animals stand a fighting chance from the outset.

Overall disease-resistant traits can measure the strength of an animal’s general immunity, such as the antibodyand cell-mediated immune response tests pioneered by Bonnie Mallard in Canada.

Less high-tech approaches, such as survival/longevity traits, can serve a similar role. General immunity is important because there is an inevitable trade-off between production and health. If we push for a streamlined animal that converts nearly all its food into production, then we begin to throw away things needed in a crisis, such as the immune system and

liver damage (or lack thereof) can be measured via a blood test. This means a lot of information is available for a single animal. The TB resistance trait is a bit more of a bucket approach and this works because the whole country is testing for the disease. At this point, breeding for resistance to something like Mycoplasma bovis is a non-starter. It is so difficult to determine if a single cow is infected, and clinical signs are so erratic, that those in charge are forced to cull whole herds in the quest for eradication.

Diseases that can be accurately diagnosed or nonspecific symptoms (such as lameness) that can be recorded in large enough numbers are, however, ripe for the picking.

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LIVESTOCK | STOCK CHECK

Treading carefully with rams Changing ram source may not be the answer to an underperforming flock. Vet Trevor Cook looks at sheep breeding priorities.

W

hen a farm is struggling with flock performance one of the most common questions I get asked is “where should I get my rams from?”

Changing the ram source is so often seen as the key change necessary to lifting flock outputs.

Although I work with a number of ram breeders, I cannot be seen to be aligned with any of them. I never attempt to answer that question at the beginning and very often not by the end of the discussion.

My response always begins with getting the areas of flock under-performance defined. This then must be put into the whole-farm context such as the stocking rate, the stock mix and the environment.

Are the breeding objectives defined or appropriate for the farm? What is the priority of the sheep breeding enterprise?

I then look at what it looks like at the key points of influence times.

Ewe lamb replacement weights prewinter, the body condition score of ewes at mating and lambing, the feed conditions from pregnancy scanning on are few of the areas I explore. By then I usually am getting an idea of what might be the obstacles.

What is interesting to me in these discussions is that I will never be talking

Investigation into poor flock performance most often does not result in a ram source change.

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about things the flock manager has not heard before. So in finding solutions the focus needs to be on why these things are limiting. This is another big discussion because it will follow a different path every time.

If after all of this the ram source is still seen as an important change, I will tread carefully and talk about selection priorities and being aware of environmental background of any rams being considered.

I often will refer my client to SIL flock and ram rankings but always warn of the importance of that selection background.

Terrain, feeding background, animal health support and mob sizes will all impact on performance and therefore on the relevance of any selection.

Investigation into poor flock performance most often does not result in a ram source change.

A forum I was at recently was focused on the genetics of sheep and cattle. New technologies intruding into this world were discussed and there is no question they are adding to the ability to make genetic gain.

A term used a lot is genomics which by definition is “the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of genomes”. It is very much the world of DNA technology being used in genetic selections.

It was very comforting that in this forum there was recognition of the importance of environmental factors influencing genetic selection outcomes. Selection tools and rules used since 1865 with Mendel’s discoveries have been hugely successful and we need only look at how that has been applied to the New Zealand sheep population.

This has been based on individual breeders manually collecting data from individual sheep to make selections based on performance. The biggest gains were made before modern technology appeared.

Computer analysis of data was probably the first technological aid enlisted which added massive power to onfarm selections.

But these selections were all being made in an environment which impacted on the outcome.

Fancy DNA selections cannot do this and must sit alongside traditional methods.

The challenge the industry has is who pays for onfarm selection which is necessary to make gains and to validate “laboratory”generated data. This is a better allocation of funds than giving me the ability to make sire ram selection capability on my cell phone.

Attendees at that same forum were exposed to the power of a tiny manipulation of the genome altering animal performance. Of particular interest though was that performance being in disease tolerance or resistance, feed conversion efficiency or methane production.

That same technology could provide the tools needed to have any hope of reaching the predator free target by 2050.

The technology is well developed and proven, but the community acceptance is the barrier in NZ. It is still a discussion hampered by polarisation of views but homosexuality and same-sex marriage acceptance were once hampered by polarisation so there must be hope.

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CROPS & FORAGE | FUTURE FORAGE

Spoilt for choice Beating the giant buttercup and planting a herbal mix to see them through the summer dry is the recipe for success on a Golden Bay farm. Anne Hardie reports.

Graeme Crawford in a paddock of herbal ley sown this autumn and lightly grazed.

FARM FACTS • Farm owners: Graham and Michelle Ball • Contract milkers: Graeme and Lorraine Crawford

G

raham Ball’s cows are spoilt for choice when grazing his Golden Bay farm, with paddocks serving up a selection of timothy, cocksfoot, plantain, chicory and clover as well as ryegrass in a mix designed to combat the summer dry without irrigation.

These days, his son-in-law Graeme Crawford oversees the day-to-day management of the farm as a contract milker. It’s his fourth season on the farm, though he knows the area well as he and his wife Lorraine were sharemilkers on a nearby farm more than 20 years ago and won the 1997 Top of the South Sharemilkers of the Year competition.

At some stage he decided it was time for a change and swapped muddy gumboots for salty spray on a local fishing boat. It was a stint that lasted a decade before he

54

• Location: Te Waikoropupu Valley, Golden Bay returned to the land four years ago in the bush-clad valley just north of Takaka.

It’s a farm undergoing a transformation as in the past three years they have regrassed about 40ha of the 150 effective hectares into a herbal ley and will continue to regrass the remaining paddocks.

While the summer dry which normally lasts for six to eight weeks is the main drive to develop a herbal ley for the herd, the never-ending battle with giant buttercup is another reason for spraying out paddocks for resowing and then there’s the benefits of the individual species to draw nutrients from the pakihi soil and provide a balanced diet.

The farm meanders up the Te Waikoropupu Valley, close to the famous springs of the same name, stretching more than 4km from one end of the farm to the other beside the no-exit gravel road,

• Area: 150 effective hectares • Herd: 270 predominantly smaller Friesian • Stocking rate: 2.4 cows/ha on milking platform • Production: 143,000kg MS • Pasture grown: 11.5 tonnes of older pastures and herbal

sometimes only a paddock width before touching the regenerating bush on the surrounding hills.

Multiple streams and ditches dissect the farm so paddocks vary in size from 0.5ha to 3.5ha and with the dairy in the middle, can mean a 2.5km walk for the 370-cow herd. Though the cows are milked as one herd, Crawford split-grazes the paddocks which means allocation is worked out on

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metres of pasture per day. He says that may sound simple enough, but it’s quite a challenge.

Because it’s a hike for the cows from the furthest paddocks, milking switches from twice-a-day at the beginning of the season to three milkings in two days about Christmas and then once-a-day for the last six weeks of the season which finishes in mid-May. It’s a flexible regime, depending on the season.

In this part of the world, the annual rainfall reaches about 3.5 metres, so it’s not short on water. But it still gets dry if only for a few weeks which knocks production and Ball says spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on irrigation for such a short time doesn’t stack up. Plus, there’s the other benefits from establishing a herbal ley throughout the farm.

Giant buttercup has been an ongoing battle on many Golden Bay farms and Crawford says its invasive habits will dominate 80% of the pasture if allowed to go unchecked and even with control measures, they still have paddocks with buttercup making up 50% of the pasture.

The farm is a trial site for giant buttercup research and the latest trials use repeated topping to thwart the pest, following research with various spraying regimes.

Spray resistance is a problem, so now Crawford tops paddocks five times a year to reduce the dominance of buttercup and the regrassing of paddocks gives them the opportunity to spray twice to hit the buttercup seedlings that follow the first spray. After the initial spray in spring, they sow a chicory crop for summer, then spray that off in late February to sow the herbal ley.

“It does make a big difference spraying twice compared with paddocks we’ve sprayed once. It’s quite disheartening when you spray a paddock for buttercup and three months later it’s just as bad.”

‘It does make a big difference spraying twice compared with paddocks we’ve sprayed once. It’s quite disheartening when you spray a paddock for buttercup and three months later it’s just as bad.’

A life-long battle Spraying out paddocks and regrassing 15ha a year is as much as they can take out of the round and they are going to drop that a bit, so it will take a while to complete the entire farm and buttercup will build up again. The reality is, fighting giant buttercup is going to be a life-long battle.

“Taking 15ha out makes our autumn quite testing,” Crawford says. “We only give it a light graze in autumn and it’s not fully back into the rotation until spring, so we’re dropping it back to 10ha next spring.”

For a period at least, the resown paddocks will have a mix of species dominating buttercup and adding a

range of benefits into the system. Into the mix they opted for 15kg/ha of Trojan ryegrass as it seems to be more resilient on pakihi soils through summer, 12kg/ ha of Greenlea cocksfoot for the summer dry, 3kg/ha of red clover, 4kg/ha of white clover, 2kg/ha of Tonic plantain, 1kg/ha of Puna chicory and 1kg/ha of Timothy. It’s a mix that was chosen for protein through the summer dry, as Crawford explains.

“The research shows that during a dry summer, ryegrass is very low in protein, which means ME (metabolisable energy) drops and crude protein drops. So we had to come up with a plan as we didn’t want to rely on irrigation.”

Chicory offered 12.5-13 megajoules (MJ) ME/kg drymatter (DM) and crude protein of 20-26%, while both chicory and plantain have tap roots that pull up nutrients from the soil through summer.

“That opens up your soil,” Ball says.

“With our wet soils we need that oxygen content in the soils because pakihi can seal off very quickly in the wet. By doing all these things and building your carbon on these soils, you end up with very friable soils that are very soft – so you don’t drive on it in winter!”

The other challenge with pakihi soil is that it has a low holding capacity until organic matter is built up, which means it loses sulphur and potassium. To counter

REASONS FOR HERBAL LEY • Summer dry without irrigation • Higher protein through summer • Regrassing to battle giant buttercup • Balanced diet for cows • Long tap roots to open up pakihi soil

A mix of seven species has been sown in the herbal ley.

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Giant buttercup in control pasture on the trial plot in late autumn.

55

that and the high rainfall, fertiliser is applied little and often.

RPR is applied once a year as the main phosphate fertiliser and then four dressings a year include 20kg/ha of soluble phosphate, 25kg/ha of potassium and 30kgs/ha of sulphur. Nitrogen is kept to a minimum for environmental reasons, with just 30-50kg/ha applied, split between two dressings during spring.

Meanwhile, the higher protein for the cows is balanced with small feeds of wheat or barley through the season which are starches that are higher in carbohydrates.

This year it was wheat mixed with palm kernel, totalling 100 tonnes fed to the cows in the shed throughout the season.

Ball says they also focus on managing protein so they are not losing too much through urine patches, thus again reducing the environmental impact.

Seasons far from normal The result of regrassing and managing giant buttercup is a lift from 9.8t DM/ha five years ago to 11.5t which includes the herbal ley and older pastures. Last winter, when the older pastures were growing 4.5kg DM/ha/day, the herbal ley was growing 15kg DM/ha/day.

The impact on milk production from that lift in pasture has been hard to judge because the past two seasons have been far from normal. This season, production will be down about 3% on the previous season, with about 143,000kg milksolids achieved, and that was about 3% down on the season before that which was a perfect year climatically, beginning with a dry spring.

Though while the farm dropped 3% this season, it fared better than many Golden Bay dairy farms which averaged a drop of 6-7%, with some farmers forced to drop to once-a-day milking in spring. After a

NEW PASTURE MIX • 15kg/ha Trojan ryegrass • 12kg/ha Greenlea cocksfoot • 4kg/ha white clover • 3kg/ha red clover • 2kg/ha Tonic plantain • 1g/ha Puna chicory • 1kg/ha of Timothy

very wet spring, just 10mm of rain was recorded during November and December and Crawford dropped to 3in2 milking on December 12, just before the climate turned summer on its head and parched ground became sodden. In January and February alone, they recorded 1100mm of rain. It was not a typical Golden Bay season and challenging to say the least.

Through the dry, the herbal ley performed better than other pasture on the farm and ryegrass pastures still have bare patches where it dried off completely.

“The climatic conditions have more influence than the grasses. We can minimise it and that’s what we’ve done, I think. The herbal ley was better

than everything else and we’ve still got patches in the ryegrass where it dried out completely. Where we pugged through the wet spring hit the herbal ley hard though because clover hates pugging and it destroyed it in those areas.”

The pakihi soil also dictates herd management. Cows head off the farm for 50 days in winter to two nearby runoffs that total 80ha, returning for an August 1 start of calving. The herd is predominantly smaller Friesian cows and the goal is to get the liveweight down to about 480kg to lessen the impact on wet pakihi soil. On the milking platform they run a stocking rate of 2.4 cows/ha and the overall stocking rate with the runoffs is 2.2.

A lower stocking rate suits the layout of the farm, the pakihi soils, lack of irrigation and lessens any impact on the environment, while the herbal ley also fits in with a philosophy about feeding the cows.

Ball says cows simply need a balanced diet and while they love their new herbal mix, it is also a good way for them to get all their trace elements.

First published in NZ Dairy Exporter, June 2018

The farm meanders up a long, narrow valley.

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August 2018

CROPS & FORAGE | DIVERSE FORAGES

Cropping for the cows Two dairy units on the South Canterbury farms of the Rathgen family are treated like cropping farms, with the resulting crops fed to the cows. Anne Lee reports.

C

ropping isn’t exclusive to the arable blocks on the Rathgen family’s 1450-hectare farming enterprise south of Timaru.

Their two dairy units – the 278ha Otaio Dairy and 312ha St Andrews Dairy, along with their 86ha of support, are essentially cropping farms too, only it’s the cows that harvest the diverse range of pasture and fodder crop species.

The family have been long-time cropping farmers, but started converting parts of the operation to dairy just on 10 years ago.

While Ross and one son Nigel oversee the arable blocks, other son Chris focuses on the dairy businesses that now milk more than 2000 cows.

Dairy Exporter introduced the Rathgens in our November 2016 issue when they were in the second season participating in the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) study.

DairyNZ, AgResearch, Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), Landcare Research, Plant and Food Research and Lincoln University are all involved.

It’s included plot scale research carried out in both the North and South Islands but it’s also involved 10 farmers – arable, dairy and mixed livestock operations – who have been integrating some of the research outcomes into their commercial operations.

After three years of research, plantain, fodder beet and catch crops of oats and Italian ryegrass that follow winter crops are now the focus of further studies with the farmers using these to varying degrees to test the practicalities and commercial feasibility of them.

The economics, best practice agronomy, persistence and day-to-day management of the forages are all being monitored by farmers and researchers with farmers’ input and feedback providing valuable insights

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Testing soil nitrogen. Chris Rathgen, second right, with Anna Clement (DairyNZ Research technician), Plant and Food Researcher Shane Maley (using Mallet) and Plant and Food Scientist Dr Brendon Malcolm (right).

for further uptake by others. The Rathgens were interested in joining the programme as a way to gather more information on management practices useful to their system with modelling carried out using data from their farms to analyse different scenarios and compare economic and environmental outcomes.

They’ve been re-grassing with a range of pasture species not just the usual mix of ryegrass and white clover.

Plantain, chicory, Timothy, prairie grass, Italian ryegrass, ryegrass, white clover and red clover are all included in the mix that has typically had a total seeding rate of about 28-30kg/ha.

Ryegrass makes up just 30% of the pasture sward in the first year after re-

grassing, Chris says, but in subsequent years quickly begins to exert its dominance.

“Plantain is probably at about 30% in the first season but by about the fourth year it’s down to 10%.

“At this stage we haven’t tried to stitch it in to thicken up the plantain, but we may do that if we need extra tools to help reduce nitrate leaching.”

Reintroducing plantain Chris says they’re watching the results of trials at Ashley Dene on how to best reintroduce plantain into an existing sward.

“We have spun it on with the fertiliser

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before and that does work but the timing has to be right. It’s got to be ideal for germination – so late winter, early spring to make sure there’s enough moisture because there’s a lot of competition,” Nigel says.

They have thought about putting it on ahead of the cows so the seed passes through them but that idea’s untested. It’s likely to lead to patches of plantain where the dung is deposited.

Through the study pasture quality is tested monthly in the next three paddocks to be grazed at the date of sampling.

“It’s noticeable that the drymatter (DM) percentages of the re-grassed paddocks comes up over about three years but the ME (metabolisable energy) is higher and the digestibility is higher.

“What we’re seeing is that cows can eat more of it, faster.

“Even though, with the mix we have, the seed head stage is longer, the quality and digestibility is so high we just don’t have problems hitting residuals.”

After four years the herbs are still generally 10-20% of the sward and clover levels are strong, particularly on the St Andrews farm which has been converted longer. It has slightly lighter soils than Otaio but Chris believes the organic matter is greater.

“It’s just the sheer tonnage we’re growing. We’re getting an extra grazing – if not two per season off those younger paddocks.

“We’re measuring pasture covers weekly and what that tells us is that in the first year – even though they’re out for two months to get them established – they’re still producing 18 tonnes DM/ha.

“In the second year they produce 20-22t Chris Rathgen – fodder beet is followed by a catch crop of oats and Italian ryegrass to mop up excess nitrogen.

DM and in the third year they settle into 18-20t.

“Our older paddocks are producing 1618t DM and if anything’s producing less than 16t we know it and it gets re-grassed – but there aren’t many of those left now.”

When cows go into the new paddocks it also shows up in the vat, particularly in the litres produced.

“In the middle of summer we had both herds going into paddocks for two days that had been re-grassed that year and we went up 2000 litres or close to 2l/cow/day over two to three days.

“We used to alternate grazings (they run 12-hour grazing shifts) between new grass and other paddocks because it was a bit lush for cows to be coming straight off the older grasses and on to the new ones but now we’ve got much more of the farm re-grassed the differences in quality are less and it’s not an issue.”

The extra, high-quality pasture means the stocking rate, which was dropped in 2015-16 to 3.3 cows/ha has had to be lifted back to 3.6 and then 3.8 cows/ha even though bought-in supplement is back below 400kg DM/cow.

Before the start of the study period they’d had a peak stocking rate of 4.2 cows/ha and used close to 1t/cow of supplement.

“I don’t like to get the mower out but this last season I had to for about 20 ha.

I’ve tended to use the R2s or bulls to tidy up if I have to rather than mowing.

“If we’ve got a rough paddock we go back into it after about 14 days with the heifers to clean it up. It’s nice, early, sweet grass and they clean out the base of it.”

Last spring was wet and tough to manage and like many Canterbury farms

milk production suffered, with the full season’s production back about 5-7% on target.

Chris says their aim is to produce 470490kg milksolids (MS)/cow at St Andrews.

The Rathgens have brought fodder beet into the system and initially had planned to lift some of the 25t DM/ha crop grown on 7ha of the milking platform in the 2016-17 season to feed to one herd on the feedpad.

But to keep costs down and reduce labour inputs they grazed it all.

This season they’ve grown 12ha and have had a big crop estimated at 32t DM/ ha using the Germon variety.

They’ve also grazed it rather than lifting anything except for a small area to open up the paddock.

Cows have been transitioned on slowly and are offered up to 8kg DM/cow/day by the time they’re dried off and head for wintering where they build to an adlib diet that includes about 14kg DM/cow/day of fodder beet.

Heavier, later-calving cows are grazed on kale. This season and last they’ve sown a catch crop of oats and Italian ryegrass on the platform to follow the fodder beet once the cows have finished grazing it in May. Research has shown the winter-active crop is able to mop up excess nitrogen excreted by the cows and help reduce nitrate leaching significantly.

The crop is harvested as a green-chop silage in November/December.

Last season, despite heavy rain shortly after drilling that drowned out some of the oats, it yielded 10t DM/ha. In a more “normal” season Chris estimates they’ll get about 12t DM/ha from it.

This season, because they’ll have two paddocks of the catch crop they’re-trialling two establishment methods for the permanent pasture that will follow.

“In one paddock we’ll spray out the crop and conventionally cultivate and then drill but in the other we’ll direct drill straight into the Italian ryegrass.”

Researchers sampled soil nitrogen levels after the fodder beet and again after the catch crop last season as well as a small trial area left fallow.

They’re repeating the measurements this season. Chris says they’re also looking at reducing nitrogen fertiliser rates this coming season and working with FRNL researchers on timing and rates at each application to optimise responses.

First published in NZ Dairy Exporter, June 2018

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CROPS & FORAGE | FODDER BEET Lambs on fodder beet.

Sheep take to beet Lincoln University’s Jim Gibbs shifts species to discuss sheep on beet, an area with lots of myth and magic.

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heep do well on grazing beet, both ewes and hoggets, when the crop is agronomically sound (leafy) and a suitable cultivar (palatable and out of the ground), and grazing management is fit-for-sheep (not cattle). In those cases, neither protein, phosphorus or calcium intakes are inadequate, even for ewes with multiples.

If ewes are allocated 2.5kg drymatter/day of beet, and winter graze for 90 days, the stocking rate is about 90/ha at a 20 tonnes DM/ha crop, 110/ha at 25t DM/ha, and 130/ha at 30t DM/ha. Hoggets are almost twice that rate.

Recent work by Nadeesha Jayasinghe (2017) at Lincoln University has established that upper intakes (in kg of DM) of 90% beet + 10% silage/pasture diets are about 2.8% of liveweight (kg) daily, with a sound, leafy crop. Intakes drop quickly when the crop is poor.

So a 45-50kg hogget can eat about 1.4kg DM/d (total metabolisable energy value of 17 megajoules), which supports a liveweight gain of 150-200g/d, and an 80kg ewe (heavy with multiples) about 2.3kg DM/d (total ME 28MJ) which supports BCS gains even in ewes with multiples.

So let’s be clear on energy – there is no problem with achieving intakes to give suitable production, even when the DM percentage of the bulb is <10%, and the total crop protein concentration about 11%.

Contrary to some reports, the protein requirements of multiples are easily met with grazed beet, with a sound crop, as

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most crops will have a total crude protein concentration between 11-13% when the leaf proportion is 20% or above.

There are various (commercial) claims beet protein concentrations are all low (5-7% bulb), and that by late winter there is no leaf left – so the protein and phosphorus are therefore an issue for sheep grazing, requiring more supplement, or some expensive magic potion/lick. Like so many beet fairy tales, this is completely incorrect.

First, in the largest data set available in New Zealand, a very large number of samples over 10 years and every season and cultivar, bulb protein percentage varies from 5-13%, and leaf proportion of the crop from <10% to above 30%. Both vary with agronomy. Good agronomy raises bulb protein levels.

Generally, the greater the leaf proportion, the higher the protein percentage of the bulb.

So, sound agronomy gives good leaf, and you get better bulb protein with this.

Specialist beet agronomy always pays for itself.

Second, leaf does not have to ‘disappear’ in winter. In autumn, leaf loss is dry and goes to the soil. Good agronomy reduces this, and grows good leaf for winter.

In winter, dead leaf goes brown and wet, and stays on the plant – sheep (and cattle) love that old leaf, and this keeps the protein up.

As a technical point on protein supply, using the reference values for metabolisable protein requirements in the SCA (1990), our 80kg ewe at one month

before lambing has excess protein when on a sound beet crop of even 11% total protein. This is regardless of supplement used.

Acidosis is very rare, but clostridial deaths in unvaccinated sheep can be high, so 5 in 1 is required before entry.

Unlike cattle, sheep won’t knock bulbs over as much, and eat from the crown down. This means deeper cultivars will leave higher refusals underground.

Cultivars vary strongly in sheeppalatability –tasty types get eaten into the ground (cupped), bitter types get left well above ground (knobbed).

In my experience, Brigadier is the most palatable cultivar, and utilisation rates are above 90% because it is well out of the ground.

The most important management protocol is daily matching leaf eaten with bulb eaten. Unlike cattle, sheep will eat all the leaf and less bulb, then stop.

Often, the farmer looks back, sees bulb everywhere (no leaf left), then tightens the line to clean up the refusals. Too late.

Now the ewes have only bulb, which will typically have a lower protein content than leaf + bulb, and they already didn’t like eating your cultivar down – intakes suddenly crash, and within three days sleepy sickness and hypocalcaemia appear.

The opposite is possible – over-tight allocation to increase utilisation of unpalatable cultivars leads to low intakes and problems, something seen a lot with hoggets.

These both are avoided by careful allocation.

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PLANT & MACHINERY | RESEEDER

The 5m-wide Wecan Rotoseeder has a South Korean rotovator at its core with extras bolted on by Devon-based Agricultural Rotavators to turn it into a one-pass reseeding rig.

One-pass wonder A one-pass reseeding rig with a Korean-built rotovator at its core has revolutionised grass establishment for one Devon contractor. Nick Fone finds out more

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ased in the heart of dairy country in North Devon, Battledown Contractors concentrates on servicing the needs of the region’s many livestock enterprises.

Run by the Dymond family – dairy farmers themselves – they know the importance of producing decent-quality homegrown forage.

“We don’t push our own cows overly hard and try to rely as much as possible on good grub grown here rather than lots of bought-in feed,” Rodney says.

“But to do that we have to regularly refresh our grass leys – something that happens on a fairly regular basis thanks to our rotational wholecrop and maize.

“It’s always been a pretty timeconsuming, diesel-hungry job involving ploughs, power-harrows, cultivators and rolls but we felt it was worthwhile effort

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given the grass would be in for at least three years and very often a lot longer.”

However, being contractors the Dymonds always have an eye on improving the efficiency of their operations. So when Rodney saw a new one-pass reseeding machine in Britain’s Farmers Weekly five years ago he began to reconsider the business’ approach to establishing new leys.

The core of the Wecan Rotaseeder is a standard rotovator built in South Korea.

Around this are various ancillary fitments that turn it into a one-hit re-seeding rig.

Most obvious is a Stocks TurboJet seeder piggy-backing over the double rear rollers. First of these is a cage roller which creates shallow corrugations. Seed is then blown onto the surface and the following flat roller then levels out those gentle indentations, ensuring decent seed-to-soil contact across the full width. Optional

extras include pan-buster tines and following harrows should they be required.

“Previously we would get stuck in with the plough then power-harrow, drag harrow and roll as many times as it took to get a decent seedbed. After that we’d spin on the seed, drag and roll once more. It meant reseeds could take over a week.

“We could see the Wecan could slash that. But we didn’t want to do half a job so there wasn’t any point in buying the standard rigid 2.8-metre-wide machine. We wanted a folding setup that could really cover the acres.”

Fortunately Wecan UK had a 5m Rotaseeder in stock which arrived with the Dymonds in autumn 2015. Since then it’s been used to establish more than 300 hectares of new leys, in both autumn and spring.

While list price for the big folding machine with all its extras stands at

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Matt, Rodney and Peter Dymond have seen the time taken for grass establishment slashed by almost three quarters and costs cut in half.

BUSINESS FACTS • Battledown Contractors near Holsworthy, Devon, UK • Work undertaken: Grass, wholecrop and maize silage, slurry and muckspreading, ploughing, power-harrow drilling, maize ground preparation and drilling, grass reseeds.

• Stock: 200 Holstein Friesians averaging 7500-8000-litres/year • Machinery: Tractors – New Holland T7.260, 2 x T7050, T6070, T4020, TM135, 7635, Ford 7610 and 3000 • Forager – New Holland FR9060 • Staff: Rodney, Jayne, Peter, Matt and Katie Dymond plus one other full-time and three or four extra at peak times

‘Previously we would get stuck in with the plough then power-harrow, drag harrow and roll as many times as it took to get a decent seedbed. After that we’d spin on the seed, drag and roll once more. It meant reseeds could take over a week.’ close to £40,000 (NZ$78,000), running costs are considered to be low. Where the old approach was reckoned to be costing about £225/ha, the one-pass rig is now charged out at between £111-£123/ ha , depending on soil conditions and the depth it is required to work at. In its two and half seasons the Wecan has got through two and half sets of tines in the process. With replacements costing £78/m, that works out at £3.85/ha in wearing metal costs. However, there is a difference in wear rates between different blade types.

“Our first two sets of metal were square L-shaped tines which easily covered 100ha but the most recent ones are a curved profile which have only managed 74ha,” Peter Dymond, who operates the machine, says.

Being a relatively new design, the Rotaseeder has received a number of mods since its arrival. First up, the linkage that carries the rear roller was extended to make room for a set of following harrow

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tines to help in mixing the seed into the surface. At this point the number of seeder outlets was doubled to reduce spacing from 62cm to 31cm – a move which saw the evenness of spread become much more uniform.

The Stocks seeder itself was converted from land-wheel metering to a GPScontrolled set-up and touchscreen monitor, it too contributing to the overall accuracy of seed distribution.

In a move to improve depth control two roller sections were added to the outer wings of the machine ahead of the rotor. This has meant it can now be run in slotted holes on the tractor’s linkage droparms enabling it to rise and fall over lumps and bumps. Aiding this contour-following there is a simple but clever device on the top link bracket. Integrated within the headstock there is a double-acting ram with a hose connecting either side of the piston in a self-contained circuit. This acts as a damper, slowing the reactiveness of up/down movements to produce a smoother finish.

“The Wecan won’t pull out wheelings or humps and hollows but it will even out the surface despite it being a rigid 5m-wide unit when it is folded into its working position,” Peter says.

“If conditions require it we’ll stick it on our umbilical tractor on 900mmwide tyres, although 710s are generally fine. It’s a 200hp T7050 with stepless AutoCommand gearbox. We need that because of the high power requirement – with set gears you wouldn’t be as productive even with more horsepower.”

The floating top-link bracket on the Rotaseeder is damped by a doubleacting hydraulic ram to keep up/down movements to a steady pace.

Output isn’t blistering but when you factor in all the other operations that are no longer required it’s a big efficiency gain, often at a time when there simply aren’t enough working hours in the day.

“Generally we’ll run it 7-10cm deep but even then it’s hard going on the T7050, working direct into un-cultivated ground.

I’ll typically cover 0.8-1.6ha/hour.

“Pulling a subsoiler through in front makes it much easier and quicker but it can leave a ridged finish. To solve that issue we’re looking at moving from three to five tines on our 3m Flatlift.

Even without that, the Wecan makes it a massively quicker, cheaper job than before.”

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ENVIRONMENT | ONFARM

Future-proofing farm development Merging two, tired South Taranaki dairy blocks into a modern operation was a challenge to be relished for Vanessa and Jacques Le Prou.

Jackie Harrigan reports. Photos: Ross Nolly.

Vanessa and Jacques Le Prou with Xavier, 5, Poppy, 3 and Maggie 10 months.

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uture-proofing their farm and dairy business was foremost in the minds of Vanessa and Jacques Le Prou when developing their rundown Pihama dairy farm.

Five years ago the Le Prous bought two adjacent coastal Taranaki dairy blocks featuring old infrastructure and 60-year-old runout dairy pastures in partnership with Jacques’ parents. Putting the two blocks together to form a 140-hectare unit has been a massive project for the young couple who relished the challenge but say it was like doing a whole-farm dairy conversion.

“In some ways we were able to start with a clean slate and plan

FARM FACTS • Milking platform: 140ha effective • Runoff: 14ha • Cows: 400 Kiwicross cows • Production: 160,000kg MS/ha (1142kg MS/ha) • Target: 450 cows producing 100% of liveweight (202,500kg MS)

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it to be just as we wanted it so we took the opportunity to look 10-15 years out and see where the industry was heading.”

The forward-thinking couple developed a farm with new central dairy shed, reformed races, fences, water system and a new, upgraded effluent treatment system, all built to handle an increased stocking rate.

The new dairy shed is a 60-bale rotary placed in the centre of the farm, with a new bridge bringing walking times down to 20 minutes from more than an hour from the back of the farm. The shed has minimal automation, other than cup removers, but along with the yard and feedpad is capable of handling 600 cows should the couple wish to expand the operation to that level.

Both Jacques and Vanessa worked in the dairy industry after Lincoln University B Ag Comm degrees (where Blenheimborn Vanessa met Opunake-born Jacques), guaranteeing many robust discussions about policies, stocking rates and feeding levels, among other things. Vanessa spent two years as a DairyNZ consulting

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CROPPING FOCUS

CROPPING MIX • 17 ha maize • 12ha plantain • 9ha chicory • 4ha turnips • 3ha rape • 7ha maize on runoff

officer on the coast before working for Pioneer while Jacques was in the fertiliser industry before going dairy farming and sharemilking for family concerns.

While they planned for a 600-cow operation, a halving of the $8-00/kg milksolids (MS) payout when they were part way through building the new shed and developing the farm made them rethink the resilience of their business and how dependent on bought-in feed the operation would be at that stocking level.

The farm is operating a System 2, importing around 10% of feed, but a stocking rate of 4.2 cows/ha at 600 cows would need much higher levels of inputs, Vanessa says.

“Ideally we want a system that works well on any payout – so we are targeting 450 cows producing 100% of their bodyweight, around 450kg MS/cow, while keeping costs under control.”

Taking into account the ‘peak cow’ rhetoric of the election and looking forward in the industry has made the couple rethink their targets for 600 cows and decide to aim for higher per-head production, using crops to fill feed gaps and drive production.

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Part of future-proofing the business involves the aim of moving away from palm kernel and growing their own crops – so Vanessa and Jacques are experimenting with different crops and forage mixes, and using the cropping programme to renew old pastures.

“We don’t want to be susceptible to feed prices on the open market so we are experimenting with crops and insulating ourselves from falling payouts so we are not forced into pulling out feed from the system,” Vanessa says.

A quarter of the farm is cropped each year and from that 12.5% of the total area is sown into new permanent pastures.

“Half the farm was very old pastures and the other half around 20 years old, so the plan is to finish renewing the older pastures in three or four years and then start on the younger ones.”

Just two years into the cropping programme they are still experimenting but enjoying the diverse pastures resulting from the mix of crops and forages.

“We have decided we don’t want a solely ryegrass sward – we are planning for a mixed sward with ryegrass, clover, chicory and plantain.”

Coming out of the maize half of the area goes into the permanent mixed forage and half will be further cropped with an annual ryegrass, chicory, plantain or in the past rape.

The first maize crop was sown into plantain clover mix which grew really well through the winter – a very good result, Jacques says.

“We have undersown grass into the chicory for the first time this autumn, so we have the grass growing in those paddocks in the winter when the chicory is dormant,” Jacques says.

With the success of the undersowing the couple have increased the chicory area from a small calf paddock to nine hectares. The coastal strip can get summer-dry, so turnips, chicory and rape are grown to keep the cows fully fed – although last summer turned out to be more wet than dry so the rape wasn’t really needed, Jacques says.

“We need to have enough crop on-hand to provide 4kg drymatter (DM)/day for each cow between December and March/April in a dry year to supplement any pasture and maize we have on hand.”

Maize is grown on both the milking platform and the runoff to ensure enough is ensiled to fill any feed gaps to the tune of one tonne/cow along with the turnips and rape. A further 300-400kg/cow is bought in – a mixture of palm kernel and dried distiller grains, but the couple plan to phase out the palm kernel and filling the gap with other forages in the future.

The double weeping wall is separating effluent solids and saving $9000 each year for the Le Prous.

EFFLUENT SYSTEM WISHLIST Low labour requirement: many systems they investigated took lots of tidying up and shifting of solids and liquids. Jacques and team member Jason Fieldsend keep the whole operation to two fulltime employees with Vanessa’s help with calves and accounts.

Low mechanical intervention: Vanessa and Jacques say neither of them are mechanically minded – they wanted to minimise mechanical and electrical parts to decrease any breakdowns and intervention required.

Low water: low water requirement ticks boxes for both cost and usage. The water scheme the farm belongs to inevitably has increasing costs over time.

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The diverter diverts effluent from one side of the weeping wall to the other.

NEW EFFLUENT SYSTEM

Feeding any supplement on the feedpad minimises wastage and the Le Prous built silage bunkers adjacent to the pad to cut down on time and distance travelled. They also oriented them to capture seepage or runoff in their new effluent system, along with runoff from the dairyshed wash, and green floodwash from the yard.

In designing their new effluent system they also took a future-thinking approach, designing it for what might happen rather than what is happening now, Jacques says.

They looked around Taranaki and sought advice from the Taranaki Regional Council (TRC), but didn’t see anything that fitted their criteria of low labour requirement, low mechanical parts/intervention and low water requirement.

TRC has rules about moving to land application away from the old three-pond system and the Le Prous were aware that the draft annual plan was under review.

“Here in Taranaki we are lucky with our geography and forgiving soils, but we can see a time where the nutrient and effluent rules will become tougher – we wanted to be ready for that,” Vanessa says.

“We didn’t see any system in Taranaki that we wanted to replicate. People seemed to be forever scraping and moving muck and then shifting it again – it seemed very time-consuming and time-wasting – we wanted to do it once and do it right.”

They visited the Waikato Effluent Expo and through getting in touch with the Fonterra sustainability adviser were able visit Waikato farms and research their systems. Meeting Davieth Verheij, a specialist effluent engineer from AgFirst Waikato Engineering was a turning point and through his association with Coastal Agri Services in Opunake they were able to get him to visit their site and to discuss all the options.

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GREEN COST SAVINGS The saving from the weeping wall and greenwash systems are substantial with Vanessa and Jacques banking an extra $9000 each year.

Water: $3000 each year is saved on water purchased through the water scheme.

Fertiliser: A $3000/year saving on the fertiliser forgone on the crop/maize area where the dried solids are spread. Recent nutrient testing of the weeping wall solids showed 160kgN/ha applied over 16ha, a saving of $1600, plus savings from P, K, S and Ca nutrients. These savings will grow in the future as maintenance fertiliser will not be needed, Vanessa says.

Power: savings of $3000 each year from not having to stir the effluent in the pond, the smaller pump required to pump liquid only and less hosing with the gravity-fed floodwash and a scraper on the backing gate.

Added benefits are the savings from low servicing and no breakdowns.

“He was awesome – he had been through it all and knew the ins and outs of all the systems so we settled on two weeping walls which we had seen in the Waikato,” Vanessa says.

The Le Prous say it was definitely worth while getting an engineer involved, as theirs was the first installation of double weeping walls in Taranaki.

Splitting the weeping wall in two with a solid barrier in between and a selector gate is an innovation that allows one side to dry out ready for scraping while the other is still in use and the size of the pond is minimised.

The angle of the slope of the feeder trough to the wall is counter-intuitive, but it works really well, Jacques says.

“The slope is away from the wall, and so the solids are not pressed up against the weeping wall slots, causing blockages.

“Rather just like you pour sand into a cup of water, the water rises up and the solids sink to the bottom and the water is drained out over the lip.”

The liquids from the green recycled floodwash and the clean hosedown water seep through the weeping wall and are pumped through a small pump to the lined effluent pond next door. No agitator is needed in the pond as only liquids are pumped in there before they are pumped out into the greenwash tank or irrigated on to 60ha of the farm.

While the farm is consented to spread on to 15ha the Le Prous irrigate 60ha with

a travelling irrigator and because there is little solid content the cows don’t mind eating the resultant grass.

Pumping costs are low due to the liquidity of the material needing only a small pump, which fills the floodwash tank and also irrigates the land. The water is recycled many times through the 25,000 litre floodwash tank into the yard, and occasionally down the feedpad through a similar system before it goes on to the pasture. The pond size is also smaller because of the greenwater being recycled.

The solids sit in the concrete trough and build up for six months then the effluent is diverted to the other channel and the first one dries to a low drymatter through drainage and evaporation. Once a year the Le Prous pay a contractor $1600 to scrape out the dried solid d with half of the farm a going concern and the other half of the cows bought cheaper in the downturn.

“There were a few age groups missing and the cows were of very mixed production, so we are breeding up and retaining more heifers – it will be another three or four years until we hit out straps with a good mixed age herd,” Jacques says.

While the effluent system cost $60,000 more than a standard system without the weeping walls and green floodwash, Vanessa and Jacques say a payback period of six to eight years and the longevity of the simple system made it worthwhile.

“The system is very simple and robust, it should last many, many years.”

Next on the development list is the automation in the shed. Jacques says.

“The payout was too low to afford any automation other than automatic cup removers so one person could milk, next we would like to get some technology that weighs and monitors the cows and their health – that would be great for early detection of lameness and mastitis and help detect cycling.”

This article was first published in NZ Dairy Exporter, December 2017

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ENVIRONMENT | RIVERS

Collaboration at its best Irrigators, farmers, regulators and others are working on catchment plans with the aim of an outcome that benefits everyone, resource management consultant Keri Johnston writes.

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ere in Canterbury, the catchment planning processes are still boxing on with Plan Change 7 on the radar next. This will be for the Orari-Temuka-Opihi-Pareora (OTOP) sub-region (which I am currently submerged in) and Waimakariri.

This is an area of work that I have equal amounts of passion and frustration for. I really love being able to engage with irrigators, other farmers, regulators and other stakeholders and work towards an outcome that benefits everyone.

It is truly a team effort – collaboration at its best. However, the road to a successful outcome is often fraught with frustration – timeframes are too tight, and therefore, we are forced to make decisions based on incomplete (or complete lack of) science and data needed to make informed, robust and balanced decisions.

I’ve lost count of the number of catchment plans that I have worked on in

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my career, and this frustration still occurs every single time.

I accept that science costs money, and to do it well can and should take years, and the reality is that we don’t have years to complete catchment planning processes, and with increased public and Government pressure to get it done and put limits in place, the time available is certainly not increasing. So there still doesn’t seem to be a happy medium on that front. It is a case of those affected by the changes wanting more, and regulators needing to get to the end of the line.

There is a certain scepticism around collaborative processes too. One is the sheer amount of time that they do take within the short space of time available to complete them.

It is almost a full-time job, and the commitment required by all involved is certainly nothing to joke about.

Mixed with this is the view that they simply don’t work. It is the opinions of the loudest and most well-resourced players

in the process who get the outcomes, and therefore true balance is not achieved.

It is a fine line at times trying to honestly and genuinely get to a point where everyone is happy. A quote that sums this up nicely is that “if everyone is equally pissed off, then we have done our job well”.

It is a case of those affected by the changes wanting more, and regulators needing to get to the end of the line.

Remember that collaborative processes are open to anyone. If you have an interest in a particular area, whether that be at a local or national level, you can have your input.

In my view, many of those shooting holes in collaborative processes do so without ever having been involved in one, and therefore, they do not appreciate the commitment, passion and frustration that goes into them.

You cannot moan about the destination without fully comprehending the journey taken to get there.

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ENVIRONMENT | FARM FORESTRY

Saving baby from the bath water Despite the devastation caused when forestry slash and debris added to the flooding woes of Tolaga Bay, afforestation is fundamentally beneficial for erosion mitigation. Denis Hocking reports.

F

orestry is caught in both the limelight and the headlights – the billion trees versus a million tonnes of debris around Tolaga Bay. The slash and debris around Tolaga Bay, and earlier Nelson, is completely unacceptable and a very black mark against forestry. But – and there are always buts –we must be careful not to throw the baby out with all that bath water.

Although the forest debris seriously compounded the problems, even without it there would have been serious flooding, silting and debris.

I well remember the pictures of Cyclone Bola’s devastation, and my understanding is that this time slipping was markedly less in the forested areas, including the cut-over areas, than on farmland, though apparently there is little pastoral hill country in this storm’s zone. The problem is the debris and I firmly believe the answer should be sought in the debris not the land use.

But first, let’s go back to fundamentals.

The logic of afforestation, and the risks, for erodible hill country are very well covered in a series of papers in the August 2015 NZ Journal of Forestry.

To slow the greatly accelerated erosion of pasture land in such landforms, (generally about 10 times the rate under indigenous forest), you need trees that quickly develop a large subterranean root length and mass to reinforce the soil. Radiata pine is very effective though not as good early on as alders, willows and poplars. Sadly, manuka is not in the hunt, with toe toe being the best native listed, for early root development, though I am assured manuka roots are stronger.

In addition radiata is readily available,

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easily established, well understood and commercially valuable. But, it is a shortrotation species and the roots decay fast, leaving a four-to-five-year “window of vulnerability” after harvest and before replanted trees take over.

With radiata rotations being steadily reduced to the mid or low 20s, (I understand some problem forests for Tolaga Bay were harvested at 24 to 25 years), there is considerable “window” in each rotation. While longer rotations have a cost, these forests serve more than just a wood production role and longer rotations do improve wood quality.

While longer rotations have a cost, these forests serve more than just a wood production role and longer rotations do improve wood quality.

We need a market that recognises this quality rather than the current undiscriminating Chinese vacuum cleaner. If the forests are not harvested, who pays the bills and how? Carbon?

The other priority must be to get that debris off the slopes at harvest.

I gather this is not always easy with health and safety considerations and the National Environmental Standard often conflicting with the need to recover all the trees after felling.

Hopefully improving technology will help but don’t under-estimate the problems with haulers operating outside the line of sight and the need to keep logs suspended. I gather in some regions

all accessible debris is pulled onto hauler sites and burnt, though some wonder why it can’t be taken away and burnt elsewhere – as boiler fuel.

People more knowledgeable than me also talk of designing more-effective riparian barriers.

One suggestion I don’t consider feasible is continuous cover forestry, as practised in parts of Europe. The costs of extraction on our steep hill country would kill such an option. Changing tree species and in particular moving to coppicing or suckering species that maintain a live root system is another suggestion.

Redwoods might be an option on wetter sites, and deserve testing. I know all about coppicing with eucalypts. It is very difficult to grow millable logs from coppice as they tend to detach from the stump. In addition, these high value end-use timbers aren’t worth much as logs. There is no infrastructure to handle them, though an export log trade might be possible.

So let’s recognise the benefits of tree cover and focus on solving the problems.

Livestock was removed from these hills for good reason. But there is one other bit of advice – if severe storms are becoming more common we must treat flood plains with great respect. They belong to rivers and rivers don’t respect infrastructure.

Scientists are reluctant to say we are seeing a long-term trend yet because the NZ data is variable from year to year. However, it is consistent with expectations.

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August 2018

TECHNOLOGY | COMPUTERS

Time-saving with shortcuts

Kirstin Mills offers a refresher on common Windows computer keyboard shortcuts, plus some you may not have known about.

Y

ou probably know there are fast ways to do common tasks on your computer by using keyboard alternatives to mouse clicks, but do you know about some of the lesser-known shortcuts?

In case you have missed them, here are some common shortcuts you should be using: Select the text you wish to copy or cut, and then: • Ctrl + C: copies • Ctrl + X: cuts Put the cursor where you want to paste: • Ctrl + V: pastes Select the text you wish to format and then: • Ctrl + B: bolds text • Ctrl + I: italicises text • Ctrl + U: underlines text • Ctrl + O: opens a document • Ctrl + S: saves a document • Ctrl + W: closes a document/window • Ctrl + N: creates a document/window • Ctrl + Shift + N: creates a folder • Ctrl + F: finds a word

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August 2018

• Ctrl + P: prints • Ctrl + Z: undoes an action • Ctrl + Y: redoes an action On top of all the helpful shortcuts above, did you know that you can easily zoom in and out of photos in Windows Photo Viewer (and some software including web browsers) by holding down “Ctrl” while tapping the minus (-) or plus (+) keys? Ctrl + 0 resets the view to normal.

You can also use the track wheel on your mouse for zooming if you hold down the Ctrl key.

The Ctrl key can also help you delete whole words at a time: • Ctrl + Del: deletes words to the right of your cursor • Ctrl + Backspace: deletes words to the left of your cursor By adding the Shift key to the Ctrl key, you’ll discover even more options: • Ctrl + Shift + L: creates a bullet point • Ctrl + Shift + < or Ctrl + Shift + >: increases or decreases the font size of the word you have selected

There are also useful combinations using the Alt and Shift keys together: • Alt + Shift + D: inserts current date (in Word or Excel) • Alt + Shift + T: inserts current time (in Word or Excel) Then there are all the function keys – found along the very top line of your keyboard: • F1: brings up Help • F3: moves the cursor to the search box in browsers and Windows Explorer • Shift F3: with a word selected, tapping this combination will cycle through capitalisation options • Shift F5: takes you to the last edit point in your document • F7: opens the Spelling & Grammar check • Shift F7: opens the Thesaurus • F8: selects word, sentence, paragraph or all by tapping (click Esc to deselect) • F12: saves as On the web, you can use the following helpful shortcuts: • Ctrl + D: bookmarks a page • Ctrl + H: displays your browsing history • Ctrl + J: displays your downloads • ALT+ D: moves the cursor to the address bar (also works in Windows Explorer).

Tapping the space bar scrolls down the page Tapping the space bar while holding the Shift key scrolls up the page The Windows key – found near the bottom left of your keyboard – is also very helpful: • Win + E: opens Windows Explorer • Win + D: takes you to your desktop (and Win + D again takes you back to where you were) • Win + L: locks your computer • Win + S: brings up the search box • Win + T: previews the windows in each application that you have open, each time you press this combination

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TECHNOLOGY | COMPUTERS

Clean up Windows 10 Cleaning up the disk space on a Windows 10 system has got easier. Alan Royal writes.

M

y past articles have recommended how to clean up previous versions of Windows. The Windows 10 system has got smarter. It now offers several built in tools to both clean up and speed up this system.

Over time the Windows system builds up files and applications that take up space. If no action is taken this will result in a slow computer, or a reduced disk space warning.

If you press Win-I on the keyboard and select System/Storage you will see a button Storage Sense. Selecting this button will allow automatic cleaning.

First read the two headings under the button to see what you can do with this tool.

The Windows disk cleanup tool is not new. The Disk Cleanup utility is part of Windows.

It is found by just typing Disk Cleanup into the Start Menu. Within seconds it will review your system and give you a list of items that can be safely deleted.

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Its use is a two-step process. Select all boxes on the first screen and click OK. After this action is completed, reload and select View System. Again select all boxes. You will note that one of these is a Windows update box.

Clicking that box will generally save gigabytes of disk space, but also stop you reverting to your last update.

If everything is working well then removing those updates is OK. I also use the free CCleaner (at www. ccleaner.com). It cleans up more Windows files than Disk Cleanup.

Includes files for installed apps, such as Chrome and Firefox, media players, and Office applications.

We are all very good at downloading (often large) files. Sooner or later every hard disk will fill up. TreeSize Free (at http://bit.ly/2KtNRTc) will show you file sizes and allow you to remove accumulated material.

Similarly, many of us download programmes we no longer use. Search for apps and features in Start. You will have a list of installed apps. Use the filter button to select ‘size’. You can then remove by clicking, those large files you are no longer using.

Windows 10 comes with several pre-installed apps that take up space on your device and aren’t easy to remove. These are called bloatware.

This article (www. bit.ly/2KrDgZ2)

shows you how to remove these apps.

In the Win-I settings if you select Update and Security you will see a Troubleshoot button in the left column that allows an automatic problem solver for various Windows 10 functions. This often gives clean and speed functions to the selected parts of Windows 10.

Many new Windows laptops now have limited solid state storage. This allows manufacturing price reductions.

This space fills quickly. Consider storing applications on external hard drives or flash drives.

Even better, store files on the cloud services such as Google Drive (accessible with a free Google account) which gives 15 GB of free file storage space and unlimited free space for images. If you fill up one free space set up another Google account. An alternate is Mega, which gives 50 GB of free space.

I have not mentioned antivirus, malware or adware rubbish that slows down your machine. The built-in Windows Defender is a sound antivirus and malware protector.

If you are doubtful read the article at http://bit.ly/2KoChJ1. It should be coupled with Malwarebytes (free) at https://www.malwarebytes.com.

AdwCleaner (free) is for cleaning out adware and similar products that can slow down your computer. It is now owned by Malwarebytes.

Read about it and download it from www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner.

For a hard copy of this article contact Alan Royal at alanroyalnz@gmail.com.

Country-Wide

August 2018

WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER

BARK OFF Heading Training

Quality father and daughter time Competing at National Dog Trials Country-Wide

August 2018

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DOG TRIALS

Roger and Steph Tweed, father and daughter combo from Waitahuna, South Otago. Steph is currently working in North Canterbury.

Quality father and daughter time As with many aspects of farming, many more women are becoming involved with dog trials. Annabelle Latz caught up with a father and daughter team. Photos: Annabelle Latz.

F

or Roger and Steph Tweed, competition between them does not feature in dog trials.

Their competition is the sheep, and the desire for their dogs to work well.

“Because the dogs aren’t always good! They can be naughty, and some are naughtier than others!” Roger says while competing at the National Sheep Dog Trials at Meadowbank, Marlborough, at the end of May. “And the cool thing about this sport is that you can be competitive at any age, and what happens today could have happened 40 years ago.”

As their teams of dogs played at their feet, you could tell the love for the sport is genuine.

“It’s always good having a catch up, it’s pretty special,” Steph says.

Roger is based at the family farm at Waitahuna, South Otago, and Steph, 26, is block manager at Mt Cass, North Canterbury, where she has 10 dogs of her own.

“I always try and carry an extra dog; get them going, and flick them on.”

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They’re members of the Waitahuna and Omihi collie clubs, respectively.

Roger has always known Steph had an exceptional knack with working dogs.

“When she was little, I couldn’t even tell her when I was picking up a pup, because she’d keep bugging me. ‘When are we going to get that pup?”

Steph attended her first National Dog Trial competition in 2013, in Geraldine, and at 21 she was one of the youngest competitors, and certainly one of the few females in the sport.

“Things have changed, there’s now heaps of us,” Steph says, counting on her fingers about 15 or 20 females regularly on the dog trialling circuit.

“There’s a lot more women and girls involved in the farming scene now, it’s lovely,” Roger says.

Since Steph was about 12 years old, Roger has handed over dogs of his to her, ones he hasn’t been able to gel with.

“These girls, they have a nice kindness with their dogs. Steph has trained a few young dogs that I wasn’t getting on too well with.”

“Second-chance dogs,” Steph says, who started dog trialling when she

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August 2018

huntaway must have adequate noise, and even as young pups Roger and Steph can see ability.

“You’ve got to have something good-natured, something that’s easy to have around and not going to drive you nuts,” Steph says.

Straightness is important, and a nice head, Roger says.

“But a lot of ugly dogs do well in these things too.”

Some things have certainly changed; the relationship with their dogs has softened, there are training days for all abilities, and the flow of advice and support is much better.

“Every year I put another page in my diary, I’m always learning,” Roger says.

Hill work: Spectators watch the long head at Meadowbank.

Trials women: Steph Tweed from North Canterbury, Sam Shaw from Matawai, Libby Masefield from Taihape and Rebecca Baynes from Wairoa, who finished second in the straight hunt run off.

was about 15. When Steph finished school she went straight to Waipori Station near Lawrence, with her two dogs at the time.

Getting into the short head runoff last year with her dog Flirt in Warepa, South Otago, in the South Island final has been the highlight so far.

A standout moment for them both was collectively dominating the top spots in all four courses at their local Waitahuna dog trials, just a couple of months before the Nationals.

Roger took out the long head, short head and yard, and straight hunt, while Steph took the honours in the zig-zag, in which Roger finished second, and finishing second to his daughter made the day even more special.

“It’s your bond. You get really attached to your dog. And the bond between you and them to compete, it’s a real thrill.

Your dog works well for you, and you win, or whatever, or successful, it is a real thrill, it gets quite addictive,” Roger says.

His first involvement with dog trialling was in his early twenties at his local club, his job was liberating sheep. He slowly picked up bits and pieces about the sport by watching others.

“My whole life I’ve just listened to my peers and learned off them, you pick up bits off all of them.”

Dog ‘ammunition’ has been a mitigating factor in their success and fun. Between them they’ve bred some quality dogs.

Heading dogs must have a nice approach to stock, a

‘These girls, they have a nice kindness with their dogs.

Steph has trained a few young dogs that I wasn’t getting on too well with.’

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August 2018

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August 2018

BARK OFF

Heading training

e stage on

Moving on from training a pup, Lloyd Smith introduces the essentials of training a dog on stock.

T

he last two articles outlined what is required to prepare your young dog for training.

That is about getting them in the right frame of mind to be trained, but before commencing training on stock it is important that you have good compliance to the wayleggo command and have good recognition and response to the tone of your voice. You will have difficulty negotiating the next few steps if these are not in place.

Starting your young dog is one aspect that will vary significantly from dog to dog. Even within a litter there can be quite a variation in the age they show a keenness to work and it is pointless attempting to train them until they demonstrate an obvious interest. Your young dog must be ready to be trained, not just because you have the time to train it.

All you can do is offer them the opportunity and create circumstances favourable to fostering a desire to start working. Five quiet sheep are a good option, allowing your dog the opportunity to express itself which lets you assess what skills and natural ability your dog has. It is vital to have quiet training sheep as this will help keep your dog calm and allows you to position yourself to create situations which is a very important aspect of early training.

It is difficult to get your dog to conform on unruly sheep. It is also important at the early stages of training to work in a restricted area where you have good contact with both dog and sheep which allows you to monitor what’s happening and discourage any undesirable behaviour by your dog.

This stage is about building confidence and encouraging a desire to work on the dog’s Country-Wide

August 2018

part, becoming more keen and focused as time passes. Until this stage the steps are the same for young huntaways and heading dogs but from here the methods and techniques introduced become breed-specific to prepare them for future roles.

KEY POINTS 1. Your young dog needs to exhibit a good “Desire to work” 2. Start your dog in a restricted area allowing you to monitor its behaviour 3. Quiet sheep are important 4. Do not tolerate unruly behaviour 5. At this stage of training positioning yourself is just as important as positioning your dog 6. Objectives are to “Cast” and “Balance” I believe there are three distinct stages to training a heading dog, and if a stage-by-stage approach is used it becomes less confusing and more logical for the dog and better results are achieved.

Stage one is about teaching your dog to cast around sheep and learn to balance where it needs to be to bring the sheep back to you. You teach it to stop and learn to approach its sheep in a positive but controlled manner. Some dogs will naturally cast around sheep, whereas others may set sheep and drive them away pushing them on to a fence or into a corner.

This is a minor problem you must correct.

Encourage them to take up position on the opposite side of the sheep to you – this is more about positioning yourself than the dog. Then encourage the dog to continue to assume this role by reassurance and reward. Once the dog understands this is where you want it to be they become comfortable, allowing you to build confidence and promote good stock-handling skills.

If the dog comes past the point of balance and over-corrects, using a stick to intimidate and the growly voice, encourage the dog to go back to the appropriate position. Once you can get the young dog to stay on the opposite side of the sheep to you, back off and let it pull them toward you attempting to keep the sheep between yourself and the dog, they will learn to balance on you.

Once this is achieved give them the opportunity to learn to head which is leaving you and casting around the sheep. I introduce a “look” command which becomes a “look for sheep” and continue this throughout their training and later use it where a re-cast on to more stock is required.

Whenever I run a young dog I bring them up my leg and point them in the direction I want them to run, saying “look”. They soon learn to look for sheep and that you are pointing them in the direction you want them to run.

I continue with these steps until I believe the dog has a good understanding of what is required and will leave me on command, cast around sheep and then pull them back to me with confidence and competence. It is important you get these aspects right before you take the next step which is to introduce the stop and approach commands.

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COMMUNITY | HELI-LOGGING

Leaving no footprints after Cyclone Ita A 1960s-built veteran of the Vietnam War has helped in the recovery of logs brought down in a destructive cyclone. Annabelle Latz reports.

T

Pilot Darren Davison looks down from the vintage helicopter during a log lift.

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he destructive aftermath of Cyclone Ita for the South Island’s West Coast community created new opportunities for the forestry industry.

Darren Davison of Southern Heli Lift started lifting fallen logs at the beginning of 2015.

Mainly rimu, and some beech: the final recovery taking place in February of this year.

“After Cyclone Ita devastated pockets of standing timber up and down the West Coast, the potential for recovering some of the fallen timbers was realised,” Darren says, who was thrilled with the opportunity of being at the helm of the veteran UH-1L Iroquois (Huey) helicopter.

Darren says it was largely because of John Dronfield of NZ Sustainable Forest Products, (NZSFP) that the idea was brought to fruition. NZSFP has used HUE (the helicopter’s registration Hotel Uniform Echo) before, and was keen to use it for the logging recovery project. Darren sourced HUE from John Oakes of Central South Island Helicopters - prior to that she’d had a few different owners.

With the support of the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), things got underway quickly in 2015. Supporting the local economy was a big part of it.

“The operation worked really well, providing jobs at five separate local mills, and generating revenue for DOC through stumpage collected.”

Retrieval allowed was 50% extraction from each fallen tree; leaving the remaining 50% to rot over time. There is the added benefit of clearing hung-up trees and allowing new saplings to regenerate.

“It’s great flying back over the areas we have previously been to, and seeing the new growth.”

The mental and physical challenge of flying such a wonderful old machine was something Darren became hooked on very quickly, and subsequently would fly for five to seven hours a day.

“I work constantly at trying to make each lift better than the last, and trying to position myself and the grapple exactly where I want it.”

Maintenance is paramount, and finding parts, particularly blades, has been quite challenging.

“I love flying the Huey, she’s a big old bus and needs to be treated with care and respect, but she’s honest - treated right,

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August 2018

she’ll just keep on going. She is ex-US Navy, and has done two tours of Vietnam.”

Darren is based in Mosgiel where he also contracts himself out for agricultural flying. The birth of this forestry opportunity saw him drive the seven-hour journey from Mosgiel to Greymouth at least twice a month.

“I’d stay for three to four days of work, then drive back home. Flying in New Zealand and particular on the West Coast has been the best. The people are down-to-earth and pragmatic, and this takes us to locations not seen by many people in the world.”

High-flying log above a South Westland river valley.

‘I love flying the Huey, she’s a big old bus and needs to be treated with care and respect, but she’s honest - treated right, she’ll just keep on going.’

It’s been a massive few years for Darren on this new venture, and he’s looking forward to flying HUE to the remote spots like the Marlborough Sounds where boat access makes forestry that little bit trickier.

Reaching this timber without having to carve a track is a system Darren sees as a great option for areas of the logging industry; minimal impact on the environment and allowing access to timber that is otherwise inaccessible due to geography, land covenants, and other constraints.

“With the current price of timber, now is a great time for people with blocks in difficult places to harvest their plantation.”

Darren also sees a role for HUE in the agricultural industry due to her lifting capacity, up to 1.8 tonnes given the right conditions.

HUE is especially effective for application of bulk fertiliser or spraying over large areas, or large volumes.

Darren and HUE have also spent many hours fire-fighting around the South Island and general heavy lifting.

One of the most unusual lifts being a swimming pool into a backyard on the hills of Christchurch.

“You have to be passionate about what you do. There are no short cuts and it’s a lot of hard work. But if you are passionate, you will make it work.”

Calling all applicants Applications for 2019 Nuffield Farming Scholarships close on 19 August 2018.

Head to www.nuffield.org.nz to find out more and apply today.

Country-Wide

August 2018

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77

SOLUTIONS | WEIGHING

APP TO REPLACE SCALES

The Agroninja estimates cattle liveweight to an accuracy of 95%.

A

smartphone app that estimates cattle liveweight has been launched in Europe

by Hungarian start-up company Agroninja.

Dubbed ‘Beefie’, cattle are photographed side-on from 2-6 metres using an Android 5.1 phone or better. The picture then links to an external device loaded with algorithms that calculates weight to 95% accuracy, even when animals are in motion or partially obscured, the firm says.

“We took more than 2000 measuring

tests on the most important breeds: I was sure that if we understood the problem in detail, we would be able to build a technological solution for it,” Agroninja co-founder, Gergely Boromisza says.

Cattle breed, gender, age and condition has to be entered by the user. Agroninja told Country-Wide it is confident Beefie works for Angus, Hereford, Holstein Friesian, Charolais, Limousin, Blonde d’Aquitaine, and Simmental.

“We are aiming to expand this list with other breed types like Zebu, that’s why we

are looking for partners in sales and data research from around the globe.”

The app is a subscription service which Agroninja estimates will cost US$400 to US$600/year depending on herd size and farm needs. It says it is in talks with some Australian/New Zealand companies but its focus is Europe for now.

More? www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WCGi-nDYHRc

$9000 AG SCHOLARSHIP OPEN Entries are now open for the students considering applying for Whangarei A&P Society’s annual agricultural scholarship.

The scholarship has increased from $7500 to $9,000 this year to provide greater assistance to cover study costs over a three-year period, for the successful applicant.

Last year’s winner, Samantha Allen, says the scholarship was truly helpful.

“Not only has receiving the award been an amazing contribution towards my study, but the process itself in competing for it was an excellent learning opportunity, which I have no doubt will help me later in life.

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“A&P Societies are doing an amazing job, providing a vital connection between town and country, and with my (hopefully soon to be) degree, I want to help grow that connection.”

Samantha is studying a Bachelor of Vet Science at Massey University this year.

Applications close 4.00pm Friday, September 21, 2018. Criteria and application forms are available from Whangarei Agricultural & Pastoral Society on (09) 438 3109, or from their office at 127 Bank Street, Whangarei, or from www.whangareiap. org.nz/education/our-scholarship.

Samantha Allen, Maungaturoto received the 2017 scholarship.

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August 2018

SOLUTIONS | ANIMAL WELFARE

Dr Gosia Zobel with goats used in the research.

YOUNG, AT WORK AND DRIVING Brake publishes essential guidance

INSIGHTS INTO ANIMAL PERSONALITY AND MOOD

R

esearch exploring the moods and personalities of farm animals is being seen as an opportunity to better understand and enhance their welfare.

The research looks at how animals respond in new and different situations.

It is the latest work by AgResearch’s animal welfare team helping to expand the knowledge of livestock behaviour, at a time of growing consumer demand for strong welfare standards. The work is being supported by DairyNZ as part of its focus on enhancing animal care for cows.

“We can’t directly measure how individual animals are feeling, so there is a need to find indirect measures, and that’s what we are seeking to do here,” AgResearch scientist Dr Gosia Zobel says.

“Once we have those measures, we can use them to better understand how personality also contributes to an animal’s welfare. It is important that these measures can distinguish between different personalities in a range of situations, where animals are feeling either positive or negative.”

The first farm animals being studied are goats, as they are easy to work with, adaptable to human contact and there is good evidence for what goats find positive and negative.

“In the research, we created a positive

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situation, which for goats is access to large leafy branches, while in contrast the negative situation was exposure to simulated rain,” Zobel says.

“Immediately following these positive or negative experiences, we tested the goats’ response to different scenarios, including an object that is new to them.”

During these scenarios, the scientists collected detailed measurements of the goats’ responses, such as heart rate, slowmotion video of facial expressions, and changes in temperature of different body regions with an infra-red camera.

“We predicted that individual goats would change their response to the scenarios depending on whether they were feeling positive or negative, however, each goat’s response would also be in a manner consistent with their personality.

“So for example, a goat that has just experienced the rain (negative situation) might be more reluctant to approach a new object, but certain goats will always be bolder than others.”

Once the results have been analysed and published, it will provide a stepping stone towards understanding and measuring both personality and mood of individual animals. This can then be used to compare how animals experience different farming situations and to improve the design of production systems.

Brake, the road safety charity has published a crucial guidance report on managing young at-work drivers.

“Managing young at-work drivers” is aimed at fleet managers and HR professionals with responsibility for managing employees aged 17-24 who drive for work. The report is one of a series produced by Brake, which aim to help fleet managers reduce their road risk.

Caroline Perry, Brake’s NZ director, said: “Driving for work is associated with higher risk for drivers of any age but this risk increases significantly for those aged 17-24.

“Employers need to be actively engaging with their young drivers and implementing robust measures to help reduce their risk of being involved in a crash. This guidance report is a valuable resource for any professional managing young drivers.”

The report outlines the main reasons young drivers are at higher risk of being involved in a crash than other drivers and recommends practical measures that organisations can put in place to reduce that risk. Industry examples and case studies are also included.

The report also details how implementing key measures such as training in basic vehicle maintenance, and monitoring of driver behaviour, can help organisations to tackle road risk. It is an essential piece of guidance for any company working to reduce the risk for young employees who drive on work purposes.

The report is available free of charge to all Brake Professional members through www.brakepro. org. Non-members can order the resource from the Brake shop.

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ESTATE | MARKET VIEW

Buyers wait for clarity Much of the farm property market is on hold until the effects of policy, regulations and biosecurity become clearer. Anne Hardie reports.

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he property market around much of the country is holding its breath while issues such as the Government’s restrictions on foreign buyers, environmental regulations and Mycoplasma bovis become clearer.

Quotable Value senior rural consultant, David Paterson, says some deals have fallen over when foreign buyers haven’t met the Overseas Investment Office’s rules, especially on well-developed properties where they have little room to lift production or benefit the country.

“We still don’t know what impact the policy will have on the more economic properties and once one or two come through we’ll have a better picture of whether foreign buyers are in the market or not. That’s an area creating some uncertainty.

If foreign buyers can’t buy those bigger properties, (landowners) may have to look at other ways of selling, like splitting them up because there’s not too many New Zealanders that have sufficient money to buy those sorts of properties.”

Getting finance to buy larger properties can be problematic due to the amount of money involved and the risk, he says.

The possibility that the Ministry for

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the Environment may hasten the process to introduce soil and water regulations has raised concerns about properties that will struggle to meet targets for nitrogen and phosphate, though Paterson says those concerns have not been reflected in values yet.

Another land sector being closely watched is forestry, following the Government’s billion-tree campaign which Paterson says is likely to put pressure on land suitable for planting.

It comes at a stage where forestry companies are buying land to plant trees to offset land they’re harvesting and taking out of forestry.

One forestry block in North Canterbury had trees milled and put into pasture and the owners then bought land in Otago to plant trees to counter the fact they had taken trees out.

“Much of the land is owned by foreign companies and it will be interesting to see what happens there.”

The positive returns for sheep and beef has seen a couple of marginal dairy farms in North Otago bought in the past year to convert back to sheep and beef, which means the price differential wasn’t there to carry on dairying, Paterson says.

A sheep and beef region that has forged ahead in value is northern Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, where the

once lower-value hill-country properties have climbed to between $700 and $800 per stock unit, which he says is still lower than many other parts of the country, but significantly higher than previously.

In other regions, grazing blocks are being sought by dairy farmers keen to control their herds in the wake of M bovis.

“There’s certainly some interest in grazing blocks for dairy farms to try and become more self-sufficient with their own grazing rather than contact with other stock. That hasn’t impacted on prices yet, but I think there’s a possibility that it will. It certainly makes it easier to sell those blocks.”

In Otago and Southland, a large number of mainly dairy properties on the market aren’t selling and Paterson suspects people have decided to hang on and see what happens over the next season.

While on the West Coast, the property market is really struggling for dairy in particular, but all classes of farmland, with few sales and properties that had changed hands selling for less than they would have in previous years.

In contrast to the Coast, good Canterbury properties were selling well as they always did, especially arable farms with irrigation that were suitable for a range of uses.

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August 2018

ESTATE | SUCCESSION

Keeping it fair When the next generation wishes to continue working the family farm, care needs to be taken on a fair or equal succession. Jo Cuttance reports.

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o be fair or equal is a choice which needs careful consideration when bringing the next generation into your farming business.

Many farmers nearing retirement like to build a house onfarm, work fewer hours, keep a close watch and give advice when they think it is needed.

An Otago couple were doing just this when everything was thrown into disarray after dad was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Succession or sale decisions had to be made with consideration to one son who had a financial interest in the farm, another who had recently returned to the farm and an inheritance for their daughter who had no interest in a rural lifestyle.

The 1000-hectare sheep farm on rolling country had been bought in 2002 and was the parents’ dream farm. They had worked incredibly hard in the years leading up to buying it and by including their eldest son, were able to secure finance. A family trust was set up, buying the farm for $1.4 million. A partnership was formed with the parents having 49% each and the son with some stock and plant, and cash, 2%. The parents had stock and plant from their previous farming operation.

Early in 2008 dad became ill and the shareholding son took over full management. By Christmas dad was

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very sick, and given days to live, but with excellent medical care he survived another four years.

Knowing he had a non-recoverable condition, the parents consulted their solicitor and financial adviser and prepared a memorandum of wishes.

This included the wishes of both parents regarding the farm, which was important for mum as she did not want to be making decisions as a widow and have the children throwing back at her “that’s not what dad would have wanted”.

During the months of dad’s illness the parents realised long-term the sons would be better working separately. They decided to do what they believed was fair, playing to their children’s strengths and interests, and acknowledging their weaknesses. With the older son owning a third of the farm, mum and dad each offered their one third share to each son to buy.

The parents considered 320ha was sufficient for their younger son because he had off-farm interests and limited farm experience. The 320ha was wellfenced and had the best fertility. The daughter suggested she should have been given a share of the farm, but had explained to her that her brothers had not been given the farm, only the opportunity to farm, and they bought the land at market value.

In 2010 the brothers began farming starting with a three-year lease, with

TAKING OVER • Get a memorandum of wishes made up • Decide to be fair or equal • Seek legal and financial advice • Understand it is not an easy process • Make no assumptions.

a right of purchase, which they both exercised. They took over the existing debt proportionately and have a second mortgage to the family trusts. With the farm being the parents’ only asset it was decided their sister would get a pay-out if either brother ceased farming. When dad died the sons bought their mother a house of her choice and the cost was added to their mortgages.

Stock and plant was bought at valuation from the parents. After working out what funds the parents would need, a 20-year repayment plan was created.

Mum holds the family together and hopes one day they will understand that she and her husband made fair decisions, to help set each child on to their own path to success.

Had the sons not been interested in following their father’s dream of owning his own farm, the farm would have been sold early on.

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FARMING IN FOCUS

Contestants, past and present, were among the many who headed south to Invercargill for the 50th FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final in July, where Otago/Southland’s Logan Wallace took out top honours.

Aorangi’s Cameron Black rips into a pallet with a chainsaw.

Pictures: John Cosgrove Logan Wallace loads a helicopter.

Tasman’s Andrew Wiffen in the fencing challenge.

Josh Cozens, of Waikato/ Bay of Plenty at the controls of a tractor.

East Coast’s Patrick Crawshaw, cutting wood.

Eventual winner Logan Wallace packs a wool press.

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For more pictures from the grand final check out “Young Country” on facebook.

Will Taylor, packing wool.

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August 2018

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