Rural News 15 November 2011

back to the future

hottest hatch

Landcorp’s Rolls Peak Station takes you back in time. pages 28-29

A Renault Megane RS250 impressed its driver in the Targa rally. page 49

Rural NEWS

rma revamp Greater Wellington Regional Council chairwoman Fran Wilde calls for an overhaul.

page 12

to all farmers, for all farmers

november 15, 2011: Issue 504

Exemption on the cards?

AGRICULTURE MINISTER David Carter says while farmers are slowly warming to the idea of climate change the Government will not prematurely include agriculture into an emissions trading scheme (ETS).

“There’s a very good chance’ agriculture’s entry into ETS will be further delayed if new technologies are unavailable and little progress is made internationally on reducing farm greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.

“We will review ETS legislation in 2014 and we will be watching the progress our international competitors make and what mechanisms are available for farmers to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions,” Carter told Rural News. “If we’re not satisfied on these counts, there will be further delay in agriculture’s entry into ETS.” Carter believes farmers are increasingly accepting humaninduced climate change as a challenge.

“We need to play our part. The level of scepticism is low. There are still sceptics, but not as pronounced 12 months ago.”

National released its climate change policy for this month’s general election and it plans to introduce agriculture into ETS in 2015

www.ruralnews.co.nz

Govt mulls Psa help SUD ESH KISSUN

THE GOVERNMENT may further aid Psa-stricken kiwifruit growers via a fund set up to deal with adverse weather.

MAF’s Adverse Events Fund helps farmers affected by snow storms, droughts and floods. Agriculture Minister David Carter wants to add biosecurity incursions to its list.

“We’re working to see if financial assistance can be extended to biosecurity incursion events in light of what’s happening in the kiwifruit industry,”

he told Rural News. Any decision will be made after the election.

Carter says Psa is spreading quickly in the Bay of Plenty. The vine disease, first discovered in Te Puke in November last year, had by this month infected vines in 689 orchards – most of them in Te Puke. Other affected areas are Katikati, Tauranga, Waihi, Opotiki, Whakatane and Kerikeri. The infected vines represent 20% of New Zealand’s kiwifruit area.

Horticulture New Zealand president and affected kiwifruit grower Andrew

Fenton says growers will welcome any assistance.

“These guys need assistance from every direction they can,” he says.

Fenton says after heavy rain two weeks ago, there was a spike in Psa cases.

“The number of affected orchards is up every day.”

Fenton, who has lost about 15% of his own orchard to Psa, expects a big hit on the 2012 national crop. It will be another three weeks before growers record their crop estimations with pack houses and Zespri receives a report on how many

to page 3

vines have been removed and what the total harvest for next year is likely to be.

Fenton says the disease is expected to spread to most orchards over the next 12 months.

“For those harvesting kiwifruit next year it may be their last one,” he says.

Fenton says growers are happy with Government assistance to the industry so far. It has provided $25 million so far. Most of this money has been used by the industry to combat the spread of Psa and researching cultivars that will cope with the disease.

Carter says the industry is making progress, but a solution is not in sight.

Fenton says he has heard that a Psaresistant variety is still two to three years away.

“Those who can hang on for several years may be able to replant,” he says.

“It’s sad to see a billion dollar industry in this situation.”

Christchurch’s blue ribbon event Grey skies and cool temperatures didn’t deter more than 10,000 people from attending the first day of the Canterbury A&P show. Organisers expected to draw at least 100,000 visitors for the three day event. Among the show goers were thousands of Christchurch school children, keen to get relief from the quakes still rattling the region and for many this was their first taste of farm life.

More from the event on page 10.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

news 3 issue 504

www.ruralnews.co.nz

Wool price challenge Peter bu rke

News ������������������������������ 1-16 World ������������������������� 18-19 Agribusiness ����������� 20-21 Markets �������������������� 22-23 Hound, Edna ������������������� 24 Contacts ������������������������� 24 Opinion ����������������������� 24-27 Management ����������� 28-33 Animal Health �������� 34-41 Machinery and Products ������������������ 42-46 Rural life ����������������������� 49 Rural Trader ���������������� 51

Head Office Top Floor, 29 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622

THE PRESIDENT of the Wool Exporters Council says he’s not holding his breath about what might happen with wool prices in the New Year.

John Dawson told Rural News that up until now, the outlook for wool has been good with prices doubling over last season. But he says the challenge is to keep things going forward.

“That’s quite a big task, believe me.

We’ve got a lot of competition from man-made fibres and obviously the international situation is precarious.

So it’s a big challenge for the industry to keep prices where they are.

“I think the price of wool went up too fast and that has caused problems for people in the supply chain being

John Dawson

able to pass those increases on in a measured way.”

Dawson says wool has lost market share in certain sectors because of the

price rise. Particularly in Australasia which takes about 30% of New Zealand’s coarse wool clip. Dawson says demand in this market has dropped by up 40%.

“The situation in the Eurozone is also giving us problems. The uncertainty is making life more difficult for people to make decisions. Decisions are either being delayed, prolonged or just made at the last minute. It’s not helping the cause and although business is continuing, it’s difficult.”

He says the situation may become clearer when more wool comes on the market in December and in the New Year.

Dawson hopes there’ll still be a stable environment, but until then he’s not holding his breath.

Exporters double marketing funding THE Wool Exporters Council has doubled its contribution to the international campaign for wool, taking it to more than $750,000.

President John Dawson says the export sector believes in what the campaign is trying to achieve and it wants to be seen as being completely committed.

He says it’s too hard to say if the campaign, which is headed by Prince Charles, at this stage is delivering value for money.

“A lot of people are putting in a great deal of effort in making sure those dollars are being spent in the best way possible.”

While other organisations funding the campaign have not increased their contributions, Dawson says it’s the subject of ongoing discussions and he’s not going to get weighed down with the issue.

“They can do what they can and we can do what we can do,” he says.

Flashing bus signs RURAL WOMEN NZ’s push for ‘20km/h’ flashing signs on school buses just got a boost from New Zealand Transport Agency research showing the signs prompt a good driver reaction.

“The report on the trial shows, as expected, that the flashing 20km/h signs significantly reduce traffic speed around school buses,” says president Liz Evans. “Now we’d like the signs approved by NZTA so we can get them on all school buses.”

Twenty three children have been killed in 23 years while they crossed roads to or from school buses, Evans says.

“Brightly lit 20km/h signs are vital to increase the visibility of school buses and remind drivers of the overtaking speed limit.”

RWNZ recently held a forum in Wellington where Transport Engineering Research New Zealand (TERNZ) presented the results of its 20km/h school bus sign research and distributed its report.

Forum members supported a recommendation that, as a first step, 50 buses in one area be fitted with illuminated 20km/h signs, concurrent with publicity. The members want it to go on all school buses.

Phone: 09-307 0399 Fax: 09-307 0122 Postal Address PO Box 3855, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140 Published by: Rural News Group Printed by: PMP Print Contacts Editorial: editor@ruralnews.co.nz Advertising material: davef@ruralnews.co.nz Rural News online: www.ruralnews.co.nz Subscriptions: fionas@ruralnews.co.nz ABC audited circulation 80,327 as at 30.6.2011

ETS exemption likely? from page 1

with certain provisos.

Climate Change Minister Nick Smith says New Zealand needs to carefully balance the cost impacts of the ETS on households and businesses in difficult economic times and the goal of transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

“It is not in New Zealand’s interests to include agricultural emissions in the ETS yet,” he says. “The lack of any practical and real technologies to reduce agricultural emissions means it would

only impose a cost or tax on our most important export industry. It would also have New Zealand too far ahead of our trading partners on climate change mitigation measures.”

National will introduce legislation next year to amend the ETS. It says the overall change package would be fiscally neutral.

“Our objective is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions at the least cost possible and for New Zealand to do its fair share on the global issue of climate change,” says Smith.

in brief Fieldays get new CEO NATIONAL FIELDAYS Society has appointed Jon Calder – a Waikatoborn man – as chief executive, succeeding Barry Quayle. At least 50 sought the job.

Calder, MBA, Waikato University, was 10 years at Air New Zealand and more recently general manager central region, NZ Bus. He will lead 35 event staff, and

planning and development, and be the “essential conduit” between staff and the board of 13 volunteer directors headed by society president Lloyd Downing and vice-president John Gallagher.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

4 election 2011

Making better use of water NATIONAL IS pledging $400 million within the next two years to boost water storage and irrigation.

Agriculture Minister David Carter says the Government is delivering on its promise to provide funding.

“Should National win the election and form the next Government, we will create a new company called the Crown Water Investment Company and $400m will be available from Budget 2013,” he says.

The money will be sourced from the Future Investment Fund.

Lifting productivity and driving export growth is the focus of the National’s primary sector policy, says Carter.

“Water is one of New Zealand’s greatest competitive advantages, but we are not making the most of it. Developing water storage and irrigation has huge potential to unlock economic growth and prosperity for the primary sectors, David Carter and for all New Zealanders.

“But National’s water storage initiatives are not about irrigation at any cost. High standards of consultation and design will be required, and more reliable access to water will lead to more efficient use of this vital resource.”

Carter says this water

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funding builds on a range of initiatives already underway to deliver an innovative, competitive and sustainable rural sector.

He notes that boosting investment in primary sector research and innovation is a key priority under National, and the Primary Growth Partnership has projects totalling $500m underway.

National will continue its focus on lifting the economic performance of agriculture, horticulture and forestry sectors, protecting biosecurity and driving an ambitious trade agenda.

“National recognises that agriculture is the key driver of our economy. The continued prosperity of our primary sectors is crucial to growing the tradable economy and improving the living standards of New Zealanders,” says Carter.

Good irrigation benefits all PRIME MINISTER John Key says welldesigned water storage and irrigation is a win for the economy and for the environment.

Key notes irrigation increases the productivity of our farm land, protects against droughts and takes the uncertainty out of water flows for farmers and recreational users.

“It also allows the more efficient use of water. Storage allows us to capture water at times of plenty, for efficient use at times of need,” he says. “It is also important to our environment. More reliable access to water will lead to more

efficient use of water, and provide for the replenishment of aquifers and the restoration of stream and river flows.

“National is committed to increasing New Zealand’s economic potential while balancing our environmental responsibilities,” says Key. He says the Government, through the proposed Crown Water Investment Company, will be a minority partner.

It will invest with the expectation of a commercial return on that investment.

The intention is for the Government’s stake to be sold off over time. It is not a grant scheme, Key adds.

Irrigators welcome plan IRRIGATIONNZ SAYS it is ready to play its role in improving water efficiency and welcomes National’s plan to provide $400 million for water storage and irrigation by 2013.

The lobby says reliable irrigation enables the added-value aspects of primary production.

Reliability will give existing food producers and processors the confidence to further develop and diversify. It will also allow investment in processing factories as it guarantees consistent volume and quality supply of product, says IrrigationNZ chairman John Donkers.

Donkers cites development in Tasmania as a lead for New Zealand, where sustainable Farm Water Access Plans are being developed to identify and manage environmental risk, and reliable storage and schemes being built to deliver 95% reliability. He says irrigation is opening up a myriad of high value crop options.

“It is notable how crops such as pyrethrum and opium poppies have taken off. Tasmania produces 50% of the world pharmaceutical supply for morphine and other medical opiates,” says Donkers.

“New Zealand also has much untapped potential in this area.”

The Government announcement could not have come at a better time for Canterbury-based Central Plains Water Ltd. It is on the cusp of starting construction on its $400m, 60,000ha, Central Plains Water scheme. General

being created initially around cluster groups in Te Pirita, Sheffield, Greendale and Darfield.

The advantage of this progressive approach is that it allows reliability to be developed as the scheme progresses.

manager Derek Crombie says the project can now go forward with great confidence.

“We are currently reviewing the development options for the scheme. Among the critical success factors are securing funding and access to a reliable water source, two of the key drivers behind the National Party’s announcement,” he says.

It is likely that the Central Plains Water scheme will be staged, with demand for uptake

“Not only is the announcement a good one for the Canterbury farming sector, but also for Christchurch itself. The city’s economic prosperity lies in the agricultural sector with an estimated 70% of the city’s wealth directly and indirectly having its roots in the farm,” Crombie adds.

Canterbury already has 350,000ha of irrigated land and CPWL says it cater for up to 800,000ha across the Canterbury region without too much

difficulty. With a direct economic impact of between $3 and $5 billion, it is almost equivalent to the total exports through the city at present, Crombie says.

Federated Farmers RMA and environment spokesperson Ian Mackenzie says a Crown Water Investment Company will help transform New Zealand agriculture and the economy.

“If you go to a Ponsonby café and order a long black, they don’t put a cup outside in the hope a passing rain shower will fill it. Our towns and cities store water because it makes residential and commercial city life possible.

“A Crown Water Investment Company will apply a similar principle to agriculture. It will also help to reduce an annual economic and environmental rainfall lottery. While this is about economic infrastructure that will grow productivity, it is no hand out.

“The Crown Company will invest commercially in schemes before selling that stake on. The company will effectively be an underwriter before realising value from its stake. Farmers will have to buy into these schemes so water won’t be given away. This needs to be understood.”

Rural News // november 15, 2011

election 2011 5 ACT seeks RMA revamp ACT PARTY candidate Don Nicolson wants a rational and evidence-based approach to managing our natural resources. Unfortunately, this approach has been absent from public policy for far too long, he says.

“The Resource Management Act is one such example.

Originally intended to simplify the resource consent process, and promote responsible economic development, the legislation contained serious flaws in its DNA. As the years went on the RMA, as Don Brash puts it, became “a piece of Frankenstein legislation [that has] grown out of the control of its creators and become a danger to us all.”

“Economic growth and property rights have taken a back seat to busybody officials and environmental crusaders, hell-bent on remaking the country in their image.

“Being a council bureaucrat must be a fun job; you get to make all the decisions and pay none of the costs.”

Nicolson believes the Emissions Trading Scheme is another policy driven by populism rather than rationalism. Whichever way the science pans out, the fact Don Nicolson remains that New Zealand’s share of global carbon emissions is 0.2%, he points out.

“It would be one thing if our trading partners were also busy implementing all-gasses, all-sector schemes – but in this we stand alone.

“In politics ACT is unique in that we believe the best policies are based on what works. In my three years as Federated Farmers president, I found the vast majority of farmers share this view.

“The evidence is clear: wealthier and freer countries look after their environments better than poorer countries with less freedom.”

ACT believes that a strong economy with strong private property rights go together. Nicolson says ACT is taking two key messages to farmers this election.

There is a need for less bureaucracy, he says “The RMA needs a complete overhaul. As part of this, we will separate the planning functions of councils from decisions on resource consent applications, and increase the right to compensation for those whose land values are reduced by council planning decisions.

“Less bureaucracy also means reducing the number of costly, low-quality laws and regulations that hold us back.

By passing our Regulatory Standards Bill we can stop the passage of such legislation before they cause any damage.

Secondly, farmers need protection from the ETS. ACT has fought the ETS from day one, points out Nicolson.

“National deferred the inclusion of livestock emissions until 2015.

“They are now making some noises about excluding such emissions altogether but – by inserting a number of caveats – they seem to be taking a bob each way.”

Keeping rural sector vibrant LABOUR WANTS to increase our agricultural exports in quantity and quality.

Its agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor also wants to keep our rural communities vibrant by keeping ownership of farmland in Kiwi hands and stop offshore speculators locking Kiwis out of the market.

To achieve this, Labour will reform monetary and overseas investment policy, boost research and development, and introduce a tax to discourage speculation on farmland prices, he says.

He points out the New Zealand dollar is one

of the world’s ten most traded currencies.

“Our currency surges and plunges on the whims of international speculators and our exporters suffer. When our exchange rate surges, it undermines the competitiveness of our products. When it falls, the price of inputs like fuel soars.

“Labour will adopt the successful Australian model, which recognises that employment, economic prosperity, and the health of the export sector are at least as important as inflation control. We will give the Reserve Bank more sophisticated tools to counter inflation than

foreign buyers. simply jacking up “We cannot interest rates. let our farmThis will mean ing commulower internities become est rates and a tenants on their more competitive land. Sales dollar. of farm“We will ensure land to exporters are offshore represented Damien O’Connor buyers will on the Reserve be declined unless they Bank Board. Labour invest in significant furbelieves better outcomes ther processing of related will be achieved if there primary products and are a number of board related jobs.” members with exporting On R&D, Labour will backgrounds.” push agricultural innovaOn overseas investtion into the next gear by ment, O’Connor warns introducing tax credits we risk losing ownership of our farmland and infra- for research and developstructure by allowing New ment. These will encourZealanders to be outbid by age more research leading

L I M I T E D

to higher value, more sustainable exports.

“We expect that innovative agricultural companies like Fonterra will be major beneficiaries of these tax credits,” he says.

Over the last decade, there was a bubble in farm prices as well as house prices. Cheap credit enabled corporate and foreign buyers to force up prices and speculate on capital gain, O’Connor points out “To get into the market, farmers have had to take on high levels of debt.

The dairy industry, for example, now spends 18% of its income servicing its debts, O’Connor says.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

nz grassland conference 7

More R&D wanted for hill country P ETER BUR K E

THERE’S BEEN a call for crown research institutes (CRIs) and other research organisations to undertaken more research which is production-based and is practical and easy for farmers to adopt.

Grassland Association president, Anders Crofoot, also a Federated Farmers board member, told its annual conference in Gisborne that there is a particular lack of research relating to the hill country. He says a lot of money is being spent on types of research that he doesn’t think will improve farmers’ bottom line.

“If the research is not going to make a profit for the farmers, why do the

research?” he says.

Crofoot says with a re-jig of science structures and funding, a lot more social research has been done which is by and large of little benefit to farmers. He says this sort of research might tick the bureaucratic boxes, but it’s of questionable value to farmers.

“People wonder why farmers aren’t picking up research. Well if it doesn’t have anything to do with the farmers’ profitability, why would they pick it up?

“If it’s research on some new model and if it doesn’t necessarily add anything to farmers’ bottom line why would farmers take notice?” he says.

Crofoot says when the

Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station, in the Waikato, was wound

Anders Crofoot

down a lot of the opportunities that would actually help farmers’ bottom lines got put on the shelf.

He says the theory in closing Whatawhata was that this research would get picked up by other people.

He says while BLNZ and DairyNZ have done some work, more needs to be done.

Not only would he like to see more research carried out on matters relating to the hill country, he’d like to see this done on actual farms rather than on research stations.

“While it can be more difficult to do research on farm, there are big advantages. For a start, you’ll almost certainly wind up with results that are actually practical and can be applied.

“One of the big things with research is what you’re using are scientific methods to try and find out one specific thing. The researcher may know what was the right result, but

Focus on practical farming THIS YEAR’S Grassland Association conference was held in Gisborne for a reason – to focus attention on a very important part of New Zealand farming – the hill country.

The 200 people attending the event spent most of their time out on two, large East Coast hill country farms – Tangihanga Station and Pararatu Station. Many of the papers presented to the conference were delivered out in the field.

Grassland Association president, Anders Crofoot says the focus of the conference was on the practical side of farming and less on the traditional science papers. Gisborne was chosen because of what had gone on there in the past and what the future might hold for

for a farmer it can be quite hard to pick up an isolated result and fit it into their whole system. So if you are doing research on farm, it actually has to fit in with the whole farm system.”

Crofoot goes further and says that a small research team doesn’t have a built in reference group that can offer assistance and advice. He says ‘on farm’ research means that a lot more people, even a community, gets involved and so a whole bunch of champions are created.

“I think it’s quite an effective way of getting your results out there, and spreading the message by word of mouth is great way of doing things.”

grassland gongs DR GREG Lambert has been awarded the prestigious Ray Brougham Trophy at the recent Grassland’s conference in Gisborne.

The award is in recognition of Lambert’s outstanding achievements and leadership in hill country pasture research and the development of forage grazing systems for the sheep and beef industries.

It also recognises his work in making research easily understandable to farmers.

Lambert has published more than 100 scientific papers and during the 1980’s led research at the Ballantrae Hill Country Research Station.

Three other people also received Grassland Trust Farming awards.

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He says a big issue for the hill country is profitability and after years in the doldrums, it appears that things are starting to come right with improved meat and wool prices. As a result, a lot of people are spreading fertiliser on their farms for the first time in years.

Crofoot says improved wool prices are having a significant impact on hill country profitability.

“Wool is back on people’s radar.

When the price of wool dropped, that related directly to lack of profitability in sheep and beef operations. Wool is sort of your profit,” he says.

The conference also discussed stocking rates and ways to improve hill country pasture.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

8 news

‘Strict rules slowing dairy conversions’ BARBARA GILLH AM

Conversion gone wrong: this farm went into receivership and is up for sale.

FARMERS ARE converting from sheep and beef into dairy. However, strict regional council rules are putting off some in

Manawatu/Rangtikei region.

Federated Farmers Manawatu/Rangitikei president Andrew Hoggard believes dairy is still attracting conver-

sions from sheep and beef nationwide. It’s less common in his region.

“In this region you’ve got so many rules on new conversion due to the Horizons One Plan, it

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makes it less attractive for people wanting to convert in this area than it would be to convert somewhere else because we have more requirements to meet,” he told Rural News.

“We’re working through how council do these consents at the moment. A farmer who lives close to me was looking at converting and he got part way down the track and then saw all the rules and regulations and it put him off.”

Hoggard believes when you come from a sheep farming background it’s a real shock to see what the dairy guys have to do to meet all the necessary requirements.

His comments came as a large Rangitikei dairy farm that went into receivership just three years after undergoing a substantial conversion is on the market for sale by tender.

The 210 hectare farm, near Marton, was previously three individual units that were purchased separately and amalgamated between 2005 and 2008 with the ultimate intention of creating a

large-scale dairy operation.

However, due to a number of issues, production targets were not achieved and the property ultimately went into receivership.

Hoggard says while he hasn’t heard of any individual farms going into receivership in the region, he was aware of two that were multiple units sold as either receivership or mortgagee-type sales.

“There probably are some farms out there that may be in receivership, but I haven’t heard of any myself.”

The developers of the dairy conversion farm currently up for receivership sale had originally planned on running up to 850 cows on the property.

However, despite significant expenditure on the property, which now has a new cowshed and associated infrastructure, the farm’s full potential was not reached.

Hoggard believes the developers may have been over estimating the failed farm’s true potential when they planned to run up to 850 cows.

in brief Effluent compliance holding MANAWATU/RANGITIKEI DAIRY farmers are maintaining good effluent compliance rates.

The Horizons Regional Council’s latest annual dairy monitoring programme shows compliance rates similar levels to previous years. As early as last week, 265 of the region’s 900 dairy farms were visited by Horizons staff, with 87% graded compliant and a further 3% graded as excellent.

“We have continued to see a mindset change that started last year,” says environmental compliance manager, Alison Russell.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

10 Canterbury A&P show

Breeders vye for blue ribbons

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over the three days that the show runs.

Gardner says there are advantages of cool conditions.

“You don’t want it too hot because the cattle get tired and get sick of it so we’re more than happy with the weather.”

Thanks to one of the mildest winters for years (despite a couple of snow dumps) and plenty of

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P U D N U RO V 2011 OCT - NO

further north, made their annual journey to Christchurch for the 149th Canterbury Show.

“If you can win a big ribbon here in Christchurch, you’re competing against the best,” says Canterbury A&P president Peter Gardner.

“And it makes sales – if you get a good bull that can win here, it certainly puts money in your back pocket.

20/10/11 3:41 PM

growth this spring, livestock were in good condition and some judges seemed surprised at the quality of the animals.

“I just had a Jersey judge saying, ‘they don’t have any decent Jerseys in Canterbury’, but he’s come down here and now says, ‘this is the best I’ve seen in New Zealand,” says Gardner.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

12 news

RMA ‘complex, costly and time-consuming’ p e t e r bur k e

THE RESOURCE Management Act (RMA) has come

under fire from a regional council leader.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chair

Fran Wilde says the RMA is crafted in such a way that it invites litigation and delay. She told the New

Zealand Water conference, held in Rotorua last week, while some changes to the RMA have been made in

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recent times – the process remains complex, costly and time and resource hungry. She says the RMA plays a huge role in how regional plans are framed including the development of regulations.

“The whole system should change so that the focus goes into the front end of these plans so you get the community engagement with stakeholders when the plan is being developed not after it’s drafted.”

Wilde also believes the consent process should be much more transactional than it is at present, so people don’t end up in the Environment Court all the time.

“Nowadays so much stuff is appealed and all parties and councils have to gold-plate every decision making process because they know they are going to get appealed.

This means that it’s a feast day for lawyers and QC’s.

But it doesn’t help the boat go faster, it doesn’t actually help the economy and in the end you probably get much the same decisions anyway – but it just cost a huge amount of money.”

Under the present litigious system, farmers and other parties to the plans end up paying many times over, according to Wilde.

She says, in effect, they

Fran Wilde

“The whole system should change so that the focus goes into the front end of these plans so you get the community engagement with stakeholders when the plan is being developed not after it’s drafted.” pay the council’s legal cost through their rates as well as their own planning and legal costs.

“My major argument is that this is just such an absurd waste of money,” she says. Wilde also wants limits on the appeal process and a good public conversation on the role of the Environment Court so that everyone knows why it is there.

Another area that needs attention is waterrelated research. She says there’s been a decline in this area and scarce research dollars need to be focused in ‘a strategic way’.

She adds that a lot of good science knowledge exists in regional coun-

cils and this needs to be shared. Wilde also believes that councils should work closely with science organisations, such as CRI’s and universities. She wants the science on water issues ‘on the table’ in the development stages of regional plans – rather than being presented during hearings.

Finally, Wilde is calling for a more strategic approach to water management.

“For many years the government approach has been characterised by inconsistent and ad hoc interventions often representing just one perspective of government interests –rather than a synthesised, whole-of-government approach.”

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news 13

Rain brings pain for contractor THE WEATHER and the transport rules relating to work time are causing frustration for a North Island contractor.

Gary Davis, Horowhenua, hasn’t seen a season like this before in the district. It’s been unusually wet for this time of the year and while the actual amount of rain that’s fallen is not great, it just hasn’t stopped raining.

“We seem to be getting these showers every day and the window of opportunity to do anything just hasn’t been there,” he told Rural News. “The growth has been phenomenal and most farmers have got a heap of grass, but we just can’t get out there to do anything with it.”

Davis says he’s well behind with his work schedule because of the rain and farmers are being forced to make some difficult choices.

“A lot of guys who’d normally do

pit silage are instead turning this into baleage because their paddocks are so wet.

“They are not sure if they could get trucks across the ground plus the added problem of the mess these’d leave behind anyway,” he says.

According to Davis, a lot of dairy farmers have got grass shut up on their properties for silage or baleage and want to get those paddocks back into rotation quickly.

However, if this weather continues they may just have to put the cows in these paddocks just to get them back into rotation.

Lack of sunshine is also affecting the quality of pasture and there are reports that cow condition may not hold up because of this. But milk production in the Horowhenua is reportedly up by between 12-15%.

The continuous rain has given Davis and his staff little opportunity to get out and do work and when they do get a break in the weather – the

work time rules compound the problem. “Like the other day. We had guys turn up here at 8am and then you get a light misty shower which knocked us back a couple of hours. Then it appeared to come right and we got another shower. The result was that we never got baling till 5 o’clock in the afternoon. But as the guys had been here at work since 8 o’clock they had to be finished by 10pm – which means we only had four hours of baling time.”

Davis says while he’s aware that a review of the rules is being undertaken, this isn’t solving his problem right now and there needs to be flexibility.

“If I could say to guys at 8am go home and I’ll call you when we are ready to go that would fine,” he explains. “But under the present system, if they turn up at 8 o’clock the day starts then and they have to have 10 hours break that day. It’s really unworkable.”

Gary Davis is using the downtime caused by continuous rain to do maintenance work on some of his equipment.

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“It’s a sure sign summer is just around the corner and

so Kiwis will be switching to seasonal meals and recipes – and tomatoes are a mainstay of any summer diet.”

In recent years the range of tomatoes available to New Zealand consumers has grown considerably with cherry, low acid, strawberry, roma and vineripened tomatoes becoming increasingly popular.

Chairman of TomatoesNZ, Wim Zwart says the plentiful

supplies now available are the result of months of hard work and dedicated crop management by growers.

“It’s great to see Kiwis enjoying the fruits of our growers’ labour, there is no comparison to New Zealand produce. I urge consumers when shopping to choose 100% New Zealand tomatoes, which are very reasonably priced at this time of year.”

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

news 15

BLNZ getting smart with meat recipes THE SMART phone looks like holding the key to educating consumers about beef and lamb.

Rod Slater, who heads BLNZ’s promotional efforts in New Zealand, told Rural News that the technology revolution which includes social media, offers massive promotional opportunities to get lamb back on the radar of consumers.

“Young consumers are very electronic-friendly so they know how to seek information. If we’ve got information on the web, they are downloading it and that’s happening now,” he says.

“The recipe guides that used to be put alongside products at the supermarket or butchers shop are not giving us very much traction at all. The last research we did on recipe

Rolls Peak Station.

Poaching a worry for state farmer PETER BU R K E Rod Slater of BLNZ holds the promotional tool of past in the form of a recipe book – and the future – the smart phone.

cards showed that only 4% actually ended up in the kitchen.”

Slater adds that just because they got to the kitchen is no guarantee the recipes will be used and it’s a very costly way of trying to get the message through to consumers.

“The electronic media has changed everything. With I-phone and smart phone applications and that sort

of thing we are seeing very cost effective and efficient ways of getting information to consumers.”

Slater believes what’s happening now, and happen in the future, is beyond most people’s dreams.

“The direction we’re heading is that people will walk into a shop with a smart phone, run it over a meat product and imme-

diately up will come up a recipe and the ingredient lists for this cut, as well as other information about the product.”

When he was a butcher back in the 1960’s, Slater says his customers knew more about a product than he did.

He believes this has changed, but technology could turn the tables back in favour of the consumer.

POACHERS ARE a headache at Landcorp’s Rolls Peak Station, in the central North Island. At least 90 sheep have been poached this year – a serious worry, says business manager Graeme Harvey.

Rolls Peak Station is being developed as a dairy support block on the Wairakei Estate at Broadlands, near Taupo. The farm runs from Broadlands back to the Kaingaroa State Forest.

Partly the problem is the back boundary of Rolls Peak backs onto the Kaingaroa State Forest, giving poachers easy access to the farm.

“Some of the poachers live off the meat they kill and if they can’t get pigs or deer they take sheep because they are in the

black market trade. Some of my guys spend a lot of time patrolling roads at night trying to catch these people. They steal stock, cut fences and leave gates open.

“I was called out the other day and caught three pig dogs but there was no sign of the owner. He’d done a runner. Some of the dogs are microchipped so we hand in the dogs to the police and they can often catch the culprits. We also get a lot of help from Terry Andrews, Landcorp’s security manager.”

Farm manager Sam Taylor says the police are good. “They’ve been out here quickly with tracker dogs. But it can be dangerous because the poachers have guns. It’s got really bad the last six to twelve months.”

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

16 news

Is Sunday roast toast? p e t e r bur k e

LAMB IS disappearing off the menu of many New Zealanders according to Beef + Lambs chief executive Rod Slater.

Slater who’s in charge of the promotion of meat for BLNZ locally says price is one of the main factors that’s driving lamb off the menu of a lot of people.

BLNZ has commissioned research on the eating habits of New Zealanders which show that people are becoming much more price sensitive.

“When you think about it, leg of lamb that was probably $25 not so long ago – now it’s close to $50.

As a result, people are turning to beef, pork and chicken,” he says.

Slater says that not so long ago, lamb was regarded as an every day food, but now it’s per-

Butchers are paying up to $200 for a lamb with the result that this leg of lamb is selling for $65. By Christmas it will probably cost $70.

ceived as a special occasion food for events such as Christmas day or mother’s day.

He acknowledges that the cost of lamb means that some people will never eat it and, to some extent, is an example of the social divide in New Zealand. Slater says lamb is seen as more luxurious than fish. The-challenge is now to find ways of making some lamb cuts more affordable.

According to Slater, consumers like the taste of lamb and that is a positive and very important. However what’s evident from the research is that the days of the Sunday roast are long gone.

“The research shows that the most popular days for eating lamb are Tuesdays and Wednesdays – goodness knows why – I have no idea. Friday was the least popular day which has traditionally

been a day when less meat is eaten, but the weekend roast just doesn’t happen anymore. People are more likely to have barbequed chops on the weekend.

The most popular cuts are shoulder chops and loin chops,” he says.

Despite the current high price of lamb on the domestic market, which reflects the international price, Slater believes it’s just about reached its peak. While it

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may increase slightly, he believes the price spikes in recent times are over and prices won’t go soaring away as they have done in the past.

While high lamb prices are facing consumer resistance, beef prices are seen as more affordable and sales are good. Slater says beef score well with consumers because it is seen as a healthy and highly nutritional food and the best source of iron.

“So beef, unlike lamb is more an everyday food, but it can cross over into being a special occasion food as well. For example, fillet steak or beef Wellington. It’s seen as a much more versatile food in the eyes of consumers,” he says.

Slater says his team is working on new ways to encourage consumers to eat lamb.

‘Consumers want 12-minute meal deal’ is being lost.

“We are in a generation now where mum and dad both work and these gen-Y kids haven’t been taught to cook. Grandma has also been out working; so we don’t have that intergenerational flow on of cooking skills.”

product; Maxwell and that’s agrees that the unfortunately tradition of the what it is right Sunday roast now. is now lost – But we are still even in her own Jeanette Maxwell thinking about household. legs of lamb and “We need to rethink the way we market the industry has to think lamb. Yes it is an expensive more in terms of cuts that

make in easy for young people to cook lamb.”

She denies that the Feds’ T150 campaign is having adverse effect on driving up lamb prices to the consumer. She points out that the T150 has a wool component as well as meat.

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FEDERATED FARMERS Meat and Fibre chair believes it’s more than just price that’s turning consumers away from lamb.

Jeanette Maxwell says people today want a 12-minute meal that’s easy to cook. She says the art of cooking certain lamb cuts

THREE NEW board members have joined the Central Plains Water Ltd board.

Todd Muller, Damon Summerfield and Gary Wilson were elected at the company’s recent annual meeting.

They join Geoffrey Stevenson, John Donkers and Paul Munro, all of whom were re-elected. Chairman Pat Morrison, deputy chairman Doug Catherwood and Willie Palmer also continue as board members.

Muller is a Fonterra executive and has been involved with agribusinesses at a management level. Summerfield is an arable farmer from Darfield, while Wilson is a Kirwee-based grain and sheep farmer.

Central Plains Water has consent to take water from the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers to irrigate the Central Canterbury Plains. General manager Derek Crombie says he is delighted with the skills and background the new board members bring to the project.

“Todd brings strong central government expertise to the board backed by his experiences in the kiwifruit industry, while Damon and Gary are both well known in the district and also have great dryland arable experience.

“Also heartening was the general support we received from farmers and shareholders at the meeting. There is a strong feeling of unity behind this project,” he says.

Central Plains Water is on the cusp of starting construction, 11 years on from when the idea was first floated.

The consent appeals are almost resolved and the company has secured the Synlait Band 2 and 3 subservient consents.

Crombie says it is reviewing the development options for the scheme.

“It is likely the scheme will be staged, with demand for uptake being created initially around cluster groups in Te Pirita, Sheffield, Greendale and Darfield. The advantage of this scheme is that it allows reliability to be developed as the scheme progresses.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

18 world

Milk pricing report irks Oz farmers AN AUSTRALIAN senate inquiry into the supermarket milk price war has left a bad taste among farmers.

Australian Dairy Farmers president Chris Griffin is extremely disappointed with the senate inquiry into the impact of supermarket price decisions on the dairy industry.

“While dairy farmers are leaving the industry the senate committee has recommended four reviews, one study and one consultation process. We need action,” Griffin says.

“This cut-throat discounting by Coles has now been going on for nine months and it is time the Gov-

Full-year loss THE SUPERMARKET milk price war is being blamed for a full-year loss in Lion Nathan’s dairy business.

The company, which now owns the former National Foods and Dairy Farmers businesses, is blaming deep discounting in the supermarkets milk price war.

The company suffered an 8.9% fall in its dairy and drinks revenue in the third quarter ending June to $A2.1 billion, as more consumers traded down from premium brands to cheaper private-label milk.

“Low consumer confidence has continued to impact spending into the third quarter in both Australia and New Zealand and the ongoing deep discounting on white milk continues to impact profitability in Lion’s white milk business,” says chief executive Rob Murray.

ernment took action to stop it. This is the second inquiry in two years. The time for talking is over, we need action.

“We know what the issues are, we know this cutthroat discounting ultimately flows on to the farmers and their families and we know the UK Competition Commission had to take legislative action to re-balance the market power of the supermarkets over there.”

Griffin says the government must take action to balance the unfair market power of the two big supermarkets and provide fairness and transparency along the supply chain.

The senate report, released this month, made seven recommendations, including: That government review the effectiveness of collective bargaining laws and arrangements for agri-

cultural industries with a view to strengthening that framework to create a more equitable balance of power between the negotiating parties.

That processor’s contracts with dairy farmers “should offer a clear, consistent formula for milk pricing with unambiguous conditions” and “not be dependent on the final retail sales of branded versus private label milk”.

This was to address the case of Parmalat suppliers in Queensland who received a smaller milk cheque when branded sales fell as a result of Coles discounting their house brand milk.

A government study of the dairy industries in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia to focus on the sustainability of the industry and examine possible policy options.

An independent review

of the competition provisions of the Competitions and Consumer Act 2010. This was because the effectiveness of Australia’s competition laws has been raised in the context of various sectors and has been considered by this committee on numerous occasions.

A review of the effectiveness of the Produce and Grocery

Code Ombudsman and to consult on whether a new statutory office to address supply relationships in the grocery sector is needed.

Griffin says the Government had to take action to balance the unfair market power of the two big supermarkets and provide fairness and transparency along the supply chain.

He says Coles and

Woolworths have unparalleled market power that is not replicated anywhere else in the world. The top five supermarket chains in the United Kingdom have about 80% of the market, the same as Coles and Woolworths in Australia.

“This cannot be good for competition in the long term and is definitely not good for the supermarkets’ suppliers.”

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

world 19

MLA looking for more sizzle in bbq season MEAT & LIVESTOCK Australia (MLA) has launched its latest beef marketing campaign to get barbecues firing and tongs turning right through the summer season.

The latest campaign aims to drive consumer demand for beef through television, print and digital mediums and includes a new iPhone app to help consumers cook the perfect steak.

The campaign features the ‘Nothing beats beef’ television commercial from the 2010 summer beef campaign, as well as an increased outdoor presence.

Key capital city sites will promote the message ‘Nothing beats beef,’ including 33 major billboards and 500 bus stops.

To further grab the attention of drivers or passers-by there will be a smoking beef bbq bill-

board and bus stops that send out the irresistible scent of a barbecue.

MLA’s general manager marketing, Glen Feist says it wants beef to be synonymous with summer and “really own the season”.

“This year, we’re running the campaign over six months to keep the buzz around beef running for longer and to sustain demand for beef throughout summer.

“Consumers are out and about over summer.

So, together with retailers, we’re hoping to reach a wider audience by using a greater variety of media outlets, especially outdoors,” says Feist.

MLA’s latest marketing initiative follows a successful winter beef campaign that was well received by consumers and retailers. Retailers gave the campaign’s marketing material the high-

est rating of any previous MLA promotion.

The winter beef campaign, which ran from June to August, helped to increase beef’s share of the retail fresh meat category to 37.9% from 37.1%

in winter 2010. Volumes of winter meal beef cuts (diced and roast) also increased by more than 500,000 serves to reach 9.5 million serves per week during the campaign period.

The summer beef campaign will also feature new point of sale marketing material and more than 2.5 million copies of a new recipe and tips magazine will be distributed through retailers.

Australian farmers have launched a beef campaign this summer.

s R E m R A f L A RE E timE R o m E hAv o k o m s foR

in brief Stalled fta hurts DELAYS IN the ratification of a Free Trade Agreement between the United States and South Korea are stalling Australian efforts to reach a similar accord.

South Korea is Australia’s third largest export market for beef, worth an estimated $A750 million annually.

Australia is also the largest exporter of beef to that market, accounting for 49% of beef shipments to South Korea from January to August this year. This compares with 38%from the US and 12% from New Zealand.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

20 agribusiness

New irrigation head pledges sustainability IMPROVING PUBLIC perception of irrigated agriculture is an important challenge for the new Irrigation New Zealand chairman John Donkers.

The Geraldine-based farm consultant and farmer is confident that the irrigation sector can meet the higher water quality standards demanded by the wider community.

He acknowledges that increasing demand for irrigation water is placing New Zealand’s water resources under increasing pressure.

“Government has made it clear that irrigation can expand, but only if it meets much tighter water quality limits. The key to irrigators minimising the impact of their activities is a commitment by the community for sound science applied to better understand the issues and develop the technical solutions. IrrigationNZ has a role in this process and the dissemination of the information to irrigators,” he says.

Donkers, who served as vice chairman of the irrigation body for seven years

John Donkers

took over its chairmanship from Graeme Sutton last month.

He notes that during

the past decade, IrrigationNZ has gained and maintained an influencing position in regard to water policy and irrigation infrastructure development through engagement with central and local government.

The national organisation has approached its business in clearly identified areas – leadership and advocacy, technical developments, communication with members, increasing membership and corporate revenue growth and liaison with other industry-related groups.

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“I look forward to continuing this work and building on the momentum that IrrigationNZ has gained as a national body representing all irrigation interests nationwide, earning a credible and respected reputation as the nation’s unified voice on all irrigation matters,” Donkers says.

“I am keen that IrrigationNZ builds on the relationships that have been developed with other primary sector groups, particularly Federated Farmers.

The agricultural sector needs strong and effective leadership and this is best achieved by utilising the strengths of existing organisations, not replicating them.”

He says IrrigationNZ is dedicated to adding value to individual irrigators’

businesses and committed to lifting the general level of knowledge for sustainable community outcomes from water use and future management in terms of both quantity and quality.

Donkers is part owner and manager of a number of irrigated farming operations in Canterbury. He is a director of Central Plains Water Limited, which is on the cusp of starting construction of a community water scheme that will irrigate 60,000 hectares of central Canterbury. He was instrumental in establishing the Dunsandel Groundwater Users Group and has also been active in the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) as a community appointee on the regional committee.

South Canterbury

sheep, beef and arable farmer and farm management consultant Nicky Hyslop replaces Donkers as the vice chairman.

Hyslop is chairman of Levels Irrigation Company Ltd and a director with Opuha Water Ltd. “New Zealand has an abundance of water that has the opportunity to provide positive economic, social and environmental outcomes, and with good leadership I believe the infrastructure challenges and environmental expectations surrounding these water opportunities will be achieved,” Hyslop says.

Two new members are: Central Otago farmer and associate solicitor Mary Flannery, and Waitakai Irrigators Collective policy manager Elizabeth Soal.

‘Time for new blood’

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OUTGOING IRRIGATIONNZ chairman primary sector space in the global market Graeme Sutton believed the time was place as one of his outgoing highlights as right for new blood. chairman.

“As I look back over my seven years as He believes future, sustainable develchairman of IrrigationNZ it is very satis- opment is essential to meet market fying to note the growth and stature requirements for production outputs.

Water is our future and Irrigaof the organisation. It has become a well-recognised and tionNZ has clearly brought the water debate to the fore and a respected voice for irrigation played a major part in getting in New Zealand,” Sutton says. the government to commit in “IrrigationNZ rapidly gained momentum as the nation’s terms of the OECD and a profunified voice on irrigated issues itable country, of which water is contributing a positive influence the critical factor. on water related challenges for Graeme Sutton “The message is simple – all irrigated agriculture in New Zealand. until we fix the economic issues we won’t After seven years it is time for me to step fix anything in the environmental book,” down from the top and let someone else Sutton says.

Sutton will remain on the board and lead the way.”

Sutton acknowledges government’s see out his current three-year term. He more recent willingness to move off the will also continue his involvement in the sideline to help secure New Zealand’s Canterbury Water Management Strategy.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

agribusiness 21

Synlait milk plant, Canterbury.

Synlait’s baby food product hits China

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THE FIRST BATCH of infant formula from Canterbury processor Synlait Milk goes on sale in Shanghai supermarkets next month.

Synlait Milk chief executive John Penno says it marks the company’s transition to one of New Zealand’s leading infant nutritional producers.

“Getting our first finished product into the premium category in China is a clear demonstration of our ability to deliver on our plans,” he says.

“Discerning customers are willing to pay a premium for safe, nutritious food that they trust, which creates real value for our farmers, shareholders and New Zealand if done well. We see this as an important next step and remain very ambitious about the formulated milk products business.”

Synlait, is 51% owned by Bright Foods, China’s third largest dairy company by volume.

Synlait Milk is manufacturing infant formula products for a range of customers, the first of which will be announced at the November 22 opening of its new plant.

China is the most important market for Synlait Milk.

But Penno expects that by mid-2012 it will have established its infant formula business and be working with more than 10 customers in five countries.

“We are actively seeking new customers as well as building on the relationships we have established. Feedback from staff who attended the world’s largest food and beverages tradeshow in Germany last month is that demand for milk products is soaring and Synlait Milk is in a great position to help supply that demand.”

Synlait’s product range includes infant and adult nutritional formulations, functional food ingredients and specialised milk powder products.

Penno says the best in-class approach to the development of the $100 million state-of-the-art infant nutritional facility near Dunsandel this year has meant international customers have sat up and taken notice.

The Synlait plant, which the company says is the largest and most sophisticated in the Southern Hemisphere, was commissioned on time in September despite challenges from earthquakes impacting on the Canterbury region.

Trade Minister Tim Groser, will open the new infant nutritional facility. Synlait customers from Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East, as well as government officials, and farmer suppliers, will all attend.

The company will also launch its new corporate brand at the event. Penno says it is an important step in achieving Synlait Milk’s strategy of becoming the trusted supplier of choice for the world’s best health and nutrition products.

“Repositioning the Synlait brand to support the transition of the company into the global nutrition market, and our new capability, is important for our future success.”

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

Market Snapshot North Island c/kgCWT

Lamb - PM 16.0kg

Lamb Market Trends

Meat South Island

Lamb Prices

Change

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

P2 Steer - 300kg

n/c

4.58

4.58

3.87

M2 Bull - 300kg

n/c

4.53

4.53

3.72

P2 Cow - 230kg

n/c

3.55

3.55

2.92

6.25

M Cow - 200kg

n/c

3.25

3.25

2.85

4.62

3.70

Local Trade - 230kg

n/c

4.50

4.50

3.97

7.98

7.98

5.95

P2 Steer - 300kg

n/c

4.35

4.35

3.77

n/c

7.98

7.98

5.98

M2 Bull - 300kg

n/c

4.07

4.07

3.57

n/c

7.98

7.98

5.99

P2 Cow - 230kg

n/c

3.40

3.40

2.60

n/c

7.98

7.98

5.99

M Cow - 200kg

n/c

3.20

3.20

2.45

n/c

4.38

4.38

3.50

Local Trade - 230kg

n/c

4.27

4.27

3.80

Last Week

n/c

8.06

8.06

6.20

n/c

8.08

n/c

7.98

PM - 16.0kg

n/c

8.08

8.08

6.23

PX - 19.0kg

n/c

8.10

8.10

6.24

PH - 22.0kg

n/c

8.11

8.11

MX1 - 21kg

+3

4.65

n/c

PM - 16.0kg PX - 19.0kg PH - 22.0kg

4.58

n/c

4.35

Bull - M2 300kg

n/c

4.53

n/c

4.07

Venison - AP 60kg

-10

8.90

-15

9.25

c/kgCWT YM - 13.5kg

Mutton SI Lamb

YM - 13.5kg

North Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price $8.5 Mutton

$7.5

New season price

MX1 -

1000s

$5.5 5yr Ave Last Year This Year Oct

Nov

Dec

21kg

NZ Slaughter

$6.5

Sep

Last Year

Change c/kg

n/c

$3.5 Aug

Change

2 Wks Ago

Last Week

Steer - P2 300kg

$4.5

Beef Prices Last Week

Change c/kg

NI Lamb

Jan

Change

2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

New season price

$6.5

$3.5 Aug

Sep

Nov

Dec

16.5

19.6

Lamb SI

-12%

108

123

143

145

Cattle SI

-6%

7.8

8.3

7.5

6.9

Lamb NZ

-2%

257

263

342

332

Cattle NZ

-17%

20.7

24.8

27.1

27.6

Mutton NZ

-23%

20

26

46

37

Bull NI

+24%

2.1

1.7

2.7

4.4

Bull SI

-25%

0.9

1.2

1.1

1.3

Str & Hfr NI

-28%

7.3

10.1

10.8

10.9

600

Last Year

Str & Hfr SI

-4%

5.1

5.3

4.5

4.3

450

This Year

Cows NI

-26%

3.5

4.7

6.1

5.4

Cows SI

0%

1.8

1.8

1.9

1.4

NZ Weekly Beef Kill Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Change

Jan

This Year

40

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

£/lb

n/c

2.40

2.40

2.07

1.52

NZ$/kg

+32

10.68

10.36

9.36

8.36

20 0 Aug

Sep

Oct

Dec

NZ$/kg

Jan

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

+9

2.05

1.96

1.71

1.43

+43

5.69

5.26

4.75

4.46

Last Year

Jan

£1.60 Aug

South Island 300kg Steer Price

Dec

Last Week

Change 95CL US$/lb

Nov

Nov

Export Market Demand

Demand Indicator - UK Leg Price

$3.0

$4.5

Last Year

60

£2.10 Oct

20.6

12.9

£2.60

Sep

5yr Ave

-22%

$4.5

Aug

Last Year

Cattle NI

UK Leg

$3.5

3 Wks Ago

187

North Island 300kg Bull Price

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

2Wks Ago

199

Jan

$4.0

Change

140

0 Aug Oct

Estimated Weekly Kill

149

Export Market Demand $5.0

1000s

150

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

$4.5

SI

+7%

300 $5.5

NI

Lamb NI

NZ Weekly Lamb Kill

$7.5

c/kgCWT

NZ Slaughter

Estimated Weekly Kill

South Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$8.5

Beef Market Trends

This Year Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

$2.10

Demand Indicator - US 95CL Beef

Jan $1.90

Procurement Indicator

$4.0

Change $3.5

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

$3.0 Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI

-0%

76.8%

77.2%

67.9%

58.6%

% Returned SI

+0%

74.9%

74.8%

65.2%

60.7%

80%

$9.0

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

$8.0

Last Year This Year

$1.50 Aug

Sep

Change

Last Year This Year

60%

Oct

2Wks Ago

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Last Year

5yr Ave

79.6%

84.6%

80.98%

81.7%

-5%

71.5%

77.0%

76.1%

75.7%

Procurement Indicator - North I. This Year

70%

Last Year This Year

65%

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

Procurement Indicator - South I.

$6.0

Jan

-5%

Dec

75%

Dec

% Returned SI

80% $7.0

Nov

% Returned NI

90%

50% Aug

Oct

Procurement Indicator

Procurement Indicator - North I.

70%

North Island 60kg Stag Price

$1.70

2Wks Ago

60% Aug

Oct

Dec

South Island 60kg Stag Price

$10.5

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

$9.5

55% 85%

45% Aug

Oct

Procurement Indicator - South I. Last Year This Year

Dec 75%

$8.5

Venison Prices $7.5

Change

$6.5 Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

65%

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

NI Stag - 60kg

-10

8.90

9.00

7.93

7.47

SI Stag - 60kg

-15

9.25

9.40

8.00

7.79

55% Aug

Oct

Dec

Beef & venison prices are reported as gross (before normal levies & charges are deducted). Lamb & mutton prices are reported nett (after levies & charges are deducted). Note: Freight is paid in the North Island but not by all companies in the South Island.

TRACTA38004-RN

‘Hatuma are not just thinking about today... they’ve got their eyes on the farmers of tomorrow.’

Dr Jayson Benge Soil Scientist The AgriBusiness Group

Rural News // november 15, 2011

Beef Wool Price Watch Steady hand on slaughter prices Cattle slaughter prices across the country continue to hold firm on the back of tighter supplies and firming demand in some overseas markets. The range in pricing for 300kg bull in the North Island last week was very wide with some meat companies upping premiums to get the better lines. 300kg cwt bull prices averaged $4.53/kg, trailing 300kg cwt steer prices by 5c/kg. Cattle are piling on the weight given the current conditions which is providing lots of incentive to keep them on farm longer.

With pasture growth rates flying, farmers can also use all the mouths they can get to help maintain pasture quality.

Despite kill rates still tracking higher than this time last year, slaughter prices in the South Island remain firm.

300kg cwt bull is ranging from $4.00-$4.20/kg while 300kg cwt steer prices are ranging from $4.20-$4.35/kg.

Cow prices held steady this week with some demand for M cow types.

US imported beef continues to rally There seems to be nothing stopping the climb in US imported beef prices. Prices opened the month at over US$2.00/lb for 95CL bull a lift of 10c/kg since the end of October. There seems to be some panic from US end users and importers about the security of supply, following months of lower than normal beef imports. With the US cow kill having already peaked and now declining there is some concern that if the US cow kill were to grind to a halt, current supplies wouldn’t meet demand. While it is too early to speculate as to how heated this market could get, it will certainly underpin bull beef prices in the weeks ahead.

Lamb

Dairy Price Watch Change

27-Oct

13-Oct

Last Year

Coarse Xbred Indic.

-1

6.38

6.39

4.85

Butter

Fine Xbred Indicator

-14

6.72

6.86

5.04

Skim Milk Powder

-

-

-

-

+20

9.00

8.80

7.19

Indicators in NZ$

Lamb Indicator Mid Micron Indic.

750

Wool Indicator Trends

-112

4993

5105

5766

-127

4079

4207

4109

Whole Milk Powder

-55

4262

4317

4639

Cheddar

-468

4810

5278

5435

6,000

550

5,000

450

750

FXI

SMP But.

LI 3,000

Jan

Mar

May

Jul

Sep

Oct

Coarse Xbred Indicator

Change

Dairy Prices Trends

4,000 CXI

350 Nov

Dec

WMP Ched.

Feb

Apr

Jun

Aug

Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)

5,500 Last Year

650

This Year

550

4,500

450

Last Year

350 250 Aug

This Year Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

3,500 Aug

Jan

Overseas Price Indicators Indicators in US$/kg

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Overseas Price Indicators

Change

27-Oct

13-Oct

Last Year

Indicators in US$/T

Change

Last 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year 4350

Coarse Xbred Indicator

+2

5.10

5.08

3.65

Butter

+50

4100

4050

Fine Xbred Indicator

-8

5.37

5.45

3.80

Skim Milk Powder

+13

3350

3338

3100

Lamb Indicator

-

-

-

-

Whole Milk Powder

+75

3500

3425

3500

+20

7.20

7.00

5.41

Cheddar

-238

3950

4188

4100

Mid Micron Indicator

Prices show first signs of easing As the chilled market winds down for the season, slaughter prices for venison are following suit. South Island AP60kg stag prices eased to $9.25/kg , which is well off the pace of just a couple of weeks ago. In the North Island indicator prices for AP 60kg stags have dropped below the $9.00/kg mark for the first time in 5 weeks.

RESEARCH

Last Year

650

Venison

COMMITTED TO

Prev. 2 Wks

7,000

New season lambs start to slowly flow out Wool Indicator in US$ 685 The flow of new season lambs remains very light for this 585 time of year across both islands. This is acting to 485 underpin prices. Prices in the North Island last week for 385 new season lambs averaged between $8.05-$8.10/kg (nett) with more on offer for some big lines. Pricing for 285 CXI FXI LI old season lambs has buttoned off a tad with most prices 185 Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep netting $7.80-7.90/kg. Meat companies are starting to indicate that prices will start to come back with the cut off Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$ for supplying the chilled Christmas trade approaching.

600 But it could be a week or two before they have enough Last Year numbers to start chopping hard into schedules. The This Year South Island markets are also contending with a slow 400 start to the season but numbers are starting to pick up.

Prices for new season lambs this week are netting just 200 under $8.00/kg. This is effectively a 20c/kg premium on Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan the old season price. Feed levels are no doubt keeping some lambs on farm for longer, but as the chilled trade demand eases we would expect prices to follow suit and this may just see Currency Watch some more lambs come out in the next week or two Last 2 Wks 4 Wks vs. NZ Dollar Week Ago Ago Mutton kill failing to fire US dollar 0.795 0.821 0.773 One month into the new slaughter season and the mutton kill continues Euro 0.575 0.580 0.576 to lag. To date, numbers nationally are back by over 70,000 head on the UK pound 0.495 0.511 0.500 same period last season. This could potentially reflect a slow start to the Aus dollar 0.764 0.769 0.791 season or the fact farmers aren’t culling as deep this season to offset Japan yen 62.03 62.28 59.28 higher replacement costs later on. Slaughter prices for mutton are close to $1/kg better than this time last year, reflecting the tighter availability Euro of slaughter numbers and stronger overseas demand for mutton.

0.62

100%

Last 2 Wks

Indicators in NZ$/T

0.60 0.58 0.56 0.54 0.52 0.50

Dairy Prices in US$/Tonne 4,500

3,500

Oct

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Dec

Feb

Apr

WMP Ched.

Jun

Aug

Whole Milk Powder Price in US$/T

3,800 3,600 3,400

Last Year

3,200

This Year

3,000 Aug

Last Year 0.793 0.559

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

US Dollar Last Year This Year

0.85 0.75

0.488 0.781 64.10

0.65 Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

UK Pound Last Year This Year

0.53

Last Year This Year Aug

SMP But.

2,500

Jan

0.48 0.43 Aug

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Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Rural News // November 15, 2011

24 opinion editorial

edna

The downside to high prices AROUND THE country, sheep farmers are naturally rejoicing at the great prices that they are getting for their lambs – and so they should be.

Just about anything with four legs and can bleat is making money for the farmer.

For many years sheep farmers have had to live with poor prices and this has been reflected in the investment going back into hill country farms. Now the tide has turned, seemingly for the better.

This year for instance, the topdressing industry is climbing on the back of the good lamb prices and the orders for fertiliser are coming in thick and fast. I suspect the field days people will have deals that are too good to be true – just waiting for farmers.

But is this all good news? The answer is yes and no – probably!

While farmers and their leaders argue these kinds of returns are necessary to keep them in business, others in the city are not so happy.

The local butcher is now paying about $200 for a lamb from the works and he has to add onto that a margin to make a profit. A leg of lamb that would feed an average family costs close to $70 and for all, but the rich and famous, that’s unaffordable.

The vast majority of consumers are turning away from lamb because it is too expensive – not because they don’t like it. The worry is that in the long term they will lose the taste for something that New Zealand is famous for.

BLNZ chairman, Mike Petersen was right when he says lamb is becoming like bluff oysters – a luxury food for the wealthy.

The other problem for lamb is that there is a generation of people who don’t know how to cook it. A year or so ago, I was asked by a young person to give her the recipe for roasting lamb.

So while it’s good to enjoy high lamb now, perhaps greater thought and effort needs to be given by the meat industry to ensure that lamb remains an iconic food for all New Zealanders, not just the wealthy. — Peter Burke

Write and Win! Got a gripe? Want to air an issue?

Rural News welcomes your letters on all matters affecting farming and/or the rural community. To boot, Skellerup has thrown in a pair of classic Redbands for one lucky letter writer every issue. So pull out the pen or keyboard and write, e-mail or fax The Editor.

“For years it’s been bills, bills, bills, but as soon as the lamb price rises everyone wants to sell us something!”

the hound The dark side WHEN BRUCE Wills launched the Feds’ election manifesto at the Wellington railway station recently, National, Labour and Green candidates were on hand for the big moment. Wills noted that he was wearing a blue shirt, a red tie and the manifesto was printed in green in an attempt to show that he wasn’t biased. The meaning of the black suit and shoes was not mentioned, but there could be plenty of takers – like a black future for some other parties – no names of course!

Melting out of sight NEW MARKET research reveals cheese is the most stolen food in the world.

UK research from 250,000 stores in 43 countries has found 4% of all cheese is stolen each year. Much of the cheese stolen is resold into other markets or to restaurants.

It’s another blow for UK dairy farmers, who know all about being ripped off.

Many feel they have been cheated out of decent farmgate prices for years.

Send to: Letter to the Editor PO Box 3855, Auckland 1140. Email: editor@ruralnews.co.nz. fax: 09-307 0122 Correspondence should be brief and to the point. Rural News reserves the right to edit letters as necessary. Please supply name and locality for publication, plus contact details in case of need for clarification.

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Send your emails to: hound@ruralnews.co.nz

Rare breed on plate THE rarest breed of sheep in the UK is set to go on the menu at a Harwich pub.

The Alma Inn will be the first in Essex to serve up a range of mutton-based meals for two days using meat from the criticallyendangered Boreray breed.

Andrea Hale, who runs Millfields Farm, in Bradfield, has supplied the meat in the shape of a ram called Mac as part of her conservation project.

Mac will be turned into pies and soup. Hale says the biggest problem with rare breeds is they are not commercially viable.

“We need to change that,” she says.

Milk and alcohol

Ewe must be kidding

Sign on a local hardware shop: “Drinking alcohol doesn’t solve any problems – but then neither does milk.”

A DUNEDIN farmer was last month surprised to find an unusual fourlegged creature in among his flock. Graeme Wallace was bringing his spring lambs in for tailing when he noticed an odd one out.

“I looked down and there was this um… well it wasn’t a lamb and it wasn’t a goat so I thought it’s gotta be some sort of a hybrid or something,” he told a local newspaper.

But tests on the animal found it was a lamb just playing the goat.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

opinion/letters 25 ag twits Rural News’ irreverent and hypothetical look at what’s happening in the farming world Top Bleats view all ljagerzespri.com: Bad news, I’m afraid.

It looks like PSA has spread beyond the BOP and will do a fair bit of damage to the New Zealand kiwifruit industry. #bugger drdonbrash@ljagerzespri.com: This shows exactly why a monopoly like Zespri is not Act Party policy. Allowing unionists – such as the PSA – to ruin my favourite weekend hobby interest is disgraceful. It’d be akin to letting a central banker take over a once successful minor political party and make it completely disappear. #actistoast pgofflabourleader: According to my calculator – which was made in Greece and does fantastic magical tricks with figures – I can promise anything, not know or show how to pay for it, add more taxes, screw farmers, claim to get New Zealand out of debt earlier and still become PM. #dreamingphil dcarterministerofag: Hardworking, popular and extremely good looking agriculture minister in numerous photo shoots with even more popular PM all over the country during campaign. #theremustbeanelectionon henryfonterra: Can someone at BBG tell me why the hell this farmer revolt over TAF has not been shut down before now? #nothappy fonterrapr: @henryfonterra: Mr Chair it seems we borrowed Phil Goff’s Greek calculator which told us there was no problem with TAF among farmers. We have now sent said calculator back to Greece for recalibrating. #nativesgettingrestless doconnormp: I really, really do believe that an ETS and water charges will mean great things for NZ farmers. Just like I believe in miracles, Greek calculators, that I will be Ag Minister and Phil Goff PM after Nov 26! #delusional dnicolsonact@doconnormp: It looks like both you and I will be looking for a new job after the election. I hear West Australia is nice and has plenty of mining work. Oh that’s right, Labour no longer believes in mining #nowonderyoulost johnkeypm: This electioneering stuff is a bit of a doddle really – especially when you are up against an absolute pillock like Phil Goff and his Greek calculator. #showmethemoney

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critic lacks understanding of TAF

proud show

IN YOUR article “TAF Concerns Spread” (Rural News, November 1), I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of understanding of lawyer David Stock on how investors assess the value of an investment. Especially when he commented that “if Fonterra retains a significant sum for capital development there will be hard pressure from unit holders for more of a dividend focus”.

Retentions from dividends will not be a financial loss to either unit investors or Fonterra shareholders. This retained capital

I REFER to an article in the recent Rural News (November 1 issue) re - A & P’s our culture and history, is incorrect.

The first A & P Show was held in the Bay of Islands in 1842 and the Auckland Show was the following year. We are very proud of our heritage and our show and feel that although Auckland is big, for a small area we do the A & P Shows proud. There is always a big crowd at our Show.

Malcolm Hutchings, Bay of Islands P&I Association, Waimate Nth

adds to the value of the company and grows the value of the shares and the units in the same way.

Many investors want exactly this outcome.

Does David Stock not understand the concept of Total Shareholder Return which adds these together?

If any future unit investor complains they would rather have more dividend cash in their hand rather than a mix of cash in hand and growth in the value of their units; they will be admitting they have not done their home-

work. Fonterra has a clear dividend policy of retaining between 25 and 35% of what is available to be distributed. Fonterra will attract unit investors who are comfortable with this clear and transparent mix of cash and growth.

What did come across clearly from your article was that unit investors will have no say in the governance of Fonterra and that all the voting power will be with farmer shareholders – exactly what we want and voted for last year.

A Mossop, Palmerston North

Rural News // November 15, 2011

26 opinion

Chasing the Chinese tiger IT IS six years since I was photographed in front of a huge portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong – while I’m showing the ravages of time; he hasn’t changed a bit.

There he is beaming down from the wall of the ‘Forbidden City’ overlooking the vast expanse of

Tiananmen Square. This is Beijing the gateway to China, where Mao is still held as a defining, if now a somewhat forgotten, historical figure.

There have been several generations of Chinese who’ve now lived the good life and have no wish to return to the past. Mao

Notice of Election 2012 Election of Directors to the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd Board Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd gives notice that elections will be held in 2012 for the following electoral districts: Northern North Island

One Position

Northern South Island

One Position

Invitation for Candidate Nominations Nominations are called for candidates to stand for election for these two electoral districts. Nominations must be on the official form, which can be obtained from the Returning Officer on the Election Helpline on 0508 666 336.

Nominations must be received by the Returning Officer by 5pm on Wednesday 18th January 2012.

Elections Election Day will be Thursday 8th March 2012. Elections will be conducted by postal and internet voting and forms will be posted out in February 2012.

To be eligible to vote, a livestock farmer must, on 30th June 2011, have owned at least: 250 sheep or goats (or a combined total thereof) or 50 beef cattle or 100 dairy cattle Livestock farmers owning at least the minimum number of livestock in either of the above two electorates should contact the Election Helpline to check if they are on the electoral roll or to get a voter registration form. To vote, you must be on the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd electoral roll by 5pm on Wednesday 8th February 2012.

A copy of the roll for each electorate is available for inspection at the office of: Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd, level 4, Wellington Chambers, 154 Featherston Street, Wellington 6011.

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died in 1976, he was 87 and only a handful of his staunch followers from the disastrous Cultural Revolution days are still alive.

I was here looking up to Mao six years ago. I ponder the changes in this country in that short time.

the world’s number one economic super-power accepting it may take a little time. At this stage they see themselves comfortably as number two.

My daughter Lauren, who speaks, reads and writes Mandarin was our guide six years ago and is looking after a group of us again. She has a position with a Beijing university teaching English and is married to a local architect.

It is 14 years since she first came to China; so she has seen the country’s transformation, much of it

“The Chinese are quietly preparing to become the world’s number one economic superpower accepting it may take a little time.”

One of the most obvious is the number of new cars clogging the roads and beginning to push out the bikes. Many of these cars are Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Audi and usually painted black.

The up-coming Olympics in 2008 were a dominant feature of life in China six years ago. And they proved the sceptics wrong; the smog was not a problem. However, once the factories were back working and with increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads smog is again a major environmental dilemma.

The Chinese are quietly preparing to become

driven by the unique mix of communism and capitalism.

It’s great having a guide whose first language is English and someone who also understands the culture. She acknowledges, with a touch of nostalgia, that changes have made China more efficient especially on the roads. The horse and cart have all but gone and even the ubiquitous trike numbers have fallen.

Everyone is in a hurry and on most buses and trains patrons stand. The Chinese long ago realised you could squeeze more people on vehicles if they are standing. But getting

John Stirling in Tiananmen Square.

on or off in rush hours takes a major effort.

There are no awards for being polite. It’s every man (or woman) for themselves. You throw yourself into the doorway and rely on those pushing from behind to keep the momentum going.

Squashed, but on board, there’s time to notice how tall the Beijing folk are and they smell as if they had just applied an expensive deodorant. When here six years ago I bought deodorant and ended up smelling as if I’d used fly spray.

We did ride the Bullet Express a train which cruises at 300 km/hour.

However before a recent serious crash it hit speeds

nearer 400 km/hour.

My daughter took us around the usual tourist attractions such as the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall. Following on from the Olympics in 2008, all were in pristine condition.

This time we didn’t get to see Chairman Mao, who has been nicely embalmed and on show. I don’t think he’ll have changed much as it’s an open secret there’s a spare wax body available when the original needs a bit of maintenance. He’s popped into the freezer each night ready for the crowds next morning. And there are huge crowds waiting. The

chairman is a great money spinner still making a fortune for those selling Mao memorabilia.

The Olympics spurred on the change to more western toilets replacing the traditional squat toilet.

There is virtually no spitting in the urban parts of town, but no restrictions on smoking.

There is a smell of wealth on the streets of Beijing especially in the 20-45 age group. They have been untouched by the Cultural Revolution, dress well, look good, are smart, educated and have two cell phones. These are the people whose goodwill New Zealand will have to cultivate in the future.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

opinion 27

Learning to live with market volatility HUGE FOCUS is on the negative impact of the global financial crisis and the resulting market volatility. Farmers should also consider the benefits of the changing global landscape, to identify how they can make those opportunities work for them personally.

With record high commodity prices and markets on our doorstep willing to pay well for our produce, the environment is ripe for New Zealand farmers to succeed. But success needs to be built on

and cash-flow management.

In short, this is something all farmers can achieve, and current low interest rates and high commodity prices make this an ideal time

for farmers to look at the basics of their financial management to ‘future proof’ the farm against income volatility.

• Graham Turley is managing director commercial & agri at ANZ.

Reducing debt and lifting productivity will help farmers deal with market volatility.

balance sheet?

Debt levels – how much is owed, what are the terms of the loans and what’s the most effective way to pay down this debt?

(Two thirds of farmers we spoke to told us that

One big issue is income volatility, uncertainty about how much you’re going to get paid. a strong foundation and that requires addressing issues affecting farm performance.

One big issue is income volatility, uncertainty about how much you’re going to get paid. Regardless of whether the income volatility is driven by economic or climatic events, the effect on farmers is the same. Some issues can be ‘treated’ specifically, such as fixing interest rates or installing irrigation systems. But look also at ways to improve the overall ‘health’ of your farm to provide resilience from income volatility.

From our experience, the farmers well placed to manage income volatility are the ones strengthening their balance sheets by reducing debt and achieving good productivity, revenue and profitability. Research suggests this success is based on financial and business acumen, not farm type, size, region or age of operator.

So what are the top performers doing differently?

First, they have a strong balance sheet and they understand in detail the cost of running their farm, including: Cost structure – how much they are getting paid and when? What are their expenses and how are they paying for these?

Are there any costs that can be reduced, deferred or removed from the

reducing debt was a priority for them over the next three years. If you have multiple loans with multiple terms, then it’s worth getting advice on the most effective way of paying down those loans.)

Break-even point What’s the lowest payout or price per unit their farm can tolerate without making a loss?

Second, they know what success looks like to them and have a plan to achieve that success. They understand the importance of business and strategic planning: They control what they can control. They have identified the key risks that could affect their plan and either have a risk mitigation plan or a capital reserve that enables them to buffer the impact.

They benchmark their performance against their peers, measure their progress and identify what they need to change to reach their target.

They have a budget that is regularly reviewed and have a strong understanding of their income and expenditures (otherwise known as cash flow), which helps them to make decisions when the game changes, be it weather, costs or returns.

They make sound decisions on the most appropriate use of surplus cash generated as a result of their effective budgeting

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

28 management

Rolls Peak Station Beef stock on the move at Rolls Peak.

P ETER BU RK E

LANDCORP’S ROLLS Peak Station, just northeast of Taupo, takes you back in time. It’s serious hill country that’s been stripped of exotic trees and is slowly being developed into a dairy support unit for the SOE’s dairy farms in the Wairakei Estate.

But for all money, it

looks like some of the forest clearing that went on in New Zealand more than a century ago. The grass has been established, but the tree stumps are still rotting down and the landscape looks far from pristine.

Rolls Peak is a long narrow block that backs onto the Kaingaroa State Forest. As the crow flies it’s about 12 km in length,

at a glance

• Location – Off Broadlands Road, north east of Taupo – backs on to Kaingaroa State Forest • Size – 3000 ha in grass 3500 ha still in trees or recently milled • Stock – 11,000 lambs, 350 hereford breeding cows 100 heifers, 1,500 2 year-old finishing steers, 700 yearling steers, 600 carry over dairy cows.

• Country– former exotic forestry land - some very steep country as well as rolling country.

and 8 km wide. The steep nature of the property means that it can take more than an hour to drive from one end to the other.

It has an extensive network of old forestry roads that are good and provide a launching pad for manager Sam Taylor and his shepherds to tow their horse floats along to take them to the areas of the station they are going to muster. It’s close to town yet isolated. Cell phone coverage is almost nonexistent.

Rolls Peak is part of a huge parcel of land owned by a private company called Wairakei Pastoral, and Landcorp has the contract to develop and manage the farms.

Already, six dairy farms have been developed as part of this project. Rolls Peak was headed for development as a large-scale, dry stock station incorporated with a dairy support block until the ETS intervened and conversion project has been put

somewhat on hold.

In the meantime, the station is still being developed but is used mainly for cattle, some dairy support and finishing ewe lambs. What’s different about Rolls Peaks is the country is seriously steep in places. A farm bike is useless in this environment and the old- fashioned horse and dog is man’s best friend.

Graeme Harvey is the business manager for Rolls Peak. He’s got lots of experience in dairy conversions – but nothing quite like this.

“The challenges are the distances that you have to travel and the lack of infrastructure,” he says. “For example we don’t have a wool shed and don’t have sheep yards so it’s quite challenging to run sheep.

But we do have cattle yards.”

There are up to 11,000 ewe lambs on Rolls Peak, but they are drenched before they arrive so there is no need to run them through the yards.

“We bring in lambs for finishing. The wether lambs are for the works and the ewe lambs are bred as replacements for the other Landcorp farms.”

Harvey says they grow the ewe lambs to

45 – 50kgs and the other farm managers are always happy to get lambs off the property because Sam Taylor produces really good lambs.

“They come in January at 23-25kgs and he turns them out in May/June in excess of 40kgs.”

By August there are virtually no sheep on the property. The cattle – there are 1,500 finishing steers, 350 hereford breeding cows and heifer replacements, 600 carry over dairy cows and 700 yearling steers – all have a particular role on the station. Harvey says the herefords are there to provide bulls for the Landcorp dairy farms. The finishing steers are there to make a profit, but perhaps more

importantly to develop the land.

“We still use the big steers as development animals to break down the stumps, the budlea, the broome and blackberry.

But with the stumps you just have to be patient and to some degree let nature take its course. If we didn’t use the cattle there would be a risk of the land going back into weeds which it’s prone to.”

While Rolls Peak is primarily being developed as a dairy support block, Harvey says the steep nature of its terrain means that some of the land will eventually have to go back into pines and some will suit only beef cattle.

Somewhat surprisingly, the pasture has

established very well on the station. Harvey says this has been done with a plane or a helicopter and the land hasn’t been cultivated and the soil on the hills is pretty good.

“The hardest place to establish pasture is on the light, pumice flats. On the hill country we’ve had real good success with oversowing clovers and chicory with a bit of cocksfoot blended in.”

It takes three or four years to have the dense swards established and there have been very few failures. The worry is that it will revert back to browntop, as Taupo soils tend to do. However, with fertiliser inputs and just grazing with cattle they maintain pasture quality.

Steers on steep country.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

management 29

– a trip back to the future Harvey says there is a good fertiliser programme on Rolls Peak and this is instrumental in good pasture development.

Because the land is new and pristine, there are very few animal health issues on the property. He says good pasture covers are maintained and there isn’t a worm burden. “The biggest problem is with cattle falling off bluffs. We bring

cattle from Rangitaiki Station (also near Taupo) and they haven’t walked on a hill so they tend to fall off bluffs.

“We do get some bloat in spring due to the clover and there have been some facial eczema on some of the lower parts of the station,” he says.

Another challenge in developing Rolls Peak is the lack of water. Deep

bores have been sunk and water has to be pumped using diesel generators to get it up to holding tanks where it is then gravity fed to stock troughs.

Rolls Peak is special.

It’s a place where nature dominates, where horse and dog triumph over the farm bike, and a place where only those with a real love of the land can survive and thrive.

Pursuing interest in horses GRAEME HARVEY is the business manager at Rolls Peak, but he’s also the manager of the adjacent 1200 ha Orakanui support block.

His job is to do the budgets for both properties, play a hands-on role at Orakanui and help out as required on Rolls Peak.

Harvey’s father owned a 400 acre ballot farm in the Taupo area and he was on the land as soon as he left school – initially as a shepherd. He’s worked for a Maori Incorporation, managed Rangitaiki Station, Pouarua, Orini, Cheddar

A unique challenge SAM TAYLOR and wife Anne came to Rolls Peak in 2007. They were attracted by the uniqueness of the area and the challenges in running the property.

It was a case of being back to the future.

Taylor was born in Te Kuiti and when he left school in 1971, he was straight into a farming career. He worked as a shearer for a while and then for Maori Affairs as a shepherd. One of his career highlights was working on Molesworth Station in the Sam Taylor days when Bill Chisholm was manager.

“In some ways Rolls Peak is a bit like Molesworth with big mobs of cattle and travelling on horse back. When I came here they had the motorbike but I bought the horses. It’s hopeless here with a motorbike because you could spend all day fixing punctures – or walking.

“The first shepherd I had here went

out to shift a mob and took a fourwheeler. The poor bugger, after two hours I had to give him a hand, it was just hopeless.”

There is a still a four-wheeler, but horse is king. Taylor has a couple of horse floats and he and his shepherds take their horses to the starting point of a muster.

“We might put the horse in and out of the float half a dozen times in a day.”

Water is not only a problem for stock; it’s also a problem for the dogs. Great care is taken to ensure that during a muster, water is available for man’s best friend.

“I’ve even put 100 litre drench containers in specific places where we take stock, which I know is a fair way from natural water just to make sure the dogs can have a drink.”

Like the other people who work on Rolls Peak Station, Taylor enjoys the lifestyle and challenges that it offers.

office, Harvey arrived at Wairakei Pastoral in 2010.

“Rolls Peak is very different.

With most farms you start at one end and you work your way through it and you spit out at the other end.

Whereas Rolls Peak is a long-term process because there’s timber on it and you can’t get a tractor on it. You’ve just got to wait for the process of rotting down the timber.”

Harvey is very happy at Rolls Peak. He can pursue his interest in horses and the rural lifestyle in general.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

30 management

Better returns from inputs DAIRY FARMERS are urged by DairyNZ to ensure fertiliser/supplement spending is yielding a return.

Recent analysis of dairy

farm working expenses shows farmers spending about one-third of gross revenue on fertiliser and supplements. Together these are the largest spend

on most dairy farms.

This trend is relatively consistent year-toyear, varying only slightly with weather or other economic factors, says

New Zealand Average

2010-2011

2009-2010

2008-2009

$7.31

$6.17

%5.18

FWE* $kg/MS

$3.98

$3.64

$4.02

Fertiliser (incl. nitrogen) $/kgMS

$0.59

$0.54

$0.61

Supplements $/kgMS

$0.90

$0.72

$0.92

Fertiliser as a % of GFR**

7.6%

5.9%

11%

Supplements as a % of GFR

11.2%

11.2%

15%

Milk price $/kgMS

DairyNZ. Fertiliser spending as a percentage of gross farm revenue was 7.6% in 2010-11, 5.9% in 200910 and 11.0% in 2008-09.

*Farm working expenses **Gross farm revenue

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Supplement spending as a percentage of gross farm revenue was 11.2% in 2010-11, 11.2% in 2009-10 and 15% in 2008-09. The higher figures in 200809 reflect a year when feed costs were high and most of the country was in drought. (See table above for the full analysis of these figures.)

than other farm working expenses.

“With fertiliser and supplement spending, your budget is more of a conscious decision as opposed to other farm working expenses such as animal health or repairs and maintenance.

“You can make small changes to these big ticket

Farmers are spending one-third of gross revenue on fertiliser and supplements.

DairyNZ DairyBase manager Adam Barker says farmers can use this analysis as a benchmark for quickly checking how their spending compares to other farms.

“Making benchmarking a regular practice helps ensure your spend on major expenses isn’t out of line with others in the industry.

“Now is the time of year when dairy farmers are finalising their budgets for fertiliser and planning their supplement spend, so it’s a good time to look at numbers and ensure spending will yield your targeted return.”

DairyNZ consulting officer Murray Perks says the good news about fertiliser and supplement spending is that they are more controllable

items to make a big dent in your budget.

“For instance, supplements: a simple decision to contract earlier can get prices down.”

Barker says the first step to controlling costs is knowledge.

“Unfortunately, some farmers still don’t have a good handle on what their farm working expenses are and how their spend affects farm revenues.

Getting registered in DairyBase (online software) is a great way to get started tracking expenditure and revenues. By gaining this knowledge you’ll be able to manage your finances in the smartest way possible,” says Barker.

Register for DairyBase: tel. 0800 4 DAIRYNZ, or www.dairybase.co.nz

Rural News // november 15, 2011

management 31 K-Line Effluent TM

For efficient effluent disposal

Julia Lee, DairyNZ, addressing farmers at Scott Farm.

DairyNZ opens Scott Farm to visitors su e ed m o nds

HOW MANY ryegrass seeds do farmers need to plant per hectare of new pasture? Some suppliers suggesting up to 30kg/ha.

Errol Thom, DairyNZ, late March set up adjoining trial plots at Scott Farm using ryegrass seeding rates of 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30kg/ha. These were direct drilled then oversown with Tribute white clover at 4kg/ha, with the clover seed covered with soil using an old steel gate frame.

They have set up several repeats using AR37 endophyte varieties of Alto and Commando (diploids) and Halo (tertraploid), and an older variety with a standard endophyte called Nui. Visitors on November 2 saw much more clover in the low seeding rate plots.

At high rates the clover was limited to the gaps left between the plots.

Thom described the results of tiller counts on plants at the different rates. The 6kg-rate plants had 24 tillers each, whereas the 30kg ones had only eight tillers. There

had also been higher rates of wastage of small plants at the higher rate, due to greater competition.

No examination of root depths and development

Errol Thom

have yet been made, but these will follow. The trial will be run for five years.

Plots are rotationally grazed by cows to a residual pasture height of eight clicks on the rising plate meter. Grazing is done based at plant leaf stage of two-three leaves in spring, summer and autumn, and three-four in winter.

The lower seeding rate requires good weed control during the first six weeks, until the grass and clover plants are large

Measuring herbage quality FOR FARMERS wanting to grow pure swards of chicory or plantain there has been little advice on how to manage these, or how long they can be expected to last.

Since October 2010 DairyNZ researchers under Dr Julia Lee have worked on a three-year research project, with 40 plots each of Choice chicory and Tonic plantain, to quantify the effect of cutting height and residual height on herbage production and quality.

Cutting has allowed more measurements of herbage yield, seasonal herbage quality, seasonal plant density and changes in root water-soluble carbohydrate and nitrogen reserves through the regrowth cycles.

The most promising treatments will be tested under cow grazing at Massey for two years starting 2011-12.

The plantain plots have proven the most resilient, and able to be cut all year, whereas the chicory was not cut in winter to ensure maximal plant survival.

Despite this precaution, the density of chicory plants halved between November and May, while plantain density remained relatively stable.

enough to take control.

Thom says, “A major consideration of the research is to find whether fewer but more tillered plants also produce more root mass, enabling the pasture to better withstand summer droughts,

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as well as to demonstrate that a lower spend on seed can produce more robust pasture.”

The research is proceeding in parallel at DairyNZ sites in Northland and Lincoln, to allow for climatic differences.

Comparing the systems ARE CURRENT stocking rates, feeding regimes and nitrogen applications the most efficient?

Dave Clark, principal scientist at DairyNZ, last year presented some radical ideas on these issues as winner of the 2009 NZ Grasslands Trust Ray Brougham Trophy. Now they are being put into practice on twin farm plots in several regions including Scott Farm.

“We have named the farms ‘current’ and ‘efficient’ and the two systems are already producing measurable differences in milk production,” says Clark.

Stocking rates of 3.2 and 2.6 (42 and 34 cows) already have more production on the ‘efficient’ farm,

both per cow and in total, despite slightly less feed on the farm. Nitrogen applications have been 60kg/ha on the ‘current’ farm versus 25kg/ha on the ‘efficient’.

However, Progibb is being used on the ‘efficient’ farm only.

The BW of the cows differs also, with the ‘current’ cows at 90 and the ‘efficient’ ones at 170. A lower replacement rate of 16 vs 22 is planned for the ‘efficient’ farm, and above average reproduction rates are aimed for there.

Nitrification inhibitors, grain feeding, and collection of standoff urine are also part of the ‘efficient’ farm plan, says Clark.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

32 management

Staff focus pays dividends HOW DO you get the best out of people working on your farm?

Northland dairy farmers will find the answer at a workshop later this month. DairyNZ is hosting the field day at Jordan Valley to help dairy farmers achieve the best out of the people working in their farming

businesses.

DairyNZ says farmers will walk away from the day with the building blocks to improve performance – such as improving communication so that the important jobs get done right.

The workshop, aimed at farm owners, managers and sharemilkers will

showcase various tools and strategies to improve people management.

Participants will also hear how other farmers have increased their people focus and reaped the rewards.

Northland farmer Murray Douglas says he is benefiting from his focus on staff.

“Over the past few years while growing our dairy business and concentrating on infrastructure, cows, grass productivity and the environment, we didn’t focus enough on our people and we were paying the price with a high staff turnover and negative impacts on our bottom

line,” says Douglas.

“Now, with a change of our attitude and more people systems in place, we believe we’re creating a better workplace culture for everyone.

“It hasn’t been easy and we have to continue working at it – but we can see it’s paying off.”

DairyNZ Northland

regional manager, Tafi Manjala says when dairy farm staff members are engaged in the farming business it results in productive workplaces.

“With this comes less staff turnover, safer farms and improved profit along with happier people.”

The workshop called ‘All Systems Go - Leading People to Increased Productivity’, takes place at the DairyNZ regional office, 259 Jordan Valley Road, Hikurangi, on November 29 from 10.30 – 2.00pm. A light lunch will be provided by the Northland Chamber of Commerce.

Jim Cotman

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THE BALLANCE Farm Environment Awards is maintaining momentum despite the economic volatility, according to chairman Jim Cotman.

“Fortunately we have very dedicated trustees and management teams who are focused on ensuring we deliver first class products, either through its awards and awards event programme or through other educational or joint venture activities,” he says.

The New Zealand Farm Environment Award (NZFEA) Trust runs the annual programme in nine regions – with the East Coast region joining the competition this year.

Another first this year was the introduction of a national award, the Gordon Stephenson Trophy, with the winner chosen from the nine regional Supreme winners.

The inaugural award went to Southland farmers Grant and Bernie Weller.

Cotman believes this has added another dimension to the competition and provides deserved recognition for the New Zealand agriculture sector.

He says supreme winner field days around the country drew huge attendances, reflecting growing farmer interest in sustainability.

Feedback from those farmers and horticulturists who entered the 2011 competition confirmed it as a worthwhile experience.

“The awards continue to go from strength to strength with a continuous stream of motivated, enthusiastic entrants willing to benchmark their progress.”

Another highlight for the Trust was the ongoing success of its dairy leadership development programme, which is designed to increase farmer knowledge of environmental sustainability and promote farmer leadership. More than 100 dairy farmers have taken part in the programme since it started four years ago.

Cotman says the Trust continues to forge new partnerships and engage in ventures that benefit New Zealand “by promoting real stories of sustainable farming”.

The key to the success of the NZFEA Trust and the Ballance Farm Environment Awards is the calibre and enthusiasm of people involved with its programmes, he says.

“They all share a passion for sustainability and have a genuine social connection to the real world of agriculture.”

NZFEA general manager David Natzke said the Awards continue to grow and have the potential to be the leading agricultural competition in New Zealand.

“Having delivered a successful 2011 Ballance Farm Environment Awards programme, it is so satisfying to have everyone lining up to do it all again next year.”

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

34 animal health

Dipping more effective controlling fly strike BARBARA G I L L HAM

KING COUNTRY contractor Les Te Kanawa has no doubt dipping is the ‘way to go’ when it comes to tackling fly strike.

The Te Kuiti-based operator has spent much of his life around sheep; first as a shearing contractor for many years, before setting himself up as a ‘one stop’ contractor for pregnancy scanning, administering drench capsules and dipping.

who have moved to dipping after a bad experience with a pour-on that has left them later with stressed, fly-blown sheep.

He acknowledges that building up the dipping business has been hard work, with plenty of travel and door knocking to get the word out about the efficacy and coverage dipping can offer. His efforts have also included a couple of well received field days on clients’ farms. These have done

Elanco’s answer to fly and lice control.

Dropping the shearing three years ago, he is now focused on the dipping side of his business which he sees as having the potential for significant growth in coming years.

“Fly strike is the main reason farmers want to dip in this part of the country over the humid months and pour-ons are being challenged more when it comes to maintaining fly control.”

Te Kanawa has clients

much to move farmer sentiment for a control where ‘pour-ons’ ease of use is hard to challenge.

Last year, when Elanco Animal Health launched Cyrex – a product for fly and lice control – on the market, he was one of the first contractors to adopt it. Containing two well established actives, cyromazine and spinosad, Te Kanawa says it has proved itself a potent and effective combination.

While the main demand for dipping in the King Country is for fly rather than lice control, he finds the product’s ability to knock down hatched maggots is vital and entirely effective thanks to the spinosad active. Te Kanawa says in the past he would have had to add an organophosphate to kill the live maggots.

Delivering up to 12-weeks of ongoing fly protection, lice are knocked down within hours and sheep are protected with a 20 week lice control guarantee for coarse wool breeds.

For commercial contractors like Te Kanawa, the benefits also extend to a health level. Unlike organophosphate dips Cyrex is free of strong odour and does not irritate the skin – plus it only has a withholding period of seven days.

“Farmers really like it for that. It makes it far more flexible for timing of application, which works well for them and for me using a product day in and day out. The feedback I’m getting from my regular clients is all positive and with store lambs hitting $130 a head they are worth protecting with something that is going to last.”

Elanco Animal Health marketing manager, Bill Hewitt, says while there is nothing different about

the ingredients used in Cyrex, it’s the combination of the two active ingredients that make it both a safe and potent combination.

“We did four studies prior to launching the product and results from those showed its effectiveness. It’s not a magical product, but it’s a combination of the best and covers all the bases really well and the beauty of these two actives is neither has shown any resistance.”

Hewitt says prevention is better than waiting until something happens and with fly strike all it takes are certain conditions – such as temperature and humidity – and then the flies hatch out.

Sheep farmers are moving to dipping in a bid to combat fly strike.

“Farmers are mainly concerned about lambs and are pretty good at gauging when to treat animals. Many products won’t kill the actual maggots quickly, but the beauty of this product is it does and we are seeing no sign of resistance.”

Recognising that farmers do not want to spend more than they need to, Hewitt believes Cyrex is not expensive.

TREATING FLY strike effectively is vital, but for many farmers it raises the question, what is the most effective method?

While many farmers prefer the ease of using a pour-on product for treatment, others believe dipping is more effective as it covers the entire animal – something a pour-on treatment does not.

So which is more effective?

Danny Hajdu, a veterinarian at Town Danny Hajdu and Country Vets, Nelson, says it is a very difficult question to answer as there are merits to both methods.

“It’s more to do with the chemical being used than the actual process. And controlling it is also a lot to do with making sure any treatment is done properly. Certainly

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“Pour-on products also don’t cover the entire animal – so you are not getting the same coverage which dipping provides,” Hewitt adds.

What is the most effective method?

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“It costs about 22 cents per litre, some farmers use one litre to put on animals others may use two litres, it varies but works out about 15-40 cents per animal.”

So is dipping a more efficient way of treating for fly strike than pour on and what is the evidence?

Hewitt says he is unaware of any local industry research body that has looked at and

dipping offers good protection, but can be more time consuming and more costly – although it does cover the animal farmers must ensure it gets through to skin level to be truly effective.”

Fly strike is more commonly seen in December/January and Hajdu says he is seeing some cases of it now in his district.

“It’s just starting to appear, so farmers need to be looking for any dark-coloured patches on the fleece and signs such as sheep irritability.

“Ideally sheep should be treated about six weeks after shearing if possible. Managing fly strike is a lot to do with good management and prevention – rather than just ‘giving a shot’.”

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

animal health 35

TB campaign working - AHB THE ANIMAL Health Board (AHB) says its bovine tuberculosis (TB) control programme is producing results.

In its 2010-11 annual report and annual research report, the AHB says it has been a year of significant progress – with infected herd numbers low and the focus remaining on eradicating the disease.

The report details the development and implementation of new methods and processes that aim

chief executive William McCook.

He says the drop in infected herd numbers to around 80 in 2010-11 is the lowest recorded total since the TB control programme was conceived.

Other milestones for the year include MAF’s approval of the revised national pest management strategy and central government’s decision to continue providing funding support for the management of bovine TB.

that removing TB from wild animal populations will eventually lead to a reduction in the risk to cattle and deer herds and less TB testing.

“Our focus will remain on delivering an effective programme of possum control, TB testing and livestock movement restrictions,” says

McCook. “The support and commitment of farmers played a significant role in the success of the TB control programme over the past year.”

The AHB formed a relationship with New Zealand Young Farmers in 201011 that included the board becoming the main sponsor of the younger farm-

ers’ annual conference.

“The development of an ongoing partnership with New Zealand Young Farmers is one opportunity to inform the next generation of herd owners about TB testing requirements and the disease risks around movement and wildlife-related infection,” McCook says.

“Our focus will remain on delivering an effective programme of possum control”. to make the TB-free New Zealand programme more cost-effective and innovative. It says a strong focus has been on identifying the risks and benefits that the AHB’s vector control programme poses to nontarget species and the natural environment. Work in this area includes the development and analysis of current and potential methods of control.

“It gives me great pleasure to report on what has been an exceptional year for protecting the country from bovine tuberculosis (TB),” says AHB

“This support gives the AHB a mandate to continue to control and eventually eradicate the disease from some parts of New Zealand,” McCook adds.

“The eradication of TB, and demonstrating how this will be achieved in extensive bush areas, is a major feature of the revised strategy.”

The strategy aims to eradicate the disease from wildlife across 2.5 million ha, or one-quarter, of the area known to be inhabited by TB-infected wildlife during the next 15 years. The AHB believes *

in brief Molasses price drops AGRI-FEEDS HAS dropped the price of bulk on-farm molasses.

The company has also cut prices on enhanced molasses products including key spring products Rumag300, Rumol300 and Himag.

Agri-feeds supplies high-quality products for the farming sector, supported by an experienced team of people with industry knowledge and nutritional expertise.

Molasses is an important summer feed supplement that when fed to cows improves digestion of high-fibre summer pastures and helps to maintain body condition and appetite.

“Rarely do we have the opportunity to give our customers such good news,” says Agri-feeds general manager, Rob Dorey.

“We have a fixed-price contract with our molasses supplier, but with the softening of international molasses prices and the volatility of the dairy market, we’ve taken the opportunity to renegotiate our price for a fixed period November 7 2011 to January 31 2012.

“We’re very pleased to be passing this saving onto our customers who are going through extremely volatile times,” says Dorey.

Farmers can expect to see savings in the range of 8% on their purchases of molasses during this time. Customers are encouraged to speak to their rural retailer or Agri-feeds territory manager for details.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

36 animal health / nutrition

Pasture strategy key to being Lone Star Farms’ Caberfeidh station in the Hakataramea Valley hosted Beef and Lamb New Zealand’s Central South Island sheep and beef council field day earlier this month. Andrew Swallow reports.

“BIG IS good, but being better is best,” says Lone Star Farms general manager Boyd Macdonald.

Those were his opening comments to a crowd of more than 400 farm-

ers and rural professionals who’d travelled to the Hakataramea Valley, South Canterbury, for a Beef and Lamb New Zealand Central South Island farmer council field day hosted

A breed change should boost lambing percentage and help capitalise on pasture development and subdivision.

on Lone Star’s Caberfeidh property.

It was a fitting introduction for a day billed as “The Big Picture”, and at 6,000ha, Caberfeidh is certainly big.

But as Macdonald put it, with access to capital, being big is easy, “but being better is a challenge, and it’s certainly satisfying. And it’s something we can all aim for regardless of scale.”

That was echoed by BLNZ regional extension manager, Aaron Meikle, who said the field day’s aim was to get people thinking about the strategic changes they could be making in their businesses.

“We’ve asked them to pitch it at the strategic level... they’re making some big system changes here.”

Those changes became clear as the day unfolded.

This revolves around a

five-year strategic plan to put the business in the top 10% of sheep and beef farms long-term, and in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The starting point was an assessment of Caberfeidh’s strengths, weak-

Boyd Macdonald

nesses, opportunities and threats – a “SWOT” analysis, explained Macdonald.

“It became evident very early on that we had huge potential to increase production here.”

Beef herd re-jig Breeding cow numbers have been cut to 330, from 414. Despite that, those cattle left are too old and too big to be efficient, so sires with medium frames but good growth and maternal traits have been sourced, and replacement rate increased.

The goal is an efficient cow that calves as a twoyear-old, producing fast-growing offspring that are market weight at 15 to 20 months of age, with 50% of steers away to the feedlot at 450-500kg prior to Christmas.

Changing pasture species to make the most of generally good soils, despite the dry climate, is seen as one key to unlocking that potential. Subdivision and stock water improvements will increase forage utilisation, and breed/stock-type changes drive conversion of that feed into profit.

The impact on the bottom line will be substantial. Macdonald rattled off the figures:

$600,000 extra from better stock performance; $50,000 more income for every 1% increase in pasture utilisation.

“We think we can lift lambing percentage at least 15%, but the initial aim is to gain 10% in five years.”

Lucerne and lucerne/ cocksfoot or lucerne/ fescue mixes will go on an extra 1800ha, growing 3,300tDM more feed than the mostly ryegrass/white

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

bigger, better About Lone Star Farms Caberfeidh is one of seven Lone Star properties wintering a combined 120,000 stock units. The business has a staff of 35, including two fulltime in the Nelson office and an over-arching management team of three, of which Macdonald is one.

“Lone Star is often referred to as a corporate, which isn’t true because we’re owned by one man.

But being called a corporate doesn’t upset us... because we operate and behave a bit like a corporate. We have structures, procedures, policies and recording lines. We do a lot of measuring and recording. We’re firm believers that if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

“The other reason [for the corporate tag] is scale.

It does present some opportunities in economies of scale... but more importantly it reduces our climate risk.”

For example, faced with a drought in Marlborough last year, where three of the company’s other properties are, but with plenty of feed at Caberfeidh, 12,000 lambs were trucked south for finishing.

While each farm has its own budget and management team responsible for that, when a decision has to be made which might disadvantage one farm for a greater benefit on another, there’s a willingness to do that.

“If you weren’t a team player you’d probably struggle to fit into Lone Star.”

in a dryland environment, irrigation won’t always make it better for you,” says Harding.

Macdonald says the breakeven for the dairy conversion, based on 1300kgMS/ha produced from 13t/haDM grown under irrigation, would be $6.50/kgMS.

animal health / nutrition 37

“My boss isn’t that keen on breakeven and we know the banks are doing their long-term numbers at $6.10/kg milksolids... Our thoughts are that at the moment, we may be better off specialising in dryland farming and making a damn good job of it.”

Big crowd: over 400 farmers and rural professionals turned out.

CEE NANC FIIN O FFROM

lier sexual maturity will boost two-tooth laming percentage in particular.

The Romney-texels have also been getting cast too often, and with improving pasture mixes that is likely to get worse.

“We want to find the most efficient sheep for the feed we’re growing,” says Caberfeidh manager Andrew Harding.

Having gone through the SWOT process with the farm team to come up with the strategy for the station, he recommends it.

The key is to look beyond the neighbours for opportunities, to involve staff, not get too hung-up on weaknesses, and look for strengths and build on them, he says. Another point is doing the numbers on everything – especially apparent opportunities.

An example; at Caberfeidh – which gets as little as 350mm/year of rain on its lower reaches rising to 600mm/year on the higher ground – is irrigation.

About 400 ha is watered, mostly by gravity fed systems, but a consent to take water from the Waitaki River and pump it up 170m into the Haka valley hasn’t been taken up. This is because despite looking at every option, including a dairy conversion, they’re struggling to make it pay.

“Just because you live

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clover pastures these will replace. At 75% utilisation, it is estimated these will be able to carry another 6500 stock units.

The increase will be split between capital stock and trading stock, the latter being a risk management tool in the drought prone region.

“Trading stock are part of our policy... we don’t want to load ourselves up with capital stock.”

Similarly, should the season produce an excess of feed, as is the case this spring, there’s local demand for lucerne as a standing crop.

The 15,000-strong ewe flock is currently 13,000 Perendales, of which 6,500 are put to Perendale rams, 4,500 to terminals and 2000 to Headwaters rams. Another 2000 romney-texels run on the best country, and are also put terminal sires. But changes are afoot.

“It’s not so much these sheep won’t do the job, but it’s about getting where we want to go quickly,” says Macdonald. “We’ve gone for a composite – with a bit of Finn in it.”

The thinking is the smaller ewe will be more efficient, with greater fertility reducing the need to flush ewes, which can be a challenge in dry years.

Meanwhile, their ear-

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

38 animal health

Risks of transporting stock gwyne th v e r k e r k

THE WELFARE of animals during transportation is a shared responsibility, according to regulations on animal transport set out by MAF in the Code of Welfare (Transport within New Zealand) and the Code of Welfare (Dairy Cattle).

This says responsibility is shared between the animals’ owners and managers, livestock agents, transport companies and drivers, those that manage

the facilities where the animals arrive, and the government departments that regulate and monitor performance.

These codes set minimum standards requiring that animals selected for transport meet fitness requirements and that proper care must be taken when deciding if it is appropriate to transport young, old, pregnant or otherwise physiologically or behaviourally compromised animals.

They also require that animals must not be transported if they are likely

Ensure cows are fit to travel THE GENERAL principle when checking animals before transporting them is they must “be fit enough to withstand the journey without suffering unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress”.

This means that the suitability of the animals for transport needs to be considered in the context of the nature of the journey itself, especially its duration. Animals must be healthy and able to stand and bear weight evenly on all four limbs. Any animal

likely to give birth during a trip must not be transported.

Animals that are in very poor body condition are not suitable for transport. The agreed industry-standard is that the minimum body condition for transport is 2.5. This agreement allows animals that need remedial management because of poor condition (under the Dairy Code of Welfare, when a cow’s body condition score falls below 3, the person in charge must take urgent remedial action) to

be acceptable for transport either to an abattoir or a place where they will be fed adequately.

These standards were established because when a cow’s body condition score falls below 3, it is a signal that she is utilising her final fat reserves from around her kidneys. As these final reserves are depleted, the cow loses her physiological resilience and her ability to withstand the stress of transport, so any journey is deemed to impose unreasonable distress.

to give birth during the journey or be affected by metabolic complications of late pregnancy as a result of the journey.

Veterinarians at meat processing plants inspect incoming animals and have reported concerns to industry meetings about the fitness of some animals arriving for slaughter – especially cull dairy cows. Multiple farm ownership also increases the frequency in which dairy cows are transported between farms while lactating, with an associated increase in transport-related problems.

Transport may also expose cows to biosecurity risks if they come into direct

or indirect contact with animals, or their excreta, carrying diseases or strains of pathogens to which they have not been exposed on their farm of origin.

Practices which can be implemented to reduce the risks associated with transport include inspecting animals to ensure they are ‘fit to transport’, journey planning, preparation of animals, especially where the journey will exceed more than two to three hours, and ensuring that yards and loading ramps are well constructed and maintained.

• Gwyneth Verkerk is a senior DairyNZ scientist. Article sourced from DairyNZ Technical Series November issue.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

animal health 39

Farmer cops fine for neglecting sick cow A NORTHLAND dairy farmer has been convicted of failing to provide treatment for an animal under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

He was fined $1000 and ordered to pay $132 in court costs.

Fraser McBeth was sentenced last week in the Whangarei District Court after a MAF investigation found that he knew a cow in his care was suffering from “cancer eye” and he did not seek treatment for it.

In April 2011 McBeth sent a number of cattle to a local processing plant.

When inspected by a MAF Verification Agency vet, it was suspected that one of the cows suffered from cancer of the eye as it had an enlarged right eye socket and the eyeball wasn’t visible. A post mortem exam confirmed this.

In the vet’s opinion the swelling and discharge from the eye was obvious and treatment should

have been sought months before.

The vet also stated that the condition was a chronic severe case and that the animal must have been suffering pain and distress, particularly in the final stages.

When interviewed by a MAF Animal Welfare Investigator, McBeth confirmed he was the person in charge of the animal and that although he had noticed the cow may have been suffering from cancer eye, he did not seek treatment of any kind and “forgot about it”.

MAF compliance and enforcement director, Geoff Allen says the ministry is pleased with the sentencing as although the majority of farmers care about their animals and are good at what they do, cases like this are simply unacceptable.

“When you are responsible for an animal or animals, it is your ethical and legal obligation to keep them fit and healthy. You

Animal activists eye Oz farmers AUSTRALIAN ANIMAL rights lobby group, Animals Australia has called on its supporters to fund an advertising campaign criticising the dairy industry.

The focus will be the length of time bobby calves are off feed before slaughter. The highly emotive ad says the dairy industry considers calves a “waste product”, “they are trucked to slaughter at five days of age”, spend their final hours at the abattoir “cold and hungry” and may be denied food for up to 30 hours before they are killed.

The advert includes the line: ‘The questionable ethics behind milk production has been a long-held secret of the dairy industry’.

The request for funding came days after Federal and state agriculture ministers met at the Primary Industries Ministerial Council last month. They failed to reach a conclusion on how long bobby calves can go without food before slaughter.

Victorian Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh says ensuring calves are fed 24-hours before slaughter represented challenges for people transporting calves from South Australia and NSW to Victoria for processing.

Animals Australia first publicly campaigned against the time between the last feed and slaughter in February. Dairy Australia responded by highlighting a fact sheet on bobby calves on their website.

Animals Australia campaign manager Lyn White says public consultation about the length of time bobby calves can legally be denied milk was swamped with over 6000 public submissions calling for better treatment of calves.

“Yet when agriculture ministers met to discuss the fate of bobby calves, the only options they considered were inhumane ones,” she told her followers.

have a duty to prevent pain and suffering - particularly pertinent in this case where the problem could have been successfully treated if assessed early on when symptoms became apparent.

“We have an excellent animal welfare reputation in New Zealand and part of that is because we continue to bring those to justice who, quite simply, behave unacceptably or fail to act.”

A vet found this cow suffering from cancer of the eye but no treatment had been sought by the farmer.

Rural News // November 15, 2011

40 animal health 2011 External Parasite Treatment Survey – Sheep Product

Company

Active

SATURATION DIPPING METHODS

Concentration

ingredient

Dilution Rate

Part Per

Constant

Million in Active

Replenishment

Ingrediient Wash

Withholding Period

COMMENTS – asterisk (*) indicates for not treatment of existing strike

MEAT

Shower

Claims

WOOL

LICE

KEDS

FLY

ITCH

TICK

SERAPHOS 1250

Bayer NZ Ltd

Propetamphos

MAGGO

Bayer NZ Ltd

swat liquid

360g/L

1:1250

14 days

Propetamphos, 16g/L Paradichloro400g/L benzene

1:40

14 days

Bayer NZ Ltd

Cyromazine

500g/L

2:10001 1:10002

1000 500

7 Days

ZAPP JETTING LIQUID

Bayer NZ Ltd

Triflumuron

480g/L

1:1000L

480

42 days

ZENITH® CONCENTRATE

Coopers

Diflubenzuron

250g/L

1.5L/1000 2.5L/1000

375 625

Nil

CYRO-FLY 500 DIP OR JETTING

Jurox NZ Ltd

Cyromazine

500g/L

1:1000 2:1000

500 1000

7 days

Extinosad® Liquid

Elanco

Spinosad

25g/L

1:1250

20ppm spinosad

Nil

cyrex ™

Elanco

Cyromazine plus Spinosad

500g/L cyromazine and 12.5/L spinosad

1:500

1000ppm cyromazine and 25ppm spinosad

7 days

CYRAZIN LIQUID

Merial Ancare

Cyromazine

500g/L

2:10001 1:10002

1000 500

7 Days

FLEECEMASTER

Merial Ancare

Diflubenzuron

250g/L

1.5/1000l 2.5/1000l

375 625

Nil

XTERMINATE 10

Merial Ancare

Chlorpyrifos

100g/L

1-320 1-800

312-fly 125 - lice

21 days

VETRAZIN LIQUID

Novartis

Cyromazine

500g/L

2:10001 1:10002

1000 500

7 days

RECOMMENDED: • FINE WOOL 180 DAYS • MID MICRON 90 DAYS • STRONG WOOL 60 DAYS

MITE Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Mid term fly protection.

No

No

Yes

No

No

For treatment of flystrike in sheep and protection against restrike and as a docking medication.

No

No

Yes*

No

No

1. For long term protection against flystrike. 2. For medium term protection against flystrike. Swat Liquid should not be used to treat active flystrike.

Yes

No

Yes*

No

No

Specialised jetting formulation. Long term control of flystrike and lice.

Yes

–

Yes*

No

No

1.5L/1000L for shower/plunge dips, 2.5L/1000L for jetting controls both fly and lice. Non-stripping formulation. Waterbased.

No

No

Yes*

No

No

1 Litre per 1000 litres - med term fly protection. 2 litres per1000 litres - long term fly protection. Will not treat active flystrike.

Yes

No

Yes*

No

No

Fast knockdown lice control with no meat or wool withholding.

20 week lice control guarantee on coarse wool breeds. Short term flystrike prevention and treatment.

Yes

No

Yes*

No

No

New combination dip for long term flystrike protection plus fast knockdown of maggots and lice. Treats active flystrike.

No

No

Yes*

No

No

1. For long term protection against flystrike. 2. For medium term protection against flystrike. Cyrazin will not treat active strike.

Yes

–

Yes*

No

No

1. For dipping and jetting of all adult sheep and for medium term fly protection in lambs. 2. 2.5/1000 For long term fly protection in lambs. 3. Fleecemaster is an insect growth regulator therefore: (i) lice control is achieved only when adult lice die naturally which may take 8 weeks or more (ii) Fleecemaster should not be used to treat active flystrike.

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Reduces the number of cattle ticks on sheep.

No

No

Yes*

No

1. For long term protection against flystrike. 2. For medium term protection against fly strike. Vetrazin should not be used to treat active flystrike.

No

NOTE: The Rural News External Parasite Treatments Guide for Sheep is compiled from information supplied by animal health companies.Although the information has been checked by our independent animal health advisor, Rural News accepts no responsibility or liability for inaccuracies. Asterisk (*) indicates not for treatment of existing strike.

NOTE: – = Not supplied. N/A= Not allowed.A = Not allowed on animals producing milk for humans

Merial is a Sanofi company.

Merial New Zealand Ltd, Level 3, Merial Building, Osterley Way, Auckland.

CYRAZIN® is a registered trademark of Merial Ltd. Registered pursuant to the ACvM Act 1997 No A9415. ©Copyright 2010, Merial Ltd.

Cyrazin 14x7 Ad-new.indd 1

1/11/11 1:41 PM

Rural News // november 15, 2011

animal health 41 POUR-ON OR SPRAY-ON METHODS - 2011 Concentration

Formulated

Dose Rate

Cyromazine

60g/L

See label

21 days

35 days

ZAPP ENCORE

Bayer NZ Ltd

Pour-on

Triflumuron, Imidacloprid

25g/L 30g/L

See label

56 days

35 days

5x

Machine shorn off shears and lambs up to 6 months – lice only

Flystrike and lice control off shears up to 6 months

No

Yes

No

Yes

Double combination pour on for knockdown and long term control of flystrike and lice. Can be applied to wet sheep. Easy to apply, fast spreading formulation.

ZAPP POUR-ON

Bayer NZ Ltd

Pour-on

Triflumuron

25g/L

See label

49 days

35 days

5x

Machine shorn off shears and lambs up to 6 months – lice only

No

Yes

No

Yes*

Can be applied to wet sheep. Easy to apply, fast spreading formulation.

MAGNUM® Coopers

Pour-on

Diflubenzuron

25g/L

See label

Nil

35 days

10x

Fly: Any length Lice: Off-shears

Flystrike and lice control off shears up to 6 months Fly: Any length.

Lice: Up to 3 months

No

Yes1

No

Yes*

Magnum® is water-based and rainfast.

1 Recommended off-shears treatment for lice.

VANQUISH® Coopers

Pour-on

Alpha Cypermethrin

50g/L

Refer to label

7 days

35 days

5x

Lice: Up to 10 months

Lice: Up to 10 months*

No

Yes

Yes

Yes*2

Rainfast. 1 Vanquish is recommended off-shears but can be used as an emergency long-wool lice treatment. 2 Up to 6 weeks protection against flystrike.

WIPE-OUT® Coopers

Pour-on

Deltamethrin

10g/L

Refer to label

3 days

35 days

5x

Lice: Up to 3 months

Lice: Up to 6 months

Yes

Yes1

Yes

No

Rainfast.

1 Recommed off-shears treatment for lice.

ZENITH® SPRAY-ON

Coopers

Pour-on

Diflubenzuron Hydrocarbon liquid

20g/L 93g/L

See label

7 days

35 days

5x

Fly: Any Length Lice: Off-shears

Fly: Any Length Lice:1 Up to 9 months

No

Yes1

No

Yes

Zenith Spray-on® kills maggots for immediate relief of flystrike and prevents flystrike for up to 12 weeks.

1 Recommended off-shears treatment for lice.

EXPO

Elanco

Spray-on

Spinosad

20g/L

See label

Nil

Nil

>25x

Off-shears

up to 3 months

No

Yes

No

No

New lice pour-on for sheep with no meat or wool witholding.

Rainfast.

CYRO-FLY 60 SPRAY-ON EPIC EZY

Jurox NZ Ltd

Spray-on

Cyromazine

60g/L

See label

21 days

35 days

N/A

4 to 12 weeks

4 to 12 weeks No

No

No

Yes*

Will not treat active fly strike.

Jurox NZ Ltd

Pour-on

Triflumuron

25g/L

See label

63 days

35 days

5x

Up to 6 Adult sheep off shears. Lambs up months to 6 months.

No

Yes

Yes

Rainfast: 20mm of rain within half an hour either before or after treatment does not reduce efficacy. Epic Ezy is a suspo-emulsion which spreads rapidly on the animal, even in wet conditions and contains a blue scourable dye to identify treated sheep.

FINE WOOL

COARSE WOOL

4-12 weeks

4-12 weeks

Claims

REGISTERED FOR GOATS

MILK

Treatment Times SAFETY MARGIN

Ingredient

Spray-on

Active

Bayer NZ Ltd

Application

Method of

SWAT SPRAY-ON

Product

Company

Comments

MEAT

Withholding Period

LICE

KEDS

FLY

No

No

No

Yes*

Apply with a coarse spray nozzle. Swat Spray-on will not treat active flystrike.

Excludes goats

— Asterisk (*) indicates not for treatment of existing strike.

CYPERCARE Merial Ancare

Backline CypermePour-on thrin

25g/L

1m/5kg LW 2ml/5kg LW

14 days

35 days 10x

Off shears

Up to 3 mths 3-6 mths

Yes

Yes Yes*

Yes

No

*Lice on goats. Contains scourable marker Pour-on 2ml/5kg LW 3-6mths wool.

EXIT

Merial Ancare

Pour-on

Triflumuron

25g/L

Refer to label

49 days

35 days

5x

Off shears2

Off shears or with up to 6 mths wool1

No

Yes2

No

Yes1*

1. Fly: up to 3 mths following. Shearing lice - up to 6 mths wool growth. 2. Fine wool lice only - off shears.

EXIT EXTREME

Merial Ancare

Pour-on

Cypermethrin 30g/L Triflumuron 25g/L

Refer to label

49 days

35 days

5x

Off shears2

Off shears or with up to 6 mths wool1

No

Yes2

No

Yes1

1. Fly: up to 3 mths following. Shearing lice - up to 6 mths wool growth. 2. Fine wool lice only - off shears.

FLYPEL

Merial Ancare

Spray-on Cypermethrin 100g/L Chlorpyrifos 10gL

Refer to label 14 days

­35 days

­10x

Any length-fly, off shear lice

Any length-fly, off shear lice

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Blowfly treatment - apply directly to affected area. Sheep blowfly suppressant and off shear louse.

CYRAZIN SPRAY-ON

Merial Ancare

Spray-on

Cyromazine

60g/L

Read label for dose rate

14 days

35 days

4-12 weeks

4-12 weeks

No

No

No

Yes*

Apply with a coarse spray nozzle. Cyrazin Spray-on will not treat active flystrike. Do not use on sheep producing milk for human consumption.

CLIK

Novartis

Spray-on

Dicyclanil

50g/L

Read label for dose rate

1. 2

35 days

310x

Any length wool

Any length wool

No

No

No

Yes

1. Meat WHP - Merino 56 days. All other breeds 35 days. 2. Do not use on sheep producing milk for human consumption.

CLIKZIN

Novartis

Low volume spray-on

Dicyclanil

12.5g/L

Refer to label

7 days

35 days

>10x

Any wool length, including lambs at docking

Any wool No length, including lambs at docking

No

No

Yes

CLIPGUARD

Novartis

Pour-on

Triflumuran

25.0g/L

Refer to label

49 days

35 days

5x

Machine shorn off shears and lambs up to 3 mths wool – lice only

Flystrike and No louse control off shears up to 6 months

Yes

No

Yes

VETRAZIN SPRAY-ON

Novartis

Spray-on

Cyromazine

60g/L

Read label for dose rates

7 days

35 days

N/A

Up to 5 mths wool Up to 3 mths wool

No

No

Yes*

No

A water-based spray-on which will give protection against flystrike.

Show Fly & lice the Door!

Exit® is a highly effective, easy-to-use iGR pour-on that controls fly and lice on sheep.

proudly available from your local vet.

Merial is a Sanofi company.

Merial New Zealand, Level 3, Merial Building, Osterley Way, Auckland. EXIT® is a registered trademark of Merial Ltd. Registered pursuant to the AcvM Act 1997 No A9415. ©copyright 2010, Merial Ltd.

Exit 14x7 Ad-new.indd 1

1/11/11 1:44 PM

Rural News // November 15, 2011

42 machinery & products

Picks more grass, packs 10% tighter IRISH machinery manufacturer McHale will this month launch its F5000 range of fixed chamber balers, reports New Zealand distributor Power Farming Group.

The launch venue will Agritechnica, Hanover, Germany.

McHale marketing manager Paul McHale says the new F5000 balers “have higher intake capacities, more chopping options, higher bale density, lower running costs, smoother drop floor operation, better controls, make 10% higher density bales and have better operator comfort.”

“Our aim is to simplify life for the operator, and deliver a machine more reliable and easier to maintain.

“After testing various types of pickup we decided all the F5000 machines would have 2m galvanised high-intake pickup. And for more difficult short grass the F5500 and F5600 will be fitted with a fivetine bar pickup system.

We estimate this will give 25% better ground cleaning and 25% more crop transfer.”

The F5000 line up consists of 3 models: The F5400 non-chopper baler.

The F5500 15 knife chop-

per baler and the F5600 fully automatic, load sensing, 23 knife machine chopper baler.

Pickup reel and chopper are mounted for flotation on undulating ground. New (optional) is a small-diameter, high throughput crop roller for the F5000. This helps to level out uneven swaths and can increase baler throughput.

On the F5500 and F5600 the knives can be raised and lowered from the tractor cab. And on both machines the operator may upgrade the chopper unit to a selectable knife system. On

Tested in rugged west Western Ireland (County Mayo) has terrain and climate said to be more demanding on machinery than elsewhere in Europe. So McHale machines are deemed ideal for New Zealand, also known as tough on machinery, says distributor Power Farming Group.

And the firm’s origins in farm

machinery retailing have given it a lasting feel for the needs of farmers, say the founders, brothers Padraic and Martin McHale. (The farm machinery retail business endures to this day.)

McHale began making bale wrappers in 1989 in County Mayo, Ireland. Exports take 90% of its output. Machines are sold on five continents.

The McHale F5000 baler’s proving ground – western Ireland – is as demanding as New Zealand, says the maker.

the F5500 this gives three options: 1) engage and chop with a bank of 8 knives; 2) engage and chop with 7 knives or; 3) if the need is for fine chopping, engage both knife banks.

Chop length with option (3) is about 65mm.

Likewise on the F5600 the operator can choose to engage and chop with a bank of 12 knives or a bank of 11 knives. For fine chopping, engage all 23 knives (chop length about

46mm).

For monitoring chop quality on the F5500 and F5600: 1) the control box shows the knife working pressure, and 2) sensors monitor the distance between the knife tip and the rotor spine. Any changes activate an alert.

All machines use the maker’s drop floor unblocking system – simple, effective and run from the tractor cab, Paul McHale says.

The F5000 range can make bales 10% more dense than earlier machines, in a 1.23 x 1.25m bale chamber with 18 rollers.

A new netter allows adjustment of net tension using a variable pulley.

This netter has stepless tension adjustment to ensure best net usage and bale shape and 180-degree wrap around on the rubber feed roller, eliminating any net slippage during feed-

Rural News Group to sponsor national ploughing champs RURAL NEWS is to sponsor the horse plough trophy in the national ploughing champs for four years and will work as a national print partner to promote the sport.

Machinery, new and old, is an important subject in Rural News’ so ploughing is a great fit, says general manager Adam Fricker.

“Growing numbers

ing. It handles net rolls 1300mm wide x any length.

On the F5400 and F5500, net can be adjusted by moving a handle on the machine. On the F5600, net adjustment can be controlled from the control box in the tractor cab.

Three control boxes are offered, notably on the F5500 a ‘Wizard Control Console’ with a four-digit display showing all the machine’s functions. to page 45

New Zealand Ploughing Association executive committee members (from left) Colin Millar, Ian Robb and Noel Sheat with Rural News Group general manager Adam Fricker.

of people are following ploughing.

“Horse-drawn ploughing is of special interest – a farming skill that can only gain more followers.”

Horse class winner Derrick Thornton competes Oct 1 in the Reporoa-Rotorua qualifying contest.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

machinery & products 43

Italian drops mulch in its tracks A MULCHER proven at handling tall, tough scrub is a popular machine in the Italian Agrimaster range sold by Paul Wilkins Tractors, Timaru.

Agrimaster has made mulchers and shredders for 25 years and now makes 30 models. Wilkins has imported the brand for 12 years.

“Their latest KN series now available has an innovation that will put them ahead of the rest,” Wilkins told Rural News. “An extended hood can remain down for safety (no flying

stones and chunks), causing the mulch to drop astern of the rear roller.

“Meanwhile our second most-popular model is the AF 230 for mulching scrub and the like.”

This model has a special rotor and rotating knives that control the depth and protect the rotor if it encounters growth too large. A rear pusher bar near-enough flattens the scrub for easier backing over. These machines can also be front mounted.

The standard machines

Gentle with plastic wrap NO SELF-RESPECTING rural contractors would want to be thought of as soft-handed now, would they?

That depends, say Ian and Elly Brown, t/a Agricultural Contracting Otago Ltd, Mosgiel.

can run up to 23 knives, though most clients prefer a 4-5 inch finish in the material length.

Tim says pretty much any customer’s request will be met in chop length.

But he says research shows that if material is

(KA 3200 and KA 2800) are used mostly for pasture topping. The more specialised RMU 250 sells well in Auckland and Northland, where its special knives cut the runners on kikuyu grass, de-

thatching the plant’s thick, matted growth.

At Christchurch Airport two RMU models (6m wide) mulch and tidy grass around runways.

Tel 03 688 2031 www.pwtractors.co.nz

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They enthuse about them – that is, the steel variety: Hustler Mega Softhands. The Browns use them to handle 12,00015,000 bales per year.

Working with them is their son Tim (inset picture). They work an 80km radius from Mosgiel, as far out as the Otago Peninsula, Hindon, Middlemarch and south to Waihola.

Their services include ploughing, hedge cutting, hay and baleage plus cultivation.

Their gear includes a McHale Fusion II baler/ wrapper combo and a Welger baler. Bales are averaging 800kg. Both balers

too short, the animals can’t always pick it up and it’s wasted.

Mostly the Softhands are fitted to their JD6420 and occasionally JD6920s.

The Hustler ‘hands’ have ousted other hands that were too cupped, the pivots wore, and the construction seemed too light.

“So we went looking for strength,” Tim says. We looked at a few different hands including some of the imported type. Hustler offered solid construction, good visibility, a slim arm design and easy greasing.”

Tel. 0800 487 853 www.hustlerequipment. co.nz

“It is great to see such a well built, heavy duty machine, that will do a variety of tasks. We’re tired of light weight gear, that doesn’t stand up to our conditions. I wanted a machine to tackle rushes, maize stubble, and callies, as well as top my pasture; now I have got one” - North Island Farmer

...mulches maize

...pulverises prunings

“It’s a great machine without a doubt.

I would never go back to a flail drum for mulching – ever!” - Contractor

“Most impressive the way it tack les our Kikuyu; I started out with a good old Flailmaster slasher years ago … since then I have had a hay mow er, and then a traditional mulcher. -Now I’ve got a Flailmaster again!!

It is interesting to see how things come in a FULL circle” - Northland Farmer

...rids rushes

... K.O’s Kikuyu

...prepares premium pasture

Rural News // November 15, 2011

44 machinery & products

Pasture meter wins innovation prize C-DAX HAS won a 2011 Innovators Award for the pasture meter it developed with Massey University.

The award was made in

the agricultural and environmental category of the contest, run annually by Bayer New Zealand, Idealog magazine and Ideas

Accelerator.

C-Dax says the pasture meter can lift the stock-carrying capacity of a dairy farm by 7%. On

a farm of 126ha this gain would equate to $46,000 at a pay-out rate of $6.05 kg/MS, the company says.

At least 1000 of the pas-

ture meters are now used on farms.

“This award recognises the commercial success of the pasture meter and... the Massey team under Professor Ian Yule that developed the concept,” says Greg Shearer, managing director of C-Dax. The pasture meter accurately measures, tracks and records the amount of pasture on paddocks via GPS and data technology. “With this information the farmer can make flexible decisions about... pasture utilisation and more efficient nutrient application, and can identify feed surpluses for hay or silage,” Shearer says. “Ultimately, it leads

to higher farm productivity.”

The pasture meter can be towed behind an ATV at up to 20km/h, making up to 200 measurements per second.

C-Dax spokesman Robert Murray, who as a

Massey University student was involved in the meter’s development, says nothing compares with it anywhere in the world.

“We have sold units to Europe, Australia, the US and South Africa.” www.pasturemeter.co.nz

Moisture seal grain silos FARMERS STORING grain can put an end to the frustration of losing good quality product due to moisture invasion of the silo – from leakage (at the base flange or joints) or rising damp (in concrete floored silos).

So says Regis Industrial, Christchurch maker of widely used coatings, fillers and moisture seal products. The company also points out there’s a risk to human health of allergic reaction to moisture-induced mildew in grain. And especially in

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coastal regions corrosion of metal exterior cladding is an ever-present problem, shortening the life of silo or shed.

Regis Industrial coatings minimise these problems and risks, costeffectively and efficiently, in long-lasting fashion, the company says.

Property owners and farmers quickly get to grips with using the products. All the necessary materials can be supplied as a kit. Product requirements vary from job to job so Regis deals with inqu-

n a m tock

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www.kawasaki.co.nz for more information and the location of your Kawasaki dealer

ries case by case, and welcomes questions.

The warmer months – before crops come in – are the time to do this work, when the products cure more consistently.

Regis Industrial’s range includes coatings, fillers and moisture sealing products under the Cretex, Epotread and Duromastic brands. It imports well known Flintkote bitumen coatings, marketing them under the Duromastic label.

Tel. 0800 542 542 www.regiscoatings.co.nz

Rural News // november 15, 2011

machinery & products 45

Cultivation, stubble goes at fast clip

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There the operator can see floor position, knife pressure, knife and tailgate position, net feed, voltage supply and lube alarm.

“This is a user-friendly box giving great functionality and visual displays,” Paul HcHale says.

The F5600 also has an ‘Expert Plus Control Console’ which, combined with a load-sending valve, is capable of automating tailgate opening and closing. The operator can also adjust the net and density from the tractor cab. If the machine is equipped with the selectable knife option, knife banks can be selected from the tractor cab to get the required chop length.

A graphic display constantly shows knife pressure and position, tailgate position, net feed status and lubrication alerts.

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stubble. Other discs – for high-speed finishing or secondary tillage – range from 460mm to 560mm.

A multi position levelling rake is standard on most models. Pre rippers are available for the mounted 3m machines.

Combination disc/ripper units are available trailed.

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the really fine soil on our road block which can blow away in the wind. With this machine we can work and compact the soil in one pass.”

The discs come in three models from 3m to 6m. Discs, shock absorbers and roller types can be sized to suit the task, up to a 660mm disc for heavy

FROM

runs Drummond Contractors using a wide range of agricultural, silage and earthmoving gear. “So far I’ve only used the cultivator on the farm and not in the contracting business, but it’s had a good workout.”

The mainly cropping farm also has a few cattle and does winter grazing in an intensive crop rotation.

“We put barley in then plant oats once the barley is out. When the oats are finished we work it up again and plant it back in barley.

“The cultivator has been used mainly to work up paddocks once the plough or ripper has been through. We’ve also used it to incorporate barley stubble and it did an excellent job.”

The RZ Series multi discs’ roller options include toothed packer, rubber, tyre, cracker and common cage rollers.

Drummond chose the tyre roller, good for his property’s soil type.

“We also added a drawbar to tow a roller, especially good when working

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GETTING ALONG at 13km/h during secondary cultivation and stubble burying impresses Hawkes Bay farmer and contractor Doug Drummond, using a Farmgard RZ Series multi disc cultivator, says the machine supplier.

“The machine has sped up our process which is great as I don’t like sitting on tractors too long. We can get up to about 13km/h with the machine and could probably go faster with more power.”

Drummond one year ago bought his first Farmgard 3m cultivator with 560mm discs.

“I wanted a robust, fast machine that would work well in our soil types which are quite light on the plains and rocky in other areas. I particularly liked the large, individual discs on the Farmgard cultivator” because no stones get caught, as they can in machines with gangs of discs. “The stones just fall out with the multi discs.

It bounces over the rocky ground really well.”

Drummond farms the 200ha family farm, and

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

46 machinery in brief with David Linklater Fast action baler JOHN DEERE’S new 900 series variable-chamber balers are aimed at offering value for money by saving time.

With a new fast release system (FRS) fitted as standard, John Deere claims the balers can save up to one hour per day during harvest.

Designed for use by contractors and largescale livestock farms, the FRS-equipped 960 and 990 balers allow the operator to unload a completed bale in no more than five seconds .

The 900 Series uses a ‘curtain’ instead of a rear

door, and full-frame construction cuts stresses in the bale chamber.

John Deere has eschewed conventional bale chamber side walls in favour of bespoke side panels. As bales are formed, the panels help the unit to reach maximum capacity and help with bale ejection by opening slightly at the finish.

Other standout features include a highcapacity pickup with five rows of tines instead of the usual four, a drop-floor unplugging system that

Progress on display

operates over the total width of the rotor, and a net wrapping system located at the front of the unit to allow continuous visual contact with the wrapping process.

Both models are available with 2.2m-wide RotoFlow or MaxiCut 13- or 25-knife precutter pickups.

The 960 and 990 make bales from 0.8-1.6m and 0.8-1.85m diameter,

McINTOSH McIntosh Bros. Engineers Ltd Palmerston North Ph 06-356 7056 www.mcintosh.net.nz

respectively.

The new balers are ISOBUS certified and can use the maker’s GreenStar 1800 display. This control functions such as bale density/size, soft core pressure/diameter, knife selection and unplugging (a new system).

A further option from next year will be the JD’s ‘tractor implement automation’, which works with the vehicle’s ISOBUS, steplessly variable transmission and electronic selective control valves to manage the baling process.

A MUCH-UPGRADED precision-farming display screen is now offered with Case IH tractors, sprayers and combines.

The AFS Pro 700 display picks up from the previous 600 series, but has more features in a more compact package.

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Pro 700 display is physically smaller than the outgoing 600 model, but the usable screen size of 10.4 inches is the same. It weighs about half as much, yet contains four times more computing power.”

The biggest difference is the AFS Pro 700 is a computer rather than just a smart display,” says Case.

“It runs a Linux-based operating system, so the software on the display can be upgraded or changed altogether.

This means the unit is ready to incorporate technological

changes as they occur.”

The AFS Pro 700 can be used to monitor and control Case IH vehicles, guidance systems and implements.

It’s ISO 11783 compliant, so it can also be used with other similarly specified equipment.

The screen can be used in a variety of machines, automatically recognising which machine it is in and adjusting its settings to match those last used.

The touch screen shows vehicle information and lets the user record data to create tools such as yield maps.

Gliding over lawn A CLEVER 4WD system is the key to Kubota’s claim to superior manoeuvrability from its GR2120R ride-on mower.

The 21hp model has a 1.2m rear-discharge deck allowing the user to mow larger areas but compact enough to get into tight spaces.

That compactness is aided by Kubota’s Glide Steer 4WD: it disengages the inside wheel during a turn, improving turning radius and preventing binding, but keeping maximum traction on slippery or undulating ground.Glide Steer is simple in principle: each rear wheel’s drive axle is fitted with a mechanical wet clutch, which disengages when the steering wheel reaches a certain angle.

Powered by a new 3-cyl. Kubota diesel, the ride-on has simple hydrostatic transmission with foot pedal.

For mowing larger areas it also offers a cruise-control function.

The GR2120R is available as a rear discharge catcher with an assist ram and is over-centre for improved emptying action even when full.

The quickest wilt gets the best results A full spread of conditioned grass spread straight off the back of a mower wilts faster than other systems.

The MAXAM + Wilter spreader combination is a unique, patented system which has proven to produce high quality forage even in difficult weather conditions.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

48 vintage

Generations cherish family ‘bulldog’ CANTERBURY farm machinery maker Don Robertson hadn’t forgotten his grandfather’s Lanz Bulldog tractor. He just needed to discover where it was hiding, 59 years after it left the family fold.

Then in 2008 Ben Lewis discovered and copied an old photograph of Don with his grandfather Jack at the

old man’s clearing sale in March 1952 at Isleworth, Mid Canterbury. The Bulldog topped the sale list.

That tractor had to be out there somewhere, Don knew.

Before long it was discovered in a machinery shed belonging to Ian Sadler (pictured below right sitting on the tractor on Rural News’ Nov 1 front page). Ian

had run the machine for about 50 years then sent it into retirement.

Lewis told Don and he just had to buy it.

The 1938 Model L, 25hp, 6-speed machine was bought in 1939 by Jack Robertson from the original owner John Grigg, of Longbeach. Grigg had found it too small for his work and sold it.

Don Robertson with his grandfather Jack and the 1938 Lanz Bulldog tractor at Mr Robertson’s clearing sale in 1952.

FONTERRA SHOUT

Pictures from the cooperative’s 10-ye celebrations and ar chairman’s reflections. PAGES 10-11

In Jack’s care the Bulldog spent much of its working life pulling a Reid & Gray 2-furrow plough in Canterbury.

The tractor is now in original condition and even has its original starting lamp.

Don’s father Ian had been summoned home by Jack to learn about the tractor and drive it. He said he preferred it to walking behind the exhaust of a horse.

Don and his grandson Kyle.

Ian Sadler (as seen in Rural News Nov 1), former owner of the Bulldog.

RURAL NEWS

TO ALL FARMER S, FOR ALL FAR MERS NOVEMBER 1, 2011: ISSUE

503

TAF concern s preads SUDES H KISSUN

”

Back-up plan lessons from gas leak

GOING SOMEWHERE IN NO HURRY

Ian Sadler, of Geral for 50 years owne dine, d Lanz Bulldog tracto the is seen here drivin r he g at a recent vintage mach weekend at Hinds inery , Canterbury Full story next issue.

When the crisis struck last Tuesday, 15 of Fonterra’s plants between Taupo and Northland were forced to close.

Gas supply was restored to 12 plants, includin g the Kauri site – the only one in Northla nd – by late Wednesday.

But the co-op was told to keep Te Rapa – one of its four ‘super’ sites – and Maunga turoto and Morrinsville, closed.

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PAGE 30

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Ryegrass seed growers get the latest on this key management decision.

to take a similar stand.

SHAREHOLDE board farmers Meeting organis R CONCERNS have the number er Donna Smit about pleased was ask for a s to debating Fonterra’s propose with the turnout special meeting it through the media.” d share trading . “We were cer. We hope the scheme have been tainly not expecti The spokesman ng such good turnout board will understand and a final confirmed in the says 100% farmer vote control North Island. . on TAF will be It goes to show and ownership the reservations left to all shareho will always be farmlders.” non-neg ers have on TAF,” A meeting of about Under the present otiable. Yet a lot she told Rural News.

100 Bay of Plenty plan, only a 50% of water needs farmers last week vote by the Fonterr Smit has been to go under the LAST WEEK’S backed a motion told “pocket meetbridge to test that a Shareholders gas leak, which seek- ings” are ing an extraordinary TAF Counci meets crippled milk and l being the is required to approve mandate farmers organised in Taranak meeting to discuss meat plants and gave it last TAF, year, he concerns about i which was agreed forced farmers to says.

TAF (trading among by concerned shareholders. in principle last dump millions of year farmers). Rural

by Fonterra farmers Christchurch lawyer “The co-op is litres of milk, is News attended . taking a rigorou raising questions David Stock, the who spoke meeting, the first s approac A Fonterr about process h to satisfy itself at the meeting a spokesman says on such a scale ors’ contingency , says the membe the design of north motion board TAF meets of Cook Strait. More plans for such events. for a special meeting rs and manage all its objectives are planned. ment will con- serves will be tinue and preused to “persua The group’s reserva to meet with groups 100% farmer control Federated Farmer de” Fonterra chairma tions about TAF s Dairy chairof farmers ship. and ownern to discuss their governance echo Henry van der Heyden man Willy Leferink The board’s special those voiced at concerns. But he and the board to wants Fonterra due-diligence meet- change ruled commit ings in Southla out a debate in the TAF. to mitigate the risk tee will look at TAF nd and Ashbur media. of solely relying ton. At from every their core is the “The motion is angle and we will “We want to have on the ageing Maui fear that transfer just to show the only proceed with these discussions pipeline of share title to a TAF face to face and when it is given “We haven’t identifi . custodian will we prefer not a clean bill of health.” cause a ed it as to be crack in Fonterr an Achilles heel a’s armour against yet, but I’m sure outTO PAGE 3 side investor control Fonterra manage . ment will look Although the Bay at alternatives. of Plenty group It’s not is made up of mostly speak on their behalf for me to small-scale farmers but I’m sure who collectively they are looking supply no more into it,” he told than 1% of Fonterra’s Rural News. milk, their decisio n is likely to spur farmer The leak has caused groups in Taranak one of the i biggest disruptions to milk supply the dairy industr y has seen. Late last week, Fonterr a estimated 50 million litres of milk could not be picked up, forcing farmers to dump it into effluent ponds and on paddocks.

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

motoring 49

Euro rally car sticks like ‘limpet’ Williams has driven Porsches, Escorts and others in decades of motor racing.

He says the Renault’s combination of limited slip differential for the front wheel drive and the rear suspension geometry provided “limpet-like” road holding. “It braked and turned into corners so well – beautifully balanced.”

On the tighter, twisty stages without long straights Williams made times that would have placed the Megane RS 250 in the top ten overall.

RENAULT’S HOTTEST ‘hot hatch’ – the Megane RS 250 in Cup Trophee form – impressed motor racer Ray Williams and ‘celebrity’ co-drivers during the recent five-day Targa tarmac road rally, says the brand’s New Zealand distributor.

“It was a big surprise,” said Williams, after his first-time drive in the Renault. “The handling was light and nimble and it carried the speed through corners well. It was a lively package. It hung on like a four wheel drive.”

(The Targa rally is raced on closed roads, but they are all tarmac. It attracts a variety of cars – 50-yearold classics to modern super cars.)

During the five days, Williams had a succession of guest co-drivers – mayors and executives of councils in the areas hosting the race.

“They were blown away,” Williams says.

“They were usually frightened for the first few corners of a stage because of the speed, but then couldn’t believe how fast

we were going on back country goat tracks.”

Williams drove the 184kW 2L turbocharged car that preceded the event as one of the course ‘zero cars’ that made sure the roads were safe to use before the competition began.

ABBEY SLURRY TANKERS

Stars shine on ute

had until now not proven to be the safest.”

The Ranger’s passenger cell uses high-strength steel throughout. Load paths in the front, side, and rear direct crash forces away from passengers.

This, and a new ladder frame, was optimised to manage the crash energy

in a variety of impacts.

Computer modelling enabled engineers to assess 9000 virtual crash tests before any of the 110 actual vehicle crash tests or 410 system sled tests were done.

Ford beat its own record for the number of crash tests, says Adam Frost, chief engineer, Digital Innovation, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa.

Side curtain airbags, standard on all Ranger cab styles in Europe for the first time, pop out of the headliner to protect passengers during side impact.

New side airbags also deploy from the side bolster of the front seats to protect the thorax from side-impact forces, working in tandem with the front airbags for the driver and front passenger.

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Rural News // November 15, 2011

50 rural life

Farm stories raise money for charity THE INTIMATE relationship between working dogs and their owners in back country New Zealand is helping raise money for charity.

Cambridge author Katherine Tozer has spent three years compiling a series of books on farm dogs and their owners.

Profits from the book sales have gone to charity.

Her series of three books – Tales from the Back Country – are being offered to charities throughout New Zealand for their use as a fundraising mechanism.

The first book raised $25,000 for Hospice, SPCA, the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, and

Katherine Tozer

numerous schools and community groups.

Tozer is looking to partner with additional charities that need an innovative fundraising tool. A Waikato scientist and author with a passion for the wide open spaces and mountain

ranges, she spends her spare time with her GP husband Peter, exploring the varied and beautiful back country in the North and South Islands – photographing; interviewing; researching and compiling material for the Tales from the Back Country series.

“New Zealand has breath-taking beauty and a wealth of back country stories just waiting to be told,” she says.

The couple make no money from the books and are reimbursed only the printing cost with all profits - $15 from each $25 copy - donated to charities.

“It has been great fun exploring and meeting

Alice Hellriegel, with her dog Kate. Her grandmother Chrissie Fernyhough wrote in the book about the death of one of her favourite working dogs.

such interesting people and writing their stories.

It is so rewarding to do something you love and know it is going to benefit others - not everyone has that opportunity.”

After completing the first book in 2010, Tozer was eager to embark on a second and third book.

The second and third books in the Tales from the Back Country series, com-

pleted in October 2011, have 100 pages packed with photos of stunning scenery with a range of stories from 24 different people throughout New Zealand.

“The books have happy and sad stories, from people like John Perriam, owner of the late Shrek the sheep, who speaks of the challenges of being a high country author, or Chris-

sie Fernyhough who has written about the death of one of her favourite working dogs.”

“Another great story is of Laurie Prouting from Mesopotamia in Canterbury, who humourously describes climbing Mt Cook and flying a helicopter in Antarctica when his fuel reserves ran low.”

Tales from the Back

Country is printed in New Zealand by Hamiltonbased PrintHouse.

The next two books in the series are now available for fundraising.

Charities wanting information should email: talesfromthebackcountry@ gmail.com. Books can be purchased through Hospice Waikato, Waikato SPCA and www.apieceofnz. co.nz for $25.

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Chrissie Fernyhough, of Canterbury, writes in her book about the death of one of her favourite working dogs: “Working dogs worth their salt should always get a burial. Well, that’s our policy on Castle Hill, anyway.

We take them back to the site of their last muster.

“So on Saturday last, we waited until four in the afternoon. The sun still shone over the Craigieburn Mountains casting shadows over the rocks and beyond. It was ever so still, truly, not a breath of wind.

The sky was blue and uncluttered - no clouds, nor vapour trails.

“Castle Hill was named for the large limestone boulders that look like the turrets of castles as they crown the hill tops. In the lee of these rocks is a large,

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thousand acre paddock we call the Rocks Block. This was where Zac’s mother Midge had been buried. We chose a spot to the right and east of Midge.

“There were a myriad of stones and the soil was harsh and frozen. John had to use the long crowbar to ease the stones; a shovel took them away, together with the topsoil.

“Zac looked so peaceful in his last resting place.

His front paws were crossed, the sign of an intelligent working dog, his tail tucked between his back legs. His eyes seemed almost alert - open and piercing. We gave him a Tux or two to help him on his way. We covered him gently, tucking the soil around the sides so no ice could chill his soul.

“His collar we tied to the fence above.”

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Rural News // november 15, 2011

rural trader 51 FARM SECURITY CAMERAS

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Cyclone速 Wire 2.5mm HT 25kg

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Pricing applies to 50m, 100m and 200m coils only.

Terms and Conditions: All offers and prices are valid from 1 November 2011 to 31 December 2011 unless stated otherwise, or while stocks last. Prices include GST, unless stated otherwise and are subject to change. Some products may not be available in all stores but may be ordered on request. Prices do not include delivery, delivery costs are additional. Images are for illustrative purposes only.