road safety Amber beacons are to be mandatory on farm vehicles for on-road travel. page 28
animal health Vets advise to think BVD when attending bull sales in the coming months. page 31
Rural NEWS to all farmers, for all farmers
may 7, 2013: Issue 537
Agresearch A world-class research and education ‘hub’ is to be set up at Lincoln University in 2014.
page 11
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Rain brings relief for most P E TE R BU R K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
THE COUNTRY is entering a crucial period following the drought, says outgoing MPI director-general Wayne McNee. McNee told Rural News much of the country has had good rain and is getting good pasture growth. If this continues for three or four weeks, with rain and warm weather, it will help set up many farmers for the winter. But much depends on how soon cold weather stops that growth. “Farmers are positive at the moment. They are getting good growth and that’s starting to set them up for winter, depending on where they are and if
they’ve had irrigation. “There is no doubt some farmers have been seriously affected and it will take them time to recover. But the story is generally a lot more positive than it was a few weeks ago and it is getting more positive. However, there are areas like the central North Island and Hawkes Bay, which still have serious issues.” McNee says feed is important and MPI is working with suppliers to see what the feed requirements are likely to
Eyeing the silverware She’s already got her eye on the Ahuwhenua Trophy. Traci Houpapa, is chairman of Te Uranga B2 Incorporation, which is one of three finalists in this year’s award for excellence in Maori farming. It’s now 80 years since the Ahuwhenua Trophy was first inaugurated and this year the competition is for the best sheep and beef unit. The other two finalists are Te Awahohonu Forest Trust and Te Hape B trust. (See pages 12 and 26-27 for more details)
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be. The big lesson from the drought has been the value of irrigation. “It reminds us all how important irrigation is and the need for investment to give resilience to farming.” Meanwhile, AgFirst consultant Darren McNae, in Rotorua, says the drought has hit farming in the central North Island and the biggest impact has still to come. “This is on ewe performance and the impact next year. Animal condition varies throughout the region. A lot of
ewes came through in pretty good condition out of a good growing season last year and a good spring. “But we’d still expect to see the lambing percentage drop by up to 10%. The big pressure now is on managing feed is through until the spring.” McNae says farmers need to be proactive about how they manage their feed resource through to spring and be realistic about what they are dealing with now. @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews
It won’t be easy! PA M T I PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz
RATIONALISATION IN the red meat processing sector needs to happen – but if “it was easy it would have happened before today”, Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy says. “Forming Fonterra took seven years – all of the work, talk, through parliament to legislation took seven years,” he told the Westpac organisation “Farming for the future” seminar in Morrinsville recently. “That was working through a cooperative base. What you’ve got in the red meat sector is about 56% of the red meat sector are in some form of cooperative. The rest are in private companies. “What I have said is ‘yes there is an over-capacity issue, it is great that farmers are mobilising on this issue (with meetings). Let’s see what proposals come out of this’. “Yes this needs to change. The banks in some cases are a bit nervous about their investment as well. Interestingly enough, with the drought we utilised the over-capacity for about two weeks. “If you think out 12, 15, 24 months – the livestock numbers aren’t going to be there so something is going to have to happen.” – More page 5
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