Rural News 3 June 2014

RURALNEWS TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

JUNE 3, 2014: ISSUE 562

www.ruralnews.co.nz

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AGRIBUSINESS

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Industry leader says kiwifruit industry must stay in NZ hands. PAGE 25

Southern hemishphere’s largest agricultural event set to roll on. PAGES 39-69

RURALNEWS

SEE PAGE 8

TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

JUNE 3, 2014: ISSUE 562

www.ruralnews.co.nz

It’s actually good news!

IN CASE you missed it, Fonterra last week released some fantastic figures in its payout announcement.

An opening forecast farmgate price of $7.00/kgMS for the 2014-15 season – a historically high figure that matches the opening forecast 12 months ago at the start of the 2013-14 season.

The forecast 2013-14 payout of $8.40/kgMS, with a forecast dividend of 10c/share, means a record total of $8.50 for a fully shared-up farmer.

And a strong milk supply is forecast for the new season – 1616 million kgMS, up 2% on the current season forecast of 1584 million kgMS. These figures are a massive boost for dairy farmers, rural communities and the wider economy but if you got your news from the daily print and broadcast media you could be forgiven for missing them.

Our Australian friends at Fairfax led the rush to bad news on their ‘farming’ web page with the headline ‘Fonterra signals $2.2b dairy payout cut.’ Never mind that the $2.2 billion dollars never actually existed or that it is only the difference between a record payout this year and a pre-season, and therefore theoretical, forecast.

‘Millienials’ future for lamb?

PETER BU RKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

PEOPLE IN the United States described as ‘millenials’ are a huge potential market for New Zealand lamb.

That’s the view of Shane O’Hara, chief executive of The Lamb Co-operative Inc. (USA), whose company markets lamb and related protein products in the US. The company is owned by Alliance Group, Silver Fern Farms, ANZCO and others.

O’Hara, from Wanganui, has lived for 26 years in the US. He says only 15% of American consumers eat lamb once a month, but the ‘millenials’ – 100 million Americans aged 18-34 – could be game changers for New Zealand.

Leaving aside numbers on the millenials, the US statistics on lamb make miserable reading. Lamb is a meager 0.3% of all meat consumed, contrasting with beef at 34.3% and chicken at 33.4%.

Lamb consumption per capita is 1lb, as

opposed to 250lbs for beef, pork and poultry. Also bad news is that lamb is the second most-expensive protein on the market— headed off only by lobster.

But despite this doom and gloom, the millenials offer hope, says O’Hara.

“These people have a propensity to experiment and try new products and they are a key target group because they eat lamb more than the regular consumers.

“It’s a new generation willing to splurge and spend more money on meat

purchases. They are tech-savvy and are internet iPad/iPhone shoppers, able to research menus as they walk through a grocery store. They will scan up and dial into a recipe and purchase product and supporting goods based on the news they get from iPads etc.”

The other big target group is the US ethnic community – big consumers of lamb. This includes Muslims and Hispanics. O’Hara says some US research shows this group eats 58% of the lamb there.

Millenials and other consumers are seeking food that is “unadulterated” and are prepared to pay a premium for this, O’Hara says. The 18-34 age group don’t want to buy food where hormones have been used, and they want meat from animals grass fed and free range.

Lamb now appears on 19% of US restaurant menus and O’Hara’s company is involved in promotional campaigns to change consumer attitudes: one is a preconceived negative attitude to the taste of lamb, hence they run lamb tastings in many supermarkets.

TALLY HO It’s stock audit time at Landcorp’s Aratiatia Station, near Taupo. It’s a time when all 17,000 stock units have to be meticulously counted by an independent team of auditors. It’s also a time when the jumping skills of the station’s Romney were put on show as they went through the gates to be counted. As well as being a sheep, beef and deer farm, Aratiatia is home to a training course for young people.

See pages 12-14 for more details.

TO PAGE 26

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Helping grow the country

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 3 ISSUE 562

www.ruralnews.co.nz

NEWS ������������������������������ 1-19 AGRIBUSINESS ����������� 22-25 MARKETS �������������������� 20-21 HOUND, EDNA ������������������� 26 CONTACTS ������������������������� 26 OPINION ����������������������� 26-29 MANAGEMENT ����������� 30-34 ANIMAL HEALTH �������� 35-38 NATIONAL FIELDAYS � 39-69 MACHINERY AND PRODUCTS �������������������70-77 RURAL TRADER �����������78-79 HEAD OFFICE Top Floor, 29 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622 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: subsrndn@ruralnews.co.nz ABC audited circulation 81,232 as at 31.12.2013

Forecast sets platform for record year SU DES H KISSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

FONTERRA’S FORECAST payout for the new season is just that – a forecast, says Waikato University agribusiness professor Jacqueline Rowarth.

She says all New Zealanders should be hoping that next year is another record year for the dairy industry and the economy.

Some economists are predicting the payout will fall, but Rowarth disagrees.

“The current forecast is only that – a forecast,” she told Rural News.

“Fluctuations over past years indicate the difficulty of accuracy; the banks have been indicating it could fall below what is currently predicted… but a lot will depend upon the ability of other countries to supply what is needed.”

Fonterra last week announced an opening milk price forecast of $7/kgMS for the 2014-15 season, matching the

forecast for the 2013-14 season, which ended May 31.

The co-op’s chairman John Wilson says the forecast remains historically high and reflects current market conditions.

Dairy commodity prices have come off the peak reached in early February this year, as global supply and demand have rebalanced. There is now more milk for the international market to absorb and demand from China is expected to remain strong.

Rowarth says Fonterra has a balancing act to perform when setting the milk price.

“Fonterra’s board is struggling with the complexities of milk price, dividends, offshore investments, exchange rates, overseas milk capacity, reinvestment in New Zealand infrastructure and R&D. “It is doing its best to remain viable without raising expectations or losing

more suppliers to new companies.”

Fonterra also remains a key player in the success of New Zealand’s economy.

“New Zealanders should all be hoping next year is another record for dairy and hence for the economy – and their support for Fonterra should therefore be 100%.”

Rowarth says Fonterra farmers won’t be disappointed with a $7/kgMS opening forecast and budget accordingly.

Federated Farmers dairy chairman Willy Lefereink described the opening forecast as “a pleasant surprise”.

“If it sticks, it would rank as the fourth-highest payout in Fonterra’s history. The upshot is we are going from a near record payout to a pretty good forecast. Where’s the bad news in that?

This payout and next season’s forecast is an economic bonanza.”

Conference closes with curly questions OVERCAPACITY, INDUSTRY consolidation, third party trading, inequitable pricing, shareholder loyalty, availability of capital: a panel comprising Alliance chairman Murray Taggart and three senior executives fielded questions on these topics during the closing session of the cooperative’s inaugural suppliers’ conference in Queenstown last week.

The questions, over 140 of them, had been collected during earlier supplierdirector sessions behind closed doors but the answers, as far as they went, were shared publicly.

“Yes, there is overcapacity,” chief executive Grant Cuff admitted to delegates. That overcapacity is a driver

for incentives to “do the wrong thing” when there’s plenty of processing space available.

He also touched on industry overcapacity in response to a question on capital, saying there are only two ways it will be resolved: with cash or regulation. The Government has made it clear the latter isn’t going to happen, so a commercial solution is the only way forward.

History has shown the ‘big bang’ solutions make one plus one equal one so incremental change is his preference.

“We’ve been there [one plus one]… We would be very cautious about that. We think incremental change is a much

safer way to go.”

General manager livestock Murray Behrent took the fast-ball of third party trading, admitting, reluctantly, that Alliance is forced to be a “prostitute” at times to procure stock. But its use of such channels is declining. “When we started in the North Island our supply was 100% third party. Now it’s 50%. In the South Island it’s less than 15% of our kill, probably nearer 10%, the smallest in the industry.”

• More from the conference, including changes on yield payments and Asian markets, on pages 9-11. @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews

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Fonterra chair John Wilson

Wilson says Fonterra farmers understand the realities of dairy commodity price cycles and will exercise caution at this early stage in the season.

Fonterra has also shaved its 2013-14 milk payout by 25c/kgMS, but an $8.40/ kgMS payout will be the second-highest in Fonterra’s history.

Careful!

PRIMARY INDUSTRY Minister Nathan Guy says he’s shocked to hear that a Labour government would restructure the meat industry.

Guy says the industry doesn’t want a solution imposed on it by politicians, especially one that doesn’t have widespread farmer and industry support.

“There will be a lot of very nervous farmers wondering what kind of model will be imposed on them by a Labour/Greens/Mana-Internet coalition,” Guy told Rural News.

Labour’s primary industry spokesman Damien O’Connor last week told the Primary Industry Summit in Wellington that Labour would make the “hard decisions” like restructuring the meat industry.

• More p4

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

4 NEWS

Industry must act SUD ES H K I SSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES Minister Nathan Guy has reiterated the need for broad support for red meat sector reforms before the Government will be willing to step in.

Guy says he’s not prepared to intervene in private business matters in the sector without support.

“We need to remember the Government doesn’t own this industry,” Guy told Rural News.

He was responding to Labour’s primary industries spokesman Damien O’Connor, who criticised the Government’s response to structural issues facing the red meat sector.

O’Connor last week told the Primary Industry Summit in Wellington that the National Party has always relied on a strong support base from the farming sector and often avoided making tough decisions needed to deliver a step-change in the fortunes of farmers.

“Nowhere is this more apparent than with the current state of the meat industry,” he says.

“The Government’s response to

MPI’s Situation Outlook for the Prithe crisis in the meat industry has been simply to throw a whole lot of mary Industries, last published earlier money around, and make some bold this year, predicts meat exports will be and ambitious statements. $350 mil- $1.2 billion higher than forecast.

“This is backed up by other evilion of taxpayer and farmer money dence,” Guy says. has been given to “Beef + Lamb New meat industry parZealand released ticipants to deliver a its latest forecast more viable and suca couple of weeks cessful future. ago, predicting “[Most] of this better pricing and money is poor Govstrong demand for ernment spending sheepmeat and beef and political nepproducts from key otism that delivmarkets. ers money for mates “Average sheep with the expectation and beef farm profit is of ongoing political Nathan Guy says he’s not expected to be up by support.” prepared to intervene in 35% on the droughtGuy says the Govprivate business matters affected level of last ernment is pleased without broad meat sector support. season. to partner with the “BLNZ estimates sector to boost profitability and he claims it’s making a farm profit before tax for the 2013difference, that there are lots of posi- 14 season will rise, and this season’s forecast average lamb price is $100 tive signs for the meat industry.

The Government supports the red per head – up 18% on last year.”

Guy says he will support a Meat meat industry through the Primary Growth Partnership: the Government Industry Excellence Group proposal and the industry are spending $326 for an industry summit if it draws broad support from across the sector. million on research and innovation.

Farmers capable of adapting to a ‘step change’ PETER BUR K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

FARMERS ARE capable of making the necessary ‘step change’ in adapting to new restrictions that will progressively dictate how much nitrogen farms may leach.

Dr Tony Petch, Environment Waikato’s group manager of resource information, says from his experience farmers are innovative and look for opportunities and learn from each other. His comments came at a field day on the farm of Mike and Sharon Barton, supreme winners of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Waikato.

Petch has been deeply involved in the implementation of the regulation called Variation 5, which sets tight limits for nitrogen leaching in the Taupo catchment. He says the Government’s National Fresh Water Policy statement – which will require limits and targets to be set in all catchments – will have some challenges.

“Some catchments have a little headroom for growth and profitability. But in other catchments the public will require

water quality to be higher than it is now and that, in turn, will impose significant challenges on some farmers.”

Petch says while the new targets and limits will challenge farmers, he points to the innovative approach taken by the Bartons and refers to the resilience of many farmers.

Profitability will be a key factor now, as will environmental matters. “We have to take account of the environmental requirements, the sustainability requirements and the viability of farms.

So in considering these policies you have to take into account the economic and the social and environmental impacts.

It’s a kind of a balancing between these things.”

In Waikato catchment there are challenges at both ends of the region. In the south, near Taupo, there is pressure for more dairy farm conversions; in the north commercial vegetable growers and Auckland city people are competing for water.

Petch admits this is another big challenge.

See more on the Bartons’ field day and farming operation on pages 18-19.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 5

Kiwifruit cries out for Kiwis PA M TI PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

A SCHEME similar to sharemilking is being looked at by the kiwifruit industry as an incentive to attract people to the sector.

NZ Kiwifruit Growers Inc (KGI) president Neil Trebilco says many people left kiwifruit when Psa hit, but with big growth projected in the next few years they need New Zealanders back in the orchards, particularly young Kiwis.

A scheme called Vine Right is in the concept stage, similar to sharemilking where

people could own or lease vines, rather than find the capital to buy a whole orchard.

“It means they don’t have to buy the land or even the structures so it gives them the possibility to enter the industry but having lower capital requirements,” says Trebilco.

“One of the barriers to entering the industry is the cost of orchard purchase. The price of orchards has gone back to pre Psa levels and higher.”

They want to attract young people but finding the capital to buy in is an issue for them. The Vine Right proposal, as it is

called at present, is being looked at from a legal perspective and worked on

by KGI and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

But Trebilco says keen people can work their way up and make money in the industry without capital: they can start in the vines and work up to become orchard managers, who are paid “very well”.

Bringing Kiwis into the industry is one of a number of issues they must address, he says.

“That includes new entrants as orchard owners and young people coming into the industry, whether as orchard owners or working in one

of its capacities,” Trebilco says.

“Essentially the workforce is divided into two categories: permanent who work in the industry year-round and those who are seasonal. Permanent will be staffed by Kiwis and seasonal will be a mix of people from overseas such as people coming under the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme which is typically people from the islands, or backpackers. Or it is Kiwis who are happy to do seasonal work. We will need a mix of the two.

“Because of Psa a number people did exit and left the area (Te Puke)

Neil Trebilco says kiwifruit needs more people.

and they will need to be replaced as volumes build.

Volumes will build very quickly and because of the

nature of grafting from the older 16a variety to the new Gold variety the climb back in numbers will

be rapid.

“That climb will mean we need a number of people quite soon.”

Young people targeted YOUNG PEOPLE in secondary schools and universities are not seeing horticulture as being an exciting industry to be part of, says Trebilco.

“We want to rectify that by running programmes with schools, and industry training organisations so young people are aware of the opportunities in horticulture in general, but more particularly in the kiwifruit industry.

“If you grow up in New Zealand you should realise one of the main sources of income for the country is always going to come out of the primary industries.

So therefore it is always going to be a major employer. Young people need to be aware of that.”

Jobs on orchards can work up to

become other jobs such as managers, but the industry needs the whole range of skills from accountancy to law and science. Twenty five percent of Plant and Foods Research’s business is focussed on kiwifruit.

The industry is starting a mentoring scheme for young workers, which started off the back of the Young Grower competition, Many grower resources are depleted right now because of Psa, but as income stream come back, new orchards will be developed in the next 3-4 years.

“We are expecting to see really good growth. To meet seasonal workers they will also need more RSE or backpacker type workers as well as Kiwis.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

6 NEWS

TPP still remains elusive SUD ES H K I SSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

THE SUPPOSEDLY lucrative Trade Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal is still far from being realized.

Negotiations between the 12 countries involved in TPP are stalled; market access for agriculture and intellectual property remain key sticking points.

New Zealand is banking on TPP to open access for its agricultural produce to lucrative markets like Japan and the US. However, both the Japanese and the US governments are facing growing political pressure at home.

Speaking last week at the Primary Industry Summit in Wellington, Trade Minister Tim Groser was cautiously optimistic about a deal but acknowledged it was “a hard grind”.

Fresh from attending a TPP ministerial meeting in Singapore, he described the negotiations as an “arm wrestle”, especially between Japan and the US. While the US Congress has issues about intellectual property, Japan’s reluctance to fully open five of its key agricultural sectors – rice, beef, dairy, pork and wheat – to international competition remains a stumbling block.

Groser says trade deals are always hard to negotiate. “We are trying to work with other countries. There will be some adjustments made but I think the process is manageable.”

However, New Zealand International Business Forum chief executive Stephen Jacobi is less optimistic that a deal is imminent.

Addressing the summit, he noted “a lot more water needs to flow under the

bridge before the negotiation is completed”.

Politics is a complicating factor. In Japan Prime Minister Abe, whose government is more stable than any of its predecessors, faces a big debate within his own party about the merits of agricultural liberalisation.

In the US President Barrack Obama also needs to convince his party in the Congress to give him

the fast-track authority to complete the negotiations without risking their reopening during the ratification phase.

Jacobi believes governing parties in other economies need to adjust to the new negotiating realities set by the US and Japan and match these with their own national interests.

“All governments need to redouble their efforts to

convince a skeptical public and an energised antiglobalisation movement that TPP can bring benefits despite some risks,” he says.

He noted that other economies presently outside TPP are beginning to explore membership: Korea and the Philippines are probably the keenest, but even China is examining how trade liberalisation might encourage its

Where are we up to?

THE TPP talks include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US, and Vietnam.

So far the talks have run to 19 rounds of formal negotiations, countless intersession gatherings of thousands of officials, at least four separate ministerial meetings and annual get-togethers by TPP Leaders, the last one chaired by

Prime Minister John Key at APEC in Bali last year.

Some TPP economies have already departed from the consensus on these issues: Australia and Japan have concluded a bilateral FTA that sets a low benchmark for liberalisation and the US and Japan appear to have agreed some tariffs will remain. @rural_news

facebook.com/ruralnews

own process of structural reform.

At last month’s APEC trade ministers’ meeting in Qingdao, China pushed hard to accelerate the process of reflection about the free trade area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), a longheld APEC goal to which TPP is considered a pathway.

Jacobi says in case TPP ultimately proves impossible to conclude, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) forum of 16 economies could be a path to a more open Asia Pacific.

“Why, in these uncertain circumstances, we need bother ourselves at all with TPP is because there are significant gains for trade and investment to be had from a successful conclusion.”

Academics estimate trade could grow NZ$3.1

Business Forum chief executive Stephen Jacobi is not optimistic a TPP deal is imminent.

billion by 2025, or NZ$4.7 billion including gains from investment growth.

“Even if we only count the trade gains or even if the good professors are only half right, these are very substantial increases at economic welfare for New Zealand. These gains simply cannot be left on the table.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 7

Deer industry positive despite concerns A N D REW SWA L LOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

LEADERS OF the deer industry are positive about the sector’s outlook despite hearing colleagues repeatedly voice concerns at their recent conference about returns for venison.

“Farmers are not making any money; processors are not making money,” said Andy Jarden, who’d journeyed south to Methven from Wanganui for the conference. “What’s called for is a paradigm shift in production and marketing.”

He noted there are positive initiatives, such as processor Mountain River’s marketing efforts with venison in the off-season, but more are needed. “If you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you’ve always got… for too long we’ve been reliant on the EU.” His comment was one of many during a conference closing field day debate at Mt Hutt Station. Other farmers noted the lack of contracts for the coming kill season.

“There always used to be at least an indication. In early March we’d get a figure for the spring peak, a number we could do some sums on, but it’s been coming out later and later and this year

there’s been nothing at all so finishers are buying on last year’s values,” commented one, who suggested that if things didn’t improve there would be no deer left in three-five years.

Another said he was “going home with no more confidence than when he came” to the conference, but others were more positive, noting prices are already on the mend with at least one company having a contract out with a base price above $7/kg. “So it can be done.”

Silver Fern Farms’ Malcolm Gourlie pointed out SFF has a contract spring supply with a guaranteed minimum of $7.55/kg at the peak and a possible $8.05/ kg if the NZ dollar eases against the Euro. He warned contracts should be used to take risk out of marketing, not to get the best price, but if producers did contract, then SFF could market with confidence and fix foreign exchange.

While acknowledging he’s a farmers’ representative, DINZ chairman Andy Macfarlane said he thought meat companies in the sector deserved credit for their continued and collaborative effort to turn it around.

“When do you see four processors get up on the same stage and describe

Looking forward: hinds at Mt Hutt Station, conference field day venue and scene of industry soul searching.

their marketing programmes in front of one another, then make a commitment to a joint brand into these markets?” he asked rhetorically, reflecting on a session earlier at the conference and the plan to roll out of the Cervena brand – previously used only in the US – to Europe and possibly China.

Macfarlane added that all parts of the industry, including farmers, need to lifttheir game to make the sector’s ‘Passion 2 Profit’ strategy work and show the industry could work together.

The fact Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy had attended the conference dinner was “no coincidence” and while DINZ’s Primary Growth Partnership application had still not been approved, the industry has to push on with raising productivity regardless.

Last week DINZ issued a media

release headed ‘Venison farmers end conference on upbeat note’, recognising SFF’s contract comments. Firstlight Foods had also signalled a 2014 base price at least 50c/kg higher than 2013. “These are benchmarks around which other exporters are likely to cluster,” Deer Farmers Association chair Kris Orange suggested.

The conference concensus was that venison prices need to be $2/kg better than lamb schedules to keep deer farming competitive, he added. “While the contract prices on offer don’t promise what we want, they are a step in the right direction and a signal of market confidence that farmers having been looking for.”

DINZ chief executive Dan Coup told farmers there was a pretty consistent view among marketers that traditional

European markets were improving and the bottom of the price curve had probably passed, with the supply pipeline empty and no stocks overhanging the market. “No-one is predicting where the market will peak this season, that depends on competitors and the exchange rate, but contracts are now on the table that enable farmers to budget.”

Coup says the future for venison lies in creating a brand for NZ product which will attract a premium price and year-round demand. “This takes time.

It will also require farmers to commit their animals to that branded marketing programme regardless of what happens in the commodity trade.”

Cervena is the big hope. Alliance Group marketing manager John Rabbitt said he was an enthusiastic supporter.

“Our venison deserves a premium for its superior quality, but at present it is largely sold to the commodity market and you can’t differentiate a commodity. We have to move NZ venison up the value chain by differentiating it through a premium brand.”

Footnote: More from Mt Hutt • More from the conference field day at Mt Hutt Station in Rural News’ management pages, June 17.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 9

Cutting-edge cuisine on show A N D REW SWA LLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

BESIDES HEARING from a host of first class speakers, delegates at Alliance’s conference were treated to a display of quick fire lamb cuts and cooking by Sharp Blacks butchers Corey Winder and David Timbs, and multi-award winning chef Graham Hawkes.

Winders commented on how butchers today “have to get creative” to produce cuts that can be

taken home and cooked quickly with nil preparation on the part of the consumer.

“We do a lot of the thinking for them because we live in a generation that can’t cook…. You have to get creative. To sell meat today that’s what it comes down to.”

The Sharp Blacks are the reigning ‘world’ champions, having beaten butchery teams from Australia and Britain at Wanaka A&P show in 2013

“One of the other teams can pick six of our cuts and we have to show why they’re saleable and cookable,” explained Hawkes as he whipped up a couple of Lamb Wellingtons with a boneless loin, chicken liver pate, mushrooms and puff pastry.

“Pop it in a 220oC oven for a maximum of eight minutes, rest it for a couple more, and it’s ready to eat.”

for the Pure South TriNations Trophy. They’re off to England shortly to defend the title at the Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate, in July.

In two hours each team butchers a 120-140kg side of beef and 18kg lamb into as many “cookable and saleable” cuts as possible, with judges checking hygiene and health and safety throughout and awarding points for the number and creativity of the cuts.

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Alliance supplier Paul Paton picks up some tips from Sharp Blacks butcher Corey Winder.

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DELEGATES AT the Alliance conference also heard from Maersk Shipping Lines’ director of sales, Tony Milden, who explained how soon they’ll be able to offer customers, such as Alliance, remote control of container refrigeration as vessels cross the oceans.

That presents opportunities such as freezing product en route to market, or even the reverse, Alliance’s market development manager Gary MacLennan noted. As it is they are already looking to make a positive out of what was originally seen as a negative: slow steaming.

“How can we make the most of

that opportunity to age product,” he asked, rhetorically.

MacLennan said as a result of that aging he’s “100% certain New Zealand chilled product is seen as the best product around the world.”

But slow steaming – ships travelling at 18 knots instead of 24 knots, giving a 28% fuel saving – has made the window to distribute and retail product overseas, particularly in Europe, very tight.

Vessels now take seven-eight weeks to reach the UK, and the current standard barrier shrink wrap packaging used on over 95% of chill product gives a 9-12 week shelf life.

When UK retailers further process or repack the meat into their preferred high-oxygen modified-

atmosphere packs New Zealand product is at a disadvantage because it goes off faster, and doesn’t have the same bright red bloom that a lessaged meat will, he explained.

“It doesn’t really do our chilled product justice and the flavour changes.”

However, MacLennan relayed how Alliance is working hard with UK retailers to come up with new packaging that would mean product processed and packed in New Zealand could still have a “multi-weekend” shelf-life in the UK. “The exciting one for us is barrier skin packing. It’s been used for the likes of smoked fish for some time but up to now it’s not really been good enough for the likes of lamb.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

10 NEWS

Seasonality and grading changes on the cards A N D REW SWA LLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

SEASONALITY IN lamb supply is back in vogue, judging by comments made to Alliance’s inaugural supplier conference, held in Queenstown last week.

But while that’s probably good news if you’re a sheep farmer – reducing the need to try to finish more lambs in winter or spring – for the processor it brings its own headaches.

“The future will require us to make seasonal work more sustainable as a career choice,” general manager processing, Kerry Stevens told the conference.

Flexibility and multi-skilling will be key, with staff needing to transfer from lamb processing to beef processing to spread the work. This helps at multi-species works such as Pukeuri and Levin, where staff can be switched from lamb chains to beef as the season progresses.

“Mataura (beef) and Lorneville, being 50km apart, are a bit more chal-

lenging. We’ve not got it right there yet, but we will.”

Of Alliance’s roughly 4500 employees, all bar about 200 work in processing. Health and safety is a big focus, and not just because it’s the right thing to do for the employee: customers, notably from the UK, increasingly want assurances on employment conditions, Stevens said.

Increasing mechanisation is helping with that, as well as with quality. Where workers once developed repetitive

strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, machines are taking over. Where manual cuts are still made, knife-touch computer screen technology can record every slice in some plants.

While machines are run to fit round the work cycles of people at present, “that’s going to change” Stevens said, pointing out some machines run better if operated continuously, with no breaks for morning tea, lunch, or going home at night.

He stressed the growth in systems

Welcome to the family CHIEF EXECUTIVE Grant Cuff says Alliance’s inaugural conference is one of a number of initiatives to improve communication within the cooperative and attendance of 200 was “about what we pitched for.”

Echoing Fonterra’s rhetoric of recent years, he referred to the Alliance’s shareholder suppliers as its “family”. “That’s the group of people that are here.”

Whether a supplier conference becomes an annual or maybe biannual event in the Alliance calendar will be decided at a debriefing on last week’s proceedings.

standards, an issue Alliance front-foots as its ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditations demonstrate. “Some companies only seek to implement standards put on them by someone else.”

Systems that extend beyond the processing plant boundary, back onto the farm, and forward down the supply chain, are the future.

Electronic communications are facilitating that and while some suppliers might view meeting systems standards as a compliance issue, the systems will help pass information back to suppliers, said Stevens.

Alliance general manager livestock Murray Behrent said apps for smartphones are being developed so suppliers can get kill sheets on their phones, or animal health treatments on farm can be uploaded to the processor’s systems.

Whatever way they are communicated, Alliance’s kill sheets this coming season will carry more information, including a new system grading shoulders, loins and legs separately. “For the

Murray Behrent

perfect lamb you’ll be able to get up to $8.90/head premium.” Loins carry the highest weighting, followed by legs, then shoulders.

Besides those gradings, kill sheets will provide more information on carcase quality, for example about bruising and disease status. “By giving you more feedback hopefully you can make better decisions on farm.”

Behrent highlighted Alliance’s investment in farm trials and support for the central progeny test and deer progeny, all of which will continue, he said. Similarly it assists with grass and forage crop trials “to help you compete with other land uses.”

Possibilities for sheep milking, and multiple lambings (ie more than annual), while not for everybody, conTO PAGE 11

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 11

Food safety and traceability key A N D REW SWA LLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

FOOD SAFETY, traceability, innovation and consistency of supply were recurring themes from speakers at Alliance’s inaugural Pure South suppliers’ conference in Queenstown last week, and not just from the cooperative’s senior managers.

“In Asia the governments and consumers are very, very concerned about

food safety,” Johnny Kang of leading food service sector supplier Angliss, told delegates.

Whereas price used to be the first question, a succession of food related health scares has pushed it well down the priority list. “Now they look at quality, country of origin and then price.”

If producers such as Alliance, whose Pure South brand Angliss distributes, can show product is safe and reliable then governments will be happy to work

towards lifting quotas and/or reducing tariffs, he said. However, the supply chain has to be secure from farm to fork.

“Some of the brands are failing in Asia because they do not have the right supply chain partner… It ends up on the table not a very good product.”

After playing a video of an interview with a Pure South customer, Kang noted the customer was looking for safe, healthy, natural, clean meat.

“Exactly what you guys are trying to do,

and that’s what the perception [of Pure South] is, which is good.”

Angliss’ facilities and systems are “some of the best in the market” and while there are some other good operators, “some of the producers in China might scare you,” he added.

Later in the day Alliance’s group market development manager Gary MacLennan reiterated that there are “very good systems” in China: he was responding to a delegate’s challenge

over whether sending whole carcases into such a market was wise.

“It’s not like you might imagine.

They’ve got some very good people; it’s a real eye-opener. They are experts at transforming our product into the type of cut their consumers want.”

Many of the cuts China demands wouldn’t be familiar to New Zealand boners and butchers, he added. “If we asked our people to do it I don’t think we’d get the same yield or quality.”

After sales service, SECOND to NONE. Johnny Kang

The big chill will come to Asia EUROPEAN, ESPECIALLY UK retailers’, move back to wanting chilled New Zealand lamb in the traditional counter-season to domestic supply, instead of year round, isn’t being replicated in Asia. There, continuity of supply is key but because nearly all product is frozen having lambs to kill out of season isn’t so important, Murray Behrent explained to Rural News.

“Where it is now (winter lamb supply), is about right.”

However, conference speaker, Johnny Kang of Asia food service supply specialist Angliss believes it won’t be long before there is a market for chill product into China.

“At the moment it’s only frozen because they [China’s regulators] want control. Once they have good control they will open up to chill.”

Regulator’s concern about control stems from food scares and ensuring imports are safe and traceable, a recurring theme at Alliance’s conference. The so-called “grey channel” import of meat into China is a particular concern. Once such operators are shutdown or brought into line, Kang says the market will open to chill product for which there’s “definitely” a demand but it will require year round supply.

Seasonality outlook FROM PAGE 10

tinue to be investigated.

Behrent stressed Alliance’s focus on quality at every step of the value chain. “Farmers, and processors, who ignore quality do so at their peril.”

By way of an example of the rewards for focusing on quality, he said farmers with the best stock genetics gross 20-25% more than those with the industry average.

Summing up, Behrent said the company remained committed to the philosophy of rewarding for quality. “It has been tested by the current procurement profile but it will not change.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

12 NEWS

Aratiatia – a farm with a view Managing a central North Island farm is always a challenge, with harsh and unpredictable climate and porous pumice soils. Landcorp’s Aratiatia Station manager Mark Cunningham faces has the added challenge of having a farm cadet training school on the property. Peter Burke reports.

FROM MANY parts of Aratiatia Station you can see Taupo and the lake and on a clear day the snowcapped mountains of the volcanic plateau. Steam

also rises from geothermal fields on the nearby countryside.

The 2050ha sheep, beef and deer farm carries 17,000 stock units, which

includes 8000 Romney breeding ewes. The cattle are Angus and at Aratiatia they finish about 300 steers, and breed their own replacements.

The lambing percentage is about 150% and calving about 93%.

The farm comprises three blocks – Tauhara and Wairakei where the deer

are based and the original Aratiatia Station. The main role of the farm is to provide store animals, says manager Mark Cunningham

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“We wean our lambs straight onto a truck and they’ll go out to other Landcorp finishing properties. We also supply replacement ewe lambs to other Landcorp finishing properties and later on, in say March, transfer the balance to the wintering properties.”

Taupo may look picturesque but climatically it is challenging. In the winter it’s the cold – even Southlanders says it’s colder than the deep south – and in summer the pumice soils need regular rain and care building up humus in the paddocks to grow pasture.

Regrassing is ongoing: on average they replace 50ha of pasture each year.

About 30ha is going into fescue and red clovers and herbs such as chicory, while the rest is being sown in perennial AR37.

Certainly to an outside observer the pastures look in excellent shape.

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because of the weather which is changing all the time. We tend to be pretty tight with our feed budgets and have to maintain the correct balance on the different blocks. We make sure we don’t impact the deer finishing; we look after that pretty well,” Cunningham says.

The other challenge for Cunningham and his staff is the proximity of the farm to Taupo itself and the number of people who come on the property for various reasons, including Contact Energy which has infrastructure there.

Cunningham, originally from Amberley, North Canterbury, has farmed all his life. He started working on his uncle’s pig farm and on Port Hills Station even before he left school. He then milked cows before joining Landcorp, where he worked on farms in the Taupo region and Northland before coming to manage Aratiatia 12 years ago.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 13

Future farmers given an excellent training base P E TE R BU R K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

AS IF the challenge of managing Aratiatia isn’t enough, Cunningham must also ensure the 10 trainees on the farm get the appropriate training at various stages of their course.

Running the course is Agriculture New Zealand, a subsidiary of PPG Wrightson, which provides a tutor. The trainees spend four of five days every week doing practical farm work and one day in the classroom, but it’s up to Cunningham to ensure training fits in with the commercial demands of Aratiatia.

“You have to make commercial decisions based on what’s going to be a training opportunity and generally if we get to that we have to put the commercial first,” he tells Rural News. “Let’s say we want the cadets to crutch the twotooths and we’ll do this over a month.

But all of a sudden we start getting flystrike. We just have to go this way and get them done now and get the shear-

ing gang in. It may take two or three days to deal with the issue. They understand that and are pretty good about it.”

Cunningham says his staff have to be patient with the trainees; they don’t get paid extra for working with them. The training is regimented and designed to instill good work practices from day one, so they quickly get into the habit of doing things the right way.

“We have a lot of planning and meetings. Every fortnight there is a big farm meeting and staff spend about half an hour talking about the cadets and then we invite them in and they become part of the farm meeting, so everyone has to know what’s going on.

“We plan for the year what will be taught at different stages through the year. We teach them the basics and when they understand that then we take them out as normal farm workers.”

What they don’t do is ‘manufacture a training opportunity’. Cunningham says over time they have found real situations are better for training. He and

his six staff urge the trainees to look around constantly at what is happening on the farm, besides doing the normal stock work. For example, are sheep in the right paddock or is there a broken fence or some other potential issue?

“We ask the cadets to fill in their farm diaries and we check them often to make sure they are writing down what they are seeing,” Cunningham explains.

“Getting them to look sideways is quite a big thing because the first time on a bike behind 100 sheep they are just focused on that, whereas they need to be aware of other issues around them.”

There are strict rules for the trainees, for example the use of cell phones.

While they are allowed to take them with them for safety reasons, they may use them only during approved breaks.

The trainees are given some phone credits, which enables them to contact Cunningham and his team and vice versa.

The trainees don’t have personal access to Landcorp’s computer system, but get to see a presentation by data

projector of feed budgets and other key information.

Drugs and alcohol are obvious no-nos.

“When they come here they sign a piece of paper which says they will abide by all Landcorp’s policies. So we have a drug and alcohol policy, a farm pride policy and a work safe policy and they are bound by those,” Cunningham adds.

There is a zero tolerance for drugs and if two staff reasonably suspect a trainee is on drugs they can be made to take a test. A test may also be required if someone is involved in an accident on the farm.

According to Cunningham, most of the trainees adapt well to working on the farm, notwithstanding most are on their first trip away from home. He puts this down to a good selection process run by Agriculture New Zealand with input from Landcorp. He says they look particularly for attitude and he says very few they select pull out of the course.

While this year’s course has only

one woman, in the past the ratio of men:women has been about 50:50 and Cunningham says the women perform well. Women have won the best cadet of the year eight times out of the 11 years he’s been at Aratiatia.

For all the trainees the prize at the end of the year is a job but there is no guarantee Landcorp will hire them, says Cunningham.

“Over the years, I have employed three of them here: two as shepherds and one as a trainee. Anybody who shows reliability and we can place we try to find a position for in Landcorp. But if we can’t place them, we’ll try and find them something in the private sector.”

The overall success rate of the trainees finding employment in the primary sector is high. While they still have a lot to learn, they have a good grounding in the basics and being on a Landcorp farm ensures they are trained to best practice standards. – More page 14 @rural_news

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

14 NEWS

On the job training turns out better farm workers are covered in the classroom. At the end of the course trainees peterb@ruralnews.co.nz will receive a National CertifiDAVID CHATTERTON, who cate in Agriculture, level 3.

What’s different about this works for Agriculture New Zealand, runs the trainee course at course from many others such as Smedley Station is that it’s Aratiatia.

A purpose-built classroom is non-residential; being just a part of the station’s administra- few minutes drive from Taupo tive block. Chatterton is a Lin- makes this possible.

“Because we coln graduate are non-residenwho’s worked on tial we often have farms and in var- The emphasis reasonable ious roles in the of the 44-week afemale-to-male farming sector ratio. Selection all his life, before course is on is based on atticoming to Arati- the practical tude and the atia two years ago. He says the side of farming. academic side is covered by them course costs the trainees about $3000 a year having to have a restricted – plus their accommodation driver license. Our view is that which is the trainee’s responsi- if they can obtain that, they can handle anything the course puts bility to organise.

The emphasis of the 44-week in front of them.”

When selecting applicants course is on the practical side of farming; key theoretical aspects for the course, Chatterton says P E TE R BU R K E

Agriculture NZ’s Dave Chatterton runs the trainee programme at Aritiatia Station.

they like to involve family members and make sure everyone understands what is involved and the commitment required.

He says most of the trainees who attend the course are not from farming backgrounds and few have parents who own a farm.

“While most of our trainees are school leavers, in the past two years we have had some

graduates on the course who needed to improve their practical farm skills in order to get jobs in the industry.”

For Chatterton, the highlight is seeing the young people develop from shy kids to effective farm workers. He says when they come to Aratiatia, they hardly know each other, but they bond and later keep in touch.

It’s a good life LEWIS GOUGH and Robert Pole are two of this year’s trainees: both have set their sights on a career in farming.

Gough hails from Wairarapa where he attended Rathkeal College. He’s been brought up on a farm and when he finishes the course hopes to find a job on a farm on the east coast of the North Island.

Lewis Gough “I am really enjoying the course. I like the fact there is one day in class and four days outside so it’s all sort-of split up,” he told Rural News.

“You learn to do things in different ways from what I knew and I now know there are other ways to do things. I also like the way Landcorp does everything properly, especially in regards to safety.”

Pole, from Waikato, is also hoping for a job on the North Island east coast. Like Gough he enjoys the practical nature of the course.

“What I like is that you get straight into the stock work and get out with a shepherd who teaches you the right way to do things,” he explains. “Once you have this knowledge you are left more to your own devices and given the responsibility to do it, which is confidence building.”

For Gough and Pole and the other eight trainees there is a lot more to learn during the remainder of the year. Their employment prospects largely depend on how they apply themselves and impress potential employers such as Mark Cunningham.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 15

There’s life in the old kumara yet P E TE R BU R K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

MASSEY UNIVERSITY is saving a collection of old kumara varieties which date back to the late 18th century.

Nick Roskruge, a senior lecturer in horticulture and in Maori resource management, has taken on the role of preserving these old varieties and growing them in plots in Manawatu and Hawkes Bay. He says in the 1960s a kumara researcher, Doug Yen, sent the kumara plants to Japan where they were preserved in a germ plasma bank. Then in the 1980s the Japanese handed them back to a Maori trust in New Zealand to continue the work of preserving them.

“Eventually the trustees were getting older and were looking at how they could future-proof [them].

They were looking at what varieties had opportunity for Maori growers, perhaps as commercial varieties, and some which were nice to have because of what they were. They were looking for someone who was capable of maintaining the collection.”

Roskruge agrees Massey is a good place for the collection for now as there are people who know about the kumara and can deal with problems that might arise in their preservation.

The first contact between Maori and Europeans was in 1769, when whalers started arriving on the shores of Aotearoa.

These kumara, says Roskruge, date back to that time.

“None of them are preEuropean; they are all early contact…. The preEuropean kumara were skinny, long, finger like but these ones superseded them because of their better yields.”

The project to save this collection is a labour of love: no direct funding is in place although Roskruge says in time this may be necessary. He describes the trial as ‘ethno-botany’, ie preserving plant species directly related to the indigenous people.

His students are involved and one of them, Rodrigo Estrada, a NZ Aid student from Guatemala, ran the summer trials of the crop this year.

Roskruge does not believe these older kumara

varieties will have commercial value, but he says from a Maori perspective there is a lot of whakapapa attached to them and there may be niche market opportunities.

He knows of someone

Nick Roskruge and a Gisborne red variety of kumara.

who is looking at making wine with the kumara skins and says other products could be developed given the great story that goes with the plants. @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews

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The competition, which coincides with the Young Farmers Contest grand final July 3-5, involves shearing, condition scoring, a quad obstacle course, identifying sheep breeds, foot trimming, drenching, counting sheep and demonstrating knowledge of the sheep industry.

Friday’s proceedings at Lincoln include the finals of the AgriKids and TeenAg competitions, and Young Farmers’ national finals for fencing, stock-judging and tug-of-war.

The finalists in the young shepherds’ challenge are: Brooke Elliot (23) Maniototo, Caleb Eady (20) Featherston, Harriet Gardner (20) Waimate, Alex Reekers (23) Waimate, Katey Craig (21) Hunterville, Mitch Hoare (19) Te Kuiti, Christine Wellington (20) Taupo and Mitch Nation (23) Dannevirke.

The seven Young Farmer grand final contestants are, by region: Reuben Carter (Tasman), Dean Rabbidge (Otago-Southland), Brad Lewis (TaranakiManawatu), David Kidd (Northern), Dwayne Cowin (Waikato – Bay of Plenty), Sully Allso (East Coast) and James Davidson (Aorangi). www.youngfarmercontest.co.nz

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

16 NEWS: WOOL WEEK

More money in sheep farmers’ pockets PA M TI PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

THE ‘GUTS’ of Wool Week was part of a wider strategy to get more money into sheep farmers’ pockets.

That’s why Primary Wool Cooperative last week financed New Zealand’s first-ever Wool Week, says director and third-generation sheep farmer Hamish de Lautour.

The series of events

were kicked off and headquartered at ritzy Britomart, the newest upmarket precinct in Auckland where some of New Zealand’s top fashion designers have retail outlets.

Helping sheep farmers make more money depends on two things, de Lautour told Rural News: “Lifting demand in the market place and capturing more of the retail value of that demand.

“We can make all the

fuss we like and we can get wool being the most favoured fibre in the world again but we still need to make sure we have a structure in place that will deliver good value back to the grower. That’s what the Primary Wool Cooperative is all about.”

Wool is undergoing a renaissance sparked by the Prince of Wales and his Campaign for Wool, de Lautour says. But how New Zealand captures the advantage of that, he

says, is illustrated in a conversation he had with Liz Findlay, co-founder of top fashion label Zambesi and the Campaign for Wool’s fashion ambassador.

De Lautour says she told him “I don’t know what all the fuss is about because I have no trouble selling wool [garments]’. He replied, “That is exactly the point.

Your brand is so powerful they will buy whatever you sell and believe whatever you say and they will

pay for it.”

“So the first attempt by crossbred wool growers at doing something like that is ‘Just Shorn’,” de Lautour explains. “It’s a carpet branding programme in the US that’s building trust, building story and delivering a big hunk of that retail value back to growers because we own the brand.”

Building the story is where the wool industry has been missing its mark.

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Hamish de Lautour (left), Craig Smith and Liz Finlay at Wool Week Launch.

unless you went to the States – the number of people who have never heard of a sheep, and that wool comes off a sheep.

And if they have heard of it, they think the sheep has to be killed; that’s an old cliché but it’s true.

“When you tell them the actual wool story and explain sustainability, etc, and show them the alter-

native – an oil-based product that comes out of the ground – there’s no question, they’ll take wool every time. It has to be priced right, but that is not a problem for discerning customers and it isn’t much more expensive really.

“So that’s the opportunity, it’s a huge opportunity.”

Industry needs a credible voice NEW ZEALAND LACKS a credible voice to represent the wool industry in government interaction on such issues as trade policy and access. It also needs a neutral no-nonsense body that can also coordinate promotional events like Wool Week.

That was de Lautour’s response when asked if he supported the wool levy growers will be asked to vote on later in October in a referendum by the Wool Levy Group.

The industry needs to simplify its structures. He says Primary Wool Cooperative is an entity that can do all that for growers, but even though they have been in existence for 40 years, it will probably be a few years before growers recognise that. Primary Wool currently has about 10% of New Zealand wool growers in its 100% farmer-owned cooperative. But de Lautour says they want to get that number to 50%.

The Primary Wool Cooperative financed the Wool Week activities. “We can be proud of the cooperative because at last New Zealand is pulling its weight in the wool producing world, because every other major wool producing or consumer country has its own.

We’ve been out in the cold.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS: WOOL WEEK 17

Blowtorch applied to wool’s customers PA M TI PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

IT’S BEEN a long time between drinks in the wool industry, says Primary Wool Cooperative director Hamish de Lautour.

“Twenty five years ago farm advisers were advising us not to put rams out because they claimed a ewe that had a lamb would not give as much or as good quality wool,” the third generation farmer at Te Whangai station in Hawkes Bay said at the opening of Wool Week.

Twenty-five years later de Lautour believes that same sort of excitement is starting to build again.

He welcomed everyone “from shepherds to shopkeepers” and everyone in between to the inaugural Wool Week at Auckland. He hoped it would become an iconic annual event. “It is a real thrill to have both ends of the value chain pulling together to give the ‘king of fibres’ the profile it really deserves.”

De Lautour said Prince Charles should be thanked for his vision in launching the global Campaign for Wool in 2010 and for his continued patronage.

“The leverage and support which comes from his patronage is tantamount to nothing else in the world. He said the Campaign for Wool is “the Olympics” of wool promotion.

Liz Findlay, co-founder of iconic fashion house Zambesi, who is Campaign for Wools’ fashion ambassador, said growing up in Dunedin made her understand the wonderful nature of wool. Her mother was a seamstress and worked at the Mosgiel woollen mills for a time and a clothing manufacturer making beautiful wool garments.

Everyone had wool in their wardrobe then and in her late teens she modelled for the New Zealand Wool Board.

Zambesi collections have always been inspired by fabric and this has

Wool never fails to inspire her as a designer. It is an enduring fabric which sits alongside Zambesi’s philosophy if creating timeless designs. always included high quality wool and woolbased fabrics. Wool never fails to inspire her as a designer. It is an enduring fabric which sits alongside

Zambesi’s philosophy if creating timeless designs.

They use heavy felts, traditional suiting, Merino jersey and a limitededition wool supplied by

a Tauranga manufacturer.

This is from Corriedale sheep farmed in North Canterbury and the yarn is manufactured chemicalfree in Milton. Wool is

always part of Zambesi’s collection.

Craig Smith from Campaign for Wool said having Prince Charles as patron opens doors. The campaign initially had trouble launching into America, but that door opened when the prince wrote personally to a key US person, with an

invitation to talk about wool.

Smith said he travelled globally promoting and selling wool and a big issue was people marketing and selling it did not know what wool was. A major education process was needed. @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews

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Wonderful woolly stuff AUCKLANDERS CHOKED on their lattes at Britomart as they watched top fashion writer and stylist Anna Caselberg holding a blowtorch to a scruffy shearer, causing smoke to rise from his shirt.

She also was wary, having been ‘volunteered’ from the audience.

The onlookers also saw sheep grazing in the highfashion shopping area, mustering and shearing with a hand-cranked vintage shearing machine – all part of the act by Barry Woods, aka Billy Black Woolman, to get their attention at the launch of Wool Week.

Woods often performs to cruise ship audiences at his Kiwi Culture Show at Waitomo and says Americans ask “what’s that magic stuff” when they see wool.

They either don’t know where it comes from or they believe the sheep have to be drugged or killed to get the wool.

Wool Week, with the theme ‘We’re Loving Wool’ was held to raise the profile of wool and the work of The Campaign for Wool in New Zealand.

Billboards and buses showcased a wool family proudly wearing New Zealand designed woollen garments throughout May. Wool Windows was unveiled from 35 designers and retailers, led by Zambesi fashion.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

18 NEWS

Science and farming out of step – award winner P E TE R BU R K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

THE SUPREME winner of the Ballance Farm Environment Award in Waikato says he can’t understand why science

needs seem to have got so out-of-kilter with the needs of farming.

Mike Barton and his wife Sharon are regarded as leaders in the field because of their innovative way of

Mike and Sharon Barton

progeny to taking in Charolais-Angus cross weaners and producing their own branded ‘Taupo beef’.

Recently a field day at their

farming within the strict limits on the leaching of nitrogen in the Lake Taupo catchment. They have completely changed their farming system from running breeding cows and finishing the

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property, as part of the Ballance awards process, drew 200 people to hear their story and to hear from others who have been a part of it over many years.

Science has played a huge role in decisions the Bartons have made, to which Mike referred.

He says New Zealand science strategy should be directed towards “maximising production while minimising the environmental footprint”.

“As farmers we need to know whether we can keep on intensifying and at the same time protecting our environment. If science can tell us honestly we can’t, then this needs to be part of the discussion on water quality because that will frame people’s responses to water quality.

“From an economic and science point of view, the conversation has to mature…. We all hope science will allow us to keep intensifying but we don’t know; we all hope the impact of water quality standards won’t be too severe. But we are not talking about it as openly and constructively as we possibly could.”

Barton says in the last 30 years science has done a brilliant job in helping farmers to become more productive – intensify land use and stay in business. Increases in stock performance such as higher lambing percentages show farmers have applied science to good advantage.

“What science has not done is provide measures of what that production increase does to the environment; so we have all been caught on the back foot. We don’t know enough about what our production increases are doing to the environment.”

Barton agrees that

there is gap between town and country and says farmers need to take some responsibility for this. He also believes there is a gap between scientists and farmers, and says the two parties need to talk much more to understand the issues each is facing.

Barton has spoken formally to AgResearch scientists and says he was amazed at the level of interest shown by scientists in the issues facing him and other farmers. Scientists are naturally cautious in their approach, whereas farmers want certainty, he says.

“Scientists naturally challenge each other, whereas farmers are looking for answers.

Their business decisions generally have a 16-20 year timeframe,” he explains.

“Farmers get frustrated at the lack of certainty, but of course scientists don’t want to give that certainty because their profession relies on the constant questioning and shifting on scientific gains and results.

“We can’t manage water quality issues without scientists and farmers understanding each other’s perspective a whole lot better.”

Barton puts much of this problem down to what he calls “serious under-funding of science” for 15 years. This comes just when there is a huge need for science to deal with the biggest challenge facing farming – operating in an emissions-capped economy.

“We are spending only a pittance on the issue and so all the issues about AgResearch reconfiguring itself and scientists leaving and scientists not having time to go and visit farms and spend time with farmers is probably related to the systemic or chronic underfunding of science.”

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS 19 Positive story behind successful beef marketing venture MIKE AND Sharon Barton are living proof that thinking outside the square and being positive about change can have its rewards.

Their Taupo Beef is not only a great product, but the story behind it – saving Lake Taupo – strikes a chord with consumers. The Bartons have

used their compliance with the regulations imposed on them by the Waikato Regional Council as proof of their brand claims and that it works.

“But you can only do that when you have established a complete catchment cap on nutrients and you have established what the catchment can stand

and you have reached agreement with all the farmers in that catchment about how and what they are going to farm and what nitrogen they are going to leach.”

The issues have to be sorted out for every farm, says Barton – not just a few select ones and the value proposition arising from this has to be seen as genuine and scientifically proven and not just ‘green washing’.

Finally, Barton says the economics of the environmental changes need to be examined closely. He says if farmers are constrained by nitrogen caps, the rural communities need to be aware of the economic impacts before, not after, the regulations are put in place. He says in some cases communities may have to accept a little more degradation of waterways as a trade-off for economic benefits.

“Policy is being put in place with all the best intentions and the goals are entirely laudable. But I wonder whether we have completely interrogated the economic impact of the policy.”

Master chef plays key role in brand PE TER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

ONE PERSON important in the development of the Barton’s Taupo beef brand was Michel Louws who, at the time, was chef at the prestigious Huka Lodge at Taupo.

He says Mike and Sharon Barton provided him and four or five of the best restaurants in Taupo with samples of their meat.

Louws cooked up the beef along with samples from other suppliers and got his team to try the samples. He didn’t involve only the other chefs, but included other staff in his tasting team, such as the gardener and receptionist at Huka Lodge.

Louws says Taupo beef clearly tasted the best. But

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for the master chef, the Barton’s story about their beef and the way they were saving Lake Taupo via their farming system was appealing to guests.

“A lot of guests, especially overseas people, are more and more interested in the source of the food they eat and Taupo beef is a terrific story. It is 100% in line with the green story that they sell abroad about New Zealand.”

While the story is important, Louws is quick to point out that the product – in this case Taupo beef – has to be awesome.

“If I was to grab any meat and say ‘I am going to promote this’, it probably would’t get far. But take the example of the lamb shank – that makes sense. It’s an awesome

Michel Louws, Taupo Beef.

piece of meat and it’s relatively cheap because we, as chefs, have to watch our budgets.”

Louws says chefs can play an important role in

shaping consumer preferences. He says a dish prepared in a restaurant will eventually be picked up and made at home by consumers.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

BEEF MARKET TRENDS

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

  



BEEF PRICES



 

 

 























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

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











NI

P2 Steer - 300kg

n/c

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

4.60

4.60

4.25







 

5.86

5.86

4.83

5.88

4.85

3.40

PX - 19.0kg

n/c

5.90

5.90

4.87

3.28

PH - 22.0kg

n/c

5.91

5.91

4.88

MX1 - 21kg

n/c

3.60

3.60

2.92

YM - 13.5kg

+5

5.68

5.63

4.63

PM - 16.0kg

+5

5.68

5.63

4.65

2.90

PX - 19.0kg

+5

5.68

5.63

4.67

2.85

2.70

PH - 22.0kg

+5

5.68

5.63

4.68

4.20

3.90

n/c

3.18

3.18

2.70

P2 Cow - 230kg

n/c

3.80

3.80

M Cow - 200kg

n/c

3.70

3.70

Local Trade - 230kg

n/c

4.65

4.65

4.20

Mutton

P2 Steer - 300kg

+5

4.10

4.05

3.85

SI Lamb

M2 Bull - 300kg

n/c

4.00

4.00

3.77

P2 Cow - 230kg

n/c

2.90

2.90

M Cow - 200kg

n/c

2.85

Local Trade - 230kg

n/c

4.20







Last Year

5.88

4.20







n/c

2 Wks Ago

n/c

4.45





YM - 13.5kg

Last Week

PM - 16.0kg

4.45

        



NI Lamb

n/c

Slaughter



Change

c/kgCWT

M2 Bull - 300kg

SI

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 

LAMB PRICES Change

c/kgCWT

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LAMB MARKET TRENDS

Mutton

MX1 - 21kg

Slaughter 





  

  

  











 













 















 













 

























Export Market Demand   

Change

 











2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

n/c

2.20

2.20

2.02

1.82

NZ$/kg

+5

5.66

5.61

5.49

5.46

 





 

















Procurement Indicator

 



2Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

-1%

78.6%

79.9%

76.48%

73.6%

% Returned SI

-1%

70.7%

71.3%

67.7%

66.4%

2.16

1.75

1.88

NZ$/kg

+12

9.37

9.25

7.19

8.75

       

 







2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago





Last Year 5yr Ave

% Returned NI

-1%

76.2%

76.8%

69.2%

70.3%

% Returned SI

+0%

71.8%

71.7%

66.0%

71.3%

   

 

Last Year 5yr Ave

2.16



% Returned NI

Change   



3 Wks Ago







2 Wks Ago



n/c

Change



Last Week



UK Leg £/lb







Export Market Demand

Procurement Indicator









Last Week

95CL US$/lb







Change

 











 











 



 























  

















 











  















Venison Prices

 









 





Change



 Beef  & venison prices are reported as gross (before normal levies & charges are deducted). Lamb & mutton prices are reported nett (after levies & charges are deducted).

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year 5yr Ave

NI Stag - 60kg

n/c

6.15

6.15

6.25

7.20

SI Stag - 60kg

n/c

6.20

6.20

6.45

7.49



Play your part Record all your stock movements in the NAIT system

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NEWS

PRICE WATCH



WOOL PRICE WATCH

BEEF

Change

22-May

15-May

Coarse Xbred Indic.

+9

5.14

5.05

4.09

Fine Xbred Indicator

+15

5.42

5.27

4.89

Lamb Indicator

+22

5.38

5.16

4.87

-

7.15

-

8.13

Plenty of cows heading North

Indicators in NZ$

With cattle slaughter supply easier to source in the last couple of weeks, NI prices held steady last week. However, there is still evidence of some high prices at the upper end of the range, particularly with cows. Companies are trying to reduce the amount of flexi available in an attempt to reduce the steady loss of margins.

Export bulls were largely priced between $4.45-$4.50/kg last week, and export steer between $4.60-$4.65/kg. Local trade is between $4.60-$4.80/kg Ave NI M Cow prices for May are currently enjoying nearly an 80c/kg premium over ave SI M Cow prices, which is driving good numbers of cows over the Cook Straight. Historically NI M Cow prices track at just over 35c/kg better through May than those down south. A steady flow of cows in the SI is keeping cow and bull schedules steady. Local trade demand is driving some lifting in export steer prices.

Mid Micron Indic.



        



The flurry of cow meat being processed in recent weeks is unfortunately not meeting with robust demand in our key market for the product. US 90CL cow prices have taken a battering in recent weeks falling from a high of US$2.16/lb in late March to now be teetering on the edge of US$2.00/lb. This downside couldn’t have come at a worse time with the NZ cow kill reportedly punching above its weight for this time of the season. The US market is being inundated with NZ cow on top of a heavy Aussie kill littered with cull cows. Australian shipments to the US for May are tipped to reach record monthly volumes in May. Although bids are dropping daily, NZ exporters are not positioned to wait and see given the higher cow kill.

Cow FOP’s are at all time highs for May - with markets not responding it would be hard to see prices push much higher.

LAMB

Store lamb prices in the NI found a level last week as demand and supply became more balanced. Paddock prices for 32-34kg males were around $2.80/kg, and 30kg ewes lambs around $2.75/kg.

Anything under 30kg is in good demand, but harder to find and prices are 5-10cpk up on the heavier lines. Reports suggest these levels may prove a constant through to July. Numbers coming through the saleyards in recent weeks certainly indicate that there may be a few more numbers around than previously thought.Store lamb numbers in the SI were lower at most sale yards last week and prices remained steady for most types. Paddock prices have remained very steady with mid range lambs (28 – 34kgsLW) quoted at $2.70–2.80/kg with those around 38kgsLW quoted at $2.50–2.60/kg.

Whole Milk Powder Cheddar

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

-105

4579

4684

5118

-163

4594

4757

5889

-45

4798

4843

6490

+47

5367

5320

5673



 

 







 











 









  

 





 











15-May

Last Year

Overseas Price Indicators Indicators in US$/kg

Change

Coarse Xbred Indicator Fine Xbred Indicator Lamb Indicator Mid Micron Indicator

22-May

+2

4.40

4.38

+7

4.64

4.57

4.05

+13

4.61

4.47

4.03

-

6.12

-

6.73

3.38



Indicators in US$/T Butter Skim Milk Powder Whole Milk Powder









Last 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

-175

3938

4113

4775

-75

4113

4188

5263

n/c

4600

4600

4600

Change -125

Cheddar



3925

4050

4150

 





 







 













 



 

 

 

 











vs. NZ Dollar

Last Week 2 Wks Ago 4 Wks Ago Last Year



0.857

0.864

0.862

0.811

Euro

0.628

0.630

0.623

0.627

UK pound

0.508

0.515

0.513

0.537



Aus dollar

0.927

0.924

0.927

0.835

DAIRY

Japan yen

87.24

87.77

88.19

82.79

 

SMP prices fall on back of US & EU peak supply



Dairy prices fell a further 1.8% at the most recent GlobalDairyTrade auction. Since prices starting declining 4 months ago, they have dropped 23%, and are the lowest since February last year. Skim milk powder prices have fallen in recent weeks as production in the US and EU increases. Demand for SMP is good, and some buyers are waiting to see if prices will fall any further. Cheese prices have held steady in the face of other product price declines as supply is tight following the diversion of milk to WMP production earlier in the year.

 





Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug







 





US Dollar



US dollar

Euro

 

                

CURRENCY WATCH



 

 

Overseas Price Indicators



Store lamb prices find their level

Skim Milk Powder







Lamb slaughter numbers in the last two weeks are holding up well and procurement competition has somewhat steadied. The commencement of winter contracts is one of the drivers for the lambs continuing to flow in both islands. Export prices in the NI have held steady for the last several weeks at between $5.90-$6.00/kg gross. Local trade operators are offering up to $6.10/kg. SI schedules lifted last week, and $5.70-$5.75/kg gross is where the market is at.

NI processors are experiencing a 35% drop in company margins in comparison to 5yr avg levels, and SI company margins are back close to 30% on 5yr avg levels.

Butter

Last 2 Wks

Change

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Lamb slaughter holding up

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Indicators in NZ$/T

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Markets flush with cow meat

DAIRY PRICE WATCH Last Year

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UK        

 

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Pound

 

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A&P SHOW

Farm to farm

Mating

Events

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Gypsy Day

From a sale yard

To find out more go to www.nait.co.nz | info@nait.co.nz | 0800 624 843

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

22 AGRIBUSINESS

Levy vote chance to ‘create momentum’ for wool industry – proponent SHEEP FARMERS have the opportunity to create momentum off the back of improving wool prices, says Sandra Faulkner, chairman of the Wool Levy Group.

About 17,000 sheep farmers will be asked to vote in the wool producers referendum on October 10. If successful a 2-5c/kg levy on wool will fund an industry-good body.

“We want to inspire and invigorate the new generations of wool growers who are not currently engaging with or influencing the direction of the wool industry,” says Faulkner.

“The average value of raw wool exports increased by 38% between 2010 and 2014 and our industry is now worth $700m. New Zealand is the world’s third-largest wool exporter supplying 45% of the world’s carpet wool.”

Yet, she says, wool is the only primary sector not represented in the 30 industry-good bodies in New Zealand.

Faulkner says growers are represented beyond the farm gate by Merino NZ, Primary Wool Co-op and Wools of New Zealand. “These companies do a

great job on behalf of their shareholders but about 50% of wool growers don’t belong to these companies.

“A farmer levy means an industrygood body will be consistently funded and work in the best interests of all New Zealand’s wool producers.”

The Wool Levy Group says through the referendum process it also wants to encourage farmers to let them know what they think. The group also includes Derrick Millton, chairman, Wool Research Organisation; Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers president;

3c/kg for the 154,000 tonnes Jeanette Maxwell, hair, meat of wool produced in New and fibre section, Federated Zealand each year. About Farmers; Hamish de Lautour, 17,000 sheep farmers will director, Primary Wool Coopbe eligible to vote. erative; Colin McKenzie, chief A positive grower executive, Cavalier Corporavote, both by number and tion; and Derek Daniell, prinweighted sheep numbers, cipal, Wairere Rams.

Sandra Faulkner is required for the wool levy The October referendum will ask sheep farmers to fund a new referendum to be presented to the Minindustry body by approving a levy of ister for Primary Industries before the 2-5c/kg of greasy or slipe wool at the first he can enact the necessary regulations under the Commodities Levies Act 1990. point of sale.

Faulkner says the referendum folThis equates to $4.6 million based on

Key facts for proposed wool levy The proposed wool levy will be used to fund industrygood activities for farmers and the wider wool industry • The proposed levy will be 2-5c/kg of greasy and slipe wool • At 3c/kg the levy would amount to $4.6 million on an estimated 154,000

tonnes of wool • NZ accounts for 12% of world production as the world’s third-largest wool producer and supplies 45% of the world’s carpet wool • The wool industry has suffered big declines in production and profitability, caused by increased

focus on meat production versus wool, land use change, intense rivalry from competitor fibres and more recently a lack of industry cohesion • Wool export volumes peaked in the 1980s and had halved by 2009 and in 2013 are similar to 1954

• By 2010, wool accounted for only 16% of combined wool and sheep meat export value compared with 71% share in 1960 • Beef and Lamb NZ still funds some wool-related activities from reserves left over from former levy payments.

lowed extensive work by the Wool Levy Review Group, a pan-sector group set up in 2012 to investigate collective grower investment.

The research found there was a case for setting up a respected industry-good organisation to: • Provide a shared vision for the sector • Act as a point of initial contact for panindustry information • Provide a sounding board for government bodies eg the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment • Assist with trade policy and negotiation to gain market access and reduce barriers to entry • Provide an overview of and investment in industry-good R&D • Leverage government and industry funding • Provide funding for initiatives promoting the awareness of wool.

Farmers at the Beef & Lamb NZ annual meeting in March this year voted in favour of the referendum proposal and the Wool Levy Group has now been set up to run the referendum.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

24 AGRIBUSINESS

Showman still going strong after 60 years Barrie Gordon, aged 87, recently celebrated 60 years working as a stock agent. At 21 he was one of the country’s youngest stock auctioneers. This icon on the livestock circuit still attends sales on the North Island east coast, but now as a reporter for local newspapers and a freelance reporting on stock sales. Sarah Charteris reports.

WHEN stock agents and farmers head to livestock sales in Gisborne, Wairoa and Rangiuru, they count on seeing Barrie Gordon.

The 87-year-old’s name is synonymous with the saleyard circuit in Hawkes Bay and Gisborne. This month marks 60 years since he led his first auction at the Matawhero saleyards hear Gisborne.

It is a rare achievement for the selfprofessed “showman” who found himself on the auctioneers’ platform at the tender age of 21.

“I was working as a clerk for Dalgetys and was at a Masterton sale with my boss who had just sold a pen,” he told Rural News. “They went to the next one and my boss had gone off to light his pipe. I yelled ‘we’re on’ and he just looked over his shoulder at me and said, ‘no, you’re on’.”

The thrill of his first sale and the stream of compliments that followed sparked a fire in his belly. “I loved it and I started doing three auctions a week as

one of the youngest auctioneers in the country. I’m still pretty proud of that.”

Not long afterwards he met his future wife Judith Menzies and successfully applied for the hotly contested head auctioneer position with Hawkes Bay Williams and Kettle. But two weeks before he was due to start the general manager rang to offer him a different location.

“They knew Judith was from Gisborne and asked if I wanted to go there, but behind it all was that some of the board thought I was too young for their Hawkes Bay clients.”

Keen to prove them wrong he held his head high and embraced the new location. On May 30, 1954 Barrie took his first auction at Matawhero and was to spend 30 years in the role – until he was given a taste of farming.

“I had been given a share in 2700 acres of steep country by a grateful client and it was then that I decided to lease 1000 acres of Maori land north of Gisborne,” Gordon explains.

Barrie Gordon

“But it was tough combining farming with auctioneering. Plus the Government took away supplementary minimum payments (SMP) and stock prices were crashing amid a global financial downturn. I ended up paying 31% on money I had borrowed. I enjoyed farming, but financially it was a disaster.”

When his lease ran out he was at a loss as to what to do. But soon another door opened.

“Around that time, I discovered I had an ability to write and approached the

Gisborne Herald to ask if I could write about how livestock sales were changing.”

The controversial story was to hit the front page and resulted in a job offer from NZ Farmer – a publication he still writes for.

While Gordon’s last stint at the podium was as a guest auctioneer in 2004, he still lives and breathes sales.

He writes up to a dozen sales reports for a number of newspapers each week and regularly contributes to rural publications. He has also written three books based on his time as an auctioneer including Matawhero, Elsewhere and Other Things and Shut the Bloody Gate.

Gordon has seen a lot of change since the early days when they could have up to 10,000 steers in the yards one day followed by 3000-5000 heifers the next. Wool was also gold, selling a pound for a pound.

“Land use is changing and while the flats just used to be for livestock we are now seeing more in cropping, orchards,

vineyards and dairying. Plus there is the growth of forestry and the conversion of farms; of course livestock numbers will drop as a result.”

But while the quantity has reduced, the quality continues to grow.

“Modern genetics has enabled farmers to breed the type of cattle and sheep that can develop to a range of new heights.”

Gordon is convinced there is a place for saleyards well into the future despite yard numbers dropping nationwide for 50 years.

“As no two people see animals from the same point of view, the auction system allows freedom of choice as to what farmers pay for them.”

He also sees his time in the sector lasting a bit longer.

“I love people and animals and even now, not being an auctioneer, it is still about the mental challenge. I love nothing more than comparing my judgment before the sale with the end result and seeing if I’ve still got it.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

AGRIBUSINESS 25

Kiwifruit industry must stay in NZ hands PA M TI PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

THE NEW Zealand kiwifruit industry must not be lost to overseas interests, says Neil Richardson, leader of a group mapping an industry long-term strategy.

Kiwifruit industries in every other country are hard pressed to make a dollar, says Richardson, independent chairman of the Kiwifruit Industry Strategy Project. Yet the New Zealand industry is “incredibly profitable, sustainable, and has dealt with Psa effectively”.

“That’s a reflection of the structure and the single desk is a very important part of that,” he says.

Single point of entry (SPE) means Zespri is the sole marketer of New Zealand kiwifruit to all

will always pay more for our companies than we’ll pay for them. That’s the nature of the stock exchange.”

Overseas investment is important but must be done in a considered way. “We mustn’t lose our sovereignty. In the timber industry, when Carter Holt was a New Zealand company it wanted to get the best price for its timber for its New Zealand shareholders. When it was owned by an American it wanted to source its timber out of New Zealand for the lowest cost.”

New Zealand kiwifruit is a big industry by New Zealand standards, earning $1 billion annually in exports which could triple in a decade. “One of the challenges in a smaller industry with individual growers is they can be picked off. The single

is now happening in the apple industry where companies and now orchards are being bought by overseas interests.

“But because the average orchard size is only 4-5ha and we

don’t have the degree of aggregation you might have in other industries, for someone from outside to buy a whole series of orchards and put them together is quite a nightmare. So it’s a

exports markets except Australia.

Richardson says New Zealand is highest cost producer in the world and is furthest from the markets, yet it has the highest market share and is “massively” the most profitable. That shows the “huge” value in its structures.

Richardson says one reason he agreed to head the strategy project was because he could see conversations going on which could lead to confusion and New Zealanders leaving the kiwifruit industry.

He has seen overseas interests buying up assets in other industries “for a song”, putting them on the balance sheet and making a lot of money.

As a businessman he has done it himself, selling companies to the French, Australians and Americans. But he wants his grandchildren to have jobs in New Zealand in world-class industries.

“Overseas companies

point of entry is a way to keep the power in the hands of the New Zealand growers, not allowing them to be picked off one by one by organisations up the value chain who have global markets and come from other countries.”

The SPE enables the industry to innovate in the marketplace so kiwifruit, a perishable crop, becomes a 12-months product in the supply chain. “That enables the New Zealand kiwifruit industry to command a premium over other kiwifruit producing nations. It also ensures the industry has the capability to respond to things like Psa.” NZ Kiwifruit Growers president Neil Trebilco told Rural News he had heard about proposals from overseas interests wanting to buy orchards on a relatively big scale.

That was fine if it was done in partnership with growers. “What we don’t want to lose is New Zealand ownership and control,” he says. That

FMG0546

“Overseas companies will always pay more for our companies than we’ll pay for them. That’s the nature of the stock exchange.”

That’s what works out here.

disincentive for someone to come in and buy a whole lot of orchards.

“Because the industry is grower owned and controlled and has relatively small orchards, it’s a deterrent.”

Neil Richardson

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

26 OPINION EDITORIAL

EDNA

It’s actually good news!

FROM PAGE 1

Fairfax wasn’t alone, of course. All its metrobased brethren took the low road. The TV One News website lit up with “Fonterra has cut its forecast 2014 milk payout… and expects the payout for the 2015 season to tumble to $7/ kgMS.” At its media conference Fonterra provided ample context so the assembled hacks might see the silver lining, not just the cloud.

For example, chairman John Wilson said the new season forecast was historically high, but reflected current market conditions. “Our farmers understand the realities of dairy commodity price cycles, and will exercise caution at this early stage in the season,” he said.

He could have pointed out that the opening forecast of $7.00 is up $1.20 on the 201213 season that ended at $5.80/kg, or $6.12/kg including the 32c/share dividend.

Bank economists also did their best to add context to the reportage, although these comments were largely buried as metro media strained to accentuate the negative.

ANZ’s statement was balanced, and consistent with the other banks: “On the face of it the decline in the payout between years is a drag on the economy over the coming year, but that dynamic is exaggerated.” The coming year’s payout will still be the fourth-highest on record, and from a spending point of view farmers will be in a similar cashflow situation.” ANZ also said average farm profitability is still expected to be nearly $3500/ha – nearly three times the seven-year average of $1150/ha.

Plenty of potential for a positive headline then, but Fairfax et al think the only good news is bad news.

SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND? GOT SOMETHING on your mind about the latest issues affecting our farming industry? Put your pen to paper or your fingers to your keyboard, and let our readers know what you think.

Contact us by either post or email.

Don’t forget to put your name and address.

Note: Letters may be edited. post to: Letter to the Editor PO Box 3855, Auckland 1140. or Email: editor@ruralnews.co.nz

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“Yep – sprinkle that on your chickens and in no time you’ll have hens!”

THE HOUND That’ll show ‘em!

THE HOUND hears that the winner of the NZ Dairy Industry Awards farm manager of the year title, Nick Bertram, Featherston, proved to be a crowd pleaser with his witty winner’s speech. Apparently Bertram wowed the big crowd gathered at Sky City in Auckland, last month, with his dry, down-home modesty and humour. However, Bertram got the biggest laugh of the night when he put modesty aside, for a minute, and admitted he was pleased to pick up the farm manager of the year title so that he can now go and rub it in the faces of those farmers who had not given him a job.

Want to share your opinion or gossip with the Hound?

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

Sour milk

Quack, quack

Crazy sheep

SPEAKING OF the dairy awards, despite all the goodwill and accolades – as well as beer and champagne – freely flowing at the event’s 25th anniversary celebration held in Auckland last month, not everyone attending was full of the joy of life. Your canine crusader hears that former ACT MP and Rodney mayor, and now super-city councillor Penny Webster, was mightily peeved – that she had not been given due recognition on the night. The Hound’s spy says Webster was not happy she not only had to pay $200 to attend the event but was not even mentioned in any of the 25th anniversary celebratory speeches.

YOUR OLD mate reckons the old saying ‘if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck – then it’s a duck’ is a truism.

This old mutt had to have a giggle at the silly claims recently made by Fairfax, the Australian-owned and controlled publisher of the newly deceased Straight Furrow, which it has now re-branded as the NZ Farmer. A mate of the Hound pointed out that nothing much has changed: “It is still the same poor team of reporters putting out the same poor stories in a very, poor newspaper”. As the Hound’s mate opined: “Just because you put lipstick on a pig doesn’t change anything; it still remains a pig, but one wearing lipstick”.

THE HOUND wonders with the recent demise of legal highs whether our sheep farmers now potentially have something to worry about?

According to news reports out of Australia, 100s of sheep in the central west of New South Wales have died after eating a poisonous plant and bashing their heads open “like heroin addicts”. Stephen and Louise Knight have lost 800 sheep to the noxious plant. Darling pea, from the Swainsona species, contains a poison that is toxic to livestock.

TECHNICAL EDITOR: Andrew Swallow ................... Ph 03 688 2080 PRODUCTION: Dave Ferguson ........................Ph 09 913 9633 Becky Williams ........................Ph 09 913 9634 REPORTERS: Sudesh Kissun ....................... Ph 09 913 9627 Pamela Tipa ............................ Ph 09 913 9630 Peter Burke .............................Ph 06 362 6319 Tony Hopkinson ......................Ph 07 579 1010 SUB-EDITOR: Neil Keating ............................Ph 09 913 9628 WEBSITE PRODUCER: James Anderson .................... Ph 09 913 9621

Lord of the ring?

YOUR OLD mate is still somewhat taken aback when he sees Synlait chief executive John Penno rolled out in the national media as the guru of the business side of the New Zealand dairy industry. Not that the Hound wants to take anything away from Penno’s achievements in the sector. However, this old mutt is old enough to remember Penno as the earring-wearing scientist – based at the old dairy research institute – before he morphed into his latter day stint as the equivalent of NZ dairy’s Richard Branson. Your canine crusader wonders if he’s still got the earring?

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER: Ted Darley .......... Ph 07 854 6292/021 832 505 ted@ruralnews.co.nz

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AUCKLAND SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Stephen Pollard ....Ph 09 913 9637/021 963 166 stephenp@ruralnews.co.nz

SOUTH ISLAND SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Kaye Sutherland Ph 03 337 3828/021 221 1994 kayes@ruralnews.co.nz

ABC audited circulation 81,232 as at 31.12.2013 Rural News is published by Rural News Group Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of staff, management or directors of Rural News Group Ltd.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

OPINION 27

Comply on effluent or wave goodbye to cows A N D E RSO N LLOY D

A RECENT enforcement order by the Environment Court should be a timely warning for dairy farmers to ensure their effluent management systems meet required standards and are capable of coping with farm expansion.

In April the Environment Court issued an enforcement order to a Marlborough dairy farm owner prohibiting him from re-stocking for the 2014-15 milking season until he had installed an approved effluent management system.

The court indicated it will order the farm to be destocked if the effluent system is not installed as directed, and might even cancel the farm’s resource consent – an unprecedented move in New Zealand.

Marlborough District Council initiated the

enforcement order process in August 2013, under the Resource Management Act (RMA) 1991, against Awarua Farm Marlborough Ltd and its director Philip Woolley for breaching terms of the farm company’s resource consent. The land is located on the low-lying river flats of the Wairau River at Tuamarina.

The farm had consent to milk 700 cows, but its effluent sump proved inadequate to deal with wash-down volumes. An irrigator had also stalled and caused ponding on several occasions, and had been subject to breakdown and nozzle splitting. The court was not satisfied the farm could avoid ponding of effluent or prevent effluent reaching natural water without further electronic monitoring and controls.

The court had previously issued

Woolley with an interim enforcement order in October 2013 that set several minimum requirements for the existing effluent system to continue to be utilised.

He was asked to obtain expert certification of the effluent management system to provide for: • 700 cows (or such other number specified) • wash-down from three days of effluent • exclusion of storm water • the sump to be cleared to enable 10m2 capacity to be available at the commencement of each milking • the sump not overflowing or ponding • capacity at all times to provide three days reserve storage and • effluent irrigators that operate at all times within the parameter of their application rates.

In its latest decision

the Environment Court concluded that, “Woolley and the various farming identities with which

storage system. The court decided it was essential to make a permanent enforcement order that

This response reinforces that the courts have extensive powers to enforce breaches of the RMA and tailor enforcement solutions to suit individual cases. he operates are having considerable problems meeting modern environmental standards”.

The court was not satisfied that the conditions of consent and the requirements of the RMA could be met with the existing effluent

there be no re-stocking of the farm for the 201415 milking season until a new effluent system (with specific parameters) was approved and installed.

In the event that no effluent system was approved and installed by July 30, and the farm was

BE

ST

effluent management system is installed, and in order to avoid further prosecutions for breach, he will need to implement an extremely high level of site management and potentially remove excess effluent from the farm in extreme weather conditions.

It is possible that significantly reducing stock numbers on the farm, or even ceasing operation and surrendering resource consent might yet prove to be more viable options.

• Anderson Lloyd is a resource management lawyer in Christchurch.

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restocked in breach of the order or the certification reports indicated on-going problems with the operation, then the council could apply to the court to de-stock the farm or cancel its resource consent.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

28 OPINION

Dairy awards salutes its own milky way G E RRY M O R R I S

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS of honouring the most important people in the dairy industry hasn’t gone without the ceremonial equivalent of a cantankerous Clarabelle kicking out at the bail.

But it’s been a bucket of laughs. No one could

have dreamed there would be so much fun in the evolution of the Sharemilker of the Year (SMOTY) regional and national competitions, through mergers with two other honours, into the New Zealand Dairy Awards.

It was no different when the 25-year milestone was marked at Sky

City in Auckland recently, still a glitzy, sell-out gathering. Three key foundation players were there: Penny Webster, former ACT MP and mayor of Rodney District, now an Auckland City councillor, who set up the original national sharemilker competition and managed it for 10 years, and impor-

tantly, two original sponsors rounded up by her, Ecolab and Honda.

Webster initiated the national final of the SMOTY to recognise excellence in the industry when she was chair of the Feds sharemilkers’ subsection in 1989. She continued as convenor of the regional and national

finals until 1999.

She says, “My aim was to lift the professionalism of the industry from Northland to Southland.

At that time, we wanted to elevate sharemilkers in particular from glorified farm workers to recognised professional partners.”

The competition pro-

Penny Webster was instrumental in setting up the national dairy awards competition.

gramme setting the standards for best on-farm practice coincided with the beginning of the expansion of dairying in the South Island in the 1990s, causing demand for competent dairy operators. It also coincided with a desire by the Bank of New Zealand to develop its rural lending portfolio, so it became the original naming-rights sponsor of the competition.

That was the start of a happy relationship, with the bank suffering virtually no bad debts among its sharemilker customers.

The relationship was celebrated at a Rotorua finals night when event co-manager Nicola Barnes set up table decorations with iris flowers of blue and yellow, the bank’s corporate colours, set in lush squares of readylawn.

In the spirit of the awards never taking themselves too seriously, Nicola next morning rocked the Feds’ review meeting with the hoax announcement that the bank was cancelling its sponsorship because of the crass nature of the flower arrangements.

The bank felt, she said, that the decorations were grossly insensitive to dairy farmers as the nation was in drought and some of the guests had cried with frustration when they saw the flowers and luxuriant green grass.

The bank, thankfully, continued its sponsorship, but things ran close later when rural manager Gray Baldwin, sweating like a gypsy with a mortgage as he hosted his Melbournebased boss – in New Zealand for the first time – locked the boss’s luggage and car keys in the boot.

They had to wait until the wee small hours until a locksmith could make it out of bed from Hamilton.

While the Dairy Awards have never had any trouble attracting sponsors over the years – unusual in the ultra-competitive world of event funding – they have always provided adventure for sponsors. As in 1995 when key sponsors were stranded in a remote part of the Hokitika River in a broken-down jet boat. The TransAlpine train from Greymouth to Christchurch had to be delayed while the VIPs were recovered.

The strong history of the awards was highlighted at the Sky City Convention Centre in the speeches by this year’s finalists for the farm worker honour. To a man and one woman, they sang the praises of Marton dairy farmer Greg Maughan, a winner in past years himself and organiser, who this year had arranged and hosted farm visits for the finalists.

For the recognised ‘mother of all sharemilkers’, and now grandmother, Penny Webster, this year’s awards evening lacked one vital ingredient – the aptly named former dedication song for the winners, “Movin’ on up”, a Webster initiative from 1992.

No doubt that will be well covered in any written history that emerges about this impressive, national and annual recognition of the cream of the crop in New Zealand dairying.

• Gerry Morris is a Wellington PR adviser and was event manager for the SMOTY awards from 19902001.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

OPINION 29 A BUCKING BAD LOOK! WHEN NEW Zealand farmers are under ever increasing pressure from overseas markets to improve animal welfare, it beggars belief how the National Animal Advisory Welfare Committee (NAWAC) signed off the Animal Welfare (Rodeos) Code of Welfare in 2003, when the practice is banned in most countries which take our exports in volume? I wouldn’t expect rodeo cowboys to accept this of course, as I know their viewpoints well and concern for exports doesn’t feature in them.

Rodeos have been getting more public exposure recently as newspapers find that the photos of highly stressed and terrified animals (and cowboys) make good front-page copy when blown up large. A photographer has just received an award for

such a shot.

Why on earth didn’t the NZ Veterinary Association and Federated Farmers blow the last rodeo code review out of the water? The lowly resourced SPCA would have little impact sadly.

It is nonsense for rodeos to say in their defence that their antics are ‘traditional’ to New Zealand. The worst aspect of it all is encouraging young folk to take up the so-called ‘sport’: one Waikato school is even running a training class for students presumably to compete at the local venue sponsored by one of New Zealand’s largest agricultural export companies. I fail to see the marketing benefits of that.

Recent examples of the tightening requirements of countries that

import our animal products (especially dairy produce) should be a warning for farmers to come out firing, and put a strong case to ban the practice when the code comes up for review again. Farmers should demand it be given urgent priority. In the meantime our clean, green and ‘humane’ image is a joke.

Why would a Chinese mother want to buy dairy produce from a country where grown men scare the living daylights out of cattle to public adoration?

I hope Fonterra and MPI have good documented explanations on file in good Mandarin for their new staff in China. The way things are going, they could be needed.

Clive Dalton Hamilton

WAS IT A SUPER PIG? JOHN VEYSEY (Rural News, April 8) claims that TBfree New Zealand has only caught one bovine TB infected pig in seven years. However, I know of several infected possums and wild deer captured in the central North Island.

Since 2011, TB has been eradicated from wild animals on some 500,000ha of New Zealand’s 10 million hectare TB risk area. I understand the next step is to declare a further 300,000ha of TB risk area free of the disease.

Is this great achieve-

ment solely down to the capture of one TB ‘super pig’?

In the 1980s, funding for possum control was cut and the number of TB-infected herds increased dramatically, placing thousands of farmers’ incomes at risk, including my own.

As a consequence of this funding cut, Auckland ratepayers’ alone were spending at least $1 million on possum control each year. South Kaipara Head, north of Auckland, was a hotbed of TB in cattle and deer. It is now

clear of the disease, as is the rest of Auckland.

Thanks largely to possum control, we are on the path towards eradicating the disease.

Mr Veysey’s statement that possums are not TB vectors is erroneous. No other country with a TB wildlife problem has had the same level of success in controlling the disease.

New Zealand scientists are in demand around the world. One only has to look at TB-infected badgers spreading the disease to UK cattle: who do they consult? New

Zealand. As a farmer, I will continue to pay for TB control through my rates, taxes and levies. To stop the eradication of TB in wild animals now would lead to disaster.

Keith Kelly Clevedon

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

30 MANAGEMENT

Integration of stock pivotal The Ritchie family’s large-scale crop and stock operation won this year’s Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year competition, with over 400 people attending an on-farm field day last month. Vivienne Haldane reports.

SOLID BUSINESS management and attention to detail is behind the success of the winners of Silver Fern Farms, Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year 2014.

Hugh Ritchie, managing director of Drumpeel Farms leads a farming

operation that combines large-scale cropping (cereals, process vegetables and small seeds) with lamb and cattle finishing.

The agricultural farming company owned, directed and managed by the Ritchie family has expanded significantly in

the past decade to include two main properties about 20km apart: Horonui and Drumpeel.

Ritchie, who prefers cropping to livestock, delegates the latter role to stock operations manager, Jason Daly.

“Jason runs his team

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and cropping manager, Mike Foster is my secondin-command. I set out the plan and leave them to it.”

However, the integration of stock and cropping is pivotal and Ritchie keeps a keen eye on things.

“Communications with Jason and his team is critical as to how we manage that and we put a lot of time into it.”

He says they focus on what they can control which is cost and yield.

“Whether we are growing grass or lambs and beef or crops, if we can keep our costs down and get our per hectare income and yield up then we are going to come out on top.”

Other economic strategies include spending money on technology that boosts productivity, such as GPS leveling systems on tractors and top of the line sprayers, but choosing to buy quality second-hand equipment and sharing cropping equipment.

They recently upgraded their silo complex. “We gain $20-$50 per ton on grain if we can hold it over and then sell it when not

Fiber in the calf shed

Family business: Hugh and Sharon Ritchie explain their operation.

pressed by harvest conditions. Letting the market come up is a critical part of gaining strength.”

“We think there is still over a million dollars of gains we can make in this business and most of that will come by incremental gains in lifting our averages and working at all those little things.”

Ritchie’s father, David, began the combination of cropping and pastoral farming in the 1960s.

In the late 1990s they began to irrigate 215ha at Drumpeel Road which brought new possibilities for cropping and procuring lambs.

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in 2001, adding additional finishing and some cropping opportunity, but was dropped earlier this year because it was no longer required.

In 2006, Peka Peka, a 330ha property was purchased and not long after they bought Horonui Station (475 ha) which linked their land areas. They also lease a neighbouring 100 ha.

Wainui, adjoining Drumpeel, came on the market last year and was added to the holdings.

“This leaves us with a focused business in two locations: Horonui and Drumpeel, with livestock finishing, vegetable and cereal cropping the main focuses,” says Ritchie.

Ritchie won a Nuffield Scholarship in 2001 and spent time in the USA, UK, France and Asia where he studied minimum till management systems and irrigation efficiency. The

result can be seen on the Ritchies’ farms today.

Making the decision to irrigate gave the family the confidence to start direct drilling. Crops are in five-year rotation: ryegrass, maize, squash, peas or beans, winter wheat, and back into ryegrass. It’s sustainable land management both for stock and cropping. Crops of maize, sweet corn and squash and beans are strip tilled. Peas, wheat barley, oats and ryegrass are direct drilled.

These establishment methods minimise the impact of machinery on paddocks and cut fuel and labour costs.

All process crops are contracted. Ritchie prides himself on having created very good relationships with customers such as McCain’s. “Three years ago they asked if we could grow carrots, so we put in a block and it went well.

TO PAGE 31

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MANAGEMENT 31 DRUMPEEL FARMS' DETAILS ❱❱ Three properties plus 100ha lease block: Drumpeel (310ha), Horonui (1227ha), Wainui (338ha). ❱❱ Climate: summer dry, some flood prone flats, frost risk March –November. 700-800mm rain/year. ❱❱ Fodder crops: no specialist summer crops for fodder but all appropriate crop ground sown in short rotation ryegrass or kale. Maize silage saved for autumn feed if dry. ❱❱ Sub-division: all pastoral country down to 3-7ha with a mix of permanent, 5-wire electric and single wire fencing. Cropping area uses multi wire poly fences as required. ❱❱ Cattle: 61% of stock units. Target to finish 1500 R2 bulls, 330kg carcass weight, killed October- December. ❱❱ Sheep: 39% of SUs, target 16,500 lambs winter finished lambs, 10,000 off shortrotation fodder crops. ❱❱ Labour: general manager, Hugh Ritchie; administration, Sharon Ritchie; stock operations manager, Jason Daly; Central Hawkes Bay stock manager, Peter Kettle; Cropping manager, Mike Foster; three shepherds; two tractor operators.

FROM PAGE 30

“We are aware of what the dairy industry means and that’s why we are pushing to get cropping systems that match and meet dairy but with a lower capital requirement.”

Stock operations manager Daly says the management strategy for cattle and sheep is simple, with three key products: beef, lamb and wool. “We want high return livestock policies with low risk.”

Lamb finishing: stock enterprises are kept simple and large-scale.

Inset: Stock operations manager Jason Daly.

Cattle run on non-arable cropping land only.

The objective is to achieve average annual daily live weight of 1.0kg/day.

For 2013 season the average buy liveweight was 260kg and average sale weight was 650kg.

Lambs are bought at 33-35kg liveweight with a target 20kg liveweight gain to kill at 23-25kg carcass weight. Trading margin overall averages $50/head which equates to $2.50/kg TO PAGE 33

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Judges comment COMPETITION JUDGE Peter Keeling lists the points of difference that set the Ritchie’s farm apart from the others in the Silver Fern Farms Hawkes Bay Farmer of the Year competition.

“The Ritchies had the best business plan for their operation and clear objectives to work towards.

“They have simple stock policies that are well suited to their parts of Hawke’s Bay, coupled with high, per head performance and good financial returns.

“Much passion and research goes into the sustainable cropping side of their business. Some of this ground has been cropped for 50 years, which is phenomenal by NZ standards.

“The Ritchies are innovators when it comes to using irrigation technology and this contributes to their achieving greater productivity.”

Contribution to agriculture in Hawkes Bay and further afield was another factor in his success.

“Key features of what you can see here reflect Hugh’s off-farm involvement in national bodies such as Federated Farmers, Foundation for Arable Research, (FAR), IrrigationNZ and LandWISE. “What makes business excellent is having sound systems and understanding the financials and that’s something Drumpeel Farms does really well. Sharon is in the office systemising and keeping information up to date so when people are making decisions they are using accurate financial information.”

Craig Riddiford, Director at Brown, Webb, Richardson (BWR) noted Drumpeel Farms’ solid governance structure with a board that keeps an eye on things and which Hugh is accountable to.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

32 MANAGEMENT

B flocks for flex and profit Ewe efficiency, self-feed silage and analysis of returns from a range of livestock enterprises were key topics at a Beef + Lamb NZ ‘Farming For Profit’ field day in South Canterbury late last month. Andrew Swallow reports.

What you need is a system to track the animals that let you down and those that never let you down.”

Assuming ewes are first lambed as two-tooths, the first step is to tag any two-tooth that scans a single. “She’s on trial for 12 months. You can’t afford to put her straight into the cull mob because she may never have another single.”

Similarly, older ewes that scan a single get a tag.

“You want to know if she’s one of those ewes that every year they have twins they have a single the year after to get over it. If they do that over their lifetime they’re only scanning 150% and we want more than that.”

The second “more important” step is drafting ewes on condition at weaning, giving light ewes a different coloured tag to the singles. If they’re light, and had a single, they get a black tag and go straight into the B flock, or “terminal mob.”

If they’re light but reared twins, they get a different coloured tag. If they then

scan a single, they go into the B flock, as do any four-tooths or older ewes that scan single having also scanned single as a two-tooth.

Turning up skinny at second or subsequent weanings, having done it once (as identified by your tagging system) is also a black tag offence.

“You need different systems to weed out those low fertility ewes that are always in good condition and those that are repeat offenders on body condition.”

While it’s a common argument that those skinny ewes are skinny because they’ve probably reared great twin lambs, in a commercial system few farmers have any way of checking that and research has shown that often that’s not the case, Holgate told Rural News after the field day.

“We need ewes that can do both: milk well, rearing good lambs and hold condition while doing so.”

A third point for B flock selection is conformation. “You’ll get some ewes that hold condition but the conforma-

tion of the ewe, regardless of how good the ram is, will decrease the flexibility you have with her lambs.”

Age doesn’t come into his selection system, as an old ewe that can maintain condition and repeatedly rear twins is exactly the sort of sheep you should be breeding from as effectively you’re adding longevity to your selection criteria for replacements.

“A lot of farmers traditionally put their older ewes to the terminal sire, the thinking being they can wean them early and get the old ewe away, but those old ewes that haven’t collected any tags (ie never light or scanned single) during their lifetime are the best ewes on the farm. You have to ask yourself do you want the chance to get another ewe lamb or two from her.”

That said, when it does come to selecting culls, tags identifying a previous offence such as having a single or turning up light, will help prioritise decisions.

Holgate says his system means replacements are only bred from good

ewes, resulting in more even lines at weaning with a reduced “tail-end”.

Feeding requirement of the flock is no longer focused on the bottom end ewes, and with each generation the flock becomes more efficient. More efficient ewes will be cheaper to feed and provide more flexibility from weaning to winter.

“You can ask them to do a job for a short burst and not worry that the bottom 10-20% are going to lose condition,” he told the field day.

Meanwhile the B flock, put to terminal sires, produce better lambs too, thanks to hybrid vigour despite the ewes’ flaws (light, poor conformation or single scanning). Singles will be away earlier helping cashflow and easing feed demand.

The B flock also represents a class of stock that can be sold at almost any point in the year if the season dictates, adding flexibility that will help avoid having to sell capital stock.

“The moment she becomes a B ewe I call her a trading ewe.”

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SPLITTING EWES into an A and B flock is quite common but are you reaping all the possible rewards from such a strategy?

Speaking to a Beef + Lamb New Zealand field day in South Canterbury recently Otago consultant Errol Holgate outlined the advantages of such a system, and exactly which ewes should be going into the B flock.

Get it right and the benefits rapidly compound in a more efficient A flock producing more and better lambs.

Meanwhile the B flock provides a flexible class of stock that can be used to do a job or be offloaded if feed is tight.

Holgate’s approach is to select ewes on efficiency, and not just the weight of lamb they rear relative to ewe bodyweight or scanning results.

“It’s about how much feed they use from weaning to winter, so they’re not taking feed off other stock. In all ewe flocks some of the best condition ewes are inefficient and some top scanning ewes are inefficient. They can look great and scan great but still be inefficient.

Errol Holgate

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

MANAGEMENT 33

Super growth from self-feed silage SOUTH CANTERBURY farmers Richard and Pip Giles achieved spectacular growth rates with cattle last winter, and they didn’t have to feed out once to do it.

A mob of 120 beef cattle put on 1-1.1kg liveweight/day over 95 days on a simple hot-wire self-feed silage system.

“They got as much as we could give them without them wasting it,” Richard told a recent Beef + Lamb New Zealand field day on the property. “They were actually licking the [limestone] floor of the pit

clean once we found the right height for the wire.”

Going on the silage contractor’s estimate of 110t of drymatter having gone into the stack, and 100% utilisation, intake over 95 days would have averaged 9.6kgDM/ head/day, indicating an excellent feed conversion rate.

A hot wire strung between standards set in concrete-filled tyres was used to control access.

Giles commented that with hindsight the pit was filled a bit too high because as the cattle ate

into the face of it, an overhang was created which, if left to fall of its own accord, could snag the hotwire giving the cattle free access to the face of the pit.

Last summer 14ha of barley was taken as wholecrop specifically for self-feeding from another pit this winter. If that’s

successful next spring the original self-feed pit and this year’s pit will be refilled so they can selffeed “close on 300” cattle.

Besides the fuel, machinery, wear and tear and labour savings of not feeding out, Giles says there would have been “a hell of a mess to fix” had the mob of 120

been on kale.

Environmental issues aside, the lasting impact of such soil damage was noted by local livestock agent Hamish Laine of Peter Walsh Associates.

He recounted how another local farmer growing barley after kale noticed the header’s yield monitor drop from 8t/ha to 5t/ha as

he went onto an area that had been pugged by overwintered dairy cattle.

“And what happens there the next year, and the year after? When you consider dairy grazing you’ve got to factor these things in. And get it in writing: it might not solve all the problems but it helps you get

through them.”

Fellow field day guest speaker Jamie Gordon of Five Star Beef said a key point to remember is winter feed such as silage isn’t cheap. But that doesn’t mean it should be tightly rationed, in fact quite the opposite, he stressed.

Adding value: storage means grain makes $50-$60/t more than it would at harvest.

Integration of stock and crop pivotal FROM PAGE 31

liveweight gain.

Decisions are made from the monthly feed budget and projected covers.

“We’ve got pretty religious about this and the stocking rate is altered monthly on this information. We view the farm as a grass growing factory,” says Daly.

“A key point with the feed budget is keeping our grass in the fast growing band. We have identified the cost of not doing this. We don’t want to let pastures run high in summer due to poor conversion. We also don’t want to be converting a kilo of drymatter to carcass weight in January or February that we could have converted in November or December with a 70% better conversion.”

They are currently carrying out extensive pasture renovation at Horonui using a double spray fallow system and then direct drilling, using a seed mix with perennial ryegrass, clover and cocksfoot.

The stock water system at Horonui has been upgraded and there are now water tanks and pressurised water on top of all the hills and 4-5 pump sheds throughout the property.

Ritchie says he and his team are always looking for ideas from all sources.

“We don’t think we’re too clever to take advice including looking overseas and adapting those ideas to our own operation.

“Relationships with clients, suppliers, family and staff are top of our list and are critical to our operation and are a two-way thing. Good long-term relationships are built on a win- win basis.”

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TO PAGE 34

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

34 MANAGEMENT

Feed plenty for best returns “A lot of people use it just to get livestock through, not worrying about growth rate, but that’s a very expensive way to use feed because you’re not getting any production off that feed.”

The first thing is to ensure quality ensiled is as

in the process. “Intake is the key driver of growth rate,” he stressed.

Roughly the first 7kgDM/day of intake for a rising two-year-old cattle beast will be used for maintenance. Feed it 9kgDM/day and you might get 0.4-0.5kg of liveweight gain/day, but feed it 11-12kg and that will jump

too late the grains are too hard – unless crimped by the contractor – and pass straight through cattle undigested.

“The grain really is the engine of the crop.”

Pits need to be well stacked and compacted, and when feeding the aim is to maximise intake even if it means wasting a little

high as possible, given the cost to make poor silage is much the same as good.

“So maximise the quality going into the pit.”

With cereal silage in particular that can be tricky, he warned, as grain needs to be sufficiently mature to give the silage a good starch and hence energy content, but if cut

FROM PAGE 33

to 0.8-0.9kg liveweight gain/day.

“That’s a huge difference and it flows through to the cost you put on these animals.” Feed conversion to liveweight gain at the higher feed rate is a respectable 13:1. At the lower feed rate it’s 25:1 and infinite at maintenance.

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Jamie Gordon

mals prefer to feed, is also important to maximise intake, said Gordon.

While the Giles’ limestone floored pits hadn’t had a problem self-feeding behind a wire, what can happen is cattle don’t eat down to the floor and the waste gradually builds up and up under their feet as they pull feed down and trample on it, he warned.

Five Star’s solution is to use purpose-made metal barriers so the feed falls down between them and the pit face, effectively forming a trough for the cattle to eat out of.

When they can’t reach any

more, the barrier’s pushed closer to the pit face again and more silage is pulled down.

Easy access to clean water is critical to achieving top performance, particularly with higher drymatter feeds.

“If they’ve got poor water or a long walk to get it, they won’t eat as much.

It’s a bit like Weetbix: if you’ve not got enough milk you’re not going to eat many.”

Similarly, if cattle have to walk through “gumboot sucking” mud to get to feed, they’re not going to do it so often. “Studies have shown that once the mud gets over the hoof there’s a decrease in production.”

Minerals and vitamins also need to be considered, with deficiencies in the feed rectified with licks or minerals mixed into the stack at ensiling or feeding.

Certain feeds, such as maize, may need more protein adding for optimum stock growth rates.

One way to do that is to add urea but Gordon stressed specialist advice should be sought as urea can be toxic if not incorporated properly.

“But the most important thing is to maximise feed intake. You can give animals all the minerals under the sun but if you’re not feeding them enough they’re not going to grow.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

ANIMAL HEALTH 35

$500m target for fertility stud A N D REW SWA LLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

IF YOU have some very high fertilityscore cows, or some very low ones, you could be getting a call from your breeding company in the next few weeks.

DairyNZ, with the help of Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) cash and/or resources from AgResearch, Fonterra, LIC and CRV Ambreed, is embarking on a sevenyear fertility study that could deliver a $500m/year increase in on-farm profit.

The research, budget about $30m, also aims to find new management tools to help farmers take advantage of the targeted improvement in genetic fertility.

The first step will be to create a purpose-built herd of 700 Holstein-Friesian heifer calves with low and high fertility attributes for the research using the progeny of matings later this year.

“More than 2800 contract matings will be required and we need the support of dairy farmers to ensure we are able to achieve the required number of animals,” says DairyNZ senior scientist and project leader Dr Chris Burke.

LIC and CRV Ambreed are supporting the establishment of this research herd, with LIC managing the contract mating programme. LIC was last week due to start contacting more than 1000 dairy farmers who have suitable cows on their farm.

“At this point they will only be from the North Island, just because of the logistics,” Burke told Rural News.

Using Jersey and Kiwicross for the study was considered but Holstein-Friesians offer the greatest diversity in fertility hence were better suited.

“There’s 10% variance in the fertility BV of progeny,” points out Burke.

That fertility BV is based on the chance of getting back in calf in the first six weeks of mating, with the best ranked cows having about an 83% chance, to the worst about 73%.

“More cows in-calf means more milk in the vat before Christmas, fewer replacements required, more flexibility when making culling decisions to improve herds and better returns overall,” he points out.

The research programme’s goal is to lift six-week in-calf rate from the current average of 65% to 78%, which

High or low: a seven-year cross-industry study is investigating the extremes of fertility in the national herd. Inset: Chris Burke

is where the estimated annual increase in on farm profit of $500m comes from.

Burke says it’s a challenging target can’t be achieved with current knowledge and technologies.

“A biological breakthrough is required. The research herd will help us to unravel the underlying biology that differentiates genetically fertile cows

from infertile cows.”

Some of the best scientists in New Zealand and Australia will be working together with the research herd, and on a parallel study in the commercial herds of a “farming corporate” looking at why 30% of apparent conceptions 35 days after insemination do not result in a sustained pregnancy.

The magnitude, timing and possible reasons for such pregnancy failures will be measured. Burke says the study’s unprecedented and will be a major collaborative effort between DairyNZ, AgResearch and Fonterra.

Improved recording and enhanced statistical analysis models will also be investigated for their potential to improve fertility selection.

Part of the research herd work aims to find novel phenotypes that could be used to select for improved fertility genotypes. “These could be genetic markers in the blood or changes in blood chemistry.”

An “out there” possibility are exosomes, waste bodies ejected from cells and carried in the blood that contain all sorts of information about the cells they originate from, including genetic information, explains Burke, who is leading the programme which will bring together work from scientists at AgResearch, University of VictoriaWellington, University of Queensland, Cognosco (a division of Anexa Animal Health), New Zealand Animal Evaluation Ltd and AbacusBio, as well as DairyNZ.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

36 ANIMAL HEALTH

Wormer with ruminant potential?

ALAN HARMAN

DISCOVERY OF a bacteria-derived protein that can almost completely eliminate intestinal worms from infected pigs has potential ruminant use,

say researchers.

The crystal protein Cry5B is derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and had previously been shown to be toxic to hookworms with laboratory tests show-

ing Cry5B triggers stressresponse pathways in hookworm (Ascaris spp) larvae and adults similar to that observed with other worms.

Now, work feeding two moderate doses of the pro-

tein Cry5B to pigs shows nearly complete elimination of intestinal Ascaris. suum infection, US Agricultural Research Service microbiologist Joseph Urban says.

The dose was compara-

Animal caretaker Andy Covell (left) and microbiologist Joseph Urban test the Cry5B protein on a piglet. PHOTO: STEPHEN AUSMUS

ble to that used in existing commercial antiparasitic drugs. Urban, who worked with researchers Raffi Aroian and Yan Hu from the University of California-San Diego, says Cry5B has “potential for use where worm resistance is becoming a problem, especially among ruminant livestock.”

It also has potential in humans as Ascaris suum is genetically so similar to the parasitic roundworm A. lumbricoide, which

Are you prepared to take a hit?

infects about one billion people a year worldwide, that some evidence suggests they are the same species.

“These results show the potential of Cry5B to treat Ascaris infections in pigs and other livestock and to work effectively in the human gastrointestinal tract.”

A patent protein expression has been applied for and further research with ARS is being planned.

Long way from being a product

ELE-00790-RN

AGRESEARCH’S INTERNAL parasite specialist David Leathwick says the US research is “mildly interesting” in that it is the first in vivo (ie in the animal) use of such proteins on a productive livestock species that he’s aware of; previous in vivo work having been in mice and hamsters.

“Lots of things work in vitro (ie in the laboratory).

It’s getting them to work in an animal that’s the difficult bit,” he told Rural News.

However, the insecticidal properties of the Cry proteins have been known for decades and if a commercial anthelmintic were likely to come from them, it probably would have by now.

“Nobody will develop them as an anthelmintic unless there’s a business case to support it because the cost is so high.”

With two relatively new drench actives available in New Zealand – monepantel (as in Zolvix) and derquantel (as in Startect) – that business case is unlikely at present, he suggests.

“I’d suggest you wouldn’t see this developed as a new product until widespread resistance develops to the other two [new actives] already on the market.”

Even if the Cry proteins were shown to work in sheep or cattle, it would probably still take ten years to develop, register and launch a commercial product, he adds.

“So it’s a long way from being a product yet.”

Leathwick points to a 2012 paper by Kotze of Australia’s CSIRO Livestock Industries, in the scientific journal Veterinary Parisitology as evidence of the extensive work with the Cry proteins.

It notes strains of B.thuringiensis containing Cry5B and Cry5A proteins, or Cry13, tested in vitro showed toxicity to common ruminant intestinal parasites H.contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis and Ostertagia circumcincta.

The paper also notes the potential for “further development of this approach in order to increase the range of this widely used biocontrol agent to include the control of parasitic nematodes of mammals.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

ANIMAL HEALTH 37

Looking at soil, grass and bloods together A N D REW SWA LLOW

Pour On

Peter Lester and Raymond Burr, of QPM Agritech.

andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

A HAWKES BAY-based company says it has developed a “world-first” programme that analyses soil, herbage and blood results at the same time to produce fertiliser and feed recommendations.

In many cases the results will allow farmers to boost production while decreasing inputs and losses to the environment, notably nitrogen, explains Raymond Burr, a director of QPM Agritech, Waipawa.

“It’s new on the market but we’ve had quite a few farmers go ‘yep, this is what we’ve been after’,” says Burr.

Besides possible production and profit benefits, the programme will help farmers demonstrate their environmental footprint by calculating nitrogen loss from the animal.

“For the first time we can evaluate the outputs of cows grazing a pasture before they graze it,” explains Burr.

That allows not only an appreciation of the animal’s nutrition but presents an opportunity to adjust the farming system to capture nitrogen for

& Dip production and reduce losses as urinary waste or increased milk urea nitrogen (MUN), he says.

Despite Dairy NZ’s attempts to play down the importance of MUN data, Burr says it’s useful because excessive milk urea nitrogen is a strong indication of excess crude protein in the diet, and it correlates strongly with nitrogen content in the urine.

QPM has recorded cows excreting over 600g of nitrogen a day in urine while others with a better protein to carbohydrate ratio in their diet are more productive while losing just 200g of nitrogen/day in urine.

Burr says nutrient budgeting model Overseer, which is increasingly being adopted by regional councils as a regulatory tool, doesn’t account for such differences.

“It’s impossible for Overseer to predict how much nitrogen a cow’s going to urinate because it uses a standard urine nitrogen content.”

A likely cause of excess crude protein in ruminant diets, ovine or bovine, is overuse of urea on pasture, Burr says, a point echoed by his QPM Agritech colleague Peter Lester.

“The cow’s not to blame: if you put garbage

Overuse of urea is a common problem, warns Peter Lester.

in, you’ll get garbage out.”

The solution is to balance soil nutrient status so grass protein to carbohydrate levels are better balanced. That will allow the cow to convert feed to energy more efficiently, producing more milk per unit of feed.

Lester argues dry matter production from pasture needn’t suffer if fertiliser nitrogen is removed, provided the natural nitrogen cycle of legumes fixing what the pasture needs is working well.

Burr stresses getting pasture and animals performing isn’t just about nitrogen either.

“There could be something quite minor that’s putting a handbrake on the whole system. The key is you’ve got to find it.”

That’s where QPM Agritech’s more detailed soil and herbage analysis comes in, he says.

“It’s all about testing for accuracy, not just testing for the sake of testing.”

QPM Agritech’s programme works for sheep and beef systems, as well as dairy. A patent application on the nitrogen utilisation calculation has been made for its use with cattle.

The firm will be demonstrating the programme at next week’s National Fieldays, Mystery Creek, on stand K39.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

38 ANIMAL HEALTH

Antimicrobial inaction slammed ALAN HARMAN

BARELY A month after the World Health Organisation released its first global report on antibiotic resistance the WHO’s efforts have been blasted

by British experts Prof Mark Woolhouse, University of Edinburgh, and Dr

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust.

They told a recent London news conference that a powerful new global organisation similar to the International Panel on Climate Change is essential to co-ordinate a response to the threat.

“The time has come to

stop re-stating the problems of antimicrobial resistance and start taking action,” said Woolhouse.

Farrar says action has been needed for more than 20 years.

“Despite repeated warnings, the international response has been feeble. The World Health

Organisation has missed opportunities to provide leadership, and very little progress has been made.

“We need a new independent body that will not only monitor the spread of antimicrobial resistance, but also drive and direct efforts to contain it.”

Meanwhile the food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have pledged to reinforce their partnership in priority response areas such as antimicrobial resistance and prevention and control of

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diseases such as foot-andmouth, peste des petits ruminants, African swine fever, rabies, and zoonotic influenza.

“We are committed to tackling high-impact animal diseases together with OIE, WHO and regional and national partners,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told the World Assembly of Delegates to the OIE in Paris, May 25.

Animal health is of “paramount importance” to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, and climate change

represents a growing threat to animal health with repercussions for global food security due to changes in distribution of vector-borne diseases like Rift Valley fever, malaria and avian flu.

OIE Director General Bernard Vallat says OIE and FAO’s longstanding collaboration has already “proved its efficiency” in the prevention and control of numerous animal diseases worldwide.

“Our common actions play a key role in the reduction of poverty and hunger.”

LETTERS 1080 RESPONSE REJECTED The Department of Conservation and TBFree NZ’s response to my opinion piece (Rural News, May 20) has no credibility as no one put their name to it. The facts supplied are wrong also. For example, with regard to stoats, all DOC / TBFree poison promotions state possums, rats and stoats as target animals. DOC’s new code of practice for aerial 1080 in kea habitat also singles stoats out as a target.

With rats, DOC / TBFree’s response said “Rat populations will always recover following pest control operations.” If so, why do they bother doing these operations?

They know full well rat populations more than double shortly after these operations, putting even more pressure on any native birds that may have survived the 1080 drop.

As for kiwi, what DOC / TBFree didn’t say was that a large number of 1080 operations in kiwi territory are not monitored. They also didn’t mention that in 2004 on Little Barrier Island two kiwi were found dead from eating poisoned cereal baits following an aerial drop, but only during a grid search of 120ha for the invasive weed, climbing asparagus, sometime later. They were not found during the cursory monitoring after the drop. The tally of other dead native birds found in that 120ha grid search was 14 morepork and 2 kakariki. This information was obtained through an Official Information Act request.

It was also noted the issuing authority, the Auckland Regional Council, had not been advised of these deaths

by DOC. So do I believe DOC / TBFree’s response? Hell no.

Ron Eddy Wairau Saddle

TBFREE NZ PROVES POINT Paul Livingstone from TBFree NZ states that, prior to the possum killing in 1974/5, the most cattle that had to be slaughtered in New Zealand was 15,600. (Rural News, May 20). The average compensation payment, according to Dr Livingstone, would be $1000, thus the cost of slaughtering these cattle would be $15.6 million.

This is less than a third of TBFree’s present cost of slaughtering possums, proving my point in a previous letter to this paper that it would be cheaper to slaughter all New Zealand’s infected cattle than it is to fund TBFree’s extraordinary possum chase. I did not expect anyone from TBFree to come up with such convincing figures!

Dr Livingstone also states that, with no badger control, the number of cattle which had to be slaughtered in Britain in 2012 was 28,400. At $1000 per animal that would still be only half of what TBFree spends annually on possum control in New Zealand.

John Veysey Coromandel

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42 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

World event set to roll on \

TO N Y H O P K I NSO N

FIELDAYS CHIEF executive Jon Calder believes this year’s theme, “managing resources for a competitive advantage,” embodies everything that has made the agricultural sector so successful.

“It has always been innovative and managed its resources and has kept building on that.”

Calder, now in his third year as chief executive, is now at work on final details for the 2014 National Fieldays, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest such event. The society now also has an international business executive, Marcelo Mieras, whose focus will be on the many delegations from overseas.

The Argentinian site will be opened by their New Zealand ambassador

and there will be a delegation of 60 from the province of Santa Fe led by their governor.

“This is an area with similar farming to New Jon Calder Zealand including dairying, cropping and beef farming and they are trying to model their farming methods on New Zealand rather than the US,” said Mieres.

Says Calder, “We have worked hard with NZ Trade and Enterprise to connect with as many international visitors as possible to smooth the way for their visit.”

About 18 Irish companies are expected to exhibit, five from China, and others – either exhibiting or attending – from Chile, Japan, US, Colom-

bia, UK, Germany, Italy and India. With enough notice they will provide interpreters.

“Organising and preparing for the annual Fieldays is not a one off affair as we are also planning long term for 2015 and 2016 so we do not stop after this one and start again, it is an ongoing

process.”

There has been a major overhaul of the innovations area. It has been enlarged and there are two prize packages for the winner and runner-up of $20,000 and $15,000 to help them develop and market their respective products.

90% of the Fieldays sites were sold in December.

‘Boomer’ event on the cards THE NEW president of the National Fieldays Society, Warwick Roberts, has had a long association with Mystery Creek starting back in 1999 directing traffic at Gate 3.

“I had already been involved with the YFC as an 18-year-old organising the fencing competition when they were first held at Te Rapa.”

He has been a member of the society for 13 years and a member of the board for three years with one year as vice-president. He was chairman of the agricultural fieldays committee from 2009-12 Roberts says the society is expecting a

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boomer Fieldays as the increasing income in all sectors of agriculture especially dairying means all farmers are thinking positively.

“A lot of business will be done; many farmers have been holding off their spending.”

Under his watch Roberts wants to see, as well as the Fieldays improving, the society doing more to educate the younger generation and telling the rest of New Zealand what agriculture has to offer and its potential for careers.

“What other career can offer a person an income of $100,000 annually after only five years and be earning while they are learning?”

With this in mind Fieldays has invited Education Minister Hekia Parata to see more about the role of agriculture in New Zealand. “If you want to change and improve things you start at the top.”

This will be followed by inviting college careers advisors to gain better understanding of the agriculture scene. A 20 sharebrokers from Wellington will also attend.

Roberts says 90% of sites were sold by by December 2013 for the 2014 event. And 110 would-be exhibitors are one a waiting list, 50 for the agricultural section. – Tony Hopkinson

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 43

Great place to meet people, trade ideas G RA HA M T U R L EY

ANZ HAS been a supporter of the National Agricultural Fieldays for four decades – a key part of our commitment to growing the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the agricultural sector.

Fieldays is a great platform for people to network and exchange ideas to help New Zealand maintain its position as a world leader in agriculture. Once again, our agri managers and a wide range of banking specialists will be available at Mystery Creek to help farmers and the people associated with the sector achieve success for their agribusiness.

ANZ has New Zealand banking’s largest network of agri managers and our networks in 33 markets helps open doors for agribusinesses in growth markets such as China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Recently we were named Canstar’s Agribusiness Bank of the Year for the third consecutive year. The award recognised the depth of the expertise we offer, the quality of our products and the number of agri managers we have avail-

able to help our rural customers in every part of the country.

Fieldays 2014 takes place at a time of incredible economic opportunity, with the agri sector providing much of the momentum in New Zealand’s economic revival.

Part of that performance is due to a lift in returns, but it’s also the result of work by the sector to increase productivity, innovate and create new opportunities.

Many of these initiatives go unheralded, but they are vital to raising financial performance and improving prospects.

While the dairy story is well known – a great bounce back from last year’s drought and records being set in production, productivity, farmgate milk price and profit – other sectors are also on the move upwards.

The meat and fibre sectors have bounced back with much better farmgate prices following last year’s drought. The downside of production coming back is that farmers won’t be able to fully capitalise on the better prices.

The ANZ PrivatelyOwned Business Barometer (POBB) indicates strong intentions by red

Solutions, service focus for co-op LIC’S SITE is designed to reflect the co-op’s new strategy and facilitate more in-depth conversations with farmers with a greater emphasis on service and solutions, says corporate marketing manager Blair Hoad.

“Our new strategy is aimed at putting our farmers at the centre of everything we do, and Fieldays is a great opportunity for us to spend time with them and learn more about the challenges they’re facing.

“These conversations give us the insight we need to understand what our farmers need from us, so we can provide them with solutions to make their farm more productive and profitable.”

The site will have seven key areas: animal health and parentage, herd management, genetic gain, fertility and reproduction, better on-farm decisions, productivity and farm performance.

Visitors will get to vote for which mobile apps they would like the co-op to develop, and learn more about their herd’s reproductive performance.

meat farmers to invest in productivity while there has recently been a lift in confidence in the main horticulture sectors, with a sense of optimism

returning to the kiwifruit industry despite the challenges of Psa. Confidence is also high in the pipfruit sector following a 20% lift in average export

returns in 2013.

Of course the agri sector still faces challenges, especially with the high kiwi dollar and issues such as water qual-

ity, carbon emissions and the increasing demands from policy makers and retailers on environmental and sustainability standards.

Overcoming those challenges is what Fieldays is all about.

• Graham Turley is managing director, commercial and agri, ANZ NZ.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

44 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Slurry tanker new to NZ AN IRISH manufacturer 40 years in the business of slurry tankers and rotary mowers will exhibit on the

Ireland site.

Major Equipment, a family owned business, last July sold a tanker

(Major 2250LGP) with a 6.4m disc injector to a Mackenzie Country agricultural contractor,

Major Equipment’s rotary grass mower will also be on display.

Andrew Swann, operating from Fairlie, South Canterbury. “I researched other tankers and injectors available in New Zealand at the time and nothing else matched the quality of the Major machines,” Swann is reported as saying.

After a few months of using the 10,200L tanker and disc injector Swann is said to be satisfied with his purchase and the benefits of this way of placing slurry.

“The accuracy of spread is excellent,” he says. The grass gets the nutrient right where it needs it and it does not coat the leaves, which can inhibit grass growth.

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system on the Major disc injector was an important feature, Swann says.

“Other manufacturers bolt their injectors directly onto the rear of the tanker… whereas the linkage system on the Major

disc injector is a better option.”

The tanker and disc injector system are said to be suppressing odours from fields, allowing a wider application window to get slurry down when

A RECORD 18 Irish agri-sector companies will exhibit at Fieldays. Two-way trade between the two countries is said to exceed €300m – chiefly in farm machinery and technology.

Enterprise Ireland, the Trade and Investment board of the Irish Government, at Fieldays for the 7th consecutive year, will host the Irish companies.

Ten will be on the Ireland national stand and a further eight will exhibit with their New Zealand partners.

Paul Burfield, Enterprise Ireland director for New Zealand, says the large Irish turnout “points directly to the level of collaboration between Irish companies and their New Zealand partners.”

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In March this year, Simon Coveney, Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine visited New Zealand where he met Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy. Coveney wanted to hear firsthand about New Zealand’s approach to its agribusiness and its success.

Also, in September last year, Coveney met Fieldays commercial manager Nick Dromgool at Ireland’s Ploughing Championships where they discussed the relationship between the agri sectors in both countries.

Irish companies exhibiting include Keenan Systems, Tanco, Major, McHale and Hi- Spec.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

46 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Magnesium supplement has ‘big advantages’

BEC Feeds New Zealand manager Trina Parker (left) and technical services officer Jennifer McCarty.

A MAGNESIUM supplement due for launching at Fieldays will hit the peakseason spot for dairy farmers during pre-calving and early lactation throughout spring, says the marketer.

Bolifor Magnesium, from BEC Feed Solutions, is said to offer “distinct

advantages over magnesium oxide (MgO) and other magnesium supplements. These include excellent palatability, ease of application, accuracy of dosage and high bioavailability of the vital mineral magnesium”.

The firm’s New

Zealand manager, Trina Parker, says the products will “transform the way dairy farmers administer magnesium to their cows, providing many additional benefits as well as marked labour saving efficiencies”.

Available in two forms – Bolifor MGP+ and Bolifor MAG33 – each has different mineral compositions that can fit easily into existing feeding, and animal health regimes.

Instead of being administered in the traditional way, via pasture dusting or dosing in water,

the Bolifor products can be consumed directly.

Palatability is said to be high: Bolifor MGP+ is neutral in taste; Bolifor MAG33 tastes slightly salty. Both are said to have more appeal to cows than traditional magnesium products.

The products have no laxative effect. They are granulated and free flowing, but are highly soluble, offering “excellent biological availability of both magnesium and phosphorus”. www.becfeedsolutions. co.nz

Sebco fuel tank.

Fuel tank maker adds to range TON Y HOP K I N SON

FUEL STORAGE tank maker Sebco will release two new products at Fieldays.

“We have been in the market eight years and have not had one unhappy customer yet,” says director Ed Harrison.

The firm makes diesel and AdBlue fuel stations from 1300L to 4800L with a choice of pumping options – electronic and manual – and complete meter recording of usage. The stations have built in bunding or secondary retaining which guarantees no accidental spillage to the ground and they comply with all regulations for fuel storage.

First new release is a solar powered pumping unit for remote stations without mains electricity.

“We supply a post bracket to carry the solar panel which is connected to a deep cycle battery providing enough power to fill any sized vehicle.”

The second new release is an auto retractable 10m hose contained within the tank which means it is secure when the tank is locked.

Sebco can now supply a fully metered system with PIN access which can record details re usage, who took fuel, time and for which vehicle.

“All this information can be downloaded to computer for the annual records.”

Harrison reports growing use of AdBlue additive to reduce engine emissions as more modern diesel engines come onto the New Zealand market.

They can also supply double-skin tanks for holding waste oil for collection. They come in sizes 500L to 2000L. www.sebco.co.nz

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 47 Wrangler says all farms should have good facilities for examining cows.

Quad with sit-in chassis NEW POLARIS Sportsman ACE and Polaris UTE 570 HD quads will be standouts on the company’s site.

And the company will exhibit all its other quads and Ranger SXS and RZR SXS vehicles.

The Sportsman ACE offers an all-new agricultural or off-road experience, the company says. It has a sit-in chassis, a certified rollover protection structure (ROPS), 3-point seatbelt and protective

Putting their best hoof forward EVERY FARM should have good facilities for examining cows, says the maker of the Wrangler.

If you want to improve herd health, decrease costs and improve production, while improving safety and making things easier, that’s how.

“If a cow is unwell her production, condition and fertility can suffer so it is a priority to identify and treat a lame or sick cow early.

“A Wrangler at the shed makes the job quick, easy, and safe so staff are inclined to check cows at the first sign of trouble, preventing a condition becoming more serious. Vets now insist on good facilities, with many specifying their clients must have a Wrangler for them to use.”

Available with a headbail gate or walk-through headbail, the Wrangler also has two underbelly girths that hold the cow during treatment.

For hoofcare, the back leg is winched onto a support bar with a clapper or braked stainless steel winch.

The front hoof also is easy to access while it is held on a support block by a double strap mechanism, with front winches standard on all models. The cow cannot kick or go down, can’t hurt herself or the farmer. It is said to be equally useful for calving, caesarians, liver biopsies, re-tagging and other animal handling jobs.

netting, adjustable seat and steering wheel, independent front and adjustable rear suspension, 260kg rack and storage capacity, 32hp EFI engine with Polaris variable transmission, on-demand true AWD and a 680kg towing capacity.

And the all-new Polaris Ute 570 HD is a “game changer,” the company says. It has the utility and capabilities of a traditional farm ute combined with the nimbleness and

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agility of a quad.

Its features include power steering, a 556kg towing capacity, mirrors, indicators, a horn, four wheel descent control, on demand AWD and a dump box

with 180kg capacity. www.polaris.co.nz

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Calf feeder’s big brother MILK BAR’S 125L Milk Kart self-contained pumping system will show up in a bigger version at Fieldays, says sales manager Anna McIntyre. The larger 550L Milk Kart sits on a Milk Bar trailer and is fitted with a battery powered pump, flow meter and 10m of hose. For farmers with long distances to travel, suspension can be fitted to the trailer to reduce wear on equipment.

A large tray sits at the front of the tank with a 12V deep-cycle battery and pump sitting under the tray.

The unit can be charged from access points at the rear and front and McIntyre says charging is easy. A charged battery lasts about four days. A purpose-built milk whisk makes mixing milk powder easy. McIntyre says they have worked to make clean-up easier.

Fitted with large tap and hoses the unit is able to fully drain quickly. Cleaning simply requires water through the unit after use with one simple alkali hot wash once a week.

“The alkalai is the same as the used in the hot wash of dairy plant to make it easier for farmers.”

A tap which allows the pump to completely drain is especially useful in the South Island where farmers can lose pumps to frozen liquids, says McIntyre. “What happens in cold conditions is the liquid in the pump can freeze seizing up the pump, so by draining that we can avoid that happening.”

Tel. 0800 104 119 www.milkbar.co.nz

With a horsepower range from 20 hp to over 300 hp, Massey Ferguson have a powerful and productive line-up of new models. This is your chance to see them at the Mystery Creek ‘Fieldays’ - Site A51.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

48 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Forage machines a class above the rest THREE OF the world’s most advanced forage harvesting, transport and handling machines will make their debut on the CLAAS Harvest Centre stand.

They are the Claas Jaguar 900/800 series forage harvesters, the Fliegl Gigant ASW271 ‘push-off’ trailer and a JCB Farm Master 435S Agri wheeled loader.

National sales manager Roger Nehoff says the three high performance machines complement each other.

“Jaguar 900/800 harvesters can process hundreds of tonnes of silage every hour, which means

the rate-limiting factor to productivity is how fast you can transport and store this throughput.

“The Fliegl Gigant push-off trailer and JCB 435S wheeled loader are high capacity machines capable of keeping up with this sort of output.

“The Gigant forage wagon holds up to 56m3 of compressed forage and unloads up to five times faster than a walking floor or bottom chain trailer.

“A JCB Farm Master loader fitted with a fourmetre buck rake can clear that load in one or two passes, giving the operator plenty of time to roll and

The new Axion series boasts new technology.

JCB Farm Master 435S loader.

seal the silage before the next trailer arrives.

“A wheeled loader is much easier to operate than a tractor because you can lift, place and steer simultaneously.”

The new Jaguar 900/800 series has notable upgrades and innova-

tions, Neehof says.

“Claas now offers 11 models in the 900 and 800 series spanning 270 to 650 kW (367 to 884 hp).

Also on display will be Claas tractors, Amazone cultivation, seeding, spreading and spraying equipment, JCB materials

handling equipment and Fliegl agricultural trailers and wagons.

International guests including Fliegl sales director José Viedma and JCB agriculture product sales manager Malcolm Davis will be on site.

Tel. 03 357 6030

New crossover tractors will impress NEW ON the Claas Harvest Centre site will be the Claas Axion 800, with four models spanning 200 to 270HP. This new series fills the gap between the Axion 900 series (280 to 400hp) and the Arion 600/500 series (145 to 184hp) launched in New Zealand last year.

Claas Harvest Centre tractor product manager Dave Knowles describes the 800 series as a ‘cross over’ between the two series.

“The Axion 800 is fitted with the 6 x 4 powershift transmission and control systems found in the Arion 600/500.

“Alternatively, it can specified with the continuously variable transmission and on-board technology found in the AXION 900.

“All 15 models in the Axion 900/800 and Arion 600/500 series are equipped with unique four-point cabin suspension system as standard.”

Axion 800 was named 2014 Tractor of the Year and 2014 Machine of the Year at Europe’s agricultural technology exhibition, Agritechnica.

More recently it won an iF Design Gold Award for excellence in industrial design.

The new Axion 900/800 and Arion 600/500 series are the first to benefit from the Claas Power Systems (CPS) design philosophy, Knowles says.

“CPS aims to identify and incorporate the world’s best technology with Claas’ own expertise…. This covers everything from the engine to the transmission to electronic management systems, software and hydraulics.

“The final outcome is the intelligent use of force to best meet customer expectations of performance, reliability and running costs. Recent tests the German agricultural evaluation facility DLG confirmed Axion 850 is the most efficient tractor in its class.”

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

50 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Live milk by robot LELY WILL milk cows at Fieldays in an unprecedented display of robotic milking.

The company’s Astronaut A4 will milk cows from a local farm, showing how the cows milk themselves, leaving their farmer to get on with other work or take the day off.

Robotic milking offers the potential to increase production and it reduces stress on animals and people, Lely says.

The cows are free to return to the

shed any time and be milked, 24/7. And they get a reward in the form of meal and molasses rations – programmed to suit them.

The system is feed driven and voluntary, removing cow stress because there is “minimal human interference and because free cow traffic allows the cows to flow according to the herd’s hierarchy rules”.

In turn, farmers face a much lighter workload and can choose when they

want to be in the shed. The robot automatically cleans itself and the milk lines three times a day, and automatically washes the vat after the milk is removed. The perception that robotic milking is too expensive for smaller farmers is now outdated, says Lely national sales manager Sam Andersen.

“Lely creates a perfect model for any farm size.”

And farmers who buy an Astronaut system “buy a relationship, not just a

Vistors to the Fieldays can see cows milked by a robot.

Robotic milking offers the potential to increase production.

Financing People that Do For 75 years UDC has grown New Zealand business by financing productive assets. Right now we’ve got money to lend, lots of money.

So if you want to build your business talk to UDC. Visit us at Fieldays at the ANZ Pavilion or call us now on 0800 832 002.

UDC Finance Limited lending criteria applies.

product”. “We offer huge support and give full training before and during installation and on demand afterwards.

There’s no extra cost for this. “[Farmers] who tell as they don’t even have a cellphone can still learn to use the system. The cost of the robotic milking system is realistic these days and a lot of our Astronaut owners own and work on smaller farms. They have had enough of being on the cups and realise they can do so, as well as increasing milk production.”

Andersen says Lely project-manages the installation of an Astronaut system,

starting from scratch or converting an existing shed.

“It’s a viable option in older areas where the plant has just about had it, but the shed is still good. No consent is required for the same shed and it saves money.”

Lely now offers a cellphone app called InHerd that allows a farmer to check and enter information on cows and receive lists of tasks. It’s updated in real time, with everyone working from the same information.

Tel. 07 850 4050 www.lely.com

Danny & Janine Arbuckle RAL Logging Whakatane

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 51

Barn the sustainable way for big herds PICTURES AND details of a newly completed GEA Farm Technologies Norbco cow housing barn, built on a South Canterbury farm, will be shown on the company’s site.

The barn, first of its type built in New Zealand, is owned by Fairview Holsteins (Trounce family), near Timaru. The building was finished in late April.

Andrew Trounce, who oversees the dairying operation, says many benefits can accrue from a barn type system. The Trounces farm 450 Holstein Friesians.

Trounce, a dairy nutritionist with the Dairy Business Centre, Ashburton, says the cows are happy, well housed and getting the optimal feed combination.

“These are heavy Holsteins that we milk all year around and it makes pugging and pasture damage a headache while we are trying to achieve optimal production out of the herd.”

The family will also soon face having to manage nutrient loss restrictions. The barn’s centralised effluent containment system the barn will place the farm within the ECan limits and contain its environmental footprint.

“Every angle we looked

from pointed to a barn as a solution,” Trounce says. “The only downfall was the land we lost to it, but increased production should more than make up for that.”

The barn is 4100m2 in area, with an extra 1900m2 dedicated to bunkers and feed storage.

Norbco is established overseas in designing and building dairy barns and was unfazed by the size of the animals.

Says Trounce, “We needed stalls that were deeper and wider to contain the cows, with good cow and tractor access, good airflow and no crossover in cow movement.”

Norbco’s consulting designer and ‘cow comfort’ expert Mike Creek provided insights on maximising cow comfort in the barn, including the use of 2.5cm thick rubber matting for cows to lie on.

Central to effluent management in the barn is a Houle effluent scraper system that regularly moves up and down laneways to pull effluent into a centralised containment area for treatment and dispersal by Houle pumps.

Ultimately the waste will be separated into liquid and solids by a Houle screen separator, with solids capable of being stored in a bunker

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and applied on cropping land when conditions are right.

The cows will be housed in the barn after calving for six to eight weeks and fed a mixed ration diet.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

52 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Pipe tool made in heaven A NEW tool from Hansen Products is said to remove “even more stress” from the task of installing water systems and maintaining them.

“It is pure genius and so easy to use you will wonder why it wasn’t invented years ago,” the company says.

It’s called Han-Tool (patent pend-

We’re a

ing) and it’s for determining which type and size Hansen Easy Fit pipe fittings will fit a particular pipe.

“How often have you been faced with not knowing what pipe you have just dug up? In most cases all the markings are gone making it impossible to work out what size it is let alone what

material it is made from.”

No problem, says Hansen.

The Han-Tool will indicate which Hansen Easy Fit Pipe Fitting will fit your pipes.

Using it is simple: make sure the end of the pipe is cut square, place the pipe inside and outside the cone and the

measurements on the side of the cone indicate which Hansen fitting will fit this particular pipe. No expensive tools required, no specialist training.

Tel. 09 430 4240 www.hansenproducts.co.nz

Han-Tool makes installing water systems easy.

MTF is about feeding your calves in half the time.

big part of your business

Feeder does more than you know

World leading performance. Sound familiar?

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Talk to the team at MIMICO. We are the New Zealand distributors for KOBELCO excavators, parts and service.

We’ll have a selection of Kobelco products on display at Fieldays®.

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CHALLENGED IN 2011 to come up with a means of easily transferring, mixing and pumping milk or milk powder, Stallion Plastics staff conceived a system that went through seven versions and onfarm trials.

The company’s MTF was born out of that process, says the chief executive, Manawatu dairy farm owner Grant Allen.

“Everything we manufacture is tested onfarm for ease of use and durability. The best ideas are borne from need.”

Its 4-stroke Honda motor can pump 600L/m, it has a stainless steel mixing system inside the tank, and it can mix 800L of milk powder in just three minutes, Allen says.

“When it’s 3oC in the morning, milk powder floats on top of cold water. We designed the MTF to force milk powder under the water and into the pump, similar to a giant milkshake mixer. You can mix anything you need to in three minutes.”

If you’re using whole milk, this can easily be pumped into the feeder direct from the silo. It takes two minutes to fill the tanker ready for transport.

Set it up and let it fill while you do something else, Allen says.

Once at the calf sheds all you need to do is start the motor and run it on low revs. The 5m hose with dispensing gun is long enough to reach to the back pens so does away with 20L buckets and back-breaking work.

“We can feed the calves in half the time it was taking us before and no wastage.”

After feeding, park the feeder in the shade to reduce the risk of the milk spoiling. The tank is made of food-grade white plastic to reflect the sun.

The MTF60 system allows feeding in the paddock or at the shed and in the paddock.

Cleaning is simple: half fill the MTF with clean water and turn on the pump. It self-cleans the tank first and then the mixing system. Switch the small ball valve on the manifold and it will clean the manifold and teats in no more than three minutes. www.stallion.co.nz

Rural-News_June2014.indd 1

7/05/2014 2:27:58 p.m.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 53

Problem-solving products tipped to pull crowds A multi-stage pump in operation with a Yardmaster rightangle stirrer.

Gallagher’s HRS tag reader and geared reel will be on display.

happening.”

The geared reel also includes a new heavy duty 3:1 gearbox to enhance winding efficiency and reliability.

EID products will include the new HR5 hand-held tag reader and data collector that enables a farmer to record, edit and customise livestock data on the spot.

The Gallagher site is a crowd favourite, Nation says. “Farmers love to come in and chat to the people who make their products, and we love to hear their feedback.”

As always, he says, a range of product specials will be offered during Fieldays.

improvement that will solve these issues in a simple and effective way.”

The end result is an innovative range of problem-solving products that have been warmly received by farmers.

“The addition of the transport lock to our geared reel is a classic example of a simple solution to a common problem. Farmers told us they were sick of fencing reels jumping off bikes or falling off a fence, so we came up with a practical easyto-use improvement that stops this

See us Fieldays at Site J7

Efficient and costs less THE MULTI-STAGE Yardmaster effluent pump made by Reid & Harrison will be on site with its inventor Warren Ubels.

Farmers with technical queries about pumping will get ready answers, says chief executive Keith Cooke.

Explaining the multi-stage Yardmaster, Cooke says it is “effectively like having two, three or four pumps joined together, so their combined efforts make a high efficiency pump, with each following stage building on the work already done by the previous.

“All this in one body gives the benefits of multiple stages without the costs

of running separate pumps.”

The pump is designed for ‘green water’ as an ideal pump to supply irrigators, Cooke says.

The high efficiency means that by using a variable-speed drive and the one pump, a farmer can run to a high head or long distance if needed, or idle at lower power usage, depending on whereabouts on the farm the effluent is going.

“This multi-stage pump takes the Yardmaster into a new era of efficiency and control of effluent management.”

Tel. 07 888 8224 www.yardmaster-pumps.com

Call in and see us at 73 Preston Street, Invercargill Ph: 03 215 8558 | Email: hecton@xtra.co.nz Visit our website www.hecton.co.nz for a full list of products

SHEEP HANDLING SYSTEMS & TRAILERS

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‘PROBLEM SOLVED’ will be Gallagher’s theme at National Fieldays – embodied in an “exciting line-up of new products” to make the site a crowd-puller.

National sales manager Peter Nation says the company has launched 19 new products or product improvements since January 2013. Eight have been released this year, including some yet-tobe-revealed products destined for Fieldays.

Lots of customer consultation has gone into these new ones, Nation says.

“We’ve talked extensively to farmers about some of the problems they face onfarm and how they can improve performance in specific areas of animal management. Then we’ve gone back to our research and development team and asked them to come up with a new product or

SINGLE & TANDEM AXLE ATV TRAILERS

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

54 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Rear disc mowers easier than ever to attach

Pottinger Novacat 302 mower.

NEW POTTINGER rear disc mowers are easier than ever to attach to the tractor, says local distributor Origin Agroup.

The new Novacat 262 and 302 mowers (2.62 and 3.04m respectively) are offered with an optional hydraulic lower linkage arm that enables easy mounting without having to adjust the tractor hitch struts.

This guarantees the highest level of convenience, says Origin principal David Donnelly. Using the hydraulic lower

linkage arm the headstock can always be brought into the correct horizontal position, independent of the geometry of the tractor hitch.

In addition, this system optimises weight alleviation and gives excellent ground clearance (50cm on the inside) for headland turns and transport on the road.

During transport the mower is pivoted hydraulically upwards 115o: with the mower on the tractor centreline the highest point is right in the middle with the centre of gravity perfectly in the centre. This ensures compact and safe transport of the mower.

The heart of both mowers is the proven Novacat cutter bar with quick-change knife system as standard, providing first-class cutting quality and at the same time optimum protection of the sward.

Both the Novacat 262 and 302 have hydraulic weight alleviation. A clearly-visible pressure gauge is fitted to the mower frame and the ground pressure can be adjusted progressively to exert pressure on the ground – the prerequisite for optimum forage and ground protection, Donnelly says.

The centre pivot suspension enables a freedom of movement of +/- 22o for best ground following and the mower unit is stabilised by a small hydraulic cylinder to cancel oscillation. This makes turning easier and ensures safety and stability at the headland and during transport.

If the mower impacts an obstruction during operation, the integrated mechanical collision protection system allows it to deviate by 15 degrees to the rear providing extra clearance of around 1 metre.

Both machines are available with ED tine-type conditioners or RC roller conditioners with newly designed conditioner hood geometry that ensures “perfect crop flow and uniform forage placement, ensuring a rapid and consistent drying of the crop”.

Tel. 07 823 7582 www.originagroup.co.nz

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

56 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS Feedwagon range expands ROBERTSON MANUFACTURING have added a new model to complement their feedwagon range.

The new model features a hydraulic ram and pusher blade replacing a chain conveyor for hay/silage shifting to the feeding section on Robertson Manufacturing’s new P Series Comby, the RP 1350, due for launching at Fieldays.

“This is the models’ one major difference from our Super Comby EX models,” says wholesale manager for Robertson Manufacturing, Andrew Tedham.

Some users prefer less moving parts than the chain conveyor type floor.

Because of the ram this model will have fewer grease nipples.

The new P series will still be controlled from the cab by an elec-

tronic joystick. The capacity is 13.5 - 14m3.

The feeding section is from the well proven Super Comby EX with the optional feed pad kit for trough feeding with maize and palm kernel The company will also exhibit different models of its Robertson Transpreaders, Super Comby range of hay/silage feeders and quick hitches.

It will be the first outing for Robertson’s curtain sided hospitality unit.

“We have been coming to Mystery Creek for over 25 years and we decided to improve where we meet with long term clients as well as potential new ones,” said director Delma Robertson.

Come and see us on site A69 Tel. 03 303 7228 www.robfarm.co.nz

Fly and Fert spreader.

Slurry bucket to cover 1ha in 12 seconds

Water Meters Class B Water Meters 15-50mm For rural applications

GA R ET H G I L L AT T

AN AIRBORNE fertiliser applicator for helicopters will distribute one ton of product in 30 seconds, says its manufacturer Metalform, the company that makes and sells the Tow and Fert spreader.

Marketing manager Tim Henman told Rural News the new Fly and Fert, due for launching at Fieldays, will be a boon for helicopter fert spreaders.

Using a patented spinner head, the Fly and Fert spreads 700kg/ha of slurry over a 25-35m swath at 45 knots. “This gives an impressive distribution time of only 20 seconds for a tonne of product.”

Henman says because water content of the slurry can be as low as 20%, such spreading is efficient as well as fast.

A hopper slung under a helicopter needs no Civil Aviation Authority approval, he says, and no contamination of the aircraft occurs.

The company will offer two variants: a 1150L hopper suitable for AS350 helicopters and a smaller 530L bucket for Jet Rangers, MD 500s and R44 models.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 57

Bale slicer smooths feeding tasks A NEW bale slicer from McHale, Ireland, will feature on the Power Farming site, alongside new combination baler-wrappers – the Fusion 3 Plus barrel wrap and the Fusion 3 Vario.

The Fusion 3 Plus is the first commercial combo machine offering the option to secure the bale with film rather than netwrap. The Fusion 3 Vario produces straw bales of 0.7m to 1.7m diameter and silage bales of 1.1m to 1.45m diameter and has a high-speed transfer system.

McHale’s Rs4 bale splitter and wrap retainer is a versatile solution for farmers who need to feed round bales efficiently, Power Farming says.

With the Rs4 you can remove a bale from the stack and carry it to the feeding area. It then splits the bale, puts the fodder on the feed pad, holds the plastic and

netwrap, and dumps it at the recycling area.

New models in Jaylor’s 5000 series of mixer wagons will also be on the site.

The Jaylor 5000 series includes single- and double-auger models and suits herds up to 1000 cows.

Jaylor twin auger 5000 series wagons range in size from 18.4m3 to 27.2m3; the single auger models range from 9.9m3 to 15.3m3.

All models have Jaylor’s square cut auger with sloped top for efficient cutting and mixing, heavy duty axles, and a galvanised discharge conveyor with quiet, wear-resistant plastic floor.

Also on show will be the Mini Mixer range for feeding smaller TMR ration portions to nursery cows, pigs, sheep and goats – 1.42m3 to 2.58m3 Merlo will show its new Turbofarmer 34.7 Plus CDC

Fusion 3 Plus baler-wrapper.

model. The CDC Dynamic stability control system constantly monitors the position and weight of the load. It maintains a safe ‘load

index’ by warning and locking out the operator if the machine approaches a potentially dangerous load position. www.powerfarming.co.nz

Heat detectors ‘as good as any bull’ DAIRY FARMERS’ uptake of CRV Estrotect heat detectors has doubled in the past five years, says product manager Angela Ryan.

“In 2009 we sold about 500,000, and this year we are on track to sell nearly one million.”

The company is the exclusive New Zealand stockist of Estrotect heat detectors, basically a patch about the size of a business card that sticks onto the cow’s rump. When the silver exterior is rubbed off, the bright colour beneath is exposed telling the farmer the cow is ready for AI. They need only be applied once at the beginning of the season – no need to replace or touch them up, unlike tail paint.

Dairy farmer Graham Barlow has used the heat detectors for about 10 years. He has been dairy farming for 25 years and milks 320 Jerseys on his 65ha Gordonton farm.

“I’m a big fan because the heat detector patches are fast to apply and they are conclusive when it comes to knowing whether the cows are bulling or not bulling, which gives me greater confidence for starting AI.” Ryan says using heat detector is simple: “If it’s rubbed you breed, if it’s scratched you don’t breed. The difference between a rub and a scratch is obvious, unlike your beacon products or tail paints which can bust or wear out through the cow’s normal behaviour.”

An early-bird discount offer on the heat detectors will have all customers entered in a draw for an iPad4 valued at $579. www.crv4all.co.nz

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

58 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Effluent rain gun ‘changes the way farmers irrigate’ LOW APPLICATION depths and rates, and easy to move around: these are the features dairy farmers told Hi-Tech Enviro they wanted in a rain gun for effluent spreading.

The company says it spent two years developing it, launching it in October 2013.

The Cobra Travelling Raingun “has changed the way farmers irrigate their farms,” Hi-Tech says.

“Not only can it achieve low application depths and rates, but it can also spread over large distances.

“And with no long boom areas to deal with the gun is easy to move around and set up.”

Features: • Low application depths and rates to help avoid ponding • No long

boom arms to deal with so it is easier and safer to move around • Can irrigate over full or partial circles • Can irrigate just on one side – great for sidlings or to avoid going too close to drains etc • Can be used in a stationary position if required • Far greater spread than normal travelling irrigators • Can handle 9 - 44m3/hour, and if more volume is required it is simply a matter of changing the gun.

“This product was

developed by us because our customers were not happy with the long booms seen on the irrigators on the market at the time, and their limited spreading options,” says Hi-Tech.

“What they told us they wanted was to use a rain gun with all the advantages they bring but it had to move itself as they were at the time only a stationary option for irrigation.”

Rainguns are said to have been sold nationwide to a “large

number of very happy customers”.

Tel. 07 889 7755 www.hitechenviro.co.nz

WEEPING WALLS

www.archway.co.nz

Come and see us at the Innovation tent at Mystery Creek Fieldays

Archway Group Ltd 8 Te Puke Quarry Rd Te Puke 3183

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SUCCESS IN Australia only four months after launching there.

That’s the word from bale feeder manufacturer McIntosh Farm Machinery and Cranes, which won an award for its double bale feeder at a recent Victoria farm field days.

“Both the single and double bale feeders have been selling well and we have had success in Australia after only four months of sales,” says general manager Brett McIntosh.

The double bale feeder, first released at 2013 National Fieldays, won ‘Best New Unpowered Machine’ at the recent Warrigul Show (Victoria), a mixed-farming event.

One satisfied customer in Victoria is Ken Snell, a dairy farmer at Poowong North.

Says Snell, “The deep vee construction gives a constant and even unrolling of the bales and it has the ability to hold the bales above the feeding cradle.

So with our roto-cut bales we are able to remove the plastic and net without having the silage fall everywhere.”

Snell also says that on his farm’s steep hills he has no trouble feeding out right to the end of the bale.

He can feed out on areas he could not get to before.

McIntosh says another farmer in Victoria is feeding out five-foot silage bales, weighing up to 1,300kg and it handled them and fed them out with ease.

Also on the McIntosh site at National Fieldays will be farm trailers from 4.5t to 17t.

“Our trailers are over-spec’d and knowing that farmers push their capacity to the limit we are confident they can handle the load farmers will put into them for a long time – and handle the odd tip over,” said McIntosh.

Buyers can choose between 5mm steel floors or 40mm timber floors.

Feed-out wagons on show will include the Multicrop range with 10mm chains and the Titan range with 13mm chains Both models have capacity from 7.8-25m3.

tion en

Ne w

Matt Hodgson 021 432 241 Amanda Hodgson 021 542 941 Email office@archway.co.nz

Bale feeder wins show award in Oz TON Y HOP K I N SON

The environmental construction specialists

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The Navara 1% p.a.interest rate is available with zero deposit and 36 months term. Additional finance related fees, charges, and terms and conditions apply. Navara Sports Bar shown as an optional accessory. The Pulsar recommended sale price of $24,990+orc is available on Pulsar ST Hatch and sedan models. Additional fees and on-road charges apply. All offers are not available in conjunction with any other offer, only available while stocks last, and available between June 1st-30th 2014.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

60 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

‘Marshal’ integrates all bail devices NEW ON the Waikato Milking Systems site will be its Bail Marshal that “brings an unprecedented level of integration and future proofing to a milking system”.

With one on every bail, the Bail Marshal manages connectivity and communication between all bail devices easily and effectively, making it easier than ever to add, use and upgrade milking technology.

“It is the ultimate in plug and play technology,” the company says. Any device will simply plug in and is ready to go – current and future designs – providing phenomenal future proofing.

A display of the WMS

electronic milk meter will explain how it works with the Bail Marshal to provide reliable real-time milking data and help farmers improve herd productivity. Using the company’s SmartLink data gateway, the electronic milk meter can also communicate wirelessly with LIC Protrack and Minda.

A display of WMC’s Orbit and Centrus rotary platforms will invite visitors to step up to the bail, apply the cups to model cows and experience the milking routine as if it were real. WMS is the largest manufacturer of rotary platforms in New Zealand.

Herringbone dairies will also feature – an operational machine with a

Centrus milking system with integrated technology.

full-size pit. Walk down into the pit, handle the clusters as if you were milking and try out the swing-down jetters.

In the demonstra-

tion dairy area the company will present a blower vacuum pump operating, connected to a WMS SmartDrive variable speed vacuum pump control-

ler, which provides power savings of up to 47% in the dairy.

Tel. 07 849 8755 www.waikatomilking. co.nz

Waterproof cameras to watch sheds GA R ET H G I L L AT T

WATERPROOF security cameras said to be popular in Australia will be on the Silvan NZ site, says business manager Hayden Mills.

The units are standalone and motion activated. Their waterproof case was developed largely for hunters, to film game on trails.

Now they’re popular with farmers, outside implement sheds and at the end of farm drives, Mills says.

Silvan says it has sold 1500 in the last six months.

Each unit consists of a day-night camera, three motion sensors and recording software which saves either video or camera footage on a card.

The system’s screen allows users to check footage without taking the card back to a PC as well as making camera positioning easier.

Camera software is set up to stop recording once a card is full and Mills says an 8GB card which comes with this model can last for up to four months before needing to be reset.

The unit runs on AA batteries. It will run up to three months on eight standard AA batteries or up to four months with high performance batteries depending on the settings.

Tel. 0508 745 826 www.silvannz.co.nz

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 61

Technology, design boosts for tractor maker BIG SHIFTS in technology and design are heralded in the new McCormick X7 Pro Drive series, says Gayne Carroll, general manager of New Zealand McCormick distributor Agtek Tractors and Equipment.

Six models include three with four-cylinder engines and three with six-cylinder engines and power outputs up to 212hp.

All models feature the new premiere cab with the latest electronics for fingertip control of important functions.

“The launch of the McCormick X7 Pro Drive is a major first step in the transformation of the McCormick product line,” Carroll says.

“Apart from the suspension axle, six-cylinder engine and cast chassis of the three biggest models, everything about the X7 range is new and as modern as you can get. “[Owners note their] simplicity and ease of control. The X7 designers have retained this simplicity while bringing in modern control and many more functions into the cab.”

The three six-cylinder Pro Drive semi-powershift models are at the top of the X7 range. The X7.660 produces 151hp at rated speed and maximum outputs of 165hp for draft work and 175hp with ‘boost’ activated for PTO and transport operations.

The X7.670 is rated at 166hp, with 175hp/188hp max outputs and the X7.680 with 175hp rated output rising to 188hp/212hp.

The trio of four-cylinder models includes the X7.440 which is rated at

131hp and produces a maximum of 143hp. The X7.450 has a rated output of 150hp rising to 160hp; and the X7.460 is rated 160hp with 166hp max draft output and 175hp for PTO and transport.

In the middle of the range, the X7.660 and X7.460 give farmers a choice of compact fourcylinder or heavier, longer wheelbase six-cylinder machines with the same power performance.

Auto-shifting through the four powershift steps for field and road use is provided by the Pro Drive transmission, together with 40km/h at much lower engine speed to help fuel economy. There are 24x24 speeds as standard and the option of 40x40 with the creep version.

Full hydraulic locking differentials are found at front and rear. These can be set to work automatically using the headland management system.

The cab is 180mm wider between the front pillars. A one-piece windscreen gives all-round visibility, while climate control air conditioning, extensive airflow ventilation and an audio system with MP3 and Bluetooth connectivity will help keep operators comfortable and content.

An example of the imaginative design and engineering that have gone into X7 Series is the MySwitch multi-function button on the seatmounted console. It can be used to perform four different functions – transmission declutch, four-wheel drive, diff locks and auto powershift.

Together with a simple

‘adjust and set’ system for occasional adjustments using a dial and instrument

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panel display, Tel. 07 573 8132 www.agtek.co.nz

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 63

‘Top tractor’ features now available in compact machines MANY TECHNICAL features formerly limited to “top tractor classes” are now found in four models in the Fendt 500 Vario series, a new class in the compact standard tractor market, says AGCO. Innovations and equipment options give the 500 Vario “unrivalled competitive advantages” in the 125 to 165hp range, including “cutting-edge engine performance and fuel saving SCR technology”.

The new 500 Vario tractors are powered by a 4.04L 4-cylinder-Deutz engine with four valves per cylinder and common rail injection.

For the 500 Vario series, Fendt also uses the fuel-saving SCR technology familiar from the 700, 800 and 900 Vario tractor series.

Since exhaust after-treatment with AdBlue urea solution takes place after the combustion process, and external exhaust gas recirculation is not

required, the engine can be optimally tuned. So as well as improving fuel economy, it also increases power and makes handling livelier, Agco says.

The maker’s Vario transmission ML 90 is notable: stepless speed adjustment has lots of potential to save time and money.

“With the tractor management system (TMS), the tractor is always working at an economic optimum.

Operators only need to enter the desired speed, then the activated TMS controls the engine and transmission – that means efficiency fully automatically. New in the 500 Vario is the automatic maximum output control.

In the cab the windscreen curves up into the roof and provides a full view of a raised front loader. More room and nearly 6m2 of glazing make the cab feel spacious.

All functions are found on the new

Varioterminal and the right armrest, which moves along with the driver seat.

Automatic steering, camera function, documentation system and ISOBUS implement control have found their way into this power class.

The maker’s automatic steering system is said to allow longer work time in the tractor – day or night.

The 500 Vario offers ideal automated functions for pass-to-pass work, and hydraulics ample for implements designed for this power class.

The right armrest is the central operating element.

Even during turning manoeuvres, there is no need to switch between controls in the 500 Vario, because operators can comfortably rest their arm on the right armrest and control the tractor and implement with the multi-function joystick and the Varioterminal.

An average of six percent less over-

Fendt 500 Vario series has many technical features limited to top tractor classes, says AGCO.

lapping, as well as savings in fuel and operating materials, such as seeds and fertiliser, are possible with VarioGuide.

The documentation system enables relevant data to be logged easily and quickly.

As many as five electrohydraulic double-acting valves are found at the rear plus two separate in the front, power beyond and ISOBUS connection. Connections total at least 22, front and rear.

A top speed of 50 km/h at a reduced engine speed enables swift and economical on-road driving. The self-levelling front axle suspension, steering system, shock load stabilising, cab suspension, seat suspension and automatic steering axle lock, ensure the best ride comfort and safety. www.fendt.com.au @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

64 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Mountain contractor sold on green Peter Brooker with their new Deutz Fahr 5130TTV.

you deserve vredesTeIN Tyres! > Superior driver comfort > Greater fuel efficiency > Higher crop yields > Longer service life

SALES OF Deutz Fahr tractors in New Zealand reached 1000 mark five years after the brand was taken over

by Power Farming, the company says.

The 1000th tractor sold is a 5-Series 5130TTV (130hp), sold by Power Farming Timaru to Maruia farmers and rural contractors Peter and Margaret Brooker. Their base is 30km from Springs Junction on the Lewis Pass highway between Christchurch and Nelson.

Deutz-Fahr’s mid-range 5-Series was launched by Power Farming at the Waimumu and Feilding field days

Mystery Creek

site C72

learning curve.

“I’m a bit of a technophobe so I’ve found it takes a bit of getting used to, but the 5130 is incredibly smooth….

My 16 year old daughter Rebecca, was able to handle it easily.”

The Brookers also own a 128ha run-off block and a 300ha dairy unit milking 550 cows. A new sharemilking couple will take over the operation this June, and they have also bought a Deutz-Fahr 5-Series tractor from Power Farming Timaru, along with a silage wagon and other gear. www.powerfarming.co.nz

New post-driver suits harsh projects and everyday demands GARETH GIL L ATT

Vredestein agricultural tyres are designed for optimum driver comfort, tyre performance and service life. Their innovative technology preserves the soil structure while optimising comfort and providing maximum traction.

If you operate high performance agricultural equipment, Vredestein will help you to get the best from your investment — simply superior performance through superior design. Talk to us about how Vredestein tyres can work for you — Site C72 at Mystery Creek.

in February this year.

The Brookers operate seven tractors in their contracting business, and the 5130 TTV is their second Deutz Fahr, joining a 610TTV, which they bought in December. They have long bought from Power Farming Timaru, whose dealer principal Ross Dawbin has “looked after us over the years.”

Brooker likes his 5130TTV’s performance. His first experience with it was loading 60 tonnes of lime, and he says it’s a “wicked loader tractor”.

Its CVT is positive and driveable and doesn’t demand a big

AWKWARD AND ‘harsh’ fencing jobs will be all in a day’s work for a new fence contractor postdriver due for launching at Fieldays by Fairbrother Industries Ltd. Sales manager Ken Lawson says eight months field-trialing of the new Fencetec Contractor postdriver has shown the company it will easily handle the demands of everyday fencing and be flexible enough to handle harder, awkward, even harsh fencing jobs.

This Kinghitter postdriver is available as either a central mounted or side mounted model. Side mounted units will have an extra

900 mm of side shift movement.

The hydraulic folding mast has a working height range of 4.91m and can fold down to 3.20m for transport.

Notable among its features is the use of “extremely tough” 150UC Biz laminated alloy in the construction of the beam, ensuring long service life.

The slides are made of 6mm strengthened web plates each side.

All pins and collars have grease nipples.

A 75mm diameter main pivot pin, standard hydraulic hinge, 75mm top link, angle adjustment rams and a 340kg hammer are standard.

The driver can generate as much as 51,800kg of impact at full capacity.

Plenty of adjustment is offered: the mast offers 10o front and 20o back movement, and 20o either direction of angle adjustment, “so there are some unique angles that can be achieved during operation,” says Lawson.

Lawson says the postdriver is compatible with all the company’s postdriver accessories including the rock spike extractor kit, ram pilot auger kit, heavy duty terminator base and 250mm mast shift base.

It can be mounted in the rear mount position or optional side mount position using the terminator base.

Tel. 0800 476 868 www.kinghitter.com

info@vredestein.co.nz | www.vredestein.co.nz

See uS at myStery creeK fielD DayS

Site K41&43

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 65

In-shed feeding draws interested crowd TO N Y H O P K I NSO N

SIX FARMERS a week are said to be visiting a Taupo dairy farm where a PPP Industries in-shed feeding system is keeping cows better fed.

In an effort to feed their cows better all year round ago the John Sar-

Feed is not bulky but full of nutrition, Sargent says.

gent farm ten years ago installed a PPP Industries in-place feeding system in their 50-aside herringbone dairy.

The farm is at Marotiri on the Taupo western access road 11km south of the Whakamaru Dam. This thriving dairy farm has grown to a milking

platform of 340ha with an adjoining run-off of 65ha and another run-off of 120ha, 4km from the home property.

“Firstly we were looking for ease of management and we did not want to invest in feed pads, tractors and machinery and the like and we wanted a system that was easy to manage and operate,” Sargent says.

Their aim was to feed the stock so they would peak higher and be able to fully feed the cows up to mating. The result is higher peaks and empty rates as low as 5%. They initially fed seasonal propriety blends.

In December 2012 they approached PPP Indus-

tries and had them install a Skiold disc mill to process their barley.

Where formerly feed blends were delivered to a storage silo and then augured to the feeding stations with the PPP additions the barley is dropped into a delivery bin and augured to a 38t storage silo.

From here the barley passes through the disc mill to a 16t holding silo and then augured to the feed stations in the sheds.

“To keep it fresh we only process enough for our immediate needs and the secret is to be able to get the barley cracked/ broken so the cow’s rumen can process it without making it too fine when

it can lodge in the augers or go straight through the cows.”

With the PPP feeders quickly adjusted they feed between 0.5kg and 4kg per day during the season and Sargent says that not being bulky but full of nutrition it still allows room in the cows rumen to fill with grass/hay or silage.

This season they have added a PPP molasses dispenser which places variable amounts of molasses into the troughs with the barley. It has seasonally added minerals.

“With the high payout it is worthwhile to do everything we can to maximise production.”

The results: coming

Michael Sargent says barley is ensured to a 38+ storage silo before passing through a disc mill to the 16+ holding silo in the background.

to the end of the 2013-14 season they are heading to a record 510kgMS/cow and a record 454,000kgMS up from 404,000kgMS in the previous season.

A side benefit Sargent

reports is that the heifers because they are feeding in the shed are more contented and get into the milking routine and settle quicker. www.pppindustries.co.nz

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

66 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Fencing contest to light up Fieldays THE WIREMARK Golden Pliers fencing contest will return to the National Fieldays this year.

It was absent from Fieldays last year, instead being held at the Hawkes Bay A&P show by the newly formed New Zealand Fencing Competitions.

Past national and

international champion Nick Liefting says the Wiremark Golden Pliers is unparalleled worldwide for the quality of judging and the calibre of the New Zealand designed products used in fenceline construction.

At the Fieldays the Wiremark Golden Pliers will be the main event.

Also drawing competitors nationally will be the Bill Schuler Novice Round final, Fieldays Silver Spades doubles championship and Fieldays Silver Staples doubles training institutes competition.

New Zealand Fencing Competitions (NZFC) event coordinator

Come and see us at the Fieldays Site #F28

Effluent Spin Separator ‘Removes Solids’ DISPLAY ON SITE • Low Maintenance • No moving parts

be held on Monday June 9. The Bill Schuler Novice Round final will be on June 11, Wiremark Golden Pliers Championship finals June 12, Fieldays Silver Spades Championship finals June 13 and the prizegiving 4pm that day.

The Fieldays Silver Staples will be on June 14.

Competitors must be aged at most 21 and enrolled in a training institute. www.fencingcontractors. co.nz/NZFC

Ripper yields – all will be revealed

• Low odour • Recycle water for wash down • Pivot injection compatible • Transferring nutrient loading from liquids to solids 10 Robinson Street Ashburton

manager, Andrew Hibbert, in the Southern Debbie White says these Hemisphere. says it will be good to national championship “The competition showcase the best talent competitions wouldn’t organisation committee prosper without sponsors the fencing industry has has Hawkes Bay under to offer.

Wiremark, Cyclone, Steel & Tube, Hurricane, “The competition organisation Strainrite, Stockade, committee has Hawkes Bay under Goldpine, their belts and I’m sure they’ll put on a Stihl and the fantastic event at Mystery Creek.”

Fieldays.

Wiremark their belts and I’m sure “It’s fantastic we has sponsored the event they’ll put on a fantastic since its inception in 1969. can hold a world-class competition at the largest event at Mystery Creek.”

The company’s sales and Competition heats will agribusiness exhibition market development

Ph: 03 307 9049 Fax: 03 307 9047

Email: rainer@ashburton.co.nz

www.rainer.co.nz

HARROWS HARROWS HARROWS

A FARMER with some of the highest yields in his part of Southland will help man the James Engineering site to answer visitors’ questions.

Of course, he’s an enthusiastic user of James’ gear.

The Maitland, Southland, firm has exhibited at Fieldays for 30 years, says founder Des James.

“We originally attended as the manufacturer and distributor of a linkage to enable farmers to steer their tractors and raise and lower the hydraulics while

feeding out bales from the transport tray.”

He later turned to making soil aerators, mole ploughs and subsoilers, becoming an acknowledged authority on soil aeration and its benefits to soil health and drainage.

The business is now owned by Mike Key. On show will be mole ploughs, attachments for laying plastic water pipe, pre-rippers, sub-soilers and the James patented bale tippers.

“As well as our usual

Full range of harrows available with over 50 types, styles, t a s u it combinations and weights to Vis ys a ld ie F the choose from.

55 Site D

FOR GREAT HARROWS GREAT PRICES

03 347 8516 Ph 0800 HARROWS

An auto reset soil aerator, designed for problem soils where timber and rocks are present.

team we will also have a farmer who has used our machines for some time and achieves some of the highest crop yields in the area. He will be available

to answer questions from a practical farmer’s perspective,” says Key. Tel. 03 207 1837 www.james-engineering. co.nz

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 67

Herringbone management made easier GA RE T H G I LLAT T

FARMERS with herringbone sheds are about to see a complete management, monitoring and drafting system, due for launching at Fieldays by Tru-Test New Zealand.

Sales and marketing manager Verne Atmore says the company’s MilkHub Dairy Automation system offers a worldfirst in herringbone milking – individual cow identification whereby NAIT tags allow automated in-shed cow monitoring and management.

“Farmers have voiced their interest in automatic solutions for herringbone sheds for many years,” says Atmore.

Until now variations in design and dimensions, and the implications of variable row length, cow behavior such

as pushing, queue-jumping and swinging heads, plus cow line-up in the shed, have added to the hardware and software design challenge.

Tru-Test engineers have succeeded in overcoming these challenges, creating a herringbone solution that is accurate and reliable, says Atmore.

“Ultimately the key to the system’s success is its unobtrusiveness. It isn’t going to interrupt cow flow or milking and it’s ‘hands off’.”

The antennae for in-bail identification are located above the bails and display screens mounted above the pit, allowing farmers to easily see which cows are now in the shed and what their status is.

Real-time information on EID and cow data is accurate for standing order so

behaviour such as queue jumping while cows come into the row has no effect.

VID, birth detail, last calving date, calving due date, herd test results, last treatment and treatment date — this information and more can be displayed at every milking. Display information can be manipulated as required at different times in the season.

The herringbone system can be retrofitted into almost any shed setup and because it is modular farmers will be able to add other automation components to their systems as needs arise.

Tru-Test says it has tried to keep the price of the herringbone unit competitive with that of the rotary model: the herringbone price is only slightly higher, says Atmore.

“It will cost a little more to get an EID system for a 50-bail herringbone than for

Simple system delivers big A MILKING system bought last year by Ohaupo, Waikato, dairy farmers Paul and Sue Bardoul is said to be delivering the goods – reliability, low maintenance and efficiency.

They run 650 Holsteins on 148ha with a farm manager and three staff. Their dairy is a 46-bail rotary.

They have farmed there 30 years.

“We were using a system with electronic pulsators and they were becoming less reliable with age. We found they were also sensitive to moisture and foreign

matter interfering with functionality.

“We’d known of Read Milking Systems for many years, and after a visit to their factory and to some farms to see it in action, we converted to Read’s a year ago.”

Read Milking Systems, Rangiora, is a family owned company selling milking systems in New Zealand and overseas.

Bardoul says the changeover process was “smooth”. “We milk year-round so the changeover process needed to be achieved between morning and afternoon milkings.

s See u e at Sit L11

it’s a simple system that’s achieving above industry standards.

Our maintenance costs are slashed, we’re getting better milk from quarters, lower SCC and milking is now quicker with all bails functioning.

Even the cows seem happier with it.” www.readindustrial. co.nz.

VETMARKER

®

DOCKING LAMBS IS EASY WITH THE VETMARKER See us on

Winner of National Fieldays Break thru Prototype and Sheepvention Australia Animal Handling Equipment

the Prattleys Site G38, G40

accurate in-shed EID reading.”

a 50-bail rotary. It is still far less expensive than building a new rotary shed, which was until now the only way to get

Tel. 09 978 8888 www.tru-test.com

See us at Fieldays Site C52

www.revolutionpostdrivers.co.nz

0800 957 868

Tunnelhouses

Prices Exclude GST

YARD SCRAPERS 3pt or FEL $ From:

1950

PALLET FORKS 750kg - 1500kg $ Priced from:

700

ROUND BALE HANDLER For ease of handling or feeding out with unravelling cones or bale, handling arms, 3pt $ Priced from:

3450

FORKLIFTS 450kg - 2000kg, 1.50m-3m Lift Priced from:

Most componentry was installed while the old system was still in place and functioning, then when this was completed we had a big day implementing the actual system changeover.”

They are pleased with their purchase, Bardoul says.

“We’ve found it’s low maintenance;

Tru-Test is launching a new herringbone management system.

3550

$

BOX TIPPERS 1250kg-1500kg capacity, rotates 150˚ $ Priced from:

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BUCKET ATTACHMENTS 1/3m capacity, 120˚ tipping angle $ Priced from:

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$

State Highway 2 Kerepehi, R.D.1 Paeroa Phone: 0-7-867 6712 www.quinn.co.nz

The Benefits are: • Weigh lambs • Less stress on lamb • Easy to load • Automatically sprays for fly strike on release • Lambs are released onto their feet • Height adjustable • Straight rollers help prevent legs getting stuck • Self locking on yard rail • 2 Year Warranty Also available, a Vetmarker for weighing lambs at docking time.

FREEPHONE 0800 DOCKER 0800 362 537 www.vetmarker.co.nz

• Vaccination • Earmarking and tagging • Castration • Drenching • Fly strike application and Tail removal

See us at the National Fieldays • SITE D74 •

• Ideal addition to your block • Grow vegetables all year round and reduce your grocery bill • Very affordable and easy to install • Totally NZ made by family business making tunnelhouses for 30 years • Range of models from 2m to 8m long

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

68 NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS

Ambitious young fencer works many lines Jaylor feeder mixers.

Mixer offers efficiency GA RE T H G I LLAT T

POWER FARMING will launch five new Jaylor mixer wagon models, “setting the bar on usability and ease of maintenance,” says product manager Ken Bill.

Buyers can select from five models ranging from 14.6-27.2m3.

The Canadian manufacturer has developed a new front frame with a storage compartment, integrated ladder and viewing platform.

Their intention was to make feed easier to see during mixing, with a shaker box included as standard to let the operator make sure the wagon has mixed feed well enough. Calculating feed levels is also said to be easier.

Operators will also more easily see feed moving from the elevator to bins thanks to a re-positioned feed elevator.

Maintenance is easier, with a centralised greasing bank for the augers, and redesigned auger lubrication

NEW PRODUCTS!

INTRODUCTORY FIELDAY PRICES! TARAGATE IS LAUNCHING SOME EXCITING NEW PRODUCTS

• HOT POST • CATTLE CRUSH • DRIVEWAY ENTRANCE GATES • FENCING TOOLS and more!

VISIT TARAGATE AT SITE E15-17 AND SAVE! GET YOUR FENCING SORTED! TARAGATE – the ORIGINAL Multi Strand Electric Gate

The preferred choice for over 20 years!

– Taragate 4 Strand – Taragate 2 Strand – Taragate 4 Strand ‘Lifestyler’

Four Strand $58.00 Two Strand $39.99

Visit our website to view our full range or give us a call to discuss your fencing needs.

Taragate Ltd

RD2 Hamilton, New Zealand Phone 07 843 3859 Fax 07 843 3952 Email info@taragate.co.nz Web www.taragate.co.nz

tanks that are less obtrusive.

The new mixer wagons also have a new underside hydraulic ram operation system to allow for left or right discharge of feed.

Bill says farmers are largely looking to improve nutrition through better supplement use to improve profitability.

“There is now a greater awareness that it’s not necessarily cow numbers alone but the potential of the animal with proper nutrition.”

BALE FEEDERS

FEEDS ROUNDS & SQUARE See us at Fieldays at site L14

TRAILERS

HOW DOES an up-andcoming fencing contractor spend the New Zealand winter? Erecting fences in Britain.

This is part of the long term strategy devised by Jason Van Beers, from Porangahau, Hawkes Bay, son and protégé of top fencer Paul Van Beers, reports post driver manufacturer Revolution Postdrivers, which supplies the Van Beers.

Paul and Jason started Van Beers Fencing in late 2010 with Paul having contract fenced over the years, carrying out mostly handwork, often with wife Wendy.

Jason on leaving school had started a building apprenticeship but found working and living in town was not for him so he left after six months to do fencing. Now he has nearly completed the level 4 NZQA National Certificate in Fencing – a contractor-level qualification.

The Van Beers bought a Revolution Telescopic RM driver with a 250kg hammer.

An auto auger and rock spike kit were added to deal with the varying pans and rocks found in the wider central Hawkes Bay area Van Beers fencing operates in.

Using a post driver took a bit of getting used to, with Jason never having used one, Revolution says. But he’s working on it.

Farming clients who doubt wther he will be able to fence a particular line with a tractor often observe that the balance of Van Beers’ telescopic mast, and its ability to ‘compact’ down, enables him to get in safely amongst low trees and steeper areas safely. www.revolutionpostdrivers.co.nz

Jason van Beers in eyeing a career in fencing.

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MYSTERY CREEK site c72

Maxxis 4WD tyres are a New Zealand legend. Whether you need highway performance, all-terrain traction, extreme mud grip or a combination of all three, Maxxis tyres’ durability and unique onroad and off-road capabilities set Maxxis apart among 4WD tyres. Come and check out the range at Mystery Creek – Site C72.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

Pump solves milk frothing problem TO N Y H O P K I N SO N

REDUCED FROTHING and better cooling of milk are seen at a Dannevirke dairy farm that has installed a Corkill Systems rotary-lobe pump.

Paul Charmley had had a serious problem with frothing of milk in the receiving can and at the start of the 2013-14 season installed the pump. It greatly reduced the problem.

“I saw them at the 2013 Central Districts Field Days and liked the principle of how they worked with the stainless lobes positively displacing and not damaging the milk.”

Frothing has been reduced and the float control keeps the volume in the can steady. Charmley says with the predicted changes in milk temperatures for milk entering the vat he is getting better cooling because of the even milk flow through the cooler.

A side benefit was when Corkill Systems did the installation they corrected a stray voltage problem

Paul Charmley says frothing has been reduced to almost nil.

and now the cows are quieter and contented in the shed.

“Our old pump was continually running on the wash cycle to keep up with the froth, after one season we are happy with our installation and the results,” says Charmley.

Charmley is the fourth generation of his family on the farm. He and wife Lisa are just finishing their first

season as owners.

They run an all grass system and manage without any bought-in feed.

“We plate meter the farm once a week.

“Using the Minda Land and Feed program we closely monitor our grass growth throughout the year.”

Tel. 0800 10 7006 www.corkillsystems.co.nz

NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 69 Fence gear maker to run demos FIELDAYS HAS chosen Taragate to promote and run the new fencing demonstration area at Mystery Creek.

Kerry Powell from Taragate says the firm is “honoured that Fieldays have chosen us to partner with them for this most important site”.

“Situated at the end of River Lane between the equine demonstration area and the fencing competitions, the area is large enough for us to demonstrate all sorts of fencing, not just electric including fencing for horses, cattle, sheep and much more. It will be broader than just Taragate branded product.”

Taragate has been part of the fencing landscape in New Zealand for 20 years and enjoys strong relationships with many experts in this field, Powell says.

This new fencing demonstration and education area provides a place and opportunity for farmers to get together with working fencing contractors who can show them how to save time and money using the latest fencing methods.

Three professional fencers will be on site daily and visitors will have the opportunity to talk with them while they demonstrate building a wide variety of fences.

New offer A CATTLE crush, driveway entrance gates, fencing tools, new pigtail standards and hot posts are among new product offerings on the Taragate site.

The hot post, made of high quality spring steel, has a strong 9mm foot that won’t break, It is much safer to handle as the entire lower section is not live which also prevents any shorting out in long grass, and it has an extra insulator to carry a second wire if required.

Tel. 07 843 3859 www.taragate. co.nz

More farming – less work Find out how mobile apps can simplify farming.

Join us at Fieldays on stand M26 for free 25-minute seminars showcasing farming apps for iPad/iPhone. We’ll shout you coffee and a bite to eat, and you’ll learn how apps can collect data from cattle and optimise your fertiliser use.

When: 10am and 2pm, Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 and Friday 13 June 2014.

Vodafone Power to you

Register at the session and be in to win a mobility package worth Winner will be drawn on 16 June 2014 and the prize must be used by the winner on a Vodafone New Zealand On Account Plan. Prize is not transferrable and is not redeemable for cash. *

$1,500*

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

70 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Locally-made front-mount drum mower at home in the rough stuff GA RE T H G I LLAT T

MAXAM’S NEW 2.8M front-mount drum mower is at home in difficult conditions, says its maker, reporting on the machine’s trials by a South Waikato farmer and a contractor.

Due for Fieldays launching, the Maxam FM2800 is the first of its

type designed and made in New Zealand.

Most front mowers are held to the mainframe with long linkages, or mounted directly to tractor front 3-point linkage, says Maxam marketing manager Nick Barnes.

Problem is direct mounted mowers are the most susceptible to damage.

The Maxam front

mower has a vertical A-frame which pushes the mower just above ground level, rather than above the cutter bar. This allows the mower to ‘float’ over pasture, following contours closely. The long skids work like skis, easily gliding over rough ground and undulating terrain.

Demand for a durable front-mounted mower

Maxam’s new 2.8m front-mount drum mower will be launched at this year’s Fieldays.

has been growing, Barnes says, driven largely by an increase in dairy goat farming and other cutand-carry farming systems.

Maxam put the new machine out to trial by a Waikato dairy goat farm manager and a South Waikato contractor. Both are said to have given it the thumbs up.

Trent Bonner runs 480 Saanen goats (soon to be 600) and 430 cows on 200ha at Morrinsville.

About 30ha is set up as cut-and-carry.

Farm manager Nathanael McDonald cuts pasture and feeds it to goats that spend most of their time in two barns 70 x 30m.

Most of the cut-and-carry

forms well overall. “It’s a big strong sturdy mower.”

Putaruru contractor Neil King says he noticed the difference in his ability to cut hay in trying con-

part of the farm is in well managed, carefully finished paddocks, McDonald says. But the farm leases 20ha and there they strike problems. “There

Demand for a durable frontmounted mower has been growing, driven largely by an increase in dairy goat farming and other cut-and-carry farming systems. – Nick Barnes ditions.

King spreads effluent and cuts and bales hay and silage from Tirau to Tokoroa and it’s in this latter region that he often faces challenges bailing hay. Many of the area’s recently converted dairy farms were once pine

are lots of trees… and the odd wire, stick and branch.”

These played havoc with his previous frontmounted mower. “We hit a wire that put the previous mower out of action.”

But the Maxam has had no such problems and per-

forest, with lots of stumps, logs and other hard obstacles.

But he says blade wear on the Maxam has been less than on the front mower he normally runs.

The drum feature makes all the difference, King says. “It’s simplicity is the key: no gearboxes, just a heavy-duty belt.”

He says he has been surprised at the mower’s performance over undulating ground, contrasting with “problems we’ve had with mowers digging into the ground.”

“But the Maxam floated well. I didn’t think it would work but I was pleasantly surprised that it did.”

Tel. 06 356 8516 www.maxam.net.nz

Hilux Combo

FIELDAYS SPECIAL FOR FIELDAYS ONLY Ironman 4x4 is offering the following

SPECIAL

• Ironman 4x4 commerical bar • Ironman 4x4 Airforce snorkel • Ironman 4x4 Hilux suspension upgrade – 45mm lift • Underbody protection kit • Also available for Ford Ranger, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Holden and Mazda

$

SEE US AT SITE O18 AUTHORISED DEALERS LOCATED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

4800

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+GST

Terms and conditions apply – 2005 Hilux models onwards

COME AND SEE US AT THE NATIONAL FIELDAYS IN HAMILTON AT SITE 018

TOLL FREE - 0508 IRONMAN (0508 476 6626) www.ironman4x4.co.nz

ARE YOU

READY? DO YOU 30 PoinCt E DEPEND VI ON YOUR SER K CHEC RACEWELL SHEEP HANDLER?

Trials for the new mower have been held on a South Waikato farm, where it has proven to be a “big, strong sturdy mower”.

What would a breakdown due to wear and tear cost you when you were about to draft lambs?

You can ensure your Racewell equipment is in peak condition for the coming season with our 30 point check for only $199* - and that includes travel* and the first hours labour charge too. This offer is only available until the 30th June 2014.

BE READY! BOOK YOUR SERVICE NOW

From Only

$1

99

Phone: 0800 837 274 Email support@tepari.com

*All prices exclude GST. All parts and additonal labour or travel are charged at normal rates. Travel is limited to 100kms from base or last job. Booked 30 point services will be collated and completed during July and August 2014. This offer does not apply to specific call-outs.

www.tepari.com

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 71

Head for the hills with heavy short discs and harrows GA RE T H G I LLAT T

A HEAVY yet compact set of disc harrows suits cultivation on hills, says the manufacturer Fairbrother Industries, planning to launch them at Fieldays.

Marketing manager Matt Fairbrother says though long disc harrows are great

for working up soil, their length hinders their use on undulating ground.

Contractors working hill country had been asking Fairbrother for more compact, lower profile discs, suitable for steeper work. “In the time we started developing the product three more people have approached us asking us

to make this,” Fairbrother says.

A prototype was quickly run out and using computer aided design they went from concept to prototype in two months.

Prototypes went to contractors in Kaikohe, Tokoroa and Nelson, the feedback being that the discs worked well with no breakages and produced good, consistent results.

The design has a central, low-profile frame of 250 x 150 x 9mm heavy steel giving best possible stability on hills.

Two hydraulic arms fold out to allow for a total 3.4m cut. Travel width is 2.5m.

Blades are mounted on a 40mm 4140 steel axle and have nuts at both ends to allow easy access if repairs or maintenance is needed. Blades of 26 or 28 inch blades weigh 100-145kg.

To increase durability and reduce maintenance cost the company uses 8 taper roller bearings made in-house with a new seal design that allows a five year warranty.

Folding arms and transport wheels are hydraulically controlled for easier transport between jobs.

The direction on blades is also hydraulically controlled allowing for fine control directly from the cab.

“The operator has lots of adjustment

capabilities with blade angles.”

Operators will need a minimum 150hp to get the most out of the discs while working safely on hills, says Fairbrother.

Tel. 0800 476 868 www.hoopermachinery.co.nz

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www.towandfarm.co.nz 0508 747 040

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

72 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

A year of achievement – more to come!

IT IS hard to believe that later this month it will have been a year since I was elected president Rural Contractors New Zealand at our annual conference in Cromwell.

And later this month – from June 23-26 – we will again hold our annual conference, this time at the Devon Hotel, New Plymouth.

In his annual address to the RCNZ conference in 2013 my predecessor John Hughes referred to the lack of encouragement in New Zealand’s education systems to attract young people into the primary sector.

Since then there has been a lot of media coverage of this issue, often

led by Rural Contractors NZ, on the efforts to try to encourage and attract young people into the agricultural and horticulture industries.

Last spring, our zone 4 region (Otago and Southland) set out to encourage more workers into our industry. Our guys worked with WINZ to organise a day when people interested in working in the rural contracting sector could talk to contractors, ask questions and get a look at some of the gear we use.

It was a resounding success. We thought about 30 people might show up, but to our surprise and delight about 130 people came. Some of them now

have jobs.

RCNZ intends to replicate this initiative nationwide this year and we are developing a template for how this best can be done. In part it depends on us building good rapport with WINZ; in doing so we are building relationships and doing the right thing – trying to employ Kiwis in our industry before having to

wearing a helmet while As an industry bring in overseas workers. riding a quad – highorganisation, Rural ConBut despite this initialight the importance of tractors NZ will continue tive our industry is still employers and employees to lobby government and short of skilled machine knowing their rights and operators, hence the ongo- immigration officials on ing issue with immigration We need to get to grips with changes that has been to health and safety regulations troubling the rural contractfollowing the introduction of the ing industry for Health and Safety in Employment years. We are still unable to conReform Bill into Parliament. vince the governresponsibilities on health this matter. ment that there is a skills and safety issues in the Another big issue for shortage in our industry workplace. our sector over the past for seasonal employees.

We need to get to grips year has been health and Thus far the government with changes to health and safety. has not been willing to safety regulations followChanges to the Health include seasonal machine and Safety Act and the for- ing the introduction of operators on the skills the Health and Safety in mation of WorkSafe NZ shortage list, so making Employment Reform Bill – and a recent report of a it much harder to bring into Parliament. There are $15,000 fine dished out these operators into the big changes and these will to a farm worker for not country.

affect rural contractors.

The penalties for getting it wrong, should anyone suffer a major accident at their workplace, are going to be severe.

These matters and much more will be covered at our conference in New Plymouth. I encourage any rural contractors, and those associated with our sector, to attend. You will not only learn a lot, but also have some fun. I look forward to seeing you there.

For more information and or registrations about the conference email: office@ruralcontractors. org.nz .

• Steve Levet, Wellsford, is president of Rural Contractors New Zealand.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 73

Don’t park this under the lemon tree!

BURT MUNRO would be smiling: the motorcycle brand he knew best is being revived in New Zealand by US manufacturer Polaris Industries.

Its subsidiary Indian Motorcycle is offering three models here: the Indian Chief Classic Cruiser, the Indian Chief Vintage soft bagger and the Indian Chief hard bagger.

Founded in 1901 as America’s first motorcycle company, Indian Motorcycle is today setting out to “capture the essence of the traditional styling and brand heritage that’s made

Indian such an iconic name in world motorcycling,” the company says.

Auckland’s Cyclespot dealership will be the new home of the brand, known globally for the exploits of Kiwi biker Burt Munro, subject of the movie The World’s Fastest Indian. British actor Antony Hopkins played Munro.

“The Indian brand stirs much emotion in our customers and to launch the brand in the home of the ‘world’s fastest Indian’, Burt Munro, is truly memorable for our business,” Indian Motorcycle country

manager Peter Harvey says.

“The spirit of the Munro bike has a direct link to New Zealand and played a role in bringing to life what the heart and soul of Indian should be.

“The Munro family has been a great assistance to us in re-launching Indian Motorcycle around the world and now we finally get to celebrate that launch in Burt’s own backyard.”

NO.1 PERFORMER ON EVERY PADDOCK Once you’ve played and worked with the best, there’s no settling for less. That’s why Tony Woodcock kits up on a Suzuki. And just like New Zealand’s most capped prop, the DR200 Trojan has measured up to the test for years.

With a tough 200cc engine, greater suspension travel, higher ground clearance, and a lower seat height than any of its competitors, it’s rugged, reliable and easy around the paddock.

The 13-litre fuel tank means it won’t be stopping half way through the game. When you add top level details like alloy hand guards, rubber insulated steel footpegs, dual side stands and a large 12V headlight it’s clear no other farm bike can compete.

A night to remember for dealers

PROVEN TOUGH. GREATER ENDURANCE. NO COMPETITION SZM0037

NEW AND existing AGCO products recently drew 325 customers and dealer staff to a “night to remember” at Manfeild, Manawatu, reports New Zealand manager Peter Scott.

Four local dealers hosted the event: TFM Tractors, TRC Tractors Feilding and FieldTorque. They presented Iseki products and a surprise unveiling of the new MF6600 Series 120-140hp and Fendt 500 Vario 125-165hp tractors. AGCO staff gave a detailed overview of the new tractors.

But it wasn’t all serious business. The audience watched a video of a ‘Top Gear’-inspired hot lap – the Iseki, MF6600 and Fendt 500 going head-to-head at the nearby Manfeild race track. Then followed an evening of uniquely local comedy.

AGCO Australia staff were impressed by the great atmosphere and overwhelming support shown by the size of the gathering, said Paul Darcy, director of sales AGCO Australia.

“This has probably been one of the best dealer events I have attended. It was great to see the professionalism and dedication of the New Zealand dealers who organised the evening and the large number of customers.”

WWW.SUZUKI.CO.NZ

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

74 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Suzuki crossover made to go – and last MA RK M AC FA R LA N E markm@ruralnews.co.nz

SO YOU are ready for a smaller car but still need some luggage capacity?

Looking for more practicality but still want to

look a bit “outdoor-ish”?

Suzuki’s new S-Cross is the eventual replacement for the current SX4 range though for a while both models will be available here. Called a crossover vehicle, it is made

to sit between a car and a small SUV. Upright styling along with a raised seating position gives it that inbetween feel most will be comfortable with. A real step-up styling wise from

the old SX4, it has modern frontal design and a tall side profile which helps with entry and exit. Limited models are enhanced

The Suzuki S-Cross is made to sit between a car and a small SUV.

with LED headlamps and smart scuff plates on front, back and sides along with fog lamps and bigger alloys.

Inside, the raised seating position offers good, all-round visibility, though having the rear headrests lowered helps with rearward vision. A reversing camera is fitted as standard only to the limited spec version, as is the sat nav, and the air conditioning becomes dual-zone.

The interior is smart and practical but quite conservatively styled.

Everything you would expect is there but the layout is not what you would call ‘cutting edge’.

Being a Suzuki, howeve,r it is well put together and the materials are good quality. Overall it will age well and expect better than average reliability.

Luggage space is vital in this class and the Suzuki offers plenty with 430L even with the seats up – a good result.

On the road, Rural

News drove two versions, a GLX and a Limited both with Allgrip iAWD. This switchable 4WD system features sport, snow and lock modes, or an auto mode can make the decisions for you. The 4WD versions have a handy 165mm ground clearance so a little better than average if you do leave the tarmac.

Both cars we drove were automatic (CVT).

I prefer a manual and I think it would make for a better drive in this case.

Only the base GLX is available in manual form. With only 86kW and 156Nm on hand I don’t want to be wasting any. In saying that, performance is not bad.

The cars only weigh about 1100-1200kg so they are quite nimble.

Pricing starts at $27,990 and the top spec Limited models can top $36,000 once on road costs are added. Suzuki offers a 5 year warranty and 5 year roadside assist. www.suzuki.co.nz

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THE FARMBOSS app from Baletwine helps raise productivity and profit in stock grazing situations, says the company.

The developer has 30 years of practical farming experience and knows information technology.

The app presents 22 calculators for everyday grazing operations, in the paddock and on smartphone or tablet.

The app includes budgeting and reporting templates, calculating grass feed requirements and required stock growth rates to meet target weights.

It can work out how many staples are needed to build a fence, etc.

About half the calculators have an in-built email facility for sending data to advisors, farm owners, suppliers or a home office.

Farmboss calculators offer either US or metric measurements, so users can choose and click the option they prefer in the settings. It does not need a signal once it is on a phone.

Download it from the Google Play store and the Apple iTunes App Store.

Tel 021 627 554 www.baletwine.co.nz

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 75

Bale on the wheel on quad-towed feeder GARE TH GIL L ATT

Win this beaut!

Rural News is giving readers the chance to win a brand new Mahindra Pik-Up single-cab 4x4 ute.

Complete with flat deck tray, our Mahindra Pik Up single cab prize is valued at $32,440 including on-road costs.

Mahindra started making vehicles in 1947 with the iconic Willys Jeep. Today it is a US$16.2 billion company that makes utility, commercial and passenger vehicles and is the largest manufacturer of tractors by volume in the world.

Mahindra utilities and SUVs, designed to tackle tough conditions, are fitted with a tough 2.2L common rail turbo-charged engine designed for Mahindra by Austrian diesel engine specialist AVL. The Pik Up is a tough truck with Eaton locking differential, low-

range transfer case and the 2.2L diesel, which produces a decent 280Nm of torque. Rural News will have a full review in an upcoming issue.

Mahindra vehicles are big sellers in overseas markets but are relatively new here. Observant attendees of any of the 2014 regional field days earlier this year will have seen various models on display.

The Mahindra team will have the prize ute vehicles on display at National Fieldays, June 11-14.

As well as entering using the entry form on page 8 of this issue, Rural News readers will get a bonus entry if they visit the Mahindra site (sites I5, I7, I9, I11 and J42) and note down the bonus code that appears on the Pik-Up single-cab displayed there.

A BALE feeder inspired by a child’s garden swing needs no wheels: it rolls along on the bale itself, towed by a quad.

Inventor Wessel Eksteen wanted a feeder that didn’t need a tractor, and that was simple and inexpensive. He tipped the garden swing over and, presto, there was his prototype feeder.

Now he’s having them made commercially, calling the device Rollit. It will contest the National Fieldays ag innovations award.

Helping Eksteen develop and commercialise the idea was Barry Funnell, 2011 winner of the Australian Outdoor Power Equipment Association product of the year

Inventor Wessel Eksteen wanted a bale feeder that did not need a tractor.

award.

Says Eksteen, “Present equipment used for feeding out using round bales is expensive especially for people with small holdings. Now Rollit offers them the ability to feed round bales using their farm quad.”

The simple yoke device tows the bale which itself acts as the wheel, much like a lawn roller.

Funnell says Eksteen has found a way to set up the axle so that the bale doesn’t travel out of alignment. “It’s an example of the number 8 wire

approach, where a hardworking Kiwi farmer has solved a problem simply.”

“Now it is affordable which is what people are looking for and the price could make or break the feeder success.”

Tel. 07 893 8565 rollit@farmside.co.nz

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For a limited time or while stocks last.

RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

76 NZ PLOUGHING CHAMPS

Double Dutch winners!

Contestant to keep honing her skills

TO N Y H O P K I NSO N

WINNERS OF the inaugural Vernon Bishell Trophy at the New Zealand Ploughing Championships last month were Alan and Margot Vliet Vlieland, Christchurch.

The award is for the best presented horses and competitors in the horse ploughing class.

They have competed for three years.

Alan runs a horse dentistry practice covering the South Island from their base at West Eyerton.

The trophy was presented by Vernon Bishell, a long-time Blenheim resident who has competed in the horse ploughing class at many New Zealand championships.

TO NY H O P K I N SON

Alan and Margot Vliet Vlieland.

Alan and Margot Vliet Vlieland’s winning horses.

CORRECTION PLOUGHING VENUE The 2015 New Zealand Ploughing Championships will be hosted by the East Otago Ploughing Association at Palmerston from April 18-19, 2015 – not in Palmerston North as reported in the May 20 issue of Rural News.

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THOUGH LINDA Cosgrove did not win a place at the recent New Zealand Ploughing Championships, she did win the Wiganwood Trophy for the best presented rig in the vintage class.

She drove a John Deere Model 40 built in 1953, with a Reid and Grey plough.

“I formerly entered in the novice section and have only been competing for two years,” said Cosgrove.

Hailing from Blenheim where she is general manager of a commercial refrigeration company, Cosgrove has been treasurer of the Marlborough Ploughing Association for five years.

“I actually have been treasurer for longer because when Dad had the job he said I had the number skills so I did the job for him.”

Her father was a competition ploughman and Linda says she plans to keep competing to “hone her skills”.

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 77

More than your average school runner FROM A distance this new Toyota Highlander looks like one of the Toyota family, almost like its RAV4 sibling, but as you get closer you realise this is a little more than your usual shopping wagon.

Not highly sprung like a full off-road vehicle, but a large SUV for sure.

Space abounds inside with seven seats, all of a reasonable size, abundant storage and a relaxing driving position with plenty of elbow room. The second row slides, splits and folds to enable easy access to the twin seat third row.

of torque is a lot of grunt but at a little over two tonnes this new Highlander would be quite a handful if driven too fast.

Progress despite this can be quite brisk and there is little noise from the road or the outside world as it flashes by.

Diff locks, hill descent control and traction control are all just a button push away and a ‘smart’ transmission helps with both making the most of the power available and engine braking when going downhill. There is some engine noise audible when accelerating hard but I wouldn’t call it unpleasant – the sound is really

The new Toyota Highlander – more than the usual shopping wagon.

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Is this the ultimate school run wagon? There is no doubt it is a large vehicle with real presence.

Unlike the previous model you can no longer remove the centre seat from the second row to get ‘walk through’ access.

Even with the third row of seats in place there is still some luggage space and there is some wet storage available too beneath the rear floor area. With the third row folded the boot space available is a huge 813L. The driving position is high with good visibility and a well appointed, well upholstered dashboard which is all new and very stylish. There are swooping design lines and the obligatory information screen which thankfully has a reversing camera like many of the current Toyota offerings.

The sound system is user friendly and it was easy to set up phones and various new music sources. Unusually I found the voice activation actually works well and on only one occasion did I call a contact long-since forgotten.

On the road performance is very much a battle of wills. A gutsy 201kW along with 337Nm

rather nice. Fuel economy is quoted at 10.6L/100km but with highway driving or a lighter foot this can be easily reduced. A road test longer than usual took hours behind the wheel but I arrived fresh and able to work, which is a sign of a well sorted vehicle.

Is this the ultimate school run wagon? There is no doubt it is a large vehicle with real presence, a powerful engine and bags of space. The ability to carry many kids and their assorted flotsam is a bonus and the ease of driving will make it a desirable option to those who can afford it.

Pricing start at a competitive $59,990 plus ORC the top spec starts at a hefty $80,990 plus ORC before any aftermarket extras like tow bars, side steps and nudge bars are fitted. These could add another few thousand to the total.

Toyota currently offer a complete peace-ofmind motoring for 5 years, including 5 years free servicing, 5 years free WOF checks and 5 years free AA Roadservice.

Contact 0800 Toyota or visit www.toyota.co.nz

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

78 RURAL TRADER Rubber Safety Matting

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To mark a birthday, retirement or any milestone, give that special someone, something special - a personal cartoon portrait by Edna cartoonist Malcolm Evans - $200 plus GST

www.ruralnews.co.nz/enewsletter

Send no money - just email a few up-to-date photos of subject, with a note of details you’d like included, to; malcolm@evanscartoons.com

Phone: 0800 80 8570 www.burgessmatting.co.nz

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RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014

RURAL TRADER 79 CRAIGCO SENSOR JET

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BULLBARS WORTH 575

FARM WORKER FLATDECK • • • •

Fuel-injected 1,300cc Hi-Lo ratio 4WD/2WD 500kg payload 1,550 x 1,600mm galvanised steel and ply deck • Fibreglass rear cab and roof • Work bar and tow bar • Optional Maxxis tyres shown

$

$

12,165

FREE EXCLUDES GST

BULLBARS WORTH 575

FARM WORKER VERSATILE • • • • • • • •

Fuel-Injected 1,300cc Hi/Lo ratio 4WD/2WD 500kg payload Full canvas cover Folding rear bench seats Folding windscreen Special entry level model Optional Maxxis tyres shown

$

$

13,557

FREE EXCLUDES GST

BULLBARS WORTH 575

FARM WORKER MULTIPURPOSE • • • • • •

Rugged all-terrain capability Best value side-by-side on the market Hi/Lo ratio 4WD/2WD All-weather protection Fuel-Injected 1,300cc Optional tow bar and Maxxis tyres shown

$

GRAB THESE DEALS AT FIELDAYS OR SEE YOUR SUZUKI DEALER TODAY: ®

SUZUKI AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS:

WHANGAREI PacifIc Motor Group ................................... 09 430 4390 NORTH SHORE Winger North Shore................................ 09 441 4750 AUCKLAND Winger Greenlane .......................................... 09 524 6030 MT WELLINGTON Moyes Motor Group ........................... 09 570 7840 PUKEKOHE Winger Pukekohe ........................................... 09 239 2389 HAMILTON Winger Hamilton ............................................. 07 838 1249 MORRINSVILLE Nicholson Suzuki ................................... 07 889 7042 MATAMATA Nicholson Suzuki .......................................... 07 888 7059 PAEROA Whyteline Limited ............................................... 07 862 8783 WHAKATANE Nicholson Suzuki ........................................ 07 308 6334 ROTORUA Grant Johnstone Suzuki ................................. 07 349 2221 TAURANGA Tauranga Motor Company ........................... 07 578 1378 TAUPO Taupo Motor Company ......................................... 07 378 2946 GISBORNE Gary Bates Limited ......................................... 06 867 9438 NAPIER Bayswater Suzuki ................................................. 06 833 5718 HASTINGS Hawkes Bay Suzuki ........................................ 06 876 3142 NEW PLYMOUTH Autocity Suzuki .................................... 06 769 5371 PALMERSTON NORTH Eurocar Suzuki ........................... 06 356 6363 WANGANUI David Jones Motors ...................................... 06 345 5115

MASTERTON Wagg’s Suzuki.............................................. 06 377 5169 LEVIN Horowhenua Motor Company .............................. 06 368 7169 PARAPARAUMU HMC Kapiti .............................................. 04 298 8089 TAWA Mexted Motors ......................................................... 04 232 8144 LOWER HUTT Brendan Foot Motors ................................ 04 587 0005 BLENHEIM Wadsco Motor World ...................................... 03 578 5199 NELSON Nelson Bays Suzuki ............................................ 03 548 2235 CHRISTCHURCH Hollands Suzuki Christchurch ........... 03 366 5261 TIMARU Hollands Suzuki Timaru ..................................... 03 688 8297 DUNEDIN Gilmour Suzuki .................................................. 03 474 1670 QUEENSTOWN Winger Queenstown ............................... 03 442 8989 INVERCARGILL Southern Automobiles .......................... 03 211 2233

SUZUKI MOTORCYCLE DEALERS:

KAITAIA Kaitaia Motorcycles ............................................ 09 408 1950 KAIKOHE Renton Motors (1976)...................................... 09 401 0313 WHANGAREI Pacific Motor Group.................................... 09 430 4390 DARGAVILLE Randells Suzuki ........................................... 09 439 6952 WARKWORTH Warkworth Motorcycles........................... 09 425 8535 AUCKLAND Holeshot Motorcycles .................................. 09 486 5187

*See IMPORTANT INFORMATION on back page for full terms and conditions of these offers.

AUCKLAND Colemans Suzuki ........................................... 09 303 1786 PUKEKOHE MR Motorcycles .............................................. 09 237 3095 PAEROA Whyteline............................................................... 07 862 8783 MT MAUNGANUI Moto City ............................................... 07 927 1340 HAMILTON Boyd Motorcycles........................................... 07 838 1209 MATAMATA Phil’s M/C Centre........................................... 07 888 7604 MORRINSVILLE Phil’s M/C Centre ................................... 07 889 7686 TE AWAMUTU Wilksbrooke Motors ................................. 07 871 3079 PUTARURU Phil’s M/C Centre ........................................... 07 883 7602 WHAKATANE Underwood & Wilkins M/C........................ 07 308 6166 ROTORUA Bike Force .......................................................... 07 348 9171 TE KUITI McIndoe Group ................................................... 07 878 5026 TAUPO Darryl August Motorcycles .................................. 07 378 8342 TAUMARUNUI Bike Torque ................................................ 07 895 7994 NEW PLYMOUTH New Plymouth M/C Centre ................ 06 758 4449 GISBORNE Gisborne Motors ............................................. 06 867 6759 HASTINGS Bay Motorcycles .............................................. 06 878 3289 HAWERA Action Suzuki ...................................................... 06 278 4160 WANGANUI Whitelock Suzuki ........................................... 06 345 3462 WAIPUKURAU Central Suzuki ........................................... 06 858 8983

DANNEVIRKE Dannevirke Suzuki ..................................... 06 374 2925 FEILDING Gary Worsley Motorcycles............................... 06 323 6256 PALMERSTON NORTH Courtesy Motorcycles............... 06 356 2195 PAHIATUA Motorcycle HQ ................................................. 06 376 7163 MASTERTON Fagan Suzuki ................................................ 06 378 6159 LOWER HUTT TSS Red Baron ............................................ 04 569 3989 WELLINGTON Wellington M/C Centre.............................. 04 384 4149 MOTUEKA Murray Thorn Motorcycles ............................ 03 528 9992 NELSON Nelson Motorcycle Centre ................................ 03 548 3786 BLENHEIM Wadsco Motorworld ....................................... 03 578 5199 AMBERLEY Arthur Burke .................................................... 03 314 0127 CHRISTCHURCH Avon City Suzuki ................................... 03 341 3490 ASHBURTON Jeff Marshall Motorcycles ......................... 03 308 2055 TIMARU Mike Gould Suzuki............................................... 03 688 4802 OAMARU Young Motors (OAM)......................................... 03 434 5354 DUNEDIN McIver & Veitch ................................................. 03 477 0236 BALCLUTHA Powerzone Suzuki ....................................... 03 418 4672 GORE Hokonui Suzuki ......................................................... 03 208 5271 WINTON Winton Motorcycles ........................................... 03 236 7231 INVERCARGILL Southern Suzuki...................................... 03 214 4467

A new, more spacious crossover has arrived.

With stunning European design, the reassurance of 5-star safety, outstanding fuel economy and a cargo space big enough to fit your lifestyle. Available in 2WD or selectable ALLGRIP iAWD models.

FROM

$

27,990 PLUS ORC (INCL GST)

$

Grand Vitara JLX 2WD

29,990

4WD MODELS AVAILABLE Starting from $31,690 plus ORC (incl GST)

PLUS ORC (INCL GST)

$ 1,800

On all Grand Vitara JLX Models

Hurry in... and get a whole lot more fun for even less money on your new Swift today!

Swift

And, check out www.suzuki.co.nz to see how to WIN a $4000 upgrade or Fun-ky up your favourite Swift.

now from

$18,990

PLUS ORC (INCL GST)

Save $2,000!

Swift GL auto now just $19,990 plus ORC (INCL GST)

Save $1,000!

Swift GL manual now just $18,990 plus ORC (INCL GST)

*See IMPORTANT INFORMATION below for full terms and conditions of these offers.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROMOTION: Offers are available from participating Suzuki dealers until 30 June 2014 or while current stocks last. Excludes Fleet purchases and all other promotions. Motorcycle savings shown include GST. Free Red Band gumboot offer is valid only on products identified with ‘Free Red Band Gumboots’ and sold between 1 June and 30 June or while stocks last. Boots will be provided at the first service for motorcycle, ATV or Farm Worker or 1000km check for Grand Vitara and Jimny and are not transferable for cash. Accessories are covered by their own manufacturer’s warranty conditions. Product availability: At the time of printing the number of units available and the colour options were correct. SNZ Ltd reserves the right to change specifications, appearances, models, colours and other items shown in this catalogue at any time without notice. Colours and specifications may alter slightly from those shown within this catalogue.

SUZUKI NEW ZEALAND LIMITED 1 HEADS ROAD, WANGANUI.

WWW.SUZUKI.CO.NZ