It had been another tough year for many of the region’s farmers, Mr Evans said in his annual report in the Marlborough Express. A cold, wet spring had produced insufficient growth in areas, in particular the high country, but other parts of Marlborough had seldom had a better run into summer. However, the good times had come to an “abrupt end” with a very dry autumn. The emissions trading scheme was a major issue for farmers and nothing less than “workplace bullying”.

 Meat and Fibre chairman William Grigg said the demand for both beef and lamb was up on last year in international markets. Mr Grigg said Australia and the United States were in a herd-rebuilding phase and a looming shortage of beef, domestic and imported, had seen prices soar in recent weeks.

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A common pasture plant could help foraging ruminants ward off damaging gastrointestinal nematodes, like barber’s pole that can cause illness and death, US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists report in the Gisborne Herald. Animal scientist Joan Burke at the ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Centre in Booneville, Arkansas, along with colleagues at several universities, has patented formulations of Sericea lespedeza, commonly referred to as Chinese bush clover.

The plant was introduced in the United States in the 1930s to minimise soil erosion. Adding the patented dry hay and pelleted forms of this plant to animal feed thwarts the reproductive cycles of gastrointestinal nematodes that are in the digestive tracts of goats and sheep. It is particularly effective in controlling the barber’s pole worm (Haemonchus contortus), a nematode that attaches to the animals’ abomasal (true stomach) wall and feeds on their blood. Female worms can produce more than 5,000 eggs per day that are shed in the animal’s manure.

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Police and the Southland District Council will take a hard line against farmers whose stock are found wandering on roads after a reported 13 crashes this year reports The Southland Times.Three drivers were injured in the crashes, seven of which involved cattle. Horse, sheep and deer were also involved.Senior Sergeant Kerrin Price, of the strategic traffic unit, said in the latest serious incident, officers were on Saturday called to deal with a “stroppy and aggressive” bull wandering in Oporo Flat Rd, near Wallacetown, that had tried to attack a cyclist.

Stock control officers were called and they recognised the bull as one they had been called out to twice four days earlier. The owner could not be found so the bull was shot because of public safety fears. A Dacre woman who narrowly escaped serious injury after hitting a cow near Woodlands last month said she wanted farmers to take more care with fences. The woman said she had little time to react when the black cow loomed up in her headlights while travelling home one night.”It’s not good enough – the farmer should have the boundary fence hotwired. Cattle have no respect for ordinary fences.” Mr Price said officers were amazed she had walked away without injury. The next motorist hitting wandering stock might not be so lucky, he said.

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Marlborough farmer Doug Avery has a revealing story about commercial greed and the perception that farmers are made of money. Don’t pay what you don’t owe. In his case, it is the way the Government will run the emissions trading scheme reports Stuff. In its efforts to keep administration costs down, the Government is proposing to take farmers’ share of the scheme from the companies that process a farmer’s produce.

In the case of Mr Avery, and all other sheep and beef farmers, it will be based on the weight of meat from their slaughtered animals. He thinks that is unfair. It makes no allowance for the way he, and many others like him, farm, which he maintains emits less greenhouse gases than others and stores more carbon. There is another reason why it is unfair. It punishes innovation. Mr Avery has worked out an innovative way to keep farming on drought-prone land.

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Waiting three to five years for the cash will be too long for many struggling woolgrowers, says Federated Farmers Meat and Fibre chairman Bruce Wills, commenting on Wool Partners International’s recent roadshow. Farmers heard from WPI’s US and European marketing managers on efforts to grow demand for strong wools and the direction of international markets reports Rural News.

Wills says he “supports the WPI concept and many other farmers left the meetings with more confidence and optimism. But appalling wool prices now are forcing many growers towards deciding to move out,” he says. “Farmers were saying ‘It sounds good, but how long to the money?’ Eyes were rolling at the answer ‘three-five years’. Many can’t wait that long despite their goodwill towards WPI chief executive Iain Abercrombie and his team.“We understand you can’t create a brand overnight but some growers are desperate… three-five years seems half a lifetime. And if prices don’t pick up soon, when WPI says ‘Now where’s your wool?’ they’ll hear only… silence.”

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Outstanding financial results alongside progressive development of the farm business gave Motu farmers Hamish and Paula Newman the edge to take out the Federated Farmers’ Gisborne-Wairoa Farmer of the Year 2010 title. At the field day celebrating their win, AgFirst farm consultant Rob Hayes said while the competition was judged only on the the past three years, the Newmans had been performing better, or at the level of the top 10 farms in the district for the past decade reports The Gisborne Herald.

Cattle had been a real strength and seven out of the past 10 years the Newman’s performance has put them higher than the top 10. Chief judge, Whangara farmer Charlie Seymour said a major factor for the Newman’s was their consistent financial performance. “It is very pleasing to see such strong results. They are clearly ahead with their EFS- (economic farm surplus) per-hectare as well as per-stock-unit.”Productivity was high and they had the strongest return on capital out of all the entrants.

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The taste of lamb that we know and love so well is also appreciated by diners in Britain and Europe. Sales in this market that takes half of our exports have never been better. It is the same story for our beef in the United States reports The Dom Post.  Our sheep and beef farmers should be grinning, but they are not. The benefits of all these extra sales at high prices are not ending up in their bank accounts. By the time the exchange rate is calculated they are no better off.

It is frustrating, to say the least. NZ is a world leader in agriculture production, combining science with farm management skills to get the best out of a climate ideal for year-round pasture farming. Science has provided the tools and farmers have worked hard to use them to the best of their abilities. Commercial acumen has assisted in marketing the produce despite tough economic times.

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A Southland meat plant is under investigation amid union claims 12 staff have lost 13 fingers while using bandsaws in the past 18 months reports The Southland Times. Otago-Southland Meat Workers Union secretary Gary Davis said one of those workers returned to work after losing a finger, was put back on the saws and lost another finger.The operators of the South Pacific Meats Awarua Plant denied there had been so many amputations.

However, Labour Department southern regional manager Sheila McBreen-Kerr said the organisation had investigated about 20 incidents involving serious harm during the past two years at the Talleys-owned South Pacific Meats plant, at Awarua between Invercargill and Bluff. “Many of these involved bandsaws, ie, the amputation of fingers, or parts of fingers, and serious lacerations to fingers and hands,” Ms McBreen said.

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Elders Rural Holdings Ltd. relies on its battling Australian parent for financial support and may have to sell assets if that support is withdrawn, notes to the NZ company’s accounts say. Adelaide-based Elders Ltd., which owns 50% of rural services group Elders Rural, has pledged 12 months’ support, according to notes to the NZ firm’s accounts. That support makes up for a forecast shortage of cash flow at Elders Rural, which posted a net loss of $8.98 million in the 15 months to Sept. 30, the second straight loss reports Scoop. Elders Australia made an unsecured $63.6 million advance to Elders Rural in the latest period, charging 7.25% interest.

Elders Rural is launching its Just Shorn branded wool into the U.S. market, one of several initiatives to squeeze more margin out of the fibre in a divided industry that has walked away from research as returns dwindle. Rival Wool Partners International, which has Theresa Gattung as chairwoman, owns the Laneve mark. Both groups are inking supply deals with U.S. manufacturers.

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Silver Fern Farms has made a half-year loss of $14.3 million before tax from revenue affected by fewer lambs to kill and a high dollar, but believes it will make a profit by the year’s end reports Stuff. Revenue for NZ’s largest meat processor fell to $784.3m in its interim result for the six months ending February, $217m less than last year’s first half. However, the first half of the year is usually the worst trading performer as was the case in the 2008/09 season when SFF rebounded from a $16.5m loss to post a second-half $21m profit for a better year-long result.

After this season’s poor start its meat plants were running at full capacity in March and April and the co-operative has already recouped the losses of the first six months and is now in a profit position. Trading was complicated initially by farmers holding on to livestock from a good growing season in combination with low seasonal flows to stunt meat processing, with SFF having to wear the cost of plants performing under capacity. The co-operative has taken some comfort from retaining its market share as the meat industry adjusts to the national kill dropping by 1.5m lambs.

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