Improved productivity could reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions from sheep by up to 12%, according to the author of a study which calculated the carbon footprint of sheep. Stewart Ledgard, a principal AgResearch scientist, said a higher lambing percentage and faster lamb growth rates offered the best options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from sheep, as opposed to reducing fossil fuel use, which was low on sheep farms compared with other intensive agricultural systems.

Dr Ledgard said the 1.9kg of CO2-equivalent produced for each 100g portion of lamb exported to Europe, was “broadly consistent with other international studies of products derived from farmed, ruminant livestock reports The ODT. His study found 57% of the sheep carbon footprint was generated by the natural process of animals utilising pasture and producing methane during digestion, but it was a figure that has been decreasing.

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NZ dairy farmers will next season have ready access to fresh sexed semen and embryos following successful on‐farm trials by breeding companies reports voxy.co.nz. Thanks to an agreement between US‐based Sexing Technologies, AgResearch and the Waikato Innovation Park , the technology became available this season to artificial breeding and embryo companies to offer farmers fresh sorted semen and embryos for the first time in NZ.

Liberty Genetics and Animal Breeding Services (ABS) initiated a trial to evaluate the use of sexed semen in the dairy industry. 4600 inseminations were carried out in the 2009 spring mating period and further trial work is planned. Results from the trial are promising and Liberty Genetics Managing Director, David Hayman, says, “There have been valuable lessons learnt through the trial process, particularly with regards to what is required to achieve acceptable conception rates with sexed semen.” ABS is implementing the use of sexed semen in embryo production and can see several promising applications.

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A former agricultural science leader has delivered a broadside at what he sees as a lack of objectivity in the science structure, saying there is little technology transfer and it is impossible to separate “good science from company spin”. Jock Allison, the former director of the Invermay Research Centre, told the Clutha Agricultural Development Board annual meeting last week that scientists no longer talked to farmers and the competitive funding model for science did not allow for research results to be passed to farmers reports The ODT.

“Often, useful technologies are not promoted to industry as there is no financial allocation to ensure that happens,” he said. “The research bodies are just ticking off the contracts and moving on to apply for the next two- or three-year period of funding.” Dr Allison was also scathing about the impact on technology transfer of crown research institutions entering commercial alliances in which companies invest in and own the results.

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The outgoing AgResearch chief executive, Andy West, says the failed merger bid is the biggest regret of his six-year stint at the CRI.West wants a future government to “definitely take a system-wide view of universities and CRIs”. He believes the merger of AgResearch and Lincoln would have been “a bold move” for NZ. It was mooted by the two parties in November 2008 and a public announcement was made in March last year.

However, six months later the talks were called off and both parties decided that a partnership would deliver more benefits than a full amalgamation.West says the merger process was derailed by the global financial crisis.“We were funding the merger with our own resources,” he told Rural News.

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Yellow bristle grass, a highly invasive pasture weed with no effective controls and a major financial impact, is appearing in Taranaki dairy paddocks. It’s a pest plant horror story and so far there’s little anyone can do about it, other than try intensive pasture renovation over three seasons reports the Taranaki Daily.

Farmers in the Waikato, where YBG is now rampant, say it’s costing them $1100 a hectare in lost production and it just keeps getting worse. Setaria pumila is a common roadside grass that has jumped the fence and gone berserk. It may also have come in with imported hay, silage, or balage. It’s widespread in Northland and the Bay of Plenty. Now Taranaki farmers are seeing it in their pastures. Some finding it on their farms are scared to talk about it because they are worried it will discourage potential sharemilkers.

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A 100gm serving of NZ lamb consumed in Britain carries a carbon “cost” equivalent to nearly 2kg of carbon dioxide, new research shows.The “carbon footprint” for NZ lamb eaten in Britain has been estimated as equivalent to 1.9kg of carbon dioxide, for each 100gm serving of lamb – 80 percent of that generated by farmers and their livestock on-farm reports Stuff.

Just 3 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions came from processing, and 5 percent from transport, with the remaining 12 percent down to retailers and consumers.The study by AgResearch and released today by meat companies, is the first published carbon footprint to cover the entire life cycle from farm, through to cooking and eating the meat, and the disposal of waste and sewage.

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AgResearch is urging North Island farmers to continue ensuring that their cattle are protected against facial eczema and to monitor their herds for the serious animal health and welfare problem. Facial eczema costs the dairy industry anywhere between $9.6M and $95.2M per year, depending on outbreaks and weather, and the impact on income and animals can be limited by using zinc protection.

“Even with some weather changes now, farmers still need to take facial eczema particularly seriously,” said AgResearch Senior Scientist Dr Chris Morris who is part of a team operating a MAF Sustainable Farming Fund project to monitor zinc protection. “Zinc sulphate is a water-trough treatment which should be effective and easily applied. Facial eczema risk can vary greatly from herd to herd, and even from paddock to paddock, so it is good to be prepared even when the risk in a region appears to be low.”

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Sheep breeders will be able to DNA-test lambs at birth with a world-first procedure to show which animals will be the most valuable for farmers. AgResearch scientist John McEwan said the test would be available to commercial breeders in the next few months. It had taken more than $2 million to develop reports Stuff. Although some genetic testing of sheep was already done by commercial breeders, that testing gave breeders only predictions about a small number of character traits, Mr McEwan said.

Current tests allowed breeders to predict a sheep’s future muscle growth, but the new test would accurately show from birth everything from the sheep’s future growth rate, to its resistance to disease. The test would also give a complete genetic picture of individual animals, allowing breeders to see every genetic variation and mutation in the sheep’s genetic make-up.

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Blaming sheep farmers for the loss of 43 jobs at AgResearch is akin to blaming investors for the failure of a finance company. Instead, the focus needs to turn to the private sector to unlock new wool fibre uses reports Scoop.“I think this is a tragedy for the research staff involved and for NZ It highlights a massive gulf between what is expected from research and what’s actually being put into the field,” says Don Nicolson, Fed Farmers President.

“But with the national flock less than half the peak of 70 million reached in 1982, research monies have simply followed this 28-year realignment. AgResearch is basing its business plan on where the sheep industry is, not where it once was. “For wool to be on a par with 1980s returns, it ought to be a $2.8 billion export but now it’s down to just under $500 million. It’s simply wrong to blame farmers for pulling the wool levy when our returns have collapsed.

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A team from AgResearch, led by Dr Neels Botha, reported “shocking” levels of stress after interviews with 60 North Island farmers. “We fear there could be quite a bit of depression in the farming community in the coming years,” said Botha. The 2007 study involved farmers in the Manawatu, Taupo and Rotorua areas, who were all facing new policies from regional authorities reports The NZ Herald.

“In our conversations it became clear that these people are concerned and stressed about potential regulation and changes in policy,” Botha said. Farmers worried for their livelihood experienced shock, denial, anger and fear, he said, which could lead to drinking, increasing isolation and aggression. Unchecked, it could also lead to depression and, in a worst-case scenario, suicide.

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