Ethanol demand may benefit NZ beef
The world’s thirst for energy from ethanol, an alternative to fossil fuels, is likely to drive up the price of protein meat and should be good news for N Z. Argentina will this year plant a record 16 mill ha of soy, and there are reports the United States will plant an extra 4 mill ha of the crop, all destined to feed a proliferation of ethanol plants, mainly in the US. M and W N Z economist Con Williams said the ethanol-driven growth in demand for corn would force up costs for feedlot produced meat, including beef, which was good news for grassfed beef producers such as N Z. “The high input costs will be passed on to consumers and raise the price of all protein. Fundamentally, it will be good for us, because we are pasture based.” The other factor impacting on world beef production was the growth in demand from Russia. more>>

Stronger dollar and soft market hit lamb prices
Falling lamb prices could further dampen rural sector spending, but there is hope the drop will not hit sheep farmers' incomes too badly compared with last year.The fall is being attributed to softer international markets and the strength of the N Z dollar. Prices are now similar to a year ago, despite predictions of a 6-7 per cent hike in this year's average lamb price compared with last season .M + W N Z senior economist said that although the kiwi was strong against the US dollar, 53 per cent of lamb sold in the year to September was paid for in euros and sterling and their cross rates were significantly lower than in December 2005. This, he said, would support the ability of meat companies to pay stronger prices for N Z lamb. more>>

Syndicate snaps up Bernard Matthews
A syndicate including Progressive Meats boss Craig Hickson has bought the lamb-processing operations of Bernard Matthews N Z. The company operates three N I plants - a slaughter and further-processing plant at Gisborne, a slaughter plant in Feilding and a further-processing plant at Waipukurau. Another investing syndicate member is John Signal, general manager of Feilding-based Venison Packers Ltd. All product from the plants would remain under the Bernard Matthews name and brand, Signal said. Bernard Matthews NZ’s strategic focus is on the production of branded added-value lamb cuts in chilled and frozen form. more>>

Wool prices spin out as China's demand and drought kick in
WOOL prices in Australia, the world's largest producer and exporter of the fibre, reached their highest in more than three years as China increased buying to replenish depleted inventories. "They are under-stocked," Mark Rodda, national wool manager for Futuris Corp's Elders unit said on Friday. "This market is going to have some longevity, for the medium term at least, because they are very short on stock."Wool prices rose 33 per cent last year, snapping three straight years of falls, as Australia's worst drought in a century curbed supply. Production, already at the lowest levels in at least 50 years, may fall further to 421,000 tonnes in the year ending June 30, Australian Wool Innovation said on December 11. Benchmark wool prices rose 9.1 per cent this week, as auctions resumed after the Christmas holiday break. more>>

Beef losing ground to soy beans in Argentina
High global grain prices and a bitter row with the government over beef costs are driving some Argentine cattle ranchers to turn traditional grazing lands over to soy beans and other crops. A record 16 million hectares are expected to be sown with soy in the South American country this season, while beef production is failing to keep pace with soaring demand both abroad and at home. Argentina is famous for its grass-fed cattle, raised on the sweeping Pampas plains, and Argentinians eat huge amounts of beef. Many lament the apparent decline of such an emblematic industry to make way for soy. "There's a clear shift by cattle ranchers to arable farming due to profit and the clear crisis about the prospects (for beef production)," said Ulises Forte of the Argentine Agricultural Federation (FAA), which recently staged a strike against government policies - mainly in the beef market. The government has launched a plan to boost beef supply, but some analysts think it will take years to yield results. "I don't think production will meet demand in 2007," Forte said. more>>

Feed young stock well says competition winner
Growing good young stock is “90 per cent feed and 10 per cent breeding” according to the winner of the N Z Ewe Hogget Competition. In its 10th year, the Competition attracted more than 300 entries for the five breed categories, says Competition Convenor George Fletcher. John and Sharon Templeton, managers of Walter Peak Station near Queenstown, won the Perendale category and a prize including $1000 worth of Ravensdown product. They then went on to win the national award. At Walter Peak the Templetons carefully balance the use of steeper country with around 400 hectares of easier front country. “To get good production from stock, you’ve got to give them good feed at the right times of year,” says John. “At other times you can put them under more pressure.” Convenor George Fletcher says good management put the Templetons slightly ahead of the other category winners. “He knows where he’s going and he’s bred sheep to achieve it,” says George. more>>

Farmers cautious as lamb prices fall
Lamb prices have fallen $1 a kg in the past four weeks, the equivalent of more than $15 for an average-weight lamb, due to soft markets and the effect of exportunfriendly exchange rates. Prices are now similar to a year ago, nullifying earlier predictions of a 6% to 7% hike in this year’s average lamb price compared to last season. The ASB Bank weekly commodities report said market prices for most export products were strong except for lamb with international prices lower than a year ago. Beef and dairy prices have held, according to the report, although there has been some appreciation in global dairy markets which has helped offset the stronger NZ dollar. Falling oil prices in the fourth quarter of the year have helped ease shipping costs, the report said. BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said sudden changes to the dairy payout would have a greater impact on the economy than lower lamb prices because dairy exports contribute about 40% of agriculture income. But, for sheep-reliant regions such as Otago and Southland, Mr Alexander said falling lamb prices would prompt farmers to be more cautious. Lamb flows through meat works were about 20% ahead of the same time last year due to a more favourable season than last year. Unless exchange rates eased, Mr Cuff said lamb prices for the peak of the season February and March would not be higher than last year when exchange rates fell boosting late season prices. more>>

Crime gang targets farm stores
Fraudsters are targeting Taranaki farmers in a charge-account scam at farm stores. Security has been tightened in farm stores nationwide after thieves booked up thousands of dollars worth of goods to unsuspecting farmers. The gang of crooks has targeted RD1 stores in Taranaki and Waikato since December 20, booking up more than $10,000 on farmers' accounts without authority. Farmers' dairy numbers were used to charge the goods to their accounts. RD1 stores in Inglewood, Stratford and New Plymouth have been hit. The thefts were discovered when farmers received their accounts from the stores. Mr Hayes says the amount of Tordon taken would be enough to do every farm in Taranaki and he suspected it was headed for the black market. "They have taken so much Tordon that they must be planning to sell it on." Police want to hear from anyone who has been offered the products cheaply. more>>

King sets new world shearing record
Golden Shears champion Dion King yesterday broke the world strongwool lamb shearing record. By 5pm the Napier 31 year old had shorn 866 lambs to beat the record of 851 lambs, set in December 2004 by Justin Bell. The former record holder, now farming in southern Hawke's Bay, was in the audience of 250 spectators who watched the nine-hour record bid at Mangapehi, between Bennydale and Te Kuiti. The bid took place on the farm of John Fagan, who in 1980 was the first to shear through the 800 mark in an official record attempt. Supported by a large crew of helpers, King averaged 37.2 seconds for each animal shorn, hauling some 21.7 tonnes of finn-romney cross lambs across the boards during the course of his bid. more>>

Agridata calls for farmer help with schedule data Agridata editors asks farmers to make publishing of schedule information more tranparent by sharing their killing sheet data from processors who are not listed on this site. If farmers send their fresh killing sheet data to our website we will publish it. As the processing companies will want to provide full and extensive data, not partial and historical information as supplied by farmers, in time they will return to better reporting. This strategy of letting the market show there is a demand for more market information has already worked in the finance sector. www.interest.co.nz had similar problems in data availability when it started its publishing business years ago. Now there is universal reporting of financial data from that industry. More openness in schedule reporting would also help in repairing farmer suspicion and mistrust of processing companies. Companies are burdened with an unfair share of responsibility for the recent rapid drop in schedule values, because lack of information has created a farmer misunderstanding of the situation. To supply data click on the banner at the top of this page.

Meatworkers back tomorrow
Feilding meatworkers will resume work tomorrow, cleaning up the plant to start killing operations on Monday, says Meatworkers Union spokesman Roger Middlemass. Affco and the union agreed yesterday to reopen, following a union meeting on Sunday that saw workers determined to get on with the job. Affco chief executive Tony Egan also says he hopes Feilding meatworkers will be able to head back to work this week. The town's Affco meat processing plant has not reopened this season, leaving up to 250 people without their usual source of employment. Talleys Fisheries director Andrew Talley has rejected allegations the company, as majority shareholder of Affco, wanted to close the Manawatu plant. He was responding to allegations from Mr Middlemass, who claimed Talleys were responsible for the "lockout" while Affco negotiated a higher output from workers. more>>

Waikato again tops list for farm-bike crashes
More farm bike accidents occurred in the Waikato last year than any other region for the fifth year running. Figures released by ACC show the number of farm bike accidents in the Waikato, resulting in an ACC claim, has doubled in the last five years. There were 79 new all-terrain vehicle (ATV) claims in the region in the year ending July 1, 2006, compared to 40 in the year ending July 1, 2002. The cost of the claims in that time rocketed to $464,980. Farmer and part-time ACC tutor Kevin Richards, who was paralysed below the waist 17 years ago when he rolled a farm bike on his parents' Morrinsville farm, said ATV safety was something that farmers needed to work on. "It's disappointing for someone like me, as I have been spreading the message for an awfully long time," said Mr Richards, 40. "We are using farm bikes more and more and we are not using them in the right way." Mr Richards said many farmers had their minds set on a particular job and were not looking where they were riding. On other occasions it was a case of using the wrong vehicle for the job. more>>

Ball now in Affco's court
Out-of-work Manawatu meatworkers say they "just want to get back to work" and are hoping to reach an agreement with closed Feilding plant owner Affco. N Z Meatworkers Union members met yesterday to vote on a proposal under which Affco would reopen the plant that employs up to 250 people. Union organiser Roger Middlemass said it was the first time the plant had been closed during December and January since it opened in 1916. Affco has proposed the plant increase output from 250 cattle a day to 275 immediately. This amount could then be increased to 300 at a later date. There would be no extra pay for this increase. Union delegate Kevin Hickey, who has worked at the plant for 32 years and through three ownership changes, said the plant was not designed to handle those numbers."There's not one worker here who doesn't want to go back to work. "(But) it's not the workers, it's the plant. It won't cope. 300 is a lot. "We are the only plant that does big bulls. They sent them to another plant but their machinery broke down." more>>

Merino rams sold at tourist resort
Once again the Central Otago Stud Merino Breeders Association conducted its annual sale on the shores of Lake Wanaka at the Edge water Resort on January 5. A party of Japanese business people arriving for lunch were slightly bemused at the sight of 26 behorned Merino rams penned on Edgewater’s immaculate lawn sloping down to the lake.This year’s sale was the 21st conducted by the association and it attracted a large crowd of high country farmers from throughout N Z. Of the 26 rams on offer, 21 were sold for a gross total of $55,687.50. Top price was $7000 paid by Johyn Perriam of Bendigo Station Cromwell for lot 22 Moutere M9107-04-650 offered by Moutere Station Limited of Alexandra. The average for the sale was $2651.79. In his address prior to the sale, the association chairman, Tony Jopp, said the Merino industry has now turned the corner after a difficult time.He also observed that the market for fine wools is now favouring buyers on the back of the Australian dollar. Jopp said there has been a widespread acknowledgment from researchers that the Merino “remains the breed of choice for the drier inland basins of the South Island. This is in no small way a refection of the current N Z Merino gene pool that has been carefully developed to maximise production within the extreme climactic variations of the farming systems in which we operate.” more>>

A breed apart
Tucked away in a remote valley between the Nelson Lakes, Gary and Liz Basher farm some of the best romney sheep in the country and explain their winning formula to Anne Hardie.
Nelson sheep farming has long been the poor cousin of those regions with great tracts of fertile land, so it's significant when one of its backcountry flocks wins a prestigious breed prize, not once, but twice. At the end of the long valley that follows the Howard River, with beech-clad hills framing a narrow strip of farmland, Gary and Liz Basher run some of the country's top romney sheep, proving it in the 2006 N Z Ewe Hogget Competition. They first claimed the national prize for the romney breed with their hoggets three years ago and were back this year to claim it again. N Z Sheep Breeders' Association runs the competition and Gary and Liz have just returned from a field day at Walter Peak Station near Queenstown where they were presented with their trophy. It's proof, they say, that Nelson can get the results that other regions have long enjoyed and Gary hopes it will encourage more Nelson farmers to enter the competition. more>>

Fonterra might be ready to ease reins
Fonterra directors might this year pitch a public sale of 49 per cent of the co-op's $3.7 billion consumer brands business as a solution to festering tensions in its capital structure. A big shareholder of the farmer-owned business has told the Business Herald the proposal would emerge during discussions this year between farmers, directors and management over fundamental changes to its capital structure. The suggestion from the shareholder, who did not want to be identified publicly, follows a recent call from another major shareholder - N Z's biggest corporate farmer, Landcorp - for Fonterra to consider splitting its farmer-owned shares into two. Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly suggested one share, covering the value-add part of the business related to activities such as branded consumer products, could be tradeable. The other share could cover returns from commodity products. It is not a new idea. Mooted in the run-up to Fonterra's creation from a controversial industry mega-merger in 2001, the concept was torpedoed as being against the co-operative spirit. more>>

Meat overcapacity still a problem
Outgoing Affco chief executive Tony Egan says the meat industry is still suffering from its ongoing structural problem – overcapacity. Egan resigned on Wednesday as the Waikato meat company's chief executive after 14 years at the company and six years in the top job. Affco is majority owned by Motueka's Talley family, who took control of the company last year. Egan said the decision was not linked to the company's new ownership. "It's a decision by me to move on. The meat industry is one of the more demanding industries. It was time for a change." Egan, 41, is taking over as chief executive at Agriquality, the State-owned enterprise that looks after food quality and biosecurity. Agriquality has 850 staff at 52 offices in N Z and Australia. more>>

Keeping a lid on costs
Times are tough for dairy farmers when facing a $4 payout and continual hikes in on-farm costs. Many farmers are becoming more and more despondent with the financial performance of their farming businesses. In the long term this is a totally unsustainable situation and it is of little help to see it confirmed by economists and accountants. Even high input, high production farms with feedpads and barn feeding systems are often only as profitable as straight pasture-based systems according to client surveys by a number of accountants. What should be in your mind at all times is how to improve pasture production without significant extra costs. Fertiliser as a main item in expenditure always needs careful consideration. But even more important, as discussed in last month’s column, is to utilise each blade of grass of constantly high quality and to convert it into milksolids. I described how it is done on the Lincoln University Dairy farm (LUDF) without incurring extra costs. You should remember not to graze below 1500kg/DM/ha and to keep pastures leafy all year. That was the way things were done in Europe and here a half-century ago and is really nothing new. What is new is the proof that it works on a commercial farm. more>>

Drought fears banished by rain
Up to 150mm of rain in the past eight weeks has transformed Otago from a region on the verge of drought to one covered in lush green grass. In late October, water restrictions were in place and farmers were contemplating selling stock, but now, after eight weeks of regular rain, there are no low river flow alerts and the province has been transformed. However, like holidaymakers, farmers would now love to see some sunshine and heat, but the Otago Regional Council’s climate and pasture outlook does not hold out much hope. The council warns a moderate El Nino weather pattern is likely to result in more westerly and southwesterly weather over the rest of the summer. North Otago Federated Farmers president Bruce McNab said parts of the region had had more than 150mm of rain since the start of November. There was now moisture in the ground and plenty of grass in most areas, although the lack of sunshine meant it was of questionable quality. more>>

Market eager for Fonterra listing
Farmers may be wary of Fonterra considering a full or partial listing on the stock exchange but financial institutions have welcomed the news. Frank Aldridge, chief executive of ABN Amro Craigs investment advisers and sharebrokers, said its listing would be a positive move for the investment market. "Farmers will want to have their say in terms of the future of Fonterra, which will include its capital structure," Mr Aldridge said. Jeff Matthews, senior adviser at Spicers Wealth Management, said a full or partial listing would be a huge boon for NZ investors. "We don't have enough good quality companies in N Z for people to invest in. Having a good company (like Fonterra) has to be positive for the N Z stock exchange." Mr Matthews said he would not, however, want to see N Z farmers losing control of the dairy giant. more>>

Independent dairy plant gets permits from ECan
The way has been cleared for the construction of N Z’s largest independent dairy processing plant at Studholme Environment Canterbury has granted resource consents which will allow N Z Dairies Ltd to convert a former vegetable processing factory, about 6km east of Waimate, into a dairy processing plant. The company already had land use consent from the Waimate District Council, but needed water, land and air discharge permits from Environment Canterbury (ECan). ECan has granted those permits for a 20-year term after a hearing by its regulation hearing committee chaired by Cr Alec Neill in Christchurch on Friday. Work has already started converting the factory and production could start in August next year. N Z Dairies was established earlier this year to buy the vegetable processing plant from Food Processors Ltd, owned by the Skeggs Group, which has a shareholding in the new company. more>>

Fonterra structure kindles debate
One of Fonterra's two largest individual suppliers, South Canterbury businessman Allan Hubbard, is against the dairy giant changing its cooperative structure. Fonterra announced last week that it would review its capital structure in 2007 and would look at a full or partial listing on the stock exchange. It aims to put forward a proposal for its farmer shareholders to vote on before the end of next year. Mr Hubbard said he hadn't had time to consider the issues in detail but he would not like to see any changes to the cooperative structure. "If that happens it's buggered and N Z's buggered," he said. State-owned enterprise Landcorp, another major Fonterra supplier, said it would support a stock exchange listing. Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly said that the exact form of a listing would need to be worked through but it was a natural evolution of Fonterra's capital structure. The existing capital structure created problems because there was a mismatch between the value-add component of the annual payout and the value of the fair value shares, he said. "Fair value shares have almost doubled over the last five years while the value-add component has remained static. more>>

Farm investors remain wary
Uncertainty over rising interest rates, the strong Kiwi dollar and the level of dairy payouts is helping to keep a lid on rising farm prices, an economist says. New figures show the median price for farms fell just under 4 per cent to $1,100,000 in November, compared with the same month last year. However, prices were up 22 per cent compared with October, according to the Real Estate Institute's Rural Market Report. Five more farms, 241, were sold in November this year than last year. Kevin Wilson, an economist with ANZ-National Bank, said the flat values of farm sales compared with a year ago reflected a tightness in the rural sector. Mr Wilson said that was because of increasing interest rates, a higher degree of uncertainty about dairy payouts and the short-term outlook for lamb prices and the strong N Z dollar. "Buyers are being more choosy about what they buy ..." more>>

Fall in lamb prices cause for concern
Sheep farmer Kip Kells is questioning the future of the industry after prices dropped at two Waikato lamb auctions. Mr Kells, who has farmed at Raglan for 33 years, was concerned when price dropped by as much as 20 per cent. At Frankton, lambs that would have last year fetched $49 sold for $32. Store lambs worth $42 at last year's Raglan sale went for $34 this year. Farmers also lost $8 on better prime lambs which sold for $50 last week. Romney shorn males sold for $44 –- $4 less than last year. At Raglan the buyers didn't show. Where there were nine Piopio farmers last year, only one showed this year. "As far as I am concerned I have got to the stage where I am wondering what we are here for," Mr Kells, who attended the sale to check out prices, said. "It's not very sustainable. Last year we thought the prices were pretty poor but this year they seem to be even worse." An auctioneer, who asked not to be named, said the rising dollar coupled with droughts in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay were partly to blame."The meat works have been running at capacity and it's hard to get good prices for lambs," he said. more>>

New cuts keep lamb in favour
For some it's out with the old lamb and in with the new. Butterflied lamb or rump are the cuts of choice for most people, but the traditional roast leg of lamb with mint sauce still gets a look in during the festive season. JILL GALLOWAY checked out Christmas dinner with some rural movers and shakers. The days of the traditional lamb leg roast with the mint trimmings have gone. The mint sauce is there with a sharp, vinegary taste, to cut through the fat of a leg of lamb roast, says chef Hestor Guy. And gravy is to stretch the meal and make it go further. Try telling that to the farmers who, along with turkey or ham, still enjoy a roast leg of lamb at Christmas. Hestor Guy is saying the time is right to try new lamb cuts.The new cuts are taking lamb into the 21st century, Mrs Guy says. "With the new cuts, there is no fat, so you can cook them really fast. but the problem is, then, none of the meat juices exude from the lamb so therefore you have to add wine or something to make a jus." "The other thing is they suit our summer way of life. They're ideal for the barbecue. A butterflied leg of lamb is simply delicious," she adds. more>>

Company takes aim at bigger elk market
A group of Southland deer farmers have set up their own company processing, marketing and exporting elk after deciding they can do it better themselves. The newly formed NZ Elk Ltd, made up of some members of the Elk and Wapiti Society, has partnered with multi-species processing plant Clover Exports near Gore. One of the directors Paul Waller, of Lumsden, said the main reason for setting up the company was that elks were penalised at the works because of their larger carcasses. They could now get about $450 for an 80kg carcass instead of between $300 and $350 for a smaller carcass, which meant the elk could be grown to maturity."This niche market is really wanting the bigger weighed animals and the chefs love 'em." Clover Export general manager Russell Brocks said the plant had a small multi-skilled workforce, which was ideally suited for elk. more>>

Farmers fear Fonterra stock market move
Taranaki dairy farmers say they could be left out in the cold if multi-billion dollar company Fonterra is listed on the stock exchange. The company, worth an estimated $7.92 billion, is considering a full or partial listing on the NZX. The dairy giant has an annual turnover of $13 billion, more than Telecom's $5.8 billion. All of Taranaki's 2000 dairy farmers are Fonterra shareholders and if the company is listed, their shares in the firm would increase to about $1 million per farm. The average dairy farmer currently owns Fonterra shares, as part of a co-operative, worth about $712,000. Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden has been reported as saying that while all options are on the table, retaining farmer control of the company would be non-negotiable. He says there are several reasons why Fonterra needs to change. These include better access to capital, addressing the risk of older farmers selling out and leaving the co-operative, increasing milk supply and giving farmers more diverse investment choices. more>>

Many bulls underperforming: consultant
It's no bull that Southland males are overworked and struggling to keep the ladies happy. The failure of many Southland bulls to perform, because of poor health and having to service too many cows, has farm consultants and vets worried. Dexcel Southland consulting officer Peter Macfarlane said many Southland farms did not have enough bulls during mating and they were underperforming, resulting in lower pregnancy rates. The ratio should be at least one bull to 30 cows, any more and the bulls were unable to service the cows on heat. "It's been an issue for a number of years but it hasn't been recognised." more>>

Farmers ‘expected to act’ on climate change
Farmers will be “encouraged” to act on climate change through incentives and penalties. In releasing the Government’s Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change discussion document today, Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton warned the primary production sector that even though acting on climate change could constrain productivity, industries like farming “will be expected to take some actions…starting now”. “Climate change has huge implications for the country and, in particular, for farmers and foresters who make up the land management sectors,” he says. “Already there is talk in Europe of border taxes on goods from countries that aren’t taking effective action to address climate change. It’s in our interest to be part of the global response to climate change.” Anderton says the Government will take a “carrot and stick” approach to “help” farmers do what they can to reduce emissions. more>>

Full-on calf rearers risk big Cooperia hit
Farms most at risk from the parasite Cooperia are those engaged in intensive calf rearing with only young stock on the property, particularly when they raise them year-round, says Merial veterinary technical services manager Justin Hurst. And, conversely, farmers who take cows and fattening cattle through the winter need to give greater consideration to controlling Ostertagia Hurst says concentrating treatment on one parasite can put stock at risk of succumbing to other parasites. A recent drench-resistance survey of 62 beef farms indicated most had Cooperia species worms resistant to single doses of either avermectins or albendazole. Fortunately levamisole appears to have maintained its efficacy against these parasites. more>>

Feeding decisions this summer
Christmas is nearly here again, and for many of us (including many modern dairy farmers), it will mean long lazy days at the beach with our families. The pressure is off, the grass silage is made and the crops are in the ground. The only thing left to worry about is whether it is going to rain in the next few days or what is going to happen to the dollar.
As I write this article, the MetService is still predicting an El Nino summer with hot dry conditions in the North and wet cool conditions from Dunedin south. If this eventuates, farmers will need to make good feeding decisions from January to March. There are three elements to maintaining summer production and profitability. These include:
1. Giving the milkers the best feed available
2. Not over-grazing pastures
3. Constantly monitoring cow condition. more>>

Fonterra holds payout forecast
Fonterra Co-operative Group has reaffirmed its forecast payout of $4.05 for the 2006/07 season. The forecast payout comprises a milk price component of $3.60 per kilogram of milk solids, and a forecast value add component of 45 cents. Chairman Henry van der Heyden said "the growing strength of the N Z dollar is having an increasingly negative impact on payout. However, we are capitalising on the recent increases in commodity prices to offset this very strong dollar, resulting in a stable forecast." Mr van der Heyden said Fonterra was holding with its 45 cent forecast for the value add dividend component of payout, despite the combined impact of the high N Z dollar and the fact that rising commodity prices were putting increasing pressure on value-add margins. Yesterday's meeting of the Board adopted an interim Fair Value for Fonterra shares for the 2007/08 season of $6.56, unchanged from the May 2006 final determination. The independent valuer, Duff & Phelps, assessed the interim Fair Value range for the 07/08 season at $6.40 to $7.43, with a midpoint of $6.91. more>>

Diversity of Dairy Farming Grows
The diversity of dairy farming businesses is growing, with more variety in breeds, herd and farm size, and production.A summary of the industry in the 2005/06 year is contained in the just published Dairy Statistics document. It is produced by LIC on behalf of all levy paying dairy farmers through Dairy InSight. While the majoirty of dairy cows are in the N I, it's the South which has the highest average herd size and highest per cow, per herd and per hectare production. Movements in industry statistics include:
UP National milk production - dairy companies processed 14.7b litres of milk and 1.27b kg of milksolids (a 4.5% increase over the previous season)
Average milksolids production per effective hectare - 907 kg (862 kg in 2004/05)
Production per cow - increased to an average of 325 kg (308 kg in the previous year). In 1992/93 the average production was just 260 kg. Increase is due to genetic gain and improvements in farm management.
Average herd size - is now 322 cows (the average herd size has more than doubled in the last 20 years).
Average effective hectares - increased to 118 ha, carrying an average of 2.77 cows per hectare.
DOWN Number of herds - decreased by 388 to a new low of 11,883 more>>

Waikato dairy farming 'takes a hit' over effluent
Dirk Seiling wonders whether some of his fellow dairy farmers care about keeping dairy effluent out of streams. Having organised speakers for an open day at Turua Hall, after Environment Waikato discovered 25 per cent of Kerepehi and Paeroa farms in the flight path of its monitoring helicopter were not complying with dairy effluent rules, the chairman of the Hauraki-Coromandel branch of Dairy Farmers of N Z was expecting around 100 farmers. Less than a dozen turned up."Our industry has taken a hit, in the public eye," Mr Seiling said."It's very disappointing that there's not a larger turnout.Environment Waikato's Thames-Coromandel councillor Arthur Hinds estimated more than 1100 Waikato dairy farms could be breaching the effluent rules laid down by the regional council."The dairy industry has got a major problem," said Cr Hinds, who is also a dairy farmer. "We have to take responsibility for our property . . . if not Environment Waikato will step in." more>>

Federation Negotiates Fair Compensation
Federated Farmers has negotiated increased compensation for farmers out of pocket after using an ineffective sheep vaccine. The Federation has succeeded in negotiating a compensation package of 85 cents a lamb, up from the original offer of 35 cents a lamb.“This is a very good outcome for the substantial number of farmers who vaccinated their sheep with one batch of a vaccine made by Schering-Plough Animal Health,” said Keith Kelly, chair of the meat and fibre industry group of Federated Farmers. “We congratulate Schering-Plough for improving its offer.”The vaccine, Scabine, is a vaccine against scabby mouth, a sheep disease. more>>

Weevil biocontrol expanding
Buoyed by the successful establishment and persistence of the biocontrol agent for clover root weevil at experimental release sites, the AgResearch Biocontrol & Biosecurity team is planning to roll it out into other regions. Releases are planned for Taranaki and Northland on the 19th and 20th of December. The tiny parasitic wasp from Ireland, known as Microctonus aethiopoides, was released last summer at experimental release sites in Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu, and a winter release was carried out near Nelson. The wasp, which is totally harmless to humans, kills the clover root weevil by injecting it with an egg that makes the female weevil sterile. This breaks the weevil life-cycle. Wasp larvae grow inside their host, finally killing the weevil when they break out of its body. The larva then turns into a pupa which in turn becomes an adult wasp. White clover is crucial to N Z farms and is estimated to contribute more than $3 billion annually to the economy through nitrogen fixation and feed value for stock. more>>

Record heads at velvet competition
Winton farmer Tom May took the Supreme champion award at the 25th anniversary of the National velvet competition with his Elk stag 4 play, who grew an amazing head of 21.34kg of velvet. Other major section winners were, Bill Oliver from Christchurch with his English stag, Austin (10.86kg) and the 3yr Red winners, the Swan family with a head that weighed 5.26kg. The Red Trophy section winner, produced by Stanfield Bushy Park, was claimed by many, to be a world record score of nearly 600 points, truly an impressive rack of antlers. Judges commented on the high quality presentation, good timing of cutting for the Korean market and the increase volume of entries and weights in all grades. Genetic progress has seen weights and quality double, over the period of the competition.

Selenium: the forgotten trace mineral
Manawatu Veterinary Services is reminding farmers to keep selenium levels up to stock. Its recent newsletter asks if selenium is the forgotten trace mineral.Vet Craig Dixon says most N Z soils are deficient in selenium."We do have low selenium levels. "It's generalised throughout N Z, so we see it as a stock health issue," he said. "We'd like to think farmers are aware of it. "We bang on about it regularly enough."But for some reason, maybe people's memories are short, every now and then some forget." The newsletter notes two instances of ill thrifty, potty, scungy weaners that three worm drenches did not fix. They were finally diagnosed as being deficient in selenium. Two dairy herds struggling with production and cow condition in the midst of plenty were also diagnosed as being selenium deficient. more>>

Fonterra to establish a dairy farm in China
Fonterra Co-operative Group announced today that it will establish a best practice dairy farm in China to assist in the growth of Shijiazhuang SanLu Group, in which Fonterra holds a 43% stake. Fonterra Milk Supply Director Barry Harris said the farming operation would utilise Fonterra's on-farm knowledge and production expertise to provide quality milk for San Lu and meet the increasing demands for high-quality milk in China. Mr Harris said the continued growth of Fonterra's joint venture would be driven by having access to locally produced quality milk that could be used for premium nutritional consumer products. "By developing a cow to consumer supply chain in China we will be able to create value for our joint business and improve returns to our respective shareholders." China's dairy industry is expanding rapidly and milk production is expected to increase from 22 billion litres currently to 40 billion litres in seven years' time. more>>

Smiles returning for deer farmers
Bill Robinson expects the two-year-old stags bred on the Cambridge deer farm he manages to realise $10,000 a head when they sell next month. Mr Robinson, who manages John Carter's 220ha Raroa Deer Stud on Fergusson Gully Rd, didn't think prices would drop despite a later deer season this year. The stags sell on the size of their antlers, which have grown more slowly this season due to the weather conditions.
The industry is hoping this is the first year of a long, steady improvement that will restore confidence, and not the prelude to another round of the boom-bust scenario it has just emerged from. more>>

Dollar is 'too high' for lambs
Canterbury Meat Packers (CMP) marketing manager Alister King says there could be a tough season ahead for farmers producing lambs unless the N Z dollar falls. He talked to farmers at a Meat and Wool field day last week. “Lamb prices have a huge sensitivity to the exchange rate, Mr King said. "If the US dollar equated to 60c NZ, the Euro 48c and the British pound 32c, N Z farmers would receive an extra $13 to $14 a lamb," he said.Generally though, there had been a fall in prices and demand for N Z lamb in most major markets. Mr King said when lamb prices went to high levels before the "correction" at the beginning of this year, there was almost no differential between chilled and frozen lamb on some cuts. With chilled pricing then at almost record levels it was inevitable at some stage that frozen prices would correct downwards. "In general I would say chilled prices are now reasonably stable," Mr King said. About 25 percent of N Z lamb meat is exported in a chilled form, the rest is frozen. more>>

UN report on livestock gas emissions
Rearing cattle generates more greenhouse gas emissions than driving motor vehicles, a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) claims. The report - sure to cause controversy in the cattle industry around the world - says the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent (18%) than transport and is also a major source of land and water degradation. “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems,” says Henning Steinfeld, FAO livestock information and policy branch chief and senior author of the report. “Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.” With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999-2001 to 465m/t in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580m to 1043m/t. more>>

Velvet contest reflects change
Deer velvet yields had more than doubled during the past 25 years, the organiser of the national velvet competition said. Peter Allan said no one imagined that when the competition was set up 25 years ago weights would have increased so much. The increase was because of developments in the industry with genetics, breeding and better recording. The 25th National Velvet Antler Competition will tomorrow and Thursday be held at the Ascot Park Hotel where it has been held for the past 15 years. In the early days of competitions, a winning head in the open reds velvet section was cutting 4kg, now it was about 12kg, Mr Allan said. In the antler elk supreme section, the top head last year was close to 19kg, double the weights from 25 years ago. "The rates of velvet per age have tripled. I don't know any other industry that can claim that. It just shows what can be done," he said more>>

Long term butter deal reached
N Z has reached an agreement with the European Commission on the long-term arrangements covering its $264 million butter trade to Europe. With the current short-term arrangements for importing N Z butter into the EU due to expire on December 31, Trade Negotiations Minister Phil Goff and high-ranking officials have been in intense discussions with the European Commission over the details of a longer-term solution. N Z butter imports into the EU were suspended on July 12 after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Fonterra’s control of N Z butter imports through its London-based subsidiary was monopolistic and discriminatory. The new deal allows butter to enter Europe at a lower tariff. more>>

Canesis purchase goes unconditional
AgResearch Ltd today announced that its purchase of Canesis Network Ltd had gone unconditional.Canesis is the specialist wool and textile research & development (R&D) organisation located at Lincoln, Canterbury and owned by Wool Equities Ltd and the Wool Research Organisation of NZ Inc. AgResearch Chairman Rick Christie said that the acquisition was important for the pastoral sector and good news for farmers. "Wool is a wonderful raw material for N Z but R&D is essential to improving wool's fortune. By combining AgResearch and Canesis N Z can, for the first time, integrate all R&D associated with wool, from the farm paddock to the high-fashion apparel boutique or the interior-design carpet store. This new-found, integrated capacity will be fully supportive of the marketing thrust for N Z -produced woollen products." more>>

War chest ready for Fonterra competition
Fonterra is going to compete with milk processing competitors who attempt to lure away supplying farmers in Canterbury and Waikato. It has put aside $12 million in a war chest to pay more for contract milk if it has to. “This will only apply to milk which might be lost to a competitor, not milk lost for any other reason,” Fonterra director Greg Gent last week told a Northland suppliers meeting.Fonterra’s management will have a reserve fund equivalent to 1c/kg MS of payout on total national supply (about 1.2 billion kg MS annually) with which to fight regional competitors like Open Country Cheese and Synlait. “Management must assure us that by retaining that milk we are better off than losing it,” Gent said. About 80 farmers resigned from Fonterra supply earlier this year in order to sell milk to Open Country Cheese, Gent said. more>>

Reality to bite lamb
Lamb producers at two field days in the southern North Island last week got a reality check they didn’t expect.
“There’s no point in me coming along and bullshitting you about life,” was PPCS market services manager Ken Rouse’s blunt admission to farmers at a southern Hawke’s Bay field day last week. Processors were “paying miles too much” for lamb, Rouse said. “We were clamouring over ourselves to get them.”Companies were about to bring farmers back to reality in terms of price and forecast returns of $3.20-$3.60/kg CW by March, he said. CMP lamb marketing manager Alister King was more upbeat when he spoke at a field day in Rangitikei last Wednesday, but also warned of downward pressure on returns because of weak demand for frozen cuts.The Kiwi dollar was currently trading 10% lower against the pound and euro compared to last year, but prices had eased by up to 36% for some frozen lamb cuts. The chilled market was “much the same now as last season at this time” in NZ’s key markets and there was no carryover of heavyweight lamb. more>>

How to own that farm . . .
Some advice for sharemilkers looking to advance to farm ownership: When cow prices are high it is a good time to use the leverage to buy land. Any kind of land . . . farming, residential, whatever. This was one of the tips handed out to Taranaki sharemilkers in New Plymouth last week by Grant Rowan, a director of AgInvest, at a seminar the company ran on farm ownership. Mr Rowan and fellow director Andrew Watters said that the current season was a tight financial one for dairy farmers, with the margin of profit, from what looked like being a low payout, now being squeezed by increasing costs, But it had happened before and, in other tough seasons in the late 1980s and the period between 1995 and 1998, good wealth creation and business growth had been achieved. more>>

Rising dollar negates prices
Dairy farmers are worried that the 11-year high for international dairy prices will count for nothing if the N Z dollar continues to rise. The kiwi, trading at about 68c against the United States currency, has negated buoyant commodity prices. Despite the tough conditions, farmers are continuing to put the pressure on Fonterra and other dairy companies to come up with a better payout. Fonterra's ingredients managing director, John Shaskey, said the $4.05 payout for a kilogram of milk solids was unlikely to change at this stage, with the dollar at 68c to 69c. The gains being made in the market were being negated by the high dollar, he said. more>>

$60K to swap co-op
Fonterra has denied offering cash incentive to Australian dairy farmers to gain new milk supply contracts. However, the dairy cooperative admits that “growth incentives” have been in place for the last five years in Australia to lure new suppliers. A south-west Victoria dairy farmer was approached by Fonterra’s subsidiary Bonlac Foods to sign a milk supply agreement in return for $A20,000 bonus per year for three years. In a bid to gain new milk supply for Bonlac’s Darnam Park factory in eastern Victoria, Fonterra offered existing and new suppliers in the Gippsland area a growth incentive of 35c/kg/butterfat and 83ckg protein. A Fonterra spokesman says new suppliers were eligible for the incentive for the first 12 months but it was applied to 50% of their 2004-05 production base. more>>

Farmer of Year title for excellence in irrigation
Mid-Canterbury arable farmers Eric and Maxine Watson have won the Rabobank Lincoln University Foundation Farmer of the Year title in a close-fought final at Lincoln University today. This year’s theme for the annual competition, now in its 24th year, was Excellence in Irrigation and five finalists went through two days of on-campus judging at Lincoln University culminating in a public presentation round today. Earlier in the competition there had also been a judging round on each of the finalist’s properties. The Watsons’ operation is intensive arable production, with a considerable area of high value crops, and their aim is for a high gross income per hectare. They have 96 hectares under a centre pivot system and 430 hectares under a lateral system, with water supplied by wells on the property. The couple describe their irrigation systems as labour efficient and user friendly. more>>

Drench resistance around every corner
Every sheep farm has a problem with drench resistance- “if the intention is to have a property and business with value 10, 20 or 30 years into the future,” says Cromwell vet Richard Bishop, Advanced Vets Ltd. And the problem exists regardless of whether or not resistant worm genes are present on the property, Bishop says. Our challenge is to convince [farmers they DO HAVE a problem] and that they need to start taking action now, not in the future when their drenches have failed. “The most effective time to take preventive action is before [drench resistance presents] as a problem. A major issue can evolve to an advanced stage without being clinically apparent. Farmer understanding of drench resistance and the risk it presents is poor, as is the understanding of many in the veterinary and other advisory sectors.” more

200% lambing to combat rising costs
With increasing technology available, the sheep industry can now make the sort of genetic gains that have become commonplace in other meat industries. That’s according to farm consultant Alan McRae, who shocked the industry recently when he suggested sheep farmers should aim for 200% lambing in a bid to combat rising farm costs. He says farm outgoings are already exceeding income in some areas. This can be overcome by good management and breeding programmes that link growth rate with lambing percentage to ensure that increased weight of lamb is weaned. As well sheep farmers have to aim to keep lamb at the top end of the market.
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Spring knocking lambs, crops
The long, cold spring is taking its toll on farms, putting lambs and crops back about a month compared to usual, says farm adviser Will Wilson. "It's been a tough season, no doubt about it," he said. While Manawatu, Rangitikei and Horowhenua have had rain almost every day over the past five weeks, there are drought conditions on the other side of the Island, with Gisborne and northern Hawkes Bay suffering an early 'dry' season, Mr Wilson said. "It's a real El Nino pattern, they've had four or five weeks with little or no rain, and we've had too much."There have been horror stories from arable (cropping) farmers who have re-sown crops and lost them too, Mr Wilson said. Lamb growth is also running well behind normal and ewes have been struggling in the poor conditions. "Farmers should be thinking about weaning lambs early to alleviate that competition between ewes and lambs for feed . What everything needs is a good dose of sunshine," he said. more>>

NZ Wool Services warns of rocky first half
Christchurch-based N Z Wool Services International says the stronger N Z dollar is hurting its wool trading and marketing businesses. The company said while it forecast a satisfactory financial year, with its new Whakatu wool scour in Hastings beginning to meet expectations, the first half would be rocky. "Due to the high value of the N Z dollar we now expect to show an overall negative result for the first six months," the company said at its annual meeting. N Z's largest wool scourer and exporter made a $570,000 net profit in the first half of last year. "Operationally we are showing reasonable profits in our combined trading and scouring. Our problem is unrealised exchange losses that must be taken in to account at the end of the first six months." more>>

Dollar hits 9-month high
Farmers and exporters could be forgiven for feeling a little sense of deja vu as the N Z dollar looks likely to finish the year on another high note. Last week the kiwi soared to a nine-month peak - at one point trading US68.24c - and brought memories of the US70c levels recorded late last year. The currency has increased by about 15% against the US dollar since July and economists are not predicting a drop in the near term. But they remain optimistic the dollar will revert to a downward trend by the second half of next year and bring some relief to exporters . BNZ says yield demand is seen as a major reason the dollar is trading significantly higher against all major trading partners. Agriculture is the only sector not to record an improvement in confidence in the latest National Bank Business Outlook.
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Lincoln students to attend livestock congresss
Two Lincoln University agricultural students have been named among 25 outstanding students from around the world who have won Travel Fellowships to attend next year’s International Livestock Congress in Denver, Colorado, USA, in January next year. The pair, PhD student Craig Trotter of Palmerston, Otago, and Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) student Sean Wilkins of Balfour, Southland, will attend the International Livestock Congress over 6-10 January. The event, a long-respected international forum, brings together top livestock producers, retailers, packers and others in the industry supply chain.Attendance at the congress gives the students the opportunity to interact with world livestock industry leaders and to contribute to the solutions that will shape the advancement of the industry in the years ahead. more>>

Drought strategies as dry summer looms
Some stock have been sold and Te Kopae Station’s Ian and Sandra Matthews are looking at the gamble ahead as the Gisborne district heads into a predicted long dry summer. Drought strategies were the major topic of discussion at the last community meeting of the year at Te Kopae, the region’s meat and wool monitor farm. Summing up the thoughts of the community group from the last meeting, facilitator Peter Andrew said it was important for farmers to be in a position of strength and not have decisions forced upon them. Clear pegs, whether they be dates or levels of dry matter must be set and it was critical to act immediately the peg was reached. Capital stock needed to be prioritised and preferentially fed over sale or trading stock. more>>

NZ red meat leader warns of real rivals
Red meat producers are being warned that their biggest overseas competition might not be from traditional export rivals Brazil and the United States. Jeff Grant, chairman of Meat and Wool N Z, has told Australia's ABC that producers are facing a bigger threat from pork, poultry and fish. He said consumers in developing nations were changing their diets to include more protein but white meat could become their first choice."That shift in terms of their diets means that for beef or milk in the dairy industry has a very good potential going forward," he said. more>>

Beef and lamb good for your bones
Slap a steak on the barbie could become the rejoinder to “slip, slop, slap” this summer. New research shows beef and lamb are rich sources of a type of vitamin D, something we usually get from sunlight. Dietary sources of vitamin D are becoming more and more important as we heed essential health messages to protect ourselves from the sun’s harmful rays. A study led by Associate Professor Roger Purchas at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health estimates that one serving of lamb can provide half the daily vitamin D requirement, and beef about a quarter when both forms of the vitamin are taken into account. A survey of child’s nutrition by the Ministry of Health in 2003 identified young NZers, particularly girls, at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Up to a third may have insufficient in their blood. more>

Milking overseas to save our hides
Eric Hillerton admits the idea of N Z farmers producing extra milk overseas to help industry growth - without increasing pressure on the local environment - may be difficult for Kiwis to swallow. But the floating of the idea during an interview indicates how the Scotsman believes the industry needs to start thinking outside the square more to achieve its goals.
Hillerton's recent appointment as research general manager at key industry organisation Dexcel puts him in the middle of the internationally recognised dairy research expertise in Hamilton. Providers in the city took in more than 70 per cent - some $19.6 million - of the dairy research money allotted by farmer-funded Dairy InSight last year. The dairy industry is reviewing farmer-levy-funded R&D after a failure to achieve targeted productivity gains. more>>

PGG Wrightson buys parasite tech company
Rural servicing company PGG Wrightson has bought Dunedin-based agricultural firm FECPAK International for an undisclosed sum. The purchase will help PGG's clients with worming, drenching, facial eczema and other animal health issues, PGG Wrightson said yesterday. Meat and Wool N Z recently estimated that internal parasites were the industry's most costly disease problem, costing the sheep industry $300 million a year. Farmers spent $120 million on drenches but many parasites were becoming drug resistant. more>>

NZ's transport issues to European markets
Primary products have been New Zealand’s main export items for more than 150 years and the risk that transport systems may fail, or be disrupted by forces beyond our control, is ever present. History has shown how damaging a supply-chain failure can be. The port stoppages of 1890, 1913 and 1951 were major events in our post-colonial history. From the late 1970s major regulatory changes occurred to make ports more flexible and competitive. Though there have been further changes to both port ownership structures and the way labour is organised, the ports are still a fertile ground for unrest. One of the main reasons for this is that the port owners globally are pursuing a strategy which aims to employ workforces that are fully utilised, low-cost and available on a just-in-time basis. History is repeating itself. The increasing casualisation of labour over the past decade means that port workers are once again facing many familiar problems, including insecurity of employment and intensified hours of work.
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National Bank december rural report
Hanging In !! Our forecasts are little changed in direction and magnitude from those published in the June 2006 issue of ‘Rural Report’. However the timing of change for interest and exchange rates has been shifted from late 2006 to late 2007. Any forecast improvement in product prices will be dented by rising costs. Farm discretionary expenditure will remain constrained at least until March/April 2007.
We adopted a positive but cautious approach to our June 2006 product price forecasts, being wary about the track for the New Zealand dollar in particular. To date, results have supported that stance and give confidence to stick to the forecast product prices. more>>

Dairy enviro efforts shown by water reports
Reports released today on lake and river water quality and allocation gives the dairy industry a clear indication of where its environmental efforts are best directed, the chairman of the Dairy Environment Leadership Group said. Dr John Penno said the dairy industry continues to be committed to improving its environmental record, particularly in regards to water quality “We are applying fertilisers in a better way and fencing streams and rivers. These changes will improve water quality, but we know that it will take some years for those efforts to result in measurable improvements. When it comes to the issue of water allocation we can only make decisions on the basis of good scientific evidence. The reports also highlight the urgent need for the community to have a sensible debate about the trade-offs between economic growth in a rural-based economy and geographically-isolated environmental impacts." more>>

Rabbit numbers up as resistance develops
Rabbit populations are exploding in Central Otago as the pests develop a resistance to rabbit haemorraghic disease (RHD). The Otago Regional Council heard on Tuesday that the dry Central Otago winter had also bumped numbers up. “It’s not warm enough yet for the RHD to kick in, and I think numbers will probably be up until the hot weather comes along. I suspect they’ll go when the weather warms up and the RHD kicks in.” The mild winter had reduced the impact of poisoning operations and boosted rabbit numbers in rural Otago. Further poisoning was likely to be needed next winter to keep numbers manageable. The harder the winter, the more likely it was that rabbits would be tempted by poisoned bait, as their natural food sources were scarcer. The lack of rain in central Otago had also meant young rabbits were not dying through natural attrition by drowning in burrows. more>>

Rural women seek support: study
Woman do not support each other enough and that needs to change, a meeting of the South Canterbury Provincial Rural Women N Z annual meeting was told yesterday. Guest speaker for the event was Jan Allan of Ikiwai who has been working on a PHD on the lives of rural women for 3.5 years. As a farmer's wife herself she admits to being both surprised and concerned at her findings. Mrs Allan said four of the first five women she spoke to had been in tears. "One woman said she was repressed rather than depressed," she said. Mrs Allan said when women married a farmer they often married the farm and extended family as well. Many felt unfulfilled and underutilised and wanted to return to an urban area where they could get on with their lives. "Commuting is something that is starting to happen more often. With the younger generation that is something we are going to have to accept and support." more>>

Rural weather info boost
Farmers can now access the latest rural weather information from the MetService website. New rural weather web pages on the website are now providing the information that farmers have asked for. At this year's National Fieldays MetService gathered ideas from farmers about what weather information they wanted from the Internet. Farmers want quick access to weather information that will help their decision-making. MetService Weather Ambassador Bob McDavitt says the survey has resulted in the rural weather section "Farmers' livelihood depends on the weather," says McDavitt. "Farming is all about turning rain into dollars, and so it isn't surprising that rain information is what the farmers wanted first. “Our rain section provides a national view on rainfall for the past week, the past day, a radar loop for the past six hours, and a computer model giving expected rain for the next three days." more>>

Shrek shorn in icy birthday stunt
Shrek the Bendigo celebrity merino needed fancy footwork for his 10th birthday after he was shorn on an iceberg floating off the coast of Dunedin yesterday. Shrek's owner John Perriam said a garage owner in Tarras had made special crampons for Shrek to keep him from skidding during his time on the ice. "Everyone round here cares about Shrek, we all want him to be safe and happy." He nearly ditched the stunt for the birthday shear to be filmed and watched by millions all over the world a couple of days ago because he realised it was probably a stupid and dangerous thing to do. However, it was too late and everyone wanted to see their favourite son, Shrek, on an iceberg, a stunt any self-respecting celebrity sheep would do, Mr Perriam said. But never again. "The iceberg had a convulsion while we were on it. It cracked and split – it was terrifying, believe me. more>>

Bank man talks tough
Farmers and bankers are expecting " a challenging year ahead," with returns limited, Will Purvis, the new national agri- business manager for the B N Z, said. He's just back at the top of the bank's agricultural sector after five years in personal banking. "What hit me was the increase in farm values and a not very significant increase in farm revenues," he said, but the bank will only lend if it is satisfied the business has potential. "The cashflow has to be positive in the long term. We don't lend purely on equity," he said. This year will be tough, but it doesn't mean we run out and stop lending, Mr Purvis said. Lamb prices are expected to be about $55 a head up only slightly on last year's poor returns. Fonterra has indicated the payout to dairy farmers is likely to be about $4.05/kg of milksolids. "Fonterra might struggle to get there, lamb returns are not looking flash, and those are the reasons I think there'll be some challenges." more>

Dairy farmers face fifth bad year
Three-quarters of Waikato dairy farmers are predicted to make a loss for a fifth consecutive year, according to Maf.
"The average Waikato dairy farmer has made a cash loss in the last four years and we are forecasting a loss again in this current year," Phil Journeaux, the ministry's North Island manager, told the Waikato branch of the N Z Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science. Mr Journeaux said the only Waikato and Bay of Plenty dairy farmers who made a profit last year were those in the top 25 per cent. Others ran at a $6000-$30,000 loss. Sixty per cent of the region's farmers are keeping their head above the water with off-farm income. Either a wife worked, they were running a contracting business or they had cash from investments. "At a $4 payout most dairy farms are unsustainable and they are going to hit the wall sooner or later –- there's a lot of stress out there this year. Expenses per kg of milksolids are increasing faster than the rate of inflation," he said He also blamed rising wages and feed costs and the price of land as other factors. more>>

PPCS board lacks supplier balance
Ian Grogan is troubled by the prospect of North Island shareholders in PPCS missing out on adequate representation around the giant co-op’s board table.
The Manawatu farmer is the sole North Island nomination for the ridiculously large north Waitaki ward, stretching from the meandering Waitaki River north of Oamaru to the tip of North Island’s North Cape. He’s got until December 12 to convince the majority of PPCS shareholders who vote he’s their man to take one of the two vacancies up for grabs. Grogan is up against incumbent directors Joe Ferraby (Blenheim) and Rupert Curd (Ashburton), and co-op mega-merger proponent Herstall Ulrich. In his view, the company’s executive management team and board have underestimated the potential backlash which will come from the planned compulsory supplier share capital raising programme. more>>

Deer farmers recoil at sheep ID exemption
Deer farmers will refuse to join the proposed national livestock ID scheme if sheep are exempted from tagging requirements, a Southland deer farming leader says.
And the arguments being used to justify sheep staying outside the scheme were “absolutely untrue”, Southland DFA chairman Peter Allan said. National Animal Identification and Traceability group chairman Ian Corney, a King Country sheep farmer, accepted the national sheep flock massively outnumbered deer, but said sheep had fewer movements in their lifetime. Allan rejected this argument was “absolutely untrue”.“Ask any truckie and he will tell you the amount of selling and movement there is for sheep compared to deer around the country,” Allan said. Corney said the emphasis right now was on cattle and deer, but “we have always said any scheme put in place has to be able to be moved on to incorporate all other animals”. more>>

Brandenburg kills thousands of lambs
Southland vets are recommending the use of a vaccine for salmonella brandenburg, which has killed thousands of lambs this season. Meat and Wool N Z managers said outbreaks of the disease in Southland had reduced the number of lambs born per ewe, although overall the number of lambs born was higher than last year. Southland vets say the salmonella brandenburg outbreak is on a par with last year, which was also considered a bad season.Northern Southland veterinarian Hamish Mavor said 25 farms were confirmed with the disease from Riversdale to Mossburn and thousands of lambs had died. While the vaccine did not provide 100 percent protection, vaccinated sheep were less likely to die or be hit hard by the disease.But less than 10 percent of farms in the area used the vaccine, probably because of the cost and because it didn't provide full protection, he said. more>>

A H B shoots cattle not checked for TB
The Animal Health Board (AHB) has shot cattle on a farm in the Whanganui River area after a farmer had been unable to muster some of his animals. The board is permitted under the Biosecurity Act, to shoot animals that are not tested regularly for TB. The AHB has been undertaking possum control in the area described as the Mangaporau area which is the western side of the Whanganui River. Horizons vector manager Alan Innes says 40 cattle were shot from a helicopter on the Churton farm, which he understands to be a family owned property. "For a number of years, the board has been trying to get some TB testing done on cattle, but a lot of them have gone wild. more>>

Fields of gold
'We've seen rural property prices going through the roof and people have been selling their farms.' The notion that Aucklanders are inflating the economy is far from the truth - rural regions are stamping on the gas, writes Greg Ninness.
Last week, ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie released a report rubbishing the popular notion that free-spending, debt-laden Aucklanders are responsible for stoking the fires of inflation. "Which part of the country is putting the greatest pressure on inflation?" the report asks. "Auckland usually gets the blame. An often heard lament south of the Bombays is: why should I have to pay higher interest rates or face a high currency just because Aucklanders like expensive houses?" But rather than pointing the finger at Auckland, rural regions would be better taking a look in the mirror to see who is pushing up inflation, the report suggests. It singles out Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Taranaki and Canterbury for their spendthrift ways. more>>

Productivity : Little result from decade of work
Dairy industry calls for a 3 or 4 % productivity gain seem to be falling on deaf ears. Dexcel’s economic survey of N Z dairy farmers published recently shows that total productivity for owner-operators fell by 3.2 % in the 2004/05 season. This lower production drove total outputs down by 1.3 % despite a 2.1 % increase in inputs. The survey also showed the annual productivity gain for owner-operators for the decade now stands at 0.9 %, a dismal result given the money and time spent on promoting the cause.The story is slightly different for sharemilkers. Despite a decrease in productivity in 2004/05 of 2.1 %, their productivity gain over the decade at 1.7 % was almost double that of owner-operators. The figures are based on 400 actual farm accounts for the 2004/05 period, which is described as a “tough year for dairy farming”. more>>

Proposed possum research programme on web
The National Research Centre for Possum Biocontrol (NRCPB) is launching a web initiative to inform the public about its proposed research programme. It has set up a website which outlines its progress thus far and potential methods that may be used to control possum numbers in the future. The brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is regarded as N Z's number one vertebrate pest in both economic and ecological terms. It is estimated that possums cause production losses of around $40 million annually. Possums also affect N Z’s native species through predation and consuming food sources. They are also the major source of bovine tuberculosis – the presence of which is a major threat to the marketing of our dairy, beef and deer products overseas. more>>

Dairy cow code to see
Minimum standards of welfare and recommended best practices for dairy cattle are outlined in a new draft code from the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC).The code encourages exceeding the minimum standards and adopting the best practices of husbandry, care and handling.The draft includes all calves born from dairy cows until weaning, all dairy replacement stock and dairy cattle kept as ‘house’ cows. It does not include weaned dairy cattle raised for beef production. Proposed minimum standards cover all aspects of husbandry including food, water, shade, shelter and housing. Also covered are downer cows, the use of stand-off areas and feed pads and feeding bobby calves prior to transport. more>>

Irrigation ownership change
South Canterbury farmers are to take up full ownership of the Opuha Dam as other partners such as Alpine Energy and private investors decide to bow out of the scheme. The 220 farmer-shareholders who irrigate from the scheme will vote at special meetings on December 7 and 8 whether to go ahead with the move. Details were outlined to farmers at a meeting last week, Opuha Dam farmer spokesman Tom Lambie told Rural News. Farmers will buy out Alpine Energy which has a 50% share and Opihi River Development Company (a group of private investors) which has a 36% share. “The sale of the Alpine Energy shares has been the catalyst for putting the whole package together. more>>

'Serious' R&D shortage warns CRI
The country’s largest Crown Research Institute (CRI) has warned of a serious need for more investment in scientific capability. AgResearch chairman Rick Christie says academic excellence alone won’t pay bills and there is a need to build partnerships and financial bridges to overseas markets. According to Christie, the need to grow scientific capability “remains almost opaque to most N Zs”. Christie’s message in AgResearch’s 2006 annual report also criticises the lack of importance attached to agriculture. “It is time we saw our farmers and scientists in terms of the benefits they bring to NZ, rather than as environmental pariahs or the perpetrators of genetic risks,” he says. “Five generations of N Zs owe most of their national wealth to these two groups, but they hardly feature on the list of national priorities and attract little mainstream media attention.” more>>

Robust borders 'invaluable'
When it comes to global trade, no other N Z company is more reliant on a robust biosecurity management system than Fonterra. With trade links with 140 countries, it’s vital for the dairy producer to have the confidence of millions of consumers. Because it also receives 70 million litres of milk daily from suppliers, Fonterra must ensure that cows are not only free from exotic diseases like foot-and-mouth but from endemic diseases like Tb. The recent Biosecurity Summit in Wellington heard from the cooperative’s trade strategy chief that factors affecting on-farm milk supply and food safety are vital to trade. more>>

Quality pasture program with SIDDC
Farmers who want to hone their pasture management skills are urged to sign up for the South Island Dairy Development Centres Quality Pasture Programme for 2006/2007.The programme aims to lift awareness of the link between pasture quality and profit, through benchmarking with the Lincoln University dairy farm and comparing their results with other farms in the area. Each farmer provides samples for independent analysis at a feed lab of their choice. Samples are analysed and results are given for ME which is measured in MJME/KgDM, dry matter, protein, carbohydrates and fibre content. more>>

Lamb numbers up despite bad storms
Lethal snowstorms, freezing cold days, floods, slips and a shortage of good feed could not hold back lamb numbers on farms this winter and spring. The national lamb crop rose 2.1 per cent to 34.52 million, M & W N Z reported yesterday. Economic Service executive director Rob Davison said numbers collected by the organisation's regional managers showed the number of North Island lambs tailed this year were up 1.5 per cent to 15.76 million while South Island numbers rose 2.6 per cent to 18.76 million. He expected the number of lambs available for export would be similar to last year at 24.75 million. more>>

ECan vows to get tough
Environment Canterbury (ECan) has called on the support of Fonterra to help it get the region’s dairy farmers to clean up their act. ECan compliance and enforcement manager Evan Walker says following discussions with Fonterra it had agreed to pass on the names of farmers who have failed to comply with their effluent discharge consent conditions, particularly more serious cases. A recent ECan report found only 48% of monitored farms in its 2005-06 survey were fully compliant with their effluent discharge conditions, with compliance rates slipping over the last few years. Walker says that the lack of improvement means it will continue with blanket inspections. ECan plans to visit all 650 dairy farms in the region again this season. It will also tighten up on some of the issues it encounters, particularly ponding of effluent.
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Farm prices dip as Kiwi hits confidence
Average farm prices fell slightly in October, with farmer confidence down because of the high Kiwi dollar, which is up more than 10 per cent since late June. The dip in farm prices came just a few days after Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard said farm values were "at very high levels relative to their underlying earnings". In a report on bank stability, he says that some highly indebted dairy farms could go broke if the Fonterra payout is lower than expected, but dairy farm prices keep rising. Dr Bollard said the farming sector had borrowed large amounts from the banks - more than $28 billion - so an unexpected fall in farm profits would hurt banks' balance sheets. About 20 per cent of the farms are thought to account for about 80 per cent of that bank debt, with parts of the dairy industry highly indebted. Average interest expenses were 82 cents a kilogram of milksolids, which is 23 per cent of farm expenses, or 70 per cent of the farm cash surplus for owner-operated farms, Mr Bollard's report says. more>>

Change to Fonterra's capital structure mooted
Corporate farmer Landcorp has said Fonterra's capital structure needs to change. Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly suggested splitting the diary co-ops shares in two, with one tradeable share measuring the value-added part of the business and the other the commodity business, the NZ Herald reported today. A tradeable share could let suppliers unlock cash. At the same time farmers could stay in the co-op and get "core" commodity returns. more>>

Rabobank agribusiness review
Australia, New Zealand review. November 2006
-Seasonal outlook .
-Currency, economy
-Retail food expenditure
-Beef.
-Dairy.
- Lamb.
-Venison,velvet.
-Wool.
-Fertiliser. more>>

Anderton praises Young Rural Achievers
In Christchurch at the Royal Agricultural Show, the Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton, was on the judging panel for the N Z Young Rural Achiever Award for 2006. He described the awards as "a showcase for our up and coming rural leaders," adding "highly qualified and highly motivated men and women have a future in our land-based industries. Those of us who have the opportunity to spend time working with the primary sectors know the opportunities and rewards are there. But we live in an urbanised society; Communicating the potential of our primary industries is a challenge. more>>

PPCS profit inadequate
Writing in the Dunedin cooperative’s annual report, Mr Hart said the board was aware the performance was below “what one could term as adequate” and the board was focused on improving the result and lifting returns to suppliers.
Chief executive Stewart Barnett has announced that PPCS is considering moving into biofuel production from animal by-products. The report levels a blunt warning to the Government, that its economic policies were making life difficult for exporters and would impact on farmers. Mr Barnett also said there was little sign of the lamb pelt market improving, with prices falling by nearly three-quarters in the last six years. more>>

Grassland conference hailed
The three-day N Z Grassland Association conference has been hailed as an opportunity for dairy farmers to find new ways to stay green. Dairy Environment Leadership Group (DELG) chairman John Penno says it’s pleasing to see the conference focus on the environment. The conference, held in Dunedin, was themed “its not easy staying green!” According to Penno, farming is becoming increasingly science-based and technical.“It is essential that farmers take every opportunity to keep up with the latest developments on how to reduce environmental impact.” Penno says the dairy industry has made a huge commitment to improve its environmental record, including the release of its Strategy for Sustainable Environmental Management earlier this year. more>>

Four leaf clover and low cost sheep
N Z'’s principal pastoral research institute believes its luck is in at the Royal Show, which opened in Christchurch today. A feature of AgResearch’s stand will be a display made out of four leaf clovers.Consisting of pots of green and silver leafed, pink and crimson clovers, the 1.2 metre display is being tended by AgResearch scientist Keith Widdup.The four leaf clovers were originally developed in the hope they would provide greater dry matter yield than traditional white clover. The clover display will be the centrepiece of an AgResearch display that will also showcase some of its cutting-edge R&D outcomes including a plot of ryegrass with the new endophyte strain AR37 and the “low-cost, easy care sheep” bred by scientist Dr David Scobie. more>>

Nutrient budget date set
Dairy farmers who trade with fertiliser companies will have a nutrient budget in place by June 2007. The undertaken, given by the fertiliser industry, will ensure the dairy industry meets commitments under the Clean Streams Accord and its Sustainable Environmental Management strategy.
Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-op, Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Summit-Quinphos have agreed to ensure that all dairy farmers have a nutrient budget by June 2007. Nutrient budgets enable farmers to use on-farm nutrients more efficiently, reducing fertiliser costs and losses to the environment. Reducing the losses of nitrogen and phosphate to water is one of the key milestones in the dairy industry’s sustainable environment strategy. more>>

Carbon farmnig a viable forestry option
Carbon farming won’t compete with intensive farming, but is a viable forestry option says Clayton Wallwork. The Christchurch-based forestry consultant with Tomorrow’s Forests has been working in the carbon field for the past three years. He says the Government’s newly announced permanent forest sink initiative (PFSI) is the backbone to the evolving carbon market in N Z. Unlike Europe, which has a well-developed carbon market, the N Z carbon market is only building in popularity now as a result of the unique PFSI scheme. Livestock farmers are not personally liable for the emissions of their stock, and can take advantage of the PFSI by retiring or planting up some of their land, he says. more>>

Companies talking summer lamb prices down
Farmers are getting good prices for lamb and beef but the outlook later in the season is not so good, particularly for lamb, says farm advisor Will Wilson. "Lamb prices look alright at the moment at around $4.70 per kilogram for new season lamb. But it is being talked down quite heavily in January, February and March to the $3.40 level.That bodes badly for farmers, many of who rely on off-loading most of their spring-born lambs when they get big enough which is during those months. The bulk of lambs go through meat plants in summer and it means they would be worth around $55 each, well down on what farmers had hoped for. more>>

Farmer optimism declines with climbing NZ $
The latest Rabobank/AC Nielsen Rural Confidence Survey, which was conducted during the first two weeks in October, confirms the strong relationship between exchange rate and rural confidence.
-Farmer confidence has declined markedly since August.
-The main driver is the increasing value of the NZ dollar - in August it was worth USD 0.63 in October it had increased to USD 0.66.
-There have been more significant movements against other currencies including the yen (+7 per cent) and the euro (+6 per cent).
-Farmers are still planning to invest in their businesses in the next 12 months. more>>

PPCS's Cooper puts his views
Incoming PPCS chief executive Keith Cooper has renewed his call for a diverse, rather than a specialised, meat supply base. Cooper says PPCS needs diverse supply to service the different needs of the global market,and that contrasts with niche operators who were picking the eyes out of the supplier base and matching with niche marketing opportunities.The co-op needs to earn the confidence of suppliers, who in turn need to have confidence in PPCS as their marketing outlet. “The bottom line is we have got to gain respect to be accepted as an extension of on-farm activities. We have got to take costs out of the nature of the business, being the processing element, and capture the optimum marketing returns to deliver sustainable returns to meat producers." he said. more>>

K-line benefits waterways: trial
K-line irrigation systems were a boon for dairy farmers with mole and tile drainage needing to reduce likely waterway contamination from effluent, a Clutha Agricultural Development Board spokesman said yesterday. Speaking at the conclusion of a two-year trial, project officer Malcolm Deverson said K-line irrigation could apply farm dairy effluent (FDE) at a controlled rate that could be absorbed by the soil and thus avoid run-off, or "overland flow". In January 2005, Clydevale dairy farmers Stephen and Judith Ray began trialling the low pressure K-line system in a bid to solve the problem of effluent distributed by a travelling irrigator on their clay-soil farm.The result was minimal discharge to waterways through their mole and tile drainage, Mr Ray told farmers at a field day. more>>

Cattle take to drink
CATTLE at Margaret River, Western Australia, are drinking premium red wine as owners aim to provide prime beef to a restaurant chain.The Wagyu breed cattle are getting one litre a day of Hayshed Hill's Pitchfork and Alexander Bridge cabernet sauvignon merlot mixed in with their regular feed of wheat, barley, oats, lupins and hay. Akio Yamamoto, a Japanese celebrity chef-cum-restaurateur has specified that the wine be given to the cattle. "He wants to compete with Matsuzaka, which is top-quality Wagyu beef that comes from cattle fed with beer," John McLeod, managing director of Margaret River Premium Meat Exports, said yesterday. more>>

Israel 'flavoring' beef cattle with garlict
Trying to protect beef cattle from tick infestation by feeding them garlic-laced hay had a surprise bonus for Israeli researchers -- the meat is tastier.Dr. Varda Shkapf, an expert on parasites at the Veterinarian Institute at the Agricultural Ministry found the odor garlic-fed cows gave off prevented tick infestation, Ynetnews reported. more>>

Iron levels in venison highest of all meats
New research has identified an easy way to get the maximum benefit from iron-rich foods, highlighting venison as the highest source of iron of all meats tested. Dr Kelly Johnston, a nutritionist at Leatherhead Food International, which carried out the analysis, said: “Iron intakes from dietary sources in women in the UK are way below what is considered adequate. This study has shown venison has a significantly higher amount of iron per 100g when compared with other types of meat. As such, including venison as part of a healthy, balanced diet may help to improve the iron status of those women who currently don’t get enough from their diet.” more>>

Farmers should take a bow, water man says
Farmers should take more credit for their role as conservationists, says Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Terry Heiler. Heiler was speaking at an Oamaru seminar on October 27 attended by 70 people - its theme “irrigation to enhance the environment”. Heiler says urban people, including national decision-makers, fail to understand the conservation values most farmers uphold."Irrigation NZ is committed to promoting best practice in sustainable water management, water-use efficiency and the environmental impacts of intensified land use.” more>>

Effluent advice updated
Dairy farmers are offered a new tool to help tackle effluent and other on-farm environmental issues. Revised manuals explaining on-farm environmental best practice were released 31 October under the dairy industry strategy for sustainable environmental management. The manuals, revised under Fonterra’s supervision, guide farmers and rural professionals on farm practices that may affect the environment. Managing farm dairy effluent and issues including nutrient management, irrigation and water quality are all covered in the manual. Fonterra co-ordinated the manuals’ revision; funding came from Dairy InSight, Dairy farmers, regional councils and rural professionals. mo

Farmers still keen on meat merger
A group of South Canterbury farmers is pushing ahead for the merger of the S. I's largest meat-processing co-operatives, despite a lacklustre response from Alliance. The proposed merger of PPCS and Alliance has seemingly taken a nosedive after Alliance told shareholders of both companies, who have formed the Meat Industry Restructuring Group , that an internal business study of the idea had, at least initially, found little benefit. MIRG spokesman Herstall Ulrich said both co-operatives should conduct an independent review instead of Alliance dismissing it without outside involvement. "We were told Alliance had done its own internal business study and it felt the benefits were not good enough for its shareholders to be involved at this point. The feeling was that somewhere down the track the proposal would be revisited. We are now arguing that the two co-operatives should start to talk to each other about this proposal and conduct an independent business study. The results can then be taken to their shareholders either way." more>>

Organic option pays dividends
Pihama dairy farmers Stephen and Janet Fleming have heard all the jokes about organic farming and they're laughing all the way to the bank. The Flemings, who farm in Watino Rd, Pihama, are receiving a 7 per cent premium for their milk from Fonterra and shortly, when they complete their BioGro New Zealand certification, that will lift to 20 per cent. Add to that a winter milk contract for most of their 380-cow Friesian/Friesian cross herd and lower animal health bills since they started farming organically, and the couple make a convincing argument for non-chemical dairying. They are members of the national Organic Dairy Producers Group, which is more than 100 strong. more>>

Defective sheep vaccine recalled
A leading animal treatment company has recalled a defective batch of sheep vaccine and is urging farmers to contact a specially set up helpline for compensation.
Schering-Plough Coopers has recalled batch 896 of its Scabine vaccine used for preventing scabby mouth, which many Southland and Otago farmers have used extensively on their stock in the past three weeks. Scabine was the most commonly used scabby mouth vaccine among farmers because of its reliable ease of application.Although sheep were not likely to get the viral disease at the moment, once pasture quality went down and more thistles and prickles came up, sheep could catch it through cuts to the mouth. The helpline phone number is 0800 773 777. more>>

Aussies develop finest dairy cow
Australia claims a major genetics breakthrough gives it an international lead in the race to breed the world’s finest and most productive dairy cows with the aid of genetic fingerprinting. A Dairy CRC team is the first in the world to comprehensively link 15,000 genetic markers with 37 key dairy production traits. Testing for the particular genetic markers associated with traits such as milk output and quality, resistance to disease, length of lactation or even overall profitability will allow dairy breeders to select the best animals for use in their herds. The markers now are being evaluated in the field. The development will allow dairy farmers to predict the on-farm performance of their animals with a high degree of accuracy, speeding up herd improvement and increasing farmers’ profits. more>

Federation launches ‘10 In 10’ campaign
Fed Farmers has launched a campaign aiming to help individual farmers reduce their farm’s environmental impact through nutrient loss by 10 percent over the next 10 years. President Charlie Pedersen launched the “10 in 10” campaign at Fed Farmers’ National Council meeting in Wellington.“Without a doubt this is a challenge but it represents the direction farmers are heading. We are confident that we have, are, and will continue to do our share to improve the environment. " more>>

Australia's dry horrors 'worst for 1000 years'
Australia is facing its worst drought in 1000 years. The prediction, made at an emergency summit on Australia's mounting water crisis, is 10 times worse than earlier forecasts and prompted urgent action to secure drinking water supplies for Adelaide and rural towns. Sth Australian Premier Mike Rann said the prediction was worrying. "We are into uncharted territory," Mr Rann said. His state government is making plans for an emergency weir on the lower Murray River to ensure Adelaide's water supply.
Adelaide relies on the Murray for up to 90 per cent of its water in drought years. Mr Rann said the drought was "a frightening glimpse of the future with global warming". more>>

Maintain pasture fertility
East Coast farmers harvesting silage are being urged to replace plant nutrients to maintain good soil fertility for future crops. Many farmers have chosen to harvest silage early this year after mixed weather conditions, and the possibility of a dry summer. Ballance Agri-Nutrients East Coast sales manager Matt Hood says farmers should look carefully at soil fertility and consider their fertiliser programme in-line with targeted harvest outcomes. He says it will be important to use extra fertiliser post-harvest to maintain future silage quality and drive additional growth. “No matter what you are going to use that paddock for after harvesting silage, it’s important to return these nutrients to the soil through the use of a well-designed fertiliser programme. more>>

High tech future for farming
Imagine a future where farmers survey their properties not so much from the top of a hill as from above a plasma screen, where GPS and other technologies allow cows to be tracked and checked for illness at a touch. Science fiction – or soon-to-be fact? That’s just one of the host of issues touched on by the Future Farming Roadshow, an intriguing vision of the future of New Zealand agriculture that will be launched at the East Foyer of the Beehive at 6.10pm on November 7 by Young Farmer of the Year John McCaw and acting Minister of Research, Science and Technology Pete Hodgson. more>>

'We won't be beaten'
Fonterra was soundly beaten in the payout battle last season but chairman Henry van der Heyden doesn’t like the tag of loser. At Fonterra’s annual meeting last month, the chairman pointed out that Westland didn’t beat Fonterra depsite paying out $4.15kg/MS to Fonterra’s $4.10kg/MS. “When people try to tell me that Westland’s beat us, it gets up my back,” he told shareholders. “Fonterra beat Westland. We did $4.10, they did $4.07.” According to van der Heyden, Westland’s payout inlcuded 6c for colostrum and 2c for fees. “Our $4.10 doesn’t include special payments such as speciality milks or colostrum.” more>>

Prizefighter Barnett ends reign at PPCS
The man who has headed the Dunedin-based company for the past 20 years last week announced his retirement. The company’s chief operating officer, Keith Cooper, will succeed Barnett when his retirement becomes effective in February 2007. Former Richmond chairman and Waipukurau farmer Robinson declined to comment directly on Barnett’s retirement but expressed surprise over the PPCS board’s appointment process for a new chief executive. “There is no doubt Keith (Cooper) is very competent and could make a good chief executive. “But I am surprised, and the emphasis is on surprised, that the board did not see fit to conduct an Australasian wide search to test whether Keith is the best candidate for this very, very important job,” Robinson said. Under Barnett’s leadership PPCS had grown significantly from a business turning over $245 million in 1986 to $2 billion in 2006. more>>>>

China - 25m tonne dairy market and growing
China is Asia's second biggest dairy market, consuming an estimated 25 million tonnes (liquid milk equivalents) of dairy products per annum.This growth is driven by growing affluence, rising nutrition awareness, fast expanding retail chains and dairy industry investment in brands and promotion. Affluence is a key driver. N Z is the single largest source of imported dairy products, providing half of total import value, amounting to NZD700m in 2005. Rabobank is predicting another eight to ten years of strong growth in the Chinese dairy market. more>>

Draft code of welfare for dairy cattle
Minimum standards of welfare and recommended best practices for anyone responsible for dairy cattle are outlined in a new draft code of welfare to be released by the NAWAC tomorrow. The code is intended to encourage all those responsible for the welfare of dairy cattle to exceed the minimum standards and adopt the best industry practices of husbandry, care and handling. Proposed minimum standards cover all aspects of dairy cattle husbandry including the need for food, water, shade, shelter and housing. The management of downer cows, requirements around the use of stand-off areas and feed pads and the feeding of bobby calves prior to transport are also addressed. more>>

1080 vital for agriculture and the environment
The use of 1080 in pest control is crucial for the future of both agriculture and the environment, Forest & Bird and Fed Farmers say. The two organisations have joined forces in support of an application by DOC and the AHB to the Environmental Risk Management Authority to reassess 1080 under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act. In areas where 1080 has been used native forests have been able to recover from decades of damage caused by browsing of native plants and predation of native birds and other wildlife.Fed Farmers President Charlie Pedersen says 1080 – spread as accurately as possible using the latest technology - has been just as important in protecting the agricultural sector from the threat of bovine tuberculosis. more

Random selection for show competition
Sheep in the Corriedale ewe hogget feature class at the Canterbury Royal Show get no special treatment leading up to judging. Each exhibitor selects up to five Corriedale sheep from their stock in January to participate in the class. They are then taken to a host farm where they are kept under commercial conditions. Exhibitors get only one opportunity to inspect their stock. The Corriedale feature class, sponsored by FMG, was introduced in 1992 after industry demands for a commercial competition that avoided practices such as over-feeding before the show and keeping stock in special conditions. more>>

Livestock, contest entries up on early estimates
Royal status has provided a further boost to Canterbury’s favourite annual event, with this month’s Royal NZ Show promising to be bigger and better than ever. Livestock and competition entries have closed for the major sections at the show and numbers are considerably higher than expected. With entries increased across all sections preliminary figures suggest total numbers will close at 7000, up from 4700 in 2005. Forty per cent of exhibitors are from outside Canterbury, with the Royal running over three days from November 15 to 17 at Canterbury Agricultural Park, Christchurch. more>>

One 'click' from solution on eczema
Scientists at AgResearch Ruakura are about one dairy cow generation away from identifying the genes they hope will enable dairy and beef farmers to breed stock naturally resistant to facial eczema. Researcher Chris Morris told Rural News the results of ongoing research, dating back to autumn 1989, were “promising” and in the medium term scientists would be able to identify genes “so all sectors of the industry would be able to breed for resistance” to the disease estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars annually. more>>

Australian drought pushing up NZ costs
New Zealanders are about to feel the impact of Australia's big drought as grain prices across the Tasman soar by as much as 80 per cent. "The drought in Australia will also impact on the N Z chicken meat industry in a major way," said Michael Brooks, executive director of the Poultry Industry Association."N Z imports Australian wheat and other grains and with the unprecedented rise in the cost of grain, chicken producers are experiencing a substantial increase in production costs," Mr Brooks said. "The astronomical increase in the cost of imported grain is just too great for the industry to absorb and prices of chicken will have to increase," he said. more>>

High country rent review fiasco worsens
A backlog of more than 50 South Island high country pastoral leaseholders have rent reviews which remain unresolved, even before Government moves to raise rents further by charging properties for special views and landscapes. The just-released Armstrong report from senior valuers’ panel, seeks to gauge whether the Crown receives a fair financial return on its high country land assets. The report says there is no basis for claims that existing or proposed rentals are being set at a discount to the market for the remaining 245 pastoral leases from Marlborough to Southland. In fact, most recently reviewed rentals are in excess of fair market rentals for pastoral leases. The Government has ignored the report’s findings, saying that rents should take into account amenity values such as landscapes, which drives market demand for scenic high country properties.The average rental at $10.42/SU refutes the claim that lessees are paying peppercorn rentals that should be increased to match market rates. more>>

Fonterra chair given message
Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden definitely got the message from farmers at Tuesday's shareholder meeting at Okato – on tape. Kahui Rd farmer Lyn Goodin, who with her husband Tom organised the meeting to put farmers' concerns to the co-operative's bosses, handed him a tape recording of the meeting as he was leaving so he could let his fellow directors know how much farmers were hurting. "His message to us was that the strength of the New Zealand dollar was the problem and that Fonterra could not do anything about it and we had to learn to live with it," Mrs Goodin said. "Our message to him – and one that has to get through – is that people have had enough and want something done about the situation where if we produce extra milk we have to buy shares that cost us $2 more than we get for the milk." Mrs Goodin said the situation had become critical and, rather than pay for the extra production, farmers were cutting back on things like applying urea and growing maize so that they were not penalised. more>>>

Merino price hype
A recent spike in the Merino wool market has been mostly offset by a reduced wool clip after the tough winter shaved half a kilogram on average off fleece weights. Elders Primary wool supply relationship manager Roger Fuller told Rural News that prices for crossbred and mid-micron wool remain low and at some levels make it unsustainable to produce wool at a profitable margin.“The markets in mid-micron and crossbreds are still low and quite concerning for all involved,” says Fuller. more>>

Fieldays focus on traceability
Innovation Waikato Ltd, Livestock Improvement and AgriQuality are pitching in with National Fieldays to make traceability the main feature at the 2007 event. Fieldays and the sponsors look to highlight the importance of traceability from farm to plate…to improve profitability and quality assurance. This will help farmers, retailers, consumers and the New Zealand export economy more>>

Dexcel picking up after it 'dropped the ball'
Dexcel chairman Jim van der Poel has admitted the organisation had "dropped the ball" in the past year.
Speaking at Dexcel's annual meeting in Hamilton, attended by 100 farmers, He said Dexcel had become less visible and effective with farmers as it changed its delivery methods. But during the last three months, Dexcel has significantly increased activity in the field. In fact, during the last quarter, their consulting officers and field extension team had over 7500 direct contacts with farmers right across the country. "Dexcel worked on core programmes this year that reinforced our foundation from which industry-good investment in research, development and extension can now operate more efficiently. This allows Dexcel to create significant impacts in the areas of on-farm productivity and profitability for N Z dairy farmers," Mr van der Poel said. more>

Scabbie vaccine believed ineffective
Farmers are likely to seek compensation from the manufacturer of a vaccine which vets fear has been ineffective on hundreds of thousands of southern lambs. Tests should show this week if batch 896 of Schering Plough’s Scabine vaccine has protected lambs from scabbie mouth.The virus causes scabs around the mouth, loss of appetite, loss of condition and a greater risk of internal parasites and fly strike.Traditionally, farmers apply the vaccine at tailing when they have extra staff for the labour intensive task. If the vaccine batch fails, farmers may have to employ staff to re-administer another vaccine or risk their lambs contracting the Orf Virus, which could happen in the next three weeks. more>>

Processing restarts
The Pukeuri meat plant near Oamaru is facing a much brighter season after losing several months' work last season because of a major fire.The first chain at the Alliance plant started last week on lamb and sheep processing. Processing cattle will start on November 7. Boning rooms which were destroyed in the fire have been replaced by a larger room, , which contains more technically advanced and safer machinery including circular pressure saws and clean-in-place systems. Mr Hailes said the new machinery was easier to use, more efficient and hygienic. more>>

High dollar makes farmers wait
PGG Wrightson says farmer confidence remains subdued and its financial year has started more slowly than expected, with some indicators looking "pretty grim". Chief executive Barry Brook said farmers continued to wait for a weaker N Z dollar to bolster their outlook. Chairman Bill Bayliss said farmers had adopted a more cautious approach to spending. The weather had not been favourable, with heavy rains in some parts of the country and very dry conditions in others. The Australian drought had affected the group's business there. Since the merger was announced last year, the company had cut staff numbers to 2200 from 2500. Corporate overheads had been reduced by 40 per cent. Mr Brook said it was now clear the merger had "awakened the industry" and triggered intense competition which had put $15 million to $20 million into farmers' pockets through lower input pricing. more>>

'$40m cost' if 1080 banned
The banning of 1080 as a poison to kill possums would cost an extra $40 million a year by 2025 to control an upsurge in Tb-infected possums, threaten $8 billion of exports and put several bird species at risk of extinction, according to the Conservation Department and the Animal Health Board. A decision on the risks and benefits of poisoning possums and other pests with 1080 is likely to be released by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) by April next year. An application to reassess 1080 use was made last week by DOC and the board, which targets possums as carriers of Tb infection to cattle. Erma is expected to start seeking public views next Thursday, with meetings held next year. more>>

The future of farming hits the road
A high-tech vision of the future of N Z agriculture will be launched at the East Foyer of Parliament at 6.10pm on November 7 by Young Farmer of the Year John McCaw. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. When visitors enter the exhibition, they will step into the year 2017. Inside, large, state-of-the-art plasma screens display how advances in biotechnology and other factors may have changed N Z agriculture. Visitors can watch and listen to broadcasts of rural news from the future, and inspect virtual farms or digital supermarket shelves. When touched, the farms and the products in the supermarket “open up” to reveal more information. more>>

Westland : production lifts 8pc a year
West Coast milk production has increased by almost 40 % over the past four years with annual growth averaging 8%.
According to Westland Milk Products’ annual report for 2006 the company processed 41 mill kgs of MS in the 2005/06 year compared with 29 mil kg MS in 2002.Payout for the season was $4.09/kg MS which included benefits to suppliers such as vats and leptospirosis injections for herds that equated to around six cents/kg MS. The company paid six cents/kg MS for colostrum to just over half the company’s farmers. more>>

Effluent survey - a concern for all dairy farmers
The Chair of the Dairy Industry's Sustainable Environmental Management Group says that the results of recent surveys by Environment Waikato and Environment Canterbury are concerning for all dairy farmers. Dr John Penno said "The dairy industry has made it clear that sustainable environmental management is a major focus for all dairy farmers. The recent findings by regional councils show that some farmers have not got the message. It is totally unacceptable for farmers to knowingly operate outside their resource consents. Most farmers are working hard to reduce environmental impact in non-regulated areas and have moved well past ensuring that their farming practice is always compliant". more>>

Director a good keen man
Fonterra's newest director, Colin Armer, was so keen to get into the dairy industry as a 19-year-old that he mortgaged his prized Valiant V8 in order to buy a herd of cows in 1978. These days Mr Armer, who was elected to the co-operative's board at the recent annual meeting, owns farms in the Bay of Plenty, Central Plateau, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. In 2001 Mr Armer, who was raised on a Te Puke dairy farm, joined three other partners to form Dairy Holdings Ltd. In five years the company has grown from owning eight dairy farms to, with its subsidiaries, to 48 dairy farms supplying Fonterra in Canterbury, Otago and Southland, and five more supplying Westland Milk Products. Asked what the biggest issue facing Fonterra was, Mr Armer said splitting the milksolids payout into clearly identified portions from this season. "It's the one single thing – the payout becomes more transparent." more>>

Ambitious irrigation scheme for rural community
One of New Zealand’s most ambitious irrigation schemes in many years officially opens in North Otago on October 28, breathing new life into a large tract of N Z farmland and the rural community around it. The $67 million irrigation scheme will provide water to about 10,000 hectares of land that is already in production, mostly in dairying, lamb fattening, and grain-growing. The scheme draws water from the Waitaki River and delivers it by pumps and gravity feed to 85 properties through a piped network of more than 70 kilometres; the property owners pay a charge for the water they draw from the scheme. more

Feeling the heat of global warming
If the globe is warming, what will it mean for life in New Zealand? Martin van Beynen consults the experts, some laypeople and the crystal ball to make some sense of an uncertain future. It will be the extremes that test the coming generations of farmers. Nobody knows which climate scenarios will play out in Canterbury, but even small changes in average conditions can lead to changes in the frequency with which extremes occur – a small change in average temperature can have a marked effect on the frequency of scorchers. more>>

Drinking water Bill concerns farmers
Federated Farmers sees cost with little obvious benefit for rural N Z in a proposed law change about safe drinking water supplies, said Don Nicolson,V P of Fed Farmers. Mr Nicolson made these comments to a Parliamentary select committee considering the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill “Federated Farmers supports any practical and affordable initiatives that would increase living standards in rural areas. However this Bill will not achieve these aims,” said Mr Nicolson. more>>

Talks unleash eco-ideas
A Landcare Trust conference has gathered together delegates to discuss how the agricultural sector can produce better environmental outcomes. Jon Morgan reports.
Environment Ministry chief executive Hugh Logan has been in the job only four months and already the frustrations are showing. "People look at our environmental problems with waste and climate change and say, `Quick, quick, fix it'. But these things don't lend themselves to simple solutions. It requires the mobilisation of the entire economic, social and environmental fabric of a nation to reorient things. It involves change, and making change happen is hard stuff." The last two words are said with particular force. He is not speaking to a group of radical greenies demanding instant change. He is among friends. They know the way to an environmentally safe future is through small steps. more

Cow-feed scale tips to turnips
Rising on-farm costs and a lower-than-normal predicted payout from Fonterra is causing Dryland Contracting to more than double the amount of turnips being planted for cow feed. Jonathan Dryland, managing director of the Eureka-based contracting firm, said his staff were planting 1000ha of turnips on Waikato farms this season compared to 400ha last year. The main drivers, he said, were rising fuel costs, and the $4.05 payout per kg of milksolids Fonterra was predicting this season. more>>

Fonterra council calls for spending review
Fonterra's shareholders' council has called for a formal review of the dairy industry's spending on research and development, in order to improve productivity which it says is lagging targets. Council chairman John Monaghan said dairy farmers were committed to funding research and development – and currently provided $40 million of the annual $43m levy for industry good activities – but were concerned about returns. "On-farm productivity gains over recent years have been less than 1 per cent, well below the industry target of 4 per cent," Mr Monaghan said. Farm profitability is under increasing pressure and one of the areas farmers are looking at is how effectively their levy money is being used." more>>

Farm price movement possible
Rural markets are flat lining, with a strong majority of experts in Massey University's Real Estate Market Outlook Survey forecasting prices to stay about the same over the next three months. The market outlook is based on a confidential questionnaire completed by a mixture of rural real estate market experts drawn from banking, real estate and valuation professions. While the majority expected farm prices to remain the same, the rest , around 25 percent depending on farm type, thought prices would fall over the next quarter. No panellists forecast price increases for any type of farm. more>>

Annual report shows Agreseach progress
AgResearch’s 2005/2006 annual report shows the country’s principal pastoral Research Institute is continuing to develop scientific discoveries into world-leading products, says CEO Dr Andrew West .He said the 2005/2006 year was exceptional. “We achieved some wonderful scientific and business outcomes. In just 12 months we helped create six joint venture companies and doubled our income from licensed IP. Moreover, we were increasingly recognised by farmers and the wider community for our contribution to a prosperous, well-informed N Z", more>>

Give PGG Wrightson time, Norgate insists
JUST over a year ago, Craig Norgate and his allies were celebrating the launch of PGG Wrightson.They sold the merger by telling shareholders it would increase returns and efficiency, and provide more power to invest in innovation. But the new operation has been having teething troubles.The merged company acknowledges it had lost market share in its livestock business in Otago, and in wool and rural supplies in the lower N I. Norgate said"It is not about what we’ve done in 12 months. It’s about what we do in the next two to three years. ”Annual profits were down less than might have been expected in light of the farming industry’s tough times, he said. And the company says it has been regaining some of the lost market share and gaining staff from other companies. more>>

Farmers have the choice ‘but think long-term’
If Gisborne farmers don’t support the farmer-owned PPCS, the processing facilities will be sized down to match supply, says PPCS chief operating officer Keith Cooper. "If they don’t want to utilise the assets we have put in place for them, then we will re-tailor those assets to fit supply
Farmers need to take a long-term view. It is important to have competition and important to have facilities. We have not had a dry year for a while and, in a dry year, choice is not a bad thing for suppliers. Our prices are highly competitive. People will wait and see the price model and make their decision". more>>

Breeding counts in final stage
Nothing beats a high performance cow when it comes to turning rough feed to weight on their calves, AgResearch Duncan Smeaton told farmers at a M and W NZ beef council seminar. He spelt out the difference between average cows and high performing cows. He said average cows wean 80 calves per 100 cows mated and calf liveweight gain is 0.8 kilograms from birth to weaning. "High performing cows wean more than 93 calves per 100 cows mated and calf liveweight gain is more than one kilogram a day from birth to weaning," he said. Good cows can grow calves on low quality feed and puts them ahead of other classes of stock, Mr Smeaton told farmers. "High performance breeding cows tend to be cross breds, as opposed to purebreds, and they often, but don't have to have, component of dairy genetics in them." more>>

Landcorp's profits rise
NZ's largest farmer, Landcorp has made a profit of $28.5 million for the year ended June 30 2006, up from $10 million in the previous year. The SOE farms 112 units, with around 900,000 animals and its annual report says it is now a major dairy and deer producer alongside its traditional strengths in sheep and beef. The highlights of the year that Landcorp has pointed out are:
*A record lambing percentage for Landcorp's ewe flock of 137.7 percent (last year 136 percent) achieved in spite of a difficult winter and spring.
*An increase in dairy production of 16 percent to 9.3 million kilograms of milksolids.
*The marketing launch of Landcorp's livestock genetics to the wider industry under the banner Landcorp sires of proven value. more>>

Board faces fight over pay rise
Fonterra's directors will consider turning down a 7 per cent payrise amid growing signs of farmer discontent over remuneration at the co-op.The board will meet to discuss the fee rise at a meeting next month. But chairman Henry van der Heyden and other Fonterra directors contacted by the Business Herald yesterday refused to say whether they would vote in favour of the rise in directors' fees. Figures from Institute of Directors surveys show 7 per cent is more than double the median rate of annual increases for a wide range of NZ directors in recent years. more>>

Deer research farm open to the public
Three years ago the farmer-owned business that drives genetic gain in the dairy industry announced a new initiative in deer. In that short timeframe, Deer Improvement today owns half of the top 20 venison stags ranked on the industry’s database and has established a research base near Balfour, Southland. Deer farmers and others involved in the deer industry are being invited to view first hand the gains Deer Improvement has made with the official launch of the research farm later this month. Director Peter Gatley says the company’s value scheme is simple - breed the best and make them available to all using artificial insemination (AI). But despite the simplistic overview, behind the scenes is an array of leading-edge technology. more>>

Sheep farms could match dairy profits
If sheep farmers could reap good returns from wool again they would give dairy farmers a run for their money in terms of profit.That bold statement gives some indication of the confidence AgResearch, the new owner of Canesis Network, has in the wool industry. AgReasearch chief executive Dr Andy West says at present sheep farmers are largely relying on the meat industry to maintain incomes but they have “much greater opportunity than dairy farmers for on-farm productivity growth. Dairy farmers have taken out the easy gains in productivity growth, but have now got to get the hard ones,” West told Rural News. West says AgResearch’s acquisition of Canesis Network signals to farmers that it has not given up on wool. more>>

R&D the key for NZ
"NZ’s mediocre investment in science research and development, along with our restrictive regulatory environment, is putting our agricultural competitiveness and productivity at considerable risk. It a concern to realise that countries we gave aid to only 40 years ago, such as Singapore, are now putting billions of dollars into biological research and infrastructure and aiming to produce value-added products that will outclass NZ’s", said National party research, science and technology spokesman Dr Paul Huthison. more>>

2007 Nuffield scholars announced
The NZ Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust is pleased to announce that the 2007 scholars are Les Keeper, Jane Mitchell and Steven Sterne. Les’s study topic will examine dairy value added consumer business - changes to share and investment structures. Jane will study how N Z can take a positive approach to the increasing pressure on farms to operate in an environmentally sensitive manner. Steven’s objective is to explore the most efficient method of converting pork into value added products ready for sale in NZ and offshore markets. more>>

Meat must add value
Fancy a Sunday roast? Then simply remove its branded foil package, microwave for minutes and serve it already carved and complete with gravy or sauce.That product is not yet available in NZ, but co-founder and director Nook Yule of ProAnd - a small but dynamic Feilding-based company designing meat processing plants around the world - says it will be in the near future. While much is made of the dairy industries value-added products, Yule says there is equal potential for the NZ meat industry to cash in on similar products. more>>

Farmers say vegetation ban ‘legislative land theft
Farmers in Wairarapa are racing the clock in their fight against a district plan they say is legislative land theft. Wairarapa's proposed Combined District Plan bans the clearing of native vegetation more than 14 years old, which affects thousands of hectares of what most farmers call scrub.Te Wharau farmer Mike Butterick urges fellow farmers to make a submission on the plan before the deadline runs out on October 30, or they will lose the right to clear this growth for pasture.The plan allows the cutting of regrowth scrub only if less than 15 years old. more>>

‘Hostile’ farmer reaction to meat company’s share plan
The company held a supplier meeting in Gisborne last month, which turned heated when farmers learned PPCS would deduct 90 cents from every stock unit, creating a share of $1 with the company paying the 10 cent deficit. Sheep are one stock unit, deer six and cattle 12. While the idea of farmer ownership appealed to local farmers, the compulsory nature of the share system was rejected by many and it is understood both Bernard Matthews in Gisborne and Affco in Wairoa would benefit from the shift in loyalty. more>>

Frothy milk - ASB commodity report
Stronger global milk prices lead to the CBA commodity price index rising in all denominations this week. Other prime movers this week were lamb (up) and wool (down) Lamb markets continue to firm with many exporters limited by product availiability. more>>

Wool group wrests control
Frustrated at delays in sourcing former Wool Board funds, a combination of sheep breed groups and wool interests have launched their own initiative to boost wool promotion and marketing.The group, known as the NZ Wool Advancement Association, says that as a grower levy for wool marketing is not an option it will seek funds elsewhere. Mid Micron Wool of NZ general manager Alan Gallagher, who is part of the group, says funds held by the Wool Board Disestablishment Company, or Disco, are being eaten up at a rate of $700,000 a year in salaries, directors’ fees and overheads. Two legal disputes are tying up millions of dollars in reserve funds that Disco is holding on behalf of growers. more>>

Nasty shadow looming over Fonterra payout
Fonterra is softening up its 11,000 shareholder-suppliers for the possibility of an unprecedented milk price fall mid-season.The normal pattern is for payout forecasts to be raised as the season progresses and export revenue targets are met. Dairy farmers struggling with farm cost inflation have come to rely on those small increases, which are backdated. Fonterra has made three previous downgrades of the milk price during its five years, but always at the start of a season. A mid-season fall in milk price would be a nasty blow to farmers, many of whom say they are not profitable at $4/kg MS. more>>

Riches await smart breeders
Sheep farmers are being offered a glimpse of an exciting new world, one where unlimited riches await. All they have to do is meet the standards of perfection set by demanding diners on the other side of the world. To do this, they have to breed flocks of identical lambs, their various meat cuts exactly the same size, taste and colour. They also have to do this in concert, as many as possible joining together to supply the market for at least six months at a time.It is not impossible. One group of farmers is doing this now. They are the farmers who have sheep developed by the Hawkes Bay- based sheep and cattle genetics company, Rissington Breedline. more>>

Business sectors urged to adopt dairy environmental model
The Dairy Environment Leadership Group has urged other sectors of the New Zealand economy to follow the dairy sector model of forming leadership groups to lower environmental impact. Dr John Penno, Chairman of this group, said the dairy industry is one of the first to design and implement tools and changes to operating practices which would enable farmers to reduce their environmental impact without reducing productivity.“Farmers take their roles as stewards of the land very seriously,” he said. “This is not only to protect their businesses, but also to preserve the quality of the environment.” more>>

Report ignored- high country in shock
High Country farmers are shocked and saddened at the government’s plan to drastically increase rents on leased High Country stations, despite the recommendations of the Armstrong report, said Donald Aubrey of Federated Farmers of NZ “This proposal will result in a much stress and uncertainty for High Country families with pastoral leases,” said Mr Aubrey. “These families have developed and improved their pastoral leases over many decades, in some cases generations, and now face the prospect of being penalised for all that hard work. They will be gutted.” more>>

Deer Industry news for Oct
- Production of venison is down for the first time since Mar 2003.
- Venison schedule highest since 2002.
- PGG/Wrightsons and Velconz in discussions to investigate options on improvements to the way velvet is sold
- and much more>>

Negatives hard to find in OAD system
Into their third year of full-season once-a-day milking, the Whenuakura couple are more certain than ever that it was the right way to go for them – for a host of reasons. One is the steadily increasing production curve from their 214-cow herd of Jerseys – 58,500 kilograms of milksolids last season in what was only an average season for the area. That is not far off the record of 62,000kg/MS for the 60ha farm, achieved when milking twice a day, and the Bourkes are confident that by lifting the herd to 230 or 235 cows they will be able to achieve a goal of 1000kg/Ms/ha from once-a-day milking. more>>

Farmers have no choice in PPCS supplier shares plan
Farmers are being told they have to buy shares in the country's biggest meat processor if they want to keep supplying stock .Otago co-op PPCS wants to raise around $40 million over three years by issuing a new class of supplier shares to farmers supplying livestock. Cooper said if suppliers did not want to buy the new shares they would have to send stock elsewhere. more>>

Fonterra calls for Govt action
Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden told the company's annual general meeting the Government needed to set policy and manage its spending in ways that supported, rather than worked against, the productive sector."The country is biting the very hand that feeds it," he told dairy farmers in Invercargill yesterday.High electricity and fuel costs were putting an increasing squeeze on dairy giant Fonterra and its farmer suppliers, amid a climate of inflationary pressures, a high exchange rate and rising interest rates, he said. more>>

Compliance costs double
Farmers are forced to pay double the compliance costs of any other business to keep their operations running but relief could soon be on the way.This finding, which comes from the results of a wide-ranging independent survey, confirms what farmers have been complaining about for years - compliance costs are hammering them. more>

Farm fertiliser use down 13pc
Fertiliser companies Ravensdown and Ballance sold about 13 % less fertiliser during the 2005/06 financial year than the previous year, Fert Research's latest newsletter said.This was the largest annual decrease since the government abolished fertiliser subsidies in the 1980s.The companies said that over the last decade they had pumped millions of dollars into finding ways to make fertiliser use more sustainable and less damaging to the environment.Of particular concern was the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and potassium that ran-off farmland into streams and rivers.In part, the reduction was because more farmers were using nutrient budgets, which helped them see if they were using their chemicals efficiently, more>>

Dairy urged to invest in good beef genetics
Meat company PPCS is urging dairy farmers to invest in the good beef genetics now available to boost dairy-beef export numbers. It says that it would rather wait to kill animals at two years than as bobby calves and is encouraging links between dairy farmers, calf rearers and finishers for this to happen. Bulls with the right Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) will sire low birthweight calves with high growth rates. Shorter gestation bulls also mean cows are back milking sooner.Dairy farmers can go to a beef breeder, or an AI company to access the right genetics. more>>

Halving leaching aim of 'herd house' trial
Dexcel has started a trial aimed at halving the amount of nitrogen leached into waterways. Tight N project manager Chris Glassey said one of the biggest issues facing NZ dairying was the level of nitrogen loss and nitrate leaching as a result of herd intensification.He was using a "herd home" on Scott Farm, Newstead, to house a test herd which he hoped would produce 1200kg of milksolids while reducing leaching to 25kg of nitrogen per hectare per year.The herd home has a covered plastic roof and concrete bunker for collecting dung and urine, which can then be loaded out annually and spread as ferlisiser. more>>

Deer farmers believe worst is over
The NZ deer industry is in its fifth year of unsustainably low returns but Waikato deer farmers say they are cautiously optimistic that things will improve. John Kempthorne, who owns Windermere Red Deer Stud at Koromatua, near Hamilton, said the past few years had been difficult but there were indications that prices would improve. more>>

DNA traceability technique to add value to meat
The latest developments in DNA traceability will help NZ sell its top quality meat to discerning international consumers at a considerable premium, say AgResearch scientists. A new method of traceability whereby meat products made from more than one animal, such as patties, can indicate precisely which animals they originate from. more>>

Super farm of future
What will be a typical Kiwi cow in 10 years time? According to Dexcel, voracious appetites and production ability far above today's average cow will typify Kiwi cows then. On Dexcel's Scott Research Farm, 29 of the highest BW cows in the country have been brought together as a "super herd" to form the backbone of Dexcel's Super Productivity Prototype (Super P) farm.They represent today what the "average" cow will be in 10 years time, given the current rate of genetic gain and breed improvements . more>>>

Elders grabs PGW wool business
PGG Wrightson (PGW) has lost a significant amount of wool broking business since the big merger in October 2005. Elders Primary Wool claims to have captured about 60% of Williams & Kettle’s 100,000-bale wool broking in the lower North Island.This business includes large clips from well-known East Coast stations, said Cedric Bayly, Elders Primary Wool general manager and former Williams & Kettle (W&K) wool manager. more>>>

Co-operate or perish
“There’s a growing divergence between the reality and the rhetoric. We need to stop pulling the wool over our eyes, take a realistic look at what’s going on around us and realise that our ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude to life has us all locked in a time warp,” AFFCO chief executive Tony Egan says. Lamb and beef producers must learn to co-operate more with exporters or face further declining profitability and meat company attrition. more>>>

Farmers look to grapes, walkers
One of the driest areas in the country could be looking for more water and more walkers, as it faces more extreme weather, and looks to diversify. The area between Seddon and Ward is facing fundamental changes after more than 100 years of traditional sheep and beef farming.Long time farmer in the area, John Peter, told the Starborough Flaxbourne Soil Conservation Group field day, at Doug Avery's Bonvaree property on Wednesday, that he had questioned whether climate change and global warming existed or not."The causes of global warming are no doubt debatable, whether they are man-made or a natural phenomenon. Like it or not, we are forced to adjust." mo

Final reminder to shareholders to vote in Fonterra elections
With less than one week of voting remaining in Fonterra's elections, about 30 percent of votes have already been cast. Voting closes at midday on Tuesday 10 October 2006 and time now only allows for shareholders to vote by fax or internet. more>>>

PPCS turns around first half loss
Otago meat cooperative PPCS, which had a half year loss of $7.3 million and negative cash flow of $143m, today reported its net profit rose 25 per cent to $10 million in the year to August 31.Chief executive Stewart Barnett said the relatively mild winter meant a good lamb drop was anticipated and overall livestock availability was predicted to be positive for the coming season, starting in October.
"Although the currency has firmed over recent weeks the NZ dollar is at lower levels than at the same time last year and we are looking for a lower trend to continue."
He said markets had stabilised and demand was firm for meat in general, which sets the scene for a positive start to the season. more>>>

Our commitment to action on climate changes
Climate Change minister David Parker today reinforced the need for NZ -wide action on climate change during a keynote speech in Wellington outlining the government's strategic direction on the issue.These include:
* An adaptation programme to prepare for the impacts of climate change, especially in our coastal areas, and in the farming sector
* Measures to improve the energy efficiency of buildings
* Consultation on a minimum biofuels sales obligation
* A commitment to increase the uptake of solar water heating
* Options to create links with the Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate
* The launch of the Permanent Forest Sinks Initiative . more>>>

Community water initiative will bring results
Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton opened the Wai-iti storage dam near Wakefield, in the Tasman district, today and said it was a very impressive result from a community initiative which spanned almost fifteen years. "Irrigation schemes involving storage can help augment environmental flows in rivers. They can provide flushing flows which are important for the integrity of channels and habitats. And water storage means less water is removed from rivers and streams during times of peak demand than in schemes without storage." he said. more>

Scheme could inject $117m into SC
An irrigation scheme which could provide a $117 million boost to the South Canterbury economy and create hundreds of new jobs may soon be a reality.The South Canterbury Irrigation Trust – a joint collaboration between Timaru, Waimate, and Mackenzie District Councils – and Meridian Energy lodged the water consent applications for Hunter Downs Irrigation with Environment Canterbury yesterday, a scheme they say is a major sustainable irrigation initiative for South Canterbury."This scheme could provide at least $117 million economic benefit to the region and provide up to 1200 new jobs," chairman of the irrigation trust Don McFarlane said. more>>>

Wool worries are starting to bite
The first thing Dave Stewart says is the carpet throughout he and wife Jan's Hiwinui Country Estate is from Feltex.Dave Stewart is concerned at the state of the N Z stronger wool industry, which he describes as ``being like a third world commodity it's like in Africa, putting coffee beans in a bag and not having a clue what goes on. The coffee beans go to Starbucks in the US and they make a fortune out of it''. N Z farmers put their wool in a bale and sell it, with little knowledge or concern about where it goes, what it's made in to or what demand there is for N Z carpets, he says. Finer merino wool, which is suitable for clothing, is handled and marketed separately. more>>>

Battle of the dags
The parlous state of the wool industry has prompted the breeding of a new type of sheep – one that has a short tail and less wool in hard-to-shear places like the head, belly, legs and breech. The cost savings on some farms far outweigh the loss of wool income, leading to a bold prediction that the sheep could be worth more than $120 million to the nation.The sheep stem from a $2 million nine-year project by AgResearch scientist David Scobie. Benefits are the elimination of flystrike, no need for docking or crutching and easier shearing. more>>>

Uruguay homework will be vital
PGG Wrightson’s (PGW) optimism about South America has crystallised in the shape of a $100 million-plus project to buy and develop farms in Uruguay, using intensive pastoral management systems New Zealand has perfected. Clearly, the group’s confidence is based on its growing success with the Uruguay-based Wrightson PAS seed business - selling and servicing proprietary seed products from New Zealand - and the more recent acquisition of a 2500ha demonstration beef and dairy farm in the south of the country. more>>>

Brace for the big dry
Warnings that an El Nino event is imminent will be alarming for those who endured the last associated dry in the late 1990s - it hammered some farming regions and wiped $600 million off the country’s GDP.Already farmers are being told to brace for a difficult spring and summer because lower than normal rainfall is a real possibility.A tough few months would come as another cruel blow to many areas that were hammered by a severe winter. more>>>

Tenure report missing
South Island high country farmers want Land Information Minister David Parker to urgently release an independent report which it hopes will settle an increasingly bitter dispute between high country farmers and environmentalists. more>>>

Spray-on 'dokko'
A sterilising agent for use by farmers docking sheep tails is now sold in an aerosol can.The formulation itself has always been a sound one. Docking is never an easy job, and with the hygiene requirement now specified in the animal welfare code, farmers need to be able to meet that requirement consistently. more>>>

S&P rating drop not unexpected: Fonterra
Fonterra CFO Guy Cowan says the move by Standard and Poor's to place the co-operative's AA- corporate credit rating on CreditWatch was not unexpected, and was a logical outcome of Fonterra's growth strategy.“It is equal to or better than the rating given to other large international food businesses, and remains one of the highest credit ratings of any New Zealand business.” more>>>

Cream processing lifts Tatua profit
Tatua's new $11.2 million cream processing plant was one of the main reasons the co-operative dairy company did so well this year, according to chief executive Mike Matthews. Total group profit, before payout, was $54.2 million with $53.2 million distributed to farmers. Tatua farmers received a payout of $4.35 per kg of milksolids last season, compared with the $4.10/kg Fonterra's 12,000 farmers received. more>>>

Waikato heifers in demand for overseas dairy farming
Waikato Farmers is rounding up 3500 dairy cows to ship to China next year. Livestock manager Bill Sweeney said 3000 cows, which will ship next September in-calf, had already been sourced. "We are still looking for a few to top up."Purchases had to be made before the bulls went out as the export cattle would not be mated until March.Prices vary between $750 and $900 for unmated heifers. Two thousand of the cattle will come from the Waikato, with the balance from Taranaki and the Manawatu. more>>>

Lack of rain concern for many Otago farmers
North Otago dryland farmers are anxiously waiting for rain, while their counterparts with irrigation are using as much water now as they would in December. If no substantial rain falls by the middle of next month, dryland farmers will have to start making decisions about selling trading stock to give priority to maintaining capital stock . more>>>

Breeding parasite-resistant sheep
Breeding parasite-resistant sheep is the most important challenge facing farmers, says Dr Dalton, who recently published a new edition of his book Internal parasites of sheep and their control – now and in the future. Parasites are evolving to withstand the drenches used to kill them and surveys of farms around New Zealand have shown widespread failure of at least one of the three drench families. The cost to the economy of total drench failure has been put at $900 million a year. more>>>

Dairy InSight set to fund 17 on-farm innovation projects
“The aims of the new fund are to encourage farmer-led projects, provide an avenue to new and smaller research providers and support new ideas and non-traditional approaches to dairy farming,” said Dairy InSight Chief Executive, David Wright...... See list of successful on-farm projects. more>>>

Farmers Face Higher Compliance Costs
The 2006 Business NZ-KPMG Compliance Cost Survey shows that compliance costs are a major expense for farm businesses, said Don Nicolson, V P of Federated Farmers of N Z. Results , show the burden on farmers of compliance costs per full-time equivalent is greater than for all businesses.The average total cost per employee for Federated Farmers respondents was $1,548, more than double the average for all respondents ($691). The average compliance cost per farm business was $10,018.Tax, ACC, and employment continue to be the greatest compliance costs for all businesses, but members have particular concern about the Resource Management Act, hazardous substances, and local government. more>>>

AgResearch to acquire Canesis
AgResearch announced today that, subject to approval by its shareholding Ministers and satisfactory due diligence, it would purchase the assets of Canesis Network Ltd.Canesis, based at Lincoln near Christchurch, is an R&D company focused on fibrous proteins, biopolymers and innovative textiles, and is owned (74.9 per cent) by Wool Equities Ltd (WEL) and (25.1 per cent) by the Wool Research Organisation of NZ Trust (WRONZ). more>>>

Fonterra agree on sale of Naturalac
Fonterra confirmed today that it has entered into a conditional agreement to sell Naturalac Nutrition Limited (NNL) to Etika (NZ) Ltd for $7.8 million.
NNL, a marketer of branded sports nutrition and weight management products that trades under the Horleys brand name, was acquired by Fonterra through its legacy company Kiwi Co-op. more>>>

Rabbit numbers back to pre-calicivirus days
Rabbit numbers in Central Otago are back on the rise, with field workers reporting some population levels on a par with pre-rabbit calicivirus levels. Cromwell Regional Services senior field adviser Peter Preston said although the illegal 1997 introduction of RHD or calcivirus had severely reduced rabbit populations in Otago, rabbits had increased "in pockets" since 2000.The worse hit areas were Tarras, Wanaka, the Cardrona Valley and pockets around the Wakatipu Basin, with Alexandra and the Maniototo also experiencing a resurgence. more>>>

Taranaki slow to switch to OAD
Despite trials run in Taranaki that show milking once a day is economically viable and good for the cows involved, the uptake of the practice in the region is the lowest of anywhere in New Zealand.The results were reported to a field day reveal economic farm surpluses (EFS) that are better than those returned from twice-daily milking during a previous supplementary feeding trial on the farm. more>>>

Call To Dairy Farmers - Read Mastitis Report
With calving now behind them, the National Mastitis Advisory Committee hopes dairy farmers will make the time to read a recently-published report into the costs of one of farming's most persistatn bugbears.The report, which resulted from Dairy InSight-funded research, revealed that the dairy industry is losing $180 million annually through mastitis. more>>>

Monitoring technology offers farming from afar
New technology, due to hit the market before Christmas, will give farmers remote access to their farms. While the remote monitoring technology, developed by Hamilton-based Dairy Technology Services with Christchurch-based BayCity Technologies and Telecom, has been used to monitor milk vats, all three companies know it has scores of applications, depending on what farmers want . more>>>

Biofuels - a viable option for New Zealand's motorists?
Will New Zealand's cars be running on tallow, whey or oilseed in the coming years? Last week the government released a discussion paper outlining a proposed policy aimed at introducing biofuels to our petrol tanks. Rabobank, the world's leading specialist food and agribusiness bank, has also released a report on biofuels.more>>>

Dollar ignores worsening trade shortfall
A worse-than-expected $961 million trade deficit in August is being ignored as the Kiwi dollar rises on expectations of higher official interest rates next month.
The monthly trade shortfall announced by Statistics New Zealand yesterday was almost $200 million worse than expected by economists for August. more>>>

High tech sheep to provide vital data
A hi-tech trial near Tekapo is set to discover whether New Zealand's 45 million sheep really do lead boring lives. Scientists are attaching global positioning systems collars to sheep to find out how they utilise the farmland. And as well as benefits for farmers, there could be wider spin-offs for conservation and consumers. more>>>

Plan to reduce Tb tests
Bovine tuberculosis (Tb) testing may stop for beef and deer herds in low-risk areas, saving $400,000 a year in the control of the disease.To avoid testing, farmers with a long history of low-risk herds will have to agree to a list of conditions in a Testing Equivalence Programme (TEP), including not buying lower-status herds.The AHB is seeking farmers' views on the introduction of the programme in surveillance areas free of wildlife that spreads Tb, including Mid Canterbury, Marlborough Sounds and Southland.Only breeding herds of a Tb status of C5 or higher would be eligible. more>>>

Vet buoyed by funding
Dairy insight has come up with funding to enable Eltham veterinarian Andrew Weir to start a project to find a way to eradicate the cattle disease Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) in N Z. First reported in the 1960s, BVD can cause reproductive failure in adult cattle, scouring and pneumonia in calves, immune suppression in all ages (especially calves) and mucosal disease, a nasty gastrointestinal disorder that causes severe diarrhoea and a lingering, painful death. more>>>

Opuha Dam report shows impressive results
Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton released the report on the Opuha Dam today, which analyses the impacts of the dam build in 1999 on the provincial economy.Over the period of the study," Jim Anderton said, "agriculture has grown at about twice the rate of the rest of the economyThe irrigation had substantial flow-on effects for the South Canterbury community with increased business confidence, increased processing activity, improved utilisation of processing plant and increased activity at the Timaru port. more>>>

Genes with a tale to tell
Tracking sheep genetics through DNA profiling is no magic bullet for farm profits, but over time it can deliver small, realistic gains.There will come a day when straight-A rams carry a report card documenting their genetic prowess. More than likely they will have the genes that give them internal fortitude against footrot, tolerance to cold, wool strength, longevity and maybe, one day, resistance to parasites. . more>>>

Hill farmers happy after mild season
Manawatu hill- country farmers are expecting a boom docking after excellent lamb survival rates in the early part of lambing.Umatoi farmer Mike Holdaway says they are about halfway through lambing, and the warm spring weather has been a bonus to lamb survival.While it was a long, wet winter for Rangitikei, Tararua and Manawatu flat- land farmers, it was much gentler in the hills. more>>>

High dollar may hit $4.05 payout
New Zealand's biggest exporter has warned that the rising dollar could drive farmer payouts lower this year, overpowering stronger commodity prices and sucking cash out of regional economies dependent on dairy payout cash.The forecast of $4.05 is based on Fonterra's original budget US dollar foreign exchange rate of 61 cents.Though global supply and demand indicate an improved commodity price environment, if the New Zealand dollar remained at the present 66 cents or thereabouts for the rest of the year, this could affect the $4.05 forecast, Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden said. more>>>

Grim year for sheep and beef sector, but outlook more positive
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s (MAF) 2006 monitoring report into the status of the sheep and beef farming sectors reports a tough past year, but some optimism about the near future.The report is part of an annual process where MAF monitors the production and financial status of farms. Trends, issues, and sector concerns are also monitored. more>>>

Deer stalwart on the road again
Deer industry stalwart Philip Irwin, who retired from PGG Wrightson earlier this year, has joined genetics company Deer Improvement. "Now that the industry database is able to rank stags with reliable evaluations based on progeny testing we need to ensure the best of them get plenty of use,” says Irwin.“I’ve seen the impact of genetic gain in velvet production and it’s great to be making real progress on the venison front.”. more>>>

Lower kiwi needed to bolster profits
Meat and Wool NZ’s price forecasts for 2006-07 hinge on the exchange rate trading around forecasted levels of US61.4c, UK33.4p and euro0.46.Going forward, Davison says the dollar’s movements hinge on actions of the Reserve Bank and what the US Federal Reserve does with its interest rates. more>>>

PPCS proposal
A new supplier shareholding proposal by PPCS will enable farmers to take a greater stake in their meat industry, says the cooperative’s chairman Reese Hart. Under its Supplier Shares proposal, from November 1 every farmer supplying stock to PPCS will have to uptake shares in the cooperative. Its existing rebate scheme will also continue on a voluntary basis. Only those suppliers using the rebate scheme can become shareholders. Hart told Rural News that the shareholding requirement for its Supplier Shares was “modest” at 90c a lamb for a $1 share. This will slightly more than double the amount of capital shareholders have invested in PPCS to around $90 to $100 million for the $2b turnover company. more>>>

Velvet changes
Efforts by deer velvet producers to take more control of PGG Wrightson’s pool system are still at the negotiating stage and any new structure is unlikely to be in place before the start of the velvet selling season in October.With 70% of velvet antler now being sold through PGG Wrightson, deer farmers are seeking ownership of the company’s pool system so they can have more control over how their velvet is sold. In return, farmers want PGG Wrightson to continue to collect, grade, store and offer velvet for sale on a fee for service basis. more>>>

Rising costs likely to reduce farm profits
Farmers are likely to have their profits dented by increasing costs,according to ANZ-National Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie who is forecasting an “average” season ahead.The cold, wet and snowy winter has impacted on stock condition and farmer morale, and may dampen third-quarter GDP. A more favourable, if still cold, August has helped both man and beast immensely.”Dairy production was off to a good start, but feed was still short on many sheep and beef farms.It was too early to get a good fix on lambing, although indications were that lambing percentages would be higher this year, more>>>

Fonterra payout changes welcomed
Dairy Equity, which listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange last week, plans to buy the value-added component of dairy farmers’ milk cheques, the capital gain on Fonterra shares. The changes sent a message that Fonterra management was confident the performance of its valueadded business would improve. It would educate farmers of their actual return on investment as few understood what the real return was on their shares. more>>>

Unbundling No Quick Fix
An independent report confirms that unbundling the local loop will not automatically lead to better telecommunications services for rural areas, and government intervention is required, said Hugh Ritchie of Federated Farmers of N Z.The intervention should be part of a revised Telecommunications Service Obligation which will encourage greater access to services, with the ultimate aim of moving towards a broader Universal Service Obligation, more>>>

Experts pick kiwi to keep on flying
The kiwi leapt a cent to US66.59c last week, fuelled by the Reserve Bank saying another interest rate increase may be necessary to control inflation.The prospect that the dollar may rise further is not good news for exporters.Most did not insure against the resurgent kiwi's effect on export prices by buying foreign currency as a hedge when it reached its lows in June, because they were told it would continue to fall. more>>> >>

N Z Leading The World in Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research
An independent review of the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGGRC) says it is producing world-leading research and is excellent value for money.Over the past four years the Consortia has invested about $14 million in a range of scientific programmes aimed at reducing agricultural greenhouse gases. more>>>

SC farmers support looking at merger
The merger call was initiated by a group of five local sheep and beef farmers in August. It has since received widespread coverage in the agricultural press – some positive, some negative.Prof Woodford was one of those first reported in an apparent negative context. However, at Friday's meeting he stressed he was not against the merger being investigated, merely that there were points which had to be considered very carefully. more>>>

Feed issues not over
Some Canterbury farmers face another month of dipping into feed reserves to improve the low body condition of winter-hit ewes, says a Kaiapoi veterinarian. He said farmers were being forced to feed lactating ewes on paddocks which ideally needed to be shut down for another two weeks.This would lead to lower growth rates later and a host of animal and parasite problems from low grazing, with repercussions appearing the following mating season.Just because it starts to look a bit better and there is fine weather does not mean it will all go away. more>

Farmers Take Environment Seriously
We have no choice. Our livelihoods depend on it,” Mr Pedersen said in a speech on agriculture and the environment.“Extreme measures such as stopping farmers from improving their land or stopping them from intensifying are not economically sustainable in an industry which is proudly subsidy free. Reducing agricultural productivity is not socially acceptable in a country where our citizens’ standard of living is dependent on agriculture’s continued success,” Mr Pedersen said. more>>>

Shearers cut and run to sunny Australia
Some shearers from the region have traded in N Z rain, for steadier work in Australia.
"Once they go, it's hard to get them back and a lot stay there," says Mavis Mullins, a director with the Dannevirke-based Paewai-Mullins Shearing company.
There is concern that there are too few young shearers taking up the trade, and like many hands-on vocations, the population of workers is aging. more>>>

'Food miles' used as weapon against NZ farm exports
NZPA reports research which shows lamb can be grown here and shipped to Britain for a quarter of the energy cost of UK lamb. Producing milksolids in N Z and shipping it to Britain is less than half as costly – in terms of energy and emissions – than UK milk, says research from Lincoln University. N Z trade officials have said concerns from the environmental lobby over the distance food travels from paddock to plate could undermine efforts to portray the country's primary produce in affluent northern hemisphere markets as environmentally sustainable. more>>>

NZ economy faltering, expert says
N Z’s economy is faltering and could do so for longer than many anticipate, B N Z economist Stephen Toplis said yesterday.“Private consumption will bear the brunt of the adjustment. In contrast, the outlook for exporters is good. more>>> >

Dairy Equity misses $100m float target
Dairy Equity has failed to meet its $100 million target for its float tomorrow after investor scepticism over its ability to convince farmers to hand over the rights to Fonterra shares. The investment vehicle is giving non-farmers their first chance to invest in Fonterra. Dairy Equity has raised $92 million from its initial public offering, but says recent criticism of Fonterra's payout performance will increase farmer demand for equity swap schemes. more>>>

Seminars tackle herd reproduction
Farmers and rural professionals who attend the seminars will learn about key performance indicators of reproductive performance, reproduction management plans and why a plan is an important tool to maximise performance. Farmers will also see how ordinary herd data can be turned into valuable reproduction management information and get ideas on managing their own herd data collection and analysis. more>>>

MAF welcomes sentencing for ill treatment of cattle
The MAFapplauds the sentencing handed down today in the Napier District Court to a farm manger for the wilful ill-treatment of cattle in two separate incidents on a Te Pohue dairy farm five months apart. It sends a clear message to employers that they are responsible for the actions of their employees. They have an obligation to care for their stock and to act to prevent pain, suffering and distress, even if they claim to have little direct involvement in the day-to-day running of the farm,” says Greg Reid, MAF’s Compliance and Enforcement Investigations manager. more>>>

Oil prices sour exchange rate
It is virtually impossible to pinpoint an optimum level for the N Z dollar to strike a balance between farm inputs and returns.The price of fuel is hitting farmers’ pockets, and it has increased by more than can be attributed to currency, says ANZ rural economist Kevin Wilson.Other input costs not directly currency-related have also been driven upwards recently - such as rates, fertiliser, and to a lesser extent wages. more>>>

Cautious optimism over deer industry recovery
Ron Schroeder, of PGG Wrightson, said there was optimism that the economics of deer farming were improving, but few were jumping for joy or rushing to get into the industry.The venison schedule was marginally better than it was at the same time last year, and there were indications it might not drop as quickly as it had over the last two to three seasons . more >>>

PPCS seeks ownership equality
PPCS announced last week its Supplier Shares proposal would take effect from November 1.The planned share issue may raise $41 million by selling 45 million shares over three years to farmers who supply livestock to the co-op.The board had reviewed its capital structure, recognising the increased size of the business and value of products now marketed, combined with the cost of infrastructure involved, PPCS chief operating officer Keith Cooper said. more >>>

They call me Bruce, the dairy robot
A rather mundane-looking robot nicknamed Bruce is an on-farm fractionation device designed to separate out high-value proteins and fats from raw whole milk for use in the neutraceutical industry.The prototype device - which can mine the output of 14 cows a day as part of the milking process - is believed to be a world first for use at farm level and could be adapted to handle production from a herd of 1000 cows or more. more

Shareholders tell Fonterra to shape up
Fonterra's shareholders council has put the company on notice that it must markedly improve its financial performance this season and warns poor payouts may threaten the very existence of the co-op. more >>>

'Strike a balance in parasite control'
A balance must be struck in the attempts to control parasites, says Massey vet scientist Bill Pomroy.
“To what extent should we be endeavouring to control parasites? The low price of anthelmintics has allowed farmers to move to control more and more subclinical parasitism and capture associated production advantages, but generally without too much regard for the sustainability of this approach. more >>>

Proposal to lower meat import standards riles
South Canterbury pig farmer Linda McCallum-Jackson is livid.MAF has already let the N Z pig industry down with its inaction over the incursion of one serious pig disease, PMWS, and now it proposes to lower meat import standards, risking the arrival of another devastating virus, PRRS, she says. more >>>

Promising research needs funding
Eltham vet Andrew Weir is hoping he can secure research funding that could lead to a way of eradicating a major cattle disease – Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) – in N Z. more >>>

Beef good for the long-haul
Information from Korea and Japan suggests N Z beef is well poised to maintain market share gains it achieved during the United States three-year BSE ban. Japan, Taiwan and South Korea now take 61% of N Z's fresh beef exports and 35% of frozen exports, compared with 42% and 18% before the 2003 BSE case. more >>>

N Z rural confidence hits two-year high
N Z farmers continue to view the 12-month outlook for the N Z economy very differently from city-based business people.The latest Rabobank AC Nielsen Rural Confidence Survey, which was conducted during the first two weeks in August, clearly shows farmers’ positive response to a lower NZ dollar and continuation of strong global commodity prices. more >>>

Possible dry summer poses risks
The likelihood of an El Nino summer and autumn may only be 50% at this stage, but is being watched closely by farmers and economists . Exports of meat, milk and crops are reliant on good growth in spring – especially milkflows – and if El Nino conditions bring a big "dry" there could be a slowdown in economic growth, which is already headed for the lowest rate in seven years, according to economists. more >>>

Contracts still expected to be the best
Looking back over five years, Merino wool sold through The N Z Merino Company contracts has consistently out-performed wool sold through auction.Last year the gulf in price between contract and spot prices was a gaping $2 to $3/kg for 19 micron wool. See Wool page for NZ auction and Melbourne prices. more >>>

Poor crossbred fleece riles wool exporters
Poor preparation of crossbred wool is costing farmers at least $3000 a sale, a leading wool exporter says.
Farmers appear to be ignoring clear market signals over price discounts for high vegetable matter (VM) content in the wool, New Zealand Wool Services International buyer Malcolm Ching said. more >>>

Growth could be 50 % higher than expected - Treasury
Treasury's latest summary of economic indicators said the strength of the labour market and other indicators suggest that GDP growth in June was higher than forecast. The dairy sector was bouncing back more quickly than expected. more >>>

Wool equities sells off stake in NZ wool testing
Farmer-owned investment company Wool Equities has sold its 50 per cent stake in the nation's wool testing body, giving Australians complete control. Wool Equities holds assets on behalf of NZ farmers in the wake of the wool sector deregulation which axed the Wool Board. more >>>

BNZ confidence survey-agriculture
-Comments by respondents make interesting reading. more >>>

New Zealand aims for free trade pact with China by April 2008.
The N Z government last year estimated that a free trade agreement with China would provide a net annual benefit of NZ$400 million to the local economy, fueled by a boost in rural exports.According to the study, a free trade deal with China would most benefit exporters of wool, dairy goods, wood and wood products, plus hides and skins. more >>>

Dairy factory planned for South Canterbury
A second dairy company is planned for South Canterbury with an announcement yesterday to develop the former vegetable processing plant at Studholme. Food Processors Ltd founder Sir Clifford Skeggs confirmed the factory would be converted for the on-processing of dairy products, with work to begin in the next 12 to 18 months. more >>>

Safety guide aims to cut injury toll
A guide aimed at preventing injuries to livestock handlers, including farmers, farm workers and truck drivers, has been produced by the national livestock transport and safety group. more >>>

Allied Farmers reports 61pc fall in profit
Rural services company Allied Farmers has reported a 61 per cent fall in its tax-paid profit to $1.2 million for the year to June, but is forecasting a significant recovery this year. more >>>

Wool Services profit soars
Solid trading and a weakening dollar pushed NZ Wool Services International’s annual profit to $2.9 million.The result was a 193% improvement on the previous year’s result of $975,000 for N Z’s largest wool scourer and exporter. more >>>

Equity partnerships five years on
A review of ‘New Generation’ equity partnerships (EPs) shows they have done well according to the National Bank in their September Rural report. more >>>

Chair in Reproduction and Genomic Science established
New Zealand's first chair in reproduction and genomic science is being established by the University of Otago and AgResearch. AgResearch Chief Executive Dr Andrew West says that reproduction and genomics research are central to farming and that this country makes money when a cow has a calf or a ewe has a lamb." more >>>

The runaway costs of farming
The BNZ says the impact of a severe shortage of productive resources, and, more recently, the falling kiwi dollar, has seen business costs “push up and up”.
The most obvious example of this is of course higher fuel prices, but import price gains are much more widespread with fertiliser, chemicals and machinery all having increased in price. more >>>

Getting excited about grass
Grass or feed is an absolutely critical component in the productivity formula - and the science that goes into growing and protecting our grass is fascinating.Dexcel is making great progress with its research into ryegrass endophytes. Cows fed AR1 produced 12% more milksolids than those fed AR37 and 17% more than those fed wild-type endophytes. more >>>

Meat merger threatens vital exports
Formation of a super meat cooperative - from the possible merger of PPCS and Alliance Group - would seriously risk New Zealand’s ability to market lamb in Europe “the way we want”, says Keith Woodford, Lincoln University’s professor of farm management and agribusiness. more >>>

Farmer co-ops must 'reinvent' for growth
Producer co-operatives focused too hard on maximising short-term supplier payout may be restraining the food and beverage sector's longer-term growth, says a Government-industry taskforce report.
more >>>

Urban consumers will steer animal welfare - Anderton
"Urban consumers have clear views of what is acceptable to them, and what is not, and they will vote with their wallets," says Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton. And these views were likely to challenge many practices associated with intensification of production systems, because many New Zealanders were increasingly losing touch with farming. more >>>

South Island shearers settle landmark agreement
Hundreds of Otago Southland shearing industry workers have settled their multi-employer collective agreement.The settlement has resulted in an 8 per cent eight per cent rise in rates over the past 12 months. It also formalises the four weeks' annual leave starting in April 2007. more >>>

Velconz information document released
-Velvet producers are responsible for growth in their industry.
-Velvet producers can put a platform in place to create stability.
-NZ velvet should be sold and maketed by people who are commercially accountable to the producers who grow the velvet. more >>>

New Zealand-style farms seen to "revolutionize" Missouri dairy industry
The farmers at Grasslands Dairy have more than just unusual accents separating them from their milking brethren in southern Missouri.Most of the farm's employees hail from New Zealand, a global dairy powerhouse. After considering spots around the world, including Europe and South America, Grasslands Dairy relocated to Missouri because of cheap land and abundant grass, a perfect combination for their profit-driven dairy philosophy. more >>>

Farmers older and higher educated
N Z farmers are getting older, but wiser. “While formal education does not guarantee managerial success, it certainly helps,” says a recent Lincoln University report. more >>>

Dairy production up, but not profit
The MAF 2006 Farm Monitoring report into the status of the country’s dairy sector shows farmers are expecting only a minimal rise in gross farm revenue for the coming season.The report says while farmers are budgeting on an overall 3% rise in milk solid production and an 8% increase in cattle sale returns for the year, they expect it to be off set by a lower payout. more >>>

Positive signs for deer industry
The coming year looks to be a more promising one for the deer industry than previous years, with farmers remaining positive, but saying more price stability is needed before they’ll increase their herd numbers. more >>>

Dairy Equity expects float to appeal to few farmers
Dairy Equity says investors have snapped up the $80 million offer - and an over subscription provision of another $20m is also full. Farmers who take up the offer would keep their voting and supply rights, but Dairy Equities would receive the value-added component of the farmer's annual milk payout and also any increased value that the shares have gained when the farmer decides to redeem the shares or sell up. more >>>

Invigorating food sales heat up in Korea
Antlers of deer and ginseng, both major ingredients for oriental medicine, saw import increases of a respective 19.5% and 148%. N Z supplies 36% of the total deer antler imports, and increased its market share thanks to aggressive marketing efforts, the customs service said. more >>>

Bovine genome mapping project boon for researchers
The completion of the $US53 million bovine genome mapping project will have significant downstream benefits for NZ beef, deer and sheep farmers, say researchers. more >>>

Cows hang on much longer than thought
A Taranaki trial has come up with the finding that farmers should not panic if they can't milk their cows in extreme weather. The trial, found a cow's annual milk production will not drop significantly if it can't be milked for up to a week. more >>>

Rural merger short of profit predictions
N Z's biggest rural services group, PGG Wrightson, has delivered a maiden annual profit significantly below what it predicted when it merged in October, citing winter storms and low prices for beef and lamb exports. more >>>

Farming disease recurs in Southland
Salmonella brandenburg has once again hit southern farmers but it is still not clear whether veterinarians' fears of a resurgence of the disease will be realised. more >>>

Five seek seats on board of Fonterra
Nominations for the Fonterra board of directors' election have closed, with five candidates for three vacancies on the board. They are Gavin Faull, Barbara Kuriger and Colin Armer, and sitting directors Stuart Nattrass and John Wilson. more >>>

Wapiti top of the menu
Wapiti has become a big hit in North American restaurants with the mouth-watering prospect of a tender and tasty eating experience drawing diners into picking the antipodean main course, even though wapiti roam freely in their wildlands. more >>>