Dairy News 25 October 2016

LIC board backtracks on herd testing, Minda. PAGE 6 UTE SAFETY One-finger operation PAGE 26

TREND SETTER

Fonterra’s tab on taste buds PAGE 7

OCTOBER 25, 2016 ISSUE 367 // www.dairynews.co.nz

WET WEATHER WOES Prolonged rain knocks Fonterra’s peak milk collection, restricts pasture growth. PAGES 3&4

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

NEWS  // 3

Rain knocks Fonterra’s peak milk collection Fonterra says prolonged rain has taken the top off its peak milk this season.

SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

FONTERRA’S PEAK milk collection has taken

PCE’s latest report. PG.05

Chocolate butter is here. PG.06

a hit from the prolonged wet weather hitting North Island production. Last year the co-op hit the milk peak on October 22, collecting 87 million litres. As Dairy News went to print last Thursday the co-op was expecting a much lower peak this season. Fonterra chairman John Wilson says the weather over the North Island “has absolutely taken the top of our peak this year”. “I feel for our people -- the farmers, sharemilkers and farm workers… they are dealing with really tough conditions. “Rain is good, it makes grass grow, but it makes farming very hard work; some farms are literally under water and it’s knocking production around.” Fonterra is expected this week to announce its peak production figures, highlighting the impact of bad weather. The co-op’s Global Dairy Update reported late

last month that milk collection for all New Zealand reached 96 million kgMS in August, 5% lower than August last season. For the three months to August 31 milk collection reached 122 million kgMS, 4% behind the same period last season. The North Island milk collection in August reached 71 million kgMS, 6% behind August last season. South Island milk collection in August reached 25 million kgMS, 1% behind August last season. Wilson says milk production in key world dairying regions has dropped. Global dairy prices have moved up and down after a series of solid rises, he says.

While markets are consolidating, volatility remains the norm.“Volatility is never going to leave this market; what we are seeing is the market continuing to come into balance.” Global dairy prices rose slightly in last week’s Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction. The flagship whole milk powder price index was up 2.9%, to US$2760/tonne. The GDT price index rose 1.4% at the latest auction, following a 3% cent dip in the previous auction which ended a run of price increases. WMP prices had dipped 3.8% in the previous auction. Analysts say the latest price rise could be attributed to supply concerns about NZ.

Three directors retiring, two seats vacant FONTERRA SHAREHOLDERS have received information

A crate with no beer. PG.24

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on the election of farmer directors under the newly revised governance structure. An independent selection panel and a nominations committee are being set up to facilitate the director elections. Three Fonterra directors are retiring by rotation, and only two board directorships are available. Fonterra shareholders voted this month to reduce the board from 13 to 11; to facilitate this, while three directors will retire by rotation in

2016 and 2017, only two vacancies will be filled. Fonterra directors retiring this year are Michael Spaans, Malcolm Bailey and Ian Farrelly. Dairy News understands that Bailey, who has served 12 years as a director, will have to step down under board rules. Farrelly, who has served nine years, is also likely to retire. Spaans, who joined the board three years ago, is likely to re-contest. Fonterra chairman John Wilson says three board directors retiring by rotation will tell the board of their intentions at the next meeting.

“The board has had no discussion in that regard so far; all our efforts so far have been to ensure the governance and representation review was concluded successfully,” he says. “It has all been for the best outcome for farmers.” Fonterra Shareholders Council opened nominations for 2016 Fonterra elections on October 15. As a result of the recent changes to Fonterra’s governance and representation, the director elections will include two nomination options. The independent nomination process will be run first with the

selected candidates announced by the returning officer on Friday November 4. Self-nominations, where farmers can put themselves forward as a candidate for the board outside the independent nomination process, will follow, with the nomination period running from November 4 to 10. The returning officer will confirm all farmer director election candidates on November 10. Fonterra will hold its annual meeting next month in the South Island. – Sudesh Kissun

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

4 //  NEWS

PKE-laden ship taking its time SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

A SHIP barred from discharging

its palm kernel expeller (PKE) cargo remained anchored off Tauranga Port late last week. The Ministry of Primary Industries, which ruled that the MV Molat couldn’t discharge the 23,000 tonnes of PKE it was carrying, refused to say whether the importer, understood to be ADM, had appealed against its decision. Responding to questions from Dairy News, MPI said it has placed an order on the vessel not allowing it to discharge the PKE. “Its current location off the coast of Tauranga poses no biosecurity risk and as such MPI has placed no other orders on the vessel,” it said. Asked if the importer had appealed against MPI’s decision, MPI said “that’s not for us to comment on”. Federated Farmers biosecurity spokesman Guy Wigley says he doesn’t know why the ship was still there last week. “That’s something MPI may be able to explain but its cargo isn’t wanted here so it should leave,” he said. The MV Molat arrived on September 6 from Port Klang, Malaysia, according to marinetraffic.com which carries live information on ship movements. MPI initially prevented the MV Molat unloading after finding some of its cargo had come from an unregistered PKE facility in Malaysia. Two weeks ago MPI ruled that was sticking to its earlier decision; this followed an application from the importer to have the PKE treated in New Zealand. American company ADM is a small

player in the NZ feed market, although offshore it owns a major share of the commodity trader Wilmar which supplies PKE to Fonterra-owned Farm Source. A contact in the feed importing industry says MPI’s decision to reject the cargo to preserve the integrity of NZ’s import standards is a “good result”. The contact says ADM probably expected it could bluff its way past MPI using lawyers and get the cargo cleared for discharge at Tauranga. MPI’s decision to refuse entry for the cargo now means ADM will have to take it to a country with import standards less stringent than ours and sell it, probably at a heavy discount because it is “distressed cargo”. The shipment has been on the water for over six weeks, so costs so far could run close to $1 million. By the time it has reached another port and found a buyer ADM could have incurred another $1m in costs plus whatever discount they have to sell the PKE at. While the 23,000 tonnes will not make much difference to the volume of supply of PKE in NZ, ADM NZ’s own stocks are now heavily reduced as a result of MPI’s decision to reject the shipment and it may now struggle to meet its own customers’ demands in the short term. MPI says it spent a lot of time looking for a solution that would meet biosecurity requirements, but nothing ticks all the boxes in mitigating the risk of pests and diseases entering NZ. Steve Gilbert, MPI border clearance services director, says that in making the decision MPI considered the amount of product involved, the availability of heat treatment facilities in the region, transport and storage.

NI walloped by the wet PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

DAIRY FARMERS in most North Island regions are hard hit by rain which is hindering pasture utilisation and causing milk production to drop. DairyNZ’s general manager for extension, Andrew Reid, says the problems with the wet extend from Northland to Waikato, Manawatu, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty. He says even the pumice country in the central North Island has been challenged by the wet. Reid says few regions in the North Island haven’t received much higher rainfall than normal for the last two-three months. But in contrast, the South Island has had a reasonable start to the season, except for Canterbury which is still affected by drought.

Federated Farmers Manawatu/ Rangitikei president James Stewart.

In the North Island, damage to paddocks is hindering pasture utilisation: farmers are unable to get enough pasture into cows. “North Island pasture residuals have been higher than ideal because they can’t physically graze

low enough to get feed into the stock, and supplement use has been justified even though we have passed balance date on most farms. “Milk production is down for that reason and because many farmers have reduced cow num-

bers based on what the milk price was doing last season, so it is a combination of both,” Reid says. The higher forecast milk price has given farmers confidence to use supplementary feed as an option. But despite the optimism in the market the sector is not out of the woods yet. “Mating is the focus of attention now, to ensure cows’ energy levels are good; at the moment these are ok but not startling. “DairyNZ has been focusing on a pasture-first message and encouraging farmers to utilise pasture as best they can. That has been challenging given the mud lying around paddocks; then of course there is the need to watch the cost of production. When you are forced to buy supplement it doesn’t help, but hopefully this is just a short term issue.”

‘AS BAD AS WE’VE SEEN IT’ THE PRESIDENT of Federated Farmers in Manawatu/Rangitikei, James Stewart, is one of many dairy farmers badly hit by the rain. Admittedly, he says, he’s on heavy clay soil and expects a challenge at this time of year. But this is as bad as he’s seen. He says it’s one of the most challenging times he’s faced in his 20 years on his farm. “The wet has put a lot of pressure on feed levels and it’s been a long and miserable time.

Utilisation has been harder and we have lost a lot of the value out of the pasture because of the pugging damage. “Also the guts of the grass hasn’t been as good either because of the wet. “The cows are just not getting the same value out of the grass. A neighbour did some pasture analysis tests and the results weren’t as good as last year. This is partly due to the lack of sunshine because we have had a lot of cloudy days.”

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

NEWS  // 5

No silver bullet but an armoury of options PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

NO ONE immediate solution is available to New Zealand to deal with the problem of greenhouse gas emissions caused by agriculture. So says the parliamentary commissioner for the environment, Dr Jan Wright, in a new detailed report on the complex science issues and the solutions now being researched. The 100-page report does not point the finger or blame anyone in particular, but factually presents the science challenges and how these can be solved by scientists and implemented practically by farmers. The problems, says Wright, are well known and relate to methane and nitrous oxide -- methane occurring in the rumen of cattle, sheep, goats and deer, and nitrous

oxide mainly in urine deposited in the soil by animals Potential solutions flagged are planting more trees, a vaccine to deal with the methanogens which cause methane in the rumen of animals, breeding animals that produce less methane and forages/ grasses that reduce methane and nitrous oxide. But Wright insists none of these individually -- apart from tree planting -- will promptly solve the problem. Wright points to examples of NZ farmers who have already moved to reduce emissions by reducing stock numbers but still retaining profitability. Examples mentioned are Lake View Farms near Hamilton and the Bartons near Taupo. The report, intended to promote discussion, seeks to get a clear picture of the science out into the public domain; it not designed

New director FONTERRA HAS appointed investment advisor

Scott St John to its board as an independent director. St John, chief executive of First NZ Capital Cooperative Group, will join Fonterra’s board on November 1. He will be standing down from his role at First NZ Capital in early 2017. The independent directors of the manager of the Fonterra shareholders’ fund support St John’s appointment.

Parliamentary commissioner for the environment, Jan Wright with her latest report.

to blame, Wright says, because this doesn’t help. “Certainly dairy is implicated in water quality issues because of the way in which cows urinate, although I would always say that the sediment-phosphate part of the equation really goes back to sheep. Nitrous oxide is of concern in all ruminants; yes, a cow will produce more than a sheep because

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it is a bigger animal but it is also producing more protein. This is about all the ruminants which belch methane.” The report is aimed at keeping in mind the target of NZ having a low carbon economy. Wright notes that NZ is among the highest greenhouse gas emitters per capita because we are a food producer.

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THE REPORT canvasses options now being worked on by scientists in NZ: breeding animals that produce less methane, nitrogen inhibitors for inserting by a bolus and a vaccine targeting methane producing methanogens in the rumen. The report looks at work being done to breed forages that cause less methane and some work by AgResearch on genetically modified ryegrass. But Wright says all this work is still in the early stages and it’s not known, for example, whether by breeding a cow which produces less methane some

other important trait of that cow would be lost. She also notes that some low emission feeds do not sit well with NZ’s pasture based systems. Any solution must be cost effective, she observes. One solution already in place in the dairy industry finds favour with Wright – standing cows off pasture. “The herd home fits with improving water quality; the idea of dairy barns and getting cows off pasture at sensitive times of the year when the grass isn’t growing is a good idea but is very expensive. “I am pleased in this investigation

to see much more focus on the use of stand-off pads; I’d like to see more of that because it’s a good idea and [addresses] both the nitrous oxide and the water quality problem. It also reduces damage to pasture.” Wright’s report signals the need for change in the farming sector; planting trees on largely unprofitable hill country is one solution. She says she’s confident that NZ farmers, with their reputation of innovation, will come up with other solutions to the issue. The report has been generally welcomed by farming and environmental groups.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

6 //  NEWS

Reunion delivers chocolate butter A REUNION of two

Lewis Road Creamery’s latest offering – Chocolate Butter.

innovative dairy brands is aimed at pleasing butter lovers. Lewis Road Creamery has again teamed up with Whittaker’s to deliver Chocolate Butter, the first

of its kind on supermarket shelves. The spread combines Lewis Road’s awardwinning butter with Whittaker’s 72% Dark Ghana chocolate. Lewis Road founder Peter Cullinane says the

idea for a chocolate butter emerged during an afternoon tea of French pastries at the Lewis Road kitchen table. “The French, who know a thing or two about butter, chocolate and pastries, have always had a soft spot for pain au chocolat and it got us thinking-- combine butter and chocolate in an easy-tospread blend good with almost anything. “We were off to the patisserie for more croissants then got out the blender to mix up a batch of chocolate and butter. We knew we were onto something special.” Other so-called chocolate spreads contain a lot

of palm oil, sugar but no real chocolate, Cullinane says. “Our Chocolate Butter... is a real chocolate spread made from simple, quality ingredients.” Holly Whittaker says the chocolate butter is an example of true innovation. “Our customers love it when they see their favourite chocolate used in new ways.... We can’t wait to hear what New Zealanders think.” In store chillers the product comes in gold pottles located next to Lewis Road’s other premium butters. It was launched October 20. RRP $8.99.

LIC plays safe on new business split LIC HAS bowed to shareholder pressure by dropping its plan to transfer its herd testing and Minda businesses to a subsidiary. The co-op will split its business into two on December 1: LIC will handle its core business while LIC Agritech will seek external capital to grow and boost shareholder returns. LIC shareholders had expressed reservations about transferring herd testing and Minda to a company that could one day be publicly listed. LIC chairman Murray King told its annual meeting last week that the process on the separation “has given us the opportunity to hear what you value about LIC”. “We’ve heard your concerns about Minda and herd testing, and can confirm that after the [business] separation both will remain with the cooperative. Minda will be owned by the co-op but operated by the agritech company.” He said forming an agritech company allows LIC to pursue opportunities for growth, with the potential to attract external investment and generate returns for investors. “External funding will not flow into our core genetics business, but the separation creates an opportunity to attract external investors and potentially commercial partners to the agritech business, with shareholder approval.” LIC has also listened to shareholders and dropped its goal to be a $1 billion revenue co-op. “We are yet to develop a new goal or statement of purpose, and will work with the shareholder council on this,” Murray told shareholders. A motion to increase the allowance of LIC directors was passed with a narrow margin at the annual meeting. LIC told the stock exchange that 405 shareholders cast 361,566 votes in favour, while 459 shareholders cast 292,982 against. – Sudesh Kissun

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

NEWS  // 7

Dairy rising to all the challenges Fonterra’s Jacqueline Chow comments on global consumer trends driving international dairy consumption. The consumer and food service industries in 80 countries generate $6.5 billion turnover for the co-op. AT FONTERRA we’re constantly looking at the latest food trends and what consumers want, using our expertise in milk collection, manufacturing, supply chains and dairy manufacture to offer consumers an ageold food in modern forms. In dairy innovation we have invested at least $1 billion in the past 10 years. Our consumer and foodservice business has grown by $1.5b from 2012 to 2016. Dairy food is totally on trend with what consumers want today. Our farmers’ high quality milk is nature’s provision for consumer food wants. ■■ 1. Natural authentic whole foods. Increasingly people want to eat foods as nature intended them to be. They want foods to be naturally authentic, as close as possible to their natural state – less processing, fewer additives and less intervention. They want to eat real butter, real cream and real milk with the taste that comes from natural products. We expect to see more people wanting full fat and reduced fat rather than no-fat dairy products. ■■ 2. ‘Good for you’ foods. Health and nutrition matters. Health credentials are key drivers of brand and product choice globally. Increasingly people want to eat foods that will enhance their health and wellbeing and perform a function in their diet. They are looking for ingredients to improve gut health and digestion, fortify bones, boost immunity or provide other vitamins and minerals relevant to their stage of

■■

■■

■■

Jacqueline Chow, Fonterra.

life -- pregnancy, infant and child nutrition, and healthy aging. 3. Sustainable diets. People want to choose foods less harmful to the environment and the communities that produce them; they want food to be ethically sourced, sustainable and from renewable resources; they want to know that food manufacturers have a record of moral, ethical and socially responsible behaviour. 4. Grass-fed grazing. As part of a push to understand where natural food is coming from and to bring more trust, confidence and transparency, people are becoming interested in

supplements away from the preserve of the gym set and more into the ‘everyday’. ■■ 6. Less sugar. Less is more. People are looking for foods that will help them reduce their intake of sugar and bring more benefit. It is becoming more widely understood that less sugar is in fact a key to weight management and to managing or preventing many health issues. ■■ 7. Healthy snacking. People are looking for grab-and-go foods that are healthy and conveniently packaged. This is true of working adults, single person households and for children’s Dairy food is totally on nutrition. Whether it’s trend with what consumers a quick dinner on the way home from work or want today. Our farmers’ something to throw in a high quality milk is nature’s child’s lunch box, people provision for consumer food are looking for easy ways to incorporate more tasty wants. and healthy options into their diet. We expect that consumers eggs, dairy and meat that are grasswill be looking for more healthy fed. Provenance is as important as foods packed in convenient singleever, and exactly how the food was serve formats. produced and what inputs were used are becoming important. Consumers ■■ 8. Gourmet convenience. There is a are demanding transparency through big push to cook like a ‘masterchef’ at the supply chain right back to what home with high quality ingredients, the animal was eating. but people want a few shortcuts to help them achieve ‘masterchef ’ 5. Protein craze not just for athletes. outcomes without actually having People are looking for sources of to be a master chef. high quality protein in food and beverages and we can expect to see ■■ 9. Permissible indulgences. Health more scientific research showing conscious consumers still want to the benefits of increased protein enjoy some pleasure so to help justify intake for adults, moving protein an indulgence they are for looking

■■

indulgences that contain more wholesome or natural ingredients. Greek yoghurt with berries becomes a permissible treat. 10. Good enough to Tweet. The digital revolution makes the smartphone an indispensable utensil for searching, eating and dining, e.g. sharing images of their food creations or taking a quick snap of a restaurant meal. Eating is more social, interactive and authentic than ever before. People will become increasingly interested in the look of food and what their food says about them; they will be influenced by what their peers are eating, and new food trends will be borne out of social media.

11. Dairy as premium food. Desire for ‘high-end’ dairy is happening with improvement of life standards and income. Milk is at the core of addedvalue tasty and healthy beverages or food launched with packaging innovation for gifting or for specific channels like e-commerce. Fonterra will keep investing in dairy science, sustainability, nutrition and packaging innovation to make sure we are creating high value dairy products to meet the most contemporary consumer demands. Dairy is an ageold industry ready to meet consumer food needs. • Jacqueline Chow is Fonterra’s chief operating officer global consumer and foodservice. ■■

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

8 //  NEWS

Breeding grass to withstand excess water While New Zealand dairy farmers have been plagued by wet spring weather, 18,600km away Irish farmers have watched an exceptionally wet summer ruin grain crops and force dairy farmers to feed supplements – abnormally. Peter Burke, recently back from Ireland, reports on their efforts to deal with the problem. IN NEW Zealand, scientists and plant breeders have focused on breeding grass species able to cope with summer droughts, but in Ireland scientists are working on breeding grasses and cereal crops better able to handle wet conditions. Ireland is (sometimes incorrectly) judged as having high rainfall – much as NZ’s West Coast. Ireland is like the West Coast in that the westerly winds bring rain and dump it in quantity on the ‘emerald isle’. This year all Irish farmers have been hit by the rain: it has ruined

tillage farmers’ crops, and sheep, beef and dairy farmers have also been hit, causing a drop in prices. John Spink, the head of crop science at Ireland’s Teagasc Research Institute at Carlow, says Ireland’s high rainfall and climate change is causing the loss of a fair proportion of winter sown cereals due to waterlogging. To try to mitigate this problem they are doing genetic research, seeking to create new species of crops and grasses with improved waterlogging resistance. They are trying to deal with wet and cold,

thing in grasses.” Spink says waterlogging has a similar outcome to drought because it has long term impacts. Waterlogging of ryegrass over the winter, while it won’t kill the plant, will limit the size of the grass canopy. “That delays spring growth, so it’s not really about being able to graze over the winter but being able to get better shoulder growth in spring – more early season growth, which is very valuable grass obviously.” Spink says Ireland seems to be experiencing more extremes of weather:

Spink says. “We are at the early stages of the research. We have done some screening in the glasshouse and we are starting this autumn in the field and will be irrigating during the winter. That will be to look at genetic material and see how much variation there is in available genetic material. “Another strand is working with people at Maynooth University, near Dublin, who have been working on Arabidopsis; they have found pathways which bestow waterlogging tolerance. They are seeking the same

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John Spink, Teagasc, Ireland.

in the past 30 years the mean weather data has shown an increase of 90mm of rainfall. While Ireland doesn’t have some of the heavy clay soils found in NZ, it

has another problem also much talked about – lack of sunshine. “The water use of our crops in summer would only be about 3mm, compared to places such

as NZ where you get 9mm. We require a lot less water for crop growth because we don’t have the high intensity of radiation or the winds you get that dry out the ground.”

CHALLENGES OF ANALYSING DATA THE IRISH are also busy analysing data from drones and satellites, John Spink says. Their aim is to improve crop yield and lower input costs for greater profit. Though plenty of data is generated by new technology, the need is for data in a format that lends itself to helping farmers make better decisions. At present there is potential for mixed messages to come to farmers, Spink says. He points to the case of a certain part of a crop that appears to be doing better than the rest of a paddock. Is this because that patch of land has more water or nutrients? And what’s the solution? the farmers ask. “Interpreting those images and giving the correct advice requires us to do more work. The technology has improved dramatically, but we don’t necessarily have the knowledge to interpret the masses of data we

Cows in Teagasc research farm in Carlow, Ireland.

can now gather, and translate that into the correct advice.” A lot of work has been done in the UK and in continental Europe, Spink says. The Europeans have noticed that in certain regions a lot has been spent on these technologies, but now much of it is sitting unused in a shed, because of data interpretation issues. “People have tried it and haven’t seen the benefit.” Spink says precision technologies which ensure paddocks are sown and sprayed to maximum advantage are good and offer some benefits, but technologies which target crop yield offer much greater benefit.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

NEWS  // 9

Rural banking beckons top Massey ag student

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AGRICULTURE IS back in fashion, says the head of Massey University’s Institute of Agriculture & Environment, professor Peter Kemp. He made his comments at Rural News journalist, the big graduaPeter Burke (right) presents tion celebration the award to Sam Tipping. where the top students in agriculture received their awards. Kemp says although agriculture was never truly out of fashion, it is now definitely back in its rightful place with good student numbers at the university and great support from industry. “This is a brilliant evening attended by about 250 people. It’s a great event where students, staff and industry celebrate the success of top students. It’s an amazing event compared with those at many universities. Usually it’s just shake hands and give out a certificate, whereas having the industry involved adds a different dimension to it.” Kemp says there is now wide recognition of the good jobs out there for ag graduates. Despite the GFC and other ups and downs in the primary sector, people realise agriculture is a lot more stable than some believe. He says the event gets bigger every year, with more sponsors and more awards. An alumni award, to a graduate of Massey who has made a successful career, went to Con Williams, ANZ Bank. Other winners on the night included Cameron Walker, who won the prestigious William Gerrish Memorial Prize for Farm Management. Another winner was Sam Tipping, who won the Rural News Group sponsored prize for the best video promoting Massey University to students.

Jack van Bussel

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more emphasis on promoting agriculture as a career because of its importance to the NZ economy. Many Kiwis’ misconceptions about agriculture in the community need to be addressed.

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Massey Agricultural Student of the Year prize, DairyNZ scholar Jack van Bussel (20), is planning a future in rural banking. The award is for the student judged to have made the largest contribution to the wellbeing and reputation of his/her fellow agricultural students. “I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “When they started describing who the winner was I thought ‘that sounds like me’, but I never really thought it could be. I am honoured to get it, I still can’t believe it and I really appreciate it.” Van Bussel grew up on a

scholarship. “They helped me with my course fees and a lot of other things such as career days, meet-and-greet events and career development. It’s been invaluable.” He says he’d like to see

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lifestyle block near Whanganui, always out on farms and enjoyed that life. At school he enjoyed accounting and economics so a degree in ag commerce was the obvious option for him. “I didn’t have the farming experience a lot of the people coming in had. Coming from a lifestyle block definitely gave me a start and it also gave me an open mind. Going into an agricultural degree course sort-of meant that I wasn’t focused on one industry and I could experiment with a lot of industries and find a lot of knowledge throughout the different sectors.” Van Bussel says he loved university life, not only the academic side but making friends and taking up the other opportunities

Y MA

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

10 //  NEWS

Milk consumption up NEW RESEARCH by the University of Auckland shows that 12% more New Zealand children are meeting recommended daily dairy consumption guidelines since the introduction of the Fonterra Milk for Schools programme, the co-op says. The findings of the research were announced

Fonterra’s Milk for Schools is having a positive influence on children’s choice of beverages.

by the study investigator, associate professor Clare Wall, at an event last week attended by Deputy Labour Leader and health spokesperson Hon Annette King, Olympian Eliza McCartney and education and nutritional experts. The national guideline for dairy consumption for

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well, hopefully in preference to sugary drinks,” says Rowan. Wall says milk provides children with necessary protein, vitamins and minerals, helping them achieve a balanced diet. “Dairy can play a vital part in a healthy balanced diet and research shows that children who consume milk and dairy products have improved bone and dental health. “It is good to see through Fonterra Milk for Schools these children are enjoying having dairy regularly at an age where they are forming habits that can last them a lifetime,” says Wall. Since the programme began Fonterra Milk for Schools has delivered 70 million cartons of milk to primary schools nationwide, including the Chatham, Stewart, Matakana and Great Barrier Islands.

Dairy UK boss to head IDF

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primary school children is two-three serves per day; one serve of dairy is 250ml of milk or 150g of yoghurt. Many children do not consume this much. Fonterra general manager nutrition Angela Rowan says Fonterra Milk for Schools is having a positive influence on children’s choice of beverages. “Traditionally kids drink less milk as they get older because they start drinking soft drinks and juice. It’s great to see this hasn’t happened in the study; in fact their milk consumption is increasing. “Through Fonterra Milk for Schools, children’s taste for milk and understanding of the importance of dairy nutrition is resulting in positive choices on drinks. “Along with the extra milk they get at school, they’re choosing to drink milk on the weekends as

DAIRY UK chief executive Dr Judith Bryan is the new president of the International Dairy Federation (IDF). She was elected last week, for a four-year term, at the World Dairy Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands, succeeding Fonterra’s chief science and technology officer Dr Jeremy Hill, president since 2012. Bryans will steer the work of IDF with the support of the board, the science programme coordination committee (SPCC), the IDF head office and its national committees. She has been involved with IDF at all levels since 2005 and is a wellknown figure in the IDF Judith Bryan community. Bryans says she is honoured and grateful for the trust the IDF community has in her. “Jeremy has done a wonderful job over the last four years and we owe him our thanks for his dedication and the myriad ways he’s strengthened the organisation in his time as president. “IDF is involved in every aspect of the dairy supply chain and is a trusted and respected partner for many international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and Codex Alimentarius.” Hill noted that he started his presidency by saying that such was the importance of IDF that if it did not exist, the dairy sector would need to create something like it. “My four years as president has not weakened my view of this. I have been delighted with the progress IDF has made over my four years as president and the value we have been able to create, for the dairy sector and its stakeholders, including our important role in proving the highest quality nutrition to consumers.”

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

12 //  OPINION RUMINATING

EDITORIAL

Mother nature’s cruel hand

MILKING IT... Farmers, take a bow

FONTERRA FARMERS can be proud of new research by the University of Auckland showing that 12% more Kiwi kids’ daily dairy consumption has been meeting recommendations since the co-op began its Milk for Schools scheme. It has delivered at least 70 million cartons of milk to primary schools nationwide. Even when the chips were down, Fonterra farmers did not think about switching off the programme; farms were losing money but millions of dollars went to keeping milk lines open to schools. After all, it’s not Fonterra farmers’ job to provide milk for school kids; this role is the Government’s.

Dirty devils prove useful

MILK FROM Tasmanian devils could offer a useful weapon against antibioticresistant superbugs, say Australian researchers. The marsupial’s milk contains important peptides that appear to be able to kill hard-to-treat infections, including MRSA, says the Sydney University team. The devils are believed to have evolved this cocktail to help their young grow stronger. The scientists are looking to make new treatments that mimic the peptides. Experts believe marsupials are good to study because their babies have to thrive in a dirty environment. The Tasmanian devil female gives birth after only a few weeks of pregnancy. The tiny offspring then spends four months maturing in its mother’s pouch.

Paid to produce less milk

EUROPE IS trying to rein in milk production by its 52,000 dairy farmers by paying them to not produce milk, and while the farmers have rushed to take it up, the success of the plan will not be known until early next year. The 150 million euro carrot – $233m – has been fully subscribed, and agricultural commissioner Phil Hogan predicts a resulting 2% fall in production by late 2016, this after four years of continuous increase. An EU official describes the scheme as a last resort after the failure of an earlier attempt to encourage farmers to curb production. On average each farmer who applies will milk 20 tonnes less and will be paid compensation of 2800 euros (about $4363).

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Too late with feed

FONTERRA IS still struggling to provide calf milk powder and calf rearers are desperate, says a rural animal feed store. The co-op says the shortage of its Ancalf powder was due to retail sales being unusually high this season – nearly double last year. Farmlands says the issue is more serious than first forecast and the lack of milk powder could last another month. Calf rears are not happy. They’re told Ancalf will be available next month, but they’ll be finishing their season by then.

ONCE AGAIN dairy farmers have been struck a cruel blow with the weather playing the trump card. The sight of some North Island farms is heart-breaking as farmers try to cope with an unusually wet spring. The rain and the resulting mud have come right on calving and mating time and made difficult jobs much harder, not to mention the cost implications. In some ways it’s not dissimilar to what farmers in Ireland have been experiencing with the heavy rain, though their problems are in the summer. But it seems the rains came in exactly the same months. Dairy farmers in the North Island had a morale boost with Fonterra lifting the predicted farmgate milk price, but suddenly any benefit from this has been virtually wiped out by the rain. Farmers were forced to feed out in autumn and winter and now this has extended into spring for many, putting severe pressure on budgets and cashflows. In many ways farmers’ profitability hinges on the unpredictable and fickle nature of the weather. It is possible to have some control over most other factors, but not the weather. Farmers are now very good at planning for adverse events, but there is a limit to what they can do in a tight environment. Farmers have heeded the messages from advisors such as DairyNZ and focused on getting the best out of their pastures. They have also reduced stock numbers to ease the pressure on pastures and to retain only the higher producing cows. But a combination of rain and heavy soils has put paid to all of this and it would seem that for many farmers in the North Island the season is out of kilter with last year. Production is down on many farms and a lot are still not at peak milking. Unless there is a sudden change in the weather, farm incomes will be down and dairy exports may be too. One wonders how many townies watching the weather on television understand the implications of this for the primary sector and ultimately for them. The weather is not just about the implications for holidays; for farmers the weather forecast directly affects their livelihood and families. Long adverse weather causes depression and this latest bout is no exception. It’s time for farmers to look after themselves and their mates to get through this difficult time.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

OPINION  // 13

Dairying in Argentina not for the faint-hearted Argentina, once seen as a world ‘bread basket’, today faces many obstacles in achieving this. Argentinean student Pablo Fraga reports on the challenges of dairy farming in his country. LET ME first point out

some figures, for context: milk production in Argentina is 11 billion litres per year (versus 20.7b L/year in New Zealand) – twice the production of the 1980s but static for the past ten years. This places the country eighth in the world in milk production. Exports represent only 20% of national production, the balance being consumed domestically; we are big milk consumers. Our national dairy herd is about 1.8 million cows. In Argentina the predominant dairy system was pasture-based in regions with favorable weather and close to the big cities. However, in the past 20 years dairying has been affected by difficulties in the domestic market (national economic crisis from 1999 to 2002) and by a boom in commodity prices, especially soybean. Regrettably the sector started to fight for land – a battle it will end up losing. While the world was moving forward in production and technology, in Argentina many dairy farms were closing and the process of concentration was deepening. Moreover, in the mid2000s the government began to regulate dairying to control domestic prices – a policy that badly discouraged exports, daunted investment in the industry and deprived the sector of the benefits of the rise in world milk product prices. With the domestic market saturated and controlled, it was imposible to get higher prices for the benefit of farmers, so the sector found itself adrift and near to capsizing. The only alternative offering a hope of survival was to abandon the pasture system – because of high land values and the advance of soybean – and adopt a mixed system of pasture and supplements. Along came preserved fodder (maize or lucerne silage) and concentrated feed (corn, barley, sorghum for energy and soybean or sunflower expeller for protein). This allowed

a higher stocking rate without loss of production. This all may sound upside-down compared to what Kiwi farmers are now doing because of low milk prices, but it is important to highlight a point. Simultaneous with the boom in commodity prices was the goverment-implemented 20% tax and restrictions on corn exports, a policy that worked as a subsidy in favour of corn consumers – dairy farmers. Also, soybean was hit by a 35% export tax. This prompted dairy farmers to pay attention to the now-famous ratio between fluid farmgate milk price and corn – an average ratio of 2:1, i.e. with 2kg of corn you can buy 1L milk. However that policy on corn worked against grain farmers, so last year the newly elected government chose to eliminate export taxes and restrictions. To give an idea, during 2014 the ratio was as high as 3.2:1, and this generated good returns for dairy farmers while elsewhere in the world their counterparts were struggling with low prices. But in December 2015 it fell to 1.2:1. Therefore dairying was a prisoner of its own system. With low international prices, a saturated and depressed domestic market and sky-high input prices, dairy farmers have had to endure their worst crisis in years. Add to this the terrible weather since 2014, especially floods in April this year. But there’s more: total lack of bank credit; exports low and not incentivised; no clear payments system (farmers are paid for litres not for solids); a terminal crisis afflicting the co-ops; abysmal production ratios onfarm (months until first service, bad calf breeding routines, high range between birth and next conception, low body conditions at birth); and so on. To look further into Argentina´s dairy industry you must accept one premise: it is not an indus-

try for the faint-hearted. pablo.fraga@hotmail.com. ar • Pablo Fraga has an eonomics degree from Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina. He is

studying towards the Higher Technical Qualification in Milk Primary Production at Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina. He currently works at Hollingside Dairy, Canterbury.

Pablo Fraga in Hollingside Dairy, Canterbury.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

14 //  AGRIBUSINESS

Entering the dairy industry awards BRAD MARKHAM

farmers. We were career changers and saw it as an opportunity to network. Mingling with sponsors is also beneficial. It’s how we met our new accountants Campbell Tyson. Most of the sponsors know farm owners who could be looking for new business partners or staff. Sponsors contribute more than just their time

answer questions about preparing for judging. Their words of wisdom were invaluable. I won’t lie, entering the awards requires work. But it’s rewarding to critically analyse every aspect of your business and focus on your career goals. We were on a split-calving farm, so our national round of judging was

I WAS chatting to a mate the other day about mating when it dawned on me that we wouldn’t know each other if it weren’t for the Dairy Industry Awards. People enter the competition for various reasons. Some 50/50 sharemilkers and contract milkers enter to get free advice and judges’ feedback on ways to “I won’t lie, entering the awards improve and grow requires work. But it’s rewarding their businesses. to critically analyse every Others, like aspect of your business and focus trainees and 2ICs, enter because it’s a on your career goals.” confidence booster, lifts their profile and helps their CVs during calving. We treated and expertise. They help shine. I know one 50/50 the process like having fund the event and the sharemilker who went a visit from an uncle substantial prize pool. to the Auckland/Hauraki who’s extremely interested A sponsor and entrant awards dinner in March night is held not long after in what we did. to hunt for a new team The revamped Dairy entries close. It’s a fun member. Industry Awards website evening; ours involved My partner Matt and team games, a free dinner contains judging criteria I entered to challenge for all three sections of and plenty of laughs. ourselves and meet Previous winners were the competition to help people. Most of our you plan. on hand to help ease the neighbours at the time We started at nerves of entrants and were sheep and beef

our house, flicking through some photos. We printed graphs from the Farm Source website highlighting our achievements. However, we spent most of the time in the paddock explaining how we managed the pasture and herd. If you’re nervous about speaking in front of other people, don’t let that deter you from entering. I’m very shy though I used to be a TV reporter. But talking to a TV camera is like talking to yourself in the bathroom mirror. It’s completely different having people around. For the Share Farmer of the Year and Dairy Manager of the Year entrants, judges come to your farm. You explain how you run the place and why you do

Brad Markham and Matthew Herbert on farm.

things the way you do. Judging for trainees is a mix of practical skills plus an interview section. If you’re a farm owner reading this, shoulder tap a staff member who could benefit from the experience. If you’re a 50/50 sharemilker, this is an ideal way to help your CV rise to the top of the pile the next time you and 60 others apply for the

same job. For farmers on family farms, it’s an awesome challenge and the feedback could help finetune your operation. It could also give confidence to family shareholders to let you buy into the business, change its structure or introduce new ways of doing things. A past winner, who now owns a farm, recently

told me he wouldn’t be in his current position if it wasn’t for the competition. It fasttracked his career. Entries close November 30. • Brad Markham and Matthew Herbert are the 2016 Auckland/Hauraki Share Farmers of the Year. Chat to them on Twitter at @BradMarkham81 and @m_herbert.

Launch events underway ENTRIES HAVE

opened for the 2016 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. Organisers of the 11 regional competitions are launching host events, allowing farmers and sharemilkers to learn more of the awards and which competition they are eligible to enter. Entries opened on October 20 for the New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions. The awards are sponsored by Westpac, DairyNZ, DeLaval,

Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra Farm Source, Honda Motorcycles, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown and Primary ITO. General manager Chris Keeping says not every region is holding a launch event; Canterbury has instead chosen to have a big prize for the region’s Early Bird entries. “If you enter the Canterbury regional awards before November 9 you’re in a draw to win a helicopter ride with Richie McCaw. I’d be quite keen to win that myself.”

Keeping says launch events in other regions will be held over the next two weeks; launch events are typically a lot of fun and provide an opportunity to meet other potential entrants,

organisers and sponsors and to learn about the awards from past entrants. More information on the launch events is available at dairyindustryawards.co.nz.

DETAILS OF THE REGIONAL LAUNCH EVENTS: ■■

Auckland/Hauraki, October 26, 6.30pm, Farm Source, Ngatea

■■

Auckland/Hauraki, October 27, 6.30pm, Farm Source, Pukekohe

■■

Bay of Plenty, October 27, 11.00am, Farm Source, Opotiki

■■

Bay of Plenty, November 4, 11.00am, Farm Source, Te Puke

■■

Southland/Otago, October 26, 6.30pm, Top Pub, Winton

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

AGRIBUSINESS  // 15

Oz milk production to drop 5% JOHN DROPPERT

INTERNATIONAL DAIRY commodity

prices have recovered markedly in recent months, as global supply and demand slowly balance, according to Dairy Australia’s latest Situation and Outlook report. However, this season’s low farmgate prices continue to squeeze farmer’s margins in southeast Australia, impacting national milk production. The October Situation and Outlook shows that decreased milk production from Australia, New Zealand and Europe is helping ease the downward pressure on global commodity pricing caused by oversupply during recent years. Dairy Australia senior analyst John Droppert says Australia’s milk production was forecast to drop 5% over the full season for 2016-17, as a response to low milk prices, tight margins, and flooding and excessive rain in some regions. “The pain many farmers in southeast Australia experienced last season, and the ongoing challenges to margins, will prove significant obstacles for some processors in securing supply in the short term,” Droppert says. “Overall milk production will remain constrained in southeast states as farmers defer investment and focus on management to breakeven points, and conserving equity where margins are negative.” The first two months of this season has seen year-on-year declines in national milk intakes averaging 9%, but the impact on the overall national milk volume is expected to moderate as the season progresses and the benefits of good rainfall (excluding flood and excessive rain damage) and lower costs for feed, fertiliser and water accrue to farmers nationwide. Situation and Outlook says also that domestic-

focussed regions have experienced relative stability in margins and weather, and milk production is steady or higher in Queensland and Western Australia. Droppert says commodity markets are in a much better place than this time in 2015, but downside risks remain. “The perennial challenge for processors and farmers is to secure adequate milk flows to capitalise on market opportunities, while protecting against damaging price shocks. This will remain top-ofmind as the industry finds its feet in 2016-17,” he says. Internationally, demand is presenting a mixed picture, with China returning to growth while other markets are more sluggish. The value of global exports fell by 19%, with falls across all major markets, largely reflecting the lower global prices for key dairy commodities. Total global dairy export volumes to China increased nearly 20% over the 12 months to June 2016. Australia-China export volumes grew by 30%, from around 136,000 tonnes to 178,000t, while their USD value increased by 65% year-on-year, from US$350 million in 2014-15 to US$579m in 2015-16. Global dairy exports to Japan fell by 1% in volume during 2015-16. Overall demand in Southeast Asia also slowed: 2015-16 import volumes fell 1% year-on-year, and the USD value fell 27%. Australian export volumes to the region grew by 2% however. Mexico saw strong growth in overall volumes of dairy imports, up by 11% on last year, sourced mainly from the US. Export volumes to the Middle East decreased slightly in 2015-16, falling 3%. Australia’s dairy export volumes to the region fell by 17% from 71,000t in 2014-15 to around 59,000t in 201516. Droppert says the Australian domestic market remained characteristically steady. “Total milk sales volumes have grown

moderately, increasing by 1.5% to 1358mL over the 12 months to September. “Fresh, white full cream milk sales have increased their share, up 7% in volume and 9% by value. This reflects an ongoing shift away from modified (reduced fat)

milk varieties.” The report revealed cheese volumes have grown steadily over the last 12 months to April 2016, increasing by 2%, driven largely by growth in sales of deli cheeses. Meanwhile, growth in butter sales has

moderated, with an increase in volume of almost 4%. “We’ve also seen a noticeable shift within the yoghurt category from sweetened to natural, unsweetened yoghurt,” Droppert says. “Sales of natural,

unsweetened varieties have grown by about 9% in volume and value, while sweetened varieties have fallen almost 8% in volume and 9.5% in value.” • John Droppert is a Dairy Australia analyst.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

MANAGEMENT  // 17

Pasture renewal only the first step AR37 endophyte on parts of the farm, where black beetle had been a problem.”

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THE CONTEST has two categories: Waikato/ Bay of Plenty first year pasture sown this year and Waikato/Bay of Plenty pasture sown more than three years ago (prior to May 2013). Prizes include two $1500 pasture renewal packages from Agriseeds and Agricom. Judging will involve a short interview about the soil fertility and the paddock’s history prior to and since re-sowing. Management practices such as grazing management, endophyte selection, weed control and nitrogen usage will be discussed. Entries close on November 11, and judging is held during late November. Winners’ field days will be held in February 2017. The contest organisers – the Pasture Improvement Leadership Group, led by DairyNZ – include researchers, the seed industry, farmers and agricultural contractors. To enter visit www.dairynz.co.nz/pasturecomp

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paddocks. It’s just our good fortune we entered a good competition and won it,” says Rust. AgResearch senior scientist Dr David Hume, a competition judge, says Rust’s win shows the competition is not only concerned with showing a good pasture on the day, but rather with “a whole combination of things to make a pasture last a number of years”. “Noldy’s paddock scored particularly well on content of ryegrass and legume, and a good cultivar choice. It was well looked after in winter and summer, had good grazing residuals and good soil fertility. “Further, Noldy was familiar with new cultivar choices and was using

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“Improving poor yielding paddocks through good renewal practices can achieve a substantial increase in pasture tonnage.” Competition organiser and DairyNZ developer Sally Peel says pasture renewal is a first step to achieving high-performing pastures. “Improving poor yielding paddocks through good renewal practices can achieve a substantial increase in pasture tonnage and this competition highlights that,” says Peel. Last year’s winner of the ‘best first year pasture’ category, Aaron Price, says choosing to focus on achieving quality pastures is an easy decision. “Pasture is our cheapest feed on the farm and it’s important to maximise what we get from it. And regrassing is a significant cost so we have to get the full benefit from it,” says

DairyNZ’s Sally Peel and Morrinsville farmer Aaron Price discuss pasture on his farm.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

18 //  MANAGEMENT

Lincoln Uni farm expecting a profit NIGEL MALTHUS

GOOD SPRING grass Ron Pellow, SIDDC executive director.

growth has the Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) heading for

another operating profit. Detailed figures on the farm’s performance were released for last week’s spring open day. They show the farm running 3% under budget on

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Contact your rural retailer or a Corson Maize Seed Agronomist on 0800 805 505 or visit www.corsonmaize.co.nz *The Maize Performance Trials (MPT) represent the collaboration of the Foundation for Arable Research, the New Zealand Plant Breeding and Research Association and individual seed companies.

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Daniel has recently started using CORSON Q1 hybrid, yielding 23 t/ha DM over the 30 hectares planted. Daniel says, “we are impressed with the high amount of grain and the great service that we have had from Corson Maize Seed and our retailer. We will be using CORSON Q1 as our main hybrid.”

expenses, having been able to avoid feeding any supplements so far this season. Ron Pellow, executive director of the South Island Dairying Development Centre, which runs the farm, says it recorded much higher growth than normally seen in August and September. “As with others around us we’ve had a season that’s given us good growth in SeptemberOctober, so we’ve been able to capitalise on that, as have others. That’s enabled us, in our situation, to come through the season feeding no supplements to date. “A lot of people have fed less than they planned to, which is all positive. They’ve been able to utilise the pasture they’ve grown and adjust their feeding process accordingly.” The figures also showed the costs of production running about 3% under budget. “We have a budget of $3.85 (farm working expenses/kgMS) and on current forecasts we’re sitting on $3.72/kgMS so

that’s attractive because it’s nice to be under. “Early days of course; we are about a third of the way through the season or thereabouts, and we’ve incurred some of the big costs already, and come in under budget on some of those. “Some of those things are gains we will take all the way through the season.” About 220 people attended the open day, one of three seasonal events held at the farm each year. (The winter event takes the form of a road trip around the wider Canterbury region.) The event included a detailed statistical breakdown of all aspects of the farm’s performance. Pellow said that as a demonstration farm it has an obligation to show what can be done, and to provide as much detail as possible since some farmers would be more interested in some aspects of the farm’s operation than others. The farm, which supplies Fonterra, appears on track to make a profit, given payout expectations. “Operating profit

is where we should be focussed for the vast majority of us, but that’s not an easy measure to get a good metric on. The difficulty is that it’s built up on a number of things.... So you might report your operating profit and I report mine and without knowing the assumptions that go into both of them we may not be on the same basis. But nevertheless if you want to know viability, that’s a pretty good measure of how you’re going.” Pellow says maximising sustainable profit in essence was what most farmers are trying to do. LUDF has added some voluntary operating restraints on top of that because it is already trying to meet Ecan’s proposed 2022 environmental rules for farms in the Selwyn Waihora zone. In its third season of working to the 2022 standards, the farm is continuing to perform well despite the weather in the past year. “We’re achieving phenomenal performance relative to inputs,” said Pellow. @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

Free cloud accounting seminar helps farmers A CLOUD accounting seminar offered by Dairy Women’s Network will enable dairy farmers to develop skill and confidence, says the group’s chief executive Zelda de Villiers. DWN will run the free seminars, called Farming in the Cloud (i.e. on the internet) with Figured, Xero, ASB Bank and Crowe Horwath. Figured’s marketing manager Monica Shepherd says nearly 40% of farmers surveyed at National Fieldays said they want more advice from their accountants on how to get a better picture of their finances. “The beauty of a cloud-based accounting system is that farmers and their team members can access financial information in real time, giving them accurate and up-to-date information whenever they want it,” says Shepherd. Cloud accounting tools by Figured and Xero offer farmers faster access to information, save them time, give them

a better view of their finances and allow them to better plan their future via financial forecasts. “Members who attend these modules will learn practical tips for using Figured and Xero; these connect with banks and farm suppliers, meaning they can manage their suppliers, resources and partners from one system.” At the seminar farmers will get to speak with product specialists and rural accounting experts and gain confidence in managing farm finances online. They may also speak to ASB about a Figured subscription free for a year, says DWN chief executive Zelda de Villiers. “Figured, Xero, Crowe Horwath and ASB are committed to lifting the financial performance of farming businesses…. They want to… help as many farmers as possible to better understand their finances and take a proactive approach.” For more information or to register for an event near you, visit www.dwn.co.nz

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

FEED/ANIMAL HEALTH  // 19

Cheap seed doesn’t pay IAN WILLIAMS

AS A result of the last two seasons’ historically low payouts many farmers have become very cost focussed. I am often asked, “If there were two hybrids, one cheaper than the other, why would I ever buy the more expensive seed?” My answer is always the same, if the cheaper seed hybrid yielded the same as the more expensive seed hybrid, of course you would buy the cheaper seed. However, the key factor is yield. As most of the costs of growing a maize crop are largely fixed, optimising yield is very important. In fact, yield has been proven the key driver to achieving high profit per hectare from maize crops1. To demonstrate this, look at an example which uses actual New Zealand trial data, where we compare two hybrids on the market, Pioneer brand 9911 and PAC 301.2

Pioneer is “right product, right paddock”. In other words you need to plant the best hybrid to suit the particular field conditions. In order to optimise yield it is also important to plant the maize seed at the right population. Over a number of years, we have run several population trials where we looked at the ideal population for each maturity group. Rather than guess, or visually assess the results, we weighed all the trials to determine which population gave the highest yield. We also looked at the impact of planting population on maize silage quality. Almost every year and in every situation we saw that dropping plant population had a drastic effect on paddock yield. The lower yield had a negative impact on the returns per hectare3. This is clearly shown in the second table below. While lower-population maize plants produce bigger cobs they also produce bigger stalks. Our

to save money, will end up being expensive in the long term. ■■ 1. Kolver et al, 2003. Ranking maize hybrids for silage quality and milk production in pasture-based dairying. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 63: 101-106.

■■

■■

■■

2. Yield data from Pioneer Product Advancement Trials. 3. Yield data from Pioneer Population Trials. 4. Quality data from Pioneer Population research trials.

Figure 1: Impact of population on different feed characteristics4.

• Ian Williams is Pioneer forage specialist. Contact iwilliams@genetic.co.nz

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Pioneer® brand P9911 vs PAC 301 Number of comparisons

61

Yield advantage to Pioneer (kgDM/ha)* 4,448*** Additional milk production per ha from growing Pioneer P9911 (@ 100 gMS/kgDM fed)

448 kgMS

Additional milk income from feeding Pioneer P9911 @ $5.25/kgMS ($/ha)

$2352

*Stars shown next to the yield comparison indicate the level of confidence that a real yield difference actually exists between the two hybrids based on the yield data. *** = very highly significant (P≤0.001), ** = highly significant (P≤0.01), *= significant (P≤ 0.05) Population (seeds/ha)

80,000 vs 120,000

Yield advantage to higher population (kgDM/ha)*

1,200

Milk production per ha (@ 100 kgMS/kgDM fed) 120 kgMS Milk income @ $5.25/kgMS ($/ha)

$630

Minus extra seed cost (@$650 per 80,000 kernel bag)

$325

Net income advantage to higher population ($/ha)

$305

This example shows planting PAC 301 will cost the farmer $2352/ha in lost income because it yields significantly less. What may have looked like cheap seed ends up being a very costly input decision. In fact, even if the seed was free, it would still cost you around $1700/ha because of the hybrid’s low yield. Dropping population Another scheme I hear for saving costs is to drop the planting population. Advocates say the plants are bigger and the cobs are bigger, so it must be good. One of our mantras in

research showed the overall energy density of the plant was not impacted by population (Figure 1). Purchasing maize silage seed is an important management decision. The true ‘cost’ of seed is not reflected in the upfront purchase price alone. Planting an inferior, low-yielding or unproven maize hybrid may be more expensive and a lot more risky in the long run. Planting maize hybrids at lower than their ideal population also has a major impact on yield. Both practices, as an attempt

An injection of Multimin® + Cu one month prior to mating can enhance the reproductive performance of your cows and heifers. f Injectable combination of copper, selenium, zinc and manganese f International and local trials have demonstrated earlier conception in treated animals1,2 f Optimise antioxidants prior to the stress of mating f 3.4 to 4.1 times ROI1 A sharp price coupled with the benefits above - you’ve every reason to give it a go. virbac.co.nz/betterwithmultimin

1. 2.

Hawkins D, DCV Newsletter March 2007 Mitchel et al, Trace Elements in Animal Production Systems 2008

ACVM No: A9374.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

20 //  ANIMAL HEALTH

FE workshop launched in wake of crisis Feedback from farmers is crucial to DairyNZ, helping it respond to farmers’ needs and fine-tune resources. A case in point is its facial eczema workshop. WHEN WAIKATO

farmer Matthew Bartleet saw two cows drop dead as he brought them in for milking one January afternoon this year, he knew

Waikato farmer Matthew Bartleet.

he was in the middle of a facial eczema (FE) crisis. The Matamata-Morrinsville region recorded massive FE spore counts this autumn; veterinary

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clinics recorded counts in the millions in many places. “The conditions we experienced over autumn were the worst I had seen in 20 years of farming,” says Bartleet. “We had spore counts of up to three million here on Tower Road.” Milk volumes started dropping from January and clinical signs appeared one month later -- skin cracking and blistering. Bartleet tuned up his in-line dispensing, including checking flow rates and zinc concentrations, which helped reduce the clinical cases. But after identifying 120 cows out of 700 with clinical signs, and losing 21, he felt it was time to seek more help. “I knew if I had FE then there would be others, and it was not going away quickly.” Bartleet contacted his DairyNZ consulting officer Brigitte Ravera, who teamed up with DairyNZ farm systems specialist Chris Glassey to organise seminars on FE management. The events were presented by Emma Cuttance from VetEnt Te Awamutu, whose master’s thesis on FE included examining spore count variability within a farm.

“We learned that the variability within a farm can be as great as the variability between regions; it is significant and more than you may realise,” says Bartleet. He says a key takehome point from Cuttance’s presentation was ‘walking the walk’ in having a thorough FE prevention programme. “Because it’s such a sporadic disease you may think year-to-year that your programme is sound, when in fact it’s slipping a bit each year, maybe in dose rate or length of treatment.” He acknowledges his own operation suffered because of that mentality. “Our timing was right, but we needed to be more exact in our execution.” He says DairyNZ’s presentations also gave him valuable advice for managing his affected cows. “We worked on avoiding green feed (difficult in a system two operation) by putting them on palm kernel extract, hay and silage, and taking stress off by going to once-a-day milking.” He believes that advice helped minimise delayed losses this spring; resulting from liver damage caused by FE; the farm lost only four cows.

Tackling bovine TB in Wales THE BRITISH Veterinary Association (BVA) is wel-

coming the Welsh government’s new regionalised approach to eliminating bovine TB in Wales. The president of the BVA Welsh branch, Neil Paton, says it is heartened to see the focus on risk-based assessment and the targeting of chronically infected herds with individual action plans, to be developed in partnership with farmers, vets and the Animal & Plant Health Agency. “We also welcome the recognition of the role played by the wildlife reservoir of disease. However, we are concerned that if badger culling by cage trapping and shooting is not part of the refreshed eradication programme, there needs to be an evidence-based plan in place and other viable options must be proposed. “The test and vaccinate or remove model now being explored in Northern Ireland had previously been discounted in Wales after modelling suggested it was not a viable option. As vets, we are committed to working with the Welsh government and Welsh farmers on a comprehensive strategy to control and eradicate this disease.”

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT  // 21

Laying out a robotic farm THERE IS no single correct way to lay out an automatic milking system farm. Advice offered by DairyNZ says that to minimise walking distance, ideally locate the AMS near the centre of the farm. Here are some examples from commercial farms in New Zealand. Races As the whole herd does not walk along the race at once, there can be uneven wear on an AMS farm. Areas close to the dairy and AMS can get soiled easily and will likely require more frequent maintenance. Ensure they are wide enough to make maintenance easy; position gateways at the end of the paddock closest to the dairy as this is easier for cows to exit without assistance. Water Do not limit cows’ access to water. Ideally it should be available at several locations on the farm. It is not necessary to have water in each paddock. However, depending on distance it may be in laneways, at the dairy, in the paddock or all three. Dairy There are two main considerations

when designing the dairy: cow flow and people comfort. Both are important for an efficient operation. Talk to the suppliers for different options. Grazing Management How do I manage my pasture when automatic milking? Successful automatic milking goes hand in hand with excellent pasture management, which is good news given NZ’s pastoral farming systems. This is because voluntary cow movement is largely determined by pasture availability. Looking at post-grazing residuals, and production and milking frequency data available from management software, provides a key gauge of feeding level, ensuring pasture harvested is maximised. To achieve a >70% utilisation rate with about 80-90 cows per milking station, without extended cow waiting times, requires good control of cow traffic. This is achieved using drafting units or selection gates, positioned either in the dairy or along the raceways remote from the dairy, which automatically allow targeted cows to enter a new grazing area, be returned to older pasture or

Automatic milking relies on voluntary movements of cows.

this at least two and preferably three allocations of fresh pasture (or other feed) are offered each day. How does it work for all pasture systems? Many people believe that not all grass dairy systems can work with voluntary milking. DairyNZ research has shown that with appropriate cow traffic systems in place, 24h milking can be achieved with just 2.5% of the diet concentrate fed through the AMS and over 13t/ha DM can be harvested from the farm.

trol over access to grazing (duration, area, mass, herd size) and milking frequency (herd scale twice a day, once a day or combinations within the herd) are directly imposed in the day-to-day operation of the farm. By contrast, automatic milking relies on voluntary cow movement from the grazing area to the AMS. Control of the operational running of the farm is then a shared function between farm staff and the cows themselves. It is important that rotational grazing is balanced to induce cow movement. To achieve

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sent to the dairy for milking. Typically two or three new areas of pasture are available to the herd daily, with one of these occurring near midnight to ensure the milking stations are kept busy during the early morning hours. No need to change the grazing system Profitable operation of pastoral dairy systems is based on the correct feed allowance per cow that will result in optimal/profitable feed conversion efficiency per cow and hectare. Research indicates this is in the vicinity of 80-90kg LWT/t DM. Grazing systems have been developed to utilise pasture efficiently and allocate feed to the herd in a manner that balances cow production and profit. There are grazing ‘tools’ in use that enhance this (e.g. pre-graze mowing, returning cows to a grazed area until the desired residual is achieved), and pastoral AMS utilises many of the same tools but with a few extras. But you will need to change the grazing method Within a batch milked system, con-

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

22 //  FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT

Options for switching to robotics IS A robotic milking system an option for your farm? According to DairyNZ it depends on many factors. Farm location and topography Is there reliable mobile phone coverage and broadband available? An AMS (auto milking system) requires broadband for remote servicing and phone coverage is essential so you are alerted to technical problems at the dairy. How far away do you live from the dairy? You will need to attend to alarms that can occur anytime in 24 hours. Is the farm hilly, long and narrow or does it comprise fragments of land with roads in between? Experience to date suggests that walking distances of up to 1km present few issues for cows. It is not necessary for cows to be able to see the dairy from all paddocks however; New Zealand farms are generally flat to rolling. As the land becomes steeper it is likely that more intervention will be required. Is there a service provider within two hours of your farm and will they guarantee support within this time? Don’t forget that an AMS operates 24 hours a day and require 24 hour support.

utilisation. Farm dairy A small level of Is your shed due for concentrate is generally renewal? A conversion required to maintain cow to AMS is capital flow through the milking intensive; have you got stations although there is the most from your one farm in NZ operating existing dairy? successfully with only Is the current site grass and no feed in the relatively central on the AMS. farm? The ideal location The DairyNZ research for an AMS dairy is near farm (Greenfield project) the middle of the farm so that walking distances are successfully operates as a system 2 farm. With sminimised, however the conventional systems cost of installing services emphasis is on milk such as power will be production per ha. This higher the further from is equally applicable the road or current dairy. to automatic milking, Farm system however milk production What farm system is per milking station best suited to automatic is another important milking? performance indicator for Dairy farms in NZ system profit. The focus are classified as system should be on making 1 to 5 based on the level of bought feed (including All systems require grazing off ) used good grazing and fertiliser applied. There management to are farms in encourage good every system cow flow and operating AMS in optimise pasture NZ. In general the higher the production and level of imported utilisation. feed the easier it should be to best use of the automatic implement and get the milking system, full benefit of automatic whichever farm system is milking and individual operated. cow feeding, particularly How many milking if supplementary feed is stations will your farm offered at the dairy. All need to milk the herd? systems require good The most common grazing management automated milking to encourage good systems milk one cow at cow flow and optimise a time but operate 24h/ pasture production and

Reliable mobile phone coverage is vital for robotic milking.

day. The number needed to milk a herd will depend on how often you want the cows to be milked, the peak yield of the herd and what level of utilisation of the milking stations can be achieved. Typical numbers of cows per AMS are 60 to 90. Each milking has a fixed set-up time, so the aim is to increase the yield per milking by increasing the milking interval but not to the extent that per cow production is compromised. Is a seasonal or split calving pattern more suited to AMS? Both can work well on an AMS farm. While split calving better utilises the AMS through the year, the decision should be based on economics and the profitability of

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winter milking needs to be carefully evaluated. Seasonal calving places additional pressure on the AMS about four weeks into calving. This is because of the washing time required between colostrum and mastitis cows. Plan the dairy layout so that colostrum cows can be drafted to a particular robot which avoids taking up time on the other machines. Future plans Do you expect to increase herd size in the short to medium term? Consider the AMS capacity and leave space for further robots in the dairy design. Remember as the herd gets larger the economics favour conventional milking as more cows can be milked in the

same facility whereas more cows will usually require more robots on an AMS farm. Farm business Will AMS maintain your system productivity? The association between pasture utilisation and milk yield are important in both conventional and automatic milking, however the emphasis on the two within automatic

milking has additional benefits to the system (i.e. cow flow). This means that an effective AM farm is a highly effective conventional farm. DairyNZ research has produced results from a low input system (2.5% of feed imported) that are equivalent to a ‘best practice’ conventional system. @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

OPERATOR IS KEY IN ADDITION to the technical performance of the AMS and the design of the dairy and grazing system, a key factor in a successful AMS installation is the operator. While it is important that the user is comfortable with technology and is not overwhelmed by hardware and software, it is essential that he/she is capable of taking a step back and trusting the technology. Frequent intervention and constant adjustment to the settings of the AMS and interfering with the cows will reduce attachment rates and overall performance. It is essential the operator recognises the importance of regular maintenance and cleaning. It is also important that the operator recognises that while the AMS will harvest milk from the cows, the daily management of the herd is still required. AMS is not a substitute for good farm management. Consider these questions for yourself and potential staff: ■■ Are you interested in computers and remote management? ■■

Are you organised and flexible and willing to adapt working practices to cope with the different demands of AMS?

■■

Are you capable of stepping back and leaving the system to ‘learn’ cow features?

■■

Are you willing to implement a structured and organised approach to system hygiene and system maintenance?

■■

Does technology excite or intimidate you?

■■

How good are you at managing pasture? AMS farms require skilled grassland managers and any deficiencies will be exaggerated in an AMS environment.

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

FARM DAIRIES & EQUIPMENT  // 23

Check well before buying EID gear ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION

(EID) systems consist of a transponder, a reader and a data processing unit. Coded signals are sent by radio frequency or infrared light between the components of the system. The information in this section focuses on radio frequency (RFID) forms of electronic identification and is intended to support a farmer’s own research on commercially available products. Product reliability and the how they integrate with various control systems vary widely. The benefits of EID include improving work efficiency by reducing the labour required for identifying cows, eliminating human error associated with eartag reading, producing valuable management information and reducing the amount of animal handling. EID systems can be linked to dairy management software which can collect information from milk metering systems, walk-over weighers, etc, providing ease of management and information for decision making. Typically there are three elements to the identification system: a transponder (ear tag, leg band, neck pendant, implant or rumen bolus), a reader (transceiver), and a data processing unit (e.g. laptop or handheld).

Most electronic cow identification systems used in New Zealand use radio signals to transfer the information from tag to reader (RFID). These systems have the advantage of being able to work in dirty, dusty and moist environments and do not require line of sight. Software and databases link EID codes to animals, store that information and enable decision making and data sharing. Data may be managed locally or transferred to third party databases. When linked to management databases, EID can integrate with computerised management systems that can record the information and then use it to carry out many management tasks automatically. Actions to take: ■■ When buying an EID system make sure you have a list of all the management tasks you want it to link with, and that the complete system is capable of delivering these. ■■ Despite standards, not all tags, readers and software are compatible, unless they have been bought from the same supplier. Check for compatibility before committing to a purchase. ■■ Future-proof any system you buy. Any system being considered needs to be around and fully supported for the

AUTOMATION KEYS Automatic systems made possible or easier by EID include: ■■ automatic drafting ■■

sample ID for herd testing

■■

individual feed rationing

■■

automatic weighing

■■

in-line milk metering

■■

in-line quality monitoring

■■

abattoir feedback

■■

real time identification of cows that need special attention (e.g. cows on heat, three-titters, animal health checks or treatment, etc).

■■

foreseeable future. Make sure any system you are considering buying is compatible with any existing or proposed national identification

schemes which use or will use electronic identification. EID reduces the labour required for identifying cows.

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DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

24 //  MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

A crate with no beer MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz

THE IRISH seem to have a knack for tackling and solving problems with nononsense ideas. For example, the Allingham QuadCrate, a modular carrier for ATVs, developed onfarm for some years, allows a range of tasks to be carried out safely. Whether it’s to move a few bales, chemical containers or fencing materials, or just give the farm dog a safe ride, all bases seem to be covered. Manufactured from galvanised steel, the unit is foldable and easily configured to provide carriers, toolboxes or a stock

Paul Charmley with his Kubota M110GX.

Orange choice bears fruit

A range of tasks can be carried out safely.

crate set-up; it will prove useful for jobs that don’t warrant the use of a trailer, or where the terrain is too much for something trailed. The QuadCrate mounts on the towball coupling at the rear of the ATV, and a suspension bracket mounts on the ATV’s rear carrying frame; it is easily

removed if you do want to use a trailer. Capacity is 200kg depending on the ATV model. Options include extensions, wire unroller frames or lamb boxes. William Allingham suggests the units are designed to carry -- and equally importantly bal-

ance -- the load, improving safety, and is rather more convenient than always having to tow a trailer around the farm. Whether the dog prefers riding in the crate to perching up top remains to be seen, but he should get to the job without falling off.

THE CHARMLEY’S of Dannevirke are fourth generation farmers on their 300 cow Te Rehunga dairy unit. Their purchase of a Kubota M110GX in June this year was prompted by the increasing unreliability of their old tractor – hard to get repaired and always seeming to go on strike when crops needed planting or fertiliser needed applying. Paul Charmley took an instant liking to the Kubota he trialled and decided it wasn’t going back. Ease of driving, with well laid out controls and a roomy cab, made it suitable for anyone to understand quickly, so a deal was quickly struck with local dealer Firth

and Stephenson Ltd. With 110 hours on the clock, mainly from feeding out baleage, the Kubota has become the main workhorse of three tractors and will also be used for applying fertiliser, mowing silage, ploughing, discing and topping. Charmley has yet to take full advantage of some of the Kubota’s neat features, such the Bi-Speed turning which improves an already impressive lock and which will be great for ploughing, and the rev limiter which brings fuel consumption down to miserly levels and should make sure the orange workhouse will soon pay its way. – Mark Daniel www.kubota.co.nz

www.quadcrate.co.uk

Apply Gypsum Now

The benefits of gypsum in soil treatment are well known, but its value goes well beyond this: • Helps mitigate the flow of nitrates and phosphorus in New Zealand waterways • Can be used to address the issue of sodium from applied effluent • Reduces surface run-off and drainage loss, reduces preferential flow of water run-off in soil • Can be applied by a number of different means to target risk zones • Assists with addressing high soil potassium levels for more about Natural Gypsum and soil stabilisation visit www.gypsum.co.nz Rates vary per farm and soil type. Applications can last for up to three years and can be used as a base layer in standoff (loafing) pads.

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18/10/16 10:32 AM

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS  // 25

Pottinger offers swaths without stress THE LATEST

development from Austrian grassland specialist Pöttinger enables swaths to be merged for the first time without a conditioner unit or a rake. The new CF (Cross Flow) auger system forms a single swath immediately after mowing. It addresses the demand to reduce costs, and the need for a cost-effective system for merging swathes from rear-mounted mowers. The enclosed design helps prevent forage losses and reduces fuel

consumption, making it a cost-effective alternative to trailed mowers, conserving crop and reducing soil damage. Merging the swaths from rear mower units is said to enable higher daily outputs and increased efficiency along the whole harvest chain, particularly in third or fourth cuts. The Cross Flow system is driven by the outer mower discs, a secondary gearbox, three V-belts and a double universal joint. The diagonally arranged auger with an increasing pitch profile enables large

volumes of forage to be continuously conveyed to the side to produce a uniform swath. In operation, the enclosed casing of the Cross Flow prevents

losses (100% of the mowed crop reaches the swath) so is particularly useful for delicate crops such as clovers, lucerne and forage ryes. An additional swath The new CF auger system forms a single swath immediately after mowing.

curtain can be specified for an even narrower swath. In contrast, wide placement of the crop is

also possible simply by opening the rear casing to allow a full width spread. www.originagroup.co.nz

Gumboots optional a wet spring, don’t give up hope just yet; there might be a way to get onto land that’s in less-than-ideal condition. Tyre manufacturer Mitas recently helped a Claas Axos tractor ‘walk on water’ in the often moisture laden Netherlands. To ensure the attempt was a success and the 4

tonne tractor didn’t go straight to the bottom, engineers called on a sharp pencil, calculator and the principles of Archimedes. The tractor was shod with Mitas 1250-50R32 Super Flexion Tyres at the rear and 750-55R30’s on the front, and the engineers calculated that the 2157L of air in each rear tyre and 685L in each front tyre, inflated to 2.4 bar, Tractor fitted with Mitas Super Flexion Tyres.

would be enough to walk the walk. Not really designed to take the tractor for a weekend’s snapper fishing, but to reduce soil compaction in the paddock – especially in the case of harvesters, chaser bins and tractors – the 1250 rears are capable of carrying up to 14 tonnes, and each weighs 570kg.

Claas Axos tractor ‘walking on water’.

www.mitas-tyres.com

FEED SYSTEMS SINCE 1962

DAIRY FEED SYSTEMS Supreme quality stainless steel feed trays / Exceptional back-up support / Easy to use and maintain First class installations / Robust construction / Skiold Disc Mills Grain Holding Silos / Utility Augers / Mobile Auger

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IF YOU’RE experiencing

DAIRY NEWS OCTOBER 25, 2016

26 //  MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

RAV revs up for continuing success MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz

NOW ENTERING its 21st year since the launch in 1995, the Toyota RAV 4 has graced the yards or driveways of 28,500 buyers and retains its dominant stake in the competitive SUV market. Eight times since 2001 it has taken top the spot,

including the last four years. To commemorate the milestone Toyota is launching a special Edition 21, limited to 100 units, and sure to be snapped up quickly. Based on the 2L GXL 2WD variant, and offered in Blue Gem, Ink or Glacier White exterior colours, all have silver accents on the front and rear bumpers, door

mirrors and wheel arches. Further detail is lower door mouldings offset by a black back door garnish, also used on the lower section of the rear bumper. Dual five spoke, 18 inch alloys combine with exclusive Edition 21 badging, a genuine nudge bar and complementary black headlining and pillar trims on the interior. Now in its fourth

generation since the 1995 launch, the gutsy little performer shows no signs of lying down, and brings the latest technology to an army of shrewd buyers. That technology includes Toyota Safety Sense, lane departure alert with steering assist, dynamic radar cruise control and automated high beam control. The package also

Toyota RAV4

includes blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and hill start control, seven airbags, and

a rear camera combined with front and rear and parking sensors, which all combine with the solid

construction to achieve a 5-star ANCAP safety rating. www.toyota.co.nz

One-fingered approach to ute safety MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz

damper, and combines with torsion bars built into the hinge points to make opening or closing

effortless. Installation is said to be easy without the need for drilling.

Meanwhile, solid closed lids on ute trays have become popular, especially for the security

they offer. Unfortunately, their weight can make them difficult to open, a problem the TopUp ute lid

WITH UTES command-

ing an increasing share of the new vehicle market, a couple of accessories from Airplex will help make life easier and much safer. The ProLift tailgate assist system prevents heavy tailgates from freefalling to the fully open position, averting the risk of injury to the operator -or to youngsters -- and it helps raise the gate to its closed position with just one finger. The system works with the help of a hydraulic

required; and the fully open position releases the whole load area for the biggest items, increasing the versatility of the system. The lids are finished in high quality Du Pont paint matching the original vehicle colour; the lid interior is fitted with a hard wearing fabric to protect itself and the load from abrasion. www.airplex.co.nz

ProLift is operator-safe.

FEED PROCESSOR F O R A L L S T O C K F E E D O P E R AT IO N S All Supreme Feed Processors have been designed according to sound, field tested engineering principles to make them the most versatile and reliable feed preparation units available. Features include.... • Patented auger design • Extremely accurate electronic measurement • Optimally designed mixing tub • Full control of cut length • Highest quality components and materials

www.tulloch.co.nz

can solve. A system of lifting arms, clever geometry and assistor springs make lifting and lowering easy, and the three-point operating system allows the lid to be used in the closed, partopen and fully open positions, even at maximum road speeds. The partly open position allows the carriage of slightly oversize or irregular loads – no trailer

0800 88 55 624

DEALERS NATIONWIDE

Bale feeder FOR FARMERS looking to ease the work of feeding mobs of cattle it would be hard to look past the Daniher bale feeder, developed and manufactured in Australia. Fundamentally this is a frame with a full width poly belt conveyor system, mounted on a trailer or farm ute. The electrically powered drive is engaged via an in-cab switch, or a hand-held remote, and the travelling belt delivers slices of baled material off the back of the carrying vehicle. The system allows drops around the paddock, while the reversing system allows the bale to be pulled back onto the body when switching locations. After loading, strings are cut next to the knots and held in a full width retainer system at the rear of the machine. Once unloaded the retained strings can be removed easily and disposed of properly. For operators wishing to feed rounds, spikes are driven into the centre of the bale and tethered forward to the machine’s headstock. Engaging the belt drive has the effect of unrolling the bale and placing it in a carpet in front of the stock. – Mark Daniel www.daniherbalefeeder.com.au

DRESS FOR SUCCESS As a side dress to boost crop growth, SustaiN’s the perfect fit.

Nitrogen uptake is essential for crop growth – and a well-timed side dress of nitrogen will have a big impact on your yield. But when rainfall can’t be relied on, the risk of nitrogen loss is high. SustaiN is a nitrogen fertiliser that’s proven to reduce nitrogen loss through volatilisation by up to half. Powered by Agrotain nitrogen stabiliser, SustaiN is backed by New Zealand trials and 20 years of international testing. It’s a smart, efficient side dress that’ll protect your investment and give you your best shot at success.

WAVE23206FORAGE_DNFPINKY

Dress your crops for success this season. Talk to your Ballance Nutrient Specialist, your local merchant, or our customer services team on 0800 222 090.

AGROTAIN® is a registered trademark of Koch Agronomic Services.

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