Fonterra’s $7/kgMS opening forecast. PAGE 3 HELPING HAND Little Manila in Ashburton PAGE 16
CASH IN
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MAY 29, 2018 ISSUE 401 // www.dairynews.co.nz
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Fonterra’s $7/kgMS opening forecast. PAGE 3 HELPING HAND Little Manila in Ashburton PAGE 16
CASH IN
Use technology on farms PAGE 37
MAY 29, 2018 ISSUE 401 // www.dairynews.co.nz
LIVING THE DREAM
Share Farmers of the Year, Dan and Gina Duncan’s career switch pays off. PAGE 6-7
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NEWS // 3
$7/kgMS payout tops forecasters’ range PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz
FONTERRA’S $7/KGMS openBuffalo soldiers in Cleveland. PG.26
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ing milk price is at the top end of the range seen by market followers and analysts. “Hopefully it’s a conservative forecast,” Federated Farmers national dairy chairman Chris Lewis told Dairy News. “It is definitely positive news and will be very much welcomed by farmers. “I guess for a lot of analysts and farmers who follow the USD, Global Dairy Trade and the futures it probably comes as no surprise that it’s a good figure. “Commodity prices have been doing well for the past few months, the dollar has dropped: it’s down to US$0.69 and was down to 68.50 for a while; four months ago it was up in the mid 70s.” The milk price is a little higher than he expected but a welcome surprise. BNZ senior economist Doug Steel thought a range of $6.50 - $7/kgMS was possible based on current pricing and currency levels, so it is at the top end of that. “It matches the previous highest opening forecasts [in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons] from Fonterra. In those seasons, the first ended up at $8.40/kgMS, the second ended up at $4.40/kgMS. It’s a reminder that this is just a forecast and, like any forecast, has a fair margin of error
Fonterra has delivered a welcome surprise to its farmer shareholders – a $7/kgMS opening forecast for the new season. Inset: Doug Steel, BNZ senior economist.
around it.” Steel says for the 2017-18 season the milk price forecast lift to $6.75 from $6.55 was also at the top end of expectations, “but credible”. “Based on our calculations, they are consistent with international dairy prices and the currency remaining around current levels. Eyes are on the GDT auctions and FX market to see if this is how it plays out. “Higher milk prices put pressure on Fonterra’s earnings (as an input cost to the business) which were already challenged by the payment to Danone and the impairment from the co-op’s Beingmate investment.” Overall the announcements indicate positive cashflow for the dairy industry ahead, says Steel. It will
help NZ’s external accounts and economy. “For the Reserve Bank NZ it reinforces that international dairy product prices are running a touch above the bank’s medium term views and the currency is running lower than anticipated.” Fonterra forecasts a 1.5% increase in its milk collections next season, which is consistent with BNZ’s 2% pick for the industry as a whole. “As always the weather be a key factor in milk production over the season,” says Steel. Fonterra chairman John Wilson says a continued positive global supply-and-demand picture gives the co-op confidence to increase its current forecast farmgate milk price into the new season.
“Demand is expected to remain strong, especially from China and for butter and AMF. We are expecting the global dairy market’s current prices, especially for fats, to continue throughout the new season. “We are also forecasting our NZ 2018-19 milk collections to be 1525 million kgMS -- a 1.5% increase on our current forecast for this season -- and we expect to see a lift in supply from the EU, US, Australia and Argentina. “We will announce our forecast earnings per share for the 2019 financial year in July as normal.” Fonterra is required under the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act to announce its forecast milk price at the beginning of each season, starting June 1.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
4 // NEWS
$6.90 payout third highest in decade PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz
VOLATILITY IN
earnings is the result of prices staying high for milk-price products, says Fonterra chairman John Wilson. High prices for those products also influence margins in the co-op’s food service business. Fonterra has revised the forecast dividend range for the full 2017-18 year from 25-35c per share down to 15-20c per share. Meanwhile it has revised this year’s farmgate milk price upwards by 20 cents to $6.75/kgMS. The forecast total cash payout for farmers increases to $6.90-$6.95/kgMS, the
third highest payout this decade. Wilson says the forecast farmgate milk price is good news for farmers but earnings are being hit by volatility. “There are two critical elements to it,” Wilson told Dairy News. “One is the prices moving between our milk price products and our non-milk price products – whole milk powder, butter, skim milk powder and anhydrous milk fat in particularly relative to cheeses, caseins and those products. “It is clear with WMP, butter and AMF being strong that goes to milk price rather than earnings.” The second element is that prices of products
which go into the co-op’s food service business are staying a lot higher than historically. That decreases the margin in the business -- the advance ingredients business, consumer and food service. Wilson says previously they had talked about a possible weakening heading into this time of year because more production was expected out of Europe. “What we have seen is the market has stayed very balanced. And we have seen a strengthening in particular across the fat portfolio. “That has meant we have lifted $6.55 - $6.65/ kgMS. The challenge with that is we are getting this ongoing
volatility in our earnings, to the frustration of our unit holders and shareholders.” Ongoing volatility in earnings doesn’t reflect on internal business performance, he says. It reflects the significant shift in stream returns and significant lifts in pricing “which can have an impact on our ability to attract margins or maintain growth margins in our business particularly late in the season.” Wilson also says higher milk price puts pressure on Fonterra’s earnings in a year which is already proving challenging due to the payment to Danone and the impairment of the co-operative’s Beingmate investment.
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see our sales margins are not where they need to be at this point in the year to achieve our original earnings forecast.” Figures presented show gross margins for consumer and food service in Asia for the nine months were 24%, down from 29% in the equivalent period last year; in Greater China 22%, down from 32%; in Oceania 20%, down from 24%; and Latin America 29%, down from 31%. Another development is strong growth in China imports – 12% over quarter three, says Spierings. But it is lower than the year before, especially in fat products such as butter. Liquid milk equivalents (LME) have dropped from 400m LME, and growth of consumer goods service to under 130m LME. Adding the two years together they are still on a pathway of 400m LME per year but it is less than expected.
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FONTERRA CHIEF executive Theo Spierings says volumes for the year were down by 5%, driven by lower inventory. The co-op had a weak first quarter: in the third quarter in ingredients, sales were up 9% and China had growth of 12%. Commodities WMP, butter and skim milk powder are selling at a premium which is translated into milk price, he says. The milk price increase is pretty sharp at the end of the year affecting margins in ingredients and customer food service at the back end of the season. “There is always a natural lag in being able to pass through an increase in our input costs. But this increase has been both rapid and late in the year, making it difficult for these higher costs to flow through into our sales for this financial year. “Against this backdrop, we can
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NEWS // 5
PM breaks out gumboots MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
PRIME MINISTER
Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Agriculture and Biosecurity Damien O’Connor stepped into gumboots last Monday at a Waikato dairy farm to hear farmers’ and others’ views on M.bovis. Judge Valley Dairies, run by John Hayward and Susan O’Regan, played host, hearing Ardern say that though $85 million is earmarked to address the issue, a biosecurity levy may follow. Who would pay the levy? people asked, given that though farmers have most to lose from biosecurity incursions, importers or tourists almost always cause them.
The Prime Minister said she would tell MPI and its advisors that farmers want more openness, discussion and a plan for culling or animal management. She also promised prompt action to get compensation paid to affected herd owners. “At this stage we will continue eradication, but it was important for us to meet farmers and listen to their concerns.” Dairy farmer and vet Jenni Macky encouraged people to seek more information from government, industry and local sources, and not to assume M.bovis has the same types of vectors as foot and mouth disease. She said because the M.bovis bacteria’s cell structure prevents it from surviving outside
wear. Susan O’Regan said the “main worry of livestock farmers is the lack of decision on the right
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peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
A GOVERNMENT decision on
on how to deal with M.bovis in the future should be known early this week. MPI last week prepared a Cabinet paper on options for the Government in light of more herds having been found carrying the disease. The Treasury is also understood to have contributed to the paper, given the cost implications and benefits of the respective options. Farming leaders, the Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and government officials were
updated earlier in the week on the disease and gave their views on how best to combat it. Their views were likely to have been contained in the Cabinet paper. Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says everyone understands that farmers need certainty, hence the commitment to making a decision. “The meeting was constructive with all participants, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, updated on the known extent of the disease, the effects it’s having and the costs, both social and economic, of dealing with it.” Organisations represented
Farmers asked the Government for transparency and inclusiveness in decisionmaking. And don’t let emotions rule, they urged. Host farmer John Hayward said Judge Valley
at the meeting were DairyNZ, B+LNZ, Federated Farmers, Rural Women New Zealand, Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association. The two key options before the Cabinet were either ‘phased eradication’ of the disease over time, or ‘long term management’. Phased eradication would mean placing diseased herds in lockdown for slaughter over possibly a year. This is what is now happening. The alternative is to try to slow the spread of the disease. 38 herds are known to be infected and 40 more are on restricted notice, meaning they are highly
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way forward”. “Farmers are doers,” she said. “So just tell us what the plan is and we’ll make it happen.”
likely to be infected. NZ has 11,918 dairy cow herds. O’Connor says farmer, rural community and animal welfare is at the heart of the decision. DairyNZ Chairman Jim van der Poel described the past 10 months as challenging for farmers living with a great deal of uncertainty. He says the meeting with the Prime Minister and others was very helpful with a lot of useful information shared and constructive discussion. Federated Farmers President Katie Milne says while Mycoplasma bovis is challenging, the degree of cooperation between farmers and the Government is positive.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
6 // DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS
Winners inspired by industry s PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz
THE WINNERS of the
2018 NZ Dairy Industry Awards, Dan and Gina Duncan, are overwhelmingly positive about the industry. The former registered valuers won the ultimate award – 2018 NZ Share Farmers of the Year.
They say the way dairy farmers interact with each other is fantastic. “Look at the discussion groups and how willing people are to share what they are doing,” Dan told Dairy News. Gina says DairyNZ and Federated Farmers put in the hard yards with central and regional government “always on our side fighting for what is best
for the industry”. The Duncans are 50:50 sharemilkers for the Pouto Topu A Trust milking 1020 cows on the 460ha Pouto property. Both Dan and Gina, aged 32, hold Bachelor of Applied Sciences degrees with majors in rural valuation and management; Dan holds a double major including agriculture. He grew up on
LIVING THE DREAM THE JUDGES said Dan and Gina Duncan can be summed up in three words: passionate, professional and committed. “They are a friendly, outgoing couple who are working on an exceptionally challenging farm,” the judges say. “They epitomise living the dream. They left secure jobs as registered valuers and made the career change to dairy farming, and they’re excelling at it. They’re the complete package.” Share Farmer head judge Kevin McKinley says nothing has come easy for them; they’ve had to work hard. “When they began their career they sought out employers whom they thought would be good mentors and role models for them. They’ve looked for opportunities where people are considered important,” he says.
Waikato dairy farms. They have two sons, Lachie (3) and Brock (3 months). The kiwifruit vine disease Psa propelled them into the dairy industry much sooner than expected. They were both working as valuers in Tauranga when Psa hit in late 2010. Kiwifruit was a huge chunk of Dan’s work and no one was buying or selling. So when he saw the unwelcome prospect of having to work in town, he brought forward by several years his plan to go dairy farming. It was a crossroads, says Gina. “We were discussing it and I said ‘if you are going to make a change it should be now’. I didn’t realise it would be my change too. But that is all right.” Dan got his first herd
Dan and Gina Duncan with 3-month old Brock on the farm.
manager job in Matamata in the 2012-13 season. “We knew we wanted to get a 50/50 position quickly because that is where you pick up a lot of the skills and growth for achieving farm owner-
ship,” says Gina. They managed to get a contract milking job in Tokoroa for 620 cows the following year. “That was a pretty big step considering he had only been in the indus-
try for a year,” says Gina. “We were there for three years but with 50/50 being in our mind we came up here for this job. This is our second season.” Gina grew up in an urban environment in
BLOWN AWAY BY SNOW THE DUNCANS were ‘blown away’ by the NZ national dairy awards night and meeting up with all the finalists for four days in Invercargill beforehand. Gina says on the awards night they were led in by huskies and a sled with confetti falling on them. “It was incredible, amazing – they did a flawless job of the night.” Entering the awards launched their strategic plan to open doors for the future, and evolved into the realisation of what a huge honour it is to take away the title. Dan says it is easy to get absorbed in the day-to-day running of the farm. “We thought entering the awards was a good way to slow down and analyse everything we are doing on another level. That was a big thing we wanted to do – force ourselves to do that analysis so as to
know exactly where we sat. It definitely served its purpose, the amount of detail we had to go through.” Dan entered Dairy Trainee of the Year in 2012 in his first season and was runner-up in Waikato. He entered Manager of the Year when they were contract milking and says that was a “balls-up” as they did not prepare enough. “We explained how we were farming but we didn’t really back it up with the evidence.” They did not achieve a placing, but still it was helpful in that they dug into their business again and worked out what they were doing, and set goals. This time their goal was to win the regional award and after that to get a merit award at the finals. “We never thought we could actually win the nationals,” says Dan.
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DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS // 7
y solidarity Nelson and when Dan got his first dairy job she kept on with her work in urban valuing. When he decided to go farming Gina says she wasn’t really aware that it was a two-player job. When Dan went for the contract milking job and said she should be coming to the interview as well, she asked herself ‘why am I coming?’ “That’s when it fell into place pretty quickly that it is both of us going into this together. From then on I was rearing the calves and trying to do as
much of the business side as possible.” When they had Lachie in 2014 she took a massive step back from valuing although she still does some at home now. She got much more involved on the farm and did an AI course with LIC and “really tried to integrate myself more into the business”. She now does about 25% of their AI at the Pouto farm. They say they were lucky with their move to sharemilking in Pouto, timing was right in terms
ISOLATION CHALLENGES THE FARMS are on the isolated Pouto peninsula on the northern side of the Kaipara Harbour, with the nearest town, Dargaville, a 50-minute drive away. Dan Duncan says the isolation is not an issue for the two of them, but it takes effort to ensure their children will get the socialisation they need. That requires four hours driving three times a week to take Lachie to daycare in Dargaville. They also started a play group at the local school. Isolation also requires good organisation: they need to be ready when contractors come. “We do a lot of the mulching, drilling, spraying and fertiliser spreading ourselves because of that isolation -- having a bit more control over when things are done because it can be tough to get contractors on time down here” says Gina. In their first season at Pouto they hosted a discussion group. “The farm hadn’t been opened up to a discussion group for quite a while. We had a real good turnout with people interested in what was going on and, of course, who the new people were,” says Dan. “It was a good way to get some ideas of what people think we should be doing to help improve the farm.” The DairyNZ resources are also “bloody good in terms of support”. They also got Northern Regional Council to do a farm environment plan which was helpful in setting priorities. Though all the property was fenced, some of it was old, so that helped prioritise that work, which has now all been done. “We have always believed that environmental compliance should be the bare minimum,” says Gina. Farm ownership is the long term goal but the current goal is to retain a 50/50 job. “We can’t see that part of our business changing in the next 5-10 years but we do want to start looking at adding an equity partnership on the side or something like that,” he says.
of rising milk prices but still quite low cow values. Dan says this season they peak-milked 1020 cows on two farms owned by the Pouto Topu A trust. They have an adjoining runoff where they run the young stock. They run a system 2 operation.
“We try to prepare the best we can for dry summers; that’s our main challenge here. “We calve early, use summer crops and use once a day milkdingas a tool. We have a small amount of bought-in feed. We run a pretty simple system.”
Dan and Gina Duncan farm on the isolated Poutu peninsula near Kaipara Harbour.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
8 // DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS
Great with people THE 2018 Dairy Manager of the Year winner Gerard Boerjan aims for excellence in everything he does. “He has great experience as a manger of people and a great passion for working with people in a large team environment,” dairy manager head judge Mary Craw says. “He takes a systems approach to the way he manages the farm and has good systems in place to ensure nothing gets through the gaps. “Everything is well documented, he covers health and safety to an exceptional level and his financial understanding is of the highest calibre.” Boerjan (50) has successfully farmed in Portugal and Brazil and is now farm manager for Trevor Hamilton on his 553ha Takapau prop-
Simone Smail
Got ladder, will climb DAIRY TRAINEE of the Year Simone
Gerard Boerjan and wife Marlene after his win in Invercargill.
erty. He won $22,600 in cash and prizes and won the DairyNZ Employee Engagement and the Westpac Financial Management and Planning merit awards. The judges say Boerjan is a stand-alone manager who doesn’t just
assume things are getting done; he closely monitors things. “He regularly reviews the information he gets against onfarm targets. “He’s always monitoring multiple systems to report back to the farm owners and has
good procedures in place to do so. “Gerard possesses the ability to manage a large, complex business with an absentee owner. Every detail of the farm is closely monitored but there’s a real human touch to it.”
Smail wants to keep climbing the industry ladder. The 24-year old herd manager says she is excited about the future following her win at the Dairy Industry Awards in Invercargill. “I’m so excited… I cannot wait to keep climbing the ladder,” she told Dairy News. Smail says farm ownership is a longterm goal that “may take a while, but it’s certainly a goal”. She won the dairy trainee title in her third attempt, winning $10,600 in prizes and the DeLaval Communication
and Engagement Award. Smail is herd manager on an Invercargill City Council farm, working for Steve and Tracy Henderson on the 780cow, 310ha property at Invercargill. Dairy trainee head judge Chris Withy says Smail presented herself well, was at ease in the environment and gave considered, accurate answers. “She is an excellent example of someone who hasn’t grown up in a farming environment but has developed an obvious love of the land and the stock she works with.” “Simone shows that anyone can go dairying and succeed if they work hard.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
10 // NEWS
Dairy Goat Cooperative new chief executive David Hemara (left) with his predecessor Tony Giles.
Goat co-op’s new boss a steady hand SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
A NEW leader is at the helm of
Hamilton’s Dairy Goat Cooperative but don’t expect big changes. David Hemara, who took over this month from Tony Giles as chief executive, says his determination to maintain a stable course outweighs any desire for change. “The culture we have in the business -- the spirit of cooperation that exists between staff and shareholders -- is an important part of the DGC fabric. “We have control of manufacturing and product development, ownership of brands and manufacturing entities and shareholder alignment. “I’m determined that as we grow, those are the things that need to be maintained,” he told Dairy News. Hemara, who joined DGC in 2014 as general manager strategy and commercial, says he is taking on a company with “very strong fundamentals”. He says DGC’s business has grown enormously under the leadership of Giles, who joined 18 years ago and led its marketing unit before becoming chief executive in 2014. Giles says DGC has been a wonderful place to work and grow.
“When we started out, we would have never imagined getting to where we are now. Sometimes you pinch yourself, really. “Having said that, the company has always had a long term view of things -- investing now for reward later, and that’s still the case.” Giles says a lot of market development and science work underway will pay dividends in the future. “That’s one of our real strengths.” Giles has been responsible for building DGC’s market from scratch. He recalls a steady growth during the first 10 years, off a small base; in the past six years growth doubled, leading to the construction of a second powder dryer, the single-biggest investment in the company’s history. “It’s interesting that when I started with DGC we had more shareholders but more smaller farms; we went through a period of consolidation in which the number of farms went down and herd sizes went up.” Five years ago, DGC started taking milk from 24 extra farms to meet demand for goat milk infant nutritionals. Today, the co-op has 72 farms, with average herd size of 700 milking goats. DGC processes 50 million litres of milk annually. Last year turnover was $193m and is expected to reach $230m this year. The co-op still
has a waiting list of suppliers. DGC infant nutritionals are exported to 30 countries under different brands. Traditional markets include China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, UK, Turkey, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Giles has also been instrumental in taking DGC’s own brand Capricare into the EU, a potential growth region for the co-op. Several years ago DGC led the process to compile a dossier to convince the European Food Safety Authority that infant formula from goat protein is safe for children. Hemara says until then the EU’s rules on infant formula applied mostly to cow and soy milk. “Getting regulatory approval to get our product into Europe was huge work and led by DGC; this has allowed us to get into an new exciting phase of development and growth.” DGC’s main competition comes from manufacturers in France and the Netherlands. Hemara says the hard work done by DGC to develop new markets has attracted compettion which is “quite normal”. “Our aim is to keep striving to be better and stay ahead of competition. A quality product and very strong brand and market development is what we strive for.”
LIC DIRECTOR ELECTIONS SOUTH TARANAKI farmer Ben
Dickie has been elected to the LIC board effective June 1. He replaces retiring director Steve Poole. Dickie joins Wairarapa farmer and scientist Dr Alison Watters as one of two LIC directors for the central North Island region. Watters was re-elected during the regional election. Both will serve four years. The LIC board has seven farmerelected directors and three independents. Chair Murray King says the appointments provide a balance of freshness and continuity.
“It’s excellent to see the next generation of farmers being represented on the board with Ben’s appointment. He has been actively enhancing his governance skills over recent years and brings a strong background in finance. “I am equally thrilled to see that Alison has retained her position. She has proved a hard-working and diligent director and brings strengths in unique areas, particularly with her science background.” Dickie and his wife Vanessa have three children and milk 1500 cows on three farms near Waverley, South Taranaki.
Prior to becoming a dairy farmer in 2005, he was a Sydney financial analyst specialising in publicly listed mining companies. He completed a chartered financial analyst programme in 2003 and has a BSc (Hons) in geology and a BCom in finance from Otago University. He was elected a Fonterra shareholder councillor in 2016. Alison Watters and her husband Andrew, dairy farmers since 1999, milk 600 cows in Wairarapa. She joined the board in 2014. She is PhD in animal science and has extensive governance experience.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
12 // NEWS
EU/NZ trade deal will benefit dairy PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
DAIRY PRODUCTS
will be high on the agenda when New Zealand and the European Union begin formal negotiations next
month on a free trade agreement (FTA). EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström will attend a formal launch of negotiations in NZ, understood to be starting with a meeting with Trade Minister David
Parker about June 20 to set the agenda and define the process. Malmstrom and EU negotiators will meet officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) during her twoday stay.
TWO YEAR WORK AHEAD TRADE MINISTER David Parker says he looks forward to welcoming Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to NZ. He shares her view that the EU and NZ are already closely aligned in values and an open, global outlook. This opens the way for a free trade deal with a massive economy that will boost NZ jobs and incomes. “These negotiations offer significant economic gains for NZ and the EU. They are an example of like-minded countries
working together at a time when the world faces a rising tide of protectionism. “The EU is our third largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth more than $20 billion. Even excluding the UK, our trade with the EU is worth about $16 billion annually,” he says. Parker says at the start of negotiations the Government will outline our negotiating priorities. The FTA is expected to take about two years to finalise.
In July MFAT trade negotiators will go to Brussels to start the detailed formal negotiations. Dairy News understands that a high priority for the NZ negotiators will be improved access and lower tariffs for our dairy exports to the EU. The chief executive of the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ), Kimberly Crewther, says the talks will be a milestone that will “get us around the table to begin the negotiations”. “DCANZ welcomes the EU’s decision to move forward with negotiating a free trade deal with NZ. We thank the Government and officials for their hard work and we hope negotiations com-
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom is heading to NZ next month.
mence in a timely, comprehensive and ambitious way.” Crewther says NZ’s exports to the EU are highly restricted by market access barriers. Even the in-quota tariff on butter is 700 euros per tonne, meaning that in 2017 only 9000 of the two million tonnes of butter
consumed in the EU was imported. “Maintaining this level of protection does not make sense when the EU is a competitive dairy exporter in its own right, and there is significant two-way investment between the NZ and EU dairy industries. “DCANZ is placing
priority on NZ and the EU reaching a high-quality trade agreement that includes the elimination of all existing tariff barriers.” Eliminating tariffs will allow European customers to choose NZ products and ensure that our farmers and dairy processors get the fair value of those goods.”
RURAL MEDIA HABITS
THE FACTS! ● ● ● ● ● ●
88% of farmers read rural print at least weekly 79% of farmers say print is their preferred format 82% of farmers are influenced by rural print 77% of farmers use rural print for business and research 74% of farmers pay attention to the adverts in rural print 90% of farmers act as a result of reading rural print
Per•ceptive
The Rural Media Habits Survey 2018 is independent research conducted by Perceptive Research on behalf of the majority of rural publishers. Participants were screened to exclude lifestylers and ensure a robust sample of 820 Commercial Farmers. Results show the majority of farmers read rural print, find it highly relevant to their businesses, and that it influences their purchasing decisions more than all other media.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NEWS // 13
Payout ok, other challenges loom PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
THE INCOME outlook for New Zealand dairy farmers for the new season looks good, but other challenges loom. That’s the view of the ANZ Bank rural economist Con Williams, forecasting a medium term milk price outlook of $6.75/kgMS, up 25 cents on the bank’s earlier prediction. Fonterra last week announced an opening forecast of $7/kgMS.
While demand for milk products remains solid, milk production in NZ is sluggish, Williams says. NZ milk supply has underperformed for two seasons and may well ‘bounce back’ in the new season. But the rest of the news is not all great, he says. “Broadly there are challenges from Mycoplasma bovis and adjustments to the use of palm kernel expeller (PKE). Then there is still a lot of uncertainty on government policy areas such as the labour markets and environmental regulation.”
Williams says the decision expected this week on how MPI, the industry and the Government will deal with the M.bovis is Con Williams, ANZ going to be important to the industry. At least 300 farmers face a challenging time with the disease. “It looks like it’s going to be very
‘Fasten your seat belts’ changes ahead GLOBAL MILK production will need to increase by 26% in the next decade to meet expected consumer requirements, according to Torsten Hemme, the managing director of the IFCN Dairy Research Centre in Germany. Hemme addressed dairy farmers from around the world at the Alltech ONE18 Conference held in Lexington, Kentucky, last week. “In the next ten years we will need 26% more milk. It will be demanded and will be produced. Most of this milk will be produced in emerging countries,” he says. “Dairy farm numbers and structure will change radically. Fasten your seat belts, we might underestimate speed.” NZ/Australia has the largest average size of dairy farms in the world with 364 cows. North American farms average 180 cows, while the average in South East Asia is 1.9 cows. Cost of milk production
able future.” around the world difHowever, he says fers by a factor of 10. volatility will always IFCN data shows be part of the industhe milk world protry as “we live in a duction growth rate complex and fast in 2016 was the changing dairy lowest since 1997, world”. caused by poor Disruption could prices and poor be caused by many weather, but it is factors, including increasing again. “not getting susHemme says it is Torsten Hemme tainability right and unclear whether the increased production will come not getting millennials on board”. Dairy consultant Jack Rodenfrom an increase in cow numbers burg, Dairy Logix, says farmers or higher yields. He says technology will accel- who lead in labour efficiency will erate structural change and the lead in the future. This will lead to IFCN has begun benchmarking the larger farms. “Economies of scale result impact of new technology on farm. He also warned that the indus- mostly from scale of mechanisatry depends on the trust and prefer- tion,” he says. • Alltech paid for Stephen Cooke to ence of consumers on dairy. “If this industry continues at visit California as part of the Alltech 2.3% demand growth a year, we Dairy Tour, which coincides with the will all have a relatively comfort- annual One Conference.
difficult to run a long term eradication programme and if so some other system will be needed to contain the disease.” Then there’s the use of PKE, of which in the 2017-18 season a record 2.4 million tonnes were imported to plug feed gaps. Williams says farmers must now weigh up the economics of using PKE to retain high milk production versus any penalty this may incur. Environmental and compliance issues will also come into play this season with a particular focus on
nitrate leaching. Farmers have plenty of means to reduce nitrate leaching by 10 - 15% without much impacting on their profitability, Williams says. Farmers will need to get specialist advice given the nature of the science being used to formulate regulations. “People will need to adopt technology that allows compliance to be more easily navigated. There is a danger that regulation will go too far and make everything too hard and I see technology playing a key role to meet those new requirements.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
14 // DAIRYNZ FARMERS FORUM
Co-op churns out West Coast gold SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
INDEPENDENT MILK
processor Westland Milk has proven consumers’
key role in the company’s developing business strategies. Two years ago, the Hokitika co-op had no product in the domestic butter market, despite
having produced Westgold butter for export since 2004. Today, Westgold butter is the third biggest-selling butter in the North Island, with two million
packs sold since its New Zealand launch in August 2016. Westland chief executive Toni Brendish outlined Westgold’s success at the recent Dairy NZ
to be e v a h ] will s r e ing. m r h t t [Fa h g i the r o d o t ed se of o regulat p r u p the That’s tion. a l u g e r ntal &A. e m n o TVNZ’s Q r n i o v t n n e e nm iro r the Env o f r e t is rker, Min David Pa
“
We cannot simply apply
more fertiliser and hope that it will give us more grass or crop yield, those days are
over and now it is a delicate balance which we have to
“
observe rigorously.
John Barnes, Director Fertiliser New Zealand, www.fertnz.co.nz
TM 8 1 0 y a 2 s d l e Fi tand #c32
s
Westgold Butter from the West Coast is now the number three seller in the North Island.
Westland Milk ■■
Founded in 1970
■■
NZ’s second-largest dairy co-op
■■
West Coast’s largest employer
■■
Contributes 14.35% of the region’s GDP
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Makes butter, dairy powders and specialist nutrition products.
Farmers Forum in Hamilton. Brendish joined Westland in September 2016 with a brief from the coop’s 400 farmer suppliers to turn the business around. To meet objectives she turned her attention to consumer feedback and business trends. “What we started to understand was [the need] to bring this Westgold business to life in NZ,” she says. Westland had been churning butter in a traditional way and bulkexporting the product. “As people were buying the product overseas, they needed to see a local NZ product as well; consumers were looking for authenticity in the product and needed to understand its provenance and the traceability,” Brendish says. Westland developed a strategy derived from retail scanning data, knowledge of butter brands available in the market, consumer research and retailer input. It discovered that consumers were looking
for a real sense of indulgence. “We had benefitted from the fact that butter had moved from this ‘evil’ product to a good fat, now regarded by people as more of a product you could have every day [and with a sense] of indulgence. “We used consumer research and identified a point among other butters for the everyday gourmet; there was a competitive market but we also identified by the research that there was a spot we could find in this market to put Westgold.” The launch of Westgold butter in NZ rode on advertising and marketing promoting the co-op’s traditional Fritz churning method and Westland’s heritage and authenticity. “We brought back the cream, heart and soul of the West Coast and ultimately Westgold to build brand awareness,” Brendish says. Brendish says the success of Westgold butter proves that products can be brought to life by listening to consumers and customers.
GLOBAL BRANDS INTERNATIONAL BRANDS can have a local presence, says Westland Milk chief executive Toni Brendish. She says launching Westgold butter locally enabled the co-op to sell more products overseas. “People look to social media to confirm that international brands do have a local presence and the authenticity and the traceability of product they are looking for.” Westgold’s success has also helped raise the milk payout to its farmer shareholders.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
DAIRYNZ FARMERS FORUM // 15
Take pride in progress – Wilson SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
FONTERRA CHAIRMAN John Wilson says the industry should be “incredibly proud” of how far thinking and onfarm practices in sustainability have come in a short time. Speaking at the DairyNZ Farmers Forum earlier this month, Wilson spoke about his childhood days on his family farm. “Running around on our farm and then working on our farm… even going back as far as five to seven years ago, how different it is on our farms today,”
he said. Speaking on DairyNZ’s strategy, Dairy Tomorrow, Wilson described it as an exciting step for an industry long accustomed to transitioning. “And this strategy is all about how we transition and how we respond to the requirements to change at a far faster rate. “The strategy will undoubtedly stretch us; it will take many of us outside our comfort zone at times but that’s a good thing. “We are an industry known for innovation within and outside the farmgate.” Wilson says he is confident that the industry, with its can-do attitude, will
STRATEGY GOALS ■■
to protect and nurture the environment for future generations
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to build the world’s most competitive and resilient dairy farm businesses
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to produce the highest quality and most valued dairy nutrition
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to be world-leading in onfarm animal care
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to build great workplaces for New Zealand’s most talented workforce
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and to help grow vibrant, prosperous communities.
Dairy industry leaders at the DairyNZ Farmers Forum.
farmers whose poor behavior give the industry a bad name. “Unfortunately, like every industry we have a tail and sometimes that tail can be too long; there is poor behavior among some farmers.” DairyNZ chairman Jim van der Poel told the Farmers Forum that the strategy and its goals continue the good work being done on farms. “A lot of dairy farmers have already been doing great things to build competitive businesses, produce quality product and be leaders in sustainability, animal care, employment and in the community.
continue to meet the expectations of communities and global customers. He showed the 550 farmers at the forum a chart of Fonterra’s progress in sustainability. It showed that 95% of the co-op’s supplying farms in NZ take part in nutrient management reporting and benchmarking and 98.4% of waterways on supplying farms are fenced to keep cows out. Fonterra farmers have reduced somatic cell count by 22% since 2009. Wilson says significant progress has been made on sustainability and the Dairy Tomorrow is the next step. He also touched on a small group of
“I believe this strategy will help transition farmers into future farming systems.” Van der Poel says NZ farmers are great producers of high quality milk and milk products. “We are one of the world’s best at it. We all know that as a small country we punch well above our weight as a food producer. “But keeping our production and meeting our goals as a sustainable, responsible sector takes skill as we implement farm systems that are more complex, scientific and technologydriven than ever.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
16 // NEWS
Little Manila in Ashburton NIGEL MALTHUS
FOR A few days in May, Ashburton’s i-site information centre could have been mistaken for a small corner of Manila as the Philippines Embassy took it over for one of its regular mobile consular visits. Young single men and whole family groups gathered around the office as Filipinos from around the district and further afield arrived to register new births, renew passports, etc.
The Ashburton district has a high population of Filipinos, especially dairy workers and their families, and is home to the Filipino Dairy Workers in New Zealand (FDWNZ) group. FDWNZ chairman Earl Magtibay says the Philippines mobile consulate first came to Ashburton in 2011, at the group’s suggestion, and now regularly travels the country. Previously, he says, families faced an expensive trip to the embassy in Wellington. Immigration problems prompted the formal set-up of the group in
VET TURNED ADVOCATE EARL MAGTIBAY has been in New Zealand about 10 years. He qualified as a veterinarian in the Philippines but grins, saying “I don’t think it’s my calling any more”. He finds it more rewarding to solve people’s problems in his role with the FDWNZ. His day job is assistant farm manager on a two-shed dairy farm near Rakaia where he is responsible for a herd of 450. “I’ve got really good bosses, because I’ve been there six years already.” The group has been recognised for its work, being named the 2017 regional supreme winner of the Trustpower Community Awards, although it was unplaced in the recent national final.
Filipino Dairy Farm Workers Association chairman Earl Magtibay at the Ashburton i-site.
2007. Magtibay says its members now number 300 families, mostly dairy workers, but it tries to cater to all Filipinos. The non-profit group advocates for the dairy workers and aims to help Filipinos to integrate in the community, running seminars and workshops on vocational and life skills such as first aid, food handling and driver training. It runs an annual
basketball league from February to April and Christmas and halloween parties. Coinciding with the consulate visit was a well-attended cultural festival which Magtibay says could become an annual event. The group also has a Facebook page which serves, among other things, as a job exchange helping Filipino workers find employment.
“We have been doing a good job with the integration part. The main problem is the immigration challenges,” says Magtibay. “Dairy farming is stressful enough [without]immigration issues [caused] by employment challenges such as exploitation and discrimination, and abuse sometimes. So that’s what we are working for. “Because there are lots of advantages in working on dairy farms. There are employers who are supportive and good and we don’t want their efforts to be in vain.” The immigration status of many Filipino dairy workers has been uncertain after they were found to be here on false papers, when an immigration scam was uncovered in 2015. After lobbying from the FDWNZ they were eventually given amnesty, and even those on false papers became eligible for a South Island Contribution Work Visa. Applications for that have recently closed but Magtibay says it was “really good” for the community. “When it came out [we felt] it had been a long time coming.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
18 // NEWS
Do we need to cut cow n Is cutting cow numbers the silver bullet that would solve the issue of nitrogen leaching into soils? Comments on the environment by Environment Minister David Parker have prompted some uninformed journalists to suggest that reducing cow numbers is the only viable alternative. But DairyNZ principal scientist Dr John Roche says reducing cow numbers is by no means the answer. Peter Burke investigated. JOHN ROCHE says it’s
important to know that farmers care deeply about
John Roche
managing nitrogen on their land to limit environmental impacts, and
that New Zealand doesn’t need to reduce cow numbers to reduce the nitro-
gen footprint on farms.. He says solutions have been, and continue to be, developed by scientists and will vary between regions and even between catchments within each region. Roche says the causes of nitrogen leaching vary from region to region and occur at different times of the year. But in some regions farmers may need adapt their farming system, meaning farming in a slightly different way but not necessarily reducing cow numbers. “But it may see farmers reducing the amount of feed brought onto the farm, such as PKE, and
SOUTH ISLAND ISSUES JOHN ROCHE says that in the South Island the main challenge is in wintering systems. Traditionally stock have been wintered on high yielding crops. Dealing with the wintering system has been the subject of much research by DairyNZ and collaborators for at least ten years and some interesting solutions have been found. For example, include alternative forage crops in the pasture, in particular plantain. “This is an amazing plant for a number of reasons. It has less nitrogen itself, which is obviously a positive. Also it causes the cow to drink
adjusting the stocking rate accordingly; alternatively, it may mean putting infrastructure in place that allows farmers to take cows off the land at sensitive times of the year. The latter option, however, is
more water, which means her urine becomes more diluted and so the urine patch is less concentrated. “In addition to these two advantages, plantain also has a deeper root system which means it utilises nitrogen in the soil that is below the traditional grass-white clover sward, so less nitrogen is escaping the root zone. But wait, there’s more. It also contains compounds we don’t completely understand, but which modify the nitrogen in the animal and the soil. It’s an exciting discovery and one we hope will, in the right catchments, provide great environmental benefits.”
expensive and may not be financially wise.” Roche says there are differences between the North and South Island that need to be understood when looking at the whole issue of nitro-
gen leaching. In the North Island a lot of pasture is grown during spring, when plant uptake of water equals or exceeds the rainfall. This means there is little downward movement of water and,
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NEWS // 19
w numbers? HOW GOOD ARE OUR COWS? JOHN ROCHE is a stout defender of the NZ cow, saying that she is often taken for granted. “The cow is a very interesting animal. In human terms, she sprints a marathon. An incredibly high performing athlete in our production system, she lives and produces for a far longer time than cows in the traditional housed systems overseas. She has fresh air and a new view every day, as well as being provided with most nutritious food on the planet every day of her life. In my bovine reincarnation I know where I’d like to be.” Roche says it’s true that we feed our cows less than cows housed in barns and fed a mixed
therefore, dissolved nitrogen through the soil. At the same time during those key months we have rapid growth of pasture which means that
ration. But that must be balanced against the views of the consumers of our dairy products, who value our pasture-based systems and the fact that our cows are grazing in the open which is natural for them. He is also adamant that NZ cows are not underfed. The fairest comparison to NZ cows are Irish cows, says Roche. He should know; he comes from a dairy farm in County Kerry, one of Ireland’s major dairy producing regions. But the comparison comes with a few caveats. “What you need to understand is that if both countries were in the same hemisphere the southern tip of Ireland would be
any nitrogen deposited by the cow is taken up by the grass which is recycled through the cow to feed her. “The challenge comes
almost 700km south of Invercargill. While the gulf stream warms the region and the climate, in terms of temperature, it is very similar to the Southland region; there is an enormous difference in evapotranspiration, particularly in winter, because of the latitude difference, Therefore, Irish soils remain water-logged to a degree that NZ soils do not. This is despite the fact that it feels around the same temperature and same rainfalls.” He notes that the productivity of Irish cows is very similar to those in NZ because the Irish have sought out NZ genetics through LIC to lift the overall quality of their herd.
primarily towards the end of the year, when grass growth slows and therefore is not able to utilise as much nitrogen as earlier in the year. In addi-
tion, rainfall tends to exceed evapotranspiration. So we get downward movement of water and dissolved nutrients, one of which can be nitrate,”
The fairest comparison to NZ cows are Irish cows, says John Roche.
he says. One solution would be to have high stocking rates during those peak grass growing times to utilise all the pasture grown and as autumn arrives aim to reduce the milking cow stocking rate to allow more grass to grow and build pasture cover to feed cows in the winter. Roche says the aim
is reduce milking cow stocking rates at times of the year which he calls ‘drainage months’, but not necessarily stocking rate at peak. An alternative approach has been to use stand-off pads during these sensitive months. On these pads, the cow’s urine is collected and applied evenly to the pasture subsequently. However, this can be an
expensive option, unaffordable at this point for many farmers. “Both these strategies have been shown to significantly reduce nitrogen leaching without reducing the number of cows on the farm, but they have different capital investment requirements,” he says. @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
22 // NEWS
DAIRY DATE
June 19-20
June 21
June 25-26
June 26-28
Diary EVENT
DairyNZ Once-a-Day Conference
DETAILS An excellent line-up of speakers will address farmers already once-a-day milking or thinking about it. This conference will be relevant to your business and lifestyle. Venue: Palmerston North. www.dairynz.co.nz
Dairy Business of the Current season finalists, sponsors and farmers Year Awards night, New will attend the 2018 DBOY awards night at the Plymouth Devon Hotel, New Plymouth, from 6pm. Tickets cost $115. www.dboy.co.nz
South Island Dairy Conference (SIDE)
Federated Farmers National Conference
SIDE 2018 will be held at the Dunedin Centre, Dunedin. Speakers include World Cup-winning former All Black coach Sir Graham Henry, innovation and technology guru Ian Taylor, journalist Shayne Currie and personal wellness experts Richard and Elina Ussher. www.side.org.nz Federated Farmers leaders from around New Zealand will meet in Wellington for their annual conference. Following industry group meetings the two-day national conference will start on June 27. Speakers include Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr. www.fedfarm.org.nz
THE DECISION by Stuff to close its
farming publications is bad news for New Zealand’s primary industries and the public, says Elaine Fisher, president of the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators. “The closure of NZ Farmer and its four associated titles affects the jobs of 12 of NZ’s most experienced agricultural journalists,” says Fisher. “It is concerning to read that Stuff considers its website news platforms to be more important than print media for the rural sector. Rural connectivity is so bad in some places people can’t even call 111, let alone read an online newspaper. “I know farming publications are retained in households for days if not weeks and are read and discussed by several family and staff members. “Farmers and growers need to be wellinformed and they need journalists who know their industries to ask the hard questions of government and industry on their
behalf, especially now with the issue of the disease Mycoplasma bovis in dairy cows and the threat of an invasion of the brown marmorated stink bugs hovering over horticulturalists. “Farmers and growers also need journalists who can tell the good news stories of what’s happening on the land, presenting a more balanced picture of our primary industries to the urban public.” However, locally owned Rural News Group says its newspapers will continue to serve the primary sector. The company is not part of the closures and sell-offs announced this week by Fairfax and NZX. Rural News Group publishes the leading national publications Rural News, Dairy News and NZ Winegrower and it posts daily news updates on www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz. “We are a strongly independent and New Zealand owned and are here to stay,” says Rural News Group general manager Adam Fricker.
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Mainstream press muddies flow of farming info
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NEWS // 23
Visitors enjoy the wetlands established at Five Springs Farm in Springston.
Farmers are the ‘new Maori’ NIGEL MALTHUS
FARMERS ARE the ‘new Maori’, says Mananui Ramsden, the cultural land management advisor for the Selwyn Te Waihora zone in the Environment Canterbury region. “You are on this whenua; you are developing a product that feeds the world and therefore feeds your own family. It’s an intergenerational lifestyle that probably you didn’t choose – it chose you.” Ramsden was speaking at a recent shed talk for farmers on mahinga kai – the concept of traditional Maori food resources, their cultural values and their place in the ecosystem. About 60 people gathered at Five Springs Farm, Springston, to hear Ramsden explain the concept. He said ECan defines mahinga kai as “what sustains and nourishes the human body – clean water, clean kai, clean air, sufficient shelter, access to and being able to gather kai as our ancestors did, in a sustainable way for future generations”. Farmers in the cultural landscape/values management area of
the Selwyn/Te Waihora zone are asked to take mahinga kai into account in their resource consents. The area includes Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, Muriwai/Coopers Lagoon and their margins and wetlands, and strips 20m each side of 13 rivers that drain into the lake. ECan asks affected farmers, as part of their resource consent process, whether they agree to an additional mahinga kai management objective and targets in their farm environment plans (FEP). If they accept, their farming practices will be examined to see how well they are addressing the mahinga kai objectives during FEP audits. In an impassioned speech, Ramsden described the intimate relationship between Maori and the land and its resources – from the fish off Banks Peninsula, the breadbasket of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere and its wetlands and tributaries, to the whitebait and pounamu of the West Coast. He said his 15 months in the job had been a learning experience during which he had been “incredibly humbled” meeting the farming community.
“I can’t even put a percentage on it; probably 99.99% of farming – families, community groups, industry groups -- have been incredibly embracing of this mahinga kai concept.” Mahinga kai is about education and development, he said. “It’s about a reciprocal relationship. It’s not about Ngai Tahu wanting to come in and stamp their authority on your land, take a percentage of your income or anything like that. It’s about food, it’s about mana, it’s about us a people. We’re here to help each other, not to be divisive.” The owners of Five Spring Farm, Richard and Jill Simpson, have embraced the concept, fencing a large area of natural springs and planting them in native vegetation. They began this 15 years ago, supported notably by the Canterbury Waterway Rehabilitation Experiment (Carex) run by Canterbury University. The springs are now preserved in perpetuity under a QE2 covenant. Carex-designed sediment traps in the springs are used to research methods of cleaning up waterways.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
24 // OPINION RUMINATING
EDITORIAL
About time
MILKING IT... Cheesed off NOT EVERYONE’s enthusing about a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union. Specialty cheesemakers are worried that an FTA will flood the NZ market with cheaper cheese. Unlike EU cheesemakers, ours pay the global rate for the raw products, preventing them from competing with EU cheesemakers on price or cost of production. A look around our supermarket cheese shelves shows NZ specialty cheeses cost more than European imports.
Sad end to Happy Cow A NORTH-CANTERBURY company lauded for its ethical and environmentally friendly dairying has gone into liquidation. Milking on the Moove Ltd, which traded as Happy Cow Milk Company, was placed in liquidation by shareholders on May 14. Founder Glen Herud, now trying to refine and resurrect his business model, is gutted and has promised creditors he will personally repay them. Herud started Happy Cow at Ohoka, North Canterbury, as an alternative model to intensive dairying. Calves were kept with their mothers for up to 15 weeks and a mobile milker reduced the effluent burden by milking cows in-paddock.
Dung, crash
Allergy beating
IRISH FARMERS are in a lather about a dairy farmer in County Limerick being fined $350 this month for the dung a judge ruled was left by his cows on a road, causing a motorcycle crash. The motorcyclist said he fractured two ribs and suffered ligament damage to his shoulder when his machine slipped on poo. Dairy farmer Patrick Fitzgibbon (46) of Kilmallock pleaded not guilty to a charge of leaving dung on Effin Road, reports the Irish Independent. Fitzgibbon has appealed the judge’s decision. Farmers say they can’t stop their cows’ bowels from moo-ving while they cross roads. “There could be huge ramifications to this,” Tom Blackburn, chairman of the Limerick Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, told The Limerick Leader. “I have to move cows across the road too. I am very, very worried about it.”
AGRESEARCH SCIENTISTS say they have discovered how to knock out a major milk allergen by editing a cow’s genome. Their findings, just published in Scientific Reports, could point the way to specialty products for people who suffer from cow milk allergies, particularly young children. Cow milk is a common cause of food allergy in infants, affecting one in 50 children, persisting in some into adulthood. Symptoms can range from mild to lifethreatening. The scientists focused on the allergen betalactoglobulin (BLG), which forms a large part of the allergic reactions 2-3% of infants have to cow milk.
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AT LAST we hear the long-awaited news: the EU has agreed to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand. EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom will visit NZ in late June, though sadly she will probably miss National Fieldays and that opportunity to see our agriculture industry at its best. Past and present governments and NZ’s foreign affairs and trade people (MFAT) have worked hard to get us to the negotiating start line. So have industry groups such as the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) and NZ’s agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen, working behind the scenes to achieve this milestone. It’s astounding that NZ is one of only about seven countries without a FTA with the EU, although we have access arrangements via the World Trade Organisation. A FTA with the EU could boost exports by up to NZ$2 billion a year and save NZ hundreds of millions of dollars a year, says the NZ Europe Business Council (NZEBC), an umbrella group representing the business interests of all European nations in NZ. While most EU member countries espouse the virtues of free trade, agriculture is always a sticking point. Farmers in Europe still receive subsidies and their numbers ensure they command the attention of their respective politicians. NZ negotiators know this will not be an easy deal to strike, and there is the distraction of Brexit. EU countries whose economies rely on agricultural exports, such as Ireland, will take a great deal of interest in what the Brussels negotiators put on the table. NZEBC predicts agriculture will be tough to negotiate, making it unrealistic to expect tariff-free trade in all farm products. But it doesn’t foresee big hindrances that can’t be worked through in time. Kiwis may expect to see more ministers and industry people flying off to Europe; agri envoy Mike Petersen is up there this week. We have in our favour our good relations with EU member states and these will count. The recent charmed visit to France and Germany by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was probably pivotal in getting the go-ahead for the FTA announcement. Of course, charm offensives work, but now comes the grunty work by our MFAT trade negotiators. They have a great track record and if anyone can land a high quality FTA agreement, they can.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
OPINION // 25
Gordon farmer Neil McLean.
A system set up to fail NEIL McLEAN
WITH MYCOPLASMA bovis con-
firmed as having arrived in Waikato’s dairy heartland, the time has come for the region’s farmers to look hard at how it might affect their businesses. At this point, emotional outbursts and finger-pointing about blame, lack of process or slow decisions are best left for calmer times. Choosing whether to eliminate or contain the disease is well outside any individual farmer’s responsibility; they should be recognising the issues under their control and dealing with them accordingly. I will need to develop a plan that considers my learnings and concerns to date to manage the risk this disease creates, before taking considered steps to ensure the security of my farming business. I envisage a key part of those considered steps will be a team effort between farm staff and, most importantly, our farm veterinarian who will have up-to-date technical data to help implement the plan at grassroots. The latest information on the key transmission vectors of this disease suggests it comes from direct contact of nasal secretions by nose contact or grooming of the infected animal’s coat. This suggests there should not be a problem in a closed herd living in an isolated ‘bubble’ but it will be a problem that magnifies if infected stock is brought into that herd. Currently, testing for the presence of M.bovis through any screening process of individual animals is not available, so this compromises my ability to manage the risk of an infection appearing in the herd. A characteristic of the New Zealand dairy industry is the extensive movement of cattle throughout a typical season; that rapidly multiplies the potential risk of non-infected cattle being exposed to the relatively low numbers of those carrying the disease. Our farm has a closed herd policy with a secure electric fence providing extra security within the boundary fence. However, two areas of our system expose us to external cattle. The first sees young calves being sent off-farm to a grazier at weaning, before returning to the property about 18 months
later. In the ideal system, the grazier’s property would have specific areas for these animals to prevent them encountering any other cattle. In the real world, you can imagine this is unlikely and how difficult this discussion will be with the commercial grazier to meet this requirement. The second potential source of exposure is the bulls used to complete the mating season within the milking herd, because there is no easy method of screening animals for the disease, as we now do for BVD. As a Fonterra supplier we record data to provide traceability of the milk we produce, right through to the end users. The spectre of M.bovis means that to be able to protect the viability of our milking platform we need to have similar visibility of the animals entering or leaving the property. The introduction of NAIT was a good step to providing this, but its efficacy appears to have been diluted by too many compromises being granted to get the project implemented. These compromises are compounded by there being no organisation to champion the system and no consequences imposed by MPI on farms doing substandard recording; all this has set up the scheme for failure. Already the official view suggests that response time would be less if information on stock movements were entered into the NAIT system in a timely way, and within the 48 hour guidelines. Reporting surveys indicate that this farmer responsibility is only being met about 60% of the time. Without doubt, if NZ is serious about protecting its position and reputation as a superior food producer, this level of reporting must improve dramatically, while also eliminating the need to shuffle pieces of paper. Surely, a smartphone to scan a bar code or QR directly uplifted to the NAIT system if a connection is possible, or stored in the cloud until a connection is enabled, must be possible in this tech savvy age; likewise an entry/exit scanner fitted to all livestock haulage trucks. Yes there will be a cost, but surely one we need to accept if we want to protect our livelihoods. • Neil McLean is a dairy farmer in Gordonton, Waikato
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
26 // AGRIBUSINESS
10-year journey with buffalo paying off PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz
WINNING THE supreme champion
title at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards 2018 tops off a great start to the year for Clevedon Buffalo Co. The speciality cheese firm run by Richard and Helen Dorresteyn has won seven other awards this year including the top artesan award in the NZ Cheese Awards and Peoples Choice award for the Clevedon Farmers Market which they own and run. Helen says they have worked long and hard to get to this point. “After 12 years graft with the [Clevedon] Farmers Market and 10 with the buffalos we are feeling good about things,” Helen told Dairy News. The Dorresteyn’s were the first NZers to commercially farm buffalo. Today they milk 150 Riverine water buffalo and make mozzarella, bocconcini, yoghurt, marinated cheese and ricotta, available at specialty food stores across
Richard and Helen Dorresteyn.
Cleveland Buffalo Co herd.
NZ. Their Clevedon marinated buffalo cheese won the producer title. While Clevedon Buffalo has won awards all the way through, Helen says genetically their herd can now produce enough milk to supply demand. Until a couple of years ago Helen was the sole sales person, retail and food service, plus running the business with Richard who runs the farm and makes the cheese. Having enough milk to supply demand is a breakthrough for the business.
“You can’t just dial up another tanker of buffalo milk. We’ve had to bring our herd in, learn how to farm them and breed them to the point they are producing a good volume of milk per head. “You don’t just go and buy your buffalo milk off the shelf and have a readymade success story. It doesn’t work like that.” When they first milked their buffalo they were getting 3L/day which is double the solids, or 6L equivalent of cows’ milk. Now they are averaging 7L/
BE THE BEST OR BE TOAST PEOPLE THINK buffalo is a getrich-quick scheme because the products are expensive in the shops, says Helen Dorresteyn. “You’ve got a lot of investment up front, you’ve got to find the market, get good animals, learn how to make the cheese.” In making a premium product, during the first two to three years they discarded product that didn’t reach their own high standards.
Buffalo cheese is best eaten fresh; snap frozen is nothing like the fresh product they produce, she says. “But in the marketplace there is a perception that a cheese from Europe is much better than a cheese from New Zealand, which is absolute rubbish. “So you’ve got to dispel that one, and educate people to eat fresh product.”
“Like any business you’ve got work hard, be prepared to invest and you’ve got to be your own quality controller. “You can’t put something out that is only just good enough. You only get one chance to put your cheese in front of a chef and in the world of buffalo mozzarella it must be even better than what comes from overseas. Otherwise you’re history, you’re toast.”
day and working towards 9L/day which is the equivalent of 18L of solids in cow milk terms. “You can put exactly the same amount of feed into an animal but if the genetics aren’t there you will not get the same amount of milk. “We’ve had to improve our herd [genetics with AI], and we have always done well with our product because my husband is good at what he does. “But we’ve not had the volume of milk until now to really push it out to meet demand.” Building the dairy factory, the herd and brand has demanded their personal investment of time and money. Helen says now they are producing enough milk they can employ staff, spend a little on packaging and do some of the “nice stuff you can’t take for granted when you are paying the bills”. They have imported semen from Italy and had good technicians all the way through. They AI on the buffalo cycle which is every 35 days, then run the bulls. “We calve right through the year but try to weight the herd to the
summer months when everyone is eating out. But generally we are producing throughout the year.” Buffalo take some care. They are not nasty but have horns, they make a wallow in every paddock and troughs have to be designed so they don’t jump in and break the ballcocks. Bulls must be kept separate as they can kill each other. Buffalo don’t like the cold and also need care in the sun. Helen says she is terribly fond of them, especially the hand-raised ones. With calving throughout the year she generally has one at home. “The big girls are very affectionate. They will come over to us at the fence line; they want to know you, they want to lick you or they are just curious. “Like any animals they all have personalities. Anything nasty is long gone from the herd.” “As in the early days of developing a Friesian herd [the questions are] how much milk do they produce? how often do they throw a calf? how well do they calve? and what’s their temperament? “All the things you are looking for in a dairy cow you are looking for in a dairy buffalo.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
AGRIBUSINESS // 27
Chinese consumers paying a premium for yoghurt, cheese YOGHURT AND cheese have
DairyNZ climate change ambassadors.
CLIMATE CHANGE AMBASSADORS NAMED BY DAIRYNZ
Cheese and yoghurt sales are booming in China.
“Mintel research indicates that China’s dairy market growth will be driven by increased consumption, resulting from the expansion of consumption occasion, value increase due to the rising price of raw milk, and consumers trading up to more premium options. “In the yoghurt market, thanks to the recent craze over ambient yoghurt, the category is now leading not only in China’s dairy market but among all food and drink products.” In dairy products, health-related factors are the main things consumers are willing to pay more for. Among the four surveyed dairy products (milk, yoghurt, butter and cheese), milk and yoghurt are per-
ceived by consumers to be healthier and more nutritious (51% and 48% respectively), helping to improve immunity (49% and 44% respectively), and also good for kids (51% and 49% respectively) and the elderly (46% and 37% respectively). In general, urban Chinese consumers prefer dairy products from big (65%) and nationwide (59%) dairy brands. Their attitudes towards local milk sources are divided: 44% believe they are reliable, while 36% believe local milk sources are not reliable. Nevertheless, more consumers prefer imported dairy products (43%) than domestic ones (34%). Even among those who trust local milk sources, 32% prefer imported dairy products.
FIFTEEN DAIRY farmers well advanced in mitigating climate change on their farms are being heralded as New Zealand’s ‘climate change ambassadors’. This DairyNZ move is the industry’s newest tactic for encouraging a culture of climate-conscious agribusiness among farmers and the broader industry, says chief executive Tim Mackle. “These 15 men and women all represent best environmental farming practice in their farm system. They run their farms profitably and sustainably and are serious about reducing onfarm greenhouse gas emissions. “Many farmers are already leading with environmental practices, but these 15 people have taken it a step further; they are ahead of the game and will share their knowledge and learning.” Mackle says NZ has the opportunity to set the global standard in climateconscious agribusiness. “Rather than focusing on cow numbers, we want to focus on how we can continue to improve the sustainability
of NZ’s agricultural sector. “The Climate Change Ambassadors are an important part of helping dairy farmers and our farming communities understand how they can make environmental improvements on their farms that increase economic sustainability and help future-proof their farming business.” Identified via DairyNZ’s Dairy Environment Leaders programme, the Climate Change Ambassadors are already busy improving water quality, reviewing their farm systems to reduce environmental footprint, and working at a grass-roots community level on better outcomes for the environment and farming. “NZ is already one of the lowest emission producers of dairy in the world. But for NZ to achieve its 2030 target we must look at ways to reduce all gases in all sectors,” says Mackle. “It’s not just dairy; all sectors need to scrutinise the way they operate. Only together can we help NZ transition to a low carbon economy.”
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been winning categories in China in recent years, says market intelligence agency Mintel. Yoghurt has maintained an annual retail sales growth of at least 20% since 2014, and cheese has grown 15 - 25% from 2015 - 17. And Mintel’s research shows Chinese consumers willingly pay a premium for dairy products with healthy attributes. Imported dairy products are still more popular despite consumers regaining their confidence in domestic milk sources. Looking ahead, Mintel forecasts the dairy market will grow at 6.6% compound value per year to $79.5 billion in 2022. Despite consistent sales growth for yoghurt and cheese, Mintel Market Sizes data shows that annual per capita volume consumption of major dairy products remains low compared to other countries. For example, per capita milk consumption in China is 14.3L versus 36.8L in Japan and 51.7L in the US; per capita consumption of yoghurt in China is 3.43kg versus 4.92kg in the US and 9.66kg in Japan; and Chinese consume only 0.02kg of cheese per person versus 1.46kg in Japan and 6.89kg in the US. Summer Chen, senior food and drink analyst at Mintel, says dairy consumption in China is low compared to Japan, where consumers share a similar dietary tradition to China.
100,000 farmers to connect with worldwide
running business management programs for farmers
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customers believe we are committed % ofto our their business for the long-term Kantar TNS Brand Health NZ research, Aug 2017
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
28 // AGRIBUSINESS
Youngsters see the light on working outdoors KIWI YOUNGSTERS
James Robertson
in town and country schools are learning about the prospect of farming careers via AgriKids and TeenAg, devised by NZ Young Farmers, says its chief executive Terry
Copeland. They are funded by the Transforming the Dairy Value Chain (TDVC) Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) scheme led by DairyNZ, Fonterra, MPI and others.
AgriKids and TeenAg, respectively, inform primary and secondary schoolers about farming and its career possibilities. AgriKids is aimed at children aged 8-13, running a fun, learning
Beat the seasons!
experience in a club environment. TeenAg presents a positive view of farming and ag careers for highschoolers. The goal is to show students from town and country, who enjoy the outdoors and don’t mind getting their hands dirty, how stimulating agriculture can be. Students join a TeenAg club at their school or when they compete in TeenAg regional contests. These are run annually, testing students on their farming knowledge -- theory and practice -- including, e.g. animal anatomy, fencing, soil testing, plant identification, erecting a gate and
assembling a beehive. “The competitions are hotly contested,” Terry Copeland says. “Teams come from all over New Zealand to represent their schools, and we are thrilled to see the development of these young students, particularly those who enter the FMG Young Farmer of the Year following their experiences in TeenAg competitions. “Massey Young Farmers last year grew by 96 members and the Lincoln University Club has added 40 members. “Overall, NZ Young Farmers membership has increased by 176 in the year to date.”
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NORTHLAND FARMER Sam Moscrip learned about TeenAg at Kamo High School. In 2012-13 Kamo was NZ’s top TeenAg Club with 30 members, six teams in the regional finals and two in the top five. “The cool thing about the club was that only two of us came from working farms so it was a chance for the urban teenagers to learn what Sam Moscrip farming was all about,” Moscrip says. “We had great support from the school and parents, went on a field trip to Fonterra and organised social activities including a visit to Marlborough with a stay at Molesworth Station. This was an eye-opener, especially for some students who’d never been across the Auckland harbour bridge. “I wanted to leave school in year 12 to go farming, but I hung in and went to Lincoln University to do a bachelor of commerce degree in agriculture. I wouldn’t have done it but for TeenAg.” Moscrip was the top Lincoln Future Leaders scholar two years in a row and the chairman of Lincoln Young Farmers. He is the 2018 Northland Dairy Manager of the Year, winning six of the eight merit awards in the manager category.
KICK-START NEEDED JAMES ROBERSTON went to Massey University where he was the chairman of Massey Young Farmers and a TeenAg mentor at Palmerston North Boys’ High School. “Even though I grew up on a Waikato dairy farm TeenAg gave me the kick-start I needed to study agriculture at Massey University,” he says. Robertson was last year named Massey University’s student of the year for contributing to the wellbeing and reputation of fellow students. He was chosen for his academic performance and outstanding contribution to all aspects of student life; he is now in the Fonterra graduate programme.
NATIONAL FIELDAYS COMPLIMENTARY LIFT OUT MAP
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uying a new car can be a real bother. A big, hairy, ugly bother at times. So Toyota are doing away with them. There’s the ‘pressure to buy the car’ bother. We want you to buy a new car on your terms, so if it’s not perfect for you or if you want to take your time, no problem. We’ll order your specific car when you’re ready. Then there’s that annoying ‘haggle’ bother when it’s time to negotiate. We’ve done away with that too. Upfront, haggle free, Toyota Driveaway Prices mean that every Toyota store offers the same, best price for a new car. There’s also the whole ‘no time to choose the right car’ bother. Sorted. Now you can use our online car builder to build your perfect
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS // 33
Top brass to cut the ribbon SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
THE STAGE is set for the 50th National Fieldays, says chief executive Peter Nation. Over 1100 exhibitors are converging on Mystery Creek, Hamilton, for the four-day event, to be officially opened by NZ Fieldays Society patron and Governor-General Patsy Reddy.
Nation says the society is pleased the GovernorGeneral accepted its invitation. “She is our patron; considering she has a very small number of patronages it’s good to have her,” he told Dairy News. “It’s also the first time in a very long time that the Governor-General is opening Fieldays.” Despite the June 13-16 event coinciding with Parliament sitting, political
leaders are expected in a steady stream. Anticipating the 50th anniversary, the society two years ago set up a committee of past-presidents and life members. Events held throughout this year have marked the anniversary and in November a book will be published with stories and photos from past Fieldays. The book’s closing chapter will cover the 50th
anniversary event. A children’s book is also being compiled by a Cambridge writer, telling of a brother’s and sister’s experiences at Fieldays. “The idea is a children’s book can go into education facilities and live on,” Nation said. Highlights of this year’s event will include an array of international exhibitors including the Czech Republic taking part for the first time, and
Ireland, South Korea, Australia, US, and UK. China will be notably absent; a delegation attended last year. The careers and education hub, launched two years ago, continues to attract interest; about 1000 students are prebooked to attend Fieldays. “Having all these students turn up in school buses is exciting for the industry; this is what we are about,” says Nation.
ENTRY FEE HIKE
AN EXPANDED health-and-wellbeing hub will be found in the education centre and more exhibitors have registered. Peter Nation says this hub covers more than mental health. “It’s about prostrate, cancers, heart health and other health issues. From what we know we saved 11 lives last year; they walked in and were told by our health professionals to visit the doctor on Monday because things were not looking good. “We’re really proud of this, and we’re not just talking about farmers but urban dwellers who visited the event.”
THE TICKET price for the 2018 Fieldays will be higher. People over 15 will pay a new adult rate of $30/day versus $25/day last year; children 5-14 will still pay $15 and under-fives will get in free. Fieldays chief executive Peter Nation says the ticket price hike
has been “fairly accepted so far and it’s still a cheap day out.” Nation says even with support of sponsors the NZ Fieldays Society has to fund infrastructure development at the site, provide buses for transport and fund education and health centres during the event.
“We’re also losing income as we could be selling the sites to exhibitors but that’s not what we’re about. “We are proud to see 1000 students pre-booked for our event; we’re giving them an opportunity and not many organisations do that.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
34 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
Sheep milking a sweet spot for research graduate PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz
THE FIRST student to
have won a NZ Agricultural Fieldays Sir Don Llewellyn Scholarship is now working in the flourishing sheep milk indus-
try, one he says is growing fast into a viable new industry for NZ. Spring Sheep Milk Company business manager Thomas Macdonald (24) says his 2014 Sir Don Llewellyn Scholarship enabled him to keep studying to get his mas-
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ters degree at Waikato University. The scholarship is awarded each year to graduate students doing specific research in agriculture at Waikato. Macdonald studied agribusiness at Waikato and his post-graduate research looked at the cost of environmental compliance in a range of farming systems – which contributed to informing the conversation around future regulation and policy. “It looked at how farmers can shift their farm system to meet the new requirements and it bridged the gap between the regulator, i.e. the council, and the farmer
and put solid information out there on what farmers had actually spent,” Macdonald told Dairy News. He surveyed about 50 farmers and got real data that was then published to inform the discussion about what farmers had already committed to the cause. He looked at the efficiencies, or otherwise, of a farmer becoming compliant with new effluent and nitrogen leaching requirements. The work showed, basically, that a “sweet spot” exists at either end of the farming systems model where a farmer makes enough money to cover respective compliance costs. “There is no point in
having high pollution and then not making enough money to cover the cost of the pollution,” Macdonald says. “The take-out message was ‘pick a system and stick to it’ at either end of the model; don’t be halfway there. There are options for reducing nitrate leaching exposure, including cow housing and destocking.” Macdonald says the Sir Don Llewellyn Scholarship was the sole reason he stayed on to study; it made it viable. When he left university he ran a group of five dairy farms for Landcorp on the Central Plateau. Three years ago he joined the sheep milking
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Thomas Macdonald (left) receiving the Zanda McDonald award from Shane McManaway.
industry and is now business manager for Spring Sheep Milk Company. He says progress has been “fantastic” and they are now in high growth mode. “We have just been nominated for the NZ Export Awards at the front end of the business and we are growing the farming side with two new properties into sheep milking.” NZ now has high-yielding dairy sheep, made possible through the importation of European dairy genomics. Macdonald in March this year beat Australian and New Zealand candidates for the prestigious 2018 Zanda McDonald
Award. The award, regarded as a badge of honour by the agribusiness industry, recognises innovative young agri professionals from both countries. It was launched in 2014 in memory of Australian beef industry leader Zanda McDonald, who died aged 41 after an accident at his Queensland property in 2013. Now in its fourth year, the award is run by the Platinum Primary Producers (PPP) Group, a network of 150 of Australasia’s influential agribusiness men and women, of which Zanda McDonald was a foundation member.
HELPING STUDENTS THE NZ Agricultural Fieldays Sir Don Llewellyn Scholarship was established by the funder, the NZ National Fieldays Society Inc. Last year’s winner was Shannon Hunter, researching to establish whether the virus that causes root rot in NZ avocado orchards is developing resistance to phosphite, which is commonly used to treat dieback. The scholarship was founded to assist students to do research at the University of Waikato with a specific focus on the agricultural sector. The University of Waikato has a long association with the Fieldays: its founding vicechancellor Sir Don Llewellyn helped with the event’s founding.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
36 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
Clean water made easy MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
FARM WATER quality
less than ideal prompted dairy farmers Rhonda and Eric Bonenkamp at Orini, Waikato, to ask Singh’s Engineering Services, Hamilton, for help in late 2016.
Eric Bonenkemp
The company quickly offered a solution. A favoured method is often to add 12.5% chlorine dioxide, e.g. Softchlor or similar, particularly to remove E-coli, but until recently equipment for that was either difficult to set up or temperamental in operation. Singhs’ proposal was
for a system based on its proven series 2-32 SeTech dispenser, suitable for injecting 2 - 50 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine dioxide while, importantly, guarding the user against contact with the corrosive and volatile concentrate. The Singh system can inject at pressures from
V-Mix Mixer Wagons
10 - 210psi, treat up to 6000L of water per hour and is fully proportional over a wide flow range. Importantly, most standard concentrate dispensers at best can only dispense at 0.2 2% addition rates, which equates to 2000 - 20,000 ppm. But chlorine needs to be added at 2 - 3ppm for maintenance or 50ppm for shock dosing, i.e. at a ratio 40 -- 10,000 times lower than standard dosing capabilities. Dosing chlorine raises three concerns: the minute amounts required, repeatability and an accurate mix throughout the water sample. The Se-Tech unit uses three stages to address these concerns. First is a peristaltic pump to prime a tall, small-diameter tube to a level dictated by an external sensor. That tall tube is attached by a valve to a large calibrated bulk water container, ensuring the small amount of
concentrate is mixed with the same volume of water during each milking cycle. From the bulk water container, the pre-mixed high concentrate is dosed into the water system by a modified Se-dispenser, via a fixed standard addition valve. Bonenkamps have found the apparatus easy to use, importantly delivering a clean, reliable supply to the house, dairy shed and the water troughs on the 70ha property that carries 265 dairy cows. Operating cost is about $200 per month. Eric Bonenkamp describes the Singh system as “faultless”. “In just under two years, we have had three fault warnings, signalled by a red light on the exterior of the pump shed. Sadly, in all three cases the cause was human error: I had forgotten to replace the bulk concentrate container when it was empty.”
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With over 50 years experience selling equipment to New Zealand contractors and farmers, Webbline is well placed to offer you their huge source of knowledge that ensures the right equipment is matched to your specific farming needs, the first time. Add to that attractive and convenient leasing options and you have all the right reasons to talk to Webbline about getting the best out of your new BvL Mixer Wagon.
HUNTAWAY II HAS ARRIVED FOLLOWING THE success of the Triton Huntaway at last year’s Fieldays, Mitsubishi Motors NZ has unveiled the Huntaway II, in a limited run of 20 units with a choice of black, white, blue or titanium paint. Based on the already well-specced Triton GLX-R 4WD double-cab diesel auto with a 2.4L / 437Nm power plant, the Huntaway II adds custom wheel guards, a hard lid and rail kit, rear protection bar, bull bar with LED DRLs and a steel personalised bash guard. Black 18” alloy wheels are shod with 33” all-terrain tyres, and the truck stands 80mm above a regular Triton thanks to a 50mm suspension lift. Safety features are to the fore: trailer stability assist and electronic brake force distribution helps keep your load in line, and Mitsubishi all-terrain technology integrates nine different systems to ensure surefootedness on any surface. Inside, the HD ute has ergonomic seats, smartphone link display audio (SDA) with Apple Carplay, Android Auto and climate control as part of the package.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS // 37
More science cash needed in farming AGRITECH COMPANY Regen wants more
money spent on applying science to farming. Chief executive Bridgit Hawkins says the future of food production in New Zealand hinges on farmers reducing their environmental footprint, and harnessing technology to innovate farming practice. The company uses technology including realtime data to enable farmers to better manage water use, effluent and reduce nitrate leaching. Hawkins refers to the push by Environment Minister David Parker towards better water quality, including changes to the Resource Manage-
ment Act, a defining of acceptable nutrient levels in waterways and a possible cap on the number of dairy cows in NZ. “He has also recognised the need to invest in and subsidise new technology to help farmers meet the requirements,” she says. But more needs to be done in using technology to make farming more sustainable, she says. “We need to invest more in applying science to farming, to help farmers work through this complex and uncertain time, while meeting their resource consents.... Transparency in the fieldto-fork process is becoming more critical.”
IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT FOUNDED IN 2010, Regen is a NZ company aiming to improve the environment using technology in farming. It offers scheduling services for water and effluent irrigation, and a nitrogen use calculation service. Regen won the TUANZ Innovation Award in 2010 in the Innovation in the Rural Market category, has been specially commended at the Hi-Tech Awards, and was a finalist in the 2016 Innovation Awards. www.nzregen.co.nz
Many farmers are working hard to better manage water use and nitrate leaching, but the sector would benefit from Government support, Hawkins says. “When farmers can fully use the science and technologies available to them it benefits their farm and the wider community.
“For example, our farmers get on average a 5:1 return when closely monitoring key farm measures like soil moisture. In practical terms this means they know exactly when they need to water and how much because we take into account weather and soil conditions. “We also help farmers accurately determine
Bridgit Hawkins, Regen.
the right time to apply nitrogen fertiliser, reducing leaching. All of this improves the quality of our waterways. “In communities where water is a hotly contested topic, this provides a new level of transparency while connecting farmers more closely with their pastures.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
38 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
Lely Astronaut A5 lands at Fieldays LELY’S NEW milestone in automated milking, the Lely Astronaut A5, will debut at the National Fieldays. Launched at Lely’ head office in Rotterdam last month, the A5 milking robot means stress-free milking for farmer and
cows. Lely says observation of cow-machine interaction and feedback from many farmers has led to a system that combines proven automated milking principles with unmatched reliability, ease of use and cost effi-
ciency. “The thoroughly tested A5 contributes to Lely’s aim of making the lives of farmers easier, their business more successful, all opening up a bright future for them and their families,” it says. Lely says healthy and
BRIGHT FUTURE BASED ON farmers’ needs the new Astronaut A5 milking robot, which is compatible with the A4, fits Lely’s vision perfectly. Chief executive Alexander van der Lely says milking a cow has never been so easy and comfortable for farmer and cow. “The Astronaut A5 contributes to our aim of making the lives of farmers easier, their business more successful and opening up a bright future for them and their families,”
says van der Lely. “That is why we listened to farmers throughout product development and thoroughly tested the Astronaut A5 with farmers all over the world.... It is they who will ultimately determine how successful this new Astronaut will be.” The Lely Astronaut is available in New Zealand and the Lely Dairy New Zealand team will be on-site at Fieldays (K 28) to discuss its features and application.
stress-free cows put more milk in the tank. Cows feel comfortable and perform well in Lely’s farm environment with free cow traffic, plus the easy walk-through and spacious milking boxes. A new hybrid arm has further improved cow comfort: silent, faster, energy efficient and more accurate, it results in consistent milking. Instantly following the cow’s every movement during milking, and remaining close to the udder, it quickly corrects itself if unexpected movement occurs. This ensures a fast and thorough milking process, even with heifers. The company’s new Teat Detection System (TDS) improves postmilking teat spraying by
Lely launched its Astronaut A5 robot last month.
pre-scanning the udder before spraying, ensuring optimal udder hygiene and limiting the risk of contamination. The redesigned, intuitive user interface makes automatic milking easy to understand. From a cow’s first milking to everyday
FROM
maintenance, all relevant information is available on a single page. Instant actions, such as feed allocation, cow-specific routing and daily maintenance tasks, are a one-click task. To reduce the total cost per kgMS produced, Lely redesigned its entire
milking system and tested it with 30 customers (worldwide) doing at least 2 million milkings across a wide temperature range. In all tests, detergent and water consumption were lowered and energy use was reduced by up to 20%.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
40 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
Feds take Subaru to farm gates MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
SUBARU OF New ZeaFederated Farmers’ Southland territory manager Laura Sanford with her Subaru.
land recently struck a deal with Federated Farmers to
equip its national territory managers with all-wheeldrive Subarus to help them do their jobs. Laura Sanford, Feds territory manager team leader and Southland ter-
Challenge our coverage experts to get you better connected
“The Subaru excels on slippery farm access tracks and the loose winding gravel roads of the south-west Fiordland boundary or Southland’s Orepuki - Tuatapere highway.” She especially likes the car’s integral camera and blind spot warning system built into the wing mirrors. “This is one of my favourite safety features; passengers in the car are blown away by it, particularly farmers used to driving big utes with large A-pillars that seem to add to the blind spot problem.”
Demonstrator John Steedman in action.
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ritory manager uses her Subaru Outback 2.5L Premium as her mode of transport and her workplace. “The Subaru is my office, taking me up and down farm driveways, to farm field days and farmer meetings daily. It’s got plenty of boot space for all our gear, especially banners and flags,” she says. Based in Invercargill, known for bearing the brunt of New Zealand’s wild weather, Sanford says she is glad to have Subaru’s AWD keeping her safe on the southern roads.
Rural Connect
REGULAR EXHIBITOR Taragate, the specialist fencing manufacturer, will show its Flood Fencing System. This enables quick, easy, environmentally sustainable fencing of flood-prone areas, plus fencing and solar systems for lifestyle blocks and farms. The Flood Fencing System makes fencing difficult areas less daunting, the company says. And its new Flood Gate can be incorporated, using components readily available from the Flood Fence range. Developed by professional fencer Gordon Hansen, the gate is a timely, sustainable way to keep waterways clean by excluding stock. Likewise, a Grazing Combo featuring an S150 Solar Energiser, mounted to a Tarapost, has a range of 3km – “a great idea for busy users looking for easy grazing solutions”. Taragate’s popular Fieldays fencing demonstrations -- now in its fifth year -- will see professional Kiwi fencers demonstrating a range of fencing types and techniques. Site visitors can get close and learn best practice from 10.00am to 2.30pm daily. On-site demonstrators will include Alister Hokumau, professional fencer and competitor John Steedman, and experienced fencer and instructor Dennis Gray. Supporting the demonstrations are Isuzu, Hautapu Pine, Suzuki, Makita and Fairbrother Industries. There will also be a competition, open to visitors, to guess the weight and win a bundle of 60 Hautapu Pine Supa Quarter Posts valued at $1000.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS // 41
MF, Lely the perfect combo MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
STACKHOUSE CONTRACTING, in Cheviot,
North Canterbury, and is run by Murray and Darrelle Stackhouse who do cultivation and baling for local farmers. The business runs three Massey Fergusons -- MF 7726, MF 7620 and MF 7475 -- although the relationship with the brand goes back many years when they first came across a Massey on a farm they leased. The MF 7726 bought new this year is tasked with ploughing, ripping and baling, and at 260hp is the largest in the fleet. Bought to improve
efficiency, the tractor is very fuel efficient, Stackhouse says. It is shod with large tyres to reduce compaction and has a better steering lock than previous machines, making it ideal for ploughing. He likes the cab layout, noting “everything is userfriendly with controls falling easily to hand, with all major functions incorporated into the joystick”. With drivers spending up to 10 hours a day in the tractors during the busy season comfort is important, so cab suspension and front suspension together help reduce driver fatigue and promote greater safety. A key feature on the MF 7726 is the Datatronic CCD guidance system,
with all functions displayed on one larger screen that is well laid out, easy to follow and intuitive. In operation, the Datatronic can be used for all major functions, for example controlling the rate of hydraulic flow to achieve a smooth safe turnover of the reversible plough. Likewise the system can be used to control the variable transmission over its 0 - 50km/h speed range to achieve high outputs with minimal fuel use. Stackhouse Contracting is also a fan of grass harvesting and handling gear made by Lely, whose grasslands business was recently bought by Massey Ferguson.
Their equipment includes a 5.5m wide
trailing 550P Splendimo mower, an 8.0m Hibis-
EASY HOOF TRIMMING HOOF TRIMMING, least favourite
among farm tasks, is often done in lessthan-ideal conditions by farmers unsure about how to trim and treat cows’ hooves properly. Poorly restrained cows endanger animal and farmer alike, hindering a good job and even dampening the enthusiasm needed to give it a go. With farm health and safety front of mind, the Wopa hoof treatment crush distributed by Veehof improves the hoof trimming experience for cow and operator by restraining the animal comfortably
and safely while offering uninterrupted access to the hooves. The latest optional attachment for the standard hoof trimming crush -- dubbed the W-bar -- further improves safety by preventing movement of the hoof being worked on, but it does this without adding inconvenient bars in the treatment area. The device allows the operator to approach trimming with greater confidence, and is particularly beneficial when using an angle grinder or when applying claw blocks.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
42 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
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FARMERS IN New Zealand know that soil is notoriously low in selenium, requiring a supplement to avoid impaired health and performance of livestock. It is easy to look at a label, check that the product contains selenium and never give it a second thought, but questions might prompt a look at the source of selenium used for supplementation. What is selenium? Selenium (Se) is a powerful biological antioxidant essential to all mammals. Selenium is present within at least 25 proteins -- called selenoproteins. These proteins protect against oxidative damage,
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have a role in thyroid function (thus affecting growth rates), influence reproductive success and are integral to (and enhance) the immune response system, to name a few key functions. Without dietary selenium these functions are impaired or cannot occur. What are the main consequences of selenium deficiency in cattle? In cattle, Se deficiency can lead to white muscle disease, cystic ovaries and metritis, retained placenta, early foetal abortions, weak still-born calves, infertility affecting oestrus, ovulation, embryo fertilisation and development, and low sperm motility. Are there natural sources of selenium? Soil is the main natural source of selenium. Soil Se levels directly affect plant selenium concentrations. NZ’s soils are notoriously low in Se which results in low levels being expressed in crops and grass, leading to reduced intakes, whether as direct grazing or via locally grown grains/ crops. As plant material alone is not an adequate source of selenium for calves and cattle in NZ, it must be supplemented in a bioavailable form. Fishmeal is usually a good source of selenium but this fishmeal is expensive and not usually fed to milking cows. When selenium is present in plants -- and meat or eggs for that matter -- it is present in the naturally occurring organic forms elenomethionine and selenocysteine. What selenium sources are available on the market in NZ? Selenium sources
are either inorganic or organic. Sodium selenite and sodium selenate are inorganic forms of selenium that are cheap, water soluble and widely available. These sources are typically mixed with other trace minerals and dosed through drinking water or added to feed, or added as the sole Se source to mineral injections. Barium selenite is also an inorganic selenium source that is typically administered as an injection. Organic selenium sources available in NZ are selenoyeasts and hydroxy-selenomethionine (hydroxy-Se-Met). Selenoyeasts are produced by growing yeasts on an inorganic selenium medium, allowing the yeast to integrate Se into the cell. Is organic selenium is better than inorganic selenium? Scientific evidence shows the superior bioavailability of organic selenium sources compared to inorganic sources (across many different species). In ruminants however, it appears that absorption of inorganic selenium is diminished as rumen microbes reduce (change) most of the dietary inorganic selenium into a form that cannot be absorbed or utilised (inorganic selenide forms). It is estimated that only 25-30% of selenium from sodium selenite is bioavailable to ruminants. On the other hand, many studies have shown that feeding organic Se to ruminants increases Se levels in blood, colostrum and milk. • Jennifer Ross is technical services officer, BEC Feed Solutions NZ.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS // 43
Is Your Herd in Peak Condition?
In-Shed Feeding Silos and feed bins Mineral dispensers
Measuring pasture from high above LIC’S NEW satellite technology (called SPACE) that measures pasture cover will be a new feature on the Fieldays site. It went on limited release last December and is now available in part of Canterbury and a large area in Waikato. The co-op and its automation business, LIC Automation, will be side by side at E76 and E78. LIC general manager NZ markets Malcolm Ellis says that as a farmer he always visits Fieldays “looking for ways to improve our business”. “At both the LIC and LIC Automation sites we’re going to be showcasing ways we can help farmers do this. “There’s always room for improvement and will embrace this theme. “Improvement is at the heart of LIC… doing the best we can for our farmers striving to improve their farm’s efficiency, productivity and prosperity.” The main LIC stand will cover
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genetics, GeneMark, Minda and herd testing and LIC Automation will show its integrated and innovative automation systems. The LIC stand will as usual host a café for its farmers and their families, says Ellis. “Fieldays is the time to talk with farmers and answer their questions… always a great opportunity and an event we are proud to be part of.” This year marks two years since LIC launched Minda Live, the online herd management system that is
Protrack automated drafting systems Protrack in-shed ID system Protrack BCS automated body condition scoring Protrack heat automated heat detection Protrack in-line milk sensors: SCC and milk fat, protein, volume.
gaining extra functionality. “Farmers can see the improvements we’ve made and learn how they can use the system to make more informed herd management decisions,” Ellis says. Also on show will be the new Protrack modular system. Farmers can now build a system to suit their farming operation, and existing customers can upgrade their current systems with more features and improved functionality via mobility from farm to office.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
44 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
Calcium bolus in and working FODDER MAKER A RELATIVELY new player in farm machinery, Forestquip Ltd (best known for Giant wheeled loaders), says it will expand its Fransgard range from Denmark. A range of disc mowers is available from 2.05 to 3.20m, with Comer oilenclosed cutter bars fitted with oval discs assemblies that can be removed individually for servicing or repair. All models have a spring suspension system for terrain following with a lockout for transport, with hydraulic folding for the latter. Dual-purpose rakes are available as models RV300 and RV390, with the distributor suggesting these are very similar
to the old PZ Haybobs. Machines are able to spread or rake, and can move damp swaths up to 70cm laterally onto fresh ground to promote drying. As in the well-known Haybobs, spring loaded tines can be adjusted for spreading or raking, and fold upwards if stones or foreign objects are encountered. A swather designated SR3600 uses multiple tine arms on twin rotors to sweep material against a heavy-duty curtain to form a box shaped swath. Oversize wheel equipment and a swivelling headstock help ground adaptation to achieve clean, dirt-free raking in all types of contours. – Mark Daniel
A RANGE of Belgian bolus products new to New Zealand is being launched this month via veterinary clinics, reports the distributor, Animal Health Direct, based in Hawkes Bay. The first – CalciTop – is a fastrelease bolus containing Diacalcium phosphate as an inorganic salt for slower release of calcium, and calcium formiate as an organic salt for fast release of calcium 4.5 g phosphorus; 1.5 g magnesium and 200.000 IU per kg Vitamin D3 for milk fever prevention. Says AHD founder Richard Kettle, “Sub-clinical milk fever affects a high proportion of NZ dairy herds (up to 70%) so we encourage farmers to take a preventative approach and administer the extra calcium the cows need using CalciTop.” Kettle says a key point of difference between CalciTop and oral
CONSUMER DEMAND NEW ZEALAND’S dairy industry must catch up with world-best standards in respect of the environment and animal welfare, says Richard Kettle, of AHD. He believes public perception and the new generation of farmers emerging are driving necessary changes. “Urban people want to see green fields, healthy looking cows with free access to shelter and fresh clean water,” he says. “If this perfect picture cannot be seen, dairying runs the risk of an end-user backlash. We will see reduced dairy consumption locally and by our trading partners.” Consumers increasingly want to be at the farmgate and feel a connection with their food.
supplements is that the farmer can be sure the cow is getting sufficient calcium because the bolus is in and working. “Oral supplements can prove to be difficult to administer, leading to inconsistent dosing and animal intake.” Recommended dose rates for CalciTop are one bolus 12-24 hours
before calving, and another post calving if required. For cows with a known history of milk fever, Kettle recommends two CalciTops 12-24 hours pre calving. AHD has commissioned trial work on its HighTrace six-month slow release mineral bolus which it expects to launch in September.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS // 45
GILTRAP BUYS DUNCAN AG GILTRAP ENGINEERING, a family business in Otorohanga, has bought the Timaru company Clough Agriculture, best known as Duncan Ag. Giltrap employs 80 staff in New Zealand and Australia. Both companies have a history of developing and innovating in agricultural manufacturing, and their consolidation will benefit farmers and the wider community, says Giltrap Engineering managing director Craig Mulgrew. “We have proven we can compete successfully on the world stage in developing products that suit a global market. This move positions us really well for the future by guaranteeing jobs in Otorohanga and potentially providing further jobs and growth in the future.” Giltrap has also bought the Duncan Ag land and buildings in Timaru and is guaranteeing job security for Duncan Ag employees. Mulgrew says the current economic climate offers opportunities for consolidation in agricultural machinery, and Giltrap is keen to grow its footprint in NZ and Australia and elsewhere. “You’d be hard pressed to find two companies that could mesh together better, with a similar growth trajectory and sharing a common dealer network,” Mulgrew said.
“A big part of the deal was to undertake to keep the Duncan Ag business based in Timaru. This gives us service centres for the business in the North and South Islands and a greater ability to service the market.” Clough Agriculture chairman Don McFarlane says the two business are a great fit, both bringing strong brands and product lines that complement each other perfectly. “This is an ideal marriage of companies strongly involved in exports, with very good growth opportunities in bringing the two together and achieving the synergies this delivers.” McFarlane says the most important thing, from the board’s perspective, was that current employment continue. “When regional companies merge or are purchased, often there are losses to the region. In this case, it’s very positive. “We have a company that is committed to growth and maintaining a strong business and employment in Canterbury. “The agricultural manufacturing sector has been under pressure from imports. It’s great to see two innovative companies consolidating their business to strengthen NZ’s presence and maintain NZ ownership.” – Mark Daniel
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Spark of innovation MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
IT’S A year for celebra-
tion as two Waikato agricultural icons pass key milestones. Gallagher is this year celebrating its 80th anniversary, and in a moment of serendipity New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays is celebrating its 50th year. Gallagher was founded in 1938 by the late Bill Gallagher senior who, wanting to prevent his horse Joe from rubbing against his Essex car, wired it for current. The rest, as they say, is history -- a family business designing and supplying electric fences. Eighty years later that 10-person business is a multinational with 1100 employees worldwide, pioneering not only
in electric fencing and animal management, but also in security and fuel systems. Its offerings are technology-led. Gallagher was among the original exhibitors at the first Fieldays at Te Rapa, Hamilton, in 1969. Now it is ‘Celebrating the Spark’ -- shining a light on the importance of its innovative thinking and tech-led solutions that “spark possibilities”
and solve farmers’ problems. Sir William Gallagher re-invests in the company to spark new ideas, channeling 10% of annual revenue into the business. Fieldays 2018 will see the launch of three new products. The new TWR-5 weigh scale and reader combines an EID reader and the award-winning Gallagher TW weigh scales into an
all-in-one solution. This enables tag reading and weighing by one person, and it has all the features of the existing TW scales, e.g. a daylight-readable touch screen and the ability to add up to nine traits. The S200 and S400 integrated solar energisers provide reliable power off the grid, giving farmers a portable means of controlling animals and break feeding supplement crops. The tough, robust units have been well received at the three regional field days held this year. The Gallagher energiser dashboard app enables farmers to monitor electric fence system performance remotely; it provides regular fence updates, including faults or problems, on a mobile device.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
46 // NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS
Online marketplace for ag contracting MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
A NEW internet marketplace where agricultural contractors can offer their services online will also ease the way for farmers to access contractors’ services. Especially it will suit farmers with limited contact with local suppliers, or who need a one-off job done. FarmBackup, popular with farmers and contractors in Denmark and the UK, launched in New Zealand on May 15 and NZ companies have begun listing their services. Listings are free: create a profile and start listing, say the found-
Anders and Soren Knusden, co-founders of FarmBackup.
ing Knudsen brothers, of Denmark. “The FarmBackup marketplace is a fantastic tool for contractors and farmers as clearly seen in Denmark and the UK. “However, to become the ‘go-to’ place for agricultural contracting we need a lot of people to
join. We are doing this by making it free for everyone to create a profile on our marketplace,” says Anders Knudsen, cofounder. But because the freebies can’t go on forever, a supplementary site will be launched later this year to generate revenue.
This will be a time and task management app optional to all users of FarmBackup NZ. “We’ve already launched successfully in Denmark and are looking forward to giving our NZ users the same option,” says Knudsen. www. farmbackup.co.nz
Direct your herd’s performance. GEA’s state-of-art equipment and automation is designed to give you the control you need to consistently command a winning performance from your herd. With a range to suit your budget, we can help you increase efficiency, optimise milk production, and keep the song and dance to a minimum.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS // 47
An Irish advantage AS A country known for its farming and in recent times for its technology start-ups, Ireland will show the best of its dairy equipment and systems at Fieldays. Agritech companies supported by Enterprise Ireland will display ‘The Irish Advantage’ -- an array of equipment and products representing scientific research, innovative technology and farming expertise. In the quest to make farming more profitable, do more with less and keep producing quality food, these innovations cut labour costs, improve animal welfare and boost production and performance, says Enterprise Ireland. Notably, Equilume, a company prominent in light therapy technology
for the health, growth and performance of horses, has turned its attention to the dairy industry, creating a bovine light mask that adjusts the breeding cycles of cows and allows them to get the benefit of daylight while inside or at night. It exploits the precise threshold level of light deliverable to a single eye to suppress hormonal melatonin levels and increase lactation in cows, allowing animals to remain outdoors on grass while benefiting from light’s ability to stimulate higher milk yields by up to 9% in trials. Another company, Grass Tech, manufactures Zero Graze equipment designed to harvest fresh grass at the optimum growth stage to maximise its nutritional value.
Allowing fresh grass to be cut and fed to the animals, as a supplement or replacement for silage, the system can save concentrate, artificial fertiliser and contractor costs. Products include the Grass Tech Grazer and the Beet Master root washer. The company
also helps customers determine and monitor grass and soil suitability for improved land use. Other well-known exhibitors will include Dairymaster, Keenan, C&F Green Energy (wind turbines for farms), Malone Farm Machinery, HiSpec, Major Equipment and ProDig Attachments.
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NZ launch for US-made poo plant A US maker of farm effluent management plant has
launched its gear in New Zealand and Australia. McLanahan markets Enviro System, automated plant that handles effluent from sale yards and dairy farms, from initial capture through to separation and solids stockpiling. It is said to reduce unnecessary time and effort handling effluent traps, ponds and spillages. Features include filtration, self-cleaning and easy access for maintenance, says Chris Knowles, director of sales and marketing at McLanahan “The technology has been tested on 20 sites (farms and stock yards) over several years,” Knowles says. Systens are designed in Australia using proven technology, e.g. sand manure separators, liquid solid separators and rotary bedding dryers. The gear turns effluent into usable dry manure for regenerating topsoil, leaving nutrient-rich green water for irrigation. Plants come in two sizes: Enviro 400 for up to 400 cows, and Enviro 2000 for herds of 400 to 2000 cows. McLanahan says it has 20 years experience in dairy effluent systems and 180 years of designing and building resource processing equipment.
Horizontal Milk Cooling Tanks with Iced Water Cooling – 50% more effective in cooling the milk compared to standard direct expansion systems without any risk of freezing the milk due to the water temperature of +0.5 > 1.0degC. Highly suitable for AMS (Robotic Farming Systems) with low milk flows – no risk of freezing the milk.
Packo Milk Tanks
Energy Saving with Packo Ice Builders (PIB’s) – thanks to the ice energy store build-up during night time hours, a smaller refrigeration unit can be installed, plus the potential savings of off-peak power rates. Water Saving with PIB’s – bore water pre-cooling is not necessary with the correctly sized PIB. This is ideal for drought prone regions or where water supplies are restricted.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
48 // MANAGEMENT
An investment for the future MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
THE ROGERS family
From left: David Rogers, farm manager Matthew Goble, Chris Rogers and Dianna Rogers.
farm of 126ha (effective) lies just south of Taupiri in the heart of Waikato. Dianna, Chris and
son David, early adopters of once-a-day milking and helped by manager Mathew Goble, now milk 500 cows year-round, 200 of them calving in autumn. Effluent is captured in a clay-lined pond that sits
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just below the farm buildings, but a lack of any fixed infrastructure meant that contractors were called in five or six times a year to spread the accumulated effluent. Additionally, a borrowed slurry tanker was brought in occasionally to help get on top of the task. But the contractors’ wheels tended to inflict compaction damage on the paddocks, and repeated trips took their toll on the farm races. Looking to solve this, and anticipating rules to cover effluent management, the Rogers sought the engineering help of three partners: Numedic, Rotorua, for plant and equipment; Alpha Electrical, Hamilton, for control systems; and McGregors Farm Services, Morrinsville, for installation. Opus Consultants surveyed the effluent pond and found it watertight, so the heart of the system was a 15kW Numedic effluent pump working with a 7.5kW Maxi Stirrer -- both mounted on a floating pontoon -- to pump effluent 800m to a Numedic ADCAM 750 travelling irrigator. The family realised a degree of automation was required for control, so Alpha Electrical contributed its expertise. The firm was well versed in remote control, having pioneered GSM-enabled phones from 2000, and soon suggested using its Ohmega Cloud Link Control system that can be accessed by smartphone, tablet or farm office computer. This system can switch the system on or off remotely, and can be configured to use the rural
power supply to best advantage, i.e. it does not operate at the same time as milking is underway. Likewise, switch-on can be set with a predetermined delay, or switch off, after a set time of pumping. Additionally it informs users by text or e-mail of any system faults, such as a pressure spike suggesting a blockage, or a pressure drop indicating a leak. The system can be upgraded for, say, pond level or wind speed indication, needing only the purchase of appropriate sensors. The present system allows the Rogers to use at least 40ha of the farm area -- nearly double that previously covered, and upgrades are likely to expand on that. Dairy News asked the Rogers, “is it worth the money?” David replied that “the savings on contractors’ charges and the use of effluent to reduce fertiliser costs are easy to see”. “Added to this, the ability to switch the system off to clear a blockage then restart without making two trips back to the yard saves a great deal of time and lets us get on with other things.” Dianna also noted, “our being able to record application hours, so giving a clear indication of application rates, means that any upcoming legislation and oversight by regulatory authorities will be served by a clear paper trail”. “Ultimately it’s a sound investment to ensure the future of our business.”
NOW READ IT ONLINE READING THE PAPER ONLINE HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER
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BREAKING NEWS ■ MARKETS & TRENDS MACHINERY REVIEWS MANAGEMENT STORIES COMPETITIONS AND MUCH MORE...
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
MANAGEMENT // 49
Dr Arjan de Wilde, Kaimai Vets, says magnesium deficiency is becoming a major issue for dairy farmers.
Magnesium shortfall ‘a major problem’
between Chinese and Australian product as well. “This is what you see in the field: the people who buy Chinese magnesium have to dust at least 150g to prevent the cows falling over.” De Wilde says having a cow go down with milk fever puts big stress on a dairy farmer. “You can put a dollar value on it, but the biggest cost is the stress on the farmer… the extra work and the time you [lose]. “I ask farmers ‘what is your reasoning for wanting to do something?’ and they answer ‘I don’t need the stress’.”
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ARJAN DE Wilde points to a big quality difference between magnesium products available to New Zealand farmers. He prefers Australian products, e.g. FIL Nutri-Mag or products from Sibelco, to Chinese products. “A lot of it depends on the quality of the product you use,” he said. “As a general rule, dare I say, Chinese magnesium is useless and Australian magnesium is good. “The impurities thing is interesting: I have sent samples to be tested for straight magnesium level and found a big difference in the absolute percentage of magnesium
DE
R
SOME GOOD, SOME USELESS
start re-building them because those cows will still milk and still put magnesium in the milk as they always do.” De Wilde says while the shortage brought things to a head, issues with magnesium deficiency had been increasing over several seasons. “Now we’re in a second year of seeing cows going down all year round and I don’t know if that is because pastures are changing or people are doing more supplementary feeding. “There is definitely more need to be doing magnesium all year round rather than just for four weeks from before calving to the end of October. “A lot of these high input guys are calving two or three times a year and we notice if we take the magnesium out in a dry, they suffer.”
N
had a major effect on herd health. “Last year I probably saw a lot more grass staggers, or magnesium staggers, than I had in the ten years before. It happened right in the beginning of calving so a lot of guys ran out and had to make do for two weeks and that was serious. “Your levels go right down and you have to
CLEA
prehensive mineral programme with our clients, where we do liver biopsies in the autumn and follow that up with blood testing in the spring or premating. “Over the years I’ve found many issues in our area because of magnesium deficiency.” De Wilde says during last season a two-three week magnesium shortage
•
A WAIKATO veterinarian says magnesium deficiency in cattle diets is a growing issue for his dairy clients. Dr Arjan de Wilde, Kaimai Vets, runs three clinics in Waikato and Bay of Plenty. He says the quantity and quality of magnesium fed to cattle markedly affects their health. “We try to run a com-
R CON
T
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
50 // MANAGEMENT
Just manage M.bovis NIGEL MALTHUS
ASHBURTON FARMERS Frank and Diane
Ashburton farmer Frank Peters.
Peters say the time has come to stop trying to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis and start managing it. Their farm is now being depopulated after
the disease was confirmed in a milk sample from one animal taken late March. But they believe their experience casts doubt on both the need for the disease to be eradicated, and the possibility that it can be, given that it appears to have been in their herd, symptomless, for about four years.
They also question the national milk surveillance programme, which failed to detect M.bovis in their cattle. “We’ve got our letter like everybody else, saying we’re clean. No Mycoplasma bovis was found,” says Peters. He calls the testing a waste of time that gives
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farmers false hope. “There are a lot of farmers running around thinking that little piece of paper says they’re free of bovis. Sorry, it’s not true.” The positive test came only after MPI cast its tracing net wider, returning to the Peters farm on the trail of 86 animals which NAIT records show they got from Alfons Zeestraten’s Southern Dairies in April and May 2014.
The Peters milk 1220 cows including 550 winter milkers. He said that as they dried off, the spring milkers were now “hopping on a truck and leaving us” in the MPI-ordered cull at a rate of about 90 a day. However, they hope to be allowed to keep the winter milkers at least until they finish lactating and are waiting for a decision from “higher up the ladder”. With two sheds and
“Farmers have been managing diseases in their herds for years. We do it quite easily and quite naturally.” Peters says they were bought as in-milk three- and four-yearolds. The Peters still have 51 of them, now milking in their fourth winter season. But they emphasise that they have never detected any symptoms of the disease. “This can be managed,” says Diane Peters. “Farmers have been managing diseases in their herds for years. We do it quite easily and quite naturally.” When farmers have a blowout of a disease they fix it or eradicate it, she adds. “We’ve been managing M.bovis in our herd – unknowingly – for the last four years.” Peters said the cow that showed the positive milk test had only just calved, so was probably shedding bacteria because of the extra stress. Mycoplasma bovis was “inconsequential” overseas, and not a problem in a well-managed herd, he says. “They’ve got to be under some sort of stress and need some other trigger such as BVD to set it off. It’s in more places than you think. I don’t think it is a problem. People need to study the disease a bit more and find out how it actually works.”
supply numbers, and no disease-sensitive neighbours, the farm is well set up to be split in two so one side can continue working while the other is depopulated, cleaned and disinfected, ready for a replacement herd in spring. The Peters say it would otherwise cost them $1 million in lost production. Diane Peters believes many symptomless animals around the country are being culled only because of raised antibodies. “Yet nobody can tell us what is a normal level of antibodies -- at calving, at the end of lactating or during the year. Nobody can come up with that information, so what they are going on I don’t know.” She said symptoms are supposed to show up first in calves but they have seen none. Ruefully nodding to a paddock of three-week-old calves from the winter milking herd, she adds: “They’re just going to get their throats cut and chucked in a hole, anyway. That’s their fate.” On the day Dairy News visited, the farm had just received what she called a “disgusting” MPI valuation for the animals being culled. “We’re challenging it, of course,” said Diane.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
MANAGEMENT // 51
Right hybrid, right paddock AS I write, M.bovis has just been reported found in Waikato. This comes on top of some farmers having to make changes to the feeding of PKE to lower their FEI levels which come into force in September. Also on the horizon in most regions will be the challenge to reduce N loss from farms. These three big challenges have many farmers looking at self-containing their farming operations and growing most of their feed on land they either own or control. Such a decision has big system impacts: notably, getting grass re-established after a maize crop becomes a critical decision affecting what hybrid to plant and when. Choosing the right maize silage hybrid to plant has always been important in getting as much yield as possible. But for farmers growing onf arm, choosing the right maturity to ensure you get the maize off in time to get grass established in time is also important. So how should you go about selecting the right maize silage hybrid? Step 1: Choose a hybrid that has the right maturity for your growing environment. To reach harvest maturity maize hybrids will have to acquire or accumulate a certain amount of heat. Short maturity hybrids have lower comparative relative maturities (CRMs) and require less heat than longer maturity hybrids (higher CRMs). The Pioneer brand ‘Maize for
Silage’ catalogue for 2018-19 provides an approximate number of days from planting to harvest, by district, for all Pioneer brand maize hybrids. Choose the hybrids that fit in to the plantingto-harvest period that suits your regrassing program. You can get a free copy by either calling 0800 Pioneer (0800 746 633) or by going to the website pioneer.co.nz Step 2: Choose a hybrid that has the right agronomic traits for your growing environment. Selecting hybrids that have high ratings for the agronomic traits that are important in your area will help ensure stable yields over a number of years. For example, if you are planting maize on light soils in a drought prone area, choose a hybrid with a good drought tolerance rating. Likewise, if the paddock is in a windy spot, good root and stalk strength ratings are important. Step 3: Select hybrids that will give high drymatter yields. With improving genetics, newer varieties are tending to outperform their older team mates. Each year we produce yield comparisons which compare one hybrid against a group of others. Table 1 shows the relative yield performance of a range of hybrids against their team mates. As you can see, the difference between one hybrid and another can be quite large. It is therefore important to talk to your seed merchant or Pioneer area manager, to help you choose the right
hybrid that, given steps 1 and 2 above, will perform best on your farm. Step 4: Buy high quality maize seed. Maize hybrids vary genetically in their ability to germinate and grow rapidly under cool stressful conditions; this is known as seed vigour. However, differences in seed vigour are not only due to genetics. Seed harvesting method, handling, drying, shipping and storage can all influence the emergence and growth potential of the maize hybrid you plant. For best results buy high quality NZ-produced seed from a company that has ISO certified quality control systems in place. Ordering maize seed Once you have chosen what hybrid you want, you need simply to place your order. You may be wondering why I have written about choosing a maize hybrid for next spring when the maize silage harvest has just finished. There are two reasons. Firstly, you can remember what has worked and what hasn’t with the hybrid(s) you have been using. Secondly, and more importantly, Pioneer is offering an early order maize scheme that reduces the risk of the impact of crop failure for any reason during planting and harvest. Not only is the seed replaced but you also get $100/ha to go toward your replanting costs. By ordering before the end of June, you are also more likely to get the hybrid of your choice. For further information contact your local maize seed merchant or call 0800 PIONEER (0800 746633). • Ian Williams is a Pioneer forage specialist. Contact him at iwilliams@ genetic.co.nz
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Hybrid A
Hybrid B
Growing Region
P8000
P7524
South Island
P9127
38V12
Lower North Island
Number of Trials
Drymatter Difference
28
-2.68
8
-2.51
Yield Advantage to Hybrid A (kgDM/ha) 1267*** 2171*
P9127
P9400
Lower North Island
25
-0.78
961*
P9911
P0362
Waikato
30
1.61
557*
P9911
P0021
Waikato
87
-1.21
1321***
P0725
P0791
Waikato
117
-0.74
898**
P1636
P1758
Waikato
39
0.31
1414***
P1477W
P1636
Northland
12
-1.10
3262**
Source: Pioneer research programme
Starts shown next to each yield comparison indicate the level of confidence that a real yield difference exists between the two hybridges based on the yield data. *** = very highly significant (P≤0.001); ** = highly significant (P≤0.01); * = significant (P≤0.05)
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
52 // ANIMAL HEALTH
Copper complacency slipping into herds RICHARD SIDES
COPPER DEFICIENCY
is again stalking New Zealand’s cattle, brought on by traditional pastoral deficiency and shifts in farming practices over the past two decades.
Copper deficiency was once known simply as ‘ill thrift’ -- a vague description of what animals could look like when suffering it, with hairy coarse coats, poor milk production (if dairy cows) and even diarrhoea. In young stock poor coat condi-
tion and diarrhoea can also be accompanied by poor post-weaning growth rates. A deficiency in copper has long lasting, deep rooted effects on animals, limiting their red blood cell formation, nerve development and bone
FORM OF INSURANCE COPPER ADMINISTRATION can be via bullets, injections drenches or in line dispensers. Farmers are increasingly comfortable administering long-acting Copacap drench boluses to cows and young stock, ensuring a sustained long term release of the vital trace element. Facilities for handling stock have got a lot better, and animals are more familiar receiving boluses, which helps take some of the stress out of it. You also avoid the risk of swelling or reaction that can accompany a needle injection of copper. Bolus drench capsules provide a
measured release of the trace element, reducing any risk of toxicity at administration. For the cost of testing and treating, the returns for addressing copper are significant. You don’t know what levels you will get from one year to the next, so it’s like a form of insurance. The cost of testing and treating for copper deficiency is far less than the cost of feeding stock high quality supplement through winter and early spring, only to have little growth result because of a simple deficiency.
growth. The odds that cattle in NZ will lack enough copper in their diet are generally high, given the hefty reliance upon pastoral feed in most farm systems. A nationwide AgResearch study of pasture and trace elements done on 1124 pasture samples between 2001 and 2006 identified copper as the trace element stock were most likely to be deficient in. The scientists reported 75% of pastures will not meet the cattle daily requirement for copper, falling short in only meeting about 80% of cattle’s daily requirement of 10mg/kgDM. The 75% of sampled pastures falling short of copper supply easily outstripped the next most deficient trace element selenium (24% of pas-
tures) and cobalt (18%). This figure may surprise many farmers, in being much higher than the mere 4% of pastures reported as being deficient in meeting the copper needs of sheep. Copper is an interesting trace element, and there would be few places in NZ where pasture would be supplying sufficient levels of it; the west coasts of both islands are particularly problematic. And we are increasingly finding deficiencies in parts of Otago and Hawke’s Bay. Farmers who may have applied molybdenum in past years must be particularly wary about copper levels. The AgResearch study noted that increased uptake of pasture higher in molybdenum can reduce an animal’s ability to absorb copper. Almost a quarter of pastures
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Richard Sides
sampled recorded molybdenum levels over 1mg/ kgDM, sufficient to cause reduced copper uptake. There was a trend some years ago for farmers to apply molybdenum in fertiliser, and we are still seeing the effects of those elevated molybdenum levels coming though. Elevated sulphur levels can also limit an animal’s uptake of copper. Further complicating the deficiency in the North Island, copper levels can also be compromised in late autumn after a season of preventative zinc dosing for facial eczema. After waiting for a couple of weeks after zinc treatment runs out, it is worth looking at copper levels; it is important to have a gap before treating
for copper, given the risk of negative interaction that comes from administering close to zinc treatment. There is a greater level of complacency among dairy farmers in particular in recent years about copper deficiency. This has come about partly through greater use of palm kernel extract (PKE) as a supplement. Valuable as a supplementary feed source for the last 15 years, PKE’s high copper level has proven a welcome trace element bonus. So as a result it has slipped a bit off the radar in terms of animal health issues. • Richard Sides is technical veterinarian at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health NZ.
Combo treatment tackles BVD A NEW combination treatment to tackle bovine respiratory disease (BRD) represents a treatment benchmark, says the developer, Virbac Australia. The treatment combines an antibiotic with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Virbac technical services manager and veterinarian Dr George Cox says it will “vastly improve” recovery time in cattle with BRD. “This new medication is the first-generation combination… delivered with one injection, once a day over 3-5 days, improving the bioavailability of both drugs and minimising the impact on production, to give animals the best chance of a full recovery.” BRD is among the most costly diseases affecting cattle, causes big economic losses in intensive farming systems, Cox says. It costs cattle producers in treatment, labour and cattle deaths, and in performance losses due to reduced milk production and weight loss. BRD is triggered by stress, Cox says, and the disease often occurs after a stressful event such as mustering and livestock trucking, hence the popular name ‘shipping fever’. It can also be triggered by weaning or even by a sudden change in weather, he says. “Symptoms can vary from a light upper respiratory tract infection to a full-blown flu and even pneumonia. Essentially, stress reduces an animal’s ability to fight off infection, which allows viruses like parainfluenza and herpes to move in.”
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
54 // ANIMAL HEALTH
A killer worse than M.bovis NIGEL MALTHUS
A CATTLE disease preva-
lent on 100% of New Zealand farms is much more serious than Mycoplasma bovis, a veterinarian says. Lincoln University Dairy Farm veterinarian Chris Norton told farmers at a recent focus day there that though M.bovis
dominates the news, another disease -- Johne’s -- affects more farms and kills more cattle. Johne’s was discovered first in Taranaki 100 years ago in one cow, Norton said. He explained how the farm handles Johne’s disease, the chronic gut infection caused by Mycobacterium avium paratu-
berculosis (MAP) bacteria. Usually infecting young cattle, Johne’s may remain hidden for years but leads to lower milk production and difficulty reproducing, then in late stages rapid weight loss, scouring and death, Norton said. Pre-clinical animals may be “super-shedders” spreading the bacteria in their faeces and
FIVE-POINT STRATEGY ■■
LUDF CONTROLS Johne’s in five ways:
■■
Test-and-cull of clinical and high risk cattle, to eliminate a major source of MAP before calving and reduce losses from clinical JD
■■
■■
Calving and colostrum management to minimise exposure to MAP before birth and at calving via dams’ faeces or colostrum Pre-weaning calf management
to avoid contact with adults and prevent exposure to a MAP-contaminated environment ■■
Replacement heifer management after weaning to remove susceptible heifers from any source of MAP until they join the dairy herd
■■
Biosecurity and buying low-risk stock to reduce the risk of importing MAP into the herd from high-risk sources.
colostrum. The disease is highly contagious: a calf exposed to the faeces of a clinical cow is highly likely to be infected. “I would say Johne’s is on 100% of our dairy farms; it is a silent killer. Where does it rate in relation to other diseases? I would say right up there, maybe even higher than Mycoplasma bovis. It’s killing a lot of cows every day in New Zealand.” LUDF has run an aggressive anti-Johnes policy for the past few seasons, calculating that the increased costs of culling and replacement would pay dividends in a lower incidence. Norton presented figures showing that in the 2014-15 season the farm recorded 18 cows with a positive (suspect) milk test for Johne’s, and
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Lincoln University Dairy Farm vet Chris Norton.
culled 15 after it was confirmed by a positive blood test. In 2015-16 the numbers were 20 positive milk tests and 17 culled; ten were culled in 2016-17 and nine in 2017-18. Norton said LUDF uses a test offered by LIC which detects MAP anti-
bodies in milk. They cull affected animals early rather than carry them through winter “and having them die on us in spring”. “What we’re achieving is a breaking of the cycle.” He advised farmers to get infected animals out of the herd pre-calv-
ing, because Johne’s is also carried in milk and colostrum – and pooling colostrum to the calf shed “sets up a perfect storm” for spreading the disease. Norton said LUDF’s control methods seem to be working, “reducing the actual level of infection in the herd”.
EARLY MATING PAYS DIVIDENDS A TRIAL of sexed semen at the Lin-
coln University Dairy Farm could result in gross income rising by at least $16,000. But the extra would result from the farm starting mating a week early to accommodate the trial, not because of any inherent benefit of sexed semen. Figures presented at a recent LUDF Autumn Focus Day revealed that a greater proportion of heifers are now expected to be born, but offset by sexed semen’s lower conception rates. In the trial, 143 cows were mated early -- 70 to sexed semen and 73 to conventional semen. 44% (31 animals) of the sexed semen cows conceived in the first week, compared with 58% (42 animals) conventional. Sexed semen was only used in the first week. As mating progressed the sexed-semen group caught up and the two groups showed similar in-calf rates by the end of seven weeks. In a presentation LUDF said that by using sexed semen an extra eight heifers were now expected from the first week of mating -- 28 from the sexed semen matings versus 20 from the conventional semen. But had the farm not used sexed semen a possible nine further cows may have been in calf at the end of the first week. “The difference in cost for the straws is roughly $40 x 70 = $2800. Assuming nine fewer cows pregnant from the first round of AB, the cost of missed production is 9 x 21 days x 1.8kgMS/day x $6 = $2041, giving a total increased cost of $4841. When
we divide this by the extra eight heifers born, we have an extra cost of $605 per heifer, plus 2% fewer cows in calf in the first three weeks.” However the costs were offset by the fact that the farm mated a week early to accommodate the trial. The farm would benefit from the extra milk from all 73 cows that conceived in the first week and would now calve three weeks earlier than they would have otherwise. “LUDF has therefore potentially gained three weeks milk from these animals, at 1.8kgMS/cow/day x $6 x 21 days x 73 = $16,556 gross income achieved by mating these cows earlier than normal.” “In practice this is a partial system change which may benefit LUDF with its lower stocking rate and increased use of hybrid ryegrass with greater cool-season growth potential. “Additionally, starting to mate one week earlier allows either a non-hormonal ‘why-wait’ outcome and/or use of longer gestation semen for specific cows without impacting calving pattern.” Ron Pellow, executive director of the South Island Dairying Development Centre, said LUDF was “really interested” in the opportunity that sexed semen should provide for the industry. “But it’s only going to work if we can get the cows in calf that we want. If we can used sexed semen and get good replacements out of our top cows then we’ve got more options on the straws that we use on all our other cows.”
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 55
It’s not always about the label MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
SOMEWHAT LESS
known than mainstream brands, Kymco has been a major producer in its homeland and the US for at least 50 years. The Kwang Yang Motor Co Ltd (Kymco), Taiwan, has 3000 employees making 600,000 vehicles annually. Founded in 1963 as a joint venture with Honda to make parts and machines, it quickly evolved and in 2002 began making quads at first aimed at the US market. Now it exports
to established markets worldwide and is gaining a big following in New Zealand, with the products imported and distributed by Steelfort, Palmerston North. Dairy News recently trialled the flagship of the Kymco UTV range, the UXV 700i LE-EPS sideby-side machine. Power comes from a 700cc single-cylinder engine with electronic fuel injection -- output 45hp at 6500rpm, so on the farm this machine doesn’t lack grunt. Aimed at tasks such as general runabout and towing meal and bale trailers, and borrowed by your reviewer’s
co-householder to harrow a couple of horse paddocks, the UXV took it all with ease. Speed selection was by engaging a stubby gear lever in the centre tunnel, with a choice of high, low, neutral, reverse and park. The CVT style transmission showed smooth takeup at relatively low engine revs, with no ‘grabbing’ as seen on some other brands tested. Out on the farm, low range was preferred for most tasks, while a daily blast in ‘high’ to the postbox at the end of the lane saw 80km/h come up quickly -- plenty fast enough for this tester. On
downhill sections, letting go the throttle brought in the sprag-clutch built into the CVT for engine braking and control at all times. Pointing in the right direction was easy with the standard electric power steering, and bringing things to a stop was no problem with allround disc brakes. In the tough stuff (read Waikato mud) a rotary dial on the dashboard could be used to select 4WD ‘on the fly’ and if the mud got extra bad, engaging the locking front diff pulled us through. But in 95% of cases neither was necessary: 2WD took us
Kymco UTV
where we wanted, with adequate 300mm ground clearance. Looking at capacities, a decent-size tipping load bed offers 190kg capacity and an opening tailgate, and the towbar is good for 550kg. Creature comforts include two comfortable
seats, several cubbyholes for storage including a large void under the front hood, side nets, 26-inch tyres on 14-inch alloy wheels and a bull-bar with a winch built in. Our demo machine had an optional glass front screen and GRP roof to keep out most of the
autumn weather. In summary, a very competent unit with no gimmicks, and a real alternative for people who don’t feel the need to be seen driving a vehicle with the ‘right’ label. www.kymco.co.nz @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews
MILKING LINERS’ NEW MULTI-FIT DESIGN cure that problem. From now on, all Skellerup VacPlus Square and Reflex milking liners will come with a unique new multifit design that allows fitting to standard or large claw milk inlet nipples. The operator just needs to choose the right mouthpiece size – M22 or M23 in VacPlus Squares, and M21, M22 or M23 in Reflex. The most common size in both designs (M22) is available with or without vacuum shut-off grooves. Multi-fit makes for well-timed
liner changes, and it makes the task easier and more accurate, says Skellerup. Also, they are easier fit to the claw, for more time saving. A splined bumper improves the liners’ resistance to impact damage, making them more robust and less likely to puncture if cows stand on them. Skellerup says the design change has reduced its range of branded liners from 14 to nine, and those nine can serve 90% of the different milking plant configurations on NZ farms.
TRACTA60853_DN
REPLACING WORN-OUT milking liners at their use-by date (normally 2500 milkings) is an effective, economic way to improve a farm’s milking, given that old liners can damage teats, compromise milk quality, leave milk in the udder and increase milking time and energy costs. With over 100 different variations of liners used on New Zealand dairy farms, choosing the correct replacement can be confusing, but an industry-first from Skellerup looks set to
Hard working engineering. Farming’s hard work and you can’t afford to muck around. Get it done and dusted with the help of our Buckton spreaders. They’re a great combo of Kiwi engineering and European technology. Our spreaders will return nutrients to the field, fast. Talk to your local Buckton dealer today, or call us on 07 533 1259.
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DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
56 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
Teats spray-cleaned with efficiency A MAJOR upgrade of a locally developed teat spraying system for rotary dairies has raised the system’s effectiveness and saves spray liquid. Onfarm Solutions’ Teatwand sprayer now
has the ‘Exact Air’, reports managing director Gary Arnott. The Teatwand Exact, with moving arm and twin nozzles, can now achieve excellent coverage of teats with less spray by means
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of an air injection system that better atomises the spray, giving better coverage at half the teat spray usage, Arnott says. “Typically only 10ml per cow is used, translating to much lower teat spray usage and fast payoff the investment”. The company also markets the British-made Cotswold Dairy ClusterFlush System for cleaning milking machines. Arnott comments that a standard milking machine cleaning routine, though it cleans and sterilises milking plant after milking, allows clusters to become heavily contaminated with bacteria once milking starts; then these are passed to subsequent cows every time the clusters are re-attached. This is the main source of mastitis in a milking herd, he says. “This is especially important when colostrum cows are milked after the main herd. Heavily contaminated clusters are attached to new freshly calved cows that are largely free of mastitis bacteria, and can be a major cause of new infections in early lactation. “One proven way of preventing this transfer is through the use of cluster flushing systems used more commonly overseas. Every cluster is automatically and vigorously flushed with high volumes of a disinfectant solution, removing any bacteria left in the clusters and liners. “The disinfectant is then flushed out of the system with clean water before the next cow is
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Cotswold automatic cluster flushing.
milked so there is no risk of residues in the milk. These clusters can then be safely attached to the next cow with no risk of transferring mastitis bacteria.” Developed in the UK, Cotswold automatic cluster flushing systems can be easily retrofitted to existing rotary and double-up herringbone dairies. Onfarm Solutions also markets the Air Saniclease system. Arnott says dirty teats are a marked problem during calving when cows come from the calving paddock covered in mud and bacteria and are at high risk of mastitis. He says if teats are cleaned prior to milking during the colostrum period they are at lower risk of mastitis and this greatly improves teat skin condition. “In addition, teat spray makes good contact with teat skin rather than dirt on teats and is more efficient at killing bacteria, further reducing the risk of mastitis. Wet farms, housing and feed-pad situations would also benefit from washing teats prior to milking.” The Air Sanicleanse system, from Northern Dairy Equipment UK, is an air driven teat scrubber system with three rotating brushes that scrub the teat. The top two brushes counter-rotate to clean the external sides of the teat, while the third larger brush located centrally underneath the top two cleans the teat end and orifice.
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 57
Standout blue by any name MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz
FARMERS, FRUIT or vege growers, vineyard owners or rural contractors -- most either know of or own gear made by Bertolini, whose distinctive blue tanks make them a standout in any field. The company is about to change its name: from June 1 it will be called BA Pumps & Sprayers, under the same ownership and business model. Bertolini Australasia was formed in 1989 by Mark, Penny and Guy Rendle, with Richard Skeates, when they secured the rights to sell Bertolini pumps in New Zealand from Iddromec-
canica Bertolini SpA of Italy. They went on to develop a range of equipment using the large range of agricultural and industrial pumps available to them, and developed a wide range of sprayers and pressure cleaning equipment. Today the range includes sprayers, pressure cleaners and fertiliser spreaders, and the company is the sole distributor of Iddromeccanica Bertolini pumps, Collard vineyard equipment, Boisselet under-vine equipment and TeeJet agricultural products. If customers can’t find what they need, the inhouse design and engineering team can custom
build gear to order. Custom-built sprayers are popular with rural spraying contractors, especially those built for truck or Toyota Landcruiser; an extensive array of options includes 1000L or larger tanks, hydraulic spray booms with wing lift, GPS, ABSC autorate controllers and airbag suspension. The business has remained loyal in using as many New Zealand suppliers as possible, rather
Landcrusier deck-mounted sprayers are popular with contractors. Top left: New logo.
than outsourcing manufacturing and quality control overseas; most
products are certified as NZ-made. Growth prompted a
move in 2017 to a new, purpose-built facility 5km from Cambridge;
staff numbers grew and production capacity expanded.
MELODIS ON SONG MAKING A good quality stack or clamp
Melodis mounted on a JCB machine.
silage is a given for livestock farmers, but feeding out can be a lottery. So a multi-faceted mixer-feeder bucket that can cut, mix and discharge might prove useful for those looking for better stack/clamp management, or just to mechanise feeding in irregular-shaped or old cattle yards. This describes the Emily Melodis mixer-feeder, distributed by Ag-Attachments, that comes with a heavy-duty bucket in a range of sizes from 0.9 to 7.5cu.m. These units suit operation on telescopic handlers or loading shovels, allowing them to be manoeuvred into tight spaces typically inaccessible to tractor/ mixer wagon combinations. They suit grass and maize silages, PKE and minerals. In the base of the bucket a dual-helix mixer screw is driven from either end to
reduce dynamic loads. Discharge of the mixed ration is via a guillotine-style gate at one end of the machine. There’s a choice of upper attachments: either a basic hydraulic grab or a hydraulically driven rotor that cuts upwards and deposits material in the bucket. The resultant stack face is smooth, well-sealed and remains consolidated, so resisting secondary fermentation and spoilage. In operation, dry materials are loaded first, followed by the grass and maize silages. The bucket is ‘crowded’ back to the vertical position, with a load mixed in two-three minutes. Typically, a 3cu.m bucket has enough capacity to feed 30 to 35 animals dependent on their age and size. Construction is heavy duty, with high-wear areas done in Hardox steel or optional stainless-steel liners. – Mark Daniel
DAIRY NEWS MAY 29, 2018
58 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
Tru-Test selling to the Swiss AUCKLAND COMPANY Tru-Test has conditionally signed to sell the greater part of its business to the Swiss company Datamars SA, which has offices in Auckland and Brisbane. The deal involves the R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, marketing and corporate functions of Tru-Test Retail Solutions (primarily electric fence, weighing and EID systems) division and the milk meters business. These generate about 85% of revenues. The sale also includes the TruTest brand and those of its products. Datamars SA operates globally, specialising in tracing and tracking livestock, pets and textiles (using visual and radio frequency identification including ear tags). It recently bought the New Zealand company Simcro (animal health delivery systems). The sale would see the Tru-Test Dairy Solutions division operating as a standalone business reporting to its own board. The dairy division covers dairy automation, milk cooling and farm holding tanks, now said to
Road user charges made easy RUC MANAGER is the newest addi-
be in strong recovery from the dairy downturn. Shareholders will vote on the sale in mid June. The deal will require the support of 75% of shareholders and will be subject to Overseas Investment Office (OIO) approval. Subject to these approvals, settlement is expected in late September 2018. Tru-Test Group chairman John Loughlin describes the deal as a liquidity event for 100 shareholders. “For some years many sharehold-
ers, large and small, have pressed the directors for initiatives that would create more liquidity for their shares and an opportunity to realise value. Against this background they should find this development very satisfying.” He says the acquisition and merging will bring together two businesses with an aligned focus on delivering value to farmer customers. “Tru-Test and Datamars SA will benefit from the growth in scale of the integrated business.”
tion to Teletrac Navman’s GPS tracking technology. Managing road user charges (RUC) on diesel vehicles is time consuming and the off-road rebates farmers are entitled to often remain on the table. Approved by NZTA, RUC Manager streamlines compliance and rebates. The system combines a dashmounted distance tracker and licence display with web-based software. It automatically purchases and displays RUC licences, and tracks travel on pri-
vate roads to submit accurate RUC rebate forms to NZTA. Teletrac Navman customer Cambridge Bee Products, which uses GPS tracking to claim back 3000km in offroad travel, says using the product has raised business efficiency. Owner Richard Haddrell says efficiency is raised by helping meet the traceability component of food safety standards, saving time and fuel locating beehives, improving the management of beehive sites, plus the claiming of RUC rebates.
Environment, animal welfare and profit...have it all! performance ✓ Environmental Utilising on/off grazing can lead to reduced soil pugging and compaction, decreased N leaching and a reduction in overgrazing
Animal welfare
animals with a shelter choice limits the impact of heat, cold and ✓ Providing rain & improves calving survival rates.
Profit
✓ See the new and improved design. More loafing space, increased effluent storage and a stronger roof. Ask the farmer why they picked HerdHomes® shelters and see for yourself how it is working out.
0800 HERDHOMES (0800 437 346) www.herdhomes.co.nz
Farmers are growing more grass and utilising supplementary feeds far more efficiently when fully using a HerdHomes Shelter—this is leading to higher productivity and profit.
Autumn / Winter HerdHomes® shelters users throughout New Zealand continue to talk to us about the benefits they get throughout the autumn and winter. It allows for users to manage pasture residuals and round lengths with ease. Drying off is based on calving date as all stock are wintered at home where putting on a condition score is simple
NZ Patent Numbers: 521150, 544190, 550635, 545042. Further patents pending. International Patent Numbers: 2003267874, 03748807.9. Further patents pending
READY FOR MOVING DAY? REMEMBER TO RECORD ALL FARM MOVEMENTS
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO 9
Avoid any unnecessary livestock movements to minimise risk of introducing disease into your farm
9
Establish quarantine measures on-farm including minimising the mixing of herds until animal health status is observed
9
Keep your NAIT records up-to-date, including your contact details, tagging and registering your animals and recording their movements
9
Check the TB status and any other testing requirements of the animals purchased or that may apply to the area you’re moving to
9
Complete an animal status declaration (ASD) form when shifting stock and provide to the next person in charge accurately
9
Make sure that the stock moved from a TBfree Movement Control Area have a pre-movement TB test up to 60 days before the move
FURTHER HELP Go to ospri.co.nz or call 0800 482 463.
NAIT is an OSPRI programme
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