Rural News 17 Sept 2013

news Last season’s drought will see meatworkers face lean times. page 9

management Getting lambs from hogget flock replacements could be one way to boost productivity. page 37

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september 17, 2013: Issue 546

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AgResearch stays mum SUD ES H K I SSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

FONTERRA AND AgResearch remain at loggerheads over tests carried out for the bacteria responsible for causing botulism. However, AgResearch is not making any comments on a Fonterra WPC80 operational review, which says the SOE “confirmed the likely presence of Clostridium botulinum in bacteria sourced from product containing the whey protein concentrate”. An AgResearch spokesman said it had no further comment to make on this issue. In an earlier statement, it denied confirming the presence of Clostridium botulinum in the isolates provided by Fonterra. However, it says the research had potentially detected Clostridium botulinum and recommended further testing. The interpretation of the test results is crucial because Fonterra says that after receiving AgResearch’s results it immediately advised the MPI. The co-op also initiated a precautionary recall of the WPC80 with the eight customers that had received it, and publicly communicated the test results and potential food safety risk. A Government investigation into the WPC80 incident will be in three parts: Part A will look at how the potentially contaminated whey protein concentrate entered the New Zealand and international market, and how this was subsequently addressed. This is expected to include scrutiny of the test results from AgResearch. Parts B and C will look at regulatory

and best practice requirements against the background of this incident in relation to the dairy industry, including the role of regulators. The inquiry will then report on any recommended legal, regulatory or operational changes. The inquiry’s first-stage results must be reported before Christmas. Earlier this month, the Government named businessman Tony Nowell and

food safety expert Dr Anne Astin as inquiry members. The inquiry will be chaired by lawyer Miriam Dean. The inquiry’s report will be peer reviewed by Professor Alan Reilly, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, who has worked 30 years in food safety. Before assuming his present role he worked in food safety in the World Health Organisation in Geneva.

He is chairman of the scientific advisory board of the European Food Information Council. Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye says the inquiry will send a strong message that New Zealand takes these issues seriously, and that we are determined to protect the strong reputation for food safety we have built up over generations.

CANTERBURY DAIRY farmers aren’t going to forget last week’s storm in a hurry. But Ben Jaunay will have a better reason than most to remember the exact date: he was in Timaru hospital with his wife who had just had their fourth child, a daughter, when the 100kmh-plus winds struck. What’s more, the story made the front page of the local paper a couple of days later. “We’ve had all sorts of suggestions [for a name] for her: Gail, Windy, you name it,” the sharemilker of 2200 told Rural News. While the power was on when he got back to the farm, it didn’t last long, going off Tuesday night with cows on the platform. “We had to use the tractor to get them off.” Wednesday morning was spent finding and, in the end buying, a generator. “$9000 when you’re producing $30,000/day of milk isn’t much. It’s something we should have done ages ago.” Power to the farm at Rangitata was back on by Thursday morning, but many others further north weren’t nearly so fortunate, he said. More on storms page 3

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Ravensdown AGM expected to be testy DISGRUNTLED RAVENSDOWN shareholders have filed three motions to be heard at the co-op’s annual meeting in Ashburton next week. The motions, from South Canterbury farmer Jeremy Talbot, call for shareholders to record their dissatisfaction with the performance of the cooperative and ask it to confine its activity to its core business of supplying fertiliser products and services. A review of the constitution, in consultation with shareholders, is also called for, including the number of farmer elected directors and wards, the number of independent directors and their areas of expertise, the number of other directorships a Ravensdown director may hold, share redemption policy and notice period for motions at the annual meeting. The last point is a reference to this year’s August 14 no-rebate result announcement leaving shareholders only a few days to lodge motions within the constitutional deadline for the September 23 agm. As Talbot’s motions were lodged outside the constitutional deadline an informal show-of-hands vote on the motions will be held at the meeting so the board can gauge the reaction of shareholders attending the meeting, Ravensdown chairman Bill McLeod said in a letter to shareholders earlier this month. – Andrew Swallow

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 3 issue 546 Farmlands move questioned

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A N DREW SWA LLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

News ������������������������������ 1-18 World ������������������������ 20-21 Markets �������������������� 22-23 Agribusiness ����������� 24-27 Hound, Edna ������������������� 28 Contacts ������������������������� 28 Opinion ����������������������� 28-31 Management ����������� 32-38 Animal Health �������� 40-45 Machinery and Products ������������������ 46-52 real estate �������������������� 53 Rural Trader ���������� 54-55 Head Office Top Floor, 29 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622 Phone: 09-307 0399 Fax: 09-307 0122 Postal Address PO Box 3855, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140 Published by: Rural News Group Printed by: PMP Print Contacts Editorial: editor@ruralnews.co.nz Advertising material: davef@ruralnews.co.nz Rural News online: www.ruralnews.co.nz Subscriptions: subsrndn@ruralnews.co.nz ABC audited circulation 81,232 as at 30.06.2013

EX FARMLANDS director Hugh Ritchie, who resigned over what he felt was a lack of adequate data to support the merger with CRT earlier this year, says he “just can’t fathom” why the cooperative has now acquired NRM. The feed miller, which claims to be the biggest in New Zealand, is to be sold to Farmlands and Mainfeeds. The move comes just six months after Farmlands merged with South Island counterpart CRT, which already had considerable feed milling capacity at Rolleston and Winton in the South Island. “I suppose the rationale is vertical integration… but it is so far away from where the Farmlands model originally

was,” he told Rural News. “They’re just adding another layer of cost.” That original model was to get the best possible price on inputs and services for Farmlands members, he says. “That’s quite different from just being cheaper than PGW. The aim was to keep the cost structure low and pass on the benefit.” Ritchie stresses he’s not saying the CRT merger is what’s changed Farmlands, as it had “already gone off the rails a bit with its huge expansion of shops and vehicles” prior to the merger. Since resigning as a Farmlands director he’s started taking tenders from multiple organisations for inputs and services to the family’s large-scale cropping business in Hawkes Bay, and says the substantial savings he’s now achieving makes him “disappointed” in the

savings he formerly made by buying from Farmlands. “For example, we’ve taken $9000 off our phone account by going direct.” Even after what used to be a sizeable rebate from Hugh Ritchie Farmlands, his business will be considerably better off, he says. “Our spend with Farmlands is now probably a quarter of a fifth of what it was. It used to be all our business went there regardless. Now we’re putting all our business up for tender.” @rural_news

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Severe storms savage the country PAM TIPA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

SEVERE SOUTH ISLAND weather blocked access by milk tankers to some suppliers last Tuesday and some Westland and Synlait processing was temporarily affected by power cuts. However Fonterra, Westland and Synlait all report these problems were quickly resolved. Fonterra’s general manager of operations South Island, Tim Keir, says the weather in the South Island, particularly in Canterbury, prevented milk tankers accessing some of its suppliers’ farms on Tuesday night. However, with conditions clearing on Wednesday they worked quickly to return to a stable milk collection schedule. Westland Milk Products says it responded quickly to challenges presented by Tuesday’s severe storm to maintain milk collection and production. The storm cut power to the company’s Rolleston plant, preventing processing, and affected part of the plant at Hokitika, which slowed processing.

Briefly this placed pressure on the company’s ability to collect and store milk. Both on-farm and plant storage capacity is near maximum limits at this time of year and while some farmers faced delays in milk collection, business rapidly returned to normal, says chief executive Rod Quin. Rolleston and Hokitika plants soon returned to full operation. Synlait Milk says blocked roads and widespread power outage affected some of its Canterbury suppliers. The company worked to ensure normal operations resumed as soon as possible, focusing on trying to collect all milk from farms. Meanwhile, Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills’ farm in northern Hawke’s Bay was hit hard by the storm last week. He is due to start lambing this week “but I’ll have fences down, hundreds and hundreds of trees all over the place, over buildings, tracks and fences,” he told Rural News. “That’s farming, I’m not complaining but when you have trees and you live in a windy spot, they create an awful lot of work.”

Wills only heard about his farm from his staff, as he was trapped in Wellington with the airport closed. He learned then that damage was not too bad in other parts of Hawkes Bay – only about half a dozen farms on the ridges, including his, were hit badly. But he says none of this damage compared to Canterbury. “When you’ve got welfare cases, the power’s out, you can’t pump water to stock, you can’t milk stock – that’s the important stuff.” They were still trying to locate the last of some generators to help out the Canterbury farmers. Nevertheless Wills says what he and other farmers are now faced with was something environmentalists don’t appreciate. He would be out for weeks with chainsaws clearing the damage. “This is farming” – droughts, storms, flooding – but Wills says he has more trees than most so he has to accept that. “Ninety-nine percent of the time trees are great and they do good things for the environment and they are lovely for stock and animals. But they are a lot of work... something environmentalists don’t appreciate.”

Wools of NZ roadshows PA M T I PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

WOOLS OF NEW ZEALAND kicks off 17 roadshows around the country next Monday (September 23) with the first in Wellsford, north of Auckland. They’re an open forum for both shareholders and other growers interested in what the company is doing, says chairman Mark Shadbolt. New chief executive Ross Townshend will speak, as will Cheryl Kindness, a director of Camira Fabrics in the UK. Shadbolt says WNZ have built a strong relationship with Camira over lambs’ wool contracts. Also speaking is Steven Parsons, Wools of NZ’s UK-based innovations and marketing manager. “He will be talking about new products right out to the consumer and new opportunities around wool. We will be discussing two important points – some options open to growers that we’ve created they will not only be around an efficient route to market but also some new sales options. The other one will be around the Camira lambs’ wool contracts. “The meetings are open to any growers and anybody involved in the wool industry. We’ve taken a transparent approach to what we are doing and we’d like to see as many growers in New Zealand benefit as possible. “We have a responsibility to our shareholders in the first instance, but we really want to build the Wools of NZ brand and the value of that the opportunity for growers.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

4 news

THe KING OF KALes.

Noxious weed spill threatens arable sector ANDREW SWAL LOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

SEED OF Europe’s most notorious arable weed, blackgrass, has almost certainly been spilt in Canterbury prompting a cross-industry effort to try to contain the incursion. The spill is along a 40km stretch of highway from Ashburton to Methven, caused by an ill-fitting lid on a steel container on an open truck, MPI response manager David Yard told Rural News. The blackgrass seed was identified by MPI inspectors in a consignment of fescue seed from Denmark at a transitional facility at Rolleston after import through Lyttelton in May. The importer, PGG Wrightson, had then, with MPI’s permission, moved the consignment to Ashburton, where it was debagged, put into bins, and transported to Methven for cleaning. “This is where the major mistake occurred,” says Yard. “We had specified it had to be transported in an enclosed vehicle.” About 28kg of the seedline was lost, which, based on the level of contamination MPI had found, probably contained about an eggcupful of blackgrass seed. “We estimate there would have been about 2100 blackgrass seeds lost.”

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MPI germination tests on the blackgrass seed show it has low viability, likely because it was immature at the time of harvest of the fescue. “We anticipate that three or four blackgrass plants [from the spilt seed] will grow this year, and one or two plants in the second year. But those low numbers don’t mean there’s no risk, which is the only thing acceptable to the industry.” The ministry is working with a range of industry bodies to determine the best course of action. Possibilities include allowing the seeds to grow and trying to identify and destroy any blackgrass plants that establish, before they set seed, and/or spraying the roadsides with selective herbicides. Yard says he believes a combination of selective herbicide use and subsequent surveillance to be the best bet. “We are working with scientists at FAR to determine which herbicides we could use. We’ve looked at the research in Denmark and the blackgrass there is resistant to quite a large number of herbicides so we would use that information to decide which selective herbicides we would use.” Glyphosate or another broad spectrum-type product is an option but such a “scorched-earth” approach isn’t likely, he believes.

Yard says the blackgrass incursion is the only one MPI has recorded and that while there was a mistake in the transportation of the product within New Zealand, the real fault lies with the Danish exporter and authorities, as it was certified as being free from contaminants. “We will be taking this up with the Danish authorities.”

FAR’s Nick Pyke says it’s vital all steps are taken to prevent establishment.

The Foundation for Arable Research says it is working with MPI, Federated Farmers and E-Can on identifying specific areas or properties along the stretch of road most at risk from the spill. FAR chief executive Nick Pyke says while the volume and viability of the seed spilt was low, given its potential economic impacts it is vital all reasonable steps are taken to prevent establishment.

“Blackgrass, or meadow fox tail, is a serious invasive weed of winter crops in the UK and Europe, where it has developed resistance to many herbicides and is thus very difficult to control in a number of crops. It competes with crops for nutrients, light, water and space, out-competing crops and reducing yields.” The weed is an annual grass that grows up to 1m tall, ie taller than most winter crops, with hairless leaves, an open sheath and rolled in the bud. The sheaths can be green or purplish and the seed heads are usually reddish-purple in colour, giving the appearance from a distance of black grass. Blackgrass can mature within 100 days hence early reporting of any suspected incursions is vital, Pyke says. PGG Wrightson Seeds says the spilt seed was part of a larger consignment of imported seed that was to be returned to its country of origin. MPI was informed immediately the spill was discovered in late June. “We are working with MPI and associated parties to determine the appropriate mitigation strategy and are co-operating with MPI’s investigation of the breach,” says PGW Seeds’ group general manager John McKenzie.

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While the blackgrass seed spill is a serious threat to arable farming in New Zealand, MPI has to be commended for identifying the contamination and informing the industry, says Federated Farmers mid-Canterbury Grains chairperson, David Clark.

“Blackgrass has proved to be one of the toughest weeds to control on European and UK cropping farms. Without specific management, blackgrass can reduce yields in wheat to beyond the point where it is economic to grow the crop and could also put in

jeopardy New Zealand’s lucrative ryegrass seed export business.” If it established in New Zealand it would mean more chemical use and deeper cultivation to try to keep it in check. “Even then, blackgrass has shown a strong tendency to

develop resistance to a number of different chemical families,” he notes. In terms of the incursion response, it’s vital no effort is spared, he adds. “We have just one chance to get this right.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 5

Losses mount for infant formula exporters SUD ES H K I SSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

SMALL AND mediumsize infant formula makers are each losing up to $2 million a week in China as consumer confidence erodes following the false Fonterra botulism scare. Infant Formula Exporters Association chairman Michael Barnett says contracts worth up to $30m have also been either stalled or put at risk. He warns damage to the New Zealand brand in China extends beyond infant formula and other milk products.

nesses losing millions of dollars each month, so we urgently need to see a change in trust and confidence in the New Zealand brand. “Our people on the ground in China report that European [competitors] now see an opportunity to challenge New Zealand’s premium position as suppliers and are incentivising Chinese buyers to change.” The Government has outlined an initial plan to rebuild consumer confidence in key markets. It includes a $2 million to help small and medium-

fered and this can’t go on.” Barnett hopes to take about 10 exporters to China. MPI and NZTE officials will be on hand to help. The purpose is to meet with Chinese officials, distributors and retailers in Shanghai and Beijing to start rebuilding trust. “To do that we

“It is unfortunate that exporters have become “collateral damage in the botulism incident”. “They are suffering through no fault of their own.”

3

size exporters travel to key markets. Barnett says it’s a signal the Government recognises the need for a recovery plan. He points out the fund is an assistance package, not compensation. “The strength of balance sheets of small companies operating in the area is not enough to pick up costs so the travel grants will help.” He expects many infant formula exporters to dip into the fund but the brand damage “cuts across every bit of food-related export business”. “New Zealand’s brand has suf-

mary Industries Nathan Guy says a key component of the Government’s recovery plan will be an intense round of targeted visits to key markets by mnisters and senior officials once essential technical issues are resolved. “Our response needs to be fine-tuned and targeted to the particular needs of each key market. We already enjoy close relationships with overseas

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Barnett, taking a delegation to China next week, says a recovery plan involving government agencies and exporters is needed to rebuild consumer confidence and stem losses. Barnett told Rural News it is unfortunate that exporters have become “collateral damage in the botulism incident”. “They are suffering through no fault of their own,” he says. The result for them is their China business has ceased and is being taken over by other foreign suppliers. “I am aware of busi-

Small and medium-sized infant formula exporters are losing up to $2 million a week in China, claims Michael Barnett.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

6 news

Drought has dramatic impact on this year’s lamb numbers P E TE R BU R K E

THE IMPACT of the severe drought, especially in the North Island earlier this year, will mean nearly two million fewer lambs to go to slaughter this season. And a survey by Beef + Lamb New Zealand shows a big drop in ewe and hogget numbers. The survey of 500 sheep and beef farms nationwide shows that while nationally breeding ewe numbers at 20.21 million are down by 1% on the previous year, in the North Island the drop is 2.7%. The biggest decline was in Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. In the South Island, ewe numbers remained almost static. Hogget numbers are also down by 1.3%, the biggest decrease being on the North Island east coast. The downward trend also continues for the beef sector: beef

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cattle numbers are estimated at 3.69 million – down by 1.3% on last year and nearly 4% down on the 2011 figures. Again the biggest fall is in the North Island, the South Island having only a modest decline. B + L NZ’s executive director, economic service, Rob Davison, says the drought in the North Island posed particular problems because virtually every region was affected and there was nowhere for the stock to go. This resulted in a higher-than-normal slaughter of adult sheep. However, Davison does expect a recovery in the present favourable conditions. “Because of the drought the numbers have dropped but we expect them to come back up to pre-drought numbers. In the South Island, where most of the dairy growth is at the moment, the question is how much that expansion is going to continue. “It’s a bit early to say that at the moment, but we know there will

be more conversions there, though this will depend on the granting of resource consents. But we know there is a bit of a bow wave of consents that haven’t been taken up yet so it’ll be interesting to see whether that materialises.” The drought affected ewe condition and scanning results around the country were variable. But while there may be fewer twins born, Davison believes this will to some degree be offset by heavier single lambs. What remains unclear is what will happen in the coming months. Clearly some ewe lambs will be retained as replacements and what happens at the saleyards may hinge on climatic conditions. Then there’s the rise and rise of dairying, rolling out on the best sheep finishing country, says Davison – meaning the sheep flock is moving up onto more hill-type country.

B + L NZ is also predicting a lower mutton kill this season. The drought saw all but the best animals retained on farms and Davison expects this season’s mutton kill to be down by about 200,000. For the same reason, the beef kill – especially the cow kill – will be down this season. Dairy farmers tended to get rid of their culls early because of the drought and tended to cull hard. Davison predicts the cow cull to be down by 3%, steers the same and bull beef holding steady on last season.

Beef+Lamb’s Rob Davison says this year’s lamb crop will be down by 2 million.

@rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews

Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 7

We will survive – exporter CRAIG HICKSON, managing director of Progressive Meats, says this coming season’s lamb kill will be the lowest he can remember. He reckons you’d to go back to the 1960’s to find such a low kill. But the industry is not in crisis nor is it the end of the world, he says. “The kill will be 18.6 to 19 million and it will mean there will probably not be a peak to the season – depending on the weather. The kill will be flatter and we’d expect farmers to take their stock through to heavier weights because of the fewer numbers. “I also think the companies will drop off their lowerpaying markets because they won’t need to sell [to them] because they won’t have the

volume. This will assist in lifting the average price paid because the lower-priced markets will be dropped.” Hickson says the challenge for the sheep and beef industry resembles what’s happening in the dairy industry and other primary sector groups. “As long as land is being used for other activities, such as horticulture, viticulture and dairying, we’ll see a decline in the sheep and beef industry. This means that in general the returns from sheep and beef farming have to match the returns from the alternative uses and if that happens the decline will be addressed.” Hickson says he and many of his colleagues are concerned about what’s

happening. One solution is to get an improvement in wool prices. “It’s a long shot to expect lamb to do it all on its own.” Looking back over the history of the sheep and beef industry, Hickson says it’s much healthier than in the 1970s and early 1980s when there were subsidies for farmers. Though there were many lambs then, many were skinny and prices were not good. “In a marketing and economic sense, if you produce more of something it becomes more plentiful and… and less valuable. So you have to have the right balance of supply and demand to maintain

Hoggets need more feed! P ET ER BUR K E

the price.” Hickson says the drought affected New Zealand’s low cost production system based on feeding animals grass; any variation in grass growth will have inevitable consequences.

Craig Hickson

AN EXPERT in hogget mating says many farmers underestimate the true feed requirements of hoggets that have been mated. Massey University’s professor Paul Kenyon told Rural News if a hogget is going to be bred in its first year, many farmers tend to underestimate the animal’s feeding requirements. As a result, the farmers get caught out because they are disappointed in the weight of the lambs or the hoggets at weaning. “They also get concerned at the number of lambs that survive and how heavy the hogget is. If she ends up being light as a twotooth this has impacts on her later performance. “So if farmers really want to get the benefit out of hogget breeding they have to ensure that the first year goes well and that’s all about meeting liveweight targets and feeding her very well.” Kenyon says that first year sets the scene for the breeding life of a ewe. “What I would say is if farmers struggle to feed their hoggets enough in pregnancy to gain about 140 grams a day, then they should lift their minimum liveweight at breeding, which means they have got less pressure in pregnancy. “So instead of having a minimum liveweight of 40kg, if you move that minimum liveweight to 45kg then they’ve only got to gain 100 grams per day during pregnancy, because they have already grown that much better themselves in terms of their own weight and size,” he adds. More page 37w

9/12/2013 10:51:26 AM

Rural News // september 17, 2013

8 news

Lower lamb kill not all bad – Petersen P eter Burke

The low lamb kill could see farmers get better prices for their animals this season, according to Beef and Lamb chair Mike Petersen. He told Rural News that the drop in lamb numbers is not just a New Zealand issue and that globally there will be about five million lambs less. This, he says, will certainly tighten supply and is good news for farmers. Petersen says he’s aware that the drop in overall sheep numbers in New Zealand is giving rise to fears that the country is losing ‘critical mass’ in terms of sheep. “I don’t see that as being an issue at all. In fact, we seem to be settling into a number which produces between 18 and 21 million lambs. From that point of view, we are still a serious

global player and still the biggest cross border trader in lamb,” he added “I don’t think we are losing critical mass. The issue is, of course, that it makes it more difficult for our processing companies with excess capacity to manage lower numbers again and that’s going to see some procurement tension. I have no doubt about that and maybe in the short term farmers might benefit, but in the long term that has to be addressed.” Petersen says one of the major issues raised in the Red Meat Sector Strategy (RMSS) was the need for a ‘behavioural change’ by all those involved in the meat industry in respect to the ‘efficient aligned procurement’ of stock. He admits that with fewer lambs around, the odds of effecting such a change is harder. “I don’t think the com-

“You can’t fight dairying. The other thing is if sheep and beef farming is enjoyable and farmers get satisfaction and reasonable returns from it; then many will stay as sheep and beef farmers.” panies are going to be silly about this in the coming season. They are talking about ‘sensible procurement’. You have to remember that balance sheets aren’t strong in the meat industry. I think there will

be tension, but I ‘m not expecting a ‘procurement war’ as such where people will be paying dramatically over the top,” he says. The other issue that’s seen as a problem for the meat industry is the expan-

sion of the dairy industry. Petersen says this is going to continue and is just the reality of the economics of farming. “I have never been one to be overly concerned about that. I look at some of the performances hill country sheep and beef farmers are putting out now especially the top performers. They are getting outstanding results on hill country that we could previously only dream about

Despite the drop in lamb crop, Mike Petersen says NZ is still a serious global trader.

What’s in store? The weather seems set play a hand in prices for store lambs in the coming season with few people willing to say where prices might go. Mike Petersen believes the whole issue is ‘grass dependent’ and says it’s possible there will be less store lambs available as farmers re-stock after last season’s drought. He says that last season’s drought was unusual because virtually the

whole country was affected and there was nowhere for stock to go. PGG Wrightson’s livestock manager in the Manawatu/Horowhenua, Maurice Stewart agrees the weather will play a big part in what might happen. He points out that in many parts of the hill country in the central North Island problems are looming. Stewart claims, in some areas,

another drought is on the horizon because of recent strong drying winds and lack of warm rain. He adds that on some farms there is no cattle tucker. Stewart says yardings for both cattle and sheep are good at Feilding. He says for the last 8 weeks between 1000 and 1200 cattle have been up for sale with sheep numbers between 12,000 and 20,000.

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on flat country. “You can’t fight dairying. The other thing is if sheep and beef farming is enjoyable and farmers get satisfaction and reasonable returns from it; then many will stay as sheep and beef farmers. Petersen quips that he hasn’t met very many sheep and beef farmers who want to be dairy farmers.

Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 9

Meatworkers face a lean season peter burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

MANY MEATWORKERS are ‘subsisting’ and struggling to make ends meet, says the general secretary of the Meat Workers Union, Graham Cooke. His comments follow news that the lamb kill will be down by as many as two million lambs. Cooke told Rural News that last season’s drought will severely affect the 23,000 members of his union, which recently began sorting the

implications of the lower lamb numbers available for slaughter. Ironically, says Cooke, last season’s drought had some upsides for his members with the higher mutton and cow kill up at certain peak times. But the situation will reverse this season. “On the shoulders of the season they had longer layoffs and got more short time. So in other words where they are contracted to do eight hours a day, they might have only got

six – or even as little as three hours’ work and, in some cases, no work,” he explained. “So that’s where the bigger impact is on the shoulders of the season. We’ve had discussions around our executive table and came to the conclusion very early on… that this season is not going to be a good one.” Like many others dependent on the sheep and beef sector, Cooke knows what’s happening in dairying.

“I was recently down in Southland and I saw a massive increase. Ten years ago on the coast road from Invercargill, there were only about ten dairy farms. Now you just see more and more dairy farms going in and the conversion to dairying is of major concern to meat workers. “Ok, meatworkers get the benefit on the beef side of the operation with more cows being slaughtered, and obviously there are a few more bobby calves that give our mem-

bers work in the off-season. But our big concern

is the steady fall in the number of breeding ewes.”

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Continuing recipe for disaster GRAHAM COOKE says the Meat Workers Union shares many of the concerns raised by the Meat Industry Excellence group (MIE). His organisation has spoken with MIE leaders and it has similar views on what is happening and what needs to happen in the meat industry. Cooke says the union has major reservations about where the industry is heading. Meat companies are still competing with each other and “they don’t stop still and are always looking to take an advantage over another company.” The industry needs behavioural and structural change, Cooke says. “I am not advocating a Fonterra-type structure, but… when you compare the two industries – dairy and meat – if the meat industry had done what dairy did

20 years ago, wow the industry would be taking on world markets instead of taking on each other’s. “We take each other on at the farmgate, we take each other on in the industrial arena and then we take each other in the international markets. It’s just a recipe for disaster and a continuing one at that.” Cooke, involved in the sector since 1968, has press clippings about the issues of that era. Today’s issues are no different from nearly 50 years ago, he says. “Our union has been saying for some time that we are more interested in an industry solution than what is carrying on at the moment. Our members don’t enjoy coming to work doing two hours a day while their counterparts down the road are also doing two hours.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

10 news

More science, please! peter burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS and agencies have been castigated by the Government’s chief science advisor for failing to use good quality robust science when formulating policy.

Sir Peter Gluckman, in a report, calls on departments to appoint their own science advisors to improve the process and to improve their communication of science related issues. He notes that MPI is one of few agencies to have its own independent, science advisor.

Gluckman notes in his report that “worryingly some officials have limited understanding of the scientific process of knowledge production or were uncertain about it. They were not clear on how research based evidence could be used to support policy formation”.

“Some [policy makers] preferred to work from their own beliefs or rely on their own experience. At its extreme, I find this deficiency to be unacceptable.” The report praises MPI for “improving the quality of its policy formation processes”, and says

it’s encouraging to see the department has given priority to the use of “evidence-informed advice”. While MPI gets some kudos, Gluckman points to the “unevenness across government regarding departmental use of and respect for research derived evidence”. The

Sir Peter Gluckman

report points the finger at them for their “inconsistent” approach and procedures, and notes there is a lack of whole-of-government guidelines or protocols for expert scientific advice. Gluckman calls on government agencies to develop communication policies that promote and maximise openness and transparency on scientific matters. Overall, the report calls into question what

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many organisations dealing with government have been saying for years: that policy is being dreamed up by individuals with little knowledge or understanding of the implications of their policies. Some go as far as suggesting some policy papers are “university essays in drag” and bear little relation to the reality of the real world. Government ministers are believed to be perplexed by some of the policy papers presented to them.

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FONTERRA AND food safety can never be the same again: it has to be better, says Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English. “It has been a big wake-up call and there are a whole lot of questions on accountability,” English told Rural News. “The way you have to look at it it’s an opportunity to reposition New Zealand again, but the damage has been significant.” English says neither the DCD issue nor the food safety scares were handled well. “The cumulative effect of this adds up and now the integrity of New Zealand is being called into question, rightly or wrongly, and so we absolutely have to up our game.” It was both a food safety issue and a communication issue, English says. “There was obviously stuff happening at a particular factory, issues around the testing and how it was handled in the whole public arena.” English says the inquiries, particularly the ministerial inquiry which will be independent, will hopefully get to the facts of what did or didn’t happen. “Something will be learnt and implemented. I was on The Nation and there was a guy from the Chinese embassy who just said ‘three strikes and you are out’.” English says we are now on strike two. “We absolutely cannot afford to mishandle these things. Our trade patterns have shifted dramatically, so quickly and we have to adapt. “Whether it is the exporters and/or the Government, we need more resources where the trade is happening. So I think the trade flows have shifted but the resources haven’t necessarily shifted in line with that. “So you are seeing, for example, MPI putting more people into China now. It’s our number-one market; a couple of years ago it wasn’t. It’s been a dramatic change.” People forget Europe and America were not the easiest markets. “There have always been issues from time to time, so you just had to adapt. The customer is always right.”

Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 11

Kiwi, Aussie avocado growers snuggle up pam tipa pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

COLLABORATION WAS a major theme at an Australasian avocado growers’ conference last week – even to the extent of working together with Aussie competitors. But cooperation would also lead to a solution to the New Zealand avocado industry’s major stumbling block to boosting productivity – the biennial bearing problem, says NZ Avocado Growers Association chairman Ashby Whitehead. Many orchards in New Zealand are only productive every second year. Whitehead told Rural News that Plant and Food Research and the avocado industry collaborated to gain a $4 million research grant, announced about two weeks’ ago, to drive productivity and find solutions for growers on orchards. The industry will also contribute about $500,000 over five years. “It will mainly look at on-orchard productivity; our main Achilles’ heel is the biennial nature of the avocado tree in New Zealand, so it will look at mitigating that,” he says. “If we can get constant supply in market we would be a lot better off than the ups and

down we have.” Whitehead delivered his first speech as chairman of both the NZ growers’ association and Avocado Industry Council. He was elected to both positions this year. The take-out message from his speech is “the growers need to up their productivity and work together; we will find the solutions to the biennial bearing problem in conjunction with Plant and Food and also on-orchard, because there are some orchards in New Zealand that aren’t biennial. “So we need to work more collaboratively amongst ourselves… the whole industry needs to be united for a common goal.” About 440 people attended the fifth New Zealand and Australian Avocado Growers’ Conference in Tauranga which is held here only every eight years. About 70 Australian representatives turned up, and there were 15-20 speakers, exhibitors or delegates from the United States or South Africa. NZ Avocado Growers Association chief executive Jen Scoular says although we compete with Australia in market, discussion emerged to say ‘let’s look to see if we can

collaborate rather than compete’. There was also talk of sharing research across a number of countries. Networking at local level also emerged. “Growers are saying I haven’t met this grower who is in my region before; I’d like to talk to him about what he is doing and I would like to share the innovation I’m doing,” says Scoular. “On the production side there’s a huge range of possibility across orchards. What we are saying is let’s look at the most successful export-

ers, find out what they are doing and look at how we can do that across all orchards.” Scoular says although it was a growers’ conference, discussion moved up several notches to ask where “avocados fit in the global need for healthy safe food and how can we meet those global expectations”. An example from among 50 world-class speakers was a US research presentation on the nutritional attributes of Hass avocados including potential for helping reduce obesity and blood

NZ Avocado Growers Association chief executive Jen Scoular says there was talk of trans-Tasman cooperation.

pressure. “These findings enabled us to think differently about how we market avocados and how avocados meet consumer needs for foods that are

very healthy,” says Scoular. Avocados earn $60-$80 million annually including $20 million in the New Zealand market. They are the third-

largest fresh fruit export. Scoular says in a strategy with Government the industry aims to treble export volume and quadruple value by 2025.

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12 news

$2 million war chest to help infant formula makers win back consumers sudesh kissun sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

A MAJOR infant formula maker has welcomed the Government’s $2 million ‘war chest’ to win back reputation in key export markets tarnished by the false botulism scare. GMP Pharmaceuticals, making about 300,000 cans of infant formula every month for 20 customers, says it will help convince consumers that New Zealand products are the safest in the world. GMP New Zealand chief executive Minesh Patel says consumer confidence in China, a key market, is very low. It has affected mostly small companies. “New Zealand made product off-take

from shelves is very slow,” he told Rural News. According to Patel, New Zealand infant formula are mostly small brands sold in secondary cities and smaller towns where consumers are not well educated and are influenced by traditional media like cable TV or local newspapers. Local Chinese media have been carrying negative stories about New Zealand infant formula. However, in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, consumers are more educated and follow international media. Patel says these consumers understand New Zealand’s safety-first approach. But these large markets are captured by big multina-

tionals. The new $2 million Market Connections Fund will help dairy exporters travel to key markets to help rebuild reputation and trust with partners, distributors and consumers. Announcing the fund last week, Trade Minister Tim Groser said a coordinated, all-of-Government response is needed. “New Zealand’s highest priority is to protect the safety of consumers. The Government will be working in close consultation with affected New Zealand companies to help rebuild trust with their in-market partners and customers. “We need to restore full access to those markets where restrictions

have been put in place, reestablish confidence in the robustness of our food safety system, and reaffirm the positive image of New Zealand brands.” Patel agrees it’s crucial to convince consumers that New Zealand products are safe. “New Zealand has shown its honesty and consumer safety-first approach. “Without looking at consequences, Fonterra went public. I do not think many countries or companies would do this. “We have to pass on this message to consumers worldwide, convince them that New Zealand products are the safest in the world.” A key component of

the recovery plan will be an intense programme of targeted visits to key markets by Government ministers and senior officials once essential technical

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❱❱ Use opportunities for ministerial engagement to reinforce at high levels the messages conveyed to food safety authorities. ❱❱ Organise visits to New Zealand by ministers, senior regulators and media from key overseas markets, to improve their knowledge of, and confidence in, New Zealand’s food regulatory systems. ❱❱ Utilise existing regular official dialogues, such as those established under the NZ/China FTA, to explain how New Zealand’s regulatory systems work.

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export industry, particularly our innovative small and medium size companies,” says Groser.

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issues are resolved. “Face-to-face contact will be crucial to Government and businesses. We can’t allow this incident to halt the growth of our food

❱❱ Use high level political events – including the East Asia Summit, APEC and the WTO Ministerial Conference – to talk with ministers representing key markets. ❱❱ Utilise, and potentially add to, cooperation agreements in place with key markets including China. ❱❱ Provide support from New Zealand government agencies offshore to New Zealand exporters to assist them in meetings with overseas customers and commercial partners.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 13

Wandering stock endangering lives peter burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

THE NEW Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is reminding farmers about keeping their properties secure to prevent stock from wondering onto roads. Wandering stock are a serious danger to motorists in rural areas and the NZTA is reminding landowners of their responsibility to ensure that land is securely fenced to prevent animals straying onto roads, where they can cause serious crashes. NZTA statistics show that between 2008 and 2012 there were 1388 crashes caused by livestock on roads: three motorists died and 44 were seriously injured. One problem area is Northland where NZTA manager Jacqui Hori-

Hoult says her office receives more complaints about wandering stock than any other type of highway incident. She gets about 50 calls every month from motorists and residents concerned about livestock running loose roads. “When farm animals escape and stray onto a highway or road, they [endanger] all road users. In the five years between 2008/12, there were 146 crashes in Northland involving farm animals that had strayed onto the roads and highways. Four crashes involved serious injury, 21 minor injuries and 121 were non-injury,” she told Rural News. Hori-Hoult says the NZTA is writing to landowners in areas where animals have been found wandering, to remind them of their responsibil-

ities. “People who own stock have to ensure their land is securely fenced to prevent animals straying onto the highway. Besides an economic loss if an animal is injured, stock owners can face prosecution by the police or the risk of a civil case from someone injured in a crash. NZTA

may also recover costs for herding or impounding animals that have strayed onto highway reserves.” Hori-Hoult says in places like Northland many tourist travellers are not familiar with our rural roads and the hazards associated with them. @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews

in brief China bound FONTERRA DIRECTORS and chief executive Theo Spierings visited China last week to meet staff and stakeholders. Chairman John Wilson says the board had already planned to visit China in early September for talks and to view progress on Fonterra’s farming hub in Yutian. “Now that it has been confirmed there was no Clostridium botulinum in our whey protein concentrate, we need to address any remaining concerns our stakeholders in China might have,” he says. “The feedback we have been getting is that people believe we did the right thing in initiating the precautionary recall, but at the same time we want to provide every assurance about our food safety and quality systems and processes.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 15

Fonterra’s Chinese expansion continues Hebei Province and will help to meet customer and consumer demand for fresh milk, Wickham says. “Raw milk supply growth in China has been about 2% over the past three years but demand is growing at 6% to 8%. So there are significant

Fonterra’s head of China and India Kelvin Wickham.

opportunities for Fonterra to help bridge this supply gap by growing our own domestic milk supply in China and continuing to import our finished dairy products.” When fully operational, Fonterra’s two hubs will together produce up to 300 million litres of milk per year. “The new Ying County farm hub is a significant step forward in our strategic plans in China,” says Wickham. “We have received strong support from many levels of government in China and we are looking forward to continuing to build partnerships with our local communities in Shanxi Province and Hebei Province over the

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support the new hub development and to build the strength and capability of the local industry.

Fonterra’s second hub of five 3000-cow farms will be based in Shanxi Province.

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FONTERRA IS marching on with its growth strategy in China. It has announced a second farming hub of five 3000-cow farms, in Ying County, Shanxi Province. Its first was in Hebei Province in 2007. The co-op says the second farm hub is expected to begin producing in the second half of 2014 and is the next step in a strategy to produce one billion litres of milk in China by 2020. Strategic partners are sought for the development. Fonterra’s head of greater China and India operations, Kelvin Wickham, says the project is a key part of a strategy to become a more integrated dairy business in China and to contribute to the growth and development of the Chinese dairy industry. “Having secured the right location in the Shanxi province we are now able to approach potential strategic partners,” he says. “Ying County provides an ideal environment for us to expand our farming operations due to its new agricultural zone, proximity to customers and the high quality supply of animal feed available in surrounding areas.” Fonterra will employ at least 500 people in Ying County, about 75% of them locals. The second hub builds on existing investment in

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

16 news

LIC spending big to improve pam tipa pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

EARLY ESTIMATIONS of genomic selection of bulls fell short of expectations, but intense work over the last six months has increased reliability to 55-60%, says LIC general manager R&D, Dr Richard Spelman. LIC is spending $2-4 million annually to make genomic selection better and aims to reach 65% reliability, says Spelman. Daughter-proven, with 80 daughters, has 82-85% reliability but it takes fivesix years for daughter-proven to come through, Spelman told Rural News. Genomic selection can be used at one year, so there’s a four year speed-up. When LIC first marketed genonically selected sires it thought they would have a 20-40 BW advantage over the daughter-proven team. This fell short of expectations. But the research team has made significant progress and

is now confident its genomic estimations are unbiased and it has increased reliability to 55%-60%. “A phenomena we continue to see with genomic technology is that the statistical methodology we have at the moment has been biased in its estimation, ie the genomic estimates have been higher than the true genetic merit of the animals. That’s really hurt us in our selections we have been making and the product we have been selling to our farmers,” Spelman says. In September new methodology will come in place. NZAEL (New Zealand Animal Evaluation) will cease generating its genomic evaluation and LIC will operate genomic evaluation for LIC animals and likewise CRV for its animals. LIC has also changed its marketing. Its top genomically selected bulls now join its top daughter-proven bulls in The Forward Pack. The genomically selected bulls have a $5 premium and have BW 10-15 points better, on average, than

their daughter-proven contemporaries. Combining the young with the proven bulls provides farmers with good reliability and high BW. “There will always be reranking of the bulls as they go through the season but LIC expects 55-60% of the bulls will graduate as daughter-proven.” Earlier Spelman said the Americans have genotyped about 30,000 bulls and 250,000 cows compared to New Zealand’s 7000-8000 bulls and 60,000 dairy cows. The Americans report a reliability of about 75% but Spelman thinks this well overstated. He believes that will come back to a more realistic value, probably the high 60s. Four European countries have genotyped about 24,000 bulls: they report reliability of 65-67%. “We think that is where we will end up over time,” he says. Recently LIC researchers have found two genes: the first a spontaneous mutation which occurred in a sire called

Halcyon and which was passed to his son, Matrix, Spelman says. What became known as the Matrix mutation is a dominant defect so half of all progeny received the gene from Matrix and also had the same phenotype. More recently LIC discovered a recessive gene which has been in the dairy herd for at least 100 years and is one of the causes of small calves born in Holstein Friesian herds. “All humans have between 100 and 120 loss-of-function genetic variations. Two people with the same variation could result in offspring with an abnormality. In the same way, bovine

LIC’s Richard Spelman says intense work over the last six months has increased genomic selection reliability.

animals have genetic variations which have effects. Genomic technology provides us with a way to find out what is what. “What this means is that organisations like LIC will continue to uncover variations which have been in the bovine population for years and give tools to farmers so they can avoid those matings and progressively breed these defects out of the national herd.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

news 17

Rural win in spectrum sell-off – Feds pam tipa pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

RURAL COMMUNITIES have scored a win for mobile phone services and fast broadband in the auction details of the band spectrum freed up by the switchover to digital television, says Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English. The 700MHz spectrum will be used by mobile network operators to build 4G network infrastructure and the Government will

auction the spectrum from late October. Auction details just released stipulate that successful bidders will be required to upgrade at least 75% of their existing rural 2G and 3G cell sites using the 700MHz spectrum within five years. English says this requirement was not in the initial proposals by Government. Federated Farmers submitted that the successful competitor should be required to use the spectrum in rural

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areas. “So that’s a new requirement – it wasn’t there previously – which says whoever wins must put it on to at least 75% of their existing rural towers; so that is going to push

it further out into rural areas. That is what we wanted to see so we have made some gains.” The Government spent $157 million clearing the 700NHz band to allow the spectrum to be used

for 4G mobile networks. It will sell frequencies in the band in nine lots, each with a reserve price of $22 million on management rights for 18 years. The auction starts on October 29.

Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English.

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FAST BROADBAND is critical if agriculture wants to attract young people into the regions, says English. “They won’t come if we don’t have it. We are competing for people and demographically on the supply side we’ve got a bit of a challenge. We need that broadband and telecommunications stuff so we can get younger people into the regions.” The technology will also enable the next wave of productivity – whether to reduce our carbon footprint or improve profitability, he says. “That whole area of precision farming is reliant on broadband and telecommunications. We need as good a service and coverage in as cost effective a way as possible. “Rural broadband and telecommunications should be the priority if you want to double your exports.” Rural broadband should have priority over urban as the deficit is greater, the market is harder because people live further apart and the benefit is greater. The $300 million Rural Broadband Initiative is now in its third year and runs for six years, but it should roll over after that, says English. “If the government of the day is serious about doubling exports in the primary sector, that investment needs to keep going.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

18 news

Research hotel reinvents science wheel peter burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

A ‘RESEARCH hotel’ set up recently near Devon, southwest England, reinvents a science ‘wheel’ New Zealanders are famil-

iar with. The North Wyke Farm Research Platform is in some ways a creature from the past, but using modern technologies and techniques. Dr Phil Murray, who

heads the station, in New Zealand earlier this year told Rural News the focus of the research station is on ‘sustainable intensification’. This buzzword is echoing around the UK and EU.

Essentially, says Murray, the idea is to produce enough food for everybody but in a sustainable way. It’s about tradeoffs. North Wyke, opened a year ago, consists of three

Dr Phil Murray says focus of the research station is ‘sustainable intensification’.

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20ha sheep and beef farmlets, managed differently, so British and overseas scientists can devise ways to increase production but manage environmental impacts. The farm is set up to maximise the opportunities for monitoring just about everything that moves and doesn’t move. For example, the drains on the farm have been dug and built so that all runoff passes through monitoring equipment. Says Murray, “We monitor everything: water quality, which includes all the pollutants and nutrients we are losing, the sediment that comes from the fields, air quality and greenhouse gases. “We are measuring animal production, grass quality and grass production. But [unusually] we are monitoring the economic aspect – the farm management aspect: how many man hours, how much diesel we use, how many tractor hours it takes for each operation.” But while North Wyke is a research station, Murray says the farmlets are run no differently from a normal farm. “We work with farmer groups in the local areas who feed back to us if we are doing some-

thing silly. Equally we can bounce ideas off them. Farmer reaction is positive. They see the value in it and what we are trying to do, and they want to learn from us.” Murray says by this process, research will be ‘road tested’ before it reaches farmers – a huge advantage. Definite research findings will be some time in coming. The present focus is on setting up baselines for future research. Notably, North Wyke is reinventing the science wheel. The UK, like New Zealand, did away with many of its integrated research stations in favour of individuals working on specific subjects, with little attention paid to integration. That is now changing. “The old research farms, like we used to have, were not as instrumented and monitored as they are today. In the science there’s been a lot of work looking at effects on individual animals or crops,” Murray explains. “But putting it together in a system or a more holistic view is the way we need to look forward and it helps farmers pick up knowledge.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

20 world

US to become dairy exporter? The United States dairy industry is turning its attention outside its own borders and could emerge as a significant competitor to NZ and Australia in international export markets, a visiting global dairy expert has cautioned. Rabobank’s New Yorkbased global dairy strategist Tim Hunt – recently in Australia presenting to local industry – says the United States, long focussed on its own domestic market, is reorienting towards the global market place, attracted by the allure of better returns across some product categories. Until recent times, the entire US dairy industry had been dedicated to servicing its own lucrative and growing domestic market, with countries like NZ and Australia trying to gain access through bilat-

eral trade agreements. “Historically, the US dairy industry lived in a fortress,” Hunt said. “It had a very large, affluent domestic market, which grew strongly and had very high prices. It was protected from the international market by high Tim Hunt tariff barriers and had government support. “But US dairy market growth has slowed in recent years, while the commodity price boom has seen international prices rise above domestic US market prices, making export returns more alluring for US dairy players.” This, in effect, was turning the US from ‘the hunted to the hunter’ as

its dairy industry sought to compete in the more attractive global marketplace, Hunt said. “The US dairy industry is becoming increasingly cost competitive in export markets due to a combination of its largescale farm operations, easing feed costs and a lower US dollar, while it is also beginning to align products to suit the global market,” he said. Mr Hunt said US dairy exports had already begun to steadily grow as a result, with, for example, milk powder exports increasing from about 300,000 tonnes in 2007 to 500,000 tonnes in 2012, and cheese exports going from about

100,000 tonnes to more than 250,000 tonnes in the same period. But Hunt added it was not all smooth sailing for the US as they reoriented towards world markets, with a number of obstacles to overcome. “With the entire US dairy industry having developed to service the domestic market, they are not aligned to the requirements of exporting dairy,” he said. “Essentially, they have the wrong plants and they make the wrong products for global market exports. In addition, US regulation makes exporting hard for the industry.” And there are also market access and customer relationship issues, Hunt said. “The US dairy industry doesn’t have good access to several important markets and they also have relatively weak rela-

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tionships with offshore customers,” he said. However, progress is being made towards the US becoming a better exporter. “Plants are being tweaked to make export products and new plants are being built to service export

will be increasingly likely to compete head-to-head with the US in coming years, Hunt warned. “Maintaining Australia’s edge in post-farmgate processing and marketing will be crucial to sustaining returns on fram,” he said.

markets,” Hunt said. “Market access is improving and relationships with offshore customers are being strengthened.” And with Australia largely having lost its cost of production advantage in world dairy markets, it

Aussie going to the dogs alan harman

AUSTRALIAN WILD dogs running amok, savaging sheep in many regions, are in the sights of officials. A draft plan proposes national and state coordination and best practice standards to kill them. 1080 has been effective on some farms but its use has been patchy, says the ABC. WoolProducers Australia says the plan aims is to promote and support community-driven action for landscapescale wild dog culling. It addresses national priorities, drives innovation, builds partnerships and seeks to achieve broad-scale outcomes by harnessing work already being undertaken to kill wild dogs nationwide and to coordinate this nationally. A 14-strong committee comprising industry, government, animal welfare and research organisations has guided the development of the draft. WoolProducers Australia president

Geoff Power says the plan will guide implementation of a nationally agreed framework focussing on a strategic and risk-based approach to wild dog slaughter. “It will emphasise humane, safe and effective [killing] techniques and the mitigation of the impacts of wild dogs at appropriate scales,” Power says. Wild dog incursions are devastating the sheep, cattle and goat industries. The animals have become a major pest in urban areas with cross-breeding between traditional wild dogs and domesticated dogs. Australian Bureau of Statistics data show the Queensland sheep flock has fallen from 14 million in the 1980s to less than four million in 2007-08. WoolProducers Australia says while there are a range of reasons why graziers are getting out of sheep, in a large proportion of cases the decision is due to the impact or threat of wild dog predation.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

world 21

Trade deals high on Abbott’s agenda sudesh kissun sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

THE INCOMING Coalition Government in Australia intends to revitalise free trade negotiations in key markets. During the election campaign, incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott noted his country lagged behind New Zealand when it came to FTAs. He pointed out New Zealand had started and concluded an FTA with China while Australia’s negotiations were stalled for eight years. “That’s not good enough. New Zealand agricultural exports to China are booming while ours are just ticking over. If Australia was serious about being a foodbowl for Asia in the future, the government had to conclude lingering FTAs and improve trade conditions.” The Coalition’s agriculture policy pre-election included completing an FTA for “a meaningful outcome for agriculture”. Other funding promises were $A100m in R&D, $A15m in helping small

exporters meet the costs of trade, and $A100m for better mobile phone coverage in rural communities. Australian farmers want the incoming Federal Government to turn its promises into action. The National Farmers Federation says agriculture must remain a priority. NFF president Duncan Fraser says it is ready to work with Abbott and colleagues to ensure farming remains profitable and competitive. “The NFF has made it clear in the leadup to the election where the priorities for food, fibre and agriculture lie… innovation, research, development and extension (RD&E); that we continue to ensure agriculture is globally competitive; that the farming workforce is developed to address the growing labour shortages in the sector; and ensuring natural resources are managed while increasing agricultural production. “The need for agriculture to be reprioritised on the national agenda remains as strong as ever…. It is now time for

Key ready to work with Aussie PM PRIME MINISTER John Key is looking forward to working with incoming Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. “We will have several opportunities to meet over the next few months to discuss how our two countries can continue to work together. “Australia is our most important relationship. Our common interests span trade, economic, defence and security matters and we cooperate closely in our region and on the international stage.”

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the Coalition government to turn their promises into action.” Shadow Agriculture Minister John Cobb is expected to be named the new agriculture minister. Cobb is a member of the

Nationals, the junior partner in the Coalition. The Nationals represent Australia’s rural constituents. Last week, Abbott confirmed Nationals leader Warren Truss will be the deputy prime minister

and infrastructure minister. Deputy Liberal leader Julia Bishop will be foreign affairs minister.

Incoming PM Tony Abbott wants to stitch up more FTAs for Australian farmers.

Rural News // september 17, 2013

beef market trends

Market snapshot Meat c/kgCWT

Lamb - PM 16.0kg

North Island

South Island

Change c/kg

Change c/kg

Last Week

Last Week

+10

5.58

+10

5.58

+5

4.70

n/c

4.35

Steer - P2 300kg Bull - M2 300kg

n/c

4.50

n/c

4.15

Venison - AP 60kg

+15

7.20

+10

7.40

BEEF PRICES

LAMB PRICES Change

c/kgCWT NI

+5

P2 Steer - 300kg

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

South Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price $6.5

$5.5 5yr Ave Last Year This Year

$4.5 Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

5.56

5.46

5.46

4.30

PM - 16.0kg

+10

5.58

5.48

5.48

P2 Cow - 230kg

n/c

3.65

3.65

3.70

PX - 19.0kg

+10

5.60

5.50

5.50

M Cow - 200kg

n/c

3.55

3.55

3.60

PH - 22.0kg

+10

5.61

5.51

5.51

Local Trade - 230kg

+5

4.80

4.75

4.40

Mutton

MX1 - 21kg

n/c

3.25

3.25

3.30

P2 Steer - 300kg

n/c

4.35

4.35

4.20

SI Lamb

YM - 13.5kg

+10

5.58

5.48

5.41

M2 Bull - 300kg

n/c

4.15

4.15

4.00

PM - 16.0kg

+10

5.58

5.48

5.43

P2 Cow - 230kg

n/c

3.10

3.10

3.30

PX - 19.0kg

+10

5.58

5.48

5.45

M Cow - 200kg

n/c

2.95

2.95

3.10

PH - 22.0kg

+10

5.58

5.48

5.46

Local Trade - 230kg

n/c

4.50

4.50

4.40

n/c

3.13

3.13

3.15

MX1 - 21kg

NZ Slaughter

Total Monthly Kill Jul

Mutton

Jun

Last Year

5yr Ave

-33%

86,426

129,288

82,808

95,399

-60%

Lamb NI

+6%

677

639

541

594

Cattle SI

23,153

58,383

23,620

24,104

Lamb SI

-45%

290

530

277

274

1000s

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

109,579

187,671

106,428

119,503

Lamb NZ

-17%

967

1169

818

868

11,179

22,924

11,998

12,950

+84%

202

110

160

212

Bull SI

-84%

Mutton NZ

1,023

6,382

1,226

1,731

Str NI

-35%

26,982

41,453

27,236

28,465

Str SI

-28%

10,114

14,094

9,794

9,035

Cows NI

-40%

22,522

37,422

19,609

26,231

Cows SI

-79%

5,295

25,691

5,188

6,125

NZ Weekly Lamb Kill

450

Last Year

300

This Year

150

NZ Weekly Beef Kill

80

0 May

Last Year

60

Jun

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Sep

Oct

Nov

1.82

1.82

1.34

1.75

7.98

7.76

5.77

8.49

Demand Indicator - UK Leg Price £2.50 £2.00

1.92

2.13

1.81

NZ$/kg

+16

5.40

5.24

5.78

5.33

This Year

£1.50 £1.00

Last Year

Jul

$1.80 Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Procurement Indicator 2Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI

-2%

83.3%

84.9%

74.41%

76.3%

% Returned SI

-3%

76.9%

80.2%

69.2%

69.7%

Procurement Indicator - North I.

90%

$6.0 Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

3 Wks Ago

% Returned NI

-1%

70.2%

70.9%

98.0%

70.1%

% Returned SI

-1%

68.9%

70.2%

96.2%

69.0%

70%

Last Year This Year

60% Jun

$8.0

Aug

Oct

Procurement Indicator - South I.

80%

Last Year This Year

$7.5 $7.0

5yr Ave

Last Year 5yr Ave

110% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

Last Year This Year

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

80%

Nov

South Island 60kg Stag Price

$8.5

Nov

2Wks Ago

Jun 5yr Ave Last Year This Year

Oct

Change

$7.0 $6.5

Sep

Procurement Indicator - North I. 3 Wks Ago

$7.5

Aug

Procurement Indicator

This Year

Change

$8.0

Last Year

Jun

Jul

Last Year 5yr Ave

n/c

5yr Ave

1.92

Jun

2 Wks Ago

+22

Last Year

n/c

North Island 60kg Stag Price

$8.5

Oct

NZ$/kg

2 Wks Ago

$3.5 Aug

Sep

UK Leg £/lb

Last Week

95CL US$/lb

This Year

Last Week

Change

5yr Ave

Jul

Aug

Export Market Demand

$2.00

Jun

Jul

This Year

$2.20

Last Year

Last Year 5yr Ave

-51%

Demand Indicator - US 95CL Beef

$4.0

Jun

-42%

South Island 300kg Steer Price

$4.5

Jul

Cattle NZ

Change

$3.7

Change

Bull NI

Export Market Demand 5yr Ave Last Year This Year

Total Monthly Kill

Cattle NI

0 May

$4.2

Last Year

4.27

20

North Island 300kg Bull Price

+10

YM - 13.5kg

2 Wks Ago

4.50

Change

NI Lamb

Last Week

4.65

40 $4.7

Change

c/kgCWT

4.50

1000s

Jun

Last Year

4.70

NZ Slaughter $5.5

$4.5

2 Wks Ago

n/c

North Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

Last Week

M2 Bull - 300kg

SI

$6.5

lamb market trends

Procurement Indicator - South I. 105% 95% 85% 75% 65% 55% 45%

Last Year This Year

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

70%

Last Year

$6.5

Venison Prices

This Year

$6.0 Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

60% Jun

Aug

Change

Oct

Beef & venison prices are reported as gross (before normal levies & charges are deducted). Lamb & mutton prices are reported nett (after levies & charges are deducted). Note: Freight is paid in the North Island but not by all companies in the South Island.

Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year 5yr Ave

NI Stag - 60kg

+15

7.20

7.05

7.40

8.02

SI Stag - 60kg

+10

7.40

7.30

7.75

8.34

Rural News // september 17, 2013

news

price watch WOOL PRICE WATCH

BEEF

Change

05-Sep

29-Aug

Coarse Xbred Indic.

+34

5.00

4.66

3.67

Fine Xbred Indicator

+20

5.30

5.10

4.65

Lamb Indicator

-

-

-

-

Mid Micron Indic.

-

-

7.63

8.55

Cattle procurement a hard game

Indicators in NZ$

Securing cattle for slaughter remains a tough game for meat companies, with good premiums being paid above printed schedules, particularly on 300kg prime steer. Export prices for prime steer in the North Island were $4.75/kg last week and $4.50/kg in the South. Reports suggest there is upside to this. The bull price in the North was $4.50/kg, and $4.30/kg in the South, but meat companies are paying more if there is a good line on offer. Farmers are warned to be wary of interpreting schedule prices as market signals at the moment, as exporters cut margins to secure cattle.

Indonesia scraps import quotas for price-parity

350

Wool Indicator Trends

600

CXI

550

Oct

Dec

Apr

Last Year

-273

4980

5253

3608

-6

5754

5759

3608

-94

6125

6218

3577

-30

5444

5475

4379

Whole Milk Powder Cheddar

Dairy Prices Trends SMP But.

3,000 Aug

Jun

WMP Ched.

Oct

Dec

Feb

Apr

Jun

Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)

7,000 Last Year This Year

Last Year

6,000

This Year

5,000

400

4,000 300

3,000 Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Overseas Price Indicators

Lamb Indicator

Jul

05-Sep

Last Year

29-Aug

+31

3.95

3.64

3.00

+20

4.19

3.99

3.80

-

-

-

-

-

-

5.96

6.99

Indicators in US$/T Butter Skim Milk Powder Whole Milk Powder

Aug

Change

Sep

Oct

Nov

Last 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

-125

4025

4150

2925

+100

4650

4550

2925

+38

4950

4913

2900

+75

4400

4325

3550

Cheddar

Wool Indicator in US$

500

Dairy Prices in US$/Tonne

450

5,500

400

4,500

350

SMP .But

WMP .Ched

3,500

300

CXI

250 Aug

Store lambs are few and far between at present, but demand is still good for what is available as farmers look to take advantage of good feed supplies and $6.00/kg contracts. Prices for lighter lambs are back, as is expected this close to end of season and heavier lambs are making around $2.80/kg-$2.90/kg irrespective of sex. Trade of ewes with lambs at foot (LAF) is also active in the North Island, with prices last week ranging between $58-$85 all counted.

Jun

Overseas Price Indicators

Change

Mid Micron Indicator

Store lamb market stabilised

Oct

Dec

FXI

Feb

LI

Apr

2,500 Aug

Jun

Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$ Last Year This Year

350 300

Oct

Dec

Feb

Apr

Jun

Whole Milk Powder Price in US$/T

5,500

400

5,000 4,500 4,000

Last Year

3,500

This Year

3,000 250

Lambs pour into North Island plants

Bill Hodgson Dunedin

Feb

Coarse Xbred Indicator

500

Export lamb prices are continuing to edge up, with North Island prices averaging $5.90/kg gross (including wool/pelt, presentation etc) last week and in the South the average was $5.70/kg gross. Christmas trade negotiations have began, and the expected shortage of lambs to fill these orders may result in some competitive pricing. Christmas trade contracts that have been released range between $6.00/kg and $6.25/kg gross. Following last season, farmers will be happy with the signs for the beginning of the season, but will hold no expectations about how the season may close.

Jun

Excellent conditions for pasture growth is equating to higher levels of milk production across New Zealand. Dairy prices are steady to firm, with whole milk powder demand from China and other importing countries looking positive. Prices are expected to hold firm for the next couple of months until supply from New Zealand’s peak production kicks in. Fonterra is also expecting to offer a reduced volume of whole milk powder to auction this season, 20% less than last season. This is having an impact on prices, and is expected to prevent whole milk powder prices falling as far as predicted.

Prev. 2 Wks

4,000

300 Aug

Coarse Xbred Indicator

Dairy prices hold firm

Skim Milk Powder

Last 2 Wks

Change

5,000

400

Fine Xbred Indicator

DAIRY

Butter

7,000

LI

450

Indicators in US$/kg

Slaughter statistics show the North Island lamb kill continues to defy the odds by lifting 6% between June and July. The July kill was also 25% up on last July and 14% above the 5yr avg. Reports indicate that this trend has continued through August with weekly slaughter rates significantly higher than normal. At a time when slaughter rates are traditionally declining, this increase is a result of the lambs reaching killable weights following the excellent winter conditions.

Indicators in NZ$/T

6,000

New seasons lamb contracts look promising

Andrew Wood Palmerston North

FXI

500

Indonesia recently announced it is scrapping its current import quota system for beef imports. It will be replaced by a parity pricing system that will only allow beef imports into the country when domestic beef prices are 15% higher than a regulated price set by government. The country is attempting to move to beef selfsufficiency; the previous quota system resulted in beef shortages and high prices. The new system is intended to improve supply and reduce the price of beef. Large volumes of beef imports will be required in the short term to bring prices to the regulated level. This will provide an opportunity for NZ beef, as well as reducing the pressure in NZ’s export markets as Australia will certainly off-load their excess production.

LAMB

DAIRY PRICE WATCH Last Year

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

2,500 Jun

CURRENCY WATCH vs. NZ Dollar

Last Week 2 Wks Ago 4 Wks Ago Last Year

US dollar

0.783

0.808

0.807

0.813

Euro

0.587

0.606

0.607

0.647

UK pound

0.503

0.517

0.524

0.512

Aus dollar

0.868

0.881

0.873

0.779

Japan yen

77.53

78.87

80.06

63.89

Euro

0.68

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

US Dollar

0.85 0.80 0.75

Last Year This Year

0.70 Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

UK Pound

0.54

Last Year

0.52

0.64

Nov

This Year

0.50 Last Year

0.60

This Year

0.56

Jeremy MacAvoy Ashburton

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Peter Young Hawke’s Bay

Oct

Nov

0.48 0.46 Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Rural News // september 17, 2013

24 agribusiness

Never too old for new ideas Think for yourself, persevere and the answers will come, say horticulture innovators Joe and Fay Gock. The Mangere couple have succeeded with many new ideas during 60 years of growing fruit and vegetables commercially. Pam Tipa reports. ADVERSITY MAKES you struggle, so think and look for answers, say horticulture industry pioneers and innovators Fay and Joe Gock. The pair, both in their 80s, have for 60 years wheeled out good ideas: they were the first in the world to put stickers on fruit, they’ve grown seedless watermelon, and they pioneered using chilled polystyrene boxes to export broccoli. They were winners this year of the horticulture industry’s highest honour, the Bledisloe Cup. And they won an award from the Dominion Federation of NZ Chinese Commercial Growers “in recognition of your lifetime of innovation and contribution to the horticulture industry”. Fay even now drives the

tractor on their 60ha property where the Gocks still grow commercially. Both born in China, they came separately on refugee permits to New Zealand at the end of World War II. They married in 1956, when Joe was market gardening with his father in Mangere and Fay was the daughter of a Karangahape Road, Auckland, fruiterer. They started their own growing business and a partnership of innovation which has led the industry. Fay, during her teens, erected the first signs in her father’s shop. “Nobody cleaned vegetables then,” she told Rural News. “I was 15 or 16; everything looked dirty, nothing got sold. I said to my dad ‘why don’t we go wash it and see how it performs?’ I suppose every shop down K’Rd was curs-

ing me for making a start on washing carrots; then they all started washing them. “When I married Joe we decided to do commercial washing – the first fruit and veg washing – carrots, parsnips…. now potatoes get washed. Everything comes in stages… one thing leads to another.” Asked to explain their talent for new ideas, Fay says: “It’s through hard times you struggle, and then you have to think ‘what can I do to make things better’. Your brain starts working. If everything’s milk and honey you don’t worry about things like that.” Joe: “I think that’s what we growers do: we are always trying to think of something new, something better. We started

growing seedless watermelon; that was not even thought of then.” The idea came through reading. “There wasn’t anything available at that stage. We thought ‘oh yeah we can always be mad scientists’,” says Fay. However, the deliverer got their seedless watermelons mixed up with ones with seeds. “So we decided to put stickers on,” explains Joe. “We were the first in the world to do that. We looked all over New Zealand, all over Auckland and nobody could do it. We thought ‘how the heck are we going to put the name on it?’ “We managed to get hold of Allens who do calendars and a sticker developed from there.” In the 1980s the Gocks grew large quantities of

Fay and George Gock pictured with PM John Key after winning horticulturers’ highest prize the Bledisloe Cup at this years’ Hort NZ Conference.

broccoli, a relatively new crop at the time. Joe developed and patented the Gock bushel-sized polystyrene box, which can be packed with ice and are still used in the industry today.

It was a matter of trial and error, he says. “Some exporters wanted to send the broccoli overseas. We thought ‘how the heck are we going to keep it for a longer period?’. “So we thought of a

chilly bin – put that in chilly bin, close the lid, after a few days still no good. We try again, we put it in the cooler, chilled it first…. put in a chilly bin, close, open, still not good to page 25

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

agribusiness 25

George and Fay Gock at the their Mangere market garden.

from page 24

enough. So we thought, ok, we put some ice in and see what happens. So we put ice in it and it comes out perfect.” Using a chilly bin was too dear so they looked around to find someone to make the boxes. The mould cost $8000, so it was patented and charged out to others at “a few pennies” each. “So the exporters started buying it from us and sending it to Hong Kong, Hawaii, no problem. Meanwhile, we use the boxes to send broccoli to South Island and we get about $6 a kilo – $60 a crate, that was quite good. Everyone was using it and it paid for the mould in two years.” The Gocks have grown kumara for nearly 60 years and were the largest growers in New Zealand in the 1950s. They were the first to raise kumara tubers by using under-earth heating in modern hotbeds. They developed a disease-free kumara strain, which became known as O-wai-raka Red. In the late 1950s, theirs was the only disease-free stock in Auckland. When Ruawai and Dargaville stock was devastated by black rot they donated their stock, through the then Department of Science and Industry Research (DSIR), to help re-establish crops. Joe says they had developed the disease-free stock through vigorous testing, keeping the best each year. They also pioneered, with DSIR, a prototype kumara curing shed, reducing crop loss

from 50% to less than 1%, enabling kumara to be marketed all year round. Although they believe hard times make you innovate, Fay says not everyone has that ability. “It has got to come into you naturally. If you like what you are doing it’s not a chore, but if you have to be forced to do something it becomes hard work.” Still many people don’t bother to experiment or persist with a problem, Joe adds. The answer is there if you want it: “Keep trying and keep thinking for yourself,” Fay says. The answer may not come immediately, but it will come. The Gocks have been active members of the Chinese Commercial Growers Association since the 1950s, mentoring many young growers. But Fay says a lot of Chinese young people go into professions these days and are not attracted to growing. “Market gardening, you don’t make a lot of money: manures, wages and other costs have gone up, but the prices haven’t gone up, some have come down.” But just like farmers, many growers enjoy the lifestyle. And along with a love of growing, the Gocks share a deep belief in helping their fellow man. “What are we going to eat? Somebody has to do the growing. You must work for mankind, not yourself”. Joe: “Remember why you are growing: you have it in your heart to do it for the people, not for your pocket.”

No debt crisis for Aus agricultural sector AL AN H ARMAN

CLAIMS OF a farm debt crisis in Australia have no basis in fact, industry experts say. The Australian Farm Institute Farm Policy Journal’s reports that the financial state of the vast majority of Australian farm businesses is pretty good: the debt crisis claims are flimsy. The journal says there is no doubt that in several regions, farm finances are under pressure. These include cattle farms in northwestern Queensland now suffering from drought

and the disruption of the live cattle export trade, and in parts of the cropping zone of Western Australia that have experienced poor seasonal conditions over recent years. But it says any idea there is about to be a wholesale takeover of large numbers of farms by banks, or that the only future for Australian farm businesses is under corporatised or overseas ownership is not justified based on available data. Institute executive director Mick Keogh says the strong reliance of the farm sector on debt financing, in combination with the vol-

atility of farm returns in Australia, inevitably results in periods when there is relatively rapid growth in aggregate farm debt. “The overall picture is of several debt ‘hot spots’… but aggregate rural debt levels have declined over recent years and farm equity levels remain quite high.” One author argues that equity capital rather than debt financing may feature more in agricultural development, and in concert these structural changes in capital may promote a more productive and profitable agriculture sector in Australia.’

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

26 agribusiness

Chinese charm offence needed – exporter pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

HIGH PROFILE media coverage is needed in China to get the message out that infant formula products are safe, says Chris Claridge from the NZ Infant Formula Exporters Association. The New Zealand Government needs to take

the lead and Prime Minister John Key should visit soon, with industry people, he says. Claridge is highly frustrated that he cannot seem to get his message heard in New Zealand: our products are still at high risk because the Chinese consumer still thinks New Zealand infant formula is poisoned.

Meanwhile New Zealand’s competitors are cashing in. Claridge made the comments to Rural News from a mother-and-baby store in Guangzhou province where he was hearing first-hand the concerns that remain about New Zealand products. He had met with 50 retailers the night before.

Chris Claridge

Carrickmore Nutrition, of which Claridge is managing director, faces

a loss on sales of at least 30% over the next three months. “What is clear is all New Zealand brands are affected. The subtlety of Fonterra, wpc, botulism is completely lost on the Chinese. All they hear is New Zealand, infant formula poison. “I don’t know how I communicate back to

New Zealand – I have been trying – this affects our ability to sell in China.” In New Zealand everyone understands it was a false alarm, but not so in China. “All they hear is our infant formula is contaminated. The distributors and the retailers are starting to understand it was all a false positive, but the consumers have not heard that message. “It is the same story – bad news gets publicity, good news doesn’t. We need the Government to take the lead in China and get media coverage that our infant formula is safe.” The offer from John Key to visit China should go ahead. But it needs to have industry people involved otherwise it just becomes a general discussion about New Zealand; it has to specific about products and infant formula. Claridge says the issues of product being unduly held up at Chinese ports seem to have resolved itself. “The issue here is to keep selling. The main purpose of my trip to China is to assure our distributors and retailers that our product is safe and it isn’t contaminated. “I am meeting my

retailers and distributors, we’re in 2100 stores in China. I am standing on a street in China going from city to city to try to explain to all our retailers and distributors in the period I am up here that there is nothing wrong with our products. “Meanwhile all the other international brands – France and Australia – are busy trying to capture this market. On September 23 a French label in association with the French Government are flying 20 or 30 journalists from Shanghai specifically to show them their infant formula industry.” Claridge asks, “Does New Zealand understand what its lack of coordination and coherent approach means? It means our capacity to sell is reduced. Sure we can sell bulk powders to the market but our ability to sell added value retail products in this market is at high risk. “China is a huge place: just because we publish a few articles in the New Zealand media that it was a false positive, does everything get changed to normal? The answer is ‘no’. That message is not out in the media in China.”

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CONCERNS ABOUT food safety in parts of the China market underlie a plan by the Chinese infant formula maker Yashili to build a $220m plant at Pokeno, just south of Auckland. The company explained this to an independent commissioner, Michael Savage, appointed by the Waikato District Council, which late August granted consent for the plant. The consent is subject to a 15-day appeal period which finishes early this week. Yashili NZ Dairy Co is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Hong Kong listed company Yashili International. China Mengnui Dairy, of which the Chinese Government is the biggest shareholder, currently has a deal to buy a majority stake in Yashili International – worth about $2billion – as part of a plan to expand its milk powder business. Yashili is ranked about eighth in the China milk formula market and China Daily says the acquisition would be the largest single deal in the Chinese domestic dairy industry. It is expected to lead to further integration in China’s milk powder business, the newspaper reports. General manager of Yashili NZ, Yingxiang Zhao, told the hearing for the Pokeno infant formula plant that Yashili International is based in the Guangdong Province in China and it has plants there, and in two other locations in China. Established in 1983, Yashili has since 1998 focused on making infant milk formula and nutritional foods products. Its infant formula brands are Scient and Yashili. It has a research and product development centre in China employing 32 scientists.

Rural News // september 17, 2013

agribusiness 27

Joyce promotes AgResearch revamp PA M T I PA pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

THE SUCCESS of the Lincoln and Massey agricultural research hubs will be defined by how much investment they can attract from the private sector – whether multi-nationals or domestic business, says Minister of Economic Development, Steven Joyce. This country needs $160-$200 billion more invested in export-orientated business if it is to achieve its stated target of growing exports from 30% to 40% of GDP over the next 12 years, Joyce said at the opening of a new Bayer research centre in Auckland. Domestic investment will not be enough. The sort of investment Bayer is making is important, Joyce says and there are now many international companies wanting to invest. “If you start with the primary industries, the hubs we are setting up in Lincoln and Massey are designed to attract

more international research player into those hubs. I think that will be a definition of their success. “I have said to those hubs, and to the Waikato one, that my definition of success is not how they rearrange the buildings for themselves – it is how much international or domestic companies they attract in and the mixture between the public and private sector. “To me that is the definition of success, so it is very early days. We haven’t set any targets on them. We’ve said ‘let’s look at the plans’. The plans need to be much more about that than just rearranging themselves.” Multinationals and domestic companies are needed. “I was just talking to Bayer about Lincoln and whether it is something that would interest them because we’ve got a high concentration of New Zealand scientists in geographic locations – those two hubs. The opportunity to bring in international research players to bolster that I think is a good

plan for New Zealand.” Earlier Joyce said given our remote location, attracting more companies to build their business in this country is a challenge. To be successful business needed different combinations of about a dozen things: access to a market – a crucial one for New Zealand, access to skilled people, natural resources, capital and the necessary public infrastructure. This was behind the Government’s Business Growth Agenda. “The reason why companies want to do research here… this country has this amazing ability of people who can cross discipline, who sit there saying ‘we’ve got to be able to solve this problem, let’s work out how we can do it, and let’s make it practical.’ “I personally think it is related to our geography and history: we were isolated down here so we had to make things for ourselves anyway.” Joyce says he has lost count of the number of overseas people who com-

Steven Joyce speaks at the opening of Bayer’s new research facility in Auckland. Joyce is Minister of Economic Development and Science and Innovation.

ment on our ability to innovate. “That’s something we’ve got to hang on to – develop our innovation and skills base here.” The Government had just reorganised its R&D co-funding into three more straight-forward approaches. R&D growth: open to all players including international R&D projects grants: for the more

‘out there’, less immediately commercial R&D R&D student grants: to get more graduates and undergraduates into business, so they can get straightforward interface. This country is getting more postgraduates but they could not all go into academia; a good mix of them needed to go straight out into industry, says Joyce.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

28 opinion editorial

edna

More questions than answers QUESTIONS ARE piling up as the Government launches its inquiry into Fonterra’s false botulism scare. One month ago, questions were swirling around Fonterra’s handling of product recall and how a dirty pipe at a Waikato factory could derail our global dairy exports. Fonterra management’s inquiry has traced back manufacturing of the potentially contaminated WPC80. However, attention is now focused on the tests in New Zealand. Enter AgResearch, an SOE describing itself as “one of New Zealand’s leading research organisations”. AgResearch’s purpose, its website says, is to enhance the value, productivity and profitability of New Zealand’s pastoral, agri-food and agri-technology sector value-chains to contribute to economic growth and beneficial environmental and social outcomes for New Zealand”. If Fonterra is to be believed, it was AgResearch’s test results received on August 2 that triggered the precautionary recall of WPC80 from eight customers. The recall was complex as the 38 metric tonnes of WPC sold to customers had been turned into a variety of value added products – infant formula, sports drinks and animal feed. For its part, AgResearch says it never confirmed the presence of Clostridium botulinum in the isolates provided by the co-op. It had detected the possible presence of Clostridium botulinum and recommended further testing. This calls into question Fonterra’s testing regime. As the world’s largest exporter of dairy products, shouldn’t it have access to testing facilities that can confirm immediately the presence of bacteria and harmful substances in any of its dairy products? It is clear Fonterra acted solely on the test results from AgResearch in initiating the recall and going public. Was it the correct decision? Apparently not, and in hindsight more tests outside New Zealand would have confirmed that the strain present in WPC80 was Clostridium sporogenes, and not the fatal Clostridium botulinum. The damage to Fonterra, and New Zealand’s trading credentials, anxiety to consumers and losses to customers caught up in the recall is hard to measure. Surely, some of the eight companies involved in the recall will be recouping their losses from Fonterra. Fonterra, AgResearch and MPI will all have their say at the Government inquiry. Whatever the inquiry concludes, steps must be taken to prevent a repeat of the WPC80 fiasco. For Fonterra and AgResearch’s sake, let’s hope everything in life happens for a reason and something better always comes out of it.

RURAL NEWS HEAD OFFICE POSTAL ADDRESS: PO Box 3855, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140 PUBLISHER: Brian Hight .............................................. Ph 09 307 0399 GENERAL MANAGER: Adam Fricker ........................................... Ph 09 913 9632 CONSULTING EDITOR: David Anderson .......................................Ph 09 307 0399 davida@ruralnews.co.nz

“Look Edna – we’re foiling!”

the hound Putting the boot in YOUR OLD mate would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the recent Primary Sector chief executive’s bootcamp conference, coming as it did in the wake of the Fonterra’s clostridium botulinum and nitrate contamination incidents, not to mention Alliance’s labelling lapse and Westland’s own nitrate niggle. Given the damage these incidents have done to New Zealand’s reputation overseas, most notably in China, a few chief executives were probably keen to put the boot into the bootcamp, giving their peers at the helm of the guilty organisations a hard time.

Want to share your opinion or gossip with the Hound? Send your emails to: hound@ruralnews.co.nz

Testing times Credibility ACCORDING TO a mate failure, again

of the Hound, the jokes were flying thick and fast following the revelation that Fonterra’s botulism scare was not that at all, after further testing by MPI showed the dairy co-op botchedup its tests. Here’s one of the better ones: “It has now been revealed that Fonterra was actually in charge of the All Blacks when they were knocked out by France in the semi-finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Apparently this is not the first test they have got badly wrong.”

TECHNICAL EDITOR: Andrew Swallow ................... Ph 03 688 2080 PRODUCTION: Dave Ferguson ........................Ph 09 913 9633 Becky Williams ........................Ph 09 913 9634 REPORTERS: Sudesh Kissun ....................... Ph 09 913 9627 Pamela Tipa ............................ Ph 09 913 9630 Peter Burke .............................Ph 06 362 6319 SUB-EDITOR: Neil Keating ............................Ph 09 913 9628 WEBSITE PRODUCER: James Anderson .................... Ph 09 913 9621

JUST WHEN your old mate thought the Australian-owned and controlled weakly (sic) rural rag couldn’t get any less credible – it has. A recent issue ran a full page of articles about the evils of GE. Nothing wrong with that – if there is any actual news in it. Unfortunately, the first story quoted some stubbies, walk socks and sandal-wearing council bureaucrat upset about a Fed Farmers press release on GE, which the pen pusher found ‘insulting’. It then followed up this effort with another article quoting the ramblings of one of the most unbalanced and fervent anti-GE campaigners in the country.

Good news only THE HOUND hears that Fonterra chairman ‘Little’ Johnny Wilson – who went AWOL during the co-op’s botulism botch-up saga – was very keen to be proactive and front the media when it announced the latest milk payout increase. Fonterra’s spin team were offering Wilson to any media outlet happy to have him to chat about the bump in payout. However, a mere day later when it was revealed that Fonterra’s much publicised botulism incident was, in fact, not botulism, Wilson was again doing his impersonation of the Invisible Man – and was unavailable for comment.

2 extremes? THIS OLD mutt reckons this year’s annual meetings of the country’s major fertiliser companies – Ballance and Ravensdown – at the end of this month will be an interesting dichotomy in shareholder sentiment. As one wag – and disgruntled Ravensdown shareholder – suggested to yours truly about the difference in annual meetings, “[Ballance] will probably be serving caviar and champagne, while I reckon Ravensdown shareholders will be lucky if they get a sausage roll and a cuppa..”

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ABC audited circulation 81,232 as at 30.06.2013

Rural News is published by Rural News Group Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of staff, management or directors of Rural News Group Ltd.

Rural News // september 17, 2013

opinion 29

Why stop doing what we’re good at? GET OFF the Grass is a new book urging a kickstart to the New Zealand economy by moving on from agriculture. New Zealanders work harder for less money than most people in the developed world, and authors Professor Shaun Hendy and the late Sir Paul Callaghan (died 2012) suggest this is because we have been capitalising on ‘sheep not smarts’. As productivity and innovation in agriculture are higher than in other sectors, the case could be made that a lot of smarts have been employed – as well as sheep, cows, deer, goats, etc. Further, attempts to move away from agriculture in the past have failed. The ‘knowledge wave’ focus on biotechnology, information technology and the creative and performing arts, for instance, has not revolutionised anything except student enrolments in qualifications that don’t necessarily lead to jobs. The problem with negative suggestions is the damage they do to understanding the truth and

the reduced likelihood of recruiting great people. The second volume of the KPMG Agribusiness Agenda 2013 (available at www.kpmg.com/NZ) focuses on this challenge. ‘Maintaining our people powered performance – leading New Zealand’s primary industry into a prosperous future’ picks up on many of the themes Rural News has reported through the years and is based on discussion with industry leaders earlier this year. The vision presented of a dynamic and innovative primary sector bursting with credible ideas from talented people, all focussed on creating a vibrant economy, should inspire New Zealanders to get involved. Some of the initiatives already underway are showcased: St Paul’s

Collegiate School, for instance, with its new Centre of Excellence for Agricultural Sciences and Business. Initiatives like this have potential to be expanded to create the national platform for a change in thinking. The big change required is simply in the value that New Zealand places on primary professional workers – on farm, in the support industries, the testing laboratories, through research and development, business and marketing, as well as policy and education. Changing the perception of what it takes to be involved in the multimillion dollar industries that comprise the primary sector – from farm through the innovation value chain – is part of ensuring the vision is achieved. Everybody has a part to play. The basic call in Get off the Grass is correct: take science seriously by increasing funding. This can be done without affecting agriculture detrimentally – and increased investment in agricultural research from farm to

fork would enable bigger returns to the country. In particular, research in simplifying the value chain, and focussing on sustainable primary production, would reduce the need for food processing – and hence minimise the potential problems with food recalls. Hendy and Callaghan suggest that New Zealanders should agree to double the intensity of spending on science and innovation in the next decade with a substantial increase in untargeted, basic research. It was this sort of research that laid the foundation

for the agriculture sector – the most productive and innovative sector in New Zealand. In order to get on with Sir Paul’s legacy, the book urges New Zealanders to vote for the party that has the best science and innovation policies at the next election. This party had better have a great agricultural policy as well, in order to encourage the ongoing production of great food and fibre. Add a topnotch education policy, which sends signals about skills shortages by removing fees in those areas, and

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30 opinion

Closing Invermay – deja vu all over again! IN 1981 farming and Invermay had every reason to give thanks for the presence of Dr Jock Allison when the government of the day was quietly preparing to rearrange southern agriculture research. This meant Invermay’s future was on the line. Now – three decades later – Invermay is again looking to be saved and

Jock Allison is again in the front row. He’s obviously a bit older and possibly mellowed, but he hasn’t lost any of that old bite. In 1981 led by Minister Bill Birch of ‘think big’ fame a group of parliamentarians were checking out the Invermay research station. They disingenuously claimed to be just looking at southern research loca-

tions and suggested their visit was nothing more than a routine outing. At that stage, in the early 1980s, Invermay was still little more than a collection of sad, old, boreriddled, former air force buildings on the border of Mosgiel. But looks can be illusory. Invermay since the appointment of Jock Alli-

son as director of the MAF Invermay Research Centre – in 1978, aged 34 – was undergoing a renaissance.

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mapping (for growing grapes) agroforestry, goats and even rabbits. Despite the look of the buildings, with the Allison energy, Invermay research was way out in front. Jock saw the Government visit as a warning sign. He had already fallen out with Birch after one of his scientists had criticised the wasteful use of Maui gas. At the time, Invermay research was looking at growing crops as an energy source. Birch’s response to this criticism was to immediately authorise a report on the effects of relocating Invermay research. Allison realised the research programmes he had nursed along were at risk: it was time to act and decisively. Over the years, Allison had built up a loyal following, especially among southern farmers. Invermay’s pioneering research had attracted enthusiastic supporters. He also broke public service rules and visited farming groups, explaining the likely Government decision on Invermay’s future. Whereever he went there was rousing support along with disbelief. Federated Farmers were high on the hit list. Allison addressed Southland, Otago and North Otago Federated Farmers. The vote for saving and expanding Invermay research was unanimous. The real plus, of course, was getting total farmer support because most were National Party members who were the Government at the time. Ever helpful, Allison wrote draft letters for delegates to send to their MPs. Then a draft letter written on an Invermay letterhead inadvertently turned up in Wellington Suddenly the Government could no longer tiptoe around the issues. They realised closing Invermay would have brought about a rural uprising. Allison was duly summoned to Wellington, given another stern warning and the rebuilding of the Invermay campus got underway in 1983. Although appearing to have won the first round, Allison maintained his involvement in the building. He was far from happy with the proposed designs

of the structure, the work of Wellington Ministry of Works architects. This became the next battleground. The MOW architects were moved on and input from the Dunedin personnel was reduced to a supervisory role only. Local architects were brought in, and with Allison looking over their shoulders, the problems ended. The result is a magnificent building that incorporates the latest in architecture. However, the building was to be the centre of another controversy when it was opened by then Prime Minister David Lange on April 15, 1986. By then the Labour Government’s market-led restructuring and deregulation was destroying farming communities. The Invermay opening was seen as a chance to show the Government how far the hurt had spread. The result was a march, culminating at Invermay as Lange was making his speech. 2500 hardy souls turned out, including pillars of rural society and farming leaders. It became one of the more dramatic occasions in farming folklore. The timing of the farming protest was spot on, arriving at the opening ceremony as Lange stepped up to the podium. Then all hell broke loose. Lange was furious – this was meant to be a good news event. He threw aside his notes and marched off the stage. No one knew what to do next. These were now uncharted waters. The parliamentarians had to decide how to escape. Did some of the marchers have guns? They decided to run for it, but as the official limousines took off, the marchers, realising their quarry was about to be lost, threw themselves at the cars. One well known farming leader wrenched a small flag off the main vehicle. It became a battle trophy. Behind the scenes Allison was walking a tightrope. He wanted to see the march completed and with minimal damage to marchers or the campus. Looking back the march and the Lange response put Invermay on the map. It also ensured rural New Zealand issues were better understood.

Rural News // september 17, 2013

opinion 31

Local government should concentrate on core business on infrastructure like road maintenance. This reflects the way central government has cut funding for local roads so it does not get off scot-free.

IN TRYING to regulate genetically modified organisms (GM), Federated Farmers is reasonably asking Northland councils if this is the best use of ratepayer money. The question is especially pointed given that this regulatory task is the role of the taxpayer funded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This has nothing to do with the debate about GM. Federated Farmers simply asks, is it right for Northland councils to spend money and time trying to regulate something already heavily regulated by the EPA? This issue boils down to the respective roles of local Katie Milne and central government. Federated Farmers would What this means, according respond similarly to any council wanting to compete with Work & to the NZ Herald, is the worst collective local government operatIncome or the police. Federated Farmers can rightly ing deficit ever. During the 2011/12 claim expertise in commenting on financial year, our councils were the activities or ambitions of local collectively spending $22 more every second than what they government. We engage with and advocate earned. Since councils rightly comon almost every council area where there is a farmer. We have built up plain about how the Government huge knowledge and experience on delegates responsibilities but local government rates and regula- not necessarily the funding, why are Northland councils trying to tion To show that our response is muscle into a Government space? neither for nor against GM, we ask Guess who ultimately will pick up the reader to ponder the sum of the tab. We also know that sticking to $700 million: that’s New Zealand councils’ excess of expenditure core council roles became harder with the 2002 Local Government over income during 2011/12. Much of the increased spend- Act. This gave councils a power of ing – operational and capital – was general competence backed by an

graduate research experience in molecular biology, immunology and pathology, genetics, mammalian physiology, ecology, conservation and biodiversity. According to its website and annual report, many of Federated Farmers the people before joining the EPA’s New Organisms simply asks, is it right team worked in academic for Northland councils and industry research on biotechnology and medical to spend money and research and disease investitime trying to regulate gation. This is what the EPA brings to the table backed something already by a legislated focus. When heavily regulated by it comes to new organisms the EPA? the EPA also undertakes public consultation. Antidemocratic? Hardly. Councils must focus on reforms, councils found it hard to becoming the best and lowest cost say ‘no’ to demands for increased provider of effective local roads, spending. That old act also made rubbish collection, wastewater and councils susceptible to interest the like. There is a heap of work groups pushing new and exciting that needs to be done and rateactivities for councils to get into. payers deep down know it. Every I suspect GM regulation could fit dollar, meeting and report not dedicated to these core functions costs there. Regulation of GM would be rate and taxpayers alike. Since 1876, when we were under fine if we did not already have legislation and the taxpayer funded full provincial government, we agency specifically charged with have centralised responsibilities where they are more efficiently and regulating it. Since we do have that agency, effectively undertaken at a national Northland’s councils are straying level. Our health, social welfare, dangerously and expensively into territory where they have little police, defence services, and the expertise or skill. It sets them on a like, have all benefited from this collision course with the Environ- shift and where services or impacts cross ‘provincial’ boundaries, as mental Protection Agency. The EPA has an annual budget GM regulation does, then leaving of about $22 million and its New it to the centre is appropriate and Organisms team, which looks after sensible. GM, largely employs people who • Katie Milne is Federated Farmers have science backgrounds – post- local government spokeswoman. activist purpose statement. What we see in Northland councils’ attempt to regulate GM is a hangover from the 2002 Act. From 2002 until last year’s

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32 management

Pastures to boost hill country How can country that’s too steep to cultivate be made more productive? A paper to be presented at the New Zealand Grassland Association Conference in November holds some answers. Andrew Swallow reports AT LEAST 40% of New Zealand is too steep to cultivate yet still less than 1000m above sea-level. The challenges of improving pasture on such land are considerable, but as the early results of a long-term project show, establishment of more productive species is possible.

What’s more, with the work on four contrasting sites around the country (see panel) on-going as part of the Pastoral 21* initiative, the findings promise to fine-tune best practice for improving and maintaining such country in the future. “There is potential to substantially increase pas-

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ture production and herbage quality, particularly in late winter and spring,” explains AgResearch pasture scientist Katherine Tozer, lead author of a paper on the project to be presented at November’s New Zealand Grassland Association conference. Late winter and spring are key periods because dairying’s growing domination of lower or flatter country means there’s a growing need to finish stock, particularly lambs, on hills. Growing more, better and earlier pasture should increase weaning weights and the proportion of stock sold prime. “That’s where the financial gains can really be made,” she stresses.

Katherine Tozer

While data analysed to date is only from the establishment phase of the pastures, Tozer says the aim is a 400kg DM/ha increase in feed grown in early spring and improved pasture quality over summer-autumn, with about a one unit lift in ME (metabolisable energy). “A year down the track we will have information

on this from this project.” The lift in quality, say from 10 MJME/kgDM to 11, can make a huge difference to stock performance, she adds. What the establishment phase has shown is that even in a wetter than normal year – plots were sown spring or autumn 2011/12 – getting legumes, grasses and herbs to take by broadcasting is challenging. In only a handful of situations did more than 50% of seed applied produce viable plants and, in many, the establishment percentage was in single figures. The NZGA paper analyses the influence of four treatments on establish-

ment: aspect; season; location/site; and seed mix. The trial also includes establishment following fallow or summer brassica, but that data is still to be analysed. Autumn broadcasting of seed was more successful for most species, for example, 36% of perennial ryegrass seed established, compared to 13% in spring. The mean for all grasses was 22% establishment in autumn, to 9% in spring. Aspect also had a significant impact: the mean establishment of all species on south faces was 14%, compared to 8% on north faces; for ryegrass it was 31% to 18%. “Broadcasting seed on south aspects during

autumn is likely to result in the highest establishment of sown grasses and legumes, but not necessarily herbs,” the paper states. However, the authors and Tozer, stress the season was an unusually wet one so the establishment work is being repeated this season with a fine-tuned selection of species. “The ones that performed poorly in that first year were consistently poor, so given the scale of the project; it makes sense now to target our efforts on the better performing species to see whether we get a similar ranking – regardless of whether it’s a good or poor year for

Rural News // september 17, 2013

management 33

production establishment.” As for seed mix affects, on average establishment of the grass-legume-herb mix (GLH) was higher than the legume only (LEG) mix by 14% compared to 8%, but white

In the trial 10m by 10m randomised plots were sprayed off with a robust rate of glyphosate 7-10 days before broadcast sowing by hand. In practice, helicopters would likely be used, putting

“There is potential to substantially increase pasture production and herbage quality, particularly in late winter and spring.” clover was one of the exceptions within that trend, 17% taking when broadcast alone, compared to 8% in the GLH mix. “White clover is likely to be suppressed in a seed mix containing grasses, legumes and herbs and may establish best if sown before the grasses,” suggests the NZGA paper.

establishment cost in the region of $6-700/ha, says Tozer. Following broadcasting, trial sites were briefly mob stocked with sheep at 500/ha, something that should be replicated on field scale, she adds. “That’s very important. If you don’t have good seed to soil contact the chances of getting good

germination plummet. “We’re doing additional studies on the sites to look at leaf litter’s influence to see whether it helps or hinders establishment. On the one hand it can stop seed to soil contact. But if the seed can get through to the soil, the litter can act as a mulch preventing it drying out. However, it can also harbour pests, so the results are going to very interesting.” * Pastoral 21 is a joint venture between the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE), Dairy NZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Fonterra and the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, aiming to increase pastoral production while reducing farming’s environmental footprint. AgResearch manages the programme with a range of other organisations contributing to the research.

One of four hill country sites putting a range of pasture species to the test.

Treatments analysed to date

Sites: Ngaroma, South Waikato (summer wet); Poukawa, central Hawke’s Bay (summer dry); Woodeville, southern Hawke’s Bay (summer moist); Cheviot, Canterbury (summer dry). Aspects: North and south at each site Seed mix: Grass, legume and herb mix (GLH) or legume only (LEG). Season: Spring (September 2011) and autumn (March 2012).

9/12/2013 10:51:36 AM

Rural News // september 17, 2013

34 management

Tool to cut losses and grow more ANDREW SWAL LOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

A NEW farm nutrient management package promises to show how and where to get the best bang for your buck with environmental damage mitigation options. What’s more, the flipside is it should help identify where production might be intensified without causing unacceptable consequences to the farm’s environmental footprint. Branded MitAgator, the package is being promoted by fertiliser cooperative Ballance Agri-Nutrients which, with the help of Government money from the Primary Growth Partnership, has been working with AgResearch on it. It takes data from Overseer and links it with a geo-referenced farm map, soil map and digital

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elevation model. “It’s a decision support tool that will help farmers make more objective decisions,” Ballance R&D manager Warwick Catto told Rural News. “Overseer gives you a [nutrient loss] number but it doesn’t tell you spatially what to do about it.” MitAgator does, generating maps showing areas at high risk of N, P, sediment and/or bacterial loss. “Once the base risk maps are developed, mitigation and management strategies can be modelled, and can be targeted to an individual paddock, or even part of it.” Options might include riparian planting, buffer zones, use of low solubility fertilisers. Typical costs and likely efficacy of each are given. Catto stresses the programme is a management tool, not a regulatory

one. “The way Overseer is being used at the moment the last thing the farmer needs is another set of numbers. This is about the relative changes that doing certain things will achieve. We’re not so worried about the absolute numbers as we are with Overseer.” Despite those comments, he denies the inspiration for MitAgator was because Overseer has been hijacked by regulators. “We became involved with this four or five years ago when there was a huge focus on nitrogen (Overseer’s forte). We felt it important that phosphate, sediment and e-coli be considered as well.” While a farm-ready version of the tool won’t be available until the end of next year, a prototype is being tested and proofed with data from over a dozen farms nationwide.

Hot spots: a MitAgator image showing high phosphate loss areas in pink.

Warwick Catto

With 80% of a farm’s nutrient losses often occurring from just 20% of a farm’s area, Catto stresses it’s far more cost effective to target mitigation and management to those key areas. Working with Overseer and using extra data on soil and topography, Mitigator shows how to do that. “It will help farmers to minimise losses while getting better use efficiency from their phosphate (P) and nitrogen (N) fertiliser…. “This has great potential benefits in helping farmers to continue farming within nutrientrestricted catchments.” A next step with the model is to integrate it with other data sources to allow real-time risk management, such as crossreferencing soil moisture data and forecast rain to decide whether to graze stock or irrigate effluent on a paddock or area of the farm.

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GET THE foundations for improving hill country right – fencing, fertility, and stockwater – before even considering pasture species, Katherine Tozer’s colleague on the NZGA paper (see p32-33), Tom Fraser, told the recent New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management conference. “In a lot of cases farmers will go at it the other way round because all the commercial push is in that last part,” he warned. Also, easier country on the farm should be producing to its maximum potential before the higher risk

and cost option of developing hill country should be tackled, he added. Having done that, the key thing to understand with hill country is that nitrogen is nearly always the limiting factor, so establishing legumes is essential if grass species such as ryegrass are to perform. “The majority of New Zealand’s grasses are bred for high fertility, rotationally grazed, dairy conditions.” Making sure pH is high enough for legumes – minimum 5.2 for lotus, and a bit higher for the clovers – should be a first step, and targeted at areas of hill with most

potential. “We tend to think of hill faces as just hill faces, but within that there are lots of microclimates and some will have quite high moisture availability and quite high fertility… It may be that 10 to 15% of the land area produces 60 to 70% of the forage.” Once improved pasture species are sown, fertility, including pH, needs to be maintained if they are to persist. Legumes should occasionally be allowed to flower and reseed, building regeneration potential. “We need a seed bank to take us through some of the droughts of the

Tom Fraser

future.” With white clover capable of setting seed within 6-8 weeks of closing, and as few as 10 flower heads per square metre setting the equivalent of 17.5kg/ha of seed, building up that seed bank shouldn’t be too hard, it seems.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

management 37

Managing hoggets for lambs Getting a lamb or two from hogget flock replacements is one way many farms could boost productivity, but it’s not without its problems, as Massey’s Prof Paul Kenyon told Peter Burke. THE KEY issue with inlamb hoggets is making sure they continue to grow and ensure that the animal has sufficient feed to allow for the foetus to grow as well, says a leading researcher on the subject. Massey University’s Prof Paul Kenyon says this means if farmers want the young hogget to gain 10kg of her own weight in pregnancy, plus the 10-12kg of pregnancy itself (foetus plus fluids), she needs to put on about 130-140g/ day. That’s different to in a mature ewe where for the first two thirds of pregnancy maintenance feed is all that’s required and you feed for the sudden growth of the foetus in the last trimester. “In a young hogget you can’t afford to do that,” stresses Kenyon. “In the first two thirds of pregnancy you have to make sure that she grows and that you give her a good level of feeding and remember it will go to her and not to the foetus. Then in that last third those high levels of feeding will go to the foetus because that’s the way she physiologically switches. In late pregnancy, the mother always gives to the foetus.” If you don’t grow her on the first two thirds of pregnancy, and just feed well in late pregnancy, what happens it all goes to the foetus, which grows to almost normal size in a mother that hasn’t grown, often resulting in birthing difficulties and a reduced chance of lamb, and indeed hogget, survival. Lambs and hoggets that do survive will be lighter at weaning. Kenyon says success with lambing hoggets starts before mating: get liveweights well up, then use harnesses on rams to identify animals tupped, and follow up with scanning to be sure which ones are pregnant. Those that aren’t can go on a traditional hogget management regime; those that are need to looked after from

the outset. One of the myths that needs busting with pregnant hoggets is that because they have a lower liveweight than ewes, they can be fed less. Grow a crop or bring in extra feed to ensure they can be well fed, suggests Kenyon.

case of a bit of short term pain for a bit of long term gain.” • Farmer perspective: p38

In lamb? If they are, feed for growth and pregnancy.

Paul Kenyon

Either that, or reduce numbers in other stock classes to increase feed availability. But when it comes to lambing hoggets, Kenyon says the same rules apply to them as to mature sheep. “You should try to pick out sheltered paddocks, put multiples at lower stocking rates than singletons and hopefully not have the covers going below 1200 kgs/DM which is about 4cm sward height. “Those are things you do which don’t differ from what you do for a mature ewe. The only thing I would say is that some people who are very successful lamb their hoggets on to Lucerne, chicory or plantain. The evidence is that when you do that you get even higher performance than even a very good rye grass white clover.” If hoggets are struggling a bit after lambing consider weaning two or three weeks earlier, he adds. “While you might forego a bit of value on that lamb, you are actually giving her more time to recover because she won’t be lactating so long…. You will ensure that she’s a good two-tooth and you want her in your flock for the next four years. It’s a

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38 management

A farmer’s perspective ONE FARMER who is a great advocate of lambing hoggets (see p37) is John Heald, manager of Pohuetai Farms, Dannevirke. Last autumn he put 1800 High-

lander hoggets to the ram, about 1000 down on normal because the dry meant they were struggling to get hoggets to their 40kg target for mating. “We had to start hard feeding a few. It wasn’t all beer and skittles but we managed to pull a few up and it worked.” Grain supplementing about 700 saw them achieve 164% scanning, but by docking that dropped to 120%. “We’re not sure what went John Heald lambs a thousand or more hoggets every year.

wrong.” Mated hoggets are grazed on the best pasture and given preferential treatment. “This coming season we’re going to try and set about 1000 going on a plantain rotation and see if we can achieve a 48 kilogramme average weight instead of the norm which is about three or four kilos lighter.” While the Highlander hoggets are good mothers, it’s important to ensure they’re not stressed as lack of feed or a worm burden can increase mismothering, he adds. And while mated hoggets may be a bit more work, overall those that produce lambs are probably the most profitable stock on the farm. “If you can get a hogget lambing by the time she’s 13 or 14 months of age you are in the money,” he says.

Early weaning best in dry Alan H arman

WEANING CALVES early when severe weather such as drought hinders beef production is the best option, US Department of Agriculture studies confirm. Working with local ranchers, Montana State University scientists and the American Simmental Association in Bozeman, Montana, Richard Waterman of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service evaluated early weaning and its impact on cow, heifer and steer performance. Calves at two locations in Montana were weaned at 80 days old or the more traditional 215 days. Weaning early saw cows weigh more and in better body condition at the start of winter, cutting the amount of feed required to maintain cow weight and condition through winter. As a strategy for farmers, it presents fewer problems and

US research found calves finished earlier.

gives better control of production, Waterman argues. The research also showed early weaning increases the likelihood heifers become pregnant on time in the following breeding season, and early-weaned steers reach maturity sooner than traditionally weaned steers

when body weightgain, feedlot performance and carcass traits were measured. That needs to be taken into account in management of early-weaned steers, as it can affect how carcasses grade: in some cases, the early-weaned steers had poorer yields because they were overfat.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

40 animal health

Teach pups with pack principles DOGS DON’T beat oneanother with sticks. Pups learn respect early from growling, snapping and being towered over. From the day a pup is born the bitch will growl or snap to reprimand it. She has no need to hurt it and doesn’t: the noise or quickness of the movement is all it takes. I have yet to see a bitch draw blood, even as the pup gets older and bolder. As a litter of pups grows, play fights evolve, and inevitably will turn a little more serious. It will usually end with one either shaking the other by the scruff of the neck or standing aggressively over it,

It will either scamper off whimpering or roll on its back submissively. Some older dogs are more tolerant than others but it is rare for a pup to be injured in these lessons. You will never see a dog pick up a stick and give the pup a walloping, so why, therefore, do we do it? Let’s look at how we can use ‘the pack’s way’ to our advantage. This is a very important lesson for all pups, ideally carried out at about 10-16 weeks of age. If you get an older pup or dog do this lesson after he has settled into his new home and you have made friends with him. It goes without saying that the older the pup, the bigger the pup, and it can be a tricky lesson to enforce. He will put up a fight, and you will probably get scratched, but this is not his fault and do not

looking it in the eye and growling. As the pups begin to interact with the other members of the pack they are put in their place by the same methods. There will be a gentle warning growl and if that is not heeded, a snap follows - lightening quick, giving the pup a fright rather than inflicting pain.

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punish him; just hold him down the best you can. Straddling him and lightly sitting on him works well for dogs that are bigger. Gently lay the pup on its side, holding him with one hand over his neck and your other hand holding the flank belly area. Do not use force, just enough pressure to stop him getting up. The first time you do this the pup will struggle -

it will fight being held and try to get away. Do not hurt it, you are only using enough pressure to stop it getting up; when it realizes it can’t, it will settle. It is vital that it stays there for a couple of minutes, lying flat on its side, totally relaxed. Don’t talk or praise because you will defeat the purpose; this lesson teaches the pup that you are the alpha member of

the pack, the top dog. When you let the pup up don’t let it run off. Hold it gently at your feet for a minute or two and keep quiet. Because you haven’t hurt it, it isn’t afraid of you, but it does have respect. I repeat this lesson if a pup is being annoying or disobedient but this time I lean over it, glare it in the eye and say in a rough voice “grrrrrr, listen to me … grrrrr, listen to me”.

The growl and words are important, in time you will drop the growl and only use “listen to me”. I use this to discipline dogs of all ages and I never let the dog up and run off. I hold his collar and keep him at my feet for a minute or two. • Anna Holland is teaching people dog training, for more information www.annaholland.co.nz, annaholland@ xtra.co.nz, ph 07 217 0101

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CLINICAL ISSUES OF antimicrobial resistance in human medicine are primarily the result of antibiotic use in people, rather than the use of antibiotics in animals, a new strategy released in the UK acknowledges. However, it also notes veterinary use of antibiotics is an important factor contributing to the wider pool of resistance, says the British Veterinary Association (BVA). Welcoming the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013-2018 BVA president Peter Jones said antimicrobial resistance is one of the most significant threats to animal

and human health. “In addition to measures to improve prescribing practices, we welcome the focus on surveillance, research needs, and development of new drugs. As the Strategy acknowledges, the development pipeline for new antibiotics is at an all-time low, which is very true of the animal health sector as well, and so we welcome measures to investigate how to manage this trend… the ‘One Health’ approach of medical and veterinary professionals working together will be crucial to the success of the Strategy.”

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

animal health 41

Embryos needed if FMD strikes STORED SEMEN is all very well, but will there be enough female cattle left to use it on to regenerate the national dairy herd in the wake of a foot and mouth (FMD) crisis? That’s the question a former MAF and Ruakura researcher, Dr Clive Dalton has, following a briefing by Livestock Improvement (LIC) on its preparedness for an exotic disease outbreak. Dalton, whose doctorate was in animal breeding and was awarded the Landcorp Communicator of the Year title in 1993, says it’s good the dairy industry has contingency plans for protecting and storing semen, but not enough consideration is given to where the females to inseminate would come from. At any one time about 4 million straws of frozen semen are held by LIC about 2.4m in Hamilton and 1.5m in Christchurch. Every bull used since 1970 has 80 straws held in special quarantine tanks as ‘genetic insurance’ for research and insurance against any event which would prevent the cooperative from collecting semen. Dalton says FMD can be carried on the wind and prevailing westerlies in

Drench resistance rampant in Aussie AUSTRALIA’S FIRST national drench resistance study in almost 20 years has found unexpectedly high levels of resistance to common sheep drenches, including market leading active moxidectin. The study reports growing concern about the prevalence and severity of resistance to ‘old’ drench classes and supports urgent calls for sheep producers to make strategic use of new drenches in their treatment programmes. Incidence of resistance to moxidectin was 54%, while for benzimidazoles and levamisole, the oldest drench classes, it was 96%. No resistance to the newest drench active, monepantel (as in Zolvix), was reported. While some sheep producers have long been aware of the need to manage drench resistance, the results of the study show no sheep producer can afford to ignore roundworm drench resistance and all must address the issue quickly to guarantee the health of their flock and business, say the authors. – Alan Harman

LIC, it said a number of evolutions have occurred with semen technology since Dalton was actively involved as a scientist and it would be happy to “bring him up to speed…. In gen-

eral, though, a national response to an outbreak of an exotic bovine disease would not rely on one solution.” Dalton says LIC’s missed his point: it’s not

about the semen; it’s about where it would be used. “Who is storing the female side! That’s what I’m concerned about. Where is their store of embryos?”

Clive Dalton

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the Waikato could see the disease infect every herd from Raglan to Te Aroha within a week. Authorities would have two options: slaughter or vaccination. What the policy would be hasn’t been made clear but vaccination would mean New Zealand’s FMD-free status would be lost forever, so slaughter could well be the route taken. If that happened, would there be enough cows to regenerate the national herd, particularly if the South Island was also affected? He believes that when top performing cows reach their natural use-by date and are culled, ovaries should be removed and eggs stored, much the same as semen. Better still would be keeping a bank of high-genetic embryos on ice, ready to put into surrogate mothers in the event of an FMD outbreak. Those mothers could be sourced in large numbers from the Australian outback, he suggests. While some of the responsibility for better contingency planning rests with LIC, which he says needs to think a lot wider than just bulls, there’s an urgent need for a gene bank for all our livestock industries for the day when – not if, he adds – FMD arrives. When Rural News put Dalton’s comments to

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

42 animal health

City hives a risk to bees ALAN HARMAN

BRITISH SCIENTISTS are urging people in towns and cities keen to help the beleaguered honey bee not to buy a hive but to grow bee-friendly flowers instead. Francis Ratnieks and Karin Alton at the Univer-

sity of Sussex’s Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) report in the journal The Biologist that urban beekeeping has never been more popular, particularly in London, but the boom could be bad for honey bees and other flower-visiting insects as it risks overtaxing the avail-

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able nectar and pollen supply, and potentially encourages the spread of diseases. Data from BeeBase, a register of apiaries maintained by the UK’s National Bee Unit (NBU), shows that in five years, from 2008-13, the number of beekeepers in Greater London tripled from 464 to 1,237, and the number of hives doubled from 1,677 to more than 3,500. Ratnieks and Alton says the beekeeping boom has seen London reach about 10 hives per square kilometre, compared to about one

per square kilometre in England as a whole. Many restaurants, galleries, businesses and shops use rooftop hives as a means of visibly greening their business or as a teambuilding exercise for staff. “Both honey bees and wild bees have been declining,” Ratnieks says. “Although the causes are complex the most important one seems to be loss of flowers and habitat…. If the problem is not enough flowers, increasing the number of hives risks making that problem worse… If a game

park was short of food for elephants, you wouldn’t introduce more elephants, so why should we take this approach with bees?” High colony density in London and an influx of inexperienced beekeepers also runs the risk of spreading certain honey bee diseases, especially American foulbrood (AFB), now rare in Britain. The “cure” for AFB, a highly contagious bacterial infection of honey bee larvae, is to burn the hive because it has very longlived spores that contaminate the wax combs.

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The scientists calculate each new hive in London would need the equivalent of 1ha of borage, a plant that attracts mainly honey bees, or 8.3ha of lavender, a plant that attracts mainly bumblebees but some

honey bees, to support it. Honey bee numbers may have declined but the species is in no imminent danger of extinction, unlike some other critically endangered insects in the UK, they add.

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A NEW virus has been identified as causing neurological symptoms similar to BSE in US cattle. The find, reported in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, will help rule out BSE as a possible cause in such cases, say researchers. The also say the new virus is unlikely to pose a threat to human health or the food supply. “Understanding the role of this virus is crucial for veterinarians as well as for the dairy and beef cattle industries,” says Patricia Pesavento, corresponding author on the paper. The work was carried out by researchers from University of California, Davis; the Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco; the Bishop Veterinary Hospital, California; University of South Florida; and Stanford University. Pesavento says neurologic disease in cattle can be difficult to diagnose because there are a number of different causes, and pre-mortem sampling and analyses can be cumbersome and/or expensive. Following discovery of the virus, studies of brain tissue samples preserved from 32 cattle that had unexplained neurologic symptoms revealed the virus in three. The newly identified virus is an astrovirus now referred to as BoAstV0NeuroS. It is the third separate astrovirus species detected in brain tissues and all are associated with neurologic disease. – Alan Harman

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

animal health 43

Tail trial inconclusive DOCKING LAMBS? Worried what’s the right length to leave? Judging by first year findings of research last week released by Alliance Group, it seems it doesn’t matter that much, at least from a production point of view. In the first of what is a three year study, tail length had no effect on kill date or carcase traits, but longer and intact tails did increase dags and consequent time crutching. The research involves a nationwide farmer survey on docking/tailing practice, plus on-farm trials in Southland, Canterbury and Manawatu. The work is supported by Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund, UK supermarket Sainsbury’s and Beef + Lamb New Zealand. “While the outcomes only represent preliminary findings, they do provide some useful early confirmation on the effect of tail docking on growth rates and we will be looking forward to the final results in 2015,” says Murray Behrent, general manager of livestock at Alliance Group. “There is currently a lack of scientific information addressing the productive, economic and welfare aspects of docking lamb tails. This situa-

tion leaves New Zealand farmers vulnerable to any concerns from international markets in regards to the actual length of tails docked.” Behrent says it’s important welfare issues that concern consumers and that could become barriers to exports can be addressed scientifically with trial data. The study should allow New Zealand to do that. Economic benefit or cost to farmers of leaving tails longer or intact will be part of the remaining two years of the study. “Once complete, the research should provide suppliers with reliable information in assessing the impact of their tail docking practices,” he says. For the trials, the effects of four different tail lengths are being assessed: flush (1cm); short (3-4cm – currently the most common in New Zealand); long (7-10cm – usual in the UK); and intact. Lambs are weighed at docking, weaning and slaughter, and dags are scored at weaning and slaughter. Fly strike is assessed at any crutching or spray treatment. Previous studies have shown dags increase likelihood of fly strike but so far in Alliance’s work any link

between tail length, dags and fly strike is inconclusive. Similarly, intact tails, which some have suggested have a positive effect on meat yield, haven’t produced a consistent across breed and sex affect to date. Alliance’s research partners include Abacus-

Bio, farmers, and tailing and shearing contractors. The survey aims to determine prevalence of different docking practices and drivers for those. A best practice booklet on tail docking will be developed and distributed to Alliance’s suppliers in 2015.

Burning issue: Alliance’s trial aims to ensure New Zealand has the data to support its tailing practice.

PI CALVES ARE THE HIDDEN CARRIERS OF BVD IN YOUR HERD.

Minimum standards and best practice Section 6 of the Animal Welfare (Painful Husbandry Procedures) Code of Welfare 2005 deals with Docking. It states, under Minimum Standard No.4, that docking of sheep’s tails must only be undertaken where there is significant risk of faecal and urine contamination, and/or flystrike, that leads to poor hygiene, health, and welfare and/or failing to do so adds a significant cost to the farm system. Docking without pain relief must be done as young as possible and pain relief is mandatory over six months of age. It also says recommended best practice is for tails to be docked before six weeks and left long enough to cover the vulva of a female, regardless of wool length, and a similar length for males.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

44 animal health

TB genome work aids tracing and r ew swallow andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

WHOLE GENOME sequencing will give researchers a better understanding of bovine TB outbreaks, a paper presented at a recent Society of General Microbiology conference

in the UK predicts. Researchers from the University of Glasgow, working in collaboration with the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland, sequenced the genomes of 147 million samples of the

bacteria responsible for bovine TB, mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). The samples came from a decade of outbreaks in Northern Ireland. By combining the genomic sequences of the bacteria with information about when and where the samples were isolated,

and stock movement data, researchers were able to build a detailed forensic map of the disease’s spread. The results show that, even over a few kilometres, M. bovis samples from neighbouring farms were more closely genetically related than those

geographically distant on farms which had had cattle moved between them. The finding confirms that, while long distance spread via cattle movements plays a role, local transmission mechanisms appear to drive the spread of the disease, although the researchers are unable

DNA identification of TB strains is helping researchers home in transmission pathways.

to determine what these are at the present time. “The inclusion of whole genome information in our data will give us unprecedented insight into how bovine TB spreads, and will help us to develop better control methods for the disease,” says one of the paper’s authors, Hannah Trewby. Crucially, it will help clarify the role UK native species the badger plays in spreading the disease, and which, after many years of lobbying from farming organisations, the UK Government finally, but controversially, agreed to allow a limited cull of, starting this year. Professor Rowland Kao, the Principle Investigator of the project, says the Northern Ireland results suggest establishment and local persistence of the pathogen in cattle has a distinct spatial signature.

“We believe that explaining this signature is the key to quantifying the role that badgers play…. While we do not yet have sufficient data to be definitive, it is clear that whole genome sequencing of the bacterium will play an important part in solving this puzzle.” It should also be a relatively inexpensive way to track TB, farm to farm. “Given the extensive collection of samples already collected from cattle and badgers, we are optimistic that this approach will help accumulating the right scientific evidence over the coming years to tackle this important problem.” Rural News invited TBfree New Zealand to comment on this work and what benefit there might be in tracing the disease here, but it was unable to respond before this article went to press.

Possums behind 70% of cases ANNOUNCING GROUND baiting and trapping of possums between Mosgiel and Dunedin, TBfree last week said scientific evidence indicates possums are responsible for about 70% of new herd infections in New Zealand’s TB risk areas. Ground control work last took place in the MosgielDunedin area four years ago and was extremely successful in lowering possum densities but surveys show numbers have increased to a level where they pose a risk of spreading TB to nearby cattle and deer herds, it said.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

animal health 45

Spring brings surge in Theileria cases and r ew swallow andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

CATTLE FARMERS are being warned to be on the alert for anaemic and lethargic animals as a new strain of tick-borne disease Theileria sweeps south. In some cases the ikeda strain, identified in New Zealand for the first time last autumn, has left cows dead while others have resorted to oncea-day milking to ease the stress on affected animals. In May, after a spate of cases in Northland, MPI, Beef + Lamb, DairyNZ and New Zealand Veterinary Association warned the hot dry autumn may have increased tick populations. Now it seems the warm spring combined with calving stress is causing a spike in cases across Waikato and Bay of Plenty. DairyNZ put out a warning to producers last week to be alert for symptoms: anaemia, as indicated by pale mucous membranes, exercise intolerance and increased respiratory and Vector: ticks transmit Theileria but are hard to spot.

John Bluett, DairyNZ

and a Waikato dairy farmer, said cases are happening “exponentially” in the Waikato at the moment. “The weather and long grass have been ideal for the tick that carries it.” The ticks infect cattle with the Theileria protozoa when they attach to the animal, then the protozoa destroys red blood cells, causing the anaemia and other symptoms. Cattle will develop immunity after exposure to the disease but if stressed before that immunity develops, they can go down with milk fever-like symptoms and even die. “If you think you’ve got it, get the vet in straight away and get a test done,” urges Bluett, who had a cow go down with the disease on his

farm last week. “These cows have to be nursed very gently. Give them plenty of high energy feed because they’ve not got the energy to go and get their own, and it will take them a while to recover. “Some farms that have had quite a few cases have put them on once-aday milking.” Hillerton says keeping an eye-out for ticks around the tail head, base of udder and inside the legs – “basically wherever the tick can get close to the skin” – is a good idea, but warns the ticks are hard to spot as the immature forms are only the size of a pinhead, and even the adult is only 2.5mm across initially. “It grows to about the size of a pea before they drop off.” Cattle movements, and possibly other animals including birds, spread the ticks. “They’ll go on virtually anything warm blooded and are well recognised on deer,” says Hillerton. Other strains of Theileria have been present in New Zealand for at least 30 years. There is no animal-toanimal risk of spread in the absence of ticks, nor is there a human health or food safety risk associated with the disease.

Theileria key points heart rates. Affected cows are lethargic, likely lagging behind mobs when moved, if not recumbent. “There have been a number of cases and a growing number of cases,” DairyNZ’s chief scientist Eric Hillerton told Rural News. “Ticks transmit the disease and it’s been such a devastating spring in terms of tick numbers,” he added. Colleague John Bluett, an animal husbandry specialist with DairyNZ

• Tick-borne disease affecting cattle. • Causes anaemia, lethargy, high heart/ respiratory rate, death. • Avoid stress or movement of affected animals. • Provide high quality feed and water. • Control ticks with vet-only pour-on Bayticol. • Avoid moving stock to/from tick infested areas. • Seek veterinary advice.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

46 machinery & products

Contractors conquer light soil country ton y h o p k i n so n

WIND AND light soils – easily blown away – keep Kaweka Contracting Ltd on its mettle in Hawkes Bay. The owners of Kaweka Contracting Ltd, formed in 1990, brought plenty of farming experience into the company. David Ward and Martin Jones and their

wives Linda and Shona live at Waiwhare, 40km from Napier on the ‘Gentle Annie’ road to Taihape. They service an area 340m above sea level, working up to 30km from their base. “I had been working with a conventional baler for many years and there was a growing demand for round bales and after dis-

cussions with Martin and our respective spouses we formed Kaweka Contracting and it has been a successful partnership,” said Ward. David and Linda own a 350ha (310ha eff) property and Martin and Shona lease a 271ha (200ha eff) property 2km away. Both run sheep and cattle and the land is rolling contour.

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Kaweka Contracting clients are mostly sheep and beef farmers.

“Our clients are mostly sheep and beef farmers plus one dairy farm and several lifestyle blocks,” said Jones. Their baling business is cutting, drying when necessary, and baling and wrapping all baleage. “We try to wrap the bales adjacent to where they will be stored which reduces the chance of damage to the wrapping when the bales are being carried,” said Ward. They average 7500 bales a season; last year’s numbers were down because of the drought. They have two Duncan drills, a Renovator for direct drilling swedes and kale planting 400ha annually and a Renovator Classic for under-sowing. They

David Ward

use a Willet roller drill for planting about 100ha annually of grass seed. All drilling is followed by a rubber tyred roller. They do giant discing of brown-top ground and land following crops followed by a rotary hoe. “This is light soil country around here so we can’t

Martin Jones

cultivate too fine or the soil will blow away,” said Ward. Kaweka Contracting also does mole ploughing, has a reach mower and a Taupo Hand for clean-up work. “We also have a post rammer but only place the posts. “Either the farmer or a contractor places the wires,” said Jones. They formerly had two Vicon balers but now have a McHale 660 baler and a McHale 991 hi-speed wrapper. Their tractors have

always been SAMEs. “We started with a SAME Silver 90 which is still operating and we now have a SAME Silver 110, a SAME Iron 120 and a SAME Iron 140.” The SAME Iron 120 is fitted with dual wheels for drilling and rolling on the steeper country. “We have bought our tractors from Stortford Machinery and our other machinery from Power Farming, Hastings and now Power Farming has taken over Stortford Machinery all our business will be with one firm,” said Ward.

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

machinery & products 47

New rotary shed futureproofs farm GA RE T H G I LLAT T

A NEW 50-bail rotary dairy shed will ‘future-proof’ the farm it’s installed on, says its Northland owner. Pakotai farmer Graeme Edwards owns three farms in the mid North, the latest a 240ha (eff), 420 cow unit at Tangowahine, northeast of Dargaville. He bought the property two seasons ago, somewhat run down. An existing 31-aside herringbone shed built in 2001 was located at the extreme south of the property. Edwards set out to rearrange the farm with a central shed that would last. A solid concrete panel design built by farm and industrial builder Barfoote’s appealed to him most. Shed visits with the company’s director, Trevor Barfoote, convinced him. Barfoote set up in 1989, first building a cowshed for his uncle. Now the firm has projects worldwide and at home. A 15m rail bridge on Walton street, Whangarei, was built in a weekend. The company erects concrete tilt-slab buildings: the wall slabs are made on the ground then lifted into position and secured with metal brackets. This initially drew

Edwards to the company as he wanted something robust. “I was confident they could build me the shed I wanted.” Edwards wanted efficient use of resources and one-man operation of the shed. Flow to and from the shed was set up so one herd could comfortably be milked while the other was waiting in the circular yard. Animals need not make any right-angle turns. Water and effluent systems are gravity fed to reduce the need for extra pumps. Electricity use is minimised in the cleaning process, Edwards says. “We are recovering some heat from the refrigeration unit to pre-heat the hot water unit.” He decided against a floating rotary platform, instead choosing one with a steel ring and nylon rollers. “The nylon rollers made sense. They will need to be replaced over time but they won’t damage the steel ring. “I’ve also included some variable speed drives and tried to be as energy efficient as I can.” The 50-aside Westfalia plant was supplied by GEA and includes automatic cup removers, a drafting system and Dairyplan milk

New tractors NEW SMALL and medium-frame tractors from the John Deere 6R series tractor range are now available in Australia and New Zealand. Including these, nine models are now available sized 78-154kW (105-210hp). All 6R models offer new levels of power, performance and operator comfort, including improved suspension and cab visibility, more powerful hydraulics and increased lift capacities. The small frame 6105R, 6115R and 6125R models are equipped with a Stage IIIB 4.5L 4-cylinder John Deere PowerTech Plus engine rated from 78-154kW. The maker’s fuel efficient diesel-only PowerTech engines meet the latest emission standards. The medium frame 6130R model is powered by a 96kW 4-cylinder engine mounted on a 6-cylinder frame; the other two mediumframe models, the 6140R and 6150R, are powered by Stage IIIB 6.8L 6-cylinder John Deere PowerTech Plus engine rated at 103kW and 110kW, respectively. These new tractors also have a longer wheelbase to provide improved stability for loader applications. In addition, a higher permissible weight and payload allow bigger and heavier implements to be carried. www.JohnDeere.co.nz

monitoring. Edwards hopes eventually to have the entire farm controlled centrally. “The idea is that when you’re sitting in the cowshed office you could

almost control the whole farm. “Everything from drafting to water control could be done from there. “Connectivity isn’t a problem because we’ve got

a line of sight to the Ubernet tower on the ranges

behind so the internet access is excellent.”

Tel. 09 438 3456 www.barfoote.com

earlybird mower madness sale! UFO 2070W The UFO 2070W. What else can be said that hasn’t already been said. This iconic 2.1m cut Swingback mower is renowned for it’s robustness, dependability and it’s honest ability to get the job done. At this price, get in quick. UsUally $8,450 + GsT

NOW: $7,250 + GsT UFO 2400 With it’s 2.4 m cut, 2 drum / 8 double edged blades, the UFO 2400 delivers long periods of low cost operation. The work-horse on the farm and absolutely bullet-proof. UsUally $9,450 + GsT

NOW: $7,995 + GsT

UFO 2400HL With a height adjustment from 25 to 110mm, the UFO 2400HL also has the convenience of a hydraulic lift operation for speedy work. 2.4m cut. UsUally $10,995 + GsT

NOW: $9,850 + GsT UFO 3400 The BIG BROTHER to the rest of the UFO mower range. The 3400 Trailed mower, with it’s 4 heavy duty construction rotors, makes light work under most agricultural conditions. With a 3.4m cut, this mighty mower is packed full of useful features. UsUally: $20,950 + GsT

NOW: $18,250 + GsT RD Disc mOWeRs What you see here is the best valued disc mower range on the market today. And that’s according to our RD Disc mower owners. A world renowned cutter bar and a rock solid headstock makes this one-hell-of-a-New Zealand made-mower! RD 2800 (2.8m cut): Usually: $13,995 + GsT NOW: $11,895 + GsT RD 3200 (3.2m cut): Usually: $14,995 + GsT NOW: $12,749 + GsT

Contact your nearest Reese UFO Dealer for more information. prices exclusive GST.models Freightare charges may apply. All prices are exclusive All of GST andarefreight. OtherofUFO also available throughout this promotion. Promotion Ends 31 August 2012.

Other UFO models are also available throughout this promotion. Promotion ends 30th September 2013. Reese Agri I Ph: 06 357 9323 I Email: jon@reese.co.nz I Ph Jon: 021 433 129 I www.reeseagri.co.nz

Rural News // september 17, 2013

48 machinery & products The greenest choice A COMPANY making biodegradable skincare products says it’s all about “the greenest choice”. Earthwise says its products are grey water and septic tank safe and suitable for those living on lifestyle blocks or farms. “As with all Earthwise products, the range is without parabens, artificial colouring, toxic petrochemicals, lauryl sulphates or animal sulfates. Addition-

ally, all products from the Earthwise range are biodegradable,” it says. The Earthwise bodywash and soap range is formulated with Vitamin E to gently cleanse and nourish, without stripping skin of moisture. Earthwise’s natural cleansing bar soaps are free of toxic chemicals and artificial colourants. Earthwise’s Body range includes gentle shampoo, conditioner, decadent body wash and cleansing hand wash.

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F

e e r

v o t t er s

Plough’s high-carbon workfaces wear well, last longer THE LEMKEN semimounted plough range is extended with the launch of the Diamant 11 and 12 series models. CB Norwood Distributors markets the brand in New Zealand.

Retaining the 160mm beam of the Diamant 10, the new machines have such new features as the DuraMaxx bodies fitted to the Juwel mounted plough range. DuraMaxx slats and

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a r al sm und bPPly c i a on 3 ro ions

s 1 it na ew 20d Cond a ” P y n s an

42 ever terM

wit

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fortima va r i a b l e r o u n d b a l e r

Features the EasyFlow Camless Pickup for quiet running and reduced wear and tear saving service and maintenance costs. MultiCut System – new rotor gives increased throughput and superior quality of cut making bales that are easy to feed out. Variable Chamber – for high density bales in silage, hay and straw.

Distributed by

www.tulloch.co.nz

0800 88 55 624

DEALERS NATIONWIDE

mouldboards are made from high-carbon steel, without drill or punch holes, allowing increased hardening, higher wear resistance and long service life. Because they are simply hooked in without need for tools, rather than bolted on, they can be changed quickly. Individual slats are also available in plastic to ensure that ploughing is always ideal, even on badly clogging soil. The Diamant 11 is available with up to nine furrows; the Diamant 12 can have up to 10 furrows depending on its equipment specification. Both ploughs are also available with the Hydromatic auto-reset system whereby the tripping body is always returned to the ideal working position regardless of the working conditions: 380mm upwards movement, and 200mm to the side, are said to be more than enough, even for deep ploughing, to minimise interruptions. The tripping force can be adjusted without the operator having to leave the tractor seat. The Diamant 11 can be equipped with a traction increase unit similar

to that used on the semimounted Karat cultivator range. The Diamant 12 is available with a new traction increase unit with headland management included in its basic version. The traction increase unit ensures weight is shifted from the plough and tractor front axle to the tractor rear axle, reducing wheel-slip on the tractor. At the headland the traction increase unit, on the Diamant 12, automatically regulates the pressure in the hydraulic system to match the bucking angle between the plough and the tractor so the tractor remains stable. The pressure in the traction increase unit can also be reduced to stabilise the transport ride. Electro-hydraulic angle adjustment is also new to the Diamant 12, allowing the plough inclination to be adjusted and saved directly from the tractor. The turnover device holds the plough nonmechanically in the preset position, so that the body remains securely seated in the ground even when a packer is mounted. Tel. 06 356 4920 www.lemken.co.nz

Rural News // september 17, 2013

machinery & products 49

Film-on-film wrapper saves time, money BALER AND wrapper specialist McHale says its new Fusion 3 Plus baler-wrapper with ‘film-on-film’ technology makes better silage than conventional balers and saves time and money. The brand is distributed in New Zealand by Power Farming. The company’s sales and marketing manager, Paul McHale, contrasts the new machine with conventional baler-wrapper technology, in which the bale is first secured with net or string then transferred to a wrapping table for sealing with plastic for fermentation. Crucially, the McHale system eliminates the use of netwrap, instead applying plastic directly to the bale in the bale chamber. New Zealand was a critical testing ground for the new concept baler, Paul McHale says. The company’s managing director, Padraic McHale, and engineers, spent 12 weeks on farm in New Zealand trialling and refining the preproduction versions of the new concept machine. Several Kiwi contractors ran prototype machines last season. “These machines worked well and have since been put into production,” McHale says. “Now 20% of the new Fusion 3 machines working in Europe this season are being supplied with film-on-film instead of net wrap. “We have been working on our film-on-film system for four years and once farmers have experienced the increased

quality that our system delivers, they do not want to return to more traditional methods.” Power Farming machinery division general manager Graeme Leigh says when a traditional baler applies net or twine, the bale expands by a couple of inches before the plastic is applied. “When the plastic wrap is applied in the bale chamber, it does not stretch so the bale does not expand. The bottom line is that more air is excluded, the bale is denser and the quality of the silage is significantly better. Depending on the number of layers you can apply, you could save $1.00-$2.00 per bale. “Without netwrap, feed out is easier and faster, especially if you are using one of the new bale slicers, and you only have one form of waste to deal with, which makes recycling easier.” Paul McHale says the company’s engineers had to make several technical innovations so that the Fusion 3 Plus could effectively and consistently apply net replacement film. “The Fusion integrated baler wrapper can deliver 10% more output than other baler wrappers on the market. It was important for us to get the film working well so that it was reliable and did not reduce the baler’s output as it passed through different crop types and as the temperature changes over a day’s work. “The Fusion 3 Plus offers contractors a new

Advantage of new technology The plastic applied to the barrel of the bale in the baling chamber also forms part of the wrapping process. It adds value by placing more plastic on the largest surface of the bale. When plastic is applied to the barrel of the bale it can be stretched about 20%. The stretch ratio is higher than can be achieved with net wrap or twine so the crop is kept tighter and the result is better bale shape. As the plastic is stretched and applied to the bale it expels more air than net wrap can, giving the benefit of better silage quality. Feeding out is easier and faster without netwrap.

service they can provide to differentiate themselves from their competition.” It also gives farmers and contractors who need to bale hay, straw or other stalky crops the option to use netwrap because the

The McHale Fusion 3 Plus filmon-film wrapping system delivers higher quality silage and makes recycling easier.

chamber is designed to handle net or plastic. Power Farming expects half its McHale orders for the 2013-14 season will be Fusion 3 Plus machines. Tel. 07 902 2200 www.powerfarming.co.nz

Amazing Performance. Even Better Value.

When it comes to value for money there’s nothing better than BKT, New Zealand’s most popular replacement tractor tyre brand. BKT’s worldwide reputation is built on providing a competitively priced, quality tyre that is manufactured to meet exacting international standards. With NZ’s largest range of agricultural tyres TRS can provide farmers with the right BKT tyre to fit most applications. So for expert advice, talk to someone who knows the territory.

0800 336 334 www.trstyreandwheel.co.nz or see your local reseller

10529

Rural News // september 17, 2013

50 machinery & products

Greater comfort and efficiency in harvesters JOHN DEERE’S S series harvester has a new engine speed management system that raises fuel efficiency, the company says. It says the S series harvesters are the most productive harvesting machines the company has

ever designed and built. For model year 2014, new features will be offered to optimise performance and provide more comfort and control for the operator. “We continuously look at our harvesting lineup, gain feedback from

PRODUCTION ORIENTATED FARMERS... Are you suffering from:

• Surface ponding of pastures? • Hay & silage being tramped into pasture and wasted?

Pugged paddocks can reduce pasture growth up to 60% DON’T PUT GOOD FERTILISER ON COMPACTED SOIL WHICH CAN’T ABSORB IT If your soil can’t support 15cm root growth and good worm population check for compaction. You could need aeration. In dollar terms, what would 20% production increase mean to your yearly turnover?

HEAVY DUTY AUTO RESET

our customers, and test new features to bring more productivity to our machines and headers,” says Steve Wright, marketing manager, John Deere Ltd. “For the first time ever, John Deere will be offering 26 inch (66cm) and 36 inch (91cm) tracks to Australian and New Zealand producers for better floatation with reduced compaction and fuel use in challenging field conditions.” Because of a large footprint, the tracks allow reduced ground pressure and the ability to harvest in a variety of conditions. They are designed with a high-idler configuration for enhanced performance and easy changeability between tracks and tyres. “When harvesting in tough conditions, operators will be able to get in the fields earlier and harvest longer with the new track options,” says Wright. “The tracks can be ordered as a factory-installed option or

ordered separately for our model year 2014 S series machines.” Other enhancements to the S series line-up include a new interactive combine adjustment (ICA) in base equipment which automates harvester settings while harvesting on-thego. This simplifies overall operator adjustment and brings more consistency and accuracy when harvesting in varying field conditions. “We also added a new heated and ventilated leather seat with lumbar support,” says Wright. “A

New 66 and 91 cm tracks provide better rotation.

leather wrapped steering wheel and leather instructor seat completes the new comfort package. Our large cab, increased visibility, improved heating and cooling systems, and integrated AutoTrac provides a comfortable and productive operator environment.” Other enhancements include the new engine speed management system which will reduce overall cost of operation with increased fuel effi-

ciency, especially at transport speeds. There is a new dual adjust chaffer to provide an additional adjustment for improved grain tank cleanliness and an 8-wing feed accelerator to improve material flow in tough harvest conditions for customers with the variable stream rotor. The S series will also be available to Australian and New Zealand producers with a choice of a US EPA Tier 2 or a US EPA Final Tier 4 engine.

“We recognise the needs of Australian and New Zealand producers vary from those in the United States and Europe”, says Wright. “This is why we offer Australian and New Zealand producers choice when it comes to our latest release of machines. “Be it Final Tier 4 or more economically priced Tier 2 engine, we strongly believe in tailoring our harvesting solutions to meet needs.”

The S-Series harvester features a new engine speed management system, that reduces operation costs and lifts fuel efficiency.

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MS1406

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

machinery & products 51

Local tests add extra features to baler KRONE Comprima bale users could soon be able to run netting and film through the same machines, as achieved during tests in New Zealand, says Krone New Zealand importer Tulloch Farm Machines. Principal John Tulloch says the German farm machine maker has worked out a way to run netting and wrap through conventional Comprima bailers with a few attachments and was checking to see if the process would work in New Zealand. A baler in Wairarapa and a combination baler/ wrapper in Taranaki have been fitted with aftermarket attachments since October 2012 and Tulloch says operators have been happy with the results.

“They liked the waythe film is fully stretched across whole width of the bale from start to finish.” Tulloch said the operator with the combination wrapper was especially impressed.”With the combi baler the whole operation is faster. On steep country little time is lost where you may wait at the bottom to wrap and drop the last bale so you have an empty machine to get a clean run up the hill. “They are looking forward to running the system again this year.” Tulloch says Comprima balers will only need a film kit to use the system which he says requires the changing of the duckbill, adding a few rollers and changing some settings in the controller programme. “This will be a low cost kit which is easy to retro-

fit. Changing from net to film or vice versa takes no longer than it normally would when you change a roll of net.” Once this is added Tulloch says operators will

get tighter balers at lower cost. “The bales are easier to feed out as the film separates away from the baleage with ease, and there is no separation of net and film for recycling.

“The wrapper only needs to apply half the amount of stretch film, saving in time and money.” Tel. 0800 88 55 624 www.tulloch.co.nz

Krone round silage baler.

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GA RE T H G I LLAT T

odel

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DM RAPIDO POWER HARROW

An ultra heavy duty 3 metre unit available with either a cage or packer option making it well suited to a wide range of soil types. • 3 and 3.5 metre working widths • 200Hp gearbox • Quick fit tines • Cam clutch standard

• Packer and cage options • Heavy duty gear tray with double reinforcement

NEW DS3000C POWER HARROW Designed light and built strong the DS power harrow is ideal for use with lower horsepower tractors on small to medium sized farms. 3m power harrow 120hp single speed gearbox PTO shaft with shear pin Packer roller with pin adjustment or cage roller

• Levelling bar attached to packer roller providing a OM DS3000C FR more level finish

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• • • •

odel

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AQUILA

LED beacons set new benchmark THE MAKER of the new Narva Hi-Optics rotating beacons describes them as the new benchmark in emergency/ warning lighting. Narva has combined engineering with the latest in LED technology to produce warning lamps that are powerful and reliable: the performance of traditional rotating beacons with the brightness and long life of LEDs. They suit contractors, emergency vehicles, utilities and councils. Eight 3W LEDs and a precision reflector have the light output that meets Class 1 standard. Multi-voltage solid state circuitry is used with a brushless magnetic drive – no belts, gears or brushes to wear out. Virtually unbreakable polycarbonate lenses are impact and shock resistant, while the aluminium base dissipates heat and resists vibration. Options include a magnetic base lamp with rubber suction pad. This lamp includes a pre-wired spiral lead with a cigarette lighter/merit plug. Red, amber and blue lens options are available. Voltage: 12/24.

POWER HARROW

The Aquila is a folding power harrow suitable for large sized farms and contractors.

FINANCE FROM WHANGAREI PUKEKOHE MORRINSVILLE TE AWAMUTU PUTARURU TAURANGA WHAKATANE ROTORUA AREA

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Power Farming Canterbury Power Farming Ashburton Power Farming Timaru Peter Watt Machinery Power Farming Otago Power Farming Gore Power Farming Invercargill

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Rural News // september 17, 2013

52 machinery & products - motoring

Auto oil burner plugs a gap for Subaru A DIESEL powered Subaru Outback is a rare sight on New Zealand roads, largely because it came only with a manual gearbox – until now, that is. The Outback 2.0D automatic uses a hightorque version of Subaru’s Lineartronic transmission, a CVT gearbox. It is strengthened to suit the high torque output of the turbo diesel engine and keeps the engine in the creamy part of its torque curve. The result is impressive and makes the diesel the pick of the Outback family, in Rural News’ opinion. Subaru says the new transmission control system switches seamlessly from variable

mode to stepped gears, in response to accelerator use, while maintaining engine speed. It is designed to compensate for the typically narrow usable power band of diesel engines that would otherwise require drivers to constantly change gears. In addition to the seven-speed manual mode, there is a second gear takeoff mode, allowing secure take-off on roads with low friction, such as snow and mud. Time didn’t allow an offroad excursion in the diesel, but previous drives have proved its mettle in the mud. The torquey diesel should enhance that ability.

On-road the usual Subaru poise and balance is there. Parts of the Outback 2.0D suspension system have been changed to cater for increased weight over the front axle. The changes avoid any front-heavy sensation and ensure sharp turning, but firm up the ride. The engine is quiet by diesel standards, but to kill the clatter completely more soundproofing is applied to the front under-cover, reducing cabin noise when idling or accelerating. The Outback 2.0D is powered by a turbocharged 2.0L 4-cylinder horizontally opposed Boxer diesel engine, producing 110kW power at 3600rpm and 350

The diesel model is Rural News’ pick of the Outback family.

Nm torque between 18002400 rpm. In the combined cycle, fuel consumption is an

MS1189

impressive 6.5L/100km and carbon dioxide emissions 172 grams/km. The Outback 2.0D automatic is priced from $59,990, $2000 more than the manual version. The automatic diesel shares a wide range of other changes to the Outback model year 2013 line-up, including a revised grille, front bumper, fog light

surrounds and wheel patterns. Wallis Dumper, the managing director of Subaru of New Zealand acknowledged the importance of a diesel model in the SUV market: “The Outback diesel automatic plugs a gap in our model line-up. A significant proportion of medium SUV sales are

automatic diesels and we have not ‘played’ in this space. “We use the word ‘played’ with trepidation as in fact it was Subaru who created the first Outback that helped lead the whole SUV phenomenon we see today. So having a 100% AWD boxer engine line up we are far from ‘playing’ in this segment.”

Rural News // september 17, 2013

real estate 53

Farm sales, prices buck seasonal trend francis wolfgram francisw@ruralnews.co.nz

STRONG SALES numbers and prices for rural property – farm and lifestyle – throughout the winter have gone against the traditional seasonal slowdown, providing a good platform for the market heading into spring 2013. The REINZ All Farm Price Index rose by 2.1% in the three months to July 2013; year on year the index has risen by 4.6% from July 2012. However a lack of listings could hold the spring market back and if continued shortage persists then higher prices will be needed to attract additional properties to the market. Add in low interest rates, investor fund interest, a competitive lending environment and strong milk payouts, and things could really start to heat up as summer arrives.

Of course there are the usual uncertainties involved, such as increasing environmental regulation, industry-specific challenges and – being an export-driven industry – the international economic climate. We can see how these international influences impact median farm prices in the historical graph (right). There was a sharp run-up in prices from June 2004 to June 2008 during the buoyant economic years in the global economy, however in August 2008 when the global recession hit in earnest, farm prices dropped away sharply and remained volatile right through to a gradual increase from 2011. Dairy farm prices have proven more volatile than all other farms over the longer term, with sharp movement in both directions whereas all other farm prices track relatively steady.

Our table (below) shows the most farm price activity during April and May this year was in livestock finishing and arable land, with drops of at least 13% and 11% respectively; the other land groups were generally flat over April and May except horticulture, up 7.9%. There was a lot more activity during June and July this year, with double-digit price movements across the board – dairy, livestock (finishing and grazing) all Median Price Per Hectare

April 2013

May 2013

% Change

June 2013

July 2013

% Change

Dairy

$34,819

$34,850

0.09%

$29,555

$34,882

15.27%

Livestock Finishing

$20,293

$17,903

-13.35%

$18,672

$22,500

17.01%

Livestock Grazing

$12,900

$13,443

4.04%

$13,831

$15,367

10.00%

Arable

$34,410

$30,811

-11.68%

$30,031

$27,287

-10.06%

Horticulture

$118,119

$128,248

7.90%

$120,345

$100,667

-19.55%

Lifestyle (per sale)

$518,500

$509,500

-1.77%

$505,000

$488,500

-3.38%

up sharply and arable and horticultural land down sharply. The median price per hectare for all farms sold in the three months to July 2013 was $20,667, a 15.1% increase on the $17,955 recorded for three months ended July 2012. Lifestyle prices were down 6.14% for the three months from April to July 2013 but this is not a true reflection of the market as strong interest and price rises in and around Auckland, Christchurch and Hamilton have been brought down by a weakness in the national average. On a yearly basis however the national median price for lifestyle blocks rose by $13,500 (+2.8%) from July 2012. The number of days to sell for lifestyle properties eased by three days, from 69 days for the three months to the end of June 2013 to 72 days for the three months to the end of July 2013.

Wonderland of riches MAPUA SITS roughly halfway between Nelson and Motueka on the South Island’s stunning northern coast. The Mapua Wharf, with boutique shops, lively cafés and the quaint Rabbit Island ferry, make this one of the most magical settings in the Tasman district. Tennis courts, park, bowling club, village hall, medical centre, church and primary school give Mapua its friendly Kiwi community vibe. Mapua is also home to the beautifully crafted four bedroom, 247m2 plaster and tile property, set on 5283m at 142 Aranui Road.

Its grounds include native, exotic trees and shrubs that provide a safe playground for the children, while the privacy offers sun-bathed and secluded al fresco dining from breakfast to midnight. The 136m three car garaging features auto garage doors with an adjoining extensive workshop with shower and toilet facilities. A picturesque shared lake with immaculate pathways, barked beds, citrus and fertile vegetable gardens add colour and offer a delicious annual bounty in the wonderland of riches that 142 Aranui Road and Mapua provide.

Rural realtors know their business IN SOUTH Island rural real estate, Trevor Wright and Jim Weir of Cowdy & Company have it covered. Wright specialises in sheep, beef and deer farms while Weir’s main focus is dairy farms and lifestyle properties. Wright went into real estate in June 1972 selling subdivisions and new homes in the Christchurch suburbs of Avonhead, Merivale and Huntsbury. He moved into rural real estate in 2000 when a Nelson

farmer, the late Rudolf Abelen, asked him to find a high country farm in the Hawarden/ Culverden Basin. Wright found him Glen Carey station (4000ha) in Hakataramea Valley. He enjoyed this so much he has stuck with rural real estate ever since. Weir also has expert knowledge of the South Island rural sector, having been raised on a 600ha property in Central Otago. He spent many years working on farms and shearing in New Zealand and overseas.

His goal was to own a farm, which he achieved in 1992. He has owned a farm on Banks Peninsula and now lives on a lifestyle block in West Eyreton. He started selling real estate in 1995, working under international rural real estate franchises. He strives to provide a high level of service and prides himself on getting the best possible result for his clients. Whether buying or selling, your rural property is in expert hands with the experienced rural team at Cowdy & Co.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

Motueka

142 Aranui Road

For Sale $1,100,000 View by appointment

This exceptionally stylish home has been built to the highest standards and provides luxurious, private family living coupled with a convenient location, on the fringes of Mapua Village. Offering large open-plan living spaces, designer kitchen, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry, triple garage, workshop and carport, all set upon 5283m² of immaculate grounds. This residence has elegance, a commanding presence and the power to please.

www.bayleys.co.nz/650975

Jan Long M 021 337 267 B 03 528 5242

jan.long@bayleys.co.nz

Tania Wilkins M 021 726 083

tania.wilkins@bayleys.co.nz

VINING REALTY GROUP LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

Blackhill Run

Deadline Sale • 183.64 Ha of hunting & grazing land on 3 titles with 1057mm rainfall • Would suit sheep, cattle or forestry • Includes 125Ha steep hill block with quad bike track to top • 57Ha of old river flats suitable for grazing with stock water troughs • Located 40 minutes from Kaikoura & 1 hour south of Blenheim Deadline Sale: All offers on or before 4pm Monday 30th September 2013 (unless sold prior)

Waiautoa Road, Clarence Valley

Trevor Wright

03 355 6555 021 212 1277 twright@cowdy.co.nz

ref: CC100771 www.nzfarms.co.nz www.trademe.co.nz www.cowdy.co.nz

REAA 2008

CRAIGCO SENSOR JET DEAL TO FLY AND LICE • Cost Effective

Rural News // september 17, 2013

54 rural trader

• Complete Package

DOLOMITE

• Unbeatable pricing • Performance Guaranteed

P 06 835 6863 - www.craigcojetters.com

ALL PRODUCTS HAVE 3YR WARRANTY

Get upto date news at www.ruralnews.co.nz

FOOTWEAR LTD

Rubber Safety Matting • ATV Carrier Mats • Exit/Entry Areas • Calf Trailers • Horse Floats & Trucks • Weigh Platforms • Bale Mats • Comfort Mats for Wet & Dry Areas • Utility Deck Matting

NZ MADE BOOTS

Visit www.lastrite.co.nz for more quality products

HUNTER BOOTS Comfortable, durable and stylish.

The heavy duty sole construction makes this a robust boot designed for climbing over rugged ground. This boot has a soft toe and is made from a thick Mad Dog Nubuck Leather, stitched and screwed construction with a rubber, replaceable sole, that is glued and screwed. Soft padding for ankle support and D-Rings for your laces are an added advantage. Great fitting boots full of comfort, ideal for those long hunting and tramping trips.

Phone: 0800 80 8570 www.burgessmatting.co.nz

FLY OR LICE PROBLEM?

LATEST STORIES EVERY DAY

NZ’s finest BioGro certified Mg fertiliser For a delivered price call... 0800 436 566

GREAT VALUE

SD-1825 with 1 collar ................$640.00 SD-800 with 1 collar .................. $470.00 Extra collars unchanged at $245.00 PRICES INCLUDE GST

• The magic eye sheepjetter since 1989 Unique • Quality construction and options self adjusting • Get the contractors choice sides • Direct from the manufacturer • Efficient application and unequalled cost savings

FARMER BOOTS Lastrite’s Farmer boots are made

for comfort. Constructed from Reverse kip leather they are an ideal farmers, fencers and builders boot. Very sturdy and made to last this boot is robust with a heavy duty construction. It has a leather insole and midsole that is stitched and screwed construction with a rubber, replaceable sole, that is glued and screwed. Update your old boots now and you will never look back.

48 JOHN STREET, WHANGAREI 0800 4 BOOTS (26687) or 09 438 8907

Phone 07 573 8512 • www.electrodip.com

BIGGER “We have listened and heard exactly what farmers want”. Market leaders McKee Plastics are doing it bigger and better with their JUMBO SIZED PALM KERNAL FEEDERS. Another 100% New Zealand bit of kiwi ingenuity, built to last and withstand local conditions.

THAN EVER BEFORE! 4.5M (3 Wheel) Jumbo Culvert PK Feeder

The 1.000mm tubs available in a 4.5 Metre 3 Wheel (the largest of the small troughs on the market) and 6 Metre 6 Wheel length. Made from UV light protected polyethylene with bolt-on ends. All componentry is replaceable, making the troughs unique, able to stand the test of time. From the ground up these troughs are TOUGH, TOUGH TOUGH. Reinforced with 65mm x 35mm RHS galvanised perimeter framework. The troughs are cradled in a heavy duty galvanised frame, complete with galvanised chassis. Also fitted with support clamps placed at intervals around the top of the trough giving incredible strength and flexibility, eliminating stock damage and promoting animal welfare. A hinging drawbar completes the independent braking system, located at the front of the unit, once again accommodating animal safety. Both 3 Wheel or 6 Wheel options have heavy duty axles, hubs and stubs. Every single piece of trough componentry from the ground up is replaceable making yet another McKee Plastics product line stand out from the rest – giving amazing durability – “our products just keep on going”! – year after year after year.

3499.00 INC

$

1700 Litres

6.0M (6 Wheel) Jumbo Culvert PK Feeder

4999.00 INC

$

2400 Litres

MCKEE PLASTICS PROUD TO BE HOME GROWN! McKee Plastics, Mahinui Street, Feilding | Phone 06 323 4181 | Fax 06 323 4183 McKee Plastics, 231 Kahikatea Drive, Hamilton | Phone 07 847 7788 sales@mckeeplastics.co.nz | www.mckeeplastics.co.nz

Rural News // september 17, 2013

rural trader 55 AVOID ROLL-OVERS

STOP RATS NESTING IN HOMES, BUILDINGS, MACHINERY

• Pest Free puts 50Hz pulse along power cables • Rats and mice stress, dehydrate, exit • No harm to humans, pets, computers, etc. • Models to suit buildings/plant 200sq.m to 1000sq.m • NSW-made, patented, science proven • Used in ten countries • Two-year warranty • 100% 60-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

on Duals for more traction, stability, flotation, towing power, versatility.

Clic Wheel Systems Ltd, Rotorua

Pest Free Domestic for homes, garages, etc to 200sq,m – $159.90 incl. GST & post.

FLYSTRIKE AND LICE ❖

Pest Free PRO for large homes, small offices & factories, etc to 400sq.m – STOP RATS with Pest Free $399.90 incl. Buy with confidence from authorised rural sales agent N + J Keating, GST & post. 70 Rimu Street, New Lynn, Auckland 0600. Tel. 09 833 1931 Pest Free Commercial (cell 021 230 1863); email keating@orcon.net.nz for dairy TWO WAYS TO ORDER/PAY: sheds, 1) POST: cheque to N. Keating telling us the product(s) you want, grain mills, plus your name, address and telephone number. 2) INTERNET: direct credit ASB 12 3039 0893559 00 factories, (your surname as reference) PLUS telephone or email us, etc – $1800 saying which product(s) you want. incl. GST & post.

PPP Super Jetter

• Sheep & Beef Farms • Is drought a problem? • PPP have a cost effective solution for you • Storage silos from 6 tonnes upwards • Contact PPP • A trusted name in farming • Serving rural NZ for over 50 yrs

Happy Birthday To mark a birthday, retirement or any milestone, give that special someone, something special - a personal cartoon portrait by Edna cartoonist Malcolm Evans - $200 plus GST

The ultimate in paint protection

DAIRYCOAT

• Faster, easier wash up! • Non toxic, Hygenically approved • Long lasting finish • Withstands pressure hosing • Resists deterioration from daily use • Can be applied to walls and floors Made in NZ – 10 year guaranteed

❖

• Make a big job quick & easy • Total body coverage, 2.5 litres/sheep

Ph/Fax 07 347 2292

www.clicdualwheels.co.nz

Fantastic Penetration

NO ONE BEATS OUR PRICE

Send no money - just email a few up-to-date photos of subject, with a note of details you’d like included, to; malcolm@evanscartoons.com

SPECIAL ACRYLIC

Free Range & Barn Eggs

FENCE RAIL BLACK Amazing cover

59

$ FREE DELIVERY LITRE www.enviropaints.co.nz 0800 50 ENVIRO (0800 50 368476) PER 10

SUPPLIERS OF:

• Nest boxes - manual or automated . • Feed & Drinking • Plastic egg trays

Or post your inquiries to; M. Evans, 39J Cape Horn Road, Hillsborough, Auckland 1041 . and don’t forget to include your return address.

QUALITY PRODUCTS MADE IN EUROPE OR BY PPP

14 Riverbank Rd, Otaki

❖

A trusted name in Poultry Industry for over 50 years ❖

ZERO TURN

BE SAFE... FIT A QUADBAR

MOWERS FROM

90 $6,5 US GST PL

NEW

The award winning Australian Quadbar is now on over 250 farms in NZ and is saving lives and preventing injury daily. It is now made here and is a well proven crush protection device for quad bikes.

+GST delivered

For a Quadbar, call me, Stuart Davidson, owner of Quadbar NZ, on 021-182 8115. Email sales@quadbar.co.nz or for more info go to

22HP 42” / 26HP 48” USA MADE / LOW NZ PRICE FULL RANGE AVAILABLE

0800 38 44 50

595

$

Advantage Plastics Rangiora call: 0800 668 534 or (03) 313 5750

www.quadbar.co.nz

RAINWALK RAINWEAR SALE! 40% OFF OFFER AVAILABLE 2 WEEKS ONLY! COMFORTABLE, HIGHLY BREATHABLE & LIGHTWEIGHT! $66

valued at $200

$48 valued at $140 Please add $10 Freight per order

$100 $42 valued at $190 valued at $120