rural news 499 2011

September 6, 2011: ISSue 499 www.ruralnews.co.nz

RuRalNEWS

in a fixFarmers in Southland’s Waituna catchment face a tricky future. page 7

cropping planstimely tips from a field day on Hawkes bay farmer Andy barrett’s property. page 26 vets’ rep

New NZVA president Gavin Sinclair flags

key issues.page 33

to all farmers, for all farmers

Farmer control vital in co-ops

AN exploSIoN in the population of tahr on erewhon Station, Canterbury, was brought under control last week with a helicopter hunting operation.

runholder Colin Drummond says he hasn’t allowed many trophy hunters into the steep, mountainous country where the tahr live for 18 months and as a result numbers had risen sharply.

“When there are only a few around they’re more of a grazing animal and they don’t do too much harm but once the numbers build up and those little groups join up you can get 60 or 70 in a herd and they can do tremendous damage,” Drummond told Rural News reporter and photographer, Tony Benny.

Introduced by early european settlers, Himalayan tahr find the central

Tahr get chopper culled

OPENING UP cooperative equity to investors usually signals the beginning of the end of total farmer control, says Australian farmer and businessman Wally Newman.

Newman is deputy chairman of Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH), owned by Western Australian grain farmers, and was in Wellington last month to speak at an education semi-nar run by the New Zealand Coopera-tives Association.

He told Rural News toying around with structures has been disastrous for many Australian farmer co-ops. Most are now fully owned by investors.

Investors see co-ops as “ripe plums on a tree ready for easy picking”. Incen-tives that drive corporatisation include success fees for lead consultants, execu-tive bonus shares, prospect of increased

director fees and equity distribution to current co-op members.

Capital raising is also a tactic. However, once investors have their foot in the door, things begin to change.

“Investors seek better returns than what they would get from the banks... this means growers are no longer in the equation. Directors work for investors.”

Newman is aware of concerns around Fonterra’s proposed TAF (trad-ing among farmers). While unable to offer advice to Fonterra farmers, he says 100% ownership and control is crit-ical. “As soon as equity goes out of the system, that’s the beginning of the end.”

He points to Australian listed com-pany Wesfarmers, which started in 1914 as a farmer co-op for the Western

SUDESH KISSUN

NeWmAN SAyS it’s a myth that co-ops find it difficult to raise capital for growth.

Since 2000, CbH has debt funded its expansion plans. It has bought seven flour mills in Asia and has invested $A175 million in Western Australian rolling stock to help growers transport grain to mills.

“We have borrowed against our balance sheet, against our assets, without any problems.”

He also rubbishes claims that co-ops are not viable. “look at Fonterra,” he says. “In fact, co-ops are so viable the corporate world can’t wait to get their hands on some of them.”

Capital raising myth

Australian rural community. Listed on the ASX in the 1980s, by 2001 it had become a pub-licly listed company with over

450,000 shareholders.Newman says Wes-

farmers is a successful company but sharehold-ers, not farmers, enjoy

huge dividends. Over time farmers were pressured into cashing in shares, erod-ing their control.

“You will hardly find a farmer 30 years or younger who would know about Wesfarmers and its history.”

The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) was owned by wheat growers until 1999, when it became a private company. Last year it was acquired by the Canadian firm Agrium.

CBH toyed with the idea of issuing A and B class shares 10 years ago like AWB. Newman, who joined the board the same year, led farmer opposition, resulting in CBH remaining fully owned and controlled by farmers.

“Today we are the only grower-owned grain handling and marketing organisation in Australia. We were the largest grain exporter from Australia in 2009-10.”

If CBH had listed it would have introduced external shareholders into the business. No external shareholders means growers remain the sole benefi-ciary, he says.

to pagE 3

Wally Newman

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news 3

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Tahr cull is a win, winSouthern Alps, perfect habitat. Hunters come from around the world for the chance to bag a big bull but to runholders like Drummond and to DoC, they are a pest.

“they’re goats,” says DrummondAnd under the terms of his pastoral lease,

he’s obliged to keep tahr and other animals, including red deer, under control.

but this wasn’t simply a search and destroy mission. Working with well known pilot laurie prouting, hunter John Newell recovered all but the most inaccessible carcases.

Newell is licensed to recover wild game and

will send tahr to premium Game in blenheim for supply to the ‘boutique’ restaurant market. For every animal, he has to provide a GpS record of where it was shot to satisfy DoC, the Food Safety Authority and the customer.

“It’s hard to make any money out of it but if we can cover the costs, it’s great fun.”

He also works as a guide, taking New Zealand and international hunters into the mountains in search of trophy tahr bulls and other game.

For Drummond, it’s a problem solved.“this way the carcases aren’t just left rotting

on the hill and I hate that. It’s much better that the meat gets used.”

From pagE 1

Shareholders, investors at loggerheadsFONTERRA SHAREHOLD-ERS’ refusal to give accommo-date potential investors will disadvantage the co-op in the long run, says business com-mentator Brian Gaynor.

Gaynor, of Milford Asset Management, says Fonterra needs capital for growth and investors want to be part of its future. But if shareholders insist on total ownership and control, they will look else-where.

“There are plenty of other opportunities out there,” he told Rural News.

But his comments have been rejected by Methven farmer Eddie Glass, who leads a group of shareholders oppos-ing any deal with investors on control and ownership of the dairy giant.

Glass says Fonterra had no problems raising capital over the last 10 years. “I see no reason why it is likely to happen but of course that depends on

the aspirations of the board. I don’t know the board’s plans.”

According to Glass, if Fon-terra is attractive to investors, they should buy dairy farms and become a supplier.

“If Fonterra is so good, why not buy a dairy farm. That’s an easy option and one which is open to all investors.”

Glass’ group is adamant investors should not have any say in running Fonterra or appointing directors. He says support is growing in South-land, Whakatane and Taranaki. A lot of dairy farmers support the view, he says.

Fonterra holds another round of shareholder meet-ings this month. Shareholders Council members will chair the meetings starting Septem-

ber 25. Co-op directors will also be present.

In a recent email to share-holders Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden tried to ease concerns. He noted some shareholders “worrying out loud in rural newspapers” about 100% control and own-ership.

“You voted for 100% control and ownership 15 months ago. That’s what we will deliver,” he says.

He assures farmers the man-agement and board will sign off on the co-op staying controlled and owned by farmers before taking it to the Shareholders Council for approval.

Van der Heyden says out-siders will not be involved in appointing independent direc-

tors. Fonterra currently has four independent directors on its 13-member board.

But Gaynor says inves-tors are uncomfortable with TAF because it gives no gov-ernance rights. Investors take risk by pouring capital into a business. These risks are com-pensated through powers to appoint directors, he says.

He says investors are wait-ing for Fonterra’s board to release details. But he notes

the process is taking time and putting off investors.

“The ball is in the share-holders’ court. If they don’t agree to a minimum amount of representation from investors, TAF won’t get off the ground.

“Right now investors want some say in running the com-pany while farmers are not pre-pared to give up any ownership and control. Both parties are at loggerheads.”• Editorial: page 22

SUDESH KISSUN

eddie Glass

“if fonterra is so good, why not buy a dairy farm. that’s an easy option and one which is open to all investors.” – Eddie Glass

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4 news

NaIt mandatory from JulyMANDATORY COM-PLIANCE with National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme tagging requirements for cattle will now come into effect July 1, 2012.

Announcing the revised date, following May’s deferral of the original mandatory implementa-tion deadline of Novem-ber 1 this year, NAIT chief executive Russell Burnard said letters with the detail would be sent to all cattle and deer farmers in Octo-ber.

“From early next year, farmers will be able to register themselves with

aNDrEW SWaLLoW NAIT and be ready when the scheme becomes man-datory.

“Our message to farm-ers continues to be: keep on tagging your animals with NAIT-approved RFID tags.

“Tag your animals when they are young and easier to handle to prepare for the NAIT scheme next year and to avoid double-handling or re-tagging costs.

“To date, uptake for preparing for the man-datory NAIT scheme and tagging early has been impressive and I am pleased we are now at a point when we can indicate with confidence to farm-ers the date for which they need to prepare for man-datory tagging of cattle and animal movement recording so they can plan accordingly.”

The October mailshot will include practical infor-mation on tagging and what farmers need to do and when for registrations and animal movement requirements. A public consultation on how the scheme will be funded post July 1 is planned for October this year, includ-ing proposals on tag and slaughter levies.

The July 1 date for cattle is as recommended by the Primary Production Select Committee’s report to Par-liament.

A recent agreement that NAIT’s IT system would be provided by New Zealand IT company Fronde Systems Group has also facilitated the date announcement.

Burnard says cross-party support for NAIT in Parliament “bodes well for the NAIT Bill being passed after the election”.

�

• July 1, 2012: tagging of cattle with NAIt-approved rFID tags is mandatory

• February 1, 2012: Farmer registration can commence on a voluntary basis

• February 1, 2012: Farm/property registration can commence on a voluntary basis

• July 1, 2012: Animal registration is mandatory for cattle (pending passing of legislation)

• July 1 , 2012: Animal movement recording is mandatory for cattle (pending passing of legislation)

THE DATE change has caught out yours truly, Andrew Swallow, editor of Rural News, who, know-ing the scheme had been deferred, recently bought a couple of lines of R1 steers without NAIT tags. My recollection was the scheme had been deferred for a year, until November 2012, so steers finished next winter wouldn’t have had to comply. However, check-ing May’s deferral announcement, it was “until next year”, not “for a year”. Bugger! Better go buy some tags and get the boys registered. Either that or get them on some rocket fuel feed in the hope of putting on a kg/day for the next nine months!

Editor wrong-footed

“This, and confirma-tion of our system pro-vider, gives our industry shareholders confidence the NAIT scheme is well placed for a July 1 manda-tory date.”

NAIT’s industry share-holders are Beef + Lamb New Zealand, DairyNZ, and Deer Industry New Zealand.

Deer are set to join the scheme on March 1 2013.

The scheme’s aim is to assure New Zealand’s overseas markets that a livestock disease can be quickly contained in the event of any biosecurity incidents.

For cattle going to slaughter from now until NAIT is mandatory, the current bar-coded tagging system remains in place as it is essential that ani-mals’ details can continue to be read and recorded at slaughter plants.

New Zealand is behind international counterparts in terms of individual animal lifetime traceabil-ity. Canada introduced a mandatory cattle identifi-cation system in 2002, and Australia in 2005.

Beef + Lamb New

Zealand chairman Mike Petersen says the manda-tory tagging date “can’t come soon enough”.

“We want to see the programme up and run-ning.”

The deferral left some finishers frustrated, they had gone to considerable expense tagging cattle which the deferral ren-dered unnecessary.

While Petersen is pleased to see a date announced, there will be some logistical issues with

July 1 implementation which store cattle buyers need to be aware of.

“With the original October [or November 1] date nothing would have moved off farm without a NAIT tag but now there’s the potential for a lot of 150-200kg weaners to be sold in the autumn which won’t have tags.”

The expense and hassle of tagging those beasts for movement after July 1 is something buyers will just have to take into account.

Correction: Government’s latest round of r&d grants are valued at $50m, not $10m as stated in Rural News’ article august 23.

Caught out: these r1 heifers are now going to need Nait tags unless they’re sent for the chop early.

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news 5

Sheep and beef worst grazing record

MANY SOUTHLAND Southland sheep and beef farmers have been netted for winter grazing non-compliance and it’s a problem that’s been going on for years.

Despite dairy being the focus of much of Environ-ment Southland’s enforce-ment work, figures dating back to 2009 show sheep and beef farms breaching winter grazing rules in far greater numbers.

In the council’s aerial surveillance exercise in July – their first flight in Southland for 2011 – 17 non-complying farms were identified; 14 of those were sheep and beef, says compliance officer Chris McMillan.

Tallying aerial sur-veillance data since 2009

shows that of the 60 farms netted for animals enter-ing waterways, 42 are sheep and beef, while 18 are dairy.

“We have identified winter grazing as one of the primary causes of pol-lution of our low-lying waterways.”

McMillan says he’s not surprised sheep and beef farm non-compli-ance is high because they don’t have the same level of council contact as dairy do through consent moni-toring.

“Basically we’re on the dairy farms a lot and we’re raising issues, so we’re get-ting much better compli-ance.”

The council’s winter grazing rule states that during intensive winter grazing, from May 1 to September 30, stock must

be kept at least 3 m from the edge of water.

McMillan concedes more work needs to be done with sheep and beef farmers.

“The problem is a lot of these people, for what-ever reason, don’t read the information.

“We’re not saying every farmer is bad, we’re just saying there are some with issues.”

Environment South-land chairwoman Ali Timms says it doesn’t matter what sort of ani-mals you have, you must comply with the rules.

“There’s certainly a lot of heat and noise about dairy farming, but winter non-compliance relates to all forms of farming.”

The council’s statis-tics identify the breaches as sheep and beef animals

good feed practice• Where possible use paddocks away from

waterways.• Don’t cultivate within 3m of waterways.• leave swales that will carry flood water

uncultivated.• break feed towards the waterway.• backfence: use transportable water troughs if

necessary.• pre-position baleage to avoid traffic when wet.• budget nutrients to reduce loss to surface

water.Adapted from Environment Southland

recommendations

entering waterways, not dairy cows, so the prob-lem doesn’t appear to be related to winter grazing dairy stock.

Her message to sheep and beef farmers is simple: “I expect them to comply.”

Federated Farmers national board member and Southland sheep farmer David Rose says he would have expected the non-compliance figures to be better. The 3 m rule for winter grazing is a prac-tical solution to improve water quality, which is rel-atively simple for farmers to implement.

“I guess some farmers haven’t taken up that mes-sage yet and they need to. It’s disappointing.” Tar-geting specific sectors is counter-productive and the problem needs to be kept in perspective, he

adds.“Farmers have

got to stay united; it’s not the way forward to start in-fighting.... We need to talk about the hun-dreds of farmers who are comply-ing, rather than focussing on the small percentage who are not.”

marY WItSEY

AuStrAlIA’S Apple import protectionists should consider what would happen if New Zealand applied the same strategies to their trans-tasman exports, says Hort NZ president Andrew Fenton.

“Australia should remember the Cer (closer economic relations) between our two countries.”

While Victoria, tasmania and South Australia continue to fight the imports and supermarkets Woolworths and Cole’s refuse to sell New Zealand apples, it will clearly be some time before our fruit is appreciated on the Austra-lian market.

“those supermarkets making statements that they will not sell our produce can make all the statements they like but at the end of the day the customer will decide. they haven’t had a taste of our apples yet and don’t appreciate the overall quality of New Zealand fruit,” said mr Fenton.

“by 2012 we will be sending a far bigger volume than what we can do this year, it’s going to be a growing busi-ness.”

pipfruit NZ chief executive peter beaven expects a steady growth in exports to Australia .

“For several years we have offered to work collab-

oratively with Australian growers to promote apple consumption in Australia. pipfruit NZ has always taken the view that the two countries’ industries could work together to grow the Australian market.

“this year what we could send was limited due to timing but next year we will be exporting more and while it will not be a panacea to the financially tight times growers are experiencing, it certainly is going to help being able to export to another market.

“We have been fighting to get where we have and in time we will build our Australian exports.”

pipfruit NZ Chairman Ian palmer said he doesn’t know what volume of fruit will ultimately go across the tasman but can see it will grow.

“If we can get it right. there is the potential in time for Australia to be a very important market.

“Supermarkets like Cole’s and Woolworth’s have done a good ‘snow job’ on the public and consumers, but consumer pressure will change this in time.

“the most challenging part is ensuring everything is pest free, has no stalks or bits of leaf in it. that sounds simple in theory but it is a lot harder than people realise and it is going to be a challenge to meet their protocols, when as far as I’m concerned they have none them-selves.”

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these southland sheep are grazing up to the waterway, despite environment

southland winter grazing rules which state that stock in the province must be kept at

least 3 metres away from the edge of water.


6 newsseeking sikabrING your Sika heads to the SIKA Show, even if you don’t think they’re very good trophies, say organisers of the annual taupo event.

“Any head brought in is valuable,” event director mark bridgeman told Rural News. “to get useful information you need to collect from a broad range of data.”

He’s urging hunters to appreciate the role they play in wildlife management. by studying the jaws of trophies, hunters and herd managers get an insight into the quality of habitat and nutrition.

the jawbone is also the most easily removed and provides an accurate assessment of age and health when shot.

“All entries to the SIKA Show are valuable for providing detail to wildlife managers that will eventually feedback to hunting.”

the show is october 15-16, taupo events Centre.

STAFF CUTS at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry shouldn’t adversely affect New Zealand’s biosecurity, says Federated Farmers vice president and biosecurity spokes-man William Rolleston.

“I haven’t seen any evidence that it’s under threat,” he told Rural News, after concerns had been raised elsewhere.

“The information that I have is that frontline staff are not actually going to be affected.”

He says spending cuts have to be made by Government and it was inevitable MAF would be affected.

“Federated Farmers has always said that Government needs to make sure it keeps its spending under control so provided these spending cuts are appropriate and provide for an equally effective ministry then I don’t see any real issue with it.”

Rolleston says Feds will be “looking very carefully” to check MAF’s effectiveness isn’t compromised. Budget cuts make delivery of services a challenge but shouldn’t mean lower standards.

“There are always ways of protecting our biosecurity that make things more efficient and more effective.”

X-ray machines for example have made finding food

in incoming goods much less labour intensive.

Announcing the cuts, MAF said if implemented as pro-posed, more than $18m would be saved in 2012/13.

“The primary sectors are enormously impor-tant to New Zealand’s economic future and they need to be served by a Ministry that is future focused, agile and enabling,” said director general Wayne McNee.

The proposals include combining and streamlining MAF and Ministry of Fish functions such as financial man-agement, policy advice, and communications. In areas where there is a strong business case, such as IT, there are proposals to out-source some functions.

Other staff cuts will come from realignment of man-agement. Of the 241 positions proposed to go, 97 are cur-rently vacant.

McNee says there are no proposals to cut fishery offi-cers, animal welfare inspectors/investigators or quaran-tine inspectors.

Cautious welcome for maF cuts

Wayne mcNee

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news 7

SOUTHLAND’S CHANCES of secur-ing Government funding for the Wait-una Lagoon clean-up could be harmed while local famers and Environment Southland are at odds.

About 60 Waituna farmers say though they are concerned about the future of the waterway –affected by high levels of nitrogen and phospho-rous – they are unhappy at how Envi-ronment Southland has managed the clean-up to date.

But Conservation Minister Nick Smith says the current in-fighting “reflects poorly on both groups” and they must work together if they are to get any support from Wellington.

“The Government will engage when farmers and Environment Southland are constructively working together. The sooner both parties focus on solu-tions the sooner progress can be made.”

He suggests Southland could learn from Environment Canterbury and the successful collaboration which has enabled it to secure $6.1 million in Gov-ernment funding for the Lake Ellesmere clean-up.

But Environment Southland chair-woman Ali Timms says she believes council has been promoting a partner-ship on Waituna, which includes the farming community, and she is sur-prised at the recent rural back-lash.

“I think the farmer’s reaction is rather disappointing. Council’s worked hard to communicate with all farmers in that catchment and they’ve had a lot of opportunity for input. I think they’re shooting themselves in the foot.”

However, the suggested speed of change at Waituna could be daunting.

“It’s understandable farmers want to vent their frustrations. I can see why they feel things are rushing, but the lagoon is in danger of flipping, so we have to move fast.”

She also suggests Southland’s chances of getting funding for Waituna are now much less following Govern-ment’s support for Lake Ellesmere.

“Canterbury’s got to the front of the queue. I’m disappointed we’ve been pushed back. I thought the issues over Waituna were a good fit for funding, but the Government obviously sees Lake Ellesmere as more of a priority.”

But Smith rejects the suggestion and says Environment Southland should concentrate on sorting out its own local issues, rather than pointing the finger at Canterbury. He also says the Gov-ernment’s new ‘Fresh Start for Fresh Water Clean Up’ fund totals $15 mil-lion, “so there’s ample funding left for other projects.”

Lake Ellesmere is a priority for Gov-ernment because it is the most polluted of the country’s 140 lakes: Waituna ranks 73rd on that list, he says.

Waituna farmer group spokesman Joanne Crack says there’s no doubt farmers in the catchment are concerned for the future of the lake.

“Because Environment Southland has singled us out, we’re now also con-cerned for our future in the catchment. There has to be more forward thinking and planning from Environment South-land if farmers are to work with them. “Environment Southland has done very little to try to earn farmers’ respect. And continually talking of moving the goal-posts is not helping.”

Waituna Lagoon is 1350ha with a catchment of 20,000ha and 130 farms.

marY WItSEY

Could Lake Ellesmere pave way for Waituna Lagoon?

Waituna farmer Group spokeswoman Joanne Crack.

farmers fed up with flakSoutHerN FArmerS say they are fed up with the nega-tive publicity about farming in the Waituna catchment and they are concerned at the impact it’s having on farm values.

Waituna farmer group spokeswoman Joanne Crack says farmers are sick of being targeted for causing pollu-tion and are concerned at the effect it’s having on their reputations and their livelihoods.

“What is also worrying is the general public appears to have taken on board everything environment Southland has said and is treating it like gospel.

“While we all have a duty in this respect, at the end of the day it is environment Southland who has failed to listen to the community and to act for more than a decade on their own water testing data.”

the Waituna issue has also impacted on the economic viability of farming in the area, she suggests.

“We are hamstrung. Who would want to buy a farm in the Waituna catchment? And if you’re a bank would you want to lend money to a farmer down here?”

A farmer-only meeting, attended by about 60 people,

was held on August 25 to discuss concerns and Crack says farmers feel like they’re being backed into a corner by environment Southland and they’ve had enough.

“the overall message from farmers at the meeting was that environment Southland needs to pull its head in and start listening to farmers.

“environment Southland keeps saying they are listening but I wonder if you’d be able to find a farmer that feels the council has taken on board what they’ve said.”

She says they have received dozens of calls of support from farmers around the region.

“they know that while the Waituna Catchment is being singled out, any regulations slapped on us down here will soon be slapped on them as well.”

She points out farmers from the area, and fishermen and duck hunters from years ago, have all offered insights into what the lake was like decades ago.

“None of that sort of information has been taken on board by environment Southland. they are only inter-ested in their recent bit of science, most of which seems to be based on assumptions.”

This year’s Spring Land Production guide is packed with quality products and sound technical advice for all your pasture and cropping requirements.The PGG Wrightson team can also help you choose the right products for the best results in the months ahead.

Visit your local store or talk to your Technical Field Representative today.

2011 Spring Land Production

Spray Out 04-05

Brassica 06-13

Cereals 14-19

Maize 20-27

Pasture 28-39

Brushweeds 40-41

Adjuvants 42-44

Fertiliser 45-47


Index 52

Contact Information Back Cover

Spring land production

Your ultimate guide to crops, pastures, sprays and fertilisers.

Spray Out 04-05 Brassica 06-13 Cereals 14-19 Maize 20-27 Pasture 28-39 Brushweeds 40-41 Adjuvants 42-44 Fertiliser 45-47Land Production Planner 48-51

Expert advice on:

2011 Spring land production

Contents 38H20 Silage CRM 91An extremely versatile and dependable hybrid. Used from Northland as a short maturing option through to Mid Canterbury as a full maturity option. A regular yield winner in the South Island.

GranstarFor control of broadleaf weeds in wheat, barley and oats, and for use in conservation tillage. An excellent partner herbicide to glyphosate which has shown to increase brassica crop yields by aiding the control of hard to kill broadleaf weeds.

34P88 Silage CRM 109An excellent hybrid, with great agronomic traits, provides high yields for Northland, Coastal Bay of Plenty and northern Waikato regions. A good option where an early planting is possible. Watch for harvest date if following with pasture.

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Roundup TRANSORB® The first herbicide of choice when spraying out pasture or crop residuals. With a quick turnaround of 3 days from spraying to cultivating or grazing, Roundup TRANSORB speeds up the renewal process and has the added benefit of a shorter rainfast period than most other glyphosates.

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8 news

Working to bring water to Waimea

A report recently commissioned by the Nelson regional economic Develop-ment Agency (eDA) shows a dam would benefit the whole region, says Waimea water committee chairman murray King.

preliminary results show there would be an increase in regional GDp of at least $1.2 billion over the first 25 years.

the eDA regional strategy has iden-tified the lee Valley dam as a priority for

the region and supports the Waimea Water Augmentation Committee’s initiatives.

With a storage capacity of 13 million m3, the dam would ensure the hoped-for water certainty.

the report also estimates a $17.5 million annual loss as the cost of not building the dam, because of lost or foregone production and higher unem-ployment.

dam would pour in $1.2 billion

WAIMEA PLAINS (Tasman) growers and farmers are banding together to build a dam to save their land from being “covered in houses,” as one says may happen if “acute” water shortages persist.

Their goal is certainty of water supplies Decem-ber-February – the crunch time for finishing crops. This certainty is ahead of “volume or quality or anything else” says dairy farmer Murray King. He chairs the Waimea Water Augmentation Com-mittee, formed in 2003 following a string of droughts.

“Finding a solution to the water shortage is what drove us. We got some funding from the Sustain-able Farming Fund and formed the committee... with members who would normally be opposing forces. [Now we’re] sitting not only in the same room, but around the same table.

“We’ve got water users such as irrigators, the council -- because the urban demand is high – and Fish and Game, DOC and iwi all on the com-mittee representing eco-logical, environmental and recreational [users]. It’s a triple-bottom-line approach.”

Their aim is a dam in the nearby Lee Valley,

which studies have shown will alleviate the lack of water and benefit the region’s economy.

Waimea Basin has long been short of water for irrigation, urban use and industry. Water resources have been over-allocated by as much as 22% during droughts.

Now about 3700ha have water permits but 1500ha could be added if there was more water. Recent severe restrictions have limited the growing of irrigated crops.

King, one of few dairy-men still farming the plains, says the area is changing, as people move into “higher value” land uses.

“When I was a kid, this area was finishing coun-try, with lambs and cattle, some small seed produc-tion and dairying. It was pastoral.

But over 30-40 years it’s changed to inten-sive land use – horticul-ture. Kiwifruit was a big one that came in initially, then fruit, berryfruit... and more recently grapes.”

They cannot continue with the minimal flows in the river, he says.

“These guys are spend-ing $60,000-$70,000/ha on development on top of land value, which is an equivalent sort of figure. So with $120,000-$140,000 invested you’ve got to have reliability

BarBara gILLHam

of water. That’s why it doesn’t stack up for dairy-ing; we can’t afford to invest that sort of money.

“Horticultural land is probably what it’s best suited to.... But if we don’t have reliable water and if,

as a result, it’s not a viable horticultural area, then it will eventually get covered in houses.”

Waimea Water augmentation Committee chairman, murray King.

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news 9

WHAT’S IN a name? Ask the formerly named Envi-ronment BoP and Envi-ronment Waikato.

Both have battled over environmental issues, both have changed their names – EboP to Bay of Plenty Regional Coun-cil and EW to Waikato Regional Council.

The Waikato name change is being followed by deep thinking on how to work better with the organisations and indus-tries in their network. And new legislation affect-ing the management of the Waikato River, and upcoming similar legisla-tion re the Hauraki area, have meant the various regional iwi now must be regarded as partners in planning, with others

relegated to stakeholder status.

One of the first steps, revealed recently at a Waikato Federated Farm-ers executive board meet-ing by Alan Campbell, manager environmental farming systems/resource use group, is the compi-lation of a land and water plan for sustainable agri-culture. This differs from their former approach which often prioritised the policing of regula-tions ahead of giving help-ful advice and guidance, and mediating with stake-holders.

WRC now must refine its internal workings and use the expertise of out-siders as it forms technical alliances.

Says Campbell, “This approach will be the cor-nerstone of our work.”

It won’t be easy: coun-cil policy sets resource limits for each catchment area, and farmers, indus-try, other stakeholders and community must con-form. The council must clarify benefits and costs to all groups.

Implementing the plans will require the council does some polic-ing, but now also support and coordination. And the policing will be different: industry self-management is a watchword, for effec-tive systems to be devel-oped.

Says Campbell, “This was an area we have been weak in. We got caught napping with the Central Plateau changes from for-estry to farming and had no forward planning for its implications.”

The council is planning

for changes in community expectations, and a more even-handed way of deal-ing with compliance and allocation of resources.

Big challenges loom: upper Waikato, involving several iwi groups, needs solutions different from those affecting the Waipa area, and the upcoming Hauraki region will be dif-ferent again.

Federated Farmers is now trying to work with and listen to the various iwi groups, some of which are not united.

Feds Waikato presi-dent James Houghton is meeting iwi, trying to see how proposals will affect local farmers. “The new approach by the council is good and positive,” he says. “We’re all working together for the good of the community.”

regional councils changing their ways?

SUE EDmoNDS

DAIry FArmerS in Greater Wellington have lifted consent compliance from 53% to 92% in the space of three seasons, says Wairarapa Federated Farmers dairy chairman Graeme Stuart.

“Where the rubber truly hits the road – significant non-compliance – we’ve seen that fall to 1.6%.”

Stuart says it’s “all a result of farmers listening and then acting upon sound advice.”

Fonterra visited his farm last week under its ‘every farm, every year’ inspec-tion scheme.

“So we’ve not only had the council checking on our practices but Fonterra too.”

He says Greater Wellington regional Council deserves credit for seeing farmers as part of the solution instead of the problem. “this is why compliance is positively heading upwards.”

Wellington region winning on compliance

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10 news

aCt claims it’s the farmers’ partyFORMER FEDERATED Farmers president Don Nicolson says farmers and the New Zealand economy need the ACT Party to add some steel to the National Government.

“I was a believer in the messages the National Party used to peddle in the

early 90s and they were about where ACT is now,” Nicolson says. “Soci-ety has moved into the more centre left and ACT is trying to hold National where its roots want it to be.”

Nicolson says he’s heartened by his No 4 ranking on the ACT Party list.

“I spoke to Rodney

Hide a year ago and Don Brash more recently and I said to them unless I was highly ranked, it would be pointless me putting my name in the hat because I’m not just going to be used as a name in farm-ing.”

With Nicolson’s high ranking confirmed, ACT now claims to be the ‘true farmers’ party.

“Many have supported National in the past, but in ACT they have a political party that will truly speak their language and be their voice in Parliament,” party leader Don Brash says.

As well as Nicolson, ACT has another farmer and longstanding ACT member, John Ormond, at No 12 on the list. Others with agricultural links,

if not hands-on farmers, are Kath McCabe (9), an environmental law expert, Robyn Stent (10), a former farm advisor and Robin Grieve (15), an agricultural tutor and consultant.

Nicolson says govern-ment is too large in New Zealand and that farm-ers are suffering under the weight of “monopoly costs”.

toNY BENNY“I think if the National

Party isn’t going to stand up for farming, then very soon we will have (Green Party co-leader) Russell Norman as the minister of agriculture or someone like him and do farmers want that? Does New Zea-land want that?

“I don’t and that’s why it’s vital you have ACT as a support party to the National Party to hold them to a position that’s more farmer and more

New Zealand economy friendly.”

don Nicolson

Dairy student travel scholarship launchedKNoW A school leaver keen to get into dairy but who wants to travel first? then a new Dairy NZ/ Communi-cating for Agriculture education programme (CAep) scholarship might be just the ticket.

up to three $5750 awards will be made to assist with gap year travel to work on a dairy farm in Canada, the uS or Australia. placements in europe and the uK may also be possible.

“our scholarship allows selected students the oppor-tunity to have the ‘best of both worlds’ by experiencing an overseas adventure and having an incentive to return home to continue their tertiary studies and get involved in the dairy industry,” says DairyNZ Industry education Facilitator bill barwood.

Half the funds are paid when the recipient is in their overseas placement, and the balance when they’ve completed their gap year and enrolled at either massey or lincoln universities.

CAep NZ manager robyn baron says the CAep programme is a great way for a young person to experi-ence life in another country.

“At the same time they’re learning about a different way of farming, and maybe also passing on some of their own knowledge to their hosts.”

Further financial support is potentially available to the student through the DairyNZ undergraduate scholar-ships.

For more info and application forms see www.dairynz.co.nz/scholarships.


news 11$200/ha more from one-pass maize?

in brief

treatmeNt WitH either of two generic formulations of plant growth regulator trinexapac-ethyl released last year produced similar ryegrass seed yields as the original moddus formulation, a newly released far arable update says.

However, with all products a similar price there was little difference in margin over cost between products, rate of application being the main determinant. see www.far.org.nz

Generic pGrs match standard on ryeGrass

aNDrEW SWaLLoW

MAIZE GROWERS could save about $200/ha without jeopardising yield by switching to a single-pass establish-ment technique, says the Foundation of Arable Research (FAR).

Four years of research with either direct-drill, or sin-gle-pass strip-till-and-sow machines, show what’s pos-sible and in the long-term, reducing cultivation will improve soil quality, says FAR’s Diana Mathers.

“Trials at the FAR Waikato Arable Research site and on farm trials across a number of regions have shown that using a single pass planting system has not compromised yields, and although a slow process, the soil attributes have also improved.”

However, there’s a perception among growers that the technique is risky, so getting farmers to give it a go is difficult.

To help overcome that FAR, with the help of MAF’s Sustainable Farming Fund, is organising discussion groups this spring in Waikato, Taranaki, and Manawatu, ideally with three or four growers in each who are pre-pared to adopt such methods on part of their area.

“We’ll have a preliminary discussion before sowing to look at the challenges the site(s) may present then more in-field discussions as the season progresses.”

One point to note with the approach is that undis-turbed soil warms more slowly in spring, so sowing dates should be a little later. “It tends to be about two degrees colder,” notes Mathers.

However, by the season’s end, typically there’s no yield penalty, and, even after taking account of extra costs such as slug control, the one pass approach will save about $200/ha in fuel and labour. If capital savings in

machinery can be made then the savings could be even more, she acknowledges.

Mathers stresses they’re not expecting growers to go out and buy new machines.

“What we’re looking for is for farmers to see if they can adapt existing machinery to reduce the amount of tillage.”

Only in pugged or severely compacted soil does Mathers suggest more than one-pass is needed.

“You might have to do some remediation work first.”Discussion group contact details and meeting dates

are being finalised and FAR levy payers will be informed via Maize Action e-mail alerts and updates.

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12 news

organic cuts ‘harsh and inept’FONTERRA’S HANDLING of its organic cuts has been labelled harsh and inept, and though the warning signs were there, the cooperative never fronted until the axe fell, say producer representatives.

“In some ways the hints from Fon-terra have been around for some time, but they’ve never come out publicly and said it,” says Kathy Bentham, of Mata-mata, the new secretary of the 200-member Organic Dairy and Pastoral Group (ODPG).

“The premiums have been steadily going down, through reduction of per-centage and changes in share options.

“Though they got onto the band-wagon of organics when prices were soaring, they never seemed to sort the organisation of a defined group within the company. Every meeting we went to seemed to be taken by a member of staff we’d never met before, and the known faces disappeared.”

Says ODPG’s new chairman, Mark Pike, of Waharoa,“They had some good experts going round recruiting farmers to become organic all over the place. But obviously they didn’t put region-alised structures in place to support the

spread of farmers. “Eventually they were faced

with making a commercial deci-sion that the combination of transport costs and premiums was too much. We can’t perhaps blame them for the commercial decision, but the way it was han-dled was harsh and inept.”

Bentham and Pike refer to some organic farmers having been up-front about going for the premiums on organic milk. Others were ‘purer’, regard-ing organic certification to tight USDA standards as the only way to farm. The 50 remaining suppli-ers have mixed feelings.

Challenging weather for four years has not helped, the pair say, but the best farmers have executed plans allowing them to cope when feed got short. Some totally focused on certification were caught by drought and a lack of organic supplements.

ODPG sees Fonterra wanting its cake and eating it too. Their undertak-ings to work with farmers are all very well: they want to use organic milk for organic products when the market suits them, and mix it with conventional milk

the rest of the time. Will farmers be persuaded to keep their certification, or keep farming more or less organi-cally but resort to other methods when prices or production drop?

Says Bentham, “What we share-holders need is a defined organic group within Fonterra, operating perhaps as a cooperative within a cooperative. We

need to know who we are dealing with, and what they are planning, with more accountability and better communica-tion. At present we are somewhat half-hearted shareholders.”

Bentham and her husband farm cows and goats organically. The dairy goat cooperative has endured tight times, but has stuck to its principles and aimed

to only grow at the rate at which the market is prepared to spend. Having a long-serving chief executive has made for the co-op’s stability and a single viewpoint on progress.

Is the organic dairy market as trou-bled as Fonterra is making out? No, says Derek Broadmore, chairman of Organics Aotearoa.

He says organic dairy sales in the US, UK and EU are still rising, with forecasts of up to a 9% increase in organic dairy sales in the UK. His organisation’s 2010 survey showed organic dairy sales in 2009 from New Zealand were at least three times greater than those in 2007.

Broadmore says though consum-ers here are assumed by Fonterra to have greater trust than before in the safety of conventional milk, the nitrate leaching from conventional farming practices continues to reach

waterways. In contrast, organic farming has been proven to leach little, if any, of the same chemicals, he says.

Mark Pike concludes, “We (NZ) are by our own claims, clean, green and sus-tainable. This claim is already under scrutiny from a number of other coun-tries. Will it, one day, all blow up in our faces?”

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letters 13

In response to paul Antho-ny’s letter (Rural News, Aug 23) on the Quad bike Farm licence launched by FarmSafe and AgIto, we believe the licence’s robust practical training and assessment process helps farmers to effec-tively identify, minimise and isolate potential bike riding hazards.

With over 800 quad bike related injuries taking place in New Zealand per year, a programme that helps to reduce the risk of injury can have a significant impact. paul Anthony, with his background in motor-sport, will understand the inherent risks involved in riding and driving powerful machines, which puts him in a different category than statistics show most farmers are.

this licence has been developed by experts with significant experience in farming and use of quad bikes, including Grant Hadfield who has spent the better part of his life farming. even for experi-enced riders, the benefits of obtaining the licence are many. employers gain an understanding of industry guidelines, a method of verifying employees’ training and a means of demonstrating they have taken all practicable steps to minimise risks of quad bike injuries on their farm.

It is important that employers set clear expec-

tations of what is required for safe riding on their prop-erty. the Department of labour recently introduced ‘Guidelines for the safe use of quad bikes’, which may be used by the Courts to help decide whether or not an employer has failed to comply with any provision of the Health and Safety in employment Act 1992.

the release of the Quad bike Farm licence is timely given that the Department of labour is visiting farms around the country this spring to check quad bike riders are following recom-mended safety steps, including being trained and experienced enough to do the job. the Quad bike Farm licence provides evidence that people have done training and therefore understand and have been assessed against these safety standards.

For farm employees safe quad bike riding prac-tices safeguards their income – time off work for injuries costs the indi-vidual as well as the industry. long-term career prospects are enhanced because employers value their skills and safe use of equipment.

As deliverers of the training, FarmSafe are prepared to take paul Anthony up on his offer to spend a day with him on farm. We invite him to contact us at office@farm-safe�co�nz to arrange a suit-

Quadbike licence robust, practical say instiGators

able date.Kevin BryantChief Executive agIto; grant Hadfield, national manager FarmSafe

like paul Anthony (rural News, Aug 23) I also can’t see an AtV licence preventing accidents. but correct training procedure for anyone working on or visiting a farm and using the AtVs is essential. the best thing ACC could do is put out a good DVD explaining the dangers for AtV riders. It should cover the dangers of poor maintenance: low or uneven tyre pressures, mud filled foot grips and/or poorly adjusted brakes for example, and uneven ground, slippery hills, potholes, hitting objects, string, wire and allowing your feet to come off the side of the bike or get under a tyre.

What would prevent accidents would be if every AtV was required to have an annual WoF inspection. one person on every farm having it in their job description to ensure timely repairs and maintenance for the quad is also a good idea.

paul is quite right, experienced farmers need to be solving this issue, not urban bureaucrats implementing a raft of random unthought-out solutions.Dave Stanton geraldine

ForGet licence, what about woF?

more lettersRural News’ mailbag was full to brimming this week. more letters on p23. to have your say on the issues affecting our industry e-mail [email protected] or write to rural News editor, po box 3855, Auckland 1140.

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world 15

UK organic area down againFOR THE second year running the UK’s organic-farmed area has fallen but Gov-ernment and sector bodies are optimis-tic the trend will reverse.

Department of the Envrironment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) figures released last month show 718,000ha was organic in 2010, 3% down on 2009’s 739,000ha and the 2008 peak of 744,000ha. Producer numbers were similarly down 4% at 7,300.

Sector supporters say supermarkets replacing organics with cheaper con-ventionally grown or reared produce are to blame.

The leading organic certification body, Soil Association, says supermar-kets’ organic sales fell 7.7% to £1.25bil-lion as the total UK organic market fell 5.9% to £1.73 billion in 2010.

With such chains accounting for about 72% of the organic market, their approach is pivotal for the sector.

“In 2009 and 2010 most retailers responded to a dip in consumer demand by reducing organic ranges and shelf space dramatically and this depressed sales further by reducing availability for

those who still wanted to buy,” says the association.

But the rate of decline slowed significantly through 2010 and “there are welcome signs of a more positive approach in 2011.”

DEFRA also says the outlook for organic producers in 2011 is cautiously optimistic despite fragile consumer confidence in the wider economy.

The association says inqui-ries about converting to organic production were at a low level across all farm types in 2010. It puts this down to rising input costs, the apparent drop in con-sumer demand, and a narrow-ing gap in farm-gate prices for organic and non-organic live-stock.

“Some producers ceased organic production in the face of static prices and high feed costs…. A lack of new converters points to a supply crunch as demand grows.”

It describes the outlook for UK organics as cautiously optimistic, with the timing and strength of any recov-ery likely to depend on three key factors:

consumer confidence, retailer commit-ment and the wider economic picture.

“Among the leading organic brands and companies confidence is strong…. In a recent survey of the Soil Associa-tion’s ‘top 100’ licensees 69% said they expected their sales to increase in 2011, and 45% of these anticipated growth of

at least 10%.“The key to an upturn in sales, how-

ever, is whether economic confidence levels increase among the wider public – including the lighter and more occa-sional buyers of organic products who have reduced their spending since 2008.”

On average, consumers bought organic products 15 times in 2010, compared to 16 times the previous year. Dairy products and fresh fruit and vegetables were the most popular categories, accounting for 30.5% and 23.2% of sales respectively, as 17 out of 20 households bought organic products.

The most popular items in the organic shopping basket are dairy products, fruit and vegeta-bles, representing 53% of spend-ing on organic products.

A committed core of con-sumers – the 8% of households who buy organic products more than once a fortnight – account for 54% of sales while about 75% of the money spent on organics comes from just 21% of organic consumers.

The leading organic retailer in the UK is supermarket Tesco, with 28.1% of supermarket sales. It says yoghurt, beef and fish were its best-performing organic products in 2010, with own-label products accounting for around two-thirds of its organic sales overall.

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16 world

US regains beef export top spot

Texan drought worst on recordON-GOING drought in Texas has already caused US$5.2 billion of agricultural losses, making it the state’s most costly on record.

AgriLife Extension livestock economist David Anderson says the losses represent 27.7% of the average value of agricultural production over the last four years.

“Further losses will continue if rainfall does not come soon to establish this year’s winter wheat crop and wheat grazing.”

Arable farmers haven’t been able to cash in on high crop prices while cattle produc-ers are culling hard and having to pay dearly for supplementary feeds.

“Market losses include the impact of fewer pounds sold per calf and the impact of lower market prices due to the large number of cattle sold in a short time.”

The livestock bill is put at $2.06bn; cotton at $1.8bn; hay $750m; corn $327m;

wheat $243m.The estimates do not include fruit, veg-

etable, horticultural and nursery crops. “These estimates are considered conser-vative,” Anderson says.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the drought in Texas and other south-ern US states is pushing cattle into feed-lots at almost unprecedented rates, with the number on feed up 6% to 10.626 mil-lion in its monthly ‘Cattle on Feed’ report, the second highest figure since data collec-tion started.

“While these numbers paint a gloomy picture, Texans are survivors,” Texas agri-culture commissioner Todd Staples says. “Our farmers and ranchers will adapt and overcome this record-setting drought to ensure we have a safe, affordable and reli-able domestic food supply.”

UNCLE SAM is back in pole position for beef exports after a 10 year absence. Exports from the US climbed 25% for Jan-June to 620,851t, making it the world’s biggest exporter ahead of Austra-lia and Brazil.

If the trend continues, US beef and pork exports are likely to set several

records in 2011, possibly passing the US$5bn mark for the first time, says the US Meat Export Federa-tion.

First half beef exports equated to 13.8% of US production for the period. Mexico and Canada were the top two markets, accounting for 126,309t and 87,334t respectively.

Exports to Japan reached their highest

monthly volume since 2003 in June, at 17,626t, taking the year’s tally to 77,298t, 50% up on the first-half of 2010.

The federation says other key Asian markets for US beef have cooled somewhat from the red-hot pace set early in the year, but South Korea is still 73% ahead of 2010’s first-half at 86,890t, with Hong Kong’s 82% ahead at

26,521t.“Heavy purchasing

activity early in the year has led to high inventories in certain Asian markets, so it’s not unexpected we would see some cooling off of our beef exports to these countries,” federa-tion president and chief executive Philip Seng says.

“But this confirms the need for continued, aggressive promotion, so we can keep export growth to Asia strong throughout the year. It’s also encour-aging to see exports per-forming so well in the Western Hemisphere and the Middle East.”

In June, beef ship-ments to Central and South America were 51% up at 12,795t, led by strong growth in Chile, Peru, Colombia and Guatemala.

Exports to the Middle East were up 38% at 80,204t.

aLaN HarmaN

Farmers markets forge ahead in uSAMERICA’S AGRICULTURAL producers are turning in droves to direct marketing, judging by the latest USDA directory of farmers markets. This summer 7175 are operating nationwide, up from 6132 last year and just 340 in 1970.

“The remarkable growth in farmers’ markets is an excellent indicator of the staying power of local and regional foods,” agriculture deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan says.

“These outlets provide economic benefits for pro-ducers to grow their businesses and also to communi-ties by providing increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other foods. In short, they are a critical ingredient in our nation’s food system.”

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) oper-ations, where consumers pay a flat weekly rate and receive a box of produce from the farmer, are also on the up and now number at least 4000. In these, the con-sumer shares the risk with the farmer: in good years the box can be overflowing; in bad, near empty.

In total, at least 100,000 US farms now sell food directly to local consumers. California has most farm-ers’ markets with 729, ahead of New York with 520, Michigan 349, Illinois 305 and Ohio 278.

But while farmers’ markets are doing well, benefiting local farmers, consumers and economies, they could be doing a lot better, according to a report by the Massa-chusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

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agribusiness 17

pgW $30m loss paves way for future profit

divestments help balance sheetPGW WRIGHTSON chairman John Anderson says selling certain non-core assets have strengthened its balance sheet.

In the past 12 months PGG Wrightson sold its stake in New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay (NZFSU) and New Zealand Merino. The settlement of NZFSU’s performance and management fees and internalisation of its management agreement saw parent bank debt reduced to $124.5m in June 2011 compared to $178m in 2010.The sale of the Merino business fetched $7.6m.

Anderson says the livestock and rural supplies busi-nesses performed well and benefited from improved returns at the farmgate.

However, the group results reflected the impact of extremely wet spring and summer conditions in Aus-tralia, the Canterbury earthquakes and restructuring costs.

“We can take a number of positives out of the per-formance,” he says. “The balance sheet is strengthened from the divestment of certain non-core assets while the successful conclusion of the partial takeover by Agria provides certainty.

REVAMPED RURAL trader PGG Wrightson (PGW) is starting from a clean slate, says invest-ment consultant Grant Williamson following last week’s $30m loss announcement.

He believes with a new management team and a streamlined portfolio of businesses PGW’s on track to return to profit-able trading.

“Now PGW can go for-ward confident of operat-ing profitably and not be worried with side issues,” he told Rural News.

Williamson, of Ham-ilton Hindin Greene, Christchurch, says the

restructuring has been painful. It has also affected the company’s bottom line.

Last week PGW announced a net loss of $30 million for 2010-11 compared to a $23m profit the previous year. Gross profit reached $49m from $1.24 billion in revenues. However, revaluation of the company’s wool inter-ests and supply contract provisions with Silver Fern Farms and fair value adjustments pushed it into the red.

PGW managing direc-tor George Gould says the results tell a story about a company that has taken stock of its position and moved on. Not just opera-

tionally, but also through one-off write downs and selling such businesses as finance and merino where an ownership position is no longer a pre-requisite, he says.

“We are refocusing on getting the basics right, ensuring we build on our leading brand and tap into the expertise we’ve built up over 100 years.

“Our focus in these results was about the per-formance of our core busi-nesses, the ones that are the cornerstone of our business. But it is equally our aligned businesses – including real estate, irrigation and pumping, insurance, agriculture and livestock export – that

hold the potential for sub-stantive growth.”

PGW is majority owned by Chinese conglomer-ate Agria. The company has two seats on the eight-member board.

Williamson says Agria would have “a reasonable amount of say” in run-ning PGW. “Obviously, they have a strategy in place that includes divest-ments of some non-core operations and it will have Agria’s support,” he says

Williamson warns the return to profitabil-ity won’t be easy. PGW’s core business – the rural merchandise sector – is highly competitive. “The Wrightson brand has been around a long time in the

SUDESH KISSUN

George Gould

rural services sector but will have to work hard in a highly volatile market.”

Gould says while the company is conscious of vol-atility in the wake of the emerging global fiscal crisis, it is planning for improved earnings.

in brieflic rolls out new rolesliC Has created a new role of chief operating officer following a restructure of senior manage-ment.

david Hemara, general manager strategy and growth, has taken on the role allowing chief executive dewdney to focus more on growth strategy and industry partnerships. Hemara has worked in most areas of liC’s busi-ness since starting in 1982. as Gm strategy and growth he led the r&d, business development, technology commercialisation, intellectual prop-erty and core data access areas.

under the new structure he will oversee: farm systems; r&d; genetics and reproduction; sales and marketing; operations and customer service.

meanwhile richard spelman has been appointed to the new role of general manager research and development, and will report to Hemera. spelman is a quantitative geneticist with a Phd from Wageningen university, Netherlands, and degrees from massey university.

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agribusiness 19

allied Farmers reports $43m lossBELEAGURUED RURAL services firm Allied Farmers has reported an annual unaudited loss of $43 million.

The company, which recently sold its rural merchan-dise stores to RD1 and liquidated its finance division during the year, is still bleeding money through asset writedowns after buying failed Hanover Finance. Allied last year suf-fered $30m impairment losses on the Hanover deal.

Releasing its unaudited annual results on NZX last week, the company noted “a very challenging year”.

Apart from the writedowns, Allied Farmers took a severe hit when its finance arm Allied Nationwide Finance went into receivership. As a result Allied’s rural division lost its primary source of funding for rural customers. Working capital also dried up.

Revenue for the rural division dropped from $65m in 2009-10 to $35m in 2010-11.Total revenues reached $59m last year compared to $106m the previous year.

The livestock operation was a winner with earnings $1m ahead over the previous year. Online livestock mar-keting and trading also grew.

Allied says the rural division result was heavily influ-enced by the losses in the merchandising division, over-shadowing the excellent livestock division result. It expects the rural division to make a profit this year on the back of a resurgent dairy industry.

The sale of its merchandise division was a “difficult decision” as merchandise had been a core business but it could not cope with strong competition.

“In a highly and increasingly competitive market where margins were continuing to be under significant pres-sure, we could not see this division returning a satisfac-tory return on capital in the short or medium term,” it says.

“The sale of the division to RD1 has seen most of the staff retained, and our loyal farmer customers still being serviced in the key locations.”

Another positive was a reduction of secured liabilities

SUDESH KISSUN acquired as part of the Hanover transaction from $44.3m to $5m. The company also repaid a $16.5m term loan to Westpac.

Allied plans to restructure its remaining rural business units and announcements are expected soon. But it also warns of tough times ahead.

“The outlook for the group remains challenging and the ongoing support of the group’s stakeholders will be important.”

WINe SAleS and exports are up but the industry remains in the clutches of the economic crisis, says New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Stuart Smith.

Smith says the effects of the 2008 supply shock and the global financial crisis are still hurting wineries and growers.

“the longer term consequences of 2008 are still being worked through, in the form of lower prices, tighter money and tougher markets,” he says. “things are not easy but we are moving forward.”

Wine sales in the year ending June 2011 exceeded expectations, Smith says. According to the New Zealand Winegrowers 2011 annual report released last month, wine exports reached $1.1 billion, 5% up on last year. Volume, including domestic sales, was up 11% at 221 million litres.

but Smith says while increased sales helps cash-flow, profitability is another question. “profitability in the wine sector is under siege on all fronts,” he says.

Grape growers endured another year of low grape prices at $1172/tonne compared to $1293/t last year and $1629/t in 2009. In the South Island, increased tonnages gave some financial relief but in the North Island low prices were compounded by small crops. At the same time, a strong Kiwi dollar remains a major challenge to exporters.

Smith believes there is a need for a clear path for the sector.

For this reason we have commissioned priceWa-terhouseCoopers for a major strategic review of the sector and our own activities, he says.

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Lamb Market Trends Beef Market Trends

Lamb Prices

c/kgCWT ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 7.58 7.58 5.33

PM - 16.0kg n/c 7.60 7.60 5.63

PX - 19.0kg n/c 7.62 7.62 5.64

PH - 22.0kg n/c 7.63 7.63 5.64

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 4.50 4.50 3.30

SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 7.45 7.45 4.96

PM - 16.0kg n/c 7.45 7.45 5.55

PX - 19.0kg n/c 7.45 7.45 5.56

PH - 22.0kg n/c 7.45 7.45 5.56

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 4.08 4.08 3.10

NZ Slaughter Estimated Weekly Kill

1000s Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

Lamb NI -16% 111 132 105 99

Lamb SI -36% 39 61 40 53

Lamb NZ -22% 150 193 145 152

Mutton NZ -7% 29 31 17 27

Export Market Demand

ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

UK Leg £/lb n/c 2.45 2.45 1.87 1.43

NZ$/kg -24 10.60 10.84 9.08 8.15

Procurement Indicator

Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI +2% 72.8% 71.0% 62.2% 49.1%

% Returned SI +2% 70.5% 68.9% 61.3% 58.8%

Venison Prices

ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

NI Stag - 60kg +5 8.45 8.40 7.40 7.00

SI Stag - 60kg +10 8.85 8.75 7.60 7.33

NZ Weekly Lamb Kill

0

150

300

450

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Last YearThis Year

Demand Indicator - UK Leg Price

£1.50

£2.00

£2.50

£3.00

Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - South I.

45%

55%

65%

75%

85%

Jun Aug Oct

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - North I.

50%

60%

70%

80%

Jun Aug Oct

Last Year

This Year

Beef Prices

c/kgCWT ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg +5 4.25 4.20 4.30

M2 Bull - 300kg +5 4.05 4.00 4.10

P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 3.30 3.30 3.35

M Cow - 200kg n/c 3.15 3.15 3.25

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 4.40 4.40 4.45

SI P2 Steer - 300kg n/c 4.00 4.00 3.90

M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 3.85 3.85 3.63

P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 3.00 3.00 2.70

M Cow - 200kg n/c 2.90 2.90 2.62

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 4.15 4.15 4.10

NZ Slaughter Estimated Weekly Kill

1000s Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

Cattle NI -9% 10.5 11.5 12.5 12.8

Cattle SI -38% 3.5 5.6 3.3 3.2

Cattle NZ -18% 14.0 17.1 15.8 16.0

Bull NI +17% 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.3

Bull SI -50% 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2

Str & Hfr NI -16% 5.8 6.9 7.4 7.1

Str & Hfr SI -36% 2.9 4.5 2.5 2.5

Cows NI 0% 4.0 4.0 4.3 4.4

Cows SI -43% 0.4 0.7 0.6 0.5

Export Market Demand

ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb -3 1.93 1.96 1.75 1.56

NZ$/kg -14 5.12 5.26 5.47 5.00

Procurement Indicator

Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI +2% 78.1% 76.0% 73.99% 76.9%

% Returned SI +2% 75.2% 73.2% 65.4% 68.4%

NZ Weekly Beef Kill

0

20

40

60

80

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Last YearThis Year

Demand Indicator - US 95CL Beef

$1.20

$1.40

$1.60

$1.80

$2.00


Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - South I.

55%

65%

75%

85%

Jun Aug Oct

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - North I.

60%65%70%75%80%85%90%

Jun Aug Oct

Last Year

This Year

Market Snapshot Meat

North Island South Island

c/kgCWTChange

c/kgLast Week

Changec/kg

Last Week

Lamb - PM 16.0kg n/c 7.60 n/c 7.45

Steer - P2 300kg +5 4.25 n/c 4.00

Bull - M2 300kg +5 4.05 n/c 3.85

Venison - AP 60kg +5 8.45 +10 8.85

North Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5

$7.5

$8.5


5yr AveLast YearThis Year

South Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5

$7.5

$8.5



North Island 300kg Bull Price

$2.5

$3.0

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0



South Island 300kg Steer Price

$2.5

$3.0

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0



North Island 60kg Stag Price

$6.0

$7.0

$8.0

$9.0



South Island 60kg Stag Price

$6.5

$7.5

$8.5

$9.5


5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

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.

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Beef

North Island cattle prices head higher North Island export cattle prices are firming thanks to stronger pressure from the Local Trade market last week. 300kg bulls are earning $4.05/kg but the numbers coming forward for kill remain tight. 300kg cwt steer prices were averaging $4.25/kg but returns are extremely varied dependant on region, size of line and processor. Reports indicate local trade processors are getting a bit annoyed at the big ‘export grade’ cattle coming through with some indicating they may look to penalise this in the coming weeks. Export cattle prices held in the South Island last week. Meat companies seem to have no desire to push the market along with the stagnant overseas demand in the back of their minds. Local Trade plants don’t appear to be looking for cattle as in the North Island which is also holding export prices. 300kg cwt steer prices held at $4.00/kg while 300kg cwt bull hovered below that at $3.85/kg. Some plants are looking to close for maintenance in the coming weeks.

US imported beef market under pressure The market for US imported beef remains under pressure on the back of increased US domestic supplies and seasonally softening consumer demand. Drought conditions continue to force the offload of cows in the US. US imported 95CL bull prices fell to US$1.93/lb last week with US imported 90CL cow prices easing 2c to US$1.81/lb. These falls have occurred despite a very limited availability of imported product with supplies down by over 15% on a year ago.

Lamb Export lamb prices holding for now Export lamb prices in the North Island held firm last week. A 16kg cwt lamb is fetching $7.58/kg (nett). Lambs continue to come forward in reasonable numbers with the latest North Island weekly kill statistics showing a lift of 5000 head on the same time last year. A number of cropping farmers are yet to offload so there should be a steady, though small stream of supplies for some time yet. Reports indicate stronger enquiry from the Local Trade markets in some areas so prices could trend higher if competition for supplies ramps up in the weeks ahead. Export lamb prices in the South Island held their ground last week with a 16kg cwt lamb earning $7.45/kg (nett). This is despite a significant drop in the South Island lamb kill as a result of the snow storm three weeks ago. Those lambs caught up by the snow-related disruptions are expected to filter through the system but prices are not expected to be pressured given the seasonally low volumes coming forward at present.

Mutton kill continues to surge ahead To date this season over 4.2 million ewes have been slaughtered, well up on the expected 3.7 million for the entire season. By this time last season New Zealand had only slaughtered 3.5 million ewes. The heavy offload of ewes through the season has been due to the record prices being offered but it is also hoped farmers are cutting their losses on their more unproductive ewes. The downside of this is that it has stifled any chance of flock rebuilding taking place this season with breeding ewe numbers estimated to have fallen by nearly 550,000 head on last year.

Venison Venison prices have spring in their step Venison prices are lifting as the spring chilled market gets underway. Indicator prices for a 60kg AP stag are well up on this time last year across both islands. Slaughter numbers remain limited but the higher money has enticed a few more deer out for kill in recent weeks. Overseas demand remains very firm on the back of limited supplies out of New Zealand. The overseas markets are picking up with returns much higher than this time last year despite the stronger exchange rate.

Currency Watch

vs. NZ DollarLast Week

2 Wks Ago

4 Wks Ago

Last Year

US dollar 0.831 0.822 0.867 0.705

Euro 0.577 0.574 0.605 0.554

UK pound 0.510 0.498 0.530 0.454

Aus dollar 0.793 0.793 0.790 0.795

Japan yen 64.21 62.86 67.30 59.57

Euro

0.50

0.55

0.60

0.65


Last Year

This Year

UK Pound

0.40

0.45

0.50

0.55


Last YearThis Year

US Dollar

0.65

0.75

0.85

0.95


Last YearThis Year

Wool Price Watch Dairy Price Watch

Indicators in NZ$ Change 25-Aug 18-Aug Last Year Indicators in NZ$/T ChangeLast 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

Coarse Xbred Indic. -3 6.08 6.11 3.44 Butter -15 5417 5432 5738

Fine Xbred Indicator -1 6.44 6.45 4.04 Skim Milk Powder -89 4321 4410 4250

Lamb Indicator - - - - Whole Milk Powder -48 4296 4344 4463

Mid Micron Indic. +24 9.60 9.36 6.99 Cheddar +213 5417 5204 5526

Overseas Price Indicators Overseas Price Indicators

Indicators in US$/kg Change 25-Aug 18-Aug Last Year Indicators in US$/T ChangeLast 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator -7 5.04 5.11 2.46 Butter -100 4450 4550 4050

Fine Xbred Indicator -6 5.34 5.40 2.89 Skim Milk Powder -144 3550 3694 3000

Lamb Indicator - - - - Whole Milk Powder -109 3530 3639 3150

Mid Micron Indicator +12 7.95 7.83 5.01 Cheddar +91 4450 4359 3900

Wool Indicator Trends

250

350

450

550

650

750

Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun

CXI FXI LI

Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$

150

350

550

750


Last Year

This Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator

250

350

450

550

650

750


Last Year

This Year

Dairy Prices Trends

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul

SMP WMPBut. Ched.

Whole Milk Powder Price in US$/T

3,000

3,200

3,400

3,600

3,800

4,000

Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Last Year

This Year

Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)

3,500

4,500

5,500

6,500


LastYearThis

Wool Indicator in US$

185

285

385

485

585

685

Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun

CXI FXI LI

Dairy Prices in US$/Tonne

2,500

3,500

4,500

Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul

SMP WMPBut. Ched.

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22 opinion

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22 opinion

“You’re off to spend all our savings – oK, see you soon!”

What odds the aBs for the rWC?ACCorDING to a survey released last week 82% of us are at least quietly confident the All blacks will win the rugby World Cup, with 54% fairly confi-dent and 28% very confi-dent. or at least, we were. “most of the fieldwork for the polls was conducted prior to the All blacks’ loss to the Springboks and all was conducted prior to the loss to the Walla-bies,” the media release admitted. What a differ-ence a week can make.

Barking up wrong treeyour olD mate has been told he was barking up the wrong tree in Rural News’ last issue. Apparently $50m is available in technology Development Grants from Government, not $10m as he’d been led to believe. Firms must invest $5 to claim every $1 of that $50m back. Apologies Dr mapp – not the most misleading media release of the month after all.

English optimistic on NZ ownershipSo FINANCe minister bill english reckons 85-90% of shares in the State owned enterprise sell-off will be owned by New Zealanders. Given at least 51% will still be Crown-owned, what he’s really saying is he expects 10-20% of the shares offered to go overseas. your old mate reckons even this is an optimistic spin in light of the impending election. When the NZ dollar drops, foreign funds will flood in. better buy your shares now to cash in later.

FONTERRA IS, barring the occasional PR foul-up, a fantastic company. Its scale, efficiency, innovation, and marketing earn billions of dollars for Zealand. Only last month dairy was hailed for helping the nation record a July trade surplus for the first time in two decades, and Fonterra’s the driving force behind that.

International investors would love to have a piece of this action by buying into the coop-erative but, other than a couple of recent bond issues, to date it’s been out of reach.

TAF (trading among farmers) will change that, allowing investors to buy “units” which, as a proxy for shares, will give the investor dividend rights. It sounds a great way to attract funding to shore up the balance sheet and finance growth; harmless enough given shareholders retain supply and voting rights; but is it?

Fonterra’s directors argue unit investors will hold no sway over the company. Legally, that may be so, but when the price and return on a unit becomes a measure of performance, as it inevitably would in the financial pages of the papers around the world, extra pressure goes on directors and management to deliver a good dividend, which in turn makes Fonterra units an attractive investment. The tension between milk price and dividend is plain to see.

To some extent that tension already exists but, within reason, it doesn’t matter. The div-idend and milk price all go into the same pot, New Zealand’s dairy farms, which, through wages, purchases, interest and tax, recycle it through the New Zealand economy. Pay those dividends to an overseas investor and they drop into the global economic ocean with barely a ripple of benefit reaching New Zealand.

Okay, so the initial investment in the unit should help Fonterra grow and increase returns which on the face of it is good news for farmer shareholders and the country. But overseas experience shows that once outside investors get a foot in a cooperative’s door, they under-standably fight their corner for maximum return.

Such is the size of the prize in Fonterra that there would be some mighty powerful feet placed in Fonterra’s door, if TAF leaves it ajar. Even without going into the technicalities of whether share titles remain with the farmer, or a custodian, there’s a strong argument to call time on the initiative. Legally, ownership and control defences may be watertight but laws can get changed, and when you’ve got a Prime Minister saying he’d like to see a listing, you wouldn’t bet against that. If Fonterra’s board won’t rethink TAF, then the Shareholders Council must.

taF – why NZ should take note

Swiping of the lambsA muCKer from Hawkes bay the other day expressed concern about Waipukurau’s planned running of the lambs later this month. the event features as part of the rugby World Cup’s

‘real New Zealand’ itin-erary. “Wouldn’t

surprise me if a few get swiped

for the freezer on the way through,”

he said. Sadly, with the town having

recently suffered 300 job losses with the closure of ovation’s boning plant, he was only half joking.

Cow shower revelationIF you think your teenage sons or daughters spend a long time in the shower, be thankful they’re not cows. According to research in the Journal of Dairy Science, and relayed in Dairy NZ’s latest technical bulletin, cows with access to an overhead shower spent an average of three hours per day under it. It didn’t say whether they used up all the shampoo and shower gel and left the empties on the cubicle floor, but I’ll bet they didn’t hang their towels up.


opinion 23

FoNterrA SHAre-HolDerS gave the board a mandate to imple-ment the tAF strategy. It appeared to tick all the boxes while defending the cooperative principal: 100% ownership of 100% by those who supply. the proposed shareholder fund was innovative. It offered funding flexibility for shareholders’ busi-nesses and external buy-in to Fonterra performance by NZ Inc.

lately cracks have started to appear.

on August 25 chairman Sir Henry van der Hayden emailed shareholders: “Some shareholders are worrying out loud in rural newspapers about control and ownership under tAF. you voted for 100% control and ownership 15 months ago. that’s what we will deliver.”

our message to the chairman is that if he wishes to avoid public criti-cism he should facilitate informed private consulta-tion among shareholder – something missing in the last 15 months.

Shareholders are increasingly worried about where tAF is headed. the mandate the board enjoys is tightly proscribed by the proposal presented to shareholder 15 months ago. We note that the chairman no longer links 100% control and 100% ownership.

It’s been suggested that contrary to the voted-on proposal, trading with the shareholders fund may now require not only the sale of the dividend stream but, most importantly, the transfer of title to a third party.

Who would control that

taF derailed?

IN HIS August 25 ‘Farmer update’ email, Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden assured us the 100% ownership and control of Fonterra, as voted for by its share-holders, would be delivered.

As shareholders we expect the board and management to imple-ment the constitutional changes necessary to enable tAF (trading among farmers) in the form and spirit in which it was voted in.

Comments by leonie Guiney, and the presentations by the board to the Fonterra Networkers confer-ence, have caused some share-

holders to question the integrity of the, “100% ownership

and control”, as voted for.

the three-day round of Fonterra

farmer meetings scheduled for late September, to update

us on tAF, is timely. As shareholders, we need to hear firsthand about

any changes made since the last round of meetings. We also need to get answers to questions raised by

fellow shareholders worrying out loud in rural newspapers.

one has only to look at the influ-ence outside parties have had on Fonterra’s enabling legislation (DIrA) to start worrying about the effects of political and commercial interests on tAF if it were to be implemented.

If shareholders cannot be convinced tAF is rock-solid, assuring 100% ownership and control, then we need to demand a second vote. geoff HeapsInvercargillFonterra shareholder/supplier 32254

spirit oF taF must be met

WoulD orGANICS Aotearoa chairman Dereck broad-more [Rural News, Aug 23] clarify two matters:

If Canada’s corn, wheat, soy and canola production was converted to organic methods would the industry still be able to maintain present production? Given the imperative to feed a burgeoning population the impor-tance of this is obvious.

What would the bottom line effect be of such a conver-sion?robin DiceyCentral otago

orGanic output Questions raised

write and win!got a gripe? Want to air an issue?

Rural News welcomes your letters on all matters affecting farming and/or the rural community. to boot, Skellerup has thrown in a pair of classic redbands for one lucky letter writer every issue. So pull out the pen or keyboard and write, e-mail or fax the editor.

Send to: letter to the editor po box 3855, Auckland 1140. email: [email protected]. fax: 09-307 0122

the winner of this issue’s redbands is paul marshall, motu Bush, Southland.

Correspondence should be brief and to the point. rural News reserves the right to edit letters as necessary. please supply name and locality for

publication, plus contact details in case of need for clarification.

Henry van der Heyden

WHy, WHeN farming is experiencing high prices, are some farmers still calling for action on the exchange rate? by their arguments this shouldn’t be happening, yet in my 32 years of farming it’s amazing how often our best years coincide with a high dollar.

However, that even though the dollar has risen, there’s been little if any reduction in machinery, fertiliser or chemical prices. based on some recent machinery sales I have done, using the currency on the day we’ve managed to save some of our clients up to 10% on last year’s prices.

We need a bit more openness in all pricing and a bit more work on how to maintain the returns in New Zealand dollars. If our dollar was weaker I doubt the dairy payout would be much greater. the same can be said for grain prices. those pinning their hopes of survival on a lower dollar are living on false hope. Jeremy talbottemuka

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third party? What influ-ence would that party have over the milk price?

that’s not what we voted for. our message to the board is: be up-front and let the facts of your new proposal speak for themselves. put your proposal to the owners of the business; let the share-holders decide.paul and Juanita marshallmotu BushSupplier 34777


24 opinion

I’M STILL hot on the topic of the rural sector better engaging with the gen-eral population about how important it is to New Zea-land’s economic future.

Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden in June told farmers at a con-ference that the co-op had lost its connection with urban New Zealanders. But it is not just the dairy giant that has become dis-connected from the wider community. Other farm-ing sectors – meat, wool, kiwifruit, cropping, etc – also need to lift their games and get proactive in promoting their indus-tries.

No doubt Fonterra and DairyNZ should get more on the front foot, taking on the role of industry cheerleaders and relay-ing the good news about dairying to the commu-nity. However, they also have to acknowledge issues such as water qual-ity problems and ever increasing milk prices and show how the industry is addressing such problems, especially in the case of the former.

Currently, in the dairy sector, the vacuum of information is being filled by environmental-ists piling pressure on the industry and farmers to lift their game on sustainabil-ity. At the same time, con-

sumer groups frustrated at increasing milk, butter and cheese prices com-plain about being ripped off while farmers enjoy a record payout.

Inevitably these situa-tions have seen opportu-nistic politicians playing the envy card by claiming

farmers don’t pay enough tax, instigating pointless inquiries into milk prices and coming up with silly policies, such as irrigators in the South Island paying to clean up polluted North Island waterways .

All this does is further drive a wedge between rural and urban New Zea-land and lead to more dis-content from both sides.

Agriculture Minister David Carter recently said the dairy industry needed to acknowledge there are urban concerns about the effects of the intensifi-cation of dairying on the environment. The min-ister is right. He believes dairy farmers need to acknowledge these issues

and spend more time tell-ing the industry’s good-news stories so urban New Zealand can respect the progress dairying is making on environmen-tal issues. Carter is ada-mant Fonterra and the wider dairy industry must be more proactive rather than reacting to criticism in the news media.

DairyNZ chief exec-utive Tim Mackle also agrees the industry needs to engage with the public and politicians on sus-tainable dairying. Fonter-ra’s Shareholders Council chairman Simon Couper recently told Rural News’ sister publication Dairy News about the need to have the community behind both farmers and the industry.

Couper nails it on this point.

So it is positive to see the first real steps being made to win over the com-munity. As part of Fon-terra’s upcoming 10 year celebrations, it is throwing a birthday shout through-out the country on Labour Day (October 24). This will see farmer sharehold-ers manning the barbe-cues and handing out ice creams at a number of family days up and down the country.

“While it will not change the world, we hope to get those without a

We must front foot urban-rural relations

commentdavid anderson

good understanding of the industry to know us a bit better,” Couper says.

He’s right, it won’t change the world. But at least it is a step in the right direction and is exactly the kind of thing that will foster better relations between rural and urban

New Zealand. In fact, it would be great if other agri-sector groups such as Federated Farmers and/or Beef + Lamb took a leaf out of the dairy boys’ book and tried a similar thing. The more rural and urban folk can interact the better for us all.

ag twitsRural News’ irreverent and hypothetical look at what’s happening in the farming world

Top Bleats view all

smcgivornzpork: Trust me, pig farmers have genuine concerns over a possible devastating disease that may or may not arrive here – and no protectionist agenda. #honestly

waynemcneemaf: So it’s not ok for Aussie apple growers to ban imports of NZ apples be-cause of a possible disease risk, but it is ok for NZ pig farmers to ban pork imports because of a supposed disease risk? #hypocrisy

smcgivornzpork@waynemcneemaf: You’re on to it Wayne. We just don’t want any rotten apples and/or pigs ruining our cosy little number here in Godzone.

dcarterminofag: Soon to be re-elected (hopefully) agriculture minister trying to keep his head down and not get any grief over potential apple and pig trade disputes! #keeplookingbusy

henryfonterra: Bloody hell, I thought we had this TAF thing all sorted. What is going on? #bugger

fonterrapr@henryfonterra: Mr Chairman, it seems some shareholders are revolting and not accepting the party line that we know what is best for them. #troubleisbrewing

henryfonterra@simoncouper: I’m told some shareholders are revolting re TAF, but I reckon most of them are pretty, bloody awful. I am sending you in to sort it! #lapdog

dbroadmareorganicsnz: I don’t care what the market, Fonterra or anybody says: organic products are economically viable even if no-body is buying them. #peoplejustdon’tknowwhat’sgoodforthem

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opinion 25

IT IS a depressing thought that if agriculture R&D takes several decades to reach fruition, the die is already cast as to whether feeding the projected world population is pos-sible.

Professor Phil Purdey, University of Minne-sota and University of Adelaide, late last month spoke on ‘Agricultural R&D, Productivity and Global Food Security’ at the NZ Agricultural and Resource Economics con-ference in Nelson.

Working with Profes-sor Julian Alston from the University of California, Davis, Professor Purdey has shown that hybrid corn was under investi-gation for 59 years before release, Bt corn for 96 years and Roundup-ready soya bean for 26 years.

Examining global data sets on agricultural yields, he has also shown that

multifactor productiv-ity has not grown as rap-idly in the last 20 years as before 1990. He has linked the decline to a reduction in R&D.

In developed coun-tries, which have tradi-tionally supplied research that is then adapted for other countries, growth in public agricultural research expenditure was 2.43% in the 1980s and slowed to 0.52 % between 1991 and 2000.

Researchers at Iowa State University have esti-mated that peak impact of R&D activity does not occur for a decade. Purdey and Alston suggest twice that for adoption to take effect. Hybrid corn, for instance took 19 years for adoption by 80% of farmers (1935-1954). This means that the effect of a slowdown now will not be felt until 2020-2030.

The hope is that new

r&D now delivers decades later

technologies will allow more rapid developments than have been achieved in the past. Gene technol-

ogies, for instance, can allow targeted selection of animals for breeding. This reduces the time required in ‘waiting for the animal to grow’ before evaluation can occur. A problem with this approach can be selec-tion for only one factor in a complex biological system, and may be more successful in plants where

grazing behavior and peck-ing order are not part of productivity.

The second factor is in technology adop-tion. Although ‘over-the-fence’ information flow is unlikely to be replaced as an extremely important ripple spreader, electronic exchange of information has speeded up trans-

fer options. In the United States, 80% adoption of GE corn took 13 years from the mid 1990s (in compar-ison with the 19 years for hybrid corn). In New Zea-land, where farmers are hands on, farms are rela-tively small, and there are many consultants of var-ious types disseminat-ing information, ripples

spread rapidly. But there has to be information to spread, and that informa-tion must be tested rigor-ously under New Zealand conditions.

We are not one of the countries that can easily adapt the research of others because of the unique soils-climate-isola-tion combination.

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26 management

SINCE ANDY Barrett gave up a career in rural bank-ing six years ago and he and his wife Hayley took on the lease of the family farm at Flemington, east of Waipukurau, they’ve dedi-cated much of their time and effort to improving pasture on the 500 ha (460 effective) block.

The outcome of re-grassing on Lake Station is providing substantial ben-efits, and the way they’re going about it is produc-ing immediate short term gains. The farm is in a beautiful valley, mainly rolling country with some hills. They finish Frie-sian bulls, rear Jersey bull calves and provide Jersey and Friesian service bulls

to the dairy industry while running a Romney breed-ing ewe operation and trading lambs.

The property hosted a recent field day organised by BLNZ to show the ben-efits of cropping as part of the re-grassing process.

“When we took over the farm five years ago, the fertiliser levels were low and there was no struc-tured re-grassing pro-gramme,” Barrett says. “We have fairly easy rolling

country and our productiv-ity needed to be increased; re-grassing was the best way of doing it.”

So Andy and Hayley embarked on a 10 year scheme to sow about 30 ha of new pasture annually. But rather than just spray

out the paddocks and immediately re-grass, he decided to begin by plant-ing sovereign kale. This enables him to graze with bulls the following winter after which the paddocks

are cultivated into a rape for lamb finishing during the summer before finally being turned back into a permanent perennial grass the following autumn.

“Our ultimate goal is to winter as many stock as we can. By doing what we are doing we can condense all those bulls into a small area and control the pug-ging problem across the farm. Our country pugs pretty easily; we isolate that problem by utilising winter crops enabling us to take all those bulls off pas-

ture. This in turn means we can look after our younger cattle and finish more lambs on the more productive pastures. This plan seems to be working.”

Moving the bulls to new breaks each day takes nearly two hours but Bar-rett says he gets satisfac-tion from seeing the cattle do well. “We target putting 0.4kg/day on them – hard to do on grass without ruining the farm’s grass and soil structure.

“By running bulls on winter crop we get the

cattle weight gains with the added bonus of good weight gains on winter trade lambs, in-lamb ewes and yearling jersey bulls with the grass that’s avail-able.”

Some of the bulls are sourced from an Ambreed Jersey herd in Taranaki where Hayley and the kids go for four weeks every year to rear. Her parents are dairy farmers there and have excellent facilities available to give them a good start before bringing them back to Lake Station

to be finished and either leased or sold as service bulls as both yearlings and 2 year olds.

Andy admits there are risks in his re-grass-ing scheme, not least the weather. The area is renowned for dry sum-mers and wet winters. But the plan will give better pasture, higher productiv-ity and improved soil fer-tility. Barrett says when he first took over the farm the average P levels were 8-11. On the new pasture they are up to 30.

Short and long-term gains from re-grassing

“By running bulls on winter crop we get the cattle weight gains with the added bonus of good weight gains on winter trade lambs.”

Kale is followed by rape for lamb finishing, then back into pasture.

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management 27

GETTING BEST value for money out of a fodder crop demands, critically, getting the mathematics right.

Dereck Ferguson, of Agricom, has been work-ing with Hawkes Bay farmer Andy Barrett on his re-grassing scheme, central to a recent Beef + Lamb New Zealand field day.

Ferguson says Barrett is doing a good job and even without doing any mathe-matical calcu-

lations, it’s obvious his system is working well.

But as a rule, one of the first things a farmer has to understand about a crop is its yield – poten-tial and actual – and what that can feed. How many kgDM/ha is on hand? How many stock of what class can that carry and for how long? How much feed will each individual animal get: maintenance or more?

“That’s an important number to understand.... For example you might give 10kg/head/day for a beef animal. Then start to work out how many square metres you need to allocate each animal and multiply that by the number in the mob so then you can work out your break size each day and measure that accu-rately.”

Ferguson says getting yield estimation wrong and then failing to allocate the crop with the correct area per day can seri-

ously affect animal per-formance. If farmers are not into doing it by a math method, they can actually check that by looking visu-ally behind the animals each day when they shift them and see what’s left behind the break, he says.

“If there’s nothing left behind and it’s bare dirt, it’s not likely they’re going to be putting on weight. This is because they are having to look too hard for the next mouthful and they getting left too long on a break unable to eat anything, so

essentially they’ve got an empty gut.”

Underfeeding ani-mals can lead to health problems, Ferguson says. There’s good science to show that animals fed for, say, just two hours and remaining hungry for 22 hours are prone to prob-lems in the rumen, e.g. aci-dosis. This is caused by a drop in the pH levels in the stomach.

“In some crops you may need straw to pro-vide a source of fibre to help the digestion process, and straw also helps buffer some issues such as rumen acidosis. The straw will slow down the digestion process and bind things up, then you are less likely to see a rise in the pH in the rumen.”

Looking at Andy Bar-rett’s operation, Fergu-son says it’s clear there is about 20% residual kale left behind, indicating he’s putting weight on the ani-mals by feeding them well.

Doing the sums key to crop plans

pEtEr BUrKEfriesian bulls

on kale at lake station.

dereck ferguson

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28 management

Woodlot and forest deadlines loomThe Climate Change Response Act 2002 (CCRA) and the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) have significant implications for the rural sector. If you own forestry you might be affected by impending deadlines. Karen price and lisa Wilkinson of Environment law and strategy solicitors ChanceryGreen relay the detail.

WHAT DOES the Emis-sion Trading Scheme mean for landowners with forestry?

Some landowners will automatically become NZ ETS ‘participants’ if they deforest land. With that

comes some stiff obliga-tions unless you qualify and apply for an exemp-tion.

If your forest was established prior to 1990 then you are likely to have compliance obliga-

tions under the Act. This includes reporting and paying carbon credits to the Government if for-estry is removed in the future. In short, if the area is deforested and the land use changes, owners need to provide emission units (or ‘carbon credits’) to the Government to account for the carbon that was stored in the trees.

Two important con-siderations for pre-1990 forestry owners are: whether they are eligible for and should apply for an exemption from the NZ ETS or apply for ‘free allo-cation’ to obtain carbon credits from the Govern-ment.Exemptions:

Where an area of forest is less than 50ha in size, landowners may qual-ify to be exempted from

the requirement to sur-render carbon credits to the Government if the land is deforested. Once land is exempted from the scheme, a notice of exemption is placed on the certificate of title. This enables the land to be deforested without a requirement to surren-der carbon credits. Apply-ing for an exemption may therefore increase the value of your forest land. The deadline for apply-ing for an exemption is 30 September 2011.Free carbon credits

Pre-1990 landowners are eligible for free carbon credits from the Gov-ernment. This one-off allocation is designed to compensate for the finan-cial impacts (and obliga-tions) resulting from the NZ ETS. Carbon credits

are issued based on the area of pre-1990 forest on the land (verified via geospatial maps). The number of carbon cred-its allocated will depend on when the forest land was acquired, and how it is owned.

Any carbon credits obtained can be ‘banked’ to assist in meeting future ETS liabilities if land is deforested in the future, or could be sold for profit. The deadline for applying for a free allocation is 30 November 2011.

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Determine whether the forest is categorised as pre-1990 under the NZ ETS;

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management 29

WALK THE farm, define any feed deficit, and plan how to fill it to avoid any mating or production impact, says DairyNZ.

Recent cold snaps have caused a fodder shortfall on some farms, notably in Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

“Many farms have covers lower than 1800kg DM/ha,” says Phillipa Hedley, DairyNZ farm system specialist. “If you take action now and address the issue, getting cows in calf quickly should not be affected by lack of feed.”

Aim to maximise pas-ture growth by grazing at the 2.5 to 3.0 leaf stage. As temperature drives leaf emergence, cool condi-tions can mean a grazing interval of over 40 days for pastures to regrow to that level.

“Using supplements now can be profitable. If the milking cows are graz-ing to lower than 1500 kg DM/ha common supple-ments (PKE, grass and maize silage) will be prof-itable to feed. If the milk-ing cows are grazing to 1200 kg DM/ha nearly all

supplement will be prof-itable to feed. The hun-grier the cow is the more response you get to the supplement, both in milk and pasture growth.”

When faced with low pasture covers, Hedley says hold the rotation at 30 days or longer for

as long as possible. In Waikato and Bay of Plenty ideally you should be able to get into the second

week of September before going to your

fastest round.However, graz-

ing shouldn’t take pasture below

1400kg DM/ha because pasture

regrowth suffers. “And you risk under-

feeding cows which isn’t acceptable.”

Supplement feed to prevent that, and if you can’t get the supple-ment,

stand milkers off as it’s better to do this now than have cows underfed at mating.

Nitrogen fertiliser should go on all paddocks grazed since calving to ensure the nutrient isn’t

limiting as growth picks up, and consider giberrel-lic acid applications after grazing as another way to boost growth.

Dry cows pasture can be cut back to 20% of the diet, the balance coming

from supplement, but don’t graze them behind milkers and do backfence as every day of growth counts.

Supplement use must be tightly

watched as pasture growth, and consequently grazing residuals, can increase quickly. “Often you need to stop [feeding supplement] a week before you think you do.”

Hedley advises mon-

itoring residuals with a plate meter several times a week and calculating aver-age pasture covers at least weekly.

“Grazing residuals of 1300 kg DM/ha currently could quickly become 1500 during a single week. If this happens supplemen-tary feeding becomes less profitable and if continued at high levels becomes an expensive way of generat-ing surplus grass.”

Dealing with spring pasture deficits

tackling spring deficits• measure covers 2-3 times/week.• use supplement to keep

residuals above 1400kgDm/ha.• Screw-down dry cow grazing

area; feed supplement instead.• Stand-off milkers if no

supplement available.• use nitrogen to get pasture

going.• Don’t accelerate round too soon.• but cut supplement promptly

Keep dry cows boxed up if grass is short, says dairyNZ’s Phillipa Hedley.

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animal health 31

Husbandry help proving a hit

SOUTHERN DAIRY farm-ers are reported to be pleased with stock man-agement and animal wel-fare advice they’re getting through a new DairyNZ support service.

Anna Cleeve is one of a team of four DairyNZ animal husbandry exten-sion specialists put together late last year. She covers Otago and South-land, her colleagues Can-terbury/Westland; South Waikato/Taranaki/Lower North Island; and North-land/North Waikato/Bay of Plenty.

“Farmers are accepting of my role,” says Cleeve. “I’ve had guys invite me back on farm, call with

queries and email through data on improvements as a result of the positive changes we have made together.”

DairyNZ established the roles to ensure every-one managing stock has the skills and knowledge for good stock manage-ment, says Cleeve. Partly her job is supporting farm decision making in chal-lenging situations to help manage animals better, partly it’s leading discus-sion groups and field days for new farm staff as part of a ‘primary growth part-nership’ project.

The specialists also aim to be a sounding board for those thinking about ways

to improve on-farm prac-tices, and raise awareness of the Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare released last year.

“An increasing number of farmers and staff are aware of the minimum standards outlined in the dairy cattle code of wel-fare and we have had great turnouts of enthusias-tic farmers for events on animal husbandry.

“We know most farm-ers in New Zealand do a great job of looking after their stock.”

But as the indus-try grows and more new people join, it’s impor-tant they are brought up to speed, she adds.

“DairyNZ estimates 2000-3000 people new to the industry start each year on farms. That’s a lot of people who need to quickly learn new skills including handling stock, milking and mechanical repairs to bikes. It’s about ensuring everyone manag-

ing stock has the skills and the knowledge to make good stock management and husbandry decisions.”

Encouraging those within the sector to pass on their knowledge is another focus.

“As part of my role I hope to help experienced Southland farmers pass on their skills to their staff. Sometimes it takes some-one from outside to speed up that learning process.

“I’ll also be work-ing with rural profession-als such as local vets, farm consultants and stock agents, as they often get asked to pass on these skills too.”

Cleeve, a vet with five years practical experi-ence in the province prior to taking on this role, says the job has so far been hugely rewarding.

“I enjoy working with cows and people, whether in workshops or standing in a paddock.”

DairyNZ’s recently created animal husbandry team is proving a hit, as mary Witsey learned when she talked to Anna Cleeve in Southland.

ANImAl HuSbANDry and welfare development team leader Nita Harding says the team provides a more targeted service than DairyNZ’s network of regional extension offi-cers.

“We can be a bit more focussed on the animal side whereas the regular extension service covers all aspects of the busi-ness.”

recent Stock Sense workshops (Rural News, Aug 23) attracted people who don’t normally turn out to extension events, and she’s hopeful a planned programme of milk Smart workshops, oct-Dec, will be similarly successful.

“We’ll be talking about cow flow and behaviour. they’ll be aimed more at managers and people in positions to influence change on farm and include tips on how to teach new and younger staff on farm.”

reduced lameness and improved cow condi-tion is the immediate goal, but that will flow through to the bottom line, both for the farm and the industry.

“ultimately if cows are looked after they produce better and

we need to protect the reputation of our dairy industry.”

John bluett, who is covering the Canter-bury/Westland area until a local appoint-ment is announced later this month, says to date much of the work they’ve

been doing has been with farms flagged by milk processors as having a problem, or via 0800 welfare complaints. but he hopes as the service becomes better known more farms will ask for help.

“the whole process is about making guys a little more proactive in that [animal welfare]

space and the industry has to manage that [image] risk. the benefit is not just to the indi-vidual farm but to the whole industry.”

While the team’s focus is on animal care, they look at the big picture too.

“It’s part of the farm systems approach, to find what the key issue is. Sometimes it’s not about the cows and feed, but something else. Get that sorted and the animals benefit.

“After a while farmers are opening up and accepting they’ve got a problem. If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t be on site.”

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animal health 33

animal welfare key issue says new NZva president

Gavin sinclairIn June Gavin Sinclair became president of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. Andrew Swallow asked him what he sees as the main challenges for the profession, and for New Zealand’s livestock industries from an animal health point of view

bAr A couple of years working overseas imme-diately after graduation from massey, Sinclair’s 30-year career has all been in Southland.

Sheep, beef and deer are the main species he attends, with his “major interest” being deer.

He’s based at Vetsouth’s Gore branch, and is a director and shareholder of the six-branch business, though he says his duties as NZVA president will take about half of every working week for the dura-tion of his two year term.

He took over from former president richard Wild in June, who had, unusually, spent three years in the position.

southland stalwart

ANIMAL WELFARE is an issue New Zealand’s farm-ers and livestock proces-sors ignore at their peril, says the recently elected president of the New Zea-land Veterinary Associa-tion.

“It’s very high on the priority list of consumers around the world,” Gore-based vet Gavin Sinclair told Rural News.

“We need to be sure we’re not ignoring the standards and it still needs to be taken on board by some that animal welfare is a serious issue.

“We do reasonably well and we have got very good legislation... but various issues seem to keep crop-ping up that show we’re not getting it right all of the time.”

Biosecurity is another area Sinclair highlights.

“As an association we’re encouraging our members to sign up to the National Biosecu-rity Capability Network which is managed by AssureQuality on behalf of MAF. It’s very impor-tant we ensure we have all the resources available and in place in case they’re needed.”

Retaining an adequate veterinary resource in rural areas just for the day to day business of meet-ing farm needs remains a challenge, but the bond-ing scheme, now into its third year, is helping in that area.

“It’s fully subscribed so we’re really happy with the progress on that.”

The scheme sees

recently qualified vets get a chunk of their stu-dent loan paid off by Gov-ernment after they’ve spent three years with an approved practice, and another tranche at five years, the end of their bonded period.

Sinclair admits “the worry” is some may pull the pin and head for the larger towns and cities at the end of that five year term.

“But we hope by then they’ll be fully integrated and engaged with the local community so they won’t want to.”

The association is keen to see “big changes” in how rural vets inter-act with clients, both to ensure adequate cover in rural areas and to change farmers’ approach to how they work with their animal health profes-sional.

To that end, it’s involved with a Primary Growth Partnership pro-gramme, instigated by Dairy NZ, to develop common minimum stan-dards of service and knowledge on issues such as mastitis, lameness, or reproduction.

“We’re trying to get some consistency of approach.”

Another aspect is to make the vet much more involved in the farm man-agement, facilitating a proactive approach to animal health and wel-fare, “instead of being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff!”

That vets’ role on farm

is changing is also being addressed in a review of

the University curriculum for vets.

“Soft” skills such as effective communications will come into that, as will business skills so the vet is better able to understand and advise on how animal health issues and mea-sures proposed impact on the whole system.

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34 animal health

RESEARCH IN the United States has found organic poultry farms have fewer antibiotic-resistant bac-teria.

The work, by Amy Sap-kota of the University of

Maryland School of Public Health, shows poultry farms that have changed from conventional to organic practices, ceasing antibiotic use in the pro-cess, have significantly lower levels of drug-resis-tant enterococci bacte-

ria. It is the first study to demonstrate lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria on newly organic farms in the US.

“We initially hypoth-esised that we would see some differences in on-farm levels of antibiotic-

resistant enterococci when poultry farms tran-sitioned to organic prac-tices,” Sapkota says.

“But we were sur-prised to see that the differences were so signifi-cant across several differ-ent classes of antibiotics

even in the first flock pro-duced after the transition to organic standards. It is very encouraging.”

Sapkota and her team investigated the impact of removing antibiotics from poultry farms by study-ing 10 conventional and 10

organic cuts antibiotic resistance in poultry

newly organic large-scale poultry houses in the US mid-Atlantic region. They tested for the presence of enterococci bacteria in poultry litter, feed and water, and tested its resis-tance to 17 common anti-microbials.

“We chose to study enterococci because these microorganisms are found in all poultry, including

poultry on both organic and conventional farms. The enterococci are also notable opportunis-tic pathogens in human patients staying in hospi-tals.”

While all farms tested positive for the presence of enterococci in poul-try litter, feed, and water as expected, the newly organic farms were char-acterised by a significantly lower prevalence of antibi-otic-resistant enterococci.

For example, 67% of Enterococcus faecalis recovered from conven-tional poultry farms were resistant to erythromycin, while only 18% of Entero-coccus faecalis from newly organic poultry farms were resistant to this anti-biotic.

Big changes also were observed in the levels of multi-drug resistant bacte-ria (organisms resistant to three or more antimicro-

bial classes) on the newly organic farms.

Some 42% of Entero-coccus faecalis from con-ventional farms were multi-drug resistant, com-pared to only 10% from newly organic farms, and 84% of Enterococcus fae-cium from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant compared to 17% of those from newly

organic farms.Multi-drug resistant

bacteria are of particu-lar public health concern because they can be resis-tant to all available anti-biotics, and are therefore difficult to treat if con-tracted by an animal or human.

“While we know that the dynamics of antibiotic resistance differ by bacte-rium and antibiotic, these findings show that, at least in the case of entero-cocci, we begin to reverse resistance on farms even among the first group of animals grown without antibiotics,” Sapkota says.

“Now we need to look forward and see what hap-pens over five years [and] 10 years.”

She expects reductions in drug-resistant bacteria will be more dramatic over time as reservoirs of resis-tant bacteria in the farm environment diminish.

us poultry houses that stopped using antibiotics soon had lower levels of drug-resistant and multi-drug resistant enterococci bacteria. PHoto: amY saPKot.

aLaN HarmaN

“these findings show that, at least in the case of enterococci, we begin to reverse resistance on farms even among the first group of animals grown without antibiotics.”

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animal health 35

Keep BvD vaccine recall in perspectivePFIZER’S RECALL of BVD vaccine PregSure needs to be kept in context, says New Zealand Veterinary Association dairy cattle chair, Bernice Mangnall.

“BVD is a huge problem and costs $120m a year as a country. The fear is this gets blown out of propor-tion and people stop vacci-nating and we lose control of BVD. That would be a huge negative,” she told Rural News.

With calving well over halfway only a handful of cases of bleeding calf syn-drome have come to light, she points out.

There’s also an alter-native vaccine available which hasn’t been associ-ated with any problems, she points out.

However, she urges any farmers who sus-pect they’ve had calves hit by the reaction, which appears to be a result of antibodies in colostrum from PregSure vaccinated cows, to contact their vet.

Fonterra says it is hon-ouring its colostrum con-tracts and collecting regardless of PregSure use, however the season is effectively over.

“We are seeking the most up to date informa-tion from Pfizer, MAF, and

independent scientific advisors to establish the status of colostrum taken from cows given the Preg-Sure vaccine,” a spokes-person told Rural News.

“We are not releasing any of this season’s colos-trum until we have com-pleted all of our scientific investigations with regard to food safety.”

Fonterra’s comments follow Green MP Sue Ked-gely’s suggestion that sim-ilar reactions might be seen in humans.

Pfizer suspended Preg-Sure sales and recalled product August 24 follow-ing five confirmed and two suspected cases of Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP), known as bleeding calf syndrome, from vacci-nated herds.

BNP causes internal and external bleeding in calves up to four weeks of age and was first identi-fied in Europe in 2007 but remains relatively rare, says the firm.

Pfizer voluntarily sus-pended sales of PregSure BVD in Europe in June 2010.

Farmers with PregSure vaccine here should not administer it to cattle and should contact their veter-inarian to return product and arrange for a refund.

Pfizer says the exact

cause of BNP is not known but it is thought to be mul-tifactorial and a cause-and-effect relationship between PregSure BVD and BNP has not been established.

PregSure BVD was

released in New Zealand in 2008 and one million doses over four seasons have been administered since. Pfizer says this year’s BNP cases are the first reported in New Zea-land.

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36 animal health

DILIGENT MONITOR-ING of ewes for metabolic diseases as lambing gets underway will pay, judging by the presentation of vet Danny Hajdu to a recent Beef and Lamb monitor farm meeting.

While prevention is always better than cure, catching any casual-ties early maximises the chance of successful inter-vention, he says.

The meeting, held at Tapawera, Nelson, attracted a good turnout of local farmers interested in learning more about these illnesses that are all too common either side of lambing, as the demands of foetal growth and lacta-

tion stretch ewes to their limits.

Hajdu says metabolic diseases are basically disorders of nutrition: Pregnancy Toxaemia or sleepy sickness is a lack of energy; hypocalcaemia or milk fever is a shortage of calcium, and hypomagne-saemia or grass tetany is a lack of magnesium.

Important trace ele-ments implicated in vari-ous other disorders are Iodine, Selenium and Cobalt.

Hajdu says in the case of Pregnancy Toxaemia, foetal lambs take priority over the ewe for the avail-able supply of glucose. The lamb converts the

glucose to fructose which is unable to cross back through the placenta and so is unavailable for the ewe. If the ewe is unable to meet this demand for glucose from her diet she will draw on her body reserves of fat and pro-tein.

“This is a less efficient method of producing glu-cose and can result in the accumulation of interme-diate metabolites (Ketone bodies) which are toxic in excess quantities, partic-ularly Acetone, Acetoace-tic acid and Beta Hydroxy Butyrate. The animal becomes dehydrated and kidney failure results in death.

“Under nutrition is seen in multiple bearing ewes in late pregnancy where feed is inadequate and in times of sudden stress which can result in well fed ewes completely fasting.”

Clinical signs include a ewe that appears depressed, lags behind the flock and stops eating, the ewe may wander aim-lessly, appear blind and doesn’t react to normal stimuli. Staggering, head

pressing and leaning on supports are other signs.

“Treatment is only effective in the early stages and if a ewe is down then generally it’s hope-less, but if she starts to eat it is more hopeful.

“Dehydration is a big issue so the ewe must have easy access to water. Treatments include glu-cose therapy, long acting insulin or more com-monly oral glucose pre-cursors such as Propylene

metabolic disease preventionWith lambing underway or imminent on sheep and beef properties across the country, barbara Gillham relays a run down of the metabolic diseases to be on the lookout for

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animal health 37

better than cureGlycol (Ketol) are used.”

To help prevent the disease Hajdu suggests getting rid of surplus stock, preferentially feed-ing multiple bearing ewes, minimising stressful activ-ities, treating concurrent disease if possible and providing shelter.

Hypocalcaemia (Milk Fever) occurs more often in older ewes, mostly in late pregnancy but occa-sionally during lactation when there is insufficient calcium available from the diet and from skeletal absorption to meet foetal demands.

The disease occurs as a result of precipitating fac-

tors similar to those that cause sleepy sickness such as a change of feed or feed type, sudden increases of green food or procedure or event causing short term starvation.

“Calcium not only makes bone but is required for muscle con-traction, nerve conduc-tion and clinical signs are related to dysfunction of

these tissues. Calcium is also needed for blood clotting and curd forma-tion for milk digestion.

“While initially hyper-active, the ewe may stag-ger, rapidly go down and

become comatose, they are often found with their head turned into the flank. Bloating may occur and rumen contents may be regurgitated, they may

have a prolapsed vagina and untreated they will go into a deep coma and die within 24-48 hours.”

Hajdu’s advice is to treat with 30 – 100ml of 25 – 50% w/u Calcium Borogluconate either subcutaneously or intra-venously. Lower concen-trations reduce the risk of heart attack.

The response is usu-ally dramatic. “In 15 to 30 minutes they will get up, urinate, show muscle tremors and walk away to feed. If they don’t respond you may have to consider that they have developed pregnancy toxaemia.”

“if lush feed is the issue, then the flock should be introduced gradually, and good quality hay should be provided.”

Hypomagnesaemia (Grass tetany) is a lactation condi-tion rather than a pregnancy condition. the body does not have a significant reservoir of mg, which is found mainly in the skeleton (74%) and the muscle (24%), and there is no specific hormone which regulates mg metabolism. It is released from bone in conjunction with Ca resorption.

“the primary influence on animal deficiency is the absorption of mg which occurs in the rumen. High levels of potassium (K) affects the mg pump reducing mg absorption by over half, if salivary secre-tion decreases then the rumen K/Na ratio increases reducing mg absorption.

“Sheep are less sensitive to the affect of K than cattle but also have less net capacity for mg absorption than cattle do. the use of potasssium and Nitrogen fertilisers has created conditions which lead to animal mg insufficiency.”

As with most metabolic diseases, the clinical event is usually preceded by a stressful event such as yarding, transport or a storm.

Animals may appear dull, not eating and if disturbed develop muscle tremors which progress to severe convulsions. they will collapse onto their side, head back, limb paddling and frothing at the mouth. Death usually occurs within 4 -6 hours, hence, as Hajdu points out, treatment must be immediate.

“A subcutaneous injection 50 -70mls 20% of magnesium Sulphate and treating with Calcium may also be helpful as occasionally Ca levels are low as well. An intravenous injection of lower concentrations of mg may also be necessary.

“recovered ewes can be drenched daily with 10g Causmag and the rest of flock should be supple-mented if practical. Also increasing the hay ration will increase salivation, increasing the rumen Na/K ratio.

“If lush feed is the issue, then the flock should be introduced gradually, and good quality hay should be provided.”

He recommends careful consideration of whether yarding and transport is really necessary during the risk period, and provision of shelter during storms.

danny Hajdu

Hypomagnesaemia (Grass tetany)

Vet conduct code overhauled and new professional toolkit launchedTHE VETERINARY indus-try’s Code of Professional Conduct has had it’s first overhaul since 1994.

Ron Gibson, chair of the Veterinary Council of NZ (VCNZ) says the code introduces strict new cri-teria around cosmetic procedures, such as tail docking of dogs, which, according to the code, must not be performed primarily for the conve-nience of the owner.

The revision “reflects the considerable advances in the veterinary profes-sion, and also the growing public interest and con-cern around animal wel-fare issues,” says Gibson.

The code’s 24 hour care and emergency response

requirements place an obligation on all veterinar-ians in clinical practice to

have 24 hour emergency service arrangements to relieve unreasonable or unnecessary pain or dis-tress.

The Code also recog-nises the potential for drug abuse and has provi-

sions to ensure veterinar-ians oversee and manage the use of controlled drugs to a higher standard than the obligations imposed by the law.

A complementary joint initiative by MAF/NZVA is a veterinary toolkit to help veterinarians involved in resolving animal welfare issues on farms which are often very stressful situa-tions for all concerned.

“It was developed as part of the Government’s recent animal welfare ini-tiative Safeguarding our Animals, Safeguarding our Reputation. The role of veterinarians in raising animal welfare issues with their clients and ensuring humane treatment of ani-

mals is to be encouraged as a positive, rather than intrusive, approach.”

The initiatives were launched at a function at Parliament hosted by Agriculture Minister, Hon David Carter.

New Zealand Veteri-nary Association presi-dent, Gavin Sinclair, says the two initiatives are par-ticularly important for a profession that has been celebrating 250 years as a recognised discipline.

“Both the new Code and the Toolkit are signif-icant milestones for the profession.”

Sinclair replaced Rich-ard Wild as NZVA presi-dent in June. See profile p33.

david Carter – launched code.

RA69

NDC : 09 275 5555 SDC : 03 437 9000

[email protected]


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38 animal health

USING AN effective drench could boost output from a farm finishing 1000 lambs by over $30,000, an AgResearch/Pfizer Animal Health trial shows.

The work pitched new generation drench Startect

(derquantel + abamectin) against a typical alben-dazole formulation on 10 farmlets of 30 lambs.

All mobs started at an average 29kg/head in April and were drenched at four week intervals with faecal

egg count reduction tests taken after every dose.

Despite only 40-50% efficacy from the alben-dazole against the three target parasites, there were minimal clinical signs of infestation, other

Effective drench benefit big bucksthan lighter weights and condition.

By the trial’s end in August the five albenda-zole treated mobs were, on average, 20% lighter.

Pfizer parasitologist Tom Watson says while resistance to albendazole is well known, the result is a warning of what might happen if resistance to abamectin, which many combinations rely on, becomes similarly wide-spread.

“Abamectin is by far the most common, critical key active in any combina-tion today, in 12 out of 15 in fact, and the main active in numerous single active drenches.”

Incidence and level of resistance to abamectin alone hasn’t been quanti-fied but resistance to the “mectin” actives, iver-mectin and abamectin, is thought to be present on over 40% of farms, he says.

“We need to act now to protect abamectin efficacy absolutely for as long as we can – as an industry we can’t afford to have it fail.”

He says farmers should take a “10 years plus” view choosing abamectin-based formulations.

Startect’s combination of abamectin with new active derquantel should ensure any worms start-ing to display resistance to mectins are taken out, and vice versa.

“There is plenty of research, including work by Dr Dave Leathwick, to show the best time to start using a combination drench is before resistance develops. Startect plays a role here – you may not

want to use it as the sole drench in your arsenal, but it could be an option for one or two of your lamb drenches.”

A possible drench pro-gramme could kick off with a tapeworm drench, followed by two Start-ects, and concluding with levamisole.

If the farm is in a high

risk area for Haemonchus, longer acting Cydectin LA could be considered.

“Using Startect ear-lier in the life stage of the lambs means you could also save on drench cost at those lower live weights,” he suggests.

Another option could be to use Startect as an exit or quarantine drench strategically as a different active combination to that used through the rest of the season, preventing the next generation of resis-tant worms from breeding.

Aside from long-term farm and industry resis-tance management, the trial shows Startect can deliver productivity and profit gains in the short-

term.Applying the 20%

weight gain advantage across a commercial mob of 1000 lambs equates to around $26 a head gain over the ABZ drench, and an earlier finish means there’s the potential to graze other stock, generat-ing a further $5000-$6000 of income.

“Farmers owe it not only to the next genera-tion to preserve the good actives we have, but to themselves to generate some serious extra income while prices are high. The extra investment will pay off now on the bottom line, and well into the future by avoiding resis-tance.”

tom Watson

Ph. (07) 867 [email protected]

Pallet Forks from $900 + GST To suit all brands of F.E.L.


machinery & products 39

a liking for size, strengthLONG-HELD CONNECTIONS with a local dealer and a liking for “big, strong” tractors sees Mt Cecil Station, Hunters Hills, South Canterbury, opting for Valtra tractors.

The business has diverse income streams including deer, dairy and a trophy hunting operation. Andrew Fraser runs the operation on the 1750 ha family farm and a leased block of 370 ha. The land is gentle-rolling to steep. The deer farm runs 1200 stags and 800 hinds. Mt Cecil also has two dairy farms with 1650 cows.

The Valtras are there for two reasons, says manufacturer AGCO: one, they are “good, strong, reliable tractors”; two, the Fraser family has a long-term relationship with dealer Paul Wilkins from Paul Wilkins Tractors, Timaru.

Says Andrew Fraser, “Dad dealt with Paul when they were both in Ashburton in the early 1970s, so it’s a family relation-ship. I like his enthusiasm for the machin-ery dealership and they give good service.”

The first of the Valtras is a T190, bought second-hand two years ago. It does most of the primary cultivation. Fraser grows a lot of winter feed for the cows and deer, mainly

fodder beet and kale. Its biggest job is pull-ing a 6m cultivator.

“There are no issues with power,” says Fraser, “It can do anything required.”

The second Valtra is an N122 Versu, bought one year ago to replace an N111. It is equipped with a loader and does the feed-ing out and general loader work. It’s a four-cylinder model with a short wheelbase and manoeuvrable – ideal for loader work.

The N122 was bought new and has the push-button gearbox with five powershift speeds in each of six ranges giving the option of 30 speeds in both directions.

“There are more gears within each range, so it’s smooth to operate,” Fraser says. “Fuel efficiency is good and it does 50km/h on the roads. That’s an advantage as we travel between blocks.”

One useful feature is the headland man-agement system. It allows them to disen-gage and prepare for turning whatever implement they are using by a push of a button, then re-engage everything again in the right order when lined up for the next pass.tel. 0272 708 [email protected].

mt Cecil station owner andrew fraser says with their power and manoeu-vrability Valtra tractors are ideal for high country work.

GrANt WIlKINS, of timaru Valtra dealership paul Wilkins tractors, says reliability and economy are two key selling points of the make.

“they’re exceptionally reliable and fuel efficient,” he told Rural News. “A lot of people can’t believe the fuel they don’t use!”

While every tractor dealer will tell you the new model is more fuel efficient than the last, Wilkins says the ques-

tion is, more efficient than what? european makes like Valtra always tended to be ahead of those made on the other side of the Atlantic because of the differential in fuel pricing, he explains. even though uS manufacturers are now focusing on engine economy, the europeans had a head start and keep raising the bar.

“A year ago at a demonstration event the Valtra came

‘Fuel they don’t use’

to pagE 43

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40 machinery & products

Narrow down vine rowsORGANIC WINEMAKER James Millton likes Berti mulchers. His regard for them is based on 15 years “flawless” operation of his first one on his 30ha Gis-borne vineyard, says dis-tributor Farmgard.

Now his Millton Vine-yards and Winery, New Zealand’s first certified organic vineyard, has bought a second Italian-built Berti.

“We only had to change the blades once and it was

easy to service – greasing nipples and access to the belts.”

Millton uses the Berti machines in late spring and summer for mulch-ing vineyard prunings and simultaneously doing

mechanical weeding.“As an organic opera-

tion we run everything as efficiently as possible. We don’t want to substi-tute petrochemical costs for the massive savings we make by not apply-

ing agricultural chemicals. So being able to do two or three operations in one pass is a big plus.”

The latest purchase is an upgrade to a TFB/Y 1.4 m, 100 hp, low-body mulcher, the range’s most popular for orchard and vineyard work. It mulches branches to 80 mm thick. Standard gear includes mechanical side-shift ‘A’ hammer flails,194 mm rear roller and 540 rpm gearbox with free wheel.

Millton bought the new machine because of the changing layout of the vineyard rather than any wear problems with the first Berti. “The old machine is still running well, but to make more effective use of our land we have progressively changed from 3 m to 2 m wide lanes between the vine rows. So we needed a smaller mulcher.” tel. 09 275 5555 or 03 437 9000 [email protected]

Seed treatment batters pestsmore INSeCt pests will be held at bay in establishing pasture by a new seed treatment from pGG Wrightson Seeds.

Superstrike Grass has an “increased pest spectrum,” says seed treatment sales manager tim redfern, and it will promote increased early plant growth through strong tiller and root development.

Superstrike Grass will work against Argentine stem weevil adults and larvae, and black beetle adults and grass grub larvae. the inclusion of fungicide in the treat-

ment protects against the common soil borne diseases Pythium and Fusarium.

the product is good news for farmers, redfern says. “Superstrike Grass treatment will be a supe-rior product agronomi-cally, protecting seedlings against three of the most prevalent and costly pasture pests.

“the addition of grass grub to the product claims is a big plus for farmers as is the increased protection it offers against Argentine stem weevil larvae. protection will be on par with the poncho and Gaucho seed treatments.”

Superstrike Grass contains a systemic insecticide and a contact fungicide; these combat key pests and diseases through different modes of action.

the systemic insecticide’s active is released from the seed soon after planting, forming a protective ‘halo’ around the seed. As seedlings germinate and grow, the active is taken up by the roots and is transported through the developing plant to the stem and foliage, protecting seedlings against soil and foliar insects.

the insecticide protects for six weeks after sowing, the time when the plant is established and able to defend itself against pest attack. Also at this stage the novel endophytes in perennial ryegrasses become effective and take over plant protection. www.seedtreatment.co.nz



growing business in balesTWELVE MONTHS on, Bradfield Farm Ltd’s Kuhn VBP2160 BalePack is sup-porting a fast-growing business.

The Waikato contract-ing and farming busi-ness, located between Te Awamutu and Otoro-hanga, has two dairy units – one of 420 cows – and a conversion planning for 800 cows in the coming season. Additional land is devoted to growing grass and maize for hay, baleage and pit silage.

Owners Kevin and Kirsten White also

manage a contracting business spanning cultiva-tion to harvest, running 10 trucks and offering spray-ing, fertiliser spreading, earthmoving and animal bedding.

Whites bought the Kuhn BalePack in Sep-tember 2010, choosing it for its dual baler/wrapper function, which means they need one less tractor and driver to do the job.

Kevin says it came highly recommended. With its tandem axle it has a lower centre of grav-ity, making it a stable

baler for undulating coun-try.

“It’s a great machine and has given us little trouble. It wasn’t a big silage-making season for us this past year with the hot and dry spring we had. There wasn’t a lot of grass around but it went well doing the work we had.”

While they did have a couple of small teething issues with the BalePack, Kevin’s Kuhn dealer, Gil-trap Agrizone of Otoro-hanga worked hard to sort them out.

Tom Fare and Ryan

Parkes are the baler drivers. “We’re baling mainly silage and it’s been good. It does a really tight bale and the wrapper system works well,” Ryan says. “The transfer is good. It can transfer facing downhill which is one of the big benefits, as not many machines can do that.”

The tandem axle means the BalePack doesn’t bounce or bang on transfer. “We have mowed in the morning and baled in the afternoon and it coped well. The belt

didn’t slip,” says Ryan.“The 3D wrapping

system is awesome for keeping the bales’ shape. They hold better with the 3D system. And there are no chains to grease or oil.”

Kevin White gets good

feedback from custom-ers on the bales. “The bales feed out better and they’re a good weight with good consistency. They hold their shape well in the paddock. They don’t go all saggy and look ugly.

“I like the product that comes out at the bale end. That’s what baling is all about. Your reputation is all on how good your bales are.”tel. 0800 585 007www.kuhn.co.nz

Your reputation is only as good as your bales, says Waikato contractor Kevin White.

Reading your DMex-DAIry FArmer bruce philip has launched a farm service monitoring – one-off or regularly – the quantity of dry matter (Dm) in individual paddocks and in total. the service suits all grass based farming systems.

“I’ve been a dairy farmer for many years and know the time pressures they face at different times of the year,” philip says.

on-farm philip drives over each paddock on an AtV towing a C-Dax pasture meter. A GpS system linked to the meter records paddock numbers and results. on second and subsequent readings of the paddocks he follows the same patterns to prevent variations in results.

“most farmers have their own scale maps of their property so recording data with their own paddock identification helps them to comprehend the information.”

Data collected during each visit is downloaded then emailed or posted to the [email protected]. tel. 0274 788 399

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Down, up all in a day’s workAB Equipment says its newly formed Manitou Agriculture has appointed ten dealers to sell and ser-vice Manitou farm tele-scopic handlers and all-terrain forklifts.

“The agreements are effective immediately,’ says sales and marketing manager Rob Fuller. “And we expect to

announce other appoint-ments.”

The dealers are Piako Tractors, Paeroa, Mor-rinsville and Rotorua; Ag Traction, New Plym-outh; Transag, Palmerston North; and JJ Ltd, Christ-church, Timaru, Mosgiel, Gore and Invercargill.

Manitou rough terrain telehandlers are offered

Accurately spread and conserve fertiliserDon’t spread more fertiliser than your paddock needsOUR NEW, PATENTED ROBERTSON/TRANSPREAD TF (twin floor/twin drive) trailing spreader applies accurate quantities at corners, bends and turns.

The TRANSPREAD TF has a ‘split’ floor, i.e. a chain-and-bar conveyor each side with its own gearbox, driven by its corresponding ground wheel. During turns the inside wheel slows, while the outside wheel accelerates. Load capacity can be increased as each drive is sharing the load.

Result: spreading accuracy that saves moneyAnd on narrow strips and tapered runs, simply disengage the spreader you don’t need.

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High noon for competitorsA PICTURE of Red Angus bull High Noon, of South Dakota, now features in the branding of Tru-Test Stafix electric fence energisers and accessories.

The new presentation is the work of Dow Design, also known for its work on branding Columbine, Hellers, Anchor, DB Export, Fresh’n Fruity, Robert Harris, Kapiti cheese, Primo and Vogel’s bread.

Tru-Test group marketing manager Teresa Steele-Rika says they

expect the rebranding to help grow the range to its full global potential. Stafix was bought by Tru-Test 1998 and its branding had since remained largely unchanged.

“We wanted to make a significant leap in Stafix’s brand impact…. Brand preference is important when purchasing an energiser, but in most other product categories; there was little consumer differentiation between brands. Stafix lacked the strong personality and

brand promise needed to stand out, often resulting in a ‘commodity’ status.”

The company’s research showed a bull is viewed by farmers universally as a symbol of power and strength, regardless of what animals they farm. Hence the High Noon picture.

A new strap line, ‘Powering Your Land’, was

added next to the bull, to reinforce the brand promise, and brand values of strength, stability and performance guaranteed.

Dow Design also worked with Tru-Test Group to develop packaging artwork that would suit being printed digitally inhouse, allowing Tru-Test Group to maximise efficiencies.

out 8 l/hour better than a particularly well-known uS make with the same power.”

A factor in Valtra’s efficiency is the long stroke length of the engines, giving high torque so maximum power is deliv-ered at relatively low revs.

For reliability, some of the make’s ‘smart’ systems help prevent minor mishaps turning into serious damage. “they have a thing called control stop so if it blows a hose, or overheats, it stops. It makes it hard for the young fella or inexperienced operator to bugger it.”

Again, the pedigree of the make comes into play. “Finland’s very cold, and a lot of their farming is forestry based, so they build very tough tractors. When it’s -30oC and you’re 50km from the nearest village you don’t want to be breaking down.”

All the major components, bar the front axle, are designed and made in Finland, he points out.

most machines are indent ordered to the customer’s specification. “So you only pay for what you’ve picked.” Current lead time is about four months.

About 500,000 options are available but most are taken care of by choosing which series you want: Direct, Versu or Advance.

“there’s also the Classic with a dry clutch but we don’t import them unless someone particularly wants us to.”

An N pre-fix to the model number indicates manoeu-vrable, short-wheel-base 4-cylinder machines with power ratings to 150 hp, while a t signals six cylinders and power ranging 135-225 hp.

An S series with a horsepower range 230-370hp should be available here next year.

liking for sizeFrom pagE 39

eVer WoNDereD why you see Valtras in so many different colours? It’s nothing to do with the model, or series: it’s simply customer choice.

Valmet, which became Valtra when it merged with Volvo’s agricultural arm, broke the mould for colour-coding by manufacturers when it started offering options 20 years ago.

Wilkins says while some farmers say “I’ll have to ask the wife” when it comes to the colour question, some contractors find it useful to differentiate their fleet.

“they can use the colour choice to brand their fleet so it looks different from their competitors without compromising their choice of tractor.”

Colour conundrum

Grant Wilkins

MS1262



Bigger presence in pressure pumpsAES WATERBLASTERS (Ag Equipment Special-ists Ltd) has recently been appointed sole importer and distributor of Udor high pressure pumps for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Udor chief executive Marco Zanasi says his company has for some time sought a partner to further expand its pres-

ence in New Zealand. AES, the largest NZ importer and distributor of high pressure pumps, was the obvious choice, especially given its excellent back-up.

AES director Alan Bisley says the new col-laboration with Udor gives the company and its dealer network access to a leading European brand.

“Udor is a progres-sive company which has expanded its range of pos-itive displacement pumps to include options from 4 L/min (typically for mist-ing) to 240 L/min (typi-cally for industrial multi nozzle washing), and from 60 bar (870 psi) to 1000 bar (14,500 psi).

“Udor’s commitment to quality control at its

new state-of-the-art fac-tory at Ruberia, north-ern Italy, is impressive. We have in fact had long association with Udor, importing its agricultural diaphragm pumps and gearboxes for almost 20 years. This new range is a logical progression for us.”[email protected]. 0508 78 78 78

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No more guesswork in feed loading

tAKe tHe guesswork out of feeding silage, hay, grain or palm kernel with a newly developed farm version of load-rite’s ‘Weigh It’ hydraulic weighing system for tractors with front-loader attachments. It was launched this year at National Fieldays.

Says managing director Steve Alloway, “If a farmer wants four tonnes of silage fed out, he can tell the farm-hand to put four tonnes on the wagon. Whereas before, he would say ‘go to the pile and put 10 grab loads onto the feedout wagon’ and who knows how much that really was? It’s all about consistency.”

Farm advisers are pushing a more scientific approach to farming and feeding out, Alloway says.

“once you know the product dry matter ratio to wet matter weight, a farmer can calculate how many kg of silage, baleage or hay are required for their stock numbers per day. then it is just a matter of weighing that amount of feed into the wagon each day and feeding out with confidence.”

New Zealand-made loadrite is claimed global #1 in onboard weighing scales, and in the quarry, mining and fertiliser industries it has at least 90% of the New Zealand market, the company says.

“prior to fitting loadrite on-board scales, quarry oper-ations involved going over the weighbridge and they’d have 9.5 tonne on so they’d go back and get another half bucketful, [then they’d have] 10.7 tonne so they’d have to tip it all off and start again... wasting time, loosing effi-

toNY BENNY

biG landcorp Gear auction

in brief

farmiNG Gear and vehicles owned by land-corp will this month and next be auctioned by turners auctions. at least 200 items will be offered.

the North island sale will be on september 14, at 10am, at aratiatia station, 164 aratiatia rd, taupo. the south island sale will be on october 10 at turners’ Christchurch branch.

Goods will include motorcycles, atVs, utes, tractors and machinery.

turners’ commercial and industrial branch manager, Jason tredgett, says the two annual landcorp auctions are hugely popular with commercial and lifestyle farmers.

“this… gear has been regularly serviced and is in good, honest, used condition. last year everything sold and we expect the same level of interest this year.”

the full catalogue will be at www.turners.co.nz prior to the auction and viewing of the items for sale is welcomed on september 13 and before the auction begins on september 14.

online bids will be taken from those pre-regis-tered on Turners Live.

ciency, ultimately costing money”With Weigh It “you lift up your load to the marker ,

press the ‘weigh’ button and press ‘add’ to add it to a cumulative total, press ‘clear’ to reset.”

Weigh It scales sell from $3250 + GSt.tel. 0800 493 444. www.loadritescales.com

Contact your local rural supplies merchant or phone 0800 266 258

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motoring 45

HOW DID Toyota become so dominant in the New Zealand vehicle market? Partly by building good cars, but like many Kiwi brands, they have achieved almost iconic status in large part because they conquered the great out-doors. The credibility Toyota’s brand gained because the

Landcruiser and Hilux proved themselves on farms and in the bush (remember the Barry Crump ads?) has trans-lated into high local sales of Toyota’s entire range because Kiwis still iden-tify strongly with the stoic, outdoorsy ideal.

Volkswagen know this and hope to broaden their own Kiwi story with a tough off-roader. The Amarok is a good product for the German brand to strike out in, leaving the leafy suburbs to tackle the heartland.

The double cab 4WD Amarok is extremely well put together and feels robust enough to pass muster in the rough. Is it Toyota-tough? Time will tell, but it is the result of a comprehensive design and testing process that started with a Toyota Hilux as the benchmark, so it should be.

VW has improved the concept in a couple of obvious areas. First, design inside and out is true-to-form for the VW team, who have produced a handsome ute with a classy interior. Second, ride quality and handling are better than average for the ute market. The leaf sprung rear is made for load carrying so the unladen ride is still busy, but not to the extent most 4WD ute drivers would

be used to; the front end points accurately and overall the vehicle feels nicely balanced.

Powerful enough? Despite being a 2.0 L com-peting against 2.5 and 3.0 L diesels, the Amarok’s 120kw twin-turbo TDI common-rail diesel pro-duces 400Nm of torque, more than Toyota, Holden and Isuzu, and that torque is on tap from down low

in the rev range (1500-2000rpm), making it effortless on road and tractable off road. The 6-speed manual gearbox swaps cogs easier than average for a ute, although offering only a manual gearbox will cost VW sales until the automatic option arrives next year.

Overall, the Amarok is extremely well-executed. The comfort and handling is remarkable given the car-rying/towing capacity, and while Rural News’ off road excursion was relatively tame, many other motor-ing publications have put off-road tyres on this beast and tackled treacherous terrain. Most were well impressed. Two basically stock Amarok’s also sur-vived the Dakar rally – an event that regularly kills cars and drivers.

Prices range from $43,000 for the basic 2WD through to $61,500 High-line tested here. Add a few options like a hard cover for the tray, leather for the cab and bigger alloys and you can spend $70k if you’re really keen.

At $56,000, the 4Motion TDi – one step down from the fancier Highline but just as capa-ble off-road – seems the best bet for those who expect their ute to earn its keep. No need for big alloys and road tyres in Crump country.

tackling toyota

aDam FrICKEr

two stock VW amaroks survived the legendary dakar rally.

WHANGAREI Ag & Earth 09 438 9163WELLSFORD Power Farming Wellsford 09 423 8558PUKEKOHE The Tractor Centre 09 238 7179MORRINSVILLE Maber Motors 07 889 5059TE AWAMUTU Power Farming Te Awamutu 07 870 2411PUTARURU Maber Motors 07 882 1310TAURANGA Capital Tractors 07 543 0021WHAKATANE Jacks Machinery 07 308 7299ROTORUA AREA Maber Motors 07 882 1310GISBORNE Power Farming Gisborne 06 868 8908HASTINGS Power Farming Hawke's Bay 06 879 9998HAWERA Power Farming Taranaki 06 278 0240

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High density bales. Low running costs. High speed bale capacity.

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PF

8796

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46 rural trader

FARM BRIDGESPhone Pat NOW

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Yardmate Soft Toe This is the boot that is designed forheavy duty uses and is perfect for fencers, high country farmers

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Tramper/Hiker Padded Boot Soft Toe This is the boot specifically designed for the great New Zealand outdoors with the emphasis on rugged construction and long wearing comfort. The upper consists of thick water repellent high quality leather, a turned out upper complete with a full bellows tongue for added water-tightness. This is complimented with soft leather heel padding, a leather in-sole, a rubber midsole and a cleated replaceable rubber outer sole. This is the boot you can trust when the going gets tough. Sizes 4-15 including half sizes.

MARSHN RING

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NZ Patent Appln No 580714, NZ Design Appln No. 412824. International Patent applications pending. MARSHN RING is a trademark of MarshN PWB Ltd.

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400mm x 6 metre ................................ $485

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Farmers invest in your farm with a PPP feed system; •Improvedproduction•Improvedanimalhealth•Lessonfarmfeedlabourrequired•Peaceofmind–youcanfeedyour cowsinwetspringsandwintersanddrysummers

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NK Limited (in receivership)Expressions of interest sought for sale of business and assets.

The Company operates two piggeries in the Foxton and Levin areas. With 460 sows, the stock include a pure breed multiplier herd of Landrace and Large White sows.

Parties genuinely interested in this opportunity should register their interest to us in writing, no later than, Friday, 30 September 2011, at: NK Limited (in receivership)C/- PricewaterhouseCoopersPrivate Bag 92 162, AucklandAttention: Rees Logan

Following receipt of registrations of interest we will be in contact with all interested parties.

For more information:Email: [email protected]: +64 9 355 8464Fax: +64 9 355 8013

1 2 3 4 5 revisions:

your contact:

job:

publication

2011

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Proof read by:_______________________________ With: _____________________ Date: ___________________________

size: format:PLEASE NOTE: that we have prepared this advertisement proof based on our understanding of the instructions received. In approving the advertisement, it is client’s responsibility to check the accuracy of both the advertisement, the media and the position nominated.Cancellation of adverts booked with media will incur a media cancellation fee of $50.

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rural trader 47

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6

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MY STORY ABOUT QUADBARAfter a near backflip on my quadbike in 2010, I decided to buy a protection bar. I rang my Honda dealer. He said that Honda didn’t recommend protection bars after a simulated study in 1998 using a test dummy had shown existing bars could fold on you or trap you in a roll. I saw their video and wasn’t satisfied with their logic or lack of help.I then became aware of the Quadbar in Australia. It had won an award in 2009, was strong, small, rounded, soft-edged and thoroughly tested by Queensland University. It solved the problems of previous bars, offered good crush protection and fitted all quadbikes.More importantly, it was already NZ Certified and ACC and OSH were well aware of its progress in helping to save lives in Australia where it is now mandatory in farm training organisations and supported by the NSW Government, NSW Farmers Industrial and Australian Workers Union.For me, I am a farmer, not a test dummy and I can think for myself. My quadbar should help me avoid being crushed if I ever roll my bike and besides, my family want me alive to pay the bills. ACC records show that most deaths on quadbikes are from asphyxia (i.e. slowly crushed to death).For a Quadbar, call me, Stuart Davidson, owner of Quadbar NZ, on

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NZAgbizBrownBagAd2011(RNDN)p.indd 1 27/05/11 1:47 PM

rural news 499 2011

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