june 5, 2012: Issue 516 www.ruralnews.co.nz

RuRalNEWSto all farmers, for all farmers

AhuwhenuA revisitedGood management driving excellent returns. pages 64-65

bridge builderFormer dairyman shows how to get over things safely. page 78 it’s All go

Fieldays new boss ready for event.

page 46

Government calls in experts

50% not good enoughTHE GOVERNMENT is appoint-ing a review team to help the Kaip-ara District Council, after residents threatened a rates revolt over increases averaging 31%.

“It has become apparent the Kaip-ara District Coun-cil is dealing with some serious issues

it cannot cope with alone,” says Minister

for Local Government David Carter (pictured).

“The council has sought help from central government and the wider local government sector. We have agreed to work with the coun-cil and Local Government New Zea-land to set up a small team to assist Kaipara to work through its issues. “The council recognises the assis-tance the Government can provide is limited. It also realises it must work closely with its community to resolve any problems. However, it is clear the situation in Kaipara is urgent and action is now needed.”

“Under the current Local Gov-ernment Act there are limited options for the Government to intervene to assist councils. A sit-uation like this illustrates why the Government has embarked on its Better Local Government reform programme.”• Rates focus – page 7

FONTERRA CHAIRMAN Henry van der Heyden says TAF (trading among farmers) will not proceed unless “a clear mandate” is delivered on June 25 by shareholders.

The Fonterra board is seeking a simple majority but van der Heyden has made it clear a 50.1% majority won’t be good enough.

“I want a clear mandate,” he told Rural News. “I can’t say what a clear mandate is but if it’s a 50% plus vote, the board will not recommend to pro-ceed with TAF.

“I want a mandate that will unify the co-op around this proposed evolu-tion in our capital structure. This is the final vote in a long process. Sharehold-ers have given us strong support in the earlier stages and this is what the board

is looking for this time.”In June 2010, 90% of Fonterra farm-

ers backed TAF. But support for the pro-posed share trading scheme is waning over concerns about losing 100% farmer ownership and control. On June 25 the board will table an ordinary motion requiring a 50.1% majority.

Fonterra shareholders received their voting papers last week. TAF critics won’t be happy with the ordinary vote.

SUDESH KISSUNAshburton farmer Eddie Glass, who

spearheads opposition to TAF, expects about 30% of shareholders to oppose the TAF resolution. He says a 30% ‘no’ vote may mean the end of TAF.

“TAF is being promoted as the cure for the problem and it may end up becoming the problem. If 75% of farm-ers back TAF, we all have to get behind it. The TAF vote is meant to unite us and that remains to be seen.”

Fonterra capital structure subcom-mittee chairman John Wilson is confi-dent TAF will be approved.

Wilson, who also sits on the due dili-gence committee, says some TAF critics are misleading farmers. “As a farmer I know TAF delivers 100% ownership and control.”

Van der Heyden and Wilson will this week join other board members for shareholder meetings around the coun-try. Van der Heyden will speak in Bay of Plenty, Waikato and South Canterbury, a hotbed of TAF opposition.

Van der Heyden says the board is unanimous in its support for TAF and the challenge this week is to get farm-ers on the same page.

“There’s a lot of information to con-sider, and we’re taking every opportu-nity to ensure farmers are as informed as they can be when they vote on June 25.”

Fonterra Shareholders Council’s new chairman Ian Brown says 92% of the 35-member council backs TAF. He expects some questions from share-holders on the size of the sharehold-ers fund and milk pricing at this week’s meetings.

for larry Green, this is almost the end of the road at the manawatu Gorge. for nine months the road has been closed and he has been the site supervisor since a huge slip blocked the road forcing all vehicles, including stockand logging trucks and milk tankers to use the alternative routes. these routes - the saddle road and Pahiatua track are long and winding and have added to twenty minutes to the normal journey through the gorge. as Rural News went to press, Green and his team were putting the finishing touches to the road which would see one lane open.

– See story on pages 24-25 on similar problems in the Gisborne region

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rural News // june 5, 2012

news 3

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future Young farmers: Kids from fairfield Play & learn were among the practical day crowd at forsythe Barr stadium at last week’s finals of the Young farmer of the Year in dunedin. see page 6 for more on this year’s winner michael lilley.

Maori big farmersMAORI FARMS are on average eight times the size of the average New Zealand farm, says Statistics New Zealand.

This latest information comes from a survey of farms owned by members of the Federation of Maori Author-ities (FOMA) and includes data on sheep and beef, dairy-ing and forestry. It should be noted not all Maori farms are members of FOMA.

The statistics show the average Maori farm is nearly 2000ha and the farms are mainly livestock properties.

On average Maori farms have eight times the number of sheep and ten times the number of beef cattle found on the average New Zealand farm.

The FOMA research, done about a year ago, shows Maori farms have: 568,000 sheep (or 1.8% of the national flock); 79,000 beef cattle (2.1% of the national herd); 39,900 dairy cows (0.6% of the national herd); and 2.9% of all forestry.

What the statistics don’t show is that Maori farms are, overall, dramatically increas-ing their production and have greatly improved the gover-

pEtEr bUrKE nance of their trusts and incor-porations.

The report says Maori farms are less intensively farmed and more likely to be sheep and beef or forestry operations. These statistics are part of a pilot pro-gramme between FOMA and

Statistics New Zealand to better understand Maori business activity.

This week in Auckland the winner of the Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Maori dairy farm will be announced.See page 19

Limit on fund

CHANGES TO the Fon-terra shareholders fund will be enshrined in the co-op’s constitution if approved on June 25.

The special resolution, which needs a 75% vote, has three parts: decreas-ing the fund from 25% to 20% of total shares on issue, decreasing the threshold on the number of dry shares on issue from 25% to 15% of total shares; and capping the number of wet shares a farmer may sell the eco-nomic rights to in the fund.

“It’s a combination of hard maths and good judge-ment that leads us to rec-ommend 20%,” Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden says.

The size of the sharehold-ers fund, which will trade share units to investors, has divided shareholders. Some worry a bigger fund will allow more investors to buy units and exert influence over the co-op.

Van der Heyden says the 20% threshold strikes the right balance between flexibility to manage seasonal milk fluctuations

and controls to manage risk.“While we intend to oper-

ate the fund at a size of 7-12% of total Fonterra shares on issue, we do need breath-ing room to take account of seasonal changes in milk volume,” he says.

“Milk production is driven by weather; for exam-ple, this year we anticipated 3% milk growth but got 10%. Add 10% growth to our 7-12% fund size and a 15% cap is too restrictive.”

Over time the fund will be managed within the target size range.

Another key resolution up for a vote on June 25 is setting the farmgate milk price in the co-op constitu-tion so that changes require a 75% majority.

The council’s right to have two representatives on the milk price panel will also be enshrined in the constitu-tion.

“This underpins the integrity of the farmgate milk price going forward,” he says.

Shareholders are con-cerned investors will be pushing for a higher divi-dend payout at the expense of the payout.

SUDESH KISSUN

Not a good look

MPI is not ruling out prose-cution of 60 kiwifruit growers who injected vines with anti-biotics in a bid to cure them of Psa.

Communications man-ager Lesley Patston said late last week they were working with the industry to establish what exactly has happened.

“We are too early in our investigations to make any sort of comment on prose-cutions.”

Both Zespri and MPI say there has so far been no market reaction.

Meanwhile Zespri, which has been testing fruit for traces of the antibiotic strep-tomycin, says about 500,000 trays will be lost because of antibiotic contamination – about 0.5% of this year’s record crop of 116 million trays.

It is understood many of the estimated 60 grow-ers who injected vines told Zespri about it knowing their fruit would not be sold.

NZ Kiwifruit Growers president Neil Trebilco says the intense media interest in antibiotics injected into kiwi-fruit by growers is not good for growers from a market point of view.

From a grower perspec-tive Trebilco says “they are over it”. The actions of a few were picked up earlier this year and a “comprehensive” approach was taken towards them by the industry.

“Growers have enough to deal with with Psa rather than what the market reac-tion might be,” he says.More kiwifruit articles p5

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rural News // june 5, 2012

4 news

tAF sceptics seek second opinionA GROUP of Fonterra shareholders has com-missioned a report on hybrid cooperative models because they’re concerned they’re not getting the full story from their own board and management.

“We have been forced to do this because, to date, we’ve not been allowed access to the official due diligence that we as farm-ers have all paid for,” group spokeswoman Leonie Guiney told Rural News last week.

At their own expense Guiney and others com-missioned Dutch co-oper-atives analyst Onno van Bekkum to look at the suc-cess or otherwise of coop-eratives elsewhere in the world that have pursued models that involve non-farmer equity in cooper-atives.

“Part of the problem is there’s nothing to com-pare TAF with. But it is imperative some expert analysis from a cooper-ative viewpoint is made available to farmers in the next few weeks as we con-sider what is a critical vote for the future of our coop-erative.”

She’s concerned Fon-terra’s dossier of infor-mation, due to be mailed to shareholders late last week, including voting papers, will simply be too much for some to digest, and they’ll take the “trust the board” approach and just tick the boxes.

“We must continue to test the concept against

ANDrEW SWALLOW

OnnO VAn Bekkum describes himself as a cooperative strategist. He is Msc in agricultural economics from Wageningen university and PhD in economics from nyenrode Business university, Holland. He has worked as a consultant for coop-eratives including Rabobank, FrieslandCampina, Fonterra, Tine, and Dairy Farmers of Britain, among others. • see www.coopchampions.com

about van Bekkum

our cooperative principles and remember why we’ve not prioritised share value as our primary goal in the past. People must under-stand what they’re voting on.”

She also believes the vote threshold should be 75%. “No board that pri-oritised the co-op would consider anything less to be a mandate.”

She notes chief exec-utive Theo Spierings recently said co-op unity is more important than TAF. “The only way to ensure

that unity is for any reso-lution to require 75%.”

Guiney is dismayed by what she believes is selec-tive circulation of media commentary on TAF by Fonterra. For example, a recent Radio Live inter-view featuring Rod Oram repeating Fonterra chair-man Henry van der Hey-den’s line that there’s a vocal minority who don’t understand the TAF model was emailed to the entire supply base by Fon-terra regional managers, yet interviews with Simon

Couper about his reasons for standing down from the Shareholders Council were not.

“Couper was our elected representative who has seen the detail behind this and he’s stood down on principle because he doesn’t believe 100% ownership and control can be maintained. Yet they think Rod Oram’s com-ments are more impor-tant.”

As for the “vocal minority” allegation, sig-natories to a petition call-ing for a second vote on TAF alone represented $630m worth of Fon-terra shares – about 7% of supply, she points out.

“The ones who signed are only the tip of the ice-berg. Vocal minority? I don’t think so!”

Fonterra told Rural News it is not being selec-tive in what it circulates. The Oram interview was

sent by an area manager following farmer feed-back expressing interest in independent reviews and comments on TAF. It is doing everything it can to ensure all the informa-tion is available to share-holders in time to be read, discussed and questioned, the co-op says.

The pack posted to farmers contains a 23-page report which is the same as the board received except for a few minor edits and exclusion of the appendices for commer-cially sensitive reasons.

In addition to next week’s 51 meetings, in the run-up to the June 25 spe-cial meeting and vote, farmers may call directors, shareholders’ councillors, networkers, area managers and members of the TAF project team. Questions posted on Fencepost will all answered and legally verified.

leonie Guiney

Front foot it!

‘LICENSE TO operate: regulatory barrier or market opportunity?’

That was the title four guest speakers spoke to at Agmardt’s annual agribusiness breakfast, preceding the practical day of the Young Farmer Contest.

Fish and Game chief executive Bryce Johnson said five years ago the topic would have been “heresy” in such a setting but now it’s time has come.

“What agriculture needs to do is take the lead.... The trick is to stay ahead of the game. You’ve got to collabo-rate with the policy makers.”

Revamping the Clean Streams Accord is “a huge opportunity” and as Land and Water Forum (LAWF) progress has shown, all New Zealanders want more or less the same outcomes.

Environmental NGOs (which F&G is not), rather than being the enemy, are “really part of your strategic opportunity”.

Johnson’s presentation followed Lincoln University vice chancellor Andy West’s, who gave a “big picture” personal view that world agriculture – New Zealand included – needs to intensify production, not just to feed the predicted 10 billion population of 2050, but to protect the environment.

“What we’re doing right now is sending an awful lot of species extinct. We’ve got to intensify our use of land. The question is: does New Zealand want to be a part of that?”

Intensification, for example through partially housed dairy systems, offers a win-win to increase production and reduce environmental impact, he said, declaring he has an interest in the Herd Home company.

“We could double our [dairy] production just by feeding our cows properly.” That would be worth $7 bil-lion at the farmgate, $13 billion ex factory. In sheep the potential is probably even greater, he added.

However, compromises and strategic decisions at a national level need to be made.

“How many water bodies should be pristine?... What we’ve got at the moment is an arms race going on between different communities about who can set the highest standards quickest.”

Federated Farmers Dairy chair Willy Leferink acknowledged agriculture “has some issues to address, particularly when it comes to nutrient loading.”

“The problem is the science is struggling to keep up with all the people who write policy.”

Inappropriate policy risks forcing unnecessary devel-opment costs on the industry, he warned.

He also had a dig at urban pollution, but noted in voting terms, New Zealand’s 30,000 farmers “don’t mean a thing” compared to the 2.9 million majority.

“But at least this Government listens to us.”

ANDrEW SWALLOW

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rural News // june 5, 2012

news 5

Warning signs clearRED FLAGS “should have been going up all over the place” when the kiwi-fruit vine disease Psa first emerged in Italy, says a top Otago scientist who has linked the New Zealand and Italian out-breaks with China.

Professor Russell Poulter is 99% sure Psa-V came into the country in pollen, though MPI has so far only acknowledged it as a possible pathway.

Poulter is among a group of Otago biochemists who have genome sequenced New Zealand and Italian Psa and discovered a definite link to China.

He cannot absolutely prove Psa came into this country with pollen from China, he says, adding that in science it is rare you can prove anything beyond doubt. But he is 99% sure.

“There is no way to provide an abso-lute guarantee of sterility of the pollen you import,” Poulter says. “At the time we were importing it we had no checks at all and you could say that was a bit slack of MAF.

“But we are not allowed by inter-national agreements to just impose random non-tariff barriers to trade. You have to produce scientific evidence that there actually is a problem.”

But with the benefit of hindsight, Poulter says once Italy had a major Psa outbreak “this should have caused red flags to go up all over the place”.

“It’s like foot and mouth: all you need is one sick cow and it’s like an ava-lanche,” he says.

Australians blocked all imports because “with a major pandemic blaz-ing away all over the place, it is silly to let it in”.

Poulter’s team has established the original source of Psa-V was China, but it is now sequencing the genome of the Chilean strain.

“The question we would like to answer is whether the pollen came direct from China or whether it was via somewhere else, and the only likely area is Chile.” – Pam Tipa

Kiwifruit growers plea for helppAM tIpA

“PLEASE HELP us” is the impassioned plea from Te Puke kiwifruit grower Rob Thode, who says growers feel abandoned.

Many Psa-hit Te Puke growers are out of income, some have no money to dispose of their PSa-hit vines and they are grafting a new variety in this dis-eased environment with fears it too may succumb.

Growers feel aban-doned by the Government which meanwhile is paying at least $100 million to clean up after the sinking of the Rena – a foreign-owned ship

Against that back-ground Thode, who last June cut out his owned Psa-hit gold crop, says he understands why growers injected their vines with

streptomycin – an act of desperation.

“The thing that really bugs me is we have a disas-ter and the Government hasn’t even declared it a

GROWeR ROB Thode says it is “total madness” that there is only one Gold cultivar (G3) being offered as an alter-native to Hort 16A which has been deci-mated by Psa.

“We haven’t got biodiversity and we are leaving ourselves open to another disease hit which could be just as severe as we have just had.”

Thode says people overseas can grow what they like because they are

not restricted to growing Zespri vari-eties. (Zespri is the only new Zealand body licensed to export kiwifruit beyond Australia)

“Going forward we desperately need about 10 cultivars and we need freedom,” says Thode.

He knows of a new Zealander in Chile who is planting 1000ha with different varieties which is “really bad news for new Zealand exporters”.

‘total madness’disaster,” he says. Some growers have no crop this year so can’t pay their mortgages; many others will have no crop next year.

“You have 2000ha in the Bay of Plenty going out of production. We have a massive disaster on our hands and the Govern-ment is providing no relief and is not acknowledg-ing its part in a biosecurity failure that has had hor-rendous consequences.”

Thode believes action should have been taken in 2008 when Psa “went charging” through the Ital-ian orchards and we were importing pollen from China. Growers were now carrying the cost of Psa and the burden on their own.

“It is tremendously un-New Zealand. You imagine a drought or a flood in which people are

just left to themselves. That’s never happened in the history of New Zea-land. The Government hasn’t done anything since the initial response. And that was appallingly han-dled; they just did test-ing and the disease was allowed to run rampant.”

Thode says although he cut out his Psa vines, many others have not. He has lost a third of his Hayward (green) crop this year to

Psa at a cost of $300,000, even though this variety is seen as Psa-resistant. He believes this is because of the disease-ridden envi-ronment in Te Puke.

Last week was the deadline for growers to apply to graft for this winter the new Gold vari-ety G3, which Zespri hopes will provide a recov-ery pathway. Fears have already been raised it too may be succumbing to Psa.

Thode says growers need to know if the Gov-ernment will provide any assistance when they made that decision to buy G3 or not. He says grow-ers need money for clean up alone. “How are some of the growers who have got no money whatsoever going to clean out their Hort16A? It is urgent to get rid of this disease-ridden cultivar or we haven’t got a chance of going forward.”

many kiwifruit growers feel abandoned as Psa has left them without any income.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

6 news

Clear winner in Young Farmer contestSOME YEARS the National Bank Young Farmer Contest Grand Final goes down to the wire, others the winner comes in with a comfort-able margin.

This year it was the latter, not that the con-testants or audience

know that until the final couple of rounds of the televised evening quiz, because scores from pre-ceding challenges are only revealed during the course of the show.

“I thought I’d be chas-ing Pete [Gardyne] but it ended up he was chasing me,” winner Michael Lilley told Rural News.

The 26-year-old vet from Murchison landed the title in Dunedin on May 26, finishing with 342 points from a potential 500 after three days of gru-elling competition.

Southlander Gardyne came in second on 313 and Brad Lewis, representing Taranaki/Manawatu, third on 278.

ANDrEW SWALLOW Lilley got off to a good start, acing the market innovation challenge with 70 out of 70 for a pre-con-test prepared proposal to micro-malt barley from his parents’ farm at Methven, Canterbury, and market the product in home-

brew kits in the US. He also topped the table in the other element of the agribusiness challenge – strategic business devel-opment.

Gardyne pipped him in the agriskills (practi-cal) challenges, with 102 from a possible 140, and agrisports, but as it turned out, it wasn’t enough to give him a lead going into the final night: Lilley was ahead on 302 points to Gardyne’s 295, not that either knew that.

Lilley says the toughest thing about the contest is the overall intensity.

“The full-on-ness of it. You don’t get a lot of sleep.”

He’d been there before though, in 2009, when, by his own admission he came “dead last, by quite a bit”.

His mind was made up

to have another crack soon after that. Being “pushed hard” by Reuben Carter in the Tasman regional final this year helped his prep-aration, as did wife Kelly, keeping him organised leading up to the Dunedin showdown.

With the win under his belt, his short to medium-term plans are to build the veterinary practice busi-ness at Murchison, which he’ll shortly become a partner of, buy some land to farm “further down the track,” and family: Kelly’s expecting their first child in July.

dream challenge: Young farmer contest winner and vet michael lilley fits a hoof.

Farmers not all to blame

FARMERS, CONTRARY to popular myth, do not with ‘gay abandon’ pollute the environment, says Federated Farm-ers president Bruce Wills.

Speaking at an agriculture conference in Wellington, Wills acknowledged farmers do influence the environ-ment because that’s where they “run their business”. But urban people also greatly influence the environment, he says.

“It’s far more visual when you see a cow doing its thing in a river as was shown on television recently. Compare this with a boring old concrete pipe coming out of an oxi-dation pond near an urban centre and flowing into a river: it’s not nearly so dramatic.”

The Land and Water Forum has brought acceptance that the environment is everyone’s problem and respon-sibility, Will says. The view is that no one particular group is more to blame than another. Now that message has to get to the wider community.

Wills says agriculture is under more environmental scrutiny than ever and it’s clear some farmers need to lift their game, but most do a good job and care about the envi-ronment. Wills spends half his time as Feds president deal-ing with environmental issues.

He raised concern at the growth in the number of life-style blocks around provincial cities and towns. In 20-30 years land equivalent to half that now in dairying has been lost to lifestyle blocks, much of it ‘class one’ quality. If this trend continues it will have implications for farming and farm production.

Much of this growth has been due to “lazy urban plan-ning,” Wills says.

pEtEr bUrKE

lilley says the toughest thing about the contest is the overall intensity. “the full-on-ness of it. You don’t get a lot of sleep.”

««

rural News // june 5, 2012

AVERAGE SPENDING increases by New Zealand councils are a moderate 3.1% next year – but it’s the forecast 45.5% increase over the next decade that worries Federated Farmers.

Local government spokesman David Rose says while there are a few “shocking” increases proposed by some councils this year, most are keeping a lid on spending right now.

But Federated Farmers had sub-mitted on 70 of 78 long-term plans around the country.

“Debt is going to increase by 98% over the decade: the sector will go from $9.4 billion to $18.4 billion. Most of it’s due to the Auckland Council where debt is planned to increase by 175% to get to $12.5 billion.

“Although councils are reining things in at present, it does not appear to be a long-term trend so we’re right behind the Government reforms to

ensure efficiency and prudence.This will pinpoint essential services and funding policy should be part of the reforms.

“Rates are based on property value which doesn’t necessarily relate to use of services.”

Rose says he agrees with Prime Minister John Key’s recent comments that local government cannot have a bottomless pit of debt.

Key has said if the last decade’s rates increases had been the same as the previous decade’s, each rate bill in New Zealand would be lower by $500 per annum, or $1 billion in total.

“That’s why the focus on what councils do is really important. With

the right to do ‘social spending’ you can come up with almost anything… you can build a stadium and let your roads run down,” says Rose.

The Kaipara District Council was one Rose cited as having a “shocking” increase.

It has proposed a 31% increase across rural and urban, but is reas-sessing rates after protests by resi-dents.

Rose also says Environment Southland plans to employ 17 more people this year.

news 7Farmers targetedDAIRY AND forestry ratepayers in the Far North are being singled out for a major rates hike because the local council says their trucks and tankers damage the roads more than ordinary traffic.

The Far North District Council plans a differential rate based on how much each of nine industry sectors is deemed to damage the roads.

Forestry (differential of 16) is the hard-est hit percentage wise, but the organ-iser of a protest meeting in Northland last week, 447ha dairy farmer Murray Jamieson, says dairy farming (2.8 differ-ential), which is singled out from other types of farming, is the biggest hit dollar-wise because it was already paying a lot. His rates will jump 110% from $23,000 to $40,000 if the rate change is approved by the council at the end of June.

Federated Farmers local government spokesman David Rose told Rural News the only way to fairly attribute main-tenance costs for roads is by road user charges. A worrying trend has developed of differential rating decisions around the country being based on political decisions rather than data and common sense, Rose says. Farms get hit because of their high capital value.

Far North communications man-ager Richard Edmondson says the coun-cil based its proposed differentials on a report by infrastructure consultant Mor-

rison Low which researched the impacts different users had on roads.

Far North is not the first council to propose targeted roading rates, he says.

The Southland District Council, which also used Morrison Low, levies these and has set the differential for the forestry sector at 19 and for the mining sector 54.

Rural News was unable to confirm what the differential is for dairying, but the Southland District Council’s long term plan shows it proposes dairying pays for 34% of its roading costs in 2012/13, equating to about $3.9m.

Meanwhile Edmondson says the coun-cil wants to shift the road burden from the residential sector to the sectors that incur the costs.

The council collects about $500,000 a year from the forestry sector in rates but spends about $2.5m fixing roads damaged by logging trucks. Over the next 10 years, 51% of its capital spending ($365 million) will be on roads.

“It’s one of number of proposals we are introducing to make the roading system fairer and, in a nutshell, we are trying to introduce a higher degree of user-pays,” says Edmondson.

“The targeted roading rate will result in higher costs for dairying and those industries associated with heavy vehicle movements.” – Pam Tipa

rate rises starting to grate

pAM tIpA

Too easyRATES ARE climbing: every year the council needs more money to retains its infrastructure, says Federated Farmer’s Gisborne/Wairoa chair Hamish Cave.

“And we have a low socio-economic base in Gisborne. A lot of people rent houses. So putting up rates for farmers is just an easy way of collecting more money off the landowners.

“The country is subsidising the town – that’s what I hear consistently from farm-ers: ‘We pay huge rates and we receive no benefit other than a road to our front gate.

“Roading is a big cost, we are subsidis-ing waste water in Gisborne, also an Olym-pic pool, rubbish collection, the district library and so it goes on. Very few rural ratepayers utilise those services.”

Waimate farmers to fight rate hikeA PROPOSAL to apply a ‘civic amenities’ rate to every house on a property, rather than per prop-erty, in Waimate District, South Canterbury, is being opposed by farmers’ representatives.

“Waimate District Council’s new funding policy will result in extortionate rural rates increases for the 2012-13 year which will see some farmers pay out nearly $5000 more on rates than they did last year,” says the local Feds branch chair, Colin Hurst.

“One farmer’s rates are

increasing 37% from just over $13,000 to around $18,000. I have not fared as badly, but still have seen my rates increase by 10%. These are very unfair rates hikes targeting people who already have low levels of ser-vice.”

Hurst says it’s disappointing the council failed to consult Feds during the policy review and labels the increases “opportunis-tic” given central government’s moves to crack down on council spending and debt levels.

david rose says most councils are “keeping a lid on spending right now”.

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8 news

biosecurity impasse increases risksNEGOTIATIONS ON the Gov-ernment’s biosecurity response agreement is far from over, says Hor-ticulture New Zealand president Andrew Fenton.

Fenton says a lot of work is going on behind closed doors on the gov-ernment industry agreements (GIAs). “It’s a work in progress,” he told Rural News.

His comments follow a warn-ing that the delay in concluding the GIAs is expanding gaps for biosecurity breaches.

The KPMG Agribusiness Agenda, released last week, says some sectors remain sceptical about GIA. KPMG head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot says the Government and some agri-culture sectors have “diametrically

opposed views” on how GIAs should work.

The impasse must end, he says. “While debate continues gaps are expanding for biosecurity breaches.”

However, Federated Farmers bios-ecurity spokesman Dr William Roll-eston disagrees. “Although it’s good to get things done quickly, we must have a high quality agreement. We don’t see any evidence of MPI degrading bios-ecurity management as we go on qui-etly with the negotiations.”

KPMG interviewed 98 agribusiness leaders for the report and biosecu-rity is their top priority. Maintaining a world class biosecurity system to pro-tect New Zealand’s economic interests was rated as 9 or 10 priority by 83 % of respondents to the survey.

But there still remains a wide range of opinions over the GIAs. The view of

sectors towards GIA structures have not changed much during the year, it says.

“Some sectors see a GIA as an opportunity to gain greater control over their own destiny, while others view the reforms as little more than an attempt to reduce government bios-ecurity funding, and pass the cost of protecting New Zealand’s economic future back to the industry.

“The response to the Psa incursion has demonstrated the benefits of a coordinated industry, grower and gov-ernment approach – but it remains to be seen whether other sectors would achieve the same.”

Questions remain on whether enough is being done to sufficiently protect the border. This was best high-lighted by the importation of straw-berry planting kits from China with

relative ease, with no questions being raised by Biosecurity NZ.

Fenton agrees the ideal outcome will be to have GIAs on border secu-rity and response to incursions. “But we have to agree first on who will manage the response and make the decisions and most importantly, who will pay. I believe we have a long way ahead before there is an outcome.”

The KPMG report calls on the Govern-ment to provide clear assurance on biosecu-rity funding.

“It’s widely accepted that inte-grated management of biosecurity threats makes sense for the industry. The Government needs to provide clear assurance it has no

long-term plan to reduce its financial commitment to protecting New Zea-land’s borders – and it has not yet cat-egorically provided this.”

SUDESH KISSUN

a real no-no!HORT NZ does not condone use of antibiotics in Psa-ravaged vineyards, says president Andrew Fenton.

‘It’s a total ‘no-no’ for the indus-try.... It’s illegal and we don’t support it,” Fenton told Rural News.

On whether MPI should prose-cute growers alleged to have used the antibiotics, Fenton says it’s up to the Government.

But he says MPI should take into consideration that these farm-ers “have taken a hiding” from Psa. “A lot of individuals are under huge pressure; their crops have been wasted.”

Meanwhile MPI says no fruit contaminated with antibiotics had reached the marketplace.

The ministry and Zespri had tested all the orchards and no con-tamination was found outside the 60 orchardists who had owned up mis-using antibiotics.

THE CONSUMER is the ultimate ‘regulator’, says Sliver Fern Farms (SFF) chief executive Keith Cooper.

He told an agricultural conference in Wellington last week that while governments and their insti-tutions in overseas markets determine the right of access, it’s the consumer who has the final say.

“You can have all the certification in the world, but if the consumer doesn’t like your products or your brand values or what you stand for or how you pro-duce your product, they can turn their backs on you and effectively become the regulator.

“It’s a bit like that pink slime case in the US when celebrity chef Jamie Oliver took to it. He destroyed a business overnight by saying this stuff is rubbish.”

Cooper says branding is important and that SFF has done this effectively on domestic and interna-tional markets. But there is often confusion over what a brand actually is, he says. If you put a logo on a meat pack all you’ve got is a logo and that’s not branding.

“Branding is when you’ve got a ‘suite’ of under-pinning components, behaviours, cultures, and con-fidence. It’s all the other things that support a brand. A brand is nothing more than a logo if it hasn’t got all the other supporting functionalities.”

Consumers want to know what’s behind the brand and whether a company has been a ‘good custodian’ of the product, Cooper says. This includes how the animals are farmed and cared for and the environment in which they live. Research by SFF is gaining feedback on such matters.

“Take the supermarket chain Tesco as an example. Their custom-ers trust Tesco has put their suppli-ers through the hoops so we don’t have to put stickers all over our meat products to say ‘we’re approved here’. The consumers know Tesco makes sure everything is nice.”

Cooper says when marketing overseas it’s critical a company fully understands the subtlety of different cultures. Get-ting even the most minute detail right can make the difference between success and failure in a promo-tional campaign.

“We were planning a campaign in Greece and we sent over what seemed to us beautiful pictures of lamb on a plate. But the Greek people quickly told us Greeks never eat meat that colour and they don’t use

those types of plates, so we had to quickly make some changes.”

Cooper says he’s happy with the progress they are making with their branded products, but it’s an ongo-ing learning process. They are careful not to make too many big promises to consumers until they fully understand the markets and exactly what makes con-sumers tick.

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10 news

Still a golden hue for kiwifruitKIWIFRUIT GROWERS still growing Zespri Gold will get a significant boost next season.

Due to lower volumes Zespri is forecasting a per-tray return to Gold grow-ers of $13.70-$14.20 in the 2012/13 season, up from

$11.91 this season.Forecasts for Zespri

Green at $6.80-$7.30 and Organic green ($8.45-$8.95) are similar rates to this season.

Kiwifruit Vine Health’s latest results show 37% of New Zealand’s kiwifruit orchards, representing 46% or hectarage, mostly

in the Bay of Plenty area, are now infected with Psa. Zespri Gold or Hort 16 is the worst hit by Psa.

However some orchards in the Bay of Plenty are still growing Gold and other kiwifruit areas such as Nelson and Kerikeri are disease-free.

Zespri’s 2011/12 finan-

cial results show a lift in global revenue of 7% to $1.62 billion, on the back of a record volume crop of 116.5 million trays of kiwi-fruit.

The record crop volume increased total returns to growers in 2011/12 by 11% to $980.4 million, the average

orchard gate return for growers increasing by 8.1% to $45,206 per ha.

Zespri chairman John Loughlin says global eco-nomic uncertainty, rising costs and a volatile dollar are causing headwinds for Zespri.

Gold volumes were expected to drop from this

pAM tIpA year’s record 29 million trays to 20 million trays this year.

“Zespri has positioned itself for these lower volumes in 2012/13, through a reduction of $10 million (14.4%) in corporate costs,” says Loughlin.

“We expect Psa to fur-ther impact on Gold vol-umes in 2013/14. However, in 2014/15 we expect to see Gold volumes recover, as the Psa-recovery path-

way centered around the Zespri variety Gold3 begins to take effect.”

Loughlin says a real challenge for the indus-try in coming years is moving from declining volumes due to Psa, to rapidly growing volumes in a short space of time, should the recovery path-way prove successful.

Zespri’s net profit for 2011/12 was $20.5 million, compared to $7.3 million in 2010/11.

leaderbrand aptly namedLOOK AT fruit and veges in any New Zealand supermar-ket and chances are you’ll see the name Leaderbrand. It’s a major horticultural exporter and supplier to the domes-tic market, and it’s based in Gisborne.

General manager Richard Burke runs a modest office on one of the company’s farms just out of Gisborne. He started 20 years ago as a spray operator with Leader-brand; now at age 41 he heads an organisation permanently employing 240 – twice that at peak season.

Local farmer Murray McPhail founded Leaderbrand and has grown it to one of the biggest such firms in New Zealand. His strength is he’s a good farmer who can manage the marketing of products and attract people with the right skills, Burke says.

Leaderbrand is big in exporting squash to Korea and Japan, and pouched or single-packed corn (hand-picked) to Japan.

Leaderbrand has a strong hold on the domestic market. “We do business with both the major supermarket chains and have a sales team in Auckland,” Burke says.

“We sell broccoli and lettuce year round to them and have a salad processing facility where we produce coleslaw and other salads. We are the biggest supplier of sweetcorn and we sell watermelons. We also [sell to] restaurants and institutions.”

Leaderbrand supplies tomatoes and corn to food pro-cessors and, from 150ha of vineyards, supplies grapes to local wineries.

The firm’s profile outside Gisborne may be low, but it contributes hugely to the economy of the East Coast and to all New Zealand.

richard Burke, general manager leaderbrand.

Michael Lilley, New Zealand’s finest young farmer.

The National Bank of New Zealand, part of ANZ National Bank Limited.

After a hard-fought fi nal, it gives us great pleasure to congratulate Michael Lilley – The National Bank Young Farmer Contest winner for 2012.

Well done Michael – it’s a huge achievement. You’ve made Tasman region and your fans proud. We’d also like to thank the thousands of supporters who came to the events and left messages on our fence at goyoungfarmer.co.nz. All the fi nalists really appreciated it.

Fantastic effort Michael!

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rural News // june 5, 2012

news 13

tAF too risky – Couper

No longer friends; fonterra chairman Henry van der Hey-den, chief executive theo spierings and former shareholders council chairman simon couper at a management retreat in waikato last month.

FORMER FONTERRA Shareholders Council chairman Simon Couper will not be campaign-ing for a vote against TAF (trading among farmers).

But he wants co-op shareholders to realise TAF “will put us on a path that has the potential to become a slippery slope”.

Couper, who quit the council last month, is uncomfortable with 100% farmer control-and-own-

ership provisions in TAF but wants shareholders to make their own decision. Voting papers for the June 25 vote were sent last week to shareholders.

TAF theoretically pro-vides a unique opportunity for our co-op but must have complete safeguards on ownership and control, he says.

“And I don’t believe TAF delivers 100% owner-ship and control under its present structure,” he told Rural News.

Couper is unhappy with the size of the Fon-terra Shareholders Fund, which will sell share units to outside investors. Fon-terra’s board has agreed to reduce the fund ceiling, kept at 25% under the orig-inal proposal.

But Couper doesn’t believe the changes go far enough. “When you’re bringing in competing interests, you need to make sure an organisa-

tion is not put under risk. With a big fund, inves-tors will want more and more returns and I’m not happy and comfortable with that.”

Couper says Fonterra is a great co-op owned and run by farmers and it’s up to shareholders to decide the fate of TAF.

“Farmers should study TAF documents sent to them and decide whether they are happy and com-fortable with it.

“I’ve always held to my

integrity. I accept that a majority of council may be happy with the proposed model but I couldn’t lead an organisation where I had such a big fundamen-tal difference on such a big issue.”

Rural News under-stands about 80% of the 35-member council sup-port TAF. New council chairman Ian Brown sup-ports TAF.

Brown admits the fund size has been an impor-tant issue in deliberations with farmers over the past two years.

“As a result of these discussions considerable emphasis has been placed on the terms of the Fon-terra shareholders’ fund risk management policy which is described in the TAF blueprint, he says.

“The board and the council have been intent on ensuring that should the size of the fund move through various thresh-

SUDESH KISSUN

olds, appropriate action is taken to protect the

co-op. The final form of this policy gives the coun-

cil a pivotal role in ensur-ing that the size of the fund is closely moni-tored and appropriate action taken at the various thresholds.”

Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden says it’s important the board and council are able to stand shoulder to

shoulder on TAF. “When we announced the spe-cial meeting we said we wanted to have this final vote to unify the coopera-tive. With board and coun-cil unified on TAF we are now a long way down that track.”

Van der Heyden says the board regrets Couper’s

decision to stand down. “But if Simon is uncom-fortable, he has done the right thing by the cooper-ative.”

Couper, who served on the council for eight years, farms at Waipu, North-land. His resignation has left a vacancy in the south-ern Northland ward.

“when you’re bringing in competing interests, you need to make sure an organisation is not put under risk.”

– Simon Couper

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rural News // june 5, 2012

14 news

Deer industry gets in behind productivity planThe Deer Industry Conference last month at Wanaka featured entertaining guest speakers and enlightening panel debates. But the big-ticket item was the industry’s productivity improvement plan. Andrew swallow reports.

DEER FARMERS, or at least those at last month’s Deer Industry Conference at Wanaka, appear to have

given their unanimous support to an ambitious productivity plan. Most – possibly all – arms went

aloft when the call came for support and while it was hard to tell if there were any abstentions, no

hands were raised against.If the sector can

achieve the figures its pro-ductivity leadership group

calculates are possible, “the prize” for farmers would be at least a dou-bling of earnings per kg of venison produced.

“We need your agree-ment that you’re up for the challenge to make an extra $2.48/kg of venison,” Deer Industry New Zealand chairman Andy Macfar-

lane told the conference.“You, as individu-

als, need to take personal responsibility to partic-ipate... We, through the leadership group, will work on empowering the scientists to keep the options pipeline full so we don’t run out of ideas. Just as importantly, we’ve got to work out how to imple-ment those on farm.”

Costings for the neces-sary science and extension – and how to fund that – are still to be worked out, but Macfarlane said he expected it would be beyond DINZ’s cur-rent income streams so an application to MPI for help in funding the plan is likely.

During the conference, delegates were asked to complete a four-question form to help the produc-tivity leadership group (PLG) fine-tune the plan.

“There were some very, very good recommenda-tions which we as a group would like to pick up on,” PLG chair Mandy Bell told a later session at the con-ference.

The group summarised

responses for delegates, which were then debated.

Clive Jermy, Darfield, welcomed the plan as a “fantastic opportu-nity” but said the carcase weight model was flawed because of the acceptance of an 11kg increase in hind weight over 20 years and that the 10-year poten-tial mean carcase weight of 64.3kg was too conser-vative.

Jermy also urged the group to trawl research archives for answers before commission-ing new work, suggested DINZ’s $4.1m of reserves be raided, and he ques-tioned how findings would be disseminated.

“No research pro-gramme should be entered into for the benefit of a few producers. Levy funds are paid by all for the ben-efit of all.”

DINZ chairman Andy Macfarlane said the group was still finalising the pro-ductivity goals and how to reach them. With that nailed down, the plan would be costed and fund-ing sought. “It’s a process we’ll go through in the

James Palmer

mPi man says plan ticks boxesMPI DIReCTOR strategic systems and science policy, james Palmer, told delegates the deer industry “ticks all the boxes” in being market-led in extension and technology adoption.

However, if the sector is to get a slice of Primary Growth Partnership funds to help deploy its plans, it needs to hurry, he hinted. “We’re starting to get to the end of what we’ve got. $477m has already been allo-cated. There’s only $70m unallocated for the next four-five years.”

A key challenge in designing sector reform, such as the productivity improvement plan, is ensuring everybody moves up together. “so the top don’t streak ahead and everyone else is left behind.” In sheep and beef “the tail of underperformance has just got longer.”

Palmer says new Zealand as a whole needs to work on capturing more value for its produce. Our $25 billion or so of primary exports are transformed into an estimated $140-200bn down the value chain.

However, he implied the deer sector does better than most. “The good work you do in market now just needs more supply.”

andy Jarden

rural News // june 5, 2012

news 15

Deer industry gets in behind productivity plan

next few months.”Drawing on DINZ’s

reserves would be consid-ered, as would partnering with industry and Govern-ment.

As for the recipients of work, Macfarlane reas-sured delegates “we don’t want to spread the gap between the top and the bottom [producers]. We want to narrow that.”

Andy Jarden, Wan-

ganui, questioned the focus on earlier, 10-month finishing, given the pro-cessing efficiency gains of heavier carcases. “Why not aim for 90kg at 22 months?”

He too questioned the plan’s acceptance that hind weights would have to rise, and suggested twinning as a means to raise fawning.

WHILE VENISON producers’ average return, as measured by earnings before interest and tax per kg of product, has risen spectacularly over the past decade from 33c/kg in 2002 to $2.34/kg this year, productivity has been flat.

Fawn survival to sale is static at 72% and increased carcase weight (53kg to 55.4kg) and a six-day earlier mean kill are offset by higher hind weights (up 5kg to 110kg) leaving production effi-ciency unchanged at 0.362kg of venison produced per kg of breeding hind carried.

“Our relative efficiency is exactly the same as it was a decade ago. We could argue that as an industry we’re leaving money on the table,” Macfar-lane told delegates.

Market gains have saved the day, producing the growth in EBIT that has kept farmers in deer, albeit fewer of them. Over the next 10-20 years the industry could not rely on such gains continuing, hence the need for produc-tivity improvements to keep it compet-itive with other land uses.

If the potential output gains the

productivity group has identified are achieved, then at an EBIT of $4.81/kg venison, deer will be “very hard to touch on the class of country we want to farm on,” says Macfarlane.

Minister for Primary Industries David Cart-er’s conference open-ing address endorsed the deer industry’s produc-tivity plans. “[The deer industry] has been an absolute standout in the way it’s focussed on the value chain. You must now focus on driving

those productivity improvements.” If it did that, it would be “a role model other sectors – certainly those in the red meat sector – can learn from.”

The Government is there to support it in four areas: market access, notably into Asia and China; with responsi-ble water and environmental policies that also “unlock productivity”; fund-ing initiatives which stimulate growth; and world class biosecurity.

“Our biosecurity is world class. We’ve kept free of major pest and disease incursions despite the ever increasing numbers of people and cargo from around the globe.”

all market to date

david carter

table 1: deer industry productivity today and potential

time period today +10 years +20 years

survival to slaughter 72% 80% 87%

Carcase weight 55.4kg 64.3kg 77kg

Mean kill weight Feb 1 -16 days -33 days

Hind liveweight 110kg 115kg 119kg

Feed conversion 58:1 54:1 50:1

Kg output/hind 38 50 65

Kg output/hind lwt (hind efficiency) 0-36 0.44 0.54

Income/kg output $8.7 $8.83 $9.14

eBIT/kg output $2.34 $3.82 $4.82

Processing efficiency 33c/kg

Hind efficiency 64c/kg

Reduced hind waste 28c/kg

survival to slaughter 72c/kg

earlier kill date 12c/kg

Carcase yield 28c/kg

Velvet, feed, use, other 11c/kg

total eBit gain$2.48/kg

venison sold

table 2: 20-year eBit gain breakdown

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16 news

Feds’ boss off rome(ing) for supportFEDERATED FARMERS president Bruce Wills is off to Rome this week for the inaugural meeting of the World Farmers Organ-isation (WFO).

The new organisa-tion has formed follow-ing the collapse two years ago of a similar farming

group – the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP).

A payment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is help-ing the Feds to attend the first WFO general assem-bly lasting three days.

MFAT considers the federation can help sup-port New Zealand’s

international trade nego-tiations, Wills says. Feds is working with its Austra-lian and South American counterparts, also attend-ing.

“We felt that at some of the United Nations meet-ings that farming inter-ests were not represented. We’ve been watching the formation of WFO and

have noted a lot of coun-tries, including some in Europe and Asia, have signed up who have strong protectionist trade poli-cies.

“We have put together a paper on the importance of free trade and I hope to get a chance to speak to this paper.”

Wills says he can speak

with credibility on the free trade issue and the fact New Zealand has a non-subsidised agricultural system.

While Wills acknowledges the WFO is quite a disparate group, he believes they have some issues in common including animal welfare, climate change and

pEtEr bUrKE

environmental matters.The purpose of WFO

is similar to that of the IFAP – advocacy for farm-ers worldwide, especially in some big international forums such as the UN. WFO’s objectives include looking after the interests of farmers and their fam-ilies.

Bruce Wills says it’s

important New Zealand is represented on this international lobby group to ensure free trade and unsubsidised agricultural issues are kept to the fore-front. He says New Zea-land has to be strategic in its approach, hence the special relationship with Australia in particular on the WFO.

New lIC directors electedTWO FARMERS with wide business experience have won seats on the LIC board.

David Jenson and Gray Baldwin beat seven other candidates to the seats. The election attracted high voter turnout: 25% of eligible shareholders voted whereas previous turnout has been about 10%. David Jensen and his family in Tauranga milk 700 KiwiCross cows and farm 16ha of kiwifruit and avocados.

Jensen is a director of Farmlands Trading Society and Satara Ltd. He is B.AgSc. Massey University and worked as a New Zealand Dairy Board consulting officer in Mor-rinsville and Canterbury.

He has been an LIC councillor and regional director of BoP, past New Zealand Dairy Group councillor and a breeder of LIC bulls. His Puketiro Frostman was a member of the Friesian Premier Sires team for three years. He par-ticipated in the Fonterra governance development pro-gramme.

Baldwin and his wife Marilyn farm 410 cows at Putar-uru with sharemilkers. They won the Ballance Farm Envi-ronment Supreme Award in 2009.

Baldwin is a director of Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd and Trinity Lands Ltd and chairman of Regen Ltd, a Welling-ton effluent technology company.

Baldwin was marketing manager BNZ Agribusiness 1995-2000 and general manager marketing and distri-bution Ballance Agri-Nutrients 2000-2007. In his pres-ent role he works with 16 sharemilkers as supervisor of Carter Holt Harvey farms, Tokoroa.

He is M.AgrSc (Hons) and has completed the certifi-cate in company direction with the Institute of Directors and the Fonterra governance programme.

Both appointments took effect on June 1.

Bruce wills says it is important New Zealand is represented at the wfo to ensure free trade and unsubsidised agricultural are kept to the forefront of the agenda.

FARMER MEETINGS Trading Among Farmers Update 7 - 13 June 2012In early June, Fonterra is holding 51 meetings around the country for the Co-operative’s shareholders. The meetings will provide an update on Trading Among Farmers ahead of the June 25 Special Meeting, as well as end of season information. The meetings are open to all Fonterra farmers and plenty of time is being set aside for discussion. So if that’s you, check out the schedule below to find out where meetings are being held in your area and come along with the questions you need answered.

Location Date time VenueNorthland Kaitaia Thursday 7 June 9.30am Northerner Motor Inn, Corner North Road & Kohuhu Street, KaitaiaWellsford Thursday 7 June 11.00am Wellsford Community Centre, 1 Matheson Road, WellsfordKaikohe Thursday 7 June 1.30pm Mid-North Motor Inn, 158 Broadway, KaikoheHelensville Thursday 7 June 3.00pm Helensville Catholic Church Hall, Corner Kowhai & Puriri Streets, HelensvilleDargaville Monday 11 June 10.00am Dargaville Museum, 32 Mount Wesley Coast Road, DargavilleWhangarei Monday 11 June 1.30pm Kingsgate Hotel, 9 Riverside Drive, WhangareiSouth Auckland/Hauraki & Coromandel Auckland Thursday 7 June 7.00pm Novotel Ellerslie, 72-112 Greenlane East, Greenlane, AucklandPukekohe Friday 8 June 11.00am Counties Function Centre, 222-250 Manukau Road, PukekoheGordonton Friday 8 June 3.00pm Hukanui Golf Club, 1550 Gordonton Road, GordontonMorrinsville Monday 11 June 11.00am Kereone Rugby Club, Campbell Park, Thames Street, MorrinsvilleNgatea Monday 11 June 3.00pm Ngatea War Memorial Hall, Orchard Road, NgateaWaihi Monday 11 June 7.00pm St John’s Ambulance Hall, 25 Johnston Street, WaihiWaikato / King Country Te Pahu Thursday 7 June 11.00am Te Pahu Hall, Te Pahu Road, Te PahuCambridge Thursday 7 June 3.00pm The Riverside Motor Lodge, 7 Williamson Street, CambridgeMatamata Thursday 7 June 7.00pm Daltons Plantation, 280 Hinuera Road West, MatamataPutaruru Friday 8 June 11.00am Putaruru Kindergarten Conference Centre, 6 Glenshea St, PutaruruTe Awamutu Monday 11 June 7.00pm Te Awamutu Sports Club, 420 Albert Park Drive, Te AwamutuWaihou/Te Aroha Monday 11 June 3.00pm Barkers Function Centre, 12 Ngutumanga Road, Te ArohaOtorohanga Friday 8 June 10.00am Otorohanga Sports Club, Orahiri Terrace, Island Reserve, OtorohangaOwhango Friday 8 June 3.00pm Owhango Hotel, State Highway 4, OwhangoBay of Plenty / Central PlateauTe Puke Thursday 7 June 10.00am The Orchard, 20 Macloughlin Drive, Te PukeEdgecumbe Thursday 7 June 11.00am Fonterra Edgecumbe, 520 Awakeri Road, EdgecumbeTirohanga Thursday 7 June 3.00pm Tirohanga Hall, 839 Tirohanga Road, RD 1, AtiamuriReporoa Thursday 7 June 7.00pm The Woolshed Tavern, 3820 Broadlands Road, Golden Springs, ReporoaRotorua Friday 8 June 3.00pm Millennium Hotel, 1270 Hinemaru Street, RotoruaTaranaki Rahotu Thursday 7 June 11.00am Coastal Rugby Clubrooms, Rahotu Road, Rahotu New Plymouth Thursday 7 June 7.00pm Quality Hotel Plymouth International, Corner Courtenay Street & Leach Street, New Plymouth Hawera Friday 8 June 10.30am TSB Hub, Camberwell Road, Hawera Kapuni Monday 11 June 11.00am Kapuni Hall, Manaia Road, Kapuni Stratford Monday 11 June 7.00pm Stratford Memorial Hall, Miranda Street, StratfordLower North Island Napier Monday 11 June 11.00am East Pier, Hardinge Road, Ahuriri, Napier Dannevirke Monday 11 June 7.00pm The Hub, Allardice Street, Dannevirke Featherston Tuesday 12 June 11.00am Kiwi Hall, Corner Bell & Birdwood Street, Featherston Pahiatua Tuesday 12 June 7.00pm Bush Stadium, Bush Sports Park, Huxley Street. Pahiatua Levin Wednesday 13 June 11.00am Otaki Racecourse, Rahui Road (Te Roto entrance), OtakiPalmerston North Wednesday 13 June 7.00pm Awapuni Racecourse, Racecourse Road, Palmerston North Top of the South / Canterbury Takaka Thursday 7 June 11.00am Takaka Fire Station, Motupipi Street, TakakaHavelock Thursday 7 June 7.00pm Havelock Slip Inn, Havelock Marina, HavelockKaikoura Friday 8 June 11.00am Kaikoura Donegal House, Schoolhouse Road, KaikouraCulverden Monday 11 June 11.30am St John, Montrose Avenue, CulverdenMethven Monday 11 June 11.30am Brinkleys Resort, Barkers Road, MethvenChristchurch Monday 11 June 7.00pm Russley Golf Course, Memorial Ave, ChristchurchGeraldine Monday 11 June 7.00pm Stonebridge, Winchester-Geraldine Road, GeraldineAshburton Tuesday 12 June 11.00am Ashburton Trust Events Centre, Wills Street, AshburtonWaimate Tuesday 12 June 11.30am Te Kiteroa Lodge, Point Bush Road, WaimateOamaru Tuesday 12 June 3.00pm Kingsgate Hotel Brydone, Thames Street, OamaruOtago / SouthlandMosgiel Tuesday 12 June 11.00am Henley Hall, Centre Road, MosgielBalclutha Tuesday 12 June 3.00pm Rose Bank Lodge, Clyde Street, BalcluthaGore Tuesday 12 June 7.00pm Heartland Croydon Hotel, Main Queenstown Highway, GoreLumsden Wednesday 13 June 9.30am Lumsden Hall, Flora Road, Lumsden

Invercargill Wednesday 13 June 1.00pm Ascot Park Hotel, Tay Street, Invercargill

Light refreshments will be served at all meetings

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rural News // june 5, 2012

news 19

Agribusiness giant is awakeningJamie tuuta says maori agribusness enterprises provide around 10% of our national dairy pro-duction and carry 15% of the NZ’s sheep and beef stock units.

MAORI AGRIBUSINESS is an awakening giant enter-ing a new, confident phase, says the Maori Trustee, Jamie Tuuta.

Maori agribusiness enterprises provide 8-10% of the national milk solids production and carry 10-15% of national sheep and beef stock units, Tuuta says.

“One reason for resur-gence is a determination to move from passive asset holders to more active managers of their land and assets,” he told the DairyNZ Farmers Forum.

“A number of large scale entities in the Maori agri sector are becoming increasing market facing and value chain oriented, looking beyond the farm gate.” A recent example is the Maori majority owned milk processing company Miraka near Taupo.

Tuuta says a 2011 Berl study showed the Maori economy was worth $36.9 billion per annum. Maori had $10.6 billion in assets, with only 10% of that from tribal treaty settlements.

Forestry, fishing and farming accounted for almost a third of the Maori economy figure. Maori control 37% of the total fish quota and 36% of for-ests.

Tuuta says Maori busi-ness had a long-term inter-generational outlook.

“Most Maori entities do not farm for capital gain but for cashflow returns. Maori entities will strive to increase productivity and cash yield while being environmentally sustain-able and socially responsi-ble with intergenerational accountability.”

Tuuta says a 2011 MAF report showed Maori free-hold land totalled 1.5m ha with 20% well developed, 40% under-performing and 40% under-utilised. The majority is rolling/steep hill country with the balance more versatile. Of this land 580,000ha has no form of governance or management structure.

“That is certainly something we need to change,” he says. In gen-eral the productivity of Maori agricultural hold-ings was 60-70% of the national average. Herein lies opportunity, he says, and strategic investment will improve productiv-ity, unlock the Maori land base and provide employ-ment.

Tuuta was appointed Maori trustee nine months ago and his organisation administers 100,000ha of Maori freehold land and holds $72m of client funds with equity worth $125m.

“Over the past nine months I have developed a new strategy to mobil-ise Maori land and create a legacy that delivers ben-efit to our owners, grow-

pAM tIpA ing the assets,” he says. This may involve bring-ing land owners together to deliver higher returns as had occurred at a 189ha dairy farm in Normandy, Taranaki, milking 470 cows. This involved four Maori land blocks brought together into one eco-nomic unit. Maori agri-business needed capable

leadership, investment in the workforce and training to increase management and governance capability.

Tuuta says 150 years ago Maori established New Zealand as an agricul-tural nation but there has been a period when “our people have not had their hands in the soil”.

Young Maori needed to

be encouraged back onto farms with pathways pro-vided so they can see a way they can generate individ-ual wealth.

“As most of my rela-tions say, ‘it’s not sexy waking up at 3.30am in the cold and wind and rain in Taranaki to milk cows.’ That’s something we need to focus on.”

Fonterra’s double Dutch JVFONTERRA IS teaming up with a Dutch food company to establish a new cheese and dairy ingredients factory in the Netherlands.

A-ware Food Group will operate a new cheese plant and Fonterra will operate a dairy ingredients plant alongside it. Whey and lactose produced there will be processed into premium nutritional ingredients to supply Fonterra cus-tomers in Europe and Asia.

The two companies have signed a memorandum of agreement and will now begin due diligence, expecting to concluding the deal later this year

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the pro-posed investment fits well with the strategic priorities of both companies.

“We have substantial intellectual property in the man-ufacture of functional whey protein ingredients and have been looking for some time for a source of high quality whey to enable us to commercialise these innovations for customers around the world.

“With our New Zealand Milk business driving hard to optimise returns, we are producing more milk powders in New Zealand and therefore need alternative sources of whey to meet growth requirements. We also need more lactose for our global ingredient business. This partner-ship will give us greater access to both.”

rural News // june 5, 2012

20 news

NAIt road shows prove popular

farmers talking with tag and hardware suppliers at a recent Nait road show seminar in levin.

FARMERS’ TURNOUT to recent nationwide NAIT roadshows exceeded expectations, says chief executive Russell Burnard.

He told Rural News

3800 farmers from around the North Island had attended one of the 29 seminars. Last week and this week 15 South Island meetings were scheduled.

Farmers have generally been positive, many want-

ing to know how NAIT will operate and how they can meet their obligations, Burnard says.

A few heave asked ‘why NAIT?’, but most are saying ‘right, it’s coming, what do I have to do?’. The

questions have been the same in most places.

“Such as, “When do I have to do it? How do I get my tag numbers in there and record my animals? How do I do my move-ment recording? What

pEtEr bUrKE

happens if I lose a tag?’“They’ve been varia-

tions on those themes. We can answer those and we can move forward.”

Burnard says anyone in charge of cattle, includ-ing lifestyle farmers, must register for NAIT by July 1. For deer the date is March 1, 2013. “The rule from July 1 for cattle is you’ll have to tag any animal born after that date within 180 days or movement, whichever comes first.”

Dairy farmers are switched on to NAIT via information from organi-sations such as DairyNZ and LIC and because they already have tracking sys-tems in place. Beef farm-ers may find it a bit harder than dairy farmers, but NAIT has tried to make it as simple as possible.

“We are saying to beef farmers, ‘if you’re taking

your animals to a salesyard or to a meat processor, if they are accredited, then they can do many of the NAIT obligations for you. If you are doing private sales from farm to farm, ok NAIT does mean you’ve got to record those move-ments.”

Burnard says while farmers will always look closely at costs, now they are saying ‘these are rules – what do I have to do and how can I maximise the benefit once I’ve got to face these costs?’

The key message to farmers is they must reg-ister before July 1, ideally online.

“It’s not hard,” Burnard says. “If you can register on Trade Me you can regis-ter on NAIT.”

The NAIT roadshow team will be at National Fieldays, Mystery Creek.

...sheep soonNATIONAL ANIMAL Identification and Tracing (NAIT) is likely to be introduced “sooner rather than later” for sheepmeat, says Minister for Primary Industries David Carter.

“Our customers are continuing to demand traceabil-ity and if we want to sell our products overseas for a good price we have got to be prepared to meet their demands,” Carter told the DairyNZ Farmers Forum.

He said many in the sheep industry were seeing that and taking the opportunity of including NAIT.

Federated Farmers meat and fibre spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell says NAIT would cost one tenth the worth of a sheep – with cattle it was far less of its total value.

“And that is in a good year. If you go back a few years ago when a lamb fetched barely $60, it would have been one fifth of its cost.”

She says for farms, particularly those doing big num-bers, choosing to use e-ID (electronic identification) for RFID (radio frequency identification) to trace production gains there are definitely some benefits. But she does not believe NAIT should compulsory for sheep because there are no biosecurity issues over sheep at present.

Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly says their farms are using RFID tags in some sheep flocks at docking and measuring the progress of the animal by weight every week or two.

“We are finding some really interesting stuff coming out – differences in growth rate between animals that are apparently grazed and managed in the same way, differ-ent growth rates in different forms of genetics, etc. That’s allowing us to make some on-farm decisions on how we feed them, how we can maximise their growth rates.”

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1. Compared to the I6 4.0L petrol engine. These results are obtained from controlled laboratory tests conducted by Ford Motor Company to Australian Design Rule ADR81/02 and are provided to assist you in comparing the fuel economy of Falcon with other like vehicles. The actual fuel consumption you will achieve will depend, however, on many factors including your driving habits, the prevailing conditions and your vehicles equipment, condition and use.

rural News // june 5, 2012

22 news

Fonterra to cut fat from researchABOUT 40% of projects at Fonterra’s Research Centre in Palmerston North will be dropped because they don’t fit with the new strategy – partic-ularly that dairy must be healthy.

Fonterra chief execu-tive Theo Spierings said

the projects will be sold, joint ventured or put into new strategic lines.

“We are not going to actively drive them our-selves. Those are tough choices but that’s what strategy is about.”

Questioned at the DairyNZ Farmers Forum about weaknesses in Fon-terra, Spierings said he

had asked “Are we fast enough? We see how fast the Chinese are and the Americans can be when under pressure’.”

He also said Fonterra could be too internally focused and he extended this to the whole coun-try. “We are fantastically placed; we are the size of Japan but only 4.5 mil-

lion people. We have huge opportunities but we tumble so much over each other we forget to grab the opportunities.”

Sometimes he thought Fonterra was too big for the size of the country.

Everybody had an opin-ion on the company and was in the newspaper with it.

Giving details on the reviewed strategy, Spier-ings said they had 100 projects – 80 existing and 20 new projects. This was a reduction from 160 proj-ects.

A small innovation centre had started in Shanghai to test ingredi-ents and invite customers in, as an example of sitting

pAM tIpA

close to their customers.Also on China he said

Fonterra did not want a second Sanlu, and would not grow its milk in China if it was not satisfied with safety.

However the main thrust of its growth strat-egy was into those emerg-ing markets of China, Asean and Latin America with 60% of New Zealand milk now going into those regions.

Spierings said Fonterra would downsize in Europe and the US where it had had “a lot of investment, a lot of people” because those markets had lost relevance. They would look at joint ventures and “doing new things with partners, not everything by ourselves” in these markets.

He said they had an

unpolished jewel in food service. “We have a $1.2 billion food service right now; we don’t actively drive it but I think we can grow this business two or three times that size.”

A delegation had just been to India but there were no signs of the Indian government remov-ing import barriers. Fon-terra may open a small office there and possi-bly have a model farm but there would be no more investment until the bar-riers came down. Demand growth was forecast to be 10% with local growth just 2%, so that gap needed to be filled.

Local milk pools would never be developed in Middle East and Africa because of the desert heat and the high cost of pro-duction.

unity firstA UNITED Fonterra is more important than TAF (trad-ing among farmers), chief executive Theo Spierings says.

“People are asking me a lot of questions: what if TAF does not happen or happens. [TAF] is kind-of important, because if it doesn’t happen we can do less,” he told farm-ers at the DairyNZ forum.

“But for me it would be worse if Trading Among Farm-ers happens and we have a disunited, divided co-op. We have to stick together.”

Referring to Fonterra’s 2020 strategy Spierings said “We have this opportunity, we have this strength; if we are not united Trading Among Farmers doesn’t matter. We have to be united to deliver.

“That is a key message I would like to deliver.”Later in question time Spierings said “June 25, the final

vote, it is not about TAF, it is about whether we are united... do we believe in the same future and do we go forward? Because if we are not united we are not going to win. The All Black team could not [have won] the World Cup if they were not united.”

Spierings said the second point to him, next to being united, was that we connect back to where we came from. “We have to be a star performer in the world... but in our country we have to be close to our grassroots.”• Pam Tipa

fonterra boss theo spierings has signalled it will be taking the knife to some projects that do not fit with the compa-ny’s growth strategy.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

24 news

Connecting with the East CoastTransport issues on the North Island East Coast are again in the spotlight, with fears the train line from Gisborne to Napier may close. Roads – even the main ones – are also in trouble, major washouts still undergoing repair months after recent floods. Rural News reporter Peter Burke visited Gisborne to see the region’s problems.

YOU’D THINK the drive from Napier to Gisborne would be simple and

quick, but it’s not. Signs such as ‘washout’, ‘stop’ and ‘one lane’ are common

on SH2; the delays are part of everyday life. Go off the highway and gets worse.

stock trucks negotiate the one way road on state Highway 2 just south of Gisborne.

And the train line is cut by huge washouts.

Richard Burke, general manager of Leaderbrand, one of the country’s big-gest horticultural com-panies, says the rail link between Gisborne and Napier will be important for the future of his organ-isation and the East Coast.

Burke says the rail link will work long term. But his company, a major exporter of squash to Japan and Korea, until recently did not use the rail link much because the line couldn’t carry stan-dard 40-foot high cube shipping containers.

“There was also a weight issue so we’d bring the smaller containers

to Gisborne, load them three quarters full and take them to Napier where we’d have to take the remaining squash down by truck and load this into the container. It was expen-sive, frustrating and dif-ficult to manage because our customer wanted one container with one prod-uct line,” he says.

But last year, Burke says, KiwiRail lowered the floor of its tunnels, enabling the train to take the larger containers and they started using that service until the recent floods.

“For us that’s opened up a whole new world because we were able to export straight out of Gis-

borne. We can load con-tainers at our facilities in [Gisborne], put them on the rail fully loaded to the maximum weight and once they are on the rail to Napier it’s pretty much shipped.” But he notes that for squash exports Leaderbrand would only use the line about three months of the year.

Burke says the rail issue is much bigger than Lea-derbrand; the real issue is economic growth in the region. He says it may be hard to argue short term for retaining the line for freight; a lot of money needs to be spent to repair and maintain it.

“Gisborne is all about primary production and

for that to work we need good infrastructure We’ve got a dangerous road north at the moment; the road south is ok but it doesn’t take much for it to go out. We’ve got a port that, in reality, because of the larger ships they build these days, is not going to continue viable.

“Now we’ve got a rail-way line they are consid-ering closing. I say ‘hang on here if you want Gis-borne to partake of eco-nomic growth, then we need to get the infrastruc-ture right’.

“We’ve got enough things going against us. I think the rail will work long term and be a suc-cess for Gisborne and the

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news 25

Connecting with the East Coast

country as a whole but it’s going to take time and resources. I just hope the Government is prepared to stump up.”

Leaderbrand does use the Gisborne port, but it

can only take the smaller ‘charter’ ships. The ship-ping companies want to move away from smaller ports and take large con-tainers from fewer and bigger ports.

mayor leads crusade for rail to wellingtonGIsBORne MAYOR Meng Foon says the rail link from Gisborne to napier is very important to the region. He’s led local protests and gone to Wellington to make a case for its reten-tion. since KiwiRail increased the capacity and capability of the line, local businesses are starting to use it, he says.

“not long ago they had five wagons on the train a week now there up to 60. It’s unfortunate

the rainstorm blew the line out. For the future I think rail is the transport medium for heavy freight – especially with rising fuel prices. We need to look long term.”

He says vegetables are the main produce carried by rail, but other industries are looking more closely at the rail option. For example, he says, a local quarry could move aggregates by rail. And some logs could

go by rail to be shipped out of napier.

The mayor says he asked Prime Minister john Key to support the fixing of the line which he says would only cost about $3 million.

“The primary message is ‘invest in our region’. We haven’t had any recent investment from the Government in our region.”

Meng Foon also sees the

state of the region’s roads as a problem and says the rural roading network is starting to deteriorate. Lack of good roads means the district is unable to compete economically with other regions.

Meanwhile Federated Farmers provincial president Hamish Cave has weighed into the issue calling on the Prime Minister to ‘not forget about Gisborne’. everyone involved

needs to put their cards on the table, sit down and sort out what what’s needed to have a proper transport network in the region, Cave says.

He points to the fragility of the present roading and warns that if goods now carried by rail are moved onto the roads, they will get damaged more easily.

“We are a productive agri-cultural province and we want a slice of the taxpayers money.” meng foon

Protecting roads help – expertsFEW PEOPLE know the East Coast region’s roads better than Alister Gray, branch manager for Farmers Transport. He’s lived in Gisborne at least 40 years and his company is the biggest transporter of livestock in the region.

He says the transport issues are not only about money; they have much to do with the nature of the clay soils – soft and prone to hold water, resulting in subsidence. East Coast soils are not like those across the ranges in Taupo – pumice, free-draining and hard. He says roading engineers have had to design roads with steep cambers to allow the water to run off quickly and also put deep drains on either sides of the roads.

“So there’s no pulling off if you have a flat tyre. You just stop on the road and have them changed because you can’t pull over. It’s part of the challenge for the area.”

Gray points out that many rural roads on the East Coast are single-lane roads and it’s almost impossible for two vehicle to pass. “It’s exceptionally challenging especially when you are dealing with a 44-tonne rig laden with stock which may be four decks high with lambs. Then we also have a height problem.”

About 90% of the rural roads are gravel but the truck-ies do their best during wet winter months to protect the roads from damage.

“We have a period of four months where we voluntarily isolate roads that aren’t up to what we call ‘class one’ stan-dard. So we leave trailers on main roads and go in, pick up a truckload and bring it out and put it on the trailers and then take the truck in and come out again.

“The issue we’ve struck is trying to convince our farmer customers that the extra cost and time involved is mini-mal compared with rebuilding a road. There are also staff safety issues, the cost of the vehicles and animal welfare issues.”

Gray accepts that money for roading is limited but says this is one way of saving costly repairs to roads.

Apart from lamb going to the works in Gisborne, most stock on the East Coast is carted out by road to freezing works in Auckland, Waikato and Hawkes Bay, and to other regions. Road transport is the only way. Rail has been tried and has animal welfare issues, not to mention white sheep turning black in tunnels.

“Gisborne is all about primary production and for that to work we need good infrastructure we’ve got a dangerous road north at the moment; the road south is ok but it doesn’t take much for it to go out.”

– Richard Burke, Leaderbrand

rural News // june 5, 2012

26 news

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Succession planning not just for the All blacksFARMERS REGULARLY tell us succession is an issue for them yet only about one in ten has a

formal plan in place to transition ownership of the farm. This can limit the ability to introduce the next generation, limit the performance of the

business and lead to family dissension.

A significant number of farmers want to pass their farm on to the next gener-ation of their family. Over

the years we’ve witnessed thousands of transitions from parents to children. Looking across the most successful transitions, we see a few common traits.

The whole family – parents, and farming and non-farming children - have a shared understand-ing of what they want to achieve in the long term.

GrAHAM tUrLEY They operate their farm as a business, so it is profitable and able to give a return on family equity. As a result they do not over-gear to bring in the next generation, but leave capital in to maintain its financial strength, and use succession as a means to increase business perfor-mance, not weaken the business.

The family under-stands that ownership, governance and business management are separate roles and that succession can occur in these roles at different times. There will often be two generations working in the business at the same time.

In many farms, one farming couple holds the roles of governance, business management and doing the day-to-day work.

There is nothing wrong with this, when it is understood these are sep-arate roles and each needs due attention. If you wear all these hats, don’t wear them at the same time and get appropriate advice to be effective in each of them. For example, take time out from day-to-day work to give attention to business management or long term planning.

Formalised roles are important in larger busi-nesses

As farms have become larger and more complex, there is a need to look at the more complex operat-ing models. For example, we are seeing many more instances of more formal governance in New Zea-land family farms and of clear separation of the roles of ownership, gover-nance and business man-agement.

More clearly defin-ing the roles creates suc-cession options because each role does not need to change at the same time – for example a son may take over management but only progressively move into ownership. This allows the business to benefit from the expe-rience of the older gener-ation, even if they aren’t physically active on the farm, so their skills and

experience aren’t lost. Governance protects the interest of all sharehold-ers, so capital can be left in the business.

The incoming gen-eration progressively increases skills, experi-ence and responsibility to the stage where they have the capability to own and manage a multi-million dollar operation.

In some cases non-farming siblings have an active role in the family business and may bring in different skills, such as financial management.

Aside from succession, there are immediate bene-fits from better definition of the roles.

Even for smaller oper-ations run by one farm-ing couple, it can provide increased discipline in governance and business management. Farmers tell us of having separate family meetings on gov-ernance issues or ‘budget’ meetings where the only topics for discussion are the strategic and financial planning – all other topics are off limits at that par-ticular time.

Others tell us that having the defined areas of responsibility allows individuals to make deci-sions quickly without having to consult with the rest of the family.

In many ways, it’s establishing the business rules that a commercial business employs – man-agement has discretion to spend up to a certain amount but defers to the board for bigger financial decisions and longer-term strategic thinking.

As a result of this more disciplined approach, it becomes easier to identify issues that need address-ing or to have difficult conversations that may otherwise be avoided. Having the clearly defined roles also makes it easier to identify skills or knowl-edge gaps that can be plugged by external advice, and then makes it simpler to identify the right person to bring in.• Graham Turley is managing director commercial and agri at ANZ New Zealand.

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RICHIE MCCAW is an iconic New Zealand rugby player; Fonterra is an iconic New Zealand com-pany. Bringing the two into the same team – with McCaw becoming Fonter-ra’s ambassador – could be seen as a good move, but when you need strength in the scrum, bringing in a mascot is unlikely to greatly affect the outcome.

The problem is soci-ety is concerned about the price of food and the impact of farming on the environment. Farmers are concerned the money they are receiving for their product is highly vari-able, and that costs are rising faster than income.

Of further concern is that regulations in environ-mental management are being imposed by people appointed to regional councils whose scientific understanding of the vast complexities involved is poor. These councillors are elected by ratepay-ers often with even less understanding, but with personal beliefs that drive them to attempt to make a difference. The system is unlikely to result in long term survival in terms of the economy, agricultural sustainability or the needs of individual members of the community.

Fact is New Zealand has some of the cheap-est food as a proportion of household income in the world – in the same bracket as Amer-ica, Canada, Australia and Scandinavia. Much food in New Zealand is imported (tropical and out-of-sea-son fruit and vegetables, rice, pasta, sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, many flour and oat-based goods such as biscuits and cereals). This means supermarket food prices are influenced by overseas exchange rates and growing seasons as well as overseas demand. Being able to pay for these foods means a good export economy – and farming is

still the mainstay.It is also true river

water quality is much higher in New Zealand than in most countries. The Waikato, for instance, has 100 times less nitrate than the Thames and the British are celebrating how clean their main river is.

Whether Richie will be able to explain all this to

society is a moot point. Although he has received an honorary Doctor of Natural Resources degree from Lincoln Univer-sity, the award was for his rugby achievements. It does not indicate he has an advanced understanding of natural resources, yet this is exactly what would be useful to Fonterra.

Fonterra’s board includes farm business people, and accountants, but in order to meet the challenges of the future, the board needs people who understand environ-mental science and can communicate the issues. An understanding of com-munication ensures the consequences of alterna-tive actions are under-stood by society, farmers and policy analysts in gov-ernment, as well as by the management and gover-nance structures of any company.

Without these experts on a board, the manage-ment team has the bulk of the responsibility in deci-sion making, and the inde-pendent assessment of a strategy and rigour of debate about it is limited.

Richie McCaw is a great guy. His presence at events might lead to more people being present to hear words from Fonter-

news 29Agribusiness needs more than mascots

ra’s board members, but unless there is science and communication expertise on that board, the words are unlikely to result in improved understanding by farmers, society or gov-ernment.

It is a disappoint-ment to all involved in the industry that New Zea-land has arrived at a point

where popularist person-alities – great rugby play-ers or not – are required to elevate the status of the national icon that is Fon-terra. To convert its ‘try’ to points on the scoreboard, Fonterra could do with a broader game plan.• Jacqueline Rowarth is Professor of Agribusiness, The University of Waikato.

fonterra’s board includes farm business people, and accountants, but in order to meet the challenges of the future, the board needs people who understand environmental science and can communicate the issues.

fonterra’s new ambassador richie mccaw with theo spierings.

rural News // june 5, 2012

30 world

basin plan draws flack from all sidesTHE MURRAY Darling Basin Plan designed to return water from irriga-tion use to waterways in four states of Australia has drawn fire from every stakeholder.

The plan devised by the Murray Darling Basin Authority is the second to

be released in 18 months after the first plan drew the ire of regional commu-nities and farmers.

The initial plan sug-gested cutting 4000 gigalitres of irrigation entitlements within the basin – which stretches from Queensland, through NSW and Victoria and into South Australia. This

water would ensure more water coursed through the rivers and wetlands in the basin.

That plan drew crowds of angry farmers to commu-nity meetings, where they burned copies of the plan. Irrigators, farmers and regional

leaders said such cuts would destroy thousands of jobs and therefore local communities.

The new plan – released this week – was overseen by a new MDBA chairman put in place by the minority Federal Government. Although it has reduced the amount of irrigation water it

StEpHEN COOKE says is needed to protect the health of the Basin to 2750GL, State Govern-ments, farm groups band irrigators say little else has changed.

Their key concern is the Federal Government entering the water market and buying water rights back from farmers, putting pressure on communities and irrigators that want to remain.

Environment groups and the Greens – who the Federal Government rely on to hold office – say the plan does not release enough water to ensure the health of the river system.

Victorian Farmers Fed-eration president Peter Tuohey said the MDBA’s consultation process –

which involved travelling around Australia to listen to concerned parties at community forums – had been a sham.

“They’ve failed to listen to our call that all further water for the environment be recovered by more effi-cient watering of wetlands and river operations – not just buyouts of irrigators’ water,” Tuohey said. “Failure to include these measures means the Fed-eral Government will just rely on buyouts.”

Tuohey said the revised draft Murray Darling Basin Plan handed to State Water Ministers does not include crucial changes needed to minimise the impact of draining water out of irrigation commu-nities.

National Irrigators Council chairman Gavin McMahon said the plan does not include an envi-ronmental watering plan to explain where the water will be used.

“How has the Govern-ment come up with any number when it doesn’t

know and won’t know for at least another three years how, when, where, why or what it wants to water?” McMahon said.

Australian Dairy Indus-try Council Basin Task-force chairman Daryl Hoey said he was partic-ularly concerned about misleading information in the plan’s socio-economic summary report.

He said an example was the claim irrigators only face a 19% reduction in water, after accounting for infrastructure savings.

However, this is a proportion of all water diverted in the basin, including for Adelaide, other towns, manufactur-ing and mining, as well as agriculture.

“In truth, the reduction

will be about 30%, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data of actual irrigation water use – and the Government is only targeting irrigators’ water for purchase for the envi-ronment,” Hoey said.

MDBA boss Craig Knowles has said envi-ronmental works – which could achieve desired environmental outcomes with less water through new infrastructure - would be considered as part of a review of the basin plan in 2015.

But the VFF has said that’s not good enough. “We want these changes enshrined in the final plan, not left to some distant review,” Tuohey said.

Hoey agrees: “The authority is trying to palm off the hard decisions to the 2015 review, when it knows full well it is legally locking the Federal Gov-ernment into buybacks as the investment priority in the meantime. So by the time we get to 2015, the socio-economic damage will have been done.”

federal agriculture minister tony Burke’s latest plans for the murray darling Basin have not found favour with stakeholders.

australian dairy industry council Basin taskforce chair daryl Hoey has expressed major concerns over the new plan.

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world 31Check out our new websites

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Aussies toast FtA with Malaysia

AUSTRALIAN DAIRY, rice and wine exporters to Malaysia are the big-gest winners in a free trade agreement (FTA) signed between the two countries last month.

The deal, signed after seven years of negotia-tions, allows a liberalised licensing arrangement for Australian liquid milk exporters and allows access for higher value retail products.

It guarantees Aus-tralian wine exporters the best tariff treatment Malaysia gives any coun-try. It also allows open access arrangements from 2023 for Australian rice with all tariffs eliminated by 2026.

The National Farmers’ Federation says the trade deal will improve inter-national market access for Australian agricultural goods.

“After seven years of negotiation, the NFF is under no illusion of how challenging it has been to complete this FTA with Malaysia,” NFF vice presi-dent Duncan Fraser says.

The FTA will fill a number of gaps within the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA).

“Protectionist senti-ment over agricultural goods is rife and grow-

ing across the globe, so in this context it is pleas-ing Australia has managed to forge an agreement with Malaysia that has dealt with some sensi-tive agricultural issues

not effectively covered by AANZFTA,” says Fraser.

“While under the AAN-ZFTA agreement most of Australian agriculture’s key interests had tar-iffs bound at zero, dairy and rice are two sectors where incremental market access improvements have been negotiated under the Malaysian FTA.

“This trade deal was also particularly impor-tant for sectors such as dairy that have been facing a competitive disadvan-tage in Malaysia com-pared with New Zealand which already has a com-

pleted FTA with Malaysia in place.”

The FTA also signals some administrative ben-efits for Australian agri-cultural exporters through streamlining of rules-of-

origin declaration pro-cesses and improved marketing arrangements for certain commodities.

The Malaysian market is worth about A$1 bil-lion in Australia agricul-tural exports – including being its fourth-largest sugar export market and fifth-largest wheat export market. With an annual eco-nomic growth at about 5%, Malaysia forms an impor-tant part of the ‘Asian Century’ story and the opportunity this presents for Australian agricultural producers, says Fraser.

Despite the comple-tion of this agreement, much remains to be done for Australia’s farmers to tap into the full potential of the Asian region and beyond.

He says the NFF will now throw its attention towards ensuring agricul-ture remains front and centre in completed FTAs with South Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia as immediate priorities.

“These are all markets with enormous growth opportunities and where significant barriers to trade in agriculture still exist, not only through tariffs that restrict trade but also through techni-cal or so called ‘behind the border’ restrictions.”

The FTA was signed on May 22 in Kuala Lumpur by Australia’s Trade and Competiveness Minis-ter Craig Emerson and his Malaysian counterpart Mustapa Mohamed.

Emerson says Australia will be as well-positioned in the Malaysian market as Malaysia’s closest trading partners in ASEAN, and in some cases better. The FTA will guarantee tariff-free entry for 97.6% of cur-rent goods exports from Australia once it enters into force. This will rise to 99% by 2017.

sealing the deal: malaysian trade minister mustapha mohamed with australian counterpart craig emerson after signing the deal.

“these are all markets with enormous growth opportunities and where significant barriers to trade in agriculture still exist, not only through tariffs that restrict trade but also through technical or so called ‘behind the border’ restrictions.”

– Duncan Fraser

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32 world

Dairy smiles on IrishTHE IRISH dairy sector has the potential to create 15,000 jobs over the next three-five years, in the process giving a much-needed boost to the Irish economy in exports and in direct and indirect employment.

Independent econo-mist Ciaran Fitzgerald told the National Dairy

Council’s annual confer-ence in Dublin that the Irish dairy sector is one of the few sectors that has shown strong growth in recent years.

“It already directly and indirectly employs 34,000 people and is a huge part of our export trade with dairy exports valued at NZ$4.49 billion in 2011,”

Fitzgerald says.With the abolition of

EU milk quotas in 2015 that growth is predicted to increase by 50%.

“Because the dairy sector buys 85% of its inputs in the Irish econ-omy, a NZ$2.2 billion increase in output will have a huge positive mul-tiplier impact across

the economy – and also across the regions,” Fitzgerald says.

Council chief executive Zoë Kavanagh claimed that as a business model, the Irish dairy industry is unique. Its foundations are a community of farmers, processors and professionals who, in

their combined activities, deliver excellence in an often challenging and highly competitive environment

University College Dublin economist John Fanning calls the dairy industry the “jewel in the crown” of Ireland’s eco-nomic recovery.• Alan Harmon

arla expands its Euro business

DAIRY CO-OP Arla Foods is spreading its wings in Europe through two mergers planned for later this month.

If the mergers with UK’s fourth-largest dairy co-op Milk Link and German co-op Milch-Union Hocheifel (MUH) are approved on June 26, Arla will become one of Europe’s leading dairy groups represented by owners in six countries: UK, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. The merger will make Arla the UK’s larg-est dairy company and it will rank third in Germany.

The two planned mergers will immediately increase Arla’s revenue by $2 billion per year.

Arla chief executive Peder Tuborgh says the growth goes hand-in-hand with Arla’s Strategy 2015, the key objective of which is to improve returns for its owners by, among other things, enhancing their positions in the core markets of the UK and Germany.

“If the owners agree on these mergers, it will strengthen Arla Foods’ position as one of Europe’s leading dairy com-panies: a broad ownership, which delivers significant vol-umes and a very strong product mix – for consumers and for the industry – under well known brands as well as own label,” say Tuborgh.

Both Milk Link and Milch-Union Hocheifel are strong, well run dairy groups which, with their product portfolios and production systems, will strengthen our business in both countries, he says.

Like Arla Foods, both companies are owned by dairy farmers.

”In each of the three companies, the aim is to create value for our farmer owners in the form of a strong milk price. This will also be the case going forward, and our abil-ity to deliver good results will be strengthened if these plans are realised.”

Tuborgh says another Arla objective is to achieve reve-nues of $16b by 2015. With Milk Link and MUH, Arla hopes its group revenues will reach $15.5b by 2013.

Arla chairman Ake Hantoft says over the course of the negotiating process, it noted a strong relationship with the other two companies.

“All three dairy companies have been created by milk producers who, through investment, have built up com-panies that we can be proud of. Together, we’re now cre-ating a company that will be well placed to take milk, our raw material, and create the highest possible value from it,” says Hantoft.

“The strength and value lies in the fact that a co-operative dairy can rank among the world’s leading dairy companies, and this cannot be underestimated.” The mergers are also a significant step for MUH and Milk Link who both want to ensure access to more markets, a broader product portfolio and a more stable return for their owners. Both companies hope to achieve this by tapping into Arla’s greater access to worldwide markets.

“We’re already a European dairy company, but through a merger with Arla we’re pursuing our strategy of becom-ing an international company able to provide a favourable and stable milk price,” says MUH chief executive Rainer Sievers.

“A merger will strengthen our posi-tion in Germany and mean that our prod-ucts gain access to more markets,”

Milk Link chief executive Neil Ken-nedy says the merger will bring together two successful, growth-orientated farmer-owned dairy businesses with com-plementary positions in key markets, brands and customer bases. “It reflects and reinforces Milk Link’s position as the UK’s leading dairy businesses and recognises and rewards the ongoing loy-alty and commitment of our members,” he says.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

Agribusiness 33

Zeroing in on budget 2012THE BUDGET for the 2012-13 fiscal year begin-ning July 1, continues to forecast a return to sur-plus before the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

Government intends to hold spending near cur-rent levels, with net new Government spending to 2016 totaling just $26.5 million.

Tax revenue is expected to increase by $1.36 billion over four years to the end of fiscal year 2016, with changes including tight-ening rules for deduction of the costs of assets, for example holiday homes and boats used by owners and renters.

Smokers are hardest hit with tobacco excise tax to rise by 10% each year for four years, increasing rev-enue by $528 million over the period.

Rebuilding in Christ-church, which is recov-ering from a series of devastating earthquakes, is still expected to cost the Government $5.5 billion before the end of fiscal 2016.

Treasury expects net Government debt in the forecast period to peak at 28.7% of gross domes-tic product in fiscal 2014, down from February’s

forecast of a peak of 29.6% in the same period and below the Government’s objective of 30%. Tax rates

No changes are being made to the existing key tax rates. The current key tax rates are as follows: • GST – 15% • Corporate tax rate – 28% • Trustee tax rate – 33%• Income tax rates for individuals are (see table 1): This compares with the key tax rates in Australia, which are follows: • GST – 10%• Corporate tax rate – 30% • Trustee tax rate – 45%• Income tax rates for indi-viduals are (see table 2):Future Investment Fund

The Government expects to raise $5 - $7 bil-lion from the partial sale of State Owned Enter-prises (SOE) and Air New Zealand, and holding this amount as the Future Investment Fund. The Future Investment Fund will then invest the funds into new taxpayer assets over the next few years.

The first allocation of funding will be as follows: • $88.1 million for the health sector, most of which will go towards hos-pital redevelopments;

• $250 million for Kiwi-Rail’s turnaround plan;• $76 million for capital cost of establishing the

Advanced Technology Institute; • $34 million to fit out schools with advanced broadband technology

The first of the four SOEs, Mighty River Power, is likely to be partially floated in the third quar-ter of 2012. The Govern-ment intends to maintain its majority sharehold-ing of all the entities in the Mixed Ownership Model. More money for the IRD

The Government has announced that the Inland Revenue Depart-ment will receive an extra $78.4 million over the next 4 years. This is to bol-ster its tax compliance activities in dealing with the “black” economy, debt recovery and following up unfiled returns. Tax credit reform

The Government has

removed a range of tax credits including the child-care and housekeeper tax credits, the under $9,880

tax credit as well as the tax credit for the active income of children.

These credits are no longer seen fit for purpose due to other initiatives such as working for families and the 20 hours per week childcare

subsidy. The removal of these tax credits will save $117 million over the next four years.Kiwisaver reform

The budget has pro-vided a number of changes to KiwiSaver. In perhaps the biggest surprise in this year’s budget, the Gov-ernment has put off plans to look at the automatic enrolment of workers into KiwiSaver.

The Government has deferred this until such time as there are sufficient surpluses to fund the esti-mated 4 year cost (which is approximately $514 mil-lion).

The employee min-imum contribution to

KiwiSaver will increase from 2% to 3% at 1 April, 2013. This is not surprising since it was announced in the 2011 Budget.‘Mixed use’ assets

Changes to the tax treatment of “mixed use” assets (assets that are used both in business and pri-vately) were foreshad-owed in the 2011 Budget.

Examples of assets that commonly have a “mixed use” are holiday homes, boats and aircrafts.

The new rules will require “mixed use” assets owners to apportion their deductions based on the actual income earned and the private use of the asset.

For example, if a person rents out a holiday home for 30 days in a year and uses it personally for 30 days in a year, they will now be able to claim only 50% of the costs as a tax deduction (instead of the 90% they are currently allowed). This is forecast to generate an additional $109 million of tax revenue, over the next

four years. Student loan reform

Student loan repay-ments rates will increase from 10 cents to 12 cents for each dollar once income goes over $19,084 per year, effective from 1 April 2013. In addi-tion, voluntary repay-ment bonus and student allowance for postgradu-ate study will no longer be offered. Livestock valuation

Budget legislation will put the previously announced, livestock valu-ation restrictions into law. Restrictions will be placed on a farmer’s ability to switch between livestock valuation methods.

Previously farm-ers were able to switch between the two main livestock valuation meth-ods to receive a tax advan-tage.

Effective from 18 August 2011, farmers will no longer be allowed to switch between the 2 alter-native methods, except in narrow circumstances.

Annual Income ($NZ) rate

$0-$14,000 10.5%

$14,001-$48,000 17.5%

$48,001-$70,000 30.0%

$70,001 and over 33.00%

Table 1: nZ tax rates

From 1 July 2012

Annual Income ($A) rate

$0-$18,200 nil

$18,201-$37,000 19.0%

$37,001-$80,000 32.5%

$80,001-$180,000 37.0%

$180,000 and over 45.0%

Table 2: Australian tax rates

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rural News // june 5, 2012

34 Agribusiness

Government intervention no longer a threatA TAF ‘no’ vote no longer carries the threat of Government intervention.

For so long we have heard we need TAF and its investor-owned fund to solve redemption risk and ‘stabilise’ Fonterra’s balance sheet. TAF replaces some capital that is cur-rently contributed to the cooperative by farmers, with capital contributed instead by non-farmers. Some of these will be offshore institu-tional investors, some will be specula-tors, some we simply can’t predict who they will be.

Speculators and traders need vola-tility from which to profit – that’s their purpose. Dairy cooperatives need sta-bility of supply to keep their stainless steel full, maximising their efficiency and hence maximising the milk price to their farmer owners – that’s their purpose.

Peaks and troughs in the Fonterra

share value will be driven by the trading activity of the 25% of non-farmers who will own Fonterra securities under TAF.

This creates a much greater oppor-tunity for farmers to end up with much more – or much less – than fair value

on entry and exit of Fon-terra. Our share price will be set by what outside inves-tors are prepared

to pay. So how do we see the traders

who need volatility, alongside the farm-ers who need stability, complementing each other in this great big ‘friendly’ equity partnership? How has Fonterra for so long got away with arguing that this scenario helps stabilise the coop-erative?

At what cost the ‘belts and braces’ in place to prevent organised institutional investors using their cash and lawyers to exert some control over the milk price

to enhance their investment returns? So far it’s been two years, $50 million dol-lars and Fonterra inviting Government regulation into our business for inves-tor protection.

And if TAF’s investor fund gets a ‘yes’ vote, how long will the suspender belt

stay in place after the wedding night?The good news is this: since this

long debate has occurred it has focused attention on Government regulation that has contributed to redemption risk. Farmers have been told that if they don’t vote for TAF they are stuck with legisla-tion requiring Fonterra shares be valued as if they are traded in an open market – even though in a non-TAF environment they are not.

They are in fact traded in a restricted market between Fonterra and farmers, as has always been accepted by co-oper-ative members. Farmers and Fonterra submitted to the select committee that this ruling for ‘artificial‘ valuation

is illogical and not helpful. We have now been assured progress has been made toward reduc-ing the impacts of government intervention in a non-TAF envi-

ronment. This means a vote against TAF will

leave us in a better position than we were in prior to the current proposed restructure. Better able to value our share realistically and without the need for a fund for ‘price discovery’, as one director put it.

I simply don’t trust the suspender belts or braces and judging by his recent resignation neither does Simon Couper

– who has had access to the blueprint and the world’s best independent advice. Simon stood for the promised 100% ownership and control by farm-ers for farmers. He stood down from his role as chair of the Shareholders Coun-cil on the basis this cannot be delivered.

Men of that calibre built this indus-try. Others would see it dismantled while paying lip service to ownership and control.• Leonie Guiney is a South Canterbury dairy farmer, Fonterra shareholder and outspoken critic of TAF.

simon couper stood down as shareholder council chair over taf.speculators and traders

need volatility from which to profit – that’s their purpose.

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36 Agribusiness

amr is already changing the way Nick dournauf operates, he no longer physically puts on cups but spends more time analysing data garnered from the system.

Dairy’s future – doing more with less

LABOUR MANAGEMENT and availability was a key driver for automation and would take dairying into the premier league of industries to work in, says

De Laval’s Oceana presi-dent Richard Alderton.

Automatic milking sys-tems will change the work-ing lives of farmers and the type of labour they could attract.

“To increase milk pro-

duction, New Zealand and Australian farms have tra-ditionally got more cows and more land,” Alderton says. “That has become more and more expensive so the challenge is we have to do more with less.”

He was speaking at an industry open day for the first commercial auto-matic rotary shed (AMR) at the Gala, one of five farms near Deloraine in north-west Tasma-nia, owned by three gen-

pAM tIpA

erations of the Dornauf family.

Nick Dornauf, from the youngest generation, runs Gala with partner Rebekah Tyler, automatically milk-ing the first cows on the 24-unit herringbone plat-form AMS in February.

The AMS uses five robots: two for udder preparation, two for cup attachment and one for teat disinfection after milking. They now milk 250 New Zealand Frie-sians, 90% heifers and 10% mature cows, and aim to reach 550-600 cows by 2015.

They have been bring-ing the cows to the dairy in batches, but are about to start voluntary cow movement. Questions still remain as to how far cows will walk for voluntary milking.

Nick, an agri-science graduate, spoke of his excitement at the intellec-tual challenges of manag-ing the first commercial AMR (the only two others are on research farms) and making the most of huge amounts of data coming from the system, including per-quartile readings.

He told Rural News it was already changing the way his job operated – he was no longer physi-cally putting cups on and spending more time on herd and pasture man-agement. He spent about one hour per day analys-ing data from the system, but expected that to increase markedly as the cow moved to voluntary milking.

The per-quartile read-ings were giving far earlier signs of mastitis and early treatment would help farm profitability. He said he had to learn to trust the data because it was throw-ing up signs before any clinical symptoms – but the cows often developed mastitis two or three days later.

Alderton said with the global demand for milk growing about 2% per annum, De Laval with its global reach had a respon-sibility to help meet that demand sustainably.

Box-type automated systems were already available for herds of up to 300 cows but De Laval developed the rotary system to cater for larger herds.

“Wherever you go in the world there are labour constraints; even in the ‘third world’ where labour is cheap, labour is still a problem,” he said

De Laval’s New Zealand based systems special-ist for AMR, Ron Mulder, said when farmers make investment choices for the next 20 years AMR should be considered.

Work was still being done on developing graz-ing systems, voluntary cow movement, best use of data and incorporating the new technology young people were using such as smartphones and tablets into the farm systems.

“I think is going to change people’s lives as well and make the dairy industry a very attractive industry to be part of.”

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rural News // june 5, 2012

Agribusiness 37

Managing the books in tough timesJOHN KEY

THIS BUDGET does what governments around the world are striving to achieve: it gets the Gov-ernment’s books back into shape, and does so in a way that continues to support New Zealanders, maintain public services and protect the most vulnerable in our society.

That’s a far cry from the measures many gov-ernments overseas have had to introduce.

The headline measure of our financial manage-ment in the Budget is the

fact that we are on track to post an operating sur-plus in 2014/15. It’s not the world’s biggest surplus but it’s an important mile-stone. That represents a huge turn-around, given the impacts of the 2008 recession, the global finan-cial crisis and the Canter-bury earthquakes. Each of those events on its own would have been a big shock to the New Zealand economy.

It allows us to pursue the other three priorities of the Government: • To build a more produc-tive and competitive econ-omy. • To deliver better public services, within tight financial constraints. • And to support the rebuilding of Christ-church.

Households, busi-nesses and governments are having to reduce the debt they built up over the 2000s, and they are saving rather than spending.

The Budget forecasts, which follow a similar pat-tern to other international forecasts, predict that over the next three years: • The Euro area will grow at an average of only 0.5% per year. • The UK will grow at just over 1% per year. • Japan at 1.5% per year. • The US and Canada at just over 2% per year. • And Australia at about 3% per year

Growth in New Zea-land over the next three years is forecast to be higher than in any of the countries I just men-tioned, with the excep-tion of Australia, which is expected to have about the same growth rates as New Zealand. That’s because growth in New Zealand will be based on strong fundamentals, which the Budget fore-casts recognise.

The Government’s role is to make sure the economy’s settings are conducive to business confidence and growth.

From July 1, marginal tax rates will be lower in New Zealand than in Austra-lia for anyone earning over $18,200. Our company tax rate is 28%, while Austra-lia has confirmed its rate is staying at 30%.

The Budget includes $326 million of operating and capital funding for sci-ence and innovation over four years, including $166 million for the Advanced Technology Institute to help high-tech firms get their best ideas out of the lab and into the market-place faster. To comple-ment this, we are also investing in training more engineers and scientists.

In the resources area, our improvements to the Resource Management Act have led to faster con-senting for large, nation-ally significant projects. The Government’s next step is to introduce faster consenting for medium-sized projects by means of a six-month time limit.

In workplaces we have introduced 90-day trial periods for new employ-ees, encouraging busi-nesses to take on new staff. And we are improv-ing collective bargain-ing processes to reduce bureaucracy and costs.

We continue to invest heavily in New Zealand’s infrastructure, including at least $1 billion a year in state highway improve-ments, $1.35 billion for

ultra-fast broadband, a further $300 million for the Rural Broadband Ini-tiative, a substantial upgrade of the nation’s electricity grid, invest-ment in national and com-muter rail, and continued spending on schools and hospitals. The Budget continues this programme

of investment in produc-tive infrastructure.

In particular, the Budget establishes the Future Investment Fund, which will receive all pro-ceeds from the Govern-ment’s sale of up to 49% of shares in four SOEs and Air New Zealand. The pro-ceeds are expected to be

between $5 billion and $7 billion, and will be rein-vested in public assets, such as modern schools and hospitals, over the next few budgets.

This year’s Budget achieves a balance many other countries would dearly like to emulate.

By committing to sur-

plus by 2014/15 we are taking a responsible path of fiscal management, while at the same time continuing to invest in future growth.• This is an abridged version of Prime Minister John Key’s post-budget speech to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle.John Key

looking forward, growth across the developed world will now have to be earned the hard way. it won’t be stoked by government spending and it won’t be fed by a big increase in borrowing.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

38 opinion

the houndwant to share your opinion or

gossip with the Hound? send your emails to:

hound@ruralnews.co.nz

editoriAl ednA

No surprises there!A sTuDY at Loyola university, new Orleans, found that people who eat organic food are more judgmental and volunteer less often than those who eat comfort food. “There’s something about being exposed to organic food that made them feel better about themselves,” says psychologist Kendall eskine. “And that made them kind of jerks a little bit, I guess.” Your canine crusader reckons one only has to listen to the sanctimo-nious, smug and supe-rior utterings of organic proponents to quickly deduce they are just a bunch of jerks.

Golden glow!APPARenTLY THe placenta of new Zealand sheep have been heralded as helping former spice Girl Victoria Beckham maintain a radiant glow via a bizarre facial treatment. Kiwi sheep placenta combined with gold flakes is report-edly a Hollywood fad on a growing list of unorth-odox beauty treatments for celebrities such as Beckham.The facials, aimed at harnessing “the power of the sheep’s stem cells’’, cost nZ$670 per visit.Your old mate has heard of some interesting uses of sheep by-products in his time, but reckons this takes the cake!

Meanwhile, back on planet Green

A fair dealTHe HOunD had a giggle after a mate pointed out an interesting auction taking place on Trade Me late last month. It was for “the shirt off my back” to protest Transpower’s plans to create buffer zones up to 32m either side of its transmission lines. The bidder said this was an attempt by the state-owned lines company to exploit an RMA loophole which says no compen-sation needs to be paid when landowners are affected by rules in a district plan. The blurb says the winner of the auction will receive “the shirt off my back”.

THIs YeAR’s zero Budget held little hope for those who believe Governments should spend big and tax even bigger. Despite strong evidence from europe – where coun-tries are in major trouble for following such poli-cies – the Green Party believes this is exactly the economic formula new Zealand should be following to get us out of the economic mire. so even before Finance Minister Bill english had delivered the Budget, the Greens were writing it off saying if their party was in government its “smart green economics” would among other things

reverse the tax cuts imple-mented in 2009, hike a massive carbon tax on farmers and stop building motorways. The Hound is not sure what is so ‘smart’ or ‘green’ about taxing out of business one nZ’s key major export earners – the dairy industry – only to see overseas dairy producers fill the gap left in world dairy trade with milk and cheese products that have carbon footprints the size of sasquatch! It reminds him of the apt descrip-tion about the Greens as spending too much time worrying about how to save planet earth and not enough time actually living on it!

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“An old kiwifruit crate, gas from the effluent pond and Hey presto! – no more traffic jams getting to Fieldays!”

THEY SAY one week is a long time in politics, but three weeks is a lifetime in the current dairy industry political environment. The shock exit of Fonterra Shareholders Council chairman Simon Couper confirms TAF (trading among farmers) is not a done deal among councillors.

To allow TAF’s launch, the council must tick the ‘fifth box’, given that Fonterra’s board is indicat-ing it has ticked the other four boxes including due diligence on the proposed share trading scheme. The new council chairman, Ian Brown, says there is “unanimous support” for TAF among the coun-cillors. But can we really believe him? After all, only last month Couper and Brown were seen endors-ing TAF, sitting with Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden before the Dairy Industry Restructur-ing Act (DIRA) parliamentary sub-committee.

Our sources say only 80% of the councillors believe TAF will deliver 100% farmer ownership and control. Will these other disgruntled coun-cillors come out of the woodwork and resign, like Couper? Or will they continue to deceive Fonterra shareholders by publicly stating all is well while harbouring concerns in their hearts?

Three weeks out from the shareholder vote on TAF, the proposed share trading scheme remains unpopular among some shareholders. Most have concerns about milk price and the shareholders fund, which will sell share units to outside inves-tors. A big fund means more share units could end up with outside investors. And the investors will demand a bigger dividend at the expense of the milk payout to farmers.

Couper’s resignation emboldens the group – dubbed a vocal minority by Fonterra – pushing for greater safeguards in TAF for 100% farmer con-trol and ownership. It does little to settle nervous shareholders.

This week Fonterra directors and management will be crisscrossing the country, keen to rope in shareholders undecided on TAF. In tow will be Fonterra Shareholders Council members. Mean-while Fonterra shareholders will be asking tough questions. But will they get the right answers?

Shareholders councillors need to come clean. Farmers must know whether the council is “unani-mous” in its support for TAF, as stated last week by the new chairman Brown. Councillors with reser-vations must raise their hands. Putting on a show of unity in front of shareholders, when divisions run deep in the council, is not right. Couper has done the right thing by coming out. It’s time for all councillors to lay their cards on the table.

With three weeks to go before the vote, Fon-terra farmers need the truth. Couper’s resigna-tion may not be a fatal blow for TAF but if more councillors follow suit, it will leave the proposed scheme badly wounded.

A long three weeks!

rural News // june 5, 2012

opinion 39

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Court the only option for NZ porkHAVING SPENT my work-ing life farming sheep, beef and dairy as well as pigs, I’m the first to recog-nise that New Zealand is dependent on transpar-ently setting standards for international trading of agricultural products. But all my farming experience has shown me how crucial New Zealand’s high biose-curity status is to our long-term economic security.

Last year NZPork went

to the High Court to chal-lenge the process for set-ting new import health standards for pig meat, after MAF (now Minis-try for Primary Industries) decided to allow imports of untreated pig meat from countries where the Por-cine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus is present.

The High Court found in favour of the minis-try, and NZPork has been left with no option but to appeal. Our legal advice is that we have a substan-tive case. However, it is a great disappointment that we have to pursue a legal route. It’s a step we’ve had to take after numer-ous attempts to engage with MPI on how the risk is expected to be managed in New Zealand have come to nothing. Quite simply, NZPork’s objective is to keep this devastating dis-ease away from the New Zealand herd.

The financial cost to the industry has been very high. We’ve sought sci-entific analyses and made submissions to the min-istry, as well as our legal costs – $1.4 million to date – but the cost to our ani-mals and our industry if PRRS becomes established in New Zealand would be much more severe.

We went to court to question the process the ministry’s director-general is required to follow when considering an indepen-

dent review panel’s report. The scientific concerns of our experts were endorsed by the panel, but the direc-tor-general proceeded to approve the new import health standards anyway. In essence, the High Court decided the director-gen-eral could consider the independent review panel as just another piece of advice to be accepted, rejected or ignored.

The impact of the pro-cess MPI followed has very serious implications on the risk of PRRS to our pig herd. Our own scientific assessment, by interna-tionally recognised epide-miologists with pig disease expertise, is radically dif-ferent from the analysis on which MPI based the new standards. There is scant science to guide any assessment of the infec-tiousness of infected pig meat. MPI has done no assessment on the quan-tities of infected pig meat

that will enter New Zea-land, nor how much infected meat would end up as a waste product, or how much of that waste would be fed to pigs.

MPI’s own assess-ment is that the Biosecu-rity (Meat and Food Waste for Pigs) Regulations 2005 – which in theory stop people feeding uncooked swill to pigs – are unen-forceable. Waste feed-ing rules have not been broadly enforced since 1999. Given the wide-spread level of pig own-ership in New Zealand, the established culture of waste feeding, and the highly infectious nature of PRRS, permitting the distribution of infectious meat throughout New Zealand is a risk we cannot afford to take.

Under the World Trade Organisation’s sanitary and phytosanitary mea-sures (SPS), New Zea-land is entitled to policies which protect its animal life, provided these are based on appropriate sci-entific evidence. Our sci-entific experts believe the previous standards were required to manage the risk of the introduction of PRRS, and that the new standards pose an unac-ceptable risk.

The WTO requires pro-tections under SPS to be set at a consistent level across all industries within a country. I can only imag-ine how the red meat industry would react to a similar approach that allowed imports of meat from countries infected with foot-and-mouth dis-ease, so long as each piece of meat was less than 3kg with major lymph nodes removed.

IAN CArtErThere are simply too

many unanswered ques-tions and too many risks. We can compete with imported meat, but don’t expose our animals to devastating exotic dis-eases at the same time.• Ian Carter, is the chairman of NZPork

imagine how the red meat industry would react to a similar approach that allowed imports of meat from countries infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

ian carter says NZPork needs to test the ruling in court.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

40 opinion

Making a sow’s ear out of a silk purseI’M ALL for free trade and opening up the world – especially to New Zea-land’s top-class agricul-tural produce. However, I am really struggling with new rules which now allow sales of imported fresh pork cuts into this coun-try. The recent High Court judgement which ruled in favour of the new Import Health Standard (IHS) imposed by the newly monikered Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and its support for fresh pork imports, seems to me flawed.

Don’t imagine I’ve had a Winston Peters-esque conversion to red-neck, simplistic, jingoistic, nationalistic, anti-immigration and

anti-trade stupidity. It’s just that these new pork import regulations do not seem to make sense.

So I’m pleased to see that the Industry body New Zealand Pork, which has already spent $1.4 mil-lion fighting the case, is now appealing this latest ruling. NZ Pork claims there is a risk of fresh pork imports bringing an anti-immune response virus into the country – and with it Porcine Repro-ductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), from which New Zealand is cur-rently free. In herds not previously exposed to the virus PRRS can kill 70% of piglets and increase abor-tions and stillbirths. Local pig farmers fear an incur-

sion here could wipe out our industry.

NZ Pork argues that the MPI has breached the Biosecurity Act by follow-ing an incorrect process in allowing the importa-tion of raw pork, which could be infected with the deadly PPRS virus. But MPI claims the industry is being protectionist and using biosecurity as a bar-rier to trade. It believes the likelihood of a PRRS incursion is slim and says it was not driven by inter-national obligations to its decision to allow con-sumer-ready cuts of raw pork into the country.

However, as a casual observer, I find it hard to see how this decision is anything other than a

sop to placate claims by overseas counterparts that New Zealand is anti-free trade – especially when MPI director gen-eral Wayne McNee admits it was “extremely impor-tant” that NZ demon-strates its commitment to obligations under its World Trade Organisation agreement.

Says McNee, “That means we cannot place restrictions on animal and plant product imports that

are not aligned with inter-national standards or sup-ported by scientific risk assessments.”

Hmmm… and what was that about the MPI?: “Not been driven to its decision to allow consumer-ready cuts of raw pork into the country by international obligations?”

So if there has to be a sacrificial lamb, then better it be the relatively small pig sector rather than the more financially important dairy, red meat or horticulture sectors.

As NZ Pork chairman Ian Carter argues, the local industry is not anti-trade or protectionist; 45% of all pork sold in this country is imported.

Former agriculture and trade minister Jim Sutton was fond of accus-ing (admittedly more so in opposition than when actually in government) the country’s trade negoti-ators and officials of being too keen on stripping away protections that left NZ exporters naked and unarmed in international trade combat.

So is our pig farming sector being used as a bar-gaining chip and left naked and unarmed?

Meanwhile, when all this imported fresh pork comes flooding into the country from overseas, will we see crackpot out-fits like SAFE (Save Ani-mals From Exploitation)

and the eye-watering, unfunny comedian Mike King running around pig farms in Indonesia, China and outer Mongolia bawl-ing their eyes out about the plight of pigs on these properties?

You can bet your bottom dollar pigs raised in these countries are not the free-range, disease-free, carefully tended and lovingly reared animals these activists regularly demand from New Zea-land pig farmers.

Free trade is well and good when the playing field is level, but I have the feeling that in this case it is not. Now where is that swine Winston when you really need him?

so is our pig farming sector being used as a bargaining chip and left naked and unarmed?

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rural News // june 5, 2012

42 opinionag twitsRural News’ irreverent and hypothetical look at

what’s happening in the farming world

Top Bleats view all

richiemccawallblack: As Fonterra’s new ambassador I reckon dairy farming is like professional rugby and is a game of two halves: in the first half you pay me $150k and in the second half you pay me another $150k! #niceretirementfund

henryfonterra: Welcome to the Fonterra team Richie. Now you’re on the payroll can you tell our farmers why voting yes for TAF is far better than winning the Rugby World Cup. #getthemonside

damienoconnormp: I don’t want to be overly melodramatic, but the discovery of a single Queensland fruitfly means the end of the New Zealand horticulture industry as we know it! #theskyisfallingtheskyisfalling

andycolemanmpi: Our new minimalist border screening policy at airports is a real winner and so minimalist that it does not even exist at some airports. #nofliesonus

mikefayfarmer: The key to success-fully purchasing the Crafar farms is like an America’s Cup Challenge – it’s won in the courtroom, not on the water or the open market. #whymylawyersaresorich

dcarterminforprimaryindustries: It was certainly a fantastic zero Budget for the agriculture sector. Zero mentions, zero spending and zero interest! #zeroonin

wmcneempi: There’s absolutely no truth to the rumour that we’ve made the local pig industry a sacrificial lamb to enhance New Zealand’s free trade reputation. We’ve actually made it a sacrificial ham! #getitright

iancarternzpork: It’s impossible to argue with MPI’s logic that the local pork industry is trying to be protectionist when about half the pork consumed in NZ is imported; there’s no logic in its argument! #stu-pidswines

simoncouperexshc: I’ve had a change of heart about this TAF (trading among farm-ers) scheme, as the more Fonterra don’t tell us about TAF the more I don’t like it and I quit! #iamoutofhere

ianbrownshc: The last thing Fonterra needs is a shareholder watchdog with bite and that’s why under my watch this council will overwhelmingly support TAF and do whatever the Fonterra board says. #lapdogbackinthekennel

Get upto date news at www.ruralnews.co.nzLATEST STORIES EVERY DAY

claimS are NothiNg but hot air

THe ARTICLe on extreme weather presented at a seminar by PA Hanford and Associates (page 5 Rural News May 15, 2012) is another example of the utter rubbish being promulgated around the country.

Please tell me, john-Paul Praat; what weather has become more extreme in the last 30 years?

Hurricane intensity and frequency have been

declining for 20 years and are at the lowest level for 30 years. Torna-does of the more extreme

variety show no change in frequency. Rainfall records show no change and extreme weather events in

general show no change in the last 400 years. There is also no acceleration of sea level rise.

Please tell me specifically what has changed in the last 30 years and what is the source of the evidence you use to make this claim?

The four hundred year record from Armagh shows no change in recent decades. In fact, extreme events were

more common during cold periods than warm periods.

It is time for those pushing the global warming barrow to face reality: there has been no statistically significantly temperature rise for 17 years.

How slow do you have to be not to catch on Mr Praat? peter Foster rD1, Waikouaiti

Do you agree with the recent High Court ruling that agrees with the Ministry for Primary Industries’ decision to allow fresh pork imports into New Zealand?

● Yes● No

Have your say at: www.ruralnews.co.nz

ONLINE POLL

rural News // june 5, 2012

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rural News // june 5, 2012

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www.fieldays.co.nz

Services Building

Bank

The Event Shop

First Aid

Parents Room

Police

Archways Missing Persons ANZ cash-out facility Rural Living Area Rural Living outdoor area site numbers all begin with R followed by the number as indicated on the site map.

Key

13-16 June 2012

strategic partners

Plan your trip to Fieldaysvisit www.fieldays.co.nz

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See the all NEW700, 800 & 900 Ranges

from

See The Line Up From

42

43

49

25

SEE US AT SITES D83,D85

SEE US AT SITE D31

76 10

6

“The Stockfeeder Experts”

AgBrand

Products

SEE US AT SITE PE36

SEE US AT SITES F64,F66,F68

34

35

46

Reid & Harrison (1980) Ltd

Yardmaster Pumps

Pond Linersfor Effluent Ponds and Irrigation Dams

SEE US AT SITE PE28

49

46

30

SEE US AT SITE C13

24

This site map can also be viewed at www.ruralnews.co.nz

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SEE US AT SITE G77

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48

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rural News // june 5, 2012

46 nz nAtionAl fieldAys mystery creek, hAmilton, 13-16 June 2012

365-day business for CalderRUNNING THE National Fieldays is a 365-day busi-ness, says chief executive Jon Calder.

With preparations in full swing for next week’s National Fieldays, Calder and his team will already have one eye on next year’s event. When the final Fieldays visitor has left Mystery Creek on June 16, attention will turn to 2013.

Calder says prepara-tions for this year’s Fiel-days have been underway for a year and he’s con-fident a fun and action-packed programme has been set up for visitors.

“This is a 365-day busi-ness for us,” he told Rural News.

“Our team works hard all-year around with exhibitors to create the four-day event.”

Calder, on the job four months, describes the

time as “a big learning curve”.

“I’ve been a fresh pair of eyes, asking a lot of questions and challenging some of the things we’ve been doing.”

Sponsored by ANZ and the University of Waikato, the National Fieldays will run at the Mystery Creek Events Centre from June 13-16. This year’s theme is ‘The Changing Face of Farming’. About 900 exhibitors will this year be on the 1400 sites on offer at Mystery Creek. Organ-isers are targeting 120,000 visitors during the four days.

A highlight of the Fiel-days is its innovation centre. While no bigger than previously it will boast a new design layout. Event manager Vanessa Richmond says the inno-vation centre has as “inter-esting entrant list”.

The event will also fea-ture long-standing com-petitions – tractor pulling, fencing, excavation and forestry skills.

One event growing in popularity is the Ag Art Wear wearable arts com-petition in which design-ers make creative and unique garments from rural products.

Richmond says the event has grown over the years and this year a night show has been organised in Hamilton to show off the entries.

While the Fieldays are yet to kick off, one com-petition sponsored by the National Fieldays Society is drawing to a close. The No.8 Wire National Art Award began 12 months ago, challenging artists to create 3-D artwork mostly using 8-gauge wire as the sculpting medium. Rich-mond, who has seen some

of the entries, says the competition has again pro-duced incredible, com-plex and unique designs. Entries will be displayed at the Fieldays. The com-petition is organised by Waikato Museum and Art-sPost Galleries.

National Fieldays also promotes community involvement. This year, small rural towns around Hamilton are again taking part in the Big Little Town competition.

Each year, Fieldays invites local retailers to participate in a retail arts competition, dressing their store windows to reflect the event.

Richmond says working with local visitor informa-tion centres and business associations, it challenges retailers to design and create an interesting and unique window display to showcase their stock, their

staff creativity and their Big Little Town spirit.

This year there is also something for household-ers to look forward to. The Letterbox Challenge is an opportunity to design

and build an unusual and unique letterbox that reflects our families, our heritage and our connec-tion to our country.

The competition is open to residents of Cam-

bridge, Hamilton, Huntly, Matamata, Morrinsville, Ngaruawahia, Otorohanga, Pirongia, Putaruru, Raglan, Taumarunui, Te Aroha, Te Awamutu, Tirau, Tokoroa and Waitomo.

Jon calder

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Greg Small 0276 879010 Vic Barlow 027 4752 322 Rob Marshall 0272 486 822

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rural News // june 5, 2012

nz nAtionAl fieldAys 47

Keeping a tab on soil carbonCARBON LEVELS in Waikato dairying land are the subject of research by University of Waikato.

On a Waharoa farm two machines are 20 times a second recording the amount of carbon diox-ide going in and out of the soil; this will continue at the same rate for the next year.

Professor Louis Schip-per, Dr David Campbell, Dr Susanna Rutledge and technician Aaron Wall are behind the testing, under the aegis of the New Zea-land Agricultural Green-house Gas Research Centre paid for by the Pri-mary Growth Partnership.

They know the amount of carbon in dairy soils has reduced in recent years but they don’t know if it is still declining or has hit a plateau. And they want to find out what man-agement practices will best restore those carbon levels.

The team must also factor in how much carbon is going out in other ways, such as milk or feed imports, Schip-per says.

“There is a lot of carbon there and we are trying to measure a small change. You can’t just measure the total amount of carbon in the soil and come back a year later and measure it again.”

Schipper likens the methodology to a house-hold budget. “It’s like adding up all your bills for the year to work out how much you’ve spent but for-getting the Visa bill. You must include all the com-ponents.”

The frequency of the testing, averaged out every half hour, will give them precise measurements and comprehensive data to determine how best to tackle the issue.

Then comes the clever bit – one of the towers

at the farm will have one of its farm management practices adjusted and the results compared. The first adjustment will include greater plant diversity in the pasture to determine whether that makes a difference.

“There is good reason to believe this will work, but equally we might have to say that didn’t work and try something else,” Schip-per says.

university of waikato technician aaron wall and research fellow dr susanna rutledge measure data at a waharoa dairy farm.

THE BEST bull in the world will be on display at National Fieldays, says LIC.

Although not ‘in the flesh’, Howies Checkpoint will be a key feature of the site.

Marketing manager Blair Hoad says the site naturally fits the overall theme of Fieldays – ‘The changing face of farming’.

“LIC is dedicated to moving with the times and leading the way through the changing face of farming with inno-vative solutions for our farmers that make their job easier and make their operation more productive, profitable and sustainable.

“With members and customers throughout New Zea-land, LIC’s products and services help them to extract the full potential from their animals and land, and the National Fieldays is a great opportunity for us to pull them all together and put them on display.

“We’re encouraging all our members and customers to come see us and learn about how LIC can help them to farm smarter and easier.”

Hoad says staff who live and breathe the products every day are looking forward to meeting with farmers, provid-ing live demonstrations and talking about the product they live and breathe every day.

LIC directors, customer relationship managers (CRMS) and Shareholder Council members are also attending. Also on show on the LIC site: • New tools in MINDA including land and feed, milk and

young stock weights. • New reproductive solutions. • New NAIT functionality in Minda. • New Protrack drafter system with remote draft sched-

uling. • FarmWise consultancy. • GeneMark DNA parentage and BVD testing.www.lic.co.nz

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rural News // june 5, 2012

48 nz nAtionAl fieldAys

Nursing peat lakes back to health one at a timeREBECCA EIVERS, a doc-torate student at The Uni-versity of Waikato, wants to nurse back to health Waikato’s ailing peat lakes. Her work is on show at the uni’s Fieldays stand.

Waikato peat lakes are shallow and often sur-rounded by intensive farming. That makes them more susceptible to sedi-ment build-up and exacer-bates problems like algal blooms caused by exces-sive nutrients.

“They have unique environments and we need to understand what is happening. It is a lot more complex than we first thought,” Eivers says. While nutrient leach-ing from farms is largely responsible for the dete-riorating state of the peat lakes, over time the number of wetlands in the

region has also been dras-tically reduced. The wet-lands act as the “kidneys of the waterways”, filter-ing nutrients and improv-ing water quality before the water makes its way into the lakes.

However wetlands often need to cover a large area to do that job prop-erly.

So part of Eivers’ research, partly funded by WRC and DOC, involves trialling floating wetlands that sit on top of an exist-ing water source. Alter-natively a farmer could create a sediment pond, sit the wetland on top and potentially double the effi-ciency of nutrient filter-ing while also reducing the land mass required to do the job.

Over the next year Eivers will be monitor-

ing the effectiveness of two floating wetlands by measuring the amount of nutrient uptake by them. But there’s more to it than that. Eivers knows that wetlands are sensitive to their surroundings and that one model does not fit all.

“There is no generic formula. As the research develops I will be observ-ing which plants work better in which environ-ment, working out how big a floating wetland needs to be to be effective and building on that.”

She is also studying the effectiveness of a biologi-cal fertiliser applied in a tailor-made programme for each area of the farm.

“The approach with this fertiliser is little and often but site specific. I’m looking at what hap-

pens when it reaches the water.”

Eivers says the ideal scenario would be to reduce the amount of nutrients leaching from farms by improving man-agement practices such as reducing the amount of time stock spend in one

area, altering fertiliser regimes or by reducing stocking rates.

But in the meantime her work is also having another positive spin-off.

The wetlands are creating habitats for aquatic plants, fish and birds.

rebecca eivers’ work will be on display at the fieldays.

Extra pair of handsA SUMMER studying cows has given a University of Waikato student a close insight into bovine behaviour. Dushyant Parmar started work-ing with farmer cooperative LIC in the Protrack department over summer. Now he’s something of an expert.

“Newborns will follow anything,” he says. “The teenagers are a lot more rebellious and like to do things their own way in their own time. And then there’s the older cows – they’re too lazy to be bothered trying to figure things out for themselves so they’re very compliant.”

Parmar, a mechanical engineer-ing student, helped develop and test LIC’s Protrack Drafter product. He did the work as part of his degree at the uni. The gate will be on show at one of two University of Waikato stands at Fieldays.

The gate works like an extra pair of hands. Cows are fitted with an elec-tronic identification tag, and a farmer pre-programmes which animals need drafting; during milking the auto-matic gate takes care of the rest.

Trials of the new drafter took place at four Waikato farms and on one in

the South Island. Parmar says the on-farm testing was invaluable. “In the field things happen you can’t antici-pate. It’s where you see what’s really going on.”

Upgrades have been made to the milking screen in the herringbone shed pit which instantly shows which cows have been drafted, which are due to be drafted and total draft num-bers. Pop-ups also tell a farmer when a cow has reached the gate. “The user interface is a lot friendlier for farmers

now,” Parmar says.The gates can also separate ani-

mals into three different groups, allowing for greater efficiency.

A Protrack mobile app has also been developed which enables farm-ers to schedule drafts from the pad-dock. Once the farmer is in range of the wireless network on the milking shed the draft will synchronise with the drafter PC. This means drafting can be organised ahead of time, and from anywhere on farm.

dushyant Parmar

For more information Phone 07 533 1259 or 07 533 1417Fax 07 533 1560 RD9 Te Puke or see your dealer

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rural News // june 5, 2012

nz nAtionAl fieldAys 49

Ag Art Wear attracts talentAG ART Wear is once again pulling the crowds – designer crowds that is, says the organiser of the 2012 designer-clothing event National Fieldays.

They report good entries in the popular competition that showcases unusual creativity and innovation using “all things rural”.

Artists and designers are invited to create art for the body using only mate-rials sourced from the farm, rural indus-tries or the natural environment.

They compete for a prize pool of $12,000.

Entries are in from locations across New Zealand and further afield. Aus-tralian entrants have also been eager to submit their designs for the annual awards.

Ag Art Wear will be showcased in two daily presentations at Fiel-days in the Ag

Art Wear Pavilion, at 11am and 2pm. The awards show will be on Friday at 2pm.

For women there are special style sessions – ‘What a Woman Wants’ with stylist Lisa O’Neill, hosted by Farmers. Each session lasts about one hour, following imme-

diately after the Ag Art Wear shows at noon and 3pm.

The mass appeal of Ag Art Wear is also being extended off-site. For the

first time, Ag Art Wear will be on show at a gala dinner event at Hamilton city on June 16. tel. 07 834 6290www.fieldays.co.nz/agartwear

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rural News // june 5, 2012

50 nz nAtionAl fieldAys

ABBEY DIET feeders on Farmgard’s site will include a new 22m3 ‘flag-ship’ vertical-mixing model, with a self-steer-ing tandem axle, from the Irish manufacturer.

And it will show Abbey’s AP 900 Multi spreader for solid effluent, muck with straw, etc.

Also on site will be Abbey slurry tankers, Berti mulchers and mowers, Celli power harrows, rotary hoes and spikes rotors, Overum ploughs, Farmgard grader blades, RZ Discs and more.

The Abbey 22m3 feeder has a 20mm base

plate, Hardox steel tub and 15mm auger flight-ing, making it a “serious mixer,” Farmgard says.

Power consumption is said to be low, and the mix consistent (96%), because of the mixer’s gradual auger flighting and preci-sion-rolled tub.

Its mixing auger chops and mixes and the machine will handle all animal feed ingredients. Roots can be chopped and mixed with other ingredi-ents in one operation and incorporated with big-bale hay, straw and silage.

The AP 900 Multi spreader has even flow of

and semi-solids. Design and operating

features include: revers-ible gearbox, rugged con-struction, and overshot discharge rotor.

‘Flagship’ mixer handles all

CF MOTO has new ATVs and scooters coming to 18 dealerships.

In New Zealand, CF Moto ATVs, UTVs and side-by-sides are distrib-uted by C B Norwood.

The new CF Moto Z6, launched in March, is a 600cc, fuel injected side-by-side. The UTV is a utility

4x4 machine with a tipping deck, powered by a 500cc engine.

The company will also shortly offer its new Z8 (an 800cc agricul-tural and recreational side-by-side) and the X8 (an 800cc farm ATV).

CB Norwood says CF Moto is an established agricultural and pow-

ersports manufacturer renowned worldwide.

The brand arrived in New Zea-land in 2010 promoting “a unique and innovative ATV product,” CB Norwood says. The products them-selves are no stranger to the Aus-tralasian market, CB Norwood says.

Its scooters and ATVs were re-badged prior to distribution agree-ments being reached in Australia and New Zealand.

In 2010 the decision was made to badge and market all products under the proud and long-stand-ing CF Moto factory name.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

52 nz nAtionAl fieldAys

Software merger reduces desk workFARM MANAGEMENT software firm Farmax says it will integrate its prod-ucts with some of the most popular on-farm software systems in the industry.

It says 65% of farmer customers surveyed told them of their frustration at software systems not integrating, says general

manager Gavin McEwen.“This means they often

have to enter data twice, which keeps them at their desk longer than necessary and away from doing other jobs on farm. This is a common issue with almost every software programme farmers use today.”

The company says its intended collaboration

with other software pro-viders will enable custom-ers to “easily share” data collected via other pro-grammes with Farmax modelling and monitoring systems.

“We urge other soft-ware providers...to follow suit,” McEwen says. “Farming software sys-tems and tools need to

be simple and easy to use, while maximising the benefits delivered versus the effort required to use them. The companies cre-ating them need to work together....”

“With the technologies available, Farmax believes there is no [need] to make farmers enter data twice into a software applica-

tion.”Farmax is used in the

sheep-and-beef and dairy industries for detailed sce-nario analysis, planning, monitoring and perfor-mance reporting.

McEwen says Farmax is also working with its development partner, Rezare Systems, to look at how it can facilitate the entry of data by farmers using devices that remove them from the constraints of the desktop computer.

“Devices... such as smartphones create opportunities to not only enter data but also view information relevant to decision making. That allows informed deci-sions to be made... in pad-dock or shed, saving time and allowing more proac-tive decision making.” says McEwen.

McEwen says the lack of integration of software has kept New Zealand farmers from adopting technology quickly.

“While the uptake of computerised systems by today’s farmers is increas-ing, adoption is relatively slow compared to other industry sectors. The pri-mary reason for that, we believe, is the complexity of systems plus their lack of integration with other on-farm applications.

“When the effort required to learn, drive and enter data into a system exceeds the ben-efits farmers receive, you can’t blame them for investing their money in other tools, such as dairy shed automation.”tel. 0800 FArMAXgavin.mcewen@farmax.co.nz

LITTLE-KNOWN SIP mowers and rakes a couple of years ago grabbed the attention of Webbline sales manager Glen Malcolm during his visit to Agritech-nica, Germany.

So impressed was he, that the company got dis-tributor rights here and has gained confidence in the product ever since.

Hay and silage bar mowers are among the highest-maintenance machines on any farm, Malcolm insists.

“I don’t think many farmers or contractors would dispute that. We hear the horror stories of collisions with foreign objects during mowing or topping, and the ever-present issue of wrapping live fence strand and old balage wrap around the mowing module, dam-aging the bearings.”

All SIP mowers have double-raced bearings and extra protection systems on their cutter bars, with heavier and harder grade steel than many other mowers available, Malcolm says.

“Nearly all the initial stock we brought in has now done its first season mowing in New Zealand’s unfor-giving conditions, and we have many happy clients out there.”

One customer is quoted as saying the centre pivot and hydraulic float system makes the gear easy to drive. Also, grease nipples are easy to find, and hitch-ing and unhitching are easy.

Webbline’s Fieldays site will show the gear, includ-ing a cutaway of a mower bar. “We will have a cross section of most models available, including our triple mower combination.”tel. 0800 932 254 www.webbline.co.nz

farmax general manager Gavin mcewen.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

nz nAtionAl fieldAys 53

Game changer for fert spread managementA DIGITAL application intended to change the way farmers spread, mon-itor and measure fertilisers on their farm is new from Auckland IT com-pany Sush Mobile.

The developer expects the pre-cision farming android and iPad application to save farmers time and money compared to the GPS devices usually used to track activities.

Prompting the development was Brendon Cane, who last December came to Sush Mobile with the idea of

the application, not knowing how he would implement it.

“I saw a gap in the farming market for an application that would save farmers time and thousands of dollars in equipment. Currently, farmers are spending up to $5000 on hardware to manage their fertiliser systems, whereas the precision farming app retails at $280 on Andriod and $499 on the iPad, so farmers will literally save thousands,” he says.

The all-in-one tool may be used to

order, monitor, measure and record the activities of fertiliser spreaders, says Sush Mobile director Sulabh Sharma. He says applications are not only changing the way businesses market themselves, they are also allowing consumers to interact with them in new ways.

“We don’t just create applications that look pretty, we design them to serve a business need.”www.sushmobile.co.nz/precision-tracking-ipad/

EID devices, weighers meet NaIT standardsGALLAGHER PLANS to offer help to farmers need-ing to comply with the NAIT regulations kick-ing in on July 1, says key account manager Mathew Macfie.

Farmers have the new regime much in mind, he says, and they will see a wide range of EID and weigh scale products that meet NAIT standards.

Practical information sessions and training on the site will help ensure customers walk away con-fident in their use of the Gallagher weighing and EID.

Says Macfie, “To ensure farmers are comfortable using the new technology we’re offering interactive displays to demonstrate how the technology works. [We’re aiming for] cus-tomer compliance and to ensure they’re competent and confident with the technology.”

Gallagher will launch new NAIT-compliant soft-ware for tag reading equip-

ment, to simply, as much as possible, the collection and reporting of EID data. “Users will find this soft-ware user-friendly.”

New on site, as a pre-view, will be an electronic tag reading product Macfie says will “take portable tag reading to a whole new level”. Due for release later this year.

He says the Fieldays theme ‘Changing Face of Farming’ is a good fit because “technology is already changing how farmers do things on the farm by making it easier to collect information invalu-able for farm management decisions”.

Gear on display will include two new power fence products – the i Series fence energiser sys-tems and multi-strand electric tape gate. Avail-able in three models (M1200i, M1800i and M2800i), the i Series ener-gisers ensure fences are constantly monitored for best performance.

Macfie says in a world-first, the i Series technol-ogy enables farmers to monitor up to six separate ‘zones’ of their fencing system.

Each model comes with an energiser control-ler that enables the user to monitor the condition of the fence and performance of the energiser. This con-troller can be used to turn the energizer on or off, set alarm thresholds and make adjustments to the target output voltage.

The ability to locate the controller away from the energiser is a major bonus, and the energisers come with a range of features that “have to be seen to be believed,” Macfie says.

Optional features include a module enabling fence performance to be

monitored and controlled from anywhere with cell-phone coverage. If a seri-ous problem with a fence is detected, this notifies the farmer immediately via a text message to his mobile phone.

The Gallagher multi-strand electric tape gate is an all-in-one perma-nent electrified tape gate practical for gateways of any width. Easy to use and quick to assemble, it comes with mount-ing hardware and 12.5mm tape. Two variations: 2-strand, 8m for cattle; and 4-strand, 6m for sheep. Both gates come with extra clips allowing the gates to hold 40mm tape.

Tape length can be adjusted to fit the gateway.www.gallagher.co.nz

Ernie earns accolades

MILK BAR has been hard at work designing a new concept in milk delivery for calf rearers.

The Milk Bar milk cart 125L – Ernie as it’s affec-tionately called – is an insulated milk cart ensuring milk is delivered at the right temperature to calves no matter the outside temperature.

The milk cart fits through a standard doorway for access to all calf sheds. Safety is notable: an auto-matic brake applies as soon as the handle is released. With a convenient sight glass and large diameter steel rimmed wheels the milk cart is easy to use and clean.

The Milk Bar milk cart is now selling in Northern Hemisphere markets. It will be on display at National Fieldays.tel. 0800 104 119

HARROWSHARROWS HARROWS

Full range of harrows available with over 50 types, styles,

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See original and unique electric fence accessories at Fieldays Sites E15 & E17

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ORIGINAL TARAGATE Multi Strand Electric Gate

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– 2 or 4 strand or 4 x strand ‘Lifestyler’ model

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– totally free standing single or multi reel anchor

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– unique clip-away insulhook – snaps onto fence, won’t fall off

rural News // june 5, 2012

54 nz nAtionAl fieldAys

thirty two fieldays laterAFTER 32 years of attend-ing National Fieldays, president Lloyd Downing retains his enthusiasm and ambition for the event, and hopes this year’s will be the great-est ever.

He is now into his second year as president of the National Fieldays Society after being vice-

president for one year. This position is not to be confused with that of chair-man of the National Agriculture Fieldays, a position he held for five years.

“Way back then there was a staff of 12 and today there are 38; over the three days then

our total attendance was 70,000, now we have aver-

aged for the last five years 125,000 over the four days.”

Site numbers have grown four-fold and a major advance was the building of the pavilion, paid for

from income.“Along with the pavil-

ion there is something happening on the Fieldays site every week of the year.

“We appointed a new chief executive, Jon Calder, at the beginning of the year and he is bring-ing new ideas and thinking to the organisation which will help us all to prog-ress.”

– Tony Hopkinson

lloyd downing

THERE’S NO mystery about what will be the best value ute at the Mystery Creek National Agricultural Fieldays, says Mitsubishi.

They predict the latest special-edition sport-specifica-tion Triton ChargerX will be the “value-for-money” star when Fieldays - the biggest trade show of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere - opens on June 13.

The new double cab ChargerX is based on the popu-lar GLX 4WD. However, Mitsubishi says it’s equipped to look and drive like a top-range GLS, yet at an incredible price: for the manual transmission version, $35,990 plus GST and on road costs.

Mitsubishi claims this is the best value price ever seen in New Zealand for a sport specification ute equipped with electronic stability and traction control and a full set of airbags.

The one-tonne-payload ChargerX produces 407 Nm of torque from its 2.5 litre turbodiesel. It has front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with electronic brakeforce distribu-tion, and tows a 3.0 tonne braked trailer.

If you can’t get to Mitsubishi’s Fieldays stand you can see the ChargerX, manual and auto, in Mitsubishi dealer showrooms from late May.

Best value ute

Scientists to strut their stuffAGRESEARCH SCIENTISTS’ continuing work with rye-grass will feature prominently at Fieldays.

“Continuing to improve our understanding of rye-grass and other forages is critical to AgResearch’s role of enhancing the value, productivity and profitability of New Zealand’s pastoral sector,” says research director Warren McNabb.

Another key display will be the story of the ‘hidden half ’. Science team leader germoplasm Dr Jim Crush says the history of forage plant breeding has been based on above ground research. Roots deliver nutrients to the plants and AgResearch scientists are interested in improv-ing nutrient efficiency.

“By doing so, less nitrogen and phosphorus is lost to waterways and that helps protect water quality. Deeper rooted plants have better access to subsoil moisture and better drought tolerance.

“The take home message is that roots are vitally impor-tant, but often not considered. If we are to develop totally sustainable pasture systems we need an improved root function.

“AgResearch is screening plant germplasm for traits that contribute to improved root function and start-ing to move into development of new ryegrass breeding lines that express these traits. Some of this underpin-ning research will develop new plant germplasm so that our pastures can become more productive, profitable and sustainable.”

Also featuring on the stand is Farmax computer software used by sheep-and-beef and dairy industries. AgResearch scientists originally developed the technol-ogy and the organisation retains a share in the business. www.agresearch.co.nz

agresearch scientist dr Jim crush checks out grain being grown for his fieldays display.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

56 nz nAtionAl fieldAys

every day four-six round or square bales are fed out.

Feeding 13 years hard labourTHIRTEEN YEARS operation on a specialised beef feedlot at Hawkes Bay has given a Hustler Chain-less 2000 bale feeder a hearty workout, the maker says.

Kato Feedlot, run by

Satsuma Foods, supplies Wagyu beef to interna-tional markets. All stock live indoors in four sheds – a year-round operation in which 900 cattle are fed hay, grain, straw and other feeds.

Every day four-six round or square bales are fed out. Thirteen years down the track Satsuma bought a new Chainless 2000 and after 23,000 bales, with no mainte-nance and no break-downs, the choice is seen as having been a good one, Hustler says.

“The only prob-lems we’ve had with this machine were due to human error,” says assistant manager Shiki, “Where operators have driven into the troughs or gates. As you can see, we’ve had some rough operators.

“I honestly thought the plastic would have needed

to be replaced before now; we’ve cut it and hit troughs and it’s had a hard time and all it’s got is a few cuts which is amazing.”

Satsuma uses the Chainless on the front of a Manitou telehan-dler, easier to use in the sheds without having to keep turning around to see what is happening.

Parked outside all its life in the heavy frosts, the feeder has lasted well, “We’ve only just had to replace the rear chain now with no lube all its life and everything else is still going fine”.tel. 0800 487 853www.hustlerequipment.co.nz

Pottinger twin-rotor swather rake.

Rake takes all in its stridePOTTINGER EXTRA heavy-duty twin-rotor swather rake meet the demands of high hectares and challenging con-ditions so often experienced in New Zealand, distributor Origin Agroup says.

With the new TOP 852 and 972 C s-line, Pottinger has developed a double windrower with central swath place-ment that offers the contractor 7.75-8.55m working width on the 852 model and 9.0-9.8m working width on the 972 model.

“Both models feature plenty of space for the swath. They have a rotor lifting system with the axle inside the arc of the rotor (steered axle), providing a real ‘jet effect’ for a ground clearance of about 600mm.

“This means about 30% higher clearance than any other equipment currently available on the market,” says Origin.

The rotors are lifted upwards at an angle to the rear to guarantee sufficient swath clearance at the headland. This enables harvesting machinery in the next pass to achieve higher performance because the swaths are intact and can be picked up more efficiently.

Best forage quality is achieved via perfect ground hug-ging provided by a PTO shaft with a pivot angle of +/- 5 degrees and the maker’s proven Pottinger Multitast ground hugging front wheel.

Despite the rotor diameter of 3.70m (with 13 tine arms) the transport height is below 4m, without having to remove the tine arms. The side guard pivots back hydrau-lically.

The control system is said to offer plenty of comfort: hydraulic rake height adjustment - individually or together - as well as an option for electro-hydraulic individual rotor lifting for working with just one rotor.www.originagroup.co.nz

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rural News // june 5, 2012

nz nAtionAl fieldAys 57

program puts you straight into NAItCRV AMBREED’S new web-based herd record-ing program Insight-Web is notable for its ability to forward rel-evant information directly to NAIT, says the company, an accred-ited NAIT information provider.

This means farmers using Insight Web can meet their NAIT obli-gations without double entering data.

The company says it offers a conve-nient ‘portal’ for farm-ers’ entry to the NAIT scheme on July 1. The process it offers:

Register for a NAIT number through www.nait.co.nz or phone 0800 624 843. Alternatively visit CRV Ambreed or

NAIT at National Fieldays for help to register.

Select CRV Ambreed as NAIT information pro-vider.

Ensure all animals are listed in CRV Insight-Web, Insight-Paper or MISTRO Farm 5.

EID tag animals moving off-farm and assign the EID numbers to records.

Record all movements with CRV Ambreed within 48hours of the movement occurring.

Says the company,

“With [at least] 30% of CRV herd recording cli-ents choosing to use CRV Insight-Web it is clear [the program is easy to use] to keep on top of NAIT obli-gations,” says product manager Angela Ryan. www.crv4all.co.nz

crV ambreed’s new web-based herd recording programme.

New tractors retain proven featuresMASSEY FERGUSON has added four entirely new 82-107hp models to its popu-lar MF 5400 Series, reports Agco Australia.

“These tough, versatile workhorses are designed and built to handle the most chal-lenging tasks,” the company says.

In particular, the new models suit drys-tock and dairying in the Nelson region, and commercial growers.

Design and operating features are “truly innovative”, providing the power, perfor-mance and economy operators in this sector require. They are not simply updates to existing models, stresses Shane Snijders, general marketing manager.

“These new MF 5400 tractors rein-force Massey Ferguson’s position in our most popular sector…. [They have] superb power-to-weight ratios, excellent visibility and novel features that make them ideal for loader work.

“We have [utilised] successful features – such as the Dyna-4 transmission – and re-engineered them to suit precisely the specific customer requirements for this

size and type of tractor. This [ensures] manoeuvrability, stability, visibility and access linked to lively, agile performance in a yard, or on road or field.”

Features include:• Latest Perkins 4.4L, 4-cylinder, 1104D-

44T mechanical injection engine with high visibility bonnet and “no compro-mise cooling”.

• New transaxle specifically developed for these tractors, featuring optimised and flexible Dyna-4 transmission perfected for sub-110hp tractors.

• Unique front axle support housing. • Optional 1.8t integrated front linkage

system. • New rear axle, designed for these trac-

tors.• Rear linkage optimised for tractor size

with electronic linkage control.• High performance front axle.• Electro-hydraulic PTO speed selection

with 540/540E/1000 speeds.• Spacious cab with suspension option.www.agco.com.au

BERENDS IMPLEMENTS SERVICING FARMERS SINCE 1966

“UNBEATABLE VALUE FOR MONEY”

Contact: David Gock. 0274528 294 A/H 09 262 0404 davidgock@xtra.co.nz www.johnberendsimplements.com.au

HYDRAULIC GRADERS GROUNDBREAKERS

CHISEL PLOUGH CATTLE CRUSH

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BERENDS IMPLEMENTS SERVICING FARMERS SINCE 1966

“UNBEATABLE VALUE FOR MONEY”

Contact: David Gock. 0274528 294 A/H 09 262 0404 davidgock@xtra.co.nz www.johnberendsimplements.com.au

HYDRAULIC GRADERS GROUNDBREAKERS

CHISEL PLOUGH CATTLE CRUSH

‘S’ TINE CULTIVATORS DEEP TILLAGE PLOUGH

BERENDS IMPLEMENTS SERVICING FARMERS SINCE 1966

“UNBEATABLE VALUE FOR MONEY”

Contact: David Gock. 0274528 294 A/H 09 262 0404 davidgock@xtra.co.nz www.johnberendsimplements.com.au

HYDRAULIC GRADERS GROUNDBREAKERS

CHISEL PLOUGH CATTLE CRUSH

‘S’ TINE CULTIVATORS DEEP TILLAGE PLOUGH

See us at Fieldays stand C64

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See us at Site D74

National Fieldays

rural News // june 5, 2012

58 nz nAtionAl fieldAysMower uses lower powerTHE BIGGEST advantage of the Lely Splendino 550P trailed mowers is their lower power demand.

“With bigger mounted mowers, a lot of the power is used just to carry the mowers let alone operate them,” says North Island area manager Andrew Saes.

Many contractors and farmers have lower-pow-

ered tractors for operat-ing rakes and tedders, and those tractors suit the Lely mowers.

The maker suggests a minimum of 90hp depending on contours.

Working width is 5.5m, leaving a swathe 4.9m wide. The mower can work left or right of the trac-tor. A choice of four height adjustments gets the ideal lely splendino 550P

Feed pad kit new on combyFEEDOUT GEAR specialist Robertson Manufacturing has developed a new feed pad kit for its Comby range of machines. The company says feedback at last year’s National Fieldays was “taken back to the round table”.

“And we have come up with this new option available on new machines or it can be fitted to any Comby range machine post 2001.”

This option replaces the tray below the elevator and eliminates the possibility of any spillage on feed pads by extending the elevator in underneath the cross floor.

The company also announces a new Mega Comby in its range.

Designed as “the best of the best”, it has “massive 20m3 plus capacity and is capable of the biggest jobs.”

“It comes with the feed pad kit and tilting elevator as standard and it is load cell-ready, so if you don’t choose the option of load cells now, you can fit them later with ease.

“The new Mega – in common with all our Comby range – is a versatile multi feeder capable of feeding round and square bales (straw or silage), pit silage and maize. It also has optional grain feeder and causmag spreader.”

The range of machines is said to feed almost anything and is the “perfect multi-feeder with a size and options to suit any farmer’s needs.”www.robfarm.co.nz

Hot post tames stockIMPROVEMENTS TO the Strainrite (Robertson Engi-neering) Hot Post give even better control of livestock, says general manager Brian Collins.

“We’re continuously looking for opportunities to improve products and processes.” And requests from the field needed to be incorporated into the Hot Post design. Hence the new (2012) model.

Collins says feedback from farmers indicates stock get used to standard pigtail posts not causing any discomfort when touched. Some cattle have learnt to push standard pigtails over to get to fresh grazing.

The Hot Post shaft (galvanised spring steel) becomes electrified when installed with electric fence tape or poly-wire. The shaft is insulated from the ground by the insu-lated foot component. The new version’s features include better injection moulding, a foot that makes easier work of placing the post in hard ground, and a wedge shape to stop it from working its way out of the soil in windy conditions.

Users will notice “far superior” insulation performance on the new Hot Post, Collins says, ideal for the high energy outputs of larger energisers. www.strainrite.co.nz

mowing height.It can be steered with

controls from the tractor so gateways and races are not a problem and it narrows to 2.6m for travelling.

The two cutter bars are centrally suspended and can move independent of each other giving perfect

contour following and the mower can be raised as a whole to give crop clear-ance at headlands.

Says Saes, “According to recent Profi tests our mowers give maximum output with minimum energy requirements.” tel. 021 392 472www.lely.co.nz

FEEDOUT MACHINES

TRAILED SPREADERSSIMPLY SUPERIOR

PO Box 6 Hinds, Mid Canterbury • Phone 03 303 7228 • www.robfarm.co.nz

Foryourcatalogueofallourproductspleasecontact

Don 027 433 2212 or Danny 027 443 4777

Row Crop Spreader

• Stainless steel bin• 700mm wide conveyor• 3 speed gearbox• Optional load cells and Twin floor• Optional electronic auto steer

514LK Spreader

• Stainless steel bin• 500mm wide conveyor• 3 speed gearbox• 1.4 tonne cappacity• Ground drive conveyor

Comby Range• From 4m3 to 20m3.• Feeds pit silage, maize silage

round and square bales and grain.

• New feed pad kit option.• Unique optional load cell

weighing system.

NEW FEED PAD KIT ON DISPLAY AT MYSTERY CREEK!

COMBY, SUPER COMBY, SUPER COMBY EX, MEGA COMBY

SEE US AT FIELDAYS SITE A69

rural News // june 5, 2012

nz nAtionAl fieldAys 59

a touch of OlympicsA LONDON double-decker bus will bring a foretaste of the British Olympic Games to Fieldays, and then to New Zealand towns and cities.

Fieldays strategic partner ANZ has signed with the New Zealand Olympic Committee for three years to sponsor New Zealand’s Olympic and Com-monwealth Games teams, including our team at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The bus will begin its nationwide tour at Fieldays.ANZ says the bus has interactive games and activities. For example, guests can

jump aboard a rowing or cycling machine to test their sporting prowess against New Zealand’s best, or send photos and messages of support to our athletes, straight from the bus.

The bus will be parked outside the ANZ main building next to the Village Green.

METALFORM IS about to impress again, with the new large Tow and Fert prototype having its first outing at National Fieldays.

Metalform says it has for several years worked hard to unveil the ‘big brother’ of the Tow and Fert Multi 800. Now with ‘breakthrough’ technology this unit will cover up to 40ha/load. It will cater for larger farms and contractors needing to cover greater areas without refilling. The Tow and Fert’s multiple-role ability means the operator can save money in fertiliser product, application costs, timely appli-cation of animal health trace elements,

application of herbicides (thistle, dock spray etc) while simultaneously applying lime, urea etc.

The concept of liquid fertiliser and liquid suspended fine particle fertiliser in folia applications is gaining awareness and popularity, the company says.

The Tow and Fert Multi 800 machine has success stories from 100 % of its cus-tomers so far. “The next generation of fer-tiliser mixing and application is going to be even more impressive again.”tel. 0508 747 040www.towandfarm.com

More clever spreader

THE IRISH will turn out in force at Fieldays in a farm machinery trade delegation organised by Enterprise Ireland.

For 30 years Ireland has devel-oped this business now success-ful at home and abroad, the group says. Now this sector of Irish engi-neering generates exports of $213 million.

Several Irish agribusiness com-panies are said to be world leaders in their specialised fields.

“Products on offer are diverse and include grass balers, feed sys-tems, dairy equipment and machin-

ery accessories. “Recent product diversification

has centred on developing prod-ucts that help to create a ‘green’ image in food production.

“Irish agricultural machin-ery tends to be more rugged and built to a higher specification than machinery from some other coun-tries due to the poor quality of Irish

land; as a result the products tend to be superior on high quality land in other countries.”

New Zealand and Ireland share many similarities: a strong his-torical connection and collective social, political and cultural values, Enterprise Ireland says.

“No wonder many Irish busi-nesses continue to succeed and

flourish in the New Zealand mar-ketplace. The agribusiness sector is a key contributor to this growth and is reflected in the well-devel-oped and innovative agricultural sectors in both countries.”

Enterprise Ireland works with Irish companies to help them develop and compete so they can grow in world markets.

Irish to turn out in force

abbey machinery is one of ireland’s largest agricul-tural equipment manufacturer.

Soil Aeration Specialists

Maitland RD5, GorePh/Fax: 03-207 1837Mobile: 027-628 5695www.jamesengineering.co.nz

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DON’T PUT GOOD FERTILISERS ON COMPACTED SOIL WHICH CAN’T ABSORB ITIf your soil can’t support 15cm root growth and good worm population check for compaction, you could need aeration.

In dollar terms, what would 20% production increase mean to your yearly turnover?YOUR GREATEST ASSET IS THE SOIL YOU FARM - DON’T DESTROY IT!

Pre-Rippers

Heavy Duty Auto Reset

Transports and stands wrapped round bales on end for storage

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FREEPHONE 0800 DOCKER 0800 362 537www.vetmarker.co.nz

The Benefits are:• Less stress on lamb• Easy to load• Automatically sprays for fly strike on release• Lambs are released onto their feet• Height adjustable• Straight rollers help prevent legs getting stuck• Self locking on yard rail• 2 Year Warranty

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See us at Site G40

NEW MODEL

rural News // june 5, 2012

60 nz nAtionAl fieldAys

Farmers shift gears on EIDFARMERS ARE now buying livestock electronic ID equipment (EID) “for value, rather than for [NAIT] compliance,” says EID maker Tru-Test Group.

The company has noticed a change in farm-ers’ perceptions of this technology in the past

year, says sales and mar-keting manager Verne Atmore.

“Farmers are now well aware NAIT does not equal EID; [instead] NAIT means identification and tags, with the option of adding EID.

“EID-based animal tracking, weighing and

recording represents the biggest change to many livestock farmers’ farming systems in years. We’ve had huge interest at the regional field days, and we expect the national event to be no different.”

Atmore says the main interest at last year’s National Fieldays was from farmers interested in learning about the gear and developing an under-standing of their options, with the NAIT scheme then due for launch late last year.

But many farmers have moved on.

“EID is being taken up by farmers who are think-ing differently about how they grow meat or manage their herds and replace-ment stock by removing guesswork and focusing on objective data.

“They’re using EID and recording and tracking technology for manage-ment decision-making to grow animals more quickly with the right character-istics at the right time for more profitability from each blade of grass.”

Tru-Test will extend “some fantastic Fieldays-only offers on EID weigh-ing systems”.

Atmore says the launch and growth of interest in FarmIQ, which will have a presence on Tru-Test Group stand, has added to the interest in EID.

Auto-drafting special-ists Prattley Industries will

also be on the Tru-Test Group site. “The combi-nation of Tru-Test, Prat-tley and FarmIQ will give farmers a complete view of data recording (e.g. weight, drench), auto drafting by multiple crite-ria and farm information in a web-based decision support tool.

Tru-Test will show-ing its new entry-level EID EziWeigh7 weigh scale (superceding the Ezi-Weigh6). New features include Bluetooth wire-less interface for the XRS EID stick reader, more storage capacity (100 ses-sions, 15,000 records), and calculation and display of daily weight gain since an animal’s last weight ses-sion

The system maximises the potential of weight data with EID and VID (electronic and visual identification) using Tru-Test’s Superdamp III tech-nology to give “the world’s fastest, most accurate, live animal weighing even with the liveliest animals”.

The information is relayed over the largest weight display available, a high-contrast display vis-ible in the brightest day-light and an LED backlight for visibility in failing light or dark sheds.

USB compatible, the EziWeigh7 plugs directly into PCs or laptops and has RS232 compatibility with the XRP EID panel reader.

farmers’ perception on Nait and eid is changing.

Taking a stand for good sortsLAST YEAR Stafix (Tru-Test) helped three rural rugby clubs renovate their clubrooms and grandstands. They called it ‘Take a Stand’.

This year the company is taking a stand “for those good sorts who go the extra mile in rural schools”.

‘Take a Stand for Good Sorts in Rural Schools’ is a chance to identify and celebrate those who beaver away in rural schools, often behind the scenes and beyond the call of duty.

“We were encouraged by the success of ‘Take a Stand’ last year and this is a way of further supporting the rural community,” marketing manager Shaun Owen says.

“Rural New Zealand works on a ‘rolling up your sleeves’ attitude and this is our opportunity to recognise the spe-cial people who do this day in, day out.”

Stafix is seeking nominations for good sorts who work in rural schools. They’ll then select the five most deserving good sorts, and their school will win $3,000 to put towards an exciting project.

The nomination period runs from 28 May – 15 June. Winners will be announced on Jamie McKay’s Farming Show on Radio Sport 18-22 June. www.stafix.com

site C32(corner of Bank Road and C Street)

Proudly manufactured by: Metalform (Dannevirke) Ltd, Easton Street, Dannevirke 4930, New ZealandPh: 06 374 7043 | Fax: 06 374 9316 | Web: www.towandfarm.com

Multi 800

NEW!

Tow and Fert

LARGE SCALE FARMERS / CONTRACTORSLook what we have developed for you!

Come and visit us at the Fieldays at site C32 and check out the protoype of the Multi 4000 on display. We welcome your comments and feedback, so come and talk to the

designers and tell us what you think! 4000 litres | cover up to 40 hectaresonboard crane for loading | PTO driven

Multi 4000Tow and Fert

Mix and apply any dissolved fertiliser and slurry

Work smarter with the Tow and Fert Multi 800 and apply what you need, when you need it.

React faster with animal health trace elements. Combine herbicides with your fertiliser application

to save time and money.

- Mix and apply animal health trace elements- Mix and apply fine particle fertiliser- Mix and apply dissolved fertiliser- Mix and apply soil conditioners- Up to 20 metres swath- Fully remote control spray and boom operation- On-board scales for accurate filling/operation

Fill the Tow and Fert from a creek or dam using the on-board suction hose

Tow the Multi 800 with a 4WD ute to free up your tractor

rural News // june 5, 2012

nz nAtionAl fieldAys 61

Check hooves before flying away

air seed drilling takes off around the worldSPREADING ITS wings 12 months ago, Duncan Ag, Timaru, at National Fiel-days launched its Duncan Enviro DD30 air-seeding drill aimed at markets in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, UK, Japan and USA.

Says business devel-opment manager Jeremy Scott, “It’s been so suc-cessful, and interna-tionally we believe the Duncan brand has set the bar at a whole new level of mechanical reli-ability... with its one-pass operation and economi-cal advances in our seed-ing drills.”

The Enviro DD is a 23-run unit that sows out to 2.87m

Features include 550L boxes with wide-opening lids, proven drive system (Duncan Mk4 Renova-tor) and the disc spring-mount assembly proven in the maker’s Trash Boss range, says product devel-

opment manager Richard Jamieson.

It has a leading scal-loped disc followed by a plain disc which opens the seeding slot.

Says Jamieson, “The disc assembly bearings and disc angle come from the Duncan Enviro 3000e. Disc spacing is 125mm – the popular spacing used on the Duncan 24 and 28 run Mk4 Renovators and Duncan Enviro 3000e drills.”

A press wheel for soil and seed compaction is an option and the transport wheels control sowing depth.

The discs fore and aft of the transport wheels provide the contouring.

The company trialled the unit in Australia and foresaw New Zealand application. “It’s a drill that takes farmers into the disc arena in a cost effec-tive way.”

South Australia farmer

Jared Boshier is quoted as saying his DD30 – the first landed in Australia – “takes the sowing task to a new level of satisfaction”. He says another attribute of the DD30 is easy cali-brating and and spot-on performance.

Says McDonnell Dairy-ing’s tractor operator Nathan Hunter, “The lead-ing scalloped disc system allows us to go into pad-docks with 600mm high trash and successfully sow without paddock prepa-ration that would other-

claws should be trimmed to same height so that weight is spread evenly over the two claws.

THE END of the season is a good time for hoof trim-ming maintenance. Hoof trimming does not stop laminitis but it does help to minimise the effects of laminitis. Trimming the cows at this time of the year means that they will have well-shaped feet by the time they calf, and therefore suffer less from calving-induced lami-nitis. Remember that if

the weight is distributed evenly over the claw then it is less likely for the outer claw to pack up due to the combination of overload and being sick.

It is a bit like having a trailer with two really old tyres. When you load such a trailer, but put the entire load on one side of the trailer, then the tyre on the loaded side is much more likely to burst than the

tyre on the other side. If you spread the load evenly over both tyres then you are less likely to end up with a flat tyre. It may still happen but it is less likely.

In the same way, if you spread the weight of the cow over the two claws, rather than letting the outer claw do most of the work, you are less likely to end up with a lame cow. The reason the outer claw

usually does most of the work is because it tends to grow bigger than the inner claw. This is why cows usually go lame on the outer claw.

If you trim the outer claw back to the same height as the inner claw then you are spreading the weight evenly over the two claws. It sounds like a very simple and easy pro-cess, but it actually takes a

skilled hoof trimmer to get the balance right.

Successful hoof trim-ming requires professional training and correct equip-ment.

Veehof uses a specif-ically deisgned WOPA

crush that protects both the animal and the person doing the trimming, appropriate knives, as well as the best claw and bond-ing products, and protec-tive safety gear.

As experts, Veehof is in

the ideal position to help you with hoof trimming knowledge, training, pro-cess and equipment. See us at Fieldays, visit our website www.veehof.co.nz or contact us on 0800 833463 to find out more.

wise have cost tractor time and labour, fuel, and spray costs. [We sowed] 258ha – the equivalent of at least 300km of straight-line drilling – in eight days.”

Otago contractor Brian Flett is said to like the

DD30’s performance in the stony country of Cen-tral Otago.

Duncan Ag general manager Craig McIsaac says the company needed a disc drill for tough con-ditions where stones or

excessive trash would be a problem. “We have our triple-disc drills but we needed a disc drill with a simpler mechanism and lower cost. That’s how the DD30 came about.”www.duncanag.co.nz

duncan enviro dd30 drill.

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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 5.46 5.46 7.21

PM - 16.0kg n/c 5.48 5.48 7.23

PX - 19.0kg n/c 5.50 5.50 7.25

PH - 22.0kg n/c 5.51 5.51 7.26

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.20 3.20 4.55

SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 5.53 5.53 7.01

PM - 16.0kg n/c 5.53 5.53 7.03

PX - 19.0kg n/c 5.53 5.53 7.05

PH - 22.0kg n/c 5.53 5.53 7.06

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.13 3.13 4.20

NZ Slaughter Estimated Weekly Kill

1000s Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

Lamb NI -4% 200 210 139 197

Lamb SI -9% 293 321 218 279

Lamb NZ -7% 494 531 357 477

Mutton NZ -8% 37 41 30 72

Export Market Demand

ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

UK Leg £/lb n/c 1.68 1.68 2.54 1.69

NZ$/kg n/c 7.70 7.70 11.25 8.82

Procurement Indicator

Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI +1% 72.7% 72.1% 64.4% 36.6%

% Returned SI 0% 72.1% 72.1% 63.1% 55.4%

Venison Prices

ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

NI Stag - 60kg n/c 7.10 7.10 7.95 6.90

SI Stag - 60kg -5 7.15 7.20 8.00 7.20

NZ Weekly Lamb Kill

0

150

300

450

600

750

Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul

Last Year

This Year

Demand Indicator - UK Leg Price

£1.60

£2.10

£2.60

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - South I.

45%

55%

65%

75%

85%

Mar May Jul

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - North I.

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Mar May Jul

Last Year

This Year

Beef Prices

c/kgCWT ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg +5 4.00 3.95 4.50

M2 Bull - 300kg +7 4.10 4.03 4.50

P2 Cow - 230kg +7 3.12 3.05 3.85

M Cow - 200kg +7 2.97 2.90 3.75

Local Trade - 230kg +7 4.02 3.95 4.50

SI P2 Steer - 300kg -5 3.67 3.72 4.20

M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 3.80 3.80 4.20

P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 2.80 2.80 3.40

M Cow - 200kg n/c 2.70 2.70 3.30

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 3.85 3.85 4.20

NZ Slaughter Estimated Weekly Kill

1000s Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

Cattle NI -2% 46.9 47.7 50.5 47.8

Cattle SI +17% 25.7 21.9 25.4 21.3

Cattle NZ +4% 72.6 69.6 75.9 69.1

Bull NI -15% 5.6 6.6 5.2 6.9

Bull SI +13% 1.8 1.6 2.1 1.9

Str & Hfr NI +2% 14.4 14.1 15.9 15.3

Str & Hfr SI -13% 6.2 7.1 6.8 7.2

Cows NI -0% 26.9 27.0 29.4 25.6

Cows SI +34% 17.7 13.2 16.5 12.2

Export Market Demand

ChangeLast Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb n/c 2.11 2.11 1.95 1.61

NZ$/kg +3 6.17 6.14 5.26 4.89

Procurement Indicator

Change2Wks Ago

3 Wks Ago

Last Year

5yr Ave

% Returned NI +1% 65.3% 64.3% 85.60% 74.9%

% Returned SI -0% 61.6% 61.9% 79.9% 67.6%

NZ Weekly Beef Kill

0

20

40

60

80

Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul

Last YearThis Year

Demand Indicator - US 95CL Beef

$1.80

$2.00

$2.20

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - South I.

60%

70%

80%

90%

Mar May Jul

Last Year

This Year

Procurement Indicator - North I.

60%

70%

80%

90%

Mar May Jul

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 5.48 n/c 5.53

Steer - P2 300kg +5 4.00 -5 3.67

Bull - M2 300kg +7 4.10 n/c 3.80

Venison - AP 60kg n/c 7.10 -5 7.15

North Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5

$7.5

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

5yr Ave

Last Year

This Year

South Island 16.0kg M Lamb Price

$3.5

$4.5

$5.5

$6.5

$7.5

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

5yr AveLast YearThis Year

North Island 300kg Bull Price

$3.0

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

5yr AveLast YearThis Year

South Island 300kg Steer Price

$3.0

$3.5

$4.0

$4.5

$5.0

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

5yr Ave Last Year This Year

North Island 60kg Stag Price

$6.0

$7.0

$8.0

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

5yr AveLast YearThis Year

South Island 60kg Stag Price

$6.5

$7.5

$8.5

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

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.

rural News // june 5, 2012

Get weekly market updates online now www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/markets

Beef Tide turning for North Island beef prices Slaughter prices for cattle in the North Island moved upwards last week as meat companies up the ante to secure more supply while they still have capacity on. Prices for 300kg bull firmed to $4.10/kg on average while steers picked back up to around $4.00/kg. With kill numbers heading south after the peak dairy cow kill was reached earlier in the month and the NZ dollar hovering around US75c, there has been some more motivation to keep the cattle coming forward for slaughter. In the South Island export cattle prices were mixed last week. While most prices held and there have been one or two premiums floating back it unfortunately didn’t spread to prime steer with 300kg cwt prices coming under further pressure, easing back to average $3.67/kg. The money for cow is variable but most are still sitting around the $2.70-$2.80/kg mark. Cows have taken up most of the space at South Island plants in the last week or so, but that could change in the coming weeks as many are speculating they have just about done their dash.

Beef exports limited by lack of cattle A tighter flow of beef into our processing plants stifled exports in April. Last months total of 39,500 tonnes fell 4000t short of April 2011 levels but were on par with March volumes. Strong prices saw New Zealand exporters focus on the US with exports up by 12% on March to 19,500t. Trading with Japan improved as exports posted a 19% year-on-year lift to 3500t. Exports to Korea dropped by 34% on a year ago as NZ exporters struggle to make headway due to sluggish demand and an increasing US presence.

Lamb Lamb prices steady for now Lamb kill numbers in the North Island have yet to show any sustained drop in numbers. The lamb kill is still just higher than normal and meat company margins remain under pressure with the main overseas markets still lacklustre. This is keeping the pressure on prices and preventing any upside. As a result export lamb prices held at $5.48/kg (net) last week. Meat Companies may well be prepared to reduce capacity rather than chase harder for lamb in the short term. In the South Island lamb prices were generally holding last week at $5.53/kg (net), but there is growing optimism from some corners that a lift in prices could be on the cards in the coming weeks. Meat companies are closing further plants as slaughter numbers fall and others remain on restricted capacity. This may further support a firmer outlook if some companies choose to chase a bit harder in the coming weeks.

North Island mutton kill coming to life The onset of winter is proving the catalyst for those still holding onto extra ewes. The North Island mutton kill has stepped up a gear with weekly kill rates pushing as high as 20,000 head in recent weeks, well up on the 9000 this time last year. In contrast the South Island mutton kill continues to stutter. Since mid February, weekly slaughter rates have fallen to below average levels. It is common knowledge that many ewes were held back to help clean up rough feed but even as the cooler temperatures start to bite, the ewes are failing to show up. The weekly South Island mutton kill is tracking at 20,000 head which is 25,000 head below five-year average levels for this time of the season.

Wool Wool prices needing a revival in overseas demand The weaker position of the kiwi dollar is helping wool prices as the season starts to draw to a close. There have been some firmer prices in recent weeks, but any upside is still limited due to overall softer overseas demand. Compared to this time last year, prices remain significantly lower.

Currency Watch

vs. NZ DollarLast Week

2 Wks Ago

4 Wks Ago

Last Year

US dollar 0.754 0.758 0.814 0.818

Euro 0.601 0.598 0.616 0.574

UK pound 0.481 0.481 0.503 0.498

Aus dollar 0.772 0.771 0.784 0.764

Japan yen 59.97 60.19 66.07 66.19

Euro

0.51

0.56

0.61

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

UK Pound

0.43

0.48

0.53

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last YearThis Year

US Dollar

0.70

0.75

0.80

0.85

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last YearThis Year

Wool Price Watch Dairy Price Watch

Indicators in NZ$ Change 24-May 17-MayLast Year

Indicators in NZ$/T ChangeLast 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

Coarse Xbred Indic. +17 4.53 4.36 6.21 Butter -100 3980 4081 5869

Fine Xbred Indicator +8 5.35 5.27 6.54 Skim Milk Powder +63 3682 3618 4723

Lamb Indicator +3 5.08 5.05 6.03 Whole Milk Powder -40 3881 3921 5013

Mid Micron Indic. - 9.40 - 10.53 Cheddar +122 4776 4654 5594

Overseas Price Indicators Overseas Price Indicators

Indicators in US$/kg Change 24-May 17-MayLast Year

Indicators in US$/T ChangeLast 2 Wks

Prev. 2 Wks

Last Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator +7 3.40 3.33 4.93 Butter -200 3000 3200 4800

Fine Xbred Indicator -1 4.02 4.03 5.18 Skim Milk Powder -63 2775 2838 3863

Lamb Indicator -4 3.82 3.86 4.78 Whole Milk Powder -150 2925 3075 4100

Mid Micron Indicator - 7.06 - 8.35 Cheddar -50 3600 3650 4575

Wool Indicator Trends

400450500550600650700750

May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar

CXI FXI LI

Coarse Xbred Indictor in US$

300

350

400

450

500

550

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator

400

500

600

700

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

Dairy Prices Trends

3,500

4,500

5,500

6,500

May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar

SMP WMPBut. Ched.

Whole Milk Powder Price in US$/T

2,800

3,300

3,800

4,300

4,800

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

Whole Milk Powder Price (NZ$)

3,500

4,500

5,500

6,500

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Last Year

This Year

Wool Indicator in US$

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr

CXI FXI LI

Dairy Prices in US$/Tonne

2,500

3,500

4,500

May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar

SMP WMPBut. Ched.

rural News // june 5, 2012

64 mAnAgement

Ahuwhenua winnerTHREE YEARS ago Whan-gara Farms won the Ahu-whenua Trophy for the best Maori sheep and beef farm in New Zealand.

Like most Maori farms, it is big – but by no means the biggest. At 7,100ha it carries 70,000 stock units, made up of 35,000 Coopworth/Romney ewes and 6000 cattle includ-ing 1,600 Angus breeding

cows.The farms are situated

on SH35 about 30 minutes north of Gisborne and up the Ruakituri Valley north west of Wairoa. From the large and distinctive wool-shed beside the highway you get beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and to the west, serious hill coun-try. It’s an attractive and beautiful property, and

one that in the matter of just a few years has almost doubled its production.

The business is a part-nership of two Maori Incorporations, Whan-gara B5 and Pakarae A, with 1500 shareholders between them. The two trusts amalgamated about seven years ago with the new name, Whangara Farms, chosen recently for

simplicity and to leave the door open for other Maori Trusts to join. Both trusts are represented on the board, but what’s unique is they also appoint two independent directors. Currently these are BLNZ Chairman Mike Petersen and former Landcorp chief executive Bernard Card. Fifteen staff are employed on the farm.

The North Island’s East Coast is serious hill country which has attracted large forestry operations, but as Rural News reporter Peter Burke discovers, for some, good farm management is driving outstanding gains in sheep and beef

It was the amalgama-tion of the two trusts that breathed new life into the farms. Richard Scholefield was appointed chief exec-utive, a role he’s now been in for six years. Before coming to Whangara he’d completed a Diploma in Agriculture at Massey University, worked on a Merino stud in Marlbor-ough and other farms in the North Island. He’d also worked on farms in the UK and the USA.

“When I took over the farm it was very tradition-ally run,” he recalls.

“There were no weigh-ing facilities for cattle and no real weighing of sheep being undertaken. The first investment I made was to buy scales so we could monitor stock weights. Now everything that goes off the farm is

weighed.”Lambing was just on

100%, with big 70-80kg sheep. Facial eczema and fertility were the main lim-iting factors so new genet-ics were introduced and management improved.

“When I came here, the farm was producing 18,000 lambs. Last year we had 36,000. The lambing percentage is now 135% and we have a target of 140%.”

Until now the focus has been on getting the ewe flock up to scratch but this autumn, for the first time, 7000 hoggets were put to the rams too.

“Hogget mating is a two fold thing. Firstly to increase production and secondly to get a more productive ewe.”

But it’s not all about lambs, he adds. There’s

still a focus on wool pro-duction with a clip of 180,000kg/year.

When he arrived on the farm, cattle were being fin-ished after three winters. Now all trade cattle are finished after one winter.

As on most East Coast farms cattle ‘groom’ pas-tures for ewes and lambs but the 500 Angus cows in the A herd still manage 90% calving. Angus cows go to an Angus bull and from these calves replace-ments are selected.

“We only keep black replacements. Although we have some crossbred cows, we are moving out of them. We heifer mate and for a heifer to make it through to the cow herd they have to have a live calf as a heifer, and then get back in calf as a 3-year-old and be Angus.”

whangara farms’ chief executive richard scholefield.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

mAnAgement 65

Apart from excellent management, the dramatic lift in production is thanks to $3 million invested over the past six years. At the top of Scholefield’s prior-ity list is fertiliser. Even when prices were high it was still applied and this season about 1,200t of sulphur superphosphate and 850t of lime has been applied. Urea is also used at key times to lift pasture growth, but the big focus at present is liming to lift pH.

Meanwhile an aggres-sive pasture renewal pro-gramme is being pursued.

“Each year we are sowing up to 200ha into various new grasses.”

Over the past six years, 160ha/year has gone into summer crops for lambs then back into grass in the autumn.

“As well we’ve been leasing out 40ha’s for a cash crop, which is also turned back into grass. We are also trying to improve our steeper coastal hill country by spraying out and then sowing, with a helicopter, a mix of plan-tain and clover. We may look at lucerne in the future.”

Erosion is an issue and up to 500 poplar poles are going in annually, in keep-ing with one of the farm’s core values: sustainabil-ity. Where practical, they are fencing waterways and swamplands and riparian planting.

One of the biggest developments, undertaken shortly after Scholefield arrived, was reticulat-ing water to all paddocks. It cost $1.8m but with-out it stock were reliant

on access to dams and creeks, which limited graz-ing efficiency and created problems, particularly in summer when tempera-tures can reach 40 deg C and norwesters induce drought in a matter of days.

“In 2007 there was 1000ha we couldn’t graze because all the dams had dried up and there was no water. We had to pull stock out of dams and it even got to the stage that we had to just open the gates to let the stock find what water they could. To increase the production we needed to address the stock water.”

Water is now pumped from rivers and a lake on the farms to header tanks, then gravity fed to troughs. He says it’s hard to put an actual dollar return on the system, but notes other farms have fol-lowed suit over the last few years.

“It’s been a great investment, good water is essential for stock perfor-mance.”

Scholefield says today, Whangara Farms is at something of a crossroads. Much has been achieved including winning the Ahuwhenua Trophy in 2009. Judges for that noted growth of the busi-ness in a very short time; unique governance struc-ture; clear vision; com-mitment to development; productivity achieve-ments. Whangara Farms ticked all the boxes then and the impetus to make further gains remains strong.

“We’ve done the initial development with infra-structure, fences, lane-

ways, water and housing. We’re now looking at what our next priorities might be. This might be drainage of our flats to increase the utilisation and productiv-ity of these areas.

“We’re also looking at what we can do with what we are producing.

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with an annual clip of 180t, wool

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For example we are prob-ably not killing our lambs at optimum and in a dry

summer we have to sell lambs store.”

Creating an inter-

nal lamb finishing unit or acquiring a specialised fin-ishing property is being

considered.“Personally, that’s what

I think we need to do.”

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rural News // june 5, 2012

66 mAnAgementDairy path to sheep and beefA rewarding spell dairy farming provided the platform to move into sheep and beef farming for Mathew and Gemma Barham, winners of the 2012 Silver Fern Farms Hawkes Bay Farmer of the Year award. Vivienne Haldane reports.

MATHEW AND Gemma Barham spent their twenties working hard in the dairy industry. Now they’re award winning sheep and beef farmers.

“Dairying served us really well,” Mathew told 350 farmers at a field day on their farm last month.

“But the end goal of farm owner-ship was always within the sheep and beef industry.”

The field day was to mark their win-ning of the Silver Fern Farms Hawkes Bay Farmer of the Year Award.

Both are from farming backgrounds and opted for tertiary study before going into the farming industry; Mathew has a Bachelor of Applied Science/Valuation Farm Management and Gemma a Bach-elor of Commerce in Accounting.

They project managed the conver-sion of three properties to dairy in the Bay of Plenty, at the same time as hold-ing share-milking contracts.

With the sale and purchase of three other farms, they built their equity to the point where in 2006 they were able

to pay cash for a third share in Man-gatarata Station in central Hawke’s

Bay, with Barham’s parents, Mike and Erica, owning the balance.

They credit much of their success to solid partnerships

with family and the support network they receive from the

agricultural industry.“Success like this doesn’t

happen by accident, its bloody hard work, a lot of

planning, a lot of communi-cation and a lot of leadership,”

Dick Kingston National Bank regional manager, East Coast,

told the field day crowd.A typical day for the Barhams

starts with a staff meeting at 7.30am. “We are effectively trying to run a large scale property with the attention to detail a small property allows,” they say.

Over the past four years sheep num-bers have been reduced from 5,300 to 3,700 to concentrate on achieving better performance.

They breed their own replacements using Te Whangai Romney genetics.

“We are aiming for a compact, hardy, low maintenance ewe which can pro-duce good lambs yet handle our some-times harsh summer and autumn months.”

They aim for scanning in the range around 170% “In the last 3 years it’s been between 154-176%.”

They have an early finishing policy for their lambs, killing lambs from early October, targeting a high percentage off mum pre-weaning.

“We aim to kill lambs pre-weaning in the range of 16-18kg/carcass weight. We draft and or kill lambs every 12-18 days on-mum. Some early black- faced singles could be on their third or fourth draft by weaning - the new lanes we’ve put in make this possible. This in turn guarantees we are supplying a lamb within specifications regarding grade and weight.”

They supply lambs to CMP as a member of the Waitrose Producer Group which gives them options regard-ing forward contracts and timing.

The mix of terrain on the farm allows a range of grazing conditions. Ewes are teased/ramed in mobs of 220-260 ewes, making for about seven mobs, which are

rotated through 42 paddocks, three pad-docks apart.

“We shift them three times a week to try and avoid exposing them to animal health issues.”

Lambs are drenched at docking. “I’ve always drenched black-faced

lambs at docking - they always seem to get a lift from that - it gives them a clean out and they really start motoring, these are big lambs,” Mathew responded when challenged on the practice.

He also prefers to leave tails on the black-faced singles “unless they are really dirty.”

For replacements 1,000 ewe lambs are retained. This year, for the first time, 300 have been mated.

They have a flexible cattle policy, with Friesian bulls making up the major-ity herd. These are seen as a tradable commodity which can be purchased or sold on at any time depending on their weight.

“We have great areas to winter and finish cattle.”

In the past two years, some beef bulls have been sold into the dairy ser-vice market.

Bulls are wintered as rising two-year-olds in either cell systems or two/three paddock rotations with a preferred mob size of 20-30.

Steers and heifers are predominantly Angus but this is not essential they say.

“The Angus background gives us options for Angus Pure markets.”

All cattle in the rising two year group are used to tidy up pasture at times.

There are plantings of willows along gullies and some pine plantations. More are planned.

“Stock shelter and shade is high on our priority list. It’s the same as new grass: we didn’t want to invest money in areas of the farm until we were sure of the areas which would benefit from such investment.”

“We have finished all of our own lambs and have been able to purchase trade lambs at specific times in recent years due to crops and development."

mAngAtArAtA stAtion● 1020 ha (1000ha effective ): 210ha

flat; 595ha rolling; 93ha medium hill; 122ha shale hill.

● 9500 stock units split 50/50 sheep/cattle

● 152 main paddocks, plus extensive use of break feeding and cell grazing.

● summer dry with unreliable autumn rainfall. Annual average 800mm.

● Crops include lucerne, forage rape, kale, fodder beet and oats.

Hawkes Bay farmers of the Year winners, mathew and Gemma Barham.

rural News // june 5, 2012

mAnAgement 67

Deer key to station developmentThe New Zealand Deer Farmers’ Association’s recent conference in Wanaka concluded with a field day with a difference, considering the clientele: there wasn’t a stag, hind or weaner to be seen. andrew swallow reports.

tO pAGE 69

FOR HILL country farms with a bit of finishing land there are few enterprises that can match the returns offered by deer, judging by figures presented at a field day on Mt Burke Station, Wanaka.

The field day was the closing piece of the three day Deer Industry Confer-ence, and attracted a crowd of close to 300.

First stop on the morning tour was a hill overlooking a newly installed centre-pivot irrigator covering 60ha of flats more or less on the shore of Lake Wanaka.

“The water supply is pretty reliable where we’ve got it,” host Tim Burdon quipped.

Nicky Hyslop of field day facilita-tor Macfarlane Rural Business (MRB) costed fencing the pivot for deer at $15/m, which, with yarding and stock costs, would take capital cost to $81,000

more than setting it up for beef finish-ing.

At $4/kg cwt for beef, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) would be $49,300/ha but finishing weaner deer at an average kill date of mid Jan-uary and $8/kg, then finishing lambs at $6/kg, would take that EBIT to $62,000. Comparing the marginal EBIT and capi-tal figures ($13,000 and $81,000), gives a 16% return on capital.

“It’s all very well talking about the numbers and the theory, but this is very real,” Hyslop stressed to the crowd.

“There are not too many stock enter-prises that can compete with these returns when you are doing a good job.”

Paddy Boyd, who manages Haldon Station in the Mackenzie Basin, echoed that, explaining how a similar irrigation system installed to finish weaners then grow out hinds had transformed output

mt burke›› 10,000ha crown pastoral lease east of Lake Wanaka, plus 158ha

freehold and 280ha private lease.›› 225ha irrigated, including 61ha centre-pivot installed 2011.›› 3-stage development plan underway, capital budget $1.7m,

anticipated additional eBIT $249,000.›› Fewer stock classes, but 50% more stock units, from 8809 to

12,500 now, and 13,260 when finished.›› stock balance shift from 13% deer, 68% sheep, 19% beef to

29% deer, 55% sheep, 16% deer.

on country that previously couldn’t carry a sheep/acre.

“It’s gone from producing nothing to quite exceptional returns... I can see it working here.”

But David Ward, a specialist crop-ping farmer from Mid Canterbury who winters and finishes weaner deer on fodder crops, ryegrass, and barley, sounded a note of caution, saying high productivity is essential given the investment involved.

“A lot of people end up with high costs, and only medium income. When you start spending money like this here, you have to have high production and

maintain your costs at a reasonable level.”

Having a “very effective” electric

tim Burdon talks through plans for the new centre-pivot irrigator at mt Burke.

tenure review spurBuRDOn sAYs the development plan came about following a strategic review of the business undertaken with advisor Peter Bosworth in 2009, and because of Tenure Review.

“Because we’re going to lose some of the high country... it was important to get some of the other country producing and growing more feed.”

Mt Burke has been mired in Tenure Review since 1993 and is still not clear of the process, though a preliminary proposal to freehold three-quar-ters of the 10,000ha crown pastoral lease with the balance returned to the crown/Department of Conservation estate has been formulated.

Burdon likens it to the uncertainty faced by earthquake-struck Christ-church home owners waiting to find out if they can rebuild.

“We’ve had 18 years like that.”

rural News // june 5, 2012

68 mAnAgement

Local organic cert options growWHEN YOU only make three or four hundred dol-lars from sales at roadside stalls or markets, investing two or three thousand or even more into the organic

certification is a tall order, even if you have been farming organically for a number of years.

Realising this, a group of Far North growers have set about creating regional and national certifications

which they say will make organic accreditation available to all.

Formed in 1989 the group’s goal was initially to share experiences and to improve as organic farmers, but they soon dis-

covered that even though they were doing well as businesses, getting organic certification was some-thing of a burden.

Certification from Biogro, Demeter or Certenz, the three major

GArEtH GILLAtt

FARMeRs THInKInG about farming organically need to match certification to their business and their intended market, says soil and Health Associa-tion spokesperson steffan Browning.

“It all depends on consumer expectations and whether you need to be certified with a well known brand like OFnZ or if a regional certifying brand will work just as well,” says Browning.

soil and Health association comment

three accreditation agen-cies, costs at least $1500 a year. Inspectors gener-ally come from south of Auckland, and standards are designed largely for export markets, making the compliance burden on growers selling locally or just nationally appear too great.

So, in 1995, the group decided to create its own certification for local and national markets.

Kristen Khaine, Far North Organic Certifi-cation manager, says the biggest difficulty was con-vincing wholesale buyers that the certification was genuine.

“It was putting together a standard which was done by experienced and committed mem-bers...once it was going it was surprisingly easy.

“When they realised we were working to the BioGro Standard and each property was audited annually, they knew we meant business.”

There are some differ-ences in standards, how-ever. For example, FNOG allows users to apply uncertified RPR provided it comes from New Zea-land sources. Such RPR contains less than 1% cad-mium, the compound which can prevent RPR earning an organic label.

To ensure standards are met group certifying agents and administra-tors can refuse certifica-tion, downgrade it, or even remove it all together.

“The first one we had to deal with, years ago, bla-

tantly used roundup and waste oil on animals and gateways,” says Khaine.

“We had a lengthy dis-cussion with the Certi-fication Committee and decided to remove their certification.”

While the group’s system was accepted locally, things became dif-ficult if the grower wanted to sell produce outside of Northland, says Khaine.

That lead to Organic Farmers of New Zealand certification, essentially a national extension of the FNOG certification, cost-ing $225 instead of $90 for FNOG’s regional approval.

“The main advantage that anyone gets is a guar-antee to their customers that they are operating to an organic Standard & audited annually… Often in the Kaitaia Market we are asked if we are certi-fied, and we can provide those details.

Currently 10 grow-ers are regionally certi-fied with FNOG, all in Northland, and 15 certified nationwide.

Farmers market stan-dards will be the key to smaller organic growers’ futures, she believes.

“So long as the Farm-ers Markets don’t get too pedantic with their rules and regulations, and stick to organics meaning Certi-fied Organic, they will be a huge benefit to everyone, especially small produc-ers who need to sell their excess produce locally.”See www.farnorthorganics.co.nz or www.organicfarm.org.nz for more

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AGRESEARCH SCIENTISTS have been counting black beetle popula-tions at defined sites in Waikato and Bay of Plenty since 2008. To date it appears Bay of Plenty numbers are dropping, while Waikato popula-tions are, as Dr Pip Gerard describes it, ‘muddling along’ with numbers remaining relatively high on peat soils.

How well black beetles mature differs according to climate, doing poorly when it is cool and wet com-pared to when it is hot and dry.

Pasture growth rates are being measured at the beetle monitor-ing sites and what happens to black beetle numbers if a crop such as sor-ghum, rape, turnips or maize is intro-duced into the pasture renewal cycle is being investigated.

The beetle stops feeding in winter and previous field observations have indicated that this occurs when tem-peratures drop below 15°C. Joanne Jensen is investigating if tempera-ture is in fact a key trigger for this overwintering behaviour. She’s also testing the effects of food availability and day length using pieces of carrot as a measurable food source.

A very labour intensive PhD study by Kathryn Ross on the effects of dif-ferent endophytes on beetle feeding, survival and egg laying is being carried out between May and November this year. Her project involves 112 buck-ets, containing seven replications of

eight different ryegrass host/endo-phyte combinations, with and with-out beetles. Each will be assessed every four weeks, providing valu-able information on how endophyte changes feeding behaviour of adults and how this can affect the next gen-eration of larvae.

To predict beetle population out-breaks, modellers, led by Dr Kumar Vetharaniam, are adapting the only previous work in this area, which was done in the 1980s by P D King, and limited to different pastures and environmental conditions than those present today.

Simulation of temperature effects on beetle death over different years has shown that while there is some correlation, beetle outbreaks can occur at unexpected times. Vethara-

niam wants all those doing research projects to make data available to increase the value and decision making capability of the model.

Mike Wilson talked about a pos-sible biological control. Overseas entomopathogenic nematodes, pro-duced in commercial quantities using 25,000 litre fermenters, have been proven to destroy horticultural pests in Britain and mole crickets in Florida.

His group is searching for nem-atodes here in New Zealand which can be commercially multiplied, and either inoculated or sprayed on pas-ture to attack both adult beetles and larvae.

AgResearch colleagues at Lincoln are working on various other types of pathogens which effectively kill insect pests.

rural News // june 5, 2012

mAnAgement 69

Shedding light on black beetlesWith a plethora of individual research projects on black beetle being carried out by AgResearch scientists, a recent get together at Ruakura provided a chance to update peers and swap ideas. sue edmonds reports

Deer key to station development

fence system to subdivide under the pivot would be key.

“They [deer] can tell if it’s off, and they get very smart. We try to get them gone before they get too smart.”

The second stage of the major development project underway on the station, and the second stop for the field day tour, was a 260ha roll-ing hill block previously dominated by bracken fern and scrub.

Most of it was sprayed off a year ago with a double hit of glyphosate, then in September, after prepara-tion of firebreaks, the whole 260ha burnt, before heavy discing and har-rowing. Lime – no small expense at $80/t delivered to the airstrip - was flown on at 1t/ha at the beginning of October, as was 150kg/ha DAP max sulphur super, followed by 44kg/ha of a ryegrass, cocksfoot and clover mix.

After a pass with cover harrows on October 10, the heavens opened.

“We were blessed. The whole thing worked like clockwork,” sta-tion manager Grant Ruddenklau recalled. He reckons carrying capac-ity has gone from virtually nil, to 4.5 stock units/ha.Consultant Peter Bradley of MRB put the clearance and reseed cost at $1500/ha, which, with $600/ha to stock it, brought the development in at “just over $2000/ha.”

While the long-term plan is to use the block for deer – probably weaners and replacement hinds – initially it will be an increased ewe flock of 8000 crossbreds and their progeny that benefit.

“This isn’t a corporate farming type development where you might have a six year window before inves-tors expect a return,” noted local farmer and helicopter contractor Jonathan Wallis.

“This is cashflow development.” With the centre-pivot invest-

ment, and the renovated hill, a $207,000 increase in EBIT is antici-pated this year, giving a 15.8% return on the $1.3m of capital deployed in the development to date.

Stage three of the plan – deer fencing a 1000ha high country block and boosting the herd from the cur-rent 160 hinds, 150 velvet stags, and 150 finishers, to 920 hinds, 100 stags, and 700 finishers – is bud-geted at a capital cost of $377,500, after allowing for the sale of 2000 ewes. With another $41,552 added to the EBIT, that’s an 11% return.

“And we think that’s conserva-tive,” noted Hyslop.

“Deer do have a really good fit on this country, particularly the high country. It’s really about iden-tifying where the best fit is for the hinds and there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s in the high country.”

FrOM pAGE 67

research focus: black beetles are on the decline in Bay of Plenty but not in waikato.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

MY HEART goes out to working dogs in winter. Life is pretty grim for them. Life is unpleas-ant for us as well, but at least we can remove wet clothes, replace them with dry ones, put another log on the fire and turn on the electric blanket before going to bed.

Most people don’t give a lot of thought to the farm’s hardest work-ers, Huntaway and Head-ing dogs, but please take a moment to read this and consider their winter plight as temperatures plummet.

Although a dog grows a slightly longer denser coat in winter it isn’t enough. We tend to prefer short coated dogs in New Zea-land and our winters are harsh. Even the best ken-nels are, in my mind, inad-equate.

Most of them have the door in the centre, so there isn’t even a corner dogs can huddle behind, and the wind whistles straight onto them. Some owners are responsi-ble enough to cover part of the run so the worst rain doesn’t drive in, but pity the dog whose owner hasn’t. The kennel, even if new, provides a meagre amount of protection.

Then there are the kennels with missing or rotten cladding. The poor

dog may as well be sleep-ing under the stars for the pathetic shelter being offered.

Someone at a recent dog training day I had, questioned ‘do your dogs work?’ I admit they do look like pampered pooches as their coats are so black, shiny and thick. I pride myself in having well fed, healthy dogs, all year round, and it shows in their coats.

I must confess that their food rations are bumped up considerably in the winter and you would be hard pressed to feel hip and rib bones. I do this to help keep them warm. The work load is less and it isn’t hot, so there isn’t a problem with performance.

It saddens me to see dogs with dull matted

coats. Even short haired dogs benefit from a grooming when they moult. I have a grooming comb at the kennels and my dogs love it, all jos-tling for a turn. You’d be surprised at all the dead hair that comes out even though they are free to swim and roll.

Is it that some farm-ers just not think, or see the state of their dogs? Or is it not the done thing to groom a working dog, because it might be con-sidered ‘unmanly’? Inci-dentally, a dog with a healthy coat will be less affected by both heat and cold therefore performing better in its work.

I know farm dogs are workers, not city lay-abouts, but over the years I have seen too many pathetically sad, skinny,

dull coated dogs follow-ing ignorant farmers. You would think so called ‘dog

enthusiasts’ – triallists - would know better but even some of them don’t.

There is no excuse,

apart from ill-ness, for a dog to have a life-less coat. If it is fed enough qual-ity food, treated for fleas, lives in a clean kennel,

and it is (gently) combed several times a year it will look a picture of health

and be a credit to you.Something I do in

winter when my dogs come in covered in thick mud is give them a hose to get most of it off. The dogs then give a shake and are clean and virtually dry. It saves them being cold and muddy for hours and having to lick it off.

All it takes is a few moments of your time to make your deserving dog’s life a bit more bearable for all that he does for you.• Anna Holland is teaching people dog training. For more information www.annaholland.co.nz or Ph 06) 388 1318 or annaholland@xtra.co.nz

70 AnimAl heAlth

Caring for farm dogs in winter

a healthy coat, and maybe a little extra condition, helps keep out the cold.

a quick comb two or three times a year works wonders.

rural News // june 5, 2012

AnimAl heAlth 71

Know your cows’ stress signalsDAIRY FARMERS need to identify signs of cow stress to improve the milk-ing experience for both animals and staff, an Aus-tralian cow behavioural expert says.

Darold Klindworth, a research and extension scientist at Australia’s Department of Primary Industries, Ellinbank, was among speakers at last month’s Dairy NZ Farmers Forum at Mystery Creek.

“When a cow is stressed, it can lead to lower milk yields, increased milking time and higher animal health costs. Plus, if your cows are stressed and acting out, that often creates stress for staff as well,” he warns.

While many cows dem-onstrate outward signs of stress, some don’t.

“That’s why it pays to learn a bit about how cows are naturally hard-wired

to react to certain stimuli around them. That way, you can create a better milking experience for the animals and farm staff.”

Klindworth says the way a cow responds to loud noises, sudden movements or even cer-

tain smells is in its evo-lutionary nature. In the wild, survival depended on responses to activities around them.

For instance, their nat-ural response to a sudden movement or noise is to flee. So if a farmer sud-denly flaps his arms and shouts, cows will get agi-tated and flighty rather than choose to walk calmly into the milking shed.”

Research shows stressed cows have increased adrenalin levels, adversely affecting milk let-down, sometimes by as much as 30 minutes.

“So, if we can eliminate activities such as forci-bly pushing cows into the shed, for instance, we can speed up milking times

significantly.”Decreasing cow stress

can also have a significant impact on animal well-ness.

“Stress is one of the many factors that can increase a cow’s prob-ability of being infected with mastitis. Addition-ally, stressful trips down the race or anxiety due to crowding inside the yard can contribute to lame-ness.

“In the end, happy cows can lead to a decrease in farm working expenses and increased profitability.”

Klindworth’s workshop at the forum, ‘Thinking Like a Cow’, was one of 12. For more see next week’s Dairy News.

darold Klindworth

tb control and deer work recognised

THE NEW Zealand Deer Farm-ers Association has presented retir-ing TBfree Southland committee member Kevin Gilmour with its Matuschka Award.

Gilmour has been associated with the TBfree committee for 20 years and until recently ran a deer farm on the edge of the Hokonui Hills.

“The award came as a very nice surprise,” says Gilmour.

“However, I can’t emphasis enough how important the support and technical expertise of the New Zealand Deer Farmers’ Association

and TBfree committee has been in achieving our objectives.”

He joined the committee when his deer herd repeatedly broke down with bovine TB as a result of contact with infected possums.

“Bovine TB was not only causing financial hardship on our farm, but the disease was also affecting other Southland deer and cattle herdown-ers – something had to be done to bring it under control.”

The Animal Health Board says his contribution to the deer industry has been crucial in protecting South-

land from TB and the award honours his commitment and service to the region’s deer farmers.

Not long after joining the commit-tee, funds were provided for intensive possum control in the Hokonui Hills, which was a major TB stronghold in the region.

“Kevin has been a strong advo-cate for eradicating the disease in Southland and also worked to main-tain farmer support for the TB programme,” says TBfree South-land Committee Chairman Mike O’Brien.

southlander Kevin Gilmour’s been awarded the deer farmers associa-tion’s matuschka award.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

72 AnimAl heAlth

Massey vet school expansion planMASSEY UNIVERSITY has announced a $75 mil-lion upgrade and expan-sion of its veterinary school, increasing capacity by 180 students.

Massey is New Zea-land’s only vet school and

the investment will ensure it remains at the fore-front of international vet-erinary scientific research and teaching, says Univer-sity Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey.

“Veterinary, animal and

biomedical sciences are central to what we do as a university and central to the sectors in which New Zealand is world leader. We want the quality of the facilities our students study in and our staff work

in to match the quality of the qualifications we deliver.”

The project will be funded over nine years from the annual capital expenditure budget. Proj-ect leader and head of the

Institute of Veterinary Animal and Biomedical Sciences Professor Frazer Allan says it will create space for projected growth in numbers of postgrad-uate and undergraduate students.

“Our staff have been keen for this upgrade for some time and are really excited about the opportu-nities it offers,” says Allan.

“Each year we have a high standard of appli-cations from many more people than we have space for.

“We also expect there to be a growing shortage of vets in New Zealand over the next 20 years.”

The project includes expanding the vet tower to the north and extensive redevelopment of the vet-erinary hospital, pathol-ogy facilities and teaching and research spaces while at the same time retain-ing teaching, research and clinical service function-ality.

Course capacity per year will increase from 100 students to 140. Provid-ing Government agrees to fund the additional

domestic students, about 20 would be from New Zealand and 20 interna-tional, it’s anticipated.

Massey’s veterinary science programme is accredited with the Amer-ican Veterinary Medi-cal Association, the Royal College of Veterinary Sur-geons and the Australasian Veterinary Boards Coun-cil, which means Massey vets can work in most countries throughout the world.

“Through modelling work we have undertaken and through conversations with the profession, it is apparent that if we value New Zealand-trained vet-erinarians in this country, we will need to train more in the future.

“We also have world-recognised areas of research in infectious dis-eases, animal science, animal health and wel-fare, pathobiology, public health and epidemiology.”

Veterinary Coun-cil chairman Ron Gibson welcomed the invest-ment, saying an increase in a capacity to train vets would be fully supported.

Cheeky fundraiserSEVENTY THIRD year Massey Vet Students have posed for this year’s “barely there” half year calen-dar, which was launched late last month.

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Profits are split 90% for the students halfway cele-bration weekend in Taupo, and 10% to another cause, this year being the New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre in Massey’s teaching hospital.

Last year’s calendar raised over $3,000 for SPCA Canterbury.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

AnimAl heAlth 73

Vitamin D mastitis controlA NATURAL remedy, vitamin D, can delay and reduce the severity of mastitis infec-tion in dairy cattle, say US-based research-ers.

Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s National Animal Disease Centre in Ames, Iowa, say the discovery could lead to a reduced use of the antibiotics to treat mastitis, the most costly and common dis-ease of dairy cattle.

Molecular biologist John Lippolis exam-ined the role of vitamin D in altering the response of the cow’s immune system to Streptococcus uberis, a mastitis pathogen.

The research team used a natural form of vitamin D, prehormone 25-hydroxyvi-tamin D, that’s found in blood, but not in milk.

One group of cows received vitamin D by infusion directly into the infected quar-ter of the mammary gland, and another group received no treatment. Data was collected on feed intake, bacteria counts in milk, milk production, serum levels, and body temperature for all animals.

Animals treated with vitamin D had a significant reduction in bacterial counts and fewer clinical signs of severe infection than untreated cows.

In the early phase of infection, as vita-min D reduced the bacterial counts, milk

production was greater in the treated ani-mals than in the untreated ones.

Scientists also looked at bovine serum albumin (BSA) in milk and performed somatic cell counts, the immune cells that enter the mammary gland to fight infec-tion.

“BSA is a protein in blood that becomes a marker in milk to indicate when an infec-tion gets really bad,” Lippolis says. “The barrier between the milk and the blood can become a little bit degraded, indicat-ing the severity of the disease.”

Lippolis says the findings show that vitamin D affects the immune system and suggest that it also may help reduce the use of antibiotics in treating mastitis.

Vitamin D also has the potential to decrease other bacterial and viral diseases, such as respiratory tract infections, he says.

“Research shows that specific levels of vitamin D need to be in the bloodstream to prevent conditions like rickets, or soften-ing of the bones. A higher level needs to be in the blood for proper immune function. But generally, milk has very little vitamin D.

“We hope this natural form of vitamin D will be a means to reduce antibiotic use either by using this in tandem with antibi-otics and shortening the duration of anti-biotic use, or as a means against some bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic treatments.”

ALAN HArMAN

molecular biologist John lippolis taking a milk sample at ames, iowa, usa.

animal welfare and world hunger tensionTHERE’S A conflict between the world’s increasing demand for animal derived protein while improving animal wel-fare, the New Zealand Vet-erinary Asso-ciation’s animal wel-fare coordi-nator Virginia Williams says.

Speaking at last month’s Aus-tralian Veterinary Association conference in Canberra, Wil-liams said the key to increasing food production from animals will be selective use of genetic technologies to breed for animal welfare friendly objectives such

as enhanced disease resistance.“Both Australia and New Zea-

land are already well down the track of genetic improvement that’s essential for increased efficiency in livestock pro-duction.”

Williams noted economic viability is “another issue”.

“Farmers will not produce food unless it is economic for them to do so. And of course a big impact has been society’s increasing demand for more humane use of resources, includ-ing livestock.”

in brief

NZ hoStiNg Sheep vet coNgreSS

rotorua will host the 8th interna-tional sheep Veterinary congress february 18-22 next year, with the theme “connecting sheep and science”.

Pre-congress tours include a 12 day south island option, or three day North island route.

the four-yearly event was last held in New Zealand in 1989 when massey was the venue. the event has twice been held in scotland, including the first congress in 1985, with australia, south africa, Greece and Norway the other host nations to date.

See www.intsheepvetassoc.org for more.

farmers will not produce food unless it is economic for them to do so.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

74 AnimAl heAlth

Wormy autumn but healthy livestock expectedLOW LIGHT intensity and stock grazing what were long pastures earlier to low levels now mean para-site challenges are particu-larly high this autumn, say

experts.However, with ample

feed and good body condi-tion, stock don’t necessar-ily need drenching.

“This autumn has been

particularly wormy, with very high larval challenges in lambs,” Oamaru-based vet Dave Robertson told Rural News.

“This could result in

higher worm burdens being carried through the winter by capital stock if not well managed but if ewes are fed better and in better body condition, their own immune system will be better placed to handle a worm challenge.”

That’s echoed by par-asite specialist Greg Mirams, of Dunedin-based Techion Group.

“Locally there’s been a really high challenge in cattle. Some [faecal egg] counts have been through the roof.”

Longer grass than normal, and in some areas more dull days, means larval stages on pasture haven’t been exposed to as much UV as normal, with consequent higher sur-vival, he explains.

Now, as stock chew down these pastures, they’re being hit by a par-

ticularly high challenge. But that still doesn’t nec-essarily mean interven-tion’s necessary, especially for adults.

“Generally speaking, ewes are in great order and they’ve still got lots of feed underneath them. If they continue to be well fed you may not get rewarded [for treatment]. It could be different if we have a big snow and the pressure comes on.”

Rising one-year-old cattle are more likely to respond, particularly those facing the stress of being switched from grass onto winter feed crops.

“It’s really important that you track the faecal egg count in these animals and if you do treat, check it again about a month later.”

That advice applies to beef calves or dairy heif-

ers, he adds.“The worms don’t care

if they’re black and white, or brown.”

Robertson says for ewes, long acting drenches such as the injectables will have a place on some farms pre-lambing.

Only targeting the groups of ewes which will yield the greatest return from such treatments – most likely low condition score and/or those car-rying twins and triplets – will help protect products from resistance.

Other sustainable drenching practices such as refugia (leav-ing a proportion of flocks un-drenched) and exit drenching with a novel active or triple combina-tion when tail effect of the long-acting drug is wear-ing off, are also recom-mended.

He believes the best time to use long acting drenches pre-lamb is about 40 days prior to the start of lambing.

“This ensures that ewes are not under parasite pressure in the last month of pregnancy and the first month of lactation, which is the driver of early lamb growth rate.”

Long acting inject-ables such as Cydectin LA (moxidectin) do cost con-siderably more, at about $2.30 per 65kg/ewe com-pared to about 30c/ewe for a short acting oral, he acknowledges, but if benefits such as reduced crutching of ewes, better growth rates of multi-ple lambs, and better ewe body condition come weaning are achieved, the investment can easily pay for itself (see sidebar).

oamaru vet dave robertson.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

AnminAl heAlth 75

Wormy autumn but healthy livestock expected

Robertson conducted an on-farm trial in Mid Canter-bury in 2010 comparing injection with Cydectin LA 16 days pre-lamb, with pre-lamb and tailing doses of oral drench Leviben (levamisole + ricobendazole), and an untreated control.

A mob of 600 twin bearing two-tooth ewes was divided into two, then each mob placed into three treatment groups. The property had a history of using short acting oral combination drenches across its lambs and ewe flock: ewes at pre-lambing and at tailing; lambs at tailing and three weeks before weaning.

“It raised a few concerns about the risk of resis-tance developing in the flock, and provided a good farm to trial the long acting injection upon,” says Robertson.

Drench resistance status was unknown and the autumn window for testing that had passed by the time the trial was set up, he adds.

ewes treated with Cydectin LA were 4.3kg heavier than those in the control mob by weaning, and 1kg heavier than those treated with the oral drench, though the latter result was not statistically signifi-cant.

Lambs from Cydectin LA treated ewes were 2.6kg heavier than those from the control mob, and 1kg heavier than those treated with the oral drench.

“Further breakdown of data showed the real bene-fits of Cydectin LA fell with those ewes that were lighter to begin with,” notes Robertson.

“ Those lighter than 62kg or less than body condi-tion score 2 pre-lamb recorded the greatest gains from receiving long acting treatment, and would have been most at risk from the stress of parasitism.”

Robertson also points out 80% of the long-acting moxidectin treated mob were dag-free, compared to 30% of the oral treated group, and 10% of the control.

“Obviously there will be the benefit of lower fly problems with less dags, and less crutching costs.”

Lower pasture worm egg contamination from the long-acting treatment would be another benefit, faecal egg counts at tailing finding no eggs from Cydectin LA treated ewes. Half the oral treated ewes were shedding eggs, and most of the control ewes.

Cydectin LA contains 20mg/ml of moxidectin and is administered at 1ml/20kg liveweight by subcuta-neous injection at the base of the ear or high on the neck. Withholding time for meat is 91 days; milk 180 days.

Pfizer says at recommended dose rates it prevents reinfection from Haemonchus Contortus for 91 days; Teladorsagia (Ostertagia) circumcincta 112 days; Tela-dorsagia Colubriformis 42 days.

farm study shows injection potential

Mirams warns one possible pit-fall is nema-todirus, a lamb-specific parasite. If that’s the prob-lem with lamb growth rate, no matter how well ewes are protected, it isn’t

going to help.“It goes from one sea-

son’s lamb crop to the next. This is where some of the ewe treatment ben-efit can be destroyed.”

He recommends mon-

itoring ewe faecal egg counts in late pregnancy to determine the need to treat, taking into account condition, feed availabil-ity, and scanning result.

“If they’ve got a belly full of lambs and they’re still behind a wire, that’s often when we see an ele-vated parasite challenge.

There’s more pressure on them then than when they’ve been spread out for lambing.”

The other crucial factor is to know the resistance status of para-sites on the property.

Mirams says BZ/levamisole combination drenches are now fail-

ing on 22-25% of all sheep farms and even moxidec-tin, the least resistance affected active in the ML group of products, has had problems.

“Especially in areas where it’s been used heav-ily against barber’s pole, like up the East Coast of the North Island.”

Greg mirams, techion Group.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

76 AnimAl heAlth

tool to hike heifer in-calf rateKEEPING A closer eye on replacement young stock weights should lead to better heifer in-calf rates, says LIC.

The cooperative is this

month launching a new tool on its MINDA system to help monitor replace-ments’ progress against benchmark figures tai-

lored to genetics and the farm’s planned start of mating and calving heifers.

“It provides farmers with targets that are spe-

cific to each of their ani-mals and mobs, and by pegging the targets to the farm’s planned starts for heifer mating and calv-ing, the true impact of live-weights can be assessed,” says LIC’s veterinarian and reproduction solu-tions manager, Greg McNeil.

“These events always occur at set times in sea-sonal herds and targets must be achieved by those dates, whether they [the replacement heifers] are born early or late.”

These days most replacements are grazed away from the milking platform, often by a gra-zier, and many farmers will have experienced dis-appointment or heard the horror stories about results when they return, says McNeil.

The new tool, MINDA Weights, will still need

Beef cow conception tips from over the ditchA MEAT and Livestock Australia (MLA) supported study of more than 30,000 breeders in northern Australia found beef cow condition a significant factor in conception rates.

“We expect cows in a backward store condition (condition score 2) at calving to achieve a pregnancy rate of 20–50% at the subsequent mating, whereas for cows in body condition 3 or better, a conception rate of 60–90% would be expected,” says principal beef exten-sion officer wtih the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Mick Sullivan.

“When cows get run down in con-dition, their ovaries shut down. It can then take some time after the seasonal break for these cows to regain body con-

dition and for the ovaries to re-com-mence cycling.

“On a lot of poorer country, and particularly with first-calf cows, they will not cycle until [their calves are] weaned.”

Sullivan says Australia’s northern cattle producers have three tools to manage breeder body condition: graz-ing management, weaning and supple-mentation.

Weaning in particular is a powerful tool to manage cow condition, because nutritional demand of a lactating cow is about 50% above that of a dry animal.

“On tougher country, weaning ear-lier in the year and down to a younger age is critical because it’s a lot harder for cows to maintain condition.”

the farmer to input data e-mailed or supplied to him by the grazier, but once the data is loaded, the grazier will be able to see how weights compare with targets.

“MINDA Weights pres-ents young stock weight information exactly how a farmer would want to see it - in a practical format that is easy to under-stand and utilise for important manage-ment decisions such as prefer-ential feeding or treatment.

“Its web-based platform also means they can share access with other farm staff, their vet, and their gra-zier, so every-one can moni-tor the animals’ growth.”

There are three data view options are: young stock overview, weight range trends and identify/manage individual ani-mals.

A graph for all ani-mals helps identify those that are on-track, recov-ering, require monitoring or urgent attention. The package can generate lists of animals to inspect.

LIC research shows poor heifer rearing is a sig-nificant contributor to the decline in the national herd’s reproductive per-

formance and six-week in calf rate, with 73% of stock below liveweight breeding value based tar-gets by more than 5% at 22 months of age.

“This practice of rear-ing away from the farm can sometimes result in an ‘out of sight - out of mind’ culture, which is dangerous territory for any farm because the rear-ing of these animals in that first two years is crucial to their reproduction and production performance throughout life,” stresses McNeil.

“By rearing young stock to their full potential, farmers will see improve-ments in their six-week in calf rate which is essential for improving farm profit-ability.”

Incorporating genet-ics in the targets recog-nises the growing diversity in the national dairy herd, he adds.

MINDA Weights is undergoing customer testing and will be available, free to MINDApro customers, from MINDA Home later this month.

lic’s veterinary and reproduction manager, Greg mcNeil.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

mAchinery & products 77

Honda’s new quad makes good impression

the new Honda trZ 500 tPm is a step up on the old Honda 500.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS are important, and mine of the new Honda TRX500FPM (manual) was: this is good! Pahiatua dealer Bevan Bisset showed me features of the machine, and made sure I knew how to oper-ate it correctly.

This model is a huge step up from an older Honda 500 I rode recently. With power steering taking the fight out of the front, and a huge improve-ment in ride comfort, this manual bike is an easily operated and comfortable.

The TRX 500 has a new 475cc OHV, liquid cooled and fuel injected engine with 10% more power and 6% more torque. A new cooling system, gearbox and suspension, new styl-ing and seat design, and even a new heavy duty battery, round out the upgrade.

Honda has made much of this machine’s ability to work, the new engine pro-viding heaps more power, and stump pulling torque from almost idle. This is the bike if you want a manual tow machine.

Ergonomics are typical Honda, a change being you wait for the orange light to go out on the dash before hitting the starter, allow-ing the fuel injected engine to prime itself – no choke. Honda has retained a black ‘start’ button on the bottom of the left-hand handlebar console, where most other manufactur-ers have a green button on the top. Also if you wish to start the machine in

gear, pull the right hand brake, not the left like all others. And this quad has a recoil starter. They’ve kept it simple: controls and layout are where a Honda pilot would expect them to be.

The rear suspension has had a redesign: func-tional and simple – noth-ing for mud and crap to build up on – but also helping ride comfort.

Suspension travel front and rear is 170 and 175mm respectively, and seat height 880mm, making this a low-riding quad compared to some of the opposition. Ground clear-ance is 193mm, up on the older 500s, and there is a tradeoff between a lower centre of gravity and ground clearance and ride quality. Two major com-petitors models have at least 80mm more.

This machine is easy to handle, especially with the power steering, and with the beam axle suspension it can be fun as well, with the back end easily flicked out. I found the 5-speed gearbox a bit tight but I put this down to newness. I had to blip the throttle

to change up. That said, what a cruisey and torquey engine, happy to puddle along and to pull away in fourth gear at about 20km/h. This machine has a gear for every occasion and is faster than the older 500, topping out at 80kph. It is first and foremost a worker.

The TRX500 has the standard dual headlight setup at the front plus one mounted on the handle-bars, so it turns when you do. Great for finding the cows in the early morning and these were the best lights I’ve experienced on a quad, giving good pene-tration and spread. Brakes are twin discs at the front and Honda has gone back to a drum at the rear. They work well, and provide progressive stopping.

I am not tall, and found the riding position suited me. With this new bike, you sit further back from the handlebars and this will suit taller riders.

The bike seems wider, but it may have been the Smith bullbars that exag-gerated this.

The floor has plentiful drain holes and the foot-

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pegs are decently lugged so there is no danger of slipping.

The mechanical 4WD system is engaged by slip-ping the lever forward mounted on the left hand side of the tank.

Riding around our farm loop of 6km with terrain flat-to-steep, I found this machine more than capa-ble with excellent stability. My only real gripe was that when it ran out of traction it bounced quite alarm-ingly, especially towing a

Kea trailer. If you want a

manual quad – even the test rig at over $17000 – this dura-ble brand is worth considering.

What’s Hot: power steering, more supple sus-pension improves ride comfort. Good torquey engine.

What’s Not: bouncing when losing traction, low ground clearance.

Verdict: A timely upgrade to Honda’s work-

horse. A good quad made better.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

78 mAchinery & products

Dairyman turns bridge builderFORMER DAIRYMAN Pat Seuren switched career to become a qualified builder, then went on to civil engi-neering. Now he builds bridges.

Four years since he founded Bridge IT NZ, his Tauranga company lists projects from Cape Reinga to Wellington.

“We do roading and farming bridges and this includes making, supply-ing and installing new ones as well as upgrading including sand blasting, painting and redecking in concrete or timber.”

Seuren has a special concern for culverts and farming bridges as he believes some well built structures are coming to the end of their life and farmers should be check-ing them regularly, or retaining a civil engineer for professional advice.

“Farm culverts and bridges are used daily and have to be safe for the farmer, his staff, contrac-tors, trucks, visitors and livestock.”

One of his custom-ers is the John and Pam Easton farm at Aramatai, off SH4, south of Te Kuiti. They have 248ha of flat-to-

rolling country and “farm every inch”.

They run 320 dairy replacements from three dairy farmers from Otoro-hanga, and a flock of 900 high producing ewes fin-ished with Poll Dorset rams.

“The rainfall is 1870mm well spread and this year has been one of the best we have ever had,” said John.

On February 8 a truck-and-trailer of gravel crossed the main bridge on their farm and after the truck had crossed, one side of the bridge col-lapsed with the trailer

tONY HOpKINSON

still on it. The trailer spilt a small amount of metal into the stream but remained attached to the truck still sitting on the hard.

“To this day we don’t know what happened,” John says.

A 14t digger working on the farm, which had crossed the bridge in the morning, was used to lift the trailer back onto the

farm bridges and culverts are used daily and should be regularly checked they are still safe to use.

hard. The driver was able to spread the metal and the bridge, after being checked, was open next day.

Sueren, who had two other farm bridge projects nearby, visited the farm on the Friday with an engi-neer to test a site for a new bridge.

Bridge It NZ had a tem-porary bridge available in Taumarunui, one hour away and this was col-lected the following morn-ing and was in place and operating by lunch time.

The site selected

for the new bridge was 3m upstream of the old one. Firstly batters were formed using large slabs of stone from a local quarry and lightly covered with soil to establish grass. Behind these on each side were driven into the ground three large steel beams till they reached a hard base at 6m.

This was done on the February 19 and six days later Bridge It had boxed and poured the two abut-ments around the piles, followed two days later with the laying of the cross

beams. They are laid on rubber pads to allow some movement.

Piles, deck beams and abutments are all fully braced. Rails and finishing took another two days and “well ahead of schedule,” the job was completed. Easton was not allowed to use the bridge for 25 days to give the concrete time to cure.

“It was a win-win situ-ation; we did what we do best – build the bridges and the farmer does the approach fencing.”tel. 0800 222 189

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rural News // june 5, 2012

mAchinery & products 79

Upgrade of gate plant ticks boxesA COSTLY upgrade of the air-discharge system at Gallagher’s gate and hard-ware factory at Pukekohe has the plant up-to-scratch environmentally.

Completed in Janu-ary, the system meets the requirements of a new Air Discharge Licence admin-istered by the Auckland City Council.

Gallagher also recently installed a sand filter to capture galvanizing zinc and other metals that accumulate on the yard. Rainwater washes the par-ticles into the filtering system.

The company com-petes here and overseas against manufacturers that don’t have the same compliance costs and can therefore sell products at a lower price.

Business unit manager

Ian Richards says a wet-scrubber system filter fumes from its hot-dip galvanising department by means of a series of water-covered trays that filter contaminants from the air before discharged to atmosphere.

Stephen Hoffman, gen-eral manager of Gallagh-er’s animal management division, says the company takes seriously its “obliga-tion to ensure all manu-facturing processes are as environmentally sound as possible.”

Ian Richards says Galla-gher has always been pro-active when it comes to environmental issues.

“We focus on quality as our point of difference [from overseas competi-tors].”

The Pukekohe plant makes gates for country

and town. Each gate is immersed

in molten zinc heated to 455oCelsius.

The metal jerrycan is making a return.

THE METAL jerrycan is making a comeback, says auto accessory seller Griffiths Equipment.

Plastic fuel cans had overshadowed metal, but now better designed metal cans, newer technology and safety concerns about older plastic fuel containers has put a spotlight back on metal.

Griffiths sells European-made Pro Quip – a “new

take on the traditional cans that older motor-

ist will probably be familiar with,” says

sales manager Bruce Walker.

Plastic contain-ers have a limited lifespan and should be replaced before they wear and leak,

he says.“These latest

metal cans are inher-ently safer, stringently

tested and they meet defence forces specification.

They’ve been dropped, subjected to fire and corrosion, and pass with flying colours.”

A special coating on the inside prevents rusting, which means they are also suitable for holding water. They are certified to Australia/NZ Standard 2906:2001.

Colour finishes include red, orange, green blue, grey and brown. Sizes are 5, 10 and 20L and they fit standard recreational vehicle racks.

Griffiths offers ID tags ready-printed with the name of the contents, e.g. 2-stroke, petrol, oil, diesel etc, or an unprinted clear label for writing on. The labels don’t fade.

Return of the jerrycan

the upgraded plant at Pukekohe makes gates for both town and country.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

80 mAchinery & products

Sliding farm gate is solar poweredA SOLAR-powered slid-ing gate – activated by remote, keypad or GSM mobile – suits rural prop-erties, says manufacturer

LeaWeld, Auckland.Sizes are 4.2m (ex

stock) and 3.55, 3.66, 3.96, 4.25, 4.55 and 4.88m. The longest so far supplied was 13m.

Installations meet

OSH and accepted secu-rity standards. This type of gate gives greater secu-rity and is less prone to breakdown than swing-ing double gates, says the maker.

The gate has a rack-and-cog drive (steel with nylon coating) fitted above ground away from harm by rain and mud. The rack will not override the drive cog in the event

NEIL KEAtING

of ‘powering on’. And the gate will not slide out of the support tower, a fur-ther security/safety fea-ture.

An array of light beams prevents the gate from closing on people or vehi-cles – including the draw-bars of truck-and-trailer units.

The gate clears the ground by 160mm (assuming level installa-tion).

The motors are 24V. Optional battery back-up (12V dual or deep-cycle) can supplement the solar power cells. The deep-cycle battery suits intensive use during peak hours.

Opening and closing the gate can be by:

• Hand-held remote – two units are supplied as standard.

• Keypad on the gate tower or on a gooseneck

– no getting out of the vehicle.

• GSM remote using SMS text or a free call from a mobile phone (SIMcard not supplied) with 64 numbers stored. The GSM gate opener accepts calls only from authorised numbers.

This operates any-where with GSM coverage – no distance limit. Users’ numbers are added or deleted by SMS text com-mand.

A built-in timer can be set to operate the gate during peak traffic times. Manual over-ride disen-gages the gate as required.

All steel components are hot-dip galvanised and may be painted to order.

Other optional fea-tures are flashing warn-ing lights and an audible alarm.tel. 09 827 1904www. leaweld.co.nz

Tyre seminars

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A BRITISH tyre expert from Michelin Tyre will next month tour New Zealand to speak on the role tractor tyres play in getting best productivity. He will speak at meetings organised by TRS Tyre and Wheel.

The company says correct tyre choice and appli-cation can help raise productivity by, for example, reducing soil compaction and so increasing crop yield, and reducing wheel slippage resulting in less fuel burn and less time in paddocks.

The July meetings will simply help farmers and contractors get more from their tyres, TRS says.

Key topics will be: understanding technical data, tyre pressure and its effect on soil compaction, wheel slip, productivity and fuel consumption, and machine set-up including ballasting to get best tyre performance.

Attendance is free; prior registration will help in venue and catering purposes.

People registering to attend will get venue details before the meeting date. Meeting times are 11am to about 2.30pm.

Venues and dates: Gore, Monday July 9; Mos-giel, Tuesday July 10; Ashburton, Wednesday July 11; Feilding, Thursday July 12; Morrinsville, Friday July 13.tel. 0800 336 334 or 027 255 5483.nikkip@trstyreandwheel.co.nz

a built-in timer can be set to operate the gate during peak traffic times.

rural News // june 5, 2012

mAchinery & products 81

Can Am’s SSV takes commandJUST THROUGH my shed is the machine I consider the best side x side vehicle (SSV) I have tested: the Can Am Commander. Its engine braking, comfort, stability and power deliv-ery exceed all other machines this reviewer has tested.

The suitably aggressive-look-ing Can Am Commander we tested during our annual Hunter-ville duckshooting week-end was the 1010cc 4-stroke 2-cylinder V-twin liquid-cooled Rotax powered model in budget form.

This machine impressed everyone who drove, rode or even just looked at it. One guy said he wanted to go and buy another farm so he could have one; another traded his existing SSV on the following Monday.

The Commander comes with either the 810cc or 1010cc Rotax engine in two stages of specification. The ‘poverty pack’ version we had is still well equipped, but came without flare guard extensions (a must-have), winch and half screen. The option list is long. The twin headlight setup looks cool and the lights give good penetra-tion and spread.

The machine comes with three keys: we got two – grey and black. Grey operates ‘work’ mode, limit-ing speed to 50km/h with restricted (60%) engine power. Torque is still available in spades from the CVT transmission.

The grey key is “normal” and restricts power to 60% and 70kmh and the black key gives the ‘full Monty’, and more if you push the

Sport button on the dash. I recom-mend the black key stays in the boss’s pocket.

A great safety feature is that if the seatbelt is not buckled up, the machine defaults to “limp mode” which is the get-you-home feature if something goes awry and limits speed to about 20km/h.

We tried both keys, and the machine with the grey key performs

comparably to most other 600/700cc offerings in this guise with still ade-quate performance and heaps of low down grunt. With the black key, it is just miles out in front, with stunning throttle response and performance.

This is helped by adjustable sus-pension, the machine giving a ride as good as anything else I have tried, though a load reduces ground clear-ance, as on all independently sprung machines. That said, the tilting deck is big enough for a team of dogs (we had 6 on) and will carry 600kg between the clever upper and lower cargo boxes.

Two tailgates give access to deck and the boot, and the floor can be removed for a bigger load area, this also helping lower the centre of grav-ity.

We shoot ducks high up in a big basin. It’s quite a climb to the lake along 6km of farm tracks. So this

reviewer highly rates engine brak-ing, especially for hill-country travel. The Can Am Commander has the best system I have tried, and even in high range in the transmission setting it has awesome engine braking, letting the machine idle down a knobby little spur where I wouldn’t dare take other machines I’ve tried.

In low range the system works so well you have to apply throttle to keep

things moving, even with a load and trailer. A grizzle is that the steering loads up when turning using power in AWD and when load transfers onto the front sus-pension, which is fitted with anti dive geometry. Power steering or a bigger steering wheel would help this.

Even a cold, wet morning was made more pleasant by comfortable, adjustable bucket seats.

The steering wheel is adjustable for height, and the pedal box is not offset, making for a comfortable driv-ing position and easy getting in and out. Of course, I can be described as ‘vertically challenged’, but the big guys also found the cockpit a good place to be.

The dash has rocker switches for the light dip switch (the lights are turned on using the key), AWD and sport function. A soft-shifting gear selector chooses park, reverse, neu-tral, high and low.

The machine has no handbrake, which would be handy but, with the park feature, not essential. The pas-senger gets a decent glovebox and ‘hold-me-back’ handle for when things get hairy. www.hewittsmotorcycles.co.nztel: 06 374 7701

bErNArD LILbUrN

WHAt’S GOOD: Awesome engine braking, performance, stability and comfort; clever deck setup.

WHAt’S NOt: no flares on test rig, heavy steering.

VErDICt:I want one.

the can am commander really performed when test driven during a duck shooting weekend.

Harvest Results.

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VEL are the ideal New Zealand hill country discs due to their ultra short chassis with fl oating draft bar and drawbar. High specifi cation of independent hydraulic front and rear cut angle adjustment puts Kverneland DVP ahead of the competition.

Contact your nearest Power Farming dealer for more information or visit our website

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• Independent front and rear hydraulic gang adjustment

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rural News // june 5, 2012

82 mAchinery & products

Award for recyler

Cool milkingTEN COOLING fans installed by Jon-athan Robinson in his new dairy shed at Cambridge are appreciated by staff and livestock.

The ten 1m diameter oscillating fans line the walls around the milk-ing area.

Each has a high pressure water line with jets.

As the fans run the water vapo-rises and a fine mist of water is blown

around the shed.“We have no problem with flies, I

know it relaxes the cows and staff say it is a pleasure to do the afternoon milking,” says Robinson.

He reports there is very little “messing” in the shed as the cows are so at ease. He believes the tem-perature is 3-4 degrees Celcius lower than outside the dairy because of the system.

THE PLASBACK recycling scheme run by Agpac Ltd has won an environmental award from the Tarankai District Council.

The award, recognising sustainable farm practices, highlights performance in waste treatment and disposal, and environmental enhancement or protection. It was won with the help of farmers and contractors, the com-pany says.

Plasback’s was the first such scheme to gain Ministry for the Environment accreditation. It developed bin and liner segregation. Combined with on-farm collection it creates a simple, effective solution for farmers.

About 1400 tonnes of plastic waste have been col-lected since the scheme began six years ago. Last year 44 tonnes was collected in Taranaki with Riverlea Contract-ing, Hinton Contracting and Moratti Contracting.

Plasback also markets products made from recycled plastic: Tuff Board is a pliable construction sheet, and Tuff Deck made from recycled baling twine is for non-slip flooring use.

The company wants more farmers to participate. Tele-vision ads featuring rugby player, radio host and farmer Richard Loe are helping, increasing awareness and under-standing of the need to recycle. tel. 0500 338 240 www.plasback.co.nz

taranaki regional council chairman david macleod presents the award to chris Hartshorne, Plasback manager.

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rural News // june 5, 2012

mAchinery & products 83GpS guidance for seeders and sprayersENTRY-LEVEL and advanced GPS guid-ance for seeders, spray-ers and harvesters will be launched by Croplands. Features include auto-steering and automatic planter and boom section controls.

“To help with the launch and to explain the details we will have on site Jason Willner, regional precision ag specialist, Raven Industries, Austra-lia, and Stephen Jones, the

Australian sales manager,” says Croplands upper North Island territory manager Greg Small.

The entry level Cruizer II provides easy-to-use guidance.

It is easy to install and has a 145mm high-resolu-tion screen to suit farmers and contractors.

This suits seeding, spraying and harvesting. A weather resistant model is available for open cab tractors.

The antenna is a 10Hz Helix – “You need a quality antenna to ensure you maintain signal and the Helix is one of the best in this category,” says Small.

Correction is provided through E-Diff, giving updated accurate info to the console without the need for a subscription service. Auto steering and section control can be an upgrade if required.

Higher up the range is

the Envisio Pro II, work-ing off a similar platform as the Cruizer II with ease of use being the key. This gives the ability for remote support and and RTK signal.

Says Small, “This unit is the next step in GPS for operators who want better accuracy and fea-tures. It also allows for multi-product control, an area we are seeing more inquiry for.”tel. 027 6879 898

rats sent packingA NEW rat ‘stopper’ from Australian manufacturer Pest Free suits small businesses and large homes.

The new Pest Free Pro suits build-ings up to 400m2 – double the area serviced by the familiar domestic model (200m2).

It plugs into a normal 230V power outlet, working silently and harm-lessly to ‘train’ rats and mice to exit and stay away from buildings.

The technology is electromag-netic – a 50Hz pulse overlaid on the 1m-diameter field that naturally occurs around live power cables. The pulse switches on/off every 3 minutes so pests don’t get used to it.

The result-ing stress upsets rodents’ repro-duction and nutri-tion; they must either exit and drink (to excess) or stay and dehy-drate.

Launched commercially in 1995 in Austra-lia, it was proven effective during 2-year scientific trials

(1996-97) at the University of New England, Armidale, NSW.

Australian Federal Gov-ernment fund-ing helped to research, develop and initially export the prod-ucts. Now they are sold in 10 countries. At least 7000 operate in New Zealand.

Pest Free gained endorsement in 2007 as a

“food safe and effective rodent deter-rent process” from HACCP Australian Pty Ltd under its Food Safety Accred-itation System.

Commercial units (effective to 1000m2) operate on New Zealand dairy and pig farms, and in livestock feed mills, showgrounds, etc.

All models carry a 100%, 60 day money-back performance guarantee and a 2-year warranty on parts and labour.

Price of the Pro model: $399.95 incl. GST and P+P.tel. 09 833 1931 email: keating@orcon.net.nz

• One pair of rats and their offspring can produce 15,000 rats yearly.• Rats eat enough grain annually to fill a freight train 3,000 miles long.• Rats can gnaw through metal, lead pipes, and cinder blocks.• A rat can squeeze through a hole no larger then a 50 cent piece.• Rats spread livestock and poultry diseases.• Rats can survive being flushed down a toilet.• It is estimated that there are upwards of 100 billion rats in the united

states alone.• A rat’s teeth will grow from 4-6 inches per year.• Rats can produce 8-12 young as frequently as every three weeks.• A rat can swim one half mile and tread water for three days.• A rat can jump off a five-story building unhurt.

Contact your local Power Farming Dealer. Call 0800 627 222 or see website for further details.

www.powerfarming.co.nz

3

• The perfect match when used together with a working width of 6.2m.

• 2 speed gearbox for conditioner speeds of 900 or 600rpm.

• Free Float Suspension allows the cutting unit to independently oat over ridges and contours ensuring close cutting performance in all conditions.

• Folds into a vertical transport system for safer higher speed travelling.

• The perfect match when used

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rural News // june 5, 2012

84 motoring

Holden’s Colorado worth the wait

FOR TOO long the new Colorado has been missing from the Holden line-up.

Oh yes, we vaguely knew what it would look like and had been teased with the prospect of more power and a better engine than the previous 3L diesel. But where was it?

Launched to the media late last year in Australia, it has taken an inordinately long time to cross the Tasman. While most other ute manu-facturers have had new 2012 models racking up sales in New Zealand, Holden has been slow to release it here.

Finally it’s here and Rural News was the first to drive it – the LTZ in Sizzle red, no less.

At $61,990 it’s the top of the range, which includes six 2WD models, start-ing at $38,400 for a cab/chassis 2.5L, through nine 2.8L 4x4 models strad-dling three body styles and four spec levels DX, LX, LT, and LTZ. The LT and LTZ are available in 6-speed auto as a $2000 option while the rest get the manual 5-speed.

So what’s the fuss about and is it worth the wait?

With so much activity in the ute sector over the past year Holden has some real competition to face.

Last year Holden loaned me a top spec LT Colorado for a few months and I covered at least 5000km on all road types, including towing. For the most part it was an excellent vehicle: economical with good road manners. It was a tad noisy from both tyres and engine, but my major concern then was the lack of low down power, par-ticularly towing heavy loads.

Now with 132kW at 3800rpm (up from 120kW) and 470Nm of torque, an increase of 90Nm, the quieter new 2.8L has addressed that issue. The lesser 2.5L produces 110kW and

350Nm.Holden has stolen a march

on its competitors as the first manufacturer to offer 3500kg braked towing capacity.

All models in the range come with air conditioning, ABS, EBD and ESC (stability control) as well as front and side airbags. Also standard are Bluetooth, CD, MP3 AM/FM stereo with steering wheel controls and cruise control. With remote keyless entry and alarm, the Holden rides on 16-inch steels, or alloys on LX and LT models – a high spec level across the entire 2012 range.

The interior is well laid out with storage everywhere, including twin glove boxes, centre console box and map pocket behind the seats, and pockets in all doors.

A novel feature likely to be well used in hot conditions is the cup/can holders just below the side air condi-tioning vents that will keep beverage cool in summer and warm in winter.

Our LTZ’s interior was upholstered in hard wearing cloth and boasted a fold down armrest in the rear seat. Finally Holden has also liberated space in the rear for three adults to enjoy a journey without complaint about thin squabs or backrests or leg/hip room.

The front seats are the place to be with the driver getting electric adjust-ment – a ‘car-like’ feature.

Climbing aboard the LTZ with 17-inch alloys and alloy sidesteps, it is clear that Holden has resisted the temptation to upsize and American-ise this truck. It retains very similar dimensions to the outgoing model.

The first impression is of quiet

unimpeded progress. Gone is the tyre noise, the engine is well subdued and even when punted hard, quickly responds without noisy pro-test; it’s the 470Nm of torque, exactly the same figure as the Ford/Mazda utes released last year. Though down by 15kW on those 3.2L 5-cylinder engines, the 4-cylinder GM sourced turbo diesel displayed the easy driv-ing nature that a thick wedge of torque supplies.

Wet steamy roads were dispatched with ease despite the enthusiastic driving. Gone are the familiar push button 4WD controls, replaced on this model with a simple rotary dial beneath the tiptronic gear selector. Slipping into 4WD high on the move tidied up any oversteer and made the unladen truck respond even better without the electronics having to

restrict the fun.With independent front suspen-

sion and rack and pinion steering pro-viding sharp quick responses and a lock of just over 12m, the Colorado again exhibits ‘car-like’ behaviour. The independent rear has leaf springs and all models will be rated to carry 1000kg on the tray. The tray is 1534mm wide with 1122mm between the arches and 1552mm long on the double cab, enlarging to 1830mm on the space cab.

The LTZ comes with a tonneau cover, the roll bar is an option.

Long overdue and with buyers having placed orders sight unseen, the Colorado may be in short supply when it’s launched in time for National Fiel-days.

I suspect all will be forgiven as time goes by with the new Holden being better in the flesh than the photos por-tray.

Class leading towing, huge torque from a willing, responsive engine and a totally revised and well-equipped inte-rior, with all the safety boxes ticked, the Colorado has been worth the wait.

Rural News motoring writer Ken strugnell drives the new Colorado.

finally the Holden colorado is now available in New Zealand.

all models come with air conditioning, aBs, eBd and esc (stablility control), as well as front and side airbags.

WIN Win a 500L Silvan linkage sprayer with 6m field boom*

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rural News // june 5, 2012

motoring 85Love and victory on the rally circuitVICTORY IN the Rally of Otago has taken Richard Mason and his co-driving wife Sara into the lead of the National Rally Championship.

The Masons, from Masterton, won both heats of the event in their Subaru WRX STI to finish over two minutes in front of Chris West with Emma Gilm-our completing the podium in third place.

But the pair did not have things all their own way. Chris West (Timaru) pushed the Masons hard on Sunday’s heat and led going into the event’s lon-gest stage of 45km, when he had to stop and change a puncture, losing nearly two minutes.

“There were some crazy fast sections on the Saturday stages,” said Mason. “It was a real challenge to drive at ten tenths, even if the overall average speed was not too high.”

The Masons established an early lead of 35 seconds when they won the three Friday night stages, which they extended to 53 seconds by the end of Saturday, finishing in front of West and Rotorua’s Sloan Cox.

“It was a good fight with Westy today

and the result has put us right back into contention in the championship,” said Mason.

On her home event, Gilmour had a series of niggling problems – stalled engine in a ford on Friday night, incon-sistent brakes and an intercom that cut out – too only finish fourth on Saturday in her WRX STI.

On Sunday she drove to make sure of more finishing points as she had lost too much time to challenge Mason and West for the major overall positions. She finished Sunday’s stages just over a minute behind Mason with West third for the day after his puncture.

Kia upgrades its workhorseKIA HAS upgraded its workhorse light truck and re-launched it as the K2500 in New Zealand.

The new model gets a more modern and powerful 2.5L common rail turbo diesel engine to replace the 2.9L unit that was in the previous K2900. Despite being smaller, the new engine has 4.5% more power, now 96kW at 3800rpm, and 4% more torque, rising to 255Nm, available over a wide 1500 and 3500rpm band. The new engine drives through a 6-speed manual transmis-sion, in place of the previ-ous 5-speed, helping reduce fuel consumption by 2% to 9.9L/100km.

Same cab and chassis structure as before, but the K2500 can be distin-guished by the Kia tiger nose grille. It also moves to 15-inch front wheels

that improve ride and steering turn-in whilst retaining the twin rear wheels that suit load-carrying. The larger front wheels make no difference to the

K2500’s 10.04m turning circle.The loading tray (3110 x 1630mm)

has hinged sides and a tailgate that can be dropped for easy loading and unloading. As before, a refrigerated box

body version is available to order, plus now two new-model variants including a box body and walk-through box body.

Safety features on the K2500 are upgraded, with ABS brak-ing and a driver’s side airbag now standard. And when the truck is carrying a heavy load, the driver can now compensate by adjust-ing the headlight beam using an in-cab switch. The model also includes reverse warning sensors, handy for delivery vehicles.

Cab specification level is raised with Bluetooth for hands-free mobile phone operation, and controls for the audio system in the

steering wheel.Air-conditioning is standard, along

with power windows, remote central door locking and a central storage box with cup holders.

MARSHN RING‘CRASH BARS’ FOR YOUR RAKES

Rakes are an important part of any contracting operation. Breakdowns are costly. I can offer you a solution with these ‘crash bars’ around your rakes to safeguard those arms. Available for Claas, Lely, Krone, Pottinger, Fella.

NZ Patent Appln No. 580714, NZ Design Appln No. 412824. International Patent applications pending. MARSHN RING is a trademark of MarshN PWB Ltd.

Contact Neville Marsh 0274 970 315 or 07 533 1887 Email n.jmarsh@farmside.co.nz

WEIGHBRIDGESCERTIFIED PORTABLE WEIGHBRIDGES FOR SALE OR HIRE. BOOK IN FOR THE COMING SEASON TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.

rural News // june 5, 2012

86 rurAl trAder

Some years ago,Quad Bike manufacturers were unhappy about roll bars being fitted to their bikes. Fitting them insinuated that their quads were unsafe without them. So they produced a computer generated video featuring a dummy riding a quad with a roll bar. Being a dummy, it couldn’t hold on, lean, stand or think. Consequently, the dummy was tossed around like a rag doll, hitting everything. From this flawed test, it was reasoned that roll bars were dangerous and should be taken off! Go figure! They didn’t mention bull bars, brush bars, handle bars or the bikes bulk. Amazingly, nobody questioned them.Meanwhile, in Australia, a clever little Aussie engineer was taking a fresh look at the problem of being crushed under a quad. Many models later and exhaustive safety tests by the Queensland University and the Quadbar was born. It was small,light,fitted all quads and even in a backflip, tended to land on its side. Better still, ACC and OSH were in the loop.Since 2011, over 150 farms in NZ have begun using Quadbars and manufacturing is now done in Orewa. The best part is that lives have been saved in that time and I feel pretty good about that. I recently learnt that when you are crushed for some time, toxins build up in your blood and can cause a heart attack and possible death. Keeping that bike off you seems a good idea.

Stuart Davidson. Owner of Quadbar NZ.

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For a Quadbar, call me, Stuart Davidson, owner of Quadbar NZ, on

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TATUANUI TENNIS CLUB

~ 75th Jubilee ~Celebrate 75 years of the Tatuanui Tennis Club on Saturday 6 October

2012 at the club courts.All past and present members are

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Should you require further information regarding the day or to register for the

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e-mail: donna.bruce@farmside.co.nz

94a Malden StreetPO Box 30Palmerston North 4440New Zealand

Ph 06 357 2454Fax 06 357 2455Email electro-tek@xtra.co.nzwww.electro-tek.co.nz

FARM BRIDGESPhone Pat NOW

0800 222 189www.bridgeitnz.co.nzBRIDGE IT NZ LTD

PERFORMANCE STOCKFEED

Morrinsville Ph: 0800 287 325

Ashburton Ph: 0800 007 766

PERFORMANCE STOCKFEED

SW_RuralNews_30x34_0212.indd 1 2/02/12 5:23 PM

rural News // june 5, 2012

rurAl trAder 87

S m a r t F u e l S t o r a g e

Visit our website for a full list of products and features

Also manufacturers of Waste Oil Recovery Containers, SCR Stations for Adblue and

Transportable Tanks

Optimum clean fuelEasy and safe to fill and dispenseFully CompliantMinimise fuel theftBunded

0800 473 226www.sebco.co.nz

Proudly made in Ashburton, New Zealand

clean | safe | secureDiesel Tanks

Yardmate Soft Toe. This is designed forheavy duty uses and is perfect for fencers, high country farmers

and hunters walking through tough, rugged, country. With an upper constructed from thick full grain leather, a leather insole

and mid-sole, which is stitched and screwed to a cleated rubber repairable sole. A tough heel counter for better

ankle support and a full bellows tongue for greater water tightness, this boot will handle the tough

environment. Yardmate also available in Steel toe. Sizes 4-15 including half sizes.

FOR 3 GENERATIONS

FARM BOOTS KIWI MADE

Tussock Soft Toe Triple/Single Hob Nail, Reverse Kip. This boot is designed for heavy duty use on high country farms and over alpine

terrain. This boot will handle tough environments. With an upper constructed from reverse kip leather, a tough heel counter for

better ankle support and a full bellows tongue for greater water tightness. A leather insole and triple bend leather

runners, with a stitched and screwed construction and heel and toe plates. Triple or single Hob

nails. Tricounis available with tungsten tipped teeth. Tussock made to order only. Sizes 4-15 including half sizes.

Visit us at Mystery Creek Fieldays 13-16th June.

SITE 017

FOOTWEARMANUFACTURERS

48 John St, Whangarei0800 4 BOOTS (26687)or 09 438 8907Visit www.lastrite.co.nz or www.bootznz.com for more quality products

ALL PRODUCTS HAVE 3YR WARRANTY

www.clicdualwheels.co.nz

Clic Wheel Systems Ltd, Rotorua Ph/Fax 07 347 2292

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

Be Safer With Duals

CRAIGCO SENSOR JET

P 06 835 6863 - www.craigcojetters.com

DEAL TO FLY AND LICE

• Cost Effective

• Complete Package

• Unbeatable pricing

• Performance Guaranteed

• ATV Carrier Mats • Exit/Entry Areas• Calf Trailers • Horse Floats & Trucks

• Weigh Platforms • Bale Mats • Comfort Mats for Wet & Dry Areas

• Utility Deck Matting

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

Rubber Safety Matting

CRAIGCO SENSOR JET

P 06 835 6863 - www.craigcojetters.com

DEAL TO FLY AND LICE

• Cost Effective

• Complete Package

• Unbeatable pricing

• Performance Guaranteed

60 Litre & 100 Litre Teat Sprayer S/Steel

pressure tanks

Contact us for more information

Phone 06 272 8544globalstainless@clear.net.nz

• $45.00 delivery cost in New Zealand

• Also high pressure s/steel water cylinders

GLOBAL STAINLESS

Quality

For all single, separated,divorced and widowed people.

Over half our membersfind ‘someone special’ or

their lifelong partner.

Join our successful & confidential service

Ph: 03-387 0794or see our website

www.countrycontacts.co.nz

For Information Pack, contact...Country & City Contacts

0800 287 437 or

❤C O U N T R Y & C I T Y

contacts(N.Z. LIMITED)

DOLOMITENZ’s fi nest BioGro certifi ed

Mg fertiliserFor a delivered price call...

0800 436 566

•PestFreeputs50Hzpulsealongpowercables•Ratsandmicestress,dehydrate,exit•Noharmtohumans,pets,computers,etc.•Modelstosuitbuildings/plant200sq.mto1000sq.m•NSW-made,patented,scienceproven•Usedintencountries•Two-yearwarranty

•100%60-DAYMONEY-BACKGUARANTEE

STOP RATSNESTING IN HOMES, BUILDINGS, MACHINERY

TWO WAYS TO ORDER/PAY: 1) POST: cheque to N. Keating telling us the product(s) you want,

plus your name, address and telephone number. 2) INTERNET: direct credit ASB 12 3039 0893559 00

(your surname as reference) PLUS telephone or email us, saying which product(s) you want.

Pest Free Domesticforhomes,garages,etcto200sq,m–$159.90 incl. GST + post.

Pest Free PROforlargehomes,smalloffices&factories,etcto400sq.m–$399.90 incl. GST and post.Pest Free Commercialfordairysheds,grainmills,factories,etc–$1800 incl. GST + post.

STOP RATS with Pest FreeBuywithconfidencefromauthorisedruralsalesagentN+JKeating,70RimuStreet,NewLynn,Auckland0600.Tel.098331931(cell0212301863);emailkeating@orcon.net.nz

In 1905, a group of farmers came together believing they could give all kiwis a better deal. Now over 100 years later, we’re still 100% NZ owned and the country’s largest mutual insurer.And we plan to keep it that way.

Ask around about us, or call for some advice on 0800 366 466.

FMG0200

That’s what works out here.

We've beenaround sinceyour dad's dadused to warm hisfeet in cow pats.