dairy news 23 july 2013

time to roll the tyres awayBetter way to hold silage stack covers. Page 47

FrieslandCampina’s stake in Synlait lauded. Page 3

is the Price right?TAF has introduced an aberration to the farm real estate market. Some

farmers want a higher price for their farms as the share price soars. PAGE 5

Fonterra toP brass revamPJacqueline Chow to drive marketing, innovation. Page 26

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july 23, 2013 issue 295 // www.dairynews.co.nz

DAi ry NEws july 23, 2013

news // 3

news .....................................................3-23

oPinion ............................................ 24-25

agribusiness ............................ 26-28

management ..............................30-36

animal health ..........................37-40

calving ............................................42-46

machinery & Products ...................................... 47-50

Storm hits as calving starts. Pg.14

Feed trailer raises efficiency, cuts waste. Pg.50

Okura’s legacy lives on. Pg.16

European co-op’s stake in Synlait lauded

synlait’s success securing a multimillion dollar investment in its Synlait Milk subsidiary by European dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina (FC) is an accolade for the Canterbury processor, says a leading independent dairy marketer.

Meanwhile Federated Farmers says the move will shake-up the New Zealand industry.

Global Dairy Network director John Shaskey told Dairy News he sees it “as a reasonably sig-nificant decision for FrieslandCampina to take a stake,” following the Dutch cooperative’s $24m buy-in to Synlait’s IPO, giving it a 7.5% share of the Dunsandel-based processor.

“They’re a very good company and for them to invest in Synlait will be seen by many people in the industry as a vote of confidence in Synlait.”

The investment differs from the many overseas investments FC already has in that Synlait’s busi-ness starts at the farmgate, whereas most of the others are at the marketing and branding end of the supply chain, notes Shaskey.

From Synlait’s perspective, the investment is

a good fit as FC is strong in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, he adds.

“They have a very strong market presence in the segments where Synlait wants to be strong. Of course, taking a stake in a company doesn’t neces-sarily mean that’s going to flow through to taking its product, but it suggests that’s a possibility.”

Shaskey acknowledges the growing amount of overseas investment in the New Zealand industry is a threat to domestic dairy farmers in that it limits their ability to share in the value chain beyond the farm gate but, equally, it provides capital to fund industry expansion here which otherwise wouldn’t be possible, he points out.

“If New Zealand investors aren’t prepared to come up with the capital, that capital has to come from somewhere to allow the industry to grow.”

Federated Farmers’ dairy chairman Willy Lefer-ink says FC’s financial investment, at $24m, is modest given it has similar revenue to Fonterra, but the message is powerful.

“Clearly there is an underlying desire to get exposure to New Zealand liquid milk… [This] cor-nerstone shareholding is, to us, more like a beach-head.”

The move may spark a discussion as to how

domestic cooperatives respond, “Fonterra espe-cially,” he says, given the growing concerns about shareprice-driven supply loss. “To [Feds] there has to be a change here.”

Leferink also notes FC joins China’s Bright Dairy (39%) and Japa-nese/Australian Mitsui (8.4%) as shareholders in Synlait. “The prize is clearly Asia.”

No other parties appear to have secured greater than a 5% stake in Synlait in the IPO, the threshold for disclosure under NZX rules. The IPO aimed to raise $75m of new capital, which, at the final price of $2.20/share, indicates just over 34m of new shares issued. Synlait says $2.20/share gives it a market capitalisation of $322m. A sell-down of 19m existing shares was also part of the offer, which was reported to be oversubscribed.

Synlait managing director and chief executive John Penno says he’s not overly concerned what price the shares open at when they start trading on the NZX today [July 23].

“We’re focussed on building value in the com-pany for the long-run so what it does in the first few days won’t worry us too much,” he told Dairy News.

Synlait Milk chairman Graeme Milne says FC’s investment is an endorsement of Synlait’s oper-ations and growth ambitions (see panel). “Our working relationship with FrieslandCampina has developed over the years and they have become a valued customer.”

Friesland Campina Ingredients’ chief operating officer Roelof Joosten says Synlait Milk is a supplier of high quality raw materials and a business FC has developed “a close working relationship with.”

“With this investment, we are supporting our supply of raw materials and also the growth of Syn-lait Milk,” Joosten says.

andrew [email protected]

ACCORDING TO FrieslandCampina’s website, annual revenue of €10.3billion in 2012 makes it one of the world’s five larg-est dairy companies.

Operating profit was €482m. Head office is Amersfoort, Netherlands, and it has 14,132 member farmers in the Neth-erlands, Germany and Belgium. It has offices in 28 countries, employs 19,946 people, and sends product to at least 100 countries.

Its four business groups are: consumer products Europe; consumer products international; cheese, butter and milk-powder; ingredients. Products include

dairy-based drinks, infant and toddler foods, cheese, butter, cream, desserts and dairy-based ingredients.

It’s Route 2020 strategy aims to grow the company, maximising value of all milk produced by member dairy farmers. Goals include: increased share of added-value and branded product sales volume; further operating profit growth; substan-tially higher performance premium and higher distribution of member bonds for the member dairy farmers; halving job-related accidents within five years; climate-neutral growth throughout the entire chain from cow to consumer.

about FrieslandcamPina

@dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

John Shaskey says the investment is a vote of confidence in Synlait.

Dai ry News july 23, 2013

4 // news

Synlait, suppliers in dispute over transport costs

ProjectConstruction

Start Date

Expected Commissioning

Date

Expected Total Cost

Lactoferrin extraction and purification facility

May 2013 January 2014 $15.1m

Blending and consumer packaging plant

August 2013 August 2014 $27.5m

Dry store August 2013 January 2014 $11.8m

Quality testing laboratory

August 2013 March 2014 $3.9m

Dryer 3 April 2014 August 2015 $110m

Ammix butter plant

August 2014 May 2015 $15m

Total Cost $183.3m

the risKs section of the IPO prospec-tus reveals Synlait is in dispute with some South Canterbury suppliers who were signed for three seasons in early 2011 when Synlait bought Oceania’s contracts with the farmers.

Those contracts stipulated a price for the first two season’s supply but the third season’s supply, 2013-14, was unpriced.

Synlait managing director John Penno told Dairy News the price formula being applied is Synlait’s standard formula which includes a transportation charge for farms outside a roughly 80km radius. The South Canterbury suppliers are up to 200km away.

The IPO offer states Synlait’s supply terms include a transportation charge for farms north of the Ashley River and, as in the case of the Oceania group, south of Timaru, which is about 120km from the factory.

Under ‘risks’ it says a new price formula and distance surcharge has been introduced to “certain suppliers whose contracts were novated to us from Oceania Dairy Lim-ited…. Some of those suppliers have noti-fied us that they regard any imposition of a distance surcharge on them as a breach of contract. We believe in our entitlement to introduce the distance surcharge. However,

this may ultimately need to be determined by a court.”

Oceania Dairy was the company set up in 2009 with a view to building a pro-cessing plant at Glenavy. It subsequently sold its building consents and right to pur-chase land at Glenavy to Mongolia-based Yili which, following Overseas Invest-ment Office clearance, started building at Glenavy in April (Dairy News, April 16).

Expressions of interest to supply the new factory, which is expected to start pro-cessing in time for the 2014-15 season, are reportedly strong, with some saying “it’s full already.”

However, as others have pointed out, there’s a long way to go between an expres-sion of interest and a signed supply con-tract.

Besides the Synlait distance surcharge situation driving supply to Yili, and the obvious attraction of no share requirement, for some dairy farmers in the region the legacy of Fonterra’s acquisition of nearby New Zealand Dairies, at Studholme, is another driver.

When NZDL went into receivership in May 2012 it left suppliers unpaid for several weeks. Fonterra bought the formerly Rus-sian owned plant.

Flurry of price cuts as China launches probe

Fonterra has slashed by 9% the price for its Anmum maternal health products sold in China fol-lowing a probe by Chinese authori-ties into infant formula pricing.

Major international dairy compa-nies have cut infant formula prices in China by up to 20% after the China National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) launched a probe into price fixing. It has said infant formula prices have jumped 30% since 2008.

Fonterra does not supply infant formula to China; its Anmum prod-ucts are targeted at pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, although it has a product for children over one year of age. The 9% price reduction will apply to Anmum Materna and be effective from August 1.

“We are committed to provid-ing high quality, premium imported products to Chinese consumers and we are also committed to being an integral part of and long-term part-ner to the Chinese dairy industry,”

says Kelvin Wickham, president of Fonterra Greater China and India in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the NDRC’s probe extended to Fonterra and that indicated the Chinese authorities were look-ing at the dairy indus-try beyond just infant formula. A Fonterra spokeswoman told the journal the Chinese government is “review-ing a wide range of consumer businesses in the Chinese dairy industry” and that Fon-terra wasn’t being singled out.

Dairy News asked Fonterra what questions were being asked by the Chinese investigation, and possi-ble ongoing effects on the milk price and the industry. Fonterra replied it had nothing further to say other than Wickham’s statement.

Meanwhile all international com-panies in the Chinese infant formula investigation have announced they are cooperating fully and have cut their prices, some up to 20%. They

include Abbott Laboratories, Nestle, Danone, Royal FrieslandCampina and Mead Johnson Nutrition.

Netherlands’s FrieslandCampina has dropped the prices on its range

of all Friso products by 5%. It says the company will reinforce compli-ance with pricing and anti-trust regulations, adjust contractual terms to emphasise adherence to China’s Anti-Monopoly Law, enhance its Code of Conduct and provide comprehensive anti-trust training based on

Chinese laws.Wyeth Nutrition, the infant for-

mula company Nestle bought last year, said in a statement it had been actively cooperating with the NDRC and was responding by cutting its prices and improving sales and mar-keting practices.

Mead Johnson Nutrition says it has launched “a self-review to ensure compliance with the antitrust laws of China”. It has reduced the prices of its main products from 7% to 15%.

Pam [email protected]

Kelvin Wickham

What’s the IPO funding?Synlait says proceeds of the IPO will repay existing debt facilities and enable financing of the following growth initiatives:

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news // 5

in brief

call to kill with 1080PARlIAMENTARy COMMISSIONER for the Environment Dr jan Wright is reiterating her call for greater use of 1080 for killing pests. Her comments update recommendations she made in 2011. Wright says time is running out for native species on the mainland.

“Three predators are inflicting enormous damage on our native birds and plants: pos-sums, rats, and stoats. The only way we can control them over large areas is to use 1080. We are lucky to have it. “When I released my report two years ago I called for greater use of 1080 because I was concerned about the future of kiwi and other native birds.

TAF dilemma over farm sales

eight months after TAF’s launch, the real estate industry is still coming to grips with its effects on farm sales.

The public listing of Fonterra shares has introduced an aberration to the farm real estate market. The sale of farms owned by Fonterra shareholders is no longer a straightforward sale of farm assets, says Gibson Barron, owner L J Hooker Matamata.

He says Fonterra shareholders are facing a dilemma: whether to sell their farms with or without shares. As the share price fluctuates, some vendors want more money to match the high share price. This is also causing confu-sion among buyers, he says.

TAF was launched in November last year a with share price of $5.50. Last week the price hovered about $7.38/share. In May the price peaked at $8.05/share.

Barron says some farmers want higher prices for their farms because the share price is higher. He points out that a farm valued at $5million would have three value components: land, improve-ments and Fonterra shares.

The higher value of shares doesn’t necessarily push the farm value up; instead it pulls down the value of land

and improvements such as the milking shed, he says.

“For the vendor, the question is whether he sells the farm shares-inclu-sive. He has one eye on the NZX where the share price is trading almost $2 higher than the launch price,” Barron told Dairy News. “The purchaser is also confused about what’s the best thing to do as the share price fluctuates.”

Barron, whose agency handles a sub-stantial number of dairy farm sales in and around Matamata, says some are sold with and some without shares, depending on the wishes of the vendor.

He says it will take several years for the market to adjust itself to TAF. In the meantime, both the sellers and buyers are getting more professional advice.

The job of real estate agents has also become more specialised.

“For the real estate industry, it means being up to speed with TAF and the choices it presents for the vendors and purchasers. We advise our clients to seek professional advice.

“Our job has certainly become more specialised. Dairy farm sales can no longer be done on the back of cigarette packets. Fifteen years ago, every farm sale had two pages of clauses, today there are 15 pages of special clauses.”

Rural property sales agent Rex But-terworth, who has 20 years experience in the industry, says the market faced a similar situation when Fonterra was formed 12 years ago.

“The market took 12 months to

adjust back then, it’s taking a bit longer this time.”

Fonterra’s TAF general manager Aaron Jenkins believes the real estate market is getting used to the share trading scheme. He has spoken to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand

(REINZ) meetings in recent months. Real estate agencies are on a rural pro-fessional database that gets regular advice from Fonterra.

“No specific issue has been raised with me and I think everyone is getting used to it,” Jenkins told Dairy News.

Flexibility For vendors, buyers

FONTERRA’S TAF general manager Aaron Jenkins says the share trading scheme offers flexibility to sellers and buyers.

Pre-TAF, any Fonterra shareholder who stopped milking cows could no longer hold shares. Under TAF, shareholders have three years to offload their shares, on the condition one third of shares are sold each year.

For the buyer, he has three years to be fully shared up, again buy-ing at least one-third of shares every year. For farmers on contract supply, TAF allows six years to be fully shared up, with no obligation to buy shares during the first three years and one-third every year for the next three years.

Jenkins says there is more flexibility than before.Gibson Barron (left), owner LJ Hooker, Matamata, and rural property sales agent Rex Butterworth say TAF has added a new dimension to farm sales.

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6 // news

landcorP advised Shang-hai Pengxin to reject an offer by a central North Island Maori trust which recently bid to buy two former Crafar dairy farms near Te Kuiti, the Chinese company says.

Terry Lee, who represents Shanghai Pengxin’s interests in New Zealand, told Dairy News that Landcorp, which advises his com-pany on sale or purchase of land, told him to reject the latest offer because it was well below new valu-ations of the two farms. These were previously owned by Allan Crafar but were sold to the Chinese by the receivers of the Crafar farms.

Te Hape B Trust has several times tried unsuccessfully to buy the farms, but trust chairman Hardie Pene says when they were specifically invited by Shanghai Pengxin to put in another bid he was hopeful a deal could be done.

But Lee denied Shanghai Pengxin “invited” Te Hape B Trust to put in an offer.

“After the farms in question had been acquired by Shanghai Pengxin, he said they were still keen to buy them so I told Hardie Pene I would give them one last chance to make an offer.

“We gave them access to the farms so they could do due dili-gence and they made another offer but that offer was too low. We are not going to lose money by selling the farms to Hardie Pene.”

The price Shanghai Pengxin paid for the 16 Cafar farms is not known publicly; the speculation is about $200 million. Lee will not reveal the recent independent valuation of the two farms Te Hape B Trust was trying to buy.

But Pene showed Dairy News that their valuations, by indepen-dent valuer John Darragh, was $10.35 million for one farm and $12 million for the other.

Assuming a total price paid by Shanghai Pengxin of $200 million divided by 16, the average price per farm would be $12.5 million. How-ever this in no way reflects Shang-hai Pengxin’s valuation.

Lee says they entertained

another offer from Te Hape B Trust because they “felt they needed to keep good relations with iwi”.

But this has incensed Pene who describes the whole process run by Shanghai Pengxin as “window dressing” and an “academic exer-cise”.

He has previously told Dairy News that he agrees with Sir Henry van der Hayden’s comments to “not trust the Chinese”. Pene says he has no reason not to trust all Chinese – just Shanghai Pengxin. He says the rejection of the offer is a “kick in the guts” for his people who have ancestral ties to the land in ques-tion.

Ironically, Shanghai Pengxin recently signed a joint venture with the Maori dairy company Miraka to produce UHT milk for export to China.

One of Miraka’s major partners is Wairarapa Moana which has dairy farms in the central North Island but the milk for the UHT will come from some of the former Crafar farms not managed by Landcorp.

Peter [email protected]

SOE ‘blocked’ farm sale to Maori trust

@dairy_newsfacebook.com/dairynews

one oF the country’s biggest dairy farmers, Landcorp, has revealed the drought has hit it in the pocket with production down by 4.4% on last year.

But Mark Julian, in charge of the 46 dairy farms Landcorp has from Northland to South Otago, told Dairy News it could have been worse. He says it started with a colder-than-normal spring which slowed production, but by January things had picked and they were looking at record production.

“But then we had the prolonged drought and we lost production across all our farms. At one stage it was looking as if we’d be down by 8% but as it turned out it was 4%. In the central North Island where we milk 7770 cows we took an 18% hit in pro-duction compared with the year before and that gives you an idea of where that feed was missing. That was the place we were hard-

est hit.”Julian says other places

they took a hit was in the Bay of Plenty with produc-tion down by 9%. “Down the southern end of the West Coast around Lake Brunner where we’ve got 4500 cows milking they were down by up to 7% as well on last year’s produc-tion. They had a hard year before that so in a normal year it could have been a 10% drop in production.

“Around the coun-try it was funny the way the drought played out. In Northland and on the Hauraki Plains production was down 6-7%.”

Southern Manawatu was one of the few places relatively unaffected by the drought, Julian says. He points to the cluster of dairy farms Landcorp runs adjacent to the lower reaches of the Manawatu River near Foxton. These did not suffer the pro-longed drought of other farms and production was good. He says their irri-gated farmers in Canter-bury were affected when

river levels dropped and irrigation schemes were shut off or restricted.

With calving just a week or so away, Julian says overall Landcorp cows are “in reasonably good con-dition”.

“They’d be in 4.7 to 4.8 BCS against a target of 5.0 for calving. We are slightly down on condition but we are not too far off where we should be. Probably the bigger thing is the feed on hand is down quite a bit; we haven’t got the silage we need in a lot of places we had it last year,” he says.

According to Julian, there is a “little bit of ner-vousness” going into the spring in terms of having enough feed.

He says they’ll probably have to buy in a bit more feed if the weather turns bad. But he notes that pas-ture covers have come back quite well across most the country and there’s been good growth following the drought.

Tough season for Landcorp farms

Landcorp’s farm in the Manawatu was one of the few North Island farms spared by the drought.

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Westland launches infant products into Chinawestland milK moved from being an exporter of dairy ingredi-ents to being a supplier of high-end finished products when it launched its Westpro Nutrition infant range in China last week.

The products made at Westland’s new $28 million Hokitika plant are for three stages: infant, follow-on and growing up powders. It is Westland’s first foray into this category.

The brand launch was attended by at least 100 guests from current and prospective customers’ companies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Chief executive Rod Quin says it is a milestone in West-land’s strategic move to be a producer of added-value nutritional products and reduce the company’s reli-ance on bulk ingredients.

“The opportunities for expansion are significant especially in China. We have experienced extraordinary growth in the last few years, but the disadvantage of being in the bulk commodities market is that it is highly variable, vulnerable to market influ-ences over which we have little con-trol, and profit margins can be low.

“As a smaller, more nimble player in the global dairy scene, the nutritional products market is better suited to us. It gives us more opportunities to show off our technical expertise, flexibility and innovation.

“It also means we are more able to have close relationships with our customers where we can develop products together. Nutritional products have a much higher profit potential, the promise of a more

stable income and better returns for our shareholders.”

Quin says the Shanghai launch was important to demonstrate to key Chi-nese officials and businesses West-land’s commitment to the Chinese market. The function would also help reinforce Westland’s credibility as a genuine manufacturer of high qual-ity nutritional products.

“Interest was high,” Quin says. “Our function was fully subscribed

within a short while of invitations going out.”

Westland also used the Chinese launch to introduce a new corporate branding based on a ‘Genuine New Zealand Dairy’ theme, designed to raise Westland’s visibility and credi-bility in the Asian market.

A seven-point approach, the new branding uses ‘genuine’ to focus customers on Westland’s history, cooperative ownership, innovation, products, quality and people – telling the history of the 76-year-old company and its journey to becoming supplier of new and innovative products.

Westland Milk Products has also established its first permanent staff

member based in China. Jian xin (Harry) Wang has been appointed nutritional development manager – China, within Westland’s sales and marketing team, based in Shang-hai. Until now the company serviced China by regular visits by New Zea-land staff, working with local con-tacts and with the support of New Zealand’s in-China services such as NZTE.

“This has been successful for us and our sales to China have grown

considerably,” says Quin. “But our strate-gic move into high-end nutritional products, especially infant for-mula, means we need to enter a new phase of our relationship with China. Harry’s appoint-ment will, we believe, be the first of several China placements as our nutritionals sales there

expand.“Harry will be critical

in building relationships with new and existing customers in the nutritional segment,” Quin says. “His on-the-ground knowledge and connectivity to China will be a valu-able asset to our development in what is currently the most important, changing and dynamic market for our nutritional business.”

Wang comes to Westland with extensive experience gained from DSM Nutritional Products, where he spent the past five years as the tech-nical and marketing manager, and previous roles with Daqing Dairy, Wondersun Dairy and Nutrica Nutri-tionals. He holds a bachelors degree in Food Science and Engineering from the Northeast Agriculture Uni-versity.

Westland’s new Westport Nutrition infant range it launched into China last week.

Westland launched new branding to raise its profile and credibility in the Asian market.

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Small calves taken in strideFew Farms have acted to avoid small calf syndrome (SCS) carrier bulls since the trait was identified and revealed by LIC in May, say breeding companies.

CRV Ambreed last week revealed two more of its bulls are carriers, and subsidiary Liberty Genetics is waiting on test results this week.

Meanwhile, as the new season’s crop of calves starts to hit the ground, LIC says there’s been little reaction in terms of bull choice for the coming mating season following its listing of carrier bulls (see panel) in May.

“I’m sure the odd individual will have changed their order but there’s certainly not been a groundswell of change,” general manager of research and development, Richard Spelman, told Dairy News.

That’s echoed by CRV Ambreed mar-keting manager Peter Berney. “The only bull that showed up initially was Black-out and since we put the notice out [about SCS] we’ve not seen any change

in use. But he’s not a high-use bull and typically Ambreed clients do not have high levels of the gene in their herds anyway.”

Two more Ambreed bulls are now listed as SCS carriers: Phonic and Monty, which are on the firm’s InSire list. Blackout is on the Proven list.

Berney says none of the bulls have been withdrawn because of the low prevalence of carriers in customers’ herds, and, by using Sire Match Protect, the risk of a carrier cow being mated to a carrier bull can be avoided.

Carrier sires may also have niche traits which some breeders seek.

The SireMatch service costs breed-ers recording with Ambreed 25c/cow extra, or 75c/cow extra for those record-ing with LIC’s Minda.

“Most of our clients are nominated; they specify the teams of bull they use.”

Liberty Genetics, which was bought by CRV Ambreed in May 2012 but is run as an independent operation of the parent, says it is waiting for DNA test results from LIC’s Genemark laboratory as to how many of its bulls are carriers.

However, from parentage records, testing of LIC’s bulls and cases on farm,

they have a good idea which bulls could be carriers, says Liberty’s sire devel-opment manager Dave Hayman. “We know a couple of our older bulls were carriers and we don’t expect them to find too many others in our older bulls.”

As with Ambreed, those known carriers were low-use so Liberty’s clients’ herds should have a low incidence of carri-ers. “Of our current bull teams, we expect there will be no more than four carriers. We’re expecting test results this week then we’ll make a deci-sion as to how we use those from there.”

Hayman hints Liberty’s policy may differ from LIC’s or Ambreed’s, in that carriers could be withdrawn from the market. “We have an obligation to our bull breeders to get a proof for the bulls, but we would prefer to do that for a substitute, so if we can come to an agreement we will try to eliminate them [carriers]. We can certainly guarantee to

any farmer that doesn’t want to use a carrier

we will exclude them from their pack at no cost.”

Hayman is crit-ical of LIC’s han-dling of the trait’s

emergence and subsequent commu-

nication but acknowl-edges the problem

LIC faced with two of its most widely pro-moted cross-

bred bulls – Checkpoint

and Equinox – turning out to be carri-ers. ”Checkpoint, in particular, boosts the BW of the crossbred team, and they don’t have any other substitute that can come close to him.”

He suspects incidence of the syn-drome, which only manifests itself in one in four of the progeny when a car-rier bull is crossed with a carrier cow owing to the gene being recessive, will, in some herds, be considerably higher than the industry average incidence of

one or two per 400 calves which LIC has been highlighting. “From what I can see for a straight Friesian herd of 400 cows there could be as many as ten or a dozen of these calves born this spring.”

On the flip-side, herds with a high level of Jersey genetics will more than likely see none.

Historically, incidence of calves exhibiting the trait – very short legs, stocky body, wide head and a relatively short nose – has probably been under reported, says Hayman. “Now the pen-dulum’s likely to swing the other way with every small calf being blamed on the gene.”

Spelman says nationally they’re expecting 4000-6000 calves to be born exhibiting the trait this spring, out of some 4.5 million due to drop on dairy farms.

At worst, a Friesian herd of 400 with 20% carrier cows that used carrier bulls for 30% of inseminations would produce 24 pregnancies at risk of car-rying the gene, and, on average, only a quarter of those, ie six, would carry the double recessive and so exhibit the trait. Twelve would be carriers and six would be free of it.

andrew [email protected]

Richard Spelman

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10 // news

Westland chief executive Rod Quin (left) and Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English at the launch.

Tweak the water accord and we’ll sign – Westlandwestland milK is throwing its full sup-port behind the new ‘Sus-tainable dairying: water accord’ (SDWA). The West Cost co-op is a ‘friend’ of the accord launched this month in Wellington but is not yet a signatory, as are the other dairy companies.

But Westland chief executive Rod Quin, who attended the launch, says the co-op will sign after certain aspects of the accord are tweaked to reflect the extreme weather conditions on the West Coast.

For example, he says the topography and high rainfall in the region made it difficult for Westland suppliers to meet fenc-ing requirements spelt out in the accord. With some rivers flooding every

two to three months, per-manent fencing was not viable on many farms.

Quin says Westland was not trying to be the odd one out of the proces-sors when it came to sup-porting the accord,

“We fully support the initiatives outlined in the new accord. As soon we do some more work on the designs of the accord, we’ll put our signature to the accord,” he told Dairy News.

Quin says the co-op has a good working relation-ship with the West Coast Regional Council.

DairyNZ chief exec-utive Tim Mackle says Westland has an agree-ment with the regional council and is happy to have them as a friend rather than a signatory at

this stage. “There needs to be some more work done with the regional coun-cil [concerning] unique conditions on the West Coast,” he says.

The accord, headed by DairyNZ, is backed by 15 regional councils, all milk processors, fertiliser com-panies, Irrigation New Zealand, Federated Farm-ers and the Government. Targets are also set for each farm to have nutri-ent and riparian manage-ment plans, and for farms to comply with effluent management rules in their respective regions.

Mackle acknowledged the accord will not solve issues in all water catch-ments. But it will go a long way towards solving prob-lems in most catchments, he says. “The accord

addresses issues and seeks improvements that will result in good, tidy dairy farms around the coun-try.”

Mackle says getting 15 regional councils to back the accord was crucial. “The 15 councils cover all the dairying regions. The councils will engage with the dairy sector to develop and implement programmes to meet our shared goals.”

Federated Farmers’ dairy chairperson Willy Leferink says farmers are ready to play their part. The federation’s signature on the new accord repre-sents farmers’ commit-ment to do all we can to protect the water quality in our streams and rivers, says Leferink,

Farmers will also work

on water quality projects at catchment and com-munity level as regional councils set about put-ting policies in place over the next few years, he says. “If we want to meet the aspirations we have as an

FONTERRA FARMERS will be well placed to meet the new accord goals after spending millions of dollars over the past nine years on environ-mental improvements, says coop-erative affairs managing director Todd Muller.

“It’s important to recognise huge progress is being made,” Muller says.

“Fonterra suppliers are working hard to have cows excluded from waterways by the December 2013 deadline set out in Supply Fonterra, a programme run by the co-op. This includes mapping waterways on

Fonterra farms and agreeing work plans with farmers who are still working towards completing stock exclusion by December.

“We are also working with our farmers and providing the support they need to achieve other targets set out in Supply Fonterra and the accord. To do this we have increased our sustainable dairying advisory team from four to 17.”

Muller says making the accord a success will require all stakeholders to work together. “No one group can make this happen on its own.”

Fonterra suPPliers hard at it

industry, meet govern-ment expectations and earn the respect of the wider community, then

farming sustainably is the way ahead.”

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Primary industries Minis-ter Nathan Guy says there is no longer a choice between the economy or the environment; it has to be both.

Speaking at the launch of a new dairy industry strategy, ‘Making Dairy Farm-ing Work for Everyone’, he noted it was proof of the dairy sector’s commitment to the environment.

“There is a perception in some quar-ters of New Zealand media, and held by some political parties, that farmers don’t care about the environment; that farmers are short term thinkers, who care only about profit; and that farm-ers are the main polluters of our water-ways,” he says.

“As a farmer myself, and as the Min-ister for Primary Industries, I com-pletely refute these perceptions.

“Yes there is a distinction between good and bad farmers. And yes a few farmers do act in a way that is not sus-tainable. But there are a few ‘ratbags’ in any business, across any sector.”

Guy says most farmers are environ-mentalists, and want to leave the land in a better state than they found it. “Farm-ers are a competitive bunch and want to be the best across a wide range of indi-cators, including both environmental

and economic. Farmers are there for the long haul, they are the custodians of their land.”

The new strategy requires farmers to build economically sustainable busi-nesses with a strong focus on environ-mental actions.

One of the first actions from the strategy is a new dairy industry water

accord with commitments and targets to enhance the performance of dairy

farming as it affects fresh water. It was developed by DairyNZ, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ), Feder-ated Farmers Dairy section and the Dairy Women’s Network.

It sets out 10 objectives includ-ing proactive environmental stewardship and wise use of nat-ural resources, providing a world-class on-farm work environment and ensuring talented people are attracted to the industry. Research to develop innovative technologies and solutions is also a key objective.

DairyNZ chairman John Luxton says milk production in New Zealand has grown 47% in the last ten years and reached 1.7 billion kgMS in 2012. “Twenty-one percent of New

Zealand’s grasslands are now used for dairy farming,” he told the 300 indus-try leaders at the launch.

“With over $13 billion in dairy exports in 2012 and a $5 billion con-tribution to national gross domestic product, our industry employs 45,000

people. The Government has a business growth agenda… to grow dairying’s con-tribution to national prosperity.”

But the size and scale of the dairy industry demands that it has a new plan for farming competitively and responsi-bly. This is what this new strategy is all about, says Luxton.

DCANZ chairman Malcolm Bailey says the new water accord, launched together with the new strategy, is sup-ported across the industry and sets national environmental benchmarks for dairy farming covering stock exclu-

sion from waterways and riparian areas, effluent, nutrient and water use man-agement. It also sets outs new indus-try standards for conversions of land to dairying.

“The new water accord is an indus-try programme of self-improvement with targets, actions and commitments. We will also report publicly on prog-ress through an annual, independently audited report,” Bailey says.


news // 11

Farming, enviro go hand-in-hand

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy (left) with ANZ’s Graham Turley and DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle at the Accord launch.


The new Accord is supported by all

dairy companies.

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growing sales of raw milk are consumer driven, not producer driven, says Ray Ridings, a spokesman for a new asso-ciation of producers.

A code of practice will be developed for sale of raw milk by the Raw Milk Producers Association of New Zealand which held its first annual meeting

in Wellington last week. About 35 producers turned up from both islands.

Ridings told Dairy News producers are get-ting constant phone calls for consumers looking for raw milk. “The demand is coming from the con-sumer, it is not coming from the producer.

“I think it is part of the change in society with people wanting fresh food, that’s reflected in farm-ers’ markets, people grow-ing their own gardens, and an awareness of getting

access to fresh food. Raw milk is just part of that change in our society.”

Ridings says the asso-ciation has a challenge ahead of it “to work toward how we can get a workable code of prac-tice for small producers, as well as our large produc-ers… and for sheep, goats and cows.”

Many raw milk pro-ducers in the association are supplying dairy com-panies for processing as

well, some with herds up to 700-800 cows. “But there is also a range of raw milk-only farms already in existence and starting up. Some of those range from one or two cows to 20 or 30, and one is 100 cows producing raw milk only,” he says.

There are also goats, and Ridings says although he is not personally aware of sales of raw sheep milk, a sheep milking farmer attended last week’s meet-ing

“There was good posi-

tive feedback, everybody agreed that we move for-ward and create some form of code of practice and become an incorpo-rated society.”

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) repre-sentatives attended to give a briefing on MPI’s posi-tion “and we all agreed we’ve got to create a good


12 // news

Fresh food drive behind rising raw milk sales

POTENTIAL CHANGES to rules on the sale of raw milk would balance demand with protecting public health, says MPI deputy director-general Carol Barnao.

Requirements were reviewed by MPI in October 2011, with nearly 1700 submissions received, most from raw milk consumers and farmers who sold raw milk. Most supported continued sales.

In December 2012 the then Food Safety Minister (Kate Wilkinson) reiterated her support for contin-ued farmgate sales of raw milk and agreed to investigate increasing the amount that can be bought. “That minister asked MPI to undertake further scientific and policy work to investigate potential changes to the current rules that would balance al-lowing people who seek out raw milk to purchase it while protecting public

health,” says Barnao. “This work includes identifying

proposed options for: animal health and hygiene requirements; limits on the quantity that can be purchased and sold; whether the milk can be sold off the farm; and how consum-ers can be better informed of the risks associated with raw drinking milk at the point of sale.”

That work will go to the current Minister for Food Safety Nikki Kaye. Further consultation will be held before any law changes.

For information on food safety regarding raw milk visit www.foodsmart.govt.nz/food-safety/high-risk-foods

“This includes information on why raw milk is high risk, and why MPI advises vulnerable people, such as young children, not to drink raw milk,” MPI says.

rules to balance demand and Protect Public health - mPi


positive working relation-ship and help manage the raw milk industry in a safe way,” says Ridings.

Because of the upsurge in demand MPI plans new rules “and they are want-ing assistance with that,” says Ridings. “We will be meeting with them again and supplying them with whatever information they need.”

MPI says current rules allow dairy farmers to sell limited quantities of raw (unpasteurised) drink-ing milk from their dairy premises direct to con-sumers – commonly referred to as farm gate sales.

Currently people can buy up to 5L at a time for their own or family use. The rules also require dairy farmers selling raw milk to consumers to operate under a risk man-agement plan that is spe-cifically for raw drinking milk.

“The current rules are difficult to interpret, apply and enforce,” says MPI deputy director general Carol Barnao.

The rules are now under review.

“The demand is coming from the consumer, it is not coming from the producer.”


Consumer demand is driving raw milk sales, say farmers.

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14 // news

Storm hits as calving starts

dairy Farmers in lower Manawatu had to quickly move their cows to higher ground as heavy rain hit the region last week. The rainfall was so heavy it forced Horizons Regional Council to open the floodgates at Moutoa near Foxton to take the pres-sure off the Manawatu River and stop further flooding.

But for dairy farmers like John McAloon it meant quickly moving his stock out of the Moutoa floodway where he leases 150ha. He says he was given plenty of warning to move his stock and described the flood as relatively minor. But it was a bit of pain now he’s starting calving the first of his 1750 cows

“The land was not under water for long but there is a lot of debris for us to clear away. It’s a real mess this time with the timber, mainly broken wire and smashed fences. We’ll have stock in there shortly because the pasture is not too badly damaged.”

He says it’s been a good winter so far, but now the grass growth is slowing as the

pastures get wetter. “The good days are over for a while.”

Meanwhile in Taranaki strong winds caused problems for dairy farmers. Bryce Kaiser, Federated Farmers Dairy chairman for the province says farm sheds and houses were damaged by the high winds.

Power was knocked out to some farms but he says since the storms of about 18 months ago, many dairy farm-ers have either bought generators or done a deal with their neighbours so they can continue to milk.

The power company did a good job restoring power, Kaiser says. “I think the winds came from the southeast. They were very strong and I was out in the middle of it. It nearly blew me off my farm bike while I was busy trying to shift stock to more sheltered parts of the farm.”

Kaiser farms about 20 minutes northwest of Hawera.

This storm was not as bad as last year’s which blew over

large trees and knocked out power for several days.

Peter [email protected]

John McAloon

The floodwaters have inundated this

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news // 15

Bee threat ‘serious’august is ‘Bee Aware Month’ and the National Beekeepers Association is urging the Government to take the threat to bees much more seriously.

Bees account for at least $5 billion of New Zealand’s economy through the pollination of crops and honey exports.

But all wild bees have been wiped out by the varroa mite which is also threatening the rest of our bees, says NBA chief executive Daniel Paul. “The varroa mite is one of the big-gest threats facing our kiwi bees. It has spread throughout the country and we desperately need to contain this dangerous pest,”

The NBA is calling for donations to help fund the fight to research and find a solution to the problem. The NBA says other threats to New Zea-land bees are pesticides, including neonicotinoids, a lack of nutrition for bees and potential honey imports.

“The Government is consider-ing allowing honey imports into New Zealand from various countries. But honeys from around the world can

bring in a range of pests and diseases that would pose significant biosecu-rity risks for our bees.

“Kiwi bees need our help. In some countries bees are dying in huge num-bers. There are some concerning bee deaths here in New Zealand but so far things aren’t as bad as they are over-seas. We need to do all we can to help protect our bees to stop the situation getting worse.

“Not only do bees contribute bil-

lions of dollars to our economy, most of our food depends on pollination by bees, as do our gardens. A world with-out bees is too terrible to imagine.”

The NBA urges New Zealanders to plant more bee-friendly plants and to use more bee-friendly sprays in their gardens.

The NBA also wants to do the first ever nationwide Bee Health survey to find out what’s happening to kiwi bee populations.

NZ milk offers hope for acne sufferers

an acne treatment cream contain-ing bioactive proteins sourced from New Zealand milk will hit pharmacy shelves later this year.

Hamilton-based dairy biotech-nology company Quantec Ltd hopes to commercially launch the product in three to four months.

Quantec’s patented complex of bioactive milk proteins, called IDP, is the active ingredient in a specially formulated skin cream. The prod-uct went head-to-head in a double blind study against a premium, US-based clinical brand of acne treat-ment cream (containing 2% salicylic acid plus retinal). At the conclusion of the 42-day trial involving 84 sub-jects, both the premium brand of acne treatment cream and the IDP-based

cream showed statistically equivalent results in reducing acne lesions.

The IDP-based cream, however, also showed a major improvement of at least 52% in reducing red-ness and inflammation, Quantec says.

The results were this month presented to der-matologists at the New Zealand Dermatological Society annual meeting in Coolum, Australia.

Quantec business development manager Grant Wash-ington-Smith says the response from New Zealand dermatologists has been encouraging.

“Many said they were happy to see a New Zealand biotech-nology company developing these dairy-based bioactives for acne management,” he told Dairy News. “The con-sensus was that there was a place for an over-the-coun-ter alternative for treatment of mild-to-moderate acne and acne associated inflam-mation of the face.”

The IDP based cream con-tains dairy products sourced from New Zealand milk. Washington-Smith says Quantec only works with such dairy products. “In New Zea-land, in addition to the quality of our milk, we are also at an advantage from a pastoral dairy industry, as this pro-vides an economy of scale from the

quantity of milk during the milking season for development of our dairy bioactives.”

As part of the clini-cal assessment, the IDP-based cream also passed specific testing for use on subjects with sensitive skin, making it the supe-rior performer of the two products and ideal for

users with hyper-reactive and sensi-tive skin, the company says.

Quantec founder and managing director Dr Rod Claycomb says IDP is

a unique and naturally derived com-plex of bio-proteins “which make them very powerful against certain types of disease-causing bacteria which leave the natural and benefi-cial bacteria of the skin largely unaf-fected”.

“By leaving these natural and ben-eficial bacteria active on the skin, IDP creates a scenario for treatment and management of acne. In addition, the IDP bio-proteins signal directly to inflamed tissues and cells to quell the inflammatory response.”

IDP is said to be antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

sudesh [email protected]

The IDP-based cream contains dairy products sourced from New Zealand milk.


Rod Claycomb


breeders lyna and Luke Beehre have a knack of producing winners.

Their sire Okura KRC Iceberg was awarded the prestigious JT Thwaites Sire of the Season award presented by Jersey New Zealand at its annual con-ference in Hamilton recently.

Iceberg is the fourth bull bred by their Okura Jersey Stud to receive this award, behind Okura Doyles Imran GR, Okura Manhatten ET SJ3 and Okura Lika Murmur S3J.

With a breeding worth of 236/82, Ice-

berg is currently the number four Jersey bull on the RAS list. A stipulation of the award is that the recipient must have at least 40 daughters in production over a minimum of 20 herds, a minimum of 20 daughters contributing to TOP infor-mation, a minimum 75% reliability and no less than -0.2 for udder overall, dairy conformation and overall opinion.

Okura KRC Iceberg was CRV Ambreed’s top Jersey graduate this year. Jersey New Zealand and CRV Ambreed are jointly running the Jer-

seyGenome programme, which aims to identify and grow supe-

rior genetics within the breed.Jersey New Zealand pres-

ident Brian Cater says it has an ambitious goal for

the Jersey breed: capture 25% of the New Zealand

market by 2025.“There are some

exciting things to con-sider with regard to prog-

ress towards the goal: 16 new Jersey NZ memberships

alone in April, 226 heifers in the JerseyGenome 2012 intake

advancing to genomic testing and the 2013 Jersey Pride line

up surpassed all expectations. “As an AB industry we have some

exciting challenges ahead. We have to harness new sciences but equally we have to do well in our traditional areas of strength such as data.

“New tools such as smart phone applications for AI recordings, and on-the-go farm management programs such as InSight will enhance our ability to capture data. We must now make better use of these tools extensively to

continue building our data; no modern AB company can survive without data.”

Carter says progressive organisa-tions like Jersey New Zealand will be the key to creating pathways for new technology.

16 // news

Prestigious sire one of a lineup

jerseygenome key numbers ■ Five yearly intakes, four intakes completed

■ 55 members

■ 5857 heifers considered (over the five years)

■ 764 heifers Genotyped (over the five years)

■ 176 heifers selected for the team (over the first four years)

■ 73 graduates (from the first three years)

■ 27 graduates awarded (over first three years), nine elite, nine highly commended and nine merit.

Jersey New Zealand president Brian Carter (left), presenting the JT Thwaites Sire of the Season trophy to Iceberg breeders Lyna and Luke Beehre.

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18 // news

Taiwan tariffs down to zeroPam [email protected]


tariFFs now set at 5-20% on dairy products bound for Taiwan will now reduce to zero with the signing of an economic cooperation agreement, says the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) chairman Malcolm Bailey.

Milk powder is New Zealand’s main export to Taiwan, Bailey told Dairy

News, but the FTA could see a wider range of products exported in the long run. “It’s good news; Taiwan is a signif-icant and growing market.”

The agreement, formally signed in Wellington on July 10, will end tar-iffs on 98% of trade within four years, says DCANZ. Virtually all tariffs on dairy products will go immediately. The exception for dairy – liquid milk – will be subject to a 12 year transition to full tariff elimination. UHT is likely to come within this category, but in gen-

eral liquid milk is not a big part of our exports.

Bailey says the agreement was a great outcome of the negotiation and would benefit both countries’ economies.

“Taiwanese consumers will benefit as New Zealand dairy exporters and Tai-wanese companies work in complemen-tary ways to meet the growing demand of the Taiwanese population for the high quality nutrition dairy provides.”

New Zealand is a longstanding sup-plier to Taiwan, exporting dairy prod-

ucts for about 30 years. Taiwanese dairy consumption is continuing to expand in line with rising incomes and imported products play a role in meet-ing consumer demand that cannot be met by domestic production alone. Most Taiwanese milk is for drinking.

In 2012, Taiwan was New Zealand’s fifteenth-largest dairy export market, with trade valued at NZ$310 million.

“As a trading nation all New Zea-landers benefit from trade liberalisa-tion. In an increasingly hungry world,

trade also improves food security for consumers. ”

The agreement with Taiwan will complement New Zealand’s existing trade agreements with China and Hong Kong.

Fonterra reports strong response to GMP pilotFonterra says its guaranteed milk price (GMP) pilot for the 2013-14 season has attracted a broad cross-section of farmers from around the country.

A total of 328 farms have applied to supply 37 million kgMS for the pilot which guarantees a payout of $7/kgMS for this season.

To maintain the pilot size of 15m kgMS – about 1% of the co-op’s total milk supply – applicants were scaled to 40% of their requested kgMS (with a minimum threshold of 10% of a farm’s produc-tion).

Fonterra’s director of commodity risk and trad-ing, Bruce Turner, says the

uptake from farmers is positive for the pilot and the co-op.

“It has given us a broad cross-section of famers from right across the country who are at vary-ing stages of their farming operations. This will allow us to give comprehen-sive feedback to all share-holders on the benefits

and the risks, and this way our farmers can see if it is something that might suit them in the future.”

The pilot was launched earlier this year, giving farmers the opportunity to lock in 10-75% of their milk supply at the opening season’s milk price fore-cast of $7.

“We recognise every

farming business is dif-ferent. And while most farmers can live with the market volatility, there are times when some farm-ers would prefer more certainty as it would help them manage their own farming businesses and that’s why we’ve devel-oped this pilot,” says Turner.

“GMP is a bit like having a fixed interest rate on your mortgage versus a floating rate. It enables farmers to know exactly where they stand with a percentage of their pro-duction and this can help with future planning.”

As well as more cer-tainty for farmers, GMP allows the co-op to lock in

fixed-contract prices with its customers.

“This means even if commodity prices drop and the milk price also drops, those customers will continue to pay the fixed price for their prod-ucts, which supports the GMP price and means there is no risk to the co-op,” says Turner.

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news // 19

ASEAN ‘tigers’ beckon dairynew Zealand will need to get its strategy right to take advantage of big dairy trade opportuni-ties in the ASEAN-6 group of countries, says Rabo-bank.

The bank says New Zealand has a competitive advantage in the ASEAN ‘six majors’ (the six larg-est economies of the Asso-ciation of South East Asian Nations – Indonesia, Thai-land, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Viet-nam).

Dairy demand is grow-ing underpinned by favourable economic and demographic conditions. Local supply is unable to keep pace with demand. However, it warns, capital-ising on the opportunities in the ASEAN-6 region will be challenging.

“To unlock the full potential and to maxi-mise profitability, dairy

exporters may need to rethink their export strat-egies,” says the report author, senior dairy ana-lyst Michael Harvey.

“Given the inherent price sensitivity across the region, exporters will need to continue to ‘stretch’ the milk, adopting strate-gies where dairy produce is mixed with non-dairy components to make products more afford-able.”

New Zealand exporters face challenges including greater competition from other exporters. Dairy exporters need to make a long-term commitment to these markets, Harvey says. “New Zealand dairy processors have already undertaken investment to capture the opportunity, but more will be required. Having a solid and expand-ing supply base will ensure a strong reputation as a

reliable supplier.”Over the past decade,

dairy products imported into the ASEAN-6 region have been growing at about 4% per annum. In 2012, dairy trade flows (from all countries) sur-passed 1.6 million tonnes (11 billion L in milk equiv-alents) and equated to an export value exceed-ing NZ$7 billion. By 2020,

these markets collectively are likely to consume an additional three billion litres of milk compared to their consumption in 2012.

Harvey says Rabo-bank ASEAN-6 countries will exhibit annual growth rates in dairy consumption well above the world aver-age of 2.4% per annum. “Within the ASEAN region, the fastest rate of growth is expected in Indonesia and Vietnam.”

With per capita dairy consumption rates among the ASEAN-6 nations very low by global standards, the potential for growth is huge, Harvey says.

“The latest statistics indicate that Malaysians, who have the highest con-sumption rates of dairy among the ASEAN-6 countries, consume on average 51kg of dairy per person each year, while Indonesians consume just

NEW ZEALAND currently exports about $1.9 billion in dairy products annually to ASEAN countries, according an ASEAN strategy launched by the Prime Minister John Key last week.

The bulk of that is milk powder worth $1.4 billion.

The new Government strategy is to see all exports to the region boosted by 40% by the end of 2017.

Key last week launched the NZ Inc ASEAN Strategy, which aims to boost investment, trade and eco-nomic returns from the region.

“The 10 countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations is a region whose 620 million people account for nearly 10% of the world’s population,”

says Key.“Already ASEAN as a bloc is

New Zealand’s fourth-largest trading partner and over the past 10 years New Zealand’s total trade with ASEAN has grown at 9% per year on average.

“New Zealand needs to be making the most of a young, increasingly urban, affluent and quality conscious region only half the distance from our traditional European customers.

“We are in a sound position to boost our relationship with the region. We have a free trade agree-ment in place, a strong shared his-tory, and are geographically close,” says Key.

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8kg. Comparing this with consumption in developed Asian economies such as Japan, where annual per capita dairy consumption

is 85kg, indicates there is significant growth poten-tial in these markets.”

A common feature across the ASEAN-6 mar-

kets is they are all dairy ‘deficit’ countries, already heavily reliant on imports.

Rabobank dairy analyst Michael Harvey says South East Asia’s top six economies offer big growth potential for dairy.


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A TOP scientist gives New Zealand a 55% rating for our biosecurity systems.

Free trade agreements and tourism are putting us at risk, says science strategist John Lancashire, but biosecurity is more impor-tant for New Zealand than any other nation on earth. Recent incursions cost $1-2 billion.

The MPI must consider international trade obligations when making a risk assessment. There is tremendous pressure from the Gov-ernment for more free trade agreements.

But New Zealand needs to toughen up, he says. Australia takes a tougher line on biosecurity yet we are more dependent on primary exports. “The Government is very keen to further increase tourism and with the PM as the Minister of Tourism, it will happen,” he said. Two former biosecurity officers in New Zealand believe that border screening shortcuts have increased the chances of pests getting into the country.

Lancashire was speaking at the NZ Insti-tute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science, of which he is president.

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Constantly sniffing the breeze for diseasea signiFicant biose-curity incursion is rated in the top three risks facing

the dairy industry, says Fonterra’s risk manager Dr Lindsay Burton.

“Even if the products were treated and safe, the markets are sensitive. The response may not be

rational,” he told a New Zealand Institute of Agri-cultural and Horticultural Science forum in Auck-land.

With a disease out-break in animals “sud-

denly the environment changes and you just can’t pick up milk from every farm and push it around the country… you have a significant change in the business dynamics. Any

incursion will create major issues in terms of prod-uct.”

You would have to think about product in storage – the industry only has about three weeks


storage capacity – stock in transit and in production. How would the markets and trade respond? Would regulators understand the implications of our change in status and a state of uncertainty while the diag-nostics are being worked through? How would regu-lators and key customers respond?

With New Zealand exporting 90% of its dairy product, what would happen to international milk prices during a period of uncertainty? “If prices hit the roof, competitors will try to take customers.”

With a rapidly spread-ing disease such as foot and mouth, there would be new strains the sci-entists would have to work through. Ruminants large and small would be affected. “We don’t know a lot about it – the spread for instance; we know how it operates in an overseas environment, but don’t know how it operates in New Zealand.”

Burton says there’s a lot of imported feed, not just PKE, but copra, tapi-oca, and poppyseed that require standards applied to them. “You can have import standards, you can have expectations, but dol-lars drive different behav-iours.”

And he says the dairy industry has to realise it can’t ignore biosecurity

risks to plants, for instance the Great White Cab-bage butterfly, a threat to brassica crops which was found in Nelson in 2010.

“We have to recognise we are not just about pro-ducing animal products, we (the dairy industry) consume a huge amount of plant product. So our feed source is critically impor-tant to us, so we even take an interest in the great white cabbage butterfly, even though it is located in Nelson.” Burton says it hasn’t been eradicated and he believes it should have.

“It has the potential to impact on brassica crops which are a major feed source for the dairy and sheep industry in New Zealand.”

Burton says the abil-ity to trade products in the international market is an important factor. “But the fact we don’t have a lot of diseases – and that is not just the cattle industry – gives us a productivity advantage.

Fonterra risk manager Dr Lindsay Burton says we need our eyes wide open on biosecurity.


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‘Legendairy’ Oz farmers to showcase dairyaustralia’s dairy industry is launching a major advertising cam-paign to promote dairy farming and milk foods to consumers.

The new ‘Legendairy’ platform moves dramatically away from tradi-tional product promotion to put the spotlight on the industry as a whole.

It will relay inspirational stories of the people behind the product, cele-brating Australia’s Legendairy dairy farmers, the quality dairy foods they produce and their contribution to the Australian economy.

It will feature eight new Legendairy advertisements airing across all media, public relations, grassroots sponsorships and visibility in Australia’s eight regional dairy communities as part of an initial three year strategy.

It’s the first major dairy advertis-ing campaign for six years from Dairy Australia, which says recent overseas experience highlights the fact that non-branded dairy advertising works.

Generic dairy advertising recently resumed in the UK after five years, the decline of milk sales by 82 million litres within 18 months.

Dairy Australia, however, hopes its new initiative will do a lot more than simply increase sales. “It’s to give the industry a well deserved boost,” says Dairy Australia’s group manager for industry promotion and product innovation, Isabel MacNeill.

“We want to tell the story of Aus-tralia’s dairy industry and it doesn’t stop at just milk. In the face of recent tough times, Australia’s dairy farmers have continued to grow and care for their A$4 billion dairy industry,” says MacNeill.

“The Legendairy campaign will

champion the dairy industry, shar-ing stories of innovation, provenance and personal triumph. We believe this focus will connect the farming com-munity with its consumers.

“We know that generic advertising has a direct impact on dairy sales and consumption and feel the mix of prod-uct and people based stories will help restore confidence in the industry.”

Working with Melbourne based advertising agency Cummin-sRoss, and public relations agency Porter Novelli, the Legendairy cam-paign starts with eight advertise-ments in television, print and digital

media, and on radio and an exclusive sponsorship of the Melbourne Vic-tory vs Liverpool football club match on July 24.

CumminsRoss’ chief executive officer Sean Cummins believes Legen-dairy will get Australians thinking dif-ferently about dairy in the long-term.

“The Legendairy campaign is play-ful and genuine.

“It’s not just about marketing milk; we’re sharing the bigger picture – a mosaic of stories with one clear mes-sage: our Aussie dairy farmers and Australian dairy products are Legen-dairy,” says Cummins.

The advertising campaign will be launched in August.

Arla’s triple strike at global dairy innovation awardsdanish cooPera-tive Arla had many rea-sons to celebrate after topping three categories at the recent global Dairy Innovation Awards.

The global dairy giant took home awards for best cheese, best butter or dairy spread and best dairy packaging innovation.

Arla was the only com-pany to scoop more than one award in the com-petition, which drew 140 entries from 23 countries in 15 categories.

Clinching the title of best cheese was Arla’s Unika range. The result of a 10-year innovation project, the cheeses are inspired by Nordic nature and wildlife and have been developed in collaboration with leading Danish chefs. The range of cheeses

varies during the year, to reflect the seasons and the composition of cows’ milk which affect the flavor and texture of the cheeses.

The judge said it was a great idea to use chefs to promote cheese. They described the cheese as “on-trend artisan cheese for an increasingly dis-cerning consumer”.

In the butter or dairy spread category, perserverance and lots of taste tests paid off. Arla’s Kærgården with flavor, produced at Holstebro dairy in Denmark, took the top title.

Christian Kragholm Borregaard, global brand manager, sees two rea-sons for Arla’s success: “great tasting products that consumers and cus-tomers have received well,

and we have had the con-sumer in mind all through the development process, in respect of product and communication. This has resulted in a concept that has hit it home with our target audience.”

In the best dairy pack-aging innovation, Arla won with a new PET bottle(1L and 500ml) designed

for its premium UK milk brand Cravendale – “easy to use, hold and pour, and easy to open and reseal without spilling milk”.

The 500ml version has enabled Arla to enter the growing ‘food to go’ sector.

Commenting on the awards, organiser Bill Bruce said innovation con-tinues to be the key driver in the dairy industry and that was evident in the wide range of new prod-ucts and packaging ideas.

“All this activity helps to make the dairy sector the most exciting food and beverage category. Every year, the Dairy Innova-tion Awards helps us shine a spotlight on the sector, drawing attention to posi-tive trends. This year was no exception.”

The new PET bottles designed for the U K fresh milk market took the top award in packaging.

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24 // oPinion

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editorial

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GLOBAL DAIRY players don’t come much bigger and more pow-erful than Royal FrieslandCampina.

The Dutch cooperative has 19,487 member dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, making it one of world’s larg-est dairy co-ops. Every day it sells dairy products to 1 billion con-sumers around the world. With annual revenue of $18 billion, FrieslandCampina is one of the world’s five largest dairy compa-nies.

Almost similar to Fonterra in revenue, FrieslandCampina is also one of its biggest competitors. Therefore, the Dutch co-op’s surprise investment in South Canterbury processor Synlait this month is seen as a turning point for New Zealand’s dairy industry.

It’s not so much the New Zealand market that will worry Fon-terra because the prize isn’t New Zealand but Asia and its lucrative infant formula trade. With one investment FrieslandCampina has entered New Zealand’s dairy industry, but, more importantly, it has established vital business links with Chinese dairy giant Bright Dairy and Japanese company Mitsui.

The gold of this era is infant formula and New Zealand is the goldmine of quality milk. Our infant formula products are revered by Asian consumers. And Synlait is in an area where food and dairy products and particularly infant formula are the hottest thing in the world.

Fonterra, launching its own infant formula brand in China later this year, suddenly finds a major global competitor exporting New Zealand-made infant formula from its backyard.

Fonterra will have no problems working with FrieslandCampina – DFE Pharma; the world’s leading provider of pharmaceutical grade inhalation lactose is a joint venture between the two co-ops.

But Fonterra will be watching closely. Friesland Campina can increase its stake in Synlait, expand its reach in New Zealand and springboard into Australia. It could even look at building its own processing plant and poaching milk suppliers from Fonterra. In that event the competition from the new entrant would be differ-ent than from the likes of Miraka, Open Country Dairy and West-land.

Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Willy Leferink is right: things have become interesting. How Fonterra responds remains to be seen.

Fonterra’s board will be banking on chief executive Theo Spier-ings for leadership to deal with this new arrival in New Zealand’s dairy market. After all, Spierings was one of the architects of the merger between the Friesland Foods and Campina co-ops that led to the formation of the mega processor in December 2008.

An elephant in the room

chardonnay socialism?ONE OF Milking It’s townie mates reports that a well-known defender of the poor and down-trodden has been seen regularly fuelling his righteous indig-nation at a number of nice Auckland eateries.

Nothing wrong with that, but as our source says, left-wing agitator Matt McCarten seems happy enough swill-ing at the same eateries frequented by the ‘entitled few’ on the political right, whilst dreaming up his next attack on capitalism, John Key’s ‘rich mates’, anyone anti-union, etc, etc. Just another chardonnay socialist?

Keep it KiwiTO BE seen as modern and worldly, Federated Farmers probably has to walk a tight-rope between protecting their local producers’ interests against outside influ-ences and promoting free trade on a global scale.

They seem to have veered to the global-ist side of things with their publishing ven-ture, contracted to an overseas company to run. Kiwi-owned publishers don’t mind competition, but when a Feds-backed overseas competitor starts cutting prices to unsustainable levels, you have to wonder how committed Feds is to local services – free newspapers in this case – for local farmers.

barking up the wrong treeFISH AND Game North Canterbury and West Coast branches have come out strongly against Westland’s refusal to sign the new dairy industry water accord. They called on Westland to keep nu-trients out of waterways in the region.

Westland backs the accord and wants amendments to reflect the region’s topography and extreme climatic con-ditions. They are a ‘friend’ of the accord, like MPI, Minstry of Environment and the Federation of Maori Authorities. Again, Fish and Game is barking up the wrong tree.

Falling cow kills manPOLICE SAY a cow has fallen through the roof of a small house in southeast Brazil, killing a man and narrowly missing his wife.

A police officer in the town of Caratinga says Joao Maria de Souza and his wife were sleeping when the one-ton cow fell through the asbestos roof on to the victim. The officer said Souza died of internal bleeding at a nearby hospital.

He said the cow ap-parently was grazing on a small hill above Souza’s home.


oPinion // 25

Setting out to do even betternew Zealand dairy is one area in which we are already the world’s best. Our 11,500 dairy farms are, like the All Blacks, the best there is. They produce, along with the processing sector, about three out of every ten dollars New Zea-land earns from the rest of the world.

The Prime Minister four years ago told us, “It is important farmers step up and take leadership on meeting some of the envi-ronmental challenges that will shape the future of your industry… to pro-tect our environmental brand abroad and to keep faith with the New Zea-land public who look to us as important custodians of the natural environment for this and future genera-tions.”

We have responded as we are a dynamic indus-try and we continue to do things better.

A key challenge is making the most of a rising global demand for our valued and in-demand products – milk and beef – and to capture the benefits for dairy farming and for New Zealand.

As the title of our strat-egy says, we want to make dairy farming work for everyone. That is the single most important concept behind this strategy.

We have set out a strat-egy for taking dairy farm-ing forward to 2020: to be competitive and respon-sible, because this strat-egy and our competitive advantage rely on what happens behind the farm gate – the area where New Zealand dairy farmers are world leaders.

We know the Gov-ernment has a business growth agenda and dairy-ing is a huge contributor to it. We are right behind that agenda in terms of working with the Gov-ernment to continue to grow our export contribu-tion to national prosper-ity. The work we are doing together through the Pri-mary Growth Partnership is a big part of that.

New Zealand’s dairy farmers currently invest through their industry levy about $60m per year on research and development to improve our productiv-

ity and sustainability. We must remain competitive to have a future.

Milk production is New Zealand has grown 50% in the last ten years and reached 1.7 billion kgMS in 2012.

But the size and scale of our industry demand that we have a new plan for farming competitively and responsibly. And the New Zealand community has demanded it too. This is what this new strategy is all about.

We are an industry that cares for the land, pro-duces the goods, drives local economies and national prosperity, and delivers as the largest dairy exporter in the world. This is something to be proud of – as a country and as dairy farmers.

We also want, and continue to be, caring custodians of the land. Kai-tiakitanga. I especially want to the mention the support of the Federation of Maori Authorities, the iwi representatives and Maori farming trusts, for their willingness to join us on this journey and become ‘friends’ of our water accord. Maori agri-business is keen to work in partnership with us. They are also now among our largest dairy farming busi-nesses.

And we want and need to get better at showing New Zealanders how we are doing that, and what we are achieving particu-larly in the environmen-tal space.

Our farmers invest tens of millions of dollars each year in effluent and water management systems, they have fenced over 20,000kms of waterways to exclude stock, we spend over $20m per year pro-tecting native bush from pests through the TB-free programme, we protect special parts of our farms with QEII covenants, and we do a huge amount of riparian planting.

There is no other group of New Zealanders doing more for conservation in New Zealand than our dairy industry. We also claim to have a smaller environmental footprint than most dairy indus-tries in today’s world and a

DairyNZ chairman john luxton spoke at the recent launch of the industry strategy for sustainable farming ‘Making Dairy Farming Work for Everyone’. Here are excerpts from his speech.

smaller footprint per unit of production than we had ten years ago, despite the comments from some crit-ics.

In DairyNZ we also now have a team of top environ-mental scientists helping

us on the road to continual improvement.

The accord is the indus-try’s response to public concerns about our envi-ronmental stewardship. We are taking action. We are setting targets. We are

making commitments, across the industry. We are stepping up to meet your expectations of us as farm-ers and businesses. We’re doing a pretty good job, but we are setting out to do better.

DairyNZ chairman John Luxton (right) with Prime Minister at the launch.

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26 // agribusiness

Fonterra revamps executive teamFonterra has appointed two new members to its executive management team.

Former Nestle executive Lukas Para-vicini takes over in September as the chief financial officer. He replaces Jonathan Mason, who retires after four years in the job.

The co-op has also appointed Jacque-line Chow to the newly created position of man-aging director global brands and nutrition. Chow will drive Fon-terra’s over-all marketing, innovation and research activi-ties.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spier-ings says the appointments reflect well on the coop-erative’s continued ability as a global player in the dairy industry to attract high calibre, internationally experi-

enced people to senior management roles.

“Lukas and Jacqueline will join our team which is focused on driving our V3 strategy forward. We look forward to

them contributing their exper-tise at the top table.

“Lukas’ strengths and

experience will be a consider-

able asset to Fonterra. He really under-

stands dairy and has lived and worked in some of our most strategically

important markets.

“Jacqueline will bring extensive FMCG

and mar-keting experience to our marketing and innovation agenda in support of our strategy.”

Paravicini joins Fonterra after 22

years with Nestle. He has been general manager for Nestle Professional Europe for the last two years and prior to this he held a number of senior finance posi-tions in different parts of the Nestle business including running its global business services and spending 10 years in Latin America.

Chow has a 20-year career in global blue-chip multinationals and joins Fonterra from Arnott’s, where she was general manager of Australia and New Zealand and led the growth of its $1 billion business. She has held execu-tive marketing and innovation roles in Campbell’s and the Kellogg Company, and started her career as a strategy con-sultant in consumer products.

With these appointments the Fonterra management team which drives the strategy and day-to-day performance of the business now comprises:

■ Managing director NZ Milk Prod-ucts, Gary Romano

■ Managing director APMEA (acting), Johan Priem

■ Managing director Greater China & India, Kelvin Wickham

■ Managing director Latin America, Alex Turnbull

■ Chief financial officer, Lukas Para-vicini

■ Managing director global brands & nutrition, Jacqueline Chow

■ Managing director people, culture & services, Chris Caldwell The roles of group director

strategy, Maury Leyland, group director cooperative affairs, Todd Muller, and a new role of group director communications, Kerry Underhill, will provide group-wide support and report to Spierings. Group director mergers & acquisi-tions, Paul Campbell, will report to Paravicini.

Ian Palliser, who was previously MD group optimisation & supply chain, is taking up a role leading one of Fonterra’s key strategic initiatives. The functions within his previous role have been incorporated into other areas of Fonterra’s management team.

Sarah Kennedy’s next move will be the subject of a separate announce-ment. Kennedy was previously MD Fonterra Nutrition which has been incorporated primarily into the new

global brands & nutrition function. The new organisation structure will

take effect from the start of Fonterra’s financial year on August 1.

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agribusiness // 27

Farmers who attended last week’s meeting.Irrigation scheme meeting

draws 200 farmersabout 200 farm-ers gathered in Central Hawke’s Bay last week to find out more about the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme and its potential to irrigate 25,000ha extra land.

The consortia bidding to lead Hawke’s Bay’s larg-est construction project met locals at Waipawa.

Leading European con-tractor Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) and Hawkins Infrastructure, New Zea-land’s largest privately owned construction com-pany, have joined forces to bid for the design and con-struction of the scheme.

OHL Hawkins bid man-ager Steve Livesay outlined the opportunities and potential, acknowledging that “a reliable source of water is the key to sustain-able farming”.

“Our team understands that water needs to be used more efficiently on farms and we are committed to working with farmers to develop the concepts. We want to work with farmers to drive the development and change the way water is managed in CHB.”

The proposed scheme includes a 90 metre-high dam, which will store 90 million m3 with poten-tial to irrigate much more land in the drought prone region.

“Communities which have water storage schemes have benefitted hugely, directly through employment and indi-

rectly through exports and economic growth,” says Livesay.

Central Hawke’s Bay farmer, George Williams says he is excited about the water storage scheme as it will boost his production.

“I will be able to irrigate a wider variety of crops. At the moment I can only grow peas and barley. I can’t get the contracts to grow specialist vegetable crops because we don’t have certainty on water. We are excited…. We have so much flat productive land that is underutilised in Hawke’s Bay. Irrigation is the way forward.”

Also part of the OHL Hawkins consortia is The Water Infrastructure Group (WIG) responsible for getting the water to the farm gate, in charge of the design and construction of the secondary distribution.

New Zealand manager Aynsley Griffith says the scheme will unlock big opportunities for inten-sive cropping and dairy farming.

“We have built irriga-tion schemes in Canter-bury which have unlocked new farming opportunities such as dairy and special-ist cropping. We have seen the spin-offs it creates for other farmers who will need to support the new dairy farms. Certainty of water will also help farm-ers clinch specialist crop-ping contracts.”

The OHL Hawkins joint venture is expected to pro-

vide massive employment for the Hawke’s Bay region. A workforce peaking at about 200 is expected to be working on the project.

“We are dedicated to employing local sub-con-tractors. We won’t bring an army of workers with us from Auckland. We want to employ locals so money

is injected back into the local economy,” says Live-say.

“The venture strongly reflects a commitment to achieve a financially viable, minimal risk project, built to a high standard in a realistic time frame giving long term value for money,” he says.

in brief

300 jobs to goFONTERRA IS shedding 300 jobs as part of a re-view of its support services. Affected employees will complete their notice periods by October.

Chief executive Theo Spierings says the re-view identified opportunities to reduce duplica-tion and layers of management in the corporate office and to further Fonterra’s strategies..

“These reviews are not easy and that makes it all the more impressive that the people involved have been professional, open and hon-est in their views and supportive of what we’re aiming to achieve.

“We are investing in growth and it is impor-tant to ensure our people are working on the right things and that we are spending our capital on the right priorities. We are confident the review has achieved this.”

“The venture strongly reflects a commitment to achieve a financially viable, minimal risk project.” – Steve Livesay


28 // agribusiness

WaiKaTO FarMers last month disposed a record six tones of hazardous horticultural, agricul-tural and veterinary chemicals.

Federated Farmers has praised farmers for embrac-ing Agrecovery’s rural recycling campaign.

“Farmers are choosing to dispose of their chemi-cal waste responsibly due to the convenience of the service,” says James Houghton, Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president.

“It is great to see increasing numbers of farmers using Agrecovery. It is another example of farmers changing their behaviour and working for the good of the environment without the need for legislation.

“Being environmentally friendly does not come free, so the money invested by our local councils enables the program to work and gain traction, which, as you can see, is having the desired outcome.

“Farmers buy-in to Agrecovery comes from a desire to look after our land, our water and the envi-ronment for today’s and tomorrow’s generation,” Mr Houghton finished.

Agrecovery chairman, Graeme Peters, was equally buoyed by the record breaking collection.

“I am enthused by the huge uptake in the Waikato; it is five times the amount collected in Waikato last year and is the largest recovery on record,” says Peters.

Waikato record for Agrecovery

Bank sponsorship to help financial skillsneW gOLD sponsorship by ASB will boost work in progress by Dairy Wom-en’s Network to lift the financial literacy skills of dairy farming women.

DairyNZ model-

ling shows the indus-try’s profitability could be improved by $1 billion per year, or about $1000/ha, by improving finan-cial literacy and manage-ment capability. And there

is a significant range in profitability between dairy farmers, partly because of management capability.

ASB general manager rural Mark Heer says ASB will work with the DWN

and its members to share financial expertise, help build financial capabilities and add value to farming businesses.

“The Dairy Women’s Network acknowledges the value women add to the industry and has cre-ated a forum to build and encourage business lead-ership, share knowledge, seek advice and find pro-fessional support,” says Heer.

DWN executive chair Michelle Wilson says the partnership with ASB will help its 4800 members with workshops, webinars and conferences.

“Alongside our prime funder DairyNZ… this additional support is a great opportunity for ASB and our members to work together improving the industry’s financial man-agement practices.”

She says the network’s growth during the past few years signalled a change in the role of women in the industry and the contribu-tion they make to its suc-cess, including effectively managing finances.

“In reality dairying women are directors, managers and, in many cases, owners of multi-million dollar businesses which need people with sound financial and busi-ness acumen alongside the practical skills of farming and leadership capabili-ties.”

The Dairy Women’s Network was set up in 1998 to expand the poten-tial of dairy women by providing leadership, inspiration, learning and connection. The network runs Dairy Days work-shops, regional groups, conferences and other events.

The ASB gold spon-sorship follows Ballance Agri-Nutrients in May confirming its prime spon-sorship of the DWN. The DWN also recently got a $180,000 grant from the Ministry of Primary Indus-tries’ Sustainable Farm-ing Fund for a three-year project to develop the first leadership programme for dairying women.


ASB general manager rural Mark Heer.

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30 // ManageMenT

Think ahead on pasture

an eXPerT in dairy production systems at Massey University says farmers need to think six months ahead when planning how their pastures will perform in the late spring and early summer.

Danny Donaghy, Massey/DairyNZ professor of dairy production systems and a Massey lecturer, is involved in a range of research projects relating to dairy production.

At a recent DairyNZ discussion group in Wairarapa he talked to dairy farmers about how they could best manage their farming system in a wet spring.

He told Dairy News they discussed where farmers are at now and how they were planning for October. The key message was that farmers needed to manage their pasture carefully in autumn and not stress the grass so that it will come away on cue.

“We can have the sunniest, mildest October and November on record, but the pastures are not going to come away and they won’t get the growth rates they are expecting or hoping for unless they plan six months in advance.”

Farmers must also be aware of when pastures are susceptible to major damage, he says. It’s not when pastures are waterlogged and spongy, but rather when they dry out a bit which makes them prone to com-paction.

Uni farm bucks trend among peers to lift profits

Farmer 2011-12 2012-13 Change

Slee 5696 5271 -425

Acton 5249 4442 -807

Davie-Martin 5219 4803 -416

LUDF 4553 4665 +112

Donkers 3756 4301 -545

Operating profit/ha comparison

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY Dairy Farm held its third focus day of the year earlier this month, reflecting on the season gone, the one to come, and system research at the university’s facility across the road. Andrew Swallow reports.

LinCOLn uniVer-siTY Dairy Farm has bucked the trend of its high performance peers and increased operating profit.

Figures presented ear-lier this month at the third of its focus days for the year show it boosted the bottom line $112/ha to $4665/ha while the four farms it benchmarks with saw operating profit fall (see table).

“Not only was there a lower milk price but it was a harder season to farm through,” noted DairyNZ productivity develop-

ment manager Steve Lee, a member of LUDF’s man-agement team, as he intro-duced the figures.

LUDF managed to shave 8c/kgMS off its operat-ing costs while the others’ costs increased, although LUDF started from a 2011/12 figure “head and shoul-ders” higher than its peers, at $4.30/kgMS.

A tough spring, irriga-tion restrictions, higher

feed costs and lower pas-ture production due to clover root weevil were among the challenges the peer-group farms cited as

reasons for their figures, Lee said.

At $4.22/kgMS LUDF’s costs in 2012/13 were mid-table for the five farms.

“Our cost per kilo-gramme of milksolids is still relatively high and we need to be seeking ways to tidy it up and get our cost structure a wee bit tidier if we can,” Lee said.

Unusually for the July focus day, no budget for the coming season was presented as the bones

of it were addressed at the May focus day (Dairy News, May 14).

At that, SIDDC exec-utive director Ron Pellow

unveiled a nitrogen cut from 350kg N/ha to 260kg N/ha, with no applica-tion greater than 25kg/ha. That will save $31,000, but a provision for up to $55,000 on bought-in feed has been made to compen-sate for the possible short-fall in pasture production. No eco-n applications will save $48,000.

At this month’s field day, Lee touched on some other areas exercising the management team’s

minds, such as winter-ing costs. “Our graziers do a great job for us but is the model [of grazing off ] really working for us and do we have options going forward?” he asked, rhe-torically.

At 25-27c/kgDM, the price LUDF is paying for winter crop, either kale or fodder beet, is “at the high end”, he maintained.

However, one farmer present suggested that was cheap for Canterbury, and another said winter grazing rates needed to be at least that or the crops wouldn’t be grown.

Overall, at 90c/kgMS, LUDF’s wintering and replacement costs were equal top. Lee highlighted Slee’s 10-20c/kgMS figure.

“Our cost per kilogram of milk solids is still relatively high and we need to be seeking ways to tidy it up and get our cost structure a wee bit tidier if we can.”

“They’re spending a whole lot less. They are positively deviant these people.

“They are doing some-thing really good we can learn from… they own and control all of their dairy support.”

But having said that, he added LUDF is not “about to run out and buy a sup-port block” and per-cow costs (ie animal health, breeding, wintering and replacement costs) of

about a quarter of total operating costs are “real-ity and something we have to live with.”

A smaller herd – LUDF now has 630 cows com-pared to 670 on aver-age historically – should help “keep a lid on per cow costs,” noted Pellow. With fewer replacements, total animals owned will be down to about 950 in future, from about 1060 in the past, added Lee.

Keep up with the latest stories from by following us atGET SOCIAL WITH DAIRYNEWS

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32 // ManageMenT

Protecting streams for profitbaLa TiKKiseTTY

PrOTeCTing sTreaM banks on livestock farms is an important way of protecting farmer profits and the envi-ronment.

Farming depends on good quality water for stock and, generally speak-ing, better water quality means healthier animals and higher productivity. But intensive farming, for-estry, roading and horticul-ture can cause soil erosion, and build-ups of contami-nants such as bacteria and chemicals washed into watercourses by heavy rain.

So managing the margins of water-ways – the so-called riparian zones – helps protect water quality on farmers’ own properties and those of their down-stream colleagues.

On the water quality front, a well-managed riparian margin – which ani-mals are kept away from – will filter out sediments and nutrients from farm run-off. These contaminants can include soil, dung and urine, phosphates and

nitrates from fertilisers, and agricul-tural chemicals. Besides helping boost animal health, cleaner water means drainage pipes are less likely to block.

Stream bank erosion is another way sediments and nutrients get into water-ways. Assets such as land and build-ings can also be threatened by erosion. Shrubs and trees with extensive fibrous

root systems, and which tolerate moist soil con-ditions and frequent silt deposition, are ideal for preventing stream bank erosion. Tree roots also protect the streambed, lim-iting the scouring effect of running water.

Good riparian vegeta-tion can be effective in reducing the impact of flooding as it helps regulate water getting into waterways.

Shade from riparian vegetation can help prevent algal blooms and provides cover for aquatic life such as spawning fish. Trees also help stimulate aquatic life and provide a habitat for birds.

Enhancing the environment of waterways adds to the attractiveness of the local environment and its rec-

reational values for locals and tourists.Financial benefits for farms include

shelter and shade boosting animal health and production.

Also, improved milk grades are doc-umented where dairy sheds no longer draw water from contaminated streams. On sheep and beef properties, stock

are generally in better health and have faster weight gain when water sources are no longer contaminated.

Riparian management, including the associated fencing of waterways, helps with stock movement and reduces stock losses.

It’s important to get the right ripar-

ian management regime for individual farms to ensure the benefits are maxi-mised.• Bala Tikkisetty is a sustainable agri-culture coordinator at Waikato Regional Council.Tel. 0800 800 [email protected]

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WinTering is a recog-nised nutrient-loss hotspot for dairy but there are ways to manipulate losses with-out eco-n or investing in wintering barns, it seems.

“There is some wriggle

room in how we manage winter crops,” Dairy NZ principal scientist David Chapman told the Lin-coln University Dairy Farm focus day.

Lincoln University’s

Grant Edwards went on to explain fodder beet’s very low crude protein content means urine nitrogen con-tent of cows grazing the crop is “extremely low”, even where the diet is

supplemented with grass silage.

“It’s more like a sheep urine patch in terms of nitrogen than a typical grazing cow’s urine patch,” he commented.

However, fodder beet’s typically high yields/ha mean high stocking rates and consequent high number of urine patches/ha, eroding that environ-mental advantage.

“The urine’s covering

the paddock something like one and a half times and the higher the yield the higher those losses will be. What saves fodder beet from having a high environmental footprint, because of the high stock-ing rates on it, is that low nitrogen content.”

The net result mea-sured in lysimeters by Lincoln University in win-tering paddocks is typically 75-85kgN/ha lost under

kale and 55-60kgN/ha under fodder beet.

While some dairy farmers might not worry about losses under crop because they happen on someone else’s farm, Chapman says understanding how dairy farming systems impact nutrient losses across catchments is important.

Taking a holistic view also brings the apparently high production/ha of

high input systems into line with all grass because the area used to grow inputs such as grain off the milking platform dilutes the milk production/ha from it.

Edwards also talked about pasture composi-tion as a tool to boost pro-duction and, potentially, cut nutrient losses.

Diverse pasture mixes including chicory and plantain with standard


34 // ManageMenT

GENETIC GAINS in cow pro-ductivity are outstripping those in pastures such that stocking rates should be reducing year on year, all other things being equal, Edwards told the focus day.

Extra feed demand of cows capable of higher production,

as defined by BW, means at 3 cows/ha eating 4.5tDM/cow, an extra 95kg DM/ha/year is needed to feed them.

Meanwhile the rate of genet-ic gain in pasture production, assuming the farm is keeping up with pasture renewal, is about 0.5%, or 75kgDM/ha/

year on a 15tDM/ha baseline. “So there’s a bit of a shortage there,” noted Edwards.

If pasture supply is static, then the gap is even wider, such that two cows per herd of 350 should be shed every year if pasture supply is to meet pro-duction demand.

COW geneTiCs LeaVing PasTure behinD

‘Wriggle room’ with winter

Grant Edwards

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1 National dairy statistics, 2 Margerison et al, Massey 2011, 3 Peter Fraser, Economist, Ropare Consulting, based on a $7 payout

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ryegrass and white clover swards on the research farm have, to date, yielded more drymatter than straight ryegrass clover and are of higher quality, resulting in 5% higher milk production/cow. Meanwhile the urine nitrogen concentration of cows on diverse pasture was at least 40% lower (see table), with slightly higher volume, likely meaning a lower intensity of nitrogen deposition in each urine patch.

“The amount of nitro-gen falling in a urine patch is a key driver for

nitrate leaching. We see these pastures as a tool to reduce that.”

And while the data Edwards presented was from Lincoln, data from similar work in Waikato is producing very similar results, he said.

As yet, Overseer can’t model such pasture com-position differences but the data is being supplied to the programme’s keep-ers with a view to it being integrated in the future, he added.

Unfortunately the news isn’t so good for lucerne, at least from a nitrogen

loss point of view. The crop is quite justifiably called the “king of for-ages” for its production, typically outyielding rye-grass whether dryland or irrigated. Milk yield per cow off the crop is also 7% higher than off straight ryegrass, but urine nitro-gen concentration’s been found to be 24-74% higher, depending on season. “We’re getting a really high nitrogen urine patch…. Potentially that’s a risk.”

That appears to be factored into the cur-rent Overseer model as

a farmer present noted that grazing his cows on lucerne in the summer puts his system “through the roof ” on nitrogen loss.

Edwards said more work is planned to check the losses under lucerne as it may be that the plant’s ability to take water from great depth means it can also mop up nitrogen from

depth, nitrogen that is cur-rently assumed to be a

loss. “We do know it is one of the best plants to take

toxic substances out from deep in the soil.”


ManageMenT // 35

Pasture work: diverse pastures including plantain (inset) are proving more productive with lower nitrogen losses at the LUDF.

Diverse Standard

Drymatter / ha / year 16.8 15.2

MJ of ME /kgDM 11.8 11.7

kgMS / cow / day 1.61 1.53

Urine n conc g / L 3.4 5.8

Urine N excreted g / L 354 426

crop losses

Queen of Calves. Bigger calves, better cows, more milk……. believe the science.

Did you know…? Up to 75% of New Zealand’s cows entering the milking herd1 are under their target weights.

Calves reared on the Queen of Calves Nutrition Programme grow significantly faster and produce significantly more milk.

The Queen of Calves Nutrition Programme is a revolutionary concept in calf nutrition. By adding it to the calf milk, it changes the way milk behaves in the digestive system so the calf can extract more of the goodness from the milk, not just some of it. It’s a completely natural, powerful nutrition programme that gives calves higher growth rates, greater body stature and earlier weaning.2

In fact it’s the first & only New Zealand-designed calf nutrition programme to have its research peer-reviewed by the world’s most prestigious dairy publication, the US Journal of Dairy Science.

This independent review of Massey University’s research verifies that calves reared on a Queen of Calves Nutrition Programme grow significantly faster and produce significantly more milk compared to age and breed-matched animals not reared on the programme.

It means you’re putting your calves to work earlier, producing more milk and making more money from them. Another $19,000 for a 384 cow dairy farm in the first lactation3, it’s definitely worth treating your calves like royalty.

1 National dairy statistics, 2 Margerison et al, Massey 2011, 3 Peter Fraser, Economist, Ropare Consulting, based on a $7 payout

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36 // ManageMenT

The beTTer payout and lift in farmer con-fidence is likely also to mean a better season for contractors, says the newly elected president

of the Rural Contractors Association, Steve Levet.

“The dairy farmers are really the ones who pay the bills. With the payout almost double last year’s, there’s going to be a lot more money in circula-tion. The contractors will hopefully get the spin off

PaM [email protected]

Steve Levet, Wellsford, has been elected president of the Rural Contractors Association.

On-the-ball contractor expecting good times

from that,” he told Dairy News.

Last year the whole industry was hit by drought on top of a lower payout and is still in recov-ery.

Levet was elected president last month and is ready to lend his weight to initiatives the 470-member associa-tion has underway. These include lobbying govern-ment on seasonal work-ers and trying to attract the brightest young people to all areas of agriculture, including contracting.

About three quarters of his rural contracting work comes from dairy farms and that would be true for most contrac-tors, says Levet. He is an Albertlander – a descen-dant of the first settlers of the Wellsford area north of Auckland and last year he was chairman of the Albertlanders’ 150th anni-versary. He is also the cousin of Gordon Levet, the renowned Romney sheep breeder.

Levet farms 62ha and in the last three years has reared calves – 210 last year and 150-200 this year. He is doing straight Fre-sian bulls and has 85 in the shed at present. With two fulltime workers for the contracting business, the farming operation gives his staff work through winter. He does fertil-iser spreading with a 4WD truck and a trailer and trailer spreader and has a six-wheeler for general cartage, does seed drill-ing, hay baling and has a 12-tonne digger for earth-works such as dams, house sites and roads. He also does cultivation; he bales hay but doesn’t do silage.

He has been contract-ing in his own right since

1980 and a member of the contractors’ organisation since 1986. Members can get premiums on insur-ance and fuel, benefit from networking among mem-bers, get advice on legal and council issues, and the organisation lobbies gov-ernment on issues perti-nent to the industry. It can provide advice to mem-bers on health and safety and employment with prototype employment contracts available. The association has one paid part-time staff member chief executive, Roger Parton.

“Every year at confer-ence we always have an hour session on employ-ment,” says Levet. “It always provokes good interaction, because every-body through the course of the year has an employ-ment issue with some-body. The goalposts for employing people are con-stantly on the move.”

Typical of their activi-ties in support of members is helping a Bay of Plenty contractor in a battle with the council which wants to restrict his activi-ties. “We’ve been actively engaged in fighting West-ern Bays over consents for his yard,” he says. It’s the type of case which could set a precedent for other councils to follow.

The association also lobbied government over the agricultural transport regulations and helped win some “common sense” concessions. The association is also keep-ing a watch on govern-ment moves on health and safety and lobbying to make it easier to obtain return visas for seasonal experience contractors who work both in hemi-spheres.

LEVET IS also on a mission to encourage the young people into the industry

“We want to highlight to schools and educa-tors [the good prospects in] agriculture today. Long gone are the days when you put the halfwits in there. It’s no longer ‘you’re not performing, you go farming’.

“Agricultural contracting is the same. The machinery we’ve got is highly sophisticated and expensive and you’ve got to be computer literate to drive a tractor these days.”

Agricultural contracting can become a career pathway, with young people initially working for a contractor then starting their own business.

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COCCiDiOsis is a common disease that can affect calves if not treated ade-quately. Calves get coccidiosis from consuming the oocysts prevalent in the soil or bedding material.

These oocysts affect the gut lining in the calf and, consequently, affect absorption of nutrients. Calves that become susceptible to coccidiosis suffer from scouring, loss of appetite, poor bodyweight gains and possibly even death.

However, by the time the disease is diagnosed most of the damage has been done and weight gains have dete-riorated. Sub-clinical cases are hard to detect and, as a result, a major portion

of the economic losses from coccidio-sis occur without the farmer knowing there is a problem until it is too late. Even after treatment, the calf may never fully recover in 10 weeks. In addi-tion, treatment at this stage is often an expensive option.

In the case of this disease, ‘preven-tion is better than cure’. A group of anti-coccidials compounds called ion-ophores (example tradename Bovatec of which the active ingredient is lasalo-cid sodium) are effective in preventing the disease as they disrupt the func-tioning of the oocysts in the gut lining and prevent the disease from occur-ring.

It is common for ionphores to be added into proprietary calf feeds. In the case of Bovatec, the dosage

required to prevent coccidiosis is 1mg lasalocid /kg bodyweight. However, because the required dosage for pro-tection changes with increasing body-weight, it is evident that when Bovatec is added into calf feed only, protection from cocciodiosis is often not achieved until 4-5 weeks of age (see figure). In addition, because feed intake is varied between calves on any given day due to feed trough space, disease status or weather, it is expected that some calves would be getting adequate protection while some would be prone to coccid-iosis.

It is therefore, not uncommon for an ionophore to be added into whole milk or calf milk replacer to cover this deficit in the first 4-5 weeks and pro-vide adequate protection for coccid-

iosis. Calf Vigor is a liquid blend of Bovatec (lasalocid sodium) together with added vitamins, to be adminis-tered to calves to provide protection against coccidiosis. A dose rate of 25ml

per calf per day from 2 days of age will typically provide adequate protection against coccidiosis.• Alun Faulkner is country manager for Lallemand NZ


aniMaL heaLTh // 37

Keep cows on the right tracks

Prevention is better than cureaLun FauLKner

eXTra Care in building and main-taining races on dairy farms can mark-edly reduce lameness problems, says DairyNZ.

Animal husbandry and welfare team leader Nita Harding says cows prefer walking on level tracks – they don’t like slopes. Too much camber on tracks can lead to lameness.

“Farmers need to get advice from people who have built farm tracks, talk to neigh-bours and look at our information on the ‘healthy hoof programme’ for guid-ance on how tracks need to be built.

“They will need to put a bit of slope on the track for drainage other-wise you’ll get pooling of water and of course that’s not good for animals. But you need to be careful that the slope is quite small because cows don’t like to

walk on a sloping surface; they prefer to walk on the flat. If you’ve got too much slope you’ll concentrate the cow movements in the middle of the race.”

Harding, a veterinarian, says the sloping surface will put pressure on the hooves which leads to problems predisposing the animals

to lameness. “It puts pressure on the wrong places in the hoof. The cow’s hoof is designed to be used in a particu-lar way by the cow. If you put pressure at

odd angles then it will damage the hoof. You know what it’s like yourself if you walk on a sloping surface: it puts a strain on your legs and joints.”

According to Harding, the effects of

lameness are felt on a farm’s bottom line. Lame cows produce less and have poorer reproductive performance; large numbers of lame cows in a herd will affect the productivity of the herd.

And numbers of lame cows can cause frustration for staff and lead to lower morale. “Lame cows are slower and more difficult to move. There’s time spent finding and treating cows and it’s a welfare concern as well.”

The materials used on races can also affect lameness. Harding says if the surface is too rough it will damage and bruise the hoof of an animal, and small stones caught between the claws can be an issue.

“We see a number of infections in cows’ feet, and physical damage which causes pain that can lead to abscesses…. You know if you have sore feet it’s very uncomfortable;.it’s the same with cows.”

Cows walking long distances do not necessarily get lame, Harding says. But cows walking on poor tracks will.

Nita Harding

PeTer [email protected]

The materials used on races can also affect lameness.

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38 // aniMaL heaLTh

Queen of Calves Healthier calves

and bigger heifersa ManaWaTu pedi-gree Jersey stud using the Queen of Calves

milk additives to pro-duce healthier calves and more productive heif-ers is getting good results, says sharemilker Susanna Booth.

Susanna and her hus-band Michael sharemilk on her parent’s 210ha, 750 cow property, the Thorton Park Jersey and Ayrshire Stud, in Longburn, near

Palmerston North. Susanna’s parents,

Richard and Joy Gibson, first used the product with calves in 2008 at the sug-gestion of Susanna who wanted to modernize the farm’s calf rearing process and saw the product as a way to do that.

“Data had come out of studies which suggested it was a good product to use. As we have pedigree studs we are trying to breed good stock that are well grown and come in with good production so Queen of Calves seemed to be the right product to use.”

Booth says the results were bigger calves and larger first calvers. In fact, Booth’s father said the farm produced its biggest heifers ever in 2012.

Well-grown, top pro-ducing heifers are an important part of the stud business, says Booth, as a portion of the farm’s income is made selling stock at on-farm auctions.

Booth says custom-ers have noticed the dif-ference in heifers. “This year at the on-farm sale one of our customers said she would use Queen of Calves this year on the strength of what she saw.”

The herd produced 298,000kgMS in the 2011-2012 season, 28,000 more than production in 2008. Booth says the larger heifers added to that immensely.”If you get it right at the start it sets you up for the future. We get rewarded with the cows that are coming in as first calvers.”

The supplement uses a mix of carbohydrates and amino acids to improve the digestibility of milk.

The maker, Bell Booth, claims it is able to increase calves skeletal develop-ment by 23% in their first 12 weeks.

Studies by Auckland University and Massey

University found that calves fed the supplement grew 10-18% more than those without. The Massey University study was pub-lished in the highly rated dairy publication the US Journal of Dairy Science.

Booth says it was results like this which prompted her to suggest using the product.

Mixing is done via the Bell-Booth Super Bowl, a modified pumping system capable of stirring mixture for 700 calves in 15 min-utes.

Booth pours the powder into the milk and then lets the solution mix for 30 minutes before feeding it out. “Prepara-tion takes me no longer than previously.”

Clean-up is also easy, says Booth, “You need to clean it every now and again. I rinse it out once every three to four weeks, there’s minimal clean up.”

Booth initially gives calves 5L/day but says she needs to give stock supple-ments earlier than in other calf rearing regimes due to the faster developed rumen.

Though straw is used on the Thorton Park Jersey stud, Booth says anything that provides roughage would work just as well. You’ll find them nibbling away at it fairly quickly.”

The Queen of Calves supplement costs $80 a calf plus the cost of extra supplementary feed, but Booth says it more than pays for itself in grown out calves and well developed heifers.

“We find when we feed it to calves we don’t get them coming in sick. It gives them a bit of oomph, a good start so they can come back from grazing well grown out.”Tel. 0800 80 90 91 www.queenofcalves.com

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aniMaL heaLTh // 39

Managing mycotoxins in dairy cowsines rODrigues

MYCOTOXins are toxic secondary metabo-lites (chemicals) produced by moulds. As ruminants are thought to be more resistant to mycotoxins, dairy farmers have often overlooked the negative effects of these metabo-lites. Why is this a risky practice? Complex diets

Ruminant diets include pasture, concentrates and fibre sources (hay and silage). All these feed-stuffs increase the exposure of animals to mycotoxins. The interac-tion between mycotoxins often leads to synergistic effects, when the negative effect of one mycotoxin is amplified by the presence of another.High-yielding cows

With increasing milk yield, cows are given larger amounts of feed and pas-sage rate is higher. As such, less time is available for complete digestion and degradation of mycotoxins by rumen microorganisms. Questionable rumen degradation

Some mycotoxins are converted into metabo-lites that retain or increase their biological activi-ties, such as aflatoxins and zearalenone, respectively. Notably, drastic changes in feed composition and a high percentage of pro-tein-rich concentrates in the diet modify the cleav-age capacity of rumen

microorganisms exacer-bating the situation (1).Rumen dysfunction

Mycotoxins in the rumen also exhibit anti-microbial, anti-pro-tozoal and antifungal activity. If rumen micro-flora is unable to degrade the mycotoxins they will escape the rumen intact and reach the site of intestinal absorp-tion, thus harming the animal (1). Mycotox-ins are also known to decrease ruminal motility and dry matter, acid deter-

gent fibre and starch diges-tion (2). Infertility

Zearale-none (ZEN) is an estro-genic metabo-lite reported to occur world-

wide in silage (Figure 1), hay, corn and other grains such as soybeans, wheat, barley, oats and sorghum. Chemically, ZEN shows a similar configuration to that of oestradiol, the female hormone, thus impairing animal fertility.

At least 90% of ingested ZEN is converted into a-zearalenol (about 10 times more estro-genic) in the rumen (5). Vulvar mucous discharge, repeated AI, increased culling due to infertility and difficult heat detec-tion are some of the prob-lems which may be related with ZEN intake by cows (3). Milk production

Deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin) (also shown in Figure 1) has been asso-ciated with reduced feed

intake and weight gain and decreased performance (4).Human health

The most worrying aspect of mycotoxins in dairy is their impact on human health. Carcino-genic aflatoxins are carried over into milk as aflatoxin M1 (AfM1). Carry-over rates range from 1.8% to 6.2%, depending on con-tamination of feed and milk yield (5). Metabolic problems

Figure 2 summarises the effects of mycotox-ins in dairy cattle. Sub-clinical mycotoxicoses are common and lead to a decrease in profitabil-ity by lowering milk pro-duction and quality and an increase in expenses due to additional veterinary

intervention.Mycotoxin Risk Management

Biomin has devoted 30 years of research on mycotoxin deactivation. The best way to manage mycotoxins is with a triple assault strategy – 1) adsorption, 2) biological degradation and 3) pro-tection of the liver and immune system.

Mycofix Plus 3.E, reg-istered in New Zealand, helps in the management of aflatoxins and of the adverse effects caused by mycotoxins.• Inês Rodrigues is techni-cal manager, Biomin Sin-gapore Pte Ltd. Email:[email protected] are avail-able from the author upon request.

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Figure 1 - Results for silage samples tested in 2012 sourced worldwide (BIOMIN mycotoxin survey)

Figure 2 – Effects of mycotoxins in dairy cattleInes Rodrigues

Ruminant diets increase the exposure of cows to mycotoxins.


40 // aniMaL heaLTh

■■ Bovine■tuberculosis■(Mycobac-terium■bovis)■is■an■infectious■disease■that■can■affect■a■wide■range■of■animals.■In■New■Zealand,■cattle■and■deer■are■the■species■most■at■risk■of■contracting■the■disease.■

■■ Possums■and■ferrets■are■the■main■vectors■(carriers)■of■bovine■TB■in■New■Zealand.■Over■70%■of■new■herd■infections■in■TB-risk■areas■can■be■traced■back■to■infected■possums■or■ferrets.■

■■ Bovine■TB■is■a■disease■that■affects■all■New■Zealanders.■Erad-icating■TB■is■vital■to■maintaining■

the■production■and■reputation■of■dairy,■beef■and■deer■exports,■worth■around■$14■billion■a■year■to■this■country.■

■■ TBfree■New■Zealand■–■is■a■nationwide■programme■of■TB■testing■and■vector■or■pest■control■that■aims■to■eliminate■the■disease■entirely.■To■do■this,■we■work■under■a■mandate■of■eradicating■M.■bovis■from■wild■vector■species■across■at■least■2.5■million■hectares■–■or■one■quarter■–■of■New■Zealand’s■at-risk■areas,■by■2026.■

■■ To■control■and■contain■the■spread■

of■the■disease■within■cattle■and■deer■herds,■TBfree■manages■a■nationwide■testing■programme.■Around■four■million■TB■tests■are■carried■out■on■cattle■and■deer■every■year.■Animals■suspected■of■having■TB■are■slaughtered.■

■■ To■control■the■spread■of■the■disease■between■infected■herds■and■herds■in■high■TB■risk■areas,■all■herds■must■be■registered,■and■stock■must■be■tagged■correctly.■

■■ To■stop■possums■and■ferrets,■responsible■for■carrying■TB■and■spreading■the■disease■to■cattle■

and■deer,■it■surveys■and■controls■wild■animals■across■large■areas■of■private■and■public■land.■When■funding■for■possum■control■was■cut■in■the■late■1970s■the■number■of■infected■herds■tripled■from■around■550■to■over■1700.■That■number■started■to■drop■again■when■full-scale■possum■control■was■reinstated■in■the■early■1990s.■

■■ This■combination■of■wildlife■control,■livestock■movement■restrictions■and■effective■disease■management■has■led■to■a■drop■in■infected■herd■numbers■from■1700■in■the■mid-1990s■to■fewer■than■

100■in■2013.■■■ We■still■have■a■long■way■to■go.■

Infected■possums■are■known■to■live■in■around■40%■of■New■Zealand.■The■programme■invests■around■$2.5■million■a■year■in■research■with■the■goal■of■contin-ually■improving■how■the■disease■is■diagnosed■in■cattle■and■deer■and■the■methods■used■to■control■TB-carrying■pests■like■possums.■

■■ The■key■to■beating■TB■is■you.■By■following■a■few■simple■rules■and■regulations,■you■can■help■to■keep■yourself■and■your■neighbours■safe-■TBfree■NZ.

10 things to know about TB

Taranaki TB hiccup timely reminder not to drop guard

TWO CLusTers of TB infections on dairy farms in Taranaki this year are a reminder to farmers everywhere not to drop their guard on the disease, say industry representatives.

“One of the big challenges is keeping people engaged,” says TBfree Taranaki committee chairman Donald McIntyre.

Incidence of the disease on-farm in most areas has plummeted thanks to concerted control efforts but it will take decades before the risk is eliminated and complacency is already creeping in, he told Dairy News.

“We’ve faced that in Taranaki for a long time… When you haven’t got it as an everyday issue you tend not to plan to counteract it.”

Despite this year’s outbreaks Taranaki is still classified as TB-free and testing of wildlife in the areas of the two outbreaks, around Inglewood and Opu-nake, has so far found that still to be the case, says TBfree New Zealand national

disease manager Kevin Crews.“This survey work will continue until

we are confident there is no wild animal TB risk present,” says Crews.

Last week TBfree announced the first round of full herd tests on the six affected farms had also found no further reactors. McIntyre says that’s the “first step” towards ridding the herds of TB, but two successive all-clear whole-herd skin tests and a blood test are required before herds are declared free of infec-tion.

“The nature of the disease means it can conceal itself for some time before it manifests itself in a herd,” he notes.

McIntyre says he understands the numbers culled as a result of positive tests in the Taranaki clusters have been “quite substantial” and carcase inspec-tions found “significant numbers” with lesions.

TBfree New Zealand told Dairy News it would not reveal numbers culled, nor if any were found to be false positives (ie cattle which reacted to the skin test but following slaughter could not be con-firmed as having the disease by either

lesions or culturing of samples).Neither would it say how much com-

pensation has been paid as a result of the culls, other than saying as far as it knows all owners have been compen-sated in accordance with the standard 65% of the animal’s value – as deter-mined by an independent valuer – by TBfree New Zealand. Dairy NZ is understood to top that up to 100% of the animal’s value.

Initial cases from both clusters were discovered because of lesions found in cull animals. Subsequent infections were found following trace forward analysis of movements to other herds.

“We believe the Opunake cluster could be linked to an earlier cluster from 2008, since declared clear, but investigation and analysis are contin-uing,” a TBfree spokesman told Dairy News.

“It is important to state that there is no suggestion any of the affected her-downers did anything other than fully comply with their obligations under the TB control programme,” he added.

McIntyre told Dairy News four farms

are affected in the Inglewood area, and two near Opunake. Three of the Ingle-wood farms have family ties with move-ment of stock between the farms.

The clear tests have been a relief for the affected farms, he adds. “Having an infected herd is extremely stressful…. The co-operation and support of the Taranaki farming community in helping the TB control programme stay on top

of the herd infections has been greatly appreciated.”

All affected herds are subject to movement restrictions until they record two clear tests, six months apart. Farms within a 10km radius of the infected farms are now on an annual testing regime “as a precautionary measure” to pick up any potential residual infec-tion as quickly as possible, says TBfree.

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42 // CaLVing

Mild winter so far will help farmers

FarMers in the lower North Island have been enjoying a mild winter as they head into calving.

DairyNZ’s team leader for the region, Kevin Argyle, told Dairy News that so far it’s been a fantastic period with the late autumn follow-ing the drought when the rains came and the early winter has also been great.

“Pasture growth rates have been fantas-tic, the soil temperature remained high for a long time and we only got half the normal rainfall in June so average pasture covers are above what they normally would be.”

Argyle says cow condition is generally good because many farmers dried off ear-lier than normal. Things are good as farm-ers prepare for calving which seriously

gets underway this week.“Obviously there’s been quite a lot

of rain last week in parts of the North Island especially in the Tararua district and Wairarapa where some areas have had over a 100mm. But because it has been so dry to date, the system will gen-

erally cope with that after a couple of days. The region is really in a good state for the start of calving.”

Argyle says there hasn’t been the usual heavy frosts. “We are still seeing growth rates around central Manawatu of 25 and 35, well above what we’d normally see – about 10 to 15 – and this makes a huge dif-ference. Obviously the

old adage ‘grass growing grass’ and the fact that covers are higher means the big challenge is now managing the higher pasture covers and trying to get the utili-sation right as it turns a bit wet.”

PeTer burKe

Minerals build up nutrient reserves before calvingWanT TOP qual-ity colostrums for your calves? The answer lies in minerals and vitamins fed to dry cows, says Ballance animal nutrition manager Jackie Aveling.

Mineral supplements for dry cows are known to build up nutrient reserves ahead of calving, but stud-ies also suggest a direct link between supplements and the quality of colos-trum which is essential to set up calves for their best start in life, she says.

The studies, by Penn State University and funded by the Animal Health Commission of the Pennsylvania Depart-ment of Agriculture in the United States, showed a marked differ-ence in colostrum quality when fat, protein, lactose and total solids were mea-sured.

The lowest samples were so poor that calves receiving those colostrum samples as a first feeding could not have obtained enough nutrients to get them off to a good start. Among the best were sam-ples from cows fed dry cow minerals. “Miner-als and vitamins fed to dry cows directly impact colostrum,” says Aveling.

“In addition to ensur-ing cows are replacing their trace element and vitamin reserves ahead of

calving, the use of a molas-ses block like Crystalyx Dry cow can influence colostrum quality.”

Calves need 3-4L of colostrum (about 10% of their birthweight) within the first 10 hours to pro-vide the newborn calf with sufficient antibodies to protect the calf from blood poisoning/ navel infection or scours. New Zealand studies have shown only 50% of calves will natu-rally get this amount of colostral protection under New Zealand conditions.

In calves the princi-pal role of colostrum is to provide immunity against infection and disease, such as scours. Aveling says the Penn State study also showed a wide variation in the immunoglobulin con-tent of colostrum sam-

pled. Again, the cow’s diet ahead of calving can con-tribute.

Attention to nutrition ahead of calving will pay dividends in the health of the cow and her calf. At Parma University in Italy a study confirmed that feeding Crystalyx Dry Cow pre-calving increased colostrum protein, fat and total solids content and significantly increased colostrum yield and more than doubled the yield of colostral immunoglobu-lins.

“For dry cows, supple-ments build up reserves promoting a strengthened immune response to help withstand challenges post calving. By aiding rumen performance and diges-tive efficiency, Crystalyx Dry Cow helps ensure a

good appetite post calv-ing, which in turn pro-motes better lactation, and enables the animal to replenish its body reserves in preparation for mating. In particular, feeding sup-plements helps to main-tain optimum blood magnesium levels, so reducing the risk of milk fever.

“For calves, the bene-fits are a better start in life, especially for calves being raised as replacement heif-ers.”

Ballance says local farmers continue to see the benefits of Crysta-lyx as part of their winter management. Northern Taranaki farmer Kevin Ingram says the product is “another tool in fine-tuning outcomes for the season.”

Mineral supplements for dry cows help build up nutrient reserves.

Kevin Argyle

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CaLVing // 43

Best practice in calf rearingDairYnZ urges farmers to follow best practice in calf rearing.

All calves, including bobbies must receive ade-quate fresh colostrum within the first 24 hours of life and should be fed colostrum, or a colostrum substitute, for at least the first four days of life, it says.

Calves must be han-dled gently and with care. Do not allow anyone to throw, hit or drag a calf at any time. Electric prod-ders must not be used on calves.

Calves not with their dams must be given shel-ter so they can stay warm and dry.

Calf pens must be fit for purpose and well maintained. Bedding areas must be comfort-able, clean and dry, with adequate ventilation to ensure ammonia gas does not build up. Exposed con-crete, bare earth and mud are not acceptable.

Calves should be fed at the same times each day to minimise stress. Always ensure calves have access to large quantities of clean

water. Feed calves well to rapidly achieve weaning weight with a well devel-oped rumen.

A good supply of colos-trum is also vital. The calf should drink at least 2-3L of fresh colostrum during the first six hours of life to get supply of immu-noglobulins, which act as antibodies. To achieve

this, collect calves twice a day and give them first-day colostrum regardless of whether they have had a feed

First-day colostrum is valuable (even if it con-tains blood or clotty mas-titis milk). It should be fed fresh. To store colos-trum (other than first-day colostrum) store in multi-

ple drums (to reduce risk of loss) in a cool place and stir it twice a day. A colostrum keeper can be added to maintain the ste-rility of the prod-uct. Colostrum can be frozen for up to six months but thaw in hot water, do not microwave.

focus on hygiene ■ Ensure good routine hygiene and health

practices:

■ Scrub all feeding equipment well with hot water and detergent

■ Frequently clean and disinfect pens where sick calves are treated

■ Spray pens weekly with a broad spectrum disinfectant

■ Remove sick calves promptly to a sick bay

Fighting milk fever

DOWner COWs and conditions prompted by milk fever can be virtually eliminated by using an oral calcium supplement Calol, according to Ethical Agents managing director Greg Rob-erts.

About 5-10% of the national dairy herd suffers from milk fever every season and the high risk of permanent paralysis posed by milk fever makes it a real problem on dairy farms at calving time, says Roberts.

The use of intravenous administered calcium boroglu-conate may not be enough if the condition is not caught soon enough, with relapse chances also high, Roberts says. “Cows can suffer a relapse within 24 hours.” But cows dosed with Calol face only a 5% likelihood they will suffer a milk fever relapse.

The light yellow, creamy, water-in-oil emulsion con-tains 49.6g calcium as calcium chloride and 4.29g magne-sium as magnesium chloride.

The calcium chloride compound used in the solution mobilises the free and bound calcium from bones and the bloodstream.

Roberts says a soya oil emulsion surrounding the dis-solved calcium chloride solution coats the rumen walls to give the solution a longer efficiency. “It’s deliberately thick; if it was able to dissolve easily then it would stop acting quickly but it is able to remain effective in the cow’s rumen for 10-14 hours.”

Roberts says Calol makers compensate for thickness by putting more than the 400ml recommended dosage into the bottle.

Even then the thixotropic solution can be made thin-ner by shaking or warming.

“Putting it in warm water before using it is a good way of making sure you get the full benefit out of each admin-istration.”

The mixture is made palatable to cows by using coco-nut and vanilla flavouring, making administration easier. The results are that cows regain calcium levels quickly and are able to go into the milking herd much faster with less chance of mastitis, infertility, retained afterbirth or other conditions that can be set off by milk fever, says Roberts.

“More farmers want to treat the problem rather than treating the symptoms so we are seeing a wider use of this solution.”Tel. 0800 800 624www.ethicalagents.co.nz

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44 // CaLVing

Careful matching great way to save $1000eXTra VigiLanCe is needed in recording the parentage of calves, says a DairyNZ subsid-iary, NZ Animal Evaluation Ltd (NZAEL).

NZAEL manager Dr Jeremy Bryant says ensuring heifer replacements are correctly matched to their mothers will help to boost profit through genetic improvements.

“In the demanding, time-stretched environment of spring calving, it could be easy to dis-miss the importance of correctly matching calves to their mums,” says Bryant.

A 2011 Abacus Bio Ltd study of 97 farms, funded by DairyNZ, Sus-tainable Farming Fund and Primary Growth Partnership, showed that on average 23% of calves had incor-rect sires matched.

It pays to take extra care, says Bryant. “In a 1000 cow herd, with 50% parentage errors, the average cost of lost production potential in

replacement heifers is about $1000 a year and compounds over time.

“Greater risk of inbreeding or unintended mating of cows and sires that carry noted genes with health implications also arises.”

In a recent edition of Ashburton Trading Society’s (ATS) bi-monthly magazine, a number of farmers told how they matched calves to their mother.

Clandeboye Jersey breeder and owner of Lynbrook Jerseys, Steve Ireland, says there is no rocket sci-ence behind keeping good records on mother-daughter matching through calving time.

The former NZAEL direc-

tor has recorded 100% accuracy on the calving matches in his 550 head herd. “I tend to pretty much take responsibility for checking and recording over calving myself; I think you really need one person

overseeing it.”He admits to still being a com-

mitted user of the yellow note-book system, recording every birth and mother’s ID, and updat-ing his Minda records every couple of days.

Ireland will check his calv-ing mob up to six times a day, and inserts a brass tag in replace-ment heifer calves in the paddock. One set of tags is kept solely on

one ‘calving bike’ in a convenient bumbag, along with the notebook to ensure consistency.

At the end of the day, if it appears the weather may close in, cows looking like they will calve are separated out into another break to reduce the risk of mis-mothering.

Meanwhile, Rakaia farmers Hayden and Jessie Dorman also have some well-tried and simple methods for ensuring accurate calving data. They are focused on breeding cows capable of coping and producing in a high input farming system. Their ethos is ‘every cow counts’.

To minimise mis-matching over calving, only their most experi-enced staff member pairs off calves and mothers for tagging, and the calving mob is checked frequently and data updated every day. “We also spend time getting our staff to understand why correct identi-fication is important.”www.nzael.co.nz

“In the demanding, time-stretched environment of spring calving, it could be easy to dismiss the importance of correctly matching calves to their mums.”

Farmers have been told to be extra vigilant in recording the parentage of calves.

Can you tick all the boxes with your calves & herd health?

For more information visitwww.palamountains.infoor phone John Palamountain to arrange your on-farm nutrition consultant(06) 349 1005 or 0274 448 003

If not palaMOUNTAINS Bovine nutrition can help tick the boxes that will assist your on-farm profit.

Better health during the cows transition period?

Better in-calf rate due to less empty cows?

Increased body condition during heavy lactation?

Less lameness?

Assist milk production and $$$ returns?

Improved calf health?

Calf souring?

Heavier body weights at weaning?

Better performing heifers entering the herd?

Yes or No? Yes or No?

Above: Tail paint is one true, albeit somewhat low tech, method that has a long history in New Zealand.Right: Heat time collars work by monitoring activity and quantifying each cow’s movement.


CaLVing // 45

Tried-and-true method a huge help at matingsPare a thought for the best method of heat detec-tion, advises GEA Farm Technologies, now that mating is just around the corner.

Tail paint is the tried-and-true, albeit somewhat low-tech, method with a long history in New Zea-land.

GEA Farm Technol-ogies’ dairy hygiene and animal health supplies company FIL makes and supplies tail paint to most of the country’s dairy farmers.

Tail paint is a reli-able, cost effective form of heat detection, used by 80 – 85% of dairy farm-ers, says FIL business and

new product development manager Trevor Gulliver. “Tail paint has come a long way, but it is still a clas-sic example of good old number eight-wire Kiwi ingenuity.”

The idea arose in the mid-1970s: house paint applied to the top of cows’ tails to detect rubbing. At first any sort of house paint was used, though not fit for the purpose, Gulliver says.

In the late 1980s FIL launched an oil-based paint (1L cans) specifically designed for heat detec-tion, because it lasted on the animal for at least 21 days.

“Farmers found the

tin and brush applica-tion fiddly and time con-suming, and Te Puke dairy farmer Doug Pamment challenged FIL to come up with something that would make the job easier. The answer was rela-tively simple: a brush on a bottle,” says Gulliver.

This innovation launched the Tail Mark applicator bottle with a specially designed brush attached at the head.

“We launched Tail Mark at the National Fiel-days in 1995… and had never seen such high demand for a new prod-uct.”

In 1999 came another colour and name change

to Tell Tail, a fluorescent paint intense in colour, which enabled the farmer to identify cycling cows more easily, even in poor light.

Now in 2013 Tell Tail remains largely the same, though Gulliver says there is a gradual shift towards water-based paints which,

higher-TeCh MeThOD PaYs OFF

AT PUTARURU, the Schere family stopped using tail paint about a year ago and started using Milfos Heatime collars. Third generation farmers, the Schere’s have four farms milk-ing about 1500 cows.

Jack Schere says they made the change because being a high input farming system they were struggling with getting cows in calf and wanted to use better technology to detect heat. He says Heatime also detects changes in rumination, a critical sign of a cow’s wellbe-ing before and after calving and mating.

Heatime collars are accurate

and labour-saving, Schere says. “We have a small labour force and we’ve saved time by not having to apply tail paint; we only have to put collars on heif-ers once each season. We also get pre-mating data from the time cows are calved, which is a lot more accurate and we save time not putting cows up for in-semination that don’t need it.”

After only one year, Schere says the effects on production have been outstanding. “We’ve increased our in-calf rate and get them in calf sooner, so more days in milk. Our empty rate went down from 16% to 9% last season. We don’t need

a bull anymore because all the cows are AI, which also gives us higher value stock.

“Yes, it costs, but you appreciate it once you start experiencing the benefits; it es-sentially starts to pay for itself,” says Schere.

GEA managing director Jamie Mikkelson says it is criti-cal to get heat detection right and think carefully about what method you’ll use this season.

“Sticking with tail paint might be the best solution for you or perhaps this is the season to look toward a higher tech option, such as collars, to boost your in-calf rates.”

applied to a cow and given five minutes to dry, will handle up to 25mm of rain without washing off.

“We’ve always worked on the philosophy that if we get it right for cows then we get it right for farmers. FIL is the only New Zealand company currently manufacturing water-based tail paints. The 2L bottles fit neatly into a back pack which has its own draw tube and spe-cially designed brush head for ease of application; this system is perfect for those farmers operating rotary sheds.”

To find out more go to www.nait.co.nz or call NAIT on 0800 624 843

Newborn calves at your place?

Tag your animals

All newborn cattle must be tagged with a NAIT approved RFID ear tag before they are six months old, or before they move off farm – whichever is soonest. Bobby calves going direct to slaughter are exempt.

Register your animals

Once tagged, you must register all your calves in the NAIT system within one week, or before they move off farm – whichever is soonest. Registration links individual animals to tags in the NAIT system so they can be traced.


46 // CaLVing

Proper nutrition for calves from day one can lead to better milk yield, according to a US study.

US study underscores nutrition needsa us study of early-life nutrition of calves and its implications on milk pro-duction is reinforcing the need for correct nutrition from day one.

In his thesis for his PhD, Fernando Soberon,

Cornell University, New York, investigated the relationship between nutrient intake from milk replacer and pre- and post-weaning growth rate with lactation perfor-mance.

The evaluation of at least 1800 first lactations resulted in a strong rela-tionship between average daily gain (ADG) pre-weaning and milk produc-tion: for every additional kg of ADG pre-weaning

first lactation milk pro-duction is increased by 850kg.

“The relationship is equally strong when assessed by energy intake above main-tenance from milk replacer during the pre-weaning period,” he says.

According to Soberon, the preweaning man-agement of dairy calves over the last 30 years has focused on mortality, early weaning, and rumen development. Recent studies suggest that nutri-ent intake from milk or milk replacer during the preweaning period alters the phenotypic expression for milk yield, he says.

He investigated the relationship between nutrient intake from milk replacer and pre- and post-weaning growth rate with lactation per-formance in the Cornell dairy herd and on a com-mercial dairy farm.

The analysis used traditional 305-d first-lactation milk yield and residual lactation yield estimates from a test-day model (TDM) to analyse the lactation records over multiple lactations. The overall objective of the calf nutrition programme in both herds was to double the birth weight of calves by weaning through increased milk replacer and starter intake.

In the Cornell herd, preweaning ADG ranged from 0.10 to 1.58kg, and was significantly corre-lated with first-lactation yield: for every 1kg of pre-weaning ADG, heifers, on average, produced 850kg more milk during their first lactation and 235kg more milk for every Mcal of metabolisable energy intake above mainte-nance.

In the commercial herd, for every 1kg of preweaning ADG, milk yield increased by 1113 kg in the first lactation and further, every 1kg of prepubertal ADG was associated with a 3281 kg increase in first-lactation milk yield. Among the two herds, preweaning ADG

accounted for 22% of the variation in first-lactation milk yield as analysed with the TDM.

Soberon says the results indicate that increased growth rate before weaning results in some form of epigenetic programming that is yet to be understood, but has positive effects on lacta-tion milk yield. “This anal-ysis identifies nutrition and management of the preweaned calf as major environmental factors influencing the expression of the genetic capacity of the animal for milk yield.”

Animal health com-pany Palamountains says the study results rein-force the need for proper nutrition for calves from day one.

Managing director John Palamountain says its product CalfBoost is tailor-made to ensure nutrients essential for early life stages of calves are absorbed by the diges-tive systems.

Palamountains Calf Boost is scientifically formulated supplement encourages healthily growth with term benefits which will be more evident at weaning time and leading into the heifers first years production, he says.

“Omega 3,6,& 9 fatty acids together with both oil & water soluble vitamins provide the means for the physiological system to build muscle, control inflammation and help joint and connective tissue heal and recover from stress. Essential fatty acids with vitamins and minerals help with body growth and hormone development. Healthier stock will give you better long term returns and much better stock health.”

John Palamountain


MaChinerY & PrODuCTs // 47

a ThrOW away remark – “there has to be a better way” – by Toni Johnson while helping her father place tyres on a silage stack cover, led to one of the best innovations at National Fieldays.

Aqua Anchors are either 14m or 16m long and 75mm or 65mm sections of lie-flat hoses hermetically sealed at both ends and filled with water.

They lie over and around the edges of silage stacks to hold the cover in place and keep the crop from the elements. They replace traditional tyres. A patent is pending.

“I am only 48kg soak-ing wet so lugging tyres and getting splashed by all

the vile accumulated water and debris, like every-one else who has covered stacks, got me thinking,” said Toni.

Working with her Dad, Alan, who has a mobile car-pentry business and his friend Dave Saunderson, another builder, they came up with Aqua Anchors.

They are laid across the stack empty then filled with water. “We believe 14m or 16m lengths will cover most stacks and if the stacks are smaller the hoses can be doubled around. And they are UV treated,” said Dave.

Using a flexible hose (12mm garden) with a Hansen 25mm trough fitting, the water goes through a socket with a non-return valve into the Aqua Anchor. With a

manifold several anchors can be filled simultane-ously depending on water supply. Normal supply should fill each Aqua Anchor in five minutes or less. The fitting pops from the socket when the Aqua Anchor is filled.

“We recommend that after filling a little water is removed to allow for expansion in the heat of the day,” said Alan.

If the Aqua Anchors are accidently run over by a tractor or vehicle the socket will pop out and is easily replaced.

After the entire crop has been fed out the Aqua Anchors are drained by

TOnY hOPKinsOn

Better way to keep silage stack covers down

holding the non-return valve open with a stick or small bolt. They can then be rolled and stored.

One Aqua Anchor roll 75mm x 16m weighs 9kg empty and 88kg full (or, full, the same as 10 tyres and empty, one tyre).

Price: 14m rolls of 75mm and 65mm, $29.95+GST and freight; 16m rolls of 75mm and 65mm, $34.95+GST and freight.Tel. 0800 NO TYRES www.lagoonltd.com

TYRES ON silage stacks are an eyesore for the rest of the year. They collect rain, harbour mos-quitoes and leach chemicals into the soils and waterways. They

can also be breeding grounds for rats and possums. Tyre collection companies will collect unwanted tyres, which may not be burned or sent to landfill.

nO PesTs, CheMiCaLs

“I am only 48kg soaking wet so lugging tyres and getting splashed by all the vile accumulated water and debris, got me thinking.”

Toni Johnson fills water into Aqua Anchors.

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48 // MaChinerY & PrODuCTs

Calf feeding made easya reTrO-FiT device called Milk Bar Pump n Go allows owners of Milk Bar Mobile calf feeders to more easily handle and pump milk at their calf sheds.

Milk Bar founder and designer Ross McInnes says economy and ease of use were high on his list of design criteria. Also important was not having

farmers doubling up on equipment used only four months in each year, good access to the battery charger (the pump is, of course, battery powered) and easy cleaning.

Simply pull the trig-ger on the nozzle and get to work

filling fence-hung feed-ers. A flow meter ensures no guesswork.

The Milk Bar Pump n Go retro-fits any existing Milk Bar mobile tank and is fitted with the pump, flow meter, trigger and battery.

The pump shifts 45L/min. Particular care was taken to use a pump that did not pump too fast and damage milk by separating out the fat particles.

(Fat is a vital energy source for calves and they will not thrive if they

cannot digest the milk fat.)

The pump sits above the tank and out of the milk and is cleaned by run-ning water with an alkali detergent through the pump.

The flow meter has a large sight panel and is sturdy to withstand the rigours of calf rearing.

Price $1299.99 incl. GST Tel. 0800 104 119

New technology, greater valueThe neWesT entrant to the animal health industry is introducing new technology it says offers greater value for farmers.

Glenmark Veterinary Ltd technical director Dr John Munro says some products entering the market do noth-ing more for New Zealand farmers than the old ones. “We are determined to introduce new technologies that offer real value to our farmers.”

The company’s first offering, Rumenox, a bloat con-trol and ketosis treatment, embodies extensive work on the concept of using volumetrically measured dry-flow-able granules. A new patented process has been used to marry this technology to compounds for use in the animal health industry.

Rumenox is a concentrated product in a dry flowable granular formulation, described easy to use and meeting strict technical criteria.

As Rumenox is used in water dispensing and drench-ing systems, it is critical the active ingredient stays sus-pended in drinking water for extended periods of time. Positional stability trials show levels in drinking troughs after dispensing through water reticulation were accurate for the 62 days (two months) of the study, GVL says. This is longer than any published data for any other water insol-uble product.

As a best practice, an agitation system should be part of all dispensing systems, hence an air agitation system is also being offered to farmers by GVL.

Rumenox is registered for the control of bloat and for the reduction of ketosis. GVL says the product’s use as a bloat remedy is gaining high acceptance as it stops bloat before it starts, by reducing the amount of gas formed. A significant reduction in ketosis occurs for the same rea-sons, because with the use of Rumenox the energy pro-ducing bugs find the rumen environment more favourable than the gas producing bugs.

Rumenox was launched recently at meetings of veter-inarians and producers. New Zealand Sportsman of the Year Mahe Drysdale was guest speaker.

Rumenox, a vet-only product, comes in 12kg contain-ers containing 12,000 doses.

The GVL team at the Hamilton Rumenox launch: Arran Wall, Aaron Gill, Derek Moore and John Munro.

“We are determined to introduce new technologies that offer real value to our farmers.”

Milk Bar Pump n Go

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Call or email today to discuss0800 487 [email protected]

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MaChinerY & PrODuCTs // 49

Fencing gear driven to a new level

a POsT wedge, triangu-lar steel post reel holder and multi-wire tread-in steel post launched at National Fieldays embody feedback from customers, farmers and contractors, says the maker, Robertson Engineering. The products are branded Strainrite.

General manager Brian Collins says the new post wedge, attached to the bottom of posts before driving, pre-vents them lifting and twisting – “a simple idea that’s ideal when posts are driven into dips or

low points on a fence line, where they are subject to lift and [would otherwise] need special footings.”

The wedges (galvan-ised) are nailed to the lower section of the post and, once driven, their

shape diverts soil, stones or other obstruc-tions. The number needed for each post is decided by the fencer, depending on the strain the post will come

under. Price $4.00 incl. GST.

The post reel holder can be set at any height on a standard with a locking pin, to attach a reel. “With more clips several reels can be attached,” says Col-

lins. “There is a ring on the back for attaching other fences.”

Strainrite’s multi-wire tread-in steel post suits multi-wire electric fences. It can be shifted while the fence is electrified, helped by a well-placed insulated section with a hand grip.

It carries tape and elec-tric wires. The angled clip at the top carries 40mm

tape and the four clips are angled so that tapes do not drop out when the fence is being shifted.

The shaft is made of galvanised spring steel and the foot is pressed form steel shaped for good ground retention.

Price $36.00 for 10 incl. GST.Tel. 04 524 9032www.strainrite.co.nz

TOnY hOPKinsOn

Brian Collins

Robertson Engineering owner Maurice Wooster with the multi-wire tread-in steel post.New post wedge from Strainrite.

Post reel holder

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50 // MaChinerY & PrODuCTs

Gumboot firm on slick, wet surfacesa neW gumboot from Skell-erup has lots of grip on smooth,

wet surfaces.And notably it has a trade-

marked Skwee-G sole resistant to chemicals and oil.

The Aqua-Terra solves an old problem: how to keep both feet

firmly and comfort-ably placed on slip-pery concrete, day

in, day out, says Skellerup national man-ager Perry Davis.

“Anyone who has ever spent any length of time in the dairy shed knows how slippery it can get, and how important it is to have the right sole for these conditions.”

The Aqua-Terra has a super-flexible rubber upper designed for comfort and unrestricted movement.

Inside, it has a ComfortForm steel toe cap; a fast drying, anti microbial and anti

fungal polyester lining and an extra layer of foam over the foot for increased warmth and comfort.

Like all Skellerup boots, it is assembled by hand and shaped specifically for typi-cally wide NZ feet.

“This is a no-nonsense boot built to reduce the aches and pains of standing on concrete every day while making sure the person wearing it stays standing,” Davis says. www.skellerup.co.nz

saVings FreighT Charges, heLPing LOCaLs

MOLASSES CONTAINERS only 66% full but at their allowable weight lim-it were wasting money for Winton Stock Feed.

So the company’s XL Multi-Feed trailers – cheaper to make in the Philippines – help amortise the cost of shipping molasses by riding on top of the containers.

When construction started it was taking six local welders 10 days to make one trailer. So Lindsay involved a Philippine government agency, developing vocational skills among blue-collar workers from whom he recruited his six welders.

He questioned them about their eyesight because of how he saw them working, initiating and paying for eye testing and spectacles when needed.

After six weeks training the skills investment paid off when the now six certified welders were able to build a trailer in three days. And they have enhanced their employment skills and opportunities because of Lindsay’s initiatives.

“Our trailers are now built to a high standard which is satisfying for me and my company as well as the workers that built them.”

Feed trailers raise efficiency, cut wastePKe FeeDing out effi-ciency is raised and wast-age reduced with a newly available range of feed

trailers imported from the Philippines by Winton Stock Feed, Southland. The company makes them there in its own factory.

The XL Multi-Feed trailers are for carrying bigger loads. They have a galvanised frame and bin, are wide and scalloped, allowing cows easy access.

Says company principal Nelson Lindsay, “I could see a need to get away from using ATVs to haul

PKE trailers, and to use tractors to do the loading. Trailers [can be] too small, farmers filling them to the brim and stock wasting material by tipping it over the side.”

The trailers are 6.9m, and the bins 5m long, 1.58m wide and holding 2 tonnes of PKE or three large bales. They have a quick hitch to attach to the tractor.

“With the extra width

it is easier to load material or bales and it gives cows greater access.”

The trailers have bigger tyres than are commonly found.

They can also be used as mobile troughs for feed-ing molasses.

Starting ten years ago as a feed mill making nuts and pellets, Winton Stock Feed has grown to be one of New Zealand’s largest independent importers

of molasses and PKE for feeding stock.

The company has a nationwide dealer net-work.

“We source our sup-plies from Thailand, Phil-ippines and Fiji and bring it to seven ports in New Zealand and immediately

into our distribution net-work,” says operations manager Paul Jackson.

The company runs businesses and vehi-cles in Fiji and the Philip-pines, adjacent to sugar mills, the source of molas-ses. This comes in flexible tanks inside a frame and in

6.096m containers. After use the flexi tanks are washed and returned. All products are sold direct to farmers.

Price: $5900+GST.0800 MOLASSES (0800 6652 7737)www.wintonstockfeed.co.nz

TOnY hOPKinsOn

The XL multi-feed trailers are for carrying bigger loads.

The trailers are made in the Philippines.

MANUFACTURE AND DESIGNAGENTS NATIONWIDE, EXPORTING WORLDWIDE

0800 686 334www.numedic.co.nz

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dairy news 23 july 2013

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