dairy news 29 march 2016

ALL-ROUNDERHandles many tasks PAGE 33

We could have done better – Fonterra. PAGE 4

MARCH 29, 2016 ISSUE 353 // www.dairynews.co.nz

BACK TO BASICSPasture is kingPAGE 24

ON THE ROAD TO

RECOVERYFonterra bosses say EU

milk production is slowing, giving hope to a bounce

back in dairy prices. PAGE 3

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NEWS // 3

NEWS��3-19

OPINION�� 20-21

AGRIBUSINESS��22-23

MANAGEMENT�� 24-26

ANIMAL HEALTH��27-29

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS��30-31

TRACTORS & MACHINERY�� 33-34

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FONTERRA CHAIRMAN John Wilson says he is absolutely confident dairying will recover back to sustainable pricing levels for farmers.

However, he says the recovery is taking longer than everyone anticipated.

The key factor remains the extra milk coming out of Europe. But Wilson told Dairy News that there are signs Europe’s milk growth is slowing. Fonterra has been talking to European dairy co-ops and agri analysts, Wilson says.

Over the last two years milk production has ramped up in the EU, backed by higher prices and new investment on farms.

According to Fonterra’s latest global update, production in the EU in December increased 5% over the same month the previous year.

The EU has seen growth in milk production in each of the nine months following the removal of quotas on April 1, 2015. Production for the 12 months to December increased 2% compared to the same period the previous year, or an increase of 3.2 billion litres. Over this period Ireland was up 13%, Netherlands 7%, Poland 3% and the UK 2%.

The EU is also pumping most of the extra milk into export markets. EU exports increased 10% in November compared to the same month the previous year. Increases were seen in most of the major dairy categories with only SMP decreasing over the month. Exports have increased 7% for the 12 months to November, largely as a result of fluid and fresh dairy up 15%, whey powder and SMP up 9%, and infant formula up 7%.

But now it is becoming uneconomical for farm-ers in some regions. Some EU countries are intro-ducing caps on stocking rates to minimise damage to the environment.

Wilson says Fonterra now supports analysts’ view that Europe’s milk production growth will slow to 1.5% compared to global demand rising by 2-3%. Demand for more milk will come from China, Asia and Africa.

“Once we reach a position where demand is greater than supply, prices will improve,” Wilson says.

However, he is unable to suggest a timeframe.

“We are still confident prices will rise but picking the exact time period is hard.”

Wilson says other factors, such as US milk pro-duction and geo-political events, are also impact-ing milk prices.

According to Fonterra’s global update, US pro-duction in January was in line with the same month

last year. While the rate of milk production growth has continued to slow, for the 12 months to Janu-ary it remains up 1% on the same period last year.

But most US milk is used in the burgeoning local market.

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SUDESH KISSUNsudeshk@ruralnews�co�nz

TOTAL MILK production in New Zealand decreased 2% in January compared to the same month last year, says Fonterra.

Milk production for the 12 months to January is down 2% on the same period the previous year.

It says for the remainder of the New Zealand production season production will continue to be influenced by changes in farming systems, such as decreased stocking rates and supplementary feeding, as farmers respond to the low milk price environment.

Australian production in December decreased 4% on the same month the previous year. Production for the 12 months to December was up 1% on the same period the previous year. However, the rate of growth continues to slow as pasture growth conditions have deteriorated due to dry weather in many dairying regions.

NZ exports increased 6% in December

compared to the same month the previous year, with increases seen in most major dairy categories, excluding WMP and SMP. Exports for the 12 months to December increased 4% on the same period the previous year. An increase of around 117,000 tonnes for the 12 months was largely driven by cheese up 18%, SMP up 7% and AMF up 5%, but partially offset by butter down 5% and WMP down 3%.

Australian exports increased 1% in December on the same month in the previous year. Significant increases in cheese, up 26%, and fluid and fresh dairy, up 6%, were almost fully offset by WMP, whey powder and SMP, which were all down. Exports for the 12 months to December remain strong, up 7% on the same period in the previous year. This is largely due to SMP being up 23%, cheese up 14%, and fluid and fresh dairy up 9%.

NZ MILK PRODUCTION DOWN

EU milk seen to be slowing – Wilson

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings makes a point to journalists while chairman John Wilson looks on.


4 // NEWS

FONTERRA CHAIRMAN John Wilson says farmers are very grateful to the co-op for bring forward dividend payments.

The co-op plans to make payments in April, May and August, with the two latter payments subject to final approvals at the time; the early payments are designed to ease cash flows on farm.

Fonterra usually pays dividends in April and

October, and the change this year does not signal a long-term change to that normal practice.

Wilson says farmers have been in touch after the announcement expressing their gratitude.

“They are happy we are trying to put money back to our farmers,” he told Dairy News.

Wilson says the forecast total dividend for the current financial year

is 40c/share. The board last week

declared a 20c interim dividend to be paid in April.

“We intend declaring the remaining 20c/share in two dividends of 10 cents in May and 10 cents in August,” Wilson says.

“The timing of these payments will help farmers’ cashflows at the time of the season when they need it most; it is a specific response to the

challenging financial conditions our farmers are facing.”

May to August are typically the most difficult financially for farmers, with lower forecast milk payments in these months, he says.

“We looked carefully at the support options available to us and bringing forward payment of the total forecast dividend is the best way we can support our farmers while continuing to retain the financial strength of Fonterra.”

The two dividends in May and August are still subject to the board’s approval at the time. They are also subject to Fonterra’s financial performance continuing to support its forecast earnings per share of not less than the current 45-55 cents forecast range per share.

The payments do not signal any intention to move away from Fonterra’s normal practice of twice-yearly dividends paid in April and October. They are also consistent with

Fonterra’s dividend policy.

“We are firmly on track to achieve our forecast earnings of 45-55c/share, ahead of the 40-50c/share we indicated at the beginning of the season,” says Wilson.

“We are backing ourselves to support our farmers and confirmation of the first payment will be made in May.”

Wilson says they had considered an extension to the support loan provided early in the season which will total

$383 million by April 2016.

But based on the solid performance of the cooperative in the first half it felt paying the final dividend earlier was the better option.

“This approach is directly related to the solid performance being achieved by the business.”

Fonterra will also continue to competitively price stock in its Farm Source stores and pass on discounts secured on necessities such as fuel and power.

Earlier dividend not signalling things to come

Shareholders stand with suppliers in payment stoush

FONTERRA CHAIRMAN John Wilson says changes to its vendor payment system could have been handled better.

Wilson told Dairy News that Fonterra shareholders have brought the issue up with him.

“Farmers are very aware we are trying to get all the money we can into farmers’ hands,” he says. “But they acknowledge the significant input Fonterra has across the wider New Zealand community.”

In November Fonterra

wrote to about 1000 large suppliers in NZ, asking for term of payment to change from 20-30 days to 60 days. Wilson says this policy is appropriate and reflects the reality of the business.

He says Fonterra has 20, 000 suppliers globally, of which 8,200 were in New Zealand.

“We have asked about 15% of our vendors to change from 20 to 30 payment term to a 60-day payment term.”

But he says it was never the intention of the co-op to treat any vendors unfairly.

“It’s about ensuring that we run the business

as prudently as possible and get the best return for our farmers. But we never intended to put these small businesses in a

difficult situation.”Waikato University

professor of economics Frank Scrimgeour says it’s an appalling move and he

was disappointed with the country’s largest company.

Speaking at the Future Farms Conference in Palmerston North recently, Scrimgeour said in the past he had not made negative comments about Fonterra but he was speaking out now.

Scrimgeour says Fonterra should treat its suppliers with respect and follow standard commercial processes.

“I observe people in Waikato who have supplied services to Fonterra for more than 20 years and they get ‘a Dear

John’ letter; it’s not even personalised.

“They get told the bills are not going to be paid for 90 days and they face a demand to cut their price by 10%. But that’s not the way you do business; if you want to renegotiate a contract you face up to them and talk to them face-to-face. This is very bad modelling, very unhelpful for the cause of dairying, very unhelpful for the reputation of Fonterra.”

Scrimgeour says the dairy industry has to face many challenges not of its

own making. Life’s already difficult but Fonterra must play the tough game and within the rules.

Wilson says Fonterra has started one-on-one discussion with the vendors concerned.

“Yes, we could have rolled it out better; right now we are in discussions with our vendors. And our people having those discussions are being supported with better information so that there is a better understanding of what we have done.”

SUDESH [email protected]

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NEWS // 5

Ingredients, added value and lower costs lift profitsFONTERRA EARN-INGS and profit are well up for the first half of this financial year – based on efficiency, sales, value added to products and financial discipline, says chief executive Theo Spierings.

The co-op has announced normalised earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $665 million, up 77% on the comparable period and net profit after tax of $409 million up 123%.

Spierings says the cooperative’s strong per-formance reflected a sus-tained effort in three main areas.

“We focused on the efficiency of our ingre-dients business and capturing demand for ingredients in a wide range of markets,” he says. “We aimed to make the most of global consump-tion growth by building demand for higher-value products in our consumer and foodservice markets.”

Spierings says work-ing capital improved sig-nificantly, and inventory levels are lower than in recent periods for this time of year. They are down 9% in volume due to

strong sales. Free cashflow for the

six months to January 31, 2016 was $2.1 billion higher than the first half last year, with gearing at 49% down from 51% in the previous year.

“We maintained strict financial discipline to keep lifting our return on cap-ital; and our strong cash flow has enabled us to strengthen the coopera-tive and reduce gearing,” says Spierings.

The ingredients busi-ness achieved normalised EBIT of $617 million, up 27% on the first half last year. This resulted from improved product mix returns, and the increased production and cost effi-ciencies from investments in plant capacity in New Zealand.

“In consumer and foodservice we have deliv-ered very good growth, with normalised EBIT increasing 108% to $241 million,” Spierings says.

“We remain focused on growing demand, espe-cially in the eight markets where we currently hold or want to gain leadership or a very strong position: NZ, Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Chile, China,

Indonesia and Brazil. These are well established markets for Fonterra, so we are working off a strong base.

“The additional 235 million litres of milk we converted into higher-returning consumer and foodservice products in this six month period built on the additional 600m L last year.”

Spierings says Fonter-ra’s farms in China are a key part of its integrated dairy business.

“We are achieving operational efficiencies on the farms which are help-ing offset the current low domestic milk price in China.”

Current global eco-nomic conditions remain challenging and are impacting dairy demand and prices.

Chairman John Wilson says the supply and demand imbalance in the globally traded dairy market has brought prices down to unsustainable levels for farmers around the world, and particularly in New Zealand.

The strong NZ dollar has also had a negative impact on the milk price.

“The low prices have

placed a great deal of pres-sure on incomes, farm budgets and our farming families.

“Our priority is to gen-erate more value out of every drop of our farmers’ milk by focusing on the areas within our control,” says Wilson.

“We aim to efficiently convert as much milk as possible into the highest-returning products.

“Our management is aware of the need for strong performance to ensure we get every pos-sible cent back into farm-ers’ hands during a very tough year.

“We have lifted profit-ability from last season to this season, resulting in higher earnings per share to help offset low global dairy prices. As a result, we have delivered an interim dividend of 20c/share, up from an interim dividend for last year of 10c/share.

“Our forecast farmgate milk price of $3.90/kgMS reflects low global dairy prices, with whole milk powder decreasing around 17% this season to date.”

The forecast total avail-able for payout of $4.35-$4.45/kgMS currently

equates to a forecast cash payout of $4.30/kgMS after retentions for a fully shared-up farmer.

“The balance between available dairy exports and imports has been unfa-vourable for 18 months following European pro-duction increasing more than expected and lower imports into China and Russia,” says Wilson. “This imbalance is likely to continue in the short term, with prices expected to lift later this calendar year.

“The long term funda-mentals for global dairy are positive with demand expected to increase by 2-3% a year due to the growing world population, increasing middle classes in Asia, urbanisation and favourable demographics.”

Wilson says the cooper-ative’s solid performance was set to continue.

“The business will con-tinue to work on capturing demand and margins in the second half of the year, just as it did in the first half, by focusing on our consumer and foodservice volumes and those of spe-cialty ingredients.

“We remain firmly on track to achieve our fore-cast earnings of 45-55c/

share, ahead of the 40-50c/share we indicated at the commencement of the season.

“Our net debt is $6.9 billion and we are expect-ing this to reduce signifi-cantly in the second half of the year. We are on track to reduce gearing to 40-45% by the end of the current financial year.”

The record date for the

interim dividend is April 8, and the payment date is April 20.

The cooperative will continue to offer a divi-dend reinvestment plan, at a discount of 2.5% to the strike price. Eligible share-holders who want to par-ticipate for the interim dividend need to submit a notice of participation by April 11.

Fonterra is converting more milk into higher-returning consumer and foodservice products.


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6 // NEWS

Working to achieve more with lessRIGHT NOW many dairy farmers are looking at their costs line by line.

Where can they make further savings?

The latest re-forecast milk price from Fonterra now puts this season’s farmgate milk price at

$3.90/kgMS. DairyNZ’s breakeven figure for the average New Zealand dairy farmer is $5.25. That’s a big gap to bridge.

Around 85% of the

14,000 owner-operators and sharemilkers affected by the low milk price are not making money this season. They are forced to build up more debt and erode their equity to get through another season of looking after their cows. The situation will impact on the people they employ and the rural businesses they support.

At times like these DairyNZ has to deliver more value than ever for farmers.

Our industry’s heritage of pulling together and taking a co-operative approach to challenges gives us a strong mandate, as did our last levy vote in 2014. But it comes with the need to stand alongside farmers and deliver real and tangible value that makes a difference to their businesses, individually and at an industry-wide level.

To help farmers we’ve been running our Tactics campaign and other key events for some time, designed to home in on cost creep and provide access to tools and support to make changes in their business.

DairyNZ has always maintained that the ability to efficiently harvest pasture is the best determinant of profitability across all farm systems. Pasture still provides the least expensive feed for dairy cows and remains the foundation of our farm systems. That has been our constant message and is at the heart of our advice to, and research for, farmers. It will continue to be our message.

Pasture and the ability to turn off supplement use is also the foundation of how we are able to manage volatility and farmers are using this mechanism strongly. Farmers are using the obvious levers at their disposal to manage volatility in milk price – culling cows instead of using supplementary feed to maintain cow condition.

In terms of our long term research and science

objectives we can’t just turn off the tap. Two of our most important research projects, for example, are seven-year investments – one focused on developing forages for reduced nitrate leaching to future-proof our industry.

The other is researching cow fertility and lifetime productivity. Taken together, these are estimated to cost the dairy industry $1 billion annually. The profitability of dairy farming could be increased by $500 million per year if industry targets for reproductive performance were achieved.

These targets will not be achieved using current knowledge and technologies alone. A biological breakthrough is required. The aim of this project is to accelerate genetic gain in fertility and manipulate the biology that underpins cow fertility.

But as stated above, we cannot easily switch research on and off, given our requirement to keep achieving results for farmers. If we do, the Government will also stop funding us. However, we are looking at what research projects can be pared back for now, so as to reduce our costs.

I am accountable to our farmer-led board for how $67 million of levy funds from dairy farmers delivers value for the investments the board prioritises and approves. Farmers are also keen to hear the value they get from this large sum of money.

As production drops, so does our own income, although not to the extent of farmers. The levy is not a fixed cost; it is pegged to farmers’ business in terms of milk production, being set at 3.6 cents per kgMS.

The board has not relaxed any of our targets. It is expecting more from less, as I know farmers are too.• Tim Mackle is the chief executive of DairyNZ.

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NEWS // 7

Jail time for 1080 scaremongerDAIRY INDUSTRY leaders have welcomed the successful prosecution of a businessman who threatened to spike infant formula with 1080.

Jeremy Kerr, the owner of another pest-control product, Feratox, mixed highly concentrated 1080 with baby milk formula and posted them to

Fonterra and to Federated Farmers. Included in the package was a letter demanding the country stop using 1080 or he would release poisoned infant milk powder into the Chinese market and one unspecified market.

He was jailed last week for eight and a half

years by Justice Geoffrey Venning, who said the potential impact of his actions on New Zealand’s trade relationship with China and others was “extremely serious”.

The threat is believed to have cost Fonterra nearly $20 million and cost Federated Farmers nearly $100,000.

In his victim impact statement, Feds chief executive Graham Smith said Kerr’s actions were “a direct threat to the very fabric of society”.

The threat could have led to an international ban on NZ food products, he says.

“The 1080 threat had the potential to devastate

our ability to successfully operate within these markets and would have cost the country billions of dollars. Customers would have stopped buying and using our products due to their immediate safety concerns.”

There was a potential threat to all sectors of society, given NZ’s

reliance on primary industries, Smith says.

Fonterra chairman John Wilson said Kerr’s actions were deplorable and had a huge impact on the cooperative and other food firms.

Fonterra’s Maury Leyland says the threat had a big impact on Fonterra and it staff.

“It’s hard to imagine a worse threat to children and families, or to the viability of our co-operative, the wider dairy industry and our country,” said Leyland, who is Fonterra’s outgoing managing director of people, culture and safety.


ON THE Canterbury plains there’s a sea change underway in dairying, a challenge of something new that has led Mid-Canterbury dairy farmers Brent and Sharon Trafford to join the revolution and become a2 milk producers for Synlait.

At the end of this season the Trafford’s will join 200 other suppliers to Synlait’s Dunsandel factory

Farmers supplying only a2 milk are growing in number: three years ago Synlait had three suppliers who were a2 only; in the new season that will rise to 65.

When a2 began to attract public attention a few years ago the Traffords were interested in it, but with no incentive for farmers to produce it, a2 lost momen-tum – though the Traffords remained keen.

With Synlait offering a premium of 20 cents extra per kgMS, all that has changed. By the start of the next season the Traffords will have around 750 a2 only cows on their 225ha farm.

Synlait’s Mark Burnside says a2 milk demand is growing; most of Synlait’s production goes to Austra-lia and the company is planning to sell directly to the US and China.

All Synlait’s a2 milk is powdered for its export mar-kets in products like a2 Platimum Infant Formula.

All mammal milk is a2 milk, so it is more naturally structured to match human milk, which is perceived to be more tolerable to humans.

The benefits of a2 milk are yet to be clinically proven, but word of mouth has driven impressive demand Burnside says. In Australia it commands about 10% of the liquid milk market.

Synlait is doing long-term research on the benefits of a2 milk. It gets LIC to DNA test all cows in the a2 pro-gramme, and all progeny, getting a test result in four-six weeks. So far LIC has tested 60,000 cows.

Synlait also randomly tests the milk to make sure there are no mix-ups and to ensure the integrity of the product.

The company organises annual get-togethers of all its a2 farmers so they can meet and share ideas.

About 43% of the New Zealand dairy herd are natu-rally a2 cows so becoming an all a2 farm is not as dif-ficult as it would first appear, and cows only need be tested when a farm is about to start production.

Brent Trafford says they are excited about the change, having found Synlait good to deal with and believing in what they are doing. – Richard Cosgrove

Suppliers eye added value

Canterbury farmers Brent and Sharon Trafford.


8 // NEWS

RELATIVE NEWCOM-ERS to farming have scooped the big prizes at the 2016 Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Industry Awards.

Mark and Jaime Arnold were named the 2016 Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa Share Farmers of the Year at the region’s annual awards dinner held at Masterton War Memorial Stadium last week.

The other major win-ners were Lance Graves, the region’s 2016 Dairy Manager of the Year, and Nicholas Bailey, the 2016 Dairy Trainee of the Year.

The Arnolds have no farming background and first set foot on a dairy farm in 2008. Mark (48) managed a logging crew and Jaime (35) was teach-ing. They have been 50% sharemilking 500 cows on the Dannev-irke farm owned by Mike and Sherynn Harold, and Stuart and Sandra Cordell since 2011.

The couple, who had entered the awards twice previously and finished runner-up last year, won $11,600 in prizes.

“Dairying is such a supportive industry, so it is great to be a part of it,” Mark Arnold said.

“From entering the dairy industry awards we know exactly what drives our profitability and how our low-input system is

resilient. It has made us focus on our goals and how we can achieve them and it has helped us to highlight what we are driven by.

“We also see the bene-fits of networking and get-ting our name out there to build a good image for our-selves so that it could open up job opportunities.”

Their goals are to con-tinue farming in the Tara-rua district, to reduce debt and start buying equity in a dairy farm, and to achieve a healthy work and life balance.

“In later years, we want to give our four children the opportunity to grow in the industry and to buy shares in our business.”

The region’s Share Farmer runners-up are Carterton contract milk-ers, Adam and Rebecca Giddens, aged 27 and 25 years, and who won $8000 in prizes.

The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are sponsored by Westpac, DairyNZ, DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fon-terra, Honda Motorcycles, LIC, Meridian Energy, New Zealand Farm Source, Ravensdown and industry partner Primary ITO.

Entering the awards has helped the 2016 Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Manager of the Year, Lance Graves, to grow his business – Graves Grazing.

Graves (26) buys 100kg calves to rear and then sell as in-calf heifers. “This business is important to us in assisting us to reach our goals in the near and dis-tant future.”

Employed by Willy and Sally Bosch as a herd manager overseeing 315 cows on the Martinbor-ough farm owned by Jenny Tucker, he won $7500 in prizes.

His first goal is to go lower order sharemilk-ing or contract milking by 2018 and to progress to 50% sharemilking by 2021. His ultimate goal is farm ownership.

This is only Graves’ second season in the industry; he was formerly an auto mechanic. He is focused on operating a low cost profitable dairy busi-ness.

“What is the point of being in business if you are not making a profit?

Having low operating costs allows you to make ends meet and ensure the business continues to progress regardless of the payout.”

Maraekakaho farm manager Lewis Knauf (29) was second in the Dairy Manager compe-tition, winning $4900 in prizes. Third place went to Waipukurau farm manager Ray Johnson (34) who won $6050 in prizes, as he also won three merit awards.

The 2016 Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Trainee of the Year, Nicholas Bailey (21) is hardworking and outgoing and likes to achieve results.

“I also like to help others to reach their potential and learn more so they can progress in their career.”

He is assistant man-ager for Robert Hartley on Bryan Tucker’s 950-cow Greytown farm. He won

$7050 in prizes.His short term goal is

to progress to a farm man-ager or contract milking position; longer term he plans to go sharemilking or enter an equity part-nership.

Bailey is a New Zealand Football accredited referee and oversees Wellington regional games and games in the national youth league. He is also involved in Young Farmers.

“Entering the awards has helped me to get some new experiences, espe-cially in the interview, and enabled me to meet new people and test my knowl-edge.”

Second place in the 2016 Dairy Trainee com-petition went to Carter-ton herd manager Ben Bosch (19) who won $4300 in prizes. Pahiatua farm assistant, Logan Mott (21) was third, winning $3700 in prizes.

Joe and Suz Wyborn.

Winners show how well it can be doneGERALDINE SHAREMILKERS Joe and Suz Wyborn are the supreme winners of the 2016 Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

They also collected a string of category awards, including the WaterForce Integrated Management Award, LIC Dairy Farm Award, Massey University Innovation Award, Hill Laboratories Harvest Award and the Environment Canterbury Water Quality Award.

Described by BFEA judges as representing “everything that is positive about the New Zealand dairy industry,” the Wyborns have been 50:50 sharemilking on Grantlea Dairy No 1 – a 253ha irrigated property east of Geraldine – since it was converted by owners Leighton and Michelle Pye in 2009.

The Wyborns had been dairy farming together for only three years when they started on Grantlea, but the Pyes’ confidence in the couple had been fully justified, BFEA judges said.

While each partner has defined roles – Joe oversees day-to-day operation of the farm and Suz is in charge of calf rearing and finance – the Wyborns work as a team and their prudent financial management and strong production have helped them build their business remarkably quickly.

“They are extremely focused on developing and articulating processes and systems that allow the farm to run efficiently,” judges said.

Up to 910 cows were milked on the 220ha (effective) farm last season, producing 411,000kgMS using a system 3 regime. Driving this is sound pasture management and efficient use of water.

Two centre-pivot irrigators service all but 4.5ha of the farm. A lot of vegetation was removed during the conversion but the Wyborns and Pyes worked hard to mitigate this loss by shelter planting.

Originally from England, Joe first worked for the Pyes in 1998 as a driver in their agricultural contracting business. In 1999 he took over management of the contracting operation and this experience has helped shape how he and Suz now run the farm.

Judges said the Wyborns demonstrate excellent staff and people management skills. Health and safety is a priority, and a detailed farm operating manual allows staff to run the farm “safely and effectively unsupervised”.

Judges also noted the couple’s “outstanding adoption of technology and web-based tools to assist in farm management”.

“They monitor and measure, but most importantly they make full use of data in their decisions.”

Judges also praised the Wyborns’ industry and community involvement.

A BFEA supreme-winner field day will be held on Grantlea Dairy No 1 later.

“They are extremely focused on developing and articulating processes and systems that allow the farm to run efficiently.”

Newcomers scoop award

Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa Share Farmers of the Year, Mark and Jaime Arnold.

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NEWS // 9

CAMERA IMAGERY technology to get data on cows may soon be available on farm.

LIC Automation says it is trialling and early results are encouraging.

The co-op’s automation chief executive Paul Whiston says data obtained from cows via camera imag-ery can be added to the herd recording service Minda.

“We hope to release the new technology at the National Fieldays; the LIC stand will be busy this year,” he told Dairy News.

LIC Automation was formed in June 2015 follow-ing the co-op’s takeover of milk sensor technology firm Dairy Automation Ltd in February 2014 and a decision to merge it with the co-op’s automation business Protrack.

LIC Automation makes integrated and inno-vative systems, aimed at improving productivity onfarm, says Whiston. It recently bought 75% of Beacon Heat Detectors Pty Ltd, Australia, a maker of heat patches to help farmers identify cows on heat.

Paul Whiston

Camera technology trials underway

$77m formula market beckons co-opFONTERRA IS eyeing a slice of the $77 million infant formula market in New Zealand.

The co-op this month launched its Anmum infant formula through Pak n Save and New World stores.

Fonterra Brands NZ managing director Leon Clement says Anmum is a $200 million brand in Fon-terra’s Asian markets with a track record of quality and trust among parents.

“Anmum draws on Fonterra and its legacy companies’ 50 years of experience in dairy research and in produc-ing paediatric formulas for third parties. Bring-ing Anmum to NZ families means we are now provid-ing nutrition for key life stages,” he says.

Fonterra says it sees breastfeeding as the best source of nutrition for babies, but also recognises that families may need an alternative.

“The Anmum for-mula range will provide

that,” says Clement. “It is a trusted brand interna-tionally… and we want it to be one of the top three brands in the $76.9 million formula market in NZ.”

Fonterra paediatric nutrition staff developed the products. The co-op’s R&D centre in Palmerston North is home to expertise in probiotics and lipids in infant development and the management of diges-tion in infants.

Fonterra Brands regu-latory and nutrition man-ager Cherry Barker says the Anmum formulation includes Fonterra’s own patented Bifidobacterium lactis DR10TM cultures, and the Anmum PediaPro toddler milk has no added sugars.

“Breast milk is the gold standard for develop-ing alternative nutrition products, when neces-sary, for infants. Formulas for 0-12 month old babies are subject to clear regula-tions. This includes ensur-ing that the sugar content, needed for energy, reflects

the natural lactose levels found in breast milk,” she says.

“Anmum formulas only use lactose, the sugar nat-urally present in all milks, in the formulations for this age group. We do not

add any sugars to our tod-dler milk and believe that this is something that is important to parents.”

Clement says paediat-ric nutrition is the fastest-growing dairy category in the world and developing

leading positions in pae-diatric nutrition is one of Fonterra’s seven strategic paths.

The range will be blended and packed at Fonterra’s Canpac site in Waikato.

Fonterra Brands NZ managing director Leon Clement with Anmum infant formula now available here.

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10 // NEWS

It can save you giving supplementary feed to cows that would be better dried-off.

It can save you treating low-producing cows that you will end up culling.

It can save you treating healthy animals with antibiotics that they don’t need.

It can save you having good cows with high SCC going untreated into dry-off.

It can save you guessing and it can save you time.

But above all it can save you, in very real terms, money.

Which is probably no bad thing these days.

This is what a late lactation herd test can save you.

If you want to find out more on how herd testing can help you save, talk to your FSM.

Focus on cows and save moneyTOUGH ECONOMIC times are causing farmers to analyse every aspect of their business, right down to the performance of individual animals.

And Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) and LIC are working together to host free workshops to help dairy farmers learn how to make better herd

management decisions.Dairy Women’s

Network chief executive Zelda de Villiers says the partnership with LIC is a first for the organisations.

“Those attending will be given tools to help them make more informed decisions and save time, and will get to share their dairy farming experiences with other women on the course and enjoy learning from them.

LIC national solutions manager Michelle Adam says farmers are set on making efficient decisions about their individual cows and their herds as a collective asset.

“Having access to timely information and reports on animal and herd performance, and knowing how to analyse and use the information, can make all the difference to improving productivity and decision making. We are looking forward to working with farmers to help them master these vital skills.”

LIC is coordinating the 10 workshops nationwide in April, May and June with DWN. The first will be on April 12 in Inglewood, Taranaki,

the second on April 13 in Ashburton, Canterbury. Each runs for four hours.

They will cover ‘understanding your herd’ and ‘reviewing your herd’s reproductive performance’ using LIC’s Minda herd records service. Ninety per cent of New Zealand dairy farmers use Minda for management reports to maximise the benefits of their herd improvement.

The first workshop

session will explain core principles of breeding and help demystify key industry metrics. The second session will give an overview of the Minda reports and tools that help farmers analyse their herd’s reproductive performance.

Registration on the day is from 9.30am; the workshops start at 10am and finish at 2pm. Morning tea and lunch are provided.

www.dwn.co.nz

Zelda de Villiers

“Those attending will be given tools to help them make more informed decisions and save time.”

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It can save you giving supplementary feed to cows that would be better dried-off.

It can save you treating low-producing cows that you will end up culling.

It can save you treating healthy animals with antibiotics that they don’t need.

It can save you having good cows with high SCC going untreated into dry-off.

It can save you guessing and it can save you time.

But above all it can save you, in very real terms, money.

Which is probably no bad thing these days.

This is what a late lactation herd test can save you.

If you want to find out more on how herd testing can help you save, talk to your FSM.


12 // NEWS

Nothing is getting simpler

PROFOUND CHANGES in the overall structure of dairy markets and trade could have last-ing effect.

It might not be the greatest time to focus on this – just while we’re bouncing around at the

bottom of a deep com-modity pricing cycle, or ‘super-cycle’ as it is now being called.

But it’s worth spend-ing time considering whether the dairy indus-try is merely travelling though the roughest parts of a deep trough that will slowly right itself, or whether these are

early days of fundamen-tal change in the struc-ture of the global industry. There’s been a quick reshaping in the imbal-ance of trade.

In the past two calen-dar years major export-ers clocked a surplus of 2.5b litres, and 2016 will see only a small part of that surplus eroded unless

some major weather or market shocks occur. But behind those numbers, some of the fundamentals are shifting, with biggest changes on the supply-side.

It is naive (and really early) to pass off the effects of removing the quota cap from European dairy farmers as a subtle

STEVE SPENCERadjustment in volumes as has long been forecast by the EU’s own ag officials.

Competitive farmers in several countries with pent-up productive capac-ity are unleashing their potential and moving to more efficient operat-ing models. Their compa-nies have laid down the stainless steel ahead of the surge, because no-one expects it to be temporary. EU processors and trad-ers have muscled up with higher volumes of ingre-dients to market into the world.

The product volumes from the additional 7b litres of exportable milk supplied in 2015 and likely in 2016, added to the loss of the Russian market, have encouraged the Euro-peans to be more aggres-sive, expanding their market share elsewhere.

But there will be plenty of casualties within the EU in the massive adjustment to come. Small uncompet-itive processors without a spread of markets and products – and their sup-pliers – are already doing it tough and that will get worse.

Many small traditional farmers will painfully sub-sist, burn a lot of tyres and drive their tractors large distances, and get cash out of frightened politicians, but gradually exit under the stress of volatile mar-gins and rising compliance costs. But the net effect, at least in the short-term, will be that Europe’s milk supply will expand.

Meanwhile NZ dairy’s ability to sustain the faith of bank and equity inves-tors will be wearing thin with a third poor price year next season. Growth was projected on the back of a Chinese appetite that was expected to roar on for a decade or more. Many of the recently established, highly geared farms carry the greatest exposure to the cycle, but while banks would be unwise to call their debt in, it means fur-ther investments in farm expansions or conversions will be harder to finance.

While Europe is likely to expand to its natural physical limits, NZ may struggle to grow and, sadly, some efficient operators might go out during this phase. If banks act on con-ventional non-ag priori-ties, land values are at risk

and a deeper problem for the industry will develop.

Not much to see in the US in comparison, as it will probably chug on and keep expanding. But with a flat home market, all of the growth has to find markets elsewhere.

The profound change going on within that industry is one of reskill-ing and retooling plants to get more value out of every litre, and producing products that meet cus-tomer rather than regula-tory requirements. They’ll keep getting better at that game.

The composition of the demand side for traded products has rapidly restructured.

South East Asia, the Middle East and North African are the largest export regions. They might in the past have plodded along with growth tracking changes in regional GDP, but in 2015 these countries collectively bought four times more product than China.

China is now a vastly different prospect to what it was. Long gone are the days of a market where overall dairy demand was growing at 6-10% per annum; now growth is reported to be less than 2%.

Important niches are developing in that market.

Chinese consum-ers who can afford higher priced nutritional dairy ingredients are seeking greater access to imported finished product.

Other changes are also shaping demand and supply.

If Russia comes back from the chill to buy West-ern foods any time soon, it will be a much smaller buyer with poorer con-sumers and dodgy credit.

Latin America once played a much bigger role in trade – balancing product needs across the continent and gradually increasing exporters. But three major countries – Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela – are now politically and economically more turbulent than ever, sure to discourage significant inward investment.

Nothing is getting sim-pler out there. Buckle up.• Steve Spencer is a director of Fresh Agenda, a Victoria dairy consultancy.

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NEWS // 13

Is that a market recovery looming?

RECENT GUIDANCE suggesting that farmgate milk prices for those in southern export regions are likely to remain around the A$5.60kg/MS opening price mark have confirmed what many farmers had quietly suspected.

With dairy commodity prices around 30% lower than prior-year levels and 7% below where they were at the start of the season, the market recovery required to meet some of the more optimistic fore-casts still appears some way off.

Given the likelihood that farmgate pricing will remain under pressure, it’s worth taking a look at the situation for inputs, to assess whether any margin of relief is on the horizon on the cost front.

Let’s start with grain. Feed grain represents

around 30% of the average southern exporting region farm’s total costs, accord-ing to the Dairy Farm Monitor Project.

Grain prices tracked above the five year aver-age for most of 2014 and 2015. Smaller Australian harvests combined with strong export demand to tighten supplies.

The first months of 2016 have seen grain prices falling however. This is likely due in part to the effects of record global wheat stocks weaken-ing global prices; however Australian grain has been trading at a premium to the world market for some time now, suggesting local factors are also in play.

The most recent crop estimates by the Austra-lian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Econom-ics and Sciences put total wheat production for 2015-16 up 5% compared to the previous season, at 24.2 million tonnes, and barley up 4% to 8.5m tonnes.

In addition to weak global prices and increased production, selling by

Australian grain farmers has accelerated in recent weeks as growers look to generate cash to cover sea-sonal interest and fertiliser payments.

With the international market considered likely to remain depressed, reduced export pressure will help moderate any price rebound once this period passes.

With dry conditions and expensive irriga-tion water contributing to lower pasture produc-tion on many farms, hay demand has been higher than usual for most of 2014 and 2015.

With supplies (particu-

larly of protein hay) under pressure and stocks tight for much of this period, prices have remained above the five year aver-age.

As has been the case with grain markets, some relief for buyers has been noted at the start of 2016, as milder weather and rainfall in many regions boosted pasture availabil-ity.

Many farmers have also completed stocking their sheds for the season, and others stopped buying as higher prices proved uneconomic. Tasmania and Gippsland have been among the exceptions; fodder demand in these regions remains strong.

Assuming average rain-fall for the autumn period, fodder is likely to be less of an issue through the remainder of the season, as top-up purchasing occurs in a market where increased pasture produc-tion weighs on demand and prices.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the December-February period has seen a gradual decrease in rainfall defi-cits across many dairying regions (southwest WA has seen much more rain than average).

Northeast Tasmania, south-west Victoria and west and south Gippsland remain drier than average,

JOHN DROPPERT incurring the attendant extra fodder and water costs.

The outlook for the coming three months sug-gests further improve-ments are likely, with the chance of exceeding aver-age rainfall around or above 50% for all dairy-ing areas except for central and northern Queensland.

El Nino is well past its peak, and climate models predict that a neutral pat-tern will resume in late autumn or early winter.

In the meantime, El Nino could still contrib-ute towards the expected below-average rain-fall across northern Queensland.

On the other hand,

warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures may result in localised warmer weather and increased rainfall, particularly in Tas-mania.

For those in irrigation areas, water pricing and allocation has been a fur-ther significant source of cost pressure this season. This looks set to continue

in the short term, with fierce competition keeping the average price for tem-porary water high.

However, low availabil-ity and reluctance to sell is being indicated by rela-tively few parcels (mostly of small size) being traded.• John Droppert is a senior analyst with Dairy Austra-lia.John Droppert

Given the likelihood that farmgate pricing will remain under pressure, it’s worth taking a look at the situation for inputs, to assess whether any margin of relief is on the horizon on the cost front.

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14 // NEWS

New sales head at Gallagher’s

DARRELL JONES has been appointed national sales manager of Gallagher Group’s New Zealand animal man-agement team. He has worked 14 years with the company.

He started in 2001 as a terri-tory manager for Bay of Plenty and South Waikato, and became regional sales and key account manager in 2013.

The company says Jones sees enduring partnerships as critical to the animal management divi-sion’s success.

He knows that long term rela-tionships with customers cannot be taken for granted. “Trust is a long time earned but can be lost overnight, so we strive to act integrity and respect every day,” Jones says.

Despite the effect of the Global Dairy Trade price index on the rural economy, Jones remains positive.

“It’s definitely not all doom and gloom. Three regional field days have clearly shown that other farming sectors are performing well.

“We also showcased our Flashmate heat detection device to the dairy market, highlighting the financial ben-efits to farmers in tough times.”

MARK [email protected]

CANTERBURY MILK processor Synlait has taken on 28 more milk suppliers to meet growing demand for its value added milk products.

“The calibre of new suppliers is impressive and com-plements our existing supply network,” says managing director John Penno.

With 201 suppliers now, Synlait says greater cus-tomer demand for nutritional products and more pro-duction capacity with a new large-scale spray dryer has created the opportunity.

The business could not accept everyone who wanted to be a supplier and now has a waiting list.

Since production began in 2008 at the Dunsandel site eight suppliers have left, four because of a change in farm ownership.

“We have one contract for all milk suppliers that is a rolling three year agreement, providing certainty to ourselves and our suppliers. Our relationships are sus-tainable because we’re all focused on making more from milk and offer everyone the same terms,” Penno says.

Synlait’s Lead With Pride and Special Milk pro-grammes (which create products like the a2 Platimum Infant Formula ) reward suppliers for differentiating their milk and creating value on farm through a pre-mium payment in addition to Synlait’s milk price.

Synlait says the premiums aren’t a solution to the current pricing pressures, but they help.

“We expect around $6 million in premium payments will be made this season. More than 50% of our suppli-ers will be paid a premium,” says Penno.

“If you take an average of that payout at $60,000, all of it will be welcome to any dairy farmer in the current climate.” – Richard Cosgrove

More suppliers join Synlait

Synlait has taken in more suppliers.

A WARNING to dairy farmers: a move to sheep milking is probably not an option.

An organiser of a recent sheep milking conference, associate professor Craig Prichard, of Massey Uni-versity, says sheep milk-ing is never going to come anywhere near replacing the bovine industry.

He says a Taranaki farmer called asking what sort of sheep milking oper-

ation he could run on 100ha.

“I said ‘you’re asking me the wrong question’. I asked ‘where is your market, where is your pro-cessor and who are you going to sell your milk to?’ Often people in the bovine industry are so used to having someone take their milk. This farmer was asking the wrong question.

“Everyone in the sheep milking business has to solve the market and the producer problem first. They must ask, ‘where is my market and who am

I going to sell to?’ That drives the production pro-cess. In the bovine indus-try they do not think market first; they are a supplier driven industry.”

Prichard says every bovine dairy farmer in NZ struggles to see their market; it’s an institu-

tional problem. He says he knows of many dairy farm-ers who say the industry is not connecting with cus-tomers.

“On the other hand the sheep milking industry is putting customers right at the core of it and they are the ones who are going to

drive this sector.”Prichard says the sheep

milking conference had good science presen-tations and showcased where the industry has got to in a relatively short time.

PETER [email protected]

Don’t plan a move to sheep milking

Sheep milking is never going to come anywhere replacing the bovine industry, says Craig Prichard.

Craig Prichard@dairy_newsfacebook.com/dairynews

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NEWS // 15

Northland water quality ‘good news story’

INVESTMENT IN dairy farm effluent sys-tems and stock exclusion have shown good results in Northland and are a good news story, says the Northland Regional Coun-cil.

The council has recently analysed North-land’s water quality data which shows steady improvement over the past 5-10 years.

Colin Dall, manager regulatory services, says the council has reviewed three regional plans – air quality, coast and water and soil – analysing his-torical water quality data. “This information has helped us to consider new policy and rules or changes to existing policy and rules on discharges/water quality and water takes.”

At the recent North-land Dairy Development Trust Conference, coun-cil staff outlined its pro-posed approach to the updated regional plan. They stressed that, though the water quality results are promising, there is still room for improvement, especially in reducing sed-iment and pathogen levels in rivers and estuaries and nutrient levels in some lakes.

The council may change some rules on dairy farm discharges – specifically minimum pond sizes if discharging to land.

The requirement to divert roof water away from effluent systems is also being consid-ered in order to mini-mise untreated and poorly treated effluent discharges to water, particularly during winter.

Council staff told Dairy News at this point there is no real shift proposed in the rules, just a tighten-ing up of some conditions. They believe 75% of dairy farmers in Northland are performing well but about 25% may be affected by this particular rule.

Staff acknowledged there is a lot of community pressure to implement stock exclusion rules.

They advised that the current water and soil plan is silent on stock exclusion and there are few restrictions on stock access to Northland’s water bodies.

Rather than creat-ing a new set of rules, the council will look at including the rules of the Sustainable Dairying Water Accord in the new regional plan.

Another initiative being looked at is phasing in stock exclusion require-ments on drystock farm-ing in intensively farmed lowland catchments. This is consistent with the recent recommendations of the Land and Water Forum.

The new regional plan is also required to include limits on water alloca-tion (in accordance with the National Policy State-ment for Freshwater Management) – the total volume of water that can be extracted from a water body.

The new regional plan may mean some farmers may require resource con-sent to take water for dairy shed use.

The current require-ment in the regional plan is you can take up to 10m3 per day during summer and up to 30m3 per day during winter as a permit-ted activity.

But council staff say they may look at adjust-ing those volumes in some areas to help to protect reliability of supply for water users, and to protect the environment.

These new rules will be tested in a draft regional plan before moving into the formal submissions process.

Just as importantly, the council will be looking for comment on areas it is not intending to regulate, including:

Not including limits on nutrient inputs or losses from farms, as the issue with nutrients in North-land water bodies does not appear to warrant such an approach

Not limiting animal numbers on farms, as there is no clear environ-mental or financial justi-fication to do that. The council is also looking to

PAM [email protected]

continue to provide the taking of water for reason-able stock drinking needs

Not prohibiting dis-charges of treated effluent to water altogether, but at certain locations and under some circumstances

there may be a need to be more restrictive rules.

As in any RMA pro-cess, the Environment Court or a higher court could overturn a council decision.

However staff say they

are working with DairyNZ who are helping test the science that will under-pin the plan, which will be backed-up with robust monitoring and reporting.

A draft regional plan will be released soon.

Improvements to effluent systems in Northland have helped lift water quality.

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16 // NEWS

Corporate farmers scoff ‘rumours’THE OWNERS of one of New Zealand’s largest dairy operations, the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group, say the operation is alive and well.

Adriaan and Wilma van Leeuwen told Dairy News by email from overseas

that the South Canterbury business is not in receiver-ship, as rumoured.

They also had heard this rumour, on RNZ National radio, but say it is “false”. The group has 12 holdings and 12,000 dairy cows, and is the

world’s largest robotic milking farm. Last year it expanded by installing 24 Lely robots in three barns of 500 cows each.

Adriaan and Wilma also made the Rich List last year with wealth estimated at $65 million.

Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen

Pest weed wreaks havocTHE FIGHT is on against the pest velvetleaf.

Considered a serious cropping pest, velvet leaf has been found in fodder beet crops in Marlborough, Waikato, North Canterbury and Central Otago.

The Ministry of Primary Industries is investigating how this has occurred; it appears likely to have come from imported fodder beet seed.

“All farmers who have planted fodder beet seed should check their crops carefully for signs of velvetleaf,” MPI says.

“Those who have planted Kyros or Bangor varieties should be particularly vigilant. Potentially contaminated seed has been sold all around New Zealand.”

The Waikato Regional Council says it’s working with MPI on the containment and eradication of two new out-breaks of the pest plant velvet leaf in the region.

The new Waikato outbreaks, at Matamata and Piopio, have been linked to possibly contaminated imported fodder beet seed, which is believed to have led to a number of velvetleaf finds in the South Island.

“We became aware last week of the new infestation sites in Waikato and we’re supporting the ministry in its efforts to respond to them,” says the council’s pest plants team leader, Darion Embling.

The first time velvetleaf was discovered in Waikato was in 2011 when the pest was found in maize on farms mostly in Matamata-Piako district, and one find each in Waikato and Waipa districts. The source of this outbreak is unknown. The regional council has contained this out-break and is working towards eradication.

“We’re keen to help ensure the new outbreaks at Mata-mata and Piopio also don’t lead to widespread problems,” says Embling.

Farmers are also advised to photograph any plants and mark their location so they can be found again easily. The ministry warns against pulling up plants and says a tech-nical expert will visit and carefully remove any plants to make sure velvetleaf seed, if present, is not spread.

Velvetleaf seeds are particularly hardy. They can per-sist for up to 50 years and can survive digestion and silage production.

Sightings of this weed should be reported to MPI on 0800 80 99 66.

CROPPING PEST■■ A■broad-leafed■weed■that■grows■to■between■1m■

and■2.5m■■(usually■higher■than■crops)

■■ Buttery-yellow■flowers■appear■over■summer■and■autumn■and■heart-shaped■leaves■are■velvety■to■touch

■■ Likely■to■be■found■in■a■crop

■■ Seedlings■grow■rapidly■and■compete■with■crop■plants■for■nutrients,■water■and■space■(reducing■crop■yields).

Velvetleaf is causing concern in some regions.

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NEWS // 17

Aerial campaign saves crops, lifts yield

Way to Go Heliservices pilot Matt Cruickshank in action at Scott Ricketts farm.

AT DAIRY farmer Scott Ricketts’ Oxford farm, there’s a war going on: his crops are under attack from white butterfly so he’s called in air support to gain the upper hand.

The air support is a spray boom-equipped helicopter from Way To Go Heliservices, Rangiora, flown by Matt Cruickshank.

Dairy News joined the team from Way To Go as they mounted an early morning attack on the ravenous caterpillars chewing through the crops.

With dairy farmers facing a tough time, every expense has to be justified and every dollar spent maximised.

Though there is a perception that getting a helicopter is an expensive way of dealing with these pests, in fact it’s not true: more and more farmers are turning to the skies to optimise their returns from their crops.

Ricketts says “It’s a no brainer to get the choppers in. You spend a lot of effort getting your crop to where it is, so why would you drive over it?”

The non-invasiveness of aerial spraying is a key advantage over ground-based spraying. Ground sprayers and spreaders damage 5-10% of crops; some grain farmers report that up to 12% of crops sustain damage.

Not so with a helicopter, and there’s no soil compaction and no risk of disease spreading from other crops as the chopper moves from paddock to paddock. You can therefore use the full growing area of your land whether you own it or lease it.

Aerial spraying allows a larger area to be covered faster, and specific areas and obstacles like centre pivot irrigators present no problem.

Way To Go chief pilot and chief executive Rob Kittow provided figures to show the advantage of aerial work.

Taking a typical fodder beet crop that will generate $6000/ha, if

ground spraying damages 5% of a crop, that costs $300/ha.

With an aerial application costing $50/ha, and allowing for four applications per year, the cost is $200/ha. In contrast, a ground application costing $25/ha, for four applications, would cost $100/ha. The difference between aerial and ground appears to be $100/ha in favour of ground operations.

But when you factor in an increased yield due to aerial application not damaging the crop, this shows a $100/ha advantage for the aerial operation.

Other economic advantages of aerial operations, e.g. full utilisation of land, no soil compaction, no disease transfer, no plant damage to upper plants from vehicle undercarriage, at 2.5% that gains another $150/ha.

Therefore a $250 gain per hectare for a 100ha crop gives an increased return of $25,000; a 200ha crop would increase this to $50,000.

Back at Oxford, Kittow’s pilot and ground crew work to minimise the aircraft’s time sitting on the ground.

The speed of the operation means Cruickshank can complete all Ricketts’ and his neighbours’ tasks in about two hours then head off to another spray job in the hills above Oxford.

Baydon Phillips saw a major fire rip through his property late last year and has called in Way to Go to nail the weeds that have sprouted all over his land.

Around 30 minutes of flying later the task is over; “job done” Philips remarked with a smile on his face.

Cruickshank showed the skills and the utility of the Robinson R44 he was flying: he selected one spray boom and flew along the top of a deer fence, enabling him to get close to the boundary.

Demand from Mid Canterbury farmers for the Way To Go service has led to Kittow deciding to base a machine near Ashburton.

RICHARD COSGROVEThe results for farmers

have been spectacular: potato farmers report crop yield increases of 25%.

Aerial work has traditionally been seen as an option only for steep hill country or hard-access areas. But flat land farmers

like Ricketts, looking at every dollar spent and keen to maximise the benefits of that spend, are realising the benefits of having a helicopter do spraying and fertilising operations on their properties.

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Speak to your local Gea Service Partner or call 0800 Gea farm (0800 432 327) to find your closest Service Partner.


18 // NEWS

Bala Tikkisetty

Protecting peat land pays in many waysPEAT SOILS are a fragile and important part of our lowland ecosystems that regulate water flows and quality. When managed properly, peat soils can also be a valuable, productive resource, but it must be acknowledged that use of these soils inevitably leads to peat loss and shrinkage through oxidation.

A key to successful long-term farming on peat soils is finding the right balance between keeping the water table low enough for production but high enough to minimise peat loss.

The Waikato region has about half of New Zea-land’s peatlands, with about 94,000ha of peat-lands containing about 2.7 billion cubic metres of peat.

Drainage has greatly improved our ability to farm these lands but too much drainage can lead to increased shrinkage of peat soils and other environ-mental consequences.

When peat is drained, the carbon in the soil is exposed to air. The carbon is then able to bind with oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide, a noted greenhouse gas. It’s estimated that developed peatland releases about 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Drainage of peatlands for production can also cause a reduction of water levels in neighbouring wet-lands and peat lakes, which are at-risk natural ecosys-tems.

And as peat shrinks the depth of fertile topsoil also decreases. This means that further drainage, cultiva-tion and pasture renewal are needed to maintain productivity, increasing the cost to farmers and the impacts on the environ-ment.

If we don’t manage our peat carefully, it will con-tinue to shrink until even-tually there will be no peat left; a unique and valuable resource will be lost for-ever.

In some areas, the underlying soils that land-

owners will be left with may have poor fertility, requiring high inputs to maintain productivity. The flood risk and pumping costs in the low lying areas may increase substantially.

So how can we best strike a balance between keeping the water table on peatlands low enough for production but high enough to minimise peat losses?

The right drain depth is one of the keys. Deep drains in peat cause over-drainage and rapid subsidence of peat soils. As the peat dries it shrinks and cracks, making soils difficult to re-wet. Rainwater flows down into the subsoil through cracks in the peat. When peat dries it becomes waxy and doesn’t reabsorb water easily. By keeping drains shallow, we can keep the water table high enough to protect the peat soil.

Keeping the water table high in drier periods is important for pasture growth and maintaining soil quality, for peat and mineral soils. This can be achieved by putting weirs or stopgates in the drains.

Better water table management will mini-mise shrinkage, allow-ing for extended summer grass growth and profit-able farming of peat soils for longer.

Controlling weeds in drains and fencing them off to exclude stock reduces the cost of machine cleaning drains, which can also lead to them deepening.

Most silt in drains comes from stock dam-aging the drain banks. By fencing off your drains you’ll greatly reduce the need to machine-clean them.

Keeping cultivation of peat soils to a minimum is also important. Peat is naturally anaerobic (has no oxygen present) and is very acid (soil pH <4.5). Cultivation creates a surface layer of aerated peat which accelerates oxidation and loss of the soil. The pH can be corrected by adding lime, but cultivation causes peat to shrink twice as fast as

BALA TIKKISETTYit does under pasture. So the less cultivation you do, the longer your peat soil will last.

The peat farmers’ group, with AgResearch

and other stakeholders, is organising a field day on peat soil management on April 12 at Orini, north of Hamilton. Waikato Regional Council will pro-

vide further details on this soon.• Bala Tikkisetty is a sustain-able agriculture advisor at Waikato Regional Council. Tel. 0800 800 401

Contains SustaiN

To maximise pasture growth on the shoulders of the season call your Ballance Nutrient Specialist, call 0800 222 090 or visit sustaingain.co.nz

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NEWS // 19

Contains SustaiN

To maximise pasture growth on the shoulders of the season call your Ballance Nutrient Specialist, call 0800 222 090 or visit sustaingain.co.nz

Spread the wordPhaSedN is a unique formulation of SustaiN, fi ne elemental sulphur and lime in one granule that grows more pasture both sides of winter. The nitrogen provides an immediate boost and by being retained in the soil over winter the fi ne elemental sulphur slowly releases to support early spring pasture growth.

New worker’s rostered time off: figure thisAT EVERY interview for a farm position, a key question for an applicant is, “How much rostered time off do I get?” Your

answer can influence the job’s appeal.

This is a big issue in the farming sector in today’s climate. Under the spot-light is hours worked versus the minimum wage. Time off is a key issue

facing the dairy industry in trying to attract and retain quality staff.

In the past rural employers offered a week-end off every month; this at the time was consid-ered the norm for dairy

farming. On occasions this would be offered as a three-day weekend, with one of the days desig-nated as the rostered day, to cover any time in lieu or for any statutory holi-days worked. Over time

the rostered time off has headed towards being every second weekend. This, in part, has been due to farm workers now comparing themselves with workers in other industries. The compar-

John Brosnan

JOHN BROSNAN

ison often is, farm staff have 70-90 days leave per annum, compared to 110-135 for employees in other industries.

It was common to hear it said that the lack of time off onfarm was more than compensated by the life-style, but this is not always the case these days.

Today farms are typi-cally much larger concerns with far more going on – feed supplements being used, technology advance-ments and far greater emphasis on health and safety.

Many workers may not be able to have their families onfarm so that the farm meets its obliga-tions under the health and safety regulations. The ‘lifestyle’ aspect of farm-ing has in many cases been eroded by mandatory busi-ness practice compli-ance, the introduction and enforcement of perfor-mance key performance indicators and the yearly demands of busy sched-ules for farm employees.

So what do you do? Budget more for relief

staff; how do you find reg-ular, reliable quality relief staff?

Or do you budget for additional permanent staff for onfarm simply to cover all leave contingencies?

How will this work in seasons with low payouts, negative cashflows or the onset of drought condi-tions, which potentially can all be added into the

mix? It’s a very tough decision and a hard question to answer!

Staff costs are often seen as something the employer can have more influence over, but in reality only to a degree, as the work needs to be done, and having tired, stressed or over-worked staff and bosses helps no one. Wages are not always the largest expense, com-pared to some of the other essential operating costs.

Having good staff can make a huge difference to how your farm runs, therefore being able to attract and keep good staff is vital, notwithstanding that having to continu-ally recruit and train new employees also has its costs and its frustrations.

The bigger picture is that attracting and retain-ing good people in our rural communities is cru-cial for New Zealand’s pro-vincial growth.

It’s not straight for-ward: striking the ideal balance between cash-flow, operating budgets, farm productivity and maintaining an engaged motivated team is a daily challenge. In short, there is no easy answer.• John Brosnan is a human advisor at CooperAitken Accountants, Morrinsville, Matamata and Thames. Contact him at 07 889 8838 or email [email protected]. www.cooperaitken.co.nz

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RUMINATING

EDITORIAL

MILKING IT...

20 // OPINIONDAI RY NEWS MARCH 29, 2016

Quietly quietly to ViaductFONTERRA STAFF has moved without fanfare into its new head office on the edge of Auck-land’s glitzy Viaduct area. The silent move is unsurprising given the hardships faced by farmers after three consecutive seasons of low payout.

The office in Fan-shawe Street brings together staff from four locations. It is leased by the co-op, having been planned several years ago when the payout was favourable.

Sign of things to come?US RETAIL giant Wal-Mart Stores says it will build a dairy processing plant in Indiana to supply in-house milk to about 600 stores.

It is the retailer’s first foray into food process-ing in the US.

This is bad news for US processor Dean Foods, which supplies Wal-Mart’s in-house milk.

Wal-Mart confirmed that Dean Foods would continue to supply some of its in-house white and chocolate milk to other Wal-Mart supermarkets and Sam’s Club mem-bership-based wholesale stores. The retail giant is the largest grocer in the US with at least 5000 locations. Australian supermarket giant Wool-worths will be sitting up and taking notice.

Farm squeeze affects vets THE PROLONGED low dairy payout is affect-ing rural vets; some are reporting 25-30% reduc-tion in income.

The fall comes as dairy farmers cut bud-gets, have fewer lame cows, and as more cows get culled, leaving fewer animals for vets to treat.

In the past two months, work has picked up as farmers spend on pregnancy scans for dairy cows, but this is expected to drop off again.

Vets say they are cutting back: stripping printing and stationery costs, pulling back on continuing education for staff, watching phone costs and even scrutinis-ing their giving to local charities and farming groups.

Raw milk, raw dealNEW RULES on raw milk sales are causing an angry reaction by sellers, but the Ministry for Primary Industries says the rules are needed because of the risk raw milk poses.

The rules have put several raw milk retailers out of business in recent weeks. They come into full force on November 1. Meanwhile MPI is holding workshops to help farmers comply.

The rules have been subject to consultation and strike a balance between the increased demand for raw milk and its risk to human health, MPI says.

FONTERRA AND its farmer shareholders did not need this.Times are tough on farm but Fonterra farmers are ploughing on,

keeping a close eye on things they can control. What they don’t need is to be bailed up at the local pub or golf

club by an irate contractor eager to gripe about Fonterra’s bully-ing tactics.

In November Fonterra sent a generic letter to about 1000 NZ contractors, asking for more time to pay its bills. But suppliers have complained of bullying, after having their payment times extended to 61 days after the end of the invoicing month.

The suppliers got strong backing from many quarters; some business commentators who usually refrain from bashing Fon-terra could not resist having a go at the co-op.

Speaking at the Future Farms Conference in Palmerston North, Waikato University professor of economics Frank Scrimgeour said the co-op’s move was appalling and disappointing given it is the country’s largest company.

Scrimgeour made it clear that in the past he has withheld nega-tive comments about Fonterra but was speaking out now.

“I observe people in Waikato who have supplied services to Fon-terra for more than 20 years, then they get ‘a Dear John’ letter; it’s not even personalised.

“They get told the bills will not be paid for 90 days and that the co-op demands a price cut of 10%; that’s not the way you do busi-ness.

“If you want to renegotiate a contract you face up to the sup-plier and talk face-to-face; this is very bad modelling, very unhelp-ful for the cause of dairying, very unhelpful for the reputation of Fonterra.”

Scrimgeour says the dairy industry has to face many challenges that are not of its own making. Life’s already difficult but Fonterra must play the game within the rules.

The message got home: at last week’s half-year results announce-ment the Fonterra chairman read a prepared speech at the open-ing. He admitted Fonterra could have done a better job.

“We could have had better discussion with our vendors; we never intended to put any of our small businesses in a difficult situation.”

But the damage is done; this is another clear example of Fon-terra failing to get its message across to the masses.

Farmers want their cooperative to be a good corporate citizen. Such a heavy handed approach does little help to Fonterra’s rep-utation.

Fonterra and its farmers prop up economies in regions and small towns nationwide; as the world’s largest dairy exporter Fonterra has around 16,000 contractors worldwide. It has a social and moral responsibility to the country; bullying small rural contractors isn’t the way to go.

No place for bullies

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OPINION // 21

Get down and dirty, you dumb critics

IT’S BEEN a good summer in Wairarapa with rain at the right times to keep grass and crops going.

January’s rain turned up in February but the March trend of autumn coming early hasn’t even-tuated. Hot dry and dusty, all good if you own a water tanker business.

Production has been good, some products

having their best year, especially beef and wool. This and a snapping shut of wallets should keep most Wairarapa farmers in a reasonable position.

Farmers need to put all this into perspective after being warned this season would be like summer 1998 – the mother of all droughts.

These forecasts came from weather experts and highlight the challenge of predicting seasonal trends.

You would’ve had to live under a rock, or spent the last five days in Whan-gamomona, to have not seen, heard or read all expert opinion on the dairy industry.

Its a media trend nowa-days to roll out a spokes-man or consultant, usually academic, to make sensa-tional predictions of dire consequences, but it is frustrating for farmers and creates more pressure.

We’ve been blessed with these unique vision-aries recalling how they warned us all, sharing their

profound industry wisdom while imparting dramatic summaries on farm via-bility. Many of these self-appointed philosophers can’t tell the difference between a cow and a bull, let alone know the inside of a dairy business.

One ‘expert’ was pro-moted as having worked for New Zealand’s major dairy businesses, and then had to correct the state-ment about not having worked for Fonterra, which is 85% of the indus-try.

Such people should talk only about what they know and if pursued by the media for comment, should give only construc-tive, unbiased commen-tary.

A case in point: the Wairarapa Water Use proj-ect and speculation on dairy farmers’ financial viability, which would lead to banks foreclosing on many clients.

The argument was that because irrigation is used for dairying, then irri-gation must be stopped because dairy farming is no good.

This misses the point and shows a fair degree of ignorance as irrigation is used for many land uses and where one is unprof-itable another will take its place.

Often overlooked too is our dairy farmers’ abil-ity to be innovative and adaptable, hence the shift to rearing beef animals as well as milking.

So a message to the ‘experts’: please refrain, this does not help farmers’ or their families’ mental state. Come to a farm instead and do a few days work milking cows. Talk to real farmers who use water and see the differ-ence they can make rather than taking potshots from Wellington.

We know how tough it is: we are living it – paying bills, complying with laws,

JAMIE FALLOONpaying staff, spending time with family, looking after our animals and trying to keep it all together.

Farmers need support more than ever; it gives us a glimmer of light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Acknowledgement of

the effort that goes into our industry would be appreciated rather than scrutiny without regard for one’s feelings or live-lihood.• Jamie Falloon is Federated Farmers’ Wairarapa provin-cial president.

Rain has kept grass growing in many parts of the country.

Jamie Falloon

Check out our websiteswww.ruralnews.co.nzwww.dairynews.co.nz

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22 // AGRIBUSINESS

Passion for soilGROWING UP in urban South Auck-land seems a world apart from working with South Island farmers, but for Bal-lance Agri-Nutrients’ Aimee Robin-son that’s where she wants to be.

Robinson is the upper South Island representa-tive for Ballance’s science extension team, working with farmers in Canter-bury, Marlborough and the West Coast. She advises them on rais-ing onfarm productiv-ity by more efficient and effective nutrient man-agement. For Rolleston-based Robinson the role is a good fit.

“Everything on Earth relies on soil; it’s the basis for agriculture and human society. So it’s incredibly rewarding to work closely with farmers, who are so knowledgeable already, to continually improve the way we use the soil.”

A graduate of Lincoln University, Robinson is MSc in soil science and BSc in environmental science. She loves working in the farming industry and feels welcome in the farming commu-nity.

“They are accepting and welcoming as an industry and community. Farm-ers love sharing; you learn so much by

asking them”, Robinson says. Notwithstanding ribbing by

farmers about her Auckland origins, Robinson finds

that her education back-ground, industry experi-ence and interest in the community has helped to establish a great rapport.

“If you’re honest and willing to put in time to understand their particular situations, goals and challenges, then they respect you

for that. If they trust you, they’ll trust your advice.”

She works with individual farmers and runs education workshops, some for people working in farming, some for school-age children and people in urban areas. She works to present an accurate view of farming and to challenge the misconception that farmers don’t care about the land and environment.

“When you talk to farmers, it’s imme-diately clear that looking after the envi-ronment is important to them,” she says.

Time in gumboots gives new perspectiveFRESH FROM two years in the paddock as a dairy farm manager, Josh Verhoek is now back on the Ballance Agri-Nutri-ents science extension team.

Based in Fielding, he is now Ballance’s science extension officer for the lower North Island, using his experience and onfarm insights to help farmers best use farm nutrients.

“Working as a dairy manager was a challeng-ing and eye-opening expe-rience,” says Verhoek. “It was mentally and physi-cally exhausting work, with a vast scope of things to understand. It puts the demands of farming into reality.”

Now back on the tech-nical side, Verhoek enjoys working with farmers to maximise the value of the

products they use, and to introduce ideas and prod-ucts from Ballance. He has a lead role in farm systems knowledge and developing Ballance’s links with sheep and beef farmers.

“My time as a farm manager has helped me when advising farmers, as they know I’ve ‘been in the

gumboots’, having lived and breathed what they do, and that’s a perspec-tive you can’t buy.

“We want to give farm-ers every advantage we can, advising them on how to increase production by more efficient resource management.”

Verhoek knows how

important it is for farmers to have confidence in an adviser.

“For most farm-ers, working on the land means balancing produc-tion and economic pri-orities with regulatory requirements and a desire to protect the environ-ment,” he says.

“There is sometimes a misconception outside the agricultural commu-nity that farmers aren’t always environmentally conscious but for the vast majority of farmers that’s not true.”

A graduate of Lin-coln University’s agricul-tural science and Massey’s nutrient management pro-grammes, Verhoek rec-ognises the challenges farmers face in balancing livelihood with looking after the environment.

Josh Verhoek

Aime Robinson

www.dairynews.co.nz

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AGRIBUSINESS // 23

NZ ticks the boxes for Brits

Mark and Julie Cressey.MARK AND Julie Cressey say they have the best sharemilking job in New Zealand.

They are now into their ninth season as the share-milkers on the Rakaia Incorporation’s Tahu a Tao dairy farm, a finalist in the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition to determine the top Maori dairy farm.

When the job was advertised the sharehold-ers then on the farm told them it was the best share-milking job in the country; the Creeseys agree.

They have spent 11 of the last 12 years in NZ working on Maori farms.

Their story starts in England where Mark was running the family dairy farm; they had reached a crossroads because it wasn’t sustainable and there was family politics.

“We were looking at where we could fur-ther our dairying career. Dairy was what I knew and enjoyed but we didn’t fancy Europe because of all the bureaucracy and subsidies. We researched NZ via Dexel and we thought it was pretty good there and that the aver-age operator was doing a good job.

“We didn’t want to be average so we backed our-selves to be better than average; we came to NZ for six days to see what it was like.”

Julie says she instigated the change.

“As a family we needed to look to the future, and I got us looking over-seas. We looked at Canada and were going to look at the US, then a neighbour pointed us towards NZ.”

Mark says they were determined to be objec-tive about the options but when they came to NZ they knew straight away this was the place for them. So we decided to come here.

“The family didn’t take it at all well. Julie’s family were a bit disappointed to lose their daughter, but my family… had a dream of the sons being on the farm and I was the last son on

the farm. “So all the cows were

sold in September, my father died in October and we left on November 1, so it was a tough time.”

The first job they landed was with Wair-arapa Moana, at Man-gakino, a trust chaired by Kingi Smiler. The Cree-seys wanted to find people who could teach them the NZ pasture system. They spent a season on another nearby farm in the King Country before applying for and getting the job at Rakaia.

At the same time they sold their house in Eng-land and made NZ their home. “We love it; this is home now,” says Julie.

For Mark, working for Rakaia is the perfect job. He says the Incorpora-tion has been support-ive, doesn’t interfere on day-to-day issues and has acted on their recom-mendations to improve some farm infrastructure including staff housing.

“The support they give us, in the sense of welcom-ing us into their family, is absolutely great,” says Julie. “We see them only once a year, but we have always had a great day with them and a great rela-tionship. It’s nice that they have opened their farm to us and accepted us. It works both ways because they are dealing with our culture as well.”

Arriving in NZ, Mark wondered how he would motivate himself, having come from a farm that had crops and pigs as well as cows. But he says the chal-lenge of managing pasture is great, as is seeing the bank balance grow.

The Cressey’s have not stopped at their 50/50 sharemilking role at Rakaia.

“We bought a farm three years ago and we have lower order share-milker on that; they are finding it really tough. Our daughter is a lower order sharemilker at the moment.

“If you understand financial aspects of the business and you are financially savvy you have to accept it – life’s tough.


We have a helluva lot more debt than we had and life’s a lot tougher for us now but you have just got to understand that.”

The answer, says Julie,

is being proactive and making good decisions.

The Cresseys have four years left on their contract and want to see it out.

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24 // MANAGEMENT

Farmers must learn to manage risk betterTHE FIELD day at Rakaia was an-other great event, says Kingi Smiler, chairman of the Ahuwhenua man-agement committee which runs the trophy competition.

About 200 people attended the day.

Smiler says Rakaia Incorporation has huge local support and a won-derful story to tell about the history of the farm – one it tells beautifully. The story tells how they took back control of their lands after suffering during the colonisation process.

The decision to convert the land to dairying was a brave one at the time and the whanau has a great sense of pride about its achieve-ments.

“Tahu a Tao is like many Maori farms which are managing the vola-tility in the dairy industry and still making a profit while most other dairy farms will be making losses this season.

“There are a couple of key reasons for that. Maori farming is focused on intergenerational outcomes so they are not farming for capital gains and are not looking at the property market. Instead they are working and sustaining the land and deriving a yield so that they can

support each generation of share-holders so that all get some benefit from the property.

“It’s a completely differently phi-losophy and therefore their onfarm focus on performance is there every year, not just when prices pick up.”

Smiler says Rakaia Incorpora-tion has been tight on farm working expenses and has done a wonderful job getting high productivity at low cost – superior to most farms in this region and nationwide. Low debt enables them to manage well.

Maori farms generally have good sustainable farming systems which clearly work, and in these tough times Smiler expects other farm-ers to start adopting some of these practices.

At least 800 people have re-cently attended the field days of the three Ahuwhenua Trophy finalists, an excellent turnout, Smiler says. The competition instills pride and mana in whanau directly involved and in Maori generally. He hopes this will help motivate them to pass this on to successive generations.

An awards dinner and ceremony will be held on Friday May 20 in Hamilton. About 800 people are expected to attend.

VISIONARY EYES ON THE FUTURE

A SOUTH Island farm consultant says dairy farmers must learn to be better risk managers.

John Donkers says ironically dairy farmers face up to and manage cli-

matic uncertainty pretty well, but must apply these principles to other aspects of their business.

His comments came at a field day run by the proprietors of the Rakaia

Incorpora-tion, one

of

three finalists in this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy com-petition to find the top Maori dairy farm.

“There is a school of thought that says dairy has had a pretty good run and that essentially it will be alright at the end of the day. Dairy farmers don’t seem to have been proac-tively managing their busi-

ness to make sure they’re alright. They need to be more active in that area and adapt existing skills to advance their business.”

Donkers says farmers must manage the cost of production every day and decide whether to spend money on any given proj-ect. This includes capi-


TO PAGE 25

Farm consultant John Donkers.


MANAGEMENT // 25

Farmers must learn to manage risk better

Visitors at the field day on Rakaia Inc farm.

THE PROPRIETERS of Rakaia Incorporation say the business will make a profit this year despite the low dairy payout.

The chairman, James Russell, says this is because the farm does not hold a lot of debt and manages its operation carefully.

The incorporation’s Tahu a Tao farm runs about 830 Kiwi cross cows on its 216ha property near Ashburton. The cows produced 371,294kgMS last season. The farm was converted to dairying in 1996 and has always operated with 50/50 sharemilk-ers. The current sharemilkers are Mark and Julie Cressey.

Russell has been involved in the farm since the idea of converting the land to dairying was first raised. He says the move to run cows was a big leap of faith for the whanau of Rakaia and now he’s extremely pleased with the outcome.

“I’ve been involved for 23 years. I was the deputy chair and I proposed we move into dairy. The chairman at the time passed away and I was elected chairman at the time of the conversation. It was a big leap but my family had a small dairy farm on the West Coast during my younger days and I was in another incorporation on the West Coast called Mawhera, near Greymouth.”

Russell says the effort on the present farm has paid off and the incorporation has bought another farm near Culverden and is looking at buying a third farm. The management committee works hard at communication, every year inviting shareholders to a day on one of the two farms.

Russell is full of praise for the farm staff – supervisor John Donkers and sharemilkers Mark and Julie Cressey – who have made the farm profitable.

And he applauds the role of the Ahuwhenua competition.

“The Ahuwhenua trophy is portraying that more Maoris will go into farming, be it dairying, sheep and beef or horticulture. The success of Maori agriculture is not widely known and it is up to the Maori organisations to promote that. They are not promoting it as well as they should be.”

Russell says he was delighted with the turnout to the field day: it was better than they had expected.

tal structure and buying big assets such as tractors, cows or farms and making sure they don’t pay too much for them.

“People get excited about the dairy indus-try when the milk price is $8.40/kgMS. Now they should be getting excited about the indus-try because there will be lots of opportunities. Land values are going to decline slightly and that will give sharemilkers an opportu-nity to buy in. It will give Rakaia Incorporation the

opportunity to buy a third or fourth farm.”

Donkers sees a need for a ‘reset’ in the dairy industry – getting back to the basics of low cost pro-duction which is essen-tially producing grass efficiently. He says based on his 40 years in the dairy industry, he can see the farmers who are the most resilient and profitable are those doing this well.

“I don’t knock supple-ments because they have a place. What matters is how you use them and in what quantity; not stock-

ing your farms up high and using lots of supplements, but instead optimis-ing your business in such things as stocking rates.”

Donkers, an advisor to the Rakaia Incorpora-tion, says they take a con-servative approach to their business, and have a strong balance sheet with little debt.

PROFIT IN VIEW DESPITE LOW PAYOUT

FROM PAGE 24

James Russell

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seed are created equal. There are significant dif-ferences in the quality of maize being sold in New Zealand. Seed which has poor germination and/or vigour will result in uneven stands with lower-than-ideal plant popula-tions. An optimal plant population is critical to ensuring high maize silage yields. Genetic purity

Hybrid maize seed is produced by crossing two purebred parent lines. Planted in an even pad-dock, genetically pure hybrid seed will pro-duce plants which all look the same and have the same yield poten-

tial. This season we have seen plenty of non-Pio-neer crops which have poor genetic purity. Plants are variable in height and flowered at slightly differ-ent times. This impacts silage yield, grain yield and even harvest timing. Always look for a hybrid which delivers an even plant stand as it’s critical

to achieving high and con-sistent yields.Seed treatment

In achieving high silage yields every plant counts. Insecticide coating is vital, especially for silage crops planted into pasture paddocks. Pioneer’s Premium Seed Treatment offers a number of industry-leading fungicide, insecticide and bird repellent options to control soil borne diseases, insects and birds. Weed control

Weeds compete with

maize plants for sun-light, nutrients and water. Weedy crops produce less and the impact is even more marked in moisture-limited environments. The good news is there are a wide range of herbicides for controlling weeds in maize. If you are plant-ing your paddock in maize silage again next season, spray it out with glypho-sate prior to planting your winter pasture or crop. For paddocks coming out of pasture in the spring, implement a good pre-emergent weed control programme. Walk your crop regularly in the first few weeks after planting and be prepared to apply

post-emergent herbicides where necessary.Fertiliser

Research has shown that maize silage can be grown on most high fertil-ity dairy farms without the need for additional fertil-iser. As long as weed con-trol is good and moisture is not limiting, it is rela-tively rare to see nutrient

deficient crops on dairy land. That said, always take a soil test and apply nutrients when needed.

As your maize comes off this autumn, look at the crop and see if there are ways you can improve management to get an even higher yielding maize crop in 2017. Remember more yield means lower cost drymatter and higher returns.• Ian Williams is a Pioneer forage specialist. Contact him at [email protected]


26 // MANAGEMENT

Making a good maize silage cropMAIZE SILAGE harvest-ing is now underway in most regions.

Most of the costs of growing a maize crop are fixed, so the higher the yield per hectare, the lower the drymatter cost and the greater the poten-tial return from your maize silage crop. I’ve seen bumper crops this year,

but also paddocks where farmers have lost yield potential for a number of reasons. These include:Hybrid choice

It seems obvious that choosing a high yielding hybrid is one of the first steps in ensuring a high yielding maize silage crop, yet every season I run into a handful of farmers who

are prepared to sacrifice yield to get cheap maize seed. At a $4.25 payout, assuming a milksolids response of 80g/kgDM fed, it adds up to paying an extra $100/ha (includ-ing seed treatment) for a hybrid which will deliver you just 295kg more dry-matter yield. A hybrid which delivers 500kg

more drymatter is worth $170/ha more. Pioneer brand maize hybrid yield is increasing by an average of 311kgDM/ha per year. Newly released hybrids will almost always deliver a significant yield advan-tage when compared to older hybrids.Seed quality

Not all bags of maize

A Pioneer hybrid showing an even plant stand and good genetic purity.

A non-Pioneer crop showing the impact of poor genetic purity.

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ANIMAL HEALTH // 27

Autumn damp may bring disease in young stock

AUTUMN IS here and with it come diseases asso-ciated with damp condi-tions. One such can be coccidiosis during the post-weaning period.

Coccidiosis is a dis-ease of young stock that causes big losses eco-nomic losses in dairy and beef industries worldwide – estimated to be US$400 million per year.

Coccidiosis is caused by a parasite (Eimeria bovis and Eimeria zuer-nii) that infects the intes-tinal cells.

The life cycle of these parasites is complex. Single cell oocysts (eggs) are passed in the faeces of cattle and can remain in the environment for a long time, where they can remain infective. This is especially true in moist, shady areas.

The oocysts are ingested by suscepti-ble cattle and after many stages of transformation and replication another generation of oocysts are produced and passed in the faeces of the infected animal.

The multiplication rate of these parasites is phenomenal, with one ingested oocyst produc-ing as many as 23 million oocysts in the next gener-ation. This helps explain why coccidiosis outbreaks can quickly get out of con-trol.

Oocysts mature within the intestinal cells of the animal, leading to rupture of the cell; this is what is responsible for the disease and the clinical signs that develop.

The severity of dis-ease is directly related to the number of oocysts ingested. In mild infec-tions, there is minimal damage to the intestinal cells as they can rapidly be replaced and the damage can be quickly repaired.

It is estimated that 95% of coccidial infections are subclinical where the animals do not show any obvious signs of disease.

However, while there is often no sign of dis-ease these mild infections can cause a reduction in

growth rates. Low exposure to coc-

cidia will result in devel-opment of immunity to that particular species to coccidia.

In severe infections, most of the intestinal cells are infected which, upon rupturing, results in severe intestinal damage and blood loss in the faeces.

As few as 50,000 infec-tive oocysts are required to cause severe disease in a susceptible young calf.

Coccidiosis primar-ily occurs in susceptible young stock when there is crowding, stress and high environmental exposure. Stress such as transport, weaning, dietary changes, management procedures and other health problems can precipitate an out-break of coccidiosis.

The clinical signs of coccidiosis can include diarrhoea (which may contain blood), straining, loss of appetite, weight loss and even death. Severely affected animals often have faecal staining around their tail and hind legs and may stand away from the mob.

Your veterinarian will make a diagnosis of coc-cidiosis based on clini-cal signs, faecal samples and sometimes post-mor-tems of affected animals. Diagnosis is essential for prompt and specific treat-ment to enable the best prognosis.

Recovery can be slow and some animals remain permanently unthrifty.

There is a high risk of coccidiosis in dairy heifers where the same ‘calf pad-docks’ are used year after year.

Coccidial oocysts can survive in the environ-ment for up to two years in optimal conditions. Out-breaks often occur in dif-

GEMMA CHUCK

ferent groups of calves reared in the same pad-docks from one season to the next.

Paddocks should be managed to reduce the

environmental exposure to coccidial oocysts. This can be achieved using an ‘all-in all-out’ system with rotation of smaller pad-docks or use of moveable

hot wires in larger pad-docks.

Reducing the stocking density will reduce the risk of disease during ‘at-risk’ times of the year.

The use of in-feed coc-cidiostats such as monen-sin (Rumensin) and lasalocid (Bovatec) can help prevent coccidiosis. The ration (grain, pellets)

should be checked prior to feeding to determine the level of coccidiostat.• Gemma Chuck is a member of the The Vet Group, Victo-ria, Australia.

Gemma Chuck

0025 OPS Benefits_Selwny Dairy (280x187)_FAmm.indd 1 30/09/15 2:28 pm

GOOD RESULTS have been seen in boosting profitability from pas-ture management on two Northland ‘partner farms’ – but there’s still plenty of work to do, says farm con-sultant Gareth Baynham.

Baynham is facilita-tor of the Northland part-ner farm project for DairyNZ and Northland Dairy Development Trust (NDDT) and gave a recent briefing on targets and results on the farms.

Following on from the DairyNZ focus farm of Ali-ster and Lyn Candy (2010-2015), Bayn-ham said they were excited about what happened there and thought they could do something simi-lar at partner farms. Also NDDT was looking for an extension to the principles of its trial farm near Dar-gaville.

“We’ve got ‘pasture’ from Profit from Pasture as our catch cry: it was at our focus farm and we are carrying that through to our partner farms. We want to demonstrate how all farm management, and especially pasture man-agement, can increase profitability.”

The two focus farms are run by Tony and Briar Lunjevich at Takahue, near Kaitaia, and Innes Anderson and Tania Dro-pulich, with contract milk-ers Philip and Pia Rockell, near Kaiwaka in the lower north.

All the ‘heavy lifting’ is done by the management team of farmers.

“We meet the farmers and have an initial whole farm assessment using the DairyNZ tool. We meet monthly for six months and then we go to quar-terly… a bit different from the focus farm where we meet monthly for three years.”

Tony and Briar Lunjev-

ich joined the partner farm progrmme in 2014 with support from a manage-ment team who have given their time, and sponsors.

Tony and Briar are 50/50 sharemilking for Don and Linda Lunjevich, Tony’s parents. The farm before they started was a 107ha milking platform; Tony had just bought a kikuyu runoff and parts of that are now coming into the milking plat-form. There’s a long walk (2.4km) to the furthest paddock and the contour is challenging in places. Tony had been doing three milkings in two days, with 16 hour milking of 230-240 cows.

The big move was to increase stocking rate. The farm was producing

about 580kgMS/ha and 260kgMS/cow which is typical for that area, Bayn-ham said. Pasture was 8tDM/ha and the key goal was to lift that to 10tDM/ha.

The initial plan was to increase equity for Tony and Briar to $500m and lift milk production from a total of 600,000kgMS to 90,000kgMS.

“We were going to do that through pasture man-agement – the feed wedge, spring rota-tion plan, rota-tion length targets, a nitrogen plan and good use of supple-ment when it is profitable to use it,” he said.

They planned to increase the

240 cows to nearly 300. Over time they planned to bring forward the calv-ing date from July 25 to July 10.

Another target was to reduce whole farm expen-diture, not just the share-milker, to $3/kgMS.

“They were running a pretty tight ship and we needed to keep it tight. They also wanted to move to twice-a-day milking.”

In year one milk pro-duction ended about 673kgMS/ha up so “that was a bit of a win”. “There was good early season stuff but we really fell away in late lactation. Pas-ture eaten went from 8t to 9.2t – again a good win but 10 was our three-year target.”

The spring rotation

and farm walks worked well but pasture qual-ity suffered in spring and autumn. Reproduction at 39% six week in-calf rate was pretty disappoint-ing (78% is the industry target).

“Based on that result we came up with a plan. This was a good lesson to learn. We thought we wanted more days in milk and we’d do that by calv-

ing five days earlier. What we should have done – LIC pointed out to us – was tighten up the calving; that would have given us the same effect.”

Lameness was a major issue.

Baynham said so far this year (2015-16) there have been big changes. Land area has increased to 124ha, some of the runoff is being milked off. The

stocking rate is 2.4 cows/ha and 14ha of chicory was grown for high value feed through the summer.

Milk production is on track for 84,000kgMS – up on 72,000kgMS last year and 62,000kgMS the year before. This is about 700kgMS/ha so “not a disaster but not quite where we were trying to get to,” Baynham said.

All the cows were on 16

hours and 36% were first calvers.

With pasture manage-ment there was low cover in the spring and mulching continued too late in May last year.

“That was a massive concern that put the farm under pressure all year. The big focus this year will be getting the mulching done earlier.”

Reproduction this year


28 // ANIMAL HEALTH / PASTURE

Pasture management lifts profit, cow health

Farmers attend a field day at the partner farm.

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Milk production graph

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“Based on that result we came up with a plan. This was a good lesson to learn. We thought we wanted more days in milk and we’d do that by calving five days earlier. What we should have done – LIC pointed out to us – was tighten up the calving; that would have given us the same effect.”


ANIMAL HEALTH / PASTURE // 29

Pasture management lifts profit, cow healthwas 41% six-week in calf rate. “That was really dis-appointing: we hoped to pick up some gains from the three milkings in two days. Cow condition was a bit light so that is a big focus for us next year.”

Summing up this

year, he said they had had a good peak right on target then pasture qual-ity bit during summer and autumn.

The first year they milked twice a day, this year three times in two days.

Expenditure graph for

partner farm.

THE LOWER North Island partner farm is run by Innes Anderson and Tania Dropulich, with con-tract milkers Philip and Pia Rockell, and once again supported by a great management team and local sponsors. Innes and Tania lease the farm from Innes’ parents.

There’s a 211ha milking platform: “That’s what happens when you GPS your farm – it shrinks; it was 220ha, all our numbers were based on that,” Baynham says.

The farm has 140ha irrigated. Before the partnership started they were milking 470 cows (2.2cows/ha) doing 160,000-170,000kgMS. That was probably a fraction above average for the area. That equated to 780kgMS/ha or 315kgMS/cow.

Pasture and crop eaten was just under 10t DM/ha and the goal is 11.4t DM/ha by 2017-18. “We wanted to increase the surplus by $180,000 and that would come from producing another 30,000kgMS and holding costs.

“It was a good worthwhile plan; it was going to come from pasture management, spring rotation plan, rotation length targets, nitrogen. Nothing is new there, but those are some great tools.

“They planned to oversow and mulch annual rye into kikuyu – that’s worked really well for them.”

They planned to lift the stocking rate from 2.2 to 2.6 cows/ha and hold farm expenditure at $700,000 so the increase in milk should dilute the costs from $4.24/kgMS to about $3.50/kgMS.

“That is going to come from Tania being mean and stingy when she is budgeting and we are helping her out with that,” said Baynham.

“We on track for about 900kgMS/ha which will be about 190,000kgMS, up from about 160,000kgMS last year. Tactical once-a-day is being used to manage cow conditions and feed deficits.

“We are pleased with the milk production gains: 30% of the herd are first calvers and quite a bit of the milk went out of the vat for [beef] calf rearing.

“The negatives have been that feed deficits have had a bit of an impact on production.

“Pasture was low at calving: Philip used the spring rotation plan well but we found at the higher stocking rate the margin of error [is thin] and you have to respond quickly to deficits.

“Last time I checked the financials were tracking to about $3.80/kgMS. So we’ve got work still to do there. The big goal there is to use the grass we grow.

“The management team are excited about the milk production and a few of them are thinking maybe we didn’t set the targets quite high enough for year three.”

A couple of feed deficits occurred.“Year one is a tough learning curve for every-

one.”The team had done a great job “but we are

all thinking there is room to make milk produc-tion a lot better next year.”

TACTICAL OAD MILKING HELPS COW CONDITION

“It didn’t quite peak as high but that drop-off has been a lot lower this year through aggressive pas-ture management.”

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30 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Green German offers more choice

POWER FARMING recently introduced a number of new models and upgrades to the Deutz Fahr tractor ranges for the 2016 season.

In the all-important 100-130hp sector, the introduction of the new 5G series will comple-ment the existing 5120 and 5130 models, and offer buyers more choice in an attractively priced package.

The 5105.5 and 5115.4 are 100 and 109hp respec-tively and the first DF models to use the new Farmotion engine which is built in-house and specifi-cally designed for agricul-tural work.

The units meet Tier4i emission regulations by using high pressure common rail with fuel injection, and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and diesel oxidisation cata-lyst (DOC), which is said to be a simpler and more effective solution than diesel particulate filter (DPF) and Ad-Blue, and requires no maintenance through its operating life. A heavier engine block is also said to reduce vibra-

tions by up 25% and noise levels by 4%. Coupled to the new motor is a choice of 40 x 40 transmission in the 5105 or 60 x 60 in the 5115, both with wet clutch/power-shuttle and either 2- or 3-speed, on-the-go powershift.

As part of the overall package the tractors are well equipped, using the D2 four post cab, the Stop and Go system – which cuts drive by using only the brake pedal – a true 4-wheel braking system with axle management for the diff lock, and elec-tronic hitch control.

Both models have an

open-centre hydraulic system with 55L/min flow, and either two or three remotes as standard. The 5115 also has increased lift capacity at 4855kg – its sib-ling’s maximum is 3600kg – and it has the SDD steer-ing system that engages a second, switchable steer-ing pump to reduce the number of turns of the steering wheel to go from lock to lock.

At the upper end of the stable the well-known Agrotron range now includes the Evolu-tion series, cosmetically upgraded to bring the look of the tractors into line

with the higher spec 6 and 7 series; there are some specification changes to the various models.

All models now have mechanical cab sus-pension; and the M600 Summit EVO has front axle suspension and 50km/h transmission.

Completing the pack-age is a new cost-effec-tive loader option, the Agrilift 4020, made from high grade steel and with mechanical self-levelling, third remote function and shock absorber to lift 1720kg to 4m.www.powerfarming.co.nz


THE CASE IH Optum certainly turned heads in November at Agritechnica 2015, where it won the coveted Machine of the Year 2016 Award.

First production models are now coming off the factory lines and the first examples are due to hit New Zea-land in June.

Fitting between the Puma and Magnum ranges and offering compact dimensions and lighter weight, the Optum CVT is produced at the St. Val-entin factory in Austria.

It uses the proven FPT 6.7L NEF engine to deliver 270 and 300hp at rated speed. This rises to a maximum of 313hp as the engine comes under load, with maximum torque of 1282NM at 1400rpm. The engine meets the latest Tier4B emission regulations using SCR technology.

Tankage is 630L of diesel fuel and 96L of Ad-Blue liquid.

The transmission is carried over from the LWB Puma range and has upgrades such as strengthened cast-ings, a new rear axle and double plane-tary final drives to handle the increased power.

Speed is continuously variable

between 20m/sec and 53km/h, and the Active Stop feature removes the need to hold the tractor on the brakes whilst stationary.

A load bearing sump assembly acts as a backbone and keeps tare weight down; it allows operating weights of up to 16,000kg, which helps get extra power to the ground without compromising the tractor’s agility.

A rear lift capacity of 11,058kg com-bines with the ability to lift 5821kg up front, and a CCLS hydraulic system has up to 220L/min output; steering and transmission systems are separate.

Completing the package, a new reac-tive steering system has the steering wheel returning to the straight ahead position after turns, making high speed work more comfortable; and a head-land management function (HMC 2) handles repetitive tasks in the paddock, and offers a remote file transfer system.

Connectivity with implements is via the ISOBUS 3 plug-and-play system.

Though the tractor is relatively high-spec, operators contemplating high-speed transport work might prefer the ABS or ABS Advanced option.www.caseih.co.nz

Optum CVT wins coveted prize

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 31

Auto loader has the job wrapped upRECENTLY LAUNCHED by grassland specialist Kuhn, the SW 4014 wraps square or round bales, notably using the unique AutoLoad function.

Awarded a silver medal at the 2015 Agritechnica Show for its ability to allow fully automatic wrapping of squares or rounds without the need for driver input, the system is said to improve output while minimising stress for the operator during long har-vest days. In operation, the driver approaches a bale, which the system detects, then it scans the bale for length and sets the load-ing arms to a pre-set lifting posi-tion.

Heavy duty construction incorporates a hydraulic sliding frame, offers a wide track for sta-bility, while the ‘drive through’ layout allows easy loading and good visibility of the wrapping cycle. In operation in the pad-dock the width is 4m which closes down to 2.5m for road transport.

The machine can wrap large

square, medium-square or round bales up to 1500kg and 200cm long, and rounds up to 140cm diameter without any mechanical adjustment; the system can store multiple format and bale dimen-sions within the control terminal.

The layout and operation allows loading from the front or rear of the machine, which allows the retrieval of poorly dropped bales from difficult locations, and placement of wrapped bales back to ground level without any damage.

Shorter patented top rollers allow film roll holders to place film on the bale close to the cen-treline, resulting in less wrinkling

and better oxygen exclusion; the IntelliWrap system allows accu-

rate control of the number of wraps for best coverage, while the ISOBUS control system can be used to reposition bales in the preferred manner such as ‘knots up’ or ‘drop on short side’.

Power requirement allows a range of tractors to be used, though a prerequisite is 45L of oil per minute. An optional PTO driven system can be speci-fied which drives a closed cir-cuit system, which reduces fuel requirement and any risk of con-taminated oil getting into the wrapper system.www.kuhn.co.nz


The SW 4014 wraps both square and round bales.

Waratah Jio MaxY post, Jio clips, Gallagher insulator.

130 years old and still going strong

WARATAH HAS designed and developed fencing prod-ucts for 130 years, always going for fencing easier to install, simpler to maintain and performing better over the life of a fence.

The manufacturer accepts that farmers are traditional about fencing and timber will remain a popular choice of material, but believes steel fencing products have a lot to offer.

At this year’s Southern Field Days at Waimumu, Wara-tah’s galvanized Jio Star and the bigger Jio MaxY were popular and the newly released 2.7m Jio MaxY post was welcomed by industrial contractors and deer farmers, who noted that with 30+ holes along its length, there were plenty of wire attachment points for using the Jio clip for high fencing jobs.

In lots of cases a bigger strainer is needed for high fences, so Waratah also released a 3.25m Ezypipe strainer post which goes in the ground about 1.2m and works with the steel Waratah Adjusta-stay for a complete strainer assembly.

Wire tie-off is easy for professionals, but not everyone can tie a neat knot and indeed don’t want to. For these individuals the Gripple T-clip is available; it brings each line wire around the strainer post, hooking the legs of the T-clip onto the line wire, pushing the wire through the one-way hole to complete the join.

The T-clip has been around for nearly eight years – a simple and effective way of preventing sore hands suffered in tying-off line wires.

Also for wire joining and tensioning, the Gripple Plus range is available in small, medium and large sizes; The Gripple tool can be used to join two wires or to tension each wire.Tel. 0508 927 2824www.waratahfencing.co.nz


Wire tie off with Waratah Gripple T-clip.


32 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

SILAGE ADDITIVES have long been promoted as a means of producing higher quality winter feed, and while the composition and efficacy of the various products have been argued, one key point applies to all, to ensure the correct amount of product is used for the prevailing conditions.

Quite often the calculation about the amount required is based on guessing the output of the forage harvester, guessing the weight of the crop in the trailer, and sometimes guessing the output of the additive pump. Of course this

guesswork is further compromised during the harvesting day by changes in dry matter, grass species and changing trailers weights.

The SilaScale system invented and developed by Andy Strzelecki and UK specialist Kelvin Cave Ltd aims to remove all the guesswork with a system that continuously updates application rates throughout the day by monitoring the fresh weight of forage being delivered to a trailer.

Key to the system is a robust set of load cells fitted to one trailer, the ‘master’ in a fleet of silage trailers. The master trailer continuously monitors the fresh weight of forage being harvested and com-

municates the results to the flow meter that is part of the harvester mounted applicator via a Bluetooth connection. Crop weights are measured 60 times per second and data is trans-mitted every second. The data received allows the flow meter to recalibrate second-by-second.

When the master trailer moves away from the harvester to empty, the flow meter ‘fixes’ the average flow rate for that load and continues to apply this rate as subsequent trailers are filled. When the master returns the wireless connection is re-established and the flow meter re-calibrated as the trailer is filled.

The key benefit is

accuracy of application and the avoidance of under- or over-delivery; the former compromises forage quality and the

Taking guesswork out of silage makingMARK [email protected]

latter provides little or no benefit except for increased costs. Once installed the desired application rate is selected, the system is fully automated and it then needs no operator input.

Strzelecki notes “a farmer or contractor who is certain that the right additive is being delivered at the right rate can be more certain of the final result, and is also likely to benefit from substantial cost savings”.

The SilaScale monitors the fresh weight of forage being delivered to a trailer.

OFF-ROAD SPECIALIST Polaris is about to add to its side-by-side offering.

Its new Polaris General combines the rugged practicality of the Ranger model with that of the championship winning RZR, and is said to be aimed at the grow-ing recreational, hunting and outdoor market.

The Ranger DNA sees the carry-over of the 272kg rated dump box and the 680kg rated towing capacity, along with standard fitment of electric power steer-ing, engine braking and all-wheel drive, which combine to allow seamless oper-ation across any terrain.

The RZR pedigree takes the standard

Ranger suspension with travel of 254mm and raises this to 311mm on the front and 335mm on the rear; independent double wishbones at each corner give ground clearance of 305mm, and front and rear sway bars allow high speed travel over rough terrain.

Safety is assured by a full length under-body skid plate and half doors.

Two versions will hit the New Zea-land market in late April, in premium and deluxe designations; both have 4500 pound winches, low profile front bum-pers and 14 inch alloys fitted with 8-ply Dirt Commander tyres. The higher spec deluxe machine also includes uprated Fox performance shocks, a sports roof, convex mirror and a premium sound-bar with Bluetooth connectivity. www.polaris.co.nz


The General is heading our way

THE GAME CHAINGER IS HERE.

The all new SL360X is easier to use, more versatile and saves you more time than any other chain feeder on the market today. With six unique features never seen before... 3 point linkage feeders have just changed for good. Learn more online.

Call the friendly team 0800 487 853 or visit www.hustlerequipment.co.nz

UNBELIEVABLE RUNOUT DEALS ON PROVEN PERFORMERS:

WHEN NOTHING BUT THE BEST WILL SUFFICE:

OR

SL350

CHAINLESS X5000

Call for more details >>>>>>>

Go online to learn the reasons why more Kiwi farmers choose Hustler than any other brand. It’s more than just because we listen...

CHAINLESS 4000

KATIPO 1150


TRACTORS & MACHINERY // 33

New flagship model in all-rounder series

John Deere’s 6M series.

SINCE THEIR launch, John Deere’s 6M series tractors have earned a reputation as great all-rounders, able to handle a range of tasks from grassland to cultivation or frontloader duties.

The choice for 2016 will get a little broader with the upcoming introduction of the new flagship 6195M.

Equipped with the latest spec PowerTech PSS engine to Tier 4 final emission regulations, they have a 6-cylinder, 6.8L block pushing out 195hp at 2100rpm, climbing to a maximum output of

205hp when it hits a tough spot.

With a wheelbase of 2800mm and a full frame chassis, stability in the paddock and on the road are assured, and the latter is designed to take a range of transmissions including the Command Plus quad option.

Further options might include mechanical cab suspension and triple link system (TLS) on the front end, enhancing the ride for the operator; the latter can be seen to improve performance in the paddock also.

At the rear a beefy three point linkage picks up 8500kg, and hydraulic flow is via a pressure flow compensated pump


system which can deliver 114L on demand to power the likes of frontloaders or external services.

As part of the JD Integrated Farm Sight Solutions package, a range including AutoTrac

assisted steering and ISOBUS single screen integration releases the operator from repetitive tasks and makes the most of the tractors’ capability.

Visit www.johndeere.co.nz

Effluent design nod for NumedicDAIRY TECHNOLOGY company Numedic Ltd has gained farm dairy effluent (FDE) design accreditation.

The accreditation programme provides a new way forward for effluent system design in New Zealand, says Cathryn Reid, a Numedic director. She has been a member of the design standards steering group since the initial development of the concept.

Its goal is to ensure all NZ dairy farmers have efflu-ent systems that can meet dairy industry and wider community expectations for the land application of dairy effluent. This includes keeping all untreated effluent out of surface and groundwater, keeping land-applied effluent nutrients in the root zone to capture their nutrient and economic value, and ensuring all sys-tems are compliant 365 days a year.

Accredited organisations have had their design skills and workplace systems assessed by an indepen-dent panel and have met the accreditation standard.

Companies have been assessed for their compe-tency and skills in regulation and legislation, soils and climate, effluent block allocation, pond storage calcu-lations, hydraulic design and quality assurance man-agement systems.

Says Reid, “We had always planned to complete the accreditation, as we see it having benefits for our cus-tomers and dealers.

POW

057

5A

The new 5-Series G tractors from Deutz-Fahr deliver unparalleled on-farm productivity with industry leading features such as true four-wheel braking, Stop & Go, double-displacement steering, a 100% locking diff, and a super quiet, ergonomically designed cabin.

These new four-cylinder models (105hp and 115hp) provide the benefi ts of a big tractor in a compact, muscular workhorse ideally suited to New Zealand farming.

Call your local Deutz-Fahr dealer for all the details and prepare to be impressed.

* Conditions apply. Contact your local Power Farming dealer. ** 5105.4G tractor and Trima X46 self-leveling loader with 3rd service. Offer available for a limited time only.

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34 // TRACTORS & MACHINERY

FEEDING SPECIAL-ISTS Hustler have recently introduced a three point linkage bale feeder that looks to take conventional thinking

on design for this type of machine and turn it on its head.

The new SL360X is the result of an extensive 12 month testing programme here in New Zealand, and sees a new machine with a rated capacity of 1.25 tonnes; it is said to be 8%


Flagship depot opens in FeildingFARM MACHINERY dealer Cervus knows a thing or two about selling tractors and machinery, no doubt helped by its run-ning 42 John Deere dealer-ships globally.

In Australia it runs six outlets in Victoria, and in New Zealand its nine depots cover the North Island from Waipapa to Gisborne in the east to Stratford in the west.

Its new showcase depot in Feilding was opened during the recent Cen-tral District Field Days after seven years opera-tion in the area. “The new outlet will allow Cervus to expand its local opera-tions and add value to our customers’ businesses,” says branch manager Dan Clavelle.

As part of the proceed-

ings led by pseudo-farmer Te Radar, and attended by Cervus and John Deere staff from around the world, Minister for Pri-mary Industries Nathan Guy cut the symbolic green ribbon to open the depot and noted “agriculture is a long term investment, and those with foresight look at the broader picture when making investment decisions”.

He said Manawatu is the agri-hub of NZ with diversity encompassing dairy, beef, cropping and vegetables; 50% of the total NZ lamb kill happens within two hours of Feild-ing.

Guy asked people to remember that though the dairy sector is going through tough times, other sectors are positive in the

heavier and 30% stronger than previous models. Described as multi-pur-pose, the machine has another fence that allows it to contain up to 1m3 of feed. It can feed pit, loose and maize silage, as well as fodder beet and cut grass.

Improvements have been made to the auto connect and release system using the pat-ented Snaplox coupler that ensures accurate connect and disconnect every time, and incorpo-rates a double-latching setup said to be stronger and to eliminate stress on the loading spears.

Bale spears have forged points that make bale penetration easier, and counter the need to push bales along the ground, risking soil con-tamination which can be a major problem with blunt tines.

A new thermo-formed floor design sees an increase in height around

the feed platform, and encloses the machine drive shafts to prevent any crop buildup and reduce maintenance downtime. A redesign of the machine’s headstock now sees it easily adapted to fit to high capacity frontloaders or telehandlers; this opens up the possibility of feeding over barriers or into mixer/feeder wagons. An optional side-shift system allows up to 180mm of offset to the left or right and helps ensure accurate placement of feed in all situations.

A further series of upgrades sees the use of bearing covers, motor protection on the head unit, and self-aligning bearings used exten-sively, which are said to require less greasing, extending the routine maintenance schedules.www.hustlerequip-ment.co.nz

Hustler ups the ante

Loading with 3 point hitch.

overall picture: beef is up about 33% with sales of $3.2 billon, horticulture is delivering $4b and wine $1.6b.

Reflecting on calls by Labour leader Andrew Little to hold a ‘dairy crisis summit’, Guy commented “the Opposition appears to have very strong ‘anti’ views on many topics affecting agriculture, be it the TPP agreement, water storage or RMA reforms, and while appearing to make a lot of noise, they fail to come up with viable alternatives”.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy (right) at the opening.

Cervus Manawatu’s new flagship depot in Feilding.

Palatable, convenient and cost-effective, New Cattle Fodder Beet Block, is a molasses-

based supplement to help prevent phosphorus deficiency and balance other minerals

lacking in your herds’ diet.

To order today or learn more, phone 0800 287 325 or visit sealeswinslow.co.nz

New Cattle Fodder Beet Block

E A S YC U TD I S C M O W E R S

KRONE EasyCut disc mowers have proven exceptionally well around the world. Delivering perfect results, these mowers feature genuine and exemplary KRONE innovations including:

• SafeCut disc protection system - prevents damage to the spur gears and neighbouring discs

• Quick-change blades

• Fully welded cutterbar

• DuoGrip centre-of gravity suspension

0800 88 55 624www.tulloch.co.nz DEALERS NATIONWIDE

Palatable, convenient and cost-effective, New Cattle Fodder Beet Block, is a molasses-

based supplement to help prevent phosphorus deficiency and balance other minerals

lacking in your herds’ diet.

To order today or learn more, phone 0800 287 325 or visit sealeswinslow.co.nz

New Cattle Fodder Beet Block

©2016 Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP). All rights reserved. ™, ® and the BRP logo are registered trademarks of BRP or its affiliates. Products are distributed in Australia. by BRP AU. Make sure that all laws and regulations, are respected. Ride responsibly. ^3 year warranty covers MY16 Can-Am Defender models only. * Rotax HD10 engine provides up to 20% more torque than the closest leading competitor, the 2016 Polaris Ranger 900 XP.

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CLASS LEADING TORQUE* 3 YEAR UNLIMITED KM WARRANTY SPEED LIMITING WORK KEY

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CALL 0800 020 074 OR VISIT WWW.CANAMOFFROAD.COM

dairy news 29 march 2016

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