Coming to a beach near you!
The popular Surfing for Farmers programme, which gives farmers a well-earned break from life on the farm, starts its eighth season from November 5.
Hawke's Bay vet Richard Hilson says the effects of the lockdown with COVID-19 tended to isolate farmers more than people might have imagined.
He says towards the end of Alert Level 4, farmers needed to talk to people – their neighbours and others. He believes many felt they were being backed into a corner, on their own, having to deal with the drought.
Vets, says Hilson, were in a unique position to help farmers in this respect. He says when a vet goes on a farm they usually work with a farmer, unlike someone who comes on to fix a machine. He says vets are people that farmers more likely form a relationship with, chew the fat and have a laugh.
“But right now, half the time it’s talking about animal health and the other half, human health. As a vet you are aware of what other people are going through,” Hilson told Rural News.
“At our staff meeting, I made the point that if people come into the shop and they want to talk to you, please stay with them – don’t fob anyone off – we don’t mind if you spend time with them.
One of my staff said a guy who rang up the other day is someone she would normally only have a 30 second conversation with, but says he was still on the phone after 30 minutes. I said: ‘good on you – you have made his day’. It just goes to show how bad it really is out there,” he says.
Hilson says as well as the drought and COVID, farmers are having to deal with M. bovis and, in parts of the region, an outbreak of TB.
He says the Government has put unnecessary pressure on farmers demanding they apply for consents for the Tukituki catchment scheme. Federated Farmers have already asked Environment Minister David Parker to give them more time to apply for consents because of the drought and COVID, but he has refused.
Hilson says the Government attitude stuns him and warns that stressing farmers like this could have fatal consequences.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
OPINION: The New Zealand red meat sector, with support from the Government, has upped the ante to retain and expand its niche in the valuable Chinese market - and the signs are looking positive.
Keratin extracted from New Zealand wool could soon find its way into products used to minimise osteoporosis, promote gut health, and other anti-inflammatories, says Keraplast chief executive Howard Moore.