Clear breeding goals
Over the last 13 years, Southland dairy farmers Caleb and Paula Hamill have worked hard to realise their dream of farm ownership.
CRV AmBreed is selling its 13.7ha bull farm in Waikato.
At least 3000 bulls have been housed there since it was set up in 1969. At the company's peak production 200 bulls were housed on site at any one time.
Farm manager Dave Smith has worked on the farm since 1990 and speaks fondly of the bulls.
"I have a passion for the production side of our business and the semen collection work our team performs. I get a buzz out of ensuring we have the healthiest and most productive animals possible.... The move to a new facility will add to the credibility and achievement of this aim.
"Legendary top sires... come to mind that breeders will no doubt remember as well: Magley, Manhattan, Murmur, Banquet, Amadeus, Extasy, Firenze, Pierre, Skelton and Paladium.
"These were top sires on the RAS list and many remained productive beyond their second crop of daughters."
The company has moved to a new production, distribution and logistics centre, hence the selling of the former bull farm.
CRV Ambreed operations manager Andy Medle says the company achieved several New Zealand firsts in at the old centre. "We were the first company to export live bulls for sexed semen production from our centre to America. Their semen was collected in the US, sexed and imported back into NZ for sale to local farmers."
Medley remembers the company holding a bull parade while hosting the 2010 World Jersey Conference.
"The old site became an EU approved collection centre in 2008.
"This allowed us access to sell our semen throughout the EU, a milestone for CRV."
In December 2014, CRV Ambreed opened its new export-approved CRV Bellevue production and logistics centre near Cambridge.
Over the past year CRV Ambreed has moved its distribution to the new facility. All remaining bulls will be moved to the new site when facilities are built before the end of the year.
Medley says the new property "future-proofs our company with additional capacity to meet market demand".
The firm's Bellevue centre has a semen collection facility and processing laboratory, storage space for export and domestic products, warehousing for 6000 artificial insemination banks and 38ha of grazing paddocks.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.