Manawatu farmers moving against facial eczema
A group of dairy farmers in southern Manawatu are taking a proactive approach to dealing with facial eczema (FE) in the coming months.
Chief executive Tim Mackle says over 2000 regional discussions groups with case study farms were held during 2014-15.
He says the exercise achieved an average gain of $90,000 after implementing action plans; an increase of 50% over the previous year.
This year DairyNZ will spend $17 million on farm profit activities, 2% more than last year.
Mackle says the activities include field days to help farmers weather the low milk payouts.
Other top spends this year will be R&D ($18m), biosecurity and product integrity ($17m), environmental stewardship ($13m) and people ($8m).
