Leah Prankerd: A passion for dairying and farmer support
It was love that first led Leah Prankerd to dairying.
Conditions look promising for the start of calving in the Lower North Island.
DairyNZ’s Rob Brazendale says the conditions are pretty favourable and overall pasture covers are on target as is cow condition. He says the area has had a much better winter than last year which saw a lot of pugging damage and notes this hasn’t been the case so far.
Brazendale farmers are generally pretty comfortable and most things are on target and everyone is looking forward to a good spring. He there has been a lot of rain in Central Hawkes Bay and there has also been quite a bit of rain in the Manawatu.
“But it’s the middle of winter so that’s what you expect,” he says.
While things are looking good on farm, Brazendale says farmer morale is mixed. He says farmers are quite positive about the physical things such as the milk price, but says they have concerns about the environmental challenges and some of the other issues such as the restrictions on the use of PKE.
“These latter things have taken a bit of an edge off the other positive factors. I wouldn’t say the mod was really buoyant but it not depressed either - it’s kind of flat. There is a lot of uncertainty around land values across the country and there are lot of farms for sale,” he says.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
OPINION: Voting is underway for Fonterra’s divestment proposal, with shareholders deciding whether or not sell its consumer brands business.
OPINION: Politicians and Wellington bureaucrats should take a leaf out of the book of Canterbury District Police Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.