Bay of Plenty dairy awards see repeat winners
Bay of Plenty’s top share farmers Andre and Natalie Meier are no strangers to the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards winning circle.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council biosecurity staff are warning local landowners to check that machinery is clean and stock are empty before allowing them through their gates this Gypsy Day.
Gypsy Day (June 1) is traditionally the first day of the new dairying season when sharemilkers load their cows into stock trucks or herd stock on roads and move equipment and families to new farms.
"Velvetleaf is not just a fodder beet seed issue. The Waikato Regional Council has been working to contain a velvetleaf infestation found in Waikato maize crops and silage," says Bay of Plenty Regional Council biosecurity manager Greg Corbett.
"Velvetleaf is just one of many pasture weeds we're working hard to keep out of the Bay of Plenty. Along with Noogoora bur and alligator weed, its seeds or plant fragments can easily be carried from one property to another in stock faeces, hooves, fur or soil attached to machinery. It's important that landowners protect their land and livelihoods by being their own border control."
Bay of Plenty farmers can keep invasive pasture weeds off their farms by checking where maize feed, stock or machinery has come from and making sure it's not bringing any unwanted pests with it when it comes onto their farm.
Corbett says key precautions landowners should take are to ask contractors and new tenants to remove all visible soil and plant matter from their machinery and stock, before they leave their last location.
"Allowing stock to empty out before transport will also reduce the risk of seed being spread through cow dung," says Corbett.
More information about pasture weeds and machinery hygiene is available at www.boprc.govt.nz/pestplants
A Chinese business leader says Chinese investors are unfairly viewed as potential security risks in New Zealand.
In the first of two articles focusing on electrification in New Zealand, Leo Argent talks with Mike Casey, operator of the 100% electric-operated Electric Cherries orchard and founder of advocacy group Rewiring Aotearoa.
A Foundation for Arable Research initiative which took a closer look at the efficiency of a key piece of machinery for arable farmers - their combine harvesters - has been recognised at the Primary Industry NZ Awards.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has reiterated New Zealand’s ‘China And’ policy, adding that it wasn’t about choosing one market over another but creating more options for exporters.
A long running trade dispute between New Zealand and Canada over dairy access has been resolved.
New Zealand Police is urging rural property owners to remain vigilant and ensure their property is secure.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…