Cuddling cows
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.
Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE) is petitioning the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to stop the people producing video content of a sexual nature directly involving cows.
The organisation said it was "deeply concerning" to see the mother cows who are "already being exploited for their reproductive systems" being further victimised by the videos.
The videos, some of which have been seen by one local media, show women in bikinis performing routine farm tasks such as milking cows and sweeping the milk shed.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) was now speaking to the social media content creators about the footage and have also referred the content to police for their assessment.
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
This past week has seen another round of negotiations between India and New Zealand to produce a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Cautiously optimistic is how DairyNZ's regional manager for the lower North Island, Mark Laurence describes the mood of farmers in his patch.
The Infrastructure Commission has endorsed a plan by Chorus to expand fibre broadband to 95% of New Zealand much to the delight of rural women.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.