Animal welfare is of paramount importance to New Zealand's dairy industry, with consumers increasingly interested in how food is produced, not just the quality of the final product.

Mating wrapped up last month at the across-breed Beef Progeny Test on Pāmu’s Kepler Farm in Manapouri.

At Pāmu’s Kepler Farm in Manapouri, mating has wrapped up at the across-breed Beef Progeny Test.

By the time you are reading this, most spring-calving herds will have finished the main mating period.

The dry conditions being experienced along much of the east coast of both Islands build a strong case for body condition scoring ewes at this season’s weaning.

Farmer interest continues to grow as a Massey University research project to determine the benefits or otherwise of the self-shedding Wiltshire sheep is underway. The project is five years in and has two more years to go. It was done mainly in the light of low wool prices and the cost of shearing. Peter Burke recently went along to the annual field day held Massey's Riverside farm in the Wairarapa.

Third-generation Ashburton dairy farmers TJ and Mark Stewart are no strangers to adapting and evolving.

Thirty years ago, as a young sharemilker, former Waikato farmer Snow Chubb realised he was bucking a trend when he started planting trees to provide shade for his cows, but he knew the animals would appreciate what he was doing.

Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.

With weaning soon to get underway, some simple management strategies can help prevent the economic losses associated with pneumonia and pleurisy.