Dreams aren't plans
OPINION: Milking It reckons if you're National, looking at recent polls, the dream scenario is that the elusive economic recovery…
FARMERS IN the central and lower North Island are numbed, bewildered and frustrated by the One Plan outcome in the Environment Court.
JAMES MORRISSON’S recent article* is illuminating on cooperative purpose. It reminds us a cooperative exists first and foremost to serve its members, in Fonterra’s case to ensure the highest possible percentage of milk value ends up with the farmer.
THE MILK payout used to be the main driver of the farm property market, but not anymore, says Bayley’s country property specialist, John Barnett.
ABOUT 25% of dairy farms will “have significant liquidity risk” this year on current forecasts for costs and milk price, says DairyNZ senior economist Matt Newman.
AS THE soil starts warming up over the next few months, farmers will be preparing to fertilise their paddocks. For business efficiency and environmental protection it’s important to bear in mind the risks of applying too much fertiliser, and applying it in the wrong place or at the wrong time.
OVER HALF the papers at this year’s Grassland Association conference, November 6-8, are directly relevant to dairying, say the organisers.
TAKING EXTRA care of young stock and strategically adopting once-a-day (OAD) milking have allowed a Northland couple to halve their calving spread while increasing production.
OPTIMUM FEEDING is a balance between the quantity of available feed and the quality of that feed.
Fonterra Shareholders' Council chair, Ian Brown says the decision by the Fonterra Board of Directors to retain the services of Henry van der Heyden and Ralph Waters into 2013 would provide stability for the introduction of Trading Among Farmers (TAF).
Fonterra is considering consolidating brands to arrest a decline in its Australian business.
More...
Beef and Lamb NZ's latest new season outlook has beef production pegged for a 7.8% lift to 2.3 million head in the 2012-13 season. This is largely linked to the carryover of cull cows from last season given the excellent conditions though fewer beef cow replacements are being retained and more dairy culls are likely, given the ever expanding NZ dairy herd.
A number of buyers may have opted to sell to ease the pressure on slow growing paddocks and to benefit from the strong market prices, but that may well have had a detrimental effect as prices, for younger cattle seemed to readjust to the increase in numbers.
Bulls over 12 months entering the dairy industry can be tested for free for bovine tuberculosis (TB), says the Animal Health Board (AHB).
Metabolisable energy (ME) is still the best feed quality descriptor for New Zealand dairy farmers, says DairyNZ's principal scientist, Dr John Roche.
Milking It
Fatberg
OPINION: Sydney has a $12 million milk disposal problem.
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