increase font size
Dairy goats.
A new dairy goat research facility in Waikato is expected to help lift the country’s milk supply.
Run by AgResearch, the new facility at Ruakura, Hamilton, can run 48 goats and will be used for trials including bedding preferences for kids, forage preferences and environment enrichment.
AgResearch partnership and portfolios director Dr Greg Murison says the dairy goat industry is a great example of science making a difference throughout the value chain from on-farm to off-farm, supporting Dairy Goat Cooperative (DGC) in establishing and growing its business.
“DGC has an excellent track record of developing and marketing high quality exports based on strong R&D,” he says.
AgResearch has three programmes of dairy goat research underway, two funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and the third by the Ministry for Primary Industries through the Sustainable Farming Fund, with cash and in-kind co-funding from DGC.
The latest project is to grow the supply of dairy goat milk via improved forage supply and superior animal welfare practices.
The first trial in the new facility looks at bedding preferences, to determine what surfaces goats favour.
DGC chairman Campbell Storey says the AgResearch work is crucial to the industry’s growth.
“There has been an industry shift to farming goats mainly indoors. There is a greater focus on animal welfare, milk quality and on producing milk... with the correct profile to produce what we believe is the best dairy goat infant formula in the world.”
Last season was a mixed bag for Waikato contractors, with early planted forage maize, planted on the dry soils around Cambridge, doing badly after germination and failing to meet potential, says Jeremy Rothery, Jackson Contracting.
Scientists from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) are part of an international team working to develop a low-cost diagnostic tool that could significantly improve food crop production in developing countries.
Scion is running experimental research burns near Christchurch from March 3-14, to test new theories on how wildfires spread under various conditions.
For those rural women who feel menopause might be getting the best of them, a series of events is heading to the Waikato that could help.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Tractor manufacturer and distributor Case IH has announced a new partnership with Meet the Need, the grassroots, farmer-led charity working to tackle food insecurity across New Zealand one meal at a time.
The DairyNZ Farmers Forum is back with three events - in Waikato, Canterbury and Southland.
To celebrate 25 years of the Hugh Williams Memorial Scholarship, Ravensdown caught up with past recipients to see where their careers have taken them, and what the future holds for the industry.
Among this year’s Primary Industry NZ (PINZ) Awards finalists are a Southlander who created edible bale netting and rural New Zealanders who advocate for pragmatic regulation and support stressed out farmers.
Rockit Global has appointed Ivan Angland as its new chief operating officer as it continues its growth strategy into 2025.
Nominations are now open for the Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) board.
OPINION: The good fight against "banking wokery" continues with a draft bill to scrap the red tape forcing banks and…
OPINION: Despite the volatility created by the shoot-from-the-hip trade tariff 'stratefy' being deployed by the new state tenants in the…
