Getting sheep shape at Pyramid Farm
The vineyards at Pyramid Farm in Marlborough’s Avon Valley have never been run of the mill, with plantings that follow the natural contours of the land, 250 metres above sea level.
A SHEEP and beef farm manager from the Wellington region’s west coast has landed the top prize in Cooper’s Bumper Season promotion.
Callum Watson, who manages Papanui Station for the Belfast Partnership, was stoked to be presented with the keys to the Honda MUV Big Red earlier this month but credits the win to his wife Siobahn.
“The competition sticker was on the drum of Alliance (drench) so she thought she’d enter… It’s the first time we’ve ever won anything in our lives so it came as a bit of a shock.”
Watson told Rural News he uses a lot of the abamectin, levamisole and oxfendazole combination drench in the station’s 10,000 lamb finishing operation. “When you’re importing a lot of lambs I think it’s wise to use the best drench out there.”
Now he’s looking forward to putting the 675cc Big Red to work. “It’s a brilliant machine. We’ll use it like a farm truck come quadbike; anything from a tractor to a farmbike.”
Cooper’s Bumper Season promotion ran November to March, and featured four draws for a suite of top prizes, including Gallagher weigh scales and data collectors, Honda farm bikes and water pumps, and Stihl chainsaws. The last draw, held late last month, was for one big prize with the winner choosing between a Gallagher Sheep Auto Drafter with TSi Weigh Scale G01900 and Electronic Tag Reader G0330, or the Honda side-by-side MUV700
To be eligible entrants had to have purchased any specially labelled participating product during the promotion period and submitted a valid entry form within that period.
Federated Farmers says it is cautiously welcoming signals from the Government that a major shake-up of local government is on its way.
Ashburton cropping and dairy farmer Matthew Paton has been elected to the board of rural services company, Ruralco.
The global agricultural landscape has entered a new phase where geopolitics – not only traditional market forces – will dictate agricultural trade flows, prices, and production decisions.
National Lamb Day is set to return in 2026 with organisers saying the celebrations will be bigger than ever.
Fonterra has dropped its forecast milk price mid-point by 50c as a surge in global milk production is putting downward pressure on commodity prices.
The chance of a $10-plus milk price for this season appears to be depleting.

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