Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmers warned to monitor stock water wells
Sheep and beef farmers in Hawke's Bay are being urged to keep a close eye on the wells that supply water to their stock.
Beef + Lamb NZ is busy running a series of events and webinars aimed at ensuring farm profitability in the light of the impending drought.
Justine Kidd, B+LNZ's general manager of extension, told Rural News that she's talked with the other primary sector organisations to ensure consistent messaging and avoid duplication of work.
Kidd says they are analysing rural community needs and the challenges they could face in the next six to twelve months to get a handle on what support they need.
She adds that poor fencing allowing stock to wander onto roads and other properties is a problem that could take some time to fix. She says with slips and sediment on farm, feed supplies are low and the cost of getting stock in and out is higher because of the state of the roads.
B+LNZ is running webinars every Monday evening with guest presenters talking about ways to best deal with a drought and with other problems on farm.
Kidd says she's especially concerned about the wellbeing of people given what they have gone through and what they are potentially facing.
"It is very hard to tell this story," she told Rural News. "But it is important to keep it in front of people because of its complexity, and the people who are having to deal with what's going on are very isolated."
This week, more than 100 farmers, policy makers, politicians and other industry influencers will gather at the annual Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) Forum to workshop positive environmental change for New Zealand dairy.
Fonterra says its interim results show continued momentum in its performance, with revenue of $13.9 billion in the first half of the 2026 financial year.
New Zealand's diverse cheesemaking talent shone brightly last night as the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) crowned the champions of the 2026 New Zealand Cheese Awards.
Tracing has indicated that the source of the first velvetleaf find of the 2025-26 crop season, in Auckland, was likely maize purchased in the Waikato region.
Fish & Game New Zealand has announced its election priorities in its Manifesto 2026.
With the forage maize harvest started in Northland and the Waikato, the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is telling growers of later crops, or those further south, to start checking their maize crop maturity about three weeks prior to when they think they will start silage harvesting.

OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping…
OPINION: If farmers poured just a few litres of some pollutant into a stream, the Green Party and the wider…