Strong uptake of good wintering practices
DairyNZ has seen a significant increase in the number of farmers improving their wintering practices, which results in a higher standard of animal care and environmental protection.
How many times over the last week have you or anyone on your farm had to wait for something, or spent time searching for a misplaced item?
That's something Sarah Watson and DairyNZ Regional Leader Richard Kyte plan to ask dairy farmers attending the 2016 South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) in Invercargill on June 20 to 22.
SIDE is an annual three-day dairy conference organised by farmers for farmers to learn, network, and find inspiration and motivation. The programme combines stimulating presentations with practical workshops on dairy farming and business management.
The pair are presenting a workshop at SIDE, their mission to help farmers hunt down their own time-wasters, be they searching for a lost tool, not being able to finish a task on-time because you're waiting for something, or having to reorder drugs because they're run passed their use-by date.
While these examples are seemingly small, they can add up, its improving time efficiency that makes the day-to-day work easier and less stressful, improves productivity, and ultimately boosts the bottom line.
PeopleMAD owner Ms Watson has been running the Dairy NZ FarmTune programme, and has seen farms save up to half an hour a milking per person each day simply by identifying waste then fine-tuning the process.
She and Mr Kyte plan to give farmers some take home tips on lean thinking to help focus their energy on the things that matter, add value to the business and help the whole team to operate efficiently.
"Everyone will have something they can improve; we're just equipping workshop attendees with the tools needed to objectively look at their systems with their teams to find what their own time issues are."
"There are a lot of things impacting on the business which are outside our control – this is one positive way of taking back some control and hopefully influencing profitability. And the beauty of this way of reviewing day-to-day operations and noticing the waste is that it costs nothing."
SIDE organisers are urging South Island farmers to take time off and attend this year's event, as now, more than ever, is the time to talk, share ideas, and benefit from social interaction with peers.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the relationship between New Zealand and the US will remain strong and enduring irrespective of changing administrations.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…