Hose runner saves time and effort
Rakaia-based equipment manufacturer Pluck’s Engineering will soon start production of a new machine designed to simplify the deployment and retrieval of temporary water troughs used in winter break feeding.
A brand-spanking new administration building will greet visitors to this year's South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) at Kirwee.
Replacing a battered old Portacom, the new 12m by 20m building houses an office, lobby, large committee room, and accessible toilets with shower.
The building epitomises the steady development SIAFD has put into the Kirwee site since it was bought about 10 years ago as the permanent home for the biennial event.
This year's committee chair Andrew Stewart is coy about the price but says they always wanted a permanent office and finally took the plunge, knowing building costs would only get dearer.
They have also renovated many of the shingle tracks, with a new track into the carpark and a new loop through the lifestyle section, to help weather-proof the site.
"What we found the worst was everyone trying to set up on the Tuesday when it was wet.
"All of them coming in their cars and that was what made the most mess. It tended to be the smaller sites.
"We just keep chipping away. Every year there's something new happening," he says.
Following this event, they will also install an irrigation well, removing their reliance on water from the neighbouring farm.
While there are power lines across the property, they are not connected to the national grid to avoid year-round fixed charges and are powered up with generators for each event.
But a permanent connection is now being established for the new administration building and the well, and they need fewer generators this year.
"Now that we're putting the well in, we've got quite a big transformer going in," says Stewart.
"It's always been in our thinking that we needed to be self-contained at some point.
"Working through consents and stuff is a bit challenging but we're getting there."
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
Following heavy rain which caused flooding in parts of Nelson-Tasman and sewerage overflows in Marlborough, the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO Scheme) is urging homeowners and tenants to be cautious when cleaning up and to take the right steps to support claims.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
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