Beef + Lamb NZ's Lambing Kit Checklist for a Tough Season
With lambing underway in many regions, Beef + Lamb New Zealand is encouraging farmers to put together a wellequipped lambing kit to help minimise lamb losses, particularly in bad weather.
The Agri-Women's Development Trust business programme for sheep and beef farming women has been confirmed for 2016 with funding from the Red Meat Profit Partnership.
Fourteen programmes will be held around New Zealand that will further engage women as critical farming partners by building business knowledge skills and confidence.
Each programme consists of four high-quality, full-day workshops delivered by industry experts over four months in a relaxed and supportive environment.
Understanding Your Farming Business (UYFB) is funded by the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP).
More than 150 women completed the programme in 2015 following an earlier pilot in partnership with Beef + Lamb New Zealand that involved 90 women.
Programmes will be run in the Wairarapa, Tararua, Hunterville, Stratford, Blenheim, Cheviot, Wanaka, Gore, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Rotorua and National Park.
See www.awdt.org.nz
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (the College) and Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network are calling for investment in a proposed new training pathway for rural GPs, warning that many rural practices are struggling to recruit while a large share of the existing workforce nears retirement.
Federated Farmers has called on Central Otago District Council (CODC) to drop or vote down a plan to truck sludge from Alexandra and Cromwell to farmland near Lauder, warning it would compound an "outrageous" situation created by a separate council's decision weeks earlier.
Synlait has swung to second-half profit as operations stabilise, but the dairy processor still posted a $75.4m annual loss.
LIC shareholders have elected a new North Island representative to the co-operative's Board, along with five representatives to its Shareholder Reference Group (SRG), following the company's Annual Meeting held in Invercargill.
Farmers across parts of Southland and South Otago are continuing to deal with difficult conditions after a prolonged run of wet weather, with pressure building around feed supply, stock management, pasture damage, farm infrastructure and everyday workloads.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes Labour's commitment to reviewing the Sharemilking Agreements Act, calling on other major parties to do the same.