increase font size
The Mark-It drench gun attachment, developed by student Penny Ranger.
Growing up on a South Waikato sheep and beef farm, Penny Ranger has firsthand experience on the day-to-day challenges.
One such challenge, when drenching sheep in a race, is working out which animals have been treated.
This led to the idea of developing a user-friendly marking tool; to give a clear indication of animals drenched and the arrival of the Mark-It drench gun attachment.
Penny, currently a Year 13 student at St Peters School in Cambridge, was the winner of a Fieldays Innovation Award, which she admits was originally her elder sister’s idea, but oversaw the development and refinement into a saleable product.
Like many great ideas, simplicity is the key, with a 3-D printed nozzle attachment, which houses a pre-loaded coloured sponge which leaves a mark on the side of the animal’s face as it’s drenched.
Said to offer a 100% indication when drenching, the attachments help reduce increasingly expensive drenching costs by eliminating double- drenching, while also giving confidence that the whole mob has been treated.
The earliest prototype was built in metal, but proved to be heavy and clumsy, so was refined with the use of a PLA plastic, with the attachment now only weighing thirty-three grams.
During the development, Penny overcame initial issues with sourcing and cutting the applicator sponges, then dyeing them with ink. The current version now uses a paint-like marking solution that, with a thicker consistency, doesn’t clog or drip.
Penny was selling starter packs at Fieldays, including the attachment and three dyed sponges for a bargain $35 and is currently setting up a website for online purchasing.
Having already hit the headlines for recycling broken 2.4 metre vineyard posts into 1.8 and 1.6 metre, half and quarter posts for agriculture, Repost recently hit the milestone of one million posts recycled, diverting the CCA treated posts from landfill.
New Zealand-based company Robotics Plus, a specialist in agricultural automation, has announced an agreement for it to be acquired by Yamaha Motor to form Yamaha Agriculture.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Silage making is both a science and an art, but Claas says it offers onboard technology featured in its Claas Perfect Partners to help farmers make silage more efficiently and effectively.
Since Donald Trump’s import tariff announcement, the world has been on a wild economic ride.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
Everyone from experienced veterinarians and young professionals to the Wormwise programme and outstanding clinics have been recognised in this year’s New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) awards. As part of a series looking at this year’s rural winners, Leo Argent talked with Ginny Dodunski, winner of the Veterinary Impact Award for raising the profile of the Wormwise programme.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.
