Fieldays goes urban
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard yakka.
Manawatu dairy farmers Wendy and Richard Ridd consider the environment extensively when making decisions on their farm that runs to 260 hectares, with a milking platform of 196 cows.
Like many dairy farmers they strive to balance profitability, while also investing in protecting their environment. “Farming can be hard, and we carry a lot of debt, and because we haven’t got anything to fall back on, I think it makes it even more important we look for efficiencies and eliminate waste,” Richard explains. “Here, we take the approach of making small changes because they add up collectively. We want to genuinely enjoy what we do every day and a healthy environment contributes to that.”
The Ridds follow key themes when it comes to improving their environment, such as fencing waterways, riparian planting and developing wetlands, but they also believe in a strong connection with the community. “We need to help people understand the challenges we face and changing their mindset can really help drive purchasing behaviour,” Richard says.
“The value in the conversations from each side has really helped us and our urban neighbours understand each other more,” he explains.
They had already implemented many technologies on-farm, such as TracMap for fertiliser spreading, Ravensdown’s N-Protect, and bagging silage wrap ready for recycling.
While their infrastructure limits the size of their herd, the smaller numbers allows home-reared young stock on, alongside the opportunity to grow their own supplements. This means there is a need for up-to-date tractors and machinery, so it’s not surprising that a recent tractor upgrade also factored the environment in the buying decision.
“It’s a big investment buying a tractor, so we wanted to be sure we were making a good investment for our environment as well,” Wendy says.
“Being able to reduce the hours we spent on the tractor was high on our list of considerations, so we were attracted to the Massey Ferguson 6713 S because it would allow us to do multiple tasks in one pass, saving time and the environment. Even though it’s only a four-cylinder, it has pulling and lifting power comparable to a six-cylinder, offering the advantages of compactness, low-weight and good manoeuvrability, added to that extra power. Additionally, the power boost function means its efficient on lighter and bigger jobs, allowing us to only need one tractor so,” she says.
“The low weight was another bonus on our environmental shopping list,” Richard says. “Less weight means less soil compaction and a smaller environmental footprint during manufacturing as it needs less materials to build it. AdBlue also scored highly, by using the latest technology to reduce emissions was really important to us when we were shopping,” Richard says. “But most importantly we believe that farmers need to be proud of what they’re already doing, so while planting seems to get all the limelight, there’s more to helping the environment, which many farmers are already doing on a day to day basis.”
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
A leading financial and banking advisor says he doubts if most dairy farmers fully understand the dynamics of banking.
Dairy farmers are shoring up their balance sheets, with almost $1.7 billion of debt repaid in the six months to March 2025.
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A former Fonterra executive is the new chair of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).
New Federated Farmers national dairy chair Karl Dean is looking forward to tackling the issues facing the sector.
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…