increase font size
Waverley and Wilco Klein Ovink and their son Josh, who is part of the team building product as well as salesman at Fieldays.
When it comes to award-winning innovation, Waverley and Wilco Klein Ovink got started early.
Twenty-five years ago, they invented the Wrangler, an innovation that has changed the game for farmers all over the globe.
They were encouraged to enter the Wrangler into the Fieldays Innovation Awards in 1995 where they took home an award. Since then, they have won three more Fieldays Innovation Awards, and achieved success locally and globally with their innovations.
Waverley, marketing and admin director at The Wrangler Ltd, says the family-owned engineering business continues to make quality New Zealand products in Whakatane.
She recalls that originally Wilco made the Wrangler to make their jobs as sharemilking easier.
“It was taking two people to treat a cow: one to hold the rope and the other to examine the hoof, and it wasn’t safe for any of us,” she says.
“As a cadet, Wilco watched a cow being treated for lameness, but she fell and broke her hip. It had got him thinking there had to be a better way.
“We looked around to buy something and were surprised to find there was nothing here for holding and treating a lame cow – so Wilco built one.”
It was so novel that they were able to take out a patent on securing and lifting a hoof.
Soon vets wanted all of their farmers to have one.
They suggested the couple take their innovation to the Fieldays.
“It was there talking to farmers at Fieldays that we started to find the true extent of lameness in the dairy industry.
“Every farmer had hoof knife scars on their arms and just considered it part of farming, and we heard from guys getting kicked in the head by cows.
“It was normal to put off treating cows, farmers would just give her a jab of penicillin and hope she’d come right, not realising how much a lame cow really cost them by being sick. Some of the figures of the number of lame cows on farms was staggering.”
Waverley says when designing the Wrangler, they wanted something that would not only hold the hoof, but the cow too, and stop her falling during treatment.
“It needed to be bulletproof, multifunctional for every type of veterinary procedure we might need, and able to sit outside and be maintained just with a yard hose.
The couple were stoked to win the Fieldays Prototype Award in 1995.
Waverley says the judges were very excited to see the Wrangler.
“The encouragement they’d given us spurred us to refine it further, coming back the following year and winning the New Equipment Innovation Award in 1996.”
“We’ve gone on to win many national and regional business awards since, particularly for innovation, and it’s always a great boost to business.”
Global tyre manufacturer Michelin has extended its agricultural trailer tyre range, with the introduction of its new WorkxBib series, designed for tipping trailers, slurry tankers and manure spreaders.
Following the record-breaking success of its hydrogen-powered Hydromax, JCB is ramping up its investment in the business, key to the first major change at the executive level of the business, with George Bamford stepping up to the post of joint chairman, alongside his father Lord Bamford.
During calf rearing, logistics can play an important role in getting the job done quickly and efficiently.
Massey Ferguson has announced a strategic supply partnership with International Tractors Limited (ITL), a manufacturer of low-horsepower and compact tractors, with recognised brands such as Sonalika and Sollis, to expand its portfolio with a new tractor range.
With the biannual Italian EIMA machinery Expo less than a month away, Case IH has taken out a Technical Evolution award for the Advanced Vehicle Suspension system available on its Optum 360–440 series tractors.
The Advanced Vehicle Suspension system, available on Optum 360, 390, and 440 models, responds to changing conditions, automatically adjusting how the suspension reacts to absorbs shocks and controlling vehicle movement.
In operation, sensors monitor the vibrations transmitted from the tractor chassis to the operator cabin, allowing the system to adjust suspension damping in real time. The control system incorporates key priorities, such as comfort at lower speeds and stability as speed increases, while also reacting to factors such as lower tyre pressures, where the tyres absorb more of the initial shock.
Case IH said as suspension requirements change throughout the working day, as tractors move between the paddock and road transport, the system manages suspension response in the background as tasks, speeds and conditions change, leaving the operator without the need to make manual adjustments.
Richard Hollins, Optum series tractors global product manager, said: “Pioneering technology must earn its place in the working day. Farmers and contractors will judge an investment by what it delivers, including manageable ownership costs, dependable up-time and the versatility to tackle different jobs. With AVS, we are putting intelligent control to work for comfort and stability, without giving the operator another setting to manage.”
Organised by FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, the contest has been part of EIMA since 1986, with the Technical Evolution distinction awarded to products that introduce original improvements to solutions already manufactured or patented.
www.caseih.com
Farmlands has reported higher operating earnings and a profit before income tax of $4.5 million, up 118.9%, for the year ended 30 June 2026.
AgriZeroNZ has invested a further NZ$17.7 million in methane vaccine developer ArkeaBio and NZ$5.1 million in BioLumic, a New Zealand-founded company that uses ultraviolet light to develop low-emissions pasture..
Good news for Fonterra farmers. The co-op has raised this season’s farmgate milk price mid-point by 25c to $9.75/kgMS.
OPINION: Political parties are getting plenty of advice and recommendations from sector groups as the election approaches.
In farming there are external factors that can influence behaviour of a whole herd, such as a bad weather event, triggering false positive heat detections or health attentions.
For Canterbury dairy farmer Cameron Henderson, supporting Meet the Need comes down to a simple question: how can the success of New Zealand farming benefit more than just those within the industry?
