Apple, pear sector stakeholders meet for annual conference
New Zealand apple and pear industry stakeholders are out in force for the annual conference in Queenstown.
Your old mate wonders if the over-reaching do-gooder who set up a North Canterbury cow sanctuary “to save retired dairy cows and bobby calves from slaughter” will face any charges for animal cruelty.
‘Til the Cows Come Home’ was established in July 2017, to great media (mainstream fanfare), as a “safe haven for rescued farm animals”.
At one stage, some 200 cows were housed at the ‘sanctuary’.
However, an MPI investigation last year found that many of the ‘rescue cattle’ were sick, starving or in terrible condition – and a number had to be euthanised.
The person who ran the ‘sanctuary’ claimed: “I tried my hardest for so long, sleepless nights, stress beyond belief, full-time work, hours of feeding, cleaning...until it all came crashing down.”
All very sad, but any farmer who did the same thing would rightly be prosecuted by MPI – so let’s hope the animal welfare bureaucrats are consistent and file charges!
Oamaru-based livestock handling specialist Te Pari has bought Combi Clamp, the New Zealand manufacturer of Combi Clamp manual sheep handlers.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.
A new app designed in New Zealand aims to help sheep, beef and deer farmers capture, analyse and use body condition score data more effectively.
Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.
For over 50 years Mel Ewers has been supporting the apple sector navigate through compliance and quality assurance issues.
The apple sector is enjoying a bumper harvest season.

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