MPI defends cost of new biosecurity lab
The head of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) biosecurity operation, Stuart Anderson, has defended the cost and the need for a Plant Healht and Environment Laboratory (PHEL) being built in Auckland.
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!
Moves are afoot to get a team of Australians over here to help repair North Canterbury's irrigation machinery, ravaged by the big windstorm of late October.
As you approach Hastings from the south along SH2, the colour of the west-facing hills are a good indicator of a drought.
Global beef trade is expected to grow steadily over the next five years, driven by increasing demand from Asia and strategic export expansions by South American countries.
Carpet maker Bremworth is reinstating solution-dyed nylon (SDN) into its product mix but says wool carpets remain central to its brand.
While New Zealand may be under siege from braindead, flesh-eating monstrosities, that doesn’t mean lambing can stop.
Milksolids levies paid by dairy farmers over the past six years have generated nearly $3 billion in value, according to an independent review.

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