Diplomatic Incident
OPINION: Your old mate hears an international incident is threatening to blow up the long-standing Anzac alliance as Kiwis and Aussies argue over who wants new Australian resident and former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Meantime, speaking of actual animal welfare issues... the Hound was tickled by the name of a new drug recently released in Australia that aims to relieve the pain lambs suffer during castration and tail docking.
The cheekily named NumNuts – developed by Meat & Livestock Australia and Scottish engineering firm 4cDesign – have a single action handheld ring activator and injection mechanism to administer a local anaesthetic – lignocaine, as used by dentists. In trials the product was seen to reduce pain behaviour such as tucked-up posture, bleating and lying down. The anaesthetic acts in 30-60 seconds of injection and remains active for about four hours by which time the tissue in the testes and tail is dead, eliminating residual pain.
Wool Impact and ASB have signed a new partnership with the bank set to provide financial backing to support the revitalisation of New Zealand's strong wool industry.
OPINION: Farmers have been clear: it is getting harder, not easier, to find and keep good people.
Last week marked New Zealand Sign Language Week and a South Canterbury tanker operator is sharing what it's like to be deaf in a busy Fonterra depot.
As fuel and fertiliser prices rise and with uncertainty in the future, farmers are being urged to go over their budgets with a fine-tooth comb.
Federated Farmers says reforms of local government announced last week will be music to farmers' ears.
Hinehou Timutimu, the 2026 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year, says she feels privileged to have won the award.

OPINION: When Donald Trump returned to the White House, many people with half a brain could see the results for…
OPINION: Media trust has tanked because of what media's more woke members do and say.