SHAUN CONNOR, farming near Shannon, Horowhenua, will later this week start the onerous task of calving. It’ll be a busy time for the 50/50 sharemilker calving the 240 cows on the 80ha farm.

A NEW 3-point linkage sprayer from Hardi allows the operator to stay in the tractor cab during spraying, and to expect less of the downtime sometimes suffered by booms during travel.

NEW ZEALAND is often referred to as the land of the long white cloud. 

MANITOU’S NEW rough-terrain telehandler, model MLT 840-137 (replacing the MLT 741-120) turns in 3.98m, carries 4000kg, and will tip 3 tonnes into a 4.5m-high trailer. 

Amendments to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill have passed its third and final reading in Parliament.

Horticulture New Zealand president Andrew Fenton is calling for local government to streamline the resource consent process, saying it was holding the horticulture industry to ransom.

Movements in dairy product prices have remained mixed over the last two weeks.

Works prices for cattle in the North & South Islands have levelled off in the last two weeks. Only local trade prices moved upwards this week.

With the official cash rate due out on Thursday, farmer confidence at the beginning of the 2012-13 season has plummeted in Federated Farmers latest farm confidence survey.

Fresh heavy rain around the region over Sunday and Monday means the Waikato Regional Council is again closely monitoring river levels in the region for flood risk.