BETTER CONTROL of livestock is the promised payback from work by a Massey University industrial designer and Gallagher Animal Management to produce gear to enable farm workers to discover potential faults in their electric fencing.

RECORD ENTRIES in this year’s Dairy Industry Awards, which wrapped up late last week with the West Coast/Top of the South region, were achieved despite a record low in Otago.

CAN CANTERBURY repeat its clean sweep of the Dairy Industry Awards come the national event in Wellington in May? That question was posed at last week’s Canterbury / North Otago regional final awards night in Ashburton, prompted by the region’s representatives having taken all three titles last year.

NEWS THAT Miraka has signed a multimillion-dollar, joint-venture deal with Shanghai Pengxin to produce UHT milk shows how smart our small, entrepreneurial companies can be. 

MOST DAIRY farms are only slowly emerging from the drought that has been a sharp shock to farm management plans this summer. For most farms the production season has ended abruptly, and prospects for autumn and winter have been affected dramatically. 

THE GOALS of the 2013 Southland Sharemilker/Equity Farmers of the Year, Don and Jess Moore, are to optimise production and maximise profit to reach farm ownership and enjoy a balanced lifestyle.

CANADIAN DAIRY farmers Don Dietrich and Larry Parkin are two members of the Gay Lea Foods Cooperative delegate body, the equivalent of Fonterra’s Shareholders Council. 

JAMES COURTMAN is young, ambitious and already successful.

THIS YEAR you’ll have learned the value of even small amounts of rainfall – as if you didn’t know already. You will realise that about half the rain that arrives on your property runs off the farm in winter so the next revolution in dairy farming will be to store winter rainfall and irrigate it in summer. Even if the amount of water stored is small, it may keep your farm alive.

WHAT’S A cow’s field of vision? How well do they smell? What is their sense of taste? Do they feel pain as we do?