Displaying items by tag: maize

For many North Island farmers, the wet weather just keeps on coming.

For many North Island maize growers, the 2022/23 season has been one to forget and for some, it has been a financial disaster.

I started my career in agriculture in Northland in 1982 as a consultant for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Over the past few weeks, farmers have begun to receive herd mating results from their vets.

At this time of year, I regularly get asked a version of the same question: Should I dry off or keep milking my cows? I often see farmers tempted to milk on when the milk price is high.

A question I often get asked around this time of year is, “I am trying to reduce my cost of feed.  Is it really worth applying inoculant to my maize silage?” And like any good politician my answer is always the same. It depends.

"You can't have it both ways” was sage advice my father would give me when I was trying to discuss options with him about something I wanted to do. “You have to choose one or the other.”

Climate change could make maize silage a more realistic fodder proposition for South Island dairy farmers, according to researchers speaking at the recent Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) CROPS 2022 event.

The recently released NIWA weather outlook for this summer makes interesting reading.

Reports coming in from across the country indicate many farmers and contractors are behind with their crop planting schedule due to the cold, wet spring.