Peter Sarstedt 10.12.41 – 8.1.17

Singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt has died.

He died peacefully after a six-year battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a family statement said. . . 

Born into a musical family in India, Sarstedt was one of three brothers who all enjoyed success in the UK singles chart. . . 

Sarstedt’s music reached new audiences when Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) was included in the Wes Anderson films Hotel Chevalier and The Darjeeling Limited, which were both released in 2007. . . 

Word of the day

Wayworn – wearied or worn out by travel.

Rural round-up

South Island’s two-year drought ends:

After two years, regions along the South Island’s east coast are no longer considered to be in a state of drought.

In 2015, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy classified the drought as “a medium-scale adverse event” affecting Marlborough, Canterbury and parts of Otago.

The following two years made the drought the longest recorded in this country – but the official period has not been extended since 31 December. . . 

Putting New Zealand’s farming woes in perspective – Pat Deavoll:

Over the last 10 years, I have been a few times to an area of northern Afghanistan called the Wakhan Corridor.

I am reminded of the dichotomy between the farmers of this area and the farmers in New Zealand whenever a weak GlobalDairyTrade auction result is announced, or the poor state of the meat industry is bandied around the media, or a wool auction fails to meet expectations.

The Wakhan Corridor is split east-west by the Panj River. On the northern side is Tajikistan and nomads herd sheep and cattle, and above 4500 metres, yaks.

Bio-diesel drives milk flow – Richard Rennie:

Fuel is starting to flow from New Zealand’s first commercial bio-diesel plant with Fonterra in line to be one of the first large-scale fleet operators to power its tankers with the Z Energy blend.  

Z Energy’s $26 million bio-diesel plant in Wiri, South Auckland began processing tallow based bio-diesel before Christmas, with the first commercial product due to be at the commercial pump by February.  

The plant’s commissioning marked a milestone in the country’s chequered history of domestic bio-fuels production. . . 

New weapon in rabbit war – Neal Wallace:

A NEW strain of rabbit-killing RHD virus could be released this winter.  

Increasing immunity among rabbits means the existing RHDV1, or Czech strain, has become less effective and advocates say the RHDV1 K5, also known as the Korean strain, would overcome protective antibodies and improve kill rates by up to 40%.  Federated Farmers South Canterbury high country section representative Andrew Simpson said the original RHD strain was still working to a point but growing immunity had allowed populations in some areas to recover, meaning a new, virulent strain was needed.  

Rabbits less than three months of age exposed to the Czech strain became immune, which resulted in the population returning to plague proportions in some parts of the South Island. . . 

Consumers drive move back to dairy:

The new year is marked by resolutions, often about healthier lifestyles. A new series backed by Fonterra looks at the nutritional and lifestyle benefits of dairy – and at some of the old views now being slowly discarded.

The Wall Street Journal headline ran over two lines: Grass-Fed Milk Is Taking Off With Health-Conscious Shoppers. It was a sign of things to come.

That was in 2014 – a story about how shoppers were prepared to pay more for grass-fed milk (many cows in the US eat feed derived from corn) because it was considered healthier.

Now, an article on the Gallagher Group’s website relates how US dairy retail supplier Organic Valley (the one highlighted in the WSJ two years ago) is enjoying an 82 per cent dollar growth in their grass-fed yoghurt, more than three times that of non-grass-fed yoghurts. Their Grassmilk brand is the top-selling grass-fed dairy brand in the US, experiencing double-digit growth since its launch in 2012. . . 

WTO decision important for NZ beef and horticulture into Indonesia

Trade Minister Todd McClay today welcomed the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) decision upholding New Zealand’s challenge to 18 agricultural non-tariff barriers imposed by Indonesia.

New Zealand and the United States jointly brought the case against Indonesia in 2013 over a range of barriers imposed on agricultural imports since 2011. These included import prohibitions, use and sale restrictions, restrictive licence terms and a domestic purchase requirement.

The barriers are estimated to have cumulatively cost the New Zealand beef sector alone between half a billion and a billion dollars. As recently as 2010, Indonesia was New Zealand’s second-largest beef export market by volume, worth $180 million a year. . .

Quality Pedigrees Abound at Karaka 2017;

Full-brother to G1 winner Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Savabeel) to be offered at Karaka 2017.

New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2017 National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka has impressive depth with a large quantity of siblings and progeny of Group 1 winners.

For the second consecutive year, the National Yearling Sales Series will present a full-sibling to the winner of one of Australia’s richest and most prestigious races. . . 

Farming it’s an addiction.

Quote of the day

  I think if we get freedom for women, then they are probably going to do a lot of things that I wish they wouldn’t do. But it seems to me that isn’t our business to say what they should do with it. It is our business to see that they get it. – Alice Paul who was born on this day in 1885.

She also said:

I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.

January 11 in history

532  Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalated into violence.

1055 – Theodora was crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.

1158 – Vladislav II became King of Bohemia.

1569 First recorded lottery in England.

1571 Austrian nobility were granted freedom of religion.

1693 Mt. Etna erupted in Sicily. A powerful earthquake destroyed parts of Sicily and Malta.

1786 Joseph Jackson Lister, English opticist and physicist, was born (d. 1869).

1787  William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

1807  Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder, was born (d. 1874).

1846 Ruapekapeka pa was occupied by British troops. Debate raged as to whether the pa was simply abandoned by its defenders or captured by the British.

1857 Fred Archer, English jockey, was born  (d. 1886).

1878 Milk was first delivered in bottles.

1879  The Anglo-Zulu War began.

1885 Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer, was born  (d. 1965).

1885 – Alice Paul, American women’s rights activist, was born (d. 1977).

1915 –Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier, co-founder Special Air Service, was born  (d. 1955).

1919 Romania annexed Transylvania.

1922 First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.

1934 Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare, British computer scientist, was born.

1935 Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

1938  Arthur Scargill, British politician, was born.

1946 Tony Kaye, British piano and organ player (Yes), was born.

1946  Enver Hoxha declared the People’s Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.

1949 First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles.

1957 The African Convention was founded in Dakar.

1962 An avalanche on Huascaran in Peru caused 4,000 deaths.

1964 – United States Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., published a report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health – the first such statement made by the U.S. government.

1972 East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh.

1986  The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland was officially opened.

1996  STS-72 launched from the Kennedy Space Centre marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.

1998– Sidi-Hamed massacre  in Algeria  killed more than 100 people.

2007 – China conducted the first successful anti-satellite missile test of any nation since 1985.

2013 – One French soldier and 17 militants were killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.