Word of the day

Mesonoxian – pertaining to midnight.

Inspiration

I’m ready to be inspired, she said & I said that’s not quite how it works, so instead we sat in the garden, breathing & watching the bees until she smiled quietly & said, I forget it’s that simple.  Inspiration © 2014 Brian Andreas – posted with permission.

You can buy books, posters, cards, ornaments and more and sign up for a daily dose of whimsy like this by email at Story People.

Rural round-up

Southland vet says animals need to be culled – Rebecca Moore:

Southland VetSouth director Mark Bryan says to get rid of Mycoplasma bovis all affected animals must be destroyed as international vets say the disease can be “devastating”.

In Australia, farmers “lived with” the disease but New Zealand was quite different, with climate and population of cows being larger, Bryan said.

New Zealand was more similar to the United Kingdom. . .

Dairy farmer and rural lifeline Neil Bateup awarded New Year Honour – Thomas Manch:

It was the 1984 Labour government that put dairy farmer Neil Bateup​ through his toughest time.

The New Zealand dollar was floated, Bateup’s interest rate went up 26 per cent, and the 2017 New Zealand Order of Merit recipient faced some serious financial hardship.

“But we got through it,” he says, in that matter-of-fact manner familiar to most. . . 

Farmers Fast Five – Sue Culham:

The Proud to be a Farmer NZ Farmers Fast Five: Where we ask a Farmer Five quick questions about Farming, and what Agriculture means to them. Today we talk to Puripak Avocados Limited Avocado Grower, Ballance Agri-Nutrients Environment Award Winner and Proud Farmer Sue Culham.

How long have you been farming?

Originally a city girl I moved to Glenbervie, Whangarei in 2001. My husband and I were grazing beef on our original 27 hectares whilst working in the family engineering business where I was the Finance Manager. I hadn’t had much to do with country life before this time but once you got me on the land it was hard to get me back into that office. Planting our original 4 hectares of Avocados in 2004, and after having our daughter in 2006 I stepped back from the engineering to focus on the development of the orchard. . . 

Proud to be a Farmer:

The Wool Press: Where we shine the spotlight on a Wool Product or Producer to celebrate wool as an environmentally friendly, innovative, humane and versatile natural fibre of now and the future. Today we talk to Tim Brown, former captain of the All Whites and founder of the worlds most comfortable shoes, Allbirds : The hugely popular runners and loungers made from New Zealand Merino.
1. What made you choose NZ Merino as a textile when you created All Birds?
We wanted to create the world’s most comfortable shoe so it made sense that we would use the world’s finest fibre to achieve that goal. In NZ Merino and their ZQ certification, we found a partner that is the gold standard in the delivery of sustainable and ethically sourced merino and we haven’t looked back since. . . 

This small amount of Sunburn means fruit this perfect inside is being left behind. Certain retailers selling fruit at $2.90/kg or more when market price is 60-70c/kg isn’t helping shift oversupply issue. Everyone in the Industry needs to work together to keep consumers buying. pic.twitter.com/D4m8H6AjNR

— Terry O'Leary (@grow_dem_melons) December 29, 2017

Celebrating a season of abundance and choice – John Rigolizzo Jnr:

Not many people around the world eat “local” at Christmas.

At least nobody does in New Jersey, where I live and farm—and where snow commonly covers the fields at this time of year.

We’re already at work preparing a big dinner for our Christmas celebration: We’ll serve hundreds of raviolis to a gathering of two or three dozen members of our extended family.

For the homemade pasta, we rely on flour, eggs, and salt. We add tomato sauce, meatballs, and sausage. Some years we may include veal, which is more expensive. We’re also stocking up on garlic, parsley, and breadcrumbs.

Almost none of these ingredients are produced in New Jersey in December. . . 

A fitting statement for the current dry spell we are going through pic.twitter.com/gtAaE4YJIF

— Olin Greenan (@OGreenan) December 29, 2017

How a former vegetarian became a butcher and ethical meat advocate – Debbie Weingarten:

Butcher and author Meredith Leigh encourages consumers to consider the life, death, butchering, and preparation of the animals on their plates.

Before she was a butcher, Meredith Leigh was a vegetarian. She was fascinated by plants and loved vegetables—how they grew, the way they tasted right out of the field, how they changed color and texture as they cooked.

But during a trip to Vietnam in 2004—after Leigh had been a vegetarian for nine years and a vegan for two—a woman named Loi served her water buffalo. Aware that Loi had raised and slaughtered the animal herself, the act of eating it became an act of connecting, and Leigh began to consider the idea of ethical meat. . .

Sunday soapbox

Sunday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Year’s end is neither a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instil in us.

December 31 in history

400  Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.

1229  James I of Aragon the Conqueror entered Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma) consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.

1491 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer, was born (d. 1557)

1599  The British East India Company was chartered.

1687– The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.

1695 A window tax was imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.

1720 Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne, was born  (d. 1788).

1759 Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and started brewing Guinness.

1853 Sir George Grey left New Zealand after finishing his first  term as Governor.

1857 Queen Victoria chose Ottawa, as the capital of Canada.

1869 Henri Matisse, French painter, was born (d. 1954).

1878  Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman, was born (d. 1966).

1879 Thomas Edison demonstrated incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.

1904 The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square(then known as Longacre Square) in New York.

1908  Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor, was born (d. 2005).

1909  Manhattan Bridge opened.

1923 The chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.

1937 Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor, was born.

1941 – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager, was born.

1943 John Denver, American singer and songwriter, was born (d. 1997).

1943 Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor was born.

1943  Pete Quaife, English bassist (The Kinks) was born.

1946 President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

1951 The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

1955  The General Motors Corporation became the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.

1960 The farthing coin ceased to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

1963  The Central African Federation officially collapsed and split intoZambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

1965  Nicholas Sparks, American author, was born.

1980 – Richie McCaw, All Black captain, was born.

1983 – The AT&T Bell System was broken up by the United States Government.

1991  All official Soviet Union institutions ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union was officially dissolved.

1992 Czechoslovakia was dissolved, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1996 – On New Year’s Eve around 4000 people made their way to the remote location of Canaan Downs, Tākaka, to take part in the first Gathering, a two-day festival for electronic dance music fans.

1998  The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and established the value of the eurocurrency.

1999  Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.

1999 – The United States Government handed control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

2004  The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

2007 –  Bocaue Fire: Seven people were injured when a fire resulted in the explosion of several fireworks stores in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.

2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occurred.

2011 – NASA succeeded in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the moon.

2014  – A New Year’s Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai killed at least 36 people and injures 49 others.

2015 – A fire broke out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates located near the Burj Khalifa 2 hours before the fireworks display was due to commence. 16 injuries were reported.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Word of the day

Senectitude – the last stage of life; old age, elderliness.

Saturday’s smiles

A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.

New Year’s Day … now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~ Mark Twain

Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account. ~ Oscar Wilde

New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time. ~ James Agate

New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions. ~ Mark Twain

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. ~ Mark Twain

Rural round-up

Earlier crop worrying for winemakers – Louise Scott:

Gibbston winemakers say they also could be faced with a shortage of seasonal workers after hot weather conditions mean they are ahead of schedule for grape picking.

Grant Taylor, of Gibbston’s Valli Vineyard, has never seen such an early harvest in more than 25 years in the industry.

While perfect conditions will ensure a bumper crop, he worries labour could be an issue.

“It is a real concern that because things are early there won’t be enough pickers in the region. Usually we pick in April but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were picking at the middle of March.” . .

Milk once a day to avoid burn out – Christine Allen:

The co-ordinator of Northland’s Rural Support Trust is urging the region’s dairy farmers to reduce to once-a-day milking and plan for time off over the summer holidays to prevent burnout and stress later on in the year.

Northland Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Julie Jonker said those working in agriculture could often resist taking time off as, unlike many other business models, they can’t just “close the door and leave”.

Ms Jonker said that while most farmers took their large break later in the year, once cows were dried off, they still needed to plan for days, or half days, away from the farm as many had been working hard since calving earlier in the year. . .

Any Dairy Farmers want to swap bales of wool for blocks of butter? pic.twitter.com/YiCra6Nlx1

— William Morrison (@MorrisonFarming) December 29, 2017

Golden fleeces flow from progeny testing and elite breeding – John Ellicott:

On the Monaro, the quest for the golden fleece is no legend, it’s a woolgrowing victory fashioned over the decades, making finer wool but increasing fleece weights. Access to top stud stock, improved pastures and adapting shearing times has created the legend.

Steve Blyton from TWG Cooma has seen average microns for the Monaro reduce from 21 microns to about 18 microns due to “breeding being so good in the area”. Some growers have seen a 3 micron improvement in their flock fleeces with fleece weight gains. . .

NZ genetics sought after says South American expert Luis Balfour  –

Whitestone Boers stud owners Owen and Annette Booth, of Milton, recently hosted Argentinian genetic importer/exporter Luis Balfour on their Milton property. Southern Rural Life talked to Mr Balfour about his interest in New Zealand stock.

Argentinian genetic importer/exporter Luis Balfour says New Zealand pedigree stock is attractive to his clients in South America as New Zealand breeders provided the ”best package” of desired traits.

Mr Balfour has been involved with importing and exporting cattle between Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Canada, the US, Great Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for more than 30 years. . . 

Genetically modified insects next for agriculture – Chris Bennett:

Want to crash an insect population? Slip in a self-limiting gene and topple the family tree in two to three generations. The promise of biotech mosquitoes to combat the pest that spreads Zika, dengue and yellow fever grabs the headlines, but just off center stage, the same technology utilizing genetically engineered (GE) insects is being tested on U.S. farmland.

With the flick of a genetic switch, agriculture could turn the sex drive of an insect against itself. The arrival of GE insects in farming could usher in a new wave of pest management, based on species-specific tools targeting pest insects, and result in a significant reduction in broad-spectrum insecticide applications. GE insects may provide growers with a major new pest weapon if all goes according to plan. . . 

#AgMoreThanEver pic.twitter.com/YbT6BHJsIl

— CorNine (@Cor9Commodities) December 28, 2017

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

If you want to make your dreams come ture, the first thing to do is wake up. J.M. Power

December 30 in history

39  Titus, Roman emperor was born  (d. 81).

1066 Granada massacre: A Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city.

1460  Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield.

1843 – Church Missionary Society printer William Colenso arrived in the Bay of Islands on the schooner Blackbird with New Zealand’s second printing press.

1835 Charles Darwin left New Zealand after a nine day visit.

1865 – Rudyard Kipling, English writer, Nobel laureate, was born (d. 1936).

1875 – A.H. (Sir Alfred Hamish) Reed, publisher, author, entrepreneur, and walker and mountaineer,  was born (d. 1975).

1916 The last coronation in Hungary was performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita.

1919 – Lincoln’s Inn in London admitted its first female bar student.

1922  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

1925 – Ian MacNaughton, Scottish actor, producer, and director, was born (d. 2002).

1924 Edwin Hubble announced the existence of other galaxies.

1927  The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opened in Tokyo, Japan.

1928 – Bo Diddley, American singer and musician, was born (d. 2008).

1931  Skeeter Davis, American singer, was born  (d. 2004) .

1937 –  Noel Paul Stookey, American folk singer (Peter, Paul & Mary), was born.

1939 – Glenda Adams, Australian author and academic, was born (d. 2007).

1940 California opened its first freeway the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

1942 – Michael Nesmith, American singer and musician (The Monkees) was born.

1944 King George II of Greece declared a regency, leaving the throne vacant.

1945  Davy Jones, English singer (The Monkees), was born (d. 2012).

1946 – Patti Smith, American singer-songwriter and poet, was born.

1947 King Michael of Romania was forced to abdicate by the Soviet-backed Communist government of Romania.

1947 Jeff Lynne, English musician (ELO), was born.

1948  The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances), opened at the New Century Theatre and was the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.

1950 Bjarne Stroustrup, Danish computer scientist, creator of C++, was born.

1953 The first ever NTSC colour television sets went on sale for about USD at $1,175 each from RCA.

1959 Tracey Ullman, English actress and singer, was born.

1961 – Bill English, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, was born.

1965  Ferdinand Marcos became President of the Philippines.

1975 Tiger Woods, American golfer, was born.

1993  Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations.

2004 A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina killed 194.

2005  Tropical Storm Zeta formed in the open Atlantic Ocean.

2006  Madrid’s Barajas International Airport was bombed.

2006 Deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, convicted of the executions of 148 Iraqi Shiites, was executed.

2009 – The last roll of Kodachrome film was developed by Dwayne’s Photo, the only remaining Kodachrome processor at the time, concluding the film’s 74-year run as a photography icon.

2011  – Owing to a change of time zone the day was skipped in Samoaand Tokelau.

2013 – More than 100 people were killed when anti-government forces attacked key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sourced from NZ History Online, Te Ara, Encyclopedia of NZ & Wikipedia.

Word of the day

Degust – taste with care or relish; savour appreciatively.

When I rule the world . . .

When I rule the world * the shampoo and conditioner will last exactly the same time.

Try as I might to use equal amounts, the conditioner always runs out before the shampoo.

* Accepting that we’ve already achieved global health and happiness.

Rural round-up

Thank you to the farmers who do a bloody hard job’ – ‘Latte-sipping’ Aucklander pens letter in support of farmers – Anna White:

An open letter written by a “latte-sipping” Aucklander has struck a chord with farmers.

Matt Shirtcliffe was compelled to show his support for the farming community after hearing the news six young farmers had lost their lives recently. . .

Farmers need compensation for stock losses caused by Mycoplasma bovis – MP – Andrew Marshall:

Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker says farmers will need to be compensated for any stock losses accrued as a result of the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.

He said Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor would need to provide “appropriate” compensation for cows culled to contain the disease.

Walker was in Winton visiting concerned farmers after three farms in the area were confirmed to have been infected, and said “cows are the income for farmers.” . . 

Unwelcome pests need firm response:

Just before Christmas, biosecurity investigators discovered an outbreak of a plant pest called Chilean needle grass on a North Canterbury farm. Steps were immediately taken to destroy the infestation which, if left unchecked, could reduce crop yields and cause animal welfare problems.

Its barbed seeds can work their way through animal hides into flesh and bone, leaving young animals in particular weak and vulnerable.

The discovery was the 17th known infestation of the plant invader and an unwelcome reminder that New Zealand’s primary-based economy is particularly vulnerable to pest incursions. . .

Santa fails to deliver drought-braking rain to lower North Island – Gerard Hutching:

Farmers on the west coast of the North Island have missed out on the Christmas present they most wanted – sufficient rain to break the drought gripping their regions.

In Taranaki alone there are up to 800 farms along the coast which have been harshly affected, the chairman of the Taranaki Rural Support Trust, Mike Green says.

A Ministry of Primary Industries spokeswoman said the medium-scale adverse event for the lower North Island declared by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor last week remained in force, despite the sprinkling of rain in the last few days. . .

Drying out now at #Greenhill. And the #maize is over the fences, too. Summer in northern NZ taking shape. pic.twitter.com/DS83QS0Rn6

— Jake Smith (@GreenhillStud) December 28, 2017

These golden bananas could save the lives of many children in Uganda – Jonathan O’Callaghan:

Scientists have developed a new type of banana that could help the many children in Uganda who have a pro-vitamin A deficiency.

The so-called “golden bananas”, named for their appearance, were developed by a team from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, led by Professor James Dale. The findings have been published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

It’s hoped that by 2021, Ugandan farmers will be growing bananas rich in pro-vitamin A. About $10 million was supplied by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the research. . .

Select Harvest’s high hopes as new markets go nuts for almonds – Andrew Marshall:

The market prospects look, literally, very healthy but Australia’s biggest almond business has become more than a little gun-shy about over-anticipating its fortunes in the year ahead.

The nut harvest on about 4900 hectares of orchards in Victoria, South Australia and NSW is less than two months away, but after shock yield setbacks caused by unusually rainy, mild weather last summer and spring, nut grower, processor and marketer, Select Harvests, is not making rash promises. . . 

https://twitter.com/PWakulima/status/945928554990141440

 

Quote of the day

Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right. – William Gladstone who was born on this day in 1809.

December 29 in history

1170  Thomas Becket,  Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

1427 – Army of Ming Dynasty started withdrawing from Hanoi, put an end to the domination of Đại Việt.

1508 – Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attacked Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul.

1721  Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France, was born (d. 1764).

1800 Charles Goodyear, American inventor, was born (d. 1860).

1809 William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born  (d. 1898).

1835  The Treaty of New Echota was signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

1876 The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster left 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.

1880 Tuhiata, or Tuhi, was hanged in Wellington for the murder of the artist Mary Dobie at Te Namu Bay, Opunake. Tuhi wrote to the Governor days before his execution asking that ‘my bad companions, your children, beer, rum and other spirits die with me’.

1890 United States soldiers kill more than 200 Oglala Lakota men, women, and children with 4 Hotchkiss guns in the Wounded Knee Massacre.

1910 – Ronald Coase, English-American economist, author, and academic,Nobel Prize laureate was born (d. 2013).

1911  Sun Yat-sen became the provisional President of the Republic of China.

1911  Mongolia gained independence from the Qing dynasty.

1930  Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s presidential address in Allahabad introduced the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.

1931 – The floating dock broke its moorings in Wellington harbour.

1936  Mary Tyler Moore, American actress was born.

1937  The Irish Free State was replaced by a new state called Irelandwith the adoption of a new constitution.

1939 First flight of the Consolidated B-24.

1940  In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe firebombed the city, killing almost 200 civilians.

1941  – Birth of Ray Thomas, British musician (The Moody Blues).

1949 KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut became the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.

1953 Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, was born.

1972 An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed Tristar) crashed on approach to Miami International Airport killing 101.

1975 A bomb exploded at La Guardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.

1989 Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia – the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.

1996  Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.

1997 – Hong Kong began to kill all the nation’s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.

1998 Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologised for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.

2003 The last known speaker of Akkala Sami – died, rendering the language that was spoken in the Sami villages of A´kkel and Ču´kksuâl, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia extinct.

2006 – UK settled its Anglo-American loan – post WWII loan debt.

2012 – A Tupolev Tu-204 airliner crashed in a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway after overshooting a runway at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing five people and leaving three others critically injured.

2013 – A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd killed at least 18 people and wounded 40 others.

Sourced from NZ HIstory Online & Wikipedia.

Word of the day

Fernweh – wanderlust, the desire to travel; a longing for far-off places.

Thursday’s quiz

You’re invited to pose the questions for the last Thursday’s quiz of the year.

Anyone who stumps everyone will win a virtual black bun, which is traditionally eaten at Hogmanay.

Rural round-up

Lamb prices surprise in good year for farmers – Dene Mackenzie:

The year was one of surprises, consistency, comebacks and consolidation for New Zealand’s agricultural industry, ASB senior rural economist Nathan Penny says.

Lamb prices surprised by surging over the year, while beef prices were consistently strong.

Butter made a stunning comeback during the year, helping the dairy sector consolidate its position with another positive year.

The meat sector took centre stage in 2017 and the year was one out of the box for lamb prices, he said. . .

Sale marks new era for rail trail – Pam Jones:

A business that has transported thousands of cyclists over the Otago Central Rail Trail has notched up another milestone in its own journey. Pam Jones talks to Neville and Barbara Grubb about the beginnings of Trail Journeys and where the business will travel to next.

In the early days of the Otago Central Rail Trail it was not only the businesses and operators along the trail that were working things out from scratch, one of the biggest operators on the trail says.

”Those very first cyclists, they were the real pioneers of the trail,” Trail Journeys co-founder Neville Grubb said. ”They were just great. They didn’t mind what was there and they didn’t mind where they stayed. All they wanted was somewhere to rest their head at the end of the day.” . . 

MyFarm $13M Rockit apple investment offer closes oversubscribed – Tina Morrison:

(BusinessDesk) – MyFarm Investments, which pools funds for rural investment, said its $13 million offer for growing miniature Rockit snack apples closed oversubscribed.

The company said its offer, under the Rakete Orchards Limited Partnership, closed on Dec. 15 having attracted 67 investors with an average investment of $195,000. The partnership will lease and fund the planting of 55 hectares of the Rockit apple variety across four orchard blocks in the Heretaunga Plains of Hawkes Bay, the only planting of new orchards of Rockit apple trees in the country in 2018. . .

We know how dry it is, but dramatic to see NIWA soil moisture map, just how widespread severe dry conditions are pic.twitter.com/99jqJaUpby

— Graham Kerr (@GKBarenbrugNZ) December 27, 2017

Sealord’s annual profit falls 19% on write down of now-exited UK business – Rebecca Howard:

(BusinessDesk) – Sealord’s annual profit fell 19 percent largely on an impairment charge of its British-based Sealord Caistor processing business, which was sold to shareholder Nippon Suisan Kaisha.

Net profit fell to $18.5 million in the year ended Sept. 30 versus $22.9 million a year earlier, according to holding company Kura’s financial statements, lodged with the Companies Office. Discontinued operations contributed a loss of $3.2 million to the bottom line, including an impairment charge of $4.9 million. Sealord’s income tax expense was $6.4 million versus $3.7 million in the prior year. . .

Dale Farm announcement widens North-South dairy split – Richard Halleron:

Confirmation of the two new production incentives announced last week by Dale Farm is further evidence of the growing production divide that now exists between the dairy industries on the island of Ireland.

The aforementioned measures, one targeting new entrants and the other encouraging the production of milk the year-round, confirm yet again that processors north of the border are committed to securing milk 12 months of the year.

And, what’s more, they are prepared to pay for this commitment on the part of farmers. 

Meanwhile, the southern co-ops and Teagasc remain totally wedded to the principle of getting as much milk as possible from grazed grass. At one level, this makes perfect sense. Irish dairy farmers should be getting as much milk from the cheapest source of feed available to them – grazed grass. . .

Dale Farm announcement widens North-South dairy split – https://t.co/z5OoiXEDA6 pic.twitter.com/zWCEu8yU2F

— eDairy News.en (@eDairyNews) December 27, 2017

Quote of the day

You can’t learn pathos or profundity. – Nigel Kennedy who celebrates his 62nd birthday today.

December 28 in history

457– Majorian was crowned emperor of the Western Roman Empire and recognised by Pope Leo I.

484 – Alaric II succeeded his father Euric and became king of the Visigoths. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l’Adour (Southern Gaul).

893 – An earthquake destroyed the city of Dvin, Armenia.

1065  Westminster Abbey was consecrated.

1612 Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.

1635  Princess Elizabeth of England was born (d. 1650).

1768 King Taksin‘s coronation achieved through conquest as a king of Thailand and established Thonburi as a capital.

1795 Construction of Yonge Street, the longest street in the world, began in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto.

1836 South Australia and Adelaide were founded.

1836 – Spain recognised the independence of Mexico.

1856  Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel laureate, was born (d. 1924).

1867  United States claimed Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

1879 –  The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapsed as a train passed over it, killing 75.

1879 –  Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer was born  (d. 1936).

1895 The Lumière brothers performed for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines marking the debut of thecinema.

1908 An earthquake rocked Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.

1912 The first municipally owned streetcars took to the streets in San Francisco, California.

1929 ‘Black Saturday’ in Samoa – the day that New Zealand military police fired on a Mau demonstration in Apia, killing 11 Samoans, including the independence leader Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III. This led the Mau movement to demand independence for Samoa.

1934 Dame Maggie Smith, British actress, was born.

1935 Pravda published a letter by Pavel Postyshev, who revived the New Year tree tradition in the Soviet Union.

1945 The United States Congress officially recognised the Pledge of Allegiance.

1950 The Peak District became the United Kingdom’s first National Park.

1953 Richard Clayderman, French pianist, was born.

1954  Denzel Washington, American actor, was born.

1956 Nigel Kennedy, British violinist, was born.

1981 The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

1989 A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit Newcastle, New South Wales, killing 13 people.

1999  Saparmurat Niyazov was proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan.

2009 43 people died in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims were observing the Day of Ashura.

2010 – Arab Spring: Popular protests began in Algeria against the government.

2011 – Uludere airstrike: Turkish warplanes bombed 34 Kurds of Turkish nationality in the district of Uludere.

2014 – Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.