365 days of gratitude

When you count 3mls of  rain you know it’s dry.

When it’s that dry you welcome even very small amounts of rain, and when, as last night’s was, the small amount is followed by a cloudy day which is cool enough to make irrigation effective it’s even better and I’m grateful for it.

Word of the day

Accite – to call or send for officially or by authority; illustrate by example; agitate; stir; awaken, rouse; excite; cause.

Rural round-up

Big drop in Otago farm sales, NZ sales down 21% – Simon Hartley:

Otago has recorded the largest decline in farm sales across the country, down by 27 on a year ago while nationally sales dipped 21%, down by more than 100 properties.
Ten of 14 regions recorded declines in farm sales for the quarter ended December, with Otago booking the most substantial decline, down 27 sales followed by Northland down 25 sales, while Southland was one of only three regions with an increase, up three sales.

Overall, farm sales nationally for the quarter plunged 105 from 499 for the same quarter last year to 394, according to Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data.

REINZ rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said the sales were a reflection of two key factors which impacted on the rural sector – weather and prices. . .

Is the 20-year white gold rush over for dairy industry? – Andrea Fox:

The country’s second biggest dairy manufacturer and exporter Open Country Dairy believes New Zealand milk production growth has peaked and a long run of muscular annual rises is over.

Chairman Laurie Margrain said the privately-owned company did not believe overall milk production would rise much higher than it is today.

“There will be seasonal variances due to weather of course but it’s not realistic to think New Zealand milk production will go through the growth curve it’s had in the past 10 years.” . . .

Warning after homekill prosecutions rise:

A spike in prosecutions for illegal homekill has prompted officials to warn people not to sell homekill on social media.

Information released to Radio New Zealand showed seven people were prosecuted in 2017, compared to one the year before.

And 44 sales of homekill on Facebook were reported to the Ministry for Primary Industries last year, 30 more than 2016.

Selling homekill is illegal, with fines of up to $75,000 for individuals and $300,000 for businesses. . .

Agriseeds animal safety trials underway on new grass-endophyte combinations to make sure your livestock perform well and don't get staggers! pic.twitter.com/KyiW47wnoE

— Jen Corkran (@JCBarenbrugNZ) January 22, 2018

Local rider chosen for trip to Texas – Tom Kitchin:

Ranfurly girl Amanda Voice says she feels lucky to be named in a team to represent New Zealand in Texas for western performance horse riding.
Amanda (15) will travel to the Texas city of College Station to compete in the American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup from June 28 to July 8.

”I’m just so happy with how it’s all gone,” she said.

”I’m very excited to represent New Zealand once again.” . .

How one dairy farmer works just 20 hours per year for every cow in his herd – Seán Cummins:

David Kerr milks a herd of 155 cows under a spring-calving system in Ballyfin, Co. Laois. He’s at the top of his game when it comes to efficiency and works just 20 hours per year for each cow in his herd.

When compared to his peers, David fits firmly within the top 5% of efficient farmers. The 20 hours per cow figure is more than 50% lower than the average number of hours worked by farmers surveyed in a recent Teagasc labour study.

At this week’s Irish Grassland Association Dairy Conference, David outlined the efficiency practices undertaken on his farm. . .

How does a show get its local community involved?

Country shows are a window into a community, showing how close knit its people are, and that community’s values.

However, bringing people together, organising judging events and entertainment takes some time and know-how. So it’s no surprise that as country town populations have taken a hit, the local show has also suffered.

A successful show requires involvement, and inclusion. But sometimes a show seemingly just happens because it has had a long established committee. The local community doesn’t necessarily understand what it can bring to the table, nor what goes into putting the event on. . . 

I thought it would be interesting to chart population vs the real wheat price. It turns out that it was interesting, but also quite depressing. #oatt #agchatoz pic.twitter.com/DaB66vz7MM

— Mecardo (@MecardoAnalysis) January 22, 2018

Friday’s answers

Teletext gets my thanks for posing yesterday’s questions and can claim a virtual case of peaches by leaving the answers below.

Rural Delivery reprieve

Last year Rural Delivery failed to get NZ On Air funding which threatened its ability to continue.

An email from NZ On Air told me:

Rural Delivery was successful in a resubmitted bid for funding at the end of last year. My understanding is the programme will return to screens in 2018. They are securing third party funding in order to receive just under $300,000 funding from NZ On Air.

This is very good news.

Rural Delivery provides a much needed window on the interesting and innovative work being done in rural New Zealand.

Careless campers country-wide problem

Queenstown Lakes is banning freedom campers from two areas after continuing problems with rubbish and human waste left behind.

Announcing the measures yesterday, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said his council would take a harder line against illegal freedom camping in areas such as Wanaka’s lakefront.

The measures, which will be put into place as soon as practicable, were a response to significant growth in freedom camping in the district this summer, Mr Boult said.

Enforcement alone was not enough, and the council had resolved to “take a harder stand”.

“These pressure points are seeing overcrowding, risks to public health due to human waste, and potential damage to our environment with people bathing and washing dishes or clothes in the lakes or rivers.”

Parts of the district were also being used like a “giant toilet”. . .

The council would also lobby the Government to put much more funding into building public toilet facilities, and providing more remote freedom camping sites throughout the district.

Too few public facilities is a major contributor to the problem and small councils with lots of tourists don’t have the rating base to fund loos in all the places where they’re needed.

The previous government introduced a fund councils could apply to for tourist infrastructure, much more is needed.

He would also be talking to ministers about reviewing the low hurdle required for meeting “self-contained” criteria for toilets in vehicles. . .

The only acceptable criteria for a ‘self-contained” toilet is those built-in ones in camper vans.

Councils can fine people camping where they shouldn’t be, but only about 20% of fines issued to freedom campers in the Waitaki District have been paid.

Fines totalling $17,000 were issued to freedom campers across the district. Of the infringement notices issued, each for $200, 15 ($3000) had been paid while 58 ($11,600) were outstanding.

The remaining 12, worth $2400, had been withdrawn…

The solution to this would be to make vehicle owners responsible for any fines. That way rental companies would have to pay and then get the money from the people hiring from them which is, I think, what happens with parking fines.

Another contributor to problems caused by careless campers is different rules from different councils in different areas.

Careless campers are a country-wide problem that needs a country-wide solution.

That will include more public facilities, clearer rules, and better education on what is and isn’t acceptable.

Defecation in public is the norm in some countries, visitors must be left with no doubt that they can’t pooh in public places here.

Quote of the day

You should open these doors with care and caution-but, first, you must know how to close them. And above all, you must know which doors should be left unopened. – Michael Bentine who was born on this day in 1922.

January 26 in history

1340  King Edward III of England was declared King of France.

1500  Vicente Yáñez Pinzón became the first European to set foot on Brazil.

1531  Lisbon was hit by an earthquake–thousands died.

1564 The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

1565 Battle of Talikota, between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, led to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.

1589  Job was elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

1699  Treaty of Carlowitz was signed.

1700 The magnitude 9 Cascadia earthquake took place off the west coast of the North America.

1714 Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor, was born (d. 1785).

1722 Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader, was born  (d. 1805).

1736 Stanislaus I of Poland abdicated his throne.

1788 The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sailed into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.

1808 Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.

1813 Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican Republic’s founding father, was born  (d. 1876).

1838 Tennessee enacted the first prohibition law in the United States.

1841 The United Kingdom formally occupied Hong Kong.

1844 Governor Fitzroy arrived to investigate the Wairau incident.

1855 Point No Point Treaty was signed in Washington Territory.

1857 Trinley Gyatso, the 12th Dalai Lama, was born (d. 1875).

1880 Douglas MacArthur, American general, was born (d. 1964).

1885 Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquered Khartoum.

1892 Bessie Coleman, American pioneer aviator, was born  (d. 1926).

1904  Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, Nobel Prize Laureate, was born  (d. 1988).

1905 The Cullinan Diamond was found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria.

1905 Maria von Trapp, Austrian-born singer, was born  (d. 1987).

1907 The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III was officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle still in official use.

1908  Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist, was born  (d. 1997).

1911 Glenn H. Curtiss flew the first successful American seaplane.

1911 – Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier debuted at the Dresden State Opera.

1913 Jimmy Van Heusen, American songwriter, was born  (d. 1990).

1918 Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator, was born (d. 1989).

1920 Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launchedtheLincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.

1922 Michael Bentine, British comedian and founding member of The Goons, was born  (d. 1996).

1925  Paul Newman, American actor, philanthropist, race car driver and race team owner, was born  (d. 2008).

1930 The Indian National Congress declared 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.

1934 The Apollo Theater reopened in Harlem.

1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact was signed.

1939 Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy took Barcelona.

1942 World War II: The first United States forces arrived in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

1945  Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist, was born  (d. 1987).

1950 The Constitution of India came into force, forming a republic.Rajendra Prasad was sworn in as its first President.

1952  Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burnt Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

1955  Eddie Van Halen, Dutch musician (Van Halen), was born.

1957 Bubble wrap was invented by Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes.

1958 Japanese  ferry Nankai Maru capsised off southern Awaji Island, 167 killed.

1958 Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedian, was born.

1961 Janet G. Travell  became the first woman to be appointed physician to the president (Kennedy).

1962  Ranger 3 was launched to study the moon.

1965  Hindi became the official language of India.

1978  The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US, struck the Ohio – Great Lakes region with heavy snow and winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h).

1980 – Israel and Egypt established diplomatic relations.

1984 Floods devastated Southland.

1988  Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s The Phantom of the Opera had its first performance on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre.

1991  Mohamed Siad Barre was removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and was succeeded by Ali Mahdi.

1998 Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denied having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2001 An earthquake in Gujarat, India, killed more than 20,000.

2004 President Hamid Karzai signed the new constitution of Afghanistan.

2004 – A decomposing  whale exploded in Tainan, Taiwan.

2005 – Glendale train crash: Two trains derailled killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California.

2009 – Rioting broke out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that resulted in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.

2015 – A giant snow storm hit much of the Northeastern United States.

2015 – A plane crash at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain kiled 11 people and injured 21 others.

2015 – Libby Lane became the first woman ordained a bishop of the Church of England.

Sourced from NZ History Oline & Wikipedia