Word of the day

Athame, – a double-edged knife, typically having a black handle, used for ritual purposes in Wicca and other neopagan movements; a witch’s ceremonial knife, usually with a black handle, used in rituals rather than for cutting or carving; a ceremonial dagger that’s typically used in rituals and spells to direct energy and carve symbols in the air.

Sowell says

So long as public schools are treated as places that exist to provide guaranteed jobs to members of the teachers’ unions, do not be surprised to see American students continuing to score lower on international tests than students in countries that spend a lot less per pupil than…

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) May 24, 2024

 

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day teacher and farmer Phoebe “Febb” Burn (1873-1945) of Tennessee, the woman who sent a seven-page letter to the youngest member in the state legislature persuading him to break a 48-48 deadlock in 1920 by changing his vote from No to Aye, thus making Tennessee the… pic.twitter.com/wHInomXUWJ

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) May 26, 2024

 

Rural round-up

Beef and Lamb NZ slams claims that meat produced to lower standard – Sally Murphy :

Beef and Lamb New Zealand has hit back at claims lamb here is “produced to potentially lower standards than in the UK”.

Britain’s National Farmers Union (NFU) made the claim when reacting to news supermarket chain Morrisons is going to start selling New Zealand lamb in 39 of its stores.

NFU livestock board chairperson David Barton said he hoped the supermarket dropping its commitment to sell only British lamb was temporary and that the trial would come to an end.

“Recently, the UK farming unions wrote to the chief executive of Morrisons and other top retailers seeking support for the industry including a steadfast commitment to local sourcing in order to maintain food production across the UK and to safeguard our food security.” . . 

Bird flu presents lots of uncertainty for both animals and humans – Keith Woodford :

My knowledge about bird flu was very little until I received a request to find someone who could assess the risks within a New Zealand context, including a suggestion that I might, if necessary, self-nominate.

 I could not identify anyone who would want to stick their head up on this one, so I decided to go on a journey of self-exploration. Here, I share what I learned.

Bird flu is the term for a large family of viruses, with avian influenza being the more formal name. These viruses have been around since at least the 1880s, but my bet is they have been around since birds evolved. In the last 30 years, a particular category of bird flu, called H5N1, has come to human attention.

H5N1 viruses are always evolving through ongoing mutations and we now have variants that can transfer between both bird species and many animal species.  The mammal species include seals, sea lions, cats, foxes and cattle. In all likelihood they can transmit and multiply in other species. . . 

#NZFarming pic.twitter.com/2oMl0lM4XD

— Ben Dooley 🧢 (@BenDooley8) May 23, 2024

 

Reaching new heights – Elise Cacace :

Growing up as one of five children on a calf-rearing farm in Muriwai, just off the west coast of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Emma Poole’s love for animals and the outdoors was instilled in her from a young age. Now, the twenty-eight-year-old farmer, vet and mum has made history, becoming the first woman ever to win the FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition in its fifty-five-year history.

At Massey University in Te Papa-i-Oea Palmerston North, Emma first fell in love with two things: the Young Farmers community and her husband, Chris. “I’d enrolled in an agricultural degree before I did a degree in veterinary science in 2014, and Chris and I were doing a paper together. He was the chairman of the Young Farmers Club at the time, and one day he asked me to come along, so I did,” Emma says. 

“After meeting heaps of like-minded people, I became pretty immersed in it all and ended up joining the committee. Then in 2017, our district didn’t have enough people competing for FMG Young Farmer of the Year and they suggested I go along to represent the club. I didn’t really think anything of it – I just thought I’d give it a go – but I ended up making it to regionals! I had no idea what I was in for, but I fell in love with the contest and all its quirks, and I thought it was just amazing. After that year, I knew I’d be back.”

Capturing true rural ingenuity since 1969, the FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition has become an established part of the farming calendar, now seeing up to 300 competitors across the country put their farming skills and knowledge to the ultimate test, vying for a place in the national Grand Final. This year was Emma’s third time going for the prestigious award – she also came in third place in 2019 – while last season it was her brother, Tim Dangen, who walked home with the trophy at the Grand Final, with her husband, Chris, in a close second place. . . 

NZ”s 10 largest dairy farmers reveal changing face of an industry – Jamie Gray :

They contribute billions of dollars to New Zealand’s economy and are responsible for thousands of milking cows and farm hectares. So who are the country’s largest dairy farmers? Jamie Gray uncovers the big players in the dairy sector.

After dairy’s rollercoaster ride of the past decade, 10 big names have emerged as the country’s top producers.

In recent history, the sector has gone through a milk price bubble, a debt crisis, all the while facing increased competition from other land uses.

Added to that has been a big strategic shift from the country’s dairy company, Fonterra, away from volume for the sake of volume to maximising the value of New Zealand milk. . . 

Public, farmers align on environmental regs – Ben Hancock :

The debate over an urban-rural divide is a well-trodden path. From a recent piece of work I’ve been involved with at Beef + Lamb New Zealand, I believe there’s strong alignment between the public perception of environmental regulation and what the sector has been asking of the government.

BLNZ has consistently raised concerns about the significant administrative and financial burdens placed on farmers, and about what these prescriptive, one-size-fits-all rules will achieve. Recent announcements by the government about changes to some of the environmental regulations introduced over the past few years have been welcome. 

My role as part of the BLNZ team is to provide insights for the sector’s advocacy. This supports the organisation’s continuing advocacy for the government to create enduring policy solutions that strike a balance between being workable for farmers and helping to provide consumers, markets and the public with reassurance of good environmental stewardship. 

Public trust and confidence is important in giving our sector licence to operate, and we want the public to share our pride in the sheep and beef sector.  . . 

Spring has definitely sprung this week, fleeces are growing & will soon be ready for shearing. Wool is 100% natural, not man-made, grows naturally on sheep & like us sheep need a ‘hair cut’ to remain comfortable. Sheep produce a new fleece every year & is a renewable fibre source pic.twitter.com/QbZFpno8Q6

— Campaign for Wool (@Campaignforwool) May 19, 2024

Seeds of the future – Anna Brankin :

For Sonya Prosser, a visit home to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2020 turned into a permanent pandemic-induced stay. Unable to return to the career she had carved out for herself in Southeast Asia, she took a job at Walter Peak High Country Farm on the shores of Lake Whakatipu. Now, she’s merging her lifelong dedication to conservation with her newfound agricultural skills to plant the seeds of a new future for her family and wider community in Rarotonga.

“I’ve always liked hard work, and I’ve never been afraid to get stuck in and get my hands dirty, which is what all my jobs have had in common,” Sonya, 49, says. “But the biggest common factor is definitely conservation, which I’ve always considered to be my main purpose in life.”

This purpose first emerged in Sonya’s teenage years, when she began volunteering at Orana Wildlife Park, just outside Ōtautahi Christchurch. “I’d grown up watching David Attenborough and reading about Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, and I developed a real love for great apes,” she says. “Mum was really good at helping me follow that by taking me out to Orana Park while I was still in high school, and that led to a job there pretty much as soon as I finished. ”

By the time she was twenty-one, Sonya was working as a zookeeper at the Melbourne Zoo, primarily working with primates and large carnivores. “I spent quite a long time working with them in captivity and it was marvellous getting to know individual animals and having them get to know you,” she reflects. “I do miss it, but eventually I realised it was time to move on because I really did feel the pressure of playing god with such magnificent creatures, having to make these big decisions for animals that are in captivity.” . .

 

 

 

Bigger not better

The potential for job losses is a difficult time for workers.

Redundancies, unless they’re voluntary, are hard on the people forced out of their jobs and unpleasant for their colleagues, many of whom will be thinking there but for the grace of god go I,  and worrying if they will be next.

No one with a shred of empathy should underestimate the impact of the cuts to the public service, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to happen.

The bureaucracy ballooned under Labour but while the number of public servants increased dramatically there was no corresponding improvement in public services. Worse, in a very clear illustration that bigger isn’t better, many public services went backwards.

Even if the economy wasn’t in such a mess, the bloated bureaucracy would have to be trimmed. When the government accounts are in such a dire state the need for cuts is necessary and urgent.

That’s very tough on the people affected but sympathy for them can’t get in the way of the need for the cuts.

And contrary to cries from unions and the Opposition that these cuts are brutal, the Taxpayers’ Union puts them into perspective:

Watch as we unveil an art installation in the Beehive, illustrating the ‘brutal’ staffing cuts within the Government relative to the overall Public Service workforce.

We cannot continue down the path of taxpayers paying more but getting less. pic.twitter.com/nD0ZQXP4qi

— New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union (@TaxpayersUnion) May 27, 2024

Labour did less with more, the National-led government has no choice but to do more with less.