Leading by example – Gerald Piddock:
Being responsible to their land, animals, people and their community has earned a Hawke’s Bay couple the Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award. Gerald Piddock reports.
Being a responsible dairy farmer means more than just being industry role models to Nick and Nicky Dawson.
It involves working beyond the farm bubble in the wider community and nurturing the health of people, the environment and their animals.
“It’s all interconnected,” Nicky says.
“It’s like a three-legged stool. You can’t have one without the other.” . .
Time running out for ag contractors as spring approaches – Gerald Piddock:
October is looming as a crunch-month for agricultural contractors and dairy farmers as the scramble continues to find staff to drive machinery to plant summer feed crops and cut grass cut for silage.
Waikato Federated Farmers vice-president Ben Moore said there was huge concern that contractors would not have enough staff on the ground to meet demand from dairy farmers as border restrictions continue to prevent overseas farm machinery operators from entering the country to work this spring and summer.
The region was still recovering from last summer’s drought with feed reserves on many farms already low.
Moore feared there could be a potential disaster if farmers are unable to get their summer supplementary feed supply organised and there was another very dry summer. . .
Ag contractor training gearing up – Mark Daniel:
Agricultural contractors are warning about a severe shortage of skilled machinery operators for the upcoming harvest season.
The shortage is due to New Zealand’s closed borders, shutting out staff from overseas. In response, a number of training organisations are offering displaced local workers and jobseekers a basic grounding in the sector.
In the South Island, the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) is promoting its ‘An Introduction to Agricultural Contracting’ course – based at its Telford Campus, near Balclutha. This initiative was the result of SIT’s discussions with Rural Contractors NZ Ltd (RCNZ) and some key players in the contracting sector in Otago and Southland – who all wanted to do something positive to address the need for trained contracting staff. . .
Lake Hawea to host world ploughing championships –
The world’s best exponents of the art of ploughing are coming to Lake Hawea, but not for quite a while.
An Upper Clutha group of ploughing enthusiasts announced on Saturday they had secured the 2028 world championships.
That means 60 of the best “ploughmen” from farming communities around world will load up their tractors and ploughs, ship them to New Zealand and carve out furrows across the flat paddocks south of the lake.
Organising committee chairman John Osborne said his committee had spent two years preparing Lake Hawea’s case for the event, “basically trying to prove to the New Zealand executive we have facilities up here to have all these world guys here”. . .
Industry hunters step up for annual event – Jared Morgan:
Ask hunters where exactly in Central Otago they shot their haul in the annual Manuherikia Boar, Buck and Stag Hunt and they are unlikely to tell you.
They want to protect their turf and believe the results speak for themselves.
Yesterday marked weigh-in day in the annual three-day fundraiser for the Alexandra Scout Group.
It was heartland rural New Zealand at its best if the atmosphere at the weigh-in and prize-giving was anything to go by. . .
Matching beef yields and consumer expectations :
ENHANCING the red meat value chain through a greater understanding of efficient use of farm resources, better use of grazing mosaics, and the production of cattle that reach and exceed domestic and export ready standards is the aim of a new four-year partnership for the west.
The University of Western Australia and Meat & Livestock through the MLA Donor Company have joined forces to coordinate and drive an integrated research and practice change program for the West Australian beef Industry.
The partnership, BeefLinks, will provide better knowledge and a range of technologies to support the sustainability credentials of products and interconnectivity between producers, processors and consumers. . .
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