Rural round-up

Staff vital part of dairy farm –  Sally Rae:

At Willowview Pastures in North Otago, staff are considered an integral part of the business.

Owners Geoff and Katrina Taylor run the dairy farm on the lower Waitaki Plains near Waitaki Bridge.

Employees were given responsibility for particular on-farm tasks, described by Mr Taylor as their on-farm ”niche”, but still kept up with what was happening farm-wide. . .

Homeopathy and farming; let’s do better, media – Grant Jacobs:

Today Fairfax NZ News published at Stuff.co.nz an article titled, Homeopathy key for dairy farming couple. Unsurprisingly this has been spread to other sites, including pro-homeopathy sites.

Unlike many (most?) articles at Stuff, no means of commenting on this article are available.

Let’s quickly look at key problems in this story.

We might use as inspiration the TED slogan, “ideas worth sharing”, altering it to fit our purposes “information worth sharing”, considering ‘information’ and ‘news’ to be synonymous.

It carries with it a catch: if the information isn’t sound, it’s not worth sharing – not worthy of a place in a newspaper or news website. . .

Welsh shearers learn by competing in NZ – Helena de Reus:

Competing in New Zealand is a chance for Welsh shearers to learn from the best.

Welsh shearing team manager John Davies is touring the country with shearers Gareth Daniel and Richard Jones to contest the four-test Elders Primary Wool series between New Zealand and Wales. The series reached Balclutha at the weekend.

”New Zealand have the best sheep shearers in the world, so it’s good to learn from them and compete against the best.” . . .

Wool titles go far and wide:

Young shearers and woolhandlers fought for three titles at the Otago Shearing and New Zealand Woolhandling Championships in Balclutha yesterday.

The three winners of yesterday’s competition once again hailed from outside Otago, with Erica Reti (Gore) winning the New Zealand junior woolhandler title, Carlton Aranui (Raupunga, Hawkes Bay) winning the Otago junior shearing, and Dylan McGruddy (Masterton) taking the intermediate shearing title.

Two South Island woolhandling circuit titles were also awarded, with Liv Gardner (Southland) winning the junior section and Juliette Lyon (Alexandra) taking the senior. . .

Hort NZ to lobby on labelling:

The national horticulture body says it will continue to keep a close watch on moves by Australian supermarkets to remove New Zealand food products from their shelves, even though nothing has come from political talks on the issue.

The two big supermarket chains in Australia, Coles and Woolworths, are backing the Buy Australian campaign and as part of that, say they’ll stop stocking New Zealand products in their house brands.

Prime Minister John Key raised the issue at a meeting with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott last week, but was told it was a commercial decision for the supermarkets and did not breach the Closer Economic Relations (CER) free trade agreement between the two countries. . .

Drought roadshow starts:

Farmers in Hawke’s Bay, East Coast and Bay of Plenty – areas still recovering from last year’s drought – will attend a roadshow this week to find out how they can drought-proof their farms.

They’ll hear from Marlborough farmer Doug Avery, who’s been inspiring farmers around the country with the story of how he and his family rescued their farm from collapse after a series of droughts in the 1990s. . .

 

Let's look at taxpayer support for farmers in other countries via @abclandline. Norway leads the way – 60% pic.twitter.com/HhstSOvQ9t

— Lisa Herbert (@MsLisaHerbert) February 9, 2014

Now let's look at taxpayer support for farmers in Australia. Via @abclandline pic.twitter.com/WEnfUuqqyE

— Lisa Herbert (@MsLisaHerbert) February 9, 2014

Rural round-up

Dam agreement averts legal action – Marie Taylor:

Ngati Kahungunu’s threats of legal action to stall Hawke’s Bay’s $265 million Ruataniwha dam and irrigation scheme have been put aside.

A new agreement has been reached between Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII), Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and its investment company Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC), Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga and Te Taiwhenua o Tamatea.

Ngati Kahungunu held a meeting last week with marae, whanau and hapu to discuss the details of the proposed amendments. 

Chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said NKII had always preferred negotiation to litigation.

Council chairman Fenton Wilson and HBRIC chairman Andy Pearce said the recent developments kept lines of communication open between the parties. . .

NZ, Welsh shearers to compete – Sally Rae:

There will be an international flavour at this week’s Otago shearing and New Zealand wool-handling championships in Balclutha.

The event will host the second test in the four-test Elders Primary Wool series between New Zealand and Wales.

Rowland Smith (Hastings) and Tony Coster (Rakaia) will face Welshmen Gareth Daniel and Richard Jones, intent on avenging a 3-1 defeat in Wales last year. . .

Inheriting the farm no cheap transaction – Dr Ann Pomeroy:

An astonishing number of people think that sheep farmers are handed their properties on a plate, writes Ann Pomeroy.

They think that because the farm has been in the family for two or three generations, the farmer has inherited the property and hasn’t had to pay for it.

WRONG. Intergenerational transfers cost money. Lots of it – even when payment isn’t in one lump sum. For a son or daughter, nephew or niece to buy stock and equipment and add their name to the property title, acquire the farm outright or join the family partnership or trust, money changes hands.

This money goes into buying a retirement home for the retiring parents as well as funding parents’ retirement living expenses. The purchase price may also be funding the grandparents’ living expenses. . .

 

Bathurst Resources buys nursery for revegetation – Simon Hartley:

West Coast coal mine developer Bathurst Resources has bought a 51ha cranberry farm in the Buller district as a propagation nursery for replacement native trees and plants.

The listed Australian company has just been granted Overseas Investment Office permission for the purchase, the cost of which was undisclosed.

Following two years of court battles over the consents it was issued by the two West Councils, which delayed the mining start-up, Bathurst is expected to begin operations this month. . .

A better snake trap for the Drover’s Wife – Milk Maid Marian:

The twist of a tail was all it took to drive me and the kids indoors. Normally, prematurely extracting them from the sandpit is a big job but even an ebullient two-year-old can sense the importance of a “Don’t panic but…” message from his mum.

A snake (most likely a copper-head or tiger) had appeared at the bottom of Alex’s favourite climbing tree, just inches from the verandah and the children and I sat frozen in silence, listening to it swish through the dry leaves. And I am not Henry Lawson’s gutsy Drover’s Wife, for I am yellow to the core.

The drover’s wife makes the children stand together near the dog-house while she watches for the snake. She gets two small dishes of milk and sets them down near the wall to tempt it to come out; but an hour goes by and it does not show itself.

Instead, I send the kids scurrying indoors while I deploy my secret weapon: the Snake Trap. Purchased a couple of summers ago after another close encounter of the scaly kind, the trap has been waiting for just this moment. . .

Mildura Living: Angus Whyte: Outback NSW Station Life –  Jodie Morgan:

Yes, yes I know, Wentworth NSW is not Mildura so not technically Mildura Living….. but we consider it a part of our wonderful region as it is very close to Mildura.

Angus has been chatting  with me on  twitter and he finds this a great way to communicate with people, friends and family. We were intrigued to find out more about his life as a Station owner. (Say hello to Angus on Twitter)

He and his family lives on Wyndham Station, a 12500 ha property 85kms out from Wentworth in NSW.   Here Angus shares with us what he loves about being a farmer and also what he loves to do when he gets a chance to come into Mildura.  . .