Tag Archives: livestock

2012 Landcorp Agricultural Communicator of the Year

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Steve Wyn-Harris (left) receiving his award from Landcorp chairman, Bill Bayliss.

Congratulations to Steve Wyn-Harris, a Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer and farming commentator, who has just been announced as the 2012 Landcorp Agricultural Communicator of the Year.

Wyn-Harris started his farming career in 1985, when he bought 180 hectares in Central Hawke’s Bay, adding several other blocks over the years, so he and his wife now have 350ha. The properties carry high performance breeding ewes, including a Coopworth sheep stud that uses the latest technology such as sire referencing, AI and gene identification. Bull beef makes up 40% of the stock carried and 15% of the property is planted in forestry and areas of amenity and native plantings are scattered over all the farms. He has won a number of farming awards over the years, most recently last year when the farm took out the East Coast Balance Farm Environment Supreme Award.

He took out this year’s award as a broadcaster with his own local radio show and a regular on the national Farming Show. He is also a longstanding columnist and has been contributing weekly columns for many years and currently appears in NZ Farmers’ Weekly.

The Award is administered by the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators (NZGAJC) and recognises excellence in communicating agricultural issues, events or information. regarded as the premier award for agricultural communicators, it is also the most valuable prize on offer. Landcorp provides a prize of $2,500, which is part of a funding package of $7,500 in sponsorship for the Guild. The additional funding assists with administration costs, including the award dinner.

Guild President, Jon Morgan, said Steve is a worthy recipient of the award this year. His columns, comments, presentations at conferences cover an extensive range of topics, but his style remains the same, relaxed, whimsical and often humorous. “He is widely respected as an excellent farmer, but has that rare gift of communication that crosses all areas of rural life.”

First international standards adopted for animal welfare in livestock production

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The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has adopted new generic guiding principles on animal welfare relating to livestock production systems and a new chapter on the welfare of cattle bred for meat production.

Agreement was reached at the OIE’s 80th General Session, held in Paris and was said to be siginficant by the OIE’s director general Bernard Vallet after delegates’ failure in 2011 to reach agreement on animal welfare of broiler chickens. “This is an historical event that opens the way to adoption of animal welfare standards of other farm animal production,” he said.

The new adopted texts provide for criteria and indicators to measure the welfare of beef cattle, nutritious quality of feed, supplementary lighting for cattle that do not have access to natural light, bedding and many other aspects of cattle breeding conditions.

Other key decisions reached by delegates include new texts on the responsible and prudent use of antibiotics in animals for consumption purposes.

 

Eyes on US BSE case

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A case of the cattle brain disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was diagnosed in a cow in the US in April, holding global meat industry attention, but producing cautious response to date.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that as part of its targeted surveillance system, its Animal and Plant Inspection Service had confirmed a case of BSE in a dairy cow from central California, the first such case since 2006. USDA chief veterinary office John Clifford confirmed that it was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk to the food supply or human health.

Clifford said tests, using immunohistochemistry and western blot tests, “confirmed that the animal was positive for atypical BSE.” Atypical BSE is a rare form of the disease that appears to occur spontaneously. It is different from classical BSE, which is associated with the consumption of ruminant protein.

The US industry leapt into action to reassure markets and consumers that the beef and dairy in the American food supply is safe with US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack saying that USDA remained confident in the health of US cattle.

When BSE was discovered in animal in 2003, it had a major impact on the US beef industry, as a number of countries banned imports of beef from the US, including Japan and Korea, which had been major US markets.

According to the US International Trade Commission, losses to the industry ranged from $US2.5 billion to $US3.1 billion annually from 2004 through 2007.

Although most markets slowly re-opened their borders, many still impose restrictions on US and Canadian beef. For example, Japan only allows imports of U.S. beef from cattle aged 20 months or less, but its Food Safety Commission is assessing the risk of easing the limit to 30 months.

So far, the response from other countries to the current case has been cautious. Only one country, Indonesia, has banned all US beef imports and, while two major South Korean retailers were reported to have suspended sales of US beef immediately following the announcement, at the time of writing one has since resumed sales.

 Published in Food NZ (June/July 2012).

A decade of great steak

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B+LNZ chairman Mike Petersen (left) congratulates Producer of the Decade Karen and Chris Biddles.

Chris and Karen Biddles from Te Atarangi Angus are the victorious winners of this year’s Producer of the Decade at the Steak of Origin grand final held on 15 May 2012.

To celebrate 10 years of the contest to find New Zealand’s most tender and tasty steak, all results from previous competitions were tallied up to find the top performing and most consistent producer.

Alongside this special award, the annual competition was once again hotly contested with Alex Macmillan from Pipiwai being named the 2012 Steak of Origin Grand Champion.

Head judge, Graham Hawkes, said this 10 year celebration has made the competition one to remember.

“There’s been a real festival feel to this year’s contest, with 10 judges from across the decade involved,” Hawkes said. “The competition has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings but one thing’s for sure, the steak has always been incredible.

Allso awarded was the Brand of the Decade, which went to AngusPure, the NZ Retailer/Wholesaler of the Decade, awarded to Neat Meat and the 2012 Supreme Brand Award which was also won by Neat Meat.

 

Praise for industry’s animal welfare approach

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Primary Industries Minister David Carter has praised the Primary Industry Chief Executive’s Animal Welfare Forum for its contribution to animal welfare.

Carter attended the biannual meeting of the Forum recently and endorsed the group’s 2012 plan.

“New Zealand’s major livestock production industries are taking a responsible approach to animal welfare standards through encouraging voluntary compliance and proactive initiatives,” he said.

One of the Forum’s key 2012 projects involves working with farmers, meat processors, transport operators, private veterinarians and MAF to ensure that all transported animals are fit for transport. The group is also focusing on the on-farm welfare and transportation of bobby calves for slaughter.

David Carter, Minister for Primary Industries