Category Archives: On Farm

On-farm matters, including meat producers, farmers, livestock, production, methods, statistics.

Refreshed toolkit for land and environmental management

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New Zealand farmers have a refreshed version of the Land and Environment Planning (LEP) toolkit to help them manage land and environmental issues on their farms.

Produced by Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd (B+LNZ), the toolkit was launched at an event in Christchurch at the end of last week by Minister for the Environment Amy Adams.

The tool helps farmers identify actions to improve production through good environmental management of the land, soil and water resources, says B+LNZ chief executive Scott Champion. “These plans can help them meet regional council requirements too in all parts of the country.”

The sheep and beef sector is an important contributor to the New Zealand economy, producing $7.5 billion a year in export returns. “Consumers in New Zealand’s red meat sector export markets value this country’s commitment to environmentally sound practices,” says Champion.

A copy of the toolkit can be downloaded here.

 

Glamming up for the competition

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The competition is heating up for the 2013 Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Golden Lamb Awards, aka the Glammies.

More than 100 entries from across the country will be competing next year for the Grand Champion title.

The competition, sponsored by Pfizer Animal Genetics, which aims to find New Zealand’s most tender and tasty lamb is entering its seventh year and sees farmers from across the country vying for the Grand Champion title.

B+LNZ Ltd chief executive, Scott Champion, says the competition is an excellent opportunity to profile the quality product New Zealand farmers produce.

“The Glammies gives farmers a chance to showcase breed lines and demonstrate how their animal management talent and hard work in the field culminates in great tasting lamb.”

Winning the top prize is not easy; entries will first be scientifically tested at Carne Technologies to find the top 20.

From here it will be down to the tastebuds of a panel of judges at the Upper Clutha A & P Show in Wanaka on 8 March 2013, where the winner will be determined. Butchers also have an opportunity to profile their product with the Glammies Retailer of the Year Award.

The competition is supported by processing plants across the country. These include: AFFCO, Alliance Group Ltd, Ashburton Meat Processors Ltd, Auckland Meat Processors/Wilson Hellaby, Blue Sky Meats, Cabernet Foods/Kintyre Meats, Harris Meats, Land Meat NZ, Lean Meats, Silver Fern Farms, Taylor Preston/Ken Wilson Meats.

Tackling agricultural emissions

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The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC)’s work has been highlighted in a film, produced recently by Motu.

This film, which you can watch below, is the product of years of research into how New Zealand can reduce its agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to reduce climate change. It covers the basic science along with current and potential future technological solutions. With a range of views from farmers to scientists to economists, the film also looks at the challenge of mitigating agricultural GHGs. It covers how New Zealand can develop policy and actions to not only deal with NZ’s emissions, but lead the world in showing other countries it can be done.

You can watch more Motu videos here.

Nearly two million more lambs, but still third smallest lamb crop

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Nearly two million more lambs have been tailed this spring, according to the latest figures, which also forecast 8.4 percent more available for processing this season. 

Lamb Crop 2012, the latest report from Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Economic Service, shows that an estimated 26.9 million lambs were tailed, 1.9 million more than last year.

Even then, this will be the third smallest lamb crop since the early 1950s. Only the previous two years were lower.

This year’s increase was due to slightly more ewes mated (+0.6 percent) and the sheep being in good condition thanks to favourable feed conditions before mating. There was also an increase in the number of lambs born from hoggets, according to Economic Service executive director, Rob Davison.

“The average lambing percentage across the country was 123 lambs born per hundred ewes – up from 119 in 2011.”

Davison said this result confirmed the pregnancy scanning results from earlier in the year, signalled in September’s New Season Outlook 2012-13.

“There were pockets of unfavourable weather in some areas during lambing, but farm management practices ensured good lamb survival,” Davison said.

In the North Island, there was a small increase (1.2 percent) in the number of breeding ewes compared with last spring and good lambing weather, combined with stock in good condition, drove the lambing percentage up from 118 percent to 123 percent.

In the South Island, ewe numbers were the same as last season, but the number of lambs born was higher. The lambing percentage increased from 121 percent to 123 percent and the weather was a lot better than the year before.

“Significantly there was a sharp increase in the number of lambs from hoggets because more were mated due to favourable feed conditions. Also evident, was a structural change to a younger flock, with more than usual older and poorer performing ewes culled before mating.”

The B+LNZ Economic Service forecasts that there will be 20.5 million lambs available for processing in the 2012-13 season – up an estimated 8.4 per cent. This contrasts with last season’s 18.9 million, which was the lowest since 1960-61.

The increase will be partially offset by an expected 2.1 percent decrease in average carcase weight to 18.3 kg. This follows a return to more normal climatic conditions after good growing conditions last season saw lambs reach a record 18.7 kg.

Other key points from the report are:

  • North Island export lamb slaughter estimated to increase 12 per cent to 9.9 million, an increase of 1.1 million lambs
  • South Island export lamb slaughter estimated to go up 5.3 per cent to 10.6 million, an increase of 500,000 lambs
  • While there will be more lambs, there has been a sharp correction in lamb prices – $5-6 per kg early in the season, compared to over $8 per kg in 2011.

NZ farmers encouraged to Twitter

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The dawn chorus will have an added ‘tweet’ from now on as New Zealand’s farmers are being encouraged to start using Twitter to connect with their customers.

A forum on social media for farmers, organised by the Primary Industry Capability Alliance (PICA) forum, was held earlier this month.

Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd (B+LNZ)’s mid-northern North Island extension manager Erica van Reenan reports that the forum turned out to have a good turnout from the rural industry. She says representatives left, after an informative six hours, clutching their smartphones, and contemplating how social media could be put to work.

A farmer would want to be on Twitter or Facebook because it enables them to tell their story, explains Reenan. For example, Hunterville sheep and beef farmer and Farmer Council member William Morrison, regularly tweets about life on the farm and has – at the time of writing about 600 followers from all over the world and all walks of life, she says.

“What better way to connect with the people that buy our wonderful products that to tell them the pasture to plate story through a personal connection in easy to understand language.

“There are times when the way we produce food is challenged – more and more, through social media. If you’re not there, how can you defend yourself?” asks Reenan. “Being present allows you to build trust with the customer, who is then more likely to advocate for you.”

As Lincoln University’s Dorje McKinnon put it “Social media is like silage. It can be challenging to get it right – and sometimes it stinks. But, just like the old tractor, it’s a tool and if used right it can add value.”

While 76 percent of New Zealanders have a Facebook account, only 19 percent have a Twitter account, a recent survey has shown.

Read more …

MPI backs awards for Māori farming excellence

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New Zealand’s top Māori sheep and beef farmers are being sought in this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy BNZ Māori Excellence in Farming Award.

The competition was launched by the Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon Dr Pita Sharples, at the Federation of Māori Authorities (FoMA) conference in Taupo last weekend.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has announced it has increased its sponsorship involvement from bronze to gold in a deal including $46,000 cash, which Ben Dalton, deputy director general Māori primary sector partnerships, says builds on a long-standing involvement with the competition.

“MPI is committed to working with Māori to enable the sustainable growth of their primary sector assets and this competition fits well with our objectives,” he explains.

“Māori agribusiness has a significant part to play in lifting the primary sector contribution to New Zealand’s economy. By increasing Māori primary sector productivity, we increase the wealth of New Zealand as a whole.”

MPI joins other gold sponsors Te Puni Kōkiri, the Māori Trustee and Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, together with platinum supporter BNZ and a number of other sponsors.

In a study of Māori freehold land resources – Māori Agribusiness in NZ: A study of the Maori Freehold Land Resource – MPI identified 600,000 hectares of under-performing and 600,000 hectares of under-utilised entities. There were 300,000 hectares (20 percent) of āori freehold land that were well-performing entities.

“So there is a huge opportunity to grow Māori agribusiness entities that are underperforming and supporting the Ahuwhenua Trophy shows what can be done. Even if they are at the top of the game, competitors benefit from high-level peer reviews of their farms and this opens up opportunities to further improve their performance.”

Partnering with Māori to optimise the sustainable use of their primary sector assets will contribute to the Māori economic base. “This base can then be used to self-fund Māori aspirations, whether these are social, cultural or economic,” says Dalton.

“Of the $36.9 billion Māori asset base, a significant $10.6 billion is invested in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. So harnessing the growth potential of those assets is important.”

The 2013 Ahuwhenua Trophy competition is open to Māori farming properties, either owned individually, or managed by Māori Trusts and Incorporations in New Zealand. The trophy winner will be announced in 7 June 2013. Each year, it alternates between sheep and beef farmers and dairy farmers. The 2013 competition is for Māori sheep and beef farmers.

Further information and entry forms for the 2013 Ahuwhenua Trophy can be found here.

High level of interest in Maori agribusiness funding round

There has also been a high level of interest from groups seeking to promote sustainable resource use in Māori agribusiness, says MPI.

A special Māori agribusiness round in MPI’s Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF), which provides co-funding for small to medium-scale applied research and extension projects, offered about $1 million of co-investment funding in August. It received 47 applications, of which 14 have been approved, subject to contracts being negotiated. MPI aims to have funding contractually committed before the end of December 2012 (with most to be spent in the first year but possibly spread over three years).

“MPI is committed to working with all of our stakeholders, including Māori agribusiness, to ensure that funds like the SFF deliver tangible results to the primary sector”, says MPI’s deputy director-general for resource management and programmes Scott Gallacher.

Meanwhile, the main 2013 annual SFF round opened in late August with up to $8 million of co-investment funding on offer for projects that will encourage sustainable resource use in the primary sectors. Applications closed recently and applicants will be notified by the end of February 2013, with contracts in place so work can commence from July 1, 2013.

Read more about the Ahuwhenua Trophy in the newsletter or at the website.

 

Awaiting an SMS from Daisy

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Improve your breeding regime with the help of text messaging from your cows.

Everyone knows information technology holds great promise as an enabling technology in various fields. Well, mobile phones and text messaging may soon take on a whole new meaning for cattle farmers. Let’s just say farmers may soon start getting text messages from the cows in their herds, writes Gerry le Roux of Sciencelens.

According to a recent New York Times article, researchers in Switzerland are in the final testing stages of a device that implants sensors in cows to alert farmers when the cows are in heat. The electronic heat detector, which is implanted into the  genitals, measures the cow’s body heat. This gets transmitted to a device around the cow’s neck which determines her motion activity. The results from the two measurements are combined using specially calibrated algorithms, with the correct combination of increased body heat and increased restlessness being an indicator that the cow is in heat. When this happens, an SMS is sent to the farmer’s phone, alerting him to the fact that the cow is sexually active.

The device, which is expected to be brought to market in Switzerland in early 2013, is the brainchild of several academic researchers at a technical college near the Swiss capital Bern.  It is claimed that the device can play an important role in breeding, particularly in the dairy industry, since dairy cows, which are placed under ever increasing stress to produce more milk, are showing less and less signs of heat. This makes it difficult for farmers to use visual inspection to know when to introduce the bull, or artificial insemination. The new system is claimed to have a recognition rate of about 90 percent.

The main drawback of the device, at least initially, will be cost, which is expected to be about US$1,400 per unit and some farmers are skeptical whether it will be worth the investment.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on this technology, to see to what extent it will be accepted in the industry and how this will affect the cost of the units.

 

Peter Fitz-Herbert is Canada-bound

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Hunterville farmer, Peter Fitz-Herbert is the winner of a Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd agricultural scholarship that will take him to the Five Nations Beef Alliance and Young Ranchers Programme, being held in British Columbia in Canada next month.

The stock-manager on the Fitz-Herbert family farm will accompany B+LNZ Ltd Northern North Island director James Parsons to the Five Nations Beef Alliance. The Alliance is made up of producer organisations from Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the US and meets annually to discuss global issues and opportunities for the beef sector.

The Young Ranchers programme will provide Fitz-Herbert with an opportunity to meet other young beef producers and to build an understanding of global beef issues, share their experience and develop networks. There will also be the opportunity to observe how producer representative organisations can collaborate for the benefit of all beef producers worldwide.

Fitz-Herbert manages 2,400 Romney ewes and 220 breeding cattle on the 600 hectare farm which is spread over four separate, mainly hill country farms. Off-farm he is involved with New Zealand Young Farmers, he has been a regional finalist in the National Bank Young Farmer contest and two years running has competed in the Speight’s Coast to Coast race.