Rural Roundup - March 17th, 2009 · RURAL ROUNDUP, TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009 3 6751842AA WRANGLER -...

Supplement to Te Awamutu Courier, Tuesday, March 17, 2009Supplement to Te Awamutu Courier, Tuesday, March 17, 2009

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Workers can help cut costsThe Dairy Women’s Network is

urging the dairy farming industryto work collaboratively with

employees to find innovative solutionsto financial issues as the recession bites.

General manager, Lynda Clark, saysthe Network is seeing some farmschoosing to lay off staff as a quickbudget fix. She says this is not alwaysthe best solution.

‘‘Here at the Network, we arebeginning to hear more and morestories of farms laying off people orshortening farm staff contracts as theylook to cut costs in tough financial times.

‘‘The industry has collectivelyworked incredibly hard in recent yearsto attract staff to the dairy industry. TheNetwork is just cautioning farm ownersand managers that laying off is notalways the best solution to cutting afarm’s budget and doing so risks damag-ing our industry’s reputation. What weare telling our members is that the idealsolution for cutting costs may, in fact,come from your staff,’’ says Mrs Clark.

‘Managing people through toughtimes’ is the topic of the Dairy Women’sNetwork upcoming Dairy Daysseminars being held across the countryin March and April.

The Waikato Dairy Day is being heldat Morrinsville Rotary Club (CampbellPark) on Thursday, March 19. Dairyingwomen can get more information andfor their local Dairy Days seminar bygoing to www.dwn.co.nz or phoning(07) 838 5238. On the day registrationscost $45 (includes lunch).

Human Resources expert fromPeople MAD, Sarah Watson, is one ofthe speakers at the Dairy Days. She hasa background in corporate humanresources, has spent time sharemilkingwith her husband in Southland and nowworks with a broad farmer client base.

Mrs Watson understands where farmowners, sharemilkers and managers arecoming from and wants them to ‘‘lookclosely at all areas where costs can becut and resist acting rashly when itcomes to laying off staff. Farmers shouldfirst work on developing a range ofstrategies before deciding what to do.

‘‘When you — as a farm owner,

sharemilker or manager — determineit’s time to cut costs, I believe the firstcourse of action should be to talk to yourstaff. A mistake many managers make iskeeping the gloomy financial situationto themselves and then surprising staffwith their decisions — and sometimesthat means layoffs, which result in adrop in morale for the rest of the team.

‘‘The best thing you can do is speakopenly with staff about the situation andinvolve them. Talk about where you’reat, where you want to be and solutionsto get there.

‘‘The people working at the coalface every day often have great,innovative cost-cutting solutions thatmay save a farm from having to makestaff redundant or cut contracts short,’’explains Mrs Watson.

Mrs Watson believes involving staffand communicating with them, ifpracticed widely, is likely to reducenegative fallout for the dairy industry.

The types of solutions she has seenfarms develop jointly with staff haveincluded employees finding ways to save

money in various parts of the dairyingoperation, people voluntarily moving onor voluntarily cutting back hours.

Mrs Watson says women attendingthe upcoming Dairy Women’s NetworkDairy Days seminars will get the oppor-tunity to discuss these issues and somepossible solutions implemented byothers.

‘‘During the Dairy Days workshops,we’ll start out the day by looking at theprocess of performance reviews. Thenwe will focus on how a downturnimpacts on people. This will be aninteractive session with plenty of dis-cussion.

‘‘Women will learn about what cost-cutting solutions worked for others,what didn’t and what solutions they cantake away and discuss with their staffback in their own operations,’’ says MrsWatson.

Sarah Watson will be the mainspeaker at six of the Dairy Daysseminars, while human resource expert,Mary Cooper, will facilitate the fiveother seminars.

RURAL ROUNDUP, TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009 3

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Farming website constructed in Te Awamutu

TC170309RR03A/3BRURAL TRADER founder Dave Meaney (left) during a saleyard report being filmed by Jeff Cameron and working on the website from his Te Awamutu office (right).

RURAL TRADER WEBSITE

Around a year ago Dave Meaney came toNew Zealand from Ireland. He startedwork for a local contractor, but it was at

a time when the country was in drought.His background in farming and IT saw him

searching websites for information, particularlyfor sites trading feed for livestock.

‘‘But it was very frustrating - there weren’tany comprehensive sites that covered every-thing a farmer would be interested in - mostwere retail based.’’

So he set about creating one.‘‘That’s how Rural Trader was born - a site

for rural news, information and services. RuralTrader is by farmers, for farmers. Our aim is toprovide the rural community with a place theycan find useful information on a daily basis,allowing them to make informed decisions.’’

Rural Trader has taken a year to complete,which isn’t surprising when you visit the site. Ithas comprehensive, well designed sectionsincluding:• Weather reports (including regional forecasts,moon phases, rainfall, frost risk)• Markets• News

• Special interests (such as horticulture,organics, equestrian, hunting, fishing)• Blogs (by Samantha Van Der Sande, JeffCameron)• Forums to air your views• Events calendar (which you can contribute to)• Community section.

There’s also sale yard reports, spore countsand even a few jokes. A feature of thecommunity section is the community fund.

‘‘Rural Trader aims to provide a compre-hensive online service to the rural community.As well as providing an online setting for ruralpeople to meet and share ideas and findinformation we feel it is important to contributedirectly to the rural community in the ‘realworld’. For this reason the HRV FoundationFund has been set up by Rural Trader toprovide funding to not-for-profit rural com-munity groups.

‘‘There are so many under-funded groupsmaking a big difference in the rural community,we feel it is important to support these byproviding access to funding.

‘‘We plan to grow the fund as we grow thewebsite and see it as a long term project that

could make a difference to rural communitiesall over New Zealand in years to come.’’

The current round of applications for thecommunity fund closes on April 5 (see thewebsite for further details).

Rural Trader TV provides news snippetsand interviews filmed by staff.

Mr Meaney says the site is designed to beinformative and interactive, so it is constantlybeing updated.

‘‘That’s why it’s important people let usknow what they would like to see on the site -we’d like to hear from anyone in the ruralcommunity.’’

Rural Trader was only launched last monthand is already listed in the top ten ruralwebsites.

‘‘We’ve had great feedback so far and havehad a number of advertisers come on board tosupport our work. We’re still hoping toexpand, as there are plenty more opportunitiesavailable, so we’re also looking for morecontributors.’’

For more details visit Rural Trader(www.ruraltrader.co.nz), register as a memberand explore the site.


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Putting more milk in vatBY STEVE SEARLE — SEARLE COMMUNICATIONS.

TC170309SP04NUTRITIONIST Grant Richards: the benefit ofextra feed should be seen in milk yield.

A cow can produce about six litres of milk from eachkilogram of extra feed when in mature condition butwhen underfed she will instead use that food to put on

more weight, a feeder wagon demonstration at Ohauposhowed recently.

Independent nutritionist Grant Richards, from NewtritionSolutions, said the potential milk increase equates to half akilogram of milksolids or about $2.50 for each kilogram ofsupplementary feed.

‘‘This equation (six litres from one kg drymatter) should befixed in every farmer’s mind because it’s the cow that decideswhen she’s mature enough and it’s then you will see thebenefit of extra feed going into the vat,’’ said Mr Richards, aguest speaker at Giltrap Engineering’s NDE mixer demon-stration at Mark and Judy Shaw’s Ohaupo dairy farm.

‘‘The difficulty is when you say you can’t afford to buyfeed and are instead gently milking it off the cow’s back. Atsome point there’s a reaction and we are then playing catch-up and waiting for the cow’s appetite to return.’’

A balanced diet was a further requirement to avoiddisappointment.

‘‘There are lots of feeds out there that are not balanced.But when mixed together they can create an ideal food so weshould understand the ideal nutrition profile for a cow’smouthful,’’ said Mr Richards.

A further concern is food distribution, as evident in in-shed feeding systems ‘where cows have five minutes to eat anequivalent of 50 dry weet-bix without enough water or salt’.

High fermenting grains and sugars can boost milk proteinbut must be managed properly.

‘‘A consistency in keeping the whole diet ‘even stevens’ isworth a considerable amount of milksolids,’’ said MrRichards.

He advises dairy farmers to feed up young stock so theycan make almost mature weights as two-year-olds.

NDE mixer wagon specialist Glenn Salkeld, based atSouth Dakota, explained the functional design of a vertical,front-door NDE mixer with a capacity of 17.7 cubic metres— a mid-size model popular among dairy and beef farmers.

He demonstrated the simple steps in using a Penn Stateshaker box that filters a sample of mix so the farmer can seethe variation of chopped drymatter.

Mr Salkeld said NDE encourages farmers to call them withany mixer problems ‘because then we have to solve thoseproblems and in the end it all makes for a better product’.

Many design changes have come from farmer experiencein the field, such as the option of a two-speed gearbox,common on NDE mixers sold in NZ, which allows forefficient use with a smaller tractor as well as the ability to slowthe mixing process.

‘‘A feature that makes the NDE mixer different is the hugesize of the auger with five knives on this one, each knife 60centimetres long with a curved edge for cutting efficiency and

staying free of material.’’Carbide inserts extend the normal life of the knives to

3000 hours.The result is rapid and thorough mixing, an even flow of

mix away from the wall to minimise flow conflict and wallabrasion and a ‘‘clean out’’ assisted by a floor plate directingmixture back to the auger.

Mr Salkeld said the 17 cubic metre NDE mixer will quicklychop bales of hay, silage and straw and thoroughly mix inpalm kernel, molasses and other additives in about 10minutes.

Various conveyors for feed-out can be installed for almostany delivery need.


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‘Townie’ takes top spot

TC170309RR05TE AWAMUTU College Agricultural Academy Director Les Tuck catches up with top student for 2008,Sarah McGough, on the Te Awamutu College farm.

Sarah McGough (16) has set anew standard for the Te Awa-mutu College Agricultural Acad-

emy.Not only was she the first female to

take the trophy for top student in2008, she recorded the highest num-ber of credits (137) by any student inthe seven years it has been operating.

Even more surprising is that Sarahdoesn’t come from a farming back-ground.

‘‘I live in town, but occasionally Iused to go out with grandad on hislifestyle block. That was pretty much ituntil I started the agriculture course inYear 10.’’

The year long introductory coursegave her an overview of farming,mostly theory with a little practical.

‘‘I decided to join the AgricultureAcademy in Year 11 because I enjoyedthe Year 10 course and I like workingoutdoors.’’

Despite this director Les Tuck sayshe wasn’t sure it was the right coursefor Sarah.

‘‘I asked her a couple of times if it’sreally what she wanted to do. But shewas sure it was and she has certainlyproved that.’’

At the end of the course Sarah wasone of three applicants for a farmassistant’s position for the Te Awa-mutu College farm on CambridgeRoad.

Farm manager Ryan Anderle saysSarah made it clear she was the rightperson for the job and has shown awillingness to learn.

‘‘She certainly has a great attitudeand does everything with a smile onher face.

‘‘Anything she doesn’t know shepicks up very quickly and she showsresponsibility to do the job when I’mnot here.’’

Sarah has shown a strength forstockwork, which can probably be putdown to her way with animals ingeneral.

In her spare time she enjoyscarriage driving and was the WaikatoSupreme Champion for the 2008season.

She is unsure about her future infarming, but clearly the Te AwamutuCollege farm has benefitted from herefforts as it has had a record year interms of production.

Ag Art Wear adds ‘Designer Fibre’ section

A new section has been added to the 2009 Ag ArtWear Competition. Designer Fibre has been addedto the existing sections: Avant Garde, Under 21,

Landcare, Designer Traditional.Designer Fibre has the same focus in mind as the

Designer Traditional section, except designs arepredominantly made from animal furs (e.g. possum), wool(e.g. sheep, alpaca), animal hair (e.g. horse) and/orfeathers (e.g. duck, goose).

This category encompasses some entries that wouldhave previously entered the Possum Fur Fashion DesignAwards, however, options within the Designer Fibrecategory are much wider.

With a $15,000 prize pool, media exposure andopportunities for sponsorship from Fieldays exhibitors, thechallenge is now set for designers around New Zealand andAustralia to test traditional design boundaries, create thewow factor and think ‘art off the wall’.

Entries close Friday, May 8 with preliminary judgingMay 18-22 and finalist confirmation from May 25.


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A Te Awamutu contractor isgiving the thumbs up to amower survey recently conduc-

ted in Europe.Silage contractor Antony Metcalfe

of M & B Contracting says he is notsurprised to learn the results of thecomparison conducted by Germanmagazine Profi, that put LelySplendimo mowers at the top forefficiency and performance.

The magazine’s comparisoninvolved high profile European brandsthat will be known to most farmershere, including Krone, Deutz Fahr(sold in NZ under the Vicon badge),Pottinger, Ziegler (new owners ofNiemeyer), Claas, Fella, JF Stoll andKuhn. All the mower conditionerswere around 3m wide and attached toNew Holland 6040 tractors fitted withPTO hubs to measure power draw off.

Fitted with no conditioner, themowers were first required to com-plete a swath at 10kph, and then13kph. The same speed requirementswere applied to the mowers withconditioners fitted.

The Lely Splendimo had the lowestpower requirement for straight mow-ing of any of the machines, drawing offonly 15kw. This compares to the

Deutz Fahr/Vicon mower with thehighest kW demand of 27kW, and thenext highest CLAAS at 22kW.

In the 10kph test the LelySplendimo was also among the topfour most effect ive mower-conditioners for drying time to 32%dry matter. It was the top mower fordrying time at 13kph ground speed,and the most efficient.

At 13kph the Lely Splendimoconsumed 19% less power than thegroup average of 44kW at 13kph.

Mr Metcalfe bought his LelySplendimo from Andrew Giltrap atGiltrap Farm Machinery.

‘‘One reason we went with theSplendimo was that there are nogears, and a simple hexagonal shaftrunning the length of the mower,keeping it bomb proof and easy tomaintain,’’ Mr Metcalfe says.

This simple design also cuts downthe power draw of the Splendimo.

He and business partner HansWerner worked with Lely engineerswho visited New Zealand to ensure theSplendimo was capable of handlingconditions here.

‘‘A wide conditioner and the easyinflow of crop into the conditioner alsoenhances the Splendimo’s efficiency,’’

says Peter Vis, Lely New Zealandmanaging director.

Mr Metcalfe says he finds theSplendimo’s nylon conditioning tinesdeliver good grass wilt, without overbruising grass tissue.

‘‘In the colder, wetter early springweather we see a far improved dryingprocess and they have also provenalmost unbreakable.’’

As contractors face greater pres-sure from farmer clients to deliverquality silage at the lowest cost, thesurvey reinforces Lely as their firstchoice, says Peter Vis.

‘‘The Splendimo demands only11.1kw/mower metre, against thegroup average of 13.7kw/mowermetre.

‘‘This translates to a saving in dieselalone of 18%, then there is the timeplus wear and tear saving on top ofthat.’’

The results have also provencontractors can expect a crop to dryhours ahead of several other mowers,making harvesting timely and efficient.

‘‘When the industry is demandinggreater efficiency, productivity andquality, the independent Profi Maga-zine test has have proven Lely candeliver,’’ says Mr Vis.

TC170309SP06TE AWAMUTU contractor Antony Metcalfe with his Lely Splendimo mower,now in its fourth season.

Contractor agrees that mower cut above

Warm welcome awaits graduatesGraduates taking advantage of

the Government’s paymentscheme to encourage more

professionals into rural areas needhave no fear that the move will meanthe ‘end of life as they know it’, saysthe National President of RuralWomen New Zealand, MargaretChapman.‘‘Graduates will find that living in asmall country town can be a positiveexperience. There are bars and cafes,shops and sports clubs, transport andmail services just like anywhere else.’’This coupled with forecastimprovements in broadband and cellphone coverage should help end theimpression that rural necessarily

means an isolated lifestyle, Mrs Chap-man says.RWNZ has long campaigned forstrong and equitable health and educa-tion services for rural communities.‘‘We welcome this scheme. Graduateswill have the opportunity to get agood, general education and experi-ence covering a wide spectrum ofmedicine rather than the narrow focusoften found in large, urban healthsystems. The same applies to teachingand veterinary medicine,’’ Mrs Chap-man says.Young doctors speaking at last year’sRural GPs Health Symposium allrelated positive experiences of work-ing in rural hospitals and clinics. They

said they benefited from the broadrange of responsibilities and medicalsituations they had to deal with on aregular basis.The perceived lack of highly qualifiedteachers at local schools can also affectthe rural employment market.Questions about access to equal educa-tional opportunities were often thefirst asked by potential new ruralfamilies.‘‘Rural Women New Zealand looksforward to the injection of more healthand educational professionals intorural communities.‘‘They are sure to get a warm andfriendly welcome,’’ says Mrs Chap-man.


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Spray It curtains for weeds

TC170309RR07LAWNMOWER and Chainsaw Centre sales manager Josh Edkins on theSpray It at Te Awamutu Rose Gardens.

Rural Business Profile

T o Chris Venn itseemed like a simplesolution — adding

curtains or brushes to reducespray drift — but no-one elsehad obviously thought of it.

So Mr Venn had to comeup with his own design andnow markets the Spray Itproduct as well as using it inhis own business.

Spray It came aboutbecause of the need for alawn spray for sensitiveapplications such as schools,public parks and large pri-vate gardens.

He has also used it to killweeks on tennis courts andlarge cobbled areas — andto kill off a whole lawn forrelaying.

Starting with a Walkerride-on mower, Mr Venndesigned the precision sprayapplicator as a bolt onattachment in place of themower head.

He says he finds theWalker a proven performer,and as the mower alreadyunbolts it was reasonablyeasy to make anotherattachment.

It also means he can stilluse the ride-on as a mower.

He believes the Spray Itis the only one of its kind inNew Zealand.

It has a New Zealandpatent and an internationalpatent is pending.

And such is themachine’s success thatWalker Mowers owner BobWalker from the US hasordered a Spray It forevaluation and possibleworld-wide distribution.

Mr Venn employed theservices of KerryWoodhead, owner of Te

Awamutu business JK Fabri-cation, to perfect the designand manufacture the SprayIt.

He says Mr Woodhead isa craftsman who was able tomake the design into aworking reality.

It has been built tough soit lasts, and employs an on-board computer to ensureaccurate spray application.

A simpler method ofmatching speed to nozzleheads can also be used tosave up-front costs.

Mr Venn is alsoexperimenting with the useof GPS technology.

The unit comes with twospray heads, one at 1.1metres and one at 2 metres,for different applications.

Mr Venn says the unit hasalready proved its worth.One of his first clients wasWaipa District Council todeal to weeds in Te Awa-mutu Rose Gardens.

He says he was a bitnervous about working in theiconic garden, but it turned

out to be a quick and effec-tive method to kill off grassweeks without damaging anyother plants.

Other benefits are thatthe machine is effective in allbut the worst of winds andcan be used in all but theheaviest rain.

Mr Venn likes to think ofthe Spray It as a piece ofgenuine Kiwi ingenuity —having a problem and solv-ing it by utilising existing andnew technology to come upwith a new invention.

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Recession notall bad: NorgateP GG Wrightson chairman Craig

Norgate says some benefits for NewZealand’s agricultural sector will come

out of these difficult economic times as costpressure forces farmers to examine theiroperations more closely.

He says harder times focus the mind andhe believes the future competitive advantagefor New Zealand agriculture will be found inincremental productivity gains made pos-sible through technological advances.

Mr Norgate says the only way to getahead of low cost competitors is to improveproductivity and that is where PGGWrightson is focusing to assist farmers.

‘‘There is a lot of good technology andresearch out there but the key is getting itadopted on farm.’’

He points to the work of PGG Wrightsonbusiness Fecpak International as an exampleof the focus of the company.

Fecpak has just completed an EUresearch project (Parasol) where its parasitemanagement technology was evaluated onfarms throughout the UK with great success.

One of the exciting aspects of Fecpak’stechnology is its ability to show farmers whatthey can’t currently see, and having data attheir fingertips means they make betterdecisions.

Mr Norgate says rather than just believ-ing they have to drench, they can nowdetermine exactly what the real need isbefore they make a decision.

‘‘So people might ask why are weinvolved? Reality is we don’t want to beselling our customers something they don’tneed. Drench resistance is an increasingproblem and what we are trying to do withFecpak is ensure the dollars a farmer spendsare being spent in the right places.’’

The 2.9 million Euro Parasol project,funded by the EU, was established out ofgrowing concerns over the sustainability ofthe current approach to managingparasites. These concerns relate to thedevelopment of drench resistance, food andenvironmental residues, animal welfare andsustainable food production.

Fecpak’s role in the project was to

evaluate the on farm impact of moving awayfrom the current preventative approach withdrenching, to using diagnostic tools under atargeted selective treatment approach(TST), therefore only treating animals whennecessary. The question was, could farmersmaintain or increase animal performanceand lower the risk of drench resistance byutilising a TST approach?

Project coordinator and renowned para-sitologist Professor Jozef Vercruysse of theUniversity of Ghent says the Parasol Projecthas validated that farmers can move to aTST approach.

‘‘But you need the tools to implement itand Fecpak has demonstrated it is one ofthose tools that can be used on-farmsuccessfully,’’ he says.

Fecpak International general managerGreg Mirams returned recently from Europewhere he was involved in presenting Parasolfindings to academics, industry politicians,farmers and EU representatives.

According to research results drenchtreatments were reduced by 35% on aver-age across the project farms whilemaintaining or improving production, insome cases the number of treatmentsincreased in different stock classes, 91% offarmers claimed to have a better understand-ing of the parasite situation on farms byusing Fecpak, and 79% said using Fecpakregularly had been of financial benefit totheir business.

Mirams says while the system is usedwidely in New Zealand he hopes morefarmers will start using the technology andcapture the productivity opportunity withintheir own operations.

‘‘On some farms this is significant,’’ hesays.

‘‘It’s a very logical approach for farmersto get more targeted and selective with theirtreatment programmes. When farmers see aproblem on their farm they naturallyrespond to it, like only spraying thistleswhen they see them. It’s the same with ourtechnology, it just gives them the ability tosee the parasites and make decisions basedon what they see.’’

Waipa HolsteinFriesian show

TC170209SP09CHAMPION Cow Otaua James Penny exhibited by Vaughan Clarke.

T he Waipa WaipaHolstein FriesianClub show held last

month was once again adraw card for stock of a veryhigh standard.

There was 42 animalsentered from 10 differentexhibitors and were judgedby Lawrence Satherly.

Champion Cow wasawarded to eight-year-oldOtaua James Penny, exhib-ited by Vaughan Clarke.

This cow was entered asa V and K Clarke and Cairnsfamily entry.

Penny looked like a realchampion on the day. She isdescribed as a power housecow, oozing capacity,strength and a mammaryworthy of best uddered cow.

Reserve went to three-year-old Waipiri ChampionBesy exhibited by DavidThompson.

This little three-year-oldshowed great chest width,and a mammary that couldnot be faulted, the completepackage.

Junior Champion wasawarded to Paramount RaulPondora, owned by theCairns family.

Carse-O-Fern For Jessowned by Doug andLorraine Courtman wasreserve.

Ferdon Genetics won theover all most points trophyfor the day.

The novice most pointstrophy (showing under fiveyears) was jointly won byBrittney Bell and theVincent Family and con-gratulat ions went toFrancisca Deanes for win-ning the showmanship tro-phy.

The young handlerssenior trophy went toGeorgia Cairns, secondplace was Ryan Cairns andthird Josh Ferguson.

The young handlers jun-ior trophy went to BlairCairns, second place wasKevin Cairns and third wasBrittany Vincent.

Results:Cow in milk 7 years

and over: Otaua JamesPenny, V and K Clarke andCairns family, 1; MokoiaGeoffrey Rosella, CairnsFamily, 2; Carse-O-FernLead Amber, D and LCourtman, 3.

Cow in milk 5 and 6years: Neavou LeaderVenula, Deane Family; 1,Ferdon Ito Patsy, FerdonGenetics, 2; Ferdon Big SkyJenny, Ferdon Genetics, 3.

Cow in milk 4 yrs:Waipiri Pierre Rumble,Deanes Family; 1, Para-mount Hunter L’Oreal,Cairns Family, 2; FerdonAspen Jenny, Ferdon Gen-etics, 3.

Senior Best Udder,cow in milk 4 years andover: Otaua James Penny, Vand K Clarke and CarinsFamily; 1, Neavou LeaderVenula, Deanes Family, 2;Waipiri Pierre Rumble,Deanes Family, 3.

Cow in Milk 3 years:Waipiri Champion Besy S2F,David Thompson; 1, FerdonAspen Jonesa, Ferdon Gen-etics, 2; Paramount PrincipalStatic, Cairns family, 3.

Cow in milk 2 yrs:Waipiri Shaker Ivy, CairnsFamily; 1, Ferdon OmanMaggie, Ferdon Genetics, 2;Tehau Favour Vortex, DeansFamily, 3.

Best Udder, Cow inMilk 2 and 3 years: WaipiriChampion Besy S2F, DavidThompson; 1, Ferdon OmanMaggie, Ferdon Genetics; 3.Paramount Principal Static,Cairns Family, 3.

Champion Cow: OtauaJames Penny, V and KClarke and Carins Family;Reserve: Waipiri ChampionBesy, David Thompson.

Yearling Heifer-Senior: Paramount RaulPondora, Cairns Family; 1,Carse-o-fern For Jess, D andL Courtman, 2; FerdonAspen Jenny, Ferdon Gen-etics, 3.

Senior Heifer Calf:

Carse-o-fern EJ Greta, D andL Courtman; 1, Ferdon Ladyin Red, Ferdon Genetics, 2;Paramount Dundee Tango,Cairns Family, 3.

Junior Heifer Calf:Ferdon Pats Jane, FerdonGenetics; 1, Ferdon PatsJenny, Ferdon Genetics, 2;Tahou Favour Pinto, DeansFamily, 3.

Junior Female Cham-pion: Paramount RaulPondora, Cairns Family;Reserve: Carse-o-fern ForJess, D and L Courtman.

The Waipa Club’s Star ofthe Future and ProductionAwards results will be pub-lished next month.


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2009 RURAL2009 RURALROUNDUP DATESROUNDUP DATES

The Te Awamutu Courier publishes a special monthly farming supplement The Rural Roundup.

Our paper is delivered to 11,634 homes including 5082 rural clients in the Te Awamutu and surrounding areas from north of Otorohanga in the south, to Kaipak/Te Pahu in the north and out to Oparau/Kawhia in the west.

To assist with your forward planning below are the dates and features for the Rural Roundup for the balance of 2009.

April 21 Maize Grain Harvesting and regrassing

May 12 General

June 9 Fieldays and Welcome to the District

July 14 Calf Rearing

August 18 Grow Maize 2009/10

September 15 Summer Crop options and Silage Making

October 20 Cropping, silage and hay

November 17 Hay/Silage and Calf Club Results

Phone 871 5151

For Further Information please phone:

Advertising: Alan Price or Heather Andrew

Editorial: Dean Taylor or Cathy Asplin

Time to be hiringBY HAMISH BURDON — CARDON DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Now is time of the farmingseason for employing nextseason’s staff. In this area

prevention is better than cure.The last thing you need nextseason is staff costing you sub-stantial time and money becausethey are not up to the role they’vebeen employed to do.

In farming employers andemployees normally live on thefarm therefore the nature of therelationship becomes a lot morepersonal as they often live rightacross the fence from each other.This can create issues of its ownbecause often families come aspart of the employment packagewhether included in the agree-ment or not.

Farming is such a diverseindustry. Any given position maywell be so unique that you need tocustom build the right position forthe employee. A bri l l iantemployee on one farm may notbe the right ‘fit’ for the next. Everyfarm is different.

You as the employer need tobe aware of this, and clearlyhighlight this to any prospectiveemployees. Know what you wantand be very clear right from thestart.

For example:• Does the employee have towork under or over other staff?• Is there another property orrun-off they are required to workon?• Does the owner/employer liveon the farm?• Who is this employee directlyaccountable to?

• Are there any tractors orequipment shared with anotherproperty, and if so whatarrangements are in place?• What are the rules surroundinghousing, pets, etc: ·

Time off — who arranges itand what notice is needed?• Are children allowed on thefarm and if so what criteria apply?• Calving and night rounds —who does these and is there aroster?• Milk and meat — how muchand when?• Relief milking — this may beoffered to a specific party.

These are many of the issuesthat affect employment relation-ships throughout the season andthe key here is to identify anyexpectations right at the start thatyou as the employer have. It isalso an ideal opportunity to findout what is important to theprospective employee, and whatexpectations they have of anemployer.

You may be surprised to findthat for some employees thesalary package is not the maindriving factor for them wishing towork for your operation. It may belocation, family commitments oreven just the opportunity to gainexperience or further their careeropportunities. In today’s econom-ic climate this could be verybeneficial to your farming oper-ation. All these factors need to beexplored at the interview, with theintention of tailor-making a pack-age that meets everyone’s expec-tation. I know of one such farm

where an employee accepted alower wage in order to have moretime off to enable them to study atuniversity. The employee ben-efited from not having a studentloan and the employer benefittedfrom lower wage costs.

Often it is the little things thatbreak down the trust and confid-ence between parties in anemployment relationship. Maytime I have found if the partieshad expressed their expectationsclearly right from the outset, theother party would have been in aposition to accept or decline theseexpectations before any damagewas done to the relationship.

Be creative in finding the rightstaff for your operation. Ask fortheir input into what they wouldlike in any agreement. Explore allexpectations and options andtailor-make the right package foryour farm and its employees. Thisalso applies to your current staff.You may already have good staffnow who are considering movingon. Find out why they are leaving.It may be easier to change theirjob description or requirements inorder to keep them. Happy andcontent staff are, at the end of theday, your biggest asset. Do not beworried about scaring off pro-spective employees by being openand honest from the outset. Youneed to be clear in yourexpectations in order to build trustand confidence so that thingsdon’t come unstuck later.

After all, it is easier to hireemployees than fire unsatisfac-tory ones down the track.

Producing qualitymaize silage

During the last few weeks maize silage harvesthas started in the Waipa district. It has been anexcellent growing season with many maize

silage crops delivering high grain yields and excep-tional forage quality.

Good harvest and storage management tech-niques will ensure reduced fermentation and storagelosses so that you can capitalise on the full milkproduction potential of your crop.

The following outlines the best practice manage-ment techniques you should employ.

HARVEST AT THE CORRECT TIMEMaize silage should be harvested between

30-38% whole plant drymatter. While actual cropdrymatter content can only be determined byconducting a laboratory drymatter test, harvest

drymatter can be estimated by looking at the milk-lineon the kernels. Contact your local Pioneer areamanager, merchant representative or maize silageharvesting contractor for further information.

USE A PLANT PROCESSORMaize kernels represent 60-70% of the total

digestible energy in maize silage. Recent research hasshown that adequate processing is essential to ensurecows can get the starch and therefore the energy outof maize kernels. Plant processing improves kernelstarch digestibility by breaking the hard exterior of thekernel, increasing the surface area allowing betteraccess for the rumen microbes as well as disruptingthe dense protein matrix within the maize kernelwhere the starch is embedded.

Continued page 11.


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From page 10.When milk production data from 22

overseas trials was summarised, cows fedprocessed maize silage based diets produced0.5 kg/day more milk than cows fedunprocessed maize silage. Drymatter intakewas also 0.5 kg/day greater for cows fedprocessed maize silage.

A paper presented at the 2006 NaturalResource, Agricultural and EngineeringSilage for Dairy Farms conference inPennsylvania suggested that dairy producersshould target a theoretical chop length of nomore than 19 mm with an initial plantprocessor roll clearance of 3 mm. Currentlythe New Zealand recommendation is thatkernels should be broken into at least fourpieces.

It is estimated that aggressive plantprocessing slows forage processors down(and increases fuel usage) by at least 15%. Forthis reason, farmers should be prepared topay a little more if they want their silage wellprocessed.

APPLY A QUALITYSILAGE INOCULANT

An independent summary by Dr RichardMuck, US Dairy Forage Research Centre,showed that silage inoculants can improvedrymatter recovery by 2-3% and animalperformance by 3-5%. High quality Pioneerbrand maize silage inoculants provide theright strains of lactic acid producing bacteriain ideal numbers to ferment your crop.

COMPACTIONRapid silage fermentation will reduce

drymatter and energy losses associated withensiling. Fermentation is an anaerobic(oxygen-free) process. The aim of the

compaction process is to remove all of the airout of the maize silage.

To achieve a good compaction:• Harvest at 30-38% drymatter (very dry orvery wet crops are difficult to compact well).• Match the chop length to the harvestdrymatter. Aim for a chop length of 12-14mm for silage that is between 30-38%drymatter. If the silage is drier than 38%reduce the chop length to assist compaction.• Spread the chopped maize into 100-150mm layers. Thin layers compact to a higherdensity than thick layers.• Ensure that compaction capacity matchesthe harvest rate to avoid ‘‘pile-ups’’. Increasethe weight and/or the number of vehicles asrequired. Wheeled vehicles have a highercompaction ratio than tracked vehicles of thesame weight. You can add additional weightto tractors by filling the tyres with water.• After harvest has finished, continuecompacting until the stack or bunker surfaceis firm.

SEAL THE STACKOnce all of the air has been compacted

out of the silage stack it should be sealed toprevent any air returning. Use a high qualityplastic cover. Tape any joins in the cover, sealthe edges using lime or sand and weigh thecover down with tyres that are touching.Place rat bait stations around the stack orbunker and replenish bait on a regular basis.

Maize silage that is well compacted andsealed will maintain its quality for severalyears.

Paying attention to detail at harvest timewill help ensure that you have top qualitymaize silage on hand delivering feed securityand peace of mind whenever you need it.


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Life on the farm with Ross SuttonLife on the farm with Ross Sutton

TC170309RS02HOHERIA/LACEBARK in fullflower.

TC170309RS01PROLIFIC vegetable garden.

I n November I mentioned that Ihad planted a vegetable gardenfor the first time in years. It has

brought me enormous pleasure asI have brought in a sizable con-tainer of zucchini, and cucumbersalmost daily.

We planted a Lebanese cucum-ber which has provided nearlythirty fruit and a telegraph cucum-ber had about ten fruit. I plantedthree zucchini plants which havebeen extremely bountiful. One ofthese had fruit the shape of flyingsauces and between the threeplants almost 100 have beencollected. The other zucchiniplants had yellow and traditionalgreen produce.

We have given quite a numberaway but my wife has foundseveral old recipes to utilise theproduce.

Using recipes from ShonaMcFarlane’s White Moas andArtichokes, Valda has been busymaking zucchini pickle, zucchinirelish and zucchini pie. We alsohave them steamed, grilled or stuffed. Ittruly is an amazing vegetable. Valda hasalso made Mustard pickle utilisingcucumbers, green tomatoes and cauli-flower.

Apart from potatoes and onions, wehave been almost self-sufficient in vege-tables over the summer. It has beenamazing and all for a modest initialoutlay. The pumpkin has been slow topollinate but the squash plant has madeup for it. We will put nearly thirty instorage over the winter.

LONG-TAILED CUCKOOIt seems strange that in February I

reported on the Shining Cuckoo andthis month it is the Long-tailed Cuckoo.I would not say the species has not been

here before but it is the first time that Ihave identified it. Its upper bodyfeathers are similar to a brown blackbirdand its under-bel ly grey. Thedistinguishing features are its long tailand a homing-pigeon coo. It is the coothat first draws your attention to it and isanother welcome bird to our environs.Should I be wrong could someone ringand correct me please.

FACIAL ECZEMAAfter last year’s prolonged drought

we became pro-active this year. Weorganised a vet to administer a bolus(capsule) to our calves which has sixweeks preventative time.

Unfortunately, our largest calf hadmissed being steered so he was put in

the head-lock and the vet decidedto give him the bolus in thatposition. In hindsight, it was a baddecision as for some reason abolus got caught in his wind-pipeand died within a couple ofminutes. The vet firm have fullycompensated us but it did put all ofus in a state of shock for awhile.We felt sorry for the vet too!

With the larger cattle, I amputting daily amounts of zincsulphate into their drinkingtroughs and hopefully we willescape the horrible sight of facialeczema this year. We have beeneating a few mushrooms which areindicative of a high facial eczemaspore count but so far, nothing asprolific or bad as last season

HOHERIA/LACEBARKDuring February the native

Hoheria has been flowering. I havenever rated it highly but it has beenabsolutely stunning. It has such aprofusion of flowers that the leaf-age is almost obscured.

Vege gardening rewarding

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TC170309SP13ATOGETHERNESS: (Right) Dr Andrew West — CEOAgResearch, Hon David Carter — Minister ofAgriculture and Roald Van Noort — CEO CRVHolding at the launch of the collaborative agree-ment between CRV AmBreed and AgResearch.

Leading dairy genetics company, CRV AmBreed,celebrates forty years of success in New Zealand thisyear and has launched a new corporate brand and

signing a collaborative agreement with leading CrownResearch Institute, AgResearch.

The agreement promises co-operation between CRVHolding, parent company of New Zealand’s CRV AmBreed,and AgResearch on new science projects that will benefitNew Zealand farmers, as well as stimulating research anddevelopment that will impact dairy producers around theworld.

In one of the first joint projects, AgResearch scientists willbe involved in the genomic selection of future dairy siresmarketed by CRV AmBreed and will play a part in DNAtyping. A number of further projects are under review withAgResearch.

Roald Van Noort, CEO of CRV Holding, says that theagreement is tangible proof of the commitment CRV Holdinghas to investing in the New Zealand market.

‘‘CRV is a global company and wants to work with thevery best research groups around the world. New Zealand isa leading dairy country with excellent scientific capabilitiesand we want to be involved in that.’’

The partnership will leverage AgResearch’s considerablestrengths in breeding-science technology and knowledge andCRV AmBreed’s strong connection to the dairy industry todevelop targeted research and development projects drivenby farmers’ needs.

Dr Andrew West, CEO of AgResearch, says that he is

pleased to work with CRV on projects that will make a realdifference to the New Zealand dairy industry.

‘‘Continual improvement in developing ever-better pro-ducts and methods is essential to keeping us at the top of ourgame,’’ he says.

‘‘Partnerships such as this between business and researchinstitutes will do just that — and result in the products andprojects that individual farmers, as well as the wider industry,need.’’

Minister of Agriculture, the Hon David Carter, was akeynote speaker at the announcement of the agreement andunveiled the new corporate brand.

Mr Carter along with invited guests, was treated to a raredisplay of some of CRV AmBreed’s top sires and commentedthat improvements in cattle breeding over the years hadadded immense value to the New Zealand agriculturalindustry. He highlighted some of the challenges andopportunities facing the industry as well as its role in helpingNew Zealand through tough economic times before unveilingthe new brand, CRV AmBreed.


Partnership to benefit dairy farmers

New name,same genes

TC170309SP13BONE of CRV AmBreed’s top sires Telesis EuonFirenze with breeder Geoff Wilson.

At the beginning of the month AmBreed changed itsname to CRV AmBreed. To the trained eye there is aslight difference in physical appearance, but their

genetic traits are identical.The name change reflects the desire of AmBreed’s

parent, CRV Holdings, to internationalise their business.‘‘We invested in AmBreed four years ago because we saw

they had a great breeding program and strong relationshipswith their dairy farmer clients’’ says Roald van Noort, CEO ofCRV.

‘‘New Zealand is an important dairy country and we sawan opportunity to bring real competition to New Zealand bycontinuing the AmBreed philosophy of developing a range ofgenetics to suit the different environments in New Zealandand to breed cows that are built to last.’’

The Netherlands-based CRV has companies in eightcountries around the world and operates breeding pro-grammes in four different countries to produce sires from theHolstein-Friesian, Red Friesian, Jersey, Ayrshire, NewZealand Crossbred, Fleckvieh, and the tropical dairy breedGir among others. It is the third largest dairy geneticscompany in the world and has been supplying dairy geneticsin Holland for 130 years.

AmBreed has been in business in New Zealand for 40years, and since 1969 has developed a reputation forreliable, quality genetics better suited to the range of farmingsystems in New Zealand. Stars such as Okura Manhatten andKO Pierre are good examples of quality sires that pass thetest of time.

Manhatten has topped the NZ RAS List for the past fiveyears and despite the best efforts of the competition looks setto continue that domination.

Over the years AmBreed has punched well above itsweight with famous sires, such as Magley, Extasy andSkelton, having an enormous impact on the New ZealandDairy Industry as evidenced by the presence of six of the top10 Friesian sires on the NZ RAS List that were eitherproduced and marketed by AmBreed, or are sons of anAmBreed sire.

Now with the international resources and world-leadingR&D power of a global dairy genetics giant backing the NewZealand operation, CRV AmBreed looks forward to a longand productive future in New Zealand.

The new corporate name reflects the commitment CRVand AmBreed have shown to the New Zealand dairy industrywith such notable events as the release of New Zealand’s firstgenomically selected Bull Team, development of the TestDay Model for herd testing, DIY AI training courses forfarmers and the first release of sexed semen fromNZ—Proven bulls.


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PARTNERS:John GallieLinda Miles

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ASSOCIATES: Susan Garmonsway

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STAFF SOLICITORS:Tomasina Antunovich

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Fax: (07) 871 5882Email:

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Phone: (07) 872 0560

Recent changes toemployment law

By SueGarmonsway — a solicitor in theTe Awamutu fi rm Gallie Miles.

Recent (and impending) changesto employment law have beenreceiving much media attention

lately — but what do these changesreally mean?

Trial Periods Recent media reportshave made much of the new probation-ary period legislation (or ‘fire at will’laws) which came into force on March1, 2009.

Designed to enable employers totake on new staff for probationaryperiod, employers who have fewer thannineteen employees are able to employnew employees on a trial period of upto 90 calendar days.

It is important to note that trialperiods are voluntary — both theemployer and employee must agreeand any negotiations about whether atrial period is appropriate must beundertaken in good faith. So, forexample, an employer can not putpressure on an employee to accept atrial period as a condition of his or heremployment. Any agreement regardinga trial period must be recorded inwriting.

Perhaps the most important featureto note (and one that has largely beenoverlooked in media reports on the newlaw) is the fact that an employer andemployee can only agree to a trial

period once. If you have previouslyemployed the person (no matter howlong ago) you can not now re-employthem on a trial period (even if theyagree to it).

If an employer decides to terminatethe employment of an employee who issubject to a trial period, the usual noticeprovisions apply but the noticeterminating the employment must begiven during the trial period (even if theactual end date is outside of the trialperiod).

REST BREAKS ANDINFANT FEEDING

From April 1, 2009 the Employ-ment Relations (Breaks, Infant Feeding,and Other Matters) Amendment Act2008 comes into force. This new Actconcerns rest breaks and infant feedingfacilities in the workplace and, for mostemployers and employees, currentpractices will remain the same — but itstill pays to make sure your currentpractices will comply with the new law.

REST AND MEAL BREAKSFrom April 1, 2009 employers must

provide employees with ·One 10 minute paid rest break if the

work period is between two and fourhours; ·

One 10 minute paid rest break andone unpaid 30 minute meal break iftheir work period is from four to sixhours; and ·

Two 10 minute paid rest breaks andone 30 minute unpaid meal break iftheir work period if from six to eighthours.

For staff who work more than eighthours per shift, these provisions auto-matically re-apply to each successivework period.

A rest break is not defined in the law— but it should be just that — anopportunity for rest and refreshmentand to attend to personal needs.

While employers and employeescan negotiate and agree on the timingof rest breaks you should note that if

you can’t agree, the rule of thumb isthat they should be logically spreadthroughout the work period. Finally,employers and employees can chooseto have additional or longer breaks —these laws simply provide the minimumrequirements that must be provided.The location for rest or meal breaks canbe negotiated and can (by agreement)be wither in the workplace or off site.This will often depend on the facilitiesavailable and the kind of work beingundertaken.

The new laws will not apply toeveryone — some people already havedifferent legal requirements (forexample truck drivers). If you are notsure whether these laws will apply toyou or your staff, contact your locallegal practitioner.

INFANT FEEDINGFrom April 1, 2009 new laws

requiring the provision of space forbreast feeding mothers also come intoforce. These requirements are addi-tional to the rest and meal breakrequirements.

The obligation is to provide both thebreak and suitable facilities (withinreason) for feeding to take place. Thismay include setting aside a separateroom or a private space. If a newmother is expressing breast milk youmay also need to provide access to afridge or chilly bin for storage purposes.Unless agreed otherwise, infant feedingbreaks are unpaid.

The aim of the law is to encouragenursing mothers back into the work-place. For employers, this has thebenefit of encouraging experiencedstaff back to work and reduces staffturnover.

Compliance with employment law isimportant and non-compliance canoften have costly consequences. Theintroduction of these new laws is atimely reminder to contact your lawyerand check that your employmentarrangements are compliant.

A/hrs: Stu Tervit (07) 871 4700, 0274 827 856 • John Hare (07) 871 3794, 0274 427 856 • Allan Patterson (07) 871 3956, 0273 427 853 • Email: [email protected]

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Strategies to farm throughBy Greg McNeil — veterinarian and branch manager of the Te Awamutu fi rm VetEntTe Awamutu.

lower payouts

I t is as simple as maximising productionand minimising waste in whatever pro-duction system you are running.It could be easy to take the axe to your

expenses by just shutting the cheque bookbut unfortunately this approach can oftenhave a reverse effect and increase cost inunexpected areas.

Consider a farm system that will maxi-

mise income by reducing milk wastage andincreasing average days in milk per cow,thus improving per cow production to thefactory while your basic costs in terms oflabour, fert, power, shed costs , debtservicing etc remain constant.

Review your overall farm system to, insimple terms, ensure feed demand and feedsupply are well balanced and there is amargin in your production system thatallows you to manage cashflow, debt andlifestyle.

Most production limiting problems onfarm are management related and manage-able. Invest in good quality labour, trainthem well, and ensure they understand howthey can impact overall farm performance.

Maximise milk sent to the factory andreduce wastage by:• Minimising mastitis. Don’t skimp on dry

cow therapy (DCT). DCT is best at curing existinginfections, and preventing infection in the dry and earlylactation periods. Ensure milking machine function,milking management and teat spray is at optimum levels toprevent new infections. Ensure you have systems to ensureyou detect clinical cases immediately and don’t over treatsub clinical cows.• Maximising the reproductive efficiency of your herd willcreate more days in milk next season.

Identify areas that will be limiting your performanceusing a detailed fertility focus report. From here a plan canbe developed to target incremental improvements in yoursix week in calf rate and decreases in your empty rate. Forthose of you that induce or have already taken the step topull the bull from the herd early and experiencedballooning empty rates this will be vital to minimise wastageespecially post 2010 when inductions will most likely beeliminated from the farming system. A well timed herdpregnancy testing programme is required to maximise theinformation we are to interpret.• Ensure that you remember to concentrate on growingout good replacement stock by providing quality grazingand following a well thought out animal health plan,concentrating on essential mineral supplementation andparasite control. Well grown young stock maximise yourfuture herds production and reproduction.• Minimise lameness. The cost of a lame cow has beenestimated at $300 taking into account lost future milkproduction for the season, discarded milk, drug treatment,reproductive failure, culling etc. While we are happy totreat your lame cows you are best to prevent the causes oflameness on your farm.• Preventative vaccination programmes — many of youwill have vaccination programmes in place either tomanage the risk of disease in your stock and in the exampleof lepto to also help manage the risk in humans. In mostcases these programmes have been put in place after costlydisease outbreaks. For continued disease managementthese programmes need to be ongoing.• Focus on a system that allows you to voluntarily cull morepregnant cows such as older and / or lower producingcows. Forced culling of empties, lame and cows withmastitis either leads to the inability to voluntarily cull cowsor the need to increase the numbers of young stock rearedwhich comes at a substantial cost.• Don’t make short cuts with your herds mineralsupplementation programme, deficiencies will reduceproduction.• Following last seasons drought it is amazing to see theamount of weed coming through into pasture, this canhave significant effect on pasture utilisation as cows fail tograze effectively around weedy areas. Instigate a weedcontrol and fertiliser programme that will restore yourpastures to a fully productive state.

Feel free to discuss the above by contacting VetEnt. Wecan help by minimising your cost of production, we havevets well qualified to advise on production, reproduction,mastitis and lameness issues.

Award responseoverwhelmingRural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) has been

overwhelmed by the number of entries for theRWNZ Enterprising Rural Woman Award 2009.

‘‘We are delighted by the response,’’ says RWNZ’sNational President, Margaret Chapman.‘‘Forty-six women operating a wide variety of businessesfrom one end of the country to the other have entered theAward, which will make the task of judging verychallenging.‘‘The diversity of the enterprises reflects the innovativeways women are contributing to the rural economy, whichis so important especially in today’s economic climate.’’The Award is being judged by Theresa Gattung of WoolPartners International, Amber Quinnell of the BNZ, whichis sponsoring the Award, and RWNZ’s National President,Margaret Chapman.‘‘It is great to see so many outstanding women enter thecompetition,’’ says Ms Quinnell, Senior Associate, BNZ.she says.‘‘We are pleased to be part of this great event, and part ofcelebrating the achievement of NZ Women.’’Three finalists will be selected and the winner will beannounced at the RWNZ Enterprising Rural WomanAward 2009 to be held at the Grand Hall of Parliament onFriday, May 15, as part of RWNZ’s national conference.

Vet graduate bonding option

The New Zealand Veterinary Association says it ispleased to support the recently announced govern-ment policy on voluntary bonding of veterinary

graduates in under-staffed rural areas.‘‘This initiative will help to alleviate the critical shortage

of veterinarians in areas of the country that are moreremote and difficult to staff,’’ says NZVA President RichardWild. ‘‘While we acknowledge that the shortage of ruralprofessionals including doctors and veterinarians is acomplex issue we congratulate the government forinitiating some actions to address the problem.’’

The Veterinary Association has been working incollaboration with the Veterinary Council and MasseyUniversity on aspects of the scheme.


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Should I keep milkingto buy more shares?

By Darren Sutton— Waikato FarmWise consultant.

This is a question that I am gettingasked a lot lately. It is being raisedbecause many farms have

enjoyed a kind summer and are cur-rently on target to produce more milksolids than they currently have sharesfor.

Thrown into the mix is also the issuethat Fonterra shares will cost $5.57 topurchase and then be worth (at currentestimation) $4.47 next year.

The simplest solution to the situationis to ask, will I still own the farm (andshares) in two years time?

And, is the increase in milk pro-duction going to be repeatable?

If the answer to these two questionsis yes, then it is worthwhile to keepmilking and do the extra production.

On the face of it the maths may notappear to stack up, when you arepaying $5.57 for the pleasure of gettingback only $5.10, knowing that thoseshares in the short-term (next season)could be bought for $4.47.

A working example of a possiblescenario is outlined below.

But first, the following points includea few issues to consider.

CASH FLOWThis is probably the biggest factor to

consider.If you dry off one month early, then

how will that affect your cash flow andoverdraft limit?

This year is quite different withFonterra extending the deferredpayments.

Check your numbers to see how farover your OD limit you might end up.

Not everyone is able to roll this overinto term debt.

HOW IS THE EXTRAPRODUCTION BEING

PRODUCED?This links into the next point.If a lot of the extra production is

being created by high pricedsupplements, and there is little marginbetween the cost and return, then thisextra production may end up costingmore in the long-term once extra sharesare factored in.

An example of PK landed on-farmfor $250 /t wet weight (excl GST).

After 10% moisture and 10% wast-age has been removed, and a typicalfeed response in autumn of 80 grams ofMS/kg DM is generated, this leaves only9 cents per kg of DM fed to cover thecost of time and vehicles etc when usinga $5.00 payout.

So this is probably not worth it?Obviously if your farm has plenty of

grass, as most farms in the Waiparegion do, then this extra productionwill be profitable if generated by thegood pasture covers we are enjoying atpresent.

Obviously any extra milk productionmust not be at the detriment of cowcondition and average pasture targetsfor this winter. There is no point intrying to drag production from nextseason into this season.

CHANGES IN FARM SYSTEMAND PRODUCTION

If you have made a change to thefarm system that has resulted in the

increase in kgs of MS, then you need todecide if this is going to be repeatableyear on year.

For example some farms have inten-sified their farm with more bought-infeed over the past two years.

The likelihood of this continuingover the next two years is lowdepending on contract prices for thesupplement, therefore the extra sharesmay not be used after this season.

If a farm has been developed oradditional land is brought into thesystem, then this extra production isgoing to be repeated year on year, andthose extra shares are going to beneeded in the future.

FINANCING OF SHARESCurrently the major banks will (in

most cases) fund 100% of the value ofFonterra shares.

So the cost of buying the extrashares can be extended out onto termdebt, and perhaps interest only ifneeded for the next few years.

COST OF PEAK LITRESOVER CAPACITY

This is often an area that gets over-looked.

If you do not share up to theexpected level of production then youwill also get a bill for the higher peakthat you do each spring. The cost of thisin the example on page 19 for 10,000shares would be about $3,132.

In summary, decide how permanentthe extra production you may beheading towards is.

How will any farm system changesaffect future production?

Can you get the shares fully fundedby your bank?

And, what is the cost of the feed thatI am using to create the extra pro-duction?

These are the critical questions toask before making a decision to dry offearly or keep milking.

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Hazard risk growsNatural hazard risk is increasing in the

Waikato due to more development inhazard-prone areas and climate

change, says a new report from EnvironmentWaikato.

The report says that river flood risks, inparticular, are being mitigated by EW’sextensive flood protection works and floodwarning management, and its provision ofhazard information.

But the report, containing the results of areview of natural hazards-related policies inthe council’s Regional Policy Statement,recommends a range of new measures tohelp minimise risks to people and property inthe more challenging environment the regionfaces.

‘‘Our review says the risks posed bynatural hazards, such as river flooding andtsunami, are increasing in the region, mean-ing objective 3.8.4 of the Regional PolicyStatement is not being achieved,’’ said thecouncil’s regional hazards and emergencymanagement programme manager AdamMunro.

‘‘In particular, this increased risk isbelieved to be probably the case with regardto river flooding, tsunami risks and coastalhazard risks.

‘‘The main reason for the increased risk isthat development is still occurring in hazardprone areas. There has been increasedpressure for development in hazard proneareas such as the Thames Coromandel,Hauraki, Waikato and Taupo districts inparticular.’’

The report said there had been a string ofserious floods in the region over the past 30years, and a ‘‘rapid increase’’ in developmentproposals within flood hazard areas over thepast five years.

‘‘Also, climate change is believed to beincreasing the frequency and severity of badweather that can lead to river flooding,’’ MrMunro said.

This increased threat from climate changefurther underlined how preventing inappro-priate development in hazard risk proneareas is the best way of protecting people andproperty from natural hazards in the Wai-kato, he said.

‘‘Our report suggests land use planning inthe region needs to take a more proactiveapproach to minimising natural hazard risk,by avoiding high risk areas and guiding

development into more appropriate areas atlower risk.

‘‘We now need to look at exactly how theRegional Policy Statement can be strength-ened to help ensure natural hazard risk isminimised.

‘‘The report’s key recommendationsinclude more emphasis on risk reduction anddealing with climate change, as well as betterintegration of local and regional policies.’’

The report and its recommendations, aswell as feedback from other councils andstakeholders, would all be considered as partof the forthcoming review of the council’sRegional Policy Statement, Mr Munro said.

‘‘It is vitally important we get our naturalhazard risk policies as strong as they can be inthe face of the increasing risks. At the end ofthe day, it’s all about protecting people andproperty from very serious risks, particularlyriver flooding which — as last winter’s eventsshow — is all too common in our region.’’

To view the report visit www.ew.govt.nz/naturalhazardsreport


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Insurance claims

By Duncan Gray — associate in theTe Awamutu fi rm Gyde Wansbone.

Recently I had to deal with anInsurance Claim when preparingthe Financial Accounts for a

farmer client. It seemed a good oppor-tunity to revisit the issue.

So how do we treat InsuranceClaims under Fire and General Insur-ance Policies?

Any payments received are GSTinclusive and have to be accounted forin the GST return. This is sometimesoverlooked by those farmers who dotheir own GST and who fail to accountfor the output tax on the insuranceclaim.

The easiest way to think of aninsurance claim is to view the payout asthe proceeds of the sale of the des-troyed asset to the Insurance Company.This is the case if the asset is written off.

In the case of a deemed sale theremay be depreciation recovered whichwill increase the taxable income of thefarmer in the financial year. In somecases there may be a loss on sale, whichwill reduce the taxable income in thatfinancial year. However any loss on salefor a building does not result in reducedtaxable income for that year.

If the Insurance Company assessesthe value of the damage to the asset andsends a cheque to the farmer, thepayout can be treated in two ways. Wecan either treat the payout as SundryIncome or we can treat it as a creditagainst the repairs and maintenancecosts the farmer will have incurred tomake good the damage. Either way thefarmer will have to account for the GSTon the payout.

If the farmer finds that the payoutdoes not fully pay for the replacementof the asset and more funds have to beused to fully replace the asset, the fullprice of the asset including the farmersfunds become the value of the asset inthe Asset Schedule. It is this value whichforms the basis of subsequent deprecia-tion.

The same situation arises if theInsurance Company chooses to replacean asset under a full replacementpolicy. Here the cost incurred by theinsurance company becomes the newvalue of the asset. The cost alsorepresents the sale value of the asset,which is then used to calculate

depreciation recovered and loss on salefor the asset.

From the farmers point of viewreceiving a cash payout is the easiestoption. Once they have received thepayout and accounted for GST they canmake their own decisions aboutrepairing or replacing the asset.

If the asset is used privately then thepayout from the insurance companymust also take into account the privateuse of the asset. The private portion willneed to be added back for both GSTand Income Tax.

When farmers have to pay theexcess on the insurance payout this istreated as reducing the value of thepayout from the Insurance Companyand must be included in the GST return.

If livestock are lost and the farmerreceives payment from the InsuranceCompany then this payment is treatedas if the livestock have been sold for theamount of the payment.

When milk is lost or spoilt and thefarmer has the appropriate insurancepolicy then the payment will beincluded in income as it replaces theincome that would have been earnedfrom the sale of the milk.

It is important that the paymentreceived from the Insurance Com-panies as a result of an insurance claimare treated properly for GST andIncome Tax. If you have any queriesthen consult your accountant to get thecorrect advice.

Drying off in 2008/09 at the current shareholdingIncome Loss (10,000MS @ $5.10/kg MS)......................................................................................$51,000The implication for the follow season - not entitled to the full capacity adjustment.The Cost For Over Supplying In 2009/10..........................................................................................$3,132Surplus Milk: 10,000 kgs MS peak litres over capacity to additional peak supply entitlements (10,000 @ 5.8%) = 580.Cost of over supplying @ $5.40/ltr over capacity: 580 x $5.40 = $3,132Direct Loss Of Income Over The Two Seasons...............................................................................$54,123Cost To Purchase The Shares At The End Of 2009/10 @ $4.47.....................................................$44,700

Do the extra production in 2008/09 Cost To Purchase The Shares At The End Of 2008/09 @ $5.57....................................................$55,700Annual Interest Payment If Borrowing @ 7%....................................................................................$3,899Savings Through Purchasing Shares At The End Of 2009/10........................................................$14,899 Loss Of Income Over The Two Seasons.........................................................................................$54,123Bottom Line Is An Income Loss Over The Two Years................................................................-$39,233

Rural Roundup - March 17th, 2009 · RURAL ROUNDUP, TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009 3 6751842AA WRANGLER -...

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Transcript of Rural Roundup - March 17th, 2009 · RURAL ROUNDUP, TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009 3 6751842AA WRANGLER -...