Since 1990 we’ve worked in the belief that agriculture, particularly pastoral farming, would steadily embrace alternative practices when they were shown to be beneficial. And we’ve been wrong.  However, the technology we’ve known to be the best for our pastoral...

A common thread in discussions with dairy farmers this spring has been the unusually high number of animals suffering calcium/magnesium related metabolic disorders. That’s a large financial hit prior to the season getting underway, because for every animal exhibiting...

In the 32 years I’ve been involved in the dolomite business the most common objection when selling it has been its price. That’s a fair and reasonable objection assuming that all magnesium inputs are equally as effective at limiting debilitating calcium/magnesium...

I recently attended a meeting where Dr Tom Sheahan spoke on the importance of methane and nitrous oxide. In essence the message was that both are irrelevant greenhouse gases, atmospheric CO2 has little effect on climate warming, and there is no climate emergency. If...

Fertiliser expenditure is usually the largest outgoing after mortgage payments, which are currently lifting to levels not seen for close on thirty years. Fertiliser costs have already risen dramatically, particularly that of manufactured imported high analysis...

Some years back there was a government backed campaign to buy locally made merchandise.  How effective it was is unknown however there was no way I was going to part with my hard-earned dollars for a New Zealand product unless it was as good as and price competitive...

There’s no ifs and buts, our own health is only as good as the soil from which our food is grown. A carbon rich soil alive with beneficial life will always produce more food of higher quality than that from a low carbon compacted one. Soil is a living breathing...

The late Emeritus Professor Tom (T.W.) Walker of Lincoln University wrote in Dolomite, A first class source of magnesium, “it makes good sense to me to correct animal deficiencies through the soil and the plant. If my diet were deficient in protein and carbohydrate, I...

The cost of imported fertiliser products, particularly those containing soluble phosphorus and potassium have lifted sharply in price in the last six months and there is a strong likelihood they will again be more expensive in autumn. After debt servicing fertiliser...

With supply of fertiliser inputs from overseas becoming increasingly expensive and erratic, it’s worth focusing on our own resources. Magnesium is an essential input on virtually all intensive dairy farms and there is no guarantee that magnesium oxide products, all of...