As one farmer client stated “this spring has been a challenge”, and he’s referring specifically to pasture growth over the last three months. In the cooler areas of the Bay of Plenty, and the pattern by most accounts has been similar country wide, there’s...

A report of Dairy NZ’s recent annual meeting quoted Dairy NZ director Alister Body as saying that he was apprehensive about going to social gatherings knowing someone might “have a go” about dairy farming. Chief executive Tim Mackle was also quoted as...

My love of cars and enjoyment of driving stems from the exquisite sense of freedom achieved as a result of purchasing my own vehicle as a teenager.   Summers of picking up hay provided sufficient money for the restrictions of push bikes and unreliable bus...

It’s not run-off into waterways from pastoral land that’s the greatest concern it’s what’s coming out the bottom into aquifers that’s the major contaminator and the quickest and most effective way to stop that is to cease tipping it in the top. Nitrogen...

Beneath every long term successful business is a foundation, something that regardless of the inevitable ups and downs ensures not only survival but prosperity. Underpinning the dairy industry is the steadily increasing demand for protein in the form of...

What’s happening, or not happening right now on farms, is a result of actions taken over the last 6 months, therefore what occurs in spring is influenced by management over the next three months. Some properties have little pasture cover, while others have...

It’s easy to criticise people, organisations and systems but it takes time and real effort to build something better. The superphosphate industry has been heavily criticised for producing crude out dated product, the performance of which has required the...

The lead article in The Press on the 22nd of October was headed Nitrate Risk to Infant Health, with a warning from Canterbury District Health Board medical officer Alistair Humphrey that, “a baby could die if nitrate levels are not more tightly...

An article on the development of clover by AgResearch published in November 2003 starts with following.  “If there is one thing New Zealand couldn’t do without, it would have to be white clover. While it doesn’t seem like an obvious one for the top 20 list...

Over recent times there has been much debate around the topic of ‘biological farming’.  As little if any nutrient enters a plant without first going through a biological process, all growing systems regardless of the label applied to them are essentially...