Rural

Protecting your sheep

Vaccinating sheep against toxoplasmosis and campylobacteriosis infections leads to significant improvements in lambing percentage, farmers at Taranaki's first sheep focus day heard last week.

Open day in offing for Fonterra factory

Fonterra's Pahiatua factory is inviting the neighbours for a look at what happens to milk, once it's collected.

Massey University Professor of Agribusiness Hamish Gow says farmers need to partner themselves with a meat company with a marketing, processing and procurement strategy that aligns with them, and stick with it.

The right way to grow your own

Growing food is something Kath Irvine in Horowhenua, is passionate about.

Rain clouds have silver lining for farmers

The wet summer weather has contributed to record milk production and other benefits. Jill Galloway reports.

Lameness undetected

A lecturer warns of the costs of lameness in dairy herds, writes Jill Galloway.

Primed to meat and greet

Gary Harris is a larger-than-life character – perhaps the butcher's manual says you have to be.

Judge impressed by NZ dairy cattle

JILL GALLOWAY - © Fairfax NZ News

Holstein friesian Dairy Event judge Brian Carscadden from Canada says the best New Zealand cattle would stand up at any show around the globe.

Targeting Fonterra

A proposal by the Government for changes to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) are bad news for the industry and the country, claims dairy farmer and Dairy Event committee member Lawrence Satherley.

Ready for cut and thrust

New Zealand's top five butchers are preparing for the rematch they've waited 12 months for.

Network to offer rural connections

Manawatu has a new Rural Business Network aiming to bridge the gap between young rural people and rural business.

Passion for land - and birds

Dale Percy gets an enormous amount of pleasure watching birds. He farms near Pahiatua and has written a novel about starlings, JILL GALLOWAY reports.

Farm courses on offer

JILL GALLOWAY - © Fairfax NZ News

The rural industry needs 3000 new employees to cope with growth, says Land Based Training business development and marketing manager Paula Jonker.

Prof says farewell

Palmerston North's director of Massey Agriculture, Professor Jaqueline Rowarth, is leaving to go to the University of Waikato.

All set for big dairy event

JILL GALLOWAY - © Fairfax NZ News

Entries are down slightly on last year for what organisers say is the "greatest dairy show in the country".

Clear reason to clean up dairying

JON MORGAN - OVER THE FENCE - © Fairfax NZ News

Is there someone from my generation who can say, hand on heart, that they never once drove drunk in the 1960s and 70s?

Women's Institute seeks lifeline

Attracting more young people might be a lifeline for Women's Institutes, reports JILL GALLOWAY.

Judging to go ahead, rain or shine

Weather extremes across the country are making life interesting for entrants in the 2012 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, as they head into judging later this month.

Firm lands Russian deal

JILL GALLOWAY - © Fairfax NZ News

A Feilding company has won a contract to design a new meat plant in Russia.

Not menace some fear

The invasion of our space makes some insects and spiders unpalatable to us.

Something for everyone

JILL GALLOWAY - © Fairfax NZ News

The new Feilding Saleyards Cafe owner says she has introduced some healthy alternatives but still does the "tried and true" meals, which stock agents, some farmers and truckies want.

Staying the distance

You can train and feed a racehorse well, but you're never going to make a slow horse into a fast one, trainer Jack Scott tells JILL GALLOWAY.

Pasture and prices on the rise

JILL GALLOWAY - © Fairfax NZ News

Good levels of grass have been driving high prices for store stock as finishers look for animals to eat abundant pasture.

'Wine', silk and coffee pave the way

Dalat is an area of Vietnam in the southern Central Highlands, renowned for flowers and farming, writes JILL GALLOWAY.

Stock prosper on back of strong growth

Growing conditions for pasture have been ideal for farmers, with most in a good position, making for very little pressure to off-load stock to the meat works.

Ham buyers advised to look for 'NZ grown'

Christmas ham shoppers have received a reminder from NZ Pork to be wary of poorly labelled imported ham.

Farm sales increase, but not in Manawatu

National data just released by the Real Estate Institute shows farm sales are up markedly on the same period last year.

Warning on effluent levels

DairyNZ is warning dairy farmers to keep their effluent ponds low this summer.

Free milk proposal has Fonterra farmer approval

Dairy farmers are supportive of the initiative for milk in schools.

Scour asset 'at risk'

Woolgrowers will be angry and the New Zealand wool industry will lose a pivotal asset if Cavalier Wool Holdings strips the scouring operation out of Wool Services International and disposes of the trading arm, says Peter Crone, the managing director of Christchurch wool exporter John Marshall and Co.