Seedy milk
OPINION: Seeds of legume plants are being used to make dairy-free milk products by scientists at Massey University’s Palmerston North labs.
A warning to dairy farmers: a move to sheep milking is probably not an option.
An organiser of a recent sheep milking conference, associate professor Craig Prichard, of Massey University, says sheep milking is never going to come anywhere near replacing the bovine industry.
He says a Taranaki farmer called asking what sort of sheep milking operation he could run on 100ha.
"I said 'you're asking me the wrong question'. I asked 'where is your market, where is your processor and who are you going to sell your milk to?' Often people in the bovine industry are so used to having someone take their milk. This farmer was asking the wrong question.
"Everyone in the sheep milking business has to solve the market and the producer problem first. They must ask, 'where is my market and who am I going to sell to?' That drives the production process. In the bovine industry they do not think market first; they are a supplier driven industry."
Prichard says every bovine dairy farmer in NZ struggles to see their market; it's an institutional problem. He says he knows of many dairy farmers who say the industry is not connecting with customers.
"On the other hand the sheep milking industry is putting customers right at the core of it and they are the ones who are going to drive this sector."
Prichard says the sheep milking conference had good science presentations and showcased where the industry has got to in a relatively short time.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
OPINION: Scientists claim to have found a new way to make a substitute for cow's milk that could have a…
OPINION: The Irish have come up with a novel way to measure cow belching, which is said to account for…