Two LIC directors not seeking re-election
Two long-standing LIC farmer-elected directors are stepping down later this year.
A milestone 55 years in the making was passed in a split-second: with one clamp of a tag punch LIC tagged its 10,000th sire proving scheme (SPS) bull calf.
It happened on the farm of dairy cattle breeders Stewart and Kathryn Anderson of Otewa, near Otorohanga.
“The young bull symbolises the huge contribution the scheme makes to New Zealand dairy farming,” says LIC chief executive Wayne McNee. Today most dairy cows grazing NZ pastures are from LIC bloodlines. The scheme started in 1961.
The tagging of the new young bull calf signals LIC buying him for his genetic potential. He has been named Arkan MGH Believer. Now he’ll be treated like animal royalty at LIC’s Newstead bull farm.
If his resulting daughters end up high-performance in efficiency and productivity, he will ‘graduate’ to LIC Premier Sires status.
Potentially he’ll be worth millions of dollars to LIC and to the national economy by helping drive up genetic gain in the national dairy herd.
“It’s lovely of LIC to have chosen this farm to tag its 10,000th SPS animal,” says Kathryn Anderson. “It was exciting to have the co-op mark the occasion, and we felt humbled at having the honour and recognition of LIC marking the milestone here.”
Simon Worth, LIC bull acquisition manager, says the calf’s sire, Mourne Grove Hothouse, is among LIC’s best bulls, siring many outstanding daughters.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
It's been a bumper season for maize and other supplements in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.
AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
Te Awamutu dairy farmers Doug, Penny, Josh and Bayley Storey have planted more than 25,000 native trees on the family farm, adding to a generations-old native forest.