UK Politician Alistair Carmichael Praises "Positive Spirit" of NZ Farmers
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
Getting calves away to a strong start means attention to detail from day one, so the Lely Calm, an automatic drinking system for calves, prepares and feeds rations at the right temperature and is designed to ensure calves receive smaller, more frequent portions throughout the day.
This supports healthy digestion and steady daily growth, with the additional benefits of improved hygiene and reduced labour for farmers.
On a nutritional front, the system ensures optimal utilisation of all nutrients and more daily weight gain, using the automatic feeder - available in different models to suit different situations - using a drinking box equipped with a teat unit and an identification unit. A range of options includes a weigh system and smart sensors.
Optimal hygiene is achieved as the Calm system cleans itself automatically and its drinking hoses after every calf visit, thereby reducing any bacterial growth as the machine is cleaned and rinsed with effective detergents several times each day. This helps maintain better milk quality and consequently improves calf health.
Labour saving benefits remove the need for several repetitive tasks such as filling, mixing and carrying heavy buckets of milk and feeding the calves manually, releasing time for better observation of the animals for improved husbandry.
The recently introduced full integration of the Calm system into Lely Horizon for new Calm customers brings cows and calves together in one central platform, resulting in stronger farm management and continuous data across the entire herd.
With Calm in Horizon, farmers monitor every calf in a single interface, allowing the review of clear insights to help spot health deviations early, then intervene in a timely manner.
From a practical point of view, there is no need to switch between apps, so performance data follows seamlessly from calf to cow. Advisors can also use Calm data to further improve rearing strategies and service quality, resulting in healthier calves and, in the end, more productive dairy cows.
integrated into Lely Horizon via a subscription model, billed monthly through the existing Horizon subscription, for each Calf feeder, offering simplicity, transparency and scalability. Subscriptions are available in Basic, Control and Advance, packages, with Control and Advance giving full access to all Calm-in-Horizon features, including Health Task, reports and a cow card integration. The Basic tier you get access to all features apart from the “Sick Chance” column in Health Task.
Chinese beef trade quotas and a looming suspension of Brazilian beef imports into the European Union are expected to reshape global beef trade flows over the remainder of 2026, with implications for New Zealand exporters, according to Rabobank's Q3 Global Beef Quarterly report.
James Blair, an agronomist for AS Wilcox and the Pukekohe regional champion, has won the 2026 Young Grower national title.
An Auckland gelato shop and an established New Zealand ice cream maker have both been named Supreme Champions at the NZ Ice Cream & Gelato Awards 2026.
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on household grocery budgets, new figures show pork remains one of the most affordable fresh meat options for New Zealand families.
OPINION: In politics, credibility is and should be big. It must surely rank higher than charisma, which is quite trite and superficial. Yet, voters nowadays are often wooed and influenced by how someone looks or talks at a superficial level. TV plays a huge role in this.
Farmers can spend less time on paperwork, thanks to a new data sharing agreement between DairyNZ’s DairyBase and LIC’s MINDA software.