Waikato dairy effluent breaches lead to $108,000 in fines
Two farmers and two farming companies were recently convicted and fined a total of $108,000 for environmental offending.
Applying liquid manures or farmyard effluents to standing crops of forage maize is largely unheard of in New Zealand, but the practice is gaining ground in Europe.
Precision drill manufacturer Vaderstad will use the Agritechnica event in November to launch such new technology for its Tempo V6-12 drills to make the practice much easier.
Its WideLining system is the world’s first tramlining system which enables farmers and growers to spread liquid manure in a standing crop without compromising yield potential.
Rather than shutting off row units to create tramlines, the system automatically changes the row spacing on the planter hydraulically, to create two 1050mm tyre tracks, so ensuring all row units plant at full capacity. In the body of the crop, the row spacing between the tyre tracks will reduce from 750mm to 600mm without compromising plant numbers.
Integrated into Vaderstad’s iPad-based, E-Control system,
when activated, the machine will calculate the field size and automatically adjust the row units to create tramlines based on the working width of the liquid manure spreader.
In practice, when planting silage maize with an eight row planter and intending to use a slurry tanker with a 18m working width, the drill will plant 8.3% more seeds in the field than alternative technologies now available.
South Island dairy farmers will soon be able to supply organic milk to Fonterra.
Norwood has announced the opening of a new Tasman dealership at Richmond near Nelson next month.
Buying or building a rural or semi-rural property? Make sure you know where the wastewater goes, says Environment Canterbury.
With collars on more than seven million cows worldwide, Nedap says its standalone launch into New Zealand represents world-leading, reliable and proven smart technology solutions for dairy farmers.
Entries have opened for the 2026 Fieldays Innovation Awards.
Animal welfare is of paramount importance to New Zealand's dairy industry, with consumers increasingly interested in how food is produced, not just the quality of the final product.
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