Fieldays’ sustainability credentials getting greener
The New Zealand National Fieldays Society has achieved a major sustainability milestone - reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and reaching the target five years early.
While New Zealand is the land of the bale feeder that cleverly unrolls a bale in the paddock, much feed is wasted when stock trample it on the ground.
So there's a place for simple, low-tech stock feeders, as made by QC Engineering, Napier, and sold under the AgBrand and Red Barns brands.
The company offers a broad range of styles from basic 1.6m diameter units, with 12 positions and capable of feeding 30 animals, to larger units of heavier construction and wider access points, that can accommodate bull beef animals over 24 months of age.
A range of rectangular and oval feeders will suit larger mobs, can hold up to three large round bales, and suit feeding out hay or silage as supplements for animals feeding on break crops such as fodder beet or kale.
The company also manufactures modular feed fences useful for constructing feed pads, and accessories such as liners for round units, allowing meal, pellets or nuts to be fed efficiently, and covers for feeders used in inclement conditions.
All construction uses heavy gauge steel for the framing, and quality galvanising for a long, trouble-free life.
Units are easily broken down for movement or storage and use a bolt or removable pin system to fix panels together.
The modular design can be extended to meet changing situations or number changes, and is easily customisable around farm buildings and feed-pads.
Additional reductions to costs for forest owners in the Emissions Trading Scheme Registry (ETS) have been announced by the Government.
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.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay is encouraging farmers and growers to stay up to date with weather warnings and seek support should they need it.
The closure of SH2 Waioweka Gorge could result in significant delays and additional costs for freight customers around the Upper North Island, says Transporting New Zealand.
OPINION: The year has started positively for New Zealand dairy farmers and things are likely to get better.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General Ray Smith believes there is potential for an increase in dairy farming in New Zealand.
OPINION: There will be no cows at Europe's largest agricultural show in Paris this year for the first time ever…
OPINION: Canterbury grows most of the country's wheat, barley and oat crops. But persistently low wheat prices, coupled with a…