Domestic Focus
OPINION: After hogging the media limelight for telling a NZ Chinese MP to "go back home", Winston Peters has decided to focus on a domestic issue - oil and gas drilling.
OPINION: Chinese scientists can now claim to breed ‘super cows’.
Scientists with the Northwest A&F University successfully saw the births of three cloned cows with highly desired traits in Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region recently.
This marks the first successful effort by Chinese scientists to collect, restore and conserve the germplasm resource of “super cows” in China with the somatic cell nuclear transfer method and efficiently reproduce them. These are super cows, capable of producing 18 tons of milk a year and over 100 tons of milk in a lifetime.
The plan is for China to concentrate and preserve in an economically feasible way the very best cows in the country, and it is a success in the country’s efforts to revitalise its agricultural sector with vital seed and breeder animals.
OPINION: As the general election approaches, political parties are churning out policies in the hope of attracting more votes.
An LIC bull, Tronnoco AR Sadio-ET S3F, bred by Tony and Keri O'Connor of Tronnoco Farming Co Ltd near Timaru, has won the 2026 Mahoe Trophy.
With forecasters advising El Niño conditions will develop through winter and strengthen into spring and summer, Ballance Agri-Nutrients is encouraging farmers and growers to think ahead about nutrient planning and be prepared to work around challenging weather conditions.
In the past, much has been made of the concept of farm to fork, but an Australian expert in food science and marketing with experience in the dairy industry, Dr Angeline Achariya, says the reverse of this slogan is critical to win modern day consumers.
Efficiency is the big one because it tracks back into what is done on farm.
A four year trial has reaffirmed that mixing plantain into dairy pastures can help reduce nitrogen losses to freshwater while maintaining milk production and profitability, say researchers.