Science fiction
OPINION: Last week's announcement of Prime Minister’s new Science and Technology Advisory Council hasn’t gone down too well in the…
FOUR WEST Coast students have won university scholarships from Westland Milk Products.
MUCH OF my work in recent months has been on strategic reviews. These assignments involve business health checks to benchmark performance against best practice for key areas such as feed strategies, people management, budgeting and reporting. They take me into privileged territory as I compare the standards being achieved by farming operations against what I know is possible. The benefit is a business plan that is clear about new opportunity and identifies factors that risk holding the business back.
SHED SAFETY improvements to artificial breeding (AB) facilities on farm have a direct effect on farm productivity and profitability. By reducing injuries productivity is up, idle time reduced, the cost of replacement labour eliminated, and medical treatment and rehabilitation expenses avoided.
Andrew Hoggard leads a busy life as Federated Farmers Manawatu/Rangitikei provincial president. He is also the national vice president of the Feds dairy section, manages a big dairy farm and has a young family. How does he do all this?
MAIZE SILAGE harvest will start in a few weeks. It is a busy and stressful time for contractors and a little forward planning will help make their job easier. Key things to consider are booking in your contractor, bunker or stack preparation and ordering silage making supplies.
AS THE long, hot days of summer roll through, it's even more important to keep checking the levels in effluent ponds, says DairyNZ. Let them get too full and when the weather turns and the autumn rains set in, overfull effluent ponds can cause all sorts of problems.
IT IS a high, dry climate to be dairying in at 400m above sea level north of Omarama, one that may appear to present some climatic challenges, but also some animal health bonuses.
GETTING MORE cows in calf is the biggest improvement you can make to your dairy business.
IN AN effort to improve the accuracy of his company's effluent spreaders, Andrew Williams, Williams Engineering, has been doing trials, with Massey University, to verify the application rates they recommend.
THE HOUGHTON farm at Ngarua has been home to Neil and Shirley for 40 years and “everything you see we put here,” says Neil.
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‘ONE MAN easy’ summarises the running of a new compact baler-wrapper from Kuhn.
ORDERING AND tracking fertiliser and spray is made easier for farmers and contractors using a new system from TracMap NZ Ltd, the agricultural GPS company.
JAGUAR'S COUPE, the XK, has a higher luxury specification for 2012 and includes a new top-of-the-range XKR-S with performance described as "formidable" for a Grand Tourer coupe and convertible.
In Portfolio specification the XKR-S has new soft-grain leather upholstery, heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel, a suede headlining and an 8-speaker Bowers and Wilkins 525 watts sound system as standard.
The latest XK, in all its derivations, is recognisable by its thinner Xenon headlights and LED running lights and turn signals. There is a larger grille and new front bumper.
There are five new paints in the 17 colour range and the choice of 11 different alloy wheels from 19 to 20 inches diameter.
The Portfolio coupe and convertible models are available for $175,000 and $190,000 respectively. Apart from the new features detailed above, these have adaptive dynamic suspension, sequential shift with steering column paddles for the 6-speed automatic transmission behind the 283 kWs five litre V8.
The XKR comes with a supercharged version of the V8 motor producing 375kW and 625Nm torque. Added features include an active differential, 'R' performance brakes, quad tail pipes and the 'R' exterior. These will sell for $195,000 and $210,000 for coupe and convertible respectively.
The range topping XKR-S has been awarded '2011 Sports Car of the Year' by the respected German motoring magazine, Auto Bild Sportscars, following a poll of 70,000 readers.
Its 5L supercharged V8 engine produces 412kW and 680Nm, giving it 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds. Top speed is 300km/h.
The cars have aluminium body shells for better economy, agility and performance.
RENAULT IS storming the globe, selling 2,722,062 vehicles worldwide in 2011 (increase of 94,697 or 3.6% over 2010) and claiming "true worldwide brand" status.
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