Pig farmers respond to new welfare standards
Pig farmers are cautiously welcoming new animal welfare standards announced by the Government last week.
Ham has been named New Zealand’s most popular meat for the 2021 Christmas feast.
The result comes as part of the Great Kiwi Christmas Survey which is run by Retail Meat New Zealand in conjunction with Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
The poll of over 3,300 Kiwis covers a range of Christmas traditions and debates, and this year saw pork take the lead with 36.2% of the vote – up 3.2% on 2020.
Lamb follows closely at 31.2% with beef at 10.9%.
David Baines, chief executive of NZ Pork says he isn’t surprised that, following a year of Covid-19 induced lockdowns, Kiwis are excited to come together with friends and family to celebrate.
“The holiday season is a time to celebrate – to catch-up with friends and family you may not have seen for a while, to share food and spend time together. New Zealand ham is the centrepiece of many Kiwi family Christmas tables and it’s no surprise why, it’s a delicious, traditional favourite that guarantees plenty of leftovers to enjoy in the days following,” he says.
Of those polled, 61.2% of respondents expect to have at least 1-2 days of leftovers, only 4.3% manage to eat it all in one day.
56% of Kiwis will be having two meals on Christmas day, with the majority sharing the day’s festivities with over 10 people (30.7%).
BNZ says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through an innovative new initiative that helps make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking a little easier.
LIC chief executive David Chin says meeting the revised methane reduction targets will rely on practical science, smart technology, and genuine collaboration across the sector.
Lincoln University Dairy Farm will be tweaking some management practices after an animal welfare complaint laid in mid-August, despite the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigation into the complaint finding no cause for action.
A large slice of the $3.2 billion proposed capital return for Fonterra farmer shareholders could end up with the banks.
Opening a new $3 million methane research barn in Waikato this month, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay called on the dairy sector to “go as fast as you can and prove the concepts”.
New Zealand’s trade with the European Union has jumped $2 billion since a free trade deal entered into force in May last year.