Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmers warned to monitor stock water wells
Sheep and beef farmers in Hawke's Bay are being urged to keep a close eye on the wells that supply water to their stock.
Beef + Lamb NZ is busy running a series of events and webinars aimed at ensuring farm profitability in the light of the impending drought.
Justine Kidd, B+LNZ's general manager of extension, told Rural News that she's talked with the other primary sector organisations to ensure consistent messaging and avoid duplication of work.
Kidd says they are analysing rural community needs and the challenges they could face in the next six to twelve months to get a handle on what support they need.
She adds that poor fencing allowing stock to wander onto roads and other properties is a problem that could take some time to fix. She says with slips and sediment on farm, feed supplies are low and the cost of getting stock in and out is higher because of the state of the roads.
B+LNZ is running webinars every Monday evening with guest presenters talking about ways to best deal with a drought and with other problems on farm.
Kidd says she's especially concerned about the wellbeing of people given what they have gone through and what they are potentially facing.
"It is very hard to tell this story," she told Rural News. "But it is important to keep it in front of people because of its complexity, and the people who are having to deal with what's going on are very isolated."
Synlait has swung to second-half profit as operations stabilise, but the dairy processor still posted a $75.4m annual loss.
LIC shareholders have elected a new North Island representative to the co-operative's Board, along with five representatives to its Shareholder Reference Group (SRG), following the company's Annual Meeting held in Invercargill.
Farmers across parts of Southland and South Otago are continuing to deal with difficult conditions after a prolonged run of wet weather, with pressure building around feed supply, stock management, pasture damage, farm infrastructure and everyday workloads.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes Labour's commitment to reviewing the Sharemilking Agreements Act, calling on other major parties to do the same.
For Canterbury dairy farmers Sian Meijer and Rick Wobben, wearable technology has become one of their most valuable on-farm tools - helping manage 1850 cows across an expansive, high-performing dairy operation while improving efficiency, mating outcomes and day-to-day decision making.
Fonterra has unveiled its annual results for the 2026 financial year, posting $27 billion in revenue and close to $20 billion returned to New Zealand farmer owners and unit holders.