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James Parsons.
There have been negativities around farmers saying the sheep sector is declining.
Farmers are noting that the sheep flock is down to 28 million and returns aren’t good enough, says BLNZ chair James Parsons.
“However, right now we are running at our five year average for lamb per kilo of carcase weight,” he says. “It is not stellar, but in terms of averages we are ticking along okay.”
Meanwhile, Parsons says he has a “shed full” of wool on his farm that he hasn’t yet sold, but wool is always up and down.
“It is a commodity: China suddenly decides to stop buying and the price falls [but] in 12 months they will be back into it and the price will be up.”
Beef has been an interesting one: the schedule for bull was about $3.30/kg five years ago and is now sitting at $5.20/kg.
“The beef prices have really come up so we are seeing a lot more interest and probably have a bit more beef production and are decreasing sheep flocks,” he adds.
“We haven’t seen a big shift to dairy in the last couple of years understandably…. Some of the environmental regulations coming in are putting a dampener on those dairy conversions.”
Recent widespread autumn rain will have triggered the germination of subterranean clover seeds, and the resulting seedlings should be allowed to reach the 3–4 trifoliate leaf stage before grazing, says Beef+Lamb NZ.
A hub farm in each of Beef + Lamb NZ’s seven regions and more focus groups are being rolled out for the red meat sector this year.
The red meat sector is poised for a strong rebound this season, with export receipts forecast to top $10 billion and farm profitability to almost double.
Progeny testing at Pāmu’s Kepler farm in Southland as part of Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Informing New Zealand Beef programme is showing that the benefits of hybrid vigour could have a massive impact on the future of beef breeding.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) has reiterated calls for New Zealand to revise its methane targets after the Government's "disappointing" announcement of its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Reuters reports that giant food company Wilmar Group has announced it had handed over 11.8 trillion rupiah (US$725 million) to Indonesia's Attorney General's Office as a "security deposit" in relation to a case in court about alleged misconduct in obtaining palm oil export permits.
DairyNZ is celebrating 60 years of the Economic Survey, reflecting on the evolution of New Zealand's dairy sector over time.
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