Fieldays hold out the begging bowl
OPINION: When someone says “we don’t want a handout, we need a hand up” it usually means they have both palms out and they want your money.
Two new products added to the hum on the Rurtec stand at Fieldays last month.
In fact, the Lanati cordless handpiece was such a hit that all stock sold out and the product is now on back order, says Rurtec founder Ian Carr.
The handpiece is powered by a rechargeable lithium battery, making jobs quick and easy.
“Convenience is the key for knocking dags off sheep in the yards before loading them for transport or prior to running them into the shed for shearing,” he says.
“There was positive reaction to the Lanati, to the point where we’ve had to organise another shipment to keep ahead of orders.”
Carr says the handpiece is also handy to have in a ute or on a bike for use in the backblocks. “It’s great for quickly cleaning up flystruck sheep.”
Dairy farmers also liked it, many buying it for tail trimming. Frank Fransen and his son Tim were amazed how quick and easy tail trimming can be, with little chance of cutting into the skin.
Also new at Fieldays was Rurtec’s new Adlam harness, which combines the prolapse functionality of the Bearin harness with restraint as enabled by the Adopta harness.
Craighead Diocesan, Darfield High School and Christchurch Boys' High School took out the three age groups at the Canterbury Clash of the Colleges, which was held at the recent Ashburton A&P Show.
The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) is expanding its collaboration with TextileGenesis to deliver full traceability for 100% of ZQ certified wool and ZQRX regenerative wool.
According to Federated Farmers, Environment Southland has mishandled the consent process for Waituna Lagoon, leaving the community with numerous bad outcomes.
Metallica's charitable foundation, All Within My Hands (AWMH), teamed up with Meet the Need this week for a food packing event held at the New Zealand Food Network warehouse in Auckland.
After two years, Alliance Group has returned to profit.
According to Zespri's November forecast for the 2025/26 season, returns are likely to be up for all fruit groups compared to the last forecast in August.

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