Continental to discontinue agricultural tyre production amid strategic shift
Continental was founded in 1871, offering solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation.
For Southland sheep and beef farmer Cameron Kerr, Vredestein tyres are helping to overcome the daily challenges of operating in steep hill country.
Cameron's operation at Camindy Ridges covers 500ha on the western side of Mid Dome Mountain 80km south of Queenstown.
The property carries 8000 stock units of beef cattle and sheep which graze over elevations ranging from flat, through rolling to very steep.
As well as feeding stock and fieldwork, the fleet of four MF tractors also transport other equipment 116km south to their dairy farm, east of Invercargill.
Kerr was impressed by the look of the Vredestein tyres, so he ordered a set for his Massey Ferguson 6480. "I thought they looked aggressive and give you traction on the side of the hills," he says.
He says he was sometimes nervous when asking staff to load tractors and feed stock on the steepest of the farm's hills; safety is the first rule on the property. He recalls the first time he drove the MF 6480 on one of the steep paddocks.
"I immediately felt really safe. Even if it was beginning to slide downwards, I maintained total control of the vehicle and could manoeuvre and turn – even in the thick and greasy mud. The tread on the tyres even seemed to be self-cleaning as it ploughed through like a bulldozer."
With long travel between the two farms, Kerr was further impressed with the smooth running of the Vredestein tyres on all types of surfaces.
"It was a soft ride on both the farm tracks and the sealed roads".
New research suggests sheep and beef farmers could improve both profitability and emissions efficiency by increasing lamb weaning weights, with only marginal changes in total greenhouse gas emissions.
With six months until the election, Federated Farmers says the Government is running out of time to deliver its long-promised reform to the country's freshwater system.
Herd improvement company LIC has entered the Indonesian market.
Two forestry companies have been sentenced for road failures that led to the death of Coromandel truck driver Greg Stevens.
The situation in the Middle East has been a major influence on markets over recent months and the market for key farm inputs continues to move at pace, with pricing and availability shifting quickly across several key products, according to a major stockfood seller.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) has signed on to a formal complaint filed with the United Nations requesting an investigation into whether the government's changes to New Zealand's pay equity laws amounts to systemic discrimination against women.

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