A new beef breeding index is expected to be the talk of the bull sales over the next month or so. Six bull studs from around the country have got together and come up with new indexes for the sector, which they claim reflects what the market wants. David Anderson reports...

Rabobank's latest Rural Confidence survey has found that while farmers' sentiments are still in deeply negative territory, they have crept up from historic lows in late 2022.

The Yummy Fruit Company is one of Hawke's Bay's most established orchards, owned by the Paynter family, who came to the region in 1904, after initially running their operation in Nelson.

Dairy

Rabobank's latest Rural Confidence survey has found that while farmers' sentiments are still in deeply negative territory, they have crept up from historic lows in late 2022.

The purpose of a catch crop is to increase annual dry matter production, to take up soil mineral and urine nitrogen and to reduce the risk of leaching or runoff.

Despite a big drop in its half year profit Synlait Milk says there are a number of bright spots as reduced demand sees it extend out its recovery from two to three years.

DairyNZ and Dairy Women’S Network (DWN) have partnered to deliver four People Expo events in the Canterbury, Southland, Taranaki, and Waikato regions this month.

Use of cow monitoring collars is on the rise, with about 700,000 of New Zealand’s 4.9 million cows in milk now thought to be fitted with them – about 14% of the national milking herd.

Former Southland Federated Farmers chair and high country farmer Geoffrey Young wants to topple Beef+Lamb NZ chair Andrew Morrison.