DAIRY FARMING leaders are urging sharemilkers to have their own say on the future of their industry.

The final judging is underway to determine the winners in the 2014 New Zealand dairy award winners.

A PUSH by Dairy Australia for efficient use of energy on dairy farms has been a success, it says.

THE STORM that wreaked havoc on the West Coast, and in particular the huge disruption it caused to dairy farmers, has gone largely unreported in mainstream newspapers. No front page pictures of dead cows or devastated hay barns.

FOR MANY farmers, the year immediately following a drought is as tough as the drought itself. If stock have been sold to reduce stocking rates, in the short term the cashflow may look good. But there may be tax implications from the sale of capital livestock and in the following year, rebuilding livestock numbers will reduce available cash. 

MANY SHIFTS during her early sharemilking years taught Karen Forlong, the new North Island convenor coordinator of Dairy Womens Network, what it’s like arriving ‘fresh’ in a farming community. 

2014 HAS seen a high-demand start to my professional year with many sizeable assignments starting for new and existing clients. This reflects a combination of a buoyant dairy economy and more willingness by top operators to make themselves accountable to best practice by putting key aspects of their businesses under the spotlight.

DEVELOPING one big farm is proving to be a good retirement plan for Far North couple David and Heather Gray.

MY LAST article talked about ways farmers can decrease the amount of nitrogen leached from their farm systems. Options include reducing stocking rate, manipulating cow diets so less nitrogen is excreted in the urine, growing crops which utilise soil nitrogen and keeping cows off pasture, especially during the wetter winter months.

NORTH ISLAND dairy farmers are urged to look out for theileriosis in cattle, as reports emerge of an increase in cases.