THE HOUND wonders if the Aussie-owned and controlled publisher of weakly (sic) Straight Furrow will offer a full apology to dairy farmers, Fonterra and its local readers (both of them) after running the unsubstantiated, profoundly wrong and discredited claims of Matamata ‘veterinarian and farm performance consultant’ Frank Rowson during the Fonterra botulism botch-up.

NEWS THAT Martyn Dunne, currently New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia and a former head of the Customs Service and senior army officer, has been named head of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is good news for the primary sector.

ASK VETERINARIAN and Waikato farmer Ian Scott what he thinks of new pasture cultivars and, off the record, you’re likely to get a four-letter-word answer.

YOU CAN’T prove cause and effect, but it seems more than a coincidence farmers using New Zealand’s leading farm decision support tool make more money than average.

A NOVEL on-farm milk progesterone test with many applications around mating and pregnancy diagnosis has had a rapid uptake in its first year since launch in the UK.

A NORSEWOOD farmer whose used Kubota tractor (bought 17 years ago with five years service to its account) refuses to lie down, has relented and bought a new one.   

MORE FREQUENT droughts will put farming communities including dairy under more pressure over water, says the Waikato Regional Council’s investigations manager Patrick Lynch.

LABOUR SPOKESMAN on Primary Industries Damien O’Connor says Fonterra has been caught short in its crisis management during the botulism scare.

GETTING DAMAGED irrigators back up and running is the big concern on many dairy farms in the wake of the September 10-11 windstorm.

THE WORST wind storm for decades left Canterbury dairy farmers last week picking up damaged irrigators, fences and shelter belts.