FARM DEBT levels are incredibly high.  These have increased in the past year to at least $50 billion. On dairy farms this amounts to $20/kgMS, making the most indebted farmers vulnerable to bad weather, price falls and cost rises.

RECENT CASES of TB in surveillance only areas are prompting questions not only about how they occurred, but the communication between TBfree New Zealand and farmers in those areas.

SPCA COURT action against a Waikato farm worker who harmed 200 cattle, including breaking the tails of 40, has been applauded by industry bodies.

NEW ZEALAND’S second-largest maker of calf milk replacers (CMR) produces them at one of the few plants approved by MPI for quality milk powder exports.

HILL COUNTRY farmers should put their efforts and energy into increasing lambing and calving rates, rather than trying to finish stock.

WELL MANAGED woodchip is the best stand-off for cow care judging by the findings of a Dairy NZ research project.

AUSTRALIA’S DAIRY industry is launching a major advertising campaign to promote dairy farming and milk foods to consumers.

GLOBAL DAIRY players don’t come much bigger and more powerful than Royal FrieslandCampina.

NEW ZEALAND dairy is one area in which we are already the world’s best.  Our 11,500 dairy farms are, like the All Blacks, the best there is.  They produce, along with the processing sector, about three out of every ten dollars New Zealand earns from the rest of the world.

ABOUT 200 farmers gathered in Central Hawke’s Bay last week to find out more about the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme and its potential to irrigate 25,000ha extra land.