The Dairy Women's Network has appointed two new independent Trustees to join its board – including the first male to join the Board's ranks since the Network was established in 1998.

Effluent storage ponds from Canterbury and Taranaki have picked up DairyNZ Prize Pond Awards for keeping pond levels low in an event believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

IN JUST its first year Miraka, the new Maori-owned dairy company, is ahead of its production targets. The major shareholders in the plant are the Tuaropaki Trust, owners of the land where the plant is built, and Wairarapa Moana, owner of at least 10,000ha in the area north of  Taupo. 

THE PERFORMANCE of Maori farming has lifted as a direct result of the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition for excellence, says Kingi Smiler, chairman of the contest management committee.

WITH GLOOMY trade news almost daily, farmers are likely to revise their farm budgets downwards, warns Federated Farmers.

It is estimated the dairy industry, including downstream activities such as marketing, wholesaling and transport, contributes about 3.4% to New Zealand’s GDP and $13.9 billion to our export earnings. 

CLIVE AND Jorga Walden sharemilk a 160ha, 415-cow dairy farm and run a 167ha drystock farm to the rear of the dairy property.

OWNERS OF capital stock are being encouraged to lease out herds or flocks before values fall.

TAUHARA MOANA Trust dairy farm near Taupo is a long narrow block located between Mt Tauhara (Maunga or mountain) and Lake Rotokawa (Moana - water). It’s one of many large-scale dairy farms in the Broadlands area where Mt Tauhara forms an imposing backdrop, as does steam rising from Lake Rotokawa and adjacent geothermal sites. The farm is part of Ngati Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa’s ancestral lands, the tribes to which the trust is affiliated.

ANIMAL HEALTH issues will be one of the priority areas as the deer industry takes a long close look at itself this week during its annual conference, at Wanaka.