New Zealand dairy farmers are producing more milk, causing downward pressure on global dairy prices.

The future of New Zealand’s primary export sector will depend on its ability to respond to an evolving trading environment.

Fonterra directors and shareholders council members are not getting a pay rise this year.

Farming has been under the microscope this month with three heavyweight Government reports — on water quality, climate change and Mycoplasma bovis — all appearing in just three days.

Six months down the track and with an estimated $250,000 of taxpayer funds already spent, Ag Minister Damien O’Connor’s Primary Sector Council (PSC) is looking increasingly like an irrelevant, costly, white elephant.

The future growth and sustainability of the New Zealand dairy industry will be underpinned by innovation and investment in research and development (R&D). 

The latest device from the Irish maker, Moocall Heat, monitors cows for heat detection, centering on a collar worn by the bull to detect his activity as he moves through the herd. 

Making silage is a balance: when a paddock is closed, yield increases but quality declines.

The Lalich family have found success with Pottinger for their dairy farm and contracting business at Ngarua, near Morrinsville, where a manager looks after the farm, leaving father Trevor, and son Daniel free for the contracting work.

A new embryo transfer biopsy and genomic selection technology is being used to boost elite animal breeding for the dairy industry.