DAIRY FARM use of chicory is increasing considerably because the plant’s tap root makes it particularly suitable for dry conditions. But using the ryegrass standard formula for plate meter readings will not give an accurate estimate of chicory mass, the recent DairyNZ Farmers Forum heard.  

THE DROUGHT has caused on-going pasture deficits on many farms, and in the past few weeks many farmers have asked me how much maize silage they can feed. 

Milk production will be boosted up by at least 6% next season, but meat production will take longer to recover from the drought, the BNZ forecasts in its Rural Wrap.

THE DROUGHT looks likely to have wiped out Landcorp’s projected profits for the 2012/13 year ending in June.

Use of DNA sequence technology by farmer cooperative Livestock Improvement (LIC) has led to the discovery of a recessive small calf gene - opening the door to managing small calf syndrome out of the dairy industry.

Wayne McNee, currently the director-general of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), has been appointed chief executive of dairy farmer cooperative Livestock Improvement (LIC).

ONE OF the world’s biggest dairy companies has broken ground on a site for a factory in the South Island.

PAHIATUA DAIRY farmer David Swansson says farmers need to be better prepared to deal with events such as droughts, floods and storms. After getting caught a few years ago he vowed never to let it happen again.

CAN CANTERBURY repeat its clean sweep of the Dairy Industry Awards come the national event in Wellington in May? That question was posed at last week’s Canterbury / North Otago regional final awards night in Ashburton, prompted by the region’s representatives having taken all three titles last year.

MOST DAIRY farms are only slowly emerging from the drought that has been a sharp shock to farm management plans this summer. For most farms the production season has ended abruptly, and prospects for autumn and winter have been affected dramatically.