FOUR OF six prestigious new awards recognising outstanding commitment to sustainable land management and local communities have gone to farmers.

INTEGRATING CATTLE with pasture renewal is helping Dannevirke farmer Neil Murley boost both sheep and beef returns.

WHILE quad bike accidents, some of them fatal, continue to make headlines, a North King Country farmer has modified his bike to keep himself out of the statistics.

The winds that hit South Taranaki earlier this month were ferocious, devastating and all over in a matter of hours. But it’ll take several weeks, possibly months to clean up the mess as Dairy News reporter Peter Burke found out when he toured the worst-hit areas last week.

THE WAIKATO Regional Council (WRC), Fonterra, DairyNZ and Federated Farmers are working closely together to make it easier for about 3500 dairy farmers in the Waikato to comply with new rules around water takes for shed wash down and milk cooling.

COULD LEASING your herd rather than owning it be financially more efficient?

Starting a family provided the impetus for 2012 Northland Sharemilker/Equity Farmers of the Year, Miles Harrison and Lucy Heffernan, to commit to the dairy industry.

THE PUBLIC, and fellow farmers, are quick to complain if stock, particularly dairy cows, stray into streams and waterways. But it seems many regional councils can do little about the problem.

You could almost sense the relief among Lincoln University Dairy Farm’s management team at the Focus Day held recently on the showcase 160ha irrigated property.

FEWER, BETTER fed cow looks set to deliver much more milk for little extra cost on Lincoln University's Dairy Farm this season, judging by a field day late last month on the showcase irrigated Canterbury unit.