With milkings typically taking around 17 to 24 hours a week per worker, many farmers have been focusing on milking smarter to reduce hours and creative ways to shorten the working week - like the 22% who report they are using flexible milking.

The finalists in the 2022 Ahuwhenua Trophy competition for the top Māori sheep and beef farm have been announced.

It was third time lucky for Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) in staging a field day in the Manawatu with previous attempts being thwarted by Covid. About thirty people turned up at the dairy farm of Aly and Ian Passey in the beautiful Pohangina Valley, about 20km north east of Palmerston North.

Lameness in dairy cows can have a significant effect on a businesses' bottom line, with vets suggesting that each case has a cost implication of $400-500, made up of increased labour, vet bills, drugs and of course lost production.

OPINION: A recent report on remuneration for farm workers shows the great strides dairy farmers have made over the years.

Solar-powered smart cow collar manufacturer Halter claims it will help combat the country's acute labour shortage when it expands into Taranaki, Southland, Otago and the Central Plateau next month.

Otorohanga dairy farmer Mark Sanson admits he gets cow envy when he drives past the Waikato farm of a fellow Holstein Friesian breeder - but it won't be long until his own herd is the subject of many in admiring glance.

With the first calves born into the Informing New Zealand Beef Programmes now on the ground on Pamu's Kepler Farm near Te Anau, attention has turned to finding a North Island farm to expand the project.

An upgrade of Massey University’s Dairy 4 Farm is close to completion.

Heat detection is a challenge in any season, but autumn calvers know that cold and wet weather slows cows down, making heats harder to call with confidence.