Moving Day has officially finished for another year, with farmers, sharemilkers, contract milkers, and farm staff packing up their households, machinery, and livestock to relocate to new farms for the upcoming season.

It’s also a busy time financially, with dairy cow herds changing ownership, Andrew Gibson, PGG Wrightson’s Area Livestock Manager for Taranaki, said.

“It’s been a big, big year,” he told The Country’s Jamie Mackay.

“A lot of movement around the place and most of the cows in the paddock were making between $2800 and $3100 in paddock sales.”

Gibson said traditional valuation methods still offered a useful guide.

“Years ago when I first started, it was the production of the cow times the payout; that’s how we came up with the value of a cow,” he explained.

He said with most farms producing between 450kg and 550kg of milksolids per cow, and a payout around $10, current prices of about $3000 a head made cows affordable, especially with cows vetted in-calf.

Gibson said that created good short-term opportunities, particularly for younger farmers.

Auctions had also performed well, and Gibson was pleased that such a large volume of business had been managed seamlessly despite global disruptions driving up costs.

“There’s been a huge amount of transactions, and it’s gone so smoothly really, with the fuel price and ferry prices jumping up.”

Conditions were also favourable.

“Everything went smoothly with the weather; the month of May was just so beautiful, so it all ended up being okay, so that was good.”

Taranaki was particularly busy.

Gibson said the Rabobank team told him there had been 104 sales over four hectares, including 54 farm transactions recorded in the region this season.

He said the younger generation were getting involved again, which was a positive sign for the industry.

“A lot of young guys are ripping into it again – two years ago I was pretty concerned about the amount of young people exiting the industry.

“But the future’s looking good, so the young guys are getting back in and having a crack at buying some nice farms, which is good to see.”

As for the beef industry, bull selling season is in full swing.

Taranaki’s sales hadn’t taken off yet, but Gibson said early sales across the North Island had been strong, with the genetics team achieving solid averages.

He said even bulls at the lower end were still making good money off the back of a strong meat schedule.

“So good to see around the country that those breeders are being rewarded once again.”

Positive market conditions have supported another busy season of herd sales and farm transactions, with cow values remaining firm and confidence returning across parts of the sector.

PGG Wrightson’s nationwide team continues to work alongside farmers through changing market conditions, helping facilitate livestock transactions and providing advice across dairy, sheep, beef, and genetic markets.

Encouraging signs are also emerging from the next generation of farmers, while strong early bull sale results reflect ongoing confidence in livestock production.

For more market insights, sale updates and industry commentary, visit the PGG Wrightson Livestock Hub and stay up to date with what’s happening across the livestock sector.