News

Fruitfed Supplies has made an academic scholarship available to one third year Massey University student studying horticulture. The Fruitfed Supplies Horticultural Scholarship, worth $5,000 to the selected applicant, is intended to help promote excellence in horticulture by supporting future leaders...

Peter Moore joins Mark Leishman on Country TV for the first Livestock Roundup of the year. Drought With temperatures soaring around the country, drought is on the mind of farmers. A lot of stock is being traded where farmers are starting to destock with a longer dry spell potentially on the horizon...

Sheep & Beef Shane Gerken - South Island Livestock Manager As the new year starts, the main focus for the next 6 weeks is store lamb sales, as there is a number of lamb sales calendared throughout the South Island. Over the last three weeks schedule pricing for lambs and mutton have fallen due to...

This season’s ram sales have been particularly positive, with breeders breaking records throughout the country. PGG Wrightson Livestock National Genetics Manager Callum Stewart says the ram sales to date have lifted prices by around ten per cent, with some sales resulting in prices increasing...

The farming industry is uniting to help Shaun Bradley and his family through one of their biggest challenges. Bradley, 28, is a Tapanui farm manager battling cancer. He has stage four B cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. West Otago communities have rallied around Bradley, his wife Olivia and their...

Returns at record levels despite lack of rain. The effects of drying feed became clear during November and December at Stortford Lodge. However, the first ewe fair of the season on December 13 was a strong indication of the present confidence in the sheep industry. The big yarding of more than 8000...

Mild winters can result in higher insect pressure in spring and if these conditions turn into a hot and dry summer, then Diamondback Moth (DBM) thrives. Unfortunately, this can mean damage to the leaves of valuable winter feed crops. DBM is a pest which feeds on brassica plants including forage...

When growing forage crops, there are usually weeds, pests and disease competing, consuming or destroying valuable feed. The natural ecosystem keeps pests in check and stops them becoming an economic issue. However, sometimes with favourable conditions, they increase in numbers and start having an...

The Country's Jamie Mackay wraps up this year with PGG Wrightson's South Island wool procurement manager Rob Cochrane. Cochrane brings in some good news with joint North and South Island sales of about 13,500 bales in a day. The market is going strong, lifting from 31 to 33 micron for crossbreed...

Peter Moore has a powerful incentive to put health and safety front and centre. He knows first-hand how it feels to knock on a family’s door to let them know a loved one won’t be coming home again – that they’ve been killed at work. The PGG Wrightson livestock general manger says he’ll never forget...

PGG Wrightson Livestock General Manager Peter Moore joins Mark Leishman on the daily report to discuss the 2019 year in review for the livestock market.

Monique and Kyle Smith are turkey and duck farmers who do things a bit differently to others in their industry, controlling all aspects of the supply chain from when the egg hits the ground to the packaging and selling of their product.

Sheep & Beef Shane Gerken - South Island Livestock Manager There has been a number of livestock sales going on through December as there is always the mad rush before Christmas. Farmers are busy weaning, to capture the good prices for lambs and ewes. Historically schedule prices start falling back...

PGG Wrightson's GM for Rural Real Estate Peter Newbold joins The Country's Jamie Mackay to talk rural property this month. It has been a tough year for selling farms – it started slow in spring and is only just coming into fruition. Mackay notes that in 2008, pre Global Financial Crisis (GFC), New...

Early in 2019 Oliver Edwards of yarn distributor Naturally Handknit Yarns was looking to include an organic NZ grown and NZ made hand knitting yarn to their product range and took his idea to Peter Chatterton of Napier yarn company Design Spun, who then approached PGG Wrightson Wool’s International...

NZ coarse wool innovation on-track to disrupt 78 billion USD global hygiene market. A Wellington-based start up company, founded by a mother and daughter with a multi generation background in farming, has found a new way to add value to coarse wool that could revive the sector and promises to create...

At PGG Wrightson Livestock Genetics we help our clients develop better strategies, design better breeding programs and nurture better bloodlines. Contact us today. Auction results from the season so far: Grassendale Beltex suftex 43/48 avg $1021, ¼ Beltex suftex x 20/21 $1290, ½ Beltex $16163. Nikau...

This week The Country's Jamie Mackay catches up with PGG Wrightson's GM for wool Grant Edwards to talk about the wool industry. Since their last chat, Edwards says that the market has been steady across the board for all wool types. Wool auctions have been at the A and P shows in Hawkes Bay and...