News

How are you tracking? Is NAIT compliance weighing heavy on your mind and tracking the right animals consumes valuable daylight? You can take out the guess work and human error with a Tru-test EID Stick Reader. Do you want to keep things streamlined and simple or do you want to dive into the data...

This week The Country's Jamie Mackay is joined by PGG GM for wool Grant Edwards to talk about the end of the 2018/19 season and how the start of the new season is looking.

Rats can cause significant damage on farms, lifestyle blocks, and orchards, gnawing on wiring and getting into animal feed, so controlling them matters. Goodnature is launching their latest trapping innovation, Chirp, a digitally enabled trap that can be retrofitted to any existing Goodnature A24...

Last month Jay Howes introduced Greenlight Grower Management (GLGM), and highlighted how PGG Wrightson is using this decision support software tool to improve agronomic recommendations from Technical Field Representatives (TFRs). This month, I am going to introduce the concept of accessing GLGM...

It is often said that heifers reaching their targets is a good indicator for farming success. Heifers reaching 30 percent of mature liveweight at six months, 60 percent at 15 months (mating) and 90 percent at 22 months (pre-calving) are crucial milestones. “Keep in mind that younger calves have a...

Now that ewes are pregnant, the focus turns to maximising the survival of lambs to ensure profitability of the sheep breeding system. Placental development influences lamb birthweight, which in turn strongly determines survival rates post birth. The development of the placenta between 30 to 90 days...

CLiK™ Extra Spray-On is the gold standard product for flystrike prevention in sheep. Central Otago sheep and beef farmers Dougal and Sarah MacDougall can attest to that, having treated 10,000 to 15,000 lambs with CLiK every year for the last decade. The MacDougalls own Minzion Station at Millers...

Although those in the dairy industry are use to dealing with cows, today on The Country Jamie Mackay wanted to talk to PGG Wrightson Real Estate GM Peter Newbold about elephants. The Country host was referring to the elephant in the room for New Zealand dairy listings - debt. Newbold put the current...

South Island Sheep & Beef Update Shane Gerken - South Island Livestock Manager Winter conditions have been milder than normal especially in the coastal areas of Otago, with some pastures closer to resembling mid-summer rather than mid-winter. The utilisation of crops has meant an abundance of...

Peter Moore, PGG Wrightson Livestock GM talks to Mark Leishman on the Country TV’s Round Up (Friday, July 12 th). In this interview Peter provides an update on the following: Weather conditions - farmers will be pleased that the wet conditions around the country will be helping to raise soil...

With 76 individual vineyards dotted across a 2,362 ha property at the eastern end of Waiheke Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, Man O’ War has a unique and special viticultural operation. Starting as a small, experimental planting of Bordeaux wine grapes in 1993, Man O’ War vineyard is now a complex...

On this episode of Farmer's Voice Wiggy catches up with chairman Peter Moore and general manager Tania Smith of bidr - an online rural market place that connects the right stock with the right buyers.

Mark Leishman talks to PGW Livestock GM, Peter Moore in the latest Livestock Update. This week’s interview focuses on general conditions, the successful launch of bidr® at Fieldays and an update on the market. General Conditions Fresh mornings and beautiful days are giving good feed utilization for...

New Zealand’s hard-working farm dogs are one of the biggest assets to a sheep and beef farmer, provide them with the right nutrients to help them perform. Working dog’s muster thousands of sheep and cattle across hill and high country, a tough job that cannot be done any other way. These ‘rural...

Whilst it may seem not that long ago that irrigation was turned off, winter is an ideal time to check, replace and repair your equipment before you need it again soon. By now all irrigators should be “winter ready”. Pumps and irrigators should be drained, all cords and other moveable parts should be...

Agriculture has known a constant evolution, from the early domestication of plants and animals to the use of crop rotation, cultivation and fertiliser and the green revolution of the 1960s. Agriculture has now entered a new phase, the ‘digital age’. Digital technologies including the internet...

Most farms still experience a few metabolic downer cow cases each spring. This is where cows are unable to regulate the complexities of mineral and energy metabolism, resulting in low blood mineral or energy levels and an inability to stand. The sooner these affected cows are treated, the greater...

Milk from the vat is an important source of nutrients, meeting most of the energy, protein, calcium and phosphorous requirements to support calf growth. Why then do we add extra vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics and coccidiostats to milk? To cover any deficiencies from the cow Phosphorous...