News

Herbage testing is a useful tool in the yearly calendar to test for mineral nutrients or feed quality. Knowing plant nutrient levels helps to identify nutrient deficiency, or toxicity and to monitor the current fertiliser programme on the farm. The concentration of trace elements in the plant give a...

Jamie Mackay and PGG Wrightson's GM for wool Grant Edwards take a look at this month's wool market, which can be described as lagging. The growth from the cross-breed wool market in September has not kept is momentum, and uncertainty around pricing as exports to China are on the rise despite trade...

Pasture and crop silages are an incredible source of dry matter and nutrients for livestock when they need it most, but not all silage is created equally. The amount of dry matter, nutrients and feed energy lost in the silage stack is largely determined by the speed and quality of fermentation...

Spring is now with us and as we round off the yearling sales season across the country sheep are achieving exceptional prices in the North. Catch up on all the commentary below. North Island As we hit September a weather front hit the North Island and lingered over the East Coast and inland to the...

PGG Wrightson Real Estate's GM told The Country's Jamie Mackay, "What is encouraging is that volume is up on last year and there is a "strong feeling," that there will be "a lot of activity pushing through to Christmas." Farm sales volume have dropped, which is a surprise to Peter Newbold, who...

Weaning is a period of stress for calves, with scouring common during this time. But it is not always due to worms. To minimise the transition shock of weaning, a progressive process is recommended where milk intake is reduced and meal intake is increased over a period of up to six weeks. This...

Agricom (a trading division of PGG Wrightson Seeds Limited) researches, develops and markets a wide range of proprietary pasture and forage crop seeds to the agricultural industry. The proprietary seed company takes a team approach to research involving employees, customers and key industry...

A specialised team within Fruitfed was established in Hawke’s Bay in 1998 to provide crop monitoring services to horticulturists in the region. This well-respected business unit, led by Hawke’s Bay based Fruitfed Crop Monitoring Manager Jimmy Bowden, has grown to a team of eight who co-ordinate crop...

A key contributor to running a profitable sheep and beef farming operation is surety of water supply. This is especially important in drought-prone areas of New Zealand such as Central Otago. Adam and Juls Lindsay own Creekside Farms on the Maniototo Plains near Ranfurly. They undertook a...

Newly-appointed Fruitfed Supplies Area Sales Manager Jeremy Darby heads up a new team in the region with new faces representing PGG Wrightson in both the horticulture and Rural Supplies teams. Having started with the company in 2015 as a Technical Field Representative in Gisborne, Jeremy drew on his...

Brassica crops for grazing are valuable and used for many reasons, from a development tool to a rotation option for filling a feed gap at key times of the year. Choosing the right brassica crop for your farm is important to achieve a profitable outcome. Brassica crop options range from bulb turnips...

In long hot dry summers, perennial ryegrass growth either stops or considerably slows down, restricting grazing options at the time when fattening lambs or feeding other livestock is the goal. Ryegrass has a shallow rooting system which leaves the plants susceptible to drought and damage from pests...

Canterbury Farmers Rod and Adrienne May have enjoyed the benefits of growing Sovereign kale for the past 10 years. Located just outside of Darfield on their arable and dairy support property, the Mays need a kale that can produce large yields to be sold standing for dairy support as well as holding...

Since 2016, Neil and Stacie Fagan have utilised spring sown Cleancrop™ brassicas as part of a programme to control pasture weeds before establishing new pastures in autumn. Cleancrop rape was initially used as a summer feed on their sheep and dairy support block in Te Kuiti, but more recently they...

This month's reflection on the wool market has seen a strong growth in terms of sales and as Grant Edwards, PGG Wrightson's GM for wool, explains there is definitely an upwards trend for wool since June-July of this year. The Country's Jamie Mackay spoke with Grant Edwards about the exceptional...

Starch-based calf feed is recognised as beneficial to support rumen development pre-weaning, but is arguably equally important for the four to six weeks post-weaning off milk. A good indicator that calves can be weaned off milk is when hard feed consumption is 1.0 to 1.5 kilograms per head per day...

New pastures are an opportunity to lift farm production and match pasture growth to the stock class you are producing. Taking time to do it well pays off in the long-term. Here are some key things to focus on: The spray-out Good soil moisture is key to strike seed and get any pasture off to a great...

Soil testing is an important tool in your cropping calendar. It can be utilised to assist in selecting the correct paddocks to use for high value crops, like fodder beet, and for selecting which paddocks can be planted with a lower value crop in order to start the process of increasing soil...