News

As you will see in our latest edition of the Rural Property Pulse, this summer’s market for rural property featured various highlights. Demand for sheep and beef farms, viticulture and horticulture properties ranges from steady to spectacular. In most instances, among farmers and growers in these...

Dairy It has been pleasing to see a lift in forward sale activity for herds and in calf heifers over the past few weeks. Herds in general are selling for $1600 - $1850, with some top end stock above this. Most areas have completed or commenced pregnancy testing with mixed results being reported...

North Island Sheep and Beef North Island beef farmers are set for a positive few weeks of weaner sales through the first half of the autumn. Last year’s weaner sales achieved record prices with encouraging volumes of cattle going through the yards. This year, we have plenty of grass on the paddocks...

Fruitfed Supplies Senior Technical Advisor Tayah Ryan considers water quality and its impact on horticultural practices. It’s not often we give much thought to the water we put in our spray tanks, but water quality can have a significant influence on the stability of chemicals within the spray tank...

PGG Wrightson Ltd* (PGW) announced today that at the half-year it is on track to surpass last year’s strong operating result. For the half year ending 31 December 2017 operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Operating EBITDA)** of $34.2 million were up $8.2 million on...

Over ten years of investment in breeding, research and development has paid off with recently released Platform AR37 jumping straight to the top of this year’s National Forage Variety Trial (NFVT) summary. Nick Browning, Northland dairy farmer, compared Platform AR37 to Expo AR37 and found Platform...

The iconic Rollesby Valley Lamb Sale, which attracted a record number of buyers this year, was held on Thursday 8 February. It’s a big couple of days for the South Canterbury PGG Wrightson Livestock team with the teams working on Wednesday and Thursday morning to prepare the ewes and lambs for sale...

Fruitfed Supplies’ Crop Monitoring Team in Hawke’s Bay is one of seven teams around the country working with growers to ensure the accurate and timely reporting of crop monitoring results to aid crop management decisions. Hawke’s Bay Crop Monitoring Co-ordinators Denise Chamberlain and Rena Mehrtens...

Hawke’s Bay-based Fruitfed Supplies Technical Advisor Sean Gresham highlights the importance of maintaining good hygiene practices during the harvest of apple crops. Last autumn we experienced unprecedented rainfall which lead to higher levels of fruit rots and infection of picking wounds by...

Sheep are attractive to blowflies during the warm weather, while their skin is continually being wetted. These wet and warm conditions can lead to the development of fungal and bacterial infections in the wool. Cyrex™ Liquid has a few modes of action for the prevention and treatment of blowfly...

Weaned calves need good quality leafy pasture to grow efficiently. To ensure calves are getting the nutrients they need, it is worthwhile weighing them and monitoring performance against live weight targets (see Table 1 below). Be aware that autumn growth rates may be limited by excess protein so...

Cameron Henderson converted from drystock to dairy in 2011. The light, free draining soils and dry conditions on his Canterbury farm were the perfect conditions for grass grub, and any new pasture was quickly devastated. On the advice of Kaleb Bolton, PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative...

Stephanie Sloan, Technical Specialist at PGG Wrightson, describes pH as the “referee of the soil”. In this first video of a series of three, Stephanie explains the role of pH in your soil fertility and how lime can help in getting your pH right.

There are both diploids and tetraploids across the ryegrass continuum. Gary Bosley, PGG Wrightson Technical Specialist, explains some of the differences between the two types and helps you decide which might be more suitable for your farm system.

If the cow and calf are competing for high quality feed, then it’s time to wean. There are several factors to think about when that time comes. Vaccination Calves should have been given a clostridial vaccination at calf marking to protect against tetanus and black leg in particular. As this would...

In 2017, there was 12 months’ worth of rainfall between January and July and in many places this led to a lack of new pastures going in last autumn. The thought of which pastures to renew and the cost is quite daunting, so how do you prioritise which paddocks to renew over others? An industry...

South Island Sheep and Beef The two halves of the South Island couldn't be in more of a contrast. Otago and Southland have become very dry as hot conditions prevail. Whilst Canterbury north have had good rainfalls taking the pressure off, as farmers use the extra feed to put weight on animals. The...

Aphids can cause significant damage to your forage brassicas. Populations of both the cabbage grey aphid and green peach aphid damage your crop by sucking plant sap. The resulting yellowing and wilting reduces growth rates. Aphids also transmit plant viruses in brassicas and their feeding points...