Livestock News

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...

Bulls, cull cows, two-year-old cattle, store lambs and dairy herds all changing hands as livestock markets ease into regular seasonal shift. Nationwide livestock markets are almost in winter mode. Although dry districts in some pockets of the South Island would benefit from rain, most farmers have...

Image credit to: Sentient Imagery Limited . New bidr option proves its worth, underpinning demand and reaching nationwide market at South Otago Simmental stud’s annual bull sale. A new format for bidr, an online helmsman auction, proved its worth at this year’s Beresford Simmental bull sale...

Multi-generational Te Awamutu butchery turns to PGG Wrightson to supply new operation producing pulled meat for nationwide distribution. A new opportunity has arisen for Waikato and King Country farmers producing Hereford cattle. A long-established local butcher has turned to PGG Wrightson to...

Looking forward to whatever the future holds. Growing up on his parents’ Bindy and Steve Free’s Dannevirke sheep and beef farm, Max Free always knew farming was in his future. “Being outdoors in the landscape, working alongside inspiring people, seeing the country: I’ve always been drawn to that.”...

In-fawn hinds from Altrive Red Deer, Riversdale continue to prove the benefits of bidr to find buyers for premium bloodlines. A Southland deer stud, the first in the country to use bidr, is preparing for its eighth annual in-fawn winter hind sale on New Zealand’s virtual saleyard. Altrive Red Deer...

Interest rates, returns and renewed bank enthusiasm boost sector and stimulate activity on dairying’s biggest day. This year’s Moving Day, the start of the new dairy season and one of the most important on the rural calendar, was one of the busiest for several years. Reduced interest rates, strong...

The autumn bull sales have kicked off this week with a lot of interest in beef, but can last year’s record price of $161,000 for an Angus bull be topped? PGG Wrightson’s National Genetics Manager, Callum McDonald, reckons that’s “the million-dollar question” - but never say never. “With the beef...

Several long-established studs set to mark important anniversaries in what could be another bumper year. During last year’s two-year-old bull sales numerous records fell across the country. With all the fundamentals continuing to support optimism in beef, this could also be a stellar year. However...