Latest Ruralco News

Calving can be an exciting time of year, with lots of calves around and milk starting to flow into the vat, but it is a tiring time of year too. It’s worth spending a bit of time now thinking about how you will prioritise animal care and looking after your staff through this critical period. Some aspects you could focus on are preparing your heifers for milking quietly and fostering stock skills in your employees.

Getting off the grid and onto a power supply that can still meet his relatively high-power needs has long been a goal for Ashburton lifestyle block farmer and Ruralco member Basil Ivey.

Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) systems have added another tool to the toolbox in agricultural water management, offering precise control over water application to optimise crop yield and water use efficiency.

As South Island farmers head into winter grazing, supplementing dairy herds with the right minerals is critical because even bumper winter crops can still be nutritionally deficient, says a ruminant nutrition expert.

When a calf is born, we hope they have a long, productive life ahead of them as future members of the herd. We know that productive cows begin life as healthy calves, and therefore the job of calf-rearing is incredibly important.

New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where livestock is integrated into arable systems for the mutual benefit of both.

Australia’s vast scale often means many New Zealanders carry a simplified, condensed version of it in their minds, often only featuring expanses of desert banded by its glittering coastal cities including Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. But it is a shorthand version that fails to include Australia’s huge and highly productive farming sector, a sector on the march upwards in its contribution to the Lucky Country’s already enviable wealth.

Growing better calves comes down to better nutrition; that’s what dairy farmers Sam and Jo Spencer-Bower learned last season.

It has been suspected for some time and now the numbers prove it; herbicide resistant weeds are widespread on arable farms.

Sulphur (S) is vital in any farm setting, but often lacking in New Zealand soils, especially in spring when it’s most needed. Despite being essential, relatively cheap and straightforward to apply with other nutrients, S is still easily overlooked.